tv Ana Cabrera Reports MSNBC May 23, 2024 7:00am-8:00am PDT
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announced by the doj. and senator amy klobuchar will join us on how this could upend the music industry. also ahead, a "new york times" bombshell, another provocative flag at another home of justice alito. what democrats are now demanding. and later, welcome to the white house, president biden welcoming the leader of kenya for an official state visit this hour. thanks so much for joining us. it is 10:00 eastern, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york, and we begin with the race for the white house. donald trump preparing to hold a campaign event today in new york city's south bronx. a very blue district that went 77% for joe biden in 2020. now, this event is fresh off the heels of a significant endorsement for trump from the last woman left standing in the primary race against him. former rival nikki haley. let's discuss with nbc news
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correspondent vaughn hillyard, christina greer, professor at city college of new york, and susan del percio, republican strategist and msnbc political analyst. so thank you all for being here. vaughn, explain to us why trump is campaigning in this extremely blue district today. >> so number one, he thought that he was going to have trial today in manhattan and so his campaign went forward with planning this south bronx event. donald trump has been obsessed with the idea that he can win the state of new york here in november, and we should note that back in 2020 he lost the state of new york by 23 percentage points. and so for donald trump he sees polling that indicates that he's able to make some inroads, particularly with black vote ers. he received a record number of 12% in the 2020 race, a record for republican nominees in recent decades.
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polls indicating up to 20% of black voters could vote for donald trump. this is where it's going to be difficult for him. there's a difference between dissatisfaction with joe biden now and a reality that five months from now we're in a very different place and being dissatisfied for joe biden and voting for donald trump, there's a big gap that frankly history has not provided even in recent elections. >> even a little bit can make a difference, right? >> it can, and here's what's interesting. the bronx elected its first republican last year to the city council, the first one in 40 years. so just putting that out there that a republican won a seat for the first time in 40 years. i'm not suggesting that donald trump is going to win new york. it's not going to happen. donald trump did seven percentage points better in the bronx in 2020 than he did in 2016. biden did worse in new york city in 2020 than clinton did in 2016 so the narrative that's out
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there that these communities are not getting the attention that they probably should get from the democrats if they want to increase turnout is very significant, and while vaughn is absolutely right, donald trump's doing this rally not to win over votes but because he thought it's a good press hit, fine, he can have that. there is a message for democrats not in new york city, but if it's on the margins, those swing states, it matters. >> this is the message coming from congressman richie torrez in the district in south bronx. he said there is no greater enemy than donald trump to his district and his district will not buy the snake oil trump is selling. here he was on "morning joe." >> donald trump is so unpopular as to be radioactive. he's even less popular than arsenic in the bronx. i'm confident that the bronx is going to overwhelmingly support joe biden. if donald trump did not have a criminal trial in new york city, he would never be caught dead in the bronx, and as far as i'm concerned the only place in the
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bronx where donald trump has any place being is bronx criminal court. >> christina, do you agree with congressman torrez there or could trump's visit help him make inroads in these voting blocks that have been more traditionally democratic like with black or hispanic voters? >> right, congressman torrez does have a point. the real reason why donald trump is going to the bronx is to say to the democratic voters of the bronx has joe biden been here, right? you all keep voting democratically. i'm the one who's actually coming to visit you. he's not saying it's because i've got to stay close to home, which home is the court. he's also trying to -- i don't think he necessarily thinks he's going to get black and latino voters to vote for him. the strategy is to get them to abstain from voting for anyone on the top. that's where it matter, not just in new york, places like milwaukee, detroit. places where joe biden has less favorability. also, we're in a moment where as vaughn said, we have some time, right?
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joe biden needs to make the case to black and latino voters, black female voters tend to be immune to what the republican party is selling. we always see black male voters voting a little bit more for the republican party than black female voters. the real reason that donald trump wants this is to make sure he sort of suppresses the vote by black male voters in the sense he's not expecting them to vote for him. i don't know if new york is definitely a blue stronghold. all states are red states. we just have blue cities in red states we're the ones who lost the four members of the house who went over to the republican party. so yes, it seems like a long shot that, you know, donald trump would ever win new york, but looking at those lee zeldin numbers in 2022 does make me realize that there are a lot more republicans and dissatisfied democrats in the state of new york than we'd like to admit. >> and beyond, obviously, new york too, and i've talked with voters, especially from the hispanic community.
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there have been complaints that they don't feel really heard or seen, that they feel taken for granted by the democrats, but let me turn to the other big political news that we have this morning and this is an endorsement, the announcement from nikki haley about voting for trump. vaughn, she was really, really critical of donald trump during the primaries, and she's changing her tune. >> let's preface this with the fact that nikki haley's already done this before. in 2015 she equated donald trump to being an kindergartner, and then she serve instead his administration as u.n. ambassador. she called him unhinged, toxic. she said the most harm he's possibly had is getting hit by a golf cart. she's called him chaotic, suggesting chaos follows him. i don't want a president who's going to praise dictators. she's questioned his memory. she has blasted the amount of debt his administration
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incurred. he took a shot at her husband when he was deployed overseas in africa, and she went on to call it disgusting, awful comments. this is somebody in nikki haley here, though, who is understanding that the power structure of the republican party lies with donald trump and last night saying she would vote for donald trump. she said it because the biden administration in her words have been catastrophic. so this is what we saw ted cruz do eight years ago, marco rubio. if you want to have a place of relevance in the republican party in the trump era, you must maintain an allyship and be somewhat close to donald trump, and nikki haley is doing that here again. >> are you surprised by this about-face, christina? >> not at all. they all fall in line ultimately. as vaughn has clearly laid out, i was never surprised. it was only when would nikki haley fall in line. when you're dealing with so many people in a republican party who have no shame, and they're following someone who has
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absolutely no shame, this isn't a surprise. not only will we see her support him, but we'll see her actively assist him in trying to become the next president. >> she hasn't gone that far yet, but i do want to play what she has said to just really demonstrate the evolution, susan. vaughn quoted her quite a bit, but listen to her in her own words. >> i will be voting for trump. having said that, i stand by what i said in my suspension speech. trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me and continue to support me, and not assume that they're just going to be with him. >> so she has previously called donald trump unstable, unhinged, that he wasn't qualified to be president because of his disrespect for the military and her concern over whether he
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could protect those men and women serving overseas. but -- so i'm wondering, susan, does she expect the people who have agreed with her in those previous comments and have voted for her for that reason to suddenly follow her lead and vote for trump now? >> well, i believe that especially after she suspended her campaign, the people who voted for nikki haley are the same small percentage, about 5% of those who voted in numbers-wise in 2020 who were republicans against trump. these were anti-trump votes, not pro-nikki haley votes, and that's where she gets a little confused, i think. but what's also really important is to keep in mind is last week she had a donor retreat. she did not make that comment without running it by them and knowing her political future. so it seemed acceptable for her to get away with doing something like this with her donors, so she went ahead and did it.
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>> thank you so much, susan del percio, vaughn hillyard. president and first lady william and rachel ruto, and after an arrival ceremony happening right now, we expect the two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting today followed by a joint press conference this afternoon. there will be a state dinner tonight. let's get more details from nbc news senior white house correspondent gabe gutierrez, what else can we expect for this visit, and why the kenyan president for this visit? >> reporter: hi there, ana. good morning. this ceremony beginning to get underway right behind me. the kenyan president william ruto arriving here at the white house, president biden greeting him. this is a significant state visit the white house says. it plans to officially designate kenya as a major non-nato ally. that is significant because the u.s. is really trying to get -- to build up allies in that part
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of the world, especially as china begins to gain more influence in that part of the world. now, this is the first state visit for an african nation to the white house since 2008, and this all comes as well, major topic of this visit will be that kenya is sending a thousand of its forces to haiti to act as a force there to try and stabilize that country because of all the gang violence there. the u.s. of course pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to that effort, and ana, we expect a joint press conference this afternoon and a state visit later on tonight here at the white house, ana. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you, please keep us posted on any developments. meantime, there is breaking news from the supreme court right now, which just issued a ruling in a case on claims of racial gerrymandering in south carolina. let's get to nbc's washington correspondent, yamiche alcindor. also joining us, university of
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it michigan law professor, leah litman. >> this is a 6-3 ruling by the supreme court along ideological lines a. district in south carolina that's held by representative nancy mace say it is a district that can remain as is. there are challengers saying this is a racially gerrymandered district and drawn in a way being biased to certain groups. but now the supreme court is upholding that decision and saying, well, actually, taking the decision that it is going to reverse a district court's decision, a lower court had reversed that district and saying that it should not have been upheld, and now the supreme court is saying it is. this is a 6-3 decision on ideological lines, so you have the three liberal justices, elena kagan, ketanji brown jackson, what's interesting here also is that we've seen the supreme court in another case in alabama say that that state
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needed to actually redraw its district lines in order to give african americans more of a say when it came to the congressional delegation. here it's doing the opposite. they're saying south carolina can keep the way the lines were being drawn, even though some saw them as racially biased. >> this relates to one of the seven districts. does this change anything for november's election? >> it's a good question. from my understanding, it probably will not be changing anything. south carolina is a reliably red state, and for what i can tell right now, representative nancy mace who is a republican in south carolina, she is likely at least leaning to someone who would win her district. that being said, if this had been reversed, that could change things. alabama having been down there, there were a number of activists including aclu activists who said that alabama's congressional delegation would change because they would have one more seat where a majority african american district would have a representative, and that way they feel like there would
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be more democrats there. in this case my understanding is that there won't be a change and that republicans, essentially will continue to be the majority of that state's congressional delegation. >> and so, leah, really, the question at hand was race the predominant consideration when this district was drawn on the map, and we know the lower court had ruled with the naacp saying this was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, so is it surprising to have this outcome? >> it's surprising based on the facts in the case because the case arose when some of the districts in south carolina were under populated. they had too few people in them, based on the census, and some of them were over populated. but instead of moving voters from the over populated district into the under populated district, south carolina moved voters around between all of the districts in order to ensure that the percentage of black voters remain sufficiently low to allow republicans to maintain a strangle hold on power over
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the south carolina congressional delegation and in particular to preserve nancy mace. by saying here that the south carolina legislature did not actually engage in a racial gerrymander, but instead was just considering politics makes it really difficult to establish racial gerrymandering claims given the close connection between race and politics in many places in the united states. >> how do you explain the difference in this ruling compared to the ruling the last session in the last term with alabama when they did say a predominant racial component? >> so the issue in the alabama case was whether alabama had violated the voting rights act, and that's a federal law that prohibits states from engaging in what are called vote dilution claims. here south carolina's chapter of the naacp had alleged that south carolina's legislature had intentionally relied on race as the basis for constructing the legislative districts they did. the legal standards in the two
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cases were quite different. one established vote dilution, which doesn't cause the chamber to show that the legislature tried to reduce -- the lower trial court had concluded based on the evidence that the legislature had intentionally disadvantaged black voters. >> so is it significant, leah, that justice alito wrote this decision considering everything going on with him right now? >> i think it's very significant. you have justice alito now indicating he has flown flags at his house or perhaps his wife has flown flags at his house. but in any case, his house has flown flags that have shown he identifies with the participants in the january 6th insurrection. these are anti-democratic movements. these are also pro-christian theocracy movements, and here he had the gal in this opinion to say that federal court should be
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wary to overrule legislative districting decisions to avoid turning the courts into a weapon of partisan warfare. but if anyone has revealed how the courts are being used as mechanisms of partisan warfar, it is justice samuel alito himself who has shown sympathy for january 6th and the since the accident participants while participating in those very case. >> yamiche, what other cases are we keeping our eye on for this term? >> we're looking at a number of cases. there's of course the abortion pill case, mifepristone, whether or not that will be allowed to be approved in the way that the fda has right now approved it, which is women getting it through mail. there's the trump immunity case and him saying as president he basically is immune from all actions he took while in office. there are a number of gun cases we're looking at. there's also a case about the emergency laws related to abortion. it's about challenging an idaho case, an idaho abortion law that
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is almost a near total ban on abortion. a lot to look for this term and definitely going to be a busy one. >> no doubt about it just a couple of months left. thank you so much, yamiche alcindor. closing time, what to expect as lawyers prepare their final arguments to the jury in donald trump's hush money trial next week. plus, another provocative flag as we've discussed tied to january 6th now flying at another home of justice alito. we'll have the details and the new scrutiny it's raising. but first, a bombshell lawsuit that could shake up the concert industry. what we know about a doj suit against ticketmaster and parent company live nation. i'll talk to senator amy klobuchar about that next. klobuchar about that next.
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giant live nation and of course that's the owner of ticketmaster. accusing the music giant of creating a monopoly situation causing higher ticket prices among other things. joining us now is nbc news senior business correspondent christine romans. what more do we know about this lawsuit? >> a legal battle ahead that could change how you buy tickets to see your favorite live events. we all know that the taylor swift debacle last year is something that had a lot of fans and lawmakers calling for a real good, hard look at how this business is run. but actually, regulators have been looking at this business model for a very long time. after a merger in 2010, these two now used to be rivals, became partners. they control everything from the concert promotion, the ticketing, the artist management, the operation of hundreds of concert venues and festival venues from top to bottom controlling more than 80% of the live events that you see in the united states, ana. >> and people, of course, were so outraged about the taylor swift debacle, but also in general it's hard sometimes to
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have access to two tickets for concerts. the prices can just go crazy. we're heading into the busy summer months of big concerts so what could the potential impact look like if this lawsuit comes to fruition? >> and many have noted that some of these same venues, same concerts that were happening in the united states are happening overseas without any of the problems that they had in the united states because in other countries, they have very strict laws against what the doj is likely to say is a monopoly here. there's a wide range of things the doj can do. all indications are it's going to be a big -- a lawsuit with a big demand, it could go as far as trying to break up this company. >> thank you so much, christine romans for giving us all of that. we're joined now by democratic senator amy klobuchar who has sponsored legislation to try to reform the music and concert industry. what do you make of this lawsuit, and what kind of change could it bring to the industry? >> well, thanks for having me on, ana. this is a long time in coming. ten years ago i didn't like this
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merger. i think there are major problems when you have a company that now controls, get this, 90% of billboard top 40 and sporting events of the ticketing, 80% of the ticketing when it comes to large arenas and 70% of all ticketing. they also own arenas. they own the promotion with live nation. they're locking in venues for long periods of time, and this has cried out for action. that's why we held the hearing. it was fun having swifties holding signs on our side, and it is why we gathered evidence to give to the justice department to come up with some remedies. three things going on. one, there's a lot of pressure right now with the 30% hidden fees that so many fans see in the gauntlet they have to walk through. two, whatever the justice department, i don't know the details of what they're going to come out with, i have some ideas that would be helpful, and number three, in congress we're finally starting to introduce bills to put the fans first, and
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that includes my bipartisan legislation with john cornyn to stop these bots from buying up tickets and finally do something when it comes to transparency so the prices can't increase while the fans are buying online! you're talking about the fans' first act, which you say would increase the transparency in the ticket sales. you said you had some other ideas of what the justice department could do. what else needs to be done to reform this industry? >> well, there's just no rules of the road here, and you look at these venue lock-ins for seven years and ten years that really allows them to push out competition, and the justice department, as you know, has been aggressive about competition cases since president biden got in when it comes to tech companies and unfairness and taking this on is a big undertaking, but it has to happen, whether you're a fan of bad bunny or whether you're a fan of taylor swift or bruce
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springsteen, there have been all kinds of problems in the ticketing industry. >> as christine romans just pointed out, the justice department actually approved this merger between live nation and ticketmaster back in 2010. so did they help create this proverbial monster? >> well, we have had a lot of mergers approved that i think need to be unwound, and the way you do that, it'd be nice to change the laws to make it easier to look backwards after you got the facts, something i'm trying to do as chair of the antitrust committee of the u.s. senate. but the other way to do it is to simply take this on, remember the break up of at&t, and everyone, a bunch of people, at&t, this will be a disaster. it brought down long distance fees, it created more competition. brought us the cell phone industry all because we said enough is enough. you can't have in that case horizontal monopoly and vertical monopoly, and that's what's going on with ticketmaster. they're kind of owning every element of the ticketing
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experience and that's why i think you see the justice department coming in. they've tried before with something called a consent decree, and they keep violating it, and now they're going to come in, and i can't wait to see what they're putting in this lawsuit. we really need to have remedies for the fans. no one's talking about destroying them. they're simply talking about creating an environment where there can be more competition, and it's a better situation for fans. >> senator, let's turn to another big story today. the new reporting on supreme court justice samuel alito. "the new york times" is reporting that another provocative flag was flown at another alito home and this time reportedly displaying an appeal to heaven flag, a symbol used by some of the rioters on january 6th. you have previously signed on to a letter calling for alito to recuse himself from january 6th cases. will the judiciary department take any action given this new reporting?
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>> of course he should recuse himself from these cases, and you see him -- i just heard this, listening to your reporting on the recent gerrymandering case and how he was talking about partisanship and decision-making in his opinion. seriously? this is someone who clearly has shown his colors in terms of where he is on this. he should recuse himself and not only that, beyond this situation with justice alito, we have to have rules of the road in place, ethics laws just like apply to every other federal judge. justice roberts said they are moving forward with their own ethics rules, but i think it is problem after problem when it comes to trust in this court. i want people to trust the court, and that's why putting forward ethics laws, clear recusal standards so we don't have this kind of issues going on time and time again when it comes to especially justice alito and justice thomas. >> i mean, is there more the court could do because the
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supreme court introduce that had -- introduced that new code of ethics that was somewhat limited. what would you like to see them do to police themselves? >> clear recusal standards and clear ethics laws that are engrand in law, just like they are for other federal judges, it has to be very clear when it comes to the supreme court. people are going to lose trust, and what you don't want to have in the democracy right now with all these other things going on and the clouds over our democracy, you want to have trust in the institutions. one way you do it it is come forward and saying we're going to put ourselves through the strictest recusal standards, the strictest ethics laws, and we're going to abide by it. that's what we're doing going forward. >> senator amy klobuchar, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. we're keeping an eye on the white house where president biden is speaking now with the president of kenya as well ahead of their joint press conference later today, a state dinner tonight. we'll bring you any highlights
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from these remarks. first, donald trump's case in the court of public opinion about why he did not testify about his hush money trial. ot ty abouhit s hush money trial you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it. boring is the unsung catalyst for bold. what straps bold to a rocket and hurtles it into space? boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it. we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day. good thing metamucil gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plant-based fiber. with the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. metamucil gummies the easy way to get your daily fiber. this homestyle chicken salad wrap from subway this is how you do it. savory chicken, crisp veggies all wrapped up— these wraps are amazing.
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you know, you said you would absolutely testify. why did you decide ultimately not to take the stand? was that a hard decision for you? >> yeah, because he made rulings that makes it very difficult to testify. anything i did, anything i did in the past, they can bring everything up. and you know what, i've had a great past, but anything. >> well, that was former president trump on his decision not to take the stand in his criminal hush money trial, and that was a big shift after initially saying he would absolutely testify. a reminder, closing arguments are set for tuesday. and joining us now, nbc's yasmin vossoughian who was at the court nearly every day of this trial, paul butler is with us, former federal prosecutor and msnbc
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political analyst, and paul callen, former new york city prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. paul butler, trump saying he didn't want to take the stand because they could have brought up everything from his, quote, unquote, great past. he's acknowledging that they could have asked him about stormy daniels through his business practices. what would that have looked like? >> yeah, so for once trump is right about the law, all of his past misconduct could have been subject to cross examination. if i were the prosecutor, i would have started with did you have sex with stormy daniels. he says that he didn't, and again, i think the jury has a pretty clear idea from that testimony. so we thought a lot about how trump often seems to overrule his lawyers. so why did they call costello? that didn't help trump. they subjected stormy daniels to a much more withering cross examination than hope hicks, even though hope hicks had much more incriminating evidence to offer against trump. maybe that's because what trump wanted on his most important decision about whether to take
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the stand, trump listened to his lawyers. that's good judgment. >> paul callen, trump at one point had tried to claim that he wasn't allowed to testify because of the gag order. well, the judge corrected him saying, i want to stress, mr. trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at the trial if that is what you decide to do after consultation with your attorneys. of course the jury isn't supposed to know about all of the bombastic things he's saying outside of that courtroom, but paul, the jury likely knows who trump is, and they know that he could have told his side of the story here. >> well, they do know that, ana, and i -- you know, all jurors are told at the beginning of the case that no defendant has to testify. he has the right to remain silent. that charge can even be given by the judge at the time the case is submitted. but you have to look at this jury. here they're looking at the former president, most powerful political leader on earth known for giving two-hour speeches,
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railing in his own defense on a variety of subjects who never tells his side of the story. that's a bell that's kind of hard to unring. i've got to think a lot of those jurors are saying why didn't he testify. but i will say if they follow the instructions of the court, it's not supposed to be held against trump. >> that's an important note for sure. yasmin, his lawyer todd blanche has a little break to prepare closing arguments. >> not really, though. >> right? but he's got a few other cases he's juggling. >> florida, right? so he was down in florida just yesterday dealing with the trump mar-a-lago documents case with the judge there, aileen cannon in force pierce, florida. he's not the lead attorney on that, chris kise is, though. but there was a lot of drama in that courtroom yesterday. walt nauta, the co-conspirator who there are images of moving actual boxes, alleging his attorney, wnauta' attorney and his attorney's name is woodward, alleging essentially that he's being targeted and
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that's why he was indicted, because, in fact, he did not cooperate with prosecutors with jack smith's team, and there was quite a bit of drama because at one point, aileen cannon says to harbach you're going to have to calm down because he said he used words like that's garbage. it's fantasy. they are taking the comments out of context. it was quite a moment to say the least in that courtroom. todd blanche in that courtroom as well. i mean, imagine that, right, resting the case on tuesday, heading down to fort pierce, florida, on wednesday, to deal with yet another court case, the mar-a-lago documents case, and having to prepare for those closing arguments next week. >> paul butler, sure sounds like the prosecution's case or the prosecutors who represent the special counsel identifies here are getting very frustrated with judge cannon and, you know what yasmin just described, the judge at one point saying please calm down. what do you make of that dynamic
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in this case? >> so, again, it's a rocky relationship based in large part on judge cannon's ethics. again, the question now is either is she biased in favor of trump, or is she just incompetent in the sense that she doesn't run an orderly courtroom. this case was scheduled to go to trial on monday. the judge, oh, well, it's so complicated. there's all these like classified documents issues. other judges would have resolved these issues. she has hearings this week on things that other judges would just decide based on the records. i think that there are legitimate concerns. at the same time, probably not enough to get the judge ruled by an appellate court. when push comes to shove, she often decides motions in favor of the prosecution because she has to. that's what the law provides. >> i want to get your thoughts on that as well, paul callan, in addition to the fact that donald trump's legal team has to juggle
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these different cases. todd blanche is a lawyer representing him in at least three of the four criminal cases. what kind of challenge is that? >> well, it's an enormous challenge, and imagine if you're the defendant with all of these cases hanging over you, i think it's remarkable that trump can even walk around and talk given all the pressure that he must be under because of these cases. but you have a changing cast of characters constantly on the trump legal team. you noticed there are a lot of attorneys that we heard about early in the case. they're gone, they kind of get one audition, if they don't win the case, they're ow. >> she's still in, she's been in court a lot over the last couple of days throughout this trial. she's still giving a lot of press conferences. obviously she was part of the defamation trial when it came to e. jean carroll. she's still very much around and part of his team. >> half of his lawyers are popping up on the various
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networks giving commentary about him. which i'm always kind of surprised be by. >> would you be doing that? >> no, i won't. commenting on an ex-client, i wouldn't do it. technically it's probably not illegal if the lawyer didn't represent the client in the exact matter that he's being asked about, but even so, i just think it leaves a bad taste in people's mouths when a lawyer comes in against his own client just to give commentary on television. i think it's a bad thing. >> thank you all for the conversation as we gear up for a big week next week in the hush money trial, yasmin vossoughian, paul butler, paul callan, my thanks to all of you. why was a flag associated with a push for a more christian-minded government flying at justice alito's home? this is the second flag carried on january 6th found flying at one of his properties. the growing ethics questions. plus, the renewed push to free hostages held by hamas as
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welcome back, today more calls for conservative supreme court justice samuel alito to recuse himself from cases related to january 6th and donald trump after images emerged of a second controversial flag flying at one of his properties. now, "the new york times" reports an appeal to heaven flag was raised at his engine beach house last summer. that symbol was carried by some rioters on january 6th. now leading democrats are questioning alito's ability to be impartial. our senior washington correspondent hallie jackson is tracking this. hallie. >> reporter: we are now seeing a fresh course of criticism from democrats today, and it comes as the supreme court is set to decide key cases this term related to the capital attack and election interference, including whether former
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president trump is immune from prosecution for trying to overturn the result of the 2020 election. another supreme court controversy this morning involving justice samuel alito over a new report of a flag flying outside his new jersey beach house according to "the new york times" the so-called appeal to heaven flag, a green pine tree on a white background. a symbol carried by some rioters outside the capital on january 6th. you see it here and here. "the times" citing three photographs it obtained from outside alito's property from last summer along with accounts from a half dozen neighbors and passers by as well as this google street view picture from last august. the flag rooted in the revolutionary war, has more recently become a symbol of support for christian nationalism and for donald trump. but now renewed calls from the democratic chair of the senate judiciary committee for alito to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election, calling the incident yet another
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example of apparent ethical misconduct. other democrats agree. >> at a very minimum he has to recuse himself from these cases now coming before the court that will determine whether or not trump is held accountable. >> it really encapsulates all of the problems that we've had with this rogue supreme court and its refusal to accept any rule of law. >> reporter: it's the second time in less than a week alito's faced questions after the justice confirmed another provocative flag, an upside down american flag flew outside his northern virginia home in the days after january 6th telling "the times" i had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag and that it was briefly placed by his wife in response to a neighbor's use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs. the upside down flag considered a distress sim boll but it's been adopted by some trump supporters backing the election fraud lies. some republicans dismissing calls for recusal.
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i don't think he should be recused. i think it was a mistake, but i'll leave it to them to explain it. >> justice alito did not respond to "the times" request for comment and the court did not respond to nbc news. turning back to the white house now where president biden just spoke at the arrival ceremony for kenyan president william ruto's state visit. here's president biden on the u.s. working with kenya to fight terrorism. >> the past is our proof that we are stronger and the world is safer when kenya and the united states work together. >> the two presidents are set to hold a joint press conference this afternoon, and after that, we're just learning two other special visitors to the white house, both president obama and president clinton will attend a reception for president ruto and
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his family ahead of tonight's state dinner. disturbing video shared by hostages in israel of soldiers being abducted by hamas on october 7 pt. and the house committee that has investigated anti-semitism on college campuses is holding another hearing this hour with more campus leaders in the hot cease. ers in the hot cease. symptoms can sometimes take you out of the moment. now there's skyrizi, so you can show up with clearer skin... ...and show it off. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ with skyrizi, you could take each step with 90% clearer skin. and if you have psoriatic arthritis, skyrizi can help you get moving with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur.
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this move comes just as hostage families shared new disturbing footage from the day of the attack. i have to warn you, it is tough to watch. much of it never before seen. it shows a group of female israeli soldiers being abducted on october 7th. the women have hands bound, some of their faces bleeding. at points you can see the armed gunmen calling them dogs, according to an nbc news translation. let's bring in nbc's raf sanchez from tel aviv, israel. what more can you tell us about this video? >> reporter: well, ana, this video has stunned israel. it it is the front page of every newspaper here, it is playing on a loop on television, and it is brought protesters back on to the streets. and they are demanding the prime minister benjamin netanyahu make a deal to bring the hostages home, 230 days after they were taken. this morning, newly released footage from october 7th sparking shock around the world. hamas gunmen inside israeli
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base, lining seven female soldiers against the wall. they're handcuffed, bloodied and terrified. 18-year-old liri tries to speak. another woman wearing snoopy pajamas sits silently. a terrorist tells her she's beautiful. she's 19-year-old karina. we spoke to her sister, sasha. >> i know my sister looks and i know that it moves from complete fear and helplessness to some kind of, like, understanding, like, i think she understood the situation. >> reporter: last seen being marched to a jeep, before disappearing into gaza. one was rescued and another found dead, the remaining five still in captivity, 230 days
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later. the video released by hostages' families, bringing protesters on to the streets of tel aviv last night, demanding israel's government agree to a cease-fire deal, but with negotiations stalled, the white house says badly needed food is now reaching gazans by a floating pier built by the u.s. military. >> the u.n. has, in fact, distributed humanitarian supplies from the pier to palestinian civilians. >> the pier has now gone specifically to the palestinians who need it. >> that's correct. >> reporter: now, israel's war cabinet met late last night after the release of that video. they say they are still trying to reach a deal through negotiations, but many of the hostage families feel prime minister benjamin netanyahu is not trying hard enough, while hamas says that that video was selectively edited. ana? >> raf sanchez, thank you for your reporting. back in washington, three more university leaders are in the hot seat on capitol hill.
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leaders of ucla, northwestern and rutgers are answering questions about their response to the wave of pro-palestinian protests that have erupted in the last couple of months. the spark for those demonstrations ignited on columbia's campus, just days after that school's president testified at a similar hearing before this same committee in april. and we're tracking another round of severe weather and tornadoes, the storm system so powerful it caused this deadly stage collapse in mexico. the threat that remains through the holiday weekend when we come back. mains through the holiday weekend when we come back (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) now we're even smarter and ready for what's next. (vo) achieve enterprise intelligence.
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this morning, we're following more dangerous storms overnight, tornadoes sweeping through mexico days after that deadly twister decimated the small town of greenfield, iowa. today, roughly 20 million people from texas to new england are still at risk with dangerous weather headed their way. and joining us now, nbc's jesse
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kirsch in greenfield, iowa. what is the situation there this morning? >> reporter: yeah, ana, a lot of cleanup ahead here. i want to give you an idea of the range of damage we're looking at. you can see over here, some homes, pieces of homes at this point strewn across the lawns here, you can kind of see a bed frame sticking out of one empty space, there is a roof that has gone over there. but these structures are actually more in tact than some of the others here, and just going to have our photographer pan all the way over, you see these structures are just piles of debris, this community with a long road ahead as other parts of the u.s. have also been hit overnight. >> overnight, terrifying moments in mexico, after strong winds caused a stage to collapse at a packed political rally for a presidential candidate. you can see people running for cover as the massive structure including a large video screen came tumbling down on to the stage and on top of people in
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the audience. according to the local governor, at least nine people are dead, and around 50 are injured. those dangerous high winds part of the same weather system also impacting multiple southern u.s. states overnight, with arkansas and texas taking the most serious hits, including strong winds and hail battering communities. a reported tornado slamming temple, texas, a couple there capturing this video of a funnel charging towards a neighborhood. late wednesday, the local red cross opening a shelter for those impacted. >> i'm glad to be alive. >> reporter: meanwhile, the cleanup is under way in greenfield, iowa, after a deadly twister ripped through this small community on tuesday. officials say at least four people were killed, with more than 30 injured. the devastating storm tearing houses apart. maggie masker telling us her family would have sheltered right here if they were home. >> you just think like that's where your safe spot is, and it is not safe anymore.
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never was. >> reporter: from above, you can see much of greenfield reduced to rubble. >> it is just horrific, it is hard to describe until you can actually see it, the devastation. >> reporter: officials say a local lumberyard became a makeshift hospital. >> i don't have words for it, i'm still in shock. i've never seen anything like this in my life. >> reporter: david griffith was living his dream, running his own auto shop before the tornado blew it away. a community of just over 2,000, now trying to rebuild as it grieves. and this is not the only community that is dealing with the aftermath of this brutal weather stretch that we're looking at. as of last check, just moments ago, ana, in texas, there are more than 100,000 customers still without power according to reports fromchecked a short time ago. there is a lot of cleanup ahead. >> a long road to recovery there
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in green field, thank you, jesse kirsch. memorial day weekend travel expected to be the busiest travel day, today, since 2019. the faa expecting that there will be more than 50,000 flights today, the same number tomorrow, and, according to aaa, more than 38 million americans are expected to hit the road as well. so, good luck. stay safe as we all welcome the unofficial start to summer. that's going to do it for us today. i'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. 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. we begin this hour with breaking news. any moment the attorney general merrick garland will announce a lawsuit the department of justice is filing against livenation, the parent company of
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