i want to go to nbc's josh lederman, josh, talk to us.what are we learning about this release and the presidents reaction so far? >> we are learning the last few seconds that this was part of a prisoner swap between the united states and venezuela. the u.s. was able to get back from venezuela, six u.s. citizens and a permanent u.s. resident. five of them are part of what's been called the citgo six, which is a group of oil executives from houston based citgo who had been imprisoned for about five years in venezuela. one of them, the sixth, had already been released earlier. in exchange for these released americans, president biden made the decision to grant clemency and release to venezuelans who are the nephews of medora's wife. they are known sometimes as the narco nephews because they were arrested about seven years in haiti on drug smuggling, attempted charges. they were convicted of drug smuggling charges. they had been detained in the u.s., we were told by senior biden administration officials that it was a tough and painful decisio

>> josh lederman in front of a pink white house for breast cancer awareness. josh, thank you. we'll have more of kristen welker's exclusive interview with herschel walker and what he says about the abortion allegations against him. that's tomorrow on "today" and "nightly news." >>> china's leader today issued a stern warning to the world not to mettle in their internal affairs. janis mackey frayer was in beijing inside the room when he made the speech. >> reporter: xi jinping is about to take his place in history. such a secure power here for a groundbreaking third term, addressing the congress -- [ speaking non-english ] >> reporter: the ready to withstand high winds, choppy waters, and even dangerous storms, he had warned of tough times ahead. xi mentioned security or safety dozens of times, the biggest applause when he declared taiwan would be part of mainland chi narks even if it means taking by force. a party congress happens only twice in a decade, so there's always a lot of pageantry and rarely surprises. xi's ambitions to build a socialist superpower come at a critical

josh lederman has this report. >> reporter: barely three weeks out from election day. who will win control of the senate is anyone's guess as races tighten across the country, including in georgia, where early voting kicks off the senate race there is key to the republicans' push to win back the majority. republican herschel walker is speaking exclusively to nbc's kristen welker about why he flashed a badge during friday's debate, and whether he is pretending to be a police officer. >> and where is this one from? >> this is from my hometown. this is from johnson county, from the sheriff of johnson county, which is a legit badge everyone can make fun, but this badge give me the right -- wait, let me finish. if anything happened in this county, i have the right to work with the police in getting things done. >> reporter: walker says he has participated in training and leadership programs with law enforcement for years. >> does that have arrestingor is it an honorary badge >> it is an honorary badge, but they can call me whenever they want me and have i the authority to d

joining us now is ellison barber, shaq brewster and josh lederman in washington. reactions pouring in from all sides on this new accusation facing walker. >> reporter: yeah, both campaigns were quick to respond. herschel walker spoke to reporters at a campaign stop in dillard, georgia, yesterday. he called this latest allegation foolishness and a lie. listen to more of what he said. >> i'm done with this foolishness. i've already told people this is a lie and i'm not going to entertain -- continue to carry a lie alone and i want to let you know i didn't kill jfk either. now the democrats are doing and saying whatever they can to win this -- to win this seat. >> reporter: walker's opponent, raphael warnock tweeted herschel walker, once again, proved he has a problem with the truth and taking accountability for his own actions. he should be forced to answer for his actions for his lies about the most basic facts of his life to his pattern of violence against women. so in terms of evidence, what was presented at gloria allred's press conference yesterday was proof of

. >> and nbc's josh lederman is in wilmington. marks that the president made were made at a fund-raiser. is the administration walking back a bit on those remarks? >> a little bit, erin. they are certainly getting blow back from people who are concerned that, even if president biden wasn't intending to escalate with those comments, that it might be seen differently from moscow. and that president putin might see this as an escalation by the united states, in this conflict. this morning, we heard from former secretary of state, mike pompeo. telling these comments by president biden reckless. we heard retired admiral mike mullen on television, saying biden needs to avoid making these kinds of comments. and really back off and try to get back to private negotiations with the russians to try to really lower tensions. that has left the white house trying to walk a fine line between wanting to calm down tensions, reassure everyone that there is no new u.s. intelligence or information that led biden to suddenly have a new assessment about

i want to bring in nbc's josh lederman from the white house for with more on this. besides the president visiting florida this week, he's gonna be first going to puerto rico, talk first about that if you will, josh? >> that visit to puerto rico will be tomorrow. he'll be accompanied by first lady jill biden both there and in florida on wednesday. and one reason the presidents going first to puerto rico, is because as he said a few days ago, he wants to get time for the initial rescue efforts to take place before he shows up with hundreds of security guards, all kinds of motorcade and resources that are needed to accommodate the presidential visit. the president didn't want to be a distraction, or to take away from those efforts. we know from something that president biden said, that he plans to meet with local officials and also to meet with families who have been affected by this, both in puerto rico and in florida as the president tries to deliver the message in person, that the federal government continue to do everything it can to provide the health people need r

i want to bring in nbc news correspondent josh lederman in delaware following the president. osh, we've got 18 days until the midterms. why is the president focusing on this now? >> reporter: well, because it's a popular move particularly among many of those younger voter that the white house and democrats are hope are going to turn out in full force in these elections. the white house trying to call attention today, with this visit to delaware state university, there are some 40 million americans who stand to benefit from this student debt relief, and when you talk about the historically black university like delaware state, three out of the four kids here actually are recipients of pell grants which means they could receive up to $20,000 in forgiveness in state loans as a result of what president biden has been announcing, and you point out that decision by justice barrett not to intervene here, the student loan program for president biden is one of the areas where he's been more successful so far in being able to defend his policies in court. certainly more successful than

let's go to nbc's josh lederman who was once again following the -- welcome. what else in your mind stands out in terms of what it reveals from this poll? >> well, alex will president biden's approval rating is consistent -- former president trump and former president obama were at the same point in the presidency. if they drill down on some of the specific groups which are so important to democrats in this election and the next election. president biden does even more poorly. if you look specifically at the swing state voters, independent voters as well as suburban women, his approval rating is down to 37% among independents who are so coveted in these elections. that is raising further questions for -- not only what they are about to face in these midterm elections, but also about president biden 's prospects in the 2024 election if he does run again. the brazilian has been saying that it is his intention to run again, although he has not been formally committed to taking that step. at this point, there have been these drumbeats of questions from republicans

nbc's josh lederman joins us now from the white house. josh, welcome.basting from the white house was reportedly accompanied by a threat. what are you learning about it? >> well alex, white house officials and administration officials in this meeting apparently -- after the oil executives for what they see as this record high profits and also record high exports, coupled with low inventories that they believe is leading to some of these high prices that the administration has been fighting against for months. and so, the white house and the energy secretary, jennifer granholm, in this meeting, according to one industry source, threatened an export ban for u.s. energy products if these companies do not start to bring these prices down. and really did what was described to nbc as a lecture of these officials. that's according to this new reporting from cnbc's and how she, who spoke to four sources with knowledge of what happened here. but we know that the administration has been really focused for weeks on this particular concern. particularly as they wer

josh lederman is at the white house with more on this. and the president is doing a couple of things here. it is not just a pardon. he is asking governors to do the same. and he is asking the secretary of hhs so look at how we classify cannabis in this country and pointing out a tweet what is breaking in the last couple of minutes that marijuana is classified on the same level as heroin and he wants the administration to take another look at that, josh. it is big news. >> it is big news. it is clearly the biggest step under the biden administration so far, on federal marijuana reform, hallie. the president saying, in a video, that was just released by the white house, too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. it's time that we right that wrong. this decision coming just about a month ahead of the election. and with president biden making that move, as you said, he's going to issue pardons for everyone who has a federal charge for simple marijuana possession and the white house tells us there are about 6

josh lederman has his story. >> reporter: when peter gruen walked into the laboratory, it was 1947.arrier in baseball. 75 years later, gruen is still hard at work. endless search for knowledge that brought him to the fight against climate change. >> this is the greatest challenge humanity has ever faced for its existence. >> when did you first appreciate the challenge? >> 30 years ago. >> reporter: he was born in germany in 11922. when hitler came to power, his classmates wore nazi uniforms. >> it would begin every class with the hitler salute and life became difficult. i had taken up the violin. my fellow students would put soap on my violin strings. i would be beaten up after school. >> just because were you jewish? >> just because i was jewish. it became clear if i wanted to survive physically i would have to leave and that's what i did. >> reporter: he fled. boarding a ship and leaving his family behind. >> i remember seeing the statue of liberty before landed at new york harbor. to me, america was a land of fantasy and adventure. >> reporter: he wound up in chicago and taking c

nbc's josh lederman is traveling and delaware. josh, welcome to you, how has the administration just responding to the decision by the court? they must be bummed out about it. >> they are bumped out. there is no doubt, it is a big blow to the biden administration on the student loan program. it's also, frankly, a major blow to the sub 22 million americans who already, in the first week or so of the program, signed up to that relief. according to the white house. about 18 million who have not yet applied, but are still eligible. the white house is saying, they should still continue to apply. white house spokesman say and they are full speed ahead on the program, they will take new applications. pointing out, what the court did hear, did not get rid of the program entirely. it's simply says the administration cannot actually discharge any of that debt until the court resolves the broader question of whether this is even legal. it was literally yesterday that we were with president biden in dover, delaware. that he did an entire event

that's going to nbc josh lederman whose following the president in delaware. so josh, the explosion comes just a day after president biden had warned about the nuclear armageddon. i don't the last hour you, so the white house is not making public comments on this but internally, is a white house preparing at all for that possibility? >> will not anymore than they were when we can go alex. which is to say that the u.s. military certainly always has preparation plans for all kinds of scenarios, nuclear and otherwise. certainly the president and the white house in the past several months have raised concerns about some of the saber rattling front president putin over a nuclear, potential nuclear weapons. hughes has said that they are doing everything that they need to do to have plans in place to respond to any range of scenarios. and that is the contacts that korean jean-pierre, the white house press secretary is trying to put these private comments from president biden. they say look he was worried about this kind of lose nuclear talk before, he's worried about

let's go to nbc's josh lederman. he's following the president in rehoboth beach, ella where. josh, welcome. are we hearing anything from the white house? >> the white house is usually loathe to comment on individual polls. i suspect it will be no different with this one. more broadly, president biden has been downplaying the significance of some of this polling. his approval rating of 45% has been holding steady in our polling for several months since it was actually much lower in the summer, several points lower. there has been a little bit of improvement there, but if you look at other recent former presidents who had approval ratings in the mid 40s at this time ahead of the midterms like former president obama, like former president trump, both of them lost significant numbers of seats in the house in the midterms. it really shapes the rest of their presidencies. the white house has been saying, biden in his interview, for example, with jonathan capehart pointed out that no one has an approval rating of 60% these days. politicians generally poll negatively these days. he ex

. >> josh lederman, for us, thank you. a beautiful washington, d.c. day. gently behind you. thank you so much. just three weeks left until the midterms and a number of races are going to go down to the wire. political report has four senate races as a toss-up. these are most competitive races, either chance has a good chance of winning. georgia, nevada, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. that's why we are talking about them so much over the past couple of weeks. i want to bring in jessica taylor, the senator and governors under the -- report. all of this comes down to ad spending dollars, right? i know that you have been looking at this when it comes to many of these competitive races, what did you find? >> what we find is that because of democrats having better fundraising overall, we are continuing to see that pattern in the final report to yesterday, that candidates get better ad rates than super pacs. republicans are lying a lot on super packed, outside entities, to try to make up this difference, this disparity. the money that candidates can spend six times

biden's program late last night, more than 20 million people, they have already applied, and bc's josh lederman is on the floor with, this in rehoboth beach, delaware. this is gotta be seen as a major role block for the white house. especially as they got this site up and going, and asking folks, urging folks, to apply student loan forgiveness. >> yeah, it is a red light for now. student debt relief will actually be discharged by the federal government until this gets resolved. and it was only yesterday that you and i were speaking wow i was at an event with president biden. in dover, delaware, at delaware state, a historically black public university where biden was really putting this front and center, as one of the key accomplishments, achievements that democrats have been able to jerk and he seemed to really try and cream chenin, who claimed the president had no legal authority you to john just a few hours ago, you were -- >> our student loan plan, as we recover from the pandemic, we give everybody a little more breathing room. in total, one of the 40 million americans don't to benefit from

joining me now ellison barber live for us in georgia, josh lederman on the ground for us as well, alsoh me cornell belcher, pollster for brilliant corners research and msnbc political analyst, and matt gorman, former rnc communications director and aide to jeb bush. welcome to you all, guys. josh, let me start off with you on this one as we led the show with those new numbers coming out about gdp growth. some good news amidst all of the economic worries and woes in this country right now. the president also hitting the trail ahead of the midterms to tout these numbers. talk us through it. >> reporter: when you think about that dreaded "r" word, recession, that democrats, frankly all americans are concerned about, especially democrats as they try to make their closing message in this election, today's new economic metric certainly helping temporarily about where the economy is heading. and president biden trying to use that better than expected gdp to try to make the case that the economic steps his administration is taking, to bring down prices and put us on a better path are working a

. >> all right, josh lederman, we appreciate that update from the white house.the meantime we are going to nail. over 100,000 people are without power in florida and lake county, where it made landfall, have no running water. thousands of victims, volunteers, and first responders are getting hot heels thanks to the charity mercy chef who was founded in the wake of hurricane katrina. with us now is gary, -- ceo of mercy chefs. one thing that is so critical in this disaster, maybe overlooked, is the difficulty and making the important decisions on an empty stomach or without eating properly, let alone if you're frightened or overwhelmed. talk to me about the importance of these quality quality hot meals that you are serving. >> well, alex, we believe that mercy chef that something amazing happens over a shared meal. you might know that with friends and families, but coming to folks who have just lost everything in such a great honor. we see people take a moment, maybe it's the first time they've contemplated the circumstances, or just had the time of normalcy. you

josh lederman is in delaware with the latest. being made for presidents biden and zelenskyy to talk? >> reporter: i would not be surprised to learn they have a chance to speak today. we do not have that yet, lindsey, but we do know there's been a flurry of diplomatic activity between the united states and ukraine already this morning as those two countries try to show a united response to this wave of attacks. the u.s. ambassador to ukraine tweeted out photographs of her meeting today with president zelenskyy as well as with his chief of staff. the ambassador saying undaunted glory to ukraine. we also know that secretary of state tony blinken had a chance to speak with his counterpart, the foreign minister of ukraine, secretary blinken calling these attacks horrific saying we will continue to provide unwavering economic humanitarian and security assistance so ukraine can defend itself and take care of its people. now in just a few hours, we'll have our first chance to try to ask president biden about his response when he believes

josh lederman is in wilmington, delaware where the president is spending the weekend.se it caused so many people off-guard and really raised the concerns that the u.s. was actually escalating after it has tried throughout this conflict to take steps that would not escalate the conflict. what the white house has said all along is that when president putin starts with this loose talk about potentially using nuclear weapons that it is a cause for concern, something the u.s. take seriously and prepares all kinds of contingencies for, but it was nothing that the u.s. saw as likely to happen or that any steps to be taken by the russians toward actually using a nuclear weapon. that is why it was so shocking when president biden, in this off camera fund-raiser, seem to suggest that he was extremely concerned about this in a much more eminent way comparing it to the cuban missile crisis and saying that even the use of a tactical battlefield nuclear weapons by president putin could potentially bring us into a state of armageddon. we asked the white house whether there's any new

. >> prudent caution, okay josh lederman from wilmington. our a speak with house foreign affairs committee ted lieu about the implications of the presidents warning about arm again. and, anytime you give me, this are getting, about and a new report just out this morning about a deal, that the former president tried to cut with the national archives, he wanted to exchange documents he had at mar-a-lago for other files. it is really a stunning new twist, but we will bring to the next. next subs... like #9 the champ. rotisserie style chicken. double monterey cheddar. the champ is truly made for a champ. gee, thanks chuck. who said anything about you? it's subway's biggest refresh yet. if you really wanna find out what you're made of, you can forget the personality tests and social media quizzes. because the only way you're ever gonna know is by heading into the big, wild, raging so-damned-beautiful- it-hurts world and finding out for yourself. were you born to follow a path? or were you born free? these are the things we thought about when we m

>> josh lederman, thank you so much for that.e stumping for john fetterman, in a tough race with dr. oz. that will do it for this hour. make sure to tune in for 1:00 with "chris jansing reports," katy tur is next. >>> good to be with you. president biden just wrapped up the remarks moments ago, about the bipartisan infrastructure bill and talking in front of the firm hollow bridge as chris just said which collapsed back in january trying to remind people of how d

>> josh lederman, thank you so much for that. again, the president, a little later on today, will be stumping for john fetterman, in a tough race with dr. oz. that will do it for this hour. make sure to tune in for 1:00 with "chris jansing reports," katy tur is next. >>> good to be with you. president biden just wrapped up the remarks moments ago, about the bipartisan infrastructure bill and talking in front of the firm hollow bridge as chris just said which collapsed back in january trying to remind people of how desperate this country was and still is for infrastructure funding, and that $40 billion of the infrastructure deal was set aside to make sure what happened at that bridge does not happen at another bridge. this stop is part of biden's tour through battle ground pennsylvania, a state where a close senate race between dr. mehmet oz and lieutenant governor john fetterman who is there with limb right now could decide who controls congress. joining me from philadelphia, is white house correspondent mike memoli. you're in ph

i want to go to josh lederman with us now at the white house. this is a moment for the president to be sort of the empathizer in chief if you will, the white house, the president, one of the things that is talked about is his ability to be compassionate in these tough moments. >> that's right, and also a moment where i think the president is trying to make really clear that puerto rico has not been forgotten. not only because of the fact that the focus in many of the days since hurricane fiona has moved on, to hurricane ian, but also because puerto rico was still struggling to come back from previous weather incidents. as we've heard a consistent message from the past few days, from president biden, that more has to be done, specifically for the island of puerto rico that has been done in the past. as he was making his way to puerto rico this morning, he essentially said that puerto rico had been let down so far, and that more has to be done. so we expect that when the president speaks very shortly, he will talk about this additional $60 million

and to moss couple of i'm hallie jackson in washington and with me now is nbc news correspondent josh lederman traveling with the president in hagerstown, maryland. tom costello and global markets reporter with us, too. we saw the big board red, not green like we've seen earlier this week. talk about why investors are so spooked here. >> hallie, a number of top advisers telling me interest rates are heading even higher and wall street wanted to seat job -- wanting to see the job market start to cool and average hourly earnings increasing, and the chair fed has reiterated in the past in order to get inflation down, the job market needs to cool and until it does, interest rates will head even higher a rising rate environment has been challenging for the stock market. that is why the dow is down over 600 points right now. and for companies that increase their cost of debt, not to mention the pressures of the u.s. housing market, we've already seen demand soften and prices have come down, and as i was just looking at the latest fed funds estimate, right now it is calling for a 75 basis points hike

nbc news correspondent josh lederman has more. >> reporter: barely three weeks out from election day,s, including in georgia where early voting kicks off. the senate race is key to republicans' push to win back the majority. herschel walker speaking to kristen welker about why he flashed a badge in friday's debate and whether he's pretending to be a police officer. >> where is this one from? >> this is from my hometown, the sheriff of johnson county, which is a legit badge. everyone can make fun. let me finish. if anything happened in this county, i have the right to work with the police in getting things done. >> reporter: walker saying he's participated in training and leadership programs with law enforcement for years. >> reporter: does that have arrested authority or is it an honorary badge. the national sheriff's office association said an honorary badge is for the trophy case. why make the decision to flash it at the debate. >> reporter: the johnson county sheriff confirms to nbc news he gave walker the badge and could enlist walker's help in a crisis. the georgia race one of ma

nbc's john lederman is following the president for us in dover, delaware. joshlk us through this. this was certainly a different pitch from the president just two weeks out here. to a certain extent, also laying blame on the hands of the former president's administration, saying look what i inherited. something we haven't necessarily heard a lot from him before. >> reporter: yes, there is a marching band here behind me at delaware state university. as you pointed out, if you step back to the economic events over the last 24 hours, in pittsburgh, yesterday, and this morning, at the white house, and then shortly here in dover, delaware, if you look, you will really get a sense of what democrats and president biden are up against. they're trying to drill down on these economic achievements that under any other situation would be significant, a significant accomplishment but it is unclear whether any of them are really breaking through right now. the overriding economic sentiment of so many americans which is to focus on inflation and higher prices but the president

this is josh lederman. >> reporter: as candidates crisscross their states, revving up voters. >> you need someone who's going to stand up and fight for democracy. >> reporter: americans are more fired up for these midterms than ever. the new nbc news poll revealing 70% of registered voters say they're highly interested in the election, the largest percentage ever recorded at this point before the vote, suggesting turnout in november could be sky gh but on enthusiasm, republicans have the edge, and their advantage is growing. >> you're going to vote for an incredible slate of true america first prub cans up and down the ballot. >> reporter: voters continue to rank the cost of living, jobs, and threats to democracy among the top concerns. but voters are still deeply pessimistic about the economy, just one in five predicting it will get better over the next year. >> can i get a job? can i pay for my home? can i pay my rent? >> we know without democracy, we won't have the ability to work where we want to work. as important as those table issues are, without democracy, none of that counts

nbc news correspondent josh lederman. the midterms, we keep saying it, 12 day ace way now. inflation and the economy are on top of mind for 44% of voters, almost half of voters according to a recent poll. what's the president's message to these those concerns? >> that new gdp report is giving the white house an opportunity to try to make the case that things are starting to get better, that essentially their plan is now working and that american voters can expect more improvements to happen if they sort of stay the path of what president biden and democrats have done over the last couple of years. the president's chief of staff ron klain on "morning joe" earlier today points out, look, it's not just this one gdp report, that we've seen gas prices fall dramatically, well over a dollar since -- or since earlier this summer, that we've seen some indications that inflation may start to be easing. all those things that the voters say they most care about in that "new york times"/siena college poll, are now things the white house is saying are starting to improve and would only g