>> would you back out if trump backs out? >> no, not now. >> that was president biden at the white house last night answering questions about comments he made earlier at a fund-raiser. we'll go through what he said about the 2024 race just ahead. meanwhile, donald trump was pressed on his promise to use a possible second term to seek revenge and retribution. we'll bring you what he said. and then also ahead the partisan fight over the senate's foreign aid package. one contentious issue is threatening to sink the entire bill. we'll bring you the latest from capitol hill. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this wednesday, december 6th. i'm jonathan lemire, and thanks for starting your day with us. we begin this morning in the middle east where the israeli military has now entered southern gaza's largest city. israeli forces clashed with hamas terrorists in fierce gun battles yesterday. officials describe the fighting as the most intense day since the beginning of the ground operation. israel's widening air and ground offensive has displaced even more palestinian civilians. the united nations now estimates that more than 80% of gaza's population have been driven out of their homes since the beginning of the war. israel's invasion of the south is also exacerbating the already dire humanitarian conditions. the world health organization says the situation is, quote, getting worse by the hour. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has no plans to stop the assault amid his vow to destroy hamas. yesterday netp hew said israel must retain open ended security control over gaza aer the war ends in order to ensure the territory remains demilitarized. netanyahu said this. "no international force can be responsible for this. i'm not ready to close my eyes and accept any other arrangement." . the comments suggest a renewed push for israel to occupy gaza after the conflict, a move the biden administration has made clear that it opposes. and the u.s. president is blaming hamas for the end of the seven-day truce and is condemning the group's reported sexual assault of women during the fighting. with a temporary cease-fire expiring last friday, israel said hamas did not live up to its duty to release its remaining female hostms. president biden reiterated that claim, condemning the terrorist group during a campaign event yesterday in boston. he said the female survivors and tnesses to the october 7th attacks are now sharing account which includes rape and murelty, the president added, the world can't just look away from what's going on. it's on all of us to forcefully condemnhe sexual violence. biden then spoke about the hostages saying this. "these are civilian women mostly between the ages of 20 and 39. let me be crystal clear, hamas' refusal to release the remaining young women is what broke this deal and ended the pause in the fighting." hamas has denied that allegation, but nbc news has reviewed evidence that suggests that dozens of israeli women were raped, sexually abused, or mutilated during the october 7th terror attacks. that evidence is primarily from the israeli government and military. also, the united states will start imposing visa restrictions on extremist israeli settlers in the west bank. the state department made the announcement yesterday saying anyone believed today be involved in, quote, undermining peace, security, or stability in the west bank will be banned from entering the united states. that includes acts of violence or anything that unduly restricts civilian access to essential services and basic necessities. the biden administration has repeatedly warned that israel must stop the violence by extremist settlers. attacks have intensified in recent months amid an expansion of jewish settlements as well as the october 7th terror attack. joining us now correspondent for axios, ryan keith. let's begin this morning with that. the biden administration's stance on settler violence in the west bank. the president himself has made clear this needs to stop, but it's complicated because many believe netp hew has empowered those extremist fringes there in the west bank. give us the picture. >> well, there's so much of this that goes back to netanyahu who has been in power on and off since 1996. so he has given the green light to a series of behaviors that until now the u.s. hasn't felt the need to call out. and so we see the mixing of a lot of narratives here. so on one hand it is both necessary and inevitable that israel has to see this out in gaza. they have to get rid of these tunnel networks wherever they are. and we're now getting to the last city where there is a tunnel network that israel hasn't blown up. even though this isn't the original narrative that israel said about what would happen in gaza, they're falling somewhat to an inevitable end. at the same time we have seen this massive uptick in violence in the west bank while the world has been distracted or focused on gaza. and we're seeing the legacy of 25 years of netanyahu encouraging these settlers -- and settlers really is euphemism, to do whatever they want to take over parts of the occupied territories in the west bank. the humanitarian crisis, death toll so much bigger in gaza. it is really interesting to see the biden administration crack down on this aspect of the west bank and even the israeli military and government admitting, yeah, we have extremists on our own side yesterday. that was quite an unusual move. so we're going to see more on this front, and at the same time it's still just a small fragment of what is going on in gaza. so there is a lot for the audience to keep focused on here, because it is going to remain messy for weeks to come. >> right. as we mentioned, ryan, the fighting intensifying in the south. israel has mentioned flooding tunnels with seawater or other means. what sort of international pressure are we seeing right now not just from the united states but other countries trying to lean on netanyahu as the humanitarian crisis worsens? >> europe is furious this has gotten to this level of violence and humanitarian crisis in gaza. so you can see the pressure coming from there. and it is going to spill over out of the theater of gaza and israel and west bank. you've got eu officials now saying they believe their cities are at high risk of terror attack through the holiday season from both sides because of this war. so you do see continued potential for this to escalate beyond the immediacy of gaza, and we're going to have to keep our eyes open across a lot of fields. >> thank you for starting us off with that insight. turning to some domestic politics now, donald trump admitted yesterday that he would be a dictator if he is re-elected next year. during a pre-taped fox news town hall sean hannity asked trump twice if me planned to abuse his power in his second term. if stead of directly saying no, trump told the iowa audience that he wouldn't be a dictator except for his first day in office. >> i want to be very, very clear on this. to be clear do you in any way have any plans whatsoever if re-elected president to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people? >> you mean like they're using right now. so in the history of our country what's happened to us, again, has never happened before over nonsense, over nothing, made up charges. i often say al capone, he was one of the greatest of all-time, he was a mob boss, the likes of which scar face they call him, and he got indicted once. i got indicted four time. >> i want to go back to this one issue, though, because the media has been focused on this. and under no circumstances you're promising america tonight you'd never abuse power as retribution against anybody? >> except for day one. except for day one. >> meaning? >> i want to close the border and i want to drill, drill, drill. >> that's not -- that's not retribution. >> i'm going to be -- you're not going to be a dictator are you? nope, except day one. >> response to those comments the biden campaign released a statement writing this. donald trump has been telling us exactly what he'll do if he's re-elected, and tonight he said he'll be a dictator on day one. americans should believe him. meanwhile, a new court filing reveals the evidence that special counsel jack smith believes will prove trump guilty of election interference. that evidence, the former president's own words. prosecutors said yesterday they plan to focus on trump's history of questioning election results when they do not favor him. the majority of the new 9-page court filing lists comments from the former president before and after getting into office, comments like these. >> will you commit here today for a peaceful transfer of power after the election and where there's been rioting in many cities across the country, will you commit to making sure there's a peaceful transfer of power after the election? >> we'll have to see what happens. you know i've been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. >> i want to ask you here on the stage tonight do you make the same commitment that you absolutely -- sir, that you absolutely accep the result of this election? >> i will look at it at the time. >> are you saying you're not prepared now to -- >> what i'm saying is i'll tell you at the time. i'll keep you in suspense. >> my book the big lie traces this exact pattern from trump. nbc news is reporting that statements like those, prosecutors argue, illustrate trump's plan of falsely blaming fraud for election results he does not like. also went further in linking trump to the insurrection saying his words sent his supporters to the capitol. the filing also mentions an incident in 2020 where the prosecution says a trump staffer tried to obstruct the michigan vote count when the state started to swing toward biden. the campaign allegedly encouraged biden to stop the count. in a statement a trump campaign spokesman called special counsel jack smith deranged and said the indictment is fake. the trial is scheduled to begin in march. we'll have much more on this on "morning joe." still ahead here on "way too early," we'll have a look at some significant headlines coming out of congress including republican senator tommy tuberville finally dropping his hold on hundreds of military promotions. plus, what house speaker mike johnson had to say about a vote to move forward with an impeachment inquiry into president biden. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. check on sports and weather when we come right back a few years ago, i came to saona, they told me there's no electricity on the island. we always thought that whatever we did here would be an emblem of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. there are some things that go better... together. burger and fries... soup and salad. like your workplace benefits and retirement savings. with voya, considering all your financial choices together can help you make smarter decisions. voya. well planned. well invested. well protected. (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers are pretty much the same, voya. well planned. but at fisher investments we're clearly different. (other money manager) different how? you sell high commission investment products, right? (fisher investments) nope. fisher avoids them. (other money manager) well, you must earn commissions on trades. (fisher investments) never at fisher. (other money manager) ok, then you probably sneak in some hidden and layered fees. (fisher investments) no. we structure our fees so we do better when our clients do better. that might be why most of our clients come from other money managers. at fisher investments, we're clearly different. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. (car engine revs) home of the xfinity 10g network. (engine accelerating) (texting clicks) (tires squeal) (glass shattering) (loose gravel clanking) welcome back. we turn to now some news from capitol hill. republican senator tommy tuberville dropped his blanket hold on military promotions after more than ten months without receiving any of the concessions he had previously demanded. the alabama lawmaker began his protest in february over a pentagon policy that would reimburse service members who had to travel out-of-state for abortion services. that policy we should stress is still in place. the senfer held up more than 400 military promotions, at one point causing marines, army, and navy to be without official permanent heads. while tuberville lift his hold on all military promotions at the three-star rank and below, a hold does still remain in place for at least ten four-star military nominations. yesterday evening senate majority leader chuck schumer began a process to confirm more than 400 stalled promotions on the senate floor. >> now let this incident be a warning no one -- no one should attempt this in the senate again. the senior senator from alabama has nothing to show for his ten months of delay. no law's changing in any way except for the damage he did to our military readiness and the pain he caused to military families. >> meanwhile in the lower chamber, republican leaders say the house will likely vote next week to formalize their impeachment inquiry into president biden just before lawmakers leave for the holidays. house speaker mike johnson told reporters that the move is a necessary step. >> of all the moderates in our conference understand this is not a political decision. this is a legal decision. it's a constitutional decision. and whether someone is for or against impeachment is of no import right now. we have to continue our legal responsibility, and that is only solely what this vote is about. the house democrats cheapened impeachment. they used it for partisan political purposes. they went after donald trump twice. i served on the impeachment defense team twice. we call those sham impeachments, snap impeachments. they were. what you're seeing right now is exactly the opposite of that. you're seeing a very deliberate investigation uncovering and following the facts, following the truth where it leads. that's what the constitution requires the house to do. >> the white house responded to johnson by highlighting how house republicans have engaged in these probes for months yet have provided no documents, testimony, nor any sensitive law enforcement information that supports their allegations of any wrongdoing by the president. still ahead here on "way too early," the final four is set for the nba's in-season tournament. we'll show you who's headed to vegas to play for this championship. plus, a rare trade between the most bitter rivals in major league baseball. it's all straight ahead. n major league baseball. it's all straight ahead. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ 22 seconds to go and a trip to vegas on the line. 6 second difference. >> austin reeves with that clutch three-pointer that padded the laker's slim lead over the phoenix suns in the last seconds of last night's nba in-season tournament quarterfinal matchup. now, let's be clear l.a. was able to setup that play after a real assist from the officials who granted the lakers a controversial timeout during what appeared to be a loose ball. you can see it. reeves did not have possession and yet they gave him a time out anyway. lebron scored 15 of his 31 high points in the fourth quarter. lakers beat the suns. they'll now play the new orleans pelicans in the semifinals tomorrow night in las vegas where they'll have a significant home court advantage. the milwaukee bucks are also las vegas bound. milwaukee breezed by the new york knicks 146-122. the bucks will face the indiana pacers in the tournament's other semifinals. we turn now to major league baseball. the winter meetings are under way, and we've got a rare tde between the new york yankees and boston red sox. the division rivals yesterday making only their seventh trade in the last half century with alex verdugo heading to new york to trade for three pitching prospects. he also was the last player left from the mookie betts trade. what a disaster that was. while this deal partly fulfills the desire, new york is reportedly not giving up on the push to add superstar juan soto from the padres and could possibly flip verdugo to get soto. and guv enough ron desantis is bashing the college football playoff system. the florida republican who's also running for president asked the state legislature to set aside $1 million for florida state university to sue the cfp committee after the seminoles were left out of. it's being viewed by most as a political stunt. by the town the florida legislature agrees on a spending band the college football playoff will be over. and the potential lawsuit will not have any future implications as the football system next year is set to expand to 12 team time now for the weather and let's go to meteorologist angie lassman for the forecast. how's it looking out there? >> a little iffy if we look out towards the west where i'm sure many people have seen the images come out after impressive rainfall yesterday. stretching from seattle to portland and down to eureka, washington, oregon, and california include in these alerts. and you can see why plenty more rain still work through the region, and we've got more to come even after this batch. here's the deal through the day today. we'll see not quite as heavy a rain as we dealt with yesterday. it'll be a little more scattered as we get through today. we'll see that taper off a bit, but another system on the way. that brings more snow, more rain to already saturated grounds. we'll also see into tomorrow snow falling in northern portions of of the rockies. some chilly air will filter in that region, too. speaking of chilly air we've got record warmth instead of a massive ridge to take shape across the western half of the united states. 46 degrees in washington, d.c. today, but check out rapid city in denver upper 60s. these temperatures running 20, 25 degrees above normal and even see the potential for record highs tomorrow. minneapolis in december at 55 degrees that is not norm. >> not even close. chg ae lassman, thank you so much. still ahead we'll turn to politics for a look at the foreign aid fight happening in the senate. the funding will would provide critical support for ukraine, but republicans are threatening to derail the measure mostly over one issue. we'll tell you what that is when we come right back. what that in we come right back first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. welcome back to "way too early." it is precisely 5:30 a.m. on it east coast, so therefore 2:30 a.m. out west on this wednesday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. now, it's still unclear this morning if a deal to provide aid to ukraine or israel would be agreed upon ts week. republicans have so far said that if foreign aid is part of a national security bill, the legislation must also include money for the southern border. yesterday senate democrats unveiled a111 billion national security package, which include foreign aid and other measures targeting the border. majority leaderhu schumer said he would give republicans a vote on a gop written border policy amendment if they vote today in favor of opening debate on the foreign aid package. that offer was rejected by his counterpart in the senate, republican mitch mcconnell. schumer will need 60 votes to open debate in the chamber where the democrats have just a very slim majority. yesterday schumer warned his gop colleagues what's expected of them and what the republican party of old would think about what they're doing. >> if republicans want to bring up immigration right now right in the middle of trying to pass aid to ukraine and other issues, the onus is on them to present serious bipartisan proposals and get broad support from democrats. ronald reagan would be rolling in his grave -- rolling in his grave if he saw his own party let vladimir putin roll through europe. so once again i urge my republican colleagues to think carefully about what's at stake with this week's vote. what we do now will reverberate across the world for years and decades to come. >> joining us now co-founder of punch bowl news, john bresnahan. good to see you. setup what we should see today. >> there's going to be a big procedural vote on whether to move forward with this package of money, a huge package of money which includes israel, ukraine, indo-pacific region and others. there's money in there for fentanyl. money in there for security for religious institutions now facing threats since the israel-hamas war. so there's a lot of money in there. this is a huge issue for the president. he's got a lot at stake here. he's been the top supporter for ukraine since the war started in february 2022, and it's a huge issue for sure, but also a huge issue for mitch mcconnell, the senate minority leader. he's a very, very vocal ukraine supporter. he feels very strongly about this, but, you know, there's a big part of his party that wants nothing to do with ukraine especially in the house. so you have all these competing factions, and for democrats, for biden and schumer, they face this challenge on border security. republicans want a deal on border security, something to deal with the migrant crisis at the border, which is a huge problem for new york city and others, and other pech politan areas across the country. but they can't give away too much. progressives don't like it. wave got everybody balancing in the middle and i'm not sure this gets resolve. >> it seems the votes just aren't really there. is there a possibility we're going to barrel into the winter holidays without any sort of aid package? >> yeah, i mean this is a real possibility. i think you're right. there's -- you know, again, israel is in the middle of a huge war with hamas and there's -- you know, there's a $14 billion aid package that's going to pass the house, but republicans want to cut irs funding and do it. we could very well get into january with nothing done on this front, and then they have to do government funding in january, so this becomes all tied into one giant global net. and it's a real problem, and i don't see a resolution right now. they've got to get -- the big issue for the republican senate is they've got to get a deal on the border security. if they don't do that, i don't see you crane moving at all or ukraine funding moving at all. >> yeah, which only gets harder to be sure. let's touch on early in the show we mentioned senator tuberville finally lifting his hold on about 400 military nominees. what is the aftermath here? what are republicans and democrats saying privately about histunt and whether they want to ever see something like this happen again? >> yeah, we covered this on punch bowl news this morning. this is -- this was, you know, disastrous for tuberville. he's been doing this since february and started with a couple nominee and grew to over 450, the top nominees across the military. these are not only generals and admirals but other officers, majors and colonels, vital programs. in the end he got nothing. there was a huge split inside the senate republican conference. we were covering and they were having yelling matches with each other behind closed doors. one of the things that was interesting to us at the very end here was the freshman republican senator from alabama, she helped broker a deal between tuberville and his own leadership. so i mean i think this is a fallout here for republicans is pretty bad. they've got, you know, they've got nothing on this abortion policy, which is still in place. for everything tubeville didn't get anything he wanted to get change. this pentagon abortion policy he imposes doesn't get changed. the senate republicans themselves suffer for this, and i think there's going to be -- the rest of this congress i think there's going to be real scars there for them. >> no, i agree with that intierlly. we'll be looking for the perch bowl newsletter in our inbox momentarily. co-founder of that organization, john bresnahan, thank you for joining us. next up we'll switch to business news. our friends at cnbc will join us with the morning's headlines and some insights on the market which are moving higher before the bell. some green on the board there. we'll be back with that. ard the. we'll be back with that. the long-lasting scent of gain flings made it smell like dave was in his happy place... ...the massage chair at the mall. but...he wasn't. gain flings with oxi boost and febreze. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. and now, get max strength topical pain relief precisely where you need it. with new tylenol precise. it's time now for business, and for that let's bring in cnbc's joumanna bercetche who joins us live from london. joumanna, great to see you this morning. so stock futures appear up this morning after, though, the s&p 500 and the dow fell for a second straight day. so what's driving the markets this early wednesday? >> i would say the answer to that question is rate cut expectations. that has emerged as a major theme going into 2024, and more and more investors are saying that 2024 is going to be the year of rate cuts. in fact, right now the market is penciling a 14% probability of that rate cutting cycle beginning in january. so yesterday we did see very big moves in bond yields. the ten year sitting below 3%, that's the lowest level in three months. two-year treasury yields also about 5 baesz points lowch that has been in the drivers seat. the lowest levels since march 2021 signaling some weakness coming through on the labor front. and ism services number did come in better than expected, but it didn't quite move the needle into the close yesterday. as for today we're watching out for the adp print. it is wednesday after all, and the trading update from capitals. >> all right, so apple is once again worth -- wait for it -- $3 trillion. hitting that milestone for the first time since august. tell us how they got there again. >> that's right. so we have been here before. they hit that 3 trillion level, the milestone back in june and they stayed there for a couple of months. you'll remember back in august they gave a dim sales update, and that was the reason why we broke through to the down side, and of course it's taken a couple of months to get back to $3 trillion. again, it is the first company in history ever to do so. and this is despite the fact that they have warned about slowing sales particularly in iphones, some head winds coming in from china and the fact they've been engaging quite aggressively in share buy backs. but the stock up 48% this year and it is the most valuable repatriated company in the u.s. >> yeah, not even all that close. cnbc's joumanna bercetche live from london, thank you. speak to you again tomorrow. still ahead here four presidential hopefuls are gearing up for the final republican debate before the iowa caucus. of course this debate comes as donald trump skipping it still maintains a dominant lead among the field. we'll break down what to expect on the debate stage tonight when we come right back. expect on the debate stage tonight when we come right back em of what small communities can achieve. trying to give a better life to people that don't have the means to do it. si mi papá estuviera vivo, sé que él tuviera orgulloso también de vivir de esta viviendo una vida como la que estamos viviendo ahora. es electricidad aquí es salud. [city ambience sounds] [car screech] [car door slam] [camera shutter sfx] introducing ned's plaque psoriasis. [camera shutter sfx] he thinks his flaky, red patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. [ned?] it can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing it for nearly a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. [crowd gasp] ♪♪ with clearer skin, movie night is a groovy night. [ting] ♪♪ live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. nice footwork. live in the moment. man, you're lucky, watching live sports never used to be this easy. now you can stream all your games like it's nothing. yes! [ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. the republican national committee is set to hold the fourth presidential primary debate tomorrow, which will be hosted by cable chabl news nation the conservative political news channel the washington free beacon, the megan kelly show and rumble. in other words, look for it wherever you get your computer viruses. >> our friend seth myers poking fun at tonight's fourth republican presidential debate where ron desantis, nikki haley, chris christie, and vivek ramaswamy are set to take the stage in tuscaloosa, alabama, in hopes of convincing voters that they are the best alterative to donald trump. now, former president is once again skipping the event instead hosting a private fund-raiser down in florida. joining us now is national politics reporter for the hill julia manchester. she is at the site of tonight's debate. great to see you. obviously the alabama venue pretty quiet at this hour of the day. it'll be very, very different tonight. so what are some of the things you're going to be looking out for when these four candidates square off? >> good morning, jonathan. i think the number one thing i'm looking out for is see the dynamic emerge between nikki haley and ron desantis. we have seen them over the past number of weeks telegraphing attacks in ads and in social media posts, in interviews. we saw them go at it also the last debate hosted by nbc news in miami, but i think that will continue tonight because i think right now we're seeing nikki haley obviously on the rise, and ron desantis really seeing his last opportunity or one of his last opportunities from a national perspective to really make his case to a national group of republican voters before iowa. we're seeing nikki haley very much catching up to him in the polls in iowa, leading him in new hampshire and on his heels at the national level, but make no mistake, jonathan, the person who's leading the race, obviously, donald trump won't be on stage. once again no pun intended, he will be the elephant in the room. >> yes, well-done. it does seem like there's almost a main card event here. kristi and ramaswamy. it's really desantis versus haley to be that trump alternative. and we're doing this just a month away from iowa, where both candidates really feel like they need to show something. talk to us about your view right now about that caucus. >> look, in terms of the caucus when you look at the polls and the latest nbc news des moines register poll we know nikki haley and ron desantis are tied. that's bad news for ron desantis because his campaign has put literally everything into the iowa basket. they're banking on iowa and this idea he can get enough momentum to go into new hampshire, south carolina, and the subsequent primary states. if nick nikki haley is starting to catch up with him that's bad news for momentum even though donald trump remains at the top of the pack. he's very much tonight going to have to not only make his case to a national audience but also to donors. we know nikki haley got a good backing from the koch back americans for prosperity group. that's going to help her in new hampshire. if ron desantis can get more donors, more resources on his side in the final month, and maybe this debate could help him do that, maybe we'll see that happen. but, you know, the thing with desantis' debate performance is i wouldn't say they've been particularly bad. he's a fine debater, but he needs to have a standout moment. and the we've only been really seeing haley have those standout moments at this point. >> and the debate night comes when desantis' campaign and super pac is undergoing so much tumult, resignations and the like. haley comes in with momentum, rising in the polls as you noted, more backing. what is her campaign saying she looks to do this evening? >> well, look, these debates have been a comfort zone for nikki haley and they really propelled her in the polls. before her first debate in milwaukee, we saw she was trailing the pack, not necessarily in last place but behind desantis and ramaswamy, but then we started to see her inching up. and the more we saw these debate performances where she looks to portray haley comes into tonight with momentum, rising in the polls, as you noted. more backing. what is her campaign saying she looks to do this evening? >> well, look, these debates have been a comfort zone for nikki haley. and they've really propelled her in the polls. before the first debate in milwaukee, we saw that she was trailing the pack, not necessarily in last place. but behind desantis and ramaswamy. but then we started to see her inching up. the more we saw these debate performances where she looks so portray herself as the adult in the room, you know, that's really impressed a lot of donors and a lot of more moderate, independent swing voters. but in terms of the republican primary electorate, look, republican donors are very impressed with her after these debates. the issue for her, though, is that the donors and the grass roots meaning republican voters just aren't on the same page publicly in order to protect the identity of the rioters. capitol police sergeant who defended the building that day is standing by with his reaction. plus, we'll break down donald trump's dictator for a day comments. we brought you earlier as he declined to rule out abusing power if he were to return to office. also ahead, the chair of the intelligence committee in the senate. senator mark warner, will join the conversation. and actors constance wu and corbin bleu. to talk about "morning shop of horrors" "morning joe" is just a few minutes away. horrors" "morning joe" is just a few minutes away there's a better option than hand washing. switch to your dishwasher and cascade platinum plus. it uses the power of dawn to thoroughly clean your dishes removing 99% of grease and food residue. all you have to do is scrape, load, and you're done! (♪♪) cascade platinum plus. dare to dish differently. welcome back. president joe biden says that his decision to seek re-election is partly tied to donald trump's efforts to get back to the white house. at a campaign fundraiser in boston yesterday, biden told the donors there this -- if trump wasn't running, i'm not sure i would be running. later, when he arrived back at the white house, the president was asked to clarify those comments. >> would you be running for president if trump wasn't running? >> i expect so, but look, he is running. and i have to run. >> would you drop out if trump dropped out? >> no, not now. >> joining us now, republican strategist and political analyst for msnbc, susan delpursio. revealing remarks, saying outloud what a lot of people speculated for some time. some in biden's orbit whispered private. this need to run for a second term is fuelled by the desire, patriotic duty even to keep donald trump out of office. but what do you think of the fact that he now said it outloud, he is tieg his fate so directly to trump. >> i think it was a big mistake. it's not a good look for anyone running for office to say, it's not that i really want to be president. it's just that it's the best thing for the country. it does translate to the voters. they feel it especially with president biden right now, who has a problem on the democratic side with enthusiasm and getting people to the polls. it doesn't really inspire that get out and support joe biden. it's more like, well, he's who we have. >> so, there have been a number of stories written in recent days with really good reporting about what the stakes of this next election would be, what trump has said he would do in a second term. he didn't rule out being a dictator for a day and some people who used to work for him, mark esper, warn what had a second trump term would look like. >> the litmus test going forward would be loyalty fist and competence will be somewhere way down the list. that's troubling. he'll be able to enact his policy of revenge he's been talking about and retribution. it's a dangerous time for our democracy if that were to happen. you would see so much of the global order, the rules, the regulations, the norms that have made us all prosperous and allow us to advance and grow over the decades to really slowly erode and collapse. >> that was mark esper yesterday on msnbc, susan. so, what do you make? what kind of difference do you think these important warnings will have? >> much among supporters of donald trump, that's for sure. what these warnings are meant to do and why people should be saying this about president biden is to protect our democracy. again, similar to 2020, you're looking for those republicans and independents that lean right to come out and support biden. not because they necessarily support the democrat but because they believe in protecting our democracy, which is exactly why when president biden said what he did, saying i'm not sure i would be running, he really should let other people make the case, the importance of his run. >> and it comes at moment when a lot of democrats are anxious about the president's poll numbers. >> yes. >> let's shift gears and talk about the republican primary debate tonight. what are some things you're going to be looking for this evening. >> i'm looking to see what chris christie does. he's under a lot of pressure right now to drop out because nikki haley is really starting to take the lead and, as you know i said for a couple months now, desantis is going nowhere fast. so dus kristy start fighting for his political life in new hampshire? or does he try to take on haley or desantis trying to make some news there? i'll also see if nikki haley really wants to go after anyone besides ramaswamy because that's how she's done so well in the debates by showing like you said earlier, she's the grown-up in the room. showed her strength against ramaswamy's weakness. it will be interesting to see where she chooses to engage. >> certainly no love loss between those two candidates. that's been clear every time we have seen this group. desantis, as you mentioned to me, you've been on this early, you don't think he's going anywhere. more science of tumult, fundraising woes. he'll make it to iowa. what are the stakes? what does he need to do there? >> he has to somehow change things around, but it's hard for him because the premise of his whole campaign was i'm trump without the baggage. that worked in january where trump's numbers were falling. but trump's numbers have only grown. so, why do you need ron desantis if you have donald trump? his argument is not there. and right now with trump's strength with republican voters, he has nowhere to go. >> yeah. and certainly seems that haley now emerged as the most viable trump alternative. she is still down 30 odd points in the polls. we'll have complete coverage here on msnbc. susan, thank you for joining us this morning. thanks to all of you for getting up way too early on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. tomorrow "time" magazine will name the person of the year. vladimir putin is one of the nine finalists. and so is barbie, the doll. insulting the humans. putin and barbie have a lot more in common than you think. they both live in mansions. they both love horses. they both dabble in the martial arts. they love to play dress-up. you can see they