but are voters listening to a message the president has said is at the heart of the 2024 election? we'll take you to normandy, and i'll talk to mitch landrieu, co-chair of the biden re-election campaign. plus, new details about the drugs and the gun at the heart of the hunter biden trial coming from his late brother's widow. it's the stuff of sensational headlines and family turmoil, but what does it mean for the legal case itself? and donald trump adding new fuel to calls for retribution against his political enemies insisting he'd have, quote, every right to do it. he also said the country doesn't want it, but would that stop him. but we begin against the backdrop against the beaches of normandy, that powerful evocative symbol of the fight for freedom. today it's where president biden on the 80th anniversary commemoration of d-day warned that in his words democracy is more at risk today than at any time since world war ii. the ceremonies were a moving mix of messaging and emotion, first president biden and french president emmanuel macron awarded medals to some of the 180 surviving veterans gathered there, many in their 90s, some over 100 years old. then mr. biden honored their sacrifice, insisting their costly battle to preserve democracy remains the test of the ages. >> they knew beyond any doubt there are things that are worth fighting and dying for. freedom is worth it, democracy is worth it. america's worth it. the world is worth it. then, now, and always. >> i want to bring in nbc's kelly o'donnell who is traveling with the president in france. brendan buck is a former aide to republican house speakers paul ryan and john boehner, and he is an msnbc political analyst. kelly, there are questions when you look at the polls about whether putting this fight for democracy front and center of the president's re-election campaign is a smart political move, but listening to president biden today, there's no question this is an issue very close to his heart as he is almost certainly the last u.s. president who will have been alive on d-day. talk about what we saw and heard today. >> reporter: well, in the political space in the day-to-day of our election season, there's a lot of focus on things like economic issues, and every day circumstances in people's lives, and democracy might feel a bit far off or it might feel a bit abstract. here for these celebrations it is very palpable, and it is very real for these veterans who have come back with a life force that allowed them to be well enough to travel this far and to represent the comrades who are buried at normandy and those who have passed away in the years since, very, very, very vivid, and you really could sense the emotion, the beauty of the ceremonies, and so the issues that the president was talking about and the reason that people, so many people came back together today, two dozen world leaders, hundreds of attendees, is because they believe these issues do, in fact, matter, and they are as real today as they were 80 years ago. so in many ways, the celebration, the commemoration and the reflection that has gone on here and will over the course of these days of noting what happened at d-day and what was at stake certainly seems more vivid and more relatable for younger generations that were not alive then, have only read about it in history books, and as you note, president biden was himself just a toddler when these events took place. he said to one veteran how old are you, and the man said i'm 100. he said i'd like to look that good when i'm 82. so it gives you a sense of how this is a personal connection. it is one about the themes that are important. there was an extensive ovation for president zelenskyy of ukraine who is here with the other leaders. the president will meet him tomorrow. so it is both historical. it is emotional, and st in some ways very much current events. chris. >> thank you for that, kelly. mark updegrove is president and ceo of the lbj foundation and a presidential historian. he joins us on the phone. there is no question in the minds of surviors or historians of the significance of what happened that day, eight decades ago. there's an op-ed in "the new york times" that argues that in 2024's political environment, quote, we now face the very real question of whether america will embrace a vision of a country less free and less democratic, more divided and more unequal. it would be a step back ward unlike almost anything else in american history. do you think that today and really leading up to today president biden has been able to frame the stakes here in a way that resonates both with voters and with allies? >> well, one hopes that that is the case. joe biden got into this race in order to -- got into the race for president back in 2020 in order to preserve our democracy when he saw it being weakened, and he's made the preservation of democracy a central pillar of his campaign. his being able to prevail in a fall election will be a way of continuing that as we see that democracy is under threat with the candidacy of donald trump, a potential presidency from donald trump would certainly put our democratic principles in jeopardy, but we see biden today at this hallowed battleground in world war ii, one of two world wars that we fought last century to make the world safe for democracy, and we see democracy in peril today not only abroad, but in our own country, chris. >> brendan, i want to put this question of sacrifice in some context. you cannot help seeing these veterans, which i think kelly so beautifully talked about the life force that brought them there and their interviews with them and almost in every one that i've seen, they talk about those 2,500, i think, americans and so many more other allied troops that were killed on that day. it is palpable the sacrifice to them today as much as it was on that d-day. we have a congress right now where 52 members this term have said they won't -- they won't seek re-election, close to a record. according to ballotpedia, a dozen of them have left before their term. the military has struggled to keep its recruitment numbers up. do you worry our country is losing sight of the stakes and the importance of service or maybe just simply disagrees with the need for both. . >> yeah, absolutely. i'm sitting here listening to this. it's almost discouraging that we have to question whether some of these things are still important to people. this used to be table stakes that democracy and freedom are things we're all in this game for, politics as a vocation, and that you're willing to do a lot of things to preserve that because you know it's important. you know, i think there's a strain of both parties that are isolationist. you've seen the biggest shift in the republican party under donald trump. much more isolationist. i think it rests on, frankly, naivety about the world. we know donald trump doesn't care much about sacrifice or anything greater than himself, but what i fear is this has taken hold in a lot of places in the party. they just don't view this as our problem, and i think mitch mcconnell has done work in recent years and months making arguments that are so fundamental to not only who we are as a country, who we are as a party. i just worry that those voices are fewer and fewer today and if nobody's making that argument, as someone like him rides off into the sunset, who is making the argument that these things still are fundamental to what we believe in. >> the president did also talk about ukraine today insisting that the u.s. will not walk away and mitch mcconnell wrote that in pushing back against isolationists, quote, today the better part of valor is to build credible defenses before they are necessary, and demonstrate american leadership before it is doubted any further, but as you know, probably better than most thinking ahead is not necessarily congress's strong suit. so do you worry that the america today is not prepared, is not ready for the fight? >> i don't know that we're not ready for the fight today. i worry that over the long-term we stopped appreciating that this stuff needs long-term investment. mitch mcconnell's point in that op-ed is not so much that we should celebrate the peace and prosperity that we've enjoyed since world war ii and nato, it's that preceding world war ii, we were isolationist, and that's what got us in there in the first place. i think both parties have an important need to do better. i think republicans need to appreciate that allies and partnerships and global engagement are important. i think democrats need to appreciate that you need a strong military to be able to do both of those things, and that's where the clash is. republicans are fine spending money on the military, but don't care about nato as much as they used to, whereas every time we have a big fight, democrats are resistant to spending on the long-term investments that are necessary to keep peace is and prosperity around the world. and you know, hopefully moments like this can remind us why these things are important. we don't want to have to find this out through -- it may not be an attack on hawaii. it might be a cyber attack. it may be other things that come our way that undermine everything that we take for granted every day, and you do need more people in congress who appreciate that these things are still important. >> it's hard not to be reminded of the speech that ronald reagan gave at normandy on the 40th commemoration of d-day. it was a moment that seemed not just powerful but seemed to introduce a whole new generation of americans to the sacrifice made on d-day, made in world war ii, mark. how does that kind of message get resonated in the political environment we live in today? >> you know, i think when president reagan made that very iconic speech 40 years ago, we were living in a society where there were members of the greatest generation among us, active in society at that time. it was far more -- it was far closer to -- in our consciousness than it is today, and we become very shortsighted when it comes to our history. i think we forget the stakes of world war ii now. we don't know what was at stake, and we understand that these people were heroes, but i don't think there are a lot of people who truly understand what was at stake in world war ii. i think franklin roosevelt said that the presidency is preeminently a place of moral leadership and occasions like anniversaries around d-day give us an opportunity to talk about what america stands for and why standing up for democracy and coming to the aid of other nations who are under threat is part of our value code. so ronald reagan did so very effectively at a time when people remembered world war ii. it's a greater challenge for joe biden at a time when fewer people understand what world war ii meant to our nation and to the world. >> and we're watching live these pictures of the president and first lady who are heading to air force one. they're going to be leaving normandy and heading back to paris. but in the meantime, brendan, i want to dig a little bit more into the specifics of what we heard today because part of it at least really speaks to what we just heard from mark which is about coming to the aid of other countries. the president got applause when he talked about nato, and then he seemed at least in some way to perhaps make a reference, some might say take a swipe at donald trump as we watch the president and first lady get onto air force one. let me play that little bit of his speech for you. >> america has invested in our alliances and forged new ones, not simply out of altruism, but out of our own self-interests as well. america's unique ability to bring ability to bring countries together is an undeniable source of our strength and power. isolationism was not the answer eight years ago and is not the answer today. [ applause ] >> as you know, brendan, donald trump famously went into his first nato gathering in brussels and questioned america's commitment to article 5, mutual defense. criticized the financial commitment of our allies. does the importance of nato resonate with the american voter today? or do you think that trump and some, frankly, other republicans have raised real skepticism about the importance of international alliances, including in the minds of voters? >> well, i do think it's dangerous. on one hand, i do think that there is a place to call out some of our allies for not contributing. donald trump clearly doesn't do it, he doesn't even understand what the commitment is supposed to be, but what you're getting at, i think is both really, really important as a policy matter, the erosion of support for nato among republicans is real, and it is dangerous, and it is going to potentially have really dangerous long-term effects, and we're already seeing it as it relates to ukraine. now, does it matter for voters? i really don't think so, but i always struggle with these questions because there are plenty of things you have to do as a leader that you don't do because they're good for politics. this is an area of governance that is chief among them. you engage with your allies and you build partnerships and you deter aggression like russia because it is fundamental to who we are as a country, not because you're scoring any points. our national security is at stake, our prosperity is at stake. where i struggle with donald trump is i don't think he understands that. it's not even that he has a flushed out world view that nato is not operating well or something. he just doesn't even understand it. but that spreads far beyond donald trump right now. it is a core tenet of trumpism and the republican party today is to be isolationist, and i think that it could have the very long-term effect if you look at it as i do donald trump's impact on the party is going to be here for a very, very long time. >> mark updegrove, thank you. brendan buck, you're going to stay with me. in 90 seconds, day four of the hunter biden trial with the prosecution's key witness on the stand. what she testified about the moment she found at the gun at the heart of the case. we're back after this. we're back after this. 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(♪♪) [thud] vernacular. high emotion and sometimes painfully personal details today at hunter biden's felony trial as hallie biden, bow biden's widow continues testifying under an immunity deal. quote, oh, and the gun obviously saying she found the gun at the heart of the charges in his truck. she says she threw it away worried he'd hurt himself or her kids. hallie biden also testified about her romantic relationship with hunter biden, and when asked who first gave her crack cocaine, she replied hunter did. i want to bring in nbc's mike memoli from outside the courthouse. also with us msnbc legal analyst carol lam. i know the court just hit a lunch break. soon we'll see hallie back on the stand. she is regarded as the prosecution's star witness. what key details came out of her testimony so far today? >> reporter: yeah, chris, hallie is such an important witness. the prosecution has been able to introduce a significant volume of evidence in the form of text messages, in the form of photographs, in the form of witness testimony that really speaks to the depth of hunter biden's addiction to drugs over course of a long period of time from 2016 into 2018. they have not been able to establish it at the time he purchased this revolver in october of 2018. of course, the defense's contention is that biden did not consider himself to be addicted and, therefore, it would not have been untruthful for him to mark on the form that he was not an addict while purchasing that gun. hallie biden takes the prosecution for the first time into that october time frame, and they were able to during the course of her testimony introduce a text message exchange between her and hunter biden where she was inquiring about his whereabouts, and at one response hunter responded to her on october 14th, i was sleeping on a car smoking crack on 4th street and rodney. the day before he indicated that he was behind a minor league baseball stadium waiting for mookie a drug dealer. to the prosecution this is clear evidence that he was still using drugs within days of purchasing that gun. we just as we broke before lunch heard from abbe lowell, the defense attorney doing cross examination which he established from time to time hunter would text her things that weren't true. he would lie about wherehe was when she was asking. he might have been lying about using drugs because she often was asking was he with another woman. now, the other significant information that came out from the cross examination is that hallie biden said she was going through rehabilitation treatment in early october, and that was part of why hunter biden came back to delaware, and he attended some of those sessions with hallie biden. there was a very tortured series of questions from lowell to biden, and she sometimes seemed nervous and was looking around the gallery, and i noticed her looking at her brand new husband, a man by the name of john anning, my colleague spoke with him. they just got married this past weekend, chris, and when sarah asked him about that, he said this is one heck of a way to spend the honeymoon. this is speaking to really the complicated emotional and family dynamics that are at play during this trial. >> yeah, complicated to say the least. hallie biden was in a romantic relationship with hunter biden in october of 2018, and that's when the gun was purchased. as you've been following along with this trial, how important is that, and how important is she as a witness? >> hallie biden is very important to the prosecution, obviously, because she's the one who had these communications with hunter biden both before and after but also the fact that she found the gun, that makes her a very necessary witness, and she's testified under a grant of immunity because she has had to talk about her own addiction to crack. that in itself is a crime. she was granted immunity. she doesn't want to be there. she doesn't want to be testifying. she's doing what she has to do under the law, so that makes her both a necessary witness for the prosecution, but also a somewhat unwilling one. that can create problems for the prosecution. we're going to have to see how the rest of her cross examination plays out. >> carol, on october 15th, which was two days after hunter biden purchased the gun, hallie biden texted him, quote, i just want to help you get sober. nothing i do or you do is working. i'm