I came to office determined with the duty to care and get us through one of our toughest periods in history. And we have. President joe biden continues to hit the former president on the Campaign Trail as the former president yesterday appeared to float cutting Social Security and medicare. Meanwhile, trump is also now flipflopping on tiktok, the platform he pushed to ban when he was in office. It comes as the house is set to vote tomorrow. Plus, theres more fallout from alabama senator katie britts state of the Union Rebuttal and how her speech highlights republicans fears of losing women voters this election. Good morning and welcome to way too early on this tuesday, march 12th. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting your day with us. Former President Donald Trump is vowing to release Hundreds Of January 6th defendants currently behind bars if he were to be releected this november. On truth social last night trump explained that one of his first acts as president would be to, quote, free the january 6th hostages being wrongfully imprisoned. Trump has previously suggested that he would pardon people charged in the january 6th attacks. Nearly 500 people involved in the insurrection have been sentenced to prison, and over 1,000 people have been charged over their connection to the capitol riot. Meanwhile, trump is also now floating the idea of cutting spending under Social Security and medicare. The former president made these comments during an interview yesterday morning on cnbcs squawk box. Take a listen. There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements, in terms of cutting, and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements. Theres a tremendous amount of things and number of things you can do. And so i dont necessarily agree with the statement. I know that theyre going to end up weakening Social Security because the country is weakened. Take a look at outside the Stock Market Our what were going through hell. People are going through hell. A spokesperson for the Trump Campaign quickly sought to clarify the former president s comments saying he was simply referring to, quote, cutting waste and fraud. Adding that trump will protect Social Security and medicare if elected. But trump has not offered a single policy plan for those programs. Meanwhile, on the Campaign Trail up in new hampshire, President Biden pushed back on trumps remarks and touted his own Budget Proposal released yesterday, which seeks to raise taxes on the rich. Folks, we have two ways to go on Social Security and medicare. Republicans will cut Social Security and medicare to give as much tax cuts to the wealthy. Even this morning donald trump said cuts to Social Security and medicare are on the table again. When asked if he changed his position, he said, quote, theres a lot you can do in terms of cutting, tremendous amount of things you can cut. Tremendous amount of things you can do, not cut. The bottom line is hes still at it. Im never going to allow that to happen, and i wont cut Social Security, i wont cut medicare. Instead of Cutting Medicare and medicaid and give tax break tuesday the wealthy, i will strengthen and protect Social Security and medicare and make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share. Also on the Campaign Trail just days after trumps allies took over the Republican National committee, dozens of rnc officials have already been pushed out of the organization. Two sources tell nbc news at least four senior staffers were terminated yesterday and as many as 60 officials could be laid off. According to politico, which broke the story, the rncs new Chief Operating Officer sent a letter to employees explaining the new Leadership Team was in the process of evaluating the organization and staff to ensure the building is aligned with its vision. As politico notes, the shakeup underscores the swiftness with which trumps team is moving to take over the Republican Party operations after the former president all but clenched the gop president ial nomination last week. And heading into the election, Trumps Campaign is facing an early cash gap as some allies worry hes spending far too much political money on his legal bills. Theres even concern he may not be able to afford to hold his signature rallies. Take a look at how our colleague Vaughn Hilliard explained the situation. Not only are they looking at a deficit in finances compared to biden, but also theres the reality here at play that 80 billion have already gone towards legalrelated expenses over the last two years for Trump Affiliated super pacs so theyre already starting into a deficit. Add onto the reality here the rnc is having to figure out how to best fund senate endowed ballot races. Theres serious Question Marks for trump and the team and howl theyre going to be able to compete. Heres also a reality at play. It takes man power. Money can also help. Money can help towards actually putting folks on the ground in these states in areas where they are going to rely onto pull off victories are in rural parts of georgia, rural parts of wisconsin, rural parts of michigan, rural parts of arizona. And to get folks that normally dont vote, youve got to go and tell them we need you to come vote. And so bull head city, arizona, if you dont have the money to finance some actual staff out in those areas, it makes it a lot more harder. And you can go have a rally in those places but those rallies cost 400,000. Dont expect to see donald trump parading around the country because those events Costs Hundreds Of Thousands to put on. Theyre in a predict now whether theyd like to admit it or not. Joining us now Alex Thompson to cover a lot of 2024 for us. Lets start on the republican side, these mass layoffs at the rnc as well as what vaughn just detailed for us. The real cash gaps and democrats have far more money on hand than trump and republicans do. Give us your analysis here for the lay of the land for donald trump. Absolutely. It has been really striking. You mentioned earlier just before vaughns comments about trumps comments about Social Security, medicare, also his comments about releasing prisoners from january 6th. This is not a pivot to the center that you usually see a general election person go. After you win the primary most candidates they pivot to the senate, they try to reach the people who werent with them before. And instead donald trump had Marjorie Taylor greene introduced him at a rally. Youre not seeing the equivalent of a left winger introducing joe biden at his rallies. Its been really striking. To your other point there, quickly making the rnc indistinguishable from the Trump Campaign. Now, that could help the Trump Campaign because as you noted they dont have a lot of money, and the rnc also doesnt have a lot of money. But we need to remember the rnc has a much higher limit on how much money they can get than the Trump Campaign. The Trump Campaign its about 2,800. The rnc can do hundreds of thousands of dollars with one check. Thats part of the reason why youre seeing them quickly take over and reassemble the team. Lets move over the democratic side. President Biden Feeling Good after the State Of The Union, hit the Campaign Trail, pennsylvania and georgia last week, he had wisconsin and michigan later in the week. He did seize on it yesterday. It seems medicare, Social Security biden has done a pretty good job aiming at voteders, particularly older voters who turn out to vote. Give us your sense of the strategy there. Do dems feel good about it . Absolutely. Weve talked about the poor poll numbers joe biden has had, and they havent been great. Hes doing very well among old voters, especially older white voters. Thats why hes performing better in midwestern states. Youre talking wisconsin, talking michigan. Hes always been closer than some of those the states in the southwest. So, you know, focusing on medicare, focusing on insulin prices, on some of the reforms he has done, youre seeing it in the polling numbers, and its going to be a huge part of his campaign all through 2024. Democrats think they have a real Ace In The Hole here at least in that midwest region. All right, starting us off this morning a Alex Thompson, thank you. And we will speak to you again soon i am certain. Still ahead here on way too early, special counsel robert hur will appear on capitol hill today after questioning President Bidens memory in a recent report. Plus former President Trump renews his attacks on writer e. Jean carroll, what her lawyers are saying about his most recent comments. Those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. K on sports and weather when we come right back heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. [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 . 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Now, i work at comcast as part of the team that created our ai highlights technology, which uses ai to detect the major plays in a sports game. Giving millions of fans, like my dad and me, new ways of catching up on their favorite sport. Welcome back. As we turn to some of the mornings other top headlines now including this one coming up today in washington. Where special Council Robert hur is expected to testify later this morning before the republican led House Judiciary Committee hearing. The hearing will be hurs first Public Comments since the release of his report on President Bidens handling of classified documents. A Committee Aide tells nbc news that republicans top priority will be to highlight hurs description of biden as a, quote, sympathetic, wellmeaning, elderly man with a poor memory and his references to bidens diminished faculties. Ranking member of the House OversightCommittee Jamie Raskin says democrats are more likely to ask hur about the differences in the way President Biden and former President Trump handled classified documents and their cooperation with respect to investigations. Of course, biden cleared of wrongdoing, but hurs Report Setoff a political firestorm. Meanwhile, former President Trump is expected to attend a hearing this thursday in the federal criminal case involving his own handling of classified documents at his maralago estate in florida. Trump, of course, was charged with a crime. U. S. District judge Aileen Cannon will hear arguments on two of trumps motions to dismiss his indictment with his attorneys set to argue the case should be thrown out because of the president ial records act. Now, trump is not required to be at the hearing in fort pierce, florida, but his lawyers indicated that he and his two codefendants would attend in a court filing they put in yesterday. Elsewhere, on the legal front lawyers for writer e. Jean carroll say theyre monitoring trumps latest comments in which he appears to defame her once again. Carroll, of course, sued trump twice amid allegations he raped her in a Department Store in New York City back in the 1990s. In may trump was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Then in january a jury ordered he pay another 83 million plus interest to carroll for the defamatory comments he made about her back in 2019 while he was in president. Still, the verdict not stopping the apparent gop nominee from talking about the case. After expressing frustration over having to post a 91 million bond at a rally in georgia over the weekend, trump again criticized the case in that interview with cnbc yesterday. Take a listen. If i didnt win on appeal, the most ridiculous decisions including the miss bergdoff goodman, a person i never met, i have no idea who she is. Except one thing, i got sued. From that point on i said, wow, thats crazy what this is. I got charged. I was given a false accusation and had a post of 91 million bond on a false accusation. People arent moving into new york because of the kind of crap theyre pulling on me. So carrolls attorneys now telling nbc news that another lawsuit against trump isnt necessarily off the table, saying in part the statute of limitations for defamation in most jurisdictions is between one and three years. We continue to monitor every statement that donald trump makes about our client. Next up, well turn to sports. And March Madness is just around the corner as two more teams make the cut. Well share the latest additions to the ncaa tournament. Plus the Philadelphia Eagles swoop in and snag a giant addition for their back field. Well share some of the biggest moves on the biggest day of free agency across the nfl. Well be right back with that. B. Power e trades awardwinning trading app makes trading easier. 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