♪♪ ♪♪ this sunday, battle lines. >> kamala harris is a one-woman economic wrecking ball. >> as president i will be grounded in my fundamental values of fairness, dignity and opportunity. >> with just five weeks to election day, vice president kamala harris and former president trump make their pitch to voters on the economy and immigration with strikingly different approaches. >> he prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. >> you have to get them the hell out. you have to get them out. >> whose message is resonating in this final vint in steve kornacki has the results of the straightest poll, plus face-off. >> are you better off now than you were four years ago? >> senator j.d. vance and tim walz get ready to meet for the vice presidential debate this week.

>> this is not about power. this is about public service. >> will the vp nominees have the last word before election day? my guests this morning republican senator marco rubio of florida and democratic senator mark kelly of arizona and fight for justice. our meet the moment conversation about a journalist and a wrongfully convicted man and the 20-year journey that changed both of their lives. >> i am not an anomaly. there are hundreds of thousands of wrongfully convicted people on this earth, and they are suffering. >> joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. telemundo news anchor, julio vaqueiro. former homeland security secretary, jeh johnson ask danielle pletka of the american enterprise institute. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history.

this is "meet the press" with kristen welker. good sunday morning. there are only five weeks until election day and on tuesday night one of the biggest moments of the campaign, the debate between the vice presidential nominees and with no second debate scheduled between former president trump and vice president harris, the stakes could not be higher. >> the problem with kamala harriss is that she's got no substance. the problem with kamala harris is that she's got no plan, and the problem with kamala harris is that she has been the vice president for three and a half years and has failed this country. let's send her back to san francisco where she belongs. >> he admitted to creating stories about people that live in his state. to spread fear and drum up hatred. they're probably not telling the truth about a lot of things if they're not telling the truth

about that. >> the vice presidential face-off comes against a fraught backdrop both nationally and on the back stable. at the forefront the assassination of long time hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah in beirut on friday. nbc news has learned that officials in the biden administration felt blindsided by the strikes according to current and former u.s. officials. across the nation, helene has left devastation from georgia and beyond. millions are without power and dozens have been killed and the death toll is still rising. on the campaign trail both nominees blanketed key battleground states. vice president harris making her first trip to the border as the nominee again attacking former president trump for killing a bipartisan border deal. >> it should be in effect today producing results in real time right now for our country, but

donald trump tanked it. he picked up the phone and called some friends in congress and said stop the bill because, you see, he prefers to run a problem instead of fixing a problem. >> for his part former president trump is escalating his rhetoric against migrants and attacking the vice president. >> i will stop all migrant flights immediately. they should stop them tonight. she can do that. just sign one little page saying stop the migrant flights, but she won't do that. they're infecting our country. >> she's taken the worst of those people, the killers, the jail birds, all of the worst of the people she's taken them in, and i have to sit there and listo her [ bleep ] last night. >> as both candidates focus on immigration, we've got brand-new polling this morning. i am joined by national political correspondent steve kornacki to take us through the nbc news telemundo cnbc poll of

latino voters. steve, break down these numbers for us. >> kristen, some interesting stuff. every four years the latino votes have become a bigger and bigger share. among latinos our poll shows kamala harris leading donald trump 54 to 40%. for some context, this is a little bit better for democrats than they were doing among hispanics when joe biden was their candidate, but i think the bigger story here is historically. 54 to 40 now is a 14-point advantage for the democrats. take a look back at the last three presidential elections and these were the results and the exit polls among hispanic voters. that 14, look at that cut there, almost 20 points less than just four years ago and four years ago we were saying donald trump had made inroads with hispanic voters and this suggests that that has continued at pace. so what is driving this shift? well, we see a few big gaps here and a gender gap. men tied when it comes to this race and women, a 26-point

advantage, among hispanic voters here. there is a gender gap as we see with polls of overall voters. also age, a big factor here. look at this. voters over 50, hispanic voters over 50 almost a 60-point advantage for harris and she's barely leading with hispanic voters under 50. in fact, among men under 50, donald trump actually leads in our poll by nine points. a nine-point advantage there, and men under 50 for trump and we also see an education divide and we talk about this a lot and we talk about the overall pool of voters, too. men without four-year degrees that's now a double-digit trump conspiracy with our poll and men with degreeses and bigger margins among women and we are seeing a bit of the education gap and we are seeing a religion gap among catholic hispanics, 20 points for harris and protestants for harris, 20 points against donald trump. what's the most important issue

we asked in this poll? abortion clocking in there and kamala harris, big advantage, we see that being competent and effective and kamala harris leading there, as well and then the biggies and these are the ones hispanics are saying is the most important for them, on the border and immigration donald trump with a double-digit advantage, 13 points in our poll when asked who would be bet or this issue, hispanic voters are saying it's donald trump. that is part of a broader shift here among basic attitudes among hispanic voters toward immigration. when donald trump ran in 2016, 69% of hispanics said immigration helps more than it hurts. it hurts more than helps all of the way up to 35%. there's something bigger and broader going on here, and i think you can see it finally with this. we asked a basic question of hispanic voters, which party do you more identify with? 37% now say republicans, 49% say

democrats, but again, look at how this has shifted in just the last dozen years. in 2012, this was a 41-point advantage for the democrats and it has come all of the way down to 12 points, kristen. a 29-point drop in terms of that gap there on whose party do you identify with in just 12 years. >> the historical data really tells the tale there. steve kornacki, thank you so much. >> you got it. and joining me now is senator marco rubio of florida. senator rubio, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. we really appreciate your being here. i want to start off with saying our thoughts are with you, everyone in florida and everyone impacted by hurricane helene, and i want to start right there. is florida getting the resources it needs from the federal government and senator, what are your biggest areas of concern right now? >> well, in any one of these storms the number one thing you

want is getting power back up and the state's done a great job and getting the roads open and power is more difficult and it depends on the places. we were at a million people without power and i don't know what they are this morning, but they had dropped last night. senior key, and beautiful place, people love going there. it's tough to get there right now, but from all reports it's been unfortunately, pretty much wiped out and there are coastal areas some of them facing the third storm in the last 12 months. as far as the resources and it's a state obligation. if the state needs anything to get to local communities that's where fema comes in and then we're hoping to get a major declaration here today from the white house that will open up individual assistance to more counties so people who have been displaced and have nowhere to live will qualify at the individual level for assistance in the short term while they get their lives back together and obviously our thoughts are also with people in georgia and across the southeast, too, have also been impacted by the storm

as it made its way through those states, as well. >> and again, our thoughts are with everyone as this cleanup and recovery mission continues. senator, let me turn to the other big news this weekend. of course, out of the middle east, the revelation that israel has killed hezbollah confirming its leader hassan nasrallah. nbc news confirmed this morning that israel used a u.s.-made 2,000-pound bomb in the strike that killed him. you are vice chair of the intelligence committee. how do you expect iran to respond and how concerned are you that this could ultimately lead to a wider conflict between israel and iran, senator? >> well, i think if nasrallah were still alive the threat of a broader conflict is even higher. this is the guy that cheerfully said death to america and death to israel. if someone runs an organization that exists for the specific and defined purpose of destroying

you you have no choice, but to treat that person as an enemy and this is a guy that's spent years cheering on suicide bombings that killed innocents and killed israelis. there are israelis who for almost a year had to leave their homes and had to live in hotels in tel aviv and their kids are going online in conference rooms because nasrallah was using anti-tank weapon, not guided missiles and anti-bank weapons. what country can have 60,000 people permanently displaced and that's what this issue with hess bola is all about so they can't be using these shoulder-fired rockets to target cities and civilian communities so people can move back to their homes and hezbollah refuses to pull back. it continues with those attacks and israel has no choice, but to defend itself.

wiping out not just nasrallah, but the senior organization is a service to humanity. >> do you think iran is going to retaliate? >> iran is looking to constantly hurt israel and they're looking for the last shia militia member. their goal is to dominate that region. they seek to drive america out of the region and then destroy israel and so any time the iranian regime is on defense it's good for the world, good for america and good for israel. it will be up to the iranians to decide what they will do, but i will tell you that i believe they will find themes in a precarious situation if they do escalate this on their part. >> let me ask you about former president trump's policies as it relates to iran. just this week he sig will nahhed he was potentially open to strike a deal with iran and he vowed to do that during the first administration when he ripped up the iran nuclear deal which did have guardrails to prevent iran from developing a

nuclear weapon. trump said that didn't go far enough and he wanted a better deal and that's why he ripped it up and take a listen to what he had to say, senator. >> at a certain point they'll call me and say let's make a deal. >> no pre-conditions. no. they want to meet we'll neat any time we want. >> we'll help them in any way we can, but they can't have a nuclear weapon. >> we must also make a deal that allows iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous, untapped potential. >> senator, why didn't he get a deal done and why should americans have confidence that he would be able to get a deal in a second administration? >> well, he may not because that's up to iran. look, if the iranian regime tomorrow said we'll stop trying to become a regional power and we'll stop sponsoring terrorism, we'll stop trying to kill you which is what they're trying to do with donald trump, we will stop all of these things and theoretically, yes, of course, you can work something out and i think that's just unlikely

because that's the driving mission and purpose of the regime. i think one of the things he says in that statement which points to something very clearly is the iranian people are nothing like the regime. i know a few countries in the world whose leaders and people are more different. the iranian people are not seeking to be a regional, hegemonic power and not seeking to sponsor terrorism and there are people arguing with the problems they have at home why are they spending money on shia militias and terrorism and hezbollah and helping hamas and building terrorist net yoshgs in the west bank? ideally, that's the world we'd love to live in and if the opportunity presents itself who wouldn't take it? we have a world where iran has unlimited resources to continue to sponsor terrorism, build the nuclear capabilities and build the rockets and missiles that have developed in the last few years that threaten not just israel and the entire region, but ultimately the united states. >> senator, just following up on that point a little bit, iran

has been supplying russia including drones and short-range ballistic missiles and yet donald trump will not say that he wants ukraine to win the war. are you concerned about the message that that sends to vladimir putin and the supreme leader? >> no because unfortunately, i'm not on russia's side, but unfortunately, the reality of it is is that the war with ukraine will end is with a negotiated settlement and i want, and i believe donald trump wants ukraine to have more leverage in that negotiation, i think he will preserve what he says. he approaches these things as someone not in politics and diplomacy, but as someone with a background in business, at least there is a defined goal. the biden administration has not defined what victory means in ukraine and if you pressed them they tell you what i have said to you. the way this conflict ultimately ends is with a negotiation. i don't know why we can't just

say that and we hope that when that time comes there is more leverage on the ukrainian side than on the russian side. that really is the goal here in my mind, and i think that's what donald trump is trying to say, but he will say it like a businessman and biden won't even tell us what a victory is. >> you say negotiated settlement. here's what senator j.d. vance said. he said, effectively, that he would like a peaceful settlement that, quote, looks something like the current line of demarcation between russia and ukraine that becomes like a demilitarized zone. president zelenskyy says that plan is too radical and it's appeasement and that means that russia gets to keep to claim the land it illegally obtained. >> the deal will be up to the parties when they negotiated. zelenskyy is not going to come out and say from a fe gosch yating standpoint and predetermine it and he wouldn't want to describe what it looks like at the front end, but we as

americans are investing billions of dollars into this effort and it's important that we tell the american taxpayer this is what the money is going toward. ultimately it's not endless war, right? >> we're almost out of time. just to be clear, would you be comfortable accepting the current lines of demarcation as senator vance seems to be? >> i would be comfortable with a deal that ends these hostilities that is favorable to ukraine, meaning they have their own sovereignty and they're not a puppet state -- >> is that a no, senator? >> is that a what? >> is that a no? >> i'm not going to pre-judge any agreement. the ukrainians don't want to live in a country where the russians claim -- for example, crimea. they stole it in 2014 in the first invasion. you have to ask the obama people why that happened under their watch, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that hostilities end and ukraine

can rebuild their country and people can move back. millions of people have had to leave the country and that negotiation will be up to them, and i just want them to have more leverage than putin. >> this will be one of the big topics on the debate stage tuesday mine. senator marco rubio, thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> when we come back, mark kelly of arizona joins me next. ♪♪ type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it.

stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®. ♪ ♪ [ gasp ] way day's coming. wayfair's big sale is back.

for three days only, october 5th through 7th, get excited to get up to 80% off! ooh, yes! plus, score free shipping on everything! [ grunting ] and surprise flash deals! all way day long! way day starts october 5th, so mark your calendar. and start filling your cart! ♪ wayfair. every style. every home. ♪ welcome back. and joining me now is democratic senator mark kelly of arizona. senator kelly, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you for having me on, kristen. >> it's great to have you back. i do want to start with the middle east, the death of hezbollah's leader hassan nasrallah, you just heard me discussing this with senator marco rubio. are you bracing for iran to retaliate?

>> well, i think the idf sent a powerful message to hezbollah and i was listening to senator rubio and i couldn't agree with him more. israel needs to get its population back to the northern border and this has been a really challenging situation that they've been faced with and they've got to, you know, do something about it and it's good nasrallah is dead. he's a terrorist and he's killed so many innocent people and that needs to be addressed, that it has been addressed and the iranians, they're involved in this already through the houthis and other proxies and through hezbollah, so i think the message has been sent and my hope is that there is not further conflict in the northern part of israel. >> i want to talk to you about big picture a little bit,

senator, the way in which israel has been conducting this war. you and i discussed this back in may and here's what you told me. >> they have to do a better job. i want to see some changes here, and i've talked to the ambassador, the israeli ambassador michael herzog about this specifically that if we don't see some changes i think it is appropriate to put conditions on some of this aid. >> you told me there, senator, israel has to do a better job. have they since you first told me that back in may? >> well, we continue to have this discussion with the israelis. i talked to israeli leadership about this and have made it very clear to them that the types of weapons they use and where they use them it matters and it matters a lot. this a dense, urban environment. i've -- my background as a naval aviator flying in combat over iraq and kuwait, it's a challenging situation to be able

to talk out a target where there is a civilian population, but this is a terrorist organization they're dealing with. hamas is responsible for initiating this conflict with what happened about a year ago on october 7th. so we continue to talk to our allies, israel, about how they're conducting this operation. hey, you know, civilian loss of life is tragic wherever it happens, and you know, the palestinian people that live in gaza, they're not hamas. there are hamas terrorists there that israel is focused on eliminating because they cannot have this threat so close to their border. >> senator -- >> -- but it's a continuous discussion. >> senator, you said just to be clear it's important to put conditions on that aid if you don't see some changes. it sounds like you are not at that point yet where you want to see aid conditioned. do i hear you accurately? >> yeah. that's correct. we continue to talk to them.

i've seen some positive responses with them when i have specifically asked them to do things differently. here's an example. i mean, the use of guided munition with a mark 80 series bomb, you can hit a target very accurately. if you're using naval gun fire that doesn't work so well. i've had those discussions. we see more use of guided munitions, jdams and we continue to provide those weapons. that 2,000-pound bomb that was used, that's a mark 84 series bomb to tack out nasrallah. that was a guided -- i'm pretty confident that was a guided weapon that was used in that case. >> let me ask you about another topic. you were with vice president kamala harris when she visited the border. harris said she would extend president biden and would ramp up prosecutions against those who crossed the border illegally. do you support those actions,

senator? >> i was with the vice president a couple of days ago at the border and it was great to have her there and it was a good trip. she got to meet with elected leaders and talked about these issues specifically and how it affects arizona, the state of arizona. hey, she's a prosecutor. she's a border senator, a border attorney general. she knows how to handle these issues. the executive actions that the white house took, they had to take these executive actions because donald trump told senate republicans that they were not allowed to work out a deal with democrats. we actually had the deal and then he told them that they had to walk away from this because donald trump doesn't want to solve this problem. he just wants to talk about problems. so, yeah. she's prepared on day one to deal with this issue. she said she would sign that legislation into law. it's up to us in the senate, myself, senator rubio and others to bring that legislation back and send it to her desk. >> let me read to you what some

immigrant rights groups are saying. as you know, they sued the biden administration for restricting asylum saying these policies are cruel and ineffective. what is your response to those who argue that vice president harris' actions would seriously infringe on the right to asylum and that they are inhumane? >> let me first start with what's inhumane and that's donald trump taking children away from their parents. that's not the situation here. i mean, she is trying to manage and will try to manage a situation at a southern border that often gets chaotic and can get to a crisis level and it's not safe for migrants. it's not safe for border patrol agents and not safe for the communities in southern arizona so she's committed to working on this issue and that's why she's meeting with the sheriff two days ago and republican mayors in the area. we had some productive

conversations, and she's ready to deal with this on day one. >> senator, let me ask you about the economy, of course, the vice president also put a focus on that saying she would raise corporate taxes to pay for her economic plans and experts estimate her plans can cost about a trillion dollars and the non-partisan tax foundation said raising the corporate tax rate which harris has proposed will cost jobs, hurt wages and hurt economic growth. do you support raising the corporate tax rate to 28%? >> well, i think it got lowered too much under donald trump's tax plan where he also, by the way, gave a giant tax cut to billionaires like himself. >> is that a yes, senator? is that a yes? >> i think it's worth looking at. donald trump added trillions of dollars to the deficit. his project 2025 plan is going to raise costs for families

$4,000 according to economists, this isn't coming from me, according to economists, it'sing about to trigger a recession, high inflation, costs are going to go up for the american people. that's donald trump's plan. kamala harris is focused on bringing down costs for americans and american families on child care and healthcare, on prescription drugs. she cares about families and donald trump cares about billionaires and he's made that perfectly clear in the last administration, and i expect and his plan, project 2025, pretty much says he's going to double down on what he did previously. >> all right. >> senator mark kelly, thank you so much for your insights this morning, we really appreciate it. >> when we come back, just five weeks until election day and the race is still neck and neck. race is still neck and neck. the panel is next t nothing comes close to this place in the morning. i'm so glad i can still come here. you see, i was diagnosed with obstructive hcm. and there were some days i was so short of breath.

i thought i'd have to settle for never stepping foot on this trail again. i became great at making excuses. but i have people who count on me so i talked to my cardiologist. i said there must be more we can do for my symptoms. he told me about a medication called camzyos. he said camzyos works by targeting what's causing my obstructive hcm. so he prescribed it and i'm really glad he did. camzyos is used to treat adults with symptomatic obstructive hcm. camzyos may improve your symptoms and your ability to be active. camzyos may cause serious side effects, including heart failure that can lead to death. a risk that's increased if you develop a serious infection or irregular heartbeat or when taking certain other medicines. so do not stop, start or change medicines or the dose without telling your healthcare provider. you must have echocardiograms before and during treatment. seek help if you experience new or worsening symptoms of heart failure. because of this risk, camzyos is only available through a restricted program. before taking camzyos, tell your doctor about all of your medical conditions, including current or planned pregnancy. today with camzyos, i don't lose my breath as often.

my symptoms have improved, helping me go from expecting less to experiencing more. my name is mike. and this is my camzyos moment. call your cardiologist today and see if a camzyos moment may be in your future too. okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. yay - woo hoo! ensure, with 27 vitamins and minerals, nutrients for immune health. and ensure complete with 30 grams of protein. (♪♪) (cheerful music) (phone ringing) [narrator] not all multi-millionaires built their wealth the same way, you have... the fearless investor. the type a cpa.

the bootstrapper. the bootmaker. yeehaw [narrator] but many do have something in common. we all trust schwab with our wealth. [narrator] thanks to our award-winning service, low costs and transparent advice. every day, over a million multi-millionares trust schwab with more than two trillion dollars of their wealth. welcome back. the panel sell here. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o don el. yuleio vaker on of noticias telemundo and danielle pletka,

senior fellow of the american enterprise institute. thanks to all of you for being here, a lot to unpack. el kelly, lat me start with you. the vice president trying to take on her biggest vulnerabilities we saw that in the polling that we just unveiled today on the economy, on immigration. she was at the border for the first time as a candidate. what do you make of her strategy? what do you expect moving forward? >> they're making a very intentional strategy to take on some of these vulnerabilities have a counter message that is aggress of so they're now looking at imgraying as public safety. republicans view it that way and they are trying to do that, so you hear the vice president talking about more border agents and more technology, drones and equipment to help and also the border bill that she wants to tie to former president trump and to make him be responsible for that bipartisan bill not going forward. so looking for ways, they believe from other elections that have shown them to take a message that might be a vulnerability and to get aggressive about it and so we

see that specifically on immigration and to some degree on the economy, too. >> julio, it's a fascinating strategy because of course, our polling tells the tale in part of why this is a vulnerability for the vice president. trump gets higher marks with latinos on the issue of immigration. harris is still leading with latinos broadly, but not bier inially as much as we've seen with candidates. in 2016 trump won by 40 points with latinos. >> i think that is the headline. we've seen this latino support to democrats coming down, and i mean, latinos are such a complex, dynamic, diverse group. it's difficult to understand that. i sometimes wonder if there's something such as the latino group. it's such a diverse group. they are losing support. democrats are losing support and they should be concerned and this is an erosion since donald trump came into play. latinos are becoming a very

important group because they live in swing states and also this shift on immigration that you are talking about, kelly, vice president harris not talking about an immigration reform from a democratic perspective and i remember being at the republican convention talking to the latino delegates on the floor holding those signs, we all remember, mass deportations now. asking them what they thought about it. most of them don't feel president trump is talking about them when he talks about migrants contaminating the blood in the country. >> secretary johnson, how do you see this issue playing out with the vice president at the border? you know, julio makes a good point that this conversation for democrats used to revolve around a path to citizenship ask certainly under the obama administration that was i focus and it has shifted and she's talking about enforcement and border security. >> it's amazing to me how the equilibrium on this issue has shifted dramatically to the

right where the dominant discussion around immigration is on border security. i think that the message she sent on friday was i'm a former law enforcement officer. i've spent much of my career as a law enforcement officer, i will enforce the law. i will do what it takes to secure the border, but fundamentally two things have to be true at once, two policy objectives that have to be true at once. one, secure the border, but also be fair and humane when it comes to people who are here, people who have lived here, brought here as children, who have been here for decades and are de facto americans and let's give them an opportunity to be accountable and let's take care of the dhaka recipients and two things have to be true at once and she's doing an effective job at blunting any suggestion among swing voters that she would be soft when it comes to border security. >> danny, how do you see this playing out including and

particularly on the debate stage tuesday night where this will undoubtedly be a big topic. >> right. this is a topic where the republicans are leading even with latinos which to me, i have to say about this poll and we were talking about this in the green room before. i love this poll because it really suggestses to me that this is not -- this is not a separate part of our country. this is not some separate group. these are americans. they have views just like -- there's no difference in this dei world where we wanted to separate people out by race, color and origin, and i love that this is a melting pot poll, so that first. second of all, look, i think for kamala harris, and obviously by inference also for tim walz this is going to be a really big challenge because where has she been for the last three and a half years? this is her border crisis? she is the vice president of the united states. the number of non-detained immigrants in the country is twice the number.

we are talking about 7.4 million people in this country right now, and we can -- we can throw -- around who they are and what they are, but the statistics that were shared with congress just last week about the number of criminals, murderers. they're not all criminals, they're not all murderers and they did not all come in under biden and harris, but twice the number is unacceptable and that's why people are upset. >> dhs said some of those stat goes back as far as 40 years, but kelly, danny really makes the point about why the stakes are so high on tuesday night including for tim walz who quite frankly, hasn't been in that many unscripted events. what are you hearing about how they're prepping? >> the expectation setting is starting for sure. tuesday night will be a big, big moment. what advisors say is that it is not the kind of divisive or decisive -- might be divisive, that you have with the top of the ticket, but for vp candidates it is an opportunity

to talk about themselves and the top of the ticket. what the walz side is saying is that governor walz who did debate a gubernatorial candidate has not done as many as j.d. vance who seems quite comfortable in the pugilistic debate format and that it is not a place, even though he's done some, not a place where he is at ease so part of what they say is to expect and he's been working with pete buttigieg who is playing with j.d. vance with prep and they expect that j.d. vance will come out and be part common sense and part throw the hard punches and what they want governor walz to do is to talk about his vision and mostly to talk about kamala harris and give the country a chance to get an insight into the differing visions and not to fact check him and almost have their separate messages because it is a rare opportunity when millions will be watching. >> and we know that j.d. vance has been prepping vigorously as well and he has comer who -- tom

emmer, i'm sorry, playing the role of walz. are what are you hearing and what are you going to be watching for? >> just to mention, these two candidate are not as well known. this is an opportunity to present themselves to the country. i've been talking to voters across the country. i was in nevada the other day, and asking them about the economy and what they thought about the policies that the candidates were talking about when it came to the economy. most of them didn't really know what each candidate was proposing. so -- and they want to know, so i think these debates are really good opportunities for them to talk about the issues and how they are going to improve people's lives in four years. >> secretary johnson, with the minute or so that we have left, all of this comes against the backdrop, this horrifying backdrop, these two assassination attempts against former president trump. you, obviously, in your former role oversaw the secret service. there was now a report -- >> dod, as well.

>> so you've seen it from both sides and there's now been a report that basically says things were missed. there were some massive mistakes made. what do you make of this moment and where we are? >> with some perspective, so july 13th was cataclysmic failure. rule one is communications. everybody has to be on the same frequency when you are protecting someone. secret service is in charge, but you have to be with the same frequency with law enforcement and that was a failure. the incident on the golf course, the agent did his job. the agent spotted this gunman and fired at him. larger picture, we have to remember that the secret service has to bat a thousand every single day. this past week they just pulled off unga, a massive security operation and from all appearances what they did was flawless. >> all right. thank you all so much, and i appreciate the conversation ahead of the vp debate. when we come back, what will be

the impact of the vice presidential debate? our "meet the press minute" has some answers next. oh, these factory floormats?... they're just as good as weathertech... just as good as weathertech... they're just as good as weathertech... just as good... just as good as weathertech... just as good... are these factory floormats just as good as weathertech? yeah... no. no. nothing comes even close to laser measured weathertech floorliners. they offer the ultimate protection. front, back, and even up the sides. for a full line of premium american made products, order at wt.com

♪♪ some things stand the test of time, like a family car. the hartford has been insuring experienced drivers for generations. many who switch to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford. saved an average of $577. for what's worth protecting, the hartford is here. to get your free quote, go to the buck's got your back.

welcome back. tuesday's debate between tim walz and j.d. vance will be a decisive moment in a campaign notably short on such direct confrontations, and while some of the cycle's rhetoric suggests a more personal clash between the candidates, vice presidential debates weren't always marked by this level of tension. in an interview on "meet the press" three days after her debate geraldine ferraro responded to criticism that she wasn't forceful enough in challenging then vice president george h.w. bush as questions swirled around president reagan's mental fitness. >> the debate on thursday night that viewers say that i was subdued and i should have been feisty, what i wanted to do was i want to convey to the american public who i am and what i'm about and whether or not i can be a leader. leave the conclusion to them. on the age thing, that's their

conclusion, taking a look at his policies, and taking a look at his performance to determine whether or not he is confident. that's a conclusion i don't want to draw. >> what effect do you think the debate had on george bush from 1988? >> i think -- i think his total support of the president is going to be a bothersome thing for him in 1988. he embraced wholeheartedly the whole right-wing philosophy that has driven this administration over the past four years and that is his platform. i think he'll have a problem with that in 1988. >> when we come back, our important conversation about the fight for justice for the wrongfully conviction, author slippian author of the sing sing files, joins us with velasquez who was behind bars for more than 18 years.

(vo) a successful business owner sells his company and takes on a passion project with his son - restoring his father's jazz club, and in the process, revitalizes a community landmark. from selling a business to giving back to where you come from, a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your family and the way you bring people together. that's life well planned. detect this: living with hiv, craig learned he can stay undetectable with fewer medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: leo learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato

without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. if you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. serious or life-threatening lactic acid buildup and liver problems can occur. tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, or if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. dovato may harm an unborn baby. most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping, tiredness, and anxiety. detect this: you could stay undetectable with fewer medicines. ask your doctor about dovato.

and now a closer look at our criminal justice system. veteran "dateline" producer dan slepian first met jon adrian vel as kwez or j.j. in 2002 when he was already serving time for a

1998 murder he did not commit. from his cell in sing sing j.j. aided slepian in his own investigation until he was granted clemency and released in 2021 after more than two decades in prison. "the sing sing files" one journalist, six innocent men and a 20-year fight for justice tells the deeply personal story of their relationship, their fight to overturn wrongful convictions and to reform the legal system. i sat down with slepian and velasquez for a meet the moment conversation. >> i didn't know if he was innocent. i didn't know if he was guilty, and i said to him what i say to everybody that says they're innocent to me. i said, look, i don't know if you're guilty or innocent, i am not your friend, i am not your advocate. all i care about is the truth, and if i find evidence of your guilt it's coming out. >> j.j., what was it like from

your perspective when you first met dan and you heard those words? >> initially, you know, it's always painful when you're telling the truth to someone and they're not trying to hear you, right? but it's also expected because of the circumstances that i was under. i'm being accused for taking a police officer's -- or a former police officer's life which is one of the most heinous crimes someone can be charged with and so as a young journalist which dan was when we first met 22 years ago, you know, i can't expect him to just not know me from anywhere or not have any credible sources and just expect what i'm saying is the truth, right? so the reality was in that moment as he was saying that, the only thing that i could come up with in my mind was how do i get this guy to really believe that i'm not playing with this. that i'm serious.

i'm innocent, and i need help and so i challenged him to prove me guilty, and that's what caught him. >> it's not just that you're a singular case. you started covering the wrongful conviction of, again, someone who you were in jail with, david lemus who was also wrongfully convicted, and you were in disbelief that there could be two people in such close proximity. >> it was a one in a million case, but when i came to my own moral certainty that david lemus was probably innocent, i visited him at the prison he was at on thanksgiving day on the anniversary for the murder of which he was wrongfully convicted, but i walked into the lobby that day, and i see a woman holding the hands of two little boys, and she stops me and says, "are you dan?" . i hate to tell this part of the story, bro. >> because you can see those two little boys.

>> yeah. i wasn't there, and i can see them. >> j.j.'s older son was on maria's right side, jon junior and jacob, the little one was on her left side, he came up to her waist, you know? and i didn't know who these people were, and maria says my son, j.j., he's innocent. can you help us? and i didn't believe her, but it was the little boy, jacob who looked up at me with these eyes, these huge, beautiful, saucer eyes and i -- my daughter -- my wife wasn't even pregnant yet and i was about to be a father, and i've known j.j. longer than i've been a father and i looked

at that boy's eyes and i thought -- my immediate thought was i don't care if his father is innocent or guilty. this little kid should not be in a prison on thanksgiving morning. that was the beginning for me and what happened from there were letters from j.j. and a relationship that ensued that today, 22 years later, i would put myself in front of a train for him, i would take a bullet for him -- >> i know it's emotional. >> he's among the closest people in my life. >> j.j., and i want to talk about your relationship, but i want to talk about those little boys because from that moment on you were in -- you were behind bars for another 20 years. what was taken from them in that time and how hard was it for you to be away from them? >> i would say it starts with

the fact that what they took from both of us. they took the right to be a father from me and they took the right to have a father present from them. our lives were lived in pictures, not in real time. the only real time we had was on visits where you can barely do anything and for the first ten years of my children's life as a father i'm scarred because they spent five days in school and one day in prison and only had one day to build their social lives and that's just not the life for a child. they deserved better. >> through all of that pain, j.j., you never gave up. >> no. >> you continued to give every piece of evidence you could to

dan for his investigations. you continued to ask for retrial after retrial. you were never granted freedom at that moment. how did you keep going? >> hope, purpose. during the early part of my incarceration i read this book by victor frankel and it was called "man's search for meaning" it's a very thin book, but it was so powerful. it was about vikter frankel himself who was at the concentration camps, and he was studying the people around him and what he found was that the people who survived the holocaust survived because they were tied to a sense of purpose, and so that led me to believe that i had to find a sense of purpose while i was in prison and it took a while for me to figure it out, but when my mother approached me on a visit one day and she was just, like, i can see you slipping.ee that .

don't let this place change you. you need to grow where you're planted. they can lock up your body, but they can't lock up your mind. >> in 2021 you did learn that governor cuomo granted you clemency. this is not a full pardon. so in the eyes of new york you are still a convicted criminal, but what was that moment like when the gates opened and you walked outside a free man? >> when that gate opened my purpose was right in front of me because my family was waiting for me right there. my children, my mother, that was my hope, that was my purpose. i think that as hard as it is for me to swallow when i'm about to say, i've realized that as much as i've been through there was a need for me to go through that, to be in the position that i am right now, to have this

conversation with you and to be able to touch the world because i am not an anomaly. there are hundreds of thousands of wrongfully convicted people on this earth and they are suffering just like i suffered, and they're not being heard. >> you can watch my full "meet the moment" conversation with dan slepian and j.j. velasquez at meet the press.com. j.j.'s case is not over yet, we can report for the first time he will be in court tomorrow morning where a judge is expected to vacate his conviction 27 years after his wrongful arrest. that's all for today. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." ♪♪ ♪♪