because nothing says i'm in this presidential race like holding a fundraiser for an entirely different office. different elective office. "first look" is up next. >> it's wednesday, september 30th, right now on "first look," new information just in to msnbc as tropical storm joaquin continues to intensify and could turn into a major category 3 hurricane. breaking news overnight. georgia executes its first and only female death row inmate in 70 years. passions. they are running high. protests on both sides of the issue. the head of planned parenthood faced a tough republican congress. >> the outrageous accusations leveled against planned parenthood, based on heavily doctored videos, are offensive and categorically untrue. >> that and a whole lot more on a very busy wednesday. "first look" starts right now.

i'm meteorologist bill karins. i was just diving into all the new information from the national hurricane center. we are looking at the possibility of a u.s. landfall of a hurricane as we go through the end of the weekend, possibly sunday into monday. our american computer model takes us more towards the virginia, delaware, maryland areas with a significant impacting hurricane. it could be a category 2 or three in the coming days weakening to a category 1 as it approaches the coast. one of our very reliable computer models has it completely missing the east coast. i'll explain it all coming up. now to some breaking news overnight. for the first time in 70 years the state of georgia has executed a female prisoner. after a flurry of late appeals, kelly gissendaner was killed just after midnight eastern time by lethal injection. not even a letter written on behalf of pope francis could stop it. nbc reports.

>> reporter: kelly gisen danner the only woman on death row in the state of georgia was killed by lethal injection. the first woman to be executed in the state in 70 years. a mother of three, gissendaner was found guilty of conspiring in the 1997 murder of her husband douglas at the hands of her boyfriend greg owen. the state parole board held a last-minute hearing but denied gissendaner clemency despite pleas from her oldest child as well as the catholic church. >> every life is sacred. every human being is endowed with an inalienable dignity. >> reporter: a letter was written to the parole board on behalf of pope francis. and just last week the pope met with prisoners in the u.s. and called for the death penalty to be abolished. others calling for gissendaner's life to be spared say her sentence was harsher than greg owen's, the man who carried out the killing and is serving life. >> she's not a danger to anyone. >> reporter: her relatives say she gave her husband no rights, no choices, no opportunity to live his life.

his life was not hers to take. dan schenamen, nbc news. well it was an explosive day on capitol hill with arguments over one of this country's most politically divisive programs, planned parenthood. its president went before the house oversight and government reform committee giving a big stage to high profile lawmakers on both sides of the debate. nbc's kelly o'donnell reports. >> reporter: the president of planned parenthood, cecile richards, faced five hours of tense -- >> will the gentleman yield? >> no, i won't. >> reporter: -- sometimes confrontational questioning. >> you can't tell me how much you actually make from abortions? you can't give that number? >> i can't tell you -- >> you can't tell me how much you actually make from abortions. >> reporter: planned parenthood is under political fire from the campaign trail to the capitol. republicans want to strip its federal funding, stoked by controversial undercover videos, made by an anti-abortion activist. >> if this was all untrue, then why did you apologize? >> well, congressman, first, i think everyone has agreed they will heavily edited, and that

certainly i think -- >> my question is -- my question is why did you apologize? >> reporter: planned parenthood provides services to 2.7 million each year, mostly low-income women. that includes 327,000 abortions. no federal money is used for abortion but planned parenthood does get major taxpayer help. $530 million a year. much of that through medicaid. for services like health screenings, birth control, and breast exams. >> we don't just get a big check from the federal government. we, like other medicaid providers, we are reimbursed directly for services provided. >> reporter: democrats defended planned parenthood's work. >> if we don't continue this life-saving service, women will be denied health care across this great nation. >> reporter: and its leader who seemed unfazed by tough questions. >> the disrespect, the misogyny rampant here today tells us what is really going on here.

>> surely you don't expect us to be easier on you because you're a woman? >> absolutely not. that's not how my momma raised me. >> that was nbc's kelly o'donnell reporting. last night planned parenthood president cecile richards, she appeared on nbc's the rachel maddow show and addressed this funding debate in congress and whether it's all about scoring political points. >> i do think it may be something that they find is politically effective within their caucus or within the republican primary. but it is absolutely, i think, a terrible political move in the broader public. folks love planned parenthood. not because of our brand, not because of any -- of anything they see on tv, it's because they come to us for health care. one in five women in this country has come to planned parenthood at some point in their lifetime, and most people know somebody who's comed to planned parenthood. so i think ultimately, this is a really losing battle. >> now, some republicans originally threatened to shut down the government starting at midnight. but a stopgap bill is likely to

go through, and it would fund the government through mid december. the gop leaders now say they hope to negotiate with president obama on a two-year budget deal. let's turn now to the race for the white house. democratic front-runner hillary clinton is calling on congress to repeal part of at fordable care act. the so-called cadillac tax affects high-cost employer provided insurance plans. it's largely opposed by large corporations and labor unions alike. the cadillac tax, however, provides key funding for obamacare. clinton's top rival senator bernie sanders introduced a bill last week to repeal that tax. meanwhile sanders, who has never run a negative political ad, hinted yesterday that he might change his mind. during an interview with former obama adviser and msnbc political analyst david axelrod, sanders said he still hopes to never run a negative ad, but said, quote, we'll see. on the gop side of things, donald trump made his reappearance on fox news last night after saying last week that he would boycott the network.

>> so you're back? how does it feel? >> i'm back. >> how does it feel? >> well, it feels good. you've always been fair to me, bill. i've never had a problem with you. you've always treated me with respect and fairly and i've always appreciated that. you know that. >> well, that's going to change tonight. >> and vice president joe biden was at the united nations yesterday. at one point, the danish foreign minister got a few laughs when he incorrectly addressed mr. biden. >> mr. president -- vice president, sorry, i'm -- well, could have been, can be, who knows. >> if you have some news to tell us here, please let us know. >> seems like that was an honest mistake there. although we're all waiting on some news, should it happen. all right so world leaders, they are urgently trying to figure out how to tackle the growing isis threat. president obama talked strategy at the u.n. terror summit yesterday. but despite thousands of u.s. airstrikes, the terror groups' ranks just keep growing.

there are an estimated 30,000 new isis recruits. that's twice as many as a year ago. and they're from 100 different countries. 5,000 have western passports, including 250 americans. 50 of which are now back in the u.s., according to congressional investigators. they've taken advantage of the civil war in syria and now an alarming ultimatum on that front. u.s. allies, saudi arabia, says there are two options for syrian president bashar al assad. step down, according to a 2012 geneva agreement. or face a military option. and this morning, new numbers are shedding a horrific light on syria's carnage. according to a british medical journal in a review of more than 78,000 violent civilian deaths, there were from march 2011 to january of last year, this last january, researchers found that a quarter of the victims were women and children. now to an intense manhunt that is under way in louisiana after a convicted killer was mistakenly set free. 32-year-old johnson was released

from dixon correctional institute last wednesday due to a clerical error. he was serving a 40 year sentence for manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm. officials say the error was not discovered until monday, giving johnson a five-day head start. all right nine minutes past the hour. let's get down to business. cnbc's landon dowdy. >> good morning, betty. tesla hands over the keys to the electric model x surf. the premium version starts at $132,000. has falcon wing rear doors that fold up, seats seven and can go about 250 miles on a single charge. elon musk estimates 25,000 customers have preordered the model x. target will start matching online prices of more than two dozen competitors starting thursday. until now it's only matched prices at its own stores. customer also have 14 days to get a price adjustment and rivals include am zorngs walmart.com, sams club and costco. and twitter is tossing around the idea of ditching the 140 character limit on messages.

recode reports the project is being spearheaded by interim ceo and co-founder jack dorsey. the final version isn't set but some at twitter are in favor by raising the limit by 10 or so characters. >> because those 10 characters are going to make a huge difference. all right, thank you. let's get the latest now on tropical storm joaquin. bill karins is watching it very closely. >> here's more information from the new 5:00 a.m. update from the national hurricane center. there is now a hurricane warning that has been issued for the central bahamas. it was going to be a glancing blow and now it's drifting ever so close. the government has issued a hurricane warning for that area. the hurricane warning because it should intensify. here's the forecast. it's a slow go the next 72 hours. it really should just do like a little bit of a mini loop and a hook here. but notice the intensity, by late tonight, 85 miles per hour, tomorrow morning, 105. up to 110 near category 3. by the time we get to saturday at 2:00 a.m. then the hurricane center agreeing with a lot of the recent trends, it gets captured

by a little area of low pressure. a trough in the southeast. it pulls it back towards the mid-atlantic and that would occur sometime either sunday or possibly sunday night into monday. cone of uncertainty goes from new york city to washington, d.c. to norfolk. huge population centers possibly at risk of a landfalling hurricane. and you can notice all our trends, yesterday it was much more scattered. now it's more towards areas of virginia beach, norfolk, possibly delmarva region. and so that's why the forecast has shifted slightly. but there is one computer, statistically it's our most reliable computer, the european model, and it actually is far away from any other solution, taking it more towards bermuda, and avoiding the mid-atlantic. so it's not etched in stone. it's definitely heading here but we have to watch the trends and if you live in the mid-atlantic now is the time to get your preparations done for hurricane season. that's your supplies. and what you should have had done months ago anyways. >> be prepared but things could change. >> that's right. >> thank you so much. so, who did the pope meet with secretly while in the u.s.?

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the lawyers for kentucky county clerk kim davis claim she privately met with pope francis while he was in washington, d.c. last week. davis was jailed for six days for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses. the pope reportedly gave her two rosaries and encouraged her to, quote, stay strong. now, nbc news cannot confirm that this meeting took place. take you to northern california. cops discovered this van loaded with hundreds of marijuana plants. what were they thinking? the van was pulled over for running a stop sign. the driver and two passengers bolted out to a nearby rice field. eventually the two were caught. but authorities are still searching for that third suspect >> >> fugitive whistle-blower edward snowden joined twitter yesterday. his first tweet was simply, can you hear me now? and people heard him all right. since then he has racked up over 800,000 followers.

interestingly enough, the only twitter account that he's following is the nsa. so have you ever wondered whattist like to dine at the famed hogwarts great hall from the harry potter movies? here's your chance. for chis mass warner brothers studios in london is hosting dinner in the great hall. you can enjoy a two-course dinner and tour for around $340 a person. and in southern california a surfer caught more than a wave. oh, man look at this. he captured this close encounter with a 20 feet gray whale on tuesday. it happened just off the coast of coronado island. so beautiful. all right, get you to sports now. to the bronx we go. one fan trying to impress his lady friend, did everything but. as he bobbled a number of foul balls from his front row seat. over and over again. she finally just puts her hands across her face like she's embarrassed. . the yanks didn't fare any better. the red sox scored six runs in the first inning on the way to a

10-4 pounding of the bronx bombers. clayton kershaw struck out 13 batters in a one-hit shutout. los angeles clinched its third straight national league west title with an 8-0 victory. that eliminated the san francisco giants from playoff contention. and in month claire, new jersey, the funeral for yankee great yogi berra was officiated by cardinal timothy dolan. a plethora of baseball legends attended including longtime friend and former yankee manager joe torre. >> he was so real, he was so loved. friends of mine contacted me when yogi passed to thank me for introducing them to him for being in the same room with him. he affected so many people in such a positive way. >> yogi berra was 90 years old. all right. so which gop candidate has moxie? and is al gore headed for a political relapse? "scrambled politics" is next.

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it's me. no way. i had no clue. just for men gives you a natural gray-free look in just 5 minutes. it looks really good. great looking hair made easy. just for men. 20 minutes past the hour. time for your hump day edition of "scrambled politics." gop presidential candidate rand paul is slamming fellow republican ted cruz during an interview with fox news radio, paul criticized cruz's failed effort to get planned parenthood out of the government funding bill. >> he's pretty much done for and stifled, and it's really because of personal relationships, or lack of personal relationships,

and it is a problem. >> from "usa today," india jeb mcmillan resigns after a sex video emerges. the stay lawmaker resigned yesterday after the indianapolis star newspaper learned that a sexually explicit video was sent from mcmillan's cell phone. he apologized to his contacts saying he lost control of his phone after it was stolen in canada. former vice president al gore sat down for an exclusive interview with msnbc's chris hayes last night. mr. gore who works as a climate change campaigner was asked whether he'd ever get back into politics. >> i've often said perhaps once too often, but i'm a recovering politician, and the longer i go without a relapse, the less likely one becomes. rapper t-pain is weighing in on presidential candidate jeb bush. he shared his thoughts with music website pitch fork. >> jeb bush is underrated. radically underrated. not saying that oh, my god, he has had such a hard life. but look at what he has to

follow. like people don't even buy bush's baked beans anymore. oh, no absolutely not vote for him. no. >> yeah, t-pain as you heard right there, says even though he wouldn't vote for bush he believes the guy's got moxie. if you tuned in for trevor noah's first episode of "the daily show" you weren't alone. the first show got almost exactly the same number of viewers as jon stewart's farewell show. late show host stephen colbert says he tuned in. >> the new "daily show," anybody see that? i did. i saw it. i got to say, it was great. jon stewart is looking tan and rested -- i do not know -- you see it? i don't know where he went on his very indication but he came back with a kind of adorable accent. >> that is your morning dish of "scrambled politics." all right. 22 minutes past the hour. jonathan allen joins me now. he is chief political correspondent for vox which has a partnership with nbc universal. good morning, jonathan. >> good morning, partner.

>> hey, there. all right. so let's talk about bill clinton. he is, wow, he's taking shots at donald trump now over trump's repeated criticism of hillary clinton's record as secretary of state. so is this just what hillary needs to boost her poll numbers, some firepower from her husband? >> it's always hard to tell when bill clinton goes out there and takes shots at people whether he's doing it as part of the a direction from the campaign, or just out there freelancing. i think, you know, at this point i'm not sure there's a whole lot of value for hillary clinton in having a tangle with donald trump, who tends to unload pretty heavily when he gets in fights with people. so i'm not sure exactly what's going on here. but i do think we're going to see more and more of bill clinton on the campaign trail and pretty soon. >> well, let's think about this, though. could trump have met his match with bill clinton? should he become more vocal in hillary's defense? >> you know, i think it's true that bill clinton gives as good as he gets and he's somebody who likes the political fight. maybe not in exactly the way donald trump does, but he's

definitely somebody who can get up for a scrap. so, you know, trump will have to keep his eye on bill clinton as well as all those republican candidates he's been making mincemeat out of. >> speaking of, trump's name calling and no-holds-barred style, you know, really has raised some questions, jonathan. on fox news last night he admitted that in order to win, he would have to change his style and become kinder with his words, given his history. can that be done? can he bite his tongue? i mean, do -- and also do voters really want that? >> i think he's more likely to bite other people's tongues. >> yeah, right? >> but, yeah, look i'm not sure that his voters, you know, want to see him tone it down too much. but i think they understand that if he wants to be the republican nominee he's going to have to do that and obviously he understands it. >> we'll see if he can do it. jonathan, thanks so much for joining us today. always good to see you. >> thank you. >> just ahead, powerball hits a near-record jackpot. did you get your numbers yet? plus a father stops his

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all right. tonight's powerball jackpot a whopping $301 million. that means 191.4 million in a lump sum payout. it is the largest jackpot since february and the odds of winning it, oh, just 1 in 175 million. but don't let that deter you. and a wedding in ohio over the weekend. it had a really interesting surprising twist. the bride's father stopped the ceremony just before he was to walk his daughter down the aisle and instead he grabbed the bride's stepdad so that the two could accompany her down the

aisle together. >> he said, you've worked for this as hard as i have. he said, you deserve this as much as i do. you're going to help us walk our daughter down the aisle. >> i love that one. i'm betty nguyen. this is "first look." "way too early" starts right now. -- mammograms, correct? there's like one or two places that does it. you don't do mammograms? >> if you would give me one moment to explain? >> do you really want to do this? do you really? do you want to align yourselves, the radical extremists who manipulate the facts? >> the apology you offered was like what some criminals do. they're not really sorry for what they've done, they're sorry they got caught. >> so where there's profit centers -- >> i disagree. >> this is my time. so don't interrupt it. >> the disrespect, the misogyny rampant here today tells us what is really going on here.

this isn't about some bogus video. >> the president of planned parenthood gets grilled on capitol hill. this morning she's accusing conservatives of grantstanding. and on the attack, chris christie and marco rubio go after donald trump while the billionaire builder focuses his attacks on rand paul. so how does tom brady fit into all of this? and bill clinton takes a stroll down memory lane recalling all the nice things trump has said about his wife and presidential candidate hillary clinton in the past. it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west, this is "way too early." good morning, it's wednesday, september 30th. i'm jonathan capehart. we begin this morning with that