the mast. it may work in chicago, but it's not going to work across america. >> both sides locked in a standoff over romney's reign at bain, and the president's refusal to apologize for his campaign's take no prisoners assault. >> as romney said, stop whining. i give him his own advice. >> i think when people accuse you of a crime, you have ever reason to go after them pretty hard. >> the president traveling to ohio today to talk the recovery of the american auto industry as the two campaigns mock each other with these dueling musical videos. take a listen. ♪ oh, beautiful, for spacious skies ♪ ♪ for amber waves of grain ♪ for -- i'm so in love with you ♪ >> nbc's kristin welker kicks off the hour at the white house.

kristin, this is a lot more than a sing off between the two campaign candidates. the president's campaign though really having a laser focus on ohio this month, correct? >> absolutely. in fact, president obama will have visited the buckeye state more than a dozen times this year, thomas, and you can expect both candidates to really be visiting ohio a lot between now and november. it is, of course, one of the largest prizes in any election season. in republican has won the presidency without ohio. today president obama will be holding a town hall event in cincinnati. that is a reliably republican area. he will be focusing on the auto bailout. he'll make the argument that it added thousands of jobs to ohio. he'll also hammer mitt romney. he'll make the case that romney's tax plan will actually outsource about 800,000 jobs to other countries, including to china. so that's what you can expect to hear from the president. for his part mitt romney will be stumping with louisiana governor bobby jindal and senator rob

portman of ohio will be bracketing the president's trip with his own event in ohio. now, all this comes against that backdrop that you just mapped out, thomas. this increasingly negative tone of this campaign. mitt romney calling for an apology from the obama campaign saying that his attacks have been unfair, that they have mischaracterized romney's record at bain capital. the obama campaign showing no signs of backing down. according to cantor media group, both campaigns, the overwhelming majority of the ads that have come out of both campaigns have been negative. president obama was asked about that. here is what he had to say. take a listen. >> we've done a whole slew of positive ads that talked exactly about how we need to change our education system, how we need to change our tax code, how we need to rebuild america, how we need to promote american energy, so those just don't get attention in the news. >> and, thomas, at the end of

the week president obama heads to the other big battleground state of florida. so we'll be tracking all of that for you. thomas. >> kristin welker stay with us. i'll bring in our political power panel. we have perry bacon, msnbc contributor and political editor. ted strickland and also hogan gidly. it's great to have all of you with me and i want sto start with perry. this is really a strong message coming out of the romney campaign. the most coordinated response yet to the president's bain attacks, and certainly time is of the essence on this one, perry. but is it enough to change the narrative in romney's favor? >> i don't think it is. i mean, you saw on friday he did five interviews with every outlet, every major network and he didn't address the questions about his tax returns or exactly when he left bain. i mean, it's unusual you do five interviews all over the place in terms of exposure but still don't answer the core questions. i almost feel like he

name a vice presidential nominee to change the subject right now. >> as perry mentioned, we have the five different interviews on friday then the sunday talkers and the advisers, the staffers, they have taken to the tv to really try to hammer back at this bain message. take a listen to this, hogan. >> he actually retired retroactively at that point, david, because he ended up not going back to the firm after his time in salt lake city. >> mitt romney left bain capital in 1999. he left to go run the olympics but we appreciate the fact that president obama's campaign, they're going to do anything, talk about anything other than their failed record on the economy. >> so they've got the same talking point there of retiring in 1999, hogan. the one big one, ed gillespie coming out to say he retired retroactively. wouldn't ken lay have liked to have said that in 2001 but it didn't work out so well for him. anyway, with such a muddled time line and message, this is really playing right into the obama team's hands. why can't the romney team seem

to deget it together and not co across as being so secretive. >> it's interesting because alex burns put up a piece i think it was over the weekend that mentioned that it was a year ago over the weekend that marked the year anniversary of his first story about bain, and the fact that we're not having -- we're having kind of a muddled message heading in the weekend and continuing on today does prove somewhat of a problem for the romney campaign. there's no doubt about that. you did play a clip earlier of the president singing. he hits all the right notes, he's smooth, he can sure sing, i'm just not sure all the notes are being hit in this attack because let's be honest, i mean, the president is pointing to bain capital and saying, look, this is your reason for wanting to be the president. you are a fix-it guy. explain what you did at bain. some of that actually is explained in the tax returns because it shows he's been successful, he's created jobs, made a lot of money. so the president might want to tread lightly because if we're going to examine romney's ability to fix the economy, you have to look at the president's. he went on his campaign trail

back in 2008 saying he was going to slash the deficit. he was going to create jobs, and neither one of those two things have happened. it's failed promises from the obama campaign and romney needs to hit him and hit him hard on it. >> governor strickland, the boston globe said the fight over romney's time at bain and the history there playing into the perception there that things with mitt are never quite what they seem. the president stumping in your home state of ohio. does it really matter to the voters out there, perception being reality? is the bain issue really going to resonate with the voters? >> thomas, i think it does matter, and the question is a fundamental question. why is mitt romney not releasing his income tax returns, and what is he hiding from the american people. the only reason he would have nor not releasing those tax returns which he released to john mccain when he wanted to be the vice presidential choice, he's hiding something, and before we were to consider electing this man to be the president of our country, ought

not the people of this country need to know what his tax returns tell us about his business connections? i mean we know he's had a corporation in bermuda. we know he's had a swiss bank account. we know he's exported jobs to china. but we need to get those income tax returns and there's a reason, thomas, that mitt romney is refusing to release these tax returns. the fact he's refusing after all of these questions have arisen ought to tell us something. he's afraid of the american people knowing what we would find out from those tax returns, and that's a fundamental issue, i think. >> kristin, i want to bring you back in. as you've been traveling to the president, is that message resonating? is it connecting with voters, that mitt romney may be hiding something or he's not proud of the bain time when it comes to talking about what happened between '99 and 2002? >> it's interesting, thomas. i have spoken to a number of

voters in a lot of these key battleground states and they say they want both candidates to focus on the issues that matter most, like the economy, like putting people back to work, but if you look at the polls in some of these key battleground states, they tell a very different story. very narrow, but the president has a tiny lead in some of these key battleground states like virginia and like ohio. so while voters might not admit it, they're clearly having some level of an impact and it doesn't appear as though the obama campaign is preparing to back down any time soon on this. >> hogan, is that something they have to come out swinging with because bill chris tal said over the weekend that romney's camp should come out with six to eight years of their tax returns. right now they have only released up to two. but take a listen to mitt romney though. >> okay. >> the obama people keep on wanting more and more and more, more things to pick through, more things for their opposition research to try to make a

mountain out of and to distort and to be dishonest about. >> now, he doesn't shave to do it. his father is basically the person who instituted this habit for politicians to go ahead and to release this to look as if there is nothing to hide. as governor strickland points out, it makes it seem or gives a perception there's something to hide, and he was willing to give 23 years to john mccain to be second banana. why not do it to the american people to be top tog dog? >> that's a great question. that's the issue. look, thomas, would you rather be criticized for not releasing your tax returns or would you rather be criticized for what's in the tax returns once you release them? i think the romney campaign is making a political gamble here and saying, look, we're going to stick to our guns. we're not going to mess with this, and we're counting on the american people to focus on the issue like jobs and the economy. i don't know that it's a winning strategy at this point. you will remember we released at the santorum campaign several years trying to get mitt romney

to do the same thing. he didn't do it then. i doubt he's going to do it now. and, you know, i just don't know at the end of the day how much it matters to middle america. it's juicy tidbits for us to pontificate and wonder what's in those tax returns and where that money is and all those types of things, but i think the american people are focused on other things right now. >> perry, real quickly, something that could back burner this at least a couple weeks is the announcement of a vp pick for romney. are we close? >> i think we are close. i think we'll see in the next few weeks. the next couple weeks or after the olympics. the time table is now before he goes abroad for his big trip to israel and other places as well. so i think the names you're hearing, rob portman from ohio, tim pawlenty of minnesota are the names to watch in particular. >> perry bake con, thanks so much, governor strickland, kristin welker. we are following that breaking news out of sanford, florida. new evidence being released in the george zimmerman case. jail phone calls and a statement from a witness who claims that

zimmerman is a racist. we're going to bring you details on this. plus, unleashed former president george w. bush out with a new book with his new plan for fixing the economy. what he would do today. and if you want to weigh in on the show, tweet me @thomasaroberts. yeah, i'm back from vacation. ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone likes a bit of order in their life. virtual wallet helps you get it. keep track of spending, move money with a slide, and use the calendar. all to see your money how you want. ♪ idide? how you want. you're not my dad ahh!! hey honey, back feels better, little dancing tonight, you and me?

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first of all, you're not going to apologize. >> no, we won't be apologizing. sometimes these games are played during political campaigns. understand what the issue is here, mr. romney claims that he's mr. fix-it for the economy because of his business experience, and so i think voters entirely legitimately want to know, well, what exactly

was that business experience. >> that's president obama speaking with reporter andy fox saying he's not going to back down off the nasty bain attacks his campaign has launched. romney's camp says obama is being dishonest for claiming bain capital outsourced jobs on romney's watch. joining me is congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. nice to see you this morning. >> you, too, thomas. good morning. >> let's dive into it because this morning mitt romney was on fox reacting to obama's asert assertion he wouldn't apologize after a staffer suggested romney could be faced with a felony in regards to the s.e.c. filings. here is his response. >> i'd say the president, wouldn't it be interesting, mr. president, if you spent some time looking at your record? if you spent some time looking at what you've done over the last 3 1/4 to 4 years. there are 23 million people out of work and stopped looking for work. >> so congresscongresswoman, wh talk about this, it's coming

from stephanie cutter saying that this was a felony type of action. those are really strong words. if that's the line of attack that the obama team wants to use, where are the teeth in this because they don't have prime examples other than saying that he was on the filings for the s.e.c. until 2002. they don't have any daily meetings or anything like that to back up this assertion that he was overseeing what bain was doing. >> well, what stephanie said rightfully so is that either mitt romney was lying on s.e.c. forms and misrepresenting to his investors which could be a felony that he was the sole owner, president, ceo of bain capital from 1999 until almost the end of 2001 or he wasn't and represented that he was. you know, it can't be both. and so if he was sole owner, president, ceo, then he is to be

held accountable for the decisions that were made for the outsourcing of jobs that took place during that time, and, you know, this is a campaign for president of the united states. mitt romney is running for president of the united states, and, you know, he and his campaign team leadership need to put their big boy and big girl pants on and defend his record. they don't want to show us his record. they're running the most secretive campaign for president of a major party in history. refusing to, you know, release his tax returns when he clearly has investments in swiss bank accounts, investments in bermuda corporation which, by the way, he turned over to his wife's control the day before he became governor. >> he doesn't have to release -- it's not mandatory to release any tax information. he doesn't have to release years upon years of tax filings. it's something his father instituted as part of a political one upsmanship to show there was nothing to hide.

obviously it's not something mitt romney is practicing right now, but dealing with political innuendo, isn't that really difficult to do in a case like this if you're not going to go after mitt romney and you're saying that they have an obligation to own up to what his business dealings were really. if he did commit some type of s.e.c. fraud filings, who is going to go after him for that? why not deal with what are the facts of this, whether or not someone is going to go and search out whether or not he did perpetrate some type of fraud? >> well, that's part of the reason why we need to see his tax returns because we don't know, and it's why george romney, his father, set a resident, a rightful precedent, for subsequent candidates for president of the united states that -- and he even said at the time that releasing one year of tax returns, which is all that mitt romney has released in this campaign, is not enough because it could be an anomaly. it won't show, you know, the rest of the story on a candidate's finances, and mitt romney was certainly willing when he was pursuing, you know,

his goal of being vice president to give 23 years of tax returns to john mccain. yet, he was only willing to release one year of returns. all of these questions could be cleared up if he released mul multiple years of returns. obviously there's something in the returns he doesn't want the american people to see. that's just not the precedent that's been set or the tro diggs of decades of candidates for president. we're going to continue to hold him accountable. >> do you think it's not just holding him accountable, but do you think the left is bullying him into releasing this and using innuendo of he must be hiding something since he's not willing to share it? >> we just don't know. barack obama has released 12 years of return. vice president biden has released 12 years of returns. every major candidate for president since -- going back to mitt romney's own father has released multiple years of

returns, and mitt romney won't. why? why? i mean, it's clearly because with the little glimpse that we have gotten from the one year he has released, he's got a swiss bank account. why does an american businessman need investments in switzerland? in known tax havens? if it's not to avoid paying tacks in america, then the rest of the story if he released those returns would show us. he won't answer the questions. he's asking us just to take his word for it, and, i'm sorry, you know, you've got to come clean and show us when you're running for president of the united states. >> congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz, thank you for your time. >> thank you. we are going to be taking you to sanford, florida, after a quick break. what newly released documents could mean for his trial. plus two young cousins vanished from iowa on friday. the only things left behind, their bikes, a purse, and a cell phone.

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with a few friends in london. [ male announcer ] the citi thankyou visa card. redeem the points you've earned to travel with no restrictions. rewarding you, every step of the way. we are following this breaking news. we're tracking it out of sanford, florida. moments ago another potentially explosive raft of evidence about the man accused of killing trayvon martin has gone public. among these documents and potentially the most damaging of all, a statement to sanford police made by a woman known only as witness number nine and it could be a racially charged statement about zimmerman. nbc' shamlian is live in sanford, florida. explain the latest release of information and why is it coming out now? >> reporter: good morning to you. it's a lot of information. let's start with that. more than 140 jailhouse phone calls between george zimmerman and family and friends. the defense attorney, mark o'ma

o'mara, had sought to keep that under wraps. also, as you mentioned, this second statement from a woman being called witness number nine. in her previous statement which was released she made comments that george zimmerman may be racially biased, prejudicial views. mark o'mara sought to seal this second statement. on friday the judge said, no, it had to be released. that came out this morning. we're still sifting through all that material, but it's believed these statements and the context of the phone calls could shed some light not only on george zimmerman's thinking but could damage him in the court of public opinion as this case progresses through the ranks. we're taking a look at it now and we'll be back to you with more when we have it. >> janet shamly ann reporting live for us. i want to bring now in kendall coffee in our conversation. he's a former federal prosecutor, msnbc and nbc news legal analyst. kendall, it's good to have you here with us as always. as we're waiting to get more specific details about this document dump that janet is

referring to, bottom line, what is the impact when we talk about this witness number nine and the statement that they have made concerning george zimmerman and what they believe his personality and his beliefs to be, that of being racist? >> well, this is charged as second-degree murder. it's not a hate crime. however, as we know, even if prosecutors don't strictly speaking have to establish the motive, it really is important to a case to show why he would do something so reckless, so deadly. and if there is no evidence, no credible evidence of a racial motive, then the prosecutors need to find a different approach which could be in this case a self-appointed vigilante taking the law into his own hands. from last week the fbi records that were disclosed, three dozen witness reports, did not indicate concrete evidence of racism. so this document that we may see today from witness nine could be critical if there's something

there to work with, that's significant. if not, the prosecutors will take a different approach. >> so mark o'mara didn't want this information released saying that this information, quote, could cause widespread hostile publicity. he makes an argument that could resonate concerning how this case has been covered leading up to this point because now that this person has come forward to give an idea or insight into the personality of what george zimmerman may have been thinking that night, it lends credence to the original narrative, that he may have stalked trayvon martin. >> yeah, and, of course, as we see the defense is very concerned about the court of public opinion. they filed a motion for disqualification for judge lester, and the first part of the motion read like an opening statement summarize wag they thought were the strengths of their case rather than even well before you got into a discussion of why they think the judge should be prejudiced and should be disqualified. they're very aware of that.

they know that even if there are things, for example, in a second witness statement of witness nine that never get into the court of law, what is the concern that a future juror once they read about something, once they hear about it, can never completely erase it from their minds. it's a critical concern that haunts every defense lawyer. so certainly his approach in trying to keep this stuff out of the public record is understandable. florida has a very, very strong public records act. i'm not surprised that the judge is making these documents available today. >> former federal prosecutor, kendall coffugffecoffey. >> thank you. sarah palin was the rock star. this year she's not invited to the republican convention and could cause problems for mitt romney. plus outrage over jo pa's $5 million contract. the deal was inked the same month he testified before a grand jury about the jerry sandusky sexual abuse case. spir.

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mitt romney's fighting back today against president obama's increasingly negative assault on romney's time at bain capital. he's out with a new ad suggesting that while obama's busy rewarding his donors middle class families are losing jobs. romney was asked today why he isn't fighting harder against president obama and this was his answer. >> best offense is to look at the president's record. i mean, i really think the american people are going to tire and probably have already tired of all the attacks and misdirected as they are. >> nbc's peter alexander joins me now live from d.c. to talk more about this. peter, you were one of the people that had the opportunity to speak with mitt romney on friday when he sat down to do this slew of network television interviews, and you pressed him on could he have it both ways about his time at bain, which i found really interesting, but he didn't seem to shed enough light on trying to explain himself. >> yeah. as you know, there were five network interviews. we were the only ones to do it

in person. so literally i was looking him into the eyes as he asked him these questions not far from his lakefront home in new hampshire. the question we were trying to raise with him is if, in fact, you didn't have any involvement with bain capital after 1999 up to 2002 at the time when the company was making what are referred to as controversial investments, many of them that included outsourcing, if you were not there then and thereby aren't to blame for those, how can you take credit for the job gains that bain is responsible for in that period of time? and this was his answer. take a listen. >> well, what i pointed out is that businesses that we helped create and helped start went on to create lots of jobs. so if you're responsible for starting a business and it grows and adds a lot of jobs in the coming years, then i'm happy to point out that my involvement was in helping get that business started and seeing it grow over the years. >> what i thought was also interesting, thomas, in the course of our conversation romney obviously is competing for the narrative right now with so much of the focus being about

his personal finances, his tax returns, and about his time at bain capital. what he really wants the focus to be on is on the president, and in our conversation he said to me, i know the obama campaign's strategy. their strategy is, to use his words, he says to kill romney which was fascinating to hear mitt romney himself say. today the campaign has come out speaking to reporters in a conference call earlier today saying very clearly among other things that there are new poll numbers that show even after the fire of the obama campaign in the last several weeks, the polls are only getting closer. obviously, the romney folks only have so much money they can spend in the primaries, most of which was wiped oup when they were competing with rick santorum and newt gingrich. they can't start spending again until their convention at the end of august and they're trying to put the president on his heels accusing him of giving money to his biggest donors. they say political payoffs and middle class layoffs. that's the argument they're trying to instill into the

conversation as it goes forward. >> nice interview. peter alexander in washington, d.c., for us. thank you. want to take a look at some other stories topping the news for you. the fourth heat wave of the summer gets worse today with heat indices inching up to 100 degrees. the plains will most likely be stuck in the 90s and 100s all week long. the bodies of two missing sisters in missouri may have been found. police say acting on a tip from a person of interest they found the bodies in an open field late yesterday. 19-year-old britny haarup and 22-year-old ashley key disappeared and friday. hundreds of volunteers continued to search for the two missing cousins in iowa. 8-year-old elizabeth collins and 10-year-old lyric cook were last seen riding their bikes in evansdale friday afternoon near a bike trail. authorities dragged the lake on sunday but found no sign of the girls so far.

new questions are being raised about what caused carrie kennedy's car to crash. a source close to the family said she may have had a seizure. she might have taken a sleeping pill instead of her prescribed medication. she was charged with dwi on friday. the results of her toxicology tests are still pending. this is no way to start your stay in new york. jason kidd nabbed by cops on long island allegedly for drunk driving. the newly signed knicks point guard was stopped sunday morning after his car hit a telephone pole in southampton and went into the woods. police found the 39-year-old behind the wheel of his 2010 escalade. officers charged him with misdemeanor dwi after he was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital. and houston, we might have lin sanity and that could be the message heard around the basketball world if the knicks do not match the offer presented to jeremy lin by the houston rockets. after trading for point guard raymond felton, there is growing

speculation that new york will let the international superstar walk. the knicks have until tuesday at 11:59 p.m. eastern to match the offer that's on the table. new questions are being raised about whether the ncaa will sanction penn state university in the wake of scathing report about how top officials there covered up sexual abuse committed by jerry sandusky. among the latest details to come out, a jaw-dropping deal that the late coach, joe paterno, cut with the school's board of trustees even as jerry sandusky was under investigation. now, the details of this deal include a $3 million payday at the end of the 2011 season if paterno agreed it would be his last. $350,000 in interest-free loans given to paterno by the university forgiven. and use of the university's private plane plus access to the luxury box at beaver stadium for him and his family. the total price tag on all of this, $5.5 million. michael mccann is a legal

analyst and columnist for "sports illustrated" and he joins me now. he's also a professor of law at vermont law school. the paterno family issued a statement saying we are dismayed, vehemently disagree with some of the con lutions and the process by which they were developed. from freeh presented his opinions as if they were absolute facts. we believe it bears further review. when we talk about the freeh report and they were waiting for this to come out saying they would look at it and let the truth be what it is by what was found in this report. it also goes on to not shed a lot of light on what "the new york times" has now talked about, and this report about this deal that joe paterno was able to carve out while all of the sandusky stuff was imploding around him in the beginning of 2011. what is -- when we look at this and look back, hindsight being 20/20, what is the interpretation of how this all went down? >> well, thomas, i think it's

pretty extraordinary. i think it shows that joe paterno was clearly the most powerful person at penn state. he was more powerful than the president and maybe more powerful than the board of trustees. he was able to secure a very generous contract the same month he testified before a grand jury and, of course, the board of trustees approved this contract months later. it shows, i think, really the power of a coach and it's going to be difficult for penn state to do anything about this contract. the moment to stop it was last year. if they try to terminate the contract or void it, expect a lawsuit from paterno's family. >> so for years there's been criticism about this kind of conduct that's been taken place at other universities, where cash cows like the one we see at penn state, these athletic programs, special treatment. as you point out joe paterno probably being the most powerful man on campus. how should the university try to move forward as all this is becoming public, more details, more truths will come out in the years to come.

how do they repair what has been a historic football legacy there as they move forward into the new year? >> thomas, i think a good first step was the freeh report where the university, of course, commissioned an independent review showing that the university was clearly at fault and helped facilitate a cover-up of child abuse. in fact, raping of children. now, the university has to think about potential lawsuits brought by victims of sandusky for being negligent and failing to adequately supervise sandusky when he was on campus. i expect the university will try to settle those lawsuits before they even go to court. the university also has to think about the ncaa and whether the ncaa will sanction them. one possibility is that the university could voluntarily take a sanction or even propose something. >> in your legal opinion, do you think joe paterno would face legal action if he were still alive? >> yes. i think the freeh report, if it's true, and paterno's family will say the report was an

independent report and people who spoke were not speaking under oath, if it's true, i believe he perjured hind and he could have faced perjury charges. >> michael mccann, thanks for joining us. appreciate it. >> thanks, thomas. olympic participants from around the world are expected to arrive in london today. the olympic village is opening to welcome many of the athletes and officials staying there. the complex has 2800 parnlts and includes a 24-hour dining room. het row is expecting more than 200,000 travelers p. going for the gold for the united states, 530 athletes including 269 women, marking the first time in history women have dominated the roster. 228 are returning athletes with 7 making the games for the 5th time. you can watch all the action on the networks of nbc universal. uhuh yep uch let's find you a room. at hotels.com, you'll always find the perfect hotel.

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in particular, a statement made from a witness described as just witness number nine. nbc's janet shamlian is live in sanford, florida, to give us the details. what more have we learned? >> reporter: well, thomas, again, this is the second statement from witness number nine that defense attorney mark o'mara had attempted to keep sealed. we've already heard from this witness previously. she's a woman who in some context knows the family, and in the first released statement she said that she thought that george zimmerman harbored prejudicial views. now, this is a part of the new telephone call or the interview, rather, that was recorded with authorities, and in it, and this is from witness number nine, talking about george zimmerman. she saids, i was afraid that he may have done something because the kid was black because when growing up, they've always made -- he and his family, they've always made statements that they don't like black people if they don't act like

white people. they like black people if they act white, and other than that, they talk a lot of bad things about black people. again, that's a statement from witness number nine talking about george zimmerman and his family. i will add when investigators directly asked this woman whether she had ever heard anything zimmerman said specifically that was racially prejudicial or motivated, she said no. couldn't cite anything specific. so that's what we have so far. there's also 140 telephone calls between george zimmerman and family and friends when he was -- while he is jailed that's being released today and we'll have more details later. >> it's a plethora of information that's been released. nbc's janet shamlian reported live from sanford, florida. we have reached out to the attorney for george zimmerman and his family to respond to the new details that have been

released from these calls and from these interviews. also in florida, a green light from the government on the right to vote challenge there in that state. the feds giving florida access to a homeland security database to check whether residents and nonresidents have the right to vote based on citizenship status. but it is actually a benefit for republicans or voter rights groups. and joining me now is politics nations host, the reverend al sharpton. great to see you. thanks for being here. i like it when you come in early for us because i know you have a long day ahead of you. what is your reaction to the government and its decision to allow the department of homeland security's participation? >> well, i mean, i have civil liberties questions, but i also think that it is something interesting when you saw in the state of florida where they were purging voters using no data. so at one level if this data is there, it gives them no reason to try these voter purges where

we were finding people that were, in fact, citizens that were being purged. now they're using actual data. on another level, are you dealing with the civil liberties violation of those that might be in the data. so we have not taken a real position on this yet. >> some people look at this and think, okay, it's logical this is happening right now because we're in a presidential campaign. other people look at this and say, hold up, this is a presidential campaign, this is the sole reason it's happening. >> there's no question in my mind it's based on the election. first of all, we didn't see any of this even during the primaries for the republican party. i mean, they have voter i.d. laws they're trying in many states. they're doing things like voter purge, yet they for some strange reason didn't need government photo i.d. to vote in iowa where we ended up with the wrong winner for several days or any of the republican primaries. it seems strange that these republican legislators need all of these things clear after they go through their primary season.

you have to think they're trying to discourage people that may vote against them. >> when we talk about battleground states, obviously florida plays into the battleground maps. 29 electoral votes in florida alone. according to the orlando sentin sentinel, they originally claimed they had this issue, a number of 180,000 voters and it was revised to only 2,600 and then only 107 people were found to be fraudulent. i think you have used the phrase they are seeking a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. >> that's exactly right. texas, for example, texas said it would only affect with their new voter i.d. law a little under 180,000 people. the justice people has gone into court saying there's 1.4 million people who would be affected in terms of their right to vote, yet there are no cases there. it's been 0.00003 cases of fraud nationwide. so what are we changing the laws that clearly will affect millions of people's right to vote according to the brennan

institute, 5 million, for a fraction of an amount of 1% of people that may have been accused of fraud? what are we doing this for when the net effect is far more negative in terms of people being able to vote than it is in terms of eliminating victory for the governor there, rick scott, or is this a victory for voting rights groups? >> well, it may not be a victory for scott if now they can only go by data and not go through their purges where they wanted to get just people blanketly done. so i don't know. we're still weighing it out, our legal people at national action network are weighing what it means for voting rights but i wouldn't pop the champagne too quickly if i was governor scott. >> reverend al sharpton, thanks so much. see you at 6:00 tonight to talk about this and also the new tae details of the trayvon martin case. watch the reverend wright 6:00 p.m. eastern on nbc.

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a comeback for anthony weiner? the new york post reporting that disgraced former congressman wants another shot at political life. he's considering a run for mayor of new york city according to the "post." he resigned amid a sexting scandal last week. "newsweek" reports that sarah palin is without a role at this year's gop convention. mitt romney's victory fund has raked in $140 million since its creation in early april. romney victory is a joint fund-raising committee campaign or excuse me, created by his campaign and the rnc. house speaker john boehner

has raised close to $80 million for fellow republicans as they fight to keep their majority in the house. over $8 million of that cash raised in the second quarter of this year alone. remember that letter beyonce wrote a few months ago to first lady michelle obama? beyonce is now sharing that love by reading her letter in the new obama campaign web video. take a look. >> michelle, thank you so much for every single thing that you do for us. i'm proud to have my daughter grow up in a world where she has people like you to look up to. love, beyonce. >> so one cat in alaska isn't kitten around. stubs is celebrating his 15th year as mayor. he clawed his way on to the political scene with a write-in campaign and has been the town's honorary mayor for most of his life. that's going to wrap things up for me. see you back here tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. eastern time. you can always follow me on twitter. don't go anywhere.

"now" with alex wagner coming your way next. ari, what's coming up? >> happy monday. what we have coming up is bain, the story that governor romney can't seem to shake. did he set a trap for himself? we will look at the history and the politics. also, barack obama is still running for president while being president. we will assess the political balancing act there. then this big debate over medicaid funding. are some governors bluffing their way through a showdown that could ultimately eliminate health care for one of five americans? thursday. the perfect use of the 7th inning stretch. get that great taste anytime with kingsford match light charcoal.

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