leader of the free world. it is a difficult job than to have those types of weapons than any other type of weapon constantly in their faces. that's a challenge. and it's always going to be a challenge. how we deal with it, that's done at the voting box, but is it a risk? yes, it's a risk. >> well put, cheryl tyler. thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. >> again, we're watching out for this news conference from the fbi and the secret service. it's going to start, we believe, right around 4:00. just a little update from our reporters, julia ainsley and jake trailer. they say the two sources familiar with the request tell nbc news that the trump campaign asked the secret service for increased security this morning. it is not clear how the secret service has responded to that request. we will watch to see if they mention anything about that today. that will do it for me right now.

"deadline: white house" starts right now. >> hi, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. again and again and again, it's worth repeating, political violence, regardless of any motive, any method, or any target is antithetical to our democracy, to a healthy and vibrant democracy anywhere on the planet, full stop. our system of government, our very way of life depends not on bullets, but on our political opinions being carried out and expressed at the ballot box and the ballot box exclusively. what happened yesterday is no exception to this simple truth. this body cam footage shared exclusively with nbc news shows the moment where police caught up with ryan wesley ruth in connection with what the fbi says appears to be an assassination attempt on donald trump at his golf course in west palm beach, florida. this morning, that suspect

shackled, but according to reporters, calm and nonchalant appeared in federal court. the secret service along with the palm beach county sheriff are expected to update the public in a matter of minutes with more details on this. we'll bring that press conference to you as soon as it gets underway live. we do know that the 58-year-old is now charged with two federal counts. they are, possession of a firearm we a prohibited person and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. he is due back in court one week from today for his bond hearing. in the meantime, law enforcement is assembling a furl picture, first. how the suspect got so close to donald trump, about 400 yards away, to be exact, with a scope-equipped semiautomatic rifle. the affidavit suggests the fbi was able to trace his phone after the fact that revealed that ruth was in the vicinity of this golf course a full 12 hours before the incident. credit the secret service,

though. its acting director met with donald trump at mar-a-lago this afternoon. agents spotted the suspect, exchanged fire, and caught up with him after a witness snapped a photo of his vehicle's tag. you're watching more new video of that arrest and how it went down. second, though, prosecutors will be working to dig into ruth's background. court records reveal an extensive rap sheet, more than 100 criminal counts have been filed against the suspect in north carolina, alone. his social media footprint is littered with sometimes contradictory positions, including past support for donald trump, and an outspoken effort to recruit civilians to fight in support of ukraine in their war against russia. despite such a seemingly contradictory and confused past, donald trump is today laying the blame at the feet of his political opponents, and, quote, communist left rhetoric, end quote. it's where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. nbc news correspondent, vaughn

hillyard is in west palm beach, florida, for us, where the news conference should take place and get underway any moment. also joining us, former assistant director for counterintelligence with the fbi, frank figliuzzi is here with me at the table. former secret service special agent, now an msnbc law enforcement analyst, evie poumpouras is here. and former acting assistant attorney general for national security at the justice department, msnbc legal analyst, mary mccord is here. vaughn hillyard, how's -- former president trump doing, and what do you know from being on the ground there about how this went down yesterday? >> reporter: right, nicole. he went out to play golf on a down day for him yesterday on the campaign trail. he had no public campaign events that were on the docket here today. he is set tonight to appear on "x" spaces, where he's going to talk about his new crypto business that he's launching here tonight before returning to the campaign trail in michigan tomorrow. to our understanding, donald

trump continues to proceed with his campaign calendar as initially planned. he will make his way to a rally on wednesday, and a rally in saturday in north carolina. we have not seen donald trump publicly yet at this point, but we have seen his words play out on social media, in which he has placed blame at the feet of democrats for suggesting that he is a threat to democracy, making the case that that is what led these two individuals back in july in butler, pennsylvania, and this man here in west palm beach to go on the attack and try to take his life. we know it was the quick work of the u.s. secret service yesterday. they're scouting the perimeter of the golf course that potentially saved the life of the republican nominee, with just 50 days left to the general election. it was the stellar work of law enforcement just north of here. sheriff's deputies tracking him down on the highway that was shut down, and they were able to effectively order him to step away from his car. the body cam footage shows him walking out of his car and being

handcuffed there on the spot. he made his initial court appearance this morning, facing charges related to the gun that he possessed at this time, as officials, federal and state, begin their investigation, into the apparent attempted assassination. this press conference, we are waiting to gather more details, but from the criminal complaint filed against ryan ruth, our understanding here is that he made his way to this west palm beach golf course of donald trump's, about 2:00 a.m. yesterday morning, scouting the area for about 11 hours, until donald trump was anywhere from 300 to 500 yards away, about at hole number 5. at that point in time, that's when the secret service spotted him with his ak rifle there, sticking out from the fence, and it was the work of the citizen -- a witness who took the picture of the back of his vehicle, his license plate. and that's when authorities were able to shut down the freeway, that he attempted to escape from. for donald trump, here, this is

the second apparent assassination attempt on his life here, one that has the campaign asking for additional secret service personnel. of course, this is an agency that is strapped, not only protecting him, but several other officials, including j.d. vance, tim walz, vice president harris, president biden, the u.n. general assembly is getting underway. there are personnel that are on duty there. this is an intense time in our politics here. and now, donald trump is going to be heading into these crucial days ahead with a heightened sense of security and awareness around here. we should note. early ballots are going out in several states this week, including on battleground wisconsin on thursday, nicole. >> what do you think explains to a person who's never had the job of protecting an ex-president, a candidate for president -- i'm going to look at this shot. if this starts, and i have to interrupt you, i apologize in advance. it looks like it's only about a minute away. what are your questions that you hope to be answered in this news

conference? >> you know, the shooter was intercepted, terms dictate he was caught. the one most concerning bit is that the shooter took posts -- he took his stake there by the fence 12 hours before. that to me is really unsettling at that point. how did he get there, take position for 12 hours? nobody saw that? nobody did a perimeter sweep? nobody walked the perimeter? nobody drove by the perimeter? that's really what i'm asking. the other stuff, i can understand to some extnt. 500 feet out, that's five football fields. i think that's the most astonishing news to me, as someone who has done security in the past, and quite frankly, not excusable. >> what do you make of the language and the blame that donald trump is assigning to his political enemies? >> i will say this, as someone who worked in the secret service and would see threats come in,

and we would assess them, the world usage that people use on public platforms impact other people. >> let's listen together. >> we, meaning the gentlemen that are up here, which is the u.s. attorney, fbi, secret service, we're going to give you everything that we have. we're going to give you the latest updates. we're going tell you what's going on with the investigation, everything. and then we're going to do a limited amount of questions. so make 'em good, all right? don't get into what if and all of this. legitimate questions, we got it? okay, everybody ready? okay, we're here today to give an update with regards to the incident at trump international. with me is the u.s. attorney, the fbi, and the secret service.

just to give you a little information, as you well know, the road down there on summit is still blocked off. it will be blocked off, probably, for the remainder of today, and probably a good portion of tomorrow, until some of the investigative things need to be dope and finished. but we're accommodating people in and out, getting them to the library, getting them to the office. so the public is not going to be that far incon convenienced. the security level at mar-a-lago is the highest it can possibly be now. the road closures are back in place and will remain there. the checkpoints are in place. and my commitment to the secret service is give them every possible resource from pbso, once they determine the level of security that they need. they will get all the resources possible. having said that, i'll let you talk to the u.s. attorney. >> thank you.

>> good afternoon. thank you for joining us today. i am the united states attorney for the southern district of florida. i want to start by expressing my deep gratitude to sheriff rick bradshaw of palm beach county sheriff's office for hosting today's press conference and for his department's assistance with this matter. i'm truly grateful for your leadership, sir. i'm also pleased to be joined by partners in federal law enforcement from the fbi and the united states secret service. and also from atf. joining us today for comment and announcement are special agent in charge, jeffrey b. of the fbi miami field office. and acting director of the u.s. secret service, ron rowe. i want to also thank the men and women in law enforcement who have been working around the

clock in the initial phase of this ongoing investigation. our partners include federal and local authorities, who effectuated the apprehension of the defendant, and have aided in ensuring federal charges were filed against him this morning. we're here to announce that ryan wesley ralph, 58 years old, has been charged by a criminal complaint in the southern district of florida, with firearms offenses related to an incident that occurred yesterday at trumpl international golf course right here in west palm beach. ralph was charged federally with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. he had his initial appearance before magistrate judge ryan mccabe.

according to the allegations in the complaint, a u.s. secret service walking the golf course perimeter saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line. after the agent fired her service weapon in direction of the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as ralph fleeing the area in the tree line. he was later apprehended by officers, from the martin county sheriff's office. in coordination with the palm beach county sheriff's office. the complaint alleges in the area of the tree line from which ralph fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded sks style rifle, with a scope. and a black plastic bag containing food. the serial number was obliterated. routh was prohibited from

possessing a firearm. the fbi is leading this ongoing fbi. as the attorney general stated earlier today, the fbi is continuing its investigation of this incident, as an assassination attempt upon the former president. the investigation remains at its early stages. the entire justice department, including the fbi, the united states attorney general's office for the southern district of florida and the national security division are coordinating closely with our law enforcementpartners to fully investigate and prosecute this matter. the charges announced reflect a strong collaboration of the agencies represented here. the u.s. attorney's office, the department of justice would be unable to carry forth our mission without the invaluable assistance of our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners. i would like to thank the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, and we have chris robinson here, special

agent in charge, and u.s. secret service for the invaluable assistance they are providing and have been providing. i would also like to recognize the palm beach county and martin county sheriff's offices for operating the defendant against, without the local authorities to assist in those things, it would be literally impossible to accomplish the things we would be able to accomplish on the federal side. i want to personally thank -- i want to personally express my grad attitude to the attorneys with the u.s. attorney's office with the southern district of florida, and the counterterrorism departments for their nonstop work over the last 20, 30, 40 hours. together, we'll continue to work tirelessly to ensuring accountability to justice. at this time, i will invite fbi special agent in charge, jeff valtry to the podium. then ron rowe will provide remarks before we open the floor for a few questions.

on our end, given that this is a pending matter before the court and the investigation is ongoing, all comments will be limited. thank you very much. >> good afternoon. for a quick introduction, my name is jeffrey veltri, fbi special agent in charge for the miami field office. the fbi immediately responded to the scene here in west palm beach florida, and we are investigating this matter as an apparent assassination attempt of former president trump. we view this as extremely serious and are determined to provide answers as to what led up to the events which took place. i want to emphasize, we're just a little over 24 hours into this investigation, so we're going to provide as much as we can publicly, while our

investigation is still ongoing. we must also stress that the united states attorney's office is pursuing charges and that limits some of the details that we can discuss publicly. yesterday afternoon, martin county sheriff's office took custody of ryan routh, and he was transported back to palm beach county sheriff's office. our fbi agents then attempted to interview him, and he invoked his right to an attorney. in the last 24 hours, the fbi and our partners have been dedicated to investigating the incident and utilizing all available resources. these efforts have included our investigative team and the united states attorney office for the southern district of florida, no conjunction with the doj security division, are actively working hand in hand to pursue and execute search warrants. thus far, the warrants include a video recording device,

subject's cellular devices, a vehicle, and other electronic devices located at previous known addresses. we are coordinating with the united states secret service to complete numerous interviews of agents on scene. we have also interviewed seven civilian witnesses at the scene, and that is just the beginning. our fbi's honolulu and charlotte field offices have initiated interviews of several family members, friends, and former colleagues of the subject. fbi has deployed several specialty teams and assets from fbi headquarters and our lab division in quantico to include evidence and critical incident response personnel. the evidence response team is collecting and processing multiple evidentiary items. these range from the rifle, which is an sks model with a

scope and obliterated serial numbers, to two bags, the subject's electronics, and what appears to be ceramic tiles. dna has also been collected from those items, which are being sent to quantico for testing. we will also process the subject's vehicle for evidence. the cellular analysis survey team, what we refer to as cast, conducted thorough analysis of the subject's cellular device locations. the cast analysis aligns with witness' account of subject's presence at the scene, both before and around the time of the incident on september 15th. more specifically, we're continuing to conduct analysis and will be compiling the subject's movements in the days and months leading up to september 15th. cellular data shows that the subject was in the vicinity of the golf course roughly 12 hours

before the engagement with the united states secret service. our investigative teams conducted a neighborhood canvass in an effort to collect and obtain relevant video footage. the subject had an active online presence and we are going through what he posted and any searches he conducted online. in addition, we're going through media reports and public statements he made that he wanted to recruit afghan soldiers and others to fight for ukraine. the fbi has sent multiple requests to companies for returns on the subject's phone and social media accounts. we received several returns and are waiting on additional responses from other companies as well. our investigative team is completing analysis of the returns and actioning leads as needed. and we anticipate continuing until the fbi knows the full totality of the subject's social

media presence. by way of his background, in 2002, as the united states attorney mentioned, the subject was charged and convicted in north carolina for possession of a weapon of mass destruction. law enforcement checks also revealed from 1997 to 2010, the subject had numerous felony charges for stolen goods. i can also share with you that he was the subject of a previously closed 2019 tip to the fbi, where it was alleged he was a felon in possession of a firearm. and following up on the tip, the allegd complaintant was interviewed and did not verify providing the initial information. the fbi passed that information to local law enforcement in honolulu. on behalf of the fbi, i would like to thank the palm beach county sheriff's office and martin county sheriff's office for their incredible work in

actioning the witnesses, information, and rapidly apprehending the subject. i would also like to thank the united states secret service, the united states attorney's office for the southern district of florida, the department of justice' national security division, the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives, and our fbi field offices in both honolulu and charlotte, who have been conducting additional law enforcement activity related to the subject. your continued partnerships have been invaluable. oftentimes in law enforcement, we tell citizens to be vigilant and aware of their surroundings. yesterday, a citizen provided remarkable assistance, which led to the arrest of this subject. we appreciate the public's diligence in passing potential tips and information regarding the subject and this incident to the fbi. if you have any information, please call 1-800-call-fbi or go

online to tips.fbi.gov. with that, let me turn it over to the united states secret service acting director, ron rowe. >> good afternoon, everybody. yesterday afternoon, this country was reminded of the heightened and dynamic threat environment that the united states secret service and its protectees face on a daily basis. immediately following the assassination attempt of former donald j. trump on july 13th, the secret service moved to increase assets to an already-enhanced security posture for the former president. in the days that followed, president biden made it clear that he wanted the highest levels of protection for former president trump and for vice president harris. the secret service moved to sustain increases in assets, and the level of protection sought. and those things were in place

yesterday. at approximately 1:30 p.m., former president trump was playing golf during an off-the-record movement to the trump international golf course. a secret service advance agent supporting the front edge of the agency's layered approach to protection encountered an individual attempting to secrete himself in the wood line. this happened -- the alleged gunman was on the public side of the fence near the sixth green. a layered approach of security is integral to the secret service's protected methodologies. and it's also the key to our success. as former president trump was moving through the fifth fairway across the course and out of sight of the sixth green, the agent, who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth green, saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm. the subject, who did not have line of site to the former president, fled the scene. he did not fire or get off any

shots at our agent. with reports of gunfire, the former president's close protection detail immediately evacuated the president to a safe location. the protected methodologies of the secret service were effective yesterday. the former president's protective apparatus allowed for the early identification of the threat and led to a safe evacuation. the increased assets directed by the president, by president biden, were in place yesterday. these included the countersniper team elements, countersurveillance agents on the exterior, the counterassault teams, partnered with local tactical assets from the palm beach county sheriff's office, and counterunmanned elements. all of these entities were present yesterday. and while all of these assets were in place, as i said publicly, we must satisfy the basic requirements of the secret service' protected methodologies. in partnership with local law enforcement, we did just that.

and the agents' hypervigilance and the swift action was textbook. and i commend them and our partners for an exemplary response in keeping former president trump safe. and i will tell you, having served in local law enforcement in palm beach county, i can state that i am tremendously impressed and appreciative for all of the efforts of the palm beach county sheriff's office and sheriff snyder with the martin county sheriff's office. but what was critical to this, was the quick reaction, the response, the hypervigilance of the men and women of the united states secret service, who since july 13th, have been rising to meet an unprecedented and hyperdynamic threat environment. and they are rising to this moment. and i could not be more proud of them and the way they have executed not only yesterday, but what they are doing today, and what they are doing tomorrow. and what they will always do, because it is their duty.

thank you. >> okay. all right. go slow here, folks. okay. don't everybody do it at once. ask who you want to answer the question and then give the question. >> i have a question for you, director. is there any evidence to suggest that the suspect knew that donald trump would be on the golf course at that time? and was the golf course searched thoroughly before the former president's arrival? >> at this time, it was an off-the-record movement, meaning it was not on the former president's schedule. and what i go back to is the layered approach. the elements and the methodologies of the secret service, there was a front element, it did its job in sweeping ahead of the president. that's what identified this individual, who was in that wood line. and the swift action of that agent, doing his job, pushing out ahead, sweeping while the president was behind him, several hundred yards, and several holes away, out of sight

from the gunman, did his job and that was what alerted the detail and the swift action is what triggered that. >> was there any evidence to suggest that the suspect knew that donald trump was going to be on that golf course at that time. >> based on what i know now and it's an active investigation, i don't have any information on that. >> director rowe? >> how many times did your agents go around the perimeter and scope out the golf course during the 12 hours that this guy was holed up in the shrubbery? >> this was an off-the-record movement. it wasn't a site that was on his scheduled -- it wasn't part of his schedule. so there was no posting up of it, because he wasn't supposed to have gone there in the first place. >> director rowe? director rowe? how you briefed former president trump on your findings so far and has his campaign asked for any changes in his security going forward after yesterday? >> sorry. sorry. so, i've had conversation with

the former president, you know, we've explained and we've worked with the campaign. the president is aware that he has the highest levels of protection that the secret service is providing him. >> no changes in specific reaction to what we saw yesterday? >> we constantly evaluate based on threat. and yesterday, what we show is that our agents and our protected methodologies, and there are a lot of tactical assets in place. things that have been put in place as a result of what happened 60 days ago, those elements are working, and that demonstrates the redundancies that we have. we constantly evaluate. we'll, of course, look at this and see what lessons learned from it. but as of right now, we are constantly evaluating that threat. and if we need to ratchet it up additionally, we will. >> yes, sir? >> do we know when routh arrived in florida in general? when he arrived in palm beach? the area? >> that's a probably for the fbi. >> -- opinion at the golf course prior to this scoping it out.

>> we're in the process of collecting a lot of evidence and that will be part of the investigation determining his whereabouts, going back quite some time. >> that's part of the investigation, as well. again, that's going to be a little bit challenged until we're able to determine the serial number on that gun. >> -- history of mental illness? >> we're still looking into that. >> the sheriff mentioned the highest level of protection, that they would lock down the golf course. was that a miscommunication being that president biden ordered the highest level of protection? >> here's the deal. when it comes to secret service protection, we provide the highest level. for example, yesterday, counterassault team elements. i'm not going to go into the number of personnel that we have out there, but we have the highest levels from secret service. when we work with the palm beach county sheriff's office, like, for example, yesterday, during that emergency action response, we had their local tactical team assets partnered with our local

tactical team assets. we had their helicopter up in the air, providing us 360 and situational awareness of the overhead. for any -- if there were, any potential threats coming to or at us. so what we did yesterday was exercise our emergency plan, based on the number of tactical assets, and the highest level of protection that we were providing. the sheriff and i have talked. clearly, when you go down southern boulevard right now and try to get over to palm beach, and see the robust presence that's existing outside of mar-a-lago, the heavy uniformed presence. the additional assets of the secret service. and for those of you that were here in 2017 when the president wasn't in office, when you look at that footprint now, and look at it today, there's not much difference there. there is heavy uniformed presence out there. and again, what i go back to is yesterday was an off-the-record movement. off-the-record and the president wasn't even really supposed to go there. it was not on his official schedule.

we put together a security plan and that security plan worked. >> in terms of him being in the vicinity, based on his phone records, is there any evidence to show that routh was in the vicinity, in the area before sunday? and when you say, "in the vicinity," does that mean right there at that spot in those bushes, or could it have been down the street in a restaurant? >> it was in very close proximity to where he was spotted by the secret service. in terms of your first question, whether he was there earlier, our investigation is still looking to determine that. >> whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! we're going to do two more. you get one, all right? >> thank you. >> only two more. you get one. >> okay, we understand that the secret service has asked congress for additional resources since the butler rally. you received those resources yet? >> thank you for that question. we are working -- look, the secret service operates under a paradox of zero-fail mission, but also, that we have done more

with less for dazed. and this goes backs many, many, many, many decades, right? what i can tell you is that we have immediate needs right now, and we have great support, not only from president biden, and you saw his public statement today, where he said that, you know, he's going to direct his staff to make sure that the secret service has the resources that it needs. we're having fantastic conversations with members of congress. i've been up to the hill, last week. we are continuing to have those conversations. but the long and short of it is this. coming out of butler, i have ordered a paradigm shift. the secret service's protected methodologies work and they are sound. and we saw that yesterday. but the way we are positioned right now, in this dynamic threat environment, it has given me guidance to say, you know what, we need to look at what our protected methodology is. we immediate to get out of a reactive model, and get to a readiness model. there could be another

geopolitical event that could put the united states into a kinetic conflict or some other -- some other issue that may result in additional responsibilities and protectees of the united states secret service. and so, we are working, we are making information available to all of our partners, and i just want to say that the commitment of congress to the secret service throughout the years has been tremendous. and we will continue to work with them and secretary mayorkas, whose support in making sure that we're getting what we need has been phenomenal. he is one of our biggest champions and our advocate. so we're having these conversations and i feel confident that we will get what we need. we have immediate needs. we have future needs, too. i need to make sure that our countersnipers are the best-trained counter-snipers in the world. that they are exactly doing what we need them to do, and they match counterparts in the military, in tier 1 forces. and right now, we are working with congress to make sure that we get those for our training

facility. we also have a necessary need to make sure that we're getting the personnel that we have. and that requires us to be able to have the funding to be able to hire more people. you can't just give me money and say, hey, we're going to make sure that everybody gets overtime. the men and women of the secret service right now, we are red lining them. and they are rising to this moment, and they are meeting the challenges right now. and if you look back at their body of work over the last 60 days, the republicans national convention in milwaukee, the republican national convention in chicago, a visit of prime minister netanyahu to washington, d.c., and west palm beach, which palm beach county sheriff's office supported. then we go into the presidential debate in philadelphia last week. and for those in the media that have been to a national special security event. if you saw the national constitution center last week, what you saw was a mini no one was hurt event, with the number of assets that were on that perimeter. and so, our folks are rising to

this moment, but it requires all of us to be able to have good conversations and make sure that we're getting the secret service where it needs to be. and i am confident that we will achieve that. because we don't have an alternative. success, we have to have it every day. we cannot have failures. and in order to do that, we're going to have some hard conversations with congress, and we're going to achieve that. >> last question, one more. >> special agent in charge of the fbi? >> yes, sir. >> did he act alone? did he have some kind of help? >> at this point, we're still exploring that, investigating that. our investigation will determine that. we do not have information that he's been acting with anyone else at present. >> do we know how long he's been in florida? >> oh, you snuck one in. >> our investigation is still determining that. thank you. >> all right. -- >> how was he able -- >> nope, that's it. we're not going to do anymore.

you got a lot of information there. the last thing i will tell you is, like the director of the secret service says, you know, the president called me last night, president trump, he thanked me for everything that we did along with the secret service. he knows we work great together. and he feels safe. that's important, because he is, and what we did yesterday proves that the system can work. because the suspect didn't even get close to getting a round off. and we apprehended him and brought him to justice. so we're very, very proud of that. thank you, folks, for being here. >> sheriff, one more time for the record. how do you pronounce his last name? "ruth" or "routh." >> we've been watching a news conference, all the law enforcements responding to the

assassination attempt -- what they're calling an assassination attempt. most of the news made by ronald rowe, the acting director of the secret service. i think we heard that routh, the person who expected to shoot president trump, did not get off a shot. and we also lander from him that the agent saw him in their perimeter sweep. what else was notable to you and what's the significance of those pieces of information? >> there's quite a few notable things. first, the fact that the acting director did this conference, because if you look at the ranking system, which is something i noticed, from the fbi, it was the special agent in charge. he's the acting deputy director, he's the highest up. the fact that he went there to be front and center, he spoke very affirmatively, he took responsibility with a couple of things. and i'll hit on a couple of points, but he really answered questions. it's unprecedented to see something like that, for an acting director to insert himself like that. now, a couple of things. he said something, and i as a

former agent appreciated it, he said, the secret service agents do more with less. it is absolutely true, and he said they've been doing it for decades. my question is why? why have they been doing it for decades? if this is true, when why have your agents been asked to work these hours. i remember once i was securing an event for president barack obama, and i needed something like 75 post standards. and i had to get those post standards to another assignment that had been rolled into another assignment that then came to me. by the time i got to them, they were exhausted. i hear this, if it's been like this for decades, why didn't it change a long time ago? why do things like this have to happen for the change to happen. the other thing it has to do with budgetary issues. if budgets are an issue, why were the resources or funding not asked before? he mentioned something about overtime. he said it can't just be money for overtime.

in the secret service, you get scheduled hours to work. and a lot of times you would eat your hours. meaning, i would get scheduled and paid for eight, but work another eight and not get paid for it. extremely common. he touched on that. a couple of things he also said, lessons learned here. very important. he said, we have been functioning with a reactive model. reactive means, we have a strong element to respond to a problem. not a proactive model, to prevent a problem. and i think a lot of the things here with the lessons learned are going to be, how did that gunman get to that position and stay hidden there for 12 hours? i understand this is an off-the-record movement, we call them otrs. you go somewhere and it's a surprise. this isn't -- it is a surprise, and it isn't a surprise. it's not a surprise, because he's known to go there. you know, to me, an off-the-record truly would be, he wants to go to starbucks, he's never been there, let's drop in. this is a place he's gone before. is it possible, was the shooter

tipped off, or did the shooter say, common sense, he's in town, it's a sunday, maybe i'll get lucky and see him there? those are the things we want to look at. so him saying that they're going to look at their methodologies, when i hear that, he's saying, we're going to probably start to do something different. the other thing he mentioned is that there were no post standards. the average person might not know what that means. are they giving the highest level of security to the president? yes, but what he means by that, he means the presidential assets, which are the shift, the counterassault team, the countersniper team, the countersurveillance team. that's the ppd, what you call. if there are no post standards, which is what that means to me, they didn't have enough post standards, didn't have post standards, that's the element that goes around. that's putting somebody at the check points and outer perimeters.

sprinkling those people around. so because it's -- >> like a rally, like a rally would be, that it was announced and everybody knew would be there. >> but you can get post standards -- you do post standards for anywhere that you go -- >> that's on the schedule, that's announced. >> your question is, are they calling things otr to cut corners. >> off the record, he's saying, it's not on his calendar. >> i get that, it's not on his calendar, but he's going somewhere he's been before. he's not too far from the golf course, it's a sunday. >> mary? >> so, what i think, you know, this really spoke to me is how much work now has to be done, right? and my former colleagues from the national security division are working with the u.s. attorney's office and the fbi. we heard about search warrants being put together. they're going to be looking to answer the question we just were hearing about. was this just, sort of, mr. routh saying, maybe i'll get

lucky and mr. trump will decide to go golfing on sunday, so i'm going to just hang out there starting at 2:00 a.m. and wait? or was he tipped off? did he know somebody who had -- some knowledge of trump's schedule or where trump was? because, of course, it was on the record, scheduled, or did he know somebody? or was he watching other signs and symbols? watching for when there were various movements. he was there way earlier before any movement to the -- to the golf course. but i would be curious to know, and i think we will find this, was this the first night he had stayed there since 2:00 a.m.? had he done this two, three, four times before. other things, they will look at all of his communications, electronic devices, who has he been talking to? they will interview all the people he's been talking to. what kind of internet searches has he been doing? when did he get, i think it was the fbi, when did the get to florida.

he was residing in hawaii, had a history in north carolina, has felony convictions in north carolina, but here he was in florida. when did he get there? where did he get that gun? that's going to be hard, because the serial number has been scratched you have an it's not readable. all to determine, are there other people involved, and also, what additional charges will be brought. and there will be additional charges. >> frank figliuzzi, your thoughts? >> yeah, i mean, quick things that jump out. many of them already noted, but an off the record movement. look, we've got to change this concept of reactive and proactive. this reminds me a little bit, and it's not a great fit, but, the strategic change that occurred in the fbi following 9/11, right? we were a great investigative agency. we were a great reactive agency. we were a horrible predictive agency and proactive agency when it came to terrorism. the secret service has to begin this complete change of posture, that essentially, they need to

be out ahead of the threat, every single time. on the record movement, off the record movement. it really shouldn't matter. the other thing is, where's the weak link here? mary made some really good points. was this guy just there like every night for 12 hours? just waiting? was this his first time? was this his 20th time? is he picking up police traffic, you know, when did the president tell the detail, hey, i'm going tomorrow? did he do it at the last minute? do it the night before? if he did it the night before, did palm beach county sheriff get a heads up? i don't know, but we need to figure that out. and i'm really keyed in on this fbi tip. if i caught it right, correct me if i'm wrong, i think he said it was 2019. it comes into the fbi tip line. this guy is a felon in possession. it comes out of honolulu, perhaps, we don't know, but we know that the local police were handed this, by the fbi, in hawaii. the question is, what did they

do with it? larger question, what are we doing in society with all of these tips about threats and weapons and people who shouldn't have them? much larger issue, much bigger challenge for people in the protective business, right? 31 states have open carry. we have 20 million ar-15s floating around the country. how do you, as a protective agency, get out ahead of that? >> well, how do you? i mean, both of our candidates, to be president in the united states of america speak in front of bullet-proof glass, which is someone watching all of those events, is pretty stark. that's saying that this agency, the best in the world, cannot be expected to protect the two most prominent people in each of the country's two political parties from things at official, announced, protected events. >> yeah, if that's for me, look, we can't protect the most vulnerable amongst us, our schoolchildren, in their

schools, from shootings. and now we learn, we can't really protect the most protected high-level officials and candidates in our government. so, the issue is not so much the secret service needs more money, yeah, of course they do. this overtime thing, work without pay, horrible. and yes, but you know what agency just got slashed by $50 million? the agency responsible for enforcing our existing gun laws, for getting stolen guns off the street. for making certain that people aren't obliterating serial numbers on weapons. the atf, $50 million slashed to the budget. we're not taking gun enforcement seriously. >> vaughn hillyard, are you still with us? >> i am. >> so donald trump, someone who has attempted to assassinate donald trump twice using an ar-15. is donald trump doing any re-thinking about his views on the weapons that have been used in both of those incidents?

>> it's a question worth posing to donald trump at point. the press has been able to get some questions to him recently, and of course, there's maybe going to be another presidential debate. we have seen donald trump suggest when he was in the white house after the likes of the parkland shooting, suggesting that he would seek to have some sort of gun control reform. that never actually transpired or took place. instead, he stood by the nra, and said that they had effectively what they needed. they did push through an executive order, an attempt to ban bump stocks, in terms of assault weapons, he has not sided with putting on a ban on semi-automatic weapons. donald trump has continually gone to the nra convention, pretty much every year, been to several of them alongside of him, for donald trump, i think that there's little reason to believe that he'll change his tenor. we've lived through multiple mass shootings.

there's a question about whether the potential to take his own life would change his decision or view on this. but that's something from donald trump's own mouth that we haven't heard at this time. >> it also strikes me that the last time we were all together, at least you, vaughn, and you, we were talking about a community in ohio, where the children, two elementary schools and middle schools were closed because of bomb threats, where a bunch of older students, college-aged students were learning virtually because the folks that ran those institutions didn't feel like they could secure them after this racist smear about haitian americans eating cats and dogs. unrepentant and unapologetic is the best way to describe him and his running mate, j.d. vance, about the language that led to that threat environment. do you have any accounting about the retaliation to their own rhetoric towards vulnerable communities in this country? >> no. to answer your question, nicole.

a social media post just this afternoon from donald trump, he combined his repudiation of democrats' rhetoric as being a threat to democracy, and in that same social media post, the second half of it was focused on problems with migration on communities like springfield, ohio. and i think that, well, let's be very clear here. the threat and the attempt to take donald trump's life is immensely serious. and yet, we have seen political violence and volatility in our communities extend beyond the threats to donald trump himself. but we see them in springfield, ohio. and you and i talked just last week. we are not in the business of forecasting, it's journalists. but as journalists at the same time, i can report to you over the last ten political tension, violence, and volatility has gone anything but an upward trajectory. based off conversations i've had repeatedly with americans on the ground, there is an understanding and a belief that violence would be a

justification to political stability in the minds of a great many people. we have seen the likes of members of congress shout out on ball fields. steve scalise himself greatly injured. we saw paul pelosi attacked in his own home and then notably, former president trump mocking repeatedly that very attack. we've seen threats on judges, on prosecutors, harassment and threats made to election officials. we watched gretchen whitmer, a kidnapping plot, in which nine men were convicted for that plot. that plot was squashed. donald trump who was the president at the time, he called it a fake plot. we watched 140 police officers on the capitol grounds be beaten and calls for those attackers to be pardoned. now we have watched the former president of the united states have two attempts on his life. what does that tell us here? it's exactly what reporting bears out over these last weeks,

months, and years. america is increasingly turning toward violence at this moment. a volatility out of a belief among some individuals of this country that violence is the answer to our country's instability. nicole? >> vaughn himyard has named every incident that i've jotted down on my list. the only two that he didn't mention were the tragic massacre, mass shootings, where shoot theers themselves pledged in their own words and manifestos to adhere to the great replacement theory, the ideology at the root of a lot of the anti-migrant seeker. that is buffalo massacre, the tree of life massacre, and the massacre in el paso. the connection between the language and the guns and the action is undeniable. what do you think these two attempts should do if donald

trump does sort of arrive at any, i don't know, epiphany that this is unsustainable? >> i mean, the gun regulation issue is a huge issue. the supreme court will be hearing next month the case challenging regulation of ghost guns. ghost guns are those guns that don't have any serial number. they're basically home made weapons. >> made from 3d printers. >> on this issue of what is driving this political violence, i appreciate defining it broadly. it is not just an assassination attempt or an actual shooting like buffalo or el paso or elsewhere. it is the intimidation, the threats, the harassment, things that make people feel like they're not safe. >> the swatting. >> the swatting. all of it. and false narratives are what provides the justification in the minds that will those engage in the harassment and actual acts of violence that is the justification to do that.

when we talk about that, i have a caution. the number have really ticked up in the last few years in terms one out of four americans, one out of five americans that believe that political violence may be necessary to keep our country. that question is sometimes asked in a vague way. once you home in on an actual scenario and pose that to them, the results do change. there are people in surveys that i've talked with the researchers about who, once they get a concrete example of would violence be justified here, reject violence. poll after poll said americans do not believe political violence is acceptable in really any situation. so i think what is happening, i'm that disagreeing with vaughn. i'm saying these voices are the loudest voices right now. so it is threatening other people. other people don't feel comfortable engaging in the the contractic process because we have these incidents. there's still a small fraction but they're so powerful and so big. at the heart of every one of

them is a false narrative. outright lies that are propounded by people in positions of power like the former president and his vice presidential candidate right now, about haitians eating pets, and they are propounded by social media through their algorithms and foreign governments, our adversaries, russia, china, and iran. >> what does the secret service do to disaggregate all the hate online and what could be realized as a threat. >> traditionally, the threats would come in via phone, historically, written letters, the secret service would analyze the pen somebody would use. where was it manufactured, what year and where was it distributed to track down a person who actually wrote a threat letter. now in a different space, they'll of relationships with the social media platforms to go, issue subpoenas and say we want this information because we

have probable cause to believe somebody is going to do something. i will tell you, i think we're all to blame, quite honestly. everybody is to blame for where we are. everything that is being said. we have this position here to speak to millions of people out there. people listen to what we say. social media, prolific. think about every person out there who has written a hateful comment. has said a hateful thing about anybody. you are contributing to that. we have a mental health issue. it is not just political violence. i'm an adjunct professor. it is amazing how much security is at may school to protect my students from each other. when we look at the school shootings at the databases, k-12. last year it was something like 340 school shootings on campus. this year we're at september. 218. it is beyond. something is going on. we have mental health issues that we need to address. why are people turning to violence instead of finding other ways to cope? i think this is such a massive

issue and we really all need to self-reflect. and every one of us must do something to change it. >> we'll leave it right there. thank you so much for spending the hour with us. still to come for us, we'll turn to that tense atmosphere in springfield, ohio, as trump and his running mate j.d. vance continue to spread lies. >> plus, with just 50 days to go ahead of election day in america, team harris keeps racking up endorsementes from people who in the past would be the last people to announce their support for a democratic nominee for president. we'll tell you where that's coming from now in the next hour. don't go anywhere. hour don't go anywhere. is also your. i asked myself, why doesn't pilates exist in harlem? so i started my own studio. getting a brick and mortar in new york is not easy.

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-- totally ignored this stuff until we started talking about cat -- >> what's the meaning of that? >> if i have to create stories so the american media actually pays attention to the suffering of the american people, then that's what i'm going to do. >> you just said you're creating the story. >> what's that, dana? >> you just said this is a story that you've created. >> yes. >> so the eating dogs -- >> we are creating -- dana, it comes from firsthand frkts my constituents. i say that we're creating a story meaning we're creating the american media focusing on it. >> wow! hi again, everybody. what you heard there was a

moment from j.d. vance confessing out loud and on camera that he's, quote, creating stories, willing to do so, willing to spread lies even if it dangers his own constituents and other americans. while he and donald trump double down that haitian immigrants are stealing and eating family pets in springfield, ohio, we know that they know they're lying about that. here was pennsylvania governor josh shapiro's immediate reaction minutes after vance's admission. >> i mean, dane, a that was bonkers. the governor of ohio, the mayor of that town in ohio, has said this is all made up. these are all lies. there's no truth to it. and the united states senator from ohio just came on your show and blamed his own constituents for his own lies.

this guy is so pathetic. the thing is, it is dangerous. there is a causal connection between the bs that j.d. vance and donald trump spew, and the safety and security of the american people. when they go out and they lie about this stuff, they put their fellow americans at risk. j.d. vance should be ashamed of himself. he knows better. >> it is extremely dangerous because even though police say there have been no credible reports about people eating family pets in springfield, ohio, and the republican mayor and the republican governor and trump-supporting voters are begging for them to stop lying, vance's own constituents have been left on edge. the whole community on edge after threats of violence forced two elementary schools to evacuating today, and university

and college campuses moved to remote virtual instruction. covid-era stuff. in a festival meant to celebrate the community and diversity has been canceled. not to mention there have been consecutive days of bomb threats that closed elementary schools, government buildings and hospitals there. donald trump is the republican nominee for president who brought this racist lie to the national stage at the debate last week. called the bomb threats, quote, not a real problem, and refused to denounce the bomb threats at elementary schools. that's where we start the hour. congressman tim ryan who represented the state for more than 20 years and ran against j.d. vance is here. we've been wanting to talk to you for a long time. glad you're here today. and also joining us, host of how to win the 2024 pod cast claire mccaskill is here. tim, let me start with you. you know who j.d. vance is.

the rest of us are still getting to know him. i wrote that down. i've listened to that clip three times. if i have to create stories, i will. what is inside someone who can't be shamed? who can't be forced to tell the truth when the lie is called aly by j.d. vance. >> yeah, thanks, nicole. great to be on with you, too. i've been wanting to share the stage with you. he's the kind of guy who has always been making up stories. and he tries to put himself in the middle of the story when it was, you know, he was going to be the character that went against donald trump. he was going to be the anti-trump figure. all of that stuff that has been reported ad nauseam in the last few years. then that switched. he wanted to create another story that he was this guy who saw the light and, you know,

moved along with donald trump. so i think what this shows to me is that there is no one. he started a fake opiate charity. who does that? that was to launch his political career and create that story. so the real question is, for most people that aren't msnbc watchers, this guy will do whatever he has to do. everyone is just a pawn in his game. to think of someone who is in a position of trust like claire held, like i held, your job is to protect these folks in springfield. to look out for them. to advocate for them. not to destroy their community. not to pit them against each other. is immigration complicated? of course it is. you don't need leaders of the state to kind of deep six a community that is trying to grow out of the industrialization and try to figure out how to move

forward and he's destroying that. there's nobody he won't use. there is no dead body he won't step over. then you see trump who just got shot at a couple days ago saying he doesn't give a damn about bomb threats at schools. these are the kinds of people that running are under the republican party banner, which is shameful. >> tim, i want to ask to you help us understand j.d. vance a little better. he i invoked hitler. he described him as cultural heroin. and then in that interview with dana bash, he said if i have to create stories to get you the media to focus on it, i will. tell me how he sees our democracy. if the media is a propaganda arm in his own words, he's creating stories, in his words, to get the media to do things. he sees trump as america's hitler. what is his view of the world in sort of your assessment?

>> i think he sees the world as a very scary place. it anyone who knows his background, or someone who comes from that level of trauma and not to be a barstool psychologist here, but he has so much insecurity. he's over scared. he's so afraid inside that everything he tries to do is to try to control, rite? now he's a super conservative catholic. he wants the real strict rules. he's a conservative now as opposed to being more of a, kind of an open-minded democrat that was against trump because he wants the strict kind of -- in his own mind, to create some order from the chaos of his own life. and then, so the manipulations like, i'm controlling the media, which is complete bs, right? i'm controlling the media by getting them to take this cat nip over here.

and i'll create the story that they'll go chase. it is all about him trying to convince himself that he has some level of control over what's going on in his life. the reality, most of us have little control over what happens in our lives. you have some control but you don't have universal control. it come from that, i think, a really deep trauma and that's what you start to see every day. now he has the father figure in donald trump who will keep him safe and he's protected. and he had peter teale who was able to get him through a primary and trump got him through general. and all of that stuff. he tries to be in a secure place and peer teale and donald trump make him feel very, very safe. so he's going to stay in that lane as long as he can. >> the other, i think, most revealing thing we learned about him was in his own words again, that he believes that even violent marriages are ones that

should remain. that women should stay in marriages even if they're violent. that is his language. >> i think that's along that same track, right? of like, no matter what happens, you stay in the marriage. he should be able to, we need to control a woman's body. so there needs to be a national abortion ban with no exception. so there's this very patriarchal control that he wants to administer to the rest of society. and i think it comes from the trauma of the upbringing. but here's the deal. you need to process your stuff, you know? you don't bring your stuff, i mean, a lot of presidents of, but you don't bring your stuff to the public at large, to the body politic. you have to be someone who is mature, who has processed trauma, who has processed your upbringing. and then you become a full-fledged leader. not someone who is looking to

process that in the midst of, you know, a complicated world with all of these tough issues. and that's really the problem with him and donald trump. you are trying to heal their demons in the public square. and it's causing pure chaos because on the inside of these guys is pure chaos and trauma. and they're just spewing it out to the rest of society. that's what we see every day on tv and that's what we see at the rallies. that's what we see on social media. and it is a sad state of affairs. my hope is that people say look, as we're seeing, we can't go on this way anymore. it is a threat to the country. >> claire, i've read "hillbilly

$logy." it is born out in the lives of their lives and in j.d. vance's own memoir. that these male victims of trauma are passing it down to the kri. it's taken a minute to figure that out. i wonder at what point we are part of the problem, right? and we have to cover the threats to real people living in springfield, ohio. that is real. the elementary school. the school where 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10-year-olds have had their schools closed because trump lied about labradoodles getting eaten. he didn't say labradoodles. he said dogs. all over tiktok saying they're eating the dogs. the chaos loop is so well worn and the exhaustion is so complete. the fear, you don't have to be a haitian american.

every parent in springfield, ohio, is scared to send their baby to school. because when will it stop being a target? when will people, maybe you heard trump say it at the debate. maybe you saw trump say it at a rally. maybe you saw trump's post. maybe you saw j.d. vance. maybe it is just in the right wing ecosystem and any day a lunatic could see it and target their baby's elementary school. when does this stop and how does this stop? >> i wish i knew. the political violence is a reality in america right now. and it's one that i believe the democratic party has tried very hard to speak out against. and we saw political violence in living color on january 6th. we've seen political violence at charlottesville. we've seen political violence in terms of the trauma that these children in springfield, ohio, are going through. this is impacting their lives. and you know what? they don't have a protective

detail. throwing acid on cars, threatening people, doing all of that in springfield, ohio. and it hasn't been pointed out yet, at least so far in our discussion today, that the mayor of springfield, ohio, and the governor of ohio are republicans. these are not, you know, people that are for kamala harris. i don't think either one of them have done anything but be supportive of donald trump and they're the ones saying, this is garbage. quit doing that, quit doing this to this community. and his language about creating stories. it was precise. if i have to create stories. he knows he can get stories to kick off on social media, especially in that dark corner where their base hangs out. and he's creating other stories. they're creating stories that most of the immigrants in this country are raping and

murdering. they're doing that. they're creating stories that crime is way up when crime is down. they're creating stories every day. the mask is off, like up, in your opening. but that was a really telling phrase. he's a candidate for vice president. he knows every word will be dissected. and he is very good with words. if you read "hillbilly elegy," he said if i have to create stories -- >> if i have to create stories to get to mideast to focus on them, we will. >> he's saying out loud what we have all sensed forever. they are willing to say anything. to try to win an election. even if they fundamentally understand, it is damaging, harmful, and really dangerous. >> so what's the remedy? >> i think to dispatch the people who do that. i mean, the remedy is peaceful. the remedy is voting.

the remedy is deciding that we don't want candidates for the highest office in the land creating stories that put people in danger. we want candidates who want to solve the serious problems our country has. and i think if you look at the candidates and how they're conducting the campaigns, one is all about the darkness and the crime and the raping and the murdering, and they're coming after your children. the other is, what can i do to help you? what can i do to make your college more affordable? what can i do to bring down your prescription drug costs? it is such a contrast. and all of us abhor political violence including threats on the former president. >> of course. >> that's what we have in common with republican party today. the democrats saying full score against anybody who commits political violence. i wish the republicans would be as consistent. >> tim, you ran a very effective

campaign against j.d. vance. what is the best way to defeat what he's selling to the people of ohio and the country this time around? >> i think two things. the extremism on the national abortion ban. you know, on the women should stay in violent marriages. like he could stay right on those very extreme messages. and then i think the fake opiate charity was what he was willing to lie about. what kind of story he was willing to create and who he was willing to use in that process to start a fake charity. he spent all the money. not on the heroin overdoses, not the fentanyl deaths. not on the families. but his own political career. he was running polling with that money. he was hiring his top political consultant with that money. who will does that? that's like a scam of all scams.

so i think you put those two things together and you get someone clearly unfit. and i will say, not just to talk about myself, we were un51-48 because we ran that message strong until labor day. and then he got $50 million from mcconnell and we didn't get any from d.c. and we couldn't keep up. but that message set in. it does not resonate with people for what he did. and the other thing i think you really have to mention, trump is not a fit guy. he's an older gentleman that is not very healthy. he has a very high stress level. he may not make it through a second term. then you'll get j.d. vance. like this guy, it will be a heartbeat away from the presidency and i think making sure people recognize, one, how extreme he is. he has basically authored this project 2025. he knows all about it. he know all the players. and i think he could potentially

be president. that's a scary, scary thing as we think about a president with that much trauma needing to be processed, the control that he wants to have over the world, especially women, to be president of the united states. that's a scary proposition. >> it's great to get to talk to you and hear all your insights. the columbus dispatch, i'll give them the last word here. in a letter to the editor, one of your former constituents writes, ohio is mortified. vance vance embarrassed us with racist, ridiculous fake news. some pretty savvy voters there. thank you for shuttling us off. when we come back, team harris with new endorsements. the latest, a group of alumni from the ronald reagan white house. don't go anywhere. agan white house. don't go anywhere.

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. with 50 days to go until election day in america, many of us are wrestling with the very open question about how to bring our polarized nation together. can that still happen? how to bring the political temperature down? can that still happen? can we heal our country's political divide? particularly with what we saw over the weekend with the apparent assassination attempt on donald trump at his florida golf course. now we have fresh proof that a message about turning the page on everything that feels broken and toxic and painful in our politics, the whole idea of making thanksgiving dinner great

again is gaining new support from way across the traditional partisan, political divide in america. in addition to the more than 200 people who worked for president george h.w. bush, george w. bush, mitt romney, in addition to the vice president and staunch conservative dick cheney and his daughter, liz cheney, now new today, 17 republicans who worked for president ronald reagan have endorsed vice president kamala harris and governor tim walz as well. writing this, president ronald reagan famously spoke about a time for choosing. while he is not here to experience the current moment, we who worked for him in the white house in the administration, in campaigns and on his personal staff, we know he would join us in supporting the harris-walz ticket. quote, the time for choosing we face today is a choice between integrity and demagoguery.

and the choice must be harris-walz. the choice between truth and lies demands support frr harris-walz. the choice between freedom and suppression of freedom means support for harris-walz. the choice between serving the people and serving the few leads us to support harris-walz. our votes in this election are less about supporting the democratic party and more about our resounding support for democracy. quote, it is our hope that this letter will signal to other republicans and former republicans that supporting the democratic ticket this year is the only path forward toward an america that is strong and viable for our children and grandchildren for years to come. we do not know how the nation will finally turn the page on the kind of political violence that has now tragically become common in this time, in this modern age. but coalescing around democracy and freedom is a grassroots movement. it is sure starting to feel like

a phenomenon in and of itself. joining our coverage, executive director against trump and republican of the bulwarks, back with us, plus, the pollster, claire is still with us. it is next-level stuff. ronald reagan. i worked in republican politics when everyone who was there was there because of ronald reagan. now you have the reagan team throwing in behind kamala harris. your thoughts. >> yeah, look, it's not surprising to me in part because one of the things that is happening as donald trump cements his takeover of the republican party is that it increasingly looks a lot less like the party of ronald reagan. or of george w. bush or john mccain. think about all the ways that it no longer holds to the

principles we were taught growing up in the shadow of reagan. do we support our democratic allies abroad? the republican party is no longer clear on this. a big chunk of the party, if not half of it, is not only not supporting ukraine but seem to have thrown in with russia. it is committed to free markets with donald trump's tariffs comes into real question. donald trump is not a pro-free-speech candidate. he is not a candidate who talks warmly about the way ronald reagan did. he loved the country so much. he understood why people wanted to come here. another difference, donald trump who speaks darkly of the country. negatively of the country in a way that conservatives and republicans, when we were growing up, when you and i were both active republicans, there was something about the republican party that really wanted to talk about america with a lot of reverence in terms of who we are and what we stood for. donald trump doesn't do that. so it does not surprise me one

bit that as the republican party ceases to look like a party that lives in the legacy of ronald reagan, you see people who worked for ronald reagan endorsing the democrats. >> sarah, i feel like it was 11 years ago. it was probably just six months ago, that we talked about where the permission structures would come from for a large chunk of maybe nikki haley voters or republicans who felt lost in the wilderness. maybe people who were comfortable with romney and mccain and george w. bush but have been having a lot of second thoughts about trumpism. whether there would be adequate permission structures. now it feels like there's permission structure on top of permission structure. how do you turn that into voting for democrats? >> well, first of all, yes, we are hearing from a lot of republicans who are supporting harris and walz. it is still not enough. i have to say, the fact that donald trump's cabinet members, people who served with him, we're hearing from a lot of the

old guard in the republican party. there are a lot of people who had skin in the game in the first trump administration who know how dangerous he is, and they're not telling that story. and that is a story that the american public needs to hear. that being said, there is just no doubt when you get somebody like dick cheney endorsing the democrat, you know, not exactly the most famous moderate. nobody can call him a rino. that is a signal. it signals to low propensity voters who are just tuning in, i don't know. this is the thing about undecided voters. they're not just undecided about, do i want to vote or trump or harris? it is also, do i feel motivated to get off the couch? will i decide to go do something and vote? dick cheney sending a signal that donald trump is such a threat to this country that he's willing to endorse the democrats is the kind of thing that gets people's attention and says, man, maybe i should really

consider this. i think the more republicans come out. when you say permission structures on permission structures, part of what it is, dick cheney and liz cheney helped create the structure for the reagan folks, who helped create it for other folks. creating a permission structure for a bunch of the people who worked for donald trump to tell america what they saw and to make a case against trump like so many others in the party have. >> enter into the conversation, tell me the story of what you're seeing in the great state of iowa. >> well, we just released a poll on sunday. our last poll in june had shown an 18-point lead for donald trump. one could call that an impressive lead. and now it has dropped to just 4 points. and the immediate pollster, any political person will want to ask is why?

what has changed? what is different? and if the question is what's changed, i don't know that there's ever been a two-month period of time with so many events that were contest changers in terms of how the race was going to end, since june versus where we are here in september. the thing that i think is important, and it really adds to what sarah is saying is we had more people in this poll of all iowans who passed the screen as a likely voter. they said they would definitely vote. that'll proportion went up. but it didn't go up across the board in the same way. so we're, in our likely voter pool, we have proportionately more women. we have proportionately more women under 45. we have proportionately more people with a college degree or more. and there are other groups, suburban people, that are just

more plentiful in our likely voter sample and those are all groups that are supporting harris in big numbers. so that's how we end up with just a 4-point race. >> and iowans are such informed voters. they do like to touch the candidates. they do follow the news. they are likely to have either watched the debate or read about the debate. i was asking, in every group you ticked off, that is the harris coalition. is it the combination of a plussing up, the harris side, is there also a decline in the trump side? and do you have any indication of what the factors are if there is? >> there was plussing up in every sub group that i looked at. sometimes it's just a plus 1, plus 2. so it was much bigger. that says to me there is a level of, whether you call it paying

attention, a level have activation, a level of energizing toward the election now. it's just more people overall say they're definitely going to vote and they're offered, will you probably vote? if they say that, we don't take them. we want a strict definition there. so, it shows up in the enthusiasm numbers as well. and donald trump, i think in every poll ever taken, up to this point, that looks at enthusiasm. his people are the highest in enthusiasm they can be. and kamala harris has flipped that. so she now has a higher proportion of her supporters saying they're extremely or very enthusiastic. so it says to me what sarah is outlining, that people are deciding, this is a contest worth participating in. that they're mentally ready to

step up. the trick now, i think, will be giving the campaigns to execute on that potential. there appears to be more potential. now it's getting those into hard votes. >> all right. we're going to bring in the person who knows, who has run, had her name on the ballot and can tell us what the campaign looks like in the last 50 days. we'll also tell but trump's latest feud. sure to hurt, not help, with enthusiasm. against a very, very famous, very, very popular mega star. very, very popular mega star oue into freefall. i'm glad i found stability amidst it all. gold. standing the test of time. t-mobile's 5g network connects a hundred thousand delta employees so they can make every customer feel like they've arrived before they've left the ground. this is how business goes further with t-mobile for business.

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we're back with sarah, ann and claire. so this enthusiasm advantage is something the democrats haven't had on their side since the obama campaigns. and i wonder if you can just speak to, it's not everything. it's still, i think, vice president harris, every time she speaks to a rally of supporters, every interview she describes her campaign as the underdog. she talks about how much work there is to be done. but this enthusiasm flip is one of the most dramatic political events of the summer. >> it is. and i don't think it was that there was a lack of enthusiasm for joe biden or hillary clinton. i think it was more that trump burst on the scene giving the finger to the man. to the government. >> to the system.

>> to the system. to the swamp. to whatever you want to call it. and that created such a burst of enthusiasm among a bunch of folks who frankly, many had never voted in their lives, and they were 40, 50 years old. at least in my state. to a lot of people who hadn't felt like anybody got them. that they really wanted to also give the finger to everybody in power. but what has happened this time is a couple of things. one, she is positive and uplifting and clearly talking about their problems. and do you know what else, nicole? >> women feel that donald trump has diminished their pain. women, and the men who love them, and the men who care about their daughters and their nieces and their grandchildren, they see that this is a different kind of problem now being -- nobody is making up that women

are bleeding out in bathrooms and hospital parking lots. nobody is making up that women are not able to get the medical care they need when a pregnancy has gone terribly wrong through no fault of their own. that is a kind of visceral pain that makes women want to rise up together and go, enough! just enough. that is where a lot of this enthusiasm is coming from. anybody who is diminishing that doesn't get it. >> and i think you're getting at two things. it is enthusiasm for and about vice president kamala harris who is sort of the whole package. extraordinarily and extremely loyal, completely loyal to president joe biden during the most excruciating chapter this summer. she hit the ground running. that first day she went to wilmington. their affection for one another has been showcased while she's

been talking about us. not herself, as trump does. and in this first presidential election post dobbs, moms are dying. there's some extraordinary reporting out that we'll spend time on this week about women dying of sepsis and other life-threatening things because they can't access abortion health care. >> yeah. and it is also, frankly, his act has gotten old. a lot of people who saw him as their savior against a system they felt had not treated them fairly, they haven't been saved. life hasn't changed that much for them. they have new people to blame courtesy of donald trump making up lies about how every immigrant in america is raping and murdering, but there are a lot of people. i'm looking in my state where i know what it felt like in my state in 2016. i know what it felt like in

2018. and even in 2020. you don't see the flags flying like you did. you don't see the banners of this house is full of deplorables. you don't see that like you did even four years ago. so there's a little bit of, we're tired of the old act. the lies, you know, i don't think anybody believes joe biden hates her. the stuff they say is so patently stupid. so that has gone down a little bit and her burst on to the scene. she feels new and different and that's always an advantage when most of the people in america would like to see something different. >> i think from the hate for everyone and everything including taylor swift. we'll bring you that story next. don't go anywhere. don't go anywhere. ♪we love home internet from t-mo'♪

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we're all back. i love taylor swift and i love that taylor swift is in love and i love it all. even if you don't, i don't know very many people that would type out this sentence in all caps. i hate taylor swift. but donald trump did that. tell me the political impact, if any, of being against every democrat, all the media, and taylor swift. >> well, donald trump has a real woman problem, as we were just discussing. and i'm not sure going after america's most beloved famous woman is going to help ameliorate that problem for him. but i do think what donald trump

is doing here, like he does in his lizard brain believe that what he's doing is, he doesn't like the conversation that we were having last week. we were having a conversation about how another famous woman, kamala harris, the vice president, absolutely smoked him at the debate. and that was an uncomfortable conversation for donald trump. so one of the reasons that they began really leaning into this conspiracy in springfield, that is absolutely baseless and untrue, and is obviously causing real-world damage to that community, for them, that is changing the conversation to something that is closer to immigration. and even though it is, i think, a net not particularly good way of doing that. it's not a good or productive way to have the immigration conversation. for them, it is any port in a storm. and the taylor swift, him going after her that way, i think, is the same thing.

can we get people talking about this as opposed to my catastrophic debate. and neither of the places he's moving the conversation are particularly positive for him. but it is at least directionally away from the debate which, i think, was personally humiliating to him and devastating to the campaign. >> let me ask but the catastrophic debate performance. iowans have seen a lot of people debate in front of them. most iowns have been asked to attend an event or a contest or a debate at some point in their lives. how impactful is it, these big events in the general election in terms this enthusiasm that you're seeing in your polling in the state? >> well, i can't speak to the whole linear trend, since june. so many things happened.

the previous debate happened we were in the field. the whole switch-a-roo in terms of who would be the democratic candidate. i can tell you that we were in the field including tuesday night and wednesday night, and of course, i go looking for, what can my numbers teach me about whether there was an impact. and i got nothing. i have no story in the data that said, after the debate, things looked like this and before the debate, things looked like that. we would have put that on the front page if that had happened. >> it's a good point about data. the numbers are the numbers. and the events, and the stories are the stories. but this idea of sort of a fire hose of news. it is part of the story that the voters will tell us on election day. what do you, as someone running for office yourself, what do you feel in your gut the voters are feeling about everything that

has transpired since mid june through mid september now? >> i think sarah is right. i think trump is clearly trying to change the conversation over his massive failure last tuesday night. was it last tuesday night? or a few years ago? that's what they want us to think. they want us to think it was a very long time ago. so i do think -- what they're having to do to change the conversation has become more and more extreme. and i'm not sure that that path, i don't think saying i hate taylor swift is a way to get undecided voters. i don't think undecided voters are going, okay, that's my guy. he hates taylor swift. my daughter loves her but i'm with but i don't think they are doing it in a way that is persuasive. and the other thing is, in my

experience, it took a little while for things to sink in, whether it is a really bad debate performance or it's some kind of other big event. it takes a little while well frankly, joe biden's debate performance. that didn't show up in polling immediately. it took about 10 days to two weeks for you to really see some data shifting there. and i think what really kamala harris needs to focus on is staying disciplined, and staying on the momentum she is enjoying right now as someone who is normal, positive and uplifting and new. >> sarah, you said you would like to see more people, the reagan and liz bring out the cabinet, you are face-to-face with voters. who, in your view and from talking to undecided theater --

voters, who do you think would be most impactful question >> the generals, general kelly, general matters, one of the things i hear from voters and focus groups especially swing voters is for the voters to whom it has broken through, that donald trump calls our vets suckers and losers. that has an impact. and i also think, there's something different about mike pence not endorsing donald trump versus endorsing harris because of the danger he saw. i think we need more generals to come out of play, we have to support her because he is such a threat. that is somebody who voters will trust that saw him up close. >> thank you all so much for spending time with us today. a quick break for us and we will be right back. right back

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there's 50 days until the presidential election, and you now officially have no excuse not to vote because the two american astronauts stuck on the international space station through february will be casting their ballots from space. one of the astronauts, which will more told reporters in a press call friday that he has already sent down his ballot request. election officials in harris county, texas explained they worked with nasa to send astronauts of pdf with

clickable boxes to make their choices. it's something they've been perfecting since 1997 when texas legalized voting from space for nasa employees. the astronauts have been on the international space station since early june, after their spacecraft ran into several problems mid flight. they were only supposed to be in space for roughly 8 days now the plan is eight months. they close their call on a poignant note telling reporters, it really is difficult for me to imagine people on earth not getting along together. it is the one planet we should have and we should all be happy that we are there together. because that's it, that's our place. another break for us. we will be it,right back. righ. ♪

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