Top Story with Tom Llamas – March 1 | NBC News NOW

[Music] tonight the Georgia election interference case against former president Trump hanging in the balance the decision on whether to disqualify da fonny Willis from the case now in the hands of a judge an explosive end to the hearing the defense arguing Willis financially benefited from a relationship with the special prosecutor she hired Willis's attorney slamming that argument saying there isn't sufficient evidence of a conflict of interests will fonny Willis be removed from the biggest cas

e of her career and could this case be dropped altogether also tonight West Coast slam a blockbuster winter storm slamming California Nevada the massive blizzard set to dump get this 12 ft of snow out West Hurricane force winds and extreme snowfall rates already crippling travel officials warning thousands could be trapped for days as conditions rapidly get worse rescue from above a semi TR dangling from a Louisville Bridge the dramatic rescue as the driver is pulled from the truck suspended in

the air we hear from the first responder who repelled off the bridge to get the driver back on stable ground man hunt for a kidnapper security cam video capturing the moment a woman appears to get abducted a woman caught running out of a car before a man grabs her and tosses her back in local cops releasing the terrifying video in the hope someone will recognize those involved plus children without milk Cuba making a desperate fad to the world food program as food becomes scarce the troubling re

quests revealing the reality of the country's struggling economy a live report from Havana on where the crisis stands and a codefendant in the corruption investigation of Senator Bob Menendez pleading guilty a New Jersey businessman admitting to bribery as he's accused of giving the Senator's wife a luxury car now he's agreed to testify against Menendez the stunning statement he made in court top story starts right now good evening tonight the fate of former president Trump's Georgia election in

terference case in the hands of a judge that judge debating whether to remove fton County DA Fon Willis from the case over allegations she financially benefited from a relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade lawyers for Trump and his codefendants arguing Willis should be disqualified due to the appearance of a conflict of interest the judge raising questions about about text messages to defense claims Pro Wade and Willis lied on the stand about when the relationship began Willis making

a surprise appearance in the court room you see her here right before her attorney argued her innocence her lawyer denying claims that the two lied in their testimony insisting Willis was targeted and the motion should be dismissed and this moment getting a lot of attention today in the middle of her lawyer's closing arguments Willis walked up to him and passed him a Post-It note but the big mystery tonight what did it say the stakes are high if Willis is removed her entire office would be disqu

alified potentially upending the case against the former president NBC's Marissa par breaks down all the key courtroom moments and a timeline for when the judge could make a ruling tonight explosive closing arguments in a Georgia courtroom prosecutors don't act like this lawyers don't act like this these people your honor is a systematic misconduct and they need to go lawyers seek to disqualify Fulton County district attorney fony Willis from the Trump election interference case over what they s

ay was an inappropriate relationship she had with the special prosecutor Nathan Wade this office is a global laughing stock because of their conduct lawyers for Trump and other codefendants arguing the Romantic relationship between Willis and Wade created conflicts of interest particularly financially Mr Wade and Miss Willis basically lived Robin Lee is lifestyle of the Rich and Famous and they did this writing on the backs of the defendants in this case funded by the taxpayers of Fon county in

the state of Georgia the defense pledging these comments Willis made at the oldest African-American church in Atlanta in January her first public comments on the Scandal for a violation of professional rules of conduct I appointed Three Special counsel as is my right to do paid them all the same hourly rate they only attacked one and a higher one black man another Superstar a great friend and a great lawyer oh Lord they going to be mad when I call them out on this nonsense defense today claiming

her words and timing were calculated she chose to deflect and to do two things that are reprehensible for any lawyer but particularly for prosecutor she chose to pull out the race card and the God card judge McAfee at one point questioning if Willis is disqualified from this case will she need to be removed from all others where would be the limiting principle uh the district attorney signs every indictment assigned to this court room does that mean she's off every case no it would be when that

if I found that she's untruthful is that what you're kind of suggesting the defense team doubling down on their argument that Willis and Wade lied about their relationship highlighting the sheer magnitude of texts and calls between them before they say their relationship started just in the first 11 months of 2021 over 2,000 calls almost 9,800 texts you know I don't even think Love Struck teenagers communicate that much also calling into question the timing of these communications phone call fr

om Miss Willis between M Willis and Mr Wade 11:32 that night um shortly after midnight the phone starts traveling down from where Mr Wade lives and ends up where Miss Willis is staying and he's there until roughly 455 a.m. teenagers have a name for those kind of calls and those kind of xades I won't go into it Willis's attorney arguing the technology used to pinpoint Wade's location isn't always reliable and doesn't mean he was at Willis's home these records don't prove that he laid his head any

where reiterating their argument the Willis has been targeted by people who hadn't act to grind against her and the the motion should be dismissed fonny Willis entering the courtroom to listen in on the state's closing arguments sitting just three seats away from Nathan Wade Willis at one point even passing her attorney a Post-It note not speaking today but remaining defiant after she took the stand two weeks ago you think I'm on trial these people are on trial for trying to steal an election in

2020 I'm not on trial no matter how hard you try to put me on trial a big part of the defense's argument text messages between Terrence Bradley the former law partner of special process utor Nathan Wade and defense attorney Ashley Merchant these messages first published by the Megan Kelly podcast appear to show merant asking do you think it started before she hired him to which he responded absolutely it started when she left the DA's office and was a judge in South Fulton Bradley taking the st

and earlier this week at one point was asked about that very text I was speculating why would you speculate when she was asking you a direct question about when the relationship started I have no answer for that except the fact that you do in fact know when it started and you don't want to testify to that in court the judge today questioning if that discrepancy was really a slam dunk for Trump's lawyers is it ever definitively shown how he knew this and that he actually did know it other than ju

st a assertion outright absolutely usually if a state has a witness that goes sideways they've got them locked in they sat down with a detective and got a full statement we don't have that here Willis's attorney arguing tonight the other side failed to prove the conflicts of interest casting doubt on claims Willis or Wade have benefited financially from the case he stated a Double Tree in Napa a Double Tree I don't know that to be a a lavish Hotel all right we saw and heard a lot in court today

the only thing we didn't get was a decision from the judge Marissa parro joins us now live from Atlanta so that's the big question so when will we know the decision Tom well as you mentioned yourself there is a lot at stake here when it comes to that decision the judge said at the very end there that there's a lot of legal issues that need analyzing he said he needs time and that we should expect to hear from him sometime in the next two weeks but Tom the big question is will sometime in the nex

t two weeks the judge say he needs more information more evidence or will he say he has all the information he needs and will hear a decision and we'll finally get an answer on whether or not fonnie Willis and her entire team will stay on this case Tom all right Marissa par for us following all the developments from Court Marissa thank you to help us break down the legal ramifications of this case I'm joined Now by NBC News legal analyst Angela cadella and former Federal prosecutor timedo aganga

Williams thank you both for being here on top story uh Tim I'm going to start with you since you're the you're the new person here on on on our panel um who do you think won today who who did better which side did better uh I mean frankly I think we all lost a bit but I think if I had you know I think they both performed based on the goals they had if I'm looking at the defense what they want to do was to create a circus which is what they did they talked about everything from race to God to yo

u know kind of the the Days of Our Lives uh story a lured story and what the prosecutors really focused on was here's the law is there a financial conflict of interest they wanted the judge to narrow down to something more specific and get away from whether or a relationship was occurring get away from whether whether they were in love or not or dating but asked the more narrow question so I think on that front I think the prosecution had the edge there I don't know that they got over the line a

nd what's most important is because the defense has the burden here and I think that's how I would I I at out there and it can be a little confusing for our viewers because we're talking about the prosecutors the state and the lawyers for the codefendants for for the purpose of this argument the the judge was asking a lot of questions and when he was asking the questions right to the people who are looking to throw fonny Willis off this case could you pull anything from the judge's questions and

did it did it lead you to believe one side was doing better than the other yeah so look I actually thought the defense did a better job if you're trying to look at who did a better job on the stage today but in terms of the we say we say with the defense we're talking about the actual defense the actual defense attorneys Trump's attorney Etc Mr Merchant but in terms of the legal standard and where the judge was leaning I think it's towards the prosecution and that's because the judge asked ques

tions like look even if these people were lying is that for me to judge is that for me to DQ them or is that for the bar association to admonish them so he almost made it clear to me that he was going to the prosecution so on that issue the issue of Terrence Bradley was sort of the key witness right for the people looking to get fonny Willis off this case he's the div divorce attorney who in the text messages said absolutely there was a relationship before Nathan Wade started with the DA's offic

e how as an attorney can you prove that okay he wasn't lying when he texted but now he's lying on the stand when he said he can't recall when the relationship started well you actually can't and so that's the thing I think Terence Bradley made Terrence Bradley look bad but he didn't necessarily move the needle for the prosecution or the defense that's my opinion even with those text messages and there were so many text messages between him and Ashley Merchant right but he never proved that when

he said those he was telling the truth then so he just looks overall suspicious Tim another part of the of the of the the lawyers that were trying to toss fonny Willis from this case part of their strategy was was to hone in on on her message at that church in Atlanta let's play a piece of that right now first thing they say oh she going to play the race card now but no God isn't it them who's playing the race card when they only question one so what was wrong with what her statements in the chu

rch so I think the argument that the offense is making is that she was suggesting a a racist uh intent by those who were seeking to disqualify her or challenging her appointment of Mr Wade and if you are a jury which right has not been selected yet you might be taking in that information and be biased against these defendants because you're now thinking these guys are racist and therefore can they get a fair try in Fon County and I think that's what the really the argument was centered on was pa

rt of it also though that they're saying listen you're the DA for fton County you were playing the race card when you knew that you were in a relationship with this other prosecutor so instead of saying yes there was a relationship there's smoke there you played the race card and you did in a historically black church that has such a big importance in that community in Atlanta well I da Willis did not deny that there was a relationship when she was in the church so I don't think anything she sai

d was factually inconsistent with her position she actually did not say she didn't deny relationship from the beginning so I don't know that they get there with that argument but frankly you know we have to remember da Willis and all many da across the country are elected officials they're simply are not bureaucrats I think there is a component to that job that is speaking out that is being member of the community and that is putting forth you know kind of an argument of s out there fonnie Willi

s's team was arguing that listen the cell phone data it doesn't prove exactly anything uh all the money that was exchanged hey she paid it back but there were no receipts right so they they were they were saying that the other side said listen when fonny Willis is Prosecuting criminals she's using cell phone data and in money laundering cases if there's no Financial receipts you're going to prison so did that hold up for the defense deci side I thought that was a great argument but I don't reall

y think that's a legal issue that will make the judge decide and that's ultimately it If This Were a jury trial these arguments made today would have swayed the jury incredibly but the judge is going to stick to the legal question and really the biggest legal question is is the standard just an appearance of impiety impropriety of a conflict of interest or an actual conflict of interest you the defense attorney saying it's just the appearance that's enough to disqualify them you have the prosecu

tor saying no it has to be an actual conflict of interest Tim you've grilled Witnesses on the stand do you think the people here were lying Nathan Wade fonny Willis Terrence were they were they all lying do you think it was a I don't know I don't know if the word conspiracy but do you think they were not telling the truth here's what I'll say when I look at Mr Bradley today he was under oath those messages that that he that came into evidence he wasn't under oath then right so and he had an ince

ntive so when I when I'm cross-examining a witness what I'm always trying to bring out is bias or the incentive to lie I look at Mr Bradley and I think they did show evidence that he was a dis gred employee that he had reason to basically uh coordinate with the defense lawyer Miss Merchant and that's why he would have been lying to her when I look at da Willis and Mr Wade I would think about whether there's corroboration for what they're saying or whether there's evidence that contradicts and I

don't know that the Defensor has got there they came and said we have cell phone data that shows Mr Wade was at Miss FAS Miss Willis's condo but then we look at the testimony he says yeah I went to her condo they said he was there 30 times and the judge himself pointed out well Mr Wade said he was there at least 10 times so I don't know that the evidence of parsing out slight differences in testimony is going to get you all the way there to saying someone was untruthful on the stand do you find

it strange that the biggest case of fonny Willis's life um and she has sort of this this problem this relationship is that bizarre at all to you I think it's it's very bizarre it is a massive massive laugh and judgment but to Angela's Point earlier we have to draw distinctions between ethical concerns professional conduct concerns and whether or not this prosecution is unlawful so what happens Angela how does the judge rule I think the judge is going to keep them on the case that is my best gues

s right now I think he's going to say it has to be a real conflict of interest and perhaps it hasn't met that stat Tam I agree I think he keeps them on on the case and this case moves forward all right two lawyers in agreeance here we appreciate you guys being on top story thank you for that another major headline tonight a potentially historic winter storm pummeling the West Coast a rare blizzard descending on the region dumping feet of snow on the sieras residents in some places bracing for up

to 12T of snow NBC Steve Patterson is in trucky California tonight tonight Relentless waves of wind whipped snow pounding the California sieras the National Weather Service issuing a rare blizzard warning for the region with life-threatening blankets of blinding white outs on the roads major interstates already shutting down after accidents like this big rig flip they're trucky if you don't have to travel do not skiing snowboarding sledding is not that important your lives are way more importan

t and we want you to be safe on the road areas from Yos to Lake Tahoe can see from anywhere from 5 to 10 ft of snow with more than 12T of snow gusting at over 100 mph in the mountains it's just going to be the storm of the winter so far so we're just going to hunker down there's no fun for anybody you can't slay ride you can't ski several ski resorts now shutting down lifts yose National Park closed until at least Sunday local resident preparing to be snowed in for days ice melt generators lante

rns flashlights batteries um anything that you can think of that somebody would need for a power outage or a severe storm and they are coming in for it at its worst officials warn of 2 to4 in of snow every hour for days this one is a 96-hour cycle so it's really going to affect us in the next 24 to 48 hours tonight an entire region bracing for impact Steve p joins us again tonight from trucky California Steve what conditions what are conditions like there right now well as you may be able to see

right now it is the wind that has picked up in just the last few minutes or so about a five minutes ago I would have been able to talk to you in my normal speaking voice that moment has passed sometimes the Flores pick up sometimes they kind of speed down but right now it is just hitting us pretty consistently Tom okay Steve Patterson first as the weather's picking up there as we see there for more on this historic storm and how high those snow totals could get NBC News meteorologist Bill Karen

s joins us now Bill walk us through what you're watching we just had2 mph wind gust at about 8,000 FT elevation at Palisades Tahoe the ski resort they have a weather sensor there we're amazed that it's even still working so that's the kind of winds we're getting at the highest of elevations we've already had reports many reports of one to about 2 feet of snow this is just kind of stage one of the storm this won't end until Sunday morning we think we're going to get about 1 to two feet tonight in

to tomorrow and then Saturday night into Sun Sunday morning probably another one to two feet in many areas and you can just see the storm just spinning here and all that moisture hits the mountains it get gets rung out it's getting colder in this region so the snow is getting fluffier it's going to build up higher it's going to blow around more so here's kind of the timing of this as we go throughout the weekend notice this area is where we're watching you know this is Mammoth Yus all the way up

to the Lake Tahoe area this is Saturday night and then by the time we get to Sunday it finally begins to at least get a little easier the winds won't be as strong the snow will be on and off but 5 to 10 ft anywhere in the Sierra Cascades 2 to 4 feet mostly the southern Cascades in Oregon in the wasat range of Utah 1 to 3 feet we will get some rain out of this in areas of Southern California rainy day in LA tomorrow but not a huge ordeal and then Tom we still have that huge fire concerns this we

ekend red flag warnings go from Nebraska all the way down to Texas we are highly concerned this area tomorrow in Colorado to North Texas in the exact same spots that we still only have 15% containment on The Smokehouse Creek Fire this is that area tomorrow 40 m hour winds don't be surprised if you hear tomorrow that fire spreads into Oklahoma it's going to be a busy weekend for you and your team all right Bill we thank you for that we now want to move on to a daring rescue on a Louisville bridge

where new video shows a truck dangling over the water with the driver still inside a firefighter relling down to get her and bringing her to safety Jesse kersch has that story a stunning scene unfolding on a Louisville Bridge a firefighter urgently repelling down to reach a driver stranded inside the semi-tractor trailer as the truck's cap dangles above the water First Responders worried it could fall at any moment this is very much a worst case scenario kind of a crazy thing that you don't exp

ect to actually have to do until you show up officials say around 12:00 p.m. the truck and three other vehicles were involved in a collision the truck kening off the roadway with its female driver still in the cab the fire department says she was shaken but still talking with the rescue team we're very concerned with the stabilization there to make sure that our people are safe obviously we are willing to risk a lot to save a lot and uh so yes we will absolutely take that risk to get her out fir

efighter Bryce Carden went over the edge to make the rescue she was just praying she was praying a lot so uh and I prayed with her she was super calm collected and helped me do what I needed to do to get her to safety essentially and it all worked out for the best and we'll go back to quarters and get ready to do it again if we have to about 40 minutes after the daring rescue began the driver was out of Harm's Way was alert and was taken to the hospital with what police believe are non-life-thre

atening injuries authorities say two people from one of the other vehicles involved do have injuries that appear to be life-threatening tonight police still have not said what caused the Collision which led to this incident but we are learning more about the semi- it features the logo of food service company Cisco which says its trucks do not transport hazardous materials Tom Jesse kers for us tonight Jesse thank you for that we want to turn now to a breaking development in the criminal case aga

inst New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez a codefendant in the criminal corruption case against Menendez pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors it comes as another tri-state area official New York city mayor Eric Adams is also increasingly legal scrutiny tonight after the FBI raid two homes owned by one of his top AIDS it comes amid an ongoing federal investigation to Adams political fundraising during his 2021 campaign let's get right over to NBC News chief justice contributor Jo

nathan Dean he's here in studio Jonathan a lot going on in the Tri State let's start with Senator Bob Menendez this was a bombshell development yeah a huge development today there were three businessmen accused of paying bribes to the senator uh through his wife one of them flipped and pleaded guilty today and has agreed to cooperate fully against the senator and during his uh plea allocution today in federal court he said yes I bought the senator and his wife a Mercedes and that in exchange he

says the senator tried to help an associate of his uh get out of a insurance uh fraud case that was being prosecuted at the state level that uh he was counting on the Senator's help in exchange for the Mercedes of course the senator his wife deny any wrongdoing they're vowing to fight the charges but uh prosecutors plan to use this man on the stand to point the finger at the senator according to what that man said in court it sounds like a textbook bribery case we're going to have to wait and se

e what happens but a huge development there we've been tracking what's been happening with mayor Adams and his staffers another big development today right right so the FBI uh searched to two properties belonging to one of his top top AIDS uh she's an Asian Affairs Lee is on uh the FBI is seizing documents all this part of a campaign fundraising case questions about her and whether she helped organize uh Camp improper campaign bundling straw donations if you will they're looking at that that is

in addition to a separate fundrais and investigation whether we're looking into whether any foreign money from Turkey was bundled through a construction firm and so again it's campaign fundraising around the senator but two Federal May around the mayor excuse me around the mayor two uh investigations going on at the same time in fundraising and questions about did the senator uh did the mayor know uh and what did he know about any of the activities of his age so far Char yeah he not charged his

phone was seized though by the FBI we we have reported that yes they are taking a hard look but as of now the investigation for now centers around him not on him all right Jonathan Dean always great to have you here in studio we appreciate it thank you still ahead tonight the Urgent search for an apparent kidnapping victim in Arizona new video shows a woman you see her here trying to run from a car while it was at a gas station when a man is seen grabbing her by the neck and dragging her back to

the vehicle why authorities fear this will be a challenging case to crack will explain plus breaking news in the death of Elijah mlan one of the paramedics convicted of giving him a lethal dose of ketamine sentenced late today just how long he'll spend behind bars and a scary scene at a golf course in the Florida Keys what we know about a small plane that crashed at a Florida golf course you see it right here stay with [Music] us we're back now with details on a man hunt near Phoenix Arizona Po

lice looking for a man caught on camera shoving a woman into a car at a gas station the shocking footage disturbing law enforcement and community members now the clock's ticking as police try to find that woman and her potential abductor Ellison barar reports tonight in Buckey Arizona A desperate search for a woman believed to be in the grips of a violent man it's almost like a horror movie a gray SUV speeds into a gas station a man gets out of the driver's seat a woman opens a door on the other

side and tries to run towards the convenience store the man grabs her puts his arm around her neck seeming to choke her as he drags her back into the car within 30 seconds they're gone we believe that the vehicle is a 2021 2023 Nissan Rogue all we have as far as description of of this male and female is what you're seeing in the video uh we don't even know uh their ages and at this point the video is from last Friday night at approximately 1: p.m. local time but police just released it why did

it take so long to get that surveillance video and release it to the public certain things had to be done to make sure that we had quality video that we can release to the public something that people can see and determine is this a vehicle that they may have seen now they're desperately trying to find the woman and the man so we have investigators looking for video from commercial surveillance systems that can help us get a better idea of where this vehicle went where it came from and the clock

is ticking there are a lot of unknowns are they local are they from somewhere else were they heading somewhere else that's why we really need folks to recognize these individuals in the video recognize this vehicle give us a call if you want to try to develop as much as a case you can to bring it to resolve at least to identify persons to persons involved within the first 48 Hours how difficult is it to track someone down and solve something like this how urgent is it given the time that has pa

ssed time is of essence but if there's anyone out there who have a inkling or maybe they've seen this vehicle seen these two individuals who may have been acting strangely in public they need to notify their local Authority because at best is worth the in investigation and very important all of this is that the victim in this case who was clearly abducted against her own will to try to get her back to safety if you have any information no matter how small you think it is police are asking you to

call them the number is on your screen if you want to stay Anonymous they say you can send a tip online that is also on your screen they say they cannot solve this without more help from the public Tom all right Ellison we appreciate that when we come back First Responders causing another emergency here in New York surveillance video captures the moment of fir truck lost control and crash right through a furniture store in Long Island what officials say caused this frightening [Music] scene all

right we're back now with top stories Newsfeed and we begin with the latest on the death of Elijah mlan former Aurora Colorado paramedic Peter chaunac was sentenced to 5 years in prison for giving giving mlan a lethal dose of ketamine following a confrontation with police in 2019 he was found guilty in December of criminally negligent homicide along with another paramedic Jeremy cooper cooper sentencing is in April here in New York a wild crash involving a fire truck caught on surveillance came

ra take a look at this new video shows that fir truck crashing through a furniture store on Long Island after also hitting a car parked outside firefighters were responding to a call when the truck appeared to Swerve to avoid Collision but then lost control two civilians and three firefighters were taken to the hospital with minor injuries a small plane making a crash landing on a golf course in the Florida Keys new video shows the plane with a broken wing you see it here and its nose ripped off

this happened at the Ocean Reef Golf Club in kilargo one person who was believed to be the pilot was airlifted to a nearby hospital no one on the ground was heard the cause of that crash is under investigation and a Feelgood update this Friday a six a six-month-old released from the hospital after she was rescued from from the scene of a car crash the baby named Lola meeting the officer who saved her life body cam footage shows the moment that officer pulled the baby from the wreckage of a car

near your Tampa last month he and he performed CPR until paramedics arrived the officer says Lola is on the road to recovery all right now to power and politics and Nikki Haley making some big news today and sitting down with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker though Haley is far behind in the delegate count and struggling to explain the path to the nomination at this point she's still according to her campaign raising a lot of money this as she's preparing for what could be her last stand

on the biggest voting night of the primary season super Tuesday to discuss it all and share some of her new reporting let's bring in Kristen Welker Christan great to see you on this Friday night a lot to talk about but first I know this was a wide- ranging discussion you had with Nikki Haley I want to talk about one moment where you asked Haley about the former president and the possibility of a second Trump term let's take a listen do you think Donald Trump would follow the Constitution if he w

ere elected to a second term I don't know I don't I don't know I mean I you always want to think someone will but I don't know you know when you when you go in and you talk about revenge when you go and you talk about you know Vindication when you go and you talk about what does that mean like I don't know what that means and only he can answer for that what I can answer for is I don't think there should ever be a president that's above the law I don't think that there should ever be a president

that has total immunity to do whatever they want to do Kristen one thing is clear she's not going down without a fight Tom you're absolutely right it is great to be with you on this Friday as well I spoke with a defiant Nikki Haley you heard it there in her answer the fact that she is not backing away from a question like that I thought was notable and look I asked her what her path looks like at this point if she doesn't win a state after super Tuesday does she have to drop out not prepared to

say that yet Tom she said what she has to do on super Tuesday is show that she's still competitive her campaign points to the fact that 11 of the states that are going to vote on super Tuesday are either open or semiopen primary States meaning that independent some Democrats can vote for her as well typically voting blocks that have helped Haley but obviously Tom that hasn't helped her win a state yet she knows the math she knows it's uphill and she really talks about this in the context of the

Republican party that she is fighting for her vision of the Republican party and I think that's what's so striking about that sound there that you played when she effectively says she doesn't know if Donald Trump would follow the constitution in a second term particularly notable because of course she served as his former un Ambassador Tom and Chris I do want to ask you about the money she keeps raising and yes the new numbers are from the campaign you know and we haven't been able to verify th

em yet but they're saying they've raised millions and millions of dollars what about an independent run right if she has the cash and she has support from Republicans and a lot of moderates I know she spoke about this today she spoke about this today Tom and look she is really brushing aside questions about whether she would run as a third party candidate she continues to insist she is running as a republican first let me play you a little bit of what she told reporters on the trail today and do

some analysis on the other side all the talk about the independent um no labels all that I haven't talked to anybody about that I know that they had sent like smoke signals that want me to talk to them um but I'm a republican if I were to do no labels that would require a Democrat Vice pres I can't do what I want to do as president with the Democrat vice president so really tamping down any spec speculation I should say that she would run as a third party candidate and Tom I have to tell you I

asked her about this as well and she went even further so we'll have that on Sunday but again her tone is notable because she's just gotten tougher in her tone in recent weeks I also asked her if she thought the court cases should go to trial against former president Trump before election day if he is in fact the nominee and she said yes she thinks all of the court cases should be dealt with we're talking about four different criminal indictments she said the voters deserve that I can tell you I

've spoken to a number of her supporters and they say boy she has gotten tough in these weeks leading up to Super Tuesday they wish she had gotten this tough in the beginning of the race they think it would have made a difference we'll have to see what super Tuesday looks like can she pick off a Washington DC in Massachusetts that could potentially be a game Cher If on the other side of super Tuesday she doesn't have a W under her belt Tom I think some of these donations could start to dry up an

d that's when she starts to have the really complicated conversations yeah we'll probably have a good sense Wednesday morning Kristen Welker we look so forward to that interview we appreciate you for being here on top story tonight you can see more of Kristen's interview with Nikki Haley she also speaks with Michigan congresswoman Debbie Dingle this Sunday only on Meet the Press and make sure to join us on super Tuesday look at this lineup special coverage begins at 5:00 p.m. Eastern right here

on NBC news now we're bringing you all the results live on a critical night in this primary campaign okay coming up desperate for Aid Cuba making an unprecedented plea to the world food program to provide powdered milk for young children why this request signals just how bad things are in Cuba as the island faces a shortage of food Fuel and medical supplies our report straight from Havana next all right we're back now with the americaas in the worsening economic crisis in Cuba for the first time

the communist government asking for help from the UN requesting the world food program send monthly shipments of powdered milk for children as shortages of milk medicine and fuel take a toll on the island just last month look at this we covered here on top story how Cubans are struggling to make ends meet how the island continues to struggle with constant blackouts this is our people are living over there and the severe fuel shortage is affecting them every single day I want to get right over t

o Ed Augustin who joins us tonight from our Havana Bureau Ed I want to start with that request to the world food program Cuba is in such a tough spot right now they don't even have powdered milk for their babies well Cuban policy is that every child up to the age of seven is supposed to I emphasize the word supposed to receive a kilogram of powdered milk every month to help with uh nutrition and that's one of the reasons why a little over a decade ago UNICEF said that this island was the only co

untry in Latin America and the Caribbean to have eliminated at that time according to them severe nutrition but given the depths of the huge economic crisis Cuba has been going through for so many years now it's hardly surprising that that the that programs like that are running into hiccups and we've spoken to families this week who are saying in many cases the milk's just not arriving and when it is it's arriving late and so in this context Cuba has taken an unprecedented step for the first ti

me the islands history this island that in previous times trumpeted achievements in having uh eliminated hunger has made a request to the UN world food program um to help it get milk to the Island's children and then Ed you know I I've spoken to Cubans on the island I I've heard from Cubans who have traveled back and come back to the States and and they're saying that it's never been this bad I mean what are people telling you out there on the island in the in the country well we're speaking on

the very day that the the ruling Communist party has just quintupled that's right increased by five times the amount the the the price of gasoline um and I want to show you a clip um of somebody that we met earlier Lis Alberto Bak who we who who we met who'd been spending hours in a long line just trying to fill up with gasoline so you can just imagine Tom the effect of this on inflation economists say that the Cuban government does have to reduce these subsidies um and therefore increase the pr

ice of things like fuel but obviously these measures are unpopular and frankly people are scared about the effects of KnockOn inflation in The Wider economy just to give you an idea of how difficult things are for Cubans almost anything you can think of that's so easy to get in so many other countries sugar rice beans soap shampoo it's all difficult and it's all very very very hard for the average Cuban whose salary now expressed in dollar terms is as low as $16 a month to get hold of so Cubans

are very very worried about just how tough life on the island is becoming this as the Sun is setting there in Havana we notice the darkness behind you and not a lot of lights on at night Ed we appreciate your reporting thanks for being on top story tonight and a top story's Global watch in another region of the world in critical need of Aid President Biden has announced the US will Air drop food into Gaza as we've been reporting there are concerns Gaza is on the brink of famine with people waiti

ng in food lines for hours and even forced to give their children animal feed the president today acknowledging there is not enough Aid being brought to the Enclave he also reiterated that the US is trying to push for an immediate ceasefire between Hamas and Israel Mexico City's reservoirs hitting historically low levels this week officials using tanker trucks to supply its more than 21 million residents but it isn't enough people say they have to recycle shower and laundry water for the toilet

and they have to buy Safe Drinking Water years of low rainfall and a Severe drought have caused that shortage all right that does it for us tonight thanks so much for watching top story I'm Tom yamas in New York stay right there more news on the way thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media