$6 billion in iranian funds blocked by u.s. sanctions. the u.s. is also releasing fiver iranian nationals being detained in the u.s.: joining us now is gabe gutierrez at the white house. gabe, good morning. so this is just happening right now, but these fiver americans have been held in a hotel in iran for a month now. what do we know about what the deal is and how it all came about? >> reporter: this deal had been going on for quite some time, underway for several years. nbc news first reported on these negotiations earlier this year in february. this is the moment that their families have been waiting for, and we're just actually getting a written statement now from president biden just within the last few moments, he says, today five innocent americans who were imprisoned in iran are finally coming home. they will soon be reuniting with their loved one after enduring years of suffering. we are grateful to partners at home and abroad for their tireless efforts to help us achieve this outcome including the governments of qatar, oman, switzerland, and south korea. this is something we've been reporting on for the last several days. we are seeing for the first time those new images of those americans getting off in qatar. the biden administration had been facing some criticism from its critics saying this money essentially amounted to ransom payment. the biden administration pushing back on that saying this is iranian money merely being unfrozen for humanitarian purposes and that money will be strictly monitored, jose. at this point, just this morning, a few moments ago we're seeing that video. family members of those americans breathing a sigh of relief this morning, jose. >> and gabe, just not all of them but most of them will be going on to a flight to the united states shortly today. >> that's exactly right. there were five iranians that were part of this deal as well, and we're also learning more information from them from senior administration officials saying that those five iranians were charged with non-violent crimes. now, three of the five actually have some legal status in the u.s. the other two will head to qatar. two of those iranians had been in prison and three of them had not yet been convicted. this is a deal that had been in the works for quite some time. the biden administration also announcing new sanctions today, so in terms of relations between the two countries, it is still very tense, and according to senior administration officials, they have no confidence at this point that iran will stop detaining americans. those new sanctions today against iran's ministry of intelligence and the former president for iran's role in the disappearance of a former fbi agent, bob levenson who disappeared off the coast of iran in 2007. he died several years ago believed to be in iranian custody. the u.s. still wants a more complete accounting of what bob levenson went through and exactly how he died, and the u.s. administration officials saying these sanctions are part of what they believe that the iranian government continues to wrongfully detain americans is actually urging americans not to travel to iran. jose. >> gabe, stay with us. i want to bring in ali arouzi, he's live in tehran today. it's good to see you. so what more do we know about the five iranians the u.s. is releasing, and gabe was talking to a little bit more about them. do we know more about them? >> hey, jose, as gabe mentioned, two of them have decided to remain anonymous. we're not sure why. they may have family members here and they don't want that sort of exposure. the three we know of is 51-year-old siamak namazi, who spent more time in an iranian prison than any citizen in history. shortly after he was arrested his father flew to iran and tried to secure his release. he was subsequently arrested. he's a man in his 80s. he was only released in 2022 on health grounds so if anybody knows what siamak namazi is feeling, his father certainly does. the other two is 59-year-old business marn and a 67-year-old environmentalist. he also holds bridge citizenship, so we know these three guys who they are, we know that we don't know which one of their family members flew over on that qatar jet with them, but some of their family members also flew with them to pick them up to go back to qatar, and it's going to be a moment of extreme joy and relief for these peoples. i mean, we don't need to tell our viewers, it's a notorious prison. it's not an easy place to spend time let alone eight-plus years. this is really going to be a moment of massive relief for these guys. and they probably, you know, didn't know that they were going to be released up until a couple of weeks ago and even being on that tarmac, jose, they probably weren't sure that this deal was all going to come through until that qatar plane had left iranian air space because, you know, relations between iran and the u.s. are so acrimonious, you never know if a deal is done until it really is done. but now they are out of there. as gabe mentioned, they're probably going to have some quick medical checks in qatar, and from there to the united states to be reunited with the rest of their family, probably have some very in depth medical checks and psychological evaluations because spending that much time in such a harsh prison is going to take an extremely heavy toll on you both physically and mentally. again, a moment of great relief for these five iranian americans that are being released after so long. >> ali, i just want -- we're getting in a statement by siamak namazi, one of the americans release ed today. we're just getting it now, his statement. he was held since 2015. among the things he says, he says i would not be free today if it wasn't for all of you who didn't allow the world to forget me. as a hostage 2,898 days of what should have been the best days of my life were stolen from me and supplanted with torment. he goes on, it's a very lengthy statement, but he says more importantly my heartfelt gratitude goes to president biden and his administration, which had to make some incredibly difficult decisions to rescue. us thank you, president biden, for ultimately putting the lives of american citizens above politics. over the past 44 years, he goes on to say, the iranian regime has mastered the nasty game of caging innocent americans and other foreign nationals and commercializing their freedom. by now, the prison is virtually a dystopian united nations of hostages. we must urgently channel the grievous pain of the victims of this wickedness into the kind of measures that would upend the cost benefit calculations of tehran's foul business. for if we keep this path to profit free of risk and toll, this regime will keep treading on it. again and again and again. extraordinarily strong words by this gentleman who suffered, you know, just unbelievable torture. that's the word that we have to use, and i also i want to bring in rick stengel, former under secretary of state for public diplomacy and affairs and an news political analyst. rick, i thank you. been looking forward to having our conversation as i learn something from you every day, i get a chance to speak with you. just thinking, rick, your observations, your thoughts at what we're seeing today? >> well, it's a joyous occasion, jose, and this administration, the biden administration like the obama administration, like traditional administrations, places a huge premium on getting americans who are unfairly and illegally held back home, and so what is the price for getting an american back home? there is no price for it. the biden administration is willing to go to the ends of the earth to get these men home, and so know there's criticism in anticipating it, but my understanding from reading these reports is that this was south korean money that was being paid to the iranians for iranian oil that was held in escrow because of the u.s. boycott of iranian oil, so this wasn't american money at all, but i would say there is no price that's too high to pay for the release of americans. again, it's something that traditionally american administrations do to get americans back home. it's a great occasion. >> i think question never lose sight of the fact that these are five individuals that are now out of that prison hell that they were subjected to. of course the president even mentions today the fact there are some americans who we still have no information about, and i'm thinking of course about bob levenson. rick, i want to pick your brain on the cost benefit of things, taking, of course, the priority that these are five souls that are out of that hell. nbc's lester holt asked the iranian president if he believed he had the right to use those billions of dollars any way he saw fit: here's what he had to say then. >> translator: this money belongs to the islamic republic of iran, and naturally we will decide, the islamic republic of iran will decide to spend it wherever we need it. >> so if i hear you clearly, that it will be used for more than humanitarian purposes in your view? >> translator: humanitarian means whatever the ranian people needs, so this money will be budgeted for those needs. >> we should note that lester spotlight to the picture using an iranian government translator. rick, one thing is there's a lot of theater in everything and elsewhere, but this is the leader of iran not speaking to his people in iran but knowing he's speaking to lester holt and the united states media saying this is not where the money is going to be used. we're going to use it as we see fit. >> well, jose, he is, of course, also speaking to his domestic audience, and he's aware of the fact that people in iran are monitoring what he's saying. nobody in his position could say something like, yes, i'm abiding by all of those strict rules that the americans have imposed on this money. by the way, it almost doesn't make a difference in the sense that they have to use this money for humanitarian reasons. that frees up other money to be used for other purposes. but again, it was south korean payments for iranian oil. it's not something that the u.s. controls, and look, you know, our long-term policy from the obama administration to the biden administration is to try to bring iran into the kind of family of nations and not have it be an outliar and a -- outlier and a pariah state like it is today. this idea of getting the iran deal back on the table i think is a good thing and getting iran to cooperate with the west and those other nations that negotiated the iran deal seem to be a good thing too. nobody's talking about that, but that is indeed the sub text of what happened today. >> ali, how is this playing out in iran? >> reporter: i got it tell you, jose, it's not playing out hugely amongst the iranian public here. it hasn't made much headlines on social media. there are a lot of problems in this country that are keeping people preoccupied, what's left over from those protests last year is still very raw here. the economy is in a terrible condition here. there's hyper inflation: i think iranians pretty much preoccupied with their everyday problems. it's interesting because before when you would see hostage releases in this country, it would make a lot of noise amongst ordinary people. this time it really hasn't, there's so much going on in the country. i thought what was also interesting, jose, when you read out namazi's statement, it's also important to point out that siamak namazi is the longest serving prisoner in history. he said that he spent the the best years of his life here, he spent almost his entire 40s in an iranian prison. that really is an incredibly difficult experience. it's just the relief they must be feeling is just unbelievable, and to go back to what rick and everybody was saying, yes, there's going to be a lot of criticism and fair criticism about giving up all of this money to get these guys released, but at the end of the day as the biden administration said, if they didn't pay that, these five u.s. citizens would probably be languishing in an iranian prison for a very, very long time to come. >> ali, going back to namazi's statement today, there's one paragraph that struck me, that said while in prison i experienced the worst of humanity every day. outside of those walls there were countless people who reminded me of the best of humanity. they learned of our family's suffering and in innumerable smul small and big ways, from my classmate, there are literally scores of people that i need to reach to thank, and ali, it's interesting to me because this is something that is not you're saying disseminated in iran at all. you'd think that it would be from the iranian's perspective a victory to get five iranians back, to get $6 billion, and to release these people? >> reporter: certainly on a governmental level they're making some news about it, you know, the iranians, the iranian government have said they've gotten their money back. they've gotten fiver iranians that were incarcerated in america back, but they're not making a huge song and dance about it. and what was interesting is that you're not really hearing anything about it on the ground from normal iranians. it didn't really resonate amongst ordinary iranians because they're drowning in so many of their own problems right now that this just didn't make many headlines. let's not forget, it was the anniversary of masa ha mee knee's death a few days ago. there was a lot of worry about protests. that's what people are really preoccupied with these days. the government certainly is giving themselves a pat on the back that they got all of these funds released back into the country, as you mentioned president rye' see even turned around the conditions of this money, saying that's not the case, we have access to whatever we want it for. that's partly for domestic consumption and partly for the u.s. to say we're not taking any orders from them. there's still a lot of tension between the u.s. and iran. that animosity hasn't gone away, but the feeling is that hopefully it will lower the tension just slightly for these sides to be able to talk about important issues like the nuclear deal, human rights, et cetera, in this country, but i think we're still quite a long way away from that, jose. >> yeah, and i'm thinking, rick, you touched on it, i want to kind of bring you back to that conversation you just started a minute ago. do you think this is a step, a precedent -- i mean, it could be just standard operating procedure, i guess diplomatically speaking. does this in any way, you think, open up for anything further between the united states and iran? and i'm thinking just recently of saudi arabia's responsibility and playing a factor now in dealing with iran. do you think, rick, that this is just the beginning of something or just in ask of itself a one timer? >> jose, i hope it is. i just want to pick up on one thing that ali was saying for our viewers. remember, iran is not an open media state. iranian citizens cannot access msnbc. they can't watch the bbc. so the fact that the government decides that people are not going to know about something they're not going to know about it, it's an authoritarian repressive state. i just wanted to make that point. look, these negotiations have been going on for a long time as have the negotiations for trying to reanimate the iran deal. again, the reports was that brett mcgurk who is on the white house staff and leads kind of middle east section, he was negotiating the iran deal. he was negotiating this deal. i think that the strings are interwoven between the two. again, we would like to have iran get back on the table. i mean, even the reports today about iran's possibility for nuclear weapons, i mean, they are further along today than they were at the time that we signed the iran deal than even when the top administration ended the iran deal. i think it would be good for the u.s. it would be good for iran. it would be good for humanity to have that deal put back on the table again, and i'm sure, again, that's something in the back of people's minds. >> and today, gabe, the u.n. general assembly begins in new york. both president biden and raisi are expected to be there. do you think the white house has any plans or possibility of some kind of conversation there? >> senior administration officials say there are no plans for u.s. officials and iranian officials to talk. again, this prisoner swap was brokered by these other countries. so as, you know, ali was mentioning, this tension is expected to continue. now, i want to mention a written statement we just got within the past few moments from secretary of state antony blinken who you mentioned is at the u.n. general assembly. he echoed what we also heard from president biden within the past few minutes calling today a solemn day, however, and again, mentioning bob levenson, that former fbi agent who disappeared more than -- disappeared back in 2007 off the coast of iran: secretary blinken saying the iranian regime has inflicted immeasurable pain on bob's family. we once again call upon the iranian regime to give a full accounting of what happened to bob levenson. u.s. officials announcing new sanctions against the former president and the iranian ministry of intelligence over the disappearance. that's something ha i've heard from u.s. officials that i've spoken with earlier today, jose, that the iranian government continues to wrongfully detain americans, and another reason why any thawing of relations seems very far off at this point, jose. >> yeah, and i think that we have to always bring it back, our discussion on people and today five americans have already left iran and are at least away from something that was a true torture chamber for them and their families. and gabe gutierrez, ali arouzi and rick stengel, thank you all for being with us this morning. really appreciate it. up next, what a former trump doj official is trying to convince a judge to do right now in federal court in atlanta. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc é diaz-balart reports" on msnb (ella) fashion moves fast. setting trends is our business. we need to scale with customer demand... ...in real time. 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(farmers mnemonic) . 26 past the hour, these are images from just a little bit ago of the americans stepping off a plane and landed in qatar after being detained in iran. they were actually as part of the agreement that went on, were held after they were removed from that prison and then taken to a hotel in tehran until the conclusion of this agreement, which today takes effect, so five iranians are being released from the united states or sent back to iran, $6 billion that had been frozen of iranian money is being opened, and these five americans finally released and they are now in qatar. many of them will be heading to the united states in a very short order. this, by the way, is day one of the united states general assembly. secretary of state blinken is speaking, let's go to that. >> out of iran, out of prison and now in doha en route back to the united states to be reunited with their loved ones. five of the seven, of course, had been unjustly detained, imprisoned in iran, some for years, two others had been prevented from leaving iran. i spoke to them after they landed in doha. i can tell you that it was for them, for me an emotional conversation. it's easy in the work that we do every day sometimes to get lost in the distractions of foreign policy and relations with other countries, and forgetting the human element that's at the heart of everything we do, but today their freedom, the freedom of these americans so longly unjustly imprisoned and detained in iran, means some pretty basic things. it means that husbands and wives, fathers and children, grandparents, can hug each other again, can see each other again, can be with each other again. so it's a day that i'm grateful for. i want to thank a number of partners who have been so vital to helping us reach this day, particularly our partners in oman, switzerland, qatar, the united kingdom. each has played a very important role in enabling us to free our fellow citizens. i'd also like to thank an extraordinary team, the state department and throughout the united states government that has been working to achieve this result for years now. as happy as we are at the freedom of our fellow citizens, we also are thinking today of bob levinson, who is not among them and who is presumed deceased. bob's legacy, however, lives on. it lives on powerfully in the levinson act, which has given us new and important tools to help crack down on and deter the practice of taking americans unlawfully to try to turn them into political pawns, and to abuse the international system in that way. one of the things that i heard in my conversation with our fellow citizens who are now free is their own determination, their own commitment, their own conviction to continuing this work, to making sure that other americans who are unjustly detained anywhere in the world come home. to date under this administration, we have now brought 30 americans home from places around the world where they were being unjustly detained. that work will continue. at the same time, we're going to be working every single day to take steps to make this practice more and more difficult and more and more of a burden on those countries that engage in it. and you'll see in the days ahead here in new york at the united nations, our efforts to work with other countries to do just that. but for today, for this moment, it's very good to be able to say that our fellow citizens are free after enduring something that i think it would be difficult for any of us to imagine, that their families will soon have them back among them, and that in this moment at least i have something very joyful to report. finally, let me say that throughout this effort, throughout the work we've done to bring so many other americans home, president biden has demonstrated that he's prepared to make tough and difficult decisions. i have no higher priority. the president has no higher priority than making sure that americans who are unjustly detained anywhere can come home. and we'll continue that work in the days ahead. thank you. >> mr. secretary, based on the successful detainee swap this week, will there be -- are you expecting any indirect talks with the iranians this weeknight soon? i'm not talking about direct talks but through intermediaries for any sort of relaying messages? >> two things, first, let me be very clear that this process and the engagements necessary to bring it about, the freedom of these unjustly detained americans has always been a separate track in our engagement work or for that matter a lack of engagement with iran. irrespective of what was happening or not happening, we've been working to bring these americans home. it doesn't speak to anything else in the relationship. we continue to be determined to take whatever step is necessary to deal with actions by iran and a whole host of areas that are profoundly obsable, that many other countries find objectionable. at the same time, when it comes to perhaps the number one issue of concern, which is iran's nuclear program, we continue to believe that diplomacy is the the best way to get a sustainable effective result, one that we had previously with the iran nuclear agreement, and we'll continue to see if there are opportunities for that. in this moment we're not engaged on that, we'll see in the future if there are opportunities. president biden is committed to ensuring iran never acquires a nuclear weapon. >> the fact that -- >> i wouldn't anticipate anything this week. we're focused today on the fact that these americans are now free after having endured something that i think most of us can't possibly imagine. in one case, one of our fellow americans was in prison for eight years, unjustly, and that's what we're focused on for today. >> came after the announcement? concern regarding the -- of frozen funds and the possibility of using these funds to fund -- and if you can elaborate, if you could regarding that mechanism on how you would supervise the use of these funds for humanitarian purposes? >> in fact, when we met with our colleagues, our fellow americans had not yet arrived in doha, so we didn't want to get ahead of that process. having said that, as i mentioned, two countries in particular played an absolutely vital role in helping to get us to this day, and that is oman and qatar. as for the other members of the gcc, i've had occasion over the past many months to talk to them about the relationship with iran, which is a challenge for each and every one of them, including for us. and to discuss in that context some of the efforts that we were making to bring home our wrongfully detained americans. again, i don't want to speak for them, but i think everyone is supportive of that effort. with regard to the resources, i think it's very important to be very clear about exactly what this involved. as you know, this involved the access by iran to its own money, money that it had accumulated in korean bank at the result of oil sales which were lawful at the time those sales were made. and from day one, our sanctions have clearly and indeed always exempt the use of the resources for humanitarian purposes because our aim is not to harm the iranian people. our problem, our profound problem is with the iranian regime. so from day one these iranian moneys that were in a korean bank have always been available to iran to use for humanitarian purposes, but for a lot of technical reasons, they weren't able to access those funds where they were, so the funds were moved to another bank where we have absolute oversight of how they're used, and they can only be used for humanitarian purposes. and we have absolute confidence in the process and the system that's been set up. by the way, the previous administration, the administration prior to ours had set up a similar mechanism that was already used but exactly for these kinds of purposes. we're very confident that the funds, the iranian funds that had been made more easily available to iran as a result of the actions that we've taken will be used exclusively for humanitarian purposes, and we have the means and mechanisms to make sure that that happens. >> thank you. >> thanks very much. >> one last question, mr. secretary? >> antony blinken at the united nations where today is day one of the united nations general assembly in new york city. joining us now is white house correspondent mike memoli. secretary of state once again celebrating the release of five americans taking some questions about that $6 billion that was released back to the iranians as well as the five iranians that are being returned. >> yeah, that's right the, jose. this is an important diplomatic breakthrough from the perspective of the biden administration, but one that comes at an increasingly political moment with the run up, the active campaign that's being wajd right now for the republican nomination but ultimately the presidential campaign general election around the corner. so what you're seeing this morning within moments of that plane touching down in doha, bringing back those americans after their wrongful detainment in iran is a very quick effort on the part of the biden administration to both celebrate and mark this moment, but also to make sure that their message is getting through about what is and what is not part of this deal. you heard secretary blinken emphasizing that this is money that was money from oil proceeds from the iranian government that they had not had access to that now they will, but under very strict scrutiny. we remember what the president of iran raisi said to lester holt last week, saying this is money he says will be available for any purpose, but administration officials very quick today to emphasize that this money will remain in a qatari bank account, it will be subject every transaction to district scrutiny. this is coming at the beginning of the u.n. general assembly week here in new york. you're going to see president biden already here in new york giving his address to the general assembly tomorrow. at this point in the administration, nearly three years in, you're going to hear the president talking about the product, the successes that they say have been yielded from what they call persistent and principled diplomacy. they're using this as an another example. you're going to see a significant focus of course on the president's ability to rally our allies and partners in support of ukraine, but also some other efforts for regional peace in the middle east, another area of focus for this administration, and you heard the questions about what this might mean, for instance, for continued discussions around the iran nuclear agreement. secretary blinken mphasizing there still is not direct engagement. you also heard him talk about the engagement with other regional partners here who can be helpful in that process. a lot here that the administration is trying to present comprehensively at an important moment, jose. >> thank you very much. i just want to as we go to a break just remember the name mahsa amini who on the 16th, so two days ago last year lost her life in the hands of the iranian hijab police, who had her, detained her because she was not wearing a hijab. she lost her life a year ago two days ago for a law that was established by the iranian regime in 1979, just after winning the revolution in february and march they instituted this law that women had to have hijabs, and so many years later, a year ago, two days ago, mahsa amini lost her life in the hands of that same regime. happening right now in atlanta meanwhile, a former trump justice department official charged in georgi's election interference case is trying to get his case moved to federal court. why this attempt may fail. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. m. can't stop adding stuff to your cart? 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>> reporter: we're here outside federal court in atlanta. there are no electronics allowed inside, so we're getting handwritten notes every few minutes about what is happening. we just got word that jody hunt is on the stand. they are the d.a.'s witness. joey hunt was a trump administration official working for the department of justice in the civil decision before jeffrey clark did. he's expected to get on the stand and say he was not working in his official capacity, was not an officer of the department of justice when he was doing what he was doing. this is a specific case where the defense has the burden of proof here. they are the ones that have the say, this is why it should be removed from state court to federal court, and they need to prove two main things. one of them is not a question. was he a federal officer. yes, jeffrey clark was a federal officer, neither side is arguing that. the second part is was what he was doing under the color of law, basically was he doing the job that he was assigned to be doing, and the prosecutors in this case, the d.a.'s office says no, he was not. he was well outside of those bounds. the defense was on the stand earlier today and some of the things that the attorney said included the fact he was using his doj email address. he wasn't being sneaky using a gmail or yahoo and trying to get around work. he was using his official account and also that he met with his superiors. he wasn't trying to be sneaky and go around them either. he tried to convince two of his superiors to sign the letter that he wanted to send to officials here in georgia, those officials said absolutely not. we are not signing this letter. there is not going to be a decision here today by the judge. we do expect a decision in the coming days. >> and so, dave, let's talk about a few things, and gary's mentioning this whole issue of the color of law. can you tell us what that means, and dave, the federal judge hearing today's arguments is the same federal judge who rejected meadows' efforts to get his case removed to federal court. does that tell us anything? >> it does, jose. color of law means did you act in your duties? he was in the civil division. he was an environmental lawyer, so if this were a dispute over an oil spill or climate change, he would have an argument, but it wasn't, and so this is a sure loser. when i was last with you, jose, i gave mark meadows a 20% chance of succeeding in his removal motion, and he had the best claim of all of the co-defendants and he lost. i would put jeffrey clark's chances of winning the same as butarsky from animal house, 0.0. this is a sure loser and a waste of the court's time, and the fact that jody hunt is testifying for the government means his goose is cooked. >> and so you're throwing back to "animal house," which was a long time ago, dave, but i'm just wondering, you know, meanwhile, special counsel jack smith is asking the judge in the federal election interference case for a narrowly tailored gag order, what would that look like? >> jack smith doesn't want jury intimidation, and he also probably doesn't want to be harassed himself, he and his prosecutors shouldn't be attacked. same thing for the judge. we may just ask that the judge limit the ability to have trump to make statements that would inflame the jury, that would attack the prosecutors and attack the judge. i think if a gag order is issued, it will be very limited. trump is getting a lot of discretion because he's a former president and he is the leading candidate for president on the republican side, and they want to give him the ability to go give speeches and talk freely on his social media site. i think they may impose a very limited gag order. the problem is these gag orders mean nothing unless they're enforced. if you're going to impose one, you better be willing to one day put trump in an orange jumpsuit for violating it. i don't see that a court will be willing to do that. >> and just gary to give you a little bit of context on that, john belushi's butarsky was in 1978, his movie. >> i was alive. i was around. you're a young guy. >> yeah, i saw the movie a few times in theaters. daifr aronberg, and gary grumbach, thank you very much for being with us this morning. hunter biden is suing the irs alleging agents unlawfully shared his private tax information calling it, quote, an assault on his rights. the irs is one of two government agencies investigating hunter biden's alleged criminal activity. in the suit he claims, the quote, irs agents have targeted and sought to embarrass him by disclosing his tax information to the media, which he argues is confidential. nbc's ken dilanian joins us this morning. good morning, what is hunter looking to gain from this suit? >> good morning, jose, well, technically his lawyers are asking for a thousand dollars for every unauthorized disclosure as they put it of hunter biden's tax information, but the larger picture here is this is a political fight as much as a legal fight. all sides know that, and so wha. what they may be hoping to do is throw a pitch to the irs whistleblowers to get them to stop doing media interviews and that doesn't appear like it's going to be successful hoeshgs say. they have issued statements or one of the whistleblowers called this a frivolous smear designed to intimidate them. the context you have two irs agents who were involved in this investigation of hunter biden who have come forward to congress and they've disclosed certain information which they're authorized to do as whistleblower and this case was given special treatment, there were more serious crimes that weren't pursued. these are allegations that are disputed but they have a right to make them. what hunter biden's attorneys are saying they cross the line and disclose some of hunter biden's personal tax information to the public and that's improper and now the courts will have to sort it out. jose? >> ken dilanian, thank you very much. this morning, nearly 13,000 autoworkers remain on strike as members of the united autoworkers union and three carmakers have failed to reach an agreement on a new contract. some of the key union demands included 40% hourly pay increase over four years, reduced weekly hours and pension reform, among other issues. discussions between the two sides resumed this weekend, but uaw president shawn fain, on "morning joe" said the union may have to ramp up pressure. >> amping up just means we have a lot of members out there that are frustrated and fed up and ready to take a action. you know, if the companies don't respond to the members' demands we have to do what we have to do. >> over the weekend there were no discussions on friday, but on saturday, there was talk that some of the three companies were resuming their a talks with the uaw. it's important to state that it doesn't have to be all three carmakers at one time agreeing. it could be just one at a time. so far, no agreement with anyone. maggie vespa joins us this morning. has there been any movement this morning? >> reporter: jose, nothing substantial or really nothing kind of meaningful as shawn fain put it telling msnbc he was blunt and said it's status quo, slow progress but, quote, they have a long way to go and put it on the companies to continue to bridge that gap. you can see day four of the strike continuing, hear people honking, support here in detroit. this is a targeted strike as you pointed out with plants here in michigan, ohio and missouri. that's where we're seeing the walkouts. as you point out we had talks resuming over the weekend, but as far as what avenue heard on specific offers and numbers, the union calling a lot of offers or conversations they've been having a no go or saying nothing really acceptable has come their way. specifically on saturday, stellantis offering a 21% pay increase and the uaw president immediately called that a no go, the union would not go for it. they want 40% hourly pay increases. it's not the only sticking point in the negotiations. you see a list there. the company is calling their offers historic, economically significant, uaw again saying the talks still have a lot of progress to be made up. jose? >> maggie vespa, thank you very much. lieutenant governor austin davis from pennsylvania joins us with what president biden's strategy should be as he runs for re-election in 2024. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." re watchin diaz-balart reports. with the perfect slice. and if we profer it, we know america will too. what about spaniards? and i guess spain. age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv nice footwork. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. the 2024 race for the white house heats up there's nor concerns about a democratic disconnect. "the new york times" writes top democrats' bullishness on biden's 2024 bids is colliding. the discord between the elite and voters leaves a disunity over a president running for re-election not seen for decades. joining us with more is democratic lieutenant governor austin davis. thank you for being with us. you were quoted in the piece and said that everyone is exhausted by the fight between biden and trump and people just want to hear leaders talk about how they will improve people's lives. isn't that what president biden is focused on? >> jose, thank you for having me. it's great to be with you this afternoon. president biden has been talking about the great things that he's accomplished on behalf of the american people. i think we need to make sure we're continuing to sell that message and use different types of messengers. i look forward to campaigning alongside the president here in pennsylvania to talk about the great things he's done to help everyday pennsylvanians and americans like allowing medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs, capping the price of insulin, and here in pennsylvania investing in our transportation and infrastructure. a perfect example of that is we were able to rebuild i-95 in less than two weeks with the help of the biden administration. i don't believe that president is short on acomments. folks are tired of the debate between biden and trump and the rematch. folks are focused on what the president is going to do for them and their families and that's what at election of 2024 is going to be about. >> and do you think, lieutenant governor, the conversation, that conversation, has reached the african american community, the latino community, that feels all of these issues very viscerally like everybody else does, but do you think that that conversation has reached us? >> not quite. and i think we need to have -- we need to be honest about the successes the biden administration has had and we need to go out and aggressively sell and message them. i think the argument that this is a fight for -- for the soul of our nation is not necessarily going to cut it in 2024 and that's not a criticism of the president and his team. it's just a warning that we need to make sure that we're selling the president's accomplishments an great things he's done and things he's going to do in the next term. i believe president biden has been one of the greatest presidents we've seen and is going to be re-elected in 2024 and i look forward to being a strong messenger to helping him get that message out here in pennsylvania. >> so let's talk, if you would, a little bit about pennsylvania. who do you serve? who do you represent and what are their biggest concerns? anxieties, dreams and aspirations? >> yeah. as lieutenant governor i represent all 13 million people here in the commonwealth of pennsylvania. i'm proud to be a strong governing partner with our governor josh shapiro. as i crisscross the commonwealth what i hear is folks worried about their economic future, worried about having a family sustaining a job, worried about making sure they're going to be able to afford prescription drugs and how they're going to put food on the table and create a better life for them and their families. that's what the electorate here in pennsylvania is concerned about. they're concerned about who is going to deliver real results for them and their families. i think josh shapiro and i demonstrated that in 2022 when we ran for governor and lieutenant governor and won by a historic margin and what the president is going to do and we're going to be focused in on 2024. the bread and butter issues that affect the lives of middle class and lower income pennsylvanians. >> i keep thinking look, the price of food continues to be, you know, high. housing is such a key aspect of people's existence and housing is becoming much more difficult on a daily basis. >> yeah. i come from a working class family. i'm the proud son of a union bus driver and hairdresser. my dad is driving a bus for the pittsburgh regional transit authority, and i'm a first generation college graduate. we want to make sure every pennsylvanian has that same opportunity to succeed and join the middle class in our commonwealth. >> and please send your father the best from all of us. it's an inspire story. >> thank you. >> pennsylvania lieutenant governor austin davis, thank you for being with us. i'm jose diaz-balart. ryan nobles is in for andrea mitchell and picks up news right now. thanks, jose. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" five detained americans finally get their freedom after years in iranian custody. >> husbands and wives, fathers and children, grand parents can hug each other again, see each other again, be with each other again. it's a day that i'm grateful fo