and republicans quick to publicly defend the twice indicted former president for changing the tune behind closed doors and then defend holding off and raising interest rates, for now. where the economy is and more importantly, where it is headed? as the 11th hour gets underway this wednesday night. good evening, once again, i am stephanie ruhle. donald trump gears up for the legal battle of his life, as the justice department defense its prosecution of the former president. just one day after trump s arraignment on charges of mishandling top secret documents, the attorney general voiced his support of special counsel jack smith. when i pointed at mr. smith, i did so because it underscores the justice department s commitment to both independence and accountability. mr. smith as a veteran career prosecutor. he has assembled a group of experienced and talented prosecutors and agents, who cher s commitment, integrity and the rule of law. any questions about the matter will have
private citizen. if he doesn t fact when the republican nomination. it has nothing to do with what he did tonight. he did what he has done countless times before. the question we need to answer is what we are going to do next. let s get right to it. my nbc news washington correspondent colleague emulsion centers here, liam cold will of the washington post, and andrew weissmann, former fbi general counsel and nbc news legal analyst. coming, this is the first and we ve seen trump outside of the cocoon of conservative media for a long time. where was he? in a thunderdome stacked with his sister borders cheering him on and he steamroll through his greatest hits of lies. if this man is the nominee, ignoring him is not an option for any of us. so what are we going to do? stephanie, it s a great question. i m not quite sure that we as a reporting atmosphere, as a reporting group have really figured it out. we have to obviously fact check him, we have to obviously try our best to c
stephanie ruhle. speaker kevin mccarthy may hav won the battle to pass raising the debt limit, but now he i on a collision course with the urged president biden to make deal to give the u.s. from default, and economic disaster now the president can n longer put this economy in jeopardy, we - we have sent it to the senate. the majority of american overwhelmingly want us to si down and negotiate it is up to them now this afternoon, biden again insisted negotiations were out of the question. i m happy to meet with, mccarthy but not on whether or not the debt limit get extended that is not negotiable the clock is ticking, washington has until early jun to act mccarthy s bill now heads to the senate, but according to senate majority leader chuck schumer, the thing is dead o arrival. we are also following the civi rape trial involving forme president donald trump today e. jean carroll wh accused trump of sexual assaul gave explosive testimony i federal court. and we see t
we have justin jones fro tennessee, and i ve got maxwel frost on here. it s interesting to me, becaus a man of a certain age, to hav these young people, who are th civil rights fighters of our time, it s amazing to watch. and such a contrast wit what we are led to believe about government, and it s antipathy towards the people and if there is reason for optimism in this moment, it you didn t guess on your show. the really, it is and there s people who don t believe in the way things work or the way things are an prepared to challenge, it an say there s a different wa going forward, i m excited for it will be a great show iconoclasts, we ll be watching ali. before we get to, that we v got some breaking news though. donald trump has lost anothe legal battle tonight, a federal appeals court rejected his attempt t block his former vice presiden mike pence, from testifying in front of the jacks mitt federa grand jury, investigatin trump s role in overturning th 2020 elect
gets tonight s last word. the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle starts right now. tonight, pulling back the curtain on a potential second trump term. and his plans for day one of his administration. plus, his 2024 opponents facing off on that debate stage. that state of the race less than six weeks out from the iowa caucus. kevin mccarthy officially stepping down. what his departure means amid chaos on capitol hill. then, pop megastar taylor swift named time magazine s person of the year. her global impact far beyond the charts, as the 11th hour gets underway on this wednesday night. good evening once again, i m stephanie ruhle at headquarters here in new york city. tonight, some of the republicans running for president held for fourth and final debate before the iowa caucuses, now less than six weeks away. ron desantis, nikki haley, vivek ramaswamy, and chris christie came out swinging, facing off at tuscaloosa, alabama at a trump free event. trump free, why? beca