don t want to be herbert hoover. oh, okay. donald trump hopes millions of americans lose their money from their 401(k)s and retirement savings within the next 12 months so he doesn t look bad. [ laughter ] we have a lot to get to this morning, including a key hearing today for trump s claim of presidential immunity in the federal election interference case. we re going to have expert legal analysis on that in just a moment. plus, the very latest on two major developments in the middle east. israel says it has killed a hezbollah commander in southern lebanon. it comes as the israeli military says it is shifting to a more targeted campaign inside gaza. retired four star navy admiral james stavridis will join us with more insight on both of those stories. good morning. welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, january 9th. with us, we have former aide to the george w. bush white house and state departments, elise jordan. pulitzer prize winning columnist at the washington
they re sort of tethering that to a 1982 supreme court case, nixon versus fitzgerald. that case stands for the proposition that a president, if he is acting in his official capacity really important distinction is immune from civil lawsuits. clearly, defaming ms. carroll and all the other awful things he did to ms. carroll cannot possibly be within the definition of official conduct. presidents don t get to do anyone else, for that matter, doesn t get to behave that way and hide behind immunity. it s simply that, mika. it s not official conduct, therefore, he is not immune from liability. therefore, she can proceed against him and win her judgment and hopefully collect on it. chuck rosenberg, thank you so much for coming in this morning. we appreciate it. there s so much going on. we will see you again soon. still ahead on morning joe, secretary of state antony blinken is in israel this morning in his latest diplomatic