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we got a big hour ahea literally any moment now we could get three parts of the fulton county's grand jury's report about 2020 election interference by former president donald trump and his allies. we are expecting to get the introduction, the conclusion, and then a section where the jurors explain concern that some witnesses may have lied under oath. those witnesses, they're not identified. those names being redacted, of course, but these sections could give us clues about how the fulton county d.a. may proceed. plus, are answers out there? nbc news has learned president biden is set to give his most extended public remarks about the unidentified flying objects shot out of the sky. those remarks could come sometime today we're hearing, but senators are frustrated with what little they've been told, will we all get clarity. plus, an ohio community in

fear. dead wildlife, sick pets. rising health concerns. the fallout from the train derailment and controlled burn of toxic chemicals onboard is intensifying. the folks in a small town of east palestine voiced their concerns at a town hall last night. >> i find it very hard to believe that there is no particulate matter in the air that can cause us harm, practically an atom bomb was released over our small community. >> we are a community that disaster happened to. >> what the head of the epa is facing as he heads to ohio to visit the derailment site and meet with residents, and we're going to see responders as well. we want to start, though, with the incoming sections from the fulton county special grand jury report, nbc's blayne alexander is in atlanta for us and has been staying on this story as well. garrett haake is near trump's mar-a-lago estate, also with me

harry litman, a former deputy assistant attorney general and former u.s. attorney as well. blayne, as i just laid out for folks, we're likely going to get kind of three parts of this grand jury report. the introduction, the conclusion, and then it seems what the jury believes was lying under oath by some witnesses. what more are we learning and what are we expecting when it comes to timing, of course, from what you know in your reporting. >> reporter: as for timing that's anybody's guess. a source with the court said they haven't been given a heads-up when this is going to be released. if we look at what the court has done in the past, we could possibly expect it to come sometime this morning. the timing is anybody's guess. i will say that when we come to what we're expecting, i think it's probably easier to say what we're expecting to not see. we know that we're not going to be seeing names.

we know we're not going to be seeing charging recommendations, but i do think what's notable is every time this report has either been discussed in hearings about it or has been kind of written about by the judge, we've gotten some small tidbit of information, something we didn't know about this process. that's where we learned that there were 75 witnesses they spoke to. we didn't know that, the fact that there are concerns over witnesses lying under oath, the fact that there are recommendations. certainly we'll be combing whatever we get today, we'll be combing it very closely for that. i do think it's important to note that the judge and the d.a. have made a lot to do about a potential protecting the due process of potential defendants. that's something that kind of gives insight into the fact that it's probably reasonable to conclude that there will be some sort of charges to come from this. we don't know for whom, we don't know what sort of charges but the fact that there is such a grand protection on what they're calling due process potential. as for what we're looking at today, this is going to be our first glimpse inside. we're going to get a sense of the grand juror's mind-set as

they wrote the introduction, as they wrote the conclusion. as they distilled this seven months of testimony into this report, and of course we're going to be watching very closely as you mentioned, that section with a special grand jury described what they believe were witnesses lying under oath. we won't get the names attached to that. we will at least find out what possibly prompted those concerns for them to lay them out. >> harry, let's get into some of this. before we get into the broader investigation, i think i kind of want to dig in first into what your expectations are. one of the reasons we're only seeing these three sections is because judge mcburney said we don't want to release this entire report until of course the fulton county d.a. releases her decision on charges going forward. with that all in mind, harry, talk me through what you're going to be looking for when this is released, these three sections. >> i think that's a pretty short talk so we- everything that has a name is not going to be in

there. there are eight big sections we know she asked for and received, mcburney told us so. a roster of who should be indicted and who shouldn't and for what. that's exactly the stuff that won't be there, even the section on concerns about lying. you didn't indicate there were going to be deletions or redactions, just a general sort of section. it'd be awfully silly, though, if the introduction said here's our report and the conclusion says there was our report. so i am thinking we're going to get a rough overview that doesn't have names but might be something along the lines of we herein recommend that charges be brought against -- maybe we'll have a number and the number i'm looking for will be pretty large like a dozen or more based on how this has gone down over the last couple years. it will be very sketchy, but it will be something, i think, to be able to speculate. >> so now harry put yourself, if you will, in the fulton county d.a.'s shoes.

if we're looking at kind of how this investigation really has significantly broadened, and i want to pull up this full screen for folks if i can. we're talking about phone calls by trump and others to georgia officials after the 2020 election, 16 georgia republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating trump had won the state and that they were in fact, electors, false allegations of election fraud, copying of data and software from election equipment, so on and so forth. if you are in the shoes of the fulton county d.a., which thread would you be pulling on here amidst all this stuff? >> i think she's always been looking at the national significance hear. as you suggest, we have pretty much all the actors in washington up to and including trump, but giuliani goes down there, maybe possibly meadows. we know graham, flynn, so many people testified, and then there's the whole sort of fleet of georgia state officials. we learned a couple of days ago that the head of the georgia

republican party is resigning. i think that might mean on the heels or, you know, anticipating an indictment. so it's two kind of big rosters, the d.c. roster and the georgia roster. so i think she's really sweeping a lot into her net, and that's what, you know, it's been two years, 75 witnesses, and kind of nothing left unturned. >> garrett haake, you're at mar-a-lago. the second this thing drops, of course, we're going to be looking to you to get reaction from trump camp. what are you going to be looking out for? >> reporter: what we're going to find out i think in the sections of this report whether donald trump and his attorneys' theory of the case holds any water. trump has argued on social media that the call he made to the secretary of state in georgia that has been so central to this investigation was perfect. he has said it was even more perfect than the phone call he made to the president of ukraine that got him impeached.

does this report indicate that the grand jurors had concerns about that call or does it not? and trump's attorneys have arkd that the fact that the grand jury was never interested in talking to mr. trump indicates that they don't see him as a central player in this. does this report tell us anything about whether they're looking at trump as a possible defendant or are they more focused on the fake elector plot, which could apply in other states as well. there are half a dozen states where similar fake elector plots were in action. if the fulton county d.a. points down that road, does that tell us something about how the special counsel might be viewing the fake elector plots in other states. there's a lot of moving pieces here that could be addressed, even obliquely by this report. any of it might prompt a response either from donald trump's lawyers or from the man himself at mar-a-lago behind me. >> yeah, and we're going to be watching as soon as this thing drops, for now, garrett haake, blayne alexander. we're following news out of

michigan, we want to go straight to the press conference there giving us an update on the shooting. >> the second building, the union is still being evaluated for decisions to be reported later. fbi special agent in charge of michigan, jim turaska will report in just a moment on access to those buildings for students, faculty, and staff who still have materials that are present in those spaces. leaders across campus have been meeting with a variety of the groups that have been impacted from our families of those that we have lost as well as those who are bravely recovering at sparrow. we've also been talking with our students, faculty, and staff who were in the class of the shooter in berkey hall and the employees who were in the union on monday night. we are listening, and we are supporting at all levels. our core leadership team is meeting daily, and we will continue to do so to prioritize

the needs of campus. we want to be supportive not only of the campus but we understand the community is involved and we want to give people the confidence to reengage and stay engaged as we come together. our alumni network are contacting us and wanting to get involved. they are generously donating their time and items that can be helpful to the community including 15,000 candles last night as well as flowers that were associated with our vigil. for those who want to give in a way that can support msu at this time, we have set up a fund called spartan strong fund, and you can find that on the msu website. chief lynch has told me of the many people who have dropped off food and other items to our msup.d., and we are all very grateful for that outpouring of love and support. and as i understand it, we're out of kitchen space at this point, so we thank you for that

outpouring in so many ways. we know as a campus that we have hard work ahead of us. moving forward won't be easy. unfortunately, others in higher education have been through this, and we are connecting in ways that through these shares experiences we will have ideas about how we can evaluate our best plans forward. and as we move forward from today, we will work together to make informed decisions and lean on each other. none of us have all the answers, but we do have each other. so at this point, i'd like to turn this briefing over to our chief of police and adjunct professor in our school of criminal justice, marlon lynch. marlon. >> thank you, president woodruff, good morning, i'd like to start with some thanks to outreach by our colleagues.

our local partners, but also some well-established associations, the michigan association of chiefs of police, the international chiefs of police, the international association of campus law enforcement administrators, and the commission agency on law enforcement accreditation. we have all received your support, prayers and thanks, and very well-valued. so thank you for that. in addition to that, i've decided to focus on some positive things. some positive things that have been shared with me over the past couple of days with that. in helping us in our response to this critical incident, we had approximately 19 law enforcement agencies and six fire departments, numerous emergency medical services as well respond to that. we had off-duty police officers not only from our police department but from local and partnering agencies that

responded, that came without a request to help during that particular situation. not a surprise, though. what occurred on monday night as far as our response is a collaborative effort and is the product of constant and continuous training together, relationships, and preparation for that. we also unfortunately had an opportunity to respond last week to oakmus high school with a very similar result. >> we are taking a listen to the press conference happening at michigan state university, of course, after the tragic shooting there on campus. five students still in critical condition, we know three individuals lost their lives as well. the interim president of the united states theresa woodruff speaking there really about how they are speaking with the families of the victims affected along with those that were inside the classroom during the

shooting, of course, there are a lot of psychological ramifications after having dealt with a mass shooting like this one. we're also taking a listen right now to the chief of the campus police, marlon lynch in that presser from msu. want to go straight if we can to kathy park who's standing by for us on the school's campus in east lansing, michigan. kathy if you will, take us there how folks are dealing today, of course after that mass shooting, what more you're learning. >> reporter: good morning to you. obviously we are monitoring this press conference for more on the this investigation, but obviously they continue to interview witnesses in the area, and they're also asking for the public's help because, keep in mind, the suspect did leave campus before he took his own life. so they're asking for any surveillance footage that people may have, and they want them to hand that over as they continue to collect that evidence. but obviously this is still a painful time for the community. yesterday we saw that firsthand.

we were out here yesterday. thousands of students, faculty, even community members were out here shedding tears, and just kind of leaning on each other during this difficult time. we also had a chance to hear from the long-time basketball coach, coach izzo about his thoughts during this painful moment in msu history. take a listen. >>. >> our hearts are heavy. our loss has been great. our lives have been permanently changed, but with a shared commitment to help each other and a promise to remember those we have lost, we will learn to find joy once again. >> reporter: and yasmin, as you heard there, just a lot of emotion in his voice and a lot of the students we spoke with, they're obviously shaken by this tragedy, and we should note that

all classes are canceled for the rest of the week. we are standing in front of berkey hall, which is one of the shooting locations, and we have seen some students coming and going retrieving their belongings, so they'll be allowed to do that today as the investigation moves forward. obviously a lot of healing ahead for this community. >> healing for sure. kathy park for us, thank you, i want to bring in if we can, marissa randazo a former research psychologist and executive director of threat management at on tick. thanks so much for joining us. i appreciate it. i mentioned kind of the psychological ramifications after being involved in a mass shooting and dealing with something like that. it is certainly something that we have seen repeatedly. and we're talking about psychological ramifications on two sides of this issue. one is, of course, the shooter, right, and the signs that were there leading up to the shooting. and then of course the victims, the families of those that lost their lives along with people

that experienced that shooting firsthand. let's talk first, if we can, about the psychological profile of the shooter. the signs that were there and what could have and should have been done to identify there was an issue. >> look, this is still an active case. there's so much that we don't know yet, but i will tell you that we have data that has just come out from the u.s. secret service within the past couple of weeks on mass attacks in public spaces including universities over the past five years, and i can tell you what they found looking across all of those incidents. they found that over half of the attackers in public spaces -- and this is sort of where three or more people are injured in this classic definition -- over half of them had some active symptoms of mental health concerns or mental disorders and most of those were depression, suicide alty, thoughts of suicide, suicidal statements, gestures, and then for some,

some psychotic symptoms. and i want to emphasize here, this also means that half of them didn't show some concern about mental health, but when we do see that, there are things that we can do including if family members are struggling to get help for a loved one, they can call a mobile mental health crisis unit or even call 911 and ask for law enforcement to do a welfare check if they're worried about imminent risk to others or even to that person themselves. >> i can't help but think back to the parkland shooter, right, the welfare checks were done. the calls were made. the symptoms were identified, and yet he went on to kill so many people at parkland, and this instance, right, the father talks about how he feels as if his son turned evil after the loss of his mother, right? these symptoms were identified, but nothing was done. is the system there? do we have a system in place to support red flags like this?

>> we absolutely need more. we do not have enough in place at the community level, at the state level, we need federal support on this too. communities are struggling. their beds are filled in psychiatric facilities in the er -- >> marissa, could you stand by for a moment? i do want to go back to the press conference at msu, and then we'll talk right after it. >> great. >> brian fraser was 20 years old, and alexandria verner was also 20 years old. we were present yesterday when they were recognized in the chamber of the michigan house of representatives, and that was a very moving experience as well. as the president mentioned, the five students in the hospital remain in critical condition. out of respect for the families, we will not be releasing the names of the victims in the

hospital. we do understand that some of those names have been made public by family and friends, but we feel strongly about not confirming their names out of respect for the families and we hope you understand. so even though msu police and public safety is the lead agency in charge of this investigation, the investigation is very complex. it's bifurcated. it involves many different agencies. different parts of that investigation are being handled by different agencies in a very unified and coordinated effort. that unified cooperation between all of the agencies involved and the resources that have been deployed to campus from all over the country is impressive.

i'll share a few brief updates regarding the investigation, and some of our partners that are here today will elaborate on some of these details as well. we can confirm that the shooter had two handguns on his person when he was located. those hand guns are both 9 millimeter. he also had additional magazines and ammunition on his person. our investigative team did work with our federal atf partners to trace those weapons, and we have learned that they were purchased legally by the shooter, but they were not registered. we could also confirm that a note was found on the shooter

and the location that the shooter was located was roughly 3.8 miles northwest of campus. as i said, the michigan state police is here today, and they will share additional information about that shooting scene. we want to thank all of our local, county, state, and federal partners for all of their assistance that they've provided throughout this investigation. the investigative assistance that we've received after the initial incident has been absolutely overwhelming as well. as the interim president said, we'd also like to thanks media for being active partners throughout this investigation. your ability to share our information while understanding the sensitive nature and having compassion for the families is very much appreciated.

at this time i'm going to turn it over to lieutenant renee gonzalez from the michigan state police. we will be available for questions at the end. >> information i'm going to give out dealing with the contact that lpd, msu -- i'm sorry, lpd, msp, and our state security officers had contact with the shooter at lake lansing and large road. the -- our detectives responded to lake lansing road and large street where a subject matching the msu shooting suspect anthony mcrae was observed walking. what had happened is the lpd officers received a call that a

subject matching that description was walking down the street, and that was on lake lansing road near large street, city of lansing. two lpd officers made contact with the shooter approximately 20 feet from mcrae. they exited their vehicle, ordered him to show his hands. however, he produced a weapon, and then killed himself. it does appear that from the body-worn camera that mcrae did not verbalize anything to the officers prior to him shooting himself or taking his own life. once they had waited for two additional state security officers to arrive on scene, they walked up to the shooter who was laying on the ground, cleared the scene for their safety, and then started life saving efforts on him. however, he was declared deceased at the scene. after that two other state trappers also showed up on scene. our detectives arrived on scene. they conducted interviews with

the officers on scene. photographed the area, downloaded body-worn cameras, in car videos and did round calls for all the officers to ensure that no rounds were fired. on scene again were two troopers, two capital security officers, two lansing township officers and two lpd officers. search was done after the scene was secure of mcrae's residence with a search warrant that was authored by msu p.d. along with lpd. at the residence a cell phone was collected, journals of sorts, miscellaneous writings and fired 9 millimeters casings. mcrae's father was also interviewed on scene at the lansing operations building. once a search of the residence was completed, detectives began a surveillance canvas to attempt to track the shooter's -- once

he cleared the msu campus until he made contact with the lpd officers. they were able to track his journey from the msu campus to where he was made contact. they are conducting additional surveillance canvases to see if we can find anything else on where he might have been. detectives are also assisting with downloading information from mcrae's phone, following up on ka ta, two additional bus tickets were found in his possession. found on mcrae were two hand guns, the one he sholt himself and another in the backpack he was carrying. he also had a loaded magazine that was full to capacity in his left breast pocket. in the backpack he had eight magazines of 9 millimeter ammunition, along with a pencil sized pouch. he also had two empty magazines

on his person as well. two pages of notes were found in his wallet, which was on his person as well. those are the -- that was the note that indicated where he was going to visit and also kind of gave an indication of why he -- maybe a motive, but nothing that we can actually confirm just yet. the investigation is ongoing, and at this time we believe that there were no other subjects involved and mcrae was the lone shooter in this incident. we'll now turn it over to chief solsby. >> thank you, lieutenant, good morning, everybody. my name is ellery solsby, the chief of police in lansing. the lansing police department through mayor shore's office is assisting in this investigation, as much as possible to make sure that we have complete closure in this incident. i want to start by giving my condolences to the family of the victims of this tragic incident.

being the father of a son who is recently accepted to this great university, i can't even imagine the pain that the families are feeling right now. i want to thank the officers who responded without pause to this critical incident, many of those as has been mentioned before were off duty and dropped everything they were doing to come assist, to make sure there were no more losses of life and to prevent this tragedy from getting any larger. i want to thank the citizens who along with the media's help saw something and said something. without them, we may not be in this position here today. i'd like to clear up just a few things, a few topics of misinformation that we have been asked about about either the accused mcrae or the address, the lansing address on house street in the city of lansing. lpd has not responded to any

welfare checks for anthony mcrae. there was a welfare check at the address on howell street on february 5th that was not related to the accused. lpd has not been called in any way to any shots fired at this address. the call history for the accused in this situation is very limited, but i will share this with you now to avoid any questions in the future. starting back in 2005, mcrae was contacted for a larceny complaint by the lansing police department. 2006 a traffic violation, 2007 a traffic violation, 2007 again another traffic violation, and in 2019 he was arrested by lansing police department for a ccw, which is a carry and conceal weapon, which he was arrested for. and for that case, that weapon is still in lansing police department custody.

as the lieutenant shared, two lansing police officers made contact with the accused in approximately the 800 block of lake lansing road and the accused was contacted. he produced a handgun and ended his own life. i cannot commend the officers enough for their actions and i'll be open for questions here at the end. for now i'm going to turn it over to fbi special agent in charge, james raska. >> good morning, i will start off by thanking the press as well. over the last few days i've gotten to know quite a few of you as we just talk offline and actually socialize while this event continues so to all of you, thank you, you've been very supportive, and i appreciate that, so do our folks.

so today at berkey hall, we'll continue meeting with students and staff to return their personal items that were left behind. so that process essentially will begin at 10:00, and the students can show up. they will meet with our victim specialists and agents, and not only will they be able to get their items back, they will be able to meet with our victim specialists for mental health support, not just fbi and we've flown victim specialists in from around the country, msu has provided victim services as well, victim specialists are there to meet with the students. the u.s. attorney's office, western district of michigan is represented, hsi is also represented. so we have a great cadre of mental health professionals. >> we are taking a listen to the press conference happening at michigan state university, of course, after the tragic shooting there talking about the victims, five still in critical condition in the hospital there. three other students losing their lives there.

something that stood out to me, and i want to bring this kathy park and marisa randazzo again is what the shooter had on his person and how, in fact, he was able to obtain those firearms. so we are learning now the shooter had two handguns on his person, one he was located, both 9 millimeter. also had additional magazines and ammunition, and the weapons -- this is key here, everybody, weapons were purchased legally but, in fact, were not registered. and i want to remind folks, kathy, before i go to you, that back in 2019 he was deemed not eligible to have a gun due to a weapons offense conviction. talk me through what else you heard in that press conference. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, you basically covered those main points. he definitely had additional firearms on him, two hand guns,

additional magazines, and he also had a note, and authorities did not really go into detail as to what that note entailed, but there could be a possible motive written in that note. ment we know that the suspect after he committed this heinous crime, the shootings here on campus, he ventured off campus roughly four miles northwest of campus, and you see some surveillance footage there, and they say that they're continuing to kind of ask for the public's help to get more evidence, more surveillance footage like this to kind of show the route that the suspect took when he fled the scene, but officials were able to confront the suspect and eventually he took his own life. they also ran through his criminal history back in 2005 there was a larceny complaint. in 2006 and 2007 there were traffic complaints, but yasmin, you alluded to that 2019

incident where he was arrested for a weapons-related charge. initially that was a felony charge, but ultimately his lawyer, he was able to lawyer up and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge. so that kind of gives you a little bit more history about his past and how he was able to attain those weapons, which he, as you mentioned was able to obtain legally. however, was not registered. we also heard from authorities a few moments ago that here at berkey hall students will be able to go and retrieve their belongings. this is one of the two shooting sites here on campus. >> marisa, if you can, follow-up on that. this is kind of mind blowing. this guy was not supposed to be able to purchase a firearm ask he went on to purchase two firearms legally. we don't know if they were purchased in state or out of state. that's something that needs to be cleared up, and the process to which he purchased the firearm. and secondly, we heard a lot

about how they're going to be continuing to counsel students on michigan state university campus. how long is that going to be going on for? how long are they going to provide services for folks that have dealt with something so horrible? >> yeah, so typically after an incident like this college or university, workplace, k-12 school, the institution can provide some services in the immediate aftermath, and it looks like -- and i hope they will continue to get a lot of support from outside counselors, red cross, et cetera. however, i will tell you this, we have seen the impact of trauma on people who have gone through and experienced, witnessed, been close to tragedies like this to last for a very long time. and i want to emphasize this that the immediate aftermath we need to provide care, but we also need to provide resources for the longer term because the impact of trauma, people can be disrupted weeks, months, even

years after going through something like this. the good news is there's great trauma therapy, emdr, and other types of therapy available that can -- that are fast acting, can provide real relief to people who have gone through trauma, but the impact of having gone through this can be lasting for years down the road. >> yeah, certainly needs more of a conversation as we learn more details about what happened on msu campus, certainly more questions as well. marisa randazzo, thank you, kathy park as well. residents want answers about their air and water safety. we are live from the scene. the white house plans for president biden to address those mysterious objects in the sky, when we could hear from him coming up next. m him coming up next

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this morning the epa administrator, michael regan is making his way to east palestine, ohio, to get a firsthand look after the fallout of the massive train derailment involving toxic chemicals. that visit is coming as the demands for answers and accountability are growing louder. the outrage boiled over during a town hall last night. nbc's george solis joins me live from palestine. a lot of folks are up in arms, right? they have seen dead animals.

they are symptomatic, of course, after this toxic spill and the train derailment. what more are you learning from residents there? >> reporter: yeah, good morning, yasmin. you're right, outrage is the key thing. apart from the head of the epa, j.d. vance is going to be here. some people are returning to town. others are staying away because they feel their health is in jeopardy. this comes as officials say, look, we've done a lot of testing and the air and water quality is safe, but a lot of folks say they simply aren't buying it. overnight, tempers flaring at a heated town hall. >> this isn't about you, it's about us as a whole. >> reporter: it's been nearly two weeks since a train operated by norfolk southern carrying hazardous chemicals derailed and caught fire. >> we're being railroaded by the railroad. >> reporter: people worried about their health point to the death of thousands of fish in

local waters and what they call a frustrating lack of answers. this morning federal epa administrator michael regan is traveling to the site. >> we are with the community. we're going to hold this company accountable and we're going to be here while this problem is cleaned up. >> officials suggest drinking bottled water especially in homes that have wells. >> i have been waiting for a phone call for my well testing and i'm not getting one. >> reporter: some evacuated locals who were told it was safe to return home now say they're suffering from burning eyes, headaches, and nausea. norfolk southern did not attend the packed meeting saying it might not be safe for its employees, but it did say in a statement to nbc news we are not going anywhere. we are committed to east palestine and will continue to respond to community concerns. >> it's just been an absolute nightmare really, a lot on the nerves for everybody. >>. >> carol and her cousin ashley

evacuated and say her family has experienced significant symptoms they attribute to the derailment. carol has since returned home while ashley and her children are staying with her mom in pennsylvania. >> it's just so friendly and now it's completely opposite. everyone's terrified. no one wants to really go outside. >> reporter: yasmin, you see there is that bipartisan push to hold norfolk southern accountable there for their actions here. as far as the epa administrator's visit, some of the things on his askren da, planning to go into the homes of people affected. he's also slated to meet with several state and local leaders. >> we appreciate you being there for us, an incredibly important story, thank you. the president is expected as early as today to give his most extended public remarks about the mysterious aerial objects shot out of the skies over the u.s. and canada. three people familiar with the matter telling nbc news that biden is expected to explain the

parameters his administration is setting up to deal with aerial objects spotted in the future. kelly o. joins us now from the white house. it's great to talk to you. let's talk timing, if we can. our expectations on that, and what more we could learn from the president today, if in fact this happens. >> reporter: well, timing is a question mark, yasmin, because we have not been given any guidance specifically about the white house's plans on this, and in part, that is because the president is quite busy at the moment with something else that is required for sort of the transparency of the office these days. he's at walter reed national military medical center undergoing his annual physical, and so that is going on. that is typically a process that can take several hours, and so that is occupying a big chunk of his day today, and so i think once they are clear from that, we may have some better guidance, if today is a

possibility or at some point coming soon. another sort of kind of in the tempo of how these things roll out, our colleague courtney kube was able to interview the secretary of defense lloyd austin. so he has now spoken publicly. that is kind of a data point in how these kinds of public rollouts on what could be new policy, an assessment for the american people can develop from a cabinet level and then pushing it forward to the president. also, the reports that have been gathered across the different departments that have been dealing with the chinese spy balloon have been put together, have been presented to the white house. we presume that means the president has had a chance to be fully briefed on this and trying to formulate new policy. why does this matter, we've been able to talk to the president in fits and starts, in brief moments where we've been able to ask him a question, where he's responded about his decision-making with respect to the timing of striking down that

chinese spy balloon, but we have not had the chance to hear a fulsome response from him about his policies on this, what he has learned from it, now that some wreckage has been recovered, where things stand in terms of the relationship between the u.s. and china and what happens next. there's also a lot of questions about the three other objects that were shot down after the chinese spy balloon, the most we have been able to learn from officials has been that they believe they are likely benign objects, not owned by another state, not in the business of spying. so lots of questions, and there's been political pressure for the president to say more and so we expect that will happen. could it happen today? that's what we're waiting to learn. yasmin. >> we are going to be watching that, kelly o., as always my friend, great to see you. all right, everybody, it is time for a new direction, that is nikki haley's message to republican voters as she hits the road to take on her old boss in the gop primary.

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as the 2024 race for the white house is starting to take shape. nikki haley is traveling to critical new hampshire for a town hall one day after officially announcing her candidacy. her run puts her in direct conflict with the former president, her former boss, who is currently the only other republican to officially declare his candidacy. she sat down with craig melvin and discussed reports that she reached out to trump to get his blessing to run. >> i didn't ask, i told that i thought that we needed to go in a new direction. when i first said i wouldn't run against him, afghanistan hadn't fallen, we didn't see the rise in inflation like we've seen, we didn't see what was happening in our schools the way it was and we didn't see the results of the midterms that we just had. >> meanwhile, another south carolinian is rumored to mulling a white house bid. tim scott is set to speak to kick off his so-called faith in america tour.

ali vitali is live for us in charlton ahead of that event. also joining us michael steele, an msnbc political analyst. ali, let me start with you on this one. we expected this and now we have it, of course, a response from the former president on nikki haley's run for the white house. and a part of that interview and where she said she told him, she didn't ask him. what are we learning? >> yeah, it makes sense, of course, that trump is jumping in and attacking haley, although this is not the full-out brawl that we've seen him engage in with some of his rivals in the past. i'm sure we'll get there. at least right now what we're seeing from trump is that he's highlighting past statements from haley where she said she wouldn't run in 2024 if trump were running. we see now giving her explanation for that to our colleague, craig melvin, saying there were things that happened in afghanistan and other places that have made her feel she's the right person for this

moment. what she's trying to do here is to be able to take on trump without taking on trump. you listen to that speech that she gave yesterday where she made the argument for generational change. one thing trump can never change about himself is that he is in his mid-70s. haley is in her early 50s. that's something that's always going to be true here as concerns around age persist, especially as republicans try to go at president biden on that issue. many of those attacks that she was leveling yesterday could also be levelled at trump. here we're starting to see her make that early argument where she doesn't have to go at trump directly on policy and the things he did during his administration. that's probably good right now because she was a part of that administration for several years. so watching her do this very delicate dance is something we'll watch not just haley do but other contenders who were former people in the trump administration, i'm thinking mike pence and mike pompeo too. >> mike steele, weigh in for me. going after trump but not necessarily going after trump.

there was a great piece in "the atlantic" titled "the pointless nikki haley campaign." talking about the flip-flopping back in 2016. at first point she was a never trumper and then she worked with him and is trying to court the trump base. is she actually just angling for a vp position? what do you make of her run? >> you know, it has potential, but then again, you know, to ali's great reporting and the nichols piece, she's all over the map. so she's got to settle in on what kind of candidate she's going to be. she's either going to be a candidate that's going to actually take on trump and go after him so you expect that out of the gate. and i get it, you don't necessarily focus on that in your announcement. but today is a different day. so let's hear what happens in the town hall. you're not going to be able to run away with your association,

you're not going to be able to run away from your flip-flopping. you have to come at this with a point of clarity because the stain of the trump administration is all over you. you've got to figure out how to clean it off of you in the eyes of voters who don't support trump. there are two lanes inside the gop. you're either with trump or you're not. and everybody -- those who want to try to sandwich that and say, well, i like his policies, but, i'm sorry, the policies fail in comparison to the anti-democratic, anti-madisonian democracy principles that this administration was engaged in, and that includes january 6. it starts and ends with january 6th. so you don't get to get a pass here. a lot of these candidates are going to be looking for it, trying to wiggle out one, and i don't see it being there for them. >> let me read from you what we heard from mitt romney, michael,

and i want you to weigh in on this. he's warning that trump is by far the most likely gop nominee in 2024. if he wins the nomination, romney said i won't be supporting president trump. when asked if he'd consider supporting president joe biden in a potential 2024 rematch, romney added very unlikely. what do you make of that, michael steele? >> well, he's honest. at least the man is honest. that's it. that's the stark choice. >> is he going to go again? is romney going to go again? >> i'd like to see him do it, to be honest. i absolutely love the idea that he would look at this consideration for this cycle, absolutely. i mean of all the names that have been floating out there, he's the only one who's kind of laid bare where he is and been very honest about that. the walk into the chamber during the state of the union and calling out george santos, bravo. i mean who else has done that? and so when asked the question

if trump is your nominee will you support him, he's like no, because he's consistent. he's principled. and so that's what i think at the end everyone is kind of looking for, how consistent and principled can you be when it comes to trump. no one is showing me other than mitt romney and certainly liz cheney and aam kinzinger that they're consistent and principled. >> a long road ahead, guys, long road away. michael steele, thank you. ali vitali, thank you as well. that does it for me, everybody. i'll be back in the chair yet again tomorrow 10:00 a.m. eastern. you can catch me on the weekends 2:00 to 4:00 eastern. jose diaz-balart picks up things next. jose diaz-balart picks up things next there's a story in every piece of land.

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good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. right now we're still waiting for key portions of the fulton county grand jury report set to be released to the pub