Kremlin. Now, russia did not provide any evidence of these claims, which were reported on russian state media. Ukraine claims they have nothing to do with the alleged overnight drone attack. Well have a live report with what we know and dont know at this hour. And more Breaking News this morning, the massive manhunt in texas is over. Social media video appearing to capture the moment an accused mass murderer was taken into custody just 20 miles from where the horror unfolded. Police say Francisco Oropesa was found hiding in a closet underneath laundry. Hes charged with five counts of murder and being held on a 5 million bond. And his arrest just one of several. There has been several arrests, but i cant go into the details on that. We will have the very latest from a Police Update this morning about how that days long search came to an end. Lets begin with those claims out of russia that Ukrainian Forces tried to strike russian president Vladimir Putins residence at the kremlin with two drones. Now, russia provided no evidence. Ukraine is denying any role. Lets get right to nbc news chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel and retired Lieutenant General steph twitty. These are unproven claims not backed by evidence right now. What more do we know about the situation right now . So we know there are quite a few videos, and our social Media Verification Team here in london has been poring over these videos, and their job is to troll the internet, and they do that every single day to look at videos, try and understand what happened, trying to see if theyre real or not, and generally in incidents what happens is you get a video. It catches on like wildfire and it spreads across the internet. What happened in this case is not nearly as organic. These times are all in russia. So the first video came out at 2 37 local time moscow time. And that showed aftermath or what claimed to be the aftermath of some sort of drone attack against the kremlin. So you see a little bit of smoke. Then theres nothing else, and that first video, which was posted on telegram, which is an encrypted app, which is very popular in russia and all across eastern europe, was the first and only video. Then theres a 12hour gap roughly in which nothing was posted at all, and then several videos suddenly emerge, almost at the same time around 3 00 p. M. Local moscow time. And those videos were of a high quality. They showed the aftermath of this alleged attack and also showed the video of the kremlin before the attack took place and show what appears to be a drone flying at high speed and exploding as it impacts or is about to impact a dome inside the kremlin compound. And that when this second batch of videos came out, again, high quality, they look like they were taken from Security Camera footage. In one of the videos, the best video, you can actually see someone if you zoom in on it using what looks like a cell phone to take video of the Security Camera video. As those were put out, that is when the kremlin started issuing its statements saying that this was an attack by kyiv, that this was an attack against vladimir putin, that it was an Assassination Attempt and that moscow reserves the right to respond at a time and place of its choosing. So we dont know if this incident took place. We dont know what happened, but there is a sequence of events based on the videos that came out that suggests that this was a controlled release at the very least. Lieutenant general, obviously a lot we dont know right now, but lets just talk about the military realities of this. Theres quite a distance between kyiv and moscow, not to mention the air defenses in between, right . Is this even plausible . Let me just break it down for you a little bit, ana, so theres approximately 500 miles between kyiv itself and moscow. The second point that i think we need to make clear here is the russians have a layered air defense from the border all the way into moscow, but there in moscow and kyiv itself, it really has a sophisticated, elaborate Defense System of radars, sensors, they have whats called the s400 air Defense System, the s300 air Defense System. So its pretty elaborate, so for kyiv to be able to get a drone particularly on the kremlin would be extremely hard to accomplish. The second bit of information here is that if they were to try and get a drone into that location, then the russians have the ability to track it and video it, and so im interested in seeing the video which will tell us the direction that the drone came from, the type of drone, what type of payload was on that particular drone, and if theyre trying to kill president putin, they wouldnt use a drone itself, they would use Something Like a Hell Fire Missile to be able to shoot and kill president putin. So i see this as a red flag written all over it. So you think this might be a false flag operation, but how dangerous of a situation are these claims on the world stage . Its pretty dangerous. One of the reasons its dangerous, if theyre blaming ukraine, as you know, the west of the u. S. Have been pretty clear that no attack into russia for a couple of reasons. Number one, we want to make sure that we dont start world war iii and bring nato and others into this, but the second reason is ukraine is fighting a defensive war within ukraine, and we dont want that war to spread further. Richard, you brought up that russia is saying they reserve the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit. What do you make of that . What kind of response could we be waiting for . Well, its hard to know, and it seems like theyre deliberately leaving it vague, but a senior official in russia just said that russia now needs to be armed and prepared to destroy the kyiv regime. Russia officially has considered this an Assassination Attempt against vladimir putin, although the kremlin says putin was not in the building at the time, wasnt in moscow at the time. Was working from a residence outside the city. And officials in kyiv from the Ukrainian Government not only deny any involvement, they say that any involvement, any attack like this would be counterproductive because it would provoke the russians, because it would provoke a radical response. It also would have no chance of success, a tiny drone, and in one of these videos you can see what looks like a small hobby style drone flying at high speed towards the kremlin would not have any chance of bringing down the building, killing vladimir putin, especially when hes not in the building. General twitty, in the coming hours, what will you be watching for . What kind of response do you think or reaction do you think we may see . Yeah, let me give you my thoughts and expand on what richard just said. I think what is really happening here is russia in the past, they have really not gone for president zelenskyy himself, and theyre using this putin attack in my mind to say, okay, were going to now start to go after president zelenskyy. They failed in taking kyiv. They failed in taking kherson, theyre failing in bakhmut. Theyre at the last stance here and nothing has worked for them, so i anticipate extreme attacks on kyiv itself and possibly attacks on the president of ukraine. Wow. Lieutenant general steph twitty, Richard Engel. We know you both are going to be watching closely for any new developments, and were going to continue to follow and bring our viewers new information as we get it. Thank you, both. Lets turn to the manhunt in texas, the Suspected Mass Killer now in custody. Authorities say 38yearold Francisco Oropesa was found in the city of cut and shoot, texas, hiding in a closet under a pile of laundry. Less than 20 miles from the scene where hes accused of shooting and killing five of his neighbors including a 9yearold boy. Nbc news correspondent sam brock is live from cold spring, texas. Also joining us is phillip mud, former Deputy Director of the cia counterterror center. Sam, what is the latest we know this morning on this investigation . Reporter so ana, a deep sigh of relief for everybody here in southeast texas. Over my shoulder, youll see the county jail and we do know for a fact that Francisco Oropesa is inside right now. He is awaiting a 5 million bond hearing at some point this morning, and it really puts to rest the question of whether or not he was located here, somewhere else in the state of texas or perhaps in mexico. As you mentioned a second ago, the suspect was only about 15 miles away from where the massacre occurred. Hearing an update from officials here, a couple of very pertinent pieces of information. There have now been multiple arrests. Its not just oropesa. We are also learning it was potentially his wife who was arrested. The sheriff of montgomery county, Neighboring County here confirming to us or at least to the Associated Press at this point it is his wife whos in jail now right now. Shes facing potential charges of preventing the apprehension of a known felon. Thats going on right now. At the same time, we are also learning details about how this chase went down. Authorities confirming here today that earlier in the week when we thought there was a false alarm of just a whole rurk rush of resources, it turns out it was oropesa. It was the suspect on foot. He managed to get to this house just a matter of days later. Apparently he had obtained a cell phone and was in contact with some folks that he knew in the area and ultimately it was an fbi tip that got them to that city and to that private residence. Here is the Deputy Sheriff this morning discussing for us what the confrontation was like and setting the stage for what comes next. Simple flurry of resistance, but they had a k9 dog from what i understand, and theres no injuries of any kind. The house is connected. Im not going to say anything about that right now because the investigations still were still going. Reporter so ana, in terms of who owns the house, i mean, thats one of the major questions right now. Was it personal . Was it familial . They are not willing to go there. So much questions, so much scrutiny regarding the police response. How long it took them to get to the house in the first place. Several survivors saying it was five calls over the course of 20 minutes, 30 minutes. What the sheriff said is the infrastructure in that area is so poor, specifically these potholes that are so big that prevented them from being able to get there in a timely manner and deputies in the area were attending to an aggravated robbery, had to leave that and go to what turned out to be the massacre. There is gunfire on a regular basis in that neighborhood. Perhaps it affected the perception of urgency as they responded to that call. Phil, i want to dissect all this information a little bit more in detail here. Four days later, after the murders. Are you surprised that this guy was found less than 20 miles away from where the murders happened . No, lets go through a simple time line. This is a crime of passion, ana. What that tells me is that the individual who did this crime didnt think in advance of an escape route. If you dont think of an escape route, you cant really use a car because obviously somebodys going to recognize the license plate. You cant get cash from an atm. You cant use a credit card, you cant show up at a convenience store. If you dont plan your route in advance your options are going to be limited to local and to people you know or to family members. That obviously gives a big opportunity for investigators who are going to go through, if you will, a phone tree of connections and family members, start spreading out to determine where the individual might have fled in the immediate aftermath. Without planning this, ana, theres no way or very little chance you can stay on the run for a long period of time. Officials were very tightlipped about their search for this suspect. We still arent hearing a lot of information about how this all went down. Take us through what that investigation probably looked like and where it goes from here now. The first piece of the investigation would be looking at contacts and also youre looking at data, cell phone, email to see if that individual is up on any of that. When you look at contacts, friends, and family, youre going to have Law Enforcement fan out and Start Talking to them. Youre manning a tip line. The story here is somebody tipped them off. Theres a half decent chance that was a family member. Going to the after action, whats happening to today, theres a lot of questions i have. Its sort of fascinating. For example, the story about this individual having a cell phone after the crime. Anybody who picked up calls from that cell phone is going to be the subject of conversations with Law Enforcement, and the first question id have is if that person called you, why didnt you call us. I think one reason the police are so quiet about talking about the investigation is that more people are under investigation for whether they helped this man flee, ana. This suspect, Francisco Oropesa is an undocumented immigrant. The Texas Governor said he had been deported from the u. S. Four times. One of my questions is how does he get his hands on an ar15 rifle . I have no idea. That goes into the question begin about why Law Enforcement isnt talking. He cant have gotten i dont think he could have gotten the weapon legally. So one question is whoever provided that weapon to him, did they provide it knowing that they were giving it to someone who had been deported four times. Can we find who provided that weapon. Were talking about initial charges of a handful of people. Thank you so much, appreciate you both. Good to see you again, phil. Thanks. Were back in 60 seconds, live from the southern border where the Biden Administration is planning to send active duty troops ahead of an anticipated influx of migrants following end of covid restrictions. Well speak with congresswoman Veronica Escobar who represents el paso about what the government should do. New turmoil in the Banking Industry, what it means for your money, especially with another potential rate hike ahead. Also, A Hollywood Saga Still Unwritten as tinseltowns Writers Strike for another day. When they say theyll stop, Ana Cabrera Reports is back in just one minute. Is back in just one minute cecily so you got an awesome network. seth and when i switched, i got to choose the phone i wanted. For free. Not bragging. cecily youre bragging. neighbor oh, hes bragging. seth who, me . Never. Oh, excuse me. Hello, your royal highness, sir. cecily okay, thats a brag. seth hey, mom. I gotta call you back. vo switch and choose the phone you want, like the incredible iphone 14, on us. cecily on the Network Worth bragging about. Verizon were back with new reaction coming from the white house now about russias claim that ukraine targeted the kremlin with drones overnight. In a statement, a u. S. Official says they are looking into this report but arent able to confirm if its valid or if its authentic at this time. To be clear, the claim of an attack is coming straight from russian state media, and russia has provided no evidence. Ukraine has denied this. Well bring you more updates as we have them. And we have new reaction this morning to the news that President Biden will send 1,500 troops to the southern u. S. Border. We are talking active duty troops being deployed to assist with an expected surge of migrants with title 42, the covid era Border Restrictions set to end in just eight days. And were already seeing big crowds of migrants gathering in cities like el paso, and their numbers are only expected to grow, perhaps double according to border officials as soon as next week. Joining us now from el paso, texas, is Nbc News National Correspondent gabe gutierrez. Gabe, i understand el paso has declared a State Of Emergency. What are you hearing from both migrants and border officials there . Reporter yeah, ana, not just el paso but other border towns, brownsville, laredo are declaring states of emergency. Its an active scene right now. Paramedics just arrived. You can see over here, were going to be careful because the streets been blocked off, theres a large crowd of migrants gathering over there that just called for paramedics because one of the migrants apparently suffered a medical episode after sleeping here overnight. Ana, this is pretty incredible. Ive been here several months ago, but the number of migrants that are here significantly higher. Its not just this block. It extends for blocks and blocks. Again, this is an active scene as my cameraman can show. Lets walk over here and show just how many migrants that stand on this end of the block. They slept here overnight, and local Officials Say that they are just overwhelmed. Again, the mayor declaring a State Of Emergency here. The Biden Administration announcing that theyre sending 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border to help with this influx. And again, a larger influx is expected a week from tomorrow when those covid era Border Restrictions known as title 42 are set to be lifted. But some border communities like this one are already dealing with a huge influx. We just spoke with a woman from venezuela, been here ten days with her 10yearold daughter. Says this was a desperate situation. She was out here all night. Thankfully its not as cold as it was several months ago, sot migrants are able to sleep outside, but still very difficult conditions here. We have been speaking with migrant advocates, though, saying that the troops that are being sent here really send the wrong message and dont deal with the root causes of the problem. Republicans also say that its too little too late, so the Biden Administration facing some backlash from both sides of the aisle at this point. The situation here in el paso, several city blocks, Hundreds Of Igrants here sleeping overnight, again, as we wait for title 42 to be lifted next week. And gabe, we should note, the Biden Administration is saying this deployment of troops there is going to be temporary and says customs and Border Protection is investing in technology and personnel to try to reduce its need for Department Of Defense support in the coming years. Just help us understand what do we know about the current resources there and how much more is needed . Thats a good point, ana. This is set to be temporary. Deployments also happened during the Trump Administration as well when several thousand troops were sent down here as well. In terms of resources, the Department Of Defense was very clear yesterday that these active duty troops are not set to participate in any Law Enforcement. Its not like theyre going to be arresting any migrants or anything like that, but simply providing Logistical Support to customs and Border Protection official who they say their resources are just stretched thin. The more and more of these migrants that they see here, and last year, as you know, ana was a record breaking year in terms of Border Crossings here at the southern border. They say theyre stretched too thin and these active duty troops will help with that Logistical Support to allow some of these Border Patrol agents to be able to process these migrants, which cities like el paso are sending them to other parts of the texas border, including laredo, which is also dealing with this huge influx as well. This is already before the covid restrictions and title 42 set to be lifted next week. Thank you so much, gabe gutierrez. I want to bring in democratic congresswoman Veronica Escobar from texas. El paso is your district. Is this the right call by President Biden to send troops . Good morning, ana, yes, i support the president s decision. This is a very different mission for the troops than what we saw during the Trump Administration. During the Trump Administration i actually condemned the way that the president was using our troops. They were placed at our ports of entry to turn back migrants, so they were acting in a Law Enforcement capacity in their full uniform with their long guns interacting with migrants, and again, acting in a Law Enforcement capacity. This is very different. We have a need for all hands on deck. Th the Border Patrol to address the situation thats happening, and so as long as troops are being used in nonLaw Enforcement capacities and they are not interacting with migrants, i think it will be helpful. And in fact, if you ask most local leaders, what they will probably say is its still not enough support. So i know that theres a lot of critics, but whats happening here on the ground requires a response not just from the executive. I would tell you, ana, it requires a response from congress as well. Absolutely, and i want to talk to you about that, but some of your colleagues in the Democratic Party are pushing back on this move by the Biden Administration, senator bob menendez was very critical saying, quote, trying to score political points or intimidate migrants by sending the military to the border caters to the republican partys Xenophic Attacks on our asylum system. Is he wrong . I have tremendous respect for my colleague, senator menendez. I would love for him to visit and talk to our local leaders and see what we have set up and the needs that remain. Much of what the senator has called for in his plan requires congressional action. I have been calling for congressional action. I have filed legislation, i was added amendments to existing legislation to try to address whats happening. Ive worked closely with the administration. The one area where there has been absolute inaction has been from congress, and in fact, there is tremendous risk ahead. Im really worried about future appropriations because what we see coming from the republican party, my republican colleagues, is an effort to cut back on resources. In fact, a bill that the republicans just passed recently to address the debt ceiling as their negotiating entree with President Biden would actually cut 2,400 front line cbp agents and officers and ana, part of the reason why youre seeing so many vulnerable souls on the streets of el paso is because republicans wrote into an Appropriations Bill a prohibition against sheltering or using federal funds for undocumented immigrants so while we have federal funds here in our community from the federal government and the administration, we cant use them to shelter those folks because of a republican prohibition. Congresswoman, i do want to share with our viewers what republicans are saying they are prepared to do now when it comes to trying to fix the broken immigration system. In fact, republicans say theyre planning to introduce legislation next week that theyre calling the secure The Border Act of 2023. They say it would force the administration to restart construction of the border wall, Deploy Technology to the southern and northern border, increase the number of Border Patrol agents and provide bonus pay, and catch and release. Strengthen and streamline the asylum process, and there are other things that they list in this legislation. Does this sound like something that could get bipartisan support . Could you support this . Anna, theres a whole lot more detail to that legislation that can is not listed. I think its really important for the American Public and the media to dig into that legislation. That legislation would essentially not allow legal representation for migrants, even for unaccompanied toddlers and infants. We tried to enter amendments to help provide that Legal Support for unaccompanied minors, republicans voted down those amendments. It is a draconian bill. I can tell you also just in terms of the wall, i know a very popular republican talking point. Migrants are actually presenting themselves to Border Patrol agents at the wall and because they are on american soil and because our asylum laws say when someone asks for asylum on american soil, you know, thats a legal process, theres so much in that bill that is unworkable, that is inhumane, and i just want to add one more thing. Last december when we voted on our omnibus Appropriations Bill, it was republicans who voted largely in a voting block against 7. 2 billion for Border Patrol operations. Thankfully the House Democrats had a majority. We were able to get those resources. Its because of those resources thankfully that we dont have a larger crisis on our hands. So i would welcome any bipartisan conversation around Common Sense Solutions and a real way for us to address the significant challenge that were facing today. Texas congresswoman Veronica Escobar, appreciate your time. Thanks for being here. Thank you. Up next on Ana Cabrera Reports here we go again, another fed rate hike is likely coming amid a Roller Coaster of banking turmoil. What it could mean for the economy and your wallet. Plus, the hollywood writer strike could cost tinseltown a lot of money. Is there an end in sight, or is the rest still unwritten . Nwrittn [ ] did you know, unless you treat dandruff regularly, it will keep coming back. Try Head Shoulders shampoo. Dandruff is caused by irritation to a germ that lives on everyones scalp. Unlike regular shampoo, Head Shoulders contains zinc pyrithione, which fights the dandruffcausing germ and helps prevent it from coming back. Its gentle on hair and provides up to 100 dandruff protection, clinically proven. Try Head Shoulders shampoo and conditioner. For best results, use with every wash. This has been medifacts for Head Shoulders. For copd, ask your doctor about breztri. Breztri gives you better breathing, symptom improvement, and helps prevent flareups. Breztri wont 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. Dont 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, vison changes, or eye pain occur. If you have copd ask your doctor about breztri. Were following reaction to russias claim that ukraine attempted to target the kremlin with drones overnight. Again, to be clear, this claim of an attack is coming from russian state media, and russia has offered no evidence. Theyve put out these videos but we cannot authenticate them. Ukraine has vehemently denied the claims. And joining us is nbc News National security reporter dan deluce. At this point the u. S. Is saying that they cannot even confirm or validate this alleged drone attack occurred. A u. S. Official telling nbc news theyre still trying to look into this and see exactly what really happened, but they also say that if there was this alleged incident that the u. S. Had absolutely no advanced warning. I think they really are emphasizing that they want to get that message out that if there was something here, it has no connection to the united states. Now, of course this raises many questions. Its also just a technical issue. Does ukraine or would anyone connected to ukraine have the ability to do this . You know, it goes without saying that there are serious air Defense Systems all Around Moscow and especially right there at the heart of their government, and so it raises a question whether its even technically possible. Right, and dan, im just wondering do you know if the u. S. Has reached out to ukraine or other allies regarding this situation. Are there ongoing discussions about what just happened and what russias claiming . They have not said that publicly. I think it goes without saying that they would be on the phone pretty quickly to ukraine and other allies. The Ukrainian Government is out publicly as you say denying any involvement, any connection to this attack. But of course we should also add for context that there have been incidents inside russia, outside of ukraines borders that have been linked to or suspected to be linked to ukraine or proukrainian groups. Nothing on this scale, but there have been these sort of Sabotage Type Operations that have there are many suspicions that ukraine might be behind them. Then of course there was the killer of the daughter of a prorussian ideologue and ukraine did not deny that was their doing. There are lingering suspicions about that incident. And then there are the leaked pentagon documents that indicate that ukraine discussed and pursued possible Sabotage Operations inside russia. Nothing to do, though, with the kremlin or going after president putin. So theres a theory here that russia may be just promoting this whole scenario as a kind of false flag to justify more attacks and possible kind of extraordinary violence against ukraine in response to this alleged incident. Right, dan de luce, thank you so much for your reporting and insights. I want to note to our viewers, we just heard from secretary of state Antony Blinken who said, and i quote, i cant in any way validate them. We simply dont know he says, and he says i would take anything coming out of the kremlin with a very large shaker of salt so lets see. That again from the secretary of state. Let me turn to the turmoil in the Banking Industry even as we await news from the Federal Reserve. We are expecting an announcement about another potential Interest Rate hike. It comes as more regional banks are in trouble this morning. One of them Pac West Bank saw its stock plummet more than 20 yesterday. Lets bring in nbc News Business and data reporter brian cheung and politicos chief economic correspondent, ben white. Thank you for being with us. Ben, lets start with The Big Picture here, right . Theres been so much going on right now when it comes to finances, the economy, what does The Big Picture look like in terms of the health of the economy . Yeah, well, things are very much all over the place when you consider that we have high Interest Rates because the fed is trying to deliberately slow this economy to get inflation under control, which underscores that prices still are uncomfortably high for americans. On the good side of things, the Unemployment Rate is at 3. 5 which is a half a century low. When we talk about whats happening here, we also have to add in the other elements of it. We have a Debt Ceiling Debate that could throw the Credit Worthiness of the largest economy in the world into question. And then we have the banking issues like you underscored with failure most recently of First Republic bank. How does the fed navigate all of that as they move the Interest Rates higher, which is expected today, markets pricing in the expectations that theyll raise rates by a quarter of a percentage point. If the fed does raise Interest Rates, this would be the tenth consecutive increase. Ben, this would be the fastest series of rate increases in four decades. We know americans are already really feeling these rate increases according to bank rate fiveyear car loans have nearly doubled. The current apr for credit cards is now over 20 . Interest rates for Student Loans have climbed from 3. 74 to nearly 5 in just the last year. Could these rates hold or could the fed ultimately be forced to start peeling them back later this year . Yeah, its a very tough call for them today. Consensus is that theyll do another quarter point hike. Theyre in a danger zone hear, particularly because as you say, higher rates are consumers on autos, and mortgages and everything else. In addition to the higher prices theyre paying due to inflation. The real concern to me is these banks. After First Republic were dealing with pac west and some other regionals. Part of the reason for that is they hold an enormous amount of Government Debt and Mortgage Debt that they acquired at lower rates, now that rates are much, much higher very quickly, those holdings are worth much less, and theyre under water, and thats why theyre under pressure. One would think this would have been over after the government guaranteed deposits from svp and signature. There are lingering and legitimate concerns about these holdings, particularly commercial real estate. Something like a trillion dollars or more held by some of these regional banks thats going to come due in the next couple of years, the way the feds hiked rates so fast, those are in trouble, and thats an argument for possibly pausing today. I dont think they will. So brian, try to connect the dots even more for us. How much of the action that feds are taking on Interest Rates is connected to the Bank Failures . Yeah, i mean, ben was very nicely laying out how it kind of got us to where were at. I mean, one of the contributing factors, not the entire factor, but one of them that led to Silicon Valley banks collapse was higher Interest Rates. If youre going to raise Interest Rates, which is the expectation today, might that throw other banks into more trouble. Now, when we talk about what the Federal Reserve has said about this in the last meeting, because we have to remember in march that was around the time Silicon Valley bank was in the headlines, fed chair jay powell was saying it actually in a way helps the Federal Reserve achieve the goal of basically pulling credit from the system because banks themselves in this turmoil are going to be much more conservative when it comes to Underwriting Loans or offering credit to americans and businesses. So when we talk about another Interest Rate hike today, the issues we see in the Banking Sector might work as a de facto extra Interest Rate hike that allows the Federal Reserve to further pull back on this economy. Of course that runs the risk of more banking instability. That is something that the Federal Reserve is thinking about as they continue to move rates. Thank you so much brian cheung and ben white, good to have you both with us on this topic. Up next, a new twist in the Debt Limit Debate straight out of a political drama, the plan b from House Democrats as the deadline to avoid a historic economic catastrophe approaches. Plus, tinseltown tensions, we are along the picket line where hollywoods writers are on strike. Were going to be out here until they make a reasonable deal, a good deal that treats us with respect. Are you prepared for that to take months . Yes, absolutely. We all are. We all are you can make it even smarter. Now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. And where its going. dock worker right on time. vo robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. foreman nice work. vo and retailers can get ahead of the Fashion Trend of the day with a new line tomorrow. With a verizon private 5g network, you can get more agility and security. Giving you more control of your business. We call this enterprise intelligence. From the Network America relies on. Meet the outdoorsies. 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But even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. Although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. Now as youre thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. I came out to support the writers because were as actors were only as good as the writing we get. There you see him, actor rob lowe on the picket lines lending his support to writers as the strike in hollywood enters a second day. Its effects are already being felt as late night talk shows started airing reruns, paused plans for upcoming productions. The dispute pits more than 11,000 Screen Writers against the major studios for the first time in 15 years. Joining us now from outside studio city In California is nbc kronts correspondent marissa pat ta, thanks for being with us for the conversation. Marissa, youve been talking to people there who are picketing. What are you hearing . How long are they prepared to strike . Reporter ana, the short answer is as long as it takes. You just mentioned that last one about 15 years ago lasted 100 days, and by all accounts, everybody that ive spoken to is prepared for the possibility that we might see a repeat of that. We know that speaking to members who are part of the Negotiating Committee with wga, they said theyre at least not expecting to hear back from the alliance representing the studios anytime within the next week, and so when it comes down to those sticking points, weve been talking a lot about the sticking points, the things they really couldnt move past and a big one being Artificial Intelligence. We spoke to people, every single one of them brought up Artificial Intelligence on their own because they said that theyre worried about if they leave it unchecked, what could happen to the writers of tomorrow . Were worried that one of these stupid executives is going to take one of these text generators, use it to generate a lot of nonsense and assign a writer to rewrite it. Reporter so whether were talking about writers on the picket line, ive also spoken to a number online, folks scattered throughout the country and maybe not necessarily part of the picket line, all of them are of course trying to figure out how theyre going to make ends meet. For some that might be easier that be others. Everyone that ive spoken to for the most part has expressed some sort of understanding that it might be some Penny Pinching right now in the present, but theyre saying right now this is a fight for the entire industry rather. Its not just the writers. Its the industry as a whole. Steven, the Media Landscape in general has really been taking a beating, layoffs, hiring freezes, how do you see impacting the major studios position during these negotiations. Well, the studios have been crying economic distress because theyve invested so much money into streaming but they are not seeing the kind of profitability that wall street likes, so theyre under tremendous pressure. But streaming has completely upended the industry. These writers are not getting the type of residuals from home video anymore, the dvd business has died, the tv syndication, used to write an episode of television, it would get society to cable, local tv stations. Thats going away. Basically you have to live off of what you make from your from the streaming show and when you write a show for netflix, it just sits there. It doesnt get sold. It doesnt generate more revenue. That means that the writers earnings have been depressed and a lot of them have to take second jobs to make ends meet. As we discuss how the fabric of this industry has changed so drastically from the last time we had a Work Stoppage in hollywood which was 2007, 2008, i do wonder how the rise in streaming and the introduction of ai is factoring into whats happening right now, not necessarily in terms of why theyre striking, but who has the leverage in terms of ending this strike . What do you think, steven . Well, i think the studios going to let this Go On For A While because there is actually a side benefit from them, a financial benefit in the strike. You are not paying for programming. Youre not paying for new stuff, your costs are going down. However, you have things in the pipeline. You have things in your library that people are still watching. They will actually make money off of this for a while. Also, if it goes on for a couple of months, they can use this to exercise force Majeure Clauses in some of these big expensive overall deals that may not be paying off for them. So theyll try to get rid of some of these expensive deals that they dont think are terribly productive. They will use it to do some bookkeeping in the shortterm. Thats why i think this will last at least two months. Wow, okay. Heard it there first, well see. I hope youre wrong. I hope it ends sooner. Steven baa tag leo, marissa parra. New details this morning about House Democrats, democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries is taking steps to allow a clean bill that would raise the debt ceiling done without the support of republican leadership, but it would still require some gop members to get on board. Joining us now from capitol hill, nbc news correspondent Garrett Haake. Does this plan b have a real shot at working . Reporter well, ana, its probably more like plan q or r, a little bit further down in the alphabet than that because it is such a long shot. What you have here is basically a bill that right now has nothing to do with the debt ceiling, but that could be amended later to include a clean Debt Ceiling Lift and could theoretically make it to the floor if it gathers the signature of a majority of house members, so presumably every democrat and a handful of republicans. That process takes time. In fact, it cant even start until later this week based on the house rules, but what this bill does, is it gives democrats an option in their back pocket should we find ourselves at the very 11th hour with nothing that can even go to the floor to raise the debt ceiling with kind of a break glass in case of Emergency Bill that could get around some other procedural hurdles and at least pass in that scenario. Even then, this only would raise the debt ceiling on the house side. Theyd still have to come up with nine, even ten republican votes in the senate to do the same thing. Its a long shot bill. Its kind of a more west wing than, you know, typical washington at the moment, but its out there. Its an option, and it provides a little bit of a safety net for if we get perilously close to the evening in this Debt Ceiling Debate. Okay. Garrett haake with the latest Garrett Haake with the latest for us. Up next, former President Donald Trump is not testifying in e. Jean carrolls civil rape case. We could still hear from him in court. What were expecting in the coming day, when we come back. Communities and the people who live and work there grow and thrive. Were proud to call these places home too. Theyre where we put down roots, and where together, we work to help move everyones financial goals forward. Pnc bank. So, you found the no7 then. Its amazing hydrates better than the expensive stuff i dont live here, so im taking this and whatevers in the back. Its already sold in the us. But im not taking any chances. The uks 1 skincare has crossed the pond. 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If youre on medicare, you should know President Biden has capped the cost of insulin at 35 dollars a month. 35 bucks. See how joe biden is helping more americans afford the medicine they need. Welcome back. Lets head to the courthouse in new york where the trial continues in the civil rape and Defamation Case of e. Jean carroll against donald trump. Were expecting another accuser of trump and a clinical psychologist. The court heard from a witness that recounted that carroll called her minutes after the alleged rape. Also, trumps attorney, joe tacopina confirmed that the former president would not be taking the stand in this case. Joining us outside of the courthouse, is ron allen, and palm beach state corner ron aaronburg. What is going on inside that white house . Theres a psychiatrist on the stand who the plaintiff called who talked about the harm of the alleged attack. And the psychiatrist is going through step by step, the harm, anxiety, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, symptoms she says she has found carroll to be suffering from as a result of the attack, after doing a number of sessions with her. She is being paid 600 an hour to testify on behalf of the plaintiff. And we expect at some point, we will hear a Defense Expert who will probably try to rebut some of this. This is part of the trial that will back up and try to file the story. She doesnt know exactly when this happened. And the psychologist is talking about memory loss and selective memory and how that is common among victims of trauma. We expect later to hear from another friend of carrolls, carol martin, a prominent local an corewoman, who carroll says she called not long after the alleged attack. We hear from carrolls sister, to talk about her family, her upbringing. All this is going to go on today and through thursday. And we expect that the plaintiff, carroll, will wrap up her case some time then. To your point earlier, yes, former president trumps attorneys says he will not appear in person. But theres a deposition he did in october that the jury will hear from. The plaintiff is going to play excerpts from that. In that back and forth, mr. Trump says many of the things he said on social media and elsewhere, basically, dismissing this case as a con job and that this was all a lie, a hoax. So on and so forth. And he drives home at the point that, this is all politically motivated. And that is what the defense has been doing in crossexamination, of all of the witnesses. Thats been their strongest argument to the jury, that all this is politically motivated. All of the allegations came out as mr. Trump was running for president or after he became president , theyre all democrats. And thats what is at the heart of all this, the point they were trying to make. Dave, we wont hear live testimony from trump. But as ron just mentioned, we may see a 40minute deposition of trump. We, become collective, the jurors, we wont see it. How important is it to hear trumps side of the story in his own words . I think its important for trump. E. Jean carroll doesnt have to prove anything beyond a reason of the doubt. The standard is by a preponderance of the evidence. Its not a he said she said because trump isnt even there. And no one likes to be ghosted, especially juries. Especially in communities that largely voted against trump. Although theyre trying to have him testify by his words at a deposition, its not the same thing as if he is there personally. E. Jean carroll is there. Her friend wasnt an eyewitness but received a phone call minutes after the attempt. And birnbach said she was emotional. How much weight do you see this in this trial . Its important. The key to this case is e. Jean carrolls credibility. And the credibility of her two corroborating witnesses. She told them of the alleged rape at the time it occurred. Trumps lawyer, joe tacopina, has a problem. He has to undermine the credibility of e. Jean carroll and the two witnesses. And lisa birnbachs testimony will be difficult. Carroll told her about the rape and she explained why a traumatized carroll refused to report it to police at the time. She doesnt have a motive to lie about her conversation to know that she is a democrat, but thats not enough to say she is lying under oath. I have about 30 seconds. You called Tacopina A Bull in a china shop so far in his approach. How would you have handled this differently . Do you remember the Johnny Depp Amber herd case . Amber herd said she was a victim of physical abuse. Who do they have crossexamining her . Camilla vasquez. You have a guy that looks like hes out of The Movies And A Bull in a china shop. I dont think in a post metoo era thats a good look. Ron allen, i appreciate your reporting, as well. Thats going to do it for us today. Thanks for being here. See you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. Reporting from new york, im ana cabrera. Jose diaz picks up right now. Breaking news out of moscow. Kremlin officials are accusing ukraine of trying to assassinate russian leader vladimir putin. What we know so far. Right now in texas, the suspect behind the mass shooting that killed five people including a 9yearold boy, has been captured, following a dramatic, fourdaylong search. And we have new reporting with this case. At the border, the humanitarian crisis is worsening. Men, women and children, sleeping on the streets of el paso. Days before title 42 is even lifted. Well bring you the latest. An nbc news exclusive with the widow of beloved dancer and d. J. Twitch, now, opening up about her husbands suicide. The stigma that too often