nbc's allie raffa on capitol hill. what's holding them back?rter: cori, remember the original goal of the committee is to investigate the attack on the capitol and make sure it can never happen again. after months of investigating members are telling "new york times" they actually have evidence of criminal charges for former president trump, and the times is reporting that members are disputing and conflicted over whether to send those charges and refer those charges to the justice department for possible criminal convictions. this is significant, cori. we've seen members of trump's inner circle, like steve bannon, dan scavino, mark meadows, have their criminal contempt referrals sent to the justice department. but so far the former president himself hasn't officially been involved. now committee vice chair was asked about this on cnn this morning. take a listen. >> we have not made a decision about referrals on the committee. i think that it is absolutely the case, absolutely clear that what president trump was doing, what a number of people a

allie raffa is on capitol hill with the details. news has not yet seen the texts and the committee said it's not commenting. what can you tell us about what you're hearing in washington? >> reporter: yes, katie, senator lee and congressman roy really started out as some of the former president's biggest defenders in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. the almost 100 texts between the two of them and mark meadows, it's shedding light on how genuinely invested these two were in overturning the election results. one of these text messages between senator lee and mark meadows reads "we offer our unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional recommend at this at your disposal to restore americans' faith in our elections. "another from roy to meadows says "we need ammo. we need fraud examples. we need it this weekend." katie, i should mention lee and roy both expressed frankly their disgust with what happened on january 6th, at tack on the capitol and both broke with the majority of republicans in voting to

for more we're joined by nbc news correspondent allie raffa on capitol hill.had to pivot to you quickly on what's happening on capitol hill. it's very important. what do we know about the january 6th committee seeking testimony from ginni thomas? >> reporter: there were a lot of developments on the january 6 front this week. the committee met behind closed doors to discuss whether they should all in ginni thomas interview or subpoena her for her records. there's no final decision whether they'll do that yet, one major reason ginni thomas to be key to the investigation because the committee, some members say, that they feel like they only have half of the pieces to this wider puzzle based on those 29 texts that they are in possession of when mark meadows was briefly cooperating with the committee last year, since that's not the case, willing to face possible criminal charges for not working with the committee but the texts drop off abruptly in december and january of last year. they're saying these impassioned texts, there is a possibility there are more of the

allie raffa is following this for us from capitol hill.e text messages between mark meadows, former chief of staff, and ginni thomas, have surfaced. now we are seeing this investigation as to just how deep this relationship between the former president and the wife of a supreme court justice went. the visits she made to the oval office, the suggestions she made to the president, and how it even irked some staffers inside the white house. talk us through it. >> reporter: yeah, well, like you said, these texts, in addition to now this new reporting from the "daily beast," it's really shedding some new light on justice how close the relationship was between ginni thomas and the former president. like you said, this went years before january 6th, that ginni thomas would stop by the white house with lists of people she recommended former president trump hire or fire. according to these former white house staffers that were interviewed for this "daily beast" article, sometimes the former president took her advice. they say, quote, when ginni tho

. >> there is a lot to keep up with in this story so here's allie raffa on capitol hill. >> reporter: you can clearly hear kevin mccarthy saying he would urge president trump to resign after the events on january 6th. he also says that trump admitted some responsibility for the attack on the capitol in conversations with mccarthy as well as mccarthy expressing just how frankly he says done with trump he is after january 6th but as you said, he is flat-out denying all of this and we know since this audio has been released, the former president and mccarthy have spoken at least three separate times and this is a scenario where you think the former president would be upset by something like this. this is obviously a confidant of former president trump, a friend and companion of his, but "the washington post" is reporting that trump is somewhat reveling in this moment, just the fact that he knows he is still the undisputed leader of the republican party, that he is still moving the pieces on this chess board, and when this news first broke of these audio recordinged, there were fears that

nbc's allie raffa is on capitol hill for us. good to talk to you this hour.he decision here? what's the thinking behind it? >> well, yasmin, there could be a few reasons behind this, but first i really want to point out how significant this could be if it does happen. you and i have talked about members of trump's inner circle that the committee has sent criminal contempt referrals for to the justice department, but as close as the committee has been able to probe, the former president himself has remained largely unassociated with this. not called upon, and now as you said, committee vice chair liz cheney is saying the committee does have enough evidence to send at least one criminal referral to the justice department about the former president. listen to part of her interview on cnn this morning. >> we have not made a decision about referrals on the committee. i think that it is absolutely the case. it's absolutely clear that what president trump was doing, what a number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful. they did it anyway. i

nbc's allie raffa is joining us from the hill. e, it seems to be shaping up to a fairly significant 24 hours for the january 6th committee, look it's not the whole kit and caboodle, the full house would have to vote over referring those charges of contempt to the department of justice. >> reporter: that's right, and we're expecting all of this to happen this week, after on monday the january 6th committee voted unanimously to refer criminal contempt charges for former trump advisers peter navarro, dan scavino, after they for months skirted subpoenas. they said that they had executive privileges that only former president trump could waive. they used that as their reasoning for why they didn't want to talk to the committee. and remember, this has to go, like you said, before the house rules committee first, before it's voted on on the house floor. they're scheduled to meet tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. and even when -- if and when it does pass there, it is very likely that this will pass in the house, given the fact that the house has a dem

allie raffa has more from capitol hill. what can you tell us about the text from donald trump jr. reporter: "the new york times" is reporting according to people familiar with the exchange, donald trump jr. texted former white house chavp -- chief of staff talking about strategies to overturn the results of the election if donald trump lost. and this text was originally reported by cnn, and it says in part, quote, it's very simple. we have multiple paths. we control them all. we have operational control, total leverage, moral high ground, potus must start second term now. this was from donald trump jr. who mark meadows who turned over a trove of text messages to the january 6th committee when he was briefly cooperating with the panel last year. we've reached out to the january 6th committee but haven't been able to independently verify this specific text and the committee is saying they are not commenting on this report in general. but cori, the text goes on to really detail different strategies that they could use to overturn the results of the election. these are strategies that

nbc's allie raffa reports from capitol hill on this. >> reporter: well, yasmin, over the last few weeks have learned of several texts between former white house chief of staff mark meadows and people inside former president trump's inner circle, people like his own son, donald trump jr., justice clarence thomas's wife, ginny thomas, talking about efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but now because of these texts, we're learning from several gop lawmakers about just how invested they were in trying to overturn the election. two of these specifically are senator mike lee and congressman chip roy, and it's important to note that both of these two lawmakers actually eventually ended up voting to confirm president biden's victory, but these almost 100 texts between them and meadows shed some new light about how genuinely invested they were in trying to overturn those election results. one text from senator lee to meadows on november 7th, the day the election was called for president biden, says we, quote, offer our unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional reme

nbc's allie raffa, joining me now. ali, how is capitol hill reacting to this?> well, alex, our team is out to several gop lawmakers who are specifically mentioned in these new details. and we haven't heard back yet. but the back story here is, we know that former white house chief of staff mark meadows briefly cooperated with the january six committee last year. he turned over thousands of text messages, documents. then he stopped cooperating. the committee then subpoenaed him. he claimed executive privilege, did not cooperate with those subpoenas. now he's facing potential criminal charges with the doj. because of, this the committee filed an almost 250-page court motion late friday, saying exactly why they want meadows to come in and testify. the five-ing includes testimony from a former white house aide named cassidy hutchinson. she goes into the details of what he knew about january 6th. she says that he was warned that events on january 6th could turn violent, and despite this warning he went forward with plans for transit trump's rally on the ellipse. and

allie raffa, thank you. we are going to dive deeper into mccarthy's comments tomorrow when i'm joined by zoe lofgren. >>> let's turn now to republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. so, on the stand this week, for a hearing filed by voters in her state who say that she should not be allowed to run for re-election, greene repeatedly deflected questions about her alleged involvement in the insurrection and disruptions in the certification of the president's victory, testifying that she has never endorsed violence. nbc's morgan chesky has the latest on this. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, good afternoon. and this all began when this lawsuit was filed on behalf of georgia voters to disqualify greene from the upcoming ballot and their legal tool they're trying to use here is a civil war era statute that prevents someone from running in an election who took part in an insurrection. and believe it or not, this is the first time this has been used in more than 100 years. georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor gree

nbc's allie raffa is following the story from capitol hill. what it was? >> reporter: well, katy, to start off, this testimony wasn't originally on the committee's wish list, per se. but judging from what committee members have told us, they are actually very happy with the result. we know that kushner spoke voluntarily for more than six hours, and while we don't know exactly what the panel asked him, like you said, we're hearing from sources that he was cooperative, friendly, he spoke for himself. he didn't have his lawyers speak for him. and so, this almost seems too good to be true for the committee. this is someone who is extremely close to the president, obviously, his own son-in-law, former top advisor, someone very familiar with his thinking, but there's one big caveat here. not only was kushner not at the white house on january 6th, he was actually not in the united states. he was overseas on a foreign trip. and so, the committee is saying that they are also interested in things leading up to january 6th and the days and weeks leading

expect from the january six committee public hearings, we are joined by nbc news course bonded allie raffapitol hill. >> yes, katie, these text messages that were first obtained by cnn between former white house chief of staff mark meadows and sean hannity were part eight of a trove of textures that he voluntarily gave to the committee when he was cooperating with the panel last year. we know that these texts take place between election day and january 6th with sean hannity, who we know has been a close ally and defender of the former president for years. reacting to the results of the election and the text messages, and offering advice and strategy for how to challenge the results of the election. as you mention, hannity rosa reacted to this on his show yesterday saying he is a top so show host. he does not consider himself a journalist. for this, he should be held to a different standard. the committee is interested in what hannity knows about the presidents thinking of, on, and after january six. the panel asked him to voluntarily come in and testify in january, before the committee. he

including sean hannity, -- nbc's allie raffa is following this for us. good to see you as always. these text messages, they are arriving just weeks before the january six hearings are said to begin. does the committee, ali, intend to subpoena any of these individuals before them. >> well yasmin, we know the committee asked janet hannity to voluntarily come in and testify back in january. he didn't end up cooperating. it didn't go past, that they didn't issue any subpoena. it's unclear whether these newly-surfaced text will change that. we're not really sure if the committee had these texts prior to them servicing and be published online. for right now, i asked the january six committee whether this would change their thinking and push them to call hannity back in, either voluntarily, or by subpoena. they're saying they're not commenting on this new reporting. as far as other fox personalities, it's highly unlikely that any of them will be called in. according to this reporting, the main majority of the communication between former white house chief of staff mark meadows and these

. >> okay allie raffa, thanks for the latest on capitol hill.ests florida taxpayers, could have to pay, as florida moves to strip wealth disney world of its self governing status. disney told investors the state would have to pay off one billion dollars in bond to dissolve the company's tough special tax status. desantis is responding to that claim, saying disney will pay. >> disney will pay its debt, disney for the first time will actually live under the same laws as everyone else in florida. >> so you say the statute is inaccurate? is that what your attorneys are telling you? >> so the legislature did it, starting next june. there's gonna be additional legislative action. we've contemplated that. we know it we're gonna do. stay tuned, that will all be apparent. the bonds will be paid by disney. >> well joining me now is anthony scaramucci, founder and former white house communications direction during the trump administration. and a good friend. it's good to see you anthony. what do you make of this feud, and how you see it playing a. is there

. >> thanks, allie raffa. >> does the committee need to speak to don jr. or even the former president to get to the bottom of what happened that day? later in the show, we'll talk to peter strzok who is well versed in complex investigations. >>> an emotional celebration at the white house where judge ketanji brown jackson celebrated her history making confirmation to the supreme court. it was a big political win for president biden, but could be his last confirmed justice if republicans take control of the senate in november. julie jester is here to explain live from wilmington, delaware. >> reporter: good morning, katie. honored to be part of your first show. as you mentioned, this confirmation was a much-needed win for the biden administration, and biden in a celebration friday called it a moment of change in american history. he also didn't hold back on his thoughts about the contentious confirmation hearings for judge jackson. he called it, quote, verbal abuse saying that the anger, the constant interruptions, the vial, baseless accusations were thrown

let's go to allie raffa joining us from capitol hill. what is mccarthy saying now? >> reporter: kevin mccarthy and the former president have reportedly spoken over the phone at least three times since these audio recordings have surfaced. but this new open line of communication between the two of them is not enough for some house republicans as they await permission from the still undisputed leader of their party before forgiing mccarthy. kevin mccarthy is on defense friday night, for the first time addressing and denying leaked audio recordings of his private conversations about former president trump. >> i've never asked the president to resign, i never thought that he should resign. >> reporter: in a new interview, mccarthy dismissing the audio of his call with gop leadership four days after the deadly attack on the capitol. in the call, saying that he would urge then president trump to resign before the end of his term. mccarthy insisting that the thought never even crossed his mind. but the audio released by "new york times" reporters tells a different story. m

let's go to allie raffa joining us on capitol hill. let's make the point that nbc news has not independently verified the texts in this report. however, what do we know based on the reporting that is out there? >> reporter: alex, we've talked about over the last few weeks, several members of trump's inner circle who were in communication, direct communication with former white house chief of staff mark meadows. these are people like his own son, donald trump jr., justice clarence's wife, ginny thomas, and they were talking about efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and now these texts obtained by cnn are showing several gop lawmaker, specifically as you mentioned, senator lee and congressman roy talking about efforts to overturn, showing how genuinely invested they were in these efforts to overturn the election. now, it's important to note, alex, that both of them eventually ended up voting to certify the election for president joe biden. certifying those election results in his favor. these almost 100 texts really show, they shed so

nbc's allie raffa joining us from capitol hill. what's the latest on this front?yeah, alex, well, house minority leader kevin mccarthy has been doing some damage control since these audio recordings have surfaced that very clearly contradict his earlier denials of what was said in them. take a listen to some of these recordings here. >> the only discussion i would have with him is that i think this will pass, and it would be my recommendation he should resign. he told me he does have some responsibility for what happened. and he needs to acknowledge that. i've had it with this guy. what he's done is unacceptable. nobody can defend that, and nobody should defend it. >> reporter: now, lots of house republicans were saying things similar to what mccarthy is saying in these recordings in the days after january 6th, but what makes mccarthy's situation different is just how quickly he pivoted back to supporting the former president. we saw in the weeks after january 6th, mccarthy even visiting trump at his mar-a-lago home in florida, and now, in the aftermath of all of

okay, thank you, allie raffa. >>> we are also hearing some new reaction from donald trump himself about those tapes. i'm going to go right to vaughn hillyard from delaware, ohio. that is where donald trump hits the campaign trail tonight. what is he saying about this as i say welcome to you? >> reporter: hey there, good afternoon. let's be frank here. the power structure of the republican party still orbits around donald trump who is stumping here in ohio today north of columbus, alongside j.d. vance, one of the republican candidates for the u.s. senate ahead of their primary on may 3rd here. and you know, i think that the story of vance largely alliance with the story of kevin mccarthy. individuals who doubted donald trump in the past, who are now standing side by side and defending him as the leader of the republican party. actually just last night, the "wall street journal" posted an article in which they interviewed the former president about those audio recordings of kevin mccarthy in the days after the january 6th insurrection. and i want to let you just see part of it there in wh

. >> allie raffa, thank you. >>> the january 6th insurrection is a flash point in georgia where marjorie taylor greene was on defense testifying for three hours on friday and whether she played a role over stoking the violence and the outcome could determine if she he could run for re-election. we have morgan chesky with that coverage. >> reporter: kristen, good morning. this began when a lawsuit filed on behalf of georgia voweders to keep taylor greene running for re-election. the banning someone from taking part in re-election. a law not used in more than 100 years. facing a possible road block. the re-election bid challenged due to the involvement in the capitol riot. a lawsuit citing section 3 of the 14th amendment. no person shalling a senator or representative in congress engaged in insurrection or rebellion. she is the first to testify about january 6th. during the four-hour hearing, greene admitted she knew people were gathering, but stopped short of specifics. >> my question is if anybody at all ever mentioned the possibility of violence. >> i don't remember. >> you are not deny