years. like the small city of columbus, indiana. >> i feel like we've kind of hit the cosmic lottery, we're planning, you know, downtown festivals with bands playing and vendors and food trucks. >> belle county, texas, already declaring a state of emergency because its population of nearly 400,000 could double, maybe even triple. >> everything from our first responders to our health care systems, to our fueling stations, to our highways, to our emergency management stations and more, all of these could be strained by the influx of people. >> reporter: the owners of the mint restaurant and bar are looking forward to the economic boom. some resorts offering luxury cosmic themed stays for thousands of dollars. others will get the chance to catch the eclipse from the sky. delta offering a fright from austin to detroit to give onlookers an out of this world

view. priscilla thompson, nbc news. that's going to do it for us this hour. alex witt picks up our coverage on "katy tur reports" right now. ♪♪ good to be with you, i'm alex witt in for katy tur, and from the outside, it looks like things are going pretty okay for donald trump out on the campaign trail. the former president got his wish for the future of the republican national committee. chairwoman ron na mcdaniel announce she will step down next month, making the way for a new slate of leaders to inject the party. things are looking dicey for the gop nomination, after getting battered by the president in her home state of south carolina, one of her top donors announced it is pausing all financial support for her campaign. despite trump's success at the ballot box so far, red flags about his vulnerabilities are starting to pile up.

almost one-third of republican primary voters in south carolina say they would be dissatisfied if donald trump was the nominee in november, and that is according to our nbc news exit polls. and the current fight over reproductive rights unfolding right now could also bite him. republicans are scrambling to distance themselves from last week's ivf decision out of alabama, while democrats are on the attack. how the ruling could motivate voters in joe biden's favor. and looming over everything, as usual, are trump's legal worries. how much time could he spend in course versus on the trail, and how much legal fees will he be forced to handle alone. we've got a lot to cover. joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard and senior writer at "the dispatch" and author of "in trump's shadow," david drucker. bring us up to speed, vaughn, easy win for donald trump. 20 points or so, right, he did that in south carolina.

new issues for funding for nikki haley, is this the nail in the coffin for her campaign? >> the up hill battle we couldn't begin to overstate how much of a mountain she's going to have to climb. it's not just michiganers going to vote tomorrow, 24 different republican electorates are taking part in early voting or mail voting between now and march 19th. those mail ballots are, again, 24 states here, and so tomorrow is the michigan primary, but only 16 of michigan's 55 delegates are actually coming from the primary results. the rest are party activists at a michigan, they will decide the rest of the allotment. i was talking to the gop chair from michigan, he told me he believes that as an activist group, they're full of trump loyalists nikki haley will be lucky if she walks away with any

delegates. and march 5th is super tuesday, more than a dozen republican states, but polling is not faring well for nikki haley. even if she has enough money to continue on with her campaign, the numbers are difficult. >> it sound kind of caucus like, but only for a select few. that is right? >> right. 13 districts, they are caucuses but only the party activists who were delegates before get to take part in that. the couple of million michigan voters going to the polls tomorrow, they're only going to decide in 16 of the 55, and this is where some have criticized the republicans' orientation believe it has been created to help donald trump, and for nikki haley, she says she doesn't care at this point, she's going to continue to at least give republican voters the chance to put, despite what the math looks like. >> through tuesday of next week. she hasn't made much mention beyond super tuesday. >> march 19th is the day the

trump team believes they will hit the delegates needed to hit the nominee. they could wrap this up with 1,215 delegates as soon as march 12th. >> ronna mcdaniel, trump wins on that. he wanted her out. he applauded her ability in michigan seven years ago, sure, but who replaces her? who are these folks, and what's behind them? >> she has a lot of support within the republican national committee and seven years is a pretty good run in the donald trump era for anybody trying to hold on to power. she has been seen as loyal with donald trump. he wanted to go in a different direction with nine months left. he called on michael whatley, rnc chair out of north carolina to step in as chair and his daughter-in-law lara trump. it's the 168 member rnc body

come march 7th and 8th in houston to determine that. any potential challengers have not stepped forward. and drew mckissick, the current number two announced his resignation this morning. right now, before he becomes the presumptive nominee, he's still running the party. >> that's extraordinary, as is this. if lara trump is appointed cochair, donald trump is definitely in a better position to potentially have his legal fees paid for by the committee because she is on record saying all rnc money will go to donald trump but hasn't said anything about how it would be used. you have some exclusive reporting on the efforts inside the rnc to prevent that from happening, so take it away, what do you know? >> a prominent rnc member, henry

barber, he's proposed two resolutions. it's unclear that they will get a vote at the meeting. you need to meet a certain threshold. he's proposed two resolutions, and it's been interesting that henry barber has chosen to be so out front. he's usually a behind the scenes operator. one resolution would bar the rnc from covering the candidate's legal bills or things related to personal dealings. another would preserve rnc neutrality in the presidential primary until trump gets the magic number that vaughn mentioned of 1,215 delegates. it's already a rule. they have been loosy goosy with it over the years, and they're likely to be here. henry barber is trying to preserve some of the rnc's independence from the trump campaign, though it's natural and standard likely for a presumptive nominee to take over the committee, and a president that's in the white house, to

run the committee as though it were his campaign. we'll see if any of this gets anywhere. >> david, in order to preserve that neutrality as you're call ing it, is it important for nikki haley to stay in this race as long as she can? >> i don't think it matters given trump's lead in the polls because the march 5th super tuesday primaries, it's a quasi national primary, and that's where his big lead this national polling versus state polls, all of a sudden becomes very relevant. the way we need to understand what nikki haley is doing is to focus on the voters that keep flocking to her events and the donors that keep giving money, even though they know she has such an up hill climb. with an upstart candidate, by the time they have reached this point, the campaign ends because the money slice dries up and people stop showing up. nobody fills an arena like trump

but very healthy attendance, 5 or 600 a shot. and i was talking to voters about why they were there. they told me they were desperate for mb to carry the message of a sort of more normal, traditional republican party that they were used to that they're not getting from the party that has evolved under trump. they were aware of her long odds. aware she probably wasn't going to get it done, and yet they still wanted her to keep going as long as they could. that's what they were telling me, and i think that tells you a lot about where the party is now as we head into a general election, and some of the challenges for the former president even though he's doing pretty darn well in polling versus joe biden, and clearly doesn't have a problem wrapping up the nomination. >> great point on which to end our discussion. i'm going to start another one. meantime, thank you so much. former adviser to george w.

bush and john mccain, and creator of "the circus" on show time, mark mckinnon. the possibility of lara trump, she's a nuclear trump family member. she'd be working as the number two at the rnc. how unprecedented would that be, especially if trump wins in november? >> i think it's clear what's going to happen and why it's going to happen. trump wants to take complete control not only of the apparatus but more importantly the money. that's what's breaking precedent here. the republican national committee has been to support candidates up and down the ballot. what people like henry barber are concerned about is because of the way he has been handling his legal bills which is to have other people pay for it, trump will likely take those rnc funds, use it for legal expenses and leave nothing for down ballot races and republicans

across the country. that's the problem. >> a big problem. what about for democrats, republicans either don't know how to talk about, let's go to the alabama ivf decision, trump has come out against that ruling. can this only be good for democrats? can it mobilize voters the way dobbs did? are republicans prepared for that if it happens? >> this is another example of the republicans catching the car on the abortion issue. it was great as a political issue. now they have to deal with it as a policy issue. it's head spinning. the double reverse was incredible. head spinning. you have people walk out and support it. a couple of days later, wait a minute, this is supporting life. this is creating more babies. so it was just a great example of how when policy meets politics, and what a cul-de-sac it is for republicans when you realize, you know, where the country really is on these

issues. >> it's interesting, too, because the ag of alabama was saying i'm not going to arrest anybody. it just made the whole thing watered down. we'll see how that shakes out ultimately. we have of course the michigan primary is tomorrow. will tomorrow's outcome influence whether nikki haley stays in the race until the end or at least past super tuesday next week. >> i'm someone who says nikki should keep going, as long as she has gas in the tank. >> she needs the money. >> she's getting money. i know the koch network has dropped out, but, you know, she doesn't have to put on tv ads. she has to keep the apparatus going. it's not that expensive. as long as she has enough money to keep going, she should keep going. everybody who said she could get out early, is saying, she's done a great job, and getting 40% of

the republican voters, which is really a problem for donald trump. as weak as joe biden is, he's winning the primaries he's running in by 90%. trump is winning by 60 because of nikki haley. >> what about heading into swing states, do you see areas where trump would really be in trouble? he has tried to take his win in south carolina as a tremendous victory but the fact is that there were some red flags. independents, nope. anybody who was considering themselves a traditional republican pre-trump era, nope. >> well, let's remember those swing states are swing for a reason. they are vastly represented by independent voters, suburban women. and they were won by small margins. if trump is failing to animate voters the way he did in some of the recent primaries and caucuses, then that's going to be a problem in the swing states. he's going to have really, you know, an animated level support

that we didn't see in south carolina, that we haven't seen in some of these other races. he's winning across the board, but not winning enthusiastically which is what he needs to do in the swing states. still ahead, an nbc news exclusive, what russia is already doing to interfere with the 2024 election. plus, why the former fbi informant at the heart of the biden impeachment inquiry is staying behind embarrass after being arrested for a second time. new detaining surrounding trump's hush money case. why prosecutors are asking for a gag order in the case. i'll give you one reason as to why. we're back in 60 seconds. ck in s in people 60 years and older. it's not for everyone and may not protect all who receive it. don't get abrysvo if you've had an allergic... ...reaction to its ingredients. a weakened immune system may decrease your response. most common side effects are tiredness, headache, injection-site pain and muscle pain. ask about pfizer's abrysvo®. because every breath matters.

prosecutors in manhattan have just filed a new request in the criminal case against donald trump. they're seeking a gag order to prohibit the former president from attacking witnesses and jurors ahead of next month's hush money trial. joining us in the studio, msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin.

with a welcome, what do we know about the reasons for the gag order, and do we have any reaction from team trump? >> i have not heard yet a reaction from team trump. however, the reasons for the gag order are the same reasons that we've seen time and time again in these trump proceedings. this is a person who has a history of making threats oblique or not against participants in his trials, whether they be witnesses or whether they be the lawyers themselves. and in this case, one of the things i found most interesting was that in support of the request for a gag order, they won a gag order that would cover the line prosecutors, meaning not alvin bragg himself but the career people who work for him, and they cited statistics saying in 2022, of all the threats against public finishes, only one was related to their office. by the next year, 89 of them were related to their office and the first came on the same day that trump told the world over social media that he was about

to be indicted. and so they are saying there is no coincidence here. you need to protect the career prosecutors. you need to protect their family members. you need to protect courtroom staff. you need to protect potential witnesses in the case, and most importantly, you need to protect the jurors. trump has a statutory right to know their names in new york city. that makes it difference like the e. jean carroll, the jurors were anonymous to everyone, the lawyers, the parties and the press. >> and judge arthur engoron had threats made against him as well, and needed security for a bit. that said, quickly, with the jurors, he can get names but can he get more information? >> he can't. his lawyers can get addresses, which is typical in new york state. they have asked the judge to block trump from the information relating to their addresses for now, and they said if he behaves in a way that appears to interfere with the jury process or threatens the integrity of

the proceedings, that he should forfeit his right to have their names. what's a time line for this? how long is it expected to go and to what extent is it going to interfere with his ability to campaign? >> he does. when they came for their last hearing in the case, trump's lawyer stood up and said between march 1st, and march 25th alone. there were 42 caucuses and primaries, and therefore there's a real impediment to him having to focus on the case, let alone having to sit in court every day. he will likely have to be there every day for at least six weeks and potentially beyond. >> that's into may. >> yes, it is. >> and this is five days a week or four days a week. >> likely four days a week, not completely that, judge mar chan takes wednesdays off for other matters. we may end early on fridays to account for the fact that there

are some observant jewish lawyers on trump's team. >> the civil fraud ruling of god knows how much money against him considering the fact it goes up every day. and talk about that. does that mean he can stop the interest every day? >> okay. and he hasn't appealed yet. what he filed is a notice of appeal. all it does is put the parties on notice, i am starting this process and from this point on, he has six months to do what's called perfecting the appeal, compiling a brief, compiling the trial record. it also starts the clock. the clock started from the judgment in terms of when he has to obtain a stay. he can not stay enforcement of the judgment without posting an undertaking or a bond. new york state usually requires 100% of the adjustment sometimes more, 120%. the ag's office, the attorney

general of new york state plans to ask for 120% of that judgment. >> you say he has fix months to formally file this appeal. i intend to do this. >> yep. >> is this working into the trump playbook, delay, delay, delay. >> not necessarily. >> this is a case where the standard court rules play into the trump's play book. he's taking advantage o. time line afforded him. what the notice of appeal does is usually a litigant files in tandem with that bond to get the stay of enforcement so that if you owe me $10, you file a notice of appeal and post the $10 month. that means i can't get that $10 from you during the period of your appeal. what trump hasn't done, nor have his codefendants are post an undertaking in order to press pause on the enforcement of that

judgment. >> interest still will be accrued every single day, so the longer he puts off paying this, the more he will have to pay. >> i believe the post judge interest continues to accrue after as well. >> thank you so much. coming up next, we're going to have the former fbi informant charged with fabricating the multimillion dollar bribery scheme at the center of republicans' impeachment inquiry. after federal prosecutors convinced a second judge that alexander smirnov had the means and connections to pose a flight risk if he was allowed to post bail. joining us from los angeles, nbc news correspondent david noriega. welcome. first of all, what more do we learn today? >> reporter: alex, up until now,

smirnov has been a mysterious and shadowy figure. today at this hearing, for example, was the first time we the public got a chance to see what he looks like. now, the judge was pretty straightforward from the beginning ant his intentions to keep smirnov in custody. he dismissed the arguments that smirnov should be treated like a nonviolent offender. something as crude as an ankle bracelet could keep someone like smirnov from fleeing the country. a person with extensive ties to foreign intelligence. prosecutors say, in fact, that some of the alleged lies that smirnov fed the fbi wrp given to him by russian intelligence. they say these intelligence agencies and agents would easily help smirnov flee the country. they did come out after the hearing and give a quick statement to the process about his intentions to appeal this

decision. take a look. >> we were pleased to have had a hearing today, and we made the record we made on the bail issue, and it's our intention to seek relief in the 9th circuit to try and get him out so he can assist in his defense. >> reporter: one last new bit of information we learned about smirnov from today's hearing. the prosecutors said the u.s. marshals opted to arrest him at his lawyer's office rather than at home for his own safety because smirnov owns nine firearms, including an assault rifle. >> wow. that's pretty stunning and gives good reason for that. let me ask you about the u.s. magistrate judge who allowed smirnov to be released from jail before he was re-arrested. why such a difference between the judge in vegas and the judge in l.a. >> the magistrate judge in nevada made the decision to release smirnov on what you

would describe procedural grounds. he acknowledged smirnov was a flight risk, but ral guidelines, ordered him to pose the least restrictive positions. it would be impossible to allow smirnov to go, but positions that would prevent him from fleeing. he did acknowledge, all of the factors that make him a flight risk. the judge in l.a. and las vegas agreed on the substance of the case. the judge in l.a. reached a different legal conclusion. acting in a few days to order marshals to rearrest smirnov and bring him to court today. >> thank you. especially with all the sirens behind you. a new reporting about how close russian opposition leader alexei navalny may have been to freedom days before his death. we have exclusive details about what russia is doing to interfere in our 2024 election. n

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richard engel has more. >> reporter: this is a fascinating story. we haven't been able to confirm it. this according to navalny's camp, his closest associates is why navalny was killed in prison, and they believe that he was assassinated in that penal colony in siberia. they say it was a deal that vladimir putin was working on with the west, a prisoner exchange that he went back on. and the details of this alleged deal are the following. navalny was arrested, he was in this penal colony, and negotiations were underway to exchange navalny and two unnamed americans which presumely could be evan gershkovich and paul whelan, two americans and navalny in exchange for a russian hitman, a russian military operative who's in a

prison in germany for killing a chechnyaen leader in 2019. and vladimir putin through these intermediaries was going to have this exchange but that in the 11th hour, right as the deal was supposed to go to its next stage, it was in the final stages, that's when alexei navalny suddenly and mysteriously died in prison. and what navalny's team is saying is that this was putin's attempt to put the name of the operative out there, to get the west to agree in principle that they would be willing to free him from this german prison in exchange for navalny. putin decided he didn't want to do that. he didn't want navalny out, he personally hated him too much, and therefore decided to have him eliminated after he achieved the idea or concept that his

operative could be freed from a german prison. german authorities have responded saying they can't confirm this. nbc news has not been able to confirm this and the kremlin has denied it. >> richard, thank you so much for that. let's go to an exclusive nbc news report. russia has begun interfering in the 2024 election. according to former u.s. officials and cyber experts, moscow has been using fake online accounts and bots to damage president biden's campaign. joining us now is nbc news national security reporter, dan de luce. tell us about the tactics, the russians are using to target our elections and particularly president biden. >> it is a continuation of what we saw beginning eight years ago, which is russia trying to influence the outcome of a u.s. election. in this case, they're using fake social media accounts and bots which we've seen before, but the real concern now is a deep fake

audio using artificial intelligence or video that would dupe or deceive voters or election officials and the other concern is the repeat tactic we saw in 2016, where they famously stole hacked information from the democratic party leadership and then leaked it, which was, you know, meant to damage hillary clinton's campaign, and of course everyone in the u.s. and outside of the government says russia has a strong incentive to try to undermine joe biden's reelection campaign and the democrats because they want to undermine u.s. support for ukraine. and undermine u.s. solidarity with the nato alliance, and they tried to interfere in the midterms in 2022. >> i'm curious how will or how can the u.s. respond differently this election time? because if you think about it, this has already been done, not that we're pinning it on the

russians for having done it, but in previous primaries, you know there were those ai robocalls that went out, mimicking president biden's voice, saying the weather's bad, don't go out to vote today. we're going to extend voting for tomorrow. so that went out and that means some voters may have paid attention to that. >> that's right. and there's unfortunately no magic bullet here, and on top of that all, our election system is decentralized. there isn't a magic bullet here where you can detect quickly deep faked audio or video. sometimes it takes some time to figure out, okay, this is fake, and can you convince enough voters in time of the truth, and already we saw a deep fake audio in slovakia, and elections there in september. and a sort of pro western, pro nato party lost the election and there was a fake audio that came out two days before the election that made it sound like one of the party leaders was, you know,

plotting to rig the election. it was completely false, but that gives you an idea of what we're dealing with. by the way, we should say the national security adviser, jake sullivan was asked about russian attempts to interfere in this year's election on "meet the press" and here's what he had to say about that. i can't speak to evidence today. of course there are concerns. there's a history here in presidential elections by the russian federation, by its intelligence services and there's plenty of reason to be concerned, and this is not about politics. this is about national security. >> so there you have it, very much white house acknowledging this is a problem, and something they're really focusing on. and also, he clearly was not ready to discuss the evidence because it's classified. >> understandably so, then. dan, appreciate that. we're going to michigan 24 hours before the closely watched presidential primary, we're

going to talk to voters about a trump-biden rematch. >> i don't know. i just don't think either of them are the right people to be running the country right now. g. nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. ask about nurtec odt. always dry scoop before you run. listen to me, the hot dog diet got me shredded. it's time we listen to science. one a day is formulated with key nutrients to support whole body health. one a day. science that matters.

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"overflowing with ideas and energy." that's the san francisco chronicle endorsing democrat katie porter for senate over all other options. porter is "easily the most impressive candidate." "known for her grilling of corporate executives." with "deep policy knowledge." katie porter's housing plan has "bipartisan-friendly ideas to bring homebuilding costs down." and the chronicle praises "her ideas to end soft corruption in politics." let's shake up the senate. with democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. the economy is simply not working for millions of hard working families. with democrat katie porter. they're working harder than ever and they still can't make enough to get by to afford food and medicine to even keep a roof over their heads. we need to build more housing that's truly affordable. we need to address this terrible epidemic of homelessness. we need to invest in good paying jobs, union jobs and investments in our future. this, this is why i'm running for the us senate. i'm adam schiff and i approve this message.

tomorrow's michigan primary is the last before super tuesday, though we are still months away from the general election, a trump-biden rematch seems inevitable for many voters and that is prompting mixed reviews from voters in one critical county in a key swing state. joining us now from kent county,

michigan, nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster. shaq, with a welcome, what are you hearing about all of this from voters? >> reporter: hi there, alex, i'm hearing a lot of dissatisfaction when voters look at the two men who have been winning their respective primary processes. we're talking about donald trump and joe biden, and we talk about the voters here in this county, a county that has been a swing county in recent cycles. it's one that if you look at ten years ago, it was a reliably republican county. but in 2016, donald trump barely won it by about 3 percentage points but in 2020, joe biden flipped not just kent county but the state of michigan, so we talked to voters here about that likely match up that they're seeing, and listen to how they have been putting it to us. do you plan on voting in it? >> probably. >> reporter: what's the hesitation? >> i'm not super excited about our choices. >> i think, yeah, it's not going

to end well i think is what people -- >> reporter: no matter who wins? >> yeah, yeah. >> reporter: joe biden is president right now, why has he not earned your support yet in this primary? >> i feel like he doesn't represent, like, the common people, necessarily. like i would like somebody a little bit more relatable, i guess. especially the age thing is a huge deal to me. i wish we could have someone a little bit younger. >> reporter: and switching back over to the republican primary, it's that sentiment that you heard there that nikki haley is trying to tap into, when she goes and talks about donald trump, she links him to joe biden and says, look, you don't like either of these candidates, and if donald trump is the nominee, she says, that republicans will lose in november. the problem is, and you were having this conversation at the beginning of your hour is that as these contexts continue to go on, and as we see donald trump continue to hit and exceed 50%,

it becomes increasingly difficult for nikki haley to really stop his momentum, and that's why you have vote, analysts, politicians, leaders in this state, and really across the country, seeing what is likely to be that match up between joe biden and donald trump, alex. >> can i ask you quickly, though, is there a sense of pragmatism, do you say, look, it's in all likelihood going to be biden and trump, does that inspire them to not vote because they don't want either? >> reporter: many people who don't want to talk on camera tell me, they might sit out this election because they're not inspired by the two candidates. the big thing to consider here is that we have a whole campaign to go. we're still in the primary process. you haven't seen these two candidates really going after one another because they're dealing with shoring up their support in their respective

parties. there's a lot to be had. there's a lot of money to be spent, television ads that need to come up, campaigning that needs to be done, but when you talk to voters about what they're seeing now, you hear that dissatisfaction in their options and it's up to the candidates to do what they can to change it. >> 24 hours and then just a few to the end of the election. up next, we'll go live to israel with new details on the plan to evacuate refugees from rafah ahead of israel's planned attack on the city. we are just days away from another potential government shutdown. we've got new reportings about a high stakes meeting at the white house tomorrow. house tomorrow th meds. and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. i felt like my movements were in the spotlight. #1-prescribed ingrezza is the only td treatment for adults that's always one pill, once daily. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on most mental health meds.

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exclusively lowes, ace, and ego authorized dealers. today in qatar, mediators are pushing for a cease fire deal. hamas leader met with the ruling qatar in hopes of finding an immediate and permanent truce. israeli representatives confirmed they will join talks in qatar later on this week, though threats to invade rafah continue. rafah is home to the largest refugee camp for palestinians fleeing the war, 1.4 currently sheltering in the southern gaza city. the u.s. has warned the damage could be catastrophic if it were invaded. joining us now, raf sanchez, joining us from tel aviv. raf, welcome. we have been close to cease fire deals for months now. what do these talks in qatar

look like? >> reporter: a lot of stops and starts. here's where we're at. hamas's political leader is in qatar. the qataris, who have been the main mediators, trying to sell him on a framework hammered out between the u.s., israel, qatar and egypt. we have been here before. those four countries getting together, agreeing the broad contours of a deal amongst themselves and when they show it to hamas, very major gaps continue to remain. not clear at this point what hamas's response is, but an israeli official did say over the weekend that hamas had softened some of its demands, but that there was still a long way to go to get to a deal. >> okay. and then remember a couple of weeks so it does work both ways. but how do the threats of a rafah invasion affect negotiations for a truce, to what extent do they play into this? >> well israeli striking, prime minister netanyahu saying over the weekend, if a deal is

reached he's prepared to delay an attack on rafah. but he's still determined to go into that city once the cease-fire expires, as you said, some 1.4 million palestinians shellering there. the u.s. very concerned but this is how netanyahu explains his position. take a listen. >> it will be delayed somewhat. but it will happen. if we don't have a deal, we'll do it any way. and it has to be done. because total victory is our goal and total victory is within reach. not months away, weeks away, once we again the operation. >> reporter: now, the white house has said consistently for weeks that it opposed any israeli military offensive in rafah without what it calls a credible plan to get those million plus palestinians out of way. we've been asking the israeli government, do you have a credible plan, two israeli officials tell nbc news they will allow palestinian civilians

to go north to cities like han unis, but not the northern half of the gaza strip, will not allow them to go to gaza city. jake sullivan said on sunday on "meet the press," israel has not seen the proposed plan so we don't know at this point whether it meets the bench marks set by the white house. >> thank you for that last comment because i was about to ask. thank you so much. up next, congress has just five days to avert a partial government shutdown. what we know about getting a deal passed just under the deadline. passed just under the deadline we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want, when they want it.

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unless congress acts very quickly, a partial government shutdown is coming at the end of the week before funding to for the rest of the government rups out on march 8th. the house won't be back until wednesday. however speaker mike johnson said he has a plan to get it all done before friday's deadline. joining us now, nbc news political reporter sawhill capper, and what is the likelihood it will work by midnight friday. >> reporter: well to the first point, the speaker strategy is to try to finalize a deal with democrats that most of the republican members could live with or at least won't spark this kind of open revolt that cost kevin mccarthy his job last

fall over this exact same issue. he's in the lead up to this pointing out that they don't control the white house and they'll have to settle for single and doubles, that there won't be home runs and grand slams on this front. a few things to remember going forward, fir is the ticking clock. he wants to give 72 hours to read any piece of legislation. that means he has to get something ready by tomorrow or he won't get the ball rolling in time for the buzzer. the funding levels in this government funding package have been agreed to for some time. the lingering dispute are the policy addition, speaker johnson is seeking demands to add things that the senate won't accept and he does not want to shut the government down because nobody wins, instigators always lose. he's been around long enough to know that. he also doesn't want a stop-gap bill. this continuing resolution that

congress has done three times sin last fall, because they can't get a deal. but johnson has not ruled out the idea of resorting to another stopgap if it ends up coming down to it and they don't have another option. now the senate is expecting the house to go first because that would speed up the process. there was some back and forth yesterday when chuck schumer said house republicans have a penchant for chaos and they were hoping to get this done yesterday but republicans are still a mess and can't seem to sort themselves out. mike johnson shot back and accused chuck schumer of playing petty politics to try to get those done. if funding runs out, alex, part of the government that shut down include the department of ag and housing and urban development and transportation. there will be real consequences. >> to i ask you if a cr is getting there. it is a matter of pinging back and forth between chambers. i have about 30 seconds. >> it is plausible. that is what they've done three

times since last september. the house would go first. it would require two-thirds of the majority in the house and then go to the senate where it would need a speedy vote. anyone in the senate could slow down the speedy vote to we're looking at a possibility of a shutdown because congress as it tends to do has left this to the last minute. >> i know. every single time. it is friday night at midnight and then saturday morning. let's hope not. thank you so much for that. and that is going to do it for me this day and we have some great news to end this hour on. nicolle wallace is back. which means "deadline: white house" starts right now. ♪♪ hello there, everybody. it is 4:00 in in new york, i miss saying that. it is so, very, very good to be back with you. we begin with breaking news in what is now set to be the first ever criminal trial of a former president of theni