♪ ♪ good morning.

it is 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. the election is 15 days away, and with that both candidates are hitting the ground running this week. former-president trump and vice president harris each hitting key swing sedates today. in a couple of minutes we will see the vice president take the stage with former congresswoman liz cheney in battleground pennsylvania. we will bring that event to you live. the campaign trail is now including profanity by one candidate. here is some of what we heard from former-president trump and how vice president harris responded exclusively on msnbc. >> you have to tell kamala harris that you have had enough, that you just can't take it anymore. we can't stand you, you are a [ bleep ] vice president. >> what you see in my opponent, a former president of the united states, really is -- it demeans the office, and i have said and

i'm very clear about this, donald trump should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the united states. he has not earned the right. >> aside from all of the rhetoric, newly released polling from nbc news shows what is popular in the campaign trail and what is not. the most popular policies include expanding oil and gas production, giving parents a $6,000 child tax credit for newborns and deploying the military to the border. the least popular stances are supporting the supreme court decision to overturn roe v. wade, believing trump won the 2020 election, and imposing tariffs as high as 20% on goods from other countries. joining us now, nbc news correspondent julie tsirkin live from michigan and nbc correspondent vaughn hillyard in north carolina. julia, you are in michigan where the vice president will be making a stop soon. what is her message today? >> reporter: well, her message, jose, as she hits the trail with

liz cheney is to try to get some of the republicans who said they won't support the former president into her camp, right. those are the margins she is hoping to eat into in the final two-week sprint until election day. you mentioned she is in pennsylvania now, then she will be headed to oakland county where i am now followed by wisconsin later today, really going through the suburbs of all of these crucial rust belt states, trying to get those independent republicans, those republicans like i mentioned that already said they won't vote for trump. that's why she is with liz cheney, trying to emphasize that harris and her record are perhaps not as progressive, not as left-leaning as trump and republicans have projected over the last couple of months, that she can be a president for all. jose, this really follows a busy weekend for the vice president. yesterday she celebrated her 60th birthday in georgia. she attended a black congregation there. she is trying to appeal to young black men, a demographic that democratic pollsters and strategists fear she is losing a grip on as trump tries to make

headway with that group of voters. so certainly a busy swing for the vice president here and, of course, we will see her here in michigan in a couple of hours, jose. >> vaughn, meanwhile the former president is going to be passing through north carolina today. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. he actually just landed in asheville, north carolina. he is going to be touring storm damage. we should note there's about 100 individual north carolina residents who have since passed hurricane helene struck. he will be visiting just outside asheville where about half of those deaths were. we are in a motorcade. his plane just landed in asheville, one of three stops of the day in north carolina. of course, he made two stops to tour storm damage after the hurricane struck, jose. >> vaughn, meanwhile, it was an all-around unconventional weekend for the trump campaign, the former president going to an nfl game in pittsburgh and then

working at a fry station at mcdonald's. >> reporter: right. like today is the day in north carolina, he was in pennsylvania for multiple stops. he had held a town hall yesterday. he also made a stop to a mcdonald's which they effectively shut down. he worked the french fry fryer. he was there at the drive through with trump supporters who made their way through the drive through, and then he made his way to the steelers' game where he joined elon musk to take in "sunday night football." i want to let you hear directly from donald trump in an interview he did on fox with howie kurtz in which we have heard the theme over the last two weeks, setting up the stakes of the election by talking about democrats and others who he perceives to be his enemies, as enemies within. take a listen to part of that interview. >> you're going to put somebody in jail on a scam you knew was made up by you. that's an enemy from within. that's really -- that is a threat to democracy. these are bad people. we have a lot of bad people, but

when you look at shifty schiff and some of the others, yeah, they are to me the enemy from within. i think nancy pelosi is an enemy from within. >> reporter: of course, we have heard this sort of rhetoric from donald trump here, and, of course, this all happens at once. storm damage tour but also setting up the stakes of the election. as you can see, he is arriving here to north carolina for what will be a full day of events for the former president, jose. >> this as we are getting a closer look at new fundraising numbers. what are they telling us? >> reporter: well, they're telling us that vice president kamala harris is vastly outraising and outspending the former president. her numbers, for example, in q about, 221 million, nearly $222 million. i think we have a full screen, compared to trump's almost $62 million in september alone. that's a three-to-one margin, more than that. at the same time you are seeing harris and trump neck in neck, virtually tied in all of the polls nationally in every single

state, but it shows you harris has been smashing records when it comes to -- ♪ ♪ at the end of july, of course. since she has made that move when president biden dropped out, she actually broke a record raising a billion dollars since that moment, far out passing -- outpacing, i should say, any presidential candidate in history. >> vaughn hillyard and julie tsirkin, thank you both so very much. appreciate it. vaughn, that live shot in the press vehicle is as live as you can get. i thank you both for that. >> reporter: we're trying here, jose. >> doing a great job as always, my friend. joining us with more is reverend al sharpton, president of the national action network and host of "politics nation" here on msnbc. rev, always a privilege to see you, my friend. i want to thank you for being with us this morning. just wondering, what stood out to you most from your interview with the vice president? >> well, i think what stood out most was her being very clear

that she was going to work to earn every vote. there's been the issue raised about black men allegedly moving toward trump, though i certainly have questioned some of the polls and i have not seen that on the bus tour that national action network has done. there are some black members, there has always been some that would vote republican. in the last several cycles you could see that, including when barack obama ran. he think for her to emphasize that i'm not taking anything for granted, i'm going to earn it, even though i dispute what they're trying to allege, i thought that stood out. i also think that it stood out that she sees herself as one that is trying to help people on the ground, because i said to her, a lot of people don't understand beltway talk when we say that inflation reduction bill or infrastructure bill, what does it mean?

and she broke down exactly what will go to people. i think that's a real concern that people want to know what does this have to do with me. so i thought it was a good conversation. >> yeah, and, you know, while i want to kind of play for you a little bit of what she told you -- play for our audience, a little bit about what she told you about her efforts to garner more support from black men. listen to this. >> i must earn, earn the vote of everyone, regardless of their race or gender. and what can be frustrating sometimes is to have journalists ask me this question as though one should assume that i would just be able to take for granted the vote of black men. i think that's actually an uninformed perspective because why would black men be any different than any other demographic of voter? they expect that you earn their vote. >> you know, al, it is so -- she was so clear on this, and the

fact that, you know, one should presume that any candidate would take any vote for granted, do you buy into the narrative the vice president is losing support within the black men voting block? >> absolutely do not. as i said, if you look at the data from going back to the '60s, there's always been a percentage of blacks, black men included, that voted republican. there is no data that says that that is going to be more of a black vote republican this tike. i think that this is part of the misinformation that has been put out by the trump campaign. but let me also add, what has donald trump done to say he's going to earn these black votes? he just keeps saying, oh, black folks love me. what does he propose? he said my mug shot, they're

related to that, he's going to sell them a bible for $60 that gideon gives out for free. what is trump's policy for black america? she laid it out from child credit to dealing with health care to dealing with hbcus. what is his black proposal? oh, we can go to project 2025 and get it. they're going to close down the department of education. they're going to close down other things we need, and the supreme court that he nominated three of those justices, end affirmative action and took out a lot of what was left in voting rights. that's his plan for black america, and i think that as black americans begin to understand it, they will not even reach the level they reached with other republican candidates in the past. >> and you also, rev, asked the vice president about israel's war against hamas. here is part of how she responded. >> look, it is going to be hard. it is going to be difficult, but we have got to get this war over

with. we've got to get the hostages out. we need the war to end. the number of innocent palestinians that have been killed in gaza, it is really unconscionable, and we have to be honest about that, and at the same time -- listen, i will always stand in terms of israel's right to defend itself, and we need this war to end. >> i mean, al, i don't think there's anybody on any side that doesn't say we need this war to end, right? i mean it is so important, but the issues that have been brought forward during this last year of the war in gaza and now we're seeing that it has been growing in areas, you know, lebanon, and i'm thinking of hezbollah and iran. i mean how much of an issue do you think, rev, hamas and that war is for democrats going into election day?

>> i think it is an issue. to what degree i don't know, but it is certainly an issue to people like me that are concerned, and i'm glad that she raised about the civilians when i asked her in gaza. 41,000 people killed. i denounced and most civil rights leaders did when hamas had the attack on october 7th and you saw 1,200 people dead. but the response to that is not 41,000 people, most of which are civilians, many of them children. this needs to stop. now we are talking lebanon and hezbollah and on and on, and netanyahu taking an even harder position, that no matter what he's going to go forward. that's why i asked the question. i think that the united states clearly ought to stand up and deal with the question of the protection of israel, but the protection of israel and the protection of netanyahu is two different things. netanyahu should be protected,

i'm not saying he should be harmed in any way. the drone at his house is absolutely wrong and we ought to defend that, but i'm talking about we should not be protecting him politically by allowing him to prolong this war because he feels that's the way that keeps him from going on trial like his soul brother, donald trump. >> so the fact is that, do you think there's anything that the current administration should be doing differently? >> i think that they ought to be putting pressure on netanyahu, that since we've seen -- >> well, they have. >> well, they need to put even more. i don't know what is going on in the negotiations, but i think that the public needs to be very clear that -- i think someone had said that the recent killing of the hamas leader was tantamount to when we got bin laden. well, then you go to the next step, and where is that and why isn't netanyahu there?

the other thing i find, jose, that is very peculiar to me is that donald trump is more aligned with netanyahu than biden or harris has ever been, and why aren't people raising that to him? why aren't people protesting him? i understood, and some of the members of the national action network were part of it, saying we must raise the question of what is going on in gaza, and there were demonstrations, and all democratic candidates for congress up to kamala harris and joe biden. why haven't we seen one demonstration against donald trump? donald trump had a rally in the bronx. where was everybody? so people that are playing games behind the scenes, trying to push this issue, trying to act like donald trump would be an alternative when he is more aligned with netanyahu and the right than the democrats are in this. >> and lastly, al, nbc news has learned the exonerated central

park five, the men wrongly accused of assault in 1989 in new york city, are suing former-president trump after he said during a debate they were responsible for the crime. what is your response? >> i think two of them have been on tour with me with national action network's bus tour and i think they're right. donald trump repeated again that they're responsible, and they have the right when dna cleared them. it is one thing to say something and you don't know, an accusation is made, you could believe it. but when you know, have scientific evidence, that's another story. >> reverend al sharpton, always a pleasure to see you, my friend. i thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you. up next, israel expands its offensive against hezbollah in lebanon with new strikes overnight. it comes as the u.s. investigates an apparent leak of top secret documents appearing to outline israel's plan for

retaliation against iran. plus, cubans protest. the power grid there goes down for the fourth time in 48 hours, plunging most of the island into the dark. this as a hurricane makes landfall there. here at home, elon musk is promising to give one swing state voter a day a million dollars if they do just one thing for his pro-trump super pac. we're back in 90 seconds. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. p.

18 past the hour. happening soon, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken set to head to israel for pushing more diplomatic talks over the conflict in gaza, and now in lebanon as well. this will be blinken's 11th trip to the middle east since the october 7th attacks last year. it comes after israel killed hamas leader yahya sinwar. meanwhile, israel is target hezbollah finances across lebanon and at the same time the death toll continues to rise as israel continues to rise. here in the u.s. authorities are investigating the apparent leak of two top secret documents that show american spy agencies tracking possible israeli preparations for an attack on

iran according to three u.s. officials. joining us now, nbc's matt bradley in beirut and nbc's courtney kube in the pentagon. matt, what is the latest out of beirut at this hour. >> reporter: as you mentioned, there were bombings all night long over the country, most targeting the financial institution israelis say iran had been using to funnel money to hezbollah for their operation. so this has been going on all over the country, in the valley in the east and in southern lebanon, but a lot was concentrated right here, right outside beirut in the neighborhood behind me, which has been really pummelled. this is a hezbollah stronghold. it is a mostly shiite muslim neighborhood and now it is basically completely gutted because of repeated assaults by the israelis over much of the last month, ever since they really, you know, upticked their effort to try to target hezbollah here in lebanon. so all of this is happening, as you mentioned. we're seeing a new flurry of diplomacy from the americans.

antony blinken, the u.s. secretary of state, will be leaving to go to the middle east to try his hand once again at some sort of hostage deal with the gaza strip with hamas to try to free remaining hostages. today we heard from a special envoy from the biden administration who is here in bay right. he is a man who has been kind of running interference between jerusalem and here in beirut and washington, trying to slow or make some sort of resolution to that other front in israel's war over the border, its northern border with lebanon and hezbollah. he is trying to do some sort of other deal, and he has basically come out and said a u.n. resolution signed in 2006 to resolve the last war isn't going to be good enough to solve this one. they want a full, comprehensive agreement to end the fighting over israel's northern border here in lebanon. jose. >> meanwhile, what have you learned about the top secret documents that were leaked and the investigation? >> reporter: they were posted on telegram several days ago, jose.

officials are not confirming their authenticity but they're telling nbc news they appear to be authentic. they show israeli -- u.s. assessment of israeli preparations for a possible strike on iran, not just their offensive preparations but also the defensive changes and preparations and movement of systems that israel is making in advance of that retaliation against iran. of course, this is for iran's attack on israel, now nearly three weeks ago, where they fired nearly 200 ballistic missile at israel. everyone, frankly, in the world at this point has been waiting for an israeli response ever since then. now, again, officials are not confirming the authenticity of these documents, but they are marked top secret. at the top they say "national geo spatial intelligence agency," one of the u.s. intelligence agencies that really relies on satellite imagery and capturing of images around the world to make assessments for the larger intelligence community here in

the united states. the big question, how did these top secret documents get on to a possible -- a public forum. that's one of the questions we've been asking here. the u.s., as you mentioned, jose, is investigating this. here at the pentagon, all we've been told is that the u.s. is looking into exactly how this could have happened, jose. >> matt bradley and courtney kube, thank you both so very much. turning now to cuba where regime officials report power has been restored to half of the capital, havana, after the fourth power outage in days left millions of people in the dark. this comes just one day after hurricane oscar hit the eastern part of the island as a category 1 hurricane. this latest crisis started on friday when one of the island's major power plants failed. the cuban regime has blamed the ongoing problem with aging, crumbling infrastructure, the united states, and a shortage of fuel imports. with no electricity there's also very little water, creating a

greater humanitarian crisis. with us now, an associate professor at the graduate school of education at the university of pennsylvania, a scholar on the cuban experience. professor, thank you for being with us. can you explain to us why this is happening now? >> well, this is symptoatic of a larger system that the cuban regime functions within, and this lack of investment into the power grid, into its electrical system has a lot to do with the fact that they mismanage their economy. they do not invest in the electrical system the way they should, such as modern societies, and the cuban regime has just been, again, doing inappropriate and -- doing inappropriate things with the finances that they do get from their allies, and they have not been appropriately funding the

electrical grids in cuba. >> professor, how much of a humanitarian crisis is there on the island? you know, without free press and anything like that, it is very difficult for us to outside get an understanding of how much of a humanitarian crisis is there in the island. >> it is a huge humanitarian crisis because it is a humanitarian crisis of the electrical power grids and not having access to electricity and water, but it also impacts the fact it is very difficult to get food in cuba and keep the food cold in the refrigerators. also, there's issues that have to do with the discontent, the social discontent in cuba. so right now you have the cuban regime repressing cubans who are not only calling for a change in their electrical systems and sustainability with electricity, but a change of the actual political system. and so you have their rights being infringed upon because they barely have any rights in

cuba, as we know. cuba violates the human rights of cubans and there's 1,100 political prisons we know right now in cuba. it is heightening the social and political discontent along with the economic and now issues that have to do with the electrical crisis. >> do you see, professor, any -- and i use this term light when there is no light in cuba, but do you see any light at the end of any tunnel for the cuban people? >> absolutely not. there is no plans by this regime. it is not giving us any ideas of what could be next, and because their economy is so -- such a failure and the system is such a failure, we are just all waiting in the dark. those of us who have family on the island, the cuban people are waiting in the dark literally and metaphorically as of in the last 65 years to figure out what is next, because we do think that this is -- this is the trend that this regime is going to go in, which is a complete

fall and collapse of the political and economic system. >> amalie dache, i thank you for being with us. always a pleasure. >> thank you, jose. up next, in the home stretch we will go to florida, one of eight states where early voting begins today. plus, political sweepstakes. new questions surrounding elon musk's announcement to hand out a million dollars a day to pennsylvania voters who sign his super pac's petition backing the constitution. we are watching "jose diaz-balart reports" on msnbc. diaz-balart reports" on msnbc.

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31 past the hour. we are keeping a close eye on malvern, pennsylvania, where vice president harris and former republican congresswoman liz cheney are set to hold an event in a couple of minutes. it comes as early voting gets under way today in eight more states including florida, which has been hit hard by two hurricanes just in the last couple of weeks. nbc's jesse kirsch joins us from an early voting location here in miami. jesse, good morning. what are you seeing there? >> reporter: yeah, jose, good morning. we've got people honking their horns driving by, we have signs on the lawn, people advocating for various campaigns in the area, and there's a lot to keep an eye on here in the sunshine state as early in-person voting kicks off. miami-dade county alone according to unofficial results we are seeing, more than 11,000 people voted in person early.

again, that's just for miami-dade county. a couple of things, as you mentioned it is coming on the tail end of a couple of major hurricanes that devastated parts of this state. most of the communities that have been impacted directly from the hurricane damage, of course we had a series of tornados as well, but the hurricanes made their landfall on the west coast of florida. we are in a different part of the state but, you know, these things can have ripple effects throughout the state. a couple of things to be keeping an eye on. there's a senate race between senator rick cox and former congresswoman debbie powell. we will be looking at how the hurricane impacts may play into that race. we are seeing counties impacted by the hurricanes have been making a push, some officials have been making a push for changes to how the election will be administered, both in terms of how mail-in balloting will be handled and in terms of deadlines around things like when counties need to designate exactly where polling locations will be on election day. all of that is in play. of course, this is just the first day of early voting.

we have two weeks to go but these are some of the undercurrents to keep an eye on beyond the issue. here in florida there are two ballot measures to keep an eye on as well. there's a usual about by some for expanded abortion access. that's a ballot measure being put up for a vote, will need to clear 60% support to be enshrined into state law here. then there's also a push for recreational marijuana to be legalized here. so a couple of topics that get a lot of attention from voters, of course, jose, not to mention the hurricane undercurrents. again, it is just the first day of early voting. things just getting started, jose. >> jesse kirsch, thank you so much. good to see you. tech billionaire and donald trump supporting elon musk is pledging to write big checks for people in key swing states for people who sign a petition to support the first and second amendments of the constitution. >> every day from now until the election we are giving out a million dollar prize that is -- and all you have to do is sign a

petition in support of the constitution. it is very straightforward. you don't even have to vote. you don't have to vote. you just have to sign a petition saying you believe in the constitution. >> donald trump has said that if he is elected he would make musk head of a new government efficiency commission with the power to recommend changes to federal rules and even made wide-ranging cuts at federal agencies, agencies that fund and fight with musk as "the new york times" reported in a big investigative piece on sunday. with us now is "new york times" investigative reporter david fahrenthold who is behind the reporting. david, it is great to see you. i thank you for being with us this morning. what prompted musk to get involved in this race? >> well, you know, musk himself has talked about cultural war issues. he feels the left is too woke. he is worried about, you know, cultural changes in the u.s. what we wanted to do is look and see is there a direct connection between musk's -- trump's fortunes and musk's power in a potential second trump

administration and musk's own pocketbook. is he going to get richer? is his business going to do better if he gets this power? to us the answer seemed to be, look, he has a lot of power now and he does a lot of business with the federal government, but one of the few limits on his power are these federal agencies that regulate, you know, how does the safety precautions at tesla, the launches at spacex. if trump gets his way and musk gets this job, soon musk will be basically regulating the regulators. he will oversee the people who are supposed to be over seeing him, so he will have a power to short circuit if he wanted the agencies sort of holding him in check and holding him to account now. >> it is so interesting because this is, i think, probably still the richest man on the planet, who has all kinds of different companies and, you know, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of employees. how many of musk's companies submitted bids for government contracts? >> well, just if you look in the

last year alone, there's 300 ongoing federal contracts with musk's companies. that's everything from spacex, a huge vendor to nasa and the department of defense. basically it controls when nasa launches satellites, launches the defense department spy satellites, and you things like starlink, the part of spacex, the satellite communication company. they have contracts with all kind of government agencies to link up far-flung embassies with the u.s. then there's tesla. tesla has all kind of business selling cars in the u.s. he has a huge amount of business he is doing with federal agencies. not only would he be over seeing federal regulators but he would be over seeing his customers. so in position to control the people buying from him. >> that's an interesting concept. it has been interesting because spacex works and starlink work, and, you know, when you have boeing which hasn't been able to bring down the two astronauts,

it is spacex that's going to have to do that for them. how big do you think of a conflict of interest would it be if he were to have a role in a new trump administration? >> it would be an enormous conflict of interest because we're talking about him having control over people that he's already fighting with and already selling things to. on the regulatory side, he is somebody already fighting with, you know, the faa, the ftc, you know, osha, the workplace safety regulators, the securities and exchange commission. he has ongoing feuds and there's ongoing investigations with a number of federal agencies, but their job is to stand -- you know, not to favor one side or the other, favor one party or the other, but sort of to enforce the rules. all of a sudden you will have the guy that's supposed to be watching over them with the power to recommend cuts in their budget if they do something he doesn't like, that to me seems like a huge potential for musk to use the government power, you know, this power to create efficiency in the government to serve his own interests by helping people who buy things

from him and hurting those who stand in his way. >> and then what is this whole thing he is doing with the $1 million to some of the people who register for his pac? what is that? >> so obviously musk has gone all in for trump and he's focused particularly on the state of pennsylvania, obviously seeing the same things you and i do, that pennsylvania will be a key state. what he said is if he sign up on this petition that says i support the first amendment and the second amendment, it is a gateway to signing up for e-mails and other things from his pac, he will give you -- you won't give you. he will lottery off a million dollars every day to somebody who signed that petition. it seems like he is giving it out a couple of times already. we've talked to folks who say it is borderline, it is stretching the boundaries of campaign finance law. it may be legal because he is not paying you to vote, he is just paying you to sign a petition. the question is does it move the needle. if you are trying to make it more likely trump will win, trump's prominent supporter giving away $1 million every day, getting that kind of publicity every day, does it

help trump win or distract people, bring in false positives? it is hard to know. no one has done anything like this in a long time. >> david fahrenthold, good to see you. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you. any moment now vice president harris is going to be hosting a campaign event in pennsylvania. there you see the stage has been set in pennsylvania with former republican congresswoman liz cheney. we will take you there live. plus, tragedy off the coast of georgia. at least seven people are dead after dozens plunge into the ocean while trying to board a ferry. one woman calling her survival a miracle. >> good sent me an angel, and she grabbed my hand and she pulled me to shore, and she said, "i got you." ♪ ♪ you." you." ♪ ♪♪ for all-day freshness.

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44 past the hour. back with a devastating story out of georgia where seven people are dead, at least eight others are injured after a ferry gangway collapsed on sappalo island on saturday. this video shows people in the water after the gangway collapsed. you can see others trying to rescue them. joining us from meridian, georgia, is nbc's priya sridhar. what do we know about what happened? >> reporter: it is a tragic story. the only way to get sappalo island is by ferry, about 30

miles away. about 100 people on a given day will make their way to the island but on this day there were 700 people there. the reason is it was an annual celebration of the gula geechee culture. they're descendants of black slaves and they still on the islands off the coast of georgia and north carolina. they kept many of their african and creole traditions so it was a special day for them when the gangway collapsed which plummeted dozens of people in the water. the seven people who were killed were all senior citizens between the ages of 73 and 93. as you mentioned, another eight were injured. six have critical injuries and were taken to local hospitals. we still don't have any indication as to what caused the gangway to collapse. we know it was built in 2021, so it was relatively new. there is an investigation going on by the georgia department of natural resources. they say they don't believe that a boat actually hit the dock, but as of right now it is

anyone's guess. they're still investigating, and we're just hearing harrowing tales of people who tried to jump into the water to save everyone who was there. so just an unbelievable tragedy, jose. >> what a tragedy. thank you very much. and turning now to a wave of new sexual assault and rape allegations against rapper and music producer sean "diddy" combs. nbc news exclusively obtained five new civil suits filed sunday in the southern district of new york. the lawsuits include allegations that he sexually assaulted or raped the plaintiffs in separate incidents from 2000 to 2022. two plaintiffs are men, three are women, including one woman who accuses him of raping her when she was 13 years old. the lawsuits do not name any of the plaintiffs. combs' team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. up next, good news to start the week. a navy medical officer gets a surprise from her hero at her graduation. you're watching jose diaz-balart

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51 past the hour. any moment now, you see there the stage has been set, vice president harris will be taking part in a campaign event with former republican congresswoman liz cheney. this in pennsylvania. we'll bring you this event as soon as it begins. so stay tuned for that. as you can see, they're just

essentially receiving and welcoming all the folks that are there. we'll, of course, bring you the -- her remarks live right here on msnbc as soon as they start. but before we go, some good news. take a look at the surprise one navy medical officer received at her very special graduation. at the navy officer development graduation in newport, rhode island, medical officer patricia winestein ran to greet her proud family, shocked to see a special guest. that's her hero, patricia's 91-year-old granddad alan jacobson, navy and air force veteran, in full uniform, finding the strength to stand and salute his granddaughter. >> and what did it mean to you to have him there? >> everything. i was absolutely shocked. i was absolutely blown away. i found out he had been practicing his salute in

physical therapy so he would be able to give me a proper salute and it was probably one of the best, the best moments of my life. >> and let's go right to pennsylvania, where that event with the vice president and former republican congresswoman liz cheney is getting under way. >> she is the democratic nominee for president of the united states. please welcome to the stage vice president kamala harris. [ cheers and applause ] ♪♪ [ applause ]

>> let's do it. let's do it. >> good morning, everyone. >> happy belated birthday! oh, yeah. >> thank you. i appreciate that. thank you. >> audience members showing me up. that's tough. okay. so i've got to start with the thing that brings us here today because i got to say, it is unusual for somebody who as high up in the republican leadership as liz cheney was to be out here campaigning with the democratic nominee for president. and so, maybe, why don't both of you tell us, but you start, you've actually marshaled unprecedented support from republicans in this election. why do you think that is? >> thank you, sarah. thank you for being here and for your work and the congresswoman, thank you. i have said before, and it must be repeated each time, there are moments in the history of our country which challenge us, each of us, to really decide do we

stand for those things that we talk about, including in particular country over party. and you have been extraordinarily courageous in the way that you have done that and i thank you for that. [ applause ] >> so, you know, i have -- in my career now, whether it was as the elected district attorney, elected attorney general, and then elected united states senator and of course now vice president, i counted that i've taken the oath of office six times. and for the elected leaders here, we know it is an oath that one must take sincerely. and unequivocally, which is an oath, among other things, to support and defend the constitution of the united states. and to understand what those

principles represent and what they require of the individual, who holds the office and the public trust. let's not undervalue that point as well. it is not about the individual. it is not about what is in their personal interest. it is about what is for and in the spirit of the public good. and this is a moment in this election that presents a real contrast among how i, as one of the two nominees and my opponent, the former president, think of that duty. and it is a duty, by the way. there are certain things in our lives that we have the choice, if we feel like it, and then there are certain things that are just fundamentally a duty. like raise our children, things of that nature. it is a duty to take seriously

that oath. and do it for the sake of the public good and in the public trust. and i think that this moment with the choice that the american people have in this election and in two weeks and one day, this election is presenting for the first time probably in certainly recent history a very clear choice and difference between the two nominees. and i think that is what as much as anything is bringing us as americans together, who are understanding that we cannot, with such fundamental stakes being presented afford to be mired in ideological differences without really staking our claim to the most fundamental ideals upon which our country stands. >> thank you. and, you know, congresswoman cheney, it is sort of the same question to you, but i got to

ask, you know, it is one thing for republicans to sign a letter, you know, we have seen -- vice president harris has been endorsed by 200 republicans in the national security space, all kinds of people from george w. bush's administration, there has been a lot of people who signed letters and maybe will go on tv, release a statement, i was just with republican congressman charlie dent, here from the state, he voted for you in his early voting. but you are out here campaigning, you're out here holding events. so talk about why it has been so important to you to be as involved as you are in getting vice president harris elected. >> well, thank you so much, sarah, for the question, and it is an honor to be here today with you, madam vice president. [ cheers and applause ] you know -- for me, every single thing in my experience and in my background has played a part in my decision to endorse vice

president harris. and, you know, that begins with the fact that i'm a conservative. and i know that the most conservative of all conservative principles is being faithful to the constitution. and you have to choose in this race between someone who has been faithful to the constitution, who will be faithful, and donald trump, who it is not just us predicting how he will act, we watched what he did after the last election. we watched what he did on january 6th. and so coming to this as someone who has been a life-long republican, a life-long conservative, also as someone who spent -- i spent time working overseas before i was elected to congress, and i have spent time working in countries where people aren't free, and where people are struggling for their freedom, and i know how quickly democracies can unravel. and i k