Meet the Press NOW — July 17

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Conditions apply. Offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanada.com or your local dealer for details. Welcome to a very special edition of Meet the Press Now live from day three of the Republican National Convention.

I am Kristen Welker in Milwaukee. We're moments ago we saw former President Donald Trump doing a walkthrough ahead of his big speech tomorrow night. But tonight all eyes will be on Senator Jamie Vance who's about to have the biggest moment of his political life. Speaking to the convention for the first time since being named as Donald Trump's running name.

Now overnight Vance has become the face of the future of the Republican Party and the MAGA Movement. The 39-year-old first-term Senator's speech is expected to lean heavily on his biography, his difficult upbringing, raised in poverty in his time in the military. Today the Senator spoke publicly at a fundraiser for the first time for the nomination, criticizing the media and talking about his reaction to Saturday's assassination attempt. I was pissed.

As soon as I knew he was okay, I felt relief and I was like I cannot believe an assassin tried to take down the President of the United States. I was mad about it. Was he mad and angry? He called for national unity.

He called for calm. He showed leadership, my friends. The media keeps on saying they want somebody to tone down the temperature. Well, Donald Trump got shot and he toned down the temperature.

That's what a real leader does. Now the focus of the convention tonight foreign policy and economic threats to areas where there are some profound divisions within the party. But it comes after another Democratic night showcasing party unity. Dramatic night, I should say, showcasing party unity with the former President once again entering the hall still bandaged from narrowly surviving that assassination attempt this weekend.

Watching his past rivals from the 2024 and 2016 primaries sing his praises. That included former UN ambassador Nikki Haley who fiercely criticized him on the trail. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who urged his party during the primaries to move on from Trump. Here they both were.

Last night, take a listen. There are some Americans who don't agree with Donald Trump 100% of the time. My message to them is simple. You don't have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him.

Donald Trump has been demonized. He's been sued. He's been prosecuted and he nearly lost his life. We cannot let him down and we cannot let America down.

Now nearly a dozen GOP Senate candidates also hitching their start to the former president as they addressed the convention last night. And RNC co-chair and Trump daughter-in-law Laura Trump spoke about rewriting her speech following the shooting, urging voters to see the humanity in her father-in-law. The unity on display in Milwaukee made even starker when compared to the disarray among Democrats right now over President Biden's candidacy. Congressman Adam Schiff becoming the latest Democrat to call for the president to drop out of the race.

As our latest NBC news poll shows, only 33% of Democrats are satisfied with him as their nominee compared to 71% of Republicans who feel that way about Donald Trump. Joining me now is NBC's Dasha Burns who was just at an event with Senator Vance ahead of his huge speech tonight. Dasha, this is undoubtedly the biggest moment of Senator Vance's entire political career. What were your key takeaways from what you heard from Senator Vance?

Yeah, that's exactly right. He was sort of priming this group of RNC donors. It was kind of an intimate lunch with about 200 people. I know that doesn't sound so intimate when you think about it, but he's going to be speaking to a much larger crowd tonight.

He told them that he didn't want to give his speech away, but he was preparing to make what he called the easy case for re-electing former president Trump, joking with them that he hopes he doesn't mess it up. But if he does, it's too late because he is officially the running mate now. I was listening to some of the attendees as they were leaving the rally over some conversations, people saying that he sounded authentic, that he's someone who can speak to real people calling him, quote, down to earth. And you heard, you played a little bit of that sound there question of him talking about towing down the rhetoric, right?

He talks about how the former president signaled that in the wake of this horrific attack on Saturday, and that he feels that that is showing true leadership, and it'll be interesting to see if in his own speech he reflects that tonight. Well, and let's talk about that a little bit, Dasha, because for a lot of Americans, they are just getting to know Senator Vance, maybe some of the red hillbilly elegy, maybe they didn't. But this is expected to be a heavily biographical speech. He's really introducing himself to the American people, and I'm told he's also going to be talking about the fact that he is a veteran.

This is the first post-9-11 veteran to be on a major party ticket, and also the first veteran to be on a ticket since 2008, when the late Senator John McCain ran for president. Yeah, he really does have a bio that hasn't been seen on a ticket in a very long time. And you know, yes, maybe some people read the book, maybe some people watch the movie, read the spark notes. So he's familiar to people.

So this is not necessarily an introduction, but a reintroduction, a reintroduction in a new context. He's so young, he is so much younger than the former president, his running mate. And so he is going to be delivering his bio and delivering the case for this ticket to, of course, a friendly audience, but he's aware he's a media savvy guy. He knows that a lot of people are watching from afar.

We're looking to see, hey, is it a guy who's book we read? Is it a guy who we heard on the campaign trail? Is this the same guy? How's he changed?

What's he going to be like as a running mate and potentially Vice President Kristin? All right, Dr. Burns, thank you so much for your great reporting. Joining me now on set is Eric Trump, Executive Vice President at the Trump Organization and of course, son of former President Donald Trump.

Eric, it is so good to have you here. I want to start off by saying we are so sorry for what happened to your father and want to ask how he is doing. He's doing well. He's doing well.

In fact, he just went to us from the stage. He's down there a minute ago where I just started this interview, but he's doing well. He's excited. I'm excited.

I speak right before him and we're going to have an amazing night. And honestly, the love of this conference has been amazing. I've just done three of these at this point and you've done a bunch of them as well. You've seen it, but in an offer, I was just telling you the kindness from media toward me.

All right, oftentimes I go into hostel territory where people like to take shots. The kindness has been off the charts and it's nice to see. Honestly, it's refreshing and maybe you talk about it, whizzing by somebody's ear and almost killing them to actually bring the whole country back together after 9-11. We had one of those moments where every single house had a flag on it, American flag and people are patriotic again.

Sometimes in the worst, darkest days, it's kind of one country's come together and I'm certainly feeling that right now. And just the tone of this entire convention has been beautiful, the love in the room, the support of the president. Really, really just the love of everything USA, Red, White, Blue or Constitution or religion. It's been beautiful to see and it's really nice.

Well, there's no doubt everything changed this weekend. I do want to ask you a little bit about what we're learning as it relates to the Secret Service. And as it relates, frankly to this new development that the Secret Service apparently made your father's campaign aware that there had been increased risks. This happened about two weeks ago.

Now, we are told that US authorities knew that there was an Iranian plot to assassinate your father. I am told that your father's campaign was told, quote unquote, in passing about it. Wasn't given a whole lot of details. Wasn't told that the threat was coming from Iran.

Can you give me some specifics? What exactly did the campaign know and was your father briefed on this threat against him? Forget about the threat for a second. Iran has never liked my father.

My father bankrupted the country. He was appalled that Obama gave $150 million, billion to Iran. He didn't like it. He went in there.

And one of his first days in office, he says, anybody that works with Iran, anybody that buys Iran in oil, America will not do business with them. Then he took us all money. He took out. I'll beg Daddy.

Iran clearly isn't a fan of my father. But what happened this weekend? What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania is unacceptable. And it hurts.

Honestly, it hurts my face. The agents on the stage are the greatest people in the world, and I will protect them till the dawn of time. But allowing a madman on a roof 130 yards away from a former president and very likely to be a future president, it's unacceptable. And then you hear these calls where the Secret Service Director comes out and says, the roof has too much slope on it.

And it was supposed to be local PD. That's supposed to be covering that roof, even though local PD clearly had instructions that they were just doing traffic. And then you have Biden come out and said, yes, I spoke to him, me talking about the Secret Service Director, not understanding that Secret Service Director isn't at him. It's a her.

And when you look at just the incompetence across the board, my father could have lost his lightsaber. My father had a bullet go through his ear, and this is what we're dealing with. And I mean, there should be outrage. If this was on the opposite side of the ticket, it had God forbid somebody done the same thing to Obama or to Clinton or to anybody else.

They'd be calling for the resignation, not only of the Secret Service Director, they'd be calling for the President of the United States to stand down. And it better happen. It better be accountability for this because my father almost died because of this nonsense. People are calling for the resignation of the Secret Service Director.

You saying you think the Secret Service Director should resign? So question about it. There's no question about it. How can this possibly happen?

How can think about just what that would do, Kristen, on the world stage? If our leader, you guys were covering it, Fox was covering it, CNN was covering it, everybody was covering it. Got assassinated, took a rifle round to the head on live TV while the entire nation looked like a third world country. This can't happen in the United States.

And somebody's got to be held accountable. You can't just sweep that kind of stuff under the rug. And I just want to be very clear. What happened this weekend right now authorities do not have any indication that there's a connection between this potential Iranian threat.

The potential Iranian threat that they were, plot that they were tracking. But was your father briefed on the fact that there was an increased threat that Secret Service, that U.S. officials were tracking an Iranian plot to assassinate it? What else is we've done as a family about Iranian threat for a very long time?

You'll remember back in the day the government of Iran was releasing those drone videos. Remember that my father's head and you know a little kind of simulation of him driving around. And so I mean, this is nothing new with Iran. Iran has never been happy with Donald Trump.

Iran, you know, was put out of business by Donald Trump. You know, I mean, their country almost sold it because of Donald Trump. He wouldn't give them money. He was totally against $150 billion.

He was totally against this prisoner swap and his trade which gave him another $6 billion. Those funds were frozen just to be just to be clear, those funds were frozen. But just to be clear, does your father has your father lost confidence in the Secret Service? Does he believe the Secret Service directly resigned?

My father loves the people who are around him. Those are the directors should resign. I'll let him speak to that in time. And I plot him for not really getting into this conversation.

He loves the men and women who are on that stage. He loves the men and women who travel with him every day. The female on that stage was with me for three years and I'm telling you she's the greatest person you'll ever meet. And it pains me when I see criticism and there has been criticism and I will defend them and I will defend her until the end of time.

But the fact that the perimeter, not the body, not the people that are supposed to keep somebody from jumping on top of them who travel with him. Who got there ten minutes before the event with them, not those people. The fact that there was a breakdown in the perimeter of security and somebody launched rounds and there's a man that is dead and there's two others that are hurt. And there's a bullet that went through a former president's ear and almost killed him on live TV.

The fact that that happened, there better be accountability for it. And when you hear a Secret Service structure, I'm so sorry the roof. The roof had like a free degree pitch to it. The roof was too steep.

We couldn't get a sniper on it. Stop the nonsense. Stop the games. We need real accountability.

And somebody, if this was private industry, somebody would have walked out the door that afternoon. But because it's government they always get a free pass. Let me ask you about the big moment tonight, the speech tonight, Senator J.D. Vance will be addressing not just this audience, but the world.

It comes obviously after your father made this decision. He was one of your father's fears, his critics. Sometimes, I know this has been widely discussed, but just to remind folks, he said at one point, Trump is cultural heroine. He makes some feel better for a bit, but he cannot fix what ails them.

And one day they'll realize it. He's walked those comments back. But you know, loyalty is number one for your father. Does he trust that Senator J.D.

Vance will be loyal to him to, however, if he were to be reelected? Kristen Kamala Harris, called Joe Biden, a racist, dozens and dozens of times. But loyalty for your father is top of... Kamala Harris went out and said that Joe Biden's a disgrace for his super predator comment, for his buzzing comments.

Here's the reality. The reason I'm giving you this analogy is politics is wild. And politics is rough. And you're running against people.

You get really emotional. They're attacking you. You know, you attack them. And it gets worse and worse.

You get down and slippery slope. But I'm not saying it's nice. What's the reality of politics, right? The reality is over the last six, seven, eight years, J.D.

Vance has become my father's top ally. The chemistry between of them is incredible. The way they think is amazing. He wouldn't pick him if that wasn't the case.

And he's an amazing guy. I think it's so much my father's life. I mean, he'd be successful private industry, rising the ranks of politics extremely quickly, mirrors J.D. Vance, right?

I mean, and when you see them together, when you see the chemistry between them, it's incredibly strong. And it's going to be an amazing ticket. By the way, there's no one stronger in the rust belt than J.D. Vance.

I think he's going to spend a tremendous amount of time there. But he's an amazing person. That chemistry is top notch. And they've been strong, strong allies for a very long time.

Let's talk about your father. He said he's overhauled his speech in the wake of the horrific events this past weekend. Obviously, your father is a self-described counter-pudger. This is part of his brand.

What do you say to people who are skeptical about his ability to deliver a message of unity in this moment? Well, listen, I think when you almost have your head taken off, it puts perspective in the world, right? I mean, he walked out here very humbly. He probably saw his reaction.

When everybody was in tears in the entire auditorium, right? You know, 48 hours earlier, he could have been dead. And then minutes before he walked out, his son puts him over the line. I was obviously the delegate that made him the Republican nominee of the United States.

And listen, I think there's a humility there. Your life flashes before your eyes. You realize that it could have gone very, very different. That the history could have been rewritten in a very negative way.

And so I think that does form some level of humility. At the same time, my father's a great counter-puncher. And, you know, you can't take the fighter always out of the fighter. I've seen the speech and it's beautiful.

It's absolutely beautiful. And all the speeches have been beautiful. And this whole event has been incredible. But right now, this country needs a fighter.

Nothing's working well, right? This country's got a lot of systematic problems. Our economy, fentanyl. I mean, wars all over the world.

Nothing's going right. And no one feels like the current government is actually fighting for this nation. And we need a fighter. And we need a puncher.

Otherwise, we're not going to have a country. I know you have to go. And I'm going to let you go. Last question.

I'm not going to relitigate all the things that your father has said. But as you know, he has used rhetoric that has at times been perceived as violent, very tough. Do you think he regrets some of his rhetoric? Do you think he feels he contributed to the climate the rhetoric that exists right now?

I just don't know what that means. I mean, you know, four days ago, right, you know, the day before, obviously, my father almost got assassinated. Joe Biden puts out a tweet. We need to put a bullseye.

We need to put a cross here. He said it was in the state. He did say it was in the state. He said that was in the state.

And rhetoric gets used in politics, right? And he's every word that anybody's ever said. Over thousands of thousands of thousand speeches over a ten-year period of time. Probably not.

I'm sure I've screwed up, too. Right? You screwed up. I'm sure every single person who wears this little thing, you know, 24 hours a day has probably messed up.

And we're going to go colleagues sitting right there, right? I'm sure he's messed up, too. Chuck Todd, who we're going to bring in. Yeah, you'll bring him.

Chuck, you've never messed up. Have you, my friend, never. You're sober. But listen, you know, he's in a great spot.

His speech is beautiful. We're so proud of him as a family. I'm so proud of him. And I just wanted to fix America.

We love this country dearly. And this country could be so much better than it is right now. And he's the one to do it. So little headline there.

The speech is done. All right. Eric Trump, thank you so much for being here. Thank you very much.

We really appreciate it. Thank you for the conversation. And with that, I am going to go to my colleague Chuck Todd, chief political analyst for NBC News. Chuck, thank you for being here.

Let's start on one of the themes that I was just talking about with Eric, which is... I noticed you got the music to come up. That's the power of the Trump. I saw what you did there.

I saw what you did there. I know you did. Go ahead. We'll try to talk loudly over it.

Not at all. One of the things that you've been very interested in is how unified the party has been as compared to 2016. Right. Well, there's no comparison.

No, for me, this is more like the 2004 Republican Convention in New York, which was the first Republican Convention in 2011. And the party was very unified. And there's the same vibe here in that sense, right? But what's interesting, just like an 04, it's surface unity.

You know, Denise, there's some free market Republicans a little uncomfortable with advanced picks. They can go... They're going in this direction. We don't like that.

We want to go in this direction. But it doesn't matter. There is an enthusiasm here. There is a confidence, is what I would call it.

Some might say it's hockey, but this is a bunch of folks who feel as if the party is about to win and win big. And that's why I think it is such a almost very unified mindset. It's such a fascinating point, Chuck, because some of the biggest divisions in this party right now are over the economy. Tariffs, Ukraine.

These are fundamental. These are big issues. And yet when you hear some of the lawmakers and the delegates here talking about those differences, they're like, we'll work that out. No, it's funny.

It's a party that unified on culture, but not unified on the specifics. Really are not unified on any policy. But they are unified on cultural stuff. They are unified on sort of directional things.

But on the specifics, look, you know, again, these tariffs, you know, this is something he's always believed in. And there's a lot of skepticism inside this party. Ironically, there's more support for Tariffs in the Democratic Party than there is in the Republican Party. Yeah, let's talk about the Democratic Party.

Huge development today, Chuck. Congressman Adam Schiff running for the Einstein Senate seat in California came out today. The biggest name, highest ranking Democrat to come out so far and call for President Biden to step down. How significant?

We also know he's very close to Nancy Pelosi. That's why it's significant. Okay. That's why it's significant.

Look, there's two potential motives for him to do this, right? One is there was some leaked audio that he already said this. Right. Right.

Yeah. At some point, you know, it's that old expression. You can't be a little bit pregnant, you know, yes. And so he was like, I've owned this.

I got to own it. So, so there's a possibility he's just simply owning something that's been reported. But the way he did it, and we know how close he is, you know, he was very careful before he called for Einstein to resign, things like that. It was always done in conjunction with the Pelosi's in particular, of course, the former speaker.

This is a very, they have a very tight political relationship. And it gets that to what the real issue is for Joe Biden inside his party. It's the House Democrats. They're more panicked.

The Senate Democrats already knew they were going to lose the Senate. Okay. Because Joe mentioned, right, the numbers just don't. So there's while there's concern.

It's high level panic because the two most, the two most important states for the House to win for Democrats to win the House are California, New York. Right. It is Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan. And guess what?

If Biden's at the top of the ticket, turn out sinks and suddenly those winnable Biden districts in California, New York, aren't so winnable anymore. Ironically, there's a whole bunch of House Democrats that would prefer to lose with Harris than lose with Biden because they think Harris at least will get the base of the Democratic Party to show up in New York and California and therefore deliver the House. And as we're having this conversation, we learned that they have delayed the roll call for Biden. By the way, that's step one.

Okay. What does it mean? He's not in charge. Yeah.

They delayed it even though he didn't want it delayed just yesterday. Jamie Harrison, the DNC chair, was in a Twitter. Weird debate with Nate Silver. My 38 guy, Nate Silver.

Anyway, they're in this heated debate over the roll call. Yeah. And Harrison is defending it and defending it and defending it yesterday. Right.

And then today they sort of delay it and it just sort of screams Joe Biden's not in charge or, you know, you know, the party. And this is the first time there's rarely any separation between the party and the presidential candidate. Now that you're seeing the, this is step one. Yeah.

And you know, this could be the end of the beginning. And now we're at the next phase of where this story goes. Two just extraordinary developments on the Democratic side. Will the unity of this convention?

Yes. Putting more pressure on Democrats that. Yeah. Chuck Todd, thank you for being here.

Yeah. And kicking off the show again with us. Really appreciate it. We have more news to get to including the mounting pressure on the secret service which we just discussed with Eric Trump as the Department of Homeland Security opens an investigation into how a shooter was able to come within inches of killing the former president.

But first, much more from Milwaukee, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves joins us right here on set. That's next. You don't want to miss that conversation. And our special programming continues all night long with my NBC News colleague, Lester Holtz, Savannah Guthrie, Tom Yamas, and Holly Jackson, including special coverage at 9 p.m.

Easter when Senator J.D. Vance addresses the convention and the nation. You're watching a very special edition of The Press Now live from Milwaukee. Stay with us.

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Conditions apply. It includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanada.com for your local dealer for details. Welcome back to Meet the Press Now live from the Republican convention.

Let's get right to my next guest, Republican Governor of Mississippi Tate Reeves. Governor Reeves, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. It's an honor to be here with you today.

It's an honor to have you here. We appreciate taking the time for the conversation. I want to get your reaction to former President Trump's decision to tap Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio for his running mate.

He is someone who is viewed as the future potentially of the MAGA movement. He's also someone who has some isolationist views, particularly as it relates to Ukraine. What do you make of this pick? Well, I will tell you, any time you're thinking about selecting a vice president, I think one of the things that must come to the top of the forefront of your head is what is going to happen and who is going to be most likely to govern like me.

I think you look at Senator Tade Vance's views when compared to all of the other candidates, all of whom I think had value they could add to the ticket. Clearly Senator Vance has viewed very similar to President Trump. I also think that Senator Vance is going to bring something to the ticket because when you think about that Senate race just a couple of years ago and how well he did in rural Ohio. There are a lot of people in rural Ohio who are a lot like people in rural Wisconsin, rural Pennsylvania, rural Michigan, and quite frankly rural Mississippi.

And so I think he's going to add value from that perspective as well. So he adds political value, he adds value with respect to governing as well. Let me read you something that Philip Klein of the National Review wrote of Vance. This is about his views.

He says Vance has been a leader of a movement aimed at wrestling away the Republican Party from the orthodoxy of free markets and muscular foreign policy. Instead, Vance's vision is for a Republican Party that embraces large government programs, is more open to taxing corporations. That shows more foreign policy restraint and that wields the power of the state in the culture wars. Big government, taxing corporations, doesn't sound like your father's Republican Party.

Well, look, there's no doubt that the Republican Party believes in the power of the individual. And what I would tell you when it comes to various policy views, we have a lot of different people in our party that have a lot of views on a lot of these issues because we believe in the individual. The Democrat Party historically, they believe the best decisions are made in Washington, D.C. We believe the best decisions are made back in the States.

And so I think you'll see a governing coalition that we're certainly going to fight for those views we believe in, but I think Senator Vance is the next one thing. Does any of that though give you pause about the future of where the Republican Party is heading? Do you worry that there's going to be too much focus on big government, not enough focus on trying to intervene in, you know, what's happening in Ukraine, for example? Well, look, I certainly don't support big government.

In fact, I think big government needs to get out of the way and empower the individual. Those are my views and my beliefs. And I think you'll see a lot of conversation around that from many years ago. Let me play a little bit of what we heard.

This one of many extraordinary moments so far this week of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien gets reaction on the other side. You know, corporatists hate when working people join together to form unions. But for a century, major employers have waged a war against labor by forming corporate unions of their own. We need to call the Chamber of Commerce and the business roundtables what they are.

They are unions for big business. The biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations, and this is rail corruption. We must put work as first. What did you make of that speech?

Someone said it was a sign that the conservative movement is no more. What did you make of that? Well, I don't know that. I will say about that speech.

I give him credit for having the courage to come into this crowd and give that speech. I will give him credit for that. I do think that big corporations have in many ways colluded with the government over the last several years. And I think that when you look at a state like Mississippi, the vast majority of Mississippians are employed by small businesses.

And our economy is booming today. We have the lowest unemployment rate in our state's history. We have more people working today than any point in our state's history. That's not true everywhere in the country, but that's true in Mississippi.

And it's being driven largely by capital investments by small businesses all across Mississippi. I want to ask you about the speech that we're going to hear tomorrow night from former President Donald Trump. The main event he says he's torn up his speech. He has rewritten it.

He's going to strike a note calling for unity for the country. What are you anticipating? And obviously, I just was discussing this with his son, Eric Trump. Donald Trump is known as a counter puncher.

He's very proud of the rhetoric that has gotten him into office the first time and that he's known for on the campaign trail. What are you anticipating? What do you hope to hear? Well, I think the crowd in this building tomorrow night is going to be electric.

Just having spent some time on the floor the last two days, the one thing I can say about the Republican party is we are united in our attempts to take back the White House. It is a time in American political history, unlike very few we've ever seen. What happened in Pennsylvania on Saturday really shook me. Personally, my daughters were there, watched it with me.

The President and President Trump, it was very clear and obvious to me when he walked in this particular facility on Monday night. It's literally, I think it changes that dynamic in many ways. And look, we are a great country and we need to recognize that. Now, we've got challenges and many of those challenges that Americans are dealing with are pocketbook issues that they're talking about on their kitchen table right now.

But I expect the President to come in and unify the party and unify the country. And just to be very clear, do you want to see Donald Trump turn down his rhetoric and do you think he's capable of it? Given his background. Well, look, Donald Trump's going to be Donald Trump.

We know that. That's not a yet. Donald Trump is going to be Donald Trump. He and I have campaigned together many times over the last five or six years.

But I do think that the moment that occurred Saturday night changes a lot of things. It really does. It changed everything in this country. Unbelievable moment.

Governor, thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We really appreciate it. Thanks so much, Emile.

Absolutely good to see you. Coming up next, facing renewed calls to withdraw from the race President Biden pitches Latino voters, a critical voting bloc in the key battleground state of Nevada. You're watching Meet the Press Now special coverage with the Republican National Convention. And welcome back.

President Biden is set to speak at a Latino civil rights organization's annual conference any minute now after courting black voters in a speech at the NAACP's annual conference yesterday. It comes as we have new reporting that the president has become increasingly defiant about calls to bow out of the 2024 race. NBC News now reporting that he is determined to push forward tightening his inner circle and growing combative with fellow Democrats who have been questioning his mental acuity. As we mentioned earlier, California Congressman and Senate candidate Adam Schiff became the very latest Democrat to call for the president to exit the race.

And according to a new Associated Press poll, 65% of Democrats now agree that President Biden should withdraw. NBC News White House correspondent Mike mentally joins us live from Las Vegas. So Mike bring us up to speed here. I mean, this was a significant moment.

I was just discussing it with Chuck. The fact that Adam Schiff has now joined the ranks of those calling for President Biden to step down. He's obviously close with the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. How is the Biden campaign responding to all of this, Mike?

Well, Chris, and you're right. This is very significant. And I think about the conversation you had with Congressman Schiff on Meet the Press on set there in Washington just two weeks ago where he was more delicately posing the situation that Democrats are privately talking about across the country that this race in their view should be much more winnable. The Democrats should be further ahead against Donald Trump than they are at this moment.

And that perhaps the president need to think long and hard about his continued candidacy. Clearly, the president is not getting the message from the likes of Schiff and others when it's proposed more delicately more politely. And so they are becoming far more blunt and more explicit in calling for the president to step aside. The Biden campaign is pointing simply to the letter that the president sent to members of Congress a little over a week ago when he said that all this talk of a decision that needs to be made of who's going to be the nominee is over, that any further division only helps Donald Trump.

The Biden campaign also pointing to the show of support that the president has received from some other key members of Congress as he is traveling here in Las Vegas, not just some of the members of the delegation here in Nevada, but the likes of Jim Clyburn. Annette Baragon, who from California, the chair of the Hispanic Caucus, who was with the president just a few moments ago as he was at a local restaurant here in Nevada, reporters tried to ask the president, Chris, about this new call from Congressmanship. He did not respond to those questions. But clearly, as the Republicans are trying to show this unity, the party has shown and continues to show at this convention, Democrats are only further appearing to be divided at this point.

Well, and I want to ask you about your great reporting with the team, Caroline, Monica Alba, and everyone in terms of the president really narrowing his inner circle. Talk about this approach and are there concerns amongst his allies that being in a more tightly wrapped bubble could only shield him from the reality of what's playing out? Yeah, as Kristen, as you well know, the president has relied on a team of advisors throughout not just his time in the White House, but the campaign before it. It's a slightly larger group of people than what was around him when he was vice president and for even decades before that.

As the president is in this moment of political crisis, he has narrowed that circle to that original sort of core group. People like Steve Rachete, Mike Donnellan, who were with him early in his time as vice president, Donnellan's case for decades before that. And that speaks to, I think, the concern that Democrats have about whether there are voices who are being blud with him in his inner circle. Some of those who are cut out, like Anita Dunn, for instance, perhaps among those who were trying to be more clear-minded about the challenge ahead.

We understand that she's been working with receipt, read another longtime advisor to plan some of the first 100-day agenda items for a second bite. Clearly, it's not getting to that. Those calls the president has been happening with different caucuses in the Democratic House membership were more conciliatory and contrite. At first, we're growing much more blunt and even more angry in the days preceding the assassination attempt on Donald Trump's life.

All right. Mike memorly reporting from Las Vegas. Mike, always so good to see you. We always appreciate your great reporting.

Thank you for being here. Well, we are getting new details today about who knew what and when about the shooter at the Trump rally. It comes as the FBI and Secret Service are briefing members of Congress today on the assassination attempt. And as the Department of Homeland Security now says its Inspector General will investigate the Secret Service's security operation at Saturday's rally.

NBC News Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley joins me now. Julia, I know you have been non-stop working this story. What is the very latest on the investigations? Well, the very latest is we're getting more details on what exactly the Secret Service knew leading up to those crucial moments on Saturday when he fired from the rooftop.

One thing, we're learning that the Secret Service Director missed vote when she said earlier this week that there were law enforcement agents, a sniper team from a local law enforcement agency inside the building where the shooter was on top of the roof. It turns out they were in a nearby building that was part of that complex. Does that raise questions then about whether or not there was a firm security plan if they're unsure about who was where. The other thing we're learning is that the Secret Service knew that the shooter had a rangefinder.

That looks like a pair of binoculars that can be used by snipers when they're trying to determine how far they may have to shoot. And he was seen with a rangefinder a picture was taken of him before he got up on the roof before Trump took the stage by local police and that was shared with the Secret Service. Yet they still let Trump move forward. So some questions there about whether or not they could have broken protocol.

Some though I've spoken to said that there was no indication at that point that he was armed. And look, there are suspicious people in crowds all the time who turn out to be harmless. So we're learning part of that. Also, we're hoping to get more details from this briefing right now.

We know that the FBI and Secret Service have been briefing both sides of the Hill today virtually and more details should be coming out of that soon. We want to get a clearer picture of the timeline and the biggest question of all, Kristen, why wasn't that roof in the security perimeter of the Secret Service? So many questions and just extraordinary developments, Julia, the fact that there were no authorities inside, the fact that they were able to get a picture of this guy and still let Trump move forward. What do we know about the DHS Inspector General's investigation?

Obviously, everything that you're talking about here will be of interest to them. How long do these investigations typically last? DHS Inspector General Investigations can take months if not more than a year in some cases. Other investigations may move more quickly.

We understand that the House Oversight Committee has now subpoenaed testimony from the Secret Service Director. There's an independent review board being launched by DHS and the White House to look into what happened. The DHS Inspector General, though, will have the ability to do a full discovery, get a lot of information, interview who they want to as long as these people are still employees. They can compel their testimony and try to figure out why exactly these decisions were made leading up to the event, why they came up with the security plan, where they short staffed, under resource.

Why was so much left to local law enforcement outside of what they determined to be the security perimeter? I will say, Kristen, as a journalist reporting the story, all of these investigations mean sometimes we don't get answers because the Secret Service can come to us and say, I can't answer that simple question for you. It's part of an ongoing investigation, and those investigations can take months. Well, we know you'll be on top of it.

Regardless, Julia Ainsley, thank you for that update. We really appreciate it. Another big story we are following at this hour. The Justice Department confirmed it will appeal a Florida judge's decision to dismiss the criminal case against Donald Trump tied to his mishandling of classified documents.

Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a formal notice of appeal today with Judge Aileen Cannon. It comes two days after the Trump appointed Judge dismissed the case, ruling that Smith's appointment was unconstitutional because he was not appointed by the President or confirmed by Congress controversial ruling. Smith's appeal will head to the 11th Circuit Court Appeals, which has previously overturned some of the decisions Judge Cannon made early on in this case. Well, we have much more special at the press coverage of the Republican National Convention live from Milwaukee straight ahead.

Keep it right here on NBC News Now. I joke with the President that I'm very excited about this evening, and I don't plan to screw it up, but if I do, it's too late. They made the bet, right? It's official now.

A little bit of humor ahead of a big night. That was JD Vance this afternoon, speaking at a fundraiser right here in Milwaukee. As we've said, the Senator will be making his prime time speaking debut as the GOP's Vice Presidential nominee tonight. It comes in an election cycle where age has been top of mind for many voters.

This President Biden, the oldest American president at 81, and former President Trump only three years younger at 78. In stark contrast, Vance is 39 years old, making him the first millennial to appear on a major party's presidential ticket and the youngest vice presidential nominee in decades. Joining me now is Lance Trover, Republican Strategist and a former spokesperson for Doug Bergham's Presidential Campaign, and Lonnie Chen, fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and former policy advisor to the Romney Presidential Campaign. Thanks so much to both of you for being here, so let's start with the stakes of tonight.

They could not be higher for JD Vance. Lance, what are you going to be watching for tonight, and quite frankly, what does JD Vance need to do tonight? I like seeing the humor out of him right there. It shows the realness and the person that he is, and I think you go back to the Hillbilly Elegy book and his story and his history, and I think that is what's really going to resonate with a lot of Americans, because let's face it, a lot of Americans don't know who JD Vance is.

The tonight is the night to introduce himself, and I'm waiting to hear that kind of story come out tonight, and I think it'll have a big impact across the country. Lonnie, we know it's going to be heavily biographical. How does he introduce himself in a way that really resonates, really sticks? Well, I think the notion that he's grown up with a lot of adversity, and I think that his story is going to be a story that a lot of Americans relate to, that he's had to overcome a lot of adversity, that he's risen to some really remarkable heights in a very short period of time, got in a remarkable education service country.

Those are all the things he wants to emphasize. The other thing I would say is he has a unique ability to define what this make-American great agenda is. He's sort of been on the vanguard of this neo-populism movement we've seen in the Republican Party, talking about what it means to have a pro-worker trade policy, a pro-worker economic policy. He's going to be able to touch on some of those things so they'll not get into details obviously, but I think that is something he can do uniquely.

And what do you, the fact that he is 39 years old? I mean, seeing him and the former president sit next to each other, the contrast couldn't be more stark. To some extent, this pick was about Donald Trump saying, this is who I'm passing the torch to. Well, look at what's happening on the other side right now.

I mean, we had Adam Schiff come out today and say, Joe Biden needs to step aside because of this age issue that's really driving everything on the other side, so this was obviously a strategic decision made by this by Donald Trump and the campaign to say, we need, age is clearly a factor in this race, and we need somebody of a youthful nature to step up to the plate, and that's part of the reason I'm sure he was chosen. Yeah, well, you know, what's so fascinating, I've been talking to some folks who say, this is also the death of the conservative movement inside the Republican Party. Is that overstated? I mean, is this not a sign that the Republican Party is heading in a very different direction?

It is a sign that I've headed in a different direction. I don't necessarily agree that it's the death of, let's call it, you know, Reagan conservatism and the previous generation of conservatives policy. I do think though that over the next several years, if Trump is successful, JD Vance will have the opportunity to really make sure that that is not only a direction but a destination. I think we have to see, I really think it's too early because you've got a lot of Republicans who are fundamentally uncomfortable with some of the tenets of this neo-populist economic policy, and so we'll see kind of who wins out, but I think we're still very much engaged in that conversation.

Yeah, Lance, one of the things that made last night so interesting was this team of rivals that came out to talk about former President Trump, you obviously had Marco Rubio, you had Ron DeSantis, and then at the top of the list, Nikki Haley, the only Republican who won a state against former President Trump during the primary, how significant was that moment? And do you think her speech was convincing enough to really win over some of her supporters who were sitting at home wondering who they're going to vote for in November? You saw the reaction that she got here. I mean, she pretty much has Danny Novation and a lot of issues.

Yeah, get a good response. I think we talk about stark contrast and what's going on on the other side. I mean, they are, they can't figure out whether they want to be Joe Biden to be their nominee or not. There is 110% unification over here, and I think that was very important, and that's what was shown last night from Nikki Haley to Ron DeSantis, threw out the course of this week, and that is a stark stark contrast from what's going on with the Democratic Party right now.

Lonnie, let me read you something about another former Trump rival, still a Trump rival. Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, had to say in an op-ed, he writes, Mr. Vance's first reaction to the assassination attempt against Mr. Trump was to turn directly to the current flawed playbook, to recognize the other side and lay the blame at the feet of the Democrats, as if they had pulled a trigger themselves.

Clearly, this is not a message of unity in the face of what could have been a national tragedy. Mr. Trump, however, can demonstrate the will to change, not just how we speak to one another, but also how we act. We know that Donald Trump has rewritten his speech.

Eric Trump says the speech is finished. What do you anticipate we'll see tomorrow night? Well, I think there will be themes of unity, of national unity in there, but, you know, Donald Trump is always going to be the fighter. Yeah.

And that is, in fact, if you think about this campaign, you think about what makes him strong. It is this notion that he's always willing to fight. I mean, look at his reaction of being shot, right? So I think we can't expect too much of a deviation from that.

Now, whether there will be personal attacks on Democrats, personal attack on Biden, maybe not. Maybe he tones that down. But it will still be a pugilistic speech, because to be anything else wouldn't be, Donald Trump, and it wouldn't be true to form. That's really the central question, right?

Trump is going to be Trump. I mean, he can't completely, one would say, and his son kind of confirmed this, completely, you know, shed who he has been for all of these 78 years. And yet, he clearly sees this as a new moment. Well, you see the tone throughout the week here is one.

I do feel like the rhetoric is much different here over the last several days. I think that's what's coming. You still have to make your case to voters. I mean, it doesn't mean you cannot attack the other side.

Joe Biden was with lesser hold the other night and was lobbying attacks that Donald Trump left in the other day. So you still have to make your case out there. The question I think is, how will that be done? And what type of tone and rhetoric will be used?

But if this week is any indication, it's going to be a much different Donald Trump on Thursday night. No doubt. Your former boss Doug Bergham is going to be taking the podium tonight. What do you think we can expect to hear from him?

He's getting some buzzes of potential cabinets. I think he ran a campaign based on economy, energy and national security. There's a lot of talk about energy tonight, particularly I think he will probably talk about the importance of energy and how it affects our national security and how it affects our economy. That's been a message he's talked about since a year ago.

I would not be surprised if that's a lot of what his message is about tonight. And Lonnie, what else will you be looking for tonight? Well, I think it's going to be a continuation of theme, but we're going to see more focus on national security issues, consistent with what the focus should be tonight. And ultimately, I think the Trump campaign believes this is a strong point of contrast to them.

You have a world that's in relative chaos. And they're going to say, look, when Donald Trump was president, that wasn't the case. And they're going to draw that explicit line of Joe Biden tonight. So again, I would expect that fighting spirit to come out of every speaker we hear tonight.

All right. Lonnie Chen, Lance Trovers. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it.

Come up after the break. We're counting down to night three of the RNC with Gold Star families, a D-Day veteran, and the family members of a Hamas hostage all set to take the stage tonight. Along with Trump's running a Senator JD Vance, the big moment of the evening. You're watching a very special edition of Meet the Press Now live from Milwaukee.

We're back after a quick break. Welcome back. As we mentioned the theme for Night Three of the Republican National Convention. We'll focus on foreign policy and national security.

The festivities kick off shortly. So let's go live down to the action that convention floor to our NBC News correspondent, Jacob Soboroff. Jacob, set the scene. How are we looking for Night Three?

Well, you can already hear, Kristen. We got a little musical rehearsal taking place right now. All of this leading, of course, to the big speech tonight from vice presidential nominee JD Vance. There's a couple other preparations in the way.

Let me show you some of them. They got signs. That is the first time I've seen this since we've been doing this for the last three days. For everyone here, we got Trump.

We'll end the Ukraine war. That's a new one. Here's another one. Make America strong again.

And we've got the good old Trump magma. Make America great again. And you can see, Kristen, I'll show you. On every one of these seats, they've got these signs for everybody to hold up tonight.

Ultimately, out tonight will be about the speeches. It'll be about the theme of Make America strong again. When it comes to speakers, there's going to be many familiar names, including Rick Renele, who I last saw two days after the election of 2020 when he was denying the results in Nevada, Tom Holman, the former ICE director, who was one of the people that put forward the family separation policy. It's all going to lead up to JD Vance, vice presidential nominee, as a keynote speaker tonight.

People are excited. The band's rehearsing. I can barely hear myself. Well, I can barely hear you, Jacob, but I'm listening very closely to make sure I don't miss anything.

We also saw former President Trump do his technical walks through. How did he do? How did he look? You know, I was watching, actually, with our colleague Katie Turin real time, and it was interesting to see him.

It was slow. He was deliberate. And obviously, he is preparing for his big night tomorrow night. He was surrounded by many aides, including Walt Nada.

He was surrounded by Jason Miller. And then Stephen Miller, no relation, of course. But Stephen Miller is one of the most preeminent advisors for former President Trump during that first presidential term, controversial figure, certainly in the administration. But I thought it was a signal to go out there with Stephen Miller at a time when former President Trump is talking about maybe toning down the rhetoric, because that's certainly one of his most outspoken advisors to be sure.

There's no doubt about that. And we know, obviously, the former President is also a former reality TV star. So he takes those walk-throughs very seriously. He's looking at every angle.

He's looking at the light to make sure everything is just right. Jacob Soboroff, thank you so much for bringing us all of the action from the Convention Floor. We really appreciate it. I am back tomorrow with Wermi the Press now live from Milwaukee on the final day of the Republican National Convention.

My colleague, Holly Jackson, is sitting right next to me, ready to pick up the coverage from here. As the video wraps up, get the scoop on what's been happening with, here's the scoop. But a podcast from NBC News, with me, your host, Gaz and Vesugia. We'll take a deep dive into the day's top stories with NBC News' trusted journalist.

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