person arraignment in the mar-a-lago documents case. we'll tell you what happened when his two co-defendants showed up in court. plus new reporting from propublica about clarence thomas and his wealthy network of friends who allegedly financed his luxurious gifts and travel. and we begin this morning with a devastating wildfires in hawaii. at least 36 people have died as the flames rip through the island with crews in the skies and on the ground urgently battling three active fires. the flames have destroyed homes, wreaked havoc on businesses and forced thousands to evacuate. residents seeking safety are flocking to airports and shelters. >> my family is thinking of just leaving the island completely. we have nothing but the clothes on our backs right now. everything is gone. >> some had to jump into the ocean to escape dangerous flames, swallowed more 2,000 acres of land. want you to see satellite image that captures what the town of lahaina looked like, a historic town before and after the blazes. the left part of your screen shows the area back in june and on the right, what it looks like now. all the structures leveled to rubble. dana griffin joins us from maui. what is the very latest there? >> reporter: jose, good morning to you. it is 5:00 a.m. local time. we're outside one of the evacuation centers at maui high school. we're starting to see more people wake up, walk around. we have seen some people still sleeping in their cars or going in and out of this evacuation center behind me. a lot of them have lost homes, have lost pets, and unfortunately have lost loved ones. we're hoping to talk to more people as the sun rises and that's when crews are going to head back out and just about an hour or so when the sun comes up to assess the damage, get a better sense of how much land has been scorched, how many businesses and homes still remain damaged. there are 300 plus homes, businesses and historical landmarks that have been lost to this fire. and there could be more. we heard from several people, survivors, people who were helping others to evacuate. listen to what they have been saying. >> my mom's place is gone. my place is gone. pretty much everybody i know lost everything. >> i was the last one off the dock. and the firestorm came through the trees and took everything with it. >> watching footage of people burned alive in the streets, and people panicking for their lives as they drive through flashpoints where if they were to step out of the car, there is very little chance of them surviving. it is terrifying. >> reporter: terrifying and very unprecedented. just wednesday before the sun rose, the gusts of wind that were fueled by hurricane dora helped to spread this fire very quickly and that's why you have a lot of people jumping into the ocean for safety. people trying to evacuate, leaving behind their historic homes and towns that really is fueled by the tourism industry. we know at least 4,000 tourists are being evacuated to other islands. some of them staying in shelters, others are catching flights out. there is the officials here have been asking people to not come to maui if it is not essential. but we have still seen a lot of people, you know, flying in, visiting, staying at the hotels and it is just going to be a wait and see kind of thing on how much is gone in the historic town of lahaina, 13 miles from where we're standing right now. it is devastating. people are exhausted. it is still unclear exactly had those roads will reopen to allow people to go home and if they have homes to go to. >> dana griffin, thank you so very, very much. it is such an important place with so much history. i thank you for being with us this morning. and now to the latest on the legal troubles surrounding former president donald trump. a short time ago, trump's co-defendants in the classified documents case, walt nauta and carlos de oliveira appeared in a federal courtroom in fort pierce, florida. de oliveira was not arraigned as he still does not have local counsel. trump was not at the hearing. he has pleaded not guilty to the new charges. and tomorrow both sides in the election interference case expected to appear in a washington courtroom for a hearing on what the former president can publicly say about the evidence gathered in the investigation. trump is not expected to attend that hearing either. meantime, newly unsealed court filings reveal that a judge granted special counsel jack smith a warrant to get data from trump's twitter account. the filing revealed that twitter now known as x delayed complying with the warrant over a provision that prevented it from notifying trump. the company was fined $350,000. trump responded in a post on his social media site calling it, quote, a major hit on my civil rights. with us now to talk more about this, katie phang, attorney and host of the katie phang show here on msnbc, and msnbc news justice reporter ryan reilly and christie greenburg, former deputy chief of the southern district of new york's criminal division. katie, what happened in court today? >> basically you were expecting to see an arraignment, we have seen this happen with walt nauta before, his own arraignment was recessed on two occasions for him to get local counsel, same thing with carlos de oliveira, he showed up without outside counsel, he was in the process of getting local counsel. a gentleman who is a local criminal defense attorney steps up to the podium and says we still have some details to iron out. i'm confident we'll be able to do so, i should file notice of appearance by tomorrow. he asked for more time. august 25th, the next major hearing in the classified documents case. the judge responded that judge cannon did not want to have it take that long. that she wanted to have counsel situated as well as de oliveira arraigned prior to the august 25th hearing so she reset the arraignment for next tuesday at 10:00 a.m. >> katie, help us understand, what is going to happen that tuesday and then the 25th, how are all of these things playing a part in maybe in delaying that process? >> there is delay that has already been baked in. de oliveira has not been arraigned. the rules of criminal procedure would allow de oliveira to wave his appearance as long as he's retained permanent counsel to represent him. so if that form gets done, he will not have to appear on tuesday here in fort pierce. two, that august 25th hearing is critical. under the classified information procedures act, section three, the motion for protective order where we have seen a lot of news reporting, trump saying he wants to make mar-a-lago a skiff to be able to review the discovery in that case, that hear, will take place about the terms of that protective order on august 25th. and so in order to keep with the existing trial deadlines that have been established by judge cannon, everything needs to be done, everybody has to have counsel, it was fascinating though, quickly, when you looked at the courtroom and the seating, you saw walt nauta with his counsel, de oliveira with his current counsel and you did not see donald trump but his counsel was present in the form of todd blanche and chris guys. >> nbc news learned that extra security precautions have been put in place around the judge in the election interference case in washington? >> we started judge chutkan being escorted by three u.s. marshals around the courtroom. last week, the day that donald trump had his court appearance when judge chutkan wasn't yet -- she was assigned to the case, but not overseeing the case, she was going around as normal inside the courtroom. with a few more extra sets of eyes on her. just is very unique situation where you have these very high profile people sort of circulating around the court, but now she does appear to have additional security and i think that's really critical because, of course, you've seen already donald trump put some focus on her and frankly the fact that she is a black woman is something that is going to be very critical here because you've seen the sort of ire that donald trump has pointed towards particularly women of color who have sort of crossed him or who have brought charges against him in the past. so, that's going to be something we have seen in other cases and january 6th cases i've seen, a very sort of racist reaction to that, and i think that's something that you really have to watch out for in the aftermath of this. there is going to be a lot of particular scorn i think focused on her just based on what we have seen in the past and the focus that donald trump is putting on her at this moment. >> and we were speaking about this issue of trump's lawyers asking the judge overseeing the classified documents case to order the government to re-establish a secure facility, a skiff at the trump mar-a-lago resort where they could safely discuss national security documents. prosecutors say he illegally kept there. how unusual is this? >> it is a preposterous request. it needs to be coordinated with the senior officials, the intelligence community and the security authorities that apply. mar-a-lago is not authorized as a location to store, possess or review classified materials. it wasn't at the time of the indictment. and it certainly isn't now that he's been charged with recklessly retaining national defense information at that very location. so, there is no precedent for a criminal defendant to be permitted to keep the nation's secrets in his own home, much less one that's charged with mishandling them. so, the reasons given by trump's lawyers about it would be an inconvenience to go to another location, those just do not outweigh the severe risk involved with giving those very documents back to donald trump at his home. >> and, ryan, meanwhile, what were prosecutors looking for had they asked to see data from trump's twitter account? >> very important data they can get from that including ip addresses of who was sending messages. multiple people had access to donald trump's account. including his social media manager dan scavino. important to see who was posting what messages from where and that's information you can get from twitter or x on the back end. interesting to see any direct messages that were sent, though it is not clear if donald trump was actively engaged in sending people direct messages through that. but something that is important for prosecutors in building this case and that delay in turning over that information from twitter now x was certainly impacted i think the case as it went forward. >> twitter initially just wasn't really interested in complying with the warrant because it wanted to notify the former president first. is it unusual for the government to go into people's social media accounts and request all kinds of information including we were hearing from ryan maybe direct messages, et cetera. is that normal? >> it certainly is not unusual. i've served many twitter search warrants when i was a prosecutor, as did many of the prosecutors in my office. it is very routine and it is also routine not only to obtain those search warrants, but to have a nondisclosure order that goes along with them so that the person whose twitter account or social media account you're trying to search is not notified that you're doing it. why is that important? because you don't want them to start to destroy other evidence. you don't want to notify them of an investigation so that they can potentially flee from prosecution or notify other co-conspirators. any number of reasons you want to keep that kind of search warrant quiet and not notify the person who is the subject of it. so, what twitter did here they said, look, the warrant itself, we recognize that it is valid, but we want too to tell donald trump about it. they didn't turn over the information what they recognized was a valid search warrant until there was a warrant much later. again, this is not normal behavior. twitter normally not only provides the information, but doesn't make the notification. and here they made an exception and you have to really question why. it seems like it had to be a political calculation because there is really no other basis for them to have deviated from their normal procedures. >> katie phang, wondering your thoughts on that. it is an unusual thing and yet everything in these cases are unusual. >> yeah, i think that we have really worn out the active unprecedented. it is unprecedented to see a former president of the united states facing multiple criminal indictments, perhaps a fourth one in fulton county georgia next week from fani willis, the fulton county d.a. jose what you're seeing happen here, though, is the attempt to negotiate the calendaring of all of these multiple cases, the multiple hearings, the multiple lawyers, the rescension of lawyers, it is not easy. my hat off to not only the judges, but the court staff. there was some irritation expressed by the judge today that things were done to prepare for this arraignment and the fact that there was no local counsel for carlos de oliveira, you can tell that didn't go over so well, there was clearly a lot that went into making sure everything was safe and prepared and so, jose, at the end of the day, trump has a lot to juggle in terms of the chess pieces if he's playing chess. >> katie phang, ryan reilly, christie greenburg, thank you for being with us. appreciate it. coming up in a couple of minutes, we're going to witness another historic moment in the space race. virgin galactic will launch the space shuttle containing a cabin full of civilian passengers. you're going to be watching that launch on msnbc next. don't go anywhere. we're back in 60 seconds. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" from new york. re watching "jose diaz-balart reports" from new york that's why this qb profers the new five meat beast. and this qb profers it. and if we profer it. we know you'll profer it too. are you trying to outspokesperson me? 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[voice vibrating] 16 past the hour. we're just literally moments away from the historic moment in space flight. virgin galactic set to launch its first space tourism flight with paying customers. among the three passengers on board are a mother and daughter who won the opportunity to take part in today's historic launch by winning in a lottery. and joining us now, gadi schwartz. also with us, adam frank, professor of astrophysics and author of the book "the little book of aliens." we're looking at this, tell us what it is that is happening now. >> well, the mother ship is launching, flying basically, bringing the spacecraft up to high enough altitude where it will be released and then the second ship is actually a rocket. the rocket engines are going to turn on and blast up at mock 3 and then the engines will turn off and it will coast up to above what we call the von karman line, about 100 kilometers or -- >> there it goes. adam, check it out. >> there it goes. look at that turning on. >> is this like one structure that is holding this thing? it looks like two airplanes, but it is one, right? >> it is two airplanes and then the rocket ship is a separate thing. the airplane takes it up high, the rocket ship is dropped and then the rockets turn on and this is what will go up into suborbital, will reach space for about four minutes, and the passengers will be able to see the earth, that beautiful curve of the earth. and feel weightless. look how fast they're moving. >> what is this -- what are they experiencing right now? >> right now they're experiencing a lot of acceleration, right? they're being pushed back in their chairs. it is like when you hit the gas, but big time. and then eventually when the rocket turns off, they'll feel as weless. they'll feel the weightlessness of space and see the curve of the earth. >> that's unbelievable. you can't really do that anywhere else, right? you're saying it is mock 3, three times the speed of sound? >> yes, yes. that's what they need. they need to -- this doesn't have enough energy to get it actually into orbit, but it can get it far enough that it is above the atmosphere. >> check it out. it looks like they're in a -- it is zero gravity, right? tell us what this is. >> four minutes of this. >> four minutes of it? let's listen into this, adam. >> pilots have unlocked the feather, the preparation so they can raise the feather here momentarily. they're engaging the rcs as well. the feather is now starting to move on its way up. everyone is up out of their seats. >> it is incredible. they're all -- it is amazing. they're all going to the window and taking in this just absolutely incredible view of earth, the planet where all of their experiences are held. everything they have ever known is down below. >> look at that. >> the feather is all the way up. >> that is amazing. our crew looks like they're having an absolutely incredible time. and they are officially astronauts. welcome to space! congratulations to jon, to keisha, to ana on becoming astronauts today and special congratulations to our unity pilot kelly for her first space flight. and welcome back to space, c.j. and beth. >> and the vehicle is oriented in that back flip or that upside down maneuver from our perspective. >> adam, this is just amazing. what is it that they're experiencing and what was this 289,000 feet they were talking about? >> that's just because they're reaching the height. it is a big parabola, they fly up, reach the highest point and then they start coming -- re-entering into the atmosphere. and what they're seeing now is this incredible view of the reality of earth. it is not a bunch of separate countries with little lines drawn on the continents, it is a planet, fragile planet, orbiting in space as with the person said, where all of human history has happened. and to have that view, to see earth as it really is, not with the political divisions, not with the silliness of, you know, partisan divide, but to see the planet, the home for what it is. people say that that changes their lives. >> yeah. look at this shot. so, they're outside. they're in pitch black, right? >> yeah, yeah. they're in the -- they're above the official line where we -- that's why they call it, they're officially astronauts. they're officially in space. they're high enough now that we would call them that they're in space, outside of the atmosphere. >> adam, when we're talking about we're hearing that these things go like for each seat there is like 450 grand and, you know, three people are able to win this lottery, but what do you think is the significance of this? >> well, it is what it is is the beginning of a space economy. right? the first part of human space travel was all about nations doing it for bragging rights, doing it for scientific exploration, which i care about, but now this next stage which really if we make it through climate change, this is the -- this is the prize we win. the whole solar system is out there waiting for us. and in 200, 300 years, you can imagine there is going to be hundreds of millions of people living and working in space. there will be a vibrant economy. what you're seeing here is the beginning of it. the first steps for going beyond just nations having a presence in space, but people and jobs and companies. >> and so is there any scientific benefit to this or is this much -- pretty much a very cool high end ride? >> well, at this point, it is a cool high end ride and that's awesome. because, you know, again, when you think about the human future, space has got to be a big part of it. and so, you know, having it be a fun ride or having it be a place you go up to work and make a living, having it be a place you invest to make money, that's part of the human future if we make it through climate change. >> you're there, watching this from a different perspective, what is it like there? >> i got to say, it is emotional. you got a crowd right here of friends and family watching what's going on behind us and then we saw the separation way off in the distance and you saw what looked like a little red light going up into space and then it disappeared and i got to say, from down here on the ground, looking at that feed of them looking back down here on earth, we have been talking a lot about science, but there is a -- it is like a spiritual thing that they're trying to infuse here at space port america when it comes to the astronauts from the entry into the space port to their entry into the vehicle. science is so important but it is about an mind altering perspective, the ability to look down on earth and see what a miracle it is that exists that we have an atmosphere and how fragile this earth is in the vast nothingness of space. that's what they're experiencing right now. that's what we see them looking at as they're now coming back down to earth. what they just experienced, we have been talking to a lot of people that experienced it, it is called the overview effect. it is something that we understand stays with you for the rest of your life. i was talking to one of the mission specialists and she said, she went up a couple of weeks ago, and just the other day she was cutting watermelon and she just started to cry because of the miracle of life here on earth and the miracle that here on this planet, there was this watermelon that grew after seeing the nothingness of space. so, it is one of these thing where science is incredible. in particular science that has allowed us to send other humans up into space going mock 3, three times the speed of sound. we have an 18-year-old an an 80-year-old in the same craft going up, standing on the shoulders of these aeronautic giants that have brought us this technology and now hopefully they're going to return back to earth. we cannot wait to hear what they have to say. there is a lot of science that goes into a lot of these missions. three minutes of microgravity and zero gravity is something that a lot of scientists haven't been able to attain with relative ease. this opens up a new frontier for a lot of science. but really it is kind of a spiritual moment that we just saw happen up there above the earth. >> thank you. i'll let you go to continue your reporting. adam, i want to get some thoughts -- final thoughts from you. as this craft is returning back, are there any kind of special, like, structural, you know, is there a heat issue, is there a gravity issue? what are they experiencing there? >> yeah, it is -- it is pretty dangerous, right? it is amazing that we reached the point where the -- again this idea of the triumph of engineering and american engineering, i want to say. nobody should forget that, like, these companies, you know, they're standing on the shoulders as the -- as you said of, you know, incredible science and engineering, much of it came from the american space program so that this is going to land, this is going to land safely. it is not easy to do this to get down from space. so you got to go through the atmosphere at high speed and the skin of the spacecraft is going to heat up, it has got to navigate -- there is no engines on this. this is coming down -- >> like a glider. >> it is a glider. essentially a glider. that technology was pioneered by the space shuttle. the space shuttle did this. we're seeing some really amazing technology. >> i can't thank you enough for being with us this morning. really appreciate your enthusiasm, your knowledge, all that you know. and i'm very much looking forward to reading the little book of aliens. i am. i thank you. >> very good. >> thanks. >> thank you. >> next, a new propublica report reveals clarence thomas received a series of luxury gifts that were never revealed to the public. we'll talk to one of the reporters behind the investigation and we'll also bring you the latest out of ecuador. a presidential candidate known for speaking out against corruption assassinated just days before the election. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. en you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. when migraine strikes, you're faced with a choice. ride it out with the tradeoffs of treating? 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>> well, jose, many analysts i've spoken to this morning say this just means we're losing the drug against the cartels because of the importance of the sinaloa cartel. it brings a lot of -- most of the drugs that come into the u.s. ecuador does not produce cocaine. it is sandwiched between colombia and peru, but it has been one of the favorite routes out to the pacific, on to mexico and from there to the united states. so that is a significance. it shows the sinaloa cartel is growing, tentacles all over latin america and we don't seem to be making any inroads against them. >> and political assassinations unfortunately are something that we in latin america have seen over and over again. >> and it leaves the countries traumatized. the last one we remember was in mexico in 1994 and in colombia in 1989, in the midst of a campaign rally, gunned down because he promised to extradite someone. >> christina, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. we're following breaking news as well regarding supreme court justice clarence thomas. a brand-new report outlines a series of previously never before disclosed gifts to the justice. clarence thomas' latest propublica uncovered this report that over the last three decades the nation's highest court, he received a series of luxury gifts bankrolled by wealthy individuals. 38 destination vacations including a previously unreported voids on a yacht around the bahamas, 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter, a dozen passes to professional and college sporting events, typically purchased in the sky box, luxury resorts in florida and jamaica and one standing invitation to an uber exclusive golf club overlooking the atlantic coast. it notes some of the stays may not have required disclosure and thomas may have violated the law by failing to disclose the flights, the yacht cruises and sports trips. nbc news reached out to justice thomas for comment, but did not immediately hear back. in response to previous reporting about gifts he received, he said he had been advised that the trips and gifts were personal hospitality from close personal friends and did not have to be reported in disclosure. joining us now is one of the reporters behind this new investigation, brett murphy. thank you for being with us. you and your colleagues spoke with more than 100 people in your reporting for this piece. what more can you tell us about what you uncovered? >> yeah, so, we really, you know, kind of covered the gamut of folks in these benefactor circles, everyone from yacht employees, flight attendants, pilots, security guards, drivers and what we found is that for about three decades now, justice thomas has been living a very consistent lifestyle of luxury with vacations almost yearly, state side around the world, all being underwritten by not just one but a circle of at least four ultra wealthy benefactors, many of them are billionaires. they all share a common ideology, they contribute significant amounts to conservative causes and candidates. and he has not disclosed any of it as you said earlier. these have been secret trips, all underwritten by the group of ben factors. >> you do note in your piece some gifts may not have required disclosure. what are the rules that supreme court justices are supposed to follow when it comes to these kinds of issues? >> yeah. there is a law on the books from watergate, the ethics in government act, and it requires government employees, including justices, to disclose things like private plane rides, yacht cruises. the personal hospitality exemption that justice thomas cited in the past as his reason for not disclosing, the experts told us that's really meant to cover, say, a dinner at a friend's house sort of thing. these failures to disclose jet tickets on private planes, sporting event passes in the sky box, all of that is supposed to be disclosed. that's what they say are the violations of the ethics in government. >> and in your piece you speak with a former federal judge, who called this unprecedented. just how unusual are these types of gifts compared to, let's say, other justices and the things they may or may not have done? >> yeah, so we have been reporting and we will continue to report on all the justices. we're actively soliciting tips and information about any of the justices. as far as we know now, justice thomas is an extreme outlier in what he has received and what he has failed to disclose. we note in the piece that justice ginsburg and breyer received trips and travel paid for by billionaires, however, the important distinction here is that those were disclosed. we know about them, because they appear on the justices' financial disclosures. that's what the lawrequired. >> thank you so much for being with us. appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, brand-new inflation report released this morning. we'll break down what it tells us about the state of the economy. and top gop hopefuls flocking to iowa for the kickoff of the iconic state fair where doug burgum is the first candidate to arrive there. we'll take you live to des moines. we're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. es we're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. without heavy? 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try nervive nerve relief from the world's number one nerve care company. nervive contains ala to relieve nerve aches, and b-complex vitamins to fortify healthy nerves. try nervive. and, try nervive pain relieving roll-on. 51 past the hour. fbi agents shot and killed a man in utah who they say had, quote, intent to kill president biden and manhattan da alvin bragg. the suspect allegedly armed when agents showed up to serve an arrest warrant early yesterday. the confrontation turned deadly. joining us is former fbi special agent clint watts who served on the agency's terrorism task force. he is an nbc news national security analyst. and nbc news investigative correspondent tom winter. tom, charging documents referenced threats that this guy made? >> quite specific threats. as late as monday actually. so we know that the president was in utah last night. and on monday this individual wrote in a social media post that they were aware that biden was visiting utah and talked about dusting off his sniper rifle. so that was a post that came out just within 48 hours or so before the president visited. there's a whole list of threats that were posted by this person, according to the charging documents, including to manhattan district attorney alvin bragg. very specific threats about what he wanted to do, violent threats. so when you look at this together, this is somebody who clearly has been talking about this for quite some time. as a matter of fact, it was a social media company that reached out to the fbi, alerting them to these posts that tipped them off to begin this investigation. >> and this guy had put up on the social media posts the fact, you know, his threats, but also showing that he was well armed. >> 100%. the image we're showing, he's in a gilly suit. this off his facebook account. had a number of weapons, showed them at numerous posts. this is somebody who, craig robertson, who clearly was not afraid to show off what type of weapons he has. he even posted, according to the court documents, that, hey, fbi, if you're still monitoring my social media accounts, know i have a gun by my side if you show up. >> there's violent chatter all the time on media, but this is different. >> yeah. that's exactly right. it's about the actual thing that he's saying, but then does he have the means to do it, does he have the specifics of the target in place. what tom said, it is very clear -- he laid out very specific detail. so you saw in the actual document that went -- came out yesterday, the fbi agents went and talked to him. that's a standard thing. i've done that myself. you hear a social media chatter, you hear somebody say something that seems threatening, you talk to them. you try and clarify what it is they were intending, what they meant to say, how serious the threat is. he makes this threat much more serious. i would say probably 95 out of 100 times people deescalate, oh, i lost my head, said something crazy. this was not the case with this gentleman. he escalated in terms of the speech, rhetoric. he was specific. he talked about weapons, he has those weapons. so i'm sure the fbi had to take that seriously. and just looking back ten years that we got a tip from a social media company that led the fbi to this, that was something that was trying to get worked out in the al qaeda, i.s.i.s. years. >> any reaction from the president or from others? >> we know from our white house team that the president was briefed about this yesterday before he arrived in utah. as far as district attorney alvin bragg, he's addressed the threats. and you'll remember at the time of trump's indictment on charges here in new york that there were a number of incidents including some involving white powder that was mailed to the manhattan district attorney's office. he spoke generally about this, not specific to this case, saying his primary concern or frontline staff, the employees that work for him that have to contend with this. he does have police -- a police detail. so as far as his security is concerned, that is being addressed. and obviously the president travels with secret service. >> this is a case very clearly that this person not only didn't mind being spotted but wanted authorities to know that he was planning out an assassination. >> right. so i think the important thing to remember here is the fbi did try to talk to him. when this case was opened in march. that typically happens. there are a number of cases, clint knows, over the course of a year with the secret service, fbi, or both, or local police departments will say jose, why you posting this stuff, do you really intend doing the things you are? obviously there is a -- most of what people post on social media is protected by the first amendment. so people are entitled to say i can't stand this politician, i love this prohibition, whatever they want -- politician, whatever they want to say. when it comes to specific threats, sometimes law enforcement prefers to say you know what, did you mean that, do you mean to carry out -- no, no. to clint's point, i got carried away. you know, i really don't want to do this. you know, what might happen is there are particular individuals that are of concern to these law enforcement agencies that when a president goes to visit a specific town, there might be surveillance, they might check in, have they posted anything recently, have they purchased additional weapons. the type of stuff to check in and say who do we know who could be a problem. clearly in the fbi's mind and federal prosecutor's mind this went beyond that. that's why they felt they had to act. >> clint and tom, thank you so much. this morning all 16 michigan residents have now been arraigned for participating in an alleged fake electors scheme connected to the 2020 presidential election. the final nine suspects were arraigned just hours ago while the other seven appeared in court earlier. they've been charged with falsifying certificates, naming themselves as qualified state electors for the president and vice president. all 16 republicans face eight felony counts which include forgery and conspiracy to commit election law forgery. they have all pleaded not guilty. nbc's shaquille brewster is out of the courthouses in lansing, michigan, where this is going down. what's the latest? >> reporter: hi there, jose. the arraignments took place virtually. they were relatively quick proceedings. we saw the judge read through the eight counts that each of them are facing. we saw them read their rights and reiterate their rights. we saw them set conditions of their bond including some travel restrictions for these defendants. these defendants range in age from about 55 years old to 82. they're current and former republican party officials. one former police officer, as well. what the state is alleging is that they tried to essentially defraud the state of michigan when they signed that certificate of votes that would have if accepted given the state 16 electoral votes to donald trump instead of joe biden, despite the fact that president biden won this state. i talked to their attorneys, and the argument that they're making is essentially this document was never intended to be submitted, and that many of them didn't even know what the document said, that they were just presented with a list of lines and put their signature on it. i want you to listen to a little bit of those arguments that we're hearing from at least one attorney. >> no one this their right mind, in washington, d.c., or michigan, would think that that particular document would trump the certificate of election that was rightfully sent. they were trying to preserve, it appears, these individuals, an objection and then have that objection ruled upon by the vice president of the united states. >> reporter: look, that is just a preview of what is to come in future motions, in future hearings, and a possible trial. again, all of these are republican party members in this state who signed that document that, again, would have shifted the electoral votes to president trump instead of president biden. we expect to see these defendants back in court later this month. >> shaq brewster, thank you so much. and before we go, there's always good news -- there's good news to tell you about. a game changer for some of the nation's best athletes who just happen to be blind. check this out. >> ready -- >> strike one. >> a little height. >> this is some of the action at the national beep baseball association's world series in oklahoma last week. in the sport, the balls beep, and the bases buzz. the league was created in the '70s as a way to encourage blind and low-vision athletes to get out of the stands and onto the field. it's a game of trust and communication. >> i'm in the middle, so i'm running to both sides of the field. there's people in front of me and people behind me. and everybody's supposed to collapse on that ball. so in order for everybody to be safe you have to be able to communicate. >> want to congratulate the indy england team that won the world series for the second row in a year. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on social media at jdbalart, and watch highlights from today's show. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. and right now on "andrea mitchell reports," death and destruction on maui. president biden promising federal assistance after at least 36 people have lost their lives. with wildfires fueled by powerful winds, ripping through the island, burning an historic community to the ground. >> the power went out yesterday like 4:30 or 5:00 a.m., and then the gas station blew up at like 3:00. since then we've been trying to outrun a fire. >> we'll have a live report coming up. and also, in florida today former president trump's co-defendants back in federal court to be arraigned on the superseding indictment in that classified documents case. mr. trump did not have to appear, but trump's lawyers are asking presiding judge cannon to build a secure space k