kerry sanders, thank you. we'll of course stay on top of the story and bring you the decision as soon as we have it. now to our other top story of the day, the house january 6 committee is preparing for what is likely their final public hearing before election day. today's presentation is expected to feature new testimony and be a wide ranging view of former president trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. meanwhile, we're learning new details about the probe into classified documents into trump's home. trump and an employee told the fbi that the former president ordered staff to move boxes of documents at mar-a-lago before federal agents searched the property. "the washington post" first reported this. in a social media post, trump said there's no crime related to the storage of documents. joining us now, ali, peter baker, the chief white house correspondent of "the new york times" and co-author of the divider, trump in the white house 2017 2021. also, chuck rosenberg. ali, what can we expect? >> you'

castro in arcadia, kerry sanders on pine island. first, tonight, perry rousseau on the search and rescue efforts across the region. terry? >> reporter: there are multiple checkpoints up right now, they are trying to keep the area secure, the devastated barrier islands. we have talked about how widespread the damage is, here. five days after the storm, they are searching some places for the first time. >> reporter: the search for the data starts in the sky. a fleet of drones taking over san carlos beach, mapping where teams will look on the ground. >> searching for damage shrimp boats. >> reporter: there are dozens of shrimp boats piled on docs. we are told more than 100 fishermen are still trying staying on the tilted racks. hendren is one of them. he sleeps on eddie 99, this is where he states that his belongings neatly folded on the bed. >> reporter: do you have everything you need here? >> yeah. we have everything. >> reporter: on the right, boats with snapped masks. on the right, a fishing boat spears a building. he tells us dur

i want to bring in kerry sanders who is outside the courtroom, chuck rosenberg, and david weinstein, a florida-based attorney. kerry, i was watching the reactions, the faces of those family members. it's impossible to even imagine what they have gone through, what they continue to go through, but talk, if you can, about the families, about the mood and the tension around that courtroom today. >> many, in fact most anticipated that there would be a death sentence. the chief public defender here melissa mcneill had done an admiral job in terms of presenting the reasons to avoid the death penalty, but the family members who had listened to what she said felt that it would fall on deaf ears with this jury, a jury of seven men and five women. i'll give you a little sense of the makeup, who was on the jury who then chose in this particular case, i think surprisingly to many, to go with a life sentence death sentence. one is an i.t. analyst who had worked in construction, owns a semiautomatic weapon. there's a financial advisor there who is a former french military officer, a probation offic

. >> joining us now is senior national correspondent kerry sanders. >> reporter: the prosecution is layingarguments that they believe in this sentencing phase that the 24-year-old gunman should be sentenced to die. he has confessed killing 17 and another 17 attempted murder cases. those who have lost loved ones and the victims who survived did not want to talk during this trial that's been going on for four months, but we talked about the death penalty before the phase began. this is what one had to say about her husband chris and how she feels the gunman should be punished. >> what is the appropriate punishment here? >> at the end of the day, nothing is going to change what's here for us. i just permly don't feel that this individual should be sucking anymore energy out of our community, any of our resources, so for me, i think that the best justice that we're going to get is the death penalty. >> but is that ever going to be justice for you? >> chris will never come back, so what kind of justice is there really going to be? our life is changed forever. >> so many victims who lost so much

kerry sanders traveled to st. james city, where people are desperate for supplies and support. >> reporter: this is st. james city since last wednesday when hurricane ian hit this island community has been mostly cut off from contact with the outside world. >> i haven't seen any help from the government >> reporter: 72-year-old joe lou rode it out here alone. >> what would you like people to know >> send help whenever, whatever >> reporter: his front door looked like a wave pool. the water kept rising. joe had a life jacket at the ready still, hurricanes will not chase him away >> not much you can do about it that's florida hurricanes >> reporter: st. james city sits at the tip of pine island its bridge to the mainland gone. survivors here say friends with boats in cape coral and fort myers have taken it upon themselves to render aid so far there's been no fema water, ice, generators, food heather hoffman made her way here today finally to find her dad, joe, alive. what's that like to finally know >> there's no wo

kerry sanders is outside of the courthouse in fort lauderdale today. how have the prosecution and defense tried to make their case in court? >> reporter: well this is such an unusual case. because he did plead guilty and now it is up to a 12-member jury to determine whether he should get life in prison or whether he should be sentenced to death. the prosecution said it is very clear that this was premeditated. and it was planned and it was depraved. the defense saying that nikolas cruz had many obstacles in life, being born into a family where his mother had an addiction and that caused mental problems for him. but bottom line, the jury will make the decision and it needs to be unanimous. all 12 jurors can decide on a death penalty, or it could result in a life sentence if only one of them said i don't believe in the death penalty here. kate. >> this has to be so painful for the loved ones of the victims. what are they hoping to see happen? >> reporter: you know, there are so many different takes here. some would like to just see the jury end this beca

kerry sanders joins us live. what do we know about what the jury has to consider?it was purposeful and premeditated and depraved. the defense, which will get up in a moment to make its arguments, will say there are mitigating factors. the gunman, who killed 17 and attempted murder of 17 others, that he had a very difficult childhood, born into a family with -- the fact that he had a mother with some sort of problems with alcohol abuse causing some fetal alcohol syndrome, all of that would they say are the mitigating circumstances. the jury needs to reach a unanimous decision. if all jurors come back and vote for the death penalty, then he will, based on what the judge will follow, get the death penalty and a sentence. there are those who are families of victims as well as some victims who survived who believe that that is the only just sentence here, while others say they are not sure. in the midst of this, there are those who look at the amount of money -- remember, this started in 2018. the amount of money that it has taken to get to this point. they question whe

kerry sanders has more. >> i guess you have a warrant? >> for what?show officers in florida making felony voter fraud arrests. >> we have a warrant for your arrest. >> for what? >> for voter fraud. >> reporter: 20 arrests following a statewide investigation into individuals who the state say voted even though they had lost their civil rights and could not vote because they had been convicted on either murder charges or a sex offense. >> you have a warrant. it's for voter fraud. >> reporter: this woman was one among many who is confused. she had served 19 years for second-degree murder but wondered how she could be under arrest. she had applied and was seemingly granted the right to vote. she and others were even issued voter registration cards by supervisors of elections. >> i ain't commit no fraud. >> that's the thing. i don't know exactly what happened with it, but you do have a warrant. that's what it's for. >> oh, my god. >> reporter: last year ron desantis created the florida office of election crimes and security. >> i don't think there's any ot

nbc news correspondent kerry sanders has more. >> search and rescue!reporter: search and rescue moves door to door again. and again, the death toll climbed. more than 100 people killed by hurricane ian, half of them in lee county. the search and rescue now shifting mostly to recovery. >> more to the second and third phase. possible there's still people out there. possible but most likely we're on recovery now, and, you know, that's very difficult. >> reporter: fema has been on the ground, but miles from the coast in predominantly black and hispanic neighborhoods some say help has not arrived. do you feel ignored here? >> yes, very much. >> no red cross, no fema, no nothing. >> reporter: though the damage here is not as dramatically visible, ruby williams said her community was also hit hard. >> we had water up to here. i said, look, it looked like it's going around the house that quick. >> reporter: williams used an extension cord, all she could find in that moment to tie herself to her niece so they wouldn't get swept away. >> it was just the grace of

my colleague kerry sanders spoke to some residents further inland. >> reporter: miles from the coastage here is not as dramatically visible, ruby says her community was also hit hard. >> we had water up to here. i said, look, it's looking like the house. >> used an extension cord. all she could find to tie herself to her niece so they wouldn't get swept away. >> it was the grace of god. >> reporter: now they are concerned they won't get the aid they need. a recent study shows dmunts communities with large populations often receive less money from fema than mostly white communities. fema considers several factor when is deciding aid requests. sin colluding property value, which is often lower in minority neighborhoods. let's bring in the fort myers mayor. thank you for being with us this morning. talk to me about what life is like for fort myers residents. >> we have about 84% of the residents with power. almost as much have water. the pressure is increasing every day. we're dealing with the debris that's piling up and we are working with both our city crews and contractor crews to ge

my colleague kerry sanders spoke to a woman who is relieved to find her father alive in the wake of the devastation. >> there's no words. the destruction is mind bog thing, but just know that our loved ones are okay, that's most important thing. >> florida governor ron desantis officially said that they have conducted over 1,900 rescues so far in what is just the beginning of a long, challenging road to recovery. this is the death toll has gone to at least 100 people so far. joining us now with the latest is nbc correspondents dasha burns and jesse kirk. you spent time with officials tasked with conducting these missions. what did you learn? >> reporter: jose, all morning here we have been hearing sirens, helicopters, watching first responders streaming into the fort mers beach area that was hardst hit where they are still looking for missing people, looking for any signs of life. every morning we have been coming to you in front of a different pile of rubble and i'll tell you these scenes like this are just endless here. the scope and the scale of the search and rescue and recovery eff

kerry sanders on the ground in st. james city.ive in this community on pine island, which is in lee county. kerry, you are our eyes and ears. what are you seeing? >> reporter: well, nicolle, it can be visually numbing when you see destruction after destruction. but we are the first to come here to sort of show what happened. and there's a lot of people curious. so you can see this is where the storm surge came through here. in st. james city. and i'm here to report there were a lot of people who decided not to leave. in fact, i spoke to adam morgan, one of those who decided to stay. he said look, the problem is we always hear evacuate, evacuate, evacuate and we're like, you know, it never seems to come, so we just kind of ignored it and it was at our own peril. this is where a ten-foot storm surge came through. you can see a little bit right here, this is the impact glass. this is like hurricane glass that is designed to prevent anything from coming through. but you can see the two-by-four here just shattered the glass. i'm going

. >> let me ask you about that specific question we raised in the lead in that kerry sanders talked to opportunity to speak directly to communities of color. people who feel ignored historically by the government's response to disaster recovery efforts. what's his message? and does the white house have a plan to make sure that the relief is equitable? >> the president is in florida today, according to white house officials, really to communicate this message that's been consistent as he's responded to disasters across the country. the federal government will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get these people and these communities on their feet. it's catastrophic to use the fema administrator used in briefing with reporters in fort myers and the surrounding areas. it really includes both challenges for the short-term in terms of the immediate relief that's being offered and then the longer term recovery and the effect wit fit challenges that are difficult. when you talk about the short-term, white house officials say they are taking their cues from the officials most famil

our reporter kerry sanders was out there. and this is what he heard. >> do you feel ignored here? >> yes, very much. >> no fema, no nothing. >> they work just as hard -- going to make me cry. they work just as hard on the people on the beach did, and they're not getting the attention here because it's not the beach. it's not a seaside home. >> because we are latino, black, poor people, working people, that's the way it is. >> we've seen other reports like that of people who don't live in the sandbelt areas, affluent areas, people coming out to help them. what do you think should be done if you were governor to make sure that the help is spreading and that people are getting what they need? and are you concerned there's not enough help going to inland areas? >> of course, of course. i mean, yesterday i was in ft. myers and i was in a neighborhood called harlem heights. it is mostly african american, it's mostly latino. they said nobody had been there, no cameras had seen what happened to them, and it was devastating, joy. to be there and to be able to shine a light on it for some p

kerry sanders is outside the courthouse in fort lauderdale, florida.rson is also with us. kerry, i don't know if you have had had an opportunity to talk to any of the families. what have you hearing on the ground? >> reporter: it's an extremely difficult day, but when you consider they have been waiting since 2018 to reach this point whether a 12-member jury will determine whether it's going to be a life sentence or a death sentence, it is, as they would say, it's about time. some have told me they wish there had been another shot fired that day and that nicholas cruz would have been killed on the campus after he went on that rampage and left so much carnage in the wake of so many broken lives, family members who wonder if ever there is going to be a sense of what they might call true justice. many say that they are going to wait to see what the jury has to say, but clearly, some believe that the only appropriate sentence here is a death sentence. debbi hickson lost her husband that day. this is what she had to tell me. >> what is the appropriate punis

whether the county followed the protocols that it had in place before the storm, and my colleague kerry sanders spoke with the lee county sheriff about that. i want to play that sound. >> is there a reason now that we've heard what you had to say for an after-action review, to consider what happened during the evacuation? >> i think any time where you have an incident, you have something significant, you look at it and say comprehensively, what have we experienced and what did we do and can we do better. from the very beginning, i stood by the call that was made 100%. and i wouldn't change anything. but moving forward, we always want to look at it comprehensively and see if there is something we can do, do better and change. >> yes, you're going to look back on it with 20/20 vision and you're going to say okay, here is what we can do better next time and there is always the human condition, we need to consider the sociology of when to give someone a warning and whether they will listen to, that all of that needs to be taken into account, and as somebody who does this, the searches and the rescu

. >> nbc's senior national correspondent kerry sanders is on the case. do we know who won it? who won it look, two tickets worth close to a half-billion dollar and one of those tickets may be from a survivor in hurricane ian who possibly lost it all and now is sitting on a fortune >> reporter: with so much chaos in the hurricane zone and life literally turned upside down for so many, some are wondering if the winner even knows they hit half of a $500 million mega millions jackpot and are rich beyond their wildest dreams. >> get out your tickets. good luck. >> reporter: the winning numbers drawn on friday night. one winning ticket sold in san jose, california, the other right here in fort myers where for weeks conversations have been about rebuilding and recovery but now folks are talking about who has the golden ticket. >> i play last weekend, but not at this store, unfortunately. >> reporter: but with so much pain and suffering here, it's clear everyone is rooting for a feel-good story. >> after hurricane ian and the devastations, it's kind of nice to know that somebody was a

kerry sanders continues our reporting tonight from the disaster zone. >> search and rescue!reporter: today search teams moved door to door, again and again, the death toll climbed. more than 100 people killed by hurricane ian, about half of them in lee county. the search and rescue now shifting to mostly recovery. >> move toward the second and third phase. >> reporter: which is? >> it's possible there are still people out there, possible. but most likely we're on recovery now. and, you know, that's very difficult. >> reporter: fema has been on the ground, but miles from the coast in predominantly black and hispanic neighborhoods, some say help has not arrived. do you feel ignored here? >> yes, very much. >> no red cross, no fema, no nothing. >> reporter: though the damage here is not as dramatically visible, ruby williams says her community was also hit hard. >> water up to here. i say look, it looked like the gulf of mexico in front of our house, just that quick. >> reporter: williams used an extension cord, all she could find in that moment, to tie herself to her niece so