squeeze in before i go tonight. this saturday april 6th, live event, the apollo theater in new york city. me and joy reid together. i am told there are still tickets available for this aevent at the apollo theater saturday night. you can find out more and get information about tickets and everything at madoblog.com. june 13th i will be in houston, texas, talking about my latest book which is called "prequel." tickets available now. you can find out about that one at madowblock.com. wail with jonathan lemire is up next. donald trump is a sociopath. nothing will stop him from trying to do what he wants is do which is intimidate and he is feeling that threat more than

ever from all different fronts. and it's quite possible this may not be enough. >> that was conservative attorney george conway reacting to the modified gag order in donald trump's hush money case. it comes as the former president has posted the bond for the appeal in his civil fraud judgment. we'll go through both of those significant developments in just a moment. also ahead, we'll bring you the latest on two major stories out of the middle east. a deadly strike in syria. and also what appears to be an israeli strike in gaza that killed several humanitarian volunteers. plus, we'll break down the key abortion rulings yesterday from florida's supreme court and how those decisions could impact november's elections.

good morning, and welcome to "way too early" on this tuesday, april 2nd. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. and we have a very busy show. we'll begin by following a major development overnight in donald trump's new york hush money case. the judge who will preside over that trial has expanded a partial gag order against trump following the former president's online attacks against the judge's own daughter. state judge juan merchon stated trump is barred from attacking those family members adding d.a. prosecutor, court staff, and their relatives he was already directed to refrain from talking about in a previous gag order issued last week connected to his criminal trial the judge

wrote his actions could have a chilling effect on the case scheduled to begin in just two weeks. trump's lawyers argued in a filing yesterday trump's repeated attacks on the judge's daughter were protected political speech. at the same time trump has posted $175 million bond in his new york civil fraud case preventing the seizure of his assets while that case is under appeal. you'll recall that last week a state appeals court ruled trump and his codefendants had ten days to post the amount, which was then reduced from the $464 million judgment that had been originally due on march 25th. now, if trump does not win on appeal, he will still have to pay that full amount from the judgment, which stems from new york attorney general letitia james' fraud case. a judge found that trump and top executives at the trump organization intentionally engaged in a scheme to

improperly inflate his assets in financial statements. that enabled him to claim favorable loan and insurance rates that he really was not entitled to. we turn now to these developments out of the middle east, where the world central kitchen aid organization says seven of its workers were killed yesterday in an idf air strike in gaza. according to a statement the charity says a convoy carrying workers was struck leaving a warehouse where aid was being dropped off. among those killed an american who possessed dual citizenship with canada. the organization says it is immediately pausing its operations in the region. the idf said it was conducting a thorough review of the incident. world kitchen run by celebrity chef jose andres. a true, true tragedy in gaza.

meanwhile, also yesterday the associated pres reports iranian officials claim two generals and five officers were killed in an air strike in syria yesterday. the times of israel reports that one of those killed was the iran revolutionary guard corp's senior most official there in syria. four unnamed israeli officials confirmed it was indeed israel who launched a strike according to "the new york times." israel itself has not officially commented. all of this happened the same day as israel and the u.s. met for virtual talks to discuss alternatives to a ground invasion of rafah. joining us now pentagon reporter for politico, laura seller. laura, good to see you again. let's start with these air strikes. first, in syria, what more do we know as to what happened there? and what sort of escalation might be expect in response? obviously it appears this was

israel reaching across the boarder, torgting iranian officials in another country. >> thank you so much for having me. we know there was an air strike yesterday and killed several of iran's guard corp and that includes its most senior officer in syria as well as its deputy. the strike escalates the situation in the region. if you recall there were dozens of attacks on service members in iraq and syria after the october 7th hamas attacks on israel. those had been much calmer in recent months. in fact, the last attack was on february 4th. it was a drone attack in jordan, and that killed three u.s. soldiers. president biden then retaliated for that attack. he made major air strikes in iraq and syria. many of the members of the iranian backed militant groups fled the area, and they have not been attacking u.s. soldiers

since. that pause ended yesterday. there was a drone strike -- an attempted drone strike on the outpost in syria yesterday. i'm told by two dod officials. we certainly can expect more of those attacks. >> turning to the other strike, the one that killed these humanitarian workers, give us the latest here. has israel acknowledged it was one of their missiles that did this? and speak to, if you will, how this further damages israel's cause in the eyes of the world, which already so many had soured on, the humanitarian toll there in gaza, and now these internationals, these aid workers also killed. >> well, it's certainly a terrible tragedy in reality and also symbolically. israel had already been condemned by many in the international space for refusing to open up its land borders to

allow additional trucks to flow in human tear yb aid. several organizations including the world food kitchen had opened maritime corridors in order to deliver this aid by sea. the fact this aid convoy was not targeted but perhaps accidently targeted by an israeli air strike sends a message. there were several members killed including the palestinian driver when the strike hit the convoy in gaza. the team had just finished unloading 100 tons of humanitarian food that had just been shipped to gaza. the idf israeli defense forces, they are investigating at the highest levels, but they have not yet acknowledged it was their air strike. so i think we'll see more investigation to come. >> lara, the backdrop of this the meeting we mentioned, the virtual meeting between israeli and u.s. officials in rafah, but also the new reporting you have

including new weapons sales to israel. tell us about that. will conditions be attached? and certainly a politically precarious decision for president biden in light of all we're discussing. >> yes, absolutely. so we reported yesterday that the u.s. government is very close to approving several major weapons bills to israel including an $18 billion for 15 fighter jets and air to air missiles and guidance kits which convert dumb bombs into weapons. this has been on the table for several months and now it's moving through the process, and lawmakers know they have an informal notification, which means the u.s. administration is ready to approve it. there will so far be no conditions attached. the u.s. government has so far ruled that outconditioning any military aid to israel, but there is going to be definitely

heated outbursts in congress about this because even democrats have come out against sending more aid to israel and have said perhaps we should start to condition aid to israel. so i think we're going to see more discussion about this and perhaps even some lawmakers opposing the sale. >> that's certainly the conditions aid to israel might be attached to what happens to rafah in the weeks ahead. that is still, of course, being decided. covering a lot of ground for us this morning, pentagon reporter for politico, lara selligman, thank you as always. still ahead on "way too early," we'll have a look at this morning's other top stories including florida's supreme court issuing two rulings on abortion. we'll explain those and show you how the biden-harris campaign is reacting. and speaker johnson's plans for new ukraine aid and how he could soon bring that funding decision to the house floor. those stories and a check on weather and sports when we come

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so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for. welcome back. as we turn to some of the morning's other top headlines now, house speaker mike johnson is reportedly coming around to the idea of ukraine aid so long as he can try to get a political win out of the deal. "the new york times" reports johnson is allegedly hinging his support on a measure that would force president biden to reverse a pause on new permits for liquefied natural gas export facilities. a bit out of left field, but should that happen it will give the speaker a personal win on blocking proposed legislation in the state of louisiana. johnson has also discussed financing some of the aid by

selling off russian sovereign assets that have been frozen and turning the money into loans the ukrainians would have to pay back. now, the speaker has not publicly pledged to support for any option, but he has stated the house will address ukraine aid once it returns to washington next week after the conclusion of its easter recess. meanwhile, big news last night out of the florida supreme court, which issued two landmark rulings on abortion access in that state. in a pair of conflicting decisions yesterday, the court both upheld the state's strict abortion ban and said it would allow a proposed amendment to enshrine abortion access to appear on november's ballot. the court's ruling was for a planned parenthood lawsuit against a 15-week abortion ban signed into law in 2022. but in allowing that ban to take effect, the conservative leaning court has also made way for a more strict six-week abortion

ban that governor desantis signed in 2023 to move forward. the court's decision on the 15-week ban yesterday means that the 6-week ban on abortion will take effect in 30 days. it's confusing but at least temporarily access to abortion really going to be restricted in the sunshine state. in a narrow 4-3 ruling it allowed floridians on a chance to vote on enshrining abortion access. under florida law the supreme court must approve any constitutional amendment before it can move forward. opponents of the ballot measure criticized the proposed wording of the ballot question saying it's unclear. at least 60% of the voters will have to back the move for it to ultimately pass. in a statement governor desantis who appointed five of the seven supreme court justices slammed

the decision. he wrote this. this amendment is misleading and confuse voters. we're going to have much more on this decision including its political fallout a little later in the show. meanwhile, progress is slow but steady for crews working around the clock to cleanup the wreckage of baltimore's collapsed francis scott key bridge after that bridge was struck by a cargo ship one week ago. nbc news correspondent aaron gilcrest has more. >> reporter: authorities battling more bad weather in an urgent mission to get the baltimore port back open, announcing a temporary channel now complete. we were out on the water with the coast guard. with this temporary shipping channel now open, we're seeing one of the first ships tuesday go through. off in the distance here a barge being pushed by a tugboat. the operation in full swing after the francis scott key

bridge collapsed when a container ship hit one of its pillars. you're look at one of the first pieces that were cut, and they're waiting to be removaled. the new 11-foot deep temporary shipping lane expected to allow only vessels essential to salvage operations. more than 370 engineers, technicians, logistics experts, and others working around the clock. the plan clear the bridge wreckage from the channel, stabilize the dolly, remove the bridge span from its bow, and eventually remove some cargo containers so the massive ship can be reported and brought back to port. all of this expected to take weeks at least. >> we're going to move as rapidly as possible but do it safely. >> everyone day the port remains closed could have an impact on both the supply chain and the jobs. 140,000 workers have some connection to this shipping hub. >> reporter: chris elliot is a longshoreman, the folks who

handle all the products moving from ship to shore at the port. since the bridge collapse, chris has been in limbo. the uncertainty has to be hard, though. >> yeah, it is. every day you're thinking about the future and the uncertainty. you know you lose some sleepover it. got bills to pay. >> that was nbc's aaron gill crest reporting. still ahead we'll turn to sports, and the women's time four is all set after a thrilling rematch of last year's national title game. plus, we'll bring you the highlights across major league baseball including the first no hitter of the young season. all of that plus a look at the forecast straight ahead. of thate forecast straight ahead.

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evades. that will do it. this time it's iowa! >> iowa wins the rematch of last year's national title game against lsu, beating the third seeded tigers 94-87 to earn a second contechsive trip to the final four. superstar caitlin clark was brilliant. she led a march madness single game record tying three pointers. clark also broke the ncaa tournament assist record with another 12 last night giving her a total of 140. iowa will now face yukon in the national semifinals after the third seeded huskies knocked off the number 1 usc. scoring a team high 38 to send yukon on a record 23rd trip to the final four.

the winners of friday night's matchups will play for the national championship on sunday. we've got south carolina and portland, iowa-yukon -- sorry, south carolina and nc state. iowa and yukon. turning to chicago. the cubs and rockies were scoreless in the sixth inning. we'll bring you this moment. two runners on base for chicago. >> hudson fires, base hit left field. they're going to hold him up. it gets under the glufbl of jones. it rolls all the way to the wall. suzuki is in. now he's coming home. oh, baby. >> a little league home run, i suppose. chris moral single under the left glove of of jones and sent him all around the bases.

cubs wins their opener against the rockies 5-0. pitching the first know hilter of the young season making his eighth career start the 39-year-old blanco struck out seven batters. astros beat the toronto blue jays 10-0. congrats to him. racked up another win. they beat the arizona diamond backs 5-1. the yankees have started their season on a five game winning streak for the first time in 32 years. not good. to oakland now. the boston red sox capitalized on five errors committed by the a's in just the first three innings of last night's game. oakland's error total is now up to a remarkable 13 through just five contests. boston starter tanner howard was really good. as the beat sox beat the a's 9-0 in front of just 6,000 people in

oakland. fans are staying away from a's games, so unhappy with ownership and the proposed move to las vegas. they deserve better. time now for the weather. let's bring in meteorologist angie lassman for the forecast. angie, a lot of rainout there. >> a lot of rainout there. the same ugh you used for the yankees, you're going to be able to use for the weather. we've got alerts up including tornado watches but this time they're going to last a little longer into the morning hours. winter alerts for parts of the great lakes and the north east. flood watches up for 17 million people for the ohio valley and points east of that. here's the deal today. we've got dangerous thunderstorms across parts of the midsection of this area but also heavy snow and gusty winds. difficult travel likely for parts of the great lake and the midwest. this is the area, though, we're going to watch into the late afternoon, evening hours tonight for the potential to see really strong storms. we're talking long track

tornados, large tornados that last a while. and that main bulls eye is where you see the orange and the red. what you see extended to the gulf coast and up towards the great lakes, still potential to see large hail as well as gusty winds. it's the tornados we're most concerned about and, yes, we'll go into the afternoon and evening hours after dark. by tomorrow this system works its way to the east. still dealing with unsettled conditions across parts of the north east and great lakes and midwest. we've got the snow. i know it's april, but sure isn't going to look like it across parts of new england here through the next couple of days. we'll still be dealing with this ron, unsettled conditions across this region even as we get into thursday. >> april showers -- >> bring may flowers. >> still ahead here on "way too early," new polling shows that president biden is leading former president trump among registered voters. but biden's support with a key group that could decide november's election still appears shaky. we'll break down the state of

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welcome back to "way too early." it is 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this tuesday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. back to politics now. and new polling finds that president joe biden is leading donald trump in this year's general election, narrowlych. in the latest morning consul

survey he hides a slim majority to trump. although that is within the poll's margin of error, here's why it's important. it marks a shift from a january survey which found trump leading biden by 5, 45% to 40%, meaning a 7-point swing. and that move towards biden is partly due to an increase in support among independents. in january independents backed trump by 10 points, 38 to 20%. in the latest poll biden and trump are now tied at 34% each. joining us here on set at 30 rock to discuss it, senior politics reporter for axios, eugene scott. eugene, good to see you. it does seem like president biden's "state of the union" last month he's picked up some momentum. been on it road and a few good moments and a fund-raiser in new york last week, while donald trump has largely been quiet. he's heading back on the road

today. you talked to both republicans and democrats alike. what do they make of the race? do they pick up at the moment it's breaking towards biden? >> i mean the state of the union address or as someone referred to it previously super thursday was a real game changer. i spoke with a focus group of swing voters the tuesday afterwards, and the concern as you remember primarily was is he going to be young enough or at least not old enough, and he has proven that he was. at that event on the trail, the states he's visited, and quite frankly trump has shown signs that have been of concern to many voters since then. and, you know, he's been referred to as more quiet, but he's been very vocal on social media, and that's reminded somebody of these voters maybe this isn't a direction in which they want to go. >> right. truth social doesn't have the impact of twitter, but you see if it's played on cable and such, it does resonate. so let's talk about these swing state voters.

i know you and your colleagues have been doing these for a while now. it was a series of states. what are some of the take-aways in these battlegrounds? >> when we spoke to michigan voters gaza conflict a real concern. nevada voters and the economy even though it is doing better hadn't really reached these individuals. i'm talking pennsylvania within the next week, swing voters there. and i expect they're going to weigh in whether or not they really believe that things can get better in terms of biden protecting democracy. there also have been some lawmakers in pennsylvania that have been very critical of biden, and it would be interesting to see if they fall in line with them or if they are more supportive of him. >> we showed wisconsin voters blame republicans for the border bill collapsing. >> they did. and they were very upset.

even though they said immigration is a real problem for them and align with republicans concerns seeing it as seriously of an issue as the gop does, but they don't think the republicans are actually doing anything with it. and they can tell. they can tell trump has significant influence in the party and the motivations for them not moving forward with the bill were tied with democrats wanting to look bad, and ultimately that planned backfired. >> hovering over this entire election of course is donald trump's legal woes. we opened the show talking about his gag order and his manhattan criminal case has been expanded. that case scheduled to go to trial in just two weeks time. as you've been talking to these focus groups, these swing voters, are they paying attention to these criminal cases? is it going to hurt donald trump? because that's bin one of the real questions of the campaign? >> they're paying attention to the sense they know they exist. are they following them daily? no. one of the things we know about voters including swing voters

right now they aren't as engaged in this election as they were 2020. they've got families to focus on, jobs to go to, but that's beginning to change. what seeps through does concern them. stories like attacks on the judges and their families, it's reminding them attacks were quite frequent from him when he was in the white house. and they don't want to see it again. >> politics roorter for axios, eugene, great to see you again. next up on "way too early" we'll go live to cnbc for an early look what's driving wall street after the markets closed lower yesterday. plus why gold just hit an all-time high. we'll explain when we come right back. l-time high. we'll explain when we come right back

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some more business news. at&t announced that personal data from 73 million current and former customers were leaked onto the dark web. it's scary to think the web we're using is the good one. >> thank you, jimmy. time now for business, and for that let's bring in cnbc's mandy druy who joins us live from london. stock futures down after the s&p 500 and the dow kicked off with some declines. what appears to be driving the markets in. >> yeah, you're absolutely right, johnman. the it is a lackluster start, isn't it, to the second quarter. but do keep in mind how good the first quarter up with the s&p up over 10%, the nasdaq down up over 5%, and the dow up over 6%. because the market was hoping for the rate cuts to come from the federal reserve and the fed reaffirmed the doubt plot we could get this year.

everything is starting to change in terms of the narrative. don't cut too soon, and then on friday powell was talking about very strong growth in the u.s. economy, and then yesterday we got the u.s. manufacturing number, the survey there which was also stronger than expected, so the market has been pairing back some of those rate cut expectations with a lower probability of the cuts starting in june. and that, of course, is denting well, maybe some of the equity in enthusiasm. >> so another headline here that gold prices yesterday scaled to another record high. what's propelling this surge? >> yeah, ironically part of the reason we've seen this incredible rally in gold to record highs is also on those rate cut expectations. but you know what, the number of things may potentially stand in gold's rally's way. for one, you know, as the rate cut expectations have been paired back by the market, you've also seen a lot of resurgent strength in the

dollar. dxy, that's the dollar index, indeed just this week cracked above 105 again. i believe that's the highest in four months. normally we do see that gold might see some head winds if indeed the u.s. dollar continues to rally, but of course that remains to be seen. >> and lastly, mandy, crude oil futures rose on the first day of the second quarter trading. what's behind that? >> yeah, really good point. we've seen oil prices climb to five-month highs as well. and this is a multipronged facet. you've got not just the strong data coming out of the u.s. economy. we've also started to see some green shoots in the chinese economy. indeed, if we see a stronger economy on both sides, you've got china, the world's second largest economy and the world's first largest economy looking good, that means potentially more demand for oil prices. let's not forget, and this has also been one of the reasons the gold prices have rallied to record highs is all the

geopolitical flash points around the world, and the last day or two we've seen escalations in the middle east. and that perhaps is propelling a bit of the lift in gold and oil prices as well. jonathan, back to you. >> all right, cnbc's mandy drury live from london, thank you for joining us. next up here we'll turn to politics. the biden campaign now says donald trump's home state might be winnable this fall. we'll dig into that ambitious statement when we come right back. ambitious statement when we come rhtig back (psst! psst!)

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welcome back. the biden. harris campaign now appears to see an opening to gain ground in florida. in a new memo released just moments after the florida court handed down two decisions on abortion yesterday, the campaign now calls florida a winnable state where they're looking to make inroads. the campaign highlights state

leaders, quote, extreme agenda as one of the reasons they believe they can flip it. it will also play a major role in the upcoming campaign. democrats have seen success making reproductive rights a key election issue since the supreme court's decision to overturn roe v. wade. joining us now health care reporter for capitol hill for politico. great to see you this morning. let's start with what happened yesterday. this pair of decisions by the florida supreme court sort of gave a win to both sides of the abortion argument. it's undeniably a little confusing, so explain to our viewers what the next steps might be, and is there any aurally sense what voters might decide come november? >> well, we know what has happen in every other state that has had a referendum like this in every other state since roe v.

wade, which is that voters turn out in support of either restoring or protecting abortion rights. in this case it would be restoring. i think it's significant that the court in one fell swoop said we're going to clear the way for this six-week ban to take effect, and we're going to allow voters to weigh in. and moving from a 15-week ban to a 6-week ban the abortion rights side believes it will only energize voters, make them more determined to come out and vote in favor of this referendum. now, we haven't had these in a presidential year yet, so looking at the past votes in michigan and ohio and in a bunch of other states over the last few years, gives us some data points about the political impact. again, this is new territory with likely trump and biden on the ballot. >> yeah, and six weeks so strict compared to other states. so let's talk about the politics of this now. the biden campaign for a long time thought north carolina was their probably one and only chance to pick up a state in

part because there's abortion rights access there, too. florida has really trended red in recent cycles. it is home to governor desantis. it's also home to donald trump. let's talk about that. has trump tried to kind of have it both ways on abortion, and now desantis' strict policy is something trump is going to have to deal with this fall. >> that's right. so it's something democrats will absolutely try to put republicans on the spot on, really hold their feet to the fire. it's also going to happen in-house and senate races in florida that could very well determine control of the house and senate nationally. so i think this is something you're going to see democrats absolutely hammering republicans on in ads. i think we should remember trump previously has criticized desantis for signing the 6-week ban. and i think in general you're seeing a lot of republicans wanting to portray themselves as the sort of renable moderates on

abortion and cast democrats as the extremists. this will make that harder, will make that case harder because they're making them defend this 6-week ban. six weeks is before a lot of people even know they're pregnant. and florida has become just an absolutely crucial hub for abortion access for the entire region, and so this decision does not only impact millions of people in florida, but really it's going to ripple across the south. >> yeah, that's a great point how this is going to expand beyond the borders in florida. as for trump he tries to distance himself from some of what desantis has done but at the same time has repeatedly taken credit and bragged about florida. trump tries to distance himself from what desantis has done but he has bragged about appointing the special counsel justices that overturned roe v. wade. thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. up next on way too early.

donald trump back on the campaign trail set to visit a pair of battleground states today. where he's headed. and on "morning joe," the ex-president has secured the $175 million bond in his new york civil fraud case but can he come up with the rest of the cash if his appeal falls flat? plus colin allred joins us live in studio. and award winning actor john hamm will be a guest. you won't want to miss that. "morning joe" just a few moments away. orning joe" just a few moms away you can build new bone with evenity®. ask your doctor if you can do more than just slowing down bone loss with evenity®. want stronger bones? then build new bone; evenity® can help in just 12 months. evenity® is proven to reduce spine fracture risk by 73%.

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donald trump will return to the campaign trail visiting the midwest for his first official rallies since clinching the 2024 nomination nearly a month ago. in grand rapids, michigan he's set to meet with leaders and deliver a speech on what his campaign calls, quote, biden's border blood bath.

trump will then head to green bay, wyoming to hold a speech on the day they hold their presidential primaries. since last month, biden has visited eight swing states, trump zero. ahead of that rally trump called into a radio show where he falsely claimed to have won the state in 2020 and spewed rhetoric against migrants. joining us now, nbc senior national politics reporter jonathan allen. good to see you. i hope you enjoyed opening day yesterday in the nation's capital. much has been made of trump's light campaign schedule over the last month, frankly because his campaign is short of cash to put on the expensive ralrallies. but he's back on the road today. talk to us about what we should expect to hear as he visits two important states, michigan and wyoming. >> he's going to michigan to

talk about border security, hasn't been there since february 17th. obviously michigan, wisconsin, pennsylvania that industrial corridor has been pivotal in the last two presidential elections. a state i think you're likely to see donald trump in a lot the next several months and wisconsin he has a more traditional rally in green bay. i'll be interested to hear what differences they're in wisconsin, but i would expect to hear a lot of grievance from donald trump. you know, this sort of sets the tone for what we're going to see, his trial begins april 15th in new york. we'll see him on the road once, maybe twice a week when he gets breaks in the trial either on the weekend or the middle of the week. otherwise we'll see him in court. so this is one of his last opportunities before that moment to try to rally the troops. >> i think the dynamic is so

interesting. first of all that he hasn't been on the road in a while, this is his first appearance in front of a crowd in quite some time. we may have gotten a preview on easter sunday on truth social. but also he's limited what he can do because in two week's time he's going to have to be in a courtroom each and every day. how is his campaign planning to manage that? >> this has been the challenge all along, they knew it was going to come to a head where the calendar was a conflict for him. he has to be in new york most of the time. obviously he prefers palm beach or bedminster, close enough to commute to new york. but he's limited in fund-raising, in his ability to go out on the campaign trail. limited in his ability to go to say arizona which is a longer trip than it is to michigan or wisconsin or pennsylvania to do campaigning. so this is a challenge for his

campaign to be sure they're going to try to make sure that it's not more than just a logistical challenge that it doesn't prevent him from getting his message across that it doesn't under cut his message, obviously nobody wants to sit in a hush money case involving an alleged affair with a porn star -- at least most people wouldn't -- and make sure it doesn't undercut him entirely. >> let's talk about his fund-raising. president biden was in wisconsin maybe two weeks back and while there the dnc announced they were opening up about three dozen campaign offices across the state. republicans don't have any not yet. so much because of the cash deficit. talk to us about that financial disadvantage. >> it's a huge financial disadvantage and the trump folks say they don't need as much money as biden to win. that's probably true. we saw two elections where donald trump was out spent, one

he won, 2016 and one he lost, 2020. but he is diverting so much of the money to his campaign a apparatus, the superpac outside of it, devoting so much money to lawyers. people who donate to him know the money is going to end up with lawyers, defending him in court. so he's really behind the eight ball, the biden campaign is stock piling cash. i think they're going to use it to make choices where to spend the money. it's always better to have more money than less money in politics. >> we opened the show noting that joe biden has put up a little bit of a lead in national polls. it's close but we've seen it trending that way. wisconsin, pennsylvania, and michigan particularly. how is the trump campaign feeling about biden momentum? >> it's difficult to get them to speak in any way that suggests

there's anything bad for donald trump at any time because they know they'll be drummed out of trump world if they do that. the truth is it's rare to see movement in the race and you're seeing it as you suggested, certainly moderately but you're seeing a significant and noticeable jump for joe biden that's not good for trump world, not good for donald trump. we'll see if that continues. you know, over the course of the biden presidency there have not been a lot of periods of time that have looked good for him, certainly in the last few weeks it's looking better for him. >> we know that pressure, political or legal, causes outbursts for donald trump we'll watch what he has to say tonight. jonathan allen, thank you we'll talk to you again soon. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too