right now on "andrea mitchell reports," harris taking the fight to trump, challenging the former president to meet her on the debate stage.

>> i hope you will reconsider to meet me on the debate stage. as the saying goes, if you got something to say, say it to my face. >> donald trump is taking the stage next hour. he will field questions in an unusual appearance at the national association for black journalists convention in chicago. a hamas leader, the negotiator in the cease-fire talks, killed in a targeted assassination in tehran hours after meeting with iran's supreme leader. he was there for the inauguration of iran's new president. qatar, where he has lived for years, blaming israel, saying how can negotiations take place in which one party kills the negotiator at the same time? this 24 hours after israel does acknowledge killing a top hezbollah commander near beirut. in paris, the gold medals are stacking up. simone biles and her teammates

take a redemption victory lap, making the 27-year-old biles the most decorated u.s. olympic ghim fast ever. katie ledecky untouchable in the 1500 free goes for gold today. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. kamala harris preparing a tour with her soon to be announced running mate. they will have their first joint rally tuesday in philadelphia. that signifies the outsized importance of pennsylvania. the campaign is cautioning it doesn't necessarily mean a clue that the state's governor, josh shapiro, is the choice. the latest battleground polling shows harris leading trump in five of seven key races, but all within the margin of error. it's a tight race. except michigan where that poll has her ahead by 11 points. that lead is considered an

outlier. democrats working overtime in georgia. a crowd of 10,000 supporters, the largest this cycle for the democrats, was led by megan thee stallion welcoming harris on stage tuesday with an enthusiastic push for young and black voters. donald trump has scheduled a rally in that same arena saturday night. he is known for his big crowds. the dems haven't been. next hour, the former president will take questions at the national association of black journalists convention in chicago before returning to pennsylvania for the first time since, of course, he survived that horrific attempted assassination. we begin with senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, jeff mason, and kimberly atkins stohr, columnist and co-host of sisters-in-law podcast.

kelly, the vice president is trying to flip the script on donald trump's immigration attacks. potential running mate mark kelly has been tough on biden/harris border policies in the past. he was on "morning joe" today. >> it's about solving problems. donald trump wants to take us, drag us back a decade. the work she did in honduras, he will -- el salvador, is bringing dividends. combine that with the actions they took, we have a more stable situation. what we need is strong bipartisan legislation. donald trump made it very clear that he does not want that. >> kelly, talk to us about the immigration issue, how important it is in the race. we saw trump talk about immigration in the debate.

you have one potential running mate. talk to me about that. this was an unusual audition, if you will, for mark kelly today. >> reporter: immigration has been one of the big issues for donald trump since he came on the national scene. he had his lines of attack against president biden and to some extent vice president harris. of course, now with the new formulation of the democratic ticket, the harris team is looking for ways to combat this. president biden had tried to talk about the legislation that donald trump torpedos by telling republicans not to vote for it. he certainly tried do that. kamala harris is picking that up and using it in a new way. she, of course, is from a border state, california. mark kelly gives us that kind of window into the border issue, because it is part of his day-to-day role to deal with the communities that are on the arizona/mexico border.

he has some credibility on these issues because he has been a critic of the biden administration at times. when you look at what he could bring to the ticket as a potential running mate, this is certainly part of it as well as being a sitting u.s. senator who could help with some of the negotiations that would go on on capitol hill. of course, we know his wife survived political violence and she's been a strong advocate on that issue. just on the border with his military background, with his home in arizona and with his ability to talk about these issues, that could be a supplement to kamala harris on an issue that won't go away. it's one of the big issues for trump and vance and certainly for harris. she will have to answer on this again and again. >> he brings that foreign policy experience, not only foreign in terms of dealing with foreign leaders, 25 years in the navy, but to all of you, he was in outer space, he was an astronaut. there were a lot of pluses in the mark kelly column.

jeff, let's talk about the foreign leaders like putin and xi with donald trump saying overnight on fox that harris would see her as someone to toy with, a play toy. let's watch. >> walk all over her. >> how so? >> look at her. i think they will walk all over her. she will be so easy for them. she will be like a play toy. they look at her and she say, we can't believe we got so lucky. they will walk all over her. >> talk about that. you have been covering the vice president and others as you know. unlike donald trump, she would sit in on the pdb, the president's daily intelligence brief any time she's in washington. we know donald trump did it occasionally and relied on visual aides. she's been vice president for

four years. before that on the intelligence committee. before that, attorney general and a prosecutor. how does she stack up on foreign policy? >> a couple things. i think what the former president is talking about there is largely strength. vice president harris is also making a counterargument about strength in her earlier campaign appearances, she underscored her background as a prosecutor and attorney general. has said, bring it on to donald trump. i think she would probably say the same thing with regard to the foreign policy. the other thing she's not going is separating herself from president biden's record on foreign policy. she's absolutely been involved in all of the major foreign policy issues that he has led. with regard specifically to president putin of russia, president biden has said one of his biggest successes in office and one of the successes of the administration has been getting

nato countries to coalesce around ukraine. the expansion of nato. just the strength, to use that word again, of the alliances that president biden and the biden/harris administration have supported, which is a contrast to the criticism that former president trump has given to nato and in general to his view about alliances as well. i think having covered her, those are probably the responses she would give and her campaign would give. that said, he is going to try to use every weakness he can, as the democrats will try to use every weakness that they can on the republican side. if stoking concerns among republican or independent voters about her foreign policy credentials is useful, i'm sure he will do that. >> he said she was anti-jewish, she doesn't like jewish people, something to that effect, when she's married to doug emhoff, who is jewish and who has been

the stepmom and kept jewish holidays -- they have been very observant in their holiday. kim, let's talk about j.d. vance, the childless cat lady comments from his past keep emerging. one uncovered from 2020 talking about the value of having children in your life. >> the fact that so many people, especially in america's leadership class, don't have that in their lives, i worry that it makes people more sociopathic and our country a little bit less mentally stable. almost always the people who are most deranged and most psychotic are people who don't have kids. >> i guess that's worse than being a cat lady. in an interview with nbc news, j.d. vance said that his comments are being misrepresented adding, what i was criticizing is a particular neurosis that leads people to

say crazy things. kim? take it from there. this is a situation where the running mate and controversial things the running mate has said in the past is overshadowing a controversial nominee at the top of the ticket. >> yeah. it takes a lot to take the attention away from donald trump based on the really offensive things you say. but j.d. vance seems to have accomplished that. whatever that sort of a denial was -- he seems to be doubling down on this with that most recent statement. what we are seeing from the string of interviews and videos coming out is that he is a strong believer. he believes that only women who have given birth have value and should have increased political power. those who have not, whether it is by choice, that attacks their mental capability, and if not by

choice, he says they need thoughts and prayers and should bepitied. i'm not sure there are women that would adhere to that. it's important to note the next thing trump said -- he looked in the camera and said, people know why kamala harris won't be respected on the world stage. i won't say it but people understand it, or something to that effect. that was every bit a racist and sexist attack it was a hit on her foreign policy credentials. >> kelly, i want to emphasize that we have both covered this, i'm sure jeff and kimberly have as well, the vetting of a potential nominee is so critical. you covered mccain/palin. you saw the huge boost, great convention in st. paul, minnesota. then poof, it really began to drag him down. they did a quick vet in alaska.

they didn't dig through it all. i saw it with quayle and others. this accelerated process right now is so important for the democrats. >> reporter: one of the big challenges is that you only look at a list on a page, it might tell you different things. certainly, back in 2008 before everything we know today, sarah palin had that list of strong things that was a good complement to john mccain. in this instance, one of the big differences is that the governors that they are dealing with here in terms of those that are being looked at are in the national conversation. they are getting some of the white hot spotlight. nothing is quite like national politics. even those that have been through it, who have had campaigns where there was research against them, all of that has to be looked at very carefully, whether you are a u.s. senator like mark kelly, who has been through a couple of really rough elections, or governors who have won their seats and have that executive

power. there's some vetting that happens if you are an officeholder. it is an important decision for the compatibility with the top of the ticket and to prevent the unforeseen. there's no question that whoever is chosen by harris, as we have seen with vance, there is another test that comes of being in the spectacle and spotlight that is national politics. >> kelly o'donnell, jeff mason, kimberly atkins stohr, thanks for starting us off. targeted assassinations of two leaders, including hamas' chief negotiator. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. -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.

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(vo) it's almost time! put your business online in minutes verizon small business days are coming. august 5th to the 11th. meet with our experts. get a free tech check. and special offers. don't miss out. get started today. hamas' political leader, its chief negotiator in the hostage talks and a resident of qatar was assassinated in tehran, hours after meeting with the country's supreme leader. hamas and iran are blaming israel and vowing revenge. israel has not commented. israel did acknowledge yesterday the responsibility for the targeted assassination tuesday of the hezbollah commander in lebanon after accusing the terror group of killing 12 children saturday in the israeli-held golan heights.

secretary of state blinken was asked about the assassination of the hamas leader and the risk of war with iran, the sponsor of both hamas and hezbollah. >> again, the best way to bring the temperature down everywhere and to put us on a better path is through a cease-fire in gaza. that will have, i think, important affects on other areas where you could see conflict, whether in the north of israel and lebanon, whether it's iran, whether it's in the red sea. >> it raises the question of just how cease-fire negotiations and hostage talks can continue without him. whether there would be any retaliation against hostages there with the military commander, sinwar, leading the battalions from a tunnel somewhere in gaza. joining me from tel aviv is raf sanchez. i cannot think of a more consequential 48 hours in your part of the world since october

7 and 8. it's a stunning -- it shows you what israel is capable of doing. that was the message. they could have killed him in cairo, in istanbul, in qatar. instead, in tehran where they are all gathering for the inaugural of the new president of iran? it's telling, iran, we can come and get you if we want. >> reporter: i think that's exactly right. this was a very, very clear message to iran. remember, this was not just a brazen assassination carried out in the heart of the iranian capital, but they killed hamas' political chief just hours after he was shaking hands with iran's supreme leader, another enemy of israel. this is extremely embarrassing for iran that they were unable to keep such a high profile

figure safe in the heart of their own capital city. that's why you are seeing the ayatollah on your screen there saying, iran, at this point, has a duty to take revenge against israel. the israeli government refusing to comment. most of what we know about this killing is from iranian state media. about 1:45 a.m., a missile strike hitting the residence in tehran killing him and his bodyguard. you mention the implications here for the very fragile cease-fire negotiations are potentially profound. we just interviewed the grandfather -- excuse me, the grandson of an 84-year-old israeli hostage who has been held in gaza for 299 days. his grandson told us, he is concerned that this killing could derail those talks. he said that he hopes the united

states, qatar, egypt will be able to keep these cease-fire talks going. there's a major diplomatic effort ahead of blinken as he is traveling in asia, to try to keep the prospects of cease-fire negotiations going. there had been optimism that we could be in the closing stages of the talks. the killing of one of hamas' lead negotiators at minimum is going to complicate those talks. >> big question as to what the u.s. role is going to be, was. did they get a heads up? do they support it? importantly, the u.s. signalled its support to defend israel from the attack with multiple air defense and missiles. now it's just so complicated, as you point out. they have their proxies everywhere, including in yemen.

red sea attacks. thank you so much, raf. appreciate it. joining me now to sort through this, richard haas, the author of the newsletter "home and away." the home part is complicated by an american election but the away part is really complicated. richard? >> even for the middle east, this is complicated. it's almost gotten to the point where it's hard to tell what's the action and what's the retaliation. you have it across multiple fronts between israel and the houthis. we saw the attack on tel aviv the other day, the israeli response. you have the situation in lebanon, probably 70,000 israelis can't live in their homes in the north, maybe at least that many or more lebanese can't live in the south of their country. that's an untenable situation for any israeli government, i would say. you have the situation in gaza.

we say the strange circumstance where israel has targeted the leader of the hamas delegation. this is another signal that getting the hostages back is anything but a priority for this israeli government. they are focused on going after hamas, even though the idea of eliminating hamas is a physical and political impossibility. you don't have a lot to work with. i think tony blinken was right, the least bad approach is to think about, how do you resurrect the idea of a cease-fire in gaza? that might calm things down. other than -- i think what it's going to require would be israel putting something new on the table or showing new flexibility. one other thing i should have mentioned, the iranians are going to feel compelled to retaliate, as you heard. the idea of revenge. the last time this happened in april, iran sent several hundred drones and missiles at israel.

somehow, none managed to kill anybody. if they do the same thing again, it's quite possible someone in israel would be killed. then i think you are looking at large-scale retaliation. as bad as the middle east has been, i think things have moved to a point where it's more dangerous. >> we just learned that the prime minister is going to give a speech in about ten minutes after 1:00, about an hour from now. most likely it would be in hebrew. but we will have a translation. he took a hard line when he was here before the joint meeting of congress, that's for sure, and in other conversations he had along the way. then, of course, the administration who is represented by kamala harris, importantly that thursday, and she delivered the only statement and emphasized the defense of israel and its right to defend itself but emphasized the devastation in gaza. as you know, i spent a lot of time with the hostage families. they were so hoping for

something out of the meeting with netanyahu. they don't feel they got it. they thought the fact he was here for a week and not -- and basically, they brought back the negoti negotiators, that every day that goes by without their loved ones released is just perilous to say the least. one question is what the american response is. >> i think the american response, it's going to be to focus on somehow seeing if you can resurrect these talks over gaza. i don't think we can prevent israel from moving into the north unless there's a diplomatic initiative there. one way or another, it's got to be possible for israelis to go back to their homes in northern israel. that's either going to happen diplomatically or israel will launch a major military offensive. i think the administration is going to try to see if there's anything to be done between israel and hezbollah and

possibly with iran on the north. at the same time, whether they can resurrect the talks with hamas after the assassination. both of these are long shots though. let's be honest. both of these are not long shots. i don't mean to be spouting pessimism here. if people aren't seriously concerned about escalation along several fronts -- we haven't even talked about the west bank. if people aren't concerned, they're not paying close attention. this is as dangerous as it gets. >> absolutely. hezbollah said if there was a cease-fire in gaza, they would observe it. they did last time. if they were on the brink of a cease-fire deal -- i think from the israeli sides there were objections to a number of things and from the hamas side. it's too simplistic to say that it was done. even the american optimisms said there were important details to

be worked out from both sides. but it was there for the grabbing. they thought they could close it. bill burns had gone back to rome this sunday to at least begin to get it started again, is back here now. i don't see how the talks get back to the table. qatar, the mediator with hamas, how can they do that when they have been embarrassed by someone who is their protectee being killed in tehran? >> i hear you. i don't disagree with what you said. what worries me more than gaza right -- gaza, most of the military activity it's going to happen has happened. we are probably looking at an open-ended grind. i'm more worried about the north, a major escalation there, or something directly between israel and iran. those, to me, have opened up as two fronts potentially. that's as bad as gaza has been, i think now we have to focus more on the other two

situations. one of the rules i have in the middle east is situations get worse before they get even worse. i worry that that's where we are getting to right now. there's multiple fronts. it might be more than the diplomatic circuits can handle given the parties involved and the politics involved. the administration has limited leverage at this point. let's be honest. we don't control things. israel didn't warn us, i would bet, about these assassinations. certainly not the one in iran. the administration is trying to influence events, but it does not and cannot control events. >> i want to point out for our viewers, some who might not know, you were involved in the negotiations in the past decades. you know exactly how this thing often going down. thank you so much for being here today. >> thank you. >> appreciate it. we have breaking news concerning the secret service detail assigned to vice president harris' stepdaughter. kelly o'donnell breaks the

story. what happened? >> reporter: we are told by secret service officials that on tuesday, there were two vehicles that were associated with the protective detail for the stepdaughter of vice president kamala harris. she was at an establishment in lower manhattan. an individual approached the vehicles, which are typically unmarked secret service vehicles. began to do some vandalism to the back of the car, namely around the license plate area, which just by our experience with dealing with protectees, those are usually plates that indicate government or police, that kind of thing. it's very typical that those cars are parked at a location that would be for quick, easy departure if there were any issue. the agents arrested the individual, local law enforcement i'm told, then came and was responsible for that individual and the arrest.

there was no direct impact on ella emhoff. we have seen how these incidents -- there was one months ago with naomi biden, with her detail, granddaughter of the president, where someone attempted to vandalize a vehicle. these things happen. after the fact, the individual perpetrator who may not have any idea what the type of vehicle is, ends up under arrest and with some serious consequences for impacting the protection of these high value individuals who are associated with the president and vice president. there's a lot of attention after the trump assassination attempt to protect all of the families of the president, vice president and formers. >> as well as attention on the secret service, which has so many protectees now. kelly o'donnell, thanks, as always. both the harris and trump campaigns are looking for ways to win over latino voters. a key voting block in pennsylvania as well as other

battleground states. george traveled to a region of the state with latino populations that could determine the election. >> reporter: reading, pennsylvania. brothers and barbers samuel and david say the talk of the town is politics. >> it's been exciting. it's been such an unexpected change. >> reporter: do you care more about the election now? >> i do. i do. >> reporter: we met them before former president trump survived an assassination attempt and picked j.d. vance as his running mate and harris rose to the top of the ticket. both voters are firmly undecided. but newly energized. >> she has direction. i think it evens the playing field for the two candidates. >> is she going to advance the country? is it possible she takes it in reverse? we don't know. >> reporter: this 18-year-old,

is a student at the barber shop, says he will vote for the first time. how are you feeling about possibly voting for either one? >> in my opinion, kind of nervous. >> reporter: one out of every five hispanics will vote in their first presidential election this year. reading sits in pennsylvania's so-called latino belt. cities and small towns once democratic strongholds nestled in northeastern pennsylvania. in this region, latino communities make up 9% of the state's overall population. does it feel like both campaigns are trying to earn your vote? >> definitely. >> reporter: biden won pennsylvania by around 80,000 votes in 2020. that year, more than 610,000 latinos were eligible to vote in the state. while mr. biden won reading by 46 points in 2020, the city shifted 15 points to the right since 2016. limited recent polling shows harris performing better than biden versus trump among latino voters. in 2020, who did you vote for

and why? >> biden. >> reporter: this paralegal explained last month when we visited, she's switching to trump in 2024. frustrated by the rising cost of living and running a business in reading. biden's endorsement of harris pushing her further away. she volunteers at a trump campaign office. >> i don't trust her. >> reporter: why? >> because her background. i don't trust her. >> reporter: this woman thinks putting pennsylvania governor josh shapiro on the democratic ticket this year would make a difference. does she need josh shapiro to secure the white house? >> i think she does. people who are not very invested in the election will follow somebody that they trust. >> reporter: she moved from puerto rico with her family when she was 14. she will vote harris in november. the visit here leaving a lasting impact. >> the fact she came down in the middle of the city to talk to people at the community college was the most positive thing. >> reporter: this restaurant owner also recalls harris' trip

but hasn't been swayed yet. >> everybody is waiting for the next debate. let's see what will happen. >> reporter: with less than 100 days to the election, reading's residents feel the weight of the election ahead. >> i want them to be able to say, wow, things are different now than they were for mom and dad. i'm so happy that we're in this country. >> george joins us now from reading, pennsylvania. george, i know that area well. it's changed over the years. this is interesting. how energized are the latino voters about the race this year? >> reporter: they are very energized. many telling me this vote is so important to our election. the campaigns well aware much this. we reached out to the trump campaign. they said no timetable on when they may be here.

it's on their radar. the harris campaign has about 24 campaign offices here throughout the commonwealth. speaking volumes. the voters here, they know that the key to the white house may just be right here in pennsylvania in this heated race for the state and the presidency. >> george, you are right on top of it. thank you so much. up next, chris coons, a co-chair for the harris campaign, joining me ahead of the candidate's decision on a running mate. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

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with kamala harris days away from kicking off a tour in philadelphia next week, we are waiting for the announcement of her vice presidential running mate. joining me is chris coons. i want to ask you about the middle east, which with the crisis overnight and yesterday and saturday, but first, what are we going to see in philadelphia? they are describing a unity rally. some people might be assuming, perhaps erroneously, that josh shapiro is the choice, since they are launching in philadelphia. could a unity rally mean we would see all of these very strong contenders all together with the vice president and ticket? the top of the ticket tuesday in

philadelphia? >> you are an excellent journalist. i'm not going to get into guessing about exactly who will be there in philadelphia. it's the start of a swing state campaign that is going to begin with a rally in philadelphia. vice president harris has a wide range of very skill and capable potential running mates to choose between. she's got obviously the governor of pennsylvania, josh shapiro, someone who has very high approval ratings and name recognition, who has been a strong governor and has a good record. governor tim walz of minnesota, also someone who is a strong governor with a good record and a great communicator. two of my colleagues, i will mention, senator mark kelly, an astronaut, a jet fighter pilot, decorated veteran, a successful businessman, and who with his wife has campaigned across our country for gun safety and would

be an excellent running mate as well as senator gary peters of michigan, one of the other critical swing states. someone with great experience, a veteran, chairman of the dscc, a friend and colleague who has a lot of the gifts needed to be the right chemistry for vice president harris. we have a deep bench. she's got a wonderfully difficult choice in front of her. the folks i mentioned and several others. governors of kentucky and our secretary of transportation and others. at the end of the day, if you saw the rally last night in atlanta, what's happened is tha engaged. kamala harris is delivering insightful, funny, uplifting, pointed speeches. she's pushing back on the unhinged things that j.d. vance has said. no matter who she chooses, they will clean the floor with senator vance in the vice

presidential debate. >> what do you think of donald trump saying that she would be a pushover, i'm paraphrasing, fr xi and putin? it's more than a dog whistle on gender and race. >> if he thinks she's a pushover, then i wonder why he walked away from debating her as he knows all too well. she's tough and capable, direct, well prepared and well briefed. as vice president, she's met more than 100 heads of state around the world. she knows what xi jinping and vladimir putin represent in terms of the challenge to the rules based order. she dedicated her life to advancing and defending the rules. she is someone who would defend american interests and take the fight to those who are our challengers or adversaries around the world. i would argue, would do a better job than donald trump, who from his first day as president showed he was not well grounded

in knowledge about our alliances, our history, our national interests and was a fawning supplicant. >> the hostage talks were on the precipice of perhaps reaching closure. now we have two targeted assassinations, one acknowledged by israel, and threats of retaliation from iran because of the assassination of the key hamas leader, the negotiator in the cease-fire talks in tehran hours after meeting with the supreme leader. it's inescapable that iran will feel it has to retaliate, as well as hezbollah for what happened outside beirut. how can the hostage talks get back to square one whether someone who has living in qatar, hosting a lot of the talks, has

been assassinated? i'm not saying they are not both terror leaders. but you have a lot of different equities. >> it is worth recognizing right up front that both of these individuals were recognized as terrorist leaders. the assassination in tehran of the hamas leader has removed from the battlefield someone who is designated as a terrorist by the united states. many others recognize hamas and him as the leader. israel has every right to defend itself and to go after those who led the october 7th brutal and murderous attack on israelis and israeli civilians and folks from dozens of other countries. as you mention, it then does bring to the floor the question about how to make progress on this desperately needed cease-fire and hostage release.

just last week when prime minister netanyahu addressed congress, my guests at the speech were the parents of an american who has been held hostage in tunnels underneath gaza by hamas every since the october 7th attack. there are so many hostage families, americans and from many other nationalities, who are waiting and urging prime minister netanyahu to make progress in these talks. this targeted attack against a hamas leader may very well put some barriers in the way of a quick resolution of that. president biden has been a terrific leader on this issue. he has taken this hostage and cease-fire deal and gotten it unanimously supported. has applied pressure through egypt and through qatar on hamas and has urged prime minister netanyahu to close this deal and

to bring to an end active conflict in gaza. it's hope that's possible. i i won't get ahead of the classified briefings that we here expect to receive in coming days about this attack. i don't know exactly who carried it out or what the consequences might be for this important hostage and cease-fire deal. >> we will hear from the prime minister, who was speaking here. you were there for that. he will be speaking in the next half hour or so. >> yes. >> in his first response. senator coons, as always, thanks very much. >> thank you. the golden girls. simone biles and her squad padding the u.s. lead in the medal count. that's next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. repc you fixed it. you looked after it. maybe it's time for your home to start taking care of you. we've invested in our home, we've worked on it,

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with wegovy®, i'm losing weight, i'm keeping it off. and i'm lowering my cv risk. that's the power of we. ♪ ♪ check your cost and coverage before talking to your health care professional about wegovy®. it's day five of competition at the 2024 paris olympics. team usa is leading the overall medal count with an impressive 28. the redemption tour is over. simone biles and suni lee leading the u.s. women's gymnastics team to a gold. a spectacular comeback after winning silver in tokyo. more medals are expected for the u.s. women. later today, we will watch katie ledecky, she's from the washington area. she's the favorite to win the gold in the women's 1500

freestyle. she dominated yesterday's qualifying. so much farther ahead, she was the only swimmer in frame when she finished. joining me now from paris is keir simmons. you have the best assignment any time, anywhere. you always do. you have some of the worst. so we know you have been in every war. you are in paris. it was so amazing. simone biles, let's talk about that. there's a reason why we call her the g.o.a.t. after pulling out of tokyo and then being -- going public with her mental health challenges, she came back to lead the team to gold. came back to lead the to gold. what have the gymnasts on team usa saying after that big win? >> reporter: hey, andrea, yeah, extraordinary, isn't it, to be standing here in historic paris and really a history-making day for simone biles who is now the

most decorated female gymnast in u.s., team usa history, surpassing shannon miller, and the moment was just perfect because, as you can see there, she is on the floor and her teammates were waiting just off camera watching arm in arm, and then they all stood together as they waited for the final scores for simone biles, and got that gold medal for the team. what a fantastic moment, and they ran onto the floor with the stars and stripes, just the camaraderie was incredible, and i think really bodes well, as you say, for the individual events that we have coming. simone biles can win more medals. she could win five medals at this olympics. the claim they say they have for themselves, andrea, the golden girls. >> and keir, as you know better than anyone, there were concerns over the water in the river seine, the quality.

they postponed the men's triathlon competition to today, so talk about the delay. i know you tested it yourself. >> reporter: yeah, well, i took a dip in a tributary to the seine, so i'm okay, and it looks like the triathletes are going to be okay too. it's a real victory for france, it's a gold medal for france, i would say, and for paris that they were able to compete today there and next to the alexander iii bridge, beautiful setting, both the women and the men. the women were always going to be racing today, and the men to today. the bacteria levels got down low enough, and they went ahead, andrea. >> keir simmons on to greater things. thank you so much. you're my triathlete man. coming up next, we bring you our trail mix as vice president harris makes plans for a cross country road trip with her new running mate, and former president trump preparing to meet the press. that alone is unusual.

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team usa is back! because when you push for smarter solutions, let's see that enhanced 4k from xfinity. wow. everything you'd want is right here when you say... “olympics” so, what if your favorite athlete is... "grant hollowa”" nice. or you can't get enough... “swimming” definitely adding that to favorites. now let's check... “medal coun”" and when is gymnastics on? “olympic schedule” it's that easy. find it, see it, count on it with the best seat in the house. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity.

joining us now msnbc contributor and columnist charlie sykes, and former obama 2012 campaign manager jim messina. when we talk about where the candidates should be, philadelphia is a logical place, but it was where hillary clinton wrapped up her big campaign in 2016 with that big rally at independence hall. that didn't seem to help a campaign that was already in trouble on a lot of levels. where do you suspect the harris

campaign is in making this big decision? as an experienced manager, who would be your front runner for the vice presidential choice? jim, are you on mute? i think we can't hear you. >> sorry, andrea. can you hear me? >> yeah, yes. we want to hear you. >> so when you look at pennsylvania, it's the ultimate swing state. in my models, it's a state that will decide the presidential election the most amount of times. it makes sense to start there. it is the state that both trump and harris are going to compete the hardest in, and it makes total sense. when you look at the list of vice presidential picks, she has some great choices here, andrea, and you know, it's less important about who can can help you in a state because my research shows that it really adds only about half of a point in the state. it's really about who

complements you and who she believes could be the president of the united states. when we picked biden, it was really about having someone who gave the ticket something we didn't have, and i think that's what she'll look at in this pick. i think that's who she'll pick, someone she's comfortable with that helps the ticket. >> and it comes to mind to you and charlie that i remember when you rolled out joe biden and he literally ran to the stage to join barack obama. it was in ohio, i think, which was a number of years back, and that's when he brought a lot of energy also. it wasn't the current joe biden, the more experienced joe biden, the commander in chief who's accomplished so much, but it was a much more athletic joe biden. charlie, donald trump is scheduled to speak just moments from now at the national association of black journalists in chicago. we've got a lot of our colleagues and friends there. the group is in talks, they say, to do a similar event with kamala harris, either in person or virtually in september. her campaign has just put out a

statement i'm reading reminding people of donald trump's record with black voters, on black employment and a lot of other issues, just to say, you know, he can show up there, and this is unusual, and he's going to talk to journalists there and not just fox, but that he's got a record he's going to have to defend. >> yeah, and i think this is one of the obligations that we all have between now and november is to remind people about that record, what he has done, what he has said in the past. none of it is a mystery, and yet, we tend to have short attention spans. what he has said, how he has treated journalists declaring them enemies of the people, that ought to be -- that ought to be on the agenda, but also this weird flex where he somehow thinks that he is the greatest champion of black americans since abraham lincoln. my guess is he's going to have a lot of skeptics in that audience, journalists who actually know something about

history and perhaps know something about donald trump's own record. >> jim messina and charlie sykes, thanks. we'll have to have a longer conversation about this in the next couple of days, and then after the big choice and big day in philadelphia on tuesday. and that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." thanks for being with us. remember to follow the show on social media @mitchellreports. and you can watch the best parts of our show on youtube. just go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" starts right now. ♪♪ good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. an annual convention with an unconventional twist. any minute now, donald trump will square off with black journalists, an opportunity to make his case to black voters that he's their best bet come november. that message did show some traction when biden was still in the race, but what about now? plus, for the second time i