they will still get some of that classic tradition, but what you are not going to see is the big commencement ceremony where thousands of people all stand, rise together, move the tassles on their caps. this was made because of security concerns and students raised concerns about how many of their classmates would feel seeing their president speak after these last few weeks. >> thank you so very much. that wraps up the hour for me. you can reach me on social media and you can watch clips from our show at msnbc.com/jdb, on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. l picks up more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," fireworks at the trump hush money trial this morning with judge merchan threatening the former president with the possibility of jail time as a last resort if mr.

trump continues to violate the gag order, citing a radio interview when the former president said the jurors were all democrats and had been chosen hastily. he's not supposed to talk about the jurors. we'll is a live report in a few moments. also this hour, how the politics of the trial are playing out for both former president trump and president biden and their campaigns. plus, striking comments from donald trump during a mass audition for vice president at mar-a-lago over the weekend. and new details about a phone call between president biden and netanyahu as israel is ordering residents to start moving out of rafah. despite u.s. warnings, it could end with a hostage deal and a cease fire. good day, everyone.

i'm andrea mitchell in washington. in court this morning, the judge in new york is fining the president again for violating the gag order, putting him on notice that the next violation could lead to him being jailed. judge merchan calling it a last resort saying he's fully aware of the magnitude of the decision if he were to jail a former president. the judge today found mr. trump in contempt of only one. pointing directly to donald trump's comments, which clearly mentioned the jury. judge merchan writing former president trump quote again raised the specter of fear for the safety of the jurors and of their loved ones. mr. trump paid his $9,000 contempt fines last week for the initial nine violations, which he paid via two checks. he now owes another $1,000 for

the tenth. the prosecution is zeroing in on how he reimbursed michael cohen. friday's testimony from white house communications director, hope hicks, who broke down on the stand after detailing the 2016's fear when the access hollywood tape broke. we begin with vaughn hill yard, andrew weissman, and catherine christian. so, vaughn, first to you. talk about the gag order or the order for the violation of the gag order and what was donald trump's reaction to the judge threatening him with jail time? >> reporter: this is yet again another violation by donald trump that judge merchan found him to have violated. not only a $1,000 fine, but also the suggestion that prison time could be in order. judge merchan being explicitly

clear that quote, there are many reasons why incarceration is a last resort for you. here, emphasizing the point that he would rather not have to put donald trump in jail, yet acknowledged the fact there are real implications, especially when it comes to the jury, which this violation was a specific mention of. donald trump last week suggesting publicly that 95% of the jury is democrat, which number one, is not true. and number two, was a clear violation under the order issued by judge merchan to not intimidate the jury pool who is hearing this case and will be the one to determine whether he is guilty or not, andrea. >> and vaughn, talk about what else is happening today. the testimony is detailing the transactions. the way in which michael cohen was paid and why his taxes were grossed up on top. explain all of that. it's bookkeeping details. >> reporter: exactly. jeffrey mcconney may not be a

household name like hope hicks or stormy daniels, but he's a 35-year employee of the trump organization and he's hitting at the prosecution to prove the case to this jury that falsification of the business records in the checks that were provided to donald trump, provided to michael cohen by donald trump were done with the intent to conceal the hush money payment to stormy daniels before the 2016 election. mcconney is important. he was working at the comptroller at the trump organization overseeing the accounting and the ledger and was the one who he testified today at the direction of the cfo, allen weisselberg, ultimately sent over the approval for the invoices for cohen to be reimbursed. this is at the charges being charged against donald trump. because what was alleged here, and mcconney testified today, was that cohen was not only just being reimbursed for the daniels payment, but there was an

apparent agreement to juice the amount, double the amount he was to be reimbursed for the purposes of him being able to consider the compensation as income in order to cover the taxes that would be associated with that reimbursement here and what the jury is currently looking at here not only invoices, but also the ledger with handwritten notes from mcconney himself, but also weisselberg, which just shows the extent to which there was such consideration over michael cohen's, the money that was going to michael cohen. in the allegation that yes, he was receiving $35,000 every month to be considered as legal expense retainer, but in reality, it was actually for reimbursement of the stormy daniels payment. that is what we expect here this afternoon. the prosecution to ultimately go and asking mcconney about his understanding of the exact what that money, what that reimbursement was actually for,

andrea. >> andrew, why is this testimony so significant? is it because the actual charge is the false bookkeeping? recordkeeping? >> i would say it's both. because the first part of the case that really, that vaughn talked about, we heard so much about election fraud. because this is charged as a felony, that's the sort of underlying crime. the intent to which the government has to prove. the people of the state of new york have to prove. now we're focusing on the false business records, which is the cover up part of the case, which is covering up the campaign fraud that was talked about for the last week and a half basically. by david pecker. by keith davidson, and by hope hicks. so this is a critical piece but there are sort of two components. one was the election fraud.

that has to be an intent to have committed that and now there has to be false business records. here, though it may sound complicated, basically, these are records that instead of just reimbursing the $130,000 from trump to cohen, instead, they try and make it look like these are legal payments. not just a reimbursement of the hush money payments because they want to keep it under wraps. the cover up. so the problem is if you're going to have it be legal payments and not reimbursements, you need to actually give twice the amount of money because michael cohen has to pay taxes on it. and what's devastating, i think, this morning, is what vaughn referred to is that there's not just one set of notes. there are two sets of notes. allen weisselberg handwriting and jeff mcconney's handwriting detailing exactly how this

reimbursement scheme would work. if it was a simple one for one reimbursement, 130,000, you pay 130,000. but instead, they have to make these calculations because of the taxes. they took detailed notes about that part of the scheme so this is something that will be really interesting to see how the trump team is going to deal with this because you've got two full sets of notes detailing a scheme that doesn't make a lot of sense if it's not what this d.a. says it is. >> so catherine, let's drill down on that follow up with just how a jury reacts to this kind of testimony. it's perhaps boring, bookkeeping testimony. especially coming after the drama of hope hicks on friday and of a key witness, you know, breaking down at one point, crying. the emotion of that and how close she was to the former

president and how involved she was. now you've got the numbers. the green odd shape people. is the importance of it that andrew has just outlined, is that going to get through to the jury? >> well, it should because that's really the case. these 34 counts are falsifying business records. so they, the prosecutors, have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that there are false entries in the trump organization business records and it was done with the intent of defraud and with the intent to conceal or commit a crime. that's what the law they're going to be instructed on, the jurors by the judge, that's the law of falsifying business records. so this is very important testimony because if they're not false entries, there is no charge. so boring, but very important. what we haven't heard yet from this witness is trump's name. that donald trump, he has the defendant who is on trial so far, but of course the prosecution is going to argue

because there's direct evidence, also circumstantial. of course he knew. he was a detailed person. that's what pecker said. he was a micro manager. he was very involved. they're also going to be instructed on the law of criminal liability of another. so donald trump, if he requested, if he solicited, commanded, or aided michael cohen, then he is as guilty as michael cohen would be. so it's very important, boring, but very important testimony. >> so, vaughn, this is really important testimony, but it has to come back to donald trump. they have to bring him in. and presumably that would be through michael cohen. michael cohen is the link that can identify him as the person who, you know, organized this. wrote the checks. >> right. catherine and andrew are absolutely right. this is part of what we're

listening to from the testimony of mcconney and perhaps the prosecution just hasn't gotten here to this point. but we're looking at to what extent was his understanding that this was in fact a reimbursement to cohen. he here has outwardly acknowledged inside of the courtroom that this was, in his mind, apparently not a normal legal retainer. yet alone for michael cohen, somebody he described who had been somebody he had engaged with in conversation at the coffee counter inside of trump tower. but now instead, you're looking at michael cohen's testimony becoming of paramount importance because weisselberg, the name giving reference inside of this courtroom, is unlikely to testify here. he is currently at rikers jail after having, after pleading guilty for perjury stemming from the civil fraud suit. previously, he had already served prison time in which he pleaded guilty as part of a tax evasion scheme through his work

with the trump organization. so we're hearing mcconney, who left after 35 years last year, himself having been found liable for insurance fraud, is part of that civil suit against the trump organization and donald trump himself, we're hearing him testify that weisselberg had directed him to approve these payments to cohen. the problem here is that we, outside of his handwriting, weisselberg's handwriting on these ledgers and invoices, we are unlikely to hear, the jury is unlikely to hear from weisselberg. some of the testimony being brought before the jury becomes all the more important knowing that. >> i think while you were talking, i think another piece of evidence has been permitted in by the judge. despite objection. that objection was overruled. and andrew weissman, that is the president's, president of the united states annual ethics form

to the office of government ethics where you have to list all your assets, liabilities, holdings in the trump organization. presumably where they're going with this, i'm going to look at the document that we're reading from from the overflow room, is that it was falsely stated. the cohen payments were not properly recorded because this is a document that was signed by that chart, we may know the signature, but donald trump. >> yes, so one of the things that people should know and i think they've probably seen it so far is you have to be a little bit patient in trials because not all the evidence comes in at once. and so one of the things that you're going to hear after jeff mcconney finishes his testimony in the cross-examination is you're going to have a lot of statements by donald trump himself. obviously, you're going to see his name on a bunch of checks

that he is, he personally is issuing these checks so he'd have to say he has no idea what they're for. but also donald trump himself in various litigation and twitter, then called twitter, made admissions that he in fact reimbursed michael cohen for the $130,000. he made that admission on twitter. he made that admission in a california case brought by stormy daniels. so you're going to be hearing that he previously, prior to this criminal case coming up, actually admitted that these were reimbursement payments. that is going to be argued by the d.a. as directly contrary to his defense here which is he did not make reimbursement payments. so again, another piece of the puzzle that will fit with the testimony that we're hearing right now from jeff mcconney

about this very intracate repayment scheme. you can really see how the puzzle is coming together in the way the d.a. is laying this case out. >> and catherine, jump in here on what you're seeing from the document we're all reading on how this is lining up. >> i'm sorry, i also agree with andrew. it's like everyone wants to get to the verdict. it's going to take time. the people, the prosecutors are being deliberate. this case is moving pretty fast and i think it will probably be over by june 3rd. so every document is important. every text message that's being introduced. every e-mail. the tweets that donald trump, he may not have texted or e-mailed, but he tweeted. forms he's filed as president.

they are all connecting the dots for the prosecution to say we have proven guilty beyond a responsible doubt and also more importantly, they've corroborated cohen. when the defense tried to cross examine him about how big a liar he is, the jury will remember that things that are coming out of his mouth, that he's testifying to, have been already corroborated. >> and i'm reading here also that in the 2017, in 2018 for his 2017 office of government ethics document, he had signed a statement for 2016 expenses, excuse me, that were incurred by one of donald trump's attorneys, michael cohen. that he sought reimbursement for those expenses. mr. trump fully reimbursed mr. cohen in 2017. the value would be $101,000 to

$150,000. the interest rate would be zero. so the two amounts owed were 130,000 to davidson and $50,000 to red finch. is that consistent, he's asked, and that's the last of the questions. prosecution has rested with this witness and camille is up. so, catherine, they've created a chain of evidence as you and andrew have been pointing out, of the money that was paid to michael cohen was falsely declared on the government form and was much larger because it was filed as a legal payment rather than reimbursement. >> that's the tax fraud. so $130,000 rebim was grossed up to $140,000. they knew he would have to claim

it as income. he got a $60,000 bonus and that $50,000 fintech, red finch, an i.t. form that did polling. so that's where 130,000 came to 420,000. so that was to disguise that $130,000 reimbursement. or that's what the prosecution will argue and that's clearly what cohen's going to testify to. >> andrea, what the argument is with respect to the annual disclosure form that the president needed to sign is i think you will hear the d.a. say that that form is accurate. not inaccurate. that that form describes these payments as reimbursements. that is totally inconsistent with everything that jeff mcconney has just talked about, which is that the filings, the paper, the business records of the company that d.a. says are

false are describing these as legal fees but in the filing the president made as president where he had to file what are these, he said these are reimbursement payments so that is a very, that is a bad admission there are many other admissions the d.a. can point to but that's going to be starting with that one to show that at one place he is saying these are just reimbursements but on the business records which the d.a. has to prove are false in order to make this case, they're listing them as legal fees. that's part of the cover up. >> that's such a good catch. thank you very much. to show the different set of lawyers and accountants once he was president apparently or perhaps they were not aware of what had gone down. stay with us. vaughn hillyard and andrew weissman and catherine christian because we'll be back with a lot more. but first, the political

fallout from all of this. how are the two campaigns handling this unprecedented case. the trial of a former president. we'll be back in just 90 seconds. don't go anywhere. you're watching msnbc. conds. don't go anywhere. you're watinchg msnbc. nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. [ cellphone ringing ] phone call from the boss? sorry. talk to a healthcare provider outdoor time is me time. i hear that. that's why we protect all your vehicles here. but hey...nothing wrong with sticking it to the boss. ooooh, flo, you gonna take that? why would that concern me? because you're...the... aren't you the..? huh...we never actually discussed hierarchy. ok, why don't we just stick to letting dave know how much he can save when he bundles his home or auto

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in response to trump's remarks over the weekend, the white house says president biden is focused on bringing americans together. instead of echoing the appalling rhetoric of fascist, lunching with neo nazis and fanning conspiracy theories that have cost brave police officers their lives. mr. trump's potential picks were on stage. including marco rubio, j.d. vance and stefanic. also, the governor of south dakota who was not invited to join the stage. the others on the stage perhaps because of that continuing controversy over her admitted decision to kill her own dog. senator tim scott very much front and foremost as a potential running mate. he had voted to certify the 2020 election though. but on "meet the press" on sunday repeatedly dodged kristen welker's questions about whether he would challenge the outcome

of the 2024 election. >> yes or no. will you accept the election results of 2024? >> i look forward to president trump being the 47th president. you can ask multiple times -- >> just a yes or no answer. >> the american people will make the decision -- >> but i don't hear you committing to the election results. >> here's -- >> and it went on like that. the same answer. repeated question. joining us now, host of way too early and politico white house bureau chief, jonathan lemire. and brendan buck joins us as well as kimberly atkins store. jonathan, it appears that believing the big lie is a lit litmus test.

>> let's remember a year and a half or so back the rnc even adopted in its official language declaring january 6th was in their words, legitimate political discourse. of course, january 6th was fueled by the big lie and it's clear that for the vast majority of republicans, certainly all of those trying to be donald trump's vice president, you have to endorse the big lie. never admit donald trump lost in 2020 and we heard from senator scott, you suggest that the only way he could lose in 2024 would be if there were fraud. he wouldn't accept the idea of president biden winning fair and square. this is dangerous rhetoric. we know the violence that inspired last time around and it's clear. it's a warning to us all. that we should expect more of the same. >> and donald trump is saying he will make his vice presidential choice closer to the republican convention two months from now.

as someone who's worked for a former vice presidential pick, paul ryan, what do you make of the contenders so far? marco rubio, who ran against him, j.d. vance, stefanic who replaced cheney. and governor nome, not sure if she's still in the running. >> i think donald trump is using a slightly different calculus than a traditional candidate would. usually the first question you ask is is this person capable of serving as president if something were to happen to me? i don't know if that's how donald trump thinks. perhaps he should given his age. he is probably much more thinking about will this person be absolutely loyal to me unendingly? i think he saw with mike pence he had that for a while, but didn't at the end. and that is first and foremost on his mind. and then secondly, he's probably

looking for somebody who's going to do no harm. that is the consistent thing you're always looking for. that's where maybe a nome is putting herself in trouble. you want to look for somebody who has sound judgment and is not going to undermine your candidacy. now, donald trump has no real incentive for announcing anybody anytime soon. all of these people are so desperate to be his nominee that they're willing to fund raise. they're willing to be his top surrogate and he's probably going to milk the most out of this as he can. he may know who he's going to pick but there's no real reason for him to name that person when they're all willing to bend over backwards for him. >> sort of an episode of the apprentice. j.d. vance is ohio and ohio would be an important state. nobody's won without winning ohio. no republican. >> yeah. i don't know how much the vp actually matters having walked for paul ryan during that. i don't know that anybody votes

based on vp, but donald trump is certainly going to make sure he's putting himself in the best position to win. i know that vance really adds anything to your campaign, but maybe he doesn't hurt you. that's probably the primary thing they should be thinking about. >> both vance and stefanic are two candidates, probably vice presidential running mates who have changed almost completely their ideological, political stance since becoming part of trump world. kimberly, the veepstakes, hush money trial. overshadowing trump's comments to time magazine and he said he would let states monitor womens' pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. migrant detention camps. he talked about firing u.s. attorneys if they don't follow what he wants. instead of having an independent judiciary. and taking over the federal reserve and himself deciding whether or not to raise interest rates, which could have a really interesting effect on the dollar

and inflation. >> yeah. that last point is probably the only thing that there are actual legal guardrails in place to prevent him from doing. of course, the fed operates independently, but i think we should take everything else that you listed there very seriously. i know on the campaign trial, on abortion for example, he said oh, i'll leave it to the states and that was the headline for days that donald trump backs off of nationwide abortion ban. well that's simply not true. he could usher in some of the most draconian policies that we have ever seen. from allowing states to literally monitor the status of womens' bodies to having backers who want to use the comstock act that could make it hard not just for abortion meds to be mailed through the mail, but also contraception and medical equipment that is used in clinics across the country for general healthcare. it could be very serious.

he is doubling down. he is, and recall, people kind of cast aside when he talked about banning all muslims from m coming into the country but he tried his to implement this policy. there will be guardrails when it comes to camps, but i believe everything in the article. >> the fed was created as an independent agency in 1913 under woodrow wilson, but that could all change if he controlled both houses of congress. >> it would take congressional action, yes. >> thanks to all of you and back to the courtroom in a moment. we'll be right back with more from lower manhattan. a string of new developments from the trump hush money trial. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreal reports. this is msnbc. . you can schedule in just a few clicks. and we'll come to you with a replacement you can trust.

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testimony in donald trump's first criminal trial well underway in new york. back with us, vaughn hillyard, andrew weissman and catherine christian. trump's team is trying to show in cross that business in the trump organization drastically changed after he won the presidency and everyone was still adjusting in 2017. what did he miss in the last couple of minutes? >> reporter: right. and also acknowledging that michael cohen had formally left

the trump organization and was working in an outside capacity as donald trump's personal attorney. or at least that's what he testified his understanding of cohen's role in 2017 to be, but also the defense team for donald trump right now under cross-examination with jeffrey mcconney is hitting at the heart of what he did not say under questioning from the prosecution. in one of those changes were explicitly quote, president trump did not ask you to do any of the things you just described. mcconney responded, quote, he did not. so this is where the, you know, for the prosecution, they're using the handwriting in the ledger, the invoices, and the understanding of mcconney saying that he made and approved these payments to cohen at the behest of weisselberg, the cfo's orders, did not go as far as to

say he understood these reimbursement checks were to pay for the stormy daniels alleged cover up. then number two, he's saying he was never made aware that explicitly these orders came at the direction of donald trump and that this was weisselberg and him going back and forth over how much money michael cohen was to be paid over the course of 2017, andrea. >> so catherine, in terms of how the d.a. is as you point out, speeding through this. is this a typical way of trying to establish the chain of what these bookkeeping transactions were like and do you think that it's having an impact on the jury? is there any way to tell? >> when i say speeding, i don't mean to they're speeding evidence. i mean it's moving quickly. that's really the judge who's kept everyone on schedule. so what i said earlier about how the direct examination, there

was no mention of donald trump's name out of this witness' mouth and the cross-examination followed up on it. their theory of cohen going rogue. that donald trump never directed mr. mcconney to do any of the things he testified to. but your prosecution is going to argue, here in official filing when he was president, he called them reimbursements. so there's going to be direct evidence, circumstantial evidence, piece by piece that the prosecution is going to argue similar to, they won't use these words, a mob boss or something similar. they don't want to get their hands dirty so that's why you don't see text messages or e-mails from donald trump but you can piece together the testimony from the other people of how detail oriented, how he's a micro manager, how he was on top of everything. then his statements. he's not going to testify. i don't believe he will. but his truth social. his twitter statements.

that will all be there for the prosecution to argue why they are proven beyond responsible doubt and the defense will argue no, they haven't proven beyond responsible doubt. >> we know from covering donald trump, he never used e-mails. i know they can establish that from any of the people he worked with. vaughn hillyard, you know that very well. vaughn? >> reporter: right. this is sort of the unusual character that is donald trump. you know, most people nowadays are using e-mails or text messages but donald trump, during his time in the white house, did not really leave much of a public record under his own writing so much of it is relying upon the testimony and statements made by others and that's what hits at the heart of this case here is direct acknowledgment by jeffrey mcconney, who worked for donald trump for 35 years, that he was approving of these invoices from michael cohen.

yet at the same time here, we don't have donald trump, this would perhaps be easier for the prosecution if there was writing or if donald trump was copied in on a specific e-mail or any of these particular exchanges but that's not just the case with donald trump. >> andrew, let me switch gears and just ask you about the classified document case. because todd blanche, his defense lawyer, is also involved in that case. they're facing a thursday deadline to submit additional filings to disclose what expert witnesses they want, which sensitive materials jack smith's team intends to use. what do we expect from that and what's been happening on that whole trial, all the pretrial issues while we've been focused here in new york? >> well, i wish i could give anybody good news if they're looking for a trial date, but there are many pending pretrial motions that have yet to be decided. those are still bubbling along.

many of which are fully briefed and we're waiting for a judge's decision and we're of course also waiting for a trial date. i think i join with many others thinking that the judge is not going to be scheduling a trial before the general election. there's just a lot of things that still remain to happen and she doesn't seem to be, you know, in any sort of rush to actually deal with a trial date. and the closer it gets, the more that defense lawyers will have other things and use their calendar to say they can't be ready and obviously the closer it gets to the election, the more legitimacy there is in terms of not wanting to interfere with that process. and to take if donald trump is as expected is the nominee, not to take him off the campaign trail and to await the results

of the election first. it's a very slow process. i also think it's a case that unfortunately is one that is really not that complicated. it really could have been scheduled and tried much earlier than today. >> and just while we've been talking, i want to point out, andrew, to what we were talking about earlier, that in the courtroom, the cross-examination of mcconney has reached the point where he has said that he did not know why weisselberg wanted this reimbursement. he didn't know who it was going to. he says cohen needed some kind of reimbursement but weisselberg did not tell you what it was for. so he didn't know about the hush money. so what they're trying to do in the defense is separate him from having any knowledge of it and also say as vaughn was saying, excuse me, that once he was in the white house, everything was

very separated and he was, the president, was certainly less aware of all of the paperwork involved. >> yeah. absolutely. so the cross here is doing what they should be doing to say you know, that this particular functionary did not know the bigger picture. didn't know why these payments were being made. what they were for. that wasn't his job. his job was to sort of carry out this scheme but he didn't know what the details were. he also was getting his orders from his immediate supervisor who was weisselberg. he couldn't go beyond that. couldn't say donald trump knew or didn't know. he just knew what he knew. that is very typical. what's sort of interesting to me is mcconney was a very problematic witness at the trump org tax trial. he is also somebody who has found civilly liable for fraud. so you know, whether he in fact knew or didn't know, it's sort

of speculation but what he's doing now is really just saying look, i am telling you what the piece i knew. just to remember as in terms of a piece of the puzzle, while he doesn't have the whole picture, the particular piece he has and particularly the notes that he took and the notes that he identified as weisselberg's notes, are really devastating. those notes just are totally inconsistent with this just being legal fees. in fact, as opposed to reimbursement for $130,000. so it really does end up proving the scheme even though this witness doesn't know the full picture. >> hang in because we're going to come back to you in a bit but what's just transpired is also the defense lawyer trying to put seeds of doubt about cohen, whether or not he, with the additional money he had received, paying his taxes.

saying to mcconney, you don't know whether he paid his taxes or how he handles his own taxes. so just planting that little seed of doubt and i guess the prosecutor will come back to that and redirect. as we continue to follow the trial, we'll be back with you on any major developments from the court. meanwhile, the middle east on edge. new reporting about the cease fire talks as israel tells residents of rafah to start moving out. and concerns rise that israel is going to ignore the u.s. and mount a larger operation in rafah. netanyahu and president biden did talk today and of course, rafah has been an unspoken red line for the u.s., potentially putting thousands in harm's way. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. of treating? or push through the pain and symptoms? with ubrelvy, there's another option. one dose works fast to eliminate migraine pain

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i gotta get this deal... that's like $20 a month per unlimited line... i don't want to miss that. that's amazing doc. mobile savings are calling. visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc? and we have breaking news from the middle east. raf sanchez is in israel. the news is that at least one branch of hamas and it's not the most important branch, the most militant, led by sinwar who is believed to be underground, but we have heard from the political leader of hamas in a statement to the officials in qatar and to the egyptian intelligence leader. they are saying they have

tentatively accepting a cease fire, but we don't know if this is really speaking for hamas. is that your understanding? >> reporter: really important distinction. the head of the political wing of hamas in just the last couple of minutes putting out a statement saying that he has informed the egyptians and the qataris that hamas has tentatively approved of the cease fire proposal that's been on the table. exactly as you say, the key decision maker inside hamas, the gaza chief. he is in charge on the military side. he is believed to be in the tunnels underneath southern gaza right now. we have not heard from him. we have not, at this point, heard from the israeli governments about this tentative proposal. what we saw with that last cease fire deal, andrea, back in november, which feels like a

very, very long time ago, was that the proposal had to be approved by israel's war cabinet, by its security cabinet, and then by the full israeli government. so we, it is too early at this point to say that a cease fire deal has been agreed, but this is a positive first sign hamas' political wing indicating that it has tentatively agreed to this proposal. the most recent iteration of this deal was that hamas agreed to release 33 hostages from the humanitarian category. women, children, elderly and those hostages with serious medical conditions. in exchange, israel said it would agree to a 40-day cease-fire and the release of potentially thousands of palestinian prisoners. israel also signaling it was

prepared to allow some displaced palestinian civilians to return to their homes in northern gaza. now, that was the most recent iteration of the deal, but there has been frenetic diplomacy over the weekend including and involving cia director bill burns who flew into egypt. he traveled to qatar, traveled here to israel, trying to keep these talks on track. we do not know the exact detail at this point of what hamas has agreed to. it's worth saying, andrea, these deals are often structured in terms of first an agreement on the broad framework, then an agreement on the specific details, and those details, the devil can be in them. so we should be cautious at this point that there is an initial indication from hamas' political wing that they are open to approval of this deal. now, this statement coming a little while after president

biden, prime minister netanyahu spoke earlier on "today." they talked about the cease-fire negotiations, the president reiterating his opposition to an israeli large-scale ground invasion in rafah. we did see first indications that that ground offensive may be imminent. israel dropping leaflets from aircraft over eastern rafah, telling palestinian civilians in that area to evacuate, that israel is planning to move into that area. it's not clear whether this is the start of the full offensive against rafah which prime minister netanyahu has been threatening for months now or if this is potentially a more limited operation after hamas fired a number of rockets yesterday towards the area of carom shalom killing four israeli soldiers. there was a little news in the diplomatic readout of the call

between president biden and prime minister netanyahu, that the president secured an agreement from the prime minister to reopen the crossing. it has been closed since the hamas attack yesterday. andrea. >> let me just jump in. senator blinken, and i was traveling with him, we were in carom shalom, he met with defense minister gallant, and they were talking about all of the above. at that point israel had committed to try to move more humanitarian aid through. they had just opened a third crossing in addition. that was a major part of the mission. for that crossing to be closed immediately after these rocket attacks and the death of four israeli soldiers was something

of big concern to the u.s. because of approaching famine and all the other problems. they've been focused on that. raf, also, every time the president speaks to the prime minister, he is reiterating, and according to all my reporting from this trip from all sides, that the u.s. and a number of their allies do not feel that the plan for rafah, for moving all these people is add all adequate to the challenge, that israel is not ready -- should not be ready to begin moving into rafah. maybe there's the possibility that this buildup and the threats to go into rafah that we heard after the cabinet meeting yesterday is to pressure hamas to try to agree to the cease-fire and that there's a game of negotiation, of chicken going on here. in any case, if they do go into rafah, it is without any kind of green light. in fact, it is in complete defiance, if you will, of the

pleadings, repeated pleadings from the secretary of state antony blinken and the president of the united states to not do that while these people, 1.4 million -- 1.2 million displaced, are still in such jeopardy. as well, there was the military plan that is not yet in the kind of shape that the u.s. thinks is reduced and organized the way they would like to see. they do have a military plan, and they have a very partial relocation plan. neither of which are really acceptable to the white house, raf. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. the white house has been saying consistently it has not seen credible plans from the israeli government about how and where it would move those million-plus palestinian civilians to safety. they told us the morning the area of eastern rafahs the telling people to evacuate from,

it estimates there are around 100,000 palestinian civilians in that area. they've been told to go north and west to an area called alma was si, a strip of the mediterranean coast in gaza. they're saying that a safer zone. i asked the military what guarantees can you give palestinians about their safety? can you say they will not be bombed if they go there? they said it would be safer than eastern rafah where they anticipate active fighting, but israel reserves the right to strike inside this safe zone if hamas is operating there. we have seen repeatedly time and time in the past that israel has bombed inside of safe zones. it has hamas has used those zones to fire rockets, to carry out other military activities. at this point, andrea, we have not seen israeli forces move into this area, east of rafah.

i spoke to an israel official earlier. they said the timing of the actual ground offensive will be determined, one, by when they get the order from israel's government to move in, and two, how long it takes to evacuate those palestinian civilians from eastern rafah. israel has said fairly consistently that, if there is a deal, it is prepared to at least delay an attack on rafah, and we are getting this indication from hms that from there side at least they are prepared to accept this proposal that has been on the table. >> this is obviously something we'll be covering very closely. raf, let me let you get back to your reporting. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." remember, fellow us on social media, @mitchellreports. you can rewatch the best parts of our show on youtube, go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" starts after a very short break. is jans after a very short break introducing, ned's plaque psoriasis.

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president biden and israeli prime minister bibi netanyahu major making news from the middle east. hamas has accepted a cease-fire proposal from egypt and qatar. nbc's raf sanchez is following this for us. nbc's aaron gilchrist is reporting from the white house. raf, give us the outline of this. what do we know about this potential deal? >> reporter: chris, in just the last couple minutes hamas released a statement from the leader of its political wing, ismaih haniyeh who says they've agreed to a cease-fire proposal by qatar and egypt, a prossal that's been on the table for more than a week, a proposal that the u.s. has been urging hamas to take. our understanding of the most recent iteration of