>>> PRESIDENT BIDEN TOUTED HIS ADMINISTRATION'S EFFORTS TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE JUST HOURS TODAY AFTER HIS SON WAS CONVICTED, AS LUCK WOULD HAVE IT, ON THREE FELONY GUN CHARGES. INTERESTINGLY, A RECENT CBS NEWS POLL RELEASED BEFORE THE VERDICT FOUND THAT 78% OF REPUBLICANS, REPUBLICANS, THINK THAT THE PRESIDENT'S SON WILL BE TREATED BETTER THAN OTHER DEFENDANTS. I WANT TO BRING IN OUR POLITICAL PANEL, SOFIA AND BRACKTON BOOKER. SOFIA IS A REPORTER FOR AXIOS, BRACKTON IS A CORRESPONDENT FOR POLITICO. TO SET THE TABLE FOR PART OF OUR CONVERSATION, I WANT TO SHOW OUR VIEWERS TWO THINGS. ONE IS VIDEO FROM THE JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION AT THE WHITE HOUSE YESTERDAY, AND A MOMENT THAT ON SOCIAL MEDIA'S BEING DESCRIBED AS A JUNETEENTH FREEZE OF THE PRESIDENT. AND THEN AFTER THAT WE'RE GOING TO PLAY SOUND FROM FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP OVER THE WEEKEND IN NEVADA WITH A NONTELEPROMPTER-APPROVED REFERENCE TO ELECTRIC BOATS, BATTERIES, AND SHARKS. LET'S PLAY THEM BOTH. >> SO I SAID, LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION, AND HE SAID NOBODY EVER ASKED THIS QUESTION, AND IT MUST BE BECAUSE OF M.I.T., MY RELATIONSHIP TO M.I.T., VERY SMART. I SAID WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE BOAT SANK FROM ITS WEIGHT AND YOU'RE IN THE BOAT AND YOU HAVE THIS TREMENDOUSLY POWERFUL BATTERY, AND THE BATTERY'S NOW UNDERWATER AND THERE'S A SHARK THAT'S APPROXIMATELY TEN YARDS OVER THERE -- BY THE WAY A LOT OF SHARK ATTACKS LATELY, DID YOU NOTICE THAT? LOT OF SHARKS. I WATCHED SOME GUYS JUSTIFYING IT TODAY. THEY WEREN'T THAT ANGRY, THEY BIT OFF THE YOUNG LADY'S LEG BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT THEY WERE NOT HUNGRY BUT THEY MISUNDERSTOOD WHO SHE WAS. THESE PEOPLE ARE -- HE SAID THERE'S NO PROBLEM WITH SHARKS. >> OKAY, NOW WE'RE GOING TO SHOW YOU THE VIDEO, THIS IS SOUTH LAWN OF THE WHITE HOUSE, JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION, MUSIC IS PLAYING, THE PRESIDENT NOT MOVING AT ALL. NOT MOVING AT ALL. AND THAT SORT OF HOLDS AND PERSISTS. NOW THERE'S A TURN EVER SO SLIGHTLY. BACK TO OUR POLITICAL PANEL NOW. THESE ARE BEING DIGESTED IN DIFFERENT WAYS. AND THEY REMIND VOTERS, WHETHER THEY WANT TO BE REMINDED OR NOT, OF THIS AGE ISSUE, THIS PERFORMANCE ISSUE FOR NOT JUST PRESIDENT BIDEN -- THERE ARE PEOPLE DRAWING INFERENCES BASED ON WHAT THEY SAW ON JUNETEENTH -- BUT ALSO PRESIDENT TRUMP AND HEEZ WILD JAUNT HE IS GOES OFF RHETORICALLY THAT HAVING COVERED THE 2016 CAMPAIGN, I KNOW A TRUMP WILD, RHETORICAL JAUNT, THEY'RE DIFFERENT. >> THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT ISSUES. ONE IS THE ISSUE OF AGE. YOU SEE THAT CLIP, ONE OF THE REASONS WHY IT'S A STARK VISUAL REPRESENTATION IS BECAUSE -- >> WHICH ONE, OF THE PRESIDENT? >> OF PRESIDENT BIDEN, IS YOU SEE THE GAP BETWEEN THE 81-YEAR-OLD PRESIDENT BIDEN AND THE COALITION THAT HE WANTS TO REPRESENT, THAT FOLKS WERE OUT THERE DANCING, CELEBRATING JUNETEENTH. AND THE SECOND ISSUE IS JUST THIS ISSUE OF TRUMP BEING BIZARRE. AND I THINK THAT SECOND ONE IS A PLACE WHERE THE BIDEN CAMPAIGN HAS A BETTER CASE TO MAKE, SAYING, LOOK, HE HAS NO REASON TO BE TALKING ABOUT SHARKS, AND SOMEHOW SHARKS COMES UP IN A CONVERSATION ABOUT ELECTRIC VEHICLES AND ELECTRIC BOATS. >> BRACKTON? >> I THINK THIS ALSO UNDERCUTS SOME OF THE ARGUMENT THAT -- I ALSO COVERED 2016, AND A LOT OF WHAT FOLKS WERE SAYING ABOUT TRUMP WAS THAT, YOU KNOW, HE GOES ON WILD TANGENT, RIGHT? BUT IN 2024, FOLKS HAVE BEEN SAYING HE'S RUN A MUCH MORE DISCIPLINED CAMPAIGN. WHEN HIS TELEPROMPTER BREAKS, WHAT DOES HE DO? HE TALKS ABOUT ELECTROCUTION, WHETHER OR NOT YOU SHOULD BE ELECTROCUTED OR ATTACKED BY SHARKS. HE WAS LIKE I'M GOING TO GET ELECTROCUTED EVERY TIME, BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE SHARKS. IT UNDERCUTS WHAT HE'S TRYING TO DO, WHICH IS WIN BACK THE WHITE HOUSE AND HOPEFULLY BRING THE SENATE AND ALONG WITH THE HOUSE. SO I THINK WHAT YOU SEE WITH BIDEN IS YOU HAVE SEEN SOME OF THESE FREEZES ON SOCIAL MEDIA, AND THEY GET PLAYED ALL THE TIME. >> RIGHT. >> TALKING ABOUT THIS IS WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE -- YES, YES, YES. IT REALLY REINFORCES THIS GUY IS NOT REALLY THERE, AND HE'S SERVING AS SORT OF THIS PUPPET FOR DEMOCRATS. >> AND AS WE DO ALL THE TIME, WE HAVE OUR REPORTERS TALKING TO VOTERS ON ISSUES LIKE THIS. WE WERE RECENTLY DOWN IN MARIETTA, GEORGIA, TALKED TO A REPUBLICAN, DEMOCRAT, AND AN INDEPENDENT, SELF-DESCRIBED. >> I CAN'T MAKE A JUDGEMENT CALL ON MENTAL FITNESS. I MEAN, IT WOULD HAVE TO COME FROM A PHYSICIAN. AND IT'S GOING TO GET SPUN SO MUCH THAT IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE TRUTH. SO, YOU KNOW, I PRESIDENT BIDEN, YOU KNOW, HE GOES OUT AND DOES PHYSICAL THINGS. >> I DON'T FEEL LIKE THAT WE ARE THAT STRONG COUNTRY THAT PEOPLE USED TO RESPECT BECAUSE THEY LOOK AT OUR LEADERS AND THEY QUESTION ARE THESE PEOPLE, YOU KNOW, ARE THEY CAPABLE OF HANDLING CATASTROPHIC EVENTS. >> THERE MAY HAVE BEEN SOME OTHER CHOICES, AGEWISE PERHAPS, BUT AS FAR AS THE CHANGES HE'S MADE, WE WERE HAPPY WITH THOSE. >> VOTERS ARE STRUGGLING WITH THIS. >> YEAH, LOOK, I THINK VOTERS ARE ALSO COMING TO THE REALIZATION THAT IT'S MOSTLY A BINARY CHOICE BETWEEN TRUMP AND BIDEN, AND THE CLOSER WE GET TO THE ELECTION, I THINK MORE AND MORE FOLKS ARE GOING TO COME INTO THE FOLD THINKING LIKE, REALLY, ARE THESE OUR ONLY CHOICES? AND SO THESE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS THAT PEOPLE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PARSE THROUGH, WHETHER OR NOT THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH SOMEONE IN OFFICE WHO HAS SUPPORT FROM THE PARTY OR SOMEONE WHO HAS KIND OF REMADE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS EVEN THOUGH HE'S TALKED ABOUT REVENGE OF HIS POLITICAL ENEMIES. >> RIGHT, AND SOFIA, THAT FIRST VOTER SAID TWO THINGS THAT I THINK ALL OF US STRUGGLE WITH. ONE, HE SAID I'M NOT A PHYSICIAN, I'D HAVE TO WAIT FOR A PHYSICIANS. WE'RE NOT PHYSICIANS. I HAVE NO EXPERTISE IN THIS FIELD AT ALL. I ONLY KNOW WHAT I SEE. SECOND, WELL, IF SOMETHING HAPPENS, IT'S PROBABLY GOING TO BE SPUN IN SOME WAY, SO I CAN'T BE SURE OF WHAT'S TRUE. >> RIGHT, THAT'S THAT DISTRUST. >> VOTERS STRUGGLE WITH THAT AS WELL. AND THAT SEEMS TO BE PART OF THIS CONVERSATION THAT WE SHOULD NOT LOSE SIGHT OF. >> OF COURSE, NOT EVERYONE IS A PHYSICIAN, BUT EVERYONE HAS SEEN A FATHER OR A GRANDFATHER AGE. >> AND LIVED EXPERIENCE MATTERS A GREAT DEAL. >> RIGHT. AND I THINK THAT'S WHAT THE DATA POINT THAT THEY CAN COMPARE IT TO. AND SO, YOU KNOW YOU HAVE TO WONDER WHEN VOTERS SEE BUD OR EVEN FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP, IF THEY SEE GLIMPSES OF A FAMILY MEMBER THEY'VE SEEN RAPIDLY DECLINE. >> I WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT TODAY'S LEGAL EVENTS AND WHAT EFFECT YOU THINK IT MIGHT HAVE ON THIS DEBATE THAT HAS BEEN LAUNCHED BY THE FORMER PRESIDENT THAT OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM IS JUST RIGGED. >> RIGGED AND HAS BEEN WEAPONIZED AGAINST HIM. >> RIGHT. JUST LIKE WITH BOB MENENDEZ, HENRY CUELLAR, AND HUNTER BIDEN. >> DEMOCRATS. >> I THINK THAT UNDERCUTS HIS ARGUMENT SOMEWHAT, BUT I THINK -- I THINK IT'S GOING TO COME DOWN TO SENTENCING EITHER HUNTER BIDEN GETS OR WHAT TRUMP GETS OUT OF HIS MANHATTAN TRIAL FOR HIS 34 CONVICTIONS ON HUSH MONEY. I THINK WHAT ALSO IS IMPORTANT THAT -- TO NOTE IS THAT HUNTER BIDEN'S LEGAL TROUBLES ARE NOT OVER FOR THIS YEAR. HE HAS ANOTHER COURT CASE COMING UP IN SEPTEMBER IN LOS ANGELES OVER TAXES, WHERE IT SEEMS LIKE ALL THE OTHER CASES FACING TRUMP ARE SEEMINGLY FROZEN IN TIME, BOTH THE TWO FEDERAL CASES AND THE ONE IN GEORGIA. PROBABLY NOT COMING UP BEFORE AN ELECTION YEAR -- BEFORE THE ELECTION THIS YEAR. SO I THINK VOTERS ARE GOING TO HAVE THAT KIND OF SEARED IN THEIR MIND THAT HUNTER BIDEN IS GOING TO BE PERHAPS CONVICTED AGAIN RIGHT BEFORE THE ELECTION. >> AND SOFIA, I WANT TO ASK YOU, WE'RE KEEPING AN EYE ON THIS JUNE 2th SCHEDULED DEBATE. LOTS OF THINGS TO CONFIRM AND LOCK DOWN BEFORE WE KNOW FOR HOUR IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. BUT IT'S SCHEDULED, IT'S THERE, OUR EXPECTATIONS ARE. HOW DO YOU THINK THE VENTS OF THE LAST COUPLE WEEKS, NOT JUS THE LEGAL ONES BUT THE BIDEN ACTION ON THE BORDER, FEED INTO THAT DEBATE? >> I THINK TWO KEY TOPICS IS WHO CAN SHOW THEY ARE STRONG OWNER THE ECONOMY AND STRONGER ON IMMIGRATION. THOSE ARE GOING TO BE KEY AND TOP OF MIND FOR VIEWERS AND VOTERS AT HOME. I THINK FOR TRUMP, HIS TEAM IS NOT GOING TO WANT HIM TO SPEND TOO MUCH TIME TALKING ABOUT HIS OWN PROBLEMS AND LEGAL THINGS. I MEAN, I'VE HEARD FROM REPUBLICAN WHO IS KNOW THAT IF TRUMP KEEPS TALKING ABOUT HIMSELF HE HAS A BETTER CHANCE OF LOSING. IF HE MAKES IT A REFERENDUM ON BIDEN AND BIDEN'S FOUR YEAR, TRUMP MAY HAVE A BETTER CHANCE. SO
