good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. moving ahead. for the first time in 325 days, lawyers argue former president donald trump's january 6th case before a judge.

how fast the judge wants to move the case, how mike pence may be involved going forward. plus, a huge shock inside a different courtroom. hunter biden's tax trial stopped in its tracks today. the president's son set to change his plea. what the reversal might mean for the case when it picks up in about an hour. and on their radar. the fbi reveals the 14-year-old suspected georgia school shooter was questioned before online threats just last year. so how did this still happen? a lot to get to. but we begin here with just 61 days until the election. judge tanya chutkan, overseeing donald trump's election interference case, making it clear that, quote, this court is not concerned with the electoral schedule. jack smith's case was up ended by the landmark supreme court ruling on immunity, and there are lots of questions still to be answered. when will this trial over actions involving the january

6th insurrection actually start? no trial date was set today. what role will mike pence play? his name came up at least 12 times. and will jack smith be allowed to see it through as special prosecutor? so much to talk about. let's bring in msnbc legal correspondent lisa rubin who is inside court for this hearing. nbc's vaughn hillyard covers the trump campaign for us. former gop communications director and ceo of the seneca project. also with us, former assistant district attorney in manhattan and legal analyst catherine christian. great to have you all here. lisa, you were inside the courtroom. as i said, very high stakes here. give us a sense of the tone and your big takeaway. >> judge tanya chutkan is prepared and incredibly professional. she knew exactly what she needed to accomplish today and went through where we've been in this case, what was left on the table

when it was stayed for the former president's immunity appeal, and what needs to be schedules now. she was primarily concerned with two things, scheduling briefing on presidential immunity, and then other motions that would be pretrial motions. recognizing that this case will likely go to the supreme court and back again before it's tried before her. that's why she did not even attempt to set a trial date today. later today, we should get a scheduling order from her about the immunity issue, though, particularly. former president trump's lawyers have one objective today. that was to push that immunity briefing sometime after the election. because if jack smith has his way, that immunity briefing is going to include laying out a bunch of the evidence that supports their indictment, including things that aren't ever mentioned in the indictment itself. they detailed for the court how they might attach things like grand jury interview transcripts, fbi 302 memos. they reflect memos they conduct with witnesses early in the

investigation, and other evidence, most of which, at this point, according to trump's lawyers, remains under seal. so what judge chutkan needs to decide now is who is going to brief the issue first? on that, it appears that jack smith and his team are likely to win. as soon as three weeks from today, they could be submitting a brief that defends their superseding indictment as compliant with the supreme court's immunity decision and also tells judge chutkan all of the evidence that they're relying upon, both for the indictment itself and perhaps that they'd rely upon at trial or did rely upon at the grand jury. they are willing to do that at this point, lay all their cards on the table, because their number one objective, as compared to the trump people, is to have only one appeal of these issues before a trial date can be set, chris. >> all right. this is a lot of complicated legal stuff, right? this is not guilty or innocent. this is not the details of the case. let's make sure we understand what judge chutkan is talking

about here. she knows this is going to end up probably before the supreme court. this trial is not going to start in the next two months before the election. let's start there. but she wants to figure out first and foremost, correct me if i'm wrong, with this scheduling order. how does this immunity ruling by the supreme court apply, not apply, and what that means for the trial? >> exactly. that's the threshold question. if donald trump is immune, like, let's stop now. >> yeah, it goes away. >> she has to see if the superseding indictment conforms with the supreme court decision. that's first. like lisa said, she knows it is going to the district of columbia court of appeals and then the supreme court, so there's not a trial anytime soon. if he is elected, there won't ever be a trial.

but if there is, it'll be next year. >> let's go back to reminding viewers about the charges against trump that we're talking about in this case. they are all related to his actions on and around january 6th. it's conspiracy to defraud the united states. conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding. and conspiracy against rights. with all of that, mike pence's role on january 6th is a major part of what prosecutors hope to present. how do they see his role here? what are they likely to argue? >> what they're likely to argue is that the parts of the indictment that remain as they pertain to mike pence aren't really about him acting as vice president, per se. as vice president, he would be, as the supreme court noted in its opinion, one of donald trump's closest advisors. but they are arguing that mike pence, at least with respect to the allegations in the indictment, wasn't behaving in that capacity. he was either behaving as donald trump's co-candidate or he was

behaving as president of the senate. a conversation between the president of the senate and the former president of the united states is not one where there would be immunity. the president of the senate isn't an executive branch official. that's the argument they're going to be making. now, trump's lawyers want judge chutkan to believe the allegations are such a substantial portion of the indictment, that if she gets rid of those, the entire indictment has to fall. that is unlikely to be true. judge chutkan called them on that today. the special counsel's office was more reserved, but you can see that before we get to the pence allegations in the indictment, there are pages and pages pertaining to other conduct, including the effort to convince state officials that they should overthrow the certified slates of electors and replace them with trump electors. then, of course, the fake electors scheme by which trump electors met of their own va volition and tried to submit their papers, chris. >> they want jack smith all this

case all together. what's going to be key as she k considers that decision? >> judge chutkan is not judge cannon. she didn't say, of course i'm going to deny it. she has said, rightly so, that the precedent in her district court of appeals and the united states supreme court is against them on argument. judge cannon did not, and she's wrong, i would say. they'll appeal it to the same district. >> delay, delay. >> she didn't buy the argument before, and she certainly isn't going to agree with justice cannon on this issue. >> donald trump was not in court today, vaughn. he was in new york here at a campaign event, right? but it's, again, this split screen, right, between his legal life and his political life. have we heard from him today? have we heard anything about this court proceeding from him or his team?

>> right. we're actually a couple blocks from 30 rock right now, chris. for the last hour, he's been speaking to the economic club of new york here. top ceos, former cabinet and administration officials. for the better part of the hour, he's been talking about economic and tangential issues. classic donald trump form, didn't go without noting, of course, the prosecutions that he continues to face. i want to let you hear directly from him. he did directly to this crowd here of executives reference the federal indictments he's facing. and then, as you'll hear, a direct shot as to how he could potentially use the department of justice in his second term beginning next year. take a listen. >> she and her party are censoring speech, weaponizing the justice system, and trying to throw their political opponents, me, in jail. this hasn't happened. i didn't do that to crooked hillary.

i said, that would be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? putting the wife of the president of the united states in jail. but they view it differently, i guess, nowadays, but that's okay. and they always have to remember that two can play the game. >> two can play the game. those are the words of donald trump two months before the election. of course, this comes after the social media post here over the last week in which he posted the suggestion that potentially some of his perceived rivals, from barack obama to joe biden to kamala harris to bill gates to liz cheney could be imprisoned. of course, the department of justice with donald trump there a second term could very well look differently. he could direct his acting attorney general or attorney generals to seek indictments against some of these top democratic officials, chris. >> thank you so much for that, vaughn. tara, two can play the game. that is the kind of statement some might say is a threat and

donald trump's base likes. they like that, in their view, he is tough. they like that he goes after his perceived enemies. in fact, trump has raised a lot of money, as you know, around these cases. he sold murch with his mugshot and the word "felon" on it after he was convicted in a different case in new york. but as you look to the dwindling number of days between now and the election and the fact that people are going to start voting within a matter of days, ballots are going into the mail, does this help him? >> no. it doesn't. he's got to realize that he's running in a general election. his base is not enough to elect him to the presidency again. his campaign knows this, but they can't control him. we've seen the reports over the last few weeks of how undisciplined and how out of control he is, that trump knows better than everyone else. that's always how he portrays himself, including even with his own legal strategy. he doesn't listen. he is in intransigent. so these types of menacing,

threatening, calm events, the disgusting display of misogyny that he's been putting on his social media, and same thing with his vice presidential partner there, jd vance, this does not help him with moderate voters in the battleground states. that's where this election is going to be won. it's not going to be won with trump maga base people in texas or idaho. this is going to be won in four to seven states where people are not -- they don't respond to this. he has a ceiling, and it looks as though he's reached that ceiling. that's why kamala harris' numbers have been so good. that's why he's not been able to land a political punch on her. this doesn't resonate with the voters donald trump needs to get him elected. so it'll be very curious to see, come tuesday and the debate, if this is the tact that he is going to take. i don't think it works. even on the economy, he's

speaking about the economy today, goldman sachs came out recently and said a kamala harris win would be the biggest boost to the u.s. economy that we've had in recent years, better than donald trump if he were to get elected. that goes counter to what the donald trump campaign thinks that they have as an advantage on the issue of the economy. if he can't stay on message for them, what he thinks -- you know, what think think, the campaign thinks is a winning issue for him, ask he continues with the personal insults and the menacing, that does not bode well for him. the momentum is with kamala harris. you'll see the contrast on tuesday. >> tara setmayer, lisa rubin, vaughn hillyard, thank you. catherine christian, you're staying with me. in 90 seconds, major news the hunter biden's tax case in l.a. what we know about the new plea deal, maybe, right after this.

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human way to healthcare. breaking news in the tax evasion case against hunter biden. minutes before jury selection was set to begin in a courtroom in los angeles today, the trial itself was thrown into uncertainty when biden's lawyer said that a new plea was coming. stunning prosecutors and, frankly, sending the court into recess. hunter biden arrived in court earlier. you see him there holding his wife, melissa cohen's hand. instead of going actually into the courtroom, he went into a private meeting with the judge. joining me now, nbc news

investigative correspondent tom winter. legal analyst catherine christian is back with us. tom, we were in a short commercial break. what's going on here? what's the strategy? >> yeah, i think i'll defer to catherine on the strategy. as far as what is going on here, we are in this recess. we're in this period of limbo. we heard from the federal prosecutors from the special counsel's office saying, hey, we just found out about this, judge. >> they didn't know it was coming. >> they didn't know it was coming this morning. they said, look, now we've got to try to figure out on our end exactly what we want to do with this. normally, this does move -- first off, there's nothing normal about this. i have never covered an alfred plea, and i've covered a lot of cases. the idea that this is a potential plea is very unusual. two -- >> so i just want to make sure people who haven't been watching earlier. >> right. >> you're saying, i'm not guilty, but i'll say this is essentially i did it.

>> to push toward -- to eventually push toward the sentencing. you want to avoid responsibility for the conduct that's been charged in the indictment. that's what the attempt is here. typically, that moves forward all as part of a package. just to give you a sense of it, this is from the u.s. attorney's manual. this is the handbook, if i was a federal prosecutor. they have to go to the assistant attorney general responsible for the subject matter, so that'd be the head of the tax division. >> okay. >> or the associate attorney general or the deputy attorney general of the united states or the attorney general himself or herself to get approval if they were to move forward on this with federal prosecutors in tow. but that's not the case here. the federal prosecutors say they didn't know about this until they got to court this morning. now, the whole thing is in jeopardy. we'll have to see, one, if they come to any sort of agreement. that's federal prosecutors and hunter biden's attorneys, whether they come to any sort of agreement. whether or not it'll be accepted by the bosses at the justice department and the headquarters of the justice department. and then whether or not the

judge is going to accept this. and then what is the structure in terms of a sentence? i think we have a long way to go here. like i said, it's very unusual. it is certainly a tactic. if you are trying not to admit responsibility and you don't want to go through this trial, and as you and i previously, the types of details offered by witnesses of this trial would certainly be objectively very embarrassing for the son of the president of the united states and something that would be talked about, definitely, in less than -- what are we, less than 70 days, less than 60 days until an election. >> the fact that he's no longer the nominee may make a little difference. clearly, hunter biden wants this done. >> right. >> having said that, catherine, what, 43 minutes, 42 minutes until they're supposed to come back in court, and that's an awful lot of ifs. what's likely to happen, and what has to be decided here? >> well, the judge -- i think it is a tactic so they wouldn't start jury selection today.

the judge could nip that in the bud and say, is there any possibility you'd expect this? i would think they'd probably say no. the judge would say, let's move to jury selection. it is probably a tactic to say, a year ago, you gave me client two misdemeanors and a promise. let's do it again. if i was the prosecution, it's being sandbagged. that's a conversation you have before you go to court. >> that's what i'm trying to figure out here. hunter biden has seen a plea deal fall apart before. we know this, right? but any reason to think that this would be a stronger move? >> well, i can't imagine -- >> he could have said yes at that time, then you come back and say, oops. >> it's not a strong move. the strongest move would be before this to sort of plead your case. say, can we please go back to the original plea? not surprised he wants to do an alfred plea. basically, i'm not guilty, but

the evidence is strong and i'm afraid to go to trial and i'll lose. >> if prosecutors agree with this idea of an alfred plea, they still are required, according to the justice department manual, to lay out for the court all the reasons why, at trial, the conduct that's been charged in this case would have been proved. they have to do it pretty strongly, according to the manual. now, that's not law. it's not something that they necessarily have to do, but i would imagine this case, in particular, the special counsel's office would very much like to show their homework or how they eventually came up with this indictment. it's not as if this isn't going to be read into the record in some way, shape, or form. we'll have to see what's going on. you mentioned the word jury. yes, the jury is there. it's our reporting from our team that's at court that, in fact, the jury is still sitting there. they haven't been called yet for their questioning, voir dire, so that is still something going on. if you're the jury, you're wondering, what's the delay? >> we have to wrap this up, but i want to ask, if they did,

indeed, do that and laid out their case, is it likely to have significantly more than the already pretty detailed, sordid, certainly uncomfortable for the family details that we already know? >> i would say the indictment is pretty thorough. i mean, with all of the, you know, salacious details. i don't know how much more there'd be. >> catherine christian and tom winter, we'll see what happens 40 minutes from now. thank you. up next, at schools across barrow county in georgia, no class, and teachers replaced by counselors after yet another deadly school shooting. what we're learning about the victims, and what authorities knew about the alleged gunman earlier this year. y don't want e to think of feeding food like ours is spoiling their dogs. good, real food is simple. it looks like food, it smells like food, it's what dogs are supposed to be eating. no living being should ever eat processed food for every single meal of their life. it's amazing to me how many people write in

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sweet and so caring. 39-year-old richard aspinwall was known as coach a. by his students. he was a math teacher. the football teach's defensive coordinator. married and the father of who girls. and 53-year-old christina irimie was a math teacher and romanian immigrant. her church's priest said any time they had an event, she was there volunteering, cooking, serving food, or dancing. the suspected shooter, 14 years old, will have his first court appearance tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. he was a brand-new student at the school who just last year was questioned by the fbi investigating him in connect with online threats to carry out a school shooting. nbc's jesse kirsch is reporting for us on the ground in winder, georgia. also with me, former fbi supervisor rob demeco. and former hud secretary and political analyst, julian castro.

what is the latest we're learning about this investigation? >> chris, about what you just referred to, an incident last year, the fbi released information. we have reviewed an incident report. essentially what we've been told by authorities is in the course of the investigation, potential threats against schools last year, at the time, colt gray, the suspect in this deadly shooting, was 13 years old at the time. according to authorities, there was not probable cause for an arrest. furthermore, as our colleague, tom winter, has reported and advised us, there is no kind of red flag law here in georgia which could have potentially prevented him from having access to a gun, which was allegedly used in this incident. according to authorities, this was an ar-style weapon that was used in this deadly attack. four people are dead, two students, two teachers, nine others recovering from shooting injuries. we're told all of those who were shot and who survived are expected to survive. so all the injured are expected

to survive their injuries. again, you have the image up there right now. four lives that have been cut short. in the aftermath of this, there's a lot of questions. including how a weapon like this would have been able to get into the school. we know according to authorities that there was a notification system that had just been implemented days ago which allows teachers from the classroom to alert authorities of a shooting situation. that is being credited, that system is credited with helping potentially having saved lives, chris. >> jesse kirsch, thank you for that. rob, teachers at the school had this special button that alerted law enforcement of an active shooter. the suspected shooter surrendered to school resource officers within six minutes, so the school had technology. the resource officers did what they were supposed to do. yet, four people, innocent people, are dead now. is there something more that can be done to stop these shootings, to protect kids and their teachers? >> one thing we have to look at

is the fbi gets thousands of these a day, literally thousands. if there is a direct threat to a school, they call the law enforcement and the school. this one was a general threat last year. it was he was going to shoot the school in two to three years. local law enforcement does most of the interviews, so local law enforcement went out. he had an obsession with school shootings. he had things all over his room about school shootings. unfortunately, this was in eighth grade, in jackson county, which is northeast of barrow county where he went to high school. i don't know if that information -- because that old school, the eighth grade school, knew about this incident. but did that information get passed to his new school in ninth grade, and did they really have something with this? his mother, i believe, called the school that morning to warn them. i think there's some things that do need to get in place and tighten up. but then again, if they go and do these interviews and they do thousands a day, are there really probable cause to make

arrests? but then i think warnings and other things that need to come into play with something like this, it has to be prevented. >> yeah, what are the things that you think are the key questions that need to be answered now? you just heard jesse ask one of them, and it's certainly a question i have. an ar-style rifle is not something you're riding in your backpack, right? how did the weapon get into the school? but what are the key questions do you think need to be answered, and maybe for another school that's out there, will look at it and say we need to adjust the way we do things if, for example, there's not going to be a red flag law in our state. >> i think a school record with a student has to follow him with this as one of the highlights. the receiving school has to acknowledge that they read the file, that there's an active -- there's been an active threat to school shootings in the student's history. with that, i think maybe some type of check-in. again, some of these weapons can get folded down into size of backpacks, but if that student

knows they have to go through a search when they come in, their backpack is searched, the wall locker, if they have that in the school, it can be randomly searched, that can happen with someone making a threat to a school, maybe those can come into play. >> i've asked this question so many times after every single mass shooting, but i'll ask it again. hillary clinton posted on social media. every child deserves to head out to school without worrying if they'll come back home again. every parent deserves to send their child to learn without having to wonder if it's the last time they'll see them. not so long ago, we saved lives with an assault weapons ban. vote for leaders who will protect our children. we know what the polls say. we know the vast majority of people, the vast majority of gun owners believe in these kinds of restrictions on guns, including not taking a weapon of war to your home. not getting it into the hands of

a kid. but does this or any other shooting change the calculus in congress? >> well, chris, i wish i could say that the answer to that is yes, but i think we've seen, in newtown to uvalde a couple years ago to this yesterday, this has become a tragic reality of american life in our schools. our kids having to do drills to prepare for a mass shooter, and then followed by horrific incidents like this. and then inaction. these days, almost exclusively from republicans in states like georgia, in my home state of texas, and in the united states congress. i do believe, though, that each time we see a tragedy like this, the voices are getting louder, the activism is getting stronger, the push is getting stronger to make change. in this presidential election, it was also very clear yesterday

by the responses of the candidates that we have one candidate in kamala harris who wants to actually do something about this so that we don't see this kind of tragedy happen again, and another candidate, donald trump, that is perfectly content just calling this individual, you know, sick and deranged, and then leaving it at that. not doing anything about actually preparing so we don't have another tragedy like this again. you have a candidate in donald trump that basically is bought and paid for by the gun lobby. we've had too many politicians who fall into that category, and this is what you get for it. >> rob, julian just brought up these drills. there was a student inside the school during the shooting and talked with nbc news about how he couldn't believe this was happening after so many drills he'd had as a student. here's what he told us. >> nobody thought it was real. then just hear the gunshots, and

everybody gets down. everybody gets down. >> nobody thought it was real. i wonder if we're also decentizing our kids or if these drills, in fact, do help? i noted yesterday, we were on the air shortly after this all unfolded, and one of the other kids said, you know, we were told, don't look back. just run. so they were trying to do what they had, you know, learned to do. other ones barricaded themselves inside. what are we doing to our kids here? what do you make of what he said? we didn't think it was real. >> that's always the attitude, is it's never going to happen here. it's a nice, small town. we know everyone there. we would know if it's going to happen. unfortunately, it does. it's happening in every level of the schools out there. i think the drills help, but, also, i think some of the drills are archaic.

i always told my children, they're in their 20s now, but in the first floor, i'd go into all the rooms and look at them. i would tell each one of them, throw a chair out the window and get out of the room. like, some of them where they just cower in a corner and hope the person doesn't come in, i think that is a play of just, i hope he doesn't come in the room. i think there's some things out there that can be put into play. there's some doors and other sensors that can be put in a school. unfortunately, this is where we're going to, you have to start taking other action. but my whole thing about sit tlg and hoping he doesn't come in is not what i want my children to do in this case. >> rob, thank you. julian castro, please stay with me. americans looking to flee high-cost cities and move to a place like rural montana may see sticker shock. could those escalating home prices help determine who controls the senate? that's next. (♪♪)

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skyrocketing housing costs are now dominating the debate around the too-close-to-call senate race in montana. city of 56,000 people. since 2021, housing demand jumped 60% according to local realtors, spiking prizes. in mazzulla, the cost of a home rose 70% since 2020 according to

redfin. what once went for about $350,000 now costs nearly $600,000. and it's not just montana. low supply and rapidly growing prices are pressing americans throughout the country. as our nbc poll shows, for many young voters, in particular, nothing matters more to them. cnbc's emily wilkins is reporting from montana. also back with us, julian castro, former hud secretary, msnbc political analyst, as well. owning a home has long been a key component of the american dream. how difficult is it to achieve that right now? >> well, chris, it is tough everywhere in the u.s., but it is particularly tough in microsoft. -- montana. you showed the stats. you have a lot of out of staters moving to montana. obviously, you can see the beautiful beauty here. but that is driving up the demand for housing prices. meanwhile, on the supply side, you have a shortage of labor and contractors.

that's driving up the prices of homes. it is gotten to the point where the national association of realtors has actually ranked montana as the most unaffordable state in the u.s. look, we talked a little bit about what the housing prices are here. $600,000, you know, that might not sound like a lot if you're in new york or maybe in l.a. or in d.c., but if you're someone who has grown up here in montana, you haven't seen wages keep pace with that increase in housing prices. that's really been a problem. i spoke with cj smith, the president of the montana association of realtors. here's how he described the issue. >> people in, you know, colorado, california, they would sell their homes for over $1 million and have a lot of equity to purchase here in montana. so we've seen that. that's led to 30% of our homes, record number of 30% of our homes last year being bought with cash. >> reporter: both candidates are taking housing affordability into consideration in their campaigns. senator jon tester, when he's on

the campaign trail, he is really kind of blamed a lot of the out of staters who recently moved to the state. if you dig into his policy positions, he's put forward a couple ideas. grants to expand affordable housing as well as make repairs, as well as a tax credit for developers who are willing to sell property to groups of montana residents hoping to keep the costs low. republican tim sheehy blamed inflation and, of course, blamed inflation or biden and tester, but he's also talked about the need to have more trade workers, electricians and plumbers and hvac specialists. i've spoken to builders in the area who say, yeah, they only choose between three or four different subcontractors. that really does drive the price up because there's just not that competition. so a couple different ideas there from the democrat and republican side. a very, very tight race here in montana. >> emily, thank you for that. julian, if democrats are to keep control of the senate, jon tester almost certainly needs to win, ruby red state, montana.

i did a little googling. they've already spent, just through august, pacs for both candidates, $44 million in ads. in a state like montana where the cost for ads is low, the number of people is comparatively low, that's astonishing. do the housing prices and the complaints that rich outsiders are buying up montana work against tester because he is the incumbent? >> well, we'll see. i'm not sure that that's the case. but i think that he has a good case to make of actually having a plan. what people want to hear, my experience out there on the campaign trail always was whether somebody was conservative or they were liberal, they wanted to hear solutions. tester has a good record of offering solutions on housing. when i was housing secretary, he was engaged with the department, looking for ways to make sure housing was more affordable in montana. he's put some proposals out

during the campaign. let's see how that goes. it seems, on the other hand, the republican candidate has not done that. but montana is a very good example, chris, that housing has become a much more prominent and potent issue politically. i think that that's why you see kamala harris putting out there a bold housing plan and putting housing front and center in the general election in a way we haven't seen in a long time. my hunch is, we think of places not only montana, but swing states like arizona, nevada, pennsylvania, where they also have seen the rent go through the roof, so to speak, housing costs have just skyrocketed in parts of those states, that this is going to be an issue that resonates with voters. and not just progressive voters but middle of the road folks who are looking for more affordability when it comes to housing. there are a lot of people out there, not just in the big cities, but all over. >> especially young people, right? our new nbc news poll found one

in three registered voters between 18 and 29 said inflation and the cost of living was, by far, the most important issue to them. that also applies to democrats, republicans, independents. kamala harris has made that housing pitch, offering tax credits for builders, the discount for first-time home pie buyers. whether you're young, and we hear it all the time from young voters, they don't know if they'll ever be able to afford a house. it's also their parents. every parent wants their kids to have a better future than they had. not as tough a future as they did. is that enough? is she doing enough? is she saying enough? >> yeah, and she has the next two months to continue to put that out there. i think they're going to do that in the campaign. they've put out ads, as well. i'm sure they're targeting young voters digitally, too, on the platforms, whether it's tiktok or a number of other platforms where they're at. but i was in las vegas last week, and brought up this issue of housing costs and the rent.

that was the remark that got the biggest response. people are paying attention. you're right, it's young voters worried they'll never be able to own a home. also, their parents and also senior citizens that are on fixed income and see the rent continue to go up too often at times. it's everyone across the board. i'm glad to see that housing is finally an issue that's getting the attention it deserves because it means so much to people. it's just fundamental to their quality of life. >> julian castro, always good to have you on the program. thank you so much. here's a highly, let's say, unusual example of the insanely high cost of housing in southern california. want half a house? half a million. that's the listing a few months after a tree home in two. what's left of the property looks like a post apocalyptic set piece, loose wires and no

ceilings. but the listing agent calls it an open concept floor plan. what comes in this half a house? one bed, one bath, and a back door that the renters used to escape to safety. according to the agent, there's already been a lot of interest. up next, russian president vladimir putin reveals who he wants to be the next u.s. president, but is he telling the truth? you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. (vo) you've got your sunday obsession and we got you now with verizon, get nfl sunday ticket from youtube tv on us... and a great deal on galaxy z fold6... for a total value of twelve hundred and fifty dollars. only on verizon. (jalen hurts) see you sunday! hi, my name is damian clark. if you have both medicare and medicaid, i have some really encouraging news that you'll definitely want to hear. depending on the plans available in your area, you may be eligible to get extra benefits with a humana medicare

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some breaking news, moments ago, the department of justice unsealed a grand jury indictment charging six russian hackers with cyber attacks against ukraine, the u.s. and 25 nato countries. the indictment alleges that in the runup to russia's invasion of ukraine, five russian military intelligence officers and one civilian engaged in a conspiracy to hack computers and commit wire fraud, part of a sweeping campaign they called whisper gate. the doj says hackers intended to sow chaos among civilians, targeting structure with no military value. doj says computer systems in the u.s. and other nato countries were also targeted. meanwhile, he doesn't get a vote, but russian president vladimir putin has an opinion on the u.s. election. today he claims he originally preferred joe biden as the next

president. now he wants kamala harris in the oval office. but is the former kgb spy telling the truth? nbc's richard engel is reporting from dnipro, ukraine. what does u.s. intelligence make of these remarks? >> reporter: it's probably easier for viewers to judge for themselves. if you watch this clip of vladimir putin as he's sitting back, quite comfortable, quite i don't want to say smug, but in a familiar place opining about u.s. politics and his preferences, i think it's quite clear that he's speaking in a tongue in cheek way. he has said in the past that he supported president biden, he wanted president biden to run again, but the consistent u.s. intelligence assessment is that he wants absolutely the opposite, that he wants former president donald trump to return because he does not believe that trump will be at supportive of

the ukrainian military sending as much weapons, sending as much arms. you asked, can he be believed? i think people can just watch and assess for themselves. >> to determine. these are elections of u.s. people. i said that if we can name a favorite candidate, it was, it used to be joe biden. but now he's not participating in the election campaign, and here commanded all of his allies to support ms. harris. so that is what we are going to do. >> reporter: he went on to talk about vice president harris and talked specifically about her laugh. he says it is, quote, expressive and infectious, that she always seems to be in a good mood, that everything seems to be going well for her. so therefore, that good spirit,

perhaps, could spirit a good new era of relations between the u.s. and russia, and then they ended this part of the interview with a laugh. so, i think in this category, he's streaming into familiar territory, playing tongue in cheek with u.s. politics and the u.s. government, which we saw, as those indictments clearly is taking this seriously, clearly believes that putin is at this again and trying to manipulate the elections the other big takeaway, chris, from the interview is how ferociously determined he is to continue the military campaign. he talked about that being the priority. the russian military has to drive ukrainian troops out of russian territory. but that they haven't slowed down from 1 inch in their advances out here in eastern ukraine, and we were in a front line village earlier today that had normally been firmly under ukrainian control, ukrainian

troops have advanced just to the outskirts of this town, actually, called petrosk, and it's clear when you go to the front line areas that russian troops have not slowed down one bit. >> richard engel, thank you for that. coming up, an nbc exclusive, with two months to go, the harris campaign doubles trump's fundraising in august. the massive amount of cash she's pulling in ahead. g in ahead and inconvenient, but with a generac home standby generator, your life goes on uninterrupted. because when your generac detects a power outage, it automatically powers up, giving your family the security and peace of mind they deserve. we don't have to worry about whether we lose power or not. if the utility company does not come through, our generac does. after the hurricane happened, we just want to be prepared for anything. 8 out of 10 home generators are generac,

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