appropriately. there's obviously a need for power generation in these circumstances. we understand that, but make sure that's being done outside and that there's not exhaust coming into your house. we're going to be heading back after this to tallahassee to continue with preparation efforts. in the meantime, we'll hear from director guthrie, director morgan, and cfo jimmy patronus. >> thank yo governor and for your continued support and leadership. i'm going to pick up about generator safety. please make sure that's 20 feet outside your home. i know we've had a couple of times where we had people think garages are open. that is not open. they need to be out away from your garage as well. so please do that. talked to the chief meteorologist for the division before i walked in the door. again, reiterating what the governor has said. we anticipate seeing some higher level storm surge values coming out of the national hurricane center shortly. potentially a track back to the

west more toward jefferson county and potentially into leon. what i would ask people to do now especially if they live on the river, its tributaries and the swanee river valley in columbia as well, please heed the warnings if shane or any local emergency managers ask for evacuation, please do that. you are going to lose power. if you are power dependent. if you are power dependent, you have to have that. you're going to lose power. we are going to lose power. so please make sure you go some place that has power. that can help you out. i'm not going to talk about how columbia handles that. we have on our website at floridadisaster.org, that's our special needs registration but we are getting into a window where we're going to have to go direct with counties versus us getting that information and making sure it gets done on a county level. i'll let shane talk about that

in columbia again, but again, if there's a doubt, call your local emergency management agency and listen to your official. as we move into these next few hours. as soon as the disaster has passed, again, all of the state's resources and state emergency response team, the 30 plus agencies we have plus all of the aid coming from all over the united states, will be ready and quickly responding to it to include even in the overnight hours. so please stay safe. please heed evacuation warnings. thank you so much, governor, for all you do for us. >> thank you, governor. thank you, everybody for being here today. i just want to reiterate what they were talking about. if you have issues such as you're a special needs patient, you can call in our citizens information is open and active. we opened it at noon today. 386-719-7530 and we can help you get registered for the special needs shelter if that is something that you are wanting

to take advantage of and be a part of. the shelters will open at 6:00. we have five. we have the one special needs shelter, west side elementary school. then we have some community centers. we have the richly community center that will be open. the winfield community center and also the west side community center and we will have fort white high school open on the south end of the county as well. but thank you all for the support from all the agencies here in the room. the support i'm getting from the division of emergency management already. just two days basically into this event. but everybody please heed the warnings. stay safe and we're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. thank you, everybody. >> and that was florida governor desantis and various other officials in florida as they watch as hurricane idalia is barrelling toward the coast and it's not just the coast. couple of important things that came out of that press conference. 49 counties are now under threat. there are only 67 counties in all of florida and you can see

on that map just how far along the coast virtually the entire coast of the state but also again what the governor said is that there are a real problem as well potentially for some inland counties. they're expecting that storm surge to be ten to 12 feet in some places and to quote governor desantis there, you're not going to win this battle. if you try to stay where that storm surge is. so heed evacuations. the biggest concern clearly that they're preparing for, widespread power outages. he just said expect that to happen. they have 30 to 40,000 linemen who will be in place by the end of the day today so once that storm passes, they can start to restore power. it's going to continue, they're going to continue to bring people in he said from southeast states all the way through up to nebraska. 5500 national guardsmen who are staging, 250 star link internet

devices so that people can find each other after that storm hits. 700 personnel with heavy equipment as well. but this is going to be a monster. nbc's marisa para is in tampa and joins us by phone. tell us what you're seeing and hearing where you are. >> tampa's not in the direct path right now, but storm surge is a big threat for this area. we've seen mandatory evacuation orders for those in zone eight. those are the areas most at risk for that surge. that flooding. so right now, what i'm looking at is tampa general hospital. for those who don't know, this is the areas only level one trauma center. it's also on an island. it is surrounded by the bay. we know how flood risk and flood prone the bay is. tampa bay specifically. so what they've done here for tampa general hospital because when we talk about a level one

trauma center, this is everyone who has the most serious of injuries. they come here. and it is expected to stay open throughout the storm. so people, if they have any injuries, during the hurricane, would come here. so what they've done is installed what they call aqua fence. barriers all around the hospital meant to protect them from up to 15 feet of storm surge. we're looking at about four to 7 feet here in the tampa area. now, in terms of how residents are feeling, it's interesting because i've been here for about 24 hours now. i would say it seems like the people most worried, yesterday was 50/50. people i spoke to. one in every two people saying they were worried. they saw what happened with ian. they were worried about it changing paths or strengthening at the last second when it was too late. today, totally different story. i haven't really found anyone who's worried. i've seen people biking, going on runs, walking their dog. this is something that is of course very, very concerning to officials both local and

national because as you're about to hear from the administrator, they're saying even if you're not in the direct path, you're still at risk. >> it's not just the path of the hurricane we need to be concerned about. we have to be communicating what the entire risk is and the significant risk and highest risk for loss of life is storm surge and that right now shows impacts all along the western coast. so i encourage people and appreciate your help in getting the message out, it's not just the path of the storm and it will continue to change. >> so, chris, quickly on the other end. as i'm talking to you, i'm along the bay. still seeing people running and walking around and they feel very confident that tampa will not be too affected by this, but officials are really asking people to take this seriously because they don't want to have to put their crews at risk to

rescue them later when it's too late. there's the risk of the storm surge then one other risk. when we talk about the outer bounds, the outer bands of the hurricane, tampa and the area here will see those. chris, the thing that people need to remember is there is a high tornado risk in those outer bands. so those are things that this area needs to keep an eye out for as we start to see these winds pick up in the next two hours. >> i think the takeaway is not only as you say that they're putting themselves at risk, but the emergency officials who have to be there. the responders. keep us posted. thank you so much. i want to bring in nbc news meteorologist bill karins. i just want to go over if i can, bill, 49 of the 67 counties are under threat right now according to the governor and i know we just got a new advisory. take us through that. >> yeah, the only areas that don't have concerns are the miami area towards west palm beach, maybe the melbourne river

areas. everyone else has at least a chance of thunderstorms and isolated tornados. the naples area is under a tornado warning. there's been at least one reported already. so tropical systems produce a lot of tornados. others don't produce hardly any. it's kind of random. this one already is starting to show signs of producing tornados. so we have to keep that in mind for the rest of today and tonight as we head up the coast. here's the eye. you can see the thunderstorms through the eye. it's about 100 miles off the coast and heading due northwards. it's about parallel to fort myers. the storm surge is coming up. the fort myers areas to naples. this is going to be about as high as it gets in about the next six hours or so. tampa, you're dry now but that's going to end shortly. the first batch of showers and storms is m coing your way and that will increase. the 2:00 update was 90 miles per hour. this is the upper echelon of category 1. we're almost heading into category 2. it's looking very uniform. it's consolidated over the center of the storm.

all these terms i'm telling you, it's going to intensify rapidly. it has 18 hours to get as strong as it's going to get before it 4ed heads up into areas of the big bend of florida. the hurricane center thinks low end category 4. this area is very prone to storm surge and that is the number one concern for life threatening, if there's going to be catastrophic damage, it will be because of that storm surge. that's always to the right of the center. so our friends in tallahassee are still staring at this and saying this thing better turn east because you wouldn't get the storm surge but then you'd have to deal with category 3 hurricane force winds. it's like a forest in tallahassee. it would be a nightmare with the trees. it's supposed to take the bend more towards perry and cross city with the winds. as far as storm surge, it's going to be to the right of the center. still staring at our computer lines. black lines the hurricane center forecast. the other lines, we're really narrowing it in here. we've been talking a lot about

cedar key. about 700 residents call it home. a big vacation area. it sticks out like a pier does into the water. if there's one spot that is potentially going to be wiped off the map, it would be you know, cedar key. that's where they could have the 15 foot surge. we hope not. we hope it didn't materialize like that, but at least that's the potential. and that storm surge, there's that 10 to 15 foot. 4 to 7 feet. that will be tonight early tomorrow morning in the tampa area and we're already starting to see those water rises south of here to fort myers and the naples area. that water's already coming up and will stay up throughout the next 12 hours. my friends in savannah, 8:00 p.m. tomorrow is your high tide. full moon. already going to be high anyways and your winds on shore that time could be 40 to 60 miles per hour. that's why you could have a top ten storm surge. only be a tropical storm at that point, but just things are aligning horribly for the

southeast coast, too. there's the map showing the close up of the path then to the right is the best chance of that really historic, never had a hurricane landfall that area let alone a storm surge, anything close to this. winds, one thing people are wondering. how much power are we going to lose. we have millions of people that live in pinellas. maximum winds look to be 40 to 60. did that with ian last year. we're going to get power outages but i don't think it's going to be widespread. more scattered. once we get further north, that is that center, the core of the hurricane. when that comes onshore and moves inland over areas like perry and cross city, this is where the areas that if we're going to have people losing power for a week or two, this is where it could occur. again, further to the south, it won't be as bad. then for the coastal locations and the carolinas, our friends from savannah to charleston, coastal areas up to myrtle beach

and wilmington, 40 to 60 miles per hour. minor damage. i don't expect weeks of power outages. maybe a couple of days at worst. then the final component, rain. someone could get up to 12 inches of rain. the biggest headline is that we are going to see a very, very powerful hurricane moving inland into a very swampy area of florida. a lot of the past storms like ian were into beach cities, communities and towns. this is going to be a little different. we'll play this out in the next 18 hours. >> let me ask you what we just heard because it's quite a contrast. you have the governor and other local officials talking about how dangerous this really is. and the breadth of it. again as i said, all these different counties, 49 of the 67 that are potentially in the path here one way or another. then you hear from marisa who you know was talking to people in tampa and they're biking and they're out and just -- she

seemed to indicate some of them unconcerned that it's going to be bad there. what's your advice to folks? obviously you're going to watch the path. you're going to watch some of your local coverage as well besides you, bill, but how serious should people be taking this because there is a little bit of the chicken little, the sky is falling, i've been here before and i was fine. >> it all depends on not just where you live, but also your elevation. so if you're in the tampa area, first off, listen to your emergency management. that's the number one rule no matter what. if they say you're in evacuation zone, evacuate. beyond that, you have to know your elevation. 4 to 7 foot storm surge, that's the max water height in tampa. if i have my family and live in an elevation of 10 feet or less, no reason to play with this. let's leave. if i live at 12 or 15 feet elevation, the water's going to be below my house. i know the max winds in tampa

are probably going to be 40 to 60 miles per hour. that's a tropical storm. no need to evacuate. probably stay in your house. there's a threat of tornados, which you'd want to stay in your home anyways. so if peak part of the storm, if you're in tampa above 10 feet, stay in your house. those bands haven't gotten there. they will in about an hour or two. anyone in those regions, if they're out now, it is fine. but in about two, three hours, that will change. >> bill karins, thank you so much, my friend. really appreciate. we've got other news we want to get you caught up on. the former leaders of the proud boys in court today hearing powerful victim impact statements from capitol police officers who fought off the mob on january 6th. ryan riley is here with that. ryan, tell us more about what we heard in court today. >> you did hear this testimony from three capitol police officers who were there on january 6th and sort of talking about what their officers went through. there was one inspector talking about this notion that he was really happy that the doors of

the house floor stood up and were pretty strong because he said there would have been several more dead rioters had they broken through that final door and he was sort of angry at the description of capitol police officers standing down that day given what some of his officers went through and the battles they engaged in. he said the notion that there was some sort of stand down when in reality rioters had taken over one-third of the government essentially was not the situation. what we could see tomorrow is perhaps the longest sentencing in the january 6th case to date. that would be 36 years as requested by the federal government for enrique tario, the head of the proud boys. the longest sentence we've seen was 18 years which went to stuart rhodes. even though he wasn't at the capital on january 6th, he was arrested a day or two before the attack, but he was in baltimore

for most of this. prosecutors say he was aware of all that was happening at the capitol and helped organize this sort of mob violence knowing the consequences it could have at the capitol on january 6th and are seeking a record sentence of 33 years there. for other defendants, there's a 33-year request. a 30-year request. for one defendant who was acquitted of the top charge of seditious conspiracy, prosecutors are seeking 20 years for him. so across the board really could see potentially record setting sentences in more than two and a half years that we've seen this january 6th investigation roll along thus far, chris. >> ryan, thank you for that. over at the white house, a big announcement today about lowering the cost of some prescription drugs that many, millions of americans rely on. monica alba is at the white house where the president is about to speak any minute now. so the target is a list of ten

drugs for price negotiation. tell us more about this. >> this is a really significant move, chris. this is something that was originally authorized by the inflation reduction act. it does allow medicare to now directly negotiate for ten drugs to start with pharmaceutical companies and we're talking about drugs here that millions of seniors in particular rely on for things like blood thinners, diabetes medication. things that really people use every single day that now -- >> i'm going to interrupt you if i can because the president and vice president have come in. obviously a friendly audience there in the east room of the white house. >> thank you for being here and all the work you've done leading up to today. i want to thank our nation's champion, president biden, for your leadership and commitment to lowering costs for working families.

and thank you to all of the members of congress for the work you have done and continue to do to help us achieve this type of progress. so we are here today with the firm belief that in the united states of america, no senior should ever have to choose between whether they are able to fill a prescription or fill their refrigerator with food, but please, yes. >> we know for years, millions of our seniors across the country have struggled to afford their prescriptions. and too many of our seniors risked their health as they may have delayed to refill their prescription or they cut their pills in half to try and stretch out the length of time they

could take their medication. since we took office, president biden and i and our administration has taken historic action to cut the cost of prescription medication for our seniors. we capped the cost of insulin at $35 a month. [ cheers and applause ] we will cap the total cost of prescription drugs at $2,000 a year. and we have made vaccines free of charge which will save seniors hundreds of dollars every year. yes. and we finally allowed medicare to negotiate the price of medication with big pharma companies.

to the benefit of 65 million americans at least. and as many of you know, we've worked together. over the course of my career, i've seen this fight firsthand when i was attorney general of california, i met with countless families who were often quietly suffering because they or a loved one could not afford the medication they needed and were prescribed. i investigated drugmakers that tried to stop production of cheaper, generic versions of their drugs. and we held them accountable. and we intervened in the merger of hospitals that could have resulted in less competition or increased cost for their patients. all that to say there are many factors that drive up healthcare costs and make medications more expensive. and president biden and i will continue to use every tool at our disposal to bring these costs down. and we will hold accountable

those who try to put profits ahead of the health and well-being of the american people. and together, and together, we will continue to build a nation where every person, not just the wealthy or well connected, have the opportunity to thrive and can live a life of dignity after they retire. so that includes of course our next speaker, please welcome steven hatfield. thank you very much. >> my name is steven hatfield and i'm from matthews, north carolina. i am 71 years old. a husband, a grandfather of

three and a football fanatic. i also live with a rare blood cancer and type ii diabetes. two health conditions that require very expensive drugs. every month, the treatment i need to stay alive costs $16,000. i have been a hard worker all my life and i always had to work multiple jobs simultaneously so i can afford my medications. my doctors have constantly warned me over the years the strain of these jobs could seriously impact my health but i'm afraid if i retire i won't be able to afford what i need to survive. at times, i've had to forgo or ration some of my drugs because they were just so expensive. no one in america should have to live this way. that's why i'm so grateful to president biden for passing the inflation reduction act. it made a huge difference in my

life. instead of having to pay $400 per month for insulin, i now get it for $35 and soon medicare will be able to negotiate lower prices for cancer drugs, too. it's given me a new lease on life. for too long, drugmakers have made a fortune while patients like me live in constant fear wondering how we pay for our medicine. thanks to president biden, that's changing. he's finally ending big pharma's pricing power and giving seniors like me a break. it's not just me. his actions are saving the lives of so many others across the countries struggling to pay their medical bills. he gets it and that's why it is my greatest honor to introduce the man responsible for all these incredible changes, president joe biden. changes, president joe biden.

>> thank you very much. i look around the room and this is a long time coming. we started doing this 25, 30 years ago. see if we could do something about these outrageous prices. give people a fighting chance. unless you needed the drugs yourself or knew someone that did, it wasn't as real, but boy, we've been fighting big pharma for a long time.

long, long time. and steven as my mother would say, god love you, son. you've been through one hell of an ordeal. your story is a familiar one to too many americans. instead of using all your energy to fight the disease, you're fighting insurance or drug companies for medicines that literally keep you alive. without them, you're not going to be here. on too many nights, too many americans lay in bed staring at the ceiling worrying what will happen if their spouse gets sick, if their child gets sick, or something else happens to them. i should have said at the outset when i look out in the audience, a lot of people are in this fight. it's just amazing. i want to thank you, you the people sitting in front of me. the members of congress, the organizations you belong to for making this happen. wouldn't happen without you.

that's not hyperbole. thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. i'm serious. i remember we live nd a three bedroom split level home. we weren't poor. just a normal, middle class, i guess technically lower middle class family in a development of homes the bulk of my childhood. three bedroom split level home with four kids and a grand pop living with us. i remember one night, i guess i was sophomore or junior in high school and hearing the head board of my dad, i could tell he was restless in the next room. next morning, i get up and ask mom, what's the matter with dad?

she said the company said they're not going to pay insurance anymore. health insurance. that's tough enough but imagine when you have life saving drugs you need to keep you alive. do you have enough insurance? do you have to sell the house in order to pay for everything? for all of you out there, i get it and millions of americans get it. i promise you i'm going to have your back and i'll never stop fighting for you on this issue. nor will kamala. again, i'm not being solicitous when i say this would never happen without you. never would have happened without you. not going to start naming names because i'll get in real trouble if i do that. but thank you. two weeks ago, we celebrated the first anniversary of the inflation reduction act.

which is in a sense is misname. we did lower inflation. most significant laws ever enacted especially when it comes to reducing the cost of prescription drugs. we pay more for prescription drugs than any other major economy in the world. than any other major economy in the world. you walk in a local drugstore across the country, you're paying two to three times more for the exact same prescription manufactured by the exact same company that it would cost you in canada or france or anywhere else around the world. think about that. a drug company that makes a drug here in america sold in chicago, you can by the same drug in toronto or paris cheaper than in chicago. unlike other parts of the healthcare system, big pharma got a special carveout that stopped medicare from negotiating.

for years, advocates like many of you in this room, have worked tirelessly to change that to give medicare the power to negotiate. just like the department of veterans affairs does now. it matters. va pays 50% less than medicare can and negotiating the same lower prices. for years, big pharma blocked us. they kept prescription drug prices high and increased their profits to extend patents on existing drugs to suppress competition instead of innovating. playing games with pricing so they can charge whatever they can, but this is finally, finally, finally we had enough votes to beat big pharma. well, we did it.

every other team in the congress voted against it. and we're in a situation where the law finally gave medicare the power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. by the way, negotiating drug prices isn't just going to put more money in the pockets of millions of americans across the country. it's also going to lower the federal deficit. it will save the federal government $160 billion over the next ten years because medicare will be paying less for the prescription drugs they're making available to seniors. inflation reduction act is already making a huge difference. take insulin as referenced by steven. it costs that drug $10 to make. the guy who invented the drug, came up with it, didn't patent it because he wanted it available for everybody but drug

companies are charging 30 times that $10 or more than that. now because of the inflation reduction act, seniors like steve are paying $35 a month instead of $400 a month. all three of the major insulin manufacturers lowered their prices of the price for everyone. not just seniors. everyone. that's what i had proposed. we lost on getting everyone but kept seniors. when we act, change happens. today, i'm proud to announce that medicare has selected the first ten additional drugs for negotiation under the inflation reduction act. drugs that treat everything from heart failure, blood clots, diabetes, kidney disease, arthritis, blood cancers,

crohn's disease and so much more. medicare spends $50 billion a year on these ten drugs and american seniors are spending $3.4 billion on out of pocket costs. look, if your company, if you compare the total globe drug globally, united states is clearly an outlier. for example, one of the selected drugs that treats blood clots costs about $80 for a monthly prescription in canada. the same exact drug in the united states made but the same company cost over $270 sold here in the united states. triple the cost just crossing the border. think about that. big pharma. big pharma has been charging america more than three times what they charge other countries simply because they could. i think it's outrageous. that's why these negotiations matter. reducing the cost of these ten

additional drugs alone will help more than 9 million americans. and by september 2024, hhs, health and human services, is going to publish the prices that have been negotiated. in january of 2026, the new prices will go into effect. we're not stopping there. next year, medicare will select more drugs for negotiation so more americans can get more savings on life saving medications than they deserve, but guess what. big pharma doesn't want this to happen as you might expect. last year, the industry spent $400 million in lobbying fees to try to stop the inflation reduction act and block the ability of the federal government to lower drug prices. when they failed, they went to federal court to sue the government. and attempt to maintain their exorbitant prices. they're hoping the courts will do what democrats in congress wouldn't do.

protect the exorbitant profits and keep negotiations from happening. we're going to see this through. we're going to keep standing up to big pharma and we're not going to back down. folks, there's a lot of really great republicans out there who will stand up to the maga republicans who voted against the inflation reduction act and are now attempting to repeal it in the name of the maga republicans who have been trying for years to get rid of the affordable care act, deny tens of millions of americans to quality, affordable healthcare. today is the start of a new deal for patients where big pharma doesn't just get a blank check at your expense. expense of the american people. on my watch, healthcare should

be a right, not a privilege in this country. >> so president biden has an opportunity to tout what is a big win for the white house. something he's been working on for a very long time and that is a plan to lower drug costs for senior citizens by allowing medicare to negotiate prices. this is the situation though that will not take effect until january of 2026. arguably, as big a win as this is for the president, the star of the show was a 71-year-old from north carolina, steven hatfield, who came up to say that he's one of those americans. he has to work multiple jobs just to make sure he can pay the $16,000 a month that he needs for drugs to stay alive. he's already seen a reduction in his cost for insulin because he has type ii diabetes, but again, there are 65 million people this plan will impact and as the vice president put it at the beginning, shouldn't have to

choose whether to fill a prescription or fill your refrigerator. we're going to continue to listen in to president biden there at the east room of the white house but there's a lot more news ahead. how do you plan for something that's never been seen before and with an outcome that's uncertain? well, that's the challenge for everyone from the republican presidential candidates to the rnc to voters. details of the far reaching implications a new trial date for donald trump presents right after this. al date for nadold trump presents right after this

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donald trump's trial date cannot and should not depend on his professional obligations. with that simple statement, judge tanya chutkan has set off an incredibly complex scenario. assuming the case begins on march 4th, the day before super tuesday, about two-thirds of the republican delegates could be awarded while the trial is still taking place and as "the new york times" reports, quote, if mr. trump survives politically during the trial, he could build a delegate lead before imprisonment, which could set off an effort to remove him from the ballot or replace him as party's nominee at the republican convention in july. that just boggles the mind. joining me here at the table,

vaughn hillyard and elise jordan. former aide in the george w. bush white house and state department and an msnbc political analyst. so vaughn, donald trump and every other person in this race, when they look at that first trial date, we're looking at a world where impredictable doesn't even cover it, right? is the only alternative going to be to run your campaign if you're running against donald trump and see where everything falls? what are you hearing? >> we're looking at 139 days and the idea back in the spring was let's wait to see if donald trump is indicted then let the chips fall where they go. well, that's happened. indicted fourth time and it's been crumbling around him. >> and where they've fallen is that his poll numbers have gone up. >> chris christie has been on the highest octane offense against donald trump. his numbers are the only one that have notably risen and that's where you see in poll after poll, nikki haley, mike

pence, they continue to stick around there in the mid single digits. we're 139 days away from january 15th. at what point do strategies change? there are still plenty of months but when you see the amount of attention that's going to go to the trump organization, civil suits in october down to the second eugene carroll defamation case then the iowa caucus. the federal election interference going to trial then the hush money case. donald trump continues to soak up the oxygen in the republican party and there's no indication that's going to change. >> elise, do republicans need to be looking ahead to say okay, well, we hope that the worst case scenario doesn't happen, but if it does, we better be prepared? >> they should but for now, they're pretty much stuck with donald trump. >> and even if the worst case scenario happens, do you see the rnc -- >> worst case scenario would be conviction, multiple

convictions. jail time. if that happens, maybe some of the gop voters -- but if you look at the timetable, iowa first. then new hampshire. if trump sweeps both of those, which right now, if we held those, the caucus in the primary tomorrow, he would. then he's basically the nominee. and going into super tuesday, it doesn't even really matter. >> you saw eight years ago the backlash ted cruise endured when he released the delegate's campaign. the convention at that point, you're dealing with a rebellious republican party. >> yeah, who look and say we can't win a general with this guy potentially. the idea of striking trump's name for the ballot is already causing headaches in north carolina after trump supporters flooding a state elections office. they were demanding assurances his name would be included. now what's going on? >> this happened in new hampshire, too. charlie kirk, he's been calling

to the new hampshire secretary of state of state's office. there was the one-time trump enemy urging him to disqualify trump from the ballot. this stems from section three of the 14th amendment which says an individual cannot hold public office again if they engaged in either insurrection or rebellion or provided aid and comfort to those who did. that's where you saw the secretary of state saying i'm not doing this. but new reporting i was just told in the last few minutes, in arizona, the secretary of state, is actively considering taking this action. there's a lot of serious questions. even the conservative judge said this is the action that should be taken here but of course, you could imagine the uproar that could take place in these swing states if a secretary of state or attorney general tried to take his name off the ballot. >> "the wall street journal" editorial board weighed in this morning. here's what they wrote. quote, the stubborn fact for

republicans, his legal risks are political risks for the gop. it's incumbent on mr. trump's republican opponents to make the case directly to gop voters that they shouldn't roll the dice. the way to restore impartial justice is to nominate a candidate who can beat an aging and politically vulnerable president biden. the argument some supporters will make, the new poll that's out today, a lot of folks are worried about joe biden's age. far fewer are worried about the age of the former president. i think it's 74. 51%. what do you make of that? >> i saw one poll, a morning consult of just national, immediate post debate. i was struck by chris christie's number, which was 33%. that's exactly the portion of the gop primary electorate that is antitrump or doesn't want trump. that other two-thirds is still there. so how do you win the nomination

without alienating two-thirds of the voters who still like trump and don't have a problem with him without the full frontal attack. how is the argument not resognating? i guess some polls would support some people who don't believe this. this argument that republicans are making that donald trump cannot win the general. >> republican voters haven't shifted that much in believing that donald trump can't win the general. they think he would crush biden. biden voters still think biden would crush trump. so you see how both sides are so polarized. of course they aren't going to necessarily look for a replacement when they think their guy could win again. >> elise, vaughn, who is about to take a very well earned vacation. safe travels, my friend. thank you both. hawaiian electric

acknowledges it played a role in the historic fire but puts the ultimate blame for the devastation elsewhere. how messy this could get. well, a legal expert will join me to talk about it, next. me to talk about it,ex nt. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand for a better night sleep. so now, he wakes up feeling like himself. the reigning family room middle-weight champion. better days start with zzzquil nights. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists taking photos that are analyzed by ai. so researchers can help life underwater flourish. ♪

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we have some breaking news from capitol hill where house leader steve scalise says he has been diagnosed with blood cancer and has started treatment. nbc's sahil kapur has more. what did he have to say? >> majority leader scalise announced this shocking news in a statement earlier today. he said that after having tests, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, calling it a very treatable blood cancer. he has begun treatment and will continue it. he expects to return to the period and return to washington continuing his work as a congressman and the house majority leader. now, he's gotten well wishes

from his leagues. that includes speaker mccarthy, who in a statement called scalise a faith filled fighter who can overcome any obstacle. mccarthy called him the legend from louisiana and wished him a speedy treatment as they continue their work. now a little bit of background on scalise. he's been a congressman since 2008. his rise through the ranks represents the larger trajectory of the republican party. he was the chair of the republican study committee back when it represented the right most flank of the republican caucus then in 2014, he won a seat at the republican leadership table. eventually climbed his way up to being house majority leader where he is today. he's also no stranger to tragedy. in 2017, scalise was seriously wounded in a mass shooting during a congressional baseball practice. that recovery period took several months and he still tends to walk around here from time to time with a limp, but he did return. he now says he will tackle this with the same strength and

energy. his message is he'll fight this and he's not going anywhere. >> thank you for that. hawaiian electric is now acknowledging its powerlines starting the fire on maui that killed at least 115 people and destroyed more than 2,000 structures but they're putting the ultimate blame on maui county firefighters who, they argue, claimed that the blaze was contained and left scene. only for the flames to reignite later that afternoon. this shifting blame is at the center of the fast growing number of legal battles. "the wall street journal" reports lawyers are seizing on the opportunity, descending on maui in groves, to secure clients and file claims. joining me now, danny. i want to start with the big picture, if i can. the journal reports that lawyers will likely have to prove that hawaiian electric was in some way negligent in addressing fire risks in the major lawsuit that's out there.

how difficult could that be? >> generally, negligent just requires proving that somebody breached a duty of care. now, what the duty of care is here could be a lot of things. constructing powerlines, maintaining them, but what the theory that is a creative one, is the idea that hawaiian electric failed to shut down or deenergize its powerlines and that doing so, a public safety power shut off. at least one of the plaintiffs argues that this is standard practice in the western united states and they alleged that hawaiian electric knew of this standard. now that doesn't mean that that was the standard but it goes a long way to show there are other power companies that follow that procedure. to deenergize their powerlines in the case of either a high wind alert or what's called a red flag alert and that is an alert that fires are highly likely due to weather

conditions. >> let's talk about the lawyers descending on maui. some people may look at this and say they're the disaster equivalent of ambulance chasers. having said that, there are a lot of people down there who don't have a place to live. who may have lost loved ones. as we see lawsuits coming together, whether class action or individual suits, where do you see that focus being? >> i handle plaintiff's work. at the same time, this may be biased coming from me, these are lawyers coming in almost certainly providing services on a contingent basis which means no fee unless they recover. they're providing legal services essentially for free and will not get paid unless there's a recovery. i don't want to sound like a commercial, but at the same time, i can understand locals' concerns that there are these out of town lawyers coming in associating with local law firms and it may feel like there's some profiteering going on.

i've heard both side of the argument. i get the sentiments. but i think from my biased opinion from the end of the day, the recovery that these hawaiian folks get is going to be largely the work of these lawyers. >> so, the thing is that they need help now, right? and they've been saying that to the governor. to fema. to anybody who will listen and they're right. if you're house is gone, if you don't have insurance or it isn't going to cover, there are all sorts of ways in which people are desperate. how long can these lawsuits take? >> years upon years. class actions could take even longer. that's the challenge even when a personal injury plaintiff, whether it's a motor vehicle accident or something catastrophic on a scale that we can't really fully imagine yet where hundreds if not thousands if not many thousands of people are adversely affected.

these are the kinds of things that take a long time. and with these numbers, you're likely to see proceedings by a power company that doesn't have the assets to pay out all these damages. that adds another layer of complexity. getting certified as a class action and paying out all those class actions, that's another layer of complexity. these cases can last years upon years unfortunately before people get any kind of monetary recovery and unfortunately, at the end of the day, that's the only real recovery that the law can provide is that monetary recovery. >> danny, always good to see you, my friend. thank you. >> if you've ever been stuck on a plane, trapped on a tarmac for hours on end not taking off but not allowed to leave either, this one's for you. on monday, the d.o.t. slapped american airlines with a fine of more than $4 million for putting passengers in situations just like that. dozens of times. in all, the government cited 43

cases of american keeping domestic planes stuck on the ground for three hours or more but not allowing passengers a chance to get off. this is the largest of its kind since these rules went into effect a decade ago. that's going to do it for us. our coverage continues with alex whit. >> good to be with you. in less than 24 hours, hurricane idalia could be the most powerful storm to hit florida's big bend since 1950. intensifying in the warm waters off florida's gulf coast, the national weather service projects idalia could strengthen to a powerful category 3 or 4 hurricane before it makes landfall tomorrow. now this time lapse of fort myers showed idalia's 90 mile an hour winds and rain. they hav