You just heard from the president , as israeli strikes continue, targeted strikes inside beirut, theyre bracing for potential retaliation from hezbollah, after waves of deadly attacks involving explosive devices, and the First Lady joins the president at the Cabinet Meeting this hour after my exclusive conversation with her on a range of topics, including her Husbands Decision to step aside from the president ial race. We havent had a chance to speak to you since he decided he would be stepping aside. Obviously a historic decision to hand the reins over. Are you at peace with his decision . Im totally at peace, and so is he. Lets get started. Good day to you, im Peter Alexander, in for my friend, Andrea Mitchell. The 2024 election is underway, as in person, early voting kicks off in three states, while Donald Trumps republican party is facing a major scandal that could impact his chances in what is a crucial battle ground, the state of North Carolina. Trump endorsed Lieutenant Governor, thats him, Mark Robinson is denying reports he had anything to do with racist and sexually explicit posts on the Message Board of a porn site. Cnn published posts they attribute to robinson, including one from 2010, i am a black nazi. Others include him allegedly writing slavery is not bad. And a Story Recounting Peeping On Naked Women when he was a teen. Nbc news has not verified the authenticity of those posts but cnn reports that it traced the comments back to robinson because he used the same User Name across various social media platforms. Politico is now also reporting an Email Address belonging to robinson was found on the Web Site ashleymadison, you may have heard of its designed for married people seeking affairs. Robinsons team denied he created or used the account. The North Carolina state republican party is sticking by him. And the Trump Campaign did not mention robinson by name last night, only insisting that North Carolina is vital to its campaign. We want to begin in raleigh with antonia hylton, former North Carolina governor, republican pat mccorey, and sam stein, Managing Editor at the bulwark. Robinson, as we have heard without evidence is blaming the democratic candidate, State Attorney general Josh Stein here for leaks that he calls salacious tabloid trash. Hes vowed to stay put, and the deadline has passed for them to get out here. How are voters and elected officials in the state reacting . Reporter peter, people here have been reeling from this news. The democrats that i have spoken to a bit more gleeful and some of them saying theyre not surprised. They had done a lot of work in this election, they say, to try to draw attention to some of the past inflammatory remarks that robinson had made, for example, Casting Doubt on the holocaust, calling it hogwash, things like that. Until the new reporting from cnn, there are allegations that he made antisemitic, racist, and nighly offensive remarks about all kinds of people, once again, on that porn Web Site. Republicans here are having a range of reactions, though. Some State Level official haves started deleting social media postings, pictures of themselves at past appearances with robinson. The Trump Campaign denied reports that they were trying to pull away from robinson or told him he couldnt come to events. We know robinson is not going to appear at trumps rally in North Carolina in wilmington tomorrow, On Saturday, and so i think thats very telling here. What theyre trying to do is keep their other republican candidates, you know, in the fight right now, as there is widespread concern that im hearing from people on both sides that this scandal, robinsons situation, could basically drag down the entire republican ticket from top to bottom, and then help sort of Craft A path for harris to potentially flip this state in november, peter. Thank you. Governor mccrory, let me ask you, for a second, your successor, the governor, presently, Roy Cooper, took himself out of taillight the situation to be Kamala Harriss vp. Youre well aware there have been concerns about robinson long before the cnn revelation. Its remarkable, he is the Lieutenant Governor, he has been elected before. You know the Ground Game there. Where do you think the president ial race stands in your home state, and what are you hearing . Well, first of all, this has been a political Time Bomb waiting to explode for a long time. Both republicans and democrat have known there were issues going to be coming out. On business dealings, personal dealings, he came out of nowhere, based upon a you Tube Presentation that got him elected to Lieutenant Governor, and it was a very well coordinated timed response, right when a replace couldnt be made by the democrats or by people who fed this to the media, and its very i think it could have an impact. I think the Trump Campaign was not surprised by this. They have been avoiding him for a while, knowing that he had some baggage that was already coming out, and they anticipated more, and youre going to see as in politics, there is no loyalty. Youve got to understand real quick, Mark Robinson was probably the most effective and yet dangerous Populist Speaker that i have ever seen in my political career, and he appealed to the masses, to the base in North Carolina like i have never seen before, but there was always a danger there that we didnt know his background. He didnt know the details of his life, and thats what often happens with populist with at times very dangerous rhetoric. And its happening to us right now. We should note the governor Roy Cooper is at an event focusing on public schools. Hes taking questions there. Nothing specific to this question, if he does make comments, we will share those with you. Sam, i want to play what Donald Trump has said about robinson in the past. This is from just this spring. Listen. This is Martin Luther King on steroids. Okay. Now, i told that i told that to mark. I said, i think youre better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two. Sam, North Carolina, of course, is key to trumps southern strategy. Obviously if he loses pennsylvania, thats a place that he needs to be that he needs to focus on as well, right . He has had a series of different comments about robinson. He was at the rnc more recent than this. Clearly this is a gift to the harris campaign, and im struck, sam. Your take, like Donald Trumps in a tough Spot Right here, right, because he should condemn the comments, which he has not done. He should unendorse, you would assume. If he does that and robinson doesnt drop out, it makes him look weak. What do you do if youre Donald Trump . Trump cant condemn the comments or unendorse. His entire persona is about not backing down. Why would he start now . I want to backtrack a second about the timing of this. The governor suggested that this was planted by democrats. I dont know the sources for andrew kaczynski, the Cnn Reporter on this story. I know hes among those dogged investigative reporters in the online journalism universe, and i would strongly believe he did his Due Diligence and was not fed this material but uncovered it on his own. Secondarily to that, i will note i talked to a number of Democrats Yesterday who frankly were despondent at the timing of this. They would rather the story come out in mid to late october than mid to late september. To your point, peter, the harris people are ecstatic that this is in the public, and they want to tie trump to this, but they would much rather be having this conversation when voting is two weeks away than when it is eight weeks away, and ultimately, there is not a conviction that trump gets tripped up by this. You know, there are some democrats who i talked to who believe that the contagion doesnt spread beyond the gubernatorial race. To your earlier question, no, trump will not, i suspect, distance himself from robinson. To do so would be to admit you lacked the judgment when you elevated this nan. To be clear right now, we should note beginning today, the mailin ballots will sent overseas. Theres never really an Election Day anymore. Its an Election Month or two months in a lot of places, including North Carolina. Let me ask you about Donald Trump on a different topic. He spoke at an event that was supposed to focus on antisemitism where he appeared to blame the Jewish Community if he loses this fall. Heres what he said. If i dont win this election, and the jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because at 40 , that means 60 of the people are voting for the enemy. Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years. A lot of questions that raises. He said these people would be voting for the enemy. Was he referring to Kamala Harris, was he referring to iran . It wasnt entirely clear. He repeated a lot of antisemitic tropes at that event to jewish voters. What is the strategy here, sam . You and i have been down this road many times now. Donald trump uses jewish american populist as a monolith who can only vote related to one issue, that is israel, that they must be supportive of the government in israel, and in this case, he says that they have an obligation or they owe him their support. To do that is something he has done many times before. To do that at an event thats centered at antisemitism was particularly rich and stood out for me. Governor, one last thought to you, theres an oped from ohios republican governor, Mike Dewine who you know well. Its the latest in his vocal defense of springfield, ohio, the lies of Trump And J. D. Vances Running Mate have pushed about the community. Are other republican governors now being forced to sort of defend their states against the Partys Leader . Well, its always tough for both Republican And Democrat mayors and governors. I have been a mayor of charlotte for 14 years, and governor of North Carolina. When a local issue becomes a national issue, the two agendas dont match with each other. The governor is walking a very Fine Line right now, and so is the mayor. Its going to be an interesting dynamic during the next two weeks. With a very important issue, but they ought to focus on the bigger issue at hand, and thats the immigration issue, and i think theyre getting caught up in the details of certain localities that can distract from the major issue that they probably have an upper hand on. Yeah, Donald Trump saying hes going to visit the next couple of weeks. The mayor saying its going to be a strain on resources. Well be watching. Antonia hylton, sam stein, thank you so much. In 90 seconds were going to hit the Campaign Trail with the Vice President in battleground, georgia. Were going to speak to a Senior Adviser with the harris campaign. Youre watching msnbc. Campaign youre watching msnbc. Gender, ethnicity. The need to screen when due. For Colon Cancers a priority. Indeed everyone 45 at average risk should screen for Colon Cancer. These folks are getting it done at home with me, cologuard. Cologuard is a oneofakind way to screen for Colon Cancer thats effective and noninvasive. Its for people 45 at average risk, not high risk. False positive and negative results may occur. Ask your provider for cologuard. I did it my way. Heres to getting better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help Fuel Today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need, and the flavor you love. So, heres to now. Now available Boost Max clems not a morning person. Or a. People person. But he is an i can solve this in 4 different ways person. You need clem. Clem needs benefits. Work with principal so we can help you with a plan thats right for him. Let our Expertise Round out yours. Vice president Kamala Harris is back in the Swing State of georgia, hosting an event on Reproductive Rights and preventable deaths. She plans to address the deaths of two women who died as a direct result of georgias strict Abortion Bans. The Harris Walz Campaign has been hitting this issue hard. They kicked off their Bus Tor this month, a topic the Vice President addressed again during last nights sit down alongside Oprah Winfrey. A doctor or a nurse has to say she might die any minute, better give her now care because otherwise i might go to prison for life in some cases. Think about what were doing in terms of saying that certain people who are in these State Houses and starting with the former president of the united states think theyre in a better position than a doctor or a nurse. Nbc news washington correspondent, my friend Yamiche Alcindor is joining us now from the event in atlanta. Youre there in georgia, the vps reproductive Rights Event just getting started. You spoke with a sister of one of the women who died as a result of lack of access to Abortion Care and treatment in georgia, with restrictive Abortion Laws put in place, and enacted after the overturning of roe v. Wade. What did they tell you . Reporter this is a heartbreaking story. Her name is Candy Miller. She was one of the two women who was highlighted in the pro publica reporting. She decided not to go and seek medical attention because she was worried that georgias restrictive Abortion Laws would mean she wouldnt get the care. So she took abortion medication, unfortunately then got an infection, suffered for several hours and then unfortunately passed away lying next to her 3yearold child. Now, Candy Miller was a mother of three. Her sister tells me that the family is really just heartbroken over this. They see her death as preventible. They see her death as a consequence, a direct consequence of the Abortion Laws changing in this Battleground State of georgia, and of course all across our country after roe v. Wade was overturned. We also of Course Saw the Vice President on stage with the family of another woman, andrea thurman, she wants people to know her daughter is not a statistic and her daughter leaves behind a young son. Her last words to her family were please take care of my child. The Vice President is going to be here, leaning into these personal stories that she believes will help her gain the support of voters who really see these stories and are moved by these stories. Of course Abortion Rights and reproductive health have been a big issue for the Vice President long before she was at the top of the ticket. Now tha