news in the hunter biden case, the president's son pleading not guilty in his tax case after his original plea deal with prosecutors fell apart. we have team coverage of the minute-to-minute drama in the courtroom. nbc's tom winter is following this for us. also with me, msnbc legal analyst, and former assistant d.a. at the manhattan district attorney's office, catherine christian. "washington post" congressional investigations reporter, jacqueline alemany, and elise jordan, an msnbc political analyst. thanks for joining us, guys, appreciate it. tom, start us off. what happened? >> reporter: well, the quote from judge mary ellen, i can't accept or reject in plea agreement after a multi-hour hearing today. the judge essentially saying this agreement that you-all have come up with, i have some legal problems with. i'm not going to accept it. i'm not going to tell you it's

off the books, i want you to send me more briefing, i want you to send me more materials and we'll get back in court to see if we can get past our legal hurdles. primarily the hurdle is a pre-trial diversion agreement, which under most circumstances, the judge never sees. it's something between the government and the defense, and signed off by probation and moves outside of the court system. because of the way the plea agreement was structured, on the tax charges in this case, it references that pretrial diversion agreement, and the pretrial diversion agreement apparently contains, we haven't seen it yet, it hasn't been docketed yet, a clause that invites the judge to determine, essentially act as a referee on fact-based questions should they say hunter biden had all of these things to live up to on this felony charge, he has violated x, y or z, and now we want to charge him.

federal prosecutors could say why they thought hunter biden had broken that agreement, and the defense could have the opportunity to challenge it, and then based on that, there were several remedies. the judge says we have separation of powers in this country. we have a constitution, and i'm concerned that you're asking me to be a gate keeper as to whether or not federal prosecutors can file charges. and that's something that's outside of the constitution. now, prosecutors say, look, this is an agreement between us. we agree to it, so what difference does it make effectively, i'm paraphrasing. still, the judge wants more information on that. two other quick points i didn't have a chance to mention with you moments ago, the judge drilled deep on the facts of the case, the statement of facts agreed to, specifically as to when hunter sober and what he knew in the tax filings, that hunter biden made errors on

his taxes, their term, errors on his tax return filings, after he was sober and part of this case, we know from previous reporting, is he made arguments, hunter biden's attorneys did, this guy is filing taxes, it appears at a time when he was going through a serious addiction issue. she was speaking a little bit to intent. and remember, we've talked about it all day, the possible sentences, likely no jail time, probation on the tax charges, that's not a guarantee. the judge has to sign off on that. i think that's something long-term. we want to watch near term. it came to a point once the plea deal was not accepted or rejected that the president's son needed to enter a plea, and so he entered not guilty, and that's where we are, and we'll be right back here again presumably in the coming weeks or months. >> so draw on that for me a little bit, tom, because you had a lot of nuggets in there. one of which was this new revelation that it's no longer off the table, that he may have to serve time. we don't necessarily know that. it seems at this point that nothing is off the table because

that plea deal has been torn up. talk more about that, and the timing of this thing. we could be back here in weeks and months. do we know, have we heard anything from the president's son's attorneys since everything is wrapped today? >> reporter: so it sounds like, based on the discussion as i was leaving the overflow courtroom to come and speak with you here that they're going to expect this process to take place in the next couple of weeks to 30 days, that they'll brief effectively at that point. and then they'll come to some sort of conclusion to your point, theoretically, the sides could say we no longer have a deal. we'll proceed with trial and motions and all sorts of other things that will occur as part of the normal trial process. it's entirely possible and perhaps more likely the two sides will come back and say, judge, we answered your questions with respect to some of the language in these agreements and we have come up

with x new language, whatever they decide to choose, and at that point, then, they could say, we'd like to come back before you now that we've addressed these things that you're okay with it, and at this point, we'll bring back in our client. he can have the opportunity to plead guilty again to a plea agreement that perhaps more satisfies the issues of the court and the procedures of court, known as rule 11. >> catherine, if you will, first time we're hearing from you today, weigh in on what has taken place so far today with the breakdown of this plea deal, now hunter biden pleading not guilty, and having to revisit an agreement between both parties. >> well, it was clear from the outset that hunter biden's attorneys and the prosecutors were on a completely different page about what this agreement meant. and that's very sloppy. and as a former prosecutor, i'll put this on the prosecutors that they would go to court and usually these hearings are smooth sailing. now the judge is not a potted plant. a judge does not rubber stamp a

plea. it is her job to make sure that the plea comports with the law and the facts, and that the defendant is pleading knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently, and it was during that questioning, a simple question, you know, does this plea cover all other crimes, the defense says yes. the prosecution says no. how that happened, meaning they didn't know this before they went to court, is shocking. it was always curious to me when a plea agreement was announced, i guess it was a month ago, the defense attorney said the investigation is over. the united states attorney, i believe, issued a press release and said the investigation is still ongoing. and i thought, well, there's clearly just a misunderstanding, and that will be cleared up by the time it happens. and clearly it wasn't. so the judge really did her job, and drilled down. it was clear there was no meeting of the minds on both sides, and that just does not happen. whiff seen plea deals fall apart, it's usually the

defendant suddenly decides i don't want to plea. i can't admit it. it's i have to say, i have never seen this happen, and that it would be on such a high profile case in such a public setting that this would happen is quite frankly shocking. but i think the judge did the right thing. they now have both sides, time to get their acts together and come back to court, and either hunter biden will plead guilty or he won't. . >> i guess, and i feel like this is what you're saying. i don't understand why these conversations weren't had before they took place in court, and whose fault is that. i know you're saying this is maybe on the prosecution, but what about the defense as well to understand the details of what they were agreeing to. and then also the judge's role in all of this and how that played snout. >> it's both sides. i sort of leaned more on the prosecutor because they're the ones usually typically leading this. they're the ones that made the plea offer. but when the defense attorney at

that time a month ago said the investigation is over, he had to have read the press release that said it was ongoing. you would think there would have been a phone call that said excuse me, guys, what's going on here. i don't know if that happened. it probably didn't because he appeared shocked this morning. also, quite frankly, i don't know, and i don't want to criticize what other lawyers do, i don't know how you allow a client to plead guilty with a black cloud over his head. that's not my business, and the judge did her job. she is not a rubber stamp. typically it's smooth sailing, the defendant knowingly and voluntarily pleads because the judge asks questions, the facts and the law comport, and it's over. it was clear because both sides were not on the same page there was going to be issues here, and it should have been adjourned. >> so are you on the same page as tom winter who said they may

come back with an agreement in a couple of week's time, in a couple of month's time, that it's likely it could be heading in that direction, it's just going to take longer to get there. is that how you're feeling as well? >> i agree. i would think all the lawyers in the courtroom today should be embarrassed. they want to make sure this does not happen again, and they're going to do everything they can to make sure everything is run smoothly the next time they appear in court. >> jackie, weigh in for me here, as you're speaking to your sources here and seeing how this thing has been playing out, how are folks reacting? what are they telling you? >> it's certainly a confusing series of events that i think surprised not just the lawyers in the courtroom and hunter biden but all of us onlookers as well. but it does appear to potentially give republicans some air to a lot of the unsubstantiated claims that they have been making about this case. they put forth two whistleblowers in the past

month, who were former, current, actually, irs officials who worked on the hunter biden case who claimed that there was special and preferential treatment of hunter biden and that these charges and this plea deal in particular was far too soft due to hunter biden's position as to the president's son. this does not appear to be the reason why the judge sort of stumbled and said that this right now could potentially be unconstitutional and prosecutors and hunter biden's defense need to come to an agreement the next few weeks. it does, again, give air and give more oxygen to these claims. it also gives more credibility to some of the unsubstantiated claims that republicans have been making to hunter biden's international business dealings in ukraine and china which, again, have not been proven in any way but that republicans

have consistently tried to link from hunter biden to president biden claiming that the elder biden had used his office to help his son. >> are you at all hearing that direct connection being made by republicans in the last, you know, 60 minutes or so, in which they are essentially saying, listen, we made this plea yesterday evening to the judge in saying, you know, we have these whistleblowers, something else is going on with hunter biden, don't accept the plea deal, even though the evidence suggests that that is why the plea deal fell apart. >> it is one i anticipate we will be hearing. we have also heard in the past 24 hours, you know, representative jason smith of missouri who's the chairman of the house ways and means committee, the committee that brought forth whistleblowers that we heard from, gary shapley, and his -- one of his

supervisory agents who filed a brief in federal district court in wilmington, delaware, late last night, to be considered by the judge to basically review off of this testimony that was put forth by these whistleblowers and asked the judge to consider the testimony in deciding whether or not to approve the agreement. so i think, you know, there's certainly a lot of room for lawmakers to conflate the various threads that are at play. >> elise, weigh in for me as we're talking about kind of the political fallout of all of this. what are your expectations coming from republicans here? >> this is a huge gift for former president trump and republicans because it gives them something to attack, to deflect all of the charges surrounding donald trump and his various cases of, you know, he's got inciting -- charges of inciting an insurrection, to the georgia election fraud to what's

happening in new york. there's so much there, and now this gives them hunter biden charges to pursue and try to create some kind of equivalence between the two among voters. see, everyone does it. they want voters to think that. that is what going to the ballot box, if everyone is corrupt, then your guy's corruption isn't that bad. >> and then how do they play it, elise, if, in fact, a deal is struck in four weeks, or six weeks time when they have a u.s. attorney, david weiss, appointed by former president donald trump, which is specifically kept on by the way, the investigation at the time, in which the biden administration took over the white house was ongoing. >> yasmin, i think you're going to see a replay of what happened this last month after we thought that plea deal was struck. you're going to see it called a sweetheart deal, whatever deal is struck, short of maybe

prison, republicans are going to pounce on it. this is politics, hunter biden has real legal approximate. -- problems. he is being used for political gain. >> jackie, weigh in on david weiss. he agreed to testify in front of a republican-held conference in the fall, and he said, and i quote, it is the most appropriate time for any testimony on the subjects after the matter is closed. does that mean it's likely that testimony is going to get kicked down the road considering where we are with this plea deal now no longer? >> that's a really good question. there seems to be a high likelihood that prosecutors and the defense are going to resolve this, although considering how politicized the issue is, i could very well be wrong. but i do think that justice department officials think it's important for david weiss, the

u.s. attorney for delaware, who was appointed by trump and led the five-year investigation for hunter biden to testify publicly, and try to dispel some of the misperceptions as weiss has called it about accusations of political meddling. republicans based on testimony from the whistleblowers made a lot of claims about weiss and what he tried to do in his position, including an unsubstantiated investigation. >> jackie hold on one second, i want to explain to folks what we're seeing on the screen, and then you can pick up when i'm done, but that was hunter biden, hard to see on your screens, hard for me to see as well with the shot that we have in place, but that was hunter biden leaving the court right there in and driving off in wilmington, delaware, of course, and just to reiterate, if you're just joining us, hunter biden, the president's son pleading not guilty. that plea deal he was expected to strike today, to be in court for nearly 60 to 90 minutes

today, the judge to really sign off on that plea deal, not happening. really being torn apart, essentially, and being told to come back when they have something in play, so we're looking like that time line might be four to six weeks, and who knows at this point, but again, hunter biden pleading not guilty and driving off and leaving that wilmington, delaware, courtroom. jackie, i want to come back to you on that. didn't mean to cut you off. pick up where you left off. >> that's okay. some riveting footage. basically there's a desire from justice department officials to get weiss out there to cut through some of these misperceptions that have come about as a result of testimony from these whistleblowers. for example, gary shapley, the former irs official who did testify before congress claimed that weiss had said that he had requested special counsel designation. weiss said publicly in this letter that he sent to lawmakers

earlier this month that he had not actually done that, so i think there's a slew of, again, claims that the justice department disputes from whistleblowers that republicans have unearthed who basically have been making this case, that the justice department is giving political favoritism to hunter biden and trying to get out in front of them before they solidify in the public view. >> elise, i know you have to go. so thank you for joining us. everybody else, if you would, stand by, tom winter, i know it's hot out there. i want to bring in nbc's ali vitali standing by on capitol hill. and i know you have been kind of watching that reaction come in. we're hearing from house speaker kevin mccarthy, what's he saying? >> reporter: sounds like the same message we have heard from speaker mccarthy before but of course it is now in a new light as this plea deal that we thought was going to be hunter biden pleading guilty has now fallen apart in the way that we thought it was going to be.

you mentioned he's left the courthouse now at this point. mccarthy's response went like this, watch. >> this is an opportunity, when david weiss said he wanted to prosecute on other jurisdictions on other items, we can go back and see that. you watch when the irs spoke that the statute of limitations running out on the most serious tax pro visions with the biden family. they said the biden family was willing to waive that. so i'd like to see the biden family waive and not worry about the statute of limitations and just like every other american should have to do. there shouldn't be two justice systems in america. >> reporter: we have heard speaker mccarthy make this point before, they believe the plea deal was a sweetheart deal in their words and it's an example of a two-tiered system of justice. this comes against the backdrop

of the former president donald trump on the cusp of what is likely to be another indictment from the doj. this is not the first time we have been here, stunningly enough, so house republicans do have this kind of a playbook for moments like this. i also think it's striking, kroun, we heard from the head of the oversight committee, james comer, who has been clear the goal of the committee this cycle is to investigate hunter biden and through the lens of his father joe biden. he reiterated that again this morning saying in a press conference or in a gaggle with reporters that this was a goal of his that he said i'm investigating joe biden. he says we've always investigated joe biden. he references that he knows the media calls it the hunter biden investigation, but in comer's words, it's the joe biden investigation. that says the quiet part out loud. it's something that the white house has known from the moment that republicans got the gavel here that they were going to be in the cross hairs through the lens of the president's son. and this trial that we're seeing

play out in wilmington is yet another moment to give republicans to talk about the investigations into hunter biden and now it seems they'll even continue to ramp up the pressure to speak with the prosecutor in this case, david weiss as well. >> ali vitali, thank you, and thank you for breaking down the news in the last hour. we're staying on top of the hunter biden case but we have more breaking news that's going to affect millions of american families. the fed is making moves to cool inflation. how a rate hike today could affect your bottom line. we'll be right back. ct your bot. we'll be right back. 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.

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welcome back, everybody. the fed is raising interest rates. morgan brennan here for with cnbc on msnbc. how are markets reacting this hour? >> the dow turned slightly positive, the nasdaq and s&p, slightly negative. it wasn't a big reaction in the markets, at least not yet. here's why. the federal reserve increased its interest rate by a quarter of a percent. that brings the benchmark rate to 5.25 to 5.5%. why do i bring that up. it is the highest level since

early 2021. -- 2001. the markets have largely expected this. fed officials have been signaling this could be coming. this of course happening after we saw the central bank hit the pause button at the last policy meeting in june. still broadcast at that meeting, the two more interest rate increases could be in the cards before the end of this year. this increase we saw today is number one of what could be too. the question now is whether fed officials feel like they're done or a second increase, a final increase could still be on tap. we're going to hear more about that possibility when fed chair jerome powell holds a press conference here in the next little less than four minutes, and that's really what the markets are going to be focusing in on. this was the 11th interest rate increase since the fed began hiking rates back in march of 2022, but in terms of shifting from wall street to main street, what it means for your pocketbook, it means that debt has gotten a little more expensive here as the fed looks

to continue its fight against inflation, which is coming down, but still higher than we would like to see. things like credit cards, mortgage rates, auto loans, those just got a little bit more expensive again today. the flip side of that, yasmin, if you're a saver, this is good news for you. it means you're in a position to make a little bit more money on your money whether it's being held in a savings account with a bank, whether it's in a certificate of deposit or in the bond part, say, of a retirement portfolio. >> right, i mean, it's astounding to think about where we are with interest rates right now. 22 year high, think about that for a moment. good stuff there. morgan brennan for us. thank you. this rate decision is coming as americans are feeling confident about the economy. joined my bloomberg news senior washington correspondent to talk more about that. it's good to have you on. i appreciate it. i want to talk first about the consumer confidence number, what this means.

>> what we're seeing right now is that americans do have a little bit of optimism about what's ahead. there's still a lot of uncertainty. the dollar is still fluctuating. right now we're just experiencing the reaction to preordained fed interest rate increase, but what powell says at 2:30 will influence what we know heading into september where there is an expectation that the long-held consensus among federal reserve policy makers might actually break, and there might be some indecision or division or what should happen next to combat inflation, and what the housing market and labor market needs. >> give us a trend line, if you will, right, because you're looking at interest rates right now, 22-year high as i just mentioned, right, but it's actually working, these fed rate hikes, and inflation is easing, not where they want it to be at 2%. and nonetheless, it's working. how do we see this kind of

playing out with the economy as fed chair jerome powell is figuring out whether or not he stopped at this point, or keeps going. >> there is a little bit of a lag when it comes to the effects of monetary policy hitting the economy. the other thing he needs to keep an eye out for is 1980, the last inflation was as high as it has been in the last two years. this was 40 years ago. it took a lot to fight inflation, and there was a moment where the federal reserve kind of threw in the towel and thought, oh, we're done, we've handled inflation, we've fought it back, and then it came roaring back. so what policy makers of the fed, particularly fed chair powell are looking out for, if there's any surprises in economic data coming up, and that's why we've heard so much that one good inflation imprint or maybe even two is not enough to call it quits on this fight. >> we're going to be watching obviously that press conference. 2:30 eastern standard time from

fed chair jerome powell and what's going to play out. thank you so much. more breaking news, folks, a lot going on today. moments ago, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell had to be escorted away from the cameras after freezing in the middle of his opening remarks in the weekly leadership press conference. i want to watch that moment and talk. >> good bipartisan cooperation. and a string of -- >> anything else you want to say or do you want to go back to your office? >> do you want to say anything else to the press?

>> i want to bring in nbc's ali vitali standing by for us with this. he did come back minutes later to answer some questions. do we know what happened? >> reporter: not yet. and he did come back. and spoke with reporters, was able to take questions. one reporter asked him about that moment that you just played there, concerning moment during his press conference as he was just a few seconds into talking with reporters, as he does on a weekly basis here. when the reporter asked him about that moment, he simply said i'm fine, and he moved on. he spoke for the rest of the press conference in his normal, somewhat muted tones, but reporters who were around him before that moment happened, it really was very jarring. you can see the looks on the faces of senators around him, including senator john thune who was standing just over mcconnell's shoulder. john barrasso, the number three republican coming over to him on the side, as you showed there, asking if there's anything else

he has to say to the press or if he wants to go back to his office. that's what happened in the moments after he left the press conference. senator joni ernst do the sign of the cross, almost as if she were praying for him during a moment that could have been potentially scary. this is not the first time there have been questions about the senate minority leader. we know that back in march, he suffered a fall at a hotel here in washington, leaving a fundraiser. that left him out of washington for several weeks. he was home recovering from a concussion and fractured ribs. of course he's back in the capitol now, and look, when he walks around here, we do see him sometimes walking with the help of aides. he has office, we are waiting to hear if they have anything else to provide. clearly they are meeting and trying to figure out how they're going to talk about this with the press. what's important to note is that moment seemed concerning. he was able to come back and continue talking to reporters during this weekly press conference.

>> we certainly wish for the very best for the senate minority leader and hope he was okay after all of that. ali vitali, thank you. >> we have new video of a fiery crane collapse in manhattan. one person telling our local team that they thought it was a terror attack comparing the loud bang of the collapse to a bochlt -- bomb, the details of that coming up next. up next uld cut . ♪ rsv is a contagious virus that usually causes mild symptoms but can cause more severe infections that may lead to hospitalizations... ...in adults 60 and older... ...and adults with certain underlying conditions, like copd, asthma, or congestive heart failure. talk to your doctor and visit cutshortrsv.com. so i didn't think i needed swiffer, until, i saw how easily it picked up my hair

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welcome back, everybody, we're getting an update on senate minority leader mitch mcconnell from capitol hill. i want to go back to our correspondent on the ground there. ali vitali who has new information for us. what are you hearing? >> news moving really fast this afternoon, yasmin. we are obviously hearing after the minority leader told reporters themselves, i'm fine, when he came back to the cameras, after stepping away, after freezing during his opening remarks. a mcconnell aid telling nbc news, it's because the senate minority leader felt lightheaded, and stepped away for a moment, as senator john barrasso and others helped lead him down the hallway to his office, a few steps away from where we were doing the press availability. the aide also continues to point out what we saw, which is that he came back, he did question an aide, and the in words of the aide, it was very sharp. of course, mcconnell did sound like himself during that question and answer. you played the video in the last few minutes of the senate

minority leader coming to the cameras, giving his opening statement, trailing off in the middle of a sentence and freezing there for more than ten seconds as senators around him and the press, too, just grew increasingly concerned about the moment. >> all right. ali vitali for us. thank you, we appreciate you jumping on that, and keeping an eye on that story. let's pivot here, everybody, to what took place in new york city today. 11 people have been injured in a fiery crane collapse in manhattan. video showing the moment the crane collapsed and hit a building on the street, and hit another building under construction, really startling and shocking video to watch as it plays out. rehema ellis is reporting from manhattan. good to talk to you. what do we know about the accident, why it happened, and the people that were injured? >> we just got an update, yasmin, the number of injured went from six to nearly a dozen,

11 people, in fact, nine we're told have minor injuries, two with serious but not life threatening. one of those is a firefighter. and we hope that that will be it in terms of a number of those injured. take a look behind me. that building that you see wrapped in orange, that's what we're talking about that's under construction, that crane that's on the very top of it. that's where the accident came from, and as tim comes back down, i think we should show some pictures of how amazing it was, this video of that fire, and witnesses talk about what it was like to be here in this area when it all happened. take a listen. >> all of a sudden, i heard kaboom, and all of my windows in my apartment shook. i have floor-to-ceiling windows. and then as soon as i focused my eye on the window, i saw this big crane falling. i immediately grabbed my phone, and i went up to the top of our building, 36th floor, and that's when i saw just towers of smoke,

billowing fire. i could feel the heat from the crane itself. >> reporter: many people still remain out of their buildings right now. most of the people in this area were evacuated for safety reasons. just a few moments ago, this road that leads from 41st to 42nd street was reopened to traffic. so that means that there is movement in terms of improvement in this area. but this investigation is still underway, as authorities say, it was at that crane at the top where the fire broke out. the operator of the crane used a fire extinguisher to try and put it out himself but was not able to, and fled the area and then the crane collapsed. >> unbelievable to watch that happen, and what could have been much, much worse of a situation. thankful for that. rehema ellis, thank you so much, appreciate it. some more breaking news, everybody, that we are following out of london, a jury there, just acquitting oscar winning actor, kevin spacey of all nine

sexual assault charges after more than 12 hours of deliberation. nbc's ali arouzi is live with the latest. as always, good to talk to you. what more do we know about the verdict and spacey's plans now that he has been acquitted? >> reporter: it was a month long trial, yasmin, and after that month of the prosecution and the defense presenting their case, the jury took 12 1/2 hours to come to their decision, and they found him not guilty on nine charges of varying sexual assault. some of the charges more minor. some of them very serious. kevin spacey steps in the glass dock in the courtroom, and he stood there and listened to nine not guilty verdicts being read out in front of him. he became very emotional. he started crying. he nodded towards the jury as a sort of a thank you for exonerating him. he hugged his manager, his legal team, and then he came out to the waiting press.

there has been a huge press pack here for a month from all over the world, and he made a very short statement. he said he was humbled and he has a lot to process. let's take a listen to what else he had to say. >> i'm enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision. and i am humbled by the outcome today. >> reporter: and, yasmin, he left in a cab to start the new chapter of his life, and there was some fans outside. they were whooping, and shouting, kevin, and "house of cards," you ask what's next for him. before he came to this trial, he gave an interview to a german publication, and in that publication, he said there are people willing to hire me the

moment i'm acquitted of all of these charges. the reality is, yasmin, he faced very serious charges. there were still questions about his behavior and conduct while he was in london, while he was the artistic director. so if his career is going to relaunch like it was before, that's going to be really decided by the court of public opinion, whether producers and other people want to see him on the silver screen again. this was a very trying experience, not just for kevin spacey by also for the people that accused him. so there's a long road to rehabilitation. >> ali arouzi for us. thank you, appreciate it. republicans and democrats joining forces, surprising, right, to shine a light on those mysterious objects in the sky. what witnesses are saying under oath about their experiences with u.s. foes. i'm going to ask lawmakers from both sides of the aisle who were in that hearing, coming up next. the american people deserve

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(vo) it's time to switch to verizon. sadie did. and now she has myplan. the first unlimited plan that lets her choose exactly what goes in it. now she gets to pick only the perks she wants and saves on every one. and with an incredible new iphone on us, no wonder sadie is celebrating. introducing myplan. get exactly what you want. only pay for what you need. act now and get iphone 14 pro on us when you switch. it's your verizon. welcome back. on what has been an incredibly busy day, we want to tell you about a rare bipartisan effort on the hill playing out in just the last couple of hours. democrats and republicans called on witnesses to share their personal experiences with mysterious aerial phenomena. the witnesses former military or

intelligence officers describing flying objects, defying physics and potentially threatening national security. >> do you believe that our government is in possession of uaps? >> absolutely based on interviewing over 40 witnesses over four years. >> and where? >> i know the exact locations. >> do you believe uaps pose a potential threat to our national security? >> yes. and here's why. the technology that we faced was far superior than anything that we had. i think it's far beyond actually our material science that we currently possess. >> as we convene here, uap are in our airspace, but they are grossly under reported. they are not rare or isolated. they are routine. >> joining us now are two members of congress who were able to question those witnesses. representative jared moskowitz, democrat of florida, and anna polina luna, republican of florida as well.

thank you both for joining us this afternoon. congressman, i want to start with you, representative tim burchett says he's 100% sure the federal government is covering up documents about ufos, do you agree? >> oh, i think tim is right. there's definitely information that the u.s. government is keeping, not just from the american people but from congress. i mean you're talking about satellite imagery, you're talking about pictures, radar data. these pilots are interacting with these things in realtime. these are legit pilots with decorated backgrounds who are coming forward with whistleblower status, you know, testifying in hearings under oath of what they interacted with. you know, there's some video of that. but listen, i was saying in the hearing, you know, when a russian jet interacts with one of the american drones, and damages its propeller, we get immediate video of that. we get immediate pictures that gets released to the american public and world to show what

happened. but when there's a uap, we get nothing. the idea that we use the same technology doesn't pass the smell tess. >> congressman luna, i want to play an exchange you had with a former intelligence officer and whistleblower who claims the u.s. government is in possession of nonhuman bodies and space craft. let's listen to that. >> in the last couple of years, have you had incidents that have caused you to be in fear for your life for addressing these issues? >> yes, personally. >> so he went on to say describing this retaliation that he faced as administrative terrorism. as you understand it, what happens to people, to officials who share what they know? >> well, in the instance of gresh, of which we are actively working in a bipartisan fashion

to get into the skiff to obtain his testimony. they're receiving retribution, punishment with their jobs or in the instance you heard, obviously something more serious. democrat ranking member a raskin made a great point, anybody who's guilty of bullying or intentionally trying to silence or keeping whistleblowers from bringing forward information to the american people needs to be held accountable. we are looking into that. it is scary to hear that a gentleman with his background, his expertise is in fear of his life pause he's bringing forward information to the american people. >> let's talk about what's going to happen next. senator majority leader schumer is pushing to create a commission with broad authority to classify documents related to uaps. do you believe he has support in the house? >> i do. and as you can see here, this is a bipartisan, nonpartisan effort. i mean, just after the hearing,

a bunch of colleagues on both sides of the aisle gathered on the house floor to figure out what the next steps are. this is not just bipartisan, this is bicameral. this is something going on for a long period of time. there should be next steps. we should be getting the documents that he submitted to the inspector general, getting him in a skiff to get additional information. at the end of the day, if we're wrong and the pilots are wrong, then the military should prove why they're wrong and how. rather than just not answering the questions. the american people deserve disclosure, the time has come. >> congresswoman, is there a particular piece of evidence that you want to see that you believe is being withheld by the government? >> i would like to show the rest of my colleagues the information that i was shown at edwin air force base of which we were initially stone walled and prevented from seeing. i think that alone would really change the national discussion, but i also think that for those members that are investigating how dare the pentagon, how dare the military tell members of

oversight that we have no classification to look into this when it comes to the national defense and protecting the american people. they need to stop playing games. >> all right. congressman jared moskowitz, thank you, and congresswoman anna polina luna, thank you very much. acclaimed singer, sinead o'connor has died. ♪ since you've been gone i can do whatever i want ♪ >> sinead o'connor said she never wanted to be a pop star, yet with her haunting voice and unapologetic activism, the irish singer couldn't help but take the world by storm.

♪ nothing compares to you ♪ >> her rendition of "nothing compares to you" earning her three grammy nominations and mtv video of the year, making o'connor the first female artist to win the award. but her meteoric rise came crashing down to earth after a profoundly controversial appearance on "saturday night live" in 1992 when she ripped up a photo of pope john paul ii, live on air. >> fight the real enemy. >> protesting the cover up of catholic church sexual abuse cases, a decade before the scandal was widely publicized. telling carson daly in 2021. >> ten years after the pope ripping episode, you all then find out in america that this was going on. >> reporter: that shocking moment caused a backlash that would destroy her career. in the after math of the snl incident, she was booed and

heckled by crowds. her albums destroyed by angry protesters. despite the controversy, o'connor would go on to release ten solo albums and continued her activism against what she described as the quote catholic theocracy in ireland. later in life, o'connor suffered a series of public mental health episodes. >> this is no way for people to be living. >> reporter: after a stint in rehab, she converted to islam in 2018 and legally changed her name to shuhada davit, but tragedy would strike in 2022, when her son shane took his own life at the age of 17. o'connor was hospitalized shortly afterward following a series of tweets on a since deleted account suggesting she might harm herself later saying she was done with performing because, quote, there will never be anything to sing about again.

a troubled, yet, boundary pushing icon for the ages gone far too soon. kelly cobiella, nbc news. c wsne from big cities, to small towns, and on main streets across the us, you'll find pnc bank. helping businesses both large and small, communities and the people who live and work there grow and thrive. we're proud to call these places home too. they're where we put down roots, and where together, we work to help move everyone's financial goals forward. pnc bank. we really don't want people to think of feeding food like ours is spoiling their dogs. good, real food is simple. it looks like food, it smells like food, it's what dogs are supposed to be eating. ♪

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thank you so much for joining us, it's good to be with

you. i'm in for katy tur today. hunter biden left the courthouse in delaware after entering a not guilty plea. that's not what we expected the president's son to do before he entered court this morning. it appears the deal he struck with prosecutors is now in doubt. it started when the judge presiding over the case asked two questions, whether the deal shielded hunter biden from potential charges down the road, and whether he was still under investigation for actions in foreign countries. prosecutors and hunter biden's defense lawyers couldn't agree on the scope of that agreement. and unless the two sides can reach a resolution, a criminal trial, the first ever for a child of a sitting president could proceed. this was always possible, but as hunter biden's lawyer told katy tur last month, they hoped this would all be in the rear view mirror by now. >> prosecutors are not asking for jail time. are you concerned that the judge here might freelance? >> i think, you know, look, thar