delay in the new york grand jury probe into donald trump. also, mr. trump s feud with potential 2024 rival ron desantis is heating up. the colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife, formally charged with murder in court. midair scare. the captain on a southwest flight suffering a medical emergency, and the off-duty pilot who stepped in to help land the plane. our nbc news exclusive. on patrol with nato, guarding against the rising threat of russia at sea. and kids helping kids. the heartwarming idea inspired by our edition of nightly news just for children. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening and welcome on this thursday. is the clock ticking down for tiktok in america? the head of the wildly popular but also heavily criticized social media platform came to capitol hill today and walked right into a bipartisan storm of suspicion and distrust about the app. its chinese owners and its potential national security risks
says the d.a. must indict. he is here to explain exactly why to you. plus, ron desantis in a new interview calls trump attacks background noise, predicts he can beat biden. this of course from a man who has not declared that he s even running. and a judge tearing into fox news accusing the network of knowingly providing false information as tucker carlson s private texts were shown in a court. we re going to show you what tucker carlson said. let s go outfront. and good evening. i m erin burnett. outfront tonight, blow up our country, those are the words of a gop senator who warns an indictment against the former president trump, which could come as early as tomorrow, would be disastrous for america. it s going to blow up our country, and this is a bunch of b.s. now, in just a few hours, the grand jury in new york investigating the $130,000 payment that trump s fixer michael cohen made to stormy daniels, the adult film star, will meet. the grand jury s going to
unrest if former president donald trump is indicted. according to an internal memo shared with cnn, all nypd officers are expected to be in uniform and ready to deploy. these are images you re seeing now out of new york today. so far small gatherings of pro-trump and anti-trump demonstrators. and then in florida protesters are outside of trump s home in mar-a-lago. the district attorney in manhattan has given no timeline on when trump could be charged for his alleged role in hush money payments to adult film star stormy daniels. the former president has claimed that he could be arrested today and has called on his supporters to protest. cnn s kara scannell is following all of this. kara, what more do we know about these preparations for what s really an unprecedented moment in u.s. history? a former president criminally charged. reporter: yeah, brianna, it is an unprecedented time. right now we ve just we re seeing a small build-up of police presence but it s really very
yet happened. the lead starts are right now. republican officials rushing to defend trump with a variety of claims and chexcuses as the forr president faces a possible indictment. i think in your heart of hearts you know too that this you can this is just political. is this all firing up the maga base? we ll talk to two former trump insiders. plus, meeting with a menacing message, leaders of russia and china coming out of their second day of talks and offering deliberate prolposals about a future collaboration. and a colorado dentist accused of killing his wife by lacing her protein shakes with arsenic, how his internet searches became evidence. welcome to the lead, i m jake tapper. we start with our politics lead and a high alert day for new york city police bracing for possible unrest if donald trump is indicted. an internal memo shared with cnn shows that all nypd officers are expected to be in uniform and ready for deployment today, although law enforcement
this country has never seen before, the possibility that a former president of the united states may soon be indicted and arrested. our senior legal affairs correspondent paula reid has details. reporter: this was the day former president trump claimed he would be arrested on charges related to a hush money probe. but there was no sign yet of an arrest or even an indictment. still, law enforcement continues to prepare for possible protests. in washington, d.c., barriers erected around the capitol. in new york, police officers told to be in uniform and ready for deployment. so far, officials say there are no credible threats despite online chatter calling for civil war if trump is indicted. today, small groups gathered outside trump tower and mar-a-lago. there has been no word from the manhattan district attorney after a last-ditch effort by trump to avoid charges. attorney robert costello appearing before the grand jury monday to attack the witness at the center of the inve