biggest issues of the day with the msnbc daily newsletter. get the best of msnbc all in one place. sign up for. msnbc daily at msnbc. com. >> we're going to start with breaking news on capitol hill. >> mounting questions. >> over the future of tiktok in the us. >> reporting from. >> philadelphia. >> el paso. >> in the palisades. >> virginia. >> from msnbc world headquarters here in new york. >> it is good to be back with you on this second hour of chris jansing reports at this hour. a critical crash update. any minute now, we'll hear from the ntsb about the deadly midair collision last month near reagan airport between a helicopter and a plane. it killed all 67 people on board. we'll have the latest for you. live. privacy concerns. from social security numbers to

other confidential financial information. the hearing underway right now, whether elon musk's doge should have access to treasury department data. plus more cuts. what we know about the firings at the agency that's tasked with designing, building and overseeing the u.s. nuclear weapons stockpile. and then there were seven. the latest resignation from a top u.s. prosecutor, refusing the justice department order to drop its case against new york city mayor eric adams, writing, it was never going to be me. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. we begin with nbc's erin mclaughlin. as we wait for that update from the ntsb on the deadly potomac crash. what are we expecting from this briefing, erin? >> well, chris, it's been 15 days since that tragic crash. and yet there are still many unanswered questions. central to answering them all is the black box that we understand from the ntsb has been recovered from

that black hawk crash site. in terms of the black box for the black hawk, it includes both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. we understand from ntsb sources that the black box recovered was an older model and therefore lacking timestamps. and so in the past two or so weeks, investigators have been sort of piecing together a timeline critical to the investigation, pulling together many sources. now, watching this press conference that's about to unfold, undoubtedly will be the loved ones of the 67 lives lost that tragic night, including tim liley, the father of sam liley. sam liley was the pilot of the american eagle jet. tim liley happened to also have been spent 20 years as a blackhawk pilot himself, having flown that very same route. he sat down with our

tom costello and explained what he'll be looking for out of this presser. take a listen. >> one of. >> the big things. that we don't know exactly. >> why that. >> blackhawk crew lost situational awareness. and one of the big things i'm super interested to hear is the cockpit voice recorder, to see what was going on in that cockpit. >> also critical to this investigation is the altitude at which the blackhawk was flying. we understand from the ntsb that per the air traffic control, they believe that the blackhawk was flying at 300ft altitude, which is 100ft higher than regulations. but that's something that we know investigators have been trying to confirm from that blackhawk black box itself. chris. >> again, we're waiting for that press conference. first one in almost two weeks. erin mclaughlin, thank you. meantime, a federal court is holding a hearing right now over doj's access to america's americans

private information. msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos is following this story for us. what's at stake in this case? danny? >> well, attorney general. >> letitia james. >> held a. >> press conference. >> just before. >> heading into court, talking a. >> little about. >> the allegations that. >> she and others. >> are bringing. >> here's what she said. >> he has. >> basically violated. >> the administrative procedure. >> act, and. >> he has violated the privacy of millions of americans. >> and it is up to us to. >> prevent him from having. >> access to that private information. and so we've come together because. >> we believe in. >> the constitution and the rule of law. >> and we believe that no one is above the law. >> the administrative procedures. >> act that letitia james was speaking about. >> there at. >> the at the conference. >> is basically a. >> law that. >> requires that agency. >> actions not be. arbitrary and capricious. so they may.

>> be acting lawfully, but they essentially need to show their work. >> but the plaintiffs also. >> argue that this violates the separation of powers. in other words, by granting this private. >> this. >> access to the sensitive. private information, what's called personal identifying information or pii. >> that it. >> exceeds the power. it violates privacy laws. and it violates. >> the administrative procedures act. they're going to be making all of those arguments today in court. >> danny cevallos, thank you. and now to breaking news. just about ten minutes ago, termination notices were given to multiple civil servants within the department of energy. nbc's garrett haake is reporting from washington, d.c. garrett, what more do we know about this? >> chris, we were just talking about this as we're trying to follow these cuts across the federal government in drips and drabs. the latest bit of information coming in from the national nuclear security agency, which is tasked with overseeing and building the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile. their notices have gone out with termination for

probationary employees, effective immediately. we don't know exactly how many people were targeted by this, but it comes even as there has been news of attack by someone on the chernobyl nuclear plant in ukraine with this agency is responsible for monitoring for the us. the energy department just responded to nbc news's request about this with a statement saying, in part, that it's less than half of 1% of the nnsa's workforce that's been affected here, and that they believe, essentially that they can continue going on with the mission. chris, i don't think this will be the last we've heard today. since we last spoke. i heard from a source at the irs who said, you know, this is one of those agencies where they might want to get rid of probationary employees whom they need to continue to get through tax filing season. so it's a bit of an ad hoc process. and we're watching as these cuts continue to ripple out across the federal government today. >> all right, garrett, thank you so much. now to the string of prosecutors resigning in protest over the doj's order to drop charges against the mayor of new york city. nbc's tom winter has

been following this story for us. so many moving pieces. what's the latest? >> what's the latest? we've had more resignations today. >> so yesterday. >> at this time we. >> hadn't had or we. >> just had. >> one resignation. >> which was the acting u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, danielle sassoon. >> now. >> here we are about 24 hours later, and we've had six resignations total, including four members of the public. >> integrity unit at the. >> department of justice in d.c. >> so. >> they're the ones that oversee all the public corruption cases. you want to know who signs off on? >> you know, my. >> mayor got jammed up on federal. >> charges here or excuse. >> me, senator. >> robert menendez. >> is an example. got jammed up on federal charges. >> it came. >> from the public integrity unit or them signing off on the work of it, because obviously these are sensitive prosecutions. so we've had a number of people resign there. we also had one of the lead prosecutors on the. >> case. >> the person who's actually bringing the case and fighting various legal challenges in court with new york city mayor eric adams and his his

attorneys. he's also resigned. so these letters, when you put them together, really raise two major concerns. one, on the behalf of beauvais, who's the acting deputy attorney general of the united states, he's saying, look, i've got concerns that these cases because i think that they were weaponized by the prosecutor at the time, the u.s. attorney, damian williams, who was appointed by the biden administration. and on top of that, we have some priorities as it pertains to immigration enforcement in new york city. we need mayor eric adams not to be under indictment. we need his security clearance back, and he needs to help us out because the justice department looks at it, at least the leadership does these days and says, we have our goals, we have our missions, we have the things that we need to do, and this is what we're going to do. and they don't really care what tom winter or chris jansing or anybody on the street necessarily thinks. as far as the tactics they take to get there, they just believe that they need to get there and that these are valid causes. so that's their perspective of it.

obviously, federal prosecutors are here in new york, have a very different perspective of it and say, you cannot possibly expect us to go to court and present in good faith to a judge that we're doing something that we've been explicitly told in case law has shown us not to do, which is to not hang a prosecution over the head of somebody who's in public office to get them to act politically or or get them to act in their official capacity. that's not something that we're supposed to do in the united states. so those two ideas have definitively clashed here, and that's why you're getting the reaction that you're getting. my suspicion is, is that we'll probably today, at some point get a filing on the docket dismissing without prejudice, meaning that prosecutors could potentially bring these charges again against the mayor. and in fact, both these memo on monday said that that would be the case. they would look at this after the election next fall in new york city is a potential matter to revisit, is a potential prosecution to revisit, but then it's up to the judge. and so the judge might bring in the parties here and say, let's have a little discussion about it. let me ask

some of my own questions. where it goes from there, chris? well, nobody quite knows. >> no, but we'll be following it, no doubt. and by we, i mean you, tom. when tom winter, who has not slept. thank you so much. coming up in 90s. could tariffs be a powerful negotiating tactic or more of a political risk for the trump political risk for the trump administration? with fatigue and light-headedness, i knew something was wrong. then i saw my doctor and found out i have afib, and that means there's about a 5 times greater risk of stroke. symptoms like irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or light-headedness, can come and go. but if you have afib, the risk of stroke is always there. if you have one or more symptoms, get checked out. making that appointment can help you get ahead of stroke risk. this is no time to wait. tap into etsy ahead of stroke risk. for home and style finds like custom shelving for less than 50 dollars to make more space. or linen robes under 75

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american families as president trump rolls out his plan for reciprocal tariffs, the national retail federation released a statement that says, in part, the scale of the undertaking is massive and will be extremely disruptive to our supply chain as americans are already playing up. the ntsb news conference has begun. let's go live to washington, d.c. >> mid-air collision near reagan national airport has wrapped up. we have the perishable evidence we need, so we want to provide. >> an investigative. >> update and talk. about next steps. let's begin with some information on the black hawks route and then proceed through the accident sequence. this particular this particular flight was a check ride for the pilot flying the black hawk. generally, a check ride is a practical exam that a pilot must pass to be qualified to perform

specific aircrew or mission duties. the army does three types of check rides instrument, annual, and night vision goggles. this was a combined annual and night vision goggle check ride. we believe the helicopter was like the helicopter crew was likely wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight. given the nature of the flight. additionally, they had been removed. had they been removed, the crew was required to have a discussion about going unaided. let me repeat that. had they been removed, the crew was required to have a discussion about going unaided. there is no evidence on the cockpit voice recorder or cvr of such a discussion. on this chart you'll see the routes they were generally following. helicopter route one to helicopter route

four. these routes are designated by the federal aviation administration or faa, and although you see blue lines, there are no defined boundaries to these routes. you'll note on the chart that pilots are expected to maintain the maximum altitude charted when ceiling permits, unless otherwise instructed by air traffic control. the maximum altitudes along helicopter route one are 1300 feet between cabin john and chain bridge, 1000ft at chain bridge 700 just after chain bridge, 300 at the key bridge, and 200ft just south of memorial bridge. now, i'm going to read some preliminary investigative information, which is derived from a variety of electronic and

other sources. as of 1 p.m. today. about 8:15 p.m. eastern standard time, the crj left 37,000ft pressure altitude for an initial descent. at 830, the black hawk began traveling generally southbound after maneuvering near laytonsville, maryland. cvr audio from the black hawk indicated the instructor pilot was the pilot, monitoring and transmitting on the radio, and the pilot was the pilot flying at eight 3341, the black hawk crew requested helicopter route 1 to 4 to davidson army airfield, which the tower controller approved. at eight 3839, the black hawk reached the intersection of the dc beltway and the potomac river

near carderock, maryland. after briefly turning westbound, the black hawk turned back to the east and began descending as it picked up helicopter route one over the potomac river southeast toward downtown washington, dc. at eight 3910, potomac approach cleared the crew of the crj for the mount vernon visual runway. one approach. at eight 4446, the crj rolled out of a left turn established on the ils localizer for runway one at approximately 4000ft pressure altitude, 170 knots, with landing gear up and flaps extended to 20 degrees. at 840 306, the crj crew made initial contact with dca tower.

the tower controller then asked if the crew could switch to runway 33. the crew agreed to switch to runway 33 at eight 4348. the black hawk was about 1.1 nautical miles west of the key bridge. the pilot flying indicated they were at 300ft. the instructor pilot indicated they were at 400ft. neither pilot made a comment to icing and altitude discrepancy. at this time, we don't know why there was a discrepancy between the two. that's something that the investigative team is analyzing at eight 4427, as the black hawk approached the key bridge, the instructor pilot indicated the black hawk was at 300ft, descending to 200ft between eight 4441 and eight 4445. the crew selected 30

degrees of flaps and then 45 degrees of flaps. at eight 4449, the landing gear were down and locked. the aircraft was fully configured for landing about 6.2 nautical miles south of the airport. at eight 4527, the autopilot was disconnected and the crew began a shallow right turn off the runway. one localizer at a radio altitude of approximately 1700 feet and an airspeed of 134 knots. this occurred about five nautical miles south of the airport. at eight 4530, the black hawk passed over the memorial bridge. the instructor pilot told the pilot flying that they were at 300ft and needed to descend. the pilot, flying said they would descend to 200ft. at eight 4558, the black hawk then crossed over the washington tidal basin and

followed the washington channel. consistent with helicopter route one. it is now approximately two minutes before the collision. at 840 601, a radio transmission from the tower was audible on the cvr, informing the black hawk that traffic just south of the wilson bridge was a crj at 1200 feet, circling to runway 33. cvr data from the black hawk indicated that the portion of the transmission stating the crj was circling may not have been received by the black hawk crew. we hear the word circling in atc communications, but we do not hear the word circling on the cvr of the black hawk. the recorder's group is evaluating this right now. at 840 608, the

black hawk crew responded. they had the traffic in sight and requested visual separation, which was approved by dca tower at eight 4629. the crj crew received a 1000 foot automated call out at eight 4647. dca tower cleared other jet traffic on runway one for immediate departure with no delay. at eight, 47, 27, or 32 seconds before impact, the black hawk passed the southern tip of hains point. a second later, the crj began a left roll to turn to final on runway 33. the crj was at a radio altitude of 516ft and 133 knots. at eight 4729, the

crj crew received a 500 foot automated call out. at eight, 47, 39 or 20s before impact. a radio transmission from the tower was audible on both cvr, asking the black hawk crew if the crj was in sight audible in the atc, radio transmission was a conflict alert in the background. at eight 4740, the crj crew received an automated traffic advisory on the tcas system, stating traffic. traffic tcas is the traffic alert and collision avoidance system on the crj. at eight, 47, 42, or 17 seconds before impact, a radio transmission from the tower was audible on both cvr directing

the black hawk to pass behind the crj. cvr data from the black hawk indicated that the portion of the transmission that stated pass behind the may not have been received by the black hawk crew. transmission was stepped on by a point eight second mike key from the black hawk. the black hawk was keying the mic to communicate with atc. in response. at eight 4744, the black hawk crew indicated that traffic was in sight and requested visual separation, which was approved by dca tower. the instructor pilot then told the pilot flying they believed atc was asking for the helicopter to move left toward the east bank of the potomac. at 847, 52, or seven seconds before

impact. the crj rolled out on final for runway 33. the crj was at a radio altitude of 344ft, 143 knots at eight, 47, 58, or one second before impact. the crj began to increase its pitch, reaching about nine degrees nose up at the time of collision. fdr data show the crj elevators were deflected near their maximum nose up travel. the last radio altitude recorded for the crj was 313ft, and was recorded two seconds prior to the collision. the pitch at this time was again nine degrees. nose up and roll was 11 degrees left wing down. the crj was descending at 448ft

per minute. the radio altitude of the black hawk at the time of the collision was 278ft, and had been steady for the previous five seconds. the black hawk pitch at the time of the collision was about a half degree nose up, with a left roll of 1.6 degrees. now examination of the wreckage will assist in determination of the exact angle of the collision. now we're confident with the radio altitude, radio altitude of the black hawk. at the time of the collision, that was 278ft. but i want to caution that does not mean what the black hawk, that's what the black hawk crew was seeing on the barometric altimeter in the cockpit. we are seeing conflicting information in the data, which is why we

aren't releasing altitude for the black hawk's entire route. i'm going to turn it over to sean payne for an explanation of that. sean is branch chief of the ntsb vehicle recorder division. >> thank you. >> i'm sean payne. >> i'm branch. >> chief of the vehicle recorder division. >> this is the flight recorder lab at the ntsb. >> i can. >> give some. >> insight into the. >> challenges of understanding what altitude the black hawk pilots. >> would have. >> seen on their gauges. in the cockpit, you may. >> see. >> pictures released in the of showing. >> us in the. >> lab rebuilding. >> the. >> flight recorders. that's part of our job. >> but a bigger part is ensuring that the data that we have downloaded is true and accurate. we call this validating the data. i'm going to define some terms for altitude in a way that most audiences can understand. i may end up reading much of this verbatim, as i want to be precise in my language. the first term is radio altitude. you've heard this in our other press conference before. this is a measure of the helicopter's height above terrain. in this

case, the potomac river is measured by bouncing a signal from the helicopter to the river. we have determined that this parameter is valid. this is good data. this gives us confidence in knowing exactly how high the helicopter was above the ground. this parameter is not the primary means the pilots would have used to determine their height during flight. the pilots are not typically navigating using radio altitude. it is often different from what they see on their primary altitude altimeters. the next term is barometric altitude. this is typically the altitude the pilots would use while they are flying. this was not recorded on the fdr. barometric altitude takes into account certain atmospheric conditions. this would be displayed in front of both pilots on their instrument panel. as i said, this was not recorded. the next term is barometric pressure setting. this is an adjustment that the pilots use on their primary barometric altitude altimeters

to ensure that the altimeter is set properly. this is critical. this was not recorded by the fdr. this accounts for the local pressure at the time of the flight. again, this was not recorded by the fdr. the next term is pressure. altitude. this is more of an engineering altitude that the helicopter systems can tap into. this altitude is calibrated using what we call a standard atmospheric pressure. we have found that this parameter is not valid. this is bad data. normally we can use this parameter to compute the barometric altitude displayed to the pilots. because this data is bad, we have to use other methods to make this determination. last, the fdr does not record gps information, so we cannot simply simply verify any of this with gps information such as gps altitude. this does not exist in the data set. we are working to determine if this bad data for pressure altitude only affected the fdr, or if it was more

pervasive throughout the helicopters. other systems. we will have an answer to what altitude the pilots saw on their gauges as they were flying. to examine this, we will use a combination of methods first, as we have already started working with sikorsky, collins aviation and the army to retrieve engineering documentation to understand how this may have affected other helicopter systems. next, because we cannot turn to the fdr for this information, the wreckage of the helicopter needs to be examined. we need to look at the remains of the pitot static and air data system. i must stress that these systems were badly damaged in the accident, and this will be difficult. last, we will need to look at the altimeters themselves and determine their independent functionality. i'd like to stress that we've just completed the on scene phase of the investigation. we need to follow our process and be meticulous. ultimately, this work will determine the altitude displayed to the pilots and will

be included in our final report. we'll pass it back to chairman. >> thanks, ron. what i just read we are going to publish that online. so i'm not going to take specific questions. going back to certain times that i've already read, i think that can get very confusing. and so please refer to what we do post online. i do want to make a few corrections and also provide some additional information on a couple of other issues. first, the atc group has been looking at the radio frequencies. the airplane and the helicopter were both on two different vhf frequencies, not uhf. also just a correction. metropolitan police department recovered the black hawk cvr and fdr, not the fbi. i do want to provide a little bit of information on

ads-b out for the black hawk. ads-b stands for automatic, automatic dependent surveillance broadcast. so the helicopter was equipped with and capable of transmitting ads-b out. we don't know why it wasn't transmitting. what will have to look at is the installation of the equipment, will have to look at programing. we'll have to look at whether there was some sort of equipment malfunction or if the ads-b was turned off. so there are other a lot of people are asking about was it turned off? there are other things we have to rule out first. we're also the team is going to do a visibility study, the visibility study. we're going to do a laser scan of the cockpit of an exemplar cr. we're going to also laser scan an exemplar cockpit of an exemplar

black hawk. and we're going to take that information as well as information from examination of the wreckage, different seating positions, different heights, different eye positions, also taking into account night vision goggles. and we're going to do a pretty in-depth visibility study, which we do often and see see if we can demonstrate which we will be able to do on on a software program, what the pilots of the black hawk could and could not see. now we will begin moving the wreckage from dca to a secure location over the next week. and that's all i have for now. i am going to take questions again. i'm not going to take questions on specific times that i read through in the in the black hawk route or in

the cr as it was moving to runway 33. but all of that will be online at ntsb gov. and you can find that. so i will take questions as i call you. please raise your hand, state your name and your affiliation. tom. >> madam chair tom. >> costello with. >> nbc news. thank you. >> for the update. >> do we understand correctly, you're looking into the possibility. >> that there. >> may have been, i underscore, may. >> have been a. >> malfunction in terms of the accuracy of the altimeter readings inside the cockpit for the black hawk helicopter. >> one more time. >> do i understand correctly, you're looking into the possibility that there may have been bad data and therefore inaccurate readings inside the cockpit of the chopper or altitude for the pilots to read? >> that's correct. we are looking at the possibility of there may be bad data we're looking at. are were they seeing something different in the cockpit that differs from the

fdr data, which was radio altimeter? >> in other words, they may have thought they were at one altitude when in truth they were at a different. >> it's possible, but we have a lot of work to do till we get to that. >> one thing with cnn, how critical is the finding that the crew could have been wearing night vision goggles, and how much will that factor into your investigation? >> so the question is, how critical is the finding that the crew could have been wearing night vision goggles? that is, you know, part of our investigation where it it's going to be a factor in our visibility study. we're going to have to see what was possible for them to see at the time leading up to the collision and the accident sequence. >> is there anything in the voice recorder indicating that the crew of the black hawk saw the impending collision? >> is there anything in the voice recorder that the crew of the black hawk could see or tell that there was an impending collision? we do not have any

any indication that the black hawk crew would have seen that. >> cool. >> based on the possibility that they were wearing these night vision goggles, we've heard from people who wear them that it may affect your peripheral vision. so if the plane is coming in to. 33 and they're coming down the river, that possibly the peripheral vision may have been affected, to see that plane off to the left. >> the question is visibility and night vision goggles. this is exactly why we do a visibility study. and we'll test that as part of our our study. but you know, time will tell, you know, just to just to level set here. we're only a couple of weeks out and we have a lot of work to do that will will be a part of the work. >> gilbert washington post, you mentioned the crew. >> we're going to continue to listen in to this press

conference, but we are getting our first major piece of information from the ntsb about their ongoing investigation into what happened between a black hawk helicopter and a plane operated by american eagle when they collided over the potomac river overnight on january 29th, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft. i want to bring in nbc news correspondent erin mclaughlin, also with us, msnbc aviation analyst john cox, a retired commercial pilot who has flown in and out of reagan national since the mid 1970s. you don't have to be a pilot, aaron, or an expert to find that minute by minute, second by second. accounting of the time leading up to this collision to be absolutely chilling. tell us what your big takeaway is here. >> yeah. that's right. and that minute to minute timeline we understand from the ntsb was

formulated based on a variety of sources. given that the black hawk black box was not time stamped, the model of that black box did not have timestamps, which is why it has taken them 15 days to piece together what is an extremely detailed timeline. one of the critical details that stood out to me from this press conference was that they do believe that the helicopter crew was likely wearing night vision goggles, and that's potentially critical because that could have impacted the pilot's situational awareness. they say that they that that they believe that to be the case because in order for them to have taken off the goggles, they would have had some sort of audible indicator from that cockpit voice recorder, a couple of key other things that they're looking at. takeaways from that press conference was that they're looking at the possibility that the altimeter inside the cockpit

was somehow inaccurate, providing inaccurate readings to the pilots on board the blackhawk, pointing to a specific point in the timeline in which the pilot flying thought that they were at a different altitude compared to what the instructor thought that they were flying, and then also looking at potential discrepancies between the actual altitude and potentially what the pilot, the altitude, the pilots thought they were flying. so all of that is still under investigation. but again, this is the first time that we're getting sort of a detailed timeline of exactly what unfolded prior to the collision. chris. >> so, john, let me go back to that, because there was something that struck me right before the time of the collision where director hamadeh said, we are confident that the black hawk was at 278ft. that does not mean that's what they were seeing. there is conflicting information in the data. unpack that for us in a way that

non-pilots can understand. >> sure. >> this means that the radar. >> altimeter, which. >> is derived. >> by bouncing. >> a radio beam down to. the water. >> and back, very accurate. >> that has determined. >> that the. helicopter's actual altitude was 278ft above the water, computed by the helicopter. that's a slight difference between it and the sea are using the same radio altimeter. now, what pilots look at are pressure altimeters, barometric altimeter. and there's much more question here. so the actual altitude that the helicopter was at 278ft may not have been exactly what the altitude that the crew was seeing on their altimeters of also significance in here is that there apparently is a difference between the two altimeters, one that the instructor was seeing and one

that the pilot flying was seeing. they're going to have to resolve that. and the question that i have is if there's a discrepancy, you should be using the one that is the most conservative. so how the was there a note, a conversation about the altimeter difference? the chairman didn't say that and indicated that there was not. so there questions in here about what actually the pilots saw and what the actual altitude of the, of the helicopter was. >> and then the other discrepancy or the unknown, i guess, is exactly what they heard. and there are two points at which we learned that there is some concern about what the blackhawk pilots may have known. correct me if you heard something different. 840 601 the tower, the black hawk crj was circling to runway 33. that may

not have been received by the black hawk. in addition, eight 4742 17 seconds before impact a direct. they direct the black hawk to pass behind, but the black hawk stepped on that transmission by killing the mike. talk to me again about communication. is that not uncommon for someone to be king? their mic to speak and they miss something that could be critically important that they should be hearing, but they don't. >> of course, the more important thing is to go back to the original clearance. they were advised that there was a cr that would be setting up to land on three three, i think was the atc verbiage. and the black hawk acknowledges traffic insight and request visual separation. at that moment, the black hawk pilots become responsible to remain clear of the cr. that's

the legal responsibility. so at that point, when they get closer and the collision advisory occurs and the air traffic controller says, do you see the rj and black hawk again says the cr is in sight. request visual. and listening to that atc tape. they say that almost as one sentence. and it makes me question if that is just a routine transmission. yes, we see the other aircraft request visual separation, but you accept the responsibility to stay clear of that traffic when you take the visual separation. so there's going to be a lot of questions centered on exactly those two things. what did the helicopter see and what responsibility did they have once they accepted that visual clearance. >> and we're out of time. but i have to ask you this, is that where the questions about night vision goggles come in?

>> night vision goggles comes in in two places, and i've used them previously. that's a wonderful technology, but your peripheral vision is restricted. you somewhat like looking down two tubes. so what the either of the two pilots could see without turning their head and looking directly towards the. the cr is going to be something that i think will be of question. and in the visibility study that ntsb is going to do, they are going to have to carefully evaluate that. and that could be one of the key factors. >> that press conference is now over. but we did learn a lot. and john cox and aaron mclaughlin, thank you both for helping us make sense of it. well, right now, an 86 year old man is expected in court accused of shooting a teenager who mistakenly rang his doorbell. could he go to prison? you're watching chris jansing reports only on msnbc.

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missouri. also with me, civil rights attorney and msnbc legal analyst charles coleman. shaq, this did just happen. what do we know? >> yeah, chris. >> it was a relatively. >> quick hearing that just took place. there was no live. >> video feed. >> from inside that. >> courtroom, so i'm basing. >> everything on notes that we're receiving from a producer who was inside. >> as you. >> mentioned. >> andrew lester pled. >> guilty to a. class d. >> second degree assault. >> felony. >> according to missouri court websites. that's something that's a charge that can carry a sentence of up. >> to seven years. >> but we don't. >> know what the terms of this agreement. >> exactly were. >> in this case. our producer inside is saying that andrew lang. 86 years old, he got or entered into the courtroom using a wheelchair. we know that charles family was there. ralph was also there in. >> that courtroom. >> and chris. >> this is a. >> major development. >> in this case. >> for obvious reasons, of the guilty.

>> plea. but also because this. >> was a trial that. >> was set to. >> begin next week. jury selection, in fact, was scheduled for tuesday. >> and this. >> is a. >> trial that has seen delay after delay. >> we know. that it was last year, late. >> last year. >> that the judge kind of put things on hold as he ordered. >> the 86. >> year old andrew lester. to undergo a mental evaluation. >> we know that again. >> the trial was scheduled. >> to take place next week. >> and when ralph. >> jarrell's mother. >> was asked. >> about this. >> possibility, the potential of a plea. deal earlier in january. >> she said that. she would appreciate. >> some sort of accountability. >> but she. >> also expressed some sense of relief. the idea. >> that. >> ralph jarrell, who was shot in the head, who was shot in the arm, would not have to relive that moment. that shooting that took place. in april. of 2023. >> and i do. >> want to read a little bit from a statement that we just got. from ralph jarrell's mother. a piece of it says, and

excuse me as. >> my. >> phone catches up to me. but it says lester's plea does not erase ralph's trauma or the deeper injustices that made this tragedy possible. the fight against the systemic failures and racial bias must continue. chris. >> all right. thank you so much, shaq. if you get more information from our producer inside, please do let us know. so, charles, are any surprise to you that this ended in a plea deal? >> none at all. >> i think that well. >> i will say this for things. >> to go as close as they did to a trial. >> you. >> would expect that a trial. >> would commence. >> as it was supposed to on tuesday. but given. >> the. >> circumstances of the case and what. >> we knew, chris, this is not a surprise. this man was. >> dead. >> to rights without. >> a self. >> defense plea and without a viable self-defense claim. and so this notion of sort of vigilante justice sitting in your home. >> even as the. >> king of the castle, he could not establish that he had a reasonable expectation of his life being threatened or being in danger, such that it would justify the use of deadly force against ralph, against all that.

that is not something that should have ever happened. and so the plea is the right plea. the notion and the timing of it is somewhat of a surprise. i should back up from that, but i'm just kind of wondering what took so long and why now, right before the trial was about to begin? >> well, andrew lester's attorney had raised questions about his physical health, about his mental acuity, saying he's had heart issues, a broken hip. he's been hospitalized. a judge, as we heard, you know, has ordered a mental evaluation. so you have that on one side, you have on the other side, an honor student, right, whose life is thrust into the national, if not international spotlight. he's now graduated, i understand, and gone on to school, gone on to college. there is also something to be said for not having to relive this again. right. so, but the question does become always justice, right? what does justice mean and who decides what that means? >> i don't necessarily know that, unfortunately. >> this is a conversation about justice. >> only because.

>> the trauma. >> from an experience like that can never be undone. it can never be erased. and that's what justice would dictate. we do have accountability. we have accountability. because lester is going to has taken a guilty plea, and he is going to essentially end up with this as as part of his record. but i think one of the things you mentioned is something that the mother said really touched me, which is the notion of some people for the for the system really want their pound of flesh. but it's very clear from the comments that were made that this was such a traumatic experience that everyone wants closure and to move on, and i think that they cannot be sort of overstated in terms of its importance in this instance, everyone responds to these situations differently, and the trauma from this instance for mr. jarrell is something that he would like to continue to put past him. he had a very, very lengthy recovery process. he's now moved on with his life, and so he wants to just move on and not have to relive this at trial. >> would you expect on the other side that for lester, his age

and his health issues would have been key in this negotiation? >> it would have been. and i don't know what the ultimate sentencing will be. and i think that's going to play a factor. prosecutors are likely going to look at that. and i'm sure that his defense attorneys are using that as the pretty much biggest piece of evidence as to why perhaps jail time should be avoided, if that's their argument. >> shaquille brewster, charles coleman, thank you both very much. president donald trump's pick to be his ambassador to the united nations is being slow. walked through her nomination right now. but it's not democrats slowing things down this time. nbc's melanie zanona is following that story for us. melanie, this delay is coming from the president's own party. so what's happening? well, what's happening is speaker mike johnson. >> has a. >> math problem. >> in the house. as of right now. the margins here in the. >> house are. >> 218 republicans. >> to. >> 215 democrats. so what that means is, once elise stefanik leaves congress to officially go to the trump administration after her confirmation, johnson can't afford to lose a single

republican on any party line votes. and as you may recall, chris, republicans are trying to pass this massive reconciliation bill right now through both chambers, using only republican votes to try to deliver on trump's agenda. so this dynamic, this concern over these historically slim margins in the house is indeed the driving force behind elise stefanik delay in her confirmation. i want to read for you what john thune, the senate gop leader, told my colleague frank thorp about this holdup, thune said, we're kind of taking our direction from the white house in terms of who they want to move and when. but my assumption is it probably has to do with the majority, the margin they. have in the house right now. but obviously it's an important position. and she had a big vote to come out the committee, and we want to get her done as soon as we can. now, johnson says he'll support whatever approach the senate and white house takes. the white house said in a statement that they praised elise stefanik as a team player. but privately, i am told that stefanik has grown very frustrated by this holdup. she's complained to colleagues. it's

taken a lot longer than she anticipated. however, when asked by her other colleagues, scott wong, when she will be confirmed, stefanik said soon. >> chris, you know, melanie, we've talked a lot about the democrats on the hill and that the fast pace, let's call it that, the chaos that has been caused since the beginning of the new trump presidency, the second term has been a little bit of disorienting. what's the mood on the republican side, though? >> well, republicans have a really honeymoon period right now. i would say they they are unified. they feel like they are ready to deliver on trump's agenda. but lurking just beneath the surface, they are recognizing that these historically slim margins could really potentially be a problem for them. and there are divisions still in the party that they have largely papered over. you have conservatives who are pushing for these deep spending cuts. you have moderates who are worried about cuts to programs like medicaid and food stamps. you have people from farm states who don't want to see these tariffs impacting

their farmers. so there is a lot of division right now underneath the surface. but i would say the mood right now overall is they're happy with where things are going. they're seeing the pace and the scope of what trump is doing out of the white house. and they want to be willing partners here over in the house of representatives and over in the senate as well. >> melanie, if i may say, i became a fan of yours as i watched you as a frequent guest on way too early with ali vitali. we are so glad to have you as part of our msnbc family. welcome aboard. i wish there was more going on to keep you busy. >> thank you. i appreciate that so much. there will be plenty to talk about over these next few weeks and months. >> and we'll see you soon. msnbc's own new hire, melanie zanona. but before we go, it is the hottest party in america, and it's hosted by an 87 year old. doug turner became a viral sensation after his neighbor shared this video of him personally delivering invitations to his annual party,

which is being held tomorrow. >> hi, i'm. >> doug across the street over here, right? i live over in that house there. >> okay. >> and that's. >> an invite to a party. on february 15th. >> well, turner started throwing these parties after his wife passed away. and according to the handmade invite given to the washington post, the celebration of winter begins tomorrow at 4 p.m. until the cops arrive. the price of admission. just a smile. >> i think what i'm looking forward to most is to see people meeting new people, so hopefully it should be as good as the others i've had. or better maybe. >> he also told the post he would like this to inspire more people to throw their own neighborhood gatherings, and even offered to gladly design an invitation for them. he may regret that there was a comment in the washington post report that i thought was particularly great. it said, doug turner is

the neighbor we all need right now, and that's going to do it for us this hour. make sure to join us for chris jansing reports every weekday, 1 to 3 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. have a great weekend, everybody. but our coverage everybody. but our coverage continues with katy tur when emergency strikes, first responders rely on the latest technology. that's why t-mobile created t-priority built for the 5g era. only t-priority dynamically dedicates more capacity for first responders. cracked windshield. >> oh. >> but at least you can go to safelite.com and schedule a fix in minutes. >> can't confirm. >> very easy. >> safelite can come to you for free. and our highly trained techs can replace your windshield right at your home. >> safelite repair safelite >> safelite repair safelite got an itchy throat from allergies?

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