and good morning, it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm josé diaz-balart. a very busy monday, right now in

new hampshire it is a two-person race for the republican presidential nomination, with less than 24 hours to go before primary day. who stands to benefit most from ron desantis's sudden dropout? we've got new reporting on why sources close to desantis are calling his now defunct campaign a, quote, failure to launch. back in new york city, donald trump's day upended after his trial is unexpectedly postponed. and in georgia why the d.a. is due in court herself today and how it could affect her case against trump. and we begin this hour with the new hampshire primary, which is less than 24 hours away. there's been a major shake-up in the republican field for the white house in what has now become a two-person showdown between two contenders with far different visions for the future

of the party and our country. yesterday florida governor ron desantis suspended his presidential bid and endorsed former president trump. opponents of desantis reacted to the news on the campaign trail. >> i just want to thank ron and congratulate him on doing a very good job. it's a tough situation. it's a tough thing to do. >> i want to say to ron, he ran a great race. he's been a good governor, and we wish him well. having said that, it's now one fella and one lady left. for now i'll leave you with this, may the best woman win. [ cheers and applause ] >> the news comes at a critical time for the haley campaign in desperate need of an upset in new hampshire after finishing third in iowa. we have reporters in new hampshire covering all angles for you this morning, joining us from the granite state, nbc news correspondents vaughn hillyard, ali vitali and dasha burns and live from the big board is nbc's

national political correspondent steve kornacki. dasha, what are we learning about how desantis came to the decision to end his campaign yesterday? >> reporter: well, jose, a source familiar tells me that the deliberations really began in the hours after his second place finish, that distant second place finish in iowa. of course, they all hoped they would do better. he was saying that he was going to win that state, and in the end that is just not what happened, so the source tells me that the governor sort of looked at those results, took a couple of days to digest, started asking his closest advisers some pointed questions about the viability of moving forward. by about thursday of last week, he had all of the information that he needed and then decided to just do one more round of going out and talking to voters. so that's why we saw him go to south carolina and go to new hampshire, just get one last feel for the electorate. and then on saturday after his

final event in south carolina, he went back home to tallahassee and on sunday morning, yesterday morning, he called some of his closest advisers to the governor's mansion to make that final decision, have those final conversations. he and the first lady, i'm told, went upstairs to discuss things privately and came down and announced that they were ready to suspend the campaign. they had written down some words that eventually made it into that announcement video that we saw. i'm also told by multiple sources that the decision to endorse trump was widely agreed upon. everyone thought that if he was going to do this, he absolutely needed to endorse the former president, jose. and look, this is, as you said at the outset, a campaign that sort of failed to launch from the start, according to sources that we've been speaking with from that glitchy twitter launch to the campaign that ran out of money in the summer of last year to a candidate that really struggled to find a message that connected with voters, and struggled to fight former president trump, to find his

footing as the former president really ended up defining ron desantis before he could define himself, jose. now, in terms of what happens for voters who were potentially still deciding what to do, i want you to take a listen to what some folks told us about desantis dropping out. >> he should never have ran. i think he should have been running around like gaetz helping the republican party. >> i have mixed feelings. i really like ron desantis. i think mr. trump shouldn't have given him such a hard time, but -- because we're all on the same side. >> i would have -- i always kind of thought a dream ticket would have been him a as vp, but i would not see that he should have taken trump's place at this point. >> reporter: now, because desantis campaigned as a hardcore conservative, oftentimes trying to push to the right of trump to chip away at his base, the majority of

desantis ballot share is likely to go to former president trump, so that's probably going to create an even steeper hill for nikki haley to climb, and what desantis essentially concluded and what the results from iowa tell us is that, look, this is -- you know, this is a guy that at the beginning people thought was going to be the potential new standard bearer for the party. he could be the alternative to trump, but what -- the sense that i'm getting from him from his team and from the electorate that i've been talking to is that there's not necessarily an appetite for an alternative at this point, jose. >> and ali, meanwhile, what's the haley campaign feeling about that uphill that dasha was talking about tomorrow? >> reporter: look, jose, they have long said this is a two-person race once they got on the ground in new hampshire, and now ron desantis effectively made that official. now it is truly nikki haley versus donald trump, and while dasha is right that some of the data suggests that desantis voters may go to trump, i want

to introduce you to ron who has been patiently waiting here in the cold, but you're from new hampshire. it's no big deal. and you're someone who was planning on voting for ron desantis until, of course, you couldn't anymore. >> exactly. when he left the race. but i have no hesitation to vote for nikki haley. she was -- i was teetering towards the end anyway a bit. >> why? >> i don't know, electability. you know, i think what they can carry in the general election as far as, you know, the house, the senate, and everything else, just there's a lot of -- i think a lot of trump voters may not even vote if he's not the nominee. i mean, they're trump voters. they're not necessarily republicans or conservatives. most are, but i'm just saying that i think some of them may just sit it out. i think that's what happened in georgia. >> and here in this primary, though, you're someone who when desantis dropped out, you were not entertaining trump.

>> no, i'll vote for him in the general election if that's what it comes down to it. i did in 2016, and i will in 2020, and i will again if he's the nominee. i was just hoping he wouldn't be the nominee? >> why? >> his temperament and his personality and his -- the baggage that he carries with him, these court cases. i'm not sure that he's done anything wrong, but it's just a lot of stuff always going on around him. >> so when you hear nikki haley say -- and i have to say, you were dedicated because you didn't even get into the event, but now you're here with a haley sign, when she says chaos follows trump fairly or unfairly, it sounds like that resonates with you. >> it does. to be honest i like his policies, foreign policy, the border, the economy, i think everything was much better off four years ago than it is now. i can't even imagine another four years of joe biden. so i'll vote for him again, but i was hoping it would be either desantis or nikki haley. >> i wonder what your breaking point was with the former president as someone who voted

for him in 2016 and 2020, what made you even start looking around for someone who wasn't trump? >> i think january 6th, his actions immediately afterwards. he should have denounced that as soon as he got out of control, he should have been on top of that, and he didn't. he sat it out for three or four hours, five or six hours. and i'm not saying that he cause d it. everybody there who broke the law i want them all prosecuted to the full extent of the law. it just was out of control, but he didn't speak against it immediately, which really disappointed me. >> ron, thank you so much for your thoughtful reactions to all of this, and happy voting here in new hampshire. thank you for being patient with us. >> thank you. >> jose, i'll send it back to you. i do think it's important to keep in mind that even though the polling says a majority of

desantis voters will go to trump. of course that makes sense, desantis campaigned in trump's image. at the same time i am meeting people actively in realtime who are willing to stand in the cold to talk with me about it why they're looking for an alternative, even if they're not the folks who may end up in the majority. >> these are the voters the trump campaign has to be concerned about. how is the trump campaign seeing those types of voters, and will they have an impact on it in new hampshire, you know, south korea, and going forward? >> reporter: right, let's be clear. this is a trump campaign that is exuding confidence. donald trump on a stage in a rally in rochester, new hampshire, suggesting they should win by 30, 40, or 50 points here in the state of new hampshire. of course setting crazy expectations for their own candidate for himself. at the same time, you know, this is the part of how electoral politics works. when the options dwindle, folks then have to choose, and right

now nikki haley got the two-person race that she was looking for, but there's also a reality here, i was talking with some folks outside of that trump rally is and there's a guy that 48 hours earlier was at a ron desantis event. and 48 hours later on a sunday night during nfl playoffs, he was there to see donald trump, and he said that nikki haley was not the viable alternative that he was looking for. and so this is really the stakes of where we're at. frankly, in a republican party in which voters are watching their potential nominee donald trump embrace his one-time rivals, vivek ramaswamy, tim scott, doug burgum, and now ron desantis. you'll recall over the course of the last year, donald trump pummelled the florida governor. he mocked him for wearing high heels, he called him a disciple of paul ryan. he called him a bobblehead. he even accused him of grooming high school girls when he was a

teacher. yet donald trump last night is saying he appreciated ron desantis's gracious endorsement. this is where we're at. for voters here, there is an acknowledgment with all of these trials that are unfolding that a stronger republican party gives them a better chance in november against democrats. take a listen to one voter. >> i think the democrats have hammered into my brain because they've just brought all kinds of allegations against him, and have been false all along. >> for each of the independent voters here in the state of new hampshire that could very well change the outcome of this new hampshire primary, potentially even in favor of nikki haley, there are also those loyal supporters to donald trump, a sizable point where that gentleman that ali was just talking to made the point, there's some concern that if donald trump is not the nominee, would some of those supporters that came out because of trump, would they come and vote in november for somebody like nikki haley? that is the part of it's not so

simple blue and red. it's a much more complicated electorate here in the year of 2024, jose. >> and vaughn, trump is in new york for the e. jean carroll trial, now that that has been postponed for a day, what do we know about his schedule for today? >> reporter: today he does not have a rally scheduled until 9:00 p.m. eastern. he was in new york city, we do not expect to see him until later tonight for what was going to be the primary eve major rally in laconia, new hampshire. and then the question is tomorrow does the judge ultimately have the trial continue on tuesday? of course donald trump's attorney alina habba requested it be pushed back to wednesday because it is primary day and voters will literally be going to the polls beginning at 7:00 a.m. for donald trump here, the trial has shared as much time in the courtroom, he's spent just as much time in the courtroom as he has on the campaign trail. now the question here on primary day, is he going to be in new york instead of new hampshire? >> let's take a bigger look at

new hampshire. who stands to gain the most with desantis out? >> the polls have been showing by a 2 to 1 margin that voters second choice would be trump over haley. desantis was far behind everywhere, but you could see here, this is the new tracking poll, wnbc 10 in boston, suffolk university, this taken just after desantis dropped out yesterday, and you can see trump went up 2 points. haley basically went up 2 points. 57, 38, trump over haley. what really tells the story is this, we've been talking about independent voters in new hampshire. they make up such a huge share of the republican primary electorate. something you don't really see in any other state. look at the divide underneath in the poll. overall trump by 19. among those who say they are republicans, look at that, better than 3 to 1 donald trump,

54 points ahead of nikki haley in this poll. these are smaller sub samples that be could be a little noisy. that i think gives you a general idea of the split that's happening here. among independent voters, look at that, nikki haley with a wide lead over donald trump in this poll. independent voters were her biggest strength in iowa. she lost them narrowly to trump, but that was better than she did with every other group. if haley's going to erase this gap at all, it's going to be this group, independents. she's going to have to do even better with them. they're going to have to make up a huge share of the electorate, she's going to lose it by all appearances among republican voters. she just can't lose this badly among them. again, you take a look here, the recent history in new hampshire, republican side, win the independents, win the primary. trump did it in '16. romney in '12, mccain in '08. 2000, john mccain with a surprise landslide over george w. bush in 2000. john mccain in 2000 won the

independent vote by 42 points over george w. bush. that's a level, honestly, that haley's probably going to need to get. she's going to probably have to get around what john mccain did back in 2000, which is sort of a modern record on the republican side there. and again, look at the share of the electorate. 42% in '16, 45% in '12, 37% in 2008. the share of the republican electorate that identifies as independent, so again, all the polls have haley down in this. we've seen late surprises in new hampshire before, the demographics, the ideology in new hampshire on the republican side makes this a -- if she can't win new hampshire, it is hard to find a state on the map, including her home state of south carolina where she could win, and if she's going to again, she's got to drive up a massive number with independents tomorrow, and she can't be losing by 54 points among republican voters. >> vaughn hillyard, ali vitali, dasha burns, and steve kornacki,

thank you so very much. up next, breaking developments in trump's e. jean carroll's defamation trial, more on why today's proceedings have been canceled. voters react to ron desantis's decision to drop out of the presidential race. >> to see him dropping out, i think it's showing that most republican candidates are seeing that trump is going to be the best chance at taking joe biden out of office. den out of office. with nurtec odt, i can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur,

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a pause of about 20 to 30 minutes this morning after the schedule's start time of the trial, which is 9:30. when the judge took the stand, we learned why. there are two reasons, one, the jurors sitting in seat 3 of 9 reported feeling ill on his way to court this morning. he said he was nauseous and hot, and to take precautions he was advised to stay home and take a covid test. that's when the judge also learned that alina habba, the former president's lawyer also was not feeling well and on top of that had had a covid exposure of her own. she had dinner approximately three days ago with her parents who have tested positive since. obviously she also spent time with her co-counsel, michael ma day owe. on learning all of those things, although robbie kaplan did want to go forward, and they can go forward. you only need a jury of six in a civil trial. they have nine jurors. despite that, judge kaplan thought the better thing to do here was to take a pause, send

all the jurors home, instructor instruct them to take a covid test, and later this afternoon the court will learn whether it resulted in anyone having covid. he did tell the party this is is a court very accustomed to dealing with covid. they even have an epidemiologist consulting them on covid protocol. so it remains to be seen whether we will be here tomorrow for a trial. former president trump obviously would not like to have a trial tomorrow irrespective of covid exposure because he wants to be in new hampshire campaigning. stay tuned for news on whether there is a trial tomorrow and whether or not former president trump will be here if there is. >> so lisa, just to get this clear so that juror number 3 was told to stay home, so the juror did not arrive at the courtroom. did trump's attorney habba, was she there physically today, or was this called in? >> she was and she wasn't only there physically, jose, she was

there along with mr. madeo, the other attorney who has potentially had a covid exposure, unmasked and flanking former president trump. in fact, at one point trump looked down to consult with habba whispering right in her face, and she, you know, leaned toward him and whispered right back. this is a group of people that if they are fearful that they have covid, their behavior would not indicate a fear of getting others exposed. but i'll also remind you and our viewers, jose, there are a number of people over 70 years old in the courtroom beyond the former president. judge lou kaplan is approximately 79 years old. e. jean carroll, the plaintiff is 80. there are a number of people who for demographic reasons alone have reasons to fear that exposure. >> lisa rubin in new york city for us, thank you so very much. up next, we'll break down the -- >> thanks jose. >> -- the controversy swirling around d.a. fani willis, and whether it could have an impact on her election interference case against donald trump. plus, we'll go back to new

hampshire for a behind the scenes look at which voters nikki haley is targeting to pull away from trump and pull off an upset win. >> i voted for him twice and i was just humiliated when i saw that the guy i voted for, the way he handled himself after he lost. lost their experts replaced my windshield and recalibrated my car's advanced safety system. ♪ acoustic rock music ♪ >> woman: safelite is the one i trust. they focus on safety so i can focus on this view. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪♪ with fastsigns, signage that gets you noticed turns hot lots into homes. ♪♪ fastsigns. make your statement.

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case as part of a controversy surrounding her office. a co-defendant in the trump, georgia, case has accused willis of having an improper relationship with one of her prosecutors, nathan wade. willis appointed wade to oversee the criminal racketeering case against former president trump. with us now, nbc's blayne alexander and glenn kirschner, former federal prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. so blayne, what are we expecting in this hearing today? >> reporter: well, jose, good morning to you. there are going to be two matters that are discussed in today's hearing, the first of which is a motion to unseal the papers in the divorce proceedings in the nathan wade divorce case. why that's relevant is that was a motion brought forth by an attorney for michael roman. he's one of the lesser known trump co-defendants. he's also the person who through his attorney made these allegations of an improper relationship and, more importantly, that fani willis was benefitting financially from this relationship. now, in addition to that, a number of media companies have also signed on saying there is a

public interest in knowing what's in those divorce papers because allegedly they contain some sort of evidence that would back up those claims. that's issue number one. the second issue we expect a judge to hear today is fani willis fighting having to testify in these divorce proceedings. we saw kind of a back and forth of motions last week between fani willis and jocelyn wade, the estranged wife of nathan wade. fani willis saying i don't need to testify. and wade's wife saying, yes, you to. we expect the judge is going to hear that motion to determine whether or not she needs to come forth and testify under oath. >> so glenn, nbc news is reporting the credit card statements say wade purchased plane tickets for himself and willis. is this something that could have any legal implications to it? what's the legal risk here? >> jose, you went right to the operative question. does this have any legal consequences on the prosecution

of donald trump and his 18 co-conspirators, charged co-defendants. this could potentially have an impact in three separate areas or arenas. one, the court of public opinion. and as we all know, there are no recalls of evidence in the court of public opinion. so to the extent this undermines the public's confidence in d.a. willis or the prosecution, she's brought that could present challenges or problems. the second place is really the georgia state bar because if something was done that is inappropriate or perhaps unethical, i'm not saying that there has been something done that was inappropriate. we don't know enough about the evidence yet, but if there's something done that's inappropriate, that's a matter for the georgia state bar. they can open an investigation, hold a hearing, reach a decision, and if something unethical has gone on here, they can decide is there a remedy? is there a sanction that should be applied. but the most important question is really does this impact the legal proceedings? does it prejudice a right of a defendant? does it violate the defendants,

for example, due process rights in some way that is legally significant to the ongoing rico case, and based on what i've seen reported thus far, the answer to that question seems to be no. but the good news is judge mcafee, the presiding judge are has said he'll hold a hearing. he'll let the parties make a record, and then he'll reach some findings and conclusions. his findings won't involve whether d.a. willis did something that was inappropriate. his task is to say, okay, based on what i have discovered during the hearing is there any legal significance? is there any prejudice to the rights of the defendant? and as i say, i'm not seeing it thus far. but let's see what the hearing produces. >> and so glenn, as you're so clearly explaining to us, i mean, there are almost like two separate tracks going on on this. do you think that either d.a. willis or wade could be made to, i don't know, be removed from

this case if going forward they find some evidence or even insinuations of inappropriate or unethical behavior? >> yeah, great question. i think the answer is likely no. i haven't seen anything that would warrant the removal as a matter of law or as a matter of ethics. now, it's a different question, jose, as to whether, you know, this becomes such a story that, for example, d.a. willis decides that maybe the better course is to let attorney wade go as one of the several special counsel that have been hired, all of whom are being paid the same amount. but you know, she'll make that decision, and i think things like attorney wade's prior experience as a judge for a number of years brings some important things to the table and to the team, and i can see why d.a. willis would have added him to the team. but you know, there's a lot of evidence that has to be developed, i think, before we see how this is ultimately going to play out.

>> blayne alexander and glenn kirschner, thank you so much for being with us this morning. up next, republican presidential hopeful nikki haley's bid to win independent voters in new hampshire. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. tg feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley.

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registered voters in the state. they're also the group that nikki haley is relying on to do well there. nbc's shaquille brewster joins us now from peterboro, new hampshire. shaq, what are you hearing from voters today? we're just less than 24 hours away from a big day there. >> reporter: that's right, and you know, we looked into the coalition of voters that nikki haley would need to win to pull off that upset victory. it would have to start in places like peterboro where back in 2016, donald trump under performed what he did statewide, and we found among those who say they're supporting haley, you find what could be described as an unlikely alliance. >> i consider myself a traditional republican. >> 26-year-old joseph muller is planning to vote for nikki haley in tuesday's new hampshire primary. >> policy-wise, i'm more in line with haley. >> reporter: but the law school student and self-described moderate conservative says his support is driven by another

candidate. >> i'm thrilled to be back in the great state o. >> right now nikki haley is clearly the one who has the best chance of defeating trump. >> that's your top priority. >> that's my top priority. >> reporter: the former president leading by double-digit in new hampshire but facing a tougher challenge from his former u.n. ambassador. >> i voted for him twice, and i was just humiliated when i saw that the guy i voted for, the way he handled himself after he lost. >> we need a new generation of conservative leadership. >> reporter: muller is a key part of the coalition of voters haley has been trying to build from conservatives open to a new party leader and anti-trump republicans to undeclared or independent voters who in new hampshire are legally allowed to participate in the republican primary. >> i think she's a strong candidate, and also more moderate without being divisive. >> reporter: multiple polls show haley up double-digits among this group. >> i'm an independent, but i'm going to vote for nikki haley to try to slow trump's momentum.

>> that's the main reason you're supporting nikki haley? >> yes. i wouldn't vote for her in the general. >> reporter: but mr. trump is using her crossover support as a line of attack. >> nikki haley in particular is counting on the democrats and liberals to infiltrate your republican primary. >> reporter: as some new hampshire voters received these mailers and text messages sent by the super pac, primary pivot. >> it's been a hail mary. >> reporter: spending more than $500,000 in recent weeks to convince liberal leaning independents who might otherwise stay home without a competitive democratic primary to back haley. >> donald trump is a threat to democracy. the only way you can stop him is by voting for nikki haley. as much as you might disagree with her. >> reporter: trump's opponents seeing new hampshire as their first last stand and joining haley's biggest supporters in the uphill battle. >> if they do it and vote for nikki haley, they're voting for a candidate that joe biden is more likely to lose to, and so that tells me that they're

coming in with good intentions. >> reporter: and the secretary of state's office says fewer than 4,000 democratic voters switched their party registration ahead of the october deadline. while that is certainly a small amount, if you look back at 2016, it would be the difference between fifth place and a third place finish. jose. >> nbc's shaquille brewster, thank you so very much. joins us now james pindle, former republican congressman carlos curbelo from florida, and victoria defrancesco soto the dean of the clinton school of public service. james, we just heard from voters in new hampshire including a voter who voted for trump twice but says he's going to vote for haley now. what do people need to know about the political makeup of this primary? >> yeah, look, i mean, new hampshire is different than the other states. if there's any state, the early four states of iowa, new

hampshire, south carolina, and nevada, where donald trump could be and always was the most vulnerable, it was here where these other states he's above 50%. here he's always been in the 40s until this past week where he's been above 50%. and part of that is the makeup of this primary. look, independent or undeclared voters, folks who don't declare for republican or democrat, make up 40% of the electorate overall in this state. that's why it's such a big swing state. at the same time, in this particular primary, they can make up closer to 50% of the republican primary tomorrow. probably around 45% or so. and that's been a huge swing, and this is how john mccain was able to win against the last major dominant republican we've seen like this in a primary in 2000. he did it fueled by independents. however, he was doing it with humongous leads over independent over george w. bush. she's only up by 8 points over donald trump, and donald trump is crushing it among

republicans. >> and james, so many questions. you know, polling was pretty spot on for iowa and polling has been so difficult over the last election cycles but in new hampshire it's even more difficult, and i'm thinking what do you see the reason that trump went from being in the 40s to now being in the 50s in just the last week? >> well, a lot of it was vivek ramaswamy. a lot of it was the collapse of ron desantis and a lot of it is the inevitability factor here. donald trump was consistently the number two choice for a lot of these candidates except for the chris christie supporters. and obviously chris christie has something going on here. when he quit he had 13% support, but only half of that is going to nikki haley. we've seen this consistently. the other half not voting. so we have to square something here. on the ground this is not a very exciting primary. this is my seventh presidential primary. there are not that many events.

fewer crowd sizes. but you have to square that with the estimate that there will be a record breaking vote tomorrow, and if that is true, that means these independent or undeclared voters will be fueling that vote. what you've seen in the polling, the reason why they're voting for nikki haley, is they're not voting for nikki haley as shaq found in his piece there. they're voting against trump. >> yeah, and victoria, so let's look at the impact or lack of it in new hampshire of desantis's exit. does this help or hurt haley? does this help trump, even though trump was endorsed by desantis last night? >> well, those numbers that we were just talking about where we saw trump going from the 40s up above the 50 mark, and i think a part of that is the desantis support now moving over to trump, people who were seeing the election results from iowa and saw that, you know, desantis just was not able to come in that dominant second place. so i think you saw a little bit of that trickle going over toward trump, but you know, the

lead that nikki haley or rather the lead that trump has over nikki haley is still insurmountable. it's a two-person race, but it's still one with gargantuan advantage for donald trump. i think the key here is what is that margin? what is the momentum that haley can get as one of the voters was saying earlier. is it something that she's going to have to drop out on wednesday or can she cling on towards wednesday or super tuesday. it's really that margin that we're going to see tomorrow. >> and carlos, nikki haley has been sharpening her attacks on donald trump saying his mental fitness will decline if he's back in the white house. here's just part of what she's said. >> i mean, he claimed that joe biden was going to get us into world war ii. i'm assuming he meant world war iii. he said that he ran against president obama. he never ran against president obama. he said that i'm the one that kept security from the capitol

on january 6th. i was nowhere near the capitol on january 6th, but margaret, you don't be surprised if you have someone that's 80 in office, their mental stability is going to continue to decline. that's just human nature. >> so carlos, what kind of impact do you think that line of attack could have on republican voters? >> well, nikki haley knows this is a make it or break it moment for her. she's doing what almost every republican except chris christie refused to do during this campaign, which is to attack donald trump, to really try to distinguish herself from donald trump. a lot of republicans are probably going to be turned off by this, but they weren't going to vote for nikki haley anyway. those were donald trump voters. what she is hoping to do is convince conservative leaning independents and more centrist and left leaning centrists to come out and support her. this is her last chance, she won the race for second place.

this is what every republican wanted, the opportunity to go up against donald trump one on one. she's going to get it, and now she has to perform. >> so performing in new hampshire critical for nikki haley. i'm just wondering, let's says she performs well after new hampshire. you've got south carolina and on and on and super tuesday and so many of the states, where would a successful new hampshire turnout for nikki haley give her going forward? >> well, here's a path. either win in new hampshire, which would be tough, or come in a close second. give donald trump a real scare. that could give her some momentum going into her home state, south carolina, maybe she can convince some of those people who have voted for her in the past that she would be the best candidate to go up against joe biden. and then super tuesday, jose, there are a number of states where the electorate is more similar to new hampshire than to iowa. so if she remains competitive, you can see a narrow, a very narrow path, but a narrow path for nikki haley to stay in this

race and continue being a significant threat to donald trump. >> james pindle, former congressman carlos curbelo, and victoria defrancesco soto, thank you all very much for being with us this morning. up next, the shooting death of an american palestinian citizens, a teenager in the west bank. we'll play for you why his father says he's holding the u.s. responsible. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. c. complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost.

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today, family members of the hostages still being held by hamas stormed israel's parliament demanding for action to release their loved ones. the group of around 20 people wore shirts and held posters saying "bring them home now." so far, talks to release nor hostages are at an impasse after israel rejected the demand for a fu whdrawal and cease-fire. in gaza, the hamas-run palestinian ministry of health said more than 25,000 people have been killed, more than 63,000 wounded since the war n across the middle east. u.s. forces are on high alert after an american military base was attacked in iraq on saturday, unknown, the number of u.s. personnel being assessed for traumatic brain injuries. joining us from tel aviv is nbc's raf sanchez. i want you to know that on saturday on "nbc nightly news," your story about just the destruction of a family in gaza, so moved many of us.

i just want to thank you for doing the job that you always do. but i know you spoke with the father of a palestinian-american teenager who was killed in the west bank. what did he have to say to you? >> we spoke to a father of a 17-year-old, born and raised in louisiana, but he moved with his family to the occupied west bank last year. that's where they are originally from. and his short life came to an end on friday. his family said he was out barbecuing with friends and was killed by what they say was an israeli settler. now, israeli police have opened an investigation into his death. they are saying that an israeli soldier, an israeli police officer, and an israeli civilian all opened fire because he and his friends were allegedly throwing rocks at a nearby highway. but we went to the scene where he was killed and he was at the

wheel of his truck when he was driving. there were bullet holes in the back windscreen of the truck, so assuming for a moment that it is the case he and his friends wrp throwing rocks, they were shot and killed as they were driving away from the scene. now, when we spoke to his father, he actually carried his son's body out of that bullet-riddled truck, and he told us he was furious not just with israel but also the united states. he is an american citizen himself. he feels that the united states enables israeli violence against palestinians. and i want you to take a listen to a little bit of what he had to say. >> i carried my son out of the truck, shot, two bullets in the head, in the chest. my son was killed. i buried my son today. he was killed in cold blood from weapons that is being sent from my country, from u.s. >> reporter: now, the white

house has expressed concern over the death. they say they want answers from the israeli government. we may hear more about this from the state department later on today. but, jose, the pattern here has pretty consistently been, according to human rights groups, that israeli police rarely prosecute israeli citizens who commit acts of violence against palestinians. and so, this family, not holding out a lot of hope that there is going to be accountability in this case. the world's eyes have been on gaza, but there's been an awful lot of violence in the west bank since october 7th. according to the united nations, more than 300 palestinians have been killed, most of them in confrontations with israeli forces but some also by settlers. >> raf sanchez in tel aviv. thank you. that wraps up the hour for me.

you can reach me on social media. i'm jose diaz-balart. thanks for the privilege of your time. next, andrea mitchell is speaking with mark regev, the senior israeli prime minister to benjamin netanyahu. that starts after a quick break. . so when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right. i scheduled with safelite autoglass. their experts replaced my windshield and recalibrated my car's advanced safety system. ♪ acoustic rock music ♪ >> woman: safelite is the one i trust. they focus on safety so i can focus on this view. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," with ron desantis out of the race,ik