top of the hour this thursday. i m jim sciutto. i m erica hill. we begin this hour with the new reporting of the chinese surveillance balloon, and the state department is confirming that this device was capable of monitoring u.s. communications. that is likely one of the new details that lawmakers are learning this morning. the biden administration is giving classified briefings on the issue on capitol hill a short time ago, and we will give you more of what we are learning in a moment, and with reclosely following what is happening in europe. the ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy is calling on the european allies to step up the assistance and talking about specifically what they could do in his mind game-changers. fresh off of the sales pitch in wisconsin, president biden is headed to florida to expect to drive home his pledge in particular to protect social security and medicare, and we will have more on that message from the white house ahead. first of all to nat
mississippi, where he ll visit rolling fork. that s 1,200 miles from the courtroom where president trump is expected to be arraigned early next week. according to district attorney alvin bragg s office, we contacted mr. trump s attorney to coordinate his is your repbder to the manhattan da s house on supreme court indictment which remains under seal. details will be provided when the arraignment date is selected. since it is under seal, we do not know the exact charges. bragg has been investigating for alleged payments being made leading up to the 2016 election including $130,000 for stormy daniels. the president has denied any wrongdoing and has responded with outrage writing within a lengthy response, quote, this is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history. he also called da alvin bragg a disgrace writing he s doing joe biden s dirty work and the american people realize what the radical left democrats are doing here. trump s attorney s
alvin bragg, he has stuffed the da s office with the department of injustice people including one top doj operative from dc that is running horse face witch hunt. some are questioning the timing of trump s possible arrest, mike pence defended former boss today saying the prosecution feels politically motivated, watch. at a time when there s a crime awe in new york city, the fact that the manhattan da thinks that indicting president trump is his top priority, i think, is just tells you everything that you need to know about the radical left in the country. feels like a politically charged prosecution here. very interesting. so i want to go to you first on this guy because we had little bit of discussion earlier today. now you have mike pence coming out in somewhat of a defense of donald trump, we know how donald trump feels about all of this. but i m wondering are republicans going to come together and circle the wagon an donald trump around this or his potential other 2
much we ll talk to you again a little later on morning joe. thanks to all of you for getting up way too early with us on this monday morning. morning joe starts right now another community is grieving this morning following another deadly mass shooting this time, it was at a birthday party in small town alabama. we ll have the latest in the investigation and the reaction to more gun violence in america. a daily occurrence almost. it comes as the nra held its annual convention this weekend in indianapolis, with donald trump as one of its top speakers we ll show you the mixed reception the crowd gave to a possible challenger to trump in the 2024 republican presidential race also ahead, new reporting on the wealthy donors who are now backing away from ron desantis why they are ditching the florida governor before he even launches a presidential came p campaign plus, the legal fight over abortion medication will go before the supreme court this week we ll break down
we have a lightning round with the former president, pretty interesting and a lot of fun and here s the preview. again, got along with them great. people do not want to hear that a lot of people say it s terrible to get away with him when somebody has nuclear weapons they can blow up the work, it s nice to get along and it s nice to get along with him great. different. sean hannity: i lost about hillary clinton. i asked about barack and michelle obama, and a lot of other people. and that ll be straight-ahead, will have more of the interview coming up. but first, let us turn to the less repulsive response to monday shooting at the covenant school in nashville, tennessee. because this was a christian school targeted by a transgender killer. thoughtful, heartfelt remarks from democrats in the media mob, they have been futile, and far between. some are actually mocking the victims, take a look your sc screen, now s the former press secretary for arizona governor katie hobbs p