developing political stories as we come on the air from the national's capitol. the president turning an eye to 2024. new battle lines between the hill and the just department and the u.s. bringing down the hammer on an overseas group. the president in year three of his presidency. looking to year four and maybe the four after that. our new reporting on what the president is saying today and how it fits into his 2024 plans. a live report with our white house team standing by. also this hour, some news

here from our nbc team, with the department of justice saying to republicans on the hill, hey, bring it on. the new letter to house oversight. and what it said about any possible cooperate on new congressional investigations. plus the white house going public against a private group who they are now labelling a transnational criminal organization, we'll talk about the sanctions imposed today. and i'm hallie jackson and i want to bring in senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell joining us live from outside of the white house. i want to start with you here. and what we've just heard now, from president biden, as he is casting his eye toward 2024, although with no formal announcement. at least toward the next two years of his presidency. while also having to manage the political footballs that he's got on his plate right now. to mix a metaphor and i'm sorry about that. the white house has just released a clip of a conversation between the president and his vp.

i want to play that. >> what you have singularly done based on who you are, and i mean this in all sincerity, to bring together nations, allies in the world, and you bring folks together in a bipartisan way. uniquely. >> well you're gracious. >> this is very intentional, between the speech and the cake and et cetera, kelly. >> there ought to be a cake. because they are celebrating and it is their second birthday in office and they view that as an important milestone and one where they can talk about things that they believe this administration and this president has accomplished. and so they want to do that. and as you point out, it comes at a critical point. in some ways the administration is lifted up by what it believes has been bipartisan achievements in the legislative realm and by some strength in the economy with the job picture being strong, with inflation which has been so nagging, but beginning to tick down. with gas prices back in a place

that are a little less painful than they once were. with alliances around the world showing real strength, a lot of that due to the president's involvement in trying to keep countries together on ukraine. a lot of areas that they are talking about that they believe are strong. things in the bipartisan realm, having to do with bringing manufacturing back to the u.s. and the chips area and some of the other legislation they've done. on guns even. those are the all things they want to talk about and it comes at a fragile time because there is this documents issue that came urp and is potentially something out of their control and now they have republican-led house that has the power of the gavel for investigations. and the political resistance on important things still ahead. whether it is the debt ceiling and trying to manage the fiscal health of the country, or policy things going forward. so, it is a fragile time. a perilous time in some respects and a time with opportunities.

when will the president make a decision about his own political future? our reporting suggests that would come fairly soon after the state of the union address, which is expected to happen in early february. all systems go based on what we think is the plan for the biden white house. and so they want to talk about what they think they've done well and position themselves for campaign time. and not everything is quite where they would want it to be. there are challenges. some of their own making and some brought about by the political conditions the country finds itself in. hallie. >> kelly o'donnell there. thank you. mark murray is joining us now. our senior political editor. pull on the thread that kelly laid down there, that there is a juxtaposition for president biden and his white house today. >> this is a white house that dr. a lot of things to crow about. and whether it is the unemployment rate, whether it is the legislative successes that he has and it makes sense to be able to talk about this at this

juncture. the two-year, it is now been in office for exactly two years. but there are challenges ahead. and not only with this document situation on the classified documents that are dealing with at an opportune time before the state of the union and before they make their 2024 intentions absolutely clear. but, hallie, it is also worth noting despite all of those successes, it is not like necessarily that the midterm environment, which was a very good outcome for democrats, better than they expected, was a referendum and a thumbs up on president biden and his leadership. still, the exit polls from what we ended up seeing in 2022 had president biden with an approval rating in the mid to low 40s. obviously kind of a dangerous place. and a lot of the republican underperformance that we saw was due more to concerns about

former president trump than a sign of affirmation about current president joe biden. and so they have to navigate those challenges. and, again, in two years we've seen so much and we're going to see a whole lot more over the next two years. >> look at the cnbc poll from december and i say this because right now on the screen we're showing some of what the white house has touted as the president's accomplishments. the polling numbers show that more voters than not do not think that the president should run again including a majority of democrats. let me pull up the other graphic. the first black woman on the supreme court. the gun law rereform and ukraine and these are things that should have helped him with the democratic base. what is the dynamic here. >> i think overall this is a democratic base that is happier about president biden than they certainly were a year ago. and do remember at this time a year ago, during the negotiations over build back

better, president biden's numbers were in a much lower situation and certainly there was a lot of inter-democratic fighting and if you end up seeing president biden run for re-election, he would actually face a situation where i don't think there could be anyone challenging him. but when you look at cnbc poll, that goes back to concerns about his age and whether or not he would with stand the vigors and rigors of a campaign channel. it is a lot of work to be president of the united states and a lot of work to campaign and to do multiple rallies in multiple days. and something that joe biden was actually didn't have to do during the covid campaign of 2020. and, so, when we end up seeing a lot of those democrats saying, hey, i would rather have

somebody else run, it does go for the biggest challenge is what is his health, can he end up campaigns an can he campaign vigorously and i think that is a open question. >> mark, thank you very much into let's watch news out of the justice department. because officials there are making some new promises to cooperate with requests from new republican led house oversight committee and but, but it is an important but, to jim jordan, they're making clear they're not giving up any information on their pending investigations because long standing department policy prevents them from doing it. this is a response just a week after jordan first asked the doj for information involving this investigation. his committee's investigation into those classified documents found at president biden's delaware home and office. i want to bring in justice and intel correspondent ken dilanian and garrett haake is with us as

well. and the doj is saying while the special counsel is looking at this, you could not look at this stuff either. >> this is a little preview of the oversight wars to come. the doj is reiterating long standing policy here but they wanted to do it because jim jordan, the chairman has sent a series of letters this week to top -- to the attorney general and top officials making all sorts of demands. and he's made clear that he wants to know the basis for example of the search of donald trump's mar-a-lago property for those classified documents. he wanted to investigate what the doj is doing in its criminal investigation of hunter biden and his tax issues. and none of that, the doj is going to give him. because they have a long standing policy against providing congress any information about pending investigations. they don't normally even confirm or deny pending investigations. those happen to be public, the ones i mentioned. but they are saying, look, we'll cooperate as we always do, as normal protocols dictate. but we're not making any special exceptions.

you have to give us two weeks notice if you want a senior official to come up and testify and we're not going to make line attorneys or regular rank and file fbi agents available. republicans are not going to be happy but they don't have a lot of leverage. it is difficult for the opposing party to enforce a subpoena when the biden administration essentially controls the executive branch. the justice department is not going to hold people in contempt for failing to appear before the house judicial committee. >> two interesting things here, and ken, hang out. because garrett to you. i'm looking at the banner. the doj promised to cooperate. technically, yes, but they are in some ways stonewalling the information that the committee wants to see citing this as you say this long standing department policy. garrett, can they cast it appropriately here that this is a bit of a preview of like the over sight writ large of wars to come. >> yeah. and for folks trying to keep their committees straight, this is the judiciary committee not the over sight. >> meaning --

>> that is it is confusing. because there is so many cross lanes here as all of the different republican-led committees are now scrambling for their handle on how they want to try to hold the biden administration accountable. the letter, if you're a republican, it comes off quite ped antic. it explains how to make an oversite request and how to request. house republicans know this. jim jordan has been on this committee as the ranking member and part of this investigations before. the letter is in response to seven different letters that jordan and judiciary committee republicans sent out earlier this month. not just to doj but to a host of other agencies. basically saying we have a backlog of requests, not just the ones that ken was laying out here but the requests that you ignored, guess what we're in the majority now and we intend to follow up on all of them. i think ken's point is good, they have a hard time forcing cooperate from the doj bup

they're going to try and you're going to see an effort to haul top officials to the hill to testify in a broader over sight of the department capacity and then hit with the kind of questions they have said they will not respond to directly. i think from a political perspective, bringing top officials to the hill and asking them questions they refuse to answer is almost as effective as getting meaningful answers out of them and i think that is probably the road we're going down. but as you said, this is sort of step one in what is going to be a month's long battle between these two groups. >> how is that being received at the doj, ken, more broadly? >> they're very adamant about this issue of pending investigations. and they're afraid, because to garrett's point, the republicans do have some leverage here. they have a right to a lot of documents as the oversight committee of the justice department and they worry about things like classified information and law enforcement sensitive information being misappropriated and misused in a political fight. but frankly, it is their

obligation to go to congress and provide the public through this congressional committee information about what they're doing on behalf of the taxpayers. they're just flot going to talk about pending investigations. >> ken and garrett, thank you to both of you. i have a feeling this is a pairing often in the months to come. appreciate it. guys, thanks. president trump is looking at another run at the white house, new concerns that that support is eroding. we'll talk about that plus the white house cracking down on a private military group which has been helping russia in ukraine. the consequences they could face straight ahead. but first, the fight to control the senate come 2024 is already heating up. some moves now being made public today. and behind the scenes. we have our teams reporting on how the map is looking in just 60 seconds. stay with us. when you shop wayfair, you get big deals for your home - every day. so big, we'll have you saying... am i a big deal? yeah you are, because it's a big deal,

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2024, the 2024 map in the senate is already taking shape in a big way. that is the capital part. incumbents and challengers are trying to get their names out there and their visions out there early. even now. beginning of 2023. look at map. look at the landscape here. democrats are defending 20 seats next cycle. they're defending twice as many seats as republicans. and that is not including the senate's three independents who all caucus with the dems. this is a map. listen. this is a map that favors the republican party. flipping just two seats would give the gop control of the chamber even without the presidency and some of the key battlegrounds here. ohio, montana, west virginia, all of those expecting to be really close races. today one popular incumbent announced he's looking for another term. here is tim kane from virginia with that news. >> i've decided to run for a third term. i'm a servant, i love virginia, i'm proud of what i've done.

i have a whole lot more i want to do. >> joining us now, nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles and ali vitali. ryan, outside of the beltway, you are down when senator kaine was making that announcement. this is critical for democrats given the map that we just showed and laid out. you have senator kaine who is a case in point. how much -- how happy is chuck schumer that tim kaine made this decision today. >> i don't think there is any way to underplay this. the democrats in the senate are breathing an if enormous sigh of relief that tim kaine made the decision to run for re-election. and i could tell you from my own reporting that this was a very close call. it could have easily gone the other way. and kaine even told us today that he was grabbing with this decision last month and didn't formally come to the final decision last night telling his staff at 9:00 p.m. last night that he was going to run for

re-election and chuck schumer was quick to point out, saying tim kane is an exemplary senator that continues to deliver for our country time and time again. he has fight tirelessly for his home state and work families an i'm confident that his best years are to come. and let's take a look at this map that you've been talking about and why taking virginia out of play, now republicans are at least going to amount some sort of challenge to kaine but it will be much more difficult if it were an open seat. because there is so many states at risk for democrats here. you see this long list of state where's democratic senators are up and you have key battlegrounds like michigan, montana, nevada, ohio, pennsylvania. and then west virginia and wisconsin, those are all states where republicans are going to make a very serious challenge and then there is even independents who caucus with the democrats, kyrsten sinema in arizona and in maine and vermont where republicans will make an effort. if tim kaine is not running,

that means republicans who now hold three statewide seats here in the commonwealth would be able to put up a candidate against someone who is not nearly well as known but have a much harder time raising money and democrats would have to pour national resources in that state. that is likely not the case this time around. it is going to make it much easier for them as they attempt to hold on to power in 2024. >> there was some intrigue as it relates to a different senate seat out west, ali vitali. and a different dynamic versus a general election. we're talking about democratic congressman ruben gallego who you and your team has learned is expected to announce a challenge to kyrsten sinema for her arizona senate seat. talk through that. that is more interesting or at least equally as interesting as the moments we save from davos which was senator manchin and sinema high-fiving on their opposition about doing anything

about filibuster. >> whatever you want to call it. this is the duo in the senate and on the the one hand you could say they have helped get bipartisan proposals over the finish line but if you're a democrat, you feel these two senators are key blockades to a laundry list of priorities over the last two years because they were high-fiving over at davos, which is maintaining the filibuster. for sinema, within the progressive wing of the democratic party are important because it is probably a large part of the reason why she changed her affiliation to independent just a few weeks ago after democrats retained control of the senate chamber. that made it easier for gallego to come in and we long suspected he would be challenging here. if not directly, as it seems like it will be now, at least in a primary format. but now it seems that gallego is expected to announce on monday getting his hat in the ring. we thought this was coming at the end of the month but it is a juxtaposition when you consider the fact that he's announcing

after she's celebrating her moderating force on the senate body. that is going to be a really interesting race to watch. because it is a state, arizona, that is becoming more purple. democrats have made a lot of investments there. they're feeling good after 2020 and 2022. so they're going to want to keep that going. and look as we're waiting to see other senators who are potentially deciding to run again, it stands to note, elizabeth warren is making good and reiterating that she plans to run again as a strong incumbent but someone who we watch in a tough map for democrats, it carries a lot of weight. >> thank you for that. a lot of moves and potential moves coming on that front. really appreciate it. so right as we were coming on the air, we got big news on how the u.s. is pushing back against russia's war in ukraine. you have the treasury department set to designate the wagner group, this private mercenary

group designate them as a transnational criminal organization. it means now sanctions, new sanctions on them and their support networks, et cetera, sometime next week. here is john kirby making that news at today's briefing. it comes days after the group's leader handed the first major victory in months even though there is a potential thorn in the kremlin's side trying to outshine russia's actual military. let me bring in reporter dan de loose. talk about why now and the significant of this group and our own matt bradley just did a deep dive on this a few days ago. it is an interesting design dynamic. >> and it doesn't say very much positive about how putin's conducting the war that he's had to turn to this group of contractors that recruiting convicts from prisons. so, yes, the white house could have done this earlier but because they've become so prominent on the the battlefield

they feel like they need to squeeze them with the sanctions but russia is not going to like it. >> putin sees this as a provocation. >> he sees everything as a provocation. this is probably lower down the list but a way of adrawing attention to it and there is a certain amount of political warfare and propaganda here where it is a way of embarrassing russia also. and you heard kirby talking about how this group is becoming more prominent and it is ruffling feathers in the ministry of defense. so it is a p.r. war going on here. >> what is next here. because could you see the white house, the u.s. make more moves like this down the road? is the focus more on the stuff that you're talking about, the horde wear on the battlefield that is so critical? >> all of the above. i think they're keep piling sanctions on them and announcement. they want to put economic pressure on russia as much as possible and also trying to get at the wagner group. they do have criminal activities all around the world including in africa. so it is a way of trying to

squeeze them and draw attention. >> let's go to president biden talking about ukraine now. let's listen. and of course i should say we just watched president biden walk out of the door. this is live television for you. but he just said, i'm told, that we are going to look at sending tanks to ukraine. and i just want to check with our control room that i have that right. i have that right. he was asked about that and he said we're looking at everything. we're looking at options. this is interesting, dan, because i know you and our team at the pentagon has been digging into this reporting. >> for sure. tanks or no tanks. so this is been going on for months and some military experts say they don't really need the tanks. that it is not going to be a decisive game-changer. but president zelenskyy said we need 300 tanks. >> which are different from the combat vehicles that the u.s. has already provided. >> that is right. but there is a question whether this is something decisive or not. ukraine said, yes, they've gone to germany and they want these fancy leopard tanks, germany has

given a maybe answer. >> explain this to dynamic here because that is something else at play today. >> right. so germany has said well we'll give them maybe if the u.s. gives tanks first. and that has not gone over well in the white house. so there is tension sort of within nato about who is going to do it first. britain was the first. they just announced they're gaving them a squadron of challenge tanks and ukraine is very appreciative of that. >> does it not seem that president biden is open to it. >> yes, definitely. and they've ruled out weapons before and changed their minds. they said himars are to sophisticate and now patriots are going. so it is an evolution. >> we'll see how this one saw. who knew we would get that. appreciate you being with us. still ahead, we have new reporting on how a former president, donald trump, and his support among a key conservative group may be showing some cracks. but first, right now, anti-abortion advocates are marching on washington for the first time since roe v. wade was

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important time for both sides. march for life calling the end of roe, a critical milestone. but not the end of their fight. well abortion rights advocates are fighting for more access and planning maufrp marches of their own. i want to bring in marissa outside of the supreme court. talk about where this fight goes next. because as both sides are saying, it is certainly not over just because roe was overturned. >> reporter: yeah, so, we marched with them from the national mall where we heard a lot of speakers today and then now we're here there front of the supreme court and we're seeing in this post roe world that is something that is being celebrated by critics of abortion rights. and so that is being celebrated on signs, that is something that speakers made a point to talk about. it was met with applause several times. but even though, again, march for life, we know it started as a result of roe v. wade, that was the whole platform. and now that is been overturned,

the over turning of roe v. wade has not done anything to stop the energy on either side. we spoke to critics and supporters, take a listen to what they had to say when they showed up for their own reasons today. >> it is to show that we will not let america be bullied out of the right of to abortion. >> everything that happened before roe, that was just the preseason. that was the end of the beginning. and right now we are determined to protect life and law. >> reporter: so hallie, we know that the overturning of roe v. wade sent states scrambling and there is roughly approaching two dozen states that have either banned or severely limited abortion access. others were sent spiraling to protect abortion protections and access including illinois. and then there are states where that still hangs in the balance. we know that conversation around abortion access is changed including with abortion pills.

so that, hallie, will be next battle gound when it comes to the discussion around abortions. >> marissa parra live in the thick of it there outside of the supreme court. thank you very much. so, as we talk about the end of roe, you have some conservatives who seem to be torn over their support for the man who made that possible. president trump. i know you know this, he appointed three of the supreme court justices who ultimately voted to overturn the law. a conservative victory that was decades, a generation in the making. and mr. trump's successful run in 2016 relied on faith-based voters especially evangelicals. but after multiple losing election cycles, that alliance is showing some signs of breaking down with evangelical leaders now questioning whether mr. trump could win again. all of it creating a potential opening for another conservative presidential hopeful. nbc news senior national politics reporter jonathan allen joins us now. so john, we know who would like to step into the opening, who is

clearing himself and that is former vice president mike pence. even know he's on a tour of mega-churches promoting his any book, et cetera. talk about this. what you're hearing in your reporting behind the scenes as it relates to this group of faith-based voters in the gop. >> we should also mention florida governor ron desantis. when i talk to pastors and those in the evangelical community this week, to write this story for msnbc.com, they talked a lot about desantis and pence. evangelicals represent about half of the primary electorate for republicans and in 2020 they were firmly behind donald trump. but if you go back to 2016, not all of them were behind him early on. in fact ted cruz from texas won iowa where they are a huge part of the electorate. donald trump has said things that have raised eyebrows including blaming republicans who won all out ban on abortion nationwide for some of the midterm disappointments.

and he has taken aim at those yet to endorse his campaign calling them disloyal on a podcast this week. from the trump campaign, though, they're shocked by this. they've basically come back, we talked to steven chung, the spokesperson for president trump, who said president trump's unmatched report speaks for itself. nomineeing supreme court justices that overturned roe v. wade and ending taxpayer funded abortions and reinstated the mexico city policy, that protects the life of the unborn abroad and many other actions that championed the life of the unborn. so the trump camp is surprised by what they see as disloyalty and evangelicals are looking for a candidate who represents their views but more importantly can win, i spoke to elijah har from missouri and he said, look, if you look at evangelical vote, if they unify behind trump, he wins, if they fracture he probably wins a primary.

but if they unify behind pence or desantis or somebody else, that person would have a chance to win the republican nomination. >> john allen, thank you for that reporting. which folks could read on msnbc.com. next up, officially it marks two years since president biden's inauguration. and now that he's at the half way point, our team has got a progress report. steve kornacki specifically is the man who will break it all down. there he is. posted up on the big board. steve, we'll see you right after the break. stick around. you can easily get helpful customer service over the phone or on the progressive app pretty much anywhere. like at the coffee shop, at the park, or on the moon. just kidding. it's another coffee shop.

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so today marks the half way point of president biden's first term with the administration claiming a long list of successes that they say outruns a lost white house's before them. just how does president biden stack up against his predecessors. who also tried to get a lot done in the first hundred days before setting their sights on a second term. to answer that question we go too our national correspondent steve kornacki at the big board. and you're looking at where different presidents in the past have stood at this milestone mark of the half way point. you've been focusing on different presidents for us you are looking at jimmy carter specifically would a lot of people today think about for his humanitarian work but talk about the opening half of his first and only term. >> yeah. so we showed earlier in the day a couple of presidents who successfully got themselves re-elected in the second part of the first term. now we focus in on jimmy carter. to taking you back here to the start of 1979.

the start of his third year as president and jimmy carter's approval rating was 42.5%. he see him here delivering the state of the union address at 1979. joe biden approval rating the average 42.8%. so similar there. and coming off the 1978 midterm elections, they weren't great for democrats but they weren't that bad for democrats either. a bit like the midterms last year for joe biden's democratic party and the big story with carter and with the country there in the late 1970s, it was inflation, it was gas prices, it was a bad feeling in the country about where the economy was. where the country was. and so in that second two years as carter geared up for re-election, one was in the summer 1979 he went to camp david and retreated from public view. held a bunch of meetings and then addressed the country. this became known as his malaise speech. but carter tried in this speech

to rally the country's spirit. it went over fairly well at first. but with time it really became a bit of a running joke. there were deep divisions in the democratic party as well as '79 wore on and 1980 approaches and there was senator ted kennedy who was interested in the presidency and he saw carter's weakness and in 1979 he made a move. take a look. >> senator kennedy, came to boston's north end to announce his candidacy and thousands were waiting to see him at nathaniel hall in quincy market. rose kennedy came to watch a third son open his presidential campaign. the widows of the other kennedy sons came too. >> so the economy was a mess. the democratic party was divided. president carter got a big challenger in the democratic primaries. also in late 1979, that is when the u.s. embassy in tehran was

seized and hostages were held so carter was in big trouble in his own party. and then in the other party there was an interesting dilemma for republicans with the former president who carter had beaten in '76, who gerald ford flirt with that and run again and instead they went with ronald reagan, the conservative former governor of california. despite the hostage crisis and the inflation and gas prices, carter was thought to have a real good chance of beating reagan because the perception was that reagan would be seen as too extreme. too conservative by the public. and it was just about a week before the election, carter and reagan finally met in their final debate. the polls were very close. and this is how reagan made his closing case to the public. >> next tuesday is election day. next tuesday all of will you go to the polls, and we'll stand there in the polling place and make a decision.

i think when you make that decision, it might be well if you would ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago? is it easier for to you go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? >> and hallie, a week later reagan won in a landslide. so that is the cautionary tale for joe biden in a economy that got worse in his last two years as president. it opened the door to that kind of eye rejection. >> professor kornacki, i could take your class all day. thank you. appreciate you as always. still ahead, we'll take you liveowd to switzerland where saudi arabia is trying to do a p.r. makeover on the world stage. details about a huge spending spree and what, if any, impact it is having. stick around. 95% of women had visibly-smoother skin. be fearless with olay hyaluronic body lotion and body wash.

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>> reporter: hey, hallie. saudi arabia is more influential in the world these days. perhaps because the crown prince is more assertive. because its economy is booming in a world where many economies are definitely are not. and analysts here have told us that they believe that saudi arabia will continue to be economically successful for many years ahead because, frankly, of its oil production. we want to find out what that means for the world and for america. soccer superstar christian ronaldo scoring his first goal in saudi first goal in saudi arabia earning some of the record $200 million a year the saudis are paying him. the kingdom offering hundreds of millions more to lure golfers like phil mickelson, saudi arabia's spending spree is stunning. a year ago a human rights reporter accused the country of using $1.5 billion on what it

called sports washing and the fire hose of money has kept coming. saudi desperate to move on critics say from the murder of "washington post" commentator jamal khashoggi or even saudi arabia's connection to 9/11. during global television coverage of the world cup in neighboring qatar, saudi arabia ran commercials for its surging red sea tourism industry. now there are rumors it may self-bid to host the world cup in 2030. and it isn't only soccer and golf, here in the swiss alps we're thousands of miles from the saudi arabian desert, or are we? saudi arabia's presence at the influential world economic form rum in davos is unmissable. this week the kingdom bought three separate sites, then it can afford it, while the world worries about recession, oil producer saudi aramco saw profits rides by 90% during last

year. we are invited to meet the minister of economy, one of many who have flown in. >> we have nine members including seven ministers. >> seven ministers. >> yes. that's impactful. >> that's a substantial part of the saudi government. >> yes. >> reporter: he insists saudi arabia is in the process of changing completely with women now working, its many young people allowed to go to live music concerts. >> this amounts to you want to change the image of saudi arabia. >> it's not about the image, it's about the work, the results, about the impact. >> you want to change the way people perceive saudi arabia. >> obviously that's a by-product. we want it to be fair, that's all. >> reporter: but in fairness the saudi record of recent years has been mixed to say the least, the crown prince was close to president trump, he is often condemned not just for the killing of khashoggi but also for launching a military operation in poverty-stricken yemen or for his cseness to president putin. the list goes on. just last year he fist bumped with president biden, then along

with russia cut oil production against the president's wishes, although oil prices have since come down. and in december he welcomed china's president xi. these days the chinese buy a lot of saudi oil. >> you say with all of these meetings you're having you're bridging global divides, then the accusation is you are too close to the russians, for example, to the chinese. >> saudi arabia maintains strong relationships with all its partners. >> that's it? that's the answer? and america should just know that? what's the message to america? >> we have a very strong relationship with the u.s. as we discussed. >> reporter: the saudi plan is to move away from reliance on oil. at another exhibition here plans for a new saudi city entirely carbon neutral. >> saudi arabia and from my perspective as an analyst is on saudi arabia's side and that is a side that is very good for the whole world. >> reporter: this year the saudi government said it had helped with negotiations to persuade

russia to release brittney griner, and with america's nuclear negotiations with iran stalled, it may need saudi support. >> despite all the ups and downs, this is as recently as a few months ago when there was a serious iranian threat america dispatched fighter jets. this is a crucial relationship for both countries. >> reporter: saudi arabia has been a strategic partner to america through many turbulent times. today both sides accuse each other of being often unreliable, but then in 2023 the whole world is unpredictable. hallie, in my conversations with that economy minister from saudi arabia, he was very quick to talk about 70 years of strategic partnership with the u.s., despite those in america now questioning how dependable saudi arabia will be in the future, hallie. >> keir simmons, great reporting. thank you for bringing it to us here on msnbc reports.

live from switzerland. that duds it for us this hour of msnbc this friday afternoon. find us on twitter with highlights and new reporting from the show and over on our streaming channel "nbc news now" tonight and every weeknight for show number two, 5:00 eastern, i will see you there. in the meantime nicolle picks it up with "deadline: white house" right after the break. s it up with "deadline: white house" right after the break. ♪ i say, “so are they.” just one aleve. 12 hours of uninterrupted pain relief. aleve who do you take it for? subway keeps upping their game with the subway series. an all-star menu of delicious subs. like #4 supreme meats. black forest ham and genoa salami. you can't stop that much meat. you can only hope to contain it - in freshly baked bread. try subway's tastiest menu upgrade yet. hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. in freshly baked bread. so we have a lot of questions about medicare plans. we've got a lot of answers! how can i help? well for starters, do you include hearing benefits? how about a plan with dental, vision and hearing benefits?

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hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york and it's friday. so it's a well-established fact at this point that donald trump wrestles with his own complicated complex, rooted in his own feelings of inadequacy. as a leader, a politician and a businessman. well, that appears that a florida judge has rendered him not just a giant legal loser, he's really hit him where it works by calling the claims in his latest lawsuit, quote, inadequate. ouch. the latest blow to the ex-president on the legal front a federal judge has ordered donald trump and his attorney to pay just about $1 million in sanctions for filing a lawsuit he brought against more than 30 people. he has labeled his political enemies as part of his warped and paranoid world view. it's a group that includes people that won't