and i think that's why we saw jake sullivan walking back some of those comments. even the president himself equivocating recently. >> we're still waiting, praying, hoping, whatever you want to say, about getting more aid to these palestinians. and there's no question hamas started the war. >> absolutely. >> and hamas is using civilians as a shield, keeping hostages. but at this point there are a lot of, you know, victims who are also the palestinian civilians. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you. >> and that does it for us, this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." a newsy day. remember to follow the show on social media @mitchellreports. and you can watch highlights, the best parts of our show, anytime on youtube. just go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc

headquarters in new york city. the grand shake-up. a stunning move in the georgia elections case against donald trump. but it's not about whether d.a. fani willis stays or goes. the judge dismissing six counts in the sweeping racketeering indictment including three against the former president. what led to the decision? and what it means for trump and his co-defendants. plus the last time america pitted the same pair of presidential nominees against each other two elections in a row, gas was a quarter, a burger was less, and donald trump and joe biden were just kids. now americans have the rematch most say they never wanted but voted for anyway. and it ramps up the veepstakes for trump. what the price of admission could be. and one storm washes away more than half a million dollars' worth of investment. what an oceanfront community is now asking for after watching its brand new protective sand dune disintegrate. a lot to get to, but we

start with that breaking news out of georgia. judge scott mcafee throwing out three of the 13 criminal counts against donald trump, adding a new dose of uncertainty to a case that already has a ton of it. in all, mcafee dismissed six counts against trump and others, charges that they had solicited georgia officials to violate their oaths of office. now, two of those charges are related to evidence that to a casual observer seemed strongest. >> so look. all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state and flipping the is a great testament to our country. >> now, it's important to note that call from trump to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger has not been tossed but here's what the judge wrote. "the court's concern is less that the state has failed to

allege sufficient conduct of the defendants. in fact, it has alleged an abundance. however, the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is in the undersigned's opinion, as in the judge's opinion, fatal." so it leaves d.a. fani willis with two options. appeal the ruling or resubmit the case to a grand jury. even as she waits to hear if the judge will even allow her to stay on the case, a decision that is expected soon. i want to bring in harry litman, former u.s. attorney and former deputy assistant attorney general during the clinton administration. matthew dowd is senior msnbc political analyst. nbc's vaughn hillyard has been following this case for us. and lisa rubin is an msnbc legal correspondent. both vaughn and lisa are here with me on set. okay, harry, please explain in more detail about why the judge said these charges had to go, because in legalese, i'm going to read it again, he said, "the lack of detail concerning an essential legal element is

fatal." what happened here? >> okay. the essential legal element is how exactly they violated their oath of office. so in these six counts it says that defendants tried to push them to violate their oaths of office. mcafee says look, their oaths of office say one thing only, i'll follow the u.s. and georgia constitution. that's a really big document, and there could be hundreds of ways that you could violate it, and if they're not sure they can't prepare their defense. in the federal system and most other state systems, chris, it would be easily remedied. the prosecution would just come in and explain, okay, here's how you violated the oath. here's the clause that they pushed you to violate. it so happens that remedy is not available in georgia, which the judge lamented in a footnote. so now the options are just as you say. she can refile in a new grand jury. she can just drop them. or she can appeal. i think she may just drop them because the overt act, the

evidence itself, remains. the big rico charge remains. it's just these particular charges that say you made state officials violate their oaths of office and mcafee saying you're just not clear enough about what they did and it's too open-ended. we know the facts but we don't know exactly how they violated the constitution. and that's not enough at this stage. >> this, lisa, wasn't even on my bingo card, to be honest with you. how unusual is what just happened here, to reject charges in this way? >> well, it's sort of unusual on two levels. first of all, defendants file motions to dismiss part or all of an indictment all the time, but very rarely do they succeed. so let's start there. but the second way in which this is unusual is as harry just highlighted, in federal courts a defendant can ask for something called a bill of particulars. it's basically detail for me how it is that i was supposed to have violated the law at issue here. explain that to me so i can

adequately defend myself at trial. and as harry just referenced, in a footnote judge mcafee basically says federal courts have achieved greater efficiency with respect to this but under georgia law we can't remedy it through a motion for a bill of particulars, the only choice available to me where i see a deficiency like this is to dismiss the charges and to give the d.a. either the option of appealing my ruling or to give her six extra months to try and convene a new grand jury and reindict on these specific charges. >> yeah, it's hard to see a world in which the d.a. and her team, vaughn, are going to say sure, let's just push this back six more months. but have we heard anything from the d.a. at all? >> no, we have not heard anything from the district attorney at this point. a source familiar tells our blayne alexander down in georgia that they are currently reviewing this decision here by the judge. but look, there's different decisions that could have come out today. right? the rico charge could have been tossed or fani willis could have been disqualified from this case entirely here. so for the trump team they can call this a partial victory, to have in the case of donald trump

specifically 3 of the 13 charges against him dropped. at the same time they are still waiting for that decision, which we expect to come by friday, on whether fani willis will be able to oversee the case in its entirety going forward. >> harry, when you look at this, did the d.a. drop the ball here, not cross all the is -- cross all the ts and dot all the is? is this an error that could and should have been avoided? >> i think the answer is yes. because under georgia law as lisa and i were just saying you've got to get it all in the indictment, it's the idea that the grand jury must put it. they could have been in the grand jury and explained here's what trump was pushing on raffensperger to do, here's the oath of office they say, and here, this is the missing piece, is just how they violated or were pushed to violate their oath of office. just when they say i will do thus and so, here's what they were pushed to violate. it's a pretty essential piece. and i think given the way

georgia practice works, yeah, it is certainly at least the crossing of a t or dotting of an i, even something a little bit more. it doesn't look great for them. i do want to again say, though, the practical impact is probably slight. but i agree, it reflects on them and this is a time of trouble generally for the case. >> yeah, this hasn't been a great period of time for the district attorney's office. that's for sure, lisa. i want to talk about how this impacts the rest of the case because the order also says this. "these pleading deficiencies do not apply to the corresponding overt acts listed in count 1," that's the violation of the rico act. specifically overt acts 22, 55, 102, 112, 156. overt acts alleged as part of a conspiracy are not held to the same pleading standards as statutorily based offenses. plain language, police. >> while it's not the case the d.a. can sustain independent

criminal charges based on each of these episodes of the defendants trying to get georgia election -- i'm sorry, georgia elected officials to violate their oaths, that doesn't mean that evidence of each of these episodes can't come into the case. in fact, where a rico charge is concerned, prosecutors typically allege a series of overt acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy. and what mcafee is saying here is you can't, for example, charge donald trump with soliciting brad raffensperger to violate his oath of office but you sure can use that call as part of the evidence in favor of the rico charge and you can consider that to be one of the required overt acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy. overall, chris, this doesn't have a ton of impact on this case. each of the six defendants here that moved to dismiss on these bases, none of them got rid of all the charges against them. the one who ended up i think best off is mark meadows, who only had two counts against him. that was the rico count and the

count regarding the january 2nd, 202 1 brad raffensperger call. that raffensperger call is out against him but they're still facing the big kahuna the rico call. zblnts huge but it's also complicated stuff. is it the kind of thing you expect trump to take on the campaign trail and say look, here you go, these people brought these charges, even the judge who he hasn't exactly had friendly words to say about, even the judge said this case is weak. >> i mean, i don't think -- i disagree with one part of this, that the trump campaign will describe this as a partial win. that's not what the trump campaign will do. the trump campaign will describe this as a huge victory. right? whether it is or not doesn't matter. he's going to describe it that way. i'm also sort of taken with this, as i have been over the last few months, is we are at a point of time in our american history where judges aren't going to save our democracy,

lawyers aren't going to save our democracy, juries aren't going to save our democracy, it's up to we the voters to save our democracy and preserve the constitutional principles that exist there. to quote gandhi in this from more than 80 years ago, we are the change that we seek in the world of this. because any little tiny crack, however we describe it, may be small, doesn't impact the majority of the case, donald trump is going to go to his base and say see? i told you. and even though it only applies to maybe 1% of everything that is going against donald trump, he's going to say it applies to everything, this is all a sham, this is all a fiction, and the judge has thrown out these -- thrown out these indictments against me and you should ignore all of it. that's what he's going to do. so ultimately in my view as i observe the landscape going forward what's going to ultimately decide what happens with donald trump in the country is the voters. >> yeah. and i hear that more from democrats, vaughn, worried about

people who say i'm just going to wait for one of these trials to knock donald trump out of it. that's not the message that democrats want. we said this earlier. this is not the case that we followed so closely, which is will fani willis be able to continue, will she no longer be on the case. where does that stand right now? >> we are waiting for judge mcafee and we expect that decision to come within the next 48 hours or so now. look, this has been a turbulent seven months. standing outside of that fulton county jail there when donald trump's motorcade came in. and fani willis was hoping to have this case be heard even before the 2024 election. that's not where we find ourselves. and to matthew's point here, for donald trump it's not about the overall performance. right? if you're on the balance beam and you have a little tilt here or there, right? they're going to call it out. and even if judge mcafee doesn't throw fani willis off the case, he will use that on the campaign trail like he has at every single rally since that evidentiary hearing to call out that this is a romantic

relationship that was purely motivated to get donald trump. right? so it doesn't -- even if the case is not dismissed in its entirety from fani willis's hands, they're still going to try to use this, which over the course of those seven months if we'd said we'd be at this point now, it's the last thing the district attorney or anybody hoping for the prosecution of donald trump would have wanted. >> lisa, do you glean or should we glean anything from the fact that the judge -- and he said two weeks ago by next friday, meaning two days from now i expect to hand down my decision about fani willis, that he decided to put this out before then? >> it's a little bit of judicial housekeeping i would say. right? sometimes judges are trying to sort of narrow the case before them, really clarify what the case is about before it moves into a different phase of pretrial proceedings. so chris, one part of me says he did this so that when he decides that fani willis can remain on the case she knows what she's dealing with, she can hit the go button again and start preparing

to try the remaining defendants on some other timeline other than august. but there's another part of me that says he did this so that an indictment as culled by him can also be handed to the prosecuting counsel of georgia and some future prosecutor will understand fully what the case for them will look like. i could go either way on that. i just think you've got judge scott mcafee trying to figure out what this case looks like going forward because the motion is to disqualify her, not to get rid of the case entirely. >> 48 hours we should know. vaughn hillyard, harry litman, lisa rubin, thank you. matthew, you're going to stay with me. in a different legal case for former president trump, his former attorney and fixer michael cohen is right now we're told in the manhattan d.a.'s office preparing for the hush money trial. that one set to begin in just 12 days. he is expected to be the star witness, and prosecutors are prepping him for both direct and cross. that should be interesting.

in 60 seconds, an historic presidential rematch. what voters are already saying in two very critical battleground states. >> i do not support either donald trump nor president biden. >> i'm not happy with either one, and i've not seen anything from either party that makes me feel confident or happy. y. (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) now we're even smarter and ready for what's next. (vo) achieve enterprise intelligence. it's your vision, it's your verizon. >> woman: what's my safelite story? i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, i chose safelite. they replaced the glass and recalibrated my safety system.

that's service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ breathing claritin clear is like... (♪♪) is he? confidently walking 8 long haired dogs and living as if he doesn't have allergies? yeah. fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms, like nasal congestion. as sequels go this will be one for the history books. the first presidential rematch in nearly 70 years. >> this was a great day, a victory. last week was something very special. super tuesday. but now we have to get back to work because we have the worst president in the history of our country. his name is joe biden. sometimes referred to as crooked joe biden. and he must be defeated. >> today's the day to call to action, with your voice, with your power, with your vote. come november we will vote in

record numbers. and we can do it. are you ready to win this election? >> but today for all the strength that joe biden and donald trump have shown by gliding to their nominations, finally finishing it up last night, both show stark vulnerabilities for the general election. biden weakened by voter discontent over the economy, immigration, the war in gaza. trump plagued by lackluster fund-raising, four criminal cases and a long track roared of losing. the 2020 election about 60 lawsuits challenging those results. and 2022 losses by candidates he backed. and voters don't frankly like either of them very much. >> i do not support either donald trump nor president biden. >> i'm not happy with either one, and i've not seen anything from either party that makes me feel confident or happy. >> so voters get the rematch they dread.

expected to be won or lost in perhaps just half a dozen states. and to redefine bitter, nasty expensive campaigns. by the way, in 1956 in that other rematch the incumbent president, dwight d. eisenhower, again defeated adlai stevenson in a landslide. and they really didn't like each other either. nbc's blayne alexander is reporting in atlanta. nbc's marissa para is in doral, florida. blayne, in georgia some democrats are brace forget a tough fight ahead. what are you hearing there? >> you know, chris, in the wake of the 2020 election georgia really was kind of heralded as this great example for other states to follow, other state democrats to follow in how to turn a reliably red state blue. we saw it with joe biden. we saw it with sending jon ossoff and raphael warnock to the u.s. senate. but i've spent a lot of time over the past 24 hours or so talking with both democrats and republicans. the same people who are kind of going out knocking on doors, being organizers and rallying to

get that very key crucial young and black vote. and some of the democrats tell me that they're concerned, this is going to be a fight, it's going to be an uphill climb this time around for a number of reasons. democrats acknowledge that it took a special set of circumstances to flip georgia blue in 2020. you're talking about a global pandemic, unrest when it comes to racial tensions, and then of course a number of other things that really drove out that youth and black vote. all of that's gone this time around. certainly a very different look than it was back in 2020. i do want to point your attention to a new poll. and this is something that democrats are pointing to as well. that shows that the range between biden and trump is getting closer. a new cbs poll this morning shows that trump is leading biden by about three percentage points here in the state of georgia. that's within the poll's margin of error. and that's a closer gap than we saw on a similar poll back in january. so both democrats and republicans see an opening here in all of this. and republicans say that the key is going after those suburban

voters. now, to that point we've spoken to some suburban voters about what they think. are they able to be swayed either way? here's a little bit of what they had to say. take a look. >> i don't think president biden has been really good on foreign policy, the border, the economy, anything. for president trump i think he's involved in too many disputes, things going on, court cases, so forth. >> i don't like the nastiness. i don't like not caring about people. joe truly seems to care. he's done a lot of good things. people don't give him credit for it. >> reporter: so something that stands out to me, chris, in talking to voters on either side of the aisle, nobody's particularly excited about the candidate at the top of their ticket. that's clear. we know that. that's why these organizers say that their goal isn't to necessarily sell the candidate but to more so talk about okay, here's how it's going to benefit you personally, kind of empower them to know their vote can make

a difference. and one other thing i'll say that a democrat told me yesterday when talking about factors that would unite the party, he said there's nothing that's going to unite democrats like the cause of beating donald trump. and he says the fact that donald trump is going to be on the ballot again is going to be the single greatest tool in their arsenal in trying to keep the state blue this time around. >> so marissa, you're in a florida county that was once a democratic stronghold and now may be republican, republicans' to lose. what are you hearing from voters there? >> reporter: hey, chris. well, good to be with you. and i'll start first with some context on why we're looking at miami-dade to begin with. so obviously the last presidential election we know that in florida trump won florida but he did not win miami-dade county. biden did. but when you look at the numbers you're going to see a democratic erosion in support. you'll see that even though biden won the county of miami-dade he did not have the same support that clinton and barack obama did during their

respective elections. so when we look at the midterms, the last midterms, that's where you can really see the trend towards the right. governor ron desantis winning the entire county by 11 points. and listen, we know miami-dade is made up of mostly latinos. and we've reported previously on the small conservative support within cubans, the cuban population here. in contrast with what we just heard blayne talking about where she was not seeing strong support for either candidate, i've definitely heard a lot of support for former president trump. i've definitely heard that before. but one thing i find really interesting is when we do find latinos who might be either voting for biden, wanting to vote for biden or maybe not really the biggest fan of either of them including not a big fan of trump, i notice a lot of hesitancy to say that because there is so much pressure within latinos here, and so we did speak to one person who didn't want to tell us who he was voting for but he did speak to the pressure within the latino community specially here in miami-dade. take a listen. >> so when you're talking to

people, whether it's your cuban friends in miami or venezuelan friends in miami, what are you hearing? are you hearing people wishing they could support desantis, missing trump? >> i don't talk politics because i don't want to lose my friends. >> because that's the state of politics right now, where you think you would lose your friends. >> yes. and i respect everybody's view. everybody has a right to be who they want to be. and it's getting difficult. you get labeled if you go one way or another. i mean, it's just -- it's difficult nowadays. >> reporter: so within miami-dade county we chose to be right here in doral for a couple of reasons, chris. one of them being this has one of the strongest venezuelan populations. so it's a reminder that although we have about half of the latino community within the county is cuban there are so many other populations here. and one of the important points i want to end with here is doral is a place that once was

strongly democratic, in the last presidential election we saw it was almost 50-50. it swung by a hair in trump's favor. so republicans here, republican strategists really think that they can lock in on places like this one and have the county swing in their favor this time around. chris? >> marissa parra, blayne alexander, thanks to both of you. coming up, tiktok in limbo. as a bill to ban the app now heads to the senate. we'll go to capitol hill for the latest. you're watching "chris jansing reports," only on msnbc. for neutrogena® retinol? that's whenever you want it to be. it has derm-proven retinol that targets vital cell turnover, evens skin tone, and smooths fine lines. with visible results in just one week. neutrogena® retinol

your brain is an amazing thing. but as you get older, it naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. the secret is an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve memory. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. hey! asthma's got you going through it? grab nucala for fewer asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred.

don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask an asthma specialist if nucala is right for you. some migraine attacks catch you off guard, but for me a stressful day can trigger migraine attacks too. that's why my go to is nurtec odt. it's the only migraine medication that can treat and prevent my attacks all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion and stomach pain. now i'm in control. with nurtec odt i can treat a migraine attack and prevent one. talk to your doctor about nurtec today. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long

but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. (vo) if you have graves' disease... for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. ...and itchy eyes, the truth may be even more uncomfortable. people with graves' could also get thyroid eye disease, or t-e-d, which may need a different doctor. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com.

you can make money the hard way as a bullfighter or a human cannonball... or save money the easy way, with xfinity mobile. existing customers can get a free line of our most popular unlimited plan for a year! not only will you save hundreds but you'll also be joining millions who have connected to america's most reliable 5g network. sure is a lot safer than becoming a stuntman for money. get a free line of unlimited intro for a year when you buy one unlimited line. visit xfinitymobile.com today to learn more.

the clock is ticking on one of the most popular social media apps in america. a bill just passed the house that would effectively ban tiktok in the u.s. if the app does not cut ties with its chinese parent company, bytedance. as punchbowl news's co-founder jake sherman put it on x, the bill had a lot of strange bedfellows. texas republican chip roy siding with speaker nancy pelosi, speaker emerita nancy pelosi. among those voting against staunch trump supporter marjorie taylor greene and gen z florida democrat maxwell frost. the bill is making its way to the senate. i want to bring in julie tsirkin. how are things standing right now? >> chris, it's really not clear. that's in part because of the tepid statement release bid chuck schumer moments after the house overwhelmingly passed

this, 365-65. you don't see any more bipartisan votes like that recently. and schumer had said simply that they are reviewing the legislation after it makes its way from the house to the senate, yesterday telling reporters as well that he's instructed his committee chairs to take a look at this, suggesting perhaps that the senate is not going to fast-track this measure like the house did. in part of course the house did so because of national security concerns, because of the republican and democrat, the top two leading on the bipartisan china committee looking into the way foreign adversaries are capitalizing on us in some ways by using tiktok. but for the senate's part we did have a bipartisan statement from the heads of the intelligence committee, i'm talking about senator mark warner and marco rubio. i want to read you part of it. they said, "we were encouraged by today's strong bipartisan vote in the house of representatives and look forward to working together to get this bill passed through the senate and signed into law. chris, i'm told that certainly senate leadership were keeping a

very close eye to see how the vote unfolded in the house today with such a strong overwhelmingly bipartisan showing here. they are inclined i'm told to potentially put this on the floor. but still as you gauged from leader schumer here, as you gauged from some of the other folks opposed to this including republicans who cited first amendment protections, civil liberties protections, they're kind of slow-walking this as of now and it's not clear if they're going to put it on the floor anytime soon. >> julie tsirkin, thank you for that. and a california congressman who was one of just 65 no votes on the bill joins me in our next hour to explain why he disagrees with the majority in the house. an oceanfront community in massachusetts thought they had a solution to the constant threat of beach erosion. but it took just one storm to wash it away. residents of salisbury beach poured $600,000 of their own money into the effort, trucking in 15,000 tons of sand to form a protective dune in front of their homes. when tides rose just four days later, half of that sand was gone in a matter of minutes.

>> as homeowners we're kind of spitting into the wind here. you don't just walk away from that. >> i won't give up. i keep going. >> the neighborhood is now asking for the state's help to help fund future protection efforts. and coming up, the veepstakes. who's on trump's short list, and could he shake up the race? ce the future is not just going to happen. you have to make it. and if you want a successful business, all it takes is an idea, and now becomes the future. a future where you grew a dream into a reality. it's waiting for you. mere minutes away. the future is nothing but power and it's all yours.

the all new godaddy airo. get your business online in minutes with the power of ai. breathing claritin clear is like... (♪♪) is he? confidently walking 8 long haired dogs and living as if he doesn't have allergies? yeah. fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms, like nasal congestion. gwen: hi, we've both got a big birthday coming up. so we have a lot of questions wabout medicare plans., anne: we've got a lot of answers. how can i help? fran: well for starters, do you include hearing benefits? anne: how about a plan with dental, vision and hearing benefits? gwen: i sure like the sound of that! anne: then how does a zero dollar monthly plan premium sound? gwen & fran: ooooooooh! [laughs] avo: if you're new to medicare, call 1-888-65-aetna.

we'll walk you through all your coverage and benefit options to help find the right plan for you. if you're living with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis or active psoriatic arthritis, symptoms can sometimes take you out of the moment. now there's skyrizi, so you can show up with clearer skin... ...and show it off. ♪ nothing is everything ♪ with skyrizi, you could take each step with 90% clearer skin. and if you have psoriatic arthritis, skyrizi can help you get moving with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. thanks to skyrizi, there's nothing like clearer skin and less joint pain, and that means everything.

♪ nothing is everything ♪ ask your doctor about how skyrizi could help with your skin or joint symptoms. learn how abbvie could help you save.

with the presidential ballot now set, let the veepstakes begin. a race with potentially more color and drama than the presidential race. a trump short list is said to actually be a long one including folks he's mentioned like tim scott and kristi noem. but speculation has included everyone from kari lake to tucker carlson. the top qualification is likely loyalty to trump himself. but nbc news is also reporting today that the former president has been focused heavily on abortion, worried that a running mate who's too hard line on that issue could repel voters. beyond that, whether trump will go full maga, up for a woman or a person of color or in true trump style go completely off the grid, all remains to be seen. let me bring in nbc's dasha burns from south florida. robert gibbs is former white house press secretary. matthew dowd is back with me. matthew, conventional wisdom would say you pick a running mate that helps to expand your appeal. but when you're an

unconventional donald trump, what do you think happens here? >> well, i don't think donald trump's going to look at this strategically at all. he's just going to look at it -- i think the three qualifications that he's looking at for vice president are are they a follower, are they a pushover, and are they a sycophant. and if you're all those three apply, that's who he wants in this. so from my vantage point i don't think you can change the way people look at donald trump by picking a vp. though i think practically the importance of vps in this election, it's probably never been more important with two of the oldest candidates to ever run for president. so becomes important. but donald trump is going to pick somebody, and i always thought that mike pence was kind of a pushover but not near enough that donald trump, for what donald trump wants. so that's the main category, are they a sycophant. and i don't think he cares about politically the consequences of this because he probably knows deep down there's no way voters are going to change their

viewpoint of him because he picked a vice presidential candidate. >> i do think, though, robert, that it is a good point that when you have two candidates who are that old but also frankly who are not liked that maybe the vp matters a little bit more than it typically does. how do you think trump is going to go about making this decision? >> well, i tend to agree with matthew that i'm not sure it's going to be terribly strategic. if you wanted to be strategic, though, you would look for a running mate that expands the electorate that you're appealing to and gives you some ability to draw voters that you might not otherwise have a great entry into. i think if you look back at the pence pick he was clearly trying to stabilize conservatives who were concerned about him. i think he's going to watch a lot of tape about whether somebody's an effective messenger, whether they can deliver in a tv interview, and then i think the other qualification is somebody who's

both effective but doesn't overshadow him. i've been on -- i've been thinking that elise stefanik, tim scott, those are probably names right at the top of his list. they tend to expand a little bit the base that he's talking to. they tend to be effective messengers. people that have been either in leadership or run for president. but also not in danger of overshadowing the big name on the bumper sticker. >> dasha, we don't hear about trump digging into policy questions very often. but as you report, abortion has caught his attention. what can you tell us? >> yeah, sources tell me he's really been laser focused on this issue since the 2022 midterms when he felt that some of the candidates that he himself endorsed got it wrong on the issue the way that they campaign on it, the way they talked about it and turned off voters. he's been really focused on trying to figure out how the republican party can appeal to folks on this issue. and he's been concerned, and along with some of his advisers

and donors that i talk to that if he chooses a vp that's a little bit too hard-line on the issue that that could be problematic. and the two names that came up as i was talking to sources, the most were south carolina senator tim scott and south dakota governor kristi noem. south dakota has an all-out abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. of course scott was very vocal about his anti-abortion positions while he was on the campaign trail. there was one anecdote a source told me who was present for a dinner at mar-a-lago recently where trump was making his usual rounds around the table to dinner guests sitting out on the patio at mar-a-lago and someone brought up the abortion issue and how it was potentially problematic and trump started going around to various guests asking about what they thought about tim scott's abortion position, would it potentially turn off voters. this has been very much top of mind. and he really wants to try to lead the republican party into a different direction in terms of

how they talk about this issue but at the same time, chris, of course he often takes credit and did lead the charge of overturning roe vs. wade with the supreme court justices he appointed. so he's sort of walking a fine line there, trying to straddle both of these things, but does see it as an advantage for democrats and a potential vulnerability for republicans and he's trying to avoid having that issue become his own achilles heel with his vp pick, chris. >> robert, i wonder if in modern politics there are more scientific ways perhaps to figure out what voters are looking for than going table to table, just throwing that out there. and also noting that dasha said he believes some of his candidates that he endorsed in 2022 got it wrong, not that he got it wrong. he picked them and endorsed them. if you were a betting man, though, do you think it would be somebody who's on that board over there? we can show it again. could it be somebody totally off

the reservation, so to speak, somebody who's not even in the game that we think is in the game? >> look, it's always a possibility. i tend to believe as we think through these things and we put names on here, i tend to believe that the more sort of safe picks, if you will, people that have, again, been through the process, who understand a little bit of what it's like to get 15 microphones stuck in front of your face and have to respond to something that happens on a campaign trail is much better than somebody who's come from outside of the game who has no idea what they're getting themselves into. so much more likely that you have shown the picture of who that's going to be than not. >> matthew, speaking of maga base, a number of the people and we referenced this, considered to be on the short list, have been asked recently about whether they would have done what mike pence did in 2020,

which is not stick with donald trump in his mind. it's an uncomfortable question for some. here's what they said. >> if i had been vice president, i would have told the states like pennsylvania, georgia and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and i think the u.s. congress should have fought over it from there. >> i would not have done what mike pence did. i don't think that was the right approach. >> if you have state officials who are violating the election law in their states because of a emergency without going through the legislative process, which is by our constitution and by every law in our states, then no. >> at the end of the day when it comes to trump and again, as you say, follower, pushover, sycophant, loyalty first and foremost, does that narrow the field very quickly or when you look at the republican party today does it mean he has pretty much almost everybody that he could choose from?

>> well, just by your showing those answers to that question, i don't think it eliminates many people because i think the republican party has become the party of overthrow the constitution and diminish our democracy. so if there was i acandidate out there that said i would have done exactly what mike pence wants to do, they're gone, they're not on the list, and they probably will be primaried in this because of where the republican voters are. we still -- as of today nearly four years later 2/3 of republican voters say the election was illegal and joe biden didn't win the election. we still have that today. that answer to that question, as you showed, is where the republican base is, which is exceedingly unfortunate and dangerous in our country. >> matthew dowd, dasha burns, robert gibbs, more to come. thank you both. thank you all. we appreciate it. and coming up, is prime minister benjamin netanyahu's government in trouble? the findings from a new u.s.

intel report. plus nbc news is there when a convoy of law enforcement cars roll up on a mansion that they say is home to a lucrative crime ring. the alleged scheme involving so much luxury makeup for sale online. (ella) fashion moves fast. (jen) so we partner with verizon to take our operations to the next level. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. (ella) we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (jen) that's enterprise intelligence. (vo) it's your vision, it's your verizon. zyrtec allergy relief works fast and lasts a full 24 hours so dave can be the... deliverer of dance. ok, dave! let's be more than our allergies. zeize the day with zyrtec. [dog whimpers] [thinking] why always the couch? does he need to go to puppy school? get his little puppy diploma? how much have i been spending on this little guy?

when your questions about life turn into questions about money... there's erica. the virtual financial assistant to help you spend, save, and plan smarter. only from bank of america. fair, freckled, or melanated. we are appreciated. ultra hydrated. glazed and glowing. confidence overflowing. vaseline lotions 90% more moisture for my one-of-a-kind skin. and there's no other skin i want to be in. ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists photographing thousands of miles of remote coral reefs. that can be analyzed by ai in real time. ♪

so researchers can identify which areas are at risk. and help life underwater flourish. ♪ when my doctor gave me breztri for my copd, things changed for me. breztri gave me better breathing, symptom improvement, and reduced flare—ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost.

you know that thing your family does? someone made it a thing, back in the day. but where did it come from? ancestry can help you find out. lucky you, it's on sale now. [stomach growling] it's nothing... sounds like something. ♪when you have nausea, heartburn, indigestion♪ ♪upset stomach, diarrhea♪ pepto bismol coats and soothes for fast relief when you need it most. ( ♪ ♪ )

start your day with nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and supplement brand. when i first learned about my dupuytren's contracture, my physician referred me to a hand specialist. and i'm glad he did, because when i took the tabletop test, i couldn't lay my hand flat anymore. the first hand specialist i saw only offered surgery. so, i went to a second hand specialist who also offered nonsurgical options - which felt more right for me. so, what i'd say to other people with dupuytren's contracture is this: don't wait —find a hand specialist trained in nonsurgical options, today. i found mine at findahandspecialist.com. the nation's highest court

-- we need to keep this going. we've lost a guest. so we have something fresh for you, live television, people. we're going to take a break apparently. coming up, fortifying the blue wall. we'll be back. hopeful get our technical difficulties solved. we'll be right back. iculties so. we'll be right back. we partnern to take our operations to the next level. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network. (ella) we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (jen) that's enterprise intelligence. (vo) it's your vision, it's your verizon. everywhere but the seat. the seat is leather. alan, we get it. you love your bike. we do, too. that's why we're america's number-one motorcycle insurer. but do you have to wedge it into everything? what? i don't do that. this reminds me of my bike. the wolf was about the size of my new motorcycle. have you seen it, by the way? happy birthday, grandma! really? look how the brushstrokes follow the line of the gas tank. -hey! -hey! brought my plus-one. jamie? i know what it's like

to perform through pain. if you're like me, one of the millions suffering from pain caused by migraine, nurtec odt may help. it's the only medication that can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks. treat and prevent, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. relief is possible. talk to a doctor about nurtec odt. [coughing]

copd hasn't been pretty. it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd because breathing should be beautiful. (bobby) my store and my design business?

askwe're exploding.ut once-daily trelegy for copd but my old internet, was not letting me run the show. so, we switched to verizon business internet. they have business grade internet, nationwide. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. morikawa on 18. he is really boxed in here. -not a good spot. off the comcast business van. into the vending area. oh, not the fries! where's the ball? -anybody see it? oh wait, there it is! -back into play and... aw no, it's in the water.

wait a minute... are you kidding me? you got to be kidding me. rolling towards the cup, and it's in the hole! what an impossible shot brought to you by comcast business. the european union is accusing israel of using starvation as a weapon in gaza. now a u.s. intelligence assessment concludes that prime

minister benjamin netanyahu's hard-line policies on palestinians could vent lead to his -- eventually lead to his fall from power. it reads, distrust of netanyahu's ability to rule has deepened and broadened across the public from its already high levels before the war, and we expect large protests demanding his resignation and new elections. a different, more moderate government is a possibility. joining us, michael crowley, diplomatic correspondent for the "new york times." glad we got your shot up. there's been talk for months netanyahu's in trouble. history has shown him to be remarkably resilient. is his play to just weather the storm, press ahead, wait it out? what can you add to this conversation? >> yeah. thanks for having me. i do sometimes think of benjamin netanyahu a little bit like donald trump who people constantly say this is it, he's done, he can't come back, he's going to jail, he said something that from which he'll never

recover, and somehow he survives. he's an incredible survivor. he's now been around in and out of power in israel for going on 30 years. but i think like trump, again, he really does fear the possibility, the real possibility that he could go to prison on corruption charges for which he's on trial. israel has jailed a former prime minister, so it's something that that country is prepared to do. and you know, by the best accounts of people who understand israeli politics that i hear, he's trying to hang on in part, you know, whether it's conscious or not, whether he's following a deliberate strategy, being in power and paging a war against hamas which is popular in israel now, is keeping his head above water. his goal is to avoid a reckoning of the attacks on october 7th over which he presided. and he is in a pretty good position, as long as he's helping to command the military

and fight hamas. i don't think that there's a clear off-ramp strategy for him. when you don't know exactly how you get out of a situation you muddle through. if you have a good thing going in the sense of good where he's holding onto power, you keep it going. the concern and the most cynical interpretation is that he actually has an incentive or a desire to extend the war. i don't know that we can say that that's true, but that's the dynamic we're looking at. >> i mean, here's part of the problem -- if i go back to that intelligence assessment, it says, "israel probably will face linger armed resistance from hamas for years to come, and military will struggle to neutralize hamas' underground infrastructure which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength, and surprise israeli forces." if that assessment is anywhere near correct and he has been very clear that the destruction of hamas is what his end goal is, is the end goal years away? >> chris, it could be.

you have to think about, number one, you know, defeating hamas militarily is going to be very difficult. there's still at least two battalions left in the rafah area. netanyahu says he's going to go into rafah, but it could force a split with the united states. let's say that they do go in, they destroy those last battalions, hamas neutralizes a military force, you're still going to have survivors, you're still going to have insurgents and guerillas, and you're going to have the families and friends of tens of thousands of palestinians who were killed in gaza. and a lot of those people are going to be radicalized and be essentially out for vengeance. i think it's really difficult to imagine that there's not going to be violence and fighting in gaza for a long time. now, can netanyahu hold on for months and even years to pursue that and prosecute that? i think it's really hard to say. a lot depends on the relationship with the united states. part of it might depend on who

the president of the united states is in several months. so we're just going to have to wait and see. but i do think that his best ticket to staying out of jail right now, however you want to interpret that, it's sort of unfortunate, may be waging war in gaza. >> michael crowley from "the new york times." always good to have you on the show. thanks, michael. we have a lot to cover in our second hour of "chris jansing reports." right now, a dramatic twist in donald trump's georgia elections case. why the judge just dropped three counts against the former president. mind-numbingly dangerous, that's how the feds describe a january 6th defendant they're trying to keep behind bars. what he's accused of doing. fortifying the blue wall. wisconsin voters with some advice for joe biden if he wants to win that battleground state. and rfk jr.'s vp short list. will he pick a famous nfl quarterback or former governor who once starred in "predator"