alter, thanks for your time tonight. i'm michael eric dyson. thanks for joining us. right now on msnbc live, breaking news. rick perry dropping out of the fight for the republican nomination. why he did it, why now, and who could be next. also video just released showing the nypd officer arresting former tennis star james blake and bringing him down to the ground. two people detained by police in arizona. could it be a possible breakthrough in the highway shooting terror? breaking news tonight on the 2016 republican field. former texas governor rick perry is dropping out of the race. >> today, i'm suspending my campaign for the presidency of the united states. we have a tremendous field of candidates. probably the great eest group o

men and women. i step aside knowing our party's in good hands. >> perry had struggled to gain a foothold in the polls and missed the cutoff to be on the main debate stage for next week's gop debate. with perry out of the race, there are now 16 republicans running for president. donald trump just tweeted governor perry is a terrific guy and i wish him well. i know he will have a great future. while jeb bush tweeted, god bless rick perry for his continuing commitment to the conservative cause. let's bring chuck todd, moderator and managing editor of "meet the press," he's with us now. chuck, why now? >> well, you know, when you're out of money, you're out of politics. and he was out of money. i mean, his staff had -- some were working voluntarily. he may not have had enough money to pay for travel at this point. the donations weren't coming in. if he could raise money, he'd

still be in the race. so that had been clear for the last three or four weeks. i think this was honestly he probably wanted to save himself the embarrass ot nof qualifying now for two straight debates. you got to ask yourself, it's no longer enough to say, hey, it's still early in the process. we're not early in the process. we're in the process now. >> right. >> so i think on that front -- but you know, look, perry, it is fascinating to think about where we were four years ago right now, rick perry was still technically the front-runner for the republican nomination back then. i think when we write the chapter in rick perry's political legacy, very deep, the longest serving governor in the history of texas, but when we talk about his presidential aspirations we'll talk about his blown chance from 2011, not anything about this race. >> what's your thought him dropping out now and you're noting his difficulty with fund-raising, but taking a step back, what does this tell us about the 2016 republican nomination process, him dropping

out today? what do we learn from what we saw today? >> i think we should remind ourselves -- you know, i think he was struggling for the same reason a lot of these folks are struggling right now, particularly the ones that ran again. remember, he's one of throw candidates that are running a second time. mike huckabee, rick santorum, rick perry, all are struggling to gain traction. the two candidates that share a last name with former candidate, rand paul and jeb bush, they're struggling right now to get back up into first tier status. so i think we have a republican electorate that just wasn't -- you know, if you have done this before, they're less interested in you right now. they're looking for new. they're looking for different. in some cases maybe they're looking for strident. while perry ideologically fit where the republican party is on many issues, he also was out of step on one issue that, frankly, was his undoing four years ago and made it where he was a nonstarter for a lot of voters

now and that's on immigration. this is a guy who was pro dreamer. this was a guy who defended, you know, the dream -- the texas version of the dream act that he put into law. and mitt romney used it against him to begin the fall of perry. the fall of perry started well before oops four years ago. it started with immigration. and, you know, it was haunting him again a little bit thanks to trump who, of course, took the immigration issue and turned the volume up to 11. >> 11. let's bring in number two with us here, chuck. i want to bring in e.j. dionne, a good friend of ours from "the washington post." what are you seeing here, benefits to the other candidates as now they are less by one? >> well, i don't think rick perry was occupying very much space so i'm not sure what they have to pick up. one thing that chuck said, the

bible verse went through my head from ecclesiastes, a time to every purpose under heaven. the secular translation -- timing is everything. chuck is absolutely right, his time, rick perry's time was 2012. and while chuck is absolutely right that he was really taking a hit for his relatively liberal position on immigration, he was pretty well set up to be the conservative alternative to mitt romn romney. he took a hit on immigration and then the oops moment that took him out, he lost his chance. the other candidate in the same position is chris christie, although he's still in the race. the last time around was his time, too, and he may have a case of bad timing. but in terms of the other candidates, i just don't think there's enough space there. maybe a little help to trump, maybe a little help to scott walker. but i just don't think there was enough there to go around. >> speaking of which, those who

were below the fold, if you will, those who did not make it to wednesday's debate, the names that you were intimating there, rick santorum, bobby jindal, george pataki, lindsey graham, e.j., and then to chuck on this, who's next? >> that's a gloomy thing to think about. >> why, but why not? >> bobby jindal is having a tough time out there. rick santorum and mike huckabee still have some hope because they won iowa, each of them, in one race. and, you know, i don't know how long chris christie lasts. it depends on some of the news out of new jersey. i'm curious what chuck thinks. >> chuck? >> well, look, i think -- look, rick santorum, i think the rick santorum impact on this field -- and there's sort of a dual thing rick santorum and pawlenty, what happened to them in 2012. many republicans look back and

say if tim pawlenty didn't drop out when he did in august of '11 and stuck around, he would have had one more shot and who knows if he would have gotten his moment in the sun against romney, say. and in reverse, you have santorum who was an asterisk at this point in time four years ago. and was able to end up the final alternative to romney and make an interesting run at it. so i think that these candidates don't -- are going to be, in their heads, discourage themselves from dropping out. that said, it's all about money. when they're out of money, they're out of beer, right? they're done. they're not going to be able to do this. and so i do think what it's going to put pressure -- if you're in that second tier debate, a lot of networks might look at as the people melt away, is it worth even putting it on. what am i doing if i can't get in a debate or a conversation, then i can't get my message out, that also could end up being a

deterrent for these folks. >> e.j., quickly on what chuck was saying? >> no, that's right. there is a space in the republican party for the large number of, if you will, blue collar white voters. the republicans get a lot of votes from them. and they have not been well represented in the leadership of the party. tim pawlenty used to call them sam's club republicans. there's some voters there to grab. i think donald trump's candidacy is built in part on such voters. and i think somebody else can get a piece of that, too. i don't know who it is yet. >> thank you both so much, e.j. dionne, chuck todd as well. thank you both. the breaking news this hour. thank you. be sure to watch "meet the press" this sunday on your local nbc station. and chuck, of course, will be there. more breaking news this time from new york city. surveillance video showing what happened in the mistaken arrest of tennis star james blake earlier this week in new york. released by the nypd it shows him standing outside a hotel

when a plainclothes police officer approaches him and appears to throw him to the ground right here. blake is then handcuffed after that behind his back as he lays face down on the sidewalk. the nypd continues to investigate this now that they have, of course, that video to evaluate in their process. now, late this afternoon, blake releasing a statement saying, quote, the officer who was apparently investigating a case of credit card fraud did not identify himself as a member of law enforcement. ask my name, read me my rights, or in any way afford me the dignity and respect due every person who walks the streets of this country. also today, new and disturbing details about officer james frascatore. he's been placed on modified duty after wednesday's incident. nbc news has learned the officer has a history of force allegations including two federal civil rights lawsuits that are still open. that's in addition to five complaints in a seven-month

period in 2013 according to station wnyc. police have this photograph of a man believed to be involved in the credit card fraud ring when they took down blake. that man, who commissioner bill bratton said could be blake's twin brother turned out to be innocent as well. joining me now is noel leader, a retired nypd sergeant and co-founder of 100 blacks in law enforcement who care. thanks for being here with us. >> thank you. >> let's look at the video again. tell me what you see happening. >> i see james blake standing by, evidently minding his business, when the officer, without identifying himself, with no identifying shield, approach him, grab him, throwing him on the ground, grabs him around the neck, mind you, and this is a against police protocol. police officers are instructed to utilize the level of force to overcome resistance. as you see in this clip, there was no resistance. so there should not have been any force. if the officer made a mistake in

terms of who this individual was with identity, there was no reason to engage in force. but as often -- far too often when police officers deal with african-americans, we see this excessive utilization of force. there's no justification of it whatsoever. >> this video just in to us again. part of this, as we look at the officer in the white t-shirt there, which i mentioned here just a second ago, we've got the open federal lawsuits by men who claim they were beaten, pepper sprayed and falsely arrested. on top of that you have the five civilian complaints over a period of seven months in 2013. and this officer is still working. how does this work? >> once again, this present administration has dropped the ball. this is a reflection of his immediate supervisors, the supervisors of his supervisors and the police commissioner. here's an individual with four years on the job and he's in the plainclothes detail. this is one of the superior units in the police department. how did he get assigned to this

unit? and clearly this individual has ignored all the protocol, all the training that he was given, and he acted in a reckless and a rogue manner. this is a reflection on this police commissioner. >> 30 seconds left here. one, two, three, four, five, according to wnyc, we have those complaints. we have the two open civil rights cases. at what point does the flag go up? >> the flag should have went up after the first incident. and especially after those cases were thrown out. so this is a problematic officer, this is a rogue officer who is evidently not being properly supervised. >> former nypd sergeant noel leader. appreciate it. in other breaking news this hour as well, investigators detaining two people in connection with a string of arizona freeway shootings. they say they're questioning one of those people right now. so far they're not saying much about who these people are or why they were stopped. a frenzied search for the shooting suspect or suspects has unfolded near phoenix in the last two weeks.

so far authorities have confirmed 11 cases of cars being hit, many times by bullets. no one has been seriously hurt but people in the area are nervous about the possibility that there's a sniper targeting drivers. >> it really kind of takes us out of our way but for the safety of my son, it's worth it. >> it's really scary. >> who wants to be driving on i-10 when there's bullets flying around? not me. >> scott cohn joins me live from phoenix. two people detained. what do we know about who they are, what do we know about what's happening? >> we know very little about who they are, richard. we know they were a man and woman. the man is the one that police are describing as a person of interest, and in their latest statement about an hour or so ago saying that this person was taken into custody about six miles from where i'm standing and is being held for questioning, but police are emphasizing that the investigation is not closed. nonetheless, as you can see

behind me on interstate 10 there's plenty of traffic. for a lot of these people, it's their only choice. but others may be breathing a tentative sigh of relief this is a person of interest whom they're still questioning. >> scott, this started about two weeks ago, right, when the first shooting was reported. what are you hearing from people in the area now that these two people have been detained? is it too early to say that they may feel a about it more comfortable now? >> it certainly is too early. this really has been unfolding today after two very anxious weeks. you heard a couple of the drivers a moment ago talking about how they are staying off the roads. four school districts have diverted their school buses because they're concerned. you can't help but wonder what's going on. again, with police saying this is not over yet, people are not letting down their guard. >> msnbc's scott cohn in phoenix for us live, thank you for that information.

america remembers the victims of the terror takes 14 years ago. also ahead, medical news that could affect millions of americans. and a sports shocker. serena williams at the u.s. open is out. just might be the one. to clean the oceans, to start a movement, or lead a country. it may not be obvious yet, but one of these kids is going to change the world. we just need to make sure she has what she needs. welcome to windows 10. the future starts now for all of us.

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a solemn day of remembrance 14 years after the september 11th terror attacks. this afternoon president obama held a town hall with troops at ft. mead where he paid tribute to those who lost their lives. >> we do not forget those who are fallen. we are inspired by the survivors, many of whom still have the scars both seen and unseen of that terrible, terrible day. and it's also a good time to remember all the people who have

served and sacrificed since 9/11 in order to keep america safe and free. >> the president's remarks followed a day of somber memorials across the country. in washington, taps was played as those who lost their lives in the attacks on the pentagon were remembered. in shanksville, pennsylvania, where flight 93 crashed, another ceremony to remember the brave passengers who took down the plane. nbc chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski was there and shared his memories of that day. >> reporter: the courtyard in the middle of the pentagon with its majestic elm trees has always been a refuge from the daily grind of the pentagon. on 9/11, on 9/11, it became a makeshift morgue. >> and here in new york, moments of silence at a ceremony at the

world trade center site to mark the times the two planes hit the twin towers. nbc's ron mott joins us now from the 9/11 memorial site in lower manhattan. ron, good day to you. how has the day ebbed and flowed? >> well, good afternoon -- good evening, richard. always an emotional day here in new york city on september 11th, and obviously for good reasons. seeing all of those people lose their lives 14 years ago today. in fact, one of the family members who got up to speak today said that, yes, it's been 14 years and we've all heard that old adage about time healing all wounds. it does not heal all the wounds. and this person said that it could be a hundred years and it will still feel as fresh as if these buildings, these towers fell just yesterday. one of the things that they change to the great pleasure of the families and the survivors was they eliminated the political speeches. you might recall the first nine or ten of these anniversaries in new york there were a lot of political speeches.

some people began to get turned off by that. it didn't necessarily stop the politicians from showing up. chris christie was seen here today. and there was another high profile politician here in manhattan today, the vice president, mr. biden was over at the "intrepid." here's what he had to say about memorializing this day in u.s. history. >> this is an important day of remembrance, but it's a tough day. it's a tough day for all of you who lost buddies, lost friends, it's even tougher for the family members. thank you for showing the united states again and the world again that you have the courage every single solitary to face up to what happened, remind everybody what our obligation is, and stick with your friends. >> just a special day again here in new york city. and as you see behind me, one

world trade is open for business here in new york city, richard. >> nbc's ron mott, thank you so much for that report. to the couple who set aside the whole day to sell their old car and buy a new one... oops. nana's got the kids til 9... but it's only 2.

guess you'll just have to see a movie... ...then get some dinner. what a pity. back to our breaking news, former texas governor rick perry dropping out of the race for president. he was, by the way, one of the first candidates to go after donald trump specifically and trump was not shy about firing back. >> rick perry should have to have an iq test before getting on the debate stage. >> and then there was perry hitting back.

>> he offers a barking carnival act that can best be described as trumpism. a toxic mix of demagoguery and mean-spiritedness and nonsense. let no one be mistaken, donald trump's candidacy is a cancer on convservatism and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised and discarded. >> and then he dropped out. well, he was one of the first ones to attack trump, as i was saying. let's bring in amy holmes and tara mcdowdell. amy, i'll start with you on this. why now? why not next week, a monday, get that lead up to the debate? >> right, you make a great point. it's friday, he's making this announcement, then it's the weekend. you know what? monday is a whole new game. rick perry's name will be long forgotten by monday. i think we can agree at the table that he does get the award

for most improved candidate over his -- >> better glasses is that what you mean to say? >> over 2012 he was offering a much beefier, beefed-up foreign policy vision, domestic policy vision, and i think that his speech today was really classy. >> he did get to the meat faster this cycle around. but he had that benefit of previous experience, shall we say. >> and he had nowhere to go but up. >> let's do talk about that. because there was an opportunity here. it did not work out. he was one of the first to come after donald trump. did that not work to his benefit? >> well, i think several things clearly didn't work to his benefit. i think even though this has been said many times, i think it has to be reinforced. he never recovered from that oops moment. you still have late-night comedians that use that for fodder to this day, even though that was that long ago, it is still a punchline and he never recovered. the other thing is when he had

an opportunity to recover, he didn't shine. when he was on the junior debate stage, we see there was an opportunity to stand out because carly fiorina clearly has and has elevated her status. he did not. he was lackluster, his performance was poor. he didn't instill any kind of confidence. in attacking trump, if you're going to take on trump, you have to be able to deliver. >> perfect segue. so let's talk about carly fiorina. she just made it, right, number 11. >> squeaked in. >> rick perry was number 12, otherwise he's on the kid's table. how does she make a win with trump? >> i think she does what she did the last time around. and one poll of 17,000 people from the association of mature americans -- and i underscore mature americans -- folks ages 50 and up, they actually gave carly fiorina the win for the night in the last debate even though she wasn't even on the main stage. so fiorina has been rising in

the polls and in the estimation of republican primary voters. but quickly getting back to attacking trump, let this be a lesson to bobby jindal and rand paul that rick perry announced today he's dropping out, attacking trump didn't work. >> and they're also below the fold. i'll play what carly fiorina said today. then i'll get your response here, tara. >> everybody talks and talks and talks about it, but somehow it just never gets done. which is why people are frustrated. politicians are great at talk. some other people are great at talk, too. but the point is, in the world i come from, talk is cheap and actions speak louder than words. >> does she have the talk here, tara? she's also a fellow, you know, business leader, as an e ceo. she can go toe to toe with those issues with donald trump. >> she's going to get housed by donald trump. i'll tell you why. >> you think? >> yes. because she has a huge amount of baggage. she brought down one of america's biggest companies when she was a ceo of

hewlett-packard. her business record is abysmal. and there's no way that donald trump is ever going to let her or anyone else in this country forget that. he's going to come after her so hard on that, and it's really, really easy to do. >> but i'm not sure that's going to work. because you have to also understand who is the audience. and right now the audience is eating up what carly fiorina is serving. she's very fluent on the issues that convftive primary voters care about when she talks about foreign policy and she's been very effective in attacking hillary clinton and that's something that conservative republican primary voters are going to be watching and cheering on. >> no one likes a candidate who has lost thousands of jobs. doesn't matter what party you're from. i think we can all agree, if your track record is one of having laid people off, that was part of mitt romney's problem, that's part of why he didn't have some of the appeal. he was a ceo that had laid people off. and that is never, ever a winner. >> donald trump -- >> we've got five more days at

least to talk about this until the debate next wednesday. thank you both for being here, amy and tara, appreciate your time. >> thank you. ahead, a tennis stunner. i'm a tennis fan. this is wow. serena williams, her historic run at the u.s. open coming to a shocking end. plus, a brand new nfl season and a brand-new controversy dogging the new england patriots. - new and a brand-new controversy dogging the new england patriots. new nfl season and a brand-new controversy dogging the new england patriots.

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this afternoon a shocker. serena williams, number one women's tennis player in the world, was upset by unseeded roberta vinci in today's u.s. open finals. it ended williams' historic quest to win all four grand slam tournaments in a single year. some are calling it the greatest upset in tennis history. joining us right now sean gregory on the phone for us at the u.s. open. you were there courtside. serena 30-1 favorite to win the

match. certainly a favorite of the crowd as well. how did this all happen, sean? >> yeah, it was such a stunner. you know. roberta vinci just played, as she said, the match of her life. she had this nice backhand slice that seemed to give serena some troubles. serena's coach said after that he kind of knew once she got out of the car and got to the tennis center, that something wasn't right. >> really? >> she just wasn't feeling great. he wasn't that specific and serena kind of darted out of here, didn't talk about it that much. but he said he had a sense she was off. but she does win first set. all right, her path to the final is clear. this is the coronation. and it was anything but. and the crowd was really impressed with roberta vinci. she started egging up the crowd, what about me, what about me? because she hit great shots too. >> the new york crowd always loves the underdog as we know

when we watch the u.s. open. she would have made history here if she won the u.s. open. would you call this the biggest upset in tennis history? >> you know, it's up there. i think that's pretty fair given what serena had accomplished this year. vinci was unseeded. >> yeah. >> she had been testing a little bit at the open here. >> yeah. >> but she got past her sister. her sister was playing at such a high level. >> yeah. >> and she got past there, so yeah, why not? i think that there's something to that. it was just this stunning, stunning turn of events. >> we leave with one word with you, how would you describe what happened today in one word? >> oh, man. shocking beyond belief. that's three words. shocking, shocking, shocking. i can't put it in one word, sorry. >> sean gregory, thank you so much. >> thank you. from tennis we'll take you to football now. a new controversy swirling around the new england patriots. with deflategate till on the

minds of fans, the steelers beat them in the nfl opener last night. but steelers coaches saying the headsets they used to communicate with each other were interfered with. >> i think there was an espn report that your radio went out, the communications. >> that's always the case. >> here? >> yes. >> well, you're saying that every time you play here you have -- >> i said what i said. >> what exactly happened? you just didn't have any communication? >> we were listening to the patriots radio broadcast for the majority of the first half on our headsets. >> coach to coach or the coach to quarterback? >> coach to coach. >> patriots coaches say they were experiencing communications problems as well. the nfl took responsibility saying it oversees the headsets. so i'm going to bring in boston herald sports columnist steve buckley. the season, we're one game in, we already have another gate to talk about today. what's your thought about what has been said so far? >> well, a couple of things.

number one, this is the residue from spygate back in 2007. i came down very hard on the patriots back in '07. i thought that they should have been punished more so than they were, but they were punished and we move on. i think they've been paying for that ever since. for tomlin to blame headsets on bill belichick is if the patriots, this much removed from deflategate, would, in the first quarter of the first game of the season engineer trickery to rob the steelers of getting signals from up in the press box is ludicrous. >> does this happen, though? does this happen? >> it happens everywhere, yes. and it has happened in the past here. but if you watch the game and you see how confused the steelers were, that had nothing to do with headphones. it was an issue, it was an nfl issue, and again, i find myself in the unusual position of defending the patriots. but i believe belichick's in the clear this time. >> you notice what the pittsburgh coach said. he was just very clear.

they've since said they're not going to press any sort of charges regarding what had happened. what's going on there? >> my sense is that well, a, they bailed on it afterwards. emotions run high immediately after an nfl game. my emotions run high because we're running around like crazy. tomlin has distanced himself from it now. it's an nfl issue. he wants to worry about the next game on his schedule. the nfl will look into this and it's in their laps now. tomlin has to live with those comments now because they're kind of funny and they're going to keep getting played a at least here in new england for the rest of the season. >> as you well know t patriots very successful. are folks picking on them because they are so successful? >> absolutely. there are certain organizations in american sports -- and i don't mean to beat up everybody here, but duke university basketball, notre dame football back in the day, the new york yankees, they're richer than u.s. steel and all that, it's common practice to beat up teams that win lots of championships.

but i'm not saying the patriots don't deserve some of this because they absolutely do. spygate was very real back in 2007 and the penalty they paid was very real. i also thing something happened with the deflated footballs, although i also believe the patriots should have been fined 5,000 for an equipment vita violation. they were trying to create a makeup call for what happened back in '07 and turned into a catastrophe for the league in terms of its image. >> steve buckley from "the boston herald." thank you very much. what it reveals about the fight for the democratic nomination. house republicans raise the stakes in two critical battles voting on the iran deal and warning they will not fund planned parenthood. all i can tht is getting relief. only nicorette mini has a patented fast-dissolving formula. it starts to relieve sudden cravings fast. i never know when i'll need relief. that's why i only choose nicorette mini.

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head-to-head matchup against republicans. but another big finding. vice president joe biden beats them by even larger margins. okay. so here's some of the numbers. against marco rubio hillary clinton is up 6 points while joe biden ahead by 8. clinton would beat jeb bush by 4 points, but biden beats him by 8. and while clinton's 13% ahead of donald trump, biden would beat trump in a head-to-head matchup by 18 points. a double digit lead for a candidate who is not in the race yet as we all know and who told stephen colbert he might not be ready to run after his son bowebow beau's death. >> you said this weekend you don't know if you're emotionally prepared to run for president. >> look, i don't think any man or woman should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president and, two,

they can look at the folks out there and say i promise you you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy and my passion to do this. and -- and i'd be lying if i said that i knew i was there. >> last night the vice president's pain was still evident as he talked about beau as well. >> he said, dad, i know how much you love me. so you got to promise me something. promise me you're going to be all right. because no matter what happens, dad, i'm going to be all right. promise me. this is a kid who -- who -- i don't know what it was about him. he had this enormous sense of empathy, and i know i maybe sound like a father. i hope i -- anyway. but it's true. >> it sounds like you love him, sir. >> oh, geez, i mean, i --

>> joining us now is josh alcorn, a senior adviser to the super pac and was a political aide to beau biden. thanks for joining us. as we watch this, josh, you have certainly seen the vice president speak in public. you've certainly seen him do tv interviews before. i must say of the maybe dozens of times that i've also seen this, he went to a different place last night. would you agree with that? >> i do. i absolutely agree. that was one of the most remarkable moments i've ever seen on television in my life. i mean, here was a man baring his soul for the american people and truly remarkable. he's a remarkable man. >> what is going through his mind right now? because he's not only going there and telling us he's going there, what does that say about where he might go? because, of course, that question's out there, will he run or not? >> i don't know what's going through the vice president's mind. i know he has a deliberative process as he weighs whether or not this decision to run for president is the right thing for

his family and for the country. what i do know is that family is important and country is important to the vice president. so i know there's a lot that he's thinking through, but i think that what we've seen and you mentioned these polling numbers a few minutes ago, i think we see a big thirst, a real thirst for a candidate like a person like joe biden. the honesty he presented to the american people, that's the joe biden we know and trust and we want to see in the race. >> josh, i'm getting a sense that probably you and your colleagues want the vice president to get in the race. >> certainly. and the 215,000 people who signed have our petition to draft biden 2016.com do as well. >> so where are you now that you've seen that interview? do you feel better that he will be doing this or are you more concerned now? >> i'm no different today than i was yesterday. draft biden is doing the

organizational work that we need to do. we've hired field directors for all the primary states. we've just received an endorsement from iowa. we have the structure that the vice president will need if he chooses to get in the race. that's been our mission to build out this infrastructure so he can make a decision on his own timeline and we're ready to go when he's ready to go. >> i want to play more from his interview with stephen colbert, listen to this. >> and it was going great, and a guy in the back yells, major beau biden, bronze star, sir, served with him in iraq. and all of a sudden i lost it. how could you -- i mean, that's not -- i shouldn't be saying this, but that -- you can't do that. >> so josh, very, of course, close to his son. this entire experience, is it making a move farther away from

saying yes, i'm going to run or closer to it? >> look, i think that this is all part of his process, right, his deliberative process as to whether or not he should run for president. obviously, a great emotional commitment. joe biden has run two national campaigns of his own in 1988 and 2008. he's been on the national ticket twice. he has had a firsthand look at what it takes to be president, the emotional drain that it can be. and he knows what he's getting into. and he's weighing it all very carefully. >> josh alcorn, thank you so much for stopping by today. >> thank you. still ahead, republicans in the house gearing up for two big fights. stopping the iran deal and shutting down the government. and later, the one big thing that you can do to prevent heart attacks, stroke and heart failure.

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house republicans are fighting on two different fronts right now. today they held votes on approving the iran deal and prevent the u.s. from lifting sanctions. at moment the debate it got hot on the floor there. on this anniversary of 9/11, republican mike kelly held up a poster of the twin towers. >> do not cave in. do not sacrifice about safety, the security and the stability of 330 million americans for the legacy of one man. vote against the greatest betrayal we have ever seen in this country. >> at the same time, a growing number of house republicans are signing on to a plan to stop

funding for planned parenthood. raising new concerns about a possible government shutdown. let's go to capitol hill correspondent luke russert. 24 hours later from when you and i last talked, we have more pictures, a lot more rhetoric. where are we at, luke? >> well, when it comes to the iran deal, we are -- just completed a, i would say, a series of showboats. we know that come september 17th, the iran deal will move forward. today the house took two vote, one was to vote against sanctions relief that the administration is going to give iran to the tune of tens of billions of dollars in exchange for this deal. the other was a simple approval of the deal. as you saw there the numbers on the screen, it had 162 votes with 269 against it including 25 democrats. what's interesting, richard, is you're still getting a lot of pressure from the outside conservative groups to try to oppose this iran deal at every

turn. that touches on a question from yesterday, will there, in fact, be some legal avenues that the house gop chooses to pursue? it's still unclear right now what they could do. i think they have lawyers that will work through the weekend to try to figure that out. the senate will take another crack at trying to oppose the iran deal. that's more symbolic than anything. they want to tie the iran deal around the neck of democrats as we head into an election year. >> top of the fourth inning is what you're telling us on that one. >> yeah. >> planned parenthood, are we going to have a government shutdown? that's what americans care about. >> i got to tell you 50-50 chance right now. i was optimistic heading into the week, but now that it's friday, i honestly do not see the clearest pathway forward yet for john boehner. mitch mcconnell has been outspoken saying we're going to pass a clean government funding bill through december, then pass a 20-week abortion denial bill or ban, rather, bill. then we can figure out other ways to get at planned parenthood. the thing is even if you shut

down the government, much of the planned parenthood money still goes forward under medicaid which is mandatory spending. john boehner already has 30 members, if you notice up on that screen, they'll oppose any government funding that includes moneys there for planned parenthood. you got to figure out a way forward. he's concerned about his speakership. we'll have a lot of fun at the end of september. >> it wasn't an easy week for you. enjoy the weekend, luke. monday's another day. >> thanks, buddy. take it easy. still ahead, a breakthrough on blood pressure. a study so successful researchers stopped it early. hey babe, last one home cooks? ♪ ♪ ♪ another tie. order in? next time i drive. the right-sized nissan rogue. ♪

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bring us your aching and sleep deprived. bring us those who want to feel well rested. aleve pm. the only one to combine a sleep aid... plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. be a morning person again, with aleve pm. . now this, a potentially life-saving study could help millions of americans battling high blood pressure. federal health officials just announced results from a study. the conclusion here was simple -- get your blood pressure down way lower than previously thought. nbc's tom costello joins us from washington, d.c. tom, what more can you tell us about the study? >> this was from the nih. and their researchers say their findings were so conclusive, they ended the study two years early. now cardiologists are saying this could be a game changer in the way they treat people with hypertension.

it's a significant contributor to two leading causes of death, heart attacks and strokes. as many as one in three adults has high blood pressure. the cyst tollic or top number pressures the pressure on the blood vessels when the heart contracts. the target was 140 or less. but today's study suggests getting this number below 120 could cut the risk of death by 25%. and cut by a third the risk of cardiovascular events, heart attack, heart failure and stroke. researchers say it will change the way doctors treat hypertension. >> this is huge. i mean, 25% less deaths and a third, you know, 33% less heart attack, strokes and heart failure, that's huge. you don't get that lowering cholesterol. >> at brigham and women's hospital in boston, jim mcgrath was seeing his doc today with medication his bp has gone from 150 to 130. now it may need to go even lower. >> we've had a history in our family of having high blood pressure. nothing that would be critical

or possibly terminal, but you never know. >> in the federal study, some people required two or more prescriptions to get their blood pressures down to 120. and blood pressure meds especially in some senior citizens can make them feel dizzy or light headed and cause them to fall. doctors say the benefits may far outweigh the risks. >> we've previously been a little bit more lax on controlling blood pressure, but this study shows that we have to get people's blood pressure back to normal, and that will help them live longer. >> still tonight, researchers say patients should not change their current medication levels without first talking to their doctor. researchers say it's too soon to issue new guidelines for frontline docs on lowering systolic levels down to 120, but that could change quickly. i was in the e.r. an hour ago and the dock in the r. said, wow, this is very big. >> certainly compelling findings there. thank you so much for that

report. tom costello for us. appreciate it. thanks for watching. i'm richard lui. attack of the little people. is trump ready for it? let's play "hardball." good evening. chris matthews in washington. i think the battle in the republican party's going to look a lot like this. donald trump is that elephant there with that pack of hungry lions trying to bring him down. he'll spend the next couple of weeks fli weeks flinging them off his back. i'm joined by robert kosta, stephanie cutter and howard fineman for the huffington post. we know now what the debate stage will look like this wednesday night at the reagan