russia, now on their way home in the biggest, most complex prisoner exchange since the cold war. the group includes "wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich and former marine, paul whelan, both of whom were convicted of espionage and designated wrongfully detained by the u.s. government. two other journalists were released as well, alsu kurmasheva and vladimir kara-murza. the hostages are boarding a plane, and inside another plane, in the air right now, over turkey, we know, they have taken off from ankara. later tonight, the three u.s. citizens are expected to be back on american soil. moments ago at the white house, national security adviser jake sullivan spoke about what this moment means for the negotiators who spent years pulling this deal together. >> i spent a lot of time with

the families of evan and paul and alsu, and most of the time, as you can imagine, those are tough conversations. but not today. today -- excuse me -- today was a very good day. >> but the elation, the freed americans and their families must be feeling today is matched by sadness for the americans who will remain in russian prison. many on bogus charges. gabe gutierrez is at the white house. what is the white house saying, and i understand that we have yet another photograph that is very telling about what is happening today? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, chris. those photographs just within the past few moments if we can put it up, that the white house just put up a picture of those americans heading back to the u.s. look at that picture, chris, and see on the left side of the screen, evan gershkovich, just look at his smile and how different he looks from just

last month when he was part of that sham trial in russia, looking so gaunt with his haircut short. he is smiling there. and there was another photo that was also put forth by the white house just a short time ago, with the family members hearing from their loved ones for the first time in the oval office. you see them right there, and chris, look at those two young girls, huddled over that phone, just earlier today, we saw president biden mention that the daughter of alsu, the russian-american journalist who's being freed. her daughter, her birthday is tomorrow. and led a chant of happy birthday. a real reminder of the human side of all of this, chris. i want to turn back to the white house briefing that wrapped up a short time ago. we did learn some new information from that briefing. the americans that are on the way back, they are expected to arrive at joint base andrews sometime later tonight.

again they're still in the air, and they will be met there by president biden, and vice president harris. and also national security adviser jake sullivan, he also mentioned that at some point, vice president harris had been a part of these negotiations, she spoke herself to the german chancellor at the munich security conference earlier this year. jake sullivan reiterated when asked whether he thought that this might open some sort of negotiation between russia and potentially bringing an end to the war in ukraine, he stressed, once again, that he did not see a link between what happened here today and ukraine. it is not the policy of the united states, sullivan said, the policy hasn't changed at all. but the national security adviser and what we have been hearing from administration officials throughout the day is that this is an example of the importance of preserving global alliances, which has really become a pillar of the biden administration, and jake sullivan, in addition to choking up a bit when talking about this

prisoner swap, which again, had been in the works for nearly two years, but only finalized in the last two weeks ago, jake sullivan called this vintage joe biden. chris. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you very much for that. a lot to talk about. i want to bring in our panel, marc polymeropoulos, former cia chief of operations in europe and eurasia, and msnbc national security and intelligence analyst. clint watts, former fbi special agent and msnbc national security analyst. david rhodes, senior executive editor. and msnbc political analyst, jonathan franks, crisis management consultant and spokesperson and strategist for bring our families home campaign. david, i want to start with you. you were once a hostage of the taliban. looking at those pictures of them, russian state media, but heading to the plane, seeing

evan sitting in a seat, in a plane, and feeling his hair, the last time we saw him, he was in a glass cage. he was on his way to a horrific prison in the russian penal system, and now to see him and to see the other hostages, to see paul whelan walking upright and strong toward that plane, i wonder what goes through your mind. >> joy for them, joy for their families. i'm biassed because of my experience years ago with the taliban, but identify said it many times, kidnapping is uniquely or hostage taking is a uniquely cowardly crime. these are innocent people. they are stuck in captivity. and it's almost harder also for their families. their families, the ones in the oval office have been fighting and fighting for them to bring them home. it's an amazing day. we can talk about this in more detail. the key here now is for the united states to start working with its allies for a long-term

strategy to punish governments that are engaging in state hostage taking. that's what russia has done. that's what iran has done. venezuela did this in the past. there's huge problems with hamas, and you know, kidnapping nearly 200 million people in gaza, this is a great day, but the broad trend is really alarming. >> and that really is that push and pull, isn't it, john. it's about the joy. can hardly imagine what these families must be feeling in addition to the hostage. what that reunion will be like that they have waited for for so long. but on the other hand, we know others will be taken hostage under similarly false situations. >> sure do, and i guess you temper the joy with a desire to make sure this never happens again. i think we need to get more aggressive, like david said in causing pain for the people that are doing this.

i find it difficult to believe we're going to make a lot of progress unless we figure out how to do that. >> mark, you have a deep understanding of russia's internal politics, why now, do you think, for vladimir putin, we've heard from keir simmons, a little bit about the way he will use this to his own advantage. but why now, why this? how do you see this? >> the time was right for the deal, and we can talk about that in a second. the key was vadim krasikov, an fsb assassin. a blood brother to vladimir putin. there's some reports that i have heard that putin knows him personally, so he wanted his colleague in that sense back. and that is what has been, you know, going on in terms of the negotiations for, you know, months, if not over a year. and so ultimately putin is going to play this in getting someone from the intelligence services back who was jailed in germany, served five years of a life sentence.

key point on this, chris, though, i think we have to give a lot of credit to the german government, our allies, this has been stated by jake sullivan, to the german government in particular, because they had krasikov on a life sentence, and ultimately they pushed and with the negotiations to get a whole bunch of russian dissents out, and in essence allow this day to happen. >> i want to bring in evan gershkovich's colleague and the associate editor at the "wall street journal," paul beckett. paul, first of all, i can hardly imagine what the newsroom must have been like today. i did see a photograph of people cheering. tell us what's gone through your mind today, the newsroom's mind, and i guess finally, right, finally. >> thanks, chris. tears of relief, smiles of joy.

huge gratitude. and we're incredibly excited and exhausted at the same time. that's how we're feeling. i can only imagine how evan and his amazing family are doing as they wait to be reunited in a few hours. >> yeah, and i wonder what you see when you look at this picture, in any other situation, right, you would look at this picture and think, this is a happy time, not coming out of the most horrific circumstances that you could possibly imagine, the pictures of evan heading toward that second plane in an turkey and getting on that plane. how does he look to you. have you had conversations with members of his family today? >> very brief communication with members of his family. they're just on the moon. when the president spoke. just a joyous moment for them,

for evan, and fifteen other families that will be reunited today. i think, you know, it's a historic swap but for each of the families, it's just the most important moment. >> let me ask you a question about journalism because what paul was doing, to say that it was extraordinary under always dangerous situations, there are plenty of reporters, and good reporters, but for reasons of danger, they're not reporting on russia from inside russia. they're reporting some cases from places like germany, right, other countries. or they go in in very limited circumstances, under very tightly controlled conditions. we all know as journalists you can't tell the full story doing it that way. paul did it that way. tell us about him. >> evan. >> evan gershkovich did it that

way. and he did it brilliantly. i mean, anybody who follows his reporting knows what a great reporter he was. so what does this mean, do you think, for journalism and the conversation that we were having which is somehow there has to be an ongoing effort to see that this does not become an extraordinarily dangerous and fraught enterprise to go into a country and tell the truth? >> so just to remind people, 16 months ago, evan was pulled a thousand miles from moscow. he was out there reporting for us and only us. everything that you have read about the charges against him and the conviction and the sentencing, all false, all concocted, and whether you see as journalist in evan's case and alsu's case, you have a knock on

effect for the rest of the press. we need to be there to cover the story. and people stay it's not safe to be here, and it isn't s. they decamped to berlin, and dubai and other places. putin achieved two things by doing this. he had pawns to trade with the u.s. in his insidious global chess game and put a chill on what was left of the independent and foreign media in russia, so really the last 16 months has been trying to square up that equation, and obviously no one is happy to see convicted serious bad actors, go back to russia. but more important to us is the travesty of justice this represented. it's now over, thanks to the efforts of the u.s. and other ally governments, and not every country in the world does stick up for its citizens in that way.

>> i have followed very closely all of the stories that have been written about evan, and i just have to applaud the "wall street journal." you could go in any day and click on a link at the top right underneath the banner that say sz "wall street journal," and even if there wasn't a big story that day, you could read so much about evan. one of the things i loved, many of his colleagues, because he loved food, were often cooking and they were getting together and they were having meals together to celebrate who he was to them and who he is as a human being, the complexity of any good reporter, right. so if -- and i apologize for a little bit of the cheesiness of the question, no pun intended, but if you could sit down and have a meal with him right now, what would you say to evan, and what do you imagine the two of

you would be having to eat? >> first thing i would say to him is it's nice to meet you. and then we would have a signature bourbon, i think, which is burger, grilled onions, pride egg, chili mayo, and then i would hope we would have several large structures because i look forward to having that with him when we finally get together. he is an extraordinary reporter, but we have learned so much about him as a human being, and what an extraordinary human being he is. the journal has tried hard to keep his case in the spotlight. two other factors have been vital to that, one is evan himself, all the composure he showed in his glass cages, evan and his family. his family have been incredible advocates the whole way. they have been our guiding lights, really,. and then the second is the

string of support we got from other media, yourselves included, extremely grateful to msnbc and all of its viewers for all of their support over the last 16 months. there was a wellspring of support for him, and that when his voice was silenced was so vital and play add big role in everything you see today. >> we were lesser for it as journalists and i know that those who knew him have much to celebrate today. paul beckett, thank you so much. we do appreciate you coming on the program again, and sharing on this happy day, finally. i've got two editors here, so i can't miss the opportunity. rick, you've written so extensively for such a long time for "time" magazine to the "new york times" to "the new yorker," what do you want to write about this? >> you know, chris, i want to pick up on your point about the fact that we're talking about journalists here, and we were

talking about the cynical use of human bargaining chips that russia does and other countries. they're not just bargaining chips. they're not capturing accountants and lawyers, they're capturing journalists because in russia, there's no understanding of what a free press is. vladimir putin has no understanding of what a free press is. in fact, they think reporting is akin to spying. that is why they're take k journalists. that's why the stakes are so high. >> that's exactly why he was charged with espionage. they consider reporting on their government as espionage. >> that's why there is, as joe biden said, the existential crisis between the free world and authoritarian states. we need to have a new framework. part of the problem is new states don't understand what journalism is. they see journalism as a crime, as espionage, they see journalism as undermining their regime. the question is will they ever,

david? vladimir putin is not going to have suddenly a revelation that journalism is good for his country. >> no, it's not good for him. >> it's bad for him. >> bad for him, bad for his oligarchs. that's why aslu, her case got much less attention. she works for radio for europe, she's a u.s. citizen. chef went to russia to visit her ailing mother, and was arrested and convicted of being a spy. that's a signal to russian press and journalists, this is what happens if you defy vladimir putin. he's trying to shut off information. i want take a second to salute the "wall street journal" and paule a second to salute the "wall street journal" and paul beckett. jonathan created a whole new model for families to advocate for the release of their loved ones. nonjournalists. the "wall street journal" did a more effective job of bringing

evan into the spotlight and fighting and fighting and fighting for his release than i have seen a news organization do, and i'm grateful to paul and happy for everyone at the journal. >> yeah, you do wonder, though, the impact that this has on foreign reporting, and our ability to, in this very complex world, tell real stories. clint, i understand that you know some of the russians who were included in the deal. talk to us about them. >> yeah, it's very interesting, chris. it's a group of spies or connects to spies. i counted five different countries that were related in these spy missions. you also see representative of all three intelligence services of the russians that were picked up. as marc already pointed out, an fsb assassin that killed someone in germany was one of the ones

released. that's one of the top ones. in the group of individuals, you have everything from hackers for hire that were doing criminal activity as far back as a decade ago. you have in particular, vladislov had connects to the 2016 indictments that were related to the hacks of the dnc personas, so this is a collective of individuals that stretches across all three intelligence agencies. there's also too, a husband and wife team and another individual that were using relative dual citizenship. being from one country and posing as if nair from argentina, showing up in slovenia, and a spanish-russian reporter who had been detained in poland. all of this just when you look at it is essentially a trade for everybody and everyone that was a russian spy for vladimir putin. over the last one to two to ten

years is headed home today in the exchange. it is a full team of individuals headed back to moscow. >> we talked a little bit about this in the last hour, but just listening to what clint has to say, the reporting that has been going on, the complexity of what we're seeing, that has been frankly, and this is going to be a big part of the political conversation that has been so simply dismissed by donald trump, by his vice presidential nominee. i could have done this in a day. saying from j.d. vance that, in fact, why this happened was because russia is afraid of donald trump. donald trump writing, we never make good deals at anything, but especially hostage swaps. our negotiators, he puts in quotation marks are always an embarrassment to us. i got back many hostages and

gave the opposing country nothing. help us understand the context of this. within the political argument that is ongoing. >> well, chris, it's quite simple. that's the notion that alliances matter. when the united states has for example, intelligence relationships with the government of germany, of turkey, and many others, they use these channels for exactly what's happening right now, and these are men and women, it's not just the cia, it's the fbi, national security council. department of state, it's these relationships across the globe that we turn to. we turn to our allies for assistance, and as i mentioned before, the germans helped us significantly on this. there is a difference between the vision of president biden and kamala harris, versus donald trump and j.d. vance. it is a vision of having strong allies who, you know, we help, and they help us in return

versus an isolationist tendency. it has to be political now. this is a stark contrast between two sides, and i think, you know, the men and women of the united states government, these are kind of the faithful, countless, you know, civil servants and diplomats and intelligence officers and military officers, they're the ones who work for this, and we have to celebrate that. this is not a time we go into practice isolationism. it's a perfect example of what joe biden has practiced for 40 or 50 years of his career. >> and, rick, one of the things we saw was a question about the role of vice president harris in all of this, rick, and you know, if you're working for the administration, you understand the politics of this, she did have a separate meeting with the german chancellor who we know was key to this. i wonder how europe is viewing this now, how they're looking at

this. obviously the intricacies of the country involved. >> i think they're looking at it pretty simply. they see joe biden as a man of alliances, and they now see vice president harris as a woman of alliances. when she was at the munich security conference where she spoke to the german chancellor, she gave a speech about the importance of alliances, the importance of natos and friendships and reciprocity. that's what that administration is about. and i think she was involved in this every step of the way. jake mentioned that he was in the oval office with her, and the president, they were both asking questions about it. those reports that she spoke to the slovenia president as well. i think this will be a continuation. the democrats, at the risk of sounding political, have an incredibly deep bench when it comes to foreign policy. jake sullivan worked for barack obama, hillary clinton, joe biden, he will work for president harris. >> and you saw the emotion, the understanding of what this has

been. obviously not just for him, but he was talking about the families. rick stengel, clint watts, marc polymeropoulos, thank you. david and jonathan, you're going to stay with us. thank you. coming up, after years in custody, the newly released prisoners are facing, of course a long road, reintegration, recovery, we'll talk about that right after a quick break. ter a.

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plane, and they're coming home, the process of rejoining society begins. it's likely a place that looks and feels very different than it did before they were captured. paul whelan, for example, he has been detained in russia since december of 2018 when donald trump was president. the covid pandemic hadn't happened. russia was yet to invade ukraine. those are just a few of the things. what does the process of returning to life look like? back with me, crisis management consultant spokesperson and strategist for bring our families home campaign, jonathan franks. he was a "washington post" correspondent in teheran who spent 544 days wrongfully detained by iran, and david rhodes is back with me. i want to play some of what britney griner said after she came home about finding a new normal, whatever that means. >> we have to find a new normal. you know, your whole life changes up. at first it was such a shock,

having security with us, and just how we move about our lives. >> david, can you even express what that's like to come back and you're trying to reintegrate, you're the focus of a lot of attention. your family is going through it as well. >> the early stage is extraordinary. you can go eat whenever and wherever you want. you're with your family, this terrible worry and pressure that's been on them is relieved. again, as i said earlier, it's just pure joy. you face a channel, and i think of evan here, he, you know, russian american. he always wanted to cover russia. that was his dream as a journalist. he has done that. as long as vladimir putin is ruling russia, he cannot go back to russia. his career is over as a russia correspondent. it was many years ago, the taliban, but i decided to stop, you know, being a foreign correspondent, to stop covering conflict. i'm an editor now, happy and

lucky to be here at nbc, so it's the long-term thing. it comes up weeks, months later. how do you -- and there's frustration and anger, too. like i have to sort of change my life. i can't do the profession i really want because, you know, someone did this to me. they will recover. there's a big community of former hostages, we're eager to help them and welcome them, and they'll get through this, and so will their families, but it's a long transition but they will recover. >> in the first, jonathan, hours and days, and we know that they're going to land tonight, what's that like, and what kind of help is there for them and their families? >> i think a lot of them are days when they come out. if you think about it, they have been in captivity for so long, they have been told when to eat, when to go to the bathroom, and when to sleep. they get on the plane, and they have their free will back, and that's challenging for a lot of folks. i have had clients come back and couldn't sleep in a bed because they were used to sleeping on

concrete or had all the shades drawn because they had been held in the dark. there's a lot to work through and the hostage reintegration program, which likely where some are headed tonight. >> you also have a client who did not get out in this hostage exchange, one of the things that happened with brittney griner, family of paul whelan who has, i think, been extraordinary in keeping him in the public eye in making his case, they had questions. talk about that and the people still being held, and i'm sure they're thrilled, the families of the people who have not been released are thrilled for the families of those who have, but what a punch in the gut. >> it's a bittersweet pill. my client, travis leek had drugs planted on him in russia. i hope they go back for him. marc fogel is another one. the ballerina whose name i can't remember, and there's several other people serving sentences

in russia. i would like to see us go back and clear the decks. that does not take away from the incredible accomplishment that the administration has pulled off today. >> i was also thinking, at one what point, did you believe, when you take hostage training, to not trust anything, don't say anything that you don't want to have overheard, et cetera. was there a point at which you realized, yes, this is finally at. >> i was lucky, an afghan journalist helped me escape. i didn't feel free until we landed at bag ram air force base in afghanistan. i couldn't sleep. i had another former hostage said he would go to restaurants and couldn't figure out what to order. he wasn't used to that. and i kept thinking i was going to wake up and it would all be a dream, but, i, you know, was home. it was real. >> how long did that take? >> weeks. but they will recover, there's this thing about not wanting to let your captor win, and sort

of, you know, change your life in the long-term, so just i can't salute these three people enough who have been through this. i feel terrible for the hostages that remain, but it is a joyous day for these families and hostages. >> you're nodding, and it does feel like just surviving this, just to be able to walk out and get on the plane, there is a level of tenacity and defiance that's so admirable, but you were definitely nodding, with what david was saying. >> absolutely. i mean, this is -- i feel badly for the people that didn't get out, but i'm still incredible apply proud of the president, vice president, jake sullivan, and all the people that worked on this for years. this is just a huge, and historic accomplishment, certainly one of the largest and more complicated exchanges in my lifetime. >> and do you believe that these hostages feel i'm not going to let my captives win, i'm going to find my life again?

>> 100%, and i think we know that from what paul whelan had said to reporters, and evan gershkovich, courageously standing in the glass box, and alsu as well. >> sometimes when he was smiling, not in that picture, chchs the last time we saw him, and i'm going to get in trouble with my producers, but i have to give you an opportunity because in the break you wanted to answer what donald trump had to say about he's seeing this clearly as a sign of weakness that america has given away everything. >> i'm a little confused by the former president's remarks just because i had a client -- he conducted two prisoner trades himself. both sort of cold war style on tarmacs so he's done the same thing. so this notion that he's somehow above prisoner trades is crazy and this notion that he could have gotten this all done in a day is nuts. if you could get it done in a day, why didn't he do it? >> and to our previous point, i literally was handed a statement from marc fogel's family, and

you can feel in this, david, the pain, the disappointment, for the second time in three years, since marc fogel's detention in russia, we are completely heartbroken and outraged that marc has been left behind while the u.s. government brought other americans home. marc is not rich, a celebrity or connected to powerful patrons. all he has is his family, led by his 95-year-old mother. it goes on. but you feel that pain as well. >> oh, it's understandable, they're frustrated and you turn to the u.s. government or, you know, this is a normal process for the families. i guess i always say the problem here is the captor, the kidnapper, the prosecute is vladimir putin's government and his decision. marc is a schoolteacher, and he's now, you unfairly and improperly convicted of a crime he didn't commit. >> i'm glad we're able to say his name, marc fogel as well, and remember that. but david rohde and jonathan franks, you have been

extraordinary in helping us understand what is happening today, and feel it as well. so thank you both. and coming up, voting is underway to officially nominate kamala harris as the democratic party's nominee. as donald trump doubles down questioning her racial identity. we'll talk about that next. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. hris jang reports" only on msnbc r's goin”" your boy, flavor flav, said “not today!” crabfest is here, boy. and they got two flavors: roasted garlic and new cajun butter. when you gotta have seafood, you gotta have red lobster. dad is a legend. and his legendary moves might be passed down to you. get ancestrydna and see which traits were inherited, where they came from,

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the process to officially

nominate vice president kamala harris as the democratic party's presidential nominee is now underway. it will go on. we expect, for several days. today, vice president harris will deliver the eulogy for congresswoman sheila jackson lee, a powerful advocate for women and minorities. and it comes as harris is sitting back against donald trump after he questioned her racial identity during that discussion at a black journalist conference during this hour yesterday. >> it was the same old show. the divisiveness and the disrespect. and let me just say, the american people deserve better. >> she's respond to go say trump saying she somehow turned black. he's doubling down. he posted this picture on truth social writing thank you, kamala

for the nice picture you sent many years ago, the warmth, friendship and love of your indian heritage are very much appreciated. joining us now, matthew brown, national race and politics reporter for the associated press. matthew dowd is chief strategist for the bush/cheney 2004 political campaign, and political contributor and analyst. you have had 24 hours to process the remarks that you heard, the questions and answers that you heard yesterday because you were there has a reporter. also as a black man who has dealt, i'm sure your entire life with racial issues, give us your perspective on what you saw and felt yesterday at the nabj conference, and what you think it means for this campaign. >> reporter: absolutely, chris. this was a really remarkable series of comments by former president trump. i think it's very important to note that his comments questioning harris's identity came within the first five minutes of the interview and

were unsolicited, which indicates in some ways this had been on his mind, he had been thinking about it. that's a striking fact given over the last week or so, we have been seeing kamala harris really come into the fore mere, as you said, she's going to be soon officially nominated as the democratic nominee for president here, and all of that shows that she's been dominating the news cycle and has been front and have for several weeks at this point and trump may have been some ways felt he was not on his back foot and not part of the narrative. this is a way to grab attention again. when i talk to members here, is overwhelmingly what folks were saying, they weren't thesely surprised, even though trump's comments were shocking in the moment. >> yeah, i think i heard that a lot from folks, matthew dowd, that there was nothing really surprising here and yet somehow, i don't know, maybe because it was compressed into 34 minutes, it was shocking, and then, i also wanted to say that this

afternoon, nbc news talked to j.d. vance about this. they asked him about trump's racial comments, and if he believes that kamala harris is black. here's what j.d. vance said. >> kamala harris is a chameleon, she says she's a prosecutor, but doesn't enforce the border law, she says she's tough on crime, and one thing in front of one audience. we saw her in georgia a couple of days ago, a person bho spent a lot her life in canada putting on a southern accent in front of georgia. trump's point is she is a chameleon, she presents a different face depending on the audience she speaks to. >> shocking things, sometimes racist things, matthew dowd, as you know, a lot of people when you ask them about it, it's baked in. or they'll say, you know, i know donald trump is like that, but, is this different do you think in any way, and what do you think about what we have heard over the last 24 hours? >> well, first, you know, i have

been in politics for 40 years, and i'm not always surprised by levels of hypocrisy, but what j.d. vance just said reaches a height of hypocrisy. he talks about vice president harris, in regards to her race being a chameleon like you can change your race just by virtue on what you think about. this is a guy who has changed his own name three different times. this is a guy who's now on the ticket with donald trump who called donald trump hitler in the course of this, and said other disparaging things, and now he's serving donald trump on the ticket with him. so that to me is the height of hypocrisy. what i find striking in this, and i don't know what's worse, what he said about vice president harris, which is awful, and one of the most racially divisive things that somebody running for president has said since george wallace, this really is -- donald trump really is our version, the 21st century version of george wallace in how he talks and looks at the world in the course of this, i don't know if it's

worse what he said or how he treated the journalists who were on the stage, which as you know, chris, he's called journalists and people in the news media enemy of the people, and it's so striking to me on a day when president biden and vice president harris secured journalists from captivity in russia, held in captivity in russia today he sits there and treats journalists who are just trying to ask the questions, just repeating his own words back to him in such a disrespectful manner. to me it's a combination of all of those things, and i just don't get what he thinks he gets by this. i guess he feeds his base which likes some of this to a degree. i think it makes him look like a weak and petty person. >> i wonder what the conversations were, matthew brown, thank you very much had with folks there, members of nabj, and the comments that i heard from friends, from colleagues, things that i saw, for example, when i was on the campaign trail or the brief

period after the obama white house where i covered the trump white house, about the way donald trump speaks to women reporters but particularly women of color, and what conversations you're hearing where you are today. >> yes, chris, so here at the conference, a lot of people have pointed out that all throughout trump's presidency, the national association of black journalists itself called out trump multiple times for what they saw as derogatory comments against specifically black women journalists and that had been occurring not just in 2017 but was repeated in 2018 with an official statement from the association, and then was followed up again in 2020 when he actually targeted washington correspondent for nbc news. yamiche alcindor. so this has been spg that he has done on multiple times throughout his presidency, and as he was first campaigning in 2015. a lot of people are bringing up that history as well. one conversation i have been hearing from folks not just here

at the conference but in my reporting through georgia and just the battleground states is a lot of indian american and south asian communities expressing disbelief at the turn of the conversation here, essentially that someone like j.d. vance who is in a multiracial, multicultural family would question the idea, i mean, code switches we would say or to live in multiple cultures and to identify and speak to multiple cultures. that's something i have heard is shocking and perplexing to people in communities in which we're discussing. >> matthew dowd, i have a minute left, what does this portend for the next 96 days of this campaign? >> awfulness. i think donald trump felt on a back foot, not only is vice president harris getting more publicity and energy than him, j.d. vance is getting more attention than him. i think he's going to keep ratcheting this up. it's going to get more and more outrageous, and i think the vice president handled it perfectly yesterday, which she didn't

defend herself personally. she didn't wade into his personal attack. she basically stood up and said this is not who we are as americans, and this is donald trump, and he's trying to divide us again, and we can't let him do it. smart move by the vice president's part, i think donald trump, is only going to get worse and worse as he gets more and more desperate. >> for a campaign that's operational less than a couple of weeks, it's clear what strategy is. matthews brown and dowd, good to have both of you on the program. the harris campaign picking a new running mate, who is being vetted and who isn't, only on msnbc. shop... and i also have a non-profit. but no matter what business i'm in... my network and my tech need to keep up. thank you, verizon business. (kevin) now our businesses get fast and reliable internet from the same network that powers our phones. (woman) all with the security features we need. (aaron) because my businesses are my life.

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more signs that kamala harris's selection process for a running mate is nearing its end. nbc news confirms that the harris vetting team has met with six contenders. transportation secretary pete buttigieg, and mark kelly, andy beshear, and the scrutiny shapiro is facing from some on the left over his record on issues related to israel. yesterday, nearly 50 progressive leaders signed on to a letter urging harris not to pick shapiro, citing his shortcomings as a national candidate. let's bring in nbc's dasha burns. i think i've pointed out a few times this week, everyone has an opinion. >> yes.

>> about the vice presidential race. what do we know more about the process? >> this is a historically fast vetting process. they have to get through this so quickly. these contenders have allies that are coming on tv that are signing letters, that are doing all sorts of things to try to push for or against certain candidates. josh shapiro, of course, the governor of pennsylvania, he's a popular governor in that critical battleground state. we talk about how important that state is all the time. he is a jewish man, and that has raised some questions around, you know, some people saying that maybe america is not ready for this kind of ticket and for josh shapiro, given his position on israel, others are arguing he's facing an unfair double standard. he holds a view that many others hold as well on israel and hamas, but getting the unfair scrutiny because of his jewish faith and find that really unfair. voters are frankly all over the place on it. mark kelly, senator from

arizona, we know missed a couple of votes because of being off campus. a lot of speculation. a lot of people trying to read the tea leaves. the reality is that she is going to have to figure this out really fast and get through those vetting materials really fast, and the question is how much of a contrast or complement does she want on that ticket. shapiro is a moderate, governs in a bipartisan fashion, can bring in moderate republicans or conservative democrats, or does she want tim walz of minnesota, a little more progressive. i believe we have a sound byte from tim walz talking about the vetting process. >> i'm not interviewing for anything. i am who i am. putting it out there. i don't know if every high school geography teacher expects to be in this position at some point, but it is very strange to be running on my treadmill and

have people talking about the things that are there. scream back, this guy is too old, i'm running my but off on the treadmill. just going along. >> being very careful about not being too eager. >> and trying to be charmering and some of them really are. dasha burns, thank you. we have breaking olympic news, the different competition we talk about, and a major spoiler alert, so turn away, dasha. cover your ears if you don't want to know. simone biles, the true g.o.a.t., greatest of all time, has just won her sixth gold medal, this time in the women's all around. she is the oldest women's olympic all around champion since 1952, the first gymnast to win the title at two nonconsecutive olympics after dropping out in tokyo in 2021. usa, suni lee also got on the podium, she won bronze after her gold medal win in 2021. that's going to do it for us this hour, make sure to join us

for "chris jansing reports" every weekday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on msnbc. our coverage continues with ana cabrera in for "katy tur reports." that's next. that's next.

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it's good to be with you, i'm ana cabrera, in for katy tur today. some of the highest