vaughn, what do you got?d to senator tuberville of alabama here, who told me that he got off the phone this morning with the former president. at that point when they talked about 7:30 a.m. this morning that he, donald trump, had still not made up his mind on who his running mate was. it was still going back and forth with his campaign team about the pros and the cons. for donald trump, he made the selection of j.d. vance, tuberville telling me though he was still new -- we should note senator vance elected to the u.s. senate in november of 2022. so he's only been there for a year and a half, and he said the selection that he was somebody that came in, was astute, knowledgeable and a quick study and somebody who was a good colleague for the republican side to work with here. we -- as we're watching this here unfold, i want to actually -- mitch mcconnell sup on stage right now, and mitch mcconnell is currently getting booed. we'll let you listen in. >> pursuant to the announcement of the delegation and the rul

all right, vaughn, you were on the nvention floor all day and tonight. d tale us what we need to know. >> i think the headline here number one, stephanie, seeing donald trump walk off those stairsal throwith the bandage o his ear, with the video board here in the convention hall first showed him, the room immediately stood up and began to upcheer.to there were chants of "fight, fight,s fight." of course when he was lifted off the stage after being just over 48 hours and that is what you could see him saying, fight, fight, fight. these arefi the party activists they are the elected officials the backbone of today's republican party under donald trump. and to listen to this place lead greenwood performed bless the usa, whichd is the song he performs to at every single rally when donald trump takes the stage. and allowing the crowd to applause told the story and this is a republican party that questioned what it's future was goingt to be after 2021, and t republican base of ansupport, t elected officials, these t delegates, these party activists were thety

also back with us, nbc's vaughn hillyard.hink that's just bluster from steve bannon who blusters a lot, or is he telling us what they're capable of? >> i think we should definitely take everything that steve bannon said very seriously, and look, trump has basically said that he wants to go after his political rivals as well. and even just the other kay, he re-posted an image on his truth social saying that liz cheney is quote guilty of treason and that she should quote be prosecuted and televised military tribunals. these are the kinds of things we're talking about in a second trump term. i do take it very seriously when one of trump's top advisers, steve bannon is out there saying this is their plan. >> bannon name checked you in the interview. he's no fan of the mueller investigation, as you know. what do you make of these threats of retaliation, and what does it mean for our system? >> well, there are a number of things that are deeply upsetting about it. leaving me out of this, the one, we have a system of laws. and i'll

>> vaughn, what do you think we are in for this week? planning for last friday, what you thought you would be covering this week, has that changed? >> i think, let's be very clear, stephanie, to hans' point here, we're talking about kari lake, don junior, all of these individuals are said to be major speakers here at the republican national convention. and for anybody that has followed their rhetoric and the way that they have spoken about our state of politics, it is not one that would be a unifying message. instead, it is one so often on ensuring retribution and ensuring that there are investigations when donald trump were to take back the white house. and it is hard for all of us, having watched donald trump from the time that he announced his candidacy in 2015 through his four years in the white house and the immediate aftermath in 2021 to where we find ourselves today. donald trump does not have a steady record of providing a unifying message. yet, i will say on the political end of this, if i may, 114 days out from the general elec

for more, let's bring in vaughn hillyard in milwaukee. vaughn, what does j.d. van bring?re's ohio, there's yoh, that contrast. in many ways even though he was a different j.d. vance in 2016, but now he out-magas the lead maga. >> reporter: it would be prudent to view him through the 2020 to 2024 vance. he is a purified maga. he is effective in his explanation of how a second trump administration could look. he was talking about how the federal government could be run before he was even elected to the u.s. senate. for j.d. vance, he also is going to be a key outlier. he said it would be important go and hash things out with president trump behind closed doors. i think when you look at a policy level, take the way that he views the russian aggression of ukraine. he has over the last months been a vocal advocate for questioning whether the u.s. should be continuing to send aid to ukraine and has been very explicit that in order to get a peace deal in place, it could very well include ukraine having to cede some of its territory to russia. we know from viktor orban's meetings

joining us now is vaughn hillyard.dent in an interview that he drastically changed his speech for tomorrow night after the assassination attempt, what do we expect? >> reporter: that's exactly right, a senior advise ver to donald trump he told me the country is in a state it has become a tinderbox, coming off the attempted assassination in which the former president, the republican nominee was nearly killed, they understood this called for a moment in time where they needed to focus and the idea of unifying america and i can tell you per some reporting here this afternoon with a come of our colleagues that multiple sources tell us that other speakers who have spoken from this convention stage in the first 48 hours worked and sent their drafts of speeches to the trump team and they had edits that were sent back to them to tone down the rhetoric that was a part of their speech, we haven't heard any comments about stolen election or january 6th or any calls for retribution against any of the prosecutors who have brought c

joining us now is vaughn hillyard and joyce vance, former u.s.versity of alabama school of law and an msnbc legal analyst. good morning -- or good afternoon to both of you. joyce, i want to start with you. i was reading through your article. you neatly, as best you could, broke this down in terms of what the supreme court's decision meant in three different major ways. you can summarize for us how to look at that. >> this is a heavy lift. the opinion is lengthy and legally dense. i'm going to try to do the one sentence version. forgive me if it takes two. the supreme court says, trump gets immunity for unofficial conduct. he doesn't get immunity for official conduct. then the supreme court does everything it can to define the sphere of official conduct very broadly, far beyond what many of us would expect to be official conduct from a president. for instance, things like tweeting to get people to his speech at the ellipse might qualify as presidential conduct, not the conduct of candidate trump, which would be unofficial. >> vaughn, as we have be

vaughn hillyard, any final thoughts? we lost -- vaughn, any final thoughts? we're watching here. hillyard. we'll try to get him back. if he has any news we'll go to him straight ahead. claire and david are sticking with us. up next much more from milwaukee in this tense and volatile moment for the country. we'll show you what president joe biden had to say about it last night in an address from the oval office. the next hour of "deadline: white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. k break. don't go anywhere. hidden fees, surcharges... who knows what to expect! turn shipping to your advantage. keep it simple...with clear, upfront pricing. with usps ground advantage®. ♪♪ your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire my mental health was better. but uncontrollable movements called td, tardive dyskinesia, started disrupting my day. td felt embarrassing. i felt like disconnecting. i asked my

vaughn, good morning. >> good morning, frances. in a matter of hours, the republican national convention will gavel in. we expect this afternoon the roll call to take place. that is when donald trump will formally be nominated by the more than 2,000 delegates inside of this arena to be the gop's nominee. for donald trump, of course, the concerning part coming from this weekend is the attempted assassination of him in pennsylvania. he arrived on sunday night into milwaukee along with his campaign team. he has not anticipated to speak until thursday night when he is expected to dress the arena for his nomination acceptance speech. but we still anticipate that his vice presidential running mate will be announced as soon as today, ahead of that roll call vote. so there are still a lot of unknowns here heading into this convention. donald trump suggested to "the washington examiner" on sunday that he has rewritten his speech for thursday night, focused on unifying america. of course, security of foremost concern here as well. the secret

our vaughn hillyard is there on the ground. vaughn, give us a sense of what it's like? what you've been seeing? >> reporter: right, hallie. your conversations are worth noting because the secret service here, they designated this event as a national special security event. much like the inauguration is and the state of the union addresses. this is where the department of homeland security, the secretary designates an event and puts the u.s. secret service at the top of orchestrating and working with the multiple law enforcement agencies to oversee this particular event, and that is what has happened for the republican national convention. for the first time, a u.s. secret service official began to answer questions about what unfolded yesterday with the attempted assassination. but side stepped directly answering any detailed questions about what actually unfolded in pennsylvania. instead, suggesting that the focus needed to be on what was happening here in milwaukee, and i said to what extent should donald trump, his family and those going to this convention here trust

also with us, nbc's vaughn hillyard.o, the host of "woke af" daniel moody and former representative charlie dent. the president has a very busy and crucial day, how does it look? >> reporter: yeah, richard, it really cannot be underscored enough how high the stakes are for the president today with all eyes, but especially the eyes of democratic donors, democratic lawmakers on capitol hill on the president watching every move he makes, every word out of his mouth as he travels to wisconsin today. really that extra attention started last night at this fourth of july barbecue the president held where the president tried to remind americans of what is at stake in the 2024 election. listen to some of his comments. >> we must look at ourselves and ask the question, will we stand for freedom again? we stand for democracy. we stand together as americans. i believe we will and we can. we got to just remember who the hell we are. we're the united states of america! >> reporter: as you mentioned, richard, one part of the day is goi

trump president of the united states. >> vaughn, it's mr. trump's first rally back.hat has his tone been like? >> reporter: right. we heard a much more subdued tenor from donald trump at his milwaukee convention speech. tonight, though, he is back to you could say his old self, even surveying the crowd on which democrat they'd like to face in the election. jose? >> vaughn hilliard in grand rapids, michigan, thank you. >>> and new details are emerging tonight about the man who tried to assassinate trump at that pennsylvania rally. investigators are learning more about what he looked at online and what he did in the hours before that rally. george solis reports. >> take a look what happened -- >> reporter: one week since the assassination attempt of the former >> reporter: one week since the assassination attempt of the former president at a campaign rally in butler, pennsylvania, and authorities appear to be no closer to declaring a motive. but a clearer picture of the shooter and the actions of 20-year-old thomas matthew crooks is emerging. a source familiar with the

joining us is nbc's vaughn hillyard and also former federal prosecutor paul butler. could they go to any kind of indictment stage between election day and inauguration day? >> they are treating him like citizen trump, despite the court's opinion, which implies something more royal than regular citizen. under the justice department policies, a sitting president can't be charged with a crime. he won't be a sitting president until inauguration day. before that, jack smith's position is in the eyes of the law, the cases that had been filed against him can proceed. >> it would be extraordinary, obviously, unprecedented. would it be something that the justice department would do? do you think they actually would carry that out knowing he will blow the case out as soon as he becomes president? >> you know, what this immunity decision on monday did is completely alter the landscape of how a president is accountable to the law and to the people he or she serves. i think that jack smith is extremely concerned about the consequences. so he is going to do everything he can until

is it a tea leaf we should be reading, vaughn? >> reporter: potentially.the fact that both men are florida residents. when it comes to the potential allocation of electors out of florida, there could be a residency issue. it's not clear whether donald trump would be eager to change his residency to new jersey or new york. for marco rubio, he is serving in the capacity of u.s. senator. if he were to step aside, he would have to leave the u.s. senate, if he were to change his residency. tuesday is the rally. he will have a rally saturday right before the convention. that's in pennsylvania here. it could be very well that donald trump -- the time line is to his advantage. the biden campaign is distracted by frustrations within the party with their own nominee and his viability. for marco rubio, exactly as david outlined this, we have watched the trajectory of this individual. yet, there's one big outstanding question mark. that was on january 6, he voted to certify joe biden's victory. donald trump's relationship with mike pence frayed on january 6, 2021, bec

vaughn hillyard. trump is reacting. >> the social media posts in which he says in all caps, quote, big win for our constitution and democracy. proud to be an american with an exclamation point. for donald trump he went from calling for absolute immunity to strong immunity right here this morning before the decision came out. for obviously him and his team, there's not only the repercussions of this -- these particular charges brought against him, as part of the alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but also if he were to win the general election four months from now in november, the potential impact it could have on a second term trump presidency. >> john, what about the reaction from the biden team? >> we have a senior campaign adviser from the biden campaign obviously interpreting this as much as trump is as a victory for him saying, quote, today's ruling doesn't change the facts. let's be very clear about what happened on january 6th. donald trump snapped after he lost the 2020 election an

vaughn was referring to them a few minutes ago. that never could have been rooted in official acts or official conduct. that evidence would have come in -- more importantly, any indictment predicated on that conduct would have been fair game because donald trump was then, while a former president, a private citizen at the time of that conduct. judge cannon had to have had a realization that as robust as the court's decision was on presidential immunity, it would not have salvaged the case for donald trump fully and out right. it would not have eliminated all the charges. this, on the other hand, was a clean sweep. it allowed her to dismiss all the charges. the timing in that it comes after justice thomas's concurrence is also instructive. yet another victory for team trump legally. this has been almost unprecedented for them. since july 2nd, as i managed earlier, not only did they get the supreme court's decision, but they're now having additional briefing in front of the manhattan criminal court where there will not be a sentence.

. >> vaughn hillyard is at the convention in milwaukee for us, down on the floor, vaughn, tell us about the former president's speech tonight, first off, are we expecting it to be more about firing up, turning on the maga base or more about independent voters, a softer tone, he said he rewrote the entire speech. >> reporter: right, based on what we told the revving up the base and the maga-centric focus was the game plan coming into this week, but after the attempted assassination of him at the rally on saturday, he's changing the tenure of it, focused more on the idea of unifying the america, a more subdued donald trump. listening to the primetime addresses here. we're told by a senior adviser he dictated this new speech exactly what he wanted. the details were still being worked out. these convention doors are about to open up for the delegates. all of these chairs expected to be filled within the next few hours. >> vaughn, we talked about the people, right, the candidates, but let's talk about the policies for a moment, what are the top policy proposals highlighted at the rnc this we

and vaughn hillyard with reaction from the trump campaign. wisconsin of course is a key battleground state here, take us through the highlights of the vice president's message to voters today. >> reporter: well, the vice president came here to really energize crowd, what this crowd meant to her was, they're part of the people who will be able to mobilize and get to work. she started her remarks talking about president biden. >> i pledge to you, i'll spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party so we're ready to win in november. >> we have 105 days until election day, and in that time we got some work to do. >> let's go to vaughn, former president trump just held a press call, i know attacking what he says is the vice president's quote failed record at the southern border, what did that call indicate to you about how the trump campaign is adjusting to their new opponent. >> reporter: number one, donald trump indicated on this call he'd like to debate kamala harris multiple times, not just the one debate in september he had previously s

what can you tell us, vaughn? >> there are some discrepancies over how that invite came and the extent to which nikki haley was accepting it quickly. she made the decision. she's someone that said donald trump would have to win over her and her supporters to gain her support. little is known about whether donald trump went and made overtures to win over her support. she released her delegates. nikki haley is still very young. she could very well have a political future if she desired to seek that. i think there's a recognition this is the republican party of donald trump now and waiting on the sidelines for another crack at it is not necessarily the route of somebody who wants to remain effective and influential. she's well understanding of that but has made the case she would take a trump administration over a biden administration. that this race is a choice between the two and she has made her choice and she's going to do what it takes to help the man who is going to accept the nomination on thursday. >> one of

a reporter on capitol hill, hillary vaughn stopping these democrats.them on what to do in this moment. following george clooney now saying we need a new nominee. i love joe biden, but he says the one battle he cannot win as the fight against time. none of us can. it is devastating to say it by the joe biden i was with three weeks ago of the not the joe big effing deal biden of 2010 or 2020 thank you for your saying it now right, george? >> thank you for saying it now it only took you a few weeks or perhaps a few years. what i think is so disingenuous about all of this is that george clooney has had a front row seat to all of this. he had a front row seat watching former president barack obama help joe biden off that stage of that very fund-raiser but now he is coming out saying this because the world witnessed it a couple of weeks ago at that debate. if the world had not witnessed joe biden phalanx on such a stage he likely would not offend anything at all. it goes to show you these elites in hollywood are bankrolling a lot of these democrats including

donald trump's team, vaughn, is trying to take a victory lap on this. saying that this is a legal win for them. how are they currently trying to use it and what is the expectation for how they might use this broad immunity ruling if donald trump manages to be elected again? >> reporter: there is multiple fronts to this. of course, they're claiming this is a victory for america and the executive branch. specifically the question is for the three pending criminal trials in front of him, how much of those indictments and those criminal charges are ultimately going to be tossed out. of course, front and center is the election interference case. and in a social media post, just before 1:00 a.m. this morning, donald trump put quite specifically, quote, a really bad day for deranged jack smith, the whacko prosecutor used for crooked joe biden's attack on his political opponent. today as in the past the supreme court gave the deranged one a high level spanking. this is now going to go down to the district court and judge chutkan to determine the extent to which

so vaughn, a marathon speech from trump. it was supposed to be about unity, it doesn't sound like that's what he delivered. >> reporter: right, i think in terms of the tenor, and i know pete can attest to this from being inside past convention rooms in which donald trump has given these speeches, that the tenor of his delivery was much more subdued, if you will. but ultimately, when it got to actually talking about the donald trump agenda, there was little suggestion that there was a more moderating donald trump involved or that there was calls for great compromise with democrats, if he were to take back the white house or a moderating of positions from abortion to the u.s. military overseas. i think for donald trump i just want to let you hear directly from him. when he was on teleprompter there was one script, and then he went on to talk about cheating in elections and praise for the likes of viktor orban and his relationship with kim jong-un when he was off. take a listen to part of his remarks last night. >> we must not

now joining us is vaughn hilliard. vaughn, this is truly breaking news. we've seen now senator vance on the floor there where you are. he was there recently. what is the reception? what are you seeing in your reporting and the reception of the delegates, because this is new information, they heard vance was on the short list, now he's the running mate. >> reporter: right, i think in conversation with a few of the delegates that this is being well received, because let's be very clear, the j.d. vance over the last several years has been somebody that has, i think, not only been an ardent, supporter of donald trump but also an articulate messenger for what a second trump administration could look like and what this america first idealogy looks like better shaped by people like him and josh haw lee. j.d. vance was elected in 2022, he's only been here for 18 months. there's a national recognition of who he is, largely off of hillbilly eulogy. there's a connection based off of that identity. for trump picking him as his running mate is notable here. we are in

vaughn hillyard is on the road in north carolina where trump is set to hold a rally later today, ando with us ta lieu or knee pa, white house bureau chief for "the washington post." monica, it's going to be a speech for the history books tonight, what are we learning about it? >> reporter: yeah, this will be an oval office address from president biden, ana, just a week and a half after he gave his last one, which was about the assassination attempt on donald trump's life. but tonight this will really be about almost the entirety of joe biden's life in public service. he is really going to be trying to detail in real specifics why he decided to leave the 2024 race when he did. he's going to try to pull back the curtain a little bit, we're told, on his thinking, and then of course why he decided to so quickly endorse his vice president kamala harris to become the democratic nominee they hope, but then he's also going to try to lay out a road map for what he sees as possible accomplishments that are still outstanding in these last six months, and so he's going to try to frame that as th

it's still there, vaughn.d a great piece on saturday morning about the efforts to prevent certification of the election in 2024, especially if it looks like trump coming out on top. talk about how that's been papered over this week. >> reporter: if i may, i think the individual who received the greatest ovation last night was none other than than peter navarro, who came straight from federal prison to the stage to deliver a message that he spent three months in prison because he refused to comefully with the congressional subpoena from the select committee. the invitation to speak on this stage, they told us he was not asked to edit any of the content of his speeches, were notable because unlike the democratic party right now, let's be clear. this is a republican party that is not scared of its own shadow. it is not scared of who it is or who it is associated with. a few moments ago, we saw paul manafort here on the convention floor. he was pardoned in 2020 by donald trump after he was found guilty on federal

viggo hillary vaughn cabot hill, thank you. brett?t's brand karl rove fox news contributor former deputy chief of staff, carl good afternoon. i know you rode about enthusiasm on the democratic side, they are fired up. they have removed some of the baggage of president biden when it comes to age and mental competency, and there is a challenge for republicans. this is "the wall street journal" editorial board. kamala harris confounds and republicans, democrats are newly energized as they rally behind kamala harris for president which is no surprise after weeks of despond over president biden. yet republican seemed suddenly and oddly on the back foot as they did not think this could happen. how do you see it? >> i think it is right. i wrote about it in my own column as you alluded to. she has a lot of vulnerabilities, let's not kid ourselves. she also has a momentary strength which may be durable. she has energized black, brown, young voters, democrats are alive again, she will be far more articulate van joe biden was in making the case

joining us now, nbc news's vaughn hillyard, who covers the trump campaign for us. nbc news' mike memoli is reporting from madison, wisconsin, and also with us, former republican congressman from florida, carlos curbelo, and msnbc political analyst, so, mike, i'm going to start with you. you have always been our biden whisperer on this network. where are our expectations within the biden campaign for today. >> as we're waiting for air force one to touch down in wisconsin, should be any moment now. there is good energy. significant anticipation in this room. it's about as jam packed i have seen a biden campaign event. it's a small room, but this was a hastily arranged event here as the biden campaign is eager to put the president out there as much as they can at this point to try to reassure those democrats throughout the party who are concerned about his candidacy moving forward. it's not an accident this event is in wisconsin where in just over a week, we will see republicans gather in milwaukee to start their convention, and what the biden campaign is trying to do

thank you for being here, vaughn.uring a speech trump tried to distance himself from project 2025. what did he say? >> reporter: i'll let you hear it from donald trump directly on that front, jonathan. if i make him he's about 30 minutes into this speech, and i can tell you the donald trump pre-assassination attempt, is back. not the same when you necessarily heard from the convention stage in milwaukee. he's referred to joe biden as, crooked joe, enemies of democracy, referring to the democratic party where we have grossly incompetent people running our country, at the audience of 13,000 shout which democrat they want to face in the general election, joe biden, kamala harris, gretchen whitmer, i think you can hear the intonation in his voice behind me, it is back. he understood also clearly the impatience of the project 2025, that 900-page document, which he has tried to distance himself from. take a listen. i am being told we do not have that soundbite, for donald trump here, though, it is clear he made a suggestion

stuart: hillary vaughn, thank you very much indeed. now that florida dices missed classified documents case and mike davis joining me now. this is a win for you against biden's lawfare. i got it. is there any way this case comes back and goes to trial before the election. >> it's very doubtful the case gets resolved before the election and going to the eleventh circuit court of appeals and depending on how that court rules, it could go to the supreme court of the unit. i would say that's judge cannon's ruling was correct. if they want to appoint a special council, congress can pass a statute creating a special council office. congress did not do that. congress let the old office of independent council office lapse and so the justice department tried to do an enroute. stuart: in your view, is this lawfare tactic by the biden administration, has it failed completely? >> it has backfired and backfired spectacular reigns leading on president biden. the attorney general, merrick garland, jack smith and the biden democrat prosecutors around

joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard.trump is very happy today or at least he seems so. what does the campaign do with this? >> he called this a great day for not only him but a great day for america. and so obviously there's some ramifications on the federal election interference case. there's going to be the evidentiary hearing, sometime potentially before november 5th. so, you know, the american public may become a little bit more in tune with some of the evidence, the testimony that comes out in the trial. that will not happen until after the election. >> they ruled out a bunch of that evidence can be put out there. >> i want to show you two things real fast. these are social media reposts from donald trump overnight here, he had a flurry of posts overnight. one of them is elizabeth cheney is guilty of treason, retruth, if you want, televised military tribunals. there's another post, the people that hid j 6 footage. you see mitch mcconnell, mike pence. the reason i bring these up here is that every day, every decision

edward lawrence, hillary vaughn with the house not necessarily in revolt against the president of the united states but showing more skittishness about staying in the race. let's get the latest from hillary vaughn on capitol hill. >> president biden is not sitting back and waiting for democrats in congress to decide his fate. instead he's telling them to sit down and stay in their place. a letter to congressional democrats president biden is calling out calls for him to step aside as the nominee saying incident tackle democracy. biden writing the borders of the democratic party have voted and chosen me to be the nominee of the party do we say this process didn't matter and the voters don't have a say, i declined to do that in the question on how to move forward has been aired for over a week it is time for it to end. biden daring democrats to challenge him at the convention were into the race himself, biden's defiance might not be the answer to calming democrat concerns senate democrats will discuss the future of the policy lunch tomorrow after house democrats held a private phone cal

and our thanks to vaughn for that report. the justice department is pushing for boeing to accept a plea agreement related to the two 737 max crashes that killed 346 people, two people familiar with the matter tells reuters. officials plan to give boeing until the end of the week to respond. the victims families and their attorneys are slamming this as a sweetheart deal. they disagree with several of the terms and say that it does not include any individuals being prosecuted. attorneys say if boeing does accept, the families will certainly ask a judge to reject the deal. boeing declined a request for comment. election results in france this morning show the far right national rally party, in a lead with an estimated third of the vote. this is the first of two rounds of legislative elections. it does not impact sitting president emmanuel macron's term , but it's still a sobering rebuke of macron, who called the snap election there just three weeks ago. the results put france on course for its first far right government since th

vaughn, tell us what to expect at donald trump's rally tonight.sidential announcement longer? >> reporter: he has a week left here. he has suggested he could at any moment announce who his vp running mate is going to be. milwaukee, next monday, is the start of the convention. could he do it tonight at the campaign event? or at a rally this saturday outside of pittsburgh? you noted he hasn't been on the campaign trail, been out in public outside of on his golf course over the last 12 days, since the debate in atlanta. a lighter campaign schedule has not been an anomaly for donald trump over the last two years. you recall before the iowa caucus, when he had republicans still running against him, he campaigned five days in the five month before the iowa caucuses. next week we will see a lot of donald trump and the republican party. i want to let you hear from him last night talking to sean hannity. >> i haven't made a final decision. i have some ideas. we will be honest. it might make a difference. i'm not sure. there are those that say trump is awai

vaughn hillyard is here with reaction from the trump campaign. my co-anchor zinhle essamuah will simply explain what happens now that president biden has bowed out. our presidential historian michael beschloss will have perspective on this moment of significance for all of us. let's start with allie raffa, you have reporting on what led president biden to make this big decision yesterday, what can you tell us? >> reporter: yeah, kate, we're told from sources familiar that the time that the president has spent here over the last few days as he recovers from covid-19 proved critical to make this hard decision to drop out of the 2024 race and we're told in the last few days he was surrounded by some of his closest aides and advisers. reflecting on his more than five-decade-long political career, also reflecting of what he was told by several prominent democrats, his continued candidacy at top of ticket posed a risk to democrats down the ballot coming into november, he felt betrayed and sad by this almost month-long prsh campaign from democrats tryin

joining us now, nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard who of course is covering the trump campaign forential candidate who's not holding any events on july 4th, that's really unusual for anyone, but definitely unusual for donald trump. what gives? >> i think, yamiche, there's a lot that is unusual about donald trump and his candidacy in general. it's not normal for a candidate to announce they're running for president a week after the midterms in which your party has difficult defeats, and that's exactly what donald trump did. it was also unusual back in january before the iowa caucuses in that month-long run up to the iowa caucuses there was a lot fodder and talk about the fact that donald trump wasn't on the campaign trail then in that final month, just five days that he spends in iowa but he overwhelms the rest of the republican candidates in that race and ultimately made a quick turn coming out of that primary. so for donald trump, by and large, the american public knows who he is for the last nine years, and he has sort of laid allow, largely outside of his social media presence,

vaurn hillyard is covering the event, vaughn, what do you expect to hear once they take the stage? >> reporter: reverend sharpton, this is going to be the first appearance outside of the convention for these two men. of course, michigan is a battleground state here, and jd vance, part of the calculation for putting him on this ticket, much like donald trump did with mike pence, were his midwest roots here. and when you're looking at the map, michigan, wisconsin, ohio, pennsylvania, the campaign, according to a senior advisor i was just talking to, feels like jd vance is going to be able to help them here. this is, of course, the first time he appears at a rally with thousands, more than 10,000 inside this arena in grand rapids before the attempted assassination one week ago. i can tell you from conversations with dozens of folk folks here that came within hours of grand rapids to be here that the enthusiasm and the almost -- the level of inevitability belief that they believe that their nominee will win the white house in just over 100 days is higher than i have felt at, frankly, a

to winning to win the presidency here. >> of course the former president trump is also organizing, vaughnp is holding his first event since vp harris became the defacto nominee, what kind of message are we expecting from his campaign today. >> reporter: we're about three hours from when he's going to address this crowd of what we expect to be several thousand, a battleground state here, north carolina, two hours before president biden addresses the nation from the oval office, for trump campaign, the rnc chair michael whatley, i asked him about how this changes the dynamics of the race, this was also the biden/harris campaign, now it's just harris. their platform and policies are the same. they as the republican party and the trump campaign will continue to tell the american public there's no difference between joe biden and kamala harris, it's a matter of who's at the top of the ticket. >> vaughn, i want to ask about the fbi director today revealing the gunman who tried to assassinate former president trump researched the kennedy snaix. >> reporter: chris wray testifying, providing some

also with us is nbc's vaughn hillyard, a native arizonian.ow likely is it that they're going to get this on the ballot? they seem to have more than enough signatures. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. the arizona secretary of state requires about 383,000 ballot signatures for any ballot initiative to go before voters in november. arizona for abortion access, the coalition of reproductive rights organizations that are organizing this ballot initiative handed in about 823,000 signatures, more than double the number of required ballot signatures. i actually just spoke with arizona secretary of state who confirmed with me that this is the biggest number of signatures ever handed in in arizona state history. so while opponents of abortion rights have told nbc news they have lawyers on retainer waiting to scrutinize each and every signature hoping to invalidate them, the sheer number makes it a tall order to stop this ballot initiative from going before voters in november. andrea. >> and vaughn, take a step back, the bigger picture, how could this

to milwaukee, vaughn hillyard joins us now. >> reporter: many of the delegates are here in milwaukee, the expectation was elected officials, of course the former president and presumptive nominee himself would be making their way to town here in milwaukee for the convention. the new statement, i want to read it to you, "is was communicated earlier, president trump is doing well and grateful to law enforcement. and for first responders for their action. former president trump looks forward to joining you as we proceed with our convention to nominate trump to serve as president as our nominee. president trump will continue to share his vision to make america great again, sincerely donald j. trump senior advisers susie wild. i have spoken with two delegates at the convention , former rnc chairman, playing host in his hometown of milwaukee for this convention. there is a reception this evening for the delegates, the thousands of delegates coming here to wisconsin. that reception this evening has been canceled. there are formal meetings for the republican convention ahead of the festivitie

. >> vaughn, what are you going to be looking for? what else can we expect to hear tonight? >> we're going to hear from don jr. of course we heard from lara trump, donald trump's daughter-in-law last night. don jr. is going to be speaking, and the other interesting character, if you will, is going to be peter navarro, who is literally being released from prison this morning for his contempt of congress charges, for not complying with the subpoena from the january 6th select committee. he has served a three-month prison stay, being released this morning, making his way to milwaukee, wisconsin, today, and he will be delivering a speech tonight. and notably, our best recollection, from the first two nights of speeches, we have heard no talk about a stolen election or the january 6th attack yet. does that change? does that become a focal point of these final two nights? that's a question mark i'll be looking at. and of course j.d. vance is going to tap it off tonight, and i think the question that katy was just hitting on here, is to what extent does he signal this is more than

vaughn, what you make of what y we heard this whole unifying message that was supposed to ss come our way? >> i think it's a big expectation of what does unifying mean, stephanie? i think that will become evermore clear over the next mo three days before donald trump gives his speech because yesterday, shortly before you and i have talked last night, let's talk about the close ally who is helping with the convention here in milwaukee, close ally to donald trump. who told me that part of unifying america would be the stop of political targeting. and that was a clear and direct reference to the prosecutions that donald trump is going through. and that is why umi turned my head this morning when the florida judge, judge cannon, dropped the classified documents indictments. the social media post that donald trump without directly reference unifying countries, saying in part, as we move , forward in unifying our nation after the horrific events on af saturday, this dismissal of the law should be just the first. followed quickly by the dismissal of all the witchhunts. so for donald trump, c

bannon recently spoke to nbc's vaughn hilliard vowing retaliation. >> in his justice department to doey should do to start investigations of how the justice department weaponized the legal system against the maga movement and president trump -- and president trump h and his followers. there's going to be plenty of time for that. >> joining me now is josh green, national correspondent with bloomberg and the author of devil's bargain: steve bannon, donald trump, and the storming of the presidency. josh, it's good to have you here, as we speak, you and i, steve bannon is literally, finally, behind bars, your reaction? >> my first reaction is it makes the book's title devil's bargain feel more poignant. what i wrote about then was how this partnership came together. i say in the book that most of donald trump's business partners end up unhappy, and here steve bannon is headed off to federal prison. but that being said, you know, as he is prone to do, he turned it into a media circus. he's using it, i think, to try and amplify and enhance his brand. and you know, every indication he's give

vaughn hillyard is here onset. dasha, how much buzz is around the rally tonight particularly when it comes to the veepstakes which we're told could happen any day now? we could hear an answer. >> reporter: any day now. that's the one big question mark left for the trump campaign. while there are many still on the other side of the al, this has been an unusual time for the president where he's sitting back, staying out of the news cycle and watching what's going on with democrats but he has been teasing this vp announcement for a while now. what i can tell you is we know that tonight, here in doral, florida, florida senator marco rubio will be speaking alongside the former president. he of course has been one of the three names that have consistently been talked about by sources we're plugged in with that includes ohio senator j.d. vance and north dakota governor. they're the top three contenders. as far as we know, none of them know whether or not they are the chosen ones that the former president was continued to

so, vaughn, start us off here, what can we expect from this rally tonight? >> john allen says marco rubio, the florida senator will be joining him at that rally tonight. he could be very well be one of those vp finalists. we're still looking at north dakota governor doug burgum, potentially jd vance, a second rally that is planned for outside of pittsburgh, pennsylvania, this upcoming saturday. that is right before the milwaukee convention starts on monday. i want to let you listen to donald trump in a conversation, a taped conversation with sean hannity last night about the state of his decision-making process. take a listen. >> i haven't made final decision. but i have some ideas as to where we're going, and a little bit, you know, we wanted to see what they're doing to be honest because might make a difference, i don't know. i would love to do it during the convention. i think it would be a very interesting buildup and important for the convention, it would make it even more exciting. >> that is a shift because it was only just a few days ago was suggesti

we begin with nbc's vaughn hillyard, he has new details on j.d. vance's speech tonight.what are we going to hear, vaughn? >> we should expect a heavy biography story from j.d. vance, introducing himself to the country. he's 39 years old. he's only been in the u.s. senate for about 18 months. elected back in 2022, of course, with the donald trump endorsement, and folks will know his story through "hillbilly elegy" he chronicled growing up in poverty to a mother an opioid addiction. so much of his explanation of how donald trump first became elected in 2016 led him to a place of being able to echo effectively donald trump's message and convincing the former president and republican nominee in 2024 why he should be his running mate. you should expect to hear him talk about trade and the reason that tariffs are good for this country, to focus more on increased manufacturing and jobs in the united states, the need to address the fentanyl crisis, the need to have stricter immigration enforcement. you should listen to this from j.d. vance last night on newsmax because i think i

and nbc's vaughn hillyard joins me here on set. let's start, vaughn, with what we just learned about the hush money case in new york city. what can you tell us? >> within hours of the supreme court's decision coming yesterday, donald trump's defense attorneys in the hush money trial, they wrote a letter to judge merchan requesting they have the opportunity to put forward a brief that would call for this trial to all be but thrown out and the guilty verdict to be tossed. not because the case that they make is the fact that the charges that were brought against him were covered by that immunity decision, but instead that the evidence that was presented before the jury potentially would fall under immunity protections, that includes public statements that donald trump made, tweets that were entered in as evidence by the district attorney's office, in the supreme court decision. it was clear that some statements fall within the perimeter of what amounts to be official work that donald trump is communicating with the american public at

>> well, jose, i agree with vaughn. the project is and who's behind it because a lot of the people are close to him. he is projecting so much political confidence now in the face of everything that president biden and democrats are going through that he is distancing himself from his base, not only with this project 2025 case but also on abortion. the republican party platform released today did not have abortion restrictions at the federal level for the first time in a long time. this from a party that has been unabashedly pro-life for decades now. so donald trump feels so confident about this election right now that he's taking his base for granted, and he's going hard at the independent voters, the swing voters that have those doubts about whether president biden can serve another four years. >> and then meanwhile, carlos, president biden has been on the offense and not just today with a letter and "morning joe," but visiting, you know, state after state after state, meeting with hundreds and thousands of people. how

we're back with isaac and mark and john and vaughn.linked to trump but we i guess already know he started to distance himself from it because it is not popular with a lot of voters. >> right. he has made the case that he doesn't know who the organization is or what the documents says and i don't know whether he's read the 900 pages or not, but he does know the key architects of project 2025. he spoke at a heritage foundation dinner 2022. steven miller was an advise tore him as well as project 2025. at the same time, donald trump would be the president of the united states. and he could use whatever he wanted out of project 2025 or america first policy institute, the executive orders, other policies that they're coming up, that group also consists of a lot of former allies. but even of the organizations, they understand that donald trump can very much be a tool for them to ultimately execute on the policies that they have long sought to have be implemented. so for donald trump there is separation. but i think that these organizations in