♪ ♪ relax into a caribbean state of mind. visit sandals.com or call 1-800 sandals.

right now on "ana cabrera reports," we are tracking breaking news here at home and overseas. day four of donald trump's hush money trial just beginning. they have a jury. now they need alternates, and there is a critical hearing today that could impact trump's potential testimony. breaking news in the middle east, israel retaliates striking targets inside iran. what it means for a region already on the brink. and this hour a key vote in the house on foreign aid as the threat to mike johnson's speakership because of that vote intensifies. ♪♪ hello, it is a busy friday morning. thank you for joining us. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york, already incredibly busy news day. israel's strike on iran, action on capitol hill expected this

hour, but we start at the courthouse in lower manhattan where day four of donald trump's hush money trial is just convening for the day. they now have a jury, seven men and five women who will decide trump's fate. the search resuming this hour for five more alternates. nbc's yasmin vossoughian is outside that courthouse, also with us msnbc legal analyst carol lam, a former federal prosecutor, and joyce vance, a former u.s. attorney. yasmin, kick us off here, what's the latest from inside that courthouse? >> reporter: 22 juror in that case pool going through their questionnaires. two of them already excused, ana, for quotes like this, and i'm going to read them for you. one woman, i have really, really bad anxiety. people have found out where i am. i don't think i'll be able to be completely here and fair. she was excused. another juror, i don't think i can be impartial. i want to be and i have every intention, but after the questions posed to prospective jurors and asking those questions to myself, i don't think that i can be, in fact,

impartial. they're currently going through that 42-question questionnaire with all of those potential jurors looking to fill those five alternate seats, ana, so that leaves just 20 jurors in that potential jury pool now, the former president seated in the courtroom as well. he started the day off with his eyes closed. however, when he heard one of the potential jurors saying they had read "the art of the deal" he popped his eyes wide open. before heading into the courtroom, he did speak to reporters about that gag order. here's what he had to say. >> the gag order has to come off. people are allowed to speak about me and i have a gag order just to show you how much more unfair it is. >> reporter: seven potential violations they're talking about when it comes to this gag order. they're going to have a hearing on the gag order tuesday afternoon.

that is when judge juan merchan is going to issue his decision when it comes to that gag order. one more thing to note, a possibility of a sandoval hearing happening later on this afternoon. that's essentially presenting the evidence from the prosecution if donald trump were to decide to, in fact, testify, he could be informed and educated, his attorneys as well, to what he would be presented with in cross. >> yasmin, stay with us. so carol, we've had essentially three days of jury selection. the first day was really short, so maybe like two and a half days. we already have a jury seated, just need the alternates. are you surprised at all how quickly this is going? >> i think most people are surprised at how quickly it's moved, ana. jury selection varies widely, even among state courts. the judge has a lot of discretion. that discretion includes how much time to give each party to what we call voir dire the jury or ask questions of the prospective jurors. and in this case, judge merchan really moved pretty fast. he had the questionnaire.

the jurors were instructed to answer the questions on the questionnaires, and he really only gave the parties a half hour. some judges give the parties hours or even days to ask questions of the jurors. so he's moved quickly, but i think the -- one of the consequences of that is that they don't have time to delve as deeply into issues and so now we see where there's a break in the trial, we see the parties coming up with some issues once they've had an opportunity to research these jurors a little bit more deeply. >> and so joyce, do you see any red flags on this jury for either side? >> well, i think one of the important things we're seeing, ana, is that we don't know as much about these jurors as we might in a typical case because the judge is using an anonymous jury procedure, and we can all understand the need for that. so if to carol's point, there's not only a lack of public information that's afternoonly -- amplified, i think

everyone's concerned there might be a stealth juror in the mix, a injury who says they can be fair but is really in the tank for one side or the other. these are skillful lawyers on both sides, the cumulative experience on the prosecution team is very impressive. this is their job to detect jurors who aren't telling the truth to protect the integrity of the jury. we saw that happen earlier this week when the d.a.'s team came back and questioned juror number four, had found information that they felt like that juror had not revealed and had that juror removed. >> we do know their professions, this is a highly educated group. you've got a teacher. you've got a couple of lawyers, a couple of engineers, a speech therapist, a physical therapist. polls have shown when it comes to voters, this demographic is sort of a weak spot for trump. carol, if you're his defense team, does that give you pause? >> it does give one pause because one of the, i think, consequences of having not only

an educated jury but also two lawyers on the jury is that it will be more difficult to confuse the jury about what the charge are. i expect that this is going to be a fairly complicated set of instructions and a fairly complicated set of verdict forms because you've got the initial determination whether -- whether the books were correctly entered as business records. that's the misdemeanor charge, and then it elevates to a felony, if those books were cooked, so to speak, in order to conceal another crime or in furtherance of another crime. so that is what the jury's going to have to go through very methodically, and i think having a more educated jury and particularly two lawyers who are more used to doing this sort of thing in their legal practice will result in a more orderly and procedurally stayed kind of jury deliberation. and that's probably not a good sign for the defense team. >> so just back to the google doc for a moment.

they are going through 22 jurors potentially, who have been called into the jury room, and are on, i think, seat number five or six, out of those 22 at this moment, they've already dismissed a few from this most recent jury pool. so we'll continue to keep an eye on that. meantime, the judge has said he hopes for potentially opening statements as soon as monday, and then of course after that, we really get into the meat of this trial, and trump's lawyers have asked for a list of the first three witnesses prosecutors plan to call. prosecutors said, no, we're not going to give you that list. i want to read from the transcript here. the lawyer for the prosecution. look, i got to be honest. that is a courtesy that we normally extend. mr. trump has been tweeting about the witnesses. we're not telling who the witnesses are. i'm sorry. judge merchan responding, i can't fault the people for that. so trump's lawyer says, what if i commit to the court and the people that president trump will not tweet about any witness. judge merchan, i don't think you can make that representation.

carol, just how unusual is this? >> it's a little bit unusual for the following reasons. it's certainly unusual for a judge to suggest that the lawyer doesn't have complete client control, which is what judge merchan was saying, but i think that we have all seen that unfortunately that that is true, not to blame the defense attorneys, but donald trump does what donald trump wants to do. the courtesy of the telling the other side who the next witness or few witnesses are going to be, that is a courtesy that's generally extended because each party wants the other party to extend the same courtesy to them. in this case, the prosecution has said with what they believe to be violations of the gag order that have taken place, they're not going to extend that courtesy. that makes it tough for the defense in a couple of ways, one obviously they don't know which witness to prepare for. i mean, they're prepared for all the witnesses, but it's always a little different when you know exactly who is coming up next. they're not going to know that.

thousand, of course during the direct examination of each witness, they'll have an opportunity to get their notes together and pull their files, so it's not devastating, but what judge merchan said is there's no rule that says they have to do that for you. they said they're not going to do it. that's their choice. >> but again, joyce, it is typical, right, that you would get the list or at least a heads-up to the defense so they can prepare for whichever witness is coming up. so does it potentially give an avenue for trump to claim the legal system is biased against him, if they don't extend that typical courtesy in this case? >> well, trump will always claim that the legal system is biased against him, no matter how fair the prosecution is. what this doesn't do is it doesn't create an issue on appeal for trump. carol's explained it perfectly. this is a courtesy practice among lawyers. the defense in this case, they know who the government's witnesses are. they have all of their discovery. they're fully capable of being

prepared, but lawyers always exchange witness lists during trial. it's just a way of making the trial move more smoothly. the judge, i think, expresses the appropriate sympathy for the position the district attorney is in here. we are watching witnesses or rather watching jurors who are excusing themselves in essence from trial because they are concerned about the publicity, the spotlight that a former president of the united states might bring to bear on them. the district attorney is obligated to protect their witnesses and that's exactly what we're seeing happen here. we are seeing them say and a judge agree, that the former president of the united states could be a threat to these witnesses if knows who's next on the witness stand. they're going to try to avoid every opportunity for him to target them. >> let's check back in with yasmin, any updates from the courtroom? what stands out? >> reporter: yeah, they're on seat seven right now, still going through that questionnaire. two things i think is important

to mention. they allowed for five extra minutes in the voir dire process, i know you and carol were just talking about that, because of the 22 jurors that are not in that box, although now it's down to 20 because two have subsequently been excused. one other thing i think we should keep in mind in looking to monday on a time line for opening remarks, and that is the possibility that we could have jurors show up on monday morning after having gone over the weekend, worried about that anxiety, fear of their identities. in, being revealed. showing up on monday morning and saying i'm worried about this. i don't know if i can necessarily do this. that's something to keep in the back of our minds and looking at that time line and those possible opening remarks on monday morning. >> yasmin vossoughian, carol lam and joyce vance, thank you. don't go too far. we'll check back as we keep our eyes on that manhattan courthouse. we are also following breaking news in the middle east this morning as israel retaliates with strikes inside iran. what it could mean for regional tensions. plus, the house fight for foreign aid intensifying this morning. could the move spell the end of

mike johnson's speakership? we're back in just 60 seconds. e e. all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer.

we're back with breaking news out of the middle east this morning, as israel retaliates delivering its promised response to iran's drone and missile attack. now, israel struck inside iran early this morning firing missies toward a military base. iranian media down playing the attack calling it situation normal. let's get to raf sanchez in tel aviv, allie raffa at the white house, and retired lieutenant general steph twitty is with us as well. raf, walk us through the latest. what do we know? >> reporter: so ana, we are now 12 plus hours on from this israeli strike, and it does not appear, at least at this time, that we are hurdling towards further escalation. instead, as you said, both iran

and israel appear to be downplaying what happened early this morning. we heard from the iranian president a couple of hours ago. he did not even mention the strike. iranian state media is saying the situation is calm, that civilian flights are moving as normal, and despite all the bluster that we've heard this week from the iranian revolutionary guard that any israeli attack would be met with a massive and immediate response, this morning iran is neither accusing israel of responsibility, nor is it saying that it will retaliate. from the israeli side, they are neither confirming nor denying responsibility for this attack. we have not heard from prime minister benjamin netanyahu today. we are not expecting to at this point, and israel is not crowing, not gloating, not rubbing iran's face in this, and it appears that this is highly calculated. they are trying to give the

iranians an off-ramp, trying to give them the space to make sure that they can choose not to retaliate without losing face. it's important to remember, ana, this strike did not happen in a vacuum. april 1st there is that alleged israeli attack on the iranian embassy compound in damascus, and then last saturday, iran responding with that massive barrage of 350 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, most of which were shot down by israel and its allies. in terms of the strike itself, it happened at around 4:00 a.m. the main target appears to have been a military base near the city of is ta han, a couple of hours south of tehran. a source familiar with the situation tells me it was a limited strike. the israelis spent the hours afterwards assessing the damage, assessing the effectiveness. it is not clear at this point whether israel carried out this

strike with surface to surface missiles, whether these were missiles launched from aircraft or whether they were drones. ana, i will tell you here in tel aviv right now, the situation is calm. it is quiet, and very significantly the israeli military has not imposed new restrictions either here in central israel or up in the north near the border with lebanon, and that is an indication that israel feels at least at this point that there is not going to be imminent iranian retaliation. >> raf sanchez, thank you for bringing us the latest there. >> ali, israeli officials reportedly gave the u.s. a heads-up here. how is the biden administration responding this morning? >> yeah, ana, you heard raf mention it's now been more than 12 hours since israel's strike, and despite efforts overmight and throughout the morning, we haven't received official reaction from the white house or president biden, and that is likely by design, as u.s. officials try to distance themselves and try to deescalate this situation, trying not to

risk pouring fuel onto these rising tensions in the middle east. that was the main message that was echoed by really what we have seen as the only official reaction from the biden administration, when secretary of state antony blinken spoke during his trip to italy for conversations with g-7 leaders, he held a press conference this morning, and during that press conference he was asked whether the u.s. received a warning, a heads-up from the israelis before this strike, something that u.s. officials had asked their israeli counterparts to do. listen to his response here. >> the united states has not been involved in any offensive operations. what we're focused on, what the g-7 is focused on -- and again, it's reflected in our statement and in our conversation -- is our work to deescalate tensions, to deescalate from any potential conflict. >> reporter: blinken not saying whether that heads-up was given, but the italian foreign

minister, however, did. he said that the u.s. was informed at, quote, the last minute by the israelis. and of course, ana, this comes days after that phone call between president biden and prime minister netanyahu in which president biden urged netanyahu to, quote, take the win, that israel demonstrated its ability to defend itself in intercepting roughly 99% of those missiles that were launched by iran. so this strike isn't coming as too much of a surprise to the white house, considering israeli officials had vowed retaliation, even after that phone call, but still no official reaction from this white house. we do have several opportunities today to see and hear from the president as well as white house officials, and no doubt they will be peppered with questions about this, ana. >> thank you for that reporting. general, you know, before this happened, iran had been saying things like even the slightest, the most tiny or minor kind of

response against iran or its people would result in a harsh and decisive response. what's your reaction to what we just witnessed, what we're learning? did this just escalate things? >> no, i don't think so. i don't think iran wants a war with israel, and i don't think israel wants a war with iran. if you notice, this attack it was measured and calibrated, and i think what israel intended to do here is send a message to iran that we can strike deep inside your country and, oh, by the way, we also know where your nuclear capability. there's a nuclear power plant there in isibhan where it is believed that iran is enriching uranium for nuclear weapons purposes, and so that's the message that we can attack deep

inside your country, and also, we know that you have the capability there and you're enriching that capability there. i think what we'll see now, no one's talking about this, iran's not talking about it, israel is not talking about it. so i think we'll move on from here. there's a new norm that's been established, i'll tell you that, israel has normally operated in the gray zone with the cyber attacks and attacking iranian forces and their proxies in syria and elsewhere. now you have this confrontation between the two countries, and this is something we're going to have to watch here because there is a new norm that's been established. >> and what does this whole situation tell you about the

u.s. and israel dynamic? because the u.s. had urged israel to take the win, to not further respond after that initial iranian attack was repelled? >> well, it's all about the lens you see this through. if you're israel, iran is an existential threat in israel, so they view iran as their number one enemy and so they felt compelled to respond to this. and it's okay because israel is a sovereign nation and if it's an existential threat, they have to demonstrate if they're attacked within israel, they deserve the right to strike back. and it is a good thing that they notified the u.s. because we have interest in the region. we have u.s. troops throughout the region there, and we have to protect them, and so that's my thoughts behind why israel went ahead and did what they had to

do. >> lieutenant general steph twitty, thank you for sharing your experience and your insights and your guidance in this potentially dangerous situation. we're staying on top of breaking news here in the u.s., the manhattan courthouse is the final stretch of jury selection for donald trump's hush money case. we'll have the latest from inside court. plus, the so-called sandoval hearing set for today that could be critical if trump takes the stabbed. stand. what to expect after a short break. what to expect after a sht break. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper what to expect after a short break. what to expect after a short break. you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley. (vo) if you have graves' disease... ...and blurry vision, you need clear answers.erever you are. people with graves' could also get thyroid eye disease, or t-e-d, which may need a different doctor. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com.

my life is full of questions... how do i clean an aioli stain? use tide. do i need to pretreat guacamole? not with tide. why do we even buy napkins? thankfully, tide's the answer to almost all of them. do crabs have eyebrows? except that one. for all of life's laundry questions, it's got to be tide. this is patrick's look of pure bliss. and this is his john deere 3 series tractor. it connects to every tool he needs, ♪♪ to complete almost any task. ♪♪ but above all, it delivers total confidence. you just have to get in the seat.

oh no. running low? with chewy, always keep their bowl full. save 35% on your first autoship order. get the food they love. delivered again and again. (♪♪) [thud] you founded your kayak company because you love the ocean- not spreadsheets. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire looking for a smarter way to mop? try the swiffer powermop. ♪♪ an all-in-one cleaning tool, with a 360-degree swivel head that goes places a regular mop just can't. ♪♪ mop smarter with the swiffer powermop.

tamra, izzy, and emma... they respond to emails with phone calls... and they don't 'circle back', they're already there. they wear business sneakers and pad their keyboards with something that makes their clickety-clacking... clickety-clackier. but no one loves logistics as much as they do. you need tamra, izzy, and emma. they need a retirement plan. work with principal so we can help you with a retirement and benefits plan that's right for your team. let our expertise round out yours. norman, bad news...

andi never graduatedat's rfrom med school.am. what? but the good news is... xfinity mobile just got even better! now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. i gotta get this deal... that's like $20 a month per unlimited line... i don't want to miss that. that's amazing doc. mobile savings are calling. visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc?

welcome back. we have the break news out of manhattan this morning, day four of donald trump's hush money trial with a jury now seated, and they're still working to pick alternates. lawyers are questioning the tenth potential juror out of 22 just brought in this morning. nbc's vaughn hillyard is joining us outside the courthouse, and back with us carol lam and joyce vance. it seems like they're moving pretty quickly here. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, ana. look, we've got a starting lineup. mow it's a matter of filling in the bench at this point. there are 118 potential jurors currently inside of that courtroom, all who could be one of those last five alternates. the idea that judge merchan would like to fill all of those slots by today's end, and currently they have asked the 42-question questionnaire to ten

individuals, two have been dismissed, so we've got eight that will go through a more intense questioning process as they look to fill those other slots here. this is a moment for the defense team in which there's a reckoning that come monday we could be talking about opening statements and potentially the fist witnesses being called here. we were talking at one point about the jury selection process taking two weeks, so suddenly this weekend becomes all the more crucial for donald trump's legal team as they prep for for what could be a consequential first days out of the gate. >> vaughn, stand by, but do keep us posted if there's any major development. carol, let's talk about this other unresolved issue, which is the gag order and potential violations. yasmin mentioned that the d.a. is saying we count seven potential violations, talking about witnesses, trump's comments about the jury on immediate as well, the district attorney's office wants a thousand dollar fine for each of these violations. do you think that's going to be

enough to deter him? >> very hard to say, and for this reason, first there's an irony of trump giving repeated sort of statements to the press about how he's gagged. it's just odd because he's obviously not completely gagged. it sort of points out the fact that it was a fairly narrow gag order that the judge imposed, and the judge left open the door for donald trump to talk in any manner he wanted about the judge himself and the district attorney. it was really the witnesses and the families of the court including the judge and the other potential witnesses and prosecutors that the judge was trying to protect. now, donald trump, it seems, has technically violated the gag order particularly with respect to talking about michael cohen and stormy daniels, two potential very likely witnesses in this trial. what trump is complaining about publicly is that michael cohen

is out there saying -- and other witnesses saying things about donald trump, but the fact is there's no gag order against them. it's only against trump at this point. i think these are some of the factors that the judge has to weigh at that hearing he's going to have next week about whether donald trump has violated the gag order, and if so, how much punishment how old he be subject to. >> joyce, what do you make of how judge merchan has handled this process so far, particularly with trump's inclination to push the boundaries of what's allowed? >> there's been some concern about the lengthy period of time he permitted before the hearing will take place, but, ana, the judge isn't completely a free actor here. he's constrained by new york law. what the d.a. has asked for his criminal contempt, this is not civil contempt, and there's a provision of new york law that says that if the violation of the gag order occurs in front of the judge, then the judge can

act to impose several penalties. for instance, these fines are close to the maximum amount. the judge could impose up to 30 days in jail if he chose to. i think the fact that everyone is moving slowly and deliberately here is an acknowledgment of the fact that the judge will have to craft some sort of a remedy that tells trump the gag order is for real. otherwise he'll continue to go on and violate it with impunity for the remainder of the are trial. >> and again, that hearing to deal with this gag order issue is on tuesday. meantime, this afternoon we're expecting a sandoval hearing. what information do we have about this? >> reporter: right, this is the hearing that we expect to take place after those additional five alternate jurors are selected here this afternoon, and the sandoval hearing will be the opportunity for the prosecution to make the case as to what they would like to cross examine donald trump if he were to testify prior to trial

determination. the list that the d.a.'s office put forward to judge merchan included determinations like the civil fraud trial just from earlier this year as well as the e. jean carroll case, but also, you know, cases like in early 2023 when donald trump was ordered to pay nearly a million dollars to multiple defendants incluing hillary clinton as part of a sprawling lawsuit against her and nearly 40 other defendants, and in that court order, that court ruling at the time from early 2023, it said, quote, mr. trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries. the reason why the district attorney's office wants to bring these sort of court orders from prior trials before the jury is to show them that this is mott -- not an isolated case, donald trump as a defendant has had multiple run-ins with the truth and is a questionable defendant

if he were to testify, and these are some prior court determinations that are further evidence of that. >> joyce, vaughn just ticked through the long list of potential areas of questioning that the d.a. has signaled they want to discuss if trump does take the stand, everything, again, from e. jean carroll to the civil fraud trial to other legal matters. does everything on the list that we know of sound fair game to you? what do you think the judge is likely to do? >> so the judge will have to balance the evidentiary value of this material to the prosecution against the risk of undue prejudice to the defendant. and the courts in new york have said that they leave those determinations up to the judge's sound discretion. he'll only be reversed on appeal if there is a conviction, if he abuses his discretion. so we can expect to see him go carefully through each of these incidents. ana, it's important to note here, this isn't evidence that

the prosecution can introduce to claim that trump is a bad character. because he did bad things on other occasions, he did something wrong here. instead, this is the sort of evidence that the prosecution can use to impeach donald trump if he testifies during the trial to suggest to the jury that he's not an honest witness and they shouldn't believe him. >> quickly, if you will, if you were on the defense team and you're looking at the list of what the d.a. is saying, i want to talk to your client about this if he takes the stand, is there any world in which you say, yes, trump, take the stand? >> it's pretty difficult, ana, and for this reason. joyce is absolutely correct that ordinarily prior bad acts and prior conduct don't come into a criminal trial, and you are tried on the facts of this case alone. but if a defendant takes the stand, then the judge has to decide whether his prior conduct is relevant enough to the issues here and the credibility of the defendant if he testifies is a

very relevant issue. but look at the substantive areas where he has been found to be civilly liable. one has to do with misconduct in business records, which is a big issue in this case, and the other has to do with a defamation case based on sexual assault, which is relevant, perhaps, to the stormy daniels allegations as well. i suspect what the judge is going to do is he is going to allow some of that in, and he may say you can't get this in unless donald trump opens the door in his testimony and makes it more relevant. so it's going to be a tough decision for the defense. >> carol, vaughn, please stay close. joyce, thank you so much. turning back to the middle east and the other breaking news this morning, israel's retaliation against iran, does this upend the diplomatic order? also ahead, the growing republican rift over foreign aid that could potentially rip the house in two and spell the end of speaker johnson's time with

the gavel. we have a key vote about to happen this morning. stay with us. us r asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask an asthma specialist if nucala is right for you. ♪ i have type 2 diabetes, but i manage it well ♪ ♪ jardiance! ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance ♪ ♪ at each day's start! ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to see ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c! ♪ jardiance works twenty-four seven in your body to flush out some sugar. and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too.

serious side effects may include ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. you may have an increased risk for lower limb loss. call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of infection in your legs or feet. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell ♪ ♪ the little pill ♪ ♪ with a big story to tell! ♪ ♪♪ imagine a future where plastic is not wasted... but instead remade over and over... into the things that keep our food fresher, our families safer, and our planet cleaner. to help us get there, america's plastic makers are investing billions of dollars to create innovative products and new recycling technologies for sustainable change. because when you push for smarter solutions,

big things can happen.

now to breaking news on capitol hill this morning. right now the house is holding a key procedural vote on foreign aid clearing the way for full votes on the aid packages for israel and ukraine tomorrow. normally these votes are along party lines, but here democrats are expected to help get this over the finish line, and you

can see so far there have been four democratic nays, we'll keep an eye on those different columns. these bills are facing significant republican opposition. that's why democrats may end up stepping in. far right members threatening speaker johnson's job over this. let's get right over to nbc's ali vitali who's tracking the very latest on capitol hill for us. walk us through what we expect of this vote this morning and after those unusual dynamics overnight. >> reporter: we're expecting it to be bipartisan in fashion, ana. a lot of movement around me here because these are the steps that lawmakers take to go up into the chamber to vote. some of them of course are already on the floor now. if you're going to see and you're looking at the vote tally in the house chamber right now, you're likely to see a lot more republican votes happening than you are to see democrats voting. it might look like that because our understanding is that they might be waiting, the democrats to see how many of them they actually need to join with republicans and help them get

this rule over the finish line. this is the last procedural hurdle before house members will be able to actually vote on those four distinct bills that include aid, as you mentioned, to ukraine and to israel, but there was a really stunning moment last night that even preceded what we're seeing today on the house floor, which is that the rules committee, which typically would function that the majority party -- in this case republicans -- would all vote together to get their party's legislation onto the house floor. instead, you had three republican hard line conservatives who said they would not vote for this foreign aid package to hit the house floor. they bucked the speaker and their own party on that. all four democrats on that committee came together and helped to get this rule out of their committee and onto the house floor for the vote that you're seeing happen right in front of you right now. it might seem small, it might seem arcane, but that's pretty rare and striking. >> it's left speaker mike

johnson in a pretty tough spot. what's the latest from him? >> reporter: we just had a chance to catch up with him as he was walking to the house floor for this vote series. he said he's not concerned about his job, that to him this is a moment of doing the right thing. but look, certainly there is a lot of frustration within his conference, and among a vocal few who say this they have either diminished respect and confidence in their speaker or in the case of people like marjorie taylor green who are outright threatening a motion to vacate. now, again, there are threats and then there are privilege threats, and privileged threats tart the clock on this. we are not there yet, but if you listen to the way that the speaker was talking last night, he's aware of the realities of his conference right now, basically saying, hey, we've only got control of one chamber here, and we barely have control of that one. stunning words from the speaker. >> we only control one chamber, and i barely have control of that. i can't -- the gnat won't advance our legislation and the president won't sign it.

he won't fulfill his obligation. why is the border not in this package? because greta we didn't have the votes to do it. if i don't have republican votes that means we have to have democrat votes. >> reporter: and it's important what he's saying here about the border bill because that's part of the frustration that some house conservatives have here, which is that they wanted to see tougher border security before they moved on getting aid out to any of these other american allies. that's why we're seeing them not just vote against the rule both on the floor and in committee, but also there was supposed to be at some point today a vote on a separate border bill. they can't even do that right now because they don't have the votes, and they could not get it out of the rules committee. yet another reminder of the tough dynamics that speaker mike johnson is working with here. >> we just saw there is a democrat who's now voted for this most recent vote to get it through to that full house vote eventually. interesting to hear those words from the speaker. i barely have control over my own party. thank you so much, ali. keep us up to speed.

meantime, tensions are rising in the middle east as fear grows that israel's attack on iran could set off a powder keg in the region. today's strike comes one day after the united nations secretary general urged all parties to exercise, quote, maximum restraint to prevent the conflict from igniting a wider war. quote, one miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake could lead to the unthinkable. a full scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved and for the rest of the world. joining us now, former nato supreme allied commander retired admiral james stavridis. how much more serious could this get, would you expect iran to strike back? >> i would not at this point, so we can have just a little bit of good news, if you will. let's do the numbers for a minute here, iran launched 350 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones.

from all the reporting i'm seeing, israel responded with less than ten, so that's a very significant moderation, and it kind of puts this on a path toward deescalation, ana, and secondly, listen to the statements coming out of both tehran and out of jerusalem. both sides are effectively saying, okay, we've had enough of this kind of vert exchange of combat ordinance, now maybe we go back to the shadow war that we were in. but bottom line, i think there's an 80 to 90% chance we've seen the worst of the overt combat, probably we're going to see tensions deescalate between israel and iran, and at that point, of course, we'll have to go back to dealing with the challenges in gaza. >> deescalating, that sounds very encouraging.

what do you make of israel's choice to strike near a nuclear facility? >> i think justified as follows, the signal they sought to send to tehran was we know where your sights are. we can get our drones or cruise missiles. we're not sure which they used as yet. we can get in your house when we want to. this time we didn't choose to break anything in the house. next time we might. again, it's a signal sent, i think signal received. let me add one other thought that's less comforting. if you're worried about an escalation, i'll give you three things to watch. one is hezbollah to the north of israel, has 100,000 surface to surface missiles. number two, watch the seat. if either iran or israel go after each other's ships, that would be a significant

escalation, ask then thirdly, you can't see it physically, but cyber could be another realm where these two nations engaged. so we're not out of the woods yet, but i'm more hopeful than i was 48 hours ago. >> as you mentioned, it seems like all sides are sort of holding back from saying a whole lot this morning, which is in some ways encouraging because they're not immediately firing up a response and rhetoric that would escalate. however, what do you think is happening behind the scenes it try to prevent this from escalating? >> well, first and foremost, the biden administration, i think, has done a good job here of constantly talking to our partners in israel and counciling them to take a very measured approach. second, you heard already, you read the news on the secretary general of the united nations i think is working back channel on both sides of this, and finally, in the arab world, i suspect

there are signals going to iran from the arab world and to israel from the arab world saying to both sides we've got to dial this down. don't forget the iranians are persians, not arabs, and so the arabs find themselves kind of between israel and iran. that's an uncomfortable place when cruise missiles are going over your head. >> admiral james stavridis, as always, thank you so much for joining us. here in new york city more protests are expected today as those tensions rise about the middle east leading to clashes at columbia university. police arresting more than 100 pro-palestinian protesters for trespassing yesterday. the nypd says columbia asked police to clear the area after students refused to leave. students that had been suspended. now, columbia's student newspaper reports the campus hasn't seen mass student arrests like this since protests over

the vietnam war. one of the students arrested was congresswoman ilhan omar's daughter. she said on social media she was suspended for standing in solidarity with palestinians. the protests come just a day after columbia's president was in the hot seat on capitol hill testifying about anti-semitism on campus. next here on "ana cabrera reports," so much has been unfolding in that manhattan courthouse. we're going to get an update on donald trump's hush money case right after a short break. don't go anywhere. it to the bos. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto with his boat or rv. wait, i thought jamie was the boss. [ laughter ] it's funny because i'm not boss material!

(vo) verizon small business days are coming. april 22nd to the 28th. get a free tech check. and special offers and deals. don't miss out. partner with our experts today. it's odd how in an instant things can transform. slipping out of balance into freefall. (the stock market is now down 23%). this is happening people. where there are so few certainties... (laughing) look around you. you deserve to know. as we navigate a future unknown. i'm glad i found stability amidst it all. gold. standing the test of time. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment

of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. the future is not just going to happen. you have to make it. and if you want a successful business, all it takes is an idea, and now becomes the future where you grew a dream into a reality. the all new godaddy airo. put your business online in minutes with the power of ai. you know, i spend a lot of time thinking about dirt. at three in the morning. any time of the day. what people don't know is that not all dirt is the same. you need dirt with the right kind of nutrients. look at this new organic soil from miracle-gro.

everybody should have it. it worked great for us. this is as good as gold in any garden. if people only knew that it really is about the dirt. you're a dirt nerd. huge dirt nerd. i'm proud of it! [ryan laughs] (vo) verizon small business days are coming. april 22nd to the 28th. get a free tech check. and special offers and deals. don't miss out. partner with our experts today. we're back with an eye on the donald trump hush money trial. perspective alternate jurors are answering questions right now and they're going at a fast pace. nbc's vaughn hillyard joins us again from outside the courthouse. vaughn, what are we hearing? >> reporter: right, at this point in time, ana, we're

working our way to find the five alternates, the five remaining slots that must be filled to round out the jury pool that could lead to opening statements taking place on monday. just one example of one of the individuals who has so far gone through the 42 questionnaire but not been booted at this point is a woman -- sorry, a male who said, quote, that he volunteered for getting out the vote for the democratic party during the clinton campaign and attended the women's march in 2017. now, this is the process where this individual also said that he currently doesn't hold strong opinions about donald trump, he's made it through this 42-question questionnaire, we'll get to the voir dire process and close to an hour from now and that's where the defense team for donald trump will be able to further ask this individual questions. but this is a moment where on the flip side you also have seen another juror say that they had read "art of a deal," one was a

fox news viewer, he turned his said when he's keenly aware of some potentially favorable jurors. this is this process here, again, we are at number 13 at this point and we expect over the hours ahead to try to find those five alternates, ana. >> and i'm looking here at the google doc too as you're speaking. they're questioning a woman in seat 17, who says her father is good friends with former new jersey governor chris christie. so, it is always interesting to hear answers from the potential jurors and then see what happens and whether they end up seated and we look at what their answers were. are we on track to begin opening statements on monday and what could that look like? >> reporter: at this point in time, actually one of the anecdotes was late yesterday afternoon there was a juror who was dismissed after it was revealed she, 15 years ago, along with her husband, stayed the night at one donald trump's attorney's homes, one of the

attorneys asking her questions. this turns into a small neighborhood when you start randomly selecting people and asking them detailed questions about their lives as it pertains to donald trump. but we expect, yes, we're moving, yesterday was a very productive afternoon, and the expectation is they will get through this jury selection process today, have a sandoval hearing where they can ask questions as it pertains to donald trump's prior trials unrelated to this particular case, that could come this afternoon, then we could have opening statements as soon as monday morning and those first witnesses beginning to be called next week. this is moving at a quick pace at this point, ana? >> vaughn hillyard, thank you so much for tracking all the twists and turns for us. that does it for us this hour. i'll be back in the anchor chair later at 3:00 p.m. eastern filling in for katy tur. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. thanks for joining us. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. ng us. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this.

i brought in ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein! those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. -ugh. -here, i'll take that. woo hoo! ensure max protein, 30 grams protein, 1 gram sugar, 25 vitamins and minerals. and a new fiber blend with a prebiotic. (♪♪) alice loves the scent of gain so much, and a new fiber she wished there was a way to make it last longer. say hello to your fairy godmother alice and long-lasting gain scent beads. part of the irresistible scent collection from gain!

cordless outdoor power, brings you the ego power+ string trimmer with powerload technology. feed the line, push the button and get back to work. ego, exclusively at lowe's, ace and ego authorized dealers. ♪ music ♪ ♪ unnecessary action hero! ♪ ♪ unnecessary. ♪ was that necessary? no. neither is missing your daughter's competition

to do payroll. with paycom, employees do their own payroll so you don't have to miss your daughter's big day. time to shine. get paycom and make the unnecessary unnecessary. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. if you've ever grilled, you know you can count on propane to make everything great. but did you know propane also powers school buses that produce lower emissions that lead to higher test scores? or that propane can cut your energy costs at home? it powers big jobs and small ones too. from hospitals to hospitality, people rely on propane-an

energy source that's affordable, plentiful, and environmentally friendly for everyone. get the facts at propane.com/now. if you've ever grilled, you know you can count on propane to make everything great. but did you know propane also powers school buses that produce lower emissions that lead to higher test scores? or that propane can cut your energy costs at home? it powers big jobs and small ones too. from hospitals to hospitality, people rely on propane-an energy source that's affordable, plentiful, and environmentally friendly for everyone. get the facts at propane.com/now. good morning.