more rodham, less clinton. and a good morning to you on the east coast and in the central time zone, in the rocky mountains, even on the west coast where it is really early right now. we're coming to you live on the banks of the east river here in new york city, where just behind us they're setion up on a small sliver of land called roosevelt island. what are they setting up for? they're setting up for hillary clinton's first major rally of

her presidential campaign. yes, it's true. she did announce her campaign some time back. she's held some events since then. she's also made some speeches. but the scale has been small until now. if that was the soft launch before now then today starts the hard launch. hours from now we'll be hearing from the candidate herself as she makes a direct and personal case for why she should be the 45th president of the united states. we'll spend the next two hours right here looking ahead to that speech looking ahead to the campaign, to the challenges and to the obstacles that hillary faces and to the opportunities maybe that her opponents have both republicans and her fellow democrats. we are also though this morning keeping an eye on the world outside of roosevelt island where there is a lot going on. there is as we speak, an active standoff in dallas texas, right now between a police s.w.a.t. team and a group of suspects who opened fire on police headquarters in dallas. those suspects are now hold up in a car, said to be in talks with police negotiators.

this is a developing story. much more from dallas on that in just a minute. also happening this morning, in upstate new york an arrest in and a not guilty plea in connection with the prison break of the two convicted killers who sawed their way out of a maximum security facility and remain on the run. more on that ahead as well. we begin this morning with the shots fired overnight at the dallas police headquarters with possibly multiple suspects still at large. take a look at how it went down. >> he hit that cop car. >> oh my god. [ gunshots ] >> the suspect in that armored van seen ramming a police vehicle before the shots were fired at police headquarters shattering windows after the shooting at the police headquarters, the van leading police on a low-speed chase to

hutchins texas, where police officers say more shots were fired. right now police have disabled the vehicle. they are currently engaged with a suspect via a swat team dallas police holding a press conference on that just moments ago. >> the suspect has told our negotiators that we took his child and we accused him of being a terrorist and that he's going to blow us up. and then cut off negotiations. >> no police officers have been injured so far this morning. on the phone with us right now we have "dallas morning news" crime reporter tristan holman. what's the latest? >> reporter: i'm near police headquarters where they detonated two bags of explosives earlier.

like you said the vehicle is disabled. but we're all waiting for this to conclude. >> what can you tell us about any word on the state of those negotiations right now. we're not sure the number of total suspects here. apparently one is engaged in negotiations with the police? >> that's part of the thing. we're not sure if this is -- this could end up just being one person. witnesses said they believe there might be multiple people. the shots fired came from automatic -- fully automatic rifles. so that can also help ask you any perspective on how many shooters there were. police are operating under the assumption that there's multiple, but it could be less than that. >> also tristan hallman from the "dallas morning news," appreciate it. we'll be keeping an eye on this breaking situation in dallas texas, throughout the morning. much more on that throughout the

show. now to the business at hand a short swim from where we're sitting, new york city's roosevelt island right behind us the big official launch of hillary clinton's campaign. it's a speech expected to be more personal than just about anything we've heard from clinton before. her saids saying clinton's mother will form the emotional core of today's speech if not her entire campaign. her late mother dorothy rodham was twice abandoned by her parents, leaving home at the age of 14 to be a maid. in today's new york time quote, hillary's mother's story may help address one of her central challenges, convincing voters who feel they already know everything about her, that there is indeed more to know and she's motivated by more than ambition. the political situation here for clinton, we know all about the advantages that she brings to this race. she's the overwhelming favorite to win the democratic nomination, a bigger favorite really than we've ever seen

before for her own party's nomination. also right now, she's ahead of her potential republican opponents when you poll them. some red flags for hillary clinton. the number of voters who question her honesty and trustworthiness, that number is up, this in the wake of allegations about the clinton foundation. today is her chance to start changing that. bill and chelsea clinton also set to join hillary for today's event. this is bill's first time out on the trail this time around. from here for hillary, the real campaigning is going to begin. events planned all weekend long in that critical first-in-the-nation caucus state of iowa where she finish eed in third place against barack obama and even john edwards back in 2008. clichb ton will be heading right out to iowa as soon as she's finished, right behind us on roosevelt island. to preview what's going to happen today n the weeks, months to come, we have our panel for our first ever on location "up," msnbc political analyst joan walsh, editor at large for salon.

michael steele, msnbc contributor and former chairman of the republican national committee and e.j. dee ham with "the washington post" and senior fellow at brookings. welcome, guys. we're not going to be on roosevelt island but we can have the best view it is. >> i hope you swim across when we're done. >> you're all coming with me doing doggie paddle. >> joan, let me start with you, a couple hours away we live in this age of we have announcements, announcements of announcements, soft rollouts hard rollouts. she's been a candidate for two months. it is different today because this is being billed as the grand purpose speech for hillary clinton. >> i think we all had a lot of questions when she came out with her soft launch. it was a lovely video. really what does this mean and what is she going to run on? she's filled that in a lot. i think we've learned a lot in the last couple months. we're been surprised by her bold stance on mass incarceration, immigration action as well as voting rights.

these are amazing things. i think, when i found out where she was going to be what she was doing, that's bold too. it wasn't very long ago that democrats were running away from new york. new york was the laboratory -- new york city was the laboratory for the new deal. so many amazing things happened in the way of labor protection child protection that later on became the new deal. >> it used to be if you're apartmental candidate, you go to a swing state, go to ohio, virginia. you don't go -- >> which became in the '70s when the backlash the democratic party emerged, a symbol of everything wrong when in fact it had been a laboratory for everything that was right. i'm not saying she's embracing big government per se but she is trying to embrace that new deal legacy that too many democrats have run away from and i'm, frankly, really happy to see that. >> much more on that contrast between the clintons of the '90s and where they are today.

we have an interesting piece coming up. let me ask you as well about what we're hearing about this speech, this idea of a much more personal appeal from hillary clinton. this is a woman who has nod traditionally liked talking about herself personally on the public stage, a big contrast there with her husband who will tell you all sorts of childhood stories, this is a different role she's trying to assume today. >> the one person she seems to have been comfortable talking about is her mother she talked about her at length in her book and her mother's struggles with a family that broke up and let her go in the world. in her book she quotes her mother saying -- hillary asked her how did you do this? her mother said it's because the people who showed me kindness were the people who kept me going. i think hillary is trying to say i'm the person who gets your struggle. i think the test of today will be, if you go into your search engine three months from now and you get more hits for the words

hillary and fight or hillary and middle class than you get for the words hillary and benghazi or hillary and server or hillary an clinton foundation they will have succeeded. i think their whole purpose today is to begin a two-month effort to push back on the stories that have dominated the news for the last six months which have clearly been hita hit on her. her personal ratings are down and to switch this to a campaign about the voters -- bill clinton when he was in trouble would say this campaign is not about me it's about you, and you had about three syllables in it. that's what she'll be doing today. >> michael steele from the republican perspective, we look at what she's trying to accomplish in terms of her own party and the general election what are the vulnerabilities you're seeing? when you look at hillary clinton, the candidate presenting herself today, what are the vulnerabilities you see? >> i think history is a big part of her vul nenlt. i think the way the campaign has

handled some of the bigger issues allowing them to become narratives onto themselves. in most cases you would want to get out in front of these stories, very much like the way a bill clinton would have in some instances, i think her vulnerabilities really lie within the organization itself. this will be a test to see what kind of organization will hillary clinton have. is this hillary clinton 1.0 or one point half or 3.0. or is this a brand new approach? i think some of the other vulnerabilities rest in the numbers, where you have a significant number of voters out there, a growing number saying i don't trust her. i'm not sure about her honesty, et cetera. put a little asterisk there. she is leading republicans despite that number one. and number two, i think a lot of voters have already baked that into how they feel about politicians generally. they don't like them. they find them to be not very trustworthy.

so i think they kind of figure that part out and those numbers, i don't think they're necessarily dispositive of where the election will end up for her. >> you can always make the argument, too, back in the 1990s, the poll said voters didn't necessarily trust bill clinton that much and he got elected twice. i'll thank the panel for right now. they'll be here throughout the next two hours. we do right now want to pivot back to that breaking news we were telling you about at the top of the show in dallas texas, this morning. s.w.a.t. teams surrounding the suspect or suspects in the plural near the city of hutchins texas. this after shots were fired early this morning outside of dallas police headquarters. explosives were also apparently found. more now from nbc news' charles hadlock who is on the scene in dallas. what can you tell us? >> reporter: this is still is a very active crime scene. you see the police officers behind me guarding the dallas

police headquarters about two blocks that way. the street is covered with shell casings from massive shooting this morning, about midnight when this black armored van pulled up and began firing on police officers in their cars. police returned fire and began chasing the vehicle. that vehicle is now 20 miles south of dallas in the town of hutchins in a jack-in-the-box parking lot. negotiations were under way earlier this morning. we don't know where they stand right now. but when negotiations began with this man who police describe as a 36-year-old white male who told police, quote, you took my child and called me a terrorist, and now i'm going to blow you up. they're not sure if there are any explosives in that van, but they did find four bags back at police headquarters. one of the bags contained at least one or two pipe bombs, police detonated the bag earlier today. nothing happened, but they are still watching the situation very closely here in dallas, steve. >> all right, nbc's charles hadlock on the ground in texas. thanks for that update.

we'll continue to keep an eye on this developing situation in dallas, bringing you the latest as we learn it. also much more on the show from us as we get ready for that big hillary clinton rally right behind us on roosevelt island in new york city plus the republicans in the race for president, what are they up to this weekend? here is a hint. it involves big money and also flag football. we'll have a live report. but first a stunning defeat for president obama. it comes at the hands of his own party. that's next. stay with us. out of 42 vehicles based on 6 different criteria, why did a panel of 11 automotive experts name the volkswagen golf motor trend's 2015 car of the year? we'll give you four good reasons. the volkswagen golf. starting at $19,295, there's an award-winning golf for everyone.

nobody told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes. don't use it if you've had unusual bleeding breast or uterine cancer blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think you're pregnant. side effects may include headache pelvic pain, breast pain vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots or dementia so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. estrogen should not be used to prevent heart disease heart attack, stroke or dementia. ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream.

hi, my name is cliff. i'm tom. my name is eric. and i help make beneful. i help make beneful. i help make beneful. after working here, there's no other food i'd feed my pets. each ingredient is tested by our own quality insurance people. i see all the quality data everything that i need to know that it's good for my dog. there's a standard. and then there's a purina standard. i make it and i feed my dog beneful. i feel proud because i know that i helped make that bag of dog food sitting on that shelf.

we're back in new york city overlooking the site of hillary clinton's first big rally of the 2016 campaign. that is set to take place on that island right behind me roos investment island later this morning. we'll be returning to that topic

in just a little built. to the big news last night in politics, a stunning defeat for president obama on a center piece of his second term agenda. members of his own party, his fellow democrats in the u.s. house blowing up the big 12-nation trade deal the transpacific partnership. this is a deal that has been ten years in the works linking 40% of the world's economy. there is still a chance that the president could prevail in this fight. we'll get into that in just a second. but what happened in the house yesterday represents nothing short of a major rebuke of the president by some of his closest allies. it came after obama made a surprised last minute trip to the capitol to personally press house democrats hours before the vote yesterday. that marks his first lobbying trip to the capitol in almost two years. it also came on the heels of another surprise visit to the congressional baseball game the night before. members of congress telling "the washington post" the white house pushed harder on the trade deal

than on any issue since health care reform five years ago, in 2010. yet those personal pleas from the president fell on deaf ears. >> i will be voting today to slow down the fast track to get a better deal for the american people bigger paychecks, better infrastructure help the american people fulfill the american dream. >> as we said this is not necessarily the end of the transpacific partnership. house speaker john boehner who is obama's ally in the scrambled politics of trade is giving the president the weekend to scare up enough votes for another shot early next week. >> the president has some work yet to do with his party to complete this process. this isn't over yet, and we hope that they can get together and make sure that we finish this so that america is back leading.

>> that's a tall order for the white house, though. they have two days to win back 90 democrats who defected. the message from the white house yesterday was nothing to see here. >> to the surprise of very few, another procedural snafu has emerged. these kind of entanglements are endemic to the house of representatives. >> joining me now, michigan congresswoman debby dingle a democrat who opposes the trade push. pennsylvania congressman charlie denton a republican backing the transpacific partnership. congresswoman dengel let me start with you. it's complicated yesterday because this fast track authority for the trade deal actually passed yesterday. what was rejected was this thing linked to it trade adjustment assistance. the idea being, if you're going to have a trade deal we're going to also pass this to protect workers affected by it. you voted against both of those.

there would seem to be some indications yesterday, nancy pelosi seemed to hint yesterday that maybe there could be negotiations with republicans to sweeten the pot a little bit for that trade -- for that trade adjustment assistance, maybe bringing in highway funding, something like that. my question to you is is there anything that could be done on that front in the next few days that would get you to reconsider your vote? >> i don't think nancy yesterday was talking about bringing in highway trust funding. i think she said it was time for the house to begin to move on to that. quite frankly, i know we've got to compete in a global marketplace. i have been begging for strong currency manipulations in this bill. i come from a state where business and labor both agree on that. that's why we voted against that bill yesterday. it was a major win for the workers in this country. we need to make sure their voice is at the table. when decisions are being made that affect their life and livelihood livelihood.

too many trade agreements have been passed that cost us too much. nafta, a million jobs. that's unacceptable. >> congressman dent on this issue of the trade adjustment assistance, you voted for this piece of it yesterday. most of your fellow republicans did not vote for this. it does seem though the republicans are in a bit of a spot here, too, as well as democrats. if you support the transpacific partnership, if you support fast track, you can increase the number of republicans voting for this assistance program, you could still get this through next week. do you think republicans at all might reconsider their positions on that? >> i do actually, steve. thanks for having me on the show again. trade adjustment assistance is a priority for the democratic party. i supported it historically, too. certainly workers impacted by trade -- have been displaced or dislocated, they need assistance. on balance, trade is a benefit. clearly i believe the number of democrats and republicans are going to need to revisit their position on trade adjustment assistance. if they don't, this will

seriously undermine american leadership across the world. champagne corks will be popping in china. china wants this fast track authority to be defeated because china wants to write the rules of the road for trade globally particularly in the pacific rim. the question is will america lead or will china lead? i'm for america. >> congresswoman dingell, the democratic leader yesterday, sort of a surprise vote nancy pelosi deciding to be against this. there were people in the white house who thought she was on their side. she made the argument on the house floor, slow down fast track, let's get a better deal. do you think it's possible to get a better deal on this or do you think just the idea of a multinational free trade agreement is inherently a raw deal for this country? >> i don't think inapparently it's a raw deal for this country. i was not in agreement with my husband on nafta.

the trade agreement had support by the uaw and the auto industry. how did that work out? well we've had 20,000 more imports into korea and they've got 461,000. that's not a fair deal. what we wanted and the house would not even allow, is an honest debate on the house floor and allow amendments that would have enforceable currency provisions inside that bill. that's what we're all looking for. and business is joining with labor, this is about the working men and women of this country. since these trade deals have started going through, do you realize our trade deficit with countries that are paurt of these trade deals has increased by almost 427%. i'll use mexico. i'm very happy to be on with both of you this morning and my colleague from pennsylvania who i have great respect for. but let's talk about mexico. before nafta we had a $3 billion surplus. now our surplus is $ -- deficit is $100 billion.

that's is a problem. we've got to be a voice for the, wog men and women of this country. my state has lost jobs that have never come back from nafta. so does the rest of the midwest including, unfortunately pennsylvania auto steel, manufacturing states. we've got to be their voice. we've got to fight -- we've got to have free trade but it's got to be fair trade, got to be a level playing field. >> congressman dent, i want you to respond to that. you make the case about opposing china, but she's saying michigan has gotten screwed, pennsylvania has gotten screwed. what do you say to that? >> what i say to my colleague from michigan for whom i have a great deal of respect, we fail to enact fast track, we're talking about the useu. let's be clear, i can localize this if you like. the head of bmw in north america told me if there's a useu trade agreement, they will expand

their operations in south carolina significantly. they already have 5,000 people there. they're prepared to do 3,000 to 5,000 more. if not, they will do their expansion to mexico. why is that important? because all those car batteries are made right in my district in burks county, pennsylvania. i can take you to a number of places in my district small companies, very small companies that are heavily trade dependent. we need to open up markets. by the way, bmw is the largest exporter of automobiles, cars from the united states more than any other company. i'm watching this closely. if we don't pass these agreements we will undermine our influence through out the world. i don't think we can overstate that. the idea is to open markets where the united states has trade agreements. we have 20 trade agreements with nations. we run on balance that trade surplus. now, my colleague mentioned mexico again. let's be very clear about mexico. trade between the u.s. canada and mexico has increased 300%

since nafta, up to $1.2 trillion in trade. to throw those numbers around ignores the fact that trade has exploded between the three countries. 40% of what enters the united states from mexico has american content. we have to be very clear, very honest about this currency manipulation. we're all against currency manipulation. but the european central bank is doing exactly what our federal reserve has been doing, quantitative easing devaluing the currency. that's what they steer doing. the bank of japan is doing the same thing. a lot of people are engaged in the currency manipulation business. many of us are accusing us of doing it through our qe program. we can talk about the currency manipulation, but our hands are dirty, too, with that fact. >> can i make one more comment? >> we've got to leave it there. the transpacific partnership is on life support, but not dead yet. another chance for the white

house to rescue it. we will see what happens this weekend and early next week. thanks for joining us. still ahead, more on the breaking news situation in dallas. also hillary clinton marking her big rollout right over my shoulder later this morning. she's not the only democrat seeking her party's nomination. we'll talk to one of the people running against her. and next there's only one place in this entire country where you can play flag football with marco rubio and skeet shoot with lindsey graham. we'll go there after this break. introducing freeze it, from discover. it allows you to prevent new purchases on your account in seconds if your card is misplaced. not here... ♪ and once you find your card, you can switch it right on again. hey...you're back! [touch tone] freeze it, only from discover. get it at discover.com.

audible safety beeping audible safety beeping audible safety beeping the nissan rogue with safety shield technologies. the only thing left to fear is you imagination. nissan. innovation that excites. ugh! heartburn! no one burns on my watch! try alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. they work fast and don't taste chalky. mmm...amazing. i have heartburn. alka-seltzer heartburn reliefchews. enjoy the relief. we live in a world of mobile technology, but it is not the device that is mobile, it is you. real madrid have about 450 million fans. we're trying to give them all the feeling of being at the stadium. the microsoft cloud gives us the scalability

to communicate exactly the content that people want to see. it will help people connect to their passion of living real madrid. mmmmmm yoplait! good news everybody! there is now 25% less sugar in yoplait original. say "adieu" to that sugar. because it still tastes good! yoplait!

i just ran a couple of sweaty miles with these guys, and now i'm going to get them to smell my shirt. smells good yesterday i washed my clothes in new downy fresh protect. it's like deodorant, for your clothes. you just throw it in with your detergent it neutralizes odors on the spot new downy fresh protect you're looking at live aerial pictures from a helicopter above hutchins texas, 15 miles south of dallas where the standoff is taking place that we've been telling you about between police, and we're not sure exactly how many suspects. as we say, gunshots fired overnight at police headquarters in dallas. a chase then ensuing and the

standoff. we'll keep you posted on that as we learn more throughout the morning. meanwhile back on the scene in new york city. we're on the banks of the east river. you can see roosevelt island behind us. that is where we're awaiting hillary clinton's big speech this morning. it's going to be taking place a couple hours from now. many of the republican white house hopefuls are spending their weekend out in utah at an annual summit hosted by mitt romney romney is calling this the e-2 summit. "time" magazine describes it as club met. things like playing flag football with marco rubio, skeet shooting with lindsey graham or sunrise pilates with ann romney and mark halperin. it's a mix of business and pleasure. a chance for candidates and potential candidates to wine and dine wealthy donors who could keep their campaigns alive.

kasie hunt is in utah and joins us live. kasie hunt, this is politicking in the mega donor area. you bring the candidates out to an event like this they try to make an impression. who is out there this weekend? who is making a good impression on this crowd? how influential is this crowd? >> steve, i actually will tell you senator lindsey graham has made quite an impression with his mix of down home humor and directness. we're actually at the range where he's going to be shooting skeet later today. some of the members of the lieons club say they line up and if you miss the clay pigeon and you're done. we'll see if they can rope lindsey graham into playing for that. that club med image is not far from accurate. they've taken over the stein ericsson lodge in park city. it's almost like there are

cocktail parties with several presidential candidates in the mix. don't forget that now one single donor can potentially lift the hopes of a candidate for much longer than used to be the case in presidential politics. i will say that there was a sense last year of wonder about who exactly mitt romney may come down in favor of. whether the donors would go in a big group to one candidate. i think it's clear they've slinterred among the half dozen or so potential favorites. scott walker seemed to stand out a little bit. he got himself into a little bit of trouble. he talked about how when he met with prime minister david cameron earlier this year cameron expressed some concern about america's role in the world. camera's statement we confirmed overnight, they say that never happened and the prime minister did not, in fact, say that. a little breach of protocol out here from governor walker. >> interesting, kasie, the

headline coming out of there this morning "the washington post," mitt romney making some news making a very direct attack on president obama on the issue of foreign policy. apparently had a powerpoint presentation where he went item by item through president obama on foreign policy and said to the crowd, with all that bad news is it not true that arguably president obama is the worst foreign policy president in history, romney asked. "i think he is." not surprising romney would have that view. in terms of protocol maybe late surprising, the defeated candidate would be that blunt. >> reporter: steve, i think this is an area where romney feels vindicated and where the donors in support of romney that we've heard all weekend. if ann and mitt romney were in the white house, the united states would have a different position in the world. i think you're seeing that play out on the campaign trail with the rise of isis and the

increased focus on foreign policy among the republican hopefuls. that was a theme you heard over and over again, something likely to play a huge role in this race. romney obviously feeling pretty good about himself in this particular regard. as you say, going pretty aggressively after the president. >> let me read the panel in here not on roosevelt island but close to roosevelt island. so romney on this issue of foreign policy on the issue of isis, other areas, kasie saying feels vindicated validated his critique of obama in 2012. i hear this a lot from republicans, the obama record on foreign policy by extension the hillary clinton record on foreign policy since she was the secretary of state for the first term, that is going to be a much more significant issue in their mind in 2016 than it was in 2012 the idea this might end up being more of a foreign policy election. what do you think of that? >> i find that hard to believe. this was litigated in 2012.

mitt romney was rejected. now we actually have george w. bush making an appearance in this race not just because his brother is there, but saying we need boots on the ground to combat isis. there is going to be a healthy swath of the republican party that's going to say things just like that and i applaud their honesty. i think we should have that debate. i don't think we should ever be told we're not going to do nation building and wind up in a terrible war. it's great that these guys are saying that. it's great they're saying that the president should be doing that. the american people don't agree, and maybe we will have an election based on -- >> we need to have that conversation with the president, too, because the president just yesterday or the day before announced that we're sending 450 advisers which is another word for military back into iraq. so there is a level of vindication that mitt romney and others within the gop can speak to and look to in talking about this issue.

the context in which iraq is being handled, vis-a-vis syria and elsewhere or russia our relationship with russia and putin. and we all remember that so-called private conversation let's talk and after the election we'll work everything out. well where are we? i think romney and a lot of others have to square that with the american people for sure but there is some credence to their argument. >> there's a huge difference in the polls between republicans and democrats on this question. i think that explains a lot of what's going on. if you ask republicans what are the most important issues in 2016, they put foreign policy way up there. a lot of hawkish republicans are very unhappy with president obama. they would like to talk about foreign policy. i understand dents and democrats are not in the same place. of course republicans want to talk about it more because in 2012 obama held the high ground

on this. osama bin laden had been killed we were out of iraq. now the world is more disorderly. it's only natural the party out of power is going to blame the party in power for some of that disorder in the world, and they have real differences. but i still don't think barring a big catastrophe this will be the dominant issue in 2016 but it will be in the republican party. >> all right. msnbc's kasie hunt out in park city utah thank you for taking a few minutes, getting up extremely early out there. always doing that for us appreciate it. >> still ahead, obviously much more from dallas. we've been telling you about it this morning. the standoff between police and a suspect in an armored van after shots are fired outside police headquarters in dallas. plus an arrest is made in connection with that maximum security prison break in upstate new york. why authorities believe fugitives have held. we'll be on the scene of that developing news story in just a little bit. first the hard work for hillary clinton begins right now.

we are live overlooking the site of her big speech this morning. stay with us for more coverage of that. in the nation, we know how you feel about your car. so when coverage really counts you can count on nationwide. ♪ love ♪ because what's precious to you is precious to us. ♪ love is strange ♪ just another way we put members first. join the nation. ♪ baby... ♪ ♪ nationwide is on your side ♪ yoplait greek 100. the protein-packed need something filling, taste bud loving, deliciously fruity, grab-and-go, take on the world with 100 calories, snack. yoplait greek 100. there are hundreds of reasons to snack on it.

you've heard of a "win-win," right? what about a "win-win-win"? pick up the limited edition metallic droid turbo by motorola. water-repellent. up to 48-hour battery life and ballistic nylon back. that's your first "win." plus, it's only on verizon. the #1 network. there's your next "win." now for final "win." get $250 when you trade in any smartphone. and get 10 gigs of data for $80 a month and $15 per line. the win-win-win.

a new way to save without settling. only on verizon. we are about an hour away from the crowd pouring onto roosevelt island for hillary clinton's launch appearance on the big stage, this campaign the first official event of her campaign, the first official major event. hillary gets set to take the stage this morning, her competitors for the democrat nomination are already hot on the campaign trail. one of the challengers joining us right now, presidential candidate and former governor and senator from rhode island lincoln chafe fee. he joins us from prove conditions. we're ready for this big hillary clinton raleigh talking a lot about the position she's taken in recent weeks, in recent months leading up to this that bring her in a lot of ways

closer to the democrat base on issues like immigration, voting rights, sentencing reform. you're running against her in the democratic primary, where do you see the opening, where is the case to say everything she's offering is not enough? what's different about lincoln chaffee. is she she for or against president obama's transpacific partnership. she's been silent. been completely silent on this big issue on the day. >> what is your position on the tpp? >> i'm in favor. i'm with president obama on this. a trade is going to happen. let's set the rules, on the environment, on labor, on currency manipulation on intellectual property. i'm'd in favor of what president obama is trying to do. secretary clinton has been versailles lent on this. maybe in this rally she'll tell

the people how she feels. >> we talked about this in the last block. the president this week it was reported yesterday in "the new york times" and elsewhere, obviously, more troops more american troops now in iraq. they're not calling them boots on the ground. what we're talking about are more american troops, another american base being built, another sign of a longer term u.s. presence there, the administration trying to say this is very modest trying to preserve order there. what is your view of the idea of creating another american base and sending a couple hundred more american troops there to work with the locals? >> the key question here is the question that general petraeus asked during the invasion back in 2003 12 years ago. things were going well. he turned to a reporter and said tell me how this ends. that's the same question. tell me how this ends. here we are 12 years later and there's no exit strategy, no planning for how we end this.

i'm opposed to more escalation in the region unless we have that exit strategy, tell us how this ends. i would say in my announcement speech this has to be an international effort with the saudis and the iranians israelis jordanians turks, the egyptians, europeans, russians all of us getting together and trying to have an exit strategy here. let's end the conflict in the middle east instead of escalating it. >> governor i want to ask you something about your campaign here. if you look at the state of rhode island, the democratic party in rhode island two u.s. senators endorsing hillary clinton, two democratic members of congress endorsing hillary clinton. the governor endorsing hillary clinton. your hometown newspaper, the providence journal had this blistering editorial when you announced canned da da see -- >> all right, all right. the same thing is true steve -- the same thing is true with

senator sanders. the establishment is all lining up with secretary clinton. i'd like to say about my record as governor over my four years, we had one of the best drops in unemployment of any of the states in the country over my budgets, my budget is still in effect. one of the best drops in unemployment of any of the states in the country and we implemented obama care the affordable care act one of the best in the country here in rhode island. i'm very proud of my record as governor. i have krit tilkscritics that take their shots, but the criticism is not accurate. >> governor sit tight. we want to squeeze a quick break and get one more question in with former governor lincoln chafee of rhode island. that's where at&t can help.

we monitor network traffic worldwide, so we can see things others can't. mitigating risks across your business. leaving you free to focus on what matters most. the world is filled with air. but for people with copd sometimes breathing air can be difficult. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily anoro ellipta. it helps people with copd breathe better for a full 24hours. anoro ellipta is the first fda-approved product containing two long-acting bronchodilators in one inhaler. anoro is not for asthma. anoro contains a type of medicine that increases risk of death in people with asthma. it is not known if this risk is increased in copd. anoro won't replace rescue inhalers for sudden copd symptoms and should not be used more than once a day. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, or high blood pressure.

tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, prostate or bladder problems, or problems passing urine as anoro may make these problems worse. call your doctor right away if you have worsened breathing chest pain, swelling of your mouth or tongue, problems urinating or eye problems including vision changes or eye pain while taking anoro. nothing can reverse copd. the world is filled with air and anoro is helping people with copd breath air better. get your first prescription free at anoro.com. here at friskies, cats are in charge of approving every new recipe. because it's cats who know best what cats like to eat. up today, new friskies 7. we're trying seven cat-favorite flavors all in one dish. now for the moment of truth. yep, looks like it's time to share what our cats love with your cats. new friskies 7. for cats. by cats.

hey pal? you ready? can you pick me up at 6:30? ah... (boy) i'm here! i'm here! (cop) too late. i was gone for five minutes! ugh! move it. you're killing me. you know what, dad? i'm good. (dad) it may be quite a while before he's ready, but our subaru legacy will be waiting for him. (vo) the longest-lasting midsize sedan in its class. the twenty-fifteen subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru. back with our live coverage from where hillary clinton will hold her first campaign rally.

hillary clinton's opponent one of her opponents, former rhode island governor lincoln chafee sticking with us. i'll turn over to fall river, massachusetts' own e.j. dionne. >> good to talk to you. a lot of americans, and i'm one of them greatly admire your dad. he was a progressive republican who stayed in the party for a long time even as it moved steadily right. i'd like to ask you two questions together. what was the final straw? why couldn't you stay in the republican party, what changed, and how do you assess their side of this fight in this election. you can be a pundit for a moment for us? >> my dad was very concerned about the changing priorities of the republican party, especially after the elections of 1994. he even was threatened with his chairmanship of the public works committee just because he wasn't 100% on the republican agenda. they were trying to take away his chairmanship. i know he would have supported

my move out of the republican party to an independent. i know he would have supported my move into the democratic party that better represents his feelings and our priorities we grew up with fiscal responsibility environmental stewardship, aversion to foreign entanglements, building the middle class, protection of civil liberties. these are bedrock principles that have gone away from the republican party, more into the democratic party. i know he would have been supportive of what i've done politically. does that answer your question e.j.? >> yes. i'd love you to assess the other side of the fight, but i don't think we have time. >> we are flat out of time. governor chafee appreciate you tarking a few minutes. just ahead, more from dallas in the standoff between police and one suspect in an armored vehicle. here in new york city getting ready to hear from hillary clinton about why she wants to be the 45th president of the united states. stay with us.

your credit is in pretty good shape. >>chuck, i know i have a 798 fico score thanks to experian.com. kaboom... get your credit swagger on. become a member of experian credit tracker and find out your fico score powered by experian. out of 42 vehicles based on 6 different criteria, why did a panel of 11 automotive experts name the volkswagen golf motor trend's 2015 car of the year? we'll give you four good reasons.

the volkswagen golf. starting at $19,295, there's an award-winning golf for everyone. it takes nature 90 days to grow the most golden oats. 7,200 hours to create the purest honey and, it only takes you 3 minutes to enjoy it. perhaps we made it too delicious. nature valley, nature at its most delicious. ♪ ♪ ♪ it took tim morehouse years to master the perfect lunge. but only one attempt to master depositing checks at chase atms. technology designed for you. so you can easily master the way you bank.

okay. back here live on the banks of the east river overlooking roosevelt island. a mott morelot more to come as we get ready for hillary clinton's first campaign speech. to the other breaking news this morning the latest on the prison break in upstate new york. the two men have managed to evade capture for more than a week. two very dangerous men. last night authorities arresting a prison worker who allegedly helped the convicted killers to escape from that jail. criminal complaints say the woman provided the prisoners with some of the tools they would need to break out. the two men making their way out of the clinton correctional facility in upstate new york sometime in the overnight hours last friday night. authorities continuing their search in a rural area near that maximum security prison. >> we have a message for david sweat and richard matt. we're coming for you and will not stop until you are caught.

>> nbc's john yang has been covering this search. he joins us now from morris sonville, new york that's near the prison with the search continues. john, what was the alleged relationship between joyce mitchell, the woman arrested and these prisoners. >> reporter: steve investigators tell nbc news that joyce mitchell told the investigators that she thought she was in love with one of the prisoners, rich chart matt. she also had previously been investigated for improper relationship with the other prisoner, david sweat. she pleaded not guilty last night to schmucking in hack saw blades chisels, a punch and screwdriver bit into the prison five weeks before the escape and within the past few minutes yes eve got a statement from paige mitchell, joyce mitchell's daughter-in-law who said of her mother-in-law she is taking responsibility for the actions she is being charged with. we will love and support her no

matter what. not even that situation will bring our family down. that's all we have to say about this. joyce mitchell also told investigators, we're told she was supposed to be the getaway driver but what we're told she chickened out. authorities still think the men did not get very far. >> thank you, john yang in morris sonville new york. much more on the morning's breaking news. here on new york city's east river, just a short swim from where hillary clinton with l give her first big speech of the 2016 race. stay with us. ♪ take me in, into your darkest hour ♪ ♪ and i'll never desert you ♪ ♪ i'll stand by you ♪

yeah! yeah. so, that's our loyalty program. you're automatically enrolled. and the longer you stay, the more rewards you get. great. oh! ♪ i'll stand by you ♪ ♪ won't let nobody hurt you ♪ isn't there a simpler way to explain the loyalty program? yes. standing by you from day one. now, that's progressive. start the interview with a firm handshake. ay,no! don't do that! try new head & shoulders instant relief. it cools on contact, and also keeps you 100% flake free. try new head & shoulders instant relief. for cooling relief in a snap.

yoplait greek 100. the protein-packed need something filling, taste bud loving, deliciously fruity, grab-and-go, take on the world with 100 calories, snack. yoplait greek 100. there are hundreds of reasons to snack on it. nobody told us to expect it... intercourse that's painful due to menopausal changes it's not likely to go away on its own. so let's do something about it. premarin vaginal cream can help it provides estrogens to help rebuild vaginal tissue and make intercourse more comfortable. premarin vaginal cream treats vaginal changes due to menopause and moderate-to-severe painful intercourse caused by these changes. don't use it if you've had unusual bleeding breast or uterine cancer blood clots, liver problems, stroke or heart attack, are allergic to any of its ingredients or think you're pregnant. side effects may include headache

pelvic pain, breast pain vaginal bleeding and vaginitis. estrogens may increase your chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots or dementia so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. estrogen should not be used to prevent heart disease heart attack, stroke or dementia. ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. hillary's big day. all right. thanks for staying with us this

saturday morning, a big morning of news and politics as we await hillary clinton's big speech from the park that is right behind us here on a small sliver of land in the middle of the east river in new york city roosevelt island they call it. clinton getting ready to make her case for why she should be the 45th president of the united states. what we didn't necessarily hear from her when she kicked off her last presidential campaign eight years ago and what we expect to hear from her today in just a moment. but we begin this hour with the police standoff in dallas, texas. it's a standoff that followed this. >> he hit that cop car. >> oh my god. [ gunshots ] >> what's believed to be an armored vehicle colliding into a police car multiple times as gunshots were fired outside dallas police headquarters this morning.

explosives found nearby also causing evacuations in the area. after the skirmish police pursuing the suspects over ten miles to the town of hutchins texas, where s.w.a.t. teams are currently engaged in a standoff. nbc's charles hadlock is live for us in dallas. charles? >> reporter: good morning. we're just at the outskirts of the dallas police headquarters building south of downtown dallas where a dramatic shootout took place around midnight last night. it was captured on cell phone video. it lasted long enough for people to grab their phones and record some of it. you see police firing on the black armored vehicle, the armored vehicle ramming other police cars before it sped away. police gave chase to that vehicle down interstate 45 about ten to 20 miles south of here to the town of hutchins where it has pulled into a jack-in-the-box hamburger restaurant parking lot. police have surrounded that closed the interstate and are trying to negotiate with the man. about three hours ago, the

dallas police department's police chief said they were negotiating with the man, believed to be a 36-year-old white male who told police quote, you took my child and called me a terrorist, and now i'm going to blow you up. those were the -- that was the start of the negotiations. police are beginning to learn more about the man. he was arrested three years ago here in dallas for assaulting his wife -- i'm sorry -- assaulting his mother and his uncle at their home before speeding away. their brother -- he has a brother that lives in paris, texas, apparently notified authorities three years ago that the man came there and grabbed a bunch of weapons and bullets and took off. he alerted his that his brother has trouble. that's the last we know of that. we're waiting to hear from a police news conference at the bottom of the hour to get more details on what is developing in dallas at the headquarters of dallas police. back to you. >> all right, nbc's charles hadlock in dallas thanks for

joining us with that update this morning. of course we will be returning the dallas ahead for that police press conference as soon as it starts. in mean time though turning back to hillary clinton, the first big campaign-style event of her 2016 campaign set to take place later this morning from roosevelt island in new york city's east river. it's a speech in which the former secretary of state, former first lady former presidential candidate is expected to answer that simple but important question that question that famously tripped up ted kennedy back in 1980 why do you want to be president? it's a question that clinton herself didn't really address eight years ago, the blast time she rolled out a presidential campaign. >> so let's talk let's chat. let's start a dialogue about your ideas and mine. >> now that entry into the race by clinton in 2007 was a fairly sharp contrast with her opponent in that race who defined his candidacy with grand purpose.

>> by ourselves this change will not happen. divided we are bound to fail. but the life of a tall gangly self-made springfield lawyer tells us that a different future is possible. he tells us that there is power in words. he tells us that there's power in conviction. that is why i'm in this race not just to hold an office but to gather with you to transform a nation. >> all right. joining us from roosevelt island where that rally is going to be held, ann lewis, senior adviser to hillary clinton's last presidential campaign as well as the white house communications director in bill clinton's administration and joining us from chicago, david axelrod, nbc news senior political analyst, former senior app adviser to president obama. we ended on the clip of now president obama starting his campaign back in 2007. you were sizing up hillary

clinton in 2007 as a potential opponent. you saw an opening, you saw a possibility for barack obama to defeat her to win the presidential nomination. what is different about the hillary clinton you're looking at now eight years later at the start of this campaign? >> first of all, steve, i'm getting all dewey-eyed looking at that old clip. that was a fun clip. look it's a different time than it was then. it's a different kind of election. i think the people are looking for something a little different than what they were looking for then. i've always said that the current president defines the terms of a succession election and people never choose the exact replica of what they have. they always look for the remedy. they look for different qualities than they got in the person who is leading. i think she's better positioned now. let's just start with two reality checks. reality check number one, hillary clinton remains the most prohibitive open seat favorite in my lifetime.

her standing among democrats for all this talk about polling has been very consistent at about 80% favorable. i know you're a student of numbers, so you know this. her ratings on things like strength antennasity and, yes, fighting for people like me are quite high. she starts off in a much stronger position than she did eight years ago. but she ran into problems because she didn't have a rationale for her candidacy that was clear and compelling. clearly she's trying to remedy that now. the second reality check is it's quite early for the rest of the world. we in our world, we think of every day as' lurks day. the rest of the world is not really focused yet. this is a good chance for her to establish exactly what her candidacy is about so every position she takes doesn't appear to be a tactical one-off position. >> ann lewis from roosevelt island we're hearing one of the differences maybe is hillary clinton in this speech today and

in this campaign maybe talking more personally specifically about her late mother dorothy rodham, about her mother's life their relationship. is that something that hillary clinton has had -- has that been a challenge for her, opening up personally on the public stage? >> that's a very good question steve. i think you're right. as i look back to the differences between 2007 2008 and today, and i think this campaign is really being run so well, one of the issues problems we had and made for ourselves in 2007 is we talk more about credentials and not enough about connection. if you want to ask people to trust you to be president to fight for them is what hillary is talking about, make the connection. talk about what you believe in how you got here and then why you're going to be -- and she says, that fighter for americans. i think this is first about connections. that's what the last month and a half has been the ramp up

period as the campaign said. today with this big speech she enters the second stage. i will tell you people who listen to her know this is why she's running, as she says, ef everyday americans need a champion,ly be that champion. what you'll know about me is i fight hard i don't give up, i will get it done. >> ann, you were quoted this week, i think friday in the paper in "the new york times" about hillary's relationship with her late mother. you said i think for hillary it's about learning. and her mother's story is one of the big motivators about who she s. she couldn't do much for her mother but can go back and do more for those who need protection. could you tell us a little bit about who her mother was and what that relationship was? >> i think that's a very important question. imagine being a 14-year-old girl raised in this happy suburban home and learning your own mother was close to being an

abandoned child, put on a train when she was 8 years old and sent across the country to live with relatives. when she got there they didn't want her. basically she survived by becoming a maid in somebody else's house, a home where fortunately people were good to her, gave her an extra blouse perhaps. now you know and if you're hillary clinton, you're 14 you know there are children who are so vulnerable, who need protection. i think what hillary throughout her life took from this is there are children who are in need. i can't do anything now about my mother's childhood, but i can reach out and do whatever i can to see that other children get the protection, the love the affirmation that they need. that's been a really motivating factor throughout her career from, as you say, going to college, going to work for the children's defense fund going door-to-door looking for children who weren't in school being head of working on children's health when she was first lady, a whole string of

ideas. look what she did in the senate on children's health insurance. these are the programs she believes in it. it can go back to that searing personal experience of what children need. >> david axelrod, before we led you go i want you to weigh in on something else your world colliding on a way. this week you were out in utah at that summit that mitt romney organized. he made news last night at that summit attacking president obama on foreign policy calling him arguably the worst foreign policy president in history, give ag powerpoint presentation critiquing his foreign policy. i want to get your thoughts on that. >> let me say two things. first of all, on ann's points i want to go back for one second and say i think biography is very, very important in terms of authenticating a message. this is an issue for hillary. she needs to be authentic, and she wasn't in the first half of the campaign last time after she

lost to iowa she became more connecting. i think this is an important element of being successful in this campaign. as to utah i left before governor romney's speech last night. i was on a panel with arthur brooks from the american enterprise institute and mark halperin was the moderator. i deliver my point of view about where i thought the country ought to go and what needed to be addressed in this presidential race. governor romney is not a new thing as you know, steve. governor romney has been on attack on this foreign policy issue. i think he's wrong about it. i think a lot of it is rooted in the same failed dogma that led us into a lot of these problems that we have today in the first place. so, you know i don't agree with him on that but i do believe we ought to have dialogue democrats and republicans, and share our ideas and not be afraid to share our ideas.

so i went there in that spirit. he, in fact, came to my institute on politics at the university of chicago a couple weeks ago and was very generous in terms of sharing his thoughts with students and spending time with them. i think we've got to do more of that. >> well something not too surprising that he waited until after you were gone to talk about obama and foreign policy i guess. david axelrod, ann lewis, former senior adviser to hillary clinton, thank you for taking time with us. we will see you in a little bit on the island. we're heading there after the speech. still ahead at this hour keeping an eye on the police standoff in texas. police press conference expected in a matter of minutes. we'll bring it to you live. next a leading voice in the clinton campaign joins us live from today's big event. stay with us. pick up the limited edition metallic droid turbo by motorola. water-repellent. up to 48-hour battery life and ballistic nylon back. that's your first "win." plus, it's only on verizon. the #1 network. there's your next "win."

now for final "win." get $250 when you trade in any smartphone. and get 10 gigs of data for $80 a month and $15 per line. the win-win-win. a new way to save without settling. only on verizon. hi, my name is cliff. i'm tom. my name is eric. and i help make beneful. i help make beneful. i help make beneful. after working here, there's no other food i'd feed my pets. each ingredient is tested by our own quality insurance people. i see all the quality data everything that i need to know that it's good for my dog. there's a standard. and then there's a purina standard. i make it and i feed my dog beneful. i feel proud because i know that i helped make that bag of dog food sitting on that shelf.

welcome to fort green sheets. welcome to castle bravestorm. it's full of cool stuff, like... my trusty bow. and free of stuff i don't like. we only eat chex cereal. no artificial flavors, and it's gluten-free. mom, brian threw a ball in the house!

a big day here on the banks of the east river in new york city. we are awaiting hillary clinton's formal campaign kickoff. she's going to be speaking just behind us at roosevelt island's four freedoms park the venue alone invoking president roosevelt's new deal forof freedom from want and hear. set to channel her personal hero first lady eleanor roosevelt. with us nbc political analyst joan walsh for salon. e.j. dionne a columnist with "the washington post" and michael steele, msnbc contributor and former chairman of the rnc. joining us now from roosevelt island, we have brian fallon -- i'm sorry, we don't have him. he'll be joining us in a minute hopefully. we're talking about what to expect from hillary clinton in a speech today. here is one thing, i'd be surprised if it came up. we heard one opponent saying

earlier, lincoln chafee he said hillary clinton should take a position on the major thing that happened in washington yesterday, the vote on the transpacific partnership. lincoln chafee says i'm for it. bernie sanders says i'm against it. we haven't heard, joan, a position from hillary on this. >> i would be shocked if we heard it today. i don't know why anyone would expect her to do that. i think it's getting to be past time for her to weigh in. she's not going to use this beautiful backdrop to weigh in on the most divisive issue on her own party which is otherwise quite unified. that's an example of something her of points and media would want her to do. it's just not something that's going to happen on a day when she controls the story. >> brian fallon is now micced up. i don't know if you saw earlier, lincoln chafee will be one of hillary clinton's opponents in the democratic primaries was on. he said look she should take the position on the transpacific

partnership. he says i'm for it what's her view. bernie sanders says i'm against it. she should take a position. so what is the position? >> here is what you'll hear from hillary clinton today. she'll lay out a bold progressive agenda that mentions a whole range of economic issues important to everyday americans and their families. she'll name check a series of issues, college affordable, wage growth, paid leave, early childhood education. in the coming weeks and months over the course of summer and into the fall you'll hear her expand on those issues and lay out bold progressive specific approaches on those issues. in the course of doing so we think she'll be identified by voters in the democratic primary and also the potential general election as a clear choice for who is on your side who are will fight your you, who will lift up middle class families so they cannot just get ahead but stay ahead. >> it sound like you guys don't want to go near this question on the tpp. i understand in the speech this is sort of a long playing thing. it is coincide being this major development in washington, d.c.

as i say, her opponents are out there saying what's her position on it and what is the answer to that? >> well steve, what she has said and she's been very clear about this she wants to see the final language of the underlying tpp agreement. she's laid out tests that she would apply. once there's a finalized language to look at. she's said number one, she wants to make sure it's going to protect american workers. number two she wants to make sure it's going to protect our national security. she cares about other issues related to this including china currency manipulation. the issues debated right now in congress are related but separate issues dealing with fast track authority. there there will be a procedural back ang forth. the final language is still outstanding. >> how much pressure -- i'll bring the panel back in here e.j. and michael, how much pressure do you think there will be on hillary clinton? in a way as brian is saying a

lot of moving parts, a little wiggle room not to come down as definitively as sanders and chafee has. >> for progressives they want to know where she stands. the other candidates in the battle have declared at least a position or a sense of where they would go as president on this issue. hillary is not going to be able to , to joan's point, skirt one of the issuing broiling within the democratic party. this is an internal discussion between progressives and others within the democratic party. if she wants to assume leadership of the party as its nominee, she'll have to declare at some point -- it may not be today and i agree with joan on that one, but at some point in the next succeeding days her campaign will have to speak to the underlying issue. you don't need to see the bill to let me know where you stand on the idea of what this bill is about. >> you know, i remember the 1992 campaign when the issue was

nafta, and bill clinton didn't really make his position 100% clear until a couple weeks before the election. it was a funny speech where he sort of endorsed the idea of nafta and said a lot of critical things about nafta. this is an issue that foreign democrats really splits the party. hillary clinton wants to be the person who stands over the party uniting its various wings, but you can bet as you saw today, lincoln chafee from one side bernie sanders from the other sierksd martin o'malley presumably, will all be at her saying she's fudging this issue. i think she may get pressure -- she may, in order to respond to this have to be somewhat clearer earlier than she might like. >> as the vote showed yesterday, the story is not the republican infighting but the democratic infighting. >> brian fallon appreciate you joining us on a busy day for you. up next werks ear awaiting a press conference from dallas

texas about the police standoff. you're looking live at our dallas affiliate's coverage for you. we'll have it for you as soon as it begins. audible safety beeping audible safety beeping audible safety beeping the nissan rogue with safety shield technologies. the only thing left to fear is you imagination. nissan. innovation that excites. put your hand over your heart. is it beating? good! then my nutrition heart health mix is for you. it's a wholesome blend of peanuts, pecans and other delicious nuts specially mixed for people with hearts. i said people with hearts. because hearts health is important. that's why i've researched optimized and packaged this mix just for you. not you.

so if you have a heart start optimizing your nutrition with my nutrition. planters. nutrition starts with nut. ♪ (music plays throughout) ♪ the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. after all, healthier doesn't happen all by itself. it needs to be earned... every day... from the smallest detail to the boldest leap. healthier means using wellness to keep away illness... knowing a prescription is way more than the pills... and believing that a single life can be made better by millions of others. ♪ ♪ healthier takes somebody who can power modern health care... by connecting every single part of it. realizing cold hard data can inspire warmth and compassion... and that when technology meets expertise... everything is possible. for as long as the world keeps on searching for healthier... we're here to make healthier happen.

optum. healthier is here. my scalp hurts. my hair hurts. this is what it can be like to have shingles. a painful, blistering, rash. if you had chickenpox, the shingles virus is already inside you. 1 in 3 people will get shingles in their lifetime. well i had to go to the eye doctor last week and i have to go back today. the doctor's worried its so close to her eye. talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your risk.

all right. looking live at pictures of roosevelt island here. this is an island between manhattan and queens in new york city. hillary clinton will be speaking very soon out there. more live coverage of that ahead. plus, of course all the latest on that developing story, the breaking story of the standoff outside dallas. we're awaiting a police press conference. you can see them setting um for it right there. we will have live coverage of that for you as soon as it happens. back right after this. can your make up do this? covergirl introduces makeup with super powers. new outlast lipstick. long wear super powered by moisture. the super sizer the new mascara you twirl on to super size your lashes and your eyes. and new stay luminous foundation stay naturally luminous all day.

makeup super powered. from easy, breezy, beautiful covergirl. ♪ ♪ ♪ (charge music) you wouldn't hire an organist without hearing them first. charge! so why would you invest without checking brokercheck? check your broker with brokercheck. i love making sunday dinners. but when my back hurt, cooking all day... forget about it. tylenol was ok, but it was 6 pills a day. but aleve is just 2 pills all day. and now, i'm back! aleve.

♪ there we go. ♪ lease an mkz for $289 a month, plus competitive owners and lessees get $500 bonus cash, only at your lincoln dealer. all right. we're back here live in new york city. right behind us roosevelt island, the island between queens and manhattan. hillary clinton will be speaking there shortly. her first big kickoff event.

joining us live from that island mark murray nbc news senior political editor. he joins us feet away from where hillary clinton will be speaking. mark, it seems to be a more personal speech today, a speech where she lays out more of a grand purpose to her campaign potentially to her presidency. just as you look at hillary clinton right now as a presidential candidate both on the democratic side but also in the general election how do you rate the state of her campaign right now. >> reporter: when you look at the democratic field, it's important to know you have bernie sanders, martin o'malley lincoln chafee. hillary clinton is almost in an an unprecedented state in this invisible primary, endorsements from about two-thirds of u.s. democratic senators ahead in follows by 40 or 50 points. people often say she was ahead in the polls back in 2007-2008. our nbc "wall street journal"

poll from back in june of 19 7 her lead was about ten to 14 points. now she's ahead by 40 or 50 points. some of the political scientists say her position in the democratic field is unprecedented we've seen from somebody that was a non-incumbent. your question was about the general election. that's anyone's game. we have 17 months until the general election. so much will be impacted -- >> mark i'm sorry to have to do that to interrupt you. we are standing by for the press conference in dallas texas with david brown. let's listen in. >> at 4:30 a.m. our bomb robot picked up a bag, a suspicious package at our jack evans police headquarters on 1400 south lamar. this bag contained pipe bombs. as the robot picked up the bag, the bag exploded detonated.

at 4:35 a.m. at the location in hutchins where the suspect's van is parked our s.w.a.t. snipers shot out the engine block of the suspect vehicle with our 50 caliber sniper rifle, disabling the van. at 4:38 a.m. a suspicious briefcase was reported in the dumpster at our northeast police substance. we dispatched bomb techs to this location and this package was cleared and was not a bomb. between 4:45 and 5:00 a.m. we began calling additional bomb tech resources from the fbi here

in dallas and our atf partners here in dallas and we called state resource bomb techs for additional bob technicians to report to this area. at 5:07 a.m. our s.w.a.t. snipers shot at the suspect in wilmer hutchins through the front windshield -- excuse me -- through the front windshield of the van striking the suspect. since that time we have sent the bomb tech robot that has a camera to try and confirm whether the suspect is deceased. because the suspect during negotiations expressed that the

van he was traveling in was rigged with explosives our officers are not approaching that vehicle, but instead our bomb technicians are deploying the robot and plan to detonate specific areas around the van to ensure that it's not rigged to explode. so we have a planned debt nation occurring at that van in wilmer hutchins by our bomb techs. the fbi has been called in to assist us in this very complex investigation. they will relieve dpd resources as necessary.

dpd is also coordinating with mesquite bomb squads at the last known address of the suspect. we also are responding to a caller who called in to wfaa disguising their voice and claiming to have a bomb. our detectives are at wfaa headquarters trying to figure out ways to track that phone call. all of our seven patrol stations have been searched, and they have been cleared of any suspicious packages at this time.

police headquarters is now is now transitions to a crime scene, and we are partnering with crime scene techs from our staffing, and we're reaching out to help from other crime scenes in the area to help us collect evidence, shell casings, some of the bomb detonaks material. there's video images online and cameras in the area we're trying to retrieve video images from and we're beginning to talk to witnesses. there's a very complex crime scene at police headquarters. soon after the robot clears the van and we or able to identify the deceased what we believe is the deceased inside the van, crime scene techs will then transition to wilmer hutchins to collect evidence.

just looking at and listening to our officers who were responding to the gunshots at headquarters and the gunshots at hutchins some officers say we're very lucky. i believe we're blessed that our officers survived this ordeal. there are bullet holes in squad cars where officers were sitting. there are bullet holds in the front lobby where staff was sitting. one staff member had just walked away to get a coke. if they had stayed there during the ordeal they would have been shot we believe and killed based on the trajectory of the bullets. looking at the front parts of headquarters, there are bullets -- a police helicopter inside as a museum piece. it's shot up. the second floor has bullet

holes in it. the information desk has bullet holes throughout. preliminary we believe this suspect meant to kill officers and took time to discharge that weapon multiple times to accomplish their wanting to harm our officers. when the van rammed the squad car that initially confronted this suspect, seconds of movements by our officers seconds saved their lives. if they had stood still and not moved and shot in response they wouldn't have survived. we have been concerned with security measures at our police facilities for some time now. we've recently increased over time by $300,000 to make sure we

had enough staffing at the front desk. but this brings a completely new perspective on what might neat need to happen to ensure that our police officers and passersby, people coming to and from our police facilities to seek out help get their reports. we need to rethink and relook at security measures at all ouf our police facilities as a result of this incident. we'll be doing that in the coming days and weeks. with that i'll take questions. let's do it this way. raise your hand and i'll get to all of you. i'm going to try to work my way from right to left if that's okay. so you raised your hand sir. >> does it appear the suspect acted alone? [ inaudible ]. >> as we mentioned initially at the first briefing, witnesses

told our officers that there might have been four suspects. what we believe to be true now is that this one suspect shot from different parts of the fronts of headquarters, and witnesses may have seen different views of the same suspect shooting from various locations in front of headquarters. so, again, we're still in the early beginnings of our investigation, but right now that's our belief that this was one suspect shooting from different angles different positions, making it appear from witness perspectives depending on where they were standing that it was multiple suspects. yes, sir. >> chief brown, had this individual been under fbi or pd's radar for a while? >> we are learning now -- i'm going to reiterate, what we learned earlier is there were three family violence cases against this suspect, and there

apparently was some type of custody issue as a result of these family violence issues involving this suspect. we had no other indication of this suspect threatening police officers or threatening police facilities although there had been some expressions of threats towards the judges in these family violence cases. and if you go online and look at his social media footprint, awfully concerning, but no indication that this would happen from looking back now. hindsight is 20/20, but looking back at it we still don't see yet any indication that he was planning this type of assault on a police facility. >> do we know whether or not he had a background in explosives military -- >> we don't know that yet. >> did he leave any notes or any sort of indication or through the conversations he had with your negotiators, any sort of

indication about why he would have done this? and if you can talk about -- there were reports that they were talking to the suspect. when did those conversations cease, and is there any indication as to the level of injury from those conversations? >> this was on on-again off-again negotiation. he would get angry during negotiations and hang up and stop talking. he would rant for a while, not really have a conversation with us and rant during negotiations in hutchins. at some point negotiations just ceased. >> on his end? >> on his end. so we don't yet nomoiveknow know motive. we're not going to send officers up to that van at this point until we're sure it's not rigged with explosives and would explode with a sensitive touch much like the bag at headquarters. we're very cautious in the way we're going to approach.

we'll try to get as much information as quickly as we k but not at the expense of officer safety. yes, sir. >> can you tell us more about the van that he used in this where did he get it from and how difficult was it to get it stopped? >> we don't yet know that. the van stopped on its own, and the engine was continuing to run until our snipers took out the engine block because we were concerned he might take off based on his agitation with us during negotiations. so we had to make a call to disable the van. the best way for us to do that was to shoot out the engine block. yes, sir. >> have you confirmed this is the same man arrested in paris, texas, in 2011 i believe, it could be '13? >> we have not confirmed the identity of this suspect. what we do know is it's a white male and we've got a height and

weight description. we're not approaching the van until our bomb techs ensure it's not rigged with explosives. yes, sir. >> regarding his claim that police accused him of terrorism. is he referring to a charge of terroristic threatening related to a domestic violence call or has he actually ever been automatic cuesed of actual terrorism? >> we have been from the very beginnings coordinating with fbi to ensure that if there were a terrorism nexus, that we'd get that information quickly. we have yet to confirm any of his rants about being accused of being a terrorist. he doesn't show to be in any of our databases on any terrorism watch list or anything like that. it may have just been a rant. we're continuing to research his history. and so in the coming hours we hope to finalize that he's not

or there might be something there. but as of right now, we don't have any nexus to terrorism with this individual. >> just to be clear, you're researching the identity of the name he gave and you have not confirmed that that's him. >> that that's him, that's correct. i'm going to work my way back around. i'll start from the right and go right back around. yes, sir. you didn't ask one on the first round. >> so we haven't confirmed the name. how was the contact initiated with this man in the van? did he call police? did you call him? if you called him, you had to have a number and how did you get that number? >> initially he called 911 and left a long rant on our 911 tapes. and from that 911 call we got a phone number because we can get the numbers that's calling in to 911. and then our negotiators called that number and that began our negotiations at the scene in

hutchins. >> can you identify him by that number? >> no. we're going to have to get i.d. on his person fingerprint at this point. yes, sir. >> the context of that rant was there a threat to dpd? >> yes. >> can you tell us what that rant was about? >> the rant was about what we mentioned in the first briefing first of all, that police had caused him to lose custody of his child. secondly, we had accused him of being a terrorist, and that he as a result was going to blow us up. that was the extent of the threat. there was no mention of the gunshots towards the police facility or the attempts at killing an officer who pulled up in front of him in the car during that rachblt. that had already happened when he called 911. so again, he was just rambling quite a bit.

you could tell quite a bit of anger. >> speaking of officers was anybody injured? >> no. that's been the saving grace of this. you see bullet holes where officers were sitting in squad cars. you see bullet holes indoors where officers were standing behind. no officers injured. a blessing. no civilians at all. this area if you're familiar with this area it's a nice club or bar right nearby hotel right nearby, people coming and going pretty much all night long most nights. no one injured at this point other than the suspect. yes, sir. >> on the detonation keeping in mind he might have been hyperbolic in his rant what was he saying he had. in terms of the detonation have you scheduled it yet and is there concern for public safety or any need to push back the

perimeter? >> sure. we have done all that. he expressed he had c4 on the van. so that's been our biggest concern. we don't want to call his bluff, based particularly on what's happened at police headquarters with the pipe bomb we knew -- he expressed the pipe bomb was there as well at police headquarters and how sensitive to touch it was to explode. yes, we have taken due care and caution with ensuring proper distance before we do the planned detonation and no, we or not going to be able to release that information at this time. that's all based on the bomb techs' plan to do it. that's within their purview. we don't dictate that nor are we going to try to micromanage it. yes, tristan? >> can you walk us through the decision on having the snipers finally fire on the suspect?

>> this suspect had already shot at our facility, had rammed a car, shot shot at officers two officers narrowly escaping being shot by this suspect. then the suspect fled in a vehicle. we chased him. once he stopped, he flung open the door and began shooting at officers again. narrowly missing them again in hutchins. the car was still running. the initial thoughts were if we were negotiating with him, maybe he would give up peacefully. i think i mentioned that in an earlier briefing. he quickly became agitated it was on again and off again negotiation. when the negotiation was on he became increasingly angry and threatening. such that we were not only concerned with our officers there, trying to contain the scene being shot by him, at a

moment's notice. and the nearby neighborhoods taking rounds based on his violence. so our s.w.a.t. team is very good. the best in the country. and we depend on them to make the call to protect officers and citizens. they made the call. and i believe it's the right call to take the correct action to stop his violence. yes? >> i have a couple of follow-up questions. one on the 911 call that he made just to clarify, it was after the initial shooting. and, two, can you give us a sense of how advanced the armored vehicle is? are the tires bulletproof? can you describe that vehicle? >> i'll put that out in a press release. i don't have that handy with me as far as the descriptive nature

of the van. that's very good information, we'll put that out definitely. >> chief i'm sorry, the 911 call, he made that immediately after the first shooting and how long was that particular call? >> it was fairly long. four five minutes, which is a long phone call where he's just talking. we're not engaging in conversation with him. we're just asking who is he what is he talking about. it was very high-pitched anger towards the police department. to our police officers. he was very expressive of his intention on committing violence against our officers against our facility. again, he had planted packages to explode upon touch. one of our officers who were searching, we identified five different packages.

only one which was planted with pipebombs, and our officers that were doing the searching almost tripped over it. this is in the middle of the night. it's still dark. if he had touched it he wouldn't have survived. it's another one of those things that happen throughout this whole ordeal where there but for the grace, we barely survived the intent of this suspect. yes, james? >> chief, we talk about pipebombs, was there anything found in the others? and c4 is typically a weapons grade military explosive. the joint terrorism task force we have, you have officers assigned is this guy on the radar? you say you know who he is. are you not naming him right now? >> we've, as much as we've been able to have given out all the

information we know. we try to add a caveat that maybe we're unable to confirm or it's preliminary, might change. so initially he told us a name. but we have yet to confirm -- he could have given out a name and that not be him. so we're not going to confirm that's him until we're able to get into that van and get some i.d. off of him, get his finger prints actually confirm through that evidence that that's who he is. so we're not holding back anything. you can criticize that both ways. but we'd rather be more trans transparent with the public than withhold information from the public. >> so there may be something else out there that you don't know of yet? what are you doing in light of that possibility? >> we're doing some follow-up investigation. again, transitioning to -- from an active shooting bomb scene

to an investigative crime scene where we're -- we'll come up with those answers to those questions. but we -- we're in the transition of that happening. we can't know everything at this point. but when we find out more information, we will definitely release it to the public as soon as we find out that information. yes, sir? >> you had mentioned this is an area open to civilians. this was relatively early for a friday night. how close did you come to civilians bgs in the cross fire. is it clear that the suspect was targeting officers or was he shooting wildly and could have easily struck at a civilian. >> he could have easily struck a civilian but we think he was targeting police officers. there is video of people taking video and bullets whizzing by their head.

it was very helter-skelter for a while. it was a long period of gunshots changing magazines, more gunshots. so it was a very active shooting scene when he was at police headquarters. he didn't care that officers -- when officers confronted him. he shot at officers just as freely as you know as he was able to. we believe, at least from our officer's accounts, that he started out shooting at officers with an assault weapon transitioned to a shotgun. that's how determined this man was to hurt one of our officers. >> chief, i want to ask about the timeline real quick. it sounded like he shot first and then called 911 or did he call 911 first and then started shooting? >> no. we believe, at that point -- again, this is preliminary. we're doing an investigation. we want to give you information that we think we know now. >> right. >> we believe he shot first,

then called 911. >> shot first at -- >> police headquarters. >> police headquarters. >> yes. >> then called 911. >> yes. >> what type of weapon? >> we don't know. >> you don't know. how many rounds. >> we don't know. that's part of the investigative process. we've been transitioning to that. we haven't picked up shell casings yet. >> this is far from over. >> yes. >> how relieved are you that you're having this press conference and not informing, you know officers families? >> this has been a very chilling moment marlee as you start transitioning to the investigative process, looking at bullet holes in cars bullet holes, places where officers were sitting seconds before this person shot. it raises the hair on the back of your neck pretty quickly, thinking of what would have

happened. his intent how we dodged -- literally dodged bullets. thank goodness we haveare here talking about all officers are okay. >> chief, do you have anybody else in custody? and given the fact that he potentially set five packages over a couple of locations at least, is there any indication that he may have had help and that there are potentially other suspects out there? >> at this point, we don't have that feeling. again, this serl lyis early. this is still eight, nine hours into this ordeal. we hope that's the case and there is nothing else out there. we can't close that loop at this point. we have to continue to do our dill diligence in the investigative process. particularly as we look at trajectory, whether or not people were in elevated positions, were they all

shooting from -- all the shots coming from street level. so we just are not at the point where we can rule out all of the potential for other people other things that have happened. we just can talk about what we do know now, we have this one suspect in this van based on the robot viewing inside of the van in hutchins. >> nobody else is in custody? >> that's right. >> you don't know how many threats to judges -- you have all taken steps to take care of those folks? >> we have. last question. >> what's -- in terms of security what's feasible for this police department to do with budget trying to balance not looking too militaristic in security? i know that's a challenge for you. >> that's way more reflective than where i want to be right now. i'm still concerned with the wellbeing of officers, going

through the investigative process, making sure we close all the loopholes, make sure there's nothing else out there that we haven't uncovered. so at some point soon we'll be in that conversation. right now, it's not the right time. thank you all so much. we'll update you as soon as we know more information. thank you. >> hello, i'm melissa harris-perry, you have been listening to dallas police chief, david o. brown talking about the ambush overnight. s.w.a.t. officers are look at the vehicle right now. s.w.a.t. snipers shot the suspect through the windshield. the robot is being used to determine whether the suspect is alive or dead. there are concerns about explosives in the vehicle. all of this started after midnight when one or more