property owner for the agency's life saving award. >> we come across calls that stick with us for a while, if not for the length of our careers and beyond. this is definitely one of those calls that we will always be thinking about. >> extraordinary, an 8-year-old saved. thanks for that report. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. i will see you tomorrow night. reach me on social media @jdbalart. watch clips from the show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," with just four days to go until the new hampshire primary, nikki haley launches a campaign blitz after criticism she was missing in action following her defeat in iowa. as former president trump

returns to the granite state tonight, he is taking her on. this hour, president biden ramps up the abortion debate at the start of the election year tied to monday's 51st anniversary of roe v. wade. the annual anti-abortion march in washington, blocks from the supreme court, expected to rule soon on what could be another landmark decision, a pending case to outlaw the abortion pill nationwide. the head of u.s. cybersecurity will join me on their critical effort to keep the 2024 election secure from foreign and domestic online interference, as artificial intelligence sparks new threats. u.s. strikes against houthi rebels failed to stop new waves of the red sea attacks. netanyahu's speech flatly rejecting a palestinian state and u.s. peace plan causes new friction with washington, europe, and arab neighbors.

♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. live free or die, that's the state motto in new hampshire, fully embraced there, especially by the state's independent voters, just four days before the first in the nation republican primary, which could be do or die for nikki haley. new hampshire independents outnumber registered republicans democrats. the democratic party opting out of new hampshire this year. many hope to stop donald trump. a new poll shows 38% of undeclared and independent voters back trump. these are voters haley needs if she's going to score an upset

victory. after time spent home to take care of her ailing father, she's blitzing the state and stepping up her criticism of trump. if haley can't beat trump in new hampshire, with all of its famed independent voters, she isn't going to beat trump anywhere. we start with nbc's shaquille brewster on the trail in new hampshire and dan bowls. shaq, you are in a trump 2016 stronghold. what do voters tell you? >> reporter: they are planning to stick with the former president. this is a trump 2016 stronghold. this is a place that helped fuel his first big win in the 2016 cycle. i almost crashed a conservative grass-roots breakfast gathering here happening here yesterday to talk to many of the folks here about why they are sticking with him in the face of the attacks. haley is kicking up her attacks.

i've been asking, why aren't those attacks landing? why president trump? >> when he was president, he fixed the economy. we did very well under president trump. >> reporter: on the policy that ron desantis brings up, not repealing obamacare, not being an effective legislator. >> trump got more of the wall done than any other president. >> i want to feel safe again. i want to enforce law and order of the land. >> reporter: would you consider any of the other candidates? >> i haven't considered anyone until donald trump walked down the elevator in 2015. >> reporter: give you a sense of how strong his support is among his key supporters. the key thing here in new hampshire is that it's not just his strong supporters. you mentioned you have those undeclared registered voters, independents as they are known

in most parts of the country, who have the option of picking up a republican primary ballot. you see nikki haley doing well among them. you see the gap, not as wide as she would want it to be. another nugget we saw, it's enthusiasm. what's drivingaley's likely voters? you see among the majority of the people saying in polls that they are backing nikki haley, a majority are saying that they are doing so because they are against donald trump. >> shaq, thank you. dan, let's talk about. from all your experience in new hampshire, how are you assessing this? does nikki haley have a chance to do what john mccain did? underdogs have had a real chance there. >> yeah, that's true.

we can go all the way back to gary hart in 1984. everybody said walter mondale was unstoppable. hart came out of nowhere and surged in the final weekend and overtook mondale. that fight went all the way into june before mondale wrapped it up. i think we're in a different position here with nikki haley. she's got clearly an uphill battle. i think the main reason is donald trump's hold on the republican party. not just the core base but on republican voters generally. she does well, obviously, among interests or unaffiliated voters as they are called here. she would need literally a historic turnout among independents in order to have a chance to win. that's the question. as you noted, she's been getting criticism for the pace of her activity this week. i think she's got to step that

up. but there's not a lot of time left. the energy and the enthusiasm that we have seen in past both democrat he can and republican campaigns doesn't seem to exist here this weekend. >> she's also been still trying to clarify the remark she made about the cause of the civil war and that america has never been a racist country. here is how she tried to explain herself again last night on cnn. >> when you look, it said all men are created equal. i think the intent was to do the right thing. did they have to go fix it along the way? yes. but i don't think the intent was ever that we were going to be a racist country. >> that with jake tapper last night, the town hall in december she said this when asked about the cause of the civil war. >> i think the cause of the civil war was how government was going to run.

freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. >> it's astonishing that you answered that question without mentioning the word slavery. >> what do you want me to say about slavery? >> is that still an issue with independents or unaffiliated voters? >> it's hard to tell exactly how much that is an issue. i think it's indicative of one of the criticisms i heard about nikki haley over the past week. that is that she's being tentative. she's suggesting she's speaking hard truths but not necessarily doing so. she has a tendency not to want to offend anybody. she's been tentative in her criticism of donald trump. she's been careful or flubbing those questions on the question of the civil war as she did in that town hall meeting recently. it's part of the question about

what kind of candidacy does she have? can she generate the enthusiasm behind her candidacy to get her where she needs to be here? as you all noted this morning, a second place here is not good enough for her. that would put her in -- heading into south carolina where donald trump is very strong despite the fact that it's her home state. >> how big a role will democrats trying to make mischief with the republican campaign play? do you have any sense of how many democrats are actually crossing over, preregistering as republicans? >> the 4,000 number is the one that we know exists. that cutoff happened some time ago. i don't think democrats are going to be that big a factor. it is a question of whether she can get the unaffiliated voters strongly on her side. that has to be her focus this weekend. >> right. i think that cutoff was october 6, before this really clarified.

dan, thanks very much. it's good to see you. >> thank you. foreign battlefronts. exchange of missile fire in the red sea and the desperate state of affairs in gaza. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn.

for the fifth time in a week, the u.s. struck houthi rebels inside yemen in retaliation for their attacks in the red sea. they were determined a threat to u.s. navy and commercial ships. gabe gutierrez asked the president about the strikes yesterday. the strikes yesterday. >> joining me now, richard engel

in jordan and admiral james stavridis, former nato supreme allied commander. you spoke with a top houthi commander this week. what is he telling you about the escalation and whether they will continue taking on the u.s., the uk, the coalition? >> reporter: he said they are. he was very dismissive of the administration, very dismissive of president biden. he effectively said that president biden doesn't matter. he told me that he is watching the politics in the united states. he talked about the caucuses and even referenced the fact that the israeli prime minister doesn't seem to listen to the biden administration. so why should they? they felt emboldened or he was expressing a feeling of confidence. he said that they will continue

to carry out strikes until israel stops its attacks on the gaza strip. today there was a very large demonstration. they feel that they have the world's support behind them. they feel that this administration is not an administration that israel takes seriously, nor should they take seriously. could be a dramatic miscalculation, but that was the impression. frankly, that's the impression that i get here when prime minister netanyahu said we're not interested in a two state solution on the heels of a trip by secretary of state blinken. people here who i have known for a long time wonder why the administration is continuing to give blanket support to the government of netanyahu. it was expressed to me hererom

people i have known and expressed to me by the houthi leader as well. we're seeing it in their actions. >> admiral, let's talk about this. the president said the air strikes will continue. how long can this tit for tat go on without a major escalation? there's criticism from some that the u.s. should have gone in big and taken out the houthi weaponry from the start rather than giving them the chance to continue this. >> i think the administration is working their way up the ladder of escalation. we have been through this before with the houthis. we had this almost exact situation in 2016 after attacks against their infrastructure. eventually they stopped conducting these attacks. my own assessment is that you can stop them in two ways. the easy way and the hard way. the easy way is, you tell them

to stop, you launch a couple of introductory strikes. i would assess 25% of the ability of the houthis to conduct these operations has been destroyed. that's their missiles, their fuel dumps, their docks, some of the boats. we can continue that quite a while. if the houthis want to be defiant and continue, i think you will see strikes continue. over time, either they will be deterred or no longer have the military capability to conduct the strikes. i will close with this. it's a decision that will be made not in washington, not in jerusalem, not in beirut, not in jordan. it's a decision that will be made in tehran. the iranians, despite prote that they can't really control

the houthis, that's nonsense. they can. they can direct this to stop. i suspect they probably will, because they are not looking for a wider war. >> richard, let me take you back to israel and gaza, which you have been covering intensively. netanyahu saying that he definitely will not consider a path towards a palestinian state, which as you know has been u.s. and eu, u.n. policy for decades. this is the crux of a saudi and arab and u.s. plan for a post-gaza reconstruction, governance and eventual statehood. do you think this is final? is there some softening not in his coalition but within the government that the u.s. can exploit? >> reporter: i don't think there's a softening in his position or his government. this is his position. this is the core of his

identity. it's what he is using to hold his coalition together. since netanyahu has been in power -- in and out of power, but a dominant force in israeli politics for nearly two decades, he has been opposed to a palestinian state. he talked proudly about opposing a palestinian state. he talked recently about how proud he was to stop it. he came into power at the end of the peace process. i was there. i was covering israel and the peace process. it was the end of the peace process and that ushered in a period of sharon and netanyahu. since then, there has been no peace process, no process that

would lead to a palestinian state. that has been netanyahu political space. he was able to provide israelis with security, with economic prosperity and no peace pro process that would lead to a palestinian state. that exploded. the administration is saying that approach that you have had for nearly two decades didn't work. the palestinians -- there was so much anger and hate that burst into the massacre we saw, we have to go back to an original plan that will have a statehood at the end of it. netanyahu and his coalition simply do not agree to that and believe it would be a violation of every -- of israeli sovereignty. >> the u.s. hope is that netanyahu and others in israel will want to saudi deal so badly that they might soften. just now we have this just in from the white house. after reports, ours notably

picked up in israel, a friction between president biden and netanyahu, after secretary blinken returned from the trip and the meetings last week, they have spoken. it is the first conversation since december 23rd. they were speaking almost every other day during the early days of the gaza war. the last conversation had a dispute over israel's refusal to turn over palestinian revenues, hundreds of millions of dollars owed since october 7th to the palestinians. they hadn't spoken since then. they have just spoken today. we will have a readout coming up. richard engel, james stavridis. >> can i make a point? netanyahu said a couple days ago the prime minister of israel must be able to say no to its friends. i would say respectfully, the united states can then say no to

more aid and more weapons. these two have got to start talking. >> in fact, his speech came after our report hit the internet and was picked up in israeli media and israeli television and print about the u.s. dismay over his rejection. here we go again. thank you. back at home, demand for action. accountability after a justice department report from a failed law enforcement response at robb elementary. that's next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ ( ♪♪ ) with the push of a button, constant contact's ai tools

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there are more calls for accountability from grieving parents and community leaders in uvalde, texas, after the justice department's devastating report on the epic failures of law enforcement's botched response to the horrific shooting there. >> i hope that the failures and the local officials do right by the victims and survivors, terminations, criminal prosecutions.

our state and federal government enacts sensible gun laws. >> joining me now is texas state senator gutierrez whose district involves uvalde. he is a candidate for the u.s. senate. it's good to see you again. the heartbreak of the parents, it's just unimaginable. to make it worse, that report had new details, graphic details, that there could have been survivors if law enforcement hadn't failed so s my -- misersably. >> there's not a lot of new in the report, but for the first time we see it in black and white with a seal of the department of justice that tells us the extreme failure of every

law enforce mnts officer. i've seen those kids dead in the classrooms. they want to see real accountability. they want real change. we have to stop the cowardly politicians like ted cruz and others who won't see the carnage and look at the videos that this gun does. some democrats. we need an assaults weapons ban in this country. things need to change once and for all. how many more children must we watch die in this horrible, horrible way? things must change now. >> you have gotten to know the survivors, the families of victims over the past years. how are some of them reacting? are they planning civil lawsuits, any other action? >> they have civil lawsuits ongoing. we all know this isn't about

money to them. they want accountability. they want the district attorney to go after law enforcement officials who screwed up, including the department of public safety officers who failed those kids on that day. those agencies are protected by governmental immunity. i understand that some of the folks are going after the gun manufacturer for marketing to kids. again, we have more cowardly politicians in washington that establish protection of lawful commerce in arms act that says you can't sue a manufacturer for marketing to children. in this country, you can sue big tobacco and beer. but you can't sue big guns because people like ted cruz protect gun manufacturers from these families being able to get the justice that they truly, truly deserve. daniel's defense, the gun used, marketing to kids, in videos, in memes and everything else.

this madness in this nation must stop. it begins by eliminating people like ted cruz from office. if people are frustrating, go to roland for texas. talk about common sense gun protection once and for all. >> i know your position. you are running against ted cruz. we have an open invitation to senator cruz. we would love to hear from him about this, especially after this report. thank you. >> thank you so much. abortion politics next. how the biden campaign is trying to harness the political momentum propelling voters to the polls projecting abortion rights. e polls projecting abort rights (christina) with verizon business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon.

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with anti-abortion marchers rallying in washington, the

biden campaign is launching a major push on abortion rights in battleground states next week. the vice president will be in wisconsin monday onhe actual anniversary. the president and vice president will have their first joint campaign rally of the election year outside washington in northern virginia tuesday. surrogates will fan out to other swing states with their own events. 21 states have abortion bans or restrictions in place. the supreme court has taken up a challenge to the abortion pill this term, that could set the stage for a ruling that could outlaw medical abortions nationwide. the abortion issue has fuelled major election victories for democrats since roe was overturned, with large majorities of americans supporting abortion rights with some exceptions. joining me is senator tina smith. welcome. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> it's good to see you. on a snowy day in washington.

it's kind of minnesota weather, but not quite. >> exactly. >> the biden campaign, we have a mo obtained. it says the election will determine the fate of women's reproductive rights. they are focused on it. one in three women live under abortion bans. doctors are facing felony charges for reproductive care, notably in texas and other big states. how do you make this resonate with voters? howo you bring this home to them, voters who maybe tuned out? >> most americans believe, really something simple, which is that women should be able to make decisions for themselves about their own health care, including abortion, without government and politicians and judges interfering. the democratic party is united around that value. that's where president biden and vice president harris stand

squarely with the american people. come november when this decision is confronted by american voters, they are going to see an incredibly clear choice. you have president biden and vice president harris, who are protecting reprductive rights, and then on the other hand you have donald trump and the republicans, which have been creating chaos and confusion and real cruelty to women all over this country, one out of three women of reproductive age live in states where their rights have been stripped away from them because of donald trump. the choice is going to be so clear. one thing i think people don't really realize, as you i think mentioned across the country, states have -- every time reproductive rights have been on the ballot, freedom has won. sometimes people in those states, like michigan, for example, feel like they are

safe. with president trump, those rights would be stripped away. he is ready to impose a bantha -- a ban that would take away rights. >> the supreme court may rule on the abortion pill. almost half of people who -- women who get abortions in recent years have been been using the pill. we were showing -- >> that's exactly right. >> we were showing live pictures in a snowy washington of that rally. in the past, republican presidents have called in. reagan, bush. i think trump went there. i'm trying to recall. i will check -- we will check that out. he made that an issue and has posted about the supreme court justices that he helped get confirmed who helped overturn roe. in terms of the abortion pill,

which has been used safely for 20 years, how do you make that issue -- bring that issue home? that's the last step for people who can't travel across states. >> that's exactly right, andrea. over 50% of abortions today are done safely and effectively with medication. yet, we have this extreme judge from texas, appointed by donald trump -- this is the impact of having an anti-choice president in the white house. has taken steps to overturn the fda's long-term -- longtime determination that this is safe and effective medication. if that were to go forward, if the supreme court were to side with this trump judge, then women would lose access to a primary way of getting safe and legal abortions. that would be devastating for the health of women.

it's so cruel to women who are faced with decisions about their life and their body, often life and death decisions. they are finding that they can't, with their doctor's advice, can't make the best decision, because the politicians, these republican politicians led by donald trump they think know better than these women. >> senator tina smith from minnesota, thank you very much. >> thank you so much. the path forward, ben carden joins me next on new developments on how benjamin netanyahu is rejecting a peace plan. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" continues on msnbc. i splurged a little because liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. that's great. i know, right? i've been telling everyone. baby: liberty.

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ask your doctor today. president biden spoke with prime minister netanyahu today for the first time since december 23rd, their longest lag in communication, direct communication since the war began. they were talking about the latest developments and friction was reported between the president and the prime minister. this after netanyahu is publically ruing out the establishment of a palestinian state down the road after the war ends.

he told secretary of state blinken face to face, i say to the u.s., a prime minister in israel should be able to say no, even to our best friends. joining me now, ben carden, who was briefed by secretary blinken yesterday. they have talked. we don't know what they said yet. not that we may know quickly what they said. the fact is, there was a lot of public scrutiny about the friction, the very obvious friction after secretary blinken's trip. a flat rejection from netanyahu. what do you think about the netanyahu posture against an eventual palestinian state in response to a saudi, u.s., arab group proposal to rebuild gaza as long as -- and help secure it, regovern it or build up a palestinian governance as long as there's a pathway for the

palestinians? >> let me put this in perspective. i did meet with secretary blinken yesterday. i have had conversations with many of the players in the middle east. israel right now is focused on the war and hamas. when that war ends, when hamas is no longer a threat to israel or the palestinians, then israel is going to be focused on normalization in the region. they want a normal relationship with the kingdom of saudi arabia, the kingdom also would like to see that type of normalization agreement reached. two things must happen in order for that to happen. first, hamas must be eliminated as a threat to the palestinians and israelis. secondly, there must be a clear path for a palestinian state and the state of israel living side by side in peace, recognizing each other's rights and without fear of any security concerns. once the hamas threat is

eliminated, the attitude and i think the language is going to change dramatically. there's no other option for peace in the region than two states living side by side in peace. i recognize with the prime minister saying when the war is over, when the threat is eliminated from hamas, we expect there will be a different attitude, particularly in the desire to get normalization with countries in the region. >> there can be a lot of damage between now and then. is posture right now of his right wing coalition, the most right wing that has existed in israel, is that a detriment to arab engagement and saudi engagement? and as the u.s. was thinking, is the carrot of normalize with saudi arabia something that netanyahu had long wanted, they were close to before october 7th, is that enough to try to create some softening of his

posture, do you think? >> i have had conversations with leaders in the surrounding arab states in the region. secretary blinken just returned from in-person meetings. we hear the same message. the message is that they do want to see normalization. they do want to see the end of the terrorist threats in the region. they do want to see a palestinian state. we all recognize that internal politics is going to be what it is. we hear that in the arab world and in israel. certain statements are made. at the end of the day, the only pathway towards real peace in the region, the palestinians need sovereignty over their own rights and they have to have responsibility for their neighbors and respect their neighbors. israel needs to also recognize there will be a palestinian state. two states living side by side in peace. >> yesterday, the families of israeli and american hostages met with national security advisor jake sullivan.

you met with them the day before. i followed up with them. they are desperate for a cease-fire at this point. they think that's the only possibility to get their children home safely. >> we are dealing with hamas that has no respect at all for innocent people. they kill young people, they kill babies, they execute. we are dealing with individuals that are just beyond our understanding. these hostages never should have been taken. i haveed to the families and it's heartbreaking. we need the hostages released immediately. they should never have been taken. we need to pursue every possible way to get the hostages home. i know there's discussions about pauses in order for the hostages to be able to be returned to their families. we need to pursue every option. we're doing a lot. we need to do more. the hostages need to come home.

>> are the terrible humanitarian problems, which unicef are saying the worst they have seen anywhere in the world, causing more senators, senators who support israel and have never been in the more progressive branch of the party, to weaken on supporting the supplemental? >> i don't think so. i think at the end of the day, the supplemental is going to pass. we do want to see more humanitarian assistance to the people in gaza that have been caught in this war that are not a part of hamas. we want to make sure they get what they need as far as food, as far as medical supplies. i understand how the united states has been effective in making some of the arrangements. we need to do more. at the end of the day, we need to liminate the hamas threat, rebuild gaza, get supplies in there.

we need to get the hostages home. the supplemental is part of the process. >> thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. nbc news has learned former republican presidential candidate tim scott will endorse donald trump tonight in new hampshire, just four days before the first in the nation primary. tim scott joins at least two dozen republican senators endorsing the former president. scott is the nation's highest ranking elected black republican. he ran for president unsuccessfully and dropped out before iowa. he could be a potential trump running mate this fall. as we arrange a decision on how much former president trump will have to pay in penalties to new york state in the ongoing civil fraud case, video of mr. trump's seven-hour deposition in the case last spring is now being released today as a result of a freedom of information request. we have had the transcript for months. this video is the first time you can watch how trump defends

himself, his companies and adult children from the fraud allegations in new york in his sworn testimony. >> they became more intensely involved with the company. i was virtually not involved at all. i would rarely have anything to do with anything having to do with the company. i wasn't interested. i was very busy. i considered this the most important job in the world, saving millions of lives. >> trump sat for his first deposition in the 2022. the second deposition was last april. joining us now, his fifth amendment rights more than 440 times. then the second deposition of course was last april. joining us now, former manhattan assistant d.a. catherine christian. what have we learned from this in terms of how he was defending himself, released as a result of

freedom of information petition. >> his defense is, though it's sort of different from what he actually testified to at the trial, i was just too busy. the financial statements, i didn't look at them. i wasn't hands on. other people looked at them. he was hands on, he wasn't hands on. this all goes to his credibility and, you know, the judge is the one who's going to make the decision. he always brags about being a billionaire. so if the judge decides, his companies have to pay $270 million back in disgorgement, she should be able to afford it. he's a billionaire. he's one of the richest people in the world according to him. his defense in this deposition was, you know, i was saving the world from nuclear holocaust. you know, it's my business, but you know, i really wasn't in charge of the financial statements or any of those decisions. >> we will await the decision we expect i think before the end of

the month from judge engoron in new york. thank you, catherine, appreciate it. election protection, next, a deep dive into the efforts to make sure the 2024 election is free and fair in the face of growing disinformation, sparked specially the ai revolution. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc a mitchell reports. this is msnb most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. shingles. some describe it as pulsing electric shocks or sharp, stabbing pains. ♪♪ this painful, blistering rash can disrupt your life for weeks. a pain so intense, you could miss out on family time. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older, ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles. students... students of any age, from anywhere.

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. a timely election year warning from the top cyber securityfficial in the nation. artificial intelligence is a major threat to democracy says jen easterly in foreign affairs magazine, adding that it will amplify and intensify existing risks and make it easier, faster and cheaper to flood the country with fake content. the director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency in homeland joins us now. thanks for being with us. >> great to be with you.

>> it was always scary what the other countries and what we can see domestically in terms of election interference. now we have artificial intelligence, which creates a whole new threat level. >> it does, thanks for having me on. i want to say at the outset ivgs really pleased to be joined by scott schwab, who's the kansas secretary of state and the president of the national association of secretaries of state because the secretaries of state serve as the chief election officials, and working together in our role as the national coordinator for critical infrastructure security and resilience, we are really amplifying their trusted voices so that foreign adversaies like russia, like china, like iran, cannot undermine voters' confidence in our democracy. as you pointed out, ai, these generative ai capabilities that essentially can create new texts based on patterns of existing text can intensify current risks, but they're not going to create any fundamentally new threats. election officials have defended

election infrastructure from cyber threats, from physical threats, from threats of foreign influence and disinformation and have done it in a way where there is security and there is integrity in the elections process. i have confidence and, andrea, the american people should have confidence in the election process. >> and you're working on the technology. you're doing all of these things, you know, in a complex world, increasingly complex world, but the political context is that we many election interference primarily from russia, according to all of the data in 2016. in 2018, the u.s. government really protected against it in the midterms. >> yep. >> and pushed back. you developed all kinds of new techniques. and then 2020 as well. >> yeah. >> but the american people by huge majorities especially republicans because of the rhetoric, the false lies, believe that the election was a fake, that was interfered in. we saw what happened in dominion. they think the election machines were fake.

we saw what happened, you know, after january 6th and how people reacted to it. and even now in the iowa voting, the entrance polls showed people don't believe in the security of our elections. >> yeah, so let me be very clear. everybody's entitled to their opinion. the fact is that election officials ran secure elections, in 2018, in 2020, and in 2022. there is no evidence that malicious actors changed, altered, deleted votes, and this has been a challenge many times, and it's been validated and verified many times. and in any places in 2020, andrea, where it was close, there were paper ballots that were counted and recounted and audited, so no evidence of any malicious actors that affected, and frankly, if people have

questions about elections, there is huge transparency in how elections work. i would really recommend that anybody who questions the integrity or lacks confidence be a poll worker, be an observer, talk to your local election officials about how elections work to gain confidence in them. in this job, andrea, i spend a lot of time with state and local election officials who work tirelessly day in and day out across 8,800 jurisdictions, across all parties and they work to ensure the security and integrity of the elections. the other thing i would say to americans is over the last several years since election infrastructure was designated as critical infrastructure and we took on this role working with them, there have been multiple layers of defense, technological, physical, procedural controls put in place to safe forward from threats from foreign actors, and so if there are any questions, talk to your election officials. >> of course, you know, it's

such great advice. you have to honor the people who have the guts to show up given all the domestic pressure and threats and vilification and you see what's been happening to them. who are the biggest threats in terms of ai let's say? is it russia? is it china? is it iran? >> great question. so it's all of the above. the dni, the director of national intelligence put out a report at the end of december that essentially declassified foreign activity that occurred in the 2022 midterms, and what they said was that they have seen foreign activity exceeded what was seen in 2018. >> wow. >> more actors and including china getting more aggressive in influencing our elections, so it's china, it's russia. it's iran, they are trying to sow discord. they are trying to undermine confidence in our elections, and all of us, voters, election officials, the media, industry,

everybody needs to come together to ensure that we protect elections. they really are the golden thread of our democracy, and we need to ensure that that fabric stays strong and resilient. >> you're such a valuable resource foreign affairs is where the sarl. article is. >> thank you so much. follow the show on social media @mitchellreports. you can rewatch the best parts of our show on youtube, just go to msnbc.com/andrea. chris jansing is live, she'll be joined by pete buttigieg to discuss travel. that starts right now. good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters i