tonight, the 2024 primary is officially underway. last hour in south carolina, the first democratic contest in the nation closed, president joe biden easily secured a victory there, flowing his rival out of the water. all eyes are on the number of down the a total of 55 are up. those will be awarded remember of course that they need a total of 2000 to capture the democratic nomination. a short time ago the president issued a statement thanking the voters of south carolina saying in part quote, in 2020 it was south carolina who proved p- breaking news coming out of the middle east in the united states launched strikes targeting the cuties in yemen, they hit 36 targets across the country. an official told nbc news today that the strikes in yemen and yesterday s attacks on more than 85 targets linked to iranian-backed militias in iraq and syria are not related. let s go back to politics, and the primary results we re getting out of south carolina. msnbc correspondent trema
i believe my plan is responsible is fair. it focuses the benefit on middle-class and working families. so will it help or hurt the president and democrats politically? today opinion sharply divided. i voted for the president specifically for this issue. $20,000 for pell recipients would be a major victory. i just feel it s a little slap in the face to those who worked hard to pay it off. also today restrictive abortion bans taking effect in oklahoma, tennessee and texas. combined with state bans already in effect since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. 1/3 of american women now live in states where abortion procedures are either banned entirely or very severely curtailed. but in idaho a judge has temporarily blocked part of the state s new law for conflicting with federal health care guarantees. first, though, to student loans. joining us now, nbc news chief white house correspondent and weekend today co-anchor kristen welker. msnbc correspondent tremain
white house correspondent and weekend today co-anchor kristen welker. msnbc correspondent tremaine lee in houston, texas. and nbc news capitol hill correspondent ali vitali. kristen, first to you. the president vigorously defending this decision, but also he s getting pushback from republicans and some centrist democrats. that s absolutely right, andrea. and i think the timing of this announcement is important context. the president making this announcement that he s going to halt student loan payments until january ahead of the deadline when it was set to expire next week and also ahead of the all-important midterm elections as well as giving $10,000 of debt relief for those making less than $125,000. it is getting some praise from some of his allies, for example, the ceo of the national housing conference saying that it s one of the most consequential administrative actions to date. on the other hand, you do have some criticism of this coming from republicans. you have mitch mcco