good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. right now, attorney general merrick garland is facing tough questions by senators on capitol hill. he's expected to address a wide range of issues including investigations into classified documents. we will bring you a live report in moments. in south carolina, jurors in alex murdaugh's double murder trial just wrapped a tour of the crime scene at murdaugh's estate, with closing arguments expected any moment now. plus, what the fbi director is saying about the origins of covid and why he believes the chinese government is essentially interfering with its investigation. this as the new congressional committee held a hearing on threats posed by china. congressman raja krishnamoorthi joins us live. and at this hour, an investigation is under way after

dozens of people were kill and injured in greece when two trains collided head on at high speeds. what we know ahead. and we begin on capitol hill, where right now attorney general merrick garland is fielding questions from the senate judiciary committee. as the justice department investigates classified documents found on the properties of president biden, former president trump, and former vice president pence. today's hearing comes after congressional leaders received the classified briefing from the doj yesterday, which they said, quote, left much to be desired. and this morning, "the washington post" reports that leading up to the doj's august search of former president trump's mar-a-lago estate, two senior fbi officials who would have been in charge of leading the search resisted the surprise plan as too combative. and proposed seeking trump's permission to search his property according to four people familiar with the discussions. i want to bring in nbc news

julia ainsley and msnbc contributor carol lenny who broke that "washington post" story. julia, what do you know from your reporting about where the doj investigation stands today? >> well, we know that it is ongoing. we just reported last week that jack smith, a special counsel in that case, asked the judge to compel testimony from mike pence, which might indicate that they're pretty far along in that investigation, considering that pence would be such a high value person that they would want to come in and testify for the grand jury. we should note that pence has been fighting that and that's why jack smith asked the judge to compel his testimony. as things are heating up here between garland and congress, we expected this judiciary committee hearing to have some fireworks and right now we haven't heard quite as much about the special counsel, but we have heard garland be pinned on a number of topics and really pushed, especially on fentanyl and lindsey graham asking

questions about why he won't designate cartels, why he won't designate those as foreign tourist organizations as the justice department and the u.s. government has designated groups like isis and al qaeda. here's what he had to say. >> mexican drug cartels, should they be designated foreign terrorist organizations under u.s. law? >> i think it is the same answer i gave before, they're ready, designated and any number of ways and sanctioned by the treasury. >> would you oppose some of us trying to make them foreign terrorist organizations? >> i wouldn't oppose it, but, again, i want to point out there are diplomatic concerns. we need the assistance of mexico in this. and designating -- >> is mexico helping us effectively with our fentanyl? >> they are helping us, but they could do much more, no question about that. >> interesting what he said there about mexico doing much more. there have been extensive

conversations between this administration and mexico, especially as they try to get mexico to agree to take back more migrants that the u.s. is pushing back into mexico, both under title 42, which we have discussed a lot, jose, and under the new asylum policy set to launch when title 42 expires. to hear garland call out mexico and say they're not getting enough, especially on the fentanyl issue, it is really pretty strong rhetoric, especially coming from someone like garland, who doesn't go that far very often. >> indeed it was. i was surprised by just how clear he was on that answer. carol, what questions are you hoping garland will answer today? >> well, i think it is interesting too hear what the attorney general has to say about his reasoning for appointing a special counsel and two incredibly highly charged and sensitive probes, mar-a-lago and the effort by the role of former president trump and his allies in trying to block the peaceful transfer of power. what we have been focused on at

"the washington post" has been a deep dive into what was really happening behind the scenes in the mar-a-lago investigation. and how cautious and almost ponderous some of the fbi agents responsible for the probe were in trying to get to the bottom of some of our most carefully guarded national security secrets and trying to recover them from trump's possession in mar-a-lago. >> and, so, carol, what were some of those major disagreements that you uncovered? >> so, previously unreported until today by "the washington post" and my colleagues were the following three big moments. one, in may, when prosecutors and investigators were learning that donald trump was trying to resist cooperating with the probe and trying to thwart fbi agents from reviewing classified

records that had been found in a series of boxes, returned to the national archives, when they learned that, they wanted to begin a search or a demand for records. and the fbi resisted that. agents on the case resisted it as not really time yet, not really good justification to demand or go in and search for those records that many witnesses believed were still at mar-a-lago. the next most important moment is june. after a subpoena to donald trump for all classified records still in his possession, investigators go to meet with his team, june 3rd, and they are -- they receive a certification from trump's lawyers that all classified records have been turned over, there has been a diligent search, and here is an envelope full of records, the only ones left here. at that moment, previously unreported, some fbi agents

signal they want to close the criminal investigation. they believe trump's lawyers have complied with the subpoena and prosecutor do not have that same confidence. they have a lot more suspicion. and then the third most important moment, jose, comes in a major showdown in the end of july or the first day of august at which fbi agents and prosecutors in the national security division of the justice department really have a knockdown dragout argument over a raid. the prosecutors believe strongly that there is evidence of obstruction, that there is an indication that donald trump is concealing information from investigators and is not in compliance with the subpoena and is intentionally trying to hold back records. fbi agents do not want to do what prosecutors are pushing, which is a surprise, unannounced search warrant raid. they say that's too combative, they want to ask for donald trump's permission to go on the property. prosecutors feel that's too

risky. they don't trust donald trump or his lawyers at this point. so, those are the three big moments that have never been really revealed about this case until today. >> carol, julia, thank you, both, for being with us this morning. really appreciate it. also on capitol hill this morning, lawmakers are introducing a bipartisan bill in response to the massive train derailment in ohio that triggered the release of hazardous chemicals last month. the bill would introduce new safety measures to prevent future train disasters. this as the head of norfolk southern, the rail company behind the incident, has now agreed to testify before the senate environment and public works committee next thursday. joining us now with more is nbc news capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles. ryan, good morning. what more do we know about this bill? >> reporter: well, you know, jose, this could be one of the rare moments of bipartisan cooperation from the united states congress, especially because ohio is represented by both a republican and a democrat. jd vance, the newly elected

republican from ohio, and sherrod brown, the long time democratic senator there, working on a bipartisan piece of legislation that would specifically address many of these concerns that have been born out of this accident, including enhancing safety procedures for trains carrying hazardous materials, that would create a permanent requirement for railroads to operate with at least a two-person crew and also increase fines for wrongdoing committed by rail carriers. there has been some talk about whether or not there would be any sort of federal assistance that would be provided to the residents of east palestine as a result of this disaster, but yesterday senator sherrod brown told me and other reporters he believes it is the rail company that should be on the hook for all of that and shouldn't require any federal assistance. so, far we're already seeing leaders both mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer expressing a level of support for this legislation as it makes its way through the senate and ultimately will have to be passed through the house. but there is no doubt, jose, a strong desire here on capitol

hill to provide some sort of legislation that would at least begin the process of preventing a massive accident like this from happening in the future. jose? >> ryan nobles on capitol hill, thank you. right now, jurors are on their way back to the courtroom where ex-lawyer alex murdaugh is on trial for the murder of his wife and son. last hour, jurors visited the crime scene. murdaugh's 1700 acre property known as moselle where prosecutors say maggie and paul murdaugh were gunned down. the trial is now entering its final phase with closing arguments expected to begin as soon as today. and joining us now nbc news correspondent ellison barber outside the courthouse, also with us danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst. ellison, we'll start with you. tell us what the jury saw in this visit this morning to moselle. >> reporter: hey, jose. forgive me for looking off to the side at my phone, i'm trying to monitor any updates that we're getting from the press

pool who has traveled to moselle with the jury. our team spoke to an officer here at the court, he said he had been in touch with the escort team that took the jury to moselle, that was seeing them around the property and would be bringing them back. we understand they are on the road headed back to the courthouse now. the judge had said he was hoping to have everyone back here by 11:00, 11:30 and they will presumably get right into closing arguments. the way this entire trip was structured, there was very clear directions for the jury before they even left that they were not going to be allowed to speak to anyone. that's other jurors, that's law enforcement traveling with them. and that they weren't going to be able to ask any questions. this was really a viewing trip from our colleagues, other reporters who are with the jury, they were waiting in a van as the jury went and was able to see some of the areas we have heard discussed so much in court. they said they were able to see the jury a little bit on the pathway over near the kennels

and saw one juror going into the feed room. that's where paul murdaugh's body was found, the area where he was believed to have been shot. and looking up at the doorway, the defense has brought up a lot of questions about whether or not someone physically of alex murdaugh's size, height and weight at the time, if they would have been able to maneuver in that space with two weapons. so you saw, according to the pool, they saw one juror standing in that area and looking up, trying to get, they thought a sense of the size of that area, and also the door frame in particular. the jury was able to see the kennel area, the feed room and then also go up to the main house on the property to see the outside of it as well as the distance, but they weren't able to go inside. at some point we expect to get some video back that we can show viewers of the areas that the jury saw as well. but that hasn't happened quite yet. we believe the press pool, that travelled with the jury, they

might be on site. but we are, based on conversations we had here with other court officials, expecting the jury to come back sometime any minute now and then we do expect to see closing arguments begin today. jose? >> yeah, and so, danny, i know it is unusual that a judge lets the jury go to a trip right before closing arguments. but what do you think murdaugh's legal team is hoping to accomplish from this visit today? >> i think they're trying to help the jury get a sense of angles and distance and maybe just humanize the experience for them. but i have to say, the net benefit to me would go to the prosecution for a couple of different reasons. number one, it is a very somber visit, chilling visit, i imagine, to visit a murder scene like this. in addition, the defense's theory is that because of angles, a shooter was much shorter than murdaugh, but they see these rolling hills and

differences in elevations, that might go towards thinking, well, you know, this wasn't a flat surface, the shooter could have been tall, he could have been really short. so, in this case, i think this jury visit might also benefit the state as much as the defense. but i have to tell you, when it comes to jury visits, the normal rules of procedure are out the window because other than high profile cases, i have not heard of a jury visit. i'm sure they happen in certain jurisdictions, but every time i've asked for them in a run of the mill case, motion denied. to my memory, it only has been high profile cases that are in the media where a judge even entertains this administrative headache of loading jurors into a van and busing them out to a site. >> so, danny what are you going to be looking for in these closing arguments, as ellison says could start any minute now, as soon as that jury returns from the visit? >> state has to focus on four points and abandon a fifth

point. first four are that this defendant, it appears there is no other evidence that anyone else was here at the time of the shooting, except murdaugh. point two, murdaugh had access to guns. point three, he is a massive loy liar, including lying to law enforcement where he was at the time of the murders. and he is a massive drug addict and could have been in withdrawal and paranoid. the fifth point, the financial crime motivation, they probably learned from now, they probably have access to social media that this mode of theory is not flying with a lot of people. as for the defense, look for them to pound away on reasonable doubt, the high burden of proof, and that presumption of innocence because they never really developed that third party liability. they raised the inference, there are a couple of points of evidence here and there, but never really pointed to another person or even an empty chair. >> danny cevallos and ellison

barber, thank you for being with us this morning. i want to go back now to capitol hill, where attorney general garland is on the discussion there with senators. let's listen in. >> you don't have high -- you have low confidence in it. medium is medium. you might answer, we don't know at all. but that's not what -- that's not what you're asking about. >> it is more than a hunch or a guess, but not quite something to take to the bank? >> yes, so there is a lot of criminal law from -- from stops to probable cause to convictions. i don't think there is any law in the intelligence community that defines those specifics. >> you wouldn't sanction a search or an arrest based on low confidence? >> no, a search and arrest require probable cause. >> thank you, senator blumenthal. >> thank you. after senator lee, we're going to take a brief intermission. senator lee? >> thank you, attorney general garland. i want to echo briefly what

senator klobuchar described. i hope you'll look at our letter and investigate thoroughly those issues. as you know, i've long respected you and long respected your department. i have become concerned recently that notwithstanding the great men and women who serve and have served for a generation in the department of justice there are some things that lead me to wonder whether there is -- whether some actions are being politicized within the department. one example of this relates to 18 u.s. c section 807. ever since the leak of the dobbs opinion and the issuance of the dobbs opinion by the supreme court last summer, we had protesters who have been showing up at the homes of supreme court justices, carrying signs, picketing, shouting, it is very clear that they're trying to influence in one way or another those serving on the united states supreme court.

trying to influence jurisprudence. and yet not one person, to my knowledge, has been prosecuted for such things under 18 u.s. c section 807. some committee invited some officials from the department of justice to brief committee staff on protests at the justices homes and ask about any arrests that have been made or might be made for people engaged in that behavior. the briefers came to the briefing and informed staff that they hadn't read section 1507. i assume you read it, of course. just wondering why the department would schedule such a briefing on a statute without having read it and especially why no acts have been brought under section 1507 for these actions. i've got a lot to cover. can you answer that? >> i'll try to answer all these

questions together. >> tell me, am i right in concluding that you haven't brought any charges under 1507? >> i don't know the answer to that. we have -- the thing that mattered and as soon as the dobbs draft leaked, i ordered the marshals to do something that the united states marshals had never in history done before. which was protect the justices' homes, residents and lives 24/7. no attorney general had ever ordered that before and no justice department had ever done that before. >> which is terrific. that's fantastic. >> i'm getting to the why. we sent more than 70 u.s. marshals for this purpose. those marshals' priority is protection of the lives of the justices and their families. they are on site, but their priority job is protection. that is why when someone did come to assault justice kavanaugh, he had to walk -- go away from where they were because there were two marshals in front of the house and eventually self-reported

himself. the marshals have been advised and they know -- the marshals on the ground -- they have full authority to arrest people under any federal statute including that federal statute. but they have to make the determination on the ground whether they can do that in a manner that is safe and able to protect their main mission. now, there are also state and local entities which have similar authorities and which i understand the supreme court marshal has asked them to do this as well. i don't know whether they have done any of those things. >> okay. thank you. i'd love to follow up with you more on that later. it is concerning to me when you show up at the home of a public official, you're sending the message of implicit violence. you're sending the message, we know where you sleep, we know where you and your family are most vulnerable and it is very concerning to me. i assume you're aware of the overly aggressive arrest and prosecution of mark hawk, a pro

life activist, and father of seven, in philadelphia. based on the fact that he had pushed a protester, a protester who -- or a planned parenthood escort, rather, as he was demonstrating outside of an area, in the philadelphia region. he pushed this person, after this person got in the face of his 12-year-old son and was yelling vile and insulting and demeaning implicitly threatening things, denigrating his father, denigrating his faith, and yelling vile sexually suggestive things to his 12-year-old son. so, he shoved him. and then before they knew it, mr. hawk was facing prosecutions, highly militarized group of doj law enforcement showed up to enforce a warrant, they showed up at about 7:00

a.m. on a friday morning -- >> and this is just part of the back and forth, the questioning of attorney general merrick garland by the senate judiciary committee. we will, of course, continue monitoring this conversation and this discussion on capitol hill. they're about to take a break there. we're going to take a short break. but coming up, new details on just how big of a threat china is to the u.s. we're going to be joined by congressman raja krishnamoorthi, ranking member of the house select committee that held a primetime hearing on the chinese communist party. plus, chicago voters denying incumbent mayor lori lightfoot a second term, making her the first chicago mayor in 40 years to lose re-election. what happens next for the windy city? ction. what happens next for the windy city to you, it may just be an elevator. here goes nothing. but for a young homeowner becoming their parents, it's a learning opportunity. come on in. [ chuckles ] the more, the merrier. paris, huh?

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26 past the hour now. now to washington and the

ongoing debate over the origins of covid-19. fbi director christopher wray added fuel to the controversy last night when he made these comments during an interview with fox news. >> the fbi has, for quite some time now, assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in wuhan. >> this comes as a special house committee formed to investigate the technological, economic and military threats from the chinese communist party held its first meeting. lawmakers touched on a host of issues ranging from the spy balloon to tiktok to human rights. the committee chair mike gallagher talked about the stakes of the u.s. competition with china. >> we my call this a strategic competition, but it is not a polite tennis match. this is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century. and the most fundamental freedoms are at stake.

>> with us now to talk about this, nbc news senior capitol hill garrett haake, tom winter and peter baker, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and msnbc political analyst. so, garrett, what are the biggest takeaways from last night's hearing? >> reporter: jose, last night's hearing was a fascinating overview of the broader strategic landscape between the united states and china. and the point that chairman gallagher tried to make both in the hearing and in interviews before and after was that this isn't some theoretical discussion about some future threat. this is a hear and now problem, whether you're concerned about surveillance, hard military power, industrial capacity, the future of taiwan, you name it, there is a nexus of competition between china and the united states on nearly every issue, even including what is on our phone. there was a small but very interesting portion of the hearing that focused on the question of tiktok. and the various ways that the

chinese can make use of the fact they own the company that runs tiktok. take a listen to this sample of a q&a on that topic. >> it gives the chinese communist party the ability to manipulate our social discourse. the news, to sensor and suppress or to amplify what tens of millions of americans see and read and experience and hear through their social media app. >> reporter: a lot of focus on tiktok, less on covid than perhaps folks might have expected given the wray news yesterday. this is hearing one of what is perhaps the marquis committee in this congress, one of the few areas of significant bipartisan cooperation in the house right now, jose. >> yeah, and, tom, picking up on garrett's point what do we know about how the fbi came to its conclusion. it wasn't a low certainly

conclusion, the virus most likely came from a lab. >> right, i think the important thing is what wray said after what you just played, referencing the microbiologists and virologists that the fbi has. for some time for obvious reasons and proceeding september 11th, 2001, they had a weapons of mass destruction program and part of that is their ability to detect and investigate biological weapons. and so one of the things that the fbi has on its staff and the fbi is not a perfect agency, but one area that they pride themselves in is their ability to look at evidence, gather evidence and analyze that evidence and so i think it was interesting and important that wray pointed out that they took a look at that, they also -- he also said, rather, in his remarks last night that he looked at the fact that the chinese had tried to thwart and obfuscate what actually happened as far as the origins of the covid-19 pandemic.

that's something the fbi does, they look at not only the evidence they uncover, but how did somebody behave and if there were efforts to obstruct an investigation, which he says there were, that i think is something important, something that they looked at and maybe perhaps one of the reasons why the fbi is taking a different look at this, or has a -- has perhaps a stronger conclusion than other members of the intelligence committee. community, rather. that's something that happens from time to time. >> pete, i was struck, counsel on foreign relations president richard haass made a point on "morning joe", that china is one of the many threats that the u.s. has to deal with right now. here is part of what he had to say. >> we need to think about china. but we can't have just china, and the same way we had the soviet union during the cold war. we also have russia, we have north korea, we have iran, we have climate change, we have pandemics, we have pakistan, which is falling apart. i mean, this is a world where we almost don't have the luxury there. >> i mean it seems like that's

something that has been part of our reality for decades, right? but how does the biden administration look at the threat from china? >> well, obviously, china has something you do with a lot of the different threats that richard haass mentioned, by the way. it has influence when it comes to north korea, it is a player when it comes to the iran nuclear deal, it is obviously a player when it comes to pakistan and most recently, of course, you heard secretary of state tony blinken talk about the possibility that china would arm russia in the war in ukraine in a way it hasn't been up until now and they're very concerned about that. so, china is only one, of course of many challenges but has its fingers in many of the challenges and the biden administration looks at china like the trump administration did. what we see now is a more bipartisan consensus that china is more of a concern, a threat, a competitor, whatever word you want to use in the united states than we did in the past. the biden administration hasn't taken on quite the same tone of hostility towards china in the

way that the trump administration has. they still have hoped that dialogue can be resumed after this recent incident of the shootdown of the surveillance balloon, they try to keep it from escalating into too large an issue that would prevent them from having dialogue down the road, even as secretary of state blinken did cancel his original trip to beijing at the time. so they're trying to manage it in a somewhat less bombastic way, i suppose, you could say, than the trump administration but kept the tariffs on that trump put on and basically share the view that china is in fact a singular threat on the international stage right now. >> peter baker, tom winter, garrett haake, thank you all very much. with us to continue our conversation is illinois congressman raja krishnamoorthi, ranking member of the house select committee on strategic competition between the u.s. and the chinese communist party. always a pleasure to see you. i thank you for your time. what are your biggest takeaways from last night's hearing? >> a couple of things.

i thought the witnesses were extremely articulate and presented different facets of the challenges that the ccp poses, whether it is with regard to human rights abuses, whether it is with regard to the economic situation or with regard to our national security. and then the other big takeaway is that i think members on both sides, there are about 24 of them, asked some very intelligent and tough questions about a very serious subject and largely kept partisanship out of the mix which is really important to me. >> okay. and congressman, i know you've spoken out about the threats posed by tiktok. a short time ago, the house foreign affairs committee advanced a bill that would give the president the authority to ban the app. what do you make of that measure? >> i haven't read in detail that particular measure. chairman gallagher and i have a separate bill. i think it is the only bipartisan bill on this particular issue, which

basically makes sure that any user data or algorithms on a social media app are not controlled by an adversarial regime, such as the chinese communist party. in this case of tiktok, it is owned by a company called bytedance and bytedance is beholden to the chinese communist party in those two respects. they're concerned about big tech, but it is a bridge too far when you talk about their children or even their own user data or their content being ultimately controlled by the ccp. >> congressman, last year i spoke with the head of u.s. southern command who told me that china invested more than $15 million in latin america, just in the last couple of years. much of it on infrastructure, ports, telecommunications. what do you think china is doing in latin america, and should the united states be looking at that more closely? >> absolutely.

and i think that's going to be a big topic of discussion even within our committee. they have something called the belt and road initiative, jose. and this bri initiative that the chinese communist party has initiated is an effort to provide developmental help for a lot of countries that are struggling around the world and building infrastructure. the problem is, a, they're often offered on economic terms that are very, very detrimental to the people of that country, although they might be very sweet in terms of incentives and payoffs for the leadership in that country. and then the second thing is it is cultivating soft power around the world in a way that kind of moves countries away from the united states toward the orbit of the prc. so, we should have an alternative and that's something that i think we're going to be talking about within this committee. >> congressman raja

krishnamoorthi, pleasure to see you. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you, jose. now, also this morning, president biden introduced his new labor secretary nominee, julie su, currently the deputy secretary of labor and would replace marty walsh who became the head of the national hockey league players association. if confirmed, su will become the first asian american to serve as a cabinet secretary under president biden. and the second woman to lead the labor department after elaine chao. coming up, rescuers search for survivors after a fatal train crash in greece. the latest on what happened next. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" for adul undetectable, tse cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by my healthcare provider, every other month. it's one less thing to think about while traveling.

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next on behind the series... that run with the champ was magical.

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take a look at this, just horrifying. the impact send something passengers through windows. joining us now with the latest is nbc news foreign correspondent molly hunter. molly, what more do we know about this massive collision? >> yeah, jose. the pictures are absolutely terrifying. it was as you say a massive collision. you have two trains traveling in opposite directions towards each other on the same track at high speeds. and according to officials, neither driver clearly was aware obviously which resulted in this massive crash. so the numbers as you mentioned are likely to arise as the death toll stands at 36, more than 80 people injured, many of those very seriously, more than 70 are currently in the hospital. and a lot of the people, according to greek authorities, jose, were college aged students after going to a festival. the passenger train crowded with hundreds of people, more than 350 people, was traveling from the capital of athens to the northern city of thesalaniki.

more than 150 firefighters on the scene working all night. what we are learning is that one of the cars, one of the carriages on the passenger train got up to 2,372 degrees fahrenheit. so unbelievably hot. and what that means is that the investigation is going to be very complicated because so much has completely disintegrated and it also means that identifying the victims, that heart wrenching task of identifying victims is going to be very hard. as far as the actual investigation and the causes, the greek prime minister did visit the site of the crash early this morning, vowing a complete and thorough investigation. now, jose, greek police say there has already been one arrest, this station master there at the closest station. the transport minister of that country has already resigned. and, jose, just in the last couple of hours, the president of the greek train drivers association has come out to say that he believes that it was likely human error because he says, and this is not a

conclusive report, this is what he says, that the electronic signals on that old infrastructure have not been working for years. jose? >> molly hunter, thank you for that update. and now to israel, where people -- police today fired stun grenades and water canons against protesters. police clashed with demonstrators who have been protesting for weeks against the government's plan to transform israel's judicial system. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says the plan will reduce the influence of unelected judges. protesters say the reform undermines democracy. these protests come as violence and tension are rising in the west bank between israelis and palestinians. coming up, what's next for the third largest u.s. city after mayor lori lightfoot loses re-election? we're going to go live to chicago for a report. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." r a report you're watching "jose azdi-balart reports.

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48 past the hour. so earlier in the hour i reported that president biden's nominee for the labor secretary would be the second woman to lead the department. julie su would be the second asian american woman to lead the agency after elaine chao. in chicago, lori lightfoot is officially a one-term mayor and the first incumbent to lose the city's highest office in 40 years. lightfoot's historic run as chicago's first black woman and openly gay mayor ended in yesterday's elections when she failed to secure enough votes against her eight democratic opponents to move into the runoff. in that april face-off, voters will decide between paul vallas, a former ceo of school boards, and brandon johnson, a county commissioner endorsed by the teachers union. nbc's marisa paez joins us.

they are gearing up for the runoff? >> you heard it in the victory speech by brandon johnson, he came out swinging against his opponent, paul vallas, saying and accusing vallas of being a republican in democrats' clothing, a common trop among one of, we're talking about nine different candidates in total, that's something we have been hearing as a common one against vallas there. you got to remember, both are running as democrats, but it is about as stark as a contrast as you can get between two democrats running in chicago. now both of them on a mission to gather up the rest of the votes that were split up among other the endorsements they can get ahead of april 4th. the two biggest voter issues, crime and education, especially crime, is where they have the most contrasting political ideologies. valis is a law and order candidate. leaning in on the message chicago needs to reign in on lawlessness. he has a large police backing.

he wants to bolster the police force, getting rid of restrictions. johnson has a more openly progressive campaign. he led with grass-roots efforts. he has been talking about wanting to take a more holistic approach and implementing strategies like bolstering mental health care, addressing crime at its root, with things like housing and security and investing in education. we talked about the contrasting political ideologies, it's interesting to see who is backing them. valis has the support of the chicago police union. you have johnson who has the support of the chicago teachers union. it's worth noting here when we talk about lightfoot losing, becoming the first incumbent mayor to not make it to the chicago runoff, she did not have the support of those two very important unions. she has consistently struck a very centrist tone over the last four years. clearly, what we are seeing, what we saw last night after her concession speech is that chicago has spoken. she has tried to strike a very centrist tone, but now when we

have these two candidates on two opposite ends of the democratic political spectrum, clearly, chicago is saying they are looking for something different. >> thank you so much. coming up, more on the u.s./china relationship and what the rising tensions between the two countries means for the economy. (woman 1) i just switched to verizon business unlimited. it's just right for my little business. unlimited premium data. unlimited hotspot data. (woman 2) you know it's from the most reliable 5g network in america? (vo) when it comes to your business, not all bars are created equal. so switch to verizon business unlimited today. y'all wayfair's got just what you need for your home. do they have stylish beds at great prices? whoo, this bed is dreamy. you're kelly clarkson? yes. and you're in our bed?

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>> u.s. companies were called out in the hearing last night for exploiting cheap labor and allowing the chinese regime to grow in size and power. now the question is if the biden administration moves forward with limiting american companies' investment into china. several high profile names sharing their concerns about china's rise and the cost to american people and their jobs. perhaps the strongest remarks came from the chair, mike gallagher, who characterized the threat from china as an existential struggle and laid out what he hopes to achieve with this new committee. >> ccp has found friends on wall street, on k street, in fortune 500 c suites, in the public health community who are ready and willing to oppose our efforts to push back. this strategy has worked well in the past. and the ccp is confident it will

work again. our task on this committee is to ensure that it does not. >> earlier on cnbc, gallagher said tiktok should be banned or should see a forced sale and that congress needs to enact legislation. addressing china's rise, it's seen as one of the few areas of bipartisan support alongside representative gallagher, we saw the congressman from illinois. >> thank you so very much. that wraps up the hour for me. reach me on twitter and instagram. always watch highlights from today's show online. i thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news after a quick break. money moves with merrill. so no matter what the market's doing, he's ready. and that's... how you collect coins. your money never stops working for you with merrill,

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," merrick garland being grilled by senators about the fentanyl crisis, the chinese covid coverup, russian war crimes in ukraine and hunter biden. anger at china spotlighted by a house select committee in primetime about china's covid coverup, spying, taiwan and human rights. >> it's not a polite tennis match. this is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century. the most fundamental freedoms