It is 11 00 a. M. Eastern, 8 00 a. M. Pacific. Im jose diazbalart. Right now a federal judge in florida is holding a hearing on several key issues related to former President Trumps classified documents case, including when to start the trial. The former president is attending the hearing in fort pierce about 130 miles north of miami. Hes his remaining rival nikki haley said she thinks all his legal problems should be dealt with before the election. I think all of the cases should be dealt with before november. We need to know whats going to happen before it happen before the presidency happens, because after that, should he become president , i dont think any of it will get. Over 500 miles away, a judge will hear Closing Arguments this afternoon in a motion to disqualify Fulton County District Attorney fani willis from prosecuting the case 6r789. With us to talk more about all of this, msnbc National Correspondent Yasmin Vossoughian outside the federal courthouse in fort pierce, flori
commons. time for a look at the business news now. we start with the unfolding crisis in the red sea and concerns that the continued attacks on cargo ships by yemen s houthi rebels will affect developing countries the hardest. that s the warning from the world trade organization. today the us has launched a fourth round of airstrikes against the rebels the us military said it targeted missiles that could be intended for attacks on ships. as vessels divert to longer and more costly routes that avoid the red sea, supply chains have been disrupted and economists have warned it could add to inflation. the wto s director general, dr ngozi 0konjo iweala, has been speaking to our economic editor faisal islam at the world economic forum in switzerland. iamjoined i am joined here by the director general of the world trade organization. thank you forjoining 0rganization. thank you forjoining the bbc. 0bviously people are concerned about the fluidity of trade given this big geopolitic
about trump s plans, which would move the country away from democracy and into full-blown autocracy. also tonight, expelled from the house of representatives, former congressman george santos begins his revenge tour. and he s already cashing in on his infamy. we begin tonight with notes on a florida scandal. a hot mess sending shock waves through the state s republican party. the florida man in question is not donald trump for once. instead, this is a scandal involving christian ziegler, the chairman of florida s republican party. this is ziegler, a longtime party official who served as vice chairman of the state party prior to his election as chair. he is now under criminal investigation for allegations related to sexual battery, including rape according to a complaint filed with the sarasota police department. ziegler has denied the allegations. a heavily redacted report was released thursday. as you can see, it includes mention of rape, sexual assault complaint, and se
reports. we begin with breaking news, in the last 24 hours, donald trump suffering two major legal blows when it comes to his actions on and around january 6th. three judges, on a federal appeals court unanimously dismissed trump s claims that he has immunity from several claims connected to the capitol riot. the judge overseeing the justice department s criminal case ruled trump has no protection from prosecution as a former president. let s go right now to nbc s dasha burns joining us from cedar rapids, iowa. where donald trump is expected to speak in this next hour. welcome to you, dasha. how is trump s legal team reacting to these back-to-back losses? well, trump spokesperson is reacting to both of these lawsuits, saying in a statement, in a response to the federal appeals court ruling, this is a limited narrow and procedural ruling, the facts fully show that on january 6th, president trump was acting on behalf of the american people. carrying out duties as president of
outside the courthouse but, yesterday, the biden campaign held the surprise event there. i don t understand that. we will tell you who was there and dig into that campaign strategy. also ahead, the latest from gaza where israeli forces are moving into the city of rafah. it comes days after an israeli air strike ignited a deadly fire at a camp for displaced palestinians. let s dive in to our top story. after 21 days of heated testimony, the defense and the prosecution delivered closing arguments yesterday in donald trump s criminal hush money trial. nbc news laura jarrett has a recap. the first trial of an american president soon in the hands of seven men and five women. prosecutors closing their case arguing former president trump orchestrated a criminal conspiracy to influence the 2016 election to pull the wool over voter s eyes, they say, by ordering the payoff of stormy daniels and covering it all up. they tried to establish a pattern of mr. trump damaging stories