Trial dates in the trump documents case. Jack smith wants it sooner, the defense later. It says it wont be fair unless its much later as an after the election. And john kings Election Year journey all over the map, taking him to pennsylvania tonight to see how seniors view a race between the two oldest president ial candidate its ever. Good evening, thanks for joining us. We begin tonight, keeping them honest with immigration, the issue americans now called their top concern according to recent polling. Today, President Biden and former President Trump made dueling visits. The Texas Southern border, biden to brownsville, trump to eagle pass to cities about 300 miles apart. Two candidates who each in his own way has failed to fix a broken and severely overburdened Border Security and Asylum System. President biden, many believed by omission, by not making the problem enough of a priority until recently, even after a year of increasing numbers of people crossing the border. And rising Border Encounters which set new records and dont trump by commission. Hes actively opposing any action until after he presumably wins the election. Even though today he painted the problem as an imminent existential threat. These are the people that are coming into our country and theyre coming from jails and theyre coming from prisons and they coming from mental institutions. Theyre coming from insane asylums. And they are terrorists. Theyre being let into our country. And its horrible. Its honorable. You look at the jails now you take a look at the jails throughout the region, but more importantly throughout the world the emptying out because theyre dumping them into the United States actually studies have shown the migrants commit fewer crimes as a percentage than us citizens do. But hyperbole aside, it is hard to say his focus on the border is misplaced. Its a problem. It needs to be addressed keeping them honest though the former president has only campaigning on it, not addressing the problem worse than that as you likely know, hes come out against Bipartisan Senate legislation, which toughens Border Security titans, the asylum process, and pays for more courts and judges in Border Enforcement he told House Republicans to torpedo the bill and they did. But imagine if he didnt, he could have gone to the border today and pointed to the tough new Border Legislation that he in republican Lawmakers Force the president to accept could have, but didnt. Which left President Biden today to attempt to seize the high ground on an issue which fair to say he has hardly taken the lead on heres what i would say to mr. Trump. Said a Plan Policy Issue Set of telling members of congress to block this at his station join me or ill join you and telling the congress to pass this bipartisan Border Security bill. We can do it together cnns Kristen Holmes is in eagle pass, texas covering the former president is visits Priscilla Alvarez joins us from brownsville where President Biden spoke. Lets start with Kristen Holmes. So kristen, what else did the former president . Well, anderson, what do you took to the stage . You really repeated what weve heard pulling from a familiar playbook that hes been doing since 2015 when he announces first president ial bid and said that mexico was sending over drop bugs and rapists, he stoked fear and he used rhetoric linking immigration and violent crime. And this is something, again, that propelled him to the white house in 20 hes 16 and also really helped build a base that we now see that surrounds and props up donald trump. But today hes really trying to reach people outside of that base. Hes hoping that this message is going to help them to the white house again in 2024 take a given that polling that we have seen that you mentioned, that shows that immigration is the number one issue for voters and the bidens Approval Rating on the issue is very low. Hello, much lower than Donald Trumps was. But one thing he didnt bring up, despite the fact that he continued to say he alone could fix the border or that if you brought voted him into office, he would fix it. He had all the solutions he did not bring up the fact that he turned to that bipartisan border bill and told republicans both privately and publicly, not to vote for it, not to support it but whether or not that message gets through to people who are fearful of immigration, who are fearful of what is its going on at the border that remains unclear because he clearly knows how to tap into that messaging. So nobody asked oh, he did anybody ask him about tanking the border bill or he didnt . He certainly didnt bring up on his own. Youre saying well, you didnt bring it up on his own and neither did any of the conservative republican texas officials who are within some of whom who had publicly supported the border bill before donald trump came out against it. Now, we did not have an opportunity to question trump. We actually didnt even get close enough to him. They had us in a press pen far away. We thought we would be the remarks, but we were not we were told he was going to answer questions. Maybe the pool ask some questions, but he did not answer any. It was more billed as a build his remarks, but it actually ended up being a speech. He has not really answered anything on that other than to say that it had nothing to do with politics, that it was a bad deal, and just want to note, he said it was a bad deal despite the fact that it had restrictions in place that republicans have been fighting for, for decades, despite the fact that it was negotiated by one of the most conservative senators in the senate who fought for these things. And it would have put in place some of the restrictions that again, they have been working towards donald trump himself has its been calling for, but he said it was a bad deal and he said that only he could fix it. Now theyre line is that this is Executive Action that biden should be taking, that he took donald trump took Executive Action and biden should take it as well. That is how they are spinning his decision to come out against that bill or Kristen Holmes. Thank you. Next to cnns Priscilla Alvarez, who is with in the room for President Bidens remarks. So what else to prison biden say besides those comments directed to the former president . Well, going into today, the intention by President Biden was to place more pressure on congress to pass that failed Senate Border bill because it was his white house officials and Senate Negotiators who worked to him im route that compromise. So that is what the focus was for President Biden today. And it was notable that he actually cited some republican Talking Points focusing on fentanyl oh cartels, criminals in talking about the need for resources for the department of homeland security. So trying to make that direct connection that without that help without that legislation, he cant get what the Department Needs to enforce. The us border, and he repeatedly said that it was quote, time to act it was notable, of course, that he did reference his predecessor in his remarks because as you heard there from kristen, it was former President Donald Trump that played a Critical Role in scuttling this deal. That republicans had worked on hammering and in talking to white house officials and campaign officials, theyre hoping that voters can make this connection and that they can see that there was a solution on the table and that republicans walked away from it. So that is why President Biden is leaning into this moment and trying to use this as an opportunity. Frankly, anderson, it has been a Pivotal Moment for this white house, which up until this point, i really distanced itself from the usmexico border. So the white house weve raised the idea kind of off for the record about possibly an Executive Action. Is there was that just a Trial Balloon . What is there a plan b in the absence of getting something passed in congress . Well, sources told me that this is still very much under consideration and being worked through this requires administration attorneys to review and what is being consumed sittard, ease restrictions on the ability for migrants to seek asylum in the us if they cross unlawfully using an authority that former President Donald Trump also tried to use. He tried to shut down the border. This seems to be a little different though. We still dont have the text of it. So there is a plan b that is being worked through but its still not the same as enshrining something into law. And thats what white house officials come back to you. They can try to do more on the us mexico border, but none of it will be the same if its not written in the law, which is exactly what former President Donald Trump base because everything he did was legally challenged in court and theyre anticipating the same could happen with any action President Biden takes. The pressure sir, is still going to remain on congress. But as you heard from the former president today, there is still a push by republicans for the president to take more Executive Action on the usmexico border. Priscilla alvarez in brownsville. Thank you. Joining us now, connecticut democratic senator chris murphy Wanted Go Shaders on that Bipartisan Senate legislation that the former president tank senator murphy. I mean, when you see the foreign president at the southern border today referring to criminals and terrorists and people from mental hospitals. After he effectively killed the bipartisan bill that you worked in, negotiate what, what runs through your mind . Well, first of all, this Invasion Rhetoric is just absolutely disgusting and seen a phobic is racist. You go to ukraine you see what an actual invasion looks like. This is somebody who dodge the draft who has no idea what an actual war looks like. But heres the bottom line. President trump does not want to fix the border. He does not want to say fix the border because all he wants is a catholic border because he thinks it helps him politically. We had a deal, a bipartisan compromise, a tough set of new restrictions on the border including the ability for the president United States to close portions of the border when crossings get too high. And donald trump instructed his allies in the United States senate to kill that bill. And hes been pretty clear why, because he thought it would help joe biden because it would be good for america. So we still have a chance to come together and pass that i bipartisan border bill that would help us control The Border On Trump is the primary thing standing in the way. You know, its interesting because the president had tweeted out the former president had tweeted out this is not a perfect border bill. Obviously, no, bill is perfect. Its called the compromise and things have to make compromises, but certainly democrats bent over back words in ways they hadnt before and i mean this was as you say, a very tough border bill, Kyrsten Sinema had said that according to the requirements in this border bill, if they were in place, the border would have been shut down pretty much every day of this year thats right. Because this bill included an unprecedented ability for the president to stop processing claims in between the ports of entry when crossings are above 5,000 a day and they have been above 5,000 a day since the end of last year. Our Compromise Bill was supported by the protrump Border Patrol union. It was supported by the wall street journal, the chamber of commerce. This is a conservative, tough bill that would have allowed the president to control the border. And because it actually would have been successful in controlling the border, republicans led by tunnel drunk killed it because they just cant imagine a world in which they cant exploit them border for political purposes. It also seemed to have pretty sensible requirements on increasing funding for judges to process asylum claims much quicker when people first crossover i mean, the Asylum System in this country is insane that people spend can just say that whether they want to claim asylum. And itll take years for any kind of a hearing into play take place. And meanwhile, theyre here and legally they cant work. Arctic ocean stuck for months and people were in patient to see the product, but it was because we were actually trying to solve the problem we werent writing a bill that was just going to score political points. Senator lankford and i are very different politically, but we are committed to solving the problem. And one of the problems is that when you come into this country to seek asylum, it often takes ten years for your claim to be adjudicated. And so its an incentive for people to come into the country who have invalid claims because you get ten years of working in the United States, even if you dont qualify for asylum. So what are bill would have done is not just allow the president has shut down the border, but also expedite the asylum we process so that all those claims are heard in six months instead of ten years. And what that would do is provide a tremendous disincentive to anybody coming to the United States who is going to lose their claim. So our bill would have fixed a lot of the biggest problems in the immigration system. And again, thats the reason donald trump opposes it because does it actually wouldve worked i mean, do you accept that President Biden and his team waited too long because there was an argument that he waited too long to address the gravity of this crisis. I mean, todays trip was only the second time hes actually visited the southern border. You kind of pond off on Kamala Harris a while back. I mean, this this border deal probably could have gotten done a lot sooner well, President Biden in his first week or so in office, introduced and immigration and border reform bill and though it didnt get any coverage in the press, he implemented one of the toughest new regulatory regimes at the border in decades regime that was opposed by frankly many progressive immigration groups. So its just actually not true when people say, well, President Biden didnt do anything on the border until well, the summer, he actually has what changed is that theyre not 10,000 people showing up on a daily basis. And so the crisis is bigger. Its more immediate and what also changed is that finally, republicans we thought were willing to come to the table and get something done, something they were not willing to do for the first three years of President Bidens its term its also closer. I mean, its also closer to the election and theres more pressure on the white house to actually do something. I guess the argument is, could if he had been willing to, if democrats had been willing to negotiate in the way that you guys did on this bill now, earlier, would that have do you think it would have had a chance of passing . Know . I understand now that republicans will not support a bipartisan border fix that they are only interested in this issue remaining mean a political wedge issue like what would republican senators do on the weekends if they couldnt fly down to the border dress up like Border Patrol officers and portray and pretend that theyre chasing singh down undocumented immigrants. So i dont think at any point republicans were going to be ready to get a deal. Donald trump was never going to let that happen. Theres Murphy Murphy thank you so much for your time. More now on what happens in the absence of any agreement on how to address the border problem and who pays the price for continuing, which obviously a broken system ed lavendera has that the edge of buyer john finns Eagle Pass Wrench stretches along threeandahalf miles of the border, looking into mexico, thousands of migrants have come through here the remnants of discarded clothing are everywhere texas authorities have installed miles of fencing and stretches of razor wire youre on the front line of this crisis here on the rio grande. When you see what it looks like around here, what, what do you make of it when you come out here . Well i mean, its its its its a bad situation, so horrible situation. But what john finn mostly cs is a lot of politicians not willing to Work Togeth