railing against special counsel jack smith and the judge assigned to his d.c. criminal trial as the judge tells both sides to file briefs by 5:00 p.m. today on why mr. trump should not be restrained from attacking trial participants or revealing grand jury testimony in the case despite his lawyer's request for more time to submit their arguments. that was denied. all this triggered by his angry blast that quote, if you go after me, i'm coming after you. despite a warning from the magistrate judge at his arraignment to be careful about threats. mr. trump also lashing out over the weekend at former speaker nancy pelosi after her comments to me on friday about his court appearance. >> when i saw his coming out of his car and they said that i saw a scared puppy. he looked very, very, very concerned. >> plus, nbc's dasha burns talks

exclusively to ron desantis about his campaign reset and trump's dominating lead in the polls. >> if, on the other hand, the election is not about january 20th, 2025, but january 6th, 2021, or what document was left by the toilet at mar-a-lago, if it's a ref run dem on that, we are going to lose. >> they're fighting against trump -- >> that's not a pathway for success for the republican party. >> end of the trail for the u.s. women's soccer team. falling to sweden on penalty kicks. a crushing early exit from the world cup. and good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington where this afternoon, donald trump's defense and the

prosecutors have to submit legal arguments by 5:00 p.m. on the government's request for a restraining order to prevent the former president from attacking the judge, the prosecution and witnesses, influencing jurors or revealing grand jury evidence. the judge protected an argument they needed three more days to submit their objections to the protective order. the prosecutor's request came a few hours after mr. trump posted one day after his latest arraignment that quote, if you go after me, i'm coming after you. even though the magistrate judge at his arraignment warned him against such threats. that led prosecutors to write the court that if the defendant were to begin issuing public posting using details or grand jury transcripts obtained in discovery, it could have a harmful, chilling effect on witnesses or adversely affect

justice in this case. he stayed on the attack this weekend railing against president biden and mike pence, the trial judge and jack smith. joining me now on this, nbc justice and intelligence correspondent, ken dilanian. former manhattan assistant district attorney, catherine, danny and soon to be the post's next national editor. danny, i want to start with the latest line of defense from john laurel on the discussions between mike pence and donald trump leading up to january 6th. >> he said the president asked him to violate the constitution which is another way of saying to break the law. >> no, that's wrong. a technical violation of the constitution is not a violation of criminal law. that's just plain wrong and to say that is contrary to decades of -- >> we're, while we, let's get --

>> and it went on and on. chuck todd and of course john laurel. danny, what do you make of these initial public defenses from john laurel over the past weekend? >> his statement there is technically correct. in other words, that a violation of the constitution, the constitution's not a criminal code. although it does contain one or two crimes defined in the institution but the rest of it is not a crimes code but trump isn't charged with a crime under the constitution. he's charged with crimes under the united states code which contains federal crimes. that statement, while technically correct, isn't that relevant. you can violate the constitution in many ways and have it not be criminal. no one's saying that. what they're saying is what trump did is criminal and the defense is saying he was exercising his constitutional right. so a violation of the constitution is a bit of a red

herring. >> so, catherine christian, what's your response to lauro's argument, including he was saying, first of all, that there's freedom of speech here. and arguably the president's not being charged with anything that he has said. it's the actions he took after he said these things. >> well, first of all, as someone who prosecuted cases for 30 years, i loved it when the defense attorney would lay out what the defense was and mr. lauro spent all of yesterday letting the special counsel know what the defenses are going to be. he even cited cases. so what they're doing, and i can tell you for a fact that jack smith learned as a young prosecutor, anticipate defenses, build the evidence of arguments to defeat them at trial.

so what mr. lauro did is basically lead the prosecutors to a roadmap of what they intend to argue. here's to follow up on what danny said, is true. technically correct. that there is not a technical violation of the constitution but his client is being charged criminally with conspireing against the civil rights of other persons. conspireing to injure and intimidate people from their free exercise of their constitutional rights. so no. he's not being charged with a violation of the constitution but there's a criminal charge his client is charged with. the free speech argument. let me just say, and danny's a defense attorney. i wouldn't expect any defense attorney who's confident to go on tv to say my client is guilty. i give up. you have to defend your client. you have to work with what you have. you have to say i'm going to change venue. you have to make those arguments but i can say the free speech argument is ridiculous. he will make it and then the

special counsel will combat it. i prosecuted financial fraud. financial fraudsters use the gift of gab to dupe people out of their money. to dupe people to become false electors. so lots of crimes. bribery is speech. you use your speech in order to trick someone into doing something. in order to commit a crime. so to say it was a free speech right to conspire against rights, to defraud the united states or to obstruct justice is ridiculous but he has to make the arguments. >> and ken, he's hardly been silent. even today. take me through that. >> he's really setting the table for the court battle here. he has a new post on truth social where he says no, i shouldn't have a protective order placed on me because it would impinge my right to free speech but the department of justice should because they're

illegally leaking all over the place. he repeated that over the weekend. take a listen. >> deranged jack smith. doesn't he look deranged? seen the picture with the purple robe? he's a deranged human being. we're getting stronger by the day. somebody said you should treat him nicer. let me tell you, this guy is a lost soul. bad guy. >> so what people need to understand is that this is about a protective order, which is standard in every criminal case. it's about not disclosing the evidence that the prosecution turns over to donald trump including sensitive -- >> it's not a gag order. >> and that may become an issue down the road but because he's already attacking the prosecutor and the judge in this case, it does raise that question and we may see the judge make some comments about his inflammatory remarks as the special counsel already did in their friday night court filing citing that post where he said if you come after me, i'm going to come after you. >> and catherine, another one of

lauro's arguments was that his pressure on mike pence was quote aspirational and it was criminalizing freedom of speech to say that he couldn't have asked him for a pause. >> well, the problem with that, sorry. the problem with that defense is mike pence in two different interviews this weekend said, quote, that's not true. they essentially quote, told me to overturn the election. they specifically asked me to literally reject votes. so that, mike pence will be one of the main witnesses, has said that's not true. that probably, mike pence said, was a cause and effect for mr. trump putting out on social media what i think is borderline threatening to mike pence as a witness. that social media post he put up there. so aspirational and the indictment is, he's innocent until proven guilty.

their allegations. so he's basically saying he aspirationally said to mike pence you know after you know mike pence said i'm not going to do it, he said to him, you're too honest. then he also aspirationally you know, said well i'm going to have to now publicly target you. so yes, he's going to obviously his lawyer is not going to admit. he's not going to admit what he can't deny. he's going to deny what he can't admit. and that is that as the vice president said, he was asked to literally reject votes. that's his problem mr. trump has. >> and another one of mr. lauro's defenses was that you can't charge mr. trump for what he did when he was president but listen to what mitch mcconnell had to say during the second impeachment of 2021 when he was arguing against you can't impeach him. he's no longer the president.

for things he did then. >> president trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office. as an ordinary citizen. unless the statute of limitations is run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office. didn't get away with anything yet. yet. we have a criminal justice system in this country. we have civil litigation. and former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one. >> so danny, isn't that the case? that he can now be charged, charged in a criminal court or civil case as he has been for things he did while he was president? >> if i submitted mitch mcconnell's statements about the law to a judge and said that that is mandatory authority, the judge would say no, it isn't. because it isn't. it's interesting and there may

be some truth to what mcconnell is saying, but i think there's no such thing as immunity for a president for everything he does while in office. but here's the thing about that. the case law on that is still a developing area. you know why? because we haven't indicted former presidents before. but look. as a defense attorney, you have to raise that as a possible immunity and say that look, what i was doing fell somehow within my presidency and therefore i'm immune because it is true that for example you can't go prosecuting presidents for say initiating wars or conflicts in countries aboard. they have some degree of absolute immunity but at the same time, is that immunity blanket forever for everything? i'd rather think not. but we don't know constitutionally for sure. mcconnell certainly doesn't know for sure but a judge will certainly have to make that decision at some point. whether it's the trial judge, appellate judge or possibly even

the supreme court. by the way, any issue of law that trump can get out of the trial court and up to the supreme court just playing the odds is probably a good one for him. so issues in court are probably the government's strongest case. >> i would just point out obviously you can't necessarily criminalize or try to penalize a former president in a court of law for a policy decision on war or peace. you know, war crimes, obviously the president and people in the military have been considered immune from what is determined to be a war crime in many cases so far at least. but murder. election fraud. >> sure. >> i mean, you know. >> dui. >> okay. >> yeah. >> most of them don't drive. don't get behind the wheel. let me ask phil rucker about some of these attacks with a political context going after jack smith.

neither of you or i are lawyers, but going after the judge, mike pence, he even felt he had to respond to this comment from the former speaker, nancy pelosi, which she made to me on friday about his court appearance. >> when i saw his coming out of his car and this or that, i saw a scared puppy. he looked very, very, very concerned about the fate. i didn't see any bravado or confidence or anything like that. he knows. he knows the truth. that he lost the election. and now he's got to face the music. >> so, phil, mr. trump reacted to that over the weekend by writing that nancy pelosi is a wicked witch, a sick, demented psycho. >> yeah. andrea, it's not surprising to see trump using that kind of

language to demean his adversaries. he's been doing it for years. it's worth pointing out by the way that he had a statement on social media over the weekend attacking mike pence, his former vice president, who has detailed in the indictment was clearly an important witness to the prosecution in terms of providing testimony in the run up to this indictment. but we should all just like pause and remember how extraordinary and unusual it is that a defendant in a criminal proceeding is speaking out in this nature and in this way about the prosecution and as well as about the judge. you just don't normally see this and it speaks to how much trump is busting these norms and i think you know could potentially lead to some interesting developments in this case. he's been attacking smith previously for the indictment and the classified documents case down in florida and my colleagues at "the washington post" have reported since then that there is security

protection for jack smith, the special counsel, and other members of that team at the justice department because of the level of vitriol that's being sparked by the former president himself. >> ken, you've covered the justice department. it would be normal for them to have security but it seems they've really ramped up security around those. >> i agree. jack smith has had a detail from the beginning, but robert hur also has a security detail. they're more concerned than they used to be. >> i should also point out we just learned that the judge in new york has dismissed donald trump's defamation counterclaim against the writer e. jean carroll on that ruling. so her continuing defamation case is going to continue. ken, catherine, danny, phil, thanks to all of you for starting us off.

an nbc exclusive, ron desantis charting a new path against donald trump in the race for the republican presidential nomination. dasha joins us with more on her exclusive interview with the former governor and his wife. that's next in 60 seconds so stay with us. that's next in 60 seconds so stay with us oh, hello! hi! do you know that every load of laundry could be worth as much as $300? really? and your clothes just keep getting more damaged the more times you wash them. downy protects fibers, doing more than detergent alone. see? this one looks brand new. saves me money? i'm starting to like downy. downy saves loads.

age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv there's just two weeks left before the first republican presidential debate. florida governor desantis sat down with dasha burns for an interview while campaigning in iowa. this interview airing tonight on nbc news and nbcnews.com and nbc news now included a telling exchange on the 2020 election. desantis' strongest rebuke of donald trump's lies about the 2020 election to date. >> yes or no. did donald trump lose the 2020 election? >> whoever puts their hand on the bible on january 20th over four years is the winner.

>> but respectfully, you did not clearly answer that question. and if you can't give a yes or no on whether or not trump lost then how can -- >> of course, he lost. >> trump lost the 2020 election. >> joe biden's the president. >> dasha burns joins us from cedar rapids, iowa. so a critical contest for desantis if he is to catch up to donald trump is iowa, of course. what else did you two talk about? >> reporter: well, that's absolutely right, andrea. iowa is everything. it is do or die here for desantis and for trump, by the way, because if he wins this state, it is all but over. in terms of what we talked about, we had a wide ranging conversation and when it comes to trump and the election, he made a new line of attack against the former president there as well. he essentially said that he set the stage for his own loss in

2020 by making mail in ballots more available by using the cares act, saying essentially that there were problems, in his view, with the 2020 election, but that the problems trump has been complaining about were of his own making. so that's kind of a new line that we were hearing from desantis in that interview. we also talked about abortion where he implied that he wants that issue to be left to the states. he did not give a clear answer about what he would do if a bill came to his desk if he were in the white house. we also talked about his immigration policy and more. we did get a rare opportunity to speak with the governor's wife, casey. she hasn't done a lot of media but she has been a very, very present on the campaign trial. i want you to take a listen to some of our conversation about why she has been so involved. take a listen. what made you both decide to bring casey in as such a big

part of this campaign? >> can i answer this for the first time? okay. so because it's not like anybody said, oh, we need to deploy casey to get out there and do it. no. this is totally because i want to do it. he was there for me and he was there to go pick up my kids when i couldn't and he did it with humility and with love and i'll tell you what. can't ask for a better husband than that. >> so -- >> how does it feel to hear her say that? i mean -- >> well, look. that's you know, in sickness and in health. that's what you sign up for. so she's not only my wife, she's my best friend. she's the person i would always dream to be the mother of my children. >> reporter: casey getting emotional there talking about her battle with breast cancer. she was diagnosed in october of 2021. she's cancer free now. the family has really been front and center on the campaign trail

all throughout this iowa tour. kids are on the shoulders. casey, the three children, every that the governor is. that's going to be something we'll be seeing a lot of, andrea. >> indeed. dasha burns, congratulations to you on your get. thanks so much for sharing with us. and you can see a lot more of dasha's exclusive interview tonight on "nbc nightly news." the next challenge. when we might expect an indictment from the fulton county d.a. concerning interference in the 2020 presidential election in georgia. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. hell reports" on msnbc. he used to do side jobs installing windows, charging something like a hundred bucks a window when other guys were charging four to five-hundred bucks. he just didn't wanna do that. he was proud of the price he was charging. ♪♪ my dad instilled in me, always put the people before the money. be proud of offering a good product at a fair price. i think he'd be extremely proud of me, yeah. ♪♪

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from home. joining me now is blaine alexander outside the courthouse in atlanta and greg bluesteen, political reporter for the atlanta journal constitution. blaine, how's it look around the courthouse? i guess a lot less traffic. >> reporter: less traffic, more security. that's what we've seen since the beginning of this day. you've seen me in front of this courthouse for the better part of two and a half years. rarely does it look like this. more orange barricades, metal barricades. both sides of the street are blocked. that's one indication we need to be watching closely but the other is we know fulton county district attorney fani willis is preparing her case. we know subpoenas have gone out for people to appear before the jury here. in fact, just within the past 30 seconds, i confirmed another person, another former lawmaker here in georgia has received a subpoena. b. wen. she was another lawmaker who was inside that panel, part of that

panel that heard the presentation from rudy giuliani in the days following the 2020 election when he came to georgia, made a couple of false statements about state farm arena. she's received a subpoena. another former lawmaker has as well. we also know there was a reporter who stumbled into the room of alternate electors, he's received a subpoena. we just don't know when he's going to present. >> does it now look like it's going to file the grand jury, hand indictments next week, this week? clearly, she's not going to defer to jack smith's federal case. she's made that clear. >> you're right. she hasn't deferred to the federal case. we're not exactly sure on the precise timing. we know to expect within the next week or so. we know it's probably not going to be today or next few days. one reason we know that is because several of those grand

jury witnesses have not yet to receive their 48 hour notices to testify. i just checked with several of them a few minutes ago. they've not received the 48-hour summons, warning them they have to testify within a couple of days. it leads us to believe that the earliest we could hear an announcement is later this week or next week. >> and greg, i want to play something that was also from "meet the press" that trump attorney, john lauro, defending the infamous phone call when mr. trump asked georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger as you know, to quote, find 11,780 votes. take a look at this exchange. >> that wasn't a threat at all. what he was asking for is for raffensperger to get to the truth. he believed there were in excess of 10,000 votes counted illegally. what he was asking for is the secretary of state to act

appropriately and find these votes counted illegally. >> find. >> hold on one second. that was an aspirational ask. once again, that's core political speech. >> so you have been on the front lines of all this. the call, all of it. in fact, you actually showed up and witnessed the georgia fake electors trying to secretly meet in december of 2020. isn't that phone call central to a potential prosecution in georgia? >> yes. that phone call is not the only piece of evidence that prosecutors have gathered over the last few weeks. last few years i should say. experts say that's not enough to -- case or whatever multidefendant case on. we've heard legal experts say donald trump's lawyers are making is hogwash because it's not protected free speech to say that a, that you are a criminal

master mind. that you're a drug trafficker. whatever it might be. you can't have potential suspects say oh, it's just protected free speech. i wasn't trying to orchestrate a plot. i was using first amendment rights to make those demands. so i'll let the legal experts speak more than me but certainly i think you're going to see response from local prosecutors to that argument. >> by the time this is over, you're going to have -- at least the equivalent. blanz alexander as always, thanks very much. aggressive action. china, american warships coming too close for comfort. what those moves mean for the attempts to repair u.s. relations with beijing. that's coming next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreal reports. this is msnbc. with fastsigns, create striking custom visuals that inspire pride district-wide.

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the u.s. deployed four us navy ships last week to shadow an incursion by 11 chinese and russian military ships near alaska. the vessels never entered u.s. waters but it is the latest aggressive action by china's military after a close call between chinese and american warships in june in the taiwan strait and the chinese warplane getting dangerously close to an american military plane in play. in an interview with nbc's lester holt just a few weeks ago, a top u.s. military general

in alaska warned that alaska is now on the front lines. >> any threats coming from russia, china or that part of the world into america, they're first going to cross into alaska air space. this is kind of the front lines for america and canada. >> and joining me now are retired admiral, james, former nato supreme allied commander and michael allen, former special assistant to george w. bush. admiral, first to you. it's the first time that my experience at least correct me if i'm wrong, that china and russia jointly were engaged in this. is the u.s. doing enough to protect the coast? >> at this level of naval operations, this is very significant to see 11 ships. that's a floatilla. the size of an american carrier strike, one of which i commanded a few years back, as you know.

so excite significant. north pacific, not terribly surprising. both nations work there. we also see them operating together on land on the siberian border. we've seen small numbers of ships in the baltic sea in the heart of europe but this is a big concentration of naval fire power. u.s. responded appropriately sending four of our guided missile destroyers. those are big, powerful ships. they can handle anything. they're very experienced up in those waters. so when you put it all together, andrea, what i worry about here is miscalculation. i don't think either side intends to shoot this up but when young people, particularly those aircraft shots you showed or those destroyers swerving around each other, young people can make mistakes. people in their 20s and 30s are driving those ships, flying those aircraft. it can lead to miscalculation,

an incident, then we've really got a difficult situation. >> at a time when we don't have normal military military communication still with beijing. michael, this is unusual in that we've seen chinese being more and more aggressive in the south china seas. in response to the philippines and guam, but to see it with russia this close. what is china up to here at a time when we're trying to reconnect, reestablish relations? we're hearing the commerce secretary's going to be going the next cabinet member to be going to china. >> that's right. i think china is trying to remind us that as we have enabled presence in the south china sea, they, too, can come near our shores. not quite in our waters but very near our shores. it's also a reminder that the arctic is very important. i think that's a place where the united states is not well positioned to take on china.

and of course this is yet another reminder. although they do exercise somewhat frequently, annually, but it's a reminder that the russians and the chinese have a very serious, close partnership that goes not only through sanctions and political cooperation but military cooperation as you saw with the flotilla. >> it comes at an interesting time because at a time when there was a summit in saudi arabia and china did attend this summit, you know, really called by zelenskyy, russia not invited. so admiral, talk about ukraine. let's talk about what was happening there. more action over the weekend and now according to ukrainian intelligence, admiral, this has not been sourced by the u.s. at all. ukraine has actually claimed that there was a russian threat. they've arrested a woman involved in an alleged plot against zelenskyy's life.

>> yeah. let's take that, the back half of your comment first and simply point out zelenskyy would say in the military is the center of gravity of this conflict. center of gravity. that about which all else revolves. so if putin could take him out, he would do so in one second. and he'll use drones. he'll use internal insider threat. he'll go after zelenskyy again and again and again. he's that important. in terms of stepping back and looking at the situation, land war, kind of moving slowly but i see the ukrainians picking up the pace and particularly as the summer unfolds. air war. kind of a draw right now. putin launching a lot of drones. ukrainians shooting most of them down. ukrainians launching drones back against moscow. kind of a draw in the air and at sea, you know the admiral's going to mention the sea. pretty exciting footage over the

weekend of a ukrainian sea drone on the surface. not quite sinking but seriously damaging a significant russian warship. that's a pretty striking set of video. i'd say the ukrainians are still on the front foot at this moment. close with us that diplomatic conference you mentioned might be the beginning of a little bit of movement towards some kind of talks. we'll see as the summer unfolds. >> it's also some movement, michael, by mbs, because he's really reasserting himself with some u.s. help. jake sullivan was there. you know, giving u.s. blessing to all of this. he's no longer the pariah that candidate joe biden in 2019 said saudi arabia was going to be forever because of you know, what happened to kashogi.

now mbs is really asserting himself and there's a lot of talk by israel that despite everything that's happened on the israeli front that they're seriously reengaging as to possible normalization with israel of diplomatic relations with the u.s., what they want from the u.s. as very much a part of that piece. >> i think jake sullivan's travel there is indicative of a real push by the biden administration to try and reach a normalization agreement between the kingdom of saudi arabia and israel. we've seen repeated newspaper articles that the president himself is very interested in this and i think this is a way to get u.s. saudi relations back on track. they've been very difficult since the biden administration began. i think the saudis have a long list of asks, of things they want from the united states, before they would agree to such a normalization agreement.

chief among them, a civilian nuclear program, which is going to be hard for us to get there. there's so much in the air and offing. i think jake is not only there to support some of these efforts on ukraine, but also to get the saudis to talk and normalize with the israelis. >> which would be a coup in the biden administration's cap, but something they have to, in terms of the abraham accords, they have to give credit to the trump administration. that is something they started. >> that's right. >> mike allen, thank you so much. good to see you. and admiral, as always. always great to have the navy man. thank you. and like a bad dream. team usa's reaction to their tough loss taking them out of the running of course to win the world cup. what happened there? that's next on "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. andrea mitche reports" on msnbc. then add the whoa! of listerine to your routine. new science shows listerine is 5x more effective than floss at reducing plaque above the gumline. for a cleaner, healthier mouth.

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on penalty kicks and dashing hopes of course of a third straight world cup. molly hunter followed the team and filed this report from melbourne. >> what a heartbreak. just a devastating way to go out. the worst world cup finish for this women's team in the history of the world cup. we were in the stadium for the entire game. 90 minutes, the u.s. was playing so well then those two 15-minute extra halves, still scoreless then it went to penalty kicks and right after the game, you can see the shock on the u.s. goalkeeper, on her face. you saw megan go right over and hug her. the final score, 5-4. it came down to the final swedish kick. upon review, everyone was very nervous in the stands, on review, the whole ball did go across the line. that is the rule. but we had a chance to speak with her right after the game. >> i feel so proud of everything

this team has done and everything we've done on the field and off the field. just to see where this game is. even just this tournament is such a testament to the progress that this team and so many others around the world have been able to make. i feel like we've been such a huge part of that. i feel likethat. i feel like the game is in a great place and a great choice for me to step away. >> reporter: this sport is different globally because of rapinoe. this is her first and final world cup. julie ertz, another veteran, talks about how they rent the jerseys and pass them down to the next generation. rapinoe says she's leaving it in good hands. she said i have loved my career to bits, i'll miss it but now is an okay time to leave. a lot of the younger players visibly upset. we did hear from the u.s. coach who said now is the time for criticism, building and growth, but now is the time to be very,

very proud of how they played. back to you. >> molly untoer. it all came down to a millimeter. so sad. next time. blame game now. how donald trump is trying to make the u.s. women's soccer loss political. that's next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. is is msnbc. wanna know the secret ingredient to running my business? (tina) her. (christina) being all over, all at once. (tina) all the time. (christina) but my old network wasn't cutting it. and that's not good for baking. or judging. or writing. so, we switched to verizon, the network businesses rely on. with verizon business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. i remember when i first started flying, and we would experience turbulence. i would watch the flight attendants. if they're not nervous, then i'm not going to be nervous. financially, i'm the flight attendant in that situation.

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donald trump has been on social media a lot in the last couple days. now he's blaming president biden's so-called woke policy for the shocking u.s. women's knockout loss at the world cup. mr. trump called the loss fully emblematic of what is happening to our once great nation under crooked joe biden. many of our players were openly hostile to america. no other country behaved in such a manner or even close. woke equals favor. >> several women of the team chose not to sing during the

national anthem, similar to when megan rapinoe took a knee during the anthem. she's a recipient of the presidential medal of freedom with president biden citing her fighting for equal pay and lgbtq issues. in his post donald trump went on to ridicule rapinoe for missing that penalty kick posting nice shot, megan. joining me now nbc vaughn hillyard and former republican congressman david jolly. "the new york times" saying this is not a top issue for republican voters. it is certainly desantis' issue and led to the curriculum changes and everything else we've talked about. is that really what people care about? >> i think ron desantis is really the only case study of having a successful political win. that was in his re-election bid for governor last year. outside of that, we haven't seen republican candidates windy sigh sive victories on the idea of wokeness.

when you look at the new "new york times" siena college poll, when republicans were asked which candidate would you prefer, defeating woke policy in our schools versus a candidate focusing on law and order in the streets and our border, 65% said law and order. the other hard part for the likes of ron desantis and vivek ramaswamy, their idea of defeating radicalwokeism, i haven't talked to a single republican voter that donald trump is -- he created the idea of the 1776 commission to rebuke and shut down the 1619 project by "the new york times." this is a man who by all accounts is viewed as somebody who is an ally of this effort to defeat this idea of radical wokeism. he has said, if he gets a second

term, he would look to federally ban gender-affirming care for minors. >> besides the fact that they don't seem to know what wokeism means or be able to define it. david, mike pence gave a very strong rebuke to donald trump's claims about january 6th, in contrast to trump's attorney, john lauro, we talked about this, his characterization that trump was just petitioning pence and it was an aspirational request to send votes back to the states for a reaudit on january 6th. this is what mike pence had to say on cnn. >> the day before january 6th, if memory serves, they came back as lawyers do and said we want you to reject votes outright. they were asking me to overturn the election. i had no right to overturn the election. >> that, of course, was with

dana bash on "state of the union." david, mike pence certainly tried to put that to rest. he's going to be most likely a key witness here. donald trump has been going after him all weekend, calling him a traitor, pro-trump protesters shouted there's the traitor, shouting right back, ahead of pence's campaign event friday. so this could be one reason why pence is having so much trouble and the other republican candidates to gain their footing. >> that's right, andrea. despite some of the past equivocating by mike pence on that issue, it is clear with the release of the indictment that mike pence has turned on donald trump, and he's a very credible witness. when mike pence says, i was told to do this, that gives jack smith the ground for the indictment. throw mike pence into a republican primary, clearly donald trump's base and many other republican voters don't like the news that mike pence has turned on donald trump, but he has. it may be mike pence's words

that ultimately lead to the conviction of donald trump. >> vaughn hillyard, david jolly, thanks to you. thanks to all of you for being with us today. we'll be back tomorrow. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, follow us online, on facebook and on twitter. lindsey reiser is in for "chris jansing reports" right now. i'm lindsey reiser in for chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. the first skirmish in the much larger legal battle surrounding donald trump's attempts to overturn the election come down to the wire. while his attorneys have been quiet ahead of today's 5:00 p.m. deadline, the former president has taken the opposite approach, blasting the doj, the judge and the special counsel on social media. prosecutor is already seeking what trump can say, ise