good morning. it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this hour with breaking news from inside a manhattan courtroom where there are new developments in former president donald trump's first criminal case. just this morning, one of the jurors was dismissed after she said she was having second thoughts about being impartial. the case is centered around

allegations that trump falsified business records to bury a story about an alleged sexual encounter with adult film star stormy daniels. the d.a.'s office also alleges model karen mcdougal received a payment from american media to silence her about another alleged affair with trump. trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts and denied the affairs with these women ever happened. joining us now, nbc news correspondent yasmin vossoughian, danny cevallos, criminal defense attorney and msnbc legal analyst and rebecca roy fee, a law professor at new york law school. so, yasmin, a lot going on in that courtroom today. >> reporter: a lot of folks are dismissed so far today, 96 walked in, 57 walked out after the two questions that were read by judge juan merchan, can you be impartial, many folks raised their hands, they walked out. do you have conflicts with this trial, can you sit it out or can you wait it out, for the next six to seven weeks? many of them walked out as well.

we're at 57 having walked out. that's way more than half. i actually had the opportunity just a couple of minutes ago to speak to a potential juror who in fact raised her hand when asked can you be impartial. and she said no. and subsequently walked out. take a listen to what she had to say. >> when did you realize that this was a trial involving the ex-president of the united states, donald trump? >> we were here on tuesday from 9:00 a.m., but we realized that it is about this case around 4:00 p.m. we went to the courtroom, and we saw donald trump. it is a historical case, and, you know, this is going to define so many things. but at the same time, our job as a juror, right, is to be impartial, like, to be unbiased. so, it was, yeah, it was, you know, weird, like, the whole

atmosphere. >> reporter: jose, first time citizen of the united states. she got her citizenship back in august. this is going to be in november the first presidential election in which she will vote in. this is the first time, jose, she was called to jury duty. and imagine she walks into the courtroom and sees that donald trump, the former president of the united states, is the defendant. unbelievable. they're going for the 42 questions now inside the courtroom, and then they'll move on to the voir dire process in which the prosecution and the defense will ask their own questions, jose. >> welcome to america. what is the count now as far as jurors that are seated, those that aren't, and what happened to other jurors? >> so, one of the jurors, juror number two, this morning, came back, she had been seated and she came back today, because she

had reservations about being a member of the jury. it was because of her identity, essentially. she had friends and family members who were asking her if she was on this jury. and so she reached out to the court to say that she had reservations about serving in this jury pool in this jury, and so she came back this morning, to talk about that, and she was subsequently dismissed. then judge juan merchan talked about not identifying jurors and being cautious in the way in which we reported the identity of jurors. there is a question and a jury questionnaire that asks about your current employer, jose, and your former employer as well. the judge is asking that while that is still submitted into the record, we not report that, for instance, in our own reporting here on television and in papers, folks that are covering this trial, so that we don't reveal possibly the identities of these potential jurors.

also, juror number four is in question because the possibility of not providing valid answers on that 42-question questionnaire. juror number four was supposed to show up to answer some of the questions they had about that, he has not yet shown up, so they decided to move on with the jury questionnaire process throughout the day. and they'll revisit it after juror number four shows up. >> so, rebecca, as we were just hearing, the judge actually scolded the press over its coverage of the jurors. why is that information so delicate? >> well, this really just highlights how difficult it is to pick a jury in this particular kind of case and how to ensure that the safety of those jurors and the anonymity of those jurors is preserved. and so in a case like this, you really need to try to not only not reveal names, but also not

reveal identifying details. now, perhaps the judge is thinking that this was a mistake in including it in the jury questionnaire, but at this point, he's keeping the questionnaire and just asking the media to be more careful in its reporting. >> danny, so, you know, you've been involved in so many cases. how do you see the unusual or how unusual is what we're seeing in this case? >> what we're learning in this case that makes it different, in addition to the fact that we're in new york state court, where jury selection is really different from places like federal court, where lawyers like me are barely involved, we're involved, but we don't do any question, we really only speak when spoken to by the judge in the federal system. in the new york system, there is actual interaction by the lawyers with the potential jurors. and in civil cases, sometimes the judge isn't even in the room during jury selection. so, we're seeing a very unique process here and the other takeaway that we learned this morning is that when it comes to

trump, just because a juror is in doesn't really mean they're in. they could be back out. what i suspect is happening is once a juror is seated, each side decides first, do we like this juror, and if the answer to that is no, they get to work taking a closer look at their history, their social media, maybe whether they were dishonest about something like an arrest record, all things that they might be able to use to bring to the judge and say, hey, even though this might not be the kind of deep dive you would do in a typical dui or robbery case with jurors, we found this potential arrest from 1993, so, judge, let's look into this. really just because a juror is on the jury at this point doesn't mean they'll stay on the jury. so, we kind of thought that the numbers would remain static and just go up, but now we learned the numbers of jurors can go down as well. >> so, interesting, and rebecca, if you are called for jury duty, i've been called a number of times, you know, you have to show up, you have to go through

the process, it is not really a volunteer situation, you have to do it, right? so, what are the requirements, what is the rules about, for example, if you're a juror, juror number four or any juror and decide not to show up for whatever reason, in other words, what -- how much teeth is there in you being a juror and what happens if you don't show up? >> so, you're right, this is a court order, you are required to show up, but there is a difference between the requirement and how that requirement is enforced. so, my -- my assumption is that there will not be severe punishments for people who don't come and if you don't come, it will be a sign, a symbol to the sides and to the judge that you are not suited to be a juror in this case. and, you know, in many ways this case is proceeding just like any other case. in some ways it is different. particularly in that the judge is dismissing everyone who says

that they cannot be impartial, which is unusual in a case. >> what exactly, rebecca, is a sandoval hearing? >> a sandoval hearing is a hearing in which the judge determines the scope of cross examination for a prosecutor, and that is important information for the defense going into the case and especially in determining whether or not the defendant is going to take the stand. because if the defendant takes the stand, then in this situation they know, prior to making that decision, what prior bad acts and particularly potential criminal acts that the defendant has committed in the past will be allowed to come in, and obviously that's an important calculation in deciding whether or not to testify. >> yasmin, you know, this juror being asked to be excused, and being excused from the case, you think that this could in some way be a pattern?

>> i mean, i think -- it is part of what danny was talking about, right, because we started off the day with seven and now we're at six and looking at juror number four, that could become five. i think when folks have more time to think about the gravity of this case, and this is what i'm hearing for a lot of folks in that overflow room as well, and think about the commitment that this case is going to take, and what it could really mean for this country, if you think about, this is history in the making, we may lose more, even though we thought this was a considerably quick timeline and we were going to be looking at the arguments on monday. one more thing, jose, i want to say, you did ask rebecca about the sandoval hearing, there was a filing by the people for this sandoval hearing, basically talking about the evidence that they would put forward if donald trump decided to testify. and all of it was about the establishment of his behavior. so, talking about, for instance, the judgment that came through in the civil fraud trial, his being found liable of sexual

assault in the e. jean carroll case as well, the corruption charges, trump organization, trump payroll corporation as well. all of those verdicts to be brought up if, in fact, the former president decides to testify as a establishing a pattern of behavior. >> so, danny, let me ask you about patterns of behavior, for example, on a case of potential jurors. how much access to information about the jurors do both sides have? >> they have some limited access to information, but judge merchan indicated today that he might be even curtailing more the public information that gets out about those jurors. i believe he said something to the effect of, you know, we don't need to report that somebody has an irish accent, for example. they have information about things like job, other stuff, and then from there really in today's age it really doesn't matter. if you get some basic strands, a name, where somebody works, in

fact, just take a law firm, for example, two attorneys on this jury, if you find out the law firm, most law firms, even if they have a sizable new york office, you can scroll through the photos of the bios, find out who that lawyer is pretty quickly, what i imagine many folks have already done if they know the name of the firm and can figure that out, they can glean the rest. so, in a sense, in today's modern era, the information the attorneys get is really just a starting point as long as they're not contacting the juror, the investigation can go right into social media or websites, wherever else. >> rebecca, danny, thank you very much. yasmin, stick with us for any updates throughout the remainder of this hour. still ahead, a rare and exclusive interview with a top leader of hezbollah, a military -- militant group backed by iran. what he says hezbollah will do if israel takes action against iran. back at home, house speaker mike johnson vows to push through an aid bill for ukraine, even if it costs his job.

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16 past the hour. right now on capitol hill, the aid bills that would benefit ukraine, israel and taiwan are going through an important step of the process being considered by the house rules committee. it comes as speaker mike johnson says the hour will vote on the

aid this weekend, but he is facing growing pressure from some republicans to step down as house speaker. ali vitali is with us this morning. great seeing you. what is the latest there? >> reporter: we're watching house lawmakers go in and out of votes, trying to gauge where they are on the upcoming votes because while we're watching the rules committee, which is going to be intriguing and fascinating for those of us up here on capitol hill in and of itself, we're also waiting to see if democrats are considering crossing party lines and helping republicans pass the rule that would allow them to get on to this actual bill voting itself. you got to think about the rule as a procedural hurdle that you have to clear in order to actually allow lawmakers to vote on israel, ukraine, indo-pacific aid, that fourth sort of potpourri of foreign aid related bills that are part of this package created by speaker johnson. and for speaker johnson, this is not just a moment of foreign policy, it is also one of the politics of being the head of a

very rowdy and very divergent republican conference, but for johnson, he made clear yesterday the politics are far from mind when he's putting together the considerations for how this is going to go. listen to the way he seemed to really change his tone and challenge those naysayers within his conference just yesterday. watch. >> if i operated out of fear over emotion to vacate, i would never be able to do my job. i can make a selfish decision and do something that is different, but i'm doing here what i believe to be the right thing. >> reporter: jose, he says the selfish thing there, johnson is effectively referring to the fact that he could have just not put these bills forward at all. of course, that would have drawn ire from democrats and members of the republican conference who very much would like to continue their support to ukraine to lend aid to israel and so on. but johnson is now making this decision and it squarely puts his job on the line once again. we already saw congresswoman marjorie taylor greene saying she doesn't degree with the way

he's going about this, she would push a motion to vacate. she added one more ally to her list this week in congressman tom massey, he's important here too, he sits on the all powerful rules committee. chip roy and ralph norman are probably not going to vote for this rule. that sounds like it may not be a big deal, but the rules committee is a place where typically the majority party, in this case, republicans, should all be voting for what the majority wants, which is to get this rule and this vote on the floor. it is going to be pretty striking to see if that's actually what happens or if democrats have to cross over and help them even get on to this package in the first place. >> yeah. ali vitali, thank you so much. just on a separate note, i see all those gray clouds and stuff, just get ready to take cover. i am worried that that thing could just -- >> it is giving a little bit of miami here, don't you think? >> yeah, without the huge

mosquitos, right? ali vitali, always great to see you. >> we're without the mosquitos. >> thanks. still ahead, new developments as we keep an eye on the courthouse where jury selection continues in trump's criminal hush money trial. up next, congressman adam schiff who served as the lead prosecutor in trump's first impeachment trial weighs in on what has been happening when we come back in just 60 seconds. always a pleasure to see you. we'll chat in a minute. econds always a pleasure to see you we'll chat in a minute suddenly life's feeling a little more automatic. like doors opening wherever i go... [sound of airplane overhead] even the ground is moving for me! y'all seeing this? wild! and i don't even have to activate anything. oooooohhh... automatic sashimi! earn cash back that automatically adjusts to how you spend with the citi custom cash® card. [mind blown explosion noise]

21 past the hour. high stakes week on capitol hill. and with mike johnson, the future of his job on the line, this morning as we have been hearing johnson downplayed he's considering changing the rules that just one member can call for a motion to vacate him as speaker. joining us now, democratic congressman adam schiff from california. a member of the house judiciary committee. it has been a while since we

spoke. i'm very grateful for your time. so, let's go a little bit over the politics of it. to what extent will democrats work with speaker johnson to pass aid to key u.s. allies, ukraine, israel? >> well, thus far, i think we have been keeping our powder dry to see whether the speaker delivers what he says he is going to deliver and that is clean opportunities to vote on ukraine, on israel funding, on humanitarian assistance, on aid for taiwan. if he follows through with that and does the right thing, i think many members of our caucus are going to not want to see him punished for doing that. at the end of the day, democrats want to get things done, we want a house that can be governed, if we're not in the majority, we need at least speaker who can bring things to the floor without constant threat of being unseated by the most extreme elements of his conference. so, my guess is a number of our members are going to want to help if that's necessary.

we'll make that decision in consultation with our leadership. >> so, the possibility of -- very real possibility is that speaker johnson could only survive with support of some democrats, if that were the case, would you vote for that? >> well, that could take a number of different forms that support could take the form of democrats, simply many of them not voting on a motion to vacate. and that way he wouldn't need democratic votes. it would be up to republicans. so we would only be helping to the extent of not voting. but, you know, again, we don't want to undermine the leverage of our own leadership by sort of cutting separate deals, so i'm going to look to hakeem jeffries and his strategy, but what is most important at the end of the day is we need to get this assistance to ukraine, they are being outgunned, they can't defend themselves, their democracy as well as ours is being threatened right now.

and we want to make sure that aid gets delivered as well as the aid to israel and our other allies. >> and congressman, we're showing a live picture of congresswoman marjorie taylor greene, speaking just outside on the capitol there, she is obviously the first person to call for removal of speaker johnson. so, while that is going on, congressman, i want to help if i could focus on some of the other aspects of news that we're covering around the world and, of course, here in the states today, in new york. jury selection happening for the first criminal trial facing a former president. former president trump. as someone who served as a lead prosecutor in his first impeachment trial, what do you make of how the proceedings are going so far? >> i'm very impressed that you could have a situation where in a courtroom, in a city, in america, 12 ordinary citizens are going to decide whether a former president of the united states is guilty or innocent of charges brought against him.

that's a pretty remarkable scene. it is a pretty remarkable, you know, accomplishment for any country and for our democracy that justice is applied to everyone, and the fact that they have gotten through what may be half of the jury selection already is remarkable. the fact that opening statements could begin as soon as next week is quite incredible. and since justice has been so long delayed in the case of donald trump, with his legal team successfully putting off this reckoning, that reckoning, to finally have him have to face justice is, i think, quite an aformation of the system finally. >> congressman, last saturday iran as you know sent more than 300 missiles and drones into israel, from iranian soil. israel is expected to respond in some way anytime now. is an escalation unavoidable? >> i don't think it is

unavoidable. israel is going to have to decide how it will respond and when it responds. israel will respond knowing on the one hand they have to deter iran from attacking them on their own soil again. that crossed the line, but at the same time that it is not in israel's interest to open a second front and have, you know, potentially a full second war with, for example, their proxy hezbollah in lebanon. would have to fight a war in the north as well as the war they're fighting in the south. so, israel is going to have to make that calculation about how they provide the deterrent without escalation, because i don't think escalation is anyone's interest here. >> congressman adam schiff, i can't thank you enough for being with us this morning. i all appreciate your time. let's continue our conversation going forward. >> look forward to it. >> thank you. still ahead, a live update on trump's criminal hush money trial, where earlier this

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there? >> reporter: yeah, jose, right now those individuals that are in the jury box are currently going through that 42 question questionnaire. we had another batch of 96 that came into the courtroom at 9:30 a.m. eastern this morning. about 65 of them were dismissed after saying that either they couldn't be fair and impartial or they had another reason that wouldn't allow them to go forward. we got an allotment of 39 individuals. interestingly you could say two have read art of the deal, one of them read michael cohen's book, another individual said that they had read mark pomerantz's book about this case. so, kind of a fascinating look inside. i want to let you meet another dismissed juror here, who i just met a few moments ago this is mark. you're one of those individuals, correct me if i'm wrong, you rose your hand and you said you would not able to be fair and impartial.

how did that play out? >> we were summoned and the judge read all the particulars of the case, how one was supposed to evaluate the law, and the evidence, and then he said, you know, if there is a reason that you don't think you could be impartial, or that you could be perceived as biased, that you should raise your hand. so, i raised my hand because i was certain that even if an intellectually i would be capable of being unbiased, because i satirized mr. trump often in my art work, that this would come to light and that were i to be seated on the trial, a, it would be dishonest for me to withhold that information, but there is -- there would be no way that blanch, not going is rely on the kind of -- kindness of strangers

would allow me to be on the jury. >> would you describe what you saw with donald trump, what you saw inside the courtroom? >> not very much. he was a bit ahead of me and off to the left. i didn't have a complete view of him today. he sort of is plopped in a chair, you can see the orange. but i was not close to him. >> did you see him turn around and look at the juror? >> no. >> potential jurors at any point? >> no, there are quite a few people in the room and he -- i didn't stare at him the whole time. i glanced at him a number of times. but i did not see him turning around and looking at anybody at that point. the next phase as the judge explained it would be that if you were going to be a potential juror, that would be more of a questionnaire for you to fill out and that you would be interviewed. i thought this is ridiculous, there is no way after my online

presence where i satirized this man again and again that i would be fit to -- they would regard me as to be fit to serve and it would be a waste of their time. and frankly, as a taxpayer, our money, for me to clog up the process that way. >> so you're an honest man and rose your hand and had your opportunity to see the former president of the united states there for that quick moment. but you bypassed the potential opportunity to be try to be a juror. >> i did. >> thank you for talking to us. appreciate your time. there is a cast now of dismissed jurors here in new york city here that can say they saw donald trump for the start of his criminal trial. but as we continue to make our way through, we're at six jurors, of course, there are six more jurors that need to be found as well as six alternatives so we got a ways to go, jose. >> vaughn hillyard, fascinating, thank you very much. up next, what nbc news just learned about a meeting between the u.s. and israel today.

we'll talk to retired idf colonel about israel's plans for hamas and iran as tensions continue to rise. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. oe you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. learn how at tedhelp.com. we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day. good thing metamucil gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plant-based fiber. with the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. metamucil gummies the easy way to get your daily fiber.

today,and israeli officials will be holding a meeting. today's meeting is a follow-up to one held back in april 1st where discussions between u.s. and israeli officials grew contentious according to two u.s. officials and one former u.s. official familiar with the meeting. new this morning, president biden announced new sanctions on iran targeting people and entities connected to iran's military, five days after iran's massive missile and drone attack on israel. right now, the biden administration and other allies are urging restraint, but prime minister benjamin netanyahu says that israel will make its own decisions as to how it will

respond to iran saying israel will do everything necessary to defend itself. meanwhile, we have new exclusive comments this morning from one of the militias backed by iran, joining us now from beirut is matt bradley of the you spoke with hezbollah's deputy secretary-general earlier today? >> reporter: that's right. it was a very interesting interview and one of the things we learned, this is an organization that is based here in lebanon and it is one of several iran-backed groups throughout the middle east that ever since october 7th have been taking pot shots at israeli forces and american military installations and now with iran and israel engaged in a direct fight between each other and this whole region, waiting to see how israel responds hezbollah could very much be in the target line. they could be kind of, you know, the tip of the sphere for iran. they sit right on the border, way south from where i am with israel, but there has been continuous fighting separate from that iranian/israeli fight

over that border. and hundreds of people have been killed, tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both the israeli and lebanese sides from the border because of that continuing fighting and i asked the deputy secretary-general in this very rare interview what he thought about israel's plans to attack and retaliate against iran's attack that missile salvo saturday night, which itself was retaliation for israel's, well, what is expected to be israel's strike against the diplomatic mission in damascus, israel has not confirmed or denied responsibility for that. that killed two senior iranian military commanders. here's what the deputy secretary-general of hezbollah told me. >> what has tehran told you about hezbollah's role in what could become a region wide war?

>> and hezbollah, like iran, like the entire region, is in a crouched position, waiting to see what israel does next. we already heard from the israelis that it could involve iranian proxies. the most powerful of which, the closest to tehran is hezbollah,

based here in lebanon. jose? >> matt bradley in beirut, thank you very much. joining us from tel aviv is miri eisen, managing director of the international institute for counterterrorism and former israeli government spokesperson. always -- i appreciate your time as always. just, first off, i want to get your reaction to what we heard from the second in command in hezbollah. >> it is the second in command and he's always been one of the main spokespeople. he's the one who is willing to meet matt and to sit down and talk about it. i don't think matt would be able to meet the secretary-general. so i'm sitting here in tel aviv, listening to what that number two has to say and, jose, did you hear what he just said? poor iran, iran doesn't want war, iran, jose, is the destabilizer throughout the middle east. iran is the one that arms and brings in all of the capabilities of hezbollah,

hezbollah, lebanese man sitting there speaking arabic, he's lebanese born in iran, and to present hezbollah, iran and all the proxies as the ones under attack from israel, that, to me, is the iranian framing. and my biggest challenge is that it is amplified and echoed today in a lot of the western media. iran is not the victim. >> no, i mean, another thing that he said actually twice i noticed in that short interview, short part that we aired of the exclusive interview is that iran is honest, iran is an honest player. what it did do last saturday is for the first time from iranian soil attack israel with more than 300 missiles and drones, those same drones that the russians are using so successfully in ukraine, but 300 plus. it shows that it wasn't simply a warning to israel on saturday

night. >> one of the things i wonder about is how much better iran is at the information war in the fact that in the aftermath of what they did, everybody is asking now what is -- it is like israel is the bad guy if we retaliate a response. the framing here is so iranian, i'm really disturbed by it. over 300 missiles, some of them fell, you show them on the screen as we go on, and in its own way the fact that israel has just invested in the last 20 to 30 years an enormous amount of our budget to defend our soil, our citizens, the fact that the international community joined together to help defend from this incoming rockets should not diminish from the immensity of what iran did, a sovereign country, firing those rockets, and, again, if i go back to the hezbollah very important person fascinating and waiting to be

able to hear that full interview when you hear what he has to say, it, again, iran supplies those kind of missiles to hezbollah. hezbollah has not used them until now but they have all of the array of drones, missiles, rockets that iran makes in iran in that industry. >> and, u.s. and israeli officials now say it remains unclear exactly how many hostages are still alive in gaza. is this situation in iran impacting israel and its operations in gaza? >> it hasn't impacted the operations directly. we were already in a sense you could see there is high intensity and there is low intensity. nobody here, jose, inside israel thinks the gaza strip is a nice place or an easy place, not for the palestinians who are there, not for the israeli soldiers, but hamas needs to be under pressure. they're the ones that need to be under pressure. and right now that question is what are they doing with the

israeli hostages. i want to hope that as many of them are as live as possible. but the hamas view the hostages as a bargaining chip, they don't view them as human beings. this isn't about ransom for money. they view them as collateral damage, it is a horrible situation, and i have nothing good to say about it. >> miri, thank you very much, appreciate your time. >> thank you. up next, the prominent political family about to endorse president biden over one of their own. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. hn you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. >> tech vo: this customer was enjoying her morning walk. we texted her when we were on our way. and she could track us and see exactly when we'd arrive. >> woman: i have a few more minutes. let's go! >> tech vo: we came to her with service that fit her schedule. >> woman: you must be pascal. >> tech: nice to meet you. >> tech vo: we got right to work, with a replacement she could trust. we come to you for free! schedule now for free mobile service at safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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he came into the courtroom. they had a conversation at the bench. it was juror number four along with judge. there was laughter. juror four was animated in describing whatever he was describing. the judge and both attorneys, the attorney of the people, questions the veracity of some of the answers he gave on the 42 question questionnaire. hence, the reason why they are bringing him to talk to him today. the judge is off the bench as he gives attorneys from both sides moments to kind of talk about whether or not they want to keep juror number four in the jury or have him excused. he was escorted out of the courtroom by officers. we are waiting for answers now on the future of juror number four. >> okay.

keep us updated. thank you so much. happening today, more than a dozen members of the kennedy family are set to endorse president biden for a second term instead of endorsing their family member, robert f. kennedy junior. it's expected next hour when the president speaks in philadelphia. moments ago, rfk junior responding on x saying, i hear some of my family will be endorsing president biden today. i'm pleased they are politically active. it's a family tradition. joining us now, monica alba. what can we expect from the biden campaign there this afternoon? >> reporter: it will likely be a striking moment here. you will be having these notable members of the kennedy family come out and effectively say that they believe president joe biden's values, what he believes

in align more closely with them than with their own brother, uncle and relative. that's supposed to be a significant and strong message that we are going to be hearing from robert f. kennedy junior's siblings who are coming here to formally endorse the president which comes after a matter of weeks where the campaign was laying the groundwork for this effort. we know that many members of the kennedy family were at the white house for st. patrick's day. they posted photos from that and hinted there would be more to come in the next phase of the campaign. that's exactly what we're going to be seeing here today. remember that robert f. kennedy, of course -- his father is a hero of president biden's. he has a bust of him in the oval office. he speaks of him frequently. we will be hearing from siblings of robert f. kennedy, junior, today who will say they are so

concerned about his candidacy, they are concerned about the threat they will say it poses to our democracy, and they are going to be talking about what his candidacy could do in battleground states in the margins, where there's growing concern and anxiety. >> monica alba in philadelphia, thank you so much. joining us now, victoria defrancesco. she's an msnbc political analyst. and david drucker. it's not much of a surprise that the kennedy family is endorsing the president. monica was showing us the picture at the white house last month. could this be very important to the president? >> it's obviously not a make or break. but the kennedy name, the kennedy brand has been synonymous with democratic

politics for over half a century. getting the formal endorsement is important in terms of president biden getting to to the end game. coming out in such a unified front. we are talking about the siblings of the actual independent candidate rfk junior. this is a very bold band in terms of what it's going to mean for getting undecided voters. we have been seeing rfk junior's campaign tilt more toward the trump side in terms of january 6 comments he has made. every vote counts in a close election. this is going to move the needle a little bit for biden. >> david, let's talk about that. there's concern among democrats and probably republicans as well about rfk junior's campaign. how could he change this race?

>> well, so far, polling shows that rfk junior is poised to play the role of spoiler helping trump. rfk junior is not your typical independent challenge from the left, because he holds a lot of appeal to the populous right because of his opposition to vaccines and some of his views on foreign policy and, of course, he is a well-known figure. well-known figures play well with populists. when you look at the data, nationally or in the states that are going to decide this election, rfk junior hurts biden more than trump and significantly so. that's why the democratic national committee and the biden campaign are taking this candidacy very seriously and doing everything they can to diminish it. when i say that rfk junior is a spoiler, it's because he is not building infrastructure or access to the ballot in august 50 states and washington, d.c. that puts himself in any

position to compete to win. not at all. all he has to do is be on the ballot in those half a dozen states that matter, and he could throw the election to trump. we have a long way to go. things can change. that's where we are. >> he has been having a lot of problems and obstacles, he would say, in getting -- being able to get on the ballot. >> it's unclear what his strategy was. he was relying on a superpac seeded from a republican donor that has given quite a lot of money to donald trump's superpac. there were questions of the legality of that, because you cannot coordinate between a campaign and a superpac. the campaign is in charge of getting on the ballot. it's time consuming. it's complicated. the rules and laws are different in every state. we don't know if rfk junior will

have enough time, expertise or resources to get this done. again, all it takes is being on the ballot in a few states. he could choose later to drop out of the race. but if he is on the ballot elsewhere and it gives people somewhere to go that are unhappy with both of their choices, he becomes a vehicle for a protest vote. still down the line could turn out it hurts trump just as much or more. for now, that's simply not the case. >> it's day three of the trump trial. he has done a political campaign this week in a bodega in manhattan. he will have to be in court. as the trial continues, do you think this will have an impact on his campaign? >> you know, trump is a master at engaging the media. right? in terms of, yes, he is in the courtroom and he is not necessarily out at all of the events he could be at. but he also knows how to play

with the media in terms of walking out of the courtroom, to your point of the bodega. is this hurting him? is this helping? >> i'm undecided. we know that the media has such an ability to shine the spotlight on trump. he knows how to engage it. he knows how to amplify it. i'm going to hold judgement for another couple weeks on that. >> yeah. david, do you think this is going to have a negative impact on maybe the people that trump needs that he hasn't already gotten to get to the finish line? >> well, it depends how to interpret the trial, when does the trial conclude, what do people make of the verdict, if there is a verdict? i agree that it's just too soon to tell. if we were still in a republican primary, my argument would be -- it would not be tongue in cheek. it would be serious that trump is better off in court than the campaign trail. we have evidence for that if you look at how the republican

primary unfolded. now that he is in a general election situation, he needs to raise money. that takes time, attention. he needs to get out there. he needs to carry a message. it shows how formidable he is. still leading or just slightly behind in national polls, even though he hasn't been out there. we will have to see how this unfolds before we can make any kind of real judgement. >> thank you both so very much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can reach me on social media @jdbalart. watch clips from our show on youtube. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," the trump trial in session today as the d.a. wants the former president to be punished for multiple