Meet the Press NOW — October 2

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Conditions apply. Offering is 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit hyundaicanda.com or your local deal for details. If it's Wednesday, President Biden tours Helene's devastation in the Carolinas as his vice president heads to Georgia to speak about federal relief efforts with the death toll climbing and communities reeling.

Plus, the campaigns hit the trail with just 34 days ago after Governor Tim Walls and Senator Jamie Vance are in their first and only vice presidential debate, going toe to toe on the issues and the records of their running mates. And President Biden backs new sanctions on Iran and says Israel has a right to respond proportionally to Tehran's massive missile attack as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu vows revenge. Welcome to MEET THE press. Now.

I'm Kristen Welker. We begin with breaking news as both President Biden and Vice President Harris assessed firsthand the damage caused by Hurricane Helene as it becomes the deadliest storm to hit the mainland since Hurricane Katrina. Right now the president is headed to North Carolina where he's set to receive an update on recovery operations. He left South Carolina a short time ago after taking an aerial tour of impacted areas in South Carolina while announcing he had directed the Pentagon to Deploy up to 1,000 active duty soldiers to help with the recovery efforts.

Now the White House says the president will travel tomorrow to Florida and Georgia. That's where the vice president is right now. She is about to give an update from Augusta on the White House's response to the disaster. We will be keeping a very close eye on her remarks, but she did speak to reporters before being briefed by authorities.

I've been reading and hearing about the work you've been doing over the last few days, and I think it really does represent some of the best of what we each know can be done, especially when we coordinated around local, state and federal resources to meet the needs of people who must be seen, must be heard. These are very difficult times, and in the moment of crisis, I think that really does bring out the best of who we are. Rescue and recovery efforts, meanwhile, are continuing. Officials say at least 176 people have been confirmed dead in the wake of the storm More than half in North Carolina.

The storm's true impact may not be known for some time as washed out roads and widespread destruction have made it difficult for crews to reach remote areas in mountain towns that have been completely cut off. Carolina National Guard helicopters dropping off supplies and rescuing the injured. As of this afternoon, more than a million people across the Southeast are still without power. Duke Energy releasing these pictures showing damage to its substation in Asheville, Tennessee.

Officials meanwhile, say they'll investigate allegations against a plastics factory where several workers died and others are missing. Joining me now, NBC's Antonia Hilton in Asheville, North Carolina. NBC's Morgan Chesky is in Irwin, Tennessee. And NBC's Ryan Nobles is in Augusta, Georgia.

Antonio, let me start with you. What is the latest on the ground there and talk about the impact of President Biden's visit. Hey, Kristen. Well, there is so much need here in the Asheville area.

Our team has been here at the site of a mana food bank operation since about 8:30 in the morning has just gotten busier and busier. At one point the line for people who are some cases checking in right now waiting for their turn to come in and get a supplies and it was stretching back to the highway just to give you a sense with an estimate of over 1,200 different cars coming through. Some of these cars though have up to three families in them. So give you just a sense of the need here.

People are coming here asking for water and food. Of course, they're asking for formula for babies. We spoke with a mother earlier who said that the baby infant in their family hadn't had proper formula in five days. Take a listen.

So the conversations we've had naturalist is not prepared for hurricanes. We don't know where water is available. I know it's available, but we don't have any means of finding out where it is. We don't have cell service.

You don't have Internet. The radio is the only way that we're getting any information. And look, these folks are grateful that Biden was able to do the aerial tour and that he was not physically on the ground because the level of dis that would have caused, you know, it's hard to describe. Right now first responders are having a hard time getting out to some of the mountain communities outside of the city.

There are people who are still saying they can barely get access to the Internet, can barely get updates on the local supplies and resources available to them. So that's really the last thing they needed right now, although they're grateful to all the federal workers who are fanning out right now to give them support. Kristen and Antonio, let me follow up with you on that last point that you made that is just so important. How are workers trying to get the necessary supplies in some of those remote areas that are currently inaccessible right now?

Kristen they are trying everything. Helicopters are going out into some of the more remote areas that you just frankly can't reach by road anymore. We've spoken to some of the families who have come from those areas who described having to clear roads themselves just so they could go back out into the outside world and go check on family members. So first responders are doing a lot of that work.

They are sending out crews that specialize and clearing very heavy debris and trees. We just spoke to a family that drove by moments ago and their own car had almost been entirely crushed by a tree, their home partially harmed by a tree. And so that is the sort of urgent need. Now, you might think that five days into all this that they've got it figured out, but the reality is there are hundreds of people still unaccounted for and that death to that number of 175, 176.

Everyone says it's likely to go up in the coming hours and days or so. Just devastating and remarkable, of course, to see the community coming together behind you. Anti Hilton, thank you so much for that great report and for your interview. We really appreciate it.

Morgan Chassis, let me turn to you. Eastern Tennessee, obviously not an area that has seen a hurricane of this magnitude. How are the folks there holding up? What's the latest where you are?

Yeah, Kristen, an absolutely heartbreaking scene here in northeastern Tennessee. We've been on the ground now, had a chance to travel briefly with the Tennessee, Tennessee Army National Guard, and they have really become a critical lifeline on two fronts here by air with Army Blackhawk helicopters and on the ground and delivering these supplies, they're now being handed out to people in desperate need of help. Kristen, I mentioned those helicopters. They have essentially become a lifeline because as you heard Antonio mention in the Carolinas and also here in Tennessee, there are communities that as of tonight, almost a week after this horrific storm struck, are still essentially cut off.

One resident telling me that there's one way in and there's one way out. And when you have a bridge washed out, that sums up the state of things. We know that the people there survived the storm, but they're in need of just about everything. There have been reports of helicopters taking generators, gas, food, water, to hopefully sustain these communities long Enough until some sort of emergency roadway can be built.

Now we're here in Carter county, one of the hardest hit. Kristen, we have somewhat a silver lining report today and that is just 24 hours ago, the number of people missing in this county was 60, an incredible number. Fortunately, we just had a chance to speak with the mayor of the county and she tells us that that number has dropped drastically down to just three people. Incredibly hopeful news there.

And Kristen, she said in a lot of those cases, there were people living in these hard hit rural areas that simply didn't have any cell service because of the extent of the source damage and that they have had crews going in and around the damage zone to connect with these people, confirm that they're okay. And that's one of the reasons that list of missing has dropped so drastically. While we're here in Carter county, there's also significant news report out of neighboring Unicorn County. That is where that plastics factory is located, Kristen, where multiple deaths took place.

That that runs that factory now under investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and taking a closer look on if proper protocol was followed because we know that multiple families are saying that employees at that plant were not able to leave in time to safely get to shelter. And as a result, we're caught up in those tragic floodwaters. So an incredibly dynamic scene here, Kristen. But today, I believe is the first day at least for this area in northeast Tennessee that it's gone from a rescue mode into a recovery mode.

Just devastating to hear the story about those workers in that factory. Morgan Chesky, we really appreciate your reporting. Thank you so much. Ryan Nobles, let me turn to you.

You are the vice president in Augusta. What can you tell us about her visit and her message today? The message that we heard from the vice president and this is an ongoing visit happening right now as we speak, is her connection with the local officials here to ask them where there may be gaps in their recovery efforts and let them know that the federal government is here to help in case they need those gaps filled and also to make sure that the resources that are coming from the federal government are getting here quickly enough so that they can be put to use right away. But it's important to keep in mind the scale of what we're talking about here.

Kristen youn can see all the damage behind me in Augusta, Georgia. We are six hours away from where Morgan Chesky is right now. This is a massive storm that encompasses five or six states. The federal government response here is going to be enormous.

It's going to require billions and billions of dollars. And it's going to need to get them as quickly as possible. That's part of what the vice president is doing here to express to the people of this community. And beyond that, they're here to help and they're going to try and get those resources to them as quickly as possible.

Well, and Ryan, as you know, former President Trump has criticized Vice President Harris, his challenger, and President Biden for their response to the hurricane. What has the reaction been to that from the Harris campaign? From the vice president? Yeah.

I mean, I think the White House specifically is trying to treat this not as a campaign issue, but instead an issue of the official office. They are doing the best they can to distance the vice president's campaign for president away from this recovery effort. But what they said simply is that they're going to come here no matter what. They're going to be here and be a part of this recovery effort.

But they wanted to make sure that a visit from the president or the vice president. Yes. Didn't disrupt the work that was being done on the ground. They were even careful, as you heard Antonio's report, about the way that both the president and the vice president visited these sites to make sure that they weren't getting in the way of that recovery effort.

It's also important to keep in mind that former President Trump criticized the vice president for raising money during the beginning of the hurricane. That's what he is now doing. He's not in this recovery zone now. While she is here.

He is out raising money. So there's a bit of a hypocritical stance when it comes to this. Of course it's important. Keep in mind, Kristen, that no one wants to talk about politics when you're talking about a recovery effort like the scale of the one we're dealing with now.

But it will be in the back of the minds of the people that live here when they head to the polls in just a little more than a month. It's such an important point, a critical state, undoubtedly for the election, but right now, the focus obviously on helping that community rebuild. Ryan Noble, thank you so much. I'm joined now by former FEMA administrator Craig Fuget.

He was in charge of the agency during the Obama administration and oversaw its response to Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Thank you so much for joining. I really appreciate it. My pleasure.

I'm hoping you can start off by just giving us a sense of the scale of what we all just witnessed, what those communities have just experienced. Have you ever seen this level of devastation from a hurricane this far inland. Unfortunately, we saw this with Hurricane Irene, State of Vermont population were smaller. If you go Back in history, 1969, Hurricane Camille did the same type of damage except in Virginia.

And I really want to give credit to National Weather Service. This was a well forecasted storm that we knew was going to be big, that we were going to see effects from the Atlantic to the Gulf, and that it was going to be an extremely dangerous, catastrophic rainmaking event. So you know, the weather service got that part and I think we really need to come back and re emphasize that many of the most deadly parts of a hurricane are not the wind, it is the water. And the inland flooding has actually over the last 10 years been increasing as far as percentage of deaths over wind and even storm surge.

And are there similarities, are there parallels that you see between Helene and Superstorm Sandy? Particularly when you think about the fact that areas like New York were pounded. The only similarity is election year. You know, what you're dealing with in the Appalachians, in the Carolinas are that what you saw was already near saturated, had a lot of rain and then they get this extreme rainfall and you get these multiple flash floods that are causing devastation.

And I think again we see more of these extreme rainfall events. We've had history of this before. But what I see here is this is very much the focus area that's still in response to that area in the Carolinas, while much of the other regions are starting to get into recovery mode as power comes back up and they complete their search and rescue operations. And obviously there's still so many who do not have power or water.

How long do you think it will take until that can be restored to those communities? Well, it really goes back to the damage and again, I think utilities have done a great job of getting things back up where they can. But you've got to rebuild power lines, you're having to rebuild substations and in some cases people will not be able to take power because they're too much damage to their homes or businesses. So you know, you'll get a big turnaround quickly that slows down.

But it also is not a lack of crews. It's just the work that's got to be done to rebuild some of this infrastructure. And obviously we've been talking a lot about the recovery operation. How long do you think that will take and what role should FEMA play?

This recovery is going to take years, if not a decade. We go back to Hurricane Katrina. We're still doing repairs from that 10 years after that storm hit, FEMA's role is going to be really focused right now on helping these communities get to a point where they're stable enough to begin recovery and begin funding repairs and replacement of the losses. But we're also going to need other federal programs.

There's a lot of agricultural impacts. There's going to be a lot of housing needs that go beyond what FEMA can do. So HUD's going to need additional funding, federal aid highway for all the federal highways that got damaged and destroyed. So I think when they get to the numbers, we're going to be looking at a rather substantial amount of funding required to help these communities not just get back, but also build back better for future disasters.

Last thing we want to do is replace something only to set it up to be failed in another event. So that's exactly my next question to you. What does FEMA need to do to prepare for future events, particularly given the fact that this hurricane was so strong, was so large in terms of its size and quite frankly the damage that it was able to do? Well, FEMA's been doing this for some time and I think this goes back and reinforces that we cannot build our infrastructure in many cases based upon weather events for the last hundred years because it's not preparing us to go forward.

And so FEMA is working to say if we're going to rebuild something, we're just not going to build it back to what we had before and in some cases not going to build it back to current building types, but putting more emphasis on funding that structure. So like a fire station or school is built for future risks, not just what we've seen in the past. It takes a little bit more money on the front end but saves money long term as it reduces the impacts of these storms. Well, former FEMA administrator Craig Feige, we really appreciate your insights this afternoon.

Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me. Coming up, missteps, non answers and happy warriors. We have the highlights from last night's vice presidential debate as Governor Tim Walls and Senator J.D.

bands go from the stage to the trail with less than five weeks to go. Stay with us. You're watching. Do the press drive off in a new Hyundai Launcher today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event.

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Visit hyundaicata.com or your local deal for details. Welcome back. Both campaigns are back on the trail today after last night's vice presidential debate between Republican Senator J.D. vance and Democratic Governor Tim Walsh, which featured some terms that we're not used to hearing from a national debate stage recently.

I agree, I actually think I agree with you. I think you would solve this problem, but I don't think that Kamala Harris says I agree with the lie of what Senator Vance said about what's happening. His running mate, though, does not. And that's the problem.

Our Hearts castle families are affected by this terrible stuff and we do have to do better. And I think that Governor Waltz and I should probably agree that we need to do better on this. I 100% believe that Senator Vance hates it when these kids. It's boring and it breaks your heart.

I agree with that. As for the substance, J.D. vance picked up where Donald Trump left off at the presidential debate. But Vance did so with a notably less aggressive style, calmly attacking Vice President Harris and defending the Trump administration.

A lot of what Kamala Harris proposes to do and some of it, I'll be honest with you, it even sounds pretty good. Here's what you won't hear is that Kamala Harris has already done it because she's been the vice president for three and a half years. She had the opportunity to enact all of these great policies. Honestly, Tim, I think you got a tough job here because you've got to play whack a mole.

You got to pretend that Donald Trump didn't deliver rising take home pay, which of course he did. You gotta pretend that Donald Trump didn't deliver lower inflation, which of course he did. And you simultaneously got to defend Kamala Harris's atrocious economic record. For his part, Tim Wallace did stumble a few times early on, as some allies predicted he might due to his campaign's more sheltered media strategy leading up to the debate.

Here he is answering a question about a false claim he made about being in China during the Tiananmen Square protests. I will be the first to tell you, I have poured my heart into my community. I've tried to do the best I can, but I've not been perfect and I'm a knucklehead at times, but it's always been about that. The question was, can you explain the all I said on this was I got there that summer and misspoke on this So I, I will just.

That's what I've said. So I was in Hong Kong and China during the democracy protest went in, and from that I learned a lot of what needed to be in governance. And in what may be the most memorable moment from the debate, both candidates mixed it up on the issue of democracy and former President Trump's false claims of election fraud. I would just have to.

Did he lose the 2020 election? Tim? I'm focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris censor Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the 2020 Covid situation?

As a damning non answer? That's what we're asking you, America. Will you stand up? Will you keep your oath of office even if the president doesn't?

I think you've got a really clear choice on this election of who's gonna honor that democracy and who's gonna honor Donald Trump. Let's head to the campaigns for the very latest. Monica Alba is covering the Harris campaign and Dasha Burns is covering the Trump campaign. Monica, let me start with you.

I was receiving some panicked texts from Democrats of the debate last night, but then they feel as though Governor Walz had that strong finish with that moment about democracy that we just played there. What are you hearing from inside the campaign and Vice President Harris's allies? Yeah. Similarly, Kristen, last night, advisors to both Vice President Harris and Governor Walls admitted that he was off to a little bit of a tricky start.

He was visibly nervous. It was clear that maybe he had over prepared some of those answers and they came off as a bit scripted and he did stumble at times. But they felt like he really, by the end of the debate, was able to offer a contrast. That is exactly what they were looking to get out of the evening.

And is that closing exchange on January 6th and democracy overall that they feel was his strongest moment. And that's why they already cut that into an ad this morning. And they are pointing to that as a sign of really their messaging breaking through, they feel. And so that is something they're touting.

But at the same time, we've seen Governor Walls have to do even a little bit more cleanup when it comes to some of those answers that he gave last night. And he did so in his first gaggle, meaning answering reporters questions while traveling in Pennsylvania today. Take a listen to how he offered a bit more on those questions around the Tiananmen Square visit. Look, I had my dates wrong.

I was in Hong Kong and China in 1989. That, that move from Hong Kong into China, it was profoundly that was the summer of democracy. I said it's where I understood how sacred democracy was. But here's my whole point on that thing in China.

I do understand China a hell of a lot better than Donald Trump. Kamala Harris understands China. I will tell you this. Xi Jinping is not someone you should look up to.

Xi Jinping is not someone who you should say does a good job on things a zomp has said about COVID So it's notable that he did answer some of those questions, Kristen, because exactly. As you've been pointing out, this was somebody who had been doing some press and regularly appearing on shows and doing interviews before he was named the running mate. And then that really tapered off. And so now we're told he's gonna try to take on a bit more of an aggressive strategy on that front.

Well, you know, Monica, it's such a fascinating point because of course there was the criticism that not just with interviews with the media, that he and Vice President Kamala Harris hadn't been in a lot of unscripted events. And so are you hearing that this new strategy will involve not just interviews, but trying to get out in front of voters, take more questions, even in the form of town halls, for example. It sounds like Governor Walls at least now is gonna take on a bit more of an aggressive posture in that sense and really be out campaigning in this final sprint, really doing those kinds of events and appearing, interacting more with voters in those unscripted settings. He's also gonna be doing some late night and more of that sort of national focal interest point interviews to try to get that out there that really we hadn't seen from him the last couple of weeks.

But the question remains for the vice president. We know that, for instance, she's sitting down with 60 minutes, which was offered to former President Trump as well, though he is not partaking in that. And then they are saying that she and this last stretch will be doing more of that too. But honestly, that's been the message for a while and we haven't seen that much of it.

Every once in a while she'll do some local interviews or some radio interviews, but there certainly is this question of how much more do you do in the final stretch for this race to move in anyway, since it continues to be incredibly tight. Yeah. Some allies saying that when the race is this tight, you can't play it that safe. All right, Monica Alba, thank you as always for your great reporting.

Dasha, let me turn over to you. And as I was just discussing with Monica, the Democrats feel as though the strongest night for Governor Walz was when he pressed Senator J.D. vance on whether he believes Donald Trump lost the 20 election. He pivoted, didn't answer the question, said he wants to focus on the future.

He was asked about it again today. What was his response? Yeah, Kristen, that was perhaps one of the more telling moments of the debate. You talked earlier.

Waltz took a little bit to get his seat legs under him. J.D. vance, the Trump campaign was very happy with kind of his polished, congenial tone. But this was the moment that really went viral online and in political circles.

Well, Vance was asked why he didn't answer that question. Take a listen. Why didn't you answer the question last night during the debate about who won the 2020 presidential election? Well, look, here, here's, here's a simple reason the media is obsessed with talking about the election four years ago.

I'm focused on the election of 33 days from now because I want to throw Kamala Harris out of office and get back to common sense accounting policies. But we're talking about election integrity because I believe that every vote on account, but only the legally cast votes. And that's why we fight for election integrity and that's why we care so much about it. So once again, Kristen, not directly answering that question.

And you know, the reason that this continues to come up is also because his running date continues to bring it up. At just about every rally that I've been to. The former president claims that he won the 2020 election, falsely claims that, and also falsely claims that Democrats are already trying to cheat in the upcoming election. So it's past and it's future and it's not going away, especially with some of the court filings that we got today.

It's not. And of course, the issue we're going to get to the court filings in our next slots. So thank you for that preview, Dasha. But you're right.

And the issue of democracy has obviously risen in the minds of voters. You know, in it's interesting because heading into last night, Senator Vance had the highest unfavorable ratings of all four candidates. And in fact, it's the second highest in the history of our NBC News debate. It was clear on that debate stage he was trying to answer critics who feel as though they don't know him, they don't like him, and he tried to come off as more congenial.

A lot of Democrats texted me and said, boy, he's achieving that tonight. Talk a little bit about shift in his strategy that you're reporting on? Oh, yeah. I mean, it was polite.

It was congenial. There were moments of empathy at that one point where the senator reacted to Governor Walls talking about his son witnessing a shooting, really making the point to address him, to be kind, to be empathetic. This is not the JD Vance that we've seen on the campaign trail, but this is a bit of the JD Vance that people perhaps knew during the hillbilly elegy days when he first flashed onto the scene. And this is the kind of approach to a debate that I think the campaign would have loved for former President Trump to have.

I mean, everyone knows he's not going to be necessarily the empathetic Mr. Congeniality, but the focus on policy, the focus on the issues, the direct speaking to Americans, that was I think, a surprise to some people who have seen Vance's tone and tenor on the trailer the last couple of days, but a pleasant surprise to those who wanted to see him speak to that middle person. All right, Dasha and Monica beforehand, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Coming up next, that highly anticipated filing has been unsealed in Special counsel Jack Smith's election interference case against former President Trump. We'll tell you what's in it. And watching the press now, drop off in a new Hyundai Launcher today with $0 down during the Hyundai Advantage sales event. Take advantage of the $1,000 spring drive bonus and lease the 2026 laundry section for just $73 weekly at four point months.

And you're covered by Elantra's best in class 5 year new car warranty. Now that's the Hyundai Advantage Conditions apply offer includes 1% loyalty rate reduction for qualifying customers. Visit HyundaiCanada.com or your local dealer for details. Breaking news we are following the judge presiding over Donald Trump's federal election interference case has just unsealed special counsel Jack Smith's motion of evidence.

The redacted 160 page brief includes evidence Smith and his team have gathered against the former president in the case. MEC News justice reporter Ryan Reilly joins me now. So, Ryan, break this down. What are the biggest takeaways from this filing?

Yes, the reason this all came about is because Jackson is arguing after that Supreme Court immunity ruling that these actions that Donald Trump took were in his capacity as a private citizen rather than his capacity as president. Because, of course, the Supreme Court ruled that they cannot use any of the evidence or prosecutors cannot use any of the evidence that there were official access President so what prosecutors were able to do here is basically Lay out a lot of the evidence that they have and especially his dealings with the campaign. I think big picture, what they really need a strong case for is that Donald Trump knew that he was spreading lies. Right.

I mean, this contention that the 2020 election was filmed has always been sort of facially ridiculous. And a lot of the newer, generous defendants have actually gone before judges and say they feel like gullible, quote, idiots for believing a lot of the lies that Donald Trump was spreading. It was always tough to sort of get inside of Donald Trump's head. Did he actually believe this sort of misinformation that he was spreading or was this a purposeful, purposeful act to try to overturn the election by spreading, purposely spreading what he knew to be lies?

Jackasse argued that he does in fact know that these were lies. In this case. They lay out a pretty strong case suggesting that Donald Trump had to have known because so many people around him in his campaign told him that this was all nonsense. I would point in particular to cities like Detroit and Philadelphia.

And what really guts this argument, other than all Donald Trump's focus on that, is that Donald Trump actually did better in, in Philadelphia and Detroit than he did in 2016. So he had improvements there. So his entire focus on those cities doesn't make any logical sense. And really the reason that Donald Trump lost in Pennsylvania and in Michigan, for example, is because he lost support in the suburbs outside of the cities.

It wasn't really because of that focus that he's had very intensely and continues to have even as lately as Sunday on cities like Philadelphia, which of course are majority non white cities, which is a long history of that focusing on that within the rnc. Well, let me ask you, Ryan, what happens next in this case? Because there has been so much back and forth and quite frankly, so many delays. Yeah.

So the next step is going to be argument over whether this case can continue, frankly, because Judge Truckin has to decide whether this case can continue under what the Supreme Court laid out, the parameters of the Supreme Court laid out because the Supreme Court took away the ability to use all the evidence of his official acts. His official acts mostly in this context, related to his actions within the Justice Department. For example, trying to press justice to supreme officials to make these accusations that there was something untoward about the election that is also out of this. But what is still in argue prosecutors, is all these interactions with the campaign.

So that's why we've seen so much focus there. But you know, we're still looking at months and months and potentially another cycle through the Supreme Court before this ultimately gets trial. And course, all that is dependent upon whether Donald Trump wins or loses in November. Well, Ryan, it's all just breaking now.

Thank you for jumping in front of the camera for us and reading it very quickly. We really appreciate it. Good to see you. Coming up next, the issues and the 2024 race will zero in on health care, a hot issue in last night's VP debate.

The panel's next. You're WATCHING ME, the PRESS now. Welcome back. The vice president is providing an update on federal relief efforts in Augusta, Georgia.

Let's listen to interact personally with folks, especially those who do not have electricity. But also that aid, if you have electricity, can be applied for online. And I encourage people to do that. FEMA will just basically verify your address and then process your take hold.

FEMA is also providing tens of thousands more dollars for folks to help them be able to deal with home repair, to be able to cover a deductible when and if they have insurance and also hotel cost. Today, I'm also announcing that the president has approved the governor's request for 100% federal reimbursement of local costs. And Mayor, as you have pointed out, the burden to local governments, including state, the state government is pretty immense. And so by announcing today and making the dedicated resources to cover 100 of local costs will have a huge impact on our ability to get relief to people as quickly as possible.

And that will include, for example, what the federal government will do to reimburse local and state governments around issues like debris removal, which you can see just up and down this street, much less in other areas of the state and in the region. This is a big issue. I was speaking with one of the residents of the community who needs that big tree removed so she can actually get to work and and make sure that her child is able to get to school when the schools reopen. So this is a very big part of the recovery process.

That money of the federal reimbursement will also help with emergency services that are now being provided by the state so that they can be reimbursed and then have the resources to keep providing those emergency services. Also, we will be covering the local government costs for food, water and shelter, again, resources that are desperately needed by the members of this community. And we've been listening to Vice President Kamala Harris speaking in Augusta, Georgia, saying President Biden has approved federal emergency response to help fund the recovery efforts in that state as well as the other impacted areas. We'll continue to Monitor the vice president and bring you any other news as we get it.

We do want to turn out last night's showdown between Senator Jamie Vance and Governor Walls featuring its share of familiar 2024 issues, including the economy, immigration and abortion. But it was an exchange on healthcare that perhaps, perhaps stood out the most. As Donald Trump's running mate again falsely claimed the former president had rescued the Affordable Care act club. When Obamacare was crushing under the weight of its own regulatory burden and health care costs, Donald Trump could have destroyed the program.

Instead, he worked in a bipartisan way to ensure that Americans had access to affordable care. On day one, he tried to sign an executive order to repeal the aca. He signed on to a lawsuit to repeal the ACA but lost at the Supreme Court. And he would have repealed the ACA had it not been for the courage of John McCain to say that bill now comes after Mr.

Trump made a similar claim in his own debate last month. While claiming he has, quote, concepts of a plan to overhaul the American health care system is all something the Harris campaign has seized on in a multi million dollar applets. If we come up with something, we're going to do it and we're going to replace it. You still do not have a plan.

I have concepts of a plan. There are concepts and options. We have to do that. You have no plan.

When Donald Trump was president, he tried to get rid of the Affordable Care Act. Joining me now is NBC News senior national political reporter Sahil Kapoor, Stephanie Shriyak, senior Democratic strategist and former president of Emily's List and Mark Short, White House former White House director of Legislative affairs under former President Trump and former chief of staff to Mike Pence and an NBC News political analyst. Thanks to all of you for being here. Sahil, let me start with you.

Talk about the significance of that exchange on healthcare. It's not one of the top issues for voters, but it is certainly something that resonates. Yeah, certainly is. I mean Senator events is carrying the campaign line here, but we're he said it's quite simply revisionist history.

It is not what happened. I was here covering that ACA repeal push all the way through. And Donald Trump past president tried to use every tool at his disposal to dismantle and destroy the ACA. He fought for the American Health Care act in 2017 would unwind the subsidies that would have weakened objections for preexisting conditions that fell one vote short in the Senate.

He used executive actions to promote short term plans that could get around ACA regulations. He Cut funding for people to sign up for the ACA. He asked the Supreme Court in the year 2020 to wipe out ACA its entirety. So the ACA survived despite Trump's efforts to dismantle it.

The idea that he somehow chose to save it, you know, or they salvage it on purpose. It's revisionist history. It's not happening. Mark, it is a line that former President Trump and now Senator Jdz have repeated quite frequently.

What is your take and do you think he needs to shore up that answer on healthcare beyond saying that his concepts. Well, look, listen, I actually think J.D. vance had a really good debate, but on this particular issue, I think it's important to note that despite everything Steel said is true, prior effort was repealed Obamacare. When we failed that effort, they did include more options on the Obamacare change.

The rates went down during the Trump years, went back up during the Biden years. Having said that, I think it's one more chapter where we're now basically Republicans boasting about saving government run health care, where we've continued to run away from all our conservative principles. We've abandoned the commitment to life. We've abandoned traditional marriage.

We've walked away from Ukraine. We now have a platform that embraces protectionism of free trade. And so it's one more step in this campaign's effort, I think, to discourage conservatives in every possible way. Stephanie, what do you make of this?

Let me just put up the graph just to show kind of where health care is on the list of issues. I mean, look, inflation, cost of living right there at the top. Threats to democracy, by the way, has moved up to number two, health care all the way at the bott under jobs in the economy and abortion. Well, I always think of these intermixed because the truth is economics, access to abortion, health care, that is all tied into whether or not your family's gonna make ends meet or how you're gonna plan your family out.

And so I kind of find those questions when we make them choose issues, that's not how a voter thinks about all of this. And so that is why, you know, ACA has been incredibly popular and growing and popular because people are very concerned about their healthcare and any changes better be to the better and concepts are not going to do it became popular, by the way, when Donald Trump tried to repeal it. It was unpopular for years and years, and suddenly the whole debate happened in 2017. But that's when the line shifted.

It grew more popular than unpopular. I should have reached out to the Trump campaign about he indicated during his presidential debate that he was going to release his afterc. Then there's no notification when he's come out with a plan of the campaign told me that he's he wants to eliminate waste and fraud. They said he wants to put patients first from a quality care.

It's more like talking points about plants. He doesn't have it yet. Interesting. No timeline yet for when he may roll that out.

Unfortunately, I have five minutes ago until election Day. Mark, I want to go back to the point that you're making about conservative principles because one of the questions that I asked Senator J.D. vance when I interviewed him several weeks ago is would Donald Trump veto a national abortion ban? He said yes, he would.

Trump had not said that himself. And then Trump was asked about it on the debate stage and he said Vance hadn't consulted with him. And then he put this on Trump put this on True Social last night. Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban under any circumstances and would in fact veto it.

How is that going to play with the Republican base who someone who's already skeptical of where he stands on abortion because he has been a little bit map well, Kristen, I think that J.D. vance did a much better job last night actually prosecuting the case on Iran, on the economy on the border than Trump did in his debate. So I give him credit for that. On this particular issue though, I think it is discouraging many conservatives, I don't know how many will actually, you know, not be supportive because they view that the Harris regime is so, so rapidly pro abortion that they're still going to stick with Trump.

But I still think it's discouraging for pro lifers to not have somebody to make articulate defense about why we believe in life, why we believe we should be protecting most citizens. And I know it's referred to as the federal abortion ban, but that's referring to the pink capable bill which again at 15 weeks is still even to the left of where most socialist group is in which they have a band 12 or 13 weeks and roughly 70% of American people support that and having disability to defend that I think is lacking on a Republican ticket right now. But I was going to say that when it comes to, you know, the voters of this country, access to abort is still, you know, seven out of 10Americans. And when we're talking about any kind of ban, including the dismissal of Roe and what he has done and there's no trust with Trump with regard to this and there's no Trump, excuse me, there's no trust with women in the middle and clearly there's no trust on the other end because I have no doubt that that man is going to sign whatever a Republican Congress puts in front of him because the pressure will be amazing.

He just swings in the wind. It is gonna be one of the biggest factors in this race given that the issue of abortion is on the ballot actually in 10 states. I just want to zoom out a little bit, get everyone's take on the night overall. Sahil, look, Democrats feel as though Walls had a really strong moment at the end when he pressed to advance on democracy.

They acknowledged he had a shot. Shaky start. Do you think this debate moves cynical? Well, I think what was very evident yesterday was that both the men on the stage recognized that the bottom of the ticket doesn't really matter.

That's why they took every opportunity to be nice to each other, respectful with each other, even chiming with each other. Oh, I believe your heart's in the right place. But Kamala Harris is not. And Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump is not.

And you know, Tim Wall used his first question to say a 78 year old Donald Trump is not. Mark, we have about less than 30 seconds, but I still think that the issue set is in Republicans favor. I think it's astonishing though, with the economy around the border, the Republicans aren't doing significantly better. I think it shows there's a low ceiling at the top.

Stephanie, final point. I think Governor Walls had a slow start. Coach Walls came back in the second half and laid out on healthcare, on abortion access, ultimately on democracy and on the economy which is turning our direction, did really well. All right, guys, great conversation.

Thank you so much. Sahil, Stephanie and Mark. Well, a day after defending against a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack, Israel is now saying today it will retaliate and swiftly. Prime Minister Netanyahu met today with Israel's military intelligence leaders.

An Israeli official tells NBC News that the response to Iran's strike will be larger than the retaliatory strikes we saw Israel launch back in April. Speaking to reporters, President Biden reiterated Israel has a right to respond. The answer is no. And I think there's things we'll be discussing the Israelis, what they're going to do.

But they all seven of us agree that they have a right to respond. But they should respond, unfortunately. Joining me now on set is Ambassador John Bolton, former national Security Advisor to former President Donald Trump. Ambassador Bolton, thank you so much for joining me today.

I really appreciate it. Glad to be with you. Let's start off by talking about this moment, this escalation between Iran and Israel, by all accounts, Israel's made it very clear they plan to respond to Iran's attack. What do you think Israel's response should look like?

What are you hearing about what it might look like? Well, I think you have to look at this in the context of the overall war since last October 7, where Israel's been fighting on a number of fronts and now for the second time since April, confronted by Iran directly. I think that Israel should look at a series of targets, but they should be very significant targets, starting with the Iranian nuclear weapons program, including its oil terminal facilities on Kharg island and a couple of other places, the ballistic missile program and significant military installations. Do you think that that is a high likelihood that Israel will target their nuclear program?

I think it's very likely that the nuclear program could be a target for several reasons. First, this is something that Prime Minister Netanyahu, beyond any other Israeli politician, has recognized as the existential threat for Israel. And I think people should understand that with now 300 some ballistic missiles having been fired at Israel since April, they have to worry that the next time they see a ballistic missile aimed at them, it could contain a nuclear weapon under a nose cone. So that is a motivation to solve the nuclear problem now.

And you say there's a high likelihood. What gives you that level of confidence? Well, I think that given what Israel has been through for the past year, given the pressure that's been put on it, given the fact that President Biden went out his way to say publicly today he didn't want Israel to target the nuclear weapons in Iran, indicates that they're worried that that's about what's going to happen. I think Israel would be perfectly justified to do it.

I've thought for a long time that nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran was a threat to the United States. What do you think the United States response should be and involvement should be? Obviously, they've been in close consultation with the prime minister and the Israelis. Well, I go beyond respond.

I would help Israel. I would provide intelligence. And in fact, I see no reason why we shouldn't work with them to help them on some of the targets in Iran's nuclear program that may be difficult for their capabilities. This nuclear proliferation is a threat to the entire world.

Ambassador, everyone is watching this situation and they continue to ask the question that you and I have talked about, about, quite frankly, since the start of this war, which is will this expand into a wider war? And this moment feels like A tipping point. Is that how you see it? Well, I don't see it as a wider war.

I think the wider war began in October. Different fronts have been active at different times. I think it was a big mistake for Israel not to respond more forcefully in April. It's another reason I don't think US Pressure here is necessarily going to have an effect, because it didn't deter Iran.

And I don't think that a proportional response does the trick either. It's got to be disproportionate. So this response should be bigger and it should be about deterrence, is what I hear you're saying. Well, to restore deterrence, you have to impose cost on the other side.

There are other targets here. Netanyahu said the other day, nobody in Iran is safe. And that's why the supreme Leader is now undisclosed in what they think is secure local. He's the commander of Iranian forces.

He's a legitimate target. I want to talk big picture about foreign policy. Some of what's been discussed on the campaign trail. Former President Donald Trump has talked about the fact that he would be able to get a better deal, for example, if he were to be reelected.

As you know, he obviously withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, which was aimed at putting contours around Iran's ability to develop a nuclear program. Let me just play for you some of what Donald Trump said at the time. At a certain point, they're going to call me and they're going to say, let's make a deal, and we'll make a deal anytime they will. Anytime they will.

We'll be good to them. We'll work with them. We'll help them in any way we can. But they can't have a nuclear weapon.

We must also make a deal that allows Iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous, unhappy potential. Ambassador, given that former President Trump was never able to get that new deal, was it, in retrospect, a mistake to rev up the Iran nuclear deal? That was a deeply flawed agreement that was actually permitting Iran to make progress on its nuclear weapons capability. That was utterly inadequate verification of what they were doing.

Mistake the Trump administration made was not pressing hard enough. It really was not a maximum pressure campaign. I think the objective should have been the overthrow of the regime, because as long as that regime is in power, there will not be peace and security in the region. And I think the notion that Trump could cut a deal with the Iranians is totally illusory.

You couldn't cut a deal on the nuclear side. You're not going to make it easier by adding in ballistic missiles and support for terrorism, which is what he was talking about there. I hear you saying that the deal did not go far enough, and I know that that was your argument at the time. At the same time time, the breakout time for developing the material to develop a nuclear weapon was estimated to be a year or longer at the time that the deal was in place.

Now U.S. officials say it's down to one to two weeks. These estimates are utterly illusory. Nobody can tell you how many centrifuges Iran has in actual operation.

We don't know enough. Much of the work on weaponization has been done on military bases where there was never access by the International Atomic Energy Agency or our intelligence. Nor has there been adequate consideration given to weapons being developed under contract by North Korea. In terms of former President Trump's broader foreign policy.

I do want to play you something Senator Jdvan said last night on the debate stage. Take a look. As much as Governor Walsh just accused Donald Trump of being an agent of chaos, Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world, and he did it by establishing effective deterrence. People were afraid of stepping out of law.

As someone who actually witnessed the administration, the Trump administration, from the inside, do you agree with that statement by J.D. vance that Donald Trump actually delivered stability in the world? No, he didn't. That's what he claims, of course.

But having watched Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin and others with him, I think they thought he was an easy mark. Remember that Covid basically took 2020 out of operation for the entire world. We don't know exactly what would have happened. And things do develop outside the domain of the United States that we can't control.

This is a typical Trump effort to pretend that he has the solution when he has, I can assure you, no idea what to do. Well, let me ask you, because I do have to ask you one political question, if you will allow it. You have said that you will write in Dick Cheney's name for president in this election cycle. As you know, the former vice president has come out and said that he plans to vote for vice president.

President Kamala Harris. Are you still going to write in Dick Cheney's name? No, I'm in massive indecision. Now.

I will write in the name of a Republican conservative because there isn't one really on the ballot. But I haven't decided. I'm not eager to have any implication that I'm endorsing Kamala Harris. I don't think either one are qualified to be president.

So just to be clear, you're no longer writing in Dick Cheney's name in the wake of this revelation that he's gonna vote for Kamala Harris? You know, Senate may yet persuade me to do it, but I think it's unlikely. All right. Ambassador Bolton, as always, really appreciate your insights.

Thanks for being here. Glad to be with you. A little bit of news there at the end of the interview. I'm back tomorrow with more ME the Press now, but NBC News NOW coverage continues with Hallie Jackson.

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