Morning Joe - Morning Joe 6/25/24

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

The Morning Joe panel discusses the latest in U.S. and world news, sports, politics and culture.

Yeah, that's the most dubious thumbs up I've ever seen. That's the football player as he's being carted off the field. He's going to be okay, folks. His thumb is working. I do like this coin toss thing. You know, why stop with the debate side? Let's have the coin determine who wins the election. It would be so much less stressful than five months of campaigning.

Just flip the coin. Heads, it's Trump. Tails, it's Biden. If the coin bounces and rolls into the sewer, it's RFK Jr. I say he'll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up. Yes, all jacked up on extra strength Metamucil. He's something, that Trump.

He says he wants them both to submit to a drug test before the debate. Do you have any idea how long it takes to get a urine sample from men who are close to 80? I'm 74 and the only time I don't have to pee is when I'm peeing. So the great Marty Short filling in for Jimmy Kimmel this week. That's not bad. Not a bad substitute. You get Martin Short. We are just two days away now from the first presidential debate of this 2024 election cycle. We'll have the latest on preparations, including what we're learning about President Biden's strategy for dealing with two different versions of Donald Trump. Plus, it is primary day in New York and Colorado. We'll

look at the big races as two outspoken lawmakers could be in danger of losing their seats tonight. Also ahead, a long legal battle between the United States and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears to be coming to an end. We'll go through a new plea deal announced just overnight. Good morning. Welcome to Morning Joe. It is Tuesday, June the 25th. With us, we've got the host of way too early, White House Bureau Chief of Politico, Jonathan Lemire, former aide to the George W. Bush White House and State Department, Elise Jordan, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and associate editor of The Washington Post and MSNBC political analyst, Eugene Robinson and CEO of the Messina Group, Jim Messina.

He served as White House deputy chief of staff to President Obama and ran Obama's successful 2012 reelection campaign. Joe, so a lot to get to this morning. But as always, we begin with a little sports, Joe. A little sports. I mean, you know, growing up in the Ice Age, you know, used to be the Canadiansadians uh would win one stanley cup after another the montreal canadians it's in what 31 years now and last night and what one of the most memorable stanley cup championships ever uh they were hoping for a win but man willie uh what a florida team yeah the panthers hung on they won won game seven, two to one. If you haven't been paying attention, it's been an incredible series. Panthers went up three nothing.

That's insurmountable in the history of sports. Only happened a couple of times to come back. But the Edmonton Oilers won the next three games to force that game seven last night. And in Florida, the Panthers hung on for a two to one victory. So as you said, preventing not just Edmonton from winning the Stanley Cup, but from Canada, the home of hockey, from winning a Stanley Cup. Now, still hasn't happened, Jonathan Lemire, since 1993 when the Montreal Canadiens do it. A nice run there by the Oilers to come back and force a game seven,

but just a goal shy last night in Florida. Yeah, terrific, tense game last night. Sergey Bobrovrovsky, the Panthers goaltender, was spectacular. He had been so good early in the series, then really slumped. It did seem like Edmonton had all the momentum, but game sevens are tense for both teams, and you can see that both, you know, there were moments there where Post hit the post, a defenseman lost half the shot. Connor McDavid, of course, winning the cons ninth, which is the playoff MVP, doing so from the losing side, which almost never happens. He had 42 points just shy of Wayne Gretzky's all-time playoff record in the postseason. So it is such a shame for Canada.

I admit it. I was rooting for Edmonton. I wanted to see that McDavid get it. I want to see that country get it. But the Panthers were a terrific team all year long and deserving champions as well. was rooting for Edmonton. I wanted to see that McDavid get it. I want to see that country get it. But the Panthers were a terrific team all year long and deserving champions. Yeah. Joe, 1942 now, the Maple Leafs, I believe it's the Toronto Maple Leafs, last team in a Stanley Cup final comeback from 3-0. That holds up now. Edmonton almost did it, but not quite. Yeah. In other sports news, Willie, of course, the New York Yankees, going to be facing the amazing Mets coming up.

Mets are hot. Another team that's hot, Jonathan Lemire. Here we go. Our Boston Red Sox man. I mean, 8 out of 10. Last night, I went to sleep. I told Jack, you're going to have to take us the rest of the way. It was six to two seventh inning. And I had no idea.

All I got was a text from Jack is very polite, said Duran is amazing. And what can you say about this guy, Jaron Duran? This is a game-winning hit. He also had a game-winning catch at the fence last night. Had a game-winning catch a couple of nights ago. Then he literally put his hand over the centerfield fence, caught it.

I mean, he's number three or number four or more. Here he is in that. A Freddie Lynn-type catch for Jaron Duran in center field. And, again, I think last game he stuck his hand over the fence in the ninth inning and saved the game for the Sox. But this kid now just absolutely on fire. And if he does not find his way to the all-star roster in one way or the other,

being, I think, number three on the list in a war, wins above replacement. No justice. No justice. Yeah, he's always had the talent, but this year everything has clicked for Durant. He's playing great defense, stealing bases, hitting. Last night, as you said, Sox down 6-2.

They rallied to tie it at 6, and then Durant gets the walk-off base hit. We see now they're a season high seven games over 500 they've won four series in a row uh and a terrific start last night against the blue jays and they're just an aggressive team they steal bases they're playing much improved defense the pitching's come back to earth a little bit but the offense uh has come alive and and willie uh you know it is mets yankees the met The Yankees have cooled off a little bit, but Garrett Cole is back. But they're facing a New York Mets team whose franchise's fortunes changed about 10 days ago, thanks to a creature named Grimace.

I don't know if you're aware of this storyline, but Grimace, there he is on the back page of the New York Daily News, the McDonald's character who threw out a first pitch at Citi Field about 10 days ago, which then immediately prompted the Mets to go on a seven-game winning streak, and I think they've won 13 of their last 17, all due to the players, the fans have embraced it, and the players have embraced it. They all credit Grimace. So good luck to the Bronx Bombers against that. Nice bit of marketing for McDonald's, too.

I went away for a week. The Yankees got bad. The Red Sox and the Mets got good. I don't know what happened, but I'm here to restore order. The Celtics, by the way, threw out the first pitch. Speaking of first pitches, last night for the Red Sox, and they do. They look really good right now. Also, as

long as we're here, Joe, a new national champion in college baseball. Tennessee Rocky Top this morning, winning its first national title in college baseball. Outlasting Texas A&M 6-5 in that decisive game three of the College World Series last night. Among those on hand for the celebration, yep, Peyton Manning and Morgan Wallen sitting up in the box together last night. The Vols now the first number one seed to win the title since 1999. Even this Vanderbilt guy can say congratulations to the best team all season.

So I think we've covered it all here, haven't we, Joe, this morning? We've got some sabermetric statistics with war on the Red Sox. I think so. The only thing I'd like to add is, of course, Jonathan and I, and I want you to know this, Jonathan and I know you guys end up winning 115, 118 games. We'll end up being 35, 35, maybe even 40 back from first place from you guys. But I will tell you, just it's nice to know what it feels like to be a Yankee fan just for this brief moment in June.

It's been nice. This is a man who grew up studying Bear Bryant. And when they'd play the Little Sisters of the Poor before the game, they'd say, we just have no chance against them. I apologize to the Crimson Tide and their fans. Joan knows how to set expectations low. Very smart. I apologize

to the mamas and the daddies of Alabama who've trusted me with the children. I'm so sorry. This is not going to go well for them. I just pray they're healthy. Speaking of setting low expectations, this is why this is why I've been trying to explain to my former Republican brothers and sisters that you want to be like Bear Bryant. You want to set low expectations. And they've been too stupid to

do that up until like maybe the last 15 minutes. And now they're saying now it's projection or confession. Now they're going around saying he's going to like get coked up or smash Ritalin and snort it before the debate. Yeah, they appear a little bit concerned about this, leaning heavily now on that drug conspiracy theory. President Joe Biden remains this morning at Camp David in the middle of intense preparation for this week's debate against Donald Trump. Now, just two days away, three people familiar with the Biden campaign's plans. Tell NBC News the president is studying how best to get under Donald Trump's skin in order to, quote, trigger his opponent at Thursday's debate in Atlanta.

If Trump comes out more disciplined than he has on past occasions, sources say the president's goal will be to bring out, quote, rally Trump, the rambling one. One way he may try to do that, these people say, is by painting the former president as a loser for failing to win the 2020 election. At the same time, a Biden campaign official stresses there is, quote, a fine line to walk because they still want Americans to come away with the impression the president is the adult in the room. As for Trump's debate prep, NBC reported last week the former president is having policy discussions with allies as opposed to formal prep sessions. So, Jim Messina, waiting patiently as we run through the day in sports. Let's get you back into your wheelhouse here and talk about debate prep and what we should expect when those two men get on the stage. What will you be looking for on Thursday in Atlanta?

A clear contrast between the two candidates. I mean, I used to say to President Obama, if you're on the defense, we're losing. But if it's a choice between the two candidates, we'll win. And I think that's even more true now, Willie. I think what Biden wants out of this debate is have the American people look at both of them and remember why they fired Donald Trump four years ago and why they hired Joe Biden. And if he can be that guy, then I think that'll be a successful night. And that's going to be the goal of the Biden campaign. Trump has a different and somewhat easier task. He just has to look sane. I mean, recently in some

of the appearances, I mean, my God, Willie, he talked about shark attacks the other day for five minutes. I mean, as long as he doesn't do that, I mean, you know, the expectations for him are fairly low here. And I think he's just got to appear somewhat sane in front of the national public. Yeah. You know, at least implicit in this whole riff they're on about Joe Biden going to be on drugs and drug testing is they're saying he was so good at the State of the Union. He must be on something. So they can't figure out whether he's a doddering old man or that he killed it at the State of the Union. And there must be something up. So what will you be looking for on Thursday? Well, as an aside, I really wish both would just take drug tests because it would be fascinating to see what Donald Trump has been on for so many years, whatever, you know, speculating 80s diet drugs. Aside from the fact that it, you know, that it has just been so many dumb accusations

tossed out there. Basically, the Trump campaign's made a huge mistake by setting expectations so low. And if Joe Biden goes out and he's anything less than looking like he's been hanging out under a bridge and drinking and doing drugs all night, he really probably is going to have a victory. So they just have set the expectations so low. Yeah. John, as you know, covering this White House so closely every day, the campaign will tell you the stakes are very high for Donald Trump, but also for Joe Biden. He needs to come out, perhaps like he did at the State of the Union, exceed those expectations and show, because of the questions about his age, even among some of

his supporters, among Democrats, among independents still deciding which way to lean, that he's still up for this job as he did at the State of the Union. They know that. The Biden campaign is clear-eyed. This is a very big moment. They wanted to debate this early because they wanted to change the trajectory of the race, which has been close all along. But in the battleground states, Donald Trump has enjoyed, for the most part, narrow leads, although we've seen that polling close a little bit in recent weeks. But they know, much like the State of the Union, there are questions about Joe Biden's age. There's questions about his ability to continue doing this job for another four years.

And they feel like this is a moment to sort of settle some of those doubts. I'll simply note about the Republicans. If with attacks about Joe Biden potentially being on drugs, attacks on the CNN moderators, those are not the kind of things you do if you're confident about your guy in the debate, Eugene Robinson. And that's because we know there. Look, Donald Trump for minutes at a time can appear disciplined and on the ball, but we know that usually doesn't last. We know that the Biden campaign is going to try to provoke rambling monologues about sharks. You, in fact, just wrote about how for Donald Trump, every week is shark week. And that's where it is here too. We know that the stakes are high for Joe Biden, that he has to look like he's up for the job. But so does Donald Trump. And for a lot of Americans, Thursday night will be the first time they really hear Donald Trump in four years.

They might be surprised what they find. Yeah, they might be very surprised to hear Trump, Trump 2024, who is obsessed with sharks. And so, you know, if Biden wants to trigger him, just say shark and and boat and let him go off. I mean, he you know, or say water. He has this other rap about water and dishwashers. And and, you know, it's very confusing. But to get him into that sort of rally Trump mode in which he's all over the map, he can't complete a sentence or a thought, and he's just riffing in the most bizarre way, I think that would be kind of an ideal situation for Biden. But I basically agree with the analysis.

President Biden needs to remain upright, make sense, do what he did at the State of the Union. And given where expectations have been set by the Republicans, that is a massive victory for Biden because, you know, they have essentially conditioned the Trump base to expect Biden to fall over at the debate or to fall asleep or simply not to have any idea where he is. And that was a huge mistake. You know, Jim, we've seen stories about some snap polling since the convictions suggesting that it has actually a Karl Rove. We played a clip of Karl Rove going over the numbers over the past week or two since conviction, showing that it has made a difference, not a massive difference, but especially among independents and the voters that matter the most and who's going to determine the outcome of this election. It's mattered. With that in mind, how does Joe Biden handle Donald Trump's 34 felony convictions? Like he points out repeatedly that it's about Donald Trump. This has always been about him.

He's on a revenge tour. They have a new ad this morning talking about that, talking about how Joe Biden's for the middle class and has a plan. And Donald Trump's on a revenge tour. You'll see Biden talk about the 34 convictions, you know, a couple different ways to remind people that this is a clear choice. And I think it's really important, Joe, this entire election is going to come down to these double doubters, these voters who don't like either one of them. And this is going to be the first time Thursday night where they kind of look at this race and say, huh, I got to make a decision here. And I want to figure out what exactly these two candidates are going to do for me. And I totally agree with Jonathan. In the end,

Trump has set the expectations so low, it's going to be a difficult night for him if he can't if he can't stop Joe Biden. All right, everybody, stay put. We're going to continue this conversation after a short break. Still ahead on Morning Joe. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange now is out of prison. We'll dig into the plea deal he struck with the U.S. Department of Justice. Plus, it is Election Day here in New York. We'll get a live report from Mount Vernon, New York, where incumbent Democrat Jamal Bowman is looking to hold on to his seat in what is now the most expensive primary on record. Watch your morning, Joe. We're back in 90 seconds. Beautiful live picture of the sun coming up over the White House at 619 in the morning.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to go free after spending five years in a British prison. Assange currently is heading to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth in the Western Pacific, for a hearing there. Court documents reveal it's all part of a plea deal with the Justice Department. Let's bring in NBC News justice reporter Ryan Riley. Ryan, good morning. What more can you tell us about how this deal came together? Yeah, so we really only found out about it last night, and this is sort of unfolding now. It'll be the hearing will be in about 12 and a half hours. It's actually Wednesday morning by the time it happens over there. But here, local time and Eastern Standard Time, it's going to be around

7 p.m. is when this hearing will actually take place. And it brings to an end this saga that has really gone on for several years now. You might remember that Julian Assange was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for several years, fighting extradition to Sweden on separate charges. And then in this latest batch, he's been in custody for five years now. These charges were originally brought back in 2018, 2019, and he's been fighting extradition all of that way. And so essentially this will be time served for him. He'll get credit for the time that he served in that British prison.

He won't step foot in the continental U.S. and he's expected afterwards to go home to his home country of Australia at the end of this. That's how this is all expected to play out if everything sort of goes according to plan and this is accepted by the judge. You know, there's been both sides of the aisle, I think, lobbying for how this case should play out. You know, there's been a big, obviously, a free Assange movement that's been pushing for him to be freed. And this was a case that has been pending for a very long time now, was brought under the Trump administration. And we saw in other cases, Donald Trump taking up the cause of potential pardons on the libertarian side. So now you already have some political figures on the right, including Vivek Ramaswamy praising,

saying that this should have happened before he's free, essentially saying that Biden is appealing to libertarian voters. But what the Justice Department says and what the White House says is that this was a decision that was made independently by the Justice Department. This wasn't something that the White House had involvement in, Willie. So remind people that starting in 2009, Julian Assange conspired with the defense, somebody who worked inside the military, a specialist there, Chelsea Manning, to get documents, reports about the wars in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and post them on the WikiLeaks site. So, Ryan, are we talking about time served now as part of this plea deal? They'll say you owe us five years, but you already served

62 months. So effectively, he's done, free to go? Yeah, that's the expectation that he'll just be sort of on his way after this. And this is, you know, putting this all basically behind him, essentially, except for obviously the conviction and the repercussions that come with that. And of course, there are theoretically other countries that could look into this. You don't know how this is going to be held in his own country. But yeah, you really think back, you know, it was so long ago now when you just think of it, when this actual activity took place, you're talking about coming up on 15 years, 14 years now, when a lot of these documents took place. And of course, this was separate and apart from a lot of the stuff in 2016 that we saw in the presidential election when WikiLeaks published a lot of those hacked materials from

the DNC. That was a completely separate event. We're talking here about those cables that were published for State Department cables that were a threat because you had a lot of, you know, raw intelligence data in there. You had these files from Guantanamo Bay inmates, which have actually been, you know, kind of informative. A lot of this information that was put out has been very valuable for reporters. But, you know, the intelligence community says that it's also been a real threat to sources and methods for them over the years. So this was just a bunch of raw data that was published online. I remember being down in Guantanamo Bay more than 10 years ago, and you had the little newsletter there for all the troops saying,

make sure you don't go on WikiLeaks, because you could be exposed to material that you're not supposed to be seeing, and that could come back to sort of haunt you. So this is wrapping something up that started several iPhones ago, is one way to put it. A very long time ago, 14 years ago. Yeah. The end to a long saga now appears to be in sight. Let me ask you about another topic here, Ryan. The judge presiding over Donald Trump's classified documents case reprimanded a prosecutor from special counsel Jack Smith's office. All happened during yesterday's hearing on a proposed gag order for the former president. Judge Aileen Cannon told the prosecutor, quote, I don't appreciate your tone when the attorney appeared to get exasperated as she questioned the need to modify Trump's conditions of release.

Smith's office has challenged those conditions over Trump's false claims that FBI agents were prepared to kill him when they were carrying out a search warrant at his Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022. They, of course, were not. The tense exchange came as the prosecutor was arguing Judge Cannon should bar Trump from making more inflammatory statements about FBI agents who worked on the investigation for their safety. The attorney later apologized and said he did not mean to come across as unprofessional. At the same time, Judge Cannon suggested she is skeptical of the prosecutor's argument that Trump's comments could lead to violence by his supporters. In the end, Judge Cannon, who was appointed by Trump, did not issue a ruling on the prosecutor's request for a gag order. Instead, she gave both sides until tomorrow now to file additional evidence for her to consider. So, Joe, it does appear in this case, Judge Cannon going

out of her way to make the case that there's no threat to FBI agents. We don't need this gag order as if we haven't watched what Donald Trump can unleash when he wants to. Well, it's just simply outrageous. And she makes one outrageous comment after another, one outrageous ruling after another. She's already been rebuked in an earlier situation by the 11th Circuit for shilling for Donald Trump and Elise Jordan. She had two judges come to her asking her to step off the case. Let me tell you something that just doesn't happen. And when it does, when you have two judges coming to you saying you need to step off the case, you step off the case. If you're interested in what your reputation

is going to be among, you know, other judges, the judicial system, those who revere the rule of law. She just doesn't really care. She she from the outside, she she is doing everything she can do to play into her critics view that she is little more than a hack for Donald Trump. Well, it's a very Trumpian rejection of norms to not step aside to say, oh, I'm going to stay in this case that really I should recuse myself. I don't have the level of expertise, the experience being on the court that long or given all the nature of the classified documents and the time that's going to take to process. It really is unbelievable that just nothing is going to happen on this case until well

after the election. And I know that sometimes the wheels of justice can move slowly, but you would have thought there would have been a little bit more urgency given the state of democracy and the implications that this case has. Well, I mean, and Willie, when she even puts out there that the jury instructions can basically be whatever Donald Trump's view of the law should be for him is just yet one other example. But just again, something just it's sort of a real life moment to look at on how disconnected she purposefully is from reality is when she says that this man's threats can't impact other people's lives, when this man's threats and his words have led to Nancy Pelosi's husband being bludgeoned nearly to death in his home.

It's led to people milling pipe bombs. It's led to just just a hundred countless death threats. And people have had to get round the clock security. I mean, what she's saying is a lie. She knows that what she's saying is a lie. She knows that what she's saying is a lie. And yet she says it anyway from a position of a federal bench saying that Donald Trump's threats can't cause any violence or threats of violence. Read the newspapers. That's a that's a lie on its face.

In fact, you could go to another judge, probably in that same judicial district, and they would take judicial notice of the fact that Donald Trump's threats often lead to violence or threats of violence. It's not speculation. We've watched it happen. And you just laid out all the cases in which it has happened. And that prosecutor from the special counsel's office said to Judge Cannon, urging her to act now on this gag order and not to, quote, wait for tragedy to strike. And she said, well, you've got to establish some actual connection between A and B, which I think you just did. So, Ryan Reilly, as Elise points out, this has been slow walk. Donald Trump is getting everything he wanted out of this case, which is we're not even close to a trial here. What is the timeline? What is the schedule as we move forward on this really important case?

Yeah, I think you really saw the tensions bubbling up there. I think, you know, coming up above the surface there because I think prosecutors are just really frustrated with how the judge is handling this. And, you know, in their view, these this hearing wasn't even necessary. This was something that could have been settled in papers. It was settled just with court filings in the Judge Shuckin case that's now pending before the Supreme Court hearing in the District of Columbia, when there was this motion to toss these cases, saying that the special counsel was not legitimate. That was something that the judge just ruled on. She didn't need to have oral arguments. So, you know, Judge Cannon doesn't hasn't really had these experiences that a lot of these judges, including the judge, Judge Chuck in here, has having her her home

doxed. Right. There is a swatting of her home after she made some rulings that were disfavorable to Donald Trump. Judge Cannon, of course, hasn't had that experience because she's always been almost all the time in favor of Donald Trump. And in fact, you know, even before she was assigned to this case, chose a direction that ultimately got overturned by the federal appeals court above her. So that hasn't been something that she's independently had to experience. But now we're entering what is going to be the third day of these hearings that started on Friday, looking at some more of the arguments. In this case, Donald Trump's team is going to be arguing about documents that came from his lawyer and what is going to be introduced in being able to introduce a trial. But the thing is, is that we don't even know when that trial is going to happen.

There's just really no timeline on when this is going to take place in the classified documents case, despite the fact that this was brought so long ago now. Remember, it was brought before the January 6 case that came about in August of last year. So this is really a case that we found out about after the raid of Mar-a-Lago, which is coming up on almost two years ago. That was August of 2022 when that happened. And immediately after that, just to speak to that threat that you were mentioning there, an individual who was at the Capitol on January 6th, was on the grounds of the Capitol on January 6th, then went and shot up an FBI facility after the rhetoric that was out there about the search of Mar-a-Lago. So there really just is a real threat that we see over and over again

against individuals across Donald Trump. Some of those FBI agents at Mar-a-Lago executing the legal search warrant also were doxxed as well. All this while we wait for the Supreme Court to rule on presidential immunity any day now. NBC News Justice Correspondent Ryan Reilly. Ryan, thanks so much. We appreciate it. Coming up next, Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is running for reelection, this time

in a different district in Colorado. We'll go over what's at stake for her in today's primary and what her chances look like to hold onto the seat. Plus, one of the candidates vying for the Democratic nomination in a New York district that traditionally has gone Republican, John Avalon, will be our guest. Morning Joe's coming right back. Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is facing a Republican primary challenge today with voters in a new district. You may remember she switched to run for the seat in the deep red fourth district, which is being vacated by Republican Congressman Ken Buck.

Boebert said she made the switch to ensure that another Republican could win her old district. But opponents claim she led a tough reelection race to run in a more Republican-leaning district. Boebert, who's gotten Trump's endorsement, is expected to secure the GOP nomination, Willie, despite, again, a very rough political ride over the last year or so. Yeah, it has been. We'll see if she, you know, obviously had to move districts to stay in Congress. Well, she holds on to that seat, some tough ads, let's just say, being run against her. Speaking of tough races for incumbents, New York Congressman Jamal Bowman is fighting for his political life as he faces a competitive Democratic primary challenge, to say the least. The race, now the most expensive in House primary

history, has been divisive with the Israel-Hamas war at the forefront. The primary also has split support among Democrats, with progressives supporting Bowman, moderates supporting his challenger. Joining us now from outside a polling location in Congressman Bowman's district is NBC News correspondent Ali Vitale. Ali, good morning. It's great to see you. So for people who have not been following this race perhaps as closely as those of us living in the New York area, get us up to speed about what's going on here. You really have no choice if you live in this area, Willie, because it's not only the place where it's the highest ad spending and so you see it all over the airwaves. It has become so competitive,

so vitriolic. And it's not just me saying that. You can ask the voters. We did. Look what they told us. It's definitely very tense, extremely contentious. Half an hour outside the city that never sleeps. A New York primary keeping Democrats up at night. He's nowhere to be found. Get out of here, man. You're nowhere to be found. Congressman Jamal Bowman's battle for a third term is now the most expensive and arguably most intense of the cycle. Do you see why he's an ineffective congressman? Why?

He argues. The people in here understand passion? Bowman is one of Congress's most vocal critics of the Israeli government. Is that the central issue in this race as you see it, though? It is because he was recruited by AIPAC to run against me because I called for a permanent ceasefire very early on. The issue of Palestine and Israel is on the ballot here. Longtime Westchester County Executive George Latimer saw it as one of several reasons to mount a challenge. The fire alarm incident was inexplicable.

Bowman pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm in Congress during a controversial vote last year. His response to October 7th was yet the next, you know, type of thing. He is attacking me as if somehow my position is outside of the mainstream. It's his position with some of the squad members that's outside the mainstream. Record-breaking sums spent here on ads. Pro-Israel groups backed by AIPAC make up more than 14 million of it. Jamal Bowman has his own agenda, and he's hurting New York.

All in a diverse district with a significant Jewish population. Bowman's not the first progressive with pro-Palestinian views to face a primary. It's not good enough to send bombs to Israel and send Band-Aids to Gaza. Congresswoman Summer Lee won her Pennsylvania race earlier this year. This race highlighting and hardening Democratic divides locally with former Congressman Mondaire Jones. George is the clear choice to represent New York's 16th congressional district. Nationally, it's a 2016 redux. Hillary Clinton's endorsed Latimer. Bernie on the stump for Bowman. I don't know how much of a heavy hitter Hillary Clinton is, with all due respect.

Bowman boasts the backing of his party's top congressional leaders and prominent progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Still, it's wars abroad that could have the most impact here at home. If you win, what? If you win, what if you win? You say that. What does it say to the Democratic Party writ large? I think it just means that the people can beat the money every time. The many can beat the money every time. And guys, that's the message that Congressman Bowman has been bringing across the district

in these waning days. But Latimer, for his part, has also been here, specifically in Mount Vernon, as both candidates crisscrossed this area just yesterday and will continue to do so up until election night tonight. Polls close late, so voters will have many hours between now and the end of the day to actually cast their votes. But when you hear the kind of vitriol that we've seen between the candidates on debate stages, on the stump, that's also extending to voters. In certain areas like Hastings on Hudson, the town has actually had to put up a posting

on its social media telling people, stop stealing other people's political signs. So this is really trickling down to the grassroots, not just in a get out the vote effort like we usually talk about, but actually to the way that people are metabolizing and acting on their stances in this race. It is really a tense one. It is. And we'll find out tonight how it all ends up. NBC's Ali Vitale in money earning Mount Vernon for us this morning. Ali, thank you so much. So Jim

Messina, we should point out, as Ali mentioned, that the incumbent here, Jamal Bowman, is trailing mightily in some of the polls. As you look across double digits, we'll see if that's actually where it ends up. But what has been, if the polling bears out, what has been his problem as he seeks reelection? Well, look, he was a giant killer four years ago. He beat a 16-term incumbent. And instead of doing what Joe Scarborough and I talk about all the time, which is remembering all politics is local, going back and taking care of your district, Jamal Bowman fell in love with national press and, you know, pulled a fire alarm and did a bunch of other really erratic things and didn't tend to his home fires, didn't tend to the congressional district in which he was represented. And now he's likely

to lose because of it. So, you know, this is a big national race, the most expensive in American political history. But really, it's a reminder that all politics is local and he didn't do his homework. And it looks like he's going to get beat tonight because of it. I would tell you, Gene Robinson, what Jim Messina says is so important for anybody in politics or thinking about politics, because I know you've seen politicians who to a liberal senator's district in the Dakotas or something somewhere. And you go and I go, I'd be like, man, why is he elected here? And they'd be like, man, I tell you what, he helped, you know, the Smiths down the street. They were having problems. The IRS had been on their farm for four years. He took care of it. He told the IRS either arrest them or let them get back to farming. Mrs. Jones had a problem with her Social Security, and he was the one that was able to get her back so she could.

And so you can do both. Unfortunately, in this case, there is the impression that Congressman Bowman chose one over the other. So there's nothing wrong with being ideological, whether it's on the left or it's on the right. But your first job is at home. Your first job is taking care of your constituents. Your first job is obsessing over making sure the federal government's taking care of them.

Yeah, that's absolutely right. The ideological fight in this race is just the beauty of democracy, right? That's, you know, let the people decide. But it does sound like Bowman forgot that first rule, constituent service. That's what the good ones never, never, ever forget, serving their constituents and their districts and their states, the ones, the members of Congress who intend to stick around for a while and who managed to stick around for a while. Never forget that. I remember, you know, I would just an example. I would I would write, you know, the most terrible things about Lindsey Graham.

And I'd run into him. And when my mom was still alive, he'd ask, how's your mom? How's your mom doing? Does she need anything? You know, that sort of thing. I mean, it's important. And that that is the number one rule of politics. It is all local. Meanwhile, in another New York City suburb, the primary to decide who will face Republican Congressman Nick LaLotta in November also being held today. The seat has been held by a Republican for more than a decade. But Democrats believe now whoever wins today's primary has a good chance to flip that seat. And one of the Democrats in the race for New York's first U.S. congressional district,

John Avalon, joins us now. John, good morning. Happy Election Day to you. What's the closing argument here as voters head to the polls in your district? Closing argument is we need to win now. It's been a decade since Democrats have controlled this swing district. And we've got the momentum going into election day, the enthusiasm, the energy, and an unprecedented amount of endorsements. Six out of eight Democratic town committees, local Democratic leaders like Tom Suozzi, assemblymen, county legislators, my opponent's own union has endorsed me in the primary because they all know that we can't afford to lose this fight, that I'm the Democrat who can win the general election, and my opponent ran four years ago and lost by 10 points.

And when you lose by 10, you can't do it again. So, John, good morning. Certainly, as just discussed, all politics is local, but we also know that national races do influence what's happening there. Give us your assessment as to how the presidential campaign, which has a major inflection point this week with the debate, how are voters out there thinking about Trump and Biden and how does that influence the race you're seeing? You know, first, I think most folks are concerned about issues closer to home. I mean, affordability, abortion rights, national issue that people really feel the pain for. We need to defend abortion rights and reproductive freedom. But the national presidential

race mostly is reflected in a concern about defending our democracy. And one thing that will work here in New York One on Long Island that I think can resonate, because this is how you win a swing district, is the idea that now is the time we need to form a broad patriotic coalition to defend our democracy. You need, you know, what's left of the sane right, the center and the left to come together. And so it's not just about the top of the ticket, but this is a patriotic effort. We need to take back the flag. We need to defend American democracy and just basic values that used to be above, you know, debate like, oh, I don't know, peaceful transfer of power. And and, you know, presidents shouldn't be able to do whatever they want.

We'll see what happens in that case. So there's a real that's a lot of the backdrop of this race. And I think that's a huge opportunity for winning swing districts and pulling together our country on the other side of Trump. John, this is going to be one of the seats that could decide the composition of the House of Representatives next year and the year after. How important is it nationally that this seat stay or go to a Democrat and that it be flipped? You know, at least it's huge, right? This is a majority maker district. If we win here, if we take out the first term Republican Nick Lallotta, who's a Trumper, celebrated the overturning of Roe, far too far right for the district. That's how Kim Jeffries becomes speaker. And so the stakes really couldn't be higher. And

for a long time, this district, people thought it was fading away. But that's just generals fighting the last war. Tom Suozzi showed us that candidate quality matters, that playing offense on the issues people care about matters, including immigration and crime and seizing the center matters. And the other issue that I keep hearing about is the importance of rebuilding the middle class and strengthening the middle class. So I don't think you can overestimate the importance of putting this district in play, putting Republicans on defense in terms of creating pathways to create a democratic majority so we can defend abortion rights, so we can deal with affordability, restore state and local tax deductions, expand the child tax credit and rebuild the middle class.

Those are all key local issues. But we got to win here first. You know, John, you told me that you've been knocking on doors, been putting yard signs out, shaking a ton of hands. I'm curious, as you do that, and I always found that was far more effective than ever taking a poll. I never saw the need to take polls because you knock on enough doors, you know what people are thinking. With all the doors you've knocked on, what do you keep hearing? What's the one issue that keeps coming up? Affordability. Affordability by far. And you're right. I mean, it's the act of listening in the context of a campaign, listening to people, not talking that you learn the most. That should be obvious,

but it's not to many politicians. But it's affordability. People are frustrated about prices at the grocery store. They understand increasingly that there might be some readflations, some price gouging going on. But behind that is the cost of housing. It's the middle class feeling squeezed that their kids can't move back here, that they're stuck in their homes with high interest rates. So that's really the backdrop. And I think this is something that we can't overestimate. In the course of this campaign, Joe, it's become crystal clear to me that it's not an accident. It's not a coincidence that we've seen the middle of our politics hollowed out at the same time we've seen the middle of our economy hollowed out. And so everything, I think, needs to be put through that prism of how we rebuild

the middle class and to deal with affordability first. All right. Democratic candidate for New York's first U.S. congressional district. John Avalon, thank you so much. Thank you, Joe. Be well, guys. All right. All right. Good luck. And Jim Messina, I asked the question about knocking on doors and what he heard from people, because as I've always said, you don't have to knock on a thousand doors to figure out what's on people's mind. You knock on enough, you're going to be hearing pretty quickly what's on their mind. And so I'm not surprised at all that he heard about affordability, because I know that's what you hear about. You know, a lot of times people talk about groceries or gas, but man, housing prices right now, there's a real housing crisis, especially for younger Americans. How do Democrats

on the campaign trail, how does Joe Biden handle that challenge? Well, I think John has it exactly right. Part of it is listening and empathizing. Joe Biden is the great empathizer in chief. His ad he has out this morning that shows him hugging folks, talking about, you know, these issues and understanding that people out there are hurting him where there's more we have to do. We made some good progress with insulin caps, with some other things, but there's more we got to do. And laying out a very clear plan, Joe, that says to people, your life's going to get better and here's why. And that's what they're hearing on the doors. You and I do love a nice door knocking. And I was knocking on doors recently for John Tester in my home state of Montana. And people out there

want to know where these people are going to take him and what they're going to do to make their lives a little bit easier. CEO of the Messina Group, Jim Messina, who also ran President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign successfully. Jim, thanks so much. We appreciate it. Still ahead here, we'll discuss the billboard in Miami sparking debate after an anti-Trump PAC compared the former president to Fidel Castro. Plus, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre joins us live in studio as the president preps for his high stakes debate against Donald Trump. Also ahead, we'll speak with former Obama aides and co-host of Pod Save America, John Favreau, Tommy Vitor and Jon Lovett about their new book, Democracy or Else, How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps. Morning Joe's coming you're doing great i was watching the monologue or that's probably what they'll call it and i was and i was thinking hosting a network talk show is a very big deal it is you know when when jimmy

asked me to be his first guest host of the summer, I was, I must admit, truly honored. Yeah. And I was honored when Jimmy asked me to be the first guest host, but I said no. I said, you'll be able to find someone who'll do it for scale. Don't you worry. Well, I really do appreciate you being here, Steve. There are very few people in this world that I truly admire. And Steve Martin is very close to being one of them.

And I actually I love Marty. He's one of the hardest working men in show business because it just doesn't come naturally to him. Thank you, by the way. That means a great deal. And I have to tell you what a joy it is to share a stage with someone who looks like he should be selling reverse mortgages. And let me tell you, the joy it is for me to work with someone who looks like a former women's tennis champion. Thank you. Martin Short is filling in this week for Jimmy Kimmel on Kimmel's show.

He's away, brought out his buddy Steve Martin. Jonathan Lemire had an obvious idea. Can we get Marty Short a late night show somewhere? He had Jiminy Glick. I mean, I would watch that every night. Every night. He is so great. Those two, so wonderful together.

Who would have ever imagined only murders in the building would take off the way it did. But my gosh, it is. It's just great. And those two have been great together for quite some time. They have. Marty Short tells the story of the first time he met Steve Martin going to his house to talk about the script for Three Amigos. And Steve Martin had, you know, Picasso's and all this artwork in his house. He said, wow, how did you get all this artwork? Because I've seen your work. Clearly, you can't afford this. I don't know why. They are the best and so good together.

Jonathan Lemire, Elise Jordan still with us Joining the conversation, former White House Director of Communications to President Obama, Jen Palmieri. She and Claire McCaskill, co-hosts of the MSNBC podcast, How to Win 2024. Also the president of the National Action Network and the host of MSNBC's Politics Nation, the Reverend Al Sharpton and Chief White House Correspondent

for the New York Times, Peter Baker. All right, so two days until the first presidential debate. Donald Trump trying to influence some expectations ahead of this debate. After years of saying President Biden's mental fitness has dulled, Trump is now talking up Biden, calling him a, quote, worthy debater who, quote, destroyed Paul Ryan in the 2012 vice presidential debate. The former president also now pushing for a drug test, insinuating with no evidence as usual, Biden could use performance enhancing drugs to help in the debate. Trump's allies in Congress

also parroting that baseless claim. Former White House doctor turned Congressman Ronny Jackson, whose last name Donald Trump doesn't know, has called for Biden to take a test before and after the debate. But when asked if Trump also should be tested, Dr. Jackson said it was, quote, a Biden specific concern. Meanwhile, Republican Congresswoman Marionette Miller Meeks, who is an ophthalmologist, said this. We anticipate that for this first debate, he will be on something. And the response of the press has been to cover it up. And so we've seen that with Kareem John Pierre saying these are deep fakes.

This is, you know, misinformation. So, Joe, that is a member of Congress and also a doctor, an ophthalmologist. So what the game is set up a wild conspiracy theory. This is we've seen this many times and then attack the press and the White House, the press for not covering it, the White House for not addressing it. You will address our baseless conspiracy theory. And this all goes back to President Biden's performance, of course, at this year's State of the Union address where he came out and even by Donald Trump and Republicans owned admissions, he did well. So they suggest now

something might be up. Well, and again, we were warning before then I was warning before then I've been warning leading up to the debate that, you know, they need to stop with the deep fake videos or with what do they call them? Cheap fakes, small cheap fakes. They need to stop with the cheap fakes because, again, all they're doing is lowering expectations and not just lowering expectations for the debate. They're lowering expectations for all events that Joe Biden is going to take part in. And Jonathan O'Meara, they've been doing this just because they can't help themselves. And it's not just dumb politicians doing it who don't know how to set up the debate expectations game. You've had the Wall Street Journal doing it with, again, one of the most bizarre front page articles

I think I have seen in years. Bizarre because they use Kevin McCarthy as their main source, who spent the last six months actually countering what they're claiming he's now saying. The New York Post doing it constantly, doctoring photographs or cutting or editing photographs in a way at events. And so I guess it's fan service. I guess they're doing this because they think the readers want to see it. But at the end of the day, it just hurts them. It just hurts Donald Trump because they lower the expectations. And at the 11th hour, you know, to suddenly have Ronnie Johnson come out, a man who Donald Trump doesn't even can't even remember his own doctor's last name, Dr. Ronnie Johnson coming out and saying that Joe Biden needs to be tested again just shows how badly they're playing all of this.

The arguments are bad faith and bad politics. I mean, it's just it's such such pathetic efforts here to just to spin these unfounded conspiracy theories about drug tests or the like. And then, of course, also by doing so, you're trying to set up an escape hatch for your own candidate who has real concerns. Donald Trump is only a few years younger than Joe Biden. Donald Trump has also not done any debates this whole primary season. He's going to be rusty. Usually that's just a problem for an incumbent. Yeah, but you know, though, but hold on a second, Jonathan.

He did get Joan Rivers' vote. In fact, Joan Rivers told him specifically, he said, that she voted for him. So he's got that. I mean, she had passed a few years before, but still, he says, he remembers, Joan Rivers is telling him personally that. And you take one gaffe after another. You take the World War II gaffe. He doesn't even know that World War II is over. He keeps thinking he's running against Barack Obama. He talks about how badly he beat Barack Obama in elections. He never ran against Barack Obama. He talks about how badly he beat Barack Obama in elections. He never ran against Barack Obama. We could go down the laundry list, but he is in an alternative reality much of

the time. I mean, we joke about the sharks and the electric motors. A lot of that is just him delaying using delay tactics because sometimes he seems very forgetful up there on stage. Yeah. You can't keep track of Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley. It's one misstep after another, and rumors are that his closing argument will indeed be addressed to Joe Nunes to try to win her vote this time around as well. Again?

Yeah, no, it's an important constituency. Not an important one, if you will, this Thursday. So, Peter Baker, this is all so ridiculous and nonsensical in some ways, but you know, it is something that the Biden campaign and team has to contend with. And the president has been holed up at Camp David doing more formal debate prep than whatever it is that Donald Trump is doing. You know, but they know that they are going to have to answer some questions, fair or not. This ecosystem that we've just described, the bad faith arguments put

forth by Republicans, has colored perception, at least among some voters, that Joe Biden's not up for the job. So how is the Biden team preparing to answer that? Yeah, thanks, Jonathan. First, I would just say, by the way, that Donald Trump only has one playbook. He has done this each time. He accused Biden in 2020 of using drugs at their debates. He accused Hillary Clinton of using drugs at their debate. He has one playbook. He goes back to it each and every time. It's the same thing as saying again and again and again that any election that he loses must be rigged. In effect, he's saying here any debate he may lose must be because of performance enhancing drugs.

Mind you, Ronny Jackson is the one who was handing out drugs when he was the White House physician, got in trouble for it. So, I mean, as we all know, of course, Trump and people around him tend to accuse others of doing what they themselves do. But you're right to say that the president will have to answer questions. This is a concern for him. And there are legitimate concerns about his age, not just among Republicans who distort and exaggerate, but among Democrats who worry about a president who would be 86 at the end of his second term. That's not, you know, just a matter of deep fakes or cheap fakes. That's a matter of, you know, reality. And there are moments, of course, we have seen, just like with Donald Trump, when Joe Biden is forgetful and confuses names and dates and so forth.

And so he's going to have to want to he's going to want to get up there and give a strong performance. He's going to want to dispel those myths, I think, as one of those concerns. And I think that's one of the reasons why they're doing this debate so early. So he is up at Camp David. He's taking a longer time, I think, to prepare than even most incumbent presidents do, in part to kind of get at these kinds of issues. I'm sure that they're asking him in these mock sessions how he will do the next four years.

But we know that Bob Bauer's personal attorney is playing Trump, just as he did in 2020. And that, you know, I'm sure that this is one of the things that they know how to address, and they've decided in advance how they want to play it.