alli raffa is with the president in delaware. >> reporter: for the first time the president and first lady are publicly acknowledging they have a seventh grandchild, a 4-year-old girl named navy who their son hunter fathered out of wedlock as he battled drug addiction the child up until now not recognized by the president. >> i have six grandchildren. >> reporter: the move comes one month after navy's mother, lundun roberts, a forme exotic dancer, settled a paternity and child support dispute with hunter the president saying, quote, our son hunter and navy's mother lunden, where working together to foster a relationship in the best interest of their daughter adding this is not a political issue, it's a family matter. but it's already become political as the white house avoided the topic for months -- >> does the president acknowledge this little girl as his granddaughter? >> i don't have anything to share from here >> reporter: republicans seized on the silence. >> why don't you spend some time with your granddaughter in arkansas >> how many grandchildren do you have >> reporter: usin

we will begin with nbc's allie raffa in rehoboth beach with the president. ali, welcome, how is the white house reacting to the backlash of the cluster bombs to ukraine? >> yeah alex, well the white house was well aware of how controversial this decision was going to be, especially when you consider the ban on these cluster munitions by more than 100 countries. some of the nato allies. that is because of what is called the -- rate. the number of munitions that are not immediately deployed or exploded when these musicians are set off. sometimes, they could remain unexploded for days, weeks potentially months or years. obviously, that poses a threat to civilians in that area, but the administration is standing by this decision, because it says that giving the ukrainians these munitions that they desperately need is a far better option than the alternative here. national security adviser drink sullivan lay this out during the press briefing yesterday. listen here. >> we recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexplored ordinance. t

allie raffa is in rehoboth beach with more. >> felicia, the president is facing backlash from membersf his own party after making the decision to send cluster munitions -- considering the controversy over these weapons for a long time now. just for some context here back in 2008 more than 100 countries including several nato allies signed on to an international treaty to ban the use of these cluster munitions because of the threat that they pose to civilians. these munitions releasing smaller bombs when they explode and some of which may not explode for weeks or months or sometimes even years. sometimes obviously very dangerous in areas where civilians can stumble upon them. now administration officials are acknowledging that threat to civilians but they are still defending this decision, saying it was a difficult one to make they postponed it for as long as they could but it was necessary. as ukraine was running out of munitions and its counteroffensive against russia. the president saying that he made this decision after speaking with allies and lawmakers on capitol hill. and all of

allie raffa, thank you. >>> now to the 2024 campaign trail.g to get his campaign back in gear kicking off a two day bus four in iowa. and after make shakeups. in the last week the desantis team has fired more than 40% of its original staff. and the campaign only launched two months ago. and gabe guttierez is joining us from iowa. and firings happen, but 40% of the campaign staff? that is a lot. all right and behind me you see the never back down bus tua pulling away. this is and it unit for the governor to street, reboot, whatever you want to call it. he has been meeting voters, petting goats. he just came from a previous event where he spoke with a very small crowd inside a very small room. so there are questions about the enthusiasm. his campaign has burned through cash and forced to layoff a good chunk of its staff. and there is another controversy. it is a situation in florida where the florida board of education approved new african-american teaching standards which has stirred a a lot of controversy. democrats including kamala harris wit

we want to go to allie raffa who's standing by in south carolina. through what we heard from the president there. >> reporter: yeah, yasmin, this san incredible special state for president biden. as you'll remember in 2020, it was support from voters in south carolina, the endorsement of congressman jim clyburn that allowed the biden campaign to essentially get off of life support and really re-strengthen. so we saw congressman jim clyburn here today at this flex foot manufacturing facility in columbia talking about really the improvements and the advances that have been made to south carolinians thanks to the president. the president even acknowledging that he wouldn't be on that stage today without the help of congressman jim clyburn. all of this is in an effort as we've seen white house officials talk about this phase two of their investing in america plan to get out to all of the areas of the country and talk about how legislation that president biden has signed into law, things that could sound abstract to many voters are helping them in concre

we've got a lot of reporters out on the trail for you, allie raffa, who is with the president in rehoboth beach, delaware. let's talk about the decision to send a cluster bomb to ukraine. what say you, what is the white house saying? >> yeah, the president is saying he made this decision after speaking with allies, after speaking with lawmakers on capitol hill, and he defended it by saying ukraine needed these ammunitions because they needed leverage in their war and their counteroffensive against russia, as russia continues using these cluster munitions against ukraine. listen to more of his justification in an interview he did with cnn here. >> it was not an easy decision, and we're not signatories of that agreement, but it took me a while to be convinced to do it. the main thing is they either have the weapons to stop the russians now, or stopping the ukrainian offensive to serious, or they don't. and i think they needed it. >> alex, but president there referring to an international treaty that was signed by more than 100 countries. many of them nato allies, back in 2008, that bans the

joining me now, live, is nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa. ali, good morning. what is at stake for president biden at this upcoming nato summit? >> good morning, katie. when you think of the timing of this nato summit, the stakes really could not be higher. this is coming at an inflection point in russia's invasion of ukraine. it is coming up just a little over two weeks after we saw that near rebellion in russia that threatened president pet putin's power, all of this as ukraine continues to receive support for its counteroffensive. president biden's walking sort of a diplomatic tightrope here. he is arguing that ukraine should be able to receive as much support as it needs for as long as it needs it, all of this as concerns grow not just among lawmakers here in the u.s. but also just among the nato allies about how long these countries will be able to provide that support. then you have the nato membership aspect of this. we know that the president, after this nato summit, he will head to finland to personally welcome nato's newest member of this alliance. al

allie raffa starts us off tonight. >> reporter: tonight, an american nurse and her child missing after being reportedly kidnapped, as violence sweeps across the island nation >> i'm a nurse from new hampshire, but now i live in haiti. >> reporter: 31-year-old alix dorsainvil and her child were taken thursday from the campus of a christian non-profit near haiti's capital, port-au-prince her husband founded the non-profit, which confirmed the kidnappings, saying they were taken while serving in the community ministry but details about how they were abducted are still unclear. the state department ordering evacuation from haiti's u.s. embassy and issuing its highest level travel warning the same day the pair was kidnapped. since the assassination of its presidenent in july y of 2021 and an earthquake one month later, haiti has collapsed into anarchy. with armed gangs now controlling an estimated 80% of its capital. >> we have very deep concern for the situation there. we are also very focused on working together with partners to try to help the haitians restore security, restore stability

>> allie raffa for us in delaware, ali, thank you.ring in ambassador william taylor, he is a former u.s. ambassador to ukraine and vice president of russian and european affairs at the u.s. institute of peace. ambassador thank you. i wonder what you make of the pentagon's decision to send cluster munitions to ukraine. and the russians objections to it? >> so alicia this is as your reporter just set a hard decision by the administration. and i thought long and hard about this. the know the pros in the cannes. the real problem is that both the ukrainians and the united states and allies are trying now their stocks of these ammunitions of the unitarian ammunition. that is the normal 155 artillery ammunition that just has one missile, one explosion. the clustered munitions that you just reported to have multiple explosions. have multiple little bottomless. and they have not been used. the others have. the unitary have, and they are running short. both the ukrainians and our stocks. so we don't want the ukrainians to run out of ammunition.

joining me now nbc's allie raffa. msnbc political analyst, david jolly, and "new york times" correspondent peter baker, also an msnbc contributor. so from the folks you talked to, how confident is joe biden, the campaign, the white house, that this bet will pay off? >> reporter: the president, the white house, the biden campaign is so confident in their economic messaging and their economic plan that we know they've made that economic plan really the president's name sake. they are crediting this bidenomics agenda for investing so much more, millions of dollars in manufacturing, in clean energy investments. they're crediting this reduction in inflation for more jobs, that agenda for doing so, and they're heavily relying on it and leaning on it. the president is speaking out in philadelphia so note worthy is the backdrop that it comes against, as he's touting his political, economic, rather agenda, we know because we have been covering these current and looming strikes from major unions. hollywood producers and writers

to see more of the same from vice president harris as we get closer to 2024, lindsey. >> okay, allie raffaama republicans defy a supreme court order, by drawing up a new congressional map with just one majority black district. and all but daring the courts to stop them again, and has barbenheimer already created a box office boom? we are going to look at the early numbers of each blockbuster film. >> hi, barbie! >> i, can! >> hi, barbie! >> hi, barbie! >> i, barbie! >> i, can! like ours is spoiling their dogs. good, real food is simple. it looks like food, it smells like food, it's what dogs are supposed to be eating. no living being should ever eat processed food for every single meal of their life. it's amazing to me how many people write in about their dogs changing for the better. the farmer's dog is just our way to help people take care of them. ♪ meet three students all learning to save and spend their money with chase. freedom for kids. hungry? thank you, chef. control for parents. nice. one bank for both. chase. make more of what's yours. postmenopausal women with hr+ her2- metasta

allie raffa is in rehoboth beach with more. >> felicia, the president is facing backlash from membersafter making the decision to send cluster munitions -- considering the controversy over these weapons for a long time now. just for some context here back in 2008 more than 100 countries including several nato allies signed on to an international treaty to ban the use of these cluster munitions because of the threat that they pose to civilians. these munitions releasing smaller bond when they explode and some of which may not explode for weeks or months or sometimes even years. sometimes obviously very dangerous in areas where civilians can stumble upon them. now administration officials are acknowledging that threat to civilians but they are still defending this decision, saying it was a difficult one to make they postponed it for as long as they could but it was necessary. as ukraine was running out of munitions and its counteroffensive against russia. the president saying that he made this decision after speaking with allies and lawmakers on capitol hill. and all of this is happenin

. >> let's bring in nbc news white house correspondent allie raffa, and nbc news reporter kevin colliermed to be nonbinding and involuntary, and it seems like a pretty big one. >> ai technology has evolveed so quickly, that it has really forced all of us to understand not only its capabilities but also the risks associated with them. so we saw these executives from seven of the top ai companies in the u.s., meet with the president today, and as you mentioned, announce these voluntary changes that they are planning to make, to better, more responsibly, and safely regulate this space. they're going to do things like clearly label ai-generated content, like image likeness, voice cloning, for example, with water marks, to be able to curve the spread of misinformation, but also committing to investing more in cybersecurity, more testing, and research, for potential vulnerabilities, and bias, discrimination, and associated with these technologies, before they release them to the public. and they have also agreed to more closely share the information that they get from that testing and that re

we have allie raffa at the white house. welcome, what did yellen say? >> reporter: this trip is a really tight and tough balancing act for the treasury secretary because she has to appear firm in defending u.s. interests while trying to strengthen and restore trust and communication lines between the u.s. and china, the world's two largest economies after we saw the impact that that chinese spy balloon incident had. you add to that the potential ban of tiktok in the u.s., because of its ties to the chinese government. that's compounded by that recent comment we heard from president biden calling chinese president xi, a dictator. she has a lot to struggle with, juggle with, rather, a lot on her plate while she is in beijing on this tour. but listen to how she approached this during a meeting earlier today with american executives and chinese officials. >> i've been particularly tripled punitive actions that have been taken against u.s. firms in recent months. we see healthy economic competition that is not winner take all, but with a fair set of rules wi

. >> allie raffa, thank you. >>> and a japanese pop star says it was the challenge of his life. is gay and challenges here at home as anti-lgbtq laws are increasingly the norm. i'll speak to someone with a long history of fighting for the community, next. community, next. y washed all day without heavy perfumes? try downy light in-wash freshness boosters. it has long-lasting light scent, no heavy perfumes, and no dyes. finally, a light scent that lasts all day. downy light! ♪i'm hearing different ways for me to screen for colon cancer.♪ ♪it's time to use my voice,♪ ♪i've got a choice, more than one answer.♪ ♪i sat down with my doc.♪ we had a talk. ♪knew just what to say.♪ ♪i asked for cologuard and did it my way.♪ cologuard is a one-of-a kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪i did it my way!♪ i remember when i first started flying, and we would experience turbulence. i would watch the flight attendants. if they'

capitol hill correspondent garrett haake who has more on this with nbc news white house correspondent allie raffaeporter: he's asking for the u.s. secret service director or designee to brief staff on the committee by the end of next week. he says he wants to explore any security failures that led to both the cocaine being discovered in the white house, and the evacuation that took place when it was still an unidentified white powder in the west wing, something that gets everyone's attention. what he may also want from a political perspective is just to keep this story in the news through the end of next week, indications of reporting from our white house team has been that this investigation could be wrapped up by as early as monday. a friday deadline next week with congress in town next week keeps this story into the headlines well into next week while the president is abroad overseas. >> so, with all that in mind, ali, we had new information yesterday about the location of where the baggie was discovered. couple that with what we're learning more about the investigation and when things can wra

s allie raffa is joining us from delaware, where the president is right, now the white house as resisted pressure to do this for months. they are doing it now it seems, talk us through this and the explanation we're hearing from the president today. >> yasmin, the controversy surrounding the use of these cluster bombs goes back months, even years, just for some context here, back in 2008 there was an international treaty signed by more than 100 countries. many of them nato allies, to ban the use of these cluster bombs because of the reasons you laid out in your intro. the threat to civilians. but despite all of this, we know that there were several countries absent from that treaty, including the united states, russia and ukraine. the president is saying in the aftermath of this decision, that it was a difficult decision to be made. there is a student for as long as possible. but he said it was necessary because ukraine was running out of ammunition in its counteroffensive against russia. listen to more of his defense of this decision. >> when we it was a very difficult decision on my pa

nbc's allie raffa is with us. what are you hearing from the white house now? >> reporter: this situation is putting a spotlight on this diplomatic tight rope the president is walking right now. obviously prime minister netten -- netanyahu ignoring the request made by president biden during their phone call last week, a request he echoed in a statement last night when he asked netanyahu to build broader consensus for the judicial proposal to avoid the scenario we're seeing play out in jerusalem right now. press secretary karine jean-pierre is saying in a new statement, we understand talks are ongoing and likely to continue over the coming weeks and months to forge a broader compromise, even with the knesset in stress. the united states will continue to support the efforts of president herzog and other israeli leaders thaz seek to build a broader dialogue. meeting with president biden last week at the white house despite herzog's largely symbolic position, there was a lot of controversy surrounding that visit. when we learned of this agreement between president

nbc's allie raffa is in washington, d.c..is the district reacting to the vice presidents very public scolding of this policy? >> yeah, lindsey, that trip to jacksonville coming together at around 24 hours at the personal direction of the vice president. governor desantis called her speech, quote, absolutely ridiculous. he is continuing to justify these changes, while interestingly, still distancing himself from the backlash over them that's following him from florida to the campaign trail. >> the battle over florida's new history curriculum -- >> they insult us in an attempt to gaslight us. >> it's very thorough, very factual. nobody is buying their nonsense anymore. >> going national, a white house official tells nbc news that vice president kamala harris decided to go to florida specifically to challenge its new standards with black history education, past just days ago. >> they dare to push propaganda to our children. >> joel critics are blasting the changes, pointing to lessons that teach middle school students, quote,, h

. >> i want to bring in nbc's allie raffa covering the white house, eugene daniels is "politico's" whiteondent and co-author of the "politico" play book. he's also an msnbc political contributor. john kasich served as the republican governor of ohio and is an msnbc political analyst. let's start in florida, eugene. give us some details about what's happening there, just the idea of portraying slavery as beneficial. what's that about? >> yeah, this is the end result of what ron desantis and other folks in florida have been seemingly wanting to do for a long time, which is in their eyes they feel like the true history of america and what happened to black people in this country and has continued to happen to black people in this country makes white kids too uncomfortable in schools and that because that history makes folks uncomfortable, it shouldn't be taught. we all know probably on this panel and folks who study this is that being uncomfortable is a way to learn and a way to grow and not make the same mistakes of the past. it is an objective fact that slavery was not beneficial for ensl

allie raffa, thank you. let's take another look at the warming waters of south florida. fish need the water to be certain temperatures to survive and to what is bad. a long term impact of this, and whether it can be reversed, next. ne every business deserves a great deal. that's why comcast business is launching the mobile made free event. with our business internet, new and existing customers can get one year of unlimited mobile for free. it's our best internet. powered by the next generation 10g network and with 99.9% reliability. plus one line of free mobile for an entire year. it's the mobile made free event-happening now. get started for just $49.99 a month. plus, ask how to get one free line of unlimited mobile. comcast business, powering possibilities. >> a new climate related alert as the water scientists attack the sdf sitting effects on increasingly warming ocean temperatures. this week around the tip of south florida, water temperatures hit 34, like a hot tub. 101 degrees. that is possibly a global record. joining me now, wildlife conservationists and document

msnbc's allie raffa is in washington, d.c.. and ali, what are we hearing from the vice president?in, this was arguably the most full-throated and passionate response to these cultural flash points that we are seeing more and more embraced by republicans. this response from vice president kamala harris. she spoke yesterday in jacksonville without a teleprompter and without ever mentioning governor desantis by name. she blasted these new curriculum standards that were approved under his leadership just two days before her trip to florida. she blasted them as erasing history, saying that these leaders that she calls extremists are trying to replace history with lies, framing this as propaganda, and misinformation. take a listen to a bit more of her speech as well as how governor desantis responded to it, while at a campaign event in utah last night. >> adults know what slavery really was. it involved rape, it involved torture. how is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization? >> i

. >> allie raffa in washington, thank you very much. >>> this morning 2024 republican candidates areto close the gap with donald trump. one top contender is planning a reboot. nbc news is learning exclusively that ron desantis' campaign is expected to shift away from focusing on the governor's record in florida to a more national focus as his poll numbers are lagging behind and he's facing some financial hurdles. joining us is more is maya king from "the new york times," and matthew dowd, served as chief strategist for the election in 2004. maya, how is a desantis campaign defining his performance so far? >> i think that the campaign has always presented governor desantis as an alternative to president trump, that he champions a lot of the hyperconservative policies that former president trump was able to advance in the white house but does not necessarily have the drama or necessarily the issues outside of that. but i think where the campaign now has encountered some roadblocks is how this governor as a presidential candidate is able to connect with voters and actually put forth a m

. >> that's nbc's allie raffa with that report. >>> elsewhere overseas, saudi arabia is the latest countryill host a peace summit next month to begin talks on a way to end the conflict. now, russia is not invited, but that south africa, brazil, india, ukraine and several other countries are. a representative from the biden administration is expected to attend the event. on the front lines of the fight, meanwhile, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy called it, quote, a powerful day, as ukraine says it retook some ground that it lost last may, specifically in the area surrounding bakhmut which, of course, has seen some of the war's fiercest fighting. ukraine's deputy defense minister telling a national broadcaster that 77 square miles have been recaptured by ukraine's forces in the south, while adding progress so far has been limited amid entrenched russian positions and many, many land mines. >>> it's been nearly two weeks now since u.s. army private travis king crossed into north korea wearing civilian clothes. after serving time in a south korean prison for assault, king was scheduled