from 1:00 to 3 on msnbc, and i'll see you tomorrow at noon and 1:00 p.m. eastern. our coverage continues with "katy tur reports" right now. ♪♪ good to be with you. i'm katy tur. there is a grab bag of political news today, a number of headlines that could be foreshadowing something to come. starting with kevin mccarthy. the house speaker notably has not endorsed donald trump for president, at least not yet. why? then there's marjorie taylor greene, the representative from georgia was kicked out of the house freedom caucus nearly two weeks ago. why? and why are we only finding out about it now? and president biden amid all the turmoil around the gop, the president is steadily campaigning on bidenomics, talking about lower health care costs at the white house. the polls aren't exactly giving

him love. if he ends up running against donald trump, how accurate will the so-called approval numbers be. because it still looks like it will be donald trump as the republican nominee. he just raised gobs of cash. polls show him trouncing ron desantis, who is by far his nearest competitor, and despite the indictments, the alleged carelessness around classified documents, and the potentially criminal carelessness for this country's democratic process, republican voters are clearly still on his side. but is anyone else? or to put a finer point on it, will any general election that includes donald trump be anything more than voting for or voting against donald trump? joining me now is nbc news senior capitol hill correspondent garrett haake. punch bowl news cofounder and msnbc political contributor, jake sherman, and former rnc chairman and msnbc political analyst, michael steele.

jake, as somebody who knows mccarthy best, can you give us a sense of why he has not endorsed the man who arguably put him in the position to be speaker of the house? >> well, garrett and i spend a lot of time chasing kevin mccarthy, probably more time than we would care to admit. a few thoughts here, number one, the speaker of the house on the republican side has typically stayed away from endorsing. paul ryan said he was the chairman of the convention in 2016, and did not endorse trump until closer to the election time. you'll remember that well, katy. that was a big to do. if i had to read the tea leaves without, you know, having spoken to mccarthy about this, we've been outside of washington where congress has been outside of washington for some time now. i think mccarthy doesn't want to put a lot of his members in a tough spot. there are a bunch of his members who will not benefit if trump is the top ticket. i had one senior membership of the leadership say to me, joe

biden will get 52% against donald trump in 2024. i think there's deep skepticism. we've been here before, i know you're going to say that, katy, and i agree with you, but there's deep skepticism about not his viability, deja vu all over again, but about whether he can bring some of the votest he lost in 2020 back to the polls. that's some of the skepticism mccarthy has. and his leadership is filled with people who are for donald trump, namely elise stefanik who many think is angling for the vice presidential slot. >> jake, we may be talking to each other too much about the same things. garrett, the other interesting headline was about marjorie taylor greene, and getting kicked out of the freedom caucus two weeks ago. why? and why are we only finding out about this today? >> reporter: let me add quickly

to jake's point about mccarthy, he has done everything short of donald trump. he has left to trump's defense under both indictments, suggested that the full power of the house needs to be used to investigate trump's perceived enemies here. it's not like mccarthy is signature on his hands. one of his biggest defenders has been marjorie taylor greene, and that appears to be part of the reason she's out from the freedom caucus as of two weeks ago, apparently where it's become clear. some members talking about it on the record, and there was some kind of vote held to remove her from that body. part of it appears to be her defenses of kevin mccarthy. part of it also is this much discussed reported about blow out between her and lauren boebert. the way marjorie taylor greene is handling it harkens back to seinfeld, and george costanza's girlfriend refusing to let him

break up with her. i represent georgia, that's what i'm focused on, and avoiding conceding this point, he's no alonger in this group. this will come to a head when congress is back next week. for now only one of the parties seems to agree there's been a break up or breakup attempt. >> i'm liking this show today. a lot of fun references already. michael steele, let's talk about president biden, house republicans, the endorsing or not endorsing. marjorie taylor greene making noise. there's always turmoil within the republican party that we're covering. at the same time, president biden is going out, giving speeches about bidenomics, and they're not exactly resonating had terms of polling with the american public. the white house will say, it doesn't really matter, polling has never been on our side at the moment anyway. look at these disapproval numbers. >> i wouldn't stay where the fun

is. republicans fining each other. >> we'll get back to that the jerry seinfeld reference was hysterical. i loved it. sings i have been asked about joe biden. >> here's the thing, you were excited to talk about the republican infighting, you're not so excited to talk about joe biden, isn't that saying everything? >> well, no, joe biden is doing what a president should do. >> yes, okay! he's actually doing presidency. he's doing presidential. he's going out and he's giving talks about his agenda. and, yeah, that's my stuff that my friends on this panel, yeah, that's nice, but the fun stuff is over here. at the barbecue around the corner in the gop backyard. the reality of it is the president is actually doing what he should be doing. the polling right now about all

of this with biden is, let us see where we are in the dog days of august, use get ready for the gop debate come mid, late august. certainly where the president is at the turn of the corner on labor day. the president's got time on his side. what he needs to do is what he's doing, putting forth what his administration has accomplished. finally providing a narrative, context for the american people. meanwhile at the barbecue around the corner, there are fireworks, and there's all kinds of crazy going on, and yeah, that's more entertaining, but in terms of the direction the country is heading and what we need to accomplish, biden is focused more on that. >> donald trump is still the

front runner for the nomination because we are still so far out. we have seen one major federal indictment. we could see another federal indictment. all of that looming over donald trump's head, look at his polling numbers in the republican party. they are strongly in his favor. we're seeing what looks like farther down the line from 2016, a repeat of it. the other republicans are separating the vote, and donald trump is getting the majority of the rest. it's working to his favor. peggy noonan argues donald trump might have his waterloo still to come. can something change? >> yeah, stormy days come like bright sunny days do. that's weather, that's nature. but this is politics, if i'm not mistaken. donald trump's numbers aren't going down.

they're going up. the man two weeks ago was at 51%. today he's at 56. i don't understand how people can't figure out the math here. tell me, all of the other candidates, tell me the thing that has donald trump support weaken inside the gop and those selfsame gop donors, and supporters say i don't want him and fall away from him. tell me what that is because if it ain't indictments, if it ain't grabbing women by their private parts, if it isn't securing national security document for himself, tell me what that thing is that unleashes those voters to go somewhere else? >> for a while, it looked like it might be ron desantis. it looked like ron desantis was donald trump without all the drama, but it has not come to pass. desantis's numbers are not doing well. mr. french at the national

review was arguing that it was because desantis is no fun. the misunderstood thing about the maga crowd is that these events, you know, while there's a lot of anger, obviously, there's a lot of fun. a tailgate and a revival put together, and you can feel that way. where vaughn hillyard is today, people waiting in the rain and wind in counsel bluffs, iowa. desantis doesn't have that fun surrounding him. is that part of the issue? >> i think that's part of it. donald trump is a charismatic figure, since he was a figure on television doing much the same act that he's doing now as a politician, and has been doing for several years now. the idea that under girds the desantis campaign is he can be donald trump without the drama may kind of throw aside the fact

that a lot of voters like the drama, that donald trump's fights and his enemy, he's got the right enemies, and picks fights in ways voters can embrace. desantis hasn't made this connection in the early stages, based on the polling numbers we have seen. it's early, his numbers are all going the wrong direction. l the thesis of trying to out trump trump may not stick in a republican primary electorate, no matter how much money or what record you bring to the table. we'll see, it's july. there's a lot of time for anything to happen. the basic thesis doesn't seem to have a lot of data points in support of it. >> let's bring the conversation back to where he started, and kevin mccarthy, part of the reason he hasn't endorsed, you say it's because they don't endorse, and you talk about the front line republicans who might find it difficult to maintain

their seats with donald trump being the face of everybody within the party, and kevin mccarthy sounding on to that this early. if donald trump is the face, ultimately down the line, and kevin mccarthy doesn't maintain his speakership. he loses the majority because donald trump drags down the ticket, does kevin mccarthy stay minority leader, does he survive that? >> i don't think he would want to survive that. i don't think he's had that conversation at least to my knowledge. i have not heard anybody talk about that. but the general consensus is he would probably leave, and that consensus is right. and the thing i keep thinking about is the 18 republicans in biden districts, in districts that joe biden won, places like new york, where lee zeldin ran an unusually close campaign, where the republicans were lifted into congress because of

a stronger than usual performance. we're talking about a coin toss that leans heavily toward democrats. there will be new seats in several states. probably more democrats in states like alabama, louisiana, this is going to be difficult for republicans to hold on to. don't fall in love with the map. the race has to be won and lost individually. the reason the republicans didn't win the number of seats they thought they could have in 2022 is they didn't have good candidates. you have to get the right candidates and climate to win, and that's a challenge for both parties and in a state like new york, donald trump is going to get trounced, you know, see people split the ticket between joe biden, presumably, and mike lawler, and anthony despacito in new york. could happen. very difficult to see that

happen. >> maybe george santos. who knows. no way, i know. >> say it to me, santos. >> jake sherman, michael steele, garrett haake, gentlemen, thank you very much for starting this friday off right with me. appreciate it. another deposition, what donald trump might have to testify to this time. >> and we just found out where exactly secret service found the baggy of coke, when might they figure out who brought it. and what keir simmons found in a camp for the wagner group. and what the kremlin found in police raids on yevgeny prigozhin's home. we are back in 60 seconds. prigozhin's home we are back in 60 seconds. she n the family legacy. we were blown away. (chuckles) i not only was a student and an undergrad, but i've been a professor there for twenty years, so it's really a special moment to know that

i had a family member who over a hundred years prior have walk these grounds. it's deeply uplifting. yes, it is. we're walking in their footsteps. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. that can be analyzed by ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. ♪ it looks like donald trump is going to be deposed again. this time in a pair of civil lawsuits filed by former fbi agent peter strzok and lisa page

against the doj. suing to find out if they filed him. and page is suing for alleged privacy violations. joining me is nbc news justice reporter, ryan reilly, walk us through this. >> amy berman jackson who has found her way into consequential cases of the trump presidency is at the center of this one, and saying because donald trump has found the time to file his own lawsuits and take legal action on his own, the excuse that he's too busy as a former president isn't one that holds water. essentially what it's trying to get to is what role donald trump played here. because donald trump bragged about the role of firing strzok and page, that's at the center of this, and the reason he can be deposed. it does feel like you need a recap because this was six years

ago. so lisa page and peter strzok were two individuals who were having an extra marital relationship, texting each other, and talking to each other during the 2016 campaign, and saying not so nice things about donald trump, perhaps the sort of things that a lot of republicans at the time were also saying behind closed doors. >> donald trump supporters as well. and they made those comments and that subsequently came out and eventually led to strzok's firing, and lisa page ended up resigning. this obviously is at the center of this now lawsuit over their departure, and the means about that because lisa page essentially is saying they violated their privacy because they released text messages that had no relevance to ongoing cases and that an oig reporter at the justice department said it didn't actually impact the

way the justice department handled these ongoing investigations because, you know, these were two figures who were at the center of the critical investigations into hillary clinton and donald trump during the 2016 campaign that had repercussions for the world. and essentially this could mean that donald trump is going to have to be sworn in and take a deposition about what role he played here, and the role he claims to have played publicly matches what he says when he's under oath. >> ryan reilly, thank you very much. and willie nelson said he lit up a joint on the roof. snoop dogg said he did it in the bathroom. there are rumors about dr. feel good prescribing amphetamines to jfk, reporting about carter in a memo scolding staff about coke. and a baggy of cocaine in a cub by hole in the west wing. drugs at the white house are not new. that doesn't mean it smells right.

the chair of the house oversight committee sent a letter to the secret service looking for more information about how this cocaine got there. here's nbc senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. >> reporter: a new turn in the white house cocaine mystery, a precise location of where the drug was found. this is the secure ground entrance on west executive avenue used by the president, senior officials, staff and visitors. sources familiar with the investigation say the small plastic baggy of cocaine was found in a storage cubby, just past those doors on sunday night. a short distance from the tightly secured situation room. >> where this was discovered is a heavily traveled area where many white house, west wing, i should be more specific, west wing visitors come through this particular area. >> reporter: catching the culprit now considered unlikely.

officials say some forensic testing has been done and the sample remains at a federal lab for additional efforts to find evidence. but sources familiar with the probe bluntly said after days of work, they do not expect to have enough to identify the individual. and by monday, the investigation could be wrapped up. the white house has emphasized that tours are common and occurred three straight days before the cocaine was found sunday night. >> it happened on friday. it happened on saturday, and sunday. >> reporter: arkansas republican senator tom cotton sent the secret service director a letter, demanding answers and asking how often has the secret service encountered illegal drugs at the white house complex? sources say the secret service has no record of illegal drugs being found at the white house in recent memory. kelly o'donnell, thank you very much. and coming up, it has been 100 days since "wall street journal" reporter, evan gershkovich was imprisoned in russia, what is happening to

bring him home. a look at a base camp in belarus, intended foryevgeny prigozhin's wagner group. what keir simmons was told, though, when he got there. eir s though, when he got there. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration,

which may worsen kidney problems. ask your health care provider about the ozempic® tri-zone. you may pay as little as $25. ♪ ♪ start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. meet the portable blender we can barely keep in stock. blendjet 2 gives you ice-crushing, big blender power on-the-go. so you can blend up a mouthwatering smoothie, protein shake, or latte wherever you are! recharge quickly with any usb port. best of all, it even cleans itself! just blend water with a drop of soap. what are you waiting for? order yours now from blendjet.com before they sell out again! lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. delicious too. just ask my old friend, kevin. nothing like enjoying a cold one

while watching the game. who's winning? we are, my friend. we are. if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision. with zero-commission online u.s. stock and etf trades. for smarter trading decisions, get decision tech from fidelity. so... i know you and george were struggling for smarter trading decisions, with the possibility of having to move. how's that going? we found a way to make bathing safer with a kohler walk-in bath. a kohler walk-in bath provides a secure, spa-like bathing experience in the comfort of your own home. a kohler walk-in bath has one of the lowest step-ins of any walk-in bath for easy entry and exit. it features textured surfaces, convenient handrails for more stability,

and a wide door for easier mobility. kohler® walk-in baths include two hydrotherapies— whirlpool jets and our patented bubblemassage™ to help soothe sore muscles in your feet, legs, and back. a kohler-certified installer will install everything quickly and conveniently in as little as a day. they made us feel completely comfortable in our home. and, yes, it's affordable. i wish we would have looked into it sooner. think i might look into one myself. stay in the home and life you've built for years to come. call... to receive 50% off installation of your kohler® walk-in bath. and take advantage of our on interest for 12 months financing. to finally lose 80 pounds and keep it off with golo is amazing. i've been maintaining. the weight is gone and it's never coming back. with golo, i've not only kept off the weight but i'm happier, i'm healthier, and i have a new lease on life. golo is the only thing that will let you lose weight and keep it off. who loses 138 pounds in nine months? i did!

golo's a lifestyle change and you make the change and it stays off. (soft music) today marks 100 days as russia detained "wall street journal" reporter, evan gershkovich, and his coworkers do not want you to forget him. the paper dedicated today's front page to the journalist, encouraging readers to share the #i stand with evan. gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges. the u.s. government has deemed the incarceration a wrongful detainment. "wall street journal" editor and chief emma tucker said the paper would keep fighting until he was freed. journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until evan is released. joining me is foreign correspondent ali arouzi.

what is the latest on the u.s. efforts to get him out of prison? >> reporter: well, most recently there have been two consular visits by the ambassador to russia, and met only the second time at the prison in moscow. she reported that she was in good health and remains strong despite the circumstances. let's make no mistakes, the circumstances are difficult. it's a lonely, isolated place for him to be. secretary blinken made a determination that evan gershkovich is wrongfully detained by russia and has to be released immediately. let's take a listen to what ella millman, evan's mother had to say about the situation. >> president biden's promise to do whatever it takes to bring evan back, i rely on his team on their expertise. he's an american boy, bringing

him back i think is a team effort. >> reporter: and, katy, the state department has launched the broad effort to pressure russia and free him and shifting his case to the state department known as the office of the special presidential envoy for hostages, focused on negotiating the release of hostages and wrongfully detained americans abroad. thank you very much. >>. bars of gold, boxes filled with cash. a private helicopter with a landing pad, the kremlin is trying to paint a picture of yevgeny prigozhin, working to convince the russian public he is no man of the people. russian state tv and pro-kremlin newspapers have published videos and photos showing the lavish array police found in prigozhin's st. petersburg home, and offices on thursday. nbc news was not able to independently verify this footage. we would tell you how prigozhin

was responding to those public attacks if we had heard from him or knew where he was, but we do not. and nbc's chief international correspondent keir simmons has been trying to figure out where prigozhin is and what his future might be. >> reporter: good day to you, this is one of the military bases in belarus, where it's been reported yevgeny prigozhin's wagner fighters would be redeployed. once again with russia, things seem to have turned upside down. take a look through the fencing there. you can see makeshift military tents but the belarus authorities have brought us here to show us there's no wagner and no prigozhin. the mercenary leader whose mutiny according to president putin came close to causing a civil war in russia is apparently back in russia. russian state television which

once lauded evgeni and his fighters front line heroes, now branding him a traitor, detailing his criminal past, and a video showing his privileged children partying. the images including these unverified photos from a police raid at his st. petersburg home show a life of luxury, fake passports and a collection of wigs. the apparent drive to discredit him comes as belarus, which had initially offered him exile is now distancing itself. these images released by the associated press appear to show a camp being built at a former military base here. the suggestion the camp would be used to house prigozhin's wagner fighters. this morning, we drove to the former base. nbc news joining a small number of news organizations shown around. wagner could come here, the general major from the ministry of defense told me, but they are not here now. it seems like the plans keep

changing. u.s. military, he says, our strength is to act in a changing environment. these empty tents, they insist, are for local forces. there are enough of these makeshift wooden beds for 5,000 troops, but wagner may never be here. belarus's autocratic leader, an ally of president putin telling us prigozhin is a free man and is in russia. and all is forgiven, is what what we're saying? >> translator: putin told us directly about that, his money, belongings and so on were returned to him, and his weapons, i think. i know this is the case, everything was returned to him. >> reporter: but since the mutiny, president putin has avoided even saying prigozhin's name, long term, the two men in the same country might be an uncomfortable compromise. presidential lukashenko told us on the day of the mutiny, he says there were seven russian military planes here in belarus,

ready to transport troops to moscow to defend that city. those plans changed, he says, and now he appears to have changed again. what does that tell us for president putin, the implications of that day. are still unresolved. >> keir simmons, thank you very much. and a quick programming note. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel shows us how yevgeny prigozhin is a would be leader. the rise of wagner, angle investigates how putin's former protege turned on him and launched a mutiny in russia. watch on assignment at 11:00 p.m. on nbc, and also streaming on peacock. coming up next, june's jobs numbers are in, which sectors are hiring, which are not, and who is solely responsible for the increase in the unemployed population over the last six months.

plus, he, this man right here supposedly went missing eight years ago, but all the while, he was just at his mom's house what we know about the mystery behind a texas man's non-disappearance. mystery behind a texas man's non-disappearance. [bones cracking] ♪ (tense music) ♪ one aleve works all day so i can keep working my magic. just one aleve. 12 hours of uninterrupted pain relief. aleve. who do you take it for?

♪ i have type 2 diabetes, ♪ ♪ but i manage it well. ♪ ♪ it's a little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ ♪ i take once-daily jardiance, ♪ ♪ at each day's staaart. ♪ ♪ as time went on it was easy to seee ♪ ♪ i'm lowering my a1c. ♪ jardiance works 24/7 in your body to flush out some sugar! and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. jardiance may cause serious side effects

including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction, and don't take it if you're on dialysis. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪ jardiance is really swell, ♪ ♪ the little pill with a big story to tell. ♪ (smelling) ew. gotta get rid of this. ♪tell me why♪ because it stinks. ♪have you tried downy rinse and refresh♪ it helps remove odors 3x better than detergent alone. it worked guys! ♪yeahhhh♪ downy rinse and refresh.

sales tax. gas tax. californians pay some of the highest taxes in the nation. but now lawmakers are proposing a so-called “link tax” that would charge websites every time they link to a news article online. experts warn it could undermine the open internet, punish local newspapers, while subsidizing hedge funds and big media corporations. so tell lawmakers: oppose ab886, because another new tax is the last thing we need. paid for by ccia. the president was quick to praise the latest jobs report from the labor department

earlier today saying quote, this is bidenomics in action. unemployment dropped to 3.6 in june. nearly its lowest level in years. the u.s. economy added 209,000 jobs, fewer than expected. what does that mean for interest rates. joining me now is business and data reporter, brian cheung. fewer than expected, does that mean that we will not see another rate hike coming? >> 209,000 did come in shorter than estimates. i want to walk you through the numbers, what the federal reserve might do. more than the clip we saw in the month prior. the unemployment rate at 3.6%, a lot of job gains on leisure and hospitality, professional and business services. think of jobs at the mall falling at 11,000. what federal reserve is watching for is this figure right now,

this is wage growth. how much did wages increase between june of this year and last year. 4.4%. that's faster than the 4.3% in the may period prior and because of that, the federal reserve might be asking, well, might ployers pass on higher costs to americans, which could keep inflation high. that's one reason that the expectation that the fed will likely raise interest rates when they meet in the next meeting coming up at the end of the month. >> an interesting number that came out of the jobs report is that generation x, x and z, i want to be clear, generation x is the generation responsible for all of the increases in the unemployed population over the last half a year. what's happening with that. >> what's interesting is that, you know, baby boomers have been retiring. it seems like gen x has been accounting for the increase as well. there are demographics, not beneficiaries of the broad job

increase, the black unemployment rate ticked up to 6%. that is almost double the 3.6 national average. that's something we'll have to watch in the coming months. katy. >> brian cheung, thank you very much. the mtv generation is what i'll call it to keep it straight. he was missing for eight years, but now we are learning that this man right here, once a boy, now a man, was actually at his mom's house the entire time. what is going on in houston? ti. what is going on in houston? wayfair has nice prices so you can have nice things. hah! kelly clarkson, we have a kid... and harold. wayfair's got just what you need... performance fabrics, stains don't stand a chance. no chance! -woo! dog friendly and wallet friendly... pug-proved. get nice things with nice prices at wayfair. ♪ wayfair, you've got just what i need ♪

(vo) this is sadie, she's on verizon. and she's got the new myplan, so she gets exactly what she wants and only pays for what she needs. she picks her perks and saves on every one. make your move to myplan. act now and get it for $25 when you bring your phones.

it's your verizon. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. that can be analyzed by ai in real time. ♪ so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. - you like that bone? i got a great price on it. - did you see my tail when that chewy box showed up? - oh, i saw it. - sorry about the vase. - can we just say vase like normal people? - fine. - i always wondered what it would be like to have a tail. - maybe you did one time. and maybe a thousand years from now, i'll be tail-less using that chewy app to get you great prices on treats. - i'm pretty sure it takes more than a thousand years- - vase. - pets aren't just pets. they're more. - vase! - [announcer] save more on what they love with everyday great prices at chewy.

(air whooshing) (box thudding) the gunman who killed 23 people at an el paso walmart in 2019 will be in prison for 90 life sentences. patrick crucias was sentenced today after being convicted of entering a walmart with the sole intention of killing mexicans and immigrants. on top of the 90 life terms, he also faces the death penalty on capital murder charges in a separate state case. that case which he has pleaded not guilty in could go to trial as soon as next year. staying in texas, we've got a weird story, a weird new twist in a missing person's case. eight years ago, a 17-year-old boy named rudy farias was reported missing by his mother, but now authorities say he was never actually missing, that he had been living with his mother

this entire time. joining me now from houston is nbc news correspondent priscilla thompson. that is just scratching the surface of the story. it gets weirder when you dig into the details. priscilla, please tell us. >> reporter: extremely, katy. right now there are growing questions about that alleged disappearance. that teen resurfacing eight years after he was reported missing and now family and neighbors are outraged asking how and why investigators were misled for so long. this morning family members of the man believed to be missing for eight years speaking out after discovering he was apparently living at home all along. >> he didn't deserve that. nobody deserves that. >> reporter: days after a good samaritan found rudy farias unresponsive outside a local church, police in houston making a shocking revelation.

>> investigators followed up on tips, leads, collected evidence, proving that rudy was not missing during the eight he have year period. >> reporter: according to authorities he never vanished and was living with his mother, jamie santana the entire time. >> it was discovered that rudy returned home the following day on march 8, 2015. >> reporter: santana allegedly telling people who saw farias that he was her nephew. >> the mother continued to deceive place remaining adamant that rudy was missing. >> reporter: santana thanking the media and public for her support, writing my son rudy is receiving the care he needs to overcome his trauma. neighbors and family members in disbelief. >> it's just not right. >> reporter: a woman identifying herself as farias, saying hes traumatized and doesn't want to see his mom. speaking to our houston

affiliate. >> i fear for farias's life. >> reporter: farias and his mom had several encounters with police over the years. but gave fake names and birth dates. there are no clues why the mother and son would have lied all of these years but police say they do not believe this was a kidnapping case. and no charges have been filed against the mother or the son. >> rudy is safe. he's with his mother by choice. >> he's an adult. >> he's a 25-year-old. >> a solved missing persons case that now has more questions than answers. and katy, a key question right now is whether or not charges will come. investigators say that the investigation is still open and ongoing. and once it's completed, there could be more charges potentially for santana, giving false information in a police report, also questions of if there will be charges of rudy and his mother not identifying themselves as who they were in

those previous encounters with police, but for now, no charges, and we have reached out to the mother, miss santana for comment but have not heard back. >> there were allegations of abuse in this case, what can you tell us about what we know so far? >> reporter: yeah, there are family members and advocates. you heard the aunt in the story saying that the son does not want to be living with the mother, so there were concerns about possible abuse, and police were asked about that. they said they do not have any evidence after speaking with rudy of any abuse or that this was a kidnapping, any reason to believe that this was a kidnapping, so really still so many questions about why this lie continued for so long and no one notified police. katy. >> priscilla thompson, thank you very much. and coming up next, what mark zuckerberg is doing to drown elon musk and what musk is doing to splash back. k is doing to splash back tv: try tide power pods with 85% more tide in every pod. who needs that much more tide?

(crashing sounds) everyone's gonna need more tide. it's a mess out there. that's why there's 85% more tide in every power pod. -see? -baby: ah. i'm barbara and i'm from st. joseph, michigan. i'm a retired school librarian. i'm also a library board trustee, a mother of two, and a grandmother of two. basically, i thought that my memory wasn't as good as it had been. i needed all the help i could get. i saw the commercials for prevagen. i started taking it. and it helped! i noticed my memory was better. there was definite improvement. i've been taking prevagen for a little over five years. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. needles. essential for sewing bear-bear, but maybe not for people with rheumatoid arthritis. because there are options. like an “unjection™.” xeljanz. a pill, not an injection. xeljanz is for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. it can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage.

some saw improvement within two weeks. xeljanz helps some feel less ra fatigue. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections like tb and do blood tests. tell your doctor if you've had hepatitis b or c, have flu-like symptoms, or are prone to infections. serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma and lung cancer, blood clots, and serious heart-related events have happened. people 50 and older, with heart disease risk factors, had an increased risk of death. tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. needles. fine for some. but for you, there's a pill that may provide symptom relief. ask your doctor about xeljanz.

somebody would ask her something and she would just walk right past them. she didn't know they were talking to her. i just could not hear. i was hesitant to get the hearing aids because of my short hair. but nobody even sees them. our nearly invisible hearing aids are just one reason we've been the brand leader for over 75 years. when i finally could hear for the first time, i started crying. i could hear everything. call 1-800-miracle and schedule your free hearing evaluation today. try killing bugs the worry-free way. not the other way. zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess. they work continuously, so you don't have to. zevo. people-friendly. bug-deadly. we moved out of the city so our little sophie could appreciate nature. people-friendly. but then he got us t-mobile home internet.

i was just trying to improve our signal, so some of the trees had to go. i might've taken it a step too far. (chainsaw revs) (tree crashes) (chainsaw continues) (daughter screams) let's pretend for a second that you didn't let down your entire family. what would that reality look like? well i guess i would've gotten us xfinity... and we'd have a better view. do you need mulch? what, we have a ton of mulch.

others are worried about privacy concerns. >> browsing history, search history, identifying sensitive information. >> they are linked, so it is easy to sign up with the data following. you can't delete your thread account without also deleting instagram. zuckerberg acknowledging it will take some time to work out the kinks, while still poking at twitter for not yet reaching 1 billion users. >> this is a bit of an epic

brawl. what we have is an eruption of that ego, kind of willingness to spar on the public that is incredibly rare. >> mike, good to have you with us. let's talk about why instagram and meta would want to get into this battle. what did we see happening with twitter that prompted them to create their own app? >> i think we see weakness in -- right now, watching twitter under elon musk for the past nine months basically. and recognizing that it's been a lot of really strategic mismanagement. i was speaking to the head of instagram earlier this week, who basically said they have

seen opportunity in the market. they decided internally they should build it, and thought they should make a bet right now. there seems to be a chance. what they make is called a, quote, unquote, friendlier version of a public network. >> talk to me about that. what does that mean? in terms of friendlier interface? are actually friendlier? >> i think probably a little bit of both. it does look like a slick new app. instagram has always done well with design. they wanted to defeat the problem that folks like journalist like you and i have. getting on the end and immediately getting barraged with toxic comments, miss info, are things that don't make you feel good when you open it. it's a tough challenge. twitter has been trying to do that for almost 20 years. good luck to instagram. >> good point. what about this allegation from elon musk that this app was

created with the proprietary information from someone who used to work at twitter? is there any merit to that? >> i think his legal threat is mostly buster right now. look, there is a lot of different moving about in silicon valley, people go from one company to another. the other point, he did fire 75% of the company when he came in over the past nine months. a lot of those people have ended up in different companies around the valley, including meta, facebook and instagram. and instagram spokesperson yesterday said there are zero engineers who used to work at twitter. i don't know. we will see if he actually takes them to court. he does like to go to war in court. right now, it is tentative. >> can you help me understand where the line is when it comes to the copying, or the mimicking of technology? instagram famously a few years

ago ripped off snapchat when it did its stories, basically the same, realtors and everything. this is very similar to twitter. what is the legal line for technology companies? >> it is really funny, i've been waiting to see if there will ever be a certain landmark case around cloning. for years, as you are mentioning with stories, instagram's, tiktok, they sort of position it as, oh, we are entering into the space. we appreciate what others have done. they have basically put off any pre-sense that they are not copping twitter at this point. zuckerberg himself is even tweeting. he did his first tweet in like nine years the other day in basic he said, in some words for a meme, like we are coming to eat your lunch, twitter. i haven't seen a court case yet that really tackles that. usually, those patents and tech

companies, sort of owning the ip behind it. right now, even if that did go to court, meta has enough money to fight it for a long time. >> thank you for joining us. we will see what happens. that would do it for me. deadline white house thoughts right now. ♪ ♪ hi, everyone. it is 4:00 in new york. think of it as the exact moment when donald trump lit the match. an event in american history that would propel our entire country, going toward mayhem. quote, be there, it will be wild. it is no wonder that we are learning today just how interested special counsel jack smith appears to be in the chaotic hours before that tweet was sent. this is the january 6th committee, making it pretty clear that evocation to the