mostly things happened late today, what's been breaking today in the news is relevant both in terms of policy and very much so in terms of politics. but tonight's news in politics is very different than this morning's news was in politics, because it's just been one of those days when things kept happening to change the narrative. the first thing i should tell you about is we just got news, we just got word that president obama is going to be going to roseburg, oregon this week. he is going on friday. roseburg, oregon, is where the umpqua community college mass shooting was last week. president obama, of course, was visibly angry when he gave remark at the white house a few days ago. in his presidential press conference on friday, president obama went so far as to urge individual americans the combm single issue voters on the issue of gun law reform.

he said with some emotion he is not going to stop talking about this issue, even though it upsets peep when he does. he says something has to be done to change politics around the issue of guns in the united states. he intends to do all he can to do that. now president obama, himself, will be going personally to the site of our nation's latest high profile mass shooting. so that trip on friday to roseburg, oregon, that should put a big public spotlight. not just on the gun's issue, but on the president's effort to change the politics. the political dynamics around gun laws. i think that spotlight is something democrats up to and including the president used to be shy about. democrats used to avoid having to talk about guns, unless they were 100% inline with the nra, like some democrats have. increasingly, we seen over the last three years ago it's more

evident than it has been, increasingly, democrats who do want gun reforms are now not only willing to talk about it. they're very happy to get the spotlight for it. they're happy to get attention for it. i think democrats have finally started to realize however loud the nra is, frankly the public is with democrats on this issue speaking to the extent that democrats do want some reforms around the nation's gun laws. and that changing dynamic in democratic politics over the last few years really coming to a head this year has created on the campaign trail this year some really, really interesting dynamics among democrats. that's, inpart, because of bernie sanders. as a congressman and a senator from the great rural pro hunting state of vermont, bernie sanders took some non-pro gun control votes over the course of his career. he did not support the brady bill, which mandated background checks for people buying guns. he did not support legislation that would let people sue gun manufacturers, the same way that normal companies get sued for

liability when their products hurt people. now, in context, it's not that bernie sanders should be seen as a conservative on the issue of guns, he's not conservative on any issue, including guns. but unlike most other big hot topic issues, where senator sanders is to the left of the typical democrat, he is not to the left of a typical democrat on guns, at least, he hasn't been in the past. >> that makes for some interesting cross currents, now that he is running for president and doing so well for his run as president. weirdly, that's creating interesting room around him, particularly to his left, as democrats try to compete with each other for the favor of the democratic voters. so we got former maryland voter martin o'malley, who has been very aggressive on this guns issue. as a politician, he signed gun reform legislation into law when he was maryland governor. now on the presidential campaign trail, martin o'malley is calling for four specific things to be changed. four specific, easily

understandable, noticeable, big things to change around guns. he wants there to be, number one, licenses for all gun purchases, number two you, he wants anybody buying a gun to be fingerprinted, number three, he wants illegal trafficking of guns to be a federal crime. which means it would be taken much more seriously than it is now t. last. he is proposing is a super interesting proposal, which concerns the purchasing power of the federal government. one of the biggest pushers of firearms in the united states is, obviously, the federal government all sorts of different federal agencies arm people for all different sorts of purposes. martin o'malley is proposing that as a huge purchaser of firearms in this country the next should use that power and only purchase guns from companies who agree to the best technological safety standards for their products, including microstamping. all right. he wants these guns where it's a special treatment of the

firework pin, every bullet essentially as it's fired. the firing pin is scored in a readsable way t. consequence of that is at least theoretically every single bullet from which it's fired. it's basically fingerprinting for guns and ammo. martin o'malley says the federal government only agrees to buy firearms from countries that use that technology and all of a sudden american gun crimes get a lot easier to solve. super interesting proposal from martin o'malley. now, that said, in political terms, martin o'malley cannot get arrested. yes, he is technically running for president. you almost can't tell that by looking at the polls. ppp just unveiled a new national democratic poll tonight. we're going to have more detail on this poll later in the show tonight. because it's fascinating. but one little detail here. ppp decided basically to play a

little joke on the democratic field. they polled on all the various democrats running for president, hillary clinton, martin o'malley, bernie sanders. they also folded into the mix, among other people, michael dukakis. lost to poppy bush by something like 12 points. even so turns out if you put his name into the polls as if he is running for president this year, he beats martin o'malley. yeah. so, that kind of mean, but it happens, you know, if, frankly, reamistically speaking, it does not appear governor martin o'malley is a threat to win the democratic nomination this year. that's not the only reason to run. right? on this guns issue, martin o'malley is being aggressive in a specific way. he is not making the case people should support him for president. this is his platform on guns. he is say, explicitly to the other campaigns and their supporters. you know what, if you don't

support me, if you support bernie sanders for president. you should pressure bernie to support these same ideas on guns. he is saying to hillary clinton supporters, hey, you may not support me for president. you may support hillary clinton for president. if so you should pressure her to support policies on guns. so that is an ernest effort from martin o'malley, not just try to compete for the democratic nomination, which she's trying to compete for, but to make sure that the fact that he's in the race matters. is making the conversation. more substantive, on this policy issue. >> that honestly is how a part of politics is supposed to go. that's a sign of a good race well thought no matter who wins. when people who aren't winning can nevertheless inject substance and specificity where people might otherwise be able to get away with. so, good on martin o'malley. in fact, today, hillary clinton

unveiled her own series of actions she says she could take on guns a. series of actions she says she could take on the guns issue with or without congress. hmm. these new proposals from secretary clinton today significantly ramp up her aggressiveness on this issue. she seems to be very well aware, by saying i can do this without congress. she seems very well aware she is inviting the hysteria the gun lobby is known for. she's not explicitly saying, bring it on. it's clear that democrats, including hillary clinton, are starting to see the gun lobby being mad at them as more a badge of pride than something to worry about anymore. also, what hillary clinton has just done -- this is fascinating -- she has just specifically put the obama white house in a really interesting position. because, yes, martin o'malley put forward specific policies he wants. that's interesting. bernie sanders has this record he comes from the left. not particularly on gun issues. so he has stuff to answer.

what hillary clinton has done, it's fascinating because how it sets her up vis-a-vis the president. with these new policy proposals hillary clinton has come out with. if she is right that these are all things that can be done by a president with or without congress. well that raises the question of whether president obama could do these things now, too, if he wanted to. i mean, president obama is obviously very fired up on this issue of gun reform. he has already taken a bunch of executive actions on issues like research around guns around reporting requirements and other things that he could do without congress. but as hillary clinton has now identified the series of newly aggressive things, a president could do alone on enforcing the gun laws in this country. by rolling out that list of policies right now, secretary clinton may not have just changed the conversation around her own campaign, she could conceivably move american policy on this issue right now.

even before she is nominated let alone i elected. if the obama whoudz says, oh, yeah, some of those things could be done, if she's right, president obama should tell us why he's not doing them, himself. fascinating. so, that was the news late tonight. president obama going to roseburg, oregon this week. we don't know exactly what he is going to do there. but the politics around the intractable issue have just very quickly gotten way more specific and way more interesting. and on the subject of democrats becoming less afraid of attacking to the left, hillary clinton's move in that direction surprisingly, i think, was also manifest in her appearance on "saturday night live" this weekend. i mean, i love me some political comedy political comedy very rarely makes policy news, though, right? but in thist request saturday

night live" skit the conceit was hillary clinton was a normal person, a bartender val, val is having a conversation with hillary clinton. so it's hillary clinton talking with herself. the real hillary talking to a hillary impersonator. it's hard to wrap your head around until you see it. it ends up being, a, very funny, b, a really interesting way for secretary clinton to make some public apologies. for having taken so long to get to where she is now on issues like the keystone pipeline and on the issue of gay marriage. i think this is her way of saying on "saturday night live," listen, you guys, sorry it took me so long to get it out there. >> let's go ahead. i will have one more drink. hey, bartender, keep them coming. [ cheers ]

>> rough night? >> yeah, you could say that. whew. hi, i'm hillary rodham clinton. >> hey, great name. i'm val. so hillary, what brings you here tonight? >> well, i needed to blow off some steam i've had a hard couple of 22 years. >> why, what do you do for a liveing? >> first, i'm a grandmother, second, i am a human entrusted with there one green earth. >> oh, i get it, you're a politician? >> yes. yes. and how about you? >> well, me, i'm just an ordinary citizen who believes the keystone pipeline will destroy our environment. >> i agree with you there. it did take me a long time to decide that. but i am against it.

>> you know nothing wrong with taking your time. what's important is getting it right. >> yeah, i'm drink to that. >> hi, mrs. clinton. i'm so sorry to intruchlt i wanted to say my sister is gay, thank you for all you have done for gay marriage. >> well, you are welcome. >> it really is great hong you have supported day marriage. >> yes. i could have supported it sooner. >> well, you did it pretty soon. >> yeah. it could have been sooner. >> fair point. >> well, then let us tap our fists in friendship. oh, vam, i'm just so darn bummed, all anyone wants to talk about is donald trump. >> donald trump, isn't he the one that's like, uh, you're all losers?

>> that is him, that is him. >> do you think he'll win the primaries? >> he must. i want to be the one to take him down. i will destroy his hair in the oval office! >> hillary clinton and doppelganger on "saturday night live" there aren't issues other than same-sex marriage and i don't know if anyone has a donald trump impression better than hers. >> that skit on "saturday night live" is how secretary clinton is apologizing for how long it took her to get to some of her new liberal positions on some new high profile issues like keystone and marriage. it's also incidentally the best political skit i seen on "saturday night live" in a long time. in terms of the other democratic candidates, though, i am told there is a lot going on right now and there is.

vice president biden, of course, has not said whether or not he will jump into the democratic race for president. he and secretary clinton gave dualing or if you prefer complimentary appearances before the human rights campaign this weekend. that's the gay rights group. both of them r7 very, very -- were very, very warmly received. >> that comes at a whole new round of unsourced by breastless speculation that vice president biden will declare soon, this week, maybe, that he is going to get into the race, maybe. i tend to not believe these stories, or pay too much attention to them when they come out every few day, only because they come out every few days and the only sources to talk about why joe biden is going to run for president are people who definitely want joe wide on the run for president. so these people that don't know anything, nevertheless, give these blind quotes to the media, making it sound like a cartoon run. they want to persuade him to run through the press. discuss any of that mean he is

going to run? absolutely not. but in that context, i have a new actual piece of data to give you with a name attached. it's about whether or not vice president biden will run as president. as i said, this is a new piece of actual information. it has a name t. name is -- the reverend al sharpton. our beloved reverend al has just started his new weekend show sunday morning, at 8:00 on msnbc. this weekend in addition to getting his new show off the ground, reverend al had a birthday. happy birthday, reverend sam. i can now hereby report that even though vice president biden and the reverend al sharpton have known each other for a while, that i have spoken personally on several occasions. ki hereby report this weekend for the first time ever in the natural lifetime of the reverend al sharpton, vice president biden called him to wish him a happy birthday. which might just be a nice. to do.

it might also mean that vice president wide isn't definitely running for president and wants to court the reverend al's support. so, therefore, he called him on his birthday as a political -- i don't know. i don't know and neither do you. but now we both know that that information exists. and while maybe candidate joe biden was delivering those birthday wishes to reverend al and giving a campaign style speech at the human rights campaign, on the weekend, bernie sanders wost was holding spectacularly well attended campaign rallies in the deep blue state of massachusetts. out where i live in springfield, mass the campaign had been telling the press that they were expecting two to 3,000 people to turn out for an event at the mass mutual center in springfield, mass. >> that event on saturday did to the turn out 2 or 3,000 people. it turned out 6,000 people. people were so enthusiastic that a local reporter for the springfield republican newspaper called the crowd, quote, deafening.

after that rally in western massachusetts for 6,000 people. senator sanders drove east for a rally that drew one of the largest crowds that any candidate has had in any venue, anywhere in the country since the whole start of the race. there were 20,000 people saturday night crammed into the boston convention center to see bernie sanders. the campaign says they counted another 4,000 people on on the of that outside the convention center. people in the overflow who couldn't get into the building t. boston globe noted today the previous crowd record in massachusetts before now was barack obama in 2008 who turned out 10,000 people in boston. if bernie sanders, in fact, turned out 24 hour,000 in boston. that means he not only beat barack obama's record from eight years ago, he more than doubled it. >> that said, to be fair. senator sanders is from new england, he's from a neighboring state. he's been a fixture invert politics forever.

vermont and massachusetts are close. but geographically and culturally on the left, maybe you can think of these huge springffield and boston crowds as kind of hometown crowds for bernie sanders. sort of. maybe we should think of it that way. and you know, to be fair, maybe any presidential candidate appearing before a home town crowd at this point in the race could be counted on to turn out thousands or tens of thousands of people at this point hometown, right? any of them can do too, couldn't they? of course not. for one other republican presidential candidate this time, who is hoping to be president but who had the saddest possible experience at home this weekend and that story is ahead. stay with us.

>> so rand paul went home to kentucky this weekend to do a home state event alongside the republican candidate for governor in kentucky. that governor's race in kentucky is next month. so rand paul and mat itself bevin, the gubernatorial candidate in kentucky, they did a joint campaign appearance on saturday in kentucky, big home state event in the heat of the campaign. the presidential candidate in person and everything. they got a grand total of -- 50 people to turn out to see them and at that event which the local people called subdued, ran paul could not get himself a presidential endorsement from the guy he was there with. >> reporter: presidential candidate rand paul endorsing bevin days after bevin says he supports ben carson in the presidential race. >> it's immaterial to me. it's also something i understand. i mean, there are going to be people i know well who may not score me for the presidency.

>> senator rand paul talking to local cbs affiliate wkyt. there is a lot going on right now, particularly today, that i think is fascinating on the democratic side, butten the orepublican side of the race, the continuing questions continue to be about the bottom of the field who is going to quit next. how the field is going to win down. rand paul is teetering on the brink of perceived viability. headlines about his campaign right now look like this. a political liar, paul says he's not quitting. the rand paul campaign insists he's not folding tent t. hometown paper, when they covered his sad trombone 50 person rally, rand paul had to patiently explain to the local reporters from that paper, no, no, he was not planning on dropping out of the race. there is a real question, know, as to whether or not he's going

to make the main debate stage at the next republican debate, which is coming up in colorado. it's going to be aired by cnbc. politico.com now saying if you look at the polls being used to qualify people for that debate. if you add up the qualifying polls for that debate right now, as best they can tell, you would need two respondent. two actual individual people to change their mind about rand paul. two people changing their minds would be enough for him to go from making the debate to him not making the debate. two people. he is right on the bubble. so this is a fascinating time. the republican party just tonight released the schedule of wendell gats are going to be awarded in the race for the republican presidential nomination. it's basically the map of when the republican race is going to be decided. it turns out, as expected, the republican party has decided to stack all the delegates super, super early in the process. i mean, look at this. this is devastating. they're going to do 133 delegates in february. look at march. more than 1,400 delegates t.

rest then drizzle out over the next couple of months. the republican party wants this over. they have stacked their presidential nominating process this year so that it will all be decided very early. they very clearly want this. wrapped up by march. and for some republican candidates. >> that may be good news. but for most of them, that means it's going to wrap up way, way, way earlier than that. watch this space. whoo-wee, you really know how to speed up your clean up! oh, hello race car driver. in my kitchen... it's these bounty with dawn multi-purpose cleaning towels. long-lasting power of dawn. in an ultra-durable bounty?

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frankly, deadly rainfall, the deluge has claimed two lives in north carolina as of this evening, south carolina officials say 11 people have been killed in that state. the rain has come partly from hurricane joaquin, partly from a local storm that would not quit. south carolina governor nikki haley warning as water makes its way through the mid-lands of the low country to the sea, lakes in those areas will swell. they are formed by dams now straining to hold the water. below those dams are communities faced with the threat of yet more flooding if those dams get layered or breached. ground zero for the few flooding is the capital city of columbia, which got six months worth of rain in two days. that deluge has already submerged parts of suburban south carolina, five people, almost half the deaths from this storm in that state have already died here in this area. all of them in their cars. all of them flooding caused directly by rain. but again this area is also a part of 70 mile long network of dams and lakes and streams,

which eventually empty into the congary river. since saturday, eight or nine dam versus given way across the state. three here in the water shed. you see a dam breaks near the top of this lake system, this overfilled lake rushes down into the next lake. then another dam brakes and so on and so on. all eyes right now, we are told, are on the forest lake dam the forest lake dam breaks, the second largest lake in that whole watershed will flow down into lake katherine. if lake katherine's 3,000 foot dam breaks that, could be a seriously major disaster. 200,000 people live in that watershed. columbia, south carolina, has been the scene of dramatic rescues all day today. mandatory evacuations are under way around those local lakes, of course, everybody is hoping we have seen the end of these dams being breached and getting dploen blown. joining us now is msnbc correspondent, what are you

seeing, what's the latest that you know? >> reporter: well, rachel, there were some very tense moments this afternoon. we were actually in a neighborhood where residents had recently been allowed back in to take stock of their homes, see what was salvageable. they were inside their homes when the news came that a dam upstream had broken and people needed to evacuate immediately. and this is what officials were dealing with. this chain reaction of dam breaches. you know, one would breach the without walled travel down the next one wouldn't be able to handle that sort of pressure and so on and so forth. these are earthen dams. as you can see behind me the water knocking out the dams, but asphalt, a foot layer thick tossed away like it was nothing. you know, south carolina, they were supposed to have dodged the

bullet. hurricane joaquin, but, instead, got the devastating flooding. the main issue right now here in columbia is that the drinking water is contaminated. that was a huge issue earlier today. five hospitals in the area were reporting that they were in trouble because of this. luckily fire fighters were able to reach them. they think they can keep them sustained. >> that is a small sigh of relief. some residents without water. some people without electricity. there is also search teams going door-to-door checking for people who may have been trapped and clearing those properties. meanwhile, looking forward, rivers and streams still expected to swl r swell as the water makes its way down here to the mid-lands, down from these affected areas. once that water level goes down, they're still not out of the woods yet. these roads, these bridges,

these dams, need to be instructed for structural integrity. the governor had it right when she said this is a long term recovery. back to you. >> sarah, thank you for being with us. i appreciate it. it is remarkable in these circumstance when there is so much infrastructure involved that once the rain stops falling, it doesn't necessarily mean the damage the rick has passed. so in south carolina, while we saw that dramatic rescue efforts today, you know, the rescue teams are still working. the inspections are still happening. potentially further dams could go. this is something that it's going to be hard to tell when it's resolved. it will be a lot of digging out over a very long period of time a. lot of infrastructure rebuilding necessary in south carolina when this is all over. scary stuff. all right, ahead, the democrats now playing offense, republicans are apparently running out of reasons to continue their favorite partisan sxht in congress. it's creating all sort of ripments across all sorts of politics. details on that ahead. stay with us. is your head so congested it's ready to explode?

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still ahead tonight... >> in the past few years alone, i have visited poland, hungary, estonia, russia and georgia. >> congressional republicans are now facing a full blown mess in their quest to find a new speaker of the house. lucky for us, that mess turns out to be even more fun and unpredictable than that fateful last visit of congressman kevin mccarthy to hungary. stay with us.

>> in the past few years alone, i have visited poland, hungary.

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the classic age of beauty, right? the problem is, what you are looking at is not from the 1980s, this is today. this is the system used be i the united states secret service right now in 2015, to store the kind of very sensitive information that the secret service has access to. in march of this year, they are diglously antiquated system, without the plot to smear a member of congress. on march 24ing this year, the director of the se dret service was testifying about a pair of his agents being drunk and crashing a secret service vehicle right into a bomb scare investigation at the white house, well, that system was going on the secret service director was grilled on capitol hill. number of secret service agents decided to access that 1980s looking system and fixed out one of the members of congress raking the secret service director over the coles that day, that congressman had himself once applied to become a secret service agent. wouldn't you know it. he didn't make the cut. he was rejected. ha ha. dozens of secret service agents

accessed that information in violation of agency policy and the law. they shared that information with each other. then they decided to share it wider. an assistant director of the se cred service e-mailed the colleague some information he might find embarrassing needs to get out, just to be fair. and that information did get out, showing he had been rejected be i the secret service. that information, was, in fact, leaked to the press. which is terrible. around it's yet another scandal for the secret service a particularly stupid and scandal but a scandal nonetheless. the director is not implicated. he is aid mitding he learned about it earlier than he told investigators he learned about it. the director is apparently not going to lose his job over the scandal, though. he appeared today alongside his boss, homeland secretary jay johnson.

he said of the secret service director, quoted, he has a lot of confidence in him but the person secret service was trying to smear, the person they were going after in this stupid rand petty scandal. >> that person in congress might be the next speaker of the house. congressman jason chavits, he in turn had them leak information to try to embarrass him. if he becomes speaker, that would put him two heart beats away from the presidency and, of course the secret service protection that comes with that job eek. so he might be speaker of the house. he might not. still very much a dark horse candidates. since john boehner resigned as speaker, the man everyone expected to replace him is kevin mccarthy. he is definitely the front runner for the speaker job. jason chavitz is now running

against him, in part, because of the awkward fact that very frequently when congressman mccarthy opens his mouth near a microphone, he makes no sense. >> it defied belief that the president would allow the ban on iranian oil exports to be lifted. and also stand by russia black mails an entire continent. all the while keeping the place of the band on america. >> stand by russia black males an entire krnths all the while keeping the place on the band of america. today jason chavitz went after that weakness in kevin mccarthy saying the republicans need to elect a speaker who quote speaks. now there is no, more bad news for congressman kevin mccarthy the still house speaker john boehner the actual vote on who the new speaker will be won't take place until the end of october. the reason that's trouble is this.

house republicans will vote on thursday, this week, for who they want to be their nominee nor speaker. they presumably will nominate kevin mccarthy. it will be three long weeks after that until the actual vote on the house floor takes place to install him in the job. three weeks. three weeks for that candidate to twist in the wind as the choice of the establishment while anyone unhappy with that choice for any reason gets to take shots at him. any normal candidate in a position like this might try to play offense for that three week period. take to the air waves, be the speaker in waiting. get out there in public. do a lot of public speaking. defend yourselves. stake-out our grounds, if you are kevin mccarthy near a microphone is enemy territory. so it is unclear how he, in particular, is going to make the case for himself against the slings and arrows that inevitably will be coming his way as they leave him out there as not yet the speaker for three solid weeks. >> that is the plan the house republicans have drawn up.

>> that is the mess the republicans have made entirely for themselves in walk right now. but it's not the only mess, because now the democrats have just decided to make things 100 times harder for the republicans in walk right now, usually for the democrats. they're doing it. >> that story is next.

nbc news asked hillary clinton about the issue of benghazi today and the house republican benghazi committee that has been investigating that scandal, supposed scandal. hillary clinton's response to the question was kind of surprising and very passionate. >> you mentioned your republican rivals making hey of them. right. i have to ask you, if the tables were turned and it was dig cheney or carl rove who had a private e-mail account or server on which they conducted all their government business, would you be as understanding? >> i would have never done that. look at the situation they chose to exploit to go after me for political reasons.

the death of four americans in benghazi. i knew the ambassador. i identified him. i asked him to go there. i asked the president to nominate him. there have been seven investigations led mostly by republicans in the congress and they were non-partisan and they reached conclusions that, first of all, i and nobody did anything wrong but there were changes we could make. this committee was set up as they have admitted for the purpose of making a partisan political issue out of the deaths of four americans. i would have never done that and if i were president, and there were republicans or democrats who were thinking about that, i would have done anything to shut it down. i have been around this political situation for a long time. but some things are just beyond the pale. i'm happy to go if it still is in operation to test i am happy to turn over my e-mails. >> i'm happy to go if if committee is still in operation. politics of the house benghazi committee have changed since the

lead-in republican candidate kevin mccarthy admitted openly that the committee was created by house republicans to lower hillary clinton's poll numbers. republicans had called this a serious credible non-partisan investigation into the attack on benghazi diplomatic post in 2012. even as information they said would be kept secret has been leaked on a regular basis to the press always in ways that seem designed specifically to try to hurt hillary clinton. well now, democrats on the committee are going on offense about that. today the five democrats on that committee sent a letter to the chairman of the committee saying they plan to release previously undisclosed testimony that was given to that committee by one of hillary clinton's top aides, cheryl mills. cheryl mills testified for eight hours before the committee last month and after that testimony the chairman, trey gowdy said that testimony would be treatt as if it were testified. well, fought really.

as soon as she was done testifying, parts of it were leaked from the committee. parts of it seemed again to make hillary clinton look as bad as possible. well, now, the democrats are threatening to release that testimony in full to the american people, basically turning to go on offense on story on which the republicans have been on shaky ground for quite some time but now they're in a position almost unimaginable months ago because of what their speaker in waiting has just admitted about what they are doing here. joining me is adam schekt. against chairman trey gowdy's differences. >> good to be here. >> why threaten to release that full testimony? why warn the chairman that are you about to do that? what's the goal? >> well, the goal is to really

set the record straight. we have experienced over the last 16 months that this committee has been in existence, select leaks by the committee, be i the chairman, not withstanding all the promises to work in a bipartisan way, not to leak information. even as information they said would be kept secret has been leaked on a regular basis to the press the last few months always in ways that seem designed specifically to try to hurt hillary clinton. well now democrats on the committee are going on offense about that. today the five democrats who are on that me sent a letter to the chairman of the committee saying they plan to release previously undisclosed testimony that was given to that committee by one of hillary clinton's top aides, cheryl mills. cheryl mills testified for eight hours before the committee last month. and after that testimony, the chairman, trey gowdy, said that

information, that testimony would be treated, "as if it were classified." well, not really because as soon as she was done testifying, parts of it were leaked from the committee. parts of it that seemed, again, clearly designed to make hillary clinton look as bad as possible. well, now the democrats are threatening to release that testimony in full to the american people basically turning to go on offense on story on which the republicans have been on shaky ground for quite some time. now they're in a position almost unimaginable months ago because of what their speaker in waiting has just admitted about what they're doing. joining us in los angeles, well, not really because as soon as she was done testifying, parts of it were leaked from the committee. parts of it that seemed, again, clearly designed to make hillary clinton look as bad as possible. well, now the democrats are threatening to release that testimony in full to the american people basically turning to go on offense on story on which the republicans have been on shaky ground for quite some time.

>> if chairman gowdy, you were telling him, not asking him. if he decides to stop you from doing this, is there anything he can do to stop you, can he say you're breaking a rule then pun issue somehow in a way that might make you not do this? >> no, there isn't. if he has some argument that some part of the interview is so sensitive it should be released, we'll listen to what he has to say. no, there's nothing that will prohibit us from doing this. frankly, there are many other interviews that all should be published. some like cindy blumenthal, a deposition, different rules and may be prevent from unilaterally making a disclosure, but if they're going to continue to do this, they released selective e-mails they wanted published but not others, released e-mails about the witness but not the witness' testimony about the e-mails. >> when secretary clinton raised the prospect the committee might not exist by the time she's due to testify to them on october 2 2nd, will the committee end some time soon? >> it's a possibility the democrats will end the participation. we have a debate at the outset whether we should participate at all. i took the position we shouldn't, this should be in effect what it has become, solely about trying to attack secretary clinton. now, there were good reasons to be in the room and frankly if we hadn't been in the room, we wouldn't be in the position to be releasing this transcript to be setting the record straight. so it was a tough call, but at the same time, our continued participation gives this committee a patina of respectability it doesn't deserve. and at a certain point we may just decide there's nothing productive for us to be part of this charade. >> congressman adam schiff from here in southern california, thank you for your time tonight. >> thanks, rach. >> good to get your take on this. we'll be right back. stay with us.

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if you think of the most difficult places in the world, the most challenging and frustrating and dangerous and at times god-forsaken places in the world, one of those places got a break this weekend. a real change. and that story's next. it has been 12 1/2 years

sure! i offer multi-car, safe driver, and so many other discounts that people think i'm a big deal. and boy, are they right. ladies, i can share hundreds in savings with all of you! just visit progressive.com today. but right now, it's choosing time. ooh! we have a winner. all: what? [chuckles] he's supposed to pick one of us. this is a joke, right? that was the whole point of us being here.

it has been 12 1/2 years since the george w. bush

administration decided to launch the invasion of iraq. that precipitated a lot of things. hundreds of thousands of iraqis lost their lives. saddam hussein is dead and gone. shiites are in charge of the iraqi government now instead of sunnis. nation of iran has unprecedented influence and power in iraq and throughout that whole region. the sunni terrorist group isis now controls the major iraqi cities of mosul and ramadi. iraq is nowhere near to recover what the u.s.-led war and its aftermath did to iraqi infrastructure and basic stuff like getting electricity to the average iraqi household. one of the day-to-day things in iraq that started with the launch of that war 12 1/2 years ago that's been true since that war was launched is you can't drive through the middle of iraq's capital city. this whole big central swath of baghdad was christened the green zone at the start of the war. it houses the u.s. embassy. fancy housing for the protected class. regular iraqis haven't been able to go there for more than 12

years now. until this weekend. this weekend the iraqi prime minister threw open the gates. the prime minister, himself, came down to one main entrance the green zone and waved at people as they drove in welcoming them to this part of their own city they've been kept out of for all these years. and at one level, it is just simply a blessing and a relief for baghdad's spectacularly terrible traffic. at another level, though, as u.s. air strikes continue in iraq against isis and the u.s. military fighting against the taliban ticks back up ininnd th administration might not bring home america's 10,000 troops in afghanistan next year. as we get another day of news today that feels like the wars never end, today a little practical piece of the american war in their country just ended for iraqis. and maybe it will only make taxi rides more direct and maybe it will be a security nightmare.

this weekend, it means they have a little bit more of their own country back to themselves under their own control. godspeed. "first look" is up next. it's tuesday, october 6th. right now on "first look," see the utter despair. the death toll rises, and residents of the carolinas desperately try to get out from under historic flooding. there are new details surrounding u.s. involvement in the deadly airstrikes on a doctors without borders hospital in afghanistan. an unexpected emergency as the captain of a packed american airlines red eye becomes incapacitated. plus a monday night controversy on the gridiron. the 2016 political front-runners are gaining more attention. and an angry mob rips the shirts right off the backs of their bosses. "first look" starts right now. good morning, everybody, thanks so much for waking up with us today i'm betty nguyen. so it is not over yesterday. amid full-scale