Skip to main content

tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  July 29, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PDT

9:00 am
tolerate lying and deception. >> reporter: and so this was referencing an incident in 2022. grayson also had several duis on his record as well as a history of misconduct while he was in the army, and so there is a training and standards board that certifies officers here in illinois that did certify him for hiring but we spoke with their director over the weekend, and he said ultimately the decision to hire an officer with a background like grayson's is up to the department. we have been reaching out, trying to get in touch with the sheriff who would have hired him but haven't heard back as we continue to dig into how grayson could have been in this position to even start with. >> maura barrett, thank you very much. that wraps up the hour for me, i'm jose diaz-balart. you can always reach me on social media at jd balart. you can watch clips from our show, you tube@msnbc.com/jd. andrea mitchell picks up with
9:01 am
more news. right now on "andrea mitchell reports" it's a whole new race for the white house as kamala harris shows strength. an all important choice of running mate to balance the ticket. while former president trump's vice president choice brings up a storm over past comments disparaging people who don't have children. president biden unveiling his pitch for unprecedented reforms at the supreme court. while traveling this hour to texas to commemorate the 60-year anniversary of the civil rights act. israel and the u.s. blaming hezbollah for a rocket strike that killed 12 children on a soccer field in the israeli held golan heights on saturday. and risking all out war between israel and lebanon. and in paris, simone biles guts out an early calf injury to soar to new heights in women's
9:02 am
gymnastics, while men's basketball and soccer teams win early matches, and the u.s. leads in the overall medal count, but not in the gold. good day, everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. vice president kamala harris sharpening her message against donald trump and narrowing her choice of a running mate. the harris campaign says that they have raised a record breaking $200 million in just the past week. 2/3 of that from first time donors. with the dnc's virtual roll call, the nominating vote starting thursday for her, potential contenders have been auditioning on tv news and at campaign rallies for the vice presidential choice while the trump campaign has been playing defense over its choice of j.d. vance for his past comments when he was running for the senate in 2021 and 2022, criticizing women who don't have children as childless cat ladies, as well as
9:03 am
advocating that people with families should get extra voting power and special tax breaks. here's vance when he was running for the senate. >> when you go to the polls in this country, as a parent you should have more power. you should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic, than people who don't have kids. let's face the consequences and the reality. >> vance said more recently that his comment was merely a thought experiment. he also said he has nothing against cats. meantime, president biden is issuing a largely symbolic proposal today to reshape the supreme court with term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the first time. the white house knows this would never pass congress so it is messaging in the campaign. we begin with nbc news senior white house correspondent gabe gutierre "the washington post's" national editor, and msnbc political analyst, philip
9:04 am
rucker, and gabe debenedetti, national correspondent. the president said supreme court reform is priority for the rest of his term. what he is pushing for has no chance of getting to a vote in the senate or the house, really. so isn't this just about message something something that they think might have political power, especially after the more recently decisions, the one on immunity in particular. >> yeah, look, andrea, this is something that president biden's progressive base had been calling for. some type of changes to the supreme court. after that key decision you mentioned on presidential immunity, and it's something president biden has been calling for for the last several weeks. the biden campaign feels this is a winning message they can continue to hammer through november. let's take a look at some of what the president is proposing. this all came out in an opinion piece overnight in the "washington post." he is proposing a constitutional amendment, basically making it
9:05 am
no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office. he's also proposing term limits for justices. a president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the supreme court, and third, he's also calling for a binding code of conduct for the supreme court. the president calling it common sense and of course, andrea, this comes after recent scandals involving supreme court justice clarence thomas, and samuel alito. as you rightly point out, in the republican controlled house, this is very unlikely, no shot of passing congress. a constitutional amendment has a higher bar. this is clearly about messaging, a message that democrats feel that they will hammer for the next several months, andrea. >> so, phil, it's rare for donald trump not to dominate the news cycle. but he's been actually overshadowed by his running mate, and not in a good way. the trump campaign thought
9:06 am
vance's personal story would help them with voters, especially, you know, in the rust belt red states, but what's surfacing about him is very controversial. it's that women who don't have children, families that don't have children should be disadvantaged in both their power to vote. wouldn't be one man would vote and that they should get tax breaks if they have children, in addition to that. disparaging people who are childless. >> yeah, that's right, andrea. this is among many past comments from j.d. vance that have surfaced in the past few days, and really put the trump campaign on defensive, you know, trump's aides have been spending the last few days trying to clean up these remarks from vance. vance went into an interview with megyn kelly a couple of days ago on her show to try to clean this up, and in addition, there are comments in the past that vance has made critical of trump. remember back in 2016, vance was a critic of trump's. he's since become a political
9:07 am
convert, if it were, and is very supportive of trump. those past comments have created a lot of headaches for the trump campaign, and it's a distraction that they may not have bargained for when vance was selected as the vp nominee two weeks ago. now, there's still some time obviously between now and the election, and it's possible his personal sorry and rust belt upbringing could end up converting in electoral power in the three battleground states, michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania, this is a big distraction for the trump campaign, and certainly not something that they want to be dealing with right now. >> so gabe, no doubt, kamala harris is fueling optimism, galvanizing voters. we don't know if this is real momentum, a bubble, because of the contest between her and joe biden in the immediate week or so we have gone through this? what are you seeing in terms of
9:08 am
real momentum? >> yeah, well, like you said, this enthusiasm that we have seen on the democratic side is unlike anything i have seen in a long time of covering this, and what a lot of people within the white house and the harris campaign, but really across the top of the party have been saying is when you look at a number of volunteers signed up, amount of money raised, it's really an unprecedented moment. obviously there's some apprehension that this could be a bubble, that this will burst and that trump is, of course, still going to be a slight favorite, but the harris campaign is looking into now how they can take this momentum and really this feeling of goodwill among a lot of people across the democratic party, and thrust that forward into a campaign that can actually really move them, you know, towards a more winning position in a lot of the states that they thought they had been close to writing off of just a few weeks ago. you know, the campaign last week circulated a memo that the campaign sees past paths to victory, in georgia, north
9:09 am
carolina, nevada, states it hadn't explicitly said it was writing off when biden was at the top of the ticket. it sure looked like it was heading that way. >> gabe gutierrez, phil rucker and the other gabe, gabe debenedetti, thank you all. here now on how this match up could be galvanizing enthusiasm, andrea hailey, of the nonprofit, vote.org. andrea, thank you very much for being with us. so i just want to quickly pause it. this is a very close race. >> yes. >> and with democrats you're feeling, with the people i have talked to, people in the campaign, and what our campaign reporters are saying is there is new enthusiasm. there is, among some of the house and senate members in very tight races, belief because they thought biden was dragging them down. senate candidates were running ahead of the top of the ticket. that said, this was always going to be a -- it's a 50/50 country.
9:10 am
49/49 country, whatever. >> that's right. >> what are you seeing in registration, is there a tangible difference in the last week? >> we saw in the 48 hours after the announcement an immediate 700% spike in registrations all across the country. and the week since the announcement, we have registered over 142,000 voters across the nation, and most of the voters, about 83% are 35 and under. so we're definitely seeing a ton of energy on the ground, and it's transferring directly into registrations. >> there's no way to tell whom they're voting for. >> we don't know who they're voting for. we know that the registrations are coming mostly from young people in states like texas, north carolina, california, new york, ohio, pennsylvania. >> these are the critical states. >> these are definitely the critical states! they include -- ohio hasn't gone
9:11 am
democratic in a long time. obviously pennsylvania, north carolina, are critical swing states. >> another interesting fact we're noticing is we're seeing a huge spike in 18-year-olds who are registering, so we have more 18-year-olds registering right now than at this point in the 2020 election cycle, which had historic turnout. this is something we're watching really closely, and really excited about. i think we've had over 200,018-year-olds register. >> could that be just because the campaign itself was front and center? there was so much attention paid, people were finally paying attention, young people in particular. we don't know if it's biden versus harris in terms of the switchover. >> the spike was happening overall, even before the announcement when it comes to 18-year-olds. what we saw after the announcement on sunday was, you know, leaps and bounds different than what we had been seeing all yearlong. the momentum hasn't stopped. it continues forward. usually during big announcements
9:12 am
or big moments like say when roe was overturned, we saw a spike in registrations, but usually it kind of tapers off after a little bit. we're still going strong today. >> this is something to be tracking closely, thanks so much, andrea, hailey, appreciate it. >> thank you. and a new game plan for the campaign. in just 90 seconds, the head of the naacp will be joining me on how kamala harris's rise to the top of the ticket has changed the fight for the critical black vote. you're watching andrea mitchell reports only on msnbc. reports only on msnbc. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis held me back... now with skyrizi, i'm all in with clearer skin. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ (♪♪) ♪ i feel free ♪ (♪♪) ♪ to bare my skin, yeah that's all me. ♪
9:13 am
♪ nothing is everything ♪ (♪♪) with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. and most people were clearer even at 5 years. skyrizi is just 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine, or plan to. (♪♪) ♪ nothing and me go hand-in-hand, ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin, that's my new plan ♪ ♪ nothing is everything ♪ now's the time, ask your doctor about skyrizi, the number one dermatologist- prescribed biologic in psoriasis. learn how abbvie could help you save. (♪♪) greatness hurts. but with care... ...you can keep chasing it. that's tylenol. that's care without limits.
9:14 am
presidential campaign, kamala harris is reenergizing black voters whose support for president biden had been slipping. a new abc news ipsos poll shows that harris increased her favorability rating to 43% since becoming the de facto democratic nominee. that boost in the poll coming in large part from black voters, but the prospect of electing the first female president of black and south asian descent has democrats worried, as they were when barack obama first ran, asking if the country is ready for a person of color for the top job. joining me is ceo derrick johnson, thank you very much for being with us. you are a nonpartisan organization, you do not get involved in politics at all.
9:15 am
i think we're approaching this from the standpoint of encouraging voting is good on all sides. and it is a factor that you have kamala harris as the first black and south asian, most likely nominee on the major party ticket, who's a woman. >> well, we are nonpartisan, but we're very political. what we have recognized since the president spoke to our delegates in las vegas two weeks ago tomorrow is more and more african americans are focusing on project 2025 and the policy implications of that. as they're evaluating candidate options, they're looking for candidates who would denounce such policy, that 900 page document is a radical shift from -- for individuals when it comes to employment, going from a 40-hour workweek to 160 work month. when it comes to education,
9:16 am
having a national book ban, when it comes to all sorts of matters that's important to african americans. and so it's no coincidence, i don't think, that as we're seeing an increase in enthusiasm in the african-american community for this election, it is also tied to the policy considerations that people must decide. it's about the policy as much as it is about the people. >> is it also about some of the statements that the former president has made referring to black jobs being taken by immigrants and trying to set people who are coming over from other countries against black people. there's no such thing as quote, black job. let's posit. >> the best t-shirt i have seen is black jobs president of the united states. it's been an outstanding t-shirt. the former president, his dog whistle politics, which is not even a dog whistle. it's very loud, it's in your
9:17 am
face. just recently he gave a speech somewhere where he talked about would you rather have the black female president or white president. christians if you vote this one time, you will never have to vote again. that's a level of racial outreach that we have not seen since the 1950s south. and so many after can americans are concerned about that approach, concerned about some of the words that come out of his mouth, and more importantly, concerned about the policy considerations on the table. >> speaking of the 1950s and 60s, there's the commemoration of the civil rights act by lyndon johnson, which has come under attack, in fact, from several members of the supreme court, especially clarence thomas in recently concurring majority opinions. so talk to me about that speech, the important speech at the lbc library today. >> right. here we are, 60 years since the
9:18 am
1964 civil rights act. next year it will be 60 years since the 1965 voting rights act. two of the most critical pieces of legislation to ensure full participation of african-americans in society, and so that we can have a true democracy. i've heard former head of ldf talk about that this nation didn't have a democracy because more than half of the citizens could not participate. when you think about the right of women to vote didn't come into place until the '20s. the '65 voting right put in a moment african-americans could engage. we're a young democracy, and that is something for us to celebrate because now we're the most diverse nation that we have ever been. more people can participate and add their voice to public policy considerations, so it's a milestone that we should celebrate and really fight against those who will seek to
9:19 am
undermine those mile stones. >> mr. johnson, i don't want to let you go without asking you about sonya massey. on friday, vice president harris called the family, she of course the black woman fatally shot by police in her illinois home earlier this month. the officer, sean grayson was fired and charged with murder. he pleaded not guilty, and records obtained by nbc news showed that he worked for six different law enforcement agencies since 2020. there were two complaints against him. your reaction to all of this? >> it is unfortunate that an unarmed individual in her home who called on her god in that moment would be executed. it is the very reason why we must pass police reform. i have heard from many law enforcement individuals who absolutely denounce this type of action. and that's why we need a national database of police misconduct, so an individual like this cannot just go from
9:20 am
agency to agency, causing harm on citizens, lawful citizens. it is beyond inhumane what this officer did to this individual, and i hope -- i hope the call from the sitting vice president gave some solace to the family, but i really really hope that he is brought to justice and held accountable for his actions. >> and we should point out that some of those features, the database, for instance, were in the senate bill that failed in negotiation. so it never got anywhere on the hill. >> yeah, george floyd police reform act is something we must adopt as a nation. we're a leading nation but yet we fall woefully behind other countries to ensure that police protect and serve our communities and not individuals prey on our communities. >> serve all of our communities for all the valiant work the
9:21 am
police do. thank you very much, derrick johnson of the naacp, we appreciate it. and now i want to pass on some sad news, and it's very personal for me, the passing after a brief illness of my friend, alma powell. she was the cofounder with her husband, the late general colin powell of america's promise alliance, a nonprofit foundation supporting public education and empowering youth. i was involved with that group. it's a nonprofit. alma served as the board chair for years and wrote two children's books in support of the organization. the powells met on a blind date when he was actually in basic training or stationed in georgia. they were married for nearly 60 years. she was at her husband's side for his historic military career, all of it, living in 20 different houses in six states, plus overseas in germany. as general powell rose in the infantry, to becoming chairman
9:22 am
of the joint chiefs of staff, as well as national security adviser and secretary of state. alma powell was a great lady. she was well loved for her humor, her grace and her no nonsense attitude. she's survived by her three extraordinary children, michael, linda, and anne marie and their families, her grandchildren as well as a great grandchild, and countless family members, nieces, family and friend. alma powell was 86 years old. 86d
9:23 am
9:24 am
it's time to feed the dogs real food in the right amount. a healthy weight can help dogs live a longer and happier life. the farmer's dog makes weight management easy with fresh food pre-portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come.
9:25 am
which looks better — this? or this? seems clear to me. if you love to save, check out the wise buys sales event going on right now at america's best — get two pairs of progressives for just $129.95. offer includes a comprehensive eye exam. book an exam online today.
9:26 am
they started as dreamers. but today, they're stars. follow every moment of team usa on the network that brings you legendary speed and reliability: xfinity mobile. with xfinity mobile, you'll have the most powerful mobile wifi network with you on the go with exclusive access to speeds up to a gig in millions of locations nationwide. and right now, xfinity internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. call 833 leaffilter, or visit leaffilter.com
9:27 am
israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu was in the golan heights today after a sunday cabinet meeting authorizing the military to retaliate against hezbollah for saturday's rocket attack that killed 12 children playing on a soccer field. the victims were buried in an emotional mass funeral as the village continues to mourn. netanyahu vowing israel's response will come and it will be tough as fears of an all out war in the region are ga iranian-back hezbollah. netanyahu was in washington on saturday when the attack took place. he rushed home earlier than scheduled where criticism had been growing for him being out of the country instead of, critics said, focusing on
9:28 am
closing in on the hostage deal being negotiated started in rome, held up by his visit to the u.s. joining me now, nbc news international correspondent raf sanchez. raf, this is just so horrific. i was watching your coverage this morning. talk to me about it and about the prime minister's visit to the golan heights, and just the fact that this is one thing, the hezbollah threat, that you have been covering now since object 8th. these people have been evacuated from their homes. there's a great deal of pressure to get them back in their homes, and now this looks like it's escalating beyond anything that they had imagined. >> yeah, that's right. andrea. people across the middle east right now are holding their breath and waiting to see what israel's response to this attack looks like. and from the perspective of the israeli government, this was unprecedented. the worst attack on its civilians since october 7th. the first time this many
9:29 am
civilians, let alone children, have been killed in the 9 1/2 months that israel and hezbollah have been fighting across the israel/lebanon border, and prime minister netanyahu is saying this is going to be a much larger response than anything we have seen so far. the security cabinet met, they offered netanyahu to retaliate at a time, place and manner of his choosing. we don't know exactly what this looks like yet, the big question, andrea, is will israel strike beirut, the capital of lebanon. that is something they have not done over the course of this yearly year a war. if they do do that in the coming days, it's very possible we're going to see a very large scale, hezbollah retaliation. the united states is saying it sports israel's right to defend itself. it's also counseling restraint. it doesn't want to see an all out war in the northern border. i'll close by saying when prime minister netanyahu showed up earlier, in this village of
9:30 am
11,000 people, he was met by angry protesters who said he and the israeli government did not do enough to keep their children safe. andrea. >> you were there at the time, and just to give people the background hear, which i know you know so well, between the military's criticism of netanyahu's -- the way he's conducting the war in gaza, and their criticism that you can't eliminate hamas, which is his goal, this, including from the defense minister, when he was here in washington, he made it very clear to us that he was anticipating that they would have to be some major action against hezbollah if there was any provocation. while they disagree on gaza, gallant rival of netanyahu agrees with the prime minister on the threat from hezbollah, and that it needs to be dealt with. >> that's right. i think this is actually a pretty broad consensus across
9:31 am
israeli politics about the needs to, as you said, get the israeli civilians back into their homes, even if that means taking major military action against hezbollah and the scenes like the one further strengthen the feeling. i've got to tell you, andrea, saturday night there, normal saturday night, a little after 6:00 p.m., the sirens started blaring, kids had a couple of seconds to run to the bomb shelter. it wasn't enough. the rocket came crashing down. 12 of them were killed. we spoke to a young woman. her cousin john was among those killed and her younger brother is in hospital. she spoke to him a couple of seconds before the rocket came down. take a listen to what she told us. >> we were at my grandma's house, i said, okay, don't be late, and something, i closed the phone, and boom, it's happened. >> reporter: and i can't stress enough, andrea, this is a small mountain village.
9:32 am
it is 11,000 people. everybody is related to everybody. to lose 12 children in a single night is just a catastrophe beyond almost imagination, and it's going to be a place in mourning for a very long time to come. andrea. >> it's just horrific. thank you so much, raf sanchez. and a tainted election, officials are saying they have quote serious concerns about the victory declared by venezuela's authoritarian leader nicolas maduro. more on that coming up next. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. reports" on msnbc.
9:33 am
shop etsy for classroom staples under $40 that are anything but basic. find everything from personalized apparel & accessories to gifts for teachers. when you need back-to-school supplies under $40 everyone can agree on... etsy has it.
9:34 am
in english, what's the hardest thing to say? anything with a th? they threw three thick things. sixth, like fourth, fifth, and then sixth. or you mean what's really hard emotionally to say? yeah, like that. oh... um... goodbye. i forgive you. i was wrong. for me, it's saying i love you, but that's tough to say in any language. ugh, when is my allergy spray going to kick in? -you need astepro. -astepro? it's faster, bro. 8x faster than flonase. it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's faster, bro! it's mom to you. astepro starts working in 30 minutes. astepro and go!
9:35 am
the sale of the summer is on! astepro starts working wayfair's black friday in july is happening now! and it's the talk of the neighborhood. because now through july 29th you can save up to 80% on everything home. yes! save on finds for indoor and outdoor, and get surprise flash deals you don't want to miss. plus everything ships free! straight to your door. save up to 80% off with wayfair's black friday in july now through july 29th and light up your summer with savings! ♪ wayfair. every style. every home. ♪
9:36 am
ryan t. writes, "moving is stressful. can you help me take one thing off of my to do list?” ugh, moving's the worst. with xfinity, you can transfer your internet in just a few taps. just a few easy moves. did somebody say “easy moves”? ♪ ♪ oh no. no, i was talking about moving your internet. this will move the internet. ♪ ♪ ooh, ooh. -let's keep it professional. professional dancers! -ok! stay connected during your move with the best in home wifi. easily transfer your services in the xfinity app. bring on the good stuff.
9:37 am
early this morning, venezuela's strong man, nicolas maduro declared victory in a contested election, and the opposition calling the results into question. they're also claiming victory insisting that opposition candidate won twice as many votes as maduro. secretary of state antony blinken today in asia saying the u.s. has serious concerns that the announced results do not reflect the will of venezuela voters. joining us now is anne applebaum, staff writer for the atlantic, and author of "autocracy inc. the dictators who want to run the world," lets
9:38 am
talk about venezuela as the most recent example, perhaps of what we're seeing in venezuela today. does this reflect what you describe in the book as autocracy inc.? what makes venezuela an autocracy? >> yes, in two senses. number one, it's not just suspicion that the election was tainted. there's quite a lot of actual proof that you'll see in the next day or two that it was stolen. the opposition was monitoring how the election unfolded. they were doing parallel vote tallies. the venezuela electoral commission is obligated to reveal precinct by precinct, low level electoral data. it has not done that. the u.s. and other governments are demanding that they do that. so it is very clearly a case of a stolen election, and this is another example of an arrogant regime that is not interested in the well being of its own people. venezuela was once the
9:39 am
wealthiest country in south america, now it's the poorest, produces more refugees than ukraine by some counts, and so this is an illustration of how -- of the new kind of dictatorship that will not give up, even at the cost of impoverishing its own people. i would say in another sense it's important because who recognized the election, russia, china, iran. so venezuela already has a community of allies who are going to recognize the election who are trying to keep maduro in power. he knows that. that's the new situation we're in. >> senior coons put out a statement it's being stolen in plain sight. is this part of the larger trend you describe in your book. let's talk about viktor orban recently, as well as a couple of months ago, and being heralded
9:40 am
as a major figure and hungry as a member of nato. and we see other examples throughout europe. and asia. >> well, hungary is interesting in this context because viktor orban did to his country what maduro did for chavez, and then maduro did to theirs, which is to be democratic elected. and then to begin to dismantle institutions and remove obstacles and make it really impossible to lose an election. my colleagues and friends in veterans think that maduro only held this election because he was so sure he would win, and of course now he's in a more difficult situation. but you're right that the growth, i would say the arrogance of autocracy, the assumption of immunity, nobody can stop us, we can fake our elections and do whatever i want, that sense is growing, and it's growing because the
9:41 am
autocracies as i described in my book, have relationships with one another, and help to keep one another in power. >> and what is unusual, and i know you're not talking about the politics here at home, but that he is so heralded by, you know, cpack, and other conservative republican groups, and by the former president, and potentially future president. >> so it's not just orban. trump has many times reflected, stated his admiration for president xi of china, president putin of russia. he speaks frequently about his admiration of exactly this kind of leader, somebody who has no obstacles to power. so somebody who doesn't have to worry about press, about media, about judges, about the rule of law. somebody who can do whatever he wants in an untrammelled way. there's a part of his party that goes along with it.
9:42 am
>> even beautiful letters from kim jong un. anne applebaum, "autocracy inc." is the book, and thank you so much for being with us today. >> thank you. and quick start next, team usa is racking up the medals at the paris games in a back-and-forth battle for france throughout competition today. we'll catch up in a moment. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. n msnbc. that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley
9:43 am
♪ i am, i cried ♪ so you won't miss an opportunity. [ laughing ] ♪ i am, said i ♪
9:44 am
♪ and i am lost and i can't ♪ punch buggy red. ♪ even say why ♪ ♪ i am, i said ♪ ♪ ♪
9:45 am
(♪♪) is he? claritin clear? yeah. fast relief of allergies with nasal congestion, so you can breathe better. claritin plus decongestant. live claritin clear®.
9:46 am
it's day three of competition at the 2024 paris olympics. team usa leads with 14 medals in total as of today, but is behind in the number of gold. simone biles already the most decorated gymnast in history, powering through a calf injury to dominate, earning the highest scores on her vault and floor exercises. she's joined by teammate and reigning olympic champs, advancing to the finals after a masterful routine on the uneven bars. the u.s. men's soccer team are bounding after losing their opener to france, topping new zealand 4-1. and increasing team usa chances, advancing out of the loop stage. joining me now from paris with the very latest, nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk. the coverage has been phenomenal. you have been incredible. tell us what's happened today? we're all eagerly waiting. >> reporter: well, here's what's happening today. there's some excitement. you know, we had 12 medals all
9:47 am
around when the day began. we just got two more in men's skate boarding. you had a bronze go to nija houston, and a silver to eaton. they just finished the finals. that's good for team usa. you have men's gymnastics, the team competing in the team competition. they are in the finals. they haven't won a team medal in gymnastics, the men, since 2008. so this would be a very big deal. they have been having some really great performances. they look strong, but the competition is fierce, andrea. >> team usa has three gold medals. talk to us about that. i've got to tell you, i know it's not an american victory, but watching marchand was just incredible. >> reporter: it really was. and all of france, i think, would agree with you, andrea, that it was incredible. they were joking that night that he was going to hug everyone in the country. i think they all probably did want to hug him. you know, our golds have mostly
9:48 am
come in the pool. you had the 4 by 100 meter relay for the men. then you also had the butterfly for the women, where you had the women finish, get a gold and a silver in that event. that's the first time that's happened since 1984, and some success in fencing. we had the women's foil competition. we won a gold in. now, it just depends on how you stack those numbers. if it's overall count, yes, we're winning, in the golds, not yet. >> and men's basketball, what a thriller. i mean, when i first was watching the first quarter or so, it looked like our team was really going to be challenged by the serbians. it ended up in a good place for the u.s., but what dawn staley was saying to mike tirico, our basketball teams, they can't play together, practice together, the way the other
9:49 am
teams can. >> reporter: that's right, it makes it very difficult, but also, you know, we have been talking about this for a while now. the competition has gotten stronger and stronger internationally. you have a far more international players playing in the nba. and you see that in the level of play, but in that serbia game, they came back and won by i think more than 30 points, so they certainly handily won. the women start today as well. and it will be interesting, they play japan later on tonight. you know, the women are going for an incredible record. if they win a gold medal, they will have won eight consecutive gold medals. that's the most of any team in any sport in the olympics. so that would be an incredible history making feat, andrea. >> women's basketball, phenomenal. stephanie gosk, thank you so much. >> reporter: you're welcome. the state of the race. no gold medals here. a week into the battleground of kamala harris's campaign. that's next. stay with us, you're watching
9:50 am
"andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc. and it's covered by medicare. not managing your diabetes really affects your health for the future. the older you get, the more complications you're gonna see. i knew i couldn't ignore my diabetes anymore because it was causing my eyesight to go bad. for my patients, getting on dexcom g7 is the biggest eye opener they've ever had. i couldn't believe how easy it was. this small wearable sends my glucose numbers right to my phone or my receiver. with just a glance i can see if i'm going high, low, or steady. so, i can make quick decisions in the moment. now, i'm a superstar. my a1c is 5.7. my a1c has never been lower. no other cgm system is more affordable for medicare patients than dexcom g7. don't wait! call now, and talk to a real person.
9:51 am
9:52 am
. . . .
9:53 am
9:54 am
vice president kamala harris has days left to select her own vice presidential running mate. speculation continues about who is going to join her on the ticket. among some of the leading candidates, she has large chess here, senator mark kelly of arizona, josh shapiro of pennsylvania and tim walz of minnesota. joining me doug high and former democratic congressman steve heil. doug, which of these do you think could better position her in swing states and might cause more problems? >> i think it depends on what she wants to dorks what direction she wants to go. similar to the question we would ask about donald trump, when we were looking, is he going to select an african american or a woman. as a tour heal, i'm fully behind roy cooper, my fellow unc
9:55 am
alumnus. clearly josh shapiro has a lot of momentum for what he can do in pennsylvania, mark kelly in arizona. tim walz could take it in a different direction as well. guy back to north carolina in 2004. i was working on richard burr's senate campaign when john edwards was picked. john edwards didn't put that state in play for five minutes. we sometimes overestimate the chess pieces. if we do this, then this happens. it's going to be kamala very russ trumpal more than j d. versus whoever she specks. >> i agree. roy cooper has said he doesn't think he can carry north carolina. that said, steve israel, who do you think harris should choose? you've watched all this. you were famously very close to nancy pelosi. pelosi, schumer, hakeem jeffries, they were concerned they could lose the house and
9:56 am
that those vulnerable senators, the jon testers, others, would not have a chance with joe biden as the top of the ticket. now there's a fighting chance. who would help most in the important states? >> andrea, i spent a lot of time with my former colleagues in the house and senate last week. there's no question that the vibe is different. there is a vibe now. there's a sense that those down-ballot races in the house and senate will be more competitive where they weren't before. i will say this, i think the choice is based on three very specific criteria. number one and most importantly, who is fit to lead and serve, and that has got to be most important criteria. number two, what value does the candidate bring to the ticket in those battleground states with those ticket splitters, those moderate voters? number three, who can unify the party and attract those ticket splitters in places like the
9:57 am
suburbs of philadelphia and pittsburgh, in michigan and elsewhere, in wisconsin and omaha and elsewhere. so those are the criteria that you have to go through. then one final, i would say the rollout of j.d. vance is not what the trump campaign expected. they had a chance to accentuate the questions about joe biden's age. they ended up with with a strategy that is xen rating questions about donald trump's age and fitness to serve. this has been a bit ironic in the political climate. >> ironic indeed. doug high, let's talk about j.d. vance. the comments about childless cat ladies when he was running for the senate, and he had the chance to disavow them completely last week and he did it awkwardly at best by saying he has nothing against cats in one of the interviews. the reaction among women and men -- but among women and among people who choose -- either
9:58 am
choose not to have children or have no choice but not to have children, have tried to have children -- >> the operative word is comment plural. he didn't say it once. he said it repeatedly. there's who can tweet and say the most outrageous things to get clicks and get on tv. >> trying to do exactly that, switch over from being an anti-trumper. he talked about people children should have tax benefits over people who are childless and they should have more votes. >> and that second part is mind-blowing. the first part -- that's actually current policy right now. there's a child care tax credit and people who don't have children don't get that. what we've seen so and is republicans try to be truck-like. they're not going to be successful in saying crazy things that sort of don't get you in trouble. one thing that was interesting to me was watching former
9:59 am
congressman trey gowdy before he had j.d. vance on his show. he talked about meeting catholic nuns. obviously these are single women, and shout-out to the sisters of st. joseph who raised me in catholic school in north carolina, and he talked about the importance of what single women, what women or childless women or men for that matter contribute, and it came from fox right before j.d. vance came on. sort of a segue that you didn't expect and was really powerful. it gave j.d. vance an opportunity to apologize and correct this. >> steve, how big a deal is this? is this a quick problem that will go away or a quayle/edwards/palin problem. >> sarah palin isn't a problem that went away. by the way, john mccain was six years younger than donald trump is now when he made that choice.
10:00 am
i think this goes to the point that pete buttigieg who said not since f dfrjtr chose his vice president has a president candidate's age and health been an issue. and j.d. vance is no harry truman. i think that was the line of this climate. >> remember nobody wanted harry truman as vice president. no one. >> and he stepped down after one term. arguably, sarah palin, john edwards and dan quayle despite what may have happened in the first weeks of the rollout didn't help the top of the ticket. >> doug high, steve israel, thanks to both of you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" starts right now. >> good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. after the big splash comes the bigger test. with the harris campaign and democrats across