a very good day to all of you from the tom brokaw new center in los angeles. welcome. we begin with decision 2024 and 94 days until the election day. vice president kamala harris is behind the doors at this hour in her final stages of selecting a vice presidential running mate. nbcnews is reporting that the field is whittled down to six contenders. the vice president is said to be consulting with former attorney general eric holder, seen right there arriving at the vice president's residence

earlier today. meanwhile, donald trump will speak at a rally in atlanta and he will be at the same venue field last week by enthusiastic democrats who showed up for an appearance by vp harris. >> also a debate debate. the top and here's campaigns are sparring over time and place and where they might square off in september. trump is favoring a fox news hosted event september 4th. vp harris says she plans to show up on september 10th for the original abc debate trump agreed to with president biden. new reaction from arizona republican mayor on why he is crossing the aisle to endorse vice president harris and urging fellow republicans to emulate the late senator john mccain's motto of country first to defeat trump. >> my city would not be well served by a second term presidency. we go back to being largely ignored and really, even more than that, the subject of hostile attacks from the

federal government. i thought, in the best interest of my city, it is important that i speak up. silence in the situation is not an option. silence would be acquiescence and it would allow possibly for a very bad outcome. we have a number of reporters in place covering all of these new developments. begin with nbc's allie rafah in willington, delaware where she is monitoring the developments from the harris campaign. give us the latest on the vice president search for a running mate. what do you know? >> reporter: the eyes of the political world right now are trained on the naval observatory. that is the official residence of vice president harris. she's using it this weekend, she has no public events on her schedule to meet with some of the contenders on her shortlist to succeed her as vice president . that list of six top contenders includes her own administration, transportation secretary pete buttigieg,

arizona senator mark kelly, governors tim also minnesota, josh shapiro in pennsylvania, j.b. pritzker from illinois and andy beshear from kentucky. it is unclear which of them is meeting face-to-face with her. it is notable that some of them canceled weekend plans last- minute. as you mentioned at the top, we did see the former attorney general, eric holder, appear at the vice president's house. he was a formal overseer of the vetting process that took place through a law firm. this indicates that the meetings that she is going to have, really can give her a gleam into what comes off of paper with personality, character, attitudes of these top contenders. this comes as the vice president is riding a wave of momentum through fundraising, through staffing changes on her new campaign, as well as, as of yesterday, receiving enough delegate support to formally clench the democratic nomination

. her campaign, after reaching that milestone, held a call with supporters that the vice president herself joined. take a listen. >> we are excited about the future, but we also know we got a lot of work to get there, and we have a lot of work to do. it's good work. we like hard work. and i would just like to thank everyone for joining this call. this is truly a people powered campaign. i would not be on this call right now and with you all, were it not for your support and your trust, for which i am deeply grateful. >> reporter: alex, we are really in a watch and wait mode. we are awaiting the formal announcement of vice president harris's decision. >> watch and wait for sure. stay with me allie. also joining our conversation senior national politics reporter, jonathan allen. john, you have covered the vp stakes extensively for nbcnews,

what is your take? >> i think it is obvious that the vetting is being presented to the vice president. from what i understand she is suspected to have meetings tomorrow with candidates for the vice president position on her ticket, whatever that shortlist is. i think it is anybody's guess. there is one person who makes this decision. she will make it with the best information that she has available to her and on a tight timetable, needing to get this done, absolutely. by monday or tuesday, she is planning a tour around the country with the vice presidential candidate. >> allie, in terms of timelines, john is saying monday or tuesday to make the pick, it is saturday, we have sunday, is there an indication that it will come before monday

or tuesday? >> it is unclear how long it will take her to formally meet with these contenders whether it be in person or virtual phone calls or virtual calls. we do expect her to make this decision by tuesday. as you heard john mentioned there will be a massive battleground state to her with her running mate, the first possible opportunity we could see the both of them together will be on tuesday in philadelphia. a source familiar with plans says we should not think too deeply into the connection of that city and the state's governor josh shapiro. we do expect her to make that decision by tuesday, which is the sixth, right before the critical dnc deadline to get her and her running mate on the ohio ballot. that is just the beginning, that pennsylvania stop. we expect her throughout next week to go to other several battleground states like nevada,

michigan, wisconsin and georgia. it is critical to make that decision before the major battleground state to her. >> 100%. to allie's point, john, no foreshadowing the fact that this announcement will be made with the two on top of the ticket in philadelphia that said, he wrote an article about vp candidate josh shapiro, governor , being on the front line of the parties divide on israel. how is this impacting his chances as being picked as the running mate? >> among the considerations that vice president harris has to take into account our divides within her own party, it is not just what he said about pro-palestinian protesters , campus protesters which is deemed a bit harsh by that segment of the electorate there are also some issues that unions had including support for charter schools or nonpublic schools. there is a question here, is

kamala harris going to lean into what the left is telling her, or will she push the left away? will she worked for a president and joe biden who did both of those things at different times? there are things like will josh shapiro, who is very popular in pennsylvania, will he help her win that stay? the woman has never won the governorship or senate seat in the state of pennsylvania. hillary clinton lost in pennsylvania narrowly in 2016 and it is a state the democrats must win in order to win the presidency. >> john, stay right there. i want to ask you a few more questions about donald trump. allie, thank you so much, i will let you get back to reporting. we want to go to 2024 campaign embed trailer he is in atlanta that is where former president trump and deedee vance jd vance will be there. there has been excitement on

the harris campaign in recent weeks. we have been exposed at how trump is dealing with it and how is the campaign handling it? >> reporter: alex, four days ago if you were standing at this venue, you would not have seen mega hats and merchandise. it was not donald trump hosting a rally, it was vice president kamala harris hosting a rally this very same video alongside cueva, megan the stallion and that was the extent of that rally. overnight, we also saw harris challenge donald trump to a debate and overnight we have appeared to have seen donald trump except that debate but he has moved the marker. he has said in a social post earlier that it would not be a abc sanctioned debate, rather he said he would accept the debate with fox news challenging harris. she quickly said that was a fear tactic and she would not join that debate and donald

trump is running to fox news to bail her out. since we have seen her join the top of the ticket and launch her candidacy we have seen the race for republicans and democrats defined who vice president harris is. we expect to hear similar criticisms that we have heard from him since, going after the border, calling her a failed border czar and attacking her policy and sings she is not a well-respected leader on the world stage area in an interview with foxbusiness news, donald trump did concede there has been an injection in of energy in the democratic party since harris has taken over. take a listen to that. >> she does not change anything in terms of policy, she has changed the enthusiasm factor. democrats will come out for her. how has kamala harris change the race for you? >> i think that there is more enthusiasm. how can you be enthusiastic about joe biden? okay. i think she is actually worse,

i think she is a horrible candidate because she wants open borders. >> reporter: alex, we saw from the harris, they pack the stadium. it we will be interested to see how he sharpens his criticism against the vice president who is a fresh opponent of his as we are 100 days from this historic lecture election. >> i do nothing donald trump answer that question. that is just me. john, back to you. you also wrote an article for nbcnews about the impact of the harris campaign on former president trump. you say trump himself is struggling to keep his edge and is trying to regain momentum. the kamala harris catch trump off guard. it seems like the trump campaign is a mess, mostly driven by trump himself. >> first, let me say because jake, the tractor-trailer invoked megan the stallion, i

am here for the megan the stallion donald trump debate. they could do it in that arena and we would enjoy that. as far as trump, with biden on the ticket, it was very clear the numbers were going down for democrats with kamala harris talking to operatives, i think both sides see this the same way which is that it has reverted to a period before the debate were trump has a little bit of a lead. you heard kamala harris the other day call herself an underdog. trump is struggling to figure out how to message against kamala harris. you heard the interview where he was asked about what the differences are. he immediately started saying harris has more enthusiasm because biden is bad. how can anyone be excited about biden? he is no longer running against biden. you heard him at the national association of black journalists the other day saying offensive things about her heritage. his team wants to knock her on

being weak and they want to knock her on changing her positions whether that is from 2019 to now, or potentially if she breaks with the biden administration between now and election day. yet, trump keeps going back to that gut instinct of his to go after personal traits. >> quickly, let me ask you, as we know trump is rejecting the september tent abc debate which was set with president biden, he now says he wants a september 4th one on fox news. the harris campaign was the original date and network. will a kamala harris, donald trump debate happen? >> i am not sure that it will. i suspect it will print if i put odds on it, i was a more likely than not. i think it will be difficult for vice president harris, even in 100 day period to get through the campaign without that basic public vetting process. i think they are little gun shy

of debates of this moment because of what happened with president biden in june, obviously kamala harris is a different candidate. i think she will have to go through that public vet. >> john allen and jake traylor, thank you both so much. >> the extremely rare and shocking move made by the secretary of defense last night. we are back in 90 seconds. seco. t fast and reliable internet from the same network that powers our phones. (aaron) so whatever's next... we're cooking with fire. (vo) switch to the partner businesses rely on. meet the jennifers. each planning their future through the chase mobile app. hellooo new apartment. one bank for now. for later. for life. chase. make more of what's yours.

when we say it'll be on time, they expect it to be on time. turn shipping to your advantage. keep those expectations with reliable ground shipping. thanks brandon. with usps ground advantage®. ♪♪ in washington, no official

hour at this hour on a kamala harris running mate as she interviews final contenders for the vice president slot on the democratic ticket. she is expected to appear with her running mate at a rally in philadelphia on tuesday. the six contenders include four governors, a senator, and the transportation secretary. thus far, they remain tightlipped about their prospects. >> i am not interviewing for anything. i am who i am and i put it out there. that is a decision that needs to be made by the vice president. i am who i am. >> i am not going to talk about the conversations i have had about that. i will say, kamala harris is the perfect person at this moment. >> i'm not doing the hypothetical game. the vice president has a deeply personal decision to make. she will make the right decision for her and the country. shall not joining now democratic congressman from massachusetts. it is good to see you. let's go first on the vp six.

who could change the trajectory of this race against donald trump rex is there one person that you feel would move the needle? >> always good to be with you. kamala harris has not asked my opinion about her vp choice. she has a deep bench to pick from. i think what is critical is she has conviction that this individual will be ready to be president on day one. that is a responsibility she has to the american people create i know she takes it seriously and i know joe biden took it seriously when he chose kamala harris. and number two, because she is less well defined than the typical nominee would be at this stage, this is probably the first decision that she has that will help define her for the broader american public. it has extra weight behind it because of that. any of those gentlemen that you put on the screen there, i think could do something very important, which is, continue to get inside the head of the republican ticket. kamala harris is clearly causing

donald trump to go into meltdown mode. he has been spending for the last couple of weeks and jd vance is probably the worst vp pick of my lifetime. this democratic vp pick is going to have the opportunity to attack jd vance across a wide surface area, his attacks on reproductive freedom and women's rights, his hatred of the police, in his own words, his disrespect for the rule of law and court decisions. there is going to be a lot of contract space for the vp pick to make and i know all can do that job. >> obviously you are considering them all to be a deep bench. let's move to the $310 million that was raised last month and it includes a groundswell of enthusiasm for kamala harris. what are you hearing from your constituents that she is replacing biden at the top of the democratic ticket >> enthusiasm and unity. the vibe shift is real. the bus best public opinion

research i have seen is that kamala harris within 48 hours closed about 75% of the enthusiasm gap with the democratic base. my expectation is she has closed the last 25% in the last several weeks as the train keeps on rolling. of course, it is not just about unifying and galvanizing democrats. it is also appealing to voters in the swing states. on that front, we will need the democrats up and down the ticket, not just kamala harris but senate house members as well drawing a sharp contrast on lower cost of living, which is really the number one issue, respect for the rule of law, and we need to lean into respect for faith, family and the flag. we cannot allow republicans to claim they are the party of patriotism, they are the party that respects faith in the party of family values. we have such strong contrast to draw on those but we have to lean into them. i think kamala harris could be a terrific communicator on those fronts.

>> let's get to the big news and get your reaction to the prisoner swap britt and major win for president biden, also a nod to the benefit, tangible one working with the allies. trading dissidents and journalists for assassins. that has donald trump saying it is a terrible president and it will lead to tremendous kidnappings. is that a legitimate concern? what can be done to prevent that from happening? >> we all know donald trump is coming at this from a place of grievance. he is angry joe biden got a victory that donald trump could not achieve because he does not believe in working with allies. he would not pick up the phone and make a hard ask of germany because he does not have the relationships or the mutual respect. it is valid that in time you do prisoner exchanges you may be laying down future incentives for hostagetaking or for unlawful imprisonment and that is something that has to be addressed. i think the president made the right call. we owe a responsibility to

american citizens wherever they are, if they are wrongfully obtained we will do our utmost to get them home. joe biden take that seriously and he got them home. >> we know the u.s. is preparing to send more combat aircraft and warships to the middle east, this is as israel is bracing for retaliation from hezbollah and iran from back to back assassinations, one was hezbollah leader and the other a iran leader. candy u.s. military assets in the region without appearing to escalate the conflict? >> no, i think it is the ethical toy to move in a aircraft carrier group and cruisers and destroyers into the region. it demonstrates deterrence. that is critical to keeping a lid on the region. we are likely to see a response from both iran and hezbollah did i think we will see a multi- battle defense like we did several months ago when iran launched the crews missiles,

all of which were shot down thanks to strong defense between israel, arab allies, united states and european allies. the middle east is a violent and complicated region. that is true this week and that is true last week. the difference now is that dusek terrace masterminds, who have been dedicated to killing israelis and americans are eliminated. i think israel was right to take those actions, now we have to ensure that the hostage negotiations are not derailed and we do not see an escalation into regional escalation. >> let me ask you about what happened with secretary of defense lloyd austin revoked that plea deal it was made 48 hours early with the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and two of his accomplices. it canceled the plea bargain and allows them to avoid the death penalty, he is now the authority over the case. what is your interpretation?

>> i am hesitant as an elected official to weigh in on a 15 year military tribunal saga. i want to respect the legal process and particularly the legal military legal process. obviously, one of the masterminds of 9/11 should never see the light of day. at the same time the military needs to uphold and respect due process. that is what we are fighting for as a country when we take on terrace is respect the rule of law and we have to demonstrate that even in our treatment of the most nefarious criminals. i will continue to expect the administration strikes the right balance between those two. >> and answer. >> always good to see you. thank you very much it is being called a gold rush weekend for team usa at the paris olympics. you will see why next. next. inn 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.

(vo) it's almost time! 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. (restaurant noise) allison! (restaurant noise) ♪♪ [announcer] introducing allison's plaque psoriasis. she thinks her flaky, gray patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. over here! otezla can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts or weight loss.

upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. ♪♪ [announcer] with clearer skin girls' day out is a good day out. live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. ♪ i am, i cried ♪ [ laughing ] ♪ i am, said i ♪ ♪ and i am lost and i can't ♪ punch buggy red. ♪ even say why ♪ ♪ i am, i said ♪ ♪ ♪ (♪♪) when life spells heartburn... how do you spell relief? r-o-l-a-i-d-s rolaids' dual-active formula begins to neutralize acid on contact. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief.

it is day eight of the olympic games in paris and what is expected to be a gold rush weekend for the u.s. we will go right to tom llamas and harris. i wanted to get right to it and talk about the wins and the good stuff. >> reporter: it has been an incredible day turning into night for team usa. let's start with women's gymnastics. simone biles we take a look at this video and images she pulled off the your tango double pike, pretty much impossible but she nailed it winning the gold on fault. the reason she is at a different level is the difficulty of this skill. the your tango double pike is so hard. let's not forget jade carey she won the bronze, her ute routine looked nearly perfect. samoans was so much harder to pull off. is americans winning gold for team usa for the all-around and also for the team finals and jade carey pulling off the bronze. when we talk about women's gymnastics we have to talk about simone biles we talk about tom brady, like we talk about michael jordan, serena williams. this is the golden era of women's gymnastics in

america and simone biles is at the top of that conversation. let's move on to mr. gymnastics and mr. palma horse. america has fallen in love with this guy. he comes in here, he nails it, gets the bronze medal, i had a chance to interview this guy right after they won the metals in the team finals. he is such a humble guy, nice guy, he likes rubiks cube, he could do it in under 10 seconds, he came out here the crowd was going nuts. he takes off his glasses, jumps on the palma holst echoes back with the metal, he will win one for team and one individual. one of the most iconic images we have seen so far of these games, this is road cycling the men's finals. look at these images right here at this is belt of i want to make sure get the name right. he finishes, his tire popped right before the end. he fixed it, jumped and look at this.

doesn't get better than this? this is why people say it will be very hard to top the summer games because of images like this. people lined all along the road. it was amazing. finally, women soccer, team usa with good news. it was a nailbiter for team usa came out on top. here some of that game. >> dunn, looking for rodman again. rodman and trinity rodman. amidst a morass of frustration, a special moment. >> it was a tough game for the women's team but they pulled it off beating japan 1-0. they will advance for you tonight, alex, we will know who the fastest woman in the world is. we are all rooting for sha'carri richardson. i will send it back to you in new york. i we have the medal count. >> more to tell us my friend. thank you. >> here is the medal count. >> what we saw early friday

morning are given away to fears in a president of trading journalist for assassins. nalis yep, tough day at work, nice cruise will sort you right out. when i'm riding, i'm not even thinking about my painful cavity. well, you shouldn't ignore that. and every time i get stressed about having to pay my bills, i just hop on the bike, man. oh, come on, man, you got to pay your bills. you don't have to worry about anything when you're protected by america's number-one motorcycle insurer. well, you definitely do. those things aren't related, so... ah, yee! oh, that is a vibrating pain. ya know, if you were cashbacking you could earn on everything with just one card. chase freedom unlimited. so, if you're off the racking... ...or crab cracking, you're cashbacking. cashback on flapjacks, baby backs, or tacos at the taco shack. nah, i'm working on my six pack. switch to a king suite- or book a silent retreat. silent retreat? hold up - yeeerp? i can't talk right now, i'm at a silent retreat. cashback on everything you buy with chase freedom unlimited with no annual fee.

how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. what tractor supply customers experience is personalized service. made possible by t-mobile for business. with t-mobile's reliable 5g business internet. employees get the information they need instantly. this is how business goes further with t-mobile for business.

are you ready to lose weight and get healthier? join over 5 million people this is how business goes further who have chosen golo as a better way to lose weight. here are just a few golo customers who reached their goal and have kept it off for over two years. golo is a completely different approach to losing weight, and it works. with golo, you can reach your goal weight just like these people. create your own success story with golo. visit golo.com to get started today.

but it's under siege from big out-of-state media companies and hedge funds. now, california legislators are considering a bill that could make things even worse by subsidizing national and global media corporations while reducing the web traffic local papers rely on. so tell lawmakers, support local journalism, not well connected media companies. oppose ab 886. paid for by ccia.

today three americans freed in a historic prisoner swap from russia are safely back in the u.s. and receiving medical evaluations at a san antonio texas hospital. "wall street journal" reporter evan gershkovich and two others arrived in the u.s. thursday

after their release was secured in an elaborate deal involving several countries in a major diplomatic victory for president biden. among the 13 other prisoners released were several russian dissidents, one crumbling critic serving 25 years for treason says he looks forward to someday returning to a russia no longer controlled by vladimir putin. >> i did not believe that i would ever see my wife again i did not believe i would see my family again. this feels surreal. this feels like a film. i was certain i was going to die in that prison. none of us knew until the last moment. i do not normally feel or believe i know i will be back in my home country and it will be much quicker than you think. >> joining me now is former u.s. ambassador to russia, michael mcfall. thank you for joining me. do you share that same

sentiment of the gentleman that just spoke that he will be back in russia sometime soon and his own country, a russian not under control by vladimir putin? >> i certainly hope so. i know that the person who was speaking, i have known him for decades. he is a courageous fighter for freedom. he went back and was arrested and what he just said i know to be true. he did not think he would ever leave and he would die in jail. we cannot predict the future. we are not good at it. in political science the cia is not good at it forever. i worked on it for several years. what he did say that i do believe is true is sometimes there is a sense that russia is always russia and never changes, it will always be this way but most certainly it feels this way right now when you have imperial russia invading ukraine killing innocent civilians every day, but russia has changed in the past it has changed quickly like mr. kara-

murza was talking about and it will change if people i can keep fighting and now he gets literally a new breath of life to try to do that from afar. >> you also know, and i'm sure it was extraordinary when you heard about this. let's look at this deal, it was in the midst of negotiation evolving seven countries freeing 16 people from russian custody, reportedly the largest prison swap since the cold war. how huge of an accomplishment is this for u.s. diplomacy? how did these multination negotiations, someone at odds with the u.s. and russia war in ukraine, how did this all come together? >> it is a fantastic achievement and we need to celebrate it for what it is. it gets innocent people out of jail and a lot of these innocent people, including the american journalist and the

russians we were talking about, are already back in the fight for truth and justice and reporting and for democracy in the case of the russians. i think it is fantastic. by the way, we all keep saying since the cold war, i said that a lot, i spent time studying the cold war, i think this is bigger than any swap during the cold war. let me tell you why, first the magnitude is as big as all of the swaps but one. second, remember in the cold war, we were swapping spies are spies and it was usually between united states and the soviet union and sometimes with some of our allies. this was different. they had to swap an assassin, a killer that you talked about, that is much harder to do. they got dissidents and human rights activist, that is harder to do. journalist on our side and spies and cyber criminals. the complexity was enormous. i give a lot of credit to the biden administration. i think when the story is told in its detail we will find out that the cia and bill burns in particular, the director of the

cia, former ambassador to russia, knows the country well played an integral role. i commend all of the diplomats and intelligence officials that got this deal done. i think it truly is without precedent. >> you have always sung the praises of bill burns on this show. drilling into the who, among these eight assassins as you have referenced you have hackers, you have spies released by the west, one being vadim krasikov who was serving time in germany for murder and who the kremlin acknowledged on friday is a member of russia's most powerful security agency the fsb. some interpret that as being this guy is an assassin. are you worried about malicious actors who want to harm the u.s. and its allies being free? >> first on vadim krasikov, it is important to focus on him. he was the central piece he is the guy that wanted out he is a member of the fsb, that is the

successor group of the kgb. he is an assassin. he wrote a bicycle in a big park in berlin and came up behind a dissident and shot him just like you see in the movies. he is as evil as they get. not to somebody spying, he went to murder somebody in a nato country and tried to flee. that is why for chancellor scholz this was a heavy lift within his government to free him. that is why we focus on the americans, rightly so. without the russian opposition leaders as part of this deal there is no way the german government would have gone forward with it it is a huge dilemma nobody wants to be negotiating out of prison killers like this. even those russians you showed earlier when they did their first press conference from germany yesterday, they noted that. they felt guilt that they are free because they let this assassin go free. they noted

that they themselves did not negotiate that, that was a decision made above their pay scale. i still support it and i want to be clear, these are tough decisions. i think at this late case, chancellor scholz and president biden made the right decision. >> one more question about your friend american teacher marc fogel not included. his family expressed disappointment that russia dissidents were prioritized over u.s. citizen what is your understanding of why he was not freed? >> it is such a bittersweet day when the others were released and there was some reporting in the russian press that >> mark: was on the list. he was a high school teacher in moscow when i was the ambassador. he was my son's history teacher. he wrote a letter of recommendation or my son that help them get into stanford university and he is a fantastic teacher and human being. he was a integral part of the american community. teaching diplomats and soldiers in a tough place in russia.

i do not know why he was not and i have been in touch with several officials who have suggested to me that they tried to get him on the list and failed at the end. they are not done yet. even the president of the united states said that the other day, they are going to try to get him out on the military and grounds. mark is not in good health, he is in bad health. i talked to his sister two days ago. they need to get him out, they need to get him out as soon as possible. >> okay. i'm sure you hope that happens any time. mike mcfaul good to talk to you. if you have seen the movie bridge of spies you know why i will recommend it. tom hanks, it is an incredible look at what could happen behind the scenes. entertaining and particularly relevant right now. we have to talk about it, donald trump's appearance at a black earless convention. the next guest says the former president was a missile and a

mirror. she also tweeted about a happy event had a trump sized shadow audit after he spoke. made from real meat and veggies. portioned for your dog. and delivered right to your door. it's smarter, healthier pet food.

herbal essences is packed with naturally derived plant-based ingredients your hair will love. and none of the stuff it won't. our sulfate free collections smell incredible and leave your hair touchably soft and smooth. herbal essences. new today, vice president kamala harris and the home stretch and her search for a running mate is multitasking sparring with the trump campaign over the date and time in september. trump posted on social media that he is terminating be

september 10th abc debate he agreed to with president biden. the harris campaign says he is running scared. this is what chuck schumer said this week. >> the more his poll numbers go down, the more donald trump is unhinged. he is afraid to debate kamala harris. he already said he would not debate. she is a strong black woman, donald trump may not want to say that, it is true and everyone knows it. he is afraid to debate her. now the new fallout from donald trump's interview at the black journalist convention. and confirmation that trump delayed his appearance by more than 40 minutes. leaders say trump did not want to be fact check in real-time during the interview saying the delay was not as he claimed. the audio fix issues were actually a quickfix. next guest was cochair of the convention and she resigned that post when she got word trump would be speaking. joining me now we have the "washington post" columnist, founding editor of the post

global opinion section. karen, as i welcome you, you are in the room when trump spoke, which we will get to, take us through what happened. when did you learn he would be speaking and what prompted you to resign right away? >> i found out trump would be speaking in that format, a moderated format, sometime, on twitter. that was unpleasant. i want to underscore that my decision to withdraw was more than just about trump, it was about me as a journalist witnessing 10 plus years of trump being interviewed in the same sort of format that has allowed him to spew disinformation, lies, and for me as someone who cares a lot about the journalistic community and about this conference which is meant to empower journalist and frankly, your viewers may be surprised that the theme at the

conference was winds a change journalism over disinformation. i knew it was going to be a fire hose, dumpster fire of disinformation. i could not in good conscience as a journalist, as a lack journalist in chicago, the home of activists black journalism, i could not stand behind that and defend that. >> i mean, yeah, you anticipated his objection being fact check real time. msnbc jarron jones wrote this, what many predicted would be a train wreck lived up to those expectations nabj lift up to the expectations though the leadership assured critics that trump -- why were journalist not able to chime in and ask questions of trump x >> i think a lot of us would have liked it to have been a

open forum q&a. i think it would have been extremely powerful to have had, especially black owned media independent media to be able to do that. the feeling in the room was a lot of anger, a lot of frustration that we could not just stand up and say what we wanted to say. that we could not just push back. a lot of people were saying, the cameras are in the room, our bosses might be watching we don't want to get fired or tackled by secret service or something. it was just the feeling of powerlessness and embarrassment that we had to be subjected to, again, a dumpster fire of lies, which the fact checking that went on was in politi fax new site it was not in the room live, it was not broadcast on tv and most important, it was not to trump's face. this is no disrespect to the women who were on the stage, i just think the most experienced

, it's not a matter of experience, it is a matter of journalist for the last 10 years have not figured out how to handle trump in a live format responsibly. >> that says a lot about donald trump, frankly too. let's play back some reaction to donald trump. >> you want to see him for who he is. at the same time, we do not want to diminish ourselves in the face of that nonsense. there is something, how could i put this? at some point in our lives, we have to tell these kinds of folk to get the out of our faces. >> we all know kamala harris is black and we all know she is indian. we also know donald trump is a big it and divisive. how many times has donald trump run the same trick over and over and we continue to fall for it? focus on the issues. >> do you agree with eddie and charlamagne tha god?

>> yeah. furthermore, it is also a question of how much more trump's racism do we need to hear? how much do we not hear, this event was supposedly billed as what black voters care about, what black voters are concerned with, what their priorities are , i am pretty sure as i asked on twitter, not one person can really say, not one person who watched it can say that they learned anything more about the black community. we earn learned old news about truck trump particular about black journalism so much so that the nabj in 2018 had to issue a statement condemning his attacks on april ryan, abby philip, none of this was new except for audiences who seemed to have needed some sort of a refresher on his recent racism.

for me, as a member of the community that i care about, it was damage to our credibility as journalists, as a black journalist and the division brought to our organization as a result of this just for a few soundbites that people may or may not remember in two weeks. >> tough to reflect upon, that is for sure. thank you for doing so with us. a horrible situation in california is about to get worse. that is next. is next.

a desperate situation in northern california as fire crews try to contain a massive wildfire. it is the park fire. it is now burning out of control. let's go to david noriega he has the latest for us. apparently this is 13 times the size of san francisco? >> reporter: it is now the

fourth largest wildfire in california history. it started a little over 10 days ago, the first few days were extreme fire behavior it was going very fast and difficult to control. crews made progress last week thanks to a break in the weather and not break is over. it is now hot, dry, high winds. the heat is important not just because of the effect of the fire itself but because of the effect it has on the crews themselves. more than 6000 human beings are fighting this fire right now. take a listen to what one calfire official had to say about that. >> many of these firefighters have not had days off in over 30 days. they work 30, 40, 50 days at a time without any time to recuperate. we try to do everything we can at base camp, nutrition is very important. hygiene to keep us healthy. but firefighters do get tired. >> reporter: so far