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that is tonight's last word. "the 11th hour" with stephanie ruhle starts now. >> tonight shoring up the blue wall in battleground wisconsin. vice president harris campaigns across the state, calling out trump for saying january 6th was a day of love. then early voting gets underway in the crucial state of north carolina. and treasury secretary janet yellen sits down for an exclusive interview with stephanie ruhle as "the 11th hour" gets underway on this thursday night. greetings, everyone, i'm simone sanders townsend, in for stephanie ruhle. election day is now 19 days away, but more than 8 million americans have already cast their ballots. and this was the first day of early in-person voting for north carolina. the state board of elections says more than 200,000 people have already voted. vice presidential candidate governor tim walz and former

president bill clinton campaigned in the state while presidential candidate kamala harris spent much of the day in a battleground, wisconsin, on a swing with three different stops. harris was joined by businessman and surrogate mark cuban. now, mark cuban, who criticized trump's economic plans, and on the swing harris called out the former president for his comments at a town hall last night when he said that january 6th was, quote, a day of love. >> january 6th was a tragic day. it was a day of terrible violence. there were attacks on law enforcement. 140 law enforcement officers were injured. some were killed. and what did donald trump say last night about january 6th? he called it a, quote, a day of love.

but -- but it points out something that everyone here knows. the american people are exhausted with his gaslighting. exhausted with his gaslighting. >> trump's running mate, senator jd vance, spent the day in pennsylvania where he tried to downplay trump's comments about january 6th and enemies within, saying trump would not use the military to go after his opponents. meanwhile, in new york tonight, harris and trump made appearances, well sort of, at the annual al smith charity dinner. vice president harris recorded a video for the event while trump showed up in person. and while the campaign is in its final sprint, republicans are rushing to beef up donald trump's ground game in swing states. the "wall street journal" reports they fear, quote, that former president trump's outsourcing strategy has faltered and won't drive enough voters to the polls in key battlegrounds. with that, let's bring in our

leadoff panel, peter bake ser the chief white house correspondent for the new york time, and mark is the staff writer for the atlantic. peter, i'm going to start with you, and let's start with vice president harris calling out trump directly for his january 6th remarks in her stump speech. she has also been going on the offense about, you could say his fitness to lead. and then tonight she went after him on reproductive rights and ivf. do you think all of this is going to land with voters at this point in the race? >> i think what she's decided to do is take him on more directly, right? joyful warrior is one thing, but she's focussing more on the warrior part than the joyful part. and she's done that these last few days with clips, showing clips of trump at her rallies, making clear that the things he's saying are the kinds of things that at least democrats and a lot of independents would find repugnant. the idea that he's going to send the national guard or perhaps the military to round up people he doesn't like who are his

opponents. the idea that january 6th, a day of terror on capitol hill was somehow a day of love. she's calling him out day after day after day in the last -- in this last stretch, i think because she realizes she needs to make the contrast stronger in order to attract those few voters who may yet be undecided who voted against trump four years ago but haven't yet decided whether they're going to go for her. >> you know, mark, vance has tried out several lines, frankly, to address the january 6th riot. you wrote for the atlantic that mike pence haunting -- is haunting the election because he's a reminder of trump's actions on that day. i mean, even walz mentioned pence at his debate with vance. vice president harris mentioned it in the interview that she did with fox news. how much of a weak sns the insurrection for not just donald trump but i'm talking about the entire republican party apparatus. >> well, the fact is the entire republican apparatus is not behind donald trump. i mean, the fact that his own vice president from the last

administration is not endorsing him, the fact that there are no other former republican presidents the way kamala harris has barack obama and bill clinton behind her campaigning for her i think does speak volumes. and why i wanted to highlight pence here is, you know, he was one of the most slavishly devoted vice presidents in history. i mean, it was almost cringey at a certain point. and even he who was the most, so, so loyal to him to the bitter end to a fault maybe is not even someone who can share the stage at some point, who can even be on the stage, who can have any role in this campaign, which i think speaks volumes. i think that's why democrats in particular keep bringing up mike pence, and why whenever there's some kind of discussion about january 6th, whether it's a jack smith filing or something, mike pence's name keeps coming up against. >> mark is right, not only can mike pence, he can't be on the stage, he doesn't want to be on the stage. he himself put his hat, name in

the ring to run for president and what seems like'ons ago and has been clear he is not endorsing donald trump. you have that, and then you have these concerns that we mentioned about donald trump's ground game and just -- republicans are concerned. it's a close election. how much of a difference can the -- will the ground game make? i mean donald trump has outsourced a lot of his work to elon musk, and let's just be clear, elon musk has done a lot of things. i don't think he's ever got anybody elected. he's never turned out voters. and this is a turnout election. >> yeah, look, there's anxiety on both sides of the aisle right now. >> oh, for sure. >> both for democrats and republicans because we're 19 days away from the election. trump does not have as many field offices, but you can make the argument voters know donald

trump. they already have an opinion of him. it is harris trying to get voters to know her. she's still trying to define herself and really even as she's doing this media blitz and really trying to get voters to get to know her, we continue the hear from people that they still don't know enough about her, and she has such a limited time to do that right now. >> you know, peter, she makes an interesting point, right? yes, voters do know donald trump, but isn't that also why he should have a -- an operation to communicate infrastructure, if you will, because the last time -- the last few times donald trump has been on the ballot, he hasn't -- he hasn't won, you know? like he lost his election in 2020 to biden. his candidates didn't do well in the midterm elections. one could argue that the surrogates and the infrastructure is important here for donald trump for a different reason than it is for kamala harris but still infrastructure is important. >> yeah, no, i think it absolutely is. you're right, he hasn't won the

majority of the vote any time he won. he didn't win a majority in 2016 even though he managed to squeak out a win. he didn't win a majority in 2020. he didn't have a support of a majority of americans in terms of approval ratings for a single day of his presidency in gallup polling, the first time that's happened in history. he doesn't have the support of a majority of americans. what he needs to do, therefore, is maximize the turnout of the people who are willing and ready to vote for him. i hear republicans talk about this all the time, how they don't have the ground game they want to have. that the republicans were months and months behind the democrats in getting this organized and set up. the democrats, in fact, have an advantage that may make a small difference, maybe a half a point, maybe a point in battleground states, but if you're talking about states where half a point or a point may be the margin of difference between the victor and the loser, that could make all the difference in the world. so you do see a lot of republicans worrying that trump is not maximizing the advantages he does have. >> mark, can we just take a turn

and talk about this new biography of minority leader in the senate, mitch mcconnell. the biography reveals that mitch mcconnell has privately called trump all kinds of names, but mcconnell told the associated press whatever i may have said about president trump pales in comparison to what jd vance, lindsey graham, and others have said about him, but we're all on the same team now. mcconnell is voting for trump after calling him despicable. and i should also note that the only reason we know he said this is because mcconnell recorded himself and gave those recordings to the biographer. like i don't know, this is something out of a movie. like what is happening here, mark, break it down for us. >> well, what's interesting is that, yeah, i mean, mcconnell has said all that stuff. it's not a surprise. when asked, he threw jd vance under the bus and lindsey graham too. he said, they've said worse. yeah, he didn't get to the point where they're all on the same

team until the last line of that, which i think was pretty telling and kind of mitch mcconnell's own way to communicate his displeasure with this. this is not -- i mean, mitch mcconnell does not have a real, you know a lot of persuasion certainly with the trump base these days, but this is exactly the kind of thing that the trump campaign would not find helpful having out in the news the last couple weeks of an election. i mean, the fact they get another really top ally of his, highest ranking republican certainly in the senate, has really nothing -- has very little use for him also. it certainly can't help. but also i do think it's telling that jd vance got roped into this immediately thanks to mitch mcconnell. >> i mean, he was the first name that mitch mcconnell throws out there in that statement. i do think it is notable. >> yeah. >> something else happened today that people might have missed. a former marketing executive from the apprentice is apologizing for, quote, creating

a monster. he's talking about donald trump. i should note that this comes after the nda that the executive apparently signed has expired and that is why he said he's speaking out now. he apologized for taking so long. do you think this matters at this point and were you struck by these revelations? it flew under the radar today. this was not at the top for some people. >> the brand of trump as a businessman has certainly stuck. i talk to voters all the time who even undecided people who say trump's a businessman. they think america should be run like a business, so in some ways she's right. he is a brand. but i think that is why it was so smart for kamala harris to utilize mark cuban the way she has, because he has a similar brand. and she's appealing to people who are economic minded, business minded, people who maybe don't like trump personally but could be worried about how a democrat could impact their wallets. and she's really trying to kind of appeal to some republican, indepents who are focussed on those things. >> you know, peter, mark cuban,

obviously, a billionaire. i don't think i've seen another time so many billionaires have been on the campaign trail from elon musk to mark cuban, but mark cuban, similar profile to trump. a lot of americans know his name because of a show he did, similar to trump. he has been making the case about harris and all kinds of spaces and places. now on the trail with her. harris made her own case last night, fox news, drew over 7 million. what do you make of the number she is drew on fox and mark cuban's involvement here? >> yeah, look, mark cuban loves trolling donald trump, right? this is billionaire on billionaire, green on green in effect. they're rivals in terms of reality television shows, but i think it gets under trump's skin. that's why you saw the harris campaign bring him out there. nothing annoys him more than the idea that he's kind of a, you know, a fake businessman, right? that he's just a tv businessman who didn't really succeed. he went bankrupt six times, and he, you know, he drew on his father's money much more than

he'd like to admit, and so on and so forth. i think mark cuban is a way of getting under trump's skin. in terms of last night's -- or the fox interview ratings, i think that shows that a lot of fox viewers wanted to see her in their territory, in effect. because they're not going to watch, let's face it a lot of the other mainstream media. they're only going to feel comfortable watching her on fox and see how she holds up. the important thing for her is she wasn't necessarily going to win them over, but she got her message through to people who otherwise may not have seen her talk before. she's trying to troll trump. she's strong, willing to take on tough questions. he's not, he's ducking interviews a debate. it may not matter to viewers too much, but the more she gets under his skin, i think she throws him off his game. >> 19 days, as people are voting, as -- probably not as we speak because it's late at night, but election day is the end not the beginning of voting. thank you all very, very much.

when we come back, folks, israel says that architect behind hamas' october 7th massacre in his real has been killed. how his death is fuelling hope for a ceasefire. and later stephanie's exclusive sit-down with treasury secretary janet yellen. they are talking the economy, tariffs, and much more. "the 11th hour" is just getting underway on a thursday night. t n underway on a thursday night life has twists and curls. but you define them and make them bounce. tresemme flawless curls defining mousse. 24 hour. hydrating curl definition. style your life the way you want. ♪♪ tresemme, style your way.

dad: hey boss. you okay? son: i said i'm fine. ♪ dad: you can talk to me. son: it's been really, really hard for me. - it's something about having that piece of paper. some people think that's worth more than my skills. - i've run this place for 20 years, but i still need to prove that i'm more than what you see on paper.

- you gotta be so good they can't ignore you. - it's the way my mind works. i have a very mechanical brain. - analytics and empathy. that's how i gain clients. - i am more... - i'm more... ...than who i am on paper. israeli military officials confirmed today that hamas leader yahya sinwar was killed in gaza. sinwar was the architect of the october 7th massacre. he's evaded capture for over a year. my colleague aaron mclaughlin has more. and i want to warn you some of the images in this report are disturbing. >> reporter: the moment just before israel says the leader of hamas, the architect of the october 7th terror attack, was killed. in the footage released by the

israeli military, the idf says yahya sinwar can be seen with his hand blown off, his face covered throwing a stick in defiance. nbc news has not confirmed the video shows sinwar. today the images of sinwar's body lying in rubble surrounded by israeli troops sent shock waves through the region. >> today the mastermind of this day of sheer evil is no more. >> reporter: according to an israeli official, there was a fierce battle in southern gaza. israeli troops initially had no idea sinwar was at the location. later identified using dna tests and dental records. president biden called israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu from air force one. >> i told him that we were -- and further that now is the time to move on. >> reporter: yahya sinwar spent 23 years inside an israeli prison for killing fellow palestinians suspected of collaborating with israel. he was released in 011, one of

more than 1,000 prisoners netanyahu exchanged for an israeli soldier kidnapped and held in gaza for five years. it was an exchange that would later inform sinwar's decision to take 250 israeli hostages to gaza on october 7th. many of them have since died. 101 remain. including 84-year-old oded kidnapped from a kibbutz near oz. his daughter-in-law says she's terrified sinwar's death could spell more misery for the hostages. >> i believe there is no way to get the hostages back now. i hope that i -- my intuition is a mistake. >> for more i want to bring in jeremy bash, former chief of staff at the cia and the pentagon. jeremy, can we talk about the significance of the killing of sinwar today. break that down for folks. >> when you're hunting terrorists, and i participated in the team that oversaw the operation against osama bin laden, you have to create your own luck. you've got to force the

adversary to make mistakes. that's ha the idf did for over a year. they drove sinwar out of the tunnels. he was aboveground, in a small group, separated from the hostages. and this was kind of a lucky break that the idf caught, but they've been pursuing the mastermind of october 7th for more than a year, and today justice was delivered. >> you have a piece online for msnbc, and you argued that sinwar's death presents an opportunity for israel. how is -- what -- first of all, what is the opportunity? how does israel take advantage of it? and what i'm wondering is who does israel negotiate with now? obviously, they are not speaking directly to hamas, but who is the lead negotiator? >> the opportunity is to get the hostages back. the 101 hostages that remain, including, simone, seven americans. four we believe to be alive. four we believe have been murdered in captivity. excuse me, three in captivity. and we want their remains back. so seven americans remain being held by hamas. so it's an opportunity to get

the hostages back, to end the fighting, to have a ceasefire along the lines of the agreement that's already been really agreed to by all sides, who do they negotiate with? that's a practical problem because sinwar was the key negotiator. you have to go to one or two of his deputies who remain. some of them have also been taken out by the idf. principally you're negotiating through the qatari government, because they're the ones that maintain the communications channel with the hamas leaders still in gaza. >> hostages are the priority. we heard that repeatedly from prime minister netanyahu today. vice president harris said today that sinwar's death should offer a chance to end the war in gaza. tall order, right? i i this americans have been very clear that they would like the war to end. our european allies are clear they would like the war to end. netanyahu has been clear that the israelis have key objectives now. that sinwar is taken out, do you -- how is -- do you think that's going to happen? is the war going to end now? >> most senior american officials i've spoken with believe it's going to be hard

for the israelis to leave gaza until sinwar was taken out. why? because if they leave and he takes his team underground and they live in the tun, rearmed, resupplied, and they conduct another october 7th-style attack, we're back where we were. his death presents an opportunity to have the idf redeploy out. there'll be no parade for sinwar in the streets of gaza. he won't be able to declare victory, and we can get our hostages home and focus really on the broader threat in the region. the broader threat comes from iran. israel is under fire from four places, from hamas, from hezbollah, from the west bank, and from iran. and already hundreds of ballistic missiles have been fired by the iranians at israeli territory. and israel's focussing on hezbollah, decimating their leadership, and making sure its defenses are secure against iran. i think we're going to see retaliation by israel against iran in the coming week. and that's going to be another -- it's going to be another situation, i should say, that the administration's going to have to navigate and help israel defend itself. >> well, the israelis now, do

you think there's a possibility that they are in gaza for longer than -- i mean, would they occupy gaza? >> they left gaza in 2005, and they haven't been there since -- for those almost two decades. and it was only last year that they had to go in after the assault -- the massacre of october 7th. i don't think the israeli government has any desire to occupy gaza for the long term, but they want security arrangements so hamas cannot rebuild, rearm, resupply, and attack the towns and villages and kibbutzes in southern israel. if israel pulls back and allows hamas to rearm, we're back to with we were. and there was a ceasefire on october 6, 2023 as we oftentimes remind ourselves. and that ceasefire was violated by hamas. >> anyway, we have to go, but president biden in a couple hours will start a very long day in germany. i imagine this is one of the many topics of conversation. >> it is, and it's important that the european allies come together to stand up to the

threat posed by iran. vice president harris said that that's the number one threat she's worried about. when she becomes president, i think she will, this is going to be one of the biggest issues that hits her desk. >> jeremy bash, thank you very, very much. when we come back, tariff, it seems to be donald trump's favorite word lately, but what could his economic plans really do to our economy? well, stephanie sits down one on one with janet yellen to find out. that's when "the 11th hour" continues. out. that's when "the 11th hour continues.