yesterday he called netanyahu to warn him against invading rafah. but today netanyahu announced he plans to invade rafah anyway. for decades the u.s. policy of unconditionally backing israel has pretty much been set in stone. but if netanyahu can lose chuck schumer, i don't know if that's the case anymore. and if netanyahu really does decide to pull the trigger on a ground invasion that would undoubtedly kill countless civilians in rafah, we might be seeing the start of a new era of israeli-american relations. that's our show for tonight. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is up next. we're doing very well with the jewish voter, it looks like. and we should do very well. if you look at all of our presidents, they're saying trump was the best for israel, by far the best for israel, and we're doing very well with the jewish vote as you can see in the polls. >> donald trump yesterday with

more comments about jewish voters. it'll come a day after he said the jews who support democrats hate israel. we'll show you how trump is doubling down on that inflammatory statement. meanwhile, a trump backed candidate will be ohio's republican nominee for u.s. senate this fall. we'll tell you more about him and we'll have the other important results from yesterday's primaries. and also ahead, a look at president biden pfls campaign swing through the southwest. he heads to two states he will likely need to win re-election this november. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this wednesday, march 20th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. and we begin with last night's primary results and the closely watched republican senate race in the state of ohio.

nbc news projects that trump-backed bernie moreno has won the gop primary in the buckeye state. moreno beat out two other candidates by a considerable margin to defeating state senator matt dolan who was endorsed by ohio governor mike dewine as well as defeating ohio secretary of state frank derose. moreno is a former car dealer and block chain entrepreneur. he was endorsed by donald trump back in december, and his win reflects trump's ability to influence the outcome of contested republican primaries. moreno will now face incumbent democratic senator sherrod brown in november. we'll hear from senator brown about the upcoming campaign, when he joins us later today on "morning joe." now, of course, it's no surprise that both president joe biden and former president donald trump easily swept up more delegates in last night's primary races. but it's also worth noting the warning signs continue for the campaigns of both presumptive

nominees. in the state of florida, roughly 200,000 republican voters cast ballots for nikki haley or governor ron desantis instead of trump despite both of them dropping out of the presidential race. ohio saw similar results with another roughly 200,000 gop voters choosing haley or desantis over trump. and when it came to the biden campaign, at least 10% of democratic voters in the state of kansas chose none of the names shown instead of voting for the president. ichlte, the uncommitted ballot. in ohio about 13% of democratic voters cast their ballots for dean philips, the congressman who suspended his campaign earlier this month. as this is going on, donald trump is standing by his claim that all jewish-americans who vote for democrats hate their own religion and hate the nation of israel. speaking to reporters while casting a florida primary ballot for himself yesterday afternoon, the presumptive 2024 republican

nominee followed up on his comments from monday. here are his initial remarks followed by what he said yesterday. >> why do the democrats hate bibi netanyahu? >> i actually think they hate israel. when you see those palestinian marches, even i'm amazed at how many people are in those marches. and guys like schumer see that, and i think it's votes more than anything else because he was always pro-israel. hae very anti-israel now. any jewish person that votes for democrats hates their religion, they hate everything about israel and should be ashamed. i think that the democrats have been very opposed to jewish people, that's true, and to israel. what you have to do is look at senator schumer. what he did with israel is a disgrace, and i think israel

will probably not forget it very soon. it's a very sad situation. >> meanwhile on capitol hill yesterday senate majority leader shuck schumer condemned attacks on he and other democrats. while schumer was decidedly forceful in his push back reactions from the other side of the aisle were mixed. >> the former president's comments were utterly disgusting, and a textbook example of the kind of anti-semitism facing jews pushing the dangerous anti-semitism trope of dual loyalty. to say you hate israel or religion because you see one political view over the other is sick and hateful. it's unadulterated anti-semitism. >> that's highly offensive. we do not in this country attack people based on their religious beliefs or political views. it's a terrible mistake on his part, for which he he really

ought to apologize. >> president trump chooses words i don't always choose, but he's not wrong about i think democrat leaders failing the israeli state. >> i haven't seen that. i don't know the context. >> i think that's a sort of broad sweeping generalization which would be largely justified. >> i guess i prefer to keep people's religious faith out of these discussions. but like i said, these guys are going to litigate the campaign the way they're going going to do it. my expectation is it's going to be very spirited. >> elsewhere in washington, president biden and congressional leaders have announced that they have reached a deal to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. however, the open question in washington is whether congress will actually be able to pass the bill in time. the package is still being written, and the republican-controlled house requires a 72-hour reading period before any bill can be voted upon. if house leadership follows that requirement, it would push the

final vote on the bill beyond friday's deadline potentially endangering government funding after all. joining us now to help us put it out, congressional correspondent for nbc news, julie circen. julie, good morning. let's start there with the government shutdown. despite the announcement of the deal, are there still risks the lights could go off? what's going to happen this week? >> yeah, for sure, jonathan. and once again we're talking about this government funding that keeps coming upon us every couple of weeks or so. look, this deal was finalized between speaker johnson and the white house. that means it's going to anger some democrats even once it comes out. that's because of the homeland security provision. this was really contentious and why according to my sources, jonathan, this process was so delayed. remember we were expecting texts at the end of the weekend and then democrats on the hill rejected a deal last minute, and now the white house speaker johnson struck this final deal,

but we just have a couple of days like you said until the lights go out. concerning the 72-hour reading period remember this legislation is probably going to pass under suspension of the rules. that means two thirds of the house are required to vote for it. that being said, speaker johnson could technically waive that 72-hour period if he wants. he's going to need democrats to pass the state regardless. there's also a congressional recess coming up, and some senators pointed to that as a reason they could potentially get some wind in their sales to move this along faster. >> so you mention that recess that might be a motivating factor for this government funding deal. please ilime not us how it will play a role in the ongoing national security funding particularly aid to israel and ukraine. where does that stand? >> look, speaker johnson had indicated he's not going to take up any foreign aid until after the government funding issue is settled. that means as you rightly point out, it's going to bleed into that two-week recess for easter.

and speaker johnson whose members are unwilling to vote for this aid because of that aid and package to ukraine, is not going to keep them around most likely until the recess because that's not going to do anything for them, they're not going to support it anyway. however, the issue here is that ukraine is running out of lethal assistance, badly needed democrats in the white house have pointed that out time and time again. my source is speaker johnson is going to deal with this in april. he hasn't settled which one he's going to go with yet. there's plans he floated including aid to ukraine, nonlethal assistance and humanitarian aid. of course our funding needs to be replenished. the pentagon just sent other $300 million weapons package this week. we are underfunded at this point, that's also a concern for both sides as well. there's also a concern for russian assets to help pay for this aid. those are ideas being floated

mostly pushed by republicans and even top democrats saying even that loan idea is worth consideration if it means unlocking aid to ukraine. speaker johnson has said he wants to pass this aid to ukraine, the question is how he's going to do it keeping his job. >> that remains constantly tenuous. starting us off congressional correspondent for nbc news, julie sirken. sill ahead on "way too early," we'll play for you trump's latest comments about nato and whether or not the u.s. would continue its support of athe alliance if he wins back the white house in november. >> plus, a new immigration law out of texas has been blocked again just hours after the supreme court had allowed it to go into effect. we'll explain that contentious issue and take a look at other top headlines, sports, and weather when we come right back. weather when we come right back.

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welcome back. as we turn to some of the morning's other top headlines. in an interview with wabc radio yesterday presumptive nominee donald trump said he would do anything to help prime minister benjamin netanyahu if he were president right now. take a listen. >> i got to tell you this latest story that has president biden saying that he will not ship arms to israel if in fact bibi goes into rafah, people were saying it to me, first of all, if trump was president it never would have happened. is that not fair to assume in. >> i said 100%. and number one you said most importantly it wouldn't have happened. iran was broke, they have no money. now they have $231 billion. they have no money, three years

ago, 3 1/2 years ago i wouldn't let anyone buy oil, and they didn't have money from hamas, hezbollah, it wouldn't have happened. >> these comments come a few days after trump called for an end to the war in gaza, but he did it this way. he told fox news on sunday, quote, you have to finish it up and do it quickly and get back to the world of peace. he has said he wants israel to finish it off. in a new interview meanwhile with former brexit party leader trump said the u.s. will remain committed to nato under his leadership as long as european countries pay up. >> if they start to pay their bills properly and the club is fair, are places like poland defended, will america be there? >> the united states should pay its fair share, not everyone else's fair share. i believe the united states was paying 90% of nato and it could

be 100%. it was the most unfair thing. and don't forget it's more important to them than it is to us. we have an ocean between some problems, okay? we have a nice big beautiful ocean. and it's more important for them. and they did, they took advantage of us on trade. >> if they start to play fair, america's there? >> yes, 100%. >> thank you. >> back here at home, texas is once again prevented from enforcing a strict new immigration law that gives police the power to arrest migrants who they say suspect of crossing the border illegally. the decision comes just hours after the supreme court said the measure, which is known as senate bill 4, could go into effect while litigation continues. this new order issued by the fifth circuit court of appeals panel, voted to temporarily block the law, which is one of the toughest of its kind. later this very morning, the panel of judges who issued the order are set to hear arguments in the case to determine if the law should remain on hold until

the court rules on sb4s's legality. earlier yesterday the supreme court justice's ruling prompted alarm among immigration advocates, caused confusion along the border, led to a show of defiance by the mexican government, which says it will refuse to accept any migrants deported by texas. the biden administration has argued that the law conflicts with federal immigration law and that states have no authority to legislate on the issue deeming it unconstitutional. we, of course, will keep you posted on this as the day proceeds. nchts next up here, march madness is officially under way. we'll have highlights from the men's tournament tipoff, those first four games and a preview of today's matchupps. plus look ahead to this morning's historic major league baseball season opener inside south korea. the first pitch less than an hour away. those stories and a check on the forecast when we come right back. n we come right back

howard does have one time out left. now to harrison, elevates. offensive rebound, back to harrison. and the sea hawks out of staten island, new york, try to write their own history. they post their first ever win in the ncaa tournament. >> staten island, you just saw it a trio of missed three pointers by howard in the final seconds of game secures wagner it's first ever ncaa tournament victory. the nec champions sea hawks tip off march madness with a 78-68 win and advance to the seed in

the west region. meanwhile virginia has not won an ncaa tournament even a single game since its national title back in 2017. and the drought continued last night against colorado state. the rams simply blew out the cavaliers 67-42. colorado state moves on as the number 10 seed in the midwest region and face 7 seed in texas and the answer clearly a resounding no. the men's first four continues tonight with glam llg and montana state facing off with the right to advance. that game friday. colorado later on will then take on boise state with the winner moving on as the tenth seed in the south to face number 7 florida. meanwhile, the women's tournament tips off tonight with two first four games. presbyterian and sacred heart face-off on friday. and then columbia and vanderbilt

play for the right to move on. go lions. and baseball is almost here. but, some news with that. the los angeles dodgers and the san diego padres will proceed with their season opening game today in south korea following a reported bomb threat against dodgers superstar shohei ohtani. south korean police say they found no explosives at the stadium, which is the skydome there in seoul after searching the site yesterday. south korea's yonhap news agency reports it occurred after it received an e-mail threatening to detonate an explosive during today's game. the historic series kicking off this morning will be the first major league baseball regular season contest ever played in south korea. the ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by the former pitcher, the first korean born athlete to play in the majors.

after the seoul series, fans will have to wait another week until all teams take the field next thursday for baseball's official opening day. but these two opening games count. time now for the weather and let's go to meteorologist angie lassman for the forecast. how's it looking out there? >> good morning, jonathan. spring a sign baseball is here and warmer temperatures. no, that's not the case. we'll see portions of of the northern plains and additional rainfall across parts of the south. now, through the next couple of days we're going to see these kind of systems ramp up. notice the great lakes and midwest by friday, that steady kind of snow works through that region. we see the heavy rain, rather, across parts of the southeast. it'll be a soaking couple of days, and then we get into the weekend. there's your saturday. we deal with the wet and heavy snow across parts of northern flooeng, and the south and east of course deals with heavy rain unfortunately for saturday. when it's all said and done through the middle part of the

weekend we're going to see anywhere from an inch to 2 inches and some of those higher amounts of spots. but notice it's along the east coast, too, we'll see that rain impacting us for our weekend plans. and there's the snowfall amounts anywhere from an inch to 3 inches, more widespread numbers. we could see a couple of spots where we receive 6 to 9 inches. and the spring chill is in the air especially for parts of the north west. chicago today running 10 degrees below normal for this time of year. low 70s from atlanta to richmond, and that cool kind of air sticks around and spreads a little farther to the east as we get into tomorrow. new york city making it to the high of just 43 degrees. detroit ends up in the upper 30s. so spring, i don't know. >> yeah, seems like not really, we'll get there eventually. angie lassman, thanks so much. still ahead on "way too early," republican congresswoman marjorie taylor greene is facing new backlash after touting federal funds for an infrastructure project that she

voted against. imagine the hypocrisy. we'll dig into the details when we come right back. we'll dig in we come right back

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thanks to a bipartisan infrastructure law, 46,000 new projects have been announced all across your communities. by the way, i notice some of you strongly voted against it are there cheering on that money coming in. i'm with you. i'm with you. if any of you don't want that money in your district, just let me know. >> welcome back to "way too

early." it's just before 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this wednesday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. that was president biden during a "state of the union" address taking a jab at republicans who have voted against funding measures only to celebrate the outcomes later, some head shakes from speaker johnson behind him. and it seems that congresswoman marjorie taylor greene of georgia, one of biden's sparring partners that night, is indeed taking credit for securing federal funds for her district through an appropriations bill that she voted against earlier this month. who could have seen that coming? in a newsletter sent to constituents, the congresswoman highlighted a link to a local newspaper that discusses how the funds will be used. the article includes a quote from one of greene's press releases that reads congresswoman greene metic las lesought out projects that would improve quality of life, assist localities with funding needs and harness community support.

but -- but the georgia representative voted against the bill that ultimately grants her constituents the money for those projects. greene even bragged about voting against the measure earlier this month in a social media post in which she wrote, i voted no on today's minibus. this bill didn't increase spending, it gave chuck schumer and joe biden everything they wanted on their wish list, and that is something i'll always refuse to vote for. hypocrisy everywhere. meanwhile, president biden continues his tour of the southwest this morning looking to shore up support of the key battleground states of arizona and nevada. the trip will particularly focus on increasing his backing from latino voters. the president yesterday stopped in reno, nevada, where he met with local officials and campaign volunteers. he went onto las vegas where he touted an upcoming high-speed rail project that will connect the city with southern california. the project much needed is being

funded by billions in federal dollars. today he'll go onto phoenix where he will deliver remarks focused on investments in america and is reportedly expected to make a major funding announcement related to the chips act. joining us now white house reporter for the associated press, darlene. good to see you this morning. so president biden has repeatedly called out republicans for touting funding that they voted against in the past. for a time he even carried around a note card and a list of names so he could put them on the spot. marjorie taylor greene has been an effective foil for this president a number of times in recent years. should we expect more of the same from biden as the election approaches? >> good morning, jonathan. the short answer to that question i would say is, yes. and we saw the president do it yesterday, as a matter of fact. he issued a written statement on a drop in crime numbers, and in

there he pointedly noted that the american rescue plan that he passed early in the administration had a lot of money for cities, for police and crime and so on. but he made the point that no republican in congress had voted for the american rescue plan, and i think that as the election nears and as we see the president out campaigning more, that this is one of the contrasts that he will certainly want to draw with republicans in congress, that he is in the white house being president, trying to work on legislation and has passed legislation that republicans in congress did not support. >> certainly this election is going to be fought on lofty terms like about the future of democracy but also just delivering, getting things done. and that's what we heard from the president yesterday and today in the southwest wing talking about projects like the chips act or rail link, that americans will benefit from. so tell us a little bit more about that. but also, darlene, while he's out there of course he's looking

to shore up latino support. what are some of the messages he's delivering to that key block of voters? >> well, for example, yesterday in las vegas or was it phoenix? one of those two states. i'm sorry, he had three different stops yesterday. but in one of those stops he pointedly said to latinos they are largely one of the reasons he was able to defeat donald trump in 2020, and he needs them. he said, i need you. i need you badly. so he's making a very direct and personal appeal to latino voters to come back onboard and to support him now in 2024 when he's looking to defeat donald trump yet again. >> yeah, and certainly not a monolithic voting block these latino voters the president knows there's an urgency there i think we both picked up up on that yesterday. white house reporter for the associated press darlene

superville, thank you. we'll talk to you again soon. next up here we'll go live to cnbc for a look what's driving wall street. plus a major shakeup at unilever. we'll be right back with that. unilever we'll be right back with that. the right age for neutrogena® retinol? that's whenever you want it to be. it has derm-proven retinol that targets vital cell turnover, evens skin tone,

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♪♪ vicks vapostick provides soothing, non-medicated vicks vapors. easy to apply for the whole family. vicks vapostick. and try vicks vaposhower for steamy vicks vapors. welcome back. time now for business, and for that let's bring in cnbc's charlotte reed who joins us live from london. good morning, charlotte. so stock futures appear mostly flat as investors await the fed's next move on interest rates. what can we expect from the central bank when it wraps its two-day policy meeting this afternoon? >> good morning, john, but, yes, investors have been eagerly waiting for the fed today at the end of their two-day meeting.

so when the fed is expected to hold rates, all eyes on its economy projections, and how many rate cuts it estimates before the year. markets will be particularly be looking for clues when that first rate cut would be, whether june or later in the year after we've seen some higher than expected readings for inflation coming in last week. >> certainly be keeping an eye on that from federal reserve chair jerome powell and the rest this afternoon. some other headlines now. after a more than a century of selling ice cream, the world's largest ice cream company has apparently lost its taste for the business. charlotte, tell us more. >> well, the consumer goods giant announced it would separate its ice cream unit as part of a wider restructuring plan and said the ice cream division which has been underperforming will do better as a separate unit. now, the structuring which also

involves 7,500 job cuts should be completed by the end of 2025. and the restructuring would be a simpler, more focused company. it has been under pressure recently particularly from activist investors to overhaul the business to poor performance recently. >> and lastly giant spotify said it paid out $9 billion in streaming royalties last year. what triggered that growth? >> this is spotify's fourth annual report giving a bit of an insight into the streaming music industry. and the 1,250 artists made over $1 million in royalties in 2023. but it's not all about the big stars that make this big amount of money, it's also about indy artists. more than half went through those self-labeled or

independently published. over all 66,000 artists earned over $10,000 last year, that's a number almost tripled since 2017. and more than half of them were from nonenglish speaking countries, so looks like it's a global music world out there. >> cnbc's sharload reed live from london, thank you as always. still ahead how donald trump learned to love the january 6th prisoner movement. we'll have new reporting on the presumptive republican presidential nominee's relationship with the convicted capitol rioters he's now calling hostages. we'll be right back with that important piece. ight back with important piece. ! this is our night! shingles doesn't care. but shingrix protects. only shingrix is proven over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome

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giving millions of fans, like my dad and me, new ways of catching up on their favorite sport. welcome back. new reporting sheds a light on just how deep the connections run between donald trump and the community of advocates for january 6th convicted prisoners

or as trump now calls them, hostages. according to an important piece from semafor, trump and his allies have cultivated increasingly close personal and financial relationships with the organizations that are seeking the release of the jailed capitol rioters. as the article notes, trump was not always so enthusiastic to support those charged with crimes on january 6th, stating the day after the insurrection, quote, to those who broke the law, you will pay. but, of course, trump in that moment was worried about his own potential impeachment trial and trying to calm some down in his own party. joining us now the author of that piece, politics reporter for semafor, shelby talcott. talk to us a bit about that evolution. as just noted in the hours after the attack trump was -- and he was force today do it let's be clear, but he was firm against those rioters. he very much is not now. tell us how he ended up

embracing them. >> this is a years long effort on behalf of really donald trump who always was sort of interested what was going on albeit in a much quieter way. and this group of advocates who are essentially pushing for leniency, pardons, and reduced sentences for these january 6th rioters. and over the years, he had several meetings with lawyers for january 6th defendants at mar-a-lago. one of his early meetings in this entire situation was with one of the lawyers who asked trump's team are you goings going to commit to pardoning if donald trump is re-elected. around that time we saw donald trump start speaking publicly about issuing pardons for some of the rioters. and it sort of evolved from there. he began to meet with the leads of the patriot freedom project, which is this major project

dedicated towards helping the january 6th rioters and their family members. he's since attended several events at both mar-a-lago and bedminster for those family members. and so this has really grown into this major movement within his organization. he even at one point appointed a staffer specifically to serve as a liaison of sports for the family members and help get their voices out. >> what went into the thinking to put the january 6th convicts so front and center calling them hostages, appearing at rallies to a national anthem sung by a choir of convicts and even saluting them from with his make america great again hat. it's not just support but a full on bear hug. >> yeah, and it's been really interesting to see, and really the ultimate why you can only donald trump knows, but what we do know, is "a," he has all these legal issues himself.

and some people believe including some of the family members i spoke to, that those legal issues sort of brought him into the family. i had one family member say welcome to the family, donald trump. and so that certainly plays a role, but it's also just this sort of slow movement to convince him that these people are his supporters and are being treated unfairly, and that's something he's really bought into as time has gone on. >> to be clear, those convicts are in prison and trump remains with his freedom. it's not just trump, i think it's trump's obvious influence here, but a lot of other republicans are rallying to this cause, suggesting the january 6th convicts are hostages. tell us more about how that's impacted the rest of the party. >> yeah, as you've seen over time, the stance on january 6th and particularly on the people who are in jail over their actions as a result of january 6th has really shifted within the republican party. we saw in the days and weeks,

and, you know, even that year after the riot, there was a very strong stance from a lot of republicans that has since really softened. and so when donald trump talks about this on the campaign trail, it resonates with voters. i think the question is does it rez nalt with republicans and democrats? >> lastly we opened the show with primary results and yet again a couple of states, ohio, florida, others, there remains republicans simply not voting with donald trump. he's an incumbent. in florida people were voting for nikki haley or ron desantis. how worried are those in trump's orbit about winning those voters back? he can't afford to lose too many. >> when you talk to them of course they are arguing that this is still early on and that eventually when it comes down to a trump versus biden vote, that people are going to realize that they have no choice but to vote for donald trump. at the same time i think there's people a little bit more outside

in donald trump's orbit who say this is exactly hut we were warning about. you know, if we want a republican to beat joe biden, we need somebody who is seen as less divisive. >> someone who could potentially grow a base of support, and trump at this point has not proven he can do that. politics reporter for semafor, thank you for joining us this morning. up next on "way too early," it's coming down to the wire for donald trump to come up with a nearly half a billion dollar bond for the new york civil fraud judgment against him. we'll go through his options next. and then coming coming up o trump-backed u.s. senate candidate bernie moreno has won the republican nomination in ohio and now he's set to square off with incumbent senator sherrod brown. sherrod brown will be our guest as he faces re-election in one of the nation's most competitive races. plus, democratic congressman from new york, daniel goldman

and gregory meeks, they'll both join the conversation. "morning joe" is just a few short moments away. away [dog whimpers] [thinking] why always the couch? does he need to go to puppy school? get his little puppy diploma? how much have i been spending on this little guy? when your questions about life turn into questions about money... there's erica. the virtual financial assistant to help you spend, save, and plan smarter. only from bank of america.

. welcome back. donald trump is now running out of time to secure an appeal bond for his civil fraud case. the former president has until just monday to come up with the cash for the $464 million judgment. if trump doesn't new york state attorney general let tisha james could start seizing his assets. trump's lawyers asked an appeals court to stop the collection proceedings because they have not found a bond company willing to back the former president. according to his lawyers trump would need to put up nearly $557 million worth of collateral, over half a billion dollars. as "the new york times" points out most of his wealth is tied to real estate assets. yesterday fox business correspondent charlie gas perino explained why trump's billionaire friends have yet to help him out.

>> what is behind their reluctance? >> it's as of now, so let's see. >> are they afraid they may not see it any time soon, the money, if he even succeeded on appeal? >> that's one thing. i don't want to speak for bernie marcus, that's for sure, but generally, donald doesn't have a great record of paying back banks over the years, donald trump, so, you know, you can sort of surmise from that what you will. >> joining us now, msnbc contributor charlie sykes. that seems like a pretty good train of thought. give trump some money, you won't see it again. talk to us about this moment here, perhaps the reluctance of trump's billionaire friends and what this means, he is facing professionally losing much of his fortune or business empire as of monday? >> well, it's financially devastating to donald trump and also devastating to his image

the myth he created that he was this billionaire and this successful businessman, which has always been questionable. i would also note how dangerous this particular moment is because, you know, as he becomes more desperate, who might he reach out to for the money? the possibility that i know of michael cohen has raised the questions of a possible national security implications of all of this. we do need to know at the end of the day where this money comes from, what the strings are, and who the next president of the united states might be beholden to. once again, donald trump is pushing the envelope and we're faced with conditions, circumstances that, you know, for which there's no precedent. we don't know. will it be the saudis? might it be russian oligarchs? what shady dark money might come out of the woodwork to bail donald trump out at his moment

of need. we could be at the beginning of a rather -- another rather remarkable chapter in the trump saga. >> yeah. something we'll need to follow closely. we know how foreign governments have tried to financially influence trump in the past. charlie, of course, trump is not the only one facing legal troubles. peter navarro were to report to prison. you've been writing about steve bannon and the january 6th defendants. why do those cases stand out to you? >> by the way, i find whole january 6th story to be quite extraordinary. your interview a few minutes ago, the fact that we're talking about a criminal conspiracy being at the center of donald trump's campaign, and that donald trump has made this a feature of his campaign, and i think people ought to remember that we are talking with the january 6th defendants, some individuals who attacked and beat police officers, used bear spray against them, beat them with flag poles, beat them with

batons and stolen shields. this was an act of tremendous violence. five or six people died that day. yet donald trump, the leader of the party that wants to be the law and order party, has embraced these rioters, the people that attacked these officers who were trying to defend the capitol and donald trump is -- has embraced them and is promising to use his power to free them. he is the one who has made this the centerpiece of his campaign. every once the a while we're asked, why do you keep talking about january 6th so much? why do you keep talking about it so often? because donald trump keeps talking about it, and donald trump, apparently, is going to keep talking about this right through november, which is really extraordinary when you think about the way he continues making himself the center of the circle of criminality. >> no question. he's not running from january 6th. he's embracing it. charlie, you mentioned the election. it is a binary contest, trump

and biden have this all but sewn up. your big picture thoughts as to where things stand in the race right now. president biden did not receive a bump in the approval ratings after the state of the union but did reassure democrats anxious about his candy da spip had he's a huge fundraising advantage over trump. trump up in the polls, but it's a little. it's a close race. where do you think things stand? >> it's a very, very close race, and, you know, biden may not have got an bump but he changed the mood and narrative with that state of the union address, which is not insignificant. what we're seeing is that reports of republican unity have been greatly exaggerated. look at the numbers from last night, 20% of republican primary voters who are telling the exit pollsters that they are not going to vote for donald trump. they will vote for joe biden or sit it out. and, so i do think that there are, you know, there are concerns. of course -- i think that there

are some people who don't really understand what a big deal the nonendorsement by mike pence was, the signal it sends to other republicans, look, you do not have to put party in donald trump ahead of country. you do not not necessarily need to go along with all of this. i'm really interested to see how this all plays out. as you mentioned it's a binary choice between donald trump and joe biden, but for many republican voters it's a binary choice, trump or not trump, and i think that you're going to see that play out through the rest of the year. >> can't be overstated the importance of his former vice president saying he won't endorse him. see if nikki haley his last remaining rival does the same. msnbc contributor charlie sykes, thank you as always. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. trump is bringing back all the