trumper republicans, as the 11th hour gets underway on this thursday night. good evening, once again, i am stephanie ruhle, live from 30 rock center and we are now 152 days away from the election. and it has been 80 years since the largest see to land invasion in history, d-day. president joe biden joined world leaders in normandy to mark the historic moment. at the american cemetery, he addressed the crowd that included surviving veterans that took part in the assault that helped liberate europe. peter alexander was there. >> reporter: 80 years later, where useful bravery landed, today, these last surviving heroes returned. just above the source for 150,000 allied troops, waited in the surf, and were met by an endless barrage of kris mayes six bullets. from the president, a solemn tribute. >> it is my honor to be able to salute you here in normandy. all of you. >> reporter: fewer than 200 of american sons who stormed these beaches on d-day to help reclaim the continent from kris mayes six germany are still with us. the commander in chief today greeting many of them, most wearing their uniforms. some in wheelchairs and over 100 years old. president biden had a unified front of western allies that succeeded on d-day. >> is a powerful illustration of our alliances, real alliances made stronger. i pray we americans never forget >> reporter: on this anniversary, the president also harnessing the heroism of that day. the highlight the urgent threat that hovers over europe, and the danger of russian victory in ukraine. >> we stand against tyranny, against evil, against crushing brutality, the iron fist, we stand for freedom, and we defend democracy. >> the president will make another speech tomorrow at points to hawk. president biden is trying to draw comparisons with republican president, former republican president, ronald ragan and contrasts himself with a 2024 rival, donald trump with that, let's get smarter with the help of our leadoff panel. mike memory, he has covered president biden, his family, and his inner circle for more than a decade. luke broadwater is here, pulitzer prize-winning congressional reporter for the new york times. and former white house senior director and former state department senior adviser. michael, you are the biden expert here, what stuck out to you today? >> well, stephanie. we have been reporting that since donald trump's criminal conviction last week, part of the white house strategy going forward is to highlight the stature app between the commander in chief, the sitting president has a strong, and yes, a convicted felon who is running a campaign that is more basement than what they think joe biden did four years ago in the middle of a pandemic. and there is no more uniquely presidential moment than a sitting president going to normandy, one of the sites of the most significant allied american example of heroism and debris, and surrounding himself with those heroes, in addition to world leaders. we saw donald trump today speaking to world war ii veterans by skype from his plane. that is one thing that stands out as far as campaign strategy. but i think it is more than just symbolism the message that the president delivered, drawing on that moment in history to highlighting a very real present day challenge. it is hard to imagine talking about in this way. it really is still as it was 80 years ago. the president, the political message was not lost today. it is going to be even harder tomorrow. >> what did you think of that speech? to michael's point, you heard the president over and over, sort of warning about how vulnerable democracy is. >> we have certainly seen that vulnerability here in the united states, based on what we are seeing coming up this next election. what we have experienced on january 6th a few short years ago. and it was such a contrast in character between president biden as commander in chief right now and when president trump had commander in chief, avoided visiting any grave sites of world war ii veterans, in fact, calling them losers and suckers because they died in war. it still boggles the mind that somebody who is responsible for whether or not the united states is going to war would treat veterans in that manner, and treat veterans while in europe. >> all right, lou, you get the top one solve this puzzle, republican minority leader, mitch mcconnell, wrote an op-ed today that seemed, in many instances, similar to the president's speech. he was tying d-day to the present day, and he very clearly announced isolationism. this was the head scratcher for me because i would like you to remind our audience of where donald trump, and the majority of the gop stand on isolationism right now. >> right, well mitch mcconnell is in a, i would say, diminishing position within the senate, and he knows that. and you know, i spoke with him recently about this very issue, and he says the final years of his life in public office will be to try to bring the republican party back away from isolationism. he believes he wants to try to remake it back into the party of ronald reagan and he wants to fight against the trump-y and impulse to, you know, have this isolationist mentality, where they reject aid to ukraine. they reject nato, and they reject helping our european allies. you know what? i think that biden's speech tapped into that today. he was appealing, in some ways, to those sort of traditional republicans who joined the party because of ronald reagan, because they wanted to see strength abroad. and he is trying to hold himself out there as their candidate, not trump, but the traditional republican candidate , in some ways. >> but loose, what traditional republicans? mitch mcconnell may have the diminishing role, he may be leaving the senate, so he has a chance to speak his mind? the idea that he wants to bring back that republican party, he is voting for donald trump. he has said it publicly. >> yeah, i mean, look, mitch mcconnell's a political animal. he knows that in order to stay in a leadership position, which he is in currently in the senate he has to support donald trump, anybody who talks with him privately knows he doesn't really like having to do that. he hasn't spoken to trump since december 14th, 2020, when donald trump refused to concede the election to joe biden after the electoral college had certified it. yes, so look, i am not going to say that mitch mcconnell is the paragon of consistency and, you know, he is definitely trying to have both sides. i do think the core is with the foreign policy wing of the party, not with the isolationists. >> of course, doesn't actually matter what he says privately, what he feels in his heart or what he thinks in his head when he holds public office. mike, the president's speech tomorrow is also going to echo ronald reagan again, but specifically the speech reagan gave 40 years ago. are you surprised at all by this effort to sort of tie himself to republican president? kind of a republican icon? >> well, this is not necessarily something that used to be about one party or another. a president, you know, draping himself in patriotic colors used to be par for the course for both parties. it is really where we are in our politics that this scene is maybe a play to republicans. but that is really what the president sees as an opportunity to be here, he did an interview with abc news tonight where he talked about how he is preparing for a debate against donald trump and he really summed it up in a new way that we haven't heard before, that donald trump is all about himself and i am for the country. that contrast of a president who is not motivated by his own self interest but by the countries interest is something we are going to hear quite a bit more from. it speaks to the strategy of eventually, he still has some work to do to build back the base of his party, especially with the situation in israel and gaza at the moment. but there is an opportunity going forward to reach out to those republicans, the primaries may have affected the way we ended in march but the biden campaign has been studying every election since then, nikki haley is still getting 10, 15, 20% of the vote. who those voters are, the messages they appeal to. tonight, during the nba finals, president biden's campaign also launched an ad campaign draped by the flag. the flag is literally the point of the ad, and that really speaks to the effective patriotism, they think they can own up. >> is a patriot, patriotism is a word republican seem to have hijacked over the last decade or so. and you are seeing democratic lawmakers with being insistent that they want to take that term back because it doesn't belong to a party, it belongs to america. and the president is also expected to meet with ukrainian president zelenskyy tomorrow. we know that there are tensions over the pace of u.s. military aid when you think about the priorities for ukraine in this meeting, i know it is so important for president zelenskyy to just stay in our focus, get media attention. be sure that his war isn't being forgot. >> and his war is up against russia, which is not an accident that the idea of a country invading another, trying to change borders at its own discretion, which is what happened in world war ii, is what we are talking about in the moment with ukraine. the reagan effect is also another parallel. russia, that was the adversary for reagan, cold war era politics. so tapping into that, that spirit, not only of the greatest generation of standing up for democracy and for rule of law, but also for standing up against russia, it is going to be a sharp contrast between the republican party today that effectively is arguing talking points. in the fact that the united states and nato is standing up for a democracy in europe that needs u.s. weapons, u.s. support everyday to take the fight to russia. >> michael, new topic that i want to go back to that interview you referenced a moment ago. president biden sitting down with abc news earlier tonight where he was asked about his son, hunter's trial. let's watch this. >> as we sit here in normandy, your son, hunter, is on trial. and i know that you cannot speak about an ongoing federal prosecution. but let me ask you, will you accept the jury's outcome, the verdict, no matter what it is? >> yes. >> have you ruled on a pardon from your son >> yes. >> michael, you have covered the president and his family for a long time. what did you think of the interview? and what have you been hearing from the white house about the trial? >> will, i am in wilmington, delaware right now. i've been covering this trial all week. i've been in and out of that courtroom and seeing the biden family doing everything they can to blanket hunter biden with the support they feel he needs in this moment. the whole family, frankly, need each other's support. i was struck today, i was watching hallie biden, beau biden's widow, who had a romantic relationship with hunter biden. they went through the worst kind of grief they could imagine. now being put in the position to have to testify against one another, it really speaks to the fact and the sacrifice that the family has had to make, in some ways, if president biden did not run for president four years ago, this is a thought that is going to the president head, his son may not be facing the situation right now. and the one tool he has, as the sitting resident, spare him of potential jail time, very real possibility as a pardon. for him to have to rule that out is a level of respect for the rule of law that is above even his own family. i think it is a gutwrenching moment for the family right now. >> luke, let's talk about some other legal news out there. steve bannon, one of trump's closest confidant, has been ordered to report to prison by july first after his appeal failed for his contempt of congress sentence. what do we need to know about how he got here? >> well, you know, steve gannon was held in contempt by the house in the last congress because he openly defied a subpoena from the january 6th committee. and it wasn't the only person who did this, he was one of only two who really just flagrantly refused to give any information, refused to sit down, refused to give up a single document, a single minute of the time, when legally subpoenaed. and the justice department said that that is a crime that they will enforce. and so he was convicted by a jury of his peers in d.c. and sentenced to four months and present. he has been trying to delay that but it seems like on july 1st, he will be out of delays and he will have to report to jail, much as peter navarro did, as well. and you know, this is the justice department saying you cannot simply blow off a subpoena. you have to show up when congress demands it. >> all right, luke. i want to move onto another topic the trump loyalists, the trump extremist as a that house speaker mike johnson is in pointing to the house intelligence committee. remind our audience of the kind of information, the kind of access, the kind of power these individuals are going to have. why is this such a big deal? >> the intelligence committee, sensitive classified from the cia, from the director of national intelligence. so these are the countries biggest secrets. and typically, this panel in congress is one of the most serious panels. it is where they put they, your legislators, your serious lawmakers, not the kind of on the oversight committee, for instance, who grandstand and yell at each other all the time. so the fact that speaker johnson has put really, trump acolytes on this panel, people, one of whom really led the effort to try and overturn the 2020 election, scott perry, former pennsylvania, is raising a lot of alarms on capitol hill. he did not tell the intelligence committee chairman he was doing this and the reporting is as he did it at the urging of donald trump. so now what we are hearing is that the heads of the leaders of the intelligence committee are now worried that the intelligence community will stop sharing intelligence with congress, which they are constitutionally obligated to do because of the concerns of who is now on this panel. >> now, what do you think of this? somebody who helped, who, in overturning the 2020 election results, now on the intelligence committee? >> i mean, the fact that we have election deniers still serving in public office is still part of this problem that biden has been talking about, that we have been talking about, of the challenges that are very acute right now, facing our democracy. the intelligence community needs to be able to collaborate with congress as a representative people to be able to make decisions, to make sure the that the american public is kept safe and informed of the truth. right? that is the truth of russian movement, bordering on ukraine that allowed the united states and nato to get ahead of the invasion, to some degree, prepare ukraine. what would that be like in a moment where you have somebody potentially willing to back channel that information to america's enemies, which are domestic and abroad? >> great to have you back, gentlemen, always good to see you. when we return, independent and nikki haley voters could make or break this election that is under five months away. meanwhile, donald trump has shown almost no interest in winning them over. is by sure has. his campaign's new outreach effort. later, the history of d- day. why it is crucially important to keep the memory alive, 80 long years later. the 11th hour just getting underway on a very important thursday night. hi, i'm janice and i lost 172 pounds on golo. a friend told me that i was the only one holding me back from being as beautiful on the outside as i am on the inside. once i saw golo was working i felt this rush. golo really works. i don't want you to move. i'm gonna miss you so much. you realize we'll have internet waiting for us at the new place, right? oh, we know. we just like making a scene. transferring your services has never been easier. get connected on the day of your move with the xfinity app. can i sleep over at your new place? can katie sleep over tonight? sure, honey! this generation is so dramatic! move with xfinity. shell renewable race fuel. reducing emissions by 60%. ♪♪ we're moving forward with indycar. because we're moving forward with everybody. shell. powering progress. president biden is going all in to win over never trumper republicans. his campaign is officially launched a new effort to court republicans who have no interest in backing the former president, including those who voted for nikki haley, because she may now bring them over to trump's side. the biden campaigns outreach will be led by a former staffer to exit gop congressmen and trump credit, adam kissinger. that is extraordinary. so let's talk about this, former did it democratic mayor and amanda carpenter. firm protect democracy, and a former senior staffer to republican senator, and ted cruz, amanda, this is super interesting. is this challenge for this group to convince these voters that they are not just voting against trump but that they are voting for joe biden, who is going to do things for them? >> yeah, i mean that is the trickiest thing here. how do you convince republican voters that they can still be a republican and retain their republican identity and vote for biden in these extraordinary times. and i know that there is a lot of smart, enthusiastic republicans that have been waiting for biden to do this, they are fine and like okay, now you're calling, finally, this is good. but i actually think the kind of slow warm-up, the long getting to know you is actually pretty smart because what the biden campaign can do is invite these people to be a part of the process. i actually think that highlighting the disagreements that they may have is the secret to the sauce because a lot of republicans feel politically homeless. donald trump makes it very hard to support him. so a lot of haley voters can get to a place and say you know what? even though i disagree, i know i will be heard. i know i will be respected. and we can find some core priorities to work together on i think that is a winning formula. >> but nikki haley doesn't feel that way? donald trump disrespected her right left and center, and she is backing him. but he doesn't seem to be spending any time courting those voters. we have been showing appreciation to her, does he just assume those voters will be on board with him? >> absolutely, donald trump has always run a base first campaign, where he is constantly seeking to rev up this vengeance for, maga always contingent. and that is why he is actually, consistently, since 2016, yes, nikki haley said she was voting for donald trump, but she hasn't offered resounding support. she hasn't done the tim scott cheerleader moment for folks that trump vanquished in the primary and now they become sycophants. that is because she understands that those supporters are, of her former campaign, they want nothing to do with trump because they are actually value voters they are just value voters who aren't thinking about things like our democracy. they are value voters that are thinking about respect for our judicial system. they are value voters that truly respect the fact that even when the president's son is facing prosecution, he says i trust our judicial system. i value law and order and even when i see my son suffer at the hands of the system, i still believe in i still put the country first. >> they said he wouldn't pardon his own son, and trump has floated out there that he would pardon insurrectionists. >> this is the clearest juxtaposition of where these two men stand in regards to service, and the country. for all those parents out there, everyone knows that you would much rather someone go after you denier kid. >> oh my