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 climbing.

and this afternoon, brand-new video of coalition air strikes destroying around 200 vehicles, believed to be carrying isis fighters. a spokesman for iraq's joint operation command tells nbc news that all the militants traveling in the convoy were killed. and in the fight against isis, donald trump this week, once again, calling for the reinstitution of waterboarding and after senator john mccain, a former vietnam p.o.w., of course, went after him on that, this afternoon on our air, another knowledgeable voice had a thing or two to add. here's malcolm nance, a former intelligence officer for u.s. special operations, speaking to andrea mitchell about torture. >> it is just sadism that is satisfied that people who think it works. this is not an american value. we are not just having a debate about torture and about what satisfies us. this is an honor crisis that we're going through, when a presidential candidate believes that george washington's own

standing orders about the ethical treatment of prisoners is going to be violated, we will throw away 240 years of our values. no one in the military, no one in government should ever believe that. and if they do believe that, they need to go out and read some books. >> strong words. my colleague, hallie jackson, is up in manchester, new hampshire, waiting for donald trump to deliver this address on trade. hallie, do you expect him to talk terror again, or are we expecting a stick to his script trade talk? >> reporter: listen, national security, kate, has been a theme that donald trump has woven into so many of his speeches on the campaign trail, not just his policy speeches, but even informal remarks, like what we are expecting here today, some time within this hour, you can see the setup here. we believe it's going to be a town hall-style event. people starting to file in here, waiting for donald trump. he's already going after hillary clinton today, online, tweeting just moments ago that college graduates wouldn't want, quote, crooked hillary to be their president. this is a teheme we've seen fro

trump all week long. even as he talks trade, even as he talks tpp, nafta, going after those trade deals, he's tied them to democratic policies, so we expect to see that continue for donald trump today. >> hallie jackson, up in new hampshire. and hallie, he made some other news this morning, i believe his first comments on the supreme court's decision the other day, reaffirming abortion rights. talk about that. >> okay, so frankly, here we are thursday, kate. the supreme court decision came down monday. some people were surprised that trump did not come out far sooner, to be talking about this decision. what you saw were many conservatives, many republicans coming out and pointing to this decision, as a reason why there should be a republican president to appoint the next supreme court justice, to replace justice scalia. trump had been silent, at least until this morning. and when he talked about it, kate, he got the math a little bit wrong. remember, this was a 5-3 decision. trump said, hey, if he had been the one to replace justice scalia, then it would have gone the other way. that's not quite right. so these are some of the first remarks that we are hearing from

trump since that came down on monday. >> one last thing, hallie, this poll. nbc news/"wall street journal" poll out today, something our political team brought up. i want to show these numbers. 55% of all voters saying they had a less favorable impression of trump from what they had seen, heard, or read about him, compared with 20% who had a more favorable view. you can compare that to clinton's numbers. how does the campaign say they're going to turn that around? >> reporter: a couple of ways here, kate. first, i would argue that the campaign is unconcerned or at least publicly unconcerned with some of these numbers we've been seeing over these last few weeks. the slipping poll numbers, the dismal fund-raising numbers that came out earlier this month from may, the campaign says, hey, listen we're fund-raising in earnest in june. they believe that they're pointing to other polls that show donald trump close with hillary clinton, particularly in battleground states like ohio and pennsylvania. that being said, donald trump is coming off not a very good month. he's turned the corner in july so there are a couple of things that political analysts argue

could help him make his case to republicans. you talked about poll numbers. let me poison out another one. more than half of republicans who say they want a different nominee now. we have two polls this week that reflect that consensus or perception that is building in the gop. so what can trump do? kate, we're about two weeks from the cleveland convention. that is where trump has said to me, to others, that he plans to name his vsht pick. you hear people from evangelicals to business leaders to even some of trump's own colleagues, like senator susan collins this morning saying that she believes that this is the most important decision that a candidate could make and she and others are looking very closely to see who his pick will be. a high-level source familiar with that decision-making progress telling me that the short list is about 5 to 7 people at this point. >> it's a great parlor game. hallie jackson, we'll be talking more about the vp selection a little later in the show. and we'll come back as soon as we see donald trump speaking this hour. hallie, thanks so much.

let's get the latest now on the attacks in istanbul. new arrests and information about the investigation. i'm joined by nbc's matt bradley in istanbul for us. matt, what more do we know about the suspects? >> reporter: kate, the most significant information that's come out today is the nationality of the suspects. one from kyrgyzstan, another from russia, and one from uzbekist uzbekistan. and this is significant, because these three nationalities are all hosting their own islamist insurgencies in those three countries and jihadis from those countries do tend to populate the upper ranks of islamic state, within their self-declared caliphate in iraq and syria. so this sort of internationalization of this attack is really just hardening turkish officials' resolve that this is, indeed, an islamic state attack. however, it's worth noting, and we're coming on about 48 hours since the attack, there still hasn't been a declaration of responsibility. and while that's not

unprecedented, it is pretty rare. normally, islamic state would back up an attack like this with a claim of responsibility, either almost immediately or within the next day or two. so, as time goes on, it's welcoming less and less clear exactly who is behind this. but still, turkish authorities are saying they believe that this is an islamic state attack. now, again, today, the death toll has increased to 44. that makes this arguably the deadliest attack against an airport in the western world ever. now, it's been a very emotional day in the days after this attack. just a couple of hours ago, behind me, there was a memorial service held in this airport, and it was very, very emotional. it was the kind of thing you'd see at a lot of memorial services, a lot of flowers, a lot of tears, but really, this was a -- there was a strong strain of patriotism that ran through this entire ceremony. there was all of the ten airport employees, their pictures who were killed in this attack,

their pictures were displayed in front of a huge turkish flag. and the whole thing ended with a very rousing rendition of the turkish national anthem. and you know, this patriotism that plays into this, this is really important here, because these attackers, they didn't just strike against a major transportation hub for turkey. this is a global airport. and for turks, this airport is a symbol of their global ambitions. they see it as kind of a beachhead into their emergence into europe, and so, really, this was a strike that dealt a body blow to turks' national consciousness, and the way they see themselves in the world. >> kate? >> matt bradley over in istanbul, thanks so much. and now for a really unique perspective on all of this, fran townsend, the former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to president bush. she's also the executive vice president for mcandrews and forbes incorporated. nice to have you with us here. >> thanks for having me. >> we need your expertise at a moment like this. you just heard, 13 arrests overnight in istanbul, in connection with the attack.

and if there was enough information to arrest them this morning, overnight, why not sooner? do you think they got something new after the attacks or why wouldn't have they acted sooner? >> i do. so, very soon after the attack, both turkish authorities and american intelligence officials were saying that they believed the indications were isis. that's sort of -- it's reasonable to suspect that they made that connection based on what they were learning. and so typically, in the immediate aftermath of an attack, what you're doing is you identify the suicide bombers and you're looking for their connections. we learned today, as your reporter just said, the nationalities, but they obviously knew more than that overnight. and so you're looking at phone numbers, e-mails, computers, addresses, common links between them, both among each other and among others in turkey and arounded the world. >> well, i was going to say. would just that be the push irk authorities, or can we presume we're sharing information and asking for help? >> no question. the minute they identified the suicide bombers in particular or any identifying information, phone numbers, e-mails, they

shared that with nato allies in particular and european allies. so, for example, american intelligence services would have begun to search their databases to see, did they have signals intelligence, human intelligence, did the fbi have anything? and we would have shared back with turkey anything that we could have discovered that might have helped their investigation. >> this has become a bit political, as you know. donald trump saying again last night, isis exploded on hillary clinton's watch. is there someone to blame for the rise of isis, when you look at their history? >> you'll not be surprised, having worked both in the clinton administration and the bush administration, the one thing i don't do so sort of respond to what each candidate is saying right now. i will tell you, am i of a view that there are some counterterrorism policies that are more effective than others? yes. do i think that we might have done more early on to undermine isis, to really truly defeat them? i do. so, for example, the fact that they were able to establish a caliphate in syria and iraq,

they've used that in a way that's very harmful to our allies in western europe and here. so i think that's harmful. but i just don't think it's useful -- >> i'm not asking you to way in on the politics, i promise. but there's been a debate about -- he's said this and people have said, well, isis didn't even exist when she was secretary of state. but you're arguing that there were perhaps many errors made along the way. >> that's exactly right. this goes back to, there was al qaeda in iraq. there was the surge, they were largely defeated. i mean, there were many steps along the way, across multiple administrations, where we made decisions and took steps that might have been different to undermine them. >> we're obviously going into a long holiday weekend. a lot of people taking even tomorrow off. and people will wonder, are we safe here at home? there have been some indications that the u.s. government is concerned. how should we be feeling heading into the weekend? >> look, what we know for sure is isis is now focused on soft targets. soft targets are very, very difficult to protect and it's difficult to anticipate those

attacks and stop them before they happen. that said, the good news is, we know that our intelligence services and law enforcement services are much more capable. we've got more of them and they're better since 9/11. that said, americans need to understand that large public events are vulnerable. and so they need to have -- take some responsibility. it's the see something, say something. and notify authorities so they can act sooner and more effectively. >> even if it's at the fireworks celebration or the parade. fran townsend, so nice to have you with us. thanks so much. a former homeland security administrator, fran townsend. after the break, we will talk more about isis and the signs indicating that the jihadist militant group might be responsible for the deadly istanbul attack. our cal perry is breaking it down, walking us through the clues we have. but first, an emotional moment referenced earlier at the istanbul airport. this was the memorial that matt talked about held for the victims of the attack. and people started singing the turkish national anthem. ♪

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u.s. officials say they are confident that isis orchestrated the attacks in istanbul, even though the group has not claimed responsibility. how do they know that? msnbc's senior editor, cal perry, is here to explain some of the clues we've gathered. >> there are certain things that are starting to become what we call these tell-sale signs. one of them are airports. these are public areas. these are areas that are important to not only the communities locally, but to the world. this is why we have ripples in the west. team of three attackers, the same in brussels, as it was in istanbul, and they both arrived in taxi cabs. who pulls over a taxi cab, right? it's an easy way to gain access to these airports. rarely do you see taxi cabs being focused on. the explosives. and this will depend on, of course, the investigation, but the type of explosives that's

used. these are very difficult kinds of explosives to get from point a to point b. usually you need something like a master bomb maker. certainly that was true in brussels. we'll see how that shakes out in the investigation. the thing that i also want to add, though, was the way that the airport security handled themselves. this is becoming really clear in the investigation. the first suicide bomber detonated right around here. he was tackled, tackled by a security officer in that airport. incredibly heroic. the second suicide bomber went over here, talk about the tactic. isis flushed people this way in the terminal, and there was a bomber waiting there. >> remind us, again, this is the street, right? >> this is the street that runs outside the airport, this is just inside the terminal. we saw this in paris outside that soccer stadium. a bomb goes off, people rush into this area, and a bomber's waiting for them. we have video of the third bomber. this third bomber turns around a corner, here he is, he's fall, shot by that security officer,

she he's shot a second time. there he is, you'll see him flinch. you'll see the security officer identify. he's wearing a bomb vest. the security officer takes off running. there's no one in the area, and then that bomb goes off. i think that these officers in this airport saved dozens, maybe hundreds of lives, kate. >> do we know anything about that security guard. he's been hailed as a hero, he's in the hospital. he's wounded, but he survived. >> cal perry, thanks so much. up next, we're beginning to learn more about the victims of tuesday's horrific attack. my colleague, ayman mohyeldin has been looking into some of the stories. and one particular, in story, ayman, is pretty stunning. >> it's very heartbreaking on so many levels. we're beginning to learn about the nationalities of some of these folks that were killed. out of the 44 people that were killed, 19 of them are foreigners are dual nationals. many of them -- and we have the countries among them, palestinian, uzbek, ukrainian, saudi arabian, just to give you a sense, it is an international airport, so you can expect it. but one of the stories that's

heartbreaking, was the story of a tunisian man, identified by the tunisian foreign ministry as a doctor within the tunisian armed forces. he in the last couple of months, and that's him right there, seven months ago, he learned that his son had traveled to europe, made his way to france, and ultimately from france on to iraq and syria. his son had gone off to join isis. a couple of months ago, his father tried to bring his son back home to tunisia. and so he communicated with his son, told him to turn himself in, the son was convinced that isis was not for him, and he wanted to make his way to turkey. the father went to turkey to go meet his son, meet him, retrieve him and bring him back to tunisia. he had also arrived at the airport just a few hours before his wife was expected to arrive. that's why he was at the airport. he was going to pick his wife up in order for the two of them to go get their son, who's being held by turkish authorities. unfortunately, the explosion happened and the gunfight happened and he was one of those 44 people that was killed

outside of the airport. we understand that his body was repatri repatriated today back to tunisia. they had a full military honor for him. the minister of defense spoke. they paid tribute to the individual that he was. he was a modeperson that had wo not only in the military hospital, but with children as well. helped refugees come out of libya during that country's turmoil. a person very well respected in tunisia. the fact that so many senior military personnel came out to pay his respects when his body came back. but it shows you this conflict and so many different dynamics. he's the victim of terrorism as a result of the attack. his son is the victim of terrorism, because he was radicalized and pulled away there his home, and the father went after him to go get him. >> it's such a cruel irony that he's on his way to make things right and get his son out of isis and he's attacked by the group. >> and that was his only son. so you can imagine what the mother is now dealing with. >> so many families dealing with

hea heartache today. ayman, thank you so much. a party divided. donald trump still trying to win the support of the republican party and still criticizing his gop rivals. can he win in november without the overwhelming support of the gop. if you have medicare

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opportunities don't wait around, so you have to be ready for them. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. we're waiting for donald trump to take the stage at any moment, at a campaign event in manchester, new hampshire. this will be trump's second big speech this week on the issue of trade. as soon as trump comes out, we will, of course, bring you his remarks. the divide in the republican party over supporting donald trump seems to be growing. earlier today, during a radio interview, trump said he feels like he's fighting on two fronts. >> you know, it was a rough primary and they got beat up, but they went after me, too. and you know, we beat them up, and now they don't want to endorse. and you know, it's almost, in some ways, like i'm running against two parties. >> yeah, no kidding. >> but i don't think it matters. i think we're going to win. the people are so fed up with politics and politicians, but i

think i'm going to win either way. >> for more, let's turn to beth fouhy, senior editor for politics here at nbc news and msnbc. beth, he says he's fighting on two fronts, democrats and his own party. is he right? >> he is. the reason donald trump is so strong is because he doesn't have the republican establishment support. he got more primary votes than any republican in history. from the people, from voters, from the rank and file who are fed up with republican politicians. on that score, he got it right. however, that can only take him so far as a general election candidate. we're seeing now with lots of our own reporting and reports of others, that very, very few republican lawmakers are going to be on hand at the convention, in cleveland in a few weeks, to stand up for him, to make speeches on his behalf. you don't see them out being campaign surrogates for him, raising money for him, all the things that candidates traditionally need in order to get their message out and in order to be successful. you can't just do it all by yourself. >> and some of them are still speaking out, pretty vocally,

not just ted cruz and john kasich, but mike lee, the utah senator, speaking to news max tv earlier today. he said, you want me to endorse trump and then he went on, i don't know if we have the sound, right? >> we can get into the fact that he accused my best friend's father of conspiring to kill jfk. we can go through the fact that he's made some statements that some have identified correctly at religiously intolerant. we can get into the fact that he's wildly unpopular, in my state, in part because my state consists of people who are members of a religious minority church. a people who were ordered exterminated by the governor of missouri in 1838. and statements like that make them nervous. >> wow. i mean, it just keeps coming. so what does trump do? does he try to get people like mike lee back on board or just keep plowing forward? >> mike lee is one of the tea party members of the senate. for him to stand back, as he has, is quite surprising. and he's talking there about

mormons in his state, the religious minority. that's what he was referring to. so i don't think he's going to budge anytime soon. he's said he doesn't want to vote for hillary clinton. that's what a lot of these republicans are saying. that they're not sure they could vote for trump, but if they've changed their mind, it's because they're better than hillary clinton. that's probably what they're hanging on to at this point. but it remains unclear. we've had a lot of republican leaders, paul ryan says he's going to vote for him, mitch mcconnell, kevin mccarthy, who is a trump delegate, but a whole lot of others, particularly ones who are running for re-election, particularly mike lee, stepping back. >> he's going to be talking about trade again today. he clearly thinks that's a strong suit. polls show that's a strong suit for him. he talks about deals like nafta and wanting to get out of that. he sounds an awful lot like bernie sanders sometimes when he talks trade. >> he does. he does. >> is that on purpose? is he trying to get some of those sanders supporters? >> yeah. he's been very explicit that he thinks he can bring over some sanders people but the poll we released on sunday only showed 10% of bernie sanders supporters interested in supporting trump. it's going to be a tall order.

the bigger point, that you made, it has worked for him thus far. he's talking about trade deals that have been hard on a lot of workers, a lot of middle class folks, who have not seen their livelihoods come back since things like nafta. he's speaking to those democrats who feel like they haven't gotten a fair break from the government. those are the people that he believes he can get enough of them out to win. >> i've got to ask you about the big show this summer, the conventions. it's not too early is it to start talking about the convention reques conventions? >> less than three weeks. >> we learned that the city of cleveland made some changes. they agreed to allow protests closer to the venue and yesterday they approved rule changes that increases the space the protesters will have and the time the demonstrations can go on. are we looking at a real mess in cleveland? >> it could be a mess. it was probably the right thing to do, to have a little bit more space for protesters, because there will be so many. and this increases the chances those protesters will abide by the law and go where they're supposed to go and protest where

they're supposed to protest. but we are hearing that people who hate donald trump are going to be there. people who like donald trump and want to protect donald trump are going to be there. we could be seeing a huge clash of people from all sort of walks of the spectrum, different ideologies, coming together and feeling very emotional about this campaign, about this candidate. and you know, we're told that the police are prepared and john kasich, the governor of ohio, a former trump, you know, rival in the primaries is saying, everything's going to be ready. but i think this is going to be one of those situations where we haven't seen before. where the level of passion has been so high throughout this whole campaign and it's going to culminate at that convention. >> we haven't quite started our countdown to the conventions clock yet, but i'm sure it's coming. we'll keep checking back with updates on what to expect. beth fouhy, thanks so much. donald trump's campaign has spent nothing on ads in battleground states, but he's getting some help now in swing states from the national rifle association. the nra spending $2.4 million to air an ad that hits hillary clinton on the subject of benghazi. it's in colorado, florida,

maine, nevada, ohio, pennsylvania, and virginia. here's a part of the ad. >> a lot of people say they're not going to vote this november because their candidate didn't win. well, i know some other people who won't be voting this year either. hillary as president? no, thanks. i served in benghazi. my friends didn't make it. they did their part. do yours. >> benghazi, no doubt, going to continue to be an issue on the campaign trail. nbc's chris jansing had a chance to speak with a group of six voters in raleigh, north carolina, about benghazi in particular, earlier this week. here's what they had to say. >> when americans go overseas, whether they're in the military or state department officials, and they're putting their lives on the line, they need to feel comfortable knowing that back in washington, d.c., that back at headquarters, there are people

looking out for his interests. there are people who are were representing the united states interest under the command of our government were left to die. >> and you think hillary's culpable in some way for that? >> someone needs to assume personal responsibility for decisions that are made under their command. >> she needs to take some accountability and stop saying, you know, don't say what difference does it make, as if you don't care. >> she's not this heartless person. that's not who she is. >> the why does it matter comment is being taken out of context, politically. she's saying, what's this minutia matter right now? this was a big confusing thing. you know, it was handled as the best we could. what are we going to learn from this moving forward? >> but it does matter. and i think for someone who's been a 30-year career politician, you should know not to say certain things. and when you have four people

who died and the families sitting right there in the third, second row, you don't say, "what difference does it make," no matter what. >> so has hillary clinton sustained an unfair amount of partisan attacks, does anyone think? >> somewhat unfair. you don't need two investigations. >> accusing politicians of being political is like accusing tiger woods of golfing. however, if it was your family member that had been killed, what do you want? do you want them to not talk about it or sweep it under the rug? >> i care whether our leader is willing to assume personal responsibility for his or her actions and is willing to demonstrate courage to admit when they're wrong and courage to move forward when they're right and they know they are, whether people disagree with them or not. those things still matter. up ahead, a major announcement from the pentagon today, lifting the military's ban on transgender troops, making gender identity no longer a disqualifying factor for

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scale on demand with the number one company in cloud infrastructure. some breaking news. in the past few minutes, the u.s. state department has confirmed the 13-year-old girl in israel who was stabbed to death as she slept in her bed was an american citizen. joining me now with all the details is msnbc's cal perry. and remind us the circumstances. >> so she was with her parents on vacation. her name what hallal yafa aeriel. she was killed on a settlement on the west bank. now, the german government as well as a number of governments have said that nothing justifies the killing o of a 13-year-old girl. there are those inside the palestinian government who are going to point to the fact that she was on assaila settlement. that this is palestinian -- considered by them, palestinian land, on an israeli settlement. we have a picture here that we can show.

the attacker managed to breach the outer security perimeter of this settlement and get all the way into her bedroom. she was asleep in her bed at the time. she was stabbed to death. the local security forces from that settlement, we're talking about the settlement of kurbia arba managed to kill the attacker. we'll continue to watch for developments to see how this plays out. >> and do we know where in the united states she was from? >> we don't know that yet. but we know she was on vacation with her parents. this is obviously a place that some people go. this really is a sensitive issue for the palestinians and between the israeli palestinians. and within the israeli palestinian conflict, the very issue of settlements is central to this conflict, to this very long-running problem that we've seen in the middle east. >> but as you say, the bottom line, a 13-year-old girl is gone and she was an american citizen. it's going to get a lot of attention. >> absolutely. the pentagon announced a major change today after a year-long study.

it will repeal a policy that banned transgender men and women from serving openly in the u.s. military. >> the result of this year-long study, i'm announcing today that we're ending the ban on transgender americans in the united states military. effective immediately, transgender americans may serve openly and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise separated from the military, just for being transgender. additionally, i have directed that the gender identity of an otherwise qualified individual would not bar them from military service or from any accession program. >> under this new policy, each branch of the u.s. military has one year to put in place policies including recovering, housing, and uniforms for transgender troops. joining we more is jim miklaszewski. jim, you were there at the press conference. there were a lot of questions about the execution and how this policy would move forward. >> that's exactly right, kate. you know, this is the last

gender-based barrier to u.s. military service. and much like don't ask, don't tell, there was a lot of hand wringing here by top military officials here in the pentagon, but like don't ask, don't tell, which was implemented -- which was banned and easily, there were no repercussions after lifting the ban against gays andleand le le lesbians in the military, the advocate of lifting the ban against transgender men and women, they believe, will go just as smoothly. although there was one concession from the secretary. he wanted this done more rapidly. but because of the concerns of many of the chiefs of staff of the militaries, they extended that to a year or so. so, by no later than next july, the entire total ban against transgender men and women in the military will be lifted. but it's not going to be easy. somebody trying to join the military will have to prove, if they declare a transgender male or female, that they are

trouble-free. that they have had the kind of counseling and if hormone treatment and that they are stable in terms of their conditions, in terms of the kind of counseling and the hormone treatment they have, before they'll be admitted to the military. and the same goes for active duty. if for some reason they were to undergo hormone treatment and they have issues with that, they could still be ejected from the military. but nobody sees those kinds of problems arising. and after all, out of the 1.3 million men and women in the military, it's estimated now that there may be adds many as 2,500 active duty, maybe 1,500 in reserves. so, again, this is not an issue that should really dominate the headlines or concerns of the u.s. military, as they move forward. >> jim miklaszewski, as always, at the pentagon, jim, thanks so much. i'm joined now by jay brown,

communications director for the human rights campaign. nice to see you again. >> good to be here with you. >> how big a day is this for the transgender community? >> this is fantastic news. we're really celebrating with the thousands of transgender service members, who now no longer have to serve their country in silence. who are afforded the dignity and respect that frankly every member of the armed services deserves. >> let's listen to a little bit more of what ash carter had to say. this is from the press conference. >> the reality is that we have transgender service members serving in uniform today. and i have a responsibility to them and to their commanders to provide them both with clearer and more consistent guidance than is provided by current policies. >> so, jay, new policies. i guess i wonder, though, are you concerned at all about the culture changing along with the policies, or do you think that it will be pretty smooth sailing? >> you know, i think our nation's armed service members face significant challenges every day. this will be one that will be

met with probably a lot less challenges than what they face every day on the battle field or in their everyday jobs. you know, frankly, this is really aligning the current policy with policy. some estimates of upwards of 15,000, actually. so i think, you know, the change will not seem distraction to those who are already serving with transgender service members. and the defense secretary has been extremely thoughtful and has has all members of the armed services, who have been a part of this decision, and it will be smooth sailing and, you know, it's been a very thoughtful process. >> the secretary also clarified that current members of the armed services with a diagnosis from a military physician, that gend surgery is medical needed. but individuals having surgery must be stable in their preferred gender for 18 months, as certified by their doctor,

before they can enter the u.s. military. does that all make sense to you? >> yeah, you know, i think that ash carter also said today that that was going to be something that was revisited in two years. so i would hope it is revisited sooner than that. you know, that seems like an awfully long time. that said, you know, i think that what we're celebrating today is some historic news that brings the united states in line with 18 other countries, including israel and the united kingdom and canada and australia. some of our biggest allies. >> jay brown with the human rights campaign. appreciate you coming in so quickly for us. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and be sure to tune into nbc news.com or go to nbc news.com. there's a great feature there on transgender service members, sharing their experiences, meeting defense secretary ash carter. after the break, trouble for one of hillary clinton's rumored potential running mates. reports that senator tim kaine accepted gifts in the form of vacations and clothing while he was serving as virginia's lieutenant governor and then governor to the tune of six

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less than a week after leaving the brexit campaign, former london mayor boris johnson is ruling himself out of the race to become britain's next prime minister. johnson's announcement today is stunning, considering he was seen as one of the favorites for that position after current prime minister david cameron, of course, resigned, after losing the referendum on keeping the british in the eu. nbc's lucy cavanaugh is following the story. with this new story, who's the leading contender to take over as prime minister? >> reporter: hi, kate, if it feels like the political knives are out your side of the pond, here in the uk, an extraordinary week of backstabbing wi, body slamming, politicians going for the jung lar. so boris johnson, the bombastic, outspoken former london mayor, known for his shaggy mop of blond hair, he was expected to take over at the helm of the

conservative party. that is, until this morning, when he effectively got elbowed out by one of his closest pro-brexit allies, michael gustgove, who stunned everyone. but gove saying he didn't think boris was up to the job, that he couldn't provide the leadership or build a team necessary for the task ahead, and what he was referring to, the tough slog that britain faces in untangling itself from the eu. but gove is not the clear favorite for the post here. it is, it's teresa may, a very well-known conservative figure here, home secretary. no stranger to parliamentary infighting. a very hard-nosed survivor, whose conservative supporters say does that experience that's necessary to see britain through the very bitter negotiations coming up ahead. so, a very real possibility that the united kingdom will get its second female leader, before the united states gets its first. but a lot going on here, and

every single day seems to bring a new surprise. kate? >> lucy cavanaugh over in london, thanks so much. donald trump, as you may notice in the bottom corner there, has arrived. we're going to keep an eye on that. we'll take a quick break and we'll also be talking about veep stakes, coming up. and when millions couldn't get health care, this first lady worked with republicans and democrats to fix it. creating the children's health insurance program, so that every child gets the health care that child deserves to have. now eight million kids are covered. that's the kind of leader she is. and the kind of president she'll be. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message.

donald trump is speaking up if new hampshire. he is speaking about closing of plants in new hampshire. . with conventions less than a month away both parties are on the hunt for a vice president and the democratic side, tim kaine, sharon brown and elizabeth warren are on the list. there is a new article about caine in "politico." he reported gifts, mostly for travel to and from conferences and we should note the gifts are not illegal under virginia law and his staff said the gifts did not contain any suggestion of

quid pro quo trade for official favores. let's turn to kelly owe don sell who is following all this from capitol hill today. what do we know about kaine's gifts and it will impact whether or not he is chosen? >> well when the spotlight begins to train in on any one of these potential picks, there is scrutiny about their background, decisions they've made, issues like this. virginia has been part of the national conversation when it comes to matters like reporting of gifts, because of what happened with a different go governor, bob mcdonald, who was in a court case about gifts given to him and his family and so forth. that's a matter of the supreme court saying that did not constitute official acts. so the issue of what is under the law in virginia, how has it played in the political life of prominent virginia politicians has been a part of conversation. so for tim kaine who served as

governor, democratic national committee chairman and now senator and is certainly one of those who is talked about and encouraged by some clinton friends to be her ultimate choice to be running mate. so the tim kaine gifts are things like political travel where someone else is paying that bill. and that is the kind of thing that can get a lot of scrutiny but under the law, as far as we know about these sourts of things, there is nothing inpreppate about it. but it does draw that attention, kate. that might be something that he will have to answer for. certainly part after typical vetting process. not to say we know what the clinton team might look at specifically but in a normal vetting process they would examine things like financial disclosures, things like official gifts in office. all of which have to be reported to different agencies within the federal government when someone is serving in federal office. is it a possible problem for tim kaine? it would certainly be on the need to study and give more consideration to list at the same time, you've got a very

prominent current governor of virginia, terry mcauliffe and he is a strong add vericate for tim kaine to be moved into that position and governor mcauliffe saying he doesn't think the courts need to go and examine his predecessor the republican, bob mcdonald, any longer. so the issue of gifts is potent politically and certainly something being talked about with tim kaine. as you know, kate, there are several good choices for hillary clinton. and when i say good, those who might bring some additional qualities to the ticket or gee graphing abilities. things like that. and just from here in the senate. so you've got sharon brown of ohio. strong progressive. ohio, ohio, ohio. and elizabeth warren who made a big splash when she campaigned with hillary clinton. it is a question about how will hillary clinton make her decision, what factors will come

into that wab th, that is close held inside brooklyn headquarters. >> so to be a fly on that wall. up next, michael phelps most decorated olympian ever, adds another feather to has cap. >> entrepreneur of the week, at 12, greg started building ponds with his dad. by the time he was 25 he add booming business called aquascape but behind family drama ren building recession things almost ended it all. see how he turned it around sunday morning on msnbc. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. all i could think about was our deadlines racing towards us. a loan would take too long. we needed money, now. my amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders.

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♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. how's training going now? what's the difference? >> i want to be there, that's the difference. i had no desire to work out before. i want it retire how i want to retire. and i have a great opportunity to do that. >> that was michael phelps speaking with my colleague matt lauer a few months ago. it has been a long road for phelps whose clean-cut image clashed with life outside the pool which included a dui and visit to rehab. but last night he did it. qualified for rio. new father now the first u.s. male swimmer to compete in five olympic games. moments after qualifying in the 200 meter butterfly, phelps held

up five fingers to signal his achievement. he lated tweeted, i'm going to rio, so pumped. huge news in my family. my daughter is at a swim meet right now. that does it for me at this hour. my colleague kristin welker becomes up from washington. >> and continuing msnbc coverage this hour, i'm kristin welker in washington. donald trump speaking right now in manchester, new hampshire. trump promising to take questions today. halle jackson is there. he is railing against trade deals that he said cost a lot of job deals there in new hampshire. what's your take away so far? >> reporter: hey there, kristin. tricky here. i will keep my voice down a bit because donald trump as we mention said in front of this podium. what we expect to be a town hall style event. this is something we have seen in the past. really the state that began his winning streak in the repub