Transcripts For MSNBCW Ana 20240702

Deal. This is former trump lawyer jenna ellis in court this hour. Is it your decision to waive these rights and enter a guilty plea because you are in fact guilty . It is. So she is the fourth codefendant and the third in just a week to take a plea deal. Joining us is nbc news Laura Jarrett and katie phang by phone. Laura, this just happened moments ago. What more do you have on it . Unexpected. Another significant plea deal. We see in court, jenna ellis, getting emotional, apologizing to the people of georgia, telling the judge she was led by others down this wrong path and saying she regretted her representation of the former president and all of the things that she did, along with others including Rudy Giuliani, which she is now pleading guilty to essentially making false statements in front of the Georgia Senate, around december of 2020, she goes forward, you might remember, one of those Infamous Press conferences, they were standing before the Georgia Senate talking about dead voters, talking about other false statements that they believe they were on a quest to try to find voter fraud but the state disagreed with them and now shes pleading guilty. This is enormously consequential because she is now fourth person to plead guilty in this case. You can see there, the others includingen chesebro, also Sidney Powell, other members of the trump legal team. Again, this is an insider, someone who c speak to the conversations in and around, before and after theelection, what did the former predent say, what was his intent, those are the things that she can speak to and they now have a fourth cooperator, someone who has agreed to tell the full story to come clean about what she knows and in return she gets a reduced sentence, probation, instead of having to serve time behind prison. She was part of this whole fake electors scheme, right . How does this impact trumps case specifically . Yeah, well, ana, think about it. Now you not only have kenneth chesebro, Sidney Powell, two top trump lawyers, but now jenna ellis, top trump lawyer and top Trump Campaign lawyer and how does it affect donald trump . Donald trump cant sit pretty for very long. If you look at the new Charging Document that jenna ellis pleaded to this morning, it concerns specifically testimony provided before the judge as laura just mentioned, but implicated as well directly Rudy Giuliani and a gentleman by the name of ray smith. Now, putting ray smith aside on a footnote in a second, roady Rudy Giuliani has a flipped that has implicated him and you and i know that any of that proffer given, tt recorded Statement Given to d. A. Fani willis had to have value for them to give her a Probation Offer for this particular charge. Now, Rudy Giuliani is getting more pressure. And that in turn is going to lead to more pressure on Rudy Giuliani to flip against donald trump. Now, were working our way up the food chain and listen, we jumped a couple of rungs in that ladder in terms of important codefendants. This is significant because i have just been speaking to joyce vance and msnbc legal analyst about who was going to flip and she and i were saying, there are a lot of people left, 16, but jenna ellis is the one that has been complaining the loudest and most publicly about how the fact she felt she was left in the cold because her Attorney Fees werent being paid and you were seeing a future trial that has yet to be set for any of the remaining 15 codefendants and a very long slog for somebody like jenna ellis. She decided im going to cut my losses now. I just want to note for you, inside the courtroom, jenna ellis was crying and we have video of that and also hugging her Defense Attorneys and also shaking hands with the prosecutors and so, look, she had a conversation with them, what she said is left to be seen, but were going to hear from her if somebody like donald trump goes to trial. Were looking at the video. Lets listen in to what she said in Court Moments ago. Taking responsibility. If i knew then what i know now i would have it declined to represent donald trump in these post election challenges. I look back on this whole experience with deep remorse. I have taken responsibility already before the colorado bar who censured me and i now take responsibility before this court and apologize to the people of georgia. So, laura, hearing that, does that have an impact . Well, you know, it is obviously not in front of a jury now, but it does show, i think, sort of how she has had a bit of A Change Of Heart and a reversal compared to what she was doing standing in front of the Georgia State senate laying out a host of things that were not true. She obviously now only gets probation, she has to pay a 5,000 fine, has to apologize to the people of georgia, but most importantly as we have been discussing with all of these defendants, she now amps up the pressure on other people to cooperate. And certainly if prosecutors got the cooperation of someone like Rudy Giuliani or anybody sort of at that level, thats a game changer for them. It doesnt discount what she is offering. She is giving something significant, or they wouldnt be giving her probation. I think what you see is just sort of youre going to see more and more defendants now feeling more pressure to cooperate, certainly she didnt have the Trial Pressure that someone like chesebro or powell did, they had trial dates set, but still this is an important moment for the rest of the defendants in this. And, again, there are now still 15 codefendants including trump, there were 19 to begin with, and we see ken chesebro, Sidney Powell, last week jenna ellis, this week scott ha, more of an ancillary player in all of this, previously pleaded guilty. As we lk at this list, katie, both you and laura have mentioned Rudy Giulianind the heat turning up o him specifically, who else are you watching next when we think of the Dominos Falling . Im also looking at the codefendants that were involved in the Coffee County Election Equipment Breach and the reason why is you now have scott hall, the first of these 19 codefendants that took a plea, and then you got Sidney Powell and the reason why i mentioned them is there is people like cathy latham and misty hampton, all involved and the Georgia Republicans and they were part of that breach and i feel like if you look at the indictment in, like, buckets, the Coffee County Election Equipment Breach, the fake electors scheme, the Intimidation Scheme to harm ruby freeman and shay moss, if you look at it in buckets, it is a way to see how this rico was operating and the more defendants you can pick off in each of those buckets, the more declined the remaining defendants are going to be to want to take a plea. If anhing, if im Rudy Giuliani, if i was his lawyer, i would say race now, run to d. A. Fani willis to get pa offer from her. He is in serious cro hairs. Does ts by any chance sped up the potential trial date now with fewer codefendants when were talking about potentially trying the rest of them together . Yes, i mean, yes andno. It is still daunting to try 15 codefendas at one time, if youre scott mcafee. None of those otherendants have tried to sever themselves at this point. But there is some deadlines coming up that i want to remind our viewers. There is deadlines coming up imminently including the filing of pretrial motions and thats coming up in december. So scott mcafee has to get in front of the remaining kind of Trial Deadlines and hes going to have to set a trial date. We set a trial date and we work our way back from that trial date to get certain things accomplished, and as we saw, Fast And Furious motions were being filed by chesebro and powell as it led up to jury selection. I think mcafee is going to on his own call a Status Conference to be able to get the trial date set soon. It feels like these plea deals are coming at us sporadically. They had a trial date they were look at. Jenna ellis plea deal came out of nowhere. What types of conversations do you think are happening behind the scenes . Part of what youre seeing here is that the defendants are being advised about their lawyers if they want to cooperate, they need do it sooner rather than later or you lose your Bargaining Chip with the prosecutors. Because if you wait until the end, they sort of have everything they need. As of right now, the prosecutors might be more willing to engage with you on making those types of deals if you can offer them something they dont already know or you can testify at trial, that might be something that theyre worth willing to milwaukee a deal. If you wait a lot down the line at this many more months, youll see fewer and fewer of those deals. For someone like mark meadows, hes trying to fight this case, get kicked to federal court, thats waiting in the wings, the Appellate Court wont hear that until december. You might see a stop and start with a few people rushing in now, getting their deals with prosecutors and others Still Holding out and trying to hope that legal challenges tip in their favor. Laura jarrett and katie phang, thank you both. More on this as we get it. Were also watching for Secretary Of State Antony Blinken to speak at the United Nations meeting on the tensions in the middle east. This as israel sustains its intense bombardment of gaza, striking more than 400 targets in the last 24 hours according to the idf. Overnight, we heard from one of the hostages, just released by hamas. This is an 85yearold woman, spoke from a hospital in tel aviv, describing a harrowing journey, abduction by motorbike and being held by hamas in its tunnels under gaza. My mom is saying she was taken on the back of the motorbike with her body with her legs on one side and her head on the other side. She was taken through the plowed fields with the men in front on one side and a man behind her until they reached the tunnels. There they walked for a few kilometers on the wet ground. There are huge huge network of tunnels underneath. It looks like a spider web. Looks like a spider web. Joining us now from tel aviv is nbc news Foreign Correspondent kelly cobiella. And tracking the latest with Secretary Blinken is nbcs monica alba. Monica, as we await potential remarks from the Secretary Of State at this u. N. Meeting, what can we expect . This is a high level ministerial meeting at the United Nations where it is likely they will consider a resolution to formally condemn hamas after the atrocities of those attacks on october 7th. This is something that the United States, of course, has been following very closely from a diplomatic perspective, and Secretary Blinken himself had that marathon week or so of travel, visiting many different countries, speaking to many of his different counterparts about this exact conflict. But last week, there was a resolution here that would have essentially called for a ceasefire, so humanitarian aid could have gotten into gaza and the u. S. Vetoed that at the time. What is considered today, again, would be this resolution that would condemn hamas, but that would not call for a ceasefire according to some western diplomats with knowledge of these conversations. And that is because of the u. S. Strategy here, which has been clear, which has been to allow israel to make these decisions on their own about what they want to do from next steps and that perspective, but to continue to push for critical humanitarian aid to flow into gaza, which we have seen from some convoys of trucks in the last couple of days, but the United States expected here with Secretary Blinken to continue to ask for much more. Ana . Well keep an eye on that United Nations meeting. What more are you learning this morning about what led to these two new hostages being freed . Yes, so the second hostage released in about three, four days since friday, this time we understand it was the qataris and egyptians who helped to facilitate this. Hamas said that they released these two women for compelling humanitarian reasons. Both were in a hospital, late last night, early this morning, in tel aviv. Theyre recuperating there, their families have been able to see them. The hospital says theyre doing fine. The grandson of the 85yearold Yocheved Lifshitz was able to spend some time with her this morning, and he said he could tell that the two weeks in captivity did have an impact on her. Take a listen. I was so happy to see her and also i felt such a huge, huge, huge sting in my heart to see her in that situation. Reporter and her husband as well as nurit coopers husband, the other woman who was freed last night, are both still missing. Theyre believed to be held hostage by hamas. Lifshitz said this morning that her ordeal, though she is now free israel, she said her ordeal wont be over until her husband is freed and the rest of the some 200 hostages are home safely. Kelly, we have been reporting the u. S. Is pressing israel to delay its Ground Invasion to allow for more time to free hostages. Is there any sense from the idf that the expanded assault is not as imminent as it appears . Reporter look, if thats the case, theyre definitely not saying it out loud. They said repeatedly that they are ready to go, that theyre ready to go when the political order is given essentially, the Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu, the defense minister, yoav gallant, both have been visiting troops on the front line there and along the border with gaza. They both indicated that theyre ready to go. But still, we see the Ground Invasion has not begun. There has been a lot of talk about the u. S. Putting pressure or advising israel to hold off until negotiations can go forward. Publicly, again, ana, theyre not saying that theyre listening to that, but clearly we see that there is no Ground Invasion yet. There have been smaller , more limited raids, the idf talked about soldiers going across the border trying to gain more information about hostages and also trying to lay the ground for that ground offensive. But no sense that theyre holding back. At least not publicly, ana. And, kelly, i cant help but notice over your shoulder those pictures, those posters. Are those posters of believed to be hostages, those who are missing . Reporter they are. Theyre posters of missing, those kidnapped. And you see them all over the city of tel aviv, just strolling down the streets youll see them pasted on to benches, a tree just across the way, with a Yellow Ribbon around it, and yet another poster of someone who is held hostage. This is something that is obviously deeply, deeply impacted the entire country, and everyone is talking about it, no matter where you go, there is a deep, deep concern about these people who are still being held and a lot of worry that the attention, the longer this goes, that the attention will shift and people will forget. Particularly from the families, but also just from regular israelis. Their faces are such a reminder of the human factor here. We talk about numbers who are injured or killed and, again, each of those numbers is a person who has a family. Thank you so much, monica alba and kelly cobiella, for your reporting. For more on all of this now, were joined by Elise Labbott and rod damico, retired fbi agent and Hostage Rescue Team member. Good to see both of you. This newly released hostage that she went through hell, she was closely guarded the whole time, that the groups of hostages were separated in what was described as a spider web of tunnels. How much do you think could her account help Israeli Intelligence . Immensely. Unfortunately, though, hostages in the tunnel is probably one of the worst places you would have put a Rescue Attempt in. I think it also goes back to they really need to know, to negotiate. Try to rescue groups of hostages, each hostage has one guard per hostage is just an incredibly hard thing to even come off. So i think it is putting more pressure on israel that theyre going to have to negotiate and not be able to rescue them. Two rounds of hostage releases, each time two people, two women specifically. What do these releases do for the shortterm in the region . Well, i think in the shortterm in the region it is going to give more hope that this process, which of negotiating which seems to be bearing fruit and is paying off. And so this is why the United States, the arab states, are saying give more time to these negotiations. Now, i do think that hamas sees this, they watched tv just like we do, and they know that the u. S. Is asking for this delay, and so i think youre going to see more releases, but you are going to see them in a trickle. Ones and twos, and, you know, humanitarian concerns cases. And i think rob is so right, the longer this goes on, there is this kind of stand by, the Ground Invasion, you have troops at the border, and the International Community is really wants to, you know, stop the Ground Incursion. It makes it harder i think for israel in terms of the public opinion. It does give them more time to figure out their strategy and i do think one of the delays on the Ground Incursion including obviously giving more time for the hostages is that there doesnt seem they dont know what they want to do, ana. Do they want to go in a full incursion, tanks rolling in, Hundreds Of Thousands of troops going in, or do they want to do something more surgical, more targeted, with special Operations Forces . I think thats what maybe the United States and some other countries are advising, and you see that the u. S. Has said they have sent advisers including a marine general to talk through what the strategy is, there have been a lot of reports that the u. S. Doesnt really seem convinced that the israelis have a successful strategy for their objectives. Can you talk to us more about qatar and egypts roles . They were involved in this hostage release. What more about that . And the broader conflict, how they may fit into it. Well, i think qatar obviously hamas Political Leadership is in qatar. So they have maintained these ties. There is a lot of criticism about that, but they have been the real interlocutors here along with egypt who also had connections with hamas over the years. I think it is really important that the arabs take more involvement in this. You had these Abraham Accord states that had deals with israel, you know, they could be using their influence as well. I dont think it should be left just to the United States to be negotiating all this. Each arab state right now has a lot of leverage and i think as you look toward the endgame, i think that it is going to be even more important that these arab states take an important role, egypt, jordan, qatar, and then the gulf states as well. And we reported, rob, that there were 400 targets hit by these israeli air strikes overnight. If your goal is to try to free these hostages, are these israeli air strikes against gaza helping or hurting those efforts right now . Each of them had Pressure Points that you have to apply to it. So, the hostages themselves are a pressure point. So the air strikes are what israels using as their pressure point. And then the qataris are going in between and talking to both and saying, okay, we want more aid, we want less air strikes. Those are the things that they can give up. Aid or cut down on air strikes or increase them. It is one of those things that are the Negotiating Points that are going on in the background and qatar has been doing this for a while for us. I did one in afghanistan with them, getting a canadian citizen released, and theyre very much involved, down to the tactics where it was me talking to the qatari and he was talking to the taliban commander and got on the phone together to get the final thing going. They have been trusted for a long time to do these releases. Are you hopeful there will be another release anytime soon, given your own personal experience and how this works . I think there is definitely going to be releases. We said, i think the last ones will probably be the hostages that are idf. I think hamas sees them a different way. And i think the key the key hold they have is the children. Everyone wants the children released. But they know that. And i think theyll be the last ones to go and they really want a specific thing from israel that theyll bargain with the children. But i think the idf soldiers will probably be the last to be released. And the Prime Minister has said they believe there are 30 children currently held hostage, under the age of 16. I really appreciate both of your expertise and insights. Thank you very much for joining us. When were back in 60 seconds, a Senior Defense official says an uptick in activity in the middle east has, quote, iranian fingerprints all over it. So how could the u. S. Respond if this conflict expands . Also ahead, the latest from capitol hill, where House Republicans are meeting Behind Closed Doors right now to pick a new speaker candidate. Plus, scare in the air, an off duty pilot allegedly tried to shut down a planes engines midflight. The charges hes now facing. Later, face to face, Michael Cohen expected to testify in donald troubles civil fraud trial as soon as today. And the former president will have a front row seat. Presiden have a front row seat. Customize and save with liberty bibberty. He doesnt even have a mustache. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. If you want to lower stroke risk from afib not caused by a heart valve problem, theres a better treatment than warfarin. Eliquis. Eliquis reduces stroke risk and has less major bleeding. Dont Stop Taking Eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. Eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. Dont take eliquis if you have an Artificial Heart Valve or abnormal bleeding. While taking, you may bruise more easily. Or take longer for bleeding to stop. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. It may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. The number one cardiologistprescribed blood thinner. Ask your doctor about eliquis. Secretary of defense lloyd austin says the u. S. Wont hesitate to take appropriate action if needed. Lets bring in nbc News Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kube and former director for iraq at the National Security council douglas oliphant. The u. S. Says it is posturing troops in the middle east. We also have seen what appears to be an uptick in activity against u. S. Troops, like Drone Attacks in syria and iraq. So, what are these troops doing, where are they going . What are they prepared to deal with . Thats drones, indirect fire, mortar attacks against bases housing u. S. Troops in iraq and syria and one pretty concerning incident last week in the Northern Red Sea where the warship had to shoot down four land attack cruise missiles and more than a dozen drones that may have been threatening the ship by flying over it. U. S. Defense officials saying that those missiles and drones could have potentially been headed towards israel. So, all of these events that have as you said been an uptick in this sort of activity in the region led to secre of defense lloyd austin making the decision over the weekend to send additional resource the region. That includes a Carrier Strike group the uss eisenhower. It is now going to be in the waters off iran in the coming days. In addition to that, the u. S. Is sending some pretty advanced air Defense Systems including the thaad and the patriot. What this points to is a where the u. S. Last week and frankly since october 7th has really been focused on showing support, and showing deterrence, really closer over towards israel. This is a recognition that of the real concern that exists in the Defense Department in the u. S. Military about the potential for this conflict to spread wider in the region. And the u. S. Is taking the steps to ensure they can do as much as they can to deter that from happening. And if necessary, defend against u. S. Forces and personnel in the region who could come under attack, ana. You reported that a Senior Defense official tells you that the threat of escalation against u. S. Troops specifically has iranian fingerprints all over it. What does that mean . Thats because historically these sorts of groups, whether the houthis in yemen, they have been funded, trained, equipped by iran. And so there is while there arent direct links right now that iran and particularly the ayatollah has given some sort of green light to go ahead with these sorts of activities and these increase in attacks, there is an assumption that just based off the fact that iran has historically supported these groups that they are in support of these activities that have happened over the last week, week or week plus now. Douglas, how does the u. S. Respond then to irans involvement in a conflict . Well, i think we are looking at these attacks and waiting to see what the message is. I think so far all we have really seen are kind of reminders from these groups that, hey, were here, we have capabilities you really should think about. We havent seen a major attack, something that is clearly designed to try to change the u. S. Calculus, push us out of syria, push us out of iraq, or the big bomb, so to speak, of iranian influence would be for hezbollah to get involved in the conflict in israel. Those are the things were looking for. So far, i would call tseust probing attacks or, again, so, the Washington Pos Reporting that the Biden Adnistration is preparing for the evacuation of Hundreds Of Thousands of american citizens from the middle east if things escalate outside of gaza. This is according to four officials familiar with the friend. How much of a threat is there for american citizens abroad right now . Right now i would be cautious. But, again, should this war broaden, should hezbollah get involved in the war against israel, which would then metastasize, you would see fighting in iraq, all of lebanon would be off limits, that would be a horse of an entirely different color, so to speak. And in that case, i would strongly recommend all americans get out of the region, even traditionally safe places, qatar, dubai, i would not want to be in the region if this all breaks out and war starts to spread. More to discuss, i hope youll come back. Thank you so much, Douglas Ollivant and Courtney Kube. Good to have your reporting. Now to an update inside gaza, take a look at this. You can see in this video gazans searching for survivors under the rubble of recent air strikes. Israel says it hit more than 400 targets in gaza in the last 24 hours, with gazas Ministry Of Health saying more than 700 people were killed in the past 24 hours. Gazan officials also announcing the complete collapse of the healthcare system, with the World Health Organizationin two Health Facilities in gaza have stopped functioning. Up next, we just got some Breaking News on capitol hill. More candidates are now out of the speakers race, but can anyone get the votes on the floor . The de facto head of the gop thinks it would take a miracle. There is only one person that can do it all the way. You know who it is . Jesus christ. You know who it is jesus christ so every day, you can say, youuu did it with centrum silver. This is Spring Semester at fairfieldsuisun unified. They switched to google tools for education because theres never been a reported Ransomware Attack on a chromebook. Now theyre focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. somedays, i cover up because of my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi. uplifting music nothing is everything im celebrating my clearer skin. My way. With skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months. In another study, most people had 90 clearer skin, even at 5 years. 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 clearer skin with skyrizi this is my moment. Theres nothing on my skin and that means everything nothing is everything nows the time. Ask your doctor about skyrizi, the 1 dermatologistprescribed biologic in psoriasis. Learn how abbvie could help you save. Learn how abbvie could heres why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a built n engine like google, but its pi and doesnt spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. And theres no catch, its fre. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. And then there were six. Were down to six men who want to be house speaker. The question remains who will be The Last Man Standing . At this moment, House Republicans are meeting Behind Closed Doors, holding a Secret Ballot as they scramble to find the next speaker of the house. Republicans hope to emerge from their meeting right now with a Speaker Designee and then perhaps vote sometime today on the house floor. But that mystery republican will be their third nominee in two weeks. It remains to be seen whether anyone can get enough votes to win, to actually become speaker. Joining us now is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. And former Florida Republican congressman david jolly. Ali, you deserve a boost in your pay, i dont think you had any sleep in the last two weeks through all of this. What do we know about this vote happening right now and whether there is even a frontrunner . Reporter first of all, i hope all the bosses are listening to you, ana, right now. If only i had the power. Reporter were still i think you do have the power. And we can talk about that. But the guys in this room are seeking their own version of power, with the speakers gavel. I think it is important you point out were one less in the speakers race. This is where the process starts. Theyre Behind Closed Doors. We know the way that it works. It is a Secret Ballot, theyre willing to go as many rounds as they need to for someone in the room to get that majority of the people in the room. Our understanding is that theyre now done with the second ballot, which means theyre taking the time to count all of the handwritten votes from each member. We have seen congressman Pete Sessions of texas drop out, thats what happens when youre the lowest vote earner in the room. Each round, one person continues to drop out. We do know that tom emmer, the current Majority Whip is the largely seen as the frontrunner here. Members are just kind of coming in and out as we stand outside of this door. So well wait and see if there is anyone who we need to talk to. But emmer is the person who is the top vote earner according to many of the members who have already come out followed by mike johnson and then Byron Donalds from florida. This tracks with how we expected this vote to break down at least on the first ballot. It will be interesting to see if donalds specifically can pull off some of the other support as members drop out. I know from talking to key parts of his whip operation that they do think that he might not be peoples first choice, but that he could be a strong second choice as the field winnows. Thats something im watching to see on this second ballot or third. But, again, all of this can end if someone in the room actually gets to a majority, and i got to tell you, the other key piece of Breaking News we heard coming out of this room, ana, theyre out of coffee. That would make me want to go a lot more quickly and get this over with. Well see if thats the case. Stay with me here, ali. Lets turn to Congressman Jolly. You look at the six members who are left, who are you watching . Who do you think has the strongest case . Look, i think, first of all, i second your opinion about ali. Absolutely fantastic all week, but particularly following this race. I think there are four members really that are that will stay on the island. Two of them almost stand in for each other. Tom emmer is likely to get a jority Behind Closed Doors. Hell be the first one to 51 . But then the question becomes can he get to 217 . And what im looking for in that is do we see a statement by some of the Freedom Caucus trump or trump adjacent members that say no, it is just too far. There are questions about Marriage Equality votes and spending and about the election. Tom emmer could take on the field of the mccarthy and jordan who gets to the vote Behind Closed Doors but cant get to 217. If it is not tom emmer, you look at kevin hern and mike johnson. Theyre almost replaceable to each other. They both led the republican study committee, the largest conservative caucus among republicans. Steve scalise has led it in the past. Most importantly, though, ana, they are unknown to the nation. In this final stage perhaps of republicans deliberating, they need someone unknown, a fresh face, somebody who may not be immediately toxic, even if they represent the hard right, and then Byron Donalds is the wild card and would be a wild pick. Very new to the house, inexperienced, his critics will tell you he does have a criminal record from his early 20s and thats a real question, if thats the face of the republican party, that they want to put in front of the country. Part of the strategy among these candidates is to try to get trump on their side. We heard of several candidates reaching out to trump, including tom emmer, who politico says has a trump problem, allies think hes been openly critical of trump and the votes you mentioned that maybe arent to trumps liking, like certifying the election. As for trump, here was his take on who could win speaker. There is only one person that can do it all the way, you know who that is . Jesus christ. Jesus came down and said i want to be speaker, he would do it. Other than that, i havent seen i havent seen anybody that can guarantee it. Congressman, your reaction to that and trumps role in this speaker search . Personal disclosure, im a follower of jesus christ, but i dont think jesus christ could get to 217 votes with this republican conference. It is interesting, what we have seen the dynamic play out with donald trump is his endorsement of a candidate for speaker is not enough to get the person the job, but it is enough to knock someone out. Thats what we saw when jim jordan was endorsed over steve scalise. It wasnt enough to get jordan there, but it was enough to knock out scalise and thats where youre looking for, it doesnt take many. If you had a dozen people who say, look, trump world right now is really lobbying against him or even if trump isnt himself, if you got a dozen republicans who are sympathetic to that, emmer is done. Thats when you look to johnson and hern or a wild card like donalds. Quickly, ali, when we might know if there is going to be a house vote today . Reporter well, look, they got to get through all the balloting rounds first. Each round takes anywhere between 30 and 45 minutes at this rate. It will go faster the fewer candidates are in the race, you got to imagine. Theyre still counting votes by hand. Then well see if the person feels they have enough momentum to come out of that room and go to the floor. If it is someone like tom emmer, the former speaker, Kevin Mccarthy did point out to me today that his job as whip is to literally count the votes and know where he stands. Hes going to have a pretty good assessment of where he is coming out of this room, if he is the person who is able to become the Speaker Designate. We have been here before. We have seen scalise earn this position, we have seen jordan earn this position, and we have seen them fall flat in terms of going publicly to the floor and being able to garner the votes. Scalise knew he didnt have them and didnt even try. Thats the question that were going to try to answer next, do they want to go back Behind Closed Doors, cant imagine why they would want to or take their chances on the floor because Congressman Jolly is right, all it takes is a handful of people to say, no, im not voting for whoever the Speaker Designate is and as much as there is a desire to link arms and rally around this person, there is also people who dont think that is what they want to do at all. Right, and jim jordan tried to call their bluff and have that floor vote three times and it didnt work. He continued to lose votes. It is all very interesting and somewhat disturbing, especially given the government is pretty much shut down in the meantime. Ali vitali and congressman david jolly, thank you, both, very much for being here. Up next, more on the big Breaking News out of Fulton County this morning. Jenna ellis, another codefendant of donald trumps, just pleaded guilty. What it means for the former president s legal chances in that election interference case. Plus, Michael Cohen set to come face to face with his old boss and his civil fraud trial, potentially today this could happen. Why his testimony could be critical to this case. Why his testimony could be critical to this case. Was i started to notice that i couldnt do things without losing my breath. I couldnt make it through the airport, and every like 20 or 30 yards i had to sit down and get my breath. Every Physical Exertion seemed to exhaust me. And finally, i went to the hospital where i was diagnosed with afib. When i first noticed symptoms, which kept coming and going, i should have gone to the doctor and told them what was happening. Instead, i tried to let it pass. If you experience irregular heartbeat, heart racing, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, or lightheadedness, you should talk to your doctor. Afib increases the risk of stroke about 5 times i want my experience to help others understand the symptoms of atrial fibrillation. When it comes to your health, this is no time to wait. Were back with our Breaking News out of georgia. Another codefendant pleading to a plea deal today. Jenna ellis is the third person in a week to take a deal. Lets bring in paul henderson. Paul, what do you make of now four codefendants in total taking a plea deal . It is a big deal. She is the fourth person, but she is the third lawyer to take a plea. Now, heres why this is important because that is a linchpin in the georgia case, but it is also important inome of these other cases as wel because what jenna ellis did was three gs, really. First of all, important because e challenges the validityf his claims of not being able to say that all of these people that were previously taking were no longer lawyers. She was so closely tied to what happened in the case. Trump will have a real challenge in trying to distance himself from her. One of the things she did was she traveled with giuliani to contested states to ask lawmakers urging them to reject votes. So, all of those communications and all of those efforts are going to come out. And then also really importantly she wrote at least one of the two memos that were given to Vice President pence, talking about in a historically factual list absolutely wrong about his ability as Vice President to certify the election. That matters. She is involved in a few different aspects of the allegations. Thats for sure. Paul, stick with us. We have more legal developments happening right now and i want to ask you about. Donald trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen are about to come face to face for the first time in years, both arriving at a new york city courthouse just a short time ago, where cohen is set to take the stand in the civil fraud trial into trumps business empire. As youll recall, it was cohen who sparked this entire sprawling investigation with this testimony back in 2019. It was my experience that mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes. Such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes. So, what will his Testimony Add today . I want to go to nbc news Correspondent Dasha Burns in new york, dasha, Michael Cohen and donald trump worked so closely together for years before cohen served prison time and broke with him. They exchanged some really sharp barbs in the past. Should we expect fireworks today . It feels like a high courtroom drama kind of day. Certainly the most anticipated day in this trial so far. And, look, this is a first time that theyll be in the same room since Michael Cohen turned on his former boss, we watched both men arrive here this morning. This was supposed to happen, remember, last week, but cohen didnt show up because of a health issue. Donald trump at the time called him said he didnt have the guts to show up and testify. Well, today, cohen did show up. In fact, we ran into him going into the courthouse for a brief moment. We ran into him in this security line. My producer had a moment to chat with him and asked him how he was feeling. He took a brief pause. And said he is feeling very confident. Now, it has been five years since the two have come face to face and a lot happened in those five years. Cohen served prison time, testified against the former president before congress, and before a grand jury and former President Trump has been twice impeached and four times indicted. And in this trial itself, he has received a gag order and has now been fined 5,000 for breaking with that gag order. So well also be watching for his behavior in the courtroom as he faces a man who has become sort of an arch nemesis here. If only there were cameras allowed inside this courtroom. Keep us posted. Dasha burns. And, paul, again, it was cohens testimony before congress that sparked this investigation. Now, trumps defense team tried to poke holes, calling him a, quote, guy who lies to everyone. Here is what trump said about cohen himself this morning. A felon. He served a lot of time. I think youll see for yourself, the Southern District came out with a scathing statement about him, so hes a liar, trying to get a better deal for himself, but not going to work. This case, by any other judge, this case would have been over a long time ago. We did nothing wrong and thats been proven. Cohen . How key is his testimony for the a. G. s case . You are asking all the right questions, because despite what donald trump is saying, what he cant deny is that he worked with cohen for over a decade as both his business and personal fixer, addressing all of his concerns across his business with legal issues. We already know we will hear the conversation about the hushmoney payments that was made, and the real lynchpin to listen to are the financial dealings where he talks about the inflated Public Records and the need to have an asserted confidence with forbes so Everybody Knows how rich he is, and he deflated his values when it came to get a loan, and when it came time to qualify for insurance and when it came time for him to pay his taxes, those transactions are illegal, and that undermines the foundation of their being false records, and thats to the Felony Criminal Suit in new york as well. What you will see in his testimony is a crosspollination of his testimony about how the trump business operated and how trump operated across the other indictments, specifically about trump knowing with full knowledge and doing things at the full direction much trump, and thats at the heart of what trump knew and did. Thank you both. Up next on ana cabrera reports, a scare in the air. An off duty pilot charged with Attempted Murder, accused of trying to shutdown a planes engines mid flight. Its designed to target and remove them and helps prevent asthma attacks. Fasenra is not for sudden Breathing Problems or other eosinophilic conditions. Allergic reactions may occur. Dont stop your Asthma Treatments without talking with your doctor. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. Headache and sore throat may occur. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Get back to better breathing. Ask your doctor about fasenra. Tourists tourists taking photos that are analyzed by ai. So researchers can help life underwater flourish. Limu emu doug [bell ringing] and doug says, you can customize and save hundreds on Car Insurance with liberty mutual. he hits his mark center stage and is crushed by a baby grand piano. Are you replacing me . With this guy . Customize and save with liberty bibberty. He doesnt even have a mustache oh, look a bibu. [limu emu squawks. ] only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. The ball is out and theres a pileup. Lets go get in the pile ugh, ill deal with this tomorrow. You wont. Its ripe in here. My eyes are watering. Im a busy man. Look how crusty this is. Shameful. Ugh, its just too much. Not with this. Tide. Tide can tackle any pile. That a tackle pun . Just clean the pile, ron. Okay. This too. That was easy. When stains and odors pile up, its got to be tide. christina with Verizon Business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. That was easy. So, no matter what, im running this kitchen. vo make the switch. Its your business. Its your verizon. I could use a little help. Yeah, theres a lot of risk out there. Huh hey, is this thing hard to learn . Nah, its easy. Huh. You know, i think im going to ride it home. Good thing you chose u. S. Bank to manage and grow your money. With our 24 7 support at least youre not taking chances with your finances. Yeah, i think im gonna need a chair. Oh, ohhhh. Clause after they were cleared. Just the shells there. The National Weather service said smoke from nearby fires combined with dense fog formed this super fog event. Can you see how dangerous the conditions were on this road. You can barely see the ambulances responding to the scene there. Turning to just a terrifying moment in the air. An off duty Alaska Airlines pilot has been charged with more than 80 counts of Attempted Murder after he allegedly tried to shutoff a planes engines mid flight before the pilot and copilot were able to subdue him. He is set to be arraigned this afternoon. Tom costello is following the story for us. This is like something out of a movie. Do we know why he did Something Like this . Law enforcement says the Alaska Airlines pilot was riding in the Cockpit Jump Seat of a horizon air flight, and he reached over and tried to shutdown the engines, and that forced the pilot and copilot to jump in and stop him and make an emergency landing. Why did the pilot try to shutdown the engines while riding in the jump seat. He was headed from washington to San Francisco when the off duty pilot, joseph emerson, tried to pull the controls to turn off the engines at cruising altitude. The pilot and copilot Subdued Emerson and removed him from the cockpit and diverted. Weve got the guy the passenger seated in the last row saw emerson as he walked to the back of the plane. I made eye contact with him, and it was a soul, dead in the eyes look. He is charged with 83 counts of Attempted Murder. Acquaintances of emerson are surprised. There were no indications there was anything wrong. Jump seat riders including off duty pilots and federal officials are subject to increased training compared to other passengers. Whether you are a federal agent or a pilot, theres training required and you have to get briefed on emergency situations. One passenger on the flight says hes glad everybody is safe on the plane, but thinks more should be done. They let somebody who tried to shut the engines down walk freely on the airplane. Emerson was hired by horizon, but works for alaska. Pilots over the age of 40 must go medical evaluations every six months and disclose Mental Health issues and medications, and full mental evaluations are not part of the physical, and his last physical, believe it or not, was last month. Tom, thank you very much. That will do it for us today. See you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. Until then, i am Ana Cabrera Reporting from new york. Jose diazbalart picks up our coverage right now. Good morning. Its 11 00 a. M. Eastern, and 8 00 a. M. Pacific. I am