GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz here at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

On the "News Hour" tonight: WOMAN: Senator J.D.

Vance has the overwhelming support of this convention to be the next vice president of the United States!

AMNA NAWAZ: Donald Trump picks Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance to be his running mate as the GOP charts its path forward days after the assassination attempt on the former president.

GEOFF BENNETT: A federal judge in Florida dismisses Mr. Trump's classified documents case, likely setting up a high-stakes appeal.

AMNA NAWAZ: And after calling on Americans to reject political violence, how President Biden is adjusting his own campaign.

(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "News Hour."

We are here at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance has been tapped as the vice presidential nominee just days after a failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump and as Republicans are cheering the sudden dismissal of the classified documents case against the former president.

GEOFF BENNETT: Quite a busy day in the 2024 presidential campaign.

Our Lisa Desjardins is here with us in the middle of it all from the convention floor.

LISA DESJARDINS: Just two days after the attempt on his life, former President Donald Trump in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the start of the Republican National Convention,defiant and lifted by good news from his legal battles.

A federal judge in Florida dismissed Trump's classified documents case, saying that special counsel Jack Smith was illegally appointed by the Justice Department.

ERIC TRUMP, Executive Vice President, Trump Organization: For the greatest president that's ever lived, and that's Donald J. Trump.

LISA DESJARDINS: The decision can be appealed, but it handed Trump a win the same day as he formally became the party's presidential nominee and officially began his bid to return to office.

And he wasn't alone.

Alongside him at the top of the ticket, his much-anticipated choice for vice president, Ohio Senator J.D.

Vance.

Formerly a critic of Trump's, Vance once referred to Trump as America's Hitler back in 2016.

Now he's one of Trump's most vocal defenders, taking to social media after former President Trump was nearly killed and pointing a finger of blame at the Biden campaign, just one way that the shooting is hanging over the RNC, which began today as scheduled.

But for the delegates, there was enthusiasm about the party and their beliefs coming together.

SAM SOMOGYE, Harris County Republican Party: I feel great.

I think the Republican Party has never been as unified as we are in this moment.

CAROL CASSADY, Alternate Delegate, Texas: We're here and we're standing up in the name of Jesus for God, family, country.

LISA DESJARDINS: The day one agenda, make America wealthy again with a focus on the economy, but the overarching message, striving for unity in the party and the country.

Trump telling reporters who traveled with him aboard his plane to Milwaukee -- quote -- "I'm supposed to be dead.

I'm not supposed to be here."

He said he's changing the tone of his convention speech, tossing aside his initial draft.

PROTESTER: We have to defeat the Republicans!

LISA DESJARDINS: But there was vocal disagreement in Milwaukee today from protesters who gathered outside the security zone, many pro-Palestinian, but many focused on Trump.

JODI DELFOSSE, Protester: The direction that the Republicans are taking this country is very dangerous.

LISA DESJARDINS: Here too, the assassination attempt hovered.

MICHAEL TROKAN, Protester: I'm concerned it may change the direction of the election and make people more sympathetic to it, but doesn't change his policies at all.

LEONARD SOBCZAK, Protester: I think it could work against him, because what happened to him is everything that he's been espousing, violent overthrow.

LISA DESJARDINS: But blocks away, for delegates and attendees, prominently, a sense of gratitude.

MICHAEL MURPHY, Illinois Resident: I think we lucked out, but everybody's on eggshells here.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: Take a look at what happened.

(GUNSHOTS) LISA DESJARDINS: This as the investigation continues.

FBI officials who are leading the investigation have yet to determine the motive of the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a registered Republican who made a $15 donation to a progressive organization in 2021, according to the Federal Election Commission.

And the Secret Service facing urgent questions over how they handled the shooting, including how the shooter could get so close, fewer than 500 feet from Trump's podium, and how the suspected shooter was confronted by an officer on the roof before that same officer had to pull back.

In Milwaukee, no plans for more changes to the already heavy security posture for the RNC, which is classified as a national special security event.

AUDREY GIBSON-CICCHINO, RNC Coordinator, Secret Service: We are confident in these security plans that are in place for this event, and we're ready to go.

It's been an 18-month process.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: My fellow Americans... LISA DESJARDINS: But President Biden is calling for many Americans to change their tone.

He spoke in the Oval Office last night.

JOE BIDEN: There's no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence, ever, period, no exceptions.

We can't allow this violence to be normalized.

The political rhetoric in this country has gotten very heated.

It's time to cool it down.

LISA DESJARDINS: The president had paused his own campaign schedule in wake of the shooting, canceling an appearance today in Texas, but he will resume in Nevada, where he travels tonight.

Meanwhile, I'm sure somewhere tonight someone is printing out signs that say Trump/Vance, but, tonight, Amna and Geoff, delegates had to do it on their own, handwriting the name Vance in, as they just learned like you and I in the last couple of hours that will be their vice presidential nominee.

GEOFF BENNETT: Lisa, what is the Trump campaign telling you about why Mr. Trump ultimately settled on Senator Vance as his vice presidential pick?

LISA DESJARDINS: Multiple reasons.

Number one, it is about his experience and his actual biography speaking to the working class of America.

Number two, they like his military experience.

He served in the Marine Corps.

He was a correspondent in Iraq.

Number three, they also like that he is someone who is from the Rust Belt.

And in his announcement today, President -- former President Trump mentioned several states, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin.

These are states that clearly could be decisive in this election.

One last thing, he's a new generation.

He's not yet 40 years old.

He will be the youngest nominee for any presidential ticket this century.

And that's something that the Trump campaign is going to push forward.

Now, they know he also has some drawbacks.

He has been critical of former President Trump in the past.

I asked the campaign about that.

They said they're going to try and message that as someone who has changed his mind.

I guarantee you Democrats will go the other way and say this is someone who saw Trump as dangerous and changed his mind because of political opportunity.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, meanwhile, the man at the top of the ticket, former President Donald Trump, is expected to appear here later tonight.

You have been talking with his campaign.

What should we expect in that appearance?

LISA DESJARDINS: They are feeling good.

The former president wrote today that he has rewritten his campaign speech, we expect, on Thursday night and that he's trying to have more of a tone of unity.

That's part of the J.D.

Vance story too.

We have talked on this program about how Vance came out against Biden and the Democrats in terms of what happened on -- in the assassination attempt.

They expect some, campaign sources, Vance to be the bulldog.

It's a traditional role for the vice presidential ticket, allowing Trump to perhaps be more of a unifier here on the floor.

Now, it remains to be seen what role the Trump family will have.

There are many who are confident now, more confident than they were that Trump will win this election.

But one of them is not Donald Trump Jr.

I was in a gaggle with him just a few feet away from where I'm standing now.

And he said they're not taking any vote for granted.

They think this could be close right up to November.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, what about the level of confidence among the delegates with whom you have been speaking?

How do they feel about Mr. Trump's standing in this race?

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes, that's the thing about J.D.

Vance.

It wasn't electric for him, to be honest.

People were very happy about it.

But this crowd is waiting for Donald Trump.

And I think right now there's sort of an air of digesting the assassination attempt still to see what that means.

And there's a question of, is this a divided or united party still?

I want to show the picture of someone I met from Arkansas.

This delegate had on the front of his hat, this alternate delegate, the Trump bumper sticker.

And then on the back of his hat, it said Nikki Haley.

And I asked him: "Well, how are you feeling about that?

You were a Haley voter.

You wanted her."

He said: "I sure did.

I thought she was going to be better than Donald Trump, but now I am all the way behind Donald Trump."

So there is some unity here.

One place there's not, Mitch McConnell.

The Republican leader of the Senate, was booed on this floor when he announced Kentucky's delegation.

So that is still a sign of the real fractures in this party.

AMNA NAWAZ: Lisa, meanwhile, you covered the Republican National Convention back in 2016 as well.

How does this one compare to that one?

LISA DESJARDINS: I will say it actually, strangely, feels a little bit more reserved early on.

I think they are waiting.

I think the assassination attempt has given people pause about the country.

And it feels a little bit more serious when I talk to delegates.

Of course, this will change over the course of the week.

This is a place where the country unites.

It's all people of one party, but you see miners' hats from West Virginia.

You see Texans wearing cowboy hats.

This is something that the delegates feel, but they're almost clinging to it in a way of consoling each other over a traumatic event for the country.

So, right now, it is a little bit more reserved than I see on the first day of convention.

But we have three more days to go.

And this party knows that they also have a very big task, a very tricky election for both parties involved this year.

And if the Republicans win, it will be in large part to the people who are here at this convention today.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, that is our Lisa Desjardins live on the Republican Convention floor for us.

Lisa, thank you.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: Meanwhile, Trump's pick for vice president was being closely watched.

And it's notable that the man he ultimately chose is a relative newcomer to politics.

J.D.

Vance rose to fame in 2016 with his best-selling memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy," documenting his upbringing in a white working-class Appalachian family struggling with poverty and addiction.

GEOFF BENNETT: But as we mentioned, Senator Vance has been a staunch ally of the former president.

In a statement on his conservative social platform.

TRUTH Social, Mr. Trump congratulated Vance, saying -- quote -- "As vice president, J.D.

Will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our troops, and will do everything he can to help me make America great again."

Joining us to talk about all this is Ohio Public Media Statehouse news bureau chief Karen Kasler.

She's been following Vance for many years.

Karen, thanks so much for being with us.

AMNA NAWAZ: Karen, thanks for being with us.

KAREN KASLER, Statehouse News Bureau, Ohio Public Media: Great to be here.

AMNA NAWAZ: So, Mr. Vance, Senator Vance, has now been tapped for this role.

We know he's a young senator, not spending too much time in politics so far, but you have been covering him.

What should we understand about why you think he was tapped to be the vice president?

KAREN KASLER: Well, he is the second youngest member of the U.S. Senate, so that potentially brings in younger voters, possibly.

He's got a young family.

He's only two years in office, and never held elected office before he ran for the U.S. Senate.

He was elected in 2022 after winning a brutal seven-way primary that was the most expensive in Ohio history.

And so I think that there may be the thought that, because of his age, his military service, some of these things might be part of the reason why he was picked.

He also has a strong business background.

He came from California as a venture capital - - working at a venture capital firm, so that could indicate that maybe that's something that Trump is looking at as well.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Karen, as Lisa mentioned, years ago, back during the 2016 race, Vance was a critic of Donald Trump.

Here's what he told Judy Woodruff when he appeared on this program years ago to talk about... SEN. J.D.

VANCE (R-OH), Vice Presidential Candidate: Donald Trump doesn't necessarily have a good message either.

That's maybe not the best approach to politics.

It's not how you... Donald Trump doesn't necessarily have a good message either.

That's maybe not the best approach to politics.

It's not how you win these folks over.

And if you're worried about them being racist now, when you push them away and push them to somebody like Trump, you're only going to make the problem worse.

GEOFF BENNETT: So how has his persona, his political ideology evolved since then?

KAREN KASLER: Well, that clip is mild compared to some of the things that Vance said about Trump.

He compared Trump to Hitler.

He called Trump an idiot.

He said he was a never-Trumper.

He has walked all of those statements back.

And it's interesting because his path to where he is now kind of mirrors the way that a lot of Republicans feel in the Republican Party, that the party has kind of moved and Vance has moved along with him.

And so I think that's notable that he has turned that around.

He has said that he has apologized.

He's walked back a lot of those statements.

And he said that -- and even Trump has said that he's forgiven Vance for what he has said in the past.

And, apparently, the party plans to kind of use that to show that there are people who may not have liked Trump at one point, but could be persuaded to like him now.

AMNA NAWAZ: Karen, tell us more about some of those people he may bring into the fold here.

He doesn't necessarily broaden appeal when it comes to racial or gender diversity, right?

But -- and he's not even necessarily geared to bring in people who wanted a maybe softer rhetoric from this ticket.

So what's the broader appeal and what way does he expand the appeal for this ticket?

KAREN KASLER: Well, he doesn't really bring in Ohio voters.

He beat Tim Ryan, a moderate Democratic congressman for the Senate in 2022, by six points.

And Ohio is most likely going to go for Trump anyway.

But he potentially appeals to Appalachian voters, people who grew up poor and have seen what Vance has been able to do.

But it's interesting.

He's talked a lot about opposing the elites and pushing back on the elites, but he is indeed a graduate of Yale Law School.

So that's something that a lot of people do consider to be fairly elite.

But he also, like I said, brings in potentially younger voters, in that he is younger.

If he were elected, I believe he would be the third youngest or second youngest vice president.

And so that's certainly an appeal for some folks.

And his business background, I think, is going to be something that could potentially be highlighted.

GEOFF BENNETT: That is Karen Kasler.

Karen, thanks so much for sharing your insights with us.

For more on Donald Trump's selection of Senator J.D.

Vance to be his running mate, we are joined now here in our studio by Ohio's Governor Mike DeWine.

Governor, thanks so much for being with us.

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE (R-OH): Good to be with you.

Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And picking up on this conversation we were having with Karen, J.D.

Vance is 39 years old.

He turns 40 later this summer.

This marks a real generational shift for the Republican Party.

I imagine you know him well.

In your view, what does he add to this Republican ticket?

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: Well, I have known him for many, many years.

Right after he wrote his book, I sought him out.

I wanted to talk to him.

I thought he'd be an interesting person.

You know, we have been friends since then.

Look, I think he brings some of the obvious things, as you say, a generational change.

I think people are looking for that, frankly.

And so he certainly does that.

I think his life experiences are unique.

There are a few people who have had that experience and have been able to achieve what he has been able to achieve in a relatively short period of time.

So while he may not have long political experience, I think he will be able to relate to the mom who doesn't have enough food for her kids, the family that's got someone in their family who has a mental health problem or has a drug problem.

These are things that, because of his life experiences -- and I think that will come out during the campaign and people will start to really -- from a national point of view, start to understand that.

I think the other thing he brings is, he has the ability to articulate what Donald Trump's program is in a very sophisticated way and I think in a very compelling way.

I think we have seen that on some of the talk shows over the last three or four months.

He's been there and he makes a very persuasive case.

AMNA NAWAZ: In the wake of this horrific assassination attempt on former President Trump, there have been so many calls for unity, for a tamping down of the political rhetoric.

And yet former President Trump picked the man who was perhaps most aggressive in terms of immediately turning the tables and pointing the finger at President Biden to say, you are responsible for this attack.

What kind of message do you think that sends?

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: I think what people listen to is what Donald Trump says.

And I have been very pleased, frankly, from what he has said since this tragedy occurred.

I think he's been trying to reach out.

He's trying to tamp it down.

He said he's changed his acceptance speech dramatically.

So, look, I think both President Biden and President Trump, both of them, since this occurred, have said the right things.

And I think we need to keep going down that pathway.

Look, we are a very divided country.

Everybody knows that.

But there's still so many things that we share with even people on the other side of whatever the issue is.

I mean, we all care for our kids.

We all want our kids to have a good education.

We want this country to thrive and to move forward.

So we need to keep reminding ourselves of what brings us together.

I try to do that as governor.

It's something that's very important.

And so what I have seen the last few days, I think it's very good.

GEOFF BENNETT: You know, Senator Vance, as we were discussing earlier, he previously said of Donald Trump that he's a never-Trump guy.

"I never liked him.

He's a terrible candidate.

He's an -- you're an idiot if you would vote for him."

How damaging are those prior statements?

And how do you characterize his change of heart?

Because his critics say that this change of heart is -- was basically cynically molded so that he would be in line with the Republican Party.

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: Well, clearly, Donald Trump thought that he has changed his mind.

The president would not have done this, put him on the ticket if he didn't think he really had changed his mind.

So I think those statements are what they are.

I think most people are looking towards the future.

I don't know if that's going to be a big deal in this campaign.

I think what will be a big deal is, again, where people think Donald Trump is going to take this country, and versus where they think President Biden is going to take it.

It always the way it is.

We always vote our future.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's been some concerns, I'm sure you have seen as well, from the Biden campaign, from their campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon, basically saying that J.D.

Vance was picked because he would potentially do what Mike Pence would not, as a staunch Trump loyalist, that if President - - another time, elected President Trump were to ask him to do something like overturn election results, J.D.

Vance would do that.

Do you see that happening?

Do you share that concern?

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: No, but that's going to -- look, those things will play out during this campaign.

I mean, those are some of the things that are going to be debated in this campaign.

There's no doubt about that.

AMNA NAWAZ: You don't share that concern at all, though, that he's such a loyalist that he would do Donald Trump's bidding regardless of what he is asked to do?

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: No, no.

Look, I have known him for some time.

I don't think so.

But, look, I mean, thee two are aligned.

I mean, this is not -- some of the criticism has been, well, you should have picked somebody who he is not aligned with.

Well, President Trump is not going to do that.

That was never in the cards.

It was a question of, which person that's aligned with him was he going to select?

And we're very happy in Ohio to have J.D.

Vance on this ticket and excited about it.

GEOFF BENNETT: Governor, casting our focus a bit into the future, I imagine you're a very popular man among elected Republicans right now, because, if the Trump/Vance ticket wins, you get to appoint his replacement in the Senate.

What are you looking for potentially if you get to make that choice?

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: Well, I'm really not going to get into that in much detail.

Kind of the obvious things.

You want someone who will do a good job in the United States Senate.

I spent 12 years in the Senate.

I think I have a pretty good idea of what it takes.

It takes someone who wants to work and someone who is focused on getting things done.

The second thing is, of course, they have to be able to win.

They have to be able to win a primary.

The person who I would appoint would only serve two years.

Then, if they want to stay in, they have got to run again.

So they're going to be right into a campaign.

So they have to be able to get through a primary and have to win a general election.

So those are kind of the realities of it.

But I think my experience in the Senate I think is helpful because it tells - - I can tell pretty well, I think, who will do a good job in the United States Senate, at least as I envision that job.

AMNA NAWAZ: I'm going to ask you to look one more time into the future for us, if you will indulge.

And just reflect on this idea that we were living in a very different world just 48 hours ago.

And I wonder how you think that this horrific assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump's life, how that changes the contours of this race and whether you think this pledge to continue to tamp down political rhetoric will be adhered to.

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: I don't know that it changes whatever the outcome was going to be.

I don't know that.

It could.

But I don't -- sort of doubt that.

What I hope it changes is the division that we have in this country, this chasm that has been growing.

We need to -- this country, we have always fought out issues.

We have always been -- people disagree.

But we have to remember the things that bring us together.

There's so many things that do in fact bring us together.

The last few days, if you listen to what both President Trump and President Biden have said, they have said all the right things, in my opinion.

I hope this continues.

GEOFF BENNETT: Here we are in day one of this Republican National Convention.

In the minute that remains in our conversation, is that your metric of success for this convening, this gathering here, that folks focus on unity?

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: Well, I hope so.

Look, I hope so.

Look, we're not going to change differences overnight.

People have certain opinions and they're very, very different.

I mean, we have seen the parties move farther and farther apart.

But I think a sense of that we are all in this together, that we are a country, that we have to have a strong national defense, the things that we all agree on, we need to protect our country, we need our kids to be educated, we need our kids to learn how to read, I mean, these are all kind of basic things that we need to remind ourselves, hey, we agree on these things at least.

Then we have got other things.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, thanks so much for joining us.

GOV.

MIKE DEWINE: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK) GEOFF BENNETT: Always a pleasure to speak with you.

AMNA NAWAZ: Judge Aileen Cannon's dismissal of the classified documents case against former President Trump is his second major legal victory in weeks.

In a 93-page ruling, Cannon said the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith, who's overseeing the case, was unlawful.

GEOFF BENNETT: A spokesperson for the Department of Justice says it will appeal the ruling.

And joining us now is Mary McCord.

She was acting head of the Justice Department's National Security Division and a longtime U.S. attorney.

Mary, thanks so much for being with us.

(CROSSTALK) AMNA NAWAZ: And, Mary, we should point out here that this was not dismissed on the merits of the case, but, rather, as we pointed out, it was about the way in which special counsel Jack Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

Other federal courts have upheld the constitutionality of a special counsel.

So, based on your understanding, how out of step is the judge here with what you know legal precedent to be?

MARY MCCORD, Former Justice Department Official: Well, she's quite out of step with the legal precedent.

And I would say all of the cases, all of the courts who have upheld the appointment of the special counsel in the past, they have relied on a Supreme Court case called us v. Nixon, which accepted for purposes of that case that the attorney general had the authority to appoint special prosecutors with special responsibilities and actually pointed to the same statutes that the attorney general in this case relied on in appointing Jack Smith.

But you know who she's not out of step with is Justice Thomas, who, in his concurring opinion in the immunity decision, spent several pages -- in fact, the entire point of his concurring opinion was to call attention to the fact that he thought it needed to be examined whether the appointment of Jack Smith violated the appointments clause.

And that's not an issue that was before the court in the immunity case.

It hadn't been briefed.

It hadn't been argued.

Nevertheless, he set out real -- a road map for determining that the appointments clause was invalid.

And if you read his short concurrence and her much longer opinion, Judge Cannon's much longer opinion, you will see that she basically took his road map, added some more flesh to it, and that's her decision.

GEOFF BENNETT: Mary, among the remaining cases facing the former president, this classified documents case was largely seen as the clearest-cut.

Could the special counsel, Jack Smith, bring this case, in another jurisdiction in D.C., for instance, where the courts there and the judges have far more experience handling these kinds of cases?

MARY MCCORD: So, I think the smartest thing, frankly, for Jack Smith -- for the Department of Justice to do right now would be actually to re-indict the case, have a U.S. attorney re-indict the case, because one of the main points here is that Jack Smith is not presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed.

And even if he's an inferior officer -- one of the main points, I should say, of Judge Cannon's opinion, even as an inferior officer, she argues there was no statutory authority to appoint him.

Well, you know who clearly has statutory authority to bring indictments is the U.S. attorney.

And so this could be re-brought in the Southern District of Florida.

Again, it might then end up back in front of Judge Cannon.

But at least this argument that the appointment of the special counsel is unconstitutional would be completely off the table, would avoid that issue going through appeals and up to the Supreme Court.

A U.S. attorney could bring it in D.C. as well.

And, legally, I think there's jurisdiction there.

But that would, I think, receive a lot of criticism as being judge-shopping, looking for someone other than Judge Cannon.

But one thing that the department could do in really relatively short order is re-indict the case.

AMNA NAWAZ: Mary, we saw the former president welcome this decision.

He issued a statement online.

He also reiterated without evidence that the case had been brought as a result of what he called the weaponization of the Department of Justice.

He also said that this should now lead for the other cases against him to be dismissed.

What about that?

Could this decision have any impact on the other cases he's facing?

MARY MCCORD: Well, I'd say at the outset it's interesting that he says this shows the weaponization of the Department of Justice, because Judge Cannon, the basis for her opinion really, is that Jack Smith is not tethered tight enough to the attorney general, and that's why the attorney general lacked authority to appoint him, because he's got too much independence.

So it's actually completely at odds with what Mr. Trump is saying.

But with respect to application to other cases, I mean, right now, this is just a district court opinion that is binding on no other judge outside that district and no other judge in that district.

Now, so no one -- it does not necessarily mean, for example, that the January 6 case will be dismissed on this grounds or anything like -- well, that would be the only other one, I guess.

But, certainly, we will see Mr. Trump filing, I expect, any moment now, any day now, filing something before Judge Chutkan in D.C. District Court.

He may wait until the judgment actually comes back from the Supreme Court, but I suspect he will file there asking the judge now to consider dismissing that case on the same grounds that Judge Cannon dismissed the Mar-a-Lago case.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, briefly, Mary, is there any universe in which the government's appeal of this case could give Jack Smith an opening to push to have Judge Cannon removed from this case?

MARY MCCORD: So he could appeal this decision to the 11th Circuit and also seek her recusal.

In doing so, though, he'd be bringing a lot more into that than just this decision, I think.

I think he'd be having to sort of -- he would need to set forth a number of her decisions and opinions that -- and make a case that she is biased and should be taken off this case.

I am not going to put money on Jack Smith doing that.

Again, it is extraordinary for the Department of Justice to seek to have a judge removed.

And it is extraordinary for higher courts to remove a judge.

The bar is very, very high when it comes to bias.

And I think a lot of people have the opinion that she's biased in favor of Mr. Trump.

And, certainly, she has issued favorable decisions toward Mr. Trump, but she has also issued some favorable decisions, obviously, not this one, in favor of the government.

And so I think it's a very, very steep hill for the government to climb to seek her recusal.

But, yes, it is on the table as something they could do when they appeal.

GEOFF BENNETT: All right, that is Mary McCord.

Mary, thanks so much for your insights and for walking us through all of this.

We deeply appreciate it.

MARY MCCORD: My pleasure.

AMNA NAWAZ: The assassination attempt on Donald Trump is raising major questions about the Secret Service and its security protocols.

Chief among them, how was a 20-year-old armed with an AR-15-style rifle able to obtain a clear line of sight to a former president?

President Biden has ordered an independent review.

This afternoon, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that security had previously been enhanced for former President Trump and that independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would also now receive Secret Service protection.

For more on this, I spoke earlier with Carol Leonnig, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The Washington Post and the author of "Zero Fail: The Rise and Fall of the Secret Service."

Carol, welcome back to the "News Hour."

Thanks for joining us.

CAROL LEONNIG, The Washington Post: Glad to be here, Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: So on this central question of how a gunman got up on a roof within a line of sight of a former president, fired several shots before the Secret Service could evacuate him, what does your reporting show about how that happened?

CAROL LEONNIG: You know, this is the central mystery and concern.

There are some answers and there are some things we're still trying to figure out.

But since 1963 and John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas from a gunman in a tall building, every Secret Service agent who's responsible for planning security for an event has lost sleep over the line of sight.

It's a -- it's Secret Service 101.

You plan for every possible piece of high ground that would give someone an ability to shoot at the president or other senior official that the Secret Service is protecting at a public event.

In this case, it's really obvious, Amna.

The Secret Service did not physically mitigate the line of sight here.

That means they didn't do what they often do at big, big public events.

They didn't roll in a 14-wheeler or a bus or a crane or a van or a banner and place it in between the high ground behind the stage, meaning behind the audience, and where Donald Trump was speaking.

That breaks up the line of sight.

They didn't use that physical blockade.

And what is unknown is what happened in terms of securing those buildings, and particularly a glass plant company that was right behind the - - and outside the perimeter of the crowd, where a shooter positioned himself and used a roof as a platform to shoot at Donald Trump.

What's unclear is, in that perimeter, where local police are usually assigned by the Secret Service to secure those areas, to check those buildings, to make sure no one is getting on top of them, what's unclear is what instructions the Secret Service gave those local police and whether or not they completed their mission.

It's a mystery right now how this critical breakdown could have happened.

AMNA NAWAZ: There's a remarkable piece of your reporting as well that tells the story about one of those local officers who climbed up on the roof, saw the gunman, and then went back down the ladder before the gunman began to fire a shot.

Tell us about that.

CAROL LEONNIG: Yes, this was a stunning find by one of my partners on this story, Isaac Stanley-Becker.

He called all around, as we did yesterday, to Butler local county and township police officers.

And one of them relayed to us that an officer who had been alerted by bystanders that there had -- was a suspicious man clambering onto this roof, that police officer went to look for the man.

He hoisted himself up physically with both hands up to the roof to see what was there.

And because he was using both his hands to hoist himself, he didn't have a weapon in his hand.

Unfortunately, the gunman did point his weapon, according to this officer, at the officer who was trying to check him out.

To save his own life, to protect himself, the officer dropped down and let go.

And within minutes -- or, actually within seconds, depending on the account, fired -- shots were fired from this rooftop by this gunman at the stage.

AMNA NAWAZ: Carol, you literally wrote the book about the Secret Service.

When we spoke about that book back in may of 2021, you told me agents had been telling you for a while about the culture of secrecy, about chronic underfunding as well.

You said that many of them were whispering to you they were worried about a president being killed on their watch.

Given all of that, was this inevitable in some way?

CAROL LEONNIG: You know, I have been really devastated, after a lot of reporting that I did in 2014 and 2015 about just episodic security failures and gaffes and major breaches.

After that reporting prompted an Oversight Committee investigation and then a blue-ribbon panel by the Obama administration making a series of recommendations to strengthen the Secret Service and ensure that its mission was not so broadly spread, that it really focused on the security of the presidents and the most important VIP officials who run the government, after all of that reporting, after all of those recommendations, many of those recommendations were never executed and implemented.

So, now where are we, Amna?

Ten years later, the Secret Service appears to be spread too thin once again, and in a situation where the basic rules of Secret Service 101 don't appear to have been followed.

AMNA NAWAZ: That is Carol Leonnig, national investigative reporter with The Washington Post and author of the book "Zero Fail."

Carol, thank you.

Appreciate your time.

CAROL LEONNIG: (AUDIO GAP) Good luck today.

AMNA NAWAZ: As Republicans convene here to nominate their candidate, President Joe Biden is easing back into campaign mode after canceling events in the wake of Saturday's shooting.

Tonight, NBC News will air its sit-down interview with the president.

GEOFF BENNETT: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, has been covering the latest and joins us now from Washington.

So, Laura, last night, in his address to the nation, President Biden urged Americans to lower the temperature -- that was the phrase that he used -- following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

How has all of this affected his approach and his campaign?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: That's right, Geoff.

In the address last night, President Biden called on Americans to lower the temperature.

He also said that political violence is unacceptable across the board, any kind of political violence.

And when it comes to his campaign, Geoff, he's temporarily halted or paused some of his campaigning.

The biggest changes ultimately were the fact that he canceled a scheduled event in Texas to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, as well as a fund-raiser that he had planned on holding in Texas.

That was set for today.

And, also, his campaign paused all political ads, and they haven't said when they are going to resume those.

But with this NBC interview tonight with Lester Holt, President Biden is going to be resuming campaigning, the campaign said.

And we got a first look at some of this.

We got a look at this interview.

And, in it, President Biden was asked about comments he made in a call with donors last week when he told them that the talk of the debate was over and that he wanted to put Donald Trump in the bullseye.

JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Actually I guess I was talking about at the time was, there was very little focus on Trump's agenda, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate, focus -- I mean, there's a whole range of things that, look, I'm not the guy that said I want to be a dictator on day one.

I'm not the guy that refused to accept the outcome of the election.

I'm not the guy who said that he wouldn't accept the outcome of this election automatically.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: President Biden added in that interview with Lester Holt that Trump is the candidate that he's going to be resuming campaigning, including law enforcement, including judges and prosecutors, in his interview with Lester Holt.

And then his campaigning is also set to resume in Nevada tomorrow -- Geoff and Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, what about those Democratic efforts that we were all talking about not too long ago about Democrats trying to get President Biden to step aside from the top of the ticket?

Where do those efforts stand now?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: There's still split amongst Democrats, Amna.

The Democrats that I spoke to today, I spoke to a Democratic Party chair who said that they think that the conversation is over following the last few weeks, as well as this assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

Donors that I spoke to are resigned that they think that President Biden will remain at the top of the Democratic ticket.

One Democratic adviser to donors said that they feel as though they could be headed toward a party extinction-level event come November.

I also spoke to Congressman Adam Smith, one of the Democrats who has called on Biden to step aside.

And he was on a call with President Biden this past weekend that didn't go so well.

And Congressman Smith told me that the conversation about replacing Biden at the top of the ticket isn't over and that, in that call, multiple Democrats asked the president, they said to him that they felt as though the party was in trouble looking forward towards November, and they asked him what his plan was to fix it.

And Congressman Smith told me that President Biden said that he didn't think that the party was in trouble, that polls show a steady race, and that he feels as though he hasn't been given enough credit on his record of achievements as president.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, Laura, with at least one Democrat warning of an extinction-level event -- I mean, I wrote that in my notes.

That's really staggering.

How is the president aiming to counter that?

What's his message moving forward?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Campaign officials tell me that they still feel as though the dynamics of the race have not changed, that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump hasn't changed those dynamics, as well they know that there's more work to do with Democrats.

Jen O'Malley Dillon, the campaign chair for President Biden's campaign, spoke to reporters today and saying that the president is going to be focused heavily still on the democracy message, zeroing in on Project 2025, which is that blueprint from conservative allies of Donald Trump for a second Trump term, and that they also are going to be heavily focused on abortion, especially in the state of Nevada, where Biden is heading to.

He's also going to be focused on housing and the economy.

So they say that they are not changing their campaign strategy at all when it comes to attacking Donald Trump on threats to democracy.

AMNA NAWAZ: Laura, meanwhile, on the brief time we have left, I know even amid the calls from some leaders to tamp down the political rhetoric, you have been tracking some continuing calls for violence, also conspiracy theories spreading online.

Tell us what you have seen.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Many GOP lawmakers called for calm, like President Biden, Amna, but there were leading GOP lawmakers, including the vice presidential pick, J.D.

Vance, who blamed Democrats, blamed Biden for the assassination attempt, and Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who ended a rant of conspiracies on X saying that -- quote -- "The Democrat Party is flat-out evil.

And, yesterday, they tried to murder President Trump."

Now, a nonprofit research group that I have spoke to says that there have been increased calls for violence on social media, namely among Proud Boys, but also among some lawmakers in Congress -- Amna.

AMNA NAWAZ: Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, joining us.

Laura, thank you.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ: Thank you.

AMNA NAWAZ: All right, let's turn back now to the Republican campaign and the first day of the party's convention right here in Milwaukee.

GEOFF BENNETT: And our Politics Monday team is here with us.

That's Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

And we should say that the house band is back on stage.

(LAUGHTER) AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: I know.

GEOFF BENNETT: Delegates are taking to the floor.

We could have some background music for this conversation.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: There we go.

On that note, Amy, kick us off here.

The big news of the day, obviously, the selection of J.D.

Vance as former President Trump's running mate.

AMY WALTER: That's right.

AMNA NAWAZ: What do you make about it?

What does he bring to the ticket?

AMY WALTER: Yes, I mean, I think when the Biden campaign made clear the other week that they believed that the easiest path for them to win the Electoral College was through the blue wall, I think picking J.D.

Vance in that -- by picking J.D.

Vance, I think the Trump campaign is saying, OK, you want to fight for the blue wall?

We will pick a blue wall candidate, somebody who grew up in poverty in Ohio, somebody who could have an appeal with his populist message to those voters in that area of the country, try to win over some of those voters.

He did not pick someone, though, who was going to try to appeal maybe to suburban women, right?

This was really very much leaning in on the MAGA message.

And he is essentially saying that, with the pick of Vance, that the sort of MAGA movement is exactly what he wants to campaign on for this next four years.

He's not going to suddenly shift to become more of a sort of traditional Republican in the pre-Trump era.

GEOFF BENNETT: And, Tam, you have got to imagine the Biden team is getting their opposition research together, if they haven't already, I mean, just the reams of things that J.D.

Vance had said about Donald Trump years ago and the memo -- or the -- rather, the statement that Amna mentioned from Jen O'Malley Dillon where she said, the reason Donald Trump picked J.D.

Vance is because J.D.

Vance will do the things that Mike Pence wouldn't.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Yes, and that is very much the line that they are delivering from the Biden campaign.

Vance is also someone who has taken positions on abortion that the Biden campaign believes they can make hay with.

He has said things about rape and incest and exceptions that most voters would find offensive.

And they are going to make sure that those statements are repeated and repeated and repeated.

As President Trump, former President Trump has tried to soften the Republican image on abortion, move away from some of the more hard-line views, Vance, before he became the running mate, said things that he's now having to calibrate.

AMNA NAWAZ: What does -- Tam, what does this ticket now say to you in terms of the messaging moving forward, especially in light of where we are?

After that assassination attempt, even Donald Trump was saying, we have to have unity moving forward.

And then he picks the guy who was perhaps most aggressive in terms of blaming Democrats directly for that attack.

Do you expect that kind of unity message to continue even here this week?

TAMARA KEITH: Right.

Just to go back to the tweet that J.D.

Vance put out in the hours immediately after the assassination attempt, he said that President Biden's rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination.

He drew a line that does not appear to exist.

And the Biden campaign has said, as Laura said, that they are not going to shy away from making the democracy arguments.

The president was pressed by Lester Holt.

And he said, well, I didn't say he was in the sights.

I said in the bullseye, and that just means I wanted to talk about issues.

But the fact that Biden is being asked about that is a testament to the fact that that line of thought has been elevated by J.D.

Vance and others.

I don't know what's going to happen in terms of the tone and the rhetoric.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thank you.

TAMARA KEITH: I think everyone is talking about bringing the temperature down.

Let's see how low the temperature stays today, tomorrow, the next days.

AMY WALTER: That's right.

TAMARA KEITH: And the Biden campaign has also said that Biden's going to be out there campaigning tomorrow and reiterating a message that he delivered on Friday that very much went after Trump on policy, but went after Trump as an existential threat.

That theme of the campaign on both sides is not going away.

GEOFF BENNETT: What about his age?

In this election cycle, where you have majorities of voters saying that both candidates are too old... AMY WALTER: Yes.

Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: ... in J.D.

Vance, you have someone who will turn 40 years old in August.

AMY WALTER: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: And this notion that, oh, he's too young, he's untested, well, Barack Obama blew that out of the water when he ran and when he won.

AMY WALTER: I know, exactly.

I think what they were also looking for is this contrast with the age argument.

And it's the argument that the Trump campaign has been making from the very beginning.

He's strength.

Biden is weakness.

By having a fighter on his ticket like J.D.

Vance has been, that only adds to that message.

I think the other thing about Vance, given that he was such a critic of Trump in the 2016 campaign, it's a reminder to everyone out there, especially every Republican, that, you know what?

I have made a lot of converts.

I have changed this party from what it was to what it is.

You're either -- and you're on the team or you're not on the team But J.D.

Vance is an example, I think, of somebody who he was able -- he can make the case that, I brought converts in with this message that is resonating.

TAMARA KEITH: Yes.

And what I would say is that this is the Trump campaign doubling down on its theory of the case... AMY WALTER: That's right.

TAMARA KEITH: ... which is not that they are going to go sway a bunch of undecided women in the suburbs, but that they are going to find MAGA voters who just aren't voters yet.

They are going all in on finding and building that base, rather than expanding the tent.

AMNA NAWAZ: On the Democratic side, Amy, as Laura was reporting earlier, the entire conversation around changing... AMY WALTER: I know.

AMNA NAWAZ: ... the Democratic ticket in this new post-assassination attempt, is that now over with?

AMY WALTER: It sure feels like, and people that I was talking with and texting with this weekend, it sure felt like, if it's not completely over, the odds are very, very, very low.

It really took all the winds out of the sails.

And let's face it.

We have known this from the very beginning.

If Joe Biden is digging in, if the president says, I'm staying around, there is nothing that the Democrats can do to make a change on the top of the ticket.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, bottom line, what I hear you both say in different ways is that Donald Trump selecting J.D.

Vance as his vice presidential pick is a sign that he's feeling pretty good about where he stands in this race right now.

TAMARA KEITH: Yes.

And he does feel pretty good.

But just as the Trump campaign plan is to expand -- just build the base, go with the base, the Biden plan is not that.

Their plan is to do a battle of inches for every single undecided and ambivalent voter out there.

And so I think that we're seeing that Biden has dug in.

He doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

And it's not clear that they can push him.

I will say, I did go out door-knocking with some Democratic volunteers over the weekend before the assassination attempt.

And none of the voters whose doors got knocked on brought up the idea of Biden getting out.

Instead, though, they were basically like a pox on both their houses.

I can't believe these are the choices we have, is what voters were saying.

AMNA NAWAZ: It feels like a message we have been hearing for a while now.

AMY WALTER: For a long time.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

AMNA NAWAZ: That's right.

Tamara Keith, Amy Walter, always great to see you both.

Thank you so much for being here.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMNA NAWAZ: And after a whirlwind of political news, we turn now to the day's other headlines.

Stephanie Sy is in Washington and has those stories.

STEPHANIE SY: Thanks, Amna and Geoff.

Houston's main utility company says the majority of power outages in the city should be fixed by Wednesday.

That news comes amid growing pressure on CenterPoint Energy, as more than 200,000 customers remain without power a week after Hurricane Beryl swept through the area.

The Texas Public Utility Commission has launched an investigation into CenterPoint's storm preparedness a day after Governor Greg Abbott demanded -- quote -- "specific actions to address power outages and reduce the possibility that power will be lost during a severe weather event."

Beryl also left its mark thousands of miles away in Vermont.

Officials there are seeking disaster assistance from FEMA after flooding knocked out bridges and washed out roads.

In the Middle East, Israel has carried out new attacks on Gaza following a weekend of devastating airstrikes.

Today, in Deir al Balah in Central Gaza, local officials say an Israeli attack killed three members of the same family, including a child.

The State Department spokesperson said today that Secretary Blinken expressed concern over civilian casualties in a meeting with Israeli officials.

MATTHEW MILLER, State Department Spokesman: We have seen civilian casualties come down from the high points of the conflict and even from where they were, say, six weeks, two months ago, but they still remain unacceptably high.

We continue to see far too many civilians killed in this conflict.

We want to see civilian casualties completely ended.

STEPHANIE SY: Blinken also spoke with Israeli officials today about ongoing talks toward a cease-fire deal with Hamas.

During the meeting, Israel said it is still committed to reaching an agreement.

Hamas also said today the cease-fire talks are continuing, but accused Israel of trying to derail progress with its ongoing attacks in Gaza.

In Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he aims to hold a second international peace summit and he wants Russia to attend.

At last month's gathering in Switzerland, Russia was absent.

In his first news conference since visiting the U.S. last week, Zelenskyy also said he was ready to work with Donald Trump if the former president wins November's election.

And he made an urgent plea for more military aid.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, Ukrainian President (through translator): From the point of view of the structure of our air defense, to completely cover Ukraine, according to our military, we need 25 Patriot systems.

This is in order to completely close the sky of Ukraine.

STEPHANIE SY: Separately, a Moscow court convicted U.S. journalist Masha Gessen in absentia today on charges of spreading lies about the Russian military.

Gessen was sentenced to eight years in prison.

The Moscow-born author is the latest American target of Russia's crackdown on dissent.

Gessen is a prominent critic of Vladimir Putin who lives outside Russia and is unlikely to face actual imprisonment.

Gambia's Parliament voted today to uphold a ban on female genital cutting.

Lawmakers rejected a push by the country's religious conservatives, who had argued that the practice is -- quote -- "one of the virtues of Islam."

Gambia would have been the first country to reverse such a ban.

According to the U.N., more than 50 percent of women there between the ages of 15 and 49 have undergone the procedure, also called female genital mutilation.

The practice can cause serious bleeding, death, and childbirth complications, but remains widespread in parts of Africa.

Police in Miami say they arrested 27 people and ejected 55 others amid chaotic scenes at the Copa America final last night in Florida.

The showdown between Argentina and Colombia was delayed multiple times after fans tried to force their way into the stadium, some without tickets.

A few even attempted scaling the walls to gain entry.

Security officials tried to control the gates, leading to tense scenes, with some fans forcing their way in.

The head of Colombia's soccer federation and his son were among those arrested.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended higher after the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said there has been progress on taming inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average added more than 200 points to close at an all-time high.

The Nasdaq tacked on 75 points, ending just shy of its own record, and the S&P 500 also ended higher to start the week.

Now let's go back to Geoff and Amna in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention.

AMNA NAWAZ: Thank you, Stephanie.

And we will have much more coverage from the Republican Convention online, streaming gavel to gavel, and on the "News Hour" tomorrow, and, of course, during our live special coverage, which begins tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

We hope you will join us then.

GEOFF BENNETT: And that is the "News Hour" for tonight.

I'm Geoff Bennett.

AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.

On behalf of the entire "News Hour" team, thank you for joining us, and we will see you later tonight.