morning, lindsey reiser picks up the coverage right now it s 10:00 a.m. in new york, i m lindsey reiser right now the tensions that have been simmering in tennessee for the last week or even longer are boiling over this morning. protests are gaining steam inside and outside the state house despite the rain against republican efforts to do something that s only been done three times in that state since the civil war expel some of their fellow members specifically these three democrats are under fire for participating in fiery gun reform protests on the house floor last week. today they ll have a chance to defend themselves, but with a republican super majority can they survive the vote. we re live where that high stakes session is getting underway. major escalations in the mounting legal battles faceing former president trump former vice president mike pence saying he will not fight an order to testify in the federal probe. sources say the new york judge in the hush mone
promised president tsai unwavering support here s what he told andrea mitchell after the meeting do you worry that meeting with president tsai in the united states is going to further escalate the tensions? it shouldn t by any means i would sit down with president xi macron is sitting down with president xi we re making sure the rhetoric doesn t get higher, we re looking at how can we deter that war does not happen, right peace through strength the meeting drawing a strong reaction from beijing, with the chinese foreign ministry accusing tsai and mccarthy of promoting taiwan independence. the ministry said china would take measures to defend its national sovereignty joining me now from beijing is nbc s janis mackey frayer. how significant have these meetings been for the taiwanese government and what is the reaction in beijing? reporter: well, it is important for taiwan s government to shore up the support that it can. certainly from the u.s., in the
form of weapons sales. but also diplomatically. tsai ing-wen was on a tour of guatemala and other countries that have still maintained diplomatic relations with taiwan just two weeks ago, honduras decided to cut ties with taiwan and establish relations with beijing. so, this was important timing for president tsai, but also very coincidental timing with the diplomatic frenzy that has been under way in beijing today. not only was there the foreign ministers of saudi arabia and iran shaking hands over this landmark deal that was struck a few weeks ago to re-establish diplomatic ties, but, of course, the state visit of french president emmanuel macron. sitting down the street tonight with xi jinping, macron saying he was going to use his private time with xi jinping to impress