. welcome back to the second hour of "chris jansing reports" on memorial day. we are less than 24 hours away from the biggest day of the trump criminal trial so far. what will each side drive home in closing arguments? our reporter who has been inside

the courtroom is standing by. a rare tornado emergency issued in kentucky as powerful storms sweep through the south. the death toll rising after relentless tornadoes flattened entire communities, uprooted trees and families all across the central u.s. plus an nbc news exclusive report from taiwan. our correspondent is with the congressional delegation in taipei as china carries out military drills just miles offshore. helping the families who have lost their children in rotc. they were too young for basic training but old enough to know they wanted to serve their country. will congress step in to extend military benefits? i'm chris jansing in new york. thank you for joining us on this very busy memorial day. 420 days after donald trump was indicted on 34 felly charges in manhattan, tomorrow the judge will hear closing arguments in his hush money trial along with

the jury. the defense delivering its summations first, followed by the state. that's expected to take most if not all of the day tomorrow. wednesday likely would resume with judge merchan's instructions to the jury. and then, donald trump's future will be put in the hands of the jury. 12 new yorkers will take to the jury room, more than 80 hours of testimony from 22 witnesses with access to about 200 pieces of evidence. to understand what they're up against, we begin with nbc's gary grumbach, former u.s. attorney joyce vance and jury consultant, former prosecutor david henderson. thank you all for being here. gary, remind us what few details we actually know about this jury first of all. and when you were inside the courtroom itself, what was your impression of them? >> this was a jury of 12 new yorkers, all from the island of

manhattan and a wide array of folks here. we've got all ages, diverse by race, diverse by age, not all native new yorkers. one from ireland, one from spain. it includes two attorneys, a software engineer, a teacher, an i.t. consultant and two or three of them didn't graduate college. so a mix of education levels as well. one thing that's stayed very consistent is these jurors have very much been paying attention step-by-step throughout this entire trial. it almost felt like a tennis match at some point according to reports between stormy daniels and defense or between prosecutors and michael cohen, back and forth, back and forth. they've been very much paying attention. there have been points where some of the more mundane information coming from more of the expert witnesses where the jurors were pulling on their face to try to stay awake or moving around in their chair. these are jurors that have been at this now for seven weeks, getting paid $40 to $50 a day.

these are jurors very much in for this and in for the long hall, as long as deliberations last. >> joyce, jurors are considering 34 counts, one for each of the invoices, checks and ledger entries. if the jury finds trump guilty on one, is it logical to assume that that applies to the rest or not guilty on one? it applies to the rest because most, although not all of these dheks were personally signed by donald trump? >> right. i don't think they'll necessarily render the same verdict on every count. in fact, if there's any dissent among jurors about whether there is guilt here, one way they might resolve that is by going through each set of counts and evaluating them differently. as you point out, trump didn't sign all the checks. i think probably the safest bet for jurors is the checks where his signature actually appears. on some of the other items, invoices or perhaps ledger

items, whether or not there's a conviction will depent on whether or not this jury believes it can rely on the testimony of michael cohen. so definitely not sure things here heading into jury deliberations. >> david, you're the jury expert. how might jurors approach deliberations in the jury room? i wonder if you think -- we've asked this of almost all the lawyers who have come on the program -- will the two lawyers on the jury potentially play an outsized role? >> the way jurors typically react is not the way we think. i'm a huge fan of legal dramas. the closing argument is always where you convince the jury what to think. in a case like thises going on for this long, the jurors will show up tomorrow with opinions about how they would vote, and they'll probably be split. very rarely does everyone think in the same direction. in closing arguments, what you're actually doing is trying to arm the jurors that are on your side to go back there and fight for voting the way you

want them to. do i think the two lawyers will play an outsized role? i think the engineers and the i.t. person will be right up there with them, not because of their values, but because of how they process information. the state will say you've got plenty of direct evidence, primarily through michael cohen, but also a very strong circumstantial case. you all can use different modes of getting to the same place. i'm going to walk you through why you should get there. at the end of the day, lawyers know how to pull back the curtain like dorothy in the wizard of oz. >> the story that both sides are going to tell, both sides will tell the stories. to elevate charges to a felony, the judge says the jury needs to unanimously find that trump falsified documents. they don't have to agree what the separate crime was, a tax crime or violation of election

law. does that further complicate this jury's job, or does it actually simplify it? >> so new york law in this regard actually simplifies the jury's law. this is something that's done routinely, this charge regarding false business records. it's unusual to have these sorts of crimes, this campaign finance-related crimes, but the principle is well established that jurors don't have to speak with a single voice or a single mind when they decide what the other crime that's being concealed or committed is. they simply have to believe that there is excess criminality involved in order to get to a felony guilty verdict. >> david, if the jury does come back and they say they're stuck at any point, judge merchan could read them what's known as an allen charge to try to get them unstuck. how does that work? >> basically the judge tells them, look, folks, i know you're having a hard time reaching a consensus, but if you can't reach a consensus, we might have to come back and do it all over

again. so please, please, please try hard to reach a consensus. i can put legalese in there. that would be a victory for the defense. victory for the defense would come in the form of a hung jury. one or two people saying i'm not going to vote to convict a former president which is why you're going to hear president from the defense's mouth probably 100 times tomorrow during deliberations. it's hard to predict whether that's going to happen. not only does it take someone who views the evidence that way, it takes an obstinate person to stare down 10 or 11 other people and say i'm not going to do it. it's very rare for that to happen. >> one of the questions i've gotten over the last couple days is how long do you think it's going to take. of course, the answer is no one knows. having said that, in my limited experience of covering trials, jurors take very, very carefully each individual charge. they go through them individually. they talk about them

individually. is that your much broader experience. sure, why not, i'll ask you. how long do you think deliberations might take? >> well, i think we're looking at a matter of days, not a matter of hours on this one, chris. this is a jury that has paid careful attention throughout the testimony. most juries especially in these business-oriented cases are meticulous about working through each of the counts. they'll have to render a verdict on each of the counts separately. that means they'll put some time into it. they will likely group the counts into the three buckets that they come in, the checks, the invoices and the ledgers. but within each of those groupings, they'll have to work through it separately. juries can do a lot of very interesting things. sometimes they want to revisit evidence, sometimes they have questions for the judge about the legal instructions. it's really tough to predict that dynamic once they get into the deliberation room and to know whether we're looking at a

friday afternoon verdict. lots of juries like to come back on a friday and finish up their business before the weekend, or whether this will carry on longer. >> let's talk about the public, gary, because early on in the trial, maybe at the end of the first week or be going of the second week we had a number of students what got in line at 6:30 in the morning and got themselves a seat in the courthouse -- in the courtroom i actually think they were able to do. when i was in line last week, it was a long line. a lot of the people who were waiting in line next to me didn't make it in because there are three separate lines. anyway, this is an historic moment. the people i talked to in line all said that they were there including a lawyer who had driven from montreal because he said this is the biggest case since i've become a lawyer. i want to actually be inside the courtroom. i wonder if we're seeing any activity yet outside the courthouse. i think on monday people had

gotten in line on saturday morning at 6:00 a.m. to make sure that they were able to get into the courtroom. >> chris, this is no taylor swift concert. at some point it felt like it with the length of the lines here. we have seen people get in line for tomorrow at 9:30 on saturday. i do think we have video of the first few people that are in line standing there. just remarkable, the interest here. i think we get jaded sometimes as journalists having access to the courtroom. but being able to see the members of the general public, dozens of them over the past few weeks. one couple i met was in town. they realized they were in town during the trump trial. they got in line, woke up at 4:00 a.m., got in line and were able to get inside the courtroom and watch this. broadcast on your show, chris, two high schoolers with the day off for passover, they went inside the courtroom and had the experience to witness this firsthand. it's remarkable to see folks in line already. >> let me ask you quickly,

david. complaint after complaint after complaint from people standing in line, obviously engaged and interested citizens. they said i don't understand why i can't watch this on tv. do you think there's anything about what's happening here or may happen in the future with trials involving donald trump that may force a reconsideration? >> chris, i certainly hope so. you've got to understand, you're asking that question to someone who is a former special crimes prosecutor. i've had to prosecute cases where unspeakable things happen to children. when i look at this case and the fact that journalists are excluded, journalists were allowed and those children had to take the stand. no one is more afraid than they are testifying against the person that hurt them, knowing that if i lost the trial, they go home with that person. every day -- tomorrow there's going to be a courtroom in a major city in america handling a case like that where the public is allowed to see what's happening. it's very difficult for me to process why former president trump gets a special exception to that rule.

i do think these are important trials. the public deserves to know what's going on. we should treat people the same way whether they're on the staff or the jury. i understand why judges want to keep the courtroom clear of journalists if they can, but the public has a right to see these proceedings. >> thank you all very much. we will have this historic covered top to bottom tomorrow starting at 10:00 a.m. eastern. join me and my colleagues for special coverage of closing argument, and then at 8:00 p.m. eastern rachel maddow and team will break down the latest in this case all right here on msnbc. we're back in 90 seconds, a possible tornado turns a holiday weekend camping trip into a complete nightmare, flipping and destroying trailers in oklahoma. we'll have more on the relentless storms sweeping the country and whether they're going to just keep coming. ing t. we're still going for that nice catch. we're still going for that perfect pizza. and with higher stroke risk from afib not caused by a heart valve problem,... ...we're going for a better treatment than warfarin.

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touched down for at least five minutes as it flattened everything in its path. in colorado just outside denver, a single clap of lightning killed one rancher and 34 head of cattle. nbc's priscilla thompson is on the ground in valley view, texas. also with us, nbc meteorologist michelle grossman. priscilla, what are you hearing from people on the ground there? >> reporter: chris, physically people today are trying to clean up their homes, salvage what they can. emotionally people are in shock. they are traumatized after what they experienced here, many of them having to shelter in their homes or, like the 125 people did here at a gas station when the roof literally caved in as that tornado bore down. i spoke to a young woman who was inside this gas station, elizabeth hernandez, with her friend. they also had a 1-year-old baby with them that they were trying to cover as all of this was happening. i want to play for you how she described what she experienced. >> i thought i was going to die.

i'm in shock but at the same time, like, i know -- i believe in god. this was very scary, and it was like a nightmare. it felt like i was living in a nightmare. it was terrifying. >> reporter: that is what we've heard echoed by so many people who have survived this. it's not just texas. we're talking about a dozen states this past weekend that saw more than 60 reported tornadoes. we know that more than 20 people have died. so across texas, oklahoma, kansas, arkansas, missouri, kentucky, people are dealing with this kind of just dramatic devastation. chris. >> michelle, walk us through the latest forecast. i mentioned this last hour when i had a chance to look out the window, the skies were getting very dark. there are places where something serious could happen still. >> we're looking at storms at this hour now especially in the southeast. we'll see the storms sort of ignite along the east coast.

we're looking at 71 million people at risk for severe weather on memorial day. lots of people traveling back, people want to do outdoor plans, picnics, parades. you want to heed local warnings. that's the number, 71 million people at risk for severe weather. winds gusting over 60 miles per hour. that could cause power outages and bring down trees. also really hot across the east coast, especially in the south. large hail up to 2 inches or larger and a few tornadoes are possible along with that, looking at the chance for heavy rainfall. that's new england, great lakes, mid-atlantic, the northeast, also the carolinas into the southeast. a huge area that could see the chance for strong to severe storms. we're not expecting what we kau over the weekend, but could still see impactful storms. looking at a storm right now in the state of georgia south of atlanta. where you see the orange box, that's a severe thunderstorm warnings. the yellow box is a severe thunderstorm watch through the next couple hours or hour or so. then we're looking at -- here is rain falling where you see the brighter colors. that's where we're seeing the

heaviest rain falling. and we could see 4-5 inches of rain in a short amount of time in portions especially in the mid-atlantic, the northeast. this is what it looks like, a flash flood risk. where you see the slight risk, that's the likelier risk. scranton to philadelphia, that's where we're expecting the chance for flash flooding. through new england along the northeast, into portions of the ohio valley as well. rainfall forecast today, up to four to five inches looking at heavy downpours. you want to heed your warning, if you get trapped in water, turn around, don't drown. heed that warning, any warning if tornado warnings come into play, too, you want to heed those. back to you. >> michelle grossman and priscilla thompson, thank you. still to come a, quote, tragic mistake. the stunning admission from israel's prime minister after a deadly strike in rafah. our own ryan nobles is with the congressional delegation meeting with taiwan's new president. the visit coming in defiance of

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from tel aviv, nbc news international correspondent raf sanchez. for analysis, lieutenant general steph twitty, former deputy commander of the u.s. european command. raf, there's been some discrepancy over exactly where the strike landed, a strike as we reported netanyahu is calling a tragic mishap. a newly published tweet from the idf claims that the camp was not in a declared safe zone. what can you clarify for us and what do we still not know? >> reporter: chris, that safe zone you're seeing on your screen there is called al mow was si, an area that they say will be safer for palestinian civilians as they flee from the fighting in eastern raffa, they can move west to the coast. today's strike didn't happen in that safe zone.

it happened nearby, near a u.n. compound where palestinian civilians believed they would be saech because of the proximity to that protected facility. there's also some dispute about whether it happened in a block area of that map that israel had at one point told palestinians was considered a safe zone. what we do know is that the strike happened in the early hours of this morning. families were sleeping in tents in western raffa, tents made of plastic, tents made of wood. and then all hell broke loose when the israeli strike began. the emergency services in hamas-run gaza say at least 40 people were killed. our team on the ground has seen charred bodies. the rescue teams are saying that some of these people were burned to death. today you have families sifting through the remains of their tents, families who were displaced many times already in the course of this fighting. chris, they are trying to find

somewhere new, somewhere that they hope will be safe going forward. prime minister netanyahu addressed the israeli parliament a little earlier. he described this as a tragic mishap. there's been some back and forth over the exact translation. there's not a specific word that matches the hebrew, but mishap seems to capture the spirit of what he said. he promised that there would be an investigation. the israeli military says that the strike did succeed in killing two senior hamas command ers who are accused of planning attacks in the occupied west bank. we have a statement from the national security council at the white house. they are say that the images coming out of rafah are heartbreaking, and that while israel has the right to pursue and target hamas operatives, it must take every possible precaution to protect civilians. chris. >> lieutenant general, the idf

says this attack was based on precise intelligence that two hamas leaders were in the area, and that may well be true. it's also clear now that there are victims, the gaza health ministry says 45 innocent civilians were victims here, most of them women or children. how does this happen? should this happen? talk about the idf's strategy to target the leaders and why sometimes it goes beyond what they say they're targeting. >> chris, good to be with you today. i'd also like to recognize our fallen heroes on this solemn day today and our gold star family members. first of all, let me just say this. the israelis and hamas, they've been at this war now for over seven months. and one would say as you look at the strategy and where we come up to this point, what has really been achieved except for

the suffering and the many lives lost by the palestinian people? i think there truly needs to be an assessment on what are we doing and where are we going here? when you take a look at this particular strike here, i continue to say that when you're in this environment and fighting the type of warfare, you have to put the people first, the innocent people first, and that's the innocent palestinian people. they have to be first and foremost. at this point in the game where the israelis have killed several thousand hamas leaders, it's now time to take a look at a strategy that includes a surgical approach by special operating forces to reduce some of the casualties and the suffering that we see here on the ground, these innocent

people without food, they're without shelter. it's time to take care of them and move to a different strategy in my view. >> we do know it is getting harder to get aid into gaza. there's a graph from "the new york times" that shows aid trucks are falling way short of getting inside. 350 is the number of trucks that aid groups say is the minimum. this week, it looks like about 10% made it in. civilians in the crosshairs of this war. what can be done to help? >> well, there are a couple of things that can be done. let's take a look at the overall strategy as we talk about what can be done. first of all, when you take a look at where we are today, there's still no diplomatic conversation of value to be had, whether it's a cease-fire or whether it's a larger strategy that talks about a pathway to a

two-state solution so that we can start to go in, at least from a planning perspective and talk about what gaza is going to look like next, who is going to lead gaza, how are you going to rebuild gaza, how are you going to get food and shelter in, all those type things. so that needs to start to happen. from an informational standpoint, the israelis, they're being isolated around the world in many western countries now. there's a lot of dissent inside israel. israel has every right to defend themselves. what happened to them should never happen again. as you see the movement now and this isolation of the west, this dissent within the country itself by the israeli people, i think the netanyahu government should listen closely and change

their strategy in order to move forward with a better solution for gaza. so those two things i think we need to take a hard look at. >> raf sanchez, thank you. lieutenant general steph twitty, allow me and the folks here at msnbc to join you in honoring our fallen heroes, remembering the gold star families and thanking all of you who have spent so many years and so much commitment in your life to defending our freedoms. so thank you as well. we will be back with breaking news from papua new guinea where government officials say more than 2,000 people may have been buried alive after a devastating landslide destroyed a large village in the center of the island nation. the remote location is making recovery efforts and the search for the missing incredibly difficult. let's turn now to taiwan and an increasingly rare sites. democrats and republicans working together. house foreign affairs chairman

michael mccaul leading a bipartisan delegation to meet with die want's newly inaugurated president today after a stern warning from beijing advising against that trip. it also comes on the heels of china conducting military drills around the island. nbc news ryan nobles is the only american television network with the group joining us from taipei. deterrence, ryan, seems to be the driving factor. what did chairman mccaul tell you in that exclusive interview after the meeting? >> reporter: we're hearing that word over and over again during this trip to taiwan, chris. deterrence seems to be the main objective here. the citizens of taiwan, and we've had the opportunity to talk to quite a bit of them over the past few days. they're very happy with the status quo. they appreciate the fact they're a self-governing island, not asking for outright independence. they're also not interested in china encroaching on these freedoms they've come to enjoy.

they're very nervous about the idea that china may invade and take over and forcibly unify this island with mainland china. the united states has a vested interest here. taiwan is one of the biggest trading parters, particularly in the tech space. there's the geopolitical impact of china taking over this strategic location in a way that could threaten the west. that's what chairman mccaul specifically said to us. that deterrence is one of the main reasons the united states is involved. >> for us the question would be for the american people, is it in our national security interest to come to the defense of taiwan. if they did not provoke an invasion and they were peaceful but yet invaded by chinese -- communist china, this is something we think about all the time. my committee, i deal with issues of war and peace. my committee has the power to

declare war, but that ultimately is a question for the american people. >> reporter: this question that i posed to chairman mccaul about what the united states would do if taiwan were to be attacked comes against the backdrop of his own party, the republican party becoming increasingly isolationist, suggesting that not only should the united states not provide military resources to its allies, but in many cases, it shouldn't even extend military aid, weapons and financial investments which, of course, congress did just pass, sending billions of dollars here to taiwan to help support that defense system. chairman mccaul making it clear the united states has to have taiwan's back. chris. >> i will note it is 1:33 a.m. in taipei, ryan nobles. we thank you for bringing us that interview and staying up for it. safe travels back. the question for the biden administration as his top opponent heads to an historic moment in court, keep the focus on himself on the campaign trail

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we coupled have a verdict as soon as this week in donald trump's hush money trial, 234 charges, so 34 chances for the likely 2024 republican nominee for president to become a convicted felon or exonerated. "the new york times" argues that whatever the outcome, donald trump's strategy will be the

same as always, anger, retribution and public at tacks. >> everythin, everywhere all at once strategy. trump working to keep his message front and center. just this morning he posted happy memorial day to all including human scum and then went on to try to discredit e. jean carroll and the jury in that case which found him liable for sexual abuse. according to "the new york times," that approach is exactly what the biden campaign is hoping for. the question is how will it all end? with me now "the new york times" peter baker politico's eugene daniels. great writing by both of you in your various publications today. peter, let me start with, along with that new tweet mentioning e. jean carroll, there's "the washington post" reporting that

trump told donors he would crush pro-palestinian protests and deport protesters. it's the kind of rhetoric that hasn't hurt him in the past, as you and i both know. many people will tell you either it's actually what they like about him or it's just talk, that's donald trump, he doesn't mean it. is there any reason to believe this year with all the attention on his legal woes it will be different? >> we haven't seen it so far. the legal woes are an x factor. not that the trial has changed anything. i don't think you've seen much movement in the polls as a result of the trial, but a verdict might. if he gets either a hung jury or acquittal, he'll trumpet that, it proves he's exonerated, this is all a witch hunt, this is all political. that will solidify his base. if he gets a guilty verdict, it may not make a difference because a lot of that is baked

into the system already. there are some republicans, according to polls, who will say i like trump, i would support him otherwise, but a convicted felon is maybe a step too far. it doesn't have to be a lot. even if a handful of republicans in the right precincts in the right states change their mind as a result, it could change the dynamics. we don't know that. that's the x factor we can't really predict. that's the import of this week. >> but it comes against the backdrop, eugene, as you and your team report in politico playbook, it's a toss up. trump's campaign leaning its willingness to go deep into enemy territory, deep blue new york city and deep blue libertarian. if trump wants to spend time competing in the states where they're going to lose by 15 points, by all means they're more than welcome to do that. do you think, eugene, that is a mistake by trump or does it not

matter where he is because whatever he says, his controversial comments get reported? >> trump has never really focused on a ground game. that's never been a huge part of how he runs his presidential campaign. it's not going to be how he runs this one at all. i think what they're trying to show by going into a place like the bronx and having a big crowd -- and it was a big crowd. you have to give him that. it was a large crowd. they're trying to say he can play anywhere. like you said, he's not scared to go into, quote, unquote, enemy territory and speak to whomever might need him. it's not -- usually presidential candidates will say i want to be a president for all people. it's looes like they're trying to show up but not say it. that is not something that donald trump is ever going to say, but it is -- if he were able to win new york or even the bronx, the district around the bronx, that will be a remaking of the map that none of us have been prepared for and that will

change american politics. it's very, very unlikely to happen. that's something that people should keep in mind. this is what the biden campaign kind of wants them to do. i talked to an advisor yesterday who said this is a campaign that doesn't have a lot of money and that they're not planning correctly. you can see that by where they're going. meanwhile, you have president biden going out and looking in their eyes presidential. that's the center point for this re-election bid for the biden camp, is going out and showing that president biden is going out and doing the job, that he does the job, and using that as a contrast for what we'll see this week with some kind of verdict from president trump's case and also him going to the bronx and bringing rappers up as if that's the only way to get black voters interested in you. >> peter, your colleague wrote that the biden camp is hoping that once the race revolves more

around trump, voters will remember all the reasons they sent him packing. we talked about it before. you just mentioned it. nobody really knows what the impact, for example, of a guilty verdict would be. we have an idea in the polls. who knows, especially five, six months from now, how voters will be feeling. i wonder if you have a sense from the biden campaign. do they think there's a huge difference between a guilty and a not guilty verdict in this sense that there are people who believe actually a guilty verdict will fire up his base even more, will actually work to his advantage? everybody has an idea, but what's team biden thinking right now? >> well, i think team biden understands that a guilty verdict may or may not help, but an acquittal or hung jury definitely does not help. in other words, if they don't want trump to have the argument that he was somehow unfairly prosecuted, and they know he will take anything other than a guilty verdict, there's evidence of that.

not counting on a guilty verdict changing anything. this is not the most significant of the four cases he's been charged in. we're not going to see a trial in any of the other three cases this year. a lot of voters have already discounted the facts here saying hush money and falsifying business papers may or may not mean that much to most voters because they've already factored that in. i think they're counting on reminding voters who he is. the biden team theory is many voters out there, especially younger voters, are still not convinced that this is the choice they have. they may not be happy about biden versus trump, but that's the choice they have. june 27th will make clear to voters, yes, this is it. this is not the choice you want, but this is the choice you have. of these two, how ever unhappy you are with president biden, the biden campaign will make the case that trump is much worse. >> president biden has multiple foreign trips in june. i think traditionally you would

say that's less time campaigning domestically. that's less time to focus on and talk about domestic issues which we know are a big driver in this campaign, but then you have the debate as peter rightfully points out on june 27th. i don't want to say is that everything, but is that the main focus right now that, if there's going to be a game changer in a race that's a tossup at least at this point, june 27th is it? >> i think that's probably right. within of the things we've seen in debate history is that, unless something goes wildly wrong, they don't move voters -- voters will stay there. you'll see the winner of the debate may see a bump. it doesn't always change the debate. really, the thing that president biden and his team are going to have to counteract is kind of the bad luck of presidents typically doing pretty badly in their first debate.

that's something they delph don't want as they're going into the summer, into the republican convention, into the democratic convention coming up just a month after that. so they're going to be doing all that work. you mentioned those foreign trips. it's another example of them trying to prove to the american people, one, that president biden wants to keep his promises of shoring up democracy and being the beacon of hope in democracy to the rest of the world, and he's going to do that while he's also working on campaigning. there's also a part of that where president biden has had to tell our allies that everything is going to be okay, right, in their words. don't worry, we care about democracy no matter what our domestic politics say. june 27th for the american people is going to give them a chance to see these two men go head-to-head once again. this is the third time they will have debated. but a lot -- as people are saying, a lot of this is baked in.

there's only so many voters that will be moved by watching these two men get up and -- let's be honest -- yell at each other for 90 minutes. at the end of the day, it's part of the process and something that's important to the way that we do this. how many voters are going to be moved, probably not that many. >> eugene daniels, peter baker, thank you both so much. happy memorial day. the families of active duty service members who lost loved ones in the line of duty fighting for military benefits to rotc candidates. rotc candids a once-daily pill for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and the chance at clear or almost clear skin. it's like the feeling of finding you're so ready for your close-up. or finding you don't have to hide your skin just your background. once-daily sotyktu was proven better, getting more people clearer skin than the leading pill. don't take if you're allergic to sotyktu;

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miracle baby. >> she was an amazing person, she's kind, loved science. she wanted to be a scientist her whole life. >> high school, mckenzie joined the rotc. >> she had a phenomenal experience in high school. she continued in college. >> on a development exercise, she got into a humvee with fellow cadets. the driver was not trained, going over the split, the vehicle spun and flipped, killing mckenzie. >> you're living every parent's worst nightmare, and then adding to it, immense financial strain. >> expenses piled up. burial costs, missed work, legal proceedings are ongoing. jessica lost the home she had been renting. >> there we were on the one-year anniversary of her death, just like scrambling, trying to find any resemblance of consistency, of stability. >> families of active duty service members lost in the line of duty receive a death gratuity

of $100,000. families of rotc cadets like jessica, get nothing. manny vega has been on a mission. manny died ten days into basic training due to complications of a common cold and poor medical service. >> as a veteran what carries a veteran who have the marine corps fail my son, they did, they failed my son, and to fail his family, i'm very conflicted. it's very painful. just the coldness of the culture is what really, really is upsetting. >> patrick died at boot camp so the vega's got their death gratuity. the coverage gaps moved manny to move grief to action, save our service members, pushing for policy change and supporting other families who suffered losses like his.

>> what was it like finding the community that manny was able to build? >> it's been life saving. >> as a marine, you're taught to take care of your own. you never leave, don't leave anybody behind. >> democratic congressman was taught the same and served with vega. >> this is something you are aware of from a policy perspective and personal perspective. he teamed up with veteran michael waltz. >> he once upon a time served in the rotc program, i served in the delayed entry program, we know personally what these gaps can do in terms of not provide to the families of service members who die in service and sacrifice. what it does to their families. >> we're facing a recruiting crisis, as we're facing a retention crisis, if families find out they're not covered, wait a minute, my son or daughter is about to go jump out of planes but they don't get the types of benefits that every other military member does.

>> the lawmakers' bill included in an annual national defense package that's not yet passed congress would partly correct the oversight, authorizing payment of a death gratuity, and providing casualty assistance to families of rotc cadets who die in training exercises. >> what does it feel like knowing changes are coming. >> i feel like she didn't die in vain. >> what's it going to be like to call and say we got this done. >> very meaningful for me. memorial day is an american holiday. that doesn't mean travelers are staying state side. the top destination for americans and teach you crucial cappuccino etiquette. more "chris jansing reports" reports after this. te more "chris jansing reports" reports after this but no matter what business i'm in... my network and my tech need to keep up. thank you verizon business. (kevin) now our businesses get fast

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transferring your services has never been easier. get connected on the day of your move with the xfinity app. can i sleep over at your new place? can katie sleep over tonight? sure, honey! this generation is so dramatic! move with xfinity. travel around the country is hitting a record high this weekend, and international

travel is also on the rise driven in part by taylor swift's popular european tour. in madrid where swift is set to perform this week, united airlines reported a 25% spike in passengers compared to last year. and swifties aren't the only driver of foreign travel. the "wall street journal" reporting that the u.s. dollar is sitting at its highest value against foreign currencies since 2002 meaning american tourists get more for their money. nbc's claudio lavanga has more from rome for us. what are you seeing? >> reporter: according to the aaa travel agency service, rome tops the list of destinations chosen by americans to travel abroad on memorial day, beating closer cities like vancouver or cooler cities like london. who can blame them. look at this, it's about 80 degrees here, and the city is bustling with tourists around landmarks like the coliseum, right behind me, which is one of the most visited monuments in

the world at any time, not only on memorial day. now, there are no official stance on how many americans are in rome right now, but i can tell you that i have seen and hard many of them around here, and it's not surprising because, while americans are among the top nationalities that visit rome and italy every year in every season, and the love is reciprocated. italians love american tourists because they are typically big spenders and appreciate the italian way of life. there's only one thing that italians find a bit weird about american tourists when they ask for a cappuccino after lunch or dinner. remember, if you want to blend in only order that at breakfast. >> claudio lavanga, that's going to do it for us this hour. more news coming up with katy tur