we are. that does it for us this morning. ana cabrera picks up the coverage now. on this wednesday, thank you so much for joining us. it s 10:00 eastern. i m ana cabrera. we have breaking news. in the special counsel s investigation into donald trump, just moments ago, nbc news cameras caught a top aid to trump awe arriving at the federal courthouse in miami. the same courthouse where we learned a grand jury will had hear testimony this week. the guy in the tie has been the right-hand man to trump in his post presidency. he runs a superpack and that sighting just after the bomb shell report from the new york times about testimony from former chief of staff mark meadows. we re live in miami and d.c. on what all of this could mean. and breaking news out of the vatican this morning. pope francis is expected to undergo surgery and remain hospitalized for several days. smoke from wildfires lead ing to had hazardous conditions across much of the country. dr. gupta is going
house next week, they will hold the administration accountable on this issue. he is here in moments as is jonathan turley with his analysis. first to aishah hasnie who is live for us in washington. aishah, good afternoon. good afternoon to you, trace. as the white house continues to blame republicans in congress for not passing immigration reform, democrat congressman henry cuellar of texas tells mes that an unfair assessment since the administration has the power to change policy today if it wanted to. without due respect to the administration, i agree, we need to do immigration reform. but they can change the policy by having order at the border where they can say they did it for the venezuelans. honestly, i think the homeland security department is struggling with some of the more progressive white house staffers. i hope homeland wins this particular fight. cuellar is responding to republican criticism that there was lack of border funding in that 1.7 trillion omnibu
the explosion destroying the dam on the southern front line, flooding villages in kherson already ravaged by this war. two u.s. officials and one western official telling nbc news the u.s. has intelligence that is leaning toward russia being the perpetrator of yesterday s attack, but no final conclusion. this morning, rescuers working to evacuate ukrainian civilians in the kherson region, more than 1500 people have been taken to safety. getting out any way they can, amid continued rush shelling. i was hoping i could stay here, svetlana says, but then the water began to run with such force. tens of thousands in some 80 villages are affected, seen in new satellite photos, the devastation area is growing. nearly 2,000 buildings have been flooded on the west bank of the river, a roof of a house seen floating by. just 100 miles upriver from the dam, the zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the nuclear energy chief telling nbc news that for
this video shows the aftermath of the rush shelling on a maternity hospital. no reports of injuries or death. when explosions begin to shake the building and doctors and nurses were forced to rush, pregnant women and their neighbors to the basement. in a moment, michael waltz. first, let s get to nate foy who is live for us in kiev. nate? trace, good afternoon. kherson is one of those areas that russia claims to annex. they keep firing on civilians there. 33 rockets in the past 24 hours including maternity ward of the hospital. take a look at this video. kherson has been bombarded with russian attacks in recent weeks after it was liberated by ukrainian forces. it s one of four regions that russia claims is theirs.