good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we're following the legal trouble following donald trump and his inner circle. at any moment an associate of the trump organization is

expected to plead guilty to tax evasion. as we wait for a judge to determine whether to unseal the raid on mar-a-lago. lawmakers are calling on the white house to appoint a special envoy to haiti as the humanitarian crisis grows. out west, the urgent actions being taken to prevent what officials warn could be a catastrophic collapse of the colorado river system. we begin with the latest on the legal troubles for former president donald trump and his close associates. any minute now, former trump organization chief financial officer allen weisselberg is expected to plead guilty to charges of not paying taxes on more than $1.7 million in perks,

such as rent, car payments and school tuition. the plea deal calls for him to testify against the trump organization at trial. this comes just hours before a federal judge in west palm beach, florida, will be hearing arguments on whether to unseal the affidavit used to justify the fbi's search of the former president's mar-a-lago resort last week. the justice department wants to keep it sealed to protect its investigation, but trump and a number of news organizations including nbc news want it to be released for transparency purposes. all of this one day after trump's former personal attorney, rudy giuliani, spent six hours testifying before a special grand jury in fulton county, georgia, which is investigating efforts to interfere in the 2020 election there. giuliani left the courthouse without saying anything to reporters. his testimony came days after he was informed that he was a target of the investigation. here to start off our coverage this morning, nbc news

correspondent julie ainsley, ken delaney, paul brock, and paul butler, former prosecutor and now a professor at the georgetown university law center. also an msnbc legal analyst. julia, what's happening at the weisselberg hearing as we speak? >> as you can see, he has entered the courtroom and expected to plead guilty. we don't have all the details of the plea deal. there could be some counts he's not pleading guilty to. we understand as part of this deal he's expected to get about five months in jail as a sentence. but he is expected to testify to and cooperate with investigators against the trump organization but not against the former president himself. this case, jose, does not criminally implicate trump himself. it's about the business organization. and they were able to get weisselberg to cooperate because they were able to show that on $1.7 million worth of things you mentioned there, whether that be tuition, other perks that came

along with the job, he kept that off the books. it's okay for a company to give perks to an employee, but that has to be documented so taxes can be paid on it and for $1.7 million of those perks, taxes were avoided. now, weisselberg would have a lot of information about the finances and about the inner workings of how trump and his family ran their organization, ran that company. and so it will be interesting to see what information they're able to get next in this case. so far it seems weisselberg is still going to be loyal to his former boss, just not to his former company. >> julia, what happens next for him, for weisselberg? >> like we said, we're expected to hear he would get about five months. we could also see further testimony from him. not today. today is about the plea deal. we might be able to get more information about those inner workings. perhaps that could become public about the trump organization. he could get a reduced sentence for something like good behavior. he's only looking at five months

here. really he's getting off with a smaller sentence because this is something where prosecutors are trying to use him to get to the bigger picture and get to the bigger fish here, jose. >> what could weisselberg's guilty plea mean for investigation into trump's business practices? >> prosecutors almost certainly went after weisselberg, hoping he would give up the goods on donald trump. but weisselberg decided that he would rather be a convicted felon than snitch against the former president. he has agreed to testify against the trump organization in its upcoming trial. weisselberg would be the star witness. he knows where the bodies are buried. and if trump's business is convicted, it could face devastating consequences. we know how harsh civil penalties can be. that's how trump's bogus charity and his bogus university got taken down. i expect trump and the new york attorney general will come to a settlement agreement because

trump does not want his business organization to be looked at by a new york jury. >> meanwhile, sam, what can we expect to see where you are later today? >> right now, yoe say, the federal court behind me will become the center of the political universe for all intents and purposes, starting about 1:00 today. the expectations as you talk to legal experts like professor butler is it would be extremely unlikely if not borderline impossible that a judge in this case would unseal the affidavit knowing the doj has laid down a multitude of reasons why they do not want to see it happen. one, providing a road map of what the criminal investigation looks like. two, compromising witnesses. and then the safety of the fbi agents involved. we know, jose, that last week when the search warrant was revealed, the two agents were -- they have since faced death threats. what if you were to unveil now this affidavit? all the people involved, their testimony, what would happen to those agents? this isn't a hypothetical. we know last week that someone

tried to break into the fbi in cincinnati and threaten agents there. we're seeing this violence play out in real time, not to mention the fact that the judge has also been threatened, judge bruce reinhart. we got a statement from the palm beach gardens police department saying they are aware of the threats against judge reinhart. we are working with law enforcement officers. he is facing death threats and anti-semitism threats against the right platform. this is top of mind. the only thing that has changed since the warrant and inventory of items taken is political pressure. that's pretty much it. >> sam, the judge has the authority to either release or not release that affidavit himself? >> he does. what we might see is a middle ground. he might decide to release a portion of the affidavit, but if that's the middle ground course that he chooses to pursue, it's very likely it would be heavily

redacted given the fact you're talking about classified information beyond just national security. how much information will we actually see, even if he does try to find some sort of a medium position in all this? again, the expectation that he will keep that avid sealed given what the department of justice has said, namely, this could ruin the entire investigation, compromise it materially, they don't want to see that happen. >> ken, just taking up on sam's point, if the justice department doesn't want the affidavit to be released in its entirety, what kind of information would it be willing to release to the public? >> nothing meaningful or revealing, jose. if their motion before this hearing, they said that they would not oppose releasing things like the cover sheet in their motion to seal the affidavit but that's not going to tell us anything. just to step back so folks understand, this is the affidavit of probable cause that an fbi agent swore out to a judge in order to obtain this search warrant. in doing that, he or should would have to explain to the judge all the reasons why the

evidence they have showed a crime was committed and evidence of that crime was present in mar-a-lago. it's everything the fbi knows about this case, generally. to sam's point, it's possible that the judge could order a partial release of this, at which points the justice department would say, hold on a second, we need to propose redactions, blacking out of names and other sensitive information. that would take a couple of days to a couple of weeks. it's very unlikely that even in the unlikely event a judge unseals a portion of it, that we would see it today. if they would ask to redact so much of it that the document would be incomprehensive. leaving aside the names, which would never be released, what they're saying is there is too much sensitive information about the nature of the investigation, or names. the doj is adamantly opposing the release of this affidavit,

jose. >> paul, almost everything about this case is unique. is it normal for there to be requests to release search warrant affidavits? >> it is actually quite normal, jose. defense attorneys usually ask for it because it will reveal information about how to prepare their defense. but judges almost never grant these, especially in a case like this, where releasing the affidavit would release confidential sources or more specific information about the top secret classified material that was taken from mar-a-lago. >> again, that material that was taken from mar-a-lago, tell us about how the fbi continues to sift through the documents. taken us through the process. >> we're ten days out from the search now. we're told the fbi's filter team, a team of agents independent of the case, is still sifting through this massive trove of documents. they're looking for a couple of

things. they're trying to weed out any document that is protected by attorney/client privilege and also looking for items that aren't relevant to the investigation. for example, they gave trump back his passports after they decided they would seize those but they weren't relevant. they are also looking for classified information that may have been unmarked, that may have been included in the other documents that weren't marked classified or top secret. when they get through all of that, they'll turn over the relevant documents to the actual agents investigating the case. from what we understand, they are being incredibly meticulous about this. it just shows you how many documents they are and how careful the fbi is being. >> ken, i'm wondering there is no real -- at least publicly and for us to know about, what kind of documents in those top secret and the highest clearance required for documents? we don't really know yet, ken, what exactly were those

documents, right? i mean, we're looking here. the set of the top secret scis, the four top secret, on and on. >> we don't know, but we have some data points. we have some reporting that, a, trump had a habit of grabbing top secret documents from his intelligence briefings. those tended to be images or charts because he didn't read. they didn't bring a lot of written summaries of intelligence products. that's one piece of data. and the other is that people close to trump, kash patel has been saying that he -- that trump was trying to declassify at the end of his presence documents related to the russia investigation that he thought the public should see. there was some dispute about whether or not they actually got declassified. there's a question of, does that -- are some of these documents related to that. again, we don't know the answer, jose. >> meanwhile, rudy giuliani's lawyer says he is a target of the fulton county district attorney's investigation. does being a target of an

investigation impact how someone is treated by the grand jury? >> it doesn't impact how the grand jury treats them but it does impact how they treat the grand jury. this is the worst legal trouble giuliani has ever faced, being a target means that the grand jury has developed enough information to charge you with a crime. grand jury appearances are not open to the public, so we don't know what happened during the six hours that giuliani appeared before the grand jury. but any lawyer would advise him to take the fifth. >> paul butler, sam brock, ken, julia, thank you so much for being with us this morning. still ahead, the toll inflation is taking on families. >> going from store to store to get whatever we need, that it's cheaper. >> we're live with an inflation update. first, the cdc's own director makes a stunning

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18 past the hour. sweeping changes could be coming to the cdc after the agency's director, dr. rachelle walensky, acknowledged missteps from the covid pandemic and outlined change. some of the top objectives include sharing scientific findings and data faster, translating science into practical, easy to understand policy, and preparing a workforce prepared for future emergencies. joining us is andy slavitt, former white house senior adviser for the covid pandemic and former acting administrator for medicaid and medicare services center. seems more than this is a messaging issue that the cdc has

had. it could also be a policy problem which has not been consistent. how will these changes address the lack of public trust in the cdc? >> well, you're exactly right. you might even add to that a cultural problem. a focus with what i think the cdc director said yesterday is we are an agency too focused on publishing data for research rather than publishing data to get to results. it was a pretty bold and brave statement on her part. i give her a lot of credit. very rarely do you hear people, particularly in washington say, we messed up. we are accountable. we need to change. and that's exactly what she did yesterday. i think that change begins with redefining their mission to be more forward, to be more coordinaing of public responses and less worried about getting to the right answer and not explaining it very well. >> how was that culture at the cdc? is that a long-standing culture

in the cdc? >> it remind me of the expression of wartime versus peace time. they operate in peacetime pretty well. they write great research, they understand issues that may or may not ever come to haunt us later. we're glad they do it, but a lot of times those things are not the same plays you want to run when you have a public health emergency. when you have big public health issues, you need to operate much more quickly. you need a different set of skills. you need to be able to explain things to the public. they just aren't designed to optimize for operations for public communication, for coordination and for action. so, the recommendations that the director walensky reported yesterday are pretty significant and pretty transformative. any company, any of us part of an organization would realize, boy, to take something like that looks good on paper but it's hard to do.

but it's a pretty good road map. >> dr. walensky said lab sciences division that investigate public health threats will now report to the cdc director. why weren't they before? >> well, i think you don't really realize the changes you need until you get to them. i think what she probably discovered are things taking too long to get to her desk. too many people in a decision-making process, elongated decision, and therefore, make it harder for the public to respond. what she wants to do is pick up the phone without anybody in the middle and say, we need to get tests done, tests out to public labs and we need to do it now. she doesn't need a group of people interfering and defining it. whether it's her or someone who comes after her or all the directors that come after her, we need to be set up for success. and i think that's the type of move that hopefully allows us to

move more quickly. >> move more quickly in issues like -- i'm just wondering. could these changes have altered the direction of, for example, the monkeypox outbreak and with polio found in parts of new york, will they happen in time to contain these issues? >> i think she's saying, yes. i think she's saying, we have to fix ourselves. we have to hold ourselves accountable. and you can't always control everything. and there's always a million excuses. in public health you can always point a different direction saying it was uncontrollable, say you didn't know, but the public doesn't really care about that. the public just wants someone to act when does happens. the public wants someone to act quickly. i don't think the public is upset if the monkeypox comes to the u.s. no one likes that, but they're upset if they feel like the agencies to look out for us aren't responding quekly enough and aren't getting tests quickly enough. it won't always be possible, but what has to happen is we can't be our own enemy. we can't be the ones that get in

the way of those results. that is what she says is happening now. >> and speaking of happening now, just in the last hour, andy, the white house announced hhs will make 1.8 million doses of the monkeypox vaccine available for ordering beginning monday. we're at the 18th of august. it took a while, but it's coming through. how much of a dent will this make in the effort to get this outbreak under control, do you think, andy? >> well, i had the monkeypox on my podcast "in the bubble" yesterday, and they said that we will have enough vaccines so that by the end of september, everybody in the high-risk populations, the msn, gay men and bisexual population will be able to be vaccinated bit end of september with their two doses. this is a two-dose vaccine. the key is in addition to ordering new vaccines that the

fda has found a way to allow the vaccine to be applied in a different way so that you can get five doses out of a vial. that is an enormous step towards solving the problem and that's a great step of government creativity during this pandemic. we have six weeks when we should be able to get everybody in high-risk groups vaccinated. >> meanwhile, white house covid coordinator says all americans over the age of 12 will be available for another booster this fall. for those eligible now, should we wait or get the booster shot now? >> well, we'll get guidance on that, i expect, from the white house and the cdc, but the -- but what i'm hearing from the white house is they'll have boosters available some time in september, approved and authorized, ready to go. and the question will be, if you get your booster right away,

when it comes out, or do you wait a month, wait until october because we don't know how long the boosters will last. it's just unknown at this point. if you can think about a wave that occurs in january/february, what's the right way to do that? so, i know they're having that discussion right now. they're having that evaluation, they're having that debate. i have a conversation with tony fauci on my podcast coming up. i'll ask him that question and we'll see what he says. >> thank you. pleasure to see you. i appreciate your time. speaking of dr. fauci, coming up on "andrea mitchell reports" at 9:00 eastern, she'll be speaking with dr. fauci, who has played an instrumental report in the nation's covid response. up next, as conditions worsen in haiti with extreme gang violence, four u.s.st lawmakers are asking president biden to step up. we'll talk live to one of those lawmakers, congressman maccormack about what she wants

the president to do. and we're keeping an eye on the courthouse in manhattan where former trump organization cfo allen weisselberg is expected to plead guilty in a tax evasion scheme. we'll bring you the news as it comes up live on msnbc. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." reports. ct. dad's work, meet daughter's playtime. thankfully, meta portal auto pans and zooms to keep you in frame. and the meeting on track. meta portal. the smart video calling device that makes work from home work for you.

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astepro and go. the humanitarian crisis in haiti is getting worse by the day but u.s. position special envoy to haiti has been empty for a year now. congressmen are asking president biden to announce a new envoy. since january the biden administration has deported more than 20,000 people back to haiti where gang violence has killed hundreds this year as they -- as the situation in haiti continues to be critical. with us now is one of the lawmakers who wrote a letter to the president, democratic congresswoman sheila cherfilus-mccormick from florida, the first haitian american elected to congress. i'd like to start by asking you, the haitian american community

is such a fundamental, productive, beneficial presence in our country. and yet haiti continues to be a place where people find they have no option but to leave. how can we help, congresswoman? >> well, i think we start by helping by rethinking the aid and how we're going to give support to haiti. right now we've seen a diminished when it came to diplomat efforts in haiti, especially from our administration, without having a special envoy. the special envoy initially was there right after the assassination, so it's imperative to keep the country stable. what we've seen since the decline and after daniel foote left in september of 2021, we've seen a consistent decline. right now we're looking at a failed state and a failed country. so, that's why it's imperative that we reappoint a special envoy. this special envoy can work not only with the civil society but with all the political organizations, the political parties to ensure we can help haiti rebuild.

as we see with the oas, secretary of the oas said about the efforts, the 20-year efforts, they have failed. right now because haiti's state is so dire, because gangs are proliferating throughout the streets, we also see a proliferation of guns from south florida into haiti. it's more imperative than ever we have a key touchpoint in haiti as a special envoy to ensure we can help in the negotiation, help in stability and ultimately towards democracy. >> when you look at the history of haiti, which is one of the real historic firsts in many things in our world. i mean, haiti has really been the leader on so many things throughout history but it's also been condemned by these horrendous systems of government. papad a. ch, the haitian people have been subjected to such cruel governments. is there something, congresswoman, that can bode well for the future of haiti?

is there something that haiti could cling onto have a better government, to have a better system so people could live their lives with dignity and with hope and with the future as a dream? >> haitian people have a courageous spirit. my people migrated to the united states due to papadach and his cruelty and the hope of obtaining the american dream. if you look at the haitian people, they still have that spirit of being freedom fighters. if we can assist haiti in building an infrastructure, a political infrastructure, that's based off intelligence and knowledge and how to even have a civil society, we would see this transition actually come to fruition. we need to work with haiti, have a haitian-led policy and solution, but that cannot be done independently of the united

states and the international community. that's because of the 20 years of policies that have left haiti in this position where it has no political stability, no security and the democracy in haiti has been fractured. as good citizens and as good partners to the caribbean, the united states has an obligation to partake, and i believe sincerely. the first step is by appointing a special envoy. >> representative sheila cherfilus-mccormick, i thank you for being with us. it's good to be with us. >> thank you for having me. turning to mexico, which is reeling from a deadly wave of violence, including in cities just across the border from the u.s., joining us now is anchor of telemundo's morning show. it's a pleasure to see you. we're seeing the violence increase throughout much of mexico and also see a journalist, another journalist killed in that country. >> thank you for having me,

jose. juan lopez is the 14th journalist killed this year and 2022 is the deadliest year for workers in mexico. his body was found yesterday a week after he was reported missing. officials say he was killed by a blow to the head. this is very cruel. violence against journalists is happening. a bunch of criminal organizations lashed out against mexican authorities, dozens of shops. you saw, of course, those scenes, buses, cars were set on fire and the mexican government confirmed 260 deaths in just four days. we're talk about this period of time between august 9th and 12th. the u.s. state department is asking americans to reconsider travel states of baja,

california, zacatecas and also chihuahua. the we are going to keep an eye, of course, on this matter. as you said, closely we are following this story in mexico also. ten miners have been trapped underground for two weeks now. they have been trapped in a coal mine. the mexican state of qualia. rescuers have not been able to go down and they have not been able to communicate with the miners. all the exits are floated. according to the mexican army, which is the one institution who is heading the rescue reports, tunnels from other connected mines are also blocked by lumber after the collapse, after the mine, of course, the mines collapsed and after these

accident. officials are trying to pump water out of the mine, but there are, of course, hope, but we've been seeing rain and other water from other mine flooded it again. the wives of the miners are very frustrated. two weeks after the collapse. one little girl, this scene is one we have in this moment, this girl tells to telemundo. she just wants to hug her uncle, see him again. this is very sad, of course. the relatives are very frustrated, as i said, but also are angry. they say, we have here the mexican president. he took many photos with us. now you have the photo.

thank you for having that photo with my pain. now we want our family, our relatives, our people back. >> and it's been two weeks and still nothing. >> yeah. >> there is certainly hope but it's dwindling every minute, every hour that passes. >> yeah, yeah, it's very important. >> thank you so much. the extraordinary show you anchor. i thank you for joining us this morning. up next, the ripple effects of inflation are reaching every corner of our lives. how families and businesses are trying to cut costs. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." you see, son, with a little elbow grease, you can do just about anything. thanks, dad. that's right, robert. and it's never too early to learn you could save with america's number one motorcycle insurer. that's right, jamie. but it's not just about savings. it's about the friends we make along the way. you said it, flo. and don't forget to floss before you brush. your gums will thank you. -that's right, dr. gary. -jamie?

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massive drop in profit. now government data reveals people are trying to make the most of what they have. more are looking for deals online. nbc's maggie vespa. how are consumers handling these high prices? >> reporter: you mentioned that first big one, looking for deals online is huge right now. latest reteal report showed that. a lot of consumers shifting towards nonname brands and sprinting to retailers famous for low prices like walmart. they actually reported a strong second quarter, one of the few retailers to do so. tell us what shoppers told us yesterday about this latest report. is there anything you've cut back on completely? >> yeah. >> reporter: like what? >> clothes, shoes. i tell my kids, you have to go and get the stuff you need, not the stuff you want. >> definitely eating less meat and less soda. no more coffee stops. everything becomes about, do i really need this?

and i'm not going to leave the house today because if i do, i'm going to have to spend money somewhere. >> reporter: on the flip side of that, some telling us they're driving from store to store, trying to find the lowest prices. with the high cost of gas is really tricky, jose. >> maggie, thank you very much. we're continuing to monitor a hearing in manhattan right you in where former trump organization cfo allen weisselberg has pleaded guilty to almost a dozen tax violations and several more. we'll keep you updated on this situation. also coming up, house republicans call the withdrawal from afghanistan botched in a scathing new report. we'll talk about it with "new york times" pentagon reporter aleen cooper next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." do you struggle with occasional nerve aches in your hands or feet? try nervivenerve relief from the world's #1 selling nerve care company. nervive contains alpha lipoic acid to relieve occasional nerve aches, weakness and discomfort. try nervivenerve relief.

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what would you like the power to do? 48 past the hour. the taliban announced 21 people were killed in an explosion during evening prayer at a mosque in kabul on wednesday. it's been a year since the chaotic u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. a new report from house republicans is highly critical of the biden administration's handling of it. according to the report, about 3,000 afghan security forces, including high-ranking officials, had to cross into

iran while fleeing the taliban. the report claims there were more than 800 american citizens left behind in afghanistan. that's much higher than the 100 to 200 the administration claimed last year. joining us now, helene cooper, pentagon correspondent for "the new york times." great seeing you. this report says more than 800 americans were left behind in afghanistan. that's not what we were told. >> no, it's not. i would keep in mind -- first of all, the administration said that at the beginning that there were maybe a couple hundred americans who were left behind, but they would continue to try to get out. most of the americans in afghanistan who wanted to get out were able to get out. and they still are -- you know, have been in the past year able to get out. but that's a very real criticism and that's a legitimate criticism. the biden administration withdrawal from afghanistan was certainly chaotic, which we all

saw. we witnessed in clear detail last year. >> the report says about 3,000 afghan security forces, including u.s.-trained commandos had to leave afghanistan going to afghanistan, go into iran, some with their equipment, to flee for their lives. when it comes to security and issues like people who are highly trained, did the united states, has there been any kind of attempt to get to them, to get to these commandos? >> the pentagon has had ongoing efforts over the past year, to keep up with what they call their, you know, american intelligence assets, both in afghanistan. a lot of afghan pilots, as you know, also ended up in uzbekistan, as they were fleeing from the taliban. so that is something that the administration will say is still ongoing. and it's, again, you know,

that's a real criticism, and it's quite credible that the united states needs to think about the threat of american know-how being passed on. but it's not -- i don't see that as the biggest deal. i think the -- that's sort of a little bit of a side show. one of the things that i think that this report does manage to gloss over is the fact that the terms for this withdrawal were set by president trump. they don't get into that at all. and i think that kind of takes away some of the legitimacy of the report, which does sometimes come across as partisan. there's some very real and credible critiques in there that you can make for the biden administration withdrawal from afghanistan. so you can certainly criticize the state department for not doing more earlier to prioritize the special immigrant visas for all of the hundreds of thousands of after ganis who worked for us over the past 20 years.

they didn't move fast enough, and so many people were left behind. they've still been left behind. i'm not as worried about the american citizens, because a lot of these are afghan american citizens. some of them didn't want to leave at the time. some of them did. most american citizens who wanted to leave were able to get out. and to another extnt, the administration should get a little bit of credit about the fact that they were able to manage the herculean feat of getting 120,000 people out in two weeks. but they should certainly be criticized for the chaos of the withdrawal, the bad intelligence that led to it, where they didn't think that kabul would fall so soon. and the fact that they left so many afghans, who put their lives on the line for us behind. >> yeah. and yesterday we spoke to a gentlemen, an afghan, who worked with the americans for more than ten years. and he tried and was successful

in getting out of afghanistan. but he reached, in every way possible, u.s. government officials to see if he could get some help. zero response. he had to do it on his own, with the help of some americans here in the united states. eileen cooper, thank you so much for being with us this morning. and this just in, the court has adjourned in the plea hearing of the trump organization hearing of allen weisselberg. he pleaded guilty to all counts against him. coming up, the new threat facing some 40 million people out west. we'll plain, next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." atching "j diaz-balart reports.

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57 past the hour. the water supply for 40 million people across seven states is shrinking, as an historic drought is getting worse. joining us now is nbc news correspondent steve patterson. steve, good morning. what are folks facing? >> reporter: right now, water scarcity and all the ills that come with it. you have to think about the colorado river, right? it connects lake powell and lake mead, the nation's largest reservoir. kind of serves as this hydropower highway between the two. it's where all of this excess water stored in those reservoirs, in a system that supplies water to 40 million people out west. and now that it's dwindling, this crisis is increasing. and it kind of serves as a microcosm for all of the

problems associated with climate change. and now, there was a deadline that was not met, set by the federal government for the seven basin states, those 40 million people that depend on that water. and so the federal government stepped in, they're calling this now a tier 2 shortage, which means water reductions will come to certain states in those areas surrounding the river. that includes arizona, it includes mexico. and it includes nevada. and so they're going to see significant cuts over the next few months. but really, it's not enough to address the problem, as the river continues to shrink. we spoke to experts along the river, as well as farmers who are now experiencing some of the economic impacts from this. take a look. >> on the surface, the boundless beauty of the colorado river feels eternal. but just underneath, an increasingly urgent threat is rising faster than ever before. >> the colorado river is about 20% smaller than it was just 20 years ago. >> that river supplies water to

seven states and 40 million people. now, the system that sustains it is simply no longer robust enough to maintain that output. >> we no only need to reduce the amount of water we're taking out of the colorado river by, you know, something like 20%, for the long-term. >> and you see there, that's the reduction that they're looking at. now the situation expected to get a whole lot worse before it gets better. the drought is bad, but we are not at the point where tap water is suddenly going to stop flowing, right? the bigger impact is agricultural. so food variety, availability, and pricing will be most impacted. as farmers are forced to leave a lot of their fields fallow at this point, jose. we're going to see it in the grocery store in the next few years or so. back to you. >> steve patterson, thank you so much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on twitter and instagram at jd balart. be sure to follow the show online @jdbalartmsnbc. thank you for the privilege of your time.

lindsey reiser picks up with more news right now. good thursday morning. i'm lindsey reiser at msnbc headquarters in new york. two major trump world legal sagas reaches a crescendo right now. not far from where i am, court just adjourned ten minutes ago in the case of former trump organization ceo allen weisselberg. this is him leading just moments ago. he just pleaded guilty to criminal charges in a tax case brought by the manhattan d.a. he's expected to serve a five-month sentence. and as part of his plea, he would be expected to testify against the trump organization, if called, when the company goes on trial in the fall. so what's in store for trump's namesake company? and is this a win for the former president? also today, the former president is looking for a legal win a thousand miles away from new york in florida. two hours from now, the judge who approved