good evening, and welcome to politics nation. tonight's lead, campaign crunch time.

right now, the 2024 presidential campaign is entering a dramatic new phase. and we are covering all the unfolding events this evening. former president donald trump is set to speak at a rally near pittsburgh. we are listening in for any hints about who he might pick as a vice presidential running mate as the republican national convention kicks off less than 48 hours from now in milwaukee. we have the mayor standing by shortly to talk about the big event. meantime, on the other end of the critical battleground state of pennsylvania, vice president kamala harris just wrapped up a campaign event in philadelphia. vice president harris is making the case for president joe biden's reelection as he faces calls from members of his own

party to step aside. the president for his part is working the phones, holding conference calls made this afternoon with house democrats from the caucuses moderate and progressive wings. trying to convince them he has the energy and stamina to remain in the race. president biden has another make it or break it interview coming up. this one with nbc news' lester holt on monday night. joining me now is south carolina congressman jim kleiburn. i don't know anybody more respected by the public than you. just minutes ago, president biden held two very important meetings. he spoke via zoom to the new democrat coalition. worth to point out that group of moderates who had been most vocal.

and the right before that, he met virtually, president biden with the congressional progressive caucus. this after vermont senator bernie sanders reiterated his support for biden in the new york times. you said you backed vice president kamala harris running should biden decide to step aside. where is your sense of where things stand right now? the sense is we are still in some part, joe biden is in touch with the grass roots in our party. and for some strange reason, people think it is a great thing for the other party to maintain a touch with the grass roots. for some reason, when it comes

to our party, they don't seem to want to pay attention to the grass roots. i can tell you that with the grass roots, joe biden is in a very, very good place. now i do know that all corners of the party need to be working in tandem if we are all going to be successful. so what i want to see happen is for us to focus on the future for a little while. especially while the other side is in their contention. and let's move forward from that part. as of right now, i do believe that we need to stay focused on the future. >> now when you say us focus on the future, are you saying because you know i was there in charleston, we had a breakfast the morning after the debate in charleston in 2020 or the democratic candidates and we had them all come to a

breakfast which the president had the candidates. you came with joe biden and told me that you were getting ready later that day to endorse joe biden. and it turned his campaign around. and no one can deny you were a major factor in him becoming the nominee and then the president. is there anything that you, jim, who has the respect of many people all over this country, what would it take for you to change your mind and say you think the president ought to step aside? >> it would take joe biden changing his mind. i think i made the right decision back in 2020. i think the party made the right decision to be nominated then. and i think the country made the right decision in electing him. joe biden knows his situation

better than any of us. this country is teetering at the moment trying to make a decision as to whether or not we ought to continue. pursue a more perfect union. whether we step out of that or step into an autocracy or start the road toward that. that's what this project 2025 is all about. i have been through that document. not all 900 pages but i looked at the top lines in all of it. and they are focused on the past rather than the future. the future of this country says that we need to move in ways that would educate all of our children in ways that would make all of the greatness that exist ins the country.

you don't do that by denying opportunities to people. i'm talking about the broad educational opportunity. i don't understand why people think it is so good for me to know that thomas edison was this great inventer that gave us the lightbulb but something is wrong with me finding out who actually made the lightbulb work. >> yeah. >> and we do know that it happened to have been an african american that came up and made it work. >> and many states are trying to edit that history. and project 2025. clearly is in that position which are trump's people. and you talked about the grass roots. i know that the president spoke

last night in detroit. let's take a look at the reception he got. >> i am running and we are going to win. i'm the nominee of this party. because 14 million democrats like you voted for me in the primaries. you may be the nominee, no one else, not the press, not the donors, you the voters, you decided. no one else. and i'm not going anywhere. >> don't you quit, don't you quit, don't you quit! >> now these as i said reverend williams told us with thousands of people chanting don't you quit. telling the president not to quit. what's your reaction?

we were told it made no sense. we were told that we just needed to stay in the classroom. just to get some lessons and don't worry about the challenge in the system. you don't have the right to vote. we challenge those things and people us to quit and we didn't and we were successful. joe biden is not a quitter. he has to present himself to our caucus and to the american people in such a way to demonstrate that he is not only not a quitter, he is a winner. he has demonstrated that once and he has to keep on doing it. so this campaign is not over.

then, people will begin to officially make their decisions so everybody that is interested. make their wishes known now. we have our process in place we want to honor. thank you for putting the process in place. it lends itself well to us going through this process now. let it keep going and we'll see what it yields in the final analysis. >> we mentioned president biden will sit down with nbc's lester holt in austin, texas monday. >> the anniversary of the civil rights act of 1964. if you recall, after that act passed in 1964, a lot of people

said that's enough for now. we will come back later on and get voting. at the time the civil rights act passed, in alabama, 75, 85 african american, zero african american voters. and so we didn't quit. just kept going forward so i think that is what the president has to say. i'm here to celebrate. lay off of the american people, what he will do to overcome that. same thing. yes, what the supreme court did for the women's freedoms and here is what i'm going to do in the next 100 years. first 100 days of my

administration to overcome that. i think that all these things that are challenging us, what the president has to do in that interview on sunday after and i'll be with him monday afternoon. we'll go on tuesday to the naacp national convention. and just lay out the things he will do to help. >> now let me ask you think. we'll look at the thing that's happen at the republican convention. we are learning more about the list of speakers including tucker carlson who has pushed election denialism and antisemitic conspiracy theories. what kind of message are moderate swing voters going to

take away from this event, congressman? >> well, i would ask anybody to please just click on the project 2025. those who may be a bit challenged, get your children and grandchildren and take a look at the top line. what are you going to see coming out? no matter what donald trump may say to the contrary, they have plans for social security. one of them is to increase the age from 67 to 70. i will ask them to look at what they are planning and think about what life expectancy is in this country and who has the life expectancy in this country. that was one of the big problems with social security from the beginning. 65% of african americans in this country were not eligible to even participate in social security when they first came online. over the years we fixed all of that. now they will go back to those ways of discriminating against people of color when it comes to social security. that's just one of the things.

you don't know how bad it was for the student debt. and the guy who contributed to that, trump university, was one of those people who robbed young people of their money. joe biden was left having to forgive the debt they accumlated. you have to remember going forward, we have to get the best candidate to beat donald trump. we cannot have so-called open convention. we need to have an open process between now and the convention. we may get to that convention.

in 1972 when i was in that hall and we end up winning one state. after looking. >> that's frightening thought for democrats. thank you congressman as always. we are honored to have you with us. now as we mention, the republican national convention is set to begin in milwaukee in just two days. joining me now is the city's major. major johnson, thank you for joining me tonight mr. mayor. >> great to be with you again reverend. >> mr. mayor, thousands of people are expected to be in your city for the convention. some to support the republican agenda. other to protest against it.

demonstrators are set to be kept blocks from the main convention site after republicans successfully pressured the secret service to adjust the security parameters. thousands of police officers from out of state. one of those include it is use of an accusist pain device. do you feel confident as mayor that peaceful demonstrators will have their rightful freedom to make their voices heard? to continue serving as president of the united states, we will proudly support him in

november as well. so as a democrat, my values are in complete contrast to what we see from republicans. their platform. certainly the gop nominee. and so, that being what it is, we wanted to make sure my administration has made sure that folks who want to protest, folks who want to exercise their first amendment rights and protest against. the local demonstration group had conversations with the milwaukee police department and has the ability to go and march on their preferred route. we already set a route that for protester to be able to march. we set up a platform that folks can use to exercise their first amendment rights. they want to do something else. they work collaboratively with the police department on that. >> we remember what former president trump had to say about your city a few weeks ago and a convention seem to be yet another example of republicans

using a diverse community as a political prop. republicans let the lease expire on their hispanic outreach office in milwaukee last year. the new tenants plan to open an ice cream shop. a new office won't be open until august, long after the convention is over. are these the actions of a party and a nominee that truly cares about facing, about dealing with the issues that are facing milwaukee residents in your judgment? >> no. absolutely not. in fact i think the ice cream shop will be a better use of that space. i can tell you this. people in milwaukee, whether latino. as you talked about with that center, whether they are african american or women or girls or members of the lgbtq plus community and the like, they know what's to come from republicans and their policies. they know that project 2025 spells danger and despair for them and other communities

across this country. they know that donald trump said he wants to be a dictator. that project 2025 lays the groundwork for dictatorship in the united states and the supreme court gave the green light to dictatorship in the united states should trump be reelected. we will not allow that to happen. in milwaukee, in wisconsin, or elsewhere across the country. >> now speaking of issues, republicans are unlikely to take up at the convention. i was at your city thursday and my capacity of the action network to deliver the eulogy for devonte mitchell who died after being pinned down by security guards outside of a milwaukee hotel. take a listen. >> you should not lose just your job when devonte lost his life. there is no justice until you pay for the life you have

taken. >> the family is vowing to press charges. a medical examiner has said the cause of death was homicide. but the cause remains under investigation. as of now, no one has been criminally charged. your thoughts on delivering justice for devonte and his family? >> absolutely. i had the opportunity to call mr. mitchell's family and express my condolences. not just me personally as mayor but for the entire city on the loss of life for their loved one. in fact, before we delivered the eulogy, i was in and out and had the chance to go greet the family at the church as well. the holy redeemer church. i want to make sure justice is served. i say constantly in my capacity as mayor, if anyone causes death or harm or destruction in milwaukee, there should be a price to pay. and you see it on the news every single night. when folks are hurt or harmed

or family members are hurt or harmed. they go out there and they are asking for justice to be served. so i want these questions asked and i want justice to happen. >> the wisconsin supreme court ruled recently to reinstate the use of most ballot box drop boxes across the state overturning a decision made less than two years ago that banned this use. as your state is a battleground state, what impact do you think this will have on the upcoming election? >> i applaud the wisconsin supreme court decision to allow the ballot drop boxes to be used again in milwaukee. everybody can't show up on tuesday, election day. folks have work. they have children. you know. they have things that are going on in their lives but it is

incumbent on the government to work to make sure that we make voting as possible as we can to folks who are able to vote. so this presents another opportunity. these are the same folks getting ballots mailed to them, they were able to drop them in another mail slot with the united states postal service. this way, you cut out the middleman and send it directionally to the election commission. directly to the place where it has to go. so i applaud the action of the wisconsin supreme court. we got a number of these locations across milwaukee making voting more accessible to people who seek to vote and can vote. and that's a good thing. we should have more people engaged in our electoral process. >> finally you were on a call with president biden where he made a concerted effort to ensure nearly 200 mayors he was up to the challenge of a second term. despite calls for him to step aside over concerns about his age. what are your thoughts on

biden's candidacy and the conversation that has surrounded it after his disappointing debate performance? >> as you point out, i was on the call with the president those past tuesday. as was his debate performance. he owned up to it right away. one of the first things he said. was not my best night. i did not perform well. he talked to the mayors and answered questions very substantiatively. detail oriented and talked about what he has done and what he wants to do in the next term. the policies he has implemented, he has gotten passed through congress. whether it is the bipartisan chips and science act. whether it is the american rescue plan like so many others working to make sure that young people have college debt eliminated. the list goes on and on.

he has more work to do. and he assured us as mayors that he is up to the task. he is up to the challenge of continuing on in this job in the next term. and you saw that the other day in detroit. i was fired up to see my president on that stage in detroit have his back. and that is exactly where we would get in november when we reelect president joe biden. >> all right, milwaukee mayor johnson, thank you for joining us. coming up, trump and his allies have dialed up their criticism of vice president kamala harris in recent weeks. but many of them potential veep picks could never match the resume. i have the receipts. that's next in this week's got you. before we go, nbc confirms tonight the death of exercise guru richard simmons. law enforcement in los angeles says he has passed away in his home in los angeles at the age of 76. the cause is yet to be

released. nbc's erin mclaughlin has more about his life and legacy, and the legacy that he leaves behind. >> reporter: he was america's favorite fitness fanatic. >> you're doing fantastic! >> reporter: richard simmons, known and loved for his zany approach to high energy health inspired millions of people with his own story of weight loss. at 5' 7", 260 pounds, the obese teen was a target of bullies. he spurred on a dangerous dieting bing that nearly cost him his life. >> the nurse asked a question that changed my life. the question was do you want to live or do you want to die. and i just chose to live. >> reporter: he moved to los angeles in the early 1970s and opened an exercise studio. >> they can come in and feel good about himselfs. >> reporter: his health club

slimmons was the start. selling millions of copies of workout videos. after 40 years in the spotlight, simmons very public persona suddenly vanished and several years he was unseen until calling into today show in 2016 to set the record straight. >> no one is holding me in my house as a hostage. you know. i do what i want to do as i have always done. >> reporter: then after a documentary about his absence from public life, weighing in again, saying he is living the life he has chosen. fans missing him, but continuing to embrace his mission. >> let's dream of the cooldown. >> reporter: and his vibrance and candor. >> you have to enjoy each and every day. >> reporter: a mantra missed by millions. erin mclaughlin, nbc news. millions. erin mclaughlin, nbc news. use 1 fire extinguisher. and to fight heartburn, why take 10 antacids

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the republican convention is just two days away and former president trump could make his vice presidential pick at any time now. even with that big decision looming, trump and his allies have been spending much of their time attacking vice president harris. listen to his rally last tuesday. >> he picked kamala harris as his vice president. no, it was brilliant because it was an insurance policy. maybe the greatest i have ever seen. marco. if joe had picked someone halfway competent, they would have bounced him from office years ago but they can't because she has to be their second choice.

>> it is interesting he is so focused on harris when he is not even on speaking terms with his own vice president mike pence and when you look at some of the men trump is reportedly considering to be his number two, and yes, they do seem to be all men. none of them even holds a candle to harris. consider doug burgham who spent millions of his own money to get himself elected governor of one of the country's least populated states. then gave out $20 gift cards to buy support for his vanity presidential campaign. trump has short listed burgham because he apparently likes his full head of hair. there's jd vance who has spent just a year-and-a-half in the senate. previously vance was known as the author of a book about small town america who attacked trump for taking advantage of

the rural poor. vance has traded appalachia for maga world and is said to be the favorite veep trump pick of donald trump jr. finally marco rubio. the florida senator who is the one option with a resume that even comes close to harris. even if he is mostly remembered for debating trump over the size of his hands. unfortunately, we don't even know if trump is serious about rubio because constitutional scholars have argued there could be problems with having two names on the ticket from the same state. in the end if trump picks burgham, vance, rubio. none of them match the experience of kamala harris who has spent nearly a full term a heartbeat away from the presidency. served with distinction in the

u.s. senate. and spent six years as the attorney general of california, plus seven years as the da of san francisco. some people who know trump well including his former adviser john bolton say he is looking for a vice presidential candidate capable of leading the nation, but rather someone who is totally loyal, willing to heap praise on the former president and viciously attack his enemies without any way overshadowing him. this is not the vice presidential vetting process of a bold leader but rather that of a vain and insecure narcissist thinking only of himself. not the well being of our country. so the next time you hear a republican dumping on vice president kamala harris, suggest they go get their own ticket in order. oh and then tell them i got you. got you.

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welcome back to politics nation. we are following all the breaking campaign news. right now, donald trump is holding a rally in butler, pennsylvania with two days left until the republican national convention. we are getting breaking news this afternoon about the speakers for the event. meanwhile, vice president kamala harris is on her way back to washington after an event in philadelphia hours ago. let's break it all down with my political panel, democratic strategist juanita tolever and republican strategist susan del percio. both msnbc contributorsful let's start with trump who is expected to take the stage in butler, pennsylvania at the top of the hours, this comes days ahead of the republican national convention. nbc news has learned exclusively this afternoon that nikki haley has been invited to

speak. haley's team has not yet responded to a request for comment. that's according to sources familiar with the decision. former fox news host tucker carlson is expected to speak on the night trump is nominated. we are also hearing late this evening that nikki haley has been invited to speak as well. now trump has been laying relatively low while biden has struggled with the age issue. but what happens when the republican convention puts him and his maga agenda back in the spotlight next week? >> well, it's an opportunity for democrats to show what donald trump and who donald trump is. and his lack of core values, he is basing a campaign on retribution and hate. the 2025 project that he is involved in or has been supportive of in the past is such an important document.

and it is 900 pages so i know not everyone can read it. but the democrats really need to use this because that is basically what donald trump is saying is what i want to do for four years. this is how i want to treat civil servants. this is how i want to dismantle any chance of a woman having a right to medication for abortion. it is a draconian document and i think listening to all the people i have seen on the speaker's list so far, it is just going to reenforce it because all they want to do is suck up to donald trump. they are not there for the republican convention of ideas and values. this saul about donald trump and frankly i think he is making a mistake having tucker carlson on the same night because tucker is just unpredictable and he will probably get more viewers turning in than trump will at the end of the day. smart for them to invite nikki haley. it was a stupid story to have

out there. there was no reason for anything negative. i don't know if she will speak or not. i hope she has something else better to do. but either way, this convention will be really a gift to joe biden. >> now juanita earlier today, this is how vice president harris addressed a philadelphia crowd. take a listen. >> this is the one, the most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetime and we always knew this election would be tough. running for president of the united states is never easy. one thing we know about our president joe biden, he is a fighter. and he is the first to say when you get knocked down, you get right back up. >> harris already had a

complicated political mission even before president biden's debate performance which has led to talk of putting her at the top of the ticket. if you are advising harris right now, what would be the tone you would advise her to take? >> keep the same tone she has had this entire time, rev. she was giving that type of speech and address long before that june debate. this is something that she has done in the context whether it is related to student loan debt, whether it is related to reproductive rights and access to abortion care, whether it is related to capping the cost of insulin. she has described and defined the president as a fighter for the people in contrast with someone like donald trump who only cares for himself. and so i think she is going to keep doing that as she continues to criss-cross the nation. today you mentioned she's in pennsylvania. yesterday, north carolina, i expect those trips to continue. and in the midst of all this chaos, her to continue to back joe biden. one thing i do appreciate about

this moment is that people are now seeing the impact of her work up close and they are finally appreciating the long standing work of the vice president and her team. the flip side will be targeting. and i see the video the republicans plan to run at the convention next week where they are making misogynist racist comments about the vice president. that's the tone that will keep coming. >> the new york times is reporting trump has expanded his criteria for who would make a good vice president. he is saying he wants someone who can help him get elected. how much has the issue over biden's age changed trump's political calculus for who he will choose as vp pick in your

opinion? >> it has allowed him to be a little more dareing in his choice. what i mean by that is dangerous. i think doug burgham would be the right choice for former president trump because it is just a steady kind of. probably the most dangerous for this country. not only will jd vance not help do anything for the ticket. and more importantly, he has no idea how to govern. he has been in office for 18 months. not very long. and he has no core values. he flip-flops all over the place. and he did it on trump. he would be a disastrous choice for the country. >> let's turn to senator bernie

sanders who offered his support to president biden saying quote mr. biden will not be the ideal candidate but he would be and should be the candidate. it is time for democrats to stop the nick picking and bickering, unquote. they came to show support fir his candidacy. when you look at the democratic party right now, where are the dividing lines over biden right now and what do they tell you about whether he can hang in there in this race? >> well, the dividing line seems to be between centrist democrats and everybody else. they are the core of the 20 who have come out and called for joe biden to step aside. i appreciate you can mentioning bernie sanders' op ed. people look to him to express

their perspectives. i think, and this is based on what hakeem jeffries put out. that the president is clearly aware that there are still some within the democratic party who think he should step aside. but he is also engaging in those conversations continuously rev. we know he had conversations with the api caucus. and the hispanic caucus and talking to the groups within the party to try to maybe continue to foster the reality that hey, the decision is his to make. and he is going to continue to stay out in public and show that he is up for the job. and as long as that keeps happening i think that's a good thing. especially if it happens behind closed doors going into next week when there should be no distraction from the chaos and inhumane anti-woman, anti-black language coming from republicans and the project 2025 platform we know they will be pushing next week.

so keep those conversations going. just maybe do them behind closed doors. >> all right. thank you both. switching gears now, after months of heated negotiations, the nation's biggest city has a new budget. new york city mayor eric adams and city council speaker adrian adams announced the 112 billion- dollar deal last week. speaker adams joins us now. thank you for coming today speaker adams. madame speaker, the new budget reverses some very controversial cuts that were made to schools, parks, libraries, and includes $2 billion for affordable housing. how did this all end upcoming together? >> it came together really, rev, at the last hour. it took us some time as you know, we were facing tremendous budget cuts. the city council came in. pretty much negative zero below that. we had to start from the very

beginning to restore what had been taken away because a vast budget cuts. we could feel the impacts for what the budget cuts were doing to working families, to children, to seniors, so we came in with an open mind and a level head and we knew what we had to do and that was to restore those budget cuts and also to make sure that the city's funding was maintained. a lot of things were baselined going forward. we are not going to have to see these repetitive budget dances in the future because of the accomplishment of that. >> what inspires me the most about this budget is that it is the result of productive dialogue. eric adams, the second of the city's black mayors. you don't agree on everything. it comes at a time when we have black mayors leading the three largest american cities and the

black female vice president and kamala harris. can you speak about the power that comes from so many black role model ins. >> absolutely. it is needed. vastly across this nation, kamala harris was at howard university. it is the women that will continue to carry this country in strength. we have to make sure continue and leadership responsibilities. i happen to lead the first majority city council in the history of the city of new york and i'm really proud of that. >> interesting. speaking of representation, i spent some time with vice president harris last week at

the essence music festival. harris would be our first dei president. i'm not sure how a vp can be a diversity hire. they won an election. what about portraying people of women and color that you had to deal with in treating them like they are unqualified for the jobs, they earned at the ballot box. >> it is continued degradation on the power of women across this country. we still maintain genius at the female level. and that is something many people are afraid of frankly within our country. i think that the move against quote unquote dei is a mistake. it is something that is going to take away from the power and

the enormous intelligence that is out there. that has yet to be tapped into, by the way, we still haven't even reached it because of the inequity and injustice that's have been pervasive in this country for so long. we have to continue to fight against it and continue to realize that representation is vital and needed and we have to continue to fight. >> before i let you go madame speaker, we know this upcoming election will have serious consequences. former president trump has discussed taking many actions that would deeply affect american cities including mass deportations, rounding up the homeless and using the national guard to combat crime. and even political protests. his allies have put together plan called project 2025. that focuses on turning trump's wild schemes into actual policy. what are your thoughts about how city leaders such as yourself should respond inthe event of a second trump term? >> we have to be very, very

determined and have our plan together and act together now. we are facing that potential and it is a disastrous perspective to even consider that this could be a factor in our country. project 2025 is the blueprint for dictatorship. it is already ready for him. we are talking about a convicted felon, a rapist and many other things that have not even been discussed. that wanted to actually put to death young children in the way of the central park five. one of whom sits on my city council. >> that's right. you brought him in. i'm out of time. but i have to ask you this. donald trump is a new yorker. and you and i are new yorkers.

down through the years, decades, we fought on various cases. race related from howard beach and others. you have been involved in many younger than me. have you ever, but this is to know the poll saying some black voters are going toward trump. have you ever seen donald trump stand up for black rights? his hometown of new york? >> i have never. and donald trump comes from queens where i come from. i have only seen donald trump come against everything that is not purely nationalist and what he was raised to be. we have to be very, very afraid and we have to be determined to fight against anything like a donald trump coming back into the white house. >> thank you for being with us. up next, more news out of milwaukee. stay with us. stay with us.

before we go, the republican convention isn't going on in milwaukee right now. earlier this week, i called for criminal charges in the death of devonte mitchell. a 43-year-old black man who died after a confrontation with security guards at a milwaukee hotel. according to cell phone video and eyewitness accounts, four guards pinned mitchell down, holding their knees and hands against his back and neck. the guards have since been fired. on thursday, i delivered devonte's eulogy and met with the grieving members of his family and then attorney. he was a husband, a father, and a son. his life was worth more than a few jobs. his loved ones deserve true justice. i don't expect to hear any

mention of devonte mitchell's name at the republican convention or much serious discussion of the structural racism that puts black american at risk every day. that's why i'm supporting tomorrow's rally in support of democracy led by the reverend richard shaw. president of the inner city congregations allied for hope. we will not allow this community to be used as a political prop for republican party pushing a white christian nationalist agenda. we will make sure our true voices are heard. that does it for me. thanks for watching. see you back here tomorrow. wa. see you back here tomorrow. ♪ fighting words