geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz here at the republican national convention in milwaukee. on the news hour tonight. >> senator j.d. vance has the overwhelming support of this convention to be the next vp of -- vice president of the united states. amna: donald trump picks ohio senator j.d. vance to be his running mate as the gop charts its path forward, days after the assassination attempt on the former president. >> a federal judge in florida dismisses mr trump's classified documents case, likely setting up a high stakes appeal. amna: and after calling on

americans to reject political violence, how president biden is adjusting his own campaign. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the news hour, including leonard and norma core vine, and the judy and peter bloom foundation. >> two retiring executives turn their focus to greyhounds, giving these former race dogs a real chance to live. an adviser gets to know you, your purpose in the way you give back. life well planned. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting

institutions to promote a better world, at hewlett.org. ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: welcome to the news hour. we're here at the republican national convention in milwaukee where ohio senator j.d. vance has been tapped as the vice presidential nominee, just days

after a failed assasination attempt on donald trump, and as republicans are cheering the sudden dismissal of the classified documents case against the former president. geoff: quite a busy day in the 2024 presidential campaign. our lisa desjardins is here with us in the middle of it all, from the convention floor. lisa: just two days after the attempt on his life, former president donald trump in milwaukee, wisconsin for the start of the republican national convention, defiant and lifted by good news from his legal battles. a federal judge dismissed trump's classified documents case saying special counsel jack smith was illegally appointed by the justice department. >> for the greatest president that has ever lived, and that is donald j. trump. lisa: the decision can be appealed but it handed him a win, the same day he became the party's presidential nominee and began his bid to return to office. he wasn't alone. alongside him at the top of the ticket,'s much-anticipated

choice for vice president, ohio senator j.d. vance. formerly a critic of trump's, and once referred to trump as america's hit in 2016. now he is one of trump's most vocal defenders taking to social media after he was nearly killed, and up pointed the finger of blame at the biden campaign. just one way the shooting is hanging over the rnc, which began as scheduled. for the delegates, there was enthusiasm about the party and their beliefs coming together. >> i feel great. i think the republican party has never been as unified as we are and -- in this moment. >> they are standing up in the name of jesus for god, family, country. lisa: that agenda, make america wealthy again. the overarching message striving for unity in the party and country. trump telling reporters who traveled with them "i'm supposed to be dead, i'm not supposed to be here." he said he is changing the tone of his convention speech, tossing aside his initial draft.

but there was a vocal disagreement in milwaukee today from protesters who gathered outside the security zone. many pro-palestinian's, but many focus on trump. >> the direction that the republicans are taking this country is very dangerous. lisa: here too, the assassin -- the assassination attempt hovered. >> i'm concerned it will make people more sympathetic to him. it doesn't change his policies at all. >> could work against him. what happened to him as everything he has been espousing. violent overthrow. lisa: blocks away for delegates and attendees, prominently, a sense of gratitude. >> i think we lucked out. everybody is on egg shells here. mr. trump: take a look at what happened -- lisa: this as the investigation continues. fbi officials who are leading the investigation have yet to determine the motive of the shooter, 20-year-old thomas matthew crooks.

a registered republican who made a $15 donation to a progressive organization in 2021, according to the federal election commission. the secret service facing questions over how they handled the shooting, including how the shooter could get so close, fewer than 500 feet from trump's podium. and how the suspected shooter was confronted by an officer on the roof, before the same officer had to pull back. in milwaukee, no plans for more changes to the already heavy security posture for the rnc, which is classified as a national special security event. >> we are confident in the security plans in place for this event and we are ready to go. it has been an 18 month process. lisa: president biden is calling for many americans to change their tone. he spoke in the oval office last night. pres. biden: there is no place in america for this kind of violence, for any violence ever. period. no exceptions. we can't allow this violence to be normalized. the political regular in's and

this country has gotten heated. it is time to cool it down. lisa: the president paused his own campaign schedule in wake of the shooting, canceling an appearance in texas he will resume in nevada where he travels tonight. meantime, i'm sure somewhere tonight, someone has printed out signs that say trump-vance. tonight, delegates had to do it on their own, hand writing her name vance in as they learn to like uni and the last couple of hours that that that will be there vice presidential nominee. geoff: what is the trump campaign telling you about why mr. trump settled on senator vance as his vice presidential pick? lisa: ultimo reasons. number one, it is about his experience and his biography. speaking to the working class of america. number two, they like his military experience. he was a correspondent in iraq and served in the marine corps. number three, they also like he is someone who is from the rust belt. in his announcement today, former president trump mentioned

several states, pennsylvania, michigan, minnesota, wisconsin. these are states that clearly could be decisive in the selection. one last thing, he is a new generation. he is not yet 40 years old. he will be the youngest nominee for any presidential ticket this century. that is something the trump campaign will push forward. they know he also has drawbacks. he has been critical of former president trump in the past. i asked the campaign about that. they said they will try to message that as someone who has changed his mind. i guarantee you, democrats will go the other way, saying this is someone who saw trump as dangerous and changed his mind because of political opportunity. amna: the man at the top of the ticket, former president donald trump, is expected to appear here later tonight. you have been talking with his campaign. what should we expect? lisa: amna: they are feeling good the former president wrote he has rewritten his campaign speech. we expect on thursday night. and he is trying to have more of a tone of unity. that is part of the j.d. vance

story. you have talked about how vance came out against biden and the democrats in terms of what happened in the assassination attempt. they affect some campaign sources, vance to be the bulldog. a traditional role for the vice presidential ticket, allowing trump to be more of a unifier on the floor. it remains to be seen what role the trump family will have. there are many who are confident, more confident than they were that trump will win the election. one of them is not donald trump, jr. i was in a gaggle with him a few feet away from where i am standing and he said they are not taking any vote for granted. they think they -- they think this could be close up until november. geoff: but about the level of confidence among the delegates? how do they feel about mr. trump's standing? lisa: that is the thing about j.d. vance. it was not electric. people were happy but this crowd is waiting for donald trump. i think right now, they are in an air of digesting the assassination attempt, to see

what that means. there is a question of, is this a divided or united party? i went to show the picture of someone i met from arkansas. this delegate had on the front of his hat, the trump bumper sticker. and on the back of his hat, it said, nikki haley. i asked, how are you feeling about that? you were a haley voter, you wanted her. he said, i thought she was going to be better than donald trump. now i am all the way behind donald trump. there is some unity here. one place there is not, mitch mcconnell, the republican leader of the senate was booed on this floor when he announced kentucky's delegation. that is still a sign of the fractures in this party. amna: you cover the republican national convention back in 2016 as well. how does this compare to that one? lisa: it actually strangely feels a little bit more reserved, early on. i think they are waiting. i think he assassination attempt has given people posit about the country.

it feels more serious when i talked to delegates. this will change over the course of the week. this is a place where the country unites, it is all people of one party. but you see miners hats from west virginia, you see -- this is something the delegates feel. they are clinging to it in a way of consoling each other over a traumatic event for the country. it is more reserved than i see on the first day of convention. we have three more days to go and this party knows they have a very big task, a very tricky election for both parties involved. if the republicans win, it will be in large part to the people here at this convention today. amna: that lisa desjardins live on the republican convention floor for us. thank you. lisa: you're welcome. amna: meanwhile, trump's pick for vice president was being closely watched, and it's notable that the man he ultimately chose is a relative newcomer to politics. j.d. vance rose to fame in 2016 with his best-selling memoir the "hillbilly elegy" documenting his upbringing in a

white-working class family in an appalachia struggling with poverty and addiction. geoff: as we mentioned, senator vance has been a staunch ally of the former president. in a statement on his conservative social platform, truth social, trump congratulated vance stating "as vice president, j.d. will continue to fight for our constitution, stand with our troops, and will do everything he can to help me make america great again." joining us to talk about all this, is ohio statehouse news bureau cheif, karen kasler, she's been following vance for many years. thank you for being with us. amna: thank you for being with us. senator vance has been tapped for the role. he is a young senator, not spending much time involved -- in politics what should we understand about why you think he was tapped to be the vice president? karen: he is the second youngest member of the u.s. senate. that brings in younger voters and he has a young family. he is only two years in office.

never had elected office before he ran for the u.s. senate. he was elected in 2022 after winning a seven way primary that was most expensive in ohio history. think there may be the thought that because of his age, his military service, some of these things might be part of the reason why he was picked. he has a strong business background. he came from california as a venture capital -- working at a venture capital firm. that could indicate that is something trump is looking at as well. geoff: as lisa mentioned, years ago, during the 2016 race, vance was a critic of donald trump. here is what he told judy road roof when he appeared on this program. >> that is maybe not the best approach to politics. it's not how you -- donald trump doesn't necessarily have a good message either. that is maybe not the best approach to politics. if you are worried about them being racist now, when you push them away and push them to somebody like trump, you will

only make the problem worse. geoff: how has his persona, his political ideology evolved since then? karen: that clip is mild compared to some of the things vance said about trump. he compared trump to hitler's, he said he was a never trump are. he has walked all of those statements back. his path to where he is now mirrors the way that a lot of republicans feel in the republican party. that the party has moved and a vance has moved along with him. i think that is notable that he has turned that around. he has said he has apologized, he has walked back a lot of those statements, and even trump has said he has forgiven vance for what he has said in the past. apparently the party plans to use that to show there are people who may not have liked trump at one point but could be persuaded to like him now. amna: tell us more about those people he may bring into the

fold. he doesn't necessarily broaden when it comes to racial or gender diversity. not even necessarily here to bring in people who wanted softer rhetoric from this ticket. what is broader appeal and what way does he expand the appeal for this ticket? karen: he doesn't really bring in ohio voters. he beat tim ryan, a moderate democratic congressman for the senate in 2022 by six points. ohio is most likely going to go for trump anyway. he potential he appeals to appellation voters, people who grew up poor and have seen what vance has been able to do. it is interesting, he has talked a lot about opposing the elites and pushing back on the elites. but he is a graduate of yale law school. that is something a lot of people do consider to be fairly elite. he also brings in potentially other voters and he is younger. if he were elected, i believe he would be the third youngest or second youngest vice president.

that is certainly an appeal for some folks. his business background is going to be something that could potentially be highlighted. geoff: that is karen kasler. thank you for sharing your insights. for more on donald trump's selection of senator j.d. vance to be his running mate, we are joined now by ohio's governor mike dewine. thank you so much for being with us. gov. dewine: good to be with you. geoff: picking up on this conversation, j.d. vance is 39 years old, he turns 40 later this year. this marks a shift for the republican party. in your view, what does he add to this republican ticket? gov. dewine: i have known him for many years, after he wrote his book. i want to talk to him. i thought it would be an interesting person we have been friends since then. i think he brings the obvious things. a generational change. i think people are looking for that, frankly. he certainly does that. i think his life experiences are unique.

few people have had that experience and have been able to achieve what he has been able to achieve in a short time. while he may not have long political experience, i think he will be able to relate to the mom who doesn't have enough food for her kids. the family that has got someone in their family who has a mental health problem or has a drug problem. these are things because of his life experiences, that will come out during the campaign and people will start, from a national point of view, start to understand that. he has the ability to articulate what donald trump's program is in a very sophisticated way. i think in a very compelling way. i think we have seen that on the talk shows over the last three or four months. he has been there and makes a very person -- -- amna: there have been so many calls for unity and a tamping

down of their political rhetoric. former president trump picked the man who was most aggressive in terms of immediately turning the tables and pointing the finger at president biden to say you are responsible for this attack. what kind of message do you think that sends? gov. dewine: i think what people listen to is what donald trump says. i have been pleased with what he has said since this tragedy occurred. i think he has been trying to reach out, trying to tamp it down. he said he has changed his acceptance speech dramatically. i think president biden and president trump, both of them, since this has occurred, have set the right things. i think we need to keep going down that pathway. we are a very divided country. everybody knows that. but there are still so many things that we share with people on the others of whatever the issue is. we all care for our kids, we want our kids to have a good education, we want this country to thrive and move forward. we need to keep reminding

ourselves of what brings us together. i try to do that as governor. it is very important. what i have seen the last few days is very good. geoff: senator vance, as we were discussing, he said of donald trump that he is a never trump guy, i never liked him, a terrible candidate, you are an idiot if you would vote for him. how damaging are those prior statements and how do you characterize his change of heart? his critics say the change of heart was basically cynically molded so that he would be in line with the republican party. gov. dewine: allegedly, donald trump thought he has changed his mind. the president would not have done this if he didn't think he changed his mind. i think those statements are what they are. i think most people are looking toward the future. i don't know if that will be a big deal in this campaign. i think what will be a big deal is where people think donald trump will take the country where they -- versus where they think president biden will take it. we always vote our future.

amna: there has been concerns from the biden campaign, from their campaign chair. basically saying that j.d. vance was picked because he would potentially do what mike pence would not. as a staunch trump loyalist, that if president trump or to ask him to do something like overturn election results, j.d. vance would do that. do you see that happening? gov. dewine: no. but look, those things will play out during this campaign. those are some of the things that will be debated in this campaign, no doubt about that. amna: you don't share that concern that he is such a loyalist, that he would do donald trump's bidding? gov. dewine: no. no. look, i have known him for some time. i don't think so. but look, these two are aligned. this is not -- some of the criticism has been, he should have picked somebody he is not aligned with. president trump is not going to do that. that was never in the cards.

it was a question of which person is aligned with him that he was going to select. we are very happy in ohio to have j.d. vance on this ticket, and excited by it. geoff: casting our focus into the future, i imagine you are a very popular man among elected republicans because, if the trump-vance ticket wins, you get to appoint his replacement in the senate. what are you looking for potentially if you get to make that decision? gov. dewine: i'm not going to get into much detail. the obvious things, you want someone who will do a good job in the united states senate. i think i have a pretty good idea of what it takes. it takes someone who wants to work and someone who is focused on getting things done. the second thing is, they have to be able to win. they have to win a primary. the person who i would appoint would only serve two years. if they want to stay in, they have to run again. they have to be able to get through a primary and have to win in a general election. those are kind of the realities of it.

i think my experience in the senate is helpful. i can tell pretty well who will do a good job in the united states senate, at least as i envision that job. amna: i will ask you to look one more time into the future, if you would indulge. reflect on this idea that we are living in a different world 48 hours ago. i wonder how you think this horrific assassination attempt on former president donald trump's life, how that changes the contours of this race, and whether you think this pledge to continue to tamp down political rhetoric will be adhered to? gov. dewine: i don't know it changes whatever the outcome was going to be. i don't know that. it could. but i doubt that. i hope it changes the division we have in this country, this chasm that has been growing. we need -- this country, we have always fought out injury -- issues. but we have to remember the things that bring us together. there are so many things that do bring us together.

the last few days, if you listen to what president and president biden had said, they have set all the right things. i hope this continues. geoff: are we are, day one of this republican national convention. is that your metric of success for this gathering, that folks focus on unity? gov. dewine: i hope so. i hope so. we are not going to change differences overnight. people have certain opinions and they are very different. we have seen the parties move farther and farther apart. but i think a sense that we are all in this together, that we are a country, that we have to have a strong national defense. we need to protect our country. we need our kids to be educated. we need our kids to learn how to read. these are basic things that we need to remind ourselves. we agree on these things at least. geoff: ohio governor mike dewine, thank you for joining us. always a pleasure to speak with you. gov. dewine: thank you very much. amna: judge aileen cannon's

dismissal of the classified documents case against former president trump is his second major legal victory in weeks. in a 93 page ruling, cannon said the appointment of special counsel jack smith, who is overseeing the case, was unlawful. geoff: hey spokesperson for the dertment of justice says it will appeal the ruling carry joining us is mary mccord, she was acting head of the justice department's national security division in a long time u.s. attorney. thank you for being with us. amna: we should point out that this was not dismissed on the merits of the case, but rather as we pointed out, it was about the way in which special counsel jack smith was appointed by attorney general merrick garland. other courts have upheld the constitutionality of special

counsel. based on your understanding, how out step is the judge here with what you know legal precedent to be? mary: she is quite out of step with the legal precedent. i would say all of the cases, all of the courts who have upheld the appointment of the special counsel in the past have relied on a supreme court case, called u.s. versus nixon, which accepted for purposes of that case that the attorney general had the authority to appoint special prosecutors with special responsibilities. and pointed to the same statutes the attorney general in this case relied on in appointing jack smith. know who she is not out of step with is justice thomas, who his concurring opinion, in the immunity decision, spent several pages, his entire point of his concurring opinion was to call attention to the fact that he thought it needed to be examined with the appointment of jack smith violating the appointment's clause. that is not an issue before the court. it had not been briefed. it had not been argued.

nevertheless, he sent out a roadmap for determining that the appointments clause was invalid and if you read his short concurrence and her much longer opinion -- in her much longer opinion, you will see she basically took his roadmap, added more flesh to it, and that is decision. geoff: among the remaining cases facing the former president, the classified documents case was largely seen as the clearest cut. could the special counsel jack smith bring this case in another jurisdiction, ndc, for instance, where the courts have far more experience handling these cases? mary: i think the smartest thing, frankly for the department of justice to do right now, would be to re-indict the case. have a u.s. attorney reindict the case. one of the main points here is that jack smith is not presidentially appointed, and even if he is an inferior officer, one of the main points

of judge cannon's opinion, i should say, she argues there was no statutory authority to appoint him. you know who clearly has statutory authority to bring indictments is the u.s. attorney. this could be re-brought in the southern district of florida. it might end up back in front of judge cannon, but at least this argument that the appointment of special counsel is unconstitutional would be completely off the table, what avoid that issue going through appeal. a u.s. attorney could bring it in d.c. as well, and legally, there is jurisdiction there. but that would receive a lot criticism as being judge shopping, looking for someone other than judge cannon. one thing the department could do in relatively short order, is reindict the case. amna: we saw the former president welcome this decision. he issued a statement online.

he reiterated without evidence that the case had been brought as a result of what he called the weaponization of the department of justice. he said this should lead for the other cases against him to be dismissed. what about that? could this decision have any impact on the other cases he is facing? mary: i would say at the outset, it is interesting he says this shows the weaponization of the department of justice. judge cannon, the basis for her opinion is that jack smith is not tethered tight enough to be attorney general and that is why the attorney general lacked authority to appoint him. he has too much independence. it is completely at odds with what mr. trump is saying. with respect to application to other cases, right now, this is a district court opinion that is binding on no other judge outside that district, and no other judge in that district. no one does not necessarily mean, for example, that the january 6 case will be dismissed, or anything like -- that would be the only other one, i guess. but certainly we will see mr. trump filing any moment now,

something before judge -- he may wait until the judgment comes back from the supreme court. i suspect he will file their asking the judge now to consider dismissing that case. but on the same grounds that judge cannon dismissed the mar-a-lago case. geoff: is there any universe in which the government's appeal of this case could give jack smith an opening to push to have judge cannon removed from this case? mary: he could appeal this decision to the 11th circuit, and also seek her recusal. in doing so, he would be bringing more into that band. just this decision i think he would be having -- he would need to set forth a number of her decisions and opinions, and make a case that she is biased and should be taken off the case. i'm not going to put money on jack smith doing that.

it is extraordinary for the department of justice to seek to have a judge removed. and it is extraordinary for higher courts to remove a judge. the bar is very high when it comes to bias. i think a lot of people have the opinion that she is biased, in favor of mr. trump. and certainly she has issued favorable decisions toward mr. trump. but she is also issuing some favorable decisions, in favor of the government. i think it is a very steep hill for the government to climb to seek her recusal. but yes, it is on the table as something they could do when they appeal. geoff: that is mary mccourt. thank you for your insights and walking us through this. week people he appreciated -- we deeply appreciate it. mary: my pleasure. ♪ amna: the assassination attempt on donald trump is raising major questions about the secret service and its security

protocols. chief among them, how was a 20-year-old, armed with an ar-15 style rifle, able to obtain a clear line of sight to a former president? president biden has ordered an independent review. this afternoon, homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas said security had previously been enhanced for former president trump, and that independent candidate robert f. kennedy jr. would also now receive secret service protection. for more on this, i spoke earlier with carol leonning, pulitzer-prize winning reporter for the washington post. and the author of "zero fail: the rise and fall of the secret service." welcome back to the news hour. thank you for joining us. on this in question of how a gunman got up on a roof, within the line of sight of a former president, fired several shots before the secret service could evacuate him. what is your reporting show about how that happened? carol: this is the central mystery and concern.

there are some answers and there are some things we are trying to figure out. since 1963 and john f. kennedy's assassination, every seat -- every secret service agent responsible for planning security for an event has lost sleep over the line of sight. it is secret service 101. you plan for every possible piece of high ground that would give someone an ability to shoot at the president, or other senior official that the secret service is protecting. in this case, it is really obvious. the secret service did not physically mitigate the line of sight. that means they did not do what they often do add big public events. they did not roll in a 14 wheeler or a bus or a crane or a van or a banner, and place it in between the high ground behind the stage, meaning behind the audience, and where donald trump was speaking. that breaks up the line of

sight. they didn't use that physical blockade. and what is unknown is what happened in terms of securing those buildings, particularly a glass plant company that was right behind and outside the perimeter of the crowd, where a shooter positioned himself and used a roof as a platform to shoot at donald trump. what is unclear is in that perimeter, where local police are using -- usually assigned at the secret service to secure those areas, to check those buildings, to make sure nobody is getting on top of them, what is unclear is what instructions the secret service gave those local police and whether or not they completed their mission. it is a mystery right now how this critical breakdown could have happened. amna: there is a remarkable piece of your reporting that tells a story about one of those local officers who climbed on the roof, saw the gunman, and went back down the ladder before the gunman began to fire shots. tell us about that.

carol: this was a stunning find by one of my partners on this story. it called all around to butler, local county and township police officers, and one of them related to us that an officer who had been alerted by bystanders that there was a suspicious man clambering onto this roof, that police officer went to look for the man. he hoisted himself up physically with both hands, up to the roof to see what was there. and because he was using both his hands to hoist himself, he did not have a weapon in his hand. unfortunately, the gunman did point his weapon, according to this officer, at the officer who was trying to check him out. to save his own life, the officer dropped down and let go. and within minutes, or actually within seconds, depending on the account, shots were fired from this rooftop by this gunman at the stage. amna: you literally wrote the

book about the secret service. we spoke about the book back in may of 2021, you told me agent's had told you for a while about the culture of secrecy, about chronic underfunding. you said many of them were whispering to you they were worried about a president being killed on their watch. given all of that, was this inevitable in some way? carol: i have been really devastated after a lot of reporting i did in 2014 and 2015, just about episodic security failures, and major breaches. after that reporting prompted oversight committee investigation, and then a blue ribbon panel by the obama administration, making a series of recommendations to strengthen the secret service. and ensure that its mission was not so broadly spread. that it really focused on security of the presidents in

the most important vip officials who run the government. after all of that reporting, after all of those recommendations, many of those recommendations were never executed and implemented. now, where are we on it, 10 years later, the secret service appears to be spread too thin once again. and in a situation where the basic rules of secret service 101 don't appear to have been followed. amna: that is carol lanning, national investigative reporter. thank you. appreciate your time. ♪ amna: as republicans convene to nominate their candidate, president joe biden is easing back into campaign mode after cancelling events in the wake of saturday's shooting.

tonight, nbc news will air its sit-down interview with the president. geoff: our white house correspondent laura barron-lopez has been covering the latest and joins us now from washington. last night in his address, president biden urged americans to lower the temperature, following the attempted assassination of donald trump. how has all of this affected his approach and his campaign? laura: that's right. in the address last night, president biden called on americans to lower the temperature. he also said political violence is unacceptable across the board. any kind of political violence. when it comes to his campaign, he is temporarily halted or paused his campaigning. the biggest changes were the fact that he canceled a scheduled event in texas to mark the 60th anniversary of the civil rights act, as well as a fundraiser he planned on holding in texas set for today. also his campaign caused all political ads and they have not

sent -- said when they would resume those. with this interview tonight with lester holt, president biden will be resuming campaigning. we got a first look at some -- we got a look at this interview, and in it, president biden was asked about comments he made in a call with donors last week when he told him that the talk of the debate was over, and that he wanted to put donald trump in the bullseye. pres. biden: i guess i was talking about, at the time, is that there was little focus on trump's agenda. let's focus on the number of lives -- lies he told in the debate. there is a whole range of things that look, i'm not the guy that said i want to be a dictator on day one. i'm not the kind that refused to accept the outcome of the election. i'm not the guy who would not accept the outcome of this election. laura: president biden added in that interview with lester holt that trump is the cannon that

repeatedly uses violent rhetoric against his political enemies, including law enforcement, including judges and prosecutors, in his interview with lester holt. and his campaigning is also set to resume in nevada tomorrow. amna: what about those democratic efforts that we were all talking about not too long ago about democrats trying to get president biden to step aside from the top of the ticket, where do those efforts stand now? laura: they are still split amongst democrats. democrats i spoke to today, i spoke to a democratic party chair who said they think the conversation is over, following the last few weeks, as well as this assassination attempt on donald trump. donors i spoke to our resigned that they think president biden will remain at the top of the democratic ticket. one democratic advisor to donors that they feel as though they could be headed toward a party extinction level event, come november. i spoke to congressman adam

smith, one of the democrats who has called on biden to step aside. he was on a call with president biden this past weekend that didn't go well. congressman smith told me the conversation about replacing biden at the top of the ticket isn't over. and that in that call, multiple democrats asked the president, they said they felt as though the party was in trouble, looking forward toward november. they asked him what his plan was to fix it and congressman smith told me president biden said he did not think the party was in trouble. that polls show a steady race. and that he feels as though he has not been given enough credit on his record of achievements as president. geoff: with at least one democratic warning of an extinction level event, i wrote that in my notes, that is staggering. how is the president aiming to counter that? what is his message? laura: campaign officials tell me they feel as though the dynamics of the race have not changed. kathy assassination attempt on donald trump has not changed those dynamics.

they know there is more work to do with democrats. the campaign chair for president biden's campaign spoke to reporters today, and said the president is going to be focused heavily still on the democracy message, zeroing in on project 2025, which is that blueprint from conservative allies of donald trump for a second trump term. and that they also are going to be heavily focused on abortion, especially in the state of nevada where biden is heading to. . he is also going to be focused on housing and the economy. they say they are not changing their campaign strategy at all when it comes to attacking donald trump on threats to democracy. amna: in the brief time we have left, i know calls from leaders to tamp down the political rhetoric, you have been tracking continuing calls for violence and conspiracy theories spreading online. tell us what you have seen. laura: many gop lawmakers called for calm like president biden. but there -- there were leading

lawmakers including the vice presidential pick, j.d. vance, who blamed democrats and biden for the assassination attempt. and congressman -- and congresswoman granger said, the democrat is flat out people, and yesterday, they tried to murder president trump. nonprofit research group i spoke to says there have been increased calls for violence on social media, mainly among proud boys, but also among some lawmakers in congress. amna: our white house correspondent laura baran lopez joining us. thank you. laura: thank you. amna: let's turn back to the republican campaign and the first day of the party's convention here in milwaukee. geoff: our politics monday team is here with us. that is amy walter of the cook political report and hamburg -- and tamara keith. the house band is back on stage. we could have some background music for this conversation. amna: it goes off, the big news

of the day. this election of j.d. vance. what do you make of that, what does he bring to the ticket? amy: i think when the biden campaign made clear the other week that they believe that the easiest path for them to win the electoral college was through the blue wall, i think picking j.d. vance -- by picking j.d. vance, the trump campaign is saying, you want to fight for the blue wall? we will pick a blue wall candidate, somebody who grew up in poverty in ohio, somebody who could have an appeal with his populist message to those voters in that area of the country, try to win over those voters. he did not pick someone who was going to try to appeal to suburban women. this was someone very much leaning in on the maga message. he is saying that with the pick of vance, that the maga movement

is exactly what he wants to campaign on for this next four years. he will not suddenly shift to become more of a traditional republican in the pre-trump era. geoff: you have to imagine the biden team is getting their opposition research together. just the reams of things that j.d. vance has said about donald trump years ago, and the memo or the statement that on the mentioned where she said, the reason donald jump -- donald trump picked j.d. vance's because he will do the things that mike pence wouldn't. tamara: i was very much the line they are delivering. vance is also someone who has taken positions on abortion that the biden campaign believes they can make hay with. he has said things about rape and incensed exceptions that most voters would find offensive. they are going to make sure those statements are repeated and repeated and repeated.

as president -- as former president trump has tried to soften the republican image on abortion, move away from some of the more hardline views, vance, before he became the running mate, said things that he is having to calibrate. amna: what does this ticket say to you in terms of the messaging, especially in light of where we are? after the assassination attempt, even donald trump was saying we have to have unity. then he picks the guy who perhaps is the most aggressive in terms of blaming democrats for that attack. do you expect that kind of unity message to continue this week? tamara: just to go back to the tweet j.d. vance put out in the hours immediately after the assassination attempt, he said that president biden's rhetoric led rectly to president trump's attempted assassination. he drew a line that does not appear to exist. the biden campaign has said, as

laura said, that they are not going to shy away from making the democracy argument. the president was pressed by lester holt, and he said, i didn't say he was in the sites, i said in the bullseye p that means i wanted to talk about issues. the fact biden is being asked about that is a testament to the fact that that line of thought has been elevated by j.d. vance and others. i don't know what is going to happen in terms of the tone and rhetoric. i think everyone is talking about bringing the temperature down. let's see how low the temperature stays today, tomorrow, the next day. in the biden campaign has also said biden will be out there campaigning tomorrow. and reiterating a message he delivered on friday, that very much went after trump on policy but lend after trump as an existential threat. that theme of the campaign on both sides is not going away. geoff: what about his age?

in this election cycle, where you have majorities of voters saying both candidates are too old, and j.d. vance, someone who will turn 40 years old in august, and this notion that he is too young, untested. barack obama blew that out of the water when he won. amy: i think what they are also looking for is this contrast with the age argument. it is the argument that the trump campaign has been making from the beginning. he is strength, biden is weakness. by having a fighter on his ticket like j.d. vance has been, that only adds to that message. i think the other thing about vance, given he was a critic of trump in the 2016 campaign, it is a reminder to everyone out there, especially every republican that, you know what, i have made a lot of converts. i have changed this party from what it was to what it is. you are either on the team or not on the team, but j.d. vance

is an example of somebody who he can make the case that i brought converts in with this message that is resonating. tamara: and what i would say is this is a trump campaign doubling down on its theory of the case. not that they will go sway a bunch of undecided women in the suburbs, but that they are going to find maga voters who are just not voters yet. they are going all in on finding and building that base rather than expanding the tent. amna: on the democratic side as laura was reporting earlier, the entire conversation of changing the democratic ticket in this new post assassination attempt, is that over? amy: it sure feels like it. people i was talking with this weekend, it sure felt like if it is not completely over, the odds are very, very low. it really took all the winds out of the sales.

we have known this from the beginning. if joe biden is digging in, if the president says i'm staying around, there is nothing the democrats can do to make a change on the top of the ticket. geoff: bottom line, what i hear you both saying in different ways, is donald trump electing j.d. vance is a sign that he is feeling pretty good about where he stands in this race right now. tamara: yes. and he does feel pretty good. just as the trump campaign plan is to expand -- to build the be -- build the base, the biden plan is not that. their plan is to do a battle of inches for every single undecided and ambivalent voter out there. i think we are seeing that biden has dug in, does not seem to be going anywhere. and it is not clear that they can push it. i will say, i did go out doorknocking with democratic volunteers over the weekend for

the assassination attempt. none of the voters whose doors got knocked on brought up the idea of biden getting out. instead, they were basically like, a pox on both their houses. i can't believe these are the choices we have. amna: feels like a message we have heard for a long time. tamara keith, amy walter, always great to see you both. thank you so much for being here. after a whirlwind of political news, we turn to the days other headlines. stephanie sy is in washington and has those stories. stephanie: thank you. houston's main utility companies as the majority of power outages should be fixed by wednesday. that news comes amid growing pressure on centerpoint energy as more than 10,000 customers remain without power a week after hurricane beryl swept through the area. the texas public utility commission has launched an investigation into the storm

preparedness a day after governor greg abbott demanded "specific actions to address power outages and reduce the possibility that power will be lost during a severe weather event." beryl also left its mark thousands of miles away in vermont. officials there are seeking disaster assistance from fema, after flooding knocked out bridges and washed out roads. in the middle east, israel has carried out new attacks on gaza, following a weekend of devastating airstrikes. today in deir al-balah, in central gaza, local officials say an israeli attack killed three members of the same family, including a child. a state department spokesperson said today that secretary blinken expressed concern over civilian casualties in a meeting with israeli officials. >> we have seen civilian casualties come down from the high points of the conflict and even from where they were, say 6 weeks, 2 months ago, but they still remain unacceptably high. we continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict.

we want to see civilian casualties completely ended. amna: -- stephanie: blinken also spoke with isreali officials today about ongoing talks toward a ceasefire deal with hamas. during the meeting, israel said it is still committed to reaching an agreement. hamas also said today the cease-fire talks are continuing, but accused israel of trying to derail progress with its ongoing attacks in gaza. in ukraine, president volodymyr zelenskyy says he aims to hold a second international peace summit, and he wants russia to attend. at last month's gathering in switzerland, russia was absent. in his first news conference since visiting the u.s. last week, zelensky also said he was ready to work with donald trump, if the former president wins november's election. and he made an urgent plea for more military aid. >> from the point of view of the structure of our air defense, to completely cover ukraine, according to our military, we need 25 patriot systems. this is in order to completely

close the sky of ukraine. stephanie: separately, a moscow court convicted u.s. journalist masha gessen in absentia today, on charges of spreading lies about the russian military. gessen was sentenced to 8 years in prison. the moscow-born author is the latest american target of russia's crack-down on dissent. gessen is a prominent critic of vladmir putin who lives outside russia and is unlikely to face actual imprisonment. gambia's parliament voted today to uphold a ban on female genital cutting. lawmakers rejected a push by the country's religious conservatives, who had argued that the practice is quote aone -- is "one of the virtues of islam." gambia would have been the first country to reverse such a ban. according to the u.n., more than 50% of women there between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone the procedure. also called female genital mutilation, the practice can cause serious bleeding, death and childbirth complications, but remains widspread in parts

of africa. police in miami say they arrested 27 people and it checked it 55 others amid chaotic scenes at the cobra america final last night in florida. the showdown between argentina and colombia was delayed multiple times after fans tried to force their way into the stadium. some without tickets. a few attempted scaling the walls to gain entry. security officials tried to control the gates leading to tense scenes with some fans forcing their way in. the head of columbia's soccer federation and his son were among those arrested. on wall street today, stocks ended higher after the federal reserve chair jerome powell said there has been progress on taming inflation. the dow jones industrial average added more than 200 points to close at an all-time high. the nasdaq tacked on 75 points, ending just shy of its own record. and the s&p 500 also ended

higher to start the week. now let's go back to geoff and amna in milwaukee at the republican national convention. amna: thank you, stephanie. we'll have much more coverage from the republican convention online, streaming gavel to gavel, and on the newshour tomorrow and during our live special coverage, which begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern. we hope you will join us then. amna: that is the news hour -- geoff: that is the news hour for tonight. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. see you later tonight. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs news hour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committing -- committed to

building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪

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hello, welcome to "amanpour & co." here is what's coming up. >> i got more work to do. we got more work to finish. >> joe biden remains resolute amid mounting calls for him to drop out of the presidential race. how can democrats resolve this crisis and move on? i ask political strategist paul begala. reunited after eight months of captivity. in an exclusive interview i speak to rescued israel hostage andrey kozlov about being