it's easy to overlook, but donald trump is trying to run out the clock, the slow walk, the many cases against him, enough to win the republican primary before he can be convicted or maybe even tried of a crime. given a recent spate of legal losses for the twice impeached ex president, we're now entering a crucial time in this high stakes test of wills. last week, in appeals court, reinstated the gag order against him in new york. judges in d.c. also rejected his broad claims of presidenti immunity, which prompted tanya chutkan, the jue and jack smith's federal write, quote, defendants for your service as commander-in-chief did not bestow on him the divine right of kings to evade criminal accountability that governs his fellow citizens, and quote. those legal losses haven't curbed his legal team's efforts to escape or at least postpone his prosecutions. at a hearing on friday, his lawyers went as far as to argue a trial in the fulton county, georgia case this year, would constitute election interference. >> can you imagine the notion of the republican nominee for president not being able to campaign for the presidency because he is in some form or fancy in a courtroom? that would be the most effective election interference in the history of the united states. >> now, let fulton county judge scott mcafee make the final judgment on that. these recent rulings and arguments are reminders that there are still a number of complex issues to resolve as america, for the first time, considers the prosecution of a former president who is also running to return to the white house. it's been looming large over the republican presidential primary since the very beginning. in these recent rulings, the vulnerabilities that they expose are perhaps welcome news for the remaining candidates who are currently trailing the former president by a country mile. it's been a particularly good week for the former south carolina governor and trump's former united nations ambassador, nikki haley, who appears to be coalcing the support of the anti trump faction of the gop. she recently received a coveted endorsement from the coat tworks powerful and influential conservative super pac and a boost of support from jamie dimon, this is the ego of jpmorgan chase. recent polls have also shown her pulling ahead of ron desantis in the early primary state of new hampshire and south carolina. she's been on the rise since the first primary debate, she has some pretty good momentum with only six weeks left before the first contest of 2024. the race she appears to be winning as the race for second place. so, it's worth asking, is it too late for her or any republican to catch up to donald trump? there is the belief that the republican party's presidential nominee could be contingent on how trump handles his criminal cases or how they unfold in the months ahead and why second place could matter. if we take a look at the calendar of what's ahead, time is running out. judge arthur engoron heads schedule closing arguments for trump's civil fraud trial in new york for january the 11th. donald trump is expected to testify that day. on january the 15th, republicans in iowa will caucus for their favorite candidate and kick off the 2024 election cycle. a new trump related trial will begin that day two for the second civil suit that's brought by the writer and columnist, e. jean carroll. on january the 23rd, new hampshire is going to hold its primaries and republicans will hold nominating contests and two states in february. nevada on february 8th, south carolina on, i'm sorry, nevada, february 8th, south carolina on february 24th. if any republican hopes to seriously give donald trump a run for his money, better happen in these first two months of the year because republicans in idaho, michigan, and missouri, will caucus on march 23rd. north dakota republicans will do the same thing two days later on march 4th, which is the same day that the federal interference trial, the first criminal trial of a former american president in history is scheduled to begin. wait, there is more. the next day, march 5th, the super tuesday, 16 states will hold primaries and caucuses on that day. on march 25th, the ne hush money trial begins, th the allman bragg trial in manhattan. as nbc news first points out, the results for super tuesday come in, quote, republicans will be allocated nearly half, 47% other delegates from the contest in the 2024 gop presidential race. on march 25th, trump's second criminal trial, the hush money case in manhattan, it is going to begin. so, if this calendar holds, if donald trump remains dominant over the gop field, as he appears to be right now, the race for the nomination may be over before opening arguments even begin for any of his criminal trials. joining me now is paul butler, former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst who along with, by the way, also with us jennifer reuben, an opinion writer for the washington post and an msnbc political analyst, the author of the book, resistance, how women save democracy from donald trump. welcome to both of you. thank you for being with us this morning. trump. jen reuben, this makes us wonder whether the only way to deal with donald trump and prevent him from becoming the next president of the united states, short of people voting that way in november, is some sort of a political answer, is something that the republican party does as opposed to something the courts do. what is your sense of it? >> well, they're headed, just as you said, the map that you pointed out is critical. he could well wrap up the nomination and then be convicted. the most likely scenario is that he will accumulate a majority of the delegates either on super tuesday or shortly thereafter when that criminal case begins. jack smith has an excellent case, the decision that you reference from judge chutkan, it kind of puts him on a guide path to that trial. i don't think the d.c. circuit is gonna overturn. they, as you noted, in a parallel civil case, rejected this immunity defense. i don't think the supreme court is gonna get involved at this stage. that means he is going on trial in march, could be convicted by or even after the gop convention in the summer. and then, what did they do? do they have a backup plan, and they have a plan b? i don't think so. the person who chooses vp may become very important, they may need to think about some mechanism by which the candidates or perhaps the body at the convention kind of do a redo in the convention. so, we're really headed for uncharted territory here. >> paul, let's talk with a couple things that jen just mentioned. first of all, she says, the supreme court will get involved, is 2023, i never know about the supreme court. on the other hand, we do know that the republican primaries and caucuses that i laid out our dates that are pretty much set in stone. the court dates are not dates that are set in stone. there is some discussion amongst legal circles that there may be valid reasons why tanya chutkan may grant the trump team some delays in the federal trial, the jack smith trial, that may not actually get started first, we may actually be into july or august and the georgia trial before we get to that. what are your thoughts on that? >> i think of the four trials, the one that's most likely to go first remains the federal election interference case in the district of columbia with judge chutkan. judge chutkan wrote a scholarly, learned opinion this week that was written in order to withstand the inevitable appeal. so, this was about the issue of immunity. trump is making this extreme claim that he can't be sued in civil court or prosecuted in criminal court for anything that he did when he was president. two different courts shut that argument down this week. i agree with jennifer, i don't think the supreme court is likely to take up that case. what i'm more concerned about though is this upcoming opinion about the gag order. i think there's a good chance that if trump loses that, the supreme court would take up that case. the supreme court is on its own schedule. it's possible that if that couldn't be resolved until after, before the election, even the federal election interference case would happen after the election. >> you call judge -- scholarly and learned. it's also remarkably accessible. people know impartial to reading these things, it's a very easy read, i would recommend it to my readers, my viewers that you go out there and you read this, it's 48 pages, it lays it out very very clearly that being president is not to get out of jail free card for after your president. if you committed crimes wall president or not while president, you are the same as everybody else. jen, last week you wrote a title, it's nikki haley or bust for the gop. i want to read a little b from it. the question is whether, i managed to topple trump, she would break with the maga cult and personality, declined to bo and scrape before russian president vladimirut, declined to weaponize justice department against h enemies, and return to some version of normal republican politics, all indications suggest that, yes, she would refrain from subverting constitutional democracy if she somehow won the nomination went on to win the presidency, and quote. i had stewart stevens on yesterday who said otherwise. he said, she's not, she does not seem prepared to fully stand up to that trump cult of people who believe that the 2020 election was overturned. are you fairly certain that you think should go back to the normal nikki haley that we knew as governor south carolina? as gover>> well, we can speculal we like, the proof would be in the pudding. here's the problem that she would have. even if she personally doesn't think that trump lost the election, she doesn't believe in a lot of this hooey, consider the party that she would be riding into the white house on. if she wins the white house, there's a good chance that the house and the senate would be republican hands as well. she will be under tremendous pressure. so, perhaps the real question is not whether she would break with the maga republicans if she had -- but what that dynamic would be between house republicans, the mike johnson's of the world, the jim jordans of the world, and nikki haley, who am i, should she have her true others, want to return to some normal politics. so, i think it's an open question, obviously. i tend to think of those left in the race. she is probably the only one that could possibly beat him. rhonda sentence has essentially crashed and burned. there is no one else who is rising up. so, it's either gonna be donald trump, nikki haley, or, you know, they're gonna have chaos at the convention. buckle up. >> when you talked about who is vice presidential candidate, vivek ramaswamy is really running for the job. if he becomes the vice president candidate, donald trump goes to jail, we might be in a different set of pickles. let's talk about georgia, scott mcafee, the judge there, trump's attorney who made the argument that any kind of trial, if trump is campaigning to be the president of the united states, this trial would, at best start in july or or august, maybe later. trump might be the nominee, or might have enough votes to be the nominee. any trial would constitute election interference, which means he couldn't have a trial until after the election. if he were to win as president, he can have a toronto after he was president, putting a start date of the possible trial in georgia at january 20th 2029. don't know what judge mcafee is going to do about that. didn't sound like he was taking the bait on that argument. >> so, it's certainly not the case that this trial would count as election interference if in fact it happens before the election. what is probably correct is that if donald trump wins the presidency and the trial in fulton county hasn't started, it wouldn't start until after he left office. i think the judge knows this and the judge is trying to rush this trial. we know that four of the 19 defendants have pled guilty. it's quite likely that many many others will also plead guilty. fani willis has suggested she won't accept a plea bargain for mark meadows, rudy giuliani, or the former president. we could be looking at just -- in the trial, and i think it's quite possible that that could happen before the election with a concerted effort. really interesting the judge mcafee suggested that fani willis and jack smith -- especially on discovery issues. right now, there is a court order preventing the lawyers in the federal election interference case from sharing documents with anybody else. judge chutkan might allow that sharing, which would allow both federal election interference and fani willis's trial to proceed more quickly. >> i appreciate both of you this morning. thank you for being with us. paul butler is a former federal prosecutor and -- jennifer reuben is an opinion writer at the washington post and an msnbc political analyst. coming up, we're looking at the war between israel and hamas from all different angles. first, we'll get an update on the ground since the temporary truce broke down on friday. deaths are topping 700, according to hamas. we'll look at what comes next for israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu and the longtime immunity between israel and the united states facing its toughest test yet. >> as israel defends itself, it matters how. the united states is unequivocal, the international humanitarian law must be respected. too many innocent palestinians have been killed. have been killed earning on that éclair. don't touch it, don't touch it yet. let me get the big one. nope. -this one? -nope. -this one? -yes. no. what? the big one. they're all the same size. wait! lemme get 'em all. i'm gonna get 'em all! earn big with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. first time i connected with kim, she told me that chase. her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. >> now, to the deadly war i'm here to thank you. overseas, where israel has intensified its attacks on gaza overnight and this morning. according to hamas, more than 700 people have been killed in the gaza strip over the last 24 hours and more than 1.5 million people have now been displaced since the start of the war on october 7th. nbc's not able to verify these numbers. according to the united nations, two strikes yesterday resulted in an at least 160 casualties, including an attack on a six story building in the refugee camp in gaza. according to the white house, there are no active talks to implement additional pauses in fighting or for the release of hostages. here is what john kirby, a spokesperson for the nsc, told my colleague, kristen welker this morning, on meet the press. >> well, there are no official negotiations going on right now, kristen. that's because hamas failed to come up with yet another list of women and children that could be released. we know they're holding additional women and children, not combat, snot female idf soldiers, in a sense civilians, women and children they have that they couldn't put on the list and turn that in. unfortunately, the negotiations have stopped. that said, what hasn't stopped is our own involvement trying to get those back on track and trying to discuss with those partners and all those interlocutors to see if we can't get it back in place. >> meanwhile, as the humanitarian crisis worsens, some relief has arrived in gaza. it is not enough. the palestinian red crescent says 100 aid trucks were able to enter the enclave through the rafah crossing with egypt, containing water, food, medicine, and other supplies. for more on this, i'm joined by raf sanchez and tel aviv. the situation very kinetic on the ground overnight, our time during the day, your time, i've been keeping track of. it there's a lot happening in gaza. there are things happening on the northern border with israel. ever since the breakdown of the truce, we are back into what looks like full scale war. >> yeah, it definitely feels like full scale war for palestinian civilians in gaza, ali. people in the south are telling us they feel like they have nowhere left to run too. they were told weeks ago by israel, if they fled their homes, they went to southern cities like khan younis, they would be safe. now, they're being told by israel they need to get out of parts of khan yunis because the israelis are planning to attack their. this confusion captured in just one story that our team heard at the hospital in khan yunis yesterday. this is a hospital that the world health organization is saying is three times over capacity right now. it is one of the only functioning hospitals in the gaza strip right now. our team meta mother called fatima, she took her children from the refugee camp, which is all the way up in the northern end of gaza, she brought them to the south. she told us that her son, mohammed, was killed in israeli airstrike in the south down there. it just goes to show, a lot of palestinian civilians feeling like nowhere is safe. there are reports coming out a southern gaza that the israeli military is now operating on the ground around ten eunice, we asked the israeli military about that, they're not confirming that at this stage. you heard from vice president kamala harris that the u.s. feels there are too many innocent palestinians dying. one of the innovations since the fighting resumed, the israeli military has published this map of gaza, it divides gaza into 2400 zones, ali, they say they're using this map to tell palestinians we need to get out of this area, it's no longer safe. i can tell you we spent much of the morning here trying to understand how this map works. we have fast internet here, and the safety of tel aviv. we're struggling to understand, you can only imagine for civilians inside gaza, try to make life and death decisions about where to move their children to keep them safe, how confusing it is for them with very limited internet, very limited electricity. i've been texting this morning with the audio spokesperson unit, it's not totally clear to me they understand how this map works either. everybody is hanging on these tweets and arabic from one particular israeli military spokesman who is giving the numbers of which blocked people are supposed to get out to. that is the best chance palestinian civilians have right now to try to get their kids out of harm's way. meanwhile, here in israel, last night, there was a major rally where the crowds heard testimony from some of those hostages who were released during the week. one woman saying she had to pinch her cell phone she was down in the tunnels to try to wake up from the nightmare she was living through. ali? >> right, thanks as always for your excellent reporting. nbc's raf sanchez for us in tel aviv. coming up next, months before this brutal war, israel was facing an entirely different nationwide challenge, there were widespread protests today prime minister benjamin netanyahu's moves to boost his own power and limit the power of the nation's courts. several israeli officials broke with him over those efforts. i'll speak with one of them after the break about his former boss's role in the country's current unfolding war. t unfoldin war. not with this. when stains and odors pile up, it's got to be tide. the subway series is taking your favorite to the next level! like the #20. the elite chicken and bacon ranch. built with 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