that is tonight's the last word. the 11th hour with stephanie ruhle starts now. tonight, donald trump met his probation officer. we will look at a key step as sentencing approaches. the fate of hunter biden is in the hands of a delaware jury. nba legend steve kerr is here and why he speaking out about the stakes in the election as the 11th hour gets underway. good evening once again. we are 148 days away from election. today, one of the leading candidates for president met with his probation officer. donald trump brush off his guilty verdict set for a standard presentencing interview this afternoon, there was nothing standard about how this interview was held. trump got special permission to attend virtually from florida and to have his attorney todd blanche present. he's been complaining for months about it two tiered system of justice and he is right. is new public defenders pointed out today, most people do not get to login remotely from a resort in florida to talk to their probation officers. as for is what happens in these interviews, probation officers generally ask about financial resources, mental health, and any links to other convicted criminals. they also have to ask if you feel remorse for the crime you were convicted of. meanwhile, in delaware, the hunter biden firearms case went to the jury after both sides made closing arguments. hunter biden chose not to take the stand. here is ryan nobles with more. >> reporter: tonight, it's in the hands of the jury. six men and six women deliberating the fate of hunter biden, the first child of a sitting american president to be charged with a crime. many members of the first family in the courtroom throughout the trial. all of this is not evidence. gesturing around the courtroom and in the direction of first lady jill biden in the first row. people sitting in the gallery are not evidence he said adding no one is above the law. the special counsel's office use the president's son of lying on a federal back on check by checking the box claiming he was not an active drug user to purchase a gun. prosecutors used evidence from his laptop and called 10 witnesses, many describing hunter biden's frequent drug use including around the time he filled out the background check in october 2018. hunter biden's ex-wife testified she found drug paraphernalia inside his car in october 2018. his ex-girlfriend who was dating him at the same time singing hunter was smoking crack every 20 minutes or so. the evidence was personal. it was ugly. it was overwhelming he told the jury today. it was also absolutely necessary. defense attorney abbe lowell argued they focus too much on his drug abuse over a four year period and saying no one witnessed actual drug use during the window of time he purchased the gun. >> with that, let's do smarter with the help of our leadoff panel. pulitzer prize for investigative reporter with the washington post sam stein acerra veteran federal journalist and white house editor for political and a neighbor of carol. former new york prosecutor and civil rights attorney charles coleman jr. is here. you know it's a big night so you get first crack. donald trump met with his probation officer. help us understand the purpose of these interviews and how do they go and what do we know about what was asked in this one? >> when your probation officer will ask you questions, what they're trying to understand is what your setup is around your life. how do you live. what your financial resources are and what would be the impact of a particular sentence of a judge decides to send you to jail. are there people who depend on you? are you associating with other criminals which we know in the case of donald trump, he is. we could go down the long list. steve bannon, roger stone, michael flynn, the list goes on and on. one of the things a probation officer is looking to ascertain, and you talked about this, is whether you have any understanding and/or appreciation for the crime you're actually committed up. i think donald trump has a difficult tightrope when it comes to everything he said in the public around this persecution rather than what he knows is actually in the prosecution by the das office, and that will be something that will be hard to get around. the probation report is going to be something the judge takes into account when they make their decision around what sentence they ultimate -- ultimately oppose. they will make the recommendation and trump's attorneys will argue for as lenient of a sentence as possible. >> sam, donald trump has been arguing for months and months that there's a two cheered data tiered justice system and its benefiting him. he got to meet virtually with his probation officer. his lawyer was there and when he speaks at his rallies he's always saying i am doing this for you. i am standing here for you. but any trump supporters were in his position, they would not get the special privileges. why do they keep buying this? >> you are right. when you think back to the gag order that was imposed on trump at various points in the criminal case, that was almost done with reluctance compared to what it would've been for any other person in the justice system. obviously, donald trump is a unique person in the justice system that he's running for president currently. it makes sense that some leeway is given to him. the justice system works in his favor and i would argue the second story, hunter biden's story, it is not a justice system. the presidents own department of justice is bringing a case against his son. if there was a thumb on the scale of the justice system on the part of president biden, one thing he would do it to alleviate the burdens on his son and maybe let it go away and the president sat back and watched this progress to the point where we will probably get a verdict in the next day or so. >> carol, get it's been a crazy last eight years and people have become desensitized. it is not even remotely normal for the presumptive gop nominee to be meeting with his probation officer. what is your reaction to this extraordinary moment in american history? >> i've thought a lot about that and how numb the country has become to everything that we have watched in the last eight years. nobody can forget and yet we almost act like it was no big deal when then republican nominee for president, donald trump, was caught on live tape talking about grabbing women in the using a course word and saying he could get away with it because he was a celebrity. starting then and continuing on, it was like a starting gun of every other week, every other two weeks, revelations about donald trump as candidate and as president that made us all gasp and wonder, can he survive this? donald trump is the republican nominee for president again. he is the front runner in this race by many polls, and he is a felon who has been convicted of 34 counts of crimes in the state of new york. the city and the town, where he once ruled. all of us are like, oh, yeah, that's how it is. that's sort of the standard now for the last eight years. it's important for us all to step back and remember that no president and no former president has ever been charged with a crime and now we have one who has been convicted and is seeking to return to the white house. >> charles, an appellate lawyer wrote that donald trump's chances of winning an appeal are pretty slim. what do you think? >> i think so. when you talk about what it is to appeal a jury verdict, the first thing people need to understand its an rare occurrence that the system will look at the decision that is made by our constitution where you get a chance to have your case heard in front of a jury of your peers, which donald trump did, and override that decision absent some extreme miscalculation by the judge or extreme actions by one of the attorneys. judge merchan does not get enough credit for the way he ran this trial. i think he was aware that all eyes needed to be dotted and all his teas needed to be crossed and that's why he did on such a -- run such a tight ship to make sure there were as few issues for appeal as possible. that doesn't mean donald trump's attorneys won't seek to find an issue but the likelihood of being successful is slim to none. >> sam, dal bragg says he will testify before the house about the trump case but most likely not until after donald trump gets sentenced. he knows what he is going to face with house republicans. how do you think he will handle this? >> i mean, we knew the house republicans were going to do this. they signaled they want to protect donald trump and want to go after the prosecution. there has been overtures they want to defund jack smith for instance. bringing alvin bragg to the hill is something we should've expected a long time ago. i'm surprised they didn't push harder prior to this. i would point to the fact that a jury trumps peers made the determination he was guilty of 34 counts. that's the aspect of the american justice system that trump was right to defense and he was given defense. there will be questions about, who was on his team and funding them? what it comes down to is this is how the american justice system is designed to work. trump at his day in court and had his defense. that is that. the decision was made by a jury of 12 and you have to live with it that's what we do. >> charles, let's shift to what sam was talking about. the hunter biden case. what did you make of both sides, closing arguments, and hunter not taking the stand? >> it didn't surprise me that hunter biden did not take the stand for a number of reasons. number 1 comments difficult for hunter biden to give testimony in any way that will try to exonerate him or at least defend against those charges without either incriminating him or at least admitting publicly about his substance abuse. i think that is something he wanted to avoid. i think his team wanted to avoid that and if you are looking at this, it's something that would not of been well for the biden administration to have in the headlines. not that that has an impact on hunter's actual case or charges per se, but i think it was part of the calculus here. with respect to what you heard from the prosecution, this was straightforward. many legal experts myself included understand that when the special prosecutor on the case that joe biden allowed to stay on the case brought the charges, that is, if anything that we've seen recently is a mass political prosecution we have seen. i say that because for these federal charges to be brought, you typically don't see that absent some additional violent events involving the actual handgun or the weapon that is in question. that's not the case here. hunter biden is not charged with that because we don't have those facts. robert hur decided to bring the charges against hunter biden and the case for the prosecution is relatively straightforward. none of this surprises me. what the defense did a closing argument is you work with the facts you have. they don't have gray facts so they have to call into question the time line. i don't know if that will be enough for a jury to either acquit him or result in a mistrial. >> sam, the president has already said he will not pardon his son. if he is found guilty, he could be taken into custody . how is the administration, campaign, going to react to this? >> they have been hands-off about a. they are not hiding the fact this is taking an emotional cole, mental pool, on the president. he is a there. when you ask about -- present enough, they are hands off. there's discomfort in the white house to even talk about the issue with the president himself. he does not want to discuss it. it's not that he doesn't think it's a political fallout but it's too raw for him. the question, will republicans tried to capitalize on a guilty verdict, and if so, what manifestation? we have a debate coming up. it's not beyond the realm that donald trump will not try to use something during the debate and what we've been surprised to see is how little republicans are talking about the hunter biden trial including trump himself. it doesn't come up that much. it used to be a topic of discussion but not recently. you wonder if that's because they don't want to draw attention to trump's own legal mishaps or tested it out and realize there might be boomerang effect where people are sympathetic or empathetic to joe biden if you go after his son, part of what the issue is, issue of addiction. >> carol, no topic. your paper, "the washington post", has this story out over the weekend about the trump ally with a quote post constitutional vision for a second term. the man's name is russell, what can you tell us about this? >> beth reinhard on our national investigative team for this great reporting that presages the future and right donald trump presidency. the kinds of people he is entrusting to make the plans for his new administration. he was a deputy omb director and had been in congress as a staffer for a long time and other federal agencies. he knows his way around the legislative and the executive parts of our government. he is using that knowledge to broadly expand the powers of the executive, if trump takes office. to the point of saying he will find a way for the justice department to prosecute and imprison those who he feels is wrongly gone after the president in the past including journalists. that includes political figures think the biden family members. he has said rather he is said to confidantes that he would work very hard to loosen the military's ability to take action at the president's command to stop protests that are against the president. to interfere perhaps in elections. the military would be an entity the president could send it to domestic situations and something we have avoided ever since the horrors of kent state for example. it's a person who believes in the unitarian executive theory but is proposing things behind closed doors. he may end up being the chief of staff for the president. he is proposing things that send a chill up the spine of those who really study democracy and its norms. >> here's my head scratcher. there's a lot of conservatives who say they do not like trump what they like his policies. these are the same people who are all about small government with limited power. this, this man and this plan. isn't that the complete opposite of small government, limited power? this is big government with ultimate power. >> well, i think one thing you have highlighted on your program consistently, if i can give you a hat tip, is the idea of the hypocrisy. the republican party for as long as i have been a reporter which i'm embarrassed to tell you how long it has been, has always been about criminal justice and serious tough law enforcement. it's been the party of being concerned about foreign adversaries, rough it -- russia chief among them but that's all out the window now with trump as president. putin is a great guy and the new republican party. he is a fan of donald trump therefore he is awesome. getting tough on criminals? not important anymore because we really want to support certain criminals who have been unfairly, and to use this in quotation marks, unfairly persecuted. that is the line the republican party is pushing. again, this notion of big government as being anathema to the government party is out the window as well. if it suits donald trump. that's the litmus test for republicans who want to stay in power. >> people can vote how they like but it's our job to shine a light so people understand exactly who and what they are voting for. carol, was great to see you. sam, charles thank you. nine months into the war and five americans are still being held hostage by hamas. why the white house is considering a new strategy for negotiations. after months in a dead heat in the polls with trump, president biden is revving up his engines and maybe even changing lanes. the 11th hour just getting underway on a monday night. da. with absorbine pro, pain won't hold you back from your passions. it's the only solution with two max-strength anesthetics to deliver the strongest numbing pain relief available. so, do your thing like a pro, pain-free. absorbine pro. norman, bad news... i never graduated from med school. what? -but the good news is... xfinity mobile just got even better! now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. i gotta get this deal... i know... faster wifi and savings? ...i don't want to miss that. that's amazing doc. mobile savings are calling. visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc? nbc news has exclusive new reporting on a possible new strategy from the u.s. to negotiate the release of american hostages still held by hamas. it comes as we get new video the moment israeli forces rescued three hostages over the weekend. andrea mitchell has the latest. >> reporter: tonight, the dramatic moment when three of the four hostages were rescued. you can hear gunfire as officers approach a family home in the middle of a refugee camp. finding the hostages inside of back room. officers asking further names as the hostages answer back. andre, he says. the daytime mission leader resulting in a firefight the idf says as hamas seven fire on the hostages and rescuers as they escape. the high death toll of palestinians potentially complicating delicate cease- fire negotiations with hamas. secretary of state tony blinken in israel dominica must agree to a deal. >> israel accepted the proposal. the only party that has not accepted and the only one that has not said yes is hamas. that's who everyone is waiting on. >> reporter: they were taken during the terror attacks at the music festival. 26 years old who became the face of the hostage were. seen on the back of a motorbike being kidnapped. her boyfriend still held captive tonight. hugging her father and reunited with her mother who was terminally ill. a 21-year-old coming home just one day after his father died but arriving before his mother's birthday. >> i could not stop poking him. tomorrow is my birthday so i got my presence. thank you. >> a 40-year-old aunt 127. falling to his knees when he was reunited with his mom. while their celebrations in israel, and gaza there is morning. the hamas run gazan health ministry which does not distinguish between combatant and civilian death said 274 palestinians were killed in the rescue mission including 64 children, one woman telling our crew. >> my house is destroyed. >> reporter: this is nbc news reporting exclusively the u.s. is discussing a new move if cease-fire talks fail making a unilateral deal with of the most to release the remaining american hostages. negotiating through qatar and without israel. according to ginger current and former senior u.s. officials. >> my number 1 priority as secretary of state is to ensure the well-being of americans who are in harms way anywhere in the world. >> reporter: as your top priority, wouldn't indirect talks for the americans at least bring those americans home? >> the most effective way to achieve that, get them home, is through the proposal on the table. let's see if we get an answer from hamas. >> for more, peter baker white house chief correspondent for the "new york times". is this a sign the white house is frustrated with the pace of negotiations between israel and hamas? >> obviously, it's been nine months and these american hostages have been there the entire time. the american government has deferred to the israeli government when it comes to dealing with the hostages. they have dual citizenship and israel is on the ground and united states is not. it suggests an in patients with the biden administration that its own hostage, american hostages, remain in limbo while netanyahu and hamas remain at od