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>> easier way to. >> bank. >> and get up. >> to $500. >> in five minutes or less when you. >> download dave. >> right now on ana cabrera reports growing fallout backlash following the trump zelensky oval office clash. the ripple effects at home and overseas as european allies race. to fix the fracture. plus, the president prepares to address congress tomorrow. the leading democrat who says he's skipping the speech altogether. also ahead, fighting back the growing protest movement from federal employees cut under doj's ax. and breaking news out of the southeast this morning as raging wildfires prompt massive evacuations in south carolina. good morning. it's ten eastern, 7 a.m. pacific. i'm ana cabrera, reporting from new york. can we

begin with president trump set to address congress this week as he faces growing fallout at home and abroad following that oval office clash with ukrainian president zelensky. zelensky now saying that he believes this relationship can be salvaged. zelensky meeting with uk and european allies over the weekend, who are now racing to bridge the divide between the united states and ukraine. let's bring in. >> nbc news. >> senior white house correspondent garrett hake, former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfaul and former adviser to ukrainian president zelensky igor novikov. okay, so garrett zelensky signaling today he believes the us ukraine alliance can be repaired. is that the view out of the white house this morning? >> it is. although there's certainly frustration. >> from white house aides. >> who feel like their. >> patience and americans. >> wallets for. >> this conflict. are not unlimited. >> but the national. security adviser was on television this morning and. >> suggested there's basically three. >> things they. >> need to see. >> from zelensky.

>> to start repairing this relationship. the first. >> is the. >> gratitude that they feel like was missing. >> from that oval. >> office. >> meeting where. >> you heard jd. vance ask him about saying thank you. >> the second. >> is a willingness. >> to sign the minerals deal. >> that. >> was on the table on that day. >> zelensky has. >> said he's. >> still willing. >> to do so. >> the third is an. >> apology from zelensky for his. >> behavior in the oval office. zelensky has said in subsequent interviews that he doesn't. >> think he. >> needs to. >> apologize, that. >> he's. >> not sure. >> he did. >> anything wrong. >> to the degree. >> that all politics. >> is personal. with donald trump. >> it may. >> take zelensky. >> being willing. >> to swallow his pride on. >> that third. >> point to. >> repair the personal. part of this relationship. >> and move. things forward again from. >> with this. >> white house. >> okay. >> garrett hague. >> thank you. >> please keep us posted. and i'll just note at the top, we accidentally. >> showed some video or some. >> images of president trump. >> and prime minister netanyahu. >> obviously, it was intended to be president zelensky. >> from ukraine, not. >> the israeli. >> prime minister. >> meantime, ambassador igor,

i'm glad to have you both back with me. >> you know. >> we spoke before that wild oval office meeting yesterday, and. who would have seen that coming? so i wanted to kind of bookend our conversation and get you back to get your reaction. to what has unfolded since we spoke last. let me start with you, ambassador zelensky. he met with european leaders this week and after he left the us, the uk prime minister announcing a multi-billion dollar aid package. now for. >> ukraine. >> uk and european allies seem to be racing to try to fix this fracture between the us and ukraine. will that work? >> i don't know. >> it's hard to say. and fixing the fracture. to what end and to how far. right. so they had a i think a very good meeting for anybody who cares about national security for ukraine. in europe. they came up with new aid and an idea, perhaps for a cease fire and a peace agreement. and the trump administration should be happy about that. they keep saying the europeans need to do more. they're doing more. number

two, when it comes to repairing our bilateral relationship, the three points that garrett just laid out, let's just be clear. two of them are are points about personal differences. it's about the personalities, the whims of our president. that's not his job. his job is to represent american national security interests. >> and leave his. >> own personality out of it. and moreover, the notion that that. zelenskyy needs to say thank you to the president and the vice president, he needs to say thank you to the american people. he's done that a thousand times. but what have they done for him? remember, they are giving putin everything he wants before negotiations have started. they voted. mr. vance, as a senator, voted against the very aid package that he now wants to be thanked for. so i hope they will just put aside the personal stuff and focus on very concretely the minerals deal. point number two, that garrett just said, president. >> zelensky, his team. >> has made it crystal clear

they are ready to sign whenever, under what conditions. i hope president trump and his team will do that immediately. as a first baby step for repairing u.s. ukrainian relations. >> we are. >> seeing president zelensky. >> give thanks. he's been posting on. >> x after. >> that meeting. >> that he is grateful for u.s. support, that he's thankful to president trump. despite that oval office meeting. let's remind our viewers how that unfolded. here's just part of it. >> we're not in a good position. you don't have the cards right now with us. you start. >> having cards. >> you're gambling with the. >> lives of. >> millions of people. you're gambling with world war three. what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country. this country that's backed. you far more than a lot of people said they should have. you're not winning. you're not winning this. you have a damn good chance of coming out, okay? because you have to be thankful you don't have the cards.

>> igor. >> as you reflect now on on what went down, do you think zelensky should have done anything differently there? >> well. >> and if you remember. >> you've asked me what my advice would have been. and i said. >> resist the theatrics. >> but unfortunately, i was wrong. not in the sense that president zelensky didn't resist the theatrics. but, you know, the whole situation reminded me of that classic james bond film. remember when james bond basically says, do you expect me to talk? and the villain says, no, mr. bond. >> i expect you to die. >> it was exactly like that. so i don't believe there was anything that zelensky could have done differently for a different outcome. and to be honest, what's worrying here is not the actual meeting. i think, you know, there's a very fine line between pushing for peace and outright helping russia and certain things. some of them are not ukraine related, like, for example, the infamous news about the cyber command stepping down

against russia recently. you know, i believe that line has been crossed. and therefore, i think president zelensky needs to sign the mineral deal if it's on the table and if it's same, president zelensky needs to be open to this relationship. but, you know, there's only so much you can do. it's not personal. it's a bilateral relationship between two countries. >> ambassador, this fracture is also playing out domestically with house speaker johnson over the weekend, suggesting zelensky may. >> need to. >> resign after what happened. take a listen. >> well, something has to change. either he needs to come to his senses and come back to the table in gratitude, or someone else needs to lead the country to do that. >> yeah. >> republican senator james lankford defended zelensky. so from a diplomatic perspective, how do you view domestic lawmakers openly debating whether zelensky should continue to lead his country after clashing with president trump? >> it's outrageous. it's absolutely outrageous. the

arrogance of the speaker to say that the democratically elected leader of ukraine fighting for his existence, for his country should resign. it's absolutely outrageous. it does no good. it doesn't help any national interest of the united states. i want to keep coming back to this. what is good for american national security. leave the ukrainians aside. this is no good for our american national security. and it's exactly what putin has been wanting since he invaded ukraine. so what team are we on? have we switched to the russian side? because i don't think the american people want to go along with president trump and the speaker to end up on the russian side, the side of dictatorship against democracy. 81% of the american people don't trust putin. and i think the president is playing with fire. if he tries to move us in that direction, i think it's going to backfire. you're already seeing it in town halls. you're already

seeing protests when the vice president goes skiing about ukraine. i think they're seriously misjudging the american people. we are not so foolish as to think that it's in america's interest to join the autocrats and throw under the bus the democrats. >> yeah, we're showing some of that video from those protests over the weekend. this is what vice president jd. vance faced. >> when he went skiing with his family. you see these protesters. >> holding ukrainian. >> flags and signs. this was a weekend ski trip in vermont. igor, what's the reaction inside ukraine? how are ukrainians feeling in this moment? >> well. >> first of. >> all, we're seeing a major. >> rally around the flag. effect now. i mean. everyone is behind the president. even some of the fierce opposition leaders are either remaining quiet or are openly speaking in support of president zelenskyy. secondly, it's not nobody's business who are democratically elected president is only ukrainians

decide that. and that's exactly why we fighting the russians. the russians wanted to decide for us. tough luck. that's not going to happen. but i have some good news as well, i think. >> i think it was. >> vice president vance who said that ukraine or president trump who said ukraine doesn't have any cards. we're not playing cards. i fully agree with my president. but at the same time, i think they're wrong. ukraine has a number of cards it can play. and if we ever want to surrender, i'm pretty sure president zelensky will travel to moscow rather than washington. >> ambassador, we have seen the us. >> do things. >> say things to try to get on putin's good side, it would seem. >> including, we learned. >> stopping the cyber operations against russia, which apparently took place before friday's meeting with zelensky. >> and i. >> know you mentioned those earlier, but there's also president trump calling zelensky a dictator, other russia friendly rhetoric we've been hearing. secretary of state marco rubio was asked about that yesterday. and take a listen to his response. >> we've spent three. >> years calling vladimir.

>> putin names. >> that's not the point. the point that we're. >> at now. >> is we're trying to get the. >> man. >> to a table. >> that's the goal here. it's that simple. >> can we try. >> to. >> sit with them and. >> figure out whether there's anything? >> what are the. >> russians demands? under what conditions would the russians. >> be willing. >> to stop. >> this war? and as i said, we don't know what those are. >> because. >> we haven't talked to. >> them in three years. >> goal! get them to the table. what's your response to rubio's argument or the strategy that he is laying out there? >> first of all, if they were actually serious about trying to mediate an end to this war, and i want to underscore i'm not sure they are serious about that, but if they were, the first move would be to increase military assistance to ukraine to create a stalemate on the battlefield. wars end in two ways. one side wins or there's a stalemate. if you want to create the permissive conditions for an actual peace negotiation, that is your first move. they're doing exactly the opposite. second, to your point, they have thrown all kinds of concessions

at vladimir putin before negotiating. so they said ukraine can't join nato. they said president zelensky has to give up territory. they said there won't be american soldiers as part of this. they they've cut foreign assistance to independent media. they've invited president putin to join the g7. i could go on and on and on. there's no evidence whatsoever that any of this is working. and the fact that he doesn't know what they think, he just spent four hours with foreign minister lavrov. i have yet to see one concrete step that they've taken to put pressure at all on vladimir putin. right now, it's complete capitulation. and i've negotiated with these guys. i've negotiated with the putin administration. capitulation does not work. they just put that in their pocket and they demand more. and you're already seeing that in the russian press. they've already pocketed all those concessions and now they want more. they want the ukrainians to limit their army

to under 100,000. they want the ukrainians to not import weapons anymore. they want the de facto turn ukraine into a vassal state. and oh, by the way, they also want zelensky to be removed. isn't it strange that all of a sudden americans are now saying the same thing? >> former ambassador michael mcfaul and igor novikov, thank you both for coming on back. i appreciate the conversation. up next, president trump preparing to address a joint session of congress tomorrow as he faces blowback for elon musk's doge. this as federal workers fight back. more on the new organizing movement that's happening online and in signal chats. plus, breaking news in south carolina, wildfires prompting mass evacuations. and later looking for a political comeback. andrew cuomo wants to be new york's next mayor after leaving office, clouded in controversy. we're david takes prevagen for his brain clouded in controversy. we're back in 90s. and this is his story.

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to attend trump's speech with guests who have been affected by those cuts. cuts that could ramp up today as doge readies its pentagon findings. joining us now, nbc news white house correspondent aaron gilchrist, msnbc political analyst, former republican congressman david jolly, and msnbc political contributor, and soon to be senior washington correspondent and new co-host of the weekend, eugene daniels. all right. >> aaron. >> start us off here. what is the white house hoping tomorrow's speech will achieve? >> well, on. >> president trump himself. >> posted about the. >> speech this morning. >> on his social. >> media site. he said i will tell it. >> like it. >> is in. that post. >> and we know. >> administration officials have. >> told our team that the president worked on. >> the speech over the weekend, and. >> he's expected. >> to highlight what. he sees as his successes in these early days of. >> his second term in office. >> many of his big moves. >> are things that we've been able. >> to see ourselves. >> he'll talk. >> about his immigration efforts. >> to stop. >> illegal border. >> crossings, to ramp up. >> deportations across. >> the country.

>> we can. >> expect to hear about ridding the federal government of diversity and equity programs. and personnel tariffs against mexico and canada. those are set to go into effect. overnight tonight. so we're going to. >> be. >> listening to see what he has to. say about that. and of course the big topic. >> as you. >> noted will. >> likely be elon musk. >> we'll be. >> listening. >> to see how. >> much he references. >> him. by name. >> and how he. >> has spent the last several weeks really rocking the federal government with massive spending cuts and so. >> many firings we've been reporting on. >> we've also been told by a senior white house official. >> that trump. >> is building a guest list. that is designed to reflect the reasons that he believes he won the election and what he believes he has accomplished. >> in the six. >> weeks or so he's. >> been in office. >> ana eugene some democrats, including senate minority leader chuck schumer, plan to bring guests affected by trump's cuts to send a message. on the other hand, you have senator chris murphy, who is skipping the speech altogether. and here's his reasoning. >> i think that state of the. >> union speech is going to be. >> a farce. >> i think it's. >> going to be a maga pep rally,

not a serious talk to the nation. >> i think donald. >> trump is going to spew a series of lies. >> about his alignment. >> with russia. about what he's trying to do to allow elon musk to essentially monetize the american government, to enrich. >> musk and. >> his billionaire crowd. and i'm just not going to be a part of. >> that. you know, i think what democratic voters want to see is a fight, right? they seem to feel like the party is listless, that they don't have a clear message. and you can see in the different approaches that that schumer and murphy are doing, and many other democrats trying to figure out what that message actually is and how you navigate that. right. you can see it in whether or not democrats are going to have actual negotiations in the house, especially about what the cr, the continuing resolution will be to fund the government. how

do they engage with that? so all of this is the party trying to figure out how they fight with donald trump. they make clear to voters where they stand, but at the same time, try to figure out how to look like not just the opposition party, but also an alternative. how do you actually look like a party that has something to offer people, not just a party that's throwing away, throwing up their hands and walking away from the table? and it's unclear which one will actually work. right. and there the thing that i keep hearing from democrats is they're hoping that the doge thing continues to make americans angry, that veterans who are getting impacted by this, that people hear that and have issues with it, but they also can't wait for those things to happen. they have to push some of these things along, and they also, most importantly, have to break through in a way that it gets down to voters in these town halls that we're starting to see are a way to do that. but they still have a long road ahead before they actually get a message. that's very clear for voters. >> and we're getting a little

pulse of the people heading into this speech with some mixed messages for president trump and at least the latest polling, a new cbs poll finding plus two net approval for those trump staff cuts within the margin of error on three key issues. take a look at this. immigration. trump is a net plus eight on the economy. he's plus two within the margin of error. inflation minus eight. congressman what's the takeaway. and would you expect tomorrow's address to focus more on the price of eggs and less on doge? >> i think tomorrow night is going to be trump in all his glory. he's going to declare a mandate in the most successful 100 days the country has ever seen. the problem is both of those things are lies. on last november, more americans voted for someone other than donald trump, than voted for the president. he got less than 50% of the vote. many of his most aggressive moves are actually unpopular. and what democrats are wrestling with is a president. when he addresses a joint session, kind of commands the entire stage, demands the media cycle. and so do do democrats kind of play foil to that, or do they have an ability

to counter? and i think that's where on many of the things as murphy, as senator murphy said, donald trump will be lying on many things. he will espouse values that are antithetical. as ambassador mcfaul just said in your last segment to american values. so my take is donald trump is a guest in the people's house. that is not his chamber. tomorrow night, that chamber belongs to the congress. the lower house is the people's house. and perhaps house democrats should invite him in and treat donald trump like donald trump treated zelensky. let him hear it when he lies and when he confronts american values. be a part of the discourse tomorrow night. do not simply enable him, which i know democrats are not looking to do, but engage in the combat. because, as eugene was talking about, this is a moment where democrats are looking for the opportunity to stand up and fight and energize their their voters. tomorrow night might be that chance. >> meantime, behind the scenes, aaron, many federal workers weren't sure how to respond to that initial doge email, demanding that they list the prior week's accomplishments. and now round two of that email

has gone out. >> yeah. that second, what did you do last week? email started going out. it was late friday afternoon, just as federal workers here on the east coast were ending their workday again, they were asked to list five accomplishments from the previous week. at this time. that email did include a request to send a similar email every monday by midnight last time, there was a lot of confusion, as you noted, about whether workers should respond, whether it was mandatory to respond. several agencies told their employees to hold off on responding or not to respond at all. this time, though, at least the secretary of defense took to social media directing his workers to comply. watch. >> i am now directing each member of the department's civilian workforce, just civilian, to provide those five bullets on what they accomplished in their specific jobs last week, to reply to that email and cc their immediate supervisors. it's a simple task, really, as as elon said, as the president recognized in our

first cabinet meeting, just a pulse check. >> and we know that president trump has suggested he would like to have people respond to that, that there could be folks who were fired as a result of not responding, potentially. and we'll be waiting to see today. on if agencies roll out additional guidance to that email that came out from opm over the over the course of the weekend. >> all right, aaron gilchrist, thanks for the reporting. over the weekend, we saw the protests at national parks and fired. federal workers have really laid into this administration. in comments to the media recently, one ex staffer now telling nbc what they've done is they've radicalized me. what they've done is they've taken someone who would have willingly served under their administration to help all of the american people, and what they've done is they've made me think that they want to destroy the republic. they want to destroy democracy. so now i am activated. eugene. career. federal workers usually pride themselves in being apolitical, willing to work under any

administration. what do you see as the significance of this growing worker backlash? >> yeah, it shows that some of them, many of them probably see this as bigger than the roles that they played. right? many of these folks, some of them have been serving for 20, 30 years under different presidents, under different administrations, and most importantly, under different parties. and i think it's hard kind of to explain to folks that that kind of selflessness in the world we live in, that is so partizan. but that is something, as you said, that they've prided themselves on for so long. you know, politico is reporting right now that there are allies around donald trump that are worried that the kind of blowback to doge that we're starting to see, it's unclear how how big it is and how big it could get, but that that blowback is going to blow back on the president. right. president trump has held elon musk very close. he has talked about doge, he has defended doge and the cuts in the operation that that they're doing. but the chaos it's creating, the speed at which it's happening is where

people are having their issues. and i think, you know, conservatives have for years wanted to shrink the size of the federal government. but when you do it at the speed and what feels like to a lot of folks in kind of a reckless way with it doesn't seem to be a plan for after and also accusing everyone that is getting fired of being having been party to waste, fraud and abuse. that is where folks, even republicans, i'm speaking to have issues with what's happening with doge, and that blowback is starting to build. and whether or not that blows back on the president is the biggest part of this. >> yeah. congressman jolly, we're seeing more angry town halls in red states over the weekend. speaker johnson just seemingly dismissed those without evidence, claiming it was all paid outside agitators who were coming in. how should republicans be handling this? >> i think for republicans right now, you're getting away with lawlessness. and i think that's the underlying issue here is so much that donald trump is doing, is we're seeing in the courts, is actually outside his

authority. i think we're democrats, though, and this is important. republicans are along for the ride. they want to cut government. they clearly said they don't care if donald trump is stepping outside of his authority, or if elon musk has been empowered to be a co-president in in this situation, i think for democrats, there's a simple nuance. it's really important, though, though donald trump is substantively breaking something he won't be able to fix many of our federal services. the issue for democrats is not to grab on to the compassionate stories of people who have lost their jobs. those are important. those are important in a lot of communities. and donald trump should not be doing this. but most most americans would say, if we can reduce the workforce of the federal government, let's do it. the issue is a reduction in services. and i think that's where there's some latency for the american people to realize there's trouble coming. the va just canceled one of their largest va health records interoperability contracts ten years in the making. the contractors who just got laid off are feeling that the veterans are not feeling that yet. and so i think for

democrats to grab on to an issue, it's about the disruption of services that are coming, make the argument that the cuts right now are shortsighted, but prepare for the big impact. when the american people realize their government no longer works for them. >> all right. thank you both so much for joining us, eugene. congrats on your new role. excited to see more of you here at msnbc. now, in addition to his address to congress tomorrow, president trump will also roll out tariffs on mexico and canada. but as of yesterday, the exact level of those tariffs wasn't finalized. that was according to trump's commerce secretary, howard lutnick. the initial plan called for a 25% tariff on goods imported from these two neighbors of the u.s. and allies of america. also tomorrow, an additional 10% tariff on chinese goods will take effect, and we're following a state of emergency in south carolina this morning as more than 100 wildfires raged through that southeast state, prompting mass evacuations. plus, he's facing more than dozens of charges, including 21 counts of

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state of emergency in south carolina as crews race to contain wildfires that have exploded across the southeast. these fires, fueled by the combination of unusually dry conditions and strong winds, scorching thousands of acres and forcing entire neighborhoods to evacuate. nbc's emily okita is in myrtle beach, south carolina. emily, what's the situation this morning? well, anna, you can see behind me the apocalyptic. >> scene from that fire that came dangerously close to homes. i'm walking in the backyard of one of these homes, and this is what used to be a fence. here you can see the burn scar into the grass and some of the trenches that firefighters had dug to prevent the flames from destroying homes in this area.

this morning, residents are beginning to return back to their homes as firefighters get the upper hand on one of the largest fires right now burning in the state of south carolina, 1600 acres torched so far. now 30% contained. this morning, residents in the southeast waking up after a weekend of wildfires, red flag warnings and frightening evacuations. are in south carolina. first responders battling more than 170 wildfires as the governor here declared a state of emergency. this view of the blazes, captured during a plane landing in myrtle beach after powerful wind gusts approaching 30 miles an hour over the weekend, spread flames that reached several dozen feet into the sky. and we witnessed just how easily this kind of dry brush can fuel the fire. we've watched these flames multiply in just the last couple of minutes. the south carolina forestry commission says the fires have been worsened by a perfect storm of windy and dry conditions. talk to me about the conditions

that firefighters are up against. >> well, it's very erratic. you saw it. the flames were low and all of a sudden they jumped up. right. so wind changes, wind changes can do that. and this kind of a fuel type as we call it. so it can be a little scary. >> towers of smoke from wildfires can be seen for miles in north carolina, as well as the region hopes the most dangerous fire conditions are under control. and you can still see some areas smoldering and you might be able to hear overhead the whirring of helicopters as they dump water over the area that continues to burn. while firefighters will see some relief from those really high powered wind gusts that we witnessed over the weekend, there's still a burn ban in place across the entire state of south carolina because of the wildfire risk. this region is short four inches of its typical rainfall. >> yeah. to see this in march is something. thank you, emily, for that reporting. and now to illinois, where opening statements began this morning in

the trial of the man accused of a mass shooting at a 4th of july parade in a chicago suburb. seven people were killed, nearly 50 more injured, in that 2022 massacre in the community of highland park. prosecutors say the suspect spent weeks planning this attack. he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. nbc's shaquille brewster is outside the court in waukegan, illinois. so, shaq, what can we expect? i know dozens of survivors will take the stand. >> yeah, that's right. and for that reason, you can expect an emotional trial. a trial that the judge has said will last 3 to 5 weeks. and today, the trial begins. we know the court is in session right now. there are no video feeds coming out to the public from what's taking place. so we're relying on intermittent notes from our producer in the courtroom. but what we can expect is that the jury, which was officially selected yesterday, will be officially sworn in today and i should say

was officially selected last week. the jury will be selected and sworn in today. and then those opening statements will begin. and this will be the prosecution's opportunity to lay out their case against robert crimo the third. you mentioned all the counties facing those 21 first-degree murder counts, the 48 attempted murder counts that he's facing. that's a lot of evidence that's going to take to prove to the jury that he is guilty of these charges. we'll also get our first sense from the defense of what that defense will be. during the pretrial arguments and hearings. we know that the defense tried to dismiss and remove from consideration what the prosecution said was a confession during an interrogation from the suspect. that is something that will be presented before the jury. so a lot of evidence that will take place, and they'll have a lot of emotional testimony to consider as they make their decision on

who. >> shaq brewster. thank you. up next on ana cabrera reports new york's former governor andrew cuomo attempting a political comeback, now running for mayor of the big apple. has he rehabbed his image since leaving office and scandal? plus, a region holding its breath. israel halting all aid into gaza as the first phase of the as the first phase of the ceasefire power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis, help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. ♪♪ with powerful, easy-to-use tools power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley when bad allergies attack... ♪♪ trust claritin to keep you in the game. ♪♪

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>> former new york governor andrew cuomo is officially angling for a political comeback, announcing his bid to become new york city's next mayor. cuomo's campaign comes nearly four years after he resigned from office amid multiple sexual harassment allegations. he has denied all allegations of misconduct. now, if you know you're looking at the mayor's race, you can see it's a very crowded field of candidates already, including the embattled current mayor eric adams, who's federal corruption prosecution is currently on hold after the trump administration intervened on his behalf. nbc's erin mclaughlin joins us now. erin cuomo left office in controversy. so what's the reaction been to his new move to get back in the game? >> well. >> so far the reaction has been mixed. on the one hand, he's enjoying support from some labor unions, some democratic organizations. but on the other hand, there is this backlash from women's rights organizations, conservative publications such as the new york post. he dropped the announcement on saturday in the

form of a 17 minute long, highly produced video that was followed up by an in-person event. he was introduced by his three daughters before a crowd of around 250 supporters. in his speech, he painted a picture of new york city as being a city in decline with rising crime. although it should be noted, the police commissioner just came out today with a report saying that overall crime in new york city is down. he also talked about the expenses, just how expensive new york city is getting, and he talked about new york city in the context of the wider picture of the country, while not specifically addressing the trump administration. take a listen to what he had to say. >> when the nation is searching for its soul, when it is divided as never before, when it's questioning our democratic values, it's questioning the very role of government. it's questioning the balance of power. new york must show the way forward.

>> now, cuomo has a lot going for him in this race. he has a lead in the polls. he also enjoys sort of this name recognition. but the question being can he outrun his past, namely the reason he stood down in 2021 amidst a slew of sexual harassment allegations, allegations that he denies, and then scandals, nursing home scandal from the pandemic? can he outrun that past? that is the key question. other candidates hitting the campaign trail over the weekend, seven candidates as well as, as you mentioned, the current mayor, all in the running. there are four more months left to this primary, so there's a ways to go. >> and it's quite the field shaping up. erin mclaughlin, thanks so much. up next on ana cabrera reports. israel accused of using starvation as a weapon, now halting all aid into gaza. we're live from tel aviv with we're live from tel aviv with the latest on this [tv announcer] premium meat for natural diet. most people don't realize how processed typical dog food is.

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happening with the aid this morning? and are the talks happening at all to get things moving again? >> yeah, ana, it looks. >> like those talks have. >> broken up now. it's only been about 24 hours since. >> we heard about. >> this suspension of aid. so we don't know much about how that is affecting things on the ground. but remember this month of ramadan, the holy month of ramadan is starting and has just started. over the weekend. families are gathering, they're celebrating and they're eating. so this is going to be a big issue because remember, before this peace treaty happened in late january, gaza was already facing dire humanitarian conditions, including threats of starvation. throughout the entire gaza strip. there were people who were dying from a lack of food. so this is a really critical need, and the fact that it's been suspended is one of the reasons why we're hearing so much outrage from partner countries in the middle east who are involved in these negotiations, like qatar and egypt and from the palestinians themselves. and these allegations, including from the united nations, that israel is breaking international law and using food as a weapon. so this

is a very, very serious situation that is about to get worse. if these negotiations don't continue. now, we've heard that the negotiations are basically over. and remember, there were sort of two sets of negotiations here. there was the proposal to extend the first phase, which involved these weekly transfers of palestinian prisoners in israeli jails for israeli hostages in the gaza strip. the israeli government wants that to continue and not move on to a second phase, which would see a more permanent truce in the gaza strip and eventually the full withdrawal of the israeli military from gaza. >> all right, matt bradley, we see all those aid trucks just lined up, can't get through. it's a very tenuous moment there. thank you. now to an update from the vatican this morning. pope francis slept well through the night, though he's still in the hospital for double pneumonia. officials say that yesterday, the 88 year old pontiff was taken off mechanical ventilation. his condition still remains guarded. pope francis

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pills.com to get this deal. it's friday plans pills.com. >> welcome back now to hollywood's big night, the 97th

academy awards, the independent film. and nora taking home the most oscars, including best picture. abc's kaylee hartung is in los angeles with all the highlights and surprises. kaylee. >> hey there. >> hollywood's biggest night at the dolby theater. behind me belonged to a nora, the independent film. pulling off a series of upsets few predicted, winning five of the six awards it was nominated for, making it one of the most dominant films in recent oscars history. >> a nora overnight, a nora. >> shimmering in oscar gold. the independent film dancing its way to five wins, including best picture, best director and a surprise best actress statue for 25 year old mikey madison. >> i grew up in los angeles, but hollywood always. >> felt so far. >> away from me. >> so to be here, standing in this room today is really incredible. >> the film's director, sean baker, tying walt disney for most oscar wins in a night. >> this film.

>> was. >> made on the blood. >> sweat and tears of incredible. indie artists. and long live independent film. yeah! >> for the second time in his career, adrien brody won best actor honors, this time for his role as a holocaust survivor in the brutalist. >> i believe. >> if the. >> past can teach. >> us anything. it's a reminder to not let hate go unchecked. >> but the supporting actor category saw two first time winners. >> kieran culkin. >> kieran culkin, who won for a real pain. teasing his wife about her promise to have another child if he won an oscar. >> love of my life. ye of little faith. no pressure. i love you. >> zoe saldana clinching oscar gold for amelia perez in an emotional speech. saldana dedicating the award to her family. >> i am a proud. >> child of. >> immigrant parents.

>> with dreams and dignity and hard working hands. >> just you and your divine. gravity. >> the night kicking off with a magically wicked duet featuring ariana grande and cynthia erivo. >> oh! >> the high notes kept coming with a tribute to the james bond franchise. skyfall and queen latifah celebrating the legacy of late music giant quincy jones. >> he's on down, he's on down. he's on. >> first time oscars host conan o'brien honoring la's firefighters and in a history making win. >> wicked. >> wicked costume designer paul tazewell bringing the audience to their feet. >> i'm the first black man. >> to receive a. >> costume design award. >> very special.

>> moment there. but one. >> of. >> the most. >> talked about. >> moments of. >> oscars night. >> happened before. >> the show even began. during a. red carpet interview. halle berry joking. >> that she finally got some payback on adrien brody. for planting that. infamous kiss. >> on her back. >> in 2003, when he. won his first best. >> actor oscar. >> perhaps some luck. >> in that liplock. back to you. >> all right. i got my list of movies i need to watch now. kaylee hartung, thanks so much. and that does it for us today. thank you so much for joining us. we'll see you back here tomorrow. same time, same place. for now 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. we begin this morning with new fallout about that historic clash in the oval office between president trump and ukraine's president zelensky. now, just this morning, zelenskyy said that