alec baldwin take the stand in his own defense, and it looks like his legal team will be making a game time decision. >> chloe melas reporting again in new mexico. thanks. that does it for us today. hope you had a wonderful weekend. thank you for joining us. i'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place, and don't forget, you can catch our show around the clock online on youtube and other platforms. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. ♪♪ good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm josé diaz-balart. this morning president biden on the offensive in the wake of growing calls urging him to step aside from the 2024 race. president biden is out in full force with his response. he is not going anywhere. this morning in an exclusive interview with msnbc, the president explained why he

thinks he is the best candidate to defeat donald trump. >> the bottom line here is that we're not going anywhere. i am not going anywhere. i wouldn't be running if i didn't absolutely believe that i am the best candidate to beat donald trump in 2024. he's just a liar, and he hasn't done a damn thing since the debate. he's been riding around the golf cart at mar-a-lago talking with his wealthy friends. you know me well enough to know this, i ran because i never bought on to the trickle down economic theory. i never bought into the notion that we have to walk away from the rest of the world in a cave to putin or anybody else. i've never believed any of, that and i'm confident that's who the american people are. >> by the way, this morning the president also sent a two-page letter to his democratic allies writing among other things, quote, the question of how to move forward has been well-aired for over a week now and it is

time for it to end. we have one job and that is to beat donald trump. joining us now nbc news white house correspondent gabe gutierrez, nbc news capitol hill correspondent, ryan nobles and susan page. washington bureau chief at usa today. this interview and the letter to democrats, this seems to be the beginning of a reset for the biden campaign. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jose. look, the campaign and the white house have said now for the last several days they do plan on getting president biden out there more, and we did see that over the weekend. he went to battleground pennsylvania, went to several events met with voters in front of that church. he did so without the aid of a teleprompter. this week he will welcome world leaders to washington for the nato summit. he's set to hold a rare solo press conference on thursday, and then next week the white house announcing that he'll make other trips to las vegas to speak at several conferences there. you mentioned that more

aggressive stance. president biden campaigned really on offense here delivering that letter to house democrats earlier today, and then really trying to turn the page and prosecute the case against donald trump. the campaign is out with a new ad this morning focusing on reproductive rights and, jose, what's really interesting here is that president biden -- he's a man that embodied the democratic establishment for so long -- he's now fighting against it, jose. >> and ryan, meanwhile, how are lawmakers reacting to what we heard from the president this minutes, jose, we received a statement from steven horseburg who is the chair of the congressional black caucus on the house side. the congressional black caucus is a key group of democrats. they play a very powerful role in the party's future and the way the party navigates itself, and horseford is echoing the call of many of his fellow members in emphatically

supporting joe biden as the nominee for the democratic party. this is something that we're starting to see coalesce in terms of support for joe biden. it comes after this defiant step by the president to basically call out these democratic members who have been saying privately that they believe that it's time for biden to step aside. and some of these other democrats who maybe have been speaking about it publicly and not have gone far enough to say that they think biden should leave the race, but have raised real questions about whether or not he has the fortitude to move forward and take on donald trump. what horseford is saying in his statement is that he does not want to see the party moving backwards. that instead he wants to see them move forward, and the best way to move forward is with joe biden at the top of the ticket and kamala harris as his running mate. this has to be something that the white house is pleased to see. there really have gotten to a situation here where if congressional leaders are going to have an impact on the president's decision-making going forward, they really need to come out forcefully and do so publicly. that means important leaders in both the house and the senate

including hakeem jeffries who's the leader of the house democrats and chuck schumer who is the leader of the senate democrats. we still have yet to see senators come forward and emphatically say that they believe that joe biden should step down as the nominee, even though some have expressed reservations privately. the next 24 to 48 hours will be vital to the nominee. all these members of congress are coming back here to washington for the first time since the debate. we'll get a real sense of what they were told by their constituents when they were back in their districts over the fourth of july holiday, whether or not they believe joe biden can continue on as the nominee, and whether or not if they don't believe that he has what it takes to stay as the nominee, whether or not they're willing to take those grievances publicly and call for the to step down. >> the president wrote among other things this, i just kind of want to read it. we had a democratic nomination process. the voters have spoken clearly and decisively, i received over

14 million votes, 87% of the votes cast across the entire nominated process. i have nearly 3,900 delegates making me the presumptive nominee of our party by a wide margin, so do we now ask the president, just say this process didn't matter? that the voters don't have a say? susan this is really key and critical. what do you make of this? >> yeah, this is the strongest argument joe biden can make, which is if he thought he was too old to run for president again, why didn't you run against him in the primaries? why didn't you take him on? >> so i think it casts this choice as he's standing with the people, with the democratic voters against donors and pundits and pollsters. so i do think that his argument this morning in this letter and in this interview with msnbc is likely to make it just -- it's likely to discourage members of

congress, democratic members of congress who talk behind the scenes anonymously about his concerns it -- that is very good news for biden's prospects for staying on the ticket. >> susan, any thoughts on why it took so long for this reset to come forward? >> what a great question, and i think a lot of biden's allies were concerned about why he didn't come out more forcefully right after the debate, right after that disastrous debate. it raised questions about whether they were nervous, whether biden was nervous and his campaign and senior aides were nervous about him being in unscripted settings. this isn't quite over yet. the nato news conference, his first solo news conference in washington in almost two years, that will be an important moment as well, but as for now, i think he has bought himself a little time. you know, in that letter, one thing important he said he wasn't going to listen to

selected individuals. i took that as a reference to nancy pelosi, hakeem jeffries, chuck schumer coming to him and urging him to step down. that will be discouraging for them too. >> and tomorrow marks the beginning of a high stakes nato summit. what's on the line for the president? >> it's quite a busy week, jose. he welcomes world leaders tomorrow at the auditorium where the nato treaty was signed in 1949. and then that rare solo news conference that susan was talking about on thursday. now, this nato summit, it's not overseas, so, you know, some of what president biden blamed his poor performance on was late hours, overseas travel, he will not have that here obviously since it's in washington. but he and all eyes will be on him, on the international stage, and the white house has said that a big focus of this nato summit will be getting more help

to ukraine air defense systems for ukraine, so they can shoot down russian drones, and missiles. but this is something that president biden has emphasized during his administration. he wants to make the case for preserving global alliances, and again, this will come at a critical time for his campaign here in washington throughout the week, jose. >> indeed, the president said the average democratic voter still wants him on the ticket. certainly the polls don't reflect a huge dropoff from after the debate, but polling still does show that four out of five registered voters, about 80% say he's too old to run. is this enough to address that issue? >> no, i don't think this alone addresses that issue. if joe biden stays at the top of the ticket as he wants to do, he will be scrutinized every day in every appearance with every step he takes, and you'll know one thing that is of concern to democrats is we haven't been hearing from the republican campaign, from donald trump making these arguments against

joe biden or showing negative clips of joe biden looking frail. if he's the nominee, those will be unleashed for sure. this issue hasn't gone away, but it may be that the president's determination to stay on the ticket may be enough to have him stay there. it's very hard to take this nomination away from him without his assent. >> gabe gutierrez, ryan nobles, and susan page, thank you all so very much. we're going to playing more of president biden's exclusive interview, and we'll get reaction to it from new york congressman gregory meeks. breaking news overnight, hurricane beryl makes landfall in texas, knocking out power to more than a million people. we're live with the warnings from emergency responders. and boeing strikes a plea deal with the justice department. why some families of those killed in two boeing max 8 crashes are outraged. we're back in 90 seconds. you're watching josé diaz-balart reports on msnbc. u're watchingét reports on msnbc (♪♪) [smash] picky cat?

at chewy, we have cat food for any cat mood. chewy's here! find the food they'll love at prices you'll love. and get it delivered to your door again and again. [thud] [purring] this summer. snacking. just. got. serious. introducing new $3 footlong dippers. the world might not be ready for them... ...but at $3 a pop? your wallet definitely is. upset stomach iberogast indigestion iberogast bloating iberogast thanks to a unique combination of herbs, iberogast helps relieve six digestive symptoms to help you feel better. six digestive symptoms. the power of nature. iberogast. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday.

help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. 11 past the hour, breaking news this morning, at least one person has died after hurricane beryl made landfall along the texas coast bringing heavy rains, strong winds, and dangerous flash floods. and just moments ago, the national hurricane center downgraded beryl to a tropical storm. right now the mayor of houston is holding a press conference as beryl races across eastern texas leaving more than 2 million people without power. the storm tore through mexico's

yucatan peninsula this weekend killing nine people in the caribbean as well. joining us now nbc's jay gray from sugarland, texas, and nbc news meteorologist bill karins. jay, what are you seeing there? i remember covering hurricanes, category 1 hurricanes around the area of houston, how when it's a category 1, the winds are bad and really serious, but it's the rain that really causes so much damage. >> yeah, and you're dead on about that. that's the problem and will continue to be the problem for quite some time. here's what we know, and i'm just outside of houston, not to sugarland, but just outside of wharton, and i can tell you we got out -- i started in port lavaca, that's why we're in the car, and got out to survey some of the damage. downed power lines. we've seen an overturned 18-wheeler, trees and tree limbs down. so this was a storm where the wind did do some significant damage. we know that there were more than 150,000 people without power and that number's likely

going to grow a bit as this clears through the area. but what i can also tell you is that the water, as you talked about, is going to be the lingering problem here. we've had some areas where they've seen as much as 6 to 8 inches already. now they're going to get another 2 to 4 inches an hour for an extended period of time, and of course we all know that houston struggles with flooding and it's in a low lying area, so that's going to be an issue as this storm makes its way across that area. what i can also say is that it is leaving quite a mark. i mean, when we talk about beryl as a storm, the intensity of this system is pretty amazing, especially for an early season hurricane. we've seen it come across two land masses, and then regenerate in the gulf that fuel from the warm water in the gulf giving it the power to, again, turn into a category 1, and that's what it

was when it made landfall early this morning. so yeah, this is a storm with some staying power. certainly with some punch, and it's not quite over just yet for texas. >> jay gray, thank you very much. stay safe, my friend. meanwhile, bill, where's the storm heading next? and i remember again -- and we're looking around the area just outside of houston -- that area gets flooded easily. it's been hit with storms recently. what's the situation now for that area? >> yeah, this is not a harvey situation, but we have isolated areas that are getting hit very hard. i've seen condos destroyed on surfside beach. i know the white oak bayou in downtown houston is now at 37 feet. why is that important? at 36 feet, it starts to flood apartments, and we know that we have water going into some homes at this point. people are getting high water rescue are taking place. that's the sort of thing you expect even with a category 1 hurricane. we know we've had 85 miles per hour wind gusts in the downtown houston area, and we have 2.2 million people without power

in texas because of the storm. and if you were to follow this black line, which is the path it took since landfall this morning, it just pinpointed on the dirty east side of the storm the houston area, and so houston has just taken this on the chin, almost worse than any other town throughout this entire region. you notice the coastal section, it's not even raining anymore as the storm threat and rain threat will head north wards. we do have a tornado threat the rest of the afternoon. i do notice one tornado warning on the map. as we zoom into the houston area, you have a half hour of very heavy rain, and then it should kick out, and you're going to be on the lighter back side. that's when the water levels will start dropping quickly. we have flash flood warnings from beaumont all the way through houston down to galveston. this is the area where we've just been getting 6 to 10 inches of rain early this morning. this is our rainfall estimates. we talk about the orange. that's 7 inches for all of downtown houston. the highest total i saw is now approaching about 11 inches. those flood watches will follow the storm as we go throughout the rest of the day and into

tonight, we're going to head up to shreveport, fort smith, arkansas, southern portions of missouri and paducah, southern illinois, you have a chance of getting isolated flash flooding overnight. these are the rainfall predictions, houston you're almost done but another 2 to 4 inches possible as we follow what's left of beryl over the next 24 hours. once we get all the pictures in, jose, you know, later today and tomorrow, i think people are going to be surprised at what a category 1 did significant damage. >> and, bill, it is moving relatively quickly versus other storms. >> we got lucky with this for two reasons, jose. on saturday this storm suck instead dry air. if it wasn't for that, we would have been dealing with a major hurricane landfall this morning. and this storm has been moving at about 10, 15 miles per hour. usually you don't get a ton of horrific flooding with a storm moving that quickly. the storms that stall are the ones we worry about with that. and not with this one thankfully. >> thankfully, bill karins, it's

great seeing you. thank you very much. overnight, we're learning boeing will plead guilty to criminal fraud in connection with the two fatal 737 max 8 flights that killed 373 people. woeg is expected to pay an additional $243 million fine and invest at least $455 million in compliance and safety programs. joining us now is nbc's tom costello. good morning. why is this deal coming together now? >> bottom line is they had a deadline. the deadline was last night into this morning at midnight, so essentially the doj said to boeing you've got to accept this deal or reject it, and if you reject it, we're going to trial, and you're going to face criminal charges. so they accepted the plea deal, acknowledging, in fact, that they were guilty of conspiring to defraud the government. and you might say defraud the government how? bottom line is back with the 737 max 8 and those two crashes

overseas five years ago, that boeing is now acknowledging it had misled the faa about that m cast software that brought those planes down, that it had misled investigators and the faa during the entire certification process, and as your honor, that m cast software helped bring those two planes down killing so many people overseas. bottom line is now the doj has security this guilty plea from boeing. it comes more than five years after these crashes, and it only comes because the doj says boeing violated the terms of a previous deferred prosecution agreement. they agreed not to prosecute boeing, boeing kept their nose clean, and then we had max 9 door plug blowout, and subsequent investigations finding a whole bunch of problems up anddown the boeing assembly line. justice department brought this charge, boeing pleading guilty. >> tom costello, thank you so very much. up next, the surprise

results of france's snap elections which stopped the far right from taking control, but left parliament there grid locked. will they be able to get anything done? plus, president biden refusing to bow out of the race in an exclusive interview with msnbc and a new letter to democrats. we'll get reaction from new york congressman gregory meeks, ranking member of the foreign affairs committee as the president prepares to host foreign leaders at this year's nato summit. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports." you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports.

want to save on some of the biggest names in streaming on the network made for streaming? x marks the spot.

now you can add the new xfinity streamsaver™ that includes netflix, peacock, and apple tv+. that's xfinity streamsaver™ for just $15 a month. all your favorites. all in one place. only from xfinity. for more watching and less spending... x marks the spot. do it all on the network made for streaming, and bring on the good stuff.

24 past the hour. we are following new details after the surprise election results in france. joining us from paris is nbc's josh lederman. josh, what happened? >> reporter: well, what happened was the pollsters were wrong and the leftists and the centrists were able to join together at the last minute to have their third running candidates donald trump out and essentially consolidate their support around the not far right candidate. but what we have now, jose, is an unprecedented situation that could lead to a lot of gridlock. president macron will have to pick a new prime minister from the left but there will be no mandate for that prime minister to pass legislation in parliament, and that has a lot of french citizens really bracing for the likelihood of paralysis in government, including this paris voter i spoke to earlier today. watch. >> how much do you think will change after last night's results? >> nothing will change. i think nothing will change in france because the country will

not be manageable because there's several parties and nothing will change. this is the same people with the same ideas. >> reporter: all of this taking place less than three weeks before paris is set to host the olympic games, jose, and that's raising some real questions about, for example, the fact that the government ministry responsible for overseeing security during the olympics, we don't know who's going to be running that ministry at this point in time, but the olympic organizers, french government officials here, they are reassuring the public that these preparations have been in place for a long time, that they are ready to go and will be able to host a safe, successful olympics, even if the french government is in a period of turmoil that could last for many more months, jose. >> josh lederman in paris, thank you. now turning to washington, d.c., where tomorrow world leaders will gather to mark the 75th anniversary of the collective defense treaty known as nato, a time when the president is seeking to unite

both the -- and his party at home. the president touting his record with nato in an exclusive interview with msnbc this morning. >> our allies are looking for u.s. leadership. who else do you think could step in here and do this? i expanded nato. i solidiied nato. >> joining us now democratic congressman gregory meeks from new york. he is the ranking member of the house foreign affairs committee. congressman, it's always a pleasure to see you. i thank you so much for your time. what's your reaction to what we heard from the president this morning? >> i think the president told the truth. history is going to reflect this president is doing a tremendous job. nato now is stronger than ever as a result of the efforts of this president. we now have, you know, as opposed to nato being weak, which putin had counted on, they're more united than they've ever been before, and we have two new members in finland and sweden, so the president has been a unifier, and as we look at the 75th anniversary of nato,

nato is more important now than ever, unlike the viewpoints of the challenger to the president who basically when he was president said nato may have outworn its usefulness and who has also said russia can do whatever they want to so some of our nato allies. no, russians tried to wait out until november hoping that the other guy can get elected and not biden continuing to unite the united states, our nato allies as well as because what i think is unprecedented, again, led by this president we have our indo-pacific partners also working with nato and talking about some of the other challenges we have around the world. so it's not the united states alone or america alone or america only, it's us with our democratic allies. >> yeah, i mean, just to think of, you know, the historic statement of finland and sweden

joining nato, just that in and of itself is so remarkable. add all the other things that o. and i think that the president has said that keep watching him, and he will show that it was one horrible debate. and i believe that there will be -- in fact, i'm told there's going to be a number of press conferences that he will have. he'll meet the general media, and he'll be able to articulate whatever questions are asked of him, but to show what he has done and what he will do in the

next administration. >> congressman, have you been in touch with the president recently? >> i haven't talked directly to the president recently, but i was with the president in france. i heard him make a remarkable speech there, really bringing people together again and normandy. i've been with him in meetings a month or so ago at the white house, again, strong leadership, strong talking about how we're bringing the democratic world together to go against people who seem to be very friendly, to the former president, like vladimir putin who, you know, the former president said their intelligence was stronger than american intelligence, and in fact, gave away national security information to the russians in the white house. you know, unlike him, the former president who seems to be more friendly with kim jong-un than

our nato allies and so, look, the president has led, continues to lead, and the leadership that he has provided has brought the world, the democratic world closer together to make us all safer together than we would be if we were doing this by ourselves. that is what the authoritarians hope that we would be divided. the leadership of joe biden has prevented that from happening. >> and the issue of folks that are divided -- i know you were on that call with your other democratic colleagues and the minority leader in the house hakeem jeffries where some democrats called on the president to step down. what would you say to them, and what do you think going forward needs to be clarified? >> look, i think that all are looking -- everybody's really on the same page.

what we understand is that donald trump cannot be president again. he's an existential threat to democracy. now, what i think -- thank god democrats are not republicans. republicans just flock in one line. that's something that endangers democracy. that's what happened in the 1930s. the germans just walked in line with hitler and stalin. they just walked the line. democrats like to speak and think on behalf of the constituencies that they represent. now, i think that it was hugely a mistake and i don't like the fact that that meeting was leaked because what leader jeffries is trying to do is bring us all together and listen to every democrat in the house of representatives so that we

can get everybody's opinion, and that's what we do in our crack do in our crack pa democratic party, and we talk to each other so we can reach our shared goal of making sure that we may -- we win the house. we maintain the majority in the senate, and we win the presidency. and so that's what's going to happen and i think that the president has another opportunity in these press conferences that he will do, in these town hall meetings that he will do to show that he is the best messenger to deliver the message to the people of the united states of america. >> and congressman, all of this talk of the 75th nato and all these important issues that you have just been underlining, and even this whole talk of the division between the democrats, some democrats and the president's campaign, i always fear that this kind of talk

clouds also critical things that seem to be put on the wayside. there's a process going on in venezuela right now, as you know, where maduro is holding these sham elections. continues to be in the street getting tens of thousands on her side, and yet not able to run. weapon what the human rights violations are in cuba. they're at record numbers. haiti continues to be a country in crisis, and it seems as though, congressman, a lot of this seems to be clouded in these other discussions. >> well, you're absolutely right. in fact, just before i came on air, i was talking to members of the administration about just that, we were talking about haiti. we were talking about venezuela. we were talking about the sudan where there is atrocities taking place on a daily basis, and of course we talked about what's taking place in ukraine and what's taking place in gaza between israel and hamas.

so all of these things are going on. and guess what, president joe biden has been in the middle of all of it trying to bring people together. we are still just today reports that talks are being resumed as far as peace and having a cease fire in the middle east, and we just saw that 60% of israeli citizens want and support the joe biden plan. so it's bringing folks together, and i think that's what's key, and i think we'll get there as a democratic party. you know, democracy, true democracy is never easy. it's messy. but then we get it together, and we move on, and we win. you know, look, i've been there before. i've been there during the primary season of 2020, and i've seen joe biden come back.

>> congressman gregory meeks, always a pleasure to speak with you. i thank you so very much for your time. >> thank you for having me. up next, more fallout after the supreme court's presidential immunity ruling. how it's now impacting trump's classified documents case in florida. plus, we're just a week away from the republican national convention and donald trump still has a major decision to make. who will he choose for vp? you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. what if we don't get down in time to get a birthday gift for zoe? don't panic. with etsy we can find the perfect gift, and send her a preview right away. i love this. thanks guys. ooh, that's a relief. it sure is great to know when something's coming. [ surprised scream ] don't panic. gift easy with etsy.

when your home gets bugs, the struggle-is-real. that's why you need zevo traps. zevo goes wherever bugs do— working 24/7, using blue and uv light to attract and trap flying insects, with no odor and no mess. getting rid of the bugs you see, and even the ones you don't. for effortless protection everywhere in your home. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. to catch up to twice the bugs, try zevo max.

at the ups store, we offer a lot. because running a small business takes a lot. that's why we're the "think outside the box" store. the "help protect your privacy" store. and the "give your business a real street address" store. so while you're juggling everything else like the boss you are, we're the "extra pair of hands" store. you can count on us as the "shredding and mailboxing, anything and everything to keep you going" store. come into the ups store today. and be unstoppable.

in the wayborhood, every delivery is a treat. come into the ups store today. one pistachio for you, sir. one strawberry poof, please. oh. enjoy it. oh, poofect. bye waybor. something minty? of course, it's a large. [ gasps ] ♪ ♪ a double. lucky. ♪ wayfair. every style. every home. ♪ what is cirkul? cirkul is the fuel you need to take flight. cirkul is the energy that gets you to the next level. cirkul is what you hope for when life tosses lemons your way. cirkul, available at walmart and drinkcirkul.com.

40 past the hour, now to new developments from last week's historic supreme court decision on presidential immunity. the florida judge overseeing the classified documents case against former president trump has granted a request by his legal team to allow for arguments about whether the presidential immunity ruling applies to this case. with us now to talk more about this, paul butler, a former federal prosecutor who is now a law professor at georgetown university. he's also an msnbc legal analyst. paul, great seeing you always. what do you think the significance of this move by judge cannon in the immunity case is? >> so jose, despite donald trump's best efforts to delay all of his criminal trials, this mar-a-lago trial was actually lurching forward. there's been an active motions practice. more going on in this than the other three cases because the manhattan hush money trial, there's been a verdict. the other cases in georgia and

d.c. are on hold pending appellate decisions, and so in this case, the court's right to make a pause while attorneys for donald trump and the prosecution deal with, try to reckon with the effects of this seismic immunity decision from the court. not only did it grant the president extremely broad immunity from most criminal prosecution, it also said that when there is a criminal case the normal rules of evidence don't apply. evidence of official acts by the president can't be used, even if the prosecution is for a private act. and so judge cannon has to now figure out which of the acts in the indictment are private versus public and of those official acts, do any of them meet the standard that the court sets. so the court said that there's a presumption of immunity even for official acts. >> paul, a few questions on

that. that will then have an impact no doubt on all of the cases, federal or state, right? >> that's right. so, again, in the mar-a-lago case, trump is charged with conduct after he left office in the manhattan hush money case. he's charged mainly with conduct before he left office. so in those cases -- >> before he got to office. >> before he got to office. that's correct. so in those cases, prosecutors should be able to rebut this presumption that the president's acts were official. they were private. the prosecutors will also, because they happened when he left office. judge cannon, has been more willing than other judges to entertain trump's theories, so in the mar-a-lago case, trump is saying that he, again, magically declassified the documents when he was in office. that's an official act is the defense perspective, and therefore, trump is immune from prosecution. it's not an argument that i think most legal scholars will

take seriously, but it does pass the laugh test. there's a whole new landscape of presidential accountability after this immunity decision, all these trial judges have to figure it out. >> back to your initial comments on the mar-a-lago case. you said there's some active motions as a practice. what were those active motions? >> they're motions to try to figure out the classified information, how much the jury can know. there's always issues about how much the defense gets and then what the jury can be told. and this judge was also entertaining this bizarre motion by donald trump to disqualify jack smith. it's based on this arcane constitutional idea between -- that distinguishes between pris principal auchss and inferior offices. if jack smith hasn't been

confirmed by the senate, he's a private senate. no serious legal scholar has entertained this idea. but justice clarence thomas writing by himself suggest that had he thinks that that makes sense. so he wrote basically an outline to judge cannon how to get this back to the supreme court for its decision on that issue. >> paul butler, it's great seeing you. i thank you so very much. up next, we'll be breaking down more of president biden's exclusive interview on msnbc, in which he declared, quote, i am not going anywhere. will this help reassure some democrats and some voters he's fit for a second term? plus, closing arguments could begin as soon as today in senator bob menendez's corruption trial, you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. hing "josé dit reports" on msnbc. mptoms were in my way. i needed more from my antidepressant. vraylar helped give it a lift. adding vraylar to an antidepressant is clinically proven to help relieve overall depression symptoms better than an antidepressant alone. and in vraylar clinical studies,

most saw no substantial impact on weight. elderly dementia patients have increased risk of death or stroke. report unusual changes in behavior or suicidal thoughts. antidepressants can increase these in children and young adults. report fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, as these may be life-threatening, or uncontrolled muscle movements, which may be permanent. high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death, weight gain, and high cholesterol may occur. movement dysfunction and restlessness are common side effects. stomach and sleep issues, dizziness, increased appetite, and fatigue are also common. side effects may not appear for several weeks. i didn't have to change my treatment. i just gave it a lift. ask about vraylar and learn how abbvie could help you save. it's payback time. all these years, you've worked hard.

anyou fixed it. youe looked after it. maybe it's time for your home to start taking care of you? we've invested in our home, we've worked on it, we had a whole lot of equity just sitting there, you paid down the mortgage, invested in your home. i guess, you could say, your home owes you. if you're 62 or older and own your home, learn how you can access a portion of your home equity to give you cash. a reverse mortgage can put more money in your pocket by eliminating your monthly mortgage payments, paying off higher interest credit cards, and covering medical costs. look, aag can show you how a reverse mortgage loan uses your built-up home equity to give you tax-free cash for almost anything you might need. just eliminating the mortgage payment freed up a lot of cash for us. i get to go do what i want when i want. aag customers talked about the counseling they got along the way so they know how a reverse mortgage works,

and how their home could help pay them back when they need it the most. i have no more worries anymore the fact that we're still in this home, means so much. it's done everything for us that we hope it would do for us. call now to receive your free no-obligation info kit. the kit shows you how to get you the cash you need using your home's equity with a reverse mortgage. find out how your home can start taking care of you. the worry every single month to make that payment was gone. our customers' homes are taking care of them. maybe, your home could do the same for you. call aag, the country's #1 reverse mortgage lender, and get your free info kit. call this number have you ever considered getting a walk-in tub? well, look no further!

safe step's best offer, just got better! now, when you purchase your brand new safe step walk-in tub, you'll receive a free shower package. yes, a free shower package! and if you call today, you'll also receive 15% off your entire order. now you can enjoy the best of both worlds! the therapeutic benefits of a warm, soothing bath that can help increase mobility, relieve pain, boost energy, and even improve sleep! or, if you prefer, you can take a refreshing shower. all-in-one product! call now to receive a free shower package plus 15% off your brand new safe step walk-in tub.

49 past the hour this morning, in an msnbc exclusive interview, president biden doubling down on his pledge to stay in the presidential race despite some congressional democrats calling for him to drop out. here's some of what he had to say during an interview on "morning joe." one, to make sure my instinct was right about the party still wanting me to be the nominee, and all the data, all the data shows that the average democrat still wanting me to be the nominee. and all the data shows that the average democrat who voted, 14 million of them, have voted for me. still want me to be the nominee. these guys don't think i should

run, run against me. announce for president. challenge me at the convention. >> with us to talk more about this is former maryland congresswoman, donna edwards, an msnbc political analyst. always great seeing you. what do you make of the president's determination? today, he was very clear on "morning joe" and the letter he sent to democrats on capitol hill is almost even more clear. >> well, look. i think the president has been absolutely clear about his desire, willingness and intention to stay in this race. i think it opens the question for some democrats who are calling for him to leave, whether they're doing more harm right now than good. the president is in the race. he said he's in the race. his vice president is in there on the team with him. and the short of challenging him at the convention and trying to

kick him out, there's really not a lot that democrats can do about this right now. and so i think they need to be questioning themselves about whether they're playing into the hands of donald trump and the republican party in continuing this fight. >> that is so critical what you just mentioned, donna. if i could, read to you more from the president's letter today. he says i feel a deep obligation to the faith and the trust of the voters of the democratic party have placed in me to run this year. the president's determination to stay in the race is i think so clear in a letter after this, congressman torres had a really important statement aimed at his colleague saying in part, quote, weakening a weakened nominee seems like a losing strategy in a presidential election. the piling on is not so much

solving a problem as much as it is creating and compounding one. just how big of a problem does the president have? and is it not time for people to just say the reality is that this president was elected by an overwhelming majority of democratic voters. the people who matter in november. let's continue on that. >> well, let's look at where we are. i just saw the recent bloomberg poll that was released on saturday in swing states. the president has closed the gap actually among independents. closed the gap in those swing states within two points. this is a president who is going to be strong going into up against donald trump. i really do think that the onus is on those democrats right now to really stop this. i think it's very damaging. we heard statements for example coming from greg meeks a few minutes ago on your program, but

also joyce beatty of ohio. former chair of the congressional black caucus on "morning joe" this morning saying that the congressional black caucus is squarely behind this president. you know, you don't win an election as a democrat if you don't have strong support among the cbc among black voters. so i really do feel like we're at a stage now where this could be much more harmful and that it's important for democrats to unify. democrats have been unified for seven and a half years against donald trump and this agenda. it's time for us to put this aside and to go into this convention as a unified party. >> i thank you so much. appreciate it. up next, the federal corruption trial of new jersey senator bob menendez heads into a new phase today. what to expect, next. to expectt .

well that's horrifying. ortho home defense max indoor insect barrier. one application kills and prevents bugs for 365 days. not in my house you don't. nature is wild. your home doesn't have to be. why use 10 buckets of water when you can use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids throughout the day when you can take 1 prilosec. for easier heartburn relief, one beats ten. prilosec otc. one pill. 24 hours. zero heartburn. (♪♪) [shaking] itchy pet? (♪♪) with chewy, save 20% on your first pharmacy order so you can put an end to the itch. get flea and tick medication delivered right to your door. [panting] new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria.

visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. (vo) you've had thyroid eye disease for a long time. and you've lived with the damage it caused. whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. but even after all these years, restoration is still possible.

learn how at tedhelp.com. (aaron) i own a lot of businesses... so my tech and my network need to keep up. thank you, verizon business. (kevin) now our businesses get fast and reliable internet from the same network that powers our phones. (aaron) so whatever's next... we're cooking with fire. (vo) switch to the partner businesses rely on. the moment i met him i knew he was my soulmate. "soulmates." soulmate! [giggles] why do you need me? [laughs sarcastically] but then we switched to t-mobile 5g home internet. and now his attention is spent elsewhere.

but i'm thinking of her the whole time. that's so much worse. why is that thing in bed with you? this is where it gets the best signal from the cell tower! i've tried everywhere else in the house! there's always a new excuse. well if we got xfinity you wouldn't have to mess around with the connection. therapy's tough, huh? -mmm. it's like a lot about me. [laughs] a home router should never be a home wrecker. oo this is a good book title. with absorbine pro, pain won't hold you back from your passions. it's the only solution with two max-strength anesthetics to deliver the strongest numbing pain relief available. so, do your thing like a pro, pain-free. absorbine pro.

and menendez. today, closing arguments expected to begin in the trial of bob menendez. he's pleaded not guilty. last week, he did not take the stand, saying it would not benefit his case. the defense expected the deliver closing arguments tomorrow. rehema, good morning. what is the latest here? >> good morning, jose. what we know is that the defense had one more witness that they wanted to call and they did that this morning. afterwards, it's expected this case will go into the closing arguments case and the prosecution expected to say much of what it did in the beginning of this. they allege in their effort and argument to convince the jury that senator menendez did in their words, put his own green over country. he's been accused of taking bribes, taking gold bars and hundreds of thousands in cash in exchange for a widespread bribery scheme. the government has alleged that

his wife acted as a foreign agent accepting payoffs to help egypt get more military aid and using his powerful committee by helping new jersey businessmen get a multi-million dollar business deal approved by the government. he once chaired the foreign relations committee until stepping down last fall. menendez and his wife, who has also been charged in the bribery scheme as we point out, she has pleaded not guilty. they are undergoing separate trials because she is being treated for breast cancer. that jury is expected to get this case perhaps sometime tomorrow after the closing arguments a finished. jose? >> thank you very much. that wraps up the hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president biden defiant, writing to

congressional