successful implementation. >> a question on, it's a sensitive subject, but -- >> go ahead. >> there's a report today that spoke to a proposal to strengthen coordination, military coordination, with russia in targeting al nusra in syria. and i'm just wondering, is there -- you've been skeptic in the past about cooperating with russia militarily in syria, given that their motives are different than those of the united states. has something changed? would you support -- >> we do have a professional relationship with the russian military, to make sure there are no incidents and no safety issues, as we both operate in the neighboring areas of syria. but i've said before, that russians got off on the wrong foot in syria. they said that they were coming in to fight isil and that they would assist the political transition in syria, towards a post-assad government that could run the country and put that

terribly broken country back together and give the people the future they deserve. they haven't done either of those things. so i'm still hopeful that they will do both of those things, and i think that's what secretary kerry's talks, that are very frequent with the russians, are all about. but meanwhile, we have a channel that is focused on safety issues, and we maintain that. and that's a very professional working channel between us. >> mr. secretary -- can i follow up on that and ask you something else. but to follow on phil's question, you're well known to be skeptical of the russians. and some of the things that they have -- that their military has done. so really straight up, are you willi willing, are you in favor now of an expanded effort with military operation with the russians inside syria. because most people in this town

think you are not. >> if the russians would do the right thing in syria, and that's an important condition, as in all cases with russia, we're willing to work with them. that's what we've been urging them to do since they came in. that's the objective that secretary kerry's talks are aimed at. and if we can get them to that point, that's a good thing. >> let me follow up on two small items. are you willing to include an effort for the u.s. to begin air strikes against al nusra? and may i also ask you about raqqah. as the world has watched what's happened in istanbul, how urgent now are you beyond the usual discussion of accelerants to see the syrian air coalition and the other fighters get to raqqah, because -- >> oh, very, very eager to get them to raqqah. this is the same group that we've been working successfully, as they have been successful, we've been enabling and

supporting them, in to envelope and take, which they will, from is isil, the city of manbidge, which isn't as well known as raqqah, but it's a city from which external plotting has been conducted by isil into europe and into the united states as well and was part of the transit hub from the turkish border down to isil in syria. so that was an important objective. those same forces and that same approach, or really, the same approach and some larger forces, actually, are the ones we planned, and i was just discussing this with the judge the other day along with general dunford, those are the forces that we are going to position to again envelope and collapse isil's control of raqqah. the reason i want to do that, barba barbara, as soon as possible, is

that raqqah is the self-proclaimed capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate of is isil. and it's important to destroy isil in iraq and syria. that's absolutely necessary. it's not sufficient to avoid all kinds of radicalization and so forth, but it's necessary in order to eliminate the idea that there can be a state based upon that ideology. that's why we are so intent in our military campaign against isil on iraq and syria. so we would like to get rocca as soon as we possibly can, as soon as everything else. chris? >> mr. skrair, a couple of questions about what this change will mean for the transgender service members. first, can you verify that the military health care coverage

will cover all aspects of transition-related care, including gender reassignment surgery? and second, will the pentagon add gender identity or transgender status to the military equal opportunity policy, in the event that a transgender service member feels like they're experiencie ining discrimination. the answer to the first one, the medical standards don't change. they will get all medical care their doctors deem necessary. they'll have to do that with their subject to, if it's non-urgent medical care, subject to their commanders, because, you know, if they need to be deployed, they need to be deployed. and it's normal if you have, say, a procedure which is not urgent, that you have to defer that, if you're being deployed. so we're not going to have any different medical policy for transgender service members than others. our doctors will treat them, and give them medically necessary

treatment, according to the protocols, that are determined by the medical profession. >> what about the meo policy? will you add transgender meo? i assume the answer is yes and peter's telling me, yes, that certainly stads to reason that that makes sense. let's see, cory? i guess cory's not here. how about paul? >> i wanted to follow up on that question. there's been some debate on whether the military would only cover hormone therapy versus covering full reassignment surgery. so will reassignment surgery be covered? >> this is for currently serving members. again, that's going to be a matter that the doctors will determine in accordance with what is medically necessary. that's a decision that they make with their physician and the timing of any treatment, of any kind, like any other non-urgent

medical care, will be something that their commanders will have a voice in for the very simple reason that we, in this matter, as in all matters, readiness and deployability are critical. tom? >> if i could follow up very quickly, you said for current service members. so incoming service members who are transitioned would not be eligible for that transitional surgery? >> it depends. if someone who is transgender and comes out will need to and be required to have undergone transition and be stable in that state for 18 months before they can enter the military. >> but they will -- but the u.s. military will not provide that surgery. is that what you're saying? >> they went be in the u.s.

military at that time, because they haven't have succeeded until they had undergone transition. >> how many transgender troops have been dismissed under the old policy. and why isn't dunford here to discuss this policy. >> this is my decision. however, we have arrived at it together, t senior leadership of the department. they support this timetable and the implementation plan, as i indicated, actually made some adjustments in it, specifically to take into account some of the desire by some of the chiefs to have a little more time on the front end, particularly for the commanders in training guidance. so i agreed to that, because i thought that was reasonable. and i have a general principle around here, which is very important, which is that it's important that the people who have to implement decisions be part of the decision making. and the service, the armed

services are the ones that are going to have to implement that, so it's very important that they've been part of this study, but now they're a critical part of implementation. because they and i all agree, as i said before, that simply declaring the military open to transgender individuals does not constitute effective implementation. we have work together and we'll do it together. >> mr. secretary, in light of the events this morning at andrews air force base, are you getting a little fed up about all of these false alarms for an active shooter? and why the communications problems this morning? >> well, i wouldn't say fed up. i'm sure we have to take these things seriously when they occur. and i'm sure if a mistake was made, they weren't doing that on purpose. and it also shows a high degree of readiness and rapidity of response. it does appear, based on the information i have at this

moment, that this was a mistake. and that this was a drill that was going on, that was mistaken for a real event and a response was made. and that is something, because it has happened before, that i think we need to pay attention to, how to minimize the chances of false alarms like that. at the same time, i think it's important to have a reasonable level of awareness, that, of the possibility of this kind of event and what to do. and i thought the response was strong and solid. so that's the good news. the bad news is that it appears to have made a mistake and we would like to reduce the number of mistakes made in this way, no question about it. david? >> mr. secretary, i'm still confused by your aps nswer to nick's question. someone who's already in the military, if he is -- he or she

is deemed medically -- if sex change surgery is deemed medically necessary, the military will pay for it? >> that's correct. >> but what happens new -- and then you've explained the 18-month stable before you come in. but what happens to a servicemen or woman who joins -- >> they'll receive -- >> no -- they join as a man or a woman and then decide, at some point after they've joined the service, that they need -- >> any medical treatment at that -- in that instance, that is determined to be medically necessary by their doctors, will be provided like any other medical care. however, and i emphasize, this is subject to their normal readiness requirements that are imposed upon any military service member. >> so this is not a one-time offer. this is going to -- >> no, i think -- our offer in this is in all medical care.

there's no change in medical apply policy. medically necessary care, as determined by doctors, which is appropriate, will be provided to service members as is part of our promise about medical care in general. one more. >> any reaction to the response from capitol hill, that's, of course, already come in. this is the way things work in this electronic age, as chairman mac thornberry, has already reacted to your announcement, even as you're still making it. if i could just read a tiny bit of his statement and just get your response. he says, quote, this is the latest example of the pentagon and the president prioritizing politics over policy. our military readiness and hence our national security is dependent on our troops being medically ready and deployable. the administration seems unwilling or unable to assure the congress and the american people that transgender individuals will meet these individual readiness

requirements. >> well, the chairman's right, that is chairman thornberry is right to emphasize "readiness." that's a key part of our study and will be a key part of implementation. and the chairman and other members of the committee and i, committees -- and i've actually heard a variety of opinions on this, some urging us to move even faster than we have moved pb and some wanting -- and this is very legitimate, but we have some principles here. we have a necessity here. and we're going to act upon that. we're going to do it in a deliberate and thoughtful and step-by-step manner, but it's important that we do it. >> thank you. >> you've been listening to this historic moment from the secretary of defense, ash carter. hi, everybody. i'm thomas roberts. and we want to get you up to speed on what just happened here, after a year of study by the pentagon, ash carter is effectively saying that one of the last remaining hurdles for

opening serving in the military, lifting the transgender service ban. and they are slowly rolling this out, beginning today. again, this is after a year of study. an implementation plan that will last for 12 months. the secretary of defense laying of out the stages for this. the guidance that will be necessary for those in the armed forces, to make sure that those are -- those people in positions of leadership are trained properly, to deal with this. but it begins today, for a qualified service members, they will not be excluded from serving in the military anymore. this is a big moment for a lot of people who have served in silence or any type of personal shame for many years, in the armed forces. but joining me now on the phone is kristen beck. kristen is a former navy seal who joined public attention in 2013 when she came out as trans, and she's now running for congress in maryland's fifth district. and kristen, i know this has got to be a big moment for you, as someone who served for 20 years,

in our armed forces, and did so in silence. how is this going to change how people can serve with dignity and honor in our military? >> thank you, thomas. i'm very happy this has happened, but now the real work begins. and it's a great first step. actually, it might be the third or fourth step, but now the real super hard work begins, the implementation of transgender people into the service, while maintaining readiness. and i think that's the biggest part we need to always emphasize, is that the military serves a purpose. and readiness is the key. and so we can't overlook that at all. >> and kristen, i think a lot of people are going to consider that, as we talk about the details, specific details, of what the pentagon is saying, about the medical readiness. and ash carter said there, that this would be up to a doctor's

of a service member deeming them necessary for certain treatments. that this is going to talk about, more specifically, hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery. but am i correct in saying that the u.s. will be the 19th country that allows transgender service members to serve openly? >> yes, we're definitely not the first. canada has had transgender open service in the military for over 20 years. there are a lot of countries right now that are leaving the fight. there are a lot of countries that we can use as examples. you know, the lessons learned, the good and the bad. the best thing we can do is look at countries like canada, norway, swedeness, israel, switzerland, australia. there's a lot of other countries out there we can look at and get some great data and understanding and education. education being probably the top priority right now for the

entire services. >> and kristen, while this is very historic and certainly a moment, what about the stigma that still exists within the armed services for being lbgt? >> there's still stigma in the services for african-americans and color people, being in the desegregation of the military back in the 50s. and still issues with being colored in the military. it's not going to be something we see overnight. we need to work on the military, you know, i don't want to say sensitivity, but we do have to work on the military being a more fair for us, as far as looking at people, and only seeing the person, you know, not color, not religion, not gender or their sexual orientation. so i think we do a pretty good job, but there's still a long ways to go. and i think koit comes down to education. >> kristen beck, great to have

you on time. really appreciate you making time for me and getting on the air with us so quickly after this moment. again, we've just been watching ash carter make the announcement about the pentagon lifting the ban on transgender service members. there's ban study that's been conducted over the last year. also, i want to point out. if you want more context about this historic development, head on to nbc news.com and head on over to nbc out. that's our latest feature. and later in this hour, we'll speak to a transgender army veteran about this big shift in pentagon policy. and also what this means for transgender vets, who would like to be recognized within the pentagon's system by not only their name, but also their medical rights. so we'll talk about that. we'll have much more on msnbc live when we come back, especially the very latest on the investigation into the terrorist attack in turkey and the heightened security reverberating here at home before the holiday weekend.

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welcome back, everybody. on alert and taking no chances. a lockdown lasting more than an hour at joint base andrews today after reports of an active shooter turned out to be a false alarm. so with millions of american preparing to travel over this holiday weekend, u.s. intelligence officials are concerned isis is prepping to launch a summertime wave of violence. >> the american public should expect to see this july 4th weekend an enhanced security presence at airports, train stations, and other transit centers across the country by tsa and state and local law enforcement, as well as security personnel. we should not focus our attention on things like airports to the exclusion of other public places where

concerned and focused generally on public events and public places across the nation. >> coalition allies are targeting potential isis havens. u.s. air strikes in iraq destroyed a convoy of fighters fleeing fallujah. and raids in turkey rounded up 13 suspected terrorists. all of this as more details are emerging about the ataturk airport attackers. take a look at this. it's an image from the airport's cctv. and nbc news has not verified independently its authenticity. it was first posted online by turkish television. but the country remains defiant in face of an uncertain security situation. ♪ >> so there we have the scene earlier today at a memorial in istanbul at the airport. that's where we find nbc's matt bradley with an update for us. matt, we know that turkish officials, they're splitting

their time between taking action against isis elements and also unraveling what happened. how these attackers were able to pull off what they accomplished on tuesday. what are you hearing about officials -- or what are you hearing from the officials there? >> reporter: well, one of the more interesting things that have come out today, thomas, is the actual national identity of the three attackers who were involved. that's kirz bec . they aren't typically involved in some of the state attacks abroad against european targets, but they are interesting, because jihadis from those countries do tend to populate some of the upper ranks of islamic state. they're also known some of islamic state's fiercest fighters. and, of course, those countries do have histories with islamic insurgencies within them as well. as i mentioned earlier, the death tolls have been rising. these arrests that happened today, we don't know if they're actually connected with the tuesday's attacks or whether

they're involved with the normal push irk investigations into islamic state's presence here in turkey. but the rise in the death toll is very interesting. it's been said now that this rise to 44 dead has made this attack on tuesday arguably the largest or deadliest ever terrorist attack against an airport in history. so this is -- these new developments that are coming out, they're really kind of shaking the turkish foundation here and a lot of the turkish officials are really looking to try to resolve this as soon as possible. >> matt bradley reporting there from ataturk airport in istanbul. mike, thank you. alex ka sarah is an analyst at flashpoint, a data analysis company, focused on emerging threats. alex, as we talk about this and where this kind of bakes into the cake, and matt was explaining there the three nationalities of who we believe the intelligence sources say these attackers are, how does that change the narrative of what we expect isis fighters to be? >> well, it's interesting. a lot of people don't know, matt was saying this earlier, that there is a significant amount of leadership that is made up of

russian and former union states, like omar show shani, he was chechen. but russian and former soviet union countries do constitute a significant portion of isis' ranks in their traditional areas of operation, in syria, iraq, libya. they're just not known for launching attacks outside of their traditional areas of operation. >> so when we think about the traditional areas, what is turkey's government, its responsibility on being able to crack down about its policy? because they are not in alignment with u.s. and nato forces on that. >> well, we've actually been seeing them be more cooperative over the past six to eight months, i would say. traditionally, the border has been pretty porous. we've been seeing people going and flooding through in and out of syria from the southern border of turkey, places like that. but over the six to eight months, turkish authorities have been cracking down. and that is, in part, due to the uptick in attacks, three of which have been attributed to

isis, but isis hasn't claimed responsibility for. that can also be part of why isis that as, if it is isis, why this attack was carried out. because the turkish authority have said cracking down. >> we know they've gone through five different attacks in the last several months. >> none of which they've claimed credit for, but it does seem, at least three of them does seem like isis' m.o.. >> alex, great to have you on. thank you so much. so as we talk about the estimations of the busiest travel weekend coming up this weekend, we've got a number of record number of taking to the roads and the skies for july 4th. the security head of homeland s says an additional presence is in place in light of what happened at istanbul, but warned that more security may slow down the lines at the nation's airports. steve patterson is at l.a.x. in speaking to officials on the ground, what are they telling you about this weekend's security plans and how they want to help people get through the lines? >> reporter: mainly, thomas, it's more about posturing and presence than it is about

procedure and policy. so there's going to be a higher visibility of armed officers, of k-9 units, of checkpoints in places that are considered soft targets, like terminals, arrival and departure checkpoints, where you'll see it increase in police presence, but it will not aff t affect -- the messaging we're hearing will not affect how smoothly these departure lines move in and out of the terminals. so we'll see a lot higher presence, maybe more people in tactical gear, we've seen some officers in the terminal i'm standing in now with assault rifles, but that is not affecting the day-to-day procedure of these flights. so what we do want to hear from are the people who are actually here to fly. we've got some people from texas. this is dee dee and patrick. where are you flying to today? >> we're flying to japan. >> reporter: is there any concern with the increased security and the terrorist attacks we saw about flying or being in an international terminal like this? >> honestly, for me, no.

i don't feel an increased threat. honestly, me biggest concern is getting through security checkpoints, but at the same time, it's always a struggle getting through, so i don't think it will be a big problem. >> yourself, patrick? >> i'll be honest, i didn't even notice the presence at first until my wife pointed them out. even the people we were traveling with didn't notice guys walking around with rifles until we had pointed them out and talked about them. but it certainly doesn't feel threatening or scary or anything. >> reporter: right. so have you changed the way you approach coming in a place like this at all? >> no. and even looking at the attacks and things like that, i don't want it to let it affect the way i approach coming to an airport and enjoying a vacation. so, you know, i try to be aware, but not really let it push me to do things differently. >> reporter: gotcha. thank you so much, guys. that's the message security officials want to let people know, stay vigilant. if you see something, say something. that's always the message and certainly is now. >> steve patterson reporting at

l.a.x. thanks so much. appreciate it. as we talk about the holiday travel, the uptick, we've been asking you, as part of today's microsoft pulse question, are you concerned about safety and security at u.s. airports? so far, 39% say yes. 61% say no. the pulse is live. check it out at pulse.msnbc.com. viagra single packs... so guys with ed can... take viagra when they need it. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra single packs.

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that's how we own it. glad forceflex. extra strong to avoid rips and tears. be happy, it's glad. to donald trump was on conservative radio this morning, and not ready to ease off the criticism of senator elizabeth warren. >> she is a total do-nothing. she hasn't done anything. you know, she talks a good game, and she used her native american, so-called phony native american status to get into institutions and to help her career. and i always say that i have more native american blood in me than she does, okay? and i bet you do too. >> probably. >> all right. it's that kind of attack that has many republicans saying they

can't support him. so it's not good news, as the party gets ready to convene in cleveland just a little over two weeks from now. trump is now in the middle of a tug-of-war between supporters and the stop-trump movement. a draft rule just obtained by msnbc would effectively lock in trump as the gop nominee and kill the stop-trump movement once and for all. and many prominent republicans have said that they will not attend the convention, including former president george w. bush, general mike hayden, appointed head to the cia under bush has called trump's national security policy incoherent. and this morning, told cbs, hillary clinton is more adept at keeping us safe. >> in my view, in that lane, i think she might be stronger than the current president. >> so add to that fox news, a new poll out that shows a majority of republican voters would prefer someone other than trump as the nominee. and it's a recipe for potential convention chaos. joining me now is steve lonegan,

a spokesman for the courageous conservatives pac, also helping out with trying to free up delegates. so what do you make of this big move. msnbc uncovering the fact that they want to lock in trump as the nominee, preventing any convention chaos. >> i'm not surprised they're going to take every parliamentarian maneuver they can to get around this and make the convention a great big pr production and a coronation circus rather than a nomination process, which is what it is. and we're not going to let that happen. we believe that the delegates on that floor are going to want to stand up for their rights, and by the time the convention comes, we don't know what else donald trump will do between now and then to make things worse. what's your tipping point? does he have to be down 10 points, 12 points, 18 points before they realize they're taking the whole republican party into a cataclysmic defeat. >> hillary clinton is leading trump, 46 to 42, but donald

trump has repeatedly slammed republicans, the ones who will not get behind him in terms of support. he said, it was a rough campaign, i wasn't nice, but they weren't nice either. honestly, you sign a pledge, you're supposed to honor that pledge. so what do you make of the that couldn't that donald trump is calling out the folks like a cruz or a marco rubio and a john kasich of ohio that will not endorse or support him? >> while openly courting bernie sanders' voters, thinking he has some great appeal to the far-left of the democratic party. donald trump is making the classic mistake i've seen, i've been in elected office for 12 years as a mayor. you see this on the lowest level of politics. someone running for town council is trying to chase the other guy's votes. i'm going to try to get all the democrats to vote for me because i go to church with them and forget to get their own troops marching. the key is to gavlvanize your base, not chase the other guy's

vote. donald trump sl galvanizing his own base, while chasing the other guy's votes. this is a recipe for disaster. this is why the convention needs to be ready to act to nominate a candidate block win in november. you know what, you know what's going to happen? come the end of november there are going to be a bunch of unemployed congressmen and senators and their staff, wondering what happened to their career? >> and it was jeb bush who really hasn't thrown his support behind trump. marco rubio has now said he would vote for him. marco rubio now running again in florida. you talk about what's going to happen in this convention. you would like to see someone else pop up. who's left? who could do it. >> before you go on, marco rubio, by the way, will be in a tough race in florida with donald trump at the top of the ticket. he's one of the guys who will be a casualty. what's going to happen is this, as the establishment wakes up, which they better do, they're going to go to candidate. a candidate will not jump in and say, hey, nominate me instead. what they want is to be approached by the leadership and say, you knee need to write in,

our night in shining armor and save the republican party. i see the potential for that kind of a tick emerging by july 17th. but who? >> oh, listen, i could feed all kinds of great rumors just by what i say on your show. >> all right, here you go. have at it. >> i would be happy with a scott walker or ted cruz. or maybe it's a john kasich/marco rubio ticket. anything can happen in this environment. people laying back, they're playing their cards close to the vest. and they're waiting to be asked. and that's probably what's going to happen. >> unscripted drama continues. >> and there's going to be a lot more, by the way. >> thanks, steve. appreciate that. we'll have you back to give my predictions you want in the near future. all right. so we're going to talk more about what happened in istanbul, what we know definitively about the terrorists who attacked the airport there. i'm joined by former cia director, james wolseley, coming up next. (vo) stank face. a universal expression of disgust, often caused by inadequate cat litter.

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so a worldwide manhunt is heating up for those suspected in the terrorist attack at istanbul's main airport. the turkish interior minister says 13 people were arrested in raids overnight. now, it's not clear if any of those taken into custody had any knowledge or link to the attack, but they are suspected of having links to isis. turkish tv has released airport cctv pictures, reportedly showing some of the suspects. nbc news not independently verifying those images as of yet. a police source tells nbc news the suspects have been identified as a russian national and an usbeck. istanbul's national tv released new pictures of an memorial service held for airport workers who lost their lives in that attack. joining me now for more on the fight against isis is former cia director, james wolseley. sir, it's good to have you here. and thanks for making time for me. as we talk about this, we had cia director john brennan just yesterday, saying that this bears all the hallmarks of isis,

and also that there's no real way to insulate an attack happening here in america. do you agree with that. >> probably yes, because of the way insulate. >> we are not going to win as long as what we try to do is only be a goalie and stop shots on goal. and if one shot gets through, we lose. that is -- if that's insulating, trying to insulate, yes, we lose. we've got to play offense. we've got to get out on the other team's eyes. >> who do we play offense within our own country without being over-militaryized in what would consider to be soft targets? >> i think it's fair to say that there are two values that most americans hold very dear. one is security and the other is privacy. and when times are easy, like they were in the early 90s, not much conflict between those. you can have pretty much all the

privacy you want and almost all the security you want. but when we're at war, as i think we are now, even though we aren't -- we don't think we're at war, or at least our government doesn't, but the opponent does, then those values conflict to some extent. and one has to make some choices and some compromises. and i think we ought to do that consciously. i think we ought to get the relevant people in the administration and the government who understand these issues like the national security agency, together with some of the senior people in business. and work out ways in which we can utilize data, that we have, in publicly available, in huge amounts of it, in order to get inside the heads of and the progress of and the steps of and the travels of people who are terrorists or potential terrorists. >> they're certainly using data and obviously they're using this

coverage to expand the type of propaganda that comes from being able to intimidate from this type of terrorist action. but when we think about, and we have this new image of the u.s. and coalition air strikes in iraq, may have killed over 200 isis militants, now this will be one of the deadliest strikes, if confirmed, that total. but how can we defeat the ideology, when we're at asymmetrical warfare. typically, we're at war a country. we play by the rules of geneva conventions. this is an ideology. how do we defeat that? >> and more than that, it's a religiously rooted ideology. it's a little bit like trying to fight the spanish inquisition or something. there are real serious problems in trying to deal with a totalitarian movement that is rooted in a religion. we've got to be pretty good at dealing with totalitarian movements in the 20th century. we stopped the germans at the beginning of the century, and we stopped the italians and the

japanese and the germans again and the soviets. these were all ideologies, very strong ones, some totalitarian, but they weren't rooted in any religion and we got the job done. >> and there's a difference between peace and defeating an ideology. >> yes. >> we can't accept or form a treaty in trying to stop this kind of action. >> of course not. no. we have to win militarily in the mideast, in iraq and syria, and we have to basically destroy isis and isis-like organizations >> that sprout up. >> here in the west. >> former cia director, james woo woolsey. because so many people will be traveling over the holiday weekend, we've been asking you if you are concerned about safety and security at u.s. airports. 34% say yet. 66% say no.

check out the pulse. it remains live at pulse.msnbc.com. one thing we're following this hour, breaking development office the white house. we have press secretary josh earnest in the awkward position of explaining why there is no conflict of interest when it comes to the investigation of hillary clinton's private e-mail server. and all of this is coming to a head because of a private meeting between former president bill clinton and attorney general loretta lynch. the meeting happened on the tarmac at an airport in phoenix where both of their planes were parked. the attorney general described it as a purely social conversation. >> our conversation was a great deal about his grandchildren. it was primarily social and about our travels. he mentioned the golf he played in phoenix and he mentioned travels he had had to west virginia. we talked about former attorney general, janet reno, for example, whom we both know. but there was no discussion of any matter pending before the department or any matter pending before any other body. there was no discussion of

benghazi. no discussion of the state department e-mails by way of example. >> all right. it's still raising a lot of eyebrows, even with loretta lynch giving that explanation. at today's white house briefing, the press secretary, josh earnest, insisted that politics do not play a role in federal investigations. >> the rule of law is paramount and every american citizen should be held accountable to that rule of law, regardless of their political affiliation, regardless of who supports them politically, regardless of what their poll numbers say. >> so joining me now is former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell, being an nbc news political analyst and a cnbc contributor. it's good to have you with me. listen to what donald trump said this morning. >> it was really a sneak. it was really, you know, something that they didn't want publicized, as i understand. you see a thing like this, and even in terms of judgment, how

bad a judgment was it for him or her to do this? who would do this? i think it's a massive story now. >> governor, it does go to judgment. why would they take this meeting for any reflection of being improper. because people are going to make assumptions. >> first of all, the bill clinton and the attorney general wanted to have a private conversation about any investigation or anything. why would they do it in person? why wouldn't they do it on the phone where it would be impossible to detect. that's number one. number two, i absolutely have tremendous confidence in attorney general lynch's integrity. i think anybody who knows her does. take a look at what happened in philadelphia recently. congressman fatah, a very strong and early supporter of president obama, was convicted of a number of crimes involving corruption and racketeering, by attorney general lynch's justice department -- >> but, sir -- but governor, you

know that so many people have said, because hillary clinton is running for president, she would be the one to carry the torch of president obama's legacy. that this department of justice will never indict her over the e-mail situation. so, why would president clinton put loretta lynch in this position? and why would loretta lynch take this meeting know that hillary clinton is currently under doj investigation? >> i can't answer for that. but if they were going to do something surreptitious, they wouldn't meet on an airport tarmac. look, there's nothing to indict. hillary clinton did with condoleezza rice did and colin powell did. she used a private server and -- >> well, condoleezza rice and colin powell, they used e-mail accounts. they did not have a private server that was cooked up in the basement of their home. >> it's susceptible to the same type of things. and they weren't government e-mail accounts. and they sent out stuff that wasn't classified at the time,

irt later became classified. hillary clinton's e-mails have been scoured by everybody now. and nobody has found one that was classified at the time. there is no crime. we've got to get that out of our mind. nobody has been able to say to me what amounts to activities by the secretary, that was criminal, what amounted to activity by the secretary that wasn't done by other previous secretaries of state. >> but back to the e-mail situation, because there was some new insight into hillary clinton's use of private e-mail in the server. it was just released in testimony today, where we have confidant and clinton aide, huma abedin, stating that clinton wasn't able to do her job, do what she needed to do, in reference to a call she missed with the french foreign minister. how damaging is that? with perception being reality? >> well, i don't know anything about that, so i couldn't comment on it. but you can put anything under a

make scope and say, she shouldn't have done that, or i shouldn't have done this or governor smith shouldn't have done that, and there's always second guessing. but the question is, is there an indictable offense? now, we don't indict lightly in this country and we shouldn't indict lightly, and you heard a unanimous supreme court, conservatives and liberals in the mcdonald case, talking about indicting public officials. and there is nothing indictable. i mean, there just is nothing. i have yet to hear anybody give me a cogent series of facts that would somehow indicate that secretary clinton broke the law. and i think in trial they want, but nobody's been able to do it. benghazi was investigated by nine congressional committees, many of them dominated by republicans, and they found no wrongdoing. they may have found things that they quarreled with in terms of judgment, but they found no wrongdoing. do we want to do a tenth? >> former pennsylvania governor, we're going to leave it there. nbc news political analyst, ed rendell. thank you, sir, i appreciate it.

we have the pentagon just announcing some brand-new policy at the top of the hour affecting measure 15,000 transgender individuals in military service. after this break, i'm going to speak with an army vet who was forced to hide her identity and i'll also get reaction on what today's decision means to her and the military as it moves into the future. little miss muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey. along came a burglar who broke into her home and ransacked the place making off with several valuable tuffets. fortunately geico had recently helped her with homeowners insurance. she got full replacement on her tuffets. the burglar was later captured when he was spotted with whey on his face. call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance. [martha and mildred are good to. go. here's your invoice, ladies. a few stops later, and it looks like big ollie is on the mend. it might not seem that glamorous having an old pickup truck for an office... or filling your days looking

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may cause low blood sugar. it's time to turn things around. lower your blood sugar with invokana®. imagine loving your numbers. there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. joust earlier this hour, we had secretary of defense ash carter, and his department taking a major step towards transgender equality in the armed forces, announcing a new set of rules that will allow transgender military service members to serve openly in the military and be treated equally while in service. >> our mission is to defend this country, and we don't want barriers unrelated to a person's qualification to serve preventing us from recruiting or retaining the soldier, sailor, airmen, or marine who can best accomplish the mission. the reality is that we have

transgender service members serving in uniform today. and i have a responsibility to them and to their commanders. >> so joining me now is an outspoken supporter of transgender military equality and retired u.s. army colonel, sher sherry shercowski. let's talk about what ash carter did today. this was after a year of planning and saying this implementation begins today. what does this mean to you? >> well, this is really an historic event. i applaud the decision and secretary carter's leadership on this issue. this actually creates a win-win situation for both the department of defense and all of its employees. secretary carter knows that when it comes to getting the job done, it's a person's abilities and their character that counts the most. and as he just said, those are

unrelated to gender identity. >> we know that you served in silence for nearly 34 years, before transitioning. last year you took a stand for the equality of transgender americans in the military, donning a female army service uniform. what about how this is going to be implemented, the type of way that moral and stigma kind of coincides about being lbgt in the military. how can ash carter, with this big announcement, which is great, change what is a kind of baked in culture in the military. >> the military teaches us to anticipate change, accept it when it occurs, and commit to it and get on with the mission. there was no big deal when don't ask, don't tell was repealed. and i think this will be exactly the same thing. >> so when we heard about from ash carter, talking about what this means from medical services

and for a service member in transition, it has to be deemed medically necessary in order for the military to cover the costs. what does that mean, sherry? >> well, i think it means that up until now, transgender service members were the only individuals in all of the services that weren't receiving the necessary medical care for their condition. and i think that's going to change, as a result of this policy change. >> and sherry, are you legally registered as sherry swokowski with the mitt as a veteran? >> i am and my dd-214 reflects that. >> sheri, thank you very much for joining me and i know you will continue to be an outspoken voice for transgender equality, not only in the military, but for the community in general. thank you very much. that's going to wrap up this hour. i'm thomas roberts. thank you for your time. my colleague, kate snow, picks things up next. and a programming note, be sure

to watch "all in" tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern, my colleague, chris haste, interviewing senator bernie sanders. afternoon, everyone. i'm kate snow. today is the last day of june and it has been a rough month for the republicans' presumptive nominee. he's lagging behind hillary clinton in the polls, in fund-raising, in advertisements, and in battleground state visits, but as our political director wrote today, there are plenty of ways he could turn things around in july. trump's vice president pick should come in the next few weeks. he's got the convention to make his appeal to swing voters, along with a fund-raising report that could flip the script. and finally, he has a chance to turn the political focus back on to hillary clinton. that's what he's likely to do, about a half hour from now, when he'll deliver his second straight anti-trade speech. this one in manchester, new hampshire. and don't be surprised if he brings up the attack in istanbul, turkey. overnight, turkish police arresting 13 people in isis-related raids, as the death toll is still