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good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. the humanitarian crisis on the border. it is the challenge that americans say they want solved more than any other problem. and now president biden is making his most dramatic move yet to deal with illegal immigration. will today's executive action come too late to reverse the political damage that has been years in the making? plus details about the president's son, including claims he was smoking crack every 15 minutes emerging on day one of the federal trial. the defense is using the opening statement to argue that hunter biden was in deep denial and may not have considered himself a

drug addict. outside the courtroom, a dramatic altercation between hunter biden's wife and a former trump white house aide. a group of senate republicans refusing to do their jobs and using baseless conspiracy theories around donald trump's conviction as an excuse. how could that impact what has been one of the least productive congresses in american history? we have got a lot to get to. we begin with president biden taking dramatic executive action today to effectively shut down the southern border, trying to address whatconsistently been one of voters' top concerns and a political liability that plagued his administration from day one. new details just released an hour ago after the president signed the action outlining a plan to temporarily shut down the border when illegal crossings top 2500 a day. daily crossings are averaging more than 4,000 a day, according to dhs. the move comes after republicans

in congress blocked two separate efforts to deal with the border over the past year and a half. including a bill with major concessions to the gop. but one which they rejected, claiming in part that the president already had the power to fix the problem. joining me now, nbc's aaron gilchrist covering the white house. matt dowd, and maria teresa kumar of voter latino and an msnbc contributor. aaron, explain how this is going to work and how quickly we might see the impact. >> reporter: well, chris, effectively this order is now in place. as we understand it, president biden signed the executive order this morning, and so these new rules are now in place at the u.s. border with mexico. and the goal here as we understand it from senior administration officials is to prevent migrants who approached the border, cross the border unlawfully from getting asylum here in the united states. and as we see this go into

effect, the plan is that if daily encounters reach 2500 a day, people trying to cross into the united states at -- not at a port of entry, then that would trigger this rule and the average as we understand it is about 4,000. effectively this rule could be used as of today to keep people from being able to get into the united states, to seek asylum. there are some carveouts, some exceptions to this rule, fairly decent list of them that people will be able to reference, a credible fear and that would trigger a different sort of investigation. as we understand as well, this rule is a temporary one. this would be temporary so if the border encounters dip down to 1500 daily over a sustained period of time, seven days as we understand it, then the order would go away, that shutdown would end until there comes a point in time where that number

gets back up to 2500 encounters a day. >> not surprisingly, the response from republicans has been very fast. the trump campaign said this morning, this is about, quote, amnesty for migrants, not border security. i also want to play what we heard from some republican senators. >> this is the most -- one of the most cynical things that i have ever seen a politician attempt to do five months before an election. >> why did you wait until now if you were serious about doing it? the simple answer is he's not serious about securing the border. >> joe biden, this is too little, this is too late and the american public knows it is too late. this stunt is not going to save your political life. >> so where do you see this fight going, and does this change the equation much at all, matt? >> well, i first would like to remind your listeners and your

viewers that it is the same republicans that killed a bipartisan border bill that could have actually done something about this much earlier in the process that biden proposed and i think he genuinely, before he did an executive order, i think he genuinely wanted something done through congress, but because donald trump said don't do anything, because i want it to be a political issue, those republican senators didn't do anything and now they're accusing joe biden of politics after they followed donald trump's lead in this. to me, if you look at this, i'll let go the humanitarian and compassionate part of this and look at it from a political standpoint. joe biden did not need to win the border issue against donald trump. what joe biden needs to do is demonstrate to the public that he is at least competent and trying to do something, and i think he both reminds voters that he tried to do something, republicans killed it on the border and, two, he says the only thing left i could do was this, i tried the other legislative route, he wouldn't

do it. i think that's what he wants to do, not win the issue, but neutralize it to a degree. >> it is not just republicans versus democrats, within those parties there are big differences, sometimes on what they think should be done. for example, democratic senator alex padilla said this order isn't a good solution and in his words, an incomplete strategy. according to axios, a number of senators are in purple states, in tough races, who are invited today. and who did not show up. jon tester, tammy baldwin, jacky rosen, bob casey. is there a way to bring even the democrats together on this. give me your take on the big picture here, maria. >> so, chris, i met with the president a few weeks ago when this was on the table and it was because he has a forced hand. the republicans denied two pieces of legislation that were bipartisan that could have addressed more fundamental issues. i think that going in there is a

reason why tester cannot show up because he is in a no-win situation. if he talks about immigration, he wants to be able to pivot instead to the economy and awhat is happening in montana. and ditto for the majority of the folks you listed. i do think that what we're seeing at the border is the lack of real investment in latin america in the last 45 years. if americans want to fix the issue at the border, they have to be comfortable with the hard decisions of how are we working closely with our southern neighbors. i would also encourage the administration to continue talking about the other executive actions that are on the table, because while this is going to be an issue for folks come november, if you're looking at individuals in arizona, individuals in nevada, what they're going to care about is what kind of relief are there on the table and available for those individuals that have been here for decades, who have american voters who are american citizens. that's what they're looking for. but at the end of the day, when you look at this overall, it is an imperfect solution,

absolutely. do the republicans have to come to the table to solve the fundamental issues of why people are streaming across the border? they must. i think we can all agree by the time someone packed their bags and traveled thousands of miles to the southern border, that is not american immigration policy. that's a broken system. >> let me go to the key political question that absolutely is here when we're looking at june and an election year, which is there are warning signs flashing, trump has been gaining with latino voters, does this help or hurt joe biden? >> so, chris, i'm glad you asked that question. we have been scratching our heads trying to figure out where this mass defection is, because it has not showed up in any of the polling we have conducted. we surveyed over 2,000 latino voters in key battleground states and in those key battleground states, trump was actually losing to joe biden 39 to 59. so very well within joe biden's margin of error of victory last

time around. what we found that was really interesting to us, chris, was not that folks were defecting to trump, it is that the moment you added a third party candidate like an rfk, you actually saw a drop in biden's polls by close to 15%. so in a place like nevada, what biden has to do is talk about the economy, but, again, also talk about what kind of economic and relief is he going to offer to the citizens -- to the children and to the parents of american citizens. that is where the equation changes. it is less about the southern border, but very much to the person who is sitting at the dinner table who has lived in this country for decades saying what kind of relief and protection are you going to offer my loved one. >> it is also, matt, the messaging out there on the border from joe biden, from republicans, that there is this massive crime wave, that everybody who is coming over is some sort of criminal, all of these things that have no basis in fact. but polls have shown that illegal immigration is very much on the minds of u.s. voters and

nbc news found it is tied with inflation and the cost of living as the top concern among registered voters. we took that poll six weeks ago. there was another cnbc poll from march that showed trump with a 30-point advantage on that issue over president biden. so, you know, we heard it from one of the republican senators, is this too little too late? >> well, you know, i'll remind people, i'm the chief strategist in 2004 and the number one issue in 2004 when george bush ran for re-election was the economy. we didn't talk about the economy, but 5% of the time because we knew we had a disadvantage of it. we talked about national security and international relations where we had a big advantage on. i think going back to what i said earlier, i think all joe biden needs to do, he needs to show he's doing something on this, and neutralize, he doesn't need to win it, neutralize it. what joe biden wants to talk about in my view is the number three issue on that list,

threats to democracy and broadly speaking in freedom. he needs to neutralize the issues that donald trump has an advantage on, and then talk about the issue he has an advantage on, which i believe is the most fundamental threat in america today, which is to our democracy. that's how you do it. if you think -- if he has a campaign that thinks he's going to win on the border or win on immigration, that's a full's errand. he needs to neutralize and talk about the issue he has an advantage on. >> there will be people who are watching to see what impact this executive order has. and to that end, we have been reporting, of course, and you well know that mexico has a new president. how confident is the white house that mexico will be a partner in this? >> well, to this point, chris, our reporting is consistent with the notion that the mexicans were not blind sided by the executive action that we're seeing today. we know that president biden met

with the current president of mexico at the end of april and the conversations have been going on between their teams, really for months now, about a number of issues. the migrant issue has been top of that list. and so to the extent that mexico has been cooperative up to this point, the administration decided to roll this out publicly today as opposed to last week before the elections in mexico because they feel as though the person who will be coming in after the current president is sort of aligned with the current president, and would be someone that the administration can continue to work with. we did ask senior administration officials earlier today what would happen if the number of people who are returned to mexico were to get much higher and we didn't really get a direct response to that. it is yet to be seen whether mexico will say hold on, now you're turning back way too many people, more than mexico can handle and if that might change the dynamic between the two countries around this issue, chris. >> aaron gilchrist and maria theresa kumar, thank you, both.

coming up, we'll bring you president biden's remarks live from the white house about that executive action on the border and we'll talk to the mayor of border town, yuma, arizona, republican douglas nichols. in 90 seconds, we'll go live to hunter biden's trial in delaware for the latest en this morning's opening arguments including what our reporter describes as a dramatic scene unfolding during a break in the trial. we'll explain next. a break in the trial we'll explain next (restaurant noise) [announcer] introducing allison's plaque psoriasis. she thinks her flaky gray patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. allison! over here! otezla can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over a decade.

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just hours in and it is already been an incredibly dramatic and deeply personal start to hunter biden's trial. with his mother, first lady jill biden again in the courtroom, and with many jurors taking notes. based off photos of the firearm biden purchased, the speed motor, the box of ammunition, all of it the prosecution argues illegal because he lied on a federal gun form. this is very much a story, too, of addiction, of his romantic relationship with halle biden who is expected to take the stand and describe her own crack use and how hunter biden got her to use drugs. the prosecution says it will be embarrassing. and beyond what's in the official court record, a truly startling moment when hunter biden's current wife confronted a former trump staffer who was

there. nbc's mike memoli reports from outside the courthouse in wilmington. also with us, former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst barbara mcquaid. mike, let's start with what sounds like an emotionally charged confrontation in the courtroom hallway. what happened? >> reporter: yeah, chris, we know what a sensitive moment this is for the entire biden family, the show of support that his extended family is making by being present in the court every day. but it was a moment captured outside of the court during a break in the proceedings by our colleague that is getting at tense here. melissa cohen biden confronted garrett ziegler, a former aide in the trump administration and called him a piece of you know what comes next, she said it was inappropriate for him to be attending this trial. he's been attending it over the course of last two days. there is a back story here. mr. ziegler is part of a group he co-founded that helped publish a searchable database of the infamous hunter biden

laptop, hunter biden has filed suit against mr. ziegler and they have been on one another's radar for some time, leading to this confrontation today. now, we should note that our colleague spoke to mr. ziegler after this confrontation and said it is prudent for him to be there and said he said he respects the constitution. >> so, even aside from that, you can't ignore the tabloid aspect of this trial. it was hallie biden who found the gun at the center of this and threw it away. the defense attorney today seemed to try to put some of the brain on hallie biden. tell us what unfolded in the terms of the defense story today. >> reporter: yeah, during the course of the opening statements, we saw the prosecutors lay out some of the evidence they're going to introduce including the testimony they expect from hallie biden, who biden's own use of drugs while she was

romantically involved with hunter biden. when abbe lowell, the defense attorney had his chance to deliver his opening statements, he tried to lay out the chain of custody for the gun that hunter biden purchased. he tried to over the course of explaining that timeline prove that -- at least create some reasonable doubt about whether or not hunter was addicted to drugs, using drugs at the time. so he noted that there had been some cocaine residue that was found on the weapon after it was discovered, and mr. lowell suggested based on the fact that it was in a locked box in the car, that hunter biden had been using, that hallie, when she recovered the gun, may have been responsible for the cocaine residue being put on it. this is something that will be litigated over the course of the coming weeks here. and it speaks to why the family is so concerned about this moment. the president, the first lady are looking at this as parents, but also as grandparents and, of course, hallie biden was with the first family last week when

they visited the grave site of beau biden, who passed away nine years ago last week. also there were hallie biden and beau biden's children. >> so, let me start there, if i can, barbara. whether or not it was hunter biden, hallie biden, whoever may have left cocaine residue on the gun that prosecutors say was there, does that get us to what the heart of this case is? >> well, i think we learned today in the opening statements of the defense what the argument is going to be about. it doesn't seem that they're going to dispute the fact that hunter biden did buy this gun, that he filled out the form, that he filled it out the way they say he did. those facts i think are not going to be in dispute and the law prohibits someone from buying and possessing a gun if

they are using drugs. the question says, are you addicted to drugs? and if hunter biden himself did not believe that he was at that moment addicted to drugs because he was in recovery, or his substance of choice at the moment was alcohol, and he truthfully answered no, then the prosecution will fail to meet their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. all of these things are interesting. hearing hunter biden's voice himself narrating his own book about his addiction is certainly going to be persuasive evidence for the prosecution that he was an addict and he knew he was an addict. it all comes down to his state of mind on that day. and it is a wise strategy for the defense because proving what is in someone's mind is a hard thing for a prosecutor to do. >> you could say hunter biden was the star witness at his own trial today because they did play the excerpts from his own

biography. there are certainly embarrassing and tabloid aspects to this trial. but also that relationship is an integral part of the story. how does the defense help jurors separate what is relevant from what is just talkable? >> well, if you're the defense, one of your goals is to simply disrupt the prosecution's case and proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt. in some ways, the more you can entangle other people, the more successful you might be in your defense. it was the defense attorney abbe lowell who suggested that it could have been hallie biden who ended up putting the cocaine residue on the gun. there is no fact of that. just raising that possibility is what defense attorneys do to point out there is more than one possibility of the version of facts that the prosecutor is giving you. i suspect we'll hear more of

that and it will be the defense that raises some of the uncomfortable facts about some of the other people involved in this case. >> mike memoli and barbara mcquaid, only day one, opening arguments, thank you so much. today, a former trump attorney and two others were charged with felony forgery in wisconsin for allegedly attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election through so-called fake electors. nbc's ryan reilly is following this for us. what can you tell us about the charges, ryan? >> we have seen this trend in several states now where we have seen these charges brought forward against related to the schemes, these fake elector schemes involving individuals who falsely say donald trump won an election that he actually lost and all of this was in the leadup to january 6th, with the idea of being -- creating chaos on january 6th as all of this was unfolding saying some of the state were in dispute when they weren't.

take a listen to what an official had to say about these new charges in wisconsin. >> i'm not going to speak to any specific individual, but the investigation is ongoing and the decisions we make will be based on the facts and the law, not on the identity of any individual or their role. >> and all this is going to come back presumably if the supreme court ultimately decides that donald trump does not have total immunity from criminal charges. they're at the core of the investigation that was brought forward by jack smith against donald trump. a lot of this -- the allegations underlying that are not necessarily specifically about the riot on january 6th itself, but a lot of the leadup to january 6th and when there was a scheme across several states. one individual here, kenneth chesebro, pleaded guilty in georgia, reached a settlement there. we have seen some names before, including mike roman, who was donald trump's head of election day activities in the 2020 race,

chris. >> ryan reilly, thank you for that. coming up, national security adviser jake sullivan meeting with the families of israeli hostages this morning. how the biden administration is ramping up the pressure on benjamin netanyahu to accept a cease-fire deal and the comments made by the president. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc for moderate to severe crohn's disease skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. serious allergic reactions or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. control of crohn's means everything to me. ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. ♪ control is everything to me ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save.

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with the lives of hostages and millions of palestinians hanging in the balance, president biden is now suggesting that israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is dragging out the war in gaza for political reasons. specifically asked if that's what's happening, biden told "time" magazine, quote, there is every reason for people to draw that conclusion. the remarks part of an increasingly public pressure campaign from the white house, urging israel to abide by the terms of a new cease-fire and hostage deal. nbc's monica alba is reporting from the white house for us today. so, biden's national security adviser met with the families of five american hostages in gaza today. what is the administration saying about where those negotiations stand right now? because we are still waiting to hear anything definitive from hamas. >> reporter: that's still the posture, chris. the u.s. is doing everything it can to step up that diplomatic pressure and really urge the parties here, urge hamas to accept the deal that is on the

table and to urge israel to continue to stick with what it has said it would approve and stand by in these multiple phases that are quite complex and we know that the terms have certainly been something that have been very hotly debated between both of those parties. but it was president biden in that surprise announcement on friday where he laid out those details, and so that's why the white house and national security adviser jake sullivan wanted to brief the hostage families, we know they have been in regular touch, this is jake sullivan's ninth such meeting with these group of loved ones who are hoping for that news that eventually they pray will come, that there could be some kind of a cease-fire deal and negotiation here that results in their relatives being able to be released and come home. but they say that they really continue to be encouraged by what the biden administration is doing, and they do urge prime minister netanyahu and hamas to really accept this and end this

today, as some of the family members have put it. they really believe the onus is on hamas to accept this, and we know in the last couple of days, hamas had signaled there was some level of positivity, they said, about the latest agreement that is being considered, so we're just waiting to see if and when we get more of any kind of clarity on that and if they for some reason say they don't accept that, the talks could be at a difficult place. that's something the families are always acknowledging, but say really they have to remain radically optimistic that there is some chance here that there will be a breakthrough and we also know, chris, that the white house coordinator for the middle east who has been a key player in these talks is heading back to the region this week, to continue those discussions with some of the key players and parties and also to discuss israel's latest military movements into rafah. that's an indication the talks continue to go back and forth,

they heat up, they slow down, they ebb and flow every once and a while. we feel like things are so close and could be within reach and there are setbacks and that has been the experience of these families for these very eight long months. >> monica alba, thank you. meanwhile, israeli forces are pressing ahead in gaza. overnight, israeli air strikes leveled buildings in central gaza killing 11 people, including a family of three in a refugee camp. inside other parts of gaza, the suffering continues. israel's expanding offensive in rafah cut off the supply chain of food and medicine. where there are working hospitals elsewhere in gaza, time is running out for children like ahmad in khan younis. he has cerebral palsy and needs a surgery that he could only get if he could find a way out. in india, prime minister narendra modi suffered a surprising rebuke at the polls today. early results show his majority in doubt as the opposition

performs far better than exit polling suggested. modi is still on track for a rare third term as india's leader, but if he falls short of an outright majority, he may need to form a coalition government. coming up, a group of 11 republican senators planning to grind the upper chamber to a halt to protest trump's 34-count felony conviction. what does that mean in an already historically inefficient congress? you're watching "chris jansing reports," only on msnbc. you're watching "chris jansing reports," only on msnb c. - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these guys are intense. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right? i'm an active mom, but when i laughed, lifted or exercised, bladder leaks were holding me back from doing the things i loved. until, i found a bladder specialist that offered me bulkamid - a life-changing and fda approved non-drug solution for my condition called stress incontinence it really works,

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on capitol hill, the work of the senate may soon grind to a halt. a group of senators angry over donald trump's conviction are vowing to essentially prevent anything from getting done from appropriations to confirmations. 11 senators signed a letter blaming the biden white house for making a, quote, mockery of the rule of law, that fundamentally altered our politics in un-american ways, even though the trump verdict, of course, was in state, not federal court. >> the only obstacle to joe biden being re-elected as president of the united states is donald trump. and they're working to imprison him. this is not okay. this is why i wrote the letter. >> we can't act like we're going back to business as usual. they're trying to completely change the election. got a gag order on this guy, put him in the courtroom for six

weeks. >> sahil kapur is on capitol hill. back with us, matthew dowd. sahil, democrats control the senate, of course, what can and are republicans planning to do? >> it is somewhat of a mystery what if anything as a tangible consequence changes as a result of this letter, chris. these 11 senate republicans who signed it are some of the most conservative members in the chamber. they're not exactly known for bipartisanship and cooperation anyway. in that letter, which you see on the screen, they threaten three specific things. they won't support nonmilitary spending increases, they won't support president biden's judicial or political nominees, won't allow expedited consideration of democratic priorities and if you look at the list of 11 senators, show the list, that's pretty much how they're already operating. nearly all of them voted against the last round of government funding bills, they vote against most president biden's nominees, they vote against bipartisan

bills, and oppose democratic bills. also notable, two of them are potential vice president contenders, jd vance and marco rubio. several voted to overturn electors from the 2020 election. not on this list is senator ted cruz, he faces re-election this fall. i asked rick scott yesterday what specifically changes here, and he said it is essentially they're trying to get more republicans on board that page, more republicans on board the obstruction resistance page. and to that end, there is one notable signatory on that letter, joni ernst, the iowa republican, she has been amenable to some bipartisan deal. she's facing a challenge from the right from tom could then to her leadership position next year and i spoke to her just in the last couple of hours, she told me she decided to sign this letter after seeing the anger she faced from her constituents in iowa. all which of is to say, i ran

this by a democratic source and the response was, so what else is new? >> the 118th congress is on track to be the least productive in history. 60 bills signed into law so far. the four previous congresses enacted between 350 and 500 pieces of legislation. by the way, nearly a quarter of the bills this session concerned renaming federal buildings and post offices or appointing regions to the smithsonian institution. it sounds snarky, but i'm asking a legitimate question here, matthew, how can you slow down an institution that isn't exactly high functioning? >> or that is already in the ditch? how do you slow down something you already have driven into the ditch? what i'm finding amazed about this, and sahil laid this out very well about who the senators are, and what they have already done, so this is nothing new, it is like we're going to keep doing what we have always done, try to stop anything from happening and throw sand in the

gears is that we have seen a u.s. house run by the republicans be completely dysfunctional as we watch yesterday and every day in hearings and not prioritizing any bills the american public cares about, they went on to some impeachment tangent. now the republicans, some republicans in the senate say we're going to one up your dysfunction and we're going to go straight to obstruction. to me, if i were joe biden, i would be looking at the this like, okay, let's run the harry truman campaign where you say you may not like me, but this say do nothing congress and if you want anything done, republicans aren't allowing it to happen, don't want it to that, and you know donald trump and basically run the harry truman 1948 campaign, which, to me, is the most likely circumstances that we're in today where you had high inflation, people worried about the economy, and an unpopular president. harry truman's approval ratings in june and july were lower than

joe biden's are today, and he basically ran against congress saying they're not doing anything, they're not doing what you want, and labeled it. and i think that sets up joe biden well. >> so let's look at another part of this, which is that in our nbc news colleagues have been reporting about this, that trump's guilty verdict has been a major test for republican senate candidates in the battleground states, montana, tim sheehy launched a new spot saying his likely opponent, jon tester, supported joe biden's witch-hunt every step of the way. in ohio, republican bernie moreno launched a digital ad that criticized sherrod brown. you're seeing a trend here. how do you see this impacting those races? >> you know, this is very eerily similar to what happened in 2022, where the thing that republicans seemed to have to do to win the primaries was to say

that the election was illegitimate and stolen. that seemed to be -- and state after state in key states where they wanted to pick up seats like arizona and michigan and nevada and other states, they nominated candidate across -- who checked that box of the election was stolen and then ended up losing a general election. i don't quite understand it, because this appeals, that message they have appeals to around 30 or 35% of the country, the republican base and in those given states, 30 or 35% the republican base and it appeals to them, they believe it. the problem is, democrats react negatively to it and independents don't like it, so how do you win a general election only appealing to a third of the electorate. >> matthew dowd, sahil kapur, thank you. all right, so there is new information on the pay gap between folks in the cubicles and those in the c swee suites.

ceos make nearly 200 times what their average workers made last year. bringing home roughly $16.3 million, up nearly 13% from last year. and here is an example that the ap reports. ross stores, they say its employee at the very middle of the pay scale was a part time retail store associate who made $8,618 t would take 2100 years earning that much to make rentler's compensation. there are 31 ceos with wider pay gaps. and coming up, the impact of senator bob menendez's corruption trial on the new jersey primary election day. but, first, defying the odds. that's exactly what high school senior elijah hogan did, not only by becoming valedictorian of his new orleans high school, but he did it while living in a homeless shelter for displaced

young people for the past year and a half after his grandmother had to go into a nursing home. now elijah, who had a 3.96 gpa, has a full four-year tuition scholarship to xavier university in cincinnati, where he plans to major in graphic design. he's one of four young black men who are class valedictorians across new orleans this year. >> don't let things get you down. don't let it chain you down. let moments help you get through it. through it

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at america's best.com. ann, you're on mute. senator bob menendez's legal woes are shaking up the race for his own senate seat. it is primary day in new jersey, smack in the middle of menendez's corruption trial. the democratic and republican senate winners won't just face off against each other. menendez has filed to run as an independent. they will face him, too. and his son congressman rob menendez, is facing a primary. what are you watching for, mark? >> it's that latter race you were mentioning involving rob menendez, who is getting a competitive primary. let's start with the top of the ticket. this race for the senate was the one that we were all going to be focused on. andy kim, running against tammy

murphy, the first lady of new jersey, for bob menendez's senate seat. tammy murphy then dropped out. andy kim has minimal opposition. that means he is probably cruising to the democratic nomination. this sets up a potential three-way race, featuring andy kim, if he ends up winning tonight, against senator bob menendez running as an independent. and a handful of republicans who are running for their party's nomination. that's going to be interesting. but then, the race i am most focused on is the new jersey eight congressional race. that is congressman rob menendez. bob menendez's son, running against the mayor of hoboken, bhalla. tv ads, and super pac supporting bhalla, invoked the corruption trial into senator menendez and tried to tie that to his son.

we'll have to wait to see the results. but that is the really, the big race that we're watching tonight. in all the states in the district of columbia holding primaries. >> mark murray, we'll watch with you. thank you. the first television attack add by the democrat running for north carolina governor, including a facebook live stream clip of his republican opponent railing against abortion rights. what's in this clip? and what does it tell us about the importance of abortion for voters in november? >> north carolina attorney general josh dine, who is a democrat, is running against lieutenant governor mark robinson. and he is out with his first two television ads. one of them called listen, is focused squarely on abortion. he features a number of comments that mark robinson made about abortion. in particular, he is pointing to a january 2019 facebook live --

they're calling it a rant. it's a comment he made about abortion. take a listen to what mark robinson said in the facebook live. >> abortion in this country is not about protecting the lives of mothers. it's about killing a child because you weren't responsible enough to keep your skirt down. it's not your body anymore. >> again, he wants people to hear mark robinson daying that women not keeping their skirt down. i did talk to the campaign of mark robinson, saying this is his stances on abortion that he would sign a heartbeat bill. and he -- being a supporter of stopping abortion. what this underscores is that abortion is going to continue to be a top issue. not just at the top of the ticket, but all across the races

and in governors' races. it's a battleground stake. it will be a high-stake race. this underscored two years after roe v. wade overturned. it shows what voters and candidates are focused on the issue of abortion. coming up next, delay, delay, delay. donald trump's latest legal victory in georgia. what it means for when his trial there might get started. stay close. more chris jansing reports after this. ned,who are you wear? he thinks his flaky red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. ned? otezla can help you get clearer skin, and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required.

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it is good to be back with you in this second hour of "chris jansing reports." the