immigration reform. >> jacob soboroff, thank you. >> that does it for us today. rachel maddow will be back tomorrow. now it's time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> rachel maddow will be back tomorrow. up next, "first look." it's tuesday, september 29th. right now on "first look," going beyond geopolitical poker. vladimir putin and barack obama lay out very different visions for the world. but is there common ground? donald trump gets very specific about tax hikes for the wealthy. while hillary clinton tries to dig herself out of the e-mail controversy. america's fascinated with the discovery of water on mars. and just what this might mean for one of life's biggest questions, are we alone in the universe? plus aaron rodgers lights up the sky over lambeau to some scary moments for the red birds of st. louis. and, free coffee day today. we'll tell you where. "first look" starts right now. well, good morning, everybody, thanks for waking up with us today, i'm betty nguyen.

we're getting more details this morning about the seemingly tense meeting between president obama and russia's vladimir putin with relations between the two governments at a low point. both leaders sat down for 90 minutes last night for the first formal meeting in two years. but it came after they aired out their differences in speeches before the u.n. general assembly. nbc's andrea mitchell has the latest. >> reporter: vladimir putin and barack obama in their first formal one-on-one meeting in two years. but only after trading insults over syria. >> have you made progress on syria? >> reporter: putin swaggered into the u.n. after a diplomatic military and pr blitz to seize the initiative from the u.s. that left the white house scrambling. obama wants syrian president assad out. but putin said without assad isis would take over, insisting it's an enormous mistake to refuse to cooperate with the syrian government and its armed forces, who are valiantly fighting terrorism face-to-face. obama scornfully rejects that

argument. >> in accordance with this logic we should support tyrants like bashar al assad who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children. >> reporter: obama and putin's icy relationship is being called a new cold war. not just over syria, but ukraine. obama slapped sanctions on putin's cronies for supporting separatists there. putin arrived 20 minutes late for the u.n. lunch. sitting so close to obama they mad to shake hands. and couldn't avoid the toast. this is not reagan and gorbachev. or clinton and yeltsin. this is not the vlad and barack show? >> no, it's not. it's a very business-like relationship. they've spoken on the phone over the course of those last few years and they're very blunt and direct with one another. >> reporter: putin sees every rivalry as a sports match, a contest he must win. >> putin always shows himself as a marcher man. he's a strong man. he sees weakness and he seizes on it. >> reporter: in the u.s. policy on syria he sees weakness. just a handful of rebels trained

at huge cost. and isis ranks growing. >> that was innocence's andrea mitchell reporting. republican infighting grows as lawmakers on capitol hill have just two days left to come up with a spending plan that would avert a government shutdown. meanwhile, house republicans will meet behind closed doors today to discuss their future in the wake of speaker john boehner's sudden resignation. also this morning, planned parenthood's cecil richards will be on capitol hill to testify before the house oversight committee over the use of aborted fetal tissue in medical research. nbc's tracie potts is live in washington. good morning. a lot on the table today. it's a busy day for gop lawmakers. >> no question about that. let's start with this meeting in the basement at 5:00 today, because that's when house republican are going to try to sort out where they go from here. after john boehner steps down at the end of next month. right now, it looks like the majority leader kevin mccarthy is the leading candidate to take over for boehner. and he's going to take over a fractured party, trying to bring together those more moderate

republicans with the very conservative ones. so that's part of what they'll hash out today. not to mention the fact that we don't have a date for their elections yet. we're also learning about some of the other leadership roles, for example this morning, hearing that kathy mcmorris-rogers will not run for majority leader. in terms of the shutdown, they've got two days to work this out, today and tomorrow. by midnight. the senate is pushing legislation that would hold onto our current budget until december 11th. giving them a few more months to get this done. and it looks like they can push that through and get it done by the midnight deadline. remember planned parenthood was a big focus, a big hang-up in trying to get that budget done, as you said. the leader of planned parenthood is going to be here today to testify and to defend their agen agency against allegations that they sold that fetal tissue illegally. >> thank you. the race for the white house, gop candidate donald trump is getting specific about his long-awaited tax plan.

trump is pledging tax relief for the middle class saying his plan is simply common sense. but, some of those who crunch the numbers suggest his plan is a gift for the wealthy. nbc's katy tur has more on that. >> reporter: in the lobby of his manhattan skyscraper donald trump got down to details. >> it's going to cost me a fortune. >> reporter: releasing an ambitious tax plan that his campaign says would get rid of income tax for millions of americans. while lowering rates for the rich. under the plan individuals making less than $25,000 and married couples making less than $50,000 would pay no income tax. the highest tax rate would drop from 39.6% to 25%. estate taxes would be eliminated. businesses would pay 15%. and overseas profits would be taxed one time at a rate of 10%. which trump claims would bring more than $2 trillion back to the u.s. the cuts, combined with unspecified loopholes and deductions, would all lead to a flourishing economy.

>> well, we're looking at a 3% but we think it could be 5, it could even be 6. we're going to have growth that will be tremendous. >> from the details that we have it appears this would be a very significant tax cut for the richest taxpayers. >> reporter: trump's tax plan, another big promise for a big fix from the front-runner. on infrastructure. >> our bridges are falling apart. our roads are a mess. everything. it's a mess. >> reporter: estimates put rebuilding at $3.6 trillion by 2020. on health care, specifically repealing and replacing obamacare. >> we will have a plan that will be so good. >> reporter: repealing alone, $137 billion over a decade. trump getting specific. but as the experts weigh in, the candidate may soon find out the devil really is in the details. katy tur, nbc news, new york. on the democratic side of the 2016 white house race hillary clinton is rolling out what could be a new but familiar strategy to combat her e-mail

troubles. nbc's kristen welker has that. >> reporter: secretary clinton is trying to dig herself out of the e-mail controversy. >> but i'm not by any means a technical expert. well, it is like a drip, drip, drip. >> reporter: now she's explaining again why e-mails surfaced dated two months earlier than clinton initially said she set up the personal account. >> explain that discrepancy. >> there was a transition period. you know, i wasn't that focused on my e-mail account. >> reporter: clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of e-mails from her personal account dating back to march 2009. her campaign acknowledged she sent e-mails as early as january of that year. the explanation, she started using the account before the server was officially set up at her home. >> every phrase and every sentence that she utters is examined minutely by the press, by her critics, by everyone, and that makes it hard for her to kind of tamp down on the controversy. >> reporter: her new weapon, her husband, who is set to play a bigger role in the campaign. >> it really is similar to the

strategy that the republicans employed against me with whitewater. it's -- they look at the field and they say who do we not want to run against? >> reporter: and when asked if she would have a place for her husband in the west wing -- >> she's a pretty busy guy. i don't know anything like that. but i'm not looking, you know, i'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. >> that is nbc's kristen welker reporting. and one of the biggest trending stories across the universe, nasa's big reveal. >> under certain circumstances, liquid water has been found on mars. >> that, my friends, is huge. the space agency said the mars orbiter found dark streaks on the surface. the lines tend to darken during the summer then fade when temperatures cool. they also detected hydrated salt and scientists say it is strong evidence of free-flowing water. and the news is stirring up all kinds of talk about a mission to mars. but, it's about 140 million miles away. so, make sure you use the bathroom before you go. all right.

let's get down to business, eight minutes past the hour, cnbc's landon dowdy here. >> betty, good morning. wall street looks to rebound today following monday's big sell-off. the dow fell more than 300 points but the nasdaq performed the worst, as the index was dragged down by the continued drop in biotech and health care stocks. look for data today on home prices and consumer confidence. amazon has rolled out a program in its hometown of seattle to offer one-hour delivery using a network of independent contractors. "the wall street journal" says under the service, called amazon flex people sign up for shifts from a smartphone app and are alerted when they should pick up packages. amazon is paying drivers $20 an hour. and it's national coffee day. criskrispy kreme is giving out free 12 ounce cup of joe and a glazed doughnut. dunkin' donuts is offering free medium cups of its dark roast. whole foods, coffee has been 25 cents all month. this is just a dream. >> coffee drinkers are happy

today. all right, thank you. well in sports monday night football in green bay, chiefs/packers, lambeau field here we go. a huge night for aaron rodgers and fantasy football fans everywhere. >> the first two weeks, this is second and goal. rodgers, couldn't stop at the goal line. touchdown green bay. rand am cobb. >> that was one of rodgers five touchdown passes on the night but the chiefs battled as kansas city's jamal charles rushes for one of his three touchdowns. in the end rodgers had 333 yards, and in the 38-28 victory for the undefeated packers. in pittsburgh, a scary moment in the outfield when cardinals rookie steven -- running full speed. check this out. he collides with teammate beater borges. game was stopped for 16 minutes. he waved to the fans but will be held overnight at hospital for observation. cards took game three. or that game 3-0.

national's reliever jonathan papelbon has been suspended for four games for his physical attack on teammate bryce harper sunday. that is on top of a three-game suspension from the league for an incident involving the orioles. seven games, no pay, for him. and in england, racing of a different kind. the world champion lawnmower races, two-day event consists of 18 heats with drivers jockeying for position aboard 13 horse power mowers, and the competition, my friends, is fierce. as you can tell. looks like fun, though. and then there's this, paul walker's daughter sues porsche over her father's death and is a plea deal in the works for former house speaker dennis hastert over charges of lying to the fbi? >> and very very important forecast for the east coast this upcoming weekend. tropical storm joaquin has formed and could be heading to an area near you. details text on msnbc.

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welcome back to "first look." this is not associated with our tropical storm. this is just heavy tropical rains that have moved through destin florida, the northern panhandle of florida, all the way through pensacola, panama city. yesterday it was actually all the way back in to areas of mississippi. so that's what this mass of thunderstorms and heavy rain that's up through florida that's going to soak the east coast today. this, by the way, is tropical storm joaquin. and this is the storm that has a lot of question marks. unfortunately, even the hurricane center admits a very low confidence forecast about where this is exactly going to head, and at what strength. regardless, the next two to three days, it sits in the general vicinity of just east of the bahamas. we know that. how much it will intensify at that time is a little questionable. some of our computers bring it up to hurricane strength, maybe a category 1 or two. others remain a tropical storm. then it will accelerate toward the north. we know that friday to saturday. the latest update forecast from the hurricane center takes it somewhere about parallel to the virginia/north carolina border sunday at 2:00 a.m. as a strong

tropical storm. there's the cone of uncertainty. could be close to the carolinas or it could be just off the coast. our long range computer models kind of all over the place. but in general, up towards new england, or possibly new jersey as we go through sunday into maybe even monday. so we could be dealing with a hurricane possibly in towards new england sunday into monday. or tropical storm that just misses. we're still five days away. we'll have a lot more -- >> i'm smiling because that long range -- the lines were going all over the place. all right. we'll keep a watch of that. in new york, joyce mitchell has been sentenced to prison for up to seven years. she is the former prison seamstress who helped two convicted murderers escape from a maximum security lockup. despite her tearful pleas for mercy, though, the judge was having none of it. >> many residents did not sleep for many nights, afraid that these two extremely violent individuals might be outside their home.

>> paul walker's 16-year-old daughter is suing porsche. she claims her father burned to death in a car crash two years ago because the car was poorly built. but investigators have concluded that high speed, not mechanical failure, was the cause of that 2013 crash. porsche did not respond to a request for comment. and tv extreme sports star eric reasoner was killed while sky diving yesterday. he hit a large tree during a performance at a golf tournament in lake tahoe, california. he was pronounced dead at the scene. he starred in mtv's daredevil stunt show night row circus. he was 39 years old. all right. so it's for sale. donald trump's tour bus. yeah, we'll tell you about that. hillary clinton is watching calories. and michelle obama wants to open windows. "scrambled politics" is next. ♪ or, as we say at unitedhealthcare insurance company, go long. how you plan is up to you. take healthcare. make sure you're covered for more than what just medicare pays...

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here's your first look at tuesday morning's edition of "scrambled politics." from "the new york times." plea deal for dennis hastert is being discussed, lawyers say. the former speaker of the house is facing charges that he lied to the fbi, and illegally structured a bank withdrawals. now his lawyers are reportedly talking with prosecutors about a possible plea agreement. from the des moines register, you can buy donald trump's campaign bus for $15,000. that's all. yeah, the bus was posted on craigslist yesterday. it was used by the trump campaign for events in iowa. it reads, make america great again on the side of it. but don't be fooled, it's just a 1998 greyhound with literally

more than a million miles under its belt. we know why hillary clinton probably won't be getting the next time she stops at starbucks. during a facebook q&a session yesterday one person asked her if she's a pump pin spice latte kind of gal. she said i used to be until i saw how many calories are in them. chelsea and grandpa bill clinton are spilling the details on baby charlotte's first birthday over the weekend. >> it was great. we had lots of balloons. she loves balloons. and lots of bubbles. and also books. >> the whole thing was a hoot. >> she's like a positive elixir? >> oh, my god. she's unbelievable. >> and first lady michelle obama stopped by the late show with stephen colbert last night. she was asked if she has any bucket list items she wants to cross before leaving the white house. >> i also want to do little things like, you know, open a window. i mean -- i'm sorry.

>> i want to go to target! i want to drive. >> you don't have security clearance to open a window. >> i can't open my windows. i really can't. the window opens if i press in the car, everybody's like oh, my god, what was that? >> she does have a point. and that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." now to a guy who always opens all his windows, political analyst and best-selling author alex hen igen. >> let's hope a window, let some air in here. i'm sympathetic that has got to be frustrating. >> exactly. you don't think about how isolated and insulated you are. you think the world is at your fingertips. you know you're first lady, everything's wonderful. but yeah she just wants to go to target, that's all. right? i don't know if donald trump would have that on his list, though, because he's actually saying, well he did say he was boycotting fox because of the way the media outlet was covering his campaign. then, all of a sudden, he's not boycotting them. so, i think a lot of people are looking at this and saying, is this a guy who soap-minded to situations as they move along?

or is this someone that just is going to throw a temper tantrum and says, i don't like you anymore? >> i would not bet on the reason reflection explanation. >> no? >> this is a guy who just does stuff. >> you're going to go with "b" here? >> he's going to have a feud, and the feud will get cured and he'll have a boycott. i mean that's just -- >> how many lives with this guy have? >> i'm feeling frankly a little left out. he'd not feuded with me all week. >> oh, you're just asking for it. it's going to happen. don't you worry. >> could you imagine him treating a world leader who said, maybe something, you know, that he didn't like, with that same kind of attitude? what does it say about his ability to lead in difficult situations? >> well, impulse control has not proven to be donald's strong suit. let's -- and imagine the putin relationship. all right. he thought they were going to get together when putin was in new york, that doesn't seem like it was going to happen. but, he's just -- he just says stuff and there's an audience for it. some people like it.

complex international negotiations could be a problem. >> might just be. a want to shift gears because john boehner announced that he's stepping down next month. already the infighting has started. will this pull back the curtains, if you will, on how divided the gop party really is? >> absolutely. and we're getting it right now. big meeting tonight from the caucus is going to get together and behind closed doors. we'll get a lot of leaks out of it. you know, listen, there's a fundamental divide there. the hard-core conservatives, and the more moderates. they really just can't agree on anything. so, lots of fighting to come. >> we will be watching. okay. ellis, thanks so much for your insight. >> good to see you. >> watch out, donald trump may be coming at you next. you're trouble. >> just ahead rapper drake does something that even the beatles couldn't do. plus the hot air balloon that sparked a flurry of 911 calls. we have those details next. is your head so congested it's ready to explode?

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after 26 years, simpson character waylon smithers will come out to his boss, mr. burns, that he is gay. it will be a two-episode event later this season. rapper drake has 100 songs that have cracked the billboard hot 100. the only other acts to pass that number are the cast of tv show glee with 201, lil' wayne at 127 and elvis presley with 128. the beatles managed to get just 71 songs on the chart. and here's something that you do not see every day, some people were shocked at what appeared to be an upside down hot air balloon in the skies over las vegas. wow. it turns out it was' dinned that way. it even includes a fake basket

at the top to add the illusion of it being upside down. >> i think i would call 911, too. i would be like listen there's a hot air balloon upside down. >> all right i'm petty. this is "first look" on msnbc. "way too early" starts right now. people keep asking me if i'm going to bring more of an international perspective to the daily show. i say screw that i'm going interplanetary. >> nasa announcing today they have proof that liquid water is flowing on the surface of mars. >> you mean this? but up there? great news for nasa. depressing news for california. don't worry, california, they'll find water on you, too, some day. >> trevor noah makes his daily show debut and the reviews are in. we'll let you decide. and they don't see eye to eye, but president obama and

russian president vladimir putin met face-to-face after laying out two very different visions to end the civil war in syria. plus -- >> i did the plan with some of the leading scholars and economists and tax experts. they love it. they say why hasn't this been done before? and this is my wheelhouse. that's what i do well. >> donald trump rolls out his highly anticipated tax plan. he claims it's the best thing since sliced bread, but do the numbers add up? it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning. it's tuesday, september 29th. i'm jonathan capehart. the first chill in the air in new york wasn't fall but the meeting of presidents barack obama d