questions over a private meeting with former president bill clinton on a government plane. plus, nbc has learned indiana governor mike pence is traveling today to meet with donald trump. pence is one of the top contenders that's emerged on a list of possible running mates. we'll have the very latest on who else is on that list. coming up in the wake of the istanbul terror attack, security has been stepped up across the country. how might that affect your fourth of july travel plans? good morning. i'm tamron hall. coming to you live from our msnbc headquarters in new york. we begin with that breaking news and what's being called an unusual move, attorney general loretta lynch is about to speak publicly about the investigation of hillary clinton's private e-mail server after days of controversy over a private meeting she had with former president bill clinton on a plane in arizona. lynch is speaking at an event in aspen and is expected to say she will accept the findings of prosecutors and not override their decisions. both lynch and clinton have been

criticized by republicans and democrats over a 30-minute meeting that took place on monday. the attorney general said they had a meeting, it was a chance meeting, and the conversation was mostly social. >> our conversation was a great deal about his grandchildren. we talked about former friends, 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. >> we are still awaiting those comments from presumptive democratic nominee hillary clinton, but her rival donald trump is already weighing in. he tweeted this morning as bernie sanders said hillary clinton has bad judgment. bill's meeting was probably initiated and demanded by hillary. we'll have the political reaction in a few minutes. let's get right to nbc justice correspondent pete williams. he joins us with exactly what

this announcement means. the perspective here, pete,hat can you tell us? >> well, i think you're right, it's unusual. unusual for the attorney general to be this -- going to this much detail about the process but what the justice department says here is that her position here, that she will defer and largely be guided by whatever the career prosecutors recommend, they say this has been her position all along. she's never been explicit about it. she will be explicit about it today. but they say she's been all but saying this for the past month or so, most recently just two weeks ago on "meet the press." >> career prosecutors and agents, free from politics. the review will continue. they follow the facts, they follow the law, they will come to a conclusion. >> you don't think you need to recuse yourself in this position at all? >> they will come to a conclusion and follow the facts and the law as we do in every case. >> so this is not up to you, this decision? >> we don't talk about how we

are going to deal with the internal workings of the justice department, but this will be handled like any other matter. >> you don't think there's any -- it's not necessary in your mind that you have to excuse yourself from this? >> i say let the career prosecutors and agents do their job and continue in this matter. >> so she doesn't explicitly say there that she will do whatever they say, but what the justice department folks we have talked to today say that was what she was trying to suggest in that interview. but we will hear from her today. we will see how she puts it today and precisely how she's going to describe this. >> pete, what impact could this have on the decision made by the prosecutors? does this put this in a situation again where we're back in a circular motion of this, that somehow this will just continue even after the prosecutor makes the final announcement? >> well, that's been the situation here all along, i think, because there have been calls even before the meeting with president -- former

president clinton that because the attorney general is a political appointee, she should take herself out of this and appoint independent counsel. there are some republicans on the hill, john cornyn of texas, for example, who have been saying this for the past couple of months. this frequently comes up whenever there's a politically touchy decision to be made by the justice department, someone will say well, the attorney general who's a political appointee should take him or herself out of this. and the answer usually is you know what, this is what we do all the time here at the justice department. this one is a little more unusual because of the pressure of a presidential campaign, but that's of course only racheted up sort of the political stakes on both sides of that double-edged sword. >> i should remind the audience, if you can hang on, we are looking at life pictures. this is at the aspen ideas festival. jonathan capehart is expected to interview the attorney general. we are expecting to hear her first comments on this unusual move and set of circumstances, quite honestly. pete, going back to the impact

this could have on the investigation itself, as you pointed out, here we now have the attorney general, she's going to be asked a series of questions, maybe even digging more into the investigation, interviews and including whether or not hillary clinton will be the final person interviewed by the fbi in this investigation here. we are looking at this -- go ahead. >> i would expect she won't say anything at all about that. >> but it doesn't mean she's not going to be asked about it. digging into all of this speaks to just the extraordinary nature as you said, it's in the middle of a presidential election. the presumptive nominee and even her closest aide, huma abidine in the news had expressed some reservations about this e-mail server. >> right. perhaps this is a good time to step back and say how did this all get started. when it was discovered, when it was disclosed that she had a private e-mail server, the question arose and was referred

to the justice department about whether classified information was mishandled. that has always been the focus of the investigation. so it's not setting up a private server by itself. it's the question of whether classified information was mishandled and that is what the fbi is looking at. they are looking at -- in other words, what the fbi keeps stressing to us, what the fbi director and others although they don't say much about this, what they stress to us is this is not an investigation of people. this is an investigation of procedures, really. but that necessarily drags in the question of well, did anybody make a mistake in those procedures and if so, does that rise to the level of a criminal violation. so it's all sort of wrapped up in that. on your question of how will this affect the investigation, i think the answer there is not at all. because the investigation's being done by the fbi.

i think the justice department strongly hopes that when the fbi finally makes a recommendation to justice, it goes to the career prosecutors and that's the way these things normally work. the fbi can't prosecute anybody by itself. it doesn't have that authority. whenever they investigate a case, if they think charges should be filed, they refer it to doj. >> pete, thank you so much. let me bring in dana milbank with "the washington post" to talk about the fallout of it. the first question people have at this point including democrats, david axelrod among those who tweeted out the question of why this error of judgment. yes, apparently these two planes on a tarmac, these are private government planes. bill clinton decides according to reports to go over and say hello. that's what they are reporting. this was a social greeting but nevertheless, it lasted 30 minutes and no one around them said this might be a bad idea. >> yeah. it's really baffling, tamron.

it's another one of these sorts of embarrassments that the former president has inflicted on his wife, the presumptive democratic nominee. anybody would recognize that this is going to give a very bad appearance here, regardless. if you talk the entire time about your grandchildren, it doesn't matter. it's going to create a very bad impression. the former president put the attorney general in a very bad spot, basically forcing the sort of event that's occurring today. she was very likely going to do this anyway but now she has to be more formal and up front about how she is distancing herself. it's another sort of needless self-inflicted wound which is really what's been going on in this e-mail scandal, quote unquote, for the last more than a year. >> does it have any impact on the presidential race? donald trump was on hannity yesterday talking about it. he's tweeted this morning saying he's flabbergasted by it. he even pointed to comments from bernie sanders about other issues but still going into that

question of trust and whether the clintons believe they live by their own rules. >> well, certainly bill clinton walking over to the attorney general does suggest that he believes at least that he's above the typical rules and bounds of propriety. now, does this become a long-term political story? this itself almost certainly doesn't. but it does sound as if the fbi is preparing to present its findings to the justice department in the coming weeks. now, it still seems unfathomable that they would say yes, let's attempt to prosecute the presidential nominee of the democratic party, if that's where this was going one would suspect they would have gotten themselves in gear much earlier than this. so of course, that would be an earthquake if that were to occur but that still seems an exceedingly unlikely event. >> if you can stick around, we would greatly appreciate it. i want to let our audience know, we have been told the attorney general is running about five or

ten minutes later. we will bring her comments from the aspen ideas festival, where she will take questions from jonathan capehart, who will be sitting in that other chair on the stage. we will listen in to her first public comments since the major news this morning. let's turn now, though, to the other breaking news. donald trump's vice presidential hunt. nbc news has learned that indiana governor mike pence, considered a top tier contender for that spot, will be traveling today to meet with trump. nbc news also confirms that former house speaker newt gingrich and new jersey governor chris christie are also being vetted. nbc's kelly o'donnell has the details. what are we hearing from the trump campaign today? >> reporter: well, i can tell you we are now moving into a phase that is really critical for donald trump. not just the wish list, not just the boilerplate kind of who might be on the list. he is moving into an interview phase. the official vetting has begun. that means potential running mates are completing very detailed questionnaires, providing personal, financial,

medical information that would be evaluated by a legal team working on this vetting process, and i have learned that governor mike pence of indiana, who is himself seeking a second term as governor, will travel today to meet with donald trump. this is a big development, because just yesterday, governor pence was asked by reporters if he is in the mix, is he being vetted, has he talked to donald trump, and using yesterday's standard, the governor said he had not spoken to trump since before the may 3rd indiana primary, where trump won big and that effectively ended the primary season and at that time, pence had not endorsed trump, but said many positive things about him and yet told voters in indiana he would vote himself for ted cruz. after it was clear that trump was the presumptive nominee, pence got on board and i'm told that in recent weeks, pence has learned through an intermediary that he was under consideration, had indicated that he had interest in these conversations. politically, it certainly gives pence national attention.

it does that at a time when he is running himself. and of course, his own state voted overwhelmingly for donald trump in the republican primary, so that can't hurt. so this meeting takes to it a new level. not just casual conversations, but at the interview phase. that's a turning point. we have learned from the trump campaign and donald trump himself that the target date is the convention which begins monday, july 18th in cleveland, to have an announcement at that time. i'm also getting indications that there is some urgency within the trump campaign to move through this process of vetting and interviewing a bit more quickly to give donald trump the option of making an announcement earlier. that could have the effect of trying to reassure those in the republican party who will test donald trump based on this decision. we have also learned that newt gingrich is being vetted and so is new jersey governor chris christie. there are other names on the list of popular office holders or people who might bring geographic or demographic or idealogical advantages to donald

trump. in mike pence's case, he's a social conservative, christian conservative, has capitol hill experience with leadership positions in the republican house. so he brings washington, heartland and social conservative credentials to a possible trump ticket. >> thank you very much. let's turn now to nbc's katy tur in denver, colorado, where in the next hour, donald trump will speak at the western conservative summit billed by organizers as the largest gathering of conservatives outside of washington, d.c. katy, we have seen a mix from donald trump this week of teleprompter speeches versus trump style of kind of going off the cuff here. this is an interesting audience for him. conservatives who may still not all be on board with some of his policies and ideas. >> reporter: conservative evangelicals and colorado has not been a friendly state to him whatsoever. this is a place where he didn't win a single delegate in a gop state convention here.

the state senator cory gardner has trashed him on twitter. excuse me, there are sirens. trashed him on twitter saying that if he can't figure out how a convention works, how are you going to defeat isis. it's also ground zero for the stop trump movement. for the free the delegate movement with kendal unruh trying to get delegates to vote their conscience and not vote for donald trump at the convention. he has not done well here. it's also a battleground state with a growing population of latinos. it's a state he need to win but first he's got to find a way to win over the heart of the gop conservatives here and that's what he's going to be trying to do today, speaking at this conference, being very careful with his language, we are told, and also trying to win them over. he's going to be having a fund-raiser here with top republican donors as well. these are the efforts that he's making in order to win this state over. but it's a hard slog. the advantage that he has is that hillary clinton isn't necessarily very popular here either. she lost the caucus to bernie sanders.

of course, sanders had been doing better in caucuses so that's not an entirely negative sign for her. but right now, donald trump and her are neck and neck in the latest cbs polling which is a good sign for trump. he's also getting completely outspent by her, $3 million to zero in advertising right now. so donald trump has a window here in this state but so far, it's a window that he has yet to capitalize on. >> speaking of windows that donald trump may attempt to capitalize on, you have this event in the bottom of the hou screened, this aspen ideas festival where we will likely hear the first comments publicly from attorney general loretta lynch in wake of her decision not to overrule prosecutors or the fbi in their findings in this investigation involving hillary clinton's private e-mail soifr and so server and some of those e-mails. donald trump tweeted about it this morning. you mentioned hillary clinton not popular as well with many voters in colorado. this potentially could be an

opening in the past, though, including this week, donald trump has made somewhat of a pledge to prosecute hillary clinton and imply that if he becomes president, that he will take action against her. >> reporter: absolutely. this is an opening for him, this meeting between loretta lynch and bill clinton. he's been tweeting this morning saying it's an example of how the system is rigged. last night he told fox news that he was flabbergasted by the meeting. he's trying to paint this picture of hillary clinton as somebody who is not trustworthy. the clintons in general who are out for their own interests instead of the interests of the american public, and that this meeting was an example of them trying to pull the wool over voters' eyes. so he's going to try and use this to his advantage. and it is in some circumstances quite an effective argument for him, because you have a lot of democrats out there who will tell you that they don't necessarily trust hillary clinton either, that she's not been necessarily the best option to lead their party. the issue is donald trump is

very unliked, disliked as well, so in many voters' minds, it's who is the -- >> i'm sorry to interrupt you. we have to take our audience to aspen where loretta lynch is being questioned by "the washington post" columnist jonathan capehart. >> -- having the highest integrity, utmost solid judgment, so when people heard what went down in phoenix, a lot of people are like, i mean, friends, supporters, backers, are saying what on earth was she thinking? talking to bill clinton. so what on earth were you thinking? what happened? >> well, that's the question of the day, isn't it. i think that's a perfectly reasonable question. i think that's the question that is called by what happened in phoenix because people have also wondered and raised questions about my role in the ultimate

resolution of matters involving the investigation into the state department e-mails. and to the extent that people have questions about that, about my role in that, certainly my meeting with him raises questions and concerns, and so believe me, i completely get that question, and i think it is the question of the day. but i think the issue is again, what is my role in how that matter is going to be resolved. so let me be clear on how that is going to be resolved. i have gotten that question a lot also over time and we usually don't go into those deliberations but i do think it's important that people see what that process is like. as i have always indicated, the matter's being handled by career agents and investigators with the department of justice. they have had it since the beginning. they are -- >> which predates your tenure as attorney general. >> predates my tenure as attorney general. it is the same team. and they are acting independently. they follow the law, they follow the facts. that team will make findings, that is to say, they will come

up with a chronology of what happenedth factual scenario. they will make recommendations as to how to resolve what those facts lead to. the recommendations will be reviewed by career supervisors in the department of justice and in the fbi, and by the fbi director, and then as is the common process, they present it to me and i fully expect to accept their recommendations. >> what's interesting here is you say you fully expect to accept their recommendations. one thing people were saying this morning when the news broke was that you were quote, recusing yourself from having any kind of role in the final determination. is that the case? is that what you're saying? >> recusal would mean i wouldn't even be briefed on what the findings were or what the actions going forward would be. and while i don't have a role in those findings, in coming up with those findings or making those recommendations as to how to go forward, i will be briefed on it and i will be accepting their recommendations. >> when you say again, this must

be the journalist in me and the linguist in me, accepting to me means here, madam attorney general, here are our findings and you completely exceaccept t whole-heartedly and issue them to the public or you accept them, look them over and then make your own determination as to what the final determination will be? >> no. the final determination as to how to proceed will be contained within the recommendations in the report and whatever format the team puts it together, that has not been resolved, whatever report they provide to me. there will be a review of their investigation. there will be review of what they have found and determined to have happened and occurred and it will be their determinations as to how they feel the case should proceed. >> when you say there will be a review, you mean the review will be done by you once you accept the recommendations and determinations, or throughout the process of the review -- >> i'm talking about the initial process of how this case will be resolved. this case will be resolved by

the team that's been working on it from the beginning, supervisors always review matters. in this case that review will be career people in the department of justice, and also, the fbi will review it up to and including the fbi director, and that will be the finalization of not just the factual findings, but the next steps in this matter. >> i find it interesting, several times now you have made a point of saying career prosecutors, career officials within the justice department. why are you making that very hard distinction in the description? >> i think a lot of the questions i have gotten over the past several months, frankly, about my role in this investigation and what it would likely be was a question or concern about whether someone who was a political appointee would be involved in deciding how to investigate a matter, or what something meant or how should the case proceed going forward.

and as i have always said, this matter would be handled by the career people who are independent. they live from administration to administration. their role is to follow the facts and follow the law. and make a determination as to what happened and what the next steps should be. but you know, in my role as attorney general, there are cases that come up to me, i am informed of them from time to time. in this case as you know, it has generated a lot of attention. i will be informed of those findings as opposed to never reading them or never seeing them. but i will be accepting their recommendations and their plan for going forward. >> so the "new york times" reported this morning that the justice department officials said back in april that what you are talking about right now was already being considered and so the question is, before president clinton boarded your plane in arizona, had you already made the determination that what you're announcing today was indeed what you were going to do? >> yes.

i had already determined that that would be the process. in large part, it's because as i'm sure you know, as a journalist, i do get this question a lot. as i have said on occasions as to why we don't talk about ongoing investigations in terms of what's being discussed and who's being interviewed, it's to preserve the integrity of that investigation. we also typically don't talk about the process by which we make decisions and i provided that response, too. but in this situation, because i did have that meeting, it has raised concerns, i feel, and i feel that while i can certainly say this matter's going to be handled like any other as it has always been, it's going to be resolved like any other as it was always going to be, i think people need the information about exactly how that resolution will come about in order to know what that means and really accept that and have faith in the ultimate decision of the department of justice. >> so back to my first question, the what were you thinking question. but let me put a different spin

on it and ask, when you're on your plane, from having been in washington awhile and knowing how the protocol works, you land, folks get off, you get off for all sorts of reasons but it's very fast. you're on your plane and in walks the former president of the united states. what were you thinking? at that moment? >> well, as i have said, you know, he said hello and we basically said hello and i congratulated him on his grandchildren, as people tend to do. that led to a conversation about those grandchildren, who do sound great. and that led to a conversation about his travels and he told me what he had been doing in phoenix and various things. and then we spoke about former attorney general janet reno but it really was a social meeting. and it was -- it really was in

that regard. sp he spoke to me, spoke to my husband for some time on the plane, then we moved on. as i have said before, though, i do think that no matter how i viewed it, i understand how people view it. i think that because of that, and because of the fact that it has now cast a shadow over how this case may be perceived, no matter how it's resolved, it's important to talk about how it will be resolved. it's important to make it clear that that meeting with president clinton does not have a bearing on how this matter's going to be reviewed, resolved and accepted by me. because that is the question that it raises. so again, no matter how i view the meeting, i think what's important to me is how do people view the department of justice, because of that meeting. how do people view the team that's working on this case and has from the beginning, because of that meeting. how do people view the work that we do every day on behalf of the american people which we strife to do with integrity and

independence. that's the question for me. i felt it was important to talk about what impact that meeting would have on the case which it won't but in order to explain that we have to talk about how it will be resolved. >> you have known president clinton for a long time. he's the one who nominated you, appointed you to u.s. attorney for the eastern district in 1999. so i'm wondering, you have a relationship is what i'm trying to get to, in terms of just long-standing professional relationship. so you would be well within your right to say get off my plane, what are you doing here? do you regret not telling the former president of the united states to leave the premises? >> well, as i have said, i may have viewed it in a certain light but the issue is how does it impact the work that i do or the department of justice does. i certainly wouldn't do it again.

because i think it has cast a shadow over what -- it should not, over what it will not touch. that's why i think it's important to talk about how this matter will be resolved and how the review and how the determinations and decisions will be made. you know, i can say as i have said it's going to be handled pby career people and we can make an announcement as to what it is but unless people have insight into that process, they will not be able to evaluate that. the most important thing for me as attorney general is the integrity of this department of justice. and the fact that the meeting i had is now casting a shadow over how people will view that work is something that i take seriously and deeply and painfully. so i think it's important to provide as much information as we can so that people can have a full view of how we do our work, and why we do our work, and how this case is going to be resolved as well as how all the cases that we look at are going to be resolved. >> so of course, what's happened as a result of this, there are

people out there in the world who are saying see, this is an example of the system that's rigged against the rest of us. and you just said that this whole incident has been painful is one of the words you used. what would you say to the american people who might -- who believe that yes indeed, this is an example of washington rigged against them? >> i think that people have a whole host of reasons to have questions about how we in government do our business and how we handle business and how we handle matters. and i think that again, i understand that my meeting on the plane with former president clinton could give them another reason to have questions and concerns also. that is something, that's why i said it's painful to me, because the integrity of the department of justice is important. what i would say to people is to look at the work that we do. look at the matters that we work on every day, whether they involve a high profile matter or

a matter where you have never heard of the person. look at the victims that we deal with every day. look at the people that we protect every day. because that's our mission. and to the extent this mission overshadowed that mission, yes, that's painful to me. so i think it's important that we provide as much information as we can so people can have faith and confidence in the work of the department and the work of the people who carry on this work every day. >> last question on this, so when might we expect your acceptance of these findings and determinations? are we looking at weeks, months? days? >> in terms of timing, i actually don't know that because again, i don't have that insight into i would say the nuts and bolts of the investigation at this point in time. they are working on it. they are working on it very hard. they are working on it to make sure they're as thorough as they can be, that they have covered every angle, that they have looked at every issue.

they are doing the work that the people in the department of justice do every single day. i could not be more proud of that work. i could not be more proud to present that work to the american people when this matter is resolved and we can let people know the conclusion to this investigation. >> moving on. >> we have listened in to several minutes of questioning by "the washington post" columnist jonathan capehart to the attorney general, loretta lynch. let me bring in pete williams. want to bring you in quickly, because this interview touched on something you showed a few minutes ago, comments made by the attorney general on "meet the press" i believe back in april explaining the process and her role in this investigation. >> right. the "meet the press" comments she made just a couple weeks ago right after the shooting in orlando. but she says today a couple things. number one, that she had made the decision earlier, that this is how she would handle it.

she says that the public comments like the ones she made on "meet the press" were intended to all but disclose that. she says that today, initially she said i fully expect to recommend -- to accept the recommendation of the career people but then twice after that, she said i will accept their recommendations, i will accept their recommendations and their plan for going forward. the other thing i think is that she was pretty clear about saying that she realizes the controversy this has caused when she said the pain and she said i certainly wouldn't do this again, meaning have a half hour conversation with the former president who is the husband of the person who is involved in all of this. >> she explained in great detail for people who don't understand why not recuse yourself, she will still be briefed on the investigation and the review, ultimately that will be revealed to the public so she won't live in a box, if you will, and learn

with the rest of us the breaking news that comes out of this investigation. >> actually, that raises an interesting question. we know that when an investigation ends, we know it's over if they decide to file charges against someone. let's assume for a moment that they don't. normally, when the justice department conducts a criminal investigation and decides not to file charges, they don't say anything publicly. they just, that's that. the question i think many of us have been asking now for the past several weeks is what if there are no criminal charges filed, then what. will the justice department, will the fbi somehow come out and say publicly okay, we're done now, and nobody's getting charged so that we'll know when this is over and i'm not sure that there's a good answer to how they are going to handle that yet. but i think one other thing we can conclude here from what the attorney general said is that the fbi investigation isn't

over, that there's been no referral, no recommendation either way yet to the justice department because she said she didn't know where it stands. so presumably, if they had already given their recommendation to justice, she would know that. >> process-wise, it is worth noting as well, jonathan capehart did ask this, the attorney general making the point again that we all know, this investigation started before she became the attorney general and that these are career prosecutors, career agents who have been part of this team before she was factored into the mix here, trying to i guess clarify any assumptions that she is lording over this process. >> i guess so. although in the normal process of things, the attorney general wouldn't be all that involved at the beginning of an investigation either. >> okay. all right. well, it's been an interesting day and again, to say the least. it's a friday weekend holiday and some big developments.

still, as jonathan said to her, one of those things where people ask what was going on and she says she has received that question a lot, what were you thinking was the quote there. pete, thank you very much. greatly appreciate it. we'll be right back. er in-la keen sense of smell... glad bag, full of trash. what happens next? nothing. only glad has febreze to neutralize odors for 5 days. guaranteed. even the most perceptive noses won't notice the trash. be happy. it's glad. at experian, we believe credit isn't just a score. it's a skill. and like anything else, you can get better. that's why we have tools that show you what happens if you forgot to pay a bill. and answers to questions like, what's the difference between a fico score and other scores? get the tools. and get better at managing your credit. go to experian.com to enroll in experian creditworks today. try duo fusion!ing antacids? new, two in one heartburn relief.

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again. you might find that comforting. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. we have new information on the attacks at the istanbul airport ataturk. local police confirm to nbc news that they believe the planner of the attacks is a man named akhmed chatayev. this new information comes after 11 more people were arrested today in retaliation to the investigation into the attacks following a series of isis connected raids that took part earlier. turkish officials have yet to publicly identify the attackers who killed 44 people and wounded hundreds more. there has been no official claim of responsibility but officials have said that the attack does have the hallmarks of isis. nbc's matt bradley is following the latest developments for us. what do we know about this individual police have now -- authorities have now named?

>> reporter: thanks, tamron. yeah, we have it from turkish authorities now that it was akhmed chatayev who is implicated as the planner behind this very bloody attack on tuesday that killed 44 people here in ataturk international airport behind me. now, this name is not going to be strange to any of the insurgent groups or intelligence authorities throughout europe or the middle east. he served time in prisons and played major roles in insurgent movements throughout both those areas and now he's really, nobody knows exactly where he is. but he does have a very tell-tale sign which is he only has one arm. that's because he's thought to have lost it either in the chechen war or from gangrene in a russian prison. he started his career in the very bloody chechen insurgency against russia in 1999 and 2000. like i said, that's where many people say he lost his arm.

after that, he moved to austria and tried to seek refugee status, asylum status in austria. he was eventually given it but then disappeared. he resurfaced again in 2008 in sweden, where he was jailed on arms dealing charges. now, he said that he was bringing automatic weapons and silencers and ammunition across borders in order to join a hunting trip. but basically, because he's russian, this opens a new wrinkle in the isis drama. we are looking at a new source of foreign jihadis launching attacks away from isis' self-declared caliphate. >> thank you very much, matt. greatly appreciate it. the man whose murder case inspired the massively popular podcast serial is now getting a new trial. coming up, i speak with the man who says that his best friend says he is now saying about this big development. >> this was one of the few times we are getting together lately

that we all had smiles on our faces and we all felt a lot more at ease. >> the very latest on the big change in this case. max and i just discovered this new dog treat called dentalife. it's really different. see? it's flexible... ...and it has a chewy, porous texture, full of little tiny air pockets that gives dogs' teeth a clean scrub all the way down to the gum line. (vo) introducing purina dentalife. for life. ...be quicker than everybody. allyson felix needs to...

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...and it has a chewy, porous texture, full of little tiny air pockets that gives dogs' teeth a clean scrub all the way down to the gum line. (vo) introducing purina dentalife. for life. turning now to a major break in the case involving adnan syed, a judge in maryland granted a new trial, setting aside his 1999 conviction for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. this case certainly may jar your memory in that it was so popular in the hit series serial, the podcast that swept the nation. syed's attorney shared the news on twitter thursday. when he asked if this retrial would have happened without serial, he said i don't think so. joining me now is a close friend of syed's. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> what was the reaction from adnan and his family as well as

your reaction to this big news? >> well, actually, no one's had a chance to hear directly from adnan yet. however, i was able to visit his family and they were all very happy, thankful, really appreciative of all the support and they have received from millions of fans and the legal team, along with a lot of his legal advocates. >> his attorney, justin brown, said without the podcast serial we would not be at this point. i think many people agree. if you followed the series and saw the process. to be honest, from everything he had expressed and family members, there seemed to be very little hope until this podcast. was that your feeling as well? >> yeah, absolutely. before serial, adnan did have a hearing where agent mcclain did not show up. she was actually told by the prosecutor that she wasn't needed and there was overwhelming evidence against adnan and that this was really like a last ditch effort by adnan to get free. after serial aired, she was able

to hear what happened and she basically said that she never took back or recanted her statement about seeing adnan during that time period. so serial brought her back into the picture and brought a lot of public support and pressure to open this case, because really, adnan was incarcerated without any solid evidence at all. >> we have shown this photo of the visit you made in i believe it was 2000 of you together. when was your last conversation? >> oh, it was just a few days ago. >> what was his i guess state of mind at that point? again, this was before this major news had been made public. >> correct. he was in actually good spirits. the momentum that serial basically started along with the other podcast that stemmed from it, undisclosed in truth and justice, there was a lot of rocks or stones left unturned and they really found a lot of

information that would help exonerate him. he was in good spirits because everything was leading to this verdict and we were kind of in a positive mood thinking that the judge would vote in favor for him to give him a new trial. he was in good spirits. he was enjoying the last few days of ramadan. >> do you believe your friend will eventually find his freedom? be set free? >> yeah, i do. you know, it's been a long time coming but i have always had faith in him and trust that the legal system will eventually work out even if you have to wait close to 20 years. >> thank you so much for your time. we greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. up next, we are out with a new electoral map giving hillary clinton the edge in more states. we will show you the new map after a break. owen! hey kevin. hey, fancy seeing you here. uh, i live right over there actually. you've been to my place. no, i wasn't...oh look, you dropped something. it's your resume with a 20 dollar bill taped to it. that's weird.

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we are back with our first read in politics. a new battleground state map for

the race for president. joining me live, nbc news political editor carrie dann. let's lo at this map. what are the highlights? >> well, we make this map based on public and private on public and private polling, and there are some big changes in the new map. first among them, we have moved through the state of florida from a toss-up state to a lean democratic state. that's based on hillary clinton's lead in the polls there as well as other information. on pennsylvania, we have moved from a lean democratic state to a pure toss-up state. also nevada. previously a lean democratic state, now a pure toss-up. now, these moves illustrate a couple of things going on, for states that have high minority populations, we are seeing hillary clinton overperforming and donald trump underperforming. that's something that explains for example why florida we have now moved into the lean democratic category. however, for states with high white working class populations, like pennsylvania, that's why we downgraded that from a lean dem

back into the toss-up column, competitive if donald trump is able to turn out those white working class voters. a lot of movement, excitement, things to watch. >> let's talk about this movement and what may be behind it. is it donald trump's ground game in these battleground states or the lack of focus in some of these states, what do we believe is behind the movement here? >> well certainly one big thing that we are watching is how donald trump is performing with some key groups. for example, his national and state numbers with minority voters are so dismal that that is really driving up his -- her poll numbers rather in a lot of these swing states that have high minority populations. that is a key part of why she is performing better in some of those states. now something that's worth watching is that these -- it is a fairly conservative map, this is mostly states that are within about five points in polling after the conventions, we're going is to tighten up this map and it may be changing again. up next, environmental

activists are sounding the alarm over the nation's honey bees which are dying at an alarming rate. and why these farmers and other activists believe that this affects our food supply. we'll have the very latest on an effort to bring more attention to this in just a few minutes. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order

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glad forceflex. extra strong to avoid rips and tears. be happy, it's glad. for the past decade, scientists have been trying to figure out why so many of the country's honey bees have been dying. honey bees are a crucial part of our food chain, but the population in the u.s. has been declining at an alarming rate. some believe climate change partly to blame, but scientists and bee farmers are now pointing their finger at a different culprit, pesticides. and earlier this week, i spoke with minnesota-based commercial beekeeper james cook. cook just completed a cross country tour to bring attention to the issue. he drove a truck with a display of two and a half million dead bees to help demonstrate the scale of the problem. how do you get people at home to really understand this problem?

they hear bees, dying, but what does it mean for me? >> basically for the general public, bees and pollen natoers in general are required to produce a lot of the food we eat. i could list off a ton of different things, that would take a while. we've all heard the notion about one in every three bites is required by pollen aters to produce. >> and what you've discovered is what you see are the devastating effects of pesticides and other things being introduced into our food system that's hurting the bee population. and that's hurting us. >> correct, tamron. i guess i like to look is bee as in pollenators as well are growing inside of our food system right now. personally witness ud pesticides being, playing a very major role. >> but the other side is that you have farmers and big corporations who say this is what's necessary. that you are living in a world

that really doesn't exist, a nonproductive world when it relatings to our food production and farming. >> uh-huh. >> modern version of it. >> yeah, and that is something that actually with part of the tour and something that i really learned along the way, that honestly, farmers need to be and will have to be an integral part of the solution. i don't want beekeepers and farmers getting pitted up against each other. there might be a possibility that some of the industry behind chemical industry and some of those might be able to, you know, have some common ground with some of the things we're seeing, that's hard -- you know, that's hard to say for certain i think one of the most important things is that farmers are an important part of the solution. >> do you believe we're challenging our lawmakering in the political system, whether it's an agency like the epa to answer the right questions about our food and where we're getting it from or are we being those lazy consumers that we all claim to dispiez? >> personally, i think it's both fronts, one we need the people

regulating and make that, make sure there isn't an undue risk by using these things in the environment. that's not happening right now. the research is sort short on that end. as consumering, it is important to keep in mind what are the things that i'm buying, where is my dollar going towards and do i want to the support doing those types of things? it's a hard challenge to face because we all, you know, like not having to spend a ton of money on our groceries, right? i met incredible farmers that are looking at different ways of doing large scale agriculture. not saying somebody on 50 acres. they are doing 600,000 acres or more and some of the practices they're doing are going to go. >> thanks for having me on. >> have a wonderful holiday weekend and by the way, i'll be

hosting the macy's fireworks spectacular on monday. don't miss that. i'm tamron hall, right now "andrea mitchell reports." and right now, question of the day, loretta lynch responding over that airport meeting with bill clinton while her prosecutors are investigating his wife's e-mail system. >> when people heard what went down in phoenix, a lot of people were like, what on earth was she thinking? talking to bill clinton. so, what on earth were you thinking? what happened? >> well, that's the question of the day, isn't it? >> yes. >> off message, donald trump blasting trade deals, taking a shot at mexico when he hears a plane overhead. >> mexico, and i respect mexico, i respect their leaders, what they've done to us is incredible. leaders are smarter, sharper,

and it's incredible. in fact, that could be a mexican plane up there, they're getting ready to attack. and veep stakes, two political heavy hitters are being vetted as possible trump running mates, although they're playing it coy. >> i think donald trump does not want to make a decision until the convention. i think that he's a very decisive person and in the case of a few of us, i'm an example, there's not much vetting to do. good day, i'm andrea mitchell in washington, attorney general loretta lynch in aspen just moments ago saying she will leave it up to prosecutors and the fbi director to decide whether to bring charging in the hillary clinton e-mail investigation and she will not overrule them. a decision she was already contemplating but making public until a very unusual statement today because of the political fire storm over her airport meeting with former president