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took man's name for a mystery and why it was a best seller. >> "weekends with alex witt" and welcome. crowds are gathered in brazil to see pope francis for the final day of his international trip. more than 3 million people turned out in rio de janeiro for world youth day and the upponti has wrappeded up the mass. claudio is joining us from there, and all dressed up with the event. claudio, with a good day to you, and 3 million people, and incredible to see the pope. what has the mood been like? >> alex, it is incredible mood, both festive and somber. while the day started with 3 million people in copa cabana beach with the biggest flash mob dance ever, and we don't know if it broke the guinness book of world records, but it was quite a spectacle to see it here, and

we have seen even others joining into the event and then the mood was somber when the pope said mass. i was downed -- i was down there on the sands and amazing to watch the pilgrims crying with emotions. the pope has left and the mass is over and he is going to head to the airport later on to go to rome later tonight. but the party here continues. there are millions of kids here. let me just move away to show you what is going on down there. they are still there, and they are swimming in the ocean, and having fun. i mean, this is now looks more like spring break, but in a way, alex n is what world youth day is all about. it is a mix of faith, but also fun. >> absolutely. okay. claudio, so the big question is, how did the dance go? we have been talking about this for the last week. did it happen? was it a success? >> it did happen.

to see it from here, and we were all dancing from up on the roof, of course, luckily no record of that. but, you know, it was impressive and it was difficult. the moves were easy, but of course, millions of people were going mixing the left to the right, and in a way, it was all about the festivity and the joy and the pope seemed to have enjoyed that, too, so it was a great moment. >> i am sure it was. i hope that somewhere we have video of that dance as well of you dancing. so maybe for the next hour, and you are like shaking your head no way. thank you so much, claudio, so much. now to politics today new in a new york times interview with president obama says he is vowed to focus on the economic, and he says that an inequality is fraying the social fabric and understood mining america's opportunities. >> what i learned profoundly in the crisis is that the ground under my feet is just not secure and the work i'm doing may not be rewarded and everything that

i'm proposing and everything that i have and will be proposing over the next three years goes right at that issue. >> the president noted that the economy is far stronger than four years ago, but added that many people don't feel secure about their future, and so now we will go to the white house and kristen welker in her post there, and kristen with a good sunday to you, and what more is the president saying in the interview? >> well, alex, good sunday to you as well. president obama continuing to sell the message on the economy with the interview with "the new york times" and he basically argued that if his policies are not enacted the recovery will continue to be tepid. he went so far as to say that racial tensions could get worse, and so he is calling for things that we have heard him call for before, and investing in things like infrastructure and early education, and health care, and he also slammed republicans for what he has called their austerity approach to deal with the budget, and the republicans have called for domestic

spending and repealing president obama's health care law, and now if you look at the latest polling though, alex, the latest msnbc/"wall street journal" poll shows that a majority of the americans disapprove of president obama's handling of the economy and that made for tough questions for treasury secretary jack lew who defended the president's record to dday "meet the press" and the the republicans fanned out to slam the president's record and take a look at both sides. >> i'm saying that the core of the economy is growing and i'm saying that we need to do more and the president has laid out a vision of things that we need to do and we need to get outside of the inside washington debate about who is winning and who is losing and deal with the challenges that the middle-class families want us to deal with. >> the fact is that if you want to help the middle-class the best thing you can do is to limit the government's profile and not expand it. obama care is one of the many examples of it and why we need to move away from the law which is going to be bad for the middle-class. >> alex, a number of budget battles on the horizon coming up for this fall, and chief among

them of course the debt ceiling and the republicans saying that they won't increase the debt ceiling unless it is offset with equal amount of spending cuts, and president obama saying that he will not negotiate on that issue, and the president hits the road tuesday and heads to chattanooga, tennessee, where he will talk about the economy. >> where he plans to do once a week going forward. thank you, kristen and we will see you next hour. joining me now is reporter for the "washington post" david mcnamara, and alice cox. with this one, the president started with a campaign tour for several cities, and today, this interview with "the new york times" and what all goes into putting this role out now? >> well, you know, alex, when you look ahead to next month in august, congress is going for a recess on five to six weeks and they won't be back until early september and the president, himself s going on vacation and the white house is saying that

when you go around talking about the this, the president is not going to win the debate with congress, but framing. that is getting out ahead of the message and when you get back to look in september and the budget and have to deal with the budget by the end of september or the government will shutdown, it is a tight time frame so that the president is trying to reiterate the message he gave in the campaign and has been talking about for a while, because it is going down to the wire again the way it has for the past couple of times and the white house wants to set thetone here early before they get to that point. >> all right. let's look at the timing of this annemarie, because the president has three years left in the presidency, and does that allow him to focus exclusively now whereas as much as current events would allow him on the economy, and is this philosophically who he is? has he always been this person fighting for upward mobility, and now he can emphasize it? >> i happen to think so. he is a community organizer from the south side of chicago, and that is where you talk about income inequality, and he is

really on his own ground when he does this. i think that the difference that you are seeing now is that he's tying this together with for instance racial conflict. that is something that is very true. i think that americans when you ask them what is the biggest conflict in the country today, in the country, they will say the conflict between rich and poor, and even more striking to them than the conflict between different races, but however, that has just become another way to talk about race in the country, and so when obama is talking about income inequality, hopefully what he is doing is to talk about the way that we now have a lower middle-class that is of mixed race, and we don't need to talk about it, but we need to talk about the races coming together and fighting for income inequality rather than the coded language this used to be the case when you talked about the haves and the have nots. >> and i'm reading about this from the article because you referenced the president's speech, and said that the better bargain for the middle-class and

you talk about the actual words middle-class as presenting a rhetorical problem and why is that? >> it is because the middle class is a political construct and has no real meaning to economists. i was reading that there is a cbo report where they tried to define the middle-class. and the middle-class by definition shifts. and what is happening now is that the middle class is now poorer than they used to be, and they are still is the middle-class and most americans identify themselves as being with the middle-class, but the truth is that their incomes are stagnant or decreased while the very wealthy in the country have seen their incomes increase, and that disparity is growing worse and worse and i wonder if we will have to change the language that we use in order the to get some political momentum the do the changes that obama is talking about and we have to talk about the working class perhaps and talk about the people struggling to improve themselves. i'm not sure if middle-class is a helpful thing moving forward. >> and david, look at something else that the president said in reference to congress.

take a listen to this. >> i'm not just going to sit back if the only message from some of the folks is no on everything and sit around and twiddle my thumbs for the next 1,200 days. >> what are the options that the president has to institute some of the poll ti sis if he can't get anything passed with the congress? >> this is something that the president has been talking about, alex. he has talked about, and he says i will work with congress and going to visit congress next week to talk to the democrats, but also doing that with the republicans as wells over the last few months a and the so-called charm offensive, but if it does not work i will use the executive actions and use the executive authority that i can, and this is something that he has announced that he will do with the environmental policy and doing that at the end of the year in the ways he can, and also in the way he did last year on immigration reform and talked about stopping deportations for the younger folks who came to the country illegally with their parents, and these are the types of things that the white house will do if they can't get the

agenda forward. obviously right now with the budget, he is not suggesting that he will do any of that, but what he is saying is that if the republican house coming forward with the budget plan that is only going to cut spending he is not going to go forward with that and demand spending cuts to move the debt ceiling he may not do that either so it is a big showdown. we have seen it before and the president was criticized from the left for sort of backing down this past spring to allow the sequester to take place and not living up to the threat that the administration was giving off then, but what you are seeing are early signals that they may change their tone this time and stare down the republicans in the fall. >> and anamarie, how does the president get past the folks who say no to everything, and is there no incentive for the gop to work with the president on anything ever or does the disastrous poll numbers in terms of the congressional approval in the country, and if those stay consistent people are going to b really, we really do need to get something done because the american public is ticked off? >> well, in the short term, the

position that the republicans have taken will help them in the midterms because of the electorate that turns out for the midterm election swis older and whiter and the rhetoric that they are using appeals to them. and now come next presidential election, i'm not sure how it will look for them, and moving towards the future, the electorate that responds to what the republicans are doing is shrinking, and the electorate that sees the income and inequality growing that has that e response to themselves and responds to that message from the president is growing. i think that the president, i i'm not sure in the short term, i don't know what is going to happen, and he is going to use the executive power that he has, and ironically, the executive power increased under bush, but who knows what is going to happen, and sometimes i think that he is setting up a long game here and that we won't see the policies that he would like to enact until further in the future. >> all right. anamarie cox and davnakumura, tk you.

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some other news making headlines out on the west coast, the arizona republican has this story about how solar power in the state is at a crossroads after a decade of growth. metro phoenix now gets 2% of the power from the sun. the "los angeles daily news" has the headline that asks why california is 49 nt the nation in per pupil spending, and the article points out that it could change when much needed funding comes from a tax hike that could primarily benefit public education. and the "reno sunday gazette journal" says they want to add 1,000 condos to the base village, but opponents say it is

too much. people rallied outside of speaker of the house john boehner's house yesterday calling on him to pass comprehensive immigration reform to allow a path to citizenship. and now joining me is the congresswom congresswoman. 73% of the democrats said that the president is unlikely to pass it, and among republicans 69% said it is unlikely, and so do you think that the house is capable of passing a bill? >> the nation is changing and the world is changing. we are looking to the world in a prism of diversity, and mosaicness and many colors and backgrounds and many expressions. and frankly, i don't think that the united states' congress will be able to stand up against the will and the power of the

people, and frankly, the american government, the federal government if we are to maintain our status and position, we have to be able to fix america's problems, and these are not just the problems of the undocumented, but these are the problems of business persons who i see in my district every day who throw up their hands and say, when are you going to fix this opportunity for people to work. or maybe my border friends who live at the border and the border that i have spent many times visiting who indicate that energetic economy is based on the enormity of trade coming back and forth between the mexican border, but as well in the northern border or is it those brilliant students who graduate saluis salutatorian an valedictorian who want to serve the country as a young professional or the people stop knowing shake my hands at a a high school graduation or a young man who shook my hand and

said can you help me to go into the united states military? that power is not going to stop, and i won't be anything but optimistic, because speaker boehner and the republican party doesn't have a choice, and those who continue to petition the government, and i always try to tell the people that protests is petitioning to not give them a choishgs and this is the movement behind the passage of the 1964 civil rights act for the african-americans to get the mere opportunity to go into an opportunity and as well the voting rights act, that is being challenged now in 1965 and it was protested and petitioning, and i believe that this government will not stand up and not be able to stand up to the voices of the people. >> yeah, indeed. challenges are coming there within your own home state. let's talk about the house bill that could make it come about. is there one that does not make reforms piecemeal, piece by piece or does border security have to come first and then hopefully, you can address amnesty? >> well, let me say to you that

even in regions across the country, i'm encouraging petition and input as i discussed. we will be holding members of the texas delegation and i chair the delegation and i'm excited about the members flying in and the members congressman green and vesey and castro will be listening to the voices in city hall at 2:00 p.m., and you have to have the courage the have the hearings, because it will speak to what we do in the house. we passed four bills out of the judiciary committee. i know that our chairman has good intentions working with the ranking member, but every single one of those bills, alex, was passed on a party line vote. one of them, the safe act makes the the mere presence of being undocument ed undocumented a criminal act, and immigration has been a civil

penalty, but it is a criminal act, and putting people in jail makes no sense. one of the bills are the agricultural bill where none of the agricultural business persons support that legislation and the high-tech bill where the provisions in the senate are far better. so we don't really have an operational target if you will, a magnate coming out of the judiciary, but we passed a homeland security bill, and i serve on the ranking member as the border security, and we worked very hard with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and wrote language and passed the amendments on those for racial profiling to prohibit it, and the protection of the civil liberties and the civil rights and the protection of the trade and how you are going across the border and how it pam ktss and improving the border customs inspectors that we need and really looking at frit a diabolical position saying it is a holistic approach to it, and not a fence that has not worked and not long miles of fensing. and not throwing 36 billion or

more in it that could be used for education. what i will say to you is that bill was passed by a bipartisan vote and not one single no vote in the homeland security committee. if there is a moving target that would work, alex, i think it is that bill. >> i will just make before i switch gears and pick up something that looked like on the sheet that you held up that flyer for anybody who cannot make that 2:00 city hall meet ing they can join the conversation on twitter and the hashtag is time is now, and that is something that i read there and people can do the voice their opinions and thoughts of support. switching gears though, and let's talk about attorney general eric holder's announcement last week that the j justice department is asking that court to require texas to have federal permission before making voting law changes, and briefly, can you give me a reaction to that? >> thank you. first of all, i love my state, but on the day after the decision that i believe was truly misdirected by the court on the voting rights act, i

wrote a statement for the floor of the house and i said now that the attorney general has to use any resource he has to enforce the opportunity for all americans to be able to vote, and so i celebrate enthusiastically the obama administration, and general holder for doing the right thing. the decision that the court ruled seems to me that it did not take into effect that you continue to give a polio vaccination even though we believe that polio has been so limited. in this instance, they took away the cure, and they took it away because they said that african-americans were voting and there was turnout high in the african-american community. well, the answer is that because we had the ability to vote unfettered and now texas, the day, minutes of the decision, and they did not wait one day, but minutes of the decision, they in fact put back in place the texas voter i.d. law that was ruled to have prospectively

blocked 174,000 hispanics from voting. they also caused the dismissal of a voting rights case, north versus forest independent school district" which eliminated seven african-american elected officials. the general attorney has powers to give strength to the preclearance and section 5, but it should motivate the congress that again, what did i say? we are the ones who fix america's problem and make america better and i'm encouraged that we will move quickly to reauthorize the voting rights act, but i can't thank the general enough. texas has so many attributes and the diversity and the economic strength, but we are fighting still a civil rights era issues, and if it takes the federal government the fix it for our state elected officials to make sure that e evvery texan has th right to vote, that is what we should do.

>> thank you, congresswoman sheila jackson lee, and thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. we go to the weather and tropical storm flossie and that storm is expected to bring flash flooding to hawaii and in the east, what is left of tropical storm dornian is expected to coming back to puerto rico and we have more now with greg. >> hey, it is good news and you summed it up nicely, but concentrate on flossie, because it is closing in on hawaii. this is the advisory from the pacific hurricane center has it at a 65-mile-an-hour tropical storm rapidly moving to the west and hilo, hawaii, is right there for reference and it is about 24 hours away from making it to hilo on the current course. watch it as we move it through the forecast cone here and tropical storm flossie will weaken in the approach to the hawaiian islands and a 60-mile-an-hour storm monday which is local hawaiian time and making it likely and very near like ti big island of hawaii monday as a 50-ish-mile-an-hour tropical storm and certainly

gusting winds and over 40 miles per hour likely, and as such, we have tropical storm warnings out for the island of hawaii a and that is the area shaded in red. maui, and tropical storm watches for the island of oahu and those are hoisted for the approach and impacts of flossie which we expect to be 40-mile-an-hour wind gusts at least and probably higher than that aloft on the higher elevations and 6 to 10 inches of rain and rough surf and coastal flooding at times of high tide. impactses to deal with, but it should not be too bad, i hope, alex. back to you. >> and looks like the surf is up there, carefully. thank you, dr. greg postal. new details on a fatal wedding party boat crash. new beneful healthy smile food and snacks. he'll love the crunch of the healthy smile kibbles. you'll love how they help clean. with soft, meaty centers, and teeth cleaning texture healthy smile snacks help keep a shine on his smile.

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welcome back the "weekends with alex witt" and developing now, the charges have been filed against the driver of the boat that crash ed ined in the hudsoh of new york city friday night severely injuring four and leaving the bride to be and her fee ya fiance missing. joining us from the scene in peermont, new york, we go the katy tur. before we get to the charges, where does the search stand right now for the man, and have they positively identified the female body that was pulled from the river yesterday? >> well, they did recover one body as you said a female, but they have not positively identified her yet, but she is believed to be 30-year-old lindsey stewart who is the bride to be in this case. they are search fogging for one other man, the best man who is 30-year-old mark lennon and they along with four others were very seriously, and they were thrown from the boat and four others very seriously injured on a boat crash friday night taking a short trip across the hudson when the speedboat they had

crashed into a barge on the tappan zee bridge, and the groom or the bride and the best man to be were thrown from the boat and missing. one body has been found and four others were seriously injured and they are all in the hospital right now, including the groom to be who suffered serious head wounds and has not been able to speak according to the family. the driver is jo-jo john, and he is 35 years old and the police have charged him with vehicular manslaughter and vehicular assault and they have reason to believe that he was intoxicated at the time. here is in critical condition, and he was arraigned in his hospital bed yesterday, alex. >> okay. katy tur, nbc, with us with those socioing details. and controversial star jones is very busy and she has a new project in the fall that you will hear about first, but we begin to talk about the interview she got with o.j.

exclusively during his civil trial. >> we all know that the late johnny cochran was my mentor in the law and my dear friend and so he and bob shapiro and robert kardashian really made sure that i had the right information, and then i had, the same kind of relationship with the prosecution. a lot of people never could understand how i could quote play both sides and i was not playing both sides, but i was being the eyes and the ears over the people outside. and it was my job to find out the truth. and i got the know o.j. simpson pretty well in the interim between the criminal trial and the civil trial. and so i thought that he trust ed me. i have been asked numerous times as you might imagine in the last 15 minutes what i thought, and star, did you really think that he did it? >> my next question. >> i will say now and based on the evidence of the law, the jury got it exactly right in the criminal trial and based on the

evidence and the information, the jury got it 100% right in the civil trial. >> and now as you sit here as the president for the national association of women, the naw, tell me about the position that you want to send from this chair. >> women are not a mono lith. we are a diverse group of women. we come from different backgrounds and different experiences, but we all have one thing in common, and our common goal for success in a way that is balanced for our lives. n.a.p.w. does emphasize the whole woman. i'm not just the spokesperson, but the chief development officer, so my job is to actually develop programs that speak to the needs of the whole woman. >> what i love is this office environment right now, it is beautiful, star. you have a candle burning, and before the camera started rolling, we had music playing, and you have beautiful orchids

and pictures and quotes off things that are meaningful thchblt is sort of in my opinion the kind of office that every woman should be allowed to have. >> and every woman in napw does. she should feel empowered. >> i look at the women whom you have quoted, the iconic figures that are glamorous and beautiful and yet each one successful. you have coco chanel, and marilyn monroe, and elizabeth taylor and i think that i like your quote the best though. read that. >> you are stronger than you seem. braver than you believe and smarter than you think. everybody needs a boost of confidence. every woman needs to know that she has somebody supporting her, and networking for women is life blood. and when i can look at a woman in the face and say, that you are stronger, and braver and smarter, i think that i have accomplished what i need to accompli accomplish. >> can we talk about pinkie whom i have to say that we have seen

in the msnbc makeup room, and pinky is so well behaved and i have never seen a pet so well behaved with all of this hullabaloo. >> well, she fully expects to be on camera, as you can see. >> go pinky. >> and she is posing as you can see. and pinky has become my service animal, because i had open-heart surgery three years ago. and i was prescribed so that my blood pressure stays low -- >> come on. look at that face. >> is there anything any cuter? come over here and stop giving kisses to everybody. come sit with mama. yes. oh, i love it. come see me, mama. >> what is next for star and pinky? >> well, i'm excited to tell you that i'm launching my own clothing line. >> you are? >> yes. >> that is so great. >> launching my own clothing

line and more information to come, and you are the first person that i get to say it to. >> exclusive. >> right. and you are the first person that i get to say it to, and i'm all excited about that. and it will happen in the fall. >> and star will get inspiration of the clothing line from her colleagues there at the national association of professional women. and knew coming up my interview with former boston police commissioner and xek head of the nypd, bill bratton.

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"coo-coo's calling" and a book written by robert gal brait, but it turns out that gal brait is none other than j.k. rowling who published the book using the pen name, and now that the secret is out, the book has shot to number one and joining me is sarah nelson who is executive director with amazon booked. and understand that j.k. rowling is harry potter series in case you have been living under a rock, but the sales were not doing so so well, and then they shoot up upon this revelation. was that calculated or accidental and what is behind it all? >> well, i think that rowling has said and i believe her that she wanted to write a book and write what she wanted to write and see what happened and see how it was received. and you know, she is a writer. writers like the write. so she wrote this book, and it was extremely well e received in terms of the reviews of the wonderful pre-pub reviews in the trasd and it got some very good reviews in treg you lar trades, and it did not sale like harry

p potter, but once it was reviewed, people caught up with the sales and the reviews and it is very good. i am reading it now. >> and my executive producer said it is number one. >> yes, it almost immediately after it was announced on all lists and amazon's list for sure. >> and so this validates her in doing something other than harry potter, and she has to have seen the reviews and felt good about them, and do you think that the money matters to her in the fact that it is a best seller or not? well, writers want to be read by so much people, and not that it is american dollars or pounds, but she wants as many people to read her as much as possible, and that is what all writers want. you want good reviews and respect and readers and she has all of them. >> how did this get out, though? and i can't imagine that she is pleased about it. >> well, it sun clear. i believe that someone connected

with her lawyer's office in england has said that they are responsible for the leak by accident. you know, i can't imagine, and i would think that she likes to control these thing, and i would think that this was not quite the way she would have done it, though clearly she is not sorry it has come out, because she will continue the write the books and as i said, she is getting more and more readers. >> and hollywood, hollywood is ip chiming in on it, and how common to get the best sellers on amazon.com, and then all of the sudden hollywood comes a cl clamoring. >> well, harry potter. >> yeah, yeah. all right. so, we will see. and i wonder who is starring, because you like it? >> yeah, i'm liking it. sara nelson, thank you. >> thank you. and the president on the widening income gap in america. ♪ it's about where you're going. the new ram 1500. best-in-class 25 mpg. ♪

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in today's strategy talk, two americas in the new interview with new york times president obama speaks about the widening income gap and

increasing lack of upward mobility in a country that sees opportunity as an indelible part of its national character. joining me now is former democratic congressman and caucus chair martin frost, and amy holmes from the "blaze" and also column ist from the washington post and thank you all three for being here. i'm so glad that you are here. i will begin with you, representative frost and listen to part of the interview as the president is describing what he hears from many americans. >> i'm doing okay right now. but what i have seen over the last 20 years and what i have learned profoundly during this crisis is that the ground under my feet just isn't as secure and the work i'm doing may not be rewarded. and everything that i am proposing and everything that i will be proposing over the next three years goes right at that issue.

and if that's not what washington's talking about, then we will be missing the e boat. >> so this is not a new phenomenon and what do you see as the strategy behind the timing here and starting the campaign here and dedicating the rest of the term to it? >> well, it is exactly the right thing for him to do. look, the republicans are saying they are not going to pay off the debt. they are not going raise the debt ceiling unless there are deep budget cuts, and he saying that he will not negotiate over this and you have to have more spending on education, and job training and he wants to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, and he is taking the high ground here, and the republicans simply say no, no, and they don't want to do anythi anything, and now the question is whether people will listen to him in the month of august, and it will be interesting to see. >> yes. absolutely. amy, the president went on the say that he will do everything that he can to work with the congress and not sit back and twiddle his thumbs for the next

1,200 days and that if they say no to everything, and no seems to be in the gop playbook. >> in fact, the washington post reported that the white house is already planning for a government shutdown. they are looking for a showdown with the gop, particularly house republicans, and i think that the speeches that we have been watching the president make are not economic speeches, but political speeches. he has the bull horn and the bully pulpit for the month of august and coming up against a budget negotiation and debt ceiling negotiation, and even dana milbank of the washington post reported that even what president obama is proposing is really old wine in a not so new bottle. face it, he proposed almost a trillion in stimulus that was passed in the first term, and it didn't create the jobs that he said it would, and in fact, the president he admitted to peter baker at the new york times that one of the biggest failings of the stimulus which he did not know until he discovered it is that there is no such thing as shovel-ready jobs. that is out of president obama's own mouth. and now he wants to propose more of the same, and you know what,

a lot of people on both sides of the aisle, including the liberal columnists are giving it a big yawn. >> and clinton, speaking of columns you wrote a very interesting one about mark leibovich's book "this town," and you talk about how the power brokers are operating and d.c. where the average citizen lives and certainly different worlds, but is that indicative of the problem of the leaders that they are refusing to work together while the people they serve suffer. >> yes, if you look at the income gap that exists of the people in the district, it is one of the high nest the nation, and there are people living literally 10 to 15 blocks from the white house in strict poverty and that is the case all over america. if it is the case in d.c. where the president lives and works, it is obviously the case in america, and the way that you look at d.c. shows the way the rest of the nation exists as well. >> can i ask you, representative

frost, you spent like a quarter century shall we say in that world, and what is your response to that? >> well, the republicans have taken an incredible position that they don't want to do anything, and it is irresponsible, and there is a gap, and it is clearly, and i would hope that members of congress understand that, and that they want to take some steps. look, unemployment has come down, and we have created jobs in the obama administration, but there is a lot more left to do, and i think that he is absolutely right to call their hand and say, let's act now. >> and you know -- >> but it does not have to do just with the gop, because the president sends his own daughters to private school to sidwell up the schools and he does not send the girls to d.c. public schools and you are absolutely right to point out the great gap between washington politicians and washington elites and washington establishment versus the rest of america, and we have an economy here in washington, d.c. that has been doing well and you know why? government is big and people can lobby and get jobs in america and they don't suffer in the way that the rest of america does

and that includes democrats and republicans. >> and interesting clinton, the president ref renlsed it to race and he referenced the 1963 march in washington and said it was a march for jobs and justice and massive economic component it to and when you think of the component about civil rights it was not just folks who believed in racial equality, but believed in working folks having a fair shot and what do you think about that and how does that play into the national discussions going on in the houses around this country about the george zimmerman verdict? >> well, about the zimmerman verdict, i don't know, but what ms. cox said earlier on in the program about what is the myth of the middle class is appropriate the discuss, because this notion that there are people who are understanding their own security financially and working the jobs that don't have any remote instability and living their lives is a misnomer, and there are haves and have notes in the nation, and the system is set up for the have nots to not succeed and that is something until we

address fundamentally as a nation, you won't see a lot of things change on and there are people who are working in the country to pay to access their own money, because the companies pay them on debit cards who have to be assessed debit fees just to access them, and that is why there are have nots. >> the president made a very important point when you have economic tough times then certain groups of society look to others as scapegoats and this going to exacerbate racial tension if we don't do something to increase the economic opportunity in this country. >> and let me ask you, how do you go about legislating that, because there are obvious laws to pass for civil rights, but how do you legislate economic equality? >> well, you start by helping young people, and you raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 so that people who are trying to go to school and have to work as a part of that can make some money for their education, and that is a perfect example. >> no, you do what jfk said, john kennedy, himself, a

democratic president said that rising tides lift all boats and you pursue pro growth economic policies an unfortunately obama care is a huge drag on the economy where we are seeing that the irs union does not want to live under obama care and major unions don't want to live under obama care and major employees are cutting back the hours for the employees and the unions are complaining because they said we established the 40-hour work week and obama care is abolish ing it and they vying the pay checks cut because of it. >> that is absolutely not true. no program. >> and clinton, you can jump in with the last word if you want. >> listen, until we acknowledge that the system is unfundamentally unfair to those who have as much as others, there will never be progress. >> i want to thank all three of you for joining me. we will see you again no doubt. millions cram coca cabana beach to listen to the pope. isn't it pretty? we will be there next.

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celebrating mass like you have never seen it. millions gathered here to hear pope francis and then they jump into the surf. we are live in rio de janeiro as the pontiff wraps up his h historic trip to brazil. and the president talks about the military. and will spike lee make a new documentary about the death of trayvon martin and his response in an exclusive interview. we will get to the west, and what is happening out there as we begin in brazil where millions gathereded to hear the pope's mass there. more than 3 million turned out for world youth day and among them is claudio lavanga and it is beautiful there. >> the pope is gone and he is go going to head back to roam tonight, but millions of pro --

pilgrims are here and they have turned it into an enormous beach party. and you can probably hear the music play. it is a festive mood started here in the very early hours of the morning when these kids 3.5 million of them attempted what they hoped it was the biggest flash mob dance ever. well, now, we don't know whether they broke any record, alex, but it certain ly looked fun. it was difficult to put together for a 3 million people together, and some going left instead of right, but in the end, the pope seemed to like it, and so did we. >> i would have loved to have seen you dancing there. and in terms of the first international trip, claudio, how did it go over? and how did brazil handle the first latin american hometown pope? >> well, initially, it looked like the vatican and brazilian authority underestimated the popularity of the pope, and the warm welcoming he would get on

the upon arrival monday. he was headed to downtown rio and you probably remember the amazing pictures of the crowd almost mobbing the pope. and now, of course sh, they mus have learned a lesson from that that and then the trip continued in a much more orderly fashion, but this was a hugely successful first international trip for the pope. he has been driving down coca cabana four nights in a row, and each single night millions of people just kept coming for him, and of course, he addressed important religious issues here. he wants to reinvigorate the church in latin america, and in a church at the cathedral here, he told the bishops, look, you need to be more like missionaries and get out of the church and go get the faithful instead of waiting for them to come the you. and now, of course, the pope is going to be gone, and we will see if it has any effect whatsoever on the churches of south america, alex. >> i am so excited to say that

we saw the pictures there of everybody doing the massive flash mob dance. it looked as you said, simple steps, but putting 3 million people together in sync is another thing entirely, but the enthusiasm was a common thread. it is all good. claudio lavana, thank you so much. in a new candid interview president obama is sharing the mission of the remainder of his presidency. he is going to focus on the economic struggles of the middle-class. >> i want to make sure that all of us in washington are investing as much time, as much energy, and as much debate on how we grow the economy and grow the middle-class as we have spent over the last two the three years arguing about how we reduce the deficit. >> nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us, and another good day to you. pretty in-depth interview here, and what more are you taking

away from it? >> well, alex, this is president obama's continuing attempt to continue to sell his message on the economy. he mapped it out last week when he hit the road traveling to illinois, missouri and florida. this interview is really a continuation of that campaign to some extent. the president is teeing up some of the budget battles with congressional republicans and calling for some of what we have heard him call for in the past, investing in infrastructure and investing in early education and health care. this is more of what president obama had to say. he said it could impact race relations in america if his policies are not impacted. take a listen. >> racial tensions won't get better, and they may get worse, because people will feel as if they have got to compete with some other group to get scraps from a shrinking pot. if the economy is growing, everybody feels invested, everybody feels as if we are rowing in the same direction.

>> and now, of course, president obama making those comments in the wake of the trayvon martin trial. president obama also slammed congressional republicans for what he called their austerity approach to dealing with the budget, and republicans have called for a scaling back domestic spending and also repealing president obama's health care laws, and alex, the budget battles are around the corner and of course, one of the biggest ones is going to be the debt ceiling fight and we know it is a knock down-drag down fight and we expect it to be another one in the next few weeks. the president is hitting the road to chattanooga, tennessee, tuesday where he is going to call for investment in manufacturing. >> thank you, kristen welker at the white house. we have more political headlines. secretary jack lew will weigh in on the latest talk of a possible government shutdown over the government. >> congress needs to get the work done and fund the kinds of things that the american middle-class need and we need to get the debt limit extended in a way that does not create a crisis. that is what every congress member needs to do and when they

get back in september. >> the president will go to the brink if necessary? >> well, david, drawing this to brinkmanship is a mistake, and it is bad for the economy to be brinkmansh brinkmanship. >> and also new, hillary clinton's life story is headed to the small screen, and nbc will create a mini series about the former secretary of state ahead of the 2016 presidential election and diane lane will star as the first lady, but the role of bill clinton has yet to be cast. developing now sh, the char have been filed against the driver of the boat that crashed into the bridge on the hudson friday leaving a bride-to-be missing and katy tur joins us. before we get to the charges, and are the authorities expected to speak in a few minutes? do you know what they are going to talk about? >> they are talking at 1:15 and unclear what they will talk

about whether they have recovered the second body. right now they have found a b y body, and many believe it is the bride lindsey stewart, and they are searching for the best man on the boat 30-year-old mark lennon and they and four others were faking a short trip across the hudson when all of the sudden the speedboat crashed into a barge under the tappan zee bridge. the bride and four others were sent into the water, and four others seriously injured. that includes the groom-to-be, and he has such injuries he cannot speak. and the driver is jo-jo johns and he is in critical condition in the hospital right now, but he was arraigned yesterday from his hospital bed. alex. >> katy, can i ask, was it a speeding thing? is na what they believe happened or since this did happen at night, what about the lighting in the area? >> well, they are investigating that right now, and the barge according to the authorities was

lit up at the time, but we have spoken to some people who said it was very dark that night. they are looking at speed as a factor, and intoxication, but they are not entirely sure what happen happened at this time, but there are a number of investigators out here looking at the lights and whether it was too dark and looking at the other things to see exactly what went wrong. very, very tragic situation all around and certainly a sad mo morning here in pier month. >> yes, given two weeks today would be the day after her wedding, and tragic story. thank you, katy tur. things are quiet in egypt after deadly clashes in the city of cairo and alexandria. dozens are dead and thousand at least wounded following a skirmish of the more si supports and the military. john kerry put out this statement. this is a pivotal moment for egypt and over two years ago revolution began and the final verdict has not yet been decided, but it will be forever impacted for what happens right now. house intelligence committee mike rogers also weighed in this morning on cbs's "face the

nation." >> americans at home are saying, why should we be interested? 5% of the world's oil every single day goes through the suez canal and 8% of the world trade. so if this spills over, and they lose control of egypt, it will have real economic impacts for us at home. >> these clashes are the latest round of violence across the country since mohamed morsi's ouster a month ago. he is being investigated on charges of espionage and as well as collaborating with the rebel group hamas. and also, anthony weiner's latest campaign problems and can he stay in the race? >> and also, spike lee's newest film, and can you make it happen? define your entire year. and what's the most important thing to remember? no face to face contact until we're off of school property. you got this. sharing what you've learned. that's powerful. verizon. get the samsung galaxy s3 for $49.99.

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and a look at hawaii as tropical storm flossie heads

we west. we have dr. greg postal from the weather channel here with the latest. >> we will talk about the tropical storm flossie closing in on the hawaiian islands. the latest advisory from the national hurricane is that as of 5:00 a.m. hawaiian time, the storm is moving to the west at 29 miles per hour, and there is flossie and the big island of hawaii and so it is closing in quickly with 24 hours out from making the impacts into the big island. we will have a look at the track. as we move it westward, it will weaken fortunately as it approaches the islands and monday morning local hawaiian time, a 60-mile-an-hour tropical storm or less and that is the trend in the forecast. probably a 50-ish tropical storm m monday afternoon as it moves through the big island and perhaps close to maui and continues to weaken as it moves west across the islands. looking at the enhanced satellite view showing where the bright colors are and those are the big thunderstorms with it.

and you get a sense over the last couple of hours it is roughed up and more ragged now and that is good news that maybe a sign of the weakening trend that is happening as it continues to head toward the hawaiian islands, and this is what i expect in terms of the impacts across the region. 40-plus mile an hour wind gusts and rough surf and indeed coastal flooding. alex, take it away. >> thank you, greg. we have more new details from the president's wide ranging and in depth interview with "the new york times." the president discussed his economic vision fror the middle-class, but he took aim at his critics in congress. >> there's not an action that i take that you don't have some folks in congress who say that i'm usurping my authority. i don't think it is a secret, but ultimately, i'm not concern ed about their opinions, because very few of them are lawyers and much less constitutional lawyers. >> joining me now is staff

reporter from mother jones andy crowell, and from politico sun dim kim. andy, i will begin with you, when you hear the president there, is this a side of the president that we haven't seen before? >> president obama has made no secret of how angry he can be, displeased with the obstruction in congress, but what you hear in the comments to "the new york times" is that there are republicans in congress now, and the obstruction, and just the sheer opposition is unlike we vefr seen, and president obama literally cannot do anything that involves getting through the house with the people that are there, and that is what you are seeing in the interview. >> and something if the president who spoke in three cities last week on the economy, and he heads to tennessee tuesday and why the big rollout right now, and what do you believe is behind the timing?

>> well, it is good timing for president obama to really bring his economic message back into the public spotlight. right now, congress and washington have been focused on a lot of issues, immigration, and other issues, but once congress returns from the recess in september, we will have this new round of budget wars that we will have to keep the government fund and running by september 30th. we are going to have to raise the debt ceiling sometime later this fall, and this is what president obama is doing here is that he is really getting out front with the economic message and make sure that he lays down that marker before the policy debates begin. >> yes. and andy, in the interview, the president concerned rather expressed his concern about the widening inkcome inequality and undermining the american's belief of opportunity and principles that this country is founded, and he has take n the message to the three states, and what do you think that the reaction has been like and gauge that and what do you expect from tennessee? >> well, i think that people feel the issue of income

inequality in their everyday lives even if they don't know the statistics and how many wealth is going to the top 1%, and compared to the bottom 60%, and that kind of stuff that we hear in washington or the economists talking about and income equality is real for e people in tennessee, and jacksonville, florida, and townsand city where is the president has visited. it is an issue that the people care about in polls and in all kinds of surveys, the folks are, this is an issue that connects with them, and bread and butter economic discussion and policy, but the thing is that the president can talk about it, but the way that the congress works now, and the way that the politics works now in washington, there is nothing that he can do about it. it is something to bring up, and something to hammer on, and something to tell "the new york times," but really, there is nothing being done about it. >> although, you have to say he has said that he is not going to sit idly by for 1,200 days when his term ends.

and this is more of his interview. >> what i have learned profoundly in the crisis that the ground under my feet is not as secure and the work i'm doing may not be rewarded, and everything that i am proposing and everything that i will be proposing over the next three years goes right at that issue. >> so, do you feel that this economic push is any different than the recovery summer or the main street jobs tour and listening to andy, how much can this president realistically hope to accomplish? >> well, he clearly wants to take the focus that has been in washington on for example reducing the deficit and making sure that we are taking the steps to make sure that the debt is in control and things like that, and now what president obama really wants to do is to highlight the middle-class and highlight ways to bolster that. as he said in the interview, look, he says the economy is still recovering and things are getting better, but if we sit there and let things run the

course, it is not going to grow as fast as it could be, and unemployment is not going to go down as quickly as it could. so he wants to make sure he is out there doing what he can to make sure that the highlight is on the middle-class. >> and andy, what are the options that the president has in order to institute some of the policies if he can't get anything past in congress, and to what extent can he use the power of the oval office to get things done? >> well, the president has used executive orders and he has worked through the executive branch, through the various agencies to do as much as he can on tissues that he cares about including the economy, but frankly, you are talking about infrastructure spending, and you are talking about closing income inequality which is a matter of tax policy and these are things that require the congress. president obama really the most important thing that he can do and the most important thing that the democratic party can do to pass the policies is to win back the house of

representatives and keep the senate. he has been actively fund-raising and working for congressional democrats as well, a nd he clearly knows it. he is doing tours about the economy as well, but he knows that politics in 2014 is what is going to help him to get the policies that he wants and the economy. >> what are the prospects of taking back the house in 2014 and the gerrymandering and the like that is going on and what are the pos spects? >> well, the president has an uphill battle and second mid-term elections are difficult. clinton gained seats in his mid--term election, and the last president before that was franklin roosevelt, so it is an absolute battle, and it is really the main option, and the only option that the president and the democrats have if they want to get real policies and on infrastructure and on education and taxes through congress. >> something that i don't want to end without speaking about your latest article with the an nou

noujsment -- announcement that paul ryan says that the next immigration vote may not be until october, and some say he is speaking his mind, so where does this immigration reform sta stand? >> i think it is not too big of a surprise that the house is not going the vote on immigration bills until october. july is almost all but gone for congress, a nd they are out in august, and in september, we are going to have to deal with these budget issues that we talked about earlier. it does push the deadline further back, and i think that it is really going to be up to both the supporters of immigration reform and the opponents of immigration reform to change the momentum and in their favor in the august recess. that will also help dictate how the house of representatives moves forward later this fall. >> okay. andy kroll and seung min kim, thank you. >> thank you for having us. do you believe that you will have the same economic opportunities as other generations? and here are some of the tweets. if you are speaking of the middle-class and poor, no. the opportunities for the top 1%

just keep getting bet ter. >> and lenny miller tweets, no, not at all. and fred adds, my pop went in coal mines age 11 and all kids and grand kids got degrees and the government helped us, but the gop is now denying chances. and david counsel says the same opportunities as prior generation with changing dynamics, yes, but only with hard work and focus and discipline. keep talking to me at my handle at alex witt. and now the grio's chris spoon will join us with an interview he had with spike lee. ♪

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survived. >> the next spike lee joint may not make it to a theater without help from you. >> it is to get the film made and it is not necessarily a hollywood film, but an independent film. >> and the legendary filmmaker is using kick starter now to raise funding for the new untitled movie. the website raises money for albums or movies or performance art, and it helped to bring the cult hit "veronica mars" back to life after the cw pulled the plug on it after three seasons. so joining us is chris from thegrio.com who interviewed pike on this latest project. hey to you. >> hey. >> glad to have you here and here is more from your interview that spike lee says this is why i need kick starter on this project and it might surprise some, but we will play it. >> anybody can do this. but steven spielberg. spielbe

spielberg, clint eastwood, scorcese, they don't have to do that. >> why? >> why? because they don't have to do it. the great filmmakers, and they are beloved by the studios. >> so, i guess that he didn't finish the thought, but is he not beloved by the studios or a big film -- >> i think that spike lee is still loved by the studios, but it is that spike lee told me that hollywood wants to make one type of film and spike lee's films are independent and have their thought process and he was talking about the films out there are big action films and big graphics and animate and 3d films and spike lee does not do 3d films and he is a 180 from what is out there, and this film he is calling it a bloody psychological thriller film, but it is not those over the top animated films like "avat"avata any of the big action films.

>> he needs money? >> well, he needs money to have a film that has an independent style to it. >> well, it is a quarter of a million now, and how much more from kick starter? >> well, he is at $311,000 and he has 23 days left to make this mon money. if he doesn't all of the money that has been pledged so far goes back to the donors. >> interesting so it has to be a real communal push to do it. >> yes, and he has had some support from hollywood, and steven soederberg who donated $10,000 which will get a donor courtside seats with spike to a knicks' game, and also dinner with him, so he has a date with steve soederberg coming up who directed "ocean's 11." >> and now in an hour, veronica mars raised $2 million. >> yes, they were a huge tv hit, a and this film, there is no trailer and no book out already, and not one of the vampire movies that we know about

already, so spike is bringing the idea to the plate, and people have to jump on knowing spike's body of work. he has a huge body of work. spike has done great work and he has launched a number of big stars and halle berry, and denzel washington and kerry washington all got their start and others with spike lee and they know how to star in a movie and make a buzz at the box office. >> but once again, what is this movie going to be? >> it is a bloody and psyc psychological thriller and human beings thirsty for blood, and it sounds different for spike lee's films, but he has another one coming up "old boy" and it is a remake to a korean thriller, so he is stepping outside of the box and the new film stars josh brolin and so we will see him doing different thing than we have known him for in october as well. >> you asked him about the trayvon martin story and the possibility of doing a documentary or film about it. >> yes.

>> let's play what he said. here it is. >> i'm not going the say that i do it, but i hope that the first thing that it should be a documentary before they do a narrative of it for me. i think that first way to examine it is through a documenta documentary. >> and any hesitation there or a commitment on his behalf? >> well, i think that spike knows how to do great documentari documentaries, and he did one on the million man march and on michael jackson and i asked him about a huge film out right now getting oscar buzz, but it is about oscar grant who was gunned down in san francisco and the story outraged people when it happened and now you are finding justice through hollywood so i asked him if we put trayvon martin's story into a movie, would there be justice for the people who feel outraged a hen said he hoped it happen. and spike, if anybody could do it. >> i love the movies and they are such great statements. >> so go donate mo money to kick starter. >> good point. chris witherspoon, from

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>> v >>. welcome back to weekends with alex witt, and 34 past the hour, here are the fast headlines. the driver of the train in spain that crashed is now going to be arraigned after he was released from the hospital yesterday. and a bus carrying groups from a bible camp crashed in min nap lis, and the bus was minutes from reaching its destination when that crash happened, and three people were killed. at night the temperatures were in the 50s and last week they were 90 degrees and the temperatures are expected to stay in the 70s all week. here is a sad note about the induction ceremony at the baseball hall of fame, no living inductees on stage in

cooperstown and that is the first time it has happened since 1965. and now to a hall of fame tantrum. david big papi took his strikeout, and then he took it out in the dugout, and the tirade continued after he was ejected. >> the heat is firing up after how to handle military sexual assault. kristen gillibrand has a bill that will take it out of the chain of command, and there was a news conference thursday to speak out against the plan by other lawmakers. >> what the victims are telling sus that they don't trust the chain of command, and they are not reporting the cases, because they don't believe that justice can be done, and of the people who do report, 62% are being retaliated against. >> we believe that the only way to hold command accountable is to make them responsible, and not the completely remove their responsibility.

we believe that is a recipe for disaster. >> well, joining me now is kelly kennedy from "usa today" whose new article paints a searing portrait of how sexual assault affected three service members. kelly, with a welcome the you, let's get right to the two of the women that you interviewed whose stories really get to the heart of the problem. swun a recently graduated air force cadet and the other was forced out of the navy and so what happened to them? sdwl >> well, the air force cadet was raped by a man whom she had been dating for a month, and after he assaulted her he said, i did that to hurt you. she said, no, no, no repeatedly, and then he said he had done it to hurt her. she didn't report it for a while, and then when she decided to report it after she had heard it happened to several other cadets, she didn't know where to go. and what i find shocking about this case is that she's a future leader in the air force and here she is a cadet at the academy, and she doesn't know where she is supposed to go the report it,

because she says that the training is so bad, and they laugh about it, and there is just isn't any follow-up, and it happens in stressful situations when they are in basic training or dealing with a bunch of other training, and she didn't know where to go. the other situation is a case of a woman in the navy, and her name is michelle johnston and she came out on the record about this, and while she was in the navy, her shipmates handcuffed her to parts of the boat and dumped urine on her, and to me, that is horrifying in itself, but more horrifying, she said she didn't report it, because everybody already knew. her chain of command already knew what was happening and if they were not stopping it, what was the point of her reporting it? and later in her service she had a service member underneath her who was raped by someone else who worked for her. and within an hour of her going to the person she was supposed to report it to, she was told that her career was over with, so, she went through the proper

channels and reported it within her chain of command, and she was told immediately that her own career was over because she had reported a rape within her unit. >> you also report on a man who his report on a gang rape of a female soldier that went nowhere, but then he, himself was a victim, and yet the woman was immediately kicked out. i mean -- double standard here? is this common? >> i think that probably what happened there was that he was still in training when he was assaulted. i think that was probably a cates where they were getting her out quickly, and she was misbehaving to try to get out of the military, but what is interesting about his case is that he served in iraq and he had two women in his unit die, and he watched them die in combat, and then back home, he sees a woman who is gang raped in the barracks and several men come forward saying this is wrong and they testified and said what had happened and nothing happened.

the men got off scot-free. >> so kelly, when we talk about keeping this issue in front of those in the chain of the command, and as senator mccaskill says to hold them accountable, that sounds great, if they would behave in an accountable way. what -- these three people that you talked to, what do they think should happen and anything to say that those in chain of command will behave appropriately? >> well, the victims advocates i talked to said there are really great commanders who address the problem, and when they do, it filters down. and michelle said that when she was being handcuffed to the ship, there was finally one person who spoke up. and that helped. so if you have people who are willing to come forward and stand up for people who are being assaulted, or harassed, that is great, but it does not seem to be across the board. the advocates are saying that the same thing, and they have good commanders and commanders who don't know what to do. they aren't lawyers, and they don't, they don't understand how

the process works. it is a this cadet, similarly, as a future leader of the air force doesn't know what to do. it is a great idea, but you 500 assaults a week in the military and they are doing up. so if this is a problem for 40 years, why, why are they suddenly now going to be able to address it. >> and the question i have, these commanders covering it up and dismissing the reports, they cannot be acting on their own accord and so how high up does the directive come up? >> i don't know fit is a directive, but what i have i heard is that you should not have sexual assaults in your unit, so one of the ways to make shure that you don't have sexua assaults in your unit is not report them. so that is creating a problem. so that has definitely been a problem b through is the a cultural issue that people don't understand. in the military if you are a young person in the military and

you probably live in the barracks and your direct boss probably lives in the barracks as well. they control when you eat, when you leave work, when you go on vacation, when you get a promotion, and so, if you do anything that falls out of line, they can make your life miserable on a daily basis. so it is really easy to say, don't do this, or else. it is a cultural thing. >> yeah. it is problem, too. and kelly kennedy from "usa today." >> thank you for having me. >> president obama's push for the middle-class, and is that going to be an important part of the legacy? i will ask the big three next. leaves this surface cleaner than a germy dishcloth, as this black light reveals. it's durable, cloth-like and it's 3 times cleaner. so ditch your dishcloth and switch to new bounty duratowel. the durable, cloth-like picker-upper.

it is time for the big three and today's topic fight for h history one to ten and this week's must reeds. let's bring in the panel. msnbc contributor and former bush/cheney adviser robert trainer, and also from harem college jason johnson and economic and policy correspondent for the national journal nancy cook, and with a we welcome to all three of you, jason, i will reach out to you first this time. what are the chances that this president will be remembered as someone who fought for the

working classes even if he can't get the legislative victories because of an ineffective or ob struc strucktive gop? >> not a chance. i see a lot of the high school history books and the way that the legacies are determined, it is going to take a while. think of bill clinton's legacy and it is monica lewinsky ba basically, and they don't remember the economy. and obama's is going to be more on race and the economy is not how he is going to be viewed on history. >> and i think that people do remember the economy with bill clinton, because if you compare what was happening in the '90s and versus now, you say that is under the clinton watch. robert, with that said, this is what the president said to "the new york times" in part. >> racial tensions won't get better, but they may get worse, because people will feel as if they have to compete with some o other group to get scraps from a

shrinking pot. if the economy is growing, everybody feels invested. everybody feels as if we are rowing in the same direction. >> okay. a couple of things, first to you, robert, do you agree with what the president is saying there, and what do you think that the republicans are saying there overall? do they understand this idea? >> i somewhat ingagree with him but i disagree with with him. let me go back the bill clinton, because he will be known as the monica lewinsky scandal, but it was largest expansion in history, and with the exploding middle-class there was still racial tension, and remember that bill clinton ap pologized r slavery, and there was the rodney king issue, and so many issues in the 1990s, and so i don't necessarily agree with the president on that, because, yes, the economy is important and we need to have strong middle-class jobs, but also, talking about race is also important, too, so

i'm not sure that there is a correlation between the two at the point. >> okay. nancy, you covered the cal pain with the president resident to his economic agenda to help out the middle-class. >> i think that there is a will on the part of senators and in particular republican senators that the secretary of staff and they have been meeting to get a potential budget deal this fall, and the senate passed the fiscal cliff before the house of representatives so that is one place he will look at. the house republicans view prompting economic growth in a totally different way than the president has. they believe in tax cuts, and you know, undoing regulations like obama care as a means of unlyric economu economic growth. >> jason, how much do you believe there is a connection

between race and the economy? >> well, a huge connection between race and the economy. the fact that african-americans with two years of college are still 30% less likely to get call backs for jobs with whites with only a high school diploma shows that good 12% to 15% of the population and more so in urban areas are locked out of the economy, and so that we have that discrimination and going to women and latinos and also going to have difficulty with a rising tide to bring everybody into the active economy. >> we want to move to the next topic, nancy, and we will begin with the 1 to 10 topic and 10 is extremely likely here, what are the chances off a government shutdown as congress battles over the budget? >> i put it at a five at this point, because we have to soo osee how the last week before recess goes, and how the house representatives and senators hear from the constituents over the august recess, and also seems unlikely to have a government shutdown given the fact that there is another fight

over the debt ceiling later this fall, so my guess is that the end of september, congress will pass a continuing resolution to keep the government funded and saves the ammunition for a bigger budget battle over the debt ceiling which ceiling which will happen in october or november. >> jason, "the new york times" saying anthony weiner's campaign manager has quit. one to ten scale, what is the likelihood weiner stays in the race to the end? >> i think he's going to stay in. i'm still putting it at nine. >> really? >> look at it, what else does he have to do right now? it's not like he's got a real career after this race. as long as he continues to roll with the punches, he'll continue. i think this is his last hurrah. i think he stays in to the bitter end. >> robert, virginia governor bob mcdonnell, under intense scrutiny for accepting luxury

items. and this is a governor potentially seen as having national aspirations. what shaare the chances of him asending to office right now? >> there's too many scandals. the president unlikely -- i give it a four or five. >> we come back with the must reads in just a minute. you know throughout history,

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we're back with the big three's must-reads this week. robert, what's yours? >> my must-read is the today's po lit ohco, about states' rights and obamacare and the president and saying, wait a minute, we're relevant here. we have to be a partner with the federal government. but please, administration, please governors, please senators, please listen to us, if in fact you implement

something at the federal level because it has a lot of implications at the state level. >> jason, yours? >> mine is called seriously, what's up with anthony weiner? it's in popular science. it talks about the fact that we look at these sex scandals. there's actually a lot of similarities between the personalities of a successful politician and psychopaths. a very shallow narcissism, inability to feel guilt, inability to feel empathy with others. it also talks about the fact when you're caught in a heterosexual sex scandal, it increases the vote for your challenger. >> that's interesting. nancy, quickly, your must-read? >> my must-read is a piece in the economist about detroit and what it means for all these other cities. the economist is reporting that other cities face about a $2.7 trillion gap in unfunded pension liabilities. these are cities across the country. it sort of talks about how detroit could be a harbinger for other things to come in the big

urban cities that have huge pensions. >> on that one to ten scale we did before, huma, his wife, anthony weiner's wife, answer the question, how likely is it that you think she wants him to stay in the race? it's an interestingly posed question because there's a lot of undertone there. nancy, what's your thought there, one to ten? >> i would say nine. it seems like she wants him to stay in the race. she came out and stood by nim a press conference. that seems like a good indication. >> jason? >> i would say a ten. what else is she getting out of this? she's already been embarrassed. maybe she has a chance of being the first lady of new york. >> i would say ten. these two individuals are very, very smart. i'm sure they've thought it through and talked about it. i assume they knew this was coming out. i would say a ten. >> interesting. i wonder if they thought this through as anthony weiner was thinking through sending those pictures. thank you guys so much. i appreciate it.

up next, we have "meet the press," followed by craig melvin. we leave you with really nice pictures of rio de janeiro. of course, the pope had the 3 million-strong mass. nice pictures, right? have a good one. ♪ [ villain ] well mr. baldwin... it appears our journey has come to a delightful end. then i better use the capital one purchase eraser to redeem my venture miles for this trip. purchase eraser? it's the easy way to erase any recent travel expense. i just pick a charge, like my flight with a few taps, it's taken care of. impressive baldwin. does it work for hotels? absolutely thank goodness. mrs. villain and i are planning our... you scare me. and i like it. let's go what's in your wallet?

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that's why purina dog chow is made with high quality ingredients, including 23 vitamins and minerals. to help keep him strong. dog chow strong. this sunday, the state of the economy. and will washington make it worse with another partisan showdown? the president on the road again to sell a second-term economic blueprint and to blame republicans for standing in the way. >> you can't just be against something. you've got to be for something. >> but what is the president's record on the economy? and what is his growth agenda? plus, will washington go to the brink of a government shutdown this fall? this morning i put these questions to the administration's point man on the economy, treasury secretary jack lew. plus, a showdown this week in the house over the nsa's