good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart along side my colleague ana cabrera. breaking news in one of donald trump's legal cases. moments ago, nbc news learned donald trump posted a bond of over $91 million in the e. jean carroll case, just days before it was due on monday. >> let's get right to msnbc legal analyst glen kirschner and our correspondent lisa rubin on the phone. lisa, first, what do we know, what can you report? >> this morning, ana, alina habba, one of trump's lawyers, the lead lawyer in the e. jean carroll case, filed a motion with the court to post a bond in the amount of $91 million and 630,000 as well. that represents the total amount that would be required to obtain a stay, pending appeal, in this case. the judgment as you will recall was $83.3 million, usually a defendant has to post more than

100% of that to obtain the 630 necessary to protect the person who won as the case goes through appeal. but at this point, what trump has done, by posting this bond, is to prevent e. jean carroll from taking any steps to collect that judgment from him, because it is essentially going to be in an escrow account for her protection as he pursues his appeal of the judgment in this case. >> what is your reaction to that? this is now money that is in an escrow as lisa was saying? >> i think the good news is that miss carroll will have a pot of money, assets that can be paid out to satisfy the judgment at the end of the appeal in the event donald trump loses the appeal i will add parenthetically the overwhelming majority of appeals are usually rejected. the trial court iccally affirmed on appeal. donald trump put up cash in first case. $5.5 million to perfect his right to appeal.

this time around, he put up a bond. i think the natural question is who is the insurer? who is the person who stepped up and said, you know what, in substance, donald trump is good for it, in the event he loses the appeal? so i think these are some of the questions that will be looking to have answered in the coming days. >> and, glen, we have an answer to that question of who put up the bond. the source of the bond we're learning is federal insurance company, a corporation authorized to transact business in new york. they're based in chesapeake, virginia and new jersey, they appear to be a subsidiary of trump insurance company. we can tell you also that the document is signed by donald trump so that's where he got the bond. i do wonder, glen, what does this mean for his other case, where he owes over $400 million following the verdict in the civil fraud trial? >> yeah, you would think 80 or 90 -- or 800, $900 million or 80 or $90 million in the e. jean

carroll case sounds like a staggering amount until we turn to the next civil judgment he lost, totalling around half a billion dollars and that's coming due in a couple of weeks. we'll have to see if donald trump has a bondsman, an insurance company willing to put up that kind of money so he can perfect his appeal. what it tells me if he secured a legitimate bond for this case, and it sounds like he did, he many have some unencumbered assets, real property, real estate somewhere that is worth enough and is not mortgaged to the hilt that is worth enough to kind of cover this bond and that gives the insurer, the bondsman, a comfort level that if he loses the appeal that money will be there at the end of the day. >> and, lisa, let's talk about that, these are, as you say, staggering numbers. but in a bond process, what does, in this case, trump have to give, how much, and what are the agreements that they have to get to do get that kind of money? >> well, you know, jose, that

process is not transparent to us at this point. but, what we know from "the new york times" reporting from talking to bonds people, typically in new york a person trying to obtain a bond like this gives somewhere between 1% to 3% of the judgment in cash but then pledge collateral. not only must donald trump have some unmortgaged properties, but they have to be worth in excess of that $91.63 million judgment -- bond amount, to make it worth the while for the person issuing the bond here. i expect that trump would have had to pledge collateral that is otherwise unencumbered, meaning nobody else has a mortgage or a lien that would take priority. i also want to add one other thing, if i can, in terms of the bond that would be due and the new york attorney general's case, on monday, the attorney general's office has a brief due

to oppose a motion trump has to obtain a bond there. i'm sorry, to obtain a stay there without having to post a bond. one reason he may have tried delaying posting a bond in the attorney general's case, he didn't want them to know he has the means necessary to obtain a bond. he asked the appeals court in new york to lower the amount of the bond to $100 million or less. that will be a substantially harder argument for him now that he has posted a bond in the e. jean carroll case and shown he can access financing where it calls for in other cases. >> this $91.6 million is in escrow pending the appeals process. so, at what point timeline-wise, when does e. jean carroll actually see the money? >> yeah, great question. this is where things can bog down. our appellate courts generally, it holds true for appellate courts handling criminal cases

and handling civil cases, are overburdened. you could use more judges appointed to handle the flood of appeals that appellate courts in all jurisdictions have to handle each year. so, you know, what i will expect to see now is the court setting a briefing schedule, where both parties pill have to file their briefs and their oppositions, the court will then likely set an oral argument schedule, though an oral argument is not necessary on appeal. sometimes the appellate court judges can resolve the case on the papers as they say, just on the written court filings. but, you know, this is something that could take months or i'm afraid to say it could even take a year or more to work its way through the appellate court system. >> lisa rubin and glen kirschner, thank you so very much for being with us this morning. especially on this breaking news at this hour. turning now to our special coverage of president biden's state of the union address, we heard a fiery call to action from the president last night, who demanded lawmakers pass a

bill to make major reforms to our immigration system. >> and that president really zeroed in on his administration's negotiations, with a bipartisan group of senators that fell flat. >> the result was a bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we have ever seen. you don't think so? oh, you don't like that bill, huh? that conservatives got together and said was a good bill? i'll be darned. that's amazing. that bipartisan would hire 1,500 more security agents and officers, 100 more immigration judges to help tackle the back load of 2 million cases, 4,300 more asylum officers and new policies to resolve cases in six months instead of six years now. [ cheers and applause ] >> you see james lankford there, the republican senator who worked so hard on that bill, nodding along and saying it's

true. joining us now, nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake, and nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley, susan page, washington bureau chief at usa today, and victoria difrancesco soto, the dean of the clinton school of public service at the university of arkansas. she's also an msnbc contributor. thank you, all, for being with us. >> indeed. julia, how did the president's comments square with the reality that is at the border? >> reporter: well, what he is saying about what is needed, jose, is absolutely true. a lot of the numbers, the very high numbers we saw in december have come down. now they're looking at between 5,000 and 7,000 undocumented migrants apprehended at border every day. when the numbers start to come back up as they often do, as you get into the early spring and summer months, they are at an extreme budget short fall. i just talked to the commissioner of customs and border protection on the border in arizona who said they can't even continue the status quo.

and what biden is doing is saying that if things get chaotic, which they very well could, this isn't on him, this is on republicans who stalled on that bill. because not only were they not able to change the policies to be able to raise the bar on asylum, and be able to fast track people through the process as he said going from something like a six-year wait for a court date to six months, they will now have fewer people there to actually make the arrests and put people into that process in the first place because they're looking at budget short falls. i.c.e. alone has a $500 million budget short fall starting in may and they may have to release people from detention. what he pushed republicans on later on in the speech, they're taking their tips not from their own leader, but someone who isn't elected to lead this country at this present moment anyway and that's donald trump and he pushed them on that. it is something we heard time and time again from republicans last night, leading up to the speech as well as after. that they don't think that the

president has any sort of authority when it comes to the border anymore, so they're simply not going to follow him in any direction he wants to lead. as a result, jose, we're going to see this issue continue to be top of mind for voters, and continue to play out in some pretty dramatic ways along the border. >> as you say, julia, this is not an issue that is going away anytime soon. the fact that you're saying that about 5 to 7,000 daily encounters is a lower process than it was just in december tells you that this is a situation that continues and will continue down the line. >> yeah, that's right. and they don't get more people to make the hiring, he laid out the numbers that the bill would have allowed, they're now going to not only be able to improve things as he hoped under the bill, things can get much worse because they will simply have not enough people to stay in those positions and then numbers could rise as you get into those

summer months. basically, it is something republicans have taken a gamble on saying that is something we'll place on the president -- that's something we'll place on the president, but not on us. and biden is trying to flip that narrative. that's a big reason, by the way, we understand that the white house did not come out with executive action ahead of state of the union. they don't want to lose that narrative. now, executive action could be coming later this month, or in the next few weeks, but what we do understand is that this is something that biden says will barely be a drop in the bucket. officials working on this is a what they really needed was that bipartisan bill. >> yeah, and the president obviously taking this issue head on, even though it is an issue that republicans have seen as their strength. now, the president is getting some criticism from democrats for using the word illegal to describe an undocumented migrant. here's how that came about. >> laken riley, an innocent young woman who was killed, by an illegal, that's right. but how many of thousands of people being killed by illegals?

to her parents, i say, my heart goes out to you having lost children myself. i understand. but, look, if we change the dynamic at the border, people pay people, people pay these smugglers 8,000 bucks to get across the border because they know if they get by, if they get by, and let into the country, it is six to eight years before they have a hearing. >> congressman chewy garcia saying he was extremely disappointed to hear the president use that word illegal. congressman castro saying the rhetoric president biden used tonight was dangerously close to language from donald trump that puts a target on the backs of latinos everywhere. victoria, what did you make of that moment? >> well, let me take a step back and focus on who the audience for the state of the union was. it was democrats, it wasn't the middle, it wasn't trying to reach across the aisle, so in having that in mind, president biden is trying to appeal to two

wings of the democratic party. that very progressive wing that would, you know, as we saw repels the term illegal, but the more moderate wing that is frustrated with immigration feels like the president is not doing enough, so that was kind of a wink for that end of the democratic party, but then if we hear the rest of the speech, we know he says we're going to reject any language that talks about immigrants poisoning the blood of our country and rejecting that other rhetoric that we hear donald trump using. he is trying to have it both ways. it is going to be a tough walk for him throughout the campaign. it is trying to reconcile both of these concerns within the democratic party about immigration. >> garrett, how are other lawmakers reacting to what we heard from the president on the issue of immigration and border

security? >> i think democrats are quite pleased the president was able to put republicans on the back foot about the border bill. democrats were on defensive almost since day one of the biden presidency and that's not what you saw there last night. you saw the president saying, essentially, this is republicans' problem to solve here. that nodding two-second shot of james lankford agreeing with the president on that point could be put into campaign ads suggesting that democrats are there with solutions, republicans are there only with rhetoric. i think there was a pretty good sign of relief among democrats that the president framed the issue this those terms. republicans on the other hand, are making the point that joe biden brought up the issue of immigration something like 40 or 41 minutes into the speech, suggesting that to him it is a low priority. stylistically, i suppose, but the meat was there and the political effort to flip this around as an attack on republicans is something that democrats are going to embrace as this campaign heats up.

>> susan, here is the part that victoria referenced where president biden really tried to contrast himself with trump on this issue. let's take a listen. >> i will not demonize immigrants saying they are poisoning the blood of our country. i will not separate families. i will not ban people because of their faith. unlike my predecessor in my first day of office, i have bills to fix the immigration system, take a look at it as all these and more, secure the border, provide a pathway to citizenship for dreamers and so much more. >> susan, how do you think this message we heard last night will resonate with voters? >> so, clearly distancing himself with the harshest rhetoric that donald trump used.

he mentioned that his comprehensive immigration bill at the beginning of his administration submitted on day one included a pathway to citizenship. but the current proposals talk about securing the border and the legislation he backed did not include a pathway to citizenship for dreamers and others. so he's trying to move on immigration, but he's trying to make the point that his approach, his rhetoric and policies do not go as far as donald trump did during his presidency. >> and, garrett, the republican response delivered by senator katie britt from alabama, what did we hear from her on that? >> yeah, senator britt leaned in. republicans felt like that's the best issue for them to use in attacking joe biden, trying to suggest he doesn't care or the administration needs to be doing more that they're perhaps actively abetting a crisis at the border. i'll play for you her leaning in on that talking point. >> president biden's border

policies are a disgrace. this crisis is despicable. and the truth is it is almost entirely preventable. there are empty chairs tonight at kitchen tables just like this one because of president biden's senseless border policies. >> former president trump praised senator britt's performance on his social media platform, but the stylistically there have been a lot of questions about that on twitter, from the right, from republicans, who felt like that response last night didn't fit the bill that republicans needed. as you know, the response to the state of the union is probably one of the most politically fraught jobs in politics. very hard to do well. senator britt taking some heat for performance elements of her response last night. >> a 17-minute response from her kitchen table. victoria, was senator britt an effective messenger? >> i think she was trying to connect with families, humanize

the victims and, again, this is something that we saw play out in the 2016 election where the victims of these horrible crimes were brought to life. what bothered me so much was saying, okay, this is a despicable situation, which i agree with, suddenly appeared in the last three years. this is an issue that goes back 30 years. we haven't really had a fix to immigration since 1986. and it has been a big problem for a long time, and it just keeps growing. so i think that lack of context, this is a big problem, not just a biden problem. >> think about that, victoria, what she just said. there hasn't been immigration reform since 1986 when president reagan was in the white house. tarzan boy was the big hit. climbing the charts. 1986. nothing since. garrett haake, julia ainsley,

susan page and victoria difrancesco soto, thank you. up next, biden's remarks defending and criticiing israel. >> and we'll talk to congressman gregory meeks. you're watching special coverage here on msnbc. you're watching se here on msnbc. i know what it's like to perform through pain. if you're like me, one of the millions suffering from pain caused by migraine, nurtec odt may help. it's the only medication that can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks. treat and prevent, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. relief is possible. talk to a doctor about nurtec odt.

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temporary peer in the mediterranean on the coast of gaza that can receive large shipments, water, food, medicine, temporary shelter. no u.s. boots will be on the ground. a temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into gaza every single day. >> that was president biden last night, where he addressed his plans now to open a pier in gaza to deliver more humanitarian aid and the growing concerns about potential famine there. we're now just two days away from the start of the muslim holy month of ramadan on sunday. >> joining us from tel aviv is raf sanchez. what has been the reaction there to the president's speech? >> reporter: so, jose, ana, we heard from the israeli government, they say they welcome the president's plan to build that temporary pier off the coast of gaza to get more humanitarian aid in. they say they welcome any international effort to get food into gaza. we have heard just in the last

couple of minutes from doctors without borders, though, they are calling this plan a glaring distraction and they say what the u.s. really needs to be focused on is pressuring israel to ease restrictions on aid both getting into gaza and on the distribution of aid once it is inside. now, the details of this plan remain pretty slim at this point. this is our understanding. the aid would be loaded on to ships in cyprus, israeli officials would inspect the aid there, it would sail across the mediterranean, reaching this american-built temporary pier. not totally clear how it gets off the pier and into gaza, who is going to supervise the distribution of aid from there. also not clear how long it is going to take to get this pier set up. the european union says it is going to try a trial run, sending a single spanish ship from cyprus to gaza over the weekend. but we are also, guys, following some potentially tragic news out

of gaza today, the civil defense authority is basically the fire department in gaza is saying that five people were killed when a parachute in one of those aid drops malfunctioned. the aid came crashing down into a refugee camp in northwest gaza, apparently killing five people. nbc news has not independently veriied that, but if it is true, it is the most bitter of ironies that aid dropped from the sky intended to save lives instead caused death on the ground. and as we heard from humanitarian organizations over the last couple of weeks, these aid drops, they help somewhat, but they really are no substitute for the kind of large scale aid coming in by trucks or president biden hopes coming in by sea. >> raf sanchez, thank you so very much. joining us now is democratic congressman gregory meeks of new york. he is the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee and congressman, thank you for being with us.

before we dig into the foreign policy discussion last night, i just wonder after you had a chance to process everything we heard last night, what really sticks with you from the president's address? >> what sticks with me is a number of things, number one, we started out because of the urgency of getting aid to ukraine. every day that goes by is a day that is lost to try to make sure that the ukrainians have what they need to defend themselves. i also thought what was important that the president talked about what he has done, first he talked about the situation where he became president. the condition that the world was in, but the greatest pandemic that we have seen and what that did to economies around the world. and what had to be put in place to preserve what we needed to do in the united states and with our economy. how far we have come from that, that we don't stay down, we get back up. and as a result of the work that the president put in along with members of congress, that we

were able to now have an economy that is benefiting people, that continued to grow, you see that inflation is going down, unemployment is down, and we have the strongest economy in the world. and that is undisputed. that's the facts. i had chairman powell before the finance and services committee testify to just that fact. and then to talk about not only what he's done in the past, what we have done in a bipartisan way, creating various -- passing various bills from the bipartisan infrastructure act and the chips act and the pack act and i could go on and on, but what his vision is for the future and what is left to do and what we -- and how he intends to do it to make america more educated society, giving people an opportunity to do that, creating more jobs in america, more manufacturing jobs that you don't have to have a college education and then talking about who he is. so he really brought in, i think, and talked about the

significance of who he is, we know him, what he has done, and what's going to happen in the future. that's what you want to hear at the state of the union address. >> what is your reaction to republicans who say it was an overly partisan speech? >> because they couldn't refute the facts. so when you can't refute the facts, you say something else. they say it is partisanship. if it was something he was saying that was not factual, you would have seen him talking about, well, check this and this is not correct, and then you would have that debate. so when you can't refute the facts, and when you look at how the president compared himself to who their candidate is, you can't argue. you can't argue. you know who joe biden is. but you also know who his opponent is. and they can't argue those facts. look at what he's doing today. he said he wanted, you know, he's hanging out with basically a dictator, that's who he's

inviting to mar-a-lago. he talked about on day one he might want to be a dictator for a year. he talked about how what he's doing even to the republican party because, you know what, i think the republican party needs to be renamed. he's putting in all his family members to control, so it is the trump and family party. not the republican party anymore. and if you listen to most of the individuals who were sitting in that audience, from the so-called -- or the old republican party, they're not there anymore, or want to be part of it, they couldn't say anything. so it is -- it was really eye opening to see what was taking place and a number of my colleagues who say that they're moderates, if you don't do anything to stand up, to do what the president was talking about for everyday americans, you as maga, as all of those that claim that they're magas, waving maga paraphernalia. >> this is more of a pattern of what leaders in the united

states tend to ignore, which is what is going on in latin america. haiti, i'm thinking what is going on there, elections this summer in mexico, venezuela is having all kinds of different crises with maduro, essentially saying he's the only one running for president. isn't it important that sometimes we mention our neighbors to the south? what is going on in latin america, what is going on in haiti? >> it is critical. and i can tell you right up and during, right before the president walked in to the chamber for the state of the union, i was on the phone with members of the biden administration, talking about the haiti situation, and we have been going back and forth in regards to haiti for the last week. and figuring out how do we work this out together. i've been talking to the administration and trying to figure out how do we work and deal with the crises in venezuela because it affects all of our allies, colombia, brazil, the caribbean, all countries

surrounding it, the chaos that is taking place there and how we can make a difference. it is so hard, though, to talk about everything or to get everything in, in the time you have at the state of the union. and because of the urgency of what was taking place, bills that have already been proposed that can get on the floor, right now that are being denied or blocked by the maga republicans and speaker johnson, that's why he was focused. and we need to talk about now and focus on, for example, the republicans are holding up some of the funds that are needed for haiti and haiti security right now. i was negotiating and talking about that with some of the republicans on the floor, during the state of the union. right before the state of the union, which is tremendously important. you're right, these are our neighbors. and this -- and you talk about, you know, immigration, and migrants trying to come in, if we don't do something about haiti, something about venezuela, then it does not help

the migrant crisis. >> those are the push factors. what is happening in those countries that are -- it is so horrible and devastating to families that they're seeking to escape for the promise or the hope of a better life. >> feel they have no option. >> life or death. >> congressman gregory meeks, thank you for being with us. appreciate your time. >> thank you for having me. president biden talked about reproductive rights. but there was one key word he didn't say once. we'll tell you what that is next. you're watching special coverage right here on msnbc. re coverage right here on msnbc - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these guys are intense. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk.

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37 past the hour. welcome back. in his state of the union address, president biden didn't shy away from mentioning his age, which is still a concern for some voters. >> i may i may not look like it, but i've been around a while. when you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever. i know the american story. hate, anger, revenge, retribution, are the oldest of ideas. you can't lead america with ancient ideas that only take us back. we lead america, the land of possibilities, you need a vision for the future, and what can and should be done. >> joining us now brendan buck,

an msnbc political analyst. and danielle moody, the co-host of "the democracyish podcast." between what we heard there, biden acknowledging his age, his energetic delivery last night, does this move the needle at all with voters' concerns? >> i think it absolutely moves the needle. joe biden showed up and showed out last night in a way that i think that democrats needed. we needed to be energized in a really big way and he did just that. i think by making jokes about his age, but also talking about his experience, that is what the american people needed to hear and i think that it absolutely moved the needle. >> and, brendan, he took so many issues head on, directly. something we hadn't quit frankly seen for some time. the economy, an issue where the president has struggled in the past to make gains with voters, the daily information shows one thing. look at the numbers this morning. but many voters feel another way. last night he called out companies raising prices to pad profits or things like food and

travel. this is something you think that could work? >> i think absolutely it will work. sorry, go ahead. >> sorry. >> that's okay. i think he has to do something, right? inflation is the challenge he's facing and your tools as president are somewhat limited to do that. this is largely something handled by the federal reserve. my honest reaction is that it feels a little small, and it feels a little petty to talk about the size of bags of chips. but, you can't just ignore it. so i imagine that they have to do something and that's probably how this ended up becoming one of their headline items this year. >> so, danielle, president singled out the supreme court for overturning roe v. wade. listen to this. >> look, the decision to overturn roe v. wade, the supreme court majority wrote the following. and with all due respect, justices, women are not without electoral -- electoral power,

excuse me, electoral or political power. you're about to realize how much you -- >> and, danielle, while the president talked about reproductive rights, he never actually said the word abortion. how do you see his approach as a campaign strategy? >> well, i will tell you that no president has ever called out the supreme court to their face, and this president absolutely did, and needed to. the favorability of the supreme court is in the toilet and rightfully so because the decisions that they have made over the past couple of years has put america back 40 and 50 years, behind the rest of what we consider to be democracies around the world. and so i think that that was important. does it matter that joe biden says the word abortion? yes, i do, i think it matters and he should say it. is that what is going to get women and people with uteruses to the polls?

no. they know what has been taken away. >> everybody, stay with us. we want to go to our peter alexander, chief white house correspondent, who just interviewed the vice president. what did she have to say, peter? >> reporter: we'll play the interview in large portion tonight on "nbc nightly news," a series of key takeaways, specifically to president trump's call for president biden to debate him anyplace, anytime, anywhere. i asked the vice president whether president biden will commit to debating the former president, now the likely republican challenger. she said, basically, that there hadn't been a decision made yet, that would be up to the president and his team. i asked her if she would commit to a debate, she said her focus for the moment was very much on the state of the union last knight. as it related to questions about the president's age, she felt strongly that the president put those questions to bed last night, you know more than three-quarters of americans right now have expressed real

concerns about the president's physical and mental health. his ability to serve for another four years. she said the president demonstrated the vision and the vigor necessary to serve going forward. i asked her about the headline just made in gaza, given the reports that five people in gaza had been killed reportedly by air dropped packages. the vice president telling me that they were trying to gather more information about that, could not say whether or not u.s. military planes were the ones from which those air dropped packages had been dropped. and i asked her about one of the tactics that we're seeing right now from republicans, including from a donald trump allied super pac, a maga super pac, that basically raised questions about whether or not president biden would live through a second term, until 2029, and cast the vice president in unflattering -- very unflattering way as the person who would succeed him, were

anything to happen. she said that she is ready if necessary, but says that it will not be necessary. that president biden is well set to serve for a second term. just some of the key takeaways from our conversation. we asked her about the topic of immigration as well. and all of that will be ahead when we see you later on with clips we'll play for you as soon as we turn them around in the next couple of hours. >> peter alexander, thank you. let's return to the issue of the state of the union last night, and i want to maybe kind of wrap up on brendan's thought about what you think that the republican response did and did not accomplish. >> yeah, the republican response is always -- any response is always a tough assignment. look, katie britt is the type of figure we want to be putting forward to show the party is not just maga, it is not just donald trump. it was unfortunate that she seemed to be overcoached a bit

and the delivery seemed to i think distract from her message. but this is one of those things where there is no win out of the gop response, the best thing you can really do is have people forget you did it. but i think that she is exactly the kind of person we should be trying to elevate as opposed to the people who tried to steal the show last night like marjorie taylor greene. >> brendan buck and danielle moody, thank you for joining us. happy friday. just moments ago, we're being told a standing ovation for members of the republican national committee as they recognized donald trump as the party's presumptive nominee. we're live in the room next. you're watching special coverage here on msnbc. next. you're watching special coverage here on msnbc (♪♪) i'm getting vaccinated with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. come on. i already got a pneumonia vaccine, but i'm asking about the added protection of prevnar 20®. if you're 19 or older with certain chronic conditions like asthma, diabetes, copd, or heart disease, or are 65 or older,

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so you can take all the pics! (vo) trade-in any iphone in any condition and get a new iphone 15 pro and an ipad and apple watch se all on us. only on verizon. we're back with breaking news. ronna mcdaniel officially stepped down as chair of the republican national committee, a vot on a new leadership is just about to happen. >> his daughter-in-law, lara trump, is expected to win a key position. the committee voted to recognize donald trump as their presumptive gop nominee. joining us now, nbc's vaughn hillyard in houston. good morning. what should we expect there? >> reporter: right, as we speak right now, behind me as we spea now, behind me here, they have just placed michael whatley to be the next chair. ronna mcdaniel just gave her good-bye remarks telling republicans, urging this 168

member body of members from around the country what they need to do the next eight months to not only win the white house but down ballot races around the country. michael whatley the vote to make him the next rnc chair is about to take place in a matter of seconds. there is nobody challenging him for this position. lara trump is here with her husband, eric trump, in the back of the room. they will then be next up for the vote for the co-chair. so she would have the number two spot. she also has no challengers. this is a defining moment. donald trump wanted to go to new direction. and behind me you can hear the vote happening right now. michael whatley is the new official rnc chairman here just eight months from the general election. and one other note, donald trump was also formally designated as

presumptive nominee for the republican party. that listen. >> i am going to ask you to join me as recognizing president trump as our nominee and next president of the united states. all those signify by saying aye. aye! >> reporter: we're eight months away here. for the republican party there is a lot of questions. one of his co-campaign managers for donald trump is coming into the chief operating officer role out of washington, d.c. with the rnc, so this is the moment where these two entities of rnc, the trump campaign formerly merge operations in order to try to take back the white house. >> so quickly if you will, what does it mean then for michael whatley to take over? how does that change the dynamics that we can expect to see is this. >> reporter: he was donald trump's hand pickedcdaniel call ally and there were conversations so whether someone would try to challenge for the position.

but nobody stepped forward because donald trump is clearly the now presumptive nominee and leader of this party. and for michael whatley, the challenge is he only has eight months to try to unite the party. ronna mcdaniel said it is important to have intra-party cohesion and even for those who have lost primary battles, almost a nod to nikki haley, she said it is time for the party to come together because that is what cost them not only in 2020, but also 2022. so michael whatley has a big task ahead of him. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. up next, presidential historian douglas brinkley will join us with his thoughts on the state of the union. >> and how it compares to others. on >> and how it compares to others

not since president lincoln and the civil war have freedom and democracy been under assaults at home as they are today. what makes our moment rare is the freedom of democracy are under attack both at home and overseas. at the very same time. >> that was president biden speaking out last night at the state of the union address. joining us now, presidential historian douglas brinkley, professor of history at rice university. great to see you. i thank you for your time. how do you think history will remember last night's speech?

>> i think it is an extremely important state of the union address. joe biden was hemorrhaging in polls. there was a feeling within the democratic party that maybe they bet on the wrong horse, that being in his 80s wasn't going to work and we needed a younger candidate in the democratic party. but alas he delivered. it was fighting joe biden. i keep hearing the word feisty being used. he made great historical an that will analogies to fdr. and it was a big moment. it gave oxygen and momentum to bine to not ease dismiss him. so if you are a democrat, you are feeling better. >> and president biden opened his remarks by comparing this moment in history tord roosevelt's state of the union address in 1941 during world war

ii. stark contrast obviously to other state of the unions. how do you see it? >> i thought it was smart to remind us about world war ii and to use fdr's for freedom speech kind of as a pivot because back then in 1941, hitler was rampaging through europe. we were still trying to stay neutral in the united states in the days before pearl harbor. and now you have biden talking about putin on the loose in europe, in the ukraine. i thought it was significant that the funding of ukraine came at the very top of the speech. this was not something buried in the middle or just another bullet point of anyone to getting across. i think that he is drawing a sharp line. the very idea that this is no ordinary time, you know, that was a phrase used during the roosevelt years, so we see biden adopting the same thing. and then he just went through in

a very kind of amped up voice to show people that he did have a cognitive ability, that he wasn't sleepy joe biden, but he was the fiery joe biden of scranton, pennsylvania and beyond. and i think that he drove that point home. so there is a sigh of relief within the democratic world and republicans are recognizing that they have underestimated joe biden his whole life and there is a reason he is sort of a survivor in washington, d.c. because he seems to rally at different key months. it reminded me how bill clinton rallied when he was under his impeachment woes or how george w. bush rallied with his axis of evil speech. but it will be tied to the age factor. this was the rebound, the reset if you'd like of biden and it is the opening salvo of the 2024 presidential election. that was a political state of

the union address we heard. >> indeed. and he not only spoke about roosevelt and fdr, but also mentioned ronald reagan's tear down this wall. nbc news reports that biden spent the most time speaking about democracy. last year it was his fifth most. how do you see this progress? >> this is the number one issue for joe biden. that he represents a democracy in some ways it might be overdone a little by biden, he is positioning himself as being the indispensable man. i'm abraham lincoln. beyond me lies authoritarianism and fascism. of course the republican party disagrees completely with that scenario. but biden is running on being the exemplar of our democratic traditions. i thought also that he made great appeals on women's reproductive rights.

he wanted to go strong on that and i think he set it up nicely. also giving kamala harris the spotlight a couple times. she will be out and about talking about women's rights. if he came up short, i mean he mentioned climate change some, but not enough. and it didn't get enough applause. you know, that is a big part of his base, they want to hear more about climate. i thought he came up a little short on that. and i'm not sure he reached out to young people, generation z enough, but overall it was an a-plus state of the union address. >> always appreciate your conversations. thank you for joining us. and that wraps it up for us. >> and thank fought privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks it up with more news right now. >> right now on andrea mitchell reports, president biden delivering a fiery state of the union address that doubled as a campaign kickoff speech.