>> that does it for me today. we're gearing up for a very busy day tomorrow when donald trump's first criminal trial kicks off in new york city. we have a great lineup of guests. congressman dan goldman is joining me and lead council former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york preet bhara is joining me and more. for now, stay right where you are. there's much more news coming up on msnbc. up on msnbc. on the eve of history. in just hours, donald trump will walk into a new york city courtroom, where for the first time, a former president will be tried in a court of law.

this wall steel journal headline says it all. trump tried everything to avoid a criminal trial. the day has arrived. from the key players to how he got here to the first step of jury selection, we are unpacking all of it. good day to all of you. welcome everyone to alex witt reports. we begin with the breaking news on iran's unprecedented aerial attack on israel that lit up the skies over israel in a terrifying display. terrifying display. israel today saying it successfully shot down nearly all of the 300 drones and missiles launched with those that made impact causing only minor damage. moments ago, israel's war cabinet wrapped up its meeting as it weighs a response while iran signaled it would not make any additional strikes unless

attacked. also right now, president biden holding a meeting with g7 leaderes to discuss a united diplomatic response be all members condemning the attack. telling prime minister benjamin netanyahu to take the win and avoid retaliation. a white house official telling nbc news today the u.s. will not take part in any offensive operations against iran. the administration pledging the ironclad support for israel yes, sir defense. >> it was very clearly we stand with you in your self-defense. that was the main message that the president deliver today the prime minister. he congratulated the prime minister and the idf for the extraordinary job they did knocking things out of the sky. i won't go into more detail. i go back to what the president has said time and time again. we don't seek an escalation or a wider war in the region. >> we have a number of reporters and analysts in place. we'll begin with ralph sanchez

in tel-aviv. tell us what you are seeing from inside israel and what you're hearing from the officials there. >> reporter: well, alex, we just heard in the last couple minutes from an official that prime minister netanyahu has concluded a meeting of his war cabinet. it was happening not far from here at the israel defense ministry here in tel-aviv. we do not know, at this point, whether any decision was made on an israeli response to iran. it is likely that we will hear from the prime minister later on tonight. it is 8:00 p.m. here in tel-aviv. possible that we will hear from him later this evening. in about 15 minutes the israeli mill stair spokesman is going to appear for the first time since he was on this time almost last night announcing to the nation that wave of cruise missiles and drones was on its

way from iran. the israeli military has extended a number of restrictions here in israel until tomorrow night. among those restrictions, schools and other educational facilities will be closed. there are restrictions on the number of people who can gather all in one place. that is a sign that israel is not prepared to give the total all clear to its citizens. we heard from the defense minister earlier on saying this is not over. they are, for now, remaining cautious. but as you said, iran has signaled that they are not planning any further attacks. i'm looking up, alex, because there's a passenger plane coming over us on its way in, which is notable. israeli air space was closed. the airport was closed. that plane going overhead is a sign of some normalcy returning here. as well as that meeting with g7

leaders, alex, president biden also speaking to king abdullah of jordan, a close american ally. that's according to the royal court. many of these iranian drones and missiles were intercepted over jordan air space. not just by israeli aircraft, but also by american and by british. so that is a key bit of diplomacy playing out in the middle east. >> you make that point. i love that you looked up in the sky and could see a passenger plane there. i thought that was terrific. it's also notable other air spaces over countries neighboring there in the middle east. they also had closed their air space. do you know if they have also opened up for commercial or other flights? >> reporter: yeah. so jordan air space is certainly open right now. we think the air space over lebanon is also. i think a lot of countries

around the region drawing comfort from those pretty clear statements from the iranian government that from their perspective, this was a one and done. that they were responding to what they say was that israel air strike near their embassy in damascus back on april 1st that killed seven senior members of the revolutionary guard. iran said it had the legitimate right to respond militarily. we're waiting to see if israel feels it needs to respond to that response. it may very well be that the israeli government feels if they were in deed responsible for that attack in damascus, something they never claimed responsibility for, that this is now finished. i can tell you alex speaking to people on the ground in tel- aviv, there is not a clamber for retaliation among ordinary israelis. instead, there is a deep sense of relief that this appears for

the moment at least to be over. there are some members, though, of netanyahu's cabinet, especially on the far right who are saying there needs to be a response. the indications from the more central members are nothing at least in the short term. >> which begs this final question to you. i know you're pressed for time. when it comes to the fact when you say the educational outlets and schools and educational facilities are closed for another day and what that indicates. if you listen to what iran has said, which is we're done. we don't have anymore plans. to what would you attribute israel's concern and cautious approach to keeping things closed? does that suggest israel would respond now? >> yeah. it's a really, really good question, alex. part of the reality is the israeli military simply doesn't know what the government is going to decide. and so given that they are the ones that have responsibility

for the safety of israeli civilians, they are keeping schools and other places closed until they know what that firm decision is. because if they are ordered by israel's democratically elected leaders to retaliate, it could be that there's more danger ahead for civilians here in israel. i will say it may be in abundance of caution. most schools here in israel are already closed. ahead of the passover holiday. so it is more a case they are closing holiday camps and other kind of extracurricular activities as opposed to actually keeping school children out of their normal schooling. it may be that the consideration from the israeli's consideration is the cost of keeping them closed is lower than it may be. >> raf sanchez, thank you so

much. let's go to ally rafa. what are we hearing from the national security team today? >> reporter: we're getting a better sense of what the president has been working on this morning. you heard raf give the update on the phone call he had with king abdullah of jordan today to discuss the unprecedented attack against israel yesterday. u.s. officials are stressing they have been and will continue to be in constant communication with their israeli counterparts in the aftermath of this strike. the biggest focus right now is how israel will respond. which it has repeatedly vowed it will do. while the israelis are weighing their options to do that as you heard raf lay out. the president and u.s. officials are urging restraint and deescalation. with the president urging president netanyahu to refrain from responding to iran all

together. we saw john kirby make the rounds on the sunday shows today. he also addressed this specific issue. listen to some of his comments about this on "meet the press." >> whether and how the israelis will respond, that's going to be up to them. we understand that and respect that. the president has been very clear. we don't seek a war with iran. we're not looking for escalation here. we will continue to help israel defend itself. >> reporter: notably not giving a definitive answer on whether the u.s. would standby that commitment to support israel if it retaliates directly against iran. and one other piece of this to remember is the u.s. asked israel days ago to give u.s. officials a heads up and even a say before decisions are made about any retaliatory action on iran. the white house so far not answering questions on whether it has received those assurances from the israelis or not. kirby also said on "meet the press," that the u.s. will

continue to support netanyahu and giving him advice and making clear to the world that the u.s. will continue to defend israel. >> okay. thank you for that. we do have some reaction from within the war cabinet. i'll bring it in with national security analyst clint watts. clint, let me talk about something we've gotten. this is from a netanyahu aid. we are told we may report this. that an israeli government official in the prime minister's office has said no decision was made. exactly what israel will do. the idf will need to present options, and here's the quote. it is clear that israel will respond. a second israeli aid to another member of the war cabinet has said no one wants to see an escalation, and that is a very delegate time right now. but the statement it is clear that israel will respond. how could you see that playing

out given the big picture here? given the warnings and admonitions and the suggestions, however you want to put it from the president and allies in the region to ask for calm and to deescalate what's happening. what might happen in light of a response? >> reporter: yeah. alex, it's a different tradeoff for israel versus what iran did overnight. iran is responding to the loss of three commanders. for israel, why did they go after those three commanders in damascus? that was about eliminating some sort of threat. i imagine they perceived coming from iran in the context of the larger crisis that's been going on for the last six months. meaning commanders landing on the ground in damascus. we've seen them also with connections to houthis in the red sea. israel is trying to see what is it in terms of the proportionate response and what

pursues the objectives in light of the broader war they've had with israel and hamas over the last six months. they're trying to defend their assets. they have to show a response. the idf is focused in having a lot of challenges they're having to meet inside gaza. to put all of this together, they could be looking at the regional war we've been talking about over the last six or seven months. should they escalate? they can't go without responding to what is a massive missystem sill attack that occur. >> when you say looking at the prospect of a regional war, how widespread could that potentially get? and would the united states have to participate in a way beyond just supplying support to israel in terms of military supplies? >> reporter: yeah. the line of what will become offense versus defense could change dramatically. separate from this incident

with the missiles, over the last night you saw them capture the ship. that is a major issue with economic markets. the u.s. would have to do something in order to stabilize that, probably, over time. it would be seen as defensive from our posture, but at the same point there's a thin line of what would be defensive versus offensive in terms of trying to prevent something. jordan fired several air defense assets last night to try and knock down missiles and successfully did. they saw it as self-defense. that gets interpreted in different ways because jordan has a long history of conflict with israel in the past. that can spill out in different directions in terms of different militant groups or proxy groups acting out in different ways. you're looking at four or five different ideas. that can quickly spiral in a domino effect into a much larger regional war.

>> folks watching can say oh, everybody worked together to help defray any sort of damage within israel. i'm curious your insights on the details of how it all came together. how many countries and what exact tactics are used to keep 99% of the 300 drones and missiles from landing inside of israel. >> reporter: i think the first part of it is israel has been preparing for air strikes and missiles like this for a long time. this is the first time on a large scale you've seen them repel missile strikes in a scale. you had three major categories of ammunition fired. you're talking about hundreds of assets and look at what the united states did in terms of taking down some of them. particularly of the ballistic nature coming in, long range and some drones. add to that jordan defending its own air space as they would

say. they were essential as well in terms of partnership. that all takes coordination. you can't just have every nation firing the air defense assets at one type or another. right there, the defense in depth approach that the israelis have with four separate air defense systems going after different types of ammunitions and ranges. add to that all of the u.s. assets that come in in different directions as well. it was a remarkable coordination effort behind the scenes. i think it was on central command for the u.s. coordinating with the idf to make sure this could all come together. they were largely successful in terms of repelling the air strikes. >> clint, how concerned are you that the so-called shadow war is no longer in the shadows or won't soon be? >> reporter: from my perspective, you've seen strikes. if you look at the iranian proxies, the houthis in

particular. you've had iran make a strike at pakistan just a couple months ago. very strange attack in terms of using different proxies to go after different assets. you have the malitias. jordan may have intervened is seeing them in syria. just looking at this, this is already a regional war that is not in the shadows. if you look at the pieces that have come together. it's been turning along at a steady clip. this is another one. this is a very direct and very high scale attack that the iranians launched. everyone is wanting to know is this it for iran? will we see more or will z israel respond? what would iran do in retaliation for that? >> we're all going to be watching closely on this show if your help. clint watts, thank you so much. in the next hour, i'll

speak with former israeli prime minister naftali bennett. about whether israel has proof of life for the remaining hostages. next, we're talking about the donald trump trial. my next guest wrote this article. what we know about the questions being asked and the stakes are particularly high for trump's legal team. we're back in a quick 60 seconds. 60 seconds. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using.

most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. >> now to history in the making. tomorrow in new york, donald trump faces a ran day view with justice becoming the first former american president to stand trial for a criminal offense. yesterday in pennsylvania, at his final rally before the trial, trump again cast himself as a political victim. a new reaction to trump's assertion he will absolutely testify in his own defense, a vote of confidence from one of his lawyers. >> that's going to be a decision for president trump and the trial team.

depending on how the trial progresses. i would say if he does take the stand, president trump will be a compelling witness. he did nothing wrong here. >> let's bring in lisa rueben, msnbc legal correspondence. she'll be in the courtroom when arguments begin and with me here in the studio is kate kristabeck. now new york times reporter. kate is one of three authors breaking down profiles of the jurors that each side will be looking for. we have a lot of questions to pose to kate on that. lisa, you first. more than 6,000 juror summons went out for this week. 500 potential jurors are expected in court tomorrow. how will their day start? will they know which case they're being considered for? >> i missed part of the question, alex. first of all, the 6,000 jurors will be allocated to various

courthouses in the new york court system. there are more than usual who have been asked to come in. in part because of tomorrow's opening trial with donald trump. but the ones asked to come to 100 center street, those are the ones that could possibly be part of the trump jury tomorrow. >> okay. so those that come to the court on center street, they may have a good idea of what they're going through. here's the question to you, kate. what is the process they go through and given your experience, is there something different about it? >> it's such a historic day. tomorrow, i think, we've never experienced anything like this. criminal prosecution of a former united states president. but the process is going to be very similar to any other kind of jury service. the jurors will come to the courthouse, as lisa said. they'll come into the courtroom. they'll be greeted by justice juan merchan. that happens in all criminal

cases. a few feet away from them is the former president of the united states. that's when things will be different than what we typically see in a criminal trial. >> also the questions they'll be asked. talk about that. the kinds of questions that are not typically being asked of the average juror. >> exactly. the first few questions will be what normal jurors are asked. they'll be asked to briefly describe themselves, their families and occupations. but gradually the questions will become more and more pointed about former president donald trump. they'll ask, try to be looking for any bias or sympathies for and against the president. the questions will get into if they volunteered for him in the past. if they attended one of his rallies. if they've been on the list search. they're trying to find and mr. trump's lawyers will be trying to determine if the jurors have done anything antidonald trump in the past. that's not something we see on traditional jury service.

we'll get into the bias and sympathies. >> even things like which cable news they watch. that's how granular it will get? >> exactly. it'll get into those questions. the news and podcast and books they read. if it's a book by former president donald trump or michael cohen is expected to be a witness. >> there's going to be a lot of questions. >> the questionnaire is 42 questions and many have sub parts. every juror will be asked the same questions. a lot are yes and no. lawyers will have to be on the lookout for the hidden bias and sympathies that people might not be admitting. >> lisa, the trump team is taking issue with this written statement. it is from the judge. contrary to defense counsel's arguments, the purpose of jury selection is not to determine whether a prospective juror likes or does not like one of

the parties. why is this an issue? >> because judge merhand believes that given who this defendant is, everybody has an opinion about former president trump. the question really to his mind is can those jurors be fair? can they set aside any bias that they have walking into the courtroom? or is the intensity of feeling either for him or against him? so intense that they couldn't possibly put that aside and be a fair juror? that's why he's saying it's not a question of whether they like or dislike him. it's a question of whether they can be fair. the trump folks say actually, no. to the extent that somebody has a bias and dislikes him walking into the courtroom, that should be enough to disqualify that person for cause. and by excluding even that baseline question from the jury questionnaire, you are depriving donald trump to the

fair trial he's entitled to. look for that to become an issue before we bring a single juror into the room tomorrow. >> it sounds like you were going to agree with what kate wrote, which is it's not so much about jury selection as it is jury deselection. >> that's always the case, alex. in new york, with the kind of crime we're looking at here with respect to donald trump, each side gets 10 challenges. that means they can get rid of a particular juror for whatever reason and they don't have to state it. they also get what are called unlimited challenges for cause. and that is a challenge to a perspective juror on the basis that they have a bias that would interfere with their ability to cast a full and impartial judgment as a member of the jury. so, tomorrow what can we expect? we should look to donald trump's team to try and strike many jurors for cause. why? one because it's unlimited. two because they have an

outstanding motion saying essentially donald trump can't get a fair trial in the county of manhattan. that this case should have been postponed indefinitely or had the venue changed. it's the venue change issue they're pursuing. their belief is that because everybody here in manhattan has an opinion about donald trump and the majority of residents don't like the guy, they'll try to explore that and strike as many of the jurors they have a negative opinion for cause. >> lisa's point about dismissals. you write those that trump and his team will want would include a younger black men and white working class men. in particular public employees. like police officers, firefighters and sanitation workers. what's the strategy behind that? >> i think they're looking for people that, you know, would be likely to be sympathetic to former president donald trump.

through new york times reporting, that's how we determined some of the preferences. and i think that it must be through internal studies polling about who may be more sympathetic. they're also looking for people who have had troubles of their own with the criminal justice system. certainly no one can relate to what the former president is about to experience, but people do come into jury service having a less than positive experience with the criminal justice system. either their own experience or that of a family member. i think they're going to be looking for folks like that as well. >> lisa, trump says he will absolutely testify in his own defense. here's what his former lawyer and fixer said about that. >> the likelihood of donald trump being on the stand is equal to the likelihood of me waking up tomorrow 7-foot 6 and playing center for the new york knicks. >> so beyond the chuckle there, his lawyers today are

expressing confidence that if he does take the stand, considering what happened though in the civil trial, can judge merchan manage him on the stand? can he manage the social media attacks ongoing even today? >> well, let's start with the social media attacks. at least one of them that i've seen from last evening questionably violates the gag order. i think you could take both sides could have an interpretation about whether it crosses the line. this one is as close to the line as i've seen. again, what we're talking about tomorrow morning before a perspective juror walks in the door, it's possible we could see a motion from the district attorney's office about the social media posts saying they are, in fact, violative of the gag order and former president trump should be sanctioned. when it becomes to his behavior on the stand, we've had multiple experiences on the stand.

not only in judge merchan's courtroom but also in the second trial where he was allowed to be asked three questions and he tried to push it even beyond that. i think judge merchan here will have very limited tolerances for that. if donald trump is smart, he will listen to his very good lawyers in this case who have to be extraordinarily nervous about their clients' public assertion that he is absolutely going to testify. it is not in his interest to testify here. particularly given some of the evidence. including his own admissions via tweet that in fact he did repay michael cohen for paying stormy daniels, and he understood what he was doing. >> extraordinary. thank you both so much. in our next hour, we're going to speak with stephanie grisham about a key witness whose testimony who make make donald trump nervous. my next guest as a remarkable

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we are learning right now more about israeli reaction to president biden. joining me now nbc news chief correspondence andrea mitchell. always grateful to have your voice on the show. i know you just got off a call with senior administration officials. all about both strikes and what the u.s. knows about israel's plan for a response. what do you know? what did you find out? >> reporter: let's go through some of this. this call just ended, and it was just about i guess almost 45 minutes that we were on with the senior officials going through it. they said it was a significant attack. at one point in the situation room last night there were more than a hundred ballistic missiles in the air and the president and his national security team did not know whether they had landed,

whether they had been intercepted because they were minutes away coming from iran towards israel. separately, i was talking to a senior administration official earlier this afternoon who told me that all of the missiles and the drones and the uav's that came from iran were heading towards a military base. towards one military base in israel. none went towards any civilian areas. there were other project isles that came from other areas, from hezbollah and other proxies. what was so unprecedented about this was that it was a large and significant attack. an attack the officials said intended to create significant damage. but they said that the president, as he told prime minister netanyahu at 9:00 last night stressed that you came out on front on this. according to one senior official who spoke to us just now. you came out front and shown

your military superiority and the importance is not to escalate. so that is confirming what we in the new york times and others have reported earlier in the day. that the president actually told netanyahu that he thought they should take the win and not retaliate. however, as i also have reported today before this call, that when some of the officials went to bed last night, they thought there was going to be retaliation. there was no indication from netanyahu after the 9:00 call in the high emotion of the moment when both the situation room and the war cabinet had been through these moments when they did not know if israel's defenses and the combined ally defenses were going to work. because the ballistic missiles moved so quickly in contrast to the uav's and the cruises. the missiles moved so quickly they didn't know if they were going to strike. in fact, what they've now

discovered is 99% were that warted. the u.s. destroyers. others were taken down by fighter jet pilots. british and american. they were in the air. then the majority of those ballistic missiles were taken down by the arab defenses, the air defenses of israel. so most of them were taken down by israel, they said. they were taken down not over israeli air space. that tells you a lot and why the president was emphasizing to take the win because you've shown your superiority. we don't know at this hour what israel is going to do. there was a statement by minister gantz, former deputy prime minister and former deputy who said we are going to

take our time and work with regional partners. but the important thing is as of this moment israel hasn't retaliated. there were a lot of questions from reporters from all over israel but mostly from the united states. from all of the major media who were on the call. and they were asking what do you think israel is going to do? the emphasis is we think we should not be escalating. the president made it clear we shouldn't be escalating it into a regional war. they talked about also how one of the ballistic missiles was taken down by a u.s. patriot battery in iraq and that the coverage that they had had because of the houthis attacks in the red sea, that that helped them a lot to thwart the attacks coming from proxies. that, in fact, there was this person on the call believes there was a ballistic missile on the launch pad in yemen from

the houthis that they took out, by one of the layered air defenses last night. the message to israel is clearly, alex, you did such a superior job. you've proved your superiority. first with damascus, which the u.s. again emphasized the u.s. had no knowledge of. there was a message from iran via the swiss channel who represents us since we don't have diplomatic relations. there was a message during the initial phases of this operation. it was to my account about 6:00, 6:15 eastern we were on the air. and the iranian embassy at the u.n. rather the u.n. mission of iran put out that this mission is going to continue. the operation is continuing, but as far as we're concerned it's over. if israel does not strike back. they confirmed that that had been received at that time. they also talked about the

close coordination leading up to this with all of the allies. there were french and british planes in the air in coordination. we know they're not saying it publicly, but we know jordan and saudi arabia permitted launches and intercepted some things that were coming from their directions. so there was a lot of help that went in because of two weeks of planning in the situation room. by the way, the president was in the situation room again this morning and the ambassador from the u.s. jack lou in israel had gone to one of the batteries to congratulate the success of the israelis. and as one very experienced official with a strong military background said on this call and diplomatic background. he said it was a spectacular operation by israel's defenses. >> so by your description, that call and what you've heard, it

was a team effort both in offense and defense. when you talk about the amount of time, particularly the concern last night by israel saying they didn't know there were already a hundred missiles on route their way. they travel more quickly than the drones do. does that indicate that drones were launched specifically from iranian territory? had to go 1200 miles to tel- aviv region, in that ballpark. and then missiles would have been launched from yemen or lebanon or iraq? is that sort of how it went down? do we know? >> reporter: no. ballistic missiles were launched from iran. clearly. they travel so quickly that distance is covered very, very quickly. so they knew that there had been launches. they just didn't know whether or not they were going to hit. they were tracking them. >> okay. >> reporter: they had such

complete coverage of it. they had a lot of time to plan for this. iran signaled this was coming. they spoke about this. that there was going to be retaliation. there was a lot of intelligence and intelligence sharing in the region as well. during the operation, there was a time when they knew that there were 100 missiles in the air coming at them. and not coming to tel-aviv. coming, all the missile that they knew of that were coming at them from iran at least were coming to the military base. the iranians have said it was the base from which israel launched the damascus strike. i don't have that confirmed. that's what the iranians said on the record. >> what does it tell you, andrea, that all of this was signaled by iran in advance? >> reporter: it tells you so much. what the u.s. has been saying and what many officials have told me and other reports for several weeks, if not months, that iran does not want this to escalate into a regional war.

they're letting the proxies do all this. they're arming the proxies. they harmed hamas, the houthis, hezbollah. there's no question iran is a bad actor. they made a calculation they do not want a war with israel or a war with the u.s. or a war with any of these other players in the region. and so they're walking a very fine line. there can be an accident, a miscalculation, a mistake, especially in the context of the massacre on october 7th, the foury in israel, as well as the horror of the civilian deaths in gaza that have so engaged people around the world and turned people around the world against israel. that's one of the things the president told netanyahu in the previous call. this is not in israel's interest. you are hurting israel. he said publicly that the way israel is conducting the war in

gaza is a mistake. that was different. separate from the u.s. ironclad commitment to defend israel, which he has repeated today, yesterday, last night to netanyahu. again today in the situation room. it was repeated on this call. there's no daylight between israel and the u.s. on the need to defend territorialize reel. there is what we reported and what was confirmed today, they'll be no offense action. in fact, one official on the call said we will not take part in that. without speaking to what the president said to netanyahu, which we have confirmed separately, these officials would not say that directly. they just said the u.s. made it very clear we are not going to be involve in deed an offensive

retaliation against iran. because they have told iran through a lot of parties the u.s. was not involved in the damascus hit. this is not the u.s.' fight. but the u.s. has to defend its ally, israel. if that distinction is clear. >> so the u.s. making clear what they will not do, was there anything on that call, andrea, where you had senior officials saying they expected some sort of retaliation from israel? let me read something that we got here, which i'm sure you're familiar with and got just before that call. there was a netanyahu aid when that war cabinet meeting stopped about 43 minutes ago who said this was an israeli government official in the prime minister's office said no decision was made on what israel will do but the idf will need to present options, and it is clear that israel will

respond. >> reporter: i saw that as well. the u.s. has not been informed of what israel will do. the war cabinet has a lot of mens and they reach decisions. obviously netanyahu has the largest voice. but he is not a commander in chief the way president biden is a commander in chief because it's a parliamentary system. they reach decisions in a different way, and that's a very complicated coalition, let's put it that way. the government is very closely balanced. and you know all of the reasons why he is at times drawn to one side or the other by members of the coalition. in any case, how they respond is really important. because if they respond against territory iran, that is what the u.s. hopes will not happen. we saw another statement from another minister, which i refer to, benny ganz, a former

general, who is a member of the opposition. he said there will be a response, but we'll talk to our coalition and take our time. so it's not going to be immediate, at least. there may be more time to talk about the repercussions. it's very clear from the call that the u.s. doesn't want israel to retaliate. >> andrea mitchell, always grateful for your insights. thank you so much. coming up next, donald trump's search for a running mate and why fundraising will be a big part of his decision. because when you experience europe on a viking longship, you'll spend less time getting there and more time being there. viking. exploring the world in comfort.

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if you're over 50, talk to your doctor or pharmacist now to a new report in the new york times regarding donald trump's vp selection which says mr. trump has asked several people about the fundraising of possible running mates. this according to three people signaling a fresh angle in the search for a running mate.

two names he is considering, tulsy gabert. g, tulsy gabert. olivia, let me get your reaction to the potential vp picks you just heard. gaberd and kennedy. >> wow, that's quite the crew of winners. right? they will continue to gain power i guess under trump. when it comes to a vp pick for trump, yes, he needs the money. he needs the cash for multiple reasons. if not to have the fundraising operation out of the rnc that trying to figure out how to pay the legal bills and much less run a campaign. it's going to come to looks, loyalty, and performance. there's reporting he's having people come down and give speeches and he's judging how they do on that stage. so i think it's quite fair to look at this as apprentice 2024 in terms of how he's auditions

candidates and making sure it's someone moralely weak. he doesn't want someone to overshadow him. he wants the spotlight on him. i can tell you this because there were numerous times he was mad pence would do well in press conference and be angry and the next thing he would be doing the press conferences. i don't think you'll see this play out in a traditional sense of the word. when it comes to picking a vp. i also, you know, mike pence found out he was a pick via twitter. that's how he was told. stay tuned for how the vice presidential pick will unfold in 2024. >> for sure. the reason he needs the cash is the legal challenges are draining his coffer. the first of four criminal trials begins tomorrow with jury selection. the first criminal case ever against a former president.

talk to us about what you're expecting on this, this eve of a truly historic trial. >> first of all, i think wow, what an awful moment for our country to see a former president be put on trial. i think it's important to have account and you believe and the rule of law matters. yes, there's hush money and a stripper involved. the bottom line is he broke the law, and he is going to trial for that. look, i think in the greater scheme of things, will this reach voters and people watching this? i don't know. we just had governor chris go on abc and when he laid out are you going to support him regardless if he gets convicted in this case in manhattan and he said yes, i will. when you have republican leaders like that messaging that way, who needs enemies to democracy and the rule of law.

this is quite the quandary. i don't know if it will impact the election? will it be embarrassing for trump and his family? certainly. i'm sure they are dreading this week and what's to come. >> i do want to talk about this with regard to the latest violence in the middle east. former president trump said it wouldn't have happened under him. it was because the u.s. showed great weakness. what's your reaction to that? >> first of all, i think it's crazy to say that public. it's unpredictable what would happen in a trump presidency. in 2020 tensions were high between the u.s. and iran. we had taken out a general who was an iranian general and they struck back. they struck back at iraq and hit the military coalition forces and bases. and during that moment, i cannot tell you the sort of

manic inside the white house of trying to figure out in the national security community how trump was going to react. i say this when he puts out statements like that. right now what's happening in the middle east and between israel and iran is so critical. it's very complicated and requires nuance and diplomacy and as andrea mitchell just talked about with you. this is all very calculated. the last thing that we would need is someone who is unstable who does not understand foreign policy in the oval office in this type of situation. what he wanted to do, what his response would be, just bomb them. just bomb iran. he said this repeatedly. there were several generals around the table and other leaders who said this will turn into a full scale world war conflict. we do not want that. that would be the seriousness of this situation. i say this because should a conflict like this happen and you see him spinning this against biden and how they're

reacting, it requires nuance, and it is delegate. and should this happen in a trump presidency going forward, you won't have serious people around the table weighing the options and looking at how do we engage as a u.s. foreign power and leader in this phase. you're going to have mike flints and rick ranells and the insane clown possy advising a very serious national security. that's what is at stake here going forward. >> let me tell you, i hope everyone listening to you is thinking about that, olivia. thank you so much. it lasted five hours, caused little damage but pressure remains on israel to respond in kind or more to iran. a new read on where this conflict is headed, next. next

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attack on israel. the leaders of the g7 giving a statement at the top of the hour condemning iran's assault and pledging support to israel. the united nations security counsel will meet later today amid fears of a broader conflict. the attack making -- iran launches assault on israel. this headline from barcelona, spain, says iran attacks israel with missiles and drones. in italy, the headline is simple. israel under attack. to south america and the headline from brazil's capital is iran attacks israel and expands conflict in the middle east and the jerusalem post has this. iran attack begins as they launch drones. joining me now, dan daluth. welcome. this was a five hour long attack. it did almost nothing. and earlier, i spoke with adam smith, ranking member of the armed services committee.

>> as long as israel can say look, this was a complete failure, it showed iran's weakness, not their strength, that is an argument for saying israel doesn't have to do anything militarily in response. a response from israel would be a mistake. when you look at what israel faces from hezbollah, the battle they have against hamas in gaza, to launch into what would be an ever escalating conflict with iran i think would be directly contrary to israel's interest in peace and security. we need deescalation, not escalation. >> dan, does that match the sentiment you're hearing there in washington? >> i think that definitely, alex, matches the sentiment of many democrats. and it certainly matches the sentiment in the white house and the biden administration. although they're putting it with more nuance than congressman smith. their view is israel succeeded

in defeating a major aerial assault from iran. what is the point now of launching a major military action in response that then could have all sorts of unintended consequences? of course there are domestic political factors for israel, and there are right wing members of prime minister's netanyahu's government who will definitely want action. as we have seen the statements that came out of israel earlier today. the defense, the member of the cabinet benny gantz talking about they'll be a response at a time of our choosing. so we're not out of the woods here. the ball is really in israel's court right new. >> okay. dan, we got a lot to buckle up and look ahead to. thank you so much for your help on this. attorneys need to take 500 prospects down to a core of 12 jurors with 6 alternates in

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