a hamas leader linked to the october 7th massacre. all of this escalating as the conflict could become a regional war. also, with less than two weeks before the iowa caucuses, the race for the white house kicks into gear with top trump challengers. and president biden returning from vacation to face new challenges, as he plans to hit the road with a retooled re-election message. and i ll be joined by the premium ambassador to the united states, after a new year began there with a barrage of deadly strikes against kyiv and kharkiv, and no agreement with continued u.s. military aid. good day, everyone. i m andrea mitchell in washington. tensions are growing throughout the wider middle east today, stoking international fears that the israel hamas war is now spilling far beyond gaza s borders. more than 100 people, including children, are dead after two explosions in iran ripped through crowds commemorating general souleymane. he was the prominent ahead of the revolutionary
bare his dark history of drug abuse. we re live at the courthouse. plus, a new look at the raid that freed four hostages in gaza, the blistering cross fire and mishap with the get away car before a final dramatic escape by helicopter. we ll have those details. and when a former president meets his probation officer, donald trump faces questions on everything from his mental health to his living situation. what we know about his presentencing interview today. plus, what you haven t seen from the day of the insurrection. the new video obtained by msnbc of the chaos and confusion on january 6th, including the questions congressional leaders were asking in realtime about why the national guard hadn t shown up. our nbc news reporters are following all of the latest developments. but we begin with nbc s mike memoli outside the courthouse in wilmington. mike, the defense has argued that hunter biden s state of mind is critical when considering the charges against him. what are
france for the d-day anniversary. his plan to tout american leadership on the world stage and highlight the stark contrast with donald trump. then my keynote conversation about skipping the small talk and getting real. plus, senate republicans lock a bill to protect access to birth control as the 11th hour gets underway on this wednesday night. good evening once again. i am stephanie ruhle. we are now 153 days away from the election and that means it is exactly 5 months from today. as we get closer to that day, president biden is trying to show the sharp differences between him and donald trump. right now he is in france to mark tomorrow s 80th anniversary of d-day and while he is there for a very important occasion, he is also trying to reassure our allies about america s place on the world stage and what will happen when voters go to polls in november? in capitals across the continent leaders and diplomats express a sense of alarm bordering on panic at the prospect of d
them it is good. that is all it is. at least in this cycle it is just such an obvious political play. so the steve bannon argument is that you opened the doors and if you do this to trump, we will do this to you. the whole thing is retribution. if you try to do these prosecutions we will get back to you. you need to be afraid of republicans. look, the whole party is basically about trump. name a republican platform like one of the tenants of the party now. i do want to say something. if you are in the trump sphere, you never do mainstream media so no one will look back and see been in and say what about menendez, what about hunter biden? this is also very dangerous. the things that bind us together as a country. we talk about this idea of attacking the judicial system,
asking for something quite extraordinary. and ineligibility for enable for trump but on narrow grounds. and andrew, i want to turn to senator bob menendez, and the separate of two superseding indictments filed by a grand jury, alleging he made positive statements about qatar to help new jersey get a multidollar investment from qatar. let s play what chris christie had to say about this on cnn last night. one of the things that shocked me the most is how cheaply you could buy a politician. i mean, $5,000 in cash in an envelope could get most elected officials. i don t understand how chuck schumer can t go to mitch mcconnell right now and say, look, we need to have a vote to kick him out. it could be, andrew, because of such a closely divided senate. what about menendez, though, i