nadya tolokonnikova gets tonight's last word. the 11th

hour with stephanie ruhle starts now. tonight, a split screen at the border. biden and trump make dueling visits with immigration in the campaign spotlight. then, the court date. when will the classified documents trial get underway? what to expect from friday's hearing. and the pandemic is behind us. the supply chain is better, so why to the grocery bills keep going up? we are going to get smarter as the 11th hour gets underway on this thursday night. good evening once again, i'm stephanie ruhle. we are now 250 days away from the election. two candidates for president went to the border today, one wants to sign a bill to dramatically improve it. the other block the bill so he could run on it. my colleague gabe gutierrez has a closer look at today's visits. >> reporter: facing criticism

over his handling of the immigration crisis, president biden making his second trip to the southern border while in office. >> it's time to act. >> reporter: arriving in brownsville, texas, blasting house republicans retaining a bipartisan border security bill at the urging of former president trump. >> it's the toughest set of border security reforms we've ever seen in this country. it's time for the speakers and some of my republican friends in congress who are blocking this bill to show a little spine. >> reporter: the president with this message directly for mr. trump. >> join me, or i will join you in telling the congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill. we can do it together. >> reporter: earlier, the republican front runner landed about 300 miles away in eagle pass, texas. >> this is a biden invasion over the past three years. >> reporter: arguing president biden could in the crisis on his own, slamming what he calls mr. biden's lax border policies for causing it. >> so we had remain in mexico, remember that? you cannot come into our country and we had no more

catch and release. our catch and release was we released them in mexico. >> now republicans keep talking about migrant crime in big cities, and how it is up, up, up. but for facts sake, crime and migrant crime is not up, it is down. i am going to say it one more time, because you might not realize it, crime is down. the cities that receive the most migrants saw their crime numbers drop. speaker mike johnson called president biden's visit today just a photo op. but remember, it was mike johnson, he was one of the main reasons that the bipartisan border bill did not even get a vote on capitol hill. and it is donald trump himself who did a primetime interview on fox to push the lies, a primetime interview otherwise known as a photo op. meanwhile, a win on border policy for the biden administration today, a federal judge blocked a controversial law in texas that gave state and local police the power to arrest migrants. we begin tonight with an nbc

news white house correspondent mike memoli. all right, michael, let's start with this, because president biden is now putting immigration front and center. what do they want to achieve out of today's visit? >> while, stephanie, the scene that we saw today has been the former president in the current president going toe to toe, a split screen moment on the campaign trail. we knew this was going to happen at, some point especially as they both emerge fairly quickly as the respective nominees. but i think if you ask any political reporter, even if you ask both campaigns if the issue on which this split screen moment would happen is immigration, they would've doubted that. they never would've believed you. and it speaks to just how much, especially the biden team believes the politics around this immigration issue has changed dramatically over the last few months because of the collapse of that bipartisan border bill. and so what we saw today was the former president running on the issue that really helped catapult him to the white house in the first place. of course, the 2016 campaign, talking about building the wall,

you saw him in his comfort zone with a lot of border control agents who are very sympathetic to him, to be blunt about it. and then you saw president biden doing what i think the white house eases their advantage at this point, laying out in very technical terms what are the challenges at the border, laying out what the border bill, the bipartisan bill, would have accomplished if those resources were brought to bear in the border. and you saw him at some point speaking of script as well, talking with passion about the fact that a lot of these issues could be solved if not for the fact the former president helped torpedo this bill. and so, the white house really does want to set up what is going to be a larger theme of the state of the union address next, week which is that all the things that president biden has done to meet some of this nation's challenges, the ways in which further progress has been stifled because of republican obstruction. and to really lay it out for the american people, this choice of who is fighting for the american people and trying to

deal with these challenges. >> so help us understand, he is not getting anything done in congress. as far as executive action, what does he want to do? >> so what the white house is really frankly wrestling with at this point is whether to look at some of the proposed legislation that would have been part of this bill and see if there are ways they can use executive authorities to actually enact them. now this is something of a divide within the democratic party at this moment. you have a number of democratic governors, especially who just were in washington, pressing the administration, not worry about the fact that a lot of these executive orders, you know this, stephanie, would be immediately challenged in court. republican attorney generals would rush to try to challenge anything the president does by executive order. they are saying you need to show action. you need to not -- there are ways in which republicans have tried, whether it's to congress, or whether it's through the courts, to block agenda. try to show the american people that you are taking action. specifically, some of these executive actions would have to do with making a strict or

executive asylum policies and make it easier for the administration to deport those who are in this country illegally. but there is this give and take about whether this is the right court. i think what the president wants to do is have this -- state of the union address, and then perhaps quickly after that announced that he's taking action on his own. >> mr. memoli, thank you so much. now let us get smarter with the help of our leadoff panel. peter baker is here, chief white house correspondent in the new york times. victoria defrancesco, dean of the clinton school of public service at the university of arkansas. and matthew dowd, former george w. bush strategist and founder of country over party. peter, let's start with you. quite a difference between these two candidates today. i want you to watch this. >> folks, it is real simple. it is time to act. it is long past time to act. >> the united states is being overrun by the biden migrant crime. >> we desperately need more resources, more agents,

officers, judges. >> this is a joe biden invasion. >> join me, or i will join you in telling the congress to pass this bipartisan border security bill. >> you look at what this governor, new scam, from california, is that his name, new scum? >> instead playing politics with the issue, why don't we get together and get it done? >> i call him crooked joe, because he is crooked and he's a terrible person. >> new scum, you know you are getting to donald trump when he gives your own nickname. matthew, what caught your attention in the split screen? very different visits. >> it's dramatically different because one is just completely saying outrageous things and wants nothing to be done on it so you can be used as an issue. and the president is actually trying to solve the problem that exists, that most americans know exists, and want it solved. so i'm actually think it's really smart of joe biden to weigh it to the immigration debate. i think for too long's,

democrats have play defense on the immigration of the border and got behind the eight ball on it. i think it's very smart for him to just walk right into this and say this is what we want to do and then the do nothing congress and donald trump want nothing to be done on. so i think it's a great contrast to benefit joe biden. >> do you think it's going to break through, matthew? because polling shows that donald trump, immigration is kind of the perfect issue for him. it is a guttural issue for voters. he knows how to stop things. and republicans, while they don't have a plan, have been the ones leading, at least talking about it. and you just said it, until now, democrats have been somewhat quiet. >> well, i see these issues, multiple issues that are going to decide the presidential race, one of which is immigration, one of which is the economy, and one of which is democracy as a whole. those three issues i think are going to be decisive in this election. republicans have a big advantage on immigration. but i think what you want to do in a political sense, i think

substantively, joe biden menstruation, president biden wants to solve the problem, but from a politics standpoint, he wants to neutralize the advantage that donald trump and the republicans have on this issue. i think they will still come november have an advantage on this issue. but if you can neutralize it to a degree and then simultaneously hope you solve the problem, which is ultimately what we want to do here. but i think it is smart, because joe biden understands they have an advantage, let's try to neutralize it but we try to get the problem solved. >> victoria, right-wing media is talking nonstop about migrant crime. but i pointed it out just a minute ago, nbc analysis shows that overall crime levels have actually dropped in the cities that have gotten the most migrants, places like new york, chicago, and l.a.. how do democrats get the actual facts out there? because besides right-wing media, when you talk to people in those cities, they do not feel it. >> and stephanie, this is not the first time. this is a replay of 2016.

think back to that election where donald trump leaned heavily on the angel families. he leaned heavily again on migrant crime. this was something that was key to his campaign. and it's because anxiety. and we know from psychological research that anxiety is one of the strongest emotions we have. and it's emotion that presses us to act politically, to act in different ways. and we have seen this. we saw this in 2016. we are getting a taste of it right now. but again, there is nothing new under the sun. these are the same tactics that we saw used during the chinese exclusion act era. these are the same tactics that we saw appeared during the national voters origin act bill. immigration is always stoked this fear. and donald trump has really -- how to do it in this moment. >> peter, your analysis piece today's headline biden takes an

opportunity to shift from defense to offense at the border. did donald trump give joe biden the gift of this election by blocking that border deal? >> yeah, in a way, he did. because up until now, as matt said, the democrats haven't really wanted to talk about immigration for obvious reasons. it's not a good issue for them. they are not going to win on this issue among the voters who care most about it. so we haven't seen biden go to the border and talk about. it we haven't seen him go -- that's only the second time he's gone to the border. but he has gone because their publicans gave him something to say. and they gave him somebody to blame, which is to save themselves and donald trump. up until now, the republicans had a pretty clear shot at pointing the finger at president biden, saying he has not done anything, he's responsible for this, is biden's invasion. but because they block the bill, and it was a bipartisan bill negotiated by a very conservative republican senator from oklahoma, he can say no, guys, this is not my issue. the issue is the congress and the republicans in the house and the former president of the united states who don't want to solve the problem, they wanted

-- walked into that by even putting on social media that they did not want this to pass creek a xaiden want to give joe biden a win. that is not somebody who cares about the issue when you say that way. that somebody who cares about having a campaign argument to make. and this is the argument he handed joe biden to make. he would not have gone to the border if not joe biden giving him this opportunity. >> walked right into it. victoria, where is the hispanic vote it into all of this? they're the second fastest growing ethnic group of american voters and we know they have moved to the right in recent elections, especially in florida. >> the other thing is the size, stephanie. over the course of the last 20 years, the hispanic electorate has nearly doubled so that's an important point to take into chris iteration. and look, it boils down to diversity within the latino population. we tend to think of latinos as democrats, and yes they tend to lean democratic, sometimes more during certain elections, sometimes less.

but we have been seeing a -- with the republican party for certain latino demographics. and this is something of concern for the democrats. they need to not assume. there's been a lot of assumption that latinos are a lock for the democratic party. so i think it's very much not making this assumption. and not only the partisan assumption, stephanie, the fact that latinos could just stay home, and that would be equally dangerous for the democratic party. so it's not just worrying about, oh, are they want to go over to trump, but what are we going to do to get them off their couches, into the house, and into the fold? >> matthew, let's talk about this, because polls show that will voters actually trust trump more to secure the border, they trust biden more to deal with migrants humanely. neither of those things are a surprise. the surprise is that when trump was in office, it seemed preposterous that he wanted to build a wall. most voters thought that was ridiculous. yet more and more american seem to be saying, oh, i don't know,

maybe i am open to a wall idea. >> well, that's the fundamental sort of disconnect that i think we see often in conversations about this issue with the american public. because the american public has a two way -- they want this approach in two ways. they want the border secured, that's what they want, a strong hand, a strong and at the border, secure the border. and simultaneously, they're empathetic and compassionate, and have strong big hearts towards the plight of the people that are coming over here. everyone on this panel, including myself, i'm sure is a son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, great grandson, of an immigrant. the united states of america's economy, agriculture, infrastructure, that's all been built by immigrants. and i sit in texas as you know. if we got rid of immigration as it exists today, we have no construction industry in texas, we have no hotel and restaurant industry in texas. and we have no crew street to talk about the price groceries going up, the price going up. so, i think the american people blake in many ways understands

it. but i think as was stated, when fears rise of things and many of them are just pictures of things they see and all of that, they rise and there's some charismatic leader, let's call them, points the finger. and as was, said this has been done in numerous other times in our history. it was done in the 19 twenties. it was done in the 18 80s. it was done in the 18 40s and 50s. it's been done throughout our histories, when anxieties and fears rise, someone comes along, whether it's the kkk or the know nothing party or whoever, donald trump points the finger and says here is the problem, that's the issue. and people lose their minds and forget hold the facts that are presented here. and that's what you have to do, the conversation has to be about both approaches, secure the border, compassion towards the people who are in this fight, and who are only coming here for the families and for jobs. >> victoria, that is kind of the thing that matthew is hitting on, there's this false economic premise out there that americans are believing

migrants are taking my jobs, they're filling my school, they're getting things that i'm not getting. but that is not the case. we have a huge labor shortage in this country. immigrant labor is something we need. if we had mass deportations, it would hurt our economy dramatically. how does the biden administration explain this to the american people? how do we get into the american psyche? because you know what cells faster and easier and quicker? fear. >> the phrase that is use is it's a zero sum game. it's an immigrants get stuff so that means we americans don't get it, and it's completely and utterly false. and i think it's trying to shift the narrative to a win-win one in terms of saying these folks are coming over, they are fulfilling their american dream, to matthew's point, we still do have that narrative of the melting pot deep inside of us. but they are also keeping our inflationary rate down. the reason we have been able to cover so quickly is because we

have this labor force at the ready. and all of this just drives me crazy because if we had regularize legal immigration, if we had a work permit system, if we had the institutional might to normalize immigration, we would not have the crisis at the border, we wouldn't have the fear stalking, and we would all be better off, including folks seeking out that american dream. it really can be a win-win. >> peter, we've just walk through it over the last ten minutes. president biden is putting this front and center. he is considering executive action on asylum restrictions, pushing this border bill. but when is it too late to change public perception on immigration? republicans have nominated this narrative, whether it's true or not, the arguments they make four years. >> i think matt's right to the point that he's not going to convince the trump voters to vote for him on border issues. he's not going to convince he's

tougher than trump. it's not going to work he's trying to give an answer to those independent democrats who are concerned about this. so obviously, a lot of the fear of immigration we've been talking about is part of this issue. but it's also a sense on the part of people who are maybe not as afraid of immigration, but in the sense that there's something disorderly about what happening, that it has to happen on a more regular basis, a legal basis, not just numbers kind of going through the roof. and they're looking for some sort of answer from the president. the president is giving them an answer, that he has been giving them for three years, which is i'm on top of it now. so for those voters who are inclined to vote for him, he's at least given them something to hang on to, saying okay, all right, i have thought biden did very much about the border, but i see he's on it, now and i can at least given some credit and i do think these republicans torturing the legislation in congress are clearly out for politics, not for substance. that would be the argument is try to make. again, not for the build the wall crowd, he's not winning them over, he's not trying to, just trying to give the democrats and the independents who are at least possible biden voters but

queasy about the board but oard he's trying to say, he just might be that tough. i am just that's smart. peter, victoria, michael. thank you for being. here when we come back, from the border to the courtroom. the preview! the hearing of trump's document case. and, later, this man was one of the biggest names in basketball, the pride and joy of kentucky. who very publicly lost everything. but, the way he found his way back is the story you need to stay up tonight to hear. the 11th hour just getting underway on a thursday night. d >> woman: what's my safelite story? i'm a photographer. and when i'm driving, i see inspiration right through my glass. so when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right. i scheduled with safelite autoglass. their experts replaced my windshield and recalibrated my car's advanced safety system. ♪ acoustic rock music ♪ >> woman: safelite is the one i trust. they focus on safety so i can focus on this view.

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tonight, the fight over the trump classified documents trial continues. just hours ago, special counsel jack smith proposed a new july 8th start date for the trial, that is in nearly two month delay. and, we may not want to -- we may not want to wait that long for an answer. because, judge aileen catlin, down in florida, she's expected to decide on a new day tomorrow. with, that let's bring in former u.s. attorney joyce vance. joyce, can we start with this new date proposed by jack smith? why the aid? >> well, i think this is a realistic acceptance by jack smith of the fact that he will not be trying the d.c. case on

this timeline. that it will be tied up with the supreme court. and the july date would seem to be an effort to, at least, get the mar-a-lago case on the books, on a timeline that's consistent with all of the rulings that judge cannon has left to make so that he could have some hope. even if it's a small hope of trying the election interference case in d.c. as well. >> the trump playbook is delay, delay, delay. and it's fantastic. right? he is great at. it his attorneys are asking for an august trial date. and people are surprised. they were like, oh! he's going to ask for next year. nowhere near. but this is aileen cannon. does anyone think the trial is going to start in august, september, october? she is going to plan this thing forever for him. >> you know, it is not even a request for an august trial date. because trump starts his proposed calendar by saying, it's really unfair to me to have any trial at all before the election. and, i am only proposing a date because you've asked me to

propose one. but, really, sort of nudge, nudge, wink, wink what you should do is not scheduled the trial until after the election. and, even with the august 8th, one of the codefendants will -- is asking for a september trial date. saying that his lawyer is unavailable for parts of august. so, that would seem to push the date back further unless the defendants are going to be split up. and, there is still more. because trump builds into his motion, numerous suggestions that there are points where he might ask the judge to continue this trial date. so, even if she set something for august, it is not written in stone. trump could come back and say, the government has been to slow with discovery. or, other motions can be decided that need appeals. i mean, this really is just delay on steroids. the typical trump strategy. >> it's a good strategy. how is the supreme court immunity hearing going to impact this? if they grant trump immunity, does all this, except georgia

just go away? >> well, if they grant trump immunity, there is also an immunity motion on the table in georgia. the only case that wouldn't be effected would beat the manhattan d.a.'s prosecution, where that issue has been decided. and trump, ultimately chose not to pursue an appeal. so, yes, if the supreme court were to decide trump has immunity, these prosecutions would fail. but, look, steph, the supreme court can't do that if we're going to continue to be a democracy. presidents can't commit crimes to try to steal an election in a country like ours, in the society like ours. so, the real question is whether the supreme court will do its duty in time. and whether, by the, laid they'll give trump the benefit that he shouldn't get under the law. >> let's stick with georgia. tomorrow is set to be the final hearing in fani willis's misconduct allegations. how do you see this playing out? >> yes, you, know this is

absolutely a spectacle. this is a case where donald trump made a phone call to the secretary of state and asked him to find votes that didn't exist so trump could win. and somehow, we are now talking about fani willis's love life. what this comes down to, on disqualifications is whether or not will list had a financial complication of interest in the case. and the defense has not been able to establish that. but it's still problematic. because, if they can prove that willis lied and that weighed allied than there are ethical implications for that. and even though they technically don't meet the standard for disqualification, i don't think the judge could let that go unaddressed if evidence that they lied to him or that they lied under oath developed. we haven't seen that yet, i don't think, in reality. >> can we just go back to the supreme court before we leave? because i can't get this out of my mind. are republicans, right now, really, truly, saying that they

want to investigate joe biden while claiming that the former president, donald trump, has total immunity for everything he ever possibly did when he was president? are those two things true? >> yes. i mean, i think he's got that right. apparently, hypocrisy is no longer a barrier to pursuing a political strategy. because you can't live in a world where donald trump has immunity and you're investigating joe biden. it just doesn't work that way. >> but, alas, that is where we are. joyce vance, always good to see you. thank you so much. when we come back, we have all had the sticker shock after a grocery run. high food prices are eating up more of our paychecks. even post pandemic. we're going to find out why, and break it down when the 11th hour continues. wh tenhe 11th hour continues.

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i launched our campaign at this union hall. let's go win this thing! then we hit the road and never stopped. you shared with me your frustration at working harder to barely get by and afford a place to live. your fears for our democracy and freedoms

and your dreams for yourself, your family, and the future. it is not too late to realize those dreams. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message because together we can still get big things done. i know you are going to care about the segment. gas prices used to be everyone's barometer for how angry americans are above prices. but these days, it's groceries. why? because it has been 30 years since food aid up this much of americas income. now, on a positive note, personal income also increased in january 2024. and, lately, wages have outpaced inflation. those are two positive notes. but, the problem is, that is not enough to take away the pain at the grocery store. here to help us figure this out, see nbc senior analyst ron insana and jesse newman food and agricultural reporter for the wall street journal.

ron, can we start there? yes, it's good, people are making more money. but, food prices have risen 25% since january 2020. explain to us why this is happening. every person in this studio right now can show you on their phone something they just bought at the grocery store and how much it cost. we're talking about it every single day. >> well, a couple of things, stephanie, with respects of the 25% increase that you mentioned since the pandemic we've seen grocery prices go up across the board. there's a variety of reasons, including the pandemic itself, shortage of labor, ultimately wage increases for grocery store workers and fast food workers and several different states. and, we had some, then, one-off events that, for instance, at one point push the price of eggs rather dramatically. there was a bird flu that caused agricultural -- or i should say, chicken farmers to call millions of birds from the flock. and as a consequence, that, for a period of time, pushed up eight prices. it's really multipronged in this regard. and it's very hard to get

prices to come back down one consumer demand remains strong. so, we are kind of stuck. here we're going to get more relief on this overtime. but, it is still so much a multifaceted problem. there's no simple solution to higher grocery prices today. >> but, jessie, a lot of those problems, we can still blame. the pandemic is behind us. supply chain issues are no longer an issue. where do you see the issues? >> that's right. and, you know, what companies have told us, and this is both food manufacturers and restaurants, they have, said look, a lot of our prices have come down. so, for example, for major agricultural commodities like -- soybeans, even chicken, some of these prices are lower. but, overall, in aggregate, they say that these are all higher. and this includes some commodities, so sugar -- sorry, coco for example, just hit a 46 high. sugar, beef, there are certain commodities that are with us that are still high. and also. labor a new labor is something

that you know is particularly restaurants just rely on to a huge degree, the same is true for food manufacturers. we're seeing minimum wages increase the benefits that restaurants have to pay. and, utilities, occupancy rates. they, say all of this combine meets their cost. either still high arising. and, that is the reason that we shouldn't expect to see prices come down. at least for food, overall. that may be different for grocery prices later this. year but food over all, i don't think we're seeing a lot of relief in the future. >> well here's the tricky thing for the president. he is getting blame for these high prices. he can't fix any of the stuff, ron? >> no, in fact, it doesn't start or and with him in any way shape or form. jessie said some things i talked about earlier. really, so far out of the presidents control. him to do with many other factors that go into the price of food. there is no exact action that can be taken. now, granted, there is some truth to the notion that there has been some shrinkflation where we have seen a reduction

in the supply of a particular -- that might be in the box of a consumer edible. we have seen some cases where companies have kept their profit margins higher, even though they're cost -- so they're gouging, a lack of a better term, a little bit. and that could be addressed. , but you also can, and by mandate, make that go away. so, yes, it falls on the presidents desk. because it's a political problem for many people. particularly lower and middle income folks who recently heard they should dine on cereal for dinner as opposed to other more expensive items. so that gets in their croft and obviously, they look to the president to do something about. it even though, in many ways, it is out of his power to do anything from regulatory, or certainly, legislative perspective on this. >> it justifiably gets in there croft. and, jesse, this argument that we had heard for years and years, while prices went up because wages went up. we are leaving something out in the middle. grocery companies have been hitting record profits in the

last few years. so, where we really going to keep buying this argument? if you pay your workers more, it gets passed on to the consumer. how about that fat profit in the middle that the companies are taking home? they can absorb some of this. >> i think it's a really tricky line for these companies to be walking right now. you know, at the one hand, they can't raise prices. they can't get too far over their skis. they can raise them so much. we have seen pushback from consumers. a lot of companies are starting to increase the promotions that they are offering to keep people coming into the stores, restaurants are increasing the deals that they're offering because there's a concern that people will just stop eating out and they will start eating more at home. and, at the same time, they have shareholders. these companies have shareholders to answer to. and many of them are concerned about taking prices down too far or at all. and, are -- you know, they want to protect their profit margins. >> ron, people also say prices aren't going to go down and

people are willing to pay them. i can see that in restaurants, you know, when a burger cost $25 it will keep costing that if you are willing to go to that restaurant. but groceries, people need to buy bread, milk, eggs. come on! >> well, yes, again stephanie, again it's suggesting what can you actually do about that? the input costs, some instances, labor costs gone up. they're unwilling to shrink their margins in order to meet the demands of folks. but, again, it's a drop in demand that would bring down prices. and, we can have the recession to cut back people on their spending. whether it's out of home, which is considerably more expensive than in home dining at the moment. and, then, maybe you get a pullback in prices. but, it's a trade-off. you need a weaker economy, probably, to produce that. and, i'm not sure everybody is willing to suffer through that in order to get those prices to fall. >> i agree with. that ron, jessie, thank you so much. great to see you both. when we come back, he was a king on the basketball court.

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after an injury sent him spiralling into an opioid addiction. after years of hard work, chapman recovered. today many know him as the guys sharing the incredible uplifting videos online. but he wasn't ready to share his own story. until now. i want to welcome my dear friend, former nba player wrecks chapman. i cannot believe he is shaking right now because there is no place is safer oral welcome then with me. his new book is out right now. it is hard for me to live with me. a memoir. rex, i am so honored that you are here. you've said the darkest day of your life was the day you got arrested, but releasing this book is the scariest one. why? >> oh, man. because i think, first, thanks for having me. >> are you kidding me? >> thank you. you do make it comfortable. it's a tough topic. you know, going back, i just

moved back to phoenix. i've been gone for either nine years. my families still been there. my ex-wife, brigitte, who i love now and respect we more than i ever did when i was with her. >> probably appreciate her. more >> so much more. she raised arrakis. i played with them. and so, you know, this is bringing back a lot of trauma for our family, for a kids. our kids are just magnificent, thanks to her. but this is a lot for my parents. my sister, who essentially saved my life, came back and dropped everything she was doing, let me live with her. i had so many family and friends that were there for me. but it's probably opening up some old wounds and maybe even from some new. once >> what help you overcome your fears and help share your experience? >> i think just feeling

completely humiliated and then i heard let so many people down who believed in me, from my high school teammates two different teachers that i had over the years that i was not built for school. i never was. and i saw you on tv all the other day and i just found out recently that i am dyslexic and a.d.d., i probably knew that my whole life. but i could be asked my way through school and i could goof off and here with the teacher was saying and taken most of it but not the details. >> and because your basketball star, people lead you. >> they did. but also, i knew i could read but i was a slow reader. you know how in the movie credits come up, or they're gonna show what this character is doing now at the end. i can every that thing faster enough before they get another one up. >> same. >> but it made me feel dame. i wasn't dame, but if you had to read and crack class, something off the thing, i was

terrified. i just over compensated by goofing off pretty much. >> you joined me for a segment on the show a few years ago about racism. you actually said, in the book, it was that time, our time together on tv, when you started to find your voice again. probably because you thought mine was so terrible on tv there was a chance for you. why? >> this is very hard to talk about because when i was a teenager migrant friend, my first girlfriend, sean hicks, who are still great friends, we were young and just in love and you know but there were people that were discouraging us from seeing one another. they thought it was a bad idea. my mama, she was worried for my safety. because this was kentucky in the 80s, and she was brought up in eastern kentucky and she saw some bad things happen when she was growing up.

and i was. there were times in high school and college where i was approached by a person with a knife and mike are written on inward lover and all that stuff. i was dissuaded, we were dissuaded from dating in college also. she went to kentucky and i did to. her brother mark was the best player on the football team. he and i did photos shots and whatnot together. and people are telling me to date her at nighttime and don't go out in public together. and it was so hurtful to her. and to me. we are just young people. i didn't get. it it made me extremely angry. and so i think i really suppressed a lot of those emotions for years. and when the george floyd stuff happened a few years ago, infuriated. and then i saw some university of kentucky basketball team knelt for social justice,

racial police brutality. all of it. the next day i saw some kentucky fans in eastern kentucky actually, where my mom is from, the police chief, burning his uk gear. burning his jerseys. i was just infuriated. >> you spoken against that racism, but also the last five years or so against covid, you spoke up. for so many people. and you started telling these beautiful stories, showing these videos on social media. it's amazing. people started to know racks chapman for all the good you are spreading. they didn't even know wrecks the basketball player. that's how we met. how did that end up happening, you becoming this vote voice for good. >> i don't know, did you know i was a basketball player? >> no. i i'm going out for dinner with

rex chapman he said you're going with the wrecks chapman? >> you can always call me on my crap. >> i still do. then i have to ask you, before you leave, somebody who's crap you always call out, is another man from kentucky. his name is mitch mcconnell. he is now stepping down from leadership. and you have been outspoken about how you are state has suffered in terms of the opioid crisis and poverty. and he has been in power and done nothing about it. what do you think now that he's leaving? >> i think it's beautiful. i do. i think it's absolutely beautiful. he was a freshman senator when i was 16. he came to our school. i didn't like him then. i have a night in the hallway. and just think about it. finally, 40 years later, i wrote a book and it came out and the day it came out, mitch mcconnell is gone. so thank you. and you are welcome. but he will go down as history as the man who undermined our first black american president

and enabled this stuff that we are seeing now that is just so ridiculous, with donald trump. >> as he goes down, you rise up, my friend. congratulations on the book. when we come back, putting the disability community center stage when the 11th hour continues. hour continues. ♪ i am, said i ♪ ♪ and i am lost and i can't ♪ punch buggy red. ♪ even say why ♪ ♪ i am, i said ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> >> cohen asked? or it's ruby disaster? coming to moscow reunion. >> introduced me. -- ♪ ♪ ♪

>> the last thing before we go tonight, smh takes center stage. today, favorite on the night, it's not only leap day, but is also read these day. and a first of its kind musical event debuted new york city tonight. most likely not to isn't music in by and starring members of the spinal muscular atrophy community,. sma is a genetic disease that affects the spinal cord, impacting a person's ability to perform normal life functions. but it does not affect a person's ability to think, learn, or build relationships with others. actress and singer shannon devito, who stars in the show, said this, quote, i want the audience to walk away feeling like they were able to relate, because at the end of the day, we are all just living our lives through shared experiences. the show is another very important reminder that representation matters. i want to congratulate the casting who have this

incredible musical. and we're gonna congratulate the audience, who is surely in for a fantastic show. most likely not to is available to stream on sma my way.com. i highly recommend. it on that note, i wish you a very good night. from all of our colleagues across the network from nbc news, thanks for staying up late with me. with the great to see wrecks chapman? i'll see you again tomorrow. a. this evening we got some fairly shocking news. president trump is asking the court to schedule one of his federal criminal trials before the november election, specifically, trump is requesting