good afternoon. i'm lindsey reiser. new developments today as president trump prepares for his big convention. the bombshell release of tapes from the president's sister, maryanne trump barry, with a brutally honest assessment of her brother. >> his god [ bleep ] tweet and lying, oh, my god, i'm talking to you freely. >> that's just a taste of what's on the tapes secretly recorded by the president's niece. reaction from the president in just a moment. >> and we'll be hearing from the president himself in just a few hours in a 5:30 news conference to announce what the administration says is a breakthrough in covid treatment. the surprise briefing announced just hours after the president appeared to go to war with his own fda. in a tweet that has experts concerned that he's politicizing

the vaccine process. and it comes ahead of a convention where the president will be faced with the task of convincing a country that's seen more than 175,000 deaths that his handling of the crisis is the best america can do. >> and fresh off his own convention, joe biden ready for a fight in his first interview as the official democratic candidate, former vice president takes on the issue of his age and attacks on his mental faculties head on. >> watch me, mr. president, watch me. look at us both. >> more on that in a moment. but first, we want to bring you more on those recordings of president trump's sister. first obtained by "the washington post," now given to nbc news as well. they were taped by mary trump, but we want to point out it was done legally because they were recorded in new york where only one party to a tape needs to consent. joining me now is nbc' kelly o'donnell. how is the white house

responding? >> well, this is coming at a time where this is news that is unhelpful to the president when he wants to be focused on his convention. and their response is different than what we have sometimes seen where there's a scorched earth response towards someone who is involved in criticism of the president. this is a more delicate matter here. this is the president's older sister who is now 83. and in the president's own statement, he says, who cares? it's always something. does not address his sister directly, and instead refers to the grief he is feeling about the death of his brother, their brother, robert, the youngest of the five siblings who died a week ago. so not attacking his sister. and not specifically attacking his niece. instead, trying to move on. but to give you a sense of the nature of the conversation, this was niece mary trump with her aunt and the president's sister, judge maryanne trump barry, who is now retired from the federal bench, recorded in 2018, 2019,

we don't have an exact date, but she's reflecting on her brother's conduct in office and she does so quite candidly. here's a clip of that conversation. >> [ bleep ] tweet and lying, oh, my god. i'm talking freely, but you know, the change of stories, the lack of preparation, the lying, the holy [ bleep ]. but he's appealing to the base. what they're doing with the kids at the border. i mean -- >> the president's chief of staff, mark meadows, was asked about this in appearances he made on television today. he focused on the fact that mary trump, the author of the tell-all book, is a critic of the president, obviously, and wants joe biden to become president. so he put it in that political frame. mary trump has acknowledged that this recording, which as you pointed out, is legal, but is certainly something that the family is not pleased about, and she said she recognizes that family members would be upset about doing these recordings.

she said she did 15 hours of recordings at a time when she believed there were family members, including her aunts and uncles, who were not being truthful with her about litigation involving the estate of her grandfather, fred trump, the president's father. she, the father of fred trump jr., and they were fighting over how much of a settlement mary trump would get. so this goes to some of the oldest impulses in human kind. money and family and drama. and it's playing out on a very big stage here with this very personal and negative criticism of the president from his older sister, who otherwise has not been a critic publicly of the president and has appeared at some of the events. she was certainly part of the convention. she was part of the inaugural. she did not attend, according to mark meadows, the funeral services here at the white house on friday for their brother, robert. lindsey. >> what do we know about the news conference that's scheduled today at 5:30?

>> this we expect will be an opportunity for the president to try to grab some of the attention and focus it back on something positive that he wants to talk about. our best guess is that from talking to sources and understanding what this is about is the president wants to talk about an advancement made in the area of coronavirus. we believe it may have to do with convalescent plasma. the president has been speaking about that publicly lately, and wanting to get approval for use of that as a treatment for coronavirus. we have seen how at times when the president opines about treatments, it can go south on him with hydroxychloroquine and so forth, but this convalescent plasma is something that is big studied, and the question will be is the president out of step with his own fda in terms of the timing of this. mark meadows, the chief of staff, says he's pushing the bureaucrats, as he described them, to work quickly and to cut red tape. they're saying they're adhering to the science, but they want

this done quickly. we expect the president will be talking about that. and undoubtedly, he'll get questions about things like the convention, the sister tapes, and all the other news of the day. lindsey. >> and pertaining to the sister tapes, it's worth noting, nbc has not heard from the retired judge about the recordings. thank you. with the republican national convention just one day away, joe biden is responding to president trump's repeated attacks on his mental fitness as well as concerns about his age. >> i think it's a legitimate question to ask anybody over 70 years old whether or not they're fit and whether they're ready. but i just -- the only thing i can say to the american people, it's a legitimate question to ask anybody. watch me. >> you have said yourself that you are a transition candidate. does that mean a one-term president? what does that mean? >> no, it doesn't. >> you're leaving open the possibility you'll serve eight years? >> absolutely. >> we're joined now from

washington with the latest. so deepa, we know president trump hit the campaign trail last week during the d, thenc. have we heard anything from the biden/harris ticket as the rnc kicks off? >> we haven't seen joe biden or kamala harris since the dnc events kind of ended last week. it's been kind of a down weekend for both of them, no public events held. what we do know is that going into next week, starting tomorrow, the dnc and the democratic party as a whole is kind of focusing on this idea of attacking the trump administration for chaos and crisis. they have a series of themes set up about families in crisis. the economy in crisis. health care in crisis. and they're planning to kind of counterprogram that throughout the week of this rnc coming up. we don't yet know if we will be seeing joe biden or kamala harris as the week goes through, but we will be seeing democratic figures like pete buttigieg, nancy pelosi, cory booker, kind of how we saw during the dnc, a lot of different corners of

democratic party coming together. that's something similar to what we're likely to see under this theme of crisis and democrats countering that with joe biden and kamala harris' message of unity and trying to solve some of these problems. >> in this abc news interview, joe biden also kind of talks about the expectations and the pressure he felt surrounding his vp pick. what can you tell us about that? >> lindsey, this was such a fascinating thing to hear from me, especially as somebody who covered kamala harris so extensively on the trail, and we were covering the veepstakes process for so long, a long waiting game to get to this moment. i want you to listen to what joe biden had on the interview. we'll chat about it on the other side, but let's set it up with that sound first. take a listen. >> i didn't feel pressure to select a black woman, but i have said it before, you have heard me say it. i probably said it on your show with you, is that the government should look like the people. look like the country. 51% of the people in this country are women.

and that old expression goes, women hold the path to the sky. i cannot understand and fully appreciate what it means to walk in her shoes, to be an african-american woman with an indian american background. >> so lindsey, you heard him there talking a little bit about kamala harris and a little bit about the ross. we know for a long time that joe biden has said he wanted his vice presidential pick to be someone who was simpatico with him on the issues. that was really important to him. but of course, he's talking about not having the pressure, you know, on himself to pick a black woman or a woman of color as his running mate, which really stood out to me, because as we know, there was a lot of pressure from other folks who were publicly commenting on the need and the moment for the country to have a woman of color and particularly a black woman on the ticket. we know someone like amy klobuchar, for example, took herself out of the running, saying it was important for her to be a woman of color. i spoke to tim kaine, and him saying it would make him happy

for a woman of color to be chosen on the ticket, but all of this time, joe biden stuck with the sense of simpatico on the issues. he was really adamant about that. what's interesting in a pick like kamala harris, you have someone who is in line with him on the issues and at the same time is a deeply historic candidate. it's kind of rare to see those two things merging together. so more of that interview, of course, will be coming out tonight, but that is a point that really stood out to me. >> deepa, thank you so much for joining us for that insight today. there are massive protests happening in belarus. we'll get to that also in a moment, but first, we want to talk about breaking news out west, where one of the worst wildfires in california's history continues to rip through the state. nearly a million acres have been destroyed with more than 14,000 firefighters trying to stop the flames. lightning strikes on california's parched terrain are the suspected spark of california's raging inferno. governor gavin newsom announced this weekend federal aid has been released by president trump for the ongoing recovery

efforts. and breaking news out of the gulf of mexico, where marco has officially been upgraded to a hurricane, and tropical storm laura continues to gain strength. joining us now with more is nbc meteorologist bill karins. you have been watching these. what's worrying you the most? >> laura. it's -- isn't it funny. we have a hurricane going to make landfall tomorrow in louisiana, and here i am saying a storm four days away is of greater concern. because it has more potential. the bigger these storms are, the stronger they are, the more damage they can do. it's not like a category-2 does double it damage of a one. it's exponentially worst. if we get a major hurricane and it makes landfall, that's a lot worse than what louisiana will go through tomorrow. let's take you through both storms. obvious where they are. they stick out like a sore thumb. it's amazing how close they are. we're watching tropical storm laura coming off haiti and approaching cuba, whereas we have marco only 400 miles away from southern louisiana. it's moving at a pretty good

clip at 14 miles per hour. it's actually managed to intensify a little bit today. there's a lot of dry air and wind shear, but it hasn't completely stopped it. it could get a bit stronger but it's not expected to. winds will remain around 75-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds. we wake up tomorrow and that's when the tropical storm conditions will move onshore. by noon or so, that's when we expect the hurricane conditions in southern louisiana. noti notice, new orleans, you could get a direct hit or it could go south of you. marco is a small storm. if it does go far along the south, new orleans will be spared. but the possibility of 65-mile-per-hour wind gusts in new orleans tomorrow, and that will probably knock out some power, and we have hurricane warnings there. the problem with marco is storm surge. that will come through the high tide in the late morning and early afternoon tomorrow, and that's when we see the highest water levels. now let's talk about laura. this already has 50-mile-per-hour winds. it has to go across cuba in the next 24 hours. then it goes across the warm waters of the gulf of mexico.

conditions are pristine, perfect for intensification. if you're anywhere from houston, port autrthur, lake charles, yo have to be prepared for a major hurricane three days from now. this will be interesting. we talked in the beginning about covid and if we get a major hurricane, evacuations. we're about to see all those things colliding in a couple days. >> bill karins, a lot to watch for. thank you so much. coming up, a therapeutic breakthrough? president trump is set to announce some big news on a potential coronavirus treatment at a news conference later today. but skepticism around especially abounds, rather, especially after a treat in which the president attacked his own fda over this very issue, and a co-contributor, dr. kavita patel, joins me next. uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no

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lab returned multiple positive tests. in a statement this afternoon, the league says saturday's daily covid testing returned several positive tests from each of the club's serviced by the same laboratory in new jersey. we're working with our testing partner, bioreference, to investigate these results, while the clubs work to confirm or rule out the positive tests. a tweet posted earlier today by the chicago bears said they learned of nine players and staff that were confirm today have had false positives. while a number of players have chosen to opt out of the upcoming season amid fears of coronavirus, the league is still preparing for a tentative start date of september 10th. >> the spread of coronavirus continues to be a challenge for universities across the country. the latest example is coming out of georgia tech in atlanta. the school reports 33 new cases. and 17 of those are from one fraternity house. that same fraternity first reported cases last week, and now, fraternity house residents at georgia tech are under a

lockdown. in washington, the president says he'll be joined by the fda commissioner this evening to announce a therapeutic breakthrough in the treatment of coronavirus. this comes a day after the president tweeted about the fda, calling it the deep state and accusing the organization of working against him by delaying research until after the election. house speaker pelosi had some harsh words for the president about that. >> the fda has a responsibility to approve drugs with their judging on their safety and their efficacy. not by a declaration from the white house about speed and politicizing the fda. this was very dangerous statement on the part of the president. even for him, it went beyond the pale. >> i'm joined by dr. kavita patel, a physician and scholar at the brookings institution. and dr. patel, do you have any

clue first of all what this therapeutic breakthrough might be. maybe convalescent plasma. do you think that's what it might be? >> that's confirmed by recent reports from the food and drug administration with press that this is going to be an announce want about convalescent plasma, and just for people to recall, that's basically taking parts of the blood from people who had the coronavirus and developed antibodies for it, and giving that to people who are infected by coronavirus but are still kind of in the throngs of infection, in the hospital setting, most likely. so i would hardly call it a breakthrough just because we have got data that shows that it's safe and we have some really positive early signals that it can help decrease mortality if it's used early enough. but i think that when you say something like a breakthrough to the public, at least i was interpreting that as, you know, something that could be like a vaccine or something that could really turn the tide. this is a positive development,

but again, remains to be seen if it's going to be truly a breakthrough with more data. >> you heard the back and forth about the fda. yesterday, the president also criticized the fda for revoking the authorization of hydroxychloroquine as an emergency treatment. then today, his chief of staff publicly supported the president's tactics on fox news. let's listen. >> what the president was specifically addressing is something that i have been involved with over the last three or four weeks. is a real frustration with some of the bureaucrats who think they can do this the way they normally do it. we're facing unprecedented times. this president is right to call it out. i can tell you that the announcement that's coming today should have been made several weeks ago. having been personally involved with it, sometimes you have to make them feel the heat if they don't see the light. i applaud the president for putting out the tweet. >> so americans want a vaccine. they want treatments, but they want it to be safe. they want to make sure they can

trust it. is now the time to be blaming bureaucrats and taking shortcuts, or it kind of goes back to what pelosi said, speed versus efficacy. >> you're correct. this is not the time to be putting any sort of pressure -- look, i can tell you this. i have worked with fda officials. i have kind of watched, these are mostly career staff. remember, these are not political appointees. these are career scientists who have doctorate degrees far more advanced than most of us, and what they are trying to do is balance that sense of urgency with safety, the utmost priority of the food and drug administration is to balance that safety with advancing kind of innovations in science. i'll tell you that i know that they're working around the clock, and remember, lindsey, it's not just therapeutics. they're working on treatments, vaccines, testing. and another move in the trump administration has been to take away some of the oversight of tests from the fda, so this is

something that is truly unprecedented. we have never seen so much intrusion into what i would say deserves no political influence no matter who the president is. and i just think that, again, i really hope -- i really hope that most of the staff and scientists stick with it because i do think that the administration will change and that they will be able to continue to do the work they do. nobody wants to slow down access to any sort of treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus. the deaths are too many by the day. >> good point, dr. kavita patel. thank you for your expertise. coming up, newly released audio of president trump's sister questioning his character is causing a bit of a stir ahead of the republican convention. will it really matter? plus, as the election nears, who do our allies abroad want to win the white house? a live report from brussels next. was another around the co? or could things go a different way? i wanted to help protect myself.

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with less than 24 hours until

the republican national convention kicks off, secret audio recordings of president trump's sister, maryanne, detailed harsh criticisms of her brother. obtained by nbc news and first reported by "the washington post," maryanne trump barry's niece, mary trump, secretly reported barry who took issue with how president worked as president, and he said all he wants to do is appeal to his base. my god, if you're a religious person, you want to help people, not do this. at the time, the administration's child separation policy for refugees entering the country was in full effect. and other notable remarks from the audio reports barry telling her niece, it's the phoniness of it all, and the cruelty, donald is cruel. when talking about donald's accompishments, she's heard saying donald is out for donald, period, and you can't, quote, trust him. a spokesperson for mary trump

said the remarks were recorded between 2018 and 2019 in new york where tapes like that are legal if one party consents and mary began taping barry after she, quote, realized members of her family had lied in prior depositions. the president responded to tapes in part saying, every day it's something else, who cares. i miss my brother and i'll continue to work hard for the american people. we should note "the washington post" has reached out to maryanne trump barry for comment and has yet to hear back. joining me is bill kristol, founder of defending democracy together. i want to get your reaction to the tapes from the president's sister, and does something like this hit differently because it's so personal? >> hi, lindsey. i think it does for some people. look, if you're a strong trump supporter, you'll discount this, as you have discounted so many other testimonials about trump's deficiency of character and of performance, but if you're someone who reluctantly voted for trump in 2016, you had your

doubts then, those doubts have increased because of hiperformance on the coronavirus, perhaps, or because of many other reasons as well, the divisiveness, the rhetoric, lafayette square, and you're sort of teetering on the edge, but you're still thinking, i don't really like the democrats that much, can i trust them? what about some of the charges i'm going to hear at the convention? but i think this helps you if you're sort of inclined to leave trump but aren't sure it's okay. these comments, the comments of miles taylor, the former chief of staff, other republicans who are saigh it's okay. you do not have to stay with trump. i think it does kind of give permission to three, four, 5% of 2016 trump voters who have soured on him but aren't sure if they can go the last step. this is his sister, obviously, and trump does worse among women. there's a huge gender grap. maybe your husband is for trump, your relatives are for trump,

but you have your doubts and you think, maybe i won't vote for trump or i'll vote for biden. >> republican national convention kicks off tomorrow. we have heard the president's message around coronavirus. look, the economy was soaring before coronavirus, the economy will soar after, mostly blaming china for coronavirus. do you think that strategy has been effective? do you think that's what he'll stick to this week? >> i don't think it's been particularly effective. i think the facts are the facts. this convention is going to be about one thing and one thing only, trashing joe biden, trying to terrify people about the democratic party. if you put biden in as president, they'll raise your taxes. it will be socialism. it will be riots. every scene you have seen from portland or seattle will be like that times ten or times 100. you take the most radical democratic member of congress, it will be his or her agenda that gets implemented. all this talk about the coronavirus and people praising trump, there will be some of

that, but this is entirely designed to try to do their best to inflict real damage on the democratic party, and especially on joe biden. remember, that's been a concern of trump for two years. what was the ukraine scandal about? getting dirt on biden. trump knows. he's not foolish in this way. he knows he can't win with his current approval. but he's not going to change that approval much because it's based on his performance, not based on a couple speeches or a couple slogans. but could he get people who don't approve of him to maybe vote for him or stay home? if they're so terrified of biden and the democrats, that's his only hope and that's what the agenda at this convention is going to be. >> one of the attacks we keep hearing against biden is his age, his mental fitness. biden responded in a new abc interview. listen. >> watch me. mr. president, watch me. look at us both, what we say, what we do, what we control, what we know. what kind of shape we're in. come on. look, i think it's a legitimate question to ask anybody over 70 years old, whether or not

they're fit and whether they're ready. but i just -- the only thing i can say to the american people, it's a legitimate question to ask anybody. watch me. >> do you think that biden has effectively dealt with this issue? >> yeah, i think that's a good answer. it's better than being very defensive and saying how dare you raise that. he says it could be the case with some people over 70. the most effective response was in the speech thursday night, which was effective. and the debates will be the moment, really, where he could be damaged in this, if he looks like he's not up to it, but look, i have talked privately to people who have seen sensitive polling who think this is a possible problem for biden. i mean, people areope toon the notion that someone 77 might have lost a step and maybe two steps. i think biden's sensible response, which is not to say, as i said, not to say oh, my god, how dare you even raise that question, but just tasay, hey, watch me. i'm up to this job, i think is an intelligent answer.

>> before i let you go, your organization is made up of conservatives yet you're trying to stop the president from winning re-election. tell me how you're doing that. >> well, we're doing it by trying to peel off 2, 3, 4, 5% of republicans, of independents, conservatives. many of whom voted for trump in 2016, some of whom stayed home in 2016, and persuade them, you do not have to stick with trump. whatever your reasons for wishing for change, you thought he was a good businessman, you just couldn't stand hillary clinton, you can't afford a second term of trump. you may agree with some of the pollys, you may dislike some of his critics, but are you really willing to have a second term of this given that he's not improved in office. he's gotten worse in office, more divisive, less competent at handling crises. i think that message has penetrated and i think that's why biden is up eight, nine, ten points. >> bill kristol, good to see you. thank you for your time. >> we just got confirmation into nbc news, something we were talking about a few minutes ago, the so-called breakthrough on covid therapeutics that the

president will announce today add a 5:30 news conference, it involves what's called convalescent plasma. the president will announce the emergency authorization of the plasma for covid-19. a treatment that has already been given to more than 70,000 patients, and you just heard dr. kavita patel tell us a short time ago, while there is some evidence that the plasma might provide some relief, it would hardly be called a breakthrough. american voters are not the only ones anxiously awaiting the november election. so are some of our nation's closest allies. joining us now to discuss how european leaders view this year's election is nebc's tesa arsill yeah. the biden campaign continues to issue stark warnings to voters that another four years of the trump administration would threaten american democracy. what do european leaders have to say about that? who do they want to see in the white house come november? >> well, lindsey, without any explicit endorsements, it is understood the majority of eu

leaders would like to see joe biden at the helm, at least someone they see that is more open to alliances and multilateral cooperation. they would love to see the u.s. back at the table when it comes to the paris climate agreement, for example, or someone more cooperative when it comes to nato, the world health organization, the world trade organization, all these institutions the europeans really would like more backing from the united states, the trans-atlantic cooperation. however, it is not just one opinion here, of course. countries like poland who are quite happy with the trump presidency, the relationship between the two countries greatly improved during that time. they were keen on having u.s. military forces and a base in poland. you know, that project was called fort trump, and there's also the uk. brexit being the main topic right now. joe biden was openly critical of brexit, saying this would put the uk at a disadvantage when it comes to trade negotiations. that's something the uk government will have to think about in dealing with joe biden if he wins the presidency. but is joe biden the answer to

reversing a lot of the policies that donald trump had put in place for the europeans? well, we asked an analyst that, and he said look, maybe to a certain extent. take a listen. >> it's the antidote to the acute phase of donald trump. i think from a european perspective, there's no comparison between the benefits of a trump administration and the benefits of a biden administration. so they're veer clear on that, and they think the atmosphere will improve. as one european official put it, at least we will have somebody reasonable to talk to. it won't immediately erase all of the issues in the trans-atlantic relationship, and that many of the issues will persist. many of them will look quite similar. but in a different atmosphere, perhaps they'll have a better opportunity to reach a compromise on something. >> as he said there, there are some things that might remain the same. if there is one of the biggest

lessons the europeans learned in the trump presidency, is they need to go back to the drawing table and come up with more concrete ways to move forward with or without the united states. lindsey. >> tesa in brussels, thank you for that report. >> still to come here on msnbc, the debate on mail-in voting is only intensifying as we get closer to the election. we'll show you how six battleground states are preparing as the number of people voting by mail is expected to hit historic levels. . ...safelite can come to you. >> tech: and you'll get a text when we're on our way. >> tech: just leave your keys on the dash and we'll replace your windshield with safe, no-contact service. >> tech: schedule at safelite.com. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪

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it's about the nearly 100% of the prescriptions that go through the mail from v.a. for our veterans are affected by this and delayed by the actions of the postal service. so this is an emergency immediately. >> the house passed bill providing $25 billion to the post office is all but dead on arrival in the senate, according to majority leader mitch mcconnell. he calls it a piecemeal postal bill with mail-in voting set to reach unprecedented numbers this november election. the postal service has already sounded the alarm, warning states it may not be able to meet their deadlines for delivering last-minute ballots. josh ledderman zeroed in on six critical swing states to see what they're doing to prepare. >> with the election fast approaching and coronavirus concerns running high, most states are forging ahead in expanding access to mail-in voting. about 1 in 4 votes in the u.s. were cast by mail in 2016, but

the numbers this year are expected to be much higher. >> a state like wisconsin, which typically gets about 5% of its votes cast by absentee, has reason to anticipate that 50% to 60% of the votes this fall might be cast by absentee ballot. >> 42 states have opted to let voters vote by mail with no excuse. that includes the six key swing states, arizona, florida, michigan, north carolina, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. with a combined 101 electoral votes, there's a good chance the path to the white house runs through these six states. so let's break it down. let's start with north carolina. where about 5% of voters cast their ballots by mail in 2016. this year, as of mid-august, they have already seen seven times as many absentee ballots requested in north carolina as the same time in 2016. other swing states like michigan and wisconsin opted to automatically mail absentee ballot requests to every registered voter. trump said that practice was done illegally and without

authorization by a rogue secretary of state, in the case of michigan, he since threatened to pull funding from the state. in the primary, many michigan voters reported delays in receiving their mail-in ballots. that's led to questions about whether the state will be able to pull it off on a larger scale come november. when it comes to florida, president trump abruptly changed his tune. why? he says republicans are in charge. >> florida's got a great republican governor. and it had a great republican governor. and over a long period of time, they have been able to get the absentee ballots done extremely professionally. florida is different from other states. >> since 2002, florida has allowed voters to mail in absentee ballots without needing a reason. more than 1.1 million americans voted by mail in florida in the 2016 election. more than the democrats. helping trump win the state. and this year, president trump has already requested his own absentee ballot in florida, his current legal residence. presumably, to vote for himself.

arizona is another state with a history of voting by mail. about 75% of arizona voters use mail-in ballots, and they can opt in to what's known as the permanent absentee list, where they automatically get sent a ballot for every election they're eligible to vote in. other battlegrounds like pennsylvania haven't had that same experience with mail-in voting and it's causing some issues. pennsylvania was overwhelmed in the primaries by ballot requests. nearly 17 times more than they saw in 2016. this caused a major headache and major delays in the primary in the ninth congressional district in pennsylvania. where it took almost three weeks for the results to be finalized. wisconsin's also had some trouble. they found three full tubs of absentee ballots in a postal center that never made their way to voters. on top of that, thousands of completed ballots were postmarked too late to count. that's important in a place like wisconsin. trump narrowly skated by there in 2016, only winning by about 23,000 votes. another issue facing mail-in

voting is the challenge in fixing ballots that might have an issue that would prevent thum from being counted. north carolina recently ruled the state has to give voters due process and alert them to potential issues ahead of election day, a ruling that could prevent about 100,000 ballots from being trashed. trump only won north carolina by about 173,000 votes in 2016. so if it's just as close this time around, it could take weeks for the state to be able to report final results. when it comes to mail-in voting, perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is the deadlines. and there's more than one. every state has a different cutoff for when ballot requests must be received and then when the actual ballot must be received by the voting precinct in order for it to be counted. if you want to vote by mail, do your homework. nbcnews.com/planyourvote has all of the information. usps recommends a minimum of seven days to return a ballot by mail, but now the postal service is sounding the alarm that

ballots mailed last minute might not make it in time. usps writing states to say they can't move mail as fast as states may think and urging states to make their deadlines earlier. >> americans have to get the message much more than i think they have at this point that if they can vote in person, they should vote in person. it will relieve a lot of stress on the absentee ballot process the more people who can vote in person comfortably. >> you can always exercise your right to vote in person. either during early voting or on election day, november 3rd. >> that was josh ledderman reporting. coming up, all of the president's men, steve bannon, president trump's former senior adviser, becomes the latest former administration official to be charged with a crime. a legal expert will join us to dive deeper into this case, and what it could mean for other trump associates.

lock her up. that's right. >> that was michael flynn at the 2016 republican national convention. that moment seems ironic on the eve of tomorrow's convention. flynn is one of 7 of the president's men charged or convicted of a crime since trump took office. latest to be indicted, former

campaign boss steve bannon is accused of stealing money donated to an online fund-raiser for president trump's border wall. he pleaded not guilt to those charges. let's start with the bonn nanno case. is it bad luck that so many in my inner circle have ended up indicted? >> that i think is the big question. three and a half years in, we have seen so much of this and the president always claims ignorance and distancing himself from former inner circle members when they are indicted. it's difficult to write this off as bad luck or maybe bad judgment because the president never seems to push back very hard. he never seems shocked or appalled by the conduct. we see him commuting sentences for people as he did for roger stone or pushing his justice

department to dismiss charges as is in progress with mike flynn. >> what do you think the likelihood that bannon might cut a deal with prosecutors? he pleaded not guilty. we heard analysts here say this is a document heavy case. what's the likelihood he could cut a deal and what would prosecutors be looking to get from him? >> i wouldn't read anything into the plea of not guilty here. right now we're in the stage where the rubber meets the road. prosecutors in new york require defendants to truthfully cooperate with information on all criminal conduct that they are aware of in order to get a deal. they won't be looking for anything specific. they'll be looking for the universe of knowledge that bannon may or may not possess.

>> let's turn to the senate intelligence report released this week. it goes further than the mueller report linking trump's campaign to russian aid. what are your biggest take aways? >> the senate report is a counter intelligence report. bob mueller was looking to see whether there was evidence that would establish beyond a reasonable doubt that specific criminal violations had been committed. he famously concluded there were not although he presented quite a case on obstruction of justice that he looked to hand off to congress. what the senate committee does here is very different. it's important note this is a republican majority report. this has both parties. counter intelligence is an information gathering process. it's about risk assessment. one is the committee's referral

of a number of trump family member who is they may have committed perjury. we don't know what happened with that referral. the other thing is the clear conclusion that the president saw, welcomed and took advantage of aid that russia offered during the 2016 election. that's dangerous because here we are in 2020. >> this is what james comey had to say about that very point this morning. >> what do you see as the biggest threat to the rule of law right now? >> even handed law enforcement has disappeared from the justice department under bill barr and donald trump. at the head of trump's campaign was funneling information to raush sha russian intelligence officer. let that sink in and ask yourself so there was nothing to investigate here. it was a hoax. the republicans have exploded that non-sense. s >> your reaction. >> it is very difficult for us

to focus on one aspect of what goes on in this administration. there's always a bright shiny object. the problem is that the attorney general is not supposed to be at the president's personal lawyer. barr all too often takes on that role rather than pursuing the administration of justice on behalf of the people. >> all right. thank you so much for your time today. we appreciate seeing you. much more to come in next hour here. we're keeping a close eye on the tropics as two storms take aim at the gulf coast. who is likely to see the greatest impact? a preview of the republican convention set to kick off tomorrow. we're live on the ground and im speak with the city's mayor on how her city is preparing for a convention unlike any other. all that and much more coming up after the break. you are watching msnbc. after th. you are watching msnbc

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good afternoon. president trump will hold a news conference in just a couple of hours. more on that ahead. also this hour, twin storms headed for louisiana and texas. one of them a hurricane and one just on the verge. could mean major damage when they hit. we'll have the latest on the dangerous situation. a tale of two sisters. we're hear the taped words of president trump's sister calling