in that exchange, but we don't know what has been done with this information, we don't know if this is being released or sold somewhere, regardless, someone accessed this illegally and they're trying to look into it. >> brian cheung, thank you very much. that's going to do it for me this hour. i'll be back here at 3:00 p.m. eastern. please join me. also, ana cabrera will be back on monday. first up, jose diaz-balart. i need a new picture. that has very long hair on me. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. in just a few hours, president biden will get on the campaign trade in battleground, michigan. in the last few minutes, we learned president biden met with the top democrat in the house, hakeem jeffries, in a letter to house democrats, jeffries says he expressed to president biden

the full breadth of perspectives from the caucus about the future of our country. it comes as more democrats on the hill call for biden to drop out of the race. the president addressed concerns about his candidacy in that nearly hour long press conference, insisting he is all in. >> i'm determined i'm running. but i think it is important that i allay fears by seeing -- let them see me out there. >> and just this morning, a top biden ally, congressman jim clyburn, spoke with my colleague craig melvin. here is some of what he had to say. >> let joe biden continue to make his own decisions about his presidency. he's earned that right. i'm going to give him that much respect. if he decides to change his mind later on, then we will respond to that. we have until 19th of august to open our convention and so i would hope that we would spend our time now folk outing on the

record that we will lay out for the american people. >> joining us now, nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli, nbc news capitol hill correspondent julie tsirkin and nbc news senior national politics reporter jonathan alan. julie, just moments ago we got this letter from the top democrat in the house, hakeem jeffries, who met with the president last night. what are we learning about that meeting? >> reporter: good morning, jose. good to be with you. look, this was a meeting we have reported could potentially come and that is because a couple of days ago, certainly house democratic leader hakeem jeffries has been hearing concerns from his democratic caucus, from his members with that phone call that we reported on last sunday, with democratic leadership, into this week when lawmakers convened in person, and what we were able to glean is that jeffries, though silent and holding his cards close to his vest during all those meetings and conversations, was going to relay the concerns of his caucus to the president in

due time. now with his dear colleague letter that jeffries has sent around opening up the meeting he did have with the president last night, after the nato leadership summit, he says in part, quote, on behalf of the house democratic caucus, you see the letter on the screen, i requested and was graciously granted a private meeting with president joe biden. that meeting, jeffries says, occurred yesterday evening. he says in his conversation with biden, jose, that i directly expressed the full breadth of insight, heart felt perspectives and conclusions about the path forward that the caucus has shared in our recent time together. in moments after jeffries let out this letter, we had learned that the 18 democrats to publicly call on biden to exit the race has come out. that's a freshman lawmaker britney peterson, a democrat from colorado. this is significant because leadership, democratic leadership in the house and the senate are caught between a rock and a hard place here. they don't want to overstep what the will of their caucus, what their members want. they're also in daily conversations with donors, that is part of the role of leadership here. so, they are getting incoming

from all sides and want to make that clear to the president and the white house in terms of those concerns as we still have not definitively heard from jeffries or schumer saying anything other than, we are behind biden and the decision he seems to make in terms of staying in this race, jose. >> julie what are you hearing from other lawmakers today? >> reporter: well, look, we have britney peterson who is the 18th democrat. you have three democrats come out moments after biden's news conference ended last night, the most notable so far on this list is jim himes who is the top democrat on the house intelligence committee, somebody in the house for 15 years, he represents a safe seat, a safe district in connecticut. i've been talking to him over the last two weeks, he didn't come to this decision lightly. the other democrats were eric sorenson, a front line member from illinois, he just won his seat in 2022, he told me how he campaigned with biden just last year, proudly flew with him on air force one, now calling on him to pass the torch.

this is a moment where democrats, i think, over the next couple of days may continue to come out, building this pressure on biden to step aside, even though that press conference performance we saw from him yesterday didn't give them any definitive answer as to whether biden really should step out of this race. he was able to handle a breadth of questions on different topics for close to an hour without any teleprompters and that has led to some confusion from democrats who may be were looking for a more clear cut answer when it comes to this. next week being the republican national convenconvention, i do think you'll hear a lot of democrats trying to put the spotlight back on them. but the week after that is a pivotal week, and democrats need to decide what to do. >> mike, you were in the room last night. a lot was riding on the press conference. how is the white house feeling today? >> reporter: you can certainly feel the weight of the moment last night as i was in the room there, certainly every reporter, every member of the president's team to say nothing of millions

watching across the country and around the world hanging on every word from the president. that's why there was that collective cringe when we did hear the president refer to his vice president as vice president trump. but for the better part of that hour, you saw a confident at times commanding performance from the president going into really incredible detail about some complex issues, especially his answer about china, perhaps the most important foreign policy challenge we face at this moment. there were also some very significant moments as we heard more of the president's thinking about what the conditions might be, if he were to reverse that decision that he insists has been firmly made to stay in this race. i want to play one of those exchanges i thought was notable. take a listen. >> if your team came back and showed you data that she would fare better against former president donald trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race? >> no, unless they came back and said there is no way you can

win. me. no one's saying that. no poll says that. >> i've heard a number of times from democrats that this decision the president makes will be one based not on emotion, but on data. the president indicating that as well. as it relates to that moment when he referred to vice president trump, we of course saw donald trump post on truth social about that last night, taking advantage of it, the president today responding in a tweet where he says he knows the difference, one is a prosecutor, and the other is a felon. in attempt to laugh off that moment and move forward. >> jonathan, you're out with new reporting that some biden allies say the writing is on the wall. what do they mean by that? >> president biden said yesterday that no one is saying that, no one is saying that he can't win and what that suggests to me is that he's not hearing from the full panoply of democratic professional campaign operatives including those who are working on his re-election efforts, some of whom have told

nbc news they believe that there is no path for biden. one of them said to us, campaign official said to us, that he needs to drop out because he can't recover from this. that's not a universal opinion. but it is certainly one that is held by a great number of democrats. i don't think you'll be seeing quite so many people come out and say that they think he needs to get out of this race if they thought he was going to win it or even had an opportunity to or even still had a chance to do so. so, you know, i think, jose, right now, what we're getting is a paralysis in the democratic party that is based effectively in joe biden's singular ability to stay in this race or get out, nobody can force him to get out. and, you know, at the same time, a whole lot of democrats who see a nightmare scenario in november playing out where not only does he lose the presidency to donald trump, but he brings down house and senate candidates, state legislative candidates, gubernatorial candidates and ushers in a trump mandate.

>> just, jonathan who are these people? i'm not asking for details on sources, but just who are these people that show absolutely no loyalty to joe biden and when we look at the polls, i mean, maybe i'm wrong, polls are just snapshots of time, it doesn't seem as though the last two weeks have affected joe biden nationally among voters. >> yeah, i think the question about loyalty, jose, is whether these are people who -- and, you know, assuming that they are operating in good faith, and maybe that's not the best assumption always, but assuming they're operating in good faith, there are some people who believe that their loyalty is to joe biden. there is some people who believe their loyalty is to the democratic party. there is some people who believe that their loyalty is to the country. and i think most of these people believe that their loyalty is all three. and if they're saying they don't see a chance of joe biden coming back, i don't think they view that as disloyal to joe biden.

i think they view that as being loyal to him, to basically protect his legacy, i talked to one lawmaker who said they would never come out publicly against biden because they had been so close to him, it would be devastating, and at the same time, if they were on the phone with him right now, they would tell him, look, you got a great legacy, you've done a great job as president of the united states, you can leave this race and have that in tact or you can, you know, as i said before, risk this nightmare catastrophe that the democrats get wiped out by republicans in november and donald trump not only has the presidency but a much stronger republican front united behind him. so, there is a lot of turmoil within the democratic party. there is a lot of in-fighting going on and even within individual members of the democratic party, there is some uncertainty about whether biden can come back from this. we have been now talking about his debate performance and the cleanup for two weeks. he is not going after president -- former president

trump very often. the democrats are not going former president trump very often. i think some of these folks look at polling today and say, look, it is one thing to have polls that show biden is trailing slightly or even even at the moment. it is another to try to project forward four months and say he's going to continue to have performances that, you know, meet or exceed what he did last night in the nato summit. i just think there is a lot of fear in the democratic party right now. and i would say the only thing is, none of it is substantive. we heard very little of people questioning whether, you know in the democratic party, whether biden is confident to do the job based on his debate performance. instead, this is all about the politics or almost all about the politics of whether he can win or not. i just think that's an important distinction here and probably part of the frustration of biden supporters that, you know, they're listening to people just say, well, we'll cast aside what the democratic process was because we think he may not win. >> right. so, mike, in just a couple of hours, the president heads to michigan.

how does he focus now strictly on donald trump and try to get -- pierce through the cloud that we have been living through for the last two weeks? >> well, jose, this is an important moment in the view of campaign officials as we're about to see the start of the republican national convention where they want to change the conversation to choice not between whether joe biden stays or whether he goes, but the choice between two very different visions for the future of this country. what donald trump would usher in, the president zeroing in on project 2025, versus what they say president biden would do in the first 100 days of his second term this is going to be an interesting event in battleground, michigan. there is going to be an army of some of the president's most loyal supporters with him at that event, including liz schuller, the general president of the afl-cio, the largest labor union in the country who is flying with the president on air force one out to detroit.

>> thank you, all, so very much for being with me this morning. appreciate it. and monday, my colleague lester holt sits down with president joe biden in an exclusive one on one interview. watch the preview of that interview on "nightly news" and then the full unedited and uninterrupted interview on nbc news and nbc news now. one of our next guests was one of the first to call on president biden to drop out of the race. we'll ask him if that still stands after last night's press conference. s esprs conference sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best

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14 past the hour. the biden campaign is quietly assessing the viability of vice president harris' candidacy against former president donald trump in a head to head matchup. a source familiar with the decision tells nbc news the polling is being done in the context of trump stepping up his attacks on harris, like he did at his rally at florida earlier this week. president biden praised his vice president during his news conference last night, saying she is qualified to be president. >> this is a hell of a prosecutor. she was a first rate person and in the senate she was really good. i wouldn't have picked her unless i thought she was qualified to be president. from the very beginning. i made no bones about that. she is qualified to be

president. that's why i picked her. >> with us now, julian castro, former secretary of housing and urban development and msnbc political analyst and former florida congresswoman val demings. great to see both of you. you were one of the first voices to come out and call on the president to step aside. has anything the president said or done since then made you reconsider? >> no, jose. i mean, i think it is true that both in the abc interview and certainly in the press conference last night joe biden showed, i think, some of why folks elected him in 2020. particularly on foreign policy, his ability to discuss politics, policy all over the world, and to get into some good detail. but it also showed, i think, in both the interview and the press conference, that he's not really able to take the case to donald trump. not able to prosecute the case of 2024. on top of that, i think there is

a continued concern that we don't know when that joe biden of the debate is going to reappear. i don't believe that that was an anomaly. i think that this is part of a pattern that we have seen to develop over the last year or so. and, to me, the most concerning scenario is that we get to the convention, that joe biden is the nominee, and he's going to be the nominee if he wants to be, if he doesn't want to step out of the race, there is no way to make him step out of the race. he gets the nomination and we see the same kind of pattern from august until november. there is already a tremendous amount of concern that regular voters have and they have been saying that, and focus groups and in polling consistently, they have a real concern about his age. and the question of whether he can serve another four years. that's not going to go away. that's a real political liability and it is a liability that is very different from

every other kind of political liability. and we're really going to be holding our breath if we nominate joe biden and go through that convention and then there is no way really to make a change from august through november. is it possible for him to win? yes. it is possible for him to win. we live in a very polarized country where whether you're the democratic nominee or republican nominee, you're going to be somewhere between the mid to high 40s. but, the standard all along has been who is the best democrat to actually beat donald trump in 2024? and on that question, i think the answer is the same today as it was right after the debate, that there are folks who would do a better job and be much more likely to beat donald trump in 2024 than joe biden. >> what do you see in julian's logic? it is an a to z logic. >> well, jose, great to be with you. let me just say this, there are

three people who could be the next president of the united states. donald john trump, who has been found liable for sexual assault, stole classified documents, i'm sure, for personal gain, multiple indictments, multiple felony convictions. there's joe biden who has proven every day that he can do the job by doing the job every day. and, you know, to say that, my god, what will happen in three or four years, well, we don't know with any elected official what they would do in office in three or four years. the third possibility is vice president harris. and i truly believe that vice president harris is capable of leading us to the next level and also carry it on, joe biden's legacy. jose, what i am disappointed about are the democrats who have come out against the president, and saying they don't believe that he can win, when we don't

know which democratic potential candidate can win. and until we have our strategy together, a winning strategy, until we have a plan b, that we have the polling and other factors that would help us believe that they have a better chance of winning than joe biden, i think that it would be wise for democrats to stay in that back room, continue have those discussions, let's get our plan b together, especially the 17 who have come out against joe biden. i think it is interesting, 17 out of -- 17 out of 213 people in the house. i think it is important to be unified, we don't have the time not to be or the luxury to not be unified. >> so, val, this is all so important. we're in july 12th, we're not in

june. we're not in april. you know, we have got the republican convention coming up next week. the democrats have theirs coming up next month. but it is not like we're, you know, the president went through a primary season, where he got the delegates necessary, you know, times 100, isn't it a little bit late to be having this discussion that you're mentioning maybe could be? >> i think the 18 or so elected officials who have come out against president biden, i think it is also very interesting that they have not given any options of who the plan b would be. and i believe the only option is vice president harris. and for the exact reason they'll say you just mentioned, we're running against the clock, but, number two, she is fully capable of carrying out president biden's legacy. and getting it done, protecting

our democracy. and so -- >> you think she should be on the ticket right now, top of the ticket? >> we need to get this done. >> are you saying you think -- i'm sorry to interrupt you. you think she should at the top of the ticket now? >> i'm not saying that. i think president biden should not get out of this race. but what i am saying is that he -- if he decides that he wants to, wouldn't it be nice if the democrats who are saying he should get out would say, and we have a viable plan b and that person is vice president harris. i heard other names, jose, that's not going to happen. we don't have the time for that. and if it did happen, if we went searching for another candidate other than the vice president, that is going to be total chaos. and i really do believe that we would be guaranteed to lose. the stakes are too high. we need to stay focused. and be strategic. >> and, julian, you were saying

that your view of the president's, you know, handling has changed in the past year. is this something that you think maybe is -- has been kept hidden from people? it is not like he's been doing anything differently. >> no, jose. i think this is a natural part of aging, that we have seen our parents go through, our grandparents, you see this all the time. what i'm saying is that it has become more and more noticeable. there seems to be an acceleration of it as many have commented over the last six months, over the last year, and i anticipate because this is the way things work, naturally, that that he's going to continue. and may accelerate more. the goal posts have been shifted here, though, jose. i want to make this point. joe biden was elected in 2020 because people felt as though he

was the strongest -- he was selected, elected as the democratic nominee. people thought he was the strongest candidate to beat donald trump and he did beat donald trump. now we need to make sure we're putting forth the strongest candidate to beat donald trump in 2024 and i do not believe that that is joe biden. >> julian castro and val demings, thank you for being with us this morning. i appreciate it. up next, we're live on the ground in milwaukee three days before the republican national convention. we'll tell you how the city is preparing. why vital testimony in the alec baldwin manslaughter trial may be delayed. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. bd you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. r favorite toy delivered again, come on, let go. and again, and again. good luck. get whatever they love delivered right on time.

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get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. 28 past the hour. the republican national convention kicks off in milwaukee on monday. all eyes are on former president trump as he prepares to announce his running mate. nbc news has learned that melania trump is expected to attend, according to a source familiar with convention plans. she's not appeared publicly with the former president since march. joining us now, nbc's shaquille brewster from milwaukee. shaq, good morning. how are the preparations for the convention going? >> reporter: well, jose, i'm sure you see some of the physical preparations that are taking place behind me. these black metal fences are honestly blanketing the city of milwaukee and you see down there, down the street here is where you have the forum, where

president trump will accept the presidential nomination. inside, it is the responsibility of the secret service, coordinating with 16 federal state and local agencies, but outside of the perimeter, where protesters will be, convention conventiongoers will be staying. that's the responsibility of the milwaukee police department. listen to my conversation with the top leadership. >> we can't plan for everything. we do have a lot of plans, a lot of resources. >> milwaukee has been here before. we have a large juneteenth celebration, tens of thousands of people in a small area. so, we absolutely have been here before. our officers are well trained, they're professional. >> are you ready for this convention? >> absolutely. >> no doubt about it? >> no doubt about it. >> no doubt about it. and one thing that we always come to expect or have come to expect with these political conventions are the protests that are associated with them, and the milwaukee police department is saying that they have learned from the protests over the war in gaza that they

have seen just in this past year that there is an importance in communication. we know that protest organizers and the police department have been in constant communication, the protest leaders saying that they are going to go close to this perimeter. they're going to go up to these metal barricades, they know they can't get inside because anything beyond that will require airport like security and that credential, jose. >> shaquille brewster, thank you very much. i want to bring in nbc's garrett haake and brendan buck, an msnbc political analyst. we're now three days away, trump still hasn't announced his running mate. any thoughts on when that announcement may come? >> jose, my understanding from my reporting is that trump still hasn't decided on who his running mate will be. one begets the other and at this point, the campaign is essentially in a waiting mode for him to make that decision and then communicate to them. he really has the sort of field open to him between now and

monday or tuesday early in the convention, when the formal nominating process would begin for both he and for vice presidential nominee. you have to have that name by monday or tuesday, depending how the campaign -- the convention schedule comes together. but trump said publicly many times that he would prefer to announce the old school way at the convention itself. for two reasons. i think number one, it maximizes the drama of a convention process that has become boring to a lot of people. it is basically a political infomercial over four days. and the other is as long as the headlines for his opponent, president biden, continue to be as bad as they have been, why disrupt your opponent when he seems to be losing support from his own party by having a big story about you and your runing mate instead. >> what are the things that president trump could still be considering? >> let me just say, it is remarkable if he has not already decided who he want to pick. i was working for paul ryan when he was named vp in 2012.

and the coordination and planning that goes into rolling somebody out, we have paul ryan on an aircraft carrier in virginia for a big announcement. the fact he hasn't figured that out yet is stunning. obviously we heard that it has come down to rubio, burgum and doug vance. my sense is that it is going to be someone like vance because unlike in previous years past where donald trump needed a mike pence to unify the party, and make people feel more comfortable, none of that really matters anymore. jd vance, much more naturally populist, much more aligned with donald trump's ideology and can explain it better than donald trump can makes much more of a natural fit. i don't think he's looking for someone to be a real governing partner, that might call for a doug burgum, but someone who can make the case for why this national populist approach to politics is the right path forward. >> brendan, trump is going to this convention with the polls pretty much even. his lead in the polls has not

grown significantly even over the last two and a half weeks. what does that tell you? >> i think they need to be careful going into this convention. i think a lot of democrats ironically are excited to have everybody turn over to look at republicans. they want to turn the page from what is going on with biden. but it is a reminder that a lot of people don't like donald trump either and we have this interesting dynamic where whoever is most talked about tends to do worse. so the focus is on joe biden, he does poorly. the focus is on donald trump, he does poorly. convention by its nature is three days, four days of propaganda for why you vote for donald trump and not joe biden. you would expect he's going to get some type of bump out of it. but be careful on the age thing. you want to bring it up. you want to score some points, but if you go too far and look like a bully that could boomerang on you. nobody likes a bully. they have to be careful in how they raise the biden age issue. >> garrett haake and brandon buck, thank you. why a critical witness

expected to take the stand in alec baldwin's trial today may not appear just yesterday. plus, after almost two months of testimony, the jury is expected to begin deliberations in the menendez corruption trial. we have the latest next. menendn trial. we have the latest next. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. (♪♪)

39 past the hour. we're following breaking news, at&t says it suffered a major breach in which hackers stole six months worth of call and text message records of nearly

all its cellular customers. it includes records from may to october of 2022 and on january 2nd of 2023. the company said the content of messages and users personal information were not compromised. the fcc said it is now investigating the breach and is coordinating with law enforcement. at&t added customers affected by the breach will be notified. right now in new mexico, alec baldwin is back in court for his involuntary manslaughter trial for that fatal "rust" movie set shooting and nbc news just learned that the testimony of a key witness may be delayed. nbc's dana griffin is following the trial and joins us this morning. what do we know today? >> not only could that key witness hannah gutierrez reed, the armorer, be delayed, but as we speak, there is a motion that is being heard by this judge, because the state is asking for the case to be dismissed. they claim the state buried evidence concerning ammunition that was brought in by what they

call a good samaritan who said, hey, this ammo is tied to the death of halyna hutchins. the state is saying the state did not present that evidence to the defense, that could have been exculpatory or could have been information to gain a better sense of where exactly those live rounds came from. it may not really help baldwin's case, but it could overturn essentially hannah gutierrez reed's conviction if they can prove that those rounds were a match and came from the supplier of the ammo to -- of the ammo to the rust film set. this is major because they are essentially asking the judge to look at this evidence before they proceed with this court case today. so, we just saw a moment where the judge literally cut open that sealed evidence envelope, took out the rounds and they were literally in the courtroom, examining them to see if they were a match. and so the woman on the stand, marisa papol, these are the

images, what they're looking at is the primer. because marisa papol who took photos of -- or collected the ammo that came in from that good samaritan, she said the primers didn't match. the primers that were found on the set of "rust" were nickel, but the primers that he brought in were brass. so that -- >> a discrepancy there. >> discrepancy. this may not be a win for the defense if, in fact, those do not match. it is serious enough to where the judge orders the state by 11:30 this morning to produce a supplemental report and those rounds. the prosecutor said, the rounds are here, we have them. so, that's where you kind of have this, like, jaw dropping moment where it is, like, wait, is this happening at this moment? she wants to make sure that she can at least examine those rounds, to see if, in fact, they were a match. marisa papol testified they were not a match. and the state says this is a wild goose chase, claiming that the man who brought those rounds

in was a friend of hannah gutierrez reed's family, just trying to vindicate her, but this is just how serious this is. everything is kind of on pause now to get through this before we can even proceed with the case, again, the baldwin dwens asking for dismissal and the state is fighting back. >> dana griffin, thank you. now to the other big trial we have been following, jury deliberations are set to begin soon in bob menendez's bribery trial. he's pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts. joining us now, nbc's tom wood ridge. good morning. what can we expect today? >> reporter: good morning, jose. just a few moments ago the judge and i just popped out from listening to it, the judge continued his jury instructions. that's where he instructs jurors on the law. they obvious heard the evidence, the opening statements, the arguments from all the parties involved in this case and now the judge has to say, taking all that into account, how do you apply that to the law, the reason why we're here in the

first place. he's going count by count of the types of things the jurors need to consider, what needs to be unanimous, who they need to treat each count as it pertains to robert menendez and the two other new jersey business men on trial here. we expect him to finish prior to 1:00 p.m., typically when the jurors take their lunch break. he said yesterday that he expected to wrap up before then. and after that, it is in the jurors' hands and entirely up to them how they proceed from here, how long they take, and what ultimately verdict they come to. as far as the evidence portion of this trial, that program, it is over, jose. we'll know sometime in the next several hours or several days exactly what the fate of the senator and those two new jersey business men all of whom have pleaded not guilty and said they have done nothing wrong here, where that stands. >> tom winter in new york. thank you so much. coming up, donald trump was originally scheduled to be sentenced yesterday. in his new york hush money case.

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49 past the hour. trump asked a judge overseeing his new york hush money trial to throw out his criminal conviction in the case. his attorneys point to recent supreme court immunity decision outlining when a former president can be shielded from prosecution. the request came the same day he was supposed to be sentenced. but his sentencing was postponed until september in the wake of that court ruling. kristy greenberg, former federal prosecutor and msnbc little analyst. good morning. what do you make of this move by the former president's team? >> well, i think it was -- it was expected that they would make this your personal lawyer to make hush money payments on your behalf to a porn star and then covering it up, it's clearly personal conduct. the question under the supreme court's decision is about the evidence that was used and whether or not there was evidence that were official acts that were used to prove that

personal conduct. on the supreme court decision, you can't use evidence of official acts to prove that personal conduct. here, i sat through that trial, i reviewed the record. i've looked at the evidence that trump's team is saying was improperly admitted, that was it was in error. it really doesn't matter. i think each piece of evidence that trump's team looks as really, even if it was an official act, was ultimately not make or break evidence that would have led to a different outcome at this trial. ultimately, i think they will fail in their motion. >> i mean, going into exactly what evidence trump's team points to, his attorney says his private conversations with former white house communications director hope hicks, conversations around pardon power and his posts on twitter during that period were all wrongly admitted. what logic is that following?

>> they are essentially saying, take the example of hope hicks, they are saying she was at the time in 2018 donald trump's white house communications director. any conversations that trump had with her while he was president, you know, he has absolute immunity for. again, i think that's wrong, because to the extent they are talking about personal conduct, that's not necessarily clear. let's for argument say those were official acts. the main piece of evidence the state got from hope hicks was she -- that trump said to her, this testimony from stormy daniels, that would have been really damaging had it come out before the election, that was the part where she broke down crying after she said it. you have to remember, there's other evidence in the record from david pecker and michael cohen basically saying the same thing, that donald trump had conversations with them that he

didn't want these damaging stories from women to come out because it would have hurt the campaign. this critical evidence that would have led to the jury acquitting if it wasn't there? no. >> thank you so very much. we will go to houston where at least a half million people are still without power days after hurricane beryl hit. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. ♪♪ looking good, guys!

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my bad, my bad. good race. - you too. you were tough out there. thank you. i'm getting you next time though. oh i got you, i got you. down goes jewett. jewett and amos are down. what a lovely sign of sportsmanship. you okay? yeah. ♪ ♪ 56 past the hour. thousands are still without power in houston following hurricane beryl. the heel index is expected to reach 105 today. joining us now, priscilla thompson in houston. good morning. these are dangerous temperatures. what's going on with the power? >> reporter: jose, it's a big issue. we are talking about 870,000 center point customers without power.

i want to give you a sense of what people are having to do right now. you have a lot of folks coming to distribution sites like this where they are able to get a hot meal. volunteers and workers here who don't have power themselves but are trying to serve other folks a hot meal. they distributed 5,000 meals yesterday. i will try to give you a sense of the line. it snakes throughout this lot. you have folks here trying to get food. we will see if we can -- can i ask you a question. are you still without power? >> yes. >> reporter: how many days, since monday? >> yes. >> reporter: how are you making it work? >> we have a generator. >> reporter: you are able to get some but you have to pick up food? >> yes. >> reporter: how many more days do you think you can go like this in. >> i don't know. it's hot for the kids and everybody. >> reporter: thank you very much. jose, even the folks who have generators and have some kind of

resources are struggling to stay cool in these temperatures as you mentioned. as you see down there, they are giving out the non-perishable goods, water, anything they can do to try to keep folks afloat during this time. i will tell you that center point says they are hoping to have another 400,000 customers restored by the end of the day today. they are saying that there are going to be people who will be going into next week, we are talking about a full week without power. a lot of questions about why it's taking so long. center point is saying this is the quickest they have restored 1 million people. certainly, a lot of questions. jose? >> priscilla, thank you so very much. before we go this hour, some good news. jose iglesias with add latin pop artist to his accomplishments. ♪♪

his song "omg" debuted on latin's digital song survey. that's him performing for the first time live last month. a cuban american baseball player, his song is about overcoming hard times and staying positive. it has become a mantra for mets fans with players celebrating with an omg sign at games now. [ speaking non-english ] that wraps up the hour for me. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president biden still