jose >> vaughn hillyard in national harbor, maryland, thank you. >>> still ahead tonight, terrifying scenes out of iran girls collapsing in school by the hundreds are they being poisoned >>> and the new study out today on a game-changing drug that could help millions with high cholesterol. >>> we are back with a chilling report on what could be a string of mass poisonings at girls schools across iran hundreds of girls have been hospitalized, including dozens more today. and now the government, which had previously suggested the incidents were fake, is finally investigating. molly hunter has more. >> reporter: today according to local media, a new wave of suspected poisonings of iranian school girls. in video verified by nbc news, this girl seen slumping over, her friends frantically trying to help at the same tehran province school, girls can be seen gasping for air, coughing, their symptoms terrifying, unexplained. ambulances arriving to take them to the hospital across the country today, 16 provinces reported dozens of students falling mysteriously ill according to local media. nbc

so -- but i want him to stay in florida for now. >> reporter: vaughn hillyard, nbc news. >>> senator mitch mcconnell is back home tonight following a health scare. the 81-year-old gop leader from kentucky left a medical facility today where he was staying for physical therapy following a concussion and rib fracture. those were caused by a fall earlier this month. in a statement mcconnell says he is working from home for the next couple of days. >>> coming up, a race to save an american couple kidnapped in haiti. what the family is saying about their captors' demands. outut th captors's' demandds. thatat's why my y doctor and i i chose kesisimpta. kekesimpta is s different.. it's t the only b-cell t treatment f for rms kekesimpta is s different.. i i can take a at home once a a month. kekesimpta is s different.. kesimpmpta was proroven superr at rededucing the e rate of relapapses, activive less and d slowing didisability progogression vsvs aubagio. for me, a ononce-monthlyly treatment jujust works f for my schehe. for me, a ononce-monthlyly treatment don'n't take kesesimpta ifif you

joining me from cpac in maryland, vaughn hillyard. vaughn, talk to me about what is you're seeing there. >> the give you an idea here, this is a crowd upon mention of mitch mcconnell's name here give a robust food here. donald trump's onstage as we speak. he is capping off the weekend at cpac, in which you have seen a list of allies of his take the stage. notably, look at this afternoon, he had lowered boebert, mike rydal and jair bolsonaro, the first american tv interview. i just caught up with him a few moments ago. you will recall on losing his election in brazil, he spewed election conspiracies, not unlike that of donald trump. ultimately, in early january, about two months ago, supporters of his descended on the capital, images that closely reflected that of what americans watched unfold in washington, d.c. on january six. he is now under investigation by the brazil supreme court. i asked him if he will return to brazil. he has been living in florida since leaving brazil. he told me he won't return to present this month and will,

s office, vaughn hillyard outside mar-a-lago in west palm beach florida, joined by peter baker chief white house correspondent for "the new york times," msnbc analyst, and co-author of "the divider: trump in the white house 2017 through 2021" and then with me on set is danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst. gabe, start us off if you will, talk us through the grand jury's schedule today and expectations we have here in new york. >> reporter: good morning, yasmin. all eyes as you mentioned are on that courthouse behind me, and we expect the grand jurors to reconvene sometime this afternoon. they have been reconvening at about 2:00 p.m. eastern time on wednesdays, and right now the big question is will there with potentially another witness as part of this grand jury investigation. that is unclear at this moment, but if there is -- there are no more witnesses, the prosecution could put this up for a vote, and if 12 grand jurors vote to indict former president trump, that indictment would then go under seal. it's possible we might not find out about an indictm

it's passed my ability t conceive of it vaughn hillyard, thank you ver much i appreciate it. start off with the tw best things i have seen. just to start on a high note - i thought this from former governor asa hutchinson wa good - and again, everyone's reacted, no one seen the indictment like, literally -- all these people - all those paper, and no on knows where the indictment is. just keep that in mind this is former governor as hundreds, in a republican, who said it's a dark day for america where -- a former president is indicted on criminal charges. while the former - it is important that the presumption of innocence follows mr. trump, need to wai on the facts and for our american system of justice t work like it does for th thousands of system american does every day -- he made at the ballot box an not the court system donald trump should not be the next president that should be decided by th voters i thought this was a pretty -- here is nancy pelosi - this just came through she said the grand jury is out to after the facts and the law no one is above the law an everyon

>> vaughn hillyard in washington, vaughn, thanks so much.ck todd is nbc's political director and moderator of "meet the press." chuck, good morning. great to see you. quite a split screen we had this weekend with donald trump really holding a maga rally at cpac and a lot of other candidates except for nikki haley staying away. they were in palm beach. there does appear to be this split in the party. at the end of the day if you look at all the polling it is still donald trump's nomination to lose and the one guy challenging him isn't even in the race yet in governor desantis. >> no, it is, and i think this weekend should be a reminder to a lot of republicans that it is -- you're going to have to take trump on if you're going to beat him, and i think that, to me, is what was crystal clear what was on display. he's ready for a fight. in some ways he wants to have this fight. and here is what's already happened. if you're a republican running for this nomination not named trump, you have to be frustrate that had somehow trump has already starte

all ahead of an indictment of donald trump looms. >> vaughn hillyard on a busy day at mar-a-lago. thank you for that. nbc's morgan chesky is in colorado, where officials found the body of a 17-year-old suspected school shooter with students and parents demanding action. morgan, do we know anything about a motive here, and what about those calls we're hearing and that it's ignited over armed officers at the school? >> chris, this remains a dynamic investigation right now. a press conference has been set, we're headed there shortly during which time we intend to ask if there's information about this 17-year-old gunman that members of a s.w.a.t team found late yesterday about 50 miles away from where the shooting took place at denver's east high school. we are curious as to how he obtained that firearm, if there was any potential motive here amongst other things. important to note here, chris, that as this 17-year-old was entering or about to enter the school yesterday, he was patted down by two members of the staff in which officials say was part of protocol that had been put in pla

joining us nowÑi with more is n news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach.what he called ooki] for to be major protests around the country. of course, those never manifested into much. yesterdayç"was the day he q arrested and we saw five dozen folks who gathered here on the causeway between west palm beach and palmt(ñr beach where his mar-a-lago private club is. and inu of course, here, the question ir what were to come if donald trump was to be indicted. there is a base of support that you see in the republican party for donald trump and that is reflected in polling. we haveú investigations, from impeachments to the latest mar-a-lago raid in august, donald trump's poll numbejg don't really move when he's at the center of attention around these types of investigations. his bas■$f support, has consistently tuck behind him. of course, the early state is key to donald trump's nomination effort here and he told me he's been fielding phone calls over the last 48e1e1 hours from othe republican activists asking what they can do to show their support for theñ former

congress are also skipping the conference, under increased increased skrut knee, joining me now vaughn hillyard. vaughn, why are desantis, pence, and even the rnc chair skipping event this year? >>. >> none of these individuals are explicitly saying it's because of the allegation of groping that was made by herschel walker staffer against matt s schlepp o is sitting on stage. it's notable, this is a crisis in the conservative movement about whether to stay with cpac, this is a conference that has been taking place now for 49 years here. it was ronald reagan who gave the inaugural speech here. this is no small billing here, when you see hundreds, thousands of conservatives around the country fly in for this conference, and yet, matt sh lap has held firm. i was talking to kimberly guilfoyle before jumping on the stage and i asked her what it said about ron desantis not coming here today. she told me it speaks volume was her wording saying it's important for everybody to listen to the grass roots of the conservative movement. that's why it's notable it's not speaker mccarthy, not leader mcconnell.

vaughn hillyard is there in national harbor, maryland for us. h republicans are questioning where their voters are going to be, ahead of 20924 republican nomination, this is a good place to start looking a good place where conservatives alone can call the base of their grass roots, take a look at cpac 2023. >> we are at the 2023 cpac. yes. >> reporter: this place, cpac, used to be skesh tives weekend out, the annual gathering of who's who of the republican party. >> the conservative movement is alive and well. >> george h.w. bush made the rounds and dig cheney, george w. bush and john mccain mitt romney and paul ryan, too. >> i don't see this great divide in our party. what i see is a vibrant debate. >> but the rise of donald trump has changed these laws. nikki haley, mike pompeo, ted cruz aren't here. but ronna mcdaniel and mike pence and ron desantis are not. >> what does it say from a trump team's perspective of what governor desantis not being here. >> the absence speaks volume. and i know who will show up and he does every time which is pres

. >> joining us now, vaughn hillyard who spent the weekend at cpac. or being with us. donald trump won the straw poll, no surprise there. the crowd was full of trump supporters, but give us a sense of those who were there, those you talked to? was this trump or bust, or was there a sense they would be willing to explore other gop candidates in the field as well? >> pompeo and haley have a difficult time saying donald trump himself. that's what you heard at cpac lamply because this was a very pro-trump crowd. yes, he won the straw poll here, but this was an arena that upon spending the last several days there, it made myself, the nbc team that i was there with, others even within the republican movement here today look around and say, boy, donald trump really has a stronghold on what is now hardened support of his presidency and the opportunity to service in the white house again in 2024. individual after individual who i asked who do you want in 2024, it was donald trump, donald trump, donald trump. there were a lot of words of affirmation intended to

nbc's vaughn hillyard has been following this story for us. the trump legal play book. what do we know about this appeal and the latest on former vice president testifying, he is going to be in washington tonight. >> right, we'll see how long this ultimately plays out. we now have an appeal from donald trump to keep the testimony of mark meadows and these seven other key aides from testifying. these are individuals who the treasury trove of information, if we're talking about mark meadows specifically, he was with donald trump on january 6th, and of course in the weeks leading up to it. it was cassie hutchinson who was of course the aide to mark meadows who testified to the january 6th select committee, and we would expect that she has provided similar testimony to the special counsel's office, that it was mark meadows that just days before the january 6th attack in which cassie hutchinson said he said, quote, things might get real, real bad on january 6th. and the testimony that hutchinson provided as to information that meadows is aware of i

nbc's vaughn hillyard is there for us.take us through our expectations of what we will likely be hearing from the former president in a couple of hours. >> right. i think, largely, i think it's symbolic of who is speaking here just before him. this is a several day long conference, and lauren boebert, the congress woman out of colorado, is just leaving the stage. she was preceded by the likes of jair bolsanaro, the former brazilian president who left brazil after losing his election. he has not conceded that race. instead, he is essentially here in self imposed exile. brazil, though, intends to go back. he was followed by the likes of mike lindell, who is not only propagated the idea that america's election was stolen from donald trump, but also, that bolsonaro's election was stolen. but donald trump will be the one to cap it off here today. this is a very pro trump crowd. there are questions as to whether there would be some defections among these very maga base grassroots supporters, yasmin. yet, from the folks we've tal

nbc's vaughn hillyard, we look forward to seeing you again at the top of the next hour. i'm joined now by democratic representative stacey plaskett from the u.s. virgin islands. she is that ranking members of the house select committee on the representation of the federal government. she previously served as a house manager for the second impeachment trial of donald trump. also joining us is michael beschloss, and nbc presidential story and author of many books, including presidents of war, the epic story from 1807 to modern times. welcome to you both. congresswoman, let's start with you. there is a view that this splintered gop field, right, within the party it is splintered. it's something that will wind up putting trump forward, giving him the advantage at making him the nominee. are democrats banking on that happening? and facing him in 2024 as opposed to any other candidate? >> well first can i say that i'm so happy to be here with the two michaels. michael steele from maryland, who i love, and michael beschloss of. as a history major at georgetown university, you a

. >> nbc's vaughn hillyard is in davenport, iowa. republican florida congressman david jolly. vaughn, what are we expecting from the former president tonight? >> reporter: right these realities are running parallel to one another. michael cohen is going to appear in front of that grand jury for the first time since it was impanelled by alvin bragg in january. yet, donald trump is coming and making his first iowa stop of this presidential run here today in davenport, iowa folks are already gathering here the idea behind his event is to promote his education policy proposal he's calling for the elimination of federal funding to schools that, in his words, promote gender ideology and critical race theory. he's calling for the end of teacher tenure for k-12 teachers he's calling for principals at public schools to be elected by parents. this is part of what he outlines as his education policy. of course, to note, this is not one of his traditional mega rallies. the question is does he attempt to address these investigations into him at t

address wrapping up cpac estelline, a grievance-filled speech, that lasted nearly two hours, nbc's vaughn hillyard was there, and as more from washington. vaughn? >> the scene at cpac last night made it very clear, despite nikki haley already jumping into the presidential race, and others considering the challenge as well, it will be no easy feat, to get any conservative activists harden support from former president trump. >> last night, donald trump, grabbing the harness of the maga base. >> i am thrilled to be back at cpac! >> the type of republican activist he is relying on to cap -- catapult him back into the white house. >> we are going to see this battle through to ultimate victory. we are going to make america great again. >> at cpac, the annual conservative gathering, a wild scene of a republican enthusiasts, and a crowd, overwhelmingly supportive of trump's 2024 bid. >> donald trump. >> i am a mega guy, through and through. >> ain't nobody stopping him. >> who comes to mind? >> it is like 30 21 trump over desantis. >> an arena most other possible republican contenders opted to avoid, exc

do we have vaughn hillyard back with us? >>> let's move on to the other breaking news we have. the other big news, and this is about the special counsel. evan corcoran finished his grand jury testimony in d.c. our cameras caught the trump attorney leaving after three hours of questions. he did not speak to reporters. there he is. there's also new abc news reporting according to multiple sources that mark meadows and other top trump aides will be forced to testify in the january 6th probe. nbc news has not confirmed that reporting. joining me now is former fbi general counsel and former member of robert mueller's special counsel investigation into russian interference in the 2016 election, andrew weissmann, also an msnbc legal analyst, and laura jarrett is with us. laura, let's start with you, and talk about evan corcoran going into the d.c. court today. he was compelled to testify. donald trump's team has not appealed. do we have an idea of why? >> curious, right, you would think they would have thought tooth and nail if they wanted to try to keep this out of the hands of the g

. >> nbc's vaughn hillyard with us and brendan buck former house speaker to john boehner and paul ryan msnbc political analyst. interesting that desantis himself didn't attend cpac. he's not officially running, but the straw poll had him in second place behind trump. talk about the growing political tension between the two. >> this was very much of a trump show here. donald trump has spoken at cpac consistently ever since ascending the the presidency. he built up a conservative grassroots back here. person after person i talked to over the course of the last several days said they wanted donald trump to win the republican nomination for 2024 again. yet, the reality is that donald trump is not going to be able to just walk into it. you already have nikki haley who did attend. she was greeted warmly, but far from enthusiastically. you have the likes of ron desantis and mike pence who didn't attend the conference. they're waiting on the sidelines. to know donald trump, while he's taken bunches at ron desantis on his truth social account, when i presented him the opportunity over this week

vaughn hillyard a stain rout sticking around for us thank you to her limit for you insight on this historictill to come the course o trump's republican allies so we're just talking about comin to his defense somofe their acclaim in political persecution. ♪ ...i'm over 45. ♪ ♪ i realize i'm no spring chicken. ♪ ♪ i know what's right for me. ♪ ♪ i've got a plan to which i'm sticking. ♪ ♪ my doc wrote me the script. ♪ ♪ box came by mail. ♪ ♪ showed up on friday. ♪ ♪ i screened with cologuard and did it my way! ♪ cologuard is a one-of-a kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪ (group) i did it my way! ♪ out rage has been pointed fo donald trump's republica allies, filling the news of hi indictment senator lindsey graham like in the legal indictment, to quote legal voodoo >> yeah, well i don't have t do is legal in new york, but this is legal voodoo, they'v got a misdemeanor, that's been made a felony nobody in th history of new y

joining me from davenport is the reporter i was talking about, vaughn hillyard, nbc muse correspondent. also with me, nbc news correspondent ron allen and washington post senior political correspondent ashley parker. vaughn, having been in those rooms more times than i can count, i can tell you what plays in the room doesn't necessarily play on camera bring us inside the room, inside the reaction in iowa to donald trump. >> reporter: right this is the question i think, katy, waiting the have answered here to what extent can there be two things true at once, that republican voters, the base of support that will be those iowa caucus-goers, do they enthusiastically support donald trump and still potentially like other candidates that include the likes of florida governor ron desantis i think the response to the crowd last night to donald trump for the first time on a public stage directly attacking the florida governor answered that take a listen. >> okay. so remember this, rob desanctous strongly opposed ethanol he was very, very bad on ethanol, fought it all the way he also fought again

with us now, vaughn hillyard, geoff bennett, msnbc political contributor, and chuck rosenberg, former u.s. attorney and senior fbi official and an msnbc contributor. so vaughn, how has the former president responded to this news? >> right, this is another situation which donald trump is looking to capitalize off of what would be the first indictment if he were to be charged of a former president in the united states. he referenced it at cpac over the course of the weekend, trying to galvanize a base against what he says is politically motivated prosecutors from the federal government to the district attorney's office here in manhattan, and his first contention is look, this is about the 2016 hush money payments to stormy daniels. this grand jury, to our understanding, is looking specifically at that 2016 transfer of $130,000 from donald trump to michael cohen, his former lawyer and fixer, to stormy daniels, to essentially silence her story in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. and this has nothing to do with the trump organization, to our understanding, or anything related

. >> let me bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard who is at mar-a-lago, as he has been. what's the sense there, the mood? any word from team trump today, vaughn? >> reporter: team trump has largely been donald trump himself over the last 72 hours on social media, he has continued to knock alvin bragg here, the lead prosecutors in the manhattan district attorney's office. this is a situation for donald trump where he knows based off of past litigious efforts, past investigative inquiries, the fbi raid into mar-a-lago over the national security documents, in which he's seen his poll numbers among his base really not move away from where they were before these several different instances. for donald trump this is yet again an opportunity to try to frame this to his political advantage here. for donald trump, holding up michael cohen as somebody who is not a credible source. much of what we're hearing from donald trump is similar to what we expect his defense counsel, if charges are brought against him, to hold up, that michael cohen was found guilty of lying to congressional

here is nbc's vaughn hillyard. >> the gender gap in america persisting into 2023 the efforts to closeout women in th american workforce are makin 82 cents for every dollar that men make the rate narrowing by just two cents since 2002 28-year-old sidney su works in costuming in disney, florida >> typically, female roles are seen as less it does not deserve to b compensated are the same amoun as the man's job should be >> she's one of nearly 100 union costume workers at disne fighting for a new contract an against what she says ar ingrained differences in the white women's work is viewed when compared to the roles traditionally dominated by men >> i feel like when people think about what a seamstres is, they are reminded as their grandma, fix a button on their pants. it's like, at this knee, thi job is not like that at all. all the machines we use ou industrial machines. >> sue points to delimited pay increase opportunities compare to those working and more melt dominated positions, lik rigging, tech and lighting this nape they're not return nbc's request for comment bese and a 2021 rep

nbc's vaughn hillyard spent the week at cpac and joins me onset.an page is bureau chief for "usa today." trump is reportedly gearing up. he has president been doing much. now he's reportedly not just going to go out and do rallies, but apparently, if reporting is right, policy speeches as well. what does this campaign look like going forward? >> the campaign advisers i've talked to, they intend for this to be a very deliberate campaign from donald trump making the case that he over his four years fought for conservative policies. if we go back to 2015, 2016, remember the questions we were having? it was, is donald trump actually pro-life? is he actually a fiscal conservative? >> is he serious about run? >> is he serious about running? what type of republican would he be in the white house? that's not a question this time around. we lived through those four years. donald trump is going around making the case to conservatives, stick with me, and after those four years we can do this again. a week from now he's going to iowa. the focus is the educatio

and we begin with vaughn hillyard near mar-a-lago. what is the scene like there today? obviously even though trump said that he was going to get arrested today, that hasn't happened. but is there any sense of when i something might happen? >> reporter: and donald trump called for protests and for his supporters to come out and push back against this investigation. mar-a-lago is right over my left shoulder, this is where donald trump has remained the last three days. to our understanding he has not left the property here. this is his private club here in west palm beach. to give you an idea, we'll walk over this way to show you the three to four dozen folks that have gathered here so far today. if you are looking in that direction, that is west palm beach and this is the bridgeway between west palm beach and palm beach where his private club is at. and we were talking to folks here. they were promoting this on social media. and you can see it is far from a mass protest with which one woman called it more of a party atmosphere. but of course donald trump has yet to be ind

but first, i want to get to vaughn hillyard, who's covering new york where robert costello arrived a half hour ago. we know michael cohen is expected to show up today. why these two men, and why today? >> reporter: we know that michael cohen is on hand in lower manhattan to potentially come in at the request of the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg to potentially rebut whatever testimony robert brings forward. the two went their own ways in 2019. he has since remained a close ally of maga world, representing the likes of steve bannon on numerous occasions. he is currently representing rudy giuliani in the fulton county district attorney's investigation and efforts to overturn the 2020 election. i want to be clear here about a top line when we're talking about michael cohen, and his significance as a witness in all of this. michael cohen never went to trial meaning evidence that federal prosecutors at the time suggested that they had had around his case. stemming from his relationship with donald trump, the public never saw that potentially what could be now used as corroboratin

nbc's vaughn hillyard has th story. >> the gender wage gap i america persisting in 2023 the efforts to center details how women in th american workforce are makin 82 cents per every dollar that meant make the rate narrowing by just two cents in 2002. 28-year-old cindy su works i costuming in disney, florida >> typically, female roles are seen as less, so it does not deserve to be compensated th same amount as a man's job should be. >> she is one of nearly 1000 union costuming workers in disney world fighting for a ne contract and against, what she says, are ingrained difference in the way that women's work i viewed compared to the roles traditionally dominated by men >> i feel like when people think about what a centrist is they are probably reminded o their grandma who fixed button on their pants. it's like, at this knee, thi job is not likely at all all these machines we use ou industrial machines. >> sue pointed to limited pa increase opportunities compare to those making and working an more melt dominated position like rigging, tech and lighting they say that not returned a request

joining me is vaughn hillyard and jeremy peters. i want to ask you about this.man, who has been suffering publically from clinical depression. what has been the reaction there to top republicans skipping the conference and most notably ron desantis? >> reporter: right. as it pertains to don junior, i will say they were grotesque comments and unfair as he continues to go through his own health care situation. as for the conference as a whole here, you have donald trump who will speak here tomorrow. nikki haley will speak two hours from now as well as potential presidential contender mike pompeo. let's be very clear here. this is a trump loyal base of support. ron desantis is not here. mike pence is not here. mitch mcconnell, speaker mccarthy, they are nowhere to be seen here this weekend. what you see and hear from the supporters, when i went up to one person after another, it was donald trump, donald trump, donald trump. ron desantis is young. he should wait four more years and pick up after donald trump. this is a moment where there is a base of support for don

don't ask me anymore e1question >> vaughn hillyard interviewed the former president aboard his9 rallyor stormy daniels will be appearing in court today. joining me from outside of the ew yorku is nbc news correspondent garrett haake in west palm beach inq mar-a-lago is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. you have been watchingzv■ those doors all day, i imagine if you e s have an idea of who thate1 migh be? >> reporter: katy, i'm going to walk ourfá viewers through whats a bit of a gray area right now, but an individual has just left the prosecutor's office wm looks an awfule1 lot like david pecker, theçó former head of th "national enquirer," a key figure in the entire investigation. he was someone who helped broker these payments to stormy daniels in 2016, 2017, that time period, he's also someone who has already testified once before this grand jury back in l■ january. people who laid eyes on him, took photos on him all agreed that it sureu pecker, and other news organizations including "the new york times"xdv was, in fact, david pecker. out of an abundance of caution, i'm not g

. >>> in our next hour, nbc's vaughn hillyard at cpac with some real insights after talking to voters we are at the 2023 cpac, yes. >> this place, cpac, used to be a conservative's weekend out. it was the annual gathering for the who's who across the republican party. >> the conservative movement is alive and well. >> george h.w. bush maded rounds here, and dick cheney, and george w. bush and john mccain. yet, mitt romney and paul ryan too. >> i don't see this great divide in our party. what i see is a vibrant debate. >> reporter: but the rise of donald trump has changed these halls. nikki haley, mike pompeo, ted cruz are here, but rnc chair ronna mcdaniel, and ron desantis are not. >> what does it same from the trump team's perspective about governor desantis not being here? >> the absence speaks volume. i know who is going to show up because he does every time, which is president trump. >> also not many mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy. >> what does it say about you being here versus the likes of mitch mcconnell or even a kevin mccarthy. >> if you keep going on down the line, you'

. >> let's bring in vaughn hillyard who is in west palm beach near donald trump's florida home, mar-a-lago vaughn, are we getting any reaction from mar-a-lago, from the president's team about what jonathan dienst is reporting or do we know of any preparations they're making right now for what could come? >> reporter: we have not heard from trump's counsel indicating that they have received any communication from the district attorney's office. as laura was just outlining, unless that indictment were to be unsealed, there could be the potential that the district attorney could reach out privately to donald trump's counsel and arrange for that arraignment hearing to take place. as far as we're aware right now, donald trump is still here at his mar-a-lago private club. as for donald trump himself, this morning, though, posting multiple videos in which he derides the multiple investigations into him, including this manhattan district attorney's hush money payment investigation. take a listen to part of those straight-to-camera videos. >> these four horrible, radical left democrat investigation

>> vaughn hillyard, appreciate you and your reporting so much there.it throughout the weekend. that does it for me this hour and this busy week. "jose diaz-balart reports" starts next. busy week "jose diaz-balart reports" starts next. oking at their phon? they're banking, with bank of america. see cousin jimmy over there? his girlfriend just caught the bouquet so... he might need a little more help saving. for that engagement ring... the groom's parents. you think they're looking at photos of their handsome boy? they're not! she just saw how much they spent on ballroom dance classes... won't be needing those anymore. digital tools so impressive, you just can't stop banking. did you know if you turn to cold with tide you can save up to $150 a year on your energy bill? how? the lower the temp, the lower your bill. tide cleans great in cold and saves money? i am so in. save $150 when you turn to cold with tide. next on behind the series... that performance was legendary. they just piled it on. roast beef, ham, oven roasted turkey. all on the subway club.

vaughn hillyard. meanwhile, manhattan district attorney alvin bragg is firing back it up house republicans who want to intervene in the trump match many of assignation. the congressman jim jordan, brian steele edgecomb are. who sent a letter to brag demanding the da's office provided them with documents related to the probe. in a statement, bragg rejected their request saying in part it is not appropriate for congress to interfere with pending local investigations. it's a president inquiry by federal elected officials into an ongoing matter serves only to hinder disrupt and undermine the illegitimate work of our dedicated prosecutors. joining me now 80s -- westchester county discreet ernie and former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. welcome, i'm glad you're here. give me a sense of how you interpret this statement from da brag and how unusual is it that he had to release or did release a statement at all. >> hi, great to be with you. i think what da break is saying is let

nbc's vaughn hillyard joins me on set.rman is a republican strategist and former aide to jeb bush and mitt romney. he said i'm going to follow the law. he didn't say i'm going to take this all the way to the supreme court. that's also a possibility. >> right. i will obey the law. it's clear that mike pence has consistently cooperated with investigators, with the january 6th select committee, marc short, chief of staff and other aides, they all went and testified before congress openly here. and yet again, you see him still suggesting he could potentially appeal at the same time mike pence is somebody who has written extensively about this. he has done interviews. he has talked about bt lead up to january 6th, and what you just heard from him is notable, that he could appear soon before a grand jury to testify. >> the judge's ruling is another victory for the special counsel's team. they've had several of them, right? the people who are to . >> you see the names on the board. those folks often don't comply with nbc news's r

nbc's vaughn hillyard is live from west palm beach, florida, near mar-a-lago. also, former federal prosecutor glenn kirschner. >> talk to us about that and how the former president is responding >> reporter: right, this is notable that stormy daniels is directly meeting with prosecutors. of course, to note, that does not mean that she has met with the grand jury essentially, how this process works is that manhattan district attorney alvin bragg, he tries to build his own case with evidence and potential witnesses to go before the grand jury to convince them that they should approve the charges that he would like to bring against in this case donald trump and so stormy daniels meeting with prosecutors gets that conversation going now, the question is, does she actually go before the grand jury we do not have that answer at this time. and we are still waiting to hear whether the grand jury is convening here this afternoon or not. after wrapping up their testimony with michael cohen, who testified for more than five hours over the course of two days i want to let

. >> i want to bring in nbc's vaughn hillyard in davenport, at the speech last night. kimberly atkins store, and brendan bucks. kimberly and brendan are msnbc political analysts so, brendan, if trump's first few campaign stops were considered a little bit sleepy, this seemed like vintage trump did we learn anything new, though, about him or his campaign or how he intends to run it >> he wasn't going to stay on the sidelines forever. donald trump is never really going to change at this point and probably run the exact same campaign that he has twice now and i think we need to appreciate that despite all that has happened over the last few years, donald trump is still very likely or at least highly possibly going to be the next nominee for the republican party and the people have been wanting to move on, but as we saw in iowa, the thrill is still there for a lot of people. the question is, how many people are going to be running at him he's going head on against ron desantis, and i think that is very notable ron desantis isn't even in the race yet, but donald trump knows

vaughn hillyard, blayne alexander, thank you much. joining me now is legal analyst charles coleman. i want to start with the extradition question first i don't want to get ahead of ourselves because he has not been indicted, charged. >> sure. >> and we don't know if he will. >> right. >> and that's important to put out there. but if he does and, say, he does not show up to either georgia or manhattan, desantis would have to get involved in florida, as vaughn just laid out but could he then travel to any other states if he's going to be campaigning for president and he refuses to show up for manhattan or georgia and say desantis doesn't get involved, can he go to arizona which has a democratic governor? can he go to pennsylvania which has a democratic governor? can he go to michigan which has a democratic governor? >> the answer is he can. this gets more complicated the more he does one of the reasons why is in order for the extradition process to take place, a warrant for his arrest has to issue. what would happen is his attorneys will go before the criminal court judge or the judge

joining us now nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach, florida. peter baker at "the new york times." and glen kirschner. what is the latest on the hush money probe? >> reporter: we're awaiting to see when the grand jury will reconvene. there is a chance it could be as soon as monday. and the question is, to what extent is alvin bragg wrapped up with his work? is he working on a draft indictment at this point to bring forward before the grand jurors or potentially days or weeks away? and has the intention of expanding this probe and trying to build a better case before bringing it before the grand jurors. we do not have an answer to that question. we know that donald trump is remaining here in mar-a-lago, where instead of going before that grand jury and presenting his side of his version of events, before the grand jury under oath, instead he's taken to social media, and tomorrow he is destined to go to texas, waco, texas, where he'll be holding his first formal campaign event. for donald trump, this is a wait and see what alvin bragg decides to d

vaughn hillyard there for us. thanks, sir. then, and the mission by realtime millionaire rupert murdoch's lead to potential new trouble for fox news, stemming from the dominion defamation lawsuit. , now a new agency it's looking into the networks actions, plus, the beginning of the end? walgreens now refusing to sell the abortion pill, even in states where it is legal. is there anything pro abortion rights groups, abortion rights groups, i should say, can do? we'll be right back. ight back. (screaming) defeat allergy headaches fast with new flonase headache and allergy relief! two pills relieve allergy headache pain? and the congestion that causes it! flonase headache and allergy relief. psst! psst! all good! >> welcome back, everybody. the president had a cancerous lesion removed from his chest during his physical last month. that revelation coming from the president's doctor late friday, dr. kevin o'connor, saying the biopsy confirmed it was basal cell carcinoma, a common and relatively unaddressed form of skin cancer. dr. o

joining me now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard and former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst glenn kirschner. walk us through what we know about this invitation to appear before the grand jury and how trump and his legal team are responding. >> let's start with what we believe the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg is looking at here. this is not an investigation into the trump organization or former president trump's business. the tax fraud scheme, the allegations that assets, that the valuation of assets were inflated. this has nothing to do with the efforts to overturn the 2020 election. this purely comes down to our understanding to those hush money payments that were given to stormy daniels weeks before the 2016 election. this was a matter of michael cohen, who has already served prison time for this, he pleaded guilty for transferring $130,000 that came directly from donald trump to him to stormy daniels to silence her story in the lead up to the 2016 election. now, this had been previously investigated by the manhattan d.a.'s office, but the investigation

nbc's vaughn hillyard covering this from d.c. what's the latest? >> michael cohen, the former fixer to donald trump who has already served prison time. he pled guilty in 2018 on charges that he not only falsified business records but also engaged in illegal campaign contribution stemming from that 2016 hush money payment to porn actress stormy daniels on, he says behalf of donald trump. now it's important to note that for the 20th time today, michael cohen went to meet with prosecutors from the manhattan district attorney alvin bragg's office. now, cohen expects to appear before the grand jury next week. and all of this is coming as donald trump, we are told, has also had an invitation extended to him to go and sit down with this manhattan d.a., this grand jury that has been impanelled that is investigating that very hush money payment. donald trump that has continued to deny that he had sex with stormy daniels but acknowledged giving that $130,000 to michael cohen for the purpose of paying off stormy daniels to keep her story silent. at the same t

nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard in west palm beach, florida, nbc news correspondent garrett haakeide the courthouse in new york city, and paul butler former federal prosecutor, now a professor at the georgetown university law center. he is also an msnbc legal analyst. so garrett, what do we know about what we can expect to play out in the building behind you today? >> reporter: jose, new york law allows for a targeted grand jury investigation or a witness recommended by that target to get a chance to talk to a grand jury before any decisions on an indictment will be made. and that's who robert costello will be for the trump attorneys today. costello's sole mission appears to be to try to undermine the credibility of michael cohen. everything we know centers around michael cohen at the center of those hush money payments in 2016. costello as a former legal advisory to cohen is expected to testify about michael cohen and about why he believes cohen's not credible. that's why the d.a. has cohen essentially in his back pocket able to respond to costello today and defend the testimony

joining me is vaughn hillyard, and russ buettner as well. as i mentioned, michael cohen at the center of this thing, he was asked a little bit earlier today about his reaction to the reporting coming out of "the new york times" and now our own reporting as well. what did cohen have to say? >> right, he is the key witness in all of this here, and today's meeting with the district attorney's prosecutors in lower manhattan was his notably 20th such meeting. he has not appeared before the grand jury to provide testimony at this point, but we are told he is expected to do so here this next week, and michael cohen, you'll recall in 2018, he pled guilty to multiple charges involving crimes not related to this particular hush money payment to stormy daniels, but is part of the guilty plea that did include him acknowledging at the time, he said at the direction of donald trump that he took the $130,000 from donald trump, and provided it to stormy daniels in the weeks before the 2016 election, in order to silence her story, her claim that she had had

nbc's vaughn hillyard is there for us this morning. vaughn, good morning. >> reporter: yeah, good morning, peter, that's right. there are several potential republican presidential candidates who are not appearing at this annual conservative gathering, but nikki haley, the first declared challenger to donald trump, she did step into the arena here. donald trump's stronghold on the conservative movement unclear this weekend. >> if you're tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation. i'm here to ask for your vote. >> reporter: republican presidential candidate nikki haley appearing on friday in front of a very pro-trump crowd. cpac, the annual conservative gathering, increasingly a base of support for trump. >> that says trump won. >> who do you have in 2024. >> trump. >> trump again. >> yep. >> why are we at cpac. >> donald trump! >> ron desantis and mike pence avoiding the affair, but haley, the only republican to announce a direct challenge to trump, entered the arena as trump in polling remains the favorite to hold on to the top

nbcqjf news justice, vaughn hillyard is outside mar-a-lago in palm beach, florida, with reaction from, la professor atxdÑilp the universi michigan and an msnbc legal analyst. ke this one, we just showed some video in a d.c. courthouse early him testifying in front of theñ d.c. g possible testimony? >> well, yasmin, it's a secreté proceeding. we may not know for sure what he's being asked for some i]tim. it's been very clear infá this investigation that special counsel jack smith needed to get to the bottom of whyi] donald trump's lawyers executed and signed a document back in june that said that they had looked or trump had looked for all á

. >> i want to bring into the conversation nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard live in west palm beachorida. tuesday is here, vaughn. obviously the former president said he would be arrested today. doesn't look like it's going to happen today is a safe bet. any sense in the trump camp that we are on the verge of something unprecedented, that donald trump could become the first ex-president to be indicted? are they still sticking by his post? >> look, they're not running away, eamon, from the potential indictment. if you go through the social media feeds or text with them, the indictment is front and center and when we expect the former president to go to waco, texas, for his first rally of this 2024 campaign on saturday, you should bet for him to try to take political advantage of this moment here. one ally told me this afternoon, donald trump does not want to be indicted. there is nobody who believes that going and getting arrested and then having a criminal proceeding potentially in the heart of either the republican nomination battle or the general election is advantageous. at the s

vaughn hillyard, thank you.lp in the meantime, while the new york grand jury investigation intoq donaldramped upe1 today bringinr' trump's own testify amidÑi reporting that t former preár"ent may have misle1 corcoran and governmente1 officials about the documents at mar-a-lago. corcoran left the courthouse 40 $nutes r roughly three and a half hours. let me bring in ken dilanian, joyce vance is former u.s. attorney and lawçó professor at the university ofq alabama. she is anÑilxosnbc legal analys. ken, w$at more do we know about corcoran? what is he going to tell the grand jury, and what aboutp(t%m additional documentation and evidence that he wasq supposed o turn çóover? >> reporter: chris, corcoran's testimony came afte2ñá a federa judge ruled that the department of justice has successfully shown that there was evidence that donald trump committed a crime thru,@■ hisçóçóxd attorne q)eforsr!what's known as the crime fraud exception to attorney/client privilege applies here, so you had this remarkable situation where the president's attorney is in the grand jury in that courthouse behind

s office in new york city.p,■ vaughn hillyard outside mar-a-lago in westñr palm beach and charles colemanattorney, fi prokauq=i1ñ andçó@&cnbc legal analyst here with me on set.q q1ñ five pagesñr basically to reject lawmakers' reques$'y for testimony. tell ?sf more aboutfáq that. xd chri letter was unusual because it was on time.+■i] my day job covering congress,fá almost nobody meets a congressional deadline to respond to afá letter like this unless it has a!5%áu!poena attached tou second, i'm doing my job"n■ó[■ investigating a po:% q%1■ crime in this qeqráu)ict, and g you're really only paying attentiontúqo this because donad trump falsely claimed that he would be arrested the day after you sent your letter. sofá you can think of this as aq legal brushback pitch to congress here trying to buy some time for the d.a. i do not expect #&á republicans to drop this issue. in fact, i would not be surpris. subpoena bragg to secure his or his office's cooperation here. you see that the d.a.'s office here is taking a prettyi] force% tone of theirt(ñr own. we're doing our job. this is none of your

s office in lower manhattan,xd vaughn hillyard outside mar-a-lago in west palm beach, florida, harryistant attorney general during the clinton administration and professor ofr constitutional law atfá ucla is with us as well. gabe, start us off if you i]wil just in the last couple of minutes thisq breaking, some clarification on the reconvenin■ ofe1 thisy1 grand jury. talk us through it. >> yasmin, good morning.+■q this entire grand jury process is shroudedjfp,■ in secrecy, an timing remains fluent.e1 as he mentioned resources familiarhw)háhe matter tell nbc news that grand jurors will noo t+hu)s& be considering another c, that meanslp that we expect mony could be the first day, the next day where we could learn about either another potential witness or azv■ possible indictment. so again, at this point, thin case isçóxd effectivelytxÑpause. the alleged hush money payments to stormy daniels. the grand jury has beene1 meeti you'll recall yesterday they were told notxd to come in. we were told they were ont( standby for today.Ñi again, just within the past few moments, we're learning wit