welcome to the beach weekend. i m ari melber. let s get right into the headlines. in the political world, is adjusting swiftly to the republican results out of iowa, which showed trump in the league. as we were covering that night with rachel. but half of that red electorate open to alternatives. the top two alternatives, which are two individuals separated by just under 3000 votes in iowa, are squaring off, there are high stakes in new hampshire. this is the more moderate, independent state that could favor haley. it s voters also will look more like the november electorate than the nominee, whoever the republicans ultimately pick, will have to face. new tonight, desantis is not campaigning in new hampshire right now, having given up on the moderate-leaning states, giving the quote, abysmal poll numbers for the new york times. and while it is january, we must remember the rest of the last political parts of the nation are probably a little bit exhaust at the thought
administration s voice on the world stage. at the time he called her a proven deal maker and touted her joining his team. now she s the one candidate posing possible peril for trump and he s arguing she s so liberal no republican should pick her. we have an opportunity to get this right. i don t know that she s a democrat, but she s close. i trust you. i trust every single one of you. you know how to do this. you know iowa starts it. you know you correct it. she s far too close for you. trump s campaign is piling money into those attacks. he started paid ad weeks ago turning to personal attacks. trump s allies claim this race is over. beltway pundits repeat that same false narrative. the truth is new hampshire is where some campaigns take off and we re early in the process. candidates who lose iowa can find their footing in new hampshire. trump knows that because in his first run it was he, then candidate trump in 2016, who lost iowa and joined the comeback traditio
it is the eve of the iowa caucus, the start of the presidential primaries, you may have heard. and i m ari melber, with you right now for an msnbc special, a candidate slash defendant trump, reporting on his own clash of american politics, law, and how voters may assess the candidate, whose ear could end in the exalted oval office, or a small prison cell. that will depend on the outcome of several criminal trials, plus other cases. and the next person to track, and break it all down for you tonight on caucus eve, as the primaries begin tomorrow, some of trump s rivals are now invoking trump s legal problems as a general election problem for the ex president. obviously, the distractions of everything that s going on with all of these legal issues has been a huge thing for him. you re going to have criminal trials, you re going to have a lot of focus on things like january 6th by the media. and i think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be adva
primaries, you may have heard. i m ari melber, and right now for an msnbc special candidate slash defendant trump recorded on this unprecedented class of american politics. law, and how voters may is as a candidate who might and in the exulted oval office or a small prison cell. it will depend on the and other cases. we have special guests to help break it all down for you tonight on caucus eve of the primaries begin tomorrow. some of trump s rivals are now invoking trump s legal problems as a general election problem for the ex president. obviously, the distractions of everything that s going on with all of these legal issues has been a huge thing for him. you re going to have criminal trials, you re going to have a lot of focus on things like january 6th by the media. and i think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for democrats. the notion that somehow all of the stuff that is swirling around and it s good to be a positive in
our special breaking news coverage on msnbc as donald j trump is likely facing his most serious legal challenge yet. today, we learned much more about the very serious federal criminal charges in involving his handling of top secret u.s. documents. today, special counsel jack smith released an indictment laying out the evidence against trump. nbc s laura jarrett has the details. new details on the stubborn move up the speed of a former president, also the leading republican challenger to president biden. special counsel jack smith alleging mr. trump mishandled classified documents after leaving office, and obstruction efforts to retrieve them in the state of florida. we have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. smith laying out 37 criminal counts against the former president, including charges under the espionage act accusing him of improperly retaining national defense information. the indictment says among the classified documents kept in box