Hallie Jackson NOW – March 6 | NBC News NOW

we are coming on the air buckled in and screaming toward the general election in November now that it is unofficially official that President Biden and former president Trump will go head-to-head again Nikki Haley today bowing out so what happens next in this new phase of the campaign and we'll talk about why.

The prospect of a debate matchup is suddenly on the table also new tonight some break news out of the Middle East two Sailors killed by pothy rebels the first deaths near the Red Sea since the Israel Hamas War started but the pentagons saying when we take you their live then new concerns about a potential Civil War in Haiti why the state.

Department wants the country's prime minister to hurry up and step down ASAP plus a new plan by the TSA to get you through the airport faster with security that's kind of like self-checkout but the question of speed versus Security is coming up we'll get into it and in tonight's original how some Silicon Valley invest ERS want to revive nuclear.

Power plants to fuel the AI Revolution what does that mean we're getting into that a little bit later on in the show hey there I'm hie and tonight the longest general election in a generation begins with Donald Trump now the presumptive Republican nominee setting up a rematch with President Biden we haven't had the major candidates locked.

Down this early since Myspace hit a million users back in 2004 that means we're going to tie the record that year 244 days till the general election and after 243 of them you will not be able to avoid the moment that polls show most Americans have been dreading an election day featuring Donald Trump versus Joe Biden more than half of.

Voters saying they don't want either as their nominee twoth thirds say they want somebody new they are not getting it this time we're at this point after Nikki Haley today decided her time is up after she won just one state on super Tuesday and as she drops out of the race she's tossing a challenge Mr Trump's way watch it is now up to Donald Trump to.

Earn the votes of those in our party and Beyond it who did not support him and I hope he does that at its best politics is about bringing people into your cause not turning them away for his part the former president mocking Haley even as he invites her supporters to get behind him a directive if you will to fall in line as the last.

Hold outs in his party are doing just that including a formerly reluctant Mitch McConnell who summed up his endorsement of Mr Trump today by gushing exuberantly that Mr Trump has the I'm quoting here requisite support of Republican voters okay maybe not exuberance so much as perhaps resignation to the reality here that.

This is Donald Trump's party but on the Democratic side you've got President Biden hoping he can peel away some of the Haley supporters who feel there's just not a place for them in the Maga movement so the big question we have where are those voters going to go exit polls in a couple of key States show a chunk of Nikki Haley voters not.

Promising to back Donald Trump does that mean they're going to go for President Biden or does it mean they're going to stay home we'll get the view from Haley world with Ali vital in just a second but I want to start with Garrett H steps away from Mar Lago in West Palm Beach Florida so Garrett you got the former president saying right that he wants the.

Party to unify behind him but when you pull up some of the exit polling here about 60% of Voters in these three key States say that they just don't feel part of the Maga movement he's got to bring them in somewhere and this is something that I know you've been talking about with with folks on your orbit as.

Well yeah that's right H I think you characterized it correctly that he wants the party to unify but he wants it to happen on his terms Donald Trump has made no effort to reach out or to somehow temper his style or change his policy positions in such a way as to appeal to that section of the Republican Party who hasn't supported him to the.

Degree that he has made this a focal point at all he's done it almost entirely through the lens of you know so allowing Joe Biden to essentially push soft Republicans back into his orbit I asked him about this all the way back during the New Hampshire primary and here's what he told me then it's still operable.

Now how do you bring them back into the they're going to all vote for me again they're going to all vote for me again everybody and I'm not sure we need too many I I'm not sure I think that Biden is the worst president in the history of this country but we're going to all come back they're all coming back and I think you see that.

Here jumping ahead to March two things I think are still true number one the Trump campaign believes that again the Biden part of this will work to their advantage that he will push voters back into Donald Trump's Camp the other part of this hle is they just don't think this is as big of a problem as uh as the data that you just showed might indicate.

They look at swing state polls that still show Donald Trump in many cases comfortably ahead of Joe Biden and think that perhaps they don't need as many of these Nikki Haley voters back as you or I might believe yeah I mean potentially a risky bet we'll see you've also got as we talk about the general election right 244 days away uh one of the things that.

Is a Hallmark of the Fall pre-election is typically debates between the two candidates in the last couple of hours and this has been an open question since Donald Trump didn't do any of the primary debates sounds like maybe he'd do one with President Biden talk us through it yeah not just maybe according to this.

Truth social post he's ready he says to do debates anytime anywhere any place including including tomorrow including on MSNBC including perhap hosted by the commission on presidential debates which ironically the Republican Party voted a boycott back in 2022 at Donald Trump's Direction it just shows you the way that the political winds have changed here.

The Trump campaign and Donald Trump feels like one-on-one against Joe Biden he puts on the better showing and that they can backfoot the president who has not committed to participating in any debates by suggesting they should do this now do it often they maybe believing their own hype too much here I suppose we might ultimately find out.

Whether or not they think the president would be a weaker debater than Donald Trump although I will say historically hie incumbent presidents almost stumble in that first debate so it may be a pretty a good tactical risk here by Donald Trump to kind of force this issue now Garrett he watching all of it there from your perch near Palm Beach Garrett.

Thank you Ali Vali is also perched in Charleston South Carolina perhaps for the last night Ally after months of following Nikki Haley on the campaign Trail what's been interesting has been this question what her tone would be you and I were together when we were on that special report earlier she was making that announcement she didn't like I mean.

She congratulated Donald Trump uh she talked about being a Conservative Republican what she didn't say was hey everybody who supported me go out and support the former president she kind of encouraged people to make up their own minds about it and it seems like she's still kind of making up hers hie because what the.

Other half of that sentence was when she said I'm a Conservative Republican the next thing she says was I always back the party's nominee and then she didn't back the party's nominee this might be a clue as to why though this list of policy things that she has different with Donald Trump watch a smaller federal government is.

Not only necessary for our freedom it is necessary for our survival term limits for Washington politicians are needed now more than ever standing by our allies in Ukraine Israel and Taiwan is a moral imperative it's that last one hie that I think is so important the way that Nikki Haley has really stood in the breach.

From a foreign policy perspective even as a lot of folks within her own Republican party are trying to back away from continued Aid to allies like Ukraine uh pumping the breaks in Congress on Aid to Israel because it's tied up in a whole bunch of other thorny politics issues the fact that Haley has been cleared and consistent there makes.

Her very different than the former president and her former boss who has not had much much to say if anything negative about Vladimir Putin even in the wake of the murder of one of his political dissidents and the top uh top uh political critic there in Russia Alexa novali just weeks ago for Haley those are key differences and they might.

Explain the lack of endorsement too one of the questions Ally and we laid this out right at the beginning of the show here what happens listen Nikki Haley is not getting a majority of the Republican electorate we've seen that she couldn't that's why she's not in the race anymore she didn't get zero right it wasn't much but there were certainly some sliver of.

The Republican party who backed her and even though we talked about Garrett saying there's there's an open question as to how much the Trump campaign feels like they need to extend any olive branches to that slice we know that if this is a you know any similarities in 2020 it's going to be close it's going to be like super close the margins are.

Super tight which is why some of these in particular Suburban women in these key swing States matter the very folks who seemed to favor Nikki Haley in some of these early primaries let me play a little bit of what some of these voters told you our team others watch that's a really good question I would I it's probably going to be Biden I'm a.

Little concerned with Trump but at the same time uh if it's between Trump and Biden then it's uh I'd probably vote for Trump divided but also reluctant which speaks to the idea that the other Challenger here in a Donald Trump Joe Biden set up is voter apathy Ally what if they stay home and Frank I've heard from those voters who loathe.

Having to make this choice and also say maybe I just don't make it maybe I vote down ballot maybe I just stay home period and when you look at States like Wisconsin or Michigan or especially Georgia which Biden was able to flip we know that these are states that turn on tens of thousands of ballots that is not a lot of ballots and so for people to.

Say they're staying home that would certainly impact the turnout question and could impact the way that these states go it could also be impactful if you're Trump and you're losing votes from would be Republicans that could be enough to help Biden both parties are sort of fighting this apathy question right now and Haley supporters are front.

Of that pack Ali Vitali live for us there in South Carolina where do you go next friend do you know yet to my bed to sleep enjoy you deserve it thank you Ally appreciate all your coverage and thanks to your team as well let's take you to the other side of the aisle now from the Republican presumptive candidate to the Democratic.

One or nominee we should say with President Biden getting ready to make what's basically a response to Mr Trump's super Tuesday near sweep tomorrow night at the State of the Union big platform for the president look at this graphic okay these are all the this is the top 100 live broadcasts last year see all those footballs it was like all.

Sports almost except for three things the Oscars the Thanksgiving Day Parade you see it there and you see that little icon there the State of the Union that little flag on the 21st first it's a big deal right there's a lot of eyeballs on this and for President Biden our team is reporting that a lot of his message will boil down to whose side are you on.

Expect to hear a lot about the cost of drugs immigration and the border the Israel Hamas War all of it part of what the presidency is not as a one night Prime Time Event but something that leads up to a full-on flood the Zone moment for his message Kelly O'Donnell is outside the White House for us and Kelly this is an opportunity for the.

President in front of these many eyeballs as we laid out perhaps push back to one of the big voter concerns about him coming into November which is his age his Fitness for office here I'm interested to see how he might respond Allah last year to any heckling from the room I know you and the team have some new reporting on that and a whole bunch.

Of other uh nuggets leading up to tomorrow night talk us through it well certainly hiy when the president knows he's in front of a room which includes hundreds of members of Congress and we know that sort of the decorum in the chamber has uh loosened up uh to to put it uh politely over the years so it could be members of Congress who could.

Heckle it could be those who are attending in the gallery there are guests of each member of Congress and Senators uh who are invited to witness this extraordinary event of seeing a state of the union in person and so there might be on either the far right or the far left on issues as wide ranging as uh the ceasefire demands in.

Gaza to immigration and the Border you could see heckling and so clearly the president as part of his preparation with a small group of senior advisers spending time at Camp David working through iterations of the draft and part of it is anticipating what might be said what might come up and then how best to try to respond to that in many ways the.

Biden Administration the team around the president would sort of Welcome one of those moments because they felt that what happened last year with some uh calling out related to Social Security gave the president a moment to show command of the room to almost negotiate in real time with Republicans uh to agree to no cuts on Social Security and.

Have a bit of a win in that moment by perception by demonstrating his agility and those kinds of things so there is opportunity along with Peril when it comes to preparing for hecklers so I have like 90 million more questions for you and not 90 million more minutes Kelly but let me TI through a couple of them because we know on policy right.

There's a lot of interesting topics here Republicans have made immigration front and center in their 2024 push what's talking to to the Biden campaign they also want to flip the script on immigration and try to get Republicans back on their heels after Congress failed to pass any meaningful immigration reform expect to hear that.

That the president will push back to say that the necessary steps for immigration in border security require funding and that can only be done by Congress to pay for the border patrol agents to pay for uh more judges for Asylum courts and so forth so he's going to say he's exhausted executive Authority they don't plan to unveil any new unilateral steps.

It's Congress who has to pass the money and the policy to get it done and then Kelly just very quickly we talked about former president Trump this idea that he may want to debate President Biden this idea that he's going to be like watching in real time tomorrow night team Biden seems to be like hey bring it on if you're so thirsty just do it talk us.

Through that well they recognize that sometimes these in the moment moments can be very helpful they're also risky there are high stakes but they want to draw out the former president they want to set up this contest as the divide that has unfolded now of a rematch election in a new moment where they believe they can argue that Joe Biden.

Even if you don't agree on all of his policies is still the the Sounder Choice the better choice and so they believe that tangling with the former president will reveal more of what makes especially elusive voters unsettled about him Kelly Kelly odonnell Zippity zipping through it all in front of the White House for us tonight Kell thank.

You let's take you to the Middle East now because we have some developing news out of there where we're learning that houthi rebels in Yemen have killed at least two Sailors in a missile attack on a commercial ship today the first time anyone's been killed in the rebel groups attacks since they started targeting ships in the Red Sea at the start of the.

Israel Hamas War it happened on a Liberian owned ship flying the Barbados flag raising the possibility now that American troops could respond with yet another round of strikes on the rebels mbc's Courtney QB is following this one for us okay so Court the big question what could the response be now that live have been lost for the first time in.

This situation in this conflict yeah so we've seen a series of escalating responses frankly from the first time that the US and the British military actually came together and conducted a round of air strikes inside Yemen we saw another round of those just recently and US officials here at the Pentagon are saying yes they are looking at options.

For response but the reality is hie there's also a growing frustration about the fact that this continuing these these air strikes including the ones that are occurring on a near daily basis these so-called dynamic or self-defense strikes that the US military is taking just about every day they don't seem to be detering the houthis we've seen just.

In the past two days five houthi missile attacks against ships the one that we're seeing that we're talking about here today that killed two civilian Mariners and wounded six others they actually struck another ship that didn't really any fatalities but there were three other missiles that were that were targeting ships in the Red Sea in the.

Gulf of Aiden so the houthis do not seem to be deterred and it's not just here at the Pentagon that they're talking about the possibility of another response here we heard from the state department spokesperson about how the US is considering response here's what he said the United States will continue to hold the houthi accountable for their.

Attacks we have always made clear that um this is going to be a long-term process both to deter the houie attacks and to degrade their capabilities to to carry them out and what Matt Miller just said there about degrading their capabilities that's one of the big challenges here H is the US doesn't have a really good.

Sense of exactly what the houthis have in their Arsenal remember before November the US wasn't really taking paying a whole lot of attention to the houthis they were not conducting these sorts of attacks against the maritime environment now the US doesn't have a really strong Baseline of what all they have in their Arsenal that just makes us.

All the more challenging Courtney Q navigating all of it there live for us the Pentagon Court thank you down south right now Alabama lawmakers are working to get a bill on the governor's desk by the end of the day to get State IVF clinics open again you're about to be looking live at the legislative sessions that just started the senate in the last.

Hour at the State House in just the last 20 minutes now this bill would protect fertility clinics from lawsuits that's after that controversial ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that Frozen embryos have the same rights as children still some lawyers say the bill as written just doesn't do enough Dasha Burns is covering this one live for us.

From Montgomery Alabama tonight explain that piece of it Dasha what the bill does and does not do and what you're hearing from folks on the ground yeah hie so the bill is being debated on the house floor right now as we speak what this bill does do is protect clinics and the providers all basically all the folks involved in IVF.

Treatment from legal uh liability criminal and civil liability and that means that if this bill passes uh tonight or or tomorrow that clinics will be able to reopen remember there are families that have been in the Lurch for weeks now when this uh as after this decision came out and I've been talking to lawmakers here uh Democratic.

Lawmakers are concerned about this bill they're willing to vote for it but they're not in full throated support take a listen I will support this bill because I feel like our families here need to have immediate relief but is like putting a Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging wound it's not addressing the issue of.

Um the the fundamental issue that an embryo is not is not a child and that's the fundamental question here is will this bill be enough given that the uh ruling and the state's Constitution still has uh this clause in it saying that embryos are people p Dasha burns live for us there in montgomer Dasha thank you so much.

Tonight officials are sharing more about the victim of that huge fire in Michigan the one that you're about to see on screen I want to show you here the explosions coming out of this plant literally shaking houses nearby do you see that horrific raining down debris on Monday police say this was all happening at a vape distribution facility that had.

Been illegally storing combustible gas canisters one of which apparently hit 19-year-old Turner Salter eventually killing him officials say Salter was at a nearby car wash maybe watching all of this all the commotion as it happened now crews are there at the scene you can see some of the aftermath here cleaning up as officials warned that some of the.

Debris scattered around could still be dangerous could still potentially be explosive so the big question they're trying to answer what came first at this plant was it the fire or was it the explosion Adrien brus is joining us now we've shown the pictures and you can't overstate it how dramatic this was some of these explosive canisters went flying.

Something like a mile it is still dangerous near this site talk to us about what happened and where the investigation goes now hiy the latest information is up to 2 miles away that's how far the debris was scattered and the warning for residents here is if you see one of those canisters don't touch it don't pick it.

Up because it could still explode we have seen small fires reemerging here throughout the day investigators are hoping that they can get on this site fully so they can start the next step to pinpoint what happened what led to that series of explosions you talked about those flying canisters and the flying debris that is what hit the 19-year-old.

Turner in his head his funeral is planned for this Friday he will be remembered as a teen who was kind and served in his church meanwhile people back here in the community are still talking about what they saw what I felt was the whole world Earth shaking it was uh it was it was it was pretty bad and scary.

Um it never stopped it never stopped the explosions never stopped and what was exploding hie those canisters which contained butane at least half remained after the business owners here had just received recently a shipment a semi load also inside of a back room according to City officials was a pallet of nitrous oxide along.

Along with lighter fluid and authorities telling us this well it's gone now but the building that was here before was supposed to be a retail operation hiy Adrian brought us live first there in Michigan thank you out of New Mexico tonight jurors are now deliberating the rust shooting case after prosecutors told them that when the movie sets.

Armorer wasn't doing a job filming was a game of Russian Roulette every time an actor had a gun listen I'm not telling you that Hannah Gutierrez intended to bring live rounds on set I'm telling you that she was negligent she was careless she was thoughtless it's been a dramatic trial it's been an emotional trial as we are.

Now officially on verdict watch tonight Senator on the woman you see here Hannah Gutierrez Reed this is her in court today she was the one who loaded the gun that went off in Alec Baldwin's hand on October 21st 2021 which led to the death of the movie's cinematographer helina Hutchins now it's up to the jury to decide if gutier Reed was to blame here.

For not being more careful if they find her guilty of involuntary manslaughter of tampering with evidence she could face years in prison data Griffin is covering this for us now from Santa Fe New Mexico we talked about the prosecutions closing arguments the defense's closing arguments drilled down on the fact that the jury has to be sure.

That Gutierrez Reed was responsible Beyond A Reasonable Doubt how did they thread that needle yeah H so the defense pointed to the fact that the prosecutor has yet to to find or show any direct evidence of how and when those live rounds found their way on set they blamed actor Alec Balwin for pulling the trigger stating.

That the scene that script specifically did not call for him to draw his weapon they blame the the supplier of that ammo and also the investigators for not doing a search warrant until a month after the shooting they say the supplier could have thrown away evidence and they have also cited multiple times that OSHA report that found fault with the.

Production rust Productions and management for several safety failures throughout that entire filming session listen the Box stops with production as in any organization it starts at the top you've got a convenient fall person you got a convenient scapegoat and she may not be the armor on some days she's the proms person but.

But she's certainly the armor when everything goes bad now the prosecution added that she was not the fall person she was the person who did not do her job she also agreed you're right Hannah Gutierrez Reed did not know that she was loading a live round because the prosecutor says had she known she would have been.

Charged with murder hiie what is the timeline now what is the expectation for how quickly we may see some kind of a verdict here from the jury I know that that is all te Leaf reading Dana but what's your sense mhm we hie could literally have a verdict by today I want to let you know we just got word that the jury has a.

Question so not a verdict but they have called councel back in our producer has gone in to try to listen in so maybe we can update you next hour on maybe what that question was and maybe get a sense of how close they are to coming to a verdict yeah that's super interesting Dana Griffin thank you for being there we'll look for that update from you next.

Hour appreciate it lots more to get to you coming up this hour as well including the new backlash against Doritos that is giving budlight boycott we'll explain plus why this mega yacht seized from a Russian oligarch is costing American taxpayers like a million dollars a.

Month Elon Musk tonight putting to bed some questions about who he's supporting in the 2024 election and it looks like it's nobody at least when it comes to dollars in a post today on his platform X musk wrote just to be super clear I am not donating money to either candidate for US president I'm luck he kind of had to come out and say this after he was.

Spotted at Mar Lago this past weekend meeting with Mr Trump and a few Republican donors according to the New York Times the whole thing raised a bunch of questions about whether musk might be putting his support and perhaps some of his nearly $200 billion dollar net worth behind the former president who is very much looking for cash NBC.

News business and data correspondent Brian CH is joining us now with more so even if mus doesn't make any direct donations and by the way the language is interesting in his in his post yeah that's right like there's also a lot of things that aren't campaigns you can donate money to you know what I mean that would that would make a different.

Here still he's got a lot of ways if he wanted to to put his finger on the scale come November yeah well and is significant because he's one of the wealthiest people in the world but yeah I mean if he says he's not going to commit money there are certainly other ways that he could put his thumb on the scale and that's because of his massive.

Influence right he owns the X formerly known as Twitter platform he's got 175 million followers on there and then even outside of the public facing aspect of what must does and says it's also behind the scenes right he has many connections to other very wealthy people and again this is just one example but we know that he has a relationship with Kanye.

West who also has a lot of money so money could go into the Trump campaign as a result of his connections even if it doesn't come from musk directly but also again he's been tweeting very clearly it's not a surprise to anyone that he supports uh this this candidate over uh Biden and for that reason he can continue to say things in some cases.

Also lob perhaps misinformation about certain situations as he's done before to perhaps put his thumb on the scale a recent NBC News investigation found that musk is wrapped up in at least 11 different regulatory battles with the government he is in some ways Brian uniquely invested in who ends up in the White House yeah absolutely I mean you.

Know he runs many many businesses a lot of them have been wrapped up in regulatory issues which he has been a musk rather has been very clear in saying holds him back so he might be in favor of a candidate that is going to pair some of those regulations back as Trump did during 2016 but I also want to point out that musk isn't necessarily on.

Board entirely with all the policies we remember that deal book uh conference that he appeared at earlier this year where he didn't necessarily Go full throated behind Trump take a listen could you see yourself voting for President Biden if if it's if a Biden Trump election for example I think I would not vote for Biden youd vote for.

Trump I'm not saying I'd vote for Trump but I mean this is definitely a difficult Choice here so a difficult Choice here I mean look we've known based off of what he said since then that he would support Trump over Biden but you have to see that I mean that long pause was a long pause right so when it comes to the.

Other types of policies that certainly does enter the fold here but on a regulatory basis certainly he would probably prefer the former president to uh to Biden 30,000 foot view here though could be incredibly powerful come November uh in ways that are perhaps useful to candidates into campaigns and in ways that are perhaps dangerous when.

It comes to something you alluded to which is misinformation yeah and we have to remember that he has used this platform for political reasons before when he tried to launch the Ronda santis campaign remember that didn't go well at all there were technical issues behind the scenes but you know even if musk isn't throwing money behind the scenes.

We have to remember that this platform has had a lot of big changes since he took it private not long ago and there are concerns about whether or not even if he himself is going to uh you know use it to say whatever he wants to say that whether or not he's going to police the other types of misinformation that could come for the other millions of.

Users that are on the platform so here's the stance when it comes to X's policy on specifically voting and Civic engagement so it says quote you may not use ex services for the purposes of manipulating or interfering in elections or other Civic processes I'm paraphrasing here but that includes a suppressing participation misleading.

People about how and where to vote or inciting violence during an election so these are all things that are codified in the policy but enforcing it hie is a whole separate question it's a private company there are no shareholders to answer to that's very much an opaque process for this massive social media company yeah musk is really uh in the.

Driver's seat on that one to a big degree Brian Chun thank you so much appreciate it let's get you over to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one prosecutors dropping charges today in the middle of that Hotel California trial we told you about that means the charges are basically gone this is the.

Trial about whether lyrics to Hotel California and some other eagles hits were stolen it's after the defense said some newly available emails raised questions about the trial's fairness the defendants three Collectibles experts had pleaded not guilty Number Two the government wants to sell this mega yacht that it seized from a Russian oligarch a.

Couple years ago and it was trying to pressure Russia to back off Ukraine the yacht costs the government a million dollar a month just to maintain it's a lot of money according to new court filings the government says it is done with what it called calls the excessive costs of Maintenance and crew it's expensive to keep a mega yacht number.

Three Starbucks Middle East franchisee says it's laying off 2,000 people because business is tough they say some customers have boycotted the chain since the start of the Israel Hamas War over what they think is its political stance Starbucks says they do not have a political agenda number four Target is rolling out a paid membership program.

It's kind of like Amazon Prime this one's called Target Circle 360 it'll cost you 99 bucks a year and basically it's free same day delivery for orders over $35 delivered in as little as an hour plus free 2-day shipping launches in April number five take a look at this a rare gray whale spotted near Nantucket and if you think.

Oh that's pretty cool do you know what researchers think their heads exploded they couldn't even take it one of them said my brain was trying to process what I was seeing because these whales have been extinct from the Atlantic for more than 200 years wailing obviously the issue there now this one this one whale is back maybe because of climate change.

With less sea ice in the whales way as they make their way to that part of the Atlantic pretty cool to some new right-wing brand backlash now after Doritos says it's cutting ties with a transgender influencer in Spain you see here there Samantha Hudson she had posted a video promoting Doritos Spain that is now off her page the partnership.

Prompting the hashtag boycott Doritos to pop up all over right-wing circles on X formerly known as Twitter Hudson hasn't commented but in a statement to NBC News Dorito's parent company PepsiCo says it ended the relationship because of controversial deleted tweets she made adding and you see it here we strongly condemn words or actions that promotes.

Violence or sexism of any kind if some of this is starting to sound a little bit familiar to you maybe because there's so many shades of that conservative backlash Bud Light faced for partnering with trans influencer Dylan mulany remember Kid Rock shooting beer cans has everybody watched the brand fall from its number one one perch.

Morea Barrett is following this one for us so same same but different right as it relates to Doritos and budlight explain the controversy here there is a lot of overlap but I think it's important to break down the background of it all Hudson is a 24 year-old artist and singer in Spain and the posing question uh appeared about a.

Decade ago I want to pull up some of the reporting that we have here at NBC for you Hudson was reported to have tweeted back in 2015 about wanting to do quote depraved things with a 12-year-old girl that's according to Rolling Stone NBC News has not seen the original post on social media and they appear to have been removed from X now Hudson later.

Reportedly expressed remorse for those tweets but that post which was made back in 2021 is no longer available on her page and there is more others online pointed out that Hudson has been critical of the right-wing in Spain in an interview clip that resurfaced she appears to say she Advocates quote for the abolition to destroy and eliminate.

The traditional monogamous nuclear family that's according to a translation of the video from Spanish to English and so obviously a lot of controversy swirling around those purported comments and Dorito laying out exactly how they found out and when they found out and kind of immediately distancing themselves from Hudson all due to what.

They say is those specific comments so not exactly the same as the Bud Light controversy but definitely some overlapping Shades Mora Barett thank you very much for that one appreciate it got a lot more to get to coming up here on the show including chaos in Haiti the Prime Minister off the island on American soil and the new push from AC.

Cross the Caribbean for him to step aside plus a different kind of showstopper hits Vegas why the Bellagio had to pause its famous fountain show next NBC News covers hundreds of stories every day and because it can be tough to read or watch or listen to them all our Bureau teams have done it for you this.

Is what the tell us is going down in their regions in a segment we call the local at out of our Northeast Bureau hundreds of National Guards members are being National Guardsmen are being deployed to try to control the crime surge in New York City's Subways the move is part of the governor's fivepoint safety plan that also includes things.

Like more surveillance cameras that comes as the NYPD is being given the go-ahead to pick up bag checks out of our Western Bureau the famous fountain show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas you know that one it's been paused thanks to a very rare bird this yellow build loon spotted in the water outside of the hotel experts call it one of the the 10.

Rarest birds that breeds on the US Mainland look at it it's it's giving duck Vibes to me but it's aloon very rare and there were concerns that the bird was going to get bothered by all the Rushing Water by all the fountains going off the Las Vegas Review Journal reports The Loon has been safely relocated as of today there you go out.

Of our Midwest Bureau Michigan dog to the rescue Canan officer spotting a missing toddler in the woods just yards from a lake police say the three-year-old wandered off near his home Monday afternoon after about an hour of searching the canine LED his Handler toward the lake then he heard the boy crying the toddler only had some.

Small scrapes and thankfully look at that little babes that little three-year-old's expected to be just fine thank goodness to Haiti now where the us tonight is urging the Haitian prime minister to speed up his own resignation and a political transition to democratic elections as the country gets close to.

The brink of Civil War according to one Us official and a source familiar with the conversations in just the last few hours we've heard from the state department saying that they are not pushing listen we are not calling on him or pushing for him to resign but we are urging him to expedite the transition to.

An empowered and inclusive governance structure that will move with urgency to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission to address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections the administration's tipped to in kind of carefully here the important information and what you just heard from.

Matt Miller coming at the beginning we're not pushing we are encouraging he said because the security crisis in Haiti is hitting a Breaking Point the Prime Minister now in Puerto Rico not able to fly back to Haiti because the airport there has been targeted as we talked about earlier this week right here on this show with our own guad.

Venegas it's Gabe Gutierrez picking up coverage now of Haiti because the US is in the middle Gabe of this very um very delicate power struggle here and I think you heard it a little bit when we played it from the state department words matter in diplomacy and in this instance words definitely matter yeah that's right Hale and we just heard from Ken.

John a a short time ago echoing what the state department said essentially that they are not pressuring uh the prime minister to resign they just want him to leave a little faster so yes they are choosing their words very very carefully here here's some of what Karine jeampier the White House Press Secretary had to say we are definitely not pushing Prime.

The prime minister to resign that is not what we're doing but we have underscored that now is the time to finalize a political Accord to help set Haiti on a path to a better future and that is something that we've been working on for some time so yeah hie the White House walking that very fine line and as you said this.

All comes as prime minister um the the prime minister is now in Puerto Rico the White House also saying that they are not helping the prime minister at this point so unclear when he plans to return uh to Haiti uh Ariel HRI uh came to power uh back in 2021 following the assass ass ination of the country's president so this is a definite.

Escalation as you've reported that over the weekend there was that Prison Break in that Country and this uh Haiti is sliding further and further into chaos at this point H well let's talk about that chaos because we've talked about the issues with that airport getting targeted it's an airport that I think it's the same one that you visited Gabe.

When you went to Haiti not too long ago I think it was in the within the last couple of years the concern is right timing if this security situation keeps getting worse right if if the these attacks keep on happening um the scope of what the White House what the US can do gets more and more narrow yeah exactly the options are are limited here.

Look the US has in some way shape or another been involved with HTI for a very long time you know even in the 90s following the military coup Jean Brad ared and the us having to get involved there with a multinational force and so now the question becomes what options does the US have the U the White House has been very insistent that they will.

Not send American boots on the ground to Haiti but now this multi multinational security Force led by Kenya when will that uh you know take effect and what options does the US have if the Prime Minister does not want uh to you know get out of power so yes a lot of questions remaining at this point Hale but the but the the major question right.

Now for the US how much does it plan to get involved and you know when when will these uh gangs these armed gangs in Haiti that now control about 70 uh about 80% actually of portter Prince will they accept anything in the full resignation of the Prime Minister Gabe Gutierrez thank you so much for breaking that one down for us appreciate it coming up a.

Plan that could change the future of flying how Travelers are responding to a self-checkout style TSA checkpoint so today TSA is rolling out something that could change the future future of checkpoints at the airport a six-month plan that's kind of like self check out at the grocery store it's only in Vegas for now and it is only for.

People with pre-check for now since you know we know the routine NBC's Tom Castello knows the routine he tried it for himself take a look come up to the checkpoint take your carry-on put it in the bin if you've got any questions simply ask the TSA officer on demand hi there how may I help you today slide your bin onto the rollers.

Then walk right into the full body scanner put your arms down to the side and it's going to look for anything that shouldn't be there and it's telling me I got to come back out I have a microphone of course that it's detected I've got the transmitter on my belt and something a lot of people forget my cell.

Phone look at you what an active standup like you're doing it you're showing and telling cuz what comes up for me is like you know you're at the grocery store you're do s checkout not you know 50/50 shot you don't make it through easily something goes wrong you got to hit the little button the person has help like is this actually going to be helpful or.

Like I'm a little skeptical so yes and that's exactly what the TSA is trying to model from your checkpoint experience checkout experience at the local grocery store whatever you use do you remember how to scan your bananas I'm I can never remember the code number then it says error then I can put in the bag there's your Sho your chicken whatever now for.

Those people who have it down P the thinking is the same thing might be true in a TSA checkpoint if you are a pre-check you have to be pre-check and if you fly all the time and you know how to make this move this may be something for you you may be able to make this work I asked the TSA Chief David Picos Admiral David Picos is this something.

That can roll out Nationwide maybe not so fast here's what he said Don't expect to be widely rolled out at every airport and every checkpoint no I don't think so and and really we're very early in the in the process I mean you know part of what we're trying to do here is to figure out hey what works what facilitates movement.

Of people uh while at the same time making sure that we can provide the security we provide two and a half million people of course are going through TSA checkpoints every day and I got a little headline for you if you are going on spring break be warned TSA says it's going to be even bigger than last year which was a record.

We're already seeing passenger volumes up up 6% over last year you know what they say Tom pack your patience have you heard that one before I don't know if you heard I got a trademark original right there well so here's the question though right because obviously the the reason for TSA the reason we go through these checkpoints is not to annoy all of.

Us and slow us down it's for security it's to keep us safe on the plane right so how do they navigate that do do they think that this can actually create because we always see those images every year of like all the crazy things people leave at checkpoints that are confiscated that's right safety versus speed how are they navigating listen.

Let's also underscore that it was stood up after 911 and the tragedy of 9/11 and uh they are still confiscating record numbers of guns every year at checkpoints so that's the big question right can this still achieve Expedition can you move people through but at the same time can you have a secure checkpoint there's also this going on.

Here I would tell you and that is this concern about where we are and a competitiveness in terms of other countries and how well they screen passengers because the truth is the US Travel Association says we're number 17 ranking number 17 in terms of our competitiveness what do they base that on okay among other things how good is.

The airport are they kind of crumbling is that for all the airports broadly like that's an average of airport Nationwide okay so and you could see some of the other countries who had higher scores yeah so like Reagan's pulling up that average maybe there's another Airport Pulling it down you know all right did you like it that was a.

Little editorial on your part that's fair it's fine did Travelers like it people I got to say I think it's glitchy I I think it's a little glitchy I think it may be too much to ask of passengers right now okay all right well we'll see and I don't even if you can't remember your banana code but if it if it's tested in Vegas will it stay in Vegas.

We'll see look at you with the Turner phrase Tom Castello thank you appreciate you super interesting thank you lot more to come here on the show including and I have to tell you literally as Tom and I were talking sounds like there is a verdict in the rust trial that we talked about at the top of the show we're getting Dana Griffin back to a camera.

We're going to tell you in 1 second what that is just stay with us we'll be right back after the break it's at tonight's original now with in-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching and tonight we're talking about nuclear power and AI with those two words together for a lot of people.

May be feeling a little bit scary right nukes and artificial intelligence for others it may bring back frightening memories of disasters like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island when we talk about nuclear plants but a new generation of entrepreneurs out of Silicon Valley wants to build newer safer plants that could power the future of AI here's Jake.

Ward this remote site in Eastern Idaho could soon be the birthplace of a new nuclear age the reprocessing and refabrication of Highly radioactive fuel the Idaho National Lab is a research facility where in the 1970s and ' 80s the US government experimented with a safer kind of nuclear reactor the federal government put their early.

Research reactors out here here because it's full of underground water and frankly there's no one out here decades after the plant stopped running a Silicon Valley backed company wants to build a new version a 15 megawatt reactor called Aurora we'll be installing a fuel fabrication line in here and making fuel for for our plant.

The reactor will use Liquid Metal as coolant and leftover nuclear waste from the government as fuel so this is the place where they will recover the fuel that you need yeah and then we'll fabricate it the company's CEO has been working in nuclear since he was is 16 and envisions his reactor powering a town or a factory for most of my life.

There's not been a question about the demand for what nuclear energy is which is reliable clean affordable I mean those are all attributes people want and big Tech wants it too Jeff Bezos Bill Gates and a host of VC firms have invested in several nuclear companies there's like a long history of humans and Machines working together open a CEO.

Sam Alman is Chairman of ok's board and speaks openly about requiring ing huge amounts of power for the data centers that make AI possible this is like a desperate need for as much energy as we can manufacture but this is not an unregulated technology like AI this is nuclear where the waste from even new reactor designs like OKO will remain.

Dangerously radioactive for centuries in 2022 the nuclear Regulatory Commission told OKO they had not provided enough safety information dit says the company is working to satisfy Regulators you've got new physics you have to use new models you have to do all sorts of stuff that's different than what they're used to a.

Lot of things that they're used to don't apply but they have to do their independent job of ensuring this meets adequate safety requirements in nearby Idaho Falls folks seem pretty comfortable with the idea I think it's great we've had it before right so at this point you'd say you're pretty comfortable with nuclear B oh yeah yeah.

A growing number of Americans feel the same but critics argue that nuclear solves a problem for Tech CEOs not for Humanity if you were to integrate large language models GP p style models into search engines it's going to cost you know five times as much environmentally as standard search I want to see innovation in this country I just want.

The scope of innovation to be determined Beyond you know the incentive structures of this these giant companies couldn't we just cut back on our energy consumption why do we need more to feed our society more and more and more power yeah I answer that in two ways we've almost always seen a direct correlation between energy abundance in other words.

High energy Footprints and pretty much all all aspects of quality of life not to mention we're also trying to decarbonize we are still so far away from electrifying vehicles and the amount of energy we're going to need to do that is huge now Hy on the one hand the question here is just logistical right I mean if we're going to Electrify.

Everything from Cars to kitchen ranges we're going to need vastly more power than we can currently produce but this also raises a philosophical question right I mean whose interests are we serving by going to nuclear are we just serving the interests of companies that want to build AI products and EVs and figure out ways to power them or are we.

Actually serving Humanity's interests I mean are we are we trying to live with more power or should we be trying to live with less hiy it's these difficult uh and really intense questions our thanks to our our good friend Jake Ward for all of that amazing reporting that does it for this hour a reminder we're going to have special coverage of the.

State of the Union tomorrow night right here on NBC news now you can find it however you're watching I'll be rejoined by my friend Tom yamas here in DC at 8 o'clock Eastern and then on NBC News starting at 9 o'clock Eastern we will see you then more coverage picks up right.

Now we are coming on the air buckled in and screaming toward the the general election in November now that it is unofficially official that President Biden and former president Trump will go head-to-head again with Nikki Haley today bowing out so what happens next in this new phase of the campaign and more on why the prospect of a debate matchup.

Is suddenly on the table also breaking literally as we speak we are going to hear a verdict in the rust trial happening in New Mexico we're going to tell you what will happen in the movies armor or charged with manslaughter we do not have the verdict yet it's going to be announced we think in the next little bit we're going to tell you as soon as.

We get it we'll take you there live you can see obviously some of the images there uh in Alabama as well where we are also live because there is a scramble in Montgomery lawmakers in just the last couple of minutes passing a bill to reopen IVF clinics the reaction our team is getting from folks on the ground plus we're learning more about the person who.

Died in a dramatic explosion out of Michigan that fire at a warehouse that was apparently illegally storing gas canisters what Witnesses are saying tonight plus why some farri figures on online have taken on Doritos after a partnership with a transgender influencer we're going to get into the reasons behind that a little bit later.

On in the show hey there I'm Hy and tonight the longest general election in a generation begins with Donald Trump now the presumptive Republican nominee setting up a rematch with President Biden we haven't had the major candidates locked down this early since Myspace hit a million users back in 2004 that means we're going to tie the record.

That year 244 days until the general election and after 243 of them you will not be able to avoid the moment the polls show most Americans have been dreading an election day featuring former president Trump and President Biden with more than half of Voters saying they don't want either as their nominee two-thirds say they want.

Somebody new 67% they're not getting it this time we're at this point after Nikki Haley today decided her time is up after she won just one state on super Tuesday and as she drops out of the race she's tossing a challenge Mr Trump's way watch it is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and Beyond.

It who did not support him and I hope he does that at its best politics is about bringing people into your cause not turning them away the former president mocking Haley even as he invites her supporters to try to get behind his team a directive if you will to fall in line as the last holdouts in his party are doing just.

Including Mitch McConnell here Senate minority leader who summed up his endorsement by um gushing exuberantly that Mr Trump has the I'm quoting here the requisite support of Republican voters okay maybe not exuberance but resignation to the reality perhaps that this is Donald Trump's party but on the Democratic side you've got President.

Biden hoping he can peel away some of those Haley supporters who feel there's not a place for them in the Maga movement the big question of course where are those voters going to go exit polls out of a few key States show that there are Haley voters who are not promising to back Donald Trump does that mean they'll go for Joe Biden or will.

They stay home we'll get the view from Haley world with sha Brewster in a second but I want to start with Von hiler just steps away from maral Lago in West Palm Beach Florida we showed that post that the former president put up taking Jabs at Nikki Haley saying she was trounced even as he said hey supporters come on over my way uh will.

There be a serious attempt to make that happen or is this going to be Donald Trump saying hey I'm here come on in uh let's do it rather than an olive branch right Hy I mean we've been through this here before and usually it's the power dynamics at play that have led prominent Republicans to come back to Donald Trump because if you were.

To win the presidency he would all but run the Republican party of course Nikki Haley was critical eight years ago of Donald Trump when he was running for president the first go around and a couple months later she backed his general election campaign and she then became the UN ambassador under his administration so the question is this.

Go around the stakes are a little bit different she was actually running her own presidential campaign against him here and the question is to what extent does Donald Trump even feel like he needs to appeal to Nikki Haley direct directly because the campaign the Trump campaign feels that in a Biden Trump matchup that most of those conservative.

Or even independent voters will fall to Trump regardless of what Nikki Haley directly has to say I want to let you listen to part of a conversation that our uh our own Garrett H my partner on the Trump beat had with the co- campaign manager for Trump Chris Lavita take a listen people shouldn't expect a big change in tone or strategy from the.

Campaign or the candidate why it's working what we're currently doing is working it's working and for this campaign that's been already on the ground for 17 months there were some folks that said he's going to have to appeal to a greater swath of the Republican party and you could say tone it down change his appeal Donald Trump.

Did the exact opposite he was indicted four different times he was found to have engaged repeatedly in financial fraud through the Trump organization he was found to have sexually assaulted EEG Carroll and yet he still one handly this Republican nomination hie well you talk about some of the issues that the former president faces it includes his legal.

Issues obviously as we're now learning today the date that the Supreme Court will hear arguments in that really important presidential immunity case Circle it April 25th the legal calendar and the political calendar merging especially after you see March 25th the start of that hush money trial right this is where the stakes are.

Actually a little bit different this is more than an indictment this is a matter of actually going to trial let's just start on March 25th hiy 19 days away this little I guess grace period between all but winning the Republican nomination becoming the presumptive nominee and then actually having to show up in a courtroom for anywhere from 3 3.

Four five even 6 weeks in New York City on on felony counts is uh is rap rapidly approaching and then fast forward one month later April 25th the high stakes oral arguments in front of the US Supreme Court on whether he uh when it comes to the federal election interference charges that he faces stemming from Washington DC indictment.

Whether he was granted presidential immunity and protected from his official capacity within the White House during that time period the Supreme Court decision what we would expect to come several weeks later would have high stakes on whether those charges and whether that criminal trial actually ever takes place let alone before the.

November general election H Von Hill you're live for us there in West Palm Von thank you we got to take you out west now we have breaking news and a live look now inside that courtroom for the rust trial remember for the movies armorer we know that jurors have a verdict in the rust shooting trial I'm going to ask my control if this is a.

Live look I believe that it is and this is live this is live so this is obviously 607 out east it's a couple hours earlier there in New Mexico you are looking at Hannah Gutierrez Reed again a live look here in court as she is preparing to hear the verdict in the case 407 there in Santa Fe in the case against her prosecutors in closing.

Arguments have told the jury that when Gutierrez Reed wasn't doing her job filming was like a game of Russian Roulette every time an actor had a gun you see them standing I want to see if we have audio at all to be able to listen into this verdict we do not have audio but we do have a producer in court uh our Dana Griffin I believe is in.

Court as well I hear some of the background noise here they may have just turned the microphones on so we're going to listen in here now remember what she faces right this is an issue where she is Accused uh she she has loaded the gun that went off in the hand of Alec Baldwin back in October of 2021 that led to the death of the movie.

Cinematographer helina Hutchins it is now up to the jury to decide if she is guilty or not of involuntary manslaughter and tampering with evidence we do have audio now I want to listen in as the jury is about to read out its verdict here in this and Gentlemen of the jury through the four person have you reached your.

Verdict yes all right let me see the verdict one she needs a so moments away now from this verdict being read remember this only went to the jury this afternoon so they have not had the case for that long we just saw.

Closing arguments presented today from both the both the prosecution and the defense the defense has tried to make the case essentially uh that Hannah Gutierrez Reed was not the one who was ultimately to blame repeat Beyond proof of Reasonable Doubt let's list I said ladies and Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury through the for person have you.

Reached a verdict yes all right and do you wish to read the verdicts sure okay I would start with count one okay you have both of them will the defendant please stand we find the defendant Hannah Gutierrez guilty of involuntary manslaughter as charged from count.

One we find the defendant Hannah Gutierrez not guilty of tampering with evidence Destruction come to all thinkk you may you did let me get those forms retrieve those forms from you I'm going to do what's called polling the jury what I need to put on the record is that this is your individual verdict okay so I'm going to start with the gentleman in.

The back is this your uh verdict yesam ass your ver Hannah Gutierrez re there the armorer on the set of the movie rust the day that Helena Hutchins was killed by a gun going off on set found guilty of involuntary manslaughter not guilty of tampering with evidence and you saw her there no reaction very little reaction as those counts were read I.

Want to bring in our NBC News legal analyst Danny savalos who is joining us as well uh and here we have Hannah Gutierrez Reed in her late 20s after two weeks now of this trial Alec Baldwin will go to trial later on this year remember this is separate now from the case on Baldwin as we keep an eye Danny on this live look inside Court can you.

First explain the difference in these charges here why would a jury find her guilty of one char charge but not the other help us understand that myis so far that's the one that mystifies me the most and it proves the old adage that you simply can never guess at what a jury is going to do if anything I would have said the tampering with evidence.

Might have been the slam dunk uh and the uh involuntary manslaughter charge what might have been an acquittal although uh this was the stronger of the two cases that the state had after all the case that they had was that Hannah Gutierrez Reed was somebody with respons responsibility for firearm safety on set now she shared that with other people.

And they the defense made a case that she was overworked and made to do two jobs and I rather think the state when they made their initial promise that they would prove where the live rounds came from it seemed to me most of their proof was well where else could they have come from but Hannah Gutierrez Reed but it appears uh that the jury has uh.

Beli the state's evidence to Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and the way I saw this case is that either an aquid or or a conviction is good news for Alec Baldwin for several reasons number one no matter what yeah no matter what Alec Baldwin's team gets a first look at the evidence this was one of several missteps by the state trying these two defendants.

Separately uh so now Alec baldman seing pretty much what the states case is and frankly I think the if you're Alec Baldwin's team you take the states case against Hannah Gutierrez Reed and that's your defense case it's pointing the finger at somebody else who is responsible they will put Hannah Gutierrez Reed on trial the defense for.

Alec Baldwin and now they've had the benefit of the state doing that job for them uh just before Alec Baldwin's trial now uh with a conviction I think that's good for Baldwin because he can voice the blame on her and an AC quiddle would also be good for Baldwin because it shows uh that the state's case isn't strong and it's their strongest case.

That one against the armor she would face I believe up to 18 months behind bars if in fact the judge follows the sentencing guidelines ultimately which will happen down the road um Danny is this appealable in other words is she expected is her team expected to appeal potentially and yes every conviction is appealed as of right to the intermediate.

Court of appeals now the rules are slightly different from state to state and the federal system but in terms of time to do it but that is the rule you get an automatic appeal to the intermediate court of appeals appeals beyond that are discretionary and there will be appeal this case will be appealed there's no doubt about it and.

They may have uh some legal issues on appeal but it's it's always a hollow uh promise that the appeal will come because statistically your odds are just so slim on appeal and uh you know in any case whether it's a a highrisk case like I think this is or just your run-of-the-mill case you've never heard of an appeal after conviction really.

Isn't much uh much of a uh an assurance if your client's going to be spending that time incarcerating so then what happens now we just saw that shot and obviously there's some emotion in court it's not clear uh who the folks are sitting in the back right now we'll get to our producer and our correspondent Dana.

Griffin who are in court later on once they leave the room does she immediately get remanded to custody here Danny is that why is that what's happening well typically whether or not a defendant gets remanded immediately after a conviction is really not related to what their sentence will be it you do look at the gravity of the crime usually.

That's a function of has she been out uh prior to the verdict and has she done well on pre-trial release then often you can you can remain out however sometimes the da will ask for remand after a conviction uh in a case where for example you have an involuntary manslaughter uh and so the interesting thing here is that the remand itself is.

Not necessarily related to sentencing but the sentencing will likely not happen for some time they have to put together a sentencing memorandum and a PR sentence investigation report you saw Gutierrez read it looked like comforted there briefly as she is now exiting the courtroom and Danny as you mentioned we are now looking ahead of course to the.

Trial of Alec Baldwin which is supposed to start in July lots of developments lots of breaking news on that front thank you very much for walking us through it here in Rolling coverage right here on NBC news now thanks Danny let's bring you back here Washington now because we're looking ahead to another big moment in politics not just the.

Start of the general election but President Biden getting ready to make what's basically a response a rebuttal to Mr Trump's super Tuesday near sweep at the State of the Union tomorrow night this is a major platform for him I want you to look at this graphic here these are the top 100 most viewed broadcasts most viewed events of last year look at.

All those footballs Sports pro sports college sports there are a couple of exceptions the Oscars that's the little Oscar statue the Thanksgiving Day Parade that's your little turkey and the American flag that's the State of the Union a lot of people watch it is still a moment for big eyeballs for President Biden and our White House team reports.

That the president knows that his message set to boil down to one big question whose side are you on expect to hear a lot about the cost of drugs about immigration and the border and the Israel Hamas War all of it part of what the campaign the president the White House sees is not a one night Prime Time Event but a lead up to a full-on flood.

The Zone moment for his message Kelly O'Donnell is outside the White House Force tonight and Kelly let's pick up on one of those topic which is which is the Israel Hamas War the president has faced some opposition to his handling of that war even inside his own party we saw that for example with that uncommitted protest push in Michigan to a lesser.

Degree in Minnesota it is entirely possible that if there is any reaction from the chamber tomorrow night it may not just come from the right but possibly even his left Kell it is possible and certainly the White House and the president's team are preparing for that lawmakers are able to invite guests who appear in the gallery sit in.

The gallery they're typically not seen on camera when you watch the address but they are there each lawmaker gets to invite one person we certainly see when the the first lady has guests and so forth so you get a sense of that but it is possible that there will be those who will voice their concerns uh on the left on the right for different reasons and.

So so part of what the White House has done in the president's preparation is to try and think through ways that he can respond to that in real time they believe that last year when there was some calling out from lawmakers about issues uh that he was able to react show some agility show that he was in command of the room and that worked well for the.

President in the eyes of his advisers and his team so they are preparing for that potential knowing that in just one year the world has changed so dramatically with the state of what's happening in Gaza the ongoing concerns about Ukraine and all the other things uh that make a state of the union night so memorable and such a big opportunity.

For the president and then there's also this piece of it right we know that on the political path Mr Trump has a clearer path now that Nikki Haley is out there's also an he he was not a major force in the Democratic primary but he existed Congressman Dean Phillips on the Democratic side dropping out of the race against President Biden we're just.

Learning that there was a phone call I guess between the president and the congressman President Biden called him called him and this is the kind of thing you would typically see and it's about trying to it's a different approach than former president Trump is taking with Nikki Haley dropping out of the race but although Dean Phillips was not a big.

Presence he was part of that voice of uh criticism within the party that certainly is a concern for the Biden campaign they want to get their team in all its disparate parts to be rowing in the same direction so there was a phone call between the president and Dean Phillips an Outreach to say join us we want you to work with with us and that.

Is uh certainly something in a state his home state of Minnesota is one of those sort of big Midwest Battlegrounds that will be important and so President Biden whether it's Nikki Haley today where he praised her bravery and courage running in the Republican primary and also spoke to her supporters saying come over be open to potentially voting for him even.

Though he's a Democrat and not naturally uh the the base of Nikki Haley voter but doing that as well as Outreach to Dean Phillips uh to take a different approach of saying he's trying to build a coalition to win for a second time KY Kelly Odon thank you so much for that uh we appreciate it we will see you and the rest of your team tomorrow night with.

Special coverage of State of the Union right here on NBC news now starting at 8:00 Eastern we've got some other developing news for you tonight because in just the last hour actually in just the last couple of minutes we've seen action out of Alabama where the state house voted to approve a bill to protect IVF clinics from lawsuits a bill that is.

Likely to get to the governor's desk possibly tonight he may sign it into law as early as tomorrow morning you're looking at live pictures now from the state senate where she excuse me Governor KY of course uh has said she will in fact sign this if it gets to her lawmakers have been debating this after that controversial Alabama State Supreme.

Court ruling that said Frozen embryos should be considered children should have the same rights as children but some lawyers have said the way that this bill is crafted just doesn't do enough Dasha Burns is joining us now from Montgomery Alabama Okay so this is a process that we have been anticipating we covered it here on this show last.

Week when this first came into the ether it is moving quickly now we are basically in like sort of the the final um like proor a finish right because it's expected it's going to get through the house get through the Senate get to the governor's desk uh and then what right do IVF clinics then restart procedures right away do these families.

Who have been in limbo waiting for news on their in vitro procedures get some clarity yeah so we were just in the house chamber hie and some of the questions that were being asked as this was debated on the floor were really focused on does this give confidence to clinics providing IVF treatment to reopen and restart those procedures and.

The answer from the the folks who have been crafting this was yes they said that they've talked to doctors they've talked to these facilities they've also talked to uh the numerous entities that provide the tools and resources in order to transport embryos for example all parts of the process that they feel confident they can now continue uh so.

This is a bill that will soon become law potentially as as soon as tonight that will grant blanket immunity to basically all of those involved in the IVF process here is what one of the fertility doctors I I talked to told me about what this means we have women who have been waiting for this uh Bill to pass and in.

Fact anticipating embryo transfers as soon as tomorrow tomorrow or Friday we know that there are larger questions surrounding the Supreme Court ruling um and some uncertainties about whether the Supreme Court will accept this um bill as as a part of our law there is a butt here hiy because one of the lawmakers I talked to essentially.

Called this a Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging wound this is a stop Gap measure that will ensure that families can restart this process but it does not touch the fundamental issue that came out of this ruling which is that embryos should be treated as children that was actually based on a 2018 Amendment to the Alabama state constitution that says embryos are.

People and that is at the heart of this issue that has not been touched here so there are lawyers lawmakers a lot of folks that have been questioning for the long term whether this still leaves open the door to liability and a whole other can of worms that can uh potentially harm families that can make this process more more difficult.

Hie Dasha burns live first there in Montgomery uh lots to untangle lots to talk through Dasha thanks so much for keeping an eye on all of it appreciate it there some other developing news tonight out of the Middle East where we're just learning that another sailor who was on a commercial ship is dead bringing the total killed now to three.

After an attack by houthi rebels near Yemen look at this photo this is something provided by the US military it shows the aftermath there do you see it the the damage what looks like smoke billowing off that ship this marks the first time that anybody has been killed in the houthi attacks since they started targeting ships in the Red Sea at the.

Start of the Israel Hamas War it happened on a Liberian owned ship flying the Barbados flag raising the possibility that American troops could respond with yet another round of strikes on the rebels mbc's Courtney QB is following this force and Courtney here we have yet another uh very difficult update tonight uh another.

Person another sailor killed here talk us through it and what the US response could be yeah another civilian Mariner in h we also learned learned just moments ago that in fact several of those injured civilian Mariners are in critical condition so a very serious strike here and you can see I mean when you look at the pictures of that ship.

It's an enormous ship so think about how you can see the smoke billowing out of the end of it there uh just to give you a sense of the the scale of the destruction that this houti anti- ship ballistic missile did to this enormous cargo ship now this happened earlier today about 60 miles off the coast of Aiden in Yemen when uh a missile was.

Fired from the houthi controlled part of Yemen at this ship and hie the houthis have been particularly active just in the past couple of days firing five anti-ship ballistic missiles at ships they struck this one here today they actually struck another ship another missile was shot down by the USS carneer US military ship in the area but two.

Others landed fortunately just in the water not impacting anything but their activity has been up significantly now you mentioned the possibility of a response defense officials say tonight they are looking at possible responses what we have seen recently in other houi attacks when they've been success successfully attacked ships we've seen.

The US and British military come together to conduct strikes but the reality is hie they do not seem to be deterring the houthis from continuing these attacks Courtney QB there's a lot of moving pieces tonight at the Pentagon thank you very much for bringing him to us here on the show coming up more to get to call it a political power play.

How Elon Musk the multi-billionaire could still have big influence in the race for the White House even if he doesn't put his cash behind either candidate as he's now saying more on that in just a sec tonight officials are sharing more about the victim of that huge fire in.

Michigan the one you're seeing here look at that the explosions coming out of that plant literally shaking houses nearby raining down debris Monday police describe it as a vape distribution facility that had been illegally storing combustible gas canisters one of which apparently hit 19-year-old Turner Salter eventually killing him officials say.

Salter was at a car wash nearby maybe watching all the commotion as it happened now Crews were at the scene cleaning up as officials warned some of the debris scattered around could still be dangerous could still be potentially explosive the big question they're trying to answer what came first the Fire or the explosion Adrien brus is.

Joining us now we've shown the pictures and you can't overstate it how dramatic this was some of these explosive canisters flying something like a mile it is still dangerous near this site talk to us about what happened and where the investigation goes now Callie the latest information is up to 2 miles away that's how far the.

Debris was scattered and the warning for residents here is if you see one of those canisters don't touch it don't pick it up because it could still explode we have seen small fires reemerging here throughout the day investigators are hoping that they can get on this site full so they can start the next step to.

Pinpoint what happened what led to that series of explosions you talked about those flying canisters and the flying debris that is what hit the 19-year-old Turner in his head his funeral is planned for this Friday he will be remembered as a teen who was kind and served in his church meanwhile people back here in the community are still.

Talking about what they saw what I felt was the whole world Earth shaking it was uh it was it was it was pretty bad and scary um it never stopped it never stopped the explosions never stopped and what was exploding hie those canisters which contained butane at.

Least half remained after the business owners here had just received recently a shipment a semi load also inside of a back room according to City officials was a pallet of nitrous oxide along with lighter fluid and authorities telling us this well it's gone now but the building that was here before was supposed to be a retail operation Alie Adrian brought.

Us live first there in Michigan thank you to Elon Musk now putting to bed questions about who he's supporting in the 2024 election and at least when it comes to Dollars it seems like the answer is nobody in a post just today on X musk wrote to be super clear I'm not donating money to either candidate for US president and look he kind of had to.

Come out and say this after he was spotted at Mar Lago this past weekend meeting with Mr Trump and a few Republican donors according to the New York Times the whole thing raising a bunch of questions about whether musk was putting his support or maybe some of his nearly $200 billion dollar net worth behind former president Trump who's.

Looking for some cash NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Chong is is joining us now with more so even if mus doesn't make any direct donations and by the way the language is interesting in his in his post yeah that's right like there's also a lot of things that aren't campaigns you can donate money to you know what I mean that would that would.

Make a different here still he's got a lot of ways if he wanted to to put his finger on the scale come November yeah well and is significant because he's one of the wealthiest people in the world but yeah I mean if he says he's not going to commit money there are certainly other ways that he could put his thumb on the scale and that's.

Because of his massive influence right he owns the X formerly known as Twitter platform he's got 175 million followers on there and then even outside of the public facing aspect of what must does and says it's also behind the scenes right he has many connections to other very wealthy people and again this is just one example but we know that he has.

A relationship with Kanye West who also has a lot of money so money could go into the Trump campaign as a result of his connections even if it doesn't come from musk directly but also again he's been tweeting very clearly it's not a surprise to anyone that he supports uh this this candidate over uh Biden and for that reason he can continue to say.

Things in some cases also lob perhaps misinformation about certain situations as he's done before to perhaps put his thumb on the scale alley a recent NBC News investigation found that musk is wrapped up in at least 11 different regulatory battles with the government he is in some ways Brian uniquely invested in who ends up in the White.

House yeah absolutely I mean you know he runs many many businesses a lot of them have been wrapped up in regulatory issues which he has been a musk rather has been very clear and say holds him back so he might be in favor of a candidate that is going to pair some of those regulations back as Trump did during 2016 but I also want to point out.

That musk isn't necessarily on board entirely with all the policies we remember that dealbook uh conference that he appeared at earlier this year where he didn't necessarily Go full throated behind Trump take a listen could you see yourself voting for President Biden if if it's if a Biden Trump election for example I think I.

Would not not vote for Biden you'd vote for Trump I'm not saying I'd vote for Trump but I mean this is definitely a difficult Choice here so a difficult Choice here I mean look we've known based off of what he said since then that he would support Trump over Biden but you have to see that I mean that long pause was a long.

Pause right so when it comes to the other types of policies that certainly does enter the fold here but on a regulatory basis certainly he would probably prefer the former president to uh to Biden 30,000 foot view here X could be incredibly powerful come November uh in ways that are perhaps useful to candidates into campaigns and.

In ways that are perhaps dangerous when it comes to something you alluded to which is misinformation yeah and we have to remember that he has used this platform for political reasons before when he tried to launch the Ronda santis campaign remember that didn't go well at all there were technical issues behind the scenes but you know even if musk.

Isn't throwing money behind the scenes we have to remember that this platform has had a lot of big changes since he took it private not long ago and there are concerns about whether or not even if he himself is going to uh you know use it to say whatever he wants to say that whether or not he's going to police the other types of misinformation that.

Could come for the other millions of users that are on the platform so here's the stance when it comes to X's policy on specifically voting and Civic engagement so it says quote you may not use ex services for the purposes of manipulating or interfering in elections or other Civic processes I'm paraphrasing here but that includes a.

Suppressing participation misleading people about how and where to vote or in citing violence during an election so these are all things that are codified in the policy but enforcing it hie is a whole separate question it's a private company there are no shareholders to answer to that's very much an opaque process for this massive social media.

Company yeah musk is really uh in the driver's seat on that one to a big degree Brian Chung thank you so much appreciate it let's get you over to the five things our team thinks you should know about tonight number one police say eight students were shot today near a SEPTA bus in Philly one of them shot multiple times now in critical condition.

Officials say the teens were waiting for the bus when three people got out of a car and started firing police have said they're working to make sure that somebody's held responsible here number two Federal prosecutors charging a man in Texas with trying to scam this guy you recognize him former Congressman George Santos and three other people an.

Actor a musician and an athlete the FBI says he told these people that this person could help get criminal charges dropped but says that the suspect ad minuted in an interview he needed money back to pay gambling debts Santos's Atty not immediately responding to a request for comment number three par Olympics officials today saying athletes from.

Russia and Belarus will not get to march in the opening ceremony in Paris this summer that's even stricter than the Olympics which is going to let them join that opening ceremony as long as they're competing as neutral athletes so meaning like no country flag or name or song or anything because of the war of Ukraine number four Doritos says it's cutting.

Ties with a transgender influencer it partnered with in Spain Samantha Hudson that sparked a big boycott Doritos campaign in right-wing circles online in a statement to NBC News Dorito's parent company PepsiCo says it didn't cut ties because of the boycott but because of controversial tweets that Hudson had made controversial posts adding we.

Strongly condemn words or actions that promote violence or sexism of any kind number five a new study says ancient stone tools found in Ukraine are more than a million years old maybe according to archaeologists the earliest evidence of humans in Europe they think that these Stones might have been used as like very primitive knives to cut meat H.

Coming up the new warning from the state department why the US is telling Americans to get out of Haiti ASAP plus why protesters drove a pickup truck into the National Palace in Mexico City the latest from the president look at that coming up in just a sec NBC News covers hundreds of.

International stories every day and because it can be tough to read or watch or listen to them all our teams are on the world have done it for you here's a look at what they're watching in a segment we call the global out of Mexico look at this video that's a pickup truck ramming into the doors of the National Palace in Mexico City today it's where.

The president lives it's where he holds his Daily Press briefings the group smashed the door several of them ended up inside they said they were demanding answers from more than 40 students who went missing a decade ago there have been growing calls to investigate an alleged cover up Mexico's president responding saying the plan is to create.

A provocation out of the VA Pope Francis having a tough time climbing the steps back onto his Pope Mobile today his AIDS had to use the Pope's wheelchair to end up moving him out of the Piaza he's 87 remember and as you know if you've been watching the show we've talked about how he's been dealing with the flu some other lingering health issues the pope.

Also had an aid read his remarks which he's done for the past few days and out of Germany a new study out on a man who got a CO who got a CO shot so he got his covid vaccine he got it 200 plus times he he got them all he's 62 in like 2 and a half years since the pandemic and guess what after all those shot literally multiple hundreds of shots no.

Negative health effects according to researchers and his immune response didn't get any better or worse a prosecutor had opened an investigation into the man for giving out vaccination cards and for fraud but no charges were ever filed to be clear researchers say they do not Endor this so-called hyper vaccination to try to improve immunity.

So in other words don't try that at home the state department tonight saying in just the last half hour that Americans should get out of Haiti as soon as possible because of how dangerous it's getting there that's as the US government urges the haian prime minister to speed up his own resignation and a political transition to democratic.

Elections as the country gets close to the brink of Civil War according to one Us official and a source familiar with the conversations the state department saying a few hours ago they're not pushing listen to the words we are not calling on him or pushing for him to resign but we are urging him to expedite the transition to.

An empowered and inclusive governance structure that will move with urgency to help the country prepare for a multinational security support mission to address the security situation and pave the way for free and fair elections now the administration's tiptoeing carefully here as hati's security crisis really gets to a Breaking Point prime.

Minister now on American soil in Puerto Rico he's not able to fly back because the airport in Haiti is being targeted by assaults gab Gutierrez is joining us now because the US is in the middle Gabe of this very um very delicate power struggle here and I think you heard it a little bit when we played it from the state department.

Words matter in diplomacy and in this instance words definitely matter yeah that's right hie and we just heard from Karen jeanpierre a short time ago echoing what the state department said essentially that they are not pressuring uh the prime minister to resign they just want him to leave a little faster so yes they are choosing their words.

Very very carefully here here's some of what Karine jeampier the White House Press Secretary had to say we are definitely not pushing Prime the prime minister to resign that is not what we're doing but we have underscored that now is the time to finalize a political Accord to help set Haiti on a path to a better future and that is.

Something that we've been working on for some time so yeah hie the White House walking that very fine line and as you said this all comes as prime minister um the the prime minister is now in Port Rico the White House also saying that they are not helping the prime minister at this point so unclear when he plans to return.

Uh to Haiti uh Ariel HRI uh came to power uh back in 2021 following the assassination of the country's president so this is a definite escalation as you've reported that over the weekend there was that Prison Break in that Country and this uh Haiti is sliding further and further into chaos at this point H well let's talk about that chaos.

Because we've talked about the issues with that airport getting targeted it's an airport that I think it's the same one that you visited Gabe when you went to Haiti not too long ago I think it was in the within the last couple of years the concern is right timing if this security situation keeps getting worse right if if these attacks keep on.

Happening um the scope of what the White House what the US can do gets more and more narrow yeah exactly the options are are limited here look the US has in some way shape or another been involved with HTI for a very long time you know even in the '90s following the military coup Jean Brad ared and the us having to get involved.

There with a multinational force and so now the question becomes what options does the US have the U the White House has been very insistent that they will not send American boots on the ground to Haiti but now this multi multinational security Force led by Kenya when will that uh you know take effect and what options does the US have if the prime.

Minister does not want uh to you know get out of power so yes a lot of questions remaining at this point hallee but the but the the major question right now for the US how much does it plan to get involved and you know when when will these uh games these armed gangs in Haiti that now control about 70 uh about 80% actually of Porter Prince will they.

Accept anything than the full resignation of the Prime Minister Gabe Gutierrez thank you so much for breaking that one down for us appreciate it coming up a plan that could change the future of flying how Travelers are responding to a self checkout style TSA checkpoint so today TSA is rolling out something that could change the future.

Of checkpoints at the airport a six-month plan that's kind of like self check out at the grocery store it's only in Vegas for now and it is only for people with pre-check for now since you know we know the routine NBC's Tom Castello knows the routine he tried it for himself take a look come up to the checkpoint take your.

Carryon put it in the bin if you've got any questions simply ask the TSA officer on demand hi there how may I help you today slide your bin onto the rollers then walk right into the full body scanner put your arms down to the side and it's going to look for anything that shouldn't be there and it's telling me I got to come.

Back out I have a microphone of course that it's detected I've got the transmitter on my belt and something a lot of people forget my cell phone look at you what an active standup to like you're doing it you're showing and telling cuz what comes up for me is like you know you're at the grocery store do s checkout not you know 5050.

Shot you don't make it through easily something goes wrong you got to hit the little button the person is going like is this actually going to be helpful or like I'm a little skeptical so yes and that's exactly what the TSA is trying to model from your checkpoint experience checkout experience at the local grocery store whatever you use do you remember.

How to scan your bananas I'm I can never remember the code exactly number then it says error then I can put in the bag then there's your apples your shampoo your chicken whatever now for those people who have it down pat yes the thinking is the same thing might be true in a TSA checkpoint if you are a pre-check you have to be pre-checked and.

If you fly all the time and you know how to make this move this may be something for you you may be able to make this work I asked the TSA Chief David picy Admiral David is this something that can roll out Nationwide maybe not so fast here's what he said Don't expect this to be widely rolled out at every airport and every.

Checkpoint no I don't think so and and really we're very early in the in the process I mean you know part of what we're trying to do here is to figure out hey what works what facilitates movement of people uh while at the same time making sure that we can provide the security we provide 2 and A2 million people of.

Course are going through TSA checkpoints every day and I got a little headline for you if you are going on spring break be warned TSA says it's going to be even bigger than last year which was a record we're already seeing passenger volumes up up 6% over last year you know what they say Tom pack your patience have you heard that one before I don't know if.

You heard I got a trademark under original right there well so here's the question though right because obviously the the reason for TSA the reason we go through these checkpoints is not to annoy all of us and slow us down it's for security it's to keep us safe on the plane right so how do they navigate that and do do they think that this can.

Actually create because we always see those images every year of like all the crazy things people leave at checkpoints that are confiscated that's right safety versus speed how are they navigating that listen let's also underscore that it was stood up after 911 and the tragedy of 911 and uh they are still confiscating record numbers of guns.

Every year at checkpoints so that's the big question right can this still achieve Expedition can you move people through but at the same time can you have a secure checkpoint there's also this going on here I would tell you and that is this concern about where we are in a competitiveness in terms of other countries and how well they screen.

Passengers because the truth is the US Travel Association says we're number 17 ranking number 17 in terms of our competitiveness what do they base that on okay among other things how good is the airport are they kind of crumbling is that for all airports broadly like that's an average of airport so and you could see some of the other.

Countries who had higher scores yeah so like Reagan's pulling up that average maybe there's another Airport Pulling it down you know all right did you like it that was a little editorial on your part that's fair it's fine did Travelers like it people I got to say I think it's glitchy I think it's a little glitchy I think it may be too much to ask of.

Passengers right now okay all right well we'll see and I don't even if you can't remember your banana code but if it if it's tested in Vegas will it stay in Vegas we'll see look at you with the Turner phrase Tom Castello thank you appreciate super interesting still to come the new Push by some tech companies to bring nuclear power back what that.

Has to do with the future of AI next in tonight's original it's at tonight's original now with in-depth reporting on a topic we've been watching and tonight we're talking about nuclear power and AI with those two words together for a lot of people may be feeling a little bit scary right nukes and artificial intelligence for.

Others it may bring back frightening memories of disasters like Chernobyl or Three Mile Island when we talk about nuclear plants but a new generation of entrepreneurs out of Silicon Valley wants to build newer safer plants that could power the future of AI here's Jake wart this remote site in Eastern Idaho could soon be the birthplace of a new.

Nuclear age the reprocessing and refabrication of Highly radioactive fuel the Idaho National Lab is a research facility where in the 1970s and ' 80s the US government experimented with a safer kind of nuclear reactor the federal government put their early research reactors out here because it's full of underground water and frankly.

There's no one out here decades after the plan stopped running a Silicon Valley backed company wants to build a new version a 15 megawatt reactor called Aurora we'll be installing a fuel fabrication line in here and making fuel for for our plant the reactor will use Liquid Metal as coolant and leftover nuclear waste from the government as.

Fuel so this is the place where they will recover the fuel that you need yeah and then we'll fabricate the company's CEO has been working in nuclear since he was 16 and envisions his reactor powering a town or a factory for most of my life there's not been a question about the demand for what nuclear energy is which is reliable clean affordable I.

Mean those are all attributes people want and big Tech wants it too Jeff Bezos Bill Gates and a host of VC firms have invested in several nuclear companies there's like a long history of humans and Machines working together open AI CEO Sam Alman is Chairman of Oak boor and speaks openly about requiring huge amounts of power for the data.

Centers that make AI possible this is like a desperate need for as much energy as we can manufacture but this is not an unregulated technology like AI this is nuclear where the waste from even new reactor designs like OKO will remain dangerously radioactive for centuries in 2022 the nuclear Regulatory Commission told OKO they had not.

Provided enough safety information dit says the company is working to satisfy regulators you've got new physics you have to use new models you have to do all sorts of stuff that's different than what they're used to a lot of things that they're used to don't apply but they have to do their independent job of ensuring this meets adequate safety.

Requirements in nearby Idaho Falls folks seem pretty comfortable with the idea I think it's great we've had it before right so at this point you'd say you're pretty comfortable with nuclear bound oh yeah yeah a growing number of Americans feel the same but critics argue that nuclear solves a problem for Tech CEOs not for Humanity if you were to.

Integrate large language models GPT style models into search engines it's going to cost you know five times as much environmentally as standard search I want to see innovation in this country I just want the scope of innovation to be determined Beyond you know the incentive structures of this these giant companies couldn't we just cut back on.

Our energy consumption why do we need more to feed our society more and more and more power yeah I going answer that in two ways we've almost always seen a direct correlation between energy abundance in other words high energy Footprints and pretty much all all aspects of quality of life not to mention we're also trying to decarbonize.

We are still so far away from electrifying vehicles and the amount of energy we're going to need to do that is huge now Hy on the one hand the question here is just logistical right I mean if we're going to Electrify everything from Cars to kitchen ranges we're going to need vastly more power than we can currently produce but this also raises a.

Philosophical question right I mean whose interests are we serving by going to nuclear are we just serving the interests of companies that want to build AI products and EVs and figure out ways to power them or are we actually serving Humanity's interests I mean are we are we trying to live with more power or should we be trying to live with less.

H it's these difficult uh and really intense questions our thanks to our our good friend Jake for all of that amazing reporting that does it for this hour a reminder we're going to have special coverage of the State of the Union tomorrow night right here on NBC news now you can find it however you're watching I'll be rejoined by my friend.

Tom yamas here in DC at 8:00 Eastern and then on NBC News starting at 9:00 Eastern we will see you then more coverage picks up right now thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media

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