>> good day. i'm chris jansing, live at msnbc headquarters.

>> in new. >> york city. elon musk sweeping push to take over the federal government, sparking democratic panic and warnings of a constitutional crisis. will congress or the courts step in to stop him? plus, rfk jr, the vaccine critic once seen as a long shot for the nation's top health job, just cleared a major hurdle in the senate. what we're now hearing from the republican senator and physician. >> who. >> ultimately voted yes after a lot of skepticism, and a conservative author fired. >> years. >> ago by the trump administration for attending a conference with white nationalists. was just hired back, this time for a top job at the state department. his past comments and. history of spouting january 6th conspiracy theories. a lot to get to today. but we start with senate democrats sounding the alarm on the world's richest man, elon musk. and calling on republicans to help stop what they see as a one man power grab that's

reshaping government by the day. musk is now using his position as a special government employee to aggressively overhaul multiple federal agencies, challenging. >> congress and. >> the limits of his own authority in the process. the new york times describes musk as a singular force waging, quote, a largely unchecked war against the federal bureaucracy, one that has already had far reaching consequences. in just the past few days, musk and his team have gained access to the u.s. treasury's federal payment system. that is a vast database with millions of americans personal information on it. they've moved to shut down the u.s. agency for international development, usaid, effectively pulling the plug on aid efforts worldwide. and now, nbc news has confirmed that the white house will try to eliminate the department of education with elon musk's help. this is. >> a constitutional crisis that we are in today. let's call it

what it is. >> d.o.j. is not a real government agency. >> it has no. >> authority to. >> make spending decisions. >> it has no authority. >> to shut programs. >> down or ignore federal law. >> they have set. >> their sights. on a full purge of anyone in government that doesn't bend the knee and follow their orders. >> we don't have a fourth branch of government called elon musk, and that's going to become real clear. >> we are pursuing every action that we think we. >> can do. >> but i. >> will tell you this. we are here to pull the fire alarm. we are pulling. >> the. >> fire alarm. >> i want to bring in nbc's gabe gutierrez in washington. nbc's vaughn hillyard is on capitol hill for us. carlos curbelo is a former republican congressman from florida and an msnbc political analyst. lisa rubin is an msnbc legal correspondent. so, gabe, i mean, this is all part of the plan as it was all

along, right? move fast and break things. >> yeah, that's the point, chris, isn't it? and the white house. >> will say that this is what they believe the. american people voted for. they want to cut what they say waste. from the federal government. and this is what they say, that they're moving very quickly to do it. of course, there are plenty of legal questions here and whether they can do this, but they do plan to move quickly. and as there are so many questions about elon musk's role in all of this now, white house officials say we wouldn't be paying so. much attention to this if it wasn't. >> elon musk. >> for. >> example, even though he's. >> a billionaire with billions of dollars in federal. >> contracts. >> they see it as more. >> of. >> a. process story. and what they're. >> trying to focus on. >> is this cutting of wasteful spending as they see it. now. >> yesterday, president trump was asked. >> about elon musk's role in the oval office. >> let's listen. >> elon can't do and won't do anything without our approval, and we'll give him the approval where appropriate. we're not

appropriate. we won't. but he reports in and he it's something that he feels very strongly about. and i'm impressed because he's running obviously a big company has nothing to do if there's a conflict that we won't let him get near it. but he does have a good natural instinct. he's got a team of very talented people and we're trying to shrink government. >> so musk. >> is a special government employee, essentially. not a volunteer, not. >> a full time employee. >> but he. >> can only work. 130 days. >> on any given year. chris. but the thing is, is that he can say he worked, say, half day, for. >> example. >> and. >> that. >> only counts as a half day. but again. >> the trump. >> administration says that this is what. >> the american. >> people voted for. chris. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you for that. so, lisa, there's a key question here about accountability. it's about the law. i guess it's about the constitution. he was never elected, never confirmed by the senate as a special government employee. that's the proper term. are there no rules? no limits? well, let's. >> take elon musk out of it for

a second, because you're right, chris. he's not elected. he wasn't confirmed. and yet he is lawfully appointed as a special government employee. but think about the things that are being done in his name. are those lawful? is there accountability for those things? when i think about the fact, for example, that treasury officials were forced to give access to a number of people allegedly acting at elon musk's direction to a payment system, there are some limits for that. for example, the federal privacy act says that just no ordinary person is allowed to gain access to the treasury's payment management system. there are rules and regulations around who can get access to that, in part because that contains many of our most sensitive and private information. the fact that doj's employees went and got that access, we don't know whether they had the appropriate security clearances to get it, but certainly they are not people who are authorized by the existing legal framework to get that access. and on that basis, the afl-cio and others have sued for those actions. so there's a.

>> legal part of this. vaughn, let me ask you about the political part, because democrats say they're determined to stop musk. but what can they actually do? i mean, and maybe a key question, can they expect any help from republicans? >> right. of course, there's a lot of legal questions here to this. and i was talking with republican john cornyn, who suggested that he expected some of these issues to come to a head in the courts here. but so far, we're not hearing any outcry like we have heard from democrats, from republicans who are expressing any concern about elon musk. they understand not only the political power or the governmental power, but also the online power that elon musk holds. i also tracked down thom tillis, republican senator from north carolina, and i asked him whether he had attempted to talk with the white house at all or express any concern about the access to the treasury payment system or the opm personnel database, or to data from usaid. and he told me, why would i need to reach out to the white house suggesting he had no concerns

and that he would let everybody know when he did. but at that point in time hasn't come. i want to let you listen, though, to john kennedy, the republican senator from louisiana last night who i caught up with. and the reason i want folks to listen to john kennedy is because it had to do directly with elon musk and usaid and the effective crippling that elon musk and doge have done in at usaid. take a listen to kennedy. >> some of my colleagues are screaming like they're part of a prison riot, that this is unconstitutional and wrong. and they're very process driven. in my opinion, they should be substance driven. by that, i mean, the central question here is, what were we spending taxpayer money on whether the president had the authority to do it and the allegations that

musk is copying down everybody's social security number? i think that's a distraction. >> whether he has the authority to do so. elon musk and the president and suggesting this is a conversation that shouldn't be about process, of course, as the congressman could attest to so much of over the decades of american governance has been very much focused on the separation of the branches and understanding that congress does have not only oversight of agencies departments, but also the congressionally appropriated funds must ultimately be dispersed. i think that this is really going to be a conversation that is still so far from ultimately coming to a head. it's just beginning here up on capitol hill. >> oh, congressman, just beginning. so what's your sense of why republicans who have talked always about the constitution and upholding the due process. are they content to let this play out? why don't they see this as a constitutional democrats? the

constitutional crisis the way democrats do? >> well, a. >> couple of things. first of all, it's early in the administration. we can expect republicans to try to. accommodate president trump. >> and. >> his team as much as possible. however, the what here, which i think a lot of. >> republicans and a. >> lot of people, especially those who voted for president trump in the last election, can agree with restructuring government, reforming government, reducing the size of government. the what? i think they're pretty safe territory. the how. >> matters also. >> though, and a reminder. >> that all of these agencies and. >> programs are both authorized. >> and funded. >> by congress. so really, congress doesn't have to do. a whole lot for now, because. >> all of. >> these laws. >> and rules are in the books already. chris. so the courts will be addressing this. and i think a lot of what the administration is doing is. vulnerable to court. >> challenges simply because it is. >> in violation of some of the law, some of the procedures

outlined by congress. there are a host of laws that govern how. the executive can conduct its business. and then you mentioned the political aspect of all of this. there's some risk there, too. look. >> we've seen it many times. >> over the last 15 plus years. when one party moves too. >> aggressively. >> when an administration moves too aggressively in the next election, the pendulum tends to swing. so i think as some of these congressional republicans start looking at fall of. >> 2026. >> you can also start expecting some pushback. >> so, lisa, where is the legal line of executive power, for example, is it clear whether a president, this president, any president can just shut down an agency or an entire department that was created by congress? >> i'm going to give you a really unsatisfactory answer, and it depends. so, for example, usaid is not a creation of congress. it was created by executive order by then president john f kennedy, pursuant to a law that was enacted earlier in 1961 to sort of consolidate streams of foreign aid. but where the

department of education is concerned, chris, that may be a different answer. the limits of executive power, though, with respect to spending. spending is the prerogative of congress. it could not be more plain in the constitution. and so when i look to vaughn's interview with senator kennedy, for example, and he's saying that the substance is really great here because elon musk is directed at cutting spending, i'm also reminded of the fact that a federal district judge in d.c. yesterday entered the second temporary restraining order against that omb memo that was supposedly going to freeze all federal spending for a particular period of time. and she says unambiguously, in that order, whatever you call it, whether or not that memo was rescinded, any action that has the effect of carrying out what that memo said it was going to do, that's enjoined indefinitely. so if elon musk is continuing to slash and burn budget line items that have already been appropriated and already been awarded, he's in violation of a court order, and we're going to have to see how that's all going to play out.

>> all right. vaughn hillyard, congressman curbelo, thank you, lisa, you're staying with me because we've got breaking news. it involves a class action lawsuit that was just filed against the justice department by nine unnamed fbi agents who are concerned that a survey they were asked to fill out about their work on january 6th cases could ultimately put their lives and their families lives in danger. i want to bring in nbc's ken dilanian. lisa rubin is staying with me. ken, what can you tell us about this? >> chris, these agents. >> are. >> challenging not. >> just the. >> survey. >> but the effort to. >> compile and disseminate. >> a list. >> of all. >> of the fbi personnel who worked on january 6th cases. >> they say. >> that there's no legitimate. >> reason to do. >> this the way. >> that the trump administration. >> is trying. >> to do it right now. and they allege. >> that the very act of. >> compiling a. >> list of persons who. >> worked on matters. >> that upset. >> donald trump. >> is retaliatory. >> in. >> nature. >> intended to intimidate fbi agents and other personnel. >> and to. >> discourage them.

>> from reporting any. >> future malfeasance. >> by donald trump or. >> his agents. >> and while there are only nine. >> plaintiffs. >> chris. >> i. >> can tell you that a lot many more. >> fbi agents than that support this effort and may sign on to. >> the. >> class here. >> but it's going to be a difficult thing. >> i mean, obviously, a government agency has a right to compile lists of employees. the question here is. >> the intent. >> and the dissemination. >> and what they're saying. >> is. >> look, they're. >> already january 6th. felons pardoned by donald. >> trump. >> dangerous people who are out there. >> spreading the names. >> and identities. >> of fbi agents. >> on the dark web, on social media. there's a real security concern here. that's one of the arguments they're going to make. >> but this. >> is part of an. ongoing drama here. >> at the. >> fbi and the justice department. chris, with concerns about mass purges. >> and they believe. >> that this survey. >> was the first step. >> in firing a lot of. people who worked on the january. >> 6th cases. >> yeah, very high stakes drama. lisa, a couple of points that i want to make and to ask you about one is, is to ken's point,

yes, there are nine unnamed fbi agents, but according to the complaint, they intend to represent a class of at least 6000 current and former fbi agents and employees who participated in some manner in the investigation and prosecution of january 6th. so there are two parts of this. one is they're concerned that they're going to lose their jobs for doing their jobs. they did what they were told to do or what their job description was about. but there's another part of this that we just talked about, which is if those names become public, does that put them and their families in danger? >> that's absolutely right. and, chris, when i look at the claims that they are making, it's really interesting how they are framing this complaint against the department of justice because there are a series of constitutional claims. and then there's another claim just under the federal privacy act, that sort of affords each of us the right to have certain information about us, held secretly and confidentially. but the constitutional claims here, they're basically saying this could be retaliation against

them, not because of any speech that they've made or their actual political affiliation, but because of their perceived political affiliation. in other words, that the trump administration thinks that anybody who participated in the january 6th investigation must be a member of the deep state, an enemy of president trump, and therefore should be have their name disclosed to the public and or should be fired. they say that's a violation of their first amendment rights. they're also claiming that their fifth amendment rights have been violated here, because essentially this is a violation of their privacy, but also their right to due process. these are people who have career jobs. there are protections that are afforded to them as career employees. and they say taking that out from under them without those appropriate processes is also a violation of their constitutional rights. >> so when you talk about the idea that this lawyer writes that, that the nine could eventually represent 6000, do the numbers matter when you file

something like this, if indeed a lot of people sign on? as ken suggested, there are an awful lot of people who work in there, whether or not they're prosecutors or not, who have similar concerns. >> well, you know, class actions work in different ways. some class actions are what we call opt in, where you have to voluntarily say, i want to be a part of this other class. actions function as opt out. meaning if a court approves this as a class action as opposed to an individual case brought by nine people, anybody who comes within the definition of who they're seeking to represent is effectively a plaintiff, whether they like it or not. and the plaintiffs here say they're going to try for class action status under both of those very of class actions. so the class could ultimately encompass as many as 6000 people, or it could encompass fewer people, meaning people who voluntarily associate. but right now, we're not just talking about nine people, we're talking about nine people who are not naming themselves in their complaint. they are john and jane does, because their very identity goes to the question that they are trying to litigate their right to privacy, their right not to

be retaliated against, and their right to personal security and safety. chris. >> we're out of time. but i have to ask this question because we often hear about class action lawsuits going on for years and years and years. could this and would it preempt anything that happens to them? >> i'm not sure that it could. it depends on whether they're also going to ask for emergency relief in the form of a preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order against adverse employment action. many class actions go on for years because what the plaintiffs are seeking is money damages here. that doesn't appear to be the main thrust here. these are people who are trying to protect against the leaks of their names to the american public, which they say could compromise their safety, but they're also seeking to protect their right to employment. and so i expect this probably will move a little bit faster. chris. >> lisa rubin, thank you so much. ken dilanian, we'll talk to you again in just a little bit. but in 90s, republicans fall in line to push rfk jr. one step closer to being the next hhs secretary. we'll go live to

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otherwise. >> he's unqualified. and i dare say everybody here knows it. we need a serious person at the helm of the hhs. >> mr. kennedy has given us no reason to believe it will be anything other than a rubber stamp for plans to gut medicaid and rip health care away from the american people and be a yes man if ordered by mr. trump to take an illegal action. >> nbc's ryan nobles is reporting on capitol hill. back with us, former congressman carlos curbelo. ryan, going into this, everyone was watching republican senator bill cassidy. he is a doctor, a trained doctor. what led him to ultimately support kennedy? >> well, he said that he got quite a few assurances from kennedy and from the trump administration about the exact role that robert f kennedy jr would play as the secretary of health and human services. he said that kennedy vowed to be in close contact with him at every stage of the game when he takes the job of hhs secretary, and he

said he got specific assurances as it relates to vaccines and the government policies related to vaccines, their approval and their availability in the marketplace. listen to how cassidy explained his vote during a speech on the senate floor after the hearing today. >> i will watch carefully. >> for any. effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines. between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote. but my support is built on assurances that this will not have to be a concern, and that he and i can work together to build an agenda to make america. healthy again. >> and cassidy said there are a wide range of things that he and robert f kennedy jr agree on, including the food processing system, the fact that there are dangerous chemicals in the food supply that need to be reviewed and removed. but ultimately, he never really got the answer that he was looking for from robert f kennedy jr about the connection

between vaccines and autism. kennedy pressed kennedy. i'm sorry. cassidy pressed kennedy multiple times in the hearing, asking him to say definitively that vaccines do not cause autism, and robert f kennedy jr just never made that concession. so there's a lot of politics at play here, chris. robert. bill cassidy is up for reelection in 2026. had he voted no and effectively killed the kennedy nomination, that would have probably bought a tremendous amount of backlash from the maga world and likely led to a primary challenge, he said, that did not involve his decision making process here. he said he felt like he got the assurances he needed, and that's why he voted yes. chris. >> so, congressman, senator cassidy referenced intense conversations with the white house and specifically j.d. vance in coming to his decision. what does it say about the role the trump administration has played in ensuring that republican senators line up behind their nominees? >> without a. >> doubt. >> chris, and you heard. ryan

allude to it. republicans worry these days. >> more than anything. >> else about their primaries, and. they know. >> that getting. >> sideways with president trump increases primary risk significantly. we've seen a lot of republicans lose in primaries. because of president trump's opposition, both when he was in office and during the four years when he was out of office. so i'm sure that was a factor. however, i will say, i know that. senator cassidy was very, very focused on this vaccine issue. clearly, robert kennedy has backed off his position undermining vaccines. >> i'm not. >> saying he's changed what he thinks about vaccines. and you heard that, you know, his comments about autism. >> but he. >> has pledged and these republican. >> senators believe. >> that as hhs. >> secretary, he. will not. >> undermine vaccine policy. >> in this country. and i think. >> that. >> was another big reason why senator. cassidy decided to go ahead and. give him his support. >> so, congressman, here's what

senator, democratic senator maria cantwell said ahead of the vote. i wanted to vote for mr. kennedy in the context of my family's history. my dad stood behind his father the night his father gave the famous speech. i told him in my office, in my family, the kennedys stood up. but when he answered senator cassidy's question and he couldn't even give him the answer, that yes, the data is there to support vaccines today. i don't need any more data. all of a sudden, i saw this world that we got affected by in seattle not being stood up for. so, congressman, is there anything that you see that could stand in the way of full senate confirmation here? >> well, i think. >> he's still. >> likely to lose. some republican votes. so we know that senator mcconnell has continued to express skepticism. and of course, we all know his

history with polio and his. >> passionate. >> you know, belief and support for vaccines. so i think kennedy may lose 1 or 2 votes, maybe three, the same three that. hegseth lost. but i think at this point, it does look like he is going to have enough votes to. >> get confirmed. >> ryan nobles, former congressman carlos curbelo, thank you, gentlemen. appreciate it. president trump just got his 10th cabinet member confirmed the senate voting moments ago, 77 to 23, to confirm doug collins to be president trump's veterans affairs secretary. collins previously served in congress as a georgia representative and spent two decades in the military. and still ahead, china's rapid fire retaliation beijing hits back at trump's tariffs with new measures of its own, how it could drive up prices and bring on shortages next. but first, breakfast is about to get a little more expensive at your local waffle house, the iconic 24 hour chain announcing they're

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>> plans from homeserve start at just 4.99 a month. >> call 1-888-246-2612. >> or visit homeserve. com. >> president trump's first 100 days. >> watch. >> i'm going to be here five days a week again. >> read and listen. >> staying up half the night. reading executive orders. >> for. >> this defining time in the. >> second trump presidency. stay with msnbc. >> right now, the world's two largest economies are in a tariff. tit for tat. china

hitting back at the u.s. by slapping its own levies on american products. minutes after president trump's sweeping tariffs went into effect for chinese goods, beijing also launching an antitrust investigation into google. so what does this all mean for you and me? for consumers? nbc's brian chung is here to break it down. bottom line, what prices are we likely to see go up? >> yeah. well, look, the united states. imports so much from china. so it's kind of across the board. we do have to remember that there are already. existing tariffs in place for a lot of these chinese goods from. previous administrations. we have to remember, even. the biden. administration chose to keep a lot of the trump's first tariffs when his first time in office in place. so we've already. >> seen the marginal increase in. >> things like, for example, toys, electronics, clothing, those are all things that have already been tariffs, but now you have another 10 to 15% in some cases on some items. but look, at the end of the day, what is interesting is that you look at products that are coming from china. there's also. >> the. >> de minimis exception. this is kind of a little bit of legalese

here, but it's a it's an exemption that allows china to export things to the united states under $800 and avoid any sort of tariffs as part of the trump executive action. that loophole is now effectively closed. now, what does this mean? it means for anyone that shops on shein or temu, these are these kind of discount e-commerce stores where you can buy a pair of pants for like $10 or a power drill for 15 bucks. well, that's avoided the tariffs. but now with this loophole change, tariffs are likely to apply to those as well. so those types of goods may not be as cheap as some americans may have been used to. but again, the ripple effects of this will take some time. it won't necessarily be something you see immediately tomorrow, but over time this could definitely be an issue. >> all right, brian chung, we'll keep an eye out. thank you. well us tariffs with canada might be on hold. but the backlash from our famously friendly neighbors to the north is real. canadian feeds are littered with memes mocking america like this one. what borders on stupidity? mexico and canada. there's also hashtags buyn and boycott usa going viral, encouraging canadians to shun all american products and even

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at ro covid. >> the trump administration is filling one of its top state department jobs with a conservative author. and january 6th conspiracy theorist who was

actually fired during donald trump's first term for speaking at a conference with white nationalists. darren beattie, tapped by marco rubio to be acting undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. he has a history of making inflammatory statements, and that includes a post last fall suggesting the country would be better off if white men were in charge. nbc's ken dilanian is covering this story for us. tell us a little more about darren beattie. >> yeah. >> chris. darren beattie. >> had been. >> a. >> speechwriter for donald trump in the first trump administration, but as you said. was fired after it was learned that he appeared at a conference hosted by what. >> the southern. >> poverty law center. >> said was a. >> white nationalist. hate group. >> but then donald. >> trump appointed. >> him to a. >> commission on holocaust memorials. he's jewish. the biden administration took him off that commission. now he's been elevated or nominated to. >> this really. >> important job monitoring, overseeing public diplomacy on

behalf. >> of the united. >> states around the world. >> this is. >> a senate confirmed job. >> and just four months ago. >> you referenced. >> this, but this is getting. >> a lot of attention. he i'm going to read the whole tweet to you that he put on on x. >> he quote. >> competent white men must be. >> in charge. >> if you want. >> things to work. he wrote. unfortunately. our entire national ideology is predicated. >> on coddling. >> the feelings. >> of women and minorities and demoralizing competent. >> white men. >> so look. >> senators are going to have to vote for this man if he's going to ascend to this job. and this is going to be a real test for the republican senate, which has been pretty much giving donald trump everything he wants in terms of his appointees. >> chris. >> ken dilanian, thank you for that. state department not commenting on this, even though we've reached out to them. secretary of state marco rubio now says the reorganization of u.s. aid critics call it gutting is because of its workers high levels of what he calls insubordination. the latest drastic change. multiple sources tell nbc that the trump

administration tell the hundreds of employees abroad have been blocked from getting secure communications, including those in dangerous war zones. as one source said, people are stranded and as early as today, mission directors across 60 countries and regional offices are preparing to be recalled, according to five sources familiar with the decision. what might that mean for the millions of people they serve? joining me now a former director of usaid's office of foreign disaster assistance, jeremy konyndyk. he is president now of refugees international. jeremy, thank you for helping us to understand what's going on from your vast experience. elon musk actually called usaid a criminal organization. can you tell us what it does around the world? >> so usaid is the. >> face of american. >> generosity and american. goodwill around the world. >> every usaid. package has a logo. >> on it that says from the. american people. >> and that. >> is that is.

>> fundamentally what usaid does. it responds to disasters around the world. the team that i used. >> to. >> run would deploy the. >> first responders after. >> an. >> earthquake, the people who would be pulling victims of the earthquake. >> out of the rubble, saving lives. >> it fights aids, and it fights other global health. >> threats and. >> epidemics around the world. it advances economic development. it rebuilds countries after war. it advances democracy and human rights. you know, a lot. >> of things that help. to advance america's interest in a stronger. >> and more stable and more prosperous world, while also. demonstrating the best of the values of the american people. >> that is the polar opposite of what we're hearing from this administration. and i want to play what president trump says when he was asked about usaid by reporters in the oval yesterday. >> i love the concept, but they turn out to be radical left lunatics. and the concept of it is good, but it's all about the people. >> let's take. >> an act. >> of congress. >> to do away with usaid. or do

you believe. >> i don't know, i don't think so. no, not when it comes to fraud. if there's fraud, these people are lunatics. >> again, as someone who knows about usaid, what do you make of the president saying it's run by radical left lunatics who may be committing fraud? >> there's so much wrong there, it's hard to know where to start. >> i think i'll. >> start by. >> saying it's really insulting. >> to the. >> people at. >> usaid who. >> have given. >> up a lot, who have put their. >> lives on the line often. >> to go and serve their country abroad and advance american values and. >> interests abroad. >> i helped to lead the response. >> to the. >> ebola outbreak in west africa in 2014. we were we were. sending people into. >> an ebola hot zone. >> they did not question, they did not push back. they believed in the importance of the mission. >> and they went and did it. >> it is a. >> it is. a disservice. >> and an insult. >> to the. >> sacrifices of people. >> who have served their country overseas, many of whom over the

years have lost their. >> lives in the in the line. >> of duty. one of the really insulting. >> things that. >> happened over the weekend. >> was the memorial wall. >> at the usaid headquarters, to all usaid personnel who lost their lives in the course of serving their country. working for usaid was taken down. >> by the. >> staff of d.o.j. i think that really says. >> it all. >> you know, these are these are not people who are i mean, to call them criminals. i don't have the words for how insulting that is. i'll just say, we have a government accountability office. we have an inspector general at usaid. congress tightly oversees usaid. there are many levels of scrutiny to ensure that aid is behaving appropriately. and it does. >> look, i think everyone can agree. the american public would like to know that their money is being well spent. so let me tell you about one aspect of this that we heard from a former assistant administrator of usai, s asia bureau. that person told nbc news that trump's moves to gut usaid will make. and i'm quoting here, america's alliances suffer, us partners

will be at risk, and america's enemies will rejoice. foreign aid has widely been viewed for a very long times a cornerstone of soft power. what have you seen firsthand as the impact of soft power? >> well. >> we when i was. >> leading the. >> response to covid. 19 a couple of years ago at usaid, there was a lot of vaccine diplomacy, if you will, happening by happening from the government of china and from the united states and china would go to countries and they would offer a pretty bad deal. they would give a lower quality vaccine. they would sell it, not give it. they would they would provide it at cost for a pretty high price, and they would extract political concessions for that, including countries revoking their recognition of taiwan. we could go to those same countries and just offer a free donation of a better vaccine without those kind of political strings attached. and it really helped to counter chinese influence. you know, we did it fundamentally because we

were trying to beat the pandemic. but the you know, the corollary impact of that is we're also then blocking out some of china's ability to manipulate and extort concessions from other countries. >> we're almost out of time. but i do want to ask you, this is such a tiny bit of the us budget overall, far less than 1%. why do you think it's become a target? >> well, it's an easy target because it doesn't have as vocal a constituency in the united states as something like, you know, medicare or social security or even the department of education. and so if you want to take a dry run at destroying a federal agency through this process, usaid is kind of a convenient place to start. and i think the pushback that we've started seeing yesterday from members on the hill, including some republicans, speaking out yesterday against what's happening, is an encouraging sign. we need to see a lot more of that, because if this is allowed to happen to usaid, it's not going to stop there. >> jeremy konyndyk, thank you so

much. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> and up next, could the black box of the helicopter involved in that deadly collision over the potomac finally provide some answers about the accident? and a high stakes visit. what we can expect when israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu meets with president trump at the white house today. you're watching chris jansing reports watching chris jansing reports when the temperature drops you've got two choices. close your eyes and think warm thoughts. or open your eyes and get out here. there's only one vehicle lineup that embraces everything the cold has to offer. the official vehicles of winte. jeep. there's only one. during the jeep presidents' day sales event, get $7,500 total bonus cash allowance on 2024 jeep grand cherokee overland and summit models. see your local jeep brand dealer today. -what've you got there, larry? -time machine. you gonna go back and see how the pyramids were built or something? nope. ellen and i want to go on vacation,

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a wild scene during a hearing for a murder suspect in new mexico. after a man gets up from his seat, jumps a partition and attacks the defendant, who is accused of fatally shooting his niece. and of course, all of it happened in front of the judge. the victim's stepfather then joined in the brawl, with the two men throwing punches in the pileup. a court officer tried to break it up but was battered in the process. the incident finally ended when a corrections officer pulled out his taser, and armed deputies rushed in to detain the attackers. our local affiliate reports that the victim's uncle, who was placed under arrest, told police that the brawl was, quote, worth every moment. salvage crews were back to work today, pulling the wreckage of american airlines flight 5342 from the potomac. what appears to be a large piece of the plane was hauled out of the water earlier and placed onto a barge. divers have also been recovering additional remains of victims who died in

last week's midair collision with an army helicopter. nbc's senior correspondent tom costello is at ronald reagan international. i know, tom, one of the things that we've been waiting for is a readout of the black box data recorder from the helicopter. what do we know about that right now? >> yeah, that's. >> going to be delayed. and the reason for that is the ntsb now says it wants to completely raise the, the chopper itself, the black hawk chopper chopper so it can evaluate the types of hardware. on that helicopter and then make sure that it has a full and complete understanding of exactly the flight data recorder data on the altitude. and they will look at the altimeter and the type of altimeter on board that chopper. so that's going to take probably until the end of the week at the earliest. until we do get that ads-b data, that that data specifically from the black hawk helicopter on what the what the altitude was like when it hit appears to have hit the jet, the passenger jet, the passenger

jets. black box suggests it happened at about 325ft. as for what's happening right now, we have seen large chunks of the plane coming out of the water, including a piece of the tail. a short time ago. in addition, they continue to prioritize removing the victim's remains from the water. and while they have identified 55 individuals concretely, positively, that leaves 12 that they are still trying to identify as the remains are brought ashore in a very dignified manner to the medical examiner on shore. they hope that they will have this entire process wrapped up by the end of the week. chris. >> what an excruciating wait, though, for the families. tom costello, as always, thank you for your reporting. coming up, we'll go back to capitol hill, where tulsi gabbard is facing a critical vote in her bid for the top intel job in the country. stay close. more chris jansing stay close. more chris jansing reports just after so sick. are you okay? i'm incredible! so many in-network docs on zocdoc. this one never rushes appointments.

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