testifying tomorrow in new york. trump, as you know, was expected to take the stand in his own defense as his company's civil tax fraud trial enters the final week. a short timeo, trump announceinhe long and defiant rant online that he would not be doing so. the former president, as usual, attacking the case, as he quote, rich -- witch hunt. -- no matter how much donald trump tries to distract from reality, the facts don't lie. trump had been using the courthouse in new york as a sort of campaign stop, and is already planning rallies in nevada and new hampshire this week. this, as trump's vision for his second term only becomes more extreme. at a fund-raiser last night, trump doubled down on his comments, saying he would be a dictator, but just on day one. his words? they speak for themselves. >> baker today in the new york times, he said that i want to be a dictator. i didn't say that. i said i want to be a dictator for one day. but the new york times said -- and you know i i wanted to be a dictator? because i want to wall, right? i want to wall, and i want to drill, drill, jill. >> to be clear, drilling, building walls, those are not the only promises he's made ahead of a second term. you think republicans will stand in the way of trump's fantasy regime? think again. former house speaker kevin mccarthy claiming today, trump just needs a gentle scolding. >> what president trump needs to do in this campaign, and needs to be about rebuilding. restoring. renewing america. it can't be about revenge. >> he's talking about retribution day in, day out. >> he needs to stop that. he needs to stop that. >> you think he's going to listen to you saying, stop that, stop that? when he hasn't listened to anybody before? >> that's not true. he will adapt when he gets all the facts. >> joining us now to discuss, msnbc political analyst -- the host of crooked medias what a day podcast. also with me, msnbc come political contributor eugene daniels, he's a political white house reporter, the coauthor of the playbook newsletter. an msnbc legal analyst and former u.s. attorney barb mcquade. she's a professor at the university of michigan law school, and co-host of the hashtag sisters in law podcast. barb, i have to give credit where credit is due. friday, i was onset -- with lisa rubin, and she said, if trump shows up on monday, right, she anticipated there was a definite possibility that he would back out. i wonder what you think motivated that decision? >> we've seen this again and again, alicia, or donald trump says he's gonna do something, and in the end, my lawyers told me not to do it. it's quite likely to me that he never intended to testify in his own defense whatsoever. putting donald trump on the stand is very, very dangerous for any lawyer. because he has such a loose relationship with the truth. and, so in the same way he wanted to talk to robert mueller, the special counsel, he said he had a speech where he was gonna show -- completely exonerated from january 6th, and once again, i think this shows that it's all talk, and when push comes to shove, under a, he is not gonna be there to testify. >> so given that he's not gonna be the big wetness tomorrow, i wonder what, vibe, we should expect from the trial this week? >> it could be that they're going to best. he was gonna be one of the last, if not the last witness. this could be the end of the defense case. the government will have an opportunity to put on a rebuttal case if they so choose. we could see that. and once that's done, closing arguments. so i think it's quite possible we could see things ramp up this week. >> so you have these two stories developing side by side. we're learning that donald trump is not going to take the stand in his own defense, just as you also heard that sound of him on stage, but wind ty, talking about, yes, he wants to be a dictator on day one so that he can issue executive actions around things like drilling and building walls. we also know based on things he himself has said about using the government as a wing of retribution against his perceived political enemies. that is not, in fact, the only authoritarian or dictatorial thing he is interested in doing. we do not play sound from donald trump deliberately on the show, but i think it's important for people to know what it is that he is out there saying, and how he is wrapping up his base. i'm gonna assume you take him at as word when he says he wants to be a dictator. >> not only taken matters where. i take him at his actions. alicia, we all witnessed january 6th. we all witnessed an attempted insurrection led by the former president. there is no need to minimize this to taking him at his word, because he's already acted on it. he knows how to deploy his supporters to do his bidding for him. that's critically here, and i hope democrats are taking all of this and making sure that they're emphasizing the threat that donald trump has to our country, to our democracy, to our institutions, and using that is a key message to motivate and engage voters starting now. right? don't wait. democrats need to jump on this immediately, and continuously beat this drum through 2024. because this is the type of convincing argument that can get voters across partisan lines on democrats side, going into the presidential election cycle. >> eugene, help me understand kevin mccarthy. the fact that he had already announced that he was not gonna come back, he's not running again, giving up his seat -- it's like, you're free. go be free. you can actually say what it is you want to say because we're no longer trying -- it would have seemed -- to keep your political, temporary political lifeline alive. we know that he is willing, should he be called upon, to be a member in a case of a second trump term, a member of that cabinet, this idea, oh no, trump just needs a scolding -- he will listen to rational people. we have no proof points to that argument. >> yeah. the former speaker mentioned that once the former president -- he would change the way he was speaking, and would stop talking about, and only focusing on retribution. there is that relief zero evidence that that would ever work. that that would ever happen. people have said that and failed before, there at the beginning of the trump presidency, the middle of the trump presidency, the end of the trump presidency. right now, as he's running for president, that is happened over and over again. kevin mccarthy is clearly trying to keep his -- there's a possibility that he would be called upon to be in that cabinet, right? it's something he has talked about being open to. he's clearly still worried about what donald trump would say about him, and more importantly, what donald trump supporters would do if they saw kevin mccarthy out, if donald trump or to attack him. that's an actual concern a lot of folks ham, and that's why they operate in this way. but it doesn't show a lot of political strength, it doesn't show a lot of political courage when we just watched the former president not just say it, but -- he only wants to be dictator for one day. just to do the things that he wants to do. and more importantly, as mike was just saying, we've seen over and over again how he has operated, and there's no reason to believe he wants to do that. -- really important thing that folks should remember about donald trump, when he says shocking things, he always does it, always does it with a wink and a not. he says it so his followers were laugh. he says it in a way that maybe there's some deniability, no matter how slight the miami ability might be. -- and then we, his followers, are gonna make fun of us, saying we're taking him too seriously, we're taking him to literally. and that's gonna last -- but we should believe him when he says the things that he wants to do. because it's in line with the reporting that's already out there. >> we should take it very seriously. barb, of course, the real you news tonight is the news about the civil fraud trial out of new york, but last night, you had special counsel jack smith accusing trump of trying to obstruct the election interference case. tell us more about that fight. >> last week, we saw donald trump's lawyers file discovery requests that go well beyond the scope of what is permissible under the law. asking for things that are classified, asking about election interference activities going back to 2016. in this filing last night, the special counsel calls out donald trump for what this is. it's what's referred to in the intelligence community and effort at cremo. it's like blackmail, but it's somebody who wants to expose classified secrets in the hopes that with that threat, the prosecution will pull its punches, or even dismiss a case altogether to protect those secrets. but the special counsel came back very strong, pointing out that this is a fishing expedition designed to attack the prosecution. they're not proper arguments. and one hopes that the judge will see this for what it is and denied these requests. >> when you take the entire context, you take the multiple legal cases that we're talking about. you take trump in his own words. you have congressman raskin pointing out that the warnings we're hearing now about trump's are once we've heard before. take a listen. >> every four years, the democrats come back and say this is the most important election of our lifetimes. forget that. this one really is the most important election of our lifetimes. this is our year of living dangerously, and our year of living passionately in defense of constitutional democracy. >> juanita, you made a similar argument in your first answer. you also understand the fatigue that comes with making that argument each election cycle. how, then, do you breakthrough? >> i mean, donald trump continuously gives new material for democrats. he had the speech over the weekend. you have upcoming campaign events where he's absolutely gonna say the same things over and over again. leveraging that every single time it happens is critical, and i appreciate congressman raskin essentially taking heed to what i just mentioned as far strategy, in the political conversation around this. because making sure that people understand what's at stake every single election is critical. and there's no exaggeration when i say that trump is an existential threat not only to our nation, but again, our democracy. that is going to be front and center of this election, just like it wast 22, just like it wasn't 23. i think that's already showing. that democrats have established track record for alleging -- voters will tap into it before they head to the polls and deliver results. >> a year of living dangerously. i mentioned that. barbara mcquade, thank you so much, eugene daniels, you are sticking with me. now, the breaking news from tennessee. the government has declared a state of emergency after deadly tornado outbreak. authorities say six people died in the storms on saturday, including a toddler. areas north of nashville suffered the heaviest damage. the string of tornadoes destroyed dozens of homes. joining me now is nbc's priscilla thompson, live on the ground in match. priscilla, what's the latest there? >> alicia, where in madison, just ahead of nashville, and these are the scenes we're seeing here. this is one of the hardest hit areas. you see that home back there, the roof taken off, part of it, the walls gone, you can literally see into what was once a bedroom, perhaps, and this is some of the damage that we are seeing up and down this street. nashville officials say that there are 22 structures that were destroyed, and there are countless others that are very badly damage. you mentioned six people that tragically lost their lives -- just a few hundred feet -- one mobile home was flown on top of the other by this tornado. you mentioned that toddler, i actually spoke with the father of that two year old toddler who lost his son and his wife in one of those mobile homes. he told me that it all happened so quickly, that all he heard was a lot of screaming, and when he opened the door, he didn't hear his wife's screams. and he was worried that she may be gone. i want to play a little bit of that conversation. >> when did you realize what had happened? >> [speaking in a global language] [speaking in a global language] >> translator: we are a family, before in the moment, i know i lost her. she didn't scream anymore. i listen to screaming, my only two other sons. >> when i met felipe, he was digging through that rubble, what remained of his destroyed home. looking for his life savings so he could try to send the remains of his son and his wife back to guatemala where they are from. he told me that his wife had only been here a few months. and all of this happened, thankfully, the fire departments able to go over there with machinery and take that trailer that fell on top of there's off, he was able to find that. this is the kind of devastation and tragedy that folks across the state, in certain parts of tennessee, are dealing with in the aftermath of these devastating and deadly tornadoes. alicia? >> absolutely devastating, priscilla, authorities what are authorities telling you about the recovery efforts? >> yeah, that is going to take a while, which is what we often hear in these situations. we know that power, restoring power is a really big concern. they're downed power lines everywhere right now they're just over 30,000 people across the state of tennessee who are without power. that, of course, is going to be a really big priority, just today, we've seen a lot of folks coming out to hand out food, the salvation army has been here. there's also for shelters that have been open to help folks whose homes now look like this to be able to have a place to stay be able to get a warm meal. the other big question here, it's going to be whether or not this disaster will qualify for fema aid. it's not clear at this point whether or not there is or is not enough damage to qualify for that aid. as people are continuing to clean up the next question is going to be how will they rebuild? and that path forward isn't exactly clear at this point. alicia? >> priscilla thompson, as always, thank you so much for your reporting. next, congress has just one working week left in 2023, now you might think capitol hill is ready for a flurry of legislative activity, that's not what house republicans have planned. plus, california congresswoman, sydney -- sits on the foreign relations committee. talk to us about the negotiations for aid to ukraine in israel. first we go to jessica layton who's on standby with a look at the other big stories we're watching this hour at msnbc. jessica? >> thanks, alicia. busy sunday, president biden has invited ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy to visit the white house this tuesday. zelenskyy is also expected to meet with u.s. senators and house speaker mike johnson. this weekend, the ukrainian president met with several heads of latin american countries in argentina. to promote a new peace plan. in texas, police have arrested a suspect in connection with the killing of a 16 year old high school children leader. the mother of liz beth medina found her daughter dead in a bathtub on tuesday night. rafael romero is charged with capital murder in this case, it makes him eligible for the death penalty if he is convicted. also in texas, democratic state senator john whitmire when the race for houston mayor in a runoff election yesterday. he won more than 65% of the vote, defeating democratic congresswoman sheila jackson lee. whitmire ran a campaign that was focused heavily on crime. i'm jessica layton, stick around for more american voices, right after this. t after this rtugal with some help from j.p. morgan wealth plan. let's go whiskers. jen y is working with a banker to budget for her birthday. you only turn 30 once. and jen z? 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