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a.m. out we i'm lipid see riser at msnbc headquarters in new york heightened anticipation as we watch for a potentially unprecedented decision from a new york grand jury about whether to indict trump. his former fixer, michael cohen, could head back to the grand jury today as a rebuttal witness. that's because they're about to hear from a different unexpected witness today, robert costello, michael cohen's former legal adviser. looming over the decision, the former president's statement over the weekend that he expects to be arrested tomorrow. with uncertainly swirling, prominent republicans including the speaker of the house are coming to his defense. >> it doesn't matter what side of the issue you're on it doesn't matter if this was president trump or if this was a democrat there should be equal justice in

america, and stop going after people because you have political differences. also this hour, a high-stakes meeting in moscow between chinese leader xi jinping and russian president vladimir putin it's the first meeting since the invasion of ukraine. the big potential ramifications this meeting could have on the war. we're following markets as banking turmoil rocks the global financial system we're seeing a takeover with ubs announcing it will buy its rival credit swoous. new york community bank is buying a piece of signature bank we begin with the manhattan district attorney's investigation into former president trump and signs that a possible indictment could come as soon as this week nbc's vaughn hillyard is in west palm beach, florida, close to mar-a-lago garrett haake is outside the d.a.'s office in manhattan garrett, former trump fixer michael cohen expected back at the d.a.'s office today.

his former legal adviser robert costello is also expected before the grand jury what can we expect today >> reporter: i suspect we'll hear airs of grievances and bad blood. costello is a former legal adviser from michael cohen, appearing at the request of mr. trump's attorneys. his mission is to cast as much doubt on michael cohen's testimony as pobls, try to make him as non-credible as possible in the eyes of the grand jury. it wouldn't surprises me if we hear from mr. costello publicly on that same point cohen will have an opportunity to serve as a rebuttal witness, to basically answer any questions that costello might raise about him or about his testimony. we think this is basically the end of this process. it's a fairly unique thing in new york law that you get a defense witness who gets an opportunity to testify in front of a grand jury which is really only a prosecutor's show

this will be one last opportunity for donald trump and his legal allies to cast doubt on the cast that michael cohen has helped to present, and the decision will likely be in the hands of the grand jury and d.a. alvin bragg. >> over the weekend, trump said he'd likely be arrested on tuesday and called for his supporters to protest. >> reporter: it's not clear what reports he was talking about because, number one, of course, charges haven't even been filed to our knowledge against donald trump, let alone a tuesday arraignment being in order here. for donald trump this is a moment he is trying to grab by the horns and make this politically beneficial to him. of course, that will be difficult. when you're looking at the polling around donald trump, our political editor mark murray has been astute in assessing past legal inquirie trump after january 6th, of course, after the fbi's raid here at mar-a-lago and polling numbers have never really shifted

sort of that support around donald trump has remained consistent and organic around donald trump but those that have been reticent donald trump has remained reticent towards donald trump. as to those republicans, the likes of marjorie taylor greene stating over the course of this weekend in which she says if the manhattan d.a. indicts president trump he will ultimately win even bigger than he's already going to win the republicans that stand by and cheer for his persecution and will be remembered, scorned and punished by the base we saw these types of statements by the likes of house speaker kevin mccarthy who over the weekend put out a tweet suggesting that the house republicans should investigate the extent to which federal funding has gone to back these types of investigations. and donald trump, of course, this will be used by trump allies to help benefit his presidential campaign as polling shows he's ahead of the likes of

or republican rivals for more, i want to bring in deputy national editor for the "new york post" philip rucker and former u.s. attorney joyce vance. phillip, remind us us of all the players and how we got here. >> this all centers on the hush money payment, if it were, that trump made to stormy daniels through michael cohen who was his attorney at the time these are figures, cohen at least, in trump's orbit for many, many years and helped him build his political ambitions heading into the 2016 campaign he's now, of course, estranged from donald trump but has been a key witness in this proceeding in new york and has been a very vocal critic over the last year or so of the form are president. >> joyce, we heard garrett talk about how this was a unique opportunity, trump's attorneys

requested that costello testify after cohen testified last week. how does that work and what does that suggest to you? >> so new york has that abhorrent approach that's very pro defendant that allows them to present evidence or testify in front of the grand jury this is a last-ditch effort by trump's team to prevent the indictment it's very unlikely it will succeed. the grand jury only be convinced that there's probable cause to believe crimes have been committed in order to return an indictment it seems unlikely to me that the manhattan d.a. would have gone this far without very strong evidence in that regard. so bob costello will have his say. he will testify if the grand jury chooses to hear from him. if they have any followup questions for michael cohen, they're certainly entitled to ask prosecutors to present him as well. it sounds like they're very close to finishing their work. and shortly the district attorney will appear in front of

the grand jury and ask them to vote on whether or not issue the first indictment against a former president of the united states >> suzanne, you've gone down the rabbit hole more than most when it comes to trump's finances and won a pulitzer for doing so. what kind of paper trail are they working with here >> what they've been doing for several months now in front of the grand jury is trying to build a case beyond what people have said, what michael cohen may have said. they're looking for things like text messages, phone records and bank statements. it could be a call that went between michael cohen and donald trump. we don't know what was said, but we know the call was made. michael cohen may have, in the course of when the hush money payment happened or more recently he may have been texting people about the payment things he knew they're going to be stress testing all of that against what people are saying so that they've got really a lot of factual information to bolster

what people are saying >> joyce, the manhattan d.a. sent an internal memo to staff over the weekend telling his office, quote, we do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in new york could trump's public effort to fight the indictment be damaging to him legally >> well, it's an interesting question the first time it will come up will be when the judge las to make a decision if there is an indictment about whether trump gets detained or not normally you wouldn't expect that to happen in a case of this nature you expect he'll be booked, booked with his secret service agent in tow that will be something new and unprecedented, but then he'll be released the question is whether his conduct could at some point cross over that barrier where he might be considered a threat to the public if he's permitted to remain in the public i don't expect he'll be detained everything he says publicly can

be used as evidence against him, both in these procedural issues like detention, but also substantive evidence at this and at other trials. >> susanne, frum is certainly no stranger to legal fights and investigations how is this moment different from what we've seen before? >> it's a criminal indictment. it doesn't get more serious than that people are trying to minimize it saying, well, it's just a misdemeanor being trumd up it's a criminal indictment i want to caution people, we really don't know. we've got informed reporting on this about what could come down. until we see it, we really don't know what it looks like. it's a criminal indictment he's also facing other legal fights that could end up also with criminal indictments. it's serious stuff i don't think, if it comes down the way we think it is, it's big. >> phillip, one washington-based republican operative told nbc

news by phone, if there is an indictment, this helps energize his base but went on to say while this absolutely helps president trump going into a primary, i'm not sure what it does in general. what kind of impact are you seeing it happen >> certainly it energizes trump's supporters who will see this as him being a victim of the judicial system. yet, it's also a remind tore the broader electorate of how much baggage former president trump has, and i actually don't know -- a lot of political analysts are trying to gauge the fallout, vis-a-vis the 2024 presidential race. i'm not sure we're going to be able to predict that until we see this indictment take place importantly, there are other probes on going including fulton county georgia, two federal probes that special counsel jack smith is proceeding on

there could be future indictments in the months ahead. while it might energy jiesz his core supporters, it may end up having a negative effect overall with the overall american electorate. >> susanne craig, joyce vance, philip rucker, a very happy birthday to you. >> thank you. keeping our ears open about how republicans are coming to the former president's defense first, a pairing that's gives diplomats pause. the big concerns about how a meeting between russian president vladimir putin and china's xi jinping could impact the war in ukraine. and the economic roller coaster that has one high-ranking democrat slamming the federal reserve chairman >> he has had two jobs, one is to deal with monetary policy, one is to deal with regulation he has failed at both. >> inside the latest moves to tamp down on the global banking turmoil. we're back in 60 seconds

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this morning in moscow, a major meeting is playing out between two autocrats as vladimir putin plays host to xi jinping. the three-day visit is the first since russia's invasion of ukraine. you're looking at new video of said meeting on your screen. in a statement president xi called russia a friendly neighbor and said they were working to, quote, uphold the global system. the meeting follows putin's surprise visit to mariupol days after the international criminal court issued a warrant for his arrest for war crimes in ukraine. nbc's matt bradley is with us from kyiv. janis mackey frayer is joining us from ukraine. matt, what kind of action are you seeing in ukraine? >> reporter: the ukrainians, we asked the foreign ministry and they said they don't want to comment on this meeting until

after the meeting takes place. it looks like what you can hear from here, you get the impression from here in kyiv that ukrainians believe they might be able to find some daylight still between beijing and moscow that's because even though xi jinping has proposed peace plans that were more favorable to moscow according to the ukraines, americans and other western allies the ukrainians still believe that xi jinping might not be entirely, irretrievably on the side of moscow, that there might still be some wiggle room in order to draw them back. that's the only official comment we were able to get from the ukrainians, was saying that they hope xi jinping will prevail upon vladimir putin to try to end putin's aggression here in ukraine. whether or not that works out has yet to be seen i think the ukrainians here, just like everyone else in the world, see this as an incredibly consequential meeting and one that will really dictate how

this war proceeds from here on out so they, like diplomats everywhere are on tinder hooks they don't know whether xi jinping will propose yet another peace treaty that will call for a cease-fire and mied end up ceding land to ukraine that's something kyiv has roundly rejected they're still waiting to see what happens because xi jinping has held out the possibility there might be a phone call, the first since the war began between xi jinping and ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy this week after this meeting in moscow so there is some hope here in ukraine that this meeting might not go entirely vladimir putin's way. >> this trip comes as there's growing tension between china and the u.s. what do the chinese home to achieve with the visit >> reporter: -- china's role as a peace maker in the ukraine

conflict is highly debatable china has long straddled the issue, even refusing to call it an invasion. it's gone to great lengths to ensure it doesn't strain its ties with moscow and vladimir putin. the two men consider themselves friends though the china-russia relationship is more pragmatic, unsentimental. it's based on trade and this common strategic view that's aligned against the u.s. and american foreign policy. it's why, if we rewind a couple weeks, lindsey, and look back to the speech xi jinping made where he named the u.s. as leading western nations in this effort to contain china, that was unprecedented. it was very key at the moment. in a way we're seeing that followthrough now where xi jinping, in making this visit, is saying to russia it doesn't need russia to win the war, but

needs russia to stay in step with china against the u.s., so russia thus cannot lose the war. it's why xi jinping is pushing this 12-point proposal to try and reach a settlement in what they call the crisis in ukraine. as matt mentioned, the ukrainian side is not going to agree to give up any square foot of ukrainian territory. putin has already said he's not going to give up any territory that russia has already captured that weekend trip to mariupol reenforces that. both sides are gearing up for spring combat operations xi jinping in going to moscow is going to not want to leave empty-handed or embarrassed. there will be trade deals and a lot of discussion about deeper ties and economic independence but the u.s. has also said it's opposed to anything that's going to amount to what it calls ratification of the russian conquest but that xi has made this trip to moscow. the leader of a powerful country

visiting russia at a time when the war in ukraine is raging is already a hugely symbolic victory for vladimir putin. >> matt, before we let you both go, janice mentioned this stunning visit to mariupol by president putin at the same time he's accused of committing war crimes there, warrants out for his arrest how are ukrainians reacting to this show? >> reporter: that was just a provocative slap in the face to ukrainians the name mariupol -- in this country, it's not just a city. it's a symbol. it means so much more than just a place. it's a similymbol of resistancee site of the largest mass killings of civilians in a theater in a bombing by the russians on a theater where a lot of civilians were sheltering that killed maybe thousands of people for ukrainians this was vladimir putin rubbing their face in defeat so this was a victory lap for

vladimir putin, and it came a day after he was seen in the ukrainian peninsula of crimea and a day after the international criminal court had levied charges against him and issued an arrest warrant accusing him of war crimes for a lot of ukrainians this is probably going to strengthen their resolve and they'll see vladimir putin as once again making provocative moves that look deliberately offensive and really in a way, this was just an emotional act more than anything else, one that a lot of people here found deeply offensive. we heard in an advisory from the president that he tweeted the criminal always returns to the scene of the crime that's how a lot of ukrainians see this, vladimir putin as a criminal and mariupol as the scene of a crime >> matt bradley and janice mackey fryer, thank you. i'm joined by james s

stavridis. what does it suggest to you about how closely the u.s. government is watching this meeting? >> first, i want to make a comment about putin and mariupol i think it's important to have a context here he literally slipped in there in the middle of the night because he's afraid for higgs own safety and because he doesn't want cameras to show how he was forced to completely destroy that city in order to gain a very puric victory at best i will say mariupol will go down like the alamo in the united states ultimately it's going to be a temple to the fighting spirit of the ukrainians this was not a good look for vladimir putin as to the meeting which, lindsey, is the main focus and should be at this point, first, president xi wants to appear, and he already is -- look at

that graphic you're showing. he's the man in charge of this relationship putin is the supp pli can't. putin is begging for weapons he needs them. he's burned through nearly half of his armored tanks, armored personnel carriers he's not in a good position as this spring offensive comes on putin is begging for weapons an support. president xi is informing putin of how things are going to play out. it is a relationship that is close but it is not a relationship of equals >> admiral, what do you see the u.s. viewing -- how do you see the u.s. viewing this meeting here we heard from janice and matt that it's not necessarily a given that china is 100% on the side of putin. do you think the u.s. is looking for maybe that sort of 3% or 4%? >> very much so.

frankly, president xi is smart, thoughtful and strategic, unlike his junior partner putin who is impulsive, foolish and showing himself to be holding a losing hand of cards here so xi will, like all smart strategists, try to keep all his options at play. he'll position himself as a global peacemaker. he'll push this 12-point chinese peace plan the u.s. would be very smart, and i think you'll hear this from admiral kirby, my good friend, later today, we're not going to be publicly putting huge amounts of pressure on china here we're going to be asking china to do the right thing, to restrain vladimir putin. all of that will be part of a small smart u.s. strategy that keeps chien in in play between the two sides. i think we can manage that. >> xi has promoted himself as peacemaker, but given there's

concern whether china will provide russia with arms is that something the international community can take seriously? >> unfortunately, yes. i think that xi may provide weapons. in terms of xi's peacekeeping ability, xi knows, if he does provide those weapons, he undercuts that portrait he wants to paint of himself as someone who can resolve these kind of big conflicts. so, again, i'm cautiously optimistic here, lindsey, that we won't see president xi lean in with large amounts of lethal aid to russia. that would polarize the situation badly. but from xi's perspective, it would undercut his ability to be that global figure that i think he wants to project on behalf of this nation. >>stavridis, thanks for joining us. >> you bet. new billion dollar deals to swallow up banks aimed at curbing panic in the global

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. we're keeping our eyes on the markets today and following the reaction of several big deals meant to calm the global banking turmoil. among those headlines, ubs

bought credit suisse in a $3 billion deal. here at home, new york community bank has agreed to buy a big chunk of failed signature bank. now u.s. financial leaders are facing increasing criticism from high-ranking members of congress. joining us nbc news business correspondent brian cheung as well as sahil kapur from capitol hill. brian, what are you watching for today? >> what i'm watching for is developments on the silicon valley bank side of things. as you recall, signature bank was one of two that failed in the weekend prior. signature bank getting a lot of assets bought by new york community bank. that announcement hitting from the federal deposit insurance corporation last night. any signature bank branches that you'll see around even new york city, for example, will become flagstar locations. that's the name that new york community bank operates at at the street level. silicon valley bank, the larger bank that failed in the weekend prior has not had a buyer yet. we heard from the fdic that

they're still soliciting bids. there are a number of potential buyers for that business. again, silicon valley bank remains entirely in receivership of the fdic. we'll have to see if government officials can do anything about that troubled bank. >> senator elizabeth warren being one of the leading voices on the hill demanding change and criticizing u.s. financial leaders. what's he calling for? >> reporter: senator warren has been on the warfront on two fronds. she's demanding a thorough investigation into the causes of the banks' failures and has been critical of joel demanding his focus more on protecting the labor market, focus on tougher regulations on banks or she says he shouldn't be in that job in the first place. let's have a listen to what she said on "meet the press." >> he has two jobs, one is to

deal with monetary policy, one is to deal with regulation. he's failed at both. i don't think he should be chairman of the federal reserve. i've said it as publicly as i know how to say it. i've said it to everyone. >> reporter: warren who is also a member of the banking committee is an author of legislation that would restore dodd-frank scrutiny on banks with assets over $50 billion. a lot of that regulation was eased in 2018. it's unlikely to pass congress at this point, not gaining tracks with republicans or even her senate democrats who voted with it. there is a lane that congress could travel in that could reach fruition and that specifically what president biden has asked. he's asked for legislation passed by congress that would empower the fdic to claw back executive compensation bonuses, stock sales, that sort of things from executives at failed banks and wants to make it easier for the fdic to fine those executives. i asked speaker mccarthy.

he kept the door open. the first hearing is going to be occurring on march 29th, lindsey. >> brian, what are you watching for when the fed meets this week? "the washington post" editorial board are out with a new op-ed urging a pause to rate increases? >> on wednesday afternoon we'll have a decision from the federal reserve with regard to interest rates. the expectation they would get more aggressive in raising interest rates to take steam out of the economy and take inflation down. that was the story at least prior to the bank failures. one of the dominos to fall that led to svb's collapse was interest rates. the expectation is the fed might slice it through the middle by going with perhaps a quarter point or maybe not moving at all. either way we'll get a press conference from the fed chairman where he'll likely be pressed on the things we've been talking about with regards to the

banking system in the united states. we heard from the fed last night after the announcement of credit suisse's save in switzerland. here in the united states the financial system is, quote, resilient. >> brian cheung, sahil kapur, thank you. right now the supreme court is hearing arguments in a case that's been winding its way through the courts for two decades. at issue, the navajo nation's access to water. the tribe claims the fire department has an obligation to provide it and wants rights to the lower colorado river. the higher court is hearing two appeals, one from the federal government and another from the states of arizona and nevada arguing in part there isn't enough water to go around from a river already decimated by a historic drought. joining us is nbc news senior legal correspondent laura jarrett. we have water rights, climate issues. what's at stake here? >> a lot is at stake for this tribe obviously. 30% of the residents in this

community do not have access to running water. so this is obviously critical for them. as you mentioned, the argument is just getting under way now. you already see the justices pressing the government about how can you say -- if you have to provide access to this land, whichever one agrees that the government does have to provide access to the land, how can you provide access and not say that includes a right to running water. justice warren saying if you have to provide access to the land, how are you supposed to provide for cattle, animals that need access to drinking water. that can't place unless you have access to water. our lawrence hurry went up and spent time with the tribe, saw how folks not only don't have access to water, but going miles to get it, filling up buckets, taking it back to their communities. it's obviously a case that has deep social justice implications. it's unclear how the justices will rule. a federal district court found

against the navajo nation and found there wasn't a legal right, a legal underpinning to their argument. but the ninth circuit reversed, and that's why it's now at the supreme court. >> why is this taking so long, talking two decades to get to the supreme court? >> it's been a series of winding different court decisions. the supreme court has exclusive jurisdiction over these types of cases. and so obviously they will have the final say. >> laura jarrett, thank you. next, republicans are speaking out over a potential indictment of former president trump. >> just feel like it's just not what the american people want to see. >> it's another example of two-tier system of justice. >> i think it's building a lot of sympathy for the former president. as house republicans meet in orlando for their annual retreat, there's another florida man in focus. governor ron desantis, the mounting pressure he's facing to speak out about his potential

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many of donald trump's fellow republicans are rallying to his defense as the former president readies for a potential indictment, condemning the investigation as politically motivated with some even predicting an indictment could help him politically. nbc's ryan nobles is with on capitol hill. ali vitali at the republican retreat in orlando, florida. also with us, former republican congressman from florida, david

jolly. ryan, how are republican lawmakers reacting the the news of a potential indictment? >> reporter: it certainly seems they have their talking points. they're rallying around the former president donald trump and attacking manhattan d.a. alvin bragg calling this politically motivated. take a look at a sample of what republicans were saying over the weekend. >> it feels like a politically-charged prosecution here. and for my part, i just feel like it's just not what the american people want to see. >> all the democrats hate trump. there are republicans that hate trump. there's a double standard. you can do anything you want to trump and everybody is okay with that, but you can't do it to biden. >> this looks to mek me like another example of the two-tier system of justice at the doj. >> reporter: you heard those same messaging points over and over again, two-tiered justice system, politically charged prosecution.

not a lot of talk about the substance of the potential allegations that. in part because you don't know what this indictment will look like. if we have any question about whether republicans were going to rally around trump, that appears to be answered. one thing to point out, we haven't heard from senate republicans yet. you did hear from rick scott. they will return later this week where we'll get some sort of idea as to how they feel about all this. right now republicans, at least rank and file republicans seem to be sticking up for the former president. ali, you were at house speaker kevin mccarthy's press conference over the weekend. what did he have to say? >> reporter: he was one of the key voices we were looking at to see how he would respond, especially when you look at the makeup of the house republican conference. they're made in trump's image in in ways. his defenders immediately came to his aid, many echoing the talking points that ryan just showed to you. speaker mccarthy was clear, when i asked does he condone the

violence, the language trump using now has mirror images to what he was saying before january 6th. he said he doesn't condone the calls to protest. here is a little more of the conversation he had with me and other reporters last night. watch. >> it doesn't matter what side of the issue you're ong. it doesn't matter if this was president trump or if this was a democrat. there should be equal justice in america. and some going after people because you have political differences. >> reporter: again, you can mccarthy there echoing that idea of an unequal justice system, but also earlier in that press conference and at other points urging people to stay calm, that this shouldn't be a moment for violence, but also saying when president trump tweeted that people should protest and take our country back, in trump's words, that mccarthy's

interpretation was that he was trying to educate people and there wasn't any harm meant by that rhetoric. >> david, going after people because of political differences, is that what's happening here? >> no. it's absolute garbage. when kevin mccarthy says we need equal justice, we have it. democrat john edwards was charged with the same thing, paying hush money to someone he had a relationship with to try to keep it out of the press. donald trump has done the same. the hyperbole misses the substance of the sorry which is a violation of the law. none of them will talk about donald trump's apparent violation of the law. i think there's a bit of a bet they are making which is maybe twofold. one is the stormy daniels store writ self is kind of baked in. it's not a shock to the american people's system, if you will. secondly, this could be a hard case to prove. john edwards ultimately was acquitted because this is a hard case to prove when it comes to hush money. in the state of new york, the charges likely to be around an

accounting, whether or not the hush money was booked as an expense. the hard question for the prosecutor, moving that from a misdemeanor to a felly. i think you're seeing a lot of republicans take the bet that donald trump either might be acquitted or the american people really don't see this as such a great violation to rise to the level of an arrest. the law is the law, and donald trump is likely to face that in the next 36 hours. >> david, i want to also play for you what south dakota senator mike round said about trump, calling for protests if he's indicted. >> there's a difference between the former president and what he did on january 6th as the president of the united states and his call for support at the capitol versus an individual person today asking people to show up to protest if he is indicted. >> what do you make of that, david? do you see this as different from january 6th? >> i think donald trump hopes it's the same. i think it's important we realize that.

he's shown us what he tries to do when he issues these statements. he's hoping for protests in the street and maybe would be okay with violence. what might be different in how the meme react is that on january 6th it was personal to many people, they felt their vote had been taken away, their election had been stolen, and donald trump was the incumbent president. now we're two years removed. this is a story about donald trump and an adult porn star. there's not the same relationship to people's personal lives. i don't anticipate the protests. i will say this, lindsey, the great unknown here is when a mugshot starts circulating, if it does, does that change the psychology within america around this issue and all of a sudden it's not just a small issue but a big one when people see what could become an infamous mugshot photo of the former president. >> if it happens key there. ali, let's talk about desantis. republicans are in trump and desantis' home state. he's been pretty quite about

this but held a news conference. >> reporter: in the last few minutes we're getting florida governor ron desantis' reaction to the potential indictment. i'll let him speak for himself here. listen to what we just got in. >> i don't know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. i can't speak to that, but what i can speak to is if you have a prosecutor who is ignoring crimes happening every single day in his jurisdiction and he chooses to go back many, many years ago to try to use something about porn star hush money payments, that's an example of pursuing a political agenda. >> reporter: again, lindsey, we're watching the first reaction we've seen from florida governor ron desantis. this plays in a lot of different

ways for desantis. it was trump's endorsement in 2018 that really launched him into the national conservative consciousness. that's something he's hoping to parlay in any kind of potential bid. he hasn't announced officially but has been making stops to places like iowa and nevada, clearly in the conversation regularly at the top of the polls. the fact that desantis, while other members of the republican party, were coming out with this line immediately, that there's a two-tiered system of justice, that they were coming out but desantis was mum. that was something that people in trump world noticed. you saw don jr. saying pay attention to who is coming to trump's defense. the fact that it took him 24 hours is something i think trump world will try to exploit going forward. we want to get to breaking news now in another legal case

involving former president donald trump. nbc news has learned that trump's lawyers have filed a motion to quash the report from the georgia special grand jury about 2020 election interference. they argue all the evidence that comes from the special grand jury should be deemed unconstitutional and the d.a. should be disqualified from further investigation. we have reached out to the d.a. for comment. next, political uncertainty and upheaval in france. after days of protests where tens of thousands took to the streets over a plan to raise the retirement age, can french president emmanuel macron's government survive a no-confidence vote? no-confidence vote us a while to move this sign. (vo) time to get moving, because this offer won't last. switch to verizon and get welcome unlimited for just $25 a line. (seth) i love that it's guaranteed for 3 years. (cecily) yeah, get an awesome network and save money doing it. (seth) not bad. (cecily) you get to keep your phone. more savings. (vo) switch and get welcome unlimited for $25 a line. guaranteed for 3 years. (cecily) hey, that could catch on. (vo) yup! don't wait.

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learn how abbvie could help you save on botox®. on thursday, tiktok's ceo set to be in the hot seat testifying before a key house committee as more lawmakers and now the white house push for a ban of the app over national security concerns. but nbc has learned tiktok has a plan too to show just how difficult it would be to cut off access to the platform. ceo show zee chew plans to tell lawmakers that 150 million americans now regularly use tiktok, meaning if biden does try to ban the app, he could run into a huge show of resistance from users. france's government is facing a series of no confidence votes amid nationwide protests over the raising of the retirement age. thousands of people have joined in those protests which turned violent as demonstrators clashed with police. nbc news foreign correspondent

meagan fitzgerald joins us from paris. talk to us about these no confidence votes and the nature of these protests. >> reporter: those protesters gathering behind me here now for the fifth day in a row since we saw french president emmanuel macron push through that pension reform bill bypassing a vote in parliament raising the retirement age from 62 to 64. all eyes are on legislators as they are getting ready to vote on those two motions of no confidence. not likely to pass. it looks like at this point they don't have enough votes, the opposition. they need a majority. in the event it does, what does that mean? that looks like basically macron's government would fall. his prime minister would have to resign. cabinet members would resign. he would stay in office, but that legislation would be overturned. look, french residents are angry. they are frustrated by this. they have taken to the streets as you've mentioned. we've seen it all throughout the weekend. it turned violent, they ransacked town hall setting fires. we've seen that here in paris.

at times protesters clashing with police setting fire to bikes and trash, and let's talk about the trash because it hasn't been picked up in almost two weeks here. you see thousands of tons of trash lining the streets of paris, a similar scene down in the south. it's because union workers have gone on strike. we know that there's more strikes expected on thursday, a nationwide strike that has the potential to bring the country to a standstill, to a halt. we know it's already impacted rail service and flights. there will be more and more disruption, more and more protests over the next several days. french people are angry. i've gotten a lot of questions on social media asking why it's just 64, other countries have a higher age to retire, and it's because the culture here in france is one of this work/life balance are where they like their vacations. they work 35 hour weeks, they say they pay a lot more in taxes in most, and the prize, the payoff, if you will, is an early retirement, but that certainly doesn't appear to be the case.

all eyes are on the no confidence vote that will be taking place in the next couple of hours to decide whether or not that legislation is overturned. >> meagan fitzgerald, thanks for keeping us updated. that does it for me this busy hour, i'll be back tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. "josé diaz-balart reports" starts next. ext. t 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. need relief for tired, achy feet? or the energy to keep working? there's a dr. scholl's for that. dr. scholl's massaging gel insoles have patented gel waves that absorb shock to hard-working muscles and joints, for all-day energy. what's on tap for the caggiano's? well, this family of long island brewers harvests their own ingredients, on their own land. mowing every blade, getting ready to entertain, at the only local farm to pint experience around.

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good morning, 11:00 a.m., eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm josé diaz-balart, right now in new york, a grand jury is