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anniversary of the d-day landings in normandy. we're going to go live to france with the very latest as ceremonies on the sacred day are set to kick off any moment now. plus, we're learning more about the gop's playbook following donald trump's historic felony conviction. what republicans now say they are vowing to do as payback. and also ahead the white house is hitting back at "the wall street journal" over its piece about president biden's mental fitness during high pressure meetings. we'll dig into the growing backlash straight ahead. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this thursday, june 6th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us, and today does indeed mark 80 years since allied forces stormed the beaches of normandy as they pushed to liberate france and then western europe from german forces during world war ii. the sun rose this morning at omaha beach shortly after 6:00 a.m. local time ahead of today's anniversary proceedings nearby. president joe biden is there where he's expected to deliver remarks and join other world leaders in recognizing this somber day. the 80 oogt anniversary of d-day falls at a time when multiple conflicts rage across the globe including europe's largest land war since world war ii. joining us now live from normandy is nbc's jay gray. jay, good to see you this morning. it is a sacred place where you are and have the good fortune of covering a presidential visit there some years ago. it will always stay with me. give us a preview, if you will, as to what we can expect this morning. >> reporter: jonathan, as you talked about dignitaries, world leaders here. but it's clearly those they've come to honor who are the most important guests on this day, the men who stormed the beaches, the fighter pilots, those onboard the ships just off the shoreline here, and those marked by these whitehead stones, the ones who never left. they line up in formation and most can't march or stand at attention anymore. still they move through this battlefield turned graveyard memorial, a visit that brings with it memories of their first trip here 80 years ago. >> i'm reliving on d-day. staff sergeant jake larson landed on the beach his unit peppered with machine gunfire as they scrambled to combat positions. larson somehow making it across the sand without taking a hit. >> how do you explain something like that? my buddies are buried here. i'm 101 years old. it won't be long and i'll be joining them. >> reporter: one of the reasons for many it's so important to be here, a chance to say one final good-bye and to honor those who never left. >> we lost so many men it's unbelievable, and your own people should know about this. and they really don't. i guess i had to say something. >> reporter: so they share their stories, take pictures, though most will tell you they don't care much for all of the attention. and even though they are, many refuse the label of hero. >> i'm not a hero at all. those guys have sacrificed their life are heroes. i'm a result of their being heroes. >> reporter: truth is they're all heroes remembered for their service, courage, and sacrifice. yeah, look, what an amazing honor and privilege it's been to spend some time with these men over the last week. and i was struck by what one of the d-day survivors told me, was pointing out at the white cross with tears in his eyes he said these guys were 17, 18, 19 years old. they never had a chance to have a family, but because of them i had a family. i lived this wonderful long life because of their sacrifice, a sacrifice clearly that's being honored here today, jonathan. as you talked about a very special place and this a very special time. >> really moving report there from nbc's jay gray live from normandy. jay, thank you so much. of course there is another war in europe that cast a shadow over the anniversary. during an appearance on right-wing network real america's voice republican senator tommy tuberville weighed in on russia's invasion of ukraine and said this. >> how many tv clips have you seen of a battle in ukraine? zero in the last six, seven, eight months. it's one-sided. putin just kind of sitting back watching what's going on and wondering, hey, when y'all come over we'll draw a line here. he doesn't want ukraine. he doesn't want europe. he's got enough land of his own. he just wants to make sure he does not have united states weapons in ukraine pointing at moscow. >> joining us now editor at the insider michael weiss. you've covered ukraine since its first moments and one of the dynamics that presented itself some on the right -- some republicans seem at times to parrot kremlin talking points of senator tuberville right there. >> even the kremlin doesn't say there's no footage of battlefield combat. i can send the senator kinetic activity on both sides. they were desperate for things like javelin, anti-tank missiles. we have seen a rapid uptick in security assistance brokered on two things, one russian atrocities. there's a story on cnn just this week about men in detention under russian occupation who have been raped or threatened with rape, mass sexual violence. this is the kind of thing russia is doing to civilian tuesday say nothing of those who are actually serving in ukraine, which is a large part of the country. the second is every time we've sent a bullet russia says it's going to be world war 3, we're going to reduce europe to radioactive, and it's been now a week since ukraine has been rather effectively using the multiple launch rocket systems against kharkiv, and the result is, well, we're here commemorating normandy and we're not talking about the onset of a third world war yet. he's wrong if he says putin has no designs on ukraine. this war was launched as a war of conquest. he wants to completely take over the entire country. those goals and strategic ambitions have not changed. >> while you were talking we showed footage of these russian battles in ukraine. give us an update where things stand in the conflict right now. a lot of it is focused on kharkiv of late. >> the offensive in kharkiv according to ukrainian forces have mostly sputtered out thankfully largely as a result of this restriction that has been lifted to allow ukraine to start firing into kharkiv -- i'm sorry, into bellgorad. they had to wait until these guys came across the line. kharkiv has been stabilized but not yet settled. the situation is trickier. i was talking to general ben hodges last night who says sources he's had for 20 years including in ukrainian special ops have told him that the real window of opportunity that the russians have, which is half a year of reduced or no security assistance because of the congressional supplemental that had stalled for that length of time, they really did not seize the opportunity to push forward and make dramatic breakthroughs. there were tactical successes, avdivka, et cetera, but they haven't demonstrated they would like to conquer more territory in the way they would like. i'm not trying to present a rosy situation here. you're talking the ukrainian situation is difficult if not grim, but then again the russians have not managed to capitalize on that state of affairs in a way i think vladimir putin would have liked. >> lastly and briefly we're going to hear from president biden and other world leaders talk about the fight for democracy. it's going to shadow this conflict. do you think european resolve is going to continue? >> european resolve actually for the first time in my life concerns me a lot less than american resolve. i've traveled through europe ostensibly in the last year. i was just in estonia. there's a good piece in the atlantic about this. the phrase existential crisis keeps coming up. for europeans they're worried because they are the frontier. they're the ones who will be attacked and conquered and occupied first. even in world war 2 pearl harbor was attacked but we didn't have continental soldiers positioned in the united states the way europe had been occupied. in the first time in my lifetime we're no longer inhabiting what i would call the post-war era. we're possibly now in an interwar era the way we were between world war i and world war ii. that's how the europeans are talking about things. you look at some of the dynamics in play in countries such as germany which went from quivering about sendal battle helmets to ukraine and now discussing openly about sending cruise missiles to ukraine what i see happening european union and nato allies on the continent are essentially preparing the next conflict. they may not be able to sustain themselves on american leadership but i think europeans are really for the first time in a long time worrying that a europe free is not something we'll take for granted. >> the re-election looms. terrific analysis as always michael weiss from "the insider." still ahead as mention we'll bring you full coverage from normandy where president biden is set to speak just a short time from now, plus updates from other stories including the updates from the trial as prosecutors called three now witnesses to the stand. plus senate republicans blocked the bill that would have guaranteed access to contraception nationwide. what that could mean for the fight over reproductive rights heading into the fall. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. sports and weather when we come right back a year after a heart attack, mike's feeling like himself again. but even though time has passed, his risk of a second attack hasn't. mike is still living in the red. with a very high risk of another heart attack or stroke. he doesn't know with his risk factors his ldl-c (bad cholesterol) is still too high - the recommended level is below 55. are you living in the red? get in the know. learn how to get a free ldl-c test at attackheartdisease.com. if you have chronic kidney disease you can reduce the risk of kidney failure with farxiga. because there are places you'd like to be. farxiga can cause serious side effects, including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration, urinary tract, or genital yeast infections, and low blood sugar. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. ♪ far-xi-ga ♪ ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. we'll have more from normandy throughout the morning, but now we turn to some of the morning's other headlines. day four of the hunter biden gun trial will resume this morning in a delaware courtroom a day after the prosecution called three new witnesses to the stand. hunter biden's ex-wife and an ex-girlfriend both testified about his substance abuse. the jury then heard from the man who sold hunter biden the gun at the center of this case. the defense tried to portray the gun seller as willing to cut corners to make a big sale. the prosecution could rest its case as early as today. the president's son faces three charges tied to the possession of a gun while using narcotics. he has pleaded not guilty. members of his family were again present for the proceedings yesterday including first lady dr. jill biden. as expected the senate yesterday in washington did not garner enough votes to pass a bill that would protect access to contraception. a procedural vote on the right to contraception act failed with only 51 senators voting in favor. it needed 60 votes to pass. maine senator susan collins was the only republican to join democrats in voting for the bill. republicans have argued that the legislation was unnecessary claiming access to contraceptives is not at risk and that democrats were only using the vote as a messaging tool for the upcoming election. senate democrats are using the weeks leading up to the second anniversary of the dobbs decision to hold several votes on reproductive health. majority leader chuck schumer has announced plans another procedural vote next week on a bill which would codify protections for ivf. he spoke on the senate floor yesterday as to why the vote was needed. >> there's the more devious claim that the right to contraceptive act is much to do about nothing, that it's unnecessary, that birth control could never possibly fall under risk. well, remember people said the same thing about roe, that it could never be overturned. and then tragically, unfortunately, it was because donald trump and the republican senate filled the supreme court with maga radicals who followed through with the hard right's goal of eliminating freedom of choice. and who knows how far the hard right will go. a few years ago it was roe. a few years num now it could be something else. justice thomas himself opened the door to undoing protections for birth control in his dissenting opinion in dobbs. we are kidding ourselves if we think the hard right is done with their attacks on reproductive rights. still ahead, we'll turn to sports and a preview finally of the nba finals. it tips off tonight. plus last night's showdown in major league baseball between shohei ohtani and the pirate's rookie pitching sensation. and the stunning slight for the women's times at the french open. those highlight and a check on the forecast when we come right back. n we come right back ♪ ♪ have you always had trouble losing weight and keeping it off? 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-who are you? i'm your inner child. get in. ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ] listen. horsepower keeps you going, but torque gets you going. ♪ ♪ [ engine revving ] oh now we're torquin'! the dodge hornet r/t. the totally torqued-out crossover. i thought i was sleeping ok... but i was waking up so tired. then i tried new zzzquil sleep nasal strips. their four—point lift design opens my nose for maximum air flow. so, i breathe better. and we both sleep better. and stay married. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. and now it's versus ohtani. it's an incredible show to watch him any time, but now the fans are into every pitch and especially a team like the dodgers and especially this guy at the plate. the reaction is incredible here. how do you like this show? >> that's fun. pirates star rookie paul skenes went right after shohei ohtani in the first inning of the game in pittsburgh fanning the los angeles dodgers superstar on three straight, 100 plus mile per hour pitches, but ohtani got his revenge, boom, sending another fast ball from skenes over the wall in center field. ohtani would add a single off skenes, but pittsburgh had the last life. pittsburgh beats the dodgers 10-6. oklahoma now is on the cusp of its fourth straight women's college world series title. the sooners teed off winning game one of the best of three championship series 8-3. oklahoma is now 6 and 0 against texas in ncaa tournament games. only one team in the past decade in 2021 has come back to win the championship after losing game one. >> now to paris and the quarterfinals at the french open. 17-year-old mira andreeva stunned to become the youngest grand sem finalist in three decades, playing in her only sixth major she'll face another surprising contender today, 12th ranked italian jasmine paulini who knocked out number 4 to reach the first grand slam. after what seemed like an interminable break the nba finals finally tip off tonight in boston with the top seeded celtics hosting the dallas mavericks in game one. to the celtics seeking an nba franchise record 18th title will of course be led by its stars jason tatum and jalen brown who are looking for redemption after falling just short of the trophy two seasons ago and porzingis should be back tonight for boston. luka doncic and kyrie irving should make good on their partnership after he was traded to dallas from the brooklyn nets. time now for the weather, and let's bring in meteorologist angie lassman for the forecast. >> i have a feeling we all know where you're going to be at 8:30. >> i can't stay up for it. i'll watch like the first quarter and i have to go to bed. game one i've got to sleep. >> if you see jonathan a little sleepy tomorrow you know why. 27 million people under heat alerts. it's been oppressive out west and it's going to stay that way across much of the southwest here not just today but through tomorrow, too. we likely will see some records being broken. las vegas one of those spots we could potentially see a record. 111 what we're expecting. the current record set at 110. even more impressive for phoenix 113 would be that record high that would blow away the record for the state. grand junction headed for triple digits, and we kind of see a bit of relief here into early next week. still into the triple digits for a lot of spots. meanwhile east coast the rain working through this system. this is going to be a couple days with spotty showers. not expecting a whole lot in the way of severe weather, jonathan, but be impactful for the morning commute. angie lassman, thank you as always. next up here we'll dig into new reporting how some republicans are pushing for pay back following former president trump's conviction in new york last week. we'll take a look how things are starting to play out in capitol hill when we come right back. o hill when we come right back "all eyes on me" performed by gi-yan ♪ all eyes on me brand new drip is what they see ♪ ♪ these diamonds, diamonds on my teeth ♪ ♪ brand new whip is what they see, yeah ♪ ♪ in my bag like a bunch of groceries ♪ ♪ all this cheese and greens just come to me ♪ ♪ look at me on the go. always hustling. eyes on me ♪ ♪ all eyes on me, brand new drip is what they see ♪ ♪ these diamonds, diamonds on my teeth ♪ ♪ brand new whip is what they see, yeah ♪ freedom you can't take your eyes off. the new 2024 jeep wrangler and gladiator. jeep. there's only one. ♪ that colonoscopy for getting screened ♪ ♪ is why i'm delaying ♪ ♪ i heard i had a choice ♪ ♪ i know the name, that's what i'm saying ♪ -cologuard®? -cologuard. cologuard! -screen for colon cancer. -at home, like you want. -you the man! -actually, he's a box. cologuard is a one-of-a-kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45+ at average risk, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪ i did it my way ♪ welcome back to "way too early." it's a little before 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this thursday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. to washington now. donald trump and his allies are ratcheting up their calls for revenge against democrats in response to trump's conviction in his new york city criminal trial. in a fox news interview the other day former white house advisor stephen miller called on republican secretaries of state and attorneys general to, quote, get in the game and use every facet of power to go toe to toe with democrats. the florida senator marco rubio chimed in. he of course is reportedly in the mix to be trump's running mate. he wrote on social media it's time to fight fire with fire, fire emojis, mind you. in response to "the new york times" piece about repeat calls for retribution, former white house chief strategist steve bannon echoed miller earlier this week telling the paper there are dozens of ambitious state attorneys general and district attorneys who need to seize the day and own this moment in history. and of course then there is trump himself who has never been shy about his need for exacting revenge but has taken things to a new level over the past week. here's what he said at his florida home yesterday and then in a fox news interview that aired last night. >> you can't gag a nominee. can you imagine running for office and you're not allowed to talk. when that happens we're no longer a democracy, and we're not going to let that happen. and i know a lot of republicans want retribution. we're going to see what happens. >> claiming you want retribution. people are claiming you want what has happened to you done to democrats. would you do that ever? >> look, what's happened to me has never happened in this country before, and it has to stop because -- >> wait a minute, i want to hear that again. it has to stop -- >> well, it does have to stop, if you're elected what does tat mean, define that. >> look, what i've gone through nobody's ever gone through. i'm a very legitimate person. i built a great business. based on what they've done, i would have every right to go after them. >> just the latest example of sean hannity trying to lead trump to the right answer and trump just won't go there. joining us now congressional reporter for the hill. good to see you. so let's talk about this plot for revenge. we've heard trump's rhetoric, but there's also on capitol hill which you cover speaker johnson has outlined some measures he'd like to put in place as well. tell us what that might be but also how some republicans are staying quiet. tell us who they are, too. >> jonathan, it's not just some of former president trump's closest allies outside of government but some of his most loyal foot soldiers inside of washington are also trying to respond to his conviction last week. speaker mike johnson is sort of leading that push within the house republican conference. just this week he rollout what he called a, quote, three pronged approach to go after the justice system, go after the doj in the wake of trump's guilty verdict. and essentially what this looks like is, "a," affecting the justice system through the appropriations process. "b," through different legislation that's put on the floor. and "c," through oversight, and we're already seeing johnson and other republicans put these three ideas into play. last week house judiciary committee chairman jim jordan demanded that alvin bragg, the manhattan d.a., and another prosecutor who was on the hush money case appeared before lawmakers and testify next week. and then we also saw jim jordan fire off a letter to tom cole who's the chairman of the house appropriations committee, making a whole swath of requests as we head into the fiscal year 2025 appropriations process, which includes provisions like defunding the fbi, cutting off funding for federal -- for state prosecutors who republicans say are involved in, quote, law fare and other federal prosecutors who they accuse of being involved in those same efforts. so we're already seeing this develop up on capitol hill now. as you noted it's not a overwhelming sentiment felt among republicans. there are a number of vulnerable house republicans, those who are in districts that president biden won back in 2020 who are definitely being way more measured in their approach saying that, you know, they're going to respect the ending result if there's an appeal or whether this is the final product they will respect it. some republicans, though, just completely staying silent. again, the overwhelming majority of folks are of this camp that believe that the verdict needs to be responded to. speaker johnson's leading that push. >> yeah, some pretty dangerous rhetoric there. we should note some polls suggest slight movement towards president biden after the conviction of "the new york times" which resurveyed voters they had talked to before showing a 2-point shift to the incumbent. let's talk about the president's executive order on the border, which he unveiled earlier this week. some say, look, something needs to happen here and they blamed republicans for killing that bipartisan bill earlier in the year. give us the gop reaction to what republicans did? >> republicans have been basically united this is political stunt president biden is doing as we get closer to november because he knows that he has a real problem on his hands, that being the situation at the southern border. you've seen poll after poll show that, "a," the border and immigration is of most concern to voters. in april gallop found that to be the top concern to voters for the third month in a row. and then subsequently polls have shown voters simply trust former president trump more than biden on the border. so republicans are essentially saying that democrats have read this polling. they believe democrats think something has to be done, but they're calling it a disingenuous attempt and too little, too late. >> congressional reporter for the hill, thank you as always. we're going to take a live look now back to normandy where president biden commemorating the d-day anniversary, the president and first lady jill biden meeting with some veterans on this, the 80th anniversary of the storming of the beaches that helped liberate france and then europe from nazi germany. we'll of course continue to keep an eye on the president and the ceremonies there in france. next up we'll also go live to cnbc for an early look what's driving wall street after the record close on the s&p. plus europe's central bank appears to slash interest rates for the first time in two years. we'll dig into whether the fed could follow suit back home. "way too early" will be right back. t back home. "way too early" will be right back ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. are you still struggling with your bra? it's time for you to try knix. makers of the world's comfiest wireless bras. for revolutionary support without underwires, and sizes up to a g-cup, find your new favorite bra today at knix.com power e*trade's easy-to-use tools, like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis, help make trading feel effortless. and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market. e*trade from morgan stanley with powerful, easy-to-use tools, power e*trade makes complex trading easier. react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity. e*trade from morgan stanley time now for business, and for that let's bring in cnbc's arabile gumede who joins us live from london. arabile, good morning. stock futures appeared little changed at this hour after the s&p 500 notched a new record closing high. give us a sense what's driving the market? >> yeah, well, if you want to find something that actually is the key driver toward this market movement it really is about tech stocks. we have looked at the magnificent seven being quite key, but actually it's all about nvidia sucking out all the air from this market. amidst a passing $3 trillion in market cap. then by the end of the trading picture, actually, even surpassed the valuation of apple. now nvidia is the second largest stock in the world with only microsoft in its peer review. at this rate who knows how soon it will surpass microsoft. the big question had been about demand as well as supply into the market of those a.i. semiconductors and chips then the market is looking towards. and what the runway looks like with inviv yud having recently launched another set of chips the market has said the runway for nvidia looks positive. >> hitting a couple other headlines now, hiring by u.s. private employers slowed more than expected. >> perhaps there is a bit of softness, tightness happening in the labor market and 152,000 jobs created ultimately in the month of may versus the 175,000 that was anticipated and the month of april, it kind of tells you there is some sense of slowing, but the adp chief economist actually shows there's pukts of weakness, not necessarily wholesale weakness on this data point. it may not be necessarily the only data pointthality matters, but it does come ahead of the job numbers and employment figures participating a lot on friday. that may also be another data point to give a clearer picture whether the federal reserve will be cutting interest rates anytime soon or what the path will certainly look like. >> arabile, a quick last question. the european central bank expected to announce today its first interest rate cut in five years. give us a quick sense of the latest there. >> ultimately the most telegraphed move you could pretty much say from the european central bank to cut interest rates by 25 basis points, but the devil's in the detail, right? it will not just be about this movement but what happens in the future, and have they fought inflation sufficiently so and there's all meaning they'll have to cut continuously for the remainder of the year. >> our thanks to cnbc's arabile gumede who joins us live from london, and across the english channel we can take another live look at the ceremonies in normandy, president biden, first lady jill biden, standing with a world war ii veteran, a d-day veteran who stood up from his wheelchair to the pose for this photograph on this the 80th anniversary of that famous battle. up next we'll bring you more moments of reflection on the pivotal moment that freed france and then europe. we'll be right back. d france and then europe. we'll be right back. assed, his risk of a second attack hasn't. mike is still living in the red. with a very high risk of another heart attack or stroke. he doesn't know with his risk factors his ldl-c (bad cholesterol) is still too high - the recommended level is below 55. are you living in the red? get in the know. learn how to get a free ldl-c test at attackheartdisease.com. wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. facts. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant for clinically proven odor protection everywhere. so i smell great all day, all hike, and all night. secret whole body deodorant. here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. welcome back. more live pictures from france where president biden and the first lady meeting with several u.s. veterans who have come back for the 80th anniversary, returning to the beaches of normandy to mark this d-day remembrance. and these heroes received a welcome when they arrived. they were young men, many just teenagers when they thought to drive out nazi german forces. nbc's kelly cobiella spoke to some of them. >> what do you think, floyd? >> i think it's good to be home. >> floyd was 103. dick turns 100 in the fall. floyd flew above giving cover. >> to me it looked like every ship and boat in the world was right out there. >> dead bodies were already washing ashore. >> joining us now best selling author and pulitzer prize finalist garret graph in his new book which bears the title an oral history of d-day. vivid remembrances like those we just heard. garret, good to see you this morning. we of course all know d-day is the day that really turned the tide in world war ii, but let's take a step back. remind our viewers just how dire the situation was in the war before those allied troops arrived in normandy and what would have happened if they failed. >> yeah, d-day of course is one of the most significant days in certainly the 20th century but arguably all of western history, that this is a moment whereas you said the allies began to turn the tide and launched an invasion, probably the most audacious human event ever undertaken, more than a million allied personnel in motion across england and across the english channel that day, to launch an invasion that was unlike any other in human history, an invasion not to seize or to conquer but to liberate. the cause those veterans fought for that day is among i think the most noble causes humans have ever fought. >> so let's -- tell us a little bit about what the situation -- describe just how bad the fighting or how fierce the fighting was and how difficult those first few hours on the beaches were. >> yeah, you know, this week was the 80th anniversary i think is such a poignant moment because it marks not just the 80th anniversary obviously but also in many ways the final passing of this greatest generation, this generation that stood up for democracy, defended the free world against the totalitarian nazi regime and liberated the continent of europe. but it was a huge event. you know, it was a million people, 167,000 troops landed on those five normandy beaches, some of them under withering fire. there'll be ceremonies later today in bedford, virginia, at the national d-day memorial, a small town in virginia that bore the highest per capita toll of any on d-day, that their unit, the federalized national guard, company "a" of the 116th infantry landed on omaha beach, 230 members of company "a" left the troop ships that morning, and just 18 made it unscathed through the day. >> just remarkable example of the heroism and sacrifice that day, as you say one of the most important in human history. we're so grateful you could be on with us today. the new book when the sea came alive, an oral history of d-day. garret, thank you again. >> always a pleasure. nextearly," the donald trump veep stakes heating up. who is reportedly on his short list of running mates. we'll talk to our friend eugene robinson about that. coming up on "morning joe," antony blinken will join the conversation live from normandy on this, the 80th anniversary of d-day. plus, we'll take a deeper look at how donald trump and his republican allies are pushing to make revenge and retribution a big part of their agenda were trump to win again this november. and later, actor and rock 'n' roll hall of fame munition stevie van zandt will be live in studio with a look at the new documentary about his legendary life, including touring with bruce springsteen and starring on the hit show "the sopranos." you won't want to miss that. 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(♪♪) are you still struggling with your bra? it's time for you to try knix. makers of the world's comfiest wireless bras. for revolutionary support without underwires, and sizes up to a g-cup, find your new favorite bra today at knix.com welcome back. the search for a presumptive gop nominee donald trump's running mate appears to be ramping up. sources close to the campaign telling nbc news the list has been narrowed down to jd vance, marco rubio, doug burgum, and tim scott. all received vetting materials from the trump campaign. the decision is expected to be made before the republican national convention which kicks off in milwaukee on july 15th. in another trump-related development, in a newly released campaign video, the former president is doubling down on his claim that if he is re-elected, russian president vladimir putin will reveal imprisoned american journalist evan gershkovich. >> evan gershkovich, the reporter for the "wall street journal" who is being held by russia, will be released almost immediately after the election but definitely before i assume office. he will be home. he will be safe. vladimir putin, president of russia, will do that for me. i don't believe he'll do it for anyone else. we will be paying nothing. biden likes to pay massive numbers. we will be paying nothing. >> the 32-year-old gershkovich has been jailed on espionage charges since 2023. the accusation has been thoroughly denied by the u.s. government. joining us now, columnist and associate editor of "the washington post," as well as an msnbc political analyst, eugene robinson. let's start there. >> yeah. >> just how dangerous and blatant is thissending to vladi putin? >> well, it's obscene. it is absolutely obscene and disgusting that he would use this as some sort of a campaign ploy. you know, the obvious question is, okay, if you could get vladimir putin to release evan, do it. do it now. the idea that, oh, yeah, well, if you just vote for me, i will get him home, it's just obscene. that's the only word for it. and either, you know -- it does raise the question of what sort of communication he might or might not be having with vladimir putin, but he's probably making it all up, sending a signal to putin not to release evan until after the election. >> yeah. i totally agree. just reprehensible is another word that pops to mind. >> that's a good word. >> eugene, let's talk about sort of the washington story of the moment. "wall street journal" had a report suggesting that debehind closed doors, joe biden showing signs of age, of slippage. the white house fiercely pushed back, saying there are lots of democrats saying, sure, president biden is 81 but just fine to do the job. give us your analysis of this storyline that they thought was gone. >> i'm not a media critic. i try not to do that. i don't like naval gazing. but in this case, i will point out that, while the story says the reporters did speak with democrats who somehow shared this idea of biden slipping, in fact, it does not quote any democrats by name as saying that, and it fails to quote a number of democrats who were spoken to by the reporters who said the opposite. so i'm not going to -- you know, "wall street journal" is a great newspaper and has high standards, but i think, you know, a story quoting a whole bunch of republicans saying joe biden has lost more than a step is not -- it's not worthy of generating a tempest over. it's not news. that's a campaign line. that's a line of attack that the republican party has used all along. if there is a revelation there to be made, i don't think they have made it. >> yeah. polls suggest, look, some voters do care about president biden's age, but also, donald trump a couple years younger, a birthday next week. we have played time and time again here in the mornings the shines of his -- >> yeah, and complete incoherence at times. >> yeah. >> by trump. we certainly do that story, just with publicly available clips of trump. >> yeah, exactly. exactly right. eugene, let's close on your thoughts for the d-day anniversary. the sacrifices of 80 years ago but also how current and important it is now in a europe once again shadowed by war. president biden going to stress the need for alliances. >> this seems like a really, really important anniversary. number one, because of what is going on in europe. this land war, the biggest land war since world war ii. putin's attempt to concur ukraine, to swallow ukraine, and the threat that europeans feel in other countries from, you know, russia. that's one moment. the other thing is what's happening in the united states. this pivotal election we have coming up, the divisions in our country, and, you know, what i've been thinking about the last couple days and may write about today is, you know, the country had divisions before. the country was divided before world war ii in a whole lot of ways. in some of those ways, much worse than it is divided now. and we did manage to come together for this incredible achievement of winning the biggest war that there ever was. so maybe we should just keep everything in perspective. >> let's hope you are right. we're looking at live footage from normandy and will hear from the president later

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