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tv   Ana Cabrera Reports  MSNBC  October 3, 2023 7:00am-8:00am PDT

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what causes a curve down there? is it peyronie's disease? will it get worse? how common is it? who can i talk to? can this be treated? stop typing. start talking to a specialized urologist. because it could be peyronie's disease, or pd. it's a medical condition where there is a curve in the erection, caused by a formation of scar tissue. and an estimated 1 in 10 men may have it. but pd can be treated even without surgery. say goodbye to searching online. find a specialized urologist who can diagnose pd and build a treatment plan with you. visit makeapdplan.com today. right now on "ana cabrera reports," we are following three breaking news stories as we come on the air. in delaware, this morning, the son of the sitting president is set to be arraigned on gun charges. he just arrived at court moments ago. how much legal jeopardy does
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hunter biden face? this while in new york it is day two of donald trump's civil fraud trial. both the former president and new york attorney general letitia james in that courtroom again. and house republicans and house democrats meeting behind closed doors on capitol hill right now as matt gaetz tries something that hasn't happened in more than 100 years, force the removal of a house speaker. does gaetz have support and will democrats step in to help save kevin mccarthy's job? it is 10:00 eastern. lots to get to. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin on capitol hill where both parties are behind closed doors as we speak with kevin mccarthy's job hanging in the balance. just moments ago, mccarthy telling republicans they will likely vote today on congressman gaetz's motion to remove him as speaker.
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mccarthy defiant when pressed about his razor thin margin of support. >> i can give as good as i get. i know the place of where i'm at. i didn't get speaker on an easy round. it hadn't happened in 150 years, took me 15 rounds. i will never give up. i think if people rate how many times they would have killed me in the past, i would have been dead long ago. >> joining us now is nbc's capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. and jacqueline alemany, congressional investigations reporter for "the washington post." ali, to you first, you're on the hill, there is action behind you, we're waiting to hear from house democrats, house republicans after these meetings. when might we hear from them and what happens next? >> reporter: definitely an active morning here on the hill, ana. both republicans and democrats have been huddled behind closed doors since around 9:00 this morning. both meetings starting to break up a little bit. of course, one of the key people who i've been watching for standing outside of the house gop meeting is congressman matt gaetz himself, at the center of
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pushing the motion to vacate against speaker mccarthy. in the room, two sources said he was going to put the vote up and let it be on the floor this afternoon, clearly wasting no time. you referenced his defiant tone this morning, he's confident he'll be able to remain as speaker, nevertheless our unofficial whip count just folks were talking to in the hall gives us five republicans who say they would vote to oust mccarthy as speaker. that means he's going to have to be dipping with democrats at some point, trying to make up those margins unless, of course, the total number of people in this chamber at some point changes. given the fact it is coming up today, though, we still expect the numbers to be what we think they are, which means we're actively also looking at what democrats are doing and if there have been any overtures made. i want to play for you a brief snippet of what congressman gaetz said to us leaving this meeting. watch. >> somebody has been lied to because we heard the president come out and say there was a deal with the speaker on ukraine, and the speaker just
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stood up in front of all of us and said there is no deal on ukraine. the house democrats say there is a deal on ukraine. so, we're going to have to sort that out, sort out who is lying. >> reporter: and what gaetz is referencing there is a conversation that he's been having with multiple reporters, his colleagues, he even said this on the house floor, he feels that mccarthy short changed his conference and has not made good on the promises he made to them when he became speaker in the first place in january. for instance, giving them like 72 hours to read bills before they vote on them, this alleged deal with ukraine, which mccarthy says doesn't exist. i will say there is two points i'm looking at here, first is that gaetz told me he thinks democrats should do this for free. he said he has not -- he didn't say whether or not he had spoken to them. and the second is you can't replace mccarthy with nobody and i still haven't heard a name. >> that's interesting. jackie, mccarthy is projecting confidence he will come out the victor here. he mentioned how it took him 15 rounds of voting to be elected
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speaker. he's now facing this revolt from inside his party. is there any indication of how many republicans gaetz has in his corner and if gaetz doesn't win on this first round, do we expect him to keep going and going and going? >> yeah, well, as ali noted the whip count for republicans that are ultimately going to oust mccarthy is still up in the air, but the number is -- seems to be growing. and at the end of the day it does not seem like mccarthy is going to be able to maintain his job without the support of at least a handful of democrats. so, we are still very eagerly waiting on what democrats exactly are going to do, some have said they're waiting on directions from minority leader hakeem jeffries on whether or not the house is going to take democrats are going to take a unified vote here. it would be extremely unusual for democrats to come together, the minority to support the majority leader, the member of the opposing party.
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politically it is obviously not the most popular thing to be doing. especially in light of some of the accusations mccarthy has hurled at democrats, even as they really in their opinion rescued him during an emergency to avoid shutting down the government. even as mccarthy continued to blame them for a potential shutdown on sunday shows. there is also just other hostile issues, underlying tensions that run a lot deeper than this situation that mccarthy is in right now. ranging all the way back to january 6th when mccarthy in the aftermath of the attack on the u.s. capitol in 2021 went down to mar-a-lago and essentially made amends with then former president donald trump, even after the republican party was sort of slowly, potentially turning away from him, in all this, again, hostility about trump's role in promoting the january 6th attack.
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democrats squarely blame mccarthy for bringing him back in to the fold and having republicans rally around him once again. and so i think it is hard to envision a world here where you're going to get democrats en masse to support him. >> so we just learned that the reporting coming out of the democratic meeting is that while hakeem jeffries, the leader for the democrats, had mentioned -- or was expected to speak at some point this morning that has been postponed, so, let's listen to what he told our morning joe to see if that gives us an indication of where things are headed for democrats. take a listen. >> we have a caucus meeting, this morning, we'll have a family conversation about this issue relatively a first impression and hasn't been before the congress in 110 years or so. and then figure out where to go from there. >> ali, what is the calculation for democrats on how to play this, do you think?
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>> that's the open question here is whether or not democrats are going to find some upside to helping save this speakership. i talked to some who are in more red or purple districts who say that they have not been approached by mccarthy that there has not been much conversation and to the extent that we're hearing details come out of the democratic meeting this morning, it is clear that most democrats feel that they are best when they are united, and what that tells me is that they're not interested in wading into the fray of how to save the speaker, effectively. that really does leave us at an impasse. i want to detail just how we think that this afternoon might go. because with mccarthy saying that this vote would come in the first vote series we expect this afternoon and he might give us more details now. let's watch. >> you know, if i counted how many times someone wanted to knock me out, i would have been gone a long time ago.
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>> can you explain a little bit about why do it today? the idea that you -- >> why not? >> rip the band-aid off here or what? >> why not? i think matt has planned this all along. didn't matter what we transpired. he would have done it if we were in shutdown or not. i firmly believe it is the right decision to keep government open to make sure our military is still paid, our border agents are still paid. and if that makes a challenge based upon whether i should be speaker, i'll take that fight. >> you're calling his bluff? >> yeah. >> what was your conversation like with leader jeffries? >> i have to talk to jeffries about a lot of things. we talk every week. we talk sometimes during the week. we got some issues going on, i always try let him know what is coming to the floor. my conversation with jeffries, you do whatever you need to do, i get politics, i understand where people are, i truly believe, though, the institution
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of the house. at the end of the day, if you throw a speaker out, that has 99% of their conference, that kept government open, and paid the troops, i think we're in raley bad place for how we're going to run congress. >> are you expecting democrats to back you up then? >> no, personally i'm not. >> you to need their help to remain in leadership? >> no. if five republicans go with democrats, then i'm out. so, it is whether -- >> likely? >> probably so. >> this is a complex piece of algebra, you don't know attendance. tell me why you're so confident based on the mathematical equations. >> because i live in america. >> but this is a serious -- >> it is a serious question. have you ever -- okay, take the current situation out. have you ever come to me on no matter what you thought i couldn't solve that i wasn't confident? >> i'm not questioning your confidence. >> you're asking why i'm confident.
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because of who i am. i don't give up. so, there are obstacles in my life, i have fallen many times, there is a time i was going to be speaker and i couldn't and you guys all counted me out, i'm speaker. i'm the 55th speaker of the house. you're confident that government was going to shut down. you were confident the debt ceiling wouldn't get done. but each and every time, we're going to solve the challenge. >> are you confident -- >> we'll keep watching this. and bring you any additional highlights that come from these live comments we're watching from the house speaker as he prepares for a vote as soon as this afternoon to vacate the speakership. that was called by congressman matt gaetz. we just heard him discuss the democrats' role in all of this, which is really quite interesting, given as he mentioned all it takes would be all the democrats and five republicans to vote to oust him. and he would be gone. and yet he is projecting
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confidence, also saying he has a lot of respect for leader hakeem jeffries of the democrats. so, ladies, thank you for helping us understand what is happening and, please, stay close and bring us any new details that break during this hour. keep a watch on this. now to the delaware courthouse where the president's son hunter biden will be arraigned at any moment on three counts of felony gun charges stemming from october of 2018, when hunter biden allegedly lied about his drug use when he bought a gun. we expect him to plead not guilty to all three counts. let's get to mike memoli outside that courthouse. also with us, harry litman, former deputy assistant attorney general and former prosecutor anhush kadori. set the scene for what we can expect today. >> reporter: this hear, has now been under way for just under 10 minutes. the judge is reading through some of the facts of the case, the charges that hunter biden is facing and the circumstances that led to this. this should be a routine
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hearing, but, of course, we're talking about a hearing involving the son of the sitting president of the united states, and we all remember what happened here, just about ten weeks ago, when hunter biden arrived here intending to plead guilty, not just to the three gun-related charges, but also a pair of misdemeanor tax charges. that deal fell apart under really probing questions of the judge at the time. questioning not just the terms of the agreement, but hunter biden's attorneys reached with federal prosecutors, but the way it was executed. we do, of course, expect hunter to plead not guilty and then the question is when does this go to trial, if it goes to trial. the judge has some leeway in terms of setting a trial date, as well as maybe directing the parties to try to come up with an alternative here, potentially a new plea agreement and why is that important? hunter biden's attorneys are arguing here that these charges have, one, never been brought in this district, the u.s. district for the state of delaware, and, two, they face some constitutional questions about whether they could even be applied at all.
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so, this will be an interesting moment to determine the future at least as it relates to one of the legal clouds that are hovering over the son of the president here, with just under 400 days until election day. >> harry, this indictment alleges that hunter biden bought a firearm, quote, knowing that he was an unlawful usr of and addicted to any stimulant, narcotic drug and any other controlled substance. >> unless they have done something else, like committed another crime with the gun, been a straw purchaser, the department as a matter of policy generally doesn't bring it. so after five years of investigation, and determination to do it by diversion, it all came undone, ten weeks ago, and really for nothing that hunter biden did. so, it is serious as a heart attack for him now, and yet the
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irony is it is something that normally a department of justice wouldn't bring, but the whole kind of swirling politics of it have now really put a bull's eye, if you will, on his head. so, you know, there is more to come potentially, tax charges and even charges involving his 2014-'15 business dealings in china. he's in the soup very much so now all of a sudden. >> and so, i want to get your thoughts about that as well because i have talked to a number of lawyers who say it is unusual for someone to face a stand alone gun charge of this nature. would hunter be facing these types of charges if his last name wasn't biden? >> honestly, i don't think so. i share mr. litman's assessment of the situation here. i think this is a case that, you know, prosecutors would say was overcharged, a case that might never be charged.
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this time he's facing three counts on what is a fact pattern that as mr. litman said really wouldn't normally be charged as stand alone offense. now, of course, in all came undone in spectacular fashion. but he's not even just facing this, tax charges have yet to come, prosecutors have said those are forth coming. that's another area where i think hunter biden has a legitimate case to be made, he's being treated more harshly than similarly situated people. so, i think at this point it has become kind of hard to deny that he's being singled out. in the scheme of things, we don't have to be that sympathetic about the son of the president, he may not go to prison when all is said and done that remains to be seen. but putting this in some context, yes, it is unusual. >> hunter wanted this to be done virtually. his lawyer saying he was planning on pleading not guilty.
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but the judge insisted he fly in to appear in person. what does that maybe tell you about this judge? is he trying to send a message? >> you know, i think he is. and it is a message that we're seeing in the trump cases as well and no special treatment and the like. normally one shows up for an arraignment. it is very unusual situation, he's already been arraigned on these charges. he understands them this hearing is probably over already. so it does feel like quite a production for not very much. the question is now will the judge be fairly stern throughout the trial. and this trial could be sort of a donnybrook. his lawyer has mentioned that he is going to be aggressive based on the plea bargains coming undone, totally agree with what he's saying, the problem for hunter is many of the things
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that are anomalous here don't necessarily give rise to solid defenses once the charges have been brought. this is really about prosecutorial discretion and the -- what i would call abuse of it. >> and how quickly could this case move if it goes to trial and is it still possible? we heard mike mention his lawyers may still be working on a plea deal. could that come to fruition even though first plea deal fell apart? >> i'll be interested to see if the judge sets a trial date. this is the sort of case that could go to trial in a matter of months. it is fairly simple fact pattern. prosecutes and hunter biden going back and forth on this for years, he should know the evidence. in terms of potential plea deal, mike is right, it is always possible that another plea deal could come together, maybe to everyone's benefit, including the government and hunter himself to try to come to terms
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on some sort of resolution. this time maybe presented in a format that the judge actually believes is appropriate or sounder than last time. that's definitely a very real possibility. >> all right, thank you so much. appreciate it. up next on "ana cabrera reports," donald trump back in court this hour. we just got a new look inside the courtroom. what's happening on day two of his new york fraud trial. day twf his new york fraud trial
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right now in new york city, court back in session for the civil fraud trial into donald trump's business empire. you can see the former president in the courtroom, just moments ago. there will not be cameras in court, though, for the witness testimony. so this was, again, a cool shot they allowed us to come in and get before the proceedings got under way today. let's bring in vaughn hillyard outside the courthouse. and dave aaronburg, state attorney for palm beach county, florida. and back with us, ankush kadori. vaughn, what evidence, what witnesses can we expect? >> reporter: i was looking at the witness list here and donald bender is back on the stand. he is the first witness. appeared throughout yesrday afternoon. he was donald trump's personal accountantho w working in the capacity with two key figures from the trump organization totrump's
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personal tax returns from 2011 through 2020. the second witns at we can anticipate mt likely this afternoon coming to the stand if they get through donald bender is the accountant who has worked with donald trump since then, dating back to2021, cameron harris, a cpa at whitley penn. he's part of their audit team. and then the big two witnesses to follow, this is the witnesses we could expect as soon as tomorrow or the back half of this week are the controller, jeffrey mcconney and the chief financial officer allen weisselberg. both individuals are named in this lawsuit as defendants. and they are important because they have worked for decades now with donald trump and the trump organization. and in a separate matter related to state charges that found the trump organization guilty in december of 2022 for a tax fraud scheme, weisselberg and mcconney
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testified. both of them had testified and to the trump organization being engaged in that. neither of these two men, however, though implicated directly donald trump. that is why when the take the stand here, it is going to be a unique moment and if donald trump is in the courtroom at that point that he will be looking at both of those men who he has worked with for decades now and both of those men who were at the forefront of actually putting together the financial statements that were signed off by donald trump and his sons. >> dave, as we showed, trump is there in person again today. he's been doing a lot of talking, attacking the judge, attacking the attorney general, just this morning calling her a monster. how could these public attacks impact the case? >> ana, donald trump and his allies have been saying there is a two-tiered system of justice
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and maybe they're right because if any other defendant said the things that donald trump has been saying, they would have been sanctioned a while ago. so, i expect that at some point a judge, whether judge anagoron will slap them with a partial gag order and if he violates that, there could be sanctions. he's been given a long leash because he's the leading candidate for president on the republican side. and judges don't want the perception they're getting involved in politics. it is outrageous what he's saying, he could generate violence against prosecutors and the judge. i don't think's good idea for him to be saying these things. >> the judge is already having to increase the security presence he has. security officers picking him up at his house in the morning, taking him to court and helping him return home because of these threats and attacks that have come with being part of this case and the president's rhetoric or former president's
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rhetoric. the prosecution usually goes first, right? how do we know or do we know what trump's lawyers plan to mount in their defense based on their opening statements yesterday? do they appear to have any strategy given the judge already called some of their earlier arguments bogus and said they amounted to a fantasy world? >> right, number one, we have a statement from the judge here inside of the courtroom and just the last few minutes, an important aspect because donald trump suggested that the judge in this case should go back on his initial summary judgment ruling from last week that found him liable for financial fraud. from inside the courtroom, just a few moments ago, the judge said, we cannot litigate what i said in my summary judgment. that is what an appeal is for. there are a layer of other claims, though, however, that donald trump's defense team is going to be confronted with over the next two to three months here and we heard from his lawyers inside of the courtroom yesterday make several arguments. number one, the lenders never actually lost any money. we will hear from some
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witnesses, from the banks themselves, to testify to that account to be brought by the defense. but also you heard one of his attorneys make the case that nobody in america takes the face value of their home, for instance. and that americans try to get the most money they can and as much money as somebody is willing to pay for it, before the case of donald trump here, you see him inside of this courtroom, choosing to be here for a second day, and for donald trump so much of this is taking on letitia james directly and his comments before coming into the courtroom here this morning, suggesting that she is the fraudulent one and that this is a fraudulent case. of course, it will be determined by the judge exactly which side here is the most liable. and for letitia james, well, others including the district attorney alvin bragg have sidestepped over bringing this case in front of a judge, letitia james did and it will be for prosecutors to make that
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case that he is, in fact, liable of what she's presenting to them. >> so, what do you make of how trump's defense lawyers are handling this, essentially trying to say that the judge who already said fraud was a fact in this case, that the judge just got it wrong and they're trying to convince him otherwise, still. >> yeah, well, look, trying to get judges to change their opinions, you have -- either in front of them or on appeal, it is part of everyday lawyering. it usually fails in a circumstance like this, when the judge ruled against you last week. as a legal strategy, all of this, the attacks against the government, railing against the judge, calling him a criminal and all that, this is like a bizarro legal strategy. this is not an intelligent thing in the ordinary course for any litigant to be doing in front of a court that still holds trump's fate in its hands. what i think we're seeing is a political strategy. presenting to his supporters that he'll go in, and he'll make a big spectacle of everything,
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attack everyone, and so this is one of these situations where, you know, trump's political and legal fortunes are so closely intertwined that his quote, unquote defense of the legal case isn't much of a defense, it is a political argument. >> yesterday trump said it was very unfair that he did not get a jury trial. this is a bench trial. but his team could have asked for a jury trial, no? >> yeah. he should have complained to the woman sitting next to him, his lawyer is the one who forgot to check the right box, did not request the jury trial. and she is saying, no, it is not my fault. whose fault is it? the judge said the reason why this is a bench trial, meaning the judge is going to make the decision, is because no one requested a jury trial. so, there it is. and trump only has himself to blame. on the internet, i've been asked can he use that on appeal as an ineffective assistance of counsel claim to overturn the verdict on appeal and the answer is, no, because this is a civil trial, not a criminal one.
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though he's able to sue his lawyers afterwards, but right now he's going down with the ship, it seems like. >> very interesting. thank you, gentlemen. up next, on "ana cabrera reports," the president's son pleads not guilty to gun charges. he'll head back to wilmington and get a readout from the courthouse. mington and get a readout from the courthouse at humana, we believe your healthcare should evolve with you, and part of that evolution means choosing the right medicare plan for you. humana can help.
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wilmington, delaware, we continue to follow the breaking news. hunter biden in court and he just pleaded not guilty to three charges related to possessing a gun while addicted to narcotics. let's bring in nbc's tom winter, who just ran over to the camera, he was in the court. tom, walk us through just what happened. >> reporter: that's right, ana, very straightforward and simple hearing, a difference from what occurred 69 days ago when that now infamous plea deal broke down between federal prosecutors and hunter biden and his attorneys. hunter biden came into the
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courtroom at 9:56 approximately this morning, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a tie. he sat next to his defense counsel including abbe lowell, the point defense attorney going forward. the judge went through a number of the charges he's facing here and really only goes around and i know you talked about one specific act or series of events that occurred and three charges that are tied to that. the judge went through that, made sure biden understood the charges against him, all very much straightforward. what we see on all of these different types of initial appearances and then went over conditions of his pretrial release, which will mirror what he's been out on so far, that he has to have no gun, he cannot use alcohol, he cannot use any drugs that are not prescribed to him by a doctor, has to check in with probation. the judge, the magistrate judge overseeing this judge, christopher burk, noted that biden has been drug tested on several occasions, since that hearing this summer, that he's been negative on all of those
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tests. and from there they moved to the arraignment, abbe lowell entering not guilty on his behalf. the judge anded if there were any overriding issues and the defense counsel abbe lowell spoke and said he tends to file two motions to dismiss, one, the pretrial diversion agreement on this gun conduct was signed at the time, an agreement between prosecutors, the justice department and hunter biden, both sides signed it, they believe it is in effect and this indictment and this potential trial shouldn't even be occurring at all. they're going to go for motion to dismiss on that. that's why we have been anticipated by legal experts. the second one is the constitutionality of the charges. different circuits in courts of appeals that have struck down this particular charge as unconstitutional. so they do anticipate to bring a motion to dismiss.
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based on that, abbe lowell said there would be a motion for an evidentiary hearing presume to be tied to the pretrial diversion agreement. we should expect to hear about what hunter biden's defense attorneys at the time and his former defense attorney chris clark believe was the agreement between federal prosecutors and hunter biden. so, more to come on that. that will be a court hearing that we will have. there will be testimony at that. so, i do anticipate certainly a fair amount of legal challenges from the biden side of things prior to even coming close to a trial here if that occurs, ana. >> you said november 3rd is the next potential trial date or premotion trial date. thank you, tom winter, for the update. and back with us is ankush kadori. that was a quick hearing, any surprises? >> not really. he raised the two issues he raised. i gather the judge didn't set a
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trial date, which is interesting to me, or maybe that didn't come through. in terms of the issues his defense lawyers raised, it is important to put them in some context. the argument like that the earlier deal is still in place is a very unusual one. it emerges from a very unusual set of circumstances that the prior plea deal. i'm sure hunter biden's lawyers want a hearing where his lawyers get to go up on the stand and talk about how he was mistreated by federal prosecutors. i don't know there will ever be such a hearing. that agreement was never fully executed. so, you know, the defense lawyers want lots of things, they don't always get all of those things. the constitutionality argument, that may have more legs. the 5th circuit issued a ruling that gives hunter biden some arguments there. it is a deeply bizarre political situation since his father, the sitting president, has been opposed to these supreme court rulings that hunter biden his son would be using at his defense.
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but in terms of the lay of the land, not much of a surprise. >> okay. thank you so much for being our legal expert to analyze what we are seeing happen this morning. i appreciate you. up next on "ana cabrera reports," the republican civil war that is threatening to end kevin mccarthy's short-lived stint as speaker of the house. can he find enough allies in his own party to stick around? round? take a moment to pause and ask, why did you get vaccinated against pneumococcal pneumonia? i help others. but i need to help protect myself. honestly? i couldn't afford to get sick. i want to be there for this one. i can't if i'm sick. pneumococcal pneumonia is a potentially serious bacterial lung disease. you may be at risk if you're 19 to 64 with certain chronic conditions. or if you're 65 or older.
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breaking news from our top story this hour. the house will vote this afternoon on congressman matt gaetz's push to oust speaker kevin mccarthy. here is part of mccarthy's defense moments ago for keeping his job. >> the end of the day, keeping government open and paying our troops was the right decision. i stand by that decision. and then at the end of the day, if i lose my job over it, so be it. >> that one key issue in the budget deal that mccarthy did pass, the short-term funding issue, is that there was no new funding for ukraine. that could be a sticking point, still. we learned president biden will call u.s. allies today to reassure them the u.s. will continue to supply ukraine aid. back with us on capitol hill is nbc's ali vitali. i want to bring in nbc's gabe gutierrez from the white house. mccarthy didn't seem nervous about this vote upcoming this afternoon, what are you looking
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for in the next few hours before the vote? >> reporter: he didn't seem nervous, but at every inflection point of his speakership, he projected optimism and confidence with us, even in instances where rules failed and votes ended up failing. so this is really par for the course for those of us who deal with the speaker on a daily basis. there is three things that stand out to me from the conversations that i've been having the last 20 or so minutes since i was last on the air with you, talking to both democrats and republicans. the first is just the kevin mccarthy math on this. when we see this go to the floor later this afternoon, mccarthy said it pretty directly, he said if five republicans vote with democrats, then i am losing my job. we can pull up for you on the screen right now the five republican votes that we know are going to be against mccarthy. these are not necessarily surprising, first and foremost, congressman matt gaetz, the guy who triggered this entire thing i got into journalism because i thought there would be no math, but this beat presents the opportunity for me do a little bit of arithmetic. i don't see how mccarthy,
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assuming everything stands as it is, continues to keep his job if all five of those republicans on the screen vote with all democrats. that brings me to the second thing i've noticed from my reporting in the last 20 minutes, democrats are coming out of their meeting continuously saying that they will be united on this. any front liners who might have seen political upsiding and voting to help mccarthy, they are certainly not there and while democratic leadership is not whipping them, very much the sense coming out of their closed door meeting this morning is that they're not going to be here to save the speaker's job. they do want to govern. they know this is not how things worked in the past, but at the same time they're not going to jump into the fray, not at this point, either voting to help mccarthy or simply voting present. right now, according to my conversations, that's not on the table. and then the third thing here is what we have come back to multiple times, which is that there is no named successor that those five republicans can point to do say i want this person to be speaker instead of kevin
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mccarthy. i even asked congressman burrchett if he had conversations with other republicans, and he says he's talked to people who would step into the breach, but he's not ready to name names. frankly, if you're not ready to name names, it is hard for me to imagine that this person comes to the center of the floor with any kind of whip operation and the numbers that they would need to then become speaker themselves. but i guess the real sense i have is that everyone is just waiting to cross these bridges when they come to them. >> so, let me make sure i understand this correctly, ali. the vote this afternoon, is it a vote to remove him or is it a vote to, like, move along the process of what will be the ultimate removal vote? >> reporter: i'm glad you asked that. what we anticipate it to look like is that mccarthy ally will likely put on the table a push to table the motion. the motion in this case is the motion to vacate. which gaetz already put forward yesterday. that an ally would put them
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forward is to say, hey, can we vote to get rid of this? if they're not able to table it, if democrats vote not to table it and the five republicans not to table it, then we move on to the actual motion to vacate. and there are a few republican members who i have heard who will not vote to table this, but who are undecided on if they will oust mccarthy as speaker. and so that does leave a lot to chance and that's what we're working towards this afternoon. it is also entirely possible that mccarthy has the votes to get rid of this, they motion to table it and it goes nowhere. gaetz promised he'll keep bringing this up. >> ali, stay close. gabe, let's talk about the white house response here. i'm wondering if the president has said anything recently about the speaker potentially losing his job and also this issue of ukraine aid. we know he's making calls to allies, what is his message to them? >> two things, first of all, the white house has been very careful to say it is not involved in anything going on
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with the speaker right now and whether he stays in his job. but it is hard to divorce all of this from the politics playing out on capitol hill. you heard congressman matt gaetz yesterday talking about what he views as an alleged secret deal between kevin mccarthy and the biden administration over ukraine funding. mccarthy says there is no such secret deal. president biden over the weekend has said he only thinks that speaker mccarthy is committed to ukraine funding, but, again, no such secret deal. but now we have this news that today president biden plans to speak on a phone call with several world leaders to reassure them that the u.s. remains committed to providing security aid to ukraine, that's according to three administration officials, telling nbc news. and we think there are about ten leaders that president biden will be speaking with and that he's expected to convey once again that ukraine funding is still in the cards here in the u.s. and according to one of the officials the president is
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expected to ask those world leaders to step up their own efforts. but this all comes as the administration has said and the pentagon controller, comp croel troller sent a letter saying ukraine funding was being exhausted. a u.s. official did tell my colleague courtney kube $5.4 billion remains in previously passed funding, but this shows that the biden administration is trying to reassure world leaders despite all these politics playing out on capitol hill right now. the news that president biden expected to speak with world leaders today about ten of them according to three u.s. officials. >> we're just getting reporting reporting, gabe, as you are wrapping up there, it says joining the call today with president biden are leaders from canada, germany, italy, the eu, france, and this list is quite extensive. keep us posted as you learn
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more. up next on "ana cabrera reports," the politics of the two court cases this morning, what it means for donald trump and president biden heading into 2024.
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this morning police in the nation's capitol are investigating the carjacking of a democratic senator, and he was carjacked last night in the navy yard, and three armed assailants approached him and stole the car and he was not harmed. police recovered the vehicle but there have been no arrests in the case. we are continuing to follow this split screen moment happening this hour. two men in court that could have
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this serious issues in the 2024 race. joining us is a former aide to the george bush white house, elise jordan. we have seen trump try to use grievances to rally his base? >> so far. he didn't have to come to court in new york city and he decided it was to his political advantage and he showed up and he got a ton of media, and it doesn't matter if it's bad, so it's a political win for him. >> he is claiming he was forced to show up in new york. he wasn't. but i wonder how closely his
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supporters are following his court cases? >> well, i mean, they are following it. but, remember, they are following it from the perspective with trump as their hero who has been aggrieved by the retched deep state justice department. this only helps donald trump in a republican primary, and that's why since the indictments he's grown his primary lead to unprecedented levels. the problem with the trials, however, is that it's kryptonite. it's for independent voters, and certainly democratic voters, and anybody who is not the baked-in trump base, sees the trial for what they are, further evidence of a person that hangs under a criminal cloud. >> voters in iowa, it will be the first caucus state to vote
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in the primaries, and how they are responding to trump's fraud trial this week. >> they will do everything they can to try and get to him. >> if he's guilty of that, it's not good but i would probably still support him, you know. >> they are afraid he's going to win. >> the guy in the middle, elise, if he's guilty, it's not good, but i will still support him. >> trump's message has been successful. if they can do this to me, they can do it to you is how his messaging turned once he started fighting the legal battles, and by protecting the victimhood to his voters, they become part of his own personal drama like they are being attacked and it's drawn them closer, eventually. >> you talk about how you may not be able to turn trump's base, the supporters that are
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with him thrnd through, and one of the findings in the poll, tuarts of all the voters that were polled say they are concerned about president joe biden's age and mental fitness, and many found a majority of americans have concerns about biden's involvement with his son's business dealings, and there's no evidence he was involved in any criminal way or any of the wrong doing that has been alleged by republicans. what do you make of the age factor being a bigger issue for voters than the legal troubles for trump? >> well, look, there's no question. president biden is somebody of an advanced age and would be the oldest person to be re-elected, and with that age comes wisdom and experience, and he has had the most successful first term
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that we have seen in terms of accomplishments by any american president in, i would argue, 60 years. as long as he continues to talk about and fight for the american people, and that contrast that will eventually happen, i think trump will be the nominee, and it will be a binary choice between trump and president biden, and i think americans will vote like they did in 2020 with larger numbers for president biden. >> publicly top democrats are saying they support president biden rning for re-election, but privately their worries are increasing, and they are regned to the idea he is not going anywhere and there's no viable plan b. what could be the biden camp be
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doing to put those concerns to rest? >> age is age, and it is what it is, and they are doing a good job putting him forward with an active schedule. at the end of the day, though, facts are facts. i spoke to a democratic operative that said if president biden was to become sick or ill, and they compared what the democrats are doing to jones town, and he said i feel like i am on a trip to jones town, and that's dramatic, and that's what you are hearing. >> what do they mean, jones town? >> they are about to take the poison and they will see what happens. >> all right. that does it for us today. "josé diaz-balart reports" picks up our coverage right now. josé, take it away. >> good morning. it's 11:00

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