Day, Donald Trumps results loom large. Did he lose the 2020 election . Tim, im focused on the future. As the Special Counsel reveals new evidence in the Election Interference case. They rigged the election. The election was rigged. I didnt rig it. They rigged it. Former republican congressman Liz Cheney hits the Campaign Trail with Vice President Kamala Harris. I have never voted for a democrat, but this year im proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. No matter your political party, there is a place for you with us and in this campaign. Plus, wider war. As the Middle East escalates into a regional war, fears grow the conflict is expanding to a new and more dangerous phase. And return visit, former President Trump returns to the Pennsylvania Rallying Site where was in july. They slandered me, indicted me, tried to throw me off the ballot. And who knows, maybe even tried to kill me. My guests this morning, republican Senator Tom Cotton of arkansas and democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of california. Joining me for Insight And Analysis are nbc News Chief Washington correspondent andrea mitchell, amna navaz, coanchor of pbs newshour. Marc short, former Chief Of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence and former Press Secretary jen psaki. Welcome to sunday. Its Meet The Press. Announcer from Nbc News in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is Meet The Press with kristen welker. Good sunday morning. Election day is now just 30 days away, and there are crises swirling at home and abroad as israel prepares to mark the Oneyear Anniversary of the October 7th terror attacks, the region is on edge for a potential retaliation after a massive Missile Attack by iran. And after Hurricane Helene Hope is 235iding for those still unaccounted for as the Death Toll soars to 230, Vice President harris touching down in North Carolina on saturday, visiting a resource donation center. Its the best of what we can do to bring federal, local, and State Resources together in a way thats coordinated with one purpose and one purpose only, which is bringing relief, support, and help to the people who are most in need and desperate for help. Meanwhile in battleground pennsylvania, former President Trump made a dramatic return to butler, a place where a gunman tried to assassinate him nearly three months ago. He was joined on stage by Billionaire Elon Musk and paid tribute to the supporter killed that day while criticiing the hurricane katrina response. They say this is the Woftd Theyve done to helping people through the ravages of a hurricane. The former president s effort to overturn his Election Loss four years ago is back in focus. On tuesday, mr. Trumps running mate j. D. Vance refused to say during the Vice President debate that he lost the 2020 election. Did he lose the 2020 election . Tim, im focused on the future. Did Kamala Harris Censure Americans from speaking their mind in the wake of the covid thats a damn nonanswer. On wednesday, the judge sought a filing. Special Counsel Jack Smith argues mr. Trump is not immune from prosecution for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, saying he was acting as a candidate. Mr. Trump criticized the release as a political act. This was a weaponization of government, and thats why it was released 30 days before the election. They rigged the election. I didnt rig the election. They rigged the election. As a reminder, former President Trump and his allies brought more than 60 illegal challenges after the election in an effort to overturn it. Nearly all of the cases were dropped or missed due to a lack of evidence. In a striking display on thursday, former republican congressman Liz Cheney campaigned for Vice President harris. Donald trump was willing to sacrifice our capitol to allow Law Enforcement officers to be beaten and brutalized in his name, and to violate the law and the constitution in order to seize power for himself. I dont care if you are a democrat or a republican or an undependent, there is a depravity, and we must never become numb to it. On friday in a Surprise Visit to the Briefing Room, President Biden shared concernses about election violence. Do you have confidence that it will be a free and fair election and that it will be peaceful . Im confident it will be free and fair. I dont know whether it will be peaceful. The things that trump has said and the things he said last Time Out when he didnt like the outcome of the election were very dangerous. Former President Trump will return to pennsylvania later this week, and former President Obama will kick off a Battleground State Blitz for Vice President harris on thursday. Also in the keystone state. Im joined by National Political correspondent Steve Kornacki with the latest on the state of the race. Steve, break it down for us. Yes, kristen, lets start big picture. Weve been tracking this week to week. The average of all of the major national polls, Kamala Harris continuing with that Threepoint Advantage in the average over Donald Trump, but, of course, Donald Trump lost the Popular Vote in each of the last two times he ran for president and one of those times in 2016, he was still able to win through the Electoral College. Lets take a closer look at the states, the Battleground States. Youre looking at our averages in here. The Headline Continueses to be its very close everywhere. One thing to draw your attention to when you talk about trump being in pennsylvania, obama being in there, from trumps standpoint in terms of an efficient path to 270 electoral votes, it will look something like this. If trump gets georgia where he leads by a point and a half, if he gets to North Carolina where hes literally tied in the polls and where trump won in 2020, the only one of these Battleground States trump carried four years ago, all the votes he would need would be pennsylvania where harris has a small lead in the averages. But trump getting those three would get him to 270. Thats the importance of blocking his path in pennsylvania. One of the key interests, theres a trend here. Youre looking at the trump era, the Party Registration in pennsylvania. Look at this. When Donald Trump first came on the scene in 2016, the democratic advantage in Party Registration in pennsylvania was over 900,000 votes. 2020. Look now in 2024, thats been cut in almost twothirds, 330,000. Theres been a little bit of a boost for Kamala Harris since she took over. But the big trend has been more competitive for republicans in Party Registrations. Where are we looking in pennsylvania . Whats going to decide this state . Believe it or not, in the trump era, there are only ten counties in the entire state where democrats perform now than they did before trump came along. However, some of these counties are very big. Focus on these four counties outside delaware. Delaware, chester, montgomery, bucks. More than a fifth is going to come out of there. Last Pretrump Election in the Collar Counties, democrats won them. Obama won it. Look what happened in 2020. Almost a 20point democratic margin. This is where the democrats have been growing, suburbs, places with lots of concentrations of high college degrees. Can harris to do better in the Collar Counties . Thats critical for her. In rural counties have gotten redder, small rural counties. Some people call this the latino belt. These are counties that have smallersized cities with rapidly growing latinos. We talk about trump improving among hispanic voters. Here you see it. Reading, pennsylvania, 70 . It was relatively blue. But its almost down by 12 points. Hazelton, pennsylvania, nearly 60 hispanic, now a nearly doubledigit trump place. Can trump grow new support in the latino counties . The Emerging Latino Counties where a large population of voters in the Pennsylvania Area . Thats the key to his standpoint. Key question as we continue to keep our eyes on the keystone state. Joining me now is republican Senator Tom Cotton of arkansas. Senator, welcome back to Meet The Press. Thanks for having me on, kristen. Lets start out by talking about hurricane helene. We know President Trump has made claims. Hes saying funds are being withheld and Fema Funds are being redirected to migrants. Both of those claims are being debunked. Theyre false. Heres what the Fema Administraor had to say about it. They wont even come to us. They wont even register. They need to register so they can get what theyre eligible through our programs. Senator, what do you say to that criticism that mr. Trump is confusing people at the very time when they need help the most . I dont think hes confusing anyone. I think the administration did get caught flatfooted here and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have proved to be overmatched by the events. If you heard from georgia, it was said the Administrations Response has been lackluster. I think theres an obvious difference between what happened in western North Carolina and Northern Georgia and Eastern Tennessee than the normal kind of Hurricane Impact we see. Most of the times hurricanes are hitting off the coast, hitting flatland. They can cause devastating damage. But within some reasonable period of time, water can recrede and linemen can come in and Water Supply trucks. If you look, there are small narrow valleys. Oftentimes these places only have one way in or out. Thats a very different challenge than what you see on coastal areas. From the very beginning they should have been deploying military operations, specifically helicopters to get in there. It took them days to do that. There are hundreds of continues within flying distance. That should have happened from the very beginning. Senator, just a couple of points. The governors themselves say they got the support they needed. We know the government got 27 Million to western North Carolina specifically. There is no doubt there are challenges in this recovery mission, but im asking about the misinformation the former president is spreading. It was said, quote, former president Donald Trump has politicized the situation at every turn, spreading falsehoods and conspiracies that fracture the community instead of bringing it together. Do you think Donald Trump should leave Campaign Politics out of Disaster Relief . Kristen, you have, again, Governor Kemp who said it has been lacking. I understand the democratic governor of North Carolina is going to sing the praises. Theyre still engaged in Rescue Operations because President Biden and Kamala Harris were slow to answer the bell, they somewhere slowfooted and unmatched by the events. You even have the secretary of Homeland Security saying theres not enough money left in the funds. It is the case that the secretary of fema said theres not enough money left in the fund, and they have been spending billions of dollars for the last four years to move migrants from the border to put them up in hotels and give them Room Service and maids. What Secretary Mayorkas says is it has the money it needs for now but not necessarily through the end of the year for future hurricanes. So there is a discussion about more funding, youre right about that. But, look, Henry Mcmaster says federal assistance has been superb. Glenn youngkin says hes Apreesh Ative of the response. My broader question is about this misinformation. Do you think this is a time to put falsehoods aside like the idea of Fema Funds being redirected to migrants, which is just not true . It is true fema and the department of Homeland Security have been spending billions of dollars on migrants. I understand people say theyre separate funds. We just passed a funding. Secondly, i would note this administration seem os to have Problem Finding Money when they want to spend it. When they need hundreds of millions of dollars, they somehow find it. When its trying to get helicopters to deliver Food And Water and cellular service and lifesaving medicine, they cant find the money. Again, 110 Million has been sent to survivors and theyre different funds than Disaster Relief funds. I want to talk about one of the moments of the Vice President debate when Senator Advance refused to say Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. I want to put this question to you, senator, just to put this to rest. Can you say definitively Here And Now Donald Trump did lose the election in 2020 . Kristen, Joe Biden won the election in 2020. It was unfair in many ways. You had states changing their Election Practices or laws sometimes in violation of the constitution. You had networks combining with big tech, which we now know to be a truthful story in the hunter biden laptop. Obviously Joe Biden was elected president. We know that in part did trump lose . Joe biden won, kristen. You have an Electoral College vote, you certify and have the inauguration. Joe biden has been elected President And Everything has gone to hell in a hand basket. As you know, its been one of the most secure elections in history. Why cant you just say if biden is president why cant you simply say trump lost . Joe biden was elected in 2020. Thats why we have inflation and illegals in this country. To go back to the 2020 election, it was very irregular. You had this network and others that suppressed Biden Family corruption. You had democratic states like pennsylvania and philadelphia, changing their elections on the fly. Thats why President Trump is making sure democrats arent doing what theyre trying to do in pennsylvania, counting Absentee Ballots that dont have dates. Theres no proof that that happened. Just to be clear, as i said initially, trump did take his case to court more than 60 times and didnt win those cases. Let me move on and ask about January 6th, the new evidence unsealed this week. Jack smith in his filing sas he has three witnesses who say he went to the Dining Room where he watched coverage of the attacks against the capitol unfold and he was on his phone, on twitter. A year ago i asked Donald Trump about what he was doing during that tomb. Look. Tell me how you watched this all unfold. Were you in the Dining Room watching tv . Im not going to tell you. Ill tell people later at the appropriate time. By the way, Nancy Pelosi did you call military or Law Enforcement . Im not going to tell you anything. Senator, do you think Donald Trump showed leadership in those hours when the capitol was under attack . What i think about what Jack Smith did this week is it was a Temper Tantrum from a deranged fanatic that he keeps losing time and time again over the course of his career. This is unverified, uncrossexamined hearsay from Grand Jury testimony, which usually slkt published for that reason. He went to court, asked for special permission to file a brief, which is four times as long as the normal brief, and had it disclosed 30 days before the election. This is professional misconduct by Jack Smith and should be investigated. Just to be clear, the judge did unseal it. Back to the question, do you think Donald Trump showed leadership in the hours the capitol was under attack . Look, i know trump said to the rallygoers who were here on the ellipse, they should protest peacefully and patriotically. He posted videos and other messages on Social Media once some of those rallygoers started assaulting the capitol. I know those things. What Jack Smith is asserting in his filing is unverified, uncrossexamined hearsay. This is perfect example of actual Election Interference. Jack smith defying regulations to get out as much verified socalled unverified information he has because hes angry he lost and he doesnt think democrats will beat him. Very, very quickly, would you support israel launching strikes on their nuclear fa silgt. We should let israel win and back them to the hilt. Is that a yes . They will decide how to attack iran. Iran is our enemy. Would you support israel . Im not going to give Benjamin Netanyahu advice. We should back israel and back them. Good to see you. When we come back, democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of california joins me next. Adam schiff of california joins me next me next. Welcome back. Welcome back. Joining me now is democratic Congressman Adam Schiff of california. Congressman schiff welcome back to Meet The Press. Great to be with you. Well, its great to have you. I want to start off by asking you about that unsealed brief that was filed by Jack Smith. We should note that it was unsealed by the judge. In it, he reveals new details about what happened on January 6th, including he says that when former President Trump was told that his then Vice President Mike Pence had to be rushed out of where he was for safety and that he was in danger, trumps response was, so what . What was your reaction to hearing that, congressman . Well, that was the most shocking part to me. It just affirmed what we know about Donald Trump, and that is he cares about no one except himself, nothing, not the constitution, not our institutions, not the capitol, not his own colleagues and nothing but himself and in that respect that one exchange when the president is informed as the Vice President is essentially being sequestered in a safe place because his life is at risk, people are chanting hang Mike Pence, the president s reaction is so what . That, to me, is so telling and so powerful. I want to ask you about the timing of all of this, congressman, which you know has been in focus. The former federal prosecutor referred to this brief as Jack Smiths, quote, october cheap shot. Donald trump has