Chris jansing reports. At this hour, All The President S Men and geena davis, too. A brand new look at President Bidens starstudded prep for the State Of The Union. A republican response on Reproductive Rights, an alabama senators plans to rebut biden tonight. On which party stand with parents and families. After the trial, what a jury member says sealed the deal for that guilty verdict in the are the Rust Shooting as alec baldwin waits for his day in court. The crisis in haiti. The Prime Minister struggling to return to the country and hold on to power as violent gangs take over. Will the u. S. Get involved . Our nbc News Reporters are following all of the latest developments. We begin with the night of nights in the world of politics. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is reporting from the white house. Kelly, what can you tell us about how the president is preparing for tonights big night . Well, there are revisions and revisions, going over the speech with a careful pen to mark those moments for changes, and then also getting ready for the big impact of this. Certainly advisers that ive talked to have described this as one of the biggest nights for the president. In effect, it is an opportunity to kick off his reElection Campaign. Get a chance to hear him at length. Not just little clips that are put out on the internet. Some of those by his rivals or opponents that would be an unflattering portrait of the president. Here, a chance for him to talk about what hes done, why he came to office in the first place, why voters chose him in 2020 and what work is left to do, on big important issues, democracy to financial concerns people have at home, like reducing costs on various things. Freedoms, like Reproductive Rights and other concerns that they believe have wide, broad appeal, not only for democrats but independents and even some republicans. Thats sort of the big theme of the night. And the president has been preparing and trying to set the stage for the stakes of this evening, and heres a little bit of how he is using social media to do that. I never spoke to so many all at one time. A big speech coming up the State Of The Union, any advice you have for me delivering my speech . Well, sir, in my capacity as president , all i had to deal with was a meteor. My advice is just keep telling us how youre working for us. And building hope. Tell them that you exist for them. Theres no crying in politics. Well, what i hope is my politics doesnt make anybody else cry. Love and compassion as a leader are strengths, theyre not weaknesses and are key to your character. Theres nothing that we cant do when we do it together. So a constellation of actors who have played the president , interacting with the current president , and this is one of the ways we will see the white house try to Reach Americans in places where theyre not necessarily looking for news content, but they want a moment to be introduced to the president in a different way. They view the speech tonight as a chance for the president to have a long conversation with the american public, for them to assess things like his age and fitness, by watching him in action. All of that trying to go sort of the old school route of the important constitutional base of what this speech means, being in the modern moment and knowing the campaign is fully underway. Chris. Kelly odonnell, thanks for that. Alabama has signed new protections for ivf into law now. Legislation that could factor into tonights republican response to the State Of The Union. Nbcs dasha burns is covering this for us. So the republican response will be delivered by alabamas junior senator, katie brit. Tell us about her. Reporter according to a source familiar with the plans, the senator will be leaning into the argument that the Republican Party is the party of parents and children. They hope who she is, a 42yearold mom of schoolaged children will be relatable in that way. A lot of folks have pointed to the age gap between her and the president. The team is hoping to emphasize the relatability gap. They see that as she is someone going to the grocery store, going to pick up her kids from school, pumping the gas. She wants to really connect with people on that level and say, hey, the policies that are impacting you are impacting me, too. And she is, of course, the senator from alabama. Her state right now, mired in the controversy from that Alabama StateSupreme Court decision that paused Ivf Treatment in the state. The legislature now putting at least a temporary fix on that. We can expect that she will address that issue. Shes been an outspoken supporter of ivf. And in terms of what success looks like, the source told me success would look like prosecuting the case against President Bidens record. They expect that in his State Of The Union, there will be some messaging that will be used as a little bit of a Campaign Trail Tool as well. And the role is to prosecute why he should not get four more years. That is the role that they see for senator brit. One other interesting nugget given the maga moment were in, i asked the source, you know, what are the reasons that it was senator britt chosen. They need a person who can bring strength and optimism for the future, and they believe senator britt is the one to do that. Well see how that shakes out for her. Dasha burns, thank you so much. Now to that conviction in the shooting of a movie cinematographer and what it might mean for the next trial, the one with the movies star. Nbcs dana griffin is in santa fe for us. Dana, i know were hearing from a jury member in the rust trial. What did we learn . Yeah, chris, so this all boiled down to whether the jury believed Hannah Gutierrezreed was responsible for loading that live round into baldwins revolver, which ultimately shot and killed Halyna Hutchins and they found it did. I spoke with one of the jurors moments after the verdict, and i asked them, what was that key piece of evidence. Heres what he told me. Not checking the weapons. Just having him over and like, here. Not checking. That was a big deal. I mean, you cant do that. Reporter you heard him, you cant do that. I asked why they decided not to convict on the tampering with evidence charge. That was in relation to a bag of cocaine that Hannah Gutierrezreed passed to a crew member. No one ever found it. Thats why they decided to not convict her on that. Now she is awaiting sentencing. She could face up to 18 months in prison, and now were turning to baldwins case. He is scheduled to go to trial july 9th. And i can tell you, this was a kind of a headsup for him and his defense team, we know his attorney has been in court every single day, taking court notes, this is his way of getting the states play book. He knows what evidence they have against him and they can work over the next four months to build up the stronger defense. On the flip side, you have the prosecutor who knows what works for a jury, and they can look go back to their case, look at what worked, what didnt work, and try to build an Even Stronger case against baldwin. The prosecutor said during her closing statement, that he will, baldwin, will have to account for what he did in that church that day. But that will be on a different day with a different jury, and, hey, that could come this july. Chris. Dana griffin, thank you. Now to haiti where armed gangs have been unleashing a wave of brutal violence in the capital. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez has the latest on that. Gabe. Haiti is on the brink of civil war as it spirals into chaos. Now the Prime Minister is on u. S. Soil having landed in puerto rico earlier this week. Ariel anrie took Office Following the assassination of the president at the time. Violence has been escalating over the last few days ever since a mass prison break over the weekend. There has been violence for the past several years. There was a significant amount of unrest, but it has gotten worse, and the u. N. Now estimates that about 80 of portauprince is under the control of violent armed gangs. Now the airport in portauprince, the main airport remains shut down, and the State Department is urging all americans to leave haiti immediately. Of course that is challenging because that airport is shut down. Chris, the white house is walking a very fine line here. It says that it is not urging the Prime Minister to resign, be rather that it is trying to expedite, along with other caribbean nations some sort of political transition. Again, the white house insisting that its not asking the Prime Minister to resign, and its also saying that it does not plan to have any american boots on the ground in haiti. Now, right now, chris, it remains unclear whether the Prime Minister plans to return to the country. But the white house is saying that it is not helping him in port puerto rico. What does that mean for joe biden that 38 , Steve Kornacki standing by at the big board. Td woman why did we choose safelite . Vo driving around is how we get our baby to sleep, so when our windshield cracked, we trusted the experts. They focus on our safety. So we can focus on this little guy. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. President biden goes into the State Of The Union battling a panic over polls. For a round up of his current standing and how that compares to past president s at this point in their reElection Year, i want to bring in nbcs Steve Kornacki at the big board. What do the numbers tell us, steve . The numbers tell us joe biden is face ago pretty serious challenge in his reElection Year. We talked on super tuesday about some of the general election polling is that trump biden match up that put Joe Biden A Little Bit behind donald trump in the most recent polls. These are some of the numbers that put him in that position. This is his job Approval Rating, our most recent nbc poll, consistent with the other polls that have come out recently. It is a 37 job Approval Rating for joe biden, with 60 saying they dont approve of his performance as president. Lets put that in context. President s, recent president s at the start of the reElection Year, heading into the State Of The Union address, same position biden is in now, what were their Approval Ratings. Take a look at how biden stacks up. You can see the 37 hes got right now, its lower and significantly lower than the other president s this century who have been in this position. You start with george w. Bush at the beginning of 2024. His reElection Year. Saddam hussein had been captured a month or two earlier. Bush went on to win the election, barack obama was a tick under 50 . He defeated mitt romney. Trump, four years ago, 46 , and of course that was not enough for donald trump. He lost to joe biden. And now heres joe biden at 37 . The only two president s to go a little bit further in the past to be at this level or lower in their reElection Year, george h. W. Bush, 1992, jimmy carter, 1980. They were both defeated for reelection. Now, take a look at this. We asked folks more specifically on the issues what they judged the president s Job Performance to be on the economy. 36 job approval. On foreign policy, 34, and specifically on the israelhamas war, 29. This is one obviously the economy, the biden folks are hoping they continue to get positive indicators and that voters begin to feel that, and they believe that might change Voters Perceptions of the economy, and if their perceptions of the economy change, perhaps their perceptions of joe bidens overall Job Performance changes. Thats a variable to keep in mind as the year progresses. Theres this from pugh, which shows some quality polling. They asked a whole series of traits and characteristics about joe biden, and just ask folks, do these terms, these traits in your view describe biden. You can see he gets his best marks on being even tempered. His campaign wants to make a contrast on donald trump. What stands out the most to me is this question right here. 29 . Fewer than 1 3 in this poll say that the term Mentally Sharp applies to joe biden. Obviously as the oldest president ever, and the issue of age popping up in so many polls right now, and looming over this campaign in a way, you know, we really havent seen before with both candidates. Particularly with the incumbent president , i think it underscores the significance potentially tonight for biden because the issues are so front and center, because that question of age is so in the spotlight. How does he look . How does he sound, how does he perform tonight . Theres going to be a large audience. One of the largest audiences a president gets for this kind of extended speech. How are voters going to perceive him tonight as they watch the speech. Its an opportunity to allay concerns. Hes not going to get too many opportunities to do that in an extended format with this kind of an audience. Steve kornacki, interesting stuff, thank you. Joining me is the man who ran the campaign for the last democratic incumbent running for reelection. Jim messina was president obamas 2012 Campaign Manager and White House DeputyChief Of Staff of operations. Im looking at those numbers again, and looking at the bottom 2, personal characteristics inspiring 26 . Energetic, 24 . Is it too simplistic to say those are at the bottom along with Mentally Sharp. Those are the things he has to change tonight just by how he presents this speech. Whats your take on it . A couple of things, chris. First of all, i think tonight is one of the two free moments hes going to get to talk to the American People between now and the election. Tonight in the convention speech. It is a high stakes moment for him to lay out exactly what hes doing for people and to start to draw the contrast that is so important in these elections. I used to say to president obama, this is a choice between you and your opponent, well win that choice. And so hes got to start driving that choice. The number there that steve just showed that i care the most about, cares like people like me. Tonight, he needs the American People to say, hes in this for ordinary people. He cares about these ordinary people like me. And hes in it and donald trump isnt. And the State Of The Union is a Perfect Place to start driving the contrast, to say im in touch with your values and the other side isnt. Thats why tonights so important for him, chris. It seems like back in 2009, im guessing you might remember this. When president obama was giving a speech and the congressman yelled you lie at the president , it started this kind of whole incivility thing. I want to remind people of what happened in the State Of The Union last year. Take a listen. Some republicans want medicare and Social Security to sunset. Im not saying its the majority of you. Let me give you anybody who doubts it. I tell you, i enjoy conversion. Speaker johnson is warning his Republican Caucus not to heckle. I wonder if President Biden should hope for hecklers tonight. If this is a speech about contrasts and given how he responded last year, could it be an opportunity or do you just ignore it and go on . No, its absolutely an opportunity, chris. Both barack obama and bill clinton were helped in their reElection Campaigns by having a Republican House full of unruly people who had crazy ideas and they could campaign against them. I agree with you, the most viral moment of last years speech was that moment you just showed. You cant plan for it. Youre not going to know when it comes. Its proof of how good joe biden was on his feet, and was able to take what could be a difficult moment and make it the moment of the night. Well all be watching to see if theres one of those moments tonight. Jim messina, always good to see you. Thank you so much. Coming up on Chris Jansing reports, bidens State Of The Union coming at a key moment for the country and the planet with record heat and deadly storms now becoming the norm, can the president convince the country his policies are the way forward . Rward . [dog whimpers] [thinking] why always the couch . Does he need to go to puppy school . Get his little Puppy Diploma . How much have i been spending on this little guy . When your questions abou