devastation in south carolina. mounting death toll and more evacuations expected as rivers crest after the rain. we're live on the ground. mistakenly struck. the top u.s. general in afghanistan grilled by the senate today on the deadly u.s. air strike on a hospital in afghanistan. i'll auk to a senator who was at that hearing. and 2016, a new report adds to the mystery over joe biden's presidential decision and motivation. we start, though, with that historic storm that slammed the carolinas, the rain is thankfully over today in south carolina. but floodwaters are moving toward lower ground. officials are warning those flowing waters are creating new dangers and could trigger more evacuations. 14 people so far have been killed there. 2,200 national guard troops have been deployed. they're patrolling roads, sandbagging vulnerable ayeahs. officials say multiple dams breached in the state since the flooding began. earlier today, south carolina

governor nikki haley spoke about the volatile situation. >> we're starting to see that the mid lands now that the water starts to move down to the low country and we are extremely careful. we are watching this minute by minute. there are people on the ground giving us feedback so if we're not in the air looking at it ourselves, we have engineers on the ground. multiple dams have failed but i'll tell you that we went through a map this morning and we continue to go, we know exactly where we need to be looking at. we know exactly the critical areas that they are. and we also know what needs to be done. the national guard is ready and on stand-by and d.o.t. to do that. >> let's go to kerry sanders on the ground in south carolina. at least the sun is out. >> reporter: kate, it is a really strange mix because you have blue skies and a sunny day and you have folks doing like the reading family here bringing

as much of the destroyed pieces of their home out here to eventually be collected and yet there is that threat which is a quarter mile from here a dam that could give way. so as i walk around here and make my way in front of this ever-growing pile, take a look at the drone that we have here now. airborne behind the house. it's all dry in front. out back see the water. the water levels dropped and still at record highs and as the drone brings its camera around, you can see how close it is to the homes here so you get a general idea of where the water is and how it continues to be a threat even though the water levels are dropping. that's because the dam up there could give way. now, there are a lot of people in this neighborhood that are cleaning up. and so, what they're all doing is they're hanging on to their cell phones with a loud alert to tell them it's time to get out. it's gone off at least twice

today. people scramble. and then word it was a false alarm. they say the water would rise two a minute and people would have to scramble. kate? >> that's got everybody on edge there. thanks so much. now sarah dallof in columbia, south carolina, as well. nur a different part of town. you have been with residents all day. >> reporter: a different part of town, kate, bah very similar scene as residents here near little lake katherine begin to take stock of what they can salvage and what's never lost. belongings out here, spraying them off. you can see water from the lake still creeping up on to the shores. the water levels receding and not all the way. as the sun comes out and we get a few minutes the kind of take a breath and hearing incredible stories of survival. i want to bring in sarah and her boyfriend austin.

sarah was home when the water started to rise. you got in your boat with your dad and came over here. what did you do? >> about 6:00 a.m. we woke up to sideways rain and it was crazy. and we didn't know what to do. we looked out and the yard was quickly flooding so we got on the lake as soon as we could and helped out a boat already out there and we ended up seeing sarah, they called us smelling gas and got them as soon as we could. >> you actually pulled your boat up to the back door and didn't stop at the yard? straight up to the house? >> yeah. i would hit in summer and it's two feet in front of her house and i was about 11 feet and about 6 feet in her backyard and i was easily just came right up to the back porch and got her. >> sarah, that water came up very quickly. >> yes. really quickly. it was at like the windows of my tahoe and rapids in my driveway around the cars. >> reporter: you said you began to realize -- >> it was real.

>> it was serious? >> yes, ma'am. >> reporter: when you saw austin pull up in the boat with his dad, what went through your mind? >> it was a relief. i knew it would be coming in the house. wanted to get out as soon as possible. >> reporter: you have a huge cleanup project. i thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> reporter: kate, some stories of rescue, stories of good deeds and humanitarians out here as cleanup continues in columbia. back to you. >> all right. people looking out for each other. thank you so much. let's bring in the mayor now of columbia, south carolina, steve benjamin. mayor benjamin, we spoke with you yesterday by phone and glad to see you and things look a little better today but give us the latest. are you concerned about people having a place to go? >> absolutely. you know, thank you again for helping us get the word out across the world. we are concerned about our people. our first priority has been the reservation of life. second priority is helping our people maintain some quality of

life while we rebuild, making sure they have shelter, food, water. we worked every single day to make sure that happens closely with our local colleagues, state colleagues and those in the federal level, as well. we have to make sure our folks have potable wert and rebuilding the infrastructure quickly, roads, bridges, infrastructure has become a major issue. things are moving along very well here. people are working along very well. our first responders, army national guard, fort jackson, everyone's been doing a great job. firefighters have kept our hospitals running strong, delivering over half a million gallons of water for the hospitals over the last few days. we're working well. we are working well together. it's important although the sun's out for constituents, citizens to know that we are not out of the woods yet. there's a lot of work to be done and we are on our way in the right direction. >> we're looking on the left side of your screen there, mr. mayor, pictures of a drone up

above your city and see the standing water. the south carolina emergency management division today sent out a tweet saying floodwaters carry viral and bacterial infections with the risk of drowning. keep kids and pets away. so as you say, mr. mayor, you are not out of the woods yet and people need to be careful about that water. >> absolutely. we need to continue to operate at the highest level of gravity. understanding that all types of diseases and bacteria lurk in this water. now the water's receding, i think people have a false sense of security. do not have them -- let's preserve and protect public health. we, of course, take an extraordinary measures the last two days of instituting a curfew. it is a bit more lenient tonight and still a mandatory curfew 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. making sure folks not first responders,

medical profession sols, folks working to put the utility lines back up, stay off the streets. it is in owl after our collective best interest and hopefully people abide by the curfew. >> we were looking up figures and i'm curious of flood insurance and by our count, looks like under 10% of your population actually had flood insurance. is that your understanding and what are folks going to do to rebuild if they didn't have insurance? >> well, it is a snant challenge. obviously, usually this far inland we are not on the coast and rare to find folks with flood insurance. we sat down with the county council chairman and the governor, we're going to try, of course, to do every single thing we can to leverage federal resources for the people here of columbia and richland county and mid lands of south carolina and working with private sector partners making sure that we

leave no stone unturned to make sure that the folks you're watching, see the drones and lives significantly impacted, making sure we do every single we can to get people's lives back on track. >> we wish you all the very best. the mayor of columbia, south carolina, steve benjamin joining us again, thank you. >> thank you. now to the increasingly search for survivors and answers from that missing cargo ship in the bahamas. that the hour, a team from the ntsb is headed to florida on a mission to find out what went wrong. 33 people were on board. most of them americans. no survivors have been found yet. and the coast guard believes the ship sank after getting caught in hurricane joaquin. well, today, family members are asking why that ship left port in the first place. >> why did they let them go with the storm being like this? it doesn't make any sense. they should have just kept them home or wherever they were and waited for it, you know, all of this to be over and then ship them out.

people been upset about that. >> it's in god's hands and they all like what they were doing and, you know, but like i said, i don't think the boat should have went out there when they knew it was a tropical hurricane. >> i believe that he's fighting with everything that he has in him. if this there's a fight to be fought, he's fighting. he is a fighter. >> joining us now, nbc's mark potter. mark, when's the latest on the search? >> reporter: well, the search is clearly under way an it's -- a lot of assets are being put toward it. i got a list from the coast guard in miami. they have three coast guard cutters out there, three commercial tugs supplied by the maritime company. the navy has put a surveillance aircraft out there. two air force c-130s, two coast guard c-130s and a coast guard helicopter. they have a lot of people in place out there trying to find survivors. that's all they're looking for.

so far, no word that any survivor has been found. overall, they have searched an area oo that's bigger than the state of california but now they're focusing in on two debris fields where they found some rescue equipment in the last day or so. hoping to find survivors but again, no such luck. families here are waiting for word. they get daily briefings and they veal a briefing tonight from the ntsb, as well. >> to remind the viewers, one body found wearing some kind of lifesaving kind of suit, right in there is a chance someone's throughout in a rescue suit. >> reporter: yeah. they found one suit with a remains inside. they found another suit with no evidence of anyone being inside. they also found a rescue boat that was smashed. they found a raft. they have found life vests and life rings. nobody attached. that's all considered bad news to be honest with you by the coast guard because you would

hope that people would be clinging to those things and they're not. as time progresses, the coast guard becomes increasingly worried about the situation. they're still searching. they're searching in full. but it's been five days since that last call from the ship on thursday and as time passes, the search becomes a little more december approximate. >> right. mark potter in florida, thank you. up next, 2016 and the joe biden question. will he run? now reporting today has a lot of people talking about what biden's motivations might be. and later, a major admission from the top u.s. general in afghanistan, grilled at a senate hearing on the u.s. air strike on a hospital there. i'll talk to senator joe manchin who was at that hearing. in veryk twice. with 1% when you buy and 1% as you pay. with two ways to earn on purchases, it makes a lot of other cards seem one sided.

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today the office of the vice president joe widbiden is pushi back hard on a politico article saying he leaked words of beau's dying wish for him to run for president reported in august by maureen dowd. today a spokesperson for the vice president tells nbc news the bottom line on the politico story is that it is categorically false and the characterization is offensive. joining me now, moderator of "meet the press" chuck todd and steve kornacki here in the studio. i don't know where to begin. all day long it's been this back and forth of people sending us comments and trying to bat this story down. chuck, let's start with you. what is your read at this hour? >> well, i think it's important. there is no denial for what it's worth that the vice president was maureen dowd's source. that's not been -- that is not been part of the specific denial

in this. let's set this aside. i think this is a dangerous game to get into journalism trying an out a source. it becomes a rabbit hole thing. i obviously -- the vice president's office is very sensitive to this charge and certainly they took it as a shot across the bow. >> right. >> and it does fit with a larger thing that is going on behind the scenes in talking to people that i know close to this situation which is there are now people trying to convince the vice president not to do this. there are plenty of people encouraging him and now people doing their best at this last minute to try to discourage him and who knows if this is part of that campaign? >> for people that maybe didn't read the whole politico story what the office seems to be most upset is the stone of this afghanistan. >> they likened it to joe biden placing an ad. i think that's the term they used in here. essentially saying, look, he got

in touch with maureen dowd, "new york times," and exploited his son's death and i think what chuck is saying and no denial of the source. i think if you read it carefully at the time there was strong suspicion that this came from joe biden and vivid descriptions of conversations between joe biden and his son whether's now deceased. there were thoughts, specific thoughts attributed to joe biden without any, you know, this came from this source or that source. just stating as a fact this is what joe biden was thinking and sorts of things in journalism you don't print unless it's from the direct source itself and there's reason to suspect that and potentially a much more innocent way of looking at this. look, if maureen dowd got him on the phone, got a meeting with him, we know joe biden. he likes to talk. you listen to him on stephen colbert's show talking about his son, hitz thoughts all over the place. one anecdote to one thought to a

memory. you can see in the course of talking to him for an hour, an hour and a half, a lot of stuff will come out. >> there's a new york magazine report today saying that basically the clinton campaign working on opposition research just in case joe biden gets in the race. >> sure they are. >> that's not unexpected. >> they get ready a lot and there's an important thing that happened today about the clinton campaign sending a message to biden. they released the leadership teams in three crucial states tworks of them which are very big in swing states. colorado, virginia and minnesota. here's what's interesting. basically the leadership teams are every known democrat that is worth their salt in colorado, virginia and minnesota. is on team hillary. including people that were with obama and not clinton eight years ago. michael bennet. john hingenlooper.

tim cain and i believe all obama people. a very to me not so subtle reminder to team biden. guess what. even the obama folks of eight years ago are on the clinton bandwagon. good luck finding people to help you in the key states. >> chuck, let me ask you a follow-up question on that and something i'm thinking about here for a while and trying to came out what joe biden in the race. you talk about bl people enforcing him. i wonder about obama himself. no expectation if joe biden gets in next week and endorses him but down the road can you see a scenario sometime in january, february if biden were to win one of the early states or something to actually get an obama endorsement? >> i would say the only scenario is if it looks like biden has a 50/50 shot. and that it sort is an obama would be what would help put him over the top. he is loyal enough to biden to do that. but he's not going to i think

endorse early. i think, you know, he owes the clintons a lot. he owes bill clinton a lot in particular for the summer of 2012 and there is a real personal friendship that has developed between the president and the former secretary of state. they have -- there's a better bond there than some people realize. no bond between the two presidents but a real bond between those two so i think only in a scenario where it looks like the vice president has a shot at this nomination would i see the president doing this. >> two of them supposed to have lunch today at the white house not that i'm reading -- not that i'm reading into it. just saying, chuck. how about timing to both of you? you're both talking to sources. do we have any sense of when he says yes or no? >> a couple dates here. the first debate is next week, the first democratic debate and no expectation that even if joe biden decides in the next week to get in to that debate.

the hard deadline, the first hard deadline up against is november 6th, the first time you're going to miss a state ballot if you haven't filed by that point and miss the alabama primary ballot and alabama's a state that's moved up the primary this year and more consequential primary. >> it's keeping it interesting anyway. >> he is. it's my understanding, my -- he knows that if he wants to win the nomination he probably needs to announce sometime in the next week to ten days and he technically can wait as late as the end of the month but that really i think that really puts him in a bind and makes him look calculating. waiting until after benghazi and wants to see is she more damaged then you couple today's politico story with that and it's my understanding he knows that would look bad. he'll make the decision before benghazi. >> all right. chuck todd, steve kornacki, thanks to both of you for being here. >> all right. still ahead, demanding answers. the top u.s. officer in

afghanistan tells lawmakers the deadly bombing of a hospital there was a mistake. i'll talk to senator joe manchin coming up. plus, hillary clinton takes on the benghazi committee in a new tv ad using a republican's words against him. we're live in iowa. and a little later, talking to former congressman patrick kennedy about a revealing new memoir on mental illness and addiction. ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ ♪jake reese, "day to feel alive"♪ when you're not confident your company's data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about.

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now to the u.s. bombing of a hospital in afghanistan and a major admission by an american military official on capitol hill. the top u.s. commander in afghanistan said an air strike killing 22 people at a doctors without borders medical facility was a u.s. decision. >> to be clear, the decision to provide aerial fires was a u.s. decision made within the u.s. chain of command. a hospital was mistakenly struck. we would never intentionally target a protected medical

facility. >> earlier in the day, the president of doctors without borders issued a statement calling the attack, quote, inexcuse nl violation of international law and a presumptive war crime. joining me now is chief pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski. jim, we have seen the story change over the days here. this is the latest version. >> reporter: general campbell in the testimony before the senate armed services committee today also revealed for the first time that u.s. special operations forces were on the ground in close -- in the close vicinity of the doctors without borders hospital when it was struck and it was those special forces that were communicating with the ac-130 that was circling above, essentially giving them the target. now, the ac-130 doesn't have precision-guided bombs. its line of sight. so they had to be looking directly at that hospital when they unleashed their weapons.

now, as the general acknowledged, they -- the u.s. mistakenly struck the hospital but he didn't say exactly what the mistake was. did they mistarget it? did they hit the target? there's still that sense out there in some reports that, in fact, that there was some fire, some fire aimed at afghan troops coming from that building. but it's clear when general campbell said today that no matter what the circumstances were, it was up to the u.s. military on the ground and in the air to conduct a rigorous review of conditions on the ground before they ever launched the weapons indicating perhaps that that wasn't done. clearly, general -- the general knows exactly what happened but he hasn't been able to say it publicly yet. >> jim miklaszewski at the pentagon, thank you so much. >> you bet. for more now, joined by democratic senator of west virginia joe manchin.

he was at the senate hearing today with general campbell. senator, this is the fourth time in four days that the pentagon has changed their story on this attack. at first they didn't know if the hospital was hit. then they said it was an accident and then called in by the afghans. and now general campbell telling your committee it was called in by u.s. special operations forces. should they have handled this whole thing better? >> oh my god, absolutely they should. i think general campbell was forthright today. with that being said, we need transparency on this and why and how this happened and who made the mistake. it will be hard now for the pog or the military department of defense to have the only investigation that says here's the new facts and we need another pair of eyes on that and that's what we have to find out. when's the right organization to give us the confidence the report we get in the senate armed services or in congress here is accurate. >> i was going to ask you, senator, whether a u.s. investigation is enough as has been promised or do we need the

united nations to be involved? >> it wouldn't hurt. it wouldn't hurt to have another set of eyes on this. we have had four different stories in four days. i think general campbell today was forthright with us. he in a secured meeting will be able to go into more detail with us. what you heard today is he's come forth, said a mistake was made. the responsibility of the united states. find out how that mistake was made and then make sure we verify that the information we receive is verified. >> you had an exchange today, senator, with general campbell about troops in afghanistan and withdrawing from afghanistan. i want to play that exchange. >> just goes on and on and on as you know. the bottom line is, do you think that afghanistan is more stable and better prepared to take care of itself and with our help or without our help and how much of our help than iraq was? >> sir, afghanistan is not iraq. >> i got you. >> as we talked about. you have government that wants to have either -- you have a

government to have a counterterrorism capability. you have a fightinging force that is very resilient so i think there's so many differences between iraq and afghanistan. >> senator, the deadline was supposed to be 2016 for "the washington post" reporting maybe 5,000 troops will be left behind. do we need to just get out? >> my position is this. you don't want to repeat the mistakes that were made in iraq. so, why iraq, however it came about and an incompetent government such as iraqi malaki, i'm sorry, in iraq, being able to just create a shamble of what left and what was left there and what we walked away from because we have no engagement with the iraqi government, now we do have an engagement. we do have a relationship. we have competent people. seem to be in afghanistan government that want it to succeed. it depends on what role we're going to play. i haven't seen that yet.

i understand we're supposed to draw down to 1,000 troops. if they're requesting five, tell me how to use the 5,000 troops and what's expected of the american people. also, what's expected of our nato allies? people that should be helping us. if we can clear that area of violence and breeding of violence and terrorists, then doesn't the whole world benefit by it? why should it be all of us in america doing it by ourselves? i want to see the plan unveiled here. i'm hope to the plan. i'm open to a plan that makes sense and not the same outcome as we did in iraq athank you for your time today. >> thank you. still ahead, presidential politics, hillary clinton takes aim at republicans on the benghazi committee in her first national television ad. and on the republican side, is donald trump feeling threatened? he is targeting marco rubio, even pranking him on the campaign trail.

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hillary clinton hit the

campaign trail today in iowa, a state where she continues to lead bernie sanders by 11 points. it comes as her campaign unveiled a new tv ad highlighting kevin mccarthy's recent comments about the benghazi committee. >> the republicans finally admit it. >> republican kevin mccarthy saying the committee investigating benghazi and the clinton e-mails created to destroy her candidacy. >> everybody thought hillary clinton was unbeatible, right? we put together a benghazi special committee. what are her numbers today? >> republicans spent millions of attacking hillary. she is fighting for everything they oppose. >> joining me now, nbc's kristen welker in dachb part with the campaign. she is on offense with the new ad and still as we just mentioned with chuck todd has to testify before the committee coming up soon. >> reporter: that's right. she has to testify. it is critical testimony, kate, but she is doing everything she can to essentially try to

discredit the benghazi committee ahead of that testimony. look. this is a political gift from kevin mccarthy and the clinton campaign is running with it. let's read you the pushback from congressman mccarthy released earlier today saying, quote, the commission of the select committee on benghazi is to find the truth. period. the integrity of the chairman, the committee and the work is beyond reproach. the serious questions of secretary clinton faces are due entirely to her own decision. having said that, don't expect the clinton campaign to stop trying to gain traction on this point. by the way, she's going on offense on a number of other topics, as well. today talking about health care. of course, she unveiled her proposals for stiffer gun laws earlier this week. and this also comes as her campaign today is announcing those leadership councils and with chuck todd you discussed and super tuesday voting states to send a message to supporters,

also to vice president joe biden this campaign is on solid ground. kate? >> kristen welker in iowa, thank you so much. turning to the republican race for president and the growing feud between front-runner donald trump and marco rubio. today, the florida senator responded to trump's recent prank in which he sent a care package of trump ice natural spring water bottles the rubio's office. >> apparently the water is very high water. top notch he sent us that donald trump sent us so we're grateful for the gift. >> i didn't see it. i heard it's high quality water. i parentally evian is losers. >> a towel. how do you feel about that? talks about how young snur. >> it is what it is. about the water, yeah. i drink waterment so what? i only sweat when it's hot. >> for trump's part today, he went right after rubio on the morning shows. >> he's weak on immigration. take a look at his past. he's got $12 in the bank.

he borrows. works with the car dealer in florida. give me a break. rubio is not the guy to be negotiating with the kind of people you have to negotiate with to turn this country around. >> joining me now nbc's ka tu tur covering the trump campaign and i guess has not had any of this water. >> i have. >> you have? >> i have. >> is it cold? >> it's ice natural spring water. so it has to be cold. >> you wrote about this this morning internally at least telling us at nbc that this is sort of his m.o. this is what donald trump does. he gets attention. >> in that way, "snl" over the weekend spot on telling trump that, whenever he is not the center of attention he says something outrageous and he says, no i don't. she said, you're losing in the polls and he says something crazy. >> yeah. >> basically this is what happens. >> those were actors. >> "snl" spot on seeing trump out of the limelight or the spotlight for even a few minutes

it seems he comes out with something a little bit more outrageous and yesterday what we heard and saw is that he sent some water bottles and towels to marco rubio and what he is trying to do is get under the senator's skin. just in the same way that he got under jeb bush's skin and you can see he was successful getting under jeb bush's skin and see it made him flustered. he wanted to not respond to trump and not responding he looked weak and responding he didn't look strong either. marco rubio is laughing it off. and it's making trump look a little bit petty and childish. and it's making rubio look like the adult in the situation and funny because trump keeps calling him a kid on the campaign trail, the youngest one that's running for president right now and so far what you're going to see from donald trump is starting in the polls or stops getting the same amount of attention you're going to i think hear outrageous things from him and most telling he's not necessarily been the center of attention for the political

world this past week. we haven't played all of his speeches live. >> we did show video of him as we're talking about the water bottlings. >> he is not the center of the universe at the moment. there are other things going on. we're talking about clinton, biden, mccarthy. rubio is doing better in the polls. he is getting national air time. kasich is getting national air time and bush. trump is not the center of the universe at the moment. >> what do you hear from the campaign? >> no. >> they're bothered? >> no. never. he's a very small inner circle an they're loyal to him and they're very dead set on getting this primary nomination and going on to the conventions. so what you're going to hear from them is nothing but positive reinforcement. this is great. we're going so well. why would you question this? we're leading in the polls. it is a funny joke. you're not going to hear negativity out of the campaign at least until they start to lose and then might see things splinter. it is just -- unified front. >> he is still at the top of the

polls. katy tur, thank you for being with us. it's regular thing every day. >> it's a date. >> watch out. still ahead, reality hits for two fantasy sports companies defending themselves from accusations similar to inside trading. plus, a new memoir reveals patrick kennedy's raw, personal struggles with mental illness and addiction. he is with me next. per sauce... most ribs eaten while calf roping... yep, greatness deserves recognition. you got any trophies, cowboy? ♪ whoomp there it is uh, yeah... well, uh, well there's this one. best insurance mobile app? yeah, two years in a row. well i'll be... does that thing just follow you around? like a little puppy! the award-winning geico app. download it today. when age-related macular have degeneration, amd we came up with a plan to help reduce my risk of progression. and everywhere i look...

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mm hmm. just wanted to touch base. how did edward jones come to manage over $800 billion dollars in assets? huh. okay. here's our latest market outlook. two things that i'd like to point out... through face time when you really need it. so that's interesting, you know we had spoken about that before. it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. a candid new memoir takes a personal look inside one of america's most storied families in "a common struggle." former rhode island congressman patrick kennedy, son of senator ted kennedy, opens up. he writes about the alcoholism and mental illness that he says plagued his famous family for decades and the code of silence that bound him to secrecy. patrick kennedy joins me now. thank you for being with us. >> thank you, kate. >> appreciate your being here.

you're burning some bridges with some of what you say in the book. i want to ask you right off about your family. your mother said i had no knowledge that patrick was writing a book and did not assist him in the project in any way. i have not given a copy of the book and have not seen it or read it. your brother says he admires the candor and heartbroken that you have chosen to write an unfair and inaccurate portrayal of the family. and he said my brother's recollection of family events are different from own. >> writing about cancer in the family, my brother and mother both had cancer and other family me believes have. it would be a triumphant story about the struggle, you know, even if cancer wins out and the case of my sister and my father, they struggled and they are respected for having to go through that. but in mental illness and addiction, isn't it ironic we don't apply the same standard and these are physical illnesses.

first of all, i understand their reaction. it's really what makes this a common struggle because imagine all other american family who is are dealing with this issue. my family, these are not new issues in terms of the publicity around them and not a major secrets coming out. and so, and yet it's difficult for us to talk about it. so i hope this book spurs a conversation for more families to say can you believe those kennedies? by the way, what about mom or dad or what about, you know, our brother and sister? and do they need help? and are we keeping quiet in our family about their illnesses? that's the conversation, kate, i hope we get started. >> we were together back in june at an event for the american foundation for suicide preventi prevention. i was emceeing and you were speaking there. i think we are on the same page on this one because i have people in my family, one person in particular who committed suicide and should say who took

his life through suicide. it is something people don't talk about. there's a huge stigma still in the year 2015. >> well, for those of like myself who are recovering from addiction and alcoholism, shame is what kills us ultimately. and the only way to treat shame is by talking about these issues. otherwise we get marginalized, isolated and don't talk to anyone. this is the prescription for disaster for people. we have suicide now at a record. twice the rate of homicide. over 41,000, 42,000. that's the number that we can count. how many others aren't counted that way? and then you think about the overdose rate which is higher than car accidents. i mean, my god, what's it take to have a conversation about a public health epidemic in this country? this isn't about family secrets. it is about treating an illness

as an illness. and that's the -- my goal in this book. >> you use anecdotes about your own family in the book to tell the story. you say senator kennedy, my father, went on in silent desperation for much of his life self medicating and unwittingly passing his unprocessed trauma on to my sister, brother and me. that's a startling thing to say about your father. >> yeah. well, it's pretty startling that he had to go as many in his generation through trauma not knowing what we know today about post traumatic stress disorder. he lost so many members of his family. and two brothers shot and murdered n. this day and age, we would have said, ted, you need a lot of help. this is something that is a really injurious to you and your mental health. but he is of a time where they didn't talk about these things and we know that if you don't talk about these things they can get worse.

and what's more if they're your parent and they don't talk about it, this is not just their problem. it is your problem because your emotional foundation is laid by problem, it becomes your problem. because your emotional sustenance and foundation is laid by your parents or your guardian. if they're not well, your chanc chances of being well are less likely. so this is a family illness. if one person in the family is affected, everybody's affected. >> do you have any advice for someone who is struggling right now? you've been sober a long time. >> there are evidence-based interventions that can work, and they can work as effectively as other medical interventions. but what we need to do is make sure that the parity law, which i was honored to write with my father, by the way, gets enforced. and i'm here to tell you today,

the obama administration has not enforced this law. >> that's treating mental illness just like any other illness. >> and secretary burwell needs to demand that insurance companies reveal what are known as non-quantitative treatment units. that's where they keep you from getting treated. until we are able to get the data which shows how they make these management decisions, we're never going to be able to protect the millions of americans who are struggling to get into treatment, to answer your question, but won't be able to because they've been denied by their health insurer. >> congressman patrick kennedy, really appreciate you stopping by. it's an important message. again the book is "a common struggle, struggle," and we'll be right back. in your man-cave.

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it involves fanduel and draft kings where fans can create fictional teams with professional athletes and place daily bets. the accusations first reported by the "new york times" center around an employee at draft kings who admitted last week to winning $350,000 at fanduel, at the other company. we should note, nbc sports and nbc's parent company are among the invests in fanduel. joining me now, co-founder of mondo goal, a fantasy stalker website. this is hard for all of us who aren't fantasy players to understand, although my husband is in, i think, five different leagues. so we all kind of know what fantasy is. but these are sites where money is at stake. >> it's a daily site. so you're betting on one day of sports action. you're picking players for that day, and then you have no connection to them after that day. which is different from season-long fantasy. >> essentially what was

happening, employees from one company were betting on the site of the other company. why was that even allowed? >> it shouldn't have been allowed. i think this is an initiative begging for regulation. my company, mondo goal, we were born out of a regulated industry, because we're licensed in the uk where daily fantasy is considered to be like gambled and it needs player protection rules. it needs transparency. in the u.s., because of the unlawful gaming enforcement act, there's a loophole that allows daily fantasy to proceed unregulated. >> but football or soccer isn't the only sport with relationships to these sites. major league baseball released a statement they have a policy that prohibits players and employees from participating in fantasy games in which prize money are available to participants. the relationship between the sports world and these sites,

they need these sites to feed interest the sport, right? >> they do. i think in fact, major league baseball is an investor in draft kings, it's more than just a partner. mark cuban said the reason that the nfl is the number one sport now in the nfl is because of fantasy football. it engages fans at a 40% higher rate than non-fantasy football fans. it allows someone who is a fan of their hometown team to be extremely interested in all the teams across the country and they'll watch more tv. >> so the bottom line for you, we need more regulation here in the u.s. >> it's coming, it's just a matter of whether. i think this will sfepeed up th process. >> okay, thank you. still ahead, the death toll has risen to 16 in the carolinas after historic flooding. and the oregon mother posted online about her son's chilling issues. that's ahead. has 26 essential vitamins and minerals,

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