Transcripts For MSNBC Meet the Press 20241001

Values of fairness, dignity, and opportunity. With just five weeks to Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump make their pitch to voters on the economy and immigration with strikingly different approaches. He prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem. You have to get them the hell out. You have to get them out. Whose message is resonating in this final sprint . Steve kornacki has the results of the latest poll. Plus, faceoff. Are you better off now than you were four years ago . Senator Jd Vance and Tim Walz get ready to meet for the Vice President ial debate this week. This is not about power. This is about public service. Will the Vp Nominees have the last word before Election Day . My guests this morning, republican Senator Marco Rubio of florida and democratic Senator Mark kelly of arizona an wrongfully convicted man and the 20year journey that changed both of their lives. I am not an anomaly. There are hundreds of thousands of wrongfully convicted people on this earth, and they are suffering. Joining me for Insight And Analysis are Nbc News senior white House Correspondent kelly odonnell. Telemundo news anchor, julio vaqueiro. Former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, and Danielle Pletka of the american enterprise institute. Welcome to sunday, its Meet The Press. Announcer from Nbc News in washington, the longest running show in television history. This is Meet The Press with kristen welker. Good sunday morning. There are only five weeks until Election Day, and on Tuesday Night, one of the biggest moments of the campaign, the debate between the Vice President ial nominee and with no second debate scheduled between former President Trump and Vice President harris, the stakes could not be higher. The problem with Kamala Harris is that shes got no substance. The problem with Kamala Harris is that shes got no plan, and the problem with Kamala Harris is that she has been the Vice President for three and a half years and has failed this country. Lets send her back to San Francisco where she belongs. He admitted to creating stories about people that live in his state, immigrant families, to spread fear and drum up hatred. Theyre probably not telling the truth about a lot of things if theyre not telling the truth about that. The Vice President ial faceoff comes against a fraught backdrop both nationally and on the world stage. At the forefront, the assassination of longtime Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah in beirut On Friday. Nbc news has learned that officials in the biden administration felt blindsided by the strikes according to current and former u. S. Officials. Across the nation, helene has left devastation from georgia and beyond. Millions are without power and dozens have been killed and the Death Toll is still rising. On the campaign trail, both nominees blanketed key battleground states. Vice president harris making her first trip to the border as the nominee again attacking former President Trump for killing a bipartisan border deal. It should be in effect today, producing results in real time right now for our country, but Donald Trump tanked it. He picked up the phone and called some friends in congress and said stop the bill because, you see, he prefers to run a problem instead of fixing a problem. For his part, former President Trump is escalating his rhetoric against migrants and attacking the Vice President. I will stop all migrant flights immediately. They should stop them tonight. She can do that. Just sign one little page saying stop the migrant flights, but she wont do that. Theyre infecting our country. Shes taken the worst of those people, the killers, the jailbirds, all of the worst of the people, shes taken Them In, and i have to sit there and listen to her [ bleep ] last night. As both candidates focus On Immigration, weve got Brandnew Polling this morning, i am joined by national political correspondent Steve Kornacki to take us through the Nbc News Telemundo Cnbc Poll of latino voters. Steve, break down these numbers for us. Kristen, some interesting stuff. Every four years the latino votes have become a bigger and bigger share. Among latinos our poll shows Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump 54 to 40 . For some context, this is a little bit better for democrats than they were doing among hispanics when Joe Biden was their candidate, but i think the bigger story here is historically. 54 to 40 now is a 14point Advantage for the democrats. Take a look back at the last three president ial elections, and these were the results and the Exit Polls among hispanic voters. That 14, look at that cut there, almost 20 points less than just four years ago and four years ago we were saying Donald Trump had made inroads with hispanic voters and this suggests that that has continued at pace. So what is driving this shift . Well, we see a few big gaps here and a Gender Gap. Familiar with this win certainly. Men tied when it comes to this race and women, a 26point advantage, among hispanic voters here. There is a Gender Gap as we see with polls of overall voters. Also age, a big factor here. Look at this. Voters over 50, hispanic voters over 50, almost a 60point Advantage for harris, and shes barely leading with hispanic voters under 50. In fact, among men under 50, Donald Trump actually leads in our poll by nine points. A Ninepoint Advantage there, and men under 50 for trump and we also see an education divide, and we talk about this a lot, and we talk about the overial pool of voters too. Men without fouryear degrees thats now a doubledigit Trump Conspiracy with our poll and men with degrees and bigger margins among women and we are seeing a bit of the Education Gap and we are seeing a Religion Gap among catholic hispanics, 20 points for harris and protestants for harris, 20 points against Donald Trump. Whats the most important issue we asked in this poll . Abortion clocking in there and Kamala Harris, big advantage, we see that being competent and effective and Kamala Harris leading there, as well and then the biggies. These are the ones the hispanics are saying are the most important to them. The economy. On the border and On Immigration, Donald Trump with a doubledigit advantage, 13 points in our poll when asked who would be better on this issue. Hispanic voters are saying its Donald Trump. That is part of a broader shift here among basic attitudes among hispanic voters toward immigration. When Donald Trump ran in 2016, 69 of hispanics said immigration helps the country more than it hurts. Thats come down to 62. Those who say it hurts more than it helps, all the way up to 35 . Theres something bigger and broader going on here, and i think you can see it finally with this. We asked a basic question of hispanic voters, which party do you more identify with . 37 now say republicans, 49 say democrats, but again, look at how this has shifted in just the last dozen years. In 2012, this was a 41point Advantage for the democrats. Its come all the way down to 12 points, kristen, a 29point Drop in terms of that Gap Thered on whose party do you identify with in just 12 years. It the historical data really tells the tale there. Steve kornacki, thank you so much. You got it. And joining me now is Senator Marco Rubio of florida. Senator rubio, welcome back to Meet The Press. Thank you. We really appreciate your being here. I want to start off with saying our thoughts are with you, everyone in Florida And Everyone impacted by hurricane helene, and i want to start right there. Is florida getting the resources it needs from the federal government and senator, what are your biggest areas of concern right now . Well, in any one of these storms the number one thing you want is getting power back up and the states done a great job and getting the roads open and power is more difficult and it depends on the places. We were at A Million people without power and i dont know what they are this morning, but they had dropped last night. Senior key, and beautiful place, people love going there. Its tough to get there right now, but from all reports its been unfortunately, pretty much wiped out and there are coastal areas some of them facing the third storm in the last 12 months. As far as the resources and its a state obligation. If the state needs anything to get to local communities thats where fema comes in and then were hoping to get a major declaration here today from the White House that will open up individual assistance to more counties so people who have been displaced and have nowhere to live will qualify at the individual level for assistance in the short term while they get their lives back together and obviously our thoughts are also with people in georgia and across the southeast, too, have also been impacted by the storm as it made its way through those states as well. And, again, our thoughts are and Recovery Mission continues. Senator, let me turn to the other big news this weekend. Of course, out of the middle east, the revelation that israel has killed hezbollah, confirming its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. Nbc news confirmed this morning that israel used a u. S. Made 2,000pound bomb in the strike that killed him. You are Vice Chair of the intelligence committee. How do you expect iran to respond, and how concerned are you that this could ultimately lead to a wider conflict between israel and iran, senator . Well, i think if nasrallah were still alive the threat of a broader conflict is even higher. This is the guy that cheerfully said death to America And Death to israel. If someone runs an organization that exists for the specific and defined purpose of destroying you, you have no choice but to treat that person as an enemy and this is a guy thats spent years cheering on Suicide Bombings that killed innocents and killed israelis. There are 60,000 israelis who for almost a year have had to leave their homes in northern israel and have had to live in hotels in tel aviv, and their kids are going online in conference rooms because nasrallah was used antitank weapons, not guided missiles, but antitank weapons. What country can have 60,000 people permanently displaced and thats what this issue with hezbollah is all about so they cant be using these shoulderfired rockets to target cities and civilian communities so people can move back to their homes and hezbollah refuses to pull back. It continues with those attacks, and so israel has no choice but to defend itself. Wiping out not just nasrallah, but the senior organization is a service to humanity. Do you think iran is going to retaliate . Iran is looking to constant lie hurt israel, and theyre looking for the last shia militia member. Their goal is to dominate that region. They seek to drive america out of the region and then destroy israel and so any time the iranian regime is on defense its good for the world, good for america and good for israel. It will be up to the iranians to decide what they will do, but i will tell you that i believe they will find themes in a precarious situation if they do escalate this on their part. Let me ask you about former President Trumps policies as it relates to iran. Just this week he signaled he was open to potentially trying to strike a deal with iran. Of course, he vowed to do that during the first administration when he ripped up the iran nuclear deal when he did have guardrails to prevent iran from developing a nuclear weapon. Trump said that didnt go far enough and he wanted a better deal and thats why he ripped it up and take a listen to what he had to say, senator. At a certain Point Theyll call me and say lets make a deal. No preconditions. No. They want to meet well neat any time we want. Well help Them In any way we can, but they cant have a nuclear weapon. We must also make a deal that allows iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous, untapped potential. Senator, why didnt he get a deal done and why should americans have confidence that he would be able to get a deal in a second administration . Well, he may not because thats up to iran. Look, if the iranian regime tomorrow said well stop trying to become a regional power and well stop sponsoring terrorism, were going to stop trying to kill you, which is what theyre trying to do with Donald Trump, we will stop all of these things, and theoretically, yes, of course, you can work something out, and i think thats just unlikely because thats the Dranking Mission and purple of the rejeemg. I think one of the things he says in that statement which points to something very clearly is the iranian people are nothing like the regime. I know a few countries in the world whose leaders and people are more different. The iranian people are not seeking to be a regional, hegemonic power and not seeking to sponsor terrorism and there are people arguing with the problems they have at home why are they spending money on Shia Militias and Terrorism And Hezbollah and helping hamas and building Terrorist Networks in the West Bank . Ideally, thats the world wed love to live in and if the opportunity presents itself who wouldnt take it . We have a world where iran has unlimited resources to continue to sponsor terrorism, build the nuclear capabilities and build these longrange rockets and missiles that have developed in the last few years that threaten not just israel and the entire region, but ultimately the united states. Senator, just following up on that point a little bit, iran has been supplying russia including drones and shortrange ballistic missiles and yet Donald Trump will not say that he wants ukraine to win the war. Are you concerned about the message that that sends to Vladimir Putin and the Supreme Leader . No, because unfortunately im not on russias side, but unfortunately, the reality of it is that the war with ukraine will end is with a negotiated settlement and i want, and i believe Donald Trump wants ukraine to have more leverage in that negotiation, i think he will preserve what he says. He approaches these things as someone not in politics and diplomacy, but as someone with a background in business. Its not an easy thing to do, but at least there is a defined goal. The biden administration has not defined what victory means in ukraine, and if you pressed them, they tell you what i have said to you. The way this conflict ultimately ends is with a negotiation. I dont know why we cant just say that and we hope that when that time comes there is more leverage on the ukrainian side than on the russian side. That really is the goal here in my mind, and i think thats what Donald Trump is trying to say, but he will say it like a businessman. But Biden Wont even tell us what victory is. You say negotiated settlement. Heres what Senator Jd Vance said. He said, effectively, that he would like a peaceful settlement that, quote, looks something like the current line of demarcation between Russia And Ukraine that becomes like a demilitarized zone. President zelenskyy says that plan is too radical and its basically appeasement, which means that russia gets keep the claim to the land it has illegally obtained. Do you think thats right . The deal will be up to the parties when they negotiated. Zelenskyy is not going to come out and say from a Negotiating Standpoint and predetermine it and he wouldnt want to describe what it looks like at the front end, but we as americans are investing billions of dollars into this effort and its important that as we invest this money into this effort, we tell the Mesh Taxpayer this is what the money is going toward. Ultimately its not endless war, right . Were almost out of time. Just to be clear, would you be comfortable accepting the current lines of demarcation as Senator Vance seems to be . I would be comfortable with a deal that ends these hostilities and that i think is favorable to ukraine, meaning that they have their own sovereignty and theyre not a Puppet State is that a no, senator . Is that a what . Is that a no . Im not going to prejudge any agreement. The ukrainians dont want to live in a country where the russians claim for example, crimea. Whats going on with crimea . They stole it in 2014 in the first invasion. You have to ask the obama people why that happened under their watch, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that Hostilities End and ukraine can go back to rebuilding its chi. Millions of people have had to leave their country, and that has been devastating to them. Negotiation will be up to them, and i just want them to have more leverage than putin. This will be one of the big topics on the Debate Stage tuesday mine. Senator marco rubio, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. When we come back, democratic senator of Arizona Mark Kelly joins me next. Izona Mark Kelly joins me next f arizo. F arizo. [coughs] when caroline has a cough, she takes robitussin. So, she can have those one on ones again. 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And joining me now is democratic Senator Mark kelly of arizona. Senator kelly, welcome back to Meet The Press. Thank you for having me on, kristen. Its great to have you back. I do want to start with the middle east, the death of Hezbollahs Leader Hassan Nasrallah. You just heard me discussing this with Senator Marco Rubio. Are you bracing for iran to retaliate . Well, i think the idf sent a powerful message to hezbollah, and i was listening to what Senator Rubio had said, and i couldnt agree with him more. Israel needs to get its population back to the northern border, and this has been a really challenging situation theyve been faced with, and theyve got to, you know, do something about it, and its good nasrallah is dead. Hes a terrorist, and hes killed so many innocent people, and that needs to be addressed, that it has been addressed, and the iranians, theyre involved in this already through the houthis and other proxies and through hezbollah. So i think the message has been sent and my hope is that there is not further conflict in the northern part of israel. I want to talk to you about big picture a little bit, senator, the way in which israel has been conducting this war. You and i discussed this back in may, and heres what you told me. They have to do a better job. I want to see some changes here, and ive talked to the ambassador, the israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog about this specifically that if we dont see some changes i think it is appropriate to put conditions on some of this aid. You told me there, senator, israel has to do a better job. Have they since you first told me that back in may . Well, we continue to have this discussion with the israelis. I talked to israeli leadership about this and have made it very clear to them that the types of weapons they use and where they use them it matters and it matters a lot. This a dense, urban environment. Ive my background as a naval aviator flying in combat over iraq and kuwait, its a challenging situation to be able to talk out a target where there is a civilian population, but this is a terrorist organization theyre dealing with. Hamas is responsible for initiating this conflict with what happened about a year ago on october 7th. So we continue to talk to our allies, israel, about how theyre conducting this operation. Hey, you know, civilian loss of life is tragic wherever it happens, and, you know, the palestinian people that live in gaza, theyre not hamas. There are hamas terrorists there that israel is focused on eliminating because they cannot have this threat so close to their border. Senator but its a continuous discussion. Senator, you said just to be clear its important to put conditions on that aid if you dont see some changes. It sounds like you are not at that point yet where you want to see aid conditioned. Do i hear you accurately . Yeah. Thats correct. We continue to talk to them. Ive seen some positive responses with them when i have specifically asked them to do things differently. Heres an example. I mean, the use of guided munition with a a mark 80 Series Bomb, you can hit a target very accurately. If youre using naval Gun Fire that doesnt work so well. Ive had those discussions. We see more use of guided munitions, jdams and we continue to provide those weapons. That 2,000pound bomb that was used, thats a Mark 84 Series Bomb to tack out nasrallah. That was a guided im pretty confident that was a guided weapon that was used in that case. Let me ask you about another topic. You were with Vice President Kamala Harris when she visited the border On Friday. Harris has said she would extend president bidens actions that restrict asylum and would ramp up prosecutions against those who crossed the border illegally. Do you support those actions, senator . I was with the Vice President a couple of days ago at the border and it was great to have her there and it was a good trip. She got to meet with elected leaders and talked about these issues specifically and how it affects arizona, the state of arizona. Hey, shes a prosecutor. Shes a border senator, a border attorney general. She knows how to handle these issues. The Executive Actions that the White House took, they had to take these Executive Actions because Donald Trump told senate republicans that they were not allowed to work out a deal with democrats. We actually had the deal and then he told them that they had to walk away from this because Donald Trump doesnt want to solve this problem. He just wants to talk about problems. So, yeah. I mean, shes prepared on Day One to deal with this issue. She said she would sign that legislation into law. Its up to us in the senate, myself, Senator Rubio, and others to bring that legislation back and send it to her desk. Let me read to you what some immigrant rights groups are saying. As you know, they sued the biden administration for restricting asylum saying these policies are cruel and ineffective. What is your response to those who argue that Vice President harris actions would seriously infringe on the right to asylum and that they are inhumane . Let me first start with whats inhumane, and thats Donald Trump taking children away from their parents. Thats not the situation here. I mean, she is trying to manage and will try to manage a situation at a southern border that often gets chaotic and can get to a crisis level, and thats not safe for migrants. Its not safe for Border Patrol agents, and its not safe for the communities in southern arizona. So shes committed to working on this issue, and thats why shes meeting with the sheriff two days ago and republican mayors in the area. We had some productive conversations, and shes ready to deal with this on Day One. Senator, let me ask you about the economy. Of course, the Vice President also put a focus on that, saying she would raise corporate taxes to pay for her economic plans, and experts estimate her plans can cost about a trillion dollars, and the nonpartisan Tax Foundation said raising the corporate Tax Rate, which harris has proposed, will cost jobs, hurt wages, and hurt economic growth. Do you support raising the corporate Tax Rate to 28 . Well, i think it got lowered too much under Donald Trumps Tax Plan where he also, by the way, gave a giant Tax Cut to billionaires like himself. Is that a yes, senator . Is that a yes . I think its worth looking at. Donald trump added trillions of dollars to the deficit. His project 2025 plan is going to raise costs for families 4,000. According to economists this isnt coming from me. According to economists, its going to trigger a recession, high inflation, costs are going to go up for the american people. Thats Donald Trumps plan. Kamala harris is focused on bringing down costs for americans and american families on Child Care and healthcare, on prescription drugs. She cares about families. Donald trump cares about billionaires. Hes made that perfectly clear in the last administration. And i expect his plan, project 2025, pretty much says hes going to double down on what he did previously. All right. Senator Mark Kelly, thank you so much for your insights this morning, we really appreciate it. When we come back, just five weeks until Election Day, and the race is still neck and neck. The panel is next to brick it all down. The panel is next to brick it all down llows others to earn their very liberal rates on idle cash, unlimited Deposit Bonuses and handsome Retirement Matching . They would descend into chaos. Merciless chaos. Welcome back. The Panel Sell here. Nbc news senior white House Correspondent kelly odonnell. Julio vaqueiro of noticias telemundo, former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Danielle Pletka, Senior Fellow of the american enterprise institute. Thanks to all of you for being here, a lot to unpack. Kelly, let me start with you. The Vice President trying to take on her biggest vulnerabilities we saw that in the polling that we just unveiled today on the economy, On Immigration. She was at the border for the first time as a candidate. What do you make of her strategy . What do you expect moving forward . Theyre making a very intentional strategy to take on some of these vulnerabilities have a Counter Message that is aggress of so theyre now looking at immigration as public safety. Republicans view it that way and they are trying to do that, so you hear the Vice President talking about more Border Agents and more technology, drones and equipment to help and also the Border Bill that she wants to tie to former President Trump and to make him be responsible for that bipartisan bill not going forward. So looking for ways, they believe from other elections that have shown them to take a message that might be a vulnerability and to get aggressive about it and so we see that specifically On Immigration and to some degree on the economy too. Julio, its a fascinating strategy because of course, our polling tells the tale in part of why this is a vulnerability for the Vice President. Trump gets higher marks with latinos on the issue of immigration. Harris is still leading with latinos broadly, but not nearly as much as we have seen with candidates. In 2016 trump won by 40 points with latinos. I think that is the headline. Weve seen this latino support to democrats coming down, and i mean, latinos are such a complex, dynamic, diverse group. Its difficult to understand that. I sometimes wonder if theres such thing as the latino vote. Its such a diverse group. They are losing support. Democrats are losing support and they should be concerned and this is an erosion since Donald Trump came into play. Latinos are becoming a very important group because they live in Swing States and also this shift On Immigration that you are talking about, kelly, Vice President harris not talking about an Immigration Reform from a democratic perspective and i remember being at the republican convention talking to the latino delegates on the floor, holding those signs, we all remember, mass deportations now. Asking them what they thought about it. Most of them dont feel President Trump is talking about them when he talks about migrants contaminating the blood in the country. Secretary johnson, how do you see this issue playing out with the Vice President at the border . You know, julio makes a good point that this conversation for democrats used to revolve around a path to citizenship ask certainly under the Obama Admin strigs that was the focus, and it has shifted, and shes talking about Enforcement And Border security. Its amazing to me how the equilibrium on this issue has shifted dramatically to the right where the dominant discussion around immigration is on border security. I think that the message she sent On Friday was im a former Law Enforcement officer. Ive spent much of my career as a Law Enforcement officer, i will enforce the law. I will do what it takes to secure the border, but fundamentally two things have to be true at once, two Policy Objectives that have to be true at once. One, secure the border, but also be fair and humane when it comes to people who are here, people who have lived here, brought here as children, who have been here for decades, who are day facto americans, lets give them an opportunity to be accountable, and lets take care of the daca recipients. And two things have to be true at once, and shes doing an effective job at blunting any suggestion among Swing Voters that she would be soft when it comes to border security. Dani, how do you see this playing out, including and particularly on the Debate Stage Tuesday Night where this will undoubtedly be a big topic. Right. This is a topic where the republicans are leading even with latinos which to me, i have to say about this poll and we were talking about this in the green room before. I love this poll because it really suggests to me that this is not this is not a separate part of our country. This is not some separate group. These are americans. They have views just like theres no difference in this dei world where we wanted to separate people out by race, color, origin. I just love that this is a melting pot poll, so that first. Second of all, look, i think for Kamala Harris, and obviously by inference also for Tim Walz this is going to be a really big challenge because where has she been for the last three and a half years . This is her border crisis. She is the Vice President of the united states. The number of nondetained immigrants in the country is twice the number. We are talking about 7. 4 million people in this country right now, and we can we can throw kalamanys around about who they are and what they are, but the statistics that were shared with congress just last week about the number of criminals, murderers. Theyre not all criminals, theyre not all murderers and they did not all come in under biden and harris, but twice the number is unacceptable and thats why people are upset. Dhs said some of those stat goes back as far as 40 years, but, kelly, dani really makes the point about why the stakes are so high on Tuesday Night including for Tim Walz who quite frankly, hasnt been in that many unscripted events. What are you hearing about how theyre prepping . The Expectation Setting is starting for sure. Tuesday night will be a big, big moment. What advisors say is that it is not the kind of divisive or decisive might be divisive, that you have with the top of the ticket, but for vp candidates, it is an opportunity to talk about themselves and the top of the ticket. What the Walz Side is saying is that Governor Walz who did debate a gubernatorial candidate has not done as many as Jd Vance, who seems quite comfortable in the pugilistic debate for mate, and that it is not a place even though hes done some not a place where he is at ease. So part of what they say is to expect hes been working with pete buttigieg, whos playing with Jd Vance with prep, and they expect Jd Vance will come out and be part common Sense And Part throw the hard punches. And what they want Governor Walz to do is to talk about his vision and mostly to talk about Kamala Harris and give the country a chance to get an insight into the differing visions and not to fact check him and almost have their separate messages because it is a rare opportunity when millions will be watching. And we know that Jd Vance has been prepping vigorously as well, and he has komer who Tom Emmer im sorry, playing the role of walz. Are what are you hearing and what are you going to be watching for . Just to mention, these two candidate are not as well known. This is an opportunity to present themselves to the country. Ive been talking to voters across the country. I was in nevada the other day, and asking them about the economy and what they thought about the policies that the candidates were talking about when it came to the economy. Most of them didnt really know what each candidate was proposing. So and they want to know, so i think these debates are really good opportunities for them to talk about the issues and how they are going to improve peoples lives in four years. Secretary johnson, with the minute or so that we have left, all of this comes against the backdrop, this horrifying backdrop, these two Assassination Attempts against former President Trump. You, obviously, in your former role oversaw the Secret Service. There was now a report dod, as well. So youve seen it from both sides. Theres now been a report that basically says things were missed. There were some massive mistakes made. What do you make of this moment and where we are . With some perspective, so July 13th was cataclysmic failure. Rule one is communications. Everybody has to be on the same frequency when you are protecting someone. Secret service is in charge, but you have to be with the same frequency with Law Enforcement and that was a failure. The incident on the golf course, the agent did his job. The agent spotted this gunman and fired at him. Larger picture, we have to remember that the Secret Service has to bat A Thousand every single day. This past week they just pulled off unga, a massive Security Operation and from all appearances what they did was flawless. All right. Thank you all so much, and i appreciate the great conversation ahead of the vp debate. When we come back, what will be the impact of the Vice President ial debate . Our meet the Press Minute has some answers next. Announcer what if you could whiten your teeth by simply brushing your teeth . Now you can with smileactives, the Teeth Whitening breakthrough that safely gets your teeth white and keeps them white every day just by brushing your teeth. 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Vance will be a decisive moment in a campaign notably short on such direct confrontations, and while some of the Cycles Rhetoric suggests a more personal clash between the candidates, Vice President ial debates werent always marked by this level of tension. In an interview on Meet The Press three days after her debate, Geraldine Ferraro responded to criticism that she wasnt forceful enough in challenging then Vice President george h. W. Bush as questions swirled around president reagans mental fitness. The debate on Thursday Night that viewers say that i was subdued and i should have been feisty, what i wanted to do was i want to convey to the american public who i am and what im about and whether or not i can be a leader. Leave the conclusion to them. On the age thing, thats their conclusion, taking a look at his policies, and taking a look at his performance to determine whether or not he is confident. Thats a conclusion i dont want to draw. What effect do you think the debate had on George Bush from 1988 . I think i think his total support of the president is going to be a bothersome thing for him in 1988. He embraced wholeheartedly the whole rightwing philosophy that has driven this administration over the past four years, and Thats Part of their platform. I think hell have a problem with that in 1988. When we come back, our important conversation about the fight for justice for the wrongfully conviction, author Dan Slepian, author of the sing Sing Files, joins us With Velasquez who was behind bars for more than 18 years. 18 years welcome back. And now a closer look at our Criminal Justice system. Veteran Dateline Producer Dan Slepian first met Jon Adrian Velazquez or jj in 2002 when he was already serving time for a 1998 murder he did not commit. From his cell in sing sing, Jj Aided Slepian in his own investigation until he was granted clemency and released in 2021 after more than two decades in prison. The sing Sing Files one journalist, six innocent men, and a 20year fight for justice tells the deeply personal story of their relationship, their fight to overturn wrongful convictions, and to reform the legal system. I sat down with slepian and velazquez for a meet the Moment Conversation. I didnt know if he was innocent. I didnt know if he was guilty, and i said to him what i say to everybody that says theyre innocent to me. I said, look, i dont know if youre guilty or innocent, i am not your friend, i am not your advocate. All i care about is the truth, and if i find evidence of your guilt, its coming out. Jj, what was it like from your perspective when you first met dan and you heard those words . Initially, you know, its always painful when youre telling the truth to someone and theyre not trying to hear you, right . But its also expected because of the circumstances that i was under. Im being accused for taking a Police Officers or a former Police Officers life, which is one of the most heinous crimes someone can be charged with, and so as a young journalist, which dan was when we first met 22 years ago, you know, i cant expect him to just not know me from anywhere or not have any credible sources and just expect what im saying is the truth, right . So the reality was in that moment as he was saying that, the only thing that i could come up with in my mind was how do i get this guy to really believe that im not playing with this. That im serious. Im innocent, and i need help and so i challenged him to prove me guilty, and thats what caught him. Its not just that youre a singular case. You started covering the wrongful conviction of, again, someone who you were in jail with, David Lemus who was also wrongfully convicted, and you were in disbelief that there could be two people in such close proximity. It was a oneinamillion case, but when i came to my own moral certainty that David Lemus was probably innocent, i visited him at the prison. He was at on Thanksgiving Day on the anniversary for the murder of which he was wrongfully convicted, but i walked into the lobby that day, and i see a woman holding the hands of two little boys, and she stopped me and says, are you dan . I hate to tell this part of the story, bro. Because you can see those two little boys. Yeah. I wasnt there, and i can see them. Jjs older son was on marias right side, Jon Junior and jacob, the Little One was on her left side, he came up to her waist, you know . And i didnt know who these people were, and maria says my son jj, hes innocent, can you help us . And i didnt believe her, but it was the little boy, jacob who looked up at me with these eyes, these huge, beautiful, saucer eyes and i my daughter my Wife Wasnt even pregnant yet and i was about to be a father, and ive known jj longer than ive been a father, and i looked at the boys eyes, and i thought my immediate thought was i dont care if his father is innocent or guilty. This little kid should not be in a prison on thanksgiving morning. That was the beginning for me and what happened from there were letters from jj, and a relationship that ensued that today, 22 years later, i would put myself in front of a train for him, i would take a bullet for him i know its emotional. Hes among the closest people in my life. Jj, and i want to talk about your relationship, but i want to talk about those little boys because from that moment on you were in you were behind bars for another 20 years. What was taken from Them In that time, and how hard was it for you to be away from them . I would say it starts with the fact that what they took from both of us. They took the right to be a father from me, and they took the right to have a father present from them. Our lives were lived in pictures, not in real time. The only real time we had was on visits where you can barely do anything, and for the first ten years of my Childrens Life as a father, im scarred because they spent five days in school and one day in prison, and only had one day to build their social lives, and thats just not the life for a child. They deserved better. Through all of that pain, jj, you never gave up. No. You continued to give every piece of evidence you could to dan for his investigations. You continued to ask for retrial after retrial. You were never granted freedom at that moment. How did you keep going . Hope, purpose. During the early part of my incarceration, i read this book by Viktor Frankl, and it was called Mans Search for meaning its a very thin book, but it was so powerful. It was about Viktor Frankl himself who was at the concentration camps, and he was studying the people around him and what he found was that the people who survived the holocaust survived because they were tied to a Sense Of Purpose, and so that led me to believe that i had to find a Sense Of Purpose while i was in prison and it took a while for me to figure it out, but when my mother approached me on a visit one day and she was just, like, i can see you slipping, i see that youre changing, dont let this Place Change you. You need to grow where youre planted. They can lock up your body, but they Cant Lock up your mind. In 2021 you did learn that Governor Cuomo granted you clemency. This is not a full pardon. So in the eyes of new york, you are still a convicted criminal, but what was that moment like when the gates opened and you walked outside a free man . When that gate opened, my purpose was right in front of me because my family was waiting for me right there. My children, my mother, that was my hope, that was my purpose. I think that as hard as it is for me to swallow what im about to say, ive realized that as much as ive been through, there was a need for me to go through that, to. be in the position that i am in right now, to have this conversation with you, and to be able to touch the world because i am not an anomaly. There are hundreds of thousands of wrongfully convicted people on this earth and they are suffering just like i suffered, and theyre not being heard. You can watch my full meet the Moment Conversation with Dan Slepian and j. J. Velasquez at meetthepress. Com. Jjs case is not over yet. We can report for the first time he will be in Court Tomorrow Morning where a judge is expect is expected to vai indicate his conviction 27 years after his wrongful arrest. Thats all for today. If its sunday, its Meet The Press. Kamala is mentally impaired. If a republican did