allowed them to remain at sea. also the first of its class, all ships of this design will be of the john lewis class which is awesome. troy university, which denied his admission, that building is now named an academic building after him. and another in the works for congressman john lewis, the u.s. postal service will feature a stamp featuring his morning 30 years in congress and commitment to civil rights. unlike a ship, a building or a street, you can hold this tribute in your hands. that's it for us tonight. see you again tomorrow. "way too early with jonathan lemire" is coming up next. . ♪♪ there's no record keeping whatsoever. it's the absence of record

keeping. employees would communicate the invoices and expenses on slack which is, you know, essentially a way of communicating for chat rooms. they used quick books, multibillion dollar company using quick books. >> quick books? >> quick books. >> this is really old-fashioned embezzlement. >> damning testimony from the man now in charge of cleaning up the ftx collapse. it comes as the founder of the crypto company is indicted on several fraud charges. plus, pardons for pushing the big lie. we'll go through the newly revealed text messages that republicans lawmakers sent to donald trump's former chief of staff. also ahead, the pentagon is stepping up support for ukraine in hopes of fending off russia's onslight of missiles and drone strikes. good morning.

and welcome to "way too early." on this wednesday, december 14th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. never before seen text messages are providing new insight into just how deeply the trump white house engaged with bedunked election conspiracy theories following the 2020 vote. the 2319 texts are from the phone of former white house chief of staff mark meadows and more recently obtained by talking points memo after being turned over to the house from the january 6th committee. the latest batch of relief messages show multiple lawmakers offering to cooperate with plans to keep trump in office, seemingly in exchange for pardon requests. one such message came from north carolina's newly elected senator ted budd. the man budd asked to be pardoned may possibly be former congressman robin hayes. in 2020, hayes was found guilty

of bribery and fraud charges but was pardoned by trump shortly after this text was sent. another message shows meadows supporting a plan to cover up for trump's infamous phone call with georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger. that was the call, you'll recall, when trump asked the election official to find the exact number of votes he needed to reverse joe biden's win in that state. the plan which was floated by pennsylvania congressman fred keller was to make it seem as if trump didn't actually want raffenbergeer to find the votes. instead, trying to trap him tole see if it would raise the question if brad raffensperger can be be trusted in a phone call, how can he be trusted with georgia's election. meadows replied that he loved that idea. in another exchange shows the chief of staff agreed to meet with georgia republican rick

allen after the congressman tells him he has a source that can prove and provide evidence that there was election fraud. and allen later tells meadows that it's actually a source that is feeding his source, before sending him a conspiracy theory. about romanians and ukrainians stealing the identities of u.s. citizens for the purpose of rigging the 2020 election for democrats. it's worth noting that some of these conversations appear to be incomplete and may be missing context. nbc news reached out to those involved for responses. it's now been more than a month since the 2022 midterm elections, and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is blaming former president trump for republican losses. >> looking back at '22, some of you may recall, i never said there was a red wave. we ended up having a candidate quality time. anybody remember who mentioned that back in august?

look at arizona. look at new hampshire. and the challenging situation in georgia as well. our ability to control the primary outcome was quite limited in '22, because of the support of the former president proved to be very decisive in these primaries. so, my view was, do the best you can, with the cards you're dealt. hopefully, in the next cycle, we'll have quality candidates everywhere and a better outcome. >> compare that to what rnc chair mcdaniels said during an interview on fox business news. take a look. >> would you publicly say that donald trump bears any responsibility for some of the losses in the midterm elections? would you say that? >> i don't like this -- i don't like parcelling out. he supported ted budd who won,

and he started j.d. vance who won. here's the one thing people should be talking about, the amount of ticket splitting. the number of republicans that went out, look at arizona, the top vote getter is a republican. georgia, eight races won by republicans but why are republicans going in voting for one republican and not the other. we have to work hard -- >> you didn't answer the question, trump? >> i'm saying i'm not into the blame game right now. i think we've got to do an analysis. i think it's too quick. >> in other news, congressional leaders have reached a bipartisan group in a framework, details have not yet been released. the deadline friday, but the house is attempting to vote on a resolution today or tomorrow to allow another week to hammer out the full package. republican leaders have urged their leaders to vote against the stop gap and allow the

shutdown. >> president biden is crediting the recent numbers of inflation cooling off as success of his administration. inflation showed more sharply than expected in november. hitting 7.1%. a slowdown from 7.7% in october. the president capitalized on the development yesterday. saying lower prices was good news for the country. >> this new report is the fifth month in a row where annual inflation has fallen in the united states. inflation outside of food and energy, a key measure that economists use, also fell. make no mistake, prices are still too high. we have a lot more work to do but things are quoting better. headed in the right direction. >> the new data is unlikely to alter the fed's plan to raise interest rates by another half point at the end of its two-day meeting later today. and republicans were quick to note that even if prices are rising more slowly, they are still tied by historic standards

but certainly what appears to be a cooling off of inflation treated as good news by the white house and many economists. joining us now to talk about it is white house reporter for "the wall street journal," my friend ken thomas. ken, the white house on a bit of a roll here. a lot of legislation passed last year, in the last few months, before the midterms. democrats have a shocking even historic showing in november. the brittney griner deal bringing an american citizen home, same-sex marriage act, we'll talk about that later on the show, signed into law yesterday, defending that right to marry. now, this perhaps most importantly, amid the holiday season, and the return of holiday parties to the white house, this inflation data. tell us what this means for this administration? >> yeah, good morning, john. i think there was a bit of a sigh of relief within the white house yesterday. it's another indication that inflation seems to be subsiding. we heard the president note that other economies around the world are dealing with double-digit inflation, at the same time that

inflation in the u.s. appears to have peaked. so i think it's a way for the white house to make the case that the economic prescriptions the president has put out there are working. you know, i thought it was a tell at the end when the president was asked when he expects prices to return to normal. he said he hopes by the end of next year. and politically, that's what the white house needs. a year from now, the president will be deep into re-election plan. that's what we expect. and he's going to need to show that the inflation that people have been dealing with in their lives every day are now in the rear view mirror. >> yeah. certainly, that has been such an issue for them throughout. you mentioned the potential re-election campaign for the president. what's the latest in terms of the time line as to when he expects to to officially make the decision? we know all signs to this point,

point towards go? but when do we think we'll hear for it for real? >> well, we had ron klain speak actually to our "wall street journal" summit last week, and he said he expected a decision shortly after the new year. in terms of timing, you know, i think there's a sense internally it could come, you know in the first quarter sometime. i think there's a lot of work at hand right now, you know, by advisers behind the scenes, sort of building what a campaign might look like. there was discussions about whether you house it in delaware, do you house it in philadelphia. who do you bring on board. but all indications are that the midterm elections were helpful to the president's case to be re-elected. in that we're expecting him to move forward on that, you know. in the new year. >> and, ken, today, in washington, as the leaders

summit, the african summit, president biden addressed. give us a sense of what they hope to accomplish in washington in the next two days? >> there's a lot of skepticism in the continent now that the u.s. wants to be a long-term parter in. and a lot of this is about countering russia and china. russia is the continent's biggest arms supplier. china is the continent's biggest trade partner. and the u.s. wants to say, you know, we can have a long sustaining relationship. we're going to see some deliverables. we expect the administration to announce $5 billion in commitments to africa over the next three years. they're pushing for the african union to be on the g20. and interestingly, we do expect some kind of announcement on the president to travel to africa, in 2023. also the vice president as well,

so, i think there's an effort, within the administration, to show that we're here to stay. i think there was a lot of frustration in the continent that during the trump years they were largely ignored. and so, look for the president to make a real commitment here. >> we'll hear from him this afternoon in a speech to 49 heads of states representing african nations. white house reporter for "the wall street journal," ken thomas, thank you. a historic signing of respect for marriage act. and plus at the border, the biden administration is proposing a huge migrant policy as migrants fled to texas. those stories and more and a check on the weather when we come right back.

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welcome back. president biden signed the

respect for marriage act into law yesterday in an emotional ceremony on the white house south lawn. the legislation codifies recognition for same-sex and interracial marriages. however it does not require states to issue marriage licenses contrary to their own laws should the supreme court overturn their decisions. after the signing, the president spoke to why this bill was needed. >> we have to speak out. we must stop the hate and violence, like we just saw in colorado springs. where a place of acceptance and celebration was targeted with violence. folks, racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, transphobia, they're all connected but the anecdote to hate is love. >> thousands of people celebrating on the lawn yesterday as the president signed that bill. otherwise, we're learning more about the white house's plans to

indress the influx of migrants to the southern border. four sources familiar with those plans tell nbc news they involve restricting the number of migrants who qualify for asylum while opening pathways for would-be migrants to apply outside of the united states. under consideration are new programs for haitians, nick nicaraguaens. and that admitted 20,000 venezuelans who could prove sponsorship in the u.s. the majority of venezuelans were turned away. a new migrant influx is stretching forces as a new one is set to end next week. gabe gutierrez reports from the mexican side of the border. >> reporter: even more migrants crossing it's rio grande in el

paso, texas. thousands have come in huge groups just over the past several days, burning fires to keep warm, many from nicaragua. here in mexico, tensions are ramping up. moment broke up a migrant camp along the border. now, shelters are filling up. there are still hundreds of migrants that have walked across the rio grande and are right now waiting to get into el paso. this new influx that we're seeing comes just days before a federal court is set to lift a pandemic era border restriction known as title 42. we met this family of four from guatemala who arrived here weeks ago. now they're waiting until title 42 is lifted before they decide whether to cross into the united states. with the u.s. migrant processing centers already crowded with some migrants sleeping outside, some officials in el paso are urging the mayor for a state of emergency. >> that is a crisis, a state of

emergency. there's no municipality alone that can handle what we're seeing and what we're about to see with title 42. >> reporter: homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas visited el paso. there's a record 2.4 million illegal border crossings in the last year. critics of the biden administration say its lax border policies will encourage an even larger influx when title 42 is liftcustoms and border protection agents tell nbc news that daily border crossings could reach 10,000 per day. this man from ecuador said a cartel kidnapped him during this grueling journey. he only survived because the mexican military rescued him and hundreds of other. >> our thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. still ahead on "way too early," our friends from cnbc will join us live to break down the latest inflation report and how it impacts what happens with interest rates. a shortstop bid pays off

with a massive contract. we'll have more with the deal which did not come with the boston red sox. we'll get into that with sports next. ne. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ trying to control my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ enough was enough. i talked to an asthma specialist and found out my severe asthma is driven by eosinophils, a type of asthma nucala can help control. now, fewer asthma attacks and less oral steroids that's my nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for

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visionworks. see the difference. lionel messi as he ties an all-time world cup record in his 25th game played. trying to keep the dream alive and winning it for the first time, ileana martinez can't bear to watch. messi buries it! >> lionel messi converting a penalty kick to open the scoring in the 34th minute of yesterday's world cup semifinal against croatia. messi becomes argentina's all-time leading scorer at world cups with his third penalty in the tournament taking him to 11 goals in total. messi turned in what might have been the best performance of his record-tying 25 appearances on soccer's biggest stage, also playing a part in two other

goals scored by argentina's julio alvarez, the first of which came five minutes after messi's pk. the player now has 24 goals in the current and youngest player to score twice in a final since the 17-year-old pele notched a hat trick. this is a coronation for argentina, the 3-nil victory denies croatia a trip to the world cup final. and sets up argentina and the winner of this afternoon's match-defending champion of france and morocco. that title match will be sunday. today's game, 2:00 eastern. one year after turning down a five-year $160 million offer from the houston astros, star shortstop carlos correa has landed more than twice that on the heels of a single season he's spent with the minnesota twins. he reportedly agreed on a 13-year $350 million contract

with the san francisco giants. a record-long deal that is the richest ever for the shortstop position. san francisco which lost its bid to sign free agent aaron judge gets its franchise player in the 28-year-old, with a guarantee that will be the fourth largest in baseball history. turning now to the nba and the next chapter in the storied rivalry between the lakers and the celtics. to los angeles, lakers trailed the celtics by as many as 20 points in the third quarter but closed the gap with an 18-0 run. went ahead by 13 with 4 1/2 minutes of regulation. however, the celtics coming off a two-game losing streak, work their way back into a tie in the final seconds in the fourth quarter. we just saw lebron miss. it would have been a game-winner at the buzzer, we go into overtime the celtics outscore the lakers, and come away with a 122-118 victory.

a triumph for good over evil. finally a major milestone in the nhl, let's go to chicago were alex ovechkin is now just the third player in history with 800 goals in his career. reaching the mark with a hat trick during last night's 7-3 win over the blackhawks. ovechkin now joins hall of famers, wayne gretzky and gordie howell as only one to do so in a single franchise, he's got 800, the record, gretzky, 894. he's going to have to do it for a few more years but what was once thought as an unbreakable record, ovechkin has a shot at it. time for the weather with an ji angie lassman. how's it look? >> it's got dangerous conditions in the south coast. that's where we're watching.

severe weather will be there in the next few hours. in the past 24 hours, 12 tornadoes i wouldn't be surprised if we add active tornado warnings in mississippi, jackson, lake charles included in that tornado watch. you can see where we're expecting that severe weather. millions, 9 million in direction of this winds up to 70 miles per hour. we can't rule out the stronger tornadoes as well. a couple of in question in the next few hours, long-term tornadoes a possibility. that's the bull eye there. but those aren't the only impacting, it's potential for excessive rainfall with training showers and thunderstorms moving through parts of these larries, louisiana extending into mississippi and alabama, that where we will wash for the flash flooding concerns. and the threat will continue to shift east as this storm moves into the east as we're getting into tomorrow. this is where we're looking for impacts to severe weather as we get into tomorrow. it's winter weather as well that we're going to have to watch for parts of the northwest and mideast boo the weekend.

those will be ice accumulations and wintry conditions that we'll have to contend with in the next couple of days, jonathan. >> certainly keeping an eye on that storm. angie lassman, thank you for being with us. still ahead, the latest on the criminal charges filed against the former ceo of crypto exchange ftx and what the company's new ceo had to say before congress yesterday. we'll be right back with that. h. d you can resume your regular birth control right away. i've got this. ♪♪

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coast. 2:31 out west. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. now to the story of a stunning fall from grace. sam bankman-fried, the onetime darling of the crypto sector is under arrest and facing criminal charges accused of a brazen multi-year scheme. cnbc's kate rooney has the details. >> he was once hailed as the king of crypto. sam bankman-fried, founder and former ceo of crypto ex exchange ftx is facing criminal indictments and a wave of civil complaints. >> bankman-fried and his co-conspirators stole billions of dollars from ftx customers. he used that money for his personal benefit. >> reporter: bankman-fried arrested in the bahamas faces eight criminal charges in the u.s. authorities alleging he defrauded investors by funneling money into the hedge fund behind their backs. as a result, they say $8 billion have gone missing. >> this committee will not stop

until we uncover the full truth behind the collapse of ftx. >> reporter: in washington, a congressional hearing on ftx's collapse following what amounted to a run on the bank last month. bankman-fried who was expected to testify was instead making his first court appearance in the bahamas. >> there's no corporate controls, no corporate oversight. >> reporter: ftx's new ceo john ray led energy giant enron through bankruptcy after its collapse. appearing before congress he ripped into bankman-fried's management. >> this is just taking money from customers and using it for your own purpose. not sophisticated at all. this is just plain old embezzlement. >> reporter: its peak ftx had 2.7 million in the u.s. superstars were bank rolling the company. >> you know what i'm in. >> reporter: bankman-fried was donating millions of dollars to campaigns. including president biden's bid.

but actually say it belonged to the white house. and would not answer questions whether or not the president would return the donations. >> all of this dirty money was used in service of bankman-fried's desire to buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in washington. >> reporter: in a statement, his lawyer said mr. bankman-fried is reviewing the charges with his legal team and considering all of his legal options. >> we messed up. >> reporter: before his crest, bankman-fried took part in a whirlwind tour of defending himself. >> i didn't ever try to commit fraud on anyone. >> joining us now, business reporter for bloomberg news katie kriefle. katie, hard to know where to begin. let's start with the congressional hearings. what should we anticipate from the hearings on the collapse of ftx? >> specific to what we can expect out of congress, i feel like the biggest impact of these

hearings will be really setting the scene which could be years in the making when you think about the charges that have come against sam bankman-fried. what we can expect out of the bankruptcy proceedings. of course, we didn't hear from bankman-fried himself, so maybe the thinking was that stole the thunder from the house hearing that we got yesterday. but i mean, as we just heard in the package, john ray iii he really did not mince words when it came to what was happening at ftx. he said this was old-fashioned embezzlement. just no record keeping to speak of. and that basically, if you think about what was happening between ftx and alamedalameda, they ope as one company. so in some ways this is very simple. but when you think about how many people are involved, how many creditors, this has the potential to take a long time. >> so it was already a tough year for cryptocurrency before the ftx collapse.

what's the sense around the industry as to what we just saw here. how it would impact the industry writ large going forward for companies like bitcoin, is the whole thing in jeopardy? >> there's still a sense that the other shoe is about to drop. when you talk about crypto companies already left standing we were dealing were eye a big blowup of three hours capital earlier in the year. with ftx there was smoke for sure, you would always have rumors about what was happening. they were one of the biggest borrowers in the industry. what that has left for crypto lenders still remaining there's a sense there may be more coming, when you think about genesis, for example, bloomberg news and others outlets have reported that company is preparing for bankruptcy. several weeks in the making but

we haven't seen it. still plenty to keep an eye on here. >> i suspect the headlines will continue coming both for the industry. katie, come back soon. thank you so much. we're going to more business news, next. the market is mostly flat as wall street awaits a big decision from the federal reserve. cnbc is going to joining with insight on that, next. t. this cough. [sfx: coughs] this'll help. vicks vaporub? vicks vaporub's ...medicated vapors go straight to the source of your cough... ...so you can relieve your cough to breathe easier. vicks vaporub. fast-acting cough relief.

time now for business, for that, better bring in cnbc's jomana karadsheh who joins us live from london. good morning, jomana. stocks are up as traders await the inflation better than expected numbers we got here until the u.s. yesterday. what's the expectation? what should we expect today? >> yeah, traders are pencilling a 50-point basis point rate hike out of the fed today. i think what's interesting what indication they're giving about

future interest rate hikes. there's something called the dot projections which is essentially where they forecast the rate. back in september, 4.6 percentage points some analysts say they could go as high as 5 percentage points today. that's something to watch out for. more broadly speaking as you mentioned marketing have been cheering on the fact that the cpi number from lower can lower expectations 7.1% year over year, versus 7.7%. good thing for the fed and markets as well. yesterday, the s&p ended up 12 points firmer. trading not knowing where to go but i guess they'll have a stronger decision once that fed decision comes occupy. >> we'll certainly have coverage of that both nbc and cnbc. we mentioned slightly below expectations 10.7%. still high. what does that tell yous us about the cost of living crisis

where you are? >> well, that's did, jon. the good news it came down lower from where we were last month, but still at 10.7 percentage points tells you that higher energy bills and higher food prices are really eating into the cost of living crisis over here. the uk office for budget responsibility projects that the uk will suffer its largest fall in living standards since records began. real household income is expected to decline by 4.3 percentage points in the year between 2022 and 2023. quite stark. again over here, a principal action, largest strikes, because people are feeling the cost of living deeply. the central bank meeting coming up tomorrow. expected to hike by 50 basis points but definitely keeping an eye on the economic situations too. >> one more story about a little social media site calls twitter. it's co-founder jack dorsey has

joined the discussion around the so-called twitter files which elon musk started releasing last week. what is dorsey saying about what's been happening on the site? >> yeah. well, he released a blog post yesterday. he said that mistakes have been made in the past when it comes to twitter. he also said that twitter would be in a better position today if they had focused more on tools for the people using the service, rather than tools for the owners and the employees. he says he's come to believe in three principles. one that social media must withstand corporate and government control. two, that the author is the only person who can remove content they produce. and three, moderation is best implemented by algorithms. so interesting perspective there from jack dorsey, former ceo of twitter. he also said that the company would have been in a better direction if activist investor elliott had not got involved, after the activist investor got

involved he decided to abandon his efforts to move the social media company, quote, in the right direction. >> all right. c cnbc's jomana karadsheh live from london, thank you as always. still ahead here, we're going to have the latest on the war in ukraine and the big boost that could be coming from the u.s. military. we'll be right back with that. s. when your gut and vaginal bacteria are off balance. you may feel it. but just one align women's probiotic daily helps soothe digestive upsets. and support vaginal health. welcome to an align gut. when you're through with powering through, it's time for theraflu hot liquid medicine. powerful relief so you can restore and recover. theraflu hot beats cold. plan a didn't work out? get plan b one-step. plan b helps prevent pregnancy before it starts, and it won't impact your ability to get pregnant in the future. find it yourself in the family planning aisle no prescription, no id.

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welcome back. let's turn now to the war in ukraine. where five buildings in kyiv were struck by drones earlier today. at least two of the buildings are located in the city's downtown area in a section that's home to various government offices. ukrainian officials say the attack involved iranian-made drones which russia has used to strike buildings and power sources throughout ukraine over the last few months. ukrainian air forces posted on

social media that they shot down ten of those drones this morning. launched off the sea. adding, quote, combat work is still ongoing. the strike comes at associated press report that the u.s. may approve sending a battery missile to ukraine which will aid to shoot down incoming missiles. however, they've shown the ability to combat air strikes effectively. authorities claim during the latest round of missile volleys on december 5th, ukraine shot down more than 60 of the 70 strikes launched by moscow. joining us now the president of the council on foreign relations. we're always happy when he can join us, richard haass. richard, let's start with the ongoing effort to defend the skies over ukraine. those are some pretty impressive numbers that the state officials, that the government put out, having defended the last round of air strikes, drone strikes. talk to us about how important this patriot missile battery may be. and just how vital it is to try

to pick the drones out of the sky. >> well, drones are part of the russian strategy. again, russia can't hold its own, if you will, on a tradition battlefield, military on military, jonathan, so while ukraine is doing fairly well on that scale. russia is attacks civilian infrastructure targets using cruise missiles and drones. patriots would add to the air defense capability. as you point out, ukraine is doing fairly well. this would add to it and a symbolic dimension. you have to get trained in germany, patriot missiles are getting close u.s. allies. i think it would be militarily significant as well as symbolically and politically. and then open up one other question, not only do we continue to help ukraine on air defense, but do we give the great ability to attack these russian systems or iranian-provided systems before they're launched. and that gets into the question of what kind of surface-to-surface missiles. what kind of range do they have

and so forth. will ukraine be provided? this is a defensive component. and it's also a preventive or preemptive component here. >> richard, give us a quick sense of your analysis of the state of alliance right now. winter is here, the fighting largely freezing, russia striking almost exclusively civilian targets. that's straining an economy in europe that's already potential potentially full of reception. is that staying the course? >> i think right now it's pretty good. the energy stocks are high. so, i'm not all that worried about the alliance getting through the winter for the next few months. putin, though, might be thinking in terms of years, rather than months.considerations. potentially the debate over what's the definition of success, but if the we're talking about a season, talking about the months, i think nato's in pretty good shape. there are some fault lines. for example, the new italian

government. we'll have to see exactly what they do. there's differences between poland, say, and germany, but for now, jonathan, i'd actually say up to nine or ten months nato and the west is in extraordinarily good shape. >> and you have a new opinion piece out in project syndicate that reflects on the past year and how it marked a return to history. give us a couple of the biggest lessons we could learn from the past year around the world. >> yeah, well, one is that war is not obsolete, unlike what a lot of academics thought. or the efforts to build economic ties with china and russia. that was moderate behavior. didn't work out so well. always talk about this international community, jonathan, but if you look what didn't happen, on climate change this year, when people made in

and a good year for the united states showing that american leadership from in front rather than behind. still makes a big difference. a mixed bag but all in all a sobering year dominated by return of significant war fairp warfare in the continent of europe. >> we recommend you read the piece. richard haass, thank you for joining us this morning. we really appreciate it. up next here on "way too early," digging into political donations that sam bankman-fried, disgraced ceo of ftx made. and more evidence donald trump is slipping. and talk to senator chris murphy, a guest since his state marks ten years since the tragedy at sandy hook elementary. and a live report from the biden administration, addressing the influx of migrants entering the united states. "morning joe" is just minutes away.

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joining us now with a look at axios a.m., alexi. great to see you, as always, this morning. what is the axios "one big thing" today? >> good morning. good to see you, too. you teased, talking about sam bankman-fried, the crypto billionaire tycoon a shocking fall over the last couple days alone. now political implications are growing not just for democrats but republicans too. i've sure you've heard as i have republican lawmakers making a narrative democrats are the only ones who received money from sam bankman-fried and should be called into question. the latest indictment suggests just the opposite and admitting he's given money to republican candidates in ways that hasn't had his name tied to it. investigators now looking into the ways in which he gave money to republicans under different names, through different organizations's we don't know the full beneficiaries of folks on the right who he gave to. a lot to come out in terms to

his political involvement. not just now, a lot of folks counting on his money for 2024, too. >> yeah. the aftershocks from this are going to be felt for quite some time. no question there. alexi, republicans may not have been able to materialize their red wave into more election wins, but axios reported yesterday they won elsewhere. tell us about it. >> that's right. we had our great data results team work up something from the "new york times" actually that showed that republican house candidates in places like arizona, georgia, nevada, wisconsin, pennsylvania, all outperformed in the popular vote compared to the rest of the party's fortunes even though democrats picked up seats. that matters not, you know, just for those folks in the house but because they're looking at these numbers saying if people like dr. oz in pennsylvania or herschel walker in georgia performed at the same levels and same numbers as their house counterparts in those states, the republicans would have won the senate. so they are looking at turnout. looking at need for better candidates in the senate, and thinking about where they could

improve moving forward. >> again, showed that graphic there. extrapolating data from 2022 and putting it on the 2024 electoral it college map which would give a win to republicans. doesn't factor in the candidate on the ballot then. and someone we played earlier in the show pressed about 2022 and the republicans disappointing performance. she didn't want to blame donald trump. many others are, but what is going on with ronna mcdaniels rnc rechair re-election bid? >> yeah. she's struggling a couple of lines, really. has to stay loyal to donald trump. to appease those who think it's time to move on and has to do it in a delicate way. your colleagues at nbc, john allen and others, great reporting about the back-door deals ronna mcdaniel and others are making to get members of the rnc onboard to support her as chairwoman going forward. even when re-elected as chairwoman the longest serving

rnc chairwoman since the late 1870s or something crazy. it shows a huge vote of confidence in someone who is really trying to navigate the republican party through this post-trump world which will become his world again, of course, as the 2024 primary field shapes up. the challenge she'll su, as you know, staying neutral, as neutral as they can if and when more republicans jump into the primary field rather than just support donald trump. doesn't have every vote locked up but enough to be re-electedthat is in spite of her leading this party and this party arm when they suffered major losses, not just this cycle but in 2020 and 2018. >> someone who may not have the votes needed for the post that he wants is kevin mccarthy. "the" number one gain in washington here in washington right now you well know whether or not he could get the votes needed to secure speakership. a growing sense he may be a little short.

what's the latest that you've heard? >> you know, even republican lawmakers and aides privately tell axios they're unsure if kevin mccarthy has the votes to be speaker. he's trying to, similar to our discussion with ronna mcdaniel, appease different factions of the house republican caucus. those more conservative meshes vocally apposed to him, more trumpy in nature, and those who want to see a different way forward. he, of course, is talking to someone like congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, asking for committee assignments and different concessions from him as are other members. he's going to have to make a lot of people happy, and that's certainly not easy to do. >> yeah. we'll be watching that in the days ahead. alexi mackanin, thank you, as always. and thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. it wasn't just trump. he had dozens of enablers a lot still in congress. people hoop tried to overthrow the government in the government