right now on "andrea mitchell reports," indictment watch. could today be the day that special counsel jack smith brings charges against donald trump on accusations he tried to steal the election? the grand jury meeting behind closed doors right now. courtroom drama. how the hunter biden plea deal unraveled. 143 million people under a heat alert from california to maine. the new steps president biden is about to announce to keep workers safe as the temperatures rise. growing questions about mitch mcconnell's health after the 81-year-old freezes mid-sentence for 19 seconds during a live news conference yesterday. fellow lawmakers ushering him away.

good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. president biden has a scheduled event on the extreme heat coming up. we will bring it to you live. we start with the courthouse watch. members of the trump grand jury have been seen entering the courthouse where an indictment on charges related to january 6 and the attempt to overturn the election could be handed up at any moment. three sources with direct knowledge telling nbc news that trump's attorneys met this morning with prosecutors in the special counsel's office and have been told to expect an indictment. sources from inside trump's inner circle say they are prepared for the grand jury to vote today. the grand jury is meeting right now, we believe for the first time since last thursday when, as expected, the former president, did not exercise his opportunity to testify himself. four days after jack smith

sent -- that was four days after he sent mr. trump a letter notifying him he was a target of the investigation. trump is now fund-raising off the likely indictment. he called it the single greatest witch hunt of all time. >> if i weren't winning in the polls, they wouldn't be doing it. if i weren't running, they definitely wouldn't be doing it. this is planned election interference of the highest magnitude. they don't go after the people who cheated in the election. they only go after the people who report on or question the cheating. this will go down as the biggest disgrace in american history. >> ken dilanian is at the justice department. ken, is it looking like today? what are you hearing from your sources at the justice department? >> reporter: i think you laid out some of the very important signals that today could be a big day. perhaps most important, the fact that donald trump's legal team

traveled to the special counsel's office, which is some way away from here at the justice department, to have a meeting. at that meeting, they were told to expect an indictment against their client. we have known that's the situation ever since former president trump got a target letter more than a week ago. we expected the grand jury to meet this past tuesday, but they didn't for reasons that are unclear. then we saw them come in early today. this is a secret process. hard facts on the ground are few. we are relying on smoke signals and whispered conversations in the hallways here. it sure is looking like today is a very important day. this would be an incredibly significant development. as i look at the arc of the story, it wasn't very long ago people were criticizing the justice department for what they viewed as a slow and cautious approach to this question of whether donald trump violated the law in trying to cling to power. in recent months and weeks, this

special counsel, jack smith, and his grand jury has heard from hundreds of witnesses and gathered thousands of documents and now appears to be on the verge of bringing a case. >> ken, stay with us. i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard, former fbi general counsel andrew weissmann and former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official chuck rosenberg. andrew, there's a lot of speculation about the time line. jack smith staring down a primary season calendar for a potential trial. it is scheduled for may on the documents case. how does that factor into a decision whether to come up with this indictment, whether he will in the indictment name potential co-conspirators or not? >> i think we have some clue from jack smith's one and only press conference where in the documents case in florida he said that they would be seeking a speedy trial. what that signalled to me is

that he is very aware of the clock and if there's going to be a trial in that case or this case, the drud druthers is to h that before the general election so the public has the benefit of that information one way or the other with respect to the former president. i think that is the overarching concern on their party in ter p of timing. to ken's points, one piece we have been waiting for is the meeting with defense counsel. with that having happened, i think we are on the cusp of seeing an indictment of the former president. whether there will be co-defendants is one of the open questions. i think the other thing to keep your eye on is who is the assigned judge. that will be critical to the issue of when this case will go to trial.

>> chuck, we saw mark meadows very, very briefly yesterday. he wouldn't say whether or not he is a witness. so far, he wouldn't say anything about january 6. i was talking to chris christie, who is a former prosecutor as well. he thought from his demeanor, he can say things in the political sphere that maybe as a lawyer don't want to say, that it's likely he was testifying. as a witness, he could say that he was testifying. but as he explained it, if he is actually a cooperating witness -- he was under subpoena and forced to come in, so cooperating is a rather movable term there. in any case, if he is helping in some way in this, that he is perhaps reluctant to or is under instruction not to until he is on the stand. >> i think you are right to be cautious about the word

cooperator. it suggests that someone is being cooperative. that said, it strikes me he is very likely a witness, whether a happy one or an unhappy one. the reason he would be a witness is because he was approximate to the former president during some very important periods. if you want to know what somebody is thinking or saying or doing, then you want to talk to the folks who are around that person. what was mr. trump told? what did he understand? what did he say in response? who better than the former white house chief of staff to be approximate to the president when all of these conversations are taking place? whether or not he is a happy witness or a happy cooperator, he is an important witness. and a second data point, a defense attorney -- any good defense attorney would tell her client not to talk about the things you have talked with to the government. i imagine he is a witness.

>> because if you say something on the witness stand that you have said publically different things, then you get yourself into potential trouble. right now at the white house -- i will ask you to pause on this for a moment. president biden is speaking about the relentless heat that's been blanketing the nation. we're all feeling it. the u.n. announces july is set to be the hottest month in reported global history. let's listen to him. >> record temperatures -- and i mean record, are now affecting more than 100 million americans. puerto rico reached a 125 degree heat index last month. san antonio hit an all-time heat index high of 117 last month. phoenix has over 110 degrees for 27 straight days. with el nino and the short-term warming of the ocean, that exacerbates the effects of

climate change, making forecasts hotter in the coming months. ocean temperatures near miami are like stepping in a hot tub. they topped 100 degrees. they are hitting record highs around the world. that's more like -- as i said -- jumping in a hot tub than in the ocean to ride a wave. for years, heat has been the -- i didn't know it either. i knew it was tough. but number one weather-related killer is heat. the number one weather-related killer is heat. 600 people die annually from its affects, more than from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes in america combined. even though places are used to extreme heat have never seen it as hot as it is now for as long as it has been. even those who deny we're in the midst of a climate crisis can't deny the impact extreme heat is having on americans. americans like an elderly woman

in phoenix who fell out of her wheelchair and after five minutes on the ground had third degree burns. third degree burns. the firefighter who has to lug 45 pounds of gear through smoke and flame, which is incredibly hot. the job is even harder and more dangerous to do in record heat. for the farm workers who harvest in the dead of night or farmers who risk everything they planted for the work or construction workers working all day in blazing heat and don't have the right to take a water break, that's outrageous. anybody who does that, says that. we really want to pretend these things are normal. experts say extreme heat is costing america $100 billion a year. it hits our most vulnerable the

hardest. it's threatening farms, fisheries, forests. so many families depend on them to make a living. none of this is inevitable. from day one of my administration, we have taken unprecedented action to combat the climate crisis that's anywh world. meanwhile, fema has been on the ground responding to those weather emergencies in real

time. i have traveled a lot in that helicopter with you across the country to see the devastation that occurs as wildfires and other -- and drought and the like. we launched a place you can go. heat.gov. share life saving information you may need to know about. last year my department of labor created the first national program to protect workers from heat stress. since then, we have conducted 2,600 heat-related inspections at workplaces nationwide to protect the health and safety of workers on the job so they are being taken care of. today, i'm announcing additional steps to help states and cities deal with the consequences of extreme heat. first, i have asked the acting labor secretary to issue a heat hazard alert. it clarifies workers have a federal heat related -- have federal heat-related protections. we should be protecting workers

from hazardous conditions and we will. those states where they do not, i'm going to be calling them out where they refuse to protect these workers in this awful heat. the secretary of labor will increase inspections in high risk industries like construction and agriculture. this work builds on a national standard of the labor department is developing for workforce and workplace heat safety rules. meanwhile, the u.s. forest service will award more than $1 billion in grants to help cities and towns plant trees that in the long-term will help repel the heat and expand access to green spaces so families have a place to go to cool off and bring down the temperature in cities. the department of housing and urban development is spreading billions to communities to make buildings more efficient and to make more heat -- make them more heat resistant, opening cooling

centers in the cities that the communities can go to to be safe. the department of interior is using infrastructure funding to expand water storage capacity in the western states to deal with the impacts of future droughts that are all this more extreme in this extreme heat more consequential. the a new partnership with universities and impact communities to improve the nation's weather forecasts and accuracy so americans everywhere can be better prepared and they can better predict what the heat is going to be in community with the weather. all my investing in america agenda, we provided $50 billion for climate resilience to restore wetlands, manage

wildfires, help combat heat. the maga extremists are trying to undo this. not a single republican voted for the inflation reduction act. we had all this money for climate which provides funding to combat climate change. now many are trying to repeal the provisions. we're not going to let that happen. part of the reason we're here today is to get word out so state and local governments know these resources are available and uses them. i want the american people to know, help is here. we're going to make it available to anyone who needs it. follow guidance from the local leaders and public safety officials when you hear it in your cities and towns and states. stay indoors if you are vulnerable. be careful on hot pavement. know the signs of heatstroke like headache, nausea, dizziness. always have water with you. that sounds silly, but always have a bottle of water with you when you are outside. check on loved ones and neighbors who may not have air

conditioning. check on them on a regular basis. go to the mall or community centers or movie theaters where there's air conditioning when you don't have that at home. take advantage of local cooling centers. hundreds are being built. they are for everyone and they save lives. it matters. i'm going to turn it over to the mayor of phoenix who is on the front lines of dealing with extreme heat. >> that's the president with some very good advice for all of us. 100 million americans, those of us experiencing this kind of weather. it's 107 degrees, i believe, is the effective heat index here today in washington where air conditioning is in the studio. many colleagues are out on the street not so, including ken dilanian in front of the justice department, vaughn hillyard at 30 rock, andrew weissmann and chuck rosenberg in studio here, in new york. vaughn, to you. two additional so-called fake electors are set to testify next

month. bernie kerik says the former nypd commissioner said he is speaking with the feds. he spoke with a potential witness or more who were surprised that he has not been contacted by the special counsel. >> reporter: right. we were talking during that about the others that may be feeling the heat in the situation. different heat than joe biden was talking about. one individual who was surprised that he was not feeling that heat was former congressman mo brooks from alabama. i talked to him last night. he spoke at that ellipse event on january 6. he was that congressman who said it was time for american pate -- patriots to take names. when he was running for senate, he told me a little over a year ago, he told me that donald trump had urged him while he was in congress to rescind the 2020 presidential election and to

help him get joe biden out of office and have a new election. he said donald trump was urging him to take those motions. why is the fact he has not gone before the special counsel relevant? either one, of course, as you laid out, kerik will go before the special counsel. potentially, the likes of mo brooks -- the investigation is clearly not wrapping up this week. the second part though is that the extent to which so much is out in the public sphere and available to the prosecutors. mo brooks made these allegations against donald trump. then just months later, donald trump actually in social media went and confirmed the allegations laid out by mo brooks saying that the rightful winner should be put into office and that there should be -- worse case scenario, a new election. he said that in 2022. for special counsel's office,

they are able to work off of so much that was already put out publically by the likes of donald trump and others. >> ken, let's talk about from your sources what you think might happen, if it's going to be today, how might we see this, when would it first hit and how? >> reporter: right. this is a series of educated guesses. one possibility is the grand jury votes today to indict either former president trump or a series of people, however it's going to go. the indictment would have to be handed up. as andrew knows well, that takes place in open court before a magistrate judge many-- it would involve them walking into a courtroom. it has to be public. we have people all over the courthouse watching for this kind of thing. in my experience, there are ways that prosecutors and judges can find spaces outside of the vision of the media. we may see that. we may not.

they wouldn't name donald trump through that process. in d.c., the custom is to discuss the initials of the defendant under indictment. the question would be, is that sealed or not sealed? it could be unsealed. if it's unsealed, then it goes to the clerk's office and it's public record. we see it. we could get a news release from the justice department. if it's sealed, there is some period of time where we wouldn't see details. then it would have to be unsealed by the judge. we will wait and see how and if that transpires. >> chuck, given what we know from jack smith and the way his earlier indictment in florida read, would this likely be a so-called speaking indictment where he would tell a narrative? >> typically so. there's advantages, i think, to the public obviously in receiving a speaking indictment, because you can see the fruits of the investigation and understand the theory and the facts behind the charging

decision. there's also an evidentiary advantage to prosecutors in laying out the full case in an indictment, because if at trial the government can always argue to the presiding judge, your honor, it's alleged in the indictment, we should be able to prove it up to the jury. it sometimes helps grease the skids for the introduction of evidence. i do think there's a public benefit after a long and sensitive investigation in telling full investigative story. to your point, they do that through a speaking indictment, laying out the details. >> andrew, let's talk about the universe we are talking about. there's been -- there's so many competing legal issues involving the former president, the hush money case, the defamation case, as you know, the classified documents. this is the essential case about whether or not he participated in some fashion in trying to

overturn the election knowingly, knowing he had lost. it doesn't matter whether he knew or not, i guess. trying to overturn theelection. it could involve fake elects, the attempt to seize voting machines, it could involve many states. we know what's happening in georgia, which is more limited but parallel. it could involve january 6 and maybe harder to prove is incitement issues. >> absolutely. i think most legal commentators and i agree that this is by far the most serious case that the former president would face. it's hard to think of a more serious charge than overthrowing the will of the people and undermining the peaceful transfer of power that has happened in this country since the very first president. that is saying a lot, because the documents case, as somebody

who used intelligence community, the allegations there are horrific because of the danger to the national security. you know well have the allegations there. this would be by far the most serious case that he faces. >> vaughn, ken, chuck, andrew -- ken, you are on point there. we are all waiting to watch and see and read. we will be having more details throughout the day. when it breaks, if it breaks. thanks to all of you for your expertise. the deal delayed. a plea agreement for the president's son hunter falling apart. leaving hunter biden's future in question. that's next when "andrea mitchell reports" is back in just 60 seconds on msnbc. don't go away. ♪♪ with fastsigns, signage that gets you noticed turns hot lots into homes.

♪♪ fastsigns. make your statement. have fun, sis! ( ♪♪ ) ( ♪♪ ) can't stop adding stuff to your cart? get the bank of america customized cash rewards card, choose the online shopping category and earn 3% cash back.

hunter biden's legal team trying to figure out what are their next steps after a federal judge in delaware refused to accept a plea deal negotiated by the justice department prosecutor and the lawyers for the defense. trump-appointed judge questioned the parameters of the deal, prompting the prosecutor to reveal that his team is still investigating biden's business dealings, which he had said in a press release a month ago. it's a little bit confusing as to why this wasn't cleared up. the judge at one point saying she was being asked to act as a rubber stamp and clearly would not. moments later, the white house responding to the developments. >> hunter biden is a private citizen. this was a personal matter for him. as we have said, the president, the first lady, they love their son. this case was handled independently as always of you know by the justice department under the leadership of a prosecutor appointed by the former president.

>> joining me now is investigation correspondent tom winter who is in the courtroom during yesterday's hearing and former u.s. attorney barbara mcquade, former assistant fbi director frank figliuzzi and boston globe columnist kimberly atkins stohr, who is also an attorney. tom, talk us through what happened in court. your reporting yesterday was spot on and terrific. up to the minute, but of course, it's a closed courtroom. no electronics allowed. we were getting the information through a wonderful series of reporting from inside but not through any electronic means. then you summed it all up just incredibly quickly. thank you. >> that's right. we were all but doing smoke signals and hand signals yesterday. we did the flash cards that we were handing to interns and shuttling those notes in and out of the court and being quarterbacked by my colleague.

yesterday was not at all what we expected. it was clear from early on in that hearing that, in fact, the judge had some pretty serious questions as far as how that was all going to proceed yesterday. i think the key thing is she felt like on one hand she was asked not to participate in basically approving and questioning the plea agreement that was being offered on the misdemeanor tax counts, which is an area where she might have the ability to normally reject or accept that plea agreement under rule 11 in the federal court system. then on the other hand, she says, i never see the pre-trial diversion agreements because the point is it never goes before the court. yet, you are asking me in that pre-trial diversion agreement to be somebody who might have to be the arbitor of facts or the gatekeeper of whether or not charges are filed, which could raise constitutional concerns. the judge had a hard time understanding basically how --

why they were proceeding the way they were and how things were going to move forward. that was really what this centered around. the big question moving forward here is, are the two sides going to be able to come together, work out the language to what they will believe to be the satisfaction of the judge, or any time you have a contract and decide to reopen it again, are you opening up pandora's box instead of just the language? that's something we will see over the coming weeks. it's likely a deal gets done. both sides had an interest in doing it. on the other hand, who knows what will happen now that this is getting a second look from both sides. >> barbara, how could these two sides be so far apart? we all read that news release from the prosecutor, the u.s. attorney in delaware, a trump appointee, which said the investigation is ongoing, which was a red flag. a lot of us were wondering what it was. it's a secret process. how could they not sit down

together and say, let's iron this out? does this or does this not end all the legal perils for hunter biden, which is what the defense wanted, expected? >> as a prosecutor, like most prosecutors, i have handled hundreds of these kinds of plea hearings. they almost always go without a hitch. they go very smoothly. that's because the parties have talked extensively about the terms. i fault both lawyers for not having the meeting of the mind. i give great credit to this judge who are talking with the parties and making sure everything was on the same page. it turns out, they weren't. on the one hand, i guess i would fault the prosecutor for not making it clear in its language that there was the possibility to continue with investigating other crimes. i also fault the defense attorney because, as you said, the u.s. attorney made public statements that the investigation was ongoing.

you would think that he would inquire and say, wall street a minute, that wasn't my understanding our deal. the other part of this, this pre-trial diversion agreement, as tom said, it's ordinarily not something that gets shared with the court, because it's a private contract between the two parties. i have seen speculation that one of the reasons they may be handling this in such an unusual way is that the current u.s. attorney's office is worried that a future doj under a trump administration might not act in good faith in the administration of this agreement. instead, they wanted the judge to handle this. as she pointed out, it's not her lane to decide whether under biden is in breach and more charges should follow. i suspect the parties will go back and reach a meeting of the minds and will have a deal within 30 days. >> there's a political fallout on this, kimberly. let's talk about the complications for the president's re-election campaign, this fuels the push by

house republicans for an impeachment inquiry into whether joe biden, as has been denied vigorously from the white house, but as to whether president biden, before he became president, was involved with his son's business deals. he says not. the republicans want to know. they say they have a right to know. this gives legs to those inquiries. and the possibility that the speaker raised of an impeachment. >> yeah. certainly, some republicans have been taking what happened yesterday with the stall in this settlement agreement, in this plea agreement as some sort of evidence that something was afoot, that hunter biden was getting some sweetheart deal from doj when in actualactualit judge was going through this and finding things the attorneys should have found. that's not quite what is happening here. that narrative doesn't fit the facts.

that's not going to stop some trump supporters to twist them to that end. i never thought that a plea agreement would end joe biden's political problems going into the election. in part because we already knew that the investigation into hunter biden was ongoing and that trump supporters have been using that for fodder to try to use against the president all along. there are still questions about his business dealings and whether that could lead to some other criminal liability. this is something that we knew. i don't know why the attorneys didn't know that either. i think that this was always going to be a political problem for joe biden so long as donald trump supporters try to keep making it one. >> frank, how notable is it that the investigation, according to the prosecutor, is still ongoing, looking into his businesses? what kind of legal perils are there for him? and political perils for his

father. >> great question. i think most people -- i will put myself in this category -- are more intrigued by the realization that the fbi and doj have been investigating this for five years. and yet, it seemed like they had come up with a couple of misdemeanor tax violations and a gun charge that likely will be diverted. what went on during this five-year period and is still ongoing, we're told, by the u.s. attorney? people know i come at things through national security and counterintelligence lens. it's likely that during that five-year period they were looking at the totality of circumstances regarding people getting close to or attempting to get close to hunter biden, the flow of money, the foreign operatives, whether it's chinese operatives that have been identify and have been reported on, or ukraine business, that's where i'm intrigued. it's likely that prosecutors deliberately carved out the

misdemeanor tax violation, the gun charge, because they very much are proceeding on related or unrelated facts that they are going to deal with later. they didn't want hunter, perhaps, to say, i want all of this part of a plea deal later on. they said, no, we're carving this out. that's what intrigues me. >> just to follow up with that point, barbara, is it possible that they will come back in 30 days and tell the judge, yes, we have agreed on what to do about the tax and the gun deal, and leave open the possibility that there will be further investigations so hunter biden will come out of this not entirely out of the woods? >> yes, it is possible. in fact, there's standard language that i'm surprised they didn't use in this case that talks about -- you can say that this resolution focuses solely on these charges, tax charges for year x, et cetera. instead, there was conflicting language.

on the one hand, they could say, this resolution covers every bit of conduct currently known by the government. that gives both sides protection. the government could still prosecute cases if it finds other things. there's room for agreement. it may be if hunter biden is open to other criminal exposure, he may not want to plead guilty and wait and see what the whole situation looks like before he decides to plead guilty and give up some of his rights. i think that's going to matter a lot. as frank said, it's difficult in open court for the prosecution to say what's going on. if there's an investigation, they don't want to compromise it. >> it's just not a good political situation in any respect in terms of the white house. tom, barbara, frank, kimberly, thanks to all of you. there are renewed concerns

on capitol hill and elsewhere about the health of 81-year-old mitch mcconnell after he appeared to suffer some sort of medical episode at a weekly news conference on wednesday, freezing mid sentence for 19 seconds. >> this week has been good bipartisan cooperation and a string of -- >> are you good? >> anything else you want to say? do you want to say anything else? >> you saw senator beraso escorting senator mcconnell away

from the podium. moments later, he did return. he was back at the mik shrugging off any concern. later in the day, mcconnell reassured reporters about his health. >> the president called to check on me. i told him, i got sandbagged. >> how are you feeling now? >> i'm fine. >> are you going to see a doctor? >> any idea what happened? >> i'm fine. >> dehydrated? >> gotta watch those sandbags. >> no reports from the leader, the republican leader. joining me now is democratic senator chris coons who serves on the foreign relations and judiciary committees. there are key votes on the defense authorization bill. senator, this latest incident does raise questions concerning his health. i don't know if you have been in meetings with him recently.

we understand that he also had another fall after his fall and his concussion and recovery, another fall at the airport not too long ago. it clearly was a concerning incident yesterday. >> andandrea, i was just in a meeting with the prime minister of italy where senate republican leader mcconnell and our majority leader senator schumer led the meeting. senator mcconnell was engaged, was focused, asked good questions. i spoke with him on the floor last night after the incident that you just replayed. he seemed engaged and agile. it's important that he and president biden have a decades long relation celebrity page. as you saw in the clip, president biden called to just check on him and express his concerns, senator mcconnell had a witty response. he is someone who enjoys a

relationship with president biden. there are other senior republican senators who also have long relationships with president biden. part of what president biden ran on in 2020 was that unlike his predecessor, he understands this place, he has relationships here. he would be able to deliver on sustained bipartisan solutions to the problems facing average americans. the last two years bore that out. the infrastructure law, the chips and si science law. senator mcconnell has been rock solid in supporting our efforts to sustain ukraine as they fight against the russian occupiers and invaders. senator schumer and senator mcconnell both have sustained broad bipartisan support here in the u.s. senate.

the prime minister of italy is a leader in nato, in providing resources and support to the ukrainian people and the ukrainian military. we had a constructive conversation with her today about italy's role as a close u.s. nato ally and senator mcconnell fully participated in that conversation. >> that's all very good news, indeed. as we know, and as you experience all the time up there, those relationships are critical. we know famously that senator mcconnell and harry reid, for instance, did not have a good working relationship and that did stalemate a lot of things on the hill. after january 6, he didn't have a good relationship with donald trump, even though he was responsible for spearheading the supreme court nominees through that are so controversial but so much in donald trump's court in terms of what he has been bragging about as he runs for re-election. well, let's move on to the war

in ukraine. his support is so important as there are people in both parties, in the house and senate, beginning to bail a little bit on that as the time progresses. we are beginning it see some improvement in the counteroffensive in the last 24, 48 hours. it's going to be a long haul. now there's a new report from the office of the director of national intelligence. that report just today, an unclassified version of what you have probably seen in more detail, is that, yes, china is leaning forward and doing more to help russia in ukraine. not crossing the red line, i'm told, yet of military aid, but dual use aid and government supported companies are supporting different kinds of technology. >> that's right, andrea. the prc is staying on the sidelines for now in materials

-- terms of providing support to russia. they are purchasing huge amounts of russian oil and gas. they are providing dual use equipment. for example, selling helmets and body armor that clearly has no civilian use but is not an offensive weapon. this is how the administration has led on ukraine. they released intelligence that shows that xi jinping is supporting russia with offensive weapons. after that was released and after an exchange of views between the united states, our administration, and xi jinping, they backed off. that would be a game changer. we should look back to the history of the wa on the korean

peninsula. china decided to come in on the side of north korea. it changed the balance and prolonged the war for years. if china, if the people's republic of china came in to this conflict on the side of russia, it would be a very negative development. i think our country and many others have been effectively communicating to xi jinping that his so-called friendship without limits with vladimir putin is only hurting china's prospects on the world stage. as russia is using hunger as a weapon of war, as russia is striking with missiles and other attacks, grain silos and storage facilities on the black sea coast of ukraine, there are dozens of countries inage africg famine as a result of russia's immoral use of hunger as a weapon of war. for china to side with that conduct would be a tragic

mistake, both for the increasingly hungry people of dozens of countries that rely on ukrainian grain and oil exports, food oil exports, but also for china's reputation in the developing world. it's my hope, given this report today, that china's leadership, xi jinping, will reconsider their support for putin's aggression in ukraine and putin's use of hunger as a weapon of war. >> we are hearing putin is planning another trip to beijing coming up. it will be the first meeting since the spring meeting by xi in moscow. hearing reports that prigozhin has shown up at the africa summit. that that would indicate that whatever deal they did do, he and putin, he still will be active in the african continent where he has been raking in billions from having his mercenaries there guarding leaders and reaping the benefits

from the diamonds, gold, other minerals. i want to move on to donald trump and hunter biden, actually. your reaction as a family friend, as a delaware senator, as a longtime intimate of the bidens, to this -- it's more than a hiccup. the deal fell apart. it has to be put back together again, if he is going to figure out a way not to face a trial. >> you asked me to comment on both donald trump and hunter biden. i will speak briefly to their respective legal challenges. the press is reporting that donald trump, former president trump's lawyers have been notified by jack smith that he may well be indicted in the coming day or two for his alleged role in the january 6 insurrection. hunter biden, as you referenced, had a hearing in front of a district court judge in delaware about a plea deal. the judge expressed real concerns about the supervision

of a piece of that agreement that would have allowed hunter to avoid any prosecution for a gun related offense. this is a common practice in prosecutions where you are a first-time offender, it's related to drug abuse and you enter into a supervision vision where as long as you do not reoffend in terms of owning weapons or substance abuse, that is expunged. in this case, the judge was asking about who will supervise that. that piece fell apart. i expect they will be back with a revised deal in weeks. here is what matters. in one case, it's the former president who is trying to be the presidential nominee for the republican party who is facing legal challenges. in the other case, it's a private citizen. the president's son but someone who never served in the white house, who had no official role.

that's a significant difference. none of this that relates to hunter biden and his history of substance abuse and his plea deal in the district court of delaware relates to president biden. all of the charges that have been laid against former president trump in other contexts and may be advanced by an indictment relates to the conduct of former president trump in office. conduct that resulted in an armed gang assaulting the building that i'm in here in the united states capitol. let's be clear, one is about the conduct of a former president in office and the other is about a private citizen, the son of the current president. there's a stark difference. >> you are correct. i should not have analogized those together in my haste. there's no question that they are of very, very different proportions. there's no comparison. what i meant to be asking you in my defense is, are you concerned

about the house republicans trying to make much of this now and saying there is something to be investigated that could warrant opening an impeachment inquiry of a sitting president of the united states based on the fact that there is an ongoing investigation into his son's business dealings and the allegation he was involved, which they have strongly deied and there's no evidence of? >> that's right. my understanding from press accounts is that the department of justice intends to make available u.s. attorney weiss from delaware, a trump-appointed u.s. attorney, to speak directly to the allegations that are being thrown around by the house majority, the house republican majority, so that the u.s. attorney can answer questions and be clear that he had five years, he had all the resources he needed, the choices that were made about venue and about charges were his choices and that he stands behind the plea agreement that was advanced before a federal district court judge. if he says all those things --

according to press accounts, that's what he would testify to -- i think that ends the repeated efforts, the lines of inquiries that house republicans are raising. it's my hope that we can all move forward past this chapter and that hunter biden can move forward with his recovery and his life and that this five-year federal investigation into broad and wild allegations of his conduct will be brought to a close. >> returning to former president trump, it's clear that this case, from what we know about what is being investigated, is far more serious than anything else that he has encountered. even the documents case, which is very serious. because it does involve an insurrection, attempt to overturn the election, many states, fake electors, alleged attempt to seize voting machines. what does that tell you as the special counsel is going to take

this on as soon as today, as the stakes for the former president and the stakes for the nation's confidence in the political process and the judiciary? >> andrea, the rule of law is foundational to andrea, the rul foundational to our democracy. the concept that no one is above the law, and we in the senate did, in fact, conduct an impeachment trial of the former president for his role on january 6th. and he was nearly convicted. it came a few votes short, and those republican senators who voted not to convict but who spoke about it at the time, a number of them commented that it seemed to them unnecessary to convict the former president because he was a former president. and unlikely to run or serve as president again. frankly, president trump's conduct on january 6th, what he did or didn't do to incite the mob and to encourage them to come and attack the capitol and

to seek to overturn the peaceful transfer of power following an election. that conduct is foundational to both our system of ordered liberty, our constitution, and our understanding of his willingness to respect those guardrails, those roles and those traditions. the united states has had a peaceful transition of power over and over and over for literally hundreds of years. this was the closest we came to that not succeeding, and i think former president trump should be held accountable for that. thank you, and wra. >> thank you so much, thanks for being here. we appreciate it. and coming up, republican reboot, amid money problems and focus on the culture war, the ron desantis campaign trying to remake itself. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. reports. this is msnbc. xploding. but my old internet, was not letting me run the show. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide.

(vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon.

and criticism about how black history is now going to be taught in florida. under new state guidelines from desantis appointees. florida republican

congressman byron donalds, a trump backer while criticized one section that says slaves developed skills that they benefitted from writing, it is wrong and needs to be adjusted. trump praised the congressman, the lone black republican in the florida delegation, while the desantis team came out strongly criticizing him. joining me now, mor yawl, and republican governor and former presidential candidate, john kasich. marc morial. >> good morning. >> good morning, it's good to see you, i'm sorry we've had so much other news today, but i want to get to this. he's been defending the florida education standards. there may be some positive things in it, we're going through it, but this really stands out of course saying there were positive aspects to slave by because enslaved people

could learn some skills. >> reporter: what governor desantis doesn't understand enslaved africans brought skills to north america. they were farmers, they were carpenters. they were builders, they were iron workers. in effect, they were skilled as they arrived to the shores of the united states. and the idea that you got skills that you could use later in life, there was no later in life but being enslaved, except for maybe the last generation that were freed. this is absolutely insulting for a person and people of the educational levels of governor desantis and the education establishment in florida to posit this and think that people will go along with it is absolutely absurd. i am a person who majored in

economics and african american studies, and the very notion that you're going to engage in sort of a lost cause revisionist history and try to indoctrinate the young people of florida with this garbage is going to be resisted. it's going to be resisted in florida, in texas, and in any single state. it is nonsensical, and the idea is that why are you doing this other than as a ploy to try to enhance what is already a failing presidential candidacy. >> governor kasich, nbc's mat dixon is reporting the desantis campaign is going to start using two fund-raising tools that are dormant, allowing them to split costs, let donors who maxed out give more. so they've had a problem -- they have too few small donors, only 17 some percent of their donors

are small donors. how critical is the debate next month now in iowa coming up? >> first of all, i want to associate myself with marc's comments. there is absolutely no redeeming value in any way, shape, or form about what happened during the period of slavery. it's just kind of impossible that anybody would have tried to ring something good out of it is nuts. in terms of his problem, look, he's getting a lot of bad headlines now. i saw earlier this week that he was saying that he was going to pivot to be more positive, to talk about positive things that would put him in a new light. i think this whole road that he's been on, the anti-woke road, i've been saying andrea, as long as you and i have been talking here, it's not going to work. it doesn't work. it comes across as angry. it comes across as divisive, and i think if he were to start to move to a more positive explanation about the things that he did in florida while he was governor, i think it could

help him, but look, you know, people say he's inevitable as the number two. now they say he's dead. it's not true. he's got time to recoup, but he's going to have to recoup, but if he doesn't do it with a positive message and a vision, i think he could be finished. it's too early to say that, it's early and a long way away. many things are going to happen. >> which is a very helpful reminder because it is really early. marc, very, very briefly, your quick reaction, the justice department has just opened a civil practice investigation into the city of memphis and the memphis police department, this is separate from the probe into the death of tyre nichols. >> we have called for that, and i think assistant attorney general kristin clark and attorney general garland are taking the right step to use that tool to do a thorough examination. obviously there's been a problem in memphis.

what you saw with the awful incident with tyre nichols appeared to not be an exception but part of a pattern or practice of unconstitutional policing. so this is welcome because we need to fix american policing. i think what people see is this culture. in memphis, it was tragic. it was a group of officers who were also black officers. we've seen mostly white officers, but these were black officers, so it underscores the fact that the culture of policing is what is damaged in this country, so i think it's a step in the right direction, and i think we should all support this thorough examination in memphis. >> i want to thank both of you. we'll have to pick this up at another time. to be continued indeed, governor kasich, marc morial. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports" follow

us online on facebook and twitter @andreamitchellreports. chris jansing starts right now. fteron, i'm chris jansing live from msnbc headquarters in new york city. right now the grand jury is in place and former president donald trump's lawyers met with special counsel's office according to three sources familiar with the matter. the pressure intensifying, it's been 11 days since trump says he received a letter from jack smith's team saying that he's the target of the special counsel's case looking into his attempts to cling to power after the 2020 election. we have nbc reporting on the preparations being made by trump's legal team and are closely watching all the activity in and around the courthouse. and hunter biden at the center of a different courtroom legal drama. it was all expected to be settled by now, but today his lawyers are trying to hammer out a new deal while republicans seize on the delay as the