kristy, claire, stuart and vaughn are all here.hen trump denied it, admitting on live tv that it was true all along. here's sarah matthews. >> when the "the atlantic" story dropped where it was claimed he said that fallen soldiers were suckers and losers. and at the time we asked him if this was true and he said that he did not make that statement and, you know, this was coming from anonymous sources. now we know that john kelly was one of those sources and has gone on record to say that he was witness to those comments from trump. and so that was something that i pushed back on. but at the time i was taking the former president at his word. >> stuart stevens, i guess you and i are old enough to remember when that would be a lights out, the campaign would be over and the republican party would be meeting frantically to find a new nominee. not so much anymore. but i want to add to our understanding and the body of reporting that's been corroborated over and over and over again. he also believed that a wounded veteran who was at a ce

>> vaughn hillyard. thank you. >>> when we return, the simone biles comeback marches on.er incredible routine and new injuries shaking up the team usa olympic lineup. >>> also, the race to rescue the more than 100 dolphins stranded off cape cod. for me, cosentyx works on both. cosentyx helps real people find clear skin. and in psoriatic arthritis, can mean less joint pain, and help stop further joint damage. serious allergic reactions, severe skin reactions that look like eczema, and increased risk of infections some fatal have occurred. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to or if ibd symptoms develop or worsen. ♪see me♪ summer savings are on the way! wayfair's fourth of july clearance is here and it's the talk of the neighborhood! because now through july 7th, you can save up to 70% on everything home. yes! save on finds for indoor and outdoor, and get surprise flash deals you don't want to miss. and get it all with fast shipping straight to your door. save up to 70% off with wayfair's fourth of july clearance now through july 7t

he's not a vengeful person. >> vaughn joins us now from where that rally was. so vaughn, how does mr. trump plan to make his case to that probation officer tomorrow? >> reporter: right, hallie. we should expect the former president to hone in and focus on the fact that he has no prior criminal record. at the same time, he has also expressed no regret about any of hiss actions that he took that led to that conviction in the new york trial. hallie? >> vaughn hillyard, thank you. >>> closing arguments are expected tomorrow in the historic trial of the president's son with new questions whether hunter biden might take the stand in the gun case against him. aaron gilchrist has more on what's at stake in a trial that has at times turned deeply personal. >> reporter: hunter biden and his legal team taking the weekend to decide whether he'll take the stand in his own defense. he'll be the last testimony jurors hear in a trial that's moved faster than expected. with jury instructions set to be finalized monday morning and closing arguments soon after the jury could get

talk to us, vaughn, about did the -- double haters.ing more about this closely watched voting block who are unhappy with both the major party candidates, president biden and donald trump. the voters could be crucial. major opportunity for the contenders and the double haters of 2024 look different from the two previous elections. with us to discuss more on this, of course vaughn but also two former members of congress, democrat donna edwards of maryland and republican carlos curbelo of florida. what is different about this group as a whole this time versus past elections? and what's the potential impact? >> when you look at the numbers this time around, there is reticence towards donald trump and joe biden. and back in 2020, right, there was excitement, more enthusiasm, and when you just look at these numbers here, it makes it clear what sort of that reticence can look like here and the number of folks that say they don't want either of these individuals, and if you go back to 2020, right? democrats were eager, enthusiastic to get dona

as you, vaughn, this is a classic tactic of his. he's done it on health care.ne it on abortion policy. he said i'll have something really good and wonderful in two weeks and it never shows up, and that's the kind of thing that trump is good at. not getting things done. so you know, biden has a lot territory where he can say something positive after he's attacked, but immediately pivot and put donald trump on the defense. that's the secret to this debate. get donald trump on defense and he will behave badly. >> the issues are incredibly important and vaughn knows this better than anybody. you go out and talk to voters. they will tell you what's most important to them, but they will also talk about their discomfort with donald trump that has been there, frankly, from the beginning and that's the nicest thing and the age thing, jen, with the president you can't change how old you are, and you can't affect how you present that. what can joe biden do tonight to suggest to people who are worried about it, i am not too old for this job. i am the person for this job? >

vaughn, when you're out on the trail with the campaign, do you pick up on that?t donald trump. yes to answer your question. it's not just donald trump that says wouldn't you like life to be like it was four or five years ago, it's also voters that articulate that message. i think a large number of them are echoing donald trump, but for folks there is a prepandemic life and post pandemic leaf. take politics out of it. a lot of us have lived experiences outside of who is in the white house. i think that is what donald trump ■çand his campaign are trying to herald folks' minds back to. i think amnesia when we're talking about it politically here is that donald trump, there is a base of support he has been able to effectively galvanize through events over the years since the january 6th attack. that is four different indictments. those were 2022 primaries when he went around the country. in a lot of ways he has been able to give folks fodder that extends beyond what has happened politically in terms of policy from the biden administration and focus more on the grieva

also joining us is nbc's vaughn hillyard.vaughn, i was surprised donald trump said yes to these rules. what do you know about why? >> well, look, he's been saying for months now he would debate joe biden anytime, anywhere. so if you're going to go and make that claim and make part of your campaign stuff about that, bring to a podium next to you. when that guy comes calling and saying i'm ready to do it, you have to bite the bullet and do it. it's surprising that it's perhaps this early on before the convention is 4 1/2 months out. >> what have they said about the rules? >> the rules are not exactly what they would like them to be. they're going to go forward with them, and donald trump, and i asked chris, a senior adviser to him a week ago, what is he doing for the debate prep, and he suggested donald trump is always prepping. he's always in his go mode. one interesting note is, you know, four years ago when he did this, he had chris christie spar with him as the biden stand-in. of course there's no chris christie this time a

joining us now is nbc's vaughn hillyard, and david jolly, former republican congressman from floridamsnbc political analyst. vaughn, sort through this, what the former president said, according to so many reports from republicans at the rnc headquarters on capitol hill just last week about milwaukee, and now what he is saying as well as whether or not he had planned to stay in chicago during the republican convention in milwaukee. >> reporter: the remarks at the private meeting with house republicans when he said milwaukee was a terrible city, he was referring to crime in milwaukee, milwaukee and the suburbs are critical to his november election success. you will recall that back in 2020, he lost wisconsin by just about 20,000 votes. it's paramount to perform well there. as you heard him on the stage there just outside of milwaukee, he was backtracking on some of the remarks there. we should note, chicago is about an hour drive. it's not out of the realm of possibility he was looking to make that commute every day. of course, sources tell nbc news, law enforcement sources that he int

that can come at a later time. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you.dows is facing? >> they're very serious. he's charged with committingfor conspiracy. in looking at the indictment, it's 58 pages. mark meadows is really the nerve center of all of this. you have a pressure campaign on the maricopa county board of supervisors and all of the text messages about that pressure campaign are going back to mark meadows. the same with the fake elector scheme. all of the text messages from various co-conspirators all reporting back to mark meadows about their progress, about how this scheme would work. you've got mark meadows saying i love it. right before in the indictment, all of that is laid out, there is a very clear statement that mark meadows knew that donald trump lost this election and still wanted to bring it home for donald trump because donald trump still wanted to fight it. so it's a powerful indictment, and he should be worried about these charges. >> and as vaughn mentioned, he is facing charges in multiple venues, not just arizona, but he's a co-

look, chris and vaughn, we remember 2012.l ryan, it's not the same joe biden. he's lost a couple steps, and that's -- you know, and so i think when you look at that, it does kind of raise questions, and i think when you talk about liability in terms of why people would vote against him, i think age is right up there. as a liability for joe biden, we have eyes, we have ears. we can see he's not the same person or candidate he was even a couple of years ago. i think it's a little different with trump and biden. i think what you're seeing with biden more consistently is kind of the dodderingness, slipping, the time magazine where he confuses putin and xi. trump will do that, but it's a little rarer. the rambling stuff, those are a hallmark of his speeches. we've been seeing that since -- >> i don't know if it's more rare by any stretch of the imagination. he confuses just the number of times he's confused biden and obama. >> well, again, i mean, we can point to this in the last week we saw biden do this pretty consistently. puti

joining us now, nbc news correspondent, vaughn hillyard. msnbc legal correspondent, lisa rubin.w york times" chief who's correspondent peter baker, and "new york times" opinion columnist david french. on the one hand, you have the $50 million ad buy, talking about character and calling donald trump a convicted felon. you have president biden up on sage at a fundraiser, talking about the threats to the supreme court and what he sees as a potential, if donald trump is elected again. expand on that, what's the biden team talking about? >> yeah, i mean, look, if you care about the supreme court, elections matter. had hillary clinton won in 2016, the 6-3 conservative majority on the supreme court today would be a 6-3 liberal majority of the supreme court. it's as simple as that. that's what the president was saying in his fundraiser, these high dollar donors, but also to the larger audience of democrats who may think it doesn't matter much who wins the election because they don't particularly like either candidate. polls show up to 25% of voters are double haters, people who don't li

vaughn hillyard, thank you as well. joining us now, democratic strategist, and cornell belcher, an msnbc political analyst. so you listened to that conversation. >> great conversation, by the way. >> tell me what you think. >> smart people. i love it. >> i only have smart people on this program. tell me what you think. how do you see this playing out in the numbers? >> a couple of things, one, i do want to rejoin that conversation because i think too often in media, and i know we do it because we've got to convey a lot in a short period of time. we over simplify things, and we make it the narrative about one variable at best, like, you know, it was not covid that did donald trump in in the last election. there were multiple variables and many variables started to show up in 2018 when democrats had one of the most successful elections they ever had and it wasn't simply about covid. if you look at the gender gap, katy, that happened in 2018, you understand a lot of that was about women and their rejection of what they saw

vaughn hillyard and david jolly, thank you.ood to see you both and all of you. >>> coming up, a new stark warning from hezbollah's leader. an jet from jerusalem with our very own matt bradley who's been reporting on the tensions along the israel-lebanon border since this conflict began. stay with us. this conflict began. stay with us hi, i'm greg. i live in bloomington, illinois. i'm not an actor. i'm just a regular person. some people say, "why should i take prevagen? i don't have a problem with my memory." memory loss is, is not something that occurs overnight. i started noticing subtle lapses in memory. i want people to know that prevagen has worked for me. it's helped my memory. it's helped my cognitive qualities. give it a try. i want it to help you just like it has helped me. prevagen. at stores everywhere without a prescription. clem's not a morning person. or a...people person. but he is an "i can solve this in 4 different ways" person. you need clem. clem needs benefits. work with principal so we can help you with a pl

we begin with vaughn hillyard and monica alba.ghn, talk about the stakes and the format, because it's different than anything we have seen before. >> reporter: the stakes are so high. donald trump did not debate during any of the republican debates in which he was facing a number of primary challengers. then you have joe biden, who the last time he went on the debate stage was against donald trump there just 12 days before the 2020 election. in an immediate ecosystem, which is only multiplied over the last four years with right wing outlets for donald trump to turn to, and more progressive outlets for joe biden to turn to, most americans have had few opportunities to see either of these men in long, extended, unvarnished selves. this is a moment over 90 minutes with two commercial breaks in which they are going to have the opportunity to do just that. folks have undoubtedly seen on social media or depending on their news outlets the short clips, often misleading, of joe biden, the current president. this is where for the biden cam

hillary vaughn is on capitol hill. is this a serious proposal, hillary?an idea. speaker mike johnson says former president trump brought it up with a smile that trump indicated this is not a sure thing and it's something worth considering though and ultimately may not become an official part of trump's economic plan, but he did raise the idea while meeting behind closed doors at capitol hill cattle call and telling lawmakers his idea for the income tax and replace the revenue for incoming tariffs and it's not a new idea and a throw back to 1800s and 19th century tariftariffs war the main sourcf revenue and bringing it back was intriguing to some republicans. what do you think of form riprap's idea to kill the income tax and replace with tariffs? >> it's an idea and nothing firm and throwing it out for discussion. i think the income tax is antiquated and it's hurting working people worse than anything. reporter: biden team saying donald trump proposed a historic $50 billion a year middle class hike and it would send prices skyrocketing and only people that

vaughn -- vaughn, joe is interrupting me. >> i'm not. i'm not.oy. perhaps one of my greatest flaws. >> it is, yes. >> but vaughn, so we have doug burgum. who is on the short list. marco rubio was on the short list. and we have jd vance, who is on the short list. hey, alex, really quickly, find out something bad burgum said about donald trump and i'll talk really slowly. we have with jd vance, while he was wearing his little silicon valley, i love san francisco, i love tech people, when he's going through that phase in his life, jd vance said that actually donald trump was a terrible person, and he actually said that as a christian, he could not vote for him because of his belief in jesus christ, he also said that all other christians should also stay away from voting for donald trump. donald trump's only gotten more trumpish since he said that. and now jd vance wants to be on the short list. then of course, you have marco rubio, my god, the things -- >> back flips. pretzel twists. this guy should be in the olympics. >> the things, though, that he

stuart: hilary vaughn former chief medical advisor dr.bout the handling of covid and he admitted to having no idea with a six-foot social distancing broking from and would not recall any study showing the benefits of putting masks on children, doctor siegel joins us now, should we cut dr. fauci some slack here, he was thrown into a situation where we knew nothing about covid and can he be given excuse were room i'd known dr. fauci he is extremely bright and an accomplished scientist and what he did at the beginning of the pandemic is step outside of his lane multiple times what do we mean by that he's an immunologist and a vaccine knowledge just and social distancing, that came from the 1918 flu it didn't come from nowhere in the 1918 in 2013 that was studied for flu and found to be effective. do you know what the problem is the university of medical where i went into thousand 20 for fox, they found already in february 2020 that covid was all over the room. you weren't going to contain it by social distancing. you need to open a window an

and vaughn hillyard. david is back with us as well.kes me that we started -- you're like a regular. but we started talking to you ahead of and sort of around the release of the tape, the call. a lot of what you helped us understand is a fracture not about whether that republicans are not, not even really whether they support trump, but about the big lie. and georgia's republican elected officials are in almost a class of their own. whether they support trump or not, they do seem to be the sign of life that you can be a republican and acknowledge the truth about trump's defeat. there are a lot of republicans in georgia who don't. georgia has everything. but i wonder if there's anything about where the debate takes plabt place tonight that triggers any of those fractures from 2020? >> you're so correct. the party is splintered, but the debate site here is full of symbolism. we're not far from the home of the. epicenter of election center lies involving poll workers who were accused of doing awful things. we are not the center of where th

coming up, hillary vaughn tries to get answers from democrats about the murder of jocelyn nungary.nse "i don't know who that is". that's outrageous and congressman darryll issa will respond. members of ga gangs in venezuela are smuggling guns into the jail and that's how migrants got his hands on a weapon. the full report is after this. ♪ this is clem. clem's not a morning person. or a night person. or a...people person. but he is an "i can solve this in 4 different ways" person. and that person... is impossible to replace. you need clem. clem needs benefits. work with principal so we can help you help clem with a retirement and benefits plan that's right for him. let our expertise round out yours. introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief. claim a venezuela gang has been smuggling guns into the city, new york city. cb cotton is joining me now. are they smuggling guns into shelters, re

vaughn hillyard, nbc news, new york. >>> breaking news this morning. mexico has elected its first ever woman president. the mexican electoral institute projects claudia sheinbaum has won the presidency. she will also be mexico's first jewish president. polls had also long predicted her win. sheinbaum is a climate scientist by profession. as a member of the ruling morena party, she was the chosen successor for current president lopez obrador. her closest rival was a businesswoman heading up a coalition of business parties. turnout was estimated to be around 100 million people. >>> the middle east is on edge as israel keeps distancing itself from a ceasefire proposal endorsed by president biden. in a friday speech, mr. biden said the proposal originated with the israelis. a senior israeli official this morning telling nbc news that's, quote, not accurate. the anonymous source told our raf sanchez that israel's goal remains the elimination of hamas as an organization. josh lederman has the latest. >> reporter: israel and hamas are now under growing global

it is a moment in time that will have impact. >> we're back with vaughn and claire and david, and vaughna state visit last week and did a bunch ever meetings with people off the record and talked about the kind that came on my show which was nice and answered a lot of questions. her point here is they're frustrated with media coverage. part of the reason they play so much trump is they think the press goes out to a trump event and they write about the most trivial things on front page of the newspaper in nevada and he goes to los angeles and called insurrectionists warriors and say they were set up and people talk about his immigration policy and they're like that should lead and i have sympathy for that. do you think that that is a case that joe biden can effectively prosecute when we have read today in "the new york times" that cnn, david challian said for the first time, moderators will not fact check in real time. that is up to joe biden. that is a challenge when someone lies as much as trump and it gets to what jen is talking about in the clip. >> it is difficult over the last years

nbc's vaughn hillyard has more. >> reporter: former president trump turning the campaign trail into a defiance tour. >> vote for trump. we want a felon! >> reporter: on his first campaign swing since his guilty verdict since falsifying business records. >> the people are watching and they know a fake deal. >> reporter: speaking to a crowd of several thousand in 100-degree heat under the scorching las vegas sun, the former president's rally coming under the shade of legal setbacks. nbc news learned on monday the former president is scheduled for a virtual sit-down interview with a new york city probation officer, a key first step for his sentencing and potential jail time. the officer will evaluate trump's level of remorse, his financial background and mental state and provide a report to the judge to help him determine the sentence that he will hand down to trump on july 11th. >> they've weaponized the department of justice like it's never happened in this country. >> trump publicly showing no regrets and over the last week he's repeatedly equivocated on whether he'd seek revenge on h

vaughn hillyard is there for us. it's your home state. you know it well.ay? >> reporter: back on the campaign trail for the first time since the guilty conviction. he is attending an event that's hosted by turning point usa, which is that right wing organization led by right wing provocateur charlie kirk. this is going to be an afternoon event in this we expect a couple hundred folks in attendance. for donald trump, he has talked about the idea of potential retribution if you were to get back into the white house. we are less than five months from the election now. for donald trump, i want to let you hear a little bit of him last night when posed the question about how he would potentially seek revenge if he were to return to the oval office. take a listen. >> people are claiming you want retribution. people are claiming you want what has happened to you done to democrats. would you do that ever? >> look, what's happened to me has never happened in this country before. it has to stop. >> i want to hear that again. it has to stop. >> it does have to stop. b

neil: hillary vaughn on all of that, it certainly thinking outside of the box, brandon arnold executiveesident, what do you think of that. >> is thinking outside of the box i don't think in a positive way necessarily, the tax cuts and jobs accept 2017 provided a tremendous boost to the economy, higher wages, lower unemployment, low inflation, i don't know what he wants to come and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the goal to be and prove the 2017 lawn rather than flip over the table, start from scratch from the proposal that would be economically destructive to the country. >> to get into the destructive part i give him kudos for looking outside of the box and the obvious revenue and destroyers but you could make a good argument that the more you throw terrorists on products from abroad, you're most likely going to get people buying those products, the revenue you expect is not the revenue you get, what do you think. >> that's totally true, what president trump wants to do is relocate our manufacturing to stop imports in the way of imports to booster manufacturing in the united s

. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you very much. >>> that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with more news right now. >>> right now on "andrea mitchell reports," vladimir putin making his first trip to north korea in 24 years as russia depends on north korea's surplus weapons to fight its war in ukraine. >> this is what's keeping the war going. the fastest way to end the war is for putin to be disabused of the notion he can outlast ukraine and all of ukraine's supporters. >>> also,s rebid president bide unveiling a new immigration policy. >>> it's a big primary day for two republican incumbents facing different challenges in oklahoma and virginia. >>> a heat wave, as dangerous temperatures head towards triple digits from iowa to maine. ♪♪ >>> good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. secretary of state blinken just wrapping up a pressing and wide ranging event with nato secretary-general stoltenberg citing nearly a dozen bilateral security deals between ukraine and nato allies as evidence our col

jessica taylor, senior governor editor for cook political report and nbc's vaughn hillyard is back with us. i think this is kamala harris's third trip to arizona talking about abortion. what does that tell us about campaign strategy here? >> right. clearly they believe that she going to the state of arizona and articulating the message on reproductive rights is going to be critical in the november election. we saw this as an issue in the 2022 midterm elections when democrat katie hobbs won the governor's race over kari lake in the state of arizona. this time around there will be a ballot measure in which arizonans will be able to go and vote on making a statute that abortion rights are protected in the state of arizona. kamala harris is going to not only make the political one but the one about the policy and the direct impact that air voters can have when they go to the ballot box. that's why you is seen the biden campaign be intentional about sending the vice president out to deliver that message. >> mike, donald trump is talking about it, too. i want to play for you a little bit of w

>> thanks to kelly and vaughn. so both campaigns are using language, trump campaign using the word, biden campaign using the word fight over and over again and guilty. the trump campaign talking about you know, juicing up joe biden, which is you know, patently ridiculous. donald trump joking over the weekend about starting a sports league of migrants fighting each other. and are we really believing he's not doing any mock debates? >> the best we can do is take his advisers' word that he is prepping through the form of you know, right wing media interviews as well as being out on the campaign trial. he of course had a rally in philadelphia this weekend. he is en route from new jersey to new orleans for a fund-raiser. they are saying they are doing no mock debates like he did four years ago. of course, he didn't take part in the republican primary debates over the last year. for donald trump, you played the clip of him making the accusation this weekend that joe biden would shoot something in his butt. i just want to

joining me now is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. you have been to a lot of these trump events. you have talked to a lot of these supporters. when they hear donald trump talking like we just heard, we saw the ones in the audience there laughing. how do we explain why they think that's a president? >> reporter: i think, joy, for a lot of folks that there's a reflection or a connection to somebody who is speaking right off the cuff. somebody who, yes, may have a tell prompter in front of him, but goes off on tangents there. for them, let's be very clear here. i think donald trump is convinced he has been effective as a political candidate over now almost ten years. because of that. because there is nothing stale about donald trump. we don't know where this political movement ends. but the leader of it is somebody that is consistently providing new material. there are thousands if not millions of folks who routinely watch online his campaign rallies. and this is somebody who they follow on social media because you never know what you're

vaughn hillyard, thanks so much. peter alexander is in this morning for kristen welker as moderator of "meet the press." good morning. it's great to see you, my friend. >> great to see you, my friend. >> you, too. you said the campaign race, a boatload of money after this verdict and through the weekend, so my question to you, what are you hearing from the campaigns about how they're going to handle this. the white house and the biden campaign now can say it's running against a man convicted of 34 felonies so far. how is it going to play in this race? >> to be clear, anyone who tells you they know the way this will play out is lying. we've seen so many unprecedented moments, it remains unclear. there is some early indication that it may have caused erosion among those independents. some republicans for donald trump, but you really have to just watch the way things play out and where these campaigns try to capitalize. in my conversations with those close to the biden campaign, they say the trump conviction is not goin

it's harder to get voters focused on the future. >> vaughn, what do you think of that? >> i'm not going to argue with mark, but i think that there's reasonably what he is saying is very much true, and i think that is a difficulty that both of these campaigns are now having to come to terms with here. donald trump, i should say, i think, is eager to talk about, you know, what would take place in the future, too, in many regards. he is somebody who paints very bleak pictures of what the current life in america is right now, that doesn't always match up with reality. and so for him, i think that you have somebody who is very eager to paint a bleak picture o. -- of the future if democrats were to remain in control. >> going back to donald trump's inaugural speech, the very dark tones. >> you and i were standing next to each other and looked right at each other, as the rain started to fall. >> very dark indeed. joining us chief strategist for the bush cheney 2004 campaign, matthew dowd, how do you see these two strategies? >> i think your question about whether or not somebo

joining me in studio nbc's vaughn hillyard. last week's filing deadline trump and the rnc reported $116.5 million cash on hand. biden and the dnc, $91.6 million in the bank. what is trump doing with the cash advantage? >> the trump campaign said give us a few months, we're going to ramp up staffing in the battleground states when joe biden already had men on the field and frankly they didn't even have state directors in some of the battleground states, the trump campaign. now this is their moment. what does that ramp-up look like? do they have operations in rural parts of the state, in places like maricopa county, places like the suburbs of milwaukee. this is their moment to ramp up that. but also spending on campaign advertisements. the biden campaign has massively outspent them on the air waives. if you look at campaign spending to this point, the biden campaign spent for the trump campaign and their allies, about $235 million in the bank, the biden team $212 million. this is what trump and their allies were preparing for. th

vaughn hilliard, nbc news, new york. >>> we are tracking another major presidential election. this one in mexico tomorrow. that country is widely expected to elect its first woman president. yet violence has overshadowed political campaigns with dozens of candidates assassinated, the most ever. most guad venegas is in mexico city. and a warning some of what you're about to see is disturbing. >> reporter: it's a historic presidential election. for the first time in its 200-year history two female candidates lead the presidential polls in mexico. the front-runner claudia is a former mayor of mexico city, a close ally to president lopez. she speaks fluent english is also an academic that has lived in california's bay area, studying both at stanford and berkley. >> what i like about claudia the most is her scientific point of view about society. >> reporter: her top competitor is a businesswoman and former senator known for her center right politics. but the historic moment of this election is overshadowed by fear, violence, and death. dozens seeking office in mexico this election

nbc's vaughn hillyard is following his meeting today with a probation officer. what's involved in the meeting, vaughn? >> right, chris, this is a significant meeting. it's standard protocol here ahead of a sentencing in new york. and this is the opportunity for donald trump, who will be appearing virtually for this, an interview from mar-a-lago in florida, with this new york probation officer who is going to be interviewing the former president to prepare a report that he will deliver to judge merchan ahead of his july 11th sentencing. and it's part of this interview and the eventual report, the probation officer will detail not only donald trump's financial background, what he perceives his mental state to be, but also the extent to which donald trump's not only lack of criminal history but going through what is in his record, and when he prepares this report, it will be a recommendation of what he believes may be the best suited sentence for donald trump here, and so, again, appearing virtually, donald trump, we could expect to show little remorse for his acti

so vaughn, trump and speaker johnson met just last week in d.c.do we know about today's meeting? >> right, this is a mutual interest relationship for both of these men here. house republicans are holding on to a razor thin majority, and with just four and a half months not only if the presidential election, but also those very house seats being up for grabs, it is going to be crucial, if donald trump were to win this election in november to have a republican majority and maintain that republican majority in the u.s. house. that is why here within about the next two hours, we expect speaker mike johnson as well as the chair of the nrcc to meet with donald trump, the presumptive republican nominee at his mar-a-lago estate. you noted not only did donald trump travel to d.c. to meet with speaker johnson and house republicans behind closed doors last week, but also two months ago you'll recall that speaker johnson made the trek down to florida and ended up holding a press conference along donald trump's side. that was coming around the time the congres

vaughn, donald trump is coming up with expectation. he's not controlled.t polite and he interrupts and over talks, but this is a situation that will cut him off. his mike will be cut. you can probably still hear him if he keeps talking and his microphone will not be on and are we going to see a different donald trump tonight? >> this is going to be his 17th debate, katy. as you said, this is not new for him, and of course, the last two times he debated were back in 2020 and against joe biden and those were two slightly different debates and the first one was very chaotic and he interjected more than a hundred different times if you were to go through and count, and the second debate after he was panned for coming off as overly aggressive and not giving joe biden any due time he came off a much more controlled, if you may, and a little bit more poised, and i think that's a question of exactly where does donald trump come in today? if you follow his social media post over the last several hours he sent quite a flurry of them in all caps saying joe biden is a

nbc's vaughn hillyard is reporting on this. what more can you tell us, vaughn? >> reporter: right, chris. in the last days, donald trump has equivocated when asked about whether he would seek retribution against his perceived enemies if he were to take back the white house. he suggested other republicans have urged him to do so, he has said he would have to see exactly what such action would look like. of course those comments are happening after a year in which he has suggested the arrest of several individuals as a potential imprisonment of bill and hillary clinton, he made those comments just this week, and just yesterday, well in route to the state of arizona for a campaign event here, he posted on his social media account that the individuals, the members of congress who were a part of the january 6th select committee should be indicted. he directly referred to the not only adam kinzinger as crying adam kinzinger, and liz, quote, out of her mind cheney, but he's suggesting that it should be the individuals who are part of the select committee that are the o

nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard is in atlanta. mike, you heard it, hell no versus oh, no. a couple of grade schoolers. i'm just wondering what you're hearing from inside the biden camp right now. what do they see as their path forward? >> reporter: president biden is often fond of quoting his father. in a moment like this, it is relevant. when you get knocked down, you got to get back up. as the program continues behind me for this rally in north carolina, a critical battleground state where the biden team thinks they can go on offense and pick up a trump 2020 state, viewers have an important opportunity for president biden here to begin to reassure democrats that last night may not have been perfect, but that it is not really indicative of where his candidacy is going forward. we heard in the initial moments last night as the president was stumbling out of the gate that, listen, he had a cold, they acknowledged he was raspy and he wasn't starting strong. after the debate, we heard from a number of campaign officials up to and inc

that's where we begin with vaughn hillyard in downtown atlanta.ghn, this could be the premiere event, it could change everything in a tight race. where do things stand? >> reporter: right. look, for donald trump, he is going to fly here into atlanta tomorrow. for donald trump, this is a different story than last august when he flew into atlanta to be arraigned in fulton county as one of 19 co-defendants. there were a lot of republicans hoping the republican electorate would choose somebody not donald trump. that's not the reality. he is the nominee ahead of the convention on july 15th. this is going to be a moment four months out from the november election for donald trump to make clear how he is going to stack up against democratic president joe biden here. there's a lot on line. our team, including monica alba, are reporting that yesterday joe biden took place in a mock debate at camp david with his personal attorney standing in as donald trump. they have lighting that is going to be similar to what they expect the staging to look like here. the

joining us now, nbc correspondent, vaughn hillyard.s talk about the special election, the surprise showing. why was it such a surprise? >> right. okay. let's first start with the numbers here. this very congressional district, we should note that joe biden lost to donald trump by 28 percentage points. >> we rounded up to 29. >> a significant difference but also reality check, just about 60,000 people in the congressional district voted in this special last night. compare that to 280,000 in the november 2022 general election. democrats are saying, look, this is a sign that ultimately democrats are enthused. they saw legislative gains in pennsylvania and alabama. tom suozzi won the new york congress fall district. picked up the republican seat here, so democrats are saying, look, when the voters are having the opportunity in 2024 to vote, it's the democrats that are turning out in greater numbers? >> on the subject of immigration, tom suozzi ran after it. he said the immigration is a problem. the democrats want to fix it, and he pointed

elizabeth and vaughn hillyard, thank you as well. >>> still ahead, there is a debate. there are three days left until that debate. what is going to matter? what can they say that will matter and change the minds of voters? >>> also down in florida, what judge aileen cannon is hearing about today after that news her colleagues tried to get her to step down from the documents case. >>> what donald trump's national security adviser, his first one, this guy, is doing to make a whole lot of money for him and his family. don't go anywhere. we're back in 90 seconds. that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. my moderate to severe plaque psoriasis held me back... now with skyrizi, i'm all

lisel recommended that the president of the country appoint lawrence vaughn, who served in his governmenter deputy prime minister and minister of finance, in his place. on may 15, after the swearing-in ceremony, fifty-year-old lawrence wong officially succeeded seventy-two-year-old listian lubl as prime minister. although, however, lisyan remained in the cabinet as a senior minister. we managed to raise the standard of living of citizens, improve living conditions, improve the education system, and we also invested to significantly modernize our economy. the transition to power is what distinguishes the state of singapore. this principle was laid down by the first prime minister of singapore, ligwan, the creator. the famous singaporean economic miracle. singapore is both a city and an island state. it is 3 and a half times smaller than moscow. singapore's economy is one of the most open and corruption-free economies in the world. singapore is one of the top three countries in terms of business conditions, competitiveness and salary levels. todaypur, an international financial center with

joining us now here in atlanta vaughn hilliard, nbc news senior white house correspondent gabe gutierrez, former democratic senator claire mccaskill from missouri, and tim miller, writer at large for the bulwark. he served as communications director for jeb bush's 2016 campaign and is an msnbc political analyst. okay, gabe, what are some of the top lines we expect to hear from president biden tonight? >> hi there, chris. president biden is expected to try to make that clear contrast the campaign has been talking about for the last several months, differentiating himself between current president biden and former president trump and also hit the issue of reproductive rights. within just the past hour or so following a supreme court ruling the biden campaign out with a statement that women's health, lives, and freedom remain in peril across the country because of donald trump, essentially tying the former president to those abortion rulings that we're seeing right now. the other key point for the biden campaign is something they've been making since the start of this election season, that

. >> vaughn hillyard joins us from scottsdale, arizona. good morning.reporter: good morning, jose. this was his first public campaign event since his guilty conviction in new york. and there was about 2,000 folks inside of this megachurch. it was sponsored by charlie kirk's organization, turning point usa that is a key ally of donald trump's political organization. and so for donald trump last night, of course, you heard him talk about the trial, his conviction, passing it off as a rigged trial, but then you also heard him tell the crowd very specifically that if there was no such thing as election fraud, that this election -- the general election would be all but over and he wouldn't need to do any campaigning. and so they need to get a win so big that it is going to protect them from any rigging that may take place. this is the type of messaging that donald trump brought into this battleground state here with now less than five months left. this is less than three weeks now until that first presidential debate at the end of the month in atlanta with j

vaughn, what do we know?ch of these three individuals showed up virtually in the last hour for these arraignments, the final three of the 18. the entire slate has pleaded not guilty. so when you're looking at the likes of boris epshteyn, it is important to note that he continues to remain a close adviser to donald trump and his campaign. he's coordinated all of donald trump's legal counsel for the various cases, in legal question marks that have plagued donald trump. now, boris epshteyn has his own, but each of them entering this not guilty plea. talking about the potential of plea agreements down the line, take a listen. >> we anticipated, like any other case, we have not made any plea offers yet. so i have discussed the possibility with -- >> so, have not made any yet. that's a question mark as this process here moves forward, exactly where this heads and, of course, the question mark for each of these individuals is whether they have a motion to sever their cases, so there is still a lot ahead, we shouldn'

joining us now, gary grumbach in rehoboth beach, delaware, and vaughn hillyard, and charlie sykes, msnbcwe know about preparations for president biden for this debate? >> these two candidates have very different ways of preparing for a presidential debate. president biden is going to prepare at camp david for several days. he'll be having conversations with advisers, and eventually doing mock 90 minute debates. somebody, we don't know who yet, will be playing former president donald trump and they'll be going at it as if it were a real debate. they'll focus on the policy aspect of all of this. are you better off four years ago than you are right now. what do you want to see happen in the next four years? specifically on the topics of reproductive rights and of the economy. then there is also going to be the attack side of things here. how is president biden going to handle the very much expected attacks from former president trump? sometimes these attacks are known to get a little bit personal, especially as we have seen hunter biden on trial recently. we expect hunter biden to be a topi

it's ronnie jackson. >> vaughn hillyard, thank you.iden and former president trump get these names mixed up from time to time, but never anything like mixing up a name right in the middle of bragging about acing your own cognitive test. what did you make of it? >> not terribly smooth. look, i don't think this is a debate that the biden camp wants to have. they're latching on to every little thing that donald trump says that seems out of place. first of all, i don't attribute this to cognitive decline. donald trump has always been like this, as long as he's been around. he says weird things and says things that don't make any sense. that's just kind of who he is. i will tell you, i don't think there is a real debate. if you look at who has slowed more over the last four years, it's clearly joe biden. it's not just my opinion. that's clearly showing up in poll after poll after poll. i understand they want to push back on that. i don't think it's a conversation or debate that they want to have. it can be fun to play with for a minute. all

nbc's vaughn hillyard is following this for us. vaughn, what's the latest?fendants, chris, from this indictment from the arizona attorney general back in april, and now two more today, mike roman and mark meadows going into maricopa county courtroom and pleading not guilty. each of these co-defendants so far has pled not guilty at this point. there are still three individuals, jim layman, bill epstein and jenna ellis, those three individuals are set to be arraigned on june 18th. that would square off the entirety of those 18 individuals guilty or not guilty pleas here. so we are still waiting for the formal mug shot and fingerprinting process. that's where we expect rudy giuliani within the next two weeks as well as others to come in here to maricopa county to formally go through that process here. but we are watching this process play out, and if, in fact, each of these individuals pleads not guilty as part of this conspiracy and fraud charges, each of them facing nine counts, we could see this process here move forward, but this is notable here this mornin

up against, the violence aggression of russia as well as other forces that pose a danger, katy. >> vaughn, in contrast, you have former president donald trump and i'm going to go back in time a little bit. he gave an interview to "time" magazine, talking about what he would be like when he was president, and the reporters said there are a lot of people out there who are nervous when you say you would be a dictator on day one. they don't like it. it's not about one person. it's not about you. it's about all of us and about acknowledging and being a part of something bigger than just yourself. what is donald trump running on? >> right. donald trump is run on what he says is the protection of the united states in the way in which he sees or conveys to a large swath of the population is one that is protecting the heritage and the foundation of what this country is. for donald trump, you know, just yesterday he made the case that joe biden is the worst president of the united states. this is while president joe biden was overseas, on the campaign stage in arizona, saying that not only was he t