looking at one of them right now. this is overlooking the entrance and exit of 500 pearl street, the main courthouse. the courtroom where today's proceedings occurred was on the 26th floor, the top floor of this building in one of the larger courtrooms we have. i'm across the street. there's a green sedan that's kind of clustered by press right now. we're just waiting to kind of see activity there for when, of course, the senator comes out, andrea. >> well, i just want to thank all of you. clearly everyone's poised, all of those cameras are poised, aimed at that revoling door of the courthouse that tom winter has spent so much time in. thanks to so many of you. that does it for our edition of "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" start thes right now. good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in

new york city. it is the opening chapter in with what koun could be one of the most fascinating political and legal dramas this side of donald trump. senator bob menendez defiant as he faces allegations he used his political power for personal gain. and now a new investigation into whether egyptian intelligence was pulling the strings. plus, a judge plows a gaping hole in former president trump's biggest claim to fame, his wealth and self-proclaimed genius as a businessman. in reality the judge found -- i'm sorry, we have to take a quick break. we will be back. break. we will be back. now subway's slicing their ham fresh. like on the new grand slam ham. piled high with double the cheese and more meat. i'd like to tackle one of these after a game. quarterbacks can't tackle anything!

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i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. thanks for sticking with us through some technical difficulties, and we begin in new york where twice indicted u.s. senator new jersey democrat bob menendez -- there's the picture -- just left court. he didn't stop. there was a whole bank of microphones set up, but he and his wife went directly through them, past them and into that mob of photographers and got into the car. he had faced a judge for the first time just minutes before that pleading not guilty to

federal charges. it looked like, frankly, they were ripped from a novel, bribery, fraud, extortion. a sitting senator allegedly on the take are from a foreign government. and just moments before that happened, before he walked out of court, nbc news learned that it was the senator who single handedly blocked legislation that would have strengthened laws preventing exactly this kind of thing. all of that compounding allegations that were already breathtaking in scope, alleging that menendez used his political power to help the government of egypt unlock hundreds of millions in u.s. aid and getting in return hundreds of millions in cash and gold bars, at least hundreds of thousands. and political fallout is clear. more than half of senate democrats now on the record wanting him to quit. but the senator continues to insist he is not going anywhere.

>> did you run for re-election? >> right now we're here to do the people of new jersey. >> are you running for re-election? >> why won't you resign, sir? >> because i'm innocent. what's wrong with you guys? >> why were there gold bars there? >> nbc's lindsey reiser is at the courthouse in new york, elise jordan served as an aide to former president george w. bush. rocco sip roan is a former federal prosecutor in new jersey and a criminal defense attorney. good to have all of you here. lindsey, we watched that video as he left the courthouse. what else can you tell us about the scene there today? >> yeah, just a throng of reporters and cameras here outside the courthouse as we watch that tape back, just happened moments ago while we were in commercial break. the senator and his wife leaving the federal courthouse without addressing the cameras without making any kind of statement. they walked in this morning holding hands. they sat in the federal courtroom where there are no cameras allowed in the same row

where there are attorneys between them, and the other two co-defendants we are seated behind them. they all pleaded not guilty today, and the judge set terms for the senator's release, including $100,000 bond. he has to surrender his personal pass passport. he can still travel internationally on official business. he's not supposed to have any contact with any witnesses or co-defendants except for his wife, and he can't have any contact with any staff on the foreign relations committee, which he chaired but stepped down from. they have specific knowledge of the case. now, we know there's an initial conference date set for october 2nd. that's what's next in this case. interesting that the senator didn't make any kind of statement. we weren't necessarily expecting him to, but he also didn't respond to any questions, didn't do so on monday either, chris, when i was at that press conference in union city, new jersey, where he grew up. he said he believes at the end of this, he will be exonerated and will remain new jersey's

senior senator. he hasn't clarified on whether he intends to run for office. today is a very different day, just monday, chris, where monday when i was reporting in that press conference midday monday there was -- there was only one senator in the democratic caucus, john fetterman calling for his resignation. now that number is 30, and it is growing including a notable ally cory booker, also the senator of new jersey. notable because they are allies. they are friends. he was a character witness in that 2015 case that led to a hung jury and a mistrial in 2017. so the pressure is mounting, more and more of his colleagues, cory booker saying in a statement that while senators are held to the same criminal standard, they have a higher common ideals standard and saying that his constituents and the people he has to work with in the senate to get things done are shaken to their core, chris. >> thank you for that, lindsey. rocco, i was going to ask you about the pressure here because the senator has also reminded

everyone that he was indicted before but the jury was hung, and the doj ultimately decided not to retry him. knowing that, i would think that the prosecution would make doubly sure they don't have any holes in this case. my question to you is going to be is there a lot more they have we don't know. now we have this reporting from our own ken dilanian and frank thorpe that he single handedly blocked passage of bipartisan legislation in 2020 that would have strengthened the law regulating foreign influence and lobbying in washington. i'll go back in that context to my -- what was going to be my original question to you. did they have even more than there is in this sweeping indictment that we don't know about yet? >> sure, good afternoon, chris, how are you? so the answer is yes. in all likelihood they have substantially more than is in the indictment. this indictment is unusually detailed. most indictments in the federal criminal system are much more spartan. this is a speaking indictment.

they have front loaded it with a lot of the bad evidence against menendez. there is no doubt in my mind that that is only the tip of the iceberg. they have substantially more evidence than is revealed in the indictment. the government always holds some of that back. menendez is going to get it in discovery, sometimes in dribs and drabs. i suspect they have a lot more evidence. >> elise, we learned from our partners at wnbc that the fbi has opened a counterintelligence investigation to try to figure out what role egyptian intelligence may have had in setting all of this up. how can you go about assessing how much influence egypt may have had over our foreign policy if something happened as a result of something that might have changed hands? >> it's just incredible, chris, that this has happened and the extent to which this has influenced the united states' relationship to egypt. we don't even know how much it has influenced to date.

but we can imagine we give billions of dollars in security aid, in various aid, and we stopped giving that aid for different junctures because egypt is a military dictatorship, and then we'll reinstate the aid at the urging of a powerful senator who's chair of the senate foreign relations committee. so there's so much tick tock here, and the fact that menendez was such a strong ally of funding for egypt and arm sales to egypt, it stinks to high heavens. politically, you look at the impact of this on the american landscape, and in the aftermath of 2016 and the russian interference in the presidential election, how can democrats not go hard at this egyptian influence operation? >> it's no surprise, elise, that foreign adversaries would want to have influence over people inside our government, but what might make bob menendez a particularly attractive target? i mean, obviously we talked about the fact that he has this

powerful leadership position, but what's your sense of that? >> bob menendez controls a lot of funding, going out of the united states government and out of u.s. taxpayers, this is an incredibly provocative act for the egyptians to attempt it, they were attempting and it was a sophisticated operation which it can't just be casual that it happened to befall such a powerful person. perhaps his previous corruption charges made him an easy target for such an operation if it is revealed to be such, but this is just an incredibly provocative act -- that it's going to fall to the biden administration to have to re-evaluate our relationship with egypt. is there not going to be any punishment for this kind of targeting of a high ranking american elected official. >> rocco, when you have a case

like this that involves foreign governments and potentially -- and this is key here -- the sensitive non-public information, does it complicate the prosecution and in what ways? >> it actually complicates both the prosecution and the defense. i expect that they're going to be what we call protective orders entered that limit the people who can have exposure to the evidence prior to the trial. it makes it difficult to garner witnesses, for example, who might be foreign officials or people who are kind of outside the jurisdiction of the united states to bring in either as a prosecution or a defense witness. so it does complicate it, but i think what the government is going to try to do here is build a straight line from the co-defendants and the gold bars, and if you will, the gold paved yellow brook road to menendez's house with the possession of the fruits of these alleged bribes, and i think that's the way the government's going to try to stick to that script and methodology to keep the case as straight line as possible.

>> and lindsey, what's next? where does this case go next? >> reporter: so i mentioned that initial conference hearing, again, that is on -- let me reference my notes, october 2nd at 2:30 p.m. of course this was the initial court appearance, the arraignment, next is discovery. so today the judge ordering the prosecution to deliver to the defense material that would aid in their defense and of course we'll have pretrial motions, a trial date hasn't been set yet, but they're also -- there is a deadline for them to comply with the terms of their release. i believe that will be october 12th. that next october 2nd is the next hearing. unclear if they will be here in person or just their attorneys, chris. >> lindsey reiser, rocco cipparone, thank you very much. next, the fraud case that's threatening not just his image but his business empire. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on news. watchingg reports" only on news. new ipho! (jason) sean!

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in a surprise decision and major blow to donald trump, a new york judge has handed down a ruling that as "the new york times" puts it, cuts to the heart of his very identity. the conclusion that the former president commit add decade-long fraud while building the business empire that cat paul manafort business empire that cat paul manafort trump's network was built on a fantasy world, not a real world. allegations that trump lied

claiming his manhattan penthouse was nearly three times its actual size and valued at a jaw dropping $327 million. no apartment has ever sold for even close to that amount here. his mar-a-lago property was valued as high as $739 million. its actual worth, much closer to 75 million according to the new york a.g. i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard who follows the campaign, also with us former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, paul butler. so vaughn, there is no doubt about this, being ric allowed donald trump to become famous, and that allowed him to run for president, and this judge just shot a massive hole through that story. what exactly could it mean for the future of trump's business, and could it have an impact on how his supporters see him? >> reporter: right, by and large we have seen his most loyal supporters, chris, be undeterred from the allegations of financial fraud against him.

you'll recall donald trump himself settled for $25 million a lawsuit back in 2016 against him and trump university. but for those potentially persuadable republican voters in this primary or independent voters in a general election, it could make a difference because it hits at the core of who donald trump is, and the financial fraud that the judge lays out that donald trump engaged in hits at the core of who donald trump is, was and continues to be today and calls into question his actual self-worth. you know, when we're talking about the future of his own business here, the judge orders the cancellation of the several entities under the trump organization here. will now be put in charge of overseeing some of these entities. it's not clear whether trump could outright lose major properties in new york or beyond. as for trump's team, his legal spokesman has indicated they do intend to appeal. of course the question is will any of his republican rivals tonight take donald trump head

on? they didn't bring up any of these allegations against him in the first debate, and folks have stayed and steered clear as a result. i want you to take a look at trump's social media post as it pertains to the judge's ruling. he writes, i have had very unfair judges since entering politics, but nobody has been as unhinged as this guy. mar-a-lago is worth 100 times it's been valid. i am worth billions more than the conservative financial statements. trump has attacked every judge, prosecutor, or investigator that has ever had donald trump's name come across their desk, as it pertains to mar-a-lago he is referencing in the judge's decision an assessment made out of palm county of his mar-a-lago estate which he claims was way

undervalued. tonight peeking. >> trump has said he has only done perfect business. his lead attorney in the case, chris kise has called this ruling outrageous and completely disconnected from the facts. so where does it go from here? >> the judge ruled that it's so clear that donald trump lied about how much money his properties are worth. there's no need for a trial on that point. the trial is just going to be about how much trump has to pay in damages. the judge said just based on a document submitted by trump's own lawyers, there's overwhelming evidence that donald trump is a fraud and a cheat, one example, chris, you mentioned that trump claimed his apartment in trump tower is 30,000 square feet when it's really 11,000 square feet. the judge say he could understand if trump had been slightly off. but for a real estate developer

to claim that property is three times as big as it really is, that could only be considered fraud. >> let me read that exact quote because that stuck out to me too. this is from the judge's ruling here. a discrepancy of this order of magnitude by a real estate developer sizing up his own living space of decades can only be considered fraud. look, there is talk that trump will testify here. i mean, what's that going to look like? >> i can't imagine that he actually will. he doesn't even have to show up at this trial. the judge was so mad, even at trump's lawyers for making the some frivolous arguments over and over that the judge fined the lawyers $7,500 each. it's actually a funny part of the opinion because the judge said it was like the movie "ground hog day" because the lawyers would make an argument and the judge would overrule that argument, and then the lawyers would make the same

argument again. >> we shall see where this goes, but it won't be boring. that's for sure. paul butler, thank you so much for that, appreciate it. big news on the american soldier who dashed across the dmz border into north korea this summer. travis king now back in u.s. custody. the pentagon confirming the exchange shortly after north korean state media reported that king was expelled saying that he confessed to illegally entering the country because of racial discrimination within the u.s. army. nbc's josh lederman following this story for us. what's the latest there, josh? >> reporter: chris, travis king has now left chinese air space and is headed, we believe, to a u.s. military base somewhere else in the region. he is said to be in good health, in good spirits and happy to be coming home. beyond that, we don't know a whole lot more about what's going to happen next to him including once he gets back to the united states, whether he could potentially face

disciplinary proceedings from the u.s. military both for going awol in crossing into north korea and for those pre-existing allegations that had been levelled against him before he entered north korea. we did hear from his mother in a statement issue through her attorney saying the family is forever grateful to the u.s. military, other government agencies for bringing him home. they are asking for privacy. we're learning a little bit more about how he got out with u.s. officials saying that swedish diplomats entered north korea, were able to collect travis king from the north koreans and then bring him over the border into china where americans were waiting to receive him and put him on a plane out of china. we're also hearing the u.s. government insists they did not give north korea anything in exchange for releasing travis king, which raises real questions about why north korea was willing to release him whereas in the past they have not been able or willing to release detained americans without some type of a trade or

concession, as well as whether this could signal an opening for more north korean diplomacy, with u.s. officials saying they would welcome a chance to have more robust diplomacy with north korea on the nuclear issue and everything else. but at this point in time, all that they know is that they are grateful that today travis king has left north korea and is coming home. chris. >> josh lederman, thank you. republicans ready for round two and for a second time, donald trump won't be at the debate, but his presence will loom even larger this time around. and ransacked retailers on the run, a mob of looters in philly underscoring why more stores are pulling up stakes in major cities. is there a better solution to fight crime? you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. watching reports" only on msnbc

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an entire caravan of about 100 teenage looters ransacked an apple store, a foot locker and other stores in a chaotic scene in philadelphia last night. >> they stuffed bags with clothing, shoes, dropped piles of iphones and ipads as they fled the police. philadelphia p.d. now say they've arrested at least 30 people, but this is part of a larger trend of smash and grab schemes and frankly, just plain old shoplifting that some major retailers say are forcing them to close stores. target says it is closing nine

stores across harlem, seattle, san francisco, and portland, oregon, because theft and organized retail crime is, quote, threatening the safety of our team and our guests. and a newly released survey by the national retail federation shows two-thirds of retailers say they're seeing more violence and aggression from organized retail crime than just a year ago. nbc's dana griffin is following this for us. also with us professor of criminology, law and society at the university of california irvine, sher ris kubrin. what more are you hearing from target on the decision to close those stores? >> this company which has more than 2,000 stores in the u.s. says it is dangerous and costly. target is going to close one store in new york city's harlem neighborhood, three stores in the san francisco oakland area, and three more in portland, oregon. the popular retail put out a statement, and they say we cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organid retail crime are threatenin the safety of our team and guests and contributing

to unsustainable business performance. now, the company will shut down those nine stores by the end of october, and target is not alone. other retailers like walgreens have cited closures over shoplifting and target has said the theft has driven higher levels of stream, brian cornell said months ago the shrink overall is expected to reduce target's full-year profitability by more than 500 million and investigators say a way to combat this issue is to not buy those stolen items that often pop up online. if the price looks too good to be true, that's usually a red flag. >> anybody who's been to a store in new york city recently has noticed how much is behind lock and key. you can't go in and grab a bottle of shampoo, without pushing a button, waiting for someone to come over, getting them to unlock the system. are we looking at the future of retail? >> well, we could be if things continue as they are.

although, crime is definitely part of the puzzle, it's not the entire puzzle as to what's going on with retailers shuttering their stores. >> so tell me about this aspect of it, though, because we know that, for example, when you look at those numbers for how much they lose in any individual store, some of it is also by employees. they do entire breakdowns on that, right, so you're right, it's not in this case all related to crime. but what i have heard just in speaking to people, for example, in stores in new york is that they're told if you work there, don't -- if somebody comes in and shoplift, you just let them go. you don't put yourself in a dangerous situation. you certainly don't put customers in a dangerous situation. what's the answer here? >> so first of all, i think part of it, we need to go back to what's actually happening with respect to crime in retail establishments. so retail theft more broadly. it can be quite confusing because we have lots of

different kinds of numbers that we're dealing with. we've got shoplifting, which involves smart petty individual theft in retail establishments. we have commercial burglary, which involves larger amounts. we have commercial robbery, which includes violence or the threat of violence and then we have the organized retail theft. it turns out, at least in my state of california, recent crime data shows while some trends are showing increases in crimes like commercial burglary and robbery, others are not. so shoplifting, for example, has not been on the rise except for in the last year. it's kind of a mixed bag as to what is going on. that's important because that determine what is we do moving forward to stop this. >> so what are the options here? >> i think part of it is recognizing that crime is a factor, but it's not the entire factor. if we look at things like the fact that there's decreased foot traffic to these retail establishments because of the

pandemic, people working from home. people dealing with inflation and an uncertain economy are spending less on disposable goods and things they might buy at places like target. raise the question about how much of the closing or the shuttering is due to crime. if we think about crime and what we can do, i think california is doing great things in terms of identifying special task forces and funding them. so you have law enforcement working with local retailers in the community to identify the specific problem on the ground and stop it. in this case it's a lot of the organized retail theft, the bigger rings if you will. >> you've researched the impact of california's solution in the state, 2014, proposition 47, which made some nonviolent crimes misdemeanors. how has that had an impact, and have you seen, as you've studied this, that other places are doing similarthings, and it's

working? >> the curious thing about prop 47, whenever crime goes up, they're the first to be blamed for the rise in crime. when crime goes down, they're not the first to be rewarded for the decrease in crime. what's interesting about prop 47 is it was passed in 2014, and we're seeing an increase in this retail theft in the last year or two. so why the lag? that doesn't make sense. beyond that, there's a lot that's happened in the last seven or so years that could account for the rise in retail theft, everything from the pandemic to challenges with police community relations to the economy, inflation, and so on and so forth, so i think we have to be really careful not to place immediate blame on criminal justice reforms in california, especially because recent research shows that they are not responsible for upticks in crime, at least in the few years following their enactment.

the stage is set for a fight for second place, the next gop debate tonight at the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, california. seven candidate wills participate minus the front runner of course. donald trump skipping the event in favor of a bit of counter programming heading to michigan instead. maura barrett joins us from the debate site. elise jordan is back with us. maura, you've been talking to the campaigns. what do they think voters want to hear tonight? >> reporter: the reality is, chris, according to new nbc news polling, 58% of likely republican primary voters still prefer that former president trump be the leader of the republican party. the campaigns are very much aware of that, but they are taking this opportunity on the debate stage to try and breakthrough. i just spoke with nikki haley's campaign and vivek ramaswamy's campaigns. they're focusing on the chance

to get their name out there, increase their name i.d. with voters. but of course president trump will be that elephant in the room, still very much twirling around the ether as much as candidates are trying to avoid those conversations, it's something likely to be brought up. mike pence addressed a question about that fraud ruling and tried to work his way around it. take a listen. >> i'm not familiar with the judge's ruling, but i think judgments about the president, you know, can be made by any american, but you know, at the end of the day, i have to tell you, i just don't hear very much about any of the legal controversy swirling around the president. so you know, look, anybody on that stage can bring up any issues they want. i'm going to be focused on the issues the american people are focusd on, and the fact i'm committed to bringing those conservative solutions that have defined our party over the last 15 years to bear on it while donald trump and others are

following a siren song of populism. >> reporter: whether they're still trying to fight for that second place spot or not, we do expect candidates to come out strong about their positions on the economy. several candidates rolling out their economic policy proposals in the last month since the last debate. several pinging on energy dominance in the sector. we're going hear from campaigns that this is something that they're really looking to get that extra momentum and potentially see some additional spikes in polling like we saw last month. >> elise, let's remind everyone what the state of the race is. this is according to the latest nbc news poll. trump leads ron desantis by an almost unbelievable 43%. nikki haley is a distant third. the rest well behind even that. so is this a race really for second place between desantis and haley? is it -- it's anybody's game at

this point? how do you see this race as we go into this second debate? >> chris, i would be shocked if donald trump did not get the republican nomination. he is so far ahead of every other candidate. it would take some some incredible freak black swan event to mean another candidate would rise ahead. that said, they're fighting for second place on the debate stage. without trump there, the ratings are down. fox news is charging less for advertising. people just don't turn out in the numbers they do to watch donald trump, frankly, and you're going to see tonight the fight who is going to be the candidate who can pop. it was nikki haley last round. you saw vivek ramaswamy have a brief momentum. that reminded me more of her man cane in 2012. flavor of the month. i don't see his momentum

continuing. you have ron desantis who last debate had a really poor performance, and some strategists i talk to said he's just done. we'll see if tonight he, you know, he is wounded. is he going to be able to recover? is there proof of life there. so really i'm watching desantis to see how he fares and if nikki haley has another moment. >> if you were in the predicting business, do they go after donald trump in a different way than they have before? >> i think, chris, you're going to see how they try to avoid talking about donald trump, period. you had mike pence then, the stammering around is painful to watch. they don't want to offend his voters. the only one willing to attack donald trump in a robust way, chris christie and it hasn't necessarily helped his poll numbers. in new hampshire, though, he is

doing better. maybe that could be his place. still, there's a lot of -- left to go. for now this race is donald trump. >> elise jordan, it's always good to see you. millions of federal workers are bracing to go without a paycheck because of partisan bickering in washington. we are now a little more than three days out from a government shutdown, and the dsre against keeping the lights on. the senate does have a bipartisan short-term plan to keep the government funded through november 17th. but hard line republicans in the house have balked. senator majority leader chuck schumer sent this message to speaker kevin mccarthy. >> speaker mccarthy, the only way -- the only way out of a shutdown is bipartisanship. and by constantly adhering to what the hard right want, you're aiming for a shutdown. they want it, you know it. you can stop it. work in a bipartisan way like we

are in the senate, and we can avoid harm to tens of millions of americans. >> joining us now democratic congressman jim hines of connecticut, ranking member of the house intelligence committee. from where you stand right now, is government going to shut down after midnight sunday morning? >> i think so, chris, i'm sorry to say, that but you know, there's lots of stuff happening in the house, but nothing that is happening in the house is the steps that you just had on your show, senator schumer outlined. which is to pass a bipartisan continuing resolution. speaker mccarthy is doing everything except that. your intro, it's not because of political or partisan bickering. it's about whether kevin mccarthy can do what you showed chuck schumer suggest you dorks what mitch mcconnell the republican leader in the senate suggest you do, which is let's sideline the 5, 10, 20 radicals

and let's bring some democrats on board just the way we did with the debt ceiling so we don't shut down the government. that's mccarthy's choice. so far she has chosen to bend the knee to his most radical maga members. >> if i can, i want to play for you something that speaker mccarthy actually said today. he was talking about the role of president biden in all of this. take a listen. >> we're bringing up on friday ability to fund the government, but at the same time secure our border. so yes, we're doing our jo, so what doesed president have to do with that? if he wants to sit and hide in the white house and put the government into a shutdown, that's on him but that's the wrong thing to do. >> he says it's on him. is there plenty of blame to go around, congressman? >> that is the very definition of putting really cheap lipstick on a very, very ugly pig. of course kevin mccarthy has to

try to justify his unjustifiable position. let me say two things about this. number one, all of a sudden kevin mccarthy found an acorn, as a blind squirrel does every week or so. that acorn is the border. number one, kevin mccarthy who wants to do a deal with the president, three weeks ago he did a deal with the president and walked away from it the next day. we had the top line numbers all hammered out. kevin made that deal and a day later walked away from it. the other fact i need to highlight here is that we are now considering a homeland security bill that actually cuts funding to the forces forces and everything that secures the border. what you just saw, the metaphors fail you, lipstick on a pig, throwing spaghetti on the wall. it's pathetic. it would be funny if it weren't so serious. young marines are not going to get paid.

this is serious stuff. >> let me get to a possible impact here. republican opponents, a new aid for ukraine. that opposition is endangering money in a critical time. we just had president zelenskyy. we saw him go to members in congress. we saw him speaking, and yet it seems like that could be in danger. how do you view that, and what's your reaction to it? >> on the ukraine aid, a debate over the amount and type of ukraine aid, that's what we do here. and, look, i'm a very strong supporter of giving the ukrainians everything they need. that department is absolutely fair, and by the way, i have no doubt whatsoever because there's only 60 or 70 republicans in the house that were there to pass a vote for ukraine aid. this came back to what i said, this would be a no brainer to pass ukraine aid if kevin mccarthy weren't on a 24/7 basis bending the knee to his five, ten, 20 most radical members. those members don't want to

provide ukrainian aid. right now they're wearing the crown. >> i want to get your reaction to brand new nbc reporting, if i can, congressman, about senator bob menendez who as you know pled not guilty to federal corruption charges. that includes allegations he accepted bribes to benefit the egyptian government. senate records show that menendez single handedly blocked passage of bipartisan legislation in 2020 that would have strengthened the law regulating foreign influence and lobbying. and two congressional aides have told nbc news it was clear menendez was objecting for himself. when you look at that, what goes through your head, congressman? >> two things go through my head. i spent a lot of time on national security as ranking member of the intelligence committee. corruption, and i should say alleged corruption, the senator is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but alleged

corruption is ugly. when alleged corruption could impact our international relations it's particularly ugly. the senator is entitled as we all are to a presumption of innocence but it does seem clear. let me as a democrat say something you would never have heard a republican say about donald trump or any of their corrupt members and that is while he is entitled to a presumption of innocence, it's clear with dick durbin's statements, the junior senator of new jersey's statements that senator menendez is no longer in a position to adequately discharge his job, and so the decent thing for him to do would be to step down and to fight these charges and have his day in court. >> congressman jim himes, it's good to have you on the program, sir, thank you. >> thank you. up next, the show must go on, hollywood writers getting back to work after their month's long strike. of course it's not the end of the story just yet. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc

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it's official, television writers are now back to crafting story lines after a strike that lasted nearly five months. the new deal they hashed out with the studios is set to last through 2026. things still aren't settled with actors who remain on the picket line. nbc's chloe melas has the update on what all of this means going forward. >> reporter: the 148 day writers strike is officially over. the wga board and council releasing a statement saying that the new agreement unanimously passed and is now in the hands of guild members. >> i'm feeling really happy, actually a lot of emotions. the deal is tentative, we have to vote on it, but very happy there seems to be an end in sight. >> reporter: the 94-page agreement includes much of what writers have been waiting for, increased residuals and transparency for streaming content. a 5% raise, specific guidelines around ai, it cannot be

considered source material and can't be used to undermine a writers credit or separated rights. writers taking to social media. one writing, thank you to every member who negotiated and walked the walk. the provisional agreement was reached late sunday between the wga and amptp which represents streaming and studios, including comcast, the parent company of nbc universal. tuesday's vote to move the deal through and end the strike right away means that late night shows and daytime talk could be back as soon as next week. and fresh episodes of your favorite scripted shows could be back on track by january. >> we did everything that we could. >> reporter: however, it remains to be seen if there will actually be actors available to act. >> we can't do anything without actors, we need them desperately. >> reporter: the sag-aftra union saying we are reviewing the wga's tentative agreement, and

are committed to achieving a fair and just deal for our members. we remain on strike. we will not speculate for schedule or next steps. >> i'm hoping end of october i'm done walking this line, even though i love it, but my feet are tired, i'm ready to get back to work. >> reporter: today, thousands of writers can do just that. hollywood now one big step closer to reopening. >> chloe melas, thank you. we've got a lot to cover in our second hour of "chris jansing reports." let's get right to it. ♪♪ at this hour, dozens of senators now calling on bob menendez to resign as the new jersey democrat walks out of court with his wife after pleading not guilty to sweeping bribery charges. tragedy in baltimore, a tech ceo who was on the forbes 30 under 30 list found dead in her apartment. and now an urgent man hunt for a suspect who officials say should never have even been on the