hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. developing news topping the agenda today with president obama on capitol hill right now rallying the troops and this party is for democrats only. the president arriving on the hill the last hour. at this minute is behind closed doors with the house democratic caucus and this hour we are on the air expecting to see him emerge from that meeting and head to the house and the senate round two. the president's meeting with democrats today coming one day after he hit the road to push his grand bargain in a speech at an amazon warehouse framing the debate over jobs in terms of what the middle class really needs. >> job are about more just paying the bills. jobs are about more than just statistics. we have never just defined having a job as having a paycheck here in america. a job is a source of pride. it's a source of dignity.

if folks in washington really want a grand bargain, how about a grand bargain for middle class jobs? how about a grand bargain for middle class jobs? >> house speaker john boehner fired back just minutes ago. >> you know, instead of working together, the president, yesterday, threatened to shut down the government and recycle some of his old partisan proposals. >> members of congress about to head home for the august recess, will the president's plan fall smack in the middle of the partisan divide? >> we have got to work together and we can't engage in my way or the highway politics. >> firing up the democrats isn't going to do it. nothing works if you have a democratic president and republican house and democratic senate with republican power. >> joining me now is nbc capitol hill correspondent kelly o'donnell. politico is reporting that president obama is pitching this no congress strategy to democrats on the hill and taking place behind closed doors.

he plans to by by pass. is that the best strategy that d.c. has formulated itself for now? >> great to see you, thomas. i have been talking to white house sources and they say this set of meetings today with democrats and congress is not necessarily the best place for the president to make that no congress pitch. but you're right. using executive power is something the administration plans to do. i'm told that the meeting is going on right now are a bit more focused on trying to match up what members will be saying when they disburse and go to their home states and districts and what the president plans to do. he'll be moving around the country talking about diagromes issues from health care to jobs and budget and all of those taun topics what we expect that is the message for august.

it's always an exciting time for members of congress. even members of congress when the president comes here on their turf so there is a certain amount of electricity in the air today. but, at the same time, the specifics aren't anything all that new. it's the kind of almost pep talk before everyone heads out. as you know, there will be tons of town hall meetings and different events in august where people who serve in congress will be able to meet up with the people they serve. so they are sort of getting on the same page. >> hard to believe we are already to august. kelly o'donnell reporting on capitol hill. thanks so much. coming up later in this hour, i'll be speaking with maryland's democratic congressman chris van hollen fresh out of the house democrats meeting with president obama, so stick around for that. our other big story today. new york city mayoral candidate anthony weiner fighting back in the face of campaign implosion. he leaved a new video on his website saying that he is not about to give up. it's just not an option.

>> i know newspaper editors and other politicians that say, boy, i wish that guy weiner would quit. they don't know new york. they certainly don't know me. quit isn't the way wrol in new york city. >> during a campaign event last night, weiner gave a feisty seven-minute answer when he was asked right off the bat about his cesexting scandal. >> i decided i've got good ideas. i decided i have shown a lot of independence and standing in front of you today do you think it was easy? i don't know if i'm going to get any votes at all but i'll stay here and keep fighting for what i believe in and you're welcome not to vote for me. >> aside from his personal dirty laundry once again air in the public atmosphere, inside his campaign is not looking pretty either. two days ago his campaign manager resigned and communications director is apologizing for a tirade with a

former intern. they intern had an unflattering article in "the daily news." she claimed weiner forget the interns's name and underpaid the staff and said the intern's action was to make a connection to huma and make a connection to hillary clinton. in response weiner communications director barbara morgan called that person a shut bag among other things. it is a mess. vivian is here with us and ian and tegan is with us. who is like a pig in slop with the weiner scandal going on right now. a lot to get to today. i say this is like an embarrassment of riches for you with anthony weiner and the things going on. people can't seem to get enough of this because he seems to be

dead but doesn't seem to know it. when you're dead, you just need to lay down and play possum at least. he is coming out and running into every brick wall head-first he can find. but the video he relieved last night saying that he won't quit. i mean, obviously he doesn't want to quit but doesn't it boil down to campaign cash? where will he get the money the next six weeks if there aren't the supporters. in the staff keep quitting that will save some cash. >> that is the key question, thomas. if you look at the fact the reason why he is running in the first place is he is sitting on a war chest that he raised before his scandal, before this broke a couple of years ago. he had almost $5 million in the bank. but the interesting thing about that video last night was the fact that that is just a web video and that he didn't put money behind that and put that on tv is a small indication that he doesn't think it's worth wasting the money that he has in the bank. >> doesn't have to because all of us will pick it up and suck it up as fast as we can and show it and scratch our heads wondering what the hell is he

thinking? >> savvy. we have seen he is very comfortable with the internet. >> yes. he is very comfortable with himself on the internet. let's talk about the inner workings of this campaign. we have this intern claiming that weiner's campaign manager quit because he was lied to about the other texting scandal. he paid workers far less than they were promised and trouble hiring vet operative ps the other story a time when he called his 20 interns into a cramped office and boasted that if he -- that -- excuse me if we told him our names and one fact about our yous he coulcould cor identify all of us. we have the communications manager coming out and really giving a reporter an earful who said i'm sorry, i thought we

were off the record. who now barbara morgan has had to reach out to this former intern and apologize to her. it really shows what the motives of people working around weiner are? it really is to try to get to his wife because they really know he is not going to win. >> i think you can really judge somebody by how they treat the little person. we already know that anthony weiner has mad people from nancy pelosi on down. we also know behind closed doors, despite the fact you constantly hear about how he is so great at retail politicking. when it comes down to this is how he is treating people when the cameras are off. yes, the intern has an agenda to get her name out there and maybe jump from a sinking ship after campaign. that said, i think it's very telling that, you know, when the cameras are off, he is ignoring or lacks the common touch or lacks paying attention to the small people in the crowd. >> the camera is never off, though. a lot of comparison are drawn between anthony weiner and his

wife to on the clintons and jill lawrence give some reasons saying they are not like. clinton was not running for anything at that time. he was already in the white house when they suffered through their scandal. what is your take on that? is that an unfair comparison? >> it is. when you think about it, it's real apples to oranges. you have to focus on the politics and policy of it. bill clinton continues to be an absolute policy genius and was not only able to go from governing for eight years and actually despite those scandals being a little bit teflon and being successful and now being known as this global philanthropist with his wife not that far behind him if not outright surpassing him. you compare it to anthony weiner and he has a very thin legislative record at best. we also have to talk about the media culture in which the '90s clintons plus that scandal lived in and today. i mean, firstly let's talk about the fact that this stiletto in

the back of anthony weiner and huma abedin broke through thedirty.com. it continues to feed because of web and digital. i think it's just comparing apples to oranges. any way you look at it we are talking about the salaciousness of anthony weiner and not talking about new yorkers are struggling and who is the best person to take those people forward. >> these is so digitally salacious i guess because of the fact of anthony weiner going through the sexting scandal the first time and resigning and continuing through that behavior we see now. "the new york times" making the argument that the women in the business of sexting are not victims but thrill seekers. she questions while the woman involved not -- i want to play

this. actually spoke to howard stern and claimed howie ner w weiner to lure her in. >> what pissed me off him on the campaign trail saying i've changed and trying to act like he has this perfect marriage now and everything is just peachy. >> ho poypocrisy got to you? >> yes. >> this chick is so bad -- you know what. excuse me! but ledgers reportedly considering a porn deal now. that is why i say that this whole thing is such a big mess. so taken, is this a scandal that they can save themselves from? especially when you consider that weiner have been involved in public service their whole lives. >> as disturbing as this may be, try to put yourself into anthony weiner's mind and what is going

on. there's three things he may be thinking right now. one is that he can outlast the voter attention span. >> right. >> and that we get through august and people go on vacation and they come back in september and his campaign is still alive. two, that somehow we have defined deviance down as senator patrick moynahan once said and this behavior is abnormal and he has gone off his rocker and is crazy and no getting to him. >> you make a great conversation about what is normal in today's culture and try to normalize this and especially with him continuing is a sure sign he is trying to do that. will it work? it's up to the new york voters less than six weeks left. i do want to apologize that i had the slip of a tongue there. that was not very professional on my part. i do apologize. my thanks to all three of you. still ahead bradley manning acquitted of aiding the enemy but convicted on other accounts. could he take the stand as he faces sentencing?

plus this. >> this is the king of bacon talking about bacon? >> all right. so rand paul's latest smackdown of new jersey governor chris christie. their verbal sparring of the direction of the republican party escalating and lead us to our big question to you. the beef over bacon. who comes out top of the christie and paul feud? head to my facebook page and weigh in there. ck right in my d. the doctor put me on a bayer aspirin regimen. [ male announcer ] be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. go talk to your doctor. you're not indestructible anymore. ♪

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welcome back. the verdict is in for army private bradley manning. the question is how much of his life will be spent behind bars for carrying out the largest leak of classified documents in u.s. history. hearing arguments in the sentencing phase which began today and yesterday, a military judge cleared manning of the most serious charge against him but he was found guilty on 20 other counts, including

espionage and computer fraud and theft and faces up to 136 years in prison for leaking more than 700 documents to the whistle-blower wikileaks. >> it is a serious precedents and a serious abuse and it will mean the end of national security journalism in the united states as we know it if it is left to stand. >> joining me right now is phil bump who has been covering the trial for the atlanta wire. great to have you here. certainly a lot of curiosity about how this tribunal has unfolded and the details that have gone in complete private but the sentencing phase which begins today focuses on motive. we know that manning was concerned about what he called the blood loss of u.s. troops and especially in the video that was relieved. do you think the possibility that manning will take the stand to explain what he perceived as altruistic motives to inform them not to aid the enemy?

>> he pled guilty to ten charges and he explained his rational i didn't know his actions. he said his peace to a large extent. at this point, what the judge is trying determine to a large extent is the damage that was done and the government is going to make the case there was an extensive amount of damage done and classified reports they will issue saying this is the damage that was done when these leaks came out. his defense is going to try to say, no, the damage was not that severe he should get on the lighter end of the sentencing. >> when we think about the advocacy group they are calling this verdict a chilling warning to whistle blowers against whom the obama administration is waging an offensive. do you think he has been properly labeled a whistle-blower or more of a traitor? >> it's a tricky and subjective question. i think that a large amount of the frustration that people have with the way that manning was treated there seems to be a double standard in what the administration thinks is an

acceptable leaks. leaks come outlet time but the administration has been one of the most severe if not the most severe in how it responds to leaks it doesn't want to have come out. whether or not he is a whistle bl blower is a subjective qualification. the way the government respond to do what he is what most people are concerned about. >> a grand jury is still investigating wikileaks right now and remaining at a distance of whether or not they will move forward with any charges around wikileaks. it is a gray area because not as if they are a foreign inmi or foreign country. so this does provide our government with a new special onus on how to deal with this, especially when we think about edward snowden. >> one of the most interesting things about wikileaks as it pertains to this fact it's an online entity. to your point, yes, wikileaks is

an unusual thing. it is not "the new york times." does not have a building in manhattan. how the government responds to the internet at large is essentially the question at stake and i don't think the government knows what it's going to go at this point. >> phillip, great to see you here. thank you. still ahead this hour, another chapter in the saga in san diego. that city now suing its own mayor. wait until you hear this one. we are following developing news that president obama on the hill for a rare visit to meet with democrats. chris van hollen will tell me about today's high stakes meeting. that and much more coming up. how much protein does your dog food have? 18 percent? 20? new purina one true instinct has 30. active dogs crave nutrient-dense food. so we made purina one true instinct. learn more at purinaone.com

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message you're bringing to the hill today? >> jobs. middle class. broke. >> treating you like -- already? >> jobs middle class and growth. he was meeting first with the house side and then moving over to the senate side for this all-democratic party. congressman chris van hollen was in that meeting. we will have him joining us briefly in a moment. another story we have been following closely today is what we could learn by this friday and the fate of alex rodriguez and major league baseball. according to reports the mlb has told the players union which pros it plans to suspend in its drug investigation and which ones will receive stiffer penalties for allegedly obstructing the biogen sis case. alex rodriguez could face a lifetime bans and his lawyer spelling espn and new york radio, quote, we are focused on an appeal. joining me is ben writer, a staff writer with "sports

illustrated." this week's cover store for "sports illustrated" is entitled "the last days of a-rod." and in the interview he talks about being a role model certainly to his own two daur daughters if not other kids out there. ben, thank you for joining us. according to the new york daily news if rodriguez accepted a settlement that could call for him to be suspended the rest of the year. the entire 2014 season without pay he would still have a chance to collect $60 million the yankees owe him for 2015 to 2017. it seems he wants to stay where he is. >> i don't think so. major league baseball has spend a year and millions of dollars on this investigation. it looks like most of the players that they want to suspend will accept those suspensions starting with ryan

braun who accepted a 65-game ban and several more players who look like they are going to do so this week. alex rodriguez, as usual, is going to be the outlier. let's remember, he is in a different position than most of these players. he has already $350 million in his career. he is 38 years old. what he has left really is what remains of his pride and his legacy and it looks like there is not much of a chance that he is going to accept the suspension and, it will be, admit his guilt. >> do you think if the mlb had enough that they would just nail him? kind of this going back and forth doesn't make sense. >> well, they could name him. alex rodriguez has a contract with the yankees last four more years or more. he has a union behind him in the collective bargaining agreement. if bug selig the commissioner of major league baseball tried to levy a lifetime ban that would be the beginning of a battle

that leads through grievances and court cases. alex rodriguez is not the type of guy to give up or give in. >> ben, thank you for being here. today's producer pick from emeka thompson. look at this. naomi watts is playing the princess of wales in diana. watts saying this was the ultimate acting challenge she has ever faced. read more about the story and head to my facebook page. like carpools... polly wants to know if we can pick her up. yeah, we can make room. yeah. [ male announcer ] ...office space. yes, we're loving this communal seating. it's great. [ male announcer ] the best thing to share? a data plan. at&t mobile share for business. one bucket of data for everyone on the plan, unlimited talk and text on smart phones. now, everyone's in the spirit of sharing. hey, can i borrow your boat this weekend? no. [ male announcer ] share more. save more. at&t mobile share for business. ♪

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the budget committee. sir, good to have you with us. we hear the president talking about jobs and middle class and growth. i want to play for you what mitchell mcconnell had to say this morning about the president. >> like a gone campaigning sign is outside the oval office. a gone campaigning sign outside the oval office. and on the rarest of occasions, when he does come to the hill as he will today, you found out it's basically just another internal campaign rally with democrats. >> so, sir, is that fair to say that this is just an internal campaign rally, especially since he is only meeting with democrats? what did the president tell you specifically behind closed doors about jobs, the middle class and growth. >> thomas, that is totally unfair. the president was very focused before the caucus about jobs and the economy in the middle class. spelled out his plans as he has

to american people the last week and before and as he has presented them to the republicans in the congress on numerous occasions. he has reached out to them. he has tried to meet with them. they have rejected all of his overtures and rejected all of his ideas. instead, they have been threatening to shut down the government if they don't repeal the affordable care act. they have been threatening, of course, to default on our debt unless we enact a very radical budget that would hurt the middle class and provide tax breaks for the wealthy. the president has really challenged the republicans to come up with their own ideas, the ones he has put on the table as you know used to be bipartisan mainstream ideas. >> as we see what the president is doing now, obviously he does seem willing to make an on offer but, at the same time, making a point about where we stand currently in relationships in d.c. and ron fournia is writing the following.

so get over it, obama, and his liberal allies have a limiting definition of presidential leadership. i call it the white flag syndrome. . it is argued the president has given up. we heard the question yelled out to the president right there when he was transferring from the house to the senate side saying are republicans treating you like a lame duck? the president didn't answer but what is your response to that? >> well, the president has been very clear that he will use all of the power he has outside of congress in order to move forward an agenda on jobs and middle class and there are things he can do on the education front. he has been talking about community college issues and job training and things he may be able to do on the housing front. but there are certain things you do need congress for and what he is doing is calling upon all members of congress, republicans and democrats and the american people, to engage in this conversation. so, for example, come the end of

september, right now, a lot of republicans are threatening to shut down the government. the president is saying let's try and work together so that we enact a jobs agenda instead of threatening to essentially create uncertainty and dysfunction throughout the economy. so it is true that you've got within the republican party and the congress a very extremist uncompromising bunch but that is why it's important that the country be engaged in this conversation. this isn't about campaigning. this is about having a conversation with the american people so they will also communicate to their members of congress. >> as soon as we see them when they get home in august, chris van hollen, thank you. >> thank you. >> 2016 is more than two yearswyear yearsway but the gop possible front runners are rolling around the mud. what has chris christie and rand paul worked up? big federal bucks apparently. the two have been trading barbs days now over pork and bacon and

christie's allegation that kucket gets back $1.51 every federal dollar it pays in taxes verse the 61 cents that people from new jersey receive. >> i find it interesting that senator paul is accusing us of having a gimme gimme gimme attitude toward federal spending. maybe he should look to cut the pork barrel spending when he comes home to kentucky and not look at new jersey where we get 61 cents. for every dollar. so maybe he could look at that when is dealing with the reduction of spending on the federal side. i doubt he would because most washington politicians only care about bringing home the bacon so that they can get re-elected. >> joique -- joining me right now --. >> he is pick ago fight. republican party is shrinking in new england and northeast part of our country. i'm trying to grow the party by talking about libertarian ideas

of privacy and the internet and attacking me isn't helping the party. he is hurting the party. >> joining me is chris and susan. i think my mike opened up and we missed chris christie saying -- referring to rand paul as the king of bacon or the king of bacon being chris christie. susan, let's talk about this and figure out exactly why these two seem to be happy going back and forth at each other, especially when they are both well liked as potential front runners within the gop coming up in 2016? what is your take? >> i think it's wrong to give bacon a bad name. no, just kidding. what is interesting here is that senator rand paul is really going after the wrong guy here. you don't go after a former new jersey prosecutor in this kind of battle, especially when he is running for governor and has the popularity that he has. right now, it looks like christie is fighting for his state and doing what is in his

best interest and rand paul is trying to get headlines and doesn't do any him favors. >> chris, do you agree any awinner comes out in this battle especially when these two men are trying to build national profiles for the fut? >> yeah. there's a winner. it's hillary clinton. that's who is the winner is. democratic party. every day seems like the republican party seems to do something else to confirm the fact it's almost become a party that is like a battery relate tv show. have you two candidates that are fighting of the same party fighting over stuff that they should be more or less agreeing on and yet saying who doesn't cut enough or who spends more, who is not strong on national defense and who isn't strong on national defense. the reality here it has more to do with positioning themselves for 2016 in terms of who wins between christie and paul, i think they both come out losers. >> we are talking about the future. let's talk about the current. i want to switch gears and talk about what has really become a big issue, a major disappointment for the democratic party in california

where the city of san diego saying it's not going to pay mayor bob filner's legal bills tied to the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by this ever growing number of accusers. take a listen. >> on the sidewalk, the mayor suddenly, in clear view of anyone who might pass by, grabbed and kissed her, jamming his tongue down her throat! >> i was placed in the filner head-lock and moved around as a rag doll while he whispered sexual comments in my ear. he had asked me to work without my underwear on. >> he pulled my hand closer to him and he reached over to kiss me. i turned my head at that moment and on the side of my face, i got a very wet saliva-filled kiss, including feeling his tongue on my cheek. >> so that last sound bite is from the eighth accuser who has come forward and just came forward yesterday. how bad is this for the state of

california? the reflection this casts for the democratic party. >> it's bad. this is a man who is, obviously, sick and got some serious problems and if he had any sense of decency would resign and he clearly isn't. unfortunately, in politics, as we have seen both in the new york mayor's race and now in san diego, there is a certain creep factor that sometimes comes in and they don't necessarily go away because they are addicted to the power as much as they are to their obviously deviantsy. at some point he will go away by whatever means it will be and the party and the country will be better off for it. >> melissa was filling in last night for rachel. >> melissa, quite frankly, i haven't made a judgment one way or another as to whether these girls are or aren't telling the truth. i believe in the legal process and i know that at the end of

the day, if the mayor has done what he is accused of doing, that process will result in the correct remedy. >> all right. so she says she is making sure that things run smoothly while the mayor is undergoing two weeks of therapy. obviously, with two weeks of therapy and some time in space, is this just a faye accompli for this mayor to be ousted? >> he is done. i don't think they will take any further action. perhaps if there is legal action he can be out before his term is over but certainly not get re-elected. this is a very disturbed individual. i found those comments disturbing, and somewhat misleading to the public, because the fact is he's admitted to having a problem. he has knitted to having to go into therapy so it's very clear that he has admitted many of the actions he has been accused of. >> great to have you both. thanks for joining me. >> >> thanks. >> why no punishment for racial

profiling in this country? coming up next, a debate that is taking on a whole new intensity in the acquittal of george zimmerman after the death of trayvon martin. we are back after this. d to crip perfection. new heartfuls from beneful baked delights.

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that's not much, you think. except it's 2% every year. go to e-trade and find out how much our advice and guidance costs. spoiler alert: it's low. it's guidance on your terms, not ours. e-trade. less for us. more for you. acquittal, in my mind, only underscores the necessity of what we were working on and were going to do any way. >> that was congressman john conyers introducing a bill on capitol hill yesterday talking about the trial of george zimmerman has changed the debate in congress and across the country. two bills now on the hill that would ban profiling on a federal level, one in each chamber.

we are going to take an in-depth look at race and the until justice system in this country and we are going to start with this debate over racial profiling. why it's more widespread and legal than you might think. with more on that, here is msnbc ari medical ari. >> trayvon martin could have been me. walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. >> reporter: it was a rare national spotlight on racial profiling. a practice that the widely condemned is still legal in much of america. the supreme court has ruled that police can consider race for law enforcement. many states and cities maintain the option of racial profiling as a tactic, though few openly admit it. consider new york's stop and frisk program. last year the nypd conducted 5,320 searches. 85% were racial minorities.

hundreds of thousands and lack latino new yorkers were presumed suspicious and stopped and questioned and searched. the vast mantle of tjority of t that presumption was wrong. the defender of the policy including mayor michael bloomberg. >> i think we kind of dismiss it as some innocuous actions by a police agency and good citizens will appreciate the attempt at enforcement but, in fact, it is high level of disrespect. >> reporter: new york's situation is not unique. while 25 states have passed laws discouraging profiling, only 12 of those states fully ban it and only five specifically punish police for the practice. in most of the country, racial profiling is basically on the table. >> we want our country to like see this as a problem and deal

with it. >> reporter: presidents from both parties have criticized the practice. george w. bush called for its abolition in his first state of the union address. >> i asked john ashcroft the attorney general to develop specific recommendations to end racial profiling. it is wrong and we will end it in america. >> reporter: he issued new guidelines in 2003 but civil rights leaders say they are toothless and lack the force of the federal law. in the wake of the zimmerman trial, racial profiling has more attention. >> it doesn't add to good police work and alienates communities. >> reporter: critics say it's past time to apply punishment and deterrents to police action that discriminate by race. >> we have to deal with the truth and we have to force our police agencies to get back to abiding by the law. >> ari is joining me here in the studio. we will talk more about this. great to have you here. you want to focus about the legal principle necessary to move forward to stop this type

of racial discrimination profiling. amazing to think that over 500,000 people were stopped and frisked in 2012 and 89% were innocent of that but bloomberg thinks it stands firm in its own feet that the law itself is necessary. but here we have the attention of washington, d.c. especially with racial profiling, a federal ban on it before. but majority leader harry reid has signed on. does it really have the appetite in washington, d.c. right now to see something move forward? >> i think, thomas, we have a completely different environment now. you saw john conyers cite this zimmerman case and say what more can we do? senator ben cardin works on this for years, zeroed in on the case. and george w. bush was saying this is wrong. we have a wide group of people saying it's wrong, we have to do something about it. >> while we use new york as a great example of the city any way, the premiere city of the world and what stop and frisk means here, there is a battle in

the city, especially in the mayoral race who plefs in what when it comes to stop and frisk. bill thompson joined "morning joe" today and this is how he talked about it. take a look. >> when you say give me five stops today, it starts to create the situation it's a policing tool and officers with the proper training know who to stop or know what situations to use to stop with the constitutional safeguards that are provided then it's correctly but now it's not being used correctly. >> to know that new york is relying on such a firm handed law? >> it's such a great question because we see a city that has a lot of discussions about gun regulation, about certain centris centrists. thompson used to be much more supportive of stop and frisk. he has joined this course, again, signaling a bit of a

different environment we are in now and it goes again to that gap where we have people saying racial profiling is wrong. we heard people on both sides of the zimmerman case talk about why racial profiling would be wrong and why race shouldn't be a factor, right? we know that peopleagain, it go where we have people saying racial profiling is wrong. we heard people on both sides of the zimmerman case talk about why racial profiling would be wrong, why they shouldn't be a factor. we know people think this is bad in theory but then in practice as you say, even in a city like new york we see it happening. so it's very interesting to look at congress saying we should define this under federal law which is currently is not and try to discourage it, ban it, and work with local police to make sure it doesn't happen. >> great dialogue. we'll have much more from ari in this new series called "presumed guilty." you can find in depth analysis posted today about racial profiling and new york stop and

frisk program. ari will have more on this coming up on "the cycle" at 3:00 p.m. we're back after this. [ chainsaw buzzing ] humans. sometimes, life trips us up. sometimes, we trip ourselves up. and although the mistakes may seem to just keep coming at you, so do the solutions. like multi-policy discounts from liberty mutual insurance. save up to 10% just for combining your auto and home insurance. call liberty mutual insurance at... to speak with an insurance expert and ask about all the personalized savings available for when you get married, move into a new house,

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we asked and you answered, the big question being beef over bacon. who comes out on top over the chris christie or rand paul feud. i admit i love seeing the gop fight it out among themselves. then we get this from matt saying christie wins with mack. all logical thought about politics on the second i heard the word bacon. keep the comments coming in on twitter and facebook. virginia governor bob mcdonald on the record and on video. time for the poly side bar. the embattled governor under fire for months over gifts to be accepted from a wealthy businessman and they announced yesterday that he's given it all back. last week mcconnell announced he paid back $120,000 worth of loans from the business men. now he's giving back other things like wedding gifts to his daughter and another gift that made a lot of headlines. >> you're going to return then the tangible gifts that were

given to you, does that include the rolex watch, things like that? >> everything that i have received from this particular donor because of concerns that have been raised by the public. >> just to be clear, the rolex is going back. >> all those gifts that i have including that, yes. >> protesters say that north carolina governor pat mccory wasn't a smart cookie when he hand delivered a plate and then yesterday the demonstrators were protesting an abortion law which they said restricted safe abortion. he backed the cookies. he said they will take women's health care over the cookie. move over matt lauer and savannah guthrie. there may be a new "today" show team. vice president biden tweeted he and former secretary of state hillary clinton should host the "today" show. the message comes after the two had breakfast yesterday morning. what's feeding the hunger striking inmates at gitmo? apparently their appetites for

fifty shades of gray. officials said the book was more requested than the koran. an early birthday cake for the president courtesy of nancy pelosi. the president turned 52 on august the 4th. that will wrap things up for me today. "now with alex" comes up next. purina dog chow. help keep him strong. dog chow strong. you know who you are. you can part a crowd, without saying a word... if you have yet to master the quiet sneeze... you stash tissues like a squirrel stashes nuts... well muddlers, muddle no more. try zyrtec®. it gives you powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because zyrtec® starts working at hour one on the first day you take it. claritin® doesn't start working until hour three. zyrtec®. love the air.

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raised serious questions regarding the fate of future whistle blowers. this morning saw the beginning of the sentencing phase of the trial which could take weeks. in making her ruling army judge denise lincoln clued that manning was not a whistle-blower but stopped short of calling him a traitor. in effect, lynn determined that even though manning had not intentionally aided the enemy, he knew his leaks could have fallen into the wrong hands and was therefore, negligent. reaction to the verdict was mixed. "usa today" praised the decision. bradley manning is criminal but not a traitor. a military judge made that distinction. "the new york times" took issue with the decision and the ever increasing national security state. private manning faces the equivalent of life sentences on the espionage count. the government should satisfy itself with a more moderate sentence and then do something about its addiction to secrecy. and wikileaks founder julian assange denounced the verdict