this jam-packed cross connection at home. i'll be back next saturday at 10 am eastern. stay tuned because the amazing awesome alex witt has the latest. you know what you don't of alex? that's the artemis launch. >> i know. that is breaking news. usually, my friend, i'm following you from start to finish. i gotta tell you there was this breaking news going on, so all i could say is it's really good to see you on my screen as i cover this breaking news. it's a little bit crazy right now. thank you for the show. i'll see you next time. >> see you next saturday. thank you. >> we're gonna get to all that right now. i want to wish you all the good day from msnbc world headquarters in new york. welcome to alex witt reports. to breaking stories. both with developments happening in the last half hour. first up, as was mentioned, nasa scrubbing the artemis rocket launch, it was originally scheduled for 2:17

pm, now scrapped because of a hydrogen leak. then there was this, pretty remarkable, slow developing drama unfolding all morning over the skies of tupelo, mississippi an ending in a cornfield. it began with the pilot threatening to crash that plane into a walmart. that is where we begin with this mississippi breaking news. the latest development we have just learned is that that plane is now down. apparently landing safely with the pilot now in police custody, after circling the skies for hours. i believe four hours total. and threatening to crash there in mississippi. it all started early this morning. people got rid of the plane, his pilot saying a planned to crash into a walmart in tupelo. that prompted evacuations from walmart. police that the pilot were apparently in by phone early on. then the plane flew this really haphazard manner for hours

before coming down in that cornfield, again just minutes before we came on the air. here is part of the coverage from our affiliate walking through the plains track as the drama unfolded. >> those circles mainly in the 8:00 hour by 9:00 hour it has set up again it's a radical path between hickory flat and the ashland area circling for again hours on end. hours one inches one of those phrases use without thinking about what it means. but literally hours on ants. typically between 175 and 260 miles an hour. it then circled northwest of ripley between 9:00 10:00 hour's. for a good chunk of its path, it tended to do circles that were against clockwise, but the circles became more erratic us fool burns, he needed to reduce

the rains, useful range of that aircraft. the twin engine plane then, within about the last 20 minutes, it is taking a path that then took it back towards the south and west and as of our latest updates which was at about ten minutes ago, now muddled up much of the time on this. the latest updates on this came in as of 10:07 am. it was that 160 miles per hour, which is a reduction in its speed, and it was that 900 -- it was dropping. >> what a track record to show you. again, it remains unclear whether the plane crashed or landed. obviously did so safely. but however did land, were glad made it into that cornfield. the pilot is in police custody. nobody injured on the ground. joining us now, -- msnbc aviation analyst.

and former investigator at the faa and -- >> what was your reaction 12 this as it was unfolding? >> it was wild. unfortunately, this happens from time to time. they call it aircraft assisted suicide. fortunately though, this pilot chose to live. and landed relatively safely in that cornfield. these types of things happen. pilots get depressed or there could be some emotional issue and they will take an airplane and threatened to take their own life and the lives of others. >> i'm not going to offer the pilots name, we have not offered a double confirmation of that, but we do believe this person is a tupelo airport employee who actually stole this plane and took off. to your point jeff posted something that would appear like a suicide note on facebook saturday morning what appears to be sorry everyone, and never

actually wanted to hurt, everyone i love my parents and sister, this isn't their fault, goodbye. that's very disturbing. talk about the kind of security that would be in place at a small municipal airport like tupelo? this is a plane that was allegedly stolen. how hard is it to do that? >> it depends. this is very similar to an incident that happened five years ago. you may recall in seattle, a horizon airlines employee stole a dash a twin engine. that's different because that was an airline, and an airport that has commercial air service. so the security standards are typically more robust there. this particular airport, may not have had that kind of robust security. most airports have a fence around. again, if what you're saying is true, with regards to the person that stole this airplane, they were in an insider. and they were an employee of

tupelo airport. it would be very easy to access the airplane and then just started up. i think this person would have to be a pilot, just by judging and the maneuvering that was performed. it would've been easy for this person. >> as we were listening to the narration of that video, the -- the time was mentioned, and we want to make note it was mentioned in central time. this literally all men down minutes before the show came on the air. let me ask you about something in a situation like this, what would've happened if the pilot refused to land that plane? you hear about fighter jets being scrambled and put up next to planes and seeing what's going on. i know that's happening at higher altitudes, when pilots have become incapacitated. what's the threshold at which that happens? in this case, had that happened, what would've happened to that plane if you look like this

pilot was gonna follow through on his threat to crash into walmart? >> yes, alex i'm not sure how the military would've responded to this. in that horizon hairlines case five years ago in seattle, the military was put on alert and maybe even scrambled jets to make sure that that large airplane would not have impacted in a congested area. in this case, though this twin engine was a smaller airplane and it was loitering over an area over tupelo, but way north over lot of farmland. i'm sure the military and the local law enforcement would've kept the price, but whether or not they launched a helicopter or fighter aircraft, i just don't know. >> this plane is not a high powered jet or large plane, but

hadn't crashed into walmart, the walmart could have been severely damaged right? >> absolutely. this airplane weighs 8000 pounds. it can carry 8 to 9 people. two twin entrance, a lot of aviation fuel on board. it could've cost a lot of damage to a building like a walmart. but whether or not the military would have attempted to shoot down i'm just not sure. >> give me a sense jeff of how long you think it took air traffic control at this municipal airports to figure out, hang on, where is that plane? where is it going? is that supposed to be on the runway? is that something instantaneous there were mayor, something is wrong with us? >> probably not. this was a smaller airport. the control tower may not have been open. a need to check whether it even had a control tower. again, if it was a busy commercial airport, yes they would've known immediately

because there's commercial air service coming in and out. but a smaller airport like this, the first alert may have been the pilot himself contacting 9-1-1 and not anyone at the airport. >> interesting. so as we look i asked my director to put backup of what we got on -- which was tracking the plane. if you look at the circles around an around an around what does that do to air traffic control that is being monitored in that area? do you have there traffic control telling say commercial, jets or anyone else in the area, okay we've got to steer with a clear of this? how does that work? >> my best guess at that alex's air traffic control was not involved with this. the pilot was not communicating with air traffic control. their draft control was likely tracking this airplane. you have to remember, it was only flying 1000 feet to two tusten feet above the ground, over a population area that was

not congested. it wasn't high up playing around the airlines in the commercial traffic. more than likely, a traffic control had a very limited role in this event. >> all right jeff, thank you for getting us to. this after it's really demanded our attention as we were down in our news area trying to put the show together, because we never know might have happened here. but it looks like that plane is safely landed and that pilot is now in police custody. but not without having create a lot of records for a lot of people there. again, clearing out that walmart in tupelo mississippi. jeff thank you so much. msnbc aviation analysts. good to see. you aviationwe said there were two. there's more breaking news to share with all of you. moments ago, nasa called off the launch of the artemis rocket. it's sprang another worryingly during feeling this morning. the initial launch was plant and scrapped on monday. it was actually for the very same issue. let's go to nbc's jake word,

he's at kennedy space center for us. what is nasa saying for what when wrong this time, is there any expectation of when the next launch attempt will be? >> alex, nasa officials are waving off this launch in just the past half hour. they tried for more than an hour to fix this leak. it essentially was hydrogen going into the tank where it would go on to fuel the rocket, at a particular juncture, at a quick release coupling, it just couldn't stop leaking. it was coming out the side of it. they tried several things. the track filling it with helium. the try chewing it again. the tread warming. it doing several things. but they cannot walk out on the launchpad -- you can do all this remotely, otherwise it's sets all sorts of fail-safes into operation. they basically took several swing that the ball, finally the launch team recommended to launch director, we think this

should not go today. she took a few minutes to think about it and talk to more people. then they just waved it off and said that's gotta be the end of it for today. now the big question, is when will this go again? we just don't know yet. the administrator, nelson, is speaking to us in just now, not quite know yet what the specifics of his thinking of his plan. we do know there will be a press conference at 4 pm. we will talk to after that hopefully. at the moment, we just don't know. there is -- that would be on a two hour window on monday, where the earth will be in the right coordinate position. then on tuesday, there's another possibility of a launch, but that is only about 30 minutes, a tight amount of time. the big question is whether the rockets are gonna be brought back to the vehicle assembly building. if they have to do that and roll what is the equivalent of a 30 story building for miles from the launchpad back to this building, at that point we could be looking at a week or

more. we might even looking at past the end of this launch window which is october 4th. at this point we know they just did not feel comfortable with it going up and this was a mechanical issue they're hoping to solve. now the big question is gonna be, is that something they can solve on the launchpad or bring it back here? that's gonna be a big problem for nostril. >> hundred percent. if it would delay things significantly. you know what else is a huge problem? that would be some sort of a leak there with these few lines. that's apparently what it was. are they at all suggesting it has structural? is it something that in moving the play, the rocket? how do they analyze the extent to which this could be a potential problem, since it sounds like it's twice the same thing? >> these are certainly two leaks that they were worried

about. the one on monday but they were worried about was, yes they had a leak that they got sorted, but then they had another issue in which they thought one of the four engines was not cooling properly. it turns out that that actually was cooling properly. they had a faulty sensor. just to step back and realize, how extraordinary complicated it is to get one of these things off the ground. and the incredible caution and complexity of the checks list that goes into it. there's 500 variables that have to all be checked green before they go forward with this. that's why we are looking in this case that the countdown clock is pause right now at two hours 28 minutes. the amount of checklist items they had to go through before they say yes, yes we can, launch is so long. in this particular case, it was this one complaining, one place where two pipes come together, that just couldn't hold incredible pressure of it. you also have to consider putting hundreds of thousands of gallons of chemicals into your liquid oxygen and liquid

hydrogen, and those things have to go in there at negative 400 degrees fahrenheit in the case of hydrogen. it is very hard to hold and at that pressure. it is very hard to hold it at that temperature. all this means is the complexity of this seems to have gotten away from nasa today alex. >> better safe than sorry. that is the understatement of the year given what's at stake financially, and the whole program, the sentiments about it. quickly those that are working for nasa, how much you think this is a bit of a deflating measure today? where is this built in? they get, at this kind of think it's gonna happen. >> i have no doubt that there is a fundamental expectation built into the training and that's our personnel that there is an extraordinary amount of complexity. the checklists are endless. and you never know where this thing is gonna go. but there's also a lot riding on this. this is the largest rocket ever built. it is a cornerstone of nationalist ambitions. now that agency is handed low

orbit to the private sector he, to the spacex and others, to do delivery in and out of orbit, nasa's purposes to go out of our orbit. this is the rocket able to do that. the fact this is not going to go up today after two tries, it is disappointing not to the people who have, here but all over the country in the world work for the company, contributor the, parts worked on the research. this is truly the cornerstone of nasa's future, seeing it go up it is very, very important to people all over the planet. >> i think you are 100 percent right. thank you so much for that. we look forward to talking to you again as this thing does get reschedule. meantime everyone, there are a lot of moving parts even today on the donald trump's mar-a-lago story we're gonna bring you the latest reports of the needle allows us on. it's a swansong for legendary tennis star serena williams. but isn't? t isn't? (daughter) i've already told everyone! (nurse) wait... did you say verizon for just $30?

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awaiting a key decision that could come at any moment as a judge determines whether to grant donald trump's request for a special master -- a third review of what was seized at mar-a-lago. that word could come any minute now. in the meantime, we're at the white house with the very latest of the mar-a-lago investigation. monica, welcome, what are you hearing? >> good afternoon, we're learning much more about what was taken from former presidents trump's florida home. including thousands of documents. according to the department of justice, the former president mixed in sensitive information with items like press clippings, -- and now details raise more questions. >> a clear picture beginning to emerge of the documents seized from donald trump's mar-a-lago estate. a judge and sealing an inventory list in which the fbi says it recovered 48 empty

folders marked classified. along with dozens more labeled return to staff secretary, military aid. it's unclear where the contents are now. their existence only revealed as part of the legal back and forth between the government and the former president. as his one time attorney general, bill barr, slammed his handling of highly sensitive material. >> people say it's unprecedented to, it's also unprecedented for president to take all this classified information and put it in a country club. >> the facts are starting to show that they were being jerked around. how long do they wait? >> the fbi says it retrieve more than 11,000 government documents or photographs from mr. trump's residence. among the evidence, 18 documents marked top secret. 54, secret. and 31, labeled confidential. it all comes as a florida judge is expected to rule on appointed a third-party special master to review the records

and filter had privileged information. a request from the trump team who on friday blasted the fbi actions as a quote, smash and grab. meanwhile in washington, mr. trump's former counsel pet similarly, and his deputy appeared before a grand jury investigating the january 6th attack. another potential legal challenge for the 46 president who will hold a rally in pennsylvania. his first speech since the mar-a-lago search. as he continues to have a 2024 run, and possible pardons for those convicted in connection with the capitol riot. meanwhile president biden's defended his fiery thursday night primetime address telling reporters he wanted to be clear that he doesn't consider any supporter of the former president a, quote, threat to the country, we'll still defending the overall message. as the white house argues, standing up for democracy is not political. back to. you >> are right, monica, thank

you for that. joining me now, luke broadwater congressional reporters for the new york times. and the former deputy assistant of the eternal general and host of the talking feds podcast. looking guys. luke, you first. more than 40 empty folders marked with classified batters. nearly four dozen more empty folders marked return to staff, military aid. what questions does all of this raise for you? what did you learn from this inventory list? >> right, the gang of eight on the hill, the congressional leaders and heads of intelligence committees are hope to get the classified briefing to find out more about what was in those documents. especially what was missing from those documents. we know that president trump had a long history of tearing up documents. of fleshing things down the toilet, a very bad records management practices.

we don't know if that was necessarily done in this case with these empty folders. these could be examples of times where a brief -- brief or took the documents back from donald trump and the folder was left behind. i'm just speculating. but these are the kinds of questions that congress could be asked at this classified briefing if it happens next week. what we have learned so far is that these records, every single one of them should have been in the possession of the government and not at mar-a-lago. and for 20 months, donald trump and his lawyers in the justice department gave him the run around. every day we're learning more and more about exactly what he had with him in his desk, in the storage area at mar-a-lago. >> i think bill barr accurately and clearly seen upsized exactly went on in that soundbite that we are playing. let me ask you -- donald trump appeared to note

he knew much of this material was indeed at mar-a-lago. he did that in a post on truth social this week. complaining about the social, this one that was released by the fbi in a legal filing documented the search. he said the documents weren't sloppily thrown all over the floor. even if he seems to have known about these materials here, what does the breadth of this inventory reveal for you? >> yeah, first, his hapless this or least the disconnect between what he wants to say publicly and his eventual legal defense if he needs to make when. no, they were in cartons. wipes, i mean, that's just admitting that he knows all about them. the mind reels at the breadth. we're talking now over 10,000 documents. just for fine i looked -- i don't have 10,000 pages in my own supplies. we're talking about shelves and shelves. you know, i actually think that the breadth makes -- it sort of obscures the

specifics of it. he had seven top secret documents in his desk. each and every one of which by definition could do exceptionally grave damage to the national security. we might have hoped that he had just taken a dumpster full of documents and put them somewhere, he is the classified folders for replacements. but we're told by our counter intelligence folks that we have to assume the worst. when you think about the breadth but also the specifics -- why did he want seven of those documents in his desk? obviously, he's using them, thinking about them. the mind reels. to luke's point, they may or may not know, the try not to give such a full bodied briefing, but everyone tells us we don't really know. if you generally have to entertain the worst possible hypothesis of what happened over the last 20 months, it's devastating.

and many dimensions. expanse, human life, our own national security policies. >> please, i mean there's a potential disaster and all this. but what would prosecutors be looking to show by pointing to the locations of these documents? lie with the intermingling of personal items and classified materials -- by with that factor into the investigation? >> great question. that's why they seized the passports. where do you keep the passport and things in your desk? those are things that you have and you know about and care about. it's to show possession, knowledge that he has them. he can't just say, oh they were packed away in some lawyers place and they knew it, and then concealing -- those are the building blocks of a obstruction case. so things like the way they're stored and especially if they're in his office, that shows that he knows about them. they're not just stuck down in the storage room. >> so, luke, let's get to that. a lot of the boxes with the

classified materials were found in a storage room in august after a trump lawyer, who is the custodian of the records, swore to the doj back in june, they did a diligent search, they found no more classified documents. break this down for us. what questions does this raise about the extent of cooperation from the trump team? >> well raises very serious questions. one of the big issues here, and the government raised this, is the potential for obstruction of justice, here. we do know from our reporting that for a while the trump team left it up to president trump himself to go through these documents and tell them what was classified and what wasn't. which should be returned and what hadn't been. they did present some of the documents back to the justice department. in a sealed folder indicating that they believed the evidence to be top secret as well.

it's very concerning that they did eventually search the property and recover, by the governments recollections, twice as many documents as the trump team had put forward to them, that is contained evidence of spies, of an s a programs. they could in the government, very much endanger the national security. those were recovered from mar-a-lago according to the doj. i do think that the misrepresentations, that the trump team made, they are very concerning to the government and to potentially could create some legal exposure for donald trump in the people around him. >> let me break that down with you, harry, i'm curious about the legal troubles that loom for trump and his attorneys. will we forever, for sure, be calling this team trump?

can you imagine his attorneys, if questioned, saying, we left it up to the former president. we asked him about all of this. he told us we had everything. with his attorneys be allowed to just write through his desk and see where, apparently, the fbi did find all of these documents? or where they have said, you know, mr. trump, can you confirm that we've given everything? and then they would say -- he would say, yeah they have everything. do you envision a break between attorneys and donald trump if it comes to that? >> oh yeah. that's the immediate thing you think about when you know they are on the hook. even if they're complicit in some way, but they would immediately do, and they're going to get lawyers, christina bob has already left the team. it won't be a long. the bureau will sit down with them and even if their story is we sort of knew but trump was

running the show, that will be valuable information against trump. and yes, it seems very plausible to me from everything we know about trump that in his bluster he basically ordered them, oh there's nothing there, just write that down. that's from people who worked with him like michael cohen, that's his mo. that completely puts the criminal responsibility with him. and these are lawyers who otherwise will have to fall on their sword, go to jail. we have several, now, witnesses from everywhere. the people who are carting out the boxes. whose orders did they take? those lawyers now are very much on the hot seat. i imagine it will be within a week that they'll be getting visits, at least christine at bob, from the fbi. >> so trump spokesman, taylor budowich responded to the release of the inventory list and says that it shows the

search was not searchable and instead a smash and grab. he finds the disputes should have been resolved under the presidential records act which requires cooperation and negotiation by the naira, not an armed raid. isn't the point of the presidential records act that the documents do not belong to the former president, and were there already negotiations that were executed in good faith by donald trump and his team of lawyers? it was my understanding that the fbi went in there in the most respectful way, they did not have fbi identification when they went in. they were wearing the typical jackets that said fbi. they didn't have armed weapons and the like, so that statement, when you make of it? >> so, it's, you know, truth is false, it's 180 degrees wrong. they were the ones who didn't -- did it low key. i want to take a step back on the notion, i hope they smash

and grab. the argument, legally, is they violated the fourth amendment. forget about it, they took exactly what they were supposed to. but, my lord, 12 months of jerking them around. four more months after a found that it was classified, a subpoena that they don't fully comply with. i sure hope at that point they said, we have to rush in and get everything now. it's a bit of a, if not scandal, unfortunately, the fact that they let it dragged on so long, as bill barr put it, being jerked around. the notion that they should've continued to let them dally with them when we know what materials are involved, it's ridiculous! >> you mentioned bill barr, for anyone who missed the soundbite, we played a little bit a bit earlier, let's take a listen to what he said. this is on fox news, that he gave yesterday, take a listen. >> i personally think for them

to have taken things to the current point they probably have pretty good evidence. but that speculation. i think the drive around this from the beginning was, you know, loads of classified information sitting in mar-a-lago. people think it's unprecedented, it's also unprecedented for a president to take all this classified information and put it in a country club, okay? and how long is the government going to take to take that back? they jawbone for a year. they were deceived on the voluntary actions taken. they then went and got a subpoena. they were deceived on that. they feel. and the facts are starting to show that they were being jerked around. so how long do they wait? >> luke, last question to you. that is bill barr, given how he stuck him standing by the president all the way through his ten year as attorney general, until he wasn't. are you supply that he's not standing by donald trump on? this >> i'm not. i've seen bill barr in the past

half year, i guess, i've seen him speak out against what he viewed as some of the abuses at the end of the trump administration. around january six, his testimony before the january six committee. now he's free from trump. he can tell the truth as he sees it, pretty plainly. i think is someone who's been in the government, he's seen what past administrations have done with -- look at president obama, at the end of his administration he wanted to write a book. he turned every single thing over to the archives. they set up two facilities for him. one that was classified information. when that wasn't, and he could visit those classified facilities and review the material under the guidance of the archives. that's the way it supposed to be done. i think for a veteran of government. of several administrations, he probably looks at what trump did here, and can't believe it. so, you know, i think he is

being truthful and honest, here. >> all right, luke broadwater, harry lippman, good to talk to you both. now let's go to some new reaction to president biden's speech focusing on the maga republicans, president trump and their threat to democracy. the big question, will this help democrats in their mid term messaging? we'll take a look next. we'll take a look next but it is now time for us to work even harder, searching for meaningful experiences and new adventures for you to embark upon. they say when you reach the top, there's only one way to go. we say, that way is onwards. viking. exploring the world in comfort. let's get more now on the doj psoriasis really messes with you. try. hope. fail. no one should suffer like that. i started cosentyx®. five years clear. real people with psoriasis

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revealing the new details of the classified documents found at mar-a-lago. according to the fbi, documents with classification markings were found with other items they include books, magazines, and newspaper clippings. investigators also found four dozen empty document folders, all marked classified. let's bring in shedded ali, associate professor at the university of michigan, and former senior director in the trump administration.

and we also welcome ben collins, senior reporter for nbc news. gentlemen, thank you for being here. is there anything in your mind revealed in these documents that is raising new red flags about national security? >> alex, great to be with you this afternoon. the photo that's on the screen right now, that your viewers can see, it has these distinctive markings. top secret, sci, and then secret sci. in the world that i came from, and my year in the white house, to have those types of documents in a government facility, they can only be handled in a certain kind of facility called a secure compartment facility -- or escape. the fact that these documents were not declassified, they didn't go through the formal process, they were kept in his possession. and then they were taken in a facility that wasn't approved to store this kind of material even if it was somehow in a locked room in mar-a-lago.

so that in and of itself is really concerning. we also don't know, looking at those cover sheets, what's behind the actual sheets -- i can make some speculations based on the words sci. i would have to assume these are intelligence assessments. mixes of different streams of sensitive intelligence. it gives it that sci banner. these are documents that only should have been kept in government approved facilities with controlled access. this clearly didn't happen. >> javid, given you or you're working with the trump administration, did you ever either see haphazard behavior, let's call it that, with regard to things relative to national security? or hear about it? what we're talking about now, were you afraid this could become a reality? >> so in the year that i spent, i did not personally see any behavior or activity like that. not only myself but the

colleagues of mine on the national security council, we were almost all career professionals coming from some other part of the government national security. we knew how to treat the most sensitive information and intelligence that our government had to support policy making. at a professional level, i thought that we dealt with it as we should have, and as we were trained, and practiced in doing. so how that worked across the street in the white house? that was an insight i didn't have. i also didn't hear that there were these haphazard practices, either. >> thank you for clarifying all. that in the weeks after the fbi search of mar-a-lago, donald trump has ramped up his social media commentary. and a new article, you report that trump has been sharing a barrage of qanon content and other conspiracy theories on his social media platform truth social. give us some examples, and tell us how his base is reacting to what he's putting out there? >> yeah, so for example, he

posted about the storm which is the big qanon -- the deep state has arrested and publicly executed -- the storm is coming. that only makes sense in a qanon context. acute drop, which is one of the communications from a fictitious government insider q -- so this is not an anomaly anymore. this is a direct bullhorn to the qanon people, which is interesting. is qanon dying? we are people losing faith that he had omnipotent power over the government still, and all these mythological ideas about him were not true? so he needed these people to come back. they have. the qanon forums which were dead have been a light the last few days. he finally gave them what they wanted. they gave him this permission to keep going with this idea that he's a deity and he'll be

back in power at any moment. by the way, when he posted on truth social this week that he wants a new election, he wants to be declared the winner again, and it's august 2022, that's what they're talking about. the qanon people think that he'll be back into power, literally, any minute now. >> that statement is absolutely ludicrous. let me ask you real quick, we have a ballpark number on the, i guess, amount of people that would fall into this qanon following -- following donald trump? any idea how many were talking about? >> there's this great diffusion of qanon after january six. they realized it wasn't happening. a lot of people got picked up by militia movements. most of those movements were actively recruiting qanon people in q forums. after january six. a lot of them believe the general premise, there's a deep state, with the deep state does depends on how much you believe in satan, i guess. some of them believe --

almost every qanon person believes that people like hillary clinton are eating children. it's really crazy. the general premise that there is a deep state in the government and donald trump is running a secret or to stop it, that has dissolved into the larger mega severe. qanon one in terms of the message boards. it's hard to even estimate how many many people. they've been folded into the larger magasphere. >> absolutely extraordinary that donald trump is appealing to them. that's all the time i have, look forward to seeing you guys again soon. >> a more aggressive president biden on the offensive and against maga. is this new approach good for the country and democratic hopes in november? hopes in november? steak and crispy bacon.

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president biden, making clear what's at stake in the upcoming elections. the president warning of threats to democracy in a speech that still resonating this weekend after he called out his predecessor by name, as a clear and present danger. >> not every republican embraces there extreme ideology. i know, because i've been able to work with these mainstream republicans. but there's no question that the republican party today is dominated, and intimidated, by donald trump and the maga republicans. >> joining me now is michael hopkins attorney and president of -- and the democratic congressional campaign committee. guys, welcome to you both. michael, to whom was the president speaking on thursday night? what audience was he targeting? >> i think the president was

speaking directly to the base. he was also speaking to donald trump. that speech was a middle finger to donald trump. it was what democrats have wanted to hear for basically his entire presidency. for the longest time, democrats have backed down in the face of confrontation. no more. president biden is now ready for the fight. he's ready for this election. democrats are going to over perform, not underperformed. i think republicans who are looking for a red wave? it's not happening. >> there have been whispers that president biden would very much like to take on donald trump, again. that said, kurt, the president made clear that not all republicans are maga republicans. was it in your mind, that distinction clearer, or desert risk deepening the political divide? do many republicans privately draw that distinction? >> well i think that we know, even the republicans who masqueraded as maga republicans,

privately bemoaned the course that the party has taken. oftentimes are quoted in the background too many political reporters complaining about donald trump. what president biden did so effectively was give republicans, disaffected republicans, who don't want their party to keep going down this path, he give them permission to vote with the democrats in the 2022 midterms. he gave no reason an irrational to put democracy ahead of traditional partisan politics. this was setting the stakes for the election. it needed to happen. it was, by the way, upholding the very words that his oath of office includes. protecting and defending the constitution, the democracy is under threat from republicans. candidates that believe in the big, lie that say they're going to overturn free and fair elections? the president upheld his oath of duty and gave people

irrational to change channels to moderate republicans and choose democracy over. that >> listening to that michael, and in spite of the incredibly high gas prices, fortunately have come, down inflation in the leg, a recent nbc poll shows that threats to the democracy are the most important issues facing the country. clearly biden is taking that on. is this the midterm message, and can this get enough traction and avoid the thorny issues and the economy? >> look, democrats can argue policy and also argue passion. history is repeating itself. in 1939, 20,000 nazi sympathizers went to madison square garden and held a rally about true americanism. in 2022, the republican party at cpac has victor or back stand up and say that racists should not mix. the republicans are domestic terrorists.

they hold themselves -- called themselves domestic terrorists. there is a coup january six, it wasn't chinese, it wasn't iranians, it was trump supporters. it was republicans. we've got to do something about that. joe biden went forward and made a speech that i think history is going to remember. he actually put a stake in the ground. he said, we're going to fight this. that's what this election is going to be about. >> yeah, it was a very powerful speech. let me ask you, kurt, when the new wall street journal poll came out and found it biden would defeat trump if the election was held today. a six point lead over trump. a few months ago, some democrats were wondering whether president biden should be the candidate in 2024? are we seeing a completely different president that we saw then? >> i think we're seeing the same president. this was the president who told us when he was running for president that he had a certain amount of goals. getting us through covid,

rebuilding the economy, getting a grip on prescription drug prices. making infrastructure not a punchline of a void -- of a joke but making it happen. he's done all of those things, and he said, we are running to save the soul of our democracy. this is a battle for the soul of our nation. what we saw from the press was in -- the president was an extension of that the. i remember the conversations, we had them on this show, about certain democrats winning whether he should run again. expressing frustration, do not fall for that trap. do not buy into the right-wing conversation of president biden. by all objective measures, he's been historically successful president. we need to line up behind our guy, not show weakness, not buy into the beltway thinking. move forward with force and with enthusiasm. i think that's what we're starting to see from democrats right now as republicans are self detonating and imploding. >> okay, kurt, michael, good to

see you both. thanks for weighing in. >> coming up next a tearful goodbye for now. it's serena williams last hurrah. hurrah thanks, dad. that's right, robert. and it's never too early to learn you could save with america's number one motorcycle insurer. that's right, jamie. but it's not just about savings. it's about the friends we make along the way. you said it, flo. and don't forget to floss before you brush. your gums will thank you. -that's right, dr. gary. -jamie? sorry, i had another thought so i got back in line. what was it? [ sighs ] i can't remember. the unknown is not empty. it's a storm that crashes, and consumes, replacing thought with worry. but one thing can calm uncertainty. an answer. uncovered through exploration, teamwork, and innovation. an answer that leads to even more answers.

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when you switch the whole family. (geek) wow... i've got to let my buddies know. (geek friend) we're already here! (vo) the network you want. the price you love. only from verizon. tennis superstar serena williams is likely wrapping up her decades long career. the 23-time grand slam champion is expected to retire after losing an incredible third round match at the u.s. open last night. nbc's maggie vespa is at the stadium in queens new york. i know you were there last night, what can you tell us about that historic match? >> nothing short of an epic night here at the stadium. the queen of the court, serena williams going out like only she can. fighting until that very last point. and then after that last point we saw serena williams, the human. she stepped back onto the court, choking back tears, thinking her family and her fans for

helping her sustain this career that as we know, has defined the sport and inspire generations. >> after 25 years dominating the court, the greatest of all time says goodbye. >> you guys were amazing today. thank you daddy! thanks mom! >> serena williams choking back tears, thanking her fans, parents, and big sister. >> i wouldn't be serena if it wasn't for venus. thank you venus! >> the heartfelt moment following last night's heart stopping match. for more than three hours, the 40-year-old williams battled 29 year old australian i let time none of it in the third round of the u.s. open. williams backed by a deafening crowd. dotted with famous faces, including director spike lee, and nfl quarterback russell

wilson. plus fans who credit the williams sisters for opening countless doors for women of color. >> they inspired an entire generation. that's not just made-up, they really did. >> the 23-time grand slam champ, setting the stage for retirement, telling vogue, she was evolving away from tennis. last night, tomjanovich was relentless. after her win, paying tribute. >> she's the greatest of all time, period. >> williams thanking fans for what she called the most incredible journey. >> i'm just so grateful to every single person that's ever said go serena in their life. >> a swansong fit for an icon that left the world wanting more. >> is there any chance you will reconsider? >> i don't think so. but you never know. i don't know. >> williams definitely leaving the door open there. in all seriousness, she's been pretty consistent all week. never completely commuting, but

strongly indicating that she now plans to retire. the coach saying that this tournament, the way she played, the enthusiasm from the fans, is the perfect way to go out. that enthusiasm permeating onto social media. we'll show you some of the top tweets. former first lady michelle obama tweeting her congrats adding, how lucky were we? to be able to watch a young girl from compton grow up to become one of the greatest athletes of all-time? tiger woods, a mentor for serena tweeting, you are literally the greatest on and off the court. adding, i love you little sis! and gymnasts great, simone biles, saying thank you for transcending sports for black athletes, female athletes, and every athlete. calling serena pleasure to watch and an inspiration. if that's not enough, twitter itself, the platform confirming this morning, serena williams is the most tweeted about female athlete of all-time. which, definitely seems very fitting again at the end of the

era here at arthur ashe stadium. i'll send it back to. you >> claiming yet another -- in minutes everyone, the latest on 2 big breaking stories we're following this hour. we'll have updates on both of them for you. them for you