this happened? >> right, the investigation still appears to be very much in the early days, but officials are referring to this as something that appears to have been a catastrophic failure of this aluminum gangway. we were able to survey the site of this horrific scene earlier today. and what i can describe for you is we saw a floating dock, and then a bunch of open water, and then the dock leading onto the mainland. are supposed to be a gangway connecting the two, and that is what collapsed into the water. we can still see a portion of it were most of it appears to be submerged in the depths. the water is not clear, so you can imagine how that might have complicated rescue operations. officials tell us seven people have died. there were at one point roughly 20 people, that's the estimate, in the water. we spoke with a woman of short time ago who said she was one of the people fell in the water, was on the gangway, heard buckling, felon, cannot swim, was able to get herself flipped over onto her back so

she could get some air, and then a stranger helped get her to safety. it's an emotional conversation we had a short time ago. this is just one of the accounts we've had from this harrowing scene yesterday. we've heard from officials were in the midst of investigating how this all unfolded. here's what we heard earlier today. >> celebrations ended in tragedy as a gangway that lead from the dock to the ferry collapsed, at approximately 20 people fell into the water at the marsh landing dock. the initial findings of our investigation at this point show a catastrophic failure of the gangway causing it to collapse. >> something else to note, alex, the press conference earlier, there were also community members, occluding a man who told me he spends his time between the island and the mainland in terms of where he lives with his family, and he tells me that about four months ago, he says that he told the department of national resources worker for the state that he did not think that the gangway was safe. that was

something he brought up today. officials talked about it early in the investigation, but that's at least one community member speaking about concerns about this gangway months ago. he told me he did not file any formal written complaint. he just said this verbally to a worker, but it speaks to some thing that might be looked into in terms of if there were any past issues. their part, dnr earlier said that this was not something that they would ask fact would need constant maintenance work, and that it is used regularly, and so is constantly seen by workers. certainly a lot of questions remain about how this could have happened at a time when there would have been, what we are told by officials, hundreds of extra people on that island compared to normal as of what was supposed to be a celebratory day. >> it is a tragedy from everywhere you look at it. jesse kirsch. q so much. a fresh perspective on why this presidential race is so darn close. that is next. at is next. complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love.

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a busy day of campaigning underway with just over two weeks to go until election day. vice president, horace, donald trump visits pennsylvania. jd vance in wisconsin. and second gentleman doug emhoff is in michigan. 20 me now, we have democratic congressman from illinois, mike quigley. good to see you. so 16 days out here from this election. harris and trump, they are essentially tied. what is your sense of what is

going on? why this is happening? is there anything the harris campaign can do to win over those 10% or so voters in the nbc news poll this morning who say, they might still change their vote? >> sure. look. 16 days out, every vote is going to count. we recognize trump won by 76,000 votes in three states, guided by 45,000 volts in three states. it will probably be the same general number here. you play on the margins. after every vote you get. i am focused on the diaspora of eastern europeans, ukrainians, the baltics. just about everyone who might be concerned about their home country and the differences between the campaigns on the issue of the war in ukraine. the fact is, i have been to poland four times since the war started. ukraine, three times. the polish military and ukrainian military leaders as well as our own have said that

if we are not helping ukraine, the next war will be in polish territory. it will be a threat to all eastern europe and well beyond ukraine. >> i want to dig into this, because in a super close race, micro-targeting, what you're describing there, it is become a campaign tactic for both sides. you been on the outreach to specifically polish americans. they are a subset group, a large one, and the three key blew all states. the nearly 800,000 live in both pennsylvania and michigan. another half-million polish americans live in wisconsin. you been outside knocking on doors. how critical could their votes ultimately be? i am curious what you are hearing as you go door to door for those voters. >> in your previous segment, you talk about a disconnect over the concern that some people might vote against areas of the greatest interest.

sometimes because of a lack of knowledge and a lack of emphasis. i think the harris campaign can succeed by reminding them, using the words of trump, right? trump basically said that he blamed zelenksyy for the start of this war. he has said that the war will be over his first day as president. we know what that means, it's a victory for russia. senator vance has said he doesn't care who wins the war, that ukraine isn't worth fighting for. but this is at a time when that funding for ukraine has such close votes in the house and senate. if the white house is even putting those bills up for consideration alongside them, this means almost certain doom for ukraine as this war goes forward, and again, the resulting threat, as our leaders had to poland. >> it is not just you talking about this. during the debate with donald trump in pennsylvania, she give a shout out to polish-american. she accused trump of cozying up to russian president vladimir

putin. she also highlighted the u.s. and nato support for the fight against russia. let's take a look at that. >> otherwise, putin would be sitting in kyiv with his eyes on the rest of europe, starting with poland. why don't you tell the 800,000 polish americans right here in pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch. >> are polish-american's hearing this message? is the war that is thousands of miles away impacting how they vote? >> i think it is. it concerns me that, for a lot of different reasons, some of the old voting habits, it is not getting to all of them. you know, that's why i'm here in milwaukee today talking to our ukrainian friends. and next week, i will be in philadelphia as well. so that is a message that has to be used over and over again

with the emphasis on exactly what it means. it's the immediacy of what task has to take place. the fact is, in the states, the margins are going to be so close, the polish can be the big difference. >> let me get you a question for you on the middle east, because house speaker mike johnson says the u.s. is investigating a new leak of highly classified u.s. intelligence documents. a detailed israeli military preparations to strike iran. and of course, u.s. concerns about these plans. you are on the house intelligence committee for years. how concerned were you by these leaks? >> this is a concern that is going on. i was on the committee for eight years, and you are exactly right. there been critical leaks at critical times. it should be noted that most of those leaks are coming from the executive branch. they don't come from the house or the senate and those committees. but it affects our national security. you know, we protect sources and methods for a reason.

it's not just to protect those sources and how we do things. it's to protect them in the future and to have them in the future. and it dramatically affects not just the issues that we are talking about right now, but the future of our national security. >> congressman mike quigley, a good friend. thank you so much. they travels there. $65 million. white republicans have spent so much on anti-trans ads this election. up next. up next. ya know, that's backed by j.p. morgan's leading strategists like us. when you want to invest with more confidence... the answer is j.p. morgan wealth management

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>> mu this week, the trump campaign is spending millions on anti-trans ads. the gop candidate has been using the trans community as a talking point for years. these ads appear to be part of a final push before the election. and for more on this, i'm joined by nico lang, author of american teenager. how trans kids are surviving hate and finding joy in a turbulent area. thanks so much for joining me, because let's look at the recent polling issues and nbc news found as being the top issues motivating voters. they are abortion, immigration and border security, protecting democracy and the cost of living -- i mean, trans issues are nowhere on this list. so why has the trump campaign spent $65 million on ads about it? >> i have to say, exactly quite baffling to me, because they tried this in 2020 and 2022,

essentially exploiting fear of trans people to win votes, and it didn't work. republicans actually underperformed in those elections, and yet they are trying it again. what they are pushing his politics of fear. they're trying to convince the public the trans people are scary in order to motivate republican votes, and it just doesn't work. i think they are going to find this again and again and again that they think they can care americans into discriminating against trans people, like americans, as you see there, they don't care about this. they care about issues that impact their lives. they care about their trans friends and neighbors and we just need to move on from this. >> look, less than four years ago, the number of states banning trans healthcare for minors was zero. today, it is 26. what are the stakes of bans like this? >> yeah. you see it in my book that i think one of the ways that republicans have been able to get away with this is they ignore the real harms of banding gender affirming care for kids. one of the families i profiled

in american teenager is a family in florida that was impacted by the denial of medicaid funding for gender affirming care. the daughter there, her name is jack. she was unable to get her healthcare for five months because she was no able to get it under the medicaid plan, and her family just wasn't able to get it elsewhere. for those five months, she stopped eating. she got so skinny that she -- that -- sorry, it's really hard to talk about this because i get emotional. >> i'm sure you do. i get emotional reading this. she soon became suicidal. it's a not uncommon transgender experience. so the title of your book, nico -- let's start there. how are kids -- trans kids -- surviving hate and finding joy in a turbulent era? >> to finish jack's story a little bit, because i do think it's important that people know what is happening to these kids. she got so skinny that her mom

would sit next to her every night worry that her heart would stop in her sleep. yeah, it is bad. but jack got to a better place. she moved out of state, she has her medical care back, she has a boyfriend now, she is doing great. she's had to fight so hard to get to where she is now, and the thing is is that trans kids shouldn't have to fight so hard. i shouldn't have to work so hard to create their own joy. it should be a right. all of this should be given inalienable rights. we should be scaring people into discriminating against trans kids and taking away their rights. joy should be innate. i hope we get to this place in our politics and our political cycle we are able to view these kids as just kids, deserving of the same rights of every other kid, deserving the same humanity. because i think when we do that, when we look at these kids are being deserving of joy, he can finally get out of just this horrible, horrible vision. >> i want to thank you for joining me and speaking so candidly and honestly about

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right now, the second day of early voting is underway in michigan's biggest b, detroit. 1 million people of already cast their ballots across a battleground. statewide early voting begins next week and kamala harris and donald trump literally crossed paths in the state on friday when both held rallies near detroit. the blue wall state considered a must win for the harris campaign. i'm honored to have join us here michigan secretary of state jocelyn benson. if only folks knew how close it was for you to make it here. let's look at some early voting data there for michigan. 54% of those who cast ballots so far are registered democrats. i want to compare that to 46% republican. just under two thirds of those

who voted are under 65 years old. you look at that have any take away, any interpretation on which way things are leaning? >> i think we are leaning towards high turnout. that is what is making me happy right now. my goal is to make sure everyone votes, every eligible citizen votes, and we count all the votes. this is our first year of early in person voting as well in our state. to see so many detroiters show up on the first day of voting yesterday, close to 2000, it's a good marker of how enthusiastic citizens are in our state. people are engaged, people are enthusiastic, and you seeing it on both sides of the aisle. >> michigan quantum one of the seven battleground states plotted to overturn the 2020 presidential election, also one of the states we have the fake collectors. they have been criminally prosecuted, some of them. it might be something that republican operatives are targeting including embracing early voting. let's take a

listen to what governor gretchen whitmer had to say. >> he is already laying the groundwork to undermine the outcome of this election. his running mate has said he believes donald trump won the last election. they are election deniers. they are the people that inspired the attempted insurrection in our nations capital, and i'll call it a day of love. they are trying to pull the wool over the american public's eyes once again. we are anticipating they will continue to try to do that when they lose this election. >> are you are repairing for attempts to subvert the election, and one of our constituents there in michigan, are going to vote and say, i'm a little worried about safety, my security. how are you addressing that? >> we always remember the truth, law, and factor on the side of the voters and on the side of democracy. as we are coming into the arena with, you should people know the facts about their elections, knowing how many layers of

security there are. and then when there are threats, drawing a direct line to the misinformation that actors are spreading to actual threats against election officials and voters. we have been preparing now for close to two or three years for this moment, and we have been doing de-escalation trainings, we have been partnering with law enforcement. we passed a law to make it a crime to threaten an election official in their line of work. we have a lot in place to protect every election worker and protect the boat. >> i would ask you something you shared with me as you were sitting down, that someone globally famous has been literally attacking you by name over the last 20, 30 minutes as you are coming here to the studio -- elon musk. what is that like? >> it is sad. it is really disappointing, because i would believe we could all be in a place where we agree on facts, we agree on the law, and we can disagree on policy and things like that, but you should personally attack an election official because you don't like any laws that they are following. and that is essentially what is happening here. we will continue to speak out

with the truth and the law to let people know the facts about our elections. we set up a website which answers every conspiracy theory out there, no matter who is behind it. and then we will work with voters to make sure that they aren't fooled by these tactics, these late our tactics to try to discourage and dissuade people believing in our elections. >> you have to do all of that while trying to make sure your own family, your loved ones are safe and secure. let me tell you, i respect you so much for the job that you do. we are grateful for that. thank you so much and for making adhere to the studio. that's going to do it for me on this edition of alex witt reports. we will back next sunday at 1:30 p.m. eastern. you can all watch reverend al sharpton's exclusive interview with the vice president later today on msnbc, 5:00 p.m. eastern. have a good one. one.