Meet the Press NOW — August 8

Okay. Welcome to the press. Now on my levels of Washington, where you've been listening to Vice President Harris talking to union workers in Detroit, she gave a tailored version of her stump speech as she stressed the importance of organizations there with her running Matt Walls. It comes as former President Trump tries to regain some of the spotlight in the 2024 presidential race.

Trump holding a press conference this afternoon at Mar a Lago that went on for more than an hour. And during that time, Mr. Trump hit on many of his favorite talking points, including bragging and misrepresenting the size of the crowds at his events, and also spreading misinformation about the 2020 election results. Former President Trump also announcing that he's agreed to three network debates with Vice President Harris after weeks of waffling about where and when he commit to debate his new opponent.

He called Vice President Harris incompetent and appeared aggravated at times by her rise at the top of the ticket and the renewed level of enthusiasm by Democrats. I haven't recalibrated strategy at all. It's the same policies, open borders, we going crime. She's.

I think she's worse than Biden because he got forced into the position. She was there long before she destroyed San Francisco. And they say, oh, the enthusiasm's back. No, no, the enthusiasm is with me and the Republican Party because they want to stop crime.

They want to stop people from pouring into our country from places unknown and from countries unknown, from countries that nobody ever heard of. That's where the enthusiasm she's not doing in a news conference. You know why she's not there? Because she can't do a news conference.

She doesn't know how to do a news conference. She's not smart enough to do a news conference. Mr. Trump also saying that he felt sorry for his former opponent, President Biden, falsely claiming the presidency was taken away from him.

We were given Joe Biden, and now we're given somebody else. And. And I think, frankly, I'd rather be running against somebody else. She was very nasty to Biden, and shockingly, he appointed her, asked her to serve as vice president.

Well, I don't know if he's happy about that decision right now. This was taken away. The presidency was taken away from Joe Biden, and I'm no Biden fan, but I'll tell you what, from a constitutional standpoint, from any standpoint you look at, they took the presidency away. Who would have thought they would have gone out to a vote, they would have had a primary system.

They would have done something. But to just take it away from him like he was a child. And he's a very angry man right now. It comes as Vice President Harris has ramped up her attacks on the trail, telling supporters yesterday that Trump's reelection poses a danger to America.

Let us be clear. Let us be clear. Someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again have a chance to stand behind the seal of the president of the United States. There's also something else that has happened recently that we really have to prioritize in our mind about the danger we're looking at.

Last month, the United States Supreme Court basically just told the former president, who has been convicted of fraud, that going forward, he will be immune no matter what he does in the White House. Now, as the vice president warns of the dangers of a Trump victory, in a new interview, President Biden is warning about the dangers of a Trump loss. Here's what the president said when asked if he's confident there would be a peaceful transition of power in January if Trump wins. No, I'm not confident at all.

I mean, if Trump loses, I'm not confident at all. He means what he says. We don't take it seriously. He means it.

All the stuff about if we lose, there'll be a bloodbath is happening. Stone election look at what they're trying to do now in the local election districts where people count the votes elected are putting people in place in states that they're going to count the votes right. You can't love your country only when you win. Today's press conference, former President Trump defended those who've been charged in connection with January 6th and also incorrectly claimed that no one had been killed on that day.

If you look at January 6, which a lot of people aren't talking about very much, I think those people treated very harshly when you compare them to other things that took place in this country where a lot of people were killed. Nobody was killed on January 6, but I think that the people of January 6 were treated very unfairly. And they were there to complain, not through me. They were there to complain about an election.

Now, what comes as a new CNBC poll shows the presidential contest remains as close as ever, with former President Trump up two points over Vice President Harris within the margin of error. That gap, believe it or not, is virtually unchanged from an NBC poll in early July. Connected after the debate before the attempted Trump assassination and before President Biden dropped out of the race. Joining me now is our NBC News team, Garrett Hake.

Is he muspelm beach is in the room for that Donald Trump press conference, and Yamich Alcindor is on set with me. So, Garrett, been to many of these Trump rallies and speeches and press conferences. What did you make of this version of the former president? It seems pretty much like the one we've seen before.

Yeah, I think that's right, Ryan. Look, we did a whole hour on the fact check, so I'll skip over some of the obvious and demonstrably false things that he said and just shared. But I thought it was interesting to look at Trump mind right now and what his team sees as their strategy. They believe that the Harris campaign is very much having this honeymoon period right now, and they're interested in interrupting that, but slightly.

They understand that this is probably gonna continue through the convention week after next. And for now, they're better off marshaling their resources, their time and energy, and trying to use kind of the minimal effort possible to the maximum effect of today. The point of that was almost nothing Donald Trump said in this press conference, but the fact that he was having it at all. You wanted to come out and show that he could still command the attention of every television network across the country, speak extemporaneously for more than an hour, and take questions in a way that the Trump campaign is betting that Kamala Harris can't.

And it's not that they think the media story about Harris not answering questions is particularly useful to them, although I suppose it could be in the short term. It's that they think when she does answer questions, she will do so poorly that she will be not able to communicate effectively off a teleprompter. But that's what their experience and research and the history of Kamala Harris as a national politician has shown. So they're trying to kind of push her into that space by having Donald Trump do something that he's perfectly comfortable with, which is Perry reporter's questions for now, or answer some of them, answer some of them dishonestly, kind of change the subject when he feels like, and hope that by just kind of flooding the zone, it accrues to his benefit.

I think that's exactly what we saw today. What's interesting is because we just saw Kamala Harris. She had opportunity. She was in front of the mics almost immediately after this press conference.

She didn't even bring it up. She didn't take any opportunity to respond to any of the things that Donald Trump said about her. Does this give us a glimpse of the campaign strategy now that we're really Kind of in the heart of the race. I think that we're likely to hear some sort of response from the Harris campaign, if not Vice President Harris herself.

I was texting with an aide right before this event and I'd been told that she was going to respond. I'm not quite sure why she hasn't in the sort of thing of people when we don't know something. And right now I do not know why she didn't respond. But my sense is that this has been a campaign that really has been part of the rapid response sort of view of politics that when he said something about when he said nabj, claiming that Vice President Harris had turned black, she responded that night.

So it wasn't immediately a few minutes after, but it was within an hour. So I'm very interested to see if that at some point we don't hear more from the Harris campaign. I think already we've heard just over the weekend in the last week that they 1 say that they are interested in still having this ABC News debate on September 10. From my understanding, they do not want to do the FOX News debate on September 4, but they are open to other debates, more debates after the ABC debates.

So I think it'll be interesting. Obviously, at ABC News, we love to see them September 25th. That being said, or at least that's the thing they've been talking about, there's also the issue sort of media engagement. I was talking to a number of aides this morning and what I was told was that they want to get some sort of joint interview done between Vice President Harris and Governor Walls in the next, quote, few weeks is what I was told.

It's not sure if it's going to be before, after the dnc. The other issue is that they do want to also have some sort of engagement with the media, either at a press conference or in an interview. But I also saw they're going to do traditional sort of local national media, but also they're going to be talking to influencers, people on TikTok and Snapchat. So my sense is that they do want to have some sort of engagement.

They are telling us right now that there's been a lot going on between picking up, running between the battlegrounds gives some time to that amount of grace period they're given. It's quickly running up though, right? They got quick. I don't give me your available if they're looking for someone to do that first interview with.

But Carol, let's come back to you because I do feel Kind of got lost in all of this. It seemed as though the purpose of this press event was for Trump to break the news that he's willing to actually debate Kamala Harris. He only talked about it for a very short period of time. He messed up which network was going to do the debate on what day.

I mean, what do we make about this new push now for debate when they seem to have backed away from it for Biden left the race. Yeah, I think there was a period of time waiting for the dust to settle. And the Trump campaign, we've reported, we're sort of surprised by how quickly the Democratic Party coalesced around Kamala Harris. They were hoping there'd be some kind of period of chaos, not this honeymoon period that they had before they be put in a position to have to, you know, confirm a specific format or a specific date for what they're going to do next.

Trump is very confident in his debating skills. His campaign is very confident that he'll outperform Kamala Harris when if they're on stage. I think they were angling for a friendlier setup both in terms of moderators and format with Fox News, whose debate proposal included a live audience, something that Trump has used in the past to kind of deflect questions he doesn't want to answer and use crowd response to kind of back him up and drown out his opponent at any given time. I have no knowledge of whether the NBC format would allow for something like that, but the ABC format did not.

I think the Trump campaign knew they needed to have another one of these standoffs or showdown with whoever was gonna be the top of the ticket, ideally before people start voting, which I will start reminding people now and continue reminding them for the next several weeks is next month, September. So early debates and often debates are either reasonable strategy for any confident campaigns. I'm not trying to be on the spot, but are they when they say he's open to these debates, is it an all or nothing proposition or. We know that both sides have now officially agreed to the September 10th debate, but he's Trump saying that.

I'm only gonna do that if the FOX debate and NBC debate after the fact. No. Some of this often gets lost up and lost in the caveats. Where's the campaign on that?

What I know from talking to senior Trump advisors a few minutes ago is that Donald Trump basically said, let's get this done. Basically shifted the responsibility for handing out the details to his senior aides, indicated that he want. He personally wants to do debates plural and I think the rest of the details are, at this point, less important. Look, if you're Trump, you look at the first debate and say, I knocked the guy I spent the last four years running for president against out of the race with one debate.

Why would I not want to do this again as early and as often as possible? So you, I guess this then bounces over the Harris campaign. Are they officially in for any of these? I mean, I know they said they do the ABC debate, but now we have kind of a new proposition here from the Trump side.

Reminders. Yeah, the Harris campaign is officially in for the September 10th ABC News debate. And they're open to other debates only after that debate. That was a language over the weekend for Michael Tyler, who was the communications director for the Harris campaign.

So that tells me two things. One, they can tell me all along the Fox News was already a questionable sort of network to work with. September 4th is before the ABC debate. So my understanding is that the Harris campaign likely won't do that debate.

They could change their minds. They could come up with a new strategy. And in terms of other debates being plural, my understanding is they are open to debates. Plural.

Okay. It's September 4th, also my 20th wedding anniversary. Just for your shopping plans, just so you know. Derek, let's go back to you and talk about the campaign schedule here.

I mean, Donald Trump has really not spent that much time on the campaign trial. He's into bristle a little bit when he was confronted with that during the press conference today. Is there any sense that things are gonna ramping up for them? Yes, I think they will.

I mean, look, this is. We've had the most insane month in American politics in probably the last 50 years, Ryan. But as you and I both know, it's not normally like this in July and August. I think the Trump campaign was perhaps planning for a more normal July and August.

This period around the conventions tends to be dominated by fundraising, introducing a running maid and so forth. And it's only after the convention that you see things really pick up. And talk to senior Trump advisors today. They do expect things to pick up substantially, including counter programming the Democrats convention with Trump being on the road a lot more.

I mean, today is a perfectly good example. He is by far the most effective draw, saying nothing about the content that he provides for his campaign when he is out. It gets paid attention to. I think they're used that more and more going forward.

And I should Also add that September 4th is also my wedding anniversary, though not to Ryan and not for nearly as many years. So I guess you should probably be anchoring the show. I hope you find some reporters to talk to on that day. That's crazy.

Your wedding. Harris campaign on a breakneck pace now introducing them, running, going all across the country, hanging right into the convention. Do we expect that to continue even past the convention? We definitely expect that to continue because Tim Walls was someone who was not very naturally known, but someone who checks all the boxes that the Democrats really wanted.

You know, you just look at his bio. He's a football coach. He's someone who has a fertility story with the fact that him and his wife struggled for years with IDF and concede their daughter hoped through idf. The fact that he's a veteran of the National Guard, the fact that of course he was a governor who passed progressive policies.

Think about child tax credit, paid family leave, codified Roe v. Wade. I mean the way if you put this into a computer and be like, hey, this is what you want the candidate to be. This is who they got into Walls.

So there's not saying that he's perfect. No one's perfect. But this is someone that they want to continue to introduce to the American people, including forces from the Midwest and concoction rollers. So we can expect to hear more and more about Coach Walls as they.

All right, Yamich, thank you both. Excellent reporting as always. And while Trump looks to challenge Harrison on the big stage, J.D. vance is challenging Governor Tim Walls on his military record.

Walls, the now Democratic vice presidential candidate, served in the Army National Guard for 24 years before retiring in 2005 to run for public office. But Vance is going after his decision to leave the National Guard, accusing Walls of abandoning his unit as they prepare to deploy to Iraq to dive deeper into Walls as military referee, joined by a Pentagon correspondent. Court in qb. So Courtney, let's go through some of these accusations.

I'm sure a lot of viewers have military service. They understand how a separation from military service works. But there's probably a lot of viewers who don't understand this. Let's start though with Governor Walls's rank when he was in the National Guard.

Let me know about that. Yeah, so and this one kind of confusing Ryan. So he actually he, he pinned on master sergeant while he was serving during 24 years in Nebraska and then Minnesota National Guard. And he was selected to go to made him a full command sergeant major.

That's the high rank for a non commissioned officer and enlisted soldier. He started serving as the command sergeant major for the battalion in the Minnesota National Guard. But as part of the retirement requirements, you have to serve 20 years. And then they look at how long you've served in rank and whether you fulfilled your educational requirements.

He didn't fulfill the either the what he needed to do the 750 hours to be a command sergeant major and he didn't have enough time in grade, so he retired as a master sergeant. That's the discrepancy that we're hearing from J.D. vance about his rank and frankly from some other Trump Vance supporters about Governor Wall's rank. Okay, well, just put this all in context.

This attack by JD Vance that Walls left the National Guard unit as his battalion was being asked to go to Iraq. Is there any truth to that claim? So this is a tough one, Ryan. And there are people who served in that same unit in the Minnesota National Guard who have also made that same claim, some of who actually served with Governor Walls during his now we have the timeline that lays out exactly when it was that Governor Walls decided to retire from the Minnesota National Guard and actually retired.

That was May of 2005. The unit itself didn't get their mobilization orders until that summer in July. You can see there on the screen that they also they didn't actually mobilize until August. But the key here is when exactly Governor Walls decided to retire.

He retired again in May. You can see May 16, 2005. But we don't exactly know when he made that decision to retire, when he put in his retirement paperwork. That's the real key here.

If in fact, as some have alleged, to serve with him, he decided in March when it started to look more likely that the unit could be selected to go to Iraq. That's a very tight timeline for retirement. Two months. It's not impossible, but it's very difficult, especially for someone who's served more than 20 years to retire.

So the reality is here, this all goes to the motivation that government then, then before he was governor, then Tim wa what he his motivation for why he decided to retire at the time, Frankly, Ryan, that's a question that only he can answer. All right, Corey qb, thanks for breaking that down for us. We appreciate it. And still had a surprise assault by Ukraine as troops punch through Russian defenses in to Russian territory.

The details, reaction and what it means for the war ahead. But first, 2025 vision. What would a Kamala Harris presidency actually look like if she wins? We'll talk to a Democratic congressman from the blue wall state of Pennsylvania about the Harris Wall's campaign message and agenda.

You're watching. We the press now. And welcome back. Today marks exactly six weeks since the debate between President Biden, former President Trump and we flipped what seems like a political lifetime since they both took the stage.

But the electoral dust seems to be settling. The race once again looks to be a tight one this morning. The Cook Political Report in three battleground states that are key, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada. From lean Rep to toss up citing increased Democratic energy and unity around Kamala Harris.

The states joined battleground, Wisconsin, Michigan and the all important Pennsylvania as the six toss up states in the Cook Political Report ratings. In the words of our friend Amy Walter, the presidential contest has moved from one that was trumps to lose to a much more competitive contest. Joining me now is Penny Democrat Congressman Chris Lucio. A congressman, thank you for being here.

Let's start with this renewed energy from the Democratic campaign in the form of Kamala Harris. She is serving as vice president right now, but we want to know about her personal vision for the Oval Office, maybe even separate from President Biden's. Well, I think the big first decision she had to make was to choose a running mate, choose a future governing partner in Governor Walls, which she did. I think that was a decision that showed good judgment.

Picking a guy who looked served this country as a football coach, as a teacher really has been delivering in Minnesota for his people there, I think. Well, for her judgment and her willingness to now continue the good work the Biden Harris administration. Look, I'm from western Pennsylvania. We have seen what it means to have real investment from infrastructure money coming our way.

We've seen the manufacturing construction boom. We've seen a lot from this president and this vice president taking on junk fees and price gouging. I'm excited to see Kamala Harris continue that and take that campaign to western Pennsylvania. And but we're just only about 90 days out from the election.

Does she need to differentiate herself a little bit, show maybe a specific vision that is separate from the work that she had as vice president underneath President Biden? Look, she's gonna be her own candidate and she is. And you're seeing enthusiasm right now. The polls are obviously moving in Democrats favor, but we're also seeing it with volunteer sign offs in places like western Pennsylvania, my congressional district.

We're seeing small dollar donations. I saw it in Philadelphia when she and Governor Walls fired up that crowd in Philly. They were really on point. You saw folks excited, energized.

I'm seeing it in rooms and union Hal people are ready to win and are ready to help deliver this ticket I want to show you some numbers from a new CNBC poll says that 78% of respondents believe that they know some or a lot about Donald Trump and what he would do on the economy. Specifically that number, just 58% from Vice President Harris. What's your reaction to that? Does she need to do a bit of a better job selling her vision for the economy?

Does she need to introduce that to voters? Well, she's been our nominee now only for a few weeks, so of course she's got some campaigning to do. And I think we've got to help her make the case for what she's doing this next term and also remind people what Donald Trump did when he was in office, which was to do tax cuts for billionaires and huge corporations. That same trickle down economic fairy tale that has never worked, that plot to strict places like my region, western Pennsylvania for parks.

We're not going back to that. We're not going back to the dark days of ripping away people's freedom. But tell women what to do with their bodies and their pregnancies. And folks know that Vice President Harris is a part of administration, is standing up for working people, standing up for folks freedom.

And that is a key part of this campaign to be part of. I know Vice President Harris's message in western Pennsylvania, all over the country. One of the big criticisms from former President Trump today of Vice President Harris is that she's been nominated now for several weeks. She's not conducted an immediate interview yet.

She's yet to do a press conference. There have been a lot of positions that she took prior to 2020 in which she's changed course. Do you think that it's time for her sit down for an interview and explain that decision to change course on some of these issues and take some tough questions from members of the media? Look, I know Donald Trump does nothing to do other than campaigning.

She's the vice president of the United States and is helping President Biden navigate crises across the globe. And here at home, that's the job. I think folks saw the way Donald Trump did that job is why we kick him out of office after four years. Vice President Harris I'm sure is going to be over the press.

I know she's been talking to folks to and from on the flights. And look, the contrast between transparency on her part and Donald Trump is just tremendous. And this is a guy who makes it up as he goes along, can't find a lie that he doesn't love. I mean, my goodness, we can't believe what this guy says, let me ask you about a specific issue that I know is important to your voters in Western Pen, and that's the issue of fracking.

That's something that in the past, Kamala Harris has been opposed to. Her campaign now says that she supports. How does that resonate with voters in your district? Well, that's the right position for her to take.

And that's where President Biden has been. That's where the Biden Harris administration has been. And there are lots of union workers in my region who rely on that industry. It's helping us, frankly, keep the energy secure and help us meet our climate goals going forward.

So that's the right decision for Vice President Harris to make. And frankly, the fact that she has so strong support from the union movement, from folks in labor, tells you about her values, tells you about who she is as a candidate and why labor is going to be shown for her Pennsylvania come November. So just a couple weeks from the Democratic National Convention, some of your fellow frontline Democrats have decided that they're not going to attend the convention for one reason or another. What's your plan?

Will you be there? Will you be there to support your nominee? Yeah, look, I'm supporting Vice President Harris and Governor Walsh in the states may not be higher. I don't forget what it was when Donald Trump was in the White House.

I don't forget the insurrection he tried to lead and fail. My goodness. Thank God he did fail on January 6th. This is a guy who tried to rip up our Constitution, doesn't understand democracy.

He called veterans will arrest their lives. Suckers and losers. That's who this guy is, a draft dodger on top of it. So, no, we're not going back to that.

I'm going to give a can to make sure that guy never sets foot in the White House again. We're gonna deliver a win for Vice President Harris in Pennsylvania. So just be clear, you will go to Chicago to be a part of the convention? Yeah, I'll be there.

Okay, great. And then you were at this rally that the new Vice President Shlomi, Tim Walls and the president, Vice President participated in Philadelphia in seem to be a loud and enthusiastic crowd. They've had a couple of good weeks. But how do they continue to maintain this energy, particularly in a state like Pennsylvania where your governor, Josh Shapiro was passed over as a running mate.

How do they keep Pennsylvania voters engaged all the way up to election Day? Couple simple messages that I think are right on with what the Harris Waltz team believe in. Right. We're going to continue to fight price gouging and these junk fees that the Biden Harris administration has been taking to aim at.

We got to grow the middle class. And you're seeing that the manufacturing boom that's happening all over the country, the infrastructure investment has about defending freedom. And I know even my bones of Vice President Harris will stand up for freedom, women's ability to make their own choices for their pregnancies and their health. And our democracy will be strong and protected when she's in the White House.

Okay. Congressman Chris Luzio, thank you so much for conversation, sir, especially for recess. We weren't sure your constituents we appreciate you being on. Thank you.

Still had a new presidential debate now on the horizon. Lock up, Lock him up. Chance, a Sunbelt shift and more. We'll talk about it the panel's next time the press now.

Welcome back. It has been a mainstay of Harris events that the campaign is clearly not comfortable with. Chance of lock him up aimed at the former president. They broke out at multiple rallies, including last night in Michigan.

Well, Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud, 34 counts to be exact. Hold on, hold on, hold on. You know what? Here, hold on.

Here's the thing. The courts are going to handle that. We'll meet him in November. Clearly, she did not feel comfortable about that.

I'm joined now by my panel. Betsy Woodrud Swan, the national correspondent for Politico and NBC News contributor John Edwards, former Democratic congressman from Maryland and an NBC News political analys, Brendan Parker, former press secretary to John Barron, Paul Ryan, who's also an NBC News political analyst. Well, we don't need to really describe the level of uncover that he saw there from the vice president. But it's clear this is not something they would like to see chanted at their rallies, of course, as harkins back to 2016, where Donald Trump supporters would say this about Hillary Clinton.

How does the campaign avoid this and how does it reflect the direction of where things are headed? It's such a tough needle for them to thread because on the one hand, for for the Harris campaign, they see immense value in highlighting the fact that Trump has been convicted of a bunch of crimes. Swing voters don't like that. It's a political liability for him, huge political liability.

At the same time, there's also real risk in fomenting this type of mob mentality or having it materialized in ways that directly precisely echo what we saw at Trump rallies in 2016. People were chanting the exact same thing about Hillary Clinton. So it's Very difficult for Harris to talk about Trump's convictions without immediately generating that kind and trying to sort of thread the needle is something that's going to be a challenge. It's interesting the way she tried to handle it and perhaps the differentiation that Democrats are trying to draw about the way a potential Trump administration would handle political enemies versus the way they would handle it and saying that this is not a political issue, it's a legal one and the courts will handle it.

Is that something that a message that can break through to, as best you describe a mob of people that seem a little thirsty for something like this? Well, I actually think the more she does it, it will be true. Part of it is because she was a prosecutor and so she's worked in the justice system. I think people trust that.

And she'll be able to rely on her background as a way to tamp down the kind of mob noise versus letting the courts handle it. I actually think the transition that she's made saying we'll let the courts handle that moving into November is also consistent with the notion that the Harris waltz campaign wants to to portray of looking toward the future and not looking backward. And so, Brendan, I'm sure you watched part of President Trump's press conference today. Stephanie Grisham, Trump's former press secretary, she called his news conference today sign that he's panicking.

She obviously had an unceremonious separation from Trump world, but can she write or something to that? Yeah. Look, this is the first time, I think, in Donald Trump's entire political life over the last many years that he hasn't controlled the narrative of what's going on. Usually he grabs a handle of what we're talking about.

He forces us talk about what everyone wants talking about. In the last several weeks, Calvin Harris has had all momentum, all the energy, all lies on her. He obviously doesn't like. That was a pretty effective tactic today, trying to draw her out.

I think the fact she hasn't done any interviews at this point is somewhat ridiculous. The fact that they're telling Yamiche that they'll be one of the next two or three weeks is not very what we're doing with influencers. Yeah, that's tomorrow. What's kind of weird that they have done in media so far.

So the fact he's trying to draw her out, I think is someone smart. He's got to do something to change the direction everything is moving towards her. Hasn't necessarily cemented anything for her, but he's got to stop that momentum. Do you think he felt comfortable with standing in the race base on what we saw today?

I think no, there haven't been a lot of good news polls for Trump's team since Harris entered the race. Of course, there are a lot of polls in isolation, have numbers they'd like to see. But in terms of the trajectory, they've had a series of unwelcome developments. Again, that's part of the reason that the Trump campaign summoned political reporters to Mar a Lago, try to persuade them that Harris is having a honeymoon rather than a shift that will be durable.

There's no doubt that there's concern the question is going to be what happens in the next 90 days, what additional unknown unknowns have the potential to continue to upend this race in ways that have already been historic. And, you know, he's campaign tries to tell that there's been a shift since the assassination. But then we see the shade of 2016 TRUMP Right where he found a way to brag about his crowd size. On January 6, Perry to Martin Luther King's I have a Dream speech.

I mean, is this more evidence that Trump's really never gonna change? A real head scratcher, perhaps, to put it gently? No, there's no sign of all of that. And him bringing up the January 6th stuff again is just.

It's just such an avatar of why Democrats are so good to bust right now. Because the fact that a guy who can make comments like that, who is emphasizing who's taking a positive view of an incident that is viewed overwhelmingly negatively by the American people, was pulling ahead of an incumbent president over and over and over. That fact is part of the reason that there was just such an energetic effort to take the president to the House. So, Brendan, give me an idea of why he's now decided that he's gonna do three debates where he kind of waffled and made it unclear if he's getting late, I don't think that he has changed.

I think that he is his campaign, the way he's campaigning has definitely changed. When you are running against Joe Biden, you're winning very easily. It's very easy to be relaxed, be positive, be light. And when that's not happening, we're going back to the D.

Donald Trump that we've seen before. He needs a debate because he may lose if he does it. I mean, Kamala Harris has had a number of positions that she is terribly vulnerable and has been able to so far, can't escape by changing them without having the answer for them. I think she sees an opportunity to get in front of her and say and present her with these things.

Now, huge risk for Donald Trump. We saw in the black journalist conference how he handles being pushed around by women. He doesn't respond very well. I can see him having some really ugly moments on that debate stage, but he needs to have that contrast with her on stage or else they make him get away from him.

And when we talk about the SAPA nations, I believe we have some sound about how he handles the question of Roe v. Wade being overturned. And I believe we can play better that for him. I think the abortion issue has been very much tampered down.

And I've answered, I think, very well in the debate. And it seems to be much less of an issue, especially for those where they have the exceptions. I think that abortion has become much less of an issue. It's a very small.

I think it's actually going to be a very small issue. What I've done is I've done what every Democrat and every Republican to have done. So obviously not every Democrat wanted the issue proportion being sent back to the states, which is new line. But this idea that he's kind of wishcasting away this as a one of, if not the most important issue that voters are talking about, does that sense that he has any real set idea of the reality of this issue in this campaign?

Well, let's talk about the reality of the issue. Abortion is going to be on the ballot in multiple states. The Harris campaign is very much Harris walls, very much running on the idea of protecting women's reproductive freedom. Tim Walsh himself tells a story about conceiving his children through ivf.

And so this is an issue that's out there. He may wish it away, but it is front and center of this campaign. And he can't just say that, you know, Americans wanted what he wanted. Actually Americans didn't.

And those. And the polls show that overwhelmingly. And so I think this continues to be a vulnerability for him and for Republicans, Republicans at large. And right from a Republican perspective, he's trying to have it both ways, isn't he?

I think this idea that sending it back to states where we have some states where abortions is completely outlawed, but in other states there's no restrictions on abortions. That's not necessarily what Republicans want either. Right. It's a difficult situation for him to turn.

There's Republicans on all sides of this issue. In terms of federal versus state, the issue is much more vulnerability now with Harris at the top of the ticket. Joe Biden was never comfortable going on this issue. He didn't like to say the word abortion.

Donald Harris is much more willing to bring us up and make mega funds for another issue. Maybe to give him a little credit, what he's saying, it's still not what voters are saying is the top tier issue continues to be an economy over and over again, as is the top issue. But that doesn't mean it's not highly motivating issue. And that's not what we saw in the last midterm elections.

And if Democrats played it hard, right, they will be able to turn out a lot of voters on a particular issue that people are very vocal. I think this is the reason that Kamala Harris talks about a broad range of freedoms because I think a campaign recognizes that it's not a single issue, but it's a collection of issues that describes the way that Americans think about freedom and freedom of choice is one of those. And Betsy, finally we don't that much time. Do you think the Democrats have the ability to marshal this issue in a way that works in their advantage?

Yeah, no question. It's something where they're very comfortable, they're very united as a party on this issue and they see as a huge and already battle tested of a toilet for them. Okay, great competition, guys. I appreciate it.

Betsy, Donna and Brendan, we appreciate you being here. Up next, though, chilling new body cam footage just released from just before the Trump assassination attempt. You're watching THE PRESS now. Welcome back.

We are learning more about the foiled terror plot to attack an upcoming Taylor Swift concert in Austria. Authorities released this blurred out image of the prime suspect today saying he's confessed to planning a suicide mission using knives and explosives to kill as many people as possible possible. Investigators say a second suspect worked for a company that would have provided some type of services at the concert. They say they also found material linked to ISIS and al Qaeda on the suspect's cell phones and that a third suspect was being questioned by authorities.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. law enforcement official tells NBC News that the U.S. intelligence Committee first alerted Austrian officials to the plot and provided a general sense of what to look for. The foiled attack forced the cancellation of three upcoming Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna.

The first show was supposed to be tonight. NBC News law enforcement intelligence correspondent Tom Winter joins me now. This story is just fascinating on so many levels, Tom, but what do we know about the prime suspect in this alleged plot? Well, what we know about him and to kind of go off of what you were just referring to there, Ryan, is this is Somebody who is definitely on law enforcement's radar well prior to this event.

So he was under some form of surveillance, we're told. And so they were able to keep tabs on him and did realize that he pledged his allegiance to isis. You referenced all the material found on what they also found were bomb making chemicals, tatp, which has been used in a number of the most serious attacks in Europe, including London, Paris and Brussels. So it appears that he was committed to conducting some form of attack.

It says he couldn't quite get that bomb together in time for the weekend. I think they chose this photo very deliberately because it was a belief, if you're looking at the ISIS logo he's put on his shirt, there was a belief he arrived that he would have attacked this concert. Regardless of what tools he had at his disposal. It would have tried to carry out some sort of an attack, even if it had just involved knives and obviously would have been very scary.

And given the amount of people going into that stadium, approximately 65,000 could have been quite deadly as well. Wow. Another picture that you're following. New developments in the investigation into the Trump assassination attempt.

What did we learn today that was new? That's right. So this afternoon, Butler Township police, who were the local law enforcement, the most local of the local law enforcement, they were on scene that day along with county law enforcement, county SWAT and the Pennsylvan police. And of course you had the Secret Service.

Well, the Butler Township released their body worn camera. And so there's two distinct things that we see. I'll describe the first one and then we'll, we'll place them on the second one. The first one is when the officers we've all reported and many others have by now, he at some point realizes that there might be something up on this roof.

He goes to grab onto the roof, sees the suspect after he turns his weapon at him and then jumps down on that body worn camera because of where it's positioned on his, on his body, we don't actually see the suspect. In another video, we hear one of the Butler Township police officers talk about the Secret Service protection or perhaps the lack thereof from his vantage point. And this occurred approximately 10 minutes after former President Trump was shot at. Let's take a listen.

Ryan told him to coast the guys over here too. I told him that the Secret Service. I told him that Tuesday. I told him the coast of the guys over here.

What? No, we're inside. I told him. So to put it into context.

Right. What we're listening there is this old law enforcement officer. Again, just approximately 10 minutes after somebody fired or Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight rounds to Donald Trump saying, look, I told the Secret Service we needed people back here because he's standing behind the building or the buildings where the shots were fired from. Then he says, I told the Secret Service that on Tuesday, presumably there was a site walkthrough.

Obviously the shooting happened on a Saturday, July 13th. So that was at least several days beforehand. And just adds the confusion about who was supposed to be where and when and what on that day when the former president came conceivably within a quarter of an inch of being seriously wounded, if not killed. We are out to the Secret Service for our and obviously once we have that, we'll bring that to everyone.

And Tom, I know this is just one piece of evidence as this investigation continues, but I mean, the answer to your question about confusion related to the protection of the president of the United States, there's one agency whose principal responsibility that is. Right. I mean, there should not have been confusion in a space like this as to who should be in charge of making sure the president was completely protected. Right.

I think now as we continue to get more evidence about what happened that day, not just statements and what somebody said and somebody heard, but we're actually looking at the raw evidence and all the things that the people are investigating the shooting are looking at as well. They've looked at this before us. It's coming into focus that there was really no specific accountability not only for this particular building but for that roof who was actually in charge. And then when you put somebody in charge, you actually have to check and make sure that that post is being manned.

And that's another big question here about whose responsibility that should be. It'll be interesting to see in the coming days and weeks whether or not anybody is put on leave. Ryan. Okay, Tom.

To great opponents, always. We appreciate it. Next, Ukraine's old new strategy that crosses the Russian border and crosses the line of provocation for Vladimir Putin. You're watching the press now.

Welcome back. Russian troops are fighting off an unprecedented incursion by Ukraine in a battle that's now in its third day. According to Russia's Defense Ministry. Moscow says up to 300 Ukrainian troops, along with dozens of tanks and armed vehicles, crossed into the border region of Kursk.

Putin has called it a major provocation, while Ukraine has not publicly acknowledged the attack. The Institute for the Study of War, a military focused think tank, estimates that Ukrainian forces advanced up to six miles into the Kursk region. NBC News has not been able to independently verify the details of the border assault. Yesterday the State Department said it was not notified in advance about the military action inside Russia, but that those actions do not violate US Policy.

Attack will mark a dramatic shift in Ukraine's strategy as it struggles to push Russian forces out in the east. And joining me now is MC News national security analyst Clint Watts. So Clint, what do you make of this strategy by Ukraine? Is it better to go on the offensive into Russia than continue to play defense in other vulnerable areas in Ukraine?

I think the Ukrainians reach a point where they're losing ground in Donetsk. They're losing maybe a kilometer a day at times and they can't hold that line. So a strategy that can be pursued is more dangerous in some ways, but can be more successful is a mobile defense. Essentially attacking and doing offensive operations in a Levitz go somewhere else other than right there on the front line trying to divert Russian resources.

I think that's the ultimate goal. And then politically just to send a message back to Moscow that things are not going well on the battlefield for Vladimir Putin. Now, Ukraine hasn't commented on these military activities, but does the success in Kirsty in Ukraine to try and make other incursions into different border regions or do you think they'll keep it connected just to this one area? They're likely to just focus in this one area because across the border Ukraine is suffering from one problem more than all others and that's a lack of manpower.

They can't really afford to lose a lot of troops on the battlefield. So in an economy of force kind of strategy where you're doing a mobile defense, they'll attack into Russia. They'll probably withdraw at some point to try and conserve the forces and get the Russians really to pull troops off the front line and into their own turf, into their own country to protect it. So it's a delaying action in a way.

And I'm sure they're trying to develop a longer run strategy that really inflicts maximum cost against the Russians while conserving enough of their force. And how will Russia respond to this? Obviously they'll attempt to try and push these Ukrainian troops back, but what other options do they have have right now? Yeah, it's very embarrassing for the Russians to have the Ukrainians who were really losing ground inside Ukraine suddenly thrust across the border and really start to hit an undefended area causing some casualties.

That means they have to redeploy. Russian military has to redeploy some of the troops from the front lines back to secure their own rear area. At the same point, it's just damaging image for them in terms of their own morale. What they want instill is that they can't even defend their own turf.

That starts to break the questions back to Vladimir Putin. More similar to what we saw the first year of the Catholic when they met major setbacks at different times. Yeah, maybe expand upon that now or two and a half years into this war. Does this incursion give us any idea of the strength of the Russian military at this stage?

One thing we know is that the Russians have been able to mobilize troops consistently in a mass scale for more than two years now. It's quite a feat based on just the number of casualties that they've taken in the hundreds of thousands over the couple years. They still are able to put an army out and continue to grind out through what is really just a war of attrition at this point. Artillery, tanks, working across the ground on defensive lines.

That is impressive in the sense that they're able to take those casualties at the same point. The question is when will they ever stop? At what point would they breach? A pause.

Everyone's wanting to know, are they just waiting for the US Election to see if support for Ukraine ends, or are they going to make a natural breakthrough and keep pursuing to try and make another shot at Kyiv like they did in the opening days of the war? Okay, click. Watts, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

And we will be back tomorrow with more MEET the Press Now. NBC News now coverage continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink. This month, Demi Lovato is my guest.

The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now. But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage, and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook.

The Drink is always about the journey to the top, and this was an honest conversation about what that takes. Hope you'll listen and follow the drink wherever you get your podcast.