american people need to hear it so voters can make a decision for themselves. >> zerlina , donald trump will bring up any topic about anything except project 2025. symone and her team on the weekend had a remarkable interview with the president of the heritage foundation in which he said all the things, this is our book, what we believe in, this will be republican conservative policy. donald trump keeps running away from it, it is not mine, i have nothing to do with it, it is not my peeps. he does not want to talk about it, he cannot get the albatross off of him. >> literally, the moment he ran off the stage yesterday was one project 2025, ironically brought up by harris faulkner, part of the question. of course, you saw the former president ran off the stage because he does not want to talk about that. i want to hone in on an important part, you are right to call racism a distraction, his misogyny also a distraction

because he cannot talk about substance and that has always been the case with donald trump. >> thank you to both of you, symone sanders-townsend and zerlina maxwell. that is it for this thursday night. alex wagner, i apologize for cutting into your time . >> my friend, noah apologies necessary. there's a lot going on in the world right now, a whole lot. i want to start tonight with these new images that we have from the olympic games. that is team usa competing in women's basketball against the nation of belgium. the person you see in the center of your screen is u.s. olympian brittney griner. brittney griner helped lead the united states to victory, 87-74 against belgium. the reason that was possible, the reason whitney greiner was able to represent the u.s. at these olympic games and help the united states claim victory in women's basketball was because

of a real feat of diplomacy by president joe biden. it was february 2022 went ms. greiner was detained in russia on trumped up charges related to cannabis products found in her luggage. by august, she had been sentenced nine years in a russian penal colony. just a few months later, in december of that year, president biden announced he had negotiated historic prisoner swap, securing brittney griner's safe release. that is why brittney griner was able to play for team usa today in the paris olympics. whitney griner was not the only american prisoner held in russia. the biden wife has used the momentum from the griner deal to continue negotiations for other hostages. paul whelan, former u.s. marine arrested on espionage charges in russia in 2018, charges that the u.s. and we line both denied and there was vladimir kara-

murza , green card holder and press advocate in russia, viewers of the network may remove or his arrest in 2022, appear to be attempt by vladimir putin to silence one of his biggest critics. putin would go on to take more prisoners, people like ivan gershkovich, american journalist working for the wall street journal, who was arrested on even more trumped up espionage charges and and alsu kurmashev, another american journalist arrested in august 2023 for failing to register as a foreign agent area all of these people were being held as prisoners of the russian government until today. today in historic series of negotiations, president biden secured the release of all four of those prisoners as part of what is a remarkably high- stakes, multilateral negotiation

. in total, 24 people were released today, 16 held captive by russia and eight are the u.s. and european allies. the largest prisoner swap with russia since the cold war. that on its own is extraordinary but the details of how this came together are really something. for years in the u.s., families and friends and employers of the american prisoners advocating for the release, in particular, the staff of the wall street journal pushing relentlessly and publicly for the return of their collie, ivan gershkovich. the plight of mr. gershkovich became an issue in the presidential election. former president donald trump boasted that gershkovich would only be free once trump was elected president. >> ivan gershkovich, the reporter for the wall street journal being held by russia will be released almost immediately after the election but definitely before i assume

office. he will be home, he will be safe, vladimir putin, president of russia, will do that for me and i don't believe he will do it for anyone else. >> trump that he alone could secure ivan gershkovich's release, many other people felt otherwise, including ivan gershkovich's on mother. according to the wall street journal, april of last year, she rushed up to president biden at the white house correspondents dinner and grabbed his hands before imploring him, you're the only one who can bring my boy home. she was right. not only did president biden secure the release of evan gershkovich and other hostages, biden did so using a careful and skillful strategy that donald trump and probably a lot of other politicians simply could never pull off. for starters, putin's price for the release of the hostages, the key bargaining chip in all of this was this guy. back in

2019, he was arrested for assassinating a chechen dissident in berlin on behalf of russia's intelligence agency. he is a kremlin linked assassin serving a life sentence in germany, someone that was so close to putin that western intelligence officials reportedly speculate he may have been vladimir putin's personal bodyguard. in order to secure the release of these prisoners today, president biden needed to get germany to agree to releasing a very high profile criminal back into russian custody. that is not something the german government was eager to do in order to free, by the way, american prisoners. president biden made strengthening american bonds with nato allies like germany a cornerstone of his foreign policy, a stark reversal from the trump-era policy of alienating western democracies and currying favor with autocrats and dictators. when the time came for germany

to play its part and release that russian assassin, german chancellor olaf scholz reportedly told president biden, for you, i will do this for you, joe biden, i will do this. today, president biden talked about that relationship and how important it was. >> i'm particularly on a great sense of gratitude to the chancellor, demands requiring me to make significant concessions from germany, which they originally concluded they could not do because of the person in question. everybody stepped up, poland, slovenia, turkiye and it matters to have relationships, it really does.

>> routing the reporting we have, president biden first started working to secure support from allies in the summer of 2023 by early 2024, it looked like a deal was coming together but then the whole thing nearly fell apart, one of the prisoners who the u.s. and europe were hoping to get released as part of the deal was russian opposition leader alexei navalny. but just a week after biden secured germany's support, he mysteriously died in a russian prison prompting global outrage. biden dispatched his vice president, kamala harris, to help make sure this arrangement with germany and all these other allies would hold. according to nbc news, at a february meeting with chancellor olaf scholz, harris and olaf scholz discuss the prisoner swap and she raised something president biden recently discussed with the chancellor, germany's release of vadim krasikov was a critical component of getting a prisoner swap with russia . a white house official said that harris

moved the ball forward significantly in that meeting. the official also said that harrison's meeting with slovenian prime minister robert golub was arranged specifically to bring slovenia on board with this multi country prisoner swap. these meetings continued for months and on july 17th, the biden administration got the news the deal had come together and that date is significant because that is the day president biden was diagnosed with covid. four days later on sunday, july 21st at 12:45 p.m., president biden was on the phone with the prime minister of slovenia hammering out the final details of this deal and that date is also significant because one hour later, president biden released this statement announcing his exit from the american presidential race. imagine for second, the kind of focus and fortitude it takes to

be working on these high-stakes negotiations at the precise time you are making the most difficult decision of your political career and oh, by the way, also recovering from covid. imagine what would have happened if it was donald trump in that situation. a man who has made a political career out of maligning america's geopolitical alliances and criminally charged for his efforts to stay in power area this act of diplomacy was possible only because joe biden is the president. tonight, president biden and vice president harris will greet the freed american prisoners on the tarmac of joint base andrews. capping off an astounding journey home. the white house briefing room discipline, national security adviser jake sullivan talked about the work it took to bring these hostages home.

>> honestly, guys, i can just say this was vintage joe biden, rallying american allies to save american citizens and russian freedom fighters and doing it with intricate statecraft pulling his whole team together to drag it across the finish line. i spent a lot of time with the families of evan and paul and alsu kurmashev, those are tough conversations but not today , excuse me, today was a very good day. >> joining me are michael mcfaul , former u.s. ambassador to russia and former director of hostage rescue and recovery for the american government, thank you for being here tonight. what a monumental day. michael mcfaul, ambassador, what was your thought when you first heard about this? >> elation, joy. when i heard vadim krasikov's

family was getting ready to go to the white house next day, in my circles, that was a signal that the deal that you very elaborately and precisely talked about, this is a long tale that goes way back, lots of different pieces, one i felt was moving was joy because none of these people should've been in jail. this is a fantastic achievement for american diplomacy. i want to underscore this is a team effort, starting with the president, sullivan, antony blinken, bill burns at the cia played his role. roger carson's, it was a team effort and a team effort as you rightly underscored with our allies. this does not happen without close allies that you value and value us and at the end of the day, people keep saying since the cold war, nothing like this has happened since the cold war, i know the cold war pretty

well, this is the most complex negotiation ever in the history of dealing with moscow and it comes about as a result of serious diplomacy with close allies. >> chris, can you talk about the precise angle that the ambassadors talking about, the multilateral agreement negotiation, all the moving pieces and how unusual that is from the perspective of a hostage negotiator? >> i think ambassador hit the nail on the head, everybody points back to the cold war, this had so many moving pieces on the diplomatic end, the multilateral approach, engaging several different governments who had different equities and the german government had to give up a significant concession themselves with little in return and it was based on the relationship with the united states and this administration. also within the u.s. government , synchronizing the effects of the u.s. government, which is

most people don't like to hear, dysfunctional bureaucracy at times and it takes leadership. jake sullivan, i know has been directly involved and many of the hostage cases and the president and homeland security adviser are involved in all of these. it really is important to highlight the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, roger karstens and his team, their relentless trying to bring these americans home. they come up with this operation and synchronize it, it takes a lot of moving pieces and they also build continuance he is should things go wrong. the one thing really worth highlighting is these are difficult decisions we will have critics on, people will constantly sharpshooter, you released this individual but you only got this. well, as jake sullivan highlighted today during the briefing, these are considered,

there is a risk assessment and leaders make decisions based on that and ringing americans home safely has been a focus of this administration and in fairness to the trump administration, they did that as well, the obama administration put the pieces in place with the review and restructuring of the hostage enterprise. it is good to see things coming together and working the way they were intended to. >> yeah, there are so many good points, one is the bureaucracies you're dealing with, not just american but the director sees in germany, turkiye, slovenia, all of the moving pieces. the reality, ambassador mcfall, leadership is about making tough decisions. we will get to that pushback on the move by this part of the white house, i want to talk on the line from german chancellor olaf scholz, i will do this for you, joe biden, it struck me when i read the account, it seems like so much hinged on

that relationship in many ways, we lost a sense of the import because trump has done so much work to undermine the importance of alliances as a country, this is a really poignant moment to understand what the alliances get you in the critical hour. >> i could not agree more, i would add two different things that, two additional points, number one, the negotiation inside the german government i'm sure was intense, i was part of the swap in 2010 that we did with the russians, part of that negotiation was within our government because our law enforcement officials, intelligence officials don't want to hand over spies and this guy, vadim krasikov is an assassin, a horrible person , to give him up, that was really hard, that takes leadership and the relationship between our two leaders. the second part is really important to remind everybody

up, they added russian opposition figures to this trade. by the way, three of them are personal friends of mine. that does not usually happen in swaps, it is foreign governments with foreign governments, spies and spies. i think that was a very creative idea and maybe it was roger karstens' idea, fantastic negotiator that someday needs to write a really important book about what he did here. that was the sweetener, a necessary condition for moving the germans, from what i've been told. it shows you again, you have to believe in allies and also believe in democracy and you have to think it is important to get released, these human rights fighters, opposition fighters, that is classic joe biden, things that he cares about deeply. >> that is a fascinating point, chris. i wonder what your take is on that because we know that negotiations almost fell apart after the death of alexei navalny, who was the most

prominent critic and opposition leader against putin, would you assume the inclusion of the other opposition figures was away to keep germany at that table after navalny was killed apparently in a russian prison ? >> i would be speculating but i'm sure between ambassador karstens and jake sullivan and the other players involved, dr. liz sherwood-randall would be involved. i'm sure they came up with different ideas to throw up against negotiating team and offered different things to the germans. i'm sure there were a few different options to get everybody satisfied where this was going to come across the finish line. getting back to what the ambassador said earlier, i can't in another case in recent history that is anywhere near as complex in the negotiation, also the recovery and different planes going back to different locations.

very little leaked out in advance, which is incredibly impressive as well. >> yeah, they're so much impressive about this. i will say, ambassador mcfaul, there has been some concern about the precedent this sets, i know that tom nichols is pretty strongly worded in the atlantic and he says that the fact the west is holding russian murders and spies and russia is holding western journalists and basketball players is lost in the cold detailed trading living human beings as if they were heads of cattle or loads of lumber. but more important and more dangerous, the fact that every successful hostage deal is a signal from putin to the people who do his bidding overseas, that he will rescue them if they are caught. do you worry about that? >> of course i worry about it, these are hard decisions. these are decisions president biden had to make with the chancellor of germany because you are worried about precedent. i don't like the fact these creepy crawlers are kissing

putin on the tarmac and being celebrated. i can tell you i don't know all the people but i note three of the people released personally and not just pieces of human, these are human beings, very valuable human beings and they will contribute to value to their societies, american society and ringing down putin. and you have to sit down and make the trade off, are we better off with them free or better off with them dying in jail? it is a hard call but i think the president made the right call in this regard. i want to emphasize one more piece, you brought it up, this deal has been in the works, people were talking about at the munich security conference. i met with julia in a balmy the night before her husband was killed. when it fell apart and he was killed, there is a drama and horrific moment but then the vice president met with yuliya

met ball mia that day, the vice president wrote the owed when she was chosen as one of the hundred most influential people for time magazine. do you know who called yulia navalnaya today? it was the vice president. it was a team effort and it was great we had such great team members to bring us home today. >> really key point, thank you for making that. we will talk more about what vice president harris has been up to later on in the show. ambassador michael mcfaul and christopher origlieri, appreciate your time. i should note msnbc will be covering the arrival of evan gershkovich and paul whelan and alsu kurmashev live later this evening where they will be welcomed by president biden and vice president harris. president biden called prime minister netanyahu today,

how much will the war in the middle east affect the dynamics of the american presidential race? we have that just ahead. more about what vice president harris has been up to while donald trump continues to question her blackness. i talked to longtime friend of kamala harris, laphonza butler, about all of that coming up next. discover the power of wegovy®. ♪ ♪ with wegovy®, i lost 35 pounds. and some lost over 46 pounds. ♪ ♪ and i'm keeping the weight off. wegovy® helps you lose weight and keep it off. i'm reducing my risk. wegovy® is the only fda-approved weight-management medicine that's proven to reduce risk of major cardiovascular events in adults with known heart disease and with either obesity or overweight. wegovy® shouldn't be used with semaglutide or glp-1 medicines. don't take wegovy® if you or your family had medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2,

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birth certificate, why, she is smiling, why doesn't he show his birth certificate? i'm setting to wonder myself what he was born in the country. if he does not have a birth certificate or he does, there is something on the certificate that is very bad for him. >> part of donald trump's political origin story is his absolute obsession with the completely unfounded claim that barack obama, our nation's first president, was not actually american. today, his race baiting continues, after a disastrous interview yesterday at the conference at the national association of black journalists, in which trump tried to claim the first black and asian vice president in american history, kamala harris, just happened to turn black only recently. after that train wreck of an appearance, trump has spent the last 24 hours doubling down. at the trump rally after that interview, he used the jumbotron to display articles about harris' indian american

heritage, this morning he posted this image of vice president harris with her indian family members, apparently in trump's mind, you cannot be black and indian at the same time. because trump is trump, he has gone back to his roots, reposting this screed from conspiracy theorist and right- wing activists showing kamala harris' birth certificate. she claims that somehow the birth certificate proves that harris, the daughter of a black jamaican man, is not black. that is how donald trump spent his day, doubling down on racist competence -- comments. meanwhile, vice president harris spent her day at the funeral democratic congressman sheila jackson lee. congresswoman lee represented parts of houston, texas for nearly 30 years at the u.s. capitol and throughout her entire career, she was a champion for progressive causes and lack americans.

while trump was pushing racist conspiracy theories about vice president harris, harris, hear what she herself was saying about one of our nation's great black leaders. >> sheila jackson lee was a change maker. she worked with all her heart to lift up the people of her city, of her state, and of our nation and to honor her memory, let us continue the fight to realize the promise of america, a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice, not just for some, but for all. >> kamala harris was only the second black woman in american history to serve as u.s. senator the third black woman to ever become a u.s. senator and the only remitting woman in the u.s. senate joins me next.

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what you think, jesse? >> he stole the new cycle, kamala still the new cycle, he ripped it back and put on his camp. >> donald trump is getting props, i guess that is what you would call it, on fox news for his decision to question vice president kamala harris' race. that racist spectacle may be the point, trump needed to get back on the screen to compete with kamala harris and the

attention. the pre-trump days, pre-trump candidate might get attention by having a big speech about foreign policy are coming out with a new campaign theme. instead, trump went in front of a black eye and said, i did not know she was black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn black. joining me is democratic senator laphonza butler of california. senator butler, thank you for being here and helping us put this into context. first, let me get your thoughts on how donald trump, i guess to some degree, the entire republican party, understand you own a new cycle in presidential election, which is to say by stoking racial division, grievance, and mistrust, what does that say to you about the republican party? >> thanks for having me, alex. it is interesting we both get a chuckle out of the level of ridiculousness that question purports. the fact that donald trump is

such an egomaniac and petulant child, when people aren't talking about him, his next tactic is to figure out how to insult a whole community of people, i think, the entire american people in totality, all of us are of mixed race of some sort. he goes to a gathering of black journalists to say that the first black and indian american women to serve in the role of vice president isn't black, but that is how he wants to distract us about talking about his policies in project 2025 that he plans to implement. it is a chuckle but it is despicable and typical donald trump. >> i do wonder what you make of your republican colleagues in the senate, who have had, as is

the order of the day, being in the party of trump, a difficult time wrestling with these comments but have not chosen to take the high road. i think thom tillis, carolina senator said, anytime we are commenting on anything the biden administration failed economy, failed border, failed national security, we are not gaining ground that is not exactly disavowing what trump is doing, i guess that is the way out of it for them? >> i think what is unfortunate for the entire gop, whether you're talking about senators or house members or state party leaders, they don't have a clue as to how to support the craziness that continues to come out of donald trump's mouth. rather than actually stand up, call it for what it is, it is wrong and it is despicable, they are trying to find ways to dance around 10 knot make the

former president angry at them. nobody wants to take the brunt of what they feel like he would do to ridicule them or challenge them in their primary. i think it is a sign of frankly, weakness of the entire gop, who are choosing to allow this one individual to help empower them to essentially disparage a whole community of people. and insult the intelligence of the entire american country to. >> i do wonder how you think kamala harris is dealing with this, we have seen her, her comments yesterday at a rally with historically black's is already -- sorority, she called the divisiveness and disrespect. i understand that impulse and technical nature of saying that i'm not going to get into the mud pit you opened up. at the same time, i do wonder, you know the woman personally,

this has to be more than irritating but deeply insulting to someone whose heritage, the very question of how she identifies herself, is being made a mockery of by her opponent, present opponent in the presidential election. >> for all of us, it would have impact and create real personal hurt. the thing that i know about the vice president and the thing that gives me great confidence in her, not only securing the democratic nomination, eventually winning in november, this ain't her first radio. she is, as she has said, a black woman, identifies as a black woman, she will die as a black woman, she is been a black and indian american woman who was the first woman to serve as district attorney, when the most color to serve in san francisco. first black and indian american woman elected to the attorney general in the state of

california. she was the first black and indian american woman from california to be representing our state in the united states senate. she has been through the kind of insults and bullying and attempts to dismiss and disregard her leadership her entire public career in public service to what she has demonstrated time after time is that she is ready for the fight, she can take any name- calling because she does it in service to the people to whom she is called to serve to that is the difference between this vice president and former president donald trump. she is here for the people of this country to make things better, to create a brighter future for our young leaders. donald trump is here for himself, he went to n.a.b. j to create attention for himself, as said by his own supporters on fox news, to grab the new cycle. he does not care about the american people, he cares about himself and that is the

contrast between him and vice president harris. >> it is a staggering contrast as you so brilliantly pointed out, senator laphonza butler, thank you for your perspective tonight, really appreciate it. still to come tonight, the domestic little impact of the conflict in the middle east as vice president harris works on resurrecting peace negotiations while donald trump does what donald trump tends to do, that is next. (♪♪) is she? claritin clear. yeah. powerful allergy relief that won't make you drowsy. >> [music] i enrolled in umgc live claritin clear.®

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in the midst of solving the return of three american hostages from russia, president biden also spent the day focused on rising tension in the middle east. today, president biden and vice president harris spoke on the phone with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu affirming u.s. support for israel and also stressing the importance of de-escalation following yesterday's assassination of hamas political leader and key negotiator in the cease-fire talks, ismail haniyeh . thousands gather in tehran for ismail haniyeh's funeral as a run and is proxies waned israel for the killing and planning retaliation, something that could trigger a wider regional war. joining me is a staff writer for the atlantic. i wonder if in broad strokes, you can talk about how much of

a shot of this war in your mind will cast over the u.s. presidential election and domestic politics? there's a lot happening in terms of on the ground reality and foreign policy, in terms of domestic political implications, how do you see them? >> it is a challenging thing to game out the future of the middle east and the future of u.s. presidential election, it is like a double backflip in the olympics and i don't think i can pull it off to i can say how the war goes will impact the future of the next 100 days in the u.s. election and it could be the war fizzles out, winds down, it could be it escalates and inflames, nobody really knows because every time israel and iran or its proxies of the anti-on very high alert, innocence this could be the one that triggers the regional war and we have not had the regional . it only takes one mistake, one miscalculation before something goes haywire and

terribly wrong and suddenly you have a bigger wart between israel, possibly iran, hezbollah, and hamas all at once that could pull the u.s. in which would have dramatic implications for u.s. politics and the world. >> fair point. let me put a finer point on it, jonathan bison in the new york times talks about how the winds are changing around this particular administration on the war in gaza, the progressive wing of the party becoming less vocal in it it criticism over gaza believing vice president harris is inching toward them on israel and palestine with her forthright calls for a cease- fire, her acknowledgment of catastrophic levels of food insecurity and her pledge not to be silent on palestinian suffering, do you agree with that assessment? >> i'm not so sure that progressive critics, the u.s. handling of the gaza work in israel conduct has changed their minds no matter how vocal they are a mess. i think they're hoping harris

will move toward them, nobody really knows if you look carefully at her rhetoric, it is the same as what she was saying as vice president, similar to what joe biden was saying, people point to differences in tone, substantive, very consistent with this administrative policy. it would be hard for harris to run a different foreign-policy to the president of the united states, very chaotic for the world and problematic for the campaign, cause a lot of problems on the trail i don't think it will go away. what leads this is not what harris does or by dentist what actors in the middle east do, whether the events after late or de-escalate which will force harris and biden to respond to events. >> of course, assuming we are status quo, which is a massive assumption to let's say as it stands now, trump, this week said, any jewish person that voted for vice president harris or president joe biden should have their head examined if you're jewish and vote for a democrat, you're a fool, absolute fool.

is that over estimation of the way things are or do you think that is real currency republicans have in the bank? >> historically, the vast majority of jews vote the democratic ticket election after election after election. not the extreme weight trump makes it, they fizzle. we might see some shifting here and there but it seems unlikely. this is emblematic of the weight trump talks about jews and other minorities, you are the right kind of jew if you support him in the wrong kind if you don't, he plays the role of this anti-semitic santa claus where he chooses who is good and bad. that is not a friend of jewish people talks, how it would affect the election, i don't think donald trump talking this light's effective way, it can affect you, i don't think it shifts that much because jews largely vote democratic in the

first place >> yes, you have a very interesting piece in the atlantic that is up now all about how kamala harris' choice in running mate could insulate her, or not, for taking a decidedly different tact in the months ahead. just ahead tonight, 96 days left until the election, new evidence the enthusiasm for kamala harris is still growing. that is next. then spraying my febreze air mist, to leave every room smelling fresh and clean. with that done, it's time to get to work. ♪ la la la la la hey, everybody. w. kamau bell here. they say that america is the land of the free.

but right now, people in the u.s. are seeing their freedoms taken away at an alarming rate. freedoms some of us take for granted. the right to vote. equal access to health care. book banning and other forms of censorship that threaten our right to learn. and here's something truly shocking, right now in our country hundreds of thousands of people are incarcerated simply because they couldn't afford bail. that's not free and it's not fair. but there is hope for change. it lives in people like you and in a great organization called the american civil liberties union. so please join me and other concerned americans in defending our civil liberties by joining the aclu as a guardian of liberty today. all it takes is just $19 a month, only $0.63 a day. when you're surrounded by oppressive laws you can't just sit back and be oppressed. you get up and fight and all of us at the aclu are fighting for you. whether it's criminal justice reform or protecting the lgbtq plus rights,

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with 96 days until election day, the democratic party began virtual rollcall in which delegates vote electronically for their choice in the presidential nomination. we are finally starting to see what the change of the ticket is doing. in a new poll, kamala harris beats donald trump within the

margin of error, 46% to 44%. joe biden was polling at 40%. joining me now is simon rosenberg, a political strategist and the author of the hopi and chronicles. >> i would love to talk about the swing state polling. national is one thing. there is some interesting things from bloomberg in swing states. there is a discrepancy in terms of what is happening in michigan and pennsylvania. michigan it shows harris beating by 11 points but losing by four points in pennsylvania. obviously does a different state but that is a massive swing. what do you think accounts for that? >> it is like a sketch not a photograph. it is the sketch into a window of time. sometimes they are right and sometimes they are not. there has been a lot of polling

this week and last week. last week, harris caught up and it became even. this week the balance show her ahead by a little bit. things got a little bit better. in the two battleground polls, there was a public opinion strategy poll of five states. in the two combined, she is ahead in at least one of them in nevada, arizona, michigan, pennsylvania and wisconsin. the map has gotten much better. in the republican poll, she is ahead by three points. the way to think about it, it is a close competitive election. we have a slight advantage. we are likely to gain as we go through the convention. i would much rather -- today.

>> we do have a series of points coming up and a rapidly shrinking calendar. the trump team said the honeymoon period manned. it may end in late september. that is close to the election. >> it may end in the fall. we have a lot of momentum now and they don't. we have had a great few weeks and trump had one of his ugliest days as his time as a national candidate yesterday. we continue to produce positive news. we saw good economic news. the border flow is lower than any other time. biden/harris continue to have the ability to generate positive stories. it is a relentless set of

negative news. the dynamic is fundamentally changed. over the next few weeks we are likely to gain a few points. one thing that is important, we also are going to have the biggest operation that the democratic party has ever had. we believe that song operations give you a pointer to. not only the vp pick but then the strongest grassroots operation we have ever seen. we are coming in strong with the wind at our back. a great candidate performing at an extraordinary level. is exhibiting ugliness that will make it hard for him to win . >> how much is money a

reflection. it is less than 139 million in all of july. >> what does that mean to you. >> it is also a lot of money late. >> it is a big deal. what is also happening, this is for candidates across the country. i talked with house and senate candidates in the last few weeks. all of them are sitting in up ticket money and volunteers. the party is strong and excited. it is an exciting time for politics and ugly for them. it is the next stretch of the election.