headquarters in new york. let's begin with north carolina's defiant stand against the federal government over its controversial transgender bathroom law. the state has just filed a lawsuit against the federal government. and governor pat mccrory is set to hold a news conference this afternoon. in the last hour, the governor's office released a statement reading in part this action is a result of the obama administration's interpretation of federal law. the obama administration is bypassing congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country, not just north carolina. the lawsuit comes hours before the deadline for the state to respond to the letter from the justice department challenging the legality of the law. letters sent last week to governor mccrory and other state officials said it could not be implemented because it violates the civil rights act. so far the justice department has not responded to the breaking news this morning of this lawsuit filed.

let's get to the breakdown, though. nbc justice correspondent pete williams who's been following the latest on this lawsuit, including the name -- the governor's name actually listed. would you have said in the past is a telltale perhaps. >> right, that lawyers often think about how to caption these cases and it is style that's going to be forever known as mccrory versus u.s. it's filed in the name of the governor and the head of the department of public safety in north carolina against the u.s., the attorney general and the acting head of the civil rights division. what it says is that the government is misreading federal law. that it does not provide protection for transgender status. the government had argued in its letter that it's illegal to engage in sex discrimination and discrimination against transgender status is sex discrimination because it makes distinctions based on sex. so that's the legal issue here. the governor has aligned himself

with this position of the state that the justice department is wrong, that it's misreading the law. what the lawsuit says is if the justice department thinks that's what the law should be then it should ask for congress to change the law. now, interestingly, this lawsuit is filed by private law firms on behalf of the governor. in other words, the state went out and hired a private law firm, a couple of them, to file this lawsuit because the state attorney general had said earlier he would not defend this law that was passed in march, this transgender status law, so-called bathroom law, that also limits legal protection for lbgt people. similarly roy cooper, who was running against the governor, also refused to defend the state's ban on same-sex marriage before the supreme court ruled. now, the lawsuit does not mention studiously, i think, a decision by the fourth circuit court of appeals, which includes north carolina last month in a transgender case involving a high school student from virginia. that case went to the fourth circuit, and the fourth circuit

said, you know what, title 9 of the civil rights act, the law that bars sex discrimination in public schools, does forbid discrimination against transgender people. so there is at least a panel decision of the fourth circuit that is at odds with this lawsuit. in a way that is the law of the circuit, so the state is to some extent going against at least that decision which is on appeal, tamron. >> and this statement that we read, pete, from the governor's office making this an issue they say represents a debate across the country, not just north carolina. when you look at the polls out there, which i know you're a reporter and don't get caught up in the polling, but 57% oppose these laws. which asked had someone been prosecuted or an issue of people trying to go into restrooms and some of these accusations, the governor could not answer why this was so important and why he felt this legislation was so

needed. >> that's an interesting point. it frankly cuts both ways. the lawsuit mentions that very fact. it says nobody has claimed discrimination under this law. no one has tried to get transgender protection and been denied it. and so both sides are citing that fact. the opponents of this law are saying what's the big deal? why is this passed in the first place if it's such a nonissue. today in this lawsuit, the governor is basically saying i don't understand why the justice department is making this such a big issue, no one is claiming discrimination. >> all right. we'll see what happens. the governor is expected to speak at 1:00 p.m. eastern time today and we'll carry that. thank you, pete. let's turn now to the trump wars. the presumptive republican ra nominee back on the attack defending his comments about hillary clinton and bill clinton as well as his comments regarding house speaker paul ryan, who refused last week to endorse trump, saying he's just

not ready at this point. the conversation turned first this morning to the clintons. >> she is playing the woman's card to the hilt. she is going -- i mean i watched over the weekend, everything is about woman and donald trump raised his voice. you know, it's all nonsense. and you know what, women understand it better than anybody. and watch how well i do with women when it counts, when the election comes. he was the worst abuser of women as a politician in the history of our country. he was impeached. he was impeached. >> now, trump was also asked about sarah palin's announcement this weekend that she would work to defeat speaker ryan by backing his primary opponent in wisconsin. her decision prompted by ryan's refusal, she says, to not to endorse trump. >> he called me not so long ago, i don't know, a number of weeks ago. but he called me and was very supportive and very nice. i thought everything was fine. then i got blindsided. so we'll see. look, i'll see what happens. >> now, trump also told our own

chuck todd over the weekend that he was blindsided by speaker ryan's refusal to endorse him. he also refused to rule out removing ryan as chairman of the republican convention unless ryan endorses him. >> i don't want to mention now, i'll see after. i will give you a very solid answer, if that happens, about one minute after that happens, okay? there's no reason to give it right now. >> it sounds like i know what the answer is but you don't want to say it yet. you're not here -- you don't want to issue threats. you're not going to issue a public threat. >> i don't think that's going to happen. >> trump and speaker ryan scheduled to meet in washington this thursday. right now we have all of this covered with our correspondents and analysts standing by. let's start things off with cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood. we'll also bring in michael steele and david korn. but listen, john, before this morning the lead was probably these vicious attacks that trump has leveled against hillary

clinton, her husband's affair or affairs, alleged affairs. now it's his flip-flop on taxes and the problems this presents again with his own party. let me play a little bit of what trump said this morning trying to clarify where he stands on raising taxes for the wealthiest people in this country. >> do you believe in raising taxes on the wealthy? >> i do. i do. including myself. i do. >> okay. that was his original statement with savannah guthrie a few weeks ago on the "today" show. this morning he's trying to clarify this comment, john. >> that's right. and, you know, donald trump over the weekend in the interview with chuck todd talked about negotiating his tax plan and how the rate would go up. what he's saying this morning is that what he meant was that the rate would go up from the 25% that he's proposed in his plan, not would go up from the 39.6% that's in current law.

now, only donald trump knows what he meant. to be honest, when he did the interview with chuck, that's what i thought he meant, coming up from 25, but donald trump -- it's the responsibility of the candidate to speak more clearly about exactly what he is articulating. the fact that donald trump doesn't have a deep attachment to policies or specific public policy goals makes it subject to misinterpretation and creates the kind of box that he found himself trying to get out of this morning. >> trying to get out of this box, particularly as i pointed out the timing, john. you've got this meeting with paul ryan on thursday. and while paul ryan and others may dismiss his talk of banning muslims or this wall that he says he will build as impossible promises, when you have someone who's your standard bearer now for your party going against you on potentially taxes. what he said on the stage on the debate stage on protecting social security and entitlements, all of these things are fundamentally against

what paul ryan believes his party should be focused on and what they stand for. >> no question about it. paul ryan cares about two things more than anything else, one is limiting the size of government and the way to limit the size of government now is to curb the growth of medicare and social security. and the second is supply side tax cuts that paul ryan believes would spur economic growth. so anything -- whatever trump actually meant to say about negotiating with the congress, when you start saying that you're going to go up on where you've been on taxes, that goes in the opposite direction of what you need to try to get paul ryan on your side. >> and we just got some developing news in. let me bring in michael steele and david korn. john, i'd like you to stick around as well. we just heard, chairman steele, that chris christie will now be in charge of donald trump's transition team. we're getting the information in right now. he's announcing that governor christie will serve as his transition team chairman. your reaction to that? >> well, i think that's somewhat

to be expected. christie, you know, shortly after getting out of the race aligned himself with donald trump. and i think they have developed a very close relationship to the point where donald trump trusts christie with something as important as that. i think also this gives christie a little bit more leverage to be in donald's ear about the very things we're talking about right now, because all of that, as you know, tamron, is part of the transition. it's not just the nuts and bolts and where the bodies go, but it's also that transition between a primary campaign to a general election campaign to hopefully moving into the white house. and i think that christie can be helpful to donald trump in that regard, particularly with the meetings coming up this week. >> let me bring in also, we have with us annie linski. thank you for joining in. david, let's talk about what kind of an asset or not chris christie could be here,

particularly in the near future of this meeting and what's at stake with paul ryan while someone like sarah palin is hovering over the head of paul ryan saying this is the end, that he's about to be cantored. >> you know, i don't think chris christie is going to make a whit of difference in how donald trump behaves between now and the convention and the convention and general election. that's going to be the focus of the election. we can talk about ups and downs and tax policy, we can talk about what hillary clinton is proposing, but i think the core issue is whether this guy deserves or should be president based on his temperament, his personality, his inability to have a sustained policy discussion ain any sort of elevated fashion. so chris christie heading the transition campaign, great, we'll worry about that in november. at the same time, the republican party is still falling apart. you have leading figures saying they will not support donald

trump and you have sarah palin saying i don't know if this makes a difference, that she'll support ousting paul ryan from the party who's meeting with donald trump next week. so it's chaos. i'm happy my friend, michael steele, is not in charge of this. i can imagine the headaches that's going to ensue. right now talking about the transition campaign really seems a little bit irrelevant. >> that's a good point, michael. if you were still chairman, what would you do thursday? put yourself in reince priebus -- you know how this happens behind the scenes. >> right, right. >> what would you do? >> well, what you do is what's about to happen. i mean seriously, i think the conversation between these three gentlemen on thursday will be critically important. i think that what has to -- from the chairman's perspective, reince is going, guys, it's not just about you two. i've got a base across this country that is fracturing. we need the healing process to begin. the establishment types like ryan know where the animus is,

it's with them. he represents that. so what he's got to do is reconcile that, because he's going to need those supporters this november regardless. donald trump is in the exact same position. while he's got a fired-up base that's behind him, he also recognizes he needs those donors, he needs paul ryan's support to help him make the very transitions he's just about to announce with chris christie. so everybody has something at stake here and i think it's going to be reince's opportunity to point that out and help navigate them to a space where they have a rodney king moment, can we all just get along. >> i'm laughing, michael. >> david, the position you're taking is the easy one, i get that. it's easy to presume that donald trump is not going to participate or play right. but donald trump wants to be president of the united states. he's got to recognize it has to begin right now. what he did this weekend does not help that effort. >> that's what we said a week ago. >> michael, he wants to be

president of the united states. but john, it seems to for now he wants to be the king of the republican party. >> that's part of it. >> and that's a very key difference. so let's play this out. john, does he go in the meeting and he says, okay, i will stop talking about raising taxes, i will reverse on minimum wage. originally he was getting raising the minimum wage. now after speaking with people around the country he's okay to raising it at some point. does he pivot and say i will stop talking about banning muslims and i will back off a little bit on my plan to build a wall and temper the language more in line with the republican party. is that the chess game that might play out, john? >> tamron, i think the last two things that donald trump would reverse on would be the wall and the ban on muslims. those are easy to understand things that have been at the core of his appeal. most other things can be finessed.

donald trump is a transactional politici politician. you could say on minimum wage i'm for state level increases but not a federal mandate. that is a way to finesse that issue. but look, donald trump absolutely needs to diminish the infighting within the republican party because he has dangerous levels of opposition from within his own party that would make it impossible for him to compete in the general. this is a moment where paul manafort who was brought in as the ambassador to the republican establishment, somebody who's been working in republican politics for a very long time, since ronald reagan was president of the united states, donald trump needs to listen to someone like paul manafort who's trying to build those bridges as opposed to reacting in a very personal way as he did to ryan when he says i don't support ryan's agenda either. that was donald trump, the aggrieved individual reacting. he's got to figure out how to function as the leader of a party. >> but, annie, to john's point, donald trump's very being seems

to be reacting out of emotions. as the kids like to say, he's all up in his feelings every time someone says something about him. elizabeth warren has zeroed in on that in a way i think people are not focusing in. i was telling the team this, her twitter war with him over the weekend started with trump on friday saying i hope corrupt hillary chooses goof elizabeth warren as her running mate. i will defeat them both. l elizabeth warren saying i called out donald trump on tuesday, 45 million people saw it. he's so confident about his counterpunch he waited until friday. lame. i can't believe i'm reading this. goofy donald trump. for a guy with the best words, that's a pretty lame nickname. weak. hitting him in the way that he's hit other people, questioning as he did hillary clinton's stamina. she then goes on to say that if you think recycling scott brown's hate-filled attacks on my family is going to shut me

up, think again buddy. weak. what's the behind-the-scenes strategy there? >> well, you know, if you're chuckling about having to read it, imagine being elizabeth warren and having to write it on a friday evening. or donald trump responding to it. i mean i think part of what was so remarkable about that exchange is that the people who were doing it and the time frame in which it was happening. it was friday night, it starts at 7:00. elizabeth warren replies around 8:30 and then it gets -- it drags into like 11:30 at night that they're going back and forth. so i just have to point that out. but i mean behind the scenes here, i think it's pretty clear that elizabeth warren is looking for a role to play for herself in the general election. i think she would have liked to have been able to come out and endorse by now. she hasn't been able to, presumably because she would be on hillary clinton's side and has not been able to find the space to do that since bernie

sanders' campaign has been so much stronger than anybody thought. so i think what she's trying to do is find a way to pivot and bring her progressives with her to focus on the general election, which is what democrats feel that they need to start doing. democrats watched as donald trump was, you know, not attacked for months and months and months by the republican field and just completely chewed through that field and they don't want to give donald trump the same amount of space that the republicans gave him. >> and, david, it cannot be left off the table how poorly we still see donald trump's numbers trending with women and that this is a high-profile female senator taking him on in a way and a time where we know the focus is on the female vote. republicans, suburban white women voters especially. >> but trump keeps saying women love him. it shows how delusional he is because he can't read a simple poll. i mean i think he's taking the bait with elizabeth warren. i think other high-profile

women, democrats and nondemocrats, will be criticizing him throughout the campaign and he's going to start attack ing them and lump them altogether with rosie. he can't help himself. he has disregard and disdain for women who challenge him, from megyn kelly on. it's not ideological, it's sort of part of his temperament. and i don't see anything he's going to do, i don't see any ability for him to shift or change on this front. and i think that may be the determining cause of what's going to happen in november. so whenever he sits down with paul ryan and paul manafort getting advice from chris christie, he is not going to change in the way he's reacting and treating women of the and then to say that hillary clinton is hated by women? well, that's called projection, sort of a negative way. >> just quickly going back from the personal attacks to, again, some of the substantive arguments that are out there, john, donald trump now saying that his debt buy-back plan or describing basically the united states walking away from its

debts, a la bankruptcy, which again opens up a wound for him. let me play what he said. >> won't that undermine the full faith and credibility of the united states? >> no. we have $19 trillion in debt and it's going to be 21 because frankly the budget was horrible. i'm a low interest rate person. if you have inflation, we'll have to change that theory because you have to stop things and slow things down but right now we have low interest rates. we have to rebuild the whole infrastructure of our country. >> so, john, he went on to give more detail that people have read into basically donald trump saying we'd walk away from debt. we print our own money. >> look, it doesn't work that way and donald trump is speaking in the language of a deal-making businessman about something that isn't comparable in the world of government. everybody has pointed out in both parties that if you start talking about paying back -- giving hair cuts to people who have loaned you money based on the full faith and credit of the united states, it's not only going to hurt the united states

by having interest rates go up, it's going to hurt our status as the safe harbor for capital around the world. so this is not something that the financial system wants to mess around with, and donald trump, i think, is going to soon stop talking about it because it's truly something that would drive people to hillary clinton. you know, you've seen hillary clinton do better with wall street money lately. she doesn't want to talk about that right now. but when you talk about the stability of the economy, the stability of the financial system, if that becomes a democratic advantage in the general election, that is not good for donald trump. >> awesome panel, thank you so much. michael steele, i look forward to your blog about what should happen on thursday. >> you got it. >> thank you so much. coming up, what are republican voters thinking about donald trump's apparent flip-flop on increasing taxes for the rich? trump this morning refuting the reports that he's flip-flopped on this. nevertheless, we'll get reaction from folks in beverly hills, 90210. plus, how hillary clinton is trying to capitalize on a divide

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she was a total enabler. she would go after these women and destroy their lives. i mean have you ever read what hillary clinton did to the women that bill clinton had affairs with? and they're going after me with women? give me a break, folks. give me a break. >> that was donald trump getting personal, unleashing a series of attacks this weekend on hillary and bill clinton. kristen welker is covering the clinton campaign and she joins us with the clinton reaction.

interestingly enough, it does not include donald trump's own words at the time were that bill clinton shouldn't be impeached, he did not see it as this big problem, and now, again, this might count as another flip-flop without hillary clinton ever needing to respond. >> reporter: well, that's a great point. i think what you're going to see from the candidate herself, she's going to try to stay above the fray in these remarks, instead pivoting back to some of donald trump's controversial comments about women, about minorities. you might see her top surrogates, though, more directly address donald trump when he makes these very personal attacks and bring up that flip-flop that you raised, tamron. secretary clinton asked about the broader tone of this campaign and donald trump's personal attacks over the weekend. take a listen how she responded. >> i'm not going to run an ugly race, i am going to run a race based on issues and what my agenda is for the american people. i don't really feel like i'm running against donald trump, i

feel like i'm running for my vision of what our country can be. >> reporter: now, the clinton campaign today courting women voters, swing voters. they're releasing a new web video in fact touting the work that secretary clinton did years ago back in arkansas to set up a pre-k program. she today here in loudoun county which is a swing area is going to be talking about things like child care, like pre-k education, like family leave. the clinton campaign believes that all of these comments that donald trump has been making only helps them to garner support among women voters. but these swing women voters are going to be key to her winning this election. now, this is a county that voted for barack obama in 2012 but then elected a republican congresswoman in 2014. so this is the type of area that they're going to be focused on as they head into the general election. again, she's still focused on fighting that primary battle. so tomorrow she heads to kentucky and she'll have a

number of events there, tamron. >> and you mentioned the primary battle. we just got new sound in to senator bernie sanders reacting to what some of donald trump has said on the campaign trail. let's play that. >> i don't have to tell you too much about donald trump because you know -- you know more about him than most americans. okay. but in addition to all that he has done for the workers here in atlantic city, he is not going to be elected president of the united states. >> and that was senator sanders in atlantic city. obviously referencing trump's casino that had major financial issues. he always pivoted to others in the organization involved in that casino, but it was seen as a failure. nevertheless, with his name branded on it. now senator sanders getting in.

as you pointed out, kristen, the battle with hillary clinton continu continues. >> reporter: it does indeed. one of senator sanders' main arguments for staying in this race, if you look at the polls he actually does a little bit better against donald trump than secretary clinton does. he has vowed to stay in this race through the end and the clinton campaign insistent that he should do so. at the same time, they're putting pressure on him to scale back his attacks against her. and we have seen that start to happen in recent days, tamron, it's worth point that out. what's going to be really critical and what we're watching for is what happens after california if he in fact is still trailing her in the delegate count. does he then help her to rally his voters, his supporters, those younger voters who are going to be so pivotal in this general election. will he help to rally those voters around secretary clinton. he has been very clear, tamron, that his main goal was to defeat donald trump. tamron. >> kristen welker, thank you very much. happening now, a massive and deadly storm system is on the

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fundamentals are key, he quickly adapted those skills to the business world n 2008 he opened wisconsin granite, installing beautiful granite countertops and they have grown and employ dozens of people in wisconsin. thank you so much for your time. >> my pleasure. >> so 16 years ago when you moved here, in your wildest dreams could you have ever imagined where you are now? >> i could not imagine where i am now because i remember right before i came to united states, i went to denmark for a championship and i stayed there about three, four month. and meanwhile i just wanted to double check the business in denmark. when i found a store to ask for rent, when i tried to talk with

landlord, the way that he looked at me, the way that he talked to me, he didn't even tell me how much is the rent on that store. so i did not imagine that i would be able to do a business in different country. that's why i was so excited to be in united states and to be able to run the business, i would not imagine that. >> well, you know, it is interesting too to see this transition in your life. you had one plan and that was focused on boxing, as we mentioned. then you end up shifting to something that can be back-breaking labor. it is the american dream to have a home, but someone has to build that home and in many cases provide some of the things that we work hard to beautify those homes and that's what you've done. >> right, exactly. >> talk to me a little bit how you were able to expand your business plan to the point where you are employing people in the

heart of this country. >> well, i started the business with only two employees. i was cutting the stone, i was measuring and i was just trying to run the business wp one or two people. and with time i realized that being one of the granite fabricator out of thousands is not making any difference. that's why i said i need to do something to improve so i can hire more people and i can do some difference where i am. that's why i start working harder, i start working like 16, 17 hours a day and then i see that business started improving and i hired two, three more people and six month later three more people, a year later three more people. now it's been about a while and

now i have about 25 employees and i see that i do make a difference in madison because it's not the only fabricating or installing the granite, it's also introducing the people with some granite colors from all over the world. >> i know that you get -- >> from india -- >> brazil and italy we were told. i also know that you were profiled in "the washington post" during the wisconsin primary and you were quoted as saying the key to america is democracy. as a successful small business in the heart of this country as mentioned. i don't want to get political here with you because this is about highlighting the small business, but how has what you've heard on the campaign trail from the proposal to ban muslims, you're a muslim, and some of the other concerns about

immigration, how has that impacted your view of america and democracy? >> from the start when i came here with a bad experience from denmark, i believe that that country is freedom country and that's -- honestly it's american dream. so when i got here, i realized that i feel comfortable, i'm able to run the business, i'm able to communicate with people and i see respect and i show respect. that's a freedom country. i felt really comfortable until i hear that comments. that's kind of changed my view of this country completely. i was not expecting to hear something, about the belief.

because the belief on one side of living in this country with democracy is a completely different thing. that's why i feel kind of disappointed, i feel kind of disrespected to hear the comments because of my beliefs. >> but as you've pointed out, despite some of the rhetoric that has concerned you in madison, wisconsin, where you've been able to grow your business, you felt that you are a valuable part of that community and that it is a relationship that has worked with you and the people there from customers to the employees. >> right. i see the employees that they work with me, they do -- they do show respect and they do want -- they do not have problem about what i believe, what religion i

belong to. all they care about is honesty. they have been working for me for years and they see there's an honesty going on and we're working with business ethics and we're working so hard to keep people happy around us. >> well, you've been successful -- >> that's why i feel comfortable. >> we congratulate you on taking the chance and not giving up after boxing and bringing those jobs to wisconsin. thank you so much. a great pleasure having you on. >> my pleasure. thank you for giving me the time. we're following breaking news out of north carolina. the lawsuit just filed by the governor against the federal government this morning. just hours before the deadline to scrap that controversial bathroom bill we've discussed so much. the state could lose millions in federal funds. i'll talk about chad griffin, the president of the human rights campaign, when we return. &

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we are following breaking news out of north carolina. the state's governor, pat mccrory, has just filed a lawsuit against the federal government. it's in response to the justice department's warning that the state's controversial transgender bathroom law violates the civil rights act. the governor is set to hold a news conference in about an hour from now of the lawsuit comes hours before a deadline to respond to letters sent last week from the doj to the governor and other state officials. the governor has repeatedly called the doj's challenge a broad overreach. i'm joined by chad griffin, president of the human rights campaign. chad, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> the governor has said that the letter from the department of justice basically was forcing them to define gender identity, and he went on to say there's no clear definition of gender identity and it's the federal government being a bully.

and he sees no connection in race and what's happened here with this debate involving this so-called bathroom law. >> this governor changes his tune on a daily basis, as he tries to defend the defenseless. you know, the federal government sending those letters and saying that h.b. 2 is simply unconstitutional, it's a violation of the civil rights act, is a long line. they have simply joined a long line of others who have said this law is unconstitutional and who said this law is bad for the economy of the state. more than 200 businesses have come out in opposition to h.b. 2, including bank of america, wells fargo, american airlines and so many others. this governor day in and day out is trying to defends the defenseless. and what he said specifically as it relates to transgender people in interviews over the weekend is simply counter to logic and counter to what every major medical association in this country say.

he is in opposition to the american medical association, the american academy of pediatrics. this governor is desperately trying to defend the defenseless. what he needs to do is repeal h.b. 2 and restore the reputation of the state of north carolina. until he does that, north carolina is not going to get their jobs back, they're not going to have their reputation back, and he's going to continue to destroy that state's economy. >> in the statement released by the governor this morning, it says the action is a result of the obama administration's interpretation of federal law. the obama administration is bypassing congress by attempting to rewrite the law and set restroom policies for public and private employers across the country. the highlight of this he points out not just north carolina, trying to make this a broader issue across the country. our own pete williams, the justice correspondent here, makes the note that no one has come out and said that they have been discriminated against in north carolina. they have not been able to point to a case of it, and that both sides are making that point.

in a sense that there's no individual on either side that you can put forward impacted one way or the other from this. how do you factor that into the debate or is it relevant? >> well, i think it's important to clarify something there. transgender people in this country are discriminated against day in and day out. in north carolina and in states and cities all across this country. what the city of charlotte did by moving forward with nondiscrimination protection was simply having charlotte catch up with the rest of the country. charlotte is only one of a couple of major cities in america that don't have nondiscrimination protection today. in fact the very protections that we're talking about, minneapolis, minnesota, have had the protections since 1975. it's common sense nondiscrimination protections. now, what is true and i think what pete williams was saying earlier is that the governor in passing this law claims that he's trying to protect folks in north carolina. protect who?

from what? what's the question the governor has to answer. you cannot name a single instance in north carolina or anywhere in this country where a transgender person has gone into a restroom and been arrested for committing a crime. it's outrageous. it's ludicrous. here's what happened. this governor thought he was doing a political favor to a small group of religious right anti-lbgt folks. these same organizations, tamron, tried to pass the same laws in 35 states, in 196 different attempts this legislative session. the vast majority of state legislatures and the majority of governors, including republican governors, rejected these attempts. this governor took the bait. he took the bait and in the dark of night passed this reckless bill and day in and day out he's trying to defend it. as long as he does, they're going to lose more jobs in that state and the reputation of the state of north carolina is going to continue to be tarnished. the governor has a choice here.

he can either stand up, do the right thing, and lead and repeal h.b. 2 or he can continue to defend the defenseless. >> chad griffin, president of the human rights campaign. chad, thank you so much for your time today. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, we'll check in on the storms threatening oklahoma and arkansas after storms hit over the weekend. we'll be right back. growing fast, you say? we can't contain it any long... oh! you know, that reminds me of how geico's been the fastest-growing auto insurer for over 10 years straight. over ten years? mhm, geico's the company your friends and neighbors trust. and deservedly so. indeed. geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. [ lihmmmmmm...g ] hmmmmm... hmmmmm... hmmmmm...

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we donald trump the presumptive nominee for president. we want to get actions to his tax plans. msnbc's jacob soboroff. it is interesting of what donald trump tries to finesse what he says in the last 48 hours. >> reporter: that's absolutely right, tamron, you saw in the last hour of the folks that i talked to that they are surprised on trump raising taxes in the wealthy particularly places in beverley hills. some say i may go for the guy but it is a big no-no in the republican party. coming up, i will have a special guest, i want everybody to stick around for that. we'll have a unique take on donald trump. somebody who knows him better than anybody else and somebody that you guys all recognize. we'll have great insights on

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," back to the future. donald trump, his toughest attacks yet on both clintons. >> hillary's husband abused women more than any man we know of in the history of politics. if you read what hillary did to the women bill clinton had an affair with, he was impeached about what happen with a woman. she was unbelievable, nasty and mean and what she did to a lot of those women is disgraceful. >> well, i am not going to run an ugly race. i am going to run a race