back with two astronauts in space, it's amazing to me. look at this. hairstyles look certainly cooler in space. it's just amazing to me. isn't it? >> it is. every time i do an interview with them in space, i'm amazed. they are traveling at 17,000 miles per hour, 270 miles above the earth. >> tom, it's a pleasure. thank you. >> you bet. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. "andrea mitchell reports" starts right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," president biden at a critical nato summit this hour, hoping his defiant stance puts out the rebellion in his own party. getting a look warm vote of confidence from nancy pelosi today on "morning joe." >> does he have your support to be the head of the democratic ticket? >> as long as the president --

it's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. we're all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short. the first public warning from a democratic senator. >> donald trump is on track, i think, to win this election and maybe win it by a landslide and take with him the senate and the house. a shocker from hollywood. with democratic advocate and supporter george clooney announcing in "the new york times" that the party needs a new nominee. a deeper dive into the nato working sessions beginning this afternoon with the u.s. ambassador to the alliance and intelligent committee chairman mike turner, as nato tries to rush weapons and air defense in ukraine. ♪♪ good day, everyone.

i'm andrea mitchell on a busy day in washington where president biden is hoping his performance at the nato summit this week is going to quiet or hope quiet democratic dissent about his re-election bid. concerns among foreign leaders, they are worried about his ability to defeat donald trump. on a day with a long and very busy schedule, including a white house dinner for the nato leaders tonight, the president arriving for the welcoming ceremony moments ago. only hours after getting a tepid endorsement from nancy pelosi on "morning joe." the president phasing the first senate democrat to say he could not win in november. michael bennet warning that democrats could also lose the house and senate. joining senators tester and brown who raised their concerns privately. >> i just think this race is on a trajectory that is very

worrisome. i think that we could lose the whole thing. >> chuck schumer saying that he is standing with joe. and the president got a full-throated endorsement from alexandria cortez. >> as i have said before, i'm with joe. >> joe biden is our nominee. he is not leaving this race. necessary this race. and i support him. >> in public, the nato sessions are mostly set pieces on teleprompter, as with the welcoming speech the president delivered last night when he contrasted donald trump's comments on nato. >> i didn't know what nato was. it didn't take me long to figure it out. two minutes. >> it's good we are stronger than ever, because this moment in history calls for our collective strength. make no mistake, ukraine can and

will stop putin. [ applause ] >> that contrast is the issue at nato today. joining me now, nbc news senior white house correspondent pete are alexander, and nbc capitol hill correspondent ryan nobles. peter, the president is under so much pressure. there's no room for error. the news conference is tomorrow night. he has a long day today. he is fighting back. it has quieted a lot of the public concerns. but nancy pelosi certainly was an outlier in the way she put it on him to decide. >> reporter: that's right. for president biden, every set of remarks is the most important set of remarks. >> ian: -- until the next one. it's unclear when it lets up. you talk about nancy pelosi's comments earlier. she insists she was not saying that her party should reconsider its nominee. she said more specifically that joe biden should be the one to

decide whether he stays in the race. of course, biden has repeatedly said that he is running right now. i spoke to a senior biden ally a few minutes ago. it was described to me by this person was that pelosi represents the broader democratic caucus and didn't want to try to alienate some members of her party here. separately though, this white house is now dealing -- president biden himself -- with another very critical scathing op-ed about the political future of joe biden. it comes from george clooney who writes, i love joe biden, but we need a new nominee. of course, he was a part of the huge fund-raiser hosted just last month where joe biden arrived directly from the g7 taking place in italy. clooney says in part that the joe biden he was with three weeks ago at that fund-raiser was not the joe biden of 2010.

he says, not even the joe biden of 2020. he was the same man we witnessed at the debate. in short, clooney says, this is about age, nothing more, he adds, we are not going to win in november with this president. he worries on top of that that democrats won't win the house and are going to lose the senate as well. he touts the very exciting democratic bench, in his words, wes moore, kamala harris, gavin newsom. he said in his words, joe biden is a hero. he saved democracy in 2020. we need him to do it again in 2024. no formal comment from the white house or the campaign on that. of course, they push back on the idea. they note joe biden has said he is running. he is not getting out of this race right now. they have noted the public comments about the lawmakers speaking in support of biden saying they have found him to be

energetic in their visits with him. andrea, it's another challenging moment, i think, for president biden and his efforts to stem the push by some democrats and leading donors to push him out of the race. >> indeed. i think that, ryan and peter, i think pelosi's comments are indicating a growing belief that with the president this defiant, that there's no way -- he holds the cards. he has the delegates. he won the primaries. if he doesn't want to step down, if he is circling the wagons, that no one can persuade him to. is there any other indication from the senate -- you have brown and tester not publicly coming out. they are both running for re-election. senator bennet did come out publicly. any other senators? >> reporter: i think the big problem for the biden campaign is, you are right, that congress

does recognize the reality of the situation that joe biden is the only one that can decide his future. many of them feel uncomfortable with him at the top of the ticket. they are reluctant to come out and push him out of the race. instead, we find ourselves in this kind of uncomfortable middle ground that really does the president no good when it comes to his re-election campaign. when you ask questions about senate democrats, yes, only one of them has come out and definitively said publicly that they believe he can't win the race. that's michael bennet. the comments of a wide range of senators leave a whole lot of doubt about how much confidence they have in him and his future. earlier today, richard blumenthal saying he is concerned that joe biden can win this race. sheldon whitehouse of rhode island, tina smith of minnesota. i could go on and on down the list of all the different democratic senators i have talked to who have been reluck

tant -- reluctant to embrace this. the president has to do more. none of this is enough to instill the type of confidence that would be necessary to suggest that joe biden is over this hump and is prepared to fight donald trump leading into the november election. what many democrats are telling me is that they will pay close attention to this press conference that's going to take place tomorrow. it's a solo press conference where he will be forced to answer tough questions. if he aces that, perhaps that's enough to put away the concerns and everyone come together and fully support him, not in this halfway effort that's happening right now. if it's a rough outing, that could mean that these calls are going to increase and more people will come out publicly and say, it's time to find a new nominee. >> some of them might be holding off until after the nato summit closes about that time on thursday to come out publicly,

not before friday, not to do it to embarrass him when he is hosting the summit. peter alexander, ryan nobles, thanks to you. joining us now, one of the democrats who called him president biden to step aside, massachusetts congressman seth molten, you noted nancy pelosi stopped short of saying he should stay in the race. let's watch that exchange. >> it's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. we're all encouraging him to make that decision, because time is running short. >> he has made the decision. he said firmly this week, he is going to run. do you want him to run? >> i want him to do whatever he decides to do. that's the way it is. whatever he decides, we go with. >> what is your read on the comments? >> i think that she's being honest, that there's still a lot of uncertainty here. a tremendous amount of concern.

even though the president said he is going to stay in the race, there are a lot of us on capitol hill and across america who are really concerned about whether or not he can win. we all know how high the stakes are with this election. the other choice is a convicted criminal who incited a mob to attack the capitol right here in washington. something that never happened before in american history. if that's the other choice, we have got to win this election for not just the sake of our party but arguably the sake of our democracy. the stakes are really high. we need to make sure that whoever our nominee is, he or she can beat donald trump. i know that speaker pelosi shares that. >> what would you like to hear from hakeem jeffries? he is the leader. chuck schumer is not giving him

any cover. >> right. >> what can he do with so much division in the ranks? he doesn't have a clear mandate from the dissenters, from you people. >> right. one thing that we have to understand is that the president has got to be all in until he is not. you know? when i see a colleague resign from congress, you don't dribble out that announcement. all of a sudden one day, you say, i'm resigning. it's the same thing with the president and this race. therefore, the key leaders in the party have to be all in with the president until the president's not in. i understand why even though hakeem jeffries represents our caucus, which has a wide variety of concerns, i understand why he personally still has to say he is with the president. as of right now, he is our nominee. i know that what hakeem jeffries and the other leaders are conveying to the white house in

private are all the concerns that you heard expressed at the meeting yesterday and all our private conversations that we're having with colleagues on capitol hill. >> what about the fact that you, by speaking out, nancy pelosi warned about lawmakers speaking out, can weaken the president and frankly, weaponize the trump attacks? >> of course, this is a concern that i took very carefully. i will tell you, andrea, this is even more personal for me than that. joe biden has been a real friend to me. he was the first major politician to come up and campaign after a contentious primary that i won in massachusetts, campaign for me. before other people of massachusetts even were willing to do that. he used to have me over for breakfast at the vice president's house to mentor me as a new member of congress. i have a very personal relationship with the president. it was a hard decision to get to this point of speaking out publicly. what i did first was speak to

people in private. have conversations with the white house. when over the course of several days that didn't seem to be going anywhere, i felt it was important to be honest with my constituents, with people who are asking for what my opinion was. it wasn't an easy decision. i know a lot of my colleagues are struggling with that right now. we don't want any negative consequences going forward. but the reality is, as senator bennet said, we are on a path to losing. you can't just double down on the strategy. you have to change your strategy. that's what we need right now. >> one of your fellow democrats, pat ryan of new york, has just come out against the president staying at the top of the ticket in a telephone interview with "the new york times." that makes the eighth by our count, considering that jerry

nadler was out but now in. it's still a minority coming out publicly. >> a minority coming out publicly, but not necessarily a minority behind the scenes. i think you are going to see that number go up. people have said, you are on a small island. but i don't think people are getting off the island. i think more people are going to be swimming out to it, because the reality is that we are very concerned. the stakes are so high. we have to win this election. >> one of your fellow veterans came out against yesterday. what are your concerns about donald trump in terms of nato, in terms of ukraine? >> i will tell you what, we are very focused on the concerns that donald trump presents to democracy. literally changing the way our constitution works here at home. i actually think the most serious concerns for all of us are what he could do overseas. he said he won't defend taiwan, which is inviing xi jinping to

invade. that could literally end in a nuclear holocaust. the stakes are high internationally. we know donald trump will side with putin, as he has in the past. he sided with putin over our own intelligence committee when he was asked who he believes. right? so this is a president who will side with putin in the war over ukraine. that puts all of europe in danger. if putin gets the message that he can march through ukraine, this will work, he can continue on to nato countries, then we could see americans at war in europe for the first time in 75 years. the stakes internationally could not be higher. it's why it's so important that democrats win this election and defeat donald trump. >> congressman, thanks so much. >> thank you, andrea. a united front. in 90 seconds, a deeper dive into the challenges the world leaders are facing at the nato

summit. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

i'm adding downy unstopables to my wash. now i'll be smelling fresh all day long. [sniff] still fresh. ♪♪ get 6x longer-lasting freshness, plus odor protection. try for under $5! welcome back. you are looking at a live picture from nato. that is the welcoming by the president, of course, and nato secretary-general stoltenberg. no. i'm looking at a very small monitor there.

>> prime minister of -- >> the leaders right now. the president is also trying at the same time to stop this rebellion from within his own ranks. joining us now is "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker and former u.s. ambassador to ambassador idor daldor. peter, first of all, is this a tough challenge for the president? the set pieces on teleprompter last night, the welcome, this arrival ceremony, that's all cut and dried. but he has a long day today. he has a dinner tonight. he has the news conference tomorrow. he is trying to keep the focus on this while at the same time george clooney, a big fund-raiser at the l.a. fund-raiser is urging the president to drop out.

that's pretty devastating. he is an influential voice. everyone is reading it. this is not just noise around the nato summit. they are reading it also, and they are very anxious, according to the leaders i have spoken with. >> i think that's exactly right. it's a very volatile time for the leaders to be here in washington instead of celebrating 75 years of the most successful military alliance in history, that narrative is complicated by the political weakness of the american president hosting the event. i think that that's obviously nobody's preference. more significantly than that i think there's a lot of trepidation among the world leaders about the prospect of donald trump coming back.

they are like the democrats who are concerned about whether president biden can make this race or not, because they have a lot at stake as well. they consider trump to be a threat to anglo-american unity. they consider him to be more hostile to them than russia. they believe that if he gets back in, trump that is, that ukraine will be abandoned and that europe will have to figure out their own way forward. it's critical to them what's happening in our domestic politics. >> i know you are not political, but even last night at his rally, president trump criticized the europeans who have anted up. 23 out of 32 nato members have now come to that 2% point. they hadn't been before. they were at nine previously before joe biden tried to rally them to it. some are over. the scandinavian countries are leading us, in fact. not only that, but he said he never heard of nato before he became president. >> that was a sad comment.

wasn't it? the landlord deciding he has another building that he needs to rent out. it was very sad. here is the facts. it matters. donald trump has threatened to leave nato. in his time in office, we went from three to nine countries. from zero to $70 billion more a year to meet the nato requirement. but since he left office, under joe biden's presidency in part because of what vladimir putin represented, the same vladimir putin that donald trump can't seem to criticize under any circumstances, they went from nine to 23 countries. now we spend $180 billion more a year. the nato countries are -- without the united states -- are spending half a trillion dollars. they are threatened. they want to do and defend europe and be part of nato. the 75th anniversary, they want

to celebrate with the united states. they want to have a united states that's committed to this alliance. donald trump has a lot of work to do to convince americans and europeans in the next four months that's what he would do if he were president. >> i want to ask you about president zelenskyy. he gave a speech last night at the reagan institute. that was no accident. mitch mcconnell introduced him. he is trying to appeal to the republican doubters who permitted that six-month delay in the supplemental, which was really crippling their defense. especially, of course, along the northern border. he also was speaking and quoting ronald reagan in the speech. in an interview he appealed to the u.s. to lift the restrictions and permit ukraine to have deep strikes against the capabilities, against the bases inside russia, from 150 to 500

kilometers. let's listen. >> how they use these guided bombs, using jets, where the jets stay on their bases, do we know these bases? yes. do we know all of them? yes. >> would you want to strike them? >> yes. >> but you are not being allowed to. >> but we can't. somebody except have to say yes. >> react to that. his hands are still tied. >> they are tied. they should be untied. it's hard to fight a war without the troops and commitments that come if they had been a member of nato. at the least we can do is provide ukraine not only with the capabilities, the troops, the intelligence, but allowing them to fight the way in the way they need to fight it.

we would never fight a war to defend ukraine by leaving russian territory unscathed. particularly since not only these aircraft with bombs are really devastating ukrainian forces on the front line, but also the longer range bombers that are using cruise missiles and shooting ballistic missiles at the cities. we saw what happened. a children's hospital attacked by vladimir putin because there was not enough air defense and because those systems could continue to operate without any fear that they would be attacked by long-range strikes. we need to lift this caveat. it's unacceptable. the new prime minister of britain has reaffirmed that they will not have a caveat. we need to lift ours as well. >> peter, do you see any give at all within the administration on that? i'm going to be asking julianne smith, the u.n. ambassador about it today. >> i think what we see time and time again is resistance by the

biden administration for this weapon system or this approach, and time and time again over a period of months, they end up giving in. originally they said they didn't want any weapons -- american weapons used on any russian territory. recently, they did allow weapons to be used on bases in limited form. only against those that are firing in certain parts of ooh -- ukraine across the border. it's possible, it's conceivable that they loosen up further. one thing president biden has made is clear is he is worried about escalation. he doesn't want to get into a shooting war between the united states and russia that could involve nuclear escalation. that's his number one concern, other than protecting ukraine. we see time and time again that this -- allowing further weaponry or further use of the weaponry by the ukrainians hasn't resulted in that kind of escalation. that's given them some feeling of assurance that they can go

further. but it's been in incremental ways. >> the argument from zelenskyy is that the u.s. shifts but as with the f-16s which they just approved, announcing today, is too late to make an appreciable difference. they are fighting from behind at this stage because of that delay in the supplemental. i wanted to ask you about the latest on the political front with all of this at stake and how existential the president says the race against donald trump is. the cook political report today, which is so highly respected, shifting six electoral college ratings, rankings, arizona, georgia, all states that, of course, joe biden won, arizona, georgia, minnesota, nebraska and new hampshire now going from likely democratic to leaning democratic and nevada leaning

republican. those are big shifts. what are you seeing? >> they are. it's important, actually. that's what a lot of these house democrats, senate democrats are looking at. how much damage was done by the debate? not just the president for the chance of winning the white house, as represented by the electoral college projections, but also down ballot. senator races and house races. i think that if those predictions continue to be dire, especially if people feel like they are goes to loose the chance of taking back the house, which they otherwise a couple weeks ago felt positive about, that could influence things. that's one reason you are seeing some of these members come out saying what they are saying publicly. a lot feel it privately. >> peter, you don't think we have heard the final word on this? it's not that joe biden has pushed back, his defiance is completely dispositive? >> clearly, nancy pelosi doesn't think this is the end. he tried to say the decision is

over, stop talking about it. when she went on our air this morning on "morning joe why the ", she was talking about it a decision as if it hadn't been made yet. that indicates that she doesn't consider this to be closed at this point. that is really striking. we will wait and see until after tomorrow. i don't think anybody significant is going to happen until after the summit is over, because people don't want to embarrass the president on an international stage. they want to support him. come friday, i would be fascinated to see where democrats are, especially after that news conference tomorrow, see how the president performs there. >> thanks to both of you. the diplomatic mission. the u.s. ambassador to nato on ukraine's needs against the russian assault. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. wer*g trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools, and paper trading to help sharpen your skills,

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as you can see, the nato leaders are lining up on stage for what they call the class picture. this is all very formalized. no challenges there for any of the members. at this time, the opening ceremonies have concluded. now they have a busy day of meetings after the class photo. i spoke with the u.s. ambassador to nato, ambassador julianne smith before she joined the proceedings there and asked her about ukraine. ambassador, welcome.

thank you so much for giving us the time today. last night, president zelenskyy appealed to the u.s. to lift restrictions, to allow kyiv to be able to strike against bases inside russia. zelenskyy saying he knows where the bases are, but he is not allowed to target them. will the u.s. change that policy? >> we will keep doing what we have done throughout this entire war. that is to continually sit down and meet with our friends in ukraine and assess to what their needs are. you know in early may, the ukrainians came to the united states and asked us whether or not they could use some of the capabilities that have been provided by the united states to target sites inside russian territory. the u.s. administration, the biden administration looked at that and decided in short order to say yes. so we will continue to talk through what their requirements are. right now, the president is in a position where he wants to hold

on the use of the long-range atacms on russian territory. as you have heard secretary blinken say, we will continue to assess and adapt throughout this whole war that's ongoing. >> his argument is that he has the ability to strike at the border. he needs to do deep strikes. he says it's the thousands of munitions that are hammering kyiv and yesterday the children's hospital. we will get to that in a moment. he is making the argument he needs to lift the restrictions to go 150, 500 kilometers inside russia. as well as he says there are some restrictions in crimea. >> the u.s. policy is very clear. that is, we do believe that the long-range fires that have been provided not just by the united states but by some of our closest nato allies can be used to strike targets in crimea.

that is in our view ukrainian territory. the president will have an opportunity to sit down with president zelenskyy and have an exchange on this as we always do. we will hear from them what they are looking at right now, what the situation on the battlefield looks like. you are right, we have to ensure that they can protect themselves against these indiscriminate attacks from russia on civilians, on things like children's hospitals. that's why last night, you heard president biden roll out a new announcement on air defense that not only the united states but nato allies will be providing to ukraine as soon as possible. >> he said -- zelenskyy said last night that five more patriots is great but not enough. there were 3,500 missiles that hit kharkiv, for instance, from deep inside russia, targeting

that border -- near border city, that the villages that they lost were along the area, but kharkiv has held so far. kyiv had the worst hammering. the attack on the children's hospital was deliberate. it was targeted. it was no accident. he needs more air defense more than he is getting. he needs more than the f-16s that have been announced, which he has been waiting for. he needs the ability to go after those bases. that's his argument. >> yeah, absolutely. we have heard loud and clear the need for air defense. it's critical that the ukrainians are able to not just protect their cities and their civilians, but critical infrastructure. the russians have very aggressively targeted ukraine's critical infrastructure so that they can turn off the lights in major cities and prevent ukrainians from using heating systems that they will need this fall and into the winter.

so nato allies are coming together. they are rolling out serious, pragmatic, practical commitments on air defense in real time. they will keep doing that. you will see additional announcements in the days and weeks ahead. i have no doubt about that. >> how can nato counteract the support that china, north korea and iran are giving putin to keep this war going and try to outlast ukraine? >> well, the chinese are doing their very best to portray themselves as neutral in this war inside ukraine. but the reality is that china has taken a side. china is providing very critical dual-use components to the russians. things like machine tools and microelectronics that enable the russians to go after civilian targets and military targets inside ukraine. we are making one thing clear to

the chinese and to the world, that they have picked a side. we have urged them to reconsider that and to stop the flow of these dual-use components to russia as soon as possible. we will take steps, including sanctions, to try and halt the flow of those components to russia. >> ambassador julianne smith on a very busy day at nato. thanks for taking time for us. we appreciate it. >> thank you so much. up next, the intelligence assessment next with house republican chairman mike turner on foreign policy in the age of donald trump. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. . got. serious. introducing new $3 footlong dippers. the world might not be ready for them... ...but at $3 a pop? your wallet definitely is. what does a robot know about love? ...but at it takes a humanp? to translate

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at northern california's premier casino resort. book your getaway now at cachecreek.com. the nato europe is underway. it's the 75th anniversary of the alliance. the welcoming ceremony has wrapped. we are pleased to have ohio congressman mike turner. great to see you. we met in munich when there was so much concern zelenskyy was warning what would happen because of the holdup on the aid. now he is saying this is the reality. first of all, his concerns, you were at his speech last night. his concerns that his hands are tied. he didn't say that literally. but that he needs the ability to

strike those jet bases, the russian bases across the line. the white house has been concerned all along that this would escalate, be too provocative to vladimir putin. what could be more provocative than what's going on already? >> we have seen putin intentionally hitting the children's hospital in kyiv, scores of people dying. putin is attacking civilians, not just waging a war against ukraine. you and i were talking earlier about zelenskyy's speech. i was at the ronald reagan institute. he made the point that air defense is not sufficient. he needs more air defense. but because of the thousands of missiles, as you were reporting, that are being shot at ukraine on a regular basis, the math is such that you have to be able to go into russia and take out fat sits they are using to produce the weapons and the capabilities to shoot the missiles into ukraine. it was interesting, if you notice, he is not talking about he needs some new weapon system

or there's some strategy that russia that is putting them at risk for or that his own people are incapable of fights. he says it's the restrictions placed on him that pose the greatest risk and threat to ukraine being able to survive and win. >> is that a nato position or u.s. position? >> the restrictions are u.s. they are from the white house. even secretary-general stoltenberg of nato called for the restrictions to be released. it would allow them to hit valid military targets in russia this would change the dynamics of the fight and give ukraine a chance. >> there's a lot of anxiety at nato. i don't need to tell you this. about donald trump. last night, he said, i didn't even know what nato was -- i'm paraphrasing. again, criticized the europeans. the europeans have stepped up. they came up with $50 billion when we did not. came up with the 60 or whatever.

during that period also or the last couple of years, they have gone from nine countries reaching the 2% of gdp contribution to 23. 23 out of the 32. so far, it's not europe that is not stepping up. they could do more. what about donald trump and his continuing criticism of nato? does that worry you? he is the frontrunner now. >> when nato set its target of defense spending at 2% at the wales summit, at that time, only three nations in nato satisfied that requirement. >> trump brought it up to nine. >> i think that his continued hounding and the fact that you even had secretary-general stoltenberg take up the charge -- every speech he would give, he would challenge his members to come up to that 2% mark, makes a difference. donald trump is as hard a negotiator and by pressuring

europe to step up to the plate, i think they are. >> he does get out of other agreements. he threatened to leave nato. the nato allies are understandably very nervous about this election. >> i don't think he threatened to leave nato. he has talked about whether or not people are adequately funding, that each of the country would be looked at. >> he has praiseds vladimir putin and said, if they don't step up, let putin do what he wants with them. >> i think the core of the issue is, look at donald trump's record. during the time that he was president, he actually increased u.s. spending at nato, for nato. also put more troops in europe than were there previously and gaub lethal weapons to ukraine that had not been given under the prior administration. look what happened in addition to the pressure that he put on the europeans, nato actually came out at a better place at the end of his presidency than before. >> what about his embrace of vladimir putin? >> i don't think he embraced vladimir putin either. he has adequately evaluated that

this is a real foe and he has real capabilities. i also think that he has a very clear understanding that russia is our adversary. they intend to do us home. >> does he? i was in helsinki when he came down on the side of putin, that putin said this, so why should we not believe him. inspired the head of national intelligence to put out a statement because he was disavowing his own intelligence assessments, american intelligence assessments, against the assess ment of the russian leader sitting next to him. >> the crux -- when it coxs to donald trump, you have to look at what he does, not just what he says. if you look at what he did over the four-year term of his presidency, he actually increased our participation in nato. nato came out stronger during his presidency. >> are you concerned right now

about the situation with this election? what do you see with the leader of the free world, joe biden, as challenged as he is, what's your read on it? >> he really is. it's very unfortunate. >> you are a republican. >> i have been in the white house where he has struggled in meetings. i do -- i have great concerns about his ability to do the job when people walk into his office with an ongoing crisis. i think some of the difficulty we are seeing with ukraine is a result of the president's diminished capacity. a lot of the decisions that need to be made where president to be made, president zelenskyy is saying remove these restrictions, make certain you're going to give me f-16s, but not the pilot training. all these issues that could be resolved are gummed up at the white house because they can't make a decision.

>> let me ask you about some decisions that were made by the new speaker, michael johnson, very partisan members on your committee, much more political, scott perry from pennsylvania, jackson from texas, how comfortable are you with the way that process went down? the speaker said it was because trump wanted those people on. they clearly are not qualified to be an ab elite intelligence committee. >> both of them come with military experience. they come with experience where they have handled classified materials. right now, they are going to work on our committee. they are doing the work that's necessary. they are taking the briefings. they have reading the materials. so right now, they are certainly being active. >> are you comfortable with an election denier who has been under investigation for his role on january 6th? >> i don't agree with him on those issues, but i do think that with being diligent, he can be a valid member of our committee. >> you have your challenges ahead. >> thank you.

>> thank you very much. up next, the vice presidential watch, the latest on the candidates, the timing, what will donald trump do. garrett haake will be here. what will donald trump do. garrett haake will be here 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. the cockroach. resilient creatures. true miracles of evolution. where there is one, others aren't far behind. always scavenging for food, the cockroach... well that's horrifying. ortho home defense max indoor insect barrier.

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in milwaukee next week. the former presidential candidate was a major rival of donald trump's during the primaries. joining us now is the perfect guest. joining me is garrett haake. it's so great to see you. >> it's good to be with you. >> congratulations, jux back from paternity leave. all the blessings that involves. >> certainly better than a campaign. let's talk about the campaign. you have milwaukee next week. there was a lot of teasing last night, but no vice presidential choice. not entirely fair to marco rubio, who had his whole family there. >> probably a fairly uncomfortable evening for marco rubio. i think the trump campaign is very much enjoying the spotlight on their vice presidential selection. they have used to raise money. they have doze it before the

event, e-mailing supporters that trump might make the pick. it's part of the audition process for these candidates to see how they would hold up under that scrutiny. it's also a chance for him to show off the way the party has coalesced around him, with ron desantis coming to speak. he can project unity at a time where democrats lack it. and give the party a choice. >> it's sort of like the apprentice. what do you think the choice will be different because of the possibility that joe biden might not be the nominee, although all the betting is and donald trump has said he thinks he will be. >> i think the vibes and it's more vibes than reporting seem to be that jd vance is the candidate with the most maga credentials. host he's the most in line with donald trump's base. separately from him, i put marco

rubio and dougburg ham in similar categories. they have establishment credentials. much like mike pence did in 2016, they would soothe elements of the party who are still uncomfortable with donald trump. but i'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing in donald trump's mind. his son has been very vocal suggesting that if you put an establishment person on the ticket with trump, the next time he gets impeached, and there could be a next time, the party would be just as happy to throw him overboard. you have to pair him with someone who is just as maga dug in as he is. and you heard some of that from trump last night in the way he's attacking joe biden's vice president kamala harris. i want to play some of that attack and explain why it works in two ways for trump. >> he picked kamala harris as his vice president. no, it was brilliant. because it was an insurance policy. maybe the best insurance policy

i have ever seen. if joe would have picked him competent, they would have bounced him from office. >> so you see trump two doing two things. elevating kamala harris in the chance she becomes his opponent and the way that the vp could be waiting in the wings sooner than he would like. >> my favorite data point is people saying that jd vance would have to shave his beard. >> trump is the george steinbrenner. he likes clean facial hair. we'll see. >> it's great to have you back. >> thank you. >> thank you so much. that does it for today. a busy day. chris jansing starts after a quick break. g starts after a quick break. (vo) if you have graves' disease... ...and blurry vision, you need clear answers. people with graves' could also get thyroid eye disease,

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good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. a double whammy from very