>> legal experts say putting the actor turned defendant on the stand now could give prosecutors a chance to turn his own words against him. >> in all likelihood baldwin will not testify. the risks are too great and outweighs in benefits of putting the client on the stand. >> ana, just a few moments ago we saw alec baldwin enter the courtroom with his wife and their youngest child in tow, and the child stayed in the car which appears to be a nanny with them. the question remains, will baldwin take the stand and testify in his own defense? we will hear from the set's armor, but it's unclear if she will plead the fifth. >> thank you. that does it for us. i will see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place.

i am ana cabrera reporting from new york. josé diaz-balart picks up our coverage right now. good morning. 11:00 a.m. eastern. 8:00 a.m. pacific. i am josé diaz-balart. we begin with the questions that continue to surround president biden and his re-election campaign, and this comes as president biden is set to host dozens of world leaders in washington beginning today for a nato summit. overnight, the president's personal physician released a letter seeking to clear up why a parkinson's disease specialist has been to the white house eight times in eight months, and the doctor, the neurologist, dr. kevin cannard said president biden has not seen a neurologist

outside of his annual physical. with us, ali vitali, and just outside the national democratic headquarters in washington where the democrats held their meeting, aaron gilchrist, and jake hilliard. >> reporter: members have been told not to talk about what happened in that room. they actually have gone to a lot of effort to keep this as a closed door family discussion when they walked into the building behind me, which is the democratic national committee meeting, and they wanted to get a bit of distance. they took lawmaker phones and apple watches, anything that would have allowed them to leak or communicate what was being said in the room. as they left, i was met with a lot of stares and i will not

talk about it look, and is this the last that we will hear from democrats doubting president biden should continue on as the standard barrier of their party. and things we have heard, bennie thompson, saying the consensus in the room in his words was right in with biden. people that have been privately critical and we have reported on what their calls were with colleagues, saying they did not voice their concerns in the room and biden is the nominee of the party. notably, one person who was public about the fact that biden should step down, and that's congressman seth moulton, and he is one of the few that said biden should no longer be the nominee, and he said he told his colleagues why he felt that way in the room, and clearly many of them are trying to stick to the sense that they want to keep it private. i think some of them sort of want to stick it to republicans who when they have had these

family disagreements in the past, the leaks have been plentiful and democrats had a lot to talk about, and democrats are now showing they can disagree and have tough conversations without it coming out in the press, and that has been true in the last hour and a half or so. congressman clyburn, can you tell us the tone of the meeting, and we're live on msnbc. clyburn there. it's something that i have heard from a lot of democrats who are supportive of president biden, and the fact that while they are talking about what is going on in their own house means they are not contrasting with trump and warning voters to the threat of democracy and keeping it with

their party platform. >> let's listen in. >> we're ridin' with biden. >> well, not much more than we're ridin' with biden. jake, what were you hearing from that meeting? was it an all riding with biden meeting? >> no, it was described like a funeral and a few details i got my hands on in the last hour. the ranking democrat from california on the veterans affairs committee stood up in the meeting and said joe biden in a recent poll is losing his district. joe biden won that southern california district with 62% of the vote in 2020. and i assume that is meant to show the president is not doing well in some of these even safe democratic districts. remember, josé, members of congress want to get re-elected, and that's their top priority.

of course they want to protect democracy and all these other things they talk about, and they want to get re-elected so they will talk about the political interests they have. a democrat from connecticut who represents the northwest corner of the state, and by the way, had a tough re-election campaign last time around and stood up and said if they replace biden with vice president harris, that would be unfair to the vice president and set her up for failure. they said one of the things we were listening to and looking for in the meeting was leadership, if hakeem jeffries would move beyond that he's sticking with the ticket as he said just yesterday, and he did not. he was quiet and in listening mode, taking in all opinions. the real dynamic here, josé, is jeffries and chuck schumer are not going to do anything that

further divides their caucus. you don't have uniformed thinking here in any way shape or form, and that is showing in this morning's meeting and the reporting around it does indicate that they have moved no closer to some sort of unified theory in biden's re-election, and in fact, they are very, very divided. >> jake, all of these politicians as you mentioned are having to make a cost benefit analysis, vis-a-vis, as joe biden being the presidential candidate. what is that cost benefit analysis kind of distilled down to for these members? >> sure, party loyalty and party unity versus their own political interest. that's what we see right now driving this discussion. of course, members of congress understand, or at least the ones i have talked to, and i have not talked to anybody privately that didn't think biden's debate was a disaster and he's likely to lose in november and he's not

the best candidate. it's difficult to say that. it's more difficult to dump the president of the united states of your party in july of the campaign year. it's party unity versus their own political interests for a lot of the members of congress. >> while this is going on on capitol hill, the president is hosting the nato summit also in washington, d.c. where he will give remarks this evening. tomorrow he will have his first solo press conference in sometime. what can we expect to hear from the president today? >> reporter: the president spoke often about the need to shore up alliances around the world, and sweden and finland were added to the organization this year, and that's a key part in making sure the people here realize the importance of nato, and he is

expected to speak in the building behind me, which was founded 75 years ago, and he will talk about the importance of nato. he will also talk about ukraine. i heard from a senior official that said we should expect they will talk about doing what nato was designed to do 75 years ago, and now the effort is to stand up to russia and make sure ukraine has the materials it needs to do that today. and they are building a bridge to membership for ukraine. there will not be an offer or an invitation for ukraine to join nato today, but there's an effort to make sure ukraine is able to build the military apparatus that will eventually allow them to join nato. this is up against the backdrop of president biden and the questions about his health, and so the days to come, there will

be questions about how well president biden stood up stamina wise to the long list of events and meetings he's expected to have over the next several days before his press conference on thursday, josé. >> meanwhile, vaughn, donald trump scheduled to have a rally and he's been having a low profile since the debate. what can we expect to hear from him? >> all of the attention being given to president biden's daily events and public appearances, donald trump has quietly been keeping to his social media account over the last 12 days. today is going to be his first public appearance, a campaign stop in doral, florida, at his golf club there in doral. this will be one of two final events he will have before next week's convention that will begin next monday in milwaukee. there will be a rally on saturday outside of pittsburgh. i want you to hear him in a

phoner last night with sean hannity in which he talked about he still has to make the vp decision. >> i have not made a final decision, but i have ideas as to where we are going. a little bit -- you know, we wanted to see what they are doing, to be honest, and it might make a difference, but i am not sure it would. and some are saying trump will wait until he sees what happens with cooked joe biden. >> and a senator will be joining trump at the event tonight, and this is a change, josé, from a couple days ago when donald trump made a suggestion that he made the decision in his mind and now implying he's waiting to see what joe biden decides to do about his own campaign before making that decision on his own running mate. >> and ali?

>> reporter: many members say they do not think president biden should be the nominee. on the senate side of the building, the stakes are a little different. you have had some members including one of the top democrats, patty murray, saying there's concern around the president's debate performance, and he needs to show and not just tell that he can carry democrats up and down the ticket as the standard barrier in 2024. that being said there's no senator at this point that said biden needs to step down, and that's something we are watching. the reason i was always looking to today as a potential inflexion point in our reporting and the ways this has been talked about, is once you have put all of the senators or house members in a room, potentially there could be a form of

consensus. it seems on the house side the goal right now, and somebody on the panel echoed this, said that leadership doesn't want to get out of step with where their membership is and they want to hold the line for biden, and by and large a majority of the members are publicly there. on the senate side, it's the same for chuck schumer. for leadership, these lunches are an exercise in listening. we will see, of course, if there's anything tangible that comes out of them, if any senators say they made a decision one way or another, and that's the goal here. i will say i heard from one person who is in touch with front liners who has the concern that maybe since it's hard to step out of line as a front liner or somebody that could go against the president, the mood like look like everybody is onboard, and the president might want to show he can do that.

>> and former oklahoma senator has died. >> yeah, served up here in 1987 to 2023. a real long-time senator that was deeply conservative, and skeptical of climate change was one of his main calling cards, and also incredibly strong in the military, and a long-time figure over decades here on capitol hill. >> thank you all so very much. up next, we will talk to one of the democrats calling publicly on president biden to step aside. congressman seth moulton tells us why he says the party's best path forward to beating donald trump. we will see you in a minute. and then one of the congress members supporting president

biden. we're back in 90 seconds. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. the world migh t not be ready for them... ...but at $3 a pop? your wallet definitely is. dupixent can help people with asthma breathe better in as little as 2 weeks. so this is better. even this. dupixent is an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma that's not for sudden breathing problems. dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. tell your doctor right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines including steroids, without talking to your doctor. ask your specialist about dupixent. missing out on the things you love because of asthma? get back to better breathing with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur.

don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. (♪♪) 15 past the hour. since president biden's debate with donald trump last month, nine democratic lawmakers have called on him to step aside. with us now is one of those lawmakers, massachusetts congressman, seth moulton. i know you just got out of that

meeting, the first full caucus meeting since the debate. what was it like? >> it was a really healthy debate. it's what americans should expect out of a political party, listening to the concerns of our constituents and of voters, debating them and having a good family discussion about the way forward. i thought it was thoughtful and informative and respectful. it was a good meeting. >> anything come out of it? >> i think a lot of people are looking for a consensus. there's no consensus right now. there are a lot of members that express concerns, gave voice to those concerns. there were members that expressed concerns about making the switch and what that would entail. i will not discuss any of the details of the meeting because it was a private meeting and we need to be respectful of other members' views. and a lot of people are having these discussions in private even though there are a few of

us that have gone public with our concerns. >> why is it you decided to go public with it? why are you calling for the president to step aside? >> first of all, it was a difficult decision. i have known the vice president for a long time, and he was the first major politician to come up to support me and campaign for me after a contentious primary in my first run for congress. i have spent time having breakfast at his house when he was the vice president. i have a lot of love and respect for joe biden and the things he has done for our country. i spent the first part of the week after the debate trying to have private conversations, and reaching out to his inner circle and talking to folks at the white house and expressing my concerns about his continuing in the race. after those discussions didn't go anywhere, i decided it was time to go public and to share many of the concerns so many constituents of mine have. we understand the stakes. the president gets this, too,

and the stakes are so high in the race. we have to defeat donald trump. when the polls are bad and getting worse, you can't double down on a strategy, but you have to have a change in strategy because we need to win. this is about defeating donald trump and that's the end of the game. >> it's interesting to hear you talk about president biden and when he was vice president how he came out to support you. maybe the odds of you winning at the time weren't as great as they were later, but certainly joe biden's assistance was fundamental for your victory. i am just wondering, are you basing this all on 90 minutes of a debate? >> no. i mean, that's a fair question. i have had the opportunity to spend time with the president over the past couple of years, and i have been concerned about this for a while so i am not just basing this on 90 seconds -- 90 minutes, rather. i also have to say what we have

asked the president to demonstrate is that he's willing to change his strategy and do things differently, and not only is the current course not working, he's behind in key states and the polls are getting worse. we have asked for that and we have not seen that from the president or his campaign. we have not seen him campaigning more vigorously, and to not just do, you know, where he's not just keeping up but to claw back the lead he has lost. >> it's interesting. you say you have seen not just in those 90 minutes but in other opportunities where you have been with him face-to-face. what is it you have seen in those moments? >> i have seen the same thing that other americans and democrats have seen, that he is a remarkable leader, somebody unbelievably dedicated to the country, but, like all of us, as

we get older he's not the same man he was four years ago. the question, of course, is is this somebody that can go toe-to-toe with donald trump and claw back the lead he's lost to ensure he can win this election, because so much is at stake. he's running against a convicted felon, somebody who attacked the capitol, and that never happened before in american history. you think when you are running against a person like that, somebody many republicans have trouble with in donald trump, you would think he would be way ahead. this should be easy. we should be cleaning up, and actually in the key polls, president biden is behind. this is all about winning at the end of the day. we have to have a strategy to win because so much is at stake. >> congressman, thank you for being with us. let's continue our conversation going forward. good to see you. >> thank you. up next, a look at the

devastation left behind after a hurricane ripped across eastern texas leaving several people dead and millions without power. these are the images just outside houston. happening now, two powerful financial leaders on capitol hill and what they are saying about the state of the economy right now. you are watching "josé diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer.

this summer. snacking. just. got. serious. introducing new $3 footlong dippers. the world might not be ready for them... ...but at $3 a pop? your wallet definitely is.

dave's company just scored the ...but at comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. high five! high five... -i'm on a call. it's 5 years of reliable, gig speed internet... five years of advanced security... five years of a great rate that won't change. yep, dave's feeling it. yes. but it's only for a limited time. five years? -five years. introducing the comcast business 5-year price lock guarantee. powering 5 years of savings. powering possibilities. 25 past the hour this morning.

beryl is pushing inland after hitting texas as a category 1 hurricane battering the coast with heavy rain and strong winds and leaving at least seven people dead. just moments ago the national hurricane center downgraded beryl to a post tropical cyclone. yesterday the storm caused a tornado outbreak that took out trees. what does the situation look like to you, kathy park? >> reporter: texas is in recovery and cleanup mode after taking a direct hit from beryl yesterday morning. we were driving around the houston area yesterday as well as this morning, and debris was scattered everywhere, and traffic lights still down and residents are still having to deal with this. we have a massive toppled tree. we are told it fell sometime around yesterday afternoon.

it's completely blocking the roadway right now. city officials are saying because of these types of hazards across houston, it's probably a good idea to avoid unnecessary travel. you mentioned a moment ago, josé, the death toll has now climbed to seven. one of the victims was a houston police department employee. he was going into work yesterday morning and got caught in the floodwaters, so one of the many victims attached to beryl. we are tracking the ongoing power outages. right now more than a million customers still without power, and center point energy, the main power company in houston, the goal is to restore about a million customers by the end of the day tomorrow. right now, josé, the heat is starting to crank up. it will be in the 90s the rest of the week, and the heat index will be 105 later on today. once again, center point energy,

they have 12,000 field resources on the ground and will be working pretty much around the clock to get the restoration process underway. a lot of clean up ahead, and, of course, a lot of folks without power and that means no a/c. josé? >> uh-huh. kathy park in houston. thank you so much. right now we are watching a split screen as of two the country's leading financial figures, jerome powell and janet yellen testifying on capitol hill. the testimony comes before key inflation data is set to be released later this week. joining us, cnbc correspondent, dominic chu. >> secretary yellen is appearing for financial global services, and they are targeting clear

national security risks, and she is talking about the inflation was caused by the post pandemic supply chain issues. jay powell is noting the american economy continues to expand at a solid pace through moderating -- again, moderating somewhat in the first half of the year. labor market conditions cooled off while still remaining strong. with regard to inflation overall, he knows the most recent data readings have shown further progress in bringing down inflation but on a more modest level, and added elevated inflation is not the only risk the american economy faces. all of that is contrast around the fed moving too early or too

late on moving rate policy. powell did say the current regime for interest rates has put a downward edge on inflation. josé, powell did also say it's not likely that the fed's next move would be to raise interest rates. that's something worth noting as well. we will keep you posted on more headlines, josé. i will send things back over to you. >> dom, thank you so much. after the break, steve kornacki will be with us to look at where the race for the white house stands after new polls report. and we will also talk to a congresswoman. sswoman.

(vo) you've had thyroid eye disease for a long time. and you've lived with the damage it caused. but even after all these years, restoration is still possible. learn how at tedhelp.com. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. (aaron) i own a lot of businesses... so my tech and my network need to keep up. so, here's to now. thank you, verizon business. (kevin) now our businesses get fast and reliable internet from the same network that powers our phones. (aaron) so whatever's next... we're cooking with fire. (vo) switch to the partner businesses rely on.

♪ (cheery music) - they get it. they know how it works... and more importantly... it works for them. - i don't have any anxiety about money anymore. - i don't have to worry about a mortgage payment every month. - it allowed me to live in my home...

and not have to pay payments. - [narrator] if you're 62 or older and own your home, you could access your equity to improve your lifestyle. a reverse mortgage loan eliminates your monthly mortgage payments and puts tax-free cash in your pocket. call the number on your screen. - it was the best thing i've ever done, and- - really? - yes, without a doubt! - just like these folks, aag can show you how a reverse mortgage loan uses your built-up home equity to give you tax-free cash. - it's a good thing. - why don't you get the facts? like these folks did. - [narrator] call right now to receive your free, no-obligation info kit. call the number on your screen.

it's your time to cash in. so don't just play. stay... at northern california's premier casino resort. book your getaway now at cachecreek.com.

it's your time to cash in. so don't just play. stay... at northern california's premier casino resort. book your getaway now at cachecreek.com. 35 past the hour. nine house democrats are calling for president biden to step aside after his debate performance two weeks ago, but polling done after the debate has not shown any significant change among voters with movement remaining within the margin of error. here to help us break it down, nbc's national correspondent, steve kornacki, at the big board. >> there's a couple ways to

think about this, and there's a lot of dilemma the democrats may be feeling right now as they think through biden's current standing. eight polls that were taken entirely after the debate. you see donald trump leading 7 of the 8 polls, and the other one a tie. you look at the same polls prior to the debate here and you see some movement here from trump plus 1 to trump plus 2. you see the general trajectory in the polls is a couple points towards donald trump. it's not as if the debate took place and all of the post debate conversation is resulted in the bottom falling out for biden and suddenly he's down 10 points or

something that definitive, and you are talking about something much, much smaller. democrats are wondering is that something that can be erased and is it a temporary phenomenon, and will there be more public settings like that going forward? these are the incumbents this century running for re-election, and where were they in the polls. biden averages down by 3.4. donald trump was down by 9 and he lost. barack obama was up by 2.5 and he won. and george bush was down by 2 and he ended up winning. there was a month period in july in 2024 when john kerry took the lead in the averages and it was

not that way the rest of the way. you do see here only one president running for re-election this century was up in the polls. and maybe this is not resonating too much, but the other side of that is if it moves a point or two in an election this close, a point or two could be all it takes to sway the outcome. >> steve, correct me if i am wrong and going back to the initial slide there, it seems to be a one-point shift either direction. it's so within the margin of error, of any and all polls, and people acting like the world is coming to an end. i mean, a point can be just because the people were asked on tuesday versus thursday. >> yeah, i would say, again, the

reason we are putting all of these up here is because when you are talking about margin of error and you are looking at any individual poll, that's something to keep in mind, but we are looking at the preponderance of evidence here. all of the polls conducted post debate -- some of the previous polls were conducted a month or two month or something like that, but look, movement towards trump, away from trump, toward trump, toward trump, toward trump, and you do see a pattern there. it's not huge, and like i said, it's not going 5, 10, 15 points away from biden but you do see a pattern of a couple points. some of those points could be made up, and i don't know if there are democrats that think that, or are there democrats that say a couple points in an election like this, that could be the difference between winning and losing. >> steve kornacki, thank you very much. good to see you, my friend. >> you got it.

and then joining us now is the chair of the congressional hispanic congress, the congresswoman from california. what did you base your decision on to support the president at this moment? >> thank you for having me on, josé. the hispanic caucus started the initiative of taking the hispanic caucus on the road. we have over 50% of the population there, and i have seen the commitment by the biden/harris administration to go out and engage, and we saw the president's actions to protect the noncitizen spouses of u.s. citizens. this is historic. what is at stake is the other guy, which is going to try and undo all the progress whether

it's this executive action, and whether it's making sure that we complete and get all the dollars out for infrastructure, and the american rescue plan and the c.h.i.p.s, and so much is there that the former president is saying he will undo. when i remind voters about project 2025 and what trump plans to do, it's really a takeover agenda of the american government by trump loyalist, and that includes mass deportations of latino and even the former president himself has said that innocent people will be swept up. when you remind people what president biden has done and what former president trump wants to do, it has been a conversation that has been very supportive of the president and the vice president. i am standing with the president joe biden and vice president kamala harris and we are going to continue to do the work that needs to get done. >> yeah, i mean, congresswoman i

think it's important to state and underline during donald trump's presidency, he tried to repeatedly cancel daca. this is not just concepts, but he actually tried to kill daca. i know you were in the meeting after the debate, and what was that like? >> it was a listening session, and it was a family conversation, able to express your opinions and views and i think it's healthy we have the ability to do that. just like a family conversation, those are private conversations. everybody, including myself had an opportunity to listen and an opportunity to speak, and that's what is great about the leadership we have, we have a big tent and we listen and we make sure people feel supported. i think our members need to do what they need to do in their

districts, and you know, they are the best at what they do, which is why we are so focussed on making sure we get the house back. we are the chamber that has been able to get things done. take a look at this congress with republicans in the majority. it has been house democrats that have been able to govern. it's us providing the votes to make sure that the government remained open. it's us that house democrats have been able to put people over politics to make sure the debt ceiling was raised and it's all of these things including making sure there's national security dollars. it's house democrats that have provided more votes so there's money at the southern border. it's hard when you are going against a party that is lying all the time, but we have to get the facts and the truth out there. >> congresswoman, i remember there was some discrepancies and opposition to the border bill filed in the senate that

president biden actually supported that you felt maybe there was not enough conversations and back and forth between the white house and you. you have or any of your fellow members spoken to the president recently? >> well, the congressional hispanic caucus had a meeting with the president at the end of may, and that was an opportunity to express our thoughts on the bill and our opinions on the bill and to just reiterate why there are better avenues to legal pathways, and the other things he's done providing tps and the cv 1 applications for those fleeing violence, and there's where he provided protections to the spouses of the u.s. citizens, and that was good to have the conversation with the president. >> that was last night, right? >> that was at the end of may.

congresswoman, it's always a pleasure to see you. thank you for being with us today. >> great. thank you for having me. as the race for the white house tightens, vice president harris is on her way to nevada where that battleground is crucial. you're watching "josé diaz-balart reports." art report.

missing out on the things you love because of asthma? get back to better breathing with fasenra, an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. step back out there with fasenra. ask your doctor if it's right for you. (♪♪) ♪♪

looking good, guys! thanks! vacations are better with the credit gods are on your side. i'm coming up! rewards once available to the few are now accessible to the many. earn points for travel with credit one bank, and live large. 50 past the hour. turning to the swing state of

nevada, where vice president harris is returning for her sixth trip this year and second in less than two weeks. she will rally support for the ticket at two campaign events this afternoon. especially among latino voters. joining us, john rawlston. >> you know how important we are. i like to say we matter. obviously, the biden team knows that. the president is coming for a couple of speeches here next week. my guess is, he will add other events. the vice president has been here half a dozen times just this year. she's energized voters in the culinary union, which has a large hispanic population.

today she's trying to energize the asian vote, doing an event there. it's a very important constituency here as well, about 10% of the electorate, maybe a little less. so they have been heavily democratic in the past. so they are leaving no stone unturned in what i like to call the we matter state, jose. >> john, the president has seen solid support towards him in the past. >> he has. joe biden had won here just as every democratic presidential candidate has won here since 2008. the margin was relatively close, about 2.5%, 33,000 votes. the hispanic vote was very, very strong for him and very, very important. that's why the culinary union support -- they have reiterated they will do anything to elect joe biden -- is very, very important.

but they have seen in the polls here what they have seen across the country, which is some slippage in the hispanic vote. so in every constituency, jose, across the board, whether it's asians, hispanics, young people, the biden team is trying to shore up support to coalesce, especially with all the questions that have been raised in the wake of his debate performance. >> yeah. talk to me about the slippage in the latino vote. i'm a little bit, i think, less -- i don't necessarily see that that is a real massive reality for the latino vote. as you and i have spoken about, there is no latino vote as a block. there are latino voters. nevada is just like every other state where our community is strong and makes such an important contribution to our economy and to our culture.

is that -- are you seeing that there is an erosion of latino support for democrats? >> jose, you know more about that than almost anybody, i think there is reason for you to be skeptical. i'm skeptical. let me give you an object lesson. two years ago, the first latina elected to the u.s. senate, was thought to be in trouble at about this time in the election. the hispanic vote was seen to be slipping away. but the polling turned out to be not true, or as some observers believe -- you get this, jose -- sometimes hispanic voters take their time to make up their minds and make their decision and then go and vote for who they want to vote for. catherine cortez got more than 60% of the hispanic vote after polling shows her slipping in june and july. i think it's premature to make a

statement about, as you call it, erosion. it's still pretty early, jose, four months away from the election. a lot is going to happen. >> always a pleasure to speak with you, my friend. i appreciate your time. >> you too. up next, new reporting on a new step panama is taking to try to block migrants from making the journey through the jungles. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

[ put a little love in your heart by david ruffin begins to play ] my bad, my bad.

good race. - you too. you were tough out there. thank you. i'm getting you next time though. oh i got you, i got you. down goes jewett. jewett and amos are down. what a lovely sign of sportsmanship. you okay? yeah. ♪ ♪ 57 past the hour. panama has installed barbed-wire fencing blocking some of the routes that migrants take on their way north. nearly 200,000 migrants have crossed so far this year according to panamapanama's nat immigration service. julia ainsley joins us. what is panama doing?

>> they put up this fence along the jungle where many migrants perish as they are trying to cross into the united states. it hasn't been enough. there have been a number of videos that we have seen, based on the messaging apps that we follow here, where migrants are seen digging under and getting through. similar to what can happen with the border wall along the u.s.-mexico barrier. it slows some people down. it makes it more dangerous. in the end, there have really been -- there have never been impenetrable barriers. that's another story here. this is part of the new administration in panama's effort to try to cut down on immigration. so many immigrants are coming from venezuela and south america and enter through there. you can see migrants coming through. it's making the journey more dangerous. >> julia, give us an update on the situation at the border.

>> we just reported last week that the number of migrants crossing the border in june was at the lowest point at any time, any month in the biden presidency. the last time it was at this number was january 2021 when the administration switched over to biden. that's something that the biden administration is saying that they are crediting the new asylum policy, the one put in place in early june that restricted how many people, specifically those who crossed illegally, if they can claim asylum. >> julia ainsley, thank you very much. appreciate it. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. you can watch clips from our show on youtube. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president biden on the world stage as the nato summit opens in washington. he forcefully pushes back