i want to go to mike memoli who's in savannah with the harris/walz ticket, campaigning. this is the rally they're ending their bus tour with. you heard mark talk about how kamala harris isn't respond to go a lot of this. j.d. vance told her to go to hell for being upset with donald trump for what happened at arlington cemetery, but kamala harris hasn't mentioned any of that. is she going to? >> reporter: first let's talk about what the harris campaign wants to be talking about today. we'll see the vice president after this interview with cnn hit the bus tour again. small businesses talking about the important issue of the economy, and then she's going to come here to this arena where she wants to lay out that contrast argument, talk about project 2025, the governing blueprint as they argue the trump/vance ticket. contrast that dark and dangerous vision with what they are calling a patriotic and optimistic agenda. it's been a week since she accepted the nomination in chicago. laid out a high level view of how she would take the country forward, but we hope to get more spe

nbc's mike memoli is in savannah. what are we expecting, mike? >> reporter: well, chris, the vice president now on her way here to georgia, and the goal for the harris/walz ticket is to take the energy, the excitement we saw in the arena in chicago and bring it to the battlegrounds into southeast georgia, part of a battleground state where we haven't seen much presidential activity. the stat of the day, chris, is this, there has not been a general election presidential campaign event for a democratic candidate in this part of the state since the mid-90s. that just tells you the ways in which the harris campaign feels like it can use that momentum to go more on offense. they're really using multiple strategies here. we have seen over the course of the year the vice president make multiple stops in the atlanta area. well, now they're trying to take this into a different part of the state to play to different coalitions. this bus will take them to rural parts of, yes, a blue county, but to different types of voters to offset the numbers we would see

but as mike memoli was saying, the policies are a reflection of our values. i think we're in a good position. this election is far from over, but if we lean in, the vibe is what it is. donald trump's schtick is getting old. but people seem energized by kamala harris, but it's the policies. it's the fact that, for example, she's willing to take on big corporations who are gouging americans who are going to the grocery store, having trouble making ends meet. we have policies that work, bringing down the cost of health care. what trump represents is a throw back to the 1950s and tax policy that is going to reward people at the stop. >> how does a federal ban on gouging at the grocery store work? how do you write that? does it pass congress? >> i hope it does. if we have a democratic congress, which i think we have a good shot at getting, these sorts of policies can move forward. you recall, it wasn't that long ago, that we saw an effort to go after price gouging at the gas pump, when during the pandemic, the oil companies were jacking up prices because they felt

in the meantime, mike memoli, you're there. you are standing by awaiting them with us.course they already put out this morning a big announcement cutting costs on some of the most expensive prescription drugs for medicare recipients. we're talking blood thinners, diabetes drugs and more. how long have people been fighting for the ability of the u.s. government to have the negotiations that led to this? >> reporter: yeah, that's one reason why the biden administration is so proud of this accomplishment. it wasn't easy, it took a lot of political capital to get this done. democrats campaign after campaign, cycle after cycle year after year have been promising voters they would try to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, and as part of the inflation reduction act which the president signed into law two years ago tomorrow, it included a range of provisions including climate savings, tax provisions, one of the most significant was giving medicare the power to negotiate directly with drug companies. ste lara from a unit price of $13,000 to now $4,000, eliquis, jardiance, 19

let's bring in garrett haake and mike memoli. mike, we'll start with you and governor waldz, first of several solo events for him this week, what can we expect from harris' running mate. >> this is an important moment for governor walz, he made this splash nationally, debuting as kamala harris' running mate. he certainly slid right into the ticket. this is now him on his own stage with a better chance to introduce himself to the american people, and this event is not an accident, he'll be speaking to one of the largest unions in the country. tim walz himself is a union member. as a teacher was a member of the teachers union. president biden when he was lead leading the ticket brought a strong relation with labor unions. interesting to see tim walz tepg into that role. we'll see tim walz hitting that circuit. >> the conversation with the former president and elon musk last night. what were the key takeaways there. >> reporter: a meandering two-hour conversation, not a focused campaign speech by any stretch of the imagination, what

i want to bring in nbc's mike memoli in savannah, georgia, where the vice president and that governor walz will be later today. and we have been talking to voters there. a reporter for the atlantic journal constitution and msnbc contributor, and elise jordan was an aide to george bush's white house and also an nbc political analyst. thank you all. your article reminded me for the bubbas for bill tour. tell us more about why so many people you talked to think this is such a big deal. >> i love how you say it's a high risk strategy. that's what this is. typically democratic candidates for president don't really come to georgia, really, until 2020. they usually bypassed atlanta and georgia, and they wouldn't campaign in georgia. that's obviously changed as the state's demographics changed. what we see when they do come, they come to metro atlanta. this is a warnock strategy in 2022 when he also focused on the outer lying areas away from metro atlanta. metro is still the key and it's more than half of the state's population, and there's plenty of votes to be had even in deep red georgia c

nbc's mike memoli has covered the president for over a decade. not the convention that they -- i think this is his 13th democratic nabil convince. he only missed one in 1988 he turned 30 after that election. when he comes to the stage, he will speak as that person with unique perspective. he's going to talk, one, about the partner in progress, that kamala harris has been, in achieves what the administration has done. but he will be very plain and stark in laying out the stays this role of statesman is one that president biden is unique suited to play. take a listen. >> what he will show tonight is one of my favorite quotes about politics -- politicians worked about the next election. statesmen worry about the next generation. it was a statesman who came off the sideline four years ago to beat the worst president in the history of the united states, a person who posed the biggest threat to the united states, and as a statesman who passed and who will pass the baton to vice president harris, to continue to put this country first. >> reporter: this

with us now nbc's mike memoli and vaughn hillyard and jeff bennett, co-anchor of the pbs news hour andcal contributor. vaughn, there's new information about the controversy surrounding former president trump's visit to arlington national cemetery. >> reporter: we're getting more details over what was described to be a brief altercation at the site there as donald trump was visiting section 60 of arlington national cemetery. this included a trump campaign staffer as well as an official from the cemetery who was helping oversee that visit. we have obtained the instructions provided by the cemetery to the trump campaign ahead of this visit. there's two direct lines i want to look at. one was grave side visits by families and guests will follow arlington national cemetery's policies. photographers or any other purposes in direct support of a partisan politic cam campaign are not permitted on arlington national cemetery. the trump's campaign put out a tiktok video and other content from that arlington national cemetery visit marking the withdraw from afghanistan that led to 13 u.s. service

mike memoli, thank you so much for starting us off. almost on cue, we now have that first clip from the interview that the vice president, kamala harris, has given to dana bash. we'll play it and get the reaction on the back end. this is her talking about her policy positions. >> how should voters look at some of the changes that you've made that you explained some of here in your policy? is it because you have more experience now and you've learned more about the information? is it because you were running for president in a democratic primary? and should they feel comfortable and confident that what you're saying now is going to be your policy moving forward? >> dana, i think the most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have says changed. you mentioned the green new deal. i have always believed and i have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. we did that w

. >> joining me now is nbc's mike memoli. , he has taken a few days off with his family, they're going to southern california for the rest of this convention time, but what, then, do we expect to see from joe biden and a campaigner in chief for kamala harris? >> well, chris, the president certainly is entitled to some r & r after what has been a tumultuous several months since that debate on june 27th. the part of his time in southern california is going to be spent with advisers mapping out precisely how he expects and wants to spend the next five months in office. we know there is a lot on the official side from domestic policy, especially foreign policy that he wants to do, but we also heard from him last night that he is going to be busy on the trail. take a listen. >> kamala and tim understand that this nation must continue to be a place of possibilities. not just for the few of us, but for all of us. join me in promising your whole heart to this effort. i know where my heart will be. i promise i will be the best voluntee

tonight mike memoli, are you close to where he's standing? >> yeah, nicolle.ed every time you were talking to me i was inching closer and closer to the stage. the first lady is doing the walk, get a sense of the room, getting a sense of the crowd as she'll be seeing it in a much fuller capacity tonight. the order of her testing as she does mic test one, two, three, from dr. biden as she makes her remarks, she wants to speak to those democrats who remained loyal to her husband. we remember the handwritten note she posted to twitter after her husband made the decision to step aside. now we see president biden stepping closer to the podium himself here. at some point i'm going to get the shouting voice, give up the golf voice to see if we can get him to answer a question or two. mr. president, is this a bittersweet moment for you at all? mr. president -- joe biden, saying this is a memorable moment, not a bittersweet moment. this is the 13th convention president biden has attended. he's been at every democratic convention since he was even too young to serve as u

. >> nbc's mike memoli is reporting from largo, maryland.s is megan hayes, former special assistant to president biden and former director of message planning, and senator claire mccaskill, cohost of msnbc's "how to win 2024" podcast and msnbc political analyst. mike, this is the first time we have seen the president and the vice president together at a political event since he dropped out of the race. what did you notice here? >> reporter: i was really struck over the course of the last half hour or so, as much of what i saw and the emotion that you could feel in the room as what we heard from both the president and the vice president here. seeing the vice president come out with the president, speaking first for the first time behind that seal of the president of the united states. we have seen her on the campaign trail over the last two weeks with the seal of the vice president before her, but a preview before her of the vice president there with the office she hopes to hold here after january 20th. you saw her praise president biden, the

joining us now from savannah is nbc news correspondent priya sridhar, and mike memoli, and political columnist with the "atlanta journal-constitution" patricia murphy. the southeast part of the state, you heard the mayor of savannah saying the road to the white house and the lane to the white house goes right up through coastal georgia including savannah. is that how the harris/walz team sees it as well? >> reporter: they certainly see it as an important part of their strategy, and this entire trip, katy, the kids might say is a bit of a flex by the harris campaign. they want to take that energy and enthusiasm from what they felt was a very successful convention in chicago last week and show they're playing on an expanded battleground map. president biden won georgia, the first democrat to do so since 1992. it seemed his focus was narrowing to defense. playing in the blue walz states. by choosing georgia, the harris campaign is signaling they are playing with house money, and not just choosing georgia, choosing a part of the state that hasn't seen a general election, presidential cam

back with me, meghan hays, mark mckinnon, also with us, nbc's mike memoli. ampaign for the last six years. we're going to do a rapid fire round here. mike, how emotional is tonight going to be? >> first of all, chris, i brought the party as usual. that's how i roll. >> it's why i wanted you on the show. >> one of the most interesting parts of this convention, is four years ago, president biden didn't have this convention experience. meghan and i were in the empty convention center when he gave the speech. there are a plane full of delawareians flying out to be here. the other interesting thing, he has seen this movie before, in 2016, at hillary clinton's convention, they played a tribute video, an emotional moment. it's different because we know this is the end of his political career. >> and the money shot would be joe biden and kamala harris on stage together, the visual impact of the passing of the torch? >> absolutely, i think the president is extremely proud that he has endorsed the vice president, and for her to win in november, and i think that people

mike memoli. a decision he made to get out of the national guard before his troop was deployed to iraq. give us a little bit more. >> yeah, katy, this is such an important moment for tim walz. stepping out solo for the first time after being selected for the running mate to hold a campaign event and we've heard a red meat speech to a union audience. you've heard the governor talking about his record as governor, the way he is implemented pro-worker laws and vice president harris casting the tie-breaking vote for various pieces of legislation that have supported labor unions as well. but it is an important opportunity to face the criticism over his record in the national guard. did he serve for 24 years, joining -- following his father's example but he did make a decision and the campaign worked to clarify the timeline, in the months leading up to his unit being deployed he made the decision to run for congress. the came doesn't dispute there was the possibility of his unit being deployed but he ha

. >> joining us now mike memoli live in chicago and nbc news chief washington correspondent and msnbc anchor andrea mitchell. andrea, good morning. tonight is all about joe biden. what's the significance of this moment? >> reporter: it will could not be more significant. it's historic, the fact that joe biden turned over reluctantly his nomination to his vice president. the fact that he did it for the good of the party, that he made the ultimate political sacrifice for the good of the party because he was persuaded, persuaded that the house and the senate, if not the presidency, would not -- would not be a win for the democrats. he said as much in his farewell that he thought he could do it, the leaders of the house, the senate, the democratic party leaders did not think he could, not after that disastrous debate so today is coming into a hall where a lot of these delegate, they chose him in all the primaries overwhelmingly, so this is his audience but he's speaking also, of course, to the nation. doing it gracefully and trying to build up kamala harris at the same time as she is tryi

joining us now is nbc white house correspondent, mike memoli, inside the hall for us. they do a lot of sound checks there. so beware out there that you could suddenly be drowned out by loud music. tell me a little bit about tonight. you know president biden so well, what's this going to be like for him, and what's he plan on saying? >> reporter: well, it's remarkable, katy, because this is a president who has attended 13 now democratic conventions. he wasn't even old enough for the office he was running for in 1972 for his first, and so he didn't have a 2020 convention, the usual experience when he finally won the nomination s so there is a bit of a bittersweet nature to him coming heem with a sort of farewell address. he knows his mission is important. he has to continue to unite this party. we have seen a remarkable consolidation of support around kamala harris. he knows there's more parts of the biden/harris coalition that he can help shore up. he feels he has an important mission to continue what he started in 2020. as one adviser put it, he saved democracy in 2020

. >> turning now, nbc news who's encounter, mike memoli, shaquille brewster in detroit, michigan, where former president trump will be later today, and nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. so, mike, is the debate going to happen? >> reporter: i think so, katy, but i think, you know, this debate over debates tells you a few things about where we are in this campaign. it tells you about the difference at the top of the ticket on the democratic side. remember, it was the biden campaign that originally successfully dictated the terms of these two debates when they proposed them in may. first, having no audience, and second, having a mute button that the candidates wouldn't be speaking when the other candidate was talking. well, in retrospect, i think many biden advisers will tell you they would have preferred to have the free wheeling exchange, that the president's poor performance may have been in part because he would have benefitted from having a more lively exchange with donald trump. kamala harris, the vice president, of course, her team thinks this is to their advantage. the more d

. >> joining us now is mike memoli and garrett haake. mike, you were inside a lively venue where vice president harris will hold her rally later today and she's giving her first interview since becoming a democratic nominee alongside her running mate tim walz. what should we expect many terms of her messaging today? >> reporter: i can confirm the lively atmosphere here inside the arena, let's start with the vice president wants to focus on today, after this interview with cnn she'll be conducting a few more stops on that bus tour focusing on that always-important issue of the economy and then she'll come here where she'll be introduced by a student as a big push for young voters. then lay out the differences between the dark and dangerous vision of the trump ticket focusing on project 2025 as opposed to the optimistic vision of the democratic party. >> mike, thanks so much. garrett, there's new information on what happened during that incident at arlington national cemetery on monday, what can you tell us. >> reporter: we'll get more spec

this historic week in politics with my colleagues, nbc white house correspondents monica alba and mike memolithis could essentially be -- well, it will be president biden's biggest audience. he will give most likely a farewell speech in january after the inaugural, but this is his moment. and the people in this hall, his most loyal supporters, they're all pledged to him, other than the uncommitted delegates who are upset about the war, so how does he enjoy this moment and the awkward handoff? he still said in that other speech he felt he could do it. >> think how much has changed. it hasn't even been a month, andrea, since he made that announcement that he was not going to run. i was thinking, just looking out on that stage, of being there when senator biden came out in 2008 to do the walk-through ahead of giving his first speech as the vice presidential nominee. this was supposed to be his convention. he was finally going to have that moment. in 2020, he spoke to an empty room during the covid convention in delaware. but there is going to be just a series of emotional tributes where the part

we begin here in chicago with mike memoli and monica alba. mike, give us a rundown of what we're expecting to see tonight. >> you mentioned the obama, especially michelle, who we haven't heard much from. >> almost never. >> as we look at the full list, you see the importance of coalitions for the democratic party. bernie sanders speaking, does he give harris the stamp of approval? i'm sure he will. the first second gentleman of the united states, he might be the only person who's been having fun in politics right now. so it will be an interesting introduction to the country for him. that's going to be interesting, but then there's this roll call. this is going to be a celebratory roll call. they've already made them the nominees for president and vice president so they're going to start with delaware, a tribute to president biden yet again. they're going to end it with minnesota and california to put them over the top officially. remember, they've adapted this from the covid convention where we had that virtual roll call. people leaning in fro

. >> and joining us now from chicago, nbc's mike memoli and andrea mitchell. >> mike, as we look aheadto day two and night two, former president obama, we all recall he made his big debut 20 years ago at the democratic national convention and he's now making the case for kamala harris. what can we expect tonight? >> reporter: he will be speaking to a much more politically-engaged audience, and he believes kamala harris and tim walz are the leaders this country needs now. he has a relationship with kamala harris going back 20 years, where they campaigned for one another. harris endorsed obama in his 2008 campaign when many in california were supporting hillary clinton. they are going to talk about the office of the president and why kamala harris is ready to succeed him. let's not sleep on the fact that michelle obama is also speaking tonight. we talked so much, especially when this were a biden-trump race, we have heard from her associates that she's not a political person or campaign person and she can talk more about the personal qualities of kamala harris and defend her against the

we begin with mike memoli, susan page and victoria defrancesco-soto. welcome all. , the big event today, two of them together kicking it off in about 90 minutes. what do you expect? this has been a very gracious handoff from the president to the vice president. although, it's clearly paining him a great deal. you know him so well. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. you played those comments from president biden yesterday, really celebrating that inflation data. inflation, one of the biggest political drags we have seen on the biden-harris ticket over the last year and a half. now, we are seeing the president celebrating what was called the inflation reduction act, which he signed two years ago tomorrow, in which vice president harris cast the tiebreaking vote in the senate for. one of the hardest fought legislative victories that they enacted during this administration and one that had a range of policies, including the clean energy investment, tax proposals. this specific proposal to allow medicare to negotiate with the biggest pharmaceutical companies to lower presc

we begin with nbc news correspondent mike memoli who is in savannah. vaughn hillyard is in michigan. and reuters white house correspondent jeff mason. mike, georgia and north carolina opened up since harris took over the ticket. what's her message to voter who is can't see themselves backing trump? savannah is probably not used to presidential campaign visits. >> reporter: no t really isn't. the campaign saying this is the first time a democrat has campaigned here in a presidential contest since the 1990s. but what we have seen so much of the conversation around the campaign since she replaced biden at the top of the ticket and added governor walz to it has been about the jolt of energy and enthusiasm to the democratic campaign at this moment. much more so than we saw with president biden. the campaign has really been leaning it, targeting an area where they think they can make end roads with rural voters, where they can showcase that enthusiasm and the chemistry of the new team as they visited a local high school yesterday and did some retail campaigni

>> we begin with nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli, "washington post" senior national political correspondent ashley parker. and michael scheer, white house correspondent from the "new york times." so mike, that speech was the kind of speech we haven't heard from hillary clinton. also from joe biden. i mean, joe biden was stronger and more powerful. we hadn't seen him in recent months like that. we haven't seen him that often in recent months. and certainly not up close. and he really brought it. >> well, i think it's so interesting, andrea, when you talk about secretary clinton and president biden, these are two individuals who had conventions that weren't exactly as they would have planned it themselves. in 2016 there was a sizable bernie sanders delegation. we remember how there was heckling. there were boos while she was speaking. and then of course president biden didn't have a convention in 2020 because of covid 19. we see also how good they are at advocating for others. maybe better even than advocating for themselves. >> isn't that interesting. >> biden of course such a

that is where we start with white house correspondent mike memoli in savannah, georgia, following ther and editor, amanda carter, as well as msnbc justice and legal affairs analyst and veteran of many a southern campaign, anthony culley. mike, i want to start with you, we have limited time, tell us what's going on in savannah and what they've done on the ground and what reaction has been? >> we saw as soon as vice president harris stepped off air force two we see a bit of the coalition work under way here in southern georgia. she and governor walz posed for photos with students from savannah state university, which is one of many historically black colleges and universities in the state of georgia. now they're on their way to more rural parts of these counties around savannah, and it really speaks to the strategy of a campaign that feels like it has some very real momentum. the kids would call this a flex. they have the resources and the ability with a more competitive race than maybe was the case with president biden at the top of the ticket to play in the expanded battleground map.

. >>> now to msnbc's mike memoli in savannah in the big moment for kamala harris, sitting down for her first major tv interview following her getting the nomination. mike, harris has a rally this afternoon, this interview is something a lot of folks have been waiting for. what can you tell us? >> you're absolutely right about that, chris. we have seen the vice president take questions from reporters over the last few weeks. she has not had an extensive sit-down of this kind since she's become the democratic nominee. one consequence of not doing interviews on a regular basis is it puts that much more of a spotlight, raises the stakes for when you do. the vice president just arrived in the last ten minutes at a black-owned restaurant where she will be conducting the interview. one indication of what the vice president wants the focus to be is what the message is the entire day on the campaign trail. she's going to be visiting a few other local small businesses, wants to talk about the economy, and here at this big rally where the crowd is filling in. you can hear the music, the excitemen

nbc news white house correspondent mike memoli is in savannah where the bus tour will be ending. y you, mike. bring us behind the scenes and talk to me about this decision to get out of the safe spaces of georgia? >> well, katy, the strategy is really interesting. this statistic floored me. you're used to, as a fellow campaign reporter, traveling not just to the same small handful of states, but often the same parts of the same states. georgia is only recently in play, president biden was the first democrat to win it since bill clinton, but the campaign says when vice president harris touches down in savannah she will be the first general election candidate to hold an event in savannah since the 1990s. think about that. so this is the strategy of you want to win, of course, a statewide plurality of the vote and to do so you can run up the score in democratic areas including those counties you mentioned surrounding the atlanta area where president biden campaigned four years ago or you can try to eat into the republican margins all over the state. that's what the harris campaign sa

correspondent mike memoli is back. plus former u.s.or and how to win 2024 podcast, claire mccaskill is back and president of the national action network, the reverend al sharpton is with us. and this is joe biden's night and joe biden's room. i've never felt anything more than i felt the applause. and i know there is some -- it clocks in around four minutes. it felt even longer than that. and he seemed genuinely moved by it. just take me inside the room in those moments. >> yeah, yesterday was about quite a bit of emotion. the energy with which democrats feel now about this campaign coming into this convention wanting to be together to celebrate where they are now. but also wanting to pay tribute to president biden, to honor his service after what had been a difficult week. and i saw on president biden a range of emotions. one was pride in the accomplishments of what he's been able to do and really relishing the opportunity to celebrate that with a room full of excited democrats, the question i was asking ahead of his remarks yesterday

leading us off, white house correspondent mike memoli and correspondent garrett haake. mike, i want to start with you. why exactly does the harris campaign want to make this change with the microphones? >> you really can look back to may when it was the biden campaign that was able to successfully really dictate the terms of the two debates it proposed, and trump quickly agreed to. one was not to have an audience, and the other main condition was to have this mute button. now the biden team felt it was in president biden's interests not to have this debate descend into a circus with the candidates shouting over one another. so the new reality speaks to the fact that, one, you have a new candidate, vice president harris. and two, you have a team that saw frankly what happened in that first debate. in retrospect, many biden advisers felt that the president would have been better served had president trump been allowed to maybe interrupt. maybe that would have helped biden liven things up in what was a lackluster debate. i think they sensed that president trump is in some w

responding to walz by writing -- >> joining us now, mike memoli and yasmine abdutala.ce could bring up the service again at the campaign stops today. they seem to be focused in on that. it's an echo of the swift voting of john kerry back in 2004. how worried is the harris campaign these attacks could stick? >> reporter: of course, it's important to remember that this was an abbreviated running mate service with an abbreviated vet of all the potential vp candidates. as now tim walz is on the ticket for only just over a week at this point, it's clear there are going to be more comments like this that surface, both from critics of the harris-walz ticket, but also comments of his own will come out through more press coverage as well. as i have been talking to harris advisors as well as people close to governor walz, they say it's important for them to come out quickly and try to address these issues as they surface as quickly and forthrightly as possible. as it relates to walz's service in the national guard, there are two interesting components to this. one is the timing,