economy as a result of the supply chain issues. >> we want to get a little more fidelity on how disruptive it can be. we're not talking about a single point of failure that it's the only possible place to get through or even something that is as impactful as some of the issues that affected the panama canal. this does not mean a trip to the east coast has to be substituted with a trip to the west coast, which could be much more of a cost impact. it could be accommodated up and down the east coast, but the effect will certainly not be trivial. >> thank you. mr. secretary, you said you received a request for emergency funding from the maryland authorities. can you tell us what that number was? >> those don't necessarily include a full estimate of the cost, but they do make it possible through what's called a quick release authority to start getting dollars out. i was just notified that this is coming in as i was stepping out here, so i don't have more details than that right now.

>> so just speaking about economic impact, each day that the port is shutdown, what is the economic impact? >> again, there's between, last i checked, between 100 and $200 million of value that comes through the port every day, and about $2 million in wages that are at stake every day, and that's one of the areas we're most concerned about. it's one thing for a container or a vehicle or a sugar shipment to be absorbed or accommodated somewhere else, but these long shore workers, if goods aren't moving, they're not working. now, right now there is work taking place even inside of that bridge because of the work that has to be done to off load some of the vehicles that are stuck there and get that back on the surface transportation to go out to other sites, so they're likely working right now, but that work won't last long, and that's one of our main areas of concern. >> thank you very much. so when you look at cfr, you

know, the regulations, you earlier talked about how, you know, you inspect these vehicles, the coast guard inspects these vehicles. is it done on a regular basis to see if all of those items, you know, are being followed, or do you do spot checks? >> pretty thorough. so every ship that comes to a united states port has to report to the coast guard and customs and border protection 96 hours in advance. what we do is look at cargo, vessel history, look at the individuals on board, and we'll put them through a risk matrix to determine based on their past history and another set of factors on whether we should board and inspect or not. but it's a pretty thorough process. >> vice admiral, and secretary, when does cleanup begin?

we're hearing in the first stage of rescue and recovery, and the question is once cleanup starts, will there be at least one channel to come through because of the importance and the uniqueness of this port not just for baltimore but for a country to include the midwest with the farming equipment that goes on the csx line that's right there, and thousand do you push back to republicans who don't want anything to go through for the biden administration, where the president says he wants to pay for everything? >> i'll take the latter and leave it to you on the channel. so, look, infrastructure is or at least ought to be a bipartisan priority. i know that partisanship has gotten in the way of some important functions and expenditures, but i would also note that the infrastructure package that was passed is known as the bipartisan infrastructure law for a reason. some, not all, republicans,

crossed the aisle to work with president biden and work with democrats to get this done. it is our hope that that same spirit will prevail here, and i would remind any member who might find themselves on the fence when any request that might comes through materialize that today this is happening in baltimore. tomorrow it could be your district, and we really need to stand together, red, blue and purple to get these things done. >> and what about the channel, the clean up and the channel? >> so in terms of the debris assessment removal now, again, the army corps of engineers under general spelman are being aggressive in mobilizing surveys and necessary actions in order to first understand what they're facing in terms of challenges with not just the debris on the surface but underwater. so they can give you an idea on what that assessment looks like. >> we can safely say the process

for cleanup and opening a channel is underway because you're assessing what's going on down below? >> the coast guard incident and commander general are coordinated on the necessary actions to do this. not waiting in order to begin this process. now, we do need to be sensitive. the state of maryland is conducting the recovery operations in and around the same area where the debris assessment removal needs to take place. in terms of the details, the army corps is the one to answer that. >> what kind of changes could this lead to the operation at the ports? could we see tug escorts going through for bridges like this, and would that make a difference? >> for us, again, i think it's too soon to speculate whether any design feature or other practice would have made a difference, but that's the kind of thing that ntsb does, and they do it well at the end of their investigation. they issue recommendations which

often become part of policy, design, or even technology for the future, and part of why we'll be very interested in their work. >> thanks. >> secretary, tell us if you are seeing any impact on inflation, and you said that the breach was not major, but should it be reinforced during the past decades? >> i don't know how a bridge possibly could withstand the forces that were at play when this vessel, about the same size as a nimitz aircraft carrier struck the key supporting beam for the bridge, but we will also learn from the ntsb investigation. what was the first bit? >> about inflation. >> too soon to say. i think this is definitely a different ballpark from what we saw on the west coast, issues in 2021. but that's part of what we hope to gather more data on soon. i will say, you know, a lot of the disinflation that we have

seen has been a result of the work that the president led to improve and smooth out our supply chains. we see a clear relationship between supply chains and inflation. this is more localized and specialized than what we saw in 2021. >> reporter: secretary buttigieg, have you or the president been able to reach the family members of the six victims or do you plan to try to contact them? >> first of all, our hearts and our thoughts are with them. i know right now they are shifting from yesterday where they were really in the mode of hoping for news to today facing the worst kind of news you possibly could. i can't speak to anybody else's conversations with them other than that i know governor moore spent time speaking with them. >> reporter: vice admiral, you had said earlier that there's a process by which the coast guard will keep track of ships that may have been involved in previous incidents, and we already know that the dali was involved in a previous incident, not similar to this one, but an incident nonetheless, so was the

ship on the radar for the coast guard in terms of, you know, keeping an eye on it, and if not, the second follow up question is if ships have already been flagged, if you will, for having been involved in incidents, what's the process for them when they're coming into a united states port? >> maybe i'll answer the first part of that question first. it's the same process for every ship. we get the notification 96 hours in advance of arriving at a u.s. port. we do an examination together with customs and border protection, a review of the histories of these ships and other factors, cargoes that they carry and so on and so forth to do a risk ranking and then make a determination about whether a local coast guard team and cvp participates as well, whether we should do a boarding and safety examination there. in terms of the history of the ship, again, i think this one incident that has been discussed within the media, i think we need to take that within context in terms of what may or may not have happened with a different

crew on board, different situation, different pilots and so on and so forth, maybe not related to the vessel condition, so to speak. but in terms of our examination, this particular ship had a fairly good safety record. >> okay. thank you so much, vice admiral. >> thank you so much, guys. thank you. >> thank you. thank you, guys. and so we get a briefing on the complexities, the incredible complexities of what is happening at port of baltimore hearing from officials there, both transportation secretary pete buttigieg and the vice admiral at the coast guard. among the questions, the key questions that still have to be answered, timing, when any of this might happen, when they might have an idea of when the port can reopen, and then the bridge can reopen, let me go to nbc's george solis who is on the ground in baltimore, and bring

back former ntsb investigator, as we look to get these questions answered, jeff, you start to hear in the number of different agencies that are involved, state, federal, local officials who are involved, the complexities of answering some of these questions and moving things forward. from an ntsb perspective, and somebody who has been involved in complex investigations, have we figured out how to do this efficiently and well, do you feel confident it's going to move forward in a way that it needs to be done? >> i do feel confident that the ntsb is going to get to the bottom of this. they've got decades of experience investigating marine accidents. it's a little bit different than aviation accidents because of what you just said. there's so many other agencies involved, you've got the army corps of engineers, the coast guard, the department of homeland security, the international maritime association, you've got this flagged vessels, but the ntsb is

well versed in all of that. and they've got a process in place to get all of that expertise, and they understand it. so it's going to take a while. it will take at least a year or more for them to come to a final report and probable cause, but they're going to do it well. >> in the meantime, when you talk about a report and probable cause, they're already starting, obviously, to look at what can be done, what do you need. for example, the foundational infrastructure that secretary buttigieg talked about, how much of that might be in place that will inform how the bridge potentially gets rebuilt and how quickly. is it reasonable to anticipate that those kinds of decisions or at least planning can be made long before the yearlong time line that you're talking about? >> the answer is yes, but no one's going to wait for a year, year and a half for a final report to come out. the ntsb may issue recommendations. they can do so immediately. they could do so next week or

tomorrow if they wanted to. the coast guard, which a bit different from aviation, the coast guard is also having a parallel investigation where ntsb is on their team, and ntsb is conducting an investigation with coast guard people on the ntsb's team. at any point, they can make changes. things will be learned, decisions will be made sooner than later, so, again, i have the confidence in the coast guard and the ntsb to make the right call. you need enough factual information, and analysis to make recommendations or to make changes in the maritime system. >> working for the ntsb, you also know the pressure that can be brought to bear already. obviously money is going to be spent, how much and when we don't know but from the federal government at the request of maryland, they want to be able to get things going. how much is -- how high is the pressure, and how difficult is

it to not respond to that pressure, and in fact, get ahead of where things might be. >> you know what, chris, the ntsb is expert at not letting financial pressure drive their decisions for investigations or recommendations. they are completely independent. they will have no say about whether the budget should have been greater or smaller. it's all about safety, and they are well versed in handling this kind of pressure. >> so, george, what are you hearing on the ground about obviously the need to get things moving? we heard that, you know, simultaneously, there is still the search for the victims, but divers are also in there trying to do the assessment. are you getting any indication of how long this investigation might take and at what point they could maybe move the ship and start clearing the river of debris? >> reporter: yeah, that trickle of information obviously slow to be built out because they know the challenges ahead.

i mean, you don't have even have actually divers in the water at this point. that's according to the fbi who spoke with our tom llamas a little earlier this morning saying simply the conditions aren't there to do that right now. they do have those unmanned vehicles, so to speak, in the waters, sort of canvassing. you really can't get into the water right now. the rain is falling. conditions are not ideal for getting down into the murky waters. they have noted, there are places where they obviously want to begin searching. you're also talking about a very large structure that the in the water right now. they have to consider safety of everyone. the concern from the residents i have been speaking to here, specifically those on the baltimore county side, they are worried about when the port will reopen, when any kind of travel or traffic can go back in that area. i use the example of the 12 days in philadelphia. everyone was obviously very excited to see i-95 after that bridge collapsed. this is obviously a whole different ball game, talking about a major piece of

infrastructure. a lot of metal. removing that is going to be timely, and for officials, this is obviously something they don't want to put a time stamp on. they just want to make sure it's done correctly and as you are searching for the bodies of the six individuals, they want to be respectful to make sure if they find those bodies that is done correctly as well. many concerns here, and of course the weather today, chris, not helping things one bit. >> george and jeff, thank you both. we appreciate you joining us here. and by the way, right after that white house briefing wraps up, transportation secretary pete buttigieg will join me as that recovery mission continues at the site of the bridge collapse. stay tuned for that. also ahead, donald trump wants to make america pray again. for the low low price of $59.99. >> all americans need a bible in their home, and i have many. it's my favorite book. rite book. (bridget) with thyroid eye disease i hid from the camera. and i wanted to hide from the world.

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first it was sneakers and perfume, now donald trump's latest venture is a god bless the usa bible. priced at $59.99, plus tax and shipping. according to the web site, it is the only bible endorsed by trump who says he wants to make america pray again. but skeptics will remember when he was asked his favorite bible verse. >> the bible means a lot to me, but i don't want to get into specifics. >> even to cite a verse that you

like. >> are you an old testament guy or new testament. >> probably equal. >> 2 corinthians, 3:17, that's the whole ball game. trump carried a bible has he had peaceful protesters forcibly removed away from a church. christianity has become a center piece of his reelection campaign, and this endorsed bible that he's now selling mixes scripture with the law of the land. >> this bible is the king james version and also includes our founding father documents, yes, the constitution. >> so is there irony or a reason for concern over trump hawking a bible that includes the constitution giving that the opening lines of the first amendment prohibit the government from creating an official religion or favoring one religion. joining us now, bradley, host of the straight white american, and msnbc contributor and columnist,

charlie sykes. dasha burns is with me on set. do you see any irony or concern about trump selling the bible? >> i see the irony of donald trump grifting by selling the bible during holy week, a book that he has obviously never read and wouldn't recognize the sermon on the mount, but the other irony is that here is donald trump, the great defender of christianity who is peddling his $60 bibles while he is getting ready to go in front of a court to face criminal charges for having sex with porn star who he then had to pay off. so once again, we have irony on irony that anyone would think that donald trump is somehow the king david of our times. >> well, bradley, the web site says, as i said, this is the only bible endorsed by donald trump who just days ago, again, compared his own challenges to those of jesus christ.

he has been known to autograph a copy of the bible. does any of that cross any line for evangelical christian voters? >> i think there's a couple of take aways here. there are folks that are going to eat this up. trump is clearly appeal to go white evangelicals, as many people know, white evangelicals voted for trump in large numbers in 2016 and 2020. he needs every one of those votes in 2024 to return to the white house. he's appealing to a specific base, and some of them will see this as somebody merging their faith with patriotic elements like the constitution and the bill of rights. now, there are others including evangelicals and other christians who will see this as nothing short of blasphemous. when i was in sunday school as a kid, i was taught that the word of god was something that christians needed to obey and humble themselves for. the idea that a former president would say this is the only bible endorsed by me is the greatest

idolatry one can conjure as we approach easter in the coming days. >> in the q&a on the web site, this is the only bible endorsed by donald trump. what do we know, if we're going to look at the bigger picture, about trump's push both with evangelical christians but also numbers of his supporters who believe in christian nationalism? >> well, this is what's interesting, chris. because in the primary, he made a big push with evangelical voters. he very much leaned into this idea that christians and catholics, that religious folks are under attack by the woke left mob, right, but evangelical voters are in his base. these are people that remain loyal to him through -- you talked about across lines, a number of lines have been crossed if you're a traditionally religious person, but they have stayed with him because of what he has touted,

made the supreme court a majority, he overturned roe v. wade, but what's fascinating is this is a general election now, so it's curious that he's leaning into the evangelical vote now when they seem to have been behind him. one interesting of reporting came from our colleagues at telemundo who talked about the evangelical vote in the hispanic community and how there are leaders in those communities that are trying to get out the vote in record numbers there. it could be a play to the religious latino vote. we also know that he has a number of organizations supporting him like the center for renewing america. his former director of the office of management and budget is the head of that organization. he's been very -- >> who some people think would be his chief of staff in a new administration, potentially. >> there's a lot of speculation about his role. he's known to speak with trump fairly frequently, and he has been pushing to christian

nationalist values in terms of policy. a lot of pressure from the religious right. the question is, you know, in a general election, why lean into that so much when those voters he seems to have on lock. >> so, bradley, the bible sales were great fodder for late night. liz cheney posted on x, donald, instead of selling bibles, you should probably buy one and read it, including exodus 4:13, the verse that says thou shall not commit adultery. being brought in the christian tradition did not mean puting aside the constitution, did not mean a christian nation that excluded other religions, did not mean adopting the constitution as part of bible teaching. >> if we're talking about white

evangelicals, we're talking about the group in the country that scores the highest as christian nationalists. a large number of hispanic protestants score highly on christian nationalist surveys. what does that mean, when they're asked should the federal government declare this a christian nation, many of them say yes. when asked does being a christian play an important role in being a real american, many of them answer yes. so when we talk about christian nationalism, we're not talking about people simply saying, well, i'm a christian, and i'm a patriot, i'm a christian and i love america, we're talking about folks who are talking about imposing a certain vision of christianity on the rest of us in our public square. when we think about a former president selling bibles that he has endorsed, it sends a message to the 25 or 30% of folks in the country who identify as non-religious. it sends a message to those who are of other faiths saying, you're a second class citizen.

you're something less than a real american. i will also say this is a moment that i think will give pause to many christians of all stripes. we have been down this road before. when will evangelicals, conservative christians, catholics abandon trump. this was proposed first in 2021 and then abandoned. trump has brought it back here in 2024. but this was not something that evangelical leaders were fond of a couple of years ago, and i think the jury is out about whether they will be fond of it now. >> let's talk a little bit if we can, charlie, about ethics. the trump bible web site says this is not political, it has nothing to do with any political campaign. having said that, if you read the fine print, what it doesn't say is that money for this could go to say, fund payments for lawyers to any of his myriad of court cases, also his 2023

financial disclosure says he made $5 million through the ventures which this bible is licensed through. talk about the financial aspect of this, charlie. >> well, i mean, first of all all of these other concerns about the christian nationalism are completely legitimate, but i do think that what really stands out here is the over grift, which is so consistent with whatever it is donald trump does. the alpha and omega, could he make money off of that. during holy week, he said we should make america pray again. here is my gift to my supporters. instead he is marketing them. he is trying to get more money out of his supporters. i do think that this is a legitimate question. is he actually going to sell bibles and use the proceeds to defend himself against the hush money for a porn star case. is he going to peddle this, god

bless the usa bible with a constitution and use it to defend himself against charges that, in fact, he undermined and violated the constitution. so, again, it seems that -- donald trump is not only incapable of separating church from state, but also his incredibly relentless need for cash from his political agenda, and i mean, this is -- and again, i don't know whether this is a breaking point. i think that's highly unlikely. it's the crudity of the grift, basically going on the air like a low televangelist, hawking a low priced bible and using it to pay off his lawyers. there has to be a subset of evangelical christians who are going to cringe at that! >> thank you all. polls show a majority of voters aren't exactly thrilled

about a trump/biden rematch. one 7th grade teacher and army veteran in texas has decided to give people another option. he has changed his name legally to literally anybody else. you can see it right there on his driver's license. the former dustin abay is unhappy with his own choices in november. on his campaign web site he writes, america should not be stuck choosing between the king of debt and an 81 years old. about his new name, literally anybody else isn't just a person, it is a rally cry. texas state law requires more than 113,000 signatures by may 13th to get on the ballot. so he is putting his efforts into a write-in campaign. coming up after the break, donald trump's daughter-in-law sits down with nbc for her first network interview since taking the helm of the rnc. can she get the former president on board with one election issue he previously called a scam?

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we want to get you updated on the recovery operation at the site of the baltimore bridge collapse. joining me now, transportation secretary pete buttigieg. mr. secretary, good to see you. i watched the briefing that you just participated in in the white house. a big question is any change in design might have made a difference. i wonder what you can say to americans that are worried that a ship, even one of that size and weight, could take out an entire bridge. >> this was an extremely unusual and really unique circumstance. you had a vessel the size of the

chrysler building directly impact this critical bridge. i don't know -- i haven't seen any indications that this bridge or any bridge could have withstood that, but that's part of what we're going to learn from the ntsb's investigation. and of course they're looking at everything from what was going on with the ship, the people aboard the ship, anything and everything you could think of. by design, that's independent from our department, but we're going to take lessons from what they find and incorporate that into our policies for the future, just as we do anytime they respond to anything from an aviation incident to something that happens on the our roadways. >> let me take you back to the short-term, mr. secretary. you did acknowledge that the maryland department of transportation has requested funds. what could that money be used for, and how quickly could you get it to the state, and finally, how do you decide how much money they get? >> president biden directed the entire administrati, including me and our department to get

every resource possible to maryland to support governor wes moore and his team as they're working to both reopen the port and rebuild the bridge, and that's what we're doing. that means that we're going to use tools, like what is called quick release, which is a way to front load some of the dollars that go out through the emergency relief program. even as we're waiting for more estimates and more information about what will be needed for the long term. it's too soon to know the total of what's going to be implemented here. these tools have been used in the past to an extensive degree. after the minnesota bridge collapse of i-35w in 2007, about $260 million went in to getting that bridge back up through these emergency relief authorities. again, we need to be here to support the state as they are doing their work, and that's what we're going to do not just with the tools of our department of transportation, but with every tool in the federal government. >> so could this money

potentially be used to help workers who are now out of a job. you mentioned the port being closed is costing $2 million in wages every day for people whose work is tied to the port. >> so this funding is generally authorized for infrastructure, although i have seen it used to reimburse local law enforcement for costs that have come up with traffic diversions and other needs like that. i have not seen any eligibilities out of this particular program, but we're still reviewing that, that would apply in this case. there may be other programming and funds as well. i spoke to the union president yesterday, certainly concerned about making sure those workers at that local are going to be supported. obviously they have done nothing wrong. they're hard workers, and they long shore workers, even if the darkest days of covid, obviously remote work was not an option for them. they are the backbone of our supply chain. they have been there day in and day out, and we need to do

everything we can think of to support them. the department of labor is practicing this. governor moore is focused on this. we'll use every tool we can think of. >> our reporter on the scene who we spoke with after your break, he was talking to people, that was the number one thing they said, how can this port get up and running, this is our life, our livelihood. you said that it is your goal, it is the administration's goal to get this port reopened as soon as is safely possible. what needs to happen to get that done? >> well, the channel that is blocked by the ship and the remains of the francis scott key bridge is the mainly channel, really the only channel to get to the majority of the port of baltimore. there are a few facilities that are outside of the bridge at a location called sparrow's point in a facility called trade point. we're engaging them to see how much they might be able to step

up even on a temporary basis if that could play any role that would make a difference here. at the end of the day, what has to happen is we need to see all of that debris removed and see that certification come from the coast guard that it is safe to operate vessels in and out of the channel. the army corps of engineer will be working with the u.s. coarse -- coast guard to get that done. everybody understands the urgency of that. that's certainly something the president reinforced when we were with him a little while ago this afternoon. >> secretary buttigieg, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. her father-in-law may not be done talking about the 2020 election, but the rnc cochair lara trump says that's in the past for the republican party. she spoke to nbc, including

championing something the former president has repeatedly railed against, mail-in voting. garrett haake is in d.c. where he conducted that interview. susan del percio is here. garrett, i'm fascinated to hear. tell us more about this conversation. >> i had two main takeaways, first, don't expect donald trump or rnc under the leadership of his daughter-in-law to chase all of those nikki haley voters in this summer and fall to come. lara trump made very clear to me they're basically hoping joe biden's policies will push those softer republican voters back into the trump camp. they want to present this as a binary choice and say we would like to have you if you want to come back. we're not going to come get you. the other thing woven throughout the interview, several topics, we touched on the same idea issue trump wants to modernize the tactics goes after votes, early voting, mail-in voting, using tools used by democrats in

the last couple of elections. her father-in-law has been quite sour on because of his belief falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him. she's caught in the middle of trying to push forward tactically while being unwilling to separate from the lie kind of at the basis of donald trump's issue with all of these forms of voting. you can hear some of that back and forth here. >> we have to start encouraging republican voters to do things like voting early, trust mail-in voting. we have to believe that our elections are run the right way. it's something we're very focused on. >> people believe that lack of trust came from donald trump. is it the position of the rnc in 2024 that the 2020 election was not fairly decided or that it was stolen somehow? >> i think we're past that. i think that's in the past. we learned a lot. >> being past that is obviously a pretty loaded way of looking at this, chris, because donald trump still uses the idea that

the election was somehow stolen from him in 2020 to motivate the core of his base, even if look k -- looking past that is a strategy to reach out to voters who may be tired of hearing of that side of coin here. >> so past that, susan, the other piece is some "washington post" reporting. the rnc has been asking potential employees during job interviews whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen. are they past that? >> of course not. and is anyone surprised that that would be a requirement to work for trump's rnc? i mean, i actually wasn't terribly surprised when i saw it. disgusted, yes, but it goes in line with everything that trump is doing to take over the rnc. i kind of laugh at that interview with lara trump a little bit. garrett haake did an amazing job, but when she goes, she wants to go back, she wants republicans to like mail-in

voting. well, i have been doing this over 30 years, that's one of the first things i learned about was to get republicans to do mail-in voting. that's been a traditional republican get-out-the-vote operation. she knows, even though she may say differently, the number one goal of the rnc is to get donald trump elected, which means that money will not be going to states that, let's say, new york could use a get out the vote program, to, i don't know, hold the house, but we won't see those dollars going there. this is a very inexperienced woman, despite what she said during the interview who now can say whatever she wants and donald trump will have no problem undercutting her because who's she going to complain to. >> garrett, let's talk about the money. you also asked lara trump whether the rnc would be helping trump pay his legal bills. what did she tell you? >> all of the ways that donald trump is in control of the republican party, this appears to not be one of them.

not only does she say they won't pay the legal bills, people that have a structure of which the big donation to the trump victory fund that the rnc divides up the money where it goes to trump and goes to the save america pac that would pay some of his legal bills and then go to the rnc and state parties as susan was referencing, she says people can opt out of that as well. we went back and forth on this topics, too, listen. >> does that support for him financially include paying his legal bills directly? >> not from the rnc. >> how do you tell people who are sending money to the rnc, who may have never hired a lawyer for themselves before in their life that it's more important to put their money towards paying the legal bills of a billionaire, than helping elect republicans in pennsylvania or michigan? >> that is the water fall of the joint fundraising committee, you're referencing, and anyone who does not want to contribute to that very small amount of money is able to opt out of that. >> chris, i think this is another thing that's going to bear watching as this campaign

moves forward given how eng-- entangled the legal and political issues are and how that financial breakdown plays out. >> garrett haake susan del percio, good to have you both. the biden campaign is targeting nikki haley voters, targeting georgia and north carolina. the president and vice president's repair joint appearance in raleigh yesterday gives us a glimpse into the strategy in action. in a state that biden lost by just one point to donald trump in 2020. nbc's shaquille brewster is on the ground in north carolina. good to see you, shaq. tell us more about how this new biden campaign strategy will work? >> reporter: look, it starts with what we saw yesterday, the president and vice president sharing the same stage, but sending the signal that they view north carolina as an important state. doing what they can to go on

offense this a state that donald trump won twice. >> hello, hello, hello, raleigh. >> a biden campaign show of force in north carolina. >> it is good to be back in this beautiful state. >> the president and vice president on the trail together. work to go buck a losing streak for democratic presidential candidates here. while democrats haven't won a presidential race here in north carolina since 2008, in 2020, president biden came within striking distance, lose big just 1.3%. this year, with state polls showing a tight battle, north carolina's democrats hope down ballot races will drive energy up the party ticket. starting with the race for governor, where democratic attorney general josh stein is facing the outspoken lieutenant governor mark robinson who has earned headlines for making controversial and incendiary comments. >> now is not the time for this party to have weaklings who are

unwilling to stand up and face the hoard. >> reporter: stein campaigning with biden but keeping the focus on state issues like medicaid expansion and public education at his individual stops. in a state where voters have elected a democrat for governor in seven of the last eight cycles. >> the thing about north carolina is voters will go one way in federal races and another way in state races. >> reporter: why is that? >> it's just a dynamic, an inherent sense of balance. >> reporter: this week unveiling their strategy in the south. policy-focused visits to north carolina and georgia, tens of millions spent on early television ads and a focus on key suburban areas where nikki haley showed strength in the republican primary. >> yeah, and i'm saying why not, like why not north carolina, why not every state in the south right now do we not see that. >> the 26-year-old chair of the north carolina democratic party,

anderson clayton says the efforts will need to continue for biden to overcome the political head winds from courting rural voters to breaking voter apathy. >> yes, he can win this state. is that going to be an easy thing to do? no. because it's going to be a fight, and it takes early investment, it takes boots on the ground everywhere, people getting out in the communities and building the coalitions that he needs to say, this is how they fought for us. >> reporter: meanwhile, republicans here are signaling that are simply not concerned, not only pointing to the head-to-head polling matchup, but polls that show that donald trump is leading on issues that north carolina voters say they care most about, and as part of this story, the rnc spokesperson reached out to us and said that democrats quote, lit money on fire in previous cycles and signal they believe democrats are on track to do that again. chris. >> great reporting, shaquille brewster, thank you. and still ahead, the desperation inside haiti after weeks of gang violence. nbc is on the ground amid the chaos. amid the chaos.

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asked his parents if they thought his ordeal would last this long. >> we knew that it's going to be a marathon. but still had hopes that it will be sooner, and a year, it should be brought to some kind of resolution. and we'd like them to keep working as hard as they can, and do whatever it takes to bring evan home. >> it has been hard. it's been all four seasons. there has been his birthday and all the holidays and we want him home as soon as possible. >> gershkovich and his employer, the "wall street journal," have denied all allegations and the u.s. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained. to haiti now and a look at the desperate reality on the

ground after armed gangs plunged that country into chaos. while most of the world's attention has been focused on the violence in port-au-prince, the capital, nbc news traveled to eastern haiti where people say the biggest concern is simply finding enough to eat. nbc's ellison barber is there for us. >> reporter: so this area where we are, it's about five hours away by car from port-au-prince, but you can see they have security. it's a heavily fortified area. this is a non-profit. there's an orphanage, a birthing center and other things run by a group called mission life international. in port-au-prince, 80% plus of the city is controlled by gangs. that's not the case here but there are gangs reported in the area. as we have spoken to people who live in in community, they tell us right now since everything started happening in port-au-prince, the chaos, the anarchy there, every day they wonder, can they feed their children and are they going to be safe, even though the community where they are is far from port-au-prince where the

majority of the gang activity is. this is a birthing center. we have been talking to some of the moms, some of the children here. far lot of them they say this place is really a sanctuary, a temporary place of relief. the biggest thing they want is change for the future, for themselves, for their children. and they believe that haitians can largely make that change. they say they do need help from the outside world, and they want to know to know what you see in port-au-prince, the violence there, that is not all of what haiti is like. the haitian people are better than that and want better for their children. back to you. that's going to do it for us this hour. make sure to join us for "chris jansing reports" every weekday from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern right here on nbc. our coverage continues with "katy tur reports" right after the break. "katy tur reports" right after the break. what'd you got to say klay? there's nothing better than a sub— —sorry buddy. this deal is so big, we had to cut your screen time to fit it all in. order now in the subway app.

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