(♪♪) [shaking] itchy pet? (♪♪) with chewy, save 20% on your first pharmacy order so you can put an end to the itch. get flea and tick medication delivered right to your door. [panting] right now on "ana cabrera reports." the race nor the white house, two campaigns, two very different easter messages. the big question, can trump do anything to turn off his

evangelical base? also ahead, a new deadline for the former president. days left to post a $175 million bond. does he have the money? alec murdaugh back in court facing sentencing for financial crimes. how much longer he could face behind bars, and did he break his plea deal? later, a massive cleanup today in baltimore. the plan to get the mangled remains out of the collapsed bridge out of the water and this busy port back open. hello. it's good to be with you. it is 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with two presidential campaigns and two very different easter messages. donald trump marking the holiday attacking political opponents in all caps, unleashing on prosecutors in his various trials, posting more than 70 times, posts like this on social

media and making false claims about an easter egg contest at the white house. meanwhile, president biden who is anticipating in the annual white house easter egg roll at this very moment posted about the power of hope and the holiday. joining us is nbc's vaughn hillyard with me in new york. former congress members barbara comstock and david jolly. from the two men who want to win back the white house, trump has made a point to really appeal to the evangelical base. he's out there selling bibles now, and this is how he spends easter? this is his message? >> quite something watching easter unfold for anyone following the truth social skt of donald j. trump. he had multiple posts in which he was promoting pieces that were mocking the transgender day of visibility. there are more than 75 posts in

total. others said happy easter to all, including those that i completely and totally despise because they want to destroy america. he posted another ally's message saying it's not a crime to twist political arms, how donald trump told mike pence that certifying the 2020 election would be a, quote, career killer. posted another piece by a right wing ally in which it referred to, quote, the crucifixion of donald trump. another piece he posted had, quote, the chosen one. this is the part of this piece that a trump ally wrote. do you believe in miracles? what's happening in supernatural. everyone is starting to see it, everyone is starting to believe. trump is, quote, the chosen won, trump is sent by god and blessed by god. the former president posting that article. trump continues to try to legitimize his grievances. it want everyone to listen to president biden this morning talking with our colleague al roker outside the easter egg roll. >> i just think people are so

tired of the negativity that is propagated, that they just want to get engaged, they want to change things. i'm optimistic. i really am. >> that's president biden talking about optimism. donald trump has a little different version of optimism here, but it's one that the american public is going to see in great context the next seven months if easter is any sign of that. >> congressman jolly, your thoughts on these contrasting messages. are americans, should americans be optimistic? are they tired of the stuff that trump is posting? >> i think they are. let's be honest, i think millions of americans saw yesterday and were reminded of someone they see as an unwell and angry man. frankly, that hits among a political demographic that donald trump should be worried about going into november. his attacks on the transgender community are arguably theer logically very unsound and also

politically ridiculous. why would you be out there with a megaphone saying i want to deny equity and inclusivity on a day when people should be celebrating what things them together through faith. politically what's most important about this and i think what joe biden is referring to, we talk about this being a coalition election. joe biden needs -- the persuadables, one of the reasons they're questioning whether they can vote for donald trump again is they're tired of him and tired of his anger and his antics, much less his threats to the institutions that keep our country together. joe biden sees that in this mythical nikki haley voter, let's say. that coalition that can decide the election in seven states is the coalition that looked at yesterday and said i don't think i want to go back to donald trump. >> let's for a moment focus on his appeal with the evangelical

voter. it want you to listen to what senator and reverend raphael warnock said about trump selling bibles. >> the bible doesn't need donald trump's endorsement, and jesus in the very last week of his life chased the money chasers out of the tellable. >> congresswoman comstock, does he risk alienating the evangelical base by acting the way he is, selling bibles on one hand, using religious holidays to attack opponents and prosecutors and judges and family members of theirs on the other? >> listen, the 7% in the seven states that are going to decide the election are women. they are disproportionately women. they aren't necessary evangelicals, but the violent rhetoric he used on friday, that

bound and gagged imagery of joe biden, that's the kind of thing that turns women off. the misogyny turns women off. this weekend liz cheney had a huge event where she was talking about all of the problems of donald trump. and those ads that joe biden is now doing, appealing to the nikki haley voters are very effective because they're also being complemented by ads targeting the very same people from republicans against trump. we need to remember that there's not -- there's almost no republicans who served in donald trump's administration who support him, including his own vice president who actually was probably in church yesterday, like i was, and donald trump -- the bible salesman, the huxter donald trump doesn't appear to have been in church yesterday while he was doing that 70-plus posts attacking, i might note, mike gallagher from wisconsin,

one of those swing states. when he goes in there and attacks people in wisconsin, that's also paul ryan's home state. paul ryan is not supporting donald trump. so those seven states, the 7% of people who are going to support him, he's turning them off every day. he's still attacking ron desantis who is somebody who has already endorsed him. so the real problem is the seven states and all the republicans he keeps attacking while joe biden's reaching out to people, and he's going to have a lot of republicans who are going to be supporting him. >> one of the things that he was putting on social media or sort of reposting that vaughn mentioned was this article by michael bender of "the new york times" who wrote about the, quote, church of trump, and trump's evangelical base. he quotes one supporter of saying, i'll reiterate this quote. he's definitely been chosen by god. he's still surviving even though all these people are coming

after him, and i don't know how else to explain that other than divine intervention. that is a direct quote from one of trump's evangelical supporters. congressman jolly, what's your reaction? can trump do no wrong with this group? >> well, i think it depends on how narrowly tailored we want to make the evangelical demographic, if you will. for many they see donald trump as a perfect vessel despite his own imperfections. almost a tenet of the evangelical crist y'all movement, somebody despite all his imperfections who delivered the repeal of roe in the dobbs decision. they see god working through donald trump despite his imperfections. at times vanity can go too far. they may be thinking is this is guy in competition with jesus christ. he was intimidated by the attention jesus christ got on easter. it cuts against all the other

teachings of the evangelical christian movement. i think the evangelical church will remain behind donald trump in lockstep. however, there is some bleed depending on how wide we make that lane. some evangelical women are sitting in the pews yesterday saying i'm not voting for donald trump because i think the roe framework is better. those voters matter to joe biden getting re-elected. >> let's talk about this post getting a lot of blowback, controversial post that we're not going to show because of how disturbing it is. it is video of a fake picture of a bound president biden, the back of a pickup truck. is the trump campaign responding at all to the blowback it's getting? >> this is a moment here where donald trump over the course of the last nine years is evermore in control of his own messaging. there is no walking back, there is no regret. of campaigns past there would be

moments like, okay, campaign managers, candidate, they huddle together and say we've got to fix this. donald trump posted this on his social media account. we have heard, we have seen violent imagery. we've heard that echoed by his supporters. all of this is the stakes of that election, what donald trump calls the final battle of 2024. that was a decision to post that video. this for the campaign, the campaign is donald trump's campaign. donald trump is going to continue to put out this sort of imagery. we have no reason not to believe that that is the case. we have no reason to expect that there will be any walkback from his campaign from instances like this. >> congresswoman comstock, how concerned are you about the potential for trump's rhetoric or his posts to, again, inspire violence like we saw on january 6th. i'm thinking about the people who have since been arrested and tried for crimes related to january 6th who said they were just doing what they thought

trump wanted them to do. >> i serve on the national council of election integrity. we're very concerned about the increased violence against members of congress. obviously we're very concerned about what happened on january 6th. we were formed the 2020 election because we were concerned about potential violence no matter what the outcome was going to be in the 2020 election. i personally am very concerned about the extension of pardons that donald trump has already made to the january 6th felons, people who have pled guilty, who said they were guilty of those crimes, of attacking capitol hill police officers who i worked with. many of those were my constituents, people who were assaulted. over 140 officers who were injured who donald trump continues to talk about the people who pled guilty as being hostages when we know they were

violent criminals and we've seen those pictures. that is very disturbing. when we know he's attacking judges, attacking the families of judges, the current judge, this past week attackings his daughter. we know when he makes those type of attacks on people, those family members, people like my friend liz cheney, adam kinzinger, they've had death threats when donald trump makes those attacks on them. he made that attack on mike gallagher. probably if you called mike gallagher, you'll see that at tax increased on him. we know during the speakers battle when people said, hey, you have to vote on jim jordan, there were death threats made against those who didn't vote for jim jordan. it's very troubling, an increasing problem and why you're seeing members of congress leave in droves because of the danger to them. >> congressman jolly, politico is reporting that republicans on capitol hill are urging trump to

tamp down on the attacks on his rivals and his comments about january 6th. he doesn't seem to be listening. >> it's not working. i would add to barbara's comments that donald trump is out on bail right now in his criminal cases. he should be detained pretrial if he's going to incite violence. i think that's why republicans are so concerned right now. they thought they were going to be in a very different place right now. they thought they would have joe biden impeached. they didn't expect donald trump to be on trial and thought the economy would be in the tank. none of that has happened. r are worried right now. donald trump, too much van any to realize he's in trouble. republicans on the hill know he is. he is off message every time he steps out in front of the voters that he needs. that's why republicans are worried, and they should be. >> congresswoman comstock, coming back to something you touched on earlier. in politico, quote, while independents and cross-over voters may have boosted former u.n. ambassador nikki haley in

some of the primaries, a chunk of true republican voters still wished for someone else to be the republican nominee. take the sum total of everything we talked about today. is donald trump doing what he needs to do to land those crossover independent voters? >> listen, in the words of taylor swift, we are never, ever getting back together again. that's why you're seeing even with nikki haley not being in the race, you're still seeing 14, 15% of those voters making that protest vote. of course, donald trump is still attacking nikki haley. as i mentioned, he and his campaign are still attacking ron desantis who endorsed him. he's saying we don't need your voters. remember he very famously said, if you support nikki haley, you are permanently barred -- >> right, from the maga movement. >> you're not going to see many of those nikki haley supporters support him. i certainly won't be. i know david won't be either.

i was in a swing district. those 7% of voters, most of them in those swing states, they are not going to be open to supporting donald trump as nikki haley voters. that's why that ad that joe biden has up right now is very wise, and hopefully they'll be reaching out in those swing states like in pennsylvania and michigan. in 2022 josh shapiro and gretchen engler had huge support from republicans in both of those states. they had huge rosters of republicans, elected republicans who supported them from supervisors all the way up to former governors, and i think joe biden will, too. >> we have seen the biden campaign make some ads targeting those nikki haley voters trying to win over their support. >> in arizona he already has the mccains, jeff flake. i expect he'll have people like

the former spouse, too. >> thank you so much. vaughn hillyard, barbara comstock and david jolly. new this morning, convicted murderer back in court to be sentenced for some financial crimes. i'll have the latest twists from prosecutors. plus, time running out for donald trump to post a $175 million bond in his civil fraud judgment. this as his hush money case kicks off this month. also, netanyahu under pressure as protesters in israel stage the largest demonstration since the israel-hamas war began. later the extra special time at the white house where they're letting good times roll, literally. "ana cabrera reports" is back in 60 seconds. ra reports" is back n 60 seconds oric cities and unforgettable scenery with viking. unpack once, and get closer to iconic landmarks, local life, and cultural treasures.

because when you experience europe on a viking longship, z z. this morning convicted murderer alec murdaugh is back in a south carolina courtroom. he faces sentencing on 22

federal financial crimes. and in a new twist, prosecutors say he broke his plea deal and they want to revoke their end of the agreement. joining us now, nbc's priya veether outside the courthouse in south carolina. murdaugh is already serving a life sentence for murdering his wife and son. these are separate crimes, separate charges. what does he face here and what do we know about claims that he broke his plea deal? >> reporter: that's right. murdaugh pleaded guilty to these 20 financial federal charges which include money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud. he agreed to be forthcoming and truthful with the government when it came to this case. now prosecutors are saying he didn't hold up his end of the bargain, that he was deceptive and failed a polygraphic examination conducted in october. they say he hasn't accounted for six of the $12 million he stole

from his family's personal injury law firm clients. in addition to that plea agreement, he was supposed to serve whatever sentencing the judge handed down in this situation concurrently with the state sentencing he already got that the same financial crimes which was 27 years. we were expecting that to be a similar sentencing happening at the same time. now prosecutors are saying, listen, we want the stiffest sentencing possible which could be up to 100 years. we don't want this to happen concurrently. we want this to happen consecutively. it will be interesting to see what happens in the courthouse behind me, ana. >> a judge denied murdaugh's request for a new trial in the murder case. i'm curious as far as that case goes, are his appeals up? >> reporter: no, that is far from over. although we don't have a specific timeline on exactly when those appeals will run out. we do know his defense lawyers are claiming that the county clerk in his murder trial was

tampering with jurors. this is something that could take years. that's one of the things the legal experts have said in this case, that that's why they're pursuing these financial crimes, really long sentences, because they want to ensure that if perhaps murdaugh's sentencing on the murder charges gets overturned in the future, that he remains behind bars for the rest of his life. ana. >> priya, thank you for the updates. keep us posted. turning now to former president trump's legal troubles where this week we're once again on bond watch. the former president faces a deadline this wednesday to post a $175 million bond in the civil fraud judgment against his business empire. that's just a fraction of the total $464 million judgment against trump. you'll recall a state appeals court lowered the bond requirement for now and gave trump an extra ten days to pay up. let's talk more about this with federal and white collar defense

attorney caroline polisi. caroline, $175 million still huge. do you expect he'll get that money? if he doesn't, then what? >> i do expect he will post that. trump got another huge break on this. the appeals court really going outside -- sort of above and beyond what's typical in these types of circumstances and saying, look, you don't have to post that full almost half billion dollar bond in order to proceed with the appeal. i would note that it had nothing to do with the underlying judgment of the 450-some-odd million dollars. the court didn't knock that down. they're saying you can afford the appeal, we'll review the underlying merits of the case. in doing so they said, we have to move this along. typically a litigant would be granted up to nine months in order to place that appeal.

the appeals court in new york said huh-uh, let's move this along. it's in july he's going to have to do so. they also struck down a restriction that trump couldn't do business with new york lending institutions. so, look, a lot has transpired since this decision including the truth social deal. if he doesn't, tish james can move forward with placing leanings on his property in new york. >> we'll take up the judgment in its totality, we'll take a look at this case. for now this has paused the part about doing business in the state which he was restricted to based on the judgment as well as the sons and other business people who were co-defendants that were part of the trump organization. just to be clear, though, will he eventually have to pay the full $464 million? >> if the appeals court upholds

the ruling, ana. a lot of legal scholars have noted this interesting move by the appeals court may be indicative of their feelings about their total judgment on the merits. appeals courts often strike down or lessen the amounts of disgorgement in these types of cases. so the decision itself technically has nothing to do with whether or not they are going to uphold that. people have inferred that potentially they may either strike it down or lower that amount. >> let's talk about the new york hush money case which happens this month. trump spent a lot of time tweeting about all his legal troubles this weekend, including calling for the judge in the case to be sanctioned and recused. he's also gone after the judge's daughter in recent days. there's a gag order in this case, a partial gag order, but it does not cover judge merchan or his family members. should it? >> it should, obviously.

we've seen time and time again trump will go right up to that line, i think specifically because the gag order did not explicitly note that judge merchan and his daughter were included, trump sort of did everything he could to get up to that line. i think the d.a.'s office has noted it should include the judge and his family. we've seen it time and time again. judge chutkan in d.c. needs 24-hour protection because of the attacks that trump made and his followers going after her. judge engoron in the civil case had to put a gag order on trump. he argues it's for political speech. really it's not. it goes to the fair administration of justice. courts just cannot have -- they cannot be sitting in fear that the judges and their clerks and whatnot and people that are

employed on a day-to-day basis are going to be in danger. >> caroline poll lisi, appreciate the conversation. thank you for joining us. >> thanks, ana. crews are just starting to remove the first piece of twisted steel from the collapsed bridge in baltimore. how long the process could take. rain, flooding, even snow. this is not an april fools joke. are you in the path of severe weather sweeping the country? we'll have your forecast next. y we'll have your forecast next. custom scans help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7.

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nbc's aaron gilchrist is in baltimore with more. aaron. >> reporter: for the first time over the weekend crews started moving away pieces of the wreckage here. it is a delicate and difficult operation to try to reopen this vital port. this bridge is being moved away piece by piece which frankly could take months. we're learning today there's an effort to open a waterway for ships. this morning, a new phase in the round-the-clock effort at the key bridge in baltimore. new lighted navigation aids now on the patapsco river creating a runway on the water for essential ships only. officials calling it an important first step in reopening the port of baltimore. many of baltimore's 8,000 dock orders are waiting for that channel to open which officials say could allow some commercial activity to resume. the coast guard sharing video of crews using cutting torches to burn through steel all weekend while heavy lift cranes moved the pieces to waiting barges. it's an all-out effort to reopen

this vital waterway. >> we've been able to come up some of the pieces and the removal process is going to be an ongoing process. >> reporter: more reenforce. s are on the way. a fourth crane expected to arrive today along with support tugs and barges. an armada of nearly 40 vessels and almost 400 people will work to clear the bridge, the car go ship and the debris on the riverbed. the goal, to clear the way for commerce to start floating through the port of baltimore. >> baltimore is an important part of the system. >> reporter: very little is moving at marine terminals. carnival cruise ship passengers sailing out of baltimore bused back on sunday from a port in virginia. process clouded by dangerous conditions below preventing divers from serving for four workers still missing in the collapse. >> we owe it to a sense of families to bring a sense of closure. as soon as it's safe for the divers to get back in the water,

the divers are going back in the water. >> reporter: we don't know how the weather might impact operations on the water. at the same time we're learning the biden administration is opening a resource center for business owners in this area to start applying for loans to keep their businesses open and running until this collapsed bridge can be removed. back to you. >> aaron gilchrist, thank you. what a process there. turning to a major storm making its way across the country with april bringing the threat of severe, heavy rain, hail and eades tornadoes to some states. that's after rains pounded california. joining us is nbc new york meteorologist violeta yeah. what are we expecting? >> april is off to a very stormy start across the middle of the country especially. we have the threat for severe weather, and even the potential for tornadoes. you can see the main risk area

from dallas into the hudson valley. we're even seeing the potential for nighttime tornadoes which can be particularly dangerous auz they may be sleeping and don't have a way to get the severe weather alerts. this is where we're seeing the high likelihood from parts of oklahoma to right around st. louis. by tomorrow, this threat starts to shift to the east. we're still seeing the potential for damaging winds, hail and a couple of tornadoes from parts of alabama up into the ohio valley. aside from the damaging storms, also 8 million people at risk for flooding as well. you can see our flood watch in effect from parts of indiana through columbus and southern ohio into parts of we've. that's in effect through tuesday. we'll see rounds of rainfall from this as well. the main focus for today, again, parts of the plains into the midwest. heavy rain and damaging thunderstorms for tuesday. that threat starts to shift into tennessee and the ohio river

valley. i did want to show you on wednesday, we get another storm to develop offshore. this pulls in colder air. you can see an area of snow developing on the back side of this. a very stormy start to april. we have severe weather, of course, getting into severe weather season. meanwhile in the northeast, winter saying not so fast as we transition into spring. >> i was ready to put the big coat away. not so much. thank you so much, violeta yas. overseas, a show of force, tens of thousands strong as israelis take to the streets of jerusalem. what they're calling for. the critical virtual meeting between israeli officials and the white house as. s and the white house as 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.

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top u.s. and israeli officials including secretary of state antony blinken are holding a virtual meeting to discuss alternatives to a large-scale israeli ground assault on rafah. this meeting was supposed to be in person at the white house last week, but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu canceled it after the u.s. led a u.n. cease-fire resolution move forward. netanyahu is now facing major protests at home. tens of thousands taking the the street in jerusalem and tel aviv. pictures from the weekend show protesters calling for early elections and a cease-fire deal. meantime, the u.s. delivered a

new weapons package to israel over the weekend including more than a thousand 2,000-pound bombs. let's get to tel aviv and nbc's raf sanchez. raf, let's start with today's meeting. what can we expect to learn? the u.s. is delivering new weapons, does that undermine their efforts to restrain netanyahu's offensive? >> reporter: ana, as you said, senior officials on both sides, secretary of state antony blinken. expecting national security adviser jake sullivan. a member from the war cabinet ron do you rememberer. the topic of discussion is this public discussion between israel and the u.s. on the way forward in rafah, the city in southern gaza where more than a million palestinians are sheltering. the americans hoping to convince

their israeli counterparts that there is an alternative to a ground invasion, something netanyahu signaled he's not open to. you mentioned that while the u.s. is calling for a cease-fire, it is also shipping some of these massive 2,000-pound bombs to the israeli government. that is a move that has been criticized worldwide, and also by a number of democrats. part of the reason is, human rights groups say it's these enormous 2,000 pound bombs when used in gaza city and rafah, can cause massive civilian casualties. >> raf, we've been talking big protesters over the weekend. this is the biggest protest since october 7th. how is the prime minister viewed there domestically? >> reporter: ana, he is struggling. the polls show that if there were an election today, he would

lose that election. israeli's longest serving prime minister, the same polls showing a majority of israelis would like there to be an election today. just because people are out on the streets in big numbers, just because a majority of them would like a chance to vote doesn't mean there will be an election. prime minister netanyahu has a majority in the government, including members of the far right, centrist opposition parties who joined him after the start of the war. but there is trouble brewing for him potentially, especially over this question of whether or not ultra orthodox jewish members of israel's society should serve in the military, something they haven't done previously, but there are growing calls for them to do now as the war stretches on. netanyahu throwing a little bit of political red meat to his base later tonight when the

israeli government is pushing through a push to ban al jazeera and other foreign television reports. >> raf sanchez, thank you for your reporting. up next, the major decision florida's supreme court is set to make that could up end the 2024 political landscape there. plus, why you could soon see higher prices from your favorite fast food restaurants, from mcdonald's to starbucks to chipotle. s to chipotle paula's choice. known for its iconic 2% bha liquid exfoliant, has done it again.

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today in florida we are awaiting a ruling from the state supreme court that could make abortion a major issue for voters in that state this november. the court will decide whether protecting abortion access is on the ballot. a coalition of abortion rights groups collected the more than 900,000 voter signatures to get the measure on the ballot. their proposal would protect abortion access until fetal viability which is approximately 24 weeks. joining us is nbc's marissa parra who is live with more. walk us through the arguments here and the impact this decision could have, especially if the ballot initiative goes through. >> reporter: hey, ana. the one big question we're waiting to find out is not just what the ruling is but when we'll find out. we thought it was going to happen last thursday. let's see what we find out after

or before 4:00 p.m. let's say the initiative goes through. florida voters would have the ability to decide whether or not abortion is protected until, quote, viability. that's roughly 24 weeks. separately, we're waiting for a separate supreme court decision in florida on whether the current 15-week abortion ban is constitutional. so if that is decided as so and upheld, let's say we get that ruling, that would automatically trigger a six-week abortion ban 30 days later. that ruling could come at any time. it could come this abortion ba. that ruling could come anytime, it could come this week, this summer. if we know this ballot initiative goes through, we could see a world where if we have both of these rulings, both of these decisions and the ballot initiative does go through, we could see a world where the current abortion ban gets turned into a six-week abortion ban that florida voters could then overturn up until 24

weeks this november. that's only if the ballot initiative goes through. you might be asking how florida voters themselves feel. i want you to quickly take a listen to two of them we spoke to, the first one a democrat, the second a republican. >> i'm finding it hard to believe that in 2024 we're still arguing about this because this should have been resolved in 1973. >> i find it outrageous to tell a woman what to do with her own body. i can't even imagine what the number of children that would be unwanted that would be born, what we'd even begin to do with them. it's heartbreaking. >> reporter: i thought that they were really interesting to hear from, particularly because this is a reminder that there are florida republicans who have broken away from the party line when it comes to their views on abortion, but ana, when it comes to how florida voters will feel, let's find out if they have a decided and direct say on this at all. >> we'll see, marissa parra, we know you will let us know just

as soon as we get that ruling. thank you so much. now let's go from the east coast to the west coast and in california, half a million fast food workers are about to get a raise. starting today, their minimum wage increases to $20 an hour. good news for those workers, but what does it mean for business owners and customers? nbc's david noriega has some answers. >> over the last few years, fast food workers have been at the forefront for the fight of a higher minimum wage. here in california, they won that fight. today fast food workers across the state will make 25% more than they made yesterday. >> a pay boost for more than half a million californians. good news for lisette aguilar who after 17 years working for mcdonald's still has trouble making ends meet. we ask her how she feels. [ speaking in a global language ] >> reporter: eager she says for that first bigger paycheck, it will help with bills and maybe

she'll get something special for her 9-year-old son marcos. california's new law sets a $20 minimum wage for fast food workers. most workers affected are women of color. >> this is a big deal. >> reporter: one of the biggest questions is how will this affect consumers, especially in a state where everything's already very expensive and a lot of people have a hard time affording basics. mcdonald's, starbucks, chipotle and others have said publicly they intend to raise prices but by how much? some economists anticipate about 5%. others as little as 2%. >> for a $5 max, that will be a dime. >> reporter: critics say the wage increase will accelerate trends that hurt workers like replacing cashiers with electronic kiosks. some pizza franchise owners have announced layoffs of in-house drivers switching to third-party

delivery apps instead, and there's no question the rise in labor costs will put pressure on franchise owners like kari harper howie, whose family owns 21 mcdonald's in the los angeles area. >> we will of course as everyone else is have to increase prices in some way, shape, or form, and what people don't understand is they say, oh, it doesn't matter. mcdonald's and taco bell, they're just big corporations. we are family businesses. >> reporter: some fast food customers say even if they do pay more, it's a price worth paying. >> i'm okay with it, you know, because it feels like everything else is going up. it's about time wages go up. >> this new law applies only to big chains with more than 60 locations. it will have ripple effects. smaller restaurant thes will have to compete with those wages. >> david noriega, thanks so much. up next on "ana cabrera reports," a hop pi time at the white house, the egg-citing easter tradition happening this

morning. er tradition happening morning.

right now at the white house, celebrations with the easter bunny and easter eggs are already rolling along this morning. right now thousands of children are gathered there on the south lawn, spoon in hand for the annual white house easter egg roll, and joining us now is nbc 's senior white house correspondent, kelly o'donnell, funny event, a light hearted event. what are we seeing at this year's easter egg roll and other activities? >> reporter: it is the largest event the white house puts on in a year. that is certainly the feeling here with lots of families who are here for a variety of different activities for the kids. we are anticipating the president is going to speak shortly. it is a party. we're all a little wet as well. you have to have good cheer on these days and the families that are here do. often each section kids are rolling the eggs with a spoon.

that's a tradition that's been going on since the 1970s. it goes all the way back to 1878 when rutherford b. hayes invited the children of the district of colombia to roll their eggs on the white house grounds, and it's a tradition that stuck and has been evolving in all the years since to try to accommodate different entertainment pieces, educational pieces, family fun started early this morning in a downpour of rain and will continue all the way to probably after kids' nap time, and really approaching bedtime with about 7:00 p.m. so it's a fun event. our colleague and friend al roker had a chance to speak to the president and first lady earlier today about some of the family aspects of this. here's that interview with the president. >> what are some of your favorite memories, mr. president? >> my favorite memories are a little girl who was having trouble, she looked to me, she was about 3 years old, can you

help me mr. president? that's my favorite. >> reporter: so you get a sense of the light hearted aspect of this, and it is meant to be a time when the families who are lucky enough to attend here, there's a public lottery that allows them to get tickets, see this as the people's house, a place that belongs to the american people and maybe separate from the politics of the day, this is a holiday to enjoy for families. ana. >> look at those feel-good vibes. that does it for us today, see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. you can check our show online, youtube and other platforms. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. ♪♪ good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific, i'm josé diaz-balart. we begin this hour with a critical meeting expected today