as we come on the air in georgia, our team is following both senate candidates out on the trail right now. their first public events since that abortion accusation rocked the campaign.

what herschel walker is telling us about the newest twist being reported and what his opponent is saying about the revelations. president biden on the road to officially talk about jobs and unofficially trying to hem a democrat in congress keep his job. a live report from our correspondent traveling with the president. plus, the date officially set. the january 6th committee's next and possibly last public hearing. and jurors right now hearing new testimony in the oath keepers trial, including that its leader claimed to have a contact in the secret service, all of it as we are just getting word that the president is announcing marijuana reform. we will have more on that in a couple of minutes. i'm hallie jackson in washington and i want to bring in our nbc news senior national correspondent and the correspondent yamiche alcindor and fred is joining us, too. and before we get into it all here. i know there are a lot of developments. we got to point out why this is such a significant race, qui

right? it could be the key to who wins in november tossup between nevada, wisconsin and georgia and pennsylvania, and republicans, likely deciding and what does it mean, democrats can only lose two of the five races if they want to keep control of the chamber. and looking at arizona and pennsylvania, republicans looking a little stronger in nevada and wisconsin. and what happens in georgia will matter, maybe enough to keep democrats in control of the senate. or maybe not. so yamiche, we have heard from herschel walker and i think i heard you asking him questions if i know your voice well enough, tell us what you're seeing and hearing, because it feels like he is remaining defiant and a page out of the donald trump playbook here. >> we are in a deeply red part of the state. this is where herschel walker came to hold a campaign event where he continued to deny the allegations that he paid a woman who was carrying his child to

have have an abortion. i pressed herschel walker on the idea that his son christian walker and a whom who says he is the mother of one of his children and all say he is lying. take a listen to what he had to say. >> this here is, this abortion thing is false. it is a lie. you're here because the democrats are desperate to hold on to their seat here. and they're desperate to make this race about my family. >> so there you heard it. herschel walker continuing to say that this is really the democrats trying to push him out of this race, and as he said, a critical race, one that democrats do not want to lose, and one that republicans are spending a lot of money trying to win. we should also note that he is fundraising off of the allegations, bringing in at least $500,000 since monday. republicans in the state are starting to waver. the lieutenant governor in the last 24 hours saying the garbage

that herschel walker is carrying might be quote unbearable and even the staunchest republicans are starting to quote become rattled by the drip drip of information. the woman who says she is the mother of herschel walker's children is sticking by her story. this is a state where 1 or 2% of the voters change their made and if they vote for rafael warnock ha could make a difference. >> you're at a rally for his opponent. and he has not been so far seizing on these stories coming out about walker. talk to us about the strategy. >> that's correct, and senator warnock should be taking the stage behind me any minute now. i apologize for the noise. and you're right, the senator has not seized on the story and it is between herschel walker and the voters of georgia and

warnock is talking about medicaid coverage and the gap, and the inflation reduction act and corporate price gouging and a section of the stump speech where he talks about a highway amendment, and that is where raphael warnock wants to be. i talked to voters at this rally ahead of the event and they agree he has no need to go there. and if they want warnock talk about it, they will say that herschel walker can talk about it. it was georgia that gave the seats to democrats in 2020 and they know what happened with the inflation reduction act, and what was passed as a result of that, hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy and climate, and in addition, by the way, 84 federal judges confirmed by president biden, including

justice ketanji brown jackson. the voters here want rafael warnock to go back. >> and they want him to go back to the senate and kbild on that legacy. we will find out in a matter of minutes whether he decides to address herschel walker's allegations since another issue was dropped since the last time he spoke to reporters about this. it remains to be seen. what i do know is outside groups are keeping a close eye on that story to decide whether to come in and continue the attack ads. one voter told me, it was hypocritical for supporters to support that and an abortion ban and while supporting a candidate. >> live for us in savannah, thank you. greg, let me turn to you. i know you're in your car and running between campaign events in georgia. and what is interesting here is you have been following the strategy from both campaigns and you've been talking to people about what happens from here,

and where it goes next. >> yes, some republicans don't believe the report at all. other republicans believe it. and they say they're still willing to vote for herschel walker because he supports republican policies. so like we saw with donald trump in 2016 and 2020, a number of republicans didn't support him, or his rhetoric at all or his personal actions and supported his policy stances. the big thing here in georgia, even before the accusations from the daily beast came out there, is a significant number of republicans who were saying hey, they support bryan kemp and other republicans on the ticket and don't support herschel walker. and that, in a state where just a few thousand votes swung the 2020 election and any sort of minor fluctuations in voting patterns has a big impact here in georgia. >> we look at fundraisers and walker is having the best fundraising stretch of the campaign since the allegations came out raising $500,000 since monday and we should know that warnock, if you look at the

cycle overhaul, crushing him on the money front. you spoke to former nra spokesperson that i'm struck by this quote, in one of your pieces, by this well-known conservative activist. she doesn't care if herschel walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles, i want control of the senate. it looks like where some national republicans are on the story. >> yes, republicans are calling this a debate alone strategy. herschel walker's strategy is to deny these allegations and hope there are enough republicans who if they do believe them, feel just like that, that the ens sort of justify the means, that republican control of the senate is worth holding their nose, even if herschel walker has a number of personal problems that they don't personally agree with. we'll see. but look, i've always been out with canvassers, republican canvassers knocking on republican doors in the suburbs of north atlanta, where they have encountered republican voters who say look, i'll vote

down the ticket, republican, except for herschel walker. so he has serious problems with the party's base. >> thanks to all of you. we've got breaking news now out of the white house. we mentioned it at the top of the show. a significant piece of breaking news. president biden now announcing the pardons of thousands of people who were convicted of simple possession of marijuana. he wants states to follow suit. josh lederman is at the white house with more on this. and the president is doing a couple of things here. it is not just a pardon. he is asking governors to do the same. and he is asking the secretary of hhs so look at how we classify cannabis in this country and pointing out a tweet what is breaking in the last couple of minutes that marijuana is classified on the same level as heroin and he wants the administration to take another look at that, josh. it is big news. >> it is big news. it is clearly the biggest step under the biden administration so far, on federal marijuana reform, hallie. the president saying, in a video, that was just released by the white house, too many lives have been upended because of our

failed approach to marijuana. it's time that we right that wrong. this decision coming just about a month ahead of the election. and with president biden making that move, as you said, he's going to issue pardons for everyone who has a federal charge for simple marijuana possession and the white house tells us there are about 6500 americans who fall into that category. he wants governors to do the same. because the vast majority of convictions for marijuana possession are at the state level, and not the federal level, and then one of the most significant things the administration is doing is really pushing the attorney general and health and human services, to re-think marijuana as a schedule one, under the controlled substances act, which is something that has really prevented marijuana over the years from being able to be tested as a potential medical treatment, because it says that there is no accepted medical use for marijuana, and also has classified it as a drug of high potential for abuse. now, we should note, you know, this is just about a month

before the election, the president taking a move likely to be very popular, particularly with younger voters, shortly after he had another move on student loans that was also very appreciated by many younger voters. the white house asked just in the past few minutes why the timing of this now, and they say that this is a commitment president biden has always made, that he would work to make sure people aren't in a prison, simply for marijuana possession. but at the same time, we know this is something that people like john fetterman in pennsylvania had been pushing president biden to do, and it's clearly something that is going to add to the factors that are motivating democratic voters to go to the polls, at least according to what democrats hope, as the president makes this significant move. still, he is not eliminating all marijuana laws. we should be very clear about. that the president saying that laws should remain in place, that deal with things like trafficking of marijuana, and as well as selling it to people who are under age. >> he is also specifically citing the inequity present in these convictions for marijuana

possession, too. >> that's right. president biden is pointing out the fact that black and brown people are disproportionately incarcerated for marijuana crimes. he says that is part of what he is trying to target in creating these federal steps that will help to erase some of those convictions for people over the last 100 years, they say there are 6,500 of these people who have these federal marijuana possession charges. >> i want to just make one point clear, josh because you said it and i think it bears repeating, what he is doing, pardoning prior convictions, federal convictions, of simple marijuana possession. asking states to do the same, asking governors to do the same. that's a piece of the story that i know you and our team will be following up on. and this idea of how you schedule, the schedule, classification, of cannabis here. i've done some reporting in the past year, specifically with veterans who have basically all but begged the administration to take this step, because they say, and there are many groups of people who are suffering from maybe physical issues, et

cetera, who have found that cannabis helps, from a medical perspective. that is their anecdotal lived experience of this. and i've talked to several who are begging the federal administration to do just this, without a change in the class with fiction of cannabis, it is hard to study it and hard to get it as a prescription even in states where taking cannabis is legal. and if you look at the potential impact of what the president is doing, it could be quite significant. >> it could be really significant. and it is a shift for this president. joe biden is not someone who has been a major champion for his whole career of use of marijuana. he is someone who is the only democrat in the last presidential primary who opposed for legalization of marijuana. he supports decriminalization and says people shouldn't be behind bars for, this in part because of the uses that you were just laying out that so many americans say anecdotally they have strong message benefits but clearly biden taking a step in the direction that a lot of liberal benefits

have been calling on him to tack for years toward a decriminalized policy towards marijuana at the federal level at least. >> josh lederman, thank you for bringing us that important piece of news, developing literally as we speak from the white house. we will talk more about it later in the show. as we talk about the president, he is actually out in the world after a hurricane hiatus, turning back to politics with the midterms as josh notes not too far away. it wasn't cannabis but the economy he was focusing last hour at the ibm headquarters along with congressman pat ryan who won a special election in august but has to win again this fall for a full term. and trying to boost senate candidates in new jersey and planz. -- manhattan. we have more from mike memoli, it is interesting, with the connective tissue of the stories in the first 14 minutes of the show, the looming theme, the connective thread, it is politics, and the midst terms just 33 days away.

>> yes, you mentioned it, 33 days away, but we saw president biden doing signal we haven't seen him do in weeks which is get out of washington and go to places with a key midterm election race and set the tone for democrats on one of the more important issues on the race, today specifically talking about the economy, here at an ibm factory, he is touting what he says is a real result of one of the big legislative successes that we've been talking about over the last few months, specifically that chips and science act. ibm today, announcing a plan to expand their operations, expand research and development, before semiconductor manufacturing, $20 billion worth, over the next ten years, and another company, micron, announcing $100 billion planned expansion in upstate new york, up near secure cuse. so the president really coming here today, to try to make it clear and model the message for democrats, that this is something we can really run on, at a time when so many americans are concerned about higher prices. he talked about the fact that the supply chain issues really were a driver of the inflation that has created some real head

winds for democrats but by making these kind of long-term investments, not just good-paying jobs created, but also dealing with, as he put it, the supply chain, it will begin and end in the u.s. in the future. now it is also notable, this was not a campaign event per se, hallie, but it did have a campaign feel in two important respects. you mentioned one of them. pat ryan won the highly watched special election in august that seems to be an indicator of how abortion rights might be sort of a boost for democrats up and down the ballot this fall winning in a tight seat. he joined the president and praised the president for his leadership on the issue. and the president was speaking about a legislative success bipartisan in nature and did single out some republicans and talking about the communist chinese party and lobbied against the chips and science acts and some of my republican friends bout into that and an interesting part of messaging from the president who has not

necessarily crossed that bridge with the china factor and did so today on an important issue. >> mike, thank you. coming up here in the show, the stunning testimony in the oath keepers trial today. who a former member says leader stewart rhodes may have been in touch with before the insurrection. and what the defense is trying to do to tear that testimony apart. and on that january 6th news, the house committee announcing its next and possibly last hearing. what to expect and who we may hear from publicly next. ♪ what will you do? will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day. the scent made quite an impression. ♪♪ ♪♪ it was like that towel and jaycee were the only two left on earth. but... they weren't.

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we now have an official formal date for the next and possibly last public hearing from the house january 6th committee. one week from today, thursday, 1:00 eastern, we will obviously have special coverage for you here on msnbc. the committee is expected to lay out some new evidence, button up some questions out there, before putting out its findings in a public report. nbc's capitol hill correspondent ali vitali scooped this dates several days ago and live on capitol hill. i guess the big question, what

have they got? what are the goods? what are they going to show us? >> the first thing i thought of when this hearing was postponed because of hurricane ian in florida, they would have time to do the deposition of ginni thomas, the wife of supreme court clarence thomas before the last hearing and that is exactly what had happened and among the new things that we could be hearing about is what ginni thomas ended up telling them in several hours of an interview last week. there is also the open question of what you see on the screen there, secret service communications, we know they've gotten hundreds of thousands of messages from microsoft teams, and other methods of communication from within the secret service, from january 5th and 6th, though importantly, those text messages that we were all wondering if they could be recreated, from specific agents, it seems like based on what cheney and others on the committee have told me, that those are lost but nevertheless, there is more insight there and still the lingering questions that i doubt we're going to see them button up here, though it could end up being something

they tell us, and what they're going to do about it, if they want to talk about trump, if they want to talk to pence and again the five republican lawmakers who are currently defying their subpoenas from the committee. all of those things remain the open question here. but what chairman thompson has said, we could likely see ginni thomas as well as documentary footage, there could be the last hearing before election day, so the indelible image for voters and likely going forward, the last investigative hearing, the fact finding, the presenting from the committee, before they release their final report which is really the culmination of all of this work. >> thank you. to the january 6th criminal trial, that is happening right now in washington, and a former oath keeper just finishing testifying, talking about the inner workings of the far right militia group, pulling back the curt therein, talking about potential connections to former staff members around former president trump. earlier today, this witness, john zimmerman, told the jury

that the founder of the oath keepers, remember, one of defendants charged with seditious conspiracy, that really serious charge, claimed to have spoke within the secret service agent, a secret service agent before the rally with president trump in 2020. ken dilanian has more and talk about the take-aways and more on the secret service agent piece, it was this recollection, that is who they believe who rhodes was talking to. >> that's right. and the third witness, a third oath keeper witness abdullah ra shid who is the person who provided a recording of stuart rhodes with an online meeting with oath keepers in september 20620 and did it because it sounded like the oath keepers were going to war with the government and he was not on board with that. and as you said, he followed that other former oath keeper john zimmerman. zimmerman is a 27-year army veteran from north carolina who gave the jury an idea of how the group worked from the inside, and you're absolutely right, he

raised eyebrows when he testified that he heard one side of a conversation between rhodes and someone rhodes claimed was a secret service agent. this was september 2020, before a trump rally in fayetteville, north carolina. now prosecutors did not disclose whether the fbi tracked down who rhodes may have been talking to. but obviously, that would be a huge deal if it turned out to be an actual secret service agent. zimmerman followed two days of testimony by the lead witness fbi agent michael, and prosecutors used him to introduce text messages and other evidences to show that oath keepers planned to use violence to stop the lawful transfer of power from almost the moment after the election. we're only a few days into what promises to be a month-long trial, and prosecutors have already shown the jury of a mountain of compelling evidence from the defendant's own words to stop counting electors votes on january 6th and a ferry for

weapons across the potomac river. >> ken, thank you for that. still ahead, a little bit of good news down in florida, the island stranded after hurricane ian, not so stranded anymore. we've got more on the recovery push just ahead. plus, if you're in california, gas prices are still close to a record high, but could be dropping soon, after breaking a months long streak today. look at that number. laura is over this in l.a. >> that's right, a shocking 7.39 per gallon here at this station. and the state average isn't much better. as you can imagine, drivers aren't happy. more details after the break. that ancient roman coinage? no, he's seizing the moment with merrill. moving his money into his investment account in real time and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. ♪ what will you do? will you make something better? create something new?

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it's the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. next is the new great garlic. the tender rotisserie style chicken is sublime and the roasted garlic aioli adds a lovely pecan flavor. man, the second retirement really changed you. the new subway series. what's your pick? some new reaction in about a new report out in the watch, federal agents investigating president biden's son hunter now believe they have enough evidence for him to be charged with tax and gun-related crimes. these agents, according to the "post," have been investigating hunter biden since 2018. the decision, this is the post citing people familiar with the case, the decision to prosecute goes to prosecutors at the d.o.j. a lawyer for hunter biden telling nbc news the agents may

have committed a federal felony by leaking their conclusions to the press and claiming the president's son is a target, simply because of his family name. let me bring in "washington post" reporter one of the reporters who broke the story. thank you for being with us today. what do we know about how federal agents came to the conclusions based on the sources and what happens next? >> thanks for having me. we know this is an investigation that dates back to 2018. so we've been doing this for a long time, which is not unusual in these types of investigations. but we know that the agents, these federal investigators who have been investigating this, feel that they have enough that they seen enough evidence to make charges in the case. these are charges related to how he obtained a gun, and tax-related charges, but again, it is up to federal prosecutors on when and what charges are made, and not the agents. >> do we have any sense of time line, when that decision play get made? because as you point out, just

because this story is out there, just because these federal agents, as you report, feel this way, it doesn't mean it is a done deal here. >> exactly. again, it is up to the federal prosecutor and this is the u.s. attorney in delaware, and this is a trump holdover. we don't have any time line, all i can say is that we, you know, these investigations from the d.o.j., usually take a long time. there are a lot of political land mines here and attorney general merrick garland has tried to make clear that the decision is not going to rest with him. yes? >> definitely. so again, i know i've said this but this is a trump holdover, so garland, you know, we have been, the "washington post" has reported back when the biden administration had started, that i think they probably did this so they can prevent any political backlash. most u.s. attorney generals, they do switch when the administrations change, but not this one and garland had vowed that he is not interfering, there will be no political interference in this investigation, and he is going to leave it up to the u.s.

attorney in delaware. >> thank you so much for being here to share your reporting on the show. thanks. we'll get back to the breaking news with the white house this hour, with president biden announcing pardons for people with prior federal convictions of simple marijuana possession. the president is also asking governors to do the same thing as it relates to convictions in the state, and it is something that he talked about on the 2020 campaign trail. i want to bring in now reverend al sharpton, president of the national action network and host of politics nation here on msnbc. reverend sharpton, thank you for being with us. your reaction to this news from the white house. did you see it coming? >> i thought it was monumental. the president has meetings with civil rights leaders, he talked about this, but this is actually the first president to do it, and he went a step further by urging governors to do it. because this is something that is just fair and just to people. people that have been criminalized and have in many ways suffered in terms of their

ability to earn a living for their family, and in other things that they face, for simple possession. we're not talking about people trafficking, we're not talking about crimes, or a crime syndicate, we're talking about possession. and now many states are in the process of having people going into the business of selling marijuana, we're now dealing with pardoning those that are still under the arm of a conviction. i think what joe biden did today was monumental, and i'm very glad that he kept his word. he talked about it in the 2020 race, and he kept his word, and i think it is significant and it will disproportionately help people of color. >> i will talk about that in a second. how significant is it? because the president is doing a couple of things here. he is doing the pardons and asking the governors to also pardon people on the state level who are convicted of simple possession of marijuana, but he is additionally asking his own administration, the health and human services secretary, to review how cannabis is scheduled, basically its classification, in the federal

system. talk about the impact of that. >> the impact of that is that as they look, as health and human services study classification, we're talking about a repositioning of that, not only it affects the criminal aspect, but also it will affect the entrepreneurial aspect. and again i think it shows the president's sincerity. when we are critical of him, and loud, i think we should be just as loud for those who have second chance programs, recidivism programs and civil rights organizations, to say this is monumental. this is even beyond the scope of what we expected and i think he ought to be given credit for this. we met with him about a month ago. this was mentioned but it was not our drilling down. this is joe biden doing joe biden. and i think he ought to be given credit for it. and i'm saying he is doing joe biden because he brought this up when he was running as candidate

biden. >> what is your expectation for how many states may in fact follow suit here? >> i have no idea. i think that now the pressure must come from those of us on the ground in each state to put pressure on our governors to do what the president did. this is beyond politics. this is about what is fair, what is just, and what would help citizens, so i think the president has started the ball to roll. we must take the pass and get the basket shot in the hoop. >> it is an equity issue. the president, he said white and black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted as disproportion gnat rates, the president speaking to the comments you were making. >> he is speaking to it and he didn't have to speak to it, and we have to give him credit, he brought up the disproportionate impact in black and brown

communities. and that's very important, which is why i'm celebrating it as, a monumental move that i think he should be given credit for. >> reverend al sharpton on the move himself. thank you so much for dialing into us and talking to us here on msnbc this afternoon. much appreciated. so an update now, on the aftermath of hurricane ian and the long recovery. the damaged bridge to pine island that totally stranded people there for more than a week, it has now been fixed. look at this, reconnected to fort myers. this is a scene we haven't seen before. cars and trucks being able to cross for the first time since ian slammed the southwest coast of florida last week and nbc news is confirming that the number of people killed by the storms is going up to 131. jesse kirsch is live for us, and tell me what you're seeing and hearing and who you're talking to. >> yes, good news.

even beyond the fact that the bridge is reopened, you can see behind us that traffic is now flowing in both directions, so this is the bridge that is mainland florida, behind me, and we are on pine island right now, and earlier, when we were here, there was an excavator on the bridge, moving rocks, side to side, and so that continued to make this, although connected, a one-way bridge and that was keeping traffic moving pretty slowly. i can tell that cars are still being pretty ginger about low they're going over the bridge here, but you can see we've got semis going over this as well, and there have been first responders coming here and residents are able to access this community again now. we spoke with a gentleman with the cajun navy who is bringing supplies and they are trying to help get supplies on the island, in case that supplies become a problem and here is what he told us earlier. >> we've got weeks and months of outreach, for the community, and obviously, building this thing back, it is a whole 'nother phase of this thing, so we're still, you know, obviously just finishing up the rescue, and our

main purpose here is outreach in the community, run our supply chain and hope the grocery stores can help these people. >> so they have food and water available for people. we've met people who say they don't have enough power or enough gas to get off the island. >> from what i can tell from a gas station there, there wasn't fuel available there. and all kinds of cell phone connectivity issues which are going to be problematic for people trying to communicate with each other and trying to communicate with the outside world to help get help in there. this bridge a huge help. it gives you an idea the long road ahead. this is road in and out of pine island. this is the only way. this is the only main thoroughfare, so all of the supplies, if they're not coming by chopper, by boat, and we have seen supplies coming by chopper today, landing in the middle of the street, if they're not coming by those methods, they're coming through this roadway, so you can imagine, we still have a very long literal road ahead of us for cleanup and recovery here in florida. back to you. >> jesse kirsch, live for us

there on pine island, thank you. to an nbc news exclusive now, with the head of the u.s. agency in charge of global humanitarian help, our team on the ground in kyiv, with usaid, samantha powell meeting with government officials and ukrainian citizens as the u.s. announcing an emergency round of help before winter hits in ukraine, sending $55 million to support things like heating infrastructure, repairing and maintaining the pipes in people's houses and schools and businesses. setting up power generators. setting up different sources of fuel for hospitals and shelters. listen. >> ukrainians worry a lot about what winter will bring. as putin seeks to weaponize energy and heat. >> joining us now cal perry who has an exclusive interview. you talked with her i believe today, cal and i was struck by the fact that some explosions were happening even as you were talking with her. i mean it shows how active this

war is and how much help ukrainians need in a very visceral way. >> absolutely. we spent the day with samantha power. and i was interested to spend the day with her and not just to talk to her and talk to usaid but to see the city of kyiv. we drove all over the city and five different meetings and we saw a city bustling and trying to come back to life, and people are returning to the city but so much work to be done. as you said, the war is still going on everywhere. i asked her a question, and as you listen, take a listen for the explosion, you'll hear it. >> u.s. support for this cause is so worth it. we have provided now more than $45 billion in a combination of military security assistance that everybody is familiar with, also direct budget support, $8.5 billion of direct budget support. that is what is helping the ukrainian government pay the salaries of people who work in government ministries who keep

the heat on in the winter. the essence of the values that define civilization are at stake in this conflict. >> the administrator there not missing a beat, this is somebody who is a war reporter, in a previous life, and she say visits very dangerous persons in the world. and to tie a bow on, this there are concerns here in kyiv about these drones, a drone attack yesterday, six to 12 drones impacting three separate buildings and causing large fires. i spoke to the mayor off camera and he said he is worried about it because some of these drones have civilian made components so they can evade air defenses and it is something that people here are keeping a close eye on. >> cal perry live in kyiv with that exclusive. thank you as always. the latest escalation on the korean peninsula, north korea flying a dozen warplanes just off the coast near its border. and after firing another round of missiles into the sea.

the latest in the aggressive acts in the regime, as it forced south korea to immediately respond and flying 30 fighter jets. this is clearly a moment of escalation by north korea. talk to me about what you are hearing from u.s. officials and what we've seen as a cycle from the regime. escalation. and eventually perhaps a cooldown. how do we get to the cooldown? >> that's right. so i mean we're talking about a half dozen launches in about less than two weeks, so it is certainly an uptick in the number of launches. the big question though is, to what end? north korea, there's a number of different reasons that they will conduct these tests, and sometimes it is literally just to test their missiles, to learn through every single launch. sometimes it is in relation to an anniversary or they see something that is provocative and their response is to conduct a missile test. in this case, the fact that there have been so many in such a quick succession is why u.s. officials are concerned right now, and they're concerned about what potentially could come next. some are worried about the

possibility for north korea to conduct another underground nuclear test. it is something that has been a possibility for some time now. but in the past, there have been times when they have done a series of missile launches before something like a new test, or one big sort of culminating event. the u.s. though, and allies like south korea and japan, are not just sitting back and watching this happen. they are starting to respond. they're responding with exercises and drills. and it's not just so much the fact that they are doing these military exercises, in most cases, they're bilateral, between the u.s. and south korea, or the u.s. and japan, but it is what they're exercising that is so important here, hallie, so earlier this week, we saw a jay-dam test, a large bomb that they tested, they dropped on one of their ranges. and we've also seen a number of u.s. and allied aircraft flying over and nearby, exercising or showing their capability to put aircraft up quickly, and strike quickly. conduct air strikes quickly.

and then just most recently, we saw this bilateral exercise, with the japanese military, that was a missile defense exercise. so bringing in u.s. navy ships that have the ability to literally stop one of these missiles when it is flying in the air. so it's less about the fact that the u.s. is doing these drills, and more about the fact that they are trying to show the specific capability to counter these provocations from north korea. >> courtney, live from the pentagon, i know it is a busy week for you. i imagine that will continue. thank you. breaking right now, in our newsroom, a high level member of the proud boys is apparently agreeing to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy. one of the most significant charges related to the insurrection, for what he did around january 6th. ken dilanian is back with us. bring us up to speed and what we're talking about and what this means. >> there is a big deal this. man's name is jeremy vertino, pleading guilty to two counts including one count of seditious conspiracy, admitting to conspireing with six other proud boys, including the leader of

that group, to, in an effort to thwart the u.s. government in its lawful transfer of power after the 2020 presidential election. and also pleaded guilty to gun charges here. the suggestion is that he's now cooperating. that's important, because a set of these proud boys are going on trial, or have been charged with seditious conspiracy, much like the trial that is happening right now with the oath keepers. it will be a separate trial for the proud boys. and a witness like this would be in a position to testify about this alleged conspiracy that he says he participated in, and so as many as 40, about 40 proud boys have been charged as part of the capitol insurrection. video investigation has shown that the proud boys played key roles in breaching the various points at the capitol, and getting those crowds passed law enforcement, through the doors and windows, and so they were a key part of this group, of the

january 6th insurrection, and now you have a key figure pleading guilty, and apparently agreeing to cooperate. >> ken dilanian with the brack can -- breaking news, thank you. the end of a 33 day strike of rising gas prices in california. the not so good news. californians are paying nearly $3 more than the national average. $6.42 for a regular gallon of gas. just below the all time record. but prices are expected to keep going down. even after opec announced major oil distribution cuts across the word. in other words they will slash ow much oil is produced and distributed. i want to bring in nbc's laura barrett live for us in l.a. and this is coming more on the heels of president biden today saying he is disappointed in the opec decision. talk to us next for folks where you are. >> reporter: a lot of disappointment, right, across the board, especially as the national average is so much lower than what we're seeing here in california. at this gas station

specifically, $7.39 a gallon, and really impacting drivers. and typically, that 33 day streak ended because prices went down just three tents of a cent. not much relief here in california. but like you said, change and relief is on the horizon because basically what is going on here in california and along the west coast, certain refineries had to shut down unexpectedly. and they were blending a special blend for california that they need for the summer, but the governor, gavin newsom here, gave them the okay to start blending a different kind, putting back on the market what they use in the winter months, which basically is an environmental issue that they are concerned about, with smog and everything here in california. so those lower prices could be hitting california drivers as soon as this weekend. but that is not enough for gavin newsom, tweeting today that he wants to tax oil companies that are setting these prices so high. we also just spoke out at a press conference, he spoke out at a press conference in the last hour, not happy with opec for increasing gas prices and

also increasing people's stress levels. another thing that would really help california drivers, and he said on twitter again today is, a tax rebate that they put into place, once we saw gas prices starting to spike over the summer, depending on a california drivers income level, they could be referring a rebate of $200 to $1,000 which could help when filling up a tank of gas. that can cost 50, 70, 80 dollars every time you fill out. and there is an offset with what the effects of opec looks like and it could be another 20 to 30 cents across the country without any relief here in california. >> thank you, in studio city, california. control of the senate might come down not just georgia but potentially arizona this november as we laid out at the top of the show. with the most recent polling shows mark kelly, the incumbent democrat with a razor thin lead other blake maefrts, the republican backed by former president trump. this is still within the margin of error. and tonight the two candidates will debate for the first time. and for the only time, in this

midterm season. less than a week before early voting begins. nbc's vaughn hillyard is in phoenix, and former president trump will be in arizona sunday, campaigning for masters and the rest of the republican tick, what is interesting about blake masters, among other things, he embraced the conspiracy theorie former president trump about the 2020 election. recently, he changed his tone a little bit. i imagine that has to come up tonight. no? >> reporter: if you look in polling over the last months, he has consistently been behind mark kelly. that is where you have seen, even on the issue of abortion, in the past he called for a federal personhood bill, an abortion ban that would be in federal statute. you have seen him walk away from that. when you are looking at these polls, these polls -- there's a lot to them. there's a lot of nuance. you see the economy and inflation being at the top and forefront of voters' minds. then there's the question of, what are the issues that would

galvanize voters to show up to the polls? when you look at the numbers deep down, you see the issue of abortion. 82% of democrats say that that issue to them is very important. that is higher than any other issue that is inside of these polls here. which puts that question forward here, is this the galvanizing issue that pushes mark kelly over masters? there's the issue for blake masters of resources. republicans have put a great amount of money behind the candidate in nevada and georgia. they need pickup opportunities. you have seen him walk away from blake masters. i was talking with the spokesman for the nrsc that says they have a new ad here. this is all the same time that the georgia senate race comes into question. as you said it, this is the most important week in arizona for

the elections, because early ballots go out next week. most voters here in arizona, they vote by mail and they vote early. that's exactly why ted cruz was here yesterday, liz cheney was in arizona, donald trump and mike pence over the weekend. this is the time for the last moments for the candidates to get their messages out and convince the voters. >> is it resonating with voters? how tuned in are they to what's coming up next week with early voting and with the actual election a month from now? >> reporter: there is an engagement here. i have grown up, a lot of time here. >> i know you know arizona. >> reporter: the conversations from family to longtime friends, folks you meet on the street when we go up with a camera and ask if they have thoughts about the race, almost everybody you talk to has an opinion. politics now is such an immerse part of the society today. that is why when we had these

conversations in 2018, in 2020, they have shown up and consistently. that's why in 2020 when you look at arizona, the rural parts, republicans turned up in record numbers like we have never seen before. at the same time, you saw democrats and independents show up in record numbers and independents willing to vote for democrats like they never have before. we should expect the same out of the 2022 midterms as well. >> vaughan hillyard, thank you for that reporting live out of arizona. an update on some really tough news, horrific news out of thailand. parents are living a nightmare, total hell after the deadliest mass killing in that country's history. more than three dozen people were attacked and killed. that person left shooting bystanders as he went to his home where he killed his wife and child.

>> reporter: incredibly distressing news coming out of thailand. here at the hospital, some of the injured have been brought. we have seen a tragedy unfold at a day center where a gunman opened fire on children, some of them taking their nap at the time. 37 are now confirmed dead by police, 13 of those are adults, 24 children. ten are seriously injured. among them is one 3-year-old boy whose mother i have been speaking to inside. she says her son was attacked with a knife in the head. he was also shot twice, once in the head and once in the mouth. there are neurosurgeons inside who have been working tirelessly

to try and save his life. they were able to remove the bullets. he is currently in intensive care. his mother clearly incredibly distressed. she actually arrived at the day center and saw the bodies of children on the floor, very graphic discretion of the horror she saw unfold there. i have also just spoken to the public health minister who has been visiting here, alongside the former prime minister here. the public health minister described some of the trauma that he is seeing firsthand, and the parents he is speaking to. this is the largest mass shooting in southeast asian history. a country still reeling from the shock of this. as i say, some of the injured in this hospital, but they are

scattered across five different hospitals in this region. >> appreciate you watching this hour. find us on twitter and over on instagram. instagram. thumping in my chest♪ ♪and something tells me they don't beat me♪ ♪ ♪ ♪he'd better not take the ring from me.♪ ♪ what will you do? ♪ what will you change? ♪ will you make something better? ♪ will you create something entirely new? ♪ our dell technologies advisors provide you with the tools and expertise you need to do incredible things. because we believe there's an innovator in all of us.

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it's 4:00 in new york. there's a new twist, i wish i could say it was shocking, in the scandal engulfing georgia's candidate herschel walker. it appears to annihilate walker's defense he doesn't know the woman who alleges she was paid by walker to have an abortion. for reference, here is what walker said about this yesterday on fox news. >> according to "the daily beast," you know this woman. have you figured out who it is? >> not at all. that's what i hope everyone can see it's sort of like everyone is anonymous. >> we see. according to another bombshell piece of reporting, that woman happens to be the mother of one herschel walker's children. when the woman first told "the daily beast" her story, we agreed not to reveal certain details over her concerns for