good day. 2:00 p.m. eastern, 11:00 a.m. pacific, i'm jose diaz-balart in today for chris jansing. we are following multiple big stories including a push by donald trump to get his classified documents case thrown out. the battle over special counsel jack smith's authority and why there are also questions swirling about the judge. plus, donald trump's veep stakes enters the home stretch. the top three contenders who have emerged from a list that once included 20 names. and breaking news from the supreme court, the major decision on whether domestic abusers should be able to own or have a gun. and the one justice who dissented from the other eight. but we begin here in florida where the trump appointed judge overseeing the former president's classified documents case is growing under some scrutiny for holding hearing after hearing after hearing without ever even setting a trial date. and it's happening again today. judge aileen cannon holding what will be the first of multiple days of arguments on whether the top prosecutor in the case, special counsel jack smith was improperly appointed but the fact that the hearing is happening at all is what's getting a lot of attention since similar challenges involving special counsels like robert mueller were quickly rejected. the "new york times" describing it as the latest example of judge cannon's quote unusual handling of the case has now become business as usual. i want to bring in nbc's ken dilanian outside the court for us in fort pearce, florida. also with us, criminal defense attorney, and msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos, and msnbc's katie phang. so, ken, what is the latest from the court at this hour? >> reporter: what's unfolding in the courtroom this afternoon is something extremely unusual. judge aileen cannon is hearing from so-called friends of the court. outside lawyers who are coming in to argue both sides of the question of whether the appointment of jack smith as special counsel is constitutional and proper, and therefore whether this case should be dismissed if it's not. cannon agreed to hear from two different parties arguing that it was unconstitutional, and one party arguing against that side. that's in addition to hearing from the defense and the prosecution. legal experts and, danny can speak to this, this just isn't done in a federal criminal trial r bringing in so-called friend of the court. it's adding to the time of a lengthy process. and as you said, jose, this argument that the special counsel appointment is unconstitutional has been tried and failed with respect to two previous special counsels, robert mueller and david weiss who was prosecuting hunter biden. the only different wrinkle here is that jack smith has never been confirmed by the senate, and part of donald trump's argument here is that jack smith is wielding too much responsibility for someone who wasn't reviewed by the legislative branch. the counter argument to that is, in fact, it's merrick garland who's supervising his prosecution. merrick garland can block any action he deems unfit by jack smith. whether she rules it's constitutional or not, the up shot of all of these hearings, as you said, this case has been delayed and delayed, and there's really very little possibility it's going to go to trial before the november election. >> ken dilanian in fort pierce, let's talk about that. the weather is constitutional, the special counsel, jack smith's case to be there or not. i'm thinking like on standing on this, is this where this argument should be made? >> this is a long shot argument. i have seen similar motions filed. they are rarely successful, and it's based on the idea that jack smith is either not senate confirmed or he's an employee. that's what some of the professors are arguing that he's not even in an inferior officer, he's just an employee. the bottom line and ken dilanian explained the difference very well that he was never senate confirmed. it's a long shot, we defense attorneys are duty bound to make long shot arguments as long as they're not patently frivolous, and it's probably not going to succeed. judge cannon is already apparently skeptical, but i will say that it is unusual to have friends of the court actually come to oral argument. this is the kind of thing judges usually decide based on the papers, without a whole lot in the way of evidentiary hearings. these are really novel concepts in cases of great import, so it may be highly unusual, and i think it's fair to criticize judge cannon for taking this much time and resources, but i guess you could argue that it does give more factual evidence, more scholarly evidence into the record. >> katy, let's talk about that, friends of the courts being allowed to argue inside the courtroom, you know, and danny was talking about the unusual nature of it. but isn't this whole process unusual, and is this something that could be grounds for, i don't know, any legal movement going forward? >> well, you mean in terms of being able to appeal it if something happens? obviously whatever disposition of the hearing, the motion to dismiss, if it's granted, you can expect jack smith to appeal the decision to the 11th circuit because not only has it been challenged before, this idea of an appointment of a special counsel, and if you've heard the arguments from special counsel's office as well as from matthew seligman, one of the friends of the court lawyers who have showed up today and argued in court on behalf of the appointment of jack smith, there's precedent, united states v. nixon says that you can have special counsel in these rules. what's kind of wild is if you look at what trump is arguing, jose, and if you look at what the friends of the court in support of trump are arguing, they're complaining there's not enough oversight by anyone like merrick garland, for example, to jack smith. if you think about it, can you imagine the factual scenario in which merrick garland was monitoring on a day-to-day basis the litigation. you would have an argument from donald trump and others that there was too much interference. >> the ag's responsibilities don't normally include that, do they? >> that's why you call them independent special counsel. they operate independent of the attorney general and i will bring this example up, jose. hunter biden has independent special counsel that prosecuted him and continues to prosecute him for certain violations of the federal law, and so that is why it's a disingenuous position to be taken by trump, and the thing that's wild is we're spending hours on television, we have people in force pierce, and the judge could rule on the merits, based on the filing. >> you talk about the days spent on this, we're a year in and there's still no forward path that's been clarified by the judge. >> yeah, so we were all collectively duped when we got a trial date in may of this year, and some of us believed maybe naively there would be an adherence to that. everybody says there's this complexity to this idea that the classified documents case needs to be done -- and listen, there is a statute that is governing, the classified information procedures act, governing the processes and procedures, but this is one of the most important cases donald trump is facing, in terms of violations of national security, violations of the espionage act, and it's also one of the easiest cases to be prosecuted because you're not supposed to keep these documents period. i think it's frustrating for a lot of people that want to see justice move efficiently, that we've got a judge who seems to be looking like she's putting her thumb on the scale right now. >> the hearing comes after "the new york times" reporting that judge cannon suggested suggestions by two federal judges that she stepped aside. initially, we talked about this on, well, all kinds of legal experts about her selection, how big of a deal is it that these two judges urged her to step down. here is the question to you, danny. have you heard of this ever happening before? we should not be hearing about this even if it does happen. how unusual is this. >> it's so unusual, part of it may be the fact that i have never been a federal judge. maybe this goes on and we don't know about it. it seems so unusual that two judges would go to another district court judge and suggest she not take the case. at the same time, that doesn't necessarily mean that the district court judge should listen to them. that is part of the broad independence that the framers put into the constitution for federal judges, and look, i mean, once a federal judge has the case, she's under no obligation to listen to that judge, even if it is the chief judge, suggesting, as long as it's just a suggestion, that maybe you're not experienced enough for whatever reason, if true, she decided to keep the case. and she's on the case until such time as there's reason for her to be recused. and whether or not we've gotten there, reasonable minds can differ at this point, but keep in mind, the entire essence of a federal judgeship is to be immune from outside criticism. that's why they're appointed for life. they're the closest thing we have to royalty. so you're supposed to, especially the lawyers before that judge, we're supposed to complain about them. we're supposed to not agree about how they're handling the case, and they're generally supposed to be immune from that criticism. however, of course, i think there's a lot of fair criticism leveled against judge cannon and how she has handled the case. when it comes to managing the docket, we give the federal judges near complete authority over the management of their docket. it may be that this is a future and not a bug of the system. >> you need to have humility no matter what, and if you're a federal judge, especially, with a lifetime appointment, you have to respect justice, and in this particular instance, jose, the problem is if you are judge cannon, you have to be able to understand if you're outside of your depth and capacity to handle a case like this, and that is when you have the humility to step aside and have somebody with more senior ability to do it. >> you don't know. if she would have said no. >> it would have been a random assignment. >> but you would have seen the other judges that are on this bench and they would have been a lot better. and "the new york times" article made it clear, they had to build a skiff in fort pierce because she kept this case when miami had one, and i'm speaking on behalf of all lawyers that practice in the southern district of florida, we have exceptional judges that could have done a much better job on this case. >> thank you so much for being with us today. i appreciate it. catch katie phang every saturday right here on msnbc. and now to breaking news from the supreme court. the justices upholding a law that bars domestic abusers from owning guns. it was an 8-1 decision with justice thomas filing the lone dissent. walk us through the big decision today. >> really this all started two years ago in a decision that expanded gun rights. it fit into a pattern for the supreme court, basically since 2008 in a series of these rulings that have expanded gun rights. that one two years ago, said the second amendment expanded outside the home. it wasn't the case that the second amendment only allowed someone to have a gun at home. since that decision, lower courts have really had a lot of trouble figuring out what exactly the supreme court was trying to say. it spurred a lot of confusion in lower courts and different opinions at the appellate level, going in different directions. what the court is doing is bringing back guardrails and guidance to their decision two years ago, and giving these lower courts some interpretations of what they intended too. not something gun supporters would have loved to hold up as a poster child for gun rights or the second amendment. it was an individual who engaged in domestic violence. had a restraining order against him. disobey that restraining order, the mandate that he not have any weapons. his gun license was retracted and he was supposed to give over his guns. he kept them and went on five incidents firing a gun in public. in one case, he was a drug dealer, firing an ak-47 through the door of someone he had dealt drugs to. bad facts in this case, and it would have had a tremendous impacts and real life consequences for women had this not been upheld because this was something that kept dangerous weapons out of the hands of people threatening their domestic partners. >> ryan reilly, appreciate it. we are back in 90 seconds with breaking news on the veep stakes, the three finalists to be donald trump's possible running mate. ump's possible running mate anthony: this making you uncomfortable? 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[mind blown explosion noise] (vo) if you have graves' disease, your eye symptoms could mean something more. that gritty feeling can't be brushed away. even a little blurry vision can distort things. and something serious may be behind those itchy eyes. up to 50% of people with graves' could develop a different condition called thyroid eye disease, which should be treated by a different doctor. see an expert. find a t-e-d eye specialist at isitted.com 15 past the hour. we have breaking news, and former president donald trump's vice presidential search according to our nbc news reporter. trump has zeroed in on north dakota governor doug burgum and ohio senator j.d. vance. marco rubio is reportedly in contention. there are doubts about his enthusiasm for the job. joining us now, dasha burns, covering this for us, and nbc's chief political analyst, chuck todd, and former republican congressman from florida, and political analyst, carlos. at one point, trump's vp list had 20 names on it. how did he arrive at these three? >> reporter: every time i have come on the show with an update, we have slowly winnowed that list down. we have three contenders. the top two are doug burgum and ohio senator j.d. vance. you have seen burgum on the campaign trail with the former president. he has been fundraising for him. he's someone the former president sees as akin to him, he was a businessman. he has made a lot of money. trump likes that. he's a handsome guy. he talked about how he's sort of out of central casting, something the former president really values, and he's not necessarily threatening in the way some other contenders might have been. he had a run for president. wasn't very successful, but he's sort of a solid, traditional type of republican. then you have senator j.d. vance, more of a fire brand. has a real connection with the maga base. he's a strong ally of donald trump jr. it's the former president's son that has been pushing for senator j.d. vance. he's also younger and seen as fiercely loyal as he has been defending him on the air waves lately, and then you have florida senator marco rubio who has some allies in the trump campaign team. a lot of folks from florida have known rubio for a long time, have those relationships but he has been vocally critical of the former president in the past, when he was running against him in 2016, and there's a small constitutional hangup which might not be so small after all. he's a resident of florida, as well as former president trump, and there's a rule that delegates cannot vote for a president and a vice president from the same state. it doesn't take him off the table but it adds a complication to his candidacy. there's also the question, jose, of timing, of when to announce this. there's a debate between basically three different optionings. do you announce before july 11th, the date the former president is set to be sentenced in new york city. if you announce before, you have an extra moment for fundraising. if you announce during, that's an option that's on the table to try to sort of overshadow, what could be a damaging news cycle or as the former president has said, he's thinking about announcing during the convention. that's option number three. but from our sources, that timing is still very much under debate, jose, as is a central tension in this decision. which is the team and trump himself want someone who's not threatening. who is not going to overshadow trump, but someone who can still be seen as serious. someone who can carry the mantle of the future of the republican party. all of those factors, all of those pros and cons on the table right now, jose. >> i understand. well, thank you so much, dasha burns, for that reporting. really appreciate it. i want to start with you, chuck, the three main contenders, according to our reporting, north dakota, ohio and florida. chuck, it seems as though florida is kind of already a given for trump. north dakota also a given. ohio kind of important. what do you see in these three, chuck? >> look, i don't think trump is making a traditional sort of geographical alignment here in that decision making. you know that. my own reporting has indicated the following. you know, he's looking obviously for someone to be loyal, but it's more than just loyalty. he did like how mike pence worked with him. and how did that work? well, pence did the grunt work. think about the coronavirus pandemic. who was on the conference calls with the governors doing the detail of logistics and walking him through what the federal government is doing. it wasn't president trump, it was vice president pence. president trump likes to come in for the touchdowns, he likes to come in after the ball is on the 2 yard line and do that. he doesn't want to talk marginal tax rates with the chairman of the house ways and means committee. mike pence loved to talk tax rates. what did trump like most that pence brought to the ticket, that's doug burgum. doug burgum, also, i would argue, offers more balance between the sort of two wings of the republican party. your populist outsider wing that is all things trump, and j.d. vance is in some ways, more of the same versus burgum who is, look, he's becoming -- he's sort of maga agenda, certainly his state is very conservative. i have spent a lot of time with him. this is not sort of, you know, he is more of the traditional republican businessman's view of what a republican looks like going back to when you and i were kids, jose. so, you know, and i'm going to throw in one extra asset here. trump loves burgum's wife. he brings it up all the time. i know these things usually shouldn't matter. to trump, those things matter. >> interesting. carlos, when it comes to burgum, he has been using some of the same language we heard from trump. take a listen to this. >> under joe biden, we're living under a dictatorship today where he's bypassing congress on immigration policy. he's bypassing congress on protecting our border. he's bypassing congress on student loan forgiveness. he's defying the supreme court. those are the things that authoritarians and dictators do is they don't follow our democratic processes and they just assert their own liberal view, and that's what the biden administration is doing. >> so what does this tell you, carlos? >> it's pretty clear that these men are all auditioning for this job, and one of the best ways to get donald trump's support and just his appreciation is to go on television and say nice things about him or sound like him, so in burgum, he's clearly found someone who he clicks with, who he identifies with. he respects the fact that burgum is a billionaire, he made a lot of money. in j.d. vance, trump sees the heir apparent to lead the movement, once trump is no longer center stage. but i think in rubio, the trump campaign sees the candidate that could most help them with the political math. you have two groups in particular that i think rubio is attractive to. skeptical republicans, the republicans who continue to show up in primaries and vote for nikki haley. donald trump has to bring some of those people back, make sure they turn out for him, not for joe biden or stay home, and of course republicans are making a big push with hispanics. some republican operatives out there think trump can win the hispanic vote in 2024. that would be difficult. >> almost impossible. >> even if it's close. >> could be a 44% george w. bush money. >> that would be decisive. rubio can help with those constituents. >> that's an interesting one. rubio being florida as well as trump, i mean, there is the bush cheney reality, right? >> look, i concur with carlos. i think why trump aides keep bringing rubio back on to the short list is for the electoral assets that he would bring to the table, and i think if rubio were a senator from any other state, he would probably be the front runner. i do think this constitutional hiccup here, you know, is a bit problematic, and i think it's weird if you make a sitting u.s. senator from florida go be a resident of another state. right? it just -- it just creates, i think -- >> what did cheney do? >> cheney wasn't a sitting anything at the time, though. he was a private citizen when he made his change, and what did he do, he changed his residency back to the state that he had represented in congress. so it was actually -- you know, what's rubio going to do, become a resident of nevada? i mean, i think when he was a child, he lived in nevada. does he become a resident of d.c right? i think it's a little too cute by half, to make him do that. i think if he were already a senator from another state, and they didn't have this issue. i think for all the reasons carlos just said, he probably would be the front runner. >> chuck todd, r thank you very much, a fascinating conversation. i appreciate it. in the meantime, trump's former white house chief strategist steve bannon is now asking 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doubt, have been helpful. >> reporter: the rains certainly helpful. there's no doubt about that, jose. you have higher humidity. you have actual water falling from the sky. it certainly slows down the spread of the fire. won't, of course, end the flames. there are still flames. there is still smoke. this is still an active fire fight. there's still 0% containment ob on two fires. firefighters battling on two fronts, a thousand fire personnel on the front lines. there's still about active prim ter around the fire as well. fire officials are a little worried about flash flooding, it's because when you have burn scars, this large and this significant, it essentially allows the soil to be so deprived that it makes for a very dangerous situation. there's almost no structure to the earth in these areas. very dangerous not only for the firefighters doing the work but any residents around the area. of course there's a huge warning for that as this rain has been really consistent all day long. meanwhile, of course, federal disaster declaration in place here. it means that there will be federal funding for homeowners, business owners people in the area, it means that fema in some capacity will be on the ground leading the disaster effort because of how widespread this is. you mentioned 1,400 structures burned in this fire. it is an estimate that about 500 of those are homes. haven't been able to get in to see the damage because of the perimeter surrounding the fire because of her own safety, of course. but we understand that the damage is widespread, of course two people dead as well. heartbreaking to hear for families in this area who are going to get back to this area and see in a lot of cases, their homes burned if not uprooted, completely destroyed. a very of course heartbreaking situation for not only people on the ground, but state officials, we know the governor has declared this has been one of the worst wildfire disaster in state history as they continue to try to get people to battle against the flames, and keep people safe of course from the possibility of this flooding. as you mentioned, it seems that new mexico just can't catch a break, jose. >> steve patterson, thank you very much. appreciate it. joining us now is new mexico congressman, gabe vasquez, thank you very much for your time. boy, massive fires, flooding, dust storms, how critical is the situation in your state right now? >> well, buenos diaz. the situation is critical. this is possibly the worst fire that southwest new mexico has seen, and we're coming off of the two largest fires that new mexico experienced just last year. right now, the focus should be on preventing the further loss of life, and so we are working interjurisdictionally. this is not just affecting lincoln county. it's also impacting the apache reservation. there's multiple jurisdictions, different counties and sovp sovereign nations working together. what we are going to see are long-term economic impacts, damages to homes, damages to businesses, and honestly, damages to one of the most culturally important places in the state, which is heartbreaking for us all to see here. >> really is, congressman. i know president biden confirmed the declaration for the state because of the fires. fema sent in emergency teams to help. do first responders and state authorities have the resources they need right now? this is such a huge undertaking. >> well, you know, i am very grateful for the president for helping to declare this a major disaster to respond to the situation. look, this is a very rural community, and so besides the focus on saving people's lives and structures, we've got to get livestock out, protect wildlife. we have to set up shelters for pets. these are long distances, folks have to travel. we have seen support from surrounding neighbors in places like arizona, oklahoma, texas, the tribal community across new mexico is coming together and i believe the new incident team that came in yesterday that's on the ground now is doing a good job of coordinating resources. i'm currently staged outside of the fire and new mexico, i just finished visiting one of the shelters into la rosa. yesterday i was on the reservation themselves, and most heartbreaking thing that i saw was an 82-year-old veteran who served our country proudly who feared that he might not go back to the childhood home where he grew up in that contains the memories of his family and objects of cultural patrimony of his tribe. we stand to lose quite a bit from this. we haven't been able to catch a break. the rains are a good sign. it could bring on flooding that could cause more damage. we are focused on the impact of what that might look like in the next few days. >> congressman, thank you for bringing up all of these issues that so many times were lost when people talk about numbers and acres and even number of lives lost and homes that were lost. every single one is such a loss on so many different levels. talk to me a little bit the new mexico that you're honored to represent and what are some of those deep historic ties and roots that exist there. >> absolutely. well, look this is the heart of the lincoln national forest and the tribe have called this place home since time and memorial. and the history that exists here and the cultural objects that we will lose, the archaeological objects we will lose due to this fire are things the community will not be able to get back. my district, a district the size of pennsylvania, we have seven somber nations. so for new mexico, we take prescribe in our tribal communities, our hispanic communities, and has supported an economy in a rural part of our district. it includes the only ski basin in southern new mexico. a lot of folks come here for tourism and other economic opportunities, so that's going to be devastating as well because the tribes that also benefit from, you know, from this economy are going to be greatly impacted. but for us, this is more than just the monetary damages. now, we're grateful for the first responders, the firefighters and the local tribal leaders that are working tirelessly to respond to this disaster. in this fire, we are going to lose parts of our culture and our history that we will never get back. >> congressman gabe vasquez, i i can't thank you enough for being with us today. . still ahead, alec baldwin fights to get charges in the "rust" shooting dismissed. prosecutors claim they have video of him acting recklessly on the set with a gun. ith a gun. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. 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[jeff laughs maniacally] (inner monologue) seriously, look at these guys. they are playing great. meanwhile, i'm on the green and all i can think about is all the green i'm spending on 3 kids in college. not to mention the kitchen remodel, and we'd just remodel the bathrooms last month. with empower, i get all of my financial questions answered. so i don't have to worry. so you're like a guru now? oh here it comes— join 18 million americans and take control of your financial future with a real time dashboard and real live conversations. empower. what's next. what is cirkul? cirkul is the fuel you need to take flight. cirkul is the energy that gets you to the next level. cirkul is what you hope for when life tosses lemons your way. cirkul, available at walmart and drinkcirkul.com. 42 past the hour, and a brand new exclusive interview with mika brzezinski, on "morning joe," vice president harris is weighing in on next week's high stakes presidential debate. here's a first look for you. >> joe biden in this debate will make clear the contrast. you know, of the many issues in our country and our world that are complex and nuanced, november of 2024 is binary. and when you look at the difference, i would ask people to really imagine what the world will be like on january 20th, 2025. on the one hand, you have joe biden who has spent his life and career fighting for the well being of other people, including health care. on the other hand, you have the former president who spent full-time when he was president trying to get rid of the affordable care act, which if he was successful as president again, would mean over 100 million people would be stripped of health care coverage. you have on the one hand, joe biden who under his leadership, bipartisan support for the first meaningful gun safety legislation in 30 years, and on the other hand, the former president who when speaking of survivors of horrendous gun violence says get over it and will talk to the nra about how he did nothing on the issue. i could go on and on. i think that the debate is going to make clear the contrast between our president, the current president, who works on behalf of the american people, fights for the american people, and the former president who pretty much spends full time fighting for himself. >> and you can watch the full interview this monday on "morning joe" starting at 6:00 a.m. right now, a major court fight is playing out between actor alec baldwin and prosecutors in the "rust" shooting. baldwin's attorneys are arguing today that the manslaughter indictment should be thrown out, alleging prosecutors withheld evidence that his prop gun was damaged before it went off kill ago cinematographer. prosecutors say they have evidence that the actor wassing with reckless with his revolver on set. dana griffith, and our legal analyst, danny cevallos. dana, what has been happening in court today? >> reporter: the biggest thing to come down is that the judge decided that the state cannot give hannah gutierrez-reed the armorer in this case who was convicted earlier this year for involuntary manslaughter, the state cannot give her immunity for her testimony next month when baldwin goes to trial. the state wanted to give her immunity because she has another unrelated gun charge in a separate case, and she doesn't want to essentially mess up that case by saying something on the stand in this one. the judge says it is very clear that hannah gutierrez-reed is not cooperative, and does not want to testify because during a pretrial interview she inserted the fifth several times, and the prosecutor said she did that even on questions that didn't require it. so the judge says, look, usually in a case like this, anyone can be called to testify, and technically no one has to. you could be held in contempt. the judge says she's not going to hold this witness in contempt. now the prosecution is likely going to back go back and decide what they want to do with the witness. they want to keep her as on apgs -- has on the witness stand. to testify baldwin was not paying attention when it comes to using those weapons. if she is called, they could go through the motions and she could insert her fifth amendment right, and we may not hear any testimony. but at this moment, we know she's not going to get a plea deal or excuse me, not going to get immunity for said testimony, and she very well could not say anything if called to trial. jose. >> and, danny, prosecutors say they're planning to show videos of what they say is baldwin engaging with horseplay with his gun on set. how damaging could that be? >> incredibly damaging, which is why the defense will argue it constitutes improper character evidence. you generally cannot introduce evidence of other prior bad things somebody did to prove that they did this particular bad thing. the reason there is a rule like that is because this kind of evidence is so devastating. the prosecution is going to argue that, well, no, this is evidence of his habit. this is just how he was on set, and that could be an exception to the rule. the bottom line is, prior bad evidence, we know two things about it. it's prohibited, we've got a lot of exceptions, and no one knows exactly where the line is in a particular case, except the judge that allows that in. the defense has to fight very hard to keep this evidence out, especially because if it's video that shows that he's intentionally pulling the trigger, the argument would be why is that relevant to a situation where everyone agrees that alec baldwin did not intentionally pull the trigger with the intent to hurt anybody. that would be my argument. it's evidence that could come in. >> danny, if you are baldwin's lawyer, how are you seeing things? >> i have long said i think this is a strong defense case in a world where cases are not strong. 90% of criminal defendants are convicted or plead guilty, this is a defensible case. the prosecution has made a number of missteps, including spending a year investigating the case and charging baldwin with a crime, two crimes, one of which they had to withdraw because they didn't realize it was an unconstitutional crime. charge something that came into effect after the shooting happened. oops, they had a whole year to figure that out, and they didn't. i think this investigation and pretrial has been marred by a lot of mistakes, and the defense has a real good argument that the prosecution withhold expert reports that there is no reason they shouldn't have disclosed, other than they weren't good for the state's case. that does not look good for the state. >> dana griffin and danny cevallos, thank you both so very much. really appreciate it. still ahead, saving the whales, the daring mission to rescue two giants from a war zone in ukraine. next. but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. at bombas, we're obsessed with socks. tees. and underwear. because your basic things should be your best things. one purchased equals one donated. visit bombas.com and get 20% off your first order. slowing my cancer from growing and living longer are two things i want from my metastatic breast cancer treatment. and with kisqali, i can have both. kisqali is a pill that when taken with an aromatase inhibitor helps delay cancer from growing and has been proven to help people live significantly longer across three separate clinical trials. so, i have the confidence to live my life. kisqali can cause lung problems or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. avoid grapefruit during treatment. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. long live life and long live you. ask your doctor about kisqali today. right now you can get a free footlong at subway. just buy any footlong in the app and get one free. just scan the qr code and enter promo code flbogo. it only works from the other side of the screen, buddy. you still got a land line in your house. order now in the subway app. ♪♪ jardiance! -it's a little pill with a ♪♪ ♪♪ big story to tell. ♪♪ ♪♪ i take once-daily jardiance ♪♪ ♪♪ at each day's staaart. ♪♪ ♪♪ as time went on it was easy to seeee, ♪♪ ♪♪ i'm lowering my a1c! ♪♪ jardiance works twenty-four seven in your body to flush out some sugar. and for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease, jardiance can lower the risk of cardiovascular death, too. serious side effects may include ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function, and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, ketoacidosis, or an allergic reaction. you may have an increased risk for lower limb loss. call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of infection in your legs or feet. taking jardiance with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. ♪♪ jardiance is really swell ♪♪ ♪♪ the little pill with a big story to tell! ♪♪ feeling sluggish or weighed down? ♪♪ jardiance is really swell ♪♪ could be a sign that your digestive system isn't at its best. but a little metamucil everyday can help. metamucil's psyllium fiber gels to trap and remove the waste that weighs you down... so you can lighten every day the metamucil way. today, two beluga whales are swimming in safer waters after being rescued from war torn ukraine where rounds of rockets had them at risk. nbc's andrea mitchell chronicles their journey to safety. >> the russian offensive is in full force in kharkiv. the local aquarium at risk. home to two beluga whales, 14-year-old miranda. the battle was closing in. whale food, fresh squid, herring and mackerel, increasingly scarce. care givers knew they had to get them out of the war zone. >> were you afraid you and the whales would come under attack? >> certainly the risk of rockets and things, it was on our mind, you know, for sure. >> the challenge, how do you move 21,500 pound whales in 20,000 pound tanks almost 3,000 miles to their new home in spain. very carefully. with experts from sea world, they came up with a plan, from ukraine to spain, with care givers calming them down along the way. >> are they friends? are they even a couple? can i be so bold as to ask? >> i mean, it's an adult male and adult female. they seem very bonded, very close. >> how do you feel now that you have accomplished this? >> it's probably one of the life experiences to know i can tell my grand kids. >> now safe in their new habitat and looking happy. andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >> and i thank andrea mitchell for report. that does it for us this hour, thank you for the privilege of your time. i'll seal you tomorrow night on nbc nightly news saturday. 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