him. and ultimately late last night, this made it all the way up to the texas supreme court who ruled that that temporary restraining order would stand, the execution would be halted. when roberson learned of this, he praised god and thanked his supporters. and he has maintained his innocence through all of this. i want to play a little bit of what he had to say to our lester holt. >> did you harm your daughter, ricky? >> no, sir, i did not harm my daughter. >> if you could speak to the governor directly from the heart, what would you tell him? >> governor, i did not do this, and i just hope and pray that you do the right thing. >> reporter: as for what happens next, we'll have to see how this plays out in the courts over the next several days. but he is set to testify in front of that committee on monday. ana? >> priscilla thompson, keep us posted. thank you. that does it for us this hour. i'm back at 1:00 p.m. eastern

today, in for chris jansing. 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. hamas issued a defiant message in a statement following the death of its leader, yahya sinwar, architect of the october 7th attacks. it seems that sbroel believes that killing our leaders means the end of our movement and the struggling of the palestinian people. this drone video shows the moment just before israel says sinwar was killed. that's allegedly him on that couch right there. nbc has not independently confirmed that this is in fact sinwar. earlier today, president biden addressed sinwar's death while

in berlin. >> the death of the leader of hamas represents a moment of justice in the blood of americans and israelis, palestinians, germans, and so many others on his hands. i told the prime minister of israel yesterday, let's also make this moment an opportunity to seek a path to peace, a better future in gaza without hamas. >> joining us now from tel aviv, erin mclaughlin. erin, great seeing you. what are israeli officials saying about sinwar's death today? >> reporter: a short while ago, jose, there was a briefing by the spokesperson for the israeli military for the international media, and this spokesperson, sort of, laid out a timeline and gave new details in terms of what exactly unfolded in that section of rafa on wednesday. it was wednesday late morning,

according to this spokesperson, when there was a routine israeli military operation on patrol in the area. they noticed three militants. two of the militants appeared to be concealing themselves in blankets, shielding the third militant wearing a vest. now, according to the spokesperson, thought to be yahya sinwar. a ferocious battle ensued, according to the spokesperson. grenades were launched at the israeli military by -- from the direction of sinwar. at one point in this battle, which lasted for many hours, sinwar became separated from the other two, entered a building, and that is when, according to the spokesperson, they decided to send in a drone to see what was going on inside the building. you can see the footage that the israeli military says that drone captured on your screen right there. you see sinwar sitting in a chair alone, his arm badly

wounded, his face covered. it was at that moment, according to the israeli military spokesperson, that a tank opened fire on the building, they believe killing sinwar. but at that point, according to the spokesperson, it was nightfall. and the military left, came back the next morning, was surveying the area, and that's when they saw the body. they saw the body looked to match the description of sinwar. they took his dna and dentistry and made the confirmation by thursday afternoon, jose. >> erin mclaughlin, thank you so very much. appreciate it. joining us now is idf international spokesperson major daron -- how surprised were you when you got word that you had gotten him. >> thank you for having me, jose. erin's details, i think, pretty much match the record. we were on intelligence-based

patrols of the area of southern gaza known as rafah. this is an area israel insisted we had to go into for military reasons to go after the highest level terrorists. we were told by many countries, even our closest allies, we have nothing to achieve in rafah. we can see we were on intelligence patrols. we had information that sinwar and other high-level entail operatives were in that area most likely in tunnels. we tried to flush them out of those tunnels by slowly moving towards them, closing off tunnels, closing off escape routes, hoping they would try to flee above ground. in fact, we saw three terrorists. we assumed that is what they did. they were acting like fugitives. they were in an already abandoned structure that had been shelled. we carried out just the same military operation we were doing to look for every terrorist. we were lucky it was sinwar. we did not have precise intelligence. and we just feel like good luck shined with the people of israel

and on the world. this is a man of evil. he killed people from more than 20 different countries. he killed thousands of israelis sleeping in their beds. he is our obama bin laden, and today is a day that gives hope to the people of israel that evil will eventually see justice. >> among other things, he was the mastermind of that horrible october 7th massacre that killed 1,200+ men, women, and children. i'm just wondering, so, he was with two other people, it seems as though. and again, i'd like your thoughts on it and your information. he was traveling with two other people. that's it? what ever happened to those two other people? who were those two other people? and was there any find of any other hamas forces around that area? >> yes, there was. so, first of all, those two other people are one of the keys that gave away that this was sinwar's identity even before we

found the dna. one of them was the battalion commander of khan younis, which is a city in northern gaza. this is his birth place. he was known as the butcher. sinwar was the butcher of khan younis because he used to butcher gazans he thought were collaborators with israel. we knew he was traveling with this person. he had another apparently employee of a humanitarian aid organization with him. when we saw the battalion commander dead, we understood that's likely to be sinwar. on hand, we found thousands and thousands of shackles of cash. we found i.d.s. we found a gun. it seems like sinwar left his tunnel and was just worried about his own skin. he felt he couldn't travel with hostages. he needed to hide with a small group of people, and he was fleeing for his own life, which is, of course, you know, the same cowardly action. if october 7th began, as you were mentioning, with a cowardly action against men, women, and babies sleeping in their beds

unarmed, it ended with sinwar fleeing for his own life while the people of gaza are living in the rubble he left behind. >> i'm worried about the hostages. you said he was probably in one of those tunnels. is there any light at those tunnels or any other tunnels about where the remaining hostages may be? we're talking about more than 100 people. >> it is. it's 101 people, including let's not forget seven americans, four of which are presumed to be alive after sinwar and his group executed six people just a few weeks ago. we have intelligence. obviously i can't release the intelligence on air right now, but i can tell you sinwar was veerntly against any type of hostage deal that would allow those people to go free. and we're hoping that in addition to our intelligence that we're acting on hourly, the fact that he's out of the way, jose, and that we can have a

shakedown in the hamas structure, you know, i read the words you had on the screen. they say they're not giving up. of course they're going to say that. but as we have a shakedown in the structure, hopefully we'll give voices to other people in gaza. the same people who are celebrating right now that he is dead to rise, help us get our hostages home, and create a better future for those people. >> so, you talk about that structure. i mean, israel has taken out almost the entirety of hamas' leadership. you've won. why not stop now? >> you know, there's 101 reasons which have those hostages underneath the ground. if we were to pull out right now without finishing the job -- let's go back to world war ii. imagine the u.s. was this close to defeating nazi germany and say, we did enough, let's pull back, there would still be nazi germany today. you have to remove the leadership so that these young people are not looking up to

these sadistic killers that are still getting the orders. we need a new regime change in gaza. we need a breath of fresh air. if we stop air, it's giving hamas a pass. and we know what that means. it means another october 7th down the road. we've got to finish the day before to get to the day after. >> and when you talk about people not looking up to the sinwars of the world, many people are now looking at the destruction of great parts of gaza and saying, well, maybe what they're looking up to now is a different reality. are you worried about that? >> of course. we're worried about it. no one had any hopes to go into gaza and try to rout out a terrorist core of people who buried themselves, buried tunnels directly underneath the civilian structure. it's on my mind. it's on every israeli soldiers' mind. i have seen what is left of sinwar and hamas and trying to

find them inside civilian areas. this is what sinwar wanted. he was hoping that israel would chase them. he purposely put their infrastructure in civilian areas, hoping the world would see this and cry out. i feel very hopeful right now because the messages that i've been looking at on the internet, on telegram, are of people in gaza, brave people, that are saying that this is the greatest day of their lives now that sinwar is dead. they even have been speaking in hebrew to the israeli people saying they want peace. i believe there are enough people that will realize sinwar, the evil, brought the destruction on them, that they move on to hope, just like the germans did after nazi germany was defeated. >> is aid going into gaza? i mean, there is so much suffering and so much need. >> it is going in. we take very seriously what the united states says and also what we feel as well. that aid has been subject to enormous amount of theft by

hamas, a very poor management inside of gaza by humanitarian aid agencies. but we have been pushing a lot of aid. there are 120 trucks of tens of thousands of aid have entered gaza in just the last few days. and we're trying to ramp it up. i don't want to see the people of gaza suffer. they've suffered enough. we need to bring an end to this war, get our people home, end the threat to israel. we can have a better life. they can have a better life. >> major spielman, i thank you very much for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. up next, breaking news. we've just gotten about 1,800 pages of unsealed documents from special counsel jack smith. what's in them? and with just 18 days to go until the election, both vice president harris and former president trump bringing out their heavy hitters. trump said just a short time ago about getting help from a big name. plus how the growing violence in the middle east could have a major impact on the presidential elections here in the united states. and later we'll focus on the humanitarian crisis at the border. why the number of people dying

in the new mexico desert in the last couple of years has increased more than 13 fold. we're back in 90 seconds. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports on msnbc. saved hundred. with the money i saved i thought i'd get a wax figure of myself. cool right? look at this craftmanship. i mean they even got my nostrils right. it's just nice to know that years after i'm gone this guy will be standing the test of ti... he's melting! oh jeez... nooo... oh gaa... only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ can a body wash transform your chest, arms, legs? it's olay body wash with skin care ingredients and 10x more vitamin b3 complex. so, in 14 days see visibly better skin. olay body wash. discover yours. han is 22 years old. he's not just a pet, he really is a part of our family.

knowing that he's getting good nutrition, that's a huge relief for me and my dad. (sings) old bean piglet head yes that is your name. if you saw his piglet head you would say the same. toot toot. we have breaking news. unsealed court documents in the

2020 election interference case against donald trump. let's get to lisa ruben. lisa, good morning. i know you and the team will be reading through these nearly 2,000 pages. what are you looking for? >> jose, the immunity brief that we've already seen from the special counsel's office has numerous references to what we expect to have been interview testimony or grand jury testimony from folks who were involved in this. what we're really looking to see now is whether we'll see any of that raw material in these appendices. we understand from talking with folks that anything that was labelled sensitive in the course of production to former president trump and his lawyers is likely to be redacted heavily or in full. but that's what we're going to be looking for today. anything that we've never before seen, something that hasn't before been public and that fed into the special counsel's understanding of the facts that led to this superseding indictment, jose. >> lisa ruben, thank you so very much. much to see there.

i appreciate it. we're just now 18 days from the election. as we get down to the wire, vice president harris and former president trump are taking their pitches to battleground michigan today. both at one point making stops in the same county. it comes after the vice president spent yesterday in nearby wisconsin, where she quipped at a group of hecklers at her event in lacrosse. >> oh, you guys are at the wrong rally. no. i think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street. >> meanwhile, the former president was on fox news this morning with this news about his former opponent, nikki haley, hitting the trail for him. >> even in her own state in

south carolina, where she was the governor, i beat her by a number that nobody achieved -- by 50 points or something. and then they say, oh, when is nikki coming back in? nikki is in. nikki is helping us already. but it just -- people keep saying, when are you bringing -- they don't say, when are you bringing this one. everybody is in. and nikki is already in. >> joining us now, nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander in michigan and nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. peter, the vice president has three stops in michigan today. what's her message? >> reporter: jose, i've got to tell you, you know this thing is getting into the waning weeks because we have the beautiful fall foliage in the crucial battleground state of michigan. notably, this is a state with 15 electoral votes that are up for grabs. only once since 1992 has it been won by the republican

presidential candidate, but that was donald trump in 2016. this race is believed to be particularly tight right now. it's why kamala harris is going to have three separate stops here today. the first one to take place in the next few hours here in grand rapids. we just saw a line that stretches for most of a mile, at least a half mile long, a ton of people expecting to hear from her over the course of this day. they're looking to hear her be critical of donald trump but also to continue demonstrating a message they believe is necessary, particularly in a place like michigan. there are a lot of crosscurrents in this state, including union workers. but also that american community, like deer born, a suburb where kamala harris faced protesters there. we saw about a dozen, i would say, people protesting the delivery of more aid or military aid to israel right now, even following the death of the hamas leader just yesterday.

so, this is a dynamic situation. it's one with a lot at stake. and kamala harris is hoping her visit here is going to help her. she'll be back in the state next weekend, as it was just announced, alongside michelle obama, the first time michelle obama, the former first lady, is going to be on the trail alongside kamala harris. >> and meanwhile, vaughn, last night was the -- dinner in new york city, the fund-raiser for catholic charities supporting children, regular stop for presidential candidates. when was it like last night? >> usually you have both of the nominees from the respective parties there and there is a roast from each of those candidates. we saw that in 2016, when hillary clinton and donald trump, uncomfortable at moments, cracking their version of jokes with the other sitting near feet away from them. that's what made this one different because vice president harris chose not to submit the dinner. she submitted a three and a half minute video that played at the dinner. but donald trump was there. and he was joined on the stage

by some interesting individuals, you could say politically, from democrat chuck schumer, letitia james, who brought the civil suit against him last year. you also saw the likes of robert kraft, his one-time friend, owner of the patriots. and as donald trump gave his roast, his remarks, you could see there was a smattering of smiles, of straight faces, not laughing, as he went on the attack against the likes of the harris family. there was momentary applause, momentary boos. talk a listen to one of the moments. >> right now we have someone in the white house who can barely talk, barely put together two coherent sentences, who seems to have mental faculties of a child. he's a person that has nothing going, no intelligence whatsoever, but enough about

kamala harris. let's get on to something. >> as you can see, some may call it a roast. others call it insensitive and demeaning and mean. but that's what played out last night. here in new york city, of course just over two weeks before the election, while kamala harris was in battleground wisconsin, her opponent there giving those remarks there in manhattan. >> and peter, meanwhile, another musician, a star, has thrown his weight behind the vice president. >> well, you know, that's exactly right. i want to make one point about michigan if i can very quickly. that point is about the reason these two candidates are here right now. that is because early in-person voting is going to begin in the next day. it starts tomorrow in parts of the state. it's why michigan is so crucial. we saw early voting get underway in north carolina earlier this week. it's part of the final pitches. >> thank you very much. and i think, peter, that star is mark anthony, that he's throwing

his weight behind vice president harris. >> you're right. no, i was listening to a little beyonce, so i lost my celebrity musician names. you're right. mark anthony is throwing his weight behind kamala harris. >> meter alexander and vaughn hillyard, thank you so much. really appreciate it. joining us now with more, brendan buck, former press secretary, and paul ryan, political analyst, and michael hardaway, former spokesperson, and congressman hakeem jeffries. i thank you both for your time. michael, as the vice president prepares the campaign with the obamas, the white house and the harris team have been in touch about how she plans to distance herself from president biden. here is some of what she told fox news. >> let me be very clear, my presidency will not be a continuation of joe biden's presidency. and like every new president that comes in to office, i will bring my life experiences, my

professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas. i represent a new generation of leadership. >> michael, how is she handling this issue? >> here's the thing. president biden inherited covid economy. he's got a number of wins, but it's not enough in the context of the current world that we live in. so, she doesn't have to disparage him or try to step aside from him. all she has to do is say, this is what was done. this is what i'm going to do next. she needs to expand and extend that work. instead of saying, i don't want to have anything to do with that, she doesn't have to go down that road. she simply can say, these are the great things 15 million+ jobs. but i want to do more than that, and this is what those things are. >> so, how does she accomplish that? because, i mean, you know, she's been there with the president, side by side, for the last three and a half years. how does she accomplish the turning the page? >> you turn the page by focusing on what's now. for instance, $25,000 is a down

payment to help you in buying a home, which is massive for people. in terms of not taxing tips for waitresses, that's also important. so, she focuses on what's happening next instead of talking about what happened before. again, i don't think she needs to say, i'm not connected to that. she needs to say, this is what's next. this is what i'm going to do for you. >> and meanwhile, "the new york times" reports some of trump's allies are worried about his meandering speeches. a trump adviser told "the times," when he's good, he's great. when he's off message, he's not so great. i don't think anybody is changing their mind at this point, but when he distracts from the biggest, broadest messaging, it's counterproductive. at this stage of the campaign, is there anything that could change things for trump? >> i think for trump, not a ton. i think the window for persuasion as it relates to donald trump is pretty much closed. you either like him or you don't

like him and you made up your mind. the person who has room to grow, of course, is kamala harris. even though it feels like this campaign has been going on for a while now, there are still people who want to know and learn more about her. i would say the difference in the campaign is only one candidate seems to be doing the things if you're trying hard. that's kamala harris. she's going on media programs and she's doing the rallies in the places where you would want to do that. donald trump, by contrast, is in places like california and new york, where he has no chance of winning. and of course this is not really using his opportunities to train focus on her. now, at the same time, it is starting to feel eerily similar to past campaigns, where we are just, sort of, following around whatever donald trump does or says, whatever weird thing happens that day. so, i think that the challenge for kamala harris is, while she's doing the right things, how do you break through? how do you get people to pay attention to your arguments, to listen to what you want to do? once again, we're, sort of, captive to whatever outrage of the day or weird thing of the day that donald trump does.

>> yeah. and i just wonder, brendan, how important at this stage of the campaign, with so few days remaining -- and as peter alexander was telling us, in michigan early voting is already starting up tomorrow. with so many -- with so few days remaining, how important are surrogates? and i'm thinking, you know, mark anthony now speaking out for the vice president. you've got -- from the trump side, you've got rfk jr. and elon musk. you have cuban for the vice president. how important are the surrogates at this stage? >> it's less about the endorsement and it's more about the moment. for the next two and a half weeks, we are in a fight for attention. and if you can use a surrogate to get eyeballs on you so people can hear your message, that's a win. and i think that's what this is all about. elon musk shows up to your rally, people are going to pay a lot more attention to your rally than they would otherwise. it's not so much elon musk, who

comes with lots of downsides himself. but i think harris would be wise to continue to roll out big surrogates. that's why people are asking, why aren't you out there with nikki haley to donald trump. that would be a good thing. but donald trump isn't doing the things he needs to do if you're trying hard. but surrogates are more important about the endorsement. >> thank you both so very much. and a programming note. this sunday, vice president harris sits down for an exclusive interview with reverend al sharpton in atlanta. watch "politics nation" sunday 5:00 p.m. eastern, 2:00 p.m. pacific right here on msnbc. up next, how the killing of hamas leader yahya sinwar will shape the future of israel's war with hamas. we'll talk to a former cia intelligence officer who worked extensively against hamas and other iranian proxy groups. later, with two hours to spare, the texas supreme court

stepped in and halted the execution of a man set to be the first ever executed for a shaken baby death. we'll explain why next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on ms. nnens. e diaz-balart reports" on ms. nnens. so we invited people to give ehealth a try and discover how easy it can be to find your medicare match. this is pretty amazing. i can go on a vacation with this money. i have quite a few prescriptions. that's why people call us. we're going to compare plans, and i'm gonna try to get you as much bang for your buck as possible. that's great. this one here covers all your prescriptions, your doctors as well. oh, wonderful. i have a hard time with this. that's okay, that's what i'm here for. based on our conversation today, i would highly recommend this plan. you're so helpful. you know, you don't know. i'm excited for you, sir. again, my name is sham. and if you have any other questions, give me a ring. thank you very much. oh, my god, that was super easy. uhhh! see how your medicare plan stacks up with the big changes for 2025. just call this number

or get started at ehealth.com. compare plans that cover your doctor's prescriptions, pharmacy and budget, and compare plans from the nation's top insurance companies. they pay us to help you. how much do you think you'll be able to save using ehealth? at least $300 a month. would you say you found your medicare match? yes i did. what sham did she explain to me exactly what i needed to know? well, i have a surprise for you. sham, come on out. oh my goodness. it's a pleasure to meet you today, sir. what does it feel like to be face to face? you helped me out quite a bit. call to meet your advisor. they're paid the same. no matter which medicare advantage plan you choose. ask them about ehealth, live advice or get started on your own at ehealth.com. either way, it's always a free service. see if you could get more for less with ehealth, like these folks did. the savings are unbelievable. i could see the costs side by side. ehealth is wonderful. $1,200 savings in my pocket. i was really pleasantly surprised with that. (♪♪)

(♪♪) ehealth. your medicare matchmaker.