you know, and there is often, you know, there seems to be a lot of drama that comes out of it. i mean, it's hard -- it's also hard for me to comment on because it's kind of all i know, so it's like -- yeah, it's kind of our bread and butter i suppose. >> from the outside, you know, having grown up, you know, part-time in america, part-time in the uk, i think there's a degree of objectivity that i might have living in it and all the pomp and circumstance, which sometimes feels like, wow, is this still happening? is this still the way things are done? >> it also seems to allow people to have really big emotions, so, you know, when stuff comes up with the royals, it's a way for them to express their frustration about things in their own life. it's kind of odd in that way. it feels as if they're watching something, like a sitcom almost. i don't know. >> well, the film is extraordinary. it's called "scoop."

it debuts on friday on netflix. congratulations and thank you both for being here. good to see you. >> thank you. >> that does it for us this morning, ana cabrera picks up the coverage right now. right now on "ana cabrera reports," we are following breaking news overseas. taiwan hit with its most powerful earthquake in 25 years. the rising death toll at this hour and the race to get those trapped under the rubble. plus, growing outrage after an israeli air strike kills seven aide workers. this morning new reaction from the founder of world central kitchen chef jose andres. also ahead, donald trump trying to taunt president biden on the campaign trail and warning of a, quote, blood bath at the border. and later, extreme weather, new tornados and more flooding as severe storms tear across the country this morning.

♪♪ hello, and thank you for being here t. is 10:00 eastern, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with that breaking news out of taiwan. this morning a rising death toll and dozens still trapped after the most powerful earthquake in a quarter century struck right in the middle of the morning rush. buildings literally pushed to a 45 degree angle as first responders climb the wreckage to save people trapped inside. at this hour, at least nine people are confirmed dead. nbc news international correspondent janis mackey frayer is joining us from beijing this morning. janice, what more can you tell us about the scale of destruction and the rescue efforts underway? >> reporter: ana, this is a part of the world that is accustomed to earthquakes, but this was a big one by taiwan's standards, the strongest to hit the island in 25 years. hundreds have been injured, dozens are said to be missing, and rescue workers are only

beginning to get a sense of the damage. >> this is the moment the earthquake hit, a magnitude 7.4 according to u.s. estimates. the morning quake rocking city landmarks, violently shaking homes. this tv newsroom left swaying as was this rooftop swimming pool. water falling down, another one in this building. the most powerful quake to strike taiwan in a quarter century. worst hit, the coastal city just 15 miles from the epicenter. several buildings were left pashlgly crumbling and dangerously teetering. emergency workers searching for dozens of people trapped. annie lima, an american living in taiwan was there when it hit. >> we ran for the nearest doorway and braced ourselves. we could barely keep our balance, and all around us

things were falling off the walls and off shelves smashing and crashing everywhere. >> reporter: the quake and multiple aftershocks triggered landslides around the island trapping hikers on trails, hitting the capital of taipei during the morning commute. it set off tsunami warnings in the philippines and japan where thousands were sent racing to higher ground. this is what jason delicta is cleaning up where the american owns a restaurant. >> we lost like, you know, most of our plates. >> reporter: a part of the world accustomed to earthquake but few as fierce as this. crews are trying to reach people who are trapped on blocked roads. some are in tunnels. there are reports of workers who are stuck in rock quarries. transport officials say that it's difficult to reach people because debris and fallen rock have made most major highways

impassable. there are crews now spreading out across taiwan, but they're being confronted with challenges. there have been dozens of aftershocks since that first initial quake of 7.4 magnitude, and now rain is in the forecast, and that's expected to complicate rescue efforts even further. ana. >> nine people confirmed dead, more than 800 injured, and more than 100 trapped this morning. janis mackey frayer, we'll continue to stay on top of. this. have arrived at the board we are egypt to begin their final journeys home. these are the faces of the six men and one woman incluing a dual american canadian citizen who were just trying to help people not starve, and there is powerful new reaction from founder of the world central kitchen, chef jose andres writing in a "new york times" op-ed that the victims were far

more than heroes. their work was based on the simple belief that food is a universal human right. it is not conditional on being good or bad, rich or poor, left or right. he writes we do not ask what religion you belong to. we just ask how many meals you need. and joining us now, nbc news international correspondent molly hunter, former state department senior adviser nigh ear ra hawk, and retired lieutenant general steph twitty. what more are we learning about how this happened? >> we are learning more and i want to pick up on something you said in the intro. we have learned that the bodies of six of those aid workers have crossed the border into egypt. we do have a little bit more information. you can see those pictures again of the victims. we do have more information on exactly how that attack happened. we know from world central

kitchen that they were leaving a warehouse in the center of the gaza strip. they had just unloaded food into that warehouse. nbc news has independently verified and located each of the destroyed vehicles, two armored vehicles, one soft shell vehicle, and you can see them on your screen right now. the photos show three separate precision strikes. a missile strike, one car completely burned out, and one car basically totaled over a mile and a half stretch on a coastal road. human rights watch is describing the strikes as precision. we actually have a quote from a statement from human rights watch this morning, a senior crisis in conflict worker says israel's deadly attack on world central kitchen aid workers in gaza displays the characteristics of a precision air strike indicates that the israeli military intended to hit these vehicles. now, ana, we have talked for weeks, for months, how dangerous and how hard it is to get aid

specifically into the north of the gaza strip, and john kirby actually spoke about the outrage but also about the other challenges humanitarian workers face. >> we were outraged to learn of an idf strike that killed a number of civilian humanitarian workers yesterday from the world central kitchen, which has been relentless in working to get food to those who are hungry in gaza, and quite frankly, around the world. we send our deepest condolences to their families and loved ones. more than 200 aid workers have been killed in this conflict making it one of the worst for aid workers in recent history. this incident is emblematic of a larger problem and evidence of why distribution of aid in gaza has been so challenging. >> reporter: and you heard from john kirby right there, an estimated 200 aid workers that. is an estimate by the u.n. killed in gaza and the occupied west bank since october, ana. world central kitchen says they are currently pausing their operations, but they have not yet suspended their vital operations in gaza. ana. >> thank you for that reporting.

general twitty, the idf is saying this was a mistake. they're calling it a misidentification at night during war, but world central kitchen says that they were in contact with the israeli officials, their vehicles were marked, and that they believe an israeli sniper had fired at one of its vehicles just days earlier. so what's really going on here? >> well, obviously a couple of things have happened here, ana. in my view, there's not enough being done to establish proper coordination between israel and the humanitarian effort, and israel has to put that as priority number one if they intend to be successful in this war. they have to protect the people. they have to protect the humanitarian workers that are trying to get the humanitarian supplies to people. a couple of things here. no air cap or no fly zone, that is a must when you have humanitarian folks that are

operating. so you got to put a no fly zone and prevent israeli soldiers from flying. you have to build safe route corridors to allow the humanitarian aid to come in and out, and there's no firing on the safe fire corridors. you have to establish liaison between the two. the humanitarian groups and israel defense forces so they can communicate, and you have to establish a joint combined operations center for further coordination. so there's a lot of detail here that you have to do, and you can do all of this still while you're fighting. >> but this has been months now, and they've had the opportunity to establish all of that. they are calling this a mistake, but the group human rights watch says there are cristics that this was a precision strike implying that these workers were targeted, general, they weren't just collateral damage. >> yeah, so -- it appears to me -- it appears to me that

there was no doubt an intelligence failure here, and it goes back to all the things that i'm talking about that needs to be in place so that coordination happens to ensure that there's no intelligence failure. it probably was a direct firing and intended, but it was a mistake on who was in the bills in my view. we'll see after the investigation is complete, but there's no doubt that this was a targeted attack. >> naira. >> the attack was conducted by a drone, what we know is that the drone hit three separate times. it was not just one moment. there were three separate moments in which this drone pursued these aid workers, and also in israeli reporting, we know that world food kitchen had actually coordinated the entire

path with idf. they were aware of when and how and exactly where they were going. now, there's a massive disconnect with what is happening in, say, headquarters and what the rules of engagement are that they know where you need to protect civilians, and they are now saying, idf headquarters, that the people on the ground in gaza, israeli forces are effectively making their own decisions as people do in the fog of war, but their decisions are ultimately based on this idea that hamas is everywhere, that anybody in gaza could be hamas, and they take that liberty to then target people accordingly. >> and nayeera, president biden is saying he is outraged. he noted that this is not a stand alone incident, this conflict is one of the worst in memory in terms of how many aid workers have been killed. i wonder is this is a tipping

point for u.s. support for israel? >> we're certainly seeing a lot of outrage because of the connection to a celebrity chef who is popular in american imagination, and frankly, united nation workers, palestinian aid workers who have been killed in trying to deliver aid have not gotten this much attention. there is a relatability challenge here. president biden called jose andreas. that is part of the connection now. at the same time, the biden administration is asking for $18 billion of arms sales that include 50 fighter jets to israel as well as missiles as well as military training, so there is a disconnect between what is being said on a humanitarian front in regret and condolences and the reality of what is actually happening on the military front and the american public certainly knows that those two are deeply connected. >> general, chef jose andres

writes in part, in the worst conditions after the worst terrorist attack in its history, it's time for the best of israel to show up. you cannot save the hostages by bombing every building in gaza. you cannot win this war by starving an entire population. general, is he right? >> he absolutely is right. let's just take a look here. so israel set out with three objectives, number one to eradicate hamas. number two, to secure release of the hostages, and number three, to stop the missiles going into israel. we're here at six months now, and none of those objectives have been accomplished. and all three of these objectives are extremely hard, but you have to figure out how are you going to execute this war and put the people first and foremost? part of urban combat is ensuring

that you're taking care of the noncombatants as you execute warfare, and neither of those things are aligning at this point for israel. >> lieutenant general steph twitty and nayeera haq thank you both. a wild storm system sweeping the u.s., a live report from some of the worst destruction. plus, how donald trump is taunting president biden as he doubles down on violent comments about what he's calling a blood bath at the border. a new hearing in texas over the state's immigration law happening right now. and dolly parton sang about working 9:00 to 5:00, but what about all those after hours emails. a state might soon say you have the right to disconnect. we're back in 60 seconds. pso.

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we're back with more breaking news. a severe weather system causing havoc as it makes its way across the country. kentucky declaring a state of emergency as multiple reports of tornados, powerful winds, heavy rain swept across several states. powerful winds knocking down trees and power lines leaving hundreds of thousands without power as this system now heads for the northeast. and joining us now, nbc news correspondent maggie vespa live from la grange, kentucky, and nbc news meteorologist angie lassman standing by with a bigger look at the forecast. how bad is it where you are? >> yeah, so ana, three of those confirmed tornados that you talked about hit here in kentucky, one specifically here in la grange, which is like a suburb of louisville. this house behind me is kind of like a metaphor for the power of the storm. huge portions of the roof and frankly, that entire front corner kind of just ripped off. from what we can tell, look at this, thrown across the street into the neighbor's front yard. this is just from one twister

neighbors say that came through this area. as you said also, we have reports of widespread damage and hundreds of thousands without power this morning across at least half a dozen states from this same system, all of it just remnants of this latest round of severe spring weather. >> get in the house. >> see it? >> yes, it's right there. >> reporter: overnight, more dangerous and destructive weather. tornados, high winds, and flooding rains punishing multiple states. some of the worst damage in kentucky where at least three tornados touched down. the state's governor declaring a state of emergency. >> it sounded like a freight train rolling through our building. >> reporter: the storms tearing buildings apart. >> there's roofs collapsed, gas lines spraying gas everywhere. >> reporter: houses were ripped off that you are foundations, intense winds uprooting massive trees, crushing cars, and tearing down power lines, even sweeping people off their feet in lexington. the wild weather this week affecting more than 100 million

people in 30 states from texas to maine. this woman's car windows shattered by fierce winds as she drove to work in indiana. >> gravel in my head. there's glass in my head, you know, whatever, and mud. there's still mud behind my ears. >> reporter: throughout the storm's path, a nearly 250,000 without power. in oklahoma, neighbors helping neighbors cleaning up from a tornado monday that reduced homes to rubble. >> you know, we all got to help one another in this time of need. >> reporter: yeah, it's always good to look for the helpers. you can see the crews out here -- or the cars from all the crews that have turned out to help clean up this debris. they clearly have their work cut out for them. it is worth noting a silver lining here, we have seen reports of minor injuries. thankfully despite this damage, nothing worse than that. we'll let you know if that changes. in the meantime, just the cleanup process beginning for

millions of americans after another round of these severe spring storms. >> incredible destruction, thank goodness like you said only minor injuries. it has been now days of severe weather. what's next? >> we're not done with this system unfortunately. we're still going to see this impact us here as we go through the next day or so across much of the east coast. we currently have a tornado watch across parts of the southeast. that's where we've seen that strong line of thunderstorms working through throughout the morning hours. we've had lightning, heavy rain, and we have all the ingredient there is to see strong storms later today. from washington, d.c., down to orlando including tampa as well, the good news is our tornado threat is lower. it's not zero, but it's much lower than what we saw yesterday. but we're still going to have to look at the potential for some of those strong wind gusts as well as that hail through the afternoon and evening hours of the day today. meanwhile, we've got heavy rain across parts of the northeast. we've got snow that we're dealing with across parts of the midwest and the great lakes, and

both of those things have plenty of alerts up because of it. winter alerts topping 11 million. flood watches up with heavy rain expected across parts of the northeast, and we've got those wind alerts. winds are going to be quite impressive through the next day or so. because of that, we're looking at the concerning for travel and power outages. remember, we add in snow with 50 miles per hour winds. we're talking difficult road conditions, difficult air travel. those strong windsonshore are going to cause alerts. coastal flood watches, warnings, and advisories for folks up and down the northeast coast, from atlantic city up to portland. when it comes to the rainfall totals, we're expecting 1 to 3 inches for some of those highest amounts as we get through the day today. it's not going to be hard for us across this area to see the potential for 3, maybe even 3.5 inches in some of these spots. flooding will be a big concern for folks there. not to mention, we could see some snow, up to a foot and a half across portions of northern

new england. >> oofda, that's a lot. technical tlerm. angie lassman, maggie vespa, thank you, ladies, for that. he skipped every single 2024 gop primary debate, so why is donald trump taunting president biden about debating? plus, the strategy behind former president's combattive combative comments about judges in his legal trials. about judg in his legal trials. the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. combative comments about judges in his legal trials. ive combative comments about judges in his legal trials. comments ab legal trials. it's amazingcomments abos legal trials [music playing] at st. jude, the mission is just something that everyone can truly get behind. look at our little st. jude pin there on the fridge! we're just regular people donating. yeah. and i think it's cool to be able to make a difference in someone's lives in a way that is meaningful.

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now to the race for the white house, donald trump back on the campaign trail yesterday and doubling down on violent rhetoric around the issue of immigration. accusing president biden of being behind a, quote, border blood bath and using derogatory language to describe migrants accused of crimes. >> the democrats say please don't call them animals, they're humans. i said, no, they're not humans. they're not humans. they're animals. nancy pelosi told me that, she said please don't use the word animals when you're talking about these people. i said i'll use the word animal because that's what they are. >> joining us now nbc news senior national politics reporter jonathan allen, along with jennifer horn, former new hampshire republican party chair and the host of "is it just me or have we all lost our minds" podcast and former new york congressman max rose. jonathan, you keep a close eye on trump on the campaign trail. the language we're hearing, at least in these events yesterday,

violent. >> yeah, absolutely, ana. you know, it's not new that there is violent rhetoric. it's not new that there's escalated and amped up rhetoric. it's one of the ways that donald trump tries to contrast himself with his opponents, whether it is rivals in a republican primary or with joe biden now for a second straight election, and with, you know, going back even to 2016 when he first came down and said he was going to build a wall and said that mexican immigrants were -- you know, mexico was sending its rapists and killers. it's not new for trump, but it is an area where he feels like he can both rally his base and make some inroads with the middle. we know that immigration has been a very difficult issue for democrats, both in terms of, you know, some shift in the electorate in terms of border enforcement and also, you know, within the democratic party, different variations on how they want to handle that issue and also, you know, the idea of a path to citizenship, which many

in the democratic party have not abandoned even though it is no longer operative in congress. >> congressman, given that this kind of rhetoric is not new from trump, will it sway voters? >> no. no, it won't sway voters if it exists in a silo. the reason donald trump is doing this other than the fact that he's crazy beyond belief is that his campaign, which purports to be disciplined this time around -- remember, this is a disciplined campaign that's talking like this, what they're saying is that immigration is a top issue in the swing states. that's irrefutable, and so it actually puts the biden campaign in an interesting fork in the road. do they call out these comments and then pivot to another issue, or do they call out these comments for the horrific xenophoic language that it is and then pivot to focusing on their immigration stance, the fact that they were leaders of a strong, bipartisan initiative to

actually cover security and a strong moral stance on immigration. and if they go that route, they can speak to an issue that is a top issue in swing districts, while also rightfully establishing donald trump as the xenophobic, racist, horribly divisive candidate that he is. >> speaking of swing states, jennifer, "the wall street journal"'s out with some new polling that shows president biden trailing trump in seven crucial battleground states, and we should note that these results are all within the margin of error. what do you see in these numbers? and if you are in the biden camp, what do you do? >> well, we see in these numbers what we expected all along, that this is going to be a close race. there are no gimme's here and nobody should take anything for granted, but it's april sochlt so there's nothing in those numbers that would make me concerned if i was on the biden campaign that somehow they can't make up the distance. i think what the congressman

just referenced is very much what the biden campaign needs to do. they need to focus on policy and they need to focus on contrast, making the contrast between themselves and donald trump, and the issue that we're talking about here, trump's rhetoric and the immigration policy is a perfect example of that. the language isn't just violent. it's dehumanizing. he's calling them animals, and he's telling his supporters that it's okay to call them animals. he does that to sort of bring out the worst in the ugliest part of his base, and joe biden is particularly well-positioned with his tone and his tenor, and the compassion that he is able to express in a very natural way to draw a really distinct contrast between himself and donald trump on these issues. >> and we've seen him go to many of those battleground states in recent weeks, since his state of the union address and deliver his message in person to those voters. first lady jill biden was asked about this polling earlier today, and here's what she said.

>> no, he's not losing in all the battleground states. he's coming up, and he's even or doing better. so you know what? once people start to focus in and they see their two choices, it's obvious that joe will win this election. >> congressman, is there anything to that last part that people aren't paying enough attention yet to the general election? they're not tuned in? >> of course. look, if joe biden was peaking right now, seven eight months out from an election, that would be cause for alarm. what you're seeing here is neither candidate breaking 50. this is a battle between what is basically two separate incumbents with almost 100% name i.d. and what you're going to see, what you're seeing right now and what you will see in the coming days and months is the biden campaign spending ungodly amounts of money rightfully reminding the american people of the chaos, divisiveness, and

incompetency that was the trump presidency, and as that messaging starts to seep in, you will certainly see those numbers change dramatically. >> you mentioned these are essentially two incumbents. people know who joe biden is and what he can do as president. they know who donald trump is, what he can do as president because they've been there, done that, and so it's interesting to think about that, when we talk about potential debates, jonathan. trump is out there with this new tactic trying to taunt president biden with an empty podium at an event yesterday, daring him to debate. we're of course months before when we usually see the debates in the general election, and of course we can't forget that trump just completely ignored debates, refused to debate pretty much during the primaries, so should we expect any debates this year? what are you learning? >> it's a great question, ana. a couple of things here, as the biden campaign pointed out yesterday, donald trump himself

has said that the person seeking a debate, the person pursuing one is typically the one who's losing. so it undercuts his message that he's pursuing. he is out there demonstrating the idea that he wants a debate. it is not clear that donald trump actually does want to debate. it's not clear that joe biden wants to debate in talking to his aides, they say they're going to make a decision sometime over the summer. he said himself it depends on trump's behavior whether he does it. i think there's a very real possibility right now that there will not be presidential debates for the first time in, you know , in a couple of generations. the commission on presidential debates is not recognized by both sides. the republican national committee citing what it said was bias in 2020, pulled out of the presidential debate commission, this nonpartisan group that's managed and helped negotiate debates for all this time. there's a very real question whether it happens.

the other wild card is would robert f. kennedy jr. qualify far debate and under what rules, neither of these candidates i don't think would like to see him on a debate stage. >> that's something to watch certainly. one issue that has been passionately debated across the country, especially this week, in fact, is abortion. and i want you to take a listen to trump's answer when our nbc's gabe gutierrez asked him just yesterday if he supports florida's six-week abortion ban? >> mr. president, do you support the six-week abortion ban that the florida supreme court just upheld? >> we'll be making a statement next week on abortion. we're going to make a statement next week. >> for those who are listening and not watching -- because it was hard to hear, he said we'll be making a statement next week on abortion. jennifer, trump has already proudly taken credit for overturning roe. now he needs a week to answer a question about abortion policy.

what do you make of it? >> well, first, i'm not convinced he'll release a statement on abortion next week. remember how long we kept waiting for infrastructure week. and this is an issue that is not going to help donald trump, you know. college-educated, white suburban women feel very strongly about this issue, and he is going to need to win at least some of them if he wants to defeat joe biden, and it's an issue that even within the most conservative section of the republican party it has become very divisive. you know, it's kind of one of these things be careful what you wish for. they got roe v. wade overturned, and the party, even now, two, three years later is completely befuddled as to how to handle the issue, what people want, what people don't want, what's conservative enough, what's not conservative enough. this issue is going to be very

much a joe biden issue in this election. it's going to have the ability to really bring voters over to him including some moderate republicans. and so far trump is not showing any signs of knowing how to handle it. >> jennifer horn, jonathan allen, and former congressman max rose, thank you all for the conversation. next, are donald trump's comments about the daughter of the judge overseeing his hush money case actually part of a larger strategy. plus, the new scorching legal filing from special counsel jack smith in the classified documents case calling out the judge. e calling out the judge. i'm 49 years old and i'm a business owner. i own a lemonade and ice cream shop in florida, so i can feel and see that my lines have gotten deeper just from a year out in the sun. i'm still marie and i got botox® cosmetic. i did not want a dramatic change.

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-or as little- as you want. make your get away now and cache in at cache creek casino resort. jury selection in donald trump's hush money trial is set to begin in just 12 days. but trump's team is now fighting to throw the judge off the case. they've tried this before, but are arguing now for a second time that judge juan merchan has

a conflict of interest because his daughter works as a political consultant with democratic candidates. this new push comes after the judge expanded a gag order barring trump from attacking his family. and here to discuss former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, kristy greenberg. this argument to try to remove the judge didn't work before, but his team is claiming that they have some new evidence or new examples of this what they're calling a conflict of interest. is it different this time? do they have a case? >> it's not different. they didn't actually cite to any specific evidence. it was a lot of regurgitaing the same nonsense that was in their motion from august of 2023. a new york state judiciary advisory committee looked at this issue and said the judge's daughter's -- the daughter and her business are not part of this case at all, and there's no

evidence, nor has trump put forward any evidence, that anything that happens in the outcome of this case would affect her or her business in any way. so you know, i don't think this will go anywhere. again, this is just part of a strategy to inundate this prosecutorial team with as much paperwork and filings as they can so that they're not doing what they need to be doing which is preparing witnesses and getting ready for the trial. >> trump is under a gag order, which means he can't talk about the family of the judge in addition to other people, but there was a clip that trump posted from fox news in which the host of that show talked about the daughter in a sort of disparaging way or questioning what, you know, she meant to the case essentially. is trump violating the gag order by posting that clip, if the words aren't coming from his own mouth or his own -- his own fingers on social media?

>> i would say arguably yes. the gag order says you can't make the statements. you can't direct others to make the statements. but here when you post something, you're re-tweeting something, there is a sense that you are endorsing or liking in some way the content of that message. so he's certainly at the line here. if he hasn't already crossed it, and i would argue this is -- this is crossing it. when you're putting that content out there, even if you're not the one making the statement, you are putting it out there to your base, i think it is in violation. i think it's definitely a question that needs to be raised in the case. >> why does he keep going after the family members? >> again, i think it's part of this in addition to delaying and distracting, he's looking to cause mass disruption, and when you go after the daughter of the judge, you then have witnesses coming in for witness prep, and they are saying how are you going to protect me and my family if i testify against donald trump. if the judge can't protect his

own daughter, and there is an intimidation factor in the stoking of fear here that is real. and then you're going to have prospective jurors who are going to feel the same way and nervous to actually convict him and do their civic duty. and then it's delegitimizing the entire process. >> let's talk about the classified documents case, the federal case in florida. special counsel jack smith yesterday basically called out judge cannon over her request regarding jury instructions. special counsel smith says her request was based on a fundamentally flawed legal premise, the special counsel saying that jury instruction with that premise would distort the trial. can you further explain what this is about and what do you make of jack smith confronting the judge here? >> he had to. he had to because the jury instructions she has proposed are that wrong. the faulty premise he's pointing to is whether or not these

records that donald trump was in possession of whether they were presidential or personal under the president records act is irrelevant. it doesn't matter. he's charged with violating the espionage act. nothing in the presidential records act gives him the authority to possess classified material. that's what he's charged with. so again, this would just confuse the jury. it's wrong legally and as a legal matter, she has to decide it. it's the kind of thing where it's almost like a red herring if it were on a law school exam. the problem is she would be failing that law school exam, but she actually doesn't even want to hand in the exam to get graded. she doesn't want to make a decision. what jack smith is also saying in this brief is you not only need to -- you need to deal with this issue, but you need to make the decision so that i can appeal it if you go down this route. >> that's one to watch. thank you so much, kristy greenberg, as always i appreciate your expertise. up next, after ricochetting all the way to the supreme court, there is another legal showdown happening right now over a controversial texas

immigration law. plus, tired of answering work emails and calls after hours? was that even a question? ahead, the state weighing a worker's right to disconnect. ont

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and we're following breaking news from the white house, national security adviser jake sullivan has pose poened a trip to saudi arabia this week as he recovers from a cracked rib. sullivan was scheduled to meet with the saudi crown prince as a push to normalize relations between israel and saudi arabia. john kirby said while it's difficult for sullivan to travel right now, it is a relatively minor injury and they'll be able to reschedule the trip. right now a federal appeals court in new orleans is hearing arguments again about a controversial new texas immigration law. this law, which the court has currently put on hold, would let

the state arrest and deport migrants for illegally crossing the border. the state and federal government have been in and out of court for months over this arguing about whether the state should have that power. let's get right to nbc news homeland security correspondent julia ainsley. we've been following this law through so many twists and turns, julia. what should we know about this hearing today? >> ana, i've been listening to the oral arguments and there's something you should know because texas is actually changing the way they said this law would work, just as you pointed out, they've always said they would arrest and deport them. their plan was to walk argument. texas is changing the way they said this law would work. they said they would arrest and deport them. the plan is to walk migrants back into mexico and change the territory on which these migrants stood. now, they're arguing before this judge panel in the 5th circuit they would simply turn these migrants back over to the custody of the united states by taking them to a port of entry on the u.s. side and handing them over to customs and border

protection. that's similar to something texas already has been doing for a number of years, after they charged someone for trespassing on texas state property. and so, it really left the justice department arguing on behalf of the federal government in a strange situation, as judges then started questioning them, well, could this stand? would this be okay if texas did it this way? they pointed to the language already in the law and the argument to say that's not how they said they would do this. so, a lot of confusion going on inside this courtroom right now. it seems that texas might need to rework the way the law is worded and the justice department would need more time to figure out how they would respond to a law that looked very different than what they set out in the first place, ana. >> julia ainsley, thank you. up next, you got mail. do you want to pick up your phone to read the pesky work emails after hours? the law that could potentially give workers the right to disconnect. give workers the right to disconnect different doctor.

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and just a few minutes, president biden is set to speak from the white house about his work to lower prescription drug costs. and joining him for that event, vermont senator bernie sanders, who talked to us yesterday about his push for drugmakers to lower the prices of game-changing weight loss drugs like ozempic and wegovy. >> the american people in my view, no matter what your political view may be, are sick and tired of being ripped off by drug companies and paying the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs, including ozempic. we are taking on one of the most powerful, greedy forces in washington, and, by the way, the drug companies made huge profits, huge profits last year, as they always do, so it is quite a fight, but i think it is important that we engage in this and that we win it. >> you can catch more of that conversation with senator sanders on msnbc.com or youtube.

have you ever wanted to just ignore an email from your boss? a new bill in california would give you legal backup to do that. the new right to disconnect bill would require employers to let workers be off email and text during nonworking hours. and they could face fines if they keep trying to get in touch. nbc's emilie ikeda has more on this. emilie? >> reporter: we know work-life balance has increasingly become a priority for many people here in the u.s. in fact, one survey shows the majority of workers would be willing to take a 20% pay cut for improved quality of life. but how they go about achieving that is up for debate. as the digital age blurs workplace boundaries, there is a push to give employees the right to ignore emails, texts and calls after hours. >> calling me on my day off is beyond me. >> reporter: while similar laws have already been enacted in some other countries, california could become the first u.s.

state to require employers to give their workers the right to disconnect during nonworking hours. unless explicitly noted or in the case of an emergency. violations could be punishable by a fine. >> it would be nice to not even have the stress of thinking that someone might call you. it would be probably be good for your mental health. >> reporter: california assembly member matt haney penned the proposal. why introduce this bill? >> you shouldn't, just because you have a smartphone, be expected to work 24/7 without consenting to that. let's make sure that there is some time for people to be able to disconnect. >> reporter: it comes amid a broader wave of efforts to prioritize work-life balance. and hang up on so-called extreme expectations. hashtags like act your wage, bare minimum mondays, and quiet quitting have racked up millions of views on social media. >> i will not sacrifice my mental health and wellness for

somebody else's profits. >> reporter: last month, senator bernie sanders introduced a bill to cut the standard workweek from five to four days. >> despite massive growth in technology and worker productivity, millions of workers in our country are working longer hours for lower wages. >> reporter: the overlap of work and personal life has been turbocharged by the pandemic. pew research reports the majority of workers respond to messages outside of their normal hours at least sometimes. 28% do so often. >> i understood what i was signing on for. >> reporter: john ferrari makes himself available around the clock for a tech startup in silicon valley, but says he gets flexibility in return. >> i'm contacted on a regular basis. often multiple times a day. and we operate our company like a family. so i'm available whenever my family needs me. >> reporter: of course, businesses large and small are raising concerns over stricter boundaries and shorter workweeks, harming productivity.

but advocates claim businesses will actually see increased productivity and retention rates pointing to trials worldwide. back to you. >> emilie ikeda, thank you. that does it for us today. don't email me. don't call me. don't text me. i'm off. off hours after this. just kidding. see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. right now, we're keeping our eyes on the white house for president biden is expected to speak at any moment about his efforts to lower healthcare costs, specifically cutting the price of prescription drugs. so he'll be joined by vermont senator bernie sanders. we'll be monitoring this event, bring you any breaking developments as they come in. but, we begin this hour with a growing outrage over that is