good to be with you. i'm jose diaz-balart in for katy tur. and we are just 46 days out from election day. and after appearing at a campaign event hosted by oprah winfrey in michigan last night, vice president harris is rounding off the week hitting two battleground states she hopes to keep blue after president biden flipped them in 2020. she'll be in wisconsin later this evening, hoping to rally voters after a strategic of new polls revealed a deadlocked race between her and donald trump in that state. but first, the vice president is set to speak to voters in georgia this hour. focusing on reproductive access and what her campaign calls preventable abortion deaths following a recent pro publica report which linked the deaths of two women to the state's restrictive laws. how she's planning on pinning

the blame on the president's abortion record. we're going to take you live to those remarks once they begin. first let's get to the reporting. joining us this afternoon, nbc news washington correspondent yamiche alcindor in atlanta and washington correspondent for the "atlanta journal-constitution" tia mitchell. so yamiche, the vice president set to take the stage in a couple of minutes from now. walk us through what she's expected to focus on. >> reporter: well, the vice president is expecting to take the stage in just a few minutes in this raucous crowd. it's interesting. i want to set the scene for you a little bit. the signs say one in three women lives under a trump abortion ban. this is really vice president harris wanting to lean in as much as possible on this message on abortion. i've covered a bunch of them. that being said, she's going to try to lean into what she is seeing and pro publica has reported are preventable abortion deaths. one of them is about this woman,

28-year-old amber thurman whose family says she suffered for hours because she needed a dnc, and health care professionals would not give one in the state of georgia because they were worried about the abortion ban. take a listen to what her sister said last night. >> i want to say that it is very disheartening that my sister was allowed to suffer. she suffered. there was nothing we could do to help her. we trusted the health care professionals to do their job and save her, but they failed her. >> reporter: jose, her family says her last words to her mother were please take care of my son. she was a young mother, and leaves a little boy behind. candy miller didn't seek medical care because she was afraid the abortion bans, that she would have complications from the abortion. i talked to her sister who told

me that her family is heartbroken and emotional. she told me that she's really hoping that her sister's story will help other women not suffer the same thing that her and her family are suffering right now. a mother of three, three children without a mother, and a young boy without that mother. vice president harris is going to come here and lean in on the issue she believes is going to motivate voters to win the battleground state, jose. >> new polling from the associated press has her 28 points above donald trump on handling the abortion policy. is this an issue enough to carry a state like georgia? >> i think it's an issue that can be a game changer. the margins are going to be slim, the ajc has polling out this week that show for about one in ten voters, abortion is their top issue, but we know that even for many more voters, it might not be the number one issue like the economy, but it's still an important issue. it's one of the issues that is

contributing to their decision that they're going to make as who they think should be president. and so, again, we know georgia is going to be close in november when all of the ballots are counted. if there are people in georgia and other battleground states who the position on abortion concerns about access to reproductive rights could tip the scales in harris's favor, it could be a difference maker. >> in your reporting today, you talk about how donald trump hasn't visited georgia in nearly seven weeks, versus harris who is here for the second time in three weeks. what's behind that? >> yeah, i think donald trump, of course the last time he was here seven weeks ago, it didn't go so well for him. he got off message, he was feuding openly with governor brian kemp, the take away from his rally was a dispute over the size of the crowd. so i think it didn't -- he didn't come away with good

feelings. it wasn't considered a good event for him. he knows that georgia is important. he wants to carry georgia again. it's an important state for his pathway to victory. yes, we expect trump to resume his travels in georgia as soon as next week. >> and, yamiche, we mentioned the vice president is in wisconsin later tonight. what's the focus there? >> reporter: the focus there is going to still be on freedom, and still be on that theme of joy that she's been talking about. she's also of course going to the midwest state talking about the economy, talking about herself and trying to introduce herself to voters who maybe aren't familiar with her back story and middle class upbringing. that's something she has been leaning in on and trying to appeal to voters. she's going to continue to talk about reproductive freedom. thurman's family last night, the clip we played of her sister, she was sitting alongside vice president harris and oprah winfrey in a live stream where thousands of people were

watching. it was a campaign event where people could come and make sure they were sort of mobilizing together to back vice president harris. she's going to continue to talk about these personal stories whether she's here in georgia where of course sad deaths of mothers happened, what state officials are calling, pro publica is calling preventable abortion deaths. she's going to go to wisconsin and talk about it there. it's an issue she has talked about in all states i have covered her in, especially the battleground states. she believes abortion is a motivating factor for voters, no matter where they are. while abortion might not come out as the number one issue, it's the issue i have heard over and over again that will determine who someone votes for. if you're pro abortion or antiabortion, it might not be on your top ten lists but might put it on the top ten in how it's impacting who you vote for. >> i see right behind you is that podium, and it looks like the seal of the vice president has been placed on it, which means we can expect her to be

there shortly. we'll of course be monitoring this for you. yamiche alcindor, thank you. tia mitchell, thank you as well for being with us this afternoon. joining us now is former maryland congresswoman and msnbc political analyst, donna edwards. it's always great seeing you. how much do you think this personal approach the vice president is taking to reproductive access resonate with voters in a state like georgia? >> i'll tell you, i mean, i was listening in on that live stream, and those were such poignant moments. it was heartbreaking to hear amber's story. she was just 29-year-old old when she died in what is described as a preventable death. i think it's really important for the vice president to personalize this issue to show that there are real places and lives at stake when it comes to abortion rights and reproductive

freedom. i thought it was a very compelling moment. i'm not surprised today that she continues to, the vice president continues to lean into this message around reproductive freedom because it is so important to so many women and men and families. so i'm looking forward to hearing the vice president's remarks because i think that moving forward all across the country, these issues are coming up, whether they're ballot measures or opposition candidates across the spectrum and it is going to be a voting issue. >> and, donna, we will see her remarks and hear them right here on msnbc when she does begin. stay tuned for that. bringing up your issue that you just mentioned, this issue is going on in georgia, these two extraordinary ladies lost their lives in that state. but voters across the country are affected by changing lawsth.

will remarks like these do enough to get the attention of undecided voters in key swing states that both candidates are vying for? >> i think absolutely, and you know, yamiche pointing out the sign that one in three women are affected by the dobbs decision and these abortion bans because women have to travel across state lines to get appropriate health care. women's health and safety is jeopardized sometimes in the states where they are, as we heard and will continue to hear in georgia and texas and many other states. and so it is very resonant with voters. i mean, they feel this in my home state in maryland, we feel it because we're getting women coming across state lines from west virginia and other states to seek abortion care in our state in maryland. >> we were talking about

harris's campaign event last night with oprah winfrey, among the topics covered was gun violence. i want to play for you a moment from that conversation. >> i'm a gun owner too. >> i did not know that. >> if somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot. >> yes, yes. i hear that. i hear that. >> probably should not have said that. my staff will deal with that later. >> donna, what's your reaction to that moment? >> well, what a testament to oprah's skills that she has a way of drawing out the people that she's talking to. look, i heard the vice president say that during the debate, and, you know, my mouth was wide open for about a minute or two. but actually i think that this highlights the vice president's position on guns. she has said that for responsible gun owners for people who seek a gun license as

she has, that there are no problems, but she does draw the line at having assault weapons, weapons of war, weapon of choice that's used in so many mass shootings across this country, expanding background checks, making sure that there are red flag laws in place all across the states, these are things that draw a distinction, and i actually think that the fact that she and tim walz are both gun owners puts them in a better position of highlighting the differences between responsible gun safety and gun safety laws and those who want to be irresponsible putting guns in the hands of people who shouldn't have them. >> yeah, i mean, i want to also underline the fact that it was a campaign event that the vice president and oprah were at, so i presume that that issue was preplanned to be brought up. but certainly the response by

the vice president is, as you say, something that was fascinating to see. and, donna, abortion is a huge issue, so is the economy. there's new ap polling out showing the vice president just two points behind trump on handling of the economy, that's within even the margin of error. this would be a huge game changer and a wild asset for the vice president. >> well, and with good reason, because i do think the vice president has been good at realizing and recognizing the circumstances that americans are facing when they go to the grocery store, they go to get gas or, you know, buy consumer goods, and this idea of inflation and wanting to tamp down on that, and so she's actually done quite a good job at recognizing where people are but also pointing to the highlights in the economy and pointing to her ideas about how to right size the economy for ordinary americans.

>> congresswoman donna edwards, thank you so much, always great seeing you. coming up, explosive allegations against a republican candidate for governor of north carolina and what it means that he will not drop out of the race. plus, a new filing from trump's team on his criminal election interference case. what they're now arguing and how the judge could respond. and later, israel says it killed a top hezbollah official in a targeted strike on beirut. what it means for concerns as a conflict could be escalating. we're back in 90 secondings. -- 90 seconds. [sniff] still fresh. still fresh! ♪♪ with downy unstopables, you just toss, wash, wow. for all-day freshness. (♪♪) i'm getting vaccinated with pfizer's pneumococcal pneumonia vaccine. so am i. because i'm at risk for pneumococcal pneumonia. come on. i already got a pneumonia vaccine,

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15 past the hour, the deadline for mark robinson to drop out of the race is past. which means he didn't going anywhere for now. he's digging deeper, continuing to deny connection to messages attributed to him on a porn site. laura jarrett has more. >> cnn publishing a string of incendiary comments it says it discovered on the message board of a pornographic web site, nude africa, stretching back to 2008 well before robinson began his political career. cnn saying robinson declared in one post from 2010, i'm a black nazi, while writing in another, slavery is not bad, some people need to be slaves. cnn also reported robinson

described himself as a, quote, perv along with a number of sexually explicit posts. nbc news has not verified their authenticity. cnn reports it traced the comments back to robinson because he used the same user name across various online platforms. robinson defiant, even before cnn's story published, dismissing it as a smear campaign. >> let me reassure you, the things you will see in that story, those are not the words of mark robinson. >> and joining us now, nbc news correspondent, dasha burns who is in wilmington, north carolina. dasha, always great seeing you. i want to start our conversation by saying if the vice president speaks, we will go to that, so i may have to interrupt you, but until then, i want to know how are these allegations impacting north carolina's up ballot? >> well, look, this is obviously going to be a problem for former president trump.

he has said -- he has praised robinson in the past, calling him mlk on steroids at one point, giving him a full throated endorsement, and democrat will no doubt have a field day with this. former president trump is also scheduled to come here to north carolina tomorrow to hold a rally here. we have a reporting that robinson will not be attending the rally. how former president trump handles this going forward is going to be critical. i mean, north carolina is just so important, and the harris campaign is already seizing on this. they're out with an ad tying the former president to robinson. we are hearing from the spokesperson for the harris campaign that they are going to be pouring add dollars into the state so long as this is a story, again, trying to tie down ballot to up ballot in this case, and hoping that it's going to damage their opponent. and the former president, we haven't heard from him directly yet on this, but the campaign put out a statement, not

mentioning robinson by name but saying the campaign is focused on winning the white house and saving this country, and north carolina is a vital part of that plan. we'll see if we get any more word on this situation specifically from the former president or his campaign. >> dasha burns in wilmington, thank you so very much. joining us now, senior editor and elections analyst, david wasserman, and carlos curbelo. carlos, let me start with you, what's your reaction to this robinson thing that he's still staying in the race? >> for about 15 years, mitch mcconnell has been lecturing republicans on the importance of candidate quality. and how you have to have people who are electable. too often over the last decade and a half, republican primaries have produced candidates that are not electable, that are very controversial, that make comments or engage in behaviors

that are disqualifying. so in a state like north carolina, which we can argue is a pink state for the most part, mr. robinson is probably going to get routed in that election, and for sure, that could have major consequences both up and especially down the ballot, and again, this is someone who is very closely attached to president trump's maga brand of politics, so there could certainly be an impact up ballot. >> i mean, north carolina was biden's closest loss in 2020 against trump. with this fresh scandal, do you think democrats have reason to be hopeful that the state could be won this year? >> jose, two months ago, north carolina was a lost cause for democrats, and now it's squarely in the battleground. and there are two reasons for that, number one, kamala harris has energized black voters who are about 21% of the state's electorate, and number two, the

republican campaign for governor obviously at this point, the doctors have left the operating table. mark robinson is beyond saving even if he's still on the ballot, and kamala harris's campaign went up with an ad just this afternoon in north carolina linking trump to robinson via the statements that he's made praising him. so she's trying to make him own this, and robinson does fit in with the maga brand that democrats are trying to make voters reject in this election, and north carolina was a 74,000 vote margin last time around. i would estimate if kamala harris can raise the share of white college grads that vote for democrats from 47% last time to 49% this time. that would be enough to put her over the top. >> dave, cook political report has this great new interactive map, highlighting margins and swing states, north carolina, specifically shows how close it

is. can you walk us through some of these different counties, et cetera? >> sure. so north carolina is a unique state. it's more small town and rural tan georgia where 60% of the vote is cast in metro atlanta if you combine charlotte and the triangle, it's 41% of the state's vote. democrats have parts of the state where there's room to fall in the rural volt. but they're also experiencing growth in the outer suburbs. if there's one county to watch this year, it's cabarrus county, north of charlotte, and that's conquered and that is a place where democrats cut the margin in half from 19 points to 9 points. if she can get that close to tied, that's part of the state democrats need to make progress to get over the top. >> carlos, how much of an impact

could this scandal -- >> swing voters, this type of politics that can offend people, candidates saying crude things, behaving in unacceptable ways. 2020, that's why donald trump lost. that's why republicans lost the senate in a state like georgia, which ended up tipping the balance of control to democrats, and then 2022, why was there no red wave throughout the country, again, because some of these candidates that were so outlandish, out of the mainstream, that is what could really happen in north carolina as a result of this dynamic we're seeing here today. >> carlos curbelo, and david wasserman, thank you so much.

let's go to atlanta. the vice president is speaking. >> and not have our government telling her what to do. yes, we must trust women. and we all know how we got here. when donald trump was president, he hand selected three members of the united states supreme court. the court of thurgood and rbg. with the intention that they would overturn the protections of roe v. wade and as he intended, they did. and now more than 20 states have trump abortion bans, extremists that have passed laws that criminalize health care providers, doctors and nurses and punished women. in two states of those states, they provide for prison for life. prison for life. for health care providers, for

simply providing reproductive care, the dear they so earnestly and rightly believe must be delivered. all trump abortion bans -- and think about this, many of these bans make no exception even for rape and incest. now, many of you know i started my career as a prosecutor, specializing in crimes of violence against women and children. what many of you may not know is why. so when i was in high school, my best friend, i learned, was being molested by her stepfather, and i said to her, look, you got to come and stay with us. i called my mother, of course she does. she stayed with us. i made the decision early in my life that i wanted to do the work that was about protecting the most vulnerable among us, and doing the work that was about giving them dignity in the process. >> thank you. >> thank everybody here for

being here, standing in solidarity around the importance of that. and so i say to you then from that experience and the work that i have done, the idea that someone who survives a crime of violence to their body, a violation of their body, would not have the right to make a decision about what happens to their body next? that's immoral. that's immoral. and let us agree, and i know we do, one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do. if she chooses, she will talk with her pastor, her chief, her rabbi, her imam, but it should

not be the government or donald trump telling her what to do with her body. [ applause ] and think about it, the stories that dr. red tick shared with us, the stories we heard last night, the stories we have been hearing for two years. one in three women in america lives in a state with a trump abortion ban. this includes georgia. and every state in the south except virginia. think about that when you also combine that with what we know is long standing neglect around an issue like maternal mortality. think about that, when you compound that with what has been long standing neglect of women in communities with a lack of the adequate resources they need for health care, prenatal during that pregnancy. post partum, think about that,

and these hypocrites want to start talking about this is in the best interest of women and children, where you been? where you been when it comes to taking care of the women and children of america? where you been? how dare they? how dare they? and we understand the impact of these bans and the horrific reality that women and families, their husbands, their partners, their parents, their children, are facing as a consequence every single day. since roe was overturned, i have met women who were refused care during a miscarriage, wanted to have a child, suffering a

miscarriage. met a woman, i have actually met several, who were turned away from the emergency room, one at early stages after the dobbs decision came down, told me with tears, she was with her husband, about how only when she developed sepsis did she receive emergency care. only when she developed sepsis did she receive emergency care, and now we know that at least two women and those are only the stories we know. here in the state of georgia, died, died, because of a trump abortion ban. one -- and we heard about her story last night. a vibrant, 28-year-old young woman she was ambitious, i talked with her mother and her sisters about her. and they described such an

extraordinary life of a person. she was excited. she was working hard. she was a medical assistant. she was going to nursing school. raising her 6-year-old son. she was really proud that she had finally worked so hard that she gained the independence. her family was telling me she was able to get an apartment in a gated community with a pool for her son to play in. she was so proud, and she was headed to nursing school. and her name, and we will speak her name, amber nicole thurman. amber nicole thurman. amber nicole thurman. >> that's right. and she had her future all planned out. and it was her plan. you know, let's understand, just take pause on that for a moment. she had her plan, what she

wanted to do, for her son, for herself, for their future. and so when she discovered that she was pregnant, she decided she wanted to have an abortion. but because of the trump abortion ban here in georgia, she was forced to travel out of state to receive the health care that she needed, but when she returned to georgia, she needed additional care. so she went to a hospital. but, you see, under the trump abortion ban her doctors could have faced up to a decade in prison for providing amber the care she needed. understand what a law like this means, doctors have to wait

until the patient is at death's door before they take action. you know, on the other side of my -- the other folks, the trump and his running mate, does they talk about, oh, i believe in the exception to save the mother's life. okay. all right. let's break that down, shall we? let's break that down. let's break that down. so we're saying that we're going to create public policy that says that a doctor, a health care provider, will only kick in to give the care that somebody needs if they're about to die? think about what we are saying right now. you're saying that good policy, logical policy, moral policy, humane policy, is about saying that a health care provider will

only start providing that care when you're about to die? and so amber waited 20 hours. 20 hours. excruciating hours, until final she was in enough physical distress that her doctors thought they would be okay to treat her. but it was too late. she died of sepsis. and her last words to her mother, which her mother, as you know, tears up and cries every time she speaks it, last word to

her mother, promise me you'll take care of my son. so i met last night, and i spent time with amber's mother and her sisters, and they spoke about amber, a daughter, a sister, a mother with the deep love that you can imagine, and how terribly they miss her. and their pain is heartbreaking. it's heartbreaking. amber's mother told me that the word preventable is over and over again in her head when she learned about how her child died. the word preventable. she can't stop thinking about the word that they spoke to her. it was preventable.

because you see medical experts have now determined that amber's death was preventable. and through the pain and the grief of her mother who courageously told her story, i've promised her, as she has asked, that we will make sure amber is not just remembered as a statistic. [ applause ] that she will not just be remembered as a statistic. so that people will know she was a mother and a daughter and a sister, and that she was loved, and that she should be alive today. >> yes. and that she should be alive today. and many of us remember, there's so many leaders here. from two years ago, when the

dobbs decision came down, we knew this could happen. there is a word preventable, and there is another word, predictable. and the reality is for every story we hear of the suffering under trump abortion bans, there are so many other stories we're not hearing, but where suffering is happening every day in our country, an untold number of people suffering. women who are being made to feel as though they did something wrong, the judgment factor here is outrageous, being made to feel as though they are criminals, as though they are

alone. so to those women, to those families i say on behalf of what i feel we all say, we see you, and you are not alone, and we are all here standing with you. [ applause ] standing with you. you are not alone. you are not alone. so, georgia, and we will not be silent. we will not be silent. but this is a health care crisis. this is a health care crisis, and donald trump is the architect of this crisis. he brags about overturning roe v. wade. in his own words, quote, i did

it, and i'm proud to have done it, he says. he is proud, proud that women are dying. proud that doctors and nurses could be thrown in prison for administering care? proud that young women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers? how dare he. how dare he. and in our debate last week, [ applause ] well, that was fun. [ cheers and applause ] and i know everyone here paid attention to the words, though, the words, right? i'm trying to get another

debate. we'll see. but in our debate last week, remember when he said everyone wanted roe v. wade to be overturned. well, exactly, i don't know where everyone is either bauds women have been arrested and charged for miscarriages. they didn't want that. i was speaking with a physician who was here who has in her professional experience been administering care to girls, and what we know is that 12 and 13-year-old survivors of assault are being forced to carry a pregnancy to term. they didn't want this. >> no. >> and couples just trying to grow their family being cut off in the middle of ivf treatments, they didn't want this.

and on that last point, you probably saw this week for the second time, republicans in the united states senate blocked a bill that would protect access to ivf treatment. now, consider among the multitude of ironies the fact that on the one hand, these extremists want to tell women they don't have the freedom to end an unwanted pregnancy, and on the other hand, these extremists are telling women and their partners, they don't have the freedom to start a family. okay. and they want to restrict access to contraception as well. and now donald trump says that he would personally cast his vote in florida, which is where he now lives, to support their extreme abortion ban just like the one that is here in georgia.

that's a whole different policy discussion that we'll have for another day. but let's understand if he is elected again as president, donald trump will go further. we know what we're up against, and we must, we must speak of the stakes. we must remind -- everybody here knows, but we got to remind our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, the stakes are so high. because if he is elected again, i am certain he will sign a national abortion ban. which would outlaw abortion in every single state and he would create a national antiabortion coordinator. look at project 2025. it forced states to report on

women's miscarriages and abortions. it's right there. i can't believe they put that project 2025 in writing. they literally put it in writing. they bound it. they handed it out. i mean, they are simply out of their minds. and it's clear that they just don't trust women. well, we trust women. we trust women. and like dr. reddick said when congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedoms as president of the united states, i will so proudly sign it back into law. i will so proudly sign it into law. proudly sign it into law.

so 46 days to go. and let us remember that momentum on this and so many issues, momentum is on our side. >> yes. >> let's remember since roe was overturned, every time reproductive freedom has been on the ballot, from kansas to california to kentucky, in michigan, montana, vermont, and ohio, the people of america have voted for freedom. the people of america have voted for freedom. and not just by a little, but by overwhelming margins from so-called red states to so called blue states, providing and making clear also -- this is not a partisan issue. >> no. >> this is not a partisan issue, and it is proving that the voice

of the people has been heard and will be heard again. and will be heard again. so 46 days to go in probably the most consequential election of our lifetimes and with that then today, i ask, georgia, are you ready to make your voices heard? do we trust women? [ cheers and applause ] do we believe in reproductive freedom? do we believe in the promise of america? and are we ready to fight for it? and when we fight, we win. god bless you, and god bles this country. ♪♪ vice president harris, in atlanta, georgia, at this hour.

we saw together here on msnbc, and campaign stop focusing on women's reproductive rights. i want to bring back former congresswoman and msnbc political analyst, don edwards, and washington correspondent for the "atlanta journal-constitution" tia mitchell. so, donna, this campaign stop where she specifically over and over again referred to georgia's abortion ban law as a trump abortion ban, repeated it over and over again, is clearly a very strong and effective political point that the vice president is making to tie donald trump with all abortion bans in any state? >> well, it's donald trump's abortion ban, he's the one who engineered as the vice president said, the ending of roe v. wade and the overturning of roe with

the dobbs decision, he's the one who engineered it, he took credit for it as the vice president pointed out. i think this was a strong and powerful message for the people of georgia and for the nation. when i heard her repeat the name of amber nicole thurman, it brought chills to me. her story did, and her story is going to resonate all across the country, and i think the vice president really hit it out of the park honing in on a message that she needs to be able to close out this election in the next 46 days. >> i would also bring back with us, nbc news washington correspondent yamiche alcindor who was at that rally. i want to ask about your reaction to what we saw in atlanta. >> i think it was really one of the interesting things that i think vice president harris is doing because she knows already that what republicans are trying to do to simplify the deaths of

these two georgia women to an attack on medicaid and abortion. what she's doing in her remarks, it's very nuanced, it's not just about access to abortion, it's access to care overall. it's access to choice. it goes back to freedom. these women felt they had no choice but to have abortions and then felt their hands were tied when they needed medical care when they had complications. and so -- and that's what she's tying it back to that these abortion bans have tied the hands of doctors and medical professionals, and pregnant women, and made it harder for them to get the care they need. i think that's going to be important for this narrative. i think it will be easy to make this just about the abortion pill if her messaging isn't nuanced, and that's what she did. >> you were telling us earlier that you were seeing there some kind of trying out new attack

lines on this issue in this campaign rally. >> that's right, and i want to take people inside the room here because there are things happening that you couldn't see on camera that i think were poignant. this was a more intimate setting. this wasn't a big raucous campaign rally. people could see the vice president, and you could see facial expressions and people were sitting shoulder to shoulder, and she was telling those stories about those two women who died of what she called preventable abortion deaths. there were people crying in the room. there were people getting visibly emotional, and the vice president herself someone who has exuded joy, leaned into levity, she was solemn herself. people were solemn in the room. there was a quietness that's different from what i have seen in other campaign events. there are signs that say one in three women live under a trump abortion ban. the setting was to hammer home

the point that there was really a lot of danger, a lot of fear, and that women's lives, frankly, are at stake because of former president trump's efforts and his actions that led to the overturning of roe v. wade, and when she talked about amber, she talked about not just the fact that she died and sort of what happened with the infection there and how she told her mother in the last moments that she was alive that she promised, promise you will take care of my son. she also talked about the fact that she was planning a life for herself. she had just gotten into a gated community, moving away from her family and had a gated community where there was a pool for her son. she had a future, she was trying to enroll in nursing school. the same thing with candy miller, she talks about the fact that this was a mother of three, a mother who died laying in bed with her 3-year-old child who has to grow up without a mother. this is a moment where the vice president was trying to hammer home the point that it is the

personal stories of health care complications and women who should be here. these are just the stories we know. this is a case where we could have a number of other stories we don't know, and when she leaned into preventible, she said this is predictable, this is something people foresaw, which is why so many people dent want roe v. wade to overturn. a poignant moment in a poignant event that's different than what we have seen from the vice president in the past, jose. >> we're used to seeing the vice president in a highly structured, choreographed event. there was back and forth in this event? >> reporter: there was some back and forth, and, you know, having covered her in atlanta, this is a really special place because call-in response. there's a sort of southern african american cultural experience that you get in atlanta. of course being a place where so many african americans love to

live. and the vice president was talking about the fact that former president trump, that he would be casting his ballot in favor of limiting abortion rights in florida. and someone called out and said felons can't vote. that was the time where you saw the vice president who, again, was solemn, laugh and kick back her said and said we're going to deal with that when we deal with that. of course there are a lot of people who want felons to vote, especially in florida. democrats have been pushing that. this was definitely a call-in response. there were people who were also standing up in the room, people stood up and gave her a standing ovation when she said last week when i said at the debate -- before she could finish people started clapping because people were so happy to see the performance she gave on the debate stage. that was another call-in response here in atlanta. jose? >> and she hopes she can get another opportunity to debate the former president. yamiche alcindor, tia, and donna edwards, thank you so much. staying in georgia, the election board approved a new rule change today that will

require election workers to hand count ballots on election night. that's despite a rare warning from the state attorney general's office that, quote, the proposed rules if passed very likely exceed the board's statutory authority and in some instances appear to conflict with the statutes governing the conduct of elections. joining us now, nbc news reporter from atlanta. tell us what this is. >> reporter: that's right. you saw that energy across atlanta at the kamala harris event. there was that same energy at the georgia state capitol. dozens showed up. this meeting is at capacity. they had two overflow rooms. the overwhelming majority of the people who came out to deliver their public comments were against these almost a dozen proposed new rules. not just the attorney general's office near georgia, his voice, his concern about the rules. but we've heard from secretary

of state brad raffensperger who said this is going to create 11th hour chaos. one of the most controversial rules that already passed today would require three different election workers in each precinct, in every county across the state of georgia to have to hand count the ballots and arrive at the same number that the voting machines tabulate. many of the directors who came out to voice their concern about that rule said that, listen, we're simply way too close to election day to implement new rules at this point. election workers have already been trained. and to try to change their job description at this point is just really, really difficult. i did get a chance to speak to janelle king, kind of a rising star in conservative politics in georgia. she's one of the three members on the board who has been voting for most of these proposed rules are. let's listen to what she had to say about those concerns. >> timing is something that i can't make that my only decision maker. the only reason why i'm making a

decision. i do consider it, but it's -- these rules are important. and i think it's going to show on the back end. you know, when we have precinct-level counts being as accurate as possible, that means the county count will be accurate and the state count. we won't have a situation where we have any candidates saying they think the count is off or they want an audit because something went wrong. we would have caught it in an early stage. >> reporter: so ultimately, jose, we are anticipating that this election is going to be just as close as the one in 2020. the real concern here is that all of these new rules could delay the certification of the election results and just postpone finding out the results of this 2024 presidential election. >> thank you so very much. next, israel says it killed a top hezbollah official today in a strike in beirut. we'll have the latest next. still have symptoms from moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease after a tnf blocker like humira or remicade?

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commanders? who does that include? >> reporter: it includes a man wanted by the state department. there's a bounty on his head. akeel was associated with the 1983, the bombings of the u.s. embassy in beirut and the marine barracks. remember that killed hundreds of americans. he is one of the top commanders. i'm saying is because we don't have confirmation from hezbollah that he was killed in this strike. was, if you believe the israeli version, that in fact he was taken out in this strike on this residential building in southern beirut. a senior commander in charge of the redwan of course, not a household name in the united states, but the radwan force is an elite military unit in charge mainly of cross-border infiltration in northern israel. but notably they also fought alongside bashar al assad in syria's civil war. of course hezbollah is supported

by iran, and the big question now is going to be after this escalation because it is really very much perceived, jose, as an escalation, on the lebanese side that killed, by the way, civilians in the process, will hezbollah up the ante, will they match the attack at the level that the israelis have mounted in the last few days, that's the big question. if they do, we are ever closer to a regional conflict. jose? >> thank you so very much. that attack on the u.s. barracks in beirut,th 23rd, 1983, killed 241 u.s. marines. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart in for katy occur. thank you for the privilege of your time. "deadline: white house" starts right now.