skiff at mar-a-lago so the former president can review secret prosecution evidence at his home without having to go to a government facility. our legal experts will weigh in. and the very latest on the utah man fatally shot by fbi agents while trying to serve a search warrant on him after he allegedly threatened the president, the vice president, and manhattan da alvin bragg on line. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. we start in hawaii today where conditions are finally improving at least for the crews battling three powerful wildfires raging still on maui. at least 36 people are dead. officials say that number could soon rise as sunrise begins to reveal the extent of the devastation. survivors described the situation as apocalyptic. >> everyone i know is now homeless. in 36 hours, our town has been burned to ashes, nothing left. >> lahaina appears to have been burned incredibly bad. there are a lot of very terrible stories coming out of there. and i am bracing for the morning. >> unbelievable. it looks like baghdad or something. >> oh, my gosh. look -- oh, my gosh. >> the fast-moving fire took the island of maui by surprise. hospitals are overwhelmed, and 911 services are down in many areas. thousands of tourists and residents are still being evacuated today, including one group that got terrifying close to the flames. >> fire -- go! let's go! >> nbc's dana griffin, that's terrifying. dana, i know you're at one of the shelters on maui. what are people telling you about their escapes? >> reporter: andrea, i literally just spoke to a woman moments ago, she said her home was destroyed. and i asked her, you know, how are you feeling about it. she says, things happen, which is surprisingly such a positive outlook considering so many lives have been lost. pets, historic landmarks, homes destroyed. i mean, right now we are waiting to get an update on just how bad the devastation has been. we know that crews are going out at sunrise which is right now to assess the damage, to continue search and rescue, because as you mentioned the number of fatalities is likely to rise. it's 6:00 a.m. local time, so a lot of people at the shelter are waking up. we've chatted with a few of them. one guy from san diego, he didn't even make it to his hotel because the roads were blocked off. he described the smoke as mountains of smoke just sitting on top of lahaina. and it's really devastating for this tourist community that relies on tourism for the local economy. so it is just a devastating image to see. we are hoping to get an up-close look later when they open up those roads, as far as when people will be allowed back in remains unseen. >> dana griffin, thank you. and our hearts go out to all of those people there. thank you so much, dana. and we have new developments today on the classified documents case in florida and former president trump's co-defendants. they did show up to be arraigned on that superseding indictment stemming from their alleged attempt to destroy mar-a-lago's security video and obstruct government investigators. mr. trump's personal aide, walt nauta, and mar-a-lago property manager de oliveira appeared in court. he did not have a local counsel and had to have his arraignment postponed. the former president waived his right to appear and entered a not guilty plea, as expected, through his legal team. joining me, katie phang outside the courthouse in florida. "new york times" chief white house correspondent peter baker. and former u.s. attorney barbara mccabe. take us through what happened this morning with defendants, the lawyers, judge cannon. and this is another delay. >> reporter: yes, so carlos de oliveira today took a page out of the walt nauta playbook of delay. walt nauta had his arraignment on two separate occasions to obtain counsel. there was a judge from west palm beach who was alongside mr. de oliveira claiming there were details that had to be ironed out before a notice of appearance that would indicate he is permanent counsel of record on behalf of carlos de oliveira. the judge set the arraignment for tuesday, august 15th. if mr. de oliveira fires the paperwork and mr. trump did, de oliveira will not have to appear in court. i will note that not only was the delay sought but the delay was sought to august 25th. why that date? that is the next hearing under the classified information procedures act, cipa, on august 25th, for the motion for protective order. de oliveira's council asked for the reset date. the magistrate date says no way. the judge wants all of the counsel to be situated, all co-defendants to be arraigned prior to august 25th. >> so back on schedule i guess. barbara, previously nauta needed the extra week to find a local attorney. this does come at a critical moment because judge cannon has been criticized for questioning jack smith about using information from the d.c. grand jury as part of his documents case in florida, questioning why there were two grand juries which i think, barbara, to most lawyers was not that surprising given where the evidence is. >> not only is it not surprising, andrea, it's really inappropriate for a judge to be questioning the prosecutor's discretion in using grand juries. this is something that the separation of powers structure of our constitution delegates solely to the executive branch. so it could very well be, for example, that a grand jury in d.c. is investigating someone who lied to the grand jury there. that would be completely appropriate. and i think that jack smith needs to very politely, it's awkward, but politely tell the judge to bud out of these executive branch matters. >> peter, there's another surprising twist from the trump lawyers. they request to re-establish a skiff or really rather to build one now because they have to be updated all the time, to review the classified documents at the same location, at his residence basically, where trump allegedly concealed them from investigators. but you know, i guess trump -- from his perspective not to have to go into a government facility, so that he could basically do it at home. where does that stand? >> yeah. he's a former president. he's asking for an accommodation that an ordinary defendant wouldn't get. i don't know that that's incredibly important issue, but it is one more way of delaying things. the more requests like this you make, the more issues you raise, the more, you know, controversies or requests you make, you push it further and further down the road. i think that's the strategy. we've seen asked for a judge to be recused, ask for a change of venue, ask for a skiff in your own place. whatever it is, you just throw out anything you have the legal ability to throw out and see if that can't come up the -- gum up the works. it is important that any examination documents be protected. as we've seen, the whole point of the case is he had them in mar-a-lago without having a skiff or secure facility. he had them in the ballroom, in the bathroom. if he had only asked for a skiff from the beginning and asked for permission to have these documents, he wouldn't be in the trouble he's in now. >> or turn them over when they were first subpoenaed. barbara, the special counsel issued a search warrant for donald trump's twitter account. than unusual in this kind of case, but twitter fought against it. they wouldn't turn it over, they missed a deadline. they had to pay a $350,000 fine. so what do you think they're looking for in his twitter account since his tweets would be public and accessible. are they looking for direct messages? what do you think's going on there? >> they could be looking for any of those things. what i think is they are looking for evidence that could be presented at trial. so you know, you can't just grab a screen shot off your own phone and say this was donald trump's tweet. you have to be able to authenticate it. the best way is to get the official records from twitter, get a custodian of records to say yes i reviewed the records and those are the accounts assigned to donald trump. it is routine, and the fact that twitter resisted producing this is really surprising to me. if these search warrants are done every day in all kinds of cases, it remains to be seen why donald trump received this special treatment. >> let me ask you about the skiff, as well, because they are updated all the time. they have to be managed by the intelligence community. does the federal judge have the right to make an order that he get a skiff, or does that have to come from the executive branch? >> yeah, skiffs are certified by the cia and the director of national intelligence. so i don't know that the judge can even order this. but strikes me as just another delay ploy. knowing that this request will be denied, which i think is absolutely, 100% likely, it will then build in donald trump's argument, well, okay then, have it your way. now i guess we have to go into the skiff at the fbi, at the courthouse every time i want to look at documents, i can only do it during the hours of the:to 5:00 -- 9:00 to 5:00. it will take months to go over the documents. this is part of strategic messaging to build in more delay. >> thanks to all of you. and close call. an alleged assassination plot against president biden ending in a shootout hours before the president's event nearby. that's next. 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[ applause ] we tried that with him in 2016. all of us ignored his insults. you have to fight him on the truth. when he lies, we need to fight him because to ignore him is to ascend to his lies. >> so robert gibbs, a 15-year-old quoting michelle obama to chris christie. one recent new hampshire poll had him tied with ron desantis. but christie did come in sixth in 2016. he does have to win new hampshire to keep that campaign going, right? >> he probably does. look, somebody's got to win new hampshire other than donald trump if they're going to stop donald trump. i mean, i think the biggest thing you give credit for for chris christie is he's trying to outline the reason why donald trump shouldn't be the nominee and he should. that's what this debate stage has to be filled with. if you're one of these other republicans, you've got to lay out a credible case for why not to support donald trump and why you're that alternative. that's really not happened thus far. we've got a lot of candidates that agree, lot of candidates that have defended donald trump. and they're not going to separate themselves on the issues here. got to create a compelling case for an alternative and why that alternative is wanted now. >> and do you think, brendan, that this debate -- the second one has been planned, it's going to be fox business i think moderating that one, so fox and fox. do you think the debate is going to have an impact with donald trump not there? >> you actually point out something i think is important to focus on. the fact that this first debate is on fox news and the second one is on fox business, i am skeptical, maybe curious to see how many of these folks will be willing to take swings at donald trump. absolutely agree with robert, at some point you have to make the case for why donald trump should not be the nominee. and that means that, you know, even if donald trump is not there, you're going to have a lot of conservatives, a lot of trump voters tuned into this. a lot of people who potentially want to have futures in the party. i think this has been a reason why so many of them have refused to go after him thus far. if you're tim scott, you probably think you may not win. you got to get re-elected in the state of south carolina. if you're doug burgum you want to be the governor of north dakota again. ron desantis wants to have a future. i wonder how many of these people will be willing to go at donald trump in the way that you need to in that venue on, fox news that night. we haven't seen them willing to do it thus far. i'm skeptical they're going to change their tune. >> brendan buck and robert gibbs, thank you both very much. and we're going to -- legal it there. we have breaking news from iran where four detained americans have been moved from the notorious prison in tehran. nbc news has learned the detainees have been transported to a location in the capital where they will join a fifth american detainee under house arrest. while a number of other steps are going to be taken to free up $6 billion in iran's oil revenue being held in a south korean account that could only be used for humanitarian purposes like food or medicine. the u.s. government has identified three of the americans held in iran to us that are part of the deal. samak nazami, seen with his father, arrested in 2015 and charged with espionage. ahmad sharg i, arrested in 2008 and had been convicted of espionage without a trial and sentenced to years in jail. and maran tobaz, renowned conservationist trying to protect an endangered species of cheetah from extinction and been detained since january of 2018. i spoke to his daughter about what the family has been enduring. >> a nightmare that you couldn't imagine. i think, you know, every opportunity we get to hear their voices, you know, you savor it because you don't know what can come. and it's -- we're taking it day by day to try to get them home and do everything that we can on this side to bring them back to us. >> joining me is dan deluce. you broke the story in january that these negotiations were beginning to gel. it's been torturous for the u.s. side. it's not that easy to deal with the iranians, apparently this -- according to the lawyers involved has come about. we've all been waiting on it and withholding information because we want to see that it actually happened. tara's mother has been in tehran and not given an exit visa. so she's basically been under, you know, house arrest for all this time, as well. so i'm told that she will also get out with her husband. and that there are a number of other americans who are not american citizens, green cardholders, and they're not getting out. >> as far as we know, that's right. they're not part of this arrangement. this is early stages. they're not free. they're being taken from the prison, from the lawyer for namazi who's been there for eight years, longer than the other prisoners. he and several other prisoners have been taken out of evan prison, and they're being taken to a location where they'll be under house arrest for a period of weeks possibly while the u.s. and south korea and qatar work out the transfer of this money that's been held in these accounts in south korea and iran has not had access to it. iran is asking for this condition for this prisoner sbap -- prisoner swap to happen. once the $6 million is transferred to qatar the hope is the americans will be released and allowed to leave the country. >> and at that point we're told and both been briefed on all of this by u.s. officials familiar with -- officials familiar with the negotiations, but at this point when they finally leave iranian airspace with the help of swiss diplomats who have been deeply involved in this and have been representing us and will be able to see them now and check their health and welfare while they're under house arrest in a central location with each other, by the way, once they leave there's going to be a prisoner swap, as well. >> that's right. that's the understanding. that's the plan. u.s. officials obviously, as you say, don't want to broadcast this, but in the past what we've seen is that once the americans move, then iranian nationals who are held here in u.s. custody in different cases will then be transferred to iran. so there have been prisoner exchanges in the past. this one is the significant one because it involves several people and involves millions of dollars, and so yes, it's iranian money, but it will be controversial, and there will be no doubt members of congress and others who will heavily criticize this. remember barack obama came under huge criticism in 2015, kind of a similar arrangement. >> right. >> this is a difficult call i think for president biden. it's in august, congress is in recess. maybe that makes it a little easier. i think the white house has made a decision they really want to get these americans home. and this is perhaps the only way they were able to do it. >> you've got a few more details. we'll in back to this later because you've got some interesting insights into some of the other relationships with iran that have been frozen. dan, thanks. we'll talk in a bit and have more on this ahead and other stories, as well. stay with us. as well, on cuban cooperation, surprisingly to some, a massive drug bust after a rare joint ops between washington and havana. our unprecedented access next. i, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv ♪ tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourists taking photos that are analyzed by ai. so researchers can help life underwater flourish. ♪ now an nbc news exclusive about a rare partnership between the united states and cuba working together to fight against drug trafficking. in may more than 750 pounds of marijuana was seized during a joint maritime anti-drug operation between the u.s. coast guard and cuban border patrol. the drug traffickers were captured, and their boat was sunk. nbc news also got exclusive access to witness american and cuban officials overseeing the burning of the drugs in a huge melting pot inside a steel plant showcasing that despite a lot of differences between the two countries, cuba and the u.s. are collaborating when it comes to stopping the flow of drugs. >> essentially when it is a shared national security interest and if it's an area that is under the u.s. national security interests, then of course we want cooperation. we want communication and cooperation in areas that also fits within the u.s. national security interest. >> we have more than one cooperative agreement with cuba. we've been working on what we call maritime environmental response. we've been working on maritime law enforcement, and we've been working on search and rescue. i do believe that this bilateral agreement should be expanded into something that is more regional. >> and joining me is cuba's deputy minister of foreign affairs. it's very good to see you. thank you so much for joining us today. i want to talk to you about the fact that the cubans were able to seize the drugs -- >> thank you for having me. >> i know we have a satellite delay. i'll try to accommodate for that. is this a breakthrough that could be mirrored in other ways, in other parts of the relationship? >> we believe so. this is a cooperation in a specific area which is of interest for both countries, and there are many others that could be of interest if two countries are close. so i'm sure if there will be political willingness from the u.s. we could cooperate on many other issues. >> and we just heard the u.s. embassy coast guard liaison say that there could be other collaborations. what other ways do you think the two countries could collaborate perhaps as a first step toward better communication? >> we could cooperate in the area of health care. we could cooperate in search and rescue. we could cooperate in migration as we're already doing. we could cooperate with the region. we could cooperate in providing health services to many countries in the region, putting together resources of the united states and the human resources and professional experience that cuba has. those are areas in which both countries could cooperate if there's a willingness to do it. >> the state of u.s.-cuban relations is not good with the biden administration. and perhaps you had thought it might improve. what do they want you to do regarding prisoners, human rights, and other issues that remain unresolved, especially since the protests of some years ago? >> i don't believe that there's truly a willingness to improve the relationship. and that's a reason why they put excuses on the road and on the way so that we could not improve the relationship. and they speak of prisoners, they only speak of prisoners in cuba, they don't speak of prisoners in the united states. would be an issue that we could have a reciprocal conversation if it were the willingness of the united states. we could speak of human rights between the two countries. we have serious concerns about the respect of human rights in the united states. it's an issue which we are ready to discuss. it has to be a comprehensive conversation. a -- a conversation that puts everything on the table to solve the problems in the two countries. it is very difficult to conduct that while the united states has a policy of strangling the cuban economy. >> have you had any conversations about the sanctions and lifting the sanctions? >> there are no conversations on that. it's -- they are unilateral sanctions. there is no sanction from cuba to the united states. they're all unilateral sanctions, unilaterally imposed by the united states. so it depends on the willingness of the u.s. government to lift them. >> and have you tried to take any other steps to meet any of their concerns? >> i didn't get your question. could you repeat, please? >> are there any other steps that you could take regarding elections or some of the concerns that they have raised -- or do you think they have any willingness to lift these sanctions? >> we are ready to take steps on the basis of a mutually beneficial relationship. what is difficult is to believe that cuba needs to take steps when the united states, contrary to what it has said, contrary to what was the official promise of this government when it came to power, got elected, has not taken steps to improve the relationship with cuba and is posing one excuse after the other so that it remains in place basically the position that was put and the policy that was put in place by the previous administration. >> do you think that that is because of election politics? >> i'm sorry, i don't understand the question. could you -- there's a sound problem. >> no, i'm sorry. do you think that is because of -- of politics here in the united states? do you think that president biden is not willing to take any steps at this time? >> it seems so. i think the question is -- has to be made to the white house, but it makes us believe so. that for some political reasons, the strateic approach of the united states in terms of latin america, in terms of cuba, is not the one governing the policy of the government. >> well, thank you so much. we will follow up in both capitals. thank you so much. and released not officially announced from the white house yet, but lawyers for the americans say that these detained americans have been released from the notorious evan prison in iran. the first part of a very complicated exchange deal which will take several weeks to complete. we'll have more coming up. ore c. my dad was a hard worker. he used to do side jobs installing windows, charging something like a hundred bucks a window when other guys were charging four to five-hundred bucks. he just didn't wanna do 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(christina) being all over, all at once. (tina) all the time. (christina) but my old network wasn't cutting it. and that's not good for baking. or judging. or writing. so, we switched to verizon, the network businesses rely on. with verizon business unlimited, i get 5g, truly unlimited data, and unlimited hotspot data. so, no matter what, i'm running this kitchen. (vo) make the switch. it's your business. it's your verizon. as we've been reporting, breaking news from iran. four detained americans have been moved from the notorious evan prison in tehran. nbc news has learned that the detainees have been transported to a location in the capital. they will be joining or have joined a fifth american who had been in the prison, who's been under house arrest. back with us, dan deluce and ben rhodes, former deputy national security adviser in the obama administration who worked on the iran account intensely. and "washington post's" global opinions writer jason rezian who has firsthand experience having been imprisoned in evan prison for 544 days. dan, i want to ask you what else we know about what the iranians will be getting in return, but also about the nuclear account. everyone wants to know about iran's nuclear account. secretary blinken and others have been saying they're just weeks away from having another -- enough nuclear fuel at enrichment levels to make at least a -- a weapon, they say they're not building a weapons program, of course. that has been their denial. even though this is not, quote, linked, people familiar with these talks are saying that there could be some progress on the nuclear issue. some kind of compromise through intermediaries that is being worked on. >> it's all very unclear. but as these prisoner exchange negotiations have gone on, on the sidelines also there has been a discussion, tentative, about how to avert a nuclear crisis, how to if not revive that old deal, that old nuclear deal that died to somehow at least freeze the status quo to some degree, to prevent iran from enriching uranium to weapons grade level and perhaps to kind of freeze the status quo. there is no indication that there's a verbal and formal agreement, but those discussions have been going on. and there's a lot of speculation that if the prisoner exchange goes ahead, which it's still early days now. all we know is that some of the prisoners are being taken from evan prison -- >> stage one. >> but that is a possibility. >> jason, you have personal experience, terrible experience as a "washington post" correspondent -- we're showing some of the other prisoners, not jason's experience. apparently just been released. what from your expanse is going on, what is happening to these men and one woman who are now apparently going to be reunited with family. >> i'm happy to know that these four and now fifth american have been released from the walls of evan prison. it's one of the worst places in the world. but you know, their saga is far from over. and as ben will remember in the final hours of my detention in iran, there were a lot of shenanigans from the iranian side. it almost all fell apart. this might take several weeks, and i think in the intervening days we have to be very cautious ton get overly excite -- not to get overly excited about this. to me it seems like a really positive step forward. and i know in the case of some of these men, they haven't been out of the prison at all since they were detained years ago. and just that kind of first taste of freedom is -- your shoulders start to loosen up just a little bit. they don't fully relax until you're out of iranian airspace. >> indeed. ben, you know what it's like to make these deals and to hope that they'll live up to them. we're told that this is step one, that it could take until mid-september until they're out of iranian airspace. >> yeah. that's right. i mean, there's clearly a careful sequencing happening here. this has been months of painstaking diplomacy i think just to get to this point. i think you want to test whether the iranians follow through on the things they say they're going to do. so do they actually move everybody out of the prison, what kind of conditions are they under, what kind of access do they have to counsel and to family members. and frankly, you want to make sure that whatever the other side of this deal is and presumably it's the restoration of these iranian assets that have been frozen as a part of that kind of broad financial sanctions regime we have in place, you want to make sure that we know that these people are out of iranian airspace before any deal is completed. i think as dan was alluding to, this is separate from the nuclear diplomacy, it's usually a different group of people that are negotiating things like prisoners. but there's probably -- there are other tracks taking place, as well, and that can usually -- those two tracks even if separate can influence one another. and so the two sides may be circling other pieces of agreement, as well. but for the time being, you're laser focused on trying to get those people out of prison and out of iran. >> and iran's interest is that their economy is collapsing, and they want to avoid what could be an israeli military attack because they're getting dangerously close to having real success with that nuclear program which they deny. ben? >> yeah. i mean, first of all, you know, unfortunately through the jcpo is in place, wouldn't be here, then refer to it -- i would add it was killed by donald trump. but the reality, you're right, is that they are right on the doorstep of having enough nuclear fuel to have the capacities to weaponize if they had that skill. that's been seen as something of a no-go zone for the israelis. i think we're also in a much more fluid geopolitical space. the iranians are kind of a proxy to the conflict in ukraine. there's been a lot more aggressive military action being taken in the proxy war between israel and iran. and so yes, i think they're squeezed economically, and also i think there's a very real risk of military escalation. we've seen some escalatory actions in the straits of hormuz, in the persian gulf, where the iranians have ships and the u.s. has sent assets and indicated we might be stationing marines. the temperatures are up. my hope is that part of the temperature going up and these other areas is prefacing a deescalation through some kind of nuclear arrangement that might freeze that iranian program. but here importantly that we get these americans out of iran, into the arms of their families as soon as possible. >> and i spoke with one of the prisoners' daughters in september. listen to what his daughter hannah told me. >> it's been terrible being without our father, not knowing when he's going to be home. i was a sophomore in college when he was taken, and we never imagined that this would be our lives. so every day is really just a new struggle of just how do we bring him home. >> jason, talk about what the families are going through today. what could they be feeling? >> well, you know, i haven't had a chance to speak to the three families today, but i've spoken to them regularly over the last several years. and i think that there's been so many false starts and so many moments where it looked possible, this has to be a day of -- of some joy, but also, you know, continued trepidation and anxiety. i think they'll be on pins and needles until -- until they hold their dad in their arms. and it might take a while, but these people are strong and good people, they've been through more than any family should have to bear. and so i'm just -- i'm excited for them but also, you know, want to maintain that sense of vigilance until these gentlemen come home. >> jason, jason, do you still suffer from ptsd or other reactions to being in prison? >> i certainly still have some aspects of trauma left over from that. it's nearly eight years since i was released, you know, crowded, confined spaces are very difficult for me. i don't feel comfortable traveling in the world as a foreign correspondent, that makes my job harder. and i'll tell you some of those security concerns, as ben knows all too well, are very real. we have to acknowledge that the real damage and abuse of power that this kind of hostage taking is on individuals and so you know, anything that the biden administration can do to bring these people and other americans wrongfully detained home, i support it. >> thank you, and ben rhodes and dan de luce my colleague here who's been leading the way on all this coverage, thanks to all of you. coming next, an historic expansion, how help is finally getting to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, an issue close to the president's heart. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. rts" on msnbc. d out of the game. and if we profer it, we know you'll prefer it too. nothing better than a sub, sub. have fun, sis! ( ♪♪ ) ( ♪♪ ) can't stop adding stuff to your cart? get the bank of america customized cash rewards card, choose the online shopping category and earn 3% cash back. ♪ there it is. that feeling you get... when you can du more with less asthma. it starts with dupixent. dupixent is not for sudden breathing problems. it's an add-on treatment for specific types of moderate-to-severe asthma. and can help improve lung function for better breathing in as little as two weeks. dupixent helps prevent asthma attacks... and can even reduce or eliminate oral steroids. can you picture it? dupixent can cause allergic reactions that can be severe. get help right away if you have rash, chest pain, worsening shortness of breath, tingling or numbness in your limbs. tell your doctor about new or worsening joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines, including steroids, without talking to your doctor. who knows what you can do when you du more with less asthma. ask your asthma specialist about dupixent. power e*trade's award-winning trading app makes trading easier. with its customizable options chain, easy-to-use tools and paper trading to help sharpen your skills, you can stay on top of the market from wherever you are. e*trade from morgan stanley. power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated. custom scans help you find new trading opportunities, while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades and stay on top of the market. e*trade from morgan stanley. bridgett is here. and stay on top she has no clue that i'm here. she has no clue who's in the helmet. are you ready? -i'm ready! alright. xfinity rewards creates experiences big and small, and once-in-a-lifetime. wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. it's to die for. and it's all right here. streaming was never this easy, you know. this is the way. you really went all out didn't you? um, it's called commitment. could you turn down the volume? here, you can try. get way more into what your into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. president biden is in utah this afternoon marking the anniversary of the pact act. this is the largest expansion of veterans' benefits in decades for service members exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan as well as agent orange and other toxic substances used years earlier in vietnam. the president often says that his son beau, he believes died of brain cancer after being exposed to burn pits. john, it's good to see you again. this very important anniversary. you fought so hard, you were in the halls of congress day after day, night after night really giving them no way out. they had to pass it. they couldn't resist both you and jon stewart who were such vocal advocates in getting the pact pact through congress last year. 348,000 veterans now have had their claims approved according to the ap. how does that feel? that's a lot of people you've helped. >> well, one, thank you for having me again, andrea. yeah, listen, the whole goal was to get legislation pass spd help as many people as we can, help as many heroes as we can. i saw jon yesterday. we filmed for a documentary, and you know, jon and i had a chance to reflect on the journey of not just 9/11 but also the burn pits. and you know, the ability to help people without asking for anything in return, there's no greater reward, and i'm humbled to be able to work with jon on so many dear issues and to all of the bsos, burn pit 360, bi, ba, the wounded warriors and all of those amazing organizations that truly formed an amazing coalition to get this done, i'm just glad i got to play a small part. so thank you. >> how has the process been? we know about bureaucracies and i know the v.a. is trying to do what they can. how is the processing going in terms of submitting claims and getting help? >> i mean, you know, it depends who you're listening to. the process works. it might not work for some. some others feel like it's adequate and fair, but listen, we got a bill passed for these men and women in uniform who protect us 24/7 who got sick from the burn pits to get into these programs and get enrolled, and we're going to watch it. we're going to monitor it, and like any government-run agency, things can always run better. the federal government just does not move as fast as we do in real life, so we ask for understanding, but we also ask for each individual to be their own advocate, and if they can't do that, then come to us. and you know, these organizations are there, set up, you know, getting the bill passed relatively easy, while it looked hard on tv, it was relatively easy. the hard work is when the bill got passed, that these organizations, they have to stand guard 24/7 to make sure that this piece of legislation matures and evolves so it can help as many people as possible, and you know, if it tells that, then jon stewart and i will get involved again. >> and you know, of course as you know better than anyone, better than us, we're a month away from september 11th, the attack anniversary, can you update us on the help for responders sickened from ground zero. i know you've lost too many. you've been to too many funerals. >> andrea, last tuesday we got part of our bill attached to the nda. we didn't get everything we were asking for, but this part of the bill that was attached to the ndaa, 8, 900 pentagon employees will now be able to enroll in the world trade center health program and file claims if they're ill, and they'll be compensated for it. so you know, to be able to help 8,900 people right off the bat, it's a great feeling. we'll go back. we're 22, 23 years removed now from 9/11, and we're still fighting. we're still overcoming obstacles, and we can't go around them. we just go through them. we're talking about veterans. we're talking about 9/11 heroes, cops, firefighters, construction workers, volunteers. this is what makes this country great, the blue collar worker and i look forward to continuing to help people and i look forward to msnbc continuing to tell the story of these veterans and 9/11 heroes. the the next month is going to be difficult for us. it's always a somber week leading up to that, especially when we lose people. i keep track in a calendar year how many 9/11 heroes we lost, i'm up to 347 names that will be read at my park on september 16th, and it's gut wrenching, you know. the legislation that we passed doesn't save lives, but it gives them a fighting chance, and it provides for their families when they're gone. >> we're going to have to have you back because you know that legislation is now held up with the defense bill by senator tuberville. that's for another day we got to go. it's the end of our program, but john feal, you're always with us. thank you. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow us online and twitter. much more when fema administrator dee ann criswell joins "chris jansing reports" right now. good day, i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. with hawaii being devastated by wildfires, just moments ago, president biden issued a major disaster declaration. what is happening there is almost

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