went that far. plus, the high stakes arguments at the supreme court, the smoke signals from the justices and what it could mean for colorado's bid to ban donald trump from the ballot. also ahead, trump's nevada win, his march toward the gop nomination, and how long can nikki haley hang in the race? ♪♪ we made it to friday, thank you for joining us. it's 10:00 eastern. i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. we begin with a defiant president biden firing back against blistering accusations in a special counsel report. robert hur writing in a 340 page report that while there was, quote, evidence that president biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials, there wasn't enough evidence to charge the president and prove beyond reasonable doubt his guilt adding that a jury would likely see him as a sympathetic, well-meaning man with a poor memory. even suggesting the president didn't know the date his son beau died, prompting this response in an impromptu news conference at the white house last night. >> there's even reference that i don't remember when my son died. how in the hell dare he raise that? frankly when i was asked the question, i thought to myself it wasn't any of their damn business. >> nbc's gabe gutierrez is covering the white house. also with us intelligence and justice reporter, ken dilanian, and tristan snell, the author of the book "taking down trump." gabe, what can you tell us about why the president decided to make those remarks last night? it was an impromptu press conference, and also, how is the white house viewing this report? >> hi there, ana, the white house and white house officials concluded last night that the president needed to take on some of the more damning allegations here head on. they view robert hur as, you know, out of line with some of those allegations, and you saw it right there in that portion of the news conference where president biden talked about his son. he was angry. i was inside the room. he was eager to take reporters' questions, and he was extremely defiant. now, ana, i asked him specifically about one of the allegations in the report, not just about his memory but that special counsel report alleged that the president was careless with national security secrets and that he shared classified information with his ghost writer. that's listed on page 3 of the report. i asked the president about that, here was his response. >> i did not share classified information. i did not share it. >> with your ghost writer. >> guarantee i did not. >> the special counsel -- >> no, he did not say that. let me answer your question. the fact of the matter is what i didn't want repeated, i had written a long memorandum to president obama. that's what he's referring to. it was not classified information in that document. that was not -- >> now, ana, despite what the president said there, as they said on page 3 of the report it said that to our knowledge, no one has identified any classified information published and promised me dad, one of president biden's memoirs. mr. biden shared information including some classified information from these note books with his ghost writer. i spoke with a source close to the campaign last night. the source said that gop attacks on the president's age are nothing new and indeed democrats are saying that the special counsel was appointed u.s. attorney during the trump administration, so they are trying to paint this as partisan and inappropriate, some of those allegations about the president's memory. >> walk us through the report its a little bit more, and you have some new information on why hur went so far on the memory issues. >> yes, good morning, ana, so the report made clear why attorney general merrick garland felt compelled to appoint a special counsel. what the report makes clear is it wasn't an accident that these documents ended up in the wrong place. it wasn't a mistake. it was an intentional act by president biden. that is not in dispute. he took documents related to what he was doing on afghanistan and the surge back in 2009. he had classified information in note books, and he's on tape saying in 2017 six years ago i found the classified documents at his home in virginia. he also said quickly he forgot about doing that. that is where rob hur said he could not win a case successfully prosecuting president biden for the crime of willfully -- if somebody doesn't remember the act, that makes it difficult to convict them. that is why justice department officials say hur felt compelled to include the material, the unflattering material about president biden's memory because he was writing a report to the attorney general explaining why he wasn't filing charges, even though there was significant evidence of crimes. now a lot of people, including president biden's partisans feel that that was gratuitous, and it was over the top, but many trial lawyers have looked at this and said, look, we evaluate witnesses and the credibility of witnesses and their memories all the time. it's part of what we do, and that would be standard to put in a report to the attorney general. the attorney general did not have to make the report public, but my reporting is he felt compelled to do that because he's promised to make all the reports public. we've got jack smith, and we had that john durham report that garland already made public. once you've gone down that road and said you're going to make everything public, he felt he was compelled to put it all out there. >> is a strange for a special counsel to include all of these details about his interview with president biden including, you know, his comment on his son's memory and death of his son? >> i think the kind of editorializing is it's there, we're focusing on the wrong part of the report. one of the most important parts of the report goes into the differences between what biden has supposedly done and what donald trump is doing, which is miles apart. what trump did allegedly is 100 times worse than anything biden did. trump alleged had these documents, was asked to return them multiple times, assured that he had actually complied with the subpoena. it turns out he hadn't. the fbi to recover these documents that were highly classified. now we're hearing reports of a secret room and a closet that the fbi did not manage to get into. in my view, the real story here is not about what president biden has done or not done here. i think the real kicker is we still don't know all the truth about what president trump did, former president trump, and until we get that, we really can't analyze all of this in the proper context. >> just how damning is the report, though, even though there aren't any charges filed here? >> we're talking about really a more minor bureaucratic ministerial issue here. this is an administrative problem. this is the equivalent of a parking ticket. it's a 340 page editorializing parking ticket, but it's a parking ticket compared to let's crash a car and then delete the security cam footage of me intentionally crashing the car. i mean, that's the difference that we're talking about here. >> all right, tristan, please stand by. gabe gutierrez, thank you. ken dilanian thank you as well. for more on the political impact of this report we're joined now by jim messina, former white house deputy chief of staff for operations and campaign manager for obama's 2012 campaign. jim, you know president biden. last night you tweeted that hur, a lifelong republican and creature of d.c. didn't have a case against biden but that he knew exactly how his swipes could hurt biden politically. can you expand on that? >> yeah, look, ana, i think it is very clear what the special counsel decided here. he didn't have enough to charge the president, but he's a republican and felt the need to take some political shots. i think this stuff about the president's son is completely out of bounds and weird to be in the report. i agree with tristan, it's not the same thing as donald trump, and yet, the special counsel makes an effort to malign the president and to go after him on really personal things that have nothing to do with what his task was. so it just becomes a political document that's going to be out there like everything else, but it is light years different than the 91 counts donald trump is facing. i think voters need to remember that. >> i guess that's the question. do voters recognize that, or do voters see what they want to see? >> well, voters are going to be able to see this president every day doing his job, being on the campaign trail. they're going to make their own assessments. they don't need the special counsel to try to do it for them in pop psychology terms. i think that's just silly. the voters are going to see these two candidates and make their own judgment, but i think what you saw last night, what the voters of america saw, was a fiery president who was unpleased with how this was going and made it very clear his feelings, and those are moments that can breakthrough for voters as they try to make sense of what seems to them to be partisan political bickering. >> so we're already into the primary season, and as we've reported, the polls continue to point to concerns about president biden's age. we just had this new nbc poll in january showing 76% of voters say they have concerns about his age and his mental fitness, and so when asked if hur's report changes the calculus for democrats who expect biden to be the party's nominee, a democratic operative speaking on the condition of anonymity said how the eff does it not. another biden ally calling yesterday the worst day of his presidency. jim, you don't seem to think that, but how politically problematic is this in terms of the description related to president biden's mental health. >> ana, i really don't think it is. we're 269 days before the election. that's 269 days for voters to make their own assessments. there's going to be rallies. there's going to be everyday campaigning. they're going to have their own chance to look at this president and make sure they think he's up for the job. he clearly showed last night that he is. one day, yes, it's a bad day. when you go through campaigns, you realize that you have good days and bad days, and this was a bad day, but it doesn't fundamentally change that 90% of democrats understood how old he was and just voted for him in south carolina, that every poll has him massively up. he's our best chance to beat donald trump. he did a great job in the first four years and he's going to be the democratic nominee. he's going to beat donald trump. we just got to go through cycles like this. as the old song says, ana, there will be days like this. >> every poll does not have him massively up. right now every poll has a very tight race if it does come down to biden and trump. thank you, jim messina for joining us and offering your perspective. i really appreciate it. so what comes next after the supreme court arguments in donald trump's colorado ballot case? how soon justices could make a decision with that state's primary rapidly approaching. plus, hindsight 2024, how voters are looking back on trump's presidency and how it compares to president biden. also, who russian president vladimir putin sounds a lot like in his sit-down with former fox news host tucker carlson. and then later i'll talk to the majors of both san francisco and kansas city ahead of the super bowl showdown between their hometown teams. we're back in just one minute. you're watching "ana cabrera reports." you're watching "ana cabrera reports. s our business. we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. 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(vo) achieve enterprise intelligence. it's your vision, it's your verizon. i know what it's like to perform through pain. if you're like me, one of the millions suffering from pain caused by migraine, nurtec odt may help. it's the only medication that can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks. treat and prevent, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. relief is possible. talk to a doctor about nurtec odt. this morning there is no time line for when the u.s. supreme court could decide donald trump's high stakes challenge to be booted from colorado's ballot, but it appears if we're reading the tea leaves right that justices are leaning towards siding with the former president. skeptical that one state could decide a candidate's eligibility for the rest of the nation. here's nbc news senior legal correspondent laura jarrett. >> hey there, we talk about the joer lap between law and politics this year, while what's happening at the u.s. supreme court is exhibit a. you have both a conservative and liberal justices bristling at the concept of kicking donald trump off the presidential ballot as he inches another step closer to securing the republican nomination. >> donald trump notching another win overnight in nevada winning support from the majority of the state's republican caucus goers, appearing likely on the road to a legal victory as well. >> our supreme court hopefully will be doing something in terms of helping our country and preserving democracy. and i think they had a very -- very interesting day and a very beautiful day. >> reporter: a divided supreme court coalescing in their skepticism over an issue that could upend the presidential race, appearing unwilling to condone the effort to kick mr. trump off the presidential ballot. >> the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the united states. it seems quite extraordinary, doesn't it? >> pointed questions like that one for the lawyer representing six voters in colorado who successfully managed to get the republican front runner disqualified from the state's primary ballot under section 3 of the 14th amendment, which bans those who engaged in insurrection or rebellion from holding public office again. >> i've lived a hell of a long time, and i've gone through a lot of presidents, and this is the first one that is trying to destroy the constitution. >> but thursday's oral arguments less focused on whether mr. trump's actions amounted to an insurrection, the justices appearing more troubled by the prospect of affirming a single state court's decision that could have massive political ramifications nationwide. >> what about the idea that we should think about democracy, think about the right of the people to elect candidates of their choice, of letting the people decide? because your position has the effect of disenfranchising voters to a significant degree. >> as for the timing of when we might see a decision from the justices, they are well aware that super tuesday is coming up on march 5th. the voters from colorado have asked for a decision very quickly as soon as this weekend. i would expect to see one well before super tuesday. back to you. >> thank you so much, laura jarrett, and back with us former new york assistant attorney general tristan snell and leah litman, she specializes in constitutional law and federal courts. thank you so much for joining us. this morning all the legal analysis is pointing toward trump winning this one and colorado losing this one. in fact, some of the experts we were talking to during our special coverage yesterday said maybe it will be a 7-2 opinion. maybe it will be a unanimous decision. is that along the lines of your thinking? >> the supreme court clearly is looking for an exit to get out of this. they don't want to have to touch the issue of the real factual issues in this case ultimately, are was january 6th an insurrection, and did donald trump engage in that insurrection. i don't think the court's going to touch either of those. they're taking this, oh, a state can't make that determination line. it might even be 9-0. they don't want to touch the dynamite that's at the middle of this case. they're going to leave it alone and try to get out. >> you do expect they will come down on the side of trump in this case. >> yes. >> let me play a little bit of skepticism we heard from the justices over colorado's ability to decide trump's ballot eligibility for the rest of the country. let's listen. >> i think that the question that you have to confront is why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the united states. in other words, you know, this question of whether a former president is disqualified for insurrection to be president again is, just say it, it sounds awfully national to me. >> leah, do you agree with the skepticism there that this issue seems to be awfully national as justice kagan put it? >> i think she has a point, of course it's concerning to allow one state to effectively decide who will be president for the entire country. on the other hand, it overlooks the really radical project that was behind the reconstruction amendments, which includes the 14th amendment. the 14th amendment was so committed to multiracial democracy, they sought to disqualify people who participated in insurrections from ever holding office. i think that line of questioning, while of course it is getting at something important about the political nature of our system, doesn't give the full weight to the project behind the 4th amendment, which recognized how important it is to keep those hostile to the very nature of our government out of high office. >> a reminder that maine also put its decision on hold pending the supreme court case. tristan, as you know, there were several other states that are taking up these challenges related to the 14th amendment, what happens in those areas now, those states snow. >> this is probably all going to get shut down by the scotus opinion. there are go things to note. in my view, congress has already made a determination that donald trump engaged in an insurrection, january 6th was an insurrection, both houses of congress voted for this during the second impeachment, the majority of both houses. if we're going to look to congress needs to make this decision, there is a very strong argument to be made that congress already made this decision back in january and february of 2021. >> but they weren't asked directly should he hold office again. >> that's fine, but if the supreme court, supposedly these conservatives want to make sure they're deferring to legislatures and not making policy from the bench, for them to completely ignore that co-equal branches determination, even if you're saying it's not conclusive, you have to say it's persuasive. there's no way you can't, but i don't think they're going to touch the issue. >> leah, on the separate issue of presidential immunity, trump brought that up, he's been talking a lot about it as we just got that appeals court decisioning that said he doesn't have presidential immunity, he has until monday to appeal again up to the supreme court. here's what he just said about this issue. >> there is nothing more important to a presidency than immunity because they have to be free to make decisions without saying, oh, if i do this or if i do that, as soon as i get out of office, we're going to be indicted. we're going to have trouble, and the other party will do that. i think we've seen that. l there's some very bad people. >> so the former president's really digging in on this, even though all of the courts that have taken up this issue so far have rejected his argument. leah, when will we be able to put this issue to bed? >> we don't know because it depends on what the u.s. supreme court does next. as you noted, donald trump is likely to file a request with the u.s. supreme court by monday asking for what's called a stay basically putting the d.c. circuit opinion on hold and preventing a trial from potentially commencing, and if the supreme court doesn't act quickly either in allowing the trial to proceed or deciding the case for itself, it's very possible that the court's actions and delay tactics could prevent a trial on the issue of whether donald trump committed various crimes in the course of his actions on january 6th and leading up to that before an election in november. >> and of course that's the big key here is when will the trial get underway if he can continue to delay the start of the trial, that bodes well for him in potentially making it back into the white house. thank you, a reminder, tristan's new book is out "taking down trump: 12 are rules for prosecuting donald trump by someone who did it successfully." appreciate you both. up next here on "ana cabrera reports," new nbc polling, how voters are comparing donald trump's presidency to joe biden's, and is it enough to set off alarm bells in the white house? plus, probing the president's weaknesses, i'll talk to a 2020 biden campaign adviser about what his 2024 team needs to do right now after special counsel hur's report. special counsel hur's report i'm getting vaccinated... ...with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. i already got a pneumonia vaccine, ...but i'm asking about the added protection of prevnar 20®. if you're 19 or older with certain chronic conditions... ...like asthma, diabetes, copd, or heart disease,... ...or are 65 or older, you are at increased... ...risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. prevnar 20® is approved in adults... ...to help prevent infections from 20 strains of the bacteria... ...that cause pneumococcal pneumonia. in just one dose. don't get prevnar 20® if you've had a severe... ...allergic reaction to the vaccine or its ingredients. adults with weakened immune systems... ... may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects were pain and swelling at the injection site,... ... muscle pain, fatigue, headache, and joint pain. i want to be able to keep my plans. i don't want to risk ending up in the hospital with pneumococcal pneumonia. that's why i chose prevnar 20®. ask your doctor or pharmacist about the pfizer vaccine... ...for pneumococcal pneumonia. 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>> i'm not surprised. this is what happens in the aftermath of people's presidency. just like president's job approvals go up the january after they leave office, people have a tendency to look back more positive until reminded of it again in the course of this. so it doesn't surprise me. i actually don't think that's what this race is going to be about. i think both sides are going to try to make it about the other person in this. i think joe biden's campaign needs to make it about donald trump and the threat he poses to our democracy, and i think donald trump's going to make it about joe biden's presidency and who he is. and so i don't think those numbers are surprising at all. >> alencia, what about you? it's even more stark when you look at independents, 38% saying the trump administration went better than expected compared to just 6% about the biden administration. when you look ahead to november, how concerning is that? >> look, hindsight is 2020. i think there are a lot of people who remember the trump administration very clearly and how so many populations lived in utter fear of what could potentially happen, whether, you know, he was -- he had his muslim ban, the way he talked about the border, the way he talked about women. there are people who still remember that. i will say this about early polling, i'm not saying we shouldn't be paying attention to them. absolutely the biden campaign should be paying attention to them. a lot of voters outside of the ones that are watching us daily all year, aren't going to pay attention to the race until about june or july, and that's when these campaigns really have to get on the ground and speak to voters and also make that stark contrast of who donald trump was as a candidate in 2015 and 2016, as a president, 2016 and 2020, and as the formerly charged president who actually has very concerning what another presidency could look like. >> trump's taking his victory lap after nevada and winning there in the caucuses last night which had all of the delegates for that state. meanwhile, nikki haley she really took a hit in nevada's primary tuesday, even just the optics of that losing to none of these candidates, what do you think is keeping haley in the race at this point? >> well, i don't think it can possibly be that she thinks she can win. if she thinks she can actually win this race, she's in a more deluded state than i could imagine. my guess is there's a number of large contributors who still don't want donald trump, and she maintains a place in this race to raise some questions about donald trump. at this point in time, the idea that she could actually win this race going into south carolina, which my guess is donald trump will win by more than 20 points in this, and so if her idea is that i'm just going to stay here, i can't win and i'm just going to stay here and present an alternative and critical understanding that donald trump is very likely the nominee, then that's fine, but if she thinks she could actually win, that's probably a real fiction that she has bought into. >> so alencia, i know we've already talked about the hur report on this show. i want to get your take on how politically damaging it could be and what kind of hurdle it poses if the biden campaign. >> i do think the piece about his memory is extremely frustrating, and i actually appreciated how forceful president biden was last night in his response in his press conference. that is the biden that i think a lot of people fell in love with when he was vice president. he would go directly to people, directly to reporters and talk about the frustrations. i also think, i want to be careful in that we don't just continue to say this was a political sham of an investigation and use those terms because that is actually the case the republicans are using around the investigations of donald trump. i think that we as democrats have a lot to stand on and the difference is within the context of this report. the fact that the special counsel said these are not grounds for a charge. these are not grounds for a further investigation. that is a huge win. the fact that the president actually cooperated with the special counsel that he was forthcoming, there are so many stark contrasts in these two cases and that's what we have to continue to elevate for the american people, and i appreciate that the campaign, the white house, that the president is coming out forcefully against it and talking about the facts. >> quickly, if you will, matthew, your take? >> i think it's a problem for joe biden. it's going to continue to be a problem for joe biden in the course of this race. it's his greatest vulnerability, and my fear is there's going to be other instances of this. we have two candidates who are incredibly unpopular running against each other, and that's what's presented in the america public right now, and that's a problem for the biden campaign. >> matthew dowd and alencia johnson, great to have both of you here wit thank you so much. happy friday. >> up next here on "ana cabrera reports," putin's interview if you can even call it that with former fox news host tucker carlson. did we learn anything new? plus, president biden's sharp new criticism of israel as he looks to tamp down middle east tensions. east tensions. he . and locking it right on in! you feel no wetness. - oh my gosh! - totally absorbed! i got to get some always discreet! as someone living with type 2 diabetes, i want to keep it real and talk about some risks. with type 2 diabetes you have up to 4 times greater risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. even at your a1c goal, you're still at risk ...which if ignored could bring you here... ...may put you in one of those... ...or even worse. too much? 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"he's bad. i'm good." blah, blah. let's shake things up. with katie porter. porter refuses corporate pac money. and leads the fight to ban congressional stock trading. katie porter. taking on big banks to make housing more affordable. and drug company ceos to stop their price gouging. most politicians just fight each other. while katie porter fights for you. for senate - democrat katie porter. i'm katie porter and i approve this message. growing up, my parents wanted me to become a doctor or an engineer. those are good careers! but i chose a different path. first, as mayor and then in the legislature. i enshrined abortion rights in our california constitution. in the face of trump, i strengthened hate crime laws and lowered the costs for the middle class. now i'm running to bring the fight to congress. you were always stubborn. and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message. a high profile sit-down between former fox news host tucker carlson and russian president vladimir putin. now, despite the notable name doing the interview, we really didn't learn much about the ukraine war or putin himself that we didn't already know. nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons has more from that interview. keir. >> hey there, good day to you. for more than two hours, president putin was allowed to focus on his favorite topics, history, the cia, ukraine, almost entirely unchallenged. his interviewer tucker carlson who in the past has expressed sympathy for president putin that the first run for around 30 minutes. with the war in ukraine on a knife edge, president putin says russia has always wanted to talk. he has said that before. all the while continuing to pummel the country with drones, missiles, and other weapons. >> translator: we have never refused negotiations. >> reporter: the interview with conservative former fox news host tucker carlson echoing talking points from donald trump's election campaign. >> translator: don't you have anything better to do? you have issues on the border. >> reporter: they are messaging putin has repeated time and time again including in our interview before attacking ukraine. >> will you commit now not to send any further russian troops into ukrainian sovereign territory? >> translator: you, the u.s., crossed an ocean with military equipment he told me, and yet you believe somehow we are acting aggressively. but his invasion has killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of people in ukraine and russia. he said, again, that he is looking to do a deal over jailed wall street journal report evan gershkovich, this time clearly signaling that russia wants to exchange the american journalist for a russian fsb assassin jailed in germany. >> translator: i do not rule out that the person you refer to, mr. gershkovich may return to his mother. >> reporter: this morning "the wall street journal" saying in a statement, evan is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. we're encouraged to see russia's desire for a deal that brings evan home, and we hope this will lead to his rapid release. nbc news continues to report from russia. last month we traveled to a putin event as he stands for election with a small hand-picked audience. our vote for putin, this woman told us later, comparing the ukraine war with the war on terrorism. this week a candidate we met in december who opposes the ukraine war was banned from the election. president putin's objectives with this interview will have included to influence the debate in washington. congress still hasn't approved more funding for ukraine, and to influence his own voters ahead of his election in march. russian media is already celebrating the interview. the headline with the state news agency tasks putin is trending on x. >> keir simmons, thank you for that reporting. meantime, in the middle east, president biden now offering his most pointed criticism of israel's offensive in gaza calling israel's conduct over the top and warning that a ground assault into rafa, the city sheltering more than 1 million palestinians could be a disaster. the president's remarks come just after israel's prime minister dismissed the counterproposal from hamas for a hostage deal, vowing to push for total victory. and as america's secretary of state leaves the region without a deal. nbc's raf sanchez joins us now from tel aviv. raf, how receptive of an audience is netanyahu to american concerns and criticisms and where does that leave a potential deal? >> translator: well, ana, no sign that netanyahu is taking on board america's warnings about a potential ground assault on rafa. in just the last few minutes, his office says he has given the israeli military the order to prepare for that attack. he is saying it is impossible for israel to achieve its war aims without going into rafa. he is calling it hamas's last stronghold in the gaza strip. but as you said, more than half of the civilian population in gaza is now concentrated in rafa. most of these people displaced from their homes further north than the strip. they fled to rafa in search of safety. they have the sealed egyptian border at their back, and netanyahu is saying that the military needs to take steps to move civilians out of harm's way, but ana, it is not clear where they can run to at this point. israel is not committing to allowing them to return to their homes up in the north of the gaza strip. they cannot go through the egyptian border. i was in gaza over the weekending. i asked a senior israeli general how can you possibly fight in a city that is so densely populated with civilians? he said it was inevitable that civilian life would be lost. he put the blame on hamas saying they were hiding among the civilian population. our team on the ground in gaza has gathered some truly heartbreaking images from rafa. it is a city of 300,000 people in peacetime. it has an extra 1 million displaced people there now. you can barely move on the streets because there are tents set up everywhere. our team met one family who were sheltering in a chicken coop. they are sleeping literally a couple of feet from live birds because that is just one of the only places that they can find shelter. there's also a lot of concern from the united nations and other humanitarian groups that any israeli attack on rafa would disrupp the flow of international aid coming in through the border crossing from egypt there. a lot of concern worldwide about what now appears to be an imminent israeli attack on that southernmost city of the gaza strip. >> we are looking at images there of just how much destruction has already taken place in gaza at large. thank you very much, raf sanchez for that reporting. and up next here on "ana cabrera reports," betting it all on the bull. could a friendly wager be in the works between the mayors of kansas city and san francisco as their teams face off this super bowl sunday? and how does taylor swift factor into it all? they both join us next. they both join us next your heart races. 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[coughs] when caroline has a cough, she takes robitussin. so, she can have those one on ones again. hey jim! can we talk about casual fridays? oh sure. what's up? get fast, powerful cough relief with robitussin, and find your voice. ♪robitussin♪ there's nothing better than a subway series footlong. except when you add on an all new footlong sidekick. we're talking a $2 footlong churro. $3 footlong pretzel and a five dollar footlong cookie. every epic footlong deserves the perfect sidekick. order one with your favorite subway series sub today. welcome back. let's have a little fun now. after all, it's a friday. it's just before the super bowl, and whether you're a chiefing -- chiefs fan or a 49ers fan, the big day is almost here. we are two days officially from super bowl lviii, an event so big it prompts a yearly strike in google searches about how to decipher roman numerals. luckily we just did that for you. speaking of numbers, more than 110 million tuned in last year. this year's game in las vegas will likely also be the most watched event of the year, but many watching at home will also likely have their eyes trained on the stands to see one-half of america's most famous couple and whether she'll be in attendance. nbc's steve patterson is joining us from las vegas. las vegas obviously is not unfamiliar with hosting live events, but it's only had an nfl team since 2020. so how is the city prepping for this weekend's festivities, its first time ever hosting a super bowl? >> reporter: well, ana, i think there's a couple of pillars this people in vegas are welcoming folks in with, and i think one of them is obvious. look where i am, there's a giant slot machine are expected to bet on the super bowl, like 70 million across the country. a lot of them here like the atmosphere, though, of the sports book. you come in, put your little prop bet down where you can bet on anything from the color of the gatorade to the coin toss. that's a huge part of the culture and they're welcoming it. gambling is an accepted part of the culture with nfl, with vegas hosting its first super bowl. there is also, of course, we have to get a little serious and talk about security. 385 homeland security officers out, the force, the local police force expected to be out in full force, 50% increase patrols. we heard there are, like, robots that detect bombs easily as well. and, of course, the undercover agent thing is going to be happening, people just sort of in the crowd. really this is about the party. look, it is about on average $9,000 a seat to get inside the super bowl. so if you're one of the 330,000 people expected to influx the population in vegas, you're not going to get inside so there is a lot going on. we're going to a party tonight, with shaq, who is rolling out the red carpet, adele, u2, wu-tang clan, all the other musical acts will be on in full force, all week long, a huge blast. >> and you have a tough assignment, steve patterson. >> reporter: real hard. >> have fun. thank you. and joining us now, kansas city mayor quinton lucas and san francisco mayor london breed. good to see you both. big smiles all around, at least pregame. we have seen this chiefs/49ers super bowl matchup before. i'll let you start, mayor breed. what do you think is going to happen this time? >> well, i am predicting the win because let me tell you something, the 49ers have a star studded lineup. i mean, just think about it, christian mccaffrey just got offensive player of the year. and he amazing. we got brock purdy, deebo samuel, george kitle, brandon ayuk, i could go on, fred warner, nick bosa, we have a star. you may have patrick mahomes there, but i could keep going on with who we have on the 49ers. we're coming for revenge. >> i got more questions for you, but let me turn to you, mayor lucas, there is a big difference in the distances each fan base has to travel. are you worried there won't be enough chiefs fans in the stands on sunday? >> not at all. not at all. first of all, we're very used to super bowls, kansas city has been to four of the last five super bowls. we were in phoenix last year, mayor breed and i got to see each other in miami a few years ago when the chiefs won before. this is a team with great experience. not only do we have fans in kansas city, we have taylor swift who has a show in japan, i think the night before, who is likely to come, so i think we are thrilled that stadium will be filled with chiefs red, not just that off red you see from the 49ers and should be an exceptional game for mahomes to hoist another trophy. >> i think the question of the hour then is what is the payup going to be from each side. are you guys doing any friendly wagers this time around? mayor breed, i'll start with you. >> yeah, well, we're going to bet, it is crab season now. we're going to bet some great dungeness crab from fisherman's wharf and the golden gate bridge, but not the real one, we're going to send you a replica, but you may never get that, mayor, because we're ready for you this year. >> what do you think, mayor lucas? >> from our side, we're looking at barbecue, of course, a great kansas city tradition, but since you have raised the stakes with the golden gate bridge, i am wearing some taylor swift friendship bracelets, i went to her show this year, 13-year-old girls were handing them to me. i'll send you a whole set. this one says super bowl champs for the chiefs, we'll get you everything you might need. >> are you become a bandwagon swiftie, mayor lucas? >> i am. i am. it is kind of interesting. i was not one before, but i went to her show, it was exceptional. i'm proud of travis kelce. i'm a man from the midwest, he shot his shot, and he has succeeded very well on dating one of the most successful women in the world and one of most famous, and she is bringing all types of attention to kansas city, to the chiefs, to the national football league. i think it adds a fun element to a super bowl which is already incredibly entertaining. >> mayor breed, are you worried at all about the taylor swift factor? >> no, i'm not worried. but i'm going to be honest, i'm a big taylor swift fan, so i'm going to be cheering for her. i'm not cheering for her man, okay. let's just be clear about that. i'm cheering for the 49ers. but, you know, like, we'll have our own star power, you know, maybe beyonce will show up for the 49ers this year. >> let me ask you about, you know, niner nation's quarterback, brock purdy, notably the last pick in the 2022 nfl draft, the draft slot referred to as mr. irrelevant. what do you make of his story of perseverance going from mr. irrelevant to the starting quarterback in a super bowl game, and i guess, you know, just for inspiration what can we learn from that? >> well, i got to say, you know, you never give up. that's what you learn from that. brock purdy came on the scene, we were winning game after game after game, and people were, like who is this guy? he's amazing. and just think about it, his second year as starting quarterback and we're in the super bowl, this guy is extraordinary and then last game with the detroit lions, he was running the ball, i said, man, he is about to be unstoppable in this super bowl because he's hitting it from all sides. and, again, he has an amazing group of people who are going to be carrying the ball to victory. we know, you know, kansas city has their it defense, but the 49ers overall, they have fought for this, this will be his first super bowl, but he just -- he's very calm and cool and doesn't bend under pressure. i think he's going to do really well this time around, and this is just only the beginning for him and his career. >> okay, quick lightning round, what is the score prediction? mayor lucas? >> kansas city, 24, san francisco, 20. it will be a great game. >> i hope it is a great game. mayor breed? >> you know, i was thinking san francisco 24, and your team 17. >> all right, we'll see. may the best team win, good luck to you both. thank you so much for joining us. kansas city mayor quinton lucas and san francisco mayor london breed. i say go, broncos, my hometown team. >> go niners! >> that's going to do it for us this week. have a wonderful weekend. enjoy the super bowl. see you back here on monday, same time, same place. you can catch our show anytime, by the way, on youtube and other platforms. for now, i'm ana cabrera reporting from new york. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage right after this. diaz coverage right after this. 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