trump. just as trump s legal issues grow more precarious, his political challenges are also growing more complicated. his republican opponents testing new ways to take him down, but do they risk focusing too much on the former president? we ll explain the trump trap coming up. take a look at this. u.s. and chinese warships coming heartstoppingly close to coming close to the coast of taiwan. both sides warning a military confrontation would be a, quote, disaster for the world. we re on the verge of a decision that could drag the country into uncharted territory as new clues indicate we could soon find out if special counsel jack smith is going to do something that s never been done before, charge a sitting or former president with a federal crime. nbc news learned that the grand jury investigating donald trump s handling of classified documents will be back in session this week after they ve been on hiatus. in fact, nbc news has confirmed that some members of trump s legal
large-scale offensive in the donetsk region adding that ukraine lost more than 200 troops. the russian defense ministry released this video, not independent vard fied by nbc news, purporting to show action against ukrainian tanks. a ukrainian military official who spoke with nbc vehemently denied the start of an offensive and the loss of any troops but warned that a ukrainian attack is, in fact,ism meant and russia, quote, will be crushed r. nbc s molly hunter is live for us in kharkiv. what more do we know about these allegations rush is making and the response from ukraine. reporter: that s right, chris. the russian ministry of defense statement came out overnight and quickly spread around. we asked ukrainian officials. no one would comment directly on that statement until this afternoon, you read one of the statements. we got a statement from the
we are now just days away from joran van der sloot being brought to the u.s., a new chapter in the 18 years long and agonizing wait for the family of american teenager natalee holloway, who disappeared on a school trip to aruba. here is nbc s sam brock. reporter: more than 18 years after the disappearance of natalee holloway, the prime suspect in the case, joran van der sloot, is one step closer to being in u.s. custody. peruvian authorities confirm they moved the 35-year-old from a maximum security prison in southern per true a prison in the country s capital, all to prepare for his extradition to the u.s. and a federal courtroom in birmingham, alabama, he ll face charges of wire fraud and extortion carrying sentences up to 20 years each. those charges date back to 2010 when van der slot was indicted by an alabama grand jury for
that some members of trump s legal team were at justice department headquarters earlier today. here they are leaving about one hour ago. now, it s not clear what happened behind closed doors, but we know the evidence has been building. even within the last few weeks when they weren t in session, that includes a report that two trump employees moved boxes and documents the day before fbi agents came looking for them. and news just last week that trump was caught on tape admitting he took classified documents relating to iran. i want to bring in nbc s ken dilanian, carol lamb, a former federal prosecutors and mechanics analyst, and david jolly, a former republican congressman from florida and an msnbc political analyst. good to have you all here. ken, what do we know about what happened today, what s planned for this week? and when you look at those things together, does it mean we re any closer to getting a decision? reporter: good afternoon, chris. it sure feels that way.
as you said, we don t have the reporting. we don t know what went on inside that meeting today. i am told that attorney general merrick garland and deputy attorney general lisa monaco were not part of it. you see james truss see and john rowley, and then lindsey halligan, another trump lawyer, it s very common at the end of an investigation or as an investigation is reaching a charging decision for defense lawyers to come in and request a meeting with senior officials at the justice department to make the case about why their client shouldn t be indicted. that s what this feels like. again, we haven t confirmed that. as you said, we re reporting on nbc news that the grand jury is expected to meet this week after am weeks hiatus. one of trump s former lawyers, parlatore said on meet the press yesterday that he felt this documents investigation had reached a charging decision. that s what it feels like here at the justice department, that we re seeing the end of this.