>> atmosphere here. we got the best team in the league. yes. >> the streets are closed. >> government offices. >> are closed. schools are closed. >> these fans are. >> ready to show some love. and the city of brotherly love ana. >> on this valentine's day. good for them, emily. >> thank you. >> and before we go, the video of the week, have you seen this? a young man, his father. they were kayaking off the chilean patagonia region when a humpback whale briefly swallows the young man. true story. here, the whale eventually releasing him just moments later. amazingly, he is uninjured and now he has quite literally a whale of a tale that does it for us this busy week. have a wonderful weekend. i'm ana cabrera, reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now.

>> good morning. 11 a.m. eastern, 8 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. very soon, vice president vance will hold a bilat with ukrainian president zelensky. we will bring you that as soon as it happens. but we begin this hour here in new york city, where new claims of a quid pro quo are sending shock waves throughout the justice department. six top prosecutors quit yesterday in protest after they refused to carry out a doj order to drop corruption charges against new york mayor eric adams. the president's acting deputy attorney, emile beauvais, said the charges had to be dropped, in part because they were hampering his. ability to tackle what he called illegal immigration and violent crime. among those who stepped down the southern district of new york's top prosecutor, danielle sassoon, who expressed her alarm to attorney general pam bondi in a letter wednesday. sassoon described a meeting she attended last month with doj officials and adams legal team. quote,

adams's attorneys repeatedly urged what amounted to a quid pro quo, indicating that adams would be in a position to assist with the department's enforcement priorities only if the indictment were dismissed. adams responded in an interview this morning. >> my attorney. >> alex ferrari, one of the one of the top trial attorneys in the country. imagine him going inside saying that the only way mayor adams is going to assist in immigration, which i was calling for since. >> 2022. >> is if you drop the charges. that's quid pro quo. that's a crime. it took her three. she took it. took her three weeks to report in front of her a criminal action. come on. this is silly. >> joining us now, nbc's tom winter. lisa rubin, msnbc legal correspondent, and christi greenberg, former federal prosecutor. so, tom, what are we learning about why these prosecutors stepped down and why they decided to do so in this three week period? i guess, that

the mayor was talking about. >> right. so, i mean, what happened here is basically you had prosecutors saying, look, you put us in a tenuous situation. you put us in a. >> you being the doj. >> you being the doj leadership and specifically acting deputy attorney general emil bove. and what they've said here is we are now being asked to go before a court. and by the way, we believe in our prosecution. we believe in the facts. we believe in the entire way that we put this together. and now you're asking us to go to the court and say, you know what? we're going to dismiss this case without prejudice. meaning that call it again. you've told us to perhaps take a look at it after the election, and we're going to have to make some claims here that are going to put us in a position where we may not be telling the truth, or how we actually feel about this case or the circumstances of this case. one of the things, by the way, is there is some established case law in case precedent, which says that we're not allowed to hold an indictment over somebody's head in exchange for political action or official action in office. and this is

something that they raised, something that we've been reporting on for the last several days. it basically makes the mayor beholden to the trump administration. otherwise, what's the alternative? maybe those charges come back. maybe he faces these legal challenges again, including the possibility of additional charges, something that's also referenced in the letter from sassoon to ag pam bondi. as far as additional charges that could be brought in the future. so it really creates a bit of a legal situation for the prosecutors that were involved. as a result, you saw the obviously the resignation of danielle sassoon. somebody who always wanted this job had been a career prosecutor, somebody who was appointed by the trump administration to take this position on an interim basis, pending the confirmation of who they'll ultimately have in that office, is the us attorney, jay clayton. so it's really a challenge for the southern district. then they put the other prosecutors on leave and then the public integrity section where the case was transferred. to those prosecutors. five of them say,

we're not in for this either. we've resigned. so i just checked the docket as you were starting the program. there's still nothing on there. there's nothing that's been filed. this case has not been dismissed. there's nothing on there that tells us anything about anything where this case exists. if you see me glancing at my phone, it's because i'm just waiting and looking at different texts that are coming in. there's still nothing new. so where this goes today, i'm not sure where it goes. i think the ultimate thing that will happen here is that this motion will be filed at some point. but assuredly, the judge, having seen everything, they're not sequestered. the judge is not blinded. they'll see what's been going on. and i think the judge in this case, judge ho, will eventually bring these people into the courtroom. and that's where it could get interesting as questions are asked and whether or not the judge ultimately goes with what the government wants to do here, or at least doj leadership wants to do here, which is a dismissal without prejudice. >> and i mean, lisa, what does the doj have as far as the. right to do? does it have the legal authority and right to dismiss a case like this? and

then where is and what do you see as quid pro quo in this case, or do you see anything. >> well. >> let's start with what the doj has the authority to do, jose. so the doj cannot make this case disappear on its own. it has to make a motion under federal rules. and that motion has to be accepted by the judge in the case, tom referred to judge dale ho, who oversees this case. he's a fairly new judge to the bench, and his background is in civil rights law. but he has personal experience with situations in which the trump administration has been called out for pretextual reasons, for the actions that it took. specifically, he was the lead lawyer in the case brought against the trump administration's efforts to change the census. to add a citizenship question was ho was. and that's a case in which the supreme court basically said to the trump administration, we're not telling you that this action is necessarily per se unlawful, but we are telling you that the way in which you went about it is pretextual you didn't give

the real reason that you added the question. and the administrative record here does not reflect the reason that you're citing in this memo for adding the question. so it will be interesting to see, as tom said, whether judge ho does hold this hearing, ask for witnesses to explain to him how the department of justice, having started this investigation in 2021, as she says in one of her letters, got to a point in which they decide that this case has to go away and you see a transformation in bovie in from the memo on monday, where he says to sassoon, this is not based on an assessment of the facts in this case or your legal strategies. but now, in the memo that he sent her yesterday after her resignation, he suddenly calling into question a number of prosecutorial methods and actions that were taken, everything from note taking at a meeting that he had in late january with adams's counsel, to the way in which the grand jury was used in this case. so you really see a lot of things

moving and changing in ways that were i a federal judge, and i think dale ho will see it. similarly, would want to look at. >> and, you know, christy, i mean, six. >> prosecutors resigning in protest from the direction of the justice department. you worked at the southern district of new york. how unusual is this? >> it's extremely unusual. >> and i believe. >> the number. >> now may be seven. hagan scotten has. resigned this morning is my understanding. >> he was one of. he was the lead. >> prosecutor on. the eric adams case. also a. >> republican bronze. >> star winner. >> veteran, somebody who had clerked. for then d.c. circuit. >> judge kavanaugh. and chief justice roberts. >> so these are people with superb conservative credentials. and really, both danielle. >> sassoon and. >> higgins scott were regarded.

>> as stars. >> in in the. >> office with. >> really bright futures. and these are people who, if they had. played ball. >> with donald trump. >> i think they could have seen themselves. >> potentially with. >> really premier judicial. appointments from. >> this administration. >> but they. >> chose not to do that. >> they chose to honor. >> their oath. >> and to follow their obligations under the law to really make sure that you're doing the right thing. >> here. >> and that you're not treating. somebody who's in political office. >> any better than anyone else. >> so i'm. >> immensely proud of. >> of them. >> for their choices. and then also these other prosecutors in main justice when the case was transferred to. >> them. >> they also said, no, we're. >> going to resign. >> highly unusual to see resignations like this on principle. but the reason. it's rare is because people. aren't asked to do anything like this. people prosecutors aren't asked. >> to do a quid pro quo. >> criminal prosecutions aren't used to curry favor and

influence political activity. that's why it's rare. it should be rare. it shouldn't. >> have had. >> to happen. >> and it's. >> a shame that. >> it did. >> but again, they. >> rose to. >> the occasion and they did. >> the right thing. >> tom, you got something right off your phone, and i'm seeing you just fine right now. >> yeah. sure thing. our colleague jonathan deans has obtained that resignation letter from hagen scott, an assistant united states attorney who was on the adams case. i'm going to read from certain sections of it. the new york times and other publications have put this out as well. it says that, in short, the first justification for the motion, this is the motion to dismiss the case. the damian williams role in the case somehow tainted a valid indictment, supported by ample evidence and pursued under four different u.s. attorneys, is so weak as to be transparently pretextual. the second justification is worse. no system of ordered liberty can allow the government to use the carrot of dismissing charges, or the stick of threatening to bring them again, to induce an elected official to support its policy objectives. i'm going to

skip down into the letter a little bit. any us, any assistant us attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way, if no lawyer within earshot of the president is willing to give him that advice, then i expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool or enough of a coward to file your motion, but it was never going to be me. please consider this my resignation. it has been an honor to serve as a prosecutor in the southern district of new york. that's one of the line prosecutors who is involved in this case. what he is effectively saying is. you should talk to the president. he may think that this is some sort of a business negotiation, negotiation, some sort of leverage, some sort of something that you're going to have here. but he is effectively speaking to the point that we opened this show with the point that i was making, which is that there is serious concern that this is effectively coercion, saying to the mayor of the city of new york, we need your help on

immigration. and in turn, we can help with these charges. they're saying that there are serious legal concerns about this in the way that things are supposed to go with inside the justice department. >> the president was asked yesterday if he had anything to do with this, and i think he said that he didn't have any involvement in this case. >> that's the that's what the president said. >> and so, lisa, just if you would you know, this. >> is the. >> i have this letter to i. >> mean, there's some extraordinary language in this letter. >> there is extraordinary language. and i just want to give you some background on hagan scotten and who he is, because i think it explains some of this and what makes it even more extraordinary. hagan scotten is a veteran of the armed services of this country. he then went to law school. he was a clerk to then judge brett kavanaugh when he was on the d.c. circuit, before he was elevated to the supreme court. he then served as a clerk on the supreme court to chief justice john roberts. like danielle sassoon, not a person who screams flaming liberal credentials. he was also the

co-chief of the appeals unit with danielle sassoon before she became the us attorney. they are known to be tight professionally and probably tight personally as well. she had his back yesterday when he said that higgins, scott and one other assistant u.s. attorney, derek wickstrom, would be placed on administrative leave and be forced to undergo an investigation by the office of professional responsibility at the department and the office of the attorney general as part of their weaponization task force. you can see here higgins scott, saying, essentially, i have the offices back to that. the fact that you are trying to find somebody to do your bidding here. you may think that i share your political stripes, but that's not what i understood my commitment to be, and i'm not going to follow through with it. and here i think he's really trying to and much more detail than danielle sassoon herself gave in a two basically a two sentence resignation. have the backs of other people in the office who might be considering

whether they can stay. >> kristi, if you would just give us a 30,000ft above view and understanding of what all of this that is transpiring here in in new york really means. >> i guess what it means for me and why you really have. >> a tale of. >> you know, two. >> s.d.n.y prosecutors. >> danielle sassoon and. higgins scott, and they are the best of us. they are smart. they are backing up. you know, they're the line prosecutors, the unit chiefs. they are. sacrificing what would have been. >> again. >> an easy path for them to get prime. >> positions potentially in this administration, potentially. >> as judges for. >> the headache. >> of investigations, lawsuits, threats. >> danielle sassoon is. >> eight months pregnant. this is. probably the last.

>> thing she wants. >> to be dealing with right now. >> and beauvais. >> is the worst of us. he is brash. >> he is nasty. >> he is disingenuous. >> as lisa pointed. >> out. >> the changes from the memo. >> where he's praising. >> the line prosecutors integrity for how. >> they. >> handled themselves, to then. >> nitpicking. >> and then saying he. >> has issues with all of the ways. >> in which they. prosecuted the case are completely contradictory. >> and he's really unethical. and i think in this letter. >> hagen scott. >> is really calling. that out. you are just doing. >> the president's bidding. >> he sold his soul for power, and you are really seeing how different two different two prosecutors, two sets of prosecutors from this. >> office have behaved. >> and like. >> i said. >> daniel sassoon and. >> hagen scott. >> have. >> made all of us. >> as cny. >> lambs proud. >> so, tom. >> what's next? >> that's the big question. i mean, somebody does at some point need to file a motion here. who that person is. i'm not clear who that's going to be. i think one thing to keep in mind is that donald trump signed

an executive order that directly speaks to the justice department, saying you will advance the interests of this administration. you will effectively, zealously pursue our position on issues. and so happening in just a couple of hours, this same u.s. attorney's office is going to be defending the administration as it pertains to some of the efforts of doge. that is out there and what they're doing. so it's putting them in a position of defending the administration that people can say whatever they want to say about about amil bovey. i just to give you the reality of the situation is that he and others at the justice department, their belief is we have a mission that the president has been elected with a mandate. this is them speaking. i'm not. i'm just telling people what to expect and what to see here. and we are going to accomplish that goal. and if that goal is to dismiss a case, if that goal is to only focus on immigration and drop other initiatives, that's our prerogative. that's what we're

going to do, and we're going to pursue that at all costs, because that's the mission and that's what's been prescribed here. and so that's why you're seeing just so people understand. that's why you're seeing the way that they're going about this. some of the programs and some of the things that they've talked about doing as it pertains, for instance, to cartels, having studied this, having talked to a number of people familiar with their plans, might be quite successful. but i think there's a lot of people in the legal community that look at the means to get to that end, as we're seeing right now is a real challenge. >> i wonder elisa ruben and christy greenberg, thank you so very much. breaking overnight, ukraine says a russian drone struck the chernobyl nuclear plant. this is vice president pence is. in munich and set to meet with zelenskyy at any moment as the trump administration pushes. >> for a. >> peace deal between russia and ukraine. up next, we'll speak to former ukrainian president petro poroshenko, who's zelenskyy just sanctioned about what. >> he thinks. plus, hamas. >> announces the names of the hostages. it will release tomorrow, among. >> them american, israeli. sagi

dekel. >> ken, we're back in 90s. you're watching jose. you're watching jose. >> diaz-balart reports on msnbc. want a next level clean? swish with the whoa of listerine. it kills 99.9% of bad breath germs for five times more cleaning power than brushing and flossing alone. get a next level clean... ahhhhh with listerine. feel the whoa! my moderate to severe crohn's symptoms kept me out of the picture. with skyrizi, feel symptom relief at 4 weeks. many people were in remission at 12 weeks, at 1 year, and even at 3 years. don't use if allergic. serious allergic reactions, increased infections, or lower ability to fight them may occur. before treatment, get checked for infections and tb. tell your doctor about any flu-like symptoms or vaccines. liver problems leading to hospitalization may occur when treated for crohn's. ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ ask your gastroenterologist about skyrizi. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein,

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will meet. >> with russians with only one russian guy, with putin, only after we will have common plan with trump and we will sit with putin and stop the war. only in this case i'm ready to meet. not in other compromises platforms. >> this comes as vice president vance spoke with the wall street journal, where he outlined steps the trump administration is willing to take in order to broker a deal between russia and ukraine to end the war. vance told the journal in part, quote, the us would hit moscow with sanctions and potentially military action if russian president putin won't agree to a peace deal with ukraine that guarantees kyivs long term independence. and we're getting new dramatic video posted by president zelenskyy that he says shows a russian drone striking the chernobyl nuclear power plant, which, of course you'll remember, was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster. the international atomic energy

agency says there is no indication of a breach, and radiation levels remain normal and stable. russia says it would not carry out strikes on nuclear facilities. joining us now is nbc's andrea mitchell in munich. andrea, what more are we learning about the meeting between vance and zelenskyy today? and what's going on in munich has such important critical repercussions? >> yeah, absolutely. and in. >> fact, that strike. >> on the chernobyl. >> plant was one. >> of the things. that zelenskyy. >> has raised here. >> especially with bipartisan. >> members of. >> the senate. >> whom he met with earlier today, according. >> to. >> multiple sources. he was certainly undercut. >> by what president trump, what defense secretary. >> hegseth have said this week. j.d. vance seemed to be trying to rectify. >> that with. >> the interview. >> with the wall street journal. but then when he gave his. >> speech here. >> the vice president, in fact, didn't really. >> talk about. >> the ukraine war.

>> he talked. >> ready to. >> lecture the. >> europeans, saying that there's a new sheriff in town. >> president trump. >> and sort of pumping up president trump as the top negotiator. the dealmaker, as. >> he and hegseth. >> in remarks. >> at brussels yesterday at. >> nato. >> seem to. >> be. >> doing. >> talking about how. >> donald trump is the only person who could negotiate. >> with putin. >> well, as. >> you just heard. >> then, zelenskyy came. >> here on. >> the stage and said that he. >> will negotiate. >> only with president putin. he's not going to talk to intermediaries. he clearly was undercut when president trump earlier this week talked about summits with putin, and then only afterwards made a call. >> to zelensky. >> and so. >> the feeling has. >> been among. >> the europeans, certainly. >> among the germans, the german defense minister speaking out very strongly today, saying that this has really. undercut ukraine, that the american. >> posture has been. >> a rollercoaster this week going into this summit that hegseth, speaking. >> in, the. >> defense secretary, speaking in paris this week, seemed to be

freelancing. and u.s. officials and people here. among the people i've spoken to who were in. >> a lot of these meetings. >> sources close to these meetings and familiar with the conversations with zelensky, felt that the defense. secretary in. paris one day was taking one posture, that it was not part of his prepared text that had been previously distributed to the press. and then the next day had been sort of. rewritten by. >> the vice. >> president and the secretary of state, marco rubio, trying to pull back what the defense secretary had said. senator wicker, the chairman of the armed services committee, had, in fact, said that it was a rookie mistake by the new defense secretary. well, he helped speed through his confirmation by cutting off democratic senators who were asking for a second round of questions to the defense nominee before he was confirmed. so let's just say that there's a lot of european criticism among the germans, the u.k. and others here today that the u.s. has

come into it with a mixed messages. and now zelenskyy saying he'll only meet with vladimir putin and trying to reassert himself. one other nugget here from people familiar with the conversations. zelenskyy just referred to this in passing that he had met with the treasury secretary, scott, in kyiv over the weekend. well, i've been told by those familiar with what happened that, according to ukrainian sources and according to what has been said to bipartisan members of the delegation here, what selenski said is that he was handed a document and told to sign it on the dotted line by the treasury secretary, which would sign over 50% of ukraine's rare earth minerals. the resources under. >> the. >> ground in ukraine to the united states. >> that sort of as. >> payback for. >> the money that has been spent on arming them and preparing them to fight against russia, and that this would be a long term commitment to the u.s. he

refused to sign it. he alluded to that in his public comments. so i can certainly discuss exactly what he was talking about. this is all just not anything that we've seen here. i've been here every year since before the war. started and every year since. and a year ago, when zelenskyy was warning that the hold up on u.s. aid, the supplemental was held up exactly in february after the president signaled to lindsey graham and others that that supplemental should not be voted. well, that money, according to zelensky, was going to cost them at vika. and retreats. that's what he told vice president then kamala harris when i was covering it. well, that a lot of that has transpired and. now he's facing a real problem, obviously on the battlefield pressure to negotiate pressure from the europeans to negotiate war weariness everywhere in europe. but a lot of resistance to the u.s. position. >> andrea mitchell in munich,

thank you so very much. appreciate it, my friend. really. thank you. joining us now is someone who has been a key player in the history of ukraine, former president petro poroshenko, who just this week was sanctioned by president zelensky's government. mr. president, thank you for your time. i want to start with this sanctioning of you by zelensky's government. they call you a suspicion of high treason and assisting a terrorist organization. what is your response control. this is unconstitutional, illegal, unlawful. because under the ukrainian constitution and ukrainian law, it is impossible to introduce the sanction against ukrainian citizens who are now in ukraine. point number two, this is the symbol that unfortunate election campaign.

zelenskyy decided to start. i am the leader of the opposition. i'm the leader of the second biggest parliamentary faction. and unfortunately, zelenskyy want to clean up the election field and liquidate his main competitor. this is having nothing to do with the democracy and with the freedom, and i am very much proud that all the civil activists, all the be human rights organization of ukraine, make an absolutely clear message this is illegal. if you have something, please present it and go to the court. if you have nothing, can you imagine that the political leader can make his sole decision and sign the presidential decree attacking

his main opponent? and i really want to stress today message of the vice president pence saying that our values should unite us, and freedom and democracy, including the providing the free and democratic election. so, mr. pfizer people and trust by ukrainian by our partners. >> i don't mean to interrupt you, but just i'm thinking about this as you're saying this, the united states, saudi arabia, russia and ukraine are talking. but my question to you is who should be speaking for the interests of the ukrainian people in this such critical time? >> this is absolutely right. question. and with this situation, one of the key factor for protecting ukrainian interests is a unity. unity inside ukraine. and this unity help us to throw russia away

from kyiv, from kherson and from kharkiv in the year 2022. and now this is attack on unity, because the unity means no election. and if president decide to start the election, they destroy the unit that make ukraine weaker. and we should deliver the peace through strength. and that's why we need to make ukraine stronger. we need to strengthen our transatlantic unity. and instead of that, zelenskyy goes there and accept that weak position. nothing about ukraine without ukraine. this is principle was established by me as a president since year 2014. nothing about europe without europe. and with this situation, we shall keep staying united in ukraine. united behind our army, united

behind the eu and nato. aspiration, united behind ukraine. and unfortunately, this absolutely irresponsible step illegal and unconstitutional, make ukraine weaker. we don't have a zelenskyy is not an enemy for me. and we have only one enemy. and the name of this enemy is putin. >> yeah. i'm just wondering, you know, all of this is happening when there are real pressures to get something done because the killing of the ukrainian people continues every single day. and i'm just wondering, what is it that you want? what is it that you insist on? and what is it that you're asking of the united states right now when they're seeing ukraine right now with the main leader of the opposition in that country being charged with being a terrorist sympathizer? >> this is nobody, neither in

ukraine, none in the world believe anything like that. and with this situation, what we really need, we need make ukraine stronger to have more weapons, including long range missile, including the air defense. we need to have more sanction with a close coordination with the our american and european partners. and with this situation, definitely the munich is a turning point. i have my personal invitation to participate in all the munich events. and instead of that, i it was lifted at illegal banned, not allow me to cross the border illegally and to be in munich. this simply do not understandable from our partners. and with this situation, i think again we should stop attacking each other. we should unite and we should be prepared to stay strong and to stop putin because

we should not be afraid of putin. we shouldn't give him an opportunity to go as long as he wants. and i am proud that i for three years worked with president trump. and this is not a challenge. this is an opportunity. and i want to remind you that the first lethal weapons me as a ukrainian president receive from president trump, the first sanction against nord stream. me, the ukrainian president received from the president trump and the first and powerful support for our economy. we received from president trump. and under this situation in munich, ukrainian president go and was asked about the situation with the democracy. i don't understand that. >> petro poroshenko, i thank you very much for being with us today. very much. appreciate your time. >> it's a pleasure. >> thank you. and now to breaking news from the middle east, where three hostages,

including an american held by hamas for nearly 500 days, are set to be released tomorrow. 36 year old sagi dekel was taken from a kibbutz near the gaza border while trying to protect his own family on the 7th of october. he has three children, one of whom was born after he was captured. i spoke with his father just after the ceasefire deal was announced last month about what keeps him going. >> what keeps me going is an image that i've had in my mind since october 8th, which is entering some room or a hallway somewhere. i hope and pray on his own two feet and his three little girls, now, one of whom he's never met, and run and leap into his arms and he's then able to embrace his his beautiful wife. and we will not stop until that vision comes true. >> the ceasefire nearly fell apart earlier this week after hamas said it would postpone the release of hostages because of

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>> 38 past the hour. new developments in the reshaping of the federal government by president trump and his allies. overnight, the veterans affairs department announced it has let go of more than 1000 employees. also overnight, a federal judge ordered the trump administration to unfreeze foreign aid spending that president trump had suspended. this comes as elon musk, who runs the department of government efficiency, or doge, says it's time to, quote, delete entire federal agencies. >> we do need to. >> delete entire agencies. >> as opposed to leave part of them behind, because if you leave part of them behind, it's easy. it's kind of like if leaving a weed, if you don't remove the roots of the weed, then it's easy for the weed to grow back. but if you remove the roots of the weed, it doesn't stop weeds from ever growing back, but it makes it harder. as musk made those comments, 14 states filed a lawsuit against president trump, musk and doge,

saying musk's authority as doge is unconstitutional. with us now is new mexico attorney general raul torres, one of the lead plaintiffs in that lawsuit. i thank you very much for being with us this morning. what's the premise of your lawsuit? >> well, we keep hearing from our constituents who ask every single day how an unelected billionaire has access to their private information, how he can cut off payments to american farmers, how he can propose to delete entire federal agencies in the short answer is he can't. it's unlawful, it's unconstitutional. and the lawsuit that we filed yesterday is centered on the appointments clause. it is really a centerpiece of the separation of powers that's built into our governmental structure to make sure that the control of the federal government is not placed in the hands of a single, unelected, unvetted person like elon musk. >> so but elon musk was put in

there by president trump, who was elected. and tell me a little bit more about the appointments clause. what what is that and the impact of that. >> well, i think you hit on exactly a very important point. this all stems from president trump's misunderstanding of the nature of the presidency. he seems to think it operates more like a monarchy than than a president that operates within strict limitations of a constitutional republic. the president doesn't have the authority to take someone, put them in charge of the digital services office in the executive branch, which was formerly responsible for making sure such important things as websites worked and information technology systems work, and convert that into a department of everything and place at the head of that department, someone who has not been submitted to the advice and consent process of the united states senate. now, the president may think this is a demonstration of his political strength. it's actually a sign of his weakness. he has allies in control of

congress. he has a legitimate constitutional avenue for changing and reshaping the executive branch, but it requires the difficult process of persuading the representatives in congress to enact that policy. if he is unable to do that, because they are not going to buy into the drastic cuts, the deletion of federal agencies, then that's a limitation on his power. that is a feature of our constitutional system, not a defect. >> and so what is your state's legal standing in this? >> our our citizens have been hurt, but the state itself has been hurt. we have seen cuts to and disruptions in services to a number of programs that are impacted by doj's activities. we have serious concerns about the impact to the privacy interests of our citizens. and when we share information with the federal government for the purposes of the distribution of federal resources, we do so with

an implicit understanding that that information will be safeguarded and that somebody like this is not going to have access to information or the authority to initiate dramatic and unprecedented changes to the way in which the government functions. mr. musk comes from a place where the motto is to move fast and break things. that doesn't work for the government. it's dangerous, it's stupid, and it's unconstitutional. >> new mexico attorney general raul torres, thank you very much for being with us today. appreciate it. thank you. up next, the new threat facing survivors of the los angeles wildfires. you're watching jose wildfires. you're watching jose diaz-balart reports on msnbc. jen loved her gain flings. then brad showed up with, gain rinse and beads. when they mixed their scents. they discovered, they were scentmates. smells like it's gonna last. mix match more happy with gain.

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you pay your first $5 lineup. >> download the app price pix. run your game. >> 47 past the hour. new developments in california, where a powerful rainstorm is battering the los angeles area, triggering landslides and flooding in neighborhoods already torched by the wildfires and forcing some people to evacuate again. take a look at this. an suv swept off the road in malibu, trapping the driver inside who was a member of the l.a. fire department. he was able to escape his car with minor injuries. wow. nbc's steve patterson is with us from malibu. steve. good morning. what are you seeing there today? >> mud. jose. i'm standing on it. i'm looking at it. i'm reporting on it. there is a whole lot. it is a mess. but i want to make one thing clear.

it's a mess and not a disaster. and i think because what i'm also seeing is a lot of mitigation. you're looking at the sandbags behind me. 300,000 of these in the region, more than that, 120 of those big k-rail barriers trying to prevent a scene like this where there are still in this burn zone, homes that are still intact, trying to prevent those mudslides, the debris flows, the landslides from landing on something like that. i want to show you something, though. yesterday we were here. and if i don't slip here on the mud, i can show you this was a valley. it is now again, more mud. and then you can see the rocks behind there as well. all of this came down because of these burn scarred hillsides. this is what officials and authorities were trying to mitigate and prevent from happening. with a scene like this where there were houses, obviously not houses here, thankfully. but a lot of this came down on the pch on neighborhoods in this area. mudslides, rockslides, landslides. but again, thankfully no major injuries, no major structural damage as far as we know. as the sun is now

coming up and thankfully as well, the sun is out, a lot of the storm system has moved out of here. the rain has not settled in a pocket that really spelled disaster. but this is a mess. and this is a period in which a lot of families and a lot of authorities were trying to transition from one phase to the next phase to focus on recovery and help people come back to their homes. >> steve patterson, thank you very much. appreciate it. up next, a deep dive into the drug cartels. president trump wants to designate his foreign terrorist networks. you're terrorist networks. you're watching jose diaz-bala if you take or have taken humira for moderate to severe crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis and still have symptoms... you don't have to settle. ask your gastroenterologist if switching to rinvoq is right for you. it's one of the latest treatments from the makers of humira. rinvoq works differently than humira and may help. rinvoq is a once-daily pill that can deliver rapid symptom relief, lasting steroid-free remission, and helps visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. rinvoq can lower ability to fight infections. before treatment, test for tb and do bloodwork.

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migrants from several asian countries to panama. joining us now is one of the journalists behind that story, ahmed ali aziz. also with us, mike vigil, former chief of international operations for the drug enforcement administration. so, hamid, what's the significance of this latest deportation move by the trump administration? >> this is a major moment in immigration history. you know, the trump administration being able to deport people from many nations, iran, afghanistan, pakistan, several other countries, including china to panama. this is unlike anything that i've seen before. where a country in south america is willing to take nationals of individuals from across the globe. and it appears that this

will continue, at least for a few more flights, and could potentially allow the trump administration a new way to deport people that are generally more difficult to remove. >> and so how many have you been able to find out what process panama is playing? is it where they will be staying? in other words? or is it a point in which they will then be transferred to other countries? >> it's unclear. it appears that panama is processing them, and i would assume that there will be plans to remove them. there there appears to be some sort of plan to move them somewhere else in the country and process them at that point, but we are still working on finding out the details of what happens to these individuals moving forward. >> how about you report also on the state department's undertaking of the cartels and multinational gangs to designate them as terrorist groups? what have you learned? >> yeah, these are this

designation really allows the united states to impose broad economic sanctions on the group and anybody connected with them. and for me, it appears to be a new front on this battle against the cartels that president trump was, was repeatedly attacking on the campaign trail. and this was one of his promises, right. going directly after these cartels. and it appears that he's making do on those promises. >> and so, mike, you spent so many years fighting cartels. give us a broad perspective of how they operate. and i know that they're very different, but they're all pretty much under the same umbrella. >> that's correct jose. you know, they're multinational, very violent. >> organizations. >> for example. the sinaloa cartel. >> who say, operates in seven of the eight continents and they've grown to be very powerful. they traffic a multitude of drugs,

but they've also penetrated a lot of legitimate industry in mexico and other parts of the world. >> so what? what kind of industries have they penetrated? and, mike, i'm just wondering and i'm, you know, when you talk about how violent they are, they're not just producers and distributors of fentanyl and drugs, but they're also involved in so many other things human exploitation, human smuggling. >> well, they they penetrated the avocado industry, which is a $3.5 billion industry in mexico. lemon and lime, which is a multi-billion dollar industry. the fishing industry. the theft of lumber. and also they steal about $1 billion worth of petroleum from pemex pipelines. so they are into everything. and as you said, they're also into

human smuggling. and they're making approximately about $12 billion a year just in that criminal enterprise. >> and, mike, what do you think labeling them as terrorists would do? >> the only thing it does, jose, is, number one, it allows the united states to seize bank accounts here in the united states. secondly, it can sanction american citizens that provide material support to the to these cartels. for example, you know, money, lodging, documents, weapons, things of that nature. and thirdly, the united states tries to prevent them from entering the united states. but i will say, jose, that we've been doing that. we've been doing that for decades. i you know, i remember doing that when i was still with

the drug enforcement administration. and there's laws that are already on the books. for example, the foreign narcotics kingpin designation act that basically allows for the same thing. and like james clapper, the former head of national intelligence, said the designation is largely symbolic. >> mohammed aziz and mike vigil, thank you both very much. and the calleros pull in $1 billion a year. wow. >> that's $1 billion in petroleum. and not everybody buys drugs, goes in, but everybody buys petroleum. >> thank you very much, mike. and thank you very much. hamid, thank you as well. that wraps up the hour for me. i'll see you tomorrow night on nbc nightly news saturday. thank you for the privilege of your time. ali vitali picks up with more news right now.