it's 10:00 a.m. in new york,

i'm lindsey reiser at msnbc headquarters. right now are criminal charges on the horizon for former president donald trump, he's been invited to appear before the manhattan grand jury, investigating a hush money payment to stormy daniels, why legal experts say the move could signal the end is near in this investigation. also this morning, california just cannot catch a breather from this wild weather, right now 16 million are under flood alerts as parts of the state are still buried under mountains of snow and now brace for landslides and heavy rain from an atmospheric river. we're tracking the storm as folks there brace for the rare high risk of flash flooding. plus, in just the last hour and a half, we got our hands on a bigger than expected jobs report. president biden is set to talk about the report and the overall state of our economy this hour, especially as the federal reserve eyes more interest rate hikes to tackle inflation. we're going to get insight from

labor secretary marty walsh on his last day at the labor department about what this report means for you. a new warning from norfolk southern about a defect with some of its railcars. what the company is saying about why this keeps happening. congressman chris deluzio has visited east palestinian is here with reaction. we're going to begin wu w new developments in the manhattan district attorney's investigation into former president donald trump. joining me now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard and former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst glenn kirschner. walk us through what we know about this invitation to appear before the grand jury and how trump and his legal team are responding. >> let's start with what we believe the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg is looking at here. this is not an investigation into the trump organization or

former president trump's business. the tax fraud scheme, the allegations that assets, that the valuation of assets were inflated. this has nothing to do with the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. this purely comes down to our understanding to those hush money payments that were given to stormy daniels weeks before the 2016 election. this was a matter of michael cohen, who has already served prison time for this, he pleaded guilty for transferring $130,000 that came directly from donald trump to him to stormy daniels to silence her story in the lead up to the 2016 election. now, this had been previously investigated by the manhattan d.a.'s office, but the investigation went silent until this january when will alvin bragg picked it up again, a grand jury was impanelled, and over the course of the last several weeks, the grand jury has heard from multiple

witnesses, and subpoenas have been given out for evidence. michael cohen met with the district attorney's prosecutors for the 20th time, our adam reiss producer just caught up with michael cohen in lower manhattan before he went in for this meeting, take a listen to a little bit of what he said. >> i too read "the new york times" article, and i have to applaud district attorney bragg for giving donald the opportunity to come and tell his story. knowing donald as well as i do, understand that he doesn't tell the truth. it's one thing to turn around and to lie on your untruth social. it's another thing to turn around and lie before a grand jury. i don't suspect that he's going to be coming. >> now, we expect michael cohen to go before the grand jury as well next week, of course, he is the key witness in all of this, and this point of the investigation, the fact that we are told that trump has been invited by the district attorney's office to come appear before the grand jury is notable because in new york, it is

custom before the potential target of an investigation were to be indicted, they are provided this opportunity. if he were to go before the grand jury, though, he would have to wave his immunity, essentially meaning he'd have to be fully transparent and testify under oath if he were to sew so choose to go that route. >> when we think about the people who have come before and as part of alvin bragg's investigation, hope hicks, kellyanne conway, michael cohen, of course. now we're at trump here, should we see this invitation to appear before a grand jury as any kind of indication where we are in terms of a potential indictment for the former president sm. >> yeah, this is ordinary prosecutorial business and procedure. when we get to the end of a grand jury investigation, after we've developed all other evidence, all other information through both witness testimony before the grand jury and

documents and records that have been subpoenaed to the grand jury. once we have all of that evidence in hand, that's when we will invite the target of the investigation, the person that we may be intending to indict to appear before the grand jury and explain how perhaps the prosecutors have gotten something wrong. and you know, the target gets the opportunity to convince the grand jury i didn't commit any crimes and you should not indict me. i will say rarely do targets take the prosecutors up on their invitation to appear before the grand jury, but it happens every once in a while. i agree with michael cohen. there is little to no chance donald trump will accept the invitation, waive his immunity, waive his fifth amendment right against self-inself-incriminati. in the event he were to lie, he will also be facing perjury charges. this is an important concrete indication that the next stop should be indictments at least

in the ordinary course of prosecutorial business. that is where the prosecutors would go next. >> vaughn, you were at cpac this past weekend and trump was asked specifically about a potential criminal charge. here's what he had to say. >> can you take this moment to assure your donors and your supporters that you're in this race to stay no matter what happens with those investigations, indicted one or more times? >> absolutely, i wouldn't even think about leaving. >> trump said the same weekend he thinks an indictment would help his numbers. vaughn, what are the political ramifications of all of this? >> donald trump has continued to lie that he ever had sex with stormy daniels here. he has suggested that this is merely a plot to undermine his political efforts much like we heard him do after the impeachment proceedings. we have heard him continually suggest to his supporters that this is merely a -- in his words, a witch hunt, and as part of a 2024 presidential campaign

over the course of the next 11 months, if he were to be indicted, face these charges and go through the criminal proceedings, he would have to turn this into a politically beneficial weapon, and for donald trump that is the fact that he has consistently contended that the justice system under the biden administration, but also in new york including the manhattan district attorney identifies are politically motivated, and his question is these are payments that he has acknowledged making, but he said this was part of a private contract. it was meant to tamper down a defamatory story that was false, and his contention is that this is yet another example of democrats, an effort to simply take him down. they've got nothing else on him. they had to go all the way back to the 2016 hush money payments to stormy daniels in order to

actually bring a case against him. >> glenn, looking at the political ramifications through a legal lens, is there any law that would prevent trump from being elected if he's indicted or convicted in a state or federal case, or is there any situation in which any kind of conviction would prevent him from campaigning, any kind of time or travel restrictions? >> you know, there is no legal prohibition. there is no constitutional prohibition. there is no case law. there's no precedent that says an aspiring, you know, presidential candidate cannot run for office if under indictment. you know, the practicalities can be challenging. i do think if he is indicted and then he is presented on that indictment, a judge could very well set conditions of release. i don't think anybody believes donald trump will be detained pending trial the way, you know, so many other folks charged with crimes are in this country, but the judge could restrict his travel.

the judge could put all kinds of conditions on his pretrial release that could hamper his ability to get out and campaign the way he would like. the sad reality is you could be under a legitimate indictment, and yet, you could still run to be president of the united states. >> okay, vaughn hillyard and glenn kirschner, we'll leave it there. thank you, both. we're tracking extreme winter weather affecting millions of americans across the country. california's governor now declaring a state of emergency across 34 counties. as an atmospheric river dumps heavy rain, and yes, more snow on already hard hit areas in the state. at least ten rivers are now expected to surpass flood levels there. and meanwhile, in the midwest another winter storm overnight has brought as much as 8 inches to the chicago area so far. jacob ward is in watsonville, california, 50 miles south of san jose and angie lassman is tracking the storm. is the concern in your state a

one-two punch of more snow and then these flooding risks? >> it absolutely is, lindsey. it is that combination that has officials here so worried, and it's part of why governor gavin newsom has declared a state of emergency in 21 counties across this state. i'm standing here in watsonville, an agricultural community south of san jose and are san francisco, and road closures here are everywhere, essentially mudslides in the hills that surround this area have shut off access to major arteries back and forth, and that's really just the low lying areas. schools here are closed. people here are under evacuation orders. as you trace the water path up into the mountains, you can imagine just how terrible it is up there because as this rain falls, and the important thing to note here is that this is a warmer rain. i'm standing here much more comfortably than i was even 24 hours ago. it's probably 15 degrees warmer

than it was yesterday because this is all this tropical moisture coming in here, and that of course causes snow melt risk at the lower elevations where snow has fallen. that creates flood risk there and then as you get into the very highest elevations in places like tahoe, yosemite, that's where rainfall into existing snow loads and makes it much, much heavier. that's why we're hearing reports across the state of structures collapsing under the incredible weight of this extra moisture as it hits snow. it is that one-two punch of snow and rain that has officials and residents so worried. >> jacob ward, we thank you and your crew so much for keeping an eye on that. what are you watching through the weekend? >> we're watching basically that same system that is impacting the location where jacob is and up and down the west coast. we're watching another system that's impacting folks on the east coast. we have winter weather alerts totaling more than 50 million. we have flood alerts and wind alerts focussed out west. we're going to continue to track all of that moisture working into parts of california.

we'll get back to that here in a moment. let's focus on the system that has brought snow across much of the great lakes and the midwest through the early morning hours, grand rapids michigan picking up 11 inches of snow. this is going to spread into parts of the northeast, places like new york, pennsylvania, and those higher elevations you'll likely pick up on snow and more focus towards the i-95. we can see snow showers mixing into parts of the northeast and new england. those highest totals, buffalo and western pennsylvania and western new york right along lake erie. let's switch gears, go to the other coast where you saw jacob dealing with that rain. 16 million people are under these flood watches. a lot of moisture working in. it's not a short lived event. we're going to see this last through today and tomorrow morning. we have a pretty rare flash flood risk that has been issued. this is something where we see the pink, that high risk of flash flood. that's not something you see all the time.

it's pretty rare, and you often see it with heavy rain events. we have it issued for this because there is so much rain on the way, this is going to be something we deal with through at least tomorrow with up to a foot in some spots. >> appreciate it. thank you. still ahead, convicted murderer alex murdaugh wants his double murder conviction thrown out. what his lawyers might try to argue after filing new paperwork. new revelations about norfolk southern's trains as the ceo faces a grilling on the hill about a toxic train derailment in ohio. >> will you compensate that family for that loss? >> senator i'm committed to doing what's right. >> that is the right thing to do. >> i'll talk with congressman chris deluzio on his newly introduced rail safety bill and whether he's satisfied with norfolk southern's ceo's comments on capitol hill. and iowa is a must stop for any presidential contender.

interesting that florida governor ron desantis who has so far not jumped into the 2024 race is there now. we're back in 60 seconds. man...i told my wife i'd be in here for hours. what do we do now? we live... ♪♪ save time and money with progressive's homequote explorer. what you do afterwards, is up to you. oh, whoa, i was actually just thinking i would take a nap. pretty tired. okay. think he's posting about all that ancient roman coinage? no. he's making real-time money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill, a bank of america company. i think i'm ready for this. your money never stops working for you with merrill, heck ya! with e*trade you're ready for anything. marriage. kids. college. kids moving back in after college. ♪

here's to getting financially ready for anything! and here's to being single and ready to mingle. who's ready to cha-cha?! this morning an urgent safety warning from norfolk southern. the company is revealing that during the cleanup of the train derailment in springfield, ohio, last week it discovered loose wheels on a specific type of railcar. the company didn't say that's what caused the derailment there or the one in east palestine, but did say they'll take those cars out of service for repairs and said other companies should do the same. this news comes one day after senators grilled norfolk southern's ceo alan shaw about the slew of train derailments under his company's watch including one just hours before his appearance. joining me now is nbc news correspondent jesse kirsch. what is the deal with these wheels? >> yeah, as you mentioned, the company is saying they

discovered loose wheels on a specific model and series of railcars. the company says they recently acquired these, but they are not the only railroad that uses these cars according to norfolk southern, and so the company says that one of its industry groups, a trade industry group has recommended that all railroads that use these cars halt the use of them at this time. so that's what's unfolding. norfolk southern says it has notified the manufacturer of the cars, it has notified federal authorities and again, this was tied to the springfield derailment over the weekend. we can't have word from the company on whether or not these loose wheels would have been the issue that did cause the derailment, even though that is a possibility that they could cause a derailment. we also don't know if this type of railcar was involved in the east palestine train derailment that led to that toxic spill last month. and all of this comes as there was yet another norfolk southern train derailment yesterday, this one in alabama. no word on injuries or hazardous materials leaking there, and

there's no word on the cause of that derailment as well. just another of a series of issues this company has faced and we now know that federal authorities have opened a broader investigation, a special investigation into this company's practices because of these issues one after the other that we've seen, including multiple reported deaths at incidents over the last year plus. so there's been a lot of scrutiny around this company, the scrutiny growing, but they did take this step and make this announcement calling this an urgent safety issue. after seeing multiple incidents of unusual wheel movement of this type of car, they have ordered that these cars be taken out of service for repair. >> thank you so much. i want to bring in pennsylvania congressman chris deluzio. he just introduced alongside congressman ro khanna the derail act. thank you for being with us. first off, just want to get your reaction to what norfolk southern is saying about these loose wheels on railcars. >> i think it's more of the

same. there's a culture of greed. there's a culture of putting profit above safety we've seen from this railroad and the industry for years. it's not surprising we're finding another safety risk that could hurt folks, hurt folks in communities like i represent in beaver county in western pennsylvania where these tracks run through our neighborhoods. this culture of greed in the railroad has to change, and it needs to come from washington and congress changing the rules and improving safety for railroads. >> you just wrote an op-ed calling on congress to pass your new legislation. you say it will ensure trains carrying hazardous materials are properly classified, rail carriers required to have newer railcars, better braking equipment. how could that have helped prevent a disaster like the one we saw in east palestine. are you getting any support so far? >> we're getting support. we've got plenty of cosponsors added all the time on the bill. it would include chemicals like

vinyl chloride in the definition of high hazard flammable train and that triggers a bunch of safety requirements around braking, speed, notifications to state officials. it lowers the threshold. currently you've got to have 20 consecutive cars or 35 in the train to classify as high hazard. my bill makes it one. if a single car has one of these chemicals and they spill, they're released, that's a risk to people. my bill changes that, which it should. >> congressman, i want to play part of the testimony we heard yesterday from alan shaw. >> you talked about covering the needs of the people of east palestine. does that include paying for their health care needs? all of their health care needs? >> senator, we're going to do what's right for the citizens of -- >> what's right is to cover their health care needs. will you do that? >> everything is on the table, sir. >> he also gave a similar answer

when senator markey who we had on the program earlier this week asked about property values and whether norfolk southern would compensate those people? were those responses satisfactory? >> they were not. talk is cheap. i heard mr. shaw utter words that sounded nice, probably some consultants and lobbyists wrote them for him. i didn't hear him commit to paying every single long-term cost that my constituents are going to bear. >> can congress make them? >> i think we have to do everything we can with the administration and congress to hold them accountable and make rails safer. certainly the making rails safer part is a priority for us in congress, and i've been pushing the administration and the e.p.a. in particular which has an order to hold them to account, and i think we've got to make sure we think about the farmers and small businesses who already have and are going to continue to lose business because of what norfolk southern

did. >> congressman, we appreciate you joining us. thank you. >> thank you. we now know senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is being treated for a concussion after that fall at a washington, d.c., hotel wednesday night. he's still in the hospital this morning. the 81-year-old senator was attending an event for the senate leadership fund at the wadorf astoria when he tripped and fell hitting his head. he is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days of observation and treatment. the leader is grateful to the medical professionals for their care and to his colleagues for their warm wishes: we have our eyes on the white house, where we'll hear from president biden on the state of the economy. we're breaking down this morning's job reports with labor secretary marty walsh, one of his last interviews on his last day on the job. florida governor ron desantis is in iowa today acting very much like a presidential candidate and touting his state as a blueprint for the nation. is he setting his state up for

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he's not officially running for president, but he sure looks like he is, florida republican governor ron desantis is in iowa today for two events as "the washington post" reports that he's privately indicated that he intends to run for president. according to two people familiar with his comments. and a new poll from the des moines register and media com shows desantis has a high favorability rating among iowa republicans, close to president trump and ahead of vice president mike pence and nikki haley. dasha burns is tracking this for us from davenport, iowa. what do we know about desantis's visit and how people feel about it? >> reporter: well, lindsey, you'll hear me switching between my indoor voice and my rally voice here as the governor is

addressing this crowd here in davenport, iowa, right now. his debut in the hawkeye state. it's an energetic crowd, a full house. you can hear the crowd clapping behind me as desantis has made this stop part of his book tour and memoir that's largely a playbook of florida policies that he's been using to sort of emphasize his message. you'll hear him touting throughout the day what he sees as florida's biggest successes and how those can apply to iowa and also nationally. he's joined on stage by iowa governor kim reynolds, the two have complimented each other on the way that they've addressed covid. they've really implemented similar policies in both of these states, and right now he's speaking to the crowd more as like a speech style event at the moment, but there are chairs set

up. they're going to do a little bit of a fireside chat shortly. look, this is significant. it's not only his iowa debut, but this is a moment where we're able to see the florida governor outside of his home state and a state that really prizes retail politics. the folks here, a lot of iowans are showing up to all of the candidates' events. they're looking for those handshakes, looking for candidates, soon to be potential candidates to answer direct questions. it's really about that connection with the voters. this isn't an environment we've seen the governor in very much. it will be interesting to see how he appeals to voters outside of that state. >> thanks so much. we know you'll stay listening and flag us if anything big happens. back in desantis's home state his fellow republicans are busy this week with lawmakers introducing three new bills that would expand on the don't say

gay law, another that would ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and a proposal to require bloggers who write about florida politics to register with the state. this comes over a month after governor desantis's decision to block ap african american studies from florida schools. as florida sees all kinds of controversy over those proposals, it's also in the middle of a spring tradition with 15 major league baseball teams currently holding spring training. joining me right now, espn panelist and sports commentary writer for "the washington post," kevin black stone. he's out with a new piece called baseball can no longer ignore ron desantis's culture wars. kevin, thanks for being with us. i want to talk to you about the piece. you outlined major league baseball's move out of florida for spring training. and late '40s, a state with some of the harshest jim crow laws.

jackie robinson, his team moving spring training to havana, cuba. that same year the cleveland indians, the new york giants moved spring training to tucson, and in 1949, the next two black players to join the league in st. louis moved spring training to burbank, florida. this is recent history hear. walk us through that history and what parallels you see today. >> true, well, thanks for having me on. you know, baseball champions itself as being in the vanguard of social change in this country, and you know, we all have talked about the jackie robinson story. one part of the story we really haven't talked about is his first and earliest experiences with the farm team of the brooklyn dodgers in 1946 who when they came to spring training in 1946, they found that the team could not get into some of the places that they were supposed to practice. that they were supposed to put on exhibition games because of

jackie robinson's presence and john wright who was another black player on that team. they had fields that were padlocked so that they couldn't enter them. they had places they wouldn't allow robinson and wright to walk onto the field, and so baseball reacted, right? and they started to depart from -- or certain teams did from florida, and that really began the tradition of the cactus league in arizona. so that is the through line to what is going on now. and baseball has in the very recent past, right, in 2021 they moved the all star game out of the state of georgia in protest to some of the election laws that a lot of people in the state of georgia felt were burdensome on black voters in particular and other people of color and people who were marginalized in that state.

so i just think that, you know, baseball has spoken out on these issues before, and i think it should express if it has some uncomfortableness with the things that are going on in the desantis campaign, in the way that he's run the state of florida, and in some of the other legislation that has been passed there that they should speak out. you know, we talked about -- and i know this network has -- about the review of books for youth in the public schools and the state of florida, and some of those that have not yet been allowed back on the shelves. one of those books happens to be a book about jackie robinson, so think about the irony of that. they also temporarily suspended the distribution of books about roberto clemente and hank aaron, two of the great black stars of baseball. >> kevin, that's such an important point here. do you get the sense that maybe other companies or entities saw what happened with disney?

i mean, disney taking a stand finally after pushback from employees on the so-called don't say gay bill, and then desantis revoking their tax exempt status. do you think that's having a chilling effect on other people wading into this? >> you know, it may. i know baseball was hit with some challenges to its antitrust -- to its antitrust protections in the state of georgia by some national legislators. so i'm sure that that might be of a concern. i'm also thinking that baseball knows that they're only in florida and arizona for, you know, no more than six or eight weeks. so this too shall pass, but i think it's something that they should really speak out against, and i know that, you know, the head of the baseball players union tony clark was pretty vocal about the decision to move the all star game out of the state of georgia as were a number of players of color in

particular in major league baseball. >> really appreciate you coming on, thank you. >> turning to breaking news, the department of labor just releasing the february jobs numbers showing 311,000 jobs were added to the economy last month. now, that's better than economists predicted. unemployment ticked up, but still remains low, which is 3.6%. president biden is expected to address the new report from the white house in just a few minutes, but first let's check into the details. nbc news business and data reporter brian cheung is with us. what sectors are we seeing growth in? >> what we saw, 311,000, that's how many jobs were added in the month of february a little wit above estimates. a bit of a slower pace from the over 500,000 job pace we saw in the month of january. that got revised down a little bit. still above half a million for that month. where did we see the job gains, specifically in leisure and hospitality? you think of drinking establishments and restaurants, those added about 105,000,

retail trade, those working at the mall, for example, adding 50,000, and then manufacturing also firing on all cylinders. we county see job gains in every category when you look at information, for example, that could cover tech jobs as well as transportation. we did see contractions in those industries, but broadly, lindsey, it seems like a lot of jobs getting added continuallyc much. let's speak to the department of labor secretary marty walsh on his last day at the department. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me today. >> what's your reaction to the report? we're seeing strong job growth, unemployment ticking up a little bit. is that due to the participation rate increase, and is it more people looking for work in a tight labor market? >> yeah, we saw the -- first of all, it's a great jobs report, 311,000 jobs. we did see labor participation rate tick up a little bit, which is a good thing. we want to see more of that.

one of the things that we can see in the future here is the president in his budget laid out a blueprint for child care and home care, and that's one of the big obstacles why people still aren't participating. employers are still looking for employees. we're not looking at lack of jobs. what we need to do is look at getting more people into the work force. we saw unemployment tick up a bit in the african american community, latino community, and the biggest reason for that was also participation rate ticking up in those communities as well. as we think about moving forward, we've seen good gains in good areas. we saw a decrease in manufacturing, but it was a small decrease, about 5,000 jobs. you got to report the good news and let you know the other side of it too. >> so secretary, we know that with a good, positive jobs report that could mean more aggressive moves by the fed. the fed projecting 2 million jobs will be lost as they

continue to raise interest rates in response to high inflation. are you concerned about what you've built here and the legacy you leave behind potentially being undermined by fed policy? >> i'm not concerned. i think that businesses in america have realized how to operate in this post-pandemic world. what i mean by that is a lot of the inflationary pressures we're seeing, inflation we're seeing was caused because of -- because of covid-19. it was caused because of a war in ukraine and other reasons, and i think that the businesses are realizing as they move forward, they're adding smart to their bottom line, they're adding smart when they're hiring employees, and i think that we're still seeing more and more of that. obviously we're going to monitor what the fed does and what the white house does, what we do as an administration. we're separate, the president has been very clear and focused on us all addressing inflationary pressures. the biggest concern for people in america right now is the costs at their kitchen table, and we need to do everything we can to bring those costs down. >> what's your message,

secretary to the american people? i mean, we're seeing some signs here, for example, in president biden's budget that the unemployment rate could tick up. we're seeing fears that silicon valley bank could implode. right now what would be your message to the person watching on how they can expect things to go in the next six months to a year? >> the president spent his first two years passing amazing legislation, getting americans back to work, as i mentioned two years ago tomorrow the american rescue plan covered, there was 12.5 million people out of work. we didn't have a plan moving forward. fast forward two years later, those folks that were out of work are back to work. we're seeing growth across the country. this legislation that the president passed, the infrastructure bill, we're seeing jobs across america right now, roads and bridges being fixed and being built for the first time in 30, 40, 50 years. we have an amazing opportunity in front of us. and here at the department of

labor, we'll focus on how do we make sure these investments being made on behalf of people to give them an opportunity to get to the middle class. people might not see that today, i guarantee you you're going to see those opportunities present themselves. that's what i've been doing for the last two years, making sure people understand that we're focused on creating job training pathways, apprenticeship pathways and work force development pathways into good paying jobs. >> thank you for your time and our best wishes to you as you leave the labor department and enter a new chapter. we will be watching the white house for the president's remarks on this. next, just when you think the murdaugh saga is over, there's a new twist. the latest move from the convicted murderer's legal team. an apparent apology letter from the mexican cartel after the kidnapping and death of americans. what that letter said when we come back. e. i have flinn and a new puppy.

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one week after he was sentenced to life in prison for double murder, alex murdaugh's lawyers are back at work. his legal team has now filed a notice of appeal for his convictions for murdering his wife and youngest son. one of murdaugh's attorneys tweeted, quote, no amount of vitriol or misguided attacks will stop us from pursuing due process for alex to the fullest extent of the law. laura jarrett joins us right now. how will this process work? >> he's in for a pretty steep climb here. the odds are not in his favor. these kinds of convictions,

especially a jury verdict that's heard so much evidence, it's going to be really hard to overturn the conviction. having said that, he still has a right to appeal. he is probably going to do it. his lawyers are probably going to do it based on the fact that the judge let in all of that financial fraud evidence. they fought really hard to keep it out. they lost that time and again, and so they're going to say because the judge let that in, it tainted the jury's view of him in a way that they could never recover from and so that's going to be his primary ground for appeal. i should note if you actually manage to successfully appeal your case, you don't just walk a free man. he would just be able to retry the case again. >> the judge knew this team would eventually appeal, you could tell with each decision he's keeping that in mind. when it comes to the financial crimes, i want to play what the jurors said why they ultimately came to the verdict they did. >> it may have been a combination of things, not just the financial but everything was weighing heavy on him.

>> he wanted to have control of everything, you know, and his wife owned a majority of the things that they owned, they had, so i'm thinking it was more like greed it's a storm, at points in time the defense would take one aspect is and be like it couldn't have been this. it may not have been that one singular thing, but there's so many things that contributed to the overall storm. >> the prosecution didn't need to prove motive. in their closing they pivoted and said it was that gathering storm. fascinating that these jurors all sort of came to a different conclusion. does that matter? >> i think it does matter. the prosecution is going to point out what they call harmless error. even if the judge shouldn't have let in the financial fraud evidence, they're going to probably point to other points where the jury says, look, it was the kennel video. it was the fact that he was caught on camera minutes before the crime and then lied about it. that was why we ended up convicting him. that was the strongest piece of evidence in their view even putting aside the financial evidence. expect the prosecution to say

even if the judge messed this up, the error was harmless. it can't be harmless to get the conviction overturned. >> we don't know what murdaugh's defense attorneys are going to say yet. >> this is just a place holder. >> it could be the financial crimes. it could be, again, this -- what they kind of insinuated throughout the whole trial, tried to prove the shoddy work by s.l.e.d. investigates, the crime scene, multiple people traipsing through. >> i would expect to see everything and the kitchen sink thrown into this appeal. you want to exhaust all of your possible remedies. you don't know what exactly the court of appeals might attach to. they're going to throw a whole bunch of things in that they think should have been done right at trial. >> appreciate it. i'm sure we'll be talking about this again. >> oh, yes. switching gears here, a somber moment yesterday evening in southern texas where the bodies of the two americans killed in that kidnapping in mexico arrived at a funeral home. that comes after a stunning development in the case, a letter obtained by "associated press" and in it the gulf cartel

apologized to the families of those killed. a senior u.s. law enforcement official says the letter appears to be legitimate and the cartel also released a photo, this one right here of five men with their hands tied saying they had turned over members of the group that were responsible for the crime. the status of the five men is not clear. the two survivors of the attack, the two americans are recovering back in the u.s. still ahead, ukraine under siege, dealing with blackouts impacting electricity, water, and heat. a report from the region. and why president biden's meeting with one leader today is key to keeping our alliance together. gether come here! you know why people are always looking at their phones? they're banking, with bank of america. see cousin jimmy over there? his girlfriend just caught the bouquet so... he might need a little more help saving. for that engagement ring... the groom's parents. you think they're looking at photos of their handsome boy? they're not! she just saw how much they spent on ballroom dance classes...

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relieving nasal congestion and sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. try vicks sinex. a breakthrough in the middle east this morning. iran and saudi arabia have agreed to restore diplomatic relations, ending years of tension between the two rival countries. the deal was made earlier today in china. and both countries will now reopen embassies in each other's capitals and the u.s. is responding to the news. a national security council spokesperson saying, quote, generally speaking, we welcome any efforts to end the war in yemen and de-escalate tensions in the middle east. they are key pillars of the policy president biden outlined during his visit to the region last year. and just a few hours, president biden is set to host the president of the european commission at the white house. it's the latest in a series of meetings he's held with world leaders all around the one-year

mark of russia's war in ukraine. aid to ukraine is expected to be one of the items on the agenda when they meet this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. eastern. and the ukrainian military says its forces have repelled more than 100 russian attacks around the eastern mining town of bakhmut over the last 24 hours. an aide to president zelenskyy says ukraine plans to fight in the city to try to pin down some of russia's best units ahead of a planned ukrainian spring counteroffensive. other parts of ukraine have lost electricity, they have lost heat and water. following all these recent russian attacks. nbc's erin mclaughlin has more from dnipro, ukraine. >> they're still working to restore the capital kyiv's heating system after yesterday's hypersonic missile strike. a city official telling me that he hopes it will be fully restored in the coming days. meanwhile, fighting continues in the east with the russian commander of its forces in bakhmut complaining he's running out of ammunition. at least six people have been

killed and millions left without heat following russia's offensive in ukraine thursday. that included the use of powerful new hypersonic missiles. the russian military claiming it was an act of revenge. president zelenskyy declaring it an act of terror. no matter how many malicious things russia does, our state and people will still not be in chains, he says. late thursday, the director of the cia with this warning about russian president vladimir putin. >> he's convinced also and has been for some time the ukraine matters more to him than to us. therefore, the challenge i think is to puncture that view. >> reporter: to the east, the ukrainian military determines to show ukraine matters most to its people. they're battling for every inch of territory in bakhmut. ukrainian forces are adamant the importance of this city grows by the day. as ukrainian fighters attempt to exhaust elite russian forces known as the wagner group claiming to control the eastern part of the city.

the notorious leader of the paramilitary organization on thursday issuing this public appeal for more ammunition, claiming the kremlin is no longer taking his calls. now i can only ask for more supplies through the media, he says. meanwhile, miles away at a hospital in dnipro, the ukrainian commitment to victory on full display. sergei, a ukrainian soldier back from near bakhmut took a bullet in the arm. you want to go back to the front lines. as soon as it heals, he says, i'll go back. i was speaking to another ukrainian soldier who was lightly wounded fighting in bakhmut. he had a harrowing account of the situation in the city saying that russian soldiers were outnumbering the ukrainians three to one. he said they were flooding the streets, and yet ukrainian soldiers were persisting, vowing to maintain control of that besieged city. he said he was heading back to the front lines to fight today.

back to you. >> incredible resolve. our thanks to erin for that report. that does it for me this busy hour and this busy week. jose diaz-balart reports starts next.

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