resolving these wrongful detention cases. i can tell you he was as focused on this as anyone i've ever seen. being responsive to elizabeth in her constant agitation to get this thing done, he absolutely was committed, as was roger carstones, the special envoy for hostage affairs. a great guy who worked that office over. and i would be remiss if i didn't mention ambassadors, john huntsman and second john sullivan, who made this their top priority both as to paul and the other wrongful detainees. >> thank you so much. great to see you. congratulations. that does it for us for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." "chris jansing reports" starts right now. good afternoon. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. pressure on the former president. drum's longtime allies saying

the quiet part out loud. with growing enthusiasm for kamala harris including in a place you might not expect, the public complaints about his campaign strategy are escalating. and is the 126-minute talk he just did with elon musk and those offer focused attacks on harris exhibit one? >> she wants to be more trump than trump if that's possible. i don't think it's possible, but she wants to be more trump than trump. and setting the stage. today one of the last sets of primaries this year. voters in four states choosing who will be the candidates in races to determine control of the house and senate. and one more member of the squad running to keep her seat after two others lost their primaries. and with the middle east on razor's edge, iran is reportedly tying their planned military response against israel to a cease-fire in gaza. the high-ranking u.s. official we now know is heading to the region this week to try to move those peace negotiations

forward. lots to get to. we begin with the warning signs for donald trump and his campaign. a new poll out this morning shows kamala harris closing in on trump in florida. only behind the former president by five points, within the margin of error. it fits an emerging trend toward harris in a state that her campaign doesn't have on the list of true battlegrounds, places where they are pouring energy and resources. that includes nevada where team harris tells us more than 5,000 people at their rally signed up as interested in volunteering for the campaign. that's nearly half of the people in the audience, and a big contrast to trump. it's a clear sign of just how differently the candidates have been spending their time. donald trump sat down with elon musk for a 126-minute conversation late yesterday. and as "politico" puts it, quote, what there wasn't was a clear message for voters not already in the trump column. his airing of grievances,

exactly what longtime supporters have been suggesting he should not do. >> two weeks ago it seemed the election was trump's to lose. now it seems he's got to fight to win, and he hasn't figured out how to do it. >> again, i think personal insults are not a good idea. really not a good idea. it's a distraction. it's unnecessary. it's off message. >> so if president trump would just contrast the policies, he'll win. >> nbc's garrett haake covers the trump campaign for us. also with us former aide to speakers paul ryan and john boehner, and congresswoman donna edwards, both msnbc political analysts. good to see all of you. so garrett, what does the trump campaign think it got out of this one on one with elon musk? >> yeah. basically the entire republican party has been counseling donald trump in some way or another to stay focused on kamala harris and specifically to stay focused on her policies. listeners to that two-hour live

stream last night of which i was one got some of that, but they also got a sampling of every conceivable trump good eveningance and issue -- grievance and issue. in this format a half-caf version. the trump campaign believes a different audience than that which he reaches on fox news or through his rallies. if you did tune in last night, here's a bit of what you would have heard -- >> and i hate to say this, the reason the numbers are much bigger than you would think is they're also taking their nonproductive people. now these aren't people that will kill you. we have enough of them. but these are people that are nonproductive. i know putin, i got along with him very well. he respected me. it's one of those things. and he -- we would talk a lot about ukraine. it was the apple of his eye. but i said don't ever do it. don't ever do it. you can't do it, you do it, it's

going to be a bad day. you can not do it. and i told him things that -- what i'd do. and he said, "no way," and i said "way." >> the first bite about immigrants the next not about bill and ted's adventure though it sounds like it. the bottom line for the trump campaign, they believe, they hope they hit an audience they wouldn't normally hit and stayed in musk's good graces. musk is a powerful proponent of trump's messages on x and a big financial supporter of the trump campaign through a pac which he's been funding. >> all right. thank you for that. brendan, as the "wall street journal" points out, the conversation, quote, hyped by trump's team as the interview of the century, but the audio-only event felt more like overhearing a temperature call with ram bing between two figures who have grown closer as trump's politics shift to the right. did you hear anything that you think helps trump, something or

maybe some voters that he didn't have before that interview? >> look, i don't have a problem with the concept of doing a conversation on twitter and trying to reach more people. the problem is the execution. you know, he's clearly trying to grab back attention and reset the conversation of this campaign after harris has had such a great few weeks. but it ends up just feeling so self-indulgent. it's not that he doesn't talk about the issues that he needs to talk about, he talks about immigration, he talks about the economy. but you have to pull it out of a two-hour self-indulgent conversation when he's talking about all kinds of nonsense. to have an effective campaign you need to hit on key messages and repeat them over and over again. it's pretty basic coms 101. it's a reminder that he's a very bad candidate. the lead that he had on joe biden had nothing to do with him being a good campaigner, it was that people didn't think joe biden could do the job. now that we're faced with a real candidate it's clear that --

while he may not be down a huge in the polls, i just question whether he has the capacity to run an effective campaign for the next several weeks that it's going to take to vet the conversation in the way they need to. >> congresswoman, according to x, a million -- more than a million people crossed the two-plus hours tuned into the conversation. the rambling really is exactly what's making many of his supporters nervous. so let me hit you where you live so to speak. if you're running in one of those contested house seats, maybe a place where donald trump might show up, what are you thinking? >> well, i'm thinking that these kind of long form sort of interview things that donald trump is doing really do not help your cause. if you're in one of these swing districts, the last thing that you need is to have somebody at the top of the ticket who just goes on and on and on without really saying anything and not really focused because that

takes you off your frame as a candidate. and so you know, we learned from the press conference that he did last week to this -- you know, kind of longer form. this is really not a way to highlight whatever those issues are that donald trump wants to focus on because it's a very unfocused discussion. so if i'm a candidate running, i think that this is the last thing that i would want from the top of the ticket. >> so brendan, let me ask you about what's happening on the ground. you have the harris-walz campaign getting 5,000 people in las vegas to show interest in volunteering, that's just one stop. now we should say anybody who's been around campaign that doesn't mean all 5,000 will follow through and go knocking on doors and making phone calls. but say if even a tenth of that and you have 500 volunteers, is that a warning sign for team trump? >> yeah. the biggest problem biden had was enthusiasm. it was the voters who

historically vote democratic just felt uninterested and didn't feel they had anything to invest in the future with that campaign. that has completely been turned on its head. the number of people showing up at events has obviously gotten a lot of attention. there's so much more you can do with that. you can continue to raise money with those people. as you said, knock on doors. but i think what it does is shows that there is a movement that people want to be a part of. and that energy and excitement is infectious. that's what you always want in a campaign. you want to feel that is not just a candidate, that it is a movement and something you want to be a part of. they've been able to keep that going for a very long time. this is turning into a sprint. the challenge is how long can you keep that momentum going. >> congresswoman, that new poll from "usa today" with donald trump 47%, harris 42%, within the margin of error. your former colleague, james clyburn, recently told msnbc he thinks the state could actually be competitive. >> i think the path to victory is widening every day.

more and more paths for her. and i would add florida to that, as well. >> so what do you do, do you think, if you're kamala harris' campaign? do you say we've got a ton of cash, do we start looking beyond the key battleground states -- i mean obviously florida hasn't been on anybody's battleground list. but could movement in the states at least that didn't seem to be in play mean that the trump campaign will be pushed to spend money in places they didn't think they would have to? how do you read that poll? >> well, look, i think that this actually bodes well for the harris-walz campaign. keep in mind that also in florida there is going to be an abortion measure on the ballot in florida. and there are some key swing congressional seats in florida that could be up for play. so when you have a top of the ticket that is running stronger

than you expect, then it can have residual effects for the rest of the ballot. look, i think it's always importance for a candidate -- important for a candidate to figure out how you can expand the map. they want more pathways and not fewer to get to the number of electoral votes that's going to make a difference in this election. so whether that's the blue wall states or adding some of these southern tier states and north carolina, florida, on to the map really helps this campaign. and they should ride that wave. >> speaking of riding the wave, that's what democrats hope to do for the convention. and i think one of the more interesting things certainly for politics nerds is this is the first time donald trump is up against a candidate who's getting more media attention than he is. so how do you think that his campaign should play the week of the dnc? let them have it, every convention gets its attention, sometimes there's even a little

post-convention bump, and spend that time really plotting the final stretch? or do you work hard to try to counter it in some way? >> i think at this point you got to work to counter it, and candidates have tried to do that in recent years. look, donald trump should be running like his life depends on it. it very well could determine whether or not he goes to jail. we have not seen that at all. even outside the convention, he's hardly been keeping a robust schedule. so i can't imagine that will start next week at the convention. look, before you figure out your schedule and where you're going, you need to figure out what you're going to talk about. in the last several weeks, i don't know that donald trump has done anything that the harris campaign feels like they have to respond to. that's a pretty good basic measure. have you done anything to put pressure on the harris campaign? figure that out first, and then decide whether you want to create a distraction.

i think that's a ood idea. he doesn't do anything to advance his position. >> arguably if anything he has given the harris campaign an opening to mock and to needle. brandon and donna, you're going to stay with me. voters are going to the polls now in key procedure states. what it could mean for who will eventually control the house and senate. the house and senate here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. so, here's to now... now available: boost max! hi, my name is damian clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare advantage dual-eligible special needs plan. all these plans include a healthy options allowance,

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today voters are heading to the polls in races critical to which party ends up in control of the house and estimate. we're watching primaries in minnesota, connecticut, vermont, most notably i think in wisconsin. three republicans fighting to challenge incumbent democrat tammy baldwin, a race that is then expected to kick into high gear the minute those results are in. let's bring in nbc news senior political editor mark murray, donna edwards is back with me. okay, mark, what are the key races on your radar? >> yeah, chris, you mentioned wisconsin. obviously we're going to have primaries tonight. they're going to formalize the general election showdown between democratic incumbent tammy baldwin and republican challenger eric hovde. wisconsin is a presidential battleground state. this is a potential opportunity, pick-up opportunity for republicans, but do need that baldwin has outperformed first president joe biden when he was on the democrat top of the

ticket, and in the most recent polls with harris at the top of the democratic ticket. i would assume that this race would end up kind of conforming to what we'd probably see in the presidential contest. again, with baldwin maybe doing a point or two better than the democratic standard bearer. and then chris, we're looking in minnesota, the minnesota fifth congressional district. incumbent ilan omar -- ihlan omar is receiving a democratic challenger. she has the cash advantage which wasn't the case with the other squad members who went down in defeat. jamal bowman in new york and cori bush in missouri. so we're going to wait to see on that race. but those are the two that i'm watching. >> okay. so donna, out of 435 house seats, we just talked about one of them, the cook political report says only 22 are really toss-us, in the senate only four.

how brutal and expensive is this fall going to be? >> well, it's redistricting. i think it's going to be a really expensive campaign. you can already see that both republicans and democrats -- although democrats have been really vastly outraising their republican committee counterparts, and it narrows down to those districts. you've got a handful in california, a handful in new york. and then others splattered across the country including in minnesota and wisconsin. so this is going to be, you know, a campaign that comes down to the wire, and it's going to mean i think who has the operations on the ground talking with voters on the ground is what's going to make a difference in all of these congressional races. >> then there's something else you mentioned when we were talking about florida a few minutes ago, and that is the abortion initiatives in arizona, battleground state and abortion rights initiative will be on the

november ballot after organizers shattered the record for the number of signatures gathered for any initiative ever in that state. we just got confirmation of something we've been looking at -- the missouri secretary of state's office is announcing that the abortion ballot initiative has now met the sufficient number of requirements to be placed on the november 5th ballot there. so abortion rights on the ballot this fall now in eight states, and under way to try to get them on in three states. what do you think that's going to mean for democrats in those places? >> well, look, i think it's going to be a huge boost to turnout, and particularly in places like florida and arizona. it's going to drive the conversation. we heard the former president say just last week that he didn't think abortion was going to be a big factor in this election. he's living in dream land because it is in a number of these states and in key states where democrats need to both win

senate seats or house seats where it's going to make a difference. it may not be the singular issue that voters are going to vote on, but it really -- i think it speaks to that freedom frame that kamala harris is painting for the democrats' campaign, and it's going to make a huge difference i think in turnout in some of these states. >> mark, since this is just breaking, i want to read again what this information is from the secretary of state's office in missouri. it says a ballot initiative that says do you want the missouri constitution to and the top two things is says is establish a right to make decisions about reproductive health care including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid and remove missouri's ban on abortion. correct me if i'm wrong, with the initiatives that have come since the fall of roe v. wade, mark, have any of them failed,

any of the reproductive rights initiatives failed? >> they have not, chris. all the way from neighboring kansas to ohio to kentucky. and you know, chris, when i look at the polling on the abortion issue nationally, it really is kind of a 60-40 issue on supporting abortion rights versus opposing abortion rights. that has been consistent through all of those state ballot referendums that i've seen that usually it's about a 60-40 margin there. it is important to note that sometimes when people are voting in the 60% margin to enshrine or support abortion rights that's coming from some republicans. some republicans who would vote for donald trump in a presidential election who will vote for republicans up and down the ballot. i think that donna is exactly right that overall bides that 60-40 margin what you're talking about is the energy and the enthusiasm in getting more people to the polls.

>> meantime, let me ask you about tim walz. it's crazy but he's own been kamala harris' running mates for a week. he'll be maybe his first solo remarks in los angeles later on today. it's the beginning of a three-day campaign and fundraising blitz. that fundraising will add to a stash that at least in the beginning of august totaled $377 million on hand, including i think it was $2 million for those camo hats for walz. the dnc is also spending money launching a paid ad and billboard blitz in battleground states. the question is what did democrats need to do with their media strategy, donna, to build and keep the campaign's momentum? >> well, i guess my view is that it can't just be a media strategy. that there has to be media, but you've got to combine that with reaching out and touching voters on the ground. you know, getting to them at

their doors, investing in a -- in a turnout operation. you can already see that with the harris-walz campaign in the number of campaign offices that they have opened up across the battleground states. the number of volunteers, you got to have people on the ground who are coordinating those volunteers. so i don't think the media can stand on its own, but it can certainly augment a really successful ground game. and you know what, they got money to do both of those things. >> mark murray, former congresswoman donna edwards, i thank you both very much. we are now learning when major democratic players are set to speak during next week's highly anticipated democratic national convention in chicago. they include president biden, former secretary of state hillary clinton, former president obama, former president clinton, nbc is following this. look, they lay this out always because they want to have somebody every night who's going to get both obviously the delegates but also the tv

viewers excited to listen, to hear. so what's the plan? >> so the plan right now, we have a tentative schedule for the week. it kicks off on monday with president biden, now of course even two months ago this is not the speech he thought he would be giving. so we're going to see something a little different from him, and it's caused a lot of retooling at the dnc, as well. also monday, as you mentioned, hillary clinton is scheduled. tuesday, president barack obama -- former president barack obama is headlining. and on wednesday we have former president bill clinton. and also as is custom, the vice presidential candidate will speak wednesday, that's tim walz. and as is normal on -- >> unfortunately the graphic is wrong. obviously vice president kamala

harris will be on thursday. i don't know if you're looking at it. it's always the nominee gets the final word. >> yes. right. thursday she will formally accept the nomination. now of course, there's a lot of people kept out here. this is a very preliminary first list. they're just releasing things in tranches. we had a couple of sources who confirmeded this to us. but you can expect a lot of younger voices coming out at the dnc. you can expect those vp candidates who, you know, had a lot of headlines in the last coup of weeks to have a role. we know that, you know, the hosting governor, governor pritzker, will have a primetime speaking spot on tuesday night along with obama that night. so yeah, lots more to come. and we're going to find out more details as we near the weekend here. >> natasha, had to put this together very fast. thank you so much. coming up, israel remains on high alert as iran reveals to "reuters" there's only one thing

that could prevent a retaliatory attack. we'll tell you about it. we're live from tel aviv next. t. protect against rsv with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. arexvy does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients. those with weakened immune systems may have a lower response to the vaccine. the most common side effects are injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and joint pain. arexvy is number one in rsv vaccine shots. rsv? make it arexvy. every day, more dog people, and more vets are deciding it's time for a fresh approach to pet food. they're quitting the kibble. and kicking the cans.

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he holds himself accountable. and i know that he can do it for the city of san francisco. the stakes are mounting for gaza cease-fire talks scheduled to begin in qatar thursday. iran is publicly vowing to press ahead with an attack on israel, rejecting calls for restraint from europe. there is one thing that could potentially stop it -- peace in gaza.

according to "reuters" citing three senior iranian officials. meanwhile, the horror in gaza grows, and you can see it in the anguish of this palestinian father. he went out to get birth certificates for his four-day-old babies. he returned to find his home reduced to rubble by an israeli air strike, his wife and two children killed. nbc's ellison barber is reporting from tel aviv. former cia officer and msnbc national security and intelligence analyst joins us. ellison, we understand cia director bill burns will head to doha this week to try to advance this deal. what do we know about the diplomatic push? >> reporter: we know that the united states is very publicly saying they believe now is the time for all sides to come together and to reach a conclusion to this deal. they've been careful in their wording since we saw that joint statement from the united states, egypt, and qatar where

they said let's finish what we started, let's go back to this framework of an agreement, presumably the one president biden spoke at length about when he spoke from the white house on may 31st, and let's finish the implementation details and essentially bring an end to these talks and get some sort of relief inside of gaza. what has been unclear since that statement came out was whether or not these two groups would ever actually come back to sit and talk. israel said they would be willing to send negotiators, hamas initially said no, and then in public statements continued to reiterate it was something they were unlikely to do. what we were hearing from experts on the palestinian side was they were saying why would hamas come after their primary negotiator was assassinated inside of iran. that, they say, was israel's signal to all palestinians that israel isn't really looking for a deal. obviously israel disagrees on that. but in terms wherever do things progress, we hear the united

states calling for everyone to come together and to reach an agreement, and they're making this huge diplomatic effort across the region with high-level diplomats like the cia director coming here to talk with involved parties. at the same time, the public statements that we have seen from hamas officials this week, they've all been clear or strongly hinting that they do not plan to attend these negotiations. in fact, one hamas political leader told nbc news in part this, he said the movement's position in the statements is clear, no need for any new rounds. and he's meaning no need for any new rounds of talks when he's saying that there. you mentioned "reuters" reporting today, at one point they talked about how one iranian security source told them that iran said they would be looking at these talks and if a deal were to be reached or if a deal were not to be reached or if they felt like israel was dragging its feet on negotiations, then they said iran would carry out a direct

attack on israel. a lot is riding on this deal. but it's hard to see from this side of things where these parties, meaning israel and hamas, actually come together and sit down and reach any sort of agreement. in the past hamas had released statements saying they were willing to restart talks if it was going to be related to a framework that had been established more into the summer, in june, july, versus this may framework. a big holdup consistently, chris, has been the idea of whether it is going to be a temporary cease-fire or a permanent cease-fire with netanyahu seemingly only willing to agree to a temporary pause in fighting, and hamas at the last negotiation round had acquiesced saying we're willing to go into the first round of a cease-fire agreement, and then talk about if it would be a temporary truce or permanent truce. that was their bend. they have said a temporary truce is a non-starter for them. chris? >> thank you for that. so mark, where does that leave the middle east right now? i mean, if we are indeed talking

about coming together to find some form of an agreement, do you see how that happens? >> ellison painted a bit of a bleak picture and for good reason. there are complicating factors. i think the beyonce is doing -- the biden administration is doing the right thing. they have the national security council, amos hocstein responsible for the lebanon file, and secretary of state antony blinken may travel as soon as tonight is what we're hearing, so ultimately it is -- it is an attempt to get all the parties together. of course, if the parties don't want to come to an agreement, that is difficult. all of this is -- also, you know, framed by a potential iranian strike on israel. and as the "reuters" report noted, mixed messages coming from the iranian regime. perhaps, chris, this robust u.s. military posture, warnings to the iranians has worked. we have one carrier battle group, we have a nuclear sub and

u.s. air force air wings. there a lot riding on this. but it's still unclear. let me add one final piece on this. the intelligence community is going to be laser focused on collection. not only looking at the movement of the iranian military assets but things like human intelligence and signals intelligence on iranian leaders if they give the final go ahead for a strike on israel. >> if they don't, do you read some sort of hesitation in the fact that they say that if these talks failed then they launch? >> well, this seems to be -- again, a single report from "reuters." i saw it, a lot of us were commenting privately today. this seems to be a step back from the brink. now the question is, you know, is this authoritative, is this what the iranian leadership is thinking and this is part of their decision matrix, or is it posturing or perhaps not even correct. it does look like they're stepping back just a bit from the brink. and look, iran has its own kind of internal issues, as well.

so the idea of them not retaliating whatsoever against israel i think would be somewhat surprising. but if they could tie it to maybe somehow a more mature posture in their view on peacemaking, perhaps that's enough to pull us back. remains to be seen. >> mark, always good to see you. thanks so much. coming up, the harris campaign expected to lay out her top economic priorities very seen with one -- soon with one key issue backed by her opponent making the list. we'll dig into that and where her economic plan head was here next. next (♪♪) (♪♪) voltaren... for long lasting arthritis pain relief. (♪♪)

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vice president kamala harris is facing an unprecedented challenge -- laying out her policy vision for the campaign including her economic agenda. she has said she will release her first formal platform in the coming days, a pretty significant undertaking for a campaign that's only 23 days old. when harris inheritsed president biden's political operation, she quietly scrubbed the campaign's website of the six-point issues page that framed a race against trump according to the "associated press." but she has given an indication of one economic issue she supports -- no taxes on tips. something that former president trump has been campaigning on and that has bipartisan congressional backing. nbc's ali vitali is following this for us. brendan buck is back with me. so no tax on tips, is that something that's been talked

about for a while? could we see legislation? >> well, for kamala harris, she's building the policy plane as she flies it, only just having gotten into the pilot's seat. we're playing catch-up in this department. there's a lot of interest in hearing what her policy platform ultimately is going to look like on the specific platform of no tax on tips. this is something that's been percolating on the hill for the last several weeks in large part because it's something that former president trump first spoke to when he was on the ground in nevada several weeks ago. since then we have seen legislation on the senate side sponsored in bipartisan fashion from both democratic senators from nevada as well as senator ted cruz of texas. that's sitting there in bipartisan fashion on the senate side yet to be moved on. and then there's a companion bill on the house side from congressman byron donalds of florida. but look, there is the reality, and brendan knows it so well, of not just congress in an election year but congress less than 100 days until election day. they are, of course, not in this

building now. they won't be back until early september. then they have to deal with a funding fight. it's not likely that this is going to be one of the things that's on the agenda, but it is a rare moment where in theory there's bipartisan agreement. in practice, it gets a little bit more thorny. if you listen to the way that vice president harris, for example, initially laid out her plans for this, it's not just no taxes on tips, it's going to come with a few more specifics about where income caps are going to be on that, it's going to look different based on how much you make. then it's also likely to be paired with some kind of minimum wage hike, appealing to progressives like senator bernie sanders. again, could make some republicans wary of this policy at the exact same time. so it's a balancing act. in theory it's bipartisan, in practice we'll see how this ends up shaking out. >> yeah. i mean, look, brendan, harris was thrust into this role just three weeks ago. i mean, people running for president generally have teams of people working on this for at least months.

i remember reading more than a few policy papers in january as the primaries were just getting under way. so how does she do this, and is really the most important thing because most people are not going to sit down and read all the points of policy, that she gets a couple of key issues that are important to her and says this is what i will fight for for you? is it more general than specific? >> it should be both. look, the economy is the number-one issue for most voters. yeah, she needs to speak to that thematically, of course, but in some detail. the people who are going to decide this election are those few who are undecided. and those people do care what ideas you have and what you're going to put forward. i hope they are put something time and thought into what that economic policy looks like. i would not put the no tax on tips provision in that serious bucket. i imagine that's why they threw it out there first. this is pure politics.

you know, the service industry in nevada, that's all this comes down to. i imagine, you know, donald trump threw this out with politics in mind, and harris said, look, that's a cheap ploy, i'm not going to let him outflank me, so she threw it in, too -- >> i have one word for you and you know this word -- it's unions. >> exactly. exactly. and trump was clearly trying to make a play in nevada for lower wage workers, and she said i'm not going to let you get away with that. i'm going to take the same position. it's a more progressive tax policy than you usually see from republicans. so it's ironic in that way. as ali said, this isn't moving any time soon. however there's a huge tax -- >> lets me make an argument on the other side. if you pair it with some things that we're also hearing them talk about, for example tim walz has done as governor, meals for kids, particularly kids who might not otherwise gets a meal. there's all kinds of research about what that means for a child's future, for a child's

education if they actually have food in their stomach before they go to learn. these are the kinds of things that really are part of a middle-class package, aren't they? i mean, you can take them one by one and argue about them and argue about what they need for the deficit and who's going to pay and how and how much the feds are going to pay and maybe does the state have to kick in, and does it cost 30 cents for a parent to pay for breakfast which is what it is in some places, but ultimately that middle-class message is one that has been around as long as i've been around. >> yeah. and i think that politically that ground is there for the taking. it's not as though the trump administration has laid out a clear economic message of what they would do substantively. look, if you're a campaign, i don't think that you should try to limit yourself to what's possible congressionally. you should lay out what your vision is and what you think that you would like to accomplish. whether or not you're going to be able to do that, that's a separate question. i think it is fair game to say here's what i think i would like to do as president, and you

know, the taxes on tip thing is going to roll into whatever the tax debate next year is when all of the tax cuts are expiring. if she can take that middle ground and say i'm here for working families, i'm going to reimagine what this would look like for people like you, i think that's a really solid place for her to go. i hope shoo does it sooner rather than later. i think voters decide to know who you're going to run for and eliminating your policy pages is just a bad look. >> brendan buck, ally vitaly. thank you. next, firefighters racing to contain a massive wildfire with 80-if the flames in athens -- ftse flames in athens. the impact on residents and tourists. first, a stunning first of its kind discovery that is truly out of this world. scientists reveal they found water on mars, enough to fill oceans buried several miles below the surface. experts say this is the best evidence the red planet still has liquid h 20 indition to the ice to the ice known to exists

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cars to the ground. entire neighborhoods around athens are burned and eerily quiet as evacuations forced thousands from their homes. one couple came back to look at the damage leaving what was left of their house with their belongings in buckets. nbc's josh letterman is covering this story for us. josh, the wildfire is to blame. we know of at least one death. what more do we know about just how tough this has been to fight back this fire? >> if you can imagine being on summer vacation in greece, chris, and seeing flames leaping 80 feet in the air. that is exactly the situation people are encountering in greece, a country that gets well over a million american tourives every year and now a huge, historic sites like the acropolis potentially in the path of this fire which is now about eight miles outside of the heart of athens. there's an all-out, all hands on deck effort to try to get this under control with some 700 firefighters, hundreds of fire fighting vehicles and dozens of

planes including those now being contributed by foreign nations, but one of the challenges here is that this is no longer a single fire. i saw this on the ground last year when we were covering those wildfires that killed more than 20 people last summer. you start out with one fire and the winds start to blow it in different directions. it starts to jump and sooner than later you have multiple fires that firefighters have to tackle at the same time and there is a bit of a reprieve as firefighters are getting a handle on this and they are expected to pick back up as temperatures are expected to surge well above 100 degrees fahrenheit not only today, but firefighters have their work cut out for them as their fires have turned deadly with firefighters discovering the body of a woman in the house of one of those suburbs some eight miles from the center of athens and so the concern is about trying to preserve as much life as possible as they try to get this

wildfire under control, chris. >> what a disaster. josh letterman, thank you for that update. and still ahead, new signs that fema is being stretched to the limit by these surging wildfires as well as storms. a former fema administrator joins us to talk about what the disaster agency needs dire help with right now. plus the fbi confirming it's investigating attempts to hack both the trump and harris campaigns potentially from overseas. what we know so far. that's ahead, but first i'm headed to chicago next week to cover the democratic national convention. be sure to tune in to reporting from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern starting on monday. stay close. more "chris jansing reports" after this. known as a loving parent. known for lessons that matter. known for being a free spirit. no one wants to be known for cancer, but a treatment can be. keytruda is known to

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♪♪ ♪♪ it is good to be back with you on this second hour of "chris jansing reports." at this hour, tech glitches, insults and hosts barely getting a word in for more than two hours. the rocky rollout and donald trump's talk with elon musk. how kamala harris' team is seizing on his responses. >> plus the fbi opens a high-stakes probe months before election day. what we are now learning about hacking attempts on both the trump and biden-harris campaigns. and restraint or retaliation? iran's new message as the