instrumental in indian country. hopefully he's listening, too. nothing happens without water. >> reporter: the navajo nation president says the water settlement talks are personal. he grew up hauling water and says his first indoor shower wasn't until he was a freshman in college. he says he is working so that a future generation of navajo children will have access to clean and reliable water. >> thank you. all eyes on the kennedy space center launch pad right now. we're in t minus sixish minutes. nasa and spacex will send the long awaited mission to explore jupiter's ice covered moon. this moon is thought to have an underground ocean and considered one of to most promising places to search for extraterrestrial life. the spacecraft is the largest probe ever built for a planetary science mission. again, we'll be keeping an eye

on the kennedy space center for that launch. expected in just minutes from now. that does it for us today. thank you so much for joining us. i'll be back tomorrow at my unusual spot. 10:00 a.m. eastern and you can catch our show online around the clock on youtube and other platforms. thanks for joining us. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right after this. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right after this right now, 22 days to go. the race for the white house in a dead heat. with vice president harris losing her narrow advantage in a new nbc news national poll. steve kornacki will be at the big board in just moments to break down the numbers inside key voting groups and some red flags for democrats. harris planning a full court press this week with harris and donald trump in the most critical battleground today, pennsylvania. and national security leaders slamming the former president

for saying he would deploy the national guard or military against u.s. citizens he considers enemies from within. this as the biden administration is sending one of its most sophisticated anti missile systems to israel, including 100 troops to operate it to protect against attacks from iran. and we'll go back to florida as communities hit hard by milton try to begin to long road to recovery. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. vice president harris loses her five-point advantage over donald trump in our new nbc news national poll. the candidates neck and neck, tied at 48%. harris and trump both back in the battleground state of pennsylvania. bill clinton is campaigning for harris in georgia today.

this as donald trump is escalating his rhetoric suggesting he would use the military against u.s. citizens. >> i think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. we have some sick people. radical left lunatics. and i think they're the -- and it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by national guard or if really necessary, by the military. >> separately, authorities arrested an armed man outside donald trump's rally in coachella, california on saturday, but later released him. officials saying there is no indication it was another assassination attempt. the trump campaign has been asking the white house for a military plane for trump's travels as well as restricting air space over his events largely because of the threat against him. these are all unprecedented steps if approved. today, on her seventh trip to western pennsylvania, vice president kamala harris is meeting with black business owners. a voting block whose support for her has been slipping. her campaign also looking for

ways to differentiate harris from president biden after she told an interviewer she couldn't think of anything she would do differently from biden except have a republican in her cabinet. and harris released a letter from her white house doctor this weekend saying she's in excellent health. that's in contrast to donald trump. now the oldest candidate running who is not. >> he refuses to release his medical records. i've done it. one must question, are they afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable to lead america? >> nbc news national political correspondent, steve kornacki, joins us from the big board. so, steve, walk us through these numbers because we don't usually focus this much on battleground or rather on national poles versus battleground polls, but this one had a lot in the internals that is causing alarms

in democratic circles. >> 48-48 tie but the context for this is a month ago, our poll had harris five points up over trump. now, that was just after this poll was taken just after the trump harris debate. since then, there's been the vp debate. harris has given a number of interviews. there have been other campaign events and it's shifted now to a tie in our poll. underneath this, if there's one finding that i think standeds out, it's right here. this is basically looking at the image of these candidate. do voters have a positive or negative view of them. and this side on the left is what it is now. they're basically the same. both trump and harris, 43, positive, and a high negative there. 51 for trump. 49 for harris. but a month ago, it was a different story. trump's numbers were still pretty rough but harris actually a month ago had a higher positive. 48% than negative, 45%. she had a clear advantage in our poll a month ago on likability,

on image and that's gone for her in our new poll. that's significant. harris remains a member of an unpopular administration. she's the vice president and the president, 43% approval rating for joe biden in our new poll. one of the reasons democrats kind of wanted biden not to run was his low approval rating. i think interestingly as well, we also asked this. we asked about trump as president. looking back, did you approve or disapprove of the job trump did as president? 48% in our poll say they approve of how trump did as president. what's notable is that higher than biden's current approval rating, this is a better approval rating than trump ever got in our poll when he was president. so there's been a little bit of an improvement retrospectively in how people think about the trump presidency. also just the atmosphere then for harris. running as the vice president. the incumbent vice president.

she's the third incumbent vice president to run in modern times. the other two, gore in 2000, bush sr. in '88. their bosses, bill clinton, reagan, had high approval ratings. bush won in '88. gore didn't win in 2000, though he did in the popular vote. just a totally different atmosphere for this incumbent vice president, harris. her boss, only a 43% job approval rating. you do get to this question though. we ask about most important issue. top issue to people. we asked in a very specific way this time. we said is there one issue that is so important to you that it could be the entire base of your vote? and we asked the question that way, abortion came up more than any other issue. more than one in five voters said that abortion to them is of that singular importance potentially could be the entire basis of their vote. notably, and this is what the

harris folks can probably take heart from in this poll, her biggest advantage is on this issue. by a 19-point margin. when you ask folks which candidate do you prefer on abortion, harris over trump, so that singular importance to so many voters. that big of a harris advantage. democrats think that could work their way certainly on election day and then big picture, there is the question of the gender gap. we've talked about gender gaps for a long time in american politics but look at this. among men, trump with a 16-point advantage. 56-40%. among women, harris with a 14% advantage. 55-41. that's a gap. a gender gap of 30 points. would be the highest of all time and again, you just see each candidate with such strength. trump among men. harris among women. it's almost like a tug of war between those two groups as one candidate being able to tug the rope more in the direction where they've got the strength here.

>> one thing that's striking, also, for donald trump, the immigration issue seems to be really working as a motivating force that a lot of the misinformation, the false statements, the venezuelans, the haitians. the fear tactics seem to be really working, steve. >> when you ask voters in our poll, we showed you abortion. which candidate do you prefer when it comes to the border and immigration, trump's advantage is 25 points. this has long been a source of strength for him in polling. also, we're talking about the difference between september when harris led by five in our poll and now october with the race tied. trump's advantage on that question of border and immigration has gone up. we say 25 now. when we polled it a month ago, it was 21. so it's been a source of strength for him and in the last month, it's gotten a tick stronger for him. >> steve, that's a fascinating poll. thank you so much for making it so clear. and joining us now, ashley

parker, "washington post" senior national political correspondent. brendan buck, former top communications adviser to house speakers paul ryan and john boehner and alyssa johnson. ashley, harris has lost her five-point advantage she had after the big debate. in this new poll, the massive gender gap. women for harris, men for trump, broadening and picking up more on the male side. for him. >> that's right. you know, when you talk to the harris campaign, they say, which is true, that you know, from the very day when she emerged with a lot of excitement and fanfare on the top of the ticket, this they had also said this was going to be incredibly close and incredibly hard and essentially a war of attrition. that's what we're seeing. but they're certainly nervous about some of those numbers we're seeing in that poll and

others. including that she does not quite have the margins with black voters and black men that joe biden had previously, right? and this is a population. again, there's groups she's doing incredibly well with but this election is going to be decided by an incredibly small sliver of voters in an incredibly small number of states. so if your margin with black men for instance and we saw former president obama come out and address this quite directly, but if that slips by even one or two points in philadelphia county in pennsylvania in the lehigh valley, in metro detroit, in two of those three blue wall states, even though she's still winning for instance, black men and black voters, that could be decisive in an election. so again, they know it's going to be close. they know there's a number of groups they need to boost their margins with. they're working hard and scrambling to do it.

but they're afraid this will come down to the last minute was true and certainly as we look at these polls holds true now as we head into election day. >> and this just in, as they say. alencia johnson, according to the "new york times" and fox new, kamala harris has done something she has not before. agreed to an interview with fox news with brett beir on wednesday night. one of the criticisms is that she has only gone to friendly interviewers. >> i would kind of disagree with that because she has actually gone to the hard journalism interviews. i think one of the criticisms is that she's spending a lot of time doing media that speaks directly to voters. she interviewed with the shade room and roland martin. she's going to fox news. also offered to do another

debate donald trump was scared of. i have been in presidential politics for numerous campaigns. particularly working with black voters. i am a black voter myself. vice president harris and her campaign rolled out economic policy plans today for black men in particular, but the reality is whether or not black men vote at the same margin, they are still the second highest voting block of the democratic party. we're seeing margins shift in latino communities an the reality is if abortion is the number one issue, the conversation also has to include why majority of white women continue to vote with donald trump in the last two elections. so we actually have to make sure we are not demonizing black voters in this conversation and having the conversation that vice president is having. >> in such a close election, let me just push you on that for a moment. those margins, yes, of course,

she's getting the overwhelming majority of the black vote. no question about that. but if she's getting a smaller margin of black male voters who are hispanic, that's enough to make a difference in this tight election and i think that from all of my reporting, the campaign is well aware and really concerned about that. that's why they are focusing this way and i would just say sitting down for an interview with brett on the fox news network is something she has not done before. >> listen, i'm not disagreeing that it's something the campaign should be paying attention to. however, what i'm saying is we should not continue to demonize voters who are actually making their own informed decision when there are a lot of issues that talk to the wider coalition that we need to continue to bring over to the democratic party fold. again, this conversation around white women that started happening in 2016. yes, those margins with young black voters, young black men are extremely important. we have three weeks out.

to be honest, a lot of people are just starting to pay attention to the election. those who don't watch the news like we are in every single day, but i want to make sure we're not having this conversation where we are demonizing folks for making an informed decision. the reality is vice president harris is going directly to these voters and having these conversations and listening. >> i don't think she's demonizing, just saying that. she's making a big effort now to reach out to that sector. >> i think that the -- demonizing vice president harris. i think the conversation is solely focused on black men in a way that i think is unfair to the accountability that we have to hold all pieces of the electorate that make up the coalition. >> just to follow, do you think then president obama's appeal was misplaced and was that a mistake? because he's the one who really amplified that conversation.

>> yeah, look, i think president obama was trying to have a candid conversation with some voters and there were some voters it worked for and some it did not. you'll continue to see more people talking to different segments of the population. black voters are not a monolith. one messager may work for one and one may not work for another. so again, you will see the harris campaign continuing this week talking to black voters. they're having these, they had some watch party this is week in some battleground states with key surrogates who are black men. you had her again on these interviews. we're having the conversations. and i think you will continue to see more people have support and listen, one messenger is not going to get the entire community. >> understood. brendan, i want to push you on your reaction to donald trump suggesting he would use the national guard or the military, other military, against quote

the enemy within. the radical left. these are really escalating comments and they're warnings from republicans like liz cheney who was on "meet the press" this weekend. are those warnings falling on deaf ears? you've heard what military leaders, you know, like general milley said to bob woodward and i have had personal experience with a lot of national security leaders in his administration expressing those absolutely similar, even worse, fears. >> yeah. i think that's the fear for the harris campaign, right? is that it does just wash over. oh, that's just the latest crazy thing that donald trump said. i think people should take it much more seriously than that. the phrase, law fair, is very popular among republicans right now. using the courts to go after people. your enemies. i think the people should appreciate there are people who will be in the next trump

administration, if he wins, who think this is in bounds and would like to pursue a strategy of frankly ruining people's lives through the courts. how successful you need to be, how many people you need, i don't know. i think it's good she's going ton fox news because there are credible people on the right who will be better messengers for these things and it's a very effective thing to do for those last few people sitting on the fence. >> well, wanted to play a quick sound bite of jd vance with "the new york times" last week and that's the kind of election denial, let me just play that quickly for you and get your reaction from him. >> do you believe he lost the 2020 election? >> i think that donald trump and i have both raised a number of issues with the 2020 election, but we're focused on the future. >> yes or no. did donald trump lose the 2020 election? >> let me ask you a question. is it okay that big technology

companies censored the hunter biden laptop story which independent analysis cost donald trump millions. >> did donald trump lose the 2020 election? >> i've answered your question with another question. you answer my question and i'll answer yours. >> that's not the way it works. brendan? >> sign up for when you decide to be donald trump's running mate. i know jd vance knows as well as the four of us that donald trump lost the election fair and square. i think he would love nothing more than to say out loud donald trump lost. there's no strategic or messaging benefit to this. this is purely him being afraid of his boss. not wanting to get smacked down by donald trump who will not allow anyone to say this in his presence. it is awful for donald trump. people look at this and think you're crazy. when he went on his extended rip in the debate, i thought that was the worst moment because he looks so petty and small and pathetic.

jd vance clearly has his talking point of how to get out of it at this point, but all in all, both vance and trump very pathetic they can't just acknowledge it. >> thanks to all of you for a spirited conversation this morning or this afternoon. in 90 seconds, how the harris campaign plans to win over black men voters in those final three weeks. congressman gregory meeks joins us next. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. rea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. in 2016, donald trump said he would choose

only the best people to work in his white house. now those people have a warning for america: trump is not fit to be president again. here's his vice president: "anyone who puts himself over the constitution should never be president of the united states." "i cannot in good conscience endorse donald trump this year." his defense secretary: "do you think trump can be trusted with the nation's secrets ever again?" "no. i mean, it's just irresponsible action that places our service members at risk, places our nation's security at risk." his national security advisor: "donald trump will cause a lot of damage." "the only thing he cares about is donald trump." and the nation's former highest ranking military officer: "we don't take an oath to a king or queen. or to a tyrant or a dictator. and we don't take an oath to a wannabe dictator." take it from the people who knew him best: donald trump is too big a risk for america. i'm kamala harris and i approve this message.

with just three weeks to go until election day, vice president harris is on a blue wall battleground blitz this week with planned visits to pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. this comes as our new nbc news poll has a deadlock race nationally and as part of a push to engage a key democratic group, the black vote, the harris campaign today released an opportunity agenda for black men. a plan to boost her finances, their finances rather and careers, ramping up efforts to target critical voting block. joining me now, democratic new york congressman meeks, member of the congressional black caucus, surrogate for the harris-walz campaign and former chairman of house foreign affairs. great to see you. >> thank you for having me. >> the vice president, she has been struggling in the polls with black men. not the margins that candidates,

democratic candidates, have had in the past. could be gender, could be a lot of things going on. the economy. last week, we saw former president obama directly address, and he was addressing, and we should clarify this. he was addressing campaign workers in pittsburgh. about how they should address the black male voters. which i think is an important distinction. he was not necessarily, you know, talking down as some have criticized to black voters, but he was talking to energize and give his analysis to those who are going to be going out and making those appeals. here is kamala harris today with roland martin. >> the work that we have done that's about investing in black businesses. that's about understanding the importance of having representation at every level including a black woman on the united states supreme court for the first time. it's because people voted and demanded that.

and the reality of how this system works is that we each have many ways that we are powerful and one of those ways, very significantly, is through our vote. >> so the campaign is clearly focusing on this, trying to increase its margins. we should point out it's not just black men. it's black and white men, but black men have been more reliablely voting in the past. >> more black men vote and will vote for the vice president than any other demographic than black women and that should be acknowledged. because it is an extremely close election, is the new voters or voters who don't vote often, to get them to come out to vote, i think you're going to see the numbers be close to the same. maybe a slight decline of those that come out to vote. if you look overall, those

numbers are going to be tremendously high, but we want to increase the turnout. you've got individuals who have only voted once or twice before or never before and so we have to go after them so that they understand because they have questions. and i think what the opportunity that the vice president is putting forward in regards to black men is so those individuals, because primarily, you're taught those that are 40, 45 and under who have new families or young families of two things. one, what have we done for you in this last four years and we have to be able to articulate that and talk to them about that, which clearly, the vice president is doing. whether you're talking about how a black businesses have increased since the pandemic. whether you're talking about how we've made sure with reference to the $35 cap on insurance for those individuals that are taking the diabetes.

we have increased, for example, the child tax credits. so we can talk about that. and then what this is also giving her the opportunity to talk about is what she will do in the four years. so they're asking questions. and she's answering the questions and she's answering them by where they are. you see and talked about her schedule. so she's going to answer those questions. i think it's clear that most of those black men also know where donald trump is and what he has meant. they also ask the questions, they've asked me, have donald trump ever hired any black man in any of his offices or any of the businesses that he's ever had? what has he ever done for a black man? does donald trump think that the only black jobs are the jobs that the migrants may want or in the field? reminiscent of what was in the past? does donald trump think we should be going backwards back

to when? to post to where we had jim crow laws? so there is, there's questions that are many of these young people, young black men are asking and it is only one person and that's the vice president, who's going to them where they are and i think ultimately, the polls we're taking now, the best poll is going to be on november 5th when we count them up and i think you'll see overwhelmingly black men will have voted for the vice president. black women will have voted for the vice president. and most importantly, what i would like to talk about, is white women. because i think that number is continually to increase. in 2016, had white women voted for hillary clinton, then she would have been the president of the united states and we never would have had the disaster of donald trump. and i think that they will vote for vice president harris in overwhelming numbers come november 5th, also. >> no argument about what the

abortion, i mean, this poll clearly shows that abortion is a huge motivating factor with white women, with all women. another thing that the poll does show is that people are thinking more favorably about donald trump's presidency and what he did than they did back when he was running, which is remarkable. as well. there seems to be some sort of a collective memory lapse about what some of these policies were. specifically, i want to ask you about what he said over the weekend. because you have such deep experience in foreign policy. here, donald trump said that he would use the national guard and the military to deal with domestic enemies. you're the top democrat on foreign affairs. what concerns do you have about that kind of rhetoric? >> very much a lot of concerns about that kind of rhetoric. that's not the kind of rhetoric that you would want to have in a democracy. that sounds like someone who wants to be a dictator. it sounds like what took place

in the '30s and the '40s. we cannot go back. we cannot go there. it's extremely alarm of what he said. screaming alarm of what he said he would deny the people of california aid for forest fires if they happen there. he is telling you exactly what he will do if he was the president of the united states again. what he's telling you, you should believe because guess what. his top advisers in the past, his top national security advisers, have told us they are not supporting him this time. that he is a danger to the united states and the rest of the world. all of them. all of his top advisers have said that from his former vice president to individuals to generals in the military who said clearly general milley, that we don't support dictators indicating this is the guy that wants to be one. so all you have to do is to listen to what coming out of his mouth and if you are an

american, concerned about our democracy and concerned about who will do what moving forward, that's why liz cheney has jumped on board. this is a time for us to all come together. i look forward, actually, andrea, to the time that we will be able to have normal debate in the united states congress and in our presidential elections again. this is not a normal election. there is too much at stake. the consequences of this election are at stake for all of the american people but also as you've indicated, internationally. because time and time again, i've talked to world leaders and they whisper in my ear that they're all watching this and very concerned about the results of the elections in 2024 for determining the president of 2025. >> congressman gregory meeks, top surrogate for the campaign, we appreciate you being with us. thank you, sir. >> thank you for having me. up next, israel preparing its response to a deadly drone attack by hezbollah over the weekend and the missile strikes from iran earlier in month.

yet to hear about their retaliation for that. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ndrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. (man) mm, hey, honey. looks like my to-do list grew. "paint the bathroom, give baxter a bath, get life insurance," hm. i have a few minutes. i can do that now. oh, that fast? remember that colonial penn ad? i called and i got information. they sent the simple form i need to apply. all i do is fill it out and send it back.

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it's our son, he is always up in our business. it's the verizon 5g home internet i got us. oh... he used to be a competitive gamer but with the higher lag, he can't keep up with his squad. so now we're his “squad”. what are kevin's plans for the fall? he's going to college. out of state, yeah. -yeah in the fall. change of plans, i've decided to stay local. oh excellent! oh that's great! why would i ever leave this? -aw! we will do anything to get him gaming again. you and kevin need to fix this internet situation. heard my name! i swear to god, kevin! -we told you to wait in the car.

everyone in my old squad has xfinity. less lag, better gaming! i'm gonna need to charge you for three people. and now to breaking news. israel saying that sirens sounded in a number of areas in central israel today because of projectiles fired from lebanon. this after a hezbollah drone strike sunday night killed four israeli soldiers, injuring more than 60 people at an army base

in northern israel. one of the deadliest attacks in israel since october 7th. pentagon announced it's sending one of its most advanced missile systems and 100 troops to israel to bolster their defense system against possible attacks from iran or hezbollah. in gaza, an israeli strike in an encampment killed at least three, injuring 50 according to palestinian health officials. joining us now, erin mcloughlin in tel aviv and retired admiral and awe author of the new book, the restless wave. another fantastic new book from the admiral. erin, first, tell us about these reports. sirens sounding in central israel today. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. we heard the sirens about two hours ago sending once again israelis here in tel aviv and in

other parts of central israel to their shelters according to the israel in military, three projectiles were fired from lebanon toward israel. all three were struck down. no injuries reported, but it's the kind of incident that israeli officials tell me has israel's air defenses stretched in all directions. it's become very much part of every day life here in israel. the siren sound just after or the day after there was that drone attack there from lebanon. hezbollah firing a drone toward an israeli air base in the north. it happened during dinner, striking that base. the drone went undetected killing at least four israeli soldiers and wounding scores more at dinner time. i was speaking to a former commander of israel's air defense and he was telling me that drones, in particular, irani made drones, pose a

significant and complex threat to israel's security. they're very small, very difficult to detect. if you can't detect them, you can't shoot them down. take a listen to what he had to say. >> we are not prepared enough for that situation and the fact is that our enemies recognize that, saw that and they're using a lot of drones and uabs from iraq, from iran, yemen and of course from hezbollah. >> reporter: and israeli defense officials say they are investigating that attack on the air base. today, the israeli prime minister visited the air base, vowing to hit back at hezbollah. andrea? >> so, admiral, the pentagon is sending about 100 troops. these are required to operate this new advanced air missile system in israel.

does that raise the stakes with u.s. troops on the ground in israel? >> it certainly does. >> what about the risk of us getting more involved? >> it certainly raises the risk. it is part of the united states continually being pulled toward this. but it's the reality of the united states standing alongside its greatest ally, partner, and friend in the middle east, israel. these 100 troops are going to operate something called the thad air defense system and it's designed to go after ballistic missiles. it won't help against the kind of low and slow drones that we were discussing a moment ago, but it shows you that you need a lot of different systems. you need navy destroyers off the coast. you need this thad system. you need patriot batteries, iron dome, david sling, arrow.

there's a long series of these. they have to be integrated together. i'm confident israel can protect itself but will occasionally something get through, unfortunately, yes. >> now, israel has injured in their attacks against hezbollah, a number of u.n. troops that have been there. they've been in that area that was supposed to be a non weapon ized area. i have heard u.s. officials telling me they are critical of unifil because they accept the israeli intel that there are tunnels and weapons buried in homes and tunnels right in that area. right on the border. and that this was done under the nose of unifil. not to excuse any attacks that endangered u.n. peace keepers, but as you know, ongoing feud between israel, netanyahu in particular, and the united nations. >> indeed, there is.

and if i were israel, i would be intensely frustrated with the failures of the u.n. mission. if the u.n. mission were doing its job and ensuring that there was a significant demilitarized zone just to the north of the israeli border up to the latani river, israel would not have had to invade and undertake the kind of military operations they are now. frankly, this mission has been something that military analysts and observers like myself have been critical of for decades or more. they just have not been effective at the task they were given. >> now, i know you're not political, but there is an extraordinary number of former military and other national security officials from the trump administration who have spoken out. and have spoken out against donald trump's election.

in bob woodward's new book, the chairman of the joint chiefs warns that donald trump, president trump, is quote a fascist to the core. the most dangerous person to this country. he said a lot more to other people including myself and other retired generals sounding the alarm about a second trump term. this is a two star on "morning joe" today. >> five years i was apolitical. i basically kept my opinions to myself. what i saw in trump's first term disturbed me greatly because he had this disdain for the constitution, for laws he didn't agree with or basically didn't want to follow. >> and this was in reacting to donald trump this weekend saying he would deploy the military against what he considered u.s. enemies from within on the left.

what are you concerns? >> my concerns are parallel to those you're hearing from particularly the senior officers who served closely in and around donald trump in his administration. here, i put a lot of weight on the word of mark milley, who is a tough, hard nosed, non partisan kind of actor. he served for both republicans and democrats. he's a princeton graduate, a smart person. when he says donald trump has fascist tendencies or is a fascist to his core, i am very concerned. i also look at one of my closest friends, general john kelly, who was his chief of staff and was around donald trump 24/7 for most of two years. john kelly has validated comments that trump made about

those buried in our cemeteries being suckers and losers. so i hope the american people are listening to the senior military who want to be apolitical, andrea, but because they served alongside donald trump and they have firsthand knowledge of him and his character and are willing to share that, i hope the public is listening. >> admiral, thank you. and it's all the more reason for those of us who want to, an escape, to read the new book. the restless wave. out now. just for something different. and next, former top staffer in the trump white house joining us on why she's on the trail making the case against her former boss and trying to get other republicans to join. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. ing "andrea mitchl reports. this is msnbc.

this weekend on nbc's "meet the press," former republican congresswoman liz cheney, who lost her seat in wyoming because of her leading role in the january 6th investigation, told kristen welker that a second trump presidency would be more radically dangerous than the first. >> donald trump will ignore congress. he will appoint people, people like mike flynn, for example, who just you know, 36 hours ago, mike flynn was at an event where he was asked whether or not the president's opponents should be executed. he basically said listen, yes, i'm going to unleash the gates of hell. these are the kinds of people that donald trump will be putting in place. the people that stopped him from his worst desires last time around won't serve again. >> sarah matthews is one of those staffers no longer by trump's side. she served as donald trump's white house deputy press secretary until january 26th,

2021 and she joins me now. you resigned during the insurrection on january 6th. talk to me about why you've decided to actually speak out for kamala harris. something i don't think you ever contemplated doing before that happened. >> no, i think if you would have asked me four years ago if i would be excited to vote for harris, i would be like what are you talking about. but obviously, i didn't think an insurrection in the capitol was going to happen either. i saw firsthand how unfit donald trump is to serve because his unwillingness to call off the mob and accept the results of the election. you have his vice president pick being asked multiple times if they lost the 2020 election and they still refuse to admit it. to me, it just shows the type of character of these two men and why it's so important to keep them out of the oval office. it wasn't enough just for me to

talk about the dangers. i knew it was important for me to take that next step and show it's okay to put partisanship aside and prioritize your country. that's why i was willing to endorse kamala harris because i believe we need to do everything we can to ensure donald trump never steps foot in the oval office again. >> have you had to deal with any harassment because of this? >> i know there's harassment and backlash in terms of my career prospects and probably won't be able to have a career in republican politics, at least in the current makeup of the republican party, but for me, what scared me more was the idea of a second trump term. and if i sat on the sidelines o of history and didn't say anything and speak out and know that i could have used my voice to help dissuade people from voting for him again, for me, it was an easy calculation. i know there are other republicans out there who aren't going take that next step and i

wish more would come forward. i know there's many who believe what i'm saying. so i wish they would find the courage to come forward and do so as well because the stakes are too high. >> there have been a number of young women like you who have spoken up, testified, took that on. and there are some men, elected men, senators and congressmen who are notably silent. >> yeah, it is quite striking. i don't know if people realize this, but when i was at the white house and resigned, i was 25 years old. when i testified before the january 6th, i was 27 years old. i'm 29 today. and still continuing to speak out. my dear friend, cassidy hutchison, she was even younger than me. i believe she was 25 when she testified. >> what is preventing a mitt romney or others? he's not even running for re-election so he doesn't have anything to lose. >> yeah. >> politically. >> i can't surmise what it is

that's holding them back. i know there are certain calculations they have to make. whether that's safety or i think for others, they're prioritizing their own ambitions over the, what i believe is best for the country, which is telling the truth to the american people about how dangerous donald trump is. it is frustrating when i think about cassidy and myself. we were at the very beginnings of our careers but i believe that we couldn't sit by and do, just stay silent. we had to do what we thought was right and for our own moral compasses. looking in the mirror, i wouldn't be able to look at myself if i didn't speak out. i think those men who are twice my age at the tail end of their careers, that's something they'll speak out. those men who are twice my age, who are at the tail end of their careers, that's something they'll have to live with. so, for me, myself, i just couldn't live with myself if i didn't speak up. >> sarah matthews, thank you very much for being with us today. next, we'll head back to florida where that massive

operation to remove debris and restore power for hundreds of thousands of homes impacted by hurricane milton continues. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. a bend with a bump in your erection might be painful, embarassing, difficult to talk about, and could be peyronie's disease or pd, a real medical condition that urologists can diagnose and have been treating for more than 8 years with xiaflex®, the only fda-approved nonsurgical treatment for appropriate men with pd. along with daily gentle penile stretching and straightening exercises, xiaflex has been proven to help gradually reduce the bend. don't receive if the treatment area involves your urethra;

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cleanup efforts continue in florida five days after hurricane milton made landfall there. at least 24 people have died, and nearly 400,000 people are still without power. president biden touring the damage in st. petersburg yesterday, promising $600 million of restoration efforts following the devastation from back-to-back hurricanes, milton and, of course, helene. at least $100 million of that expected to go toward improving the state's power grid. joining us now, nbc news correspondent guad in st. petersburg. what do they need now at this critical stage? >> reporter: all the money will

be needed to make the improvements. the governor mentioned getting the cables and wiring underground. whenever we see the storms come by, the utility poles take a lot of the hits. we see the damage with the power lines that run aboveground. well, the cleanup is happening in different parts, of course, affected by different things. we've got the communities right off the gulf that were affected by the storm surge. a lot of -- basically everything inside the homes, a lot of damage from their furniture to appliances. many people with that cleanup process ripping out parts of the insides of their homes. with these communities, now we're seeing mountains of debris in the front of their properties, waiting for authorities to begin the pickup of the debris. the governor announced they'd expect to begin the pickups today. they gave residents time to be able to create these mountains of trash in the front of their properties. we also have people that suffered damage from the tornadoes as well as the heavy rain and the wind. meanwhile, we also have other communities, andrea, like the one behind me that are still

suffering from the flooding. so there are rescue teams out there just in case some of these rivers were to overflow once again and have some of this water go back into the properties, to help people evacuate if necessary. different things happening. a lot of the focus today placed on getting the power back on to people and also helping with the gas shortage. as they get the power restored to a lot of areas, gas stations that don't have power will be able to operate gas pumps, another thing worrying officials here in florida, andrea. >> guad venegas, thank you so much. that does it for "andrea mitchell reports." you can watch highlights from the show on youtube. go to msnbc.com/andrea. "chris jansing reports" starts after a short break. toughest jobs. just scrape, load and you're done. switch to cascade platinum plus.

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