Meet the Press NOW — September 10

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Welcome to Hit the Press now. I'm Kristen Welker at NBC Election headquarters in New York as we gear up for a potentially election defining moment. With just 56 days to go, the stage is now set and we're getting our first look at it. Just hours from the start of the first presidential debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump in Philadelphia.

The Harris campaign has been hunkered down for days now, preparing for tonight with intensive prep sessions and mock debates, complete with a stage and TV lighting. Working on strategies to get under Mr. Trump's skin. The campaign also running a new ad in places they hope Trump will see it, mocking him over crowd size.

The 78 year old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems. Oh, she had a big crowd. Oh it crap. This weird obsession with crowd sizes.

Now sources tell NBC News that Harris will try to expose the former president's tendency to say things that aren't true or get information mixed up and that it is not lost on Harris that Trump's last debate performance effectively knocked Biden out of the race. Meanwhile, former President Trump telling NBC's Garrett Hake in a phone call earlier today, quote, you don't know what to expect with Harris tonight. She's changed all of her policies over the years. Sources say the former president will try to force Harris to own her past positions on progressive issues ahead of the debate.

Voters also weighing in telling NBC News their expectations for civility on the stage tonight are not very high. I would just hope that it sticks to a clean debate, like talking about things, not just making fun of the other candidates, it could be chaos. I mean, I didn't think of it as having front to front with these two issues. And yeah, it'd be very interesting.

It'll probably be a little rowdy. I think there's gonna be a lot of things said that are unprofessional or undecoming of a future president. But I mean, this is where we are today. So now it comes as a new poll shows nearly a third of registered voters say tonight's debate will help determine their vote November.

That number is even higher among key voting blocks for Harris, including 53% of black voters and 45% of Latino voters. For both campaigns, tonight could be one of the last major events in this race and the last chance to shake things up. And we have got every single angle covered this hour with top officials for both campaigns, a super sized panel of political insiders, and of course, our team of NBC reporters on the ground in the spin room and dinky battlegrounds. And the great Ste he is on set with me to dive into the data.

So let's start with our NBC team in this room. Garrett hate cover the Trump campaign. Monica Alba is covering the Harris campaign. Garrett, I have to start with you.

This extraordinary day of debate phone conversation that you had with former President Donald Trump. Very well done. Tell me what your key takeaways were. Of course, I think the former president is eager to get on the debate stage.

After my conversation with him and some of his key advisors, I think he was kind of hunting debate preparation until the last couple of days, which I'm told he really did dial in over the weekend, much longer and more focused sessions. And now I think he's eager to try to use what he's been preparing for on the debate stage itself. As you point out, he told me that he thinks one of the most challenging parts about debating Kamala Harris is this idea that she has changed her position on key issues and sort of what position are you responding to? But the way he and his campaign appear to have solved that problem, at least in their planning, is they're going to try to use whatever they think the most liberal or the most outrageous of the mainstream answer she's given on any particular question on any particular policy and suggests that that is in fact her true belief, her true policy, regardless of what she might say on the debate stage.

Now, I say planning to do this because this is always the case with Donald Trump and his campaign. They have a plan. They have a structure. They put sort of guardrails in place to keep him on this mission.

But what Donald Trump decides to do once those lights turn on on the debate stage is up only to Donald Trump, and we'll see how he responds in real time. That is just going to be the critical question. Of course, one of the big X factors and one of the really fascinating aspects of tonight's debate is that it is Donald Trump who will suddenly be the candidate whose age and agility is in focus. Given that he's about 20 years older than Vice President Kamala Harris, how is he planning to deal with that?

How is the campaign dealing with that aspect of the debate, Gary? Well, it's interesting because the way that the campaign prepares doesn't involve, you know, standing at the podium for 90 minutes. It doesn't involve the kind of structure that Harris team uses, for example. So I don't know that they drilled this specifically, but I think the Trump campaign would say is that this is someone who regularly holds rallies that go 90 minutes or two hours, regularly does interviews and is fairly quick on his feet when it comes to how he approaches answers to tough questions.

Now, that said, he's going to get more tough questions potentially from more directions tonight than I think he's used to getting of late, most of his longer form interviews having with friendlier outlets or with a podcast, for example, there might be a little bit of a slower burn than what he may get from Harris. Again, how Harris decides the vice president decides to try to get under Trump skin. You know, nobody who interviews him is intentionally trying to get under his skin or upset him in a way that Kamala Harris is likely to try to do tonight. I just don't know if that's something that they've explicitly game for.

Well, that takes us perfectly to Alba has been all over the reporting about how the vice president has been preparing and her strategy heading into tonight. So, Monica, what are your sources telling you about what her plan is, both to try to get under former President Trump's skin and also to convince voters that she is a candidate of change. They have been trying all day long in the lead up to tonight, Kristen, to try to needle Donald Trump when possible, whether it be with these billboards that we're seeing all over Philadelphia. They're trying to poke some fun at the former president and his obsession with crowd size, which is the theme that we also saw today in a new ad that was released where former President Obama talked about that in his Democratic National Convention speech.

Those are the kinds of things that they're trying to use again to take a page of it out of Donald Trump's own playbook and try to troll him perhaps. And you're also going to see that in the form of some of the former Trump administration officials. We're going to be coming to the spin room where Garrett and I are here tonight to try to talk about this from the perspective of work people who signed up to work for the Trump Pence administration and here's why we then left and decided to become complete critics of it. So they're trying to use those kinds of tactics on one hand.

On the other, that's because they know there will be maybe a moment that's viral that comes from this cross talk between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris where there could be personal attacks, where there could be derogatory comments. But in terms of the larger substance, there is this big question here for the vice president and challenge that her advisors concede voters feel like they don't know her as well. Even if she's been in the background, in the periphery over these last three and a half years of the Biden Harris administration when it comes to certain issues and policies, they know that she's going to try to lay out her vision for that. So she's been working on getting all those answers into two minute formats as well.

But really what so many people are going to be curious about, Kristen, is this idea of how will these two people who have never met interact, what will that look like, how will it play out on stage? And of course, those unscripted moments, we've seen the former president go after people again in those personal ways. So the vice president is has sort of had some pre planned responses to that, I'm told. But how they play out in the moment is a completely different matters.

We'll be watching for all that, of course. Well, it is just going to be fascinating. Just underscore that point, Monica, the fact that they've never met before. I also make another point which is that this will be Donald Trump's seventh general election debate, which is just incredible if you think about it.

Of course, we're going all the way back to 2016. This is going to be the first for Vice President Kamala Harris, although she's no stranger to the debate stage. Monica. Right, exactly.

And that is where you're starting to see the expectation game really playing out here a bit with the Harris team saying, look, he has so much experience. He's been doing this for almost a decade. They did go and watch basically all the game film on that. Every time he's participated in something like this.

So they have a lot to study from. But they're trying to also raise this issue with the debate rules. It's something that they keep bringing up. Again, when we talk about expectations.

They believe the fact that microphones are supposed to be muted when the candidates whose turn it isn't to speak is going is something that they continue to raise as a major issue they think is going to disadvantage the vice president. They continue to say that they want Americans to have an unfiltered view of what Donald Trump is like on the base stage. That's why they keep raising those kinds of things to also again try to convey to Americans. While she may not have as much experience he does with this, so she doesn't perform the way they want, they're going to point back to those things I think you can expect.

Well, fantastic reporting. To start us off, Garrett and Monica, thank you so much. Joining now from Michigan is NBC Shaq booster who's been talking to voters about what they are watching for tonight. So, Shaq, you are in Grand Rapids, of course, this is a key swing county in a key swing state.

I've been talking to Michigan officials who say, boy, it is going to be close in Michigan as it is going to be in the rest of the country. What are these voters telling you about what they're going to be watching for tonight? Well, I'll tell you, a lot of people say they are planning to watch closely. A lot of people are just excited about the process of seeing these candidates on stage together.

And earlier today, I went to Ada, Michigan, which is in Kent County. And this is a town where, yes, it's a suburban area of Grand Rapids. It's wealthier than the general population, certainly more highly educated than your average American town. But it's an area where back in 2016, Donald Trump won by 14 percentage points.

And in 2020, he only won by 2 percentage points. So you see that erosion happening. And I went there to see what people had to say about what they're expecting in tonight's debate. Listen to some of those conversations.

When it was Biden and Trump, you were thinking of not voting at all, not voting at all or going independent. And right now with it being Harris and Trump, I'm into voting, but still very much still deciding as to I think it will be very important. Why is that? I think people, some people think she's not strong for president.

And I hope that her performance tonight will show that she's the right candidate. It would be helpful if he would not be as bound bastard. But Trump is strong. Trump will be strong.

I realize that. But I just realized also that we were in a far better place pre Covid while Trump was in office than we have been since. And I want to get back to that. While plenty of people say they will be watching, not everyone will be tuning in.

I spoke to one mom who said that she's not gonna watch tonight, at least because she said she has young children. And when I asked what that has to do with the debate, she said, I don't think it's something that they should be listening to. She's scared that it's gonna be too crazy. It's almost a sign of our times that she's not comfortable enough having her kids watch a presidential debate.

So fascinating. And of course, the moms are going to have a big influence over who wins this election. Shaq Russer, thank you very much. Turning out to none other than Steve Kornacki at the Big Board.

Steve, so great to have you to really set the stage for us. Obviously, you and I have been talking for a long time. This is very close race, whether we're talking nationally or battleground states. How do you see this race right now?

Yeah, I mean, a couple of things. Let's start nationally here, Kristen. This is the average of all the major national polls that are out there right now. Harris 47, Trump 45.

That's down the tick from where it was before the weekend. Harris had been hit by three of the national average. Some of the more recent national polls that New York Times won the other day, they had trouble ahead, getting some attention here, bringing this average a little bit closer. And it also raises one of the questions, too, one of the big questions.

We head towards Election Day. Remember that in 2016 and 2020, we saw a very big disconnect between the national popular vote and the Electoral College. The presidency was actually decided. Trump winning in 2016 electoral college despite losing the popular vote and then nearly doing it again in 20 against Joe Biden.

So the context for Trump trailing by two right now to Harris is if that dynamic persists, if Trump continues to have an advantage in the Electoral College, then being down two in the popular vote is not a bad place for it. If it's changed, this could be more significant than Democrats being ahead in the national popular vote. But look at those states right now. Here's our polling average in the seven core battleground states right now.

And you do see some Trump red, you see some Harris blue here, you see a tie. But mainly what you see razor thin Margins point and a half as we say, a tie, one half of one percentage points. Very, very much a night's edge here. Draw your attention to this one though.

Wisconsin, Harris with a little bit better than a four point lead on average here right now. And that's the other question. We have this sort of holdover from 16 and 20 and that is the question of the polling. Ms.

No state in 2020 where the polls more often than they were in Wisconsin. Biden was ahead well into the double digits in some polls in Wisconsin weeks before the election ended up being less than 1 point Joe Biden's margin of victory there. Michigan, you see another blue state from polling was off to a pretty big degree there as well in 2020. Why is it again these polling misses that we've seen have not been popping up in every state to the same degree?

They've been more pronounced in the northern swing states to states with larger populations of blue collar white voters, white voters without four year degrees and essentially voters from that demographic support drum were underestimated in states like Wisconsin in 16 and 20. Are they being underestimated again? We really won't know until election day. But I think it's a question to ask when you start seeing state level polling, especially in those states, if that happens again, these numbers end up being something very different than they look like.

If that issue has been fixed in polling is not a problem anymore, then these numbers are very encouraging for Democrats. Again, we won't know until election night. So it's just a reminder that we see these polls taken with Ring, Salt and Chris heading into tonight. Just some of the more immediate numbers I think on the stage that are interesting.

This one here from that New York Times poll asking voters to make up your mind you need to know more about candidate far more free to one margin say that about Kamal Harris than Donald Trump. And that might be a good thing for Harris from her perspective because here is a matter where she'd like to change public opinion about her. It's the change versus status quo question. Same poll here.

A majority of voters in this poll say they view Harris is more the same. She is the vice president in unpopular administration. Trump, the former president, 53% average saying he represents major change. So Harris, we see the opportunity there with other voters wanting to know more about her, maybe a way of measuring if she's been successful.

Does this number change for her at all? Yeah. Steven, it's so fascinating is all those numbers that you just laid out really give each candidate a roadmap of what they need to do if they want to be successful tonight. And that change issue right there at the top of the list.

Steve Konaki, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. We've got much more special debate coverage straight ahead of next. I'll speak to a top official from the Harris campaign as the vice president prepares to make her case on the big stage in what could be her most crucial test since entering the race.

And you can of course stream tonight's main event and watch all of our pre and post made analysis right here on NBC News. Now. Stay with us. You're watching a very special edition of Meet the Press.

Now, last summer, the coolest place in the house was in your freezer. This year it's time to level up. Reliance Home Comfort has over 160,000 five star reviews for delivering the type of outstanding customer experience Canadians have counted on for over 60 years right now. Don't pay for 12 months on a featured air conditioner or heat pump.

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And welcome back. You are looking at live pictures of the Philadelphia skyline and the debate poll where we are just a few short hours away from one of the biggest moments of the 2024 presidential campaign. Joining me now from the spin room at the start tonight's debate is Michael Tyler, communications director for the Harris campaign. Michael, thanks for joining me.

Really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Happy debate day. Well, happy debate day to you.

It is a big moment. Let's talk about what the vice president needs to do. What do you think Vice President Harris needs to accomplish tonight to walk away feeling like she had a good night? Yeah.

Well, listen, I think what tonight is going to be is really going to be one of the first times the American people have the opportunity to see the star choice that confronts us in the selection of the vice president. It's an opportunity for her to lay out her vision for where she wants to take this country over the course of the next four years, the way that she wants to build an economy, our folks have the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead as she talks about how we continue to stand up and protect women's reproductive rights, how we stand up for our democracy, and contrast that against Donald Trump's dark, dangerous, backwards looking Project 2025 agenda. And so she will, of course, prosecute the case against Donald Trump and his candidacy, the threat that he poses. But it is also another opportunity to introduce herself to a wire swath of the electorate tonight.

So we're excited about the opportunity that tonight presents. We're excited about the road ahead leaving Philadelphia as we head over the background states, they're going to decide the pathway to 270 electoral votes. Well, sources are telling my colleague Garrett Hagan and our NBC News team that Trump strategy tonight is going to be to target some of her 2020 positions that she's now distancing herself from. Of course, in that interview with cnn, she said that her values have not changed while some of her policy positions have changed.

What is the strategy tonight? Does she need to more clearly explain how she got from point A to point B on some of these critical issues? Yeah. Well, again, I think she'll absolutely talk about her vision for where she wants to take this country.

I think you'll hear her talk about the record of accomplishment of which she's a part as vice president of the United States. Right. The work that she's able to do along with President Biden to find constant solutions to make progress, progress towards the goals that she has in mind and the work that she wants to do in the road ahead. That's why she's begun to lay out some of the planks of her policy agenda where she wants to take this country.

She did so in Raleigh, where she talked about the work that she wants to do, lower costs for America. She did so last week, New Hampshire, where she talked about the work that she wants to do to spur small business growth in this country. And so she's proud of the work that we've already accomplished and she's focused on the work that lies ahead, continue to accomplish our goals. I think as it relates to the debate tonight, what she'll also do is not only talk about, you know, the work that she wants to accomplish that with Donald Trump.

If you talk about policy positions, this man is a guy who's had seven or eight different positions on every single issue. But the problem in 2024, right now up for the American people is that he has settled on the Most extreme version of all positions on every issue that matters, whether it's abortion in the national band he wants to or the economy, the taxes that they want to give to the ultra rich. The American people have a very stark choice in this election. But, Michael, just be very clear about Vice President Harrison's record.

Look, you have nearly a third of voters saying they need to know more about her. So just to the original question, does she need to get more specific about these policy changes that we've seen from her? Is it about specificity tonight? Yeah.

Yeah. Listen, I think what tonight will be about is, again, the vice president clearly articulating her vision for where she wants to take this country. We'll talk about the issues, whether it be healthcare. She'll talk about the work that she's able to accomplish as vice president, capping the cost of insulin at $35, tapping out of pocket prescription drug costs for seniors at $2,000, building upon the Affordable Care act, what she wants to do, moving ahead, whether it's about all the issues.

Right. She's not going to shy away from the record of accomplishment that she owns as vice president. She's also equally going to articulate where we go from here. Right.

How do we continue to improve people's lives? And of course, consc that against our opponent when every single issue is not offering solutions, is not offering anything that American people actually want. What he's offering is a fundamental threat to our apocalypse and to our way of life. Michael, let me tell you something that Senator Bernie Sanders said to me this weekend on the Press.

Take a look. You have described Vice President Kamala Harris as a progressive. She has previously supported Medicare for all. Now she does not.

She's previously supported a ban on fracking. Now she does not. These Senator ideas that you have campaigned on, do you think that she is abandoning her progressive ideals? No, I don't think she's abandoning her ideals.

I think she's trying to be pragmatic and doing what she thinks is right in order to win the election. What is your reaction to that? And you've, of course, seen the Trump campaign pounce on those comments to say it's indication she could change back if you elect her. Yeah.

My reaction to those comments are that the vice president. President has actually focused, as Senator Sander said, on a pragmatic solution to actually improve people's lives. You mentioned health care. You mentioned energy and the climate crisis.

Right. Again, he talked about building on the Affordable Care Act. The work that she's actually done, the goal here is Quality, affordable health care for all Americans. That's what she wants to continue to build upon.

You talk about the climate crisis. She's proud of the fact that we currently made the single largest investment in climate change, demonstrating that you can tackle the climate crisis while at the same time increasing American energy production. Right. That is the work that she wants to continue to build upon.

And I think for the voters in this election, they're not really concerned about are you progressive, are you conservative, are you moderate? It's about what are you going to do for me, are you going to find out how to have, are you going to continue to offer solutions? I think on all these issues the Vice President has made clear to her accomplishment and the vision that she's laying out out that she's actually the candidate in this race was offering that again, Donald Trump is not offering actual solutions, he's simply fighting for herself on their basis. Do you believe she considers herself to be a progressive, Michael?

I think the Vice President considers herself to be a fighter on behalf of the American people. I don't think she's concerned with labels whatsoever. I think she's actually concerned with solving the problems that confront working middle class families across this country. That's what she's articulated on this campaign.

That's exactly what she'll do, which is elected President of the United States. One of the big questions I think that continues to loom over her campaign is how would a Harris administration look different than a Biden administration? Now she has rolled out some policy proposals, for example, obviously calling for a lower tax rate on some taxes, then President Biden on the capital gains tax for top income earners. But going beyond that, how would you compare Harris administration and will we walk away from tonight, will voters walk away from tonight with a clearer understanding of how a Harris administration would differ from the Biden administration?

Yeah, listen, I touched on a little bit, a little this earlier, but again, I think she's proud of the record of accomplishment from this administration. I think what you've seen her begun, begin to unveil is where she wants to take this country. Right. She understands that many Americans are looking for a new way forward as relates to the economy.

That's why the first pint of our economic agenda were about how we continue to lower costs. Right. Making sure we can lower grocery costs, making sure we can actually lower housing costs through incentivizing more development housing, but also making sure we provide first time home buyers assistance, rental assistance. You mentioned small business plan.

Right. How we make sure we can actually at the same time, make sure that the wealthier paying their fair share. But also make sure that we have a tax code that allows entrepreneurs to get ahead here. Right.

Making sure that we can actually incentivize the tax system to not stifle business growth, but to actually support it. Making sure that again, the $5,000 startup deduction, we increase that to $50,000. Given that it takes about $40,000 on average to start a new business, you're going to continue to see her layout, her vision for where she actually wants to take this country. I think that does stand in contrast to Donald Trump who is not offering any new ideas.

You look at what's in his economic agenda for Project 2025 and simply return to the tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, return to the giveaways for wealth for powerful corporations. You have people like Moody's saying that, you know, his economic policy season would be another inflation bomb, yet economists saying they would likely spur another recession by 2025. I think the economic contrast on where they want to take this country is becoming clearer and clearer by the day. All right, Michael Tyler, I know it's a long day at night.

Thank you for making some time for us. We really appreciate it. Coming up, what to expect tonight from former President Trump as he faces pressure to stay focused on issues over insults. A top official from the Trump campaign will join us next.

You're watching a very special edition of the Press. Now, last summer the coolest place in the house was in your freezer. This year it's time to level up. Reliance Home Comfort has over 160,000 five star reviews for delivering the type of outstanding customer experience.

Canadians of Canada for over 60 years right now don't pay for 12 months on a featured air conditioner or heat pump. Call on the experts that know how to beat the heat conditions apply. See website for details. You have a reason to care.

You know someone, you've lost someone, you've lived it. The darkest times are no match for what we can do together. Join us for the CAMH Sunrise Challenge for May 25th, 29th. Canadians are waking up with the sun to raise funds for a future where everyone can access the mental health care they need the moment they need it.

Get up with the sun, show up for CAMH and rise up for mental health. Register today at sunrisechange. Ca. That's sunrisechallenge ca.

Welcome back. You've heard of the pre debate view from the Harris campaign. So let's check in with the Trump campaign now. Joining me now from the spin room In Philadelphia is Trump campaign spokesperson Caroline Levitt.

Caroline, thanks so much for joining me. I know it's a busy one today. It sure is. Thanks for having me.

Kristen, great to see you. Great to see you. Let's start off big picture here. What does a win look like for former President Trump tonight?

Well, tonight's success for President Trump is exposing the truth about Kamala Harris's record. Not only her record over the past four years as vice president in the Biden Harris administration, but also her very long record as an attorney general from California, as district attorney from San Francisco. And Kamala Harris has not done a solo sit down interview in 50 days since becoming the nominee of the Democratic Party. It is time for her to answer tough questions about her record.

Does she still support decriminalizing illegal border crossings? Does she still support eliminating cash bail for violent criminals? Does she still support her ban on fracking or not? Unfortunately, the media hasn't been able to ask Kamala Harris those questions.

President Trump will tonight. He's going to hold her accountable and highlight her record of failure over the last four years with his record of success his first term in the White House. Well, Calvin is one of the journalists who's trying for one of those solo interviews. Caroline, let me, let me play something that we heard yesterday from Trump's former rival turn supporter Nikki Haley with his reaction on the other side, Donald Trump and need to change the way they speak about women.

You don't need to call Kamala dumb. She didn't get this far, you know, just by accident. She's here. That's what it is.

She's a prosecutor. You don't need to go and talk about intelligence or looks or anything else. Just focus on the policies. Pretty blunt advice from Mickey Haley.

What's your reaction? What's former President Trump's reaction? Is going to listen to the former ambassador? Well, I think it's fair to call into question Kamala Harris's confidence based on her policies and the policies that she has implemented over the past four years alongside Joe Biden that have actually made life in this country for women and for all Americans more expensive, less affordable and less safe.

Kamala Harris has overseen an immigration crisis that the likes of which this country has never seen. We've had more than 11 million illegal people come to this country. Many of them unfortunately have turned out to be murderers and rapists who have taken the lives of women in this country. Rachel, Moran, Lake and Riley, those women should still be with us today if we had a secure border.

And President Trump knows those women. He's taking the time to get to know them and their families. Kamala Harris has never said their names. And so, yes, on the debate stage night, you're gonna hear President Trump talk about how he's going to uplift women in all Americans in this country with his positive vision, with his vision to bring down the cost of living, of childcare, of housing and inflation, which wasn't a problem for women or any Americans in his first term in the White House.

We should note that while border crossings did reach a high during the Biden administration, they are now back to a five year low. But let me get back to kind of the crux of the question and the concern raised by Nikki Haley, which is that she's saying when Donald Trump says things about Kamala Harris's intelligence, about her looks, that basically he runs the risk of alienating all women and those critical, moderate women, those undecided women, those suburban women who he's going to need to win over if he wants to win the White House. Is he going to shift his rhetoric tonight in that regard given the fact that Kamala Harris has a double digit need over Trump when it comes to women voters? Well, President Trump tonight is going to hold Kamal Harris accountable the same way he holds any opponent accountable.

And frankly, I think it's demeaning to Kamala Harris to try and lessen the standard on that debate stage for her simply because she's a woman. She needs to be asked tough questions about her record and, yes, her confidence and whether she is fit to serve as commander in chief of our military in the leader of the free world. Because guess what? Based on her record over the last four years, she has proven that she does not deserve that promotion.

She deserves to be elected out of office. The policies that she supported are not very intelligent or wise for our country. Allowing an invasion, illegal immigration invasion, supporting billion dollar boondock bills that have created the worst inflation crisis in a generation. And even worse than that, as revealed yesterday by cnn, Harris has express support for the decriminalization of all drugs.

That is an insanely stupid policy that would do damage to American communities and increase the fentanyl epidemic which is already the leading cause of death in this country. So it's fair to question her confidence. But President Trump tonight is going to focus on her record and on her failed leadership over the last four years. Well, and just be very clear, invasion is a very specific term.

Immigration. It's not invasion. Of course, there are people who cross the border illegally. But let me, let me just get back to this idea because again, what she's saying is what you're saying, focus on the policy.

And what I'm asking is, is he going to do that and leave some of those personal attacks aside? I've been talking to a lot of his allies who say, look, if he goes on the big stage and frankly says what you're saying, which is let's focus on the policies, let's focus on her record, that that would be a strong performance. But if he veers into the personal attacks, that's going to backfire against him to tonight. Well, I've answered the question every time.

Yes, he's willing to focus on the policy and I've laid out the policies. And another thing he's going to ask Kamala Harris is if she has all these brand new solutions, which aren't her solutions, by the way, we found out that she actually copy and pasted the new solutions on her website from Joe Biden's campaign website, proving that she's just as responsible for all the policy failures of the last four years as Joe Biden is. But if Kamala Harris wants to fix the affordability crisis, the housing market surely wants to lower cost for families, why doesn't she go back to the White House with Joe Biden and implement policies and sign executive orders that will do it right now, Ask Joe Biden to sign those executive orders. As vice president, does she not have enough power and enough leadership ability to be able to change the trajectory of the country?

She is the incumbent vice president and Kamala is trying to as the candidate of change, the candidate of the future. She is neither of those things. She is in the White House right now. She is responsible for the problems the American people are facing right now.

And only President Trump will bring true change to this country. And voters view him as that way, as evidenced by that New York Times. CNA is polling. Carolyn, let me ask you about something that we heard from your campaign.

This is in regards to Haitian migrants in Ohio. Despite posts from JD Vance and others associated with the campaign, the Springfield Police Department tells NBC News they have no information to support the claim that migrants have, as some of the campaigns have, stolen and eaten pets. The mayor of Springfield just came out and basically reiterated the same, saying that the claims of pets being taken or eaten cannot be verified at all. Do you have any evidence to back up these claims or are you willing to abandon that talking point?

And should others residents at a town meeting, a city meeting in Springfield, Ohio, express their concern about seeing Haitian illegal migrants in Their community eating ducks out of a pond. And it's crazy to say that on television, but that was the words of these residents, of these American citizens who went to their local meeting to express support to their leaders in their state. And the truth is, the reality is that there has been more than 20, 000 Haitian migrants who have been in Springfield, Ohio, since Kyle Harris was named. The borders are.

And since she has been vice president of the United States. And what we're seeing take place in this country is an unsustainable crisis of illegal immigration that has been allowed to occur. And you mentioned earlier, and I didn't interrupt you say, but you said that the board crossings are at the lowest level. In five years.

There has been nearly 20 million illegal people that have entered this country. It is unsustainable. Is Kamala Harris going to shut down the border? No, she isn't.

She supports open borders. She has her entire career. And this election is a choice between President Trump, who had the lowest record of legal crossings on his watch when he left office, and Kamala Harris, who has overseen the worst immigration crisis. And it's not just at the border.

Every state in this country has become a border state. This impact has made Ohio. And those residents are expressing their concern. Carol, ZHS says the number is closer to 10 million.

I understand you. You have that figure. But just for the rest of the. Those are the numbers.

But I want to read you what Vance has said about what we're discussing. He says reports, not sure, that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who should be in this country. And then he updated that to basically saying, the last several weeks, my office has received many inquiries from actual residents of Springfield who said their neighbors, pets or local wildlife were absented by Haitian migrants. It's possible, of course, that all these rumors should turn out, could turn out to be false.

And I guess my question for you is, should the vice presidential nominee. Should officials in the campaign be more disciplined in terms of what they're saying, given that, as you're saying right now, there's no known proof, there's no known evidence, the Springfield mayor to say that. The police have said that. Should.

Should the vice presidential nominee be more careful with his words? You know what I think should happen? I think the media in this country and I think local reporters and national reporters should flee to Springfield, Ohio to investigate these reports that are not coming from our campaign. We didn't manufacture this.

This was. This was brought to the attention of us by residents in Ohio who are expressing their concern. But the immigration crisis has been allowed to take place on Kamala Harris's watch. And there have been many reports about this that the media has disregarded.

That turned out to be true. And the media should do their jobs and go see if they are true or not. But what we know is this is what residents are telling us. And those residents deserve a voice about how, how grave of an impact this immigration crisis has had on their community in Ohio, which is very, very far away from the southern border, as you know.

And I would just say reporters who have looked into this have been told by the local police there's no evidence. Now the mayor is coming out saying same thing in the even JD Vance himself saying this. They should ask the residents. They should ask the residents.

Caroline, love it. I know it's a very busy day for you. Thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.

Hung up after the break. Foreign policy and focus moves fall out of the war against Hamas after deadline is really striking a Gaza humanitarian zone as Republicans 0 win on the Biden administration's chaotic withdraw from Afghanistan. What it could mean for tonight's debate next. You're watching very special edition of the Press now.

Welcome back. On the debate stage tonight, both candidates could face questions about how they would handle the ongoing Israel Hamas war, especially in the wake of a deadly strike on humanitarian zone in Gaza today which the Hamas run health ministry says killed at least 19 people. You can see that image of the massive crater left behind in the middle of a crowded tent camp. Israel says it targeted senior Hamas militants operating a command and control center inside that designated humanitarian area.

Joining me now is NBC News chief Washington correspondent and chief born affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, thanks so much for being here. You know, this is obviously going to be the first face off between these two candidates tonight, the first time they will have met in person. We haven't seen a huge focus on foreign policy yet.

But tonight there could be. What will you be watching for? Well, first of all, the moderators could bring the issue up, especially because Donald Trump, as he has in the past against women candidates, has been describing Harris as weak, the suggestion that she could not be talked with adversaries. So as he claims he could be.

Of course, her response to that could be that she argues that he's played up to Vladimir Putin, to Kim Kung, to all these dictators and so turn it back against him. He could use today's ceremony in the rotunda at the Capitol, the congressional medals presented to the Family members of 13 service members of those who died at Abby died for the disastrous strain and disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The report that the White House says was politically timed to come out yesterday from the House Foreign affairs and the Republican led just the table for the debate. And it's a report that showed an interim report and a final report.

And it's very different from the report that was issued two years ago by the same committee before Kamala Harris was the candidate and mentioned her only twice two years ago and mentioned her more than 200 times this time. So the leaders in politics involved, they deny that. But that was a bad, a bad time for the worst for the Biden administration. Yet the response can be that Donald Trump signed the deal which was binding the US to that withdrawal when he dealt with the Taliban so that Joe Biden inherited it.

Of course, the State Department arguably did mess up on the way the withdrawal was conducted. So that's the counterargument. I think you get into that. I think the big issues is, you know, are going to be the economy, immigration, abortion from the Paris side, but there is going to be a foreign policy component.

Most likely there will at least be one or more questions asked by the moderators. And you can see the sparring that will go on as he tries to define Kamala Harris as too weak to be commander in chief. And she probably says he's not serious enough. And to tight with running Putin.

Also, of course, the Gaza war, which you mentioned, another horrific hit overnight. The Pachit families and record numbers of protesters in Israel. Netanyahu standing firm, Hamas standing firm, no deal in sight. Huge disappointment.

And also the death of an American in the west bank, which arguably was responsibility of the Israeli army and the U.S. tony Blinkin, the secretary, states it today in London. But that has to be investigated. Andrew, very quickly, we only have about 30 seconds left, but you have moderated debates.

You have covered debates throughout the years. Set the stage. What does it say tonight? Andrea, obviously this is the most important debate.

You saw what happened when Joe Biden went up against Donald Trump. Trump had failed and everything changed 70 some days ago. So this is a huge test. And she's a smart prosecutor.

But the balancing act is how hard to go and will he be disciplined and you know, how disciplined and how restrained will he be. You've heard Mikki Haley and other advisors say that Donald Trump should not attack her, as Jenny Vance also has, should not be attacking women on their appearance, their intelligence or anything else that they should talk about the issues. Will he do that? And that of course, it could be disastrous for him if he goes after her as a woman.

Because the women vote is all important. It's the big X Factor tonight. One of them. One of them.

Andrea. We will all be watching. Andrea, thank you so much from Philadelphia. Really appreciate it.

And joining me now for more on what to watch for tonight is my incredible super sized panel. Jay Johnson, former secretary of Homeland Security in the Obama administration. Simone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokesperson for Vice President Harris and co host of the weekend on msnbc, Mark Short, former chief of staff and Vice President Mike Pence and NBC News contributor, and Garrett Ventric, former senior advisor to Congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Senator Chuck Grassley and founder of GRV Strategies. Wow, what a panel.

I'm just gonna not talk and let you guys talk. Mr. Secretary, you outrank everyone. So why don't you start us off?

What are you gonna be watching for tonight? Well, I think the reality is that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump tonight are gonna be judged by two entirely different standards because that's just the way it is with Donald Trump. Everything she could say over the course of 90 minutes could be fact based, could be factually accurate, and he could tell a false date. He could lie 25 times.

There'll be a lot of people who argue it was a draw. And what I find fascinating, they've never met before. But if you're Kamala Harris at this point, you probably feel like you know Donald Trump because he's been on the national stage for so long. In many respects, he's very predictable.

If you poke him a certain way, you're gonna get a certain reaction. And I suspect that she's worked hard to anticipate every one of those reactions. Mark, have you responded to that? Is the secretary right?

Maybe I met before the Donald Trump max out her campaign before. I mean, I think the reality of this case is that for Harris, there's a lot more gain, a lot more lose. I think Donald Trump is such a known brand after so many years in the national stage that there's more upside for her, more downside for it. I don't see his numbers moving as much.

But you know, Chris, I look at it as a unique moment where I think you have two quasi incumbents who are both running away from records. Kamas repudiated pretty much everything she said in 2019, from abolishing ICE to get her to detention centers, getting rid of private health insurance, to now saying, I have a plan for how to fix inflation, how to fix the border, presumably last three and a half years. And for Trump, he's Running as fast as he can from his pro life record, he basically, you know, in 2018, boasts that we sent Javelin missiles to Ukraine, Obama sent blankets, and now he applauds Putin for invading Ukraine. And, and I think that, you know, on trade, he had terrorists were targeted and now you have the biggest potential tax increase in the trade policy that America's ever seen.

And so both candidates basically running away from the previous records. Right. Well, you set me up perfectly. Respond to that.

What about that argument that she's going to have to respond to tonight? Hey, you've been in office for three and a half years. Y. I think the Biden administration does have a record.

I mean, I was listening to your previous interviews and talked about from both the Harris campaign of Brett Michael Tyler and then the press secretary from former President Trump's campaign. And look, I just sign up. I think it's always good when the PC on debate, they have been in the room with the candidate. And you can tell sometimes when people recently spoke to the candidate when they haven't.

I don't know if, if akward Donald Trump's presbyter would have trouble down that he's definitely gonna talk about the issues, not attack anybody. I just, I highly doubt that one. But when it comes to her record, I think it's one thing about what she said on the campaign. Many of those policies, frankly, I would agree we're not good policies to lean into in a presidential election.

It's just you do things we haven't talked about in the primary and then you take an election like, well, wait a second. And, and there's a difference between what folks said on a primary basis and what they have done as they've been elected. And the contrast that would be the strongest for vice president here to draw against Donald Trump is what they have done when they were elected, whether what she does as vice president or what she did in her past jobs as prosecutor, as da, as attorney general, as senator. And when you look at the record of what she has done, I mean, she can get whatever she wants about fracking in 2019, but when push came to shove and that first year in administration, she did vote to extend Elisa's.

I was on the Hill that day with her as many times that I was when she went to go and vote. So that is really the record. But Donald Trump will try to make this about the things that she had said previously. And if she gets flustered or is asked and answered by the moderators multiple times and then the last answer is like a, okay, that last answer might be the one that people see the next day.

And so you have to think about all of these answers in the debate through the lens of the clips. Garrett, two questions now for you. It responds to Simone who says she's skeptical that Trump is going to stay on the issues. And then Mark who says he's run away from his record in some ways too, particularly when you think about the issue of abortion, which is going to be a big one.

Yeah, I mean, I think President Trump, there's a very real possibility he could attack Vice President Harris personally. Right. I think a lot of his advisors and supporters would appreciate if he didn't obviously think if he focused on the policy of the two issues, voters, NPR polling, New York Times polling, CNN polling, the economy, inflation, the border, those tend to be the big issues that voters are deciding on. And he typically has a lead on that obviously when Joe Biden was running now against Vice President Harris elite on that as well.

So I think he focuses on that, what he did, his economy versus that economy, his border versus their border. I think that's a good night for him. The second thing, Mark's right. He's obviously run to the middle.

Mark might argue to the left. This is what can you see? They see polling. It's, you know, the six week abortion and 15 week abortion.

Many of Fox News polling, it's a minus 10, minus 11 issue. And so that's not surprising. They're just likewise President Harris is running away from the fracking comments, comments on ice, comments on cashless bail. So I think it's going to come down here.

This can be a very close race. No one thinks anyone here is only by 5, 10 points. You're going to see polls 1 point here, 2 points here. It's going to come down to New York Times.

A very interesting stat review is right now voters think President Trump is closer to the middle then Harris says they also see him as a change candidate. Whoever I think occupies that lane going into the election is going to win the election. Secretary Thompson, I mean it's so true. The issue of being the change candidate could really hold the key to this election.

And in some ways, if you look at the polling and I assume the Harris campaign is, they're saying, okay, that's our directive tonight. We need to make the case that she's going to be. How does she do that though? I think her most effective message has been we're not going back and sending the message that I'm the next generation, I'm 59.

He's 78. I'm the future. I'm a change agent here. He's been president.

I've never been president and I'm next gen. Exactly. Every 16 years in presidential politics, we have a next generation president. 19, 60, 76, 92.

Oh, and the next one is in two months. Simone, you know, she has not leaned into the historic nature of her candidacy. She said, we are told he's gonna try to bait Trump tonight. He could try to bait her in the other direction.

I mean, do you think that there is a risk there for her? No. Look, the vice president has oftentimes frankly been the first in many of the things that she's done. The first woman, the first woman of color, she was left to United States.

She's only the second black woman to serve in the senate in about 30 years, which is an insane statistic. So she has experience in running and winning an election and talking about the issues and doing that as being the first. I frankly think that the Trump campaign, Donald Trump himself, will do nothing more than for vice president to stand on the station tonight and say, you know, lucky, because you can history. And that, in my opinion, plays right into the playbook.

The culture wars are the playbook for parts of the Republican Party. I'd rise right now. But it's also, I think, a distraction. And if you stand on stage and have that conversation, then the voters then get mired down in something that has nothing to do with who is more fit to sit o office.

And we only have a couple of seconds left. Garrett, final thoughts for you. Do you think that we are going to see the Donald Trump in June or Donald Trump of 2016? I think we're going to see the Donald Trump June.

I think he has his high stakes. I think this comes down to this is going to be the biggest challenge, probably the only time they're going to be on the stage together. So I think he understands that he's got to talk about policy. Mark, it's just extraordinary.

It's the first time meeting ever. It is extraordinary because of course he wasn't there for the inauguration, but my pen was, by the way. But I think at the end of the day, it is a terrorist initially. If it's on the policy, it benefits from.

It's on personality, it benefits Harris. All right, guys, thank you. So incredible to have you all here. Jason, Monarch and Garrett really appreciate it.

I'm back tomorrow with one of the press now, but don't go anywhere. Special coverage of the first Harris truck presidential. But it continues with Hallie Jackson right now. Last summer, the coolest place in the house was in your freezer.

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