oath at the last moment? now his defamation trial is one step closer to wrapping up, while the former mayor could be one step closer to even deeper financial ruin. plus, chilling words from overseas, hamas terrorists arrested while plotting attacks across northern europe. the latest on their targets and fears that the threats could continue to spread. and house republicans go all in on evidence-free impeachment proceedings, are they risking their power on a political roll of the dice. we begin with those jury deliberations that could start any moment now in rudy giuliani's defamation trial. earlier giuliani abruptly dropping plans to testify on his own behalf, even though millions of dollars are potentially at stake. just days ago, the former mayor insisted his testimony would prove that the lies he told about election workers ruby freeman and shaye moss weren't lies after all. but by yesterday afternoon, it seemed giuliani was already walking that back. >> when i testify, you'll get the whole story, and it will be definitively clear that what i said was true. >> are you going to testify tomorrow? >> i intend to, but -- >> what does that mean? >> you always leave them guessing. >> we should remind folks, giuliani has already been found liable for defaming moss and freeman. the question before the jury is how much it should cost him. the women's attorney told jurors today freeman and moss should each be awarded $24 million. i want to bring in nbc's ryan reilly who's following the trial for us. peter baker is the "new york times" chief white house correspondent and an msnbc political analyst, harry litman is a former deputy assistant attorney general. good to have all of you here. so ryan, giuliani told us earlier this week that when he got the chance to testify, we would hear -- and i'm quoting him -- the whole story about his allegations. so what happened? >> reporter: yeah, i think his lawyer finally got through to him. him testifying was not going to go well and would end up putting additional money on the reward that they're eventually going to be finding here. you know, because he cannot let go of this big lie, right? he still believes this. it's very clear by his statement this is week that he still believes these false claims because of something he read on a crazy right wing conspiracy website about these two election workers that he defamed. so even though he acknowledged, you know, months ago in the court document that for the purposes of the litigation he was acknowledging that he made these false inflame tor statements, that's not what was in his head. his lawyer actually during his closing statement said that mr. giuliani was, quote a good man but had not done himself any favors in the last few days given his conduct in court. the attorney had not really had control of what rudy giuliani was saying to reporters outside the courthouse. the judge is instructing the jurors here and eight jurors will get together and decide what amount of damage they're going to give over in this case and the extent of impact that had on two election workers' lives. >> this is a man, as we know, facing financial ruin. he has already said he's pretty much broke. his lawyer claims that a big award is the civil equivalent of the death penalty. yet, when he had a chance to testify, he decided not to. how do you think a jury will see this? what are those conversations like in your experience and your knowledge about making these kinds of awards? >> it's a complete nightmare for him and his lawyer. he gave his lawyer literally nothing. remember, it's not just he didn't testify. he stone walled the entire time in refusing orders to turn over any of his financial information. it does seem like he doesn't have two dimes to rub together, and he's just basically, you know, a deadbeat who's just hoping for the best here and maybe trying to resist it up the line. a jury is likely to react with contempt to his not coming forward, what his lawyer was forced to say is we didn't have him testify because these pour women have been through enough. i don't think that's going to be very credible with the eight persons, and they're now just looking with nothing whatsoever to consider from giuliani at the sky is the limit. he's just a complete broken man at this point. >> peter, it sure seems like giuliani is following a playbook from people like donald trump and jenna ellis, and sidney powell, they keep telling lies publicly. but then when it comes to getting on the stand under oath and being questioned, that is not something they want to do, but do you get any sense within trump world that that's changing the minds of people who remain proponents of the big lie? >> well, like you say, i mean, when you go in front of a camera on the courthouse steps and may not tell the truth to the news media, there's no penalty, at least legal penalty. if you say it under oath, obviously there is, and so you know, take what you will of that, but obviously people are recognizing there is more of a bonus to tell the truth in court than the media, i don't know that it's had any effect. look, we have seen time and time again that supporters of donald trump and the people around him have managed to see things through the lens that donald trump has provided to them, the lens being -- this is all politicized. this is all about getting him because he is a great president or what have you. and there's been nothing so far that has cracked that, you know, that base, that support for him. every time they come after him in court, it's written off as part of this larger conspiracy that he has portrayed against him and of course that would, you know, fit with his people around him as well, they're coming after giuliani because they're coming after me and so forth. you've already had here a judgment. the judgment is that rudy giuliani did this. the only question, how much he has to pay for it. we've already had the same thing in donald trump's civil trial on friday. he's already been found by a judge to have committed fraud against the banks by giving false estimates of his assets. the only question is how much he's going to have to pay for it. >> that leads us to the question, obviously, harry, of have you come to a decision about what these women have been through, what it's worth and her lawyer, ruby freeman's lawyer said -- and i'm quoting here, that she got a message saying we are coming for you and your family, ms. ruby. safest place for you right now is prison or you will swing from the trees. another message said, ruby freeman, hope federal government hangs you and your daughter from the capitol dome. i pray that i will be sitting close enough to hear your necks snap. freeman testified and i think this might even be an understatement, that she was terrorized and scared. she said she still wears a mask. she doesn't want anybody to know what her name is, sometimes she forgets what name she's using, and then a social media expert testified that to give them their reputation back, however you can do that, could cost as much as $48 million. how do juries generally look at things like this? >> can you imagine, how they generally look at it is they evaluate the plaintiffs arguments and then they get the arguments on the other side from the defendant. he only has such and such money. it wasn't so bad or whatever, but they've given him nothing. i can't emphasize enough what a complete bankrupt legally, factually, politically figure giuliani now is. so the sky is the limit. they have nothing to -- you have the plaintiff lawyer saying he needs to -- you need to send a message, powerful people can't just mess with people's lives this way. you have her saying i had to move, the fbi told me to, and you have his lawyer saying, oh, he's not so bad. maybe compensate them, but not so much. i mean, they have nothing to hold onto even if they wanted to, which i very much doubt they do. so i think that room is going to be talking about the sky's the limit. he's given them nothing to temper it at all, and his strategy, such as it is, is completely puzzling. he's going to get clobbered, and he's asking for it. >> and the facts of the case are that a couple of different investigations showed that nothing that he said was true. there was no proof for his specious allegations. i want to play a little more, though, of what rudy giuliani said last night after dark. >> the truth will come out. the truth will come out. i didn't say when, so it will come out. >> it will come out very, very shortly. >> it's been three years. >> as you know, ryan, because you've been there, the judge said giuliani just can't keep arguing claims that he's already admitted essentially were false. i mean, what happens if he does? are we expecting to see potentially while the jury is deliberating him come out and make some comments on the steps? >> reporter: i mean, yeah, you can't stand in between rudy giuliani and a camera because you're going to get run over, right? he is very much interested in the media and can't resist it when we sort of ask him questions. the thing that really sticks out to me is he could be repairing some of this damage if he wanted to, right? he could be out here saying that, oh, man, i really screwed up. i lied about these people. i told falsehoods about these people. i'm sorry. i'm apologetic. he's not doing that. he's choosing to continue to perpetuate these lies about these two individuals who once again, clear as day, did absolutely nothing wrong and had their lives destroyed and torn apart because of these lies that were spread about him on the internet which were all based on racism. a lot of this was them centering on these cities where they thought something was untoward going on, and in reality it was just sort of the normal voting process and people not understanding how the voting process works. i think you'll end up with a significant penalty bimpod by t >> so peter, let us not forget giuliani is here because he believes joe biden is an illegitimate president and people like ruby freeman and shaye moss helped him pull off, i don't know, some kind of scam, right? and i'm wondering if you think or you hear that democrats see a way to use this to keep the big lie front and center as we move into the next campaign season next year. we know from polling that preserving democracy does matter to voters. >> well, there's a debate going on among democrats as to how best to approach this, right? on the one hand, the president himself, president biden does not want to be out there commenting on especially criminal cases, but even some of these civil cases because it will feed into, they believe, the narrative that former president trump is trying to sell his base, which is all about biden going after his biggest challenger next year. he doesn't to want give any ammunition to trump who makes this argument anyway fact free. so you're not going to hear the president talk that much about this at this point, but there's a lot of consternation i think within the democratic party. you do hear some strategists talking about he should be talking about this morning. you did hear the president talk in the last few days reminding voters, former president trump talked about being a dictator on day one and talk about what that meant. there's a real debate among democrats as to how much you focus on that versus the economy or abortion rights or other issues, and it's -- you know, they think that these issues will be front and center because obviously we'll be covering them as various court cases are played out. but the question is whether or not the president and his allies need to do more to talk about them and explain to voters what they mean. >> peter baker, ryan reilly, and harry litman, thank you, gentlemen, much appreciated. suspected hamas operatives arrested in europe, the israeli, jewish, and western targets they were aiming to strike. we've got it in 60 seconds. in s t 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. right now there's new urgency in the challenge facing the israeli government which has promised to wipe hamas off the map. today several new arrests of suspected hamas terrorists have been made across europe. i want to bring in nbc's meagan fitzgerald. what more are we hearing? >> chris, we're putting information together from two different police and intelligence forces here. here's what we know. several people across germany, denmark, and the netherlands have been arrested today accused of plotting terror attacks in europe. officials in denmark say three people were arrested there, one in the netherlands. the danish prime minister calling the situation as serious as it gets. now, in germany, state prosecutors there say four suspected members of hamas have been arrested, one in the netherlands and three in berlin. german prosecutor saying one of those members was searching for this underground stash of weapons in europe. investigator there is believe those weapons were supposed to be taken to berlin to then be used in a potentialerrost attack. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's oreleing a statement i want to read for you in part which says, hamas strives to expand its ional capabilities around the world and inope, in particular in order to realize it ambitions to hit israeli, jewish, and western targets at any cost. we strengthen our partners in ielligence and security bodies in denmark for the successful countermeasures that culminated today with the realization of the arrests and the extensive exposure of hamas infrastructure on european soil. so chris, this is certainly a developing story that we continue to stay on top of. >> nbc's meagan fitzgerald, thank you. we've got some fascinating insights today for the first time since the invasion of ukraine. vladimir putin held his annual press conference and call-in show. it's a rare, though heavily curated opportunity for the russian public and media to question their leader who recently announced his campaign for re-election. the kremlin says with no evidence, that the russian president has about an 80% approval rating. over the course of hours, putin touched on topics from the end game in ukraine, the state of the russian economy and normalizing relations with the west. nbc news chief international correspondent keir simmons is reporting from moscow. what are your big takeaways here, keir? >> reporter: well, chris, he talked about normalizing relations with the west, but didn't suggest that that was very likely. he blamed the west for it. much of what he said was the same things that he's been saying for the past two years. the two years in which we've seen so much bloodshed in ukraine. i mean, this was an uncompromising president putin talking about victory will be ours, saying that they want to demilitarize ukraine as the kremlin describes it, saying that still, despite everything claiming that russia has more than 600,000 troops along the front line in ukraine. there was a suggestion, chris, that he would be prepared to talk to the u.s. about those prisoners being held here, evan gershkovich, the journalist for "the wall street journal" accused of espionage, which he and the newspaper denies. he's being held in pretrial detention. paul whelan who has been convicted, again, absolutely denies the allegations against him, being held in prison here in russia. he was asked by a very brave "new york times" reporter about whether or not the claim by the u.s. that there have been proposals that russia rejected, whether or not that was correct. take a listen. >> translator: well, it's not that we decline to send them home, no. we want to come to terms and these agreements must be mutually acceptable and should be okay for both of the parties and we have contacts with our american partners on that. we're in touch with them, and we pursue dialogue. it is not at all easy. >> reporter: i guess, chris, that could be seen as a glimmer of hope for the administration and the families, really only a glimmer, because we don't know what the russians are demanding if they were to discuss some kind of deal, and we haven't been told that by the u.s. administration either, so you get the feeling with that and with so much here in moscow that president biden is saying he's prepared to talk, but the devil is in the detail and he doesn't appear to be changing any of his maximalist goals. >> and keir, while you were getting your information out there, we got information from matt miller. he of course is a state department spokesman. he's briefing. he was asked about the statement by putin to which he responded the u.s. very much wants a deal, but if vladimir putin serious about all this, all he has to do is look at the proposals securing his release, which were significant proposals made in good faith and the willingness of the united states should bring both paul and evan home. the skepticism from the u.s. government. mean meantime, in the coming election, we talked about the approvals there in russia for vladimir putin. he's almost certain to extend his tenure as russian leader, already the longest sing stalin, but he does have a challenger, right? >> he does, we interviewed a long-time politician who says he wants to stand against president putin in the elections in march throughout the entire time he's opposed president putin's so-called special military operation in ukraine. he still opposes it. he opposes the stronger ties with china that president putin has inaugurated, but clearly, president putin's going to be elected next year when he stands for election. there are those critics, of course, who question the viability of the elections here. the polling that we have, the independent polling that we have does indicate strong support for president putin. i'll give you another example on that polling, chris, which just tells you something about where we stand right now. russians, according to that polling are increasely interested in peace talks. around half of them, but asked whether or not they would be prepared to give up territory in those talks, around two-thirds say they wouldn't. so you can have talks, but are they going to be meaningful? that's a real question right now, and of course on the ukrainian side too, president zelenskyy determined to continue with kyiv's aims. so you've got to say right now it doesn't look as if we are in anything other than the continued fighting in ukraine. >> that will go into year three in february. keir simmons, thank you so much. reporting from moscow for us. right now house republicans are in lock step on the biden impeachment inquiry, but have they opened a political pandora's box at the expense of moderate voters. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. is jansig reports" only on msnbc [sneeze] dude you coming? because the only thing dripping should be your style. plop plop fizz fizz with alka-seltzer plus cold & flu relief. also try for fizzy fast cough relief. the first time you made a sale online with godaddy was also the first time you heard of a town named dinosaur, colorado. we just got an order from dinosaur, colorado. start an easy to build, powerful website for free with a partner that always puts you first. start for free at godaddy.com my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. 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