on twitter after the statement of the fbi director about hillary clinton. katy tur is standing by in raleigh covering the trump campaign. please tell me, katy. >> hall & oates, that's a good song. i wouldn't mind listening to that. donald trump is going to be here. he's trying to divert attention from his own scandals by focusing in on hillary clinton today and the fbi, also trying to focus in on his search for a vice presidential candidate. to give you an idea of how he responded to the fbi's recommendation not to bring charges, here is what he has been tweeting "the system is rigged, general petraeus got into trouble for far less, very, very unfair. as usual, bad judgment." also "fbi director said crooked hillary compromised our national security. no charges, wow. #riggedsystem." this is the narrative the

campaign has been trying to paint not only with hillary clinton but the entire system as a whole. that it's set up not in the interest of the american voter, the american public but in the interests in washington and the politicians who were there trying to amass power and influence, not necessarily serve the people. what he's been trying to do this entire weekend is say hillary clinton is part of that, the worst kind of politician, that this meeting with bill clinton and loretta lynch the meeting with the fbi and that there aren't being charges recommended by the fbi plays into the idea that there's one set of rules for hillary clinton and the clintons in general and another set of rules for voters. but the issue for donald trump right now is that he's steeped in yet another controversy over the weekend on saturday he tweeted an image of hillary clinn over pile of money and what was considered a star of david wh the caption "the most crooked politician in history" inside what was considered that

star of david. he changed it, put a circle over it then deleted it all together but that was not before there was a firestorm of criticism kc online, accusations of anti-semitism. donald trump deleting the tweet but then laying it was the media making this up and the clinton campaign and their surrogates causing this religious outrage, that the star was a sheriff's star so they've been on the defensive when it comes to that. we repeatedly asked them where they got the image because the image was first seen a few weeks ago on a twitter user's timeline and that timeline was full of imagery that was promoting racism, that not the first time the trump campaign has been embroiled in such a scandal. we've seen him retweet white supremacists a number of times in the past. now the anti-defamation league is getting involved saying the first time maybe it's a mistake, second time maybe it's sloppy,

third, fourth, fifth time now it's a pattern and there's reason for voters to be concerned. >> katy tur in raleigh. around 7:00 p.m. we'll hear from donald trump at a rally there. for those who missed the announcement that started this news psych this will morning at fbi headquarters. we want to run a portion of the remarks of fbi director james comey. >> we assess it is possible that hostile actors gained access to secretary clinton's personal e-mail account. there is evidence they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive highly classified information. seven e-mail chains concern matters that were classified at the top secret special access program. those chains involved secretary clinton both sending e-mails about those matters and receiving e-mails, there is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in

secretary clinton's position more to the position of those with whom she was corresponding about those matters should have known an unclassified system was no place for that conversation. none of these e-mails should have been on any kind of unclassified system. all of these e-mails were housed on unclassified personal servers, not even supported by full time security staff like those found at agencies and departments of the united states government or even with a commercial e-mail service like gmail. but even if information is not marked classified in an e-mail, participants who know or should know that the subject matter is classified are still obligated to protect it. >> that was a portion, some of the ail yent points from the wild-ranging, again, it's been called blistering report issued by fbi director james comey this morning. but, again, the salient point he came to at the end was no reasonable prosecutor would

bring such a case. that's where we stand this afternoon. nicolle wallace, our good friend, is with us, former communications director in the bush 43 white house, former senior advisor to the mccain campaign and so forth and so forth. nicolle, as a veteran politico, is the damage from this, is the traction from this at its height today or does that become the job, the aimover t of the gop m? >> well, i think when your opponent is donald trump that is what donald rumsfeld used to call a known unknown. a normal campaign would certainly use this to push against an open door which is a 20-point advantage that donald trump has over hillary clinton on the question of trustworthiness and honesty which for voters is usually what they think of a candidates' judgment and this is the end of what has been the worst period

during donald trump's campaign and our own poll out last week had him 20 points ahead of her on that very important metric, i think just to take a half step back, the most stunning thing to me when i watched this news conference is this counts as a good day in 2016 for the democratic party standard bearer and donald trump successfully muddying the waters and making it murky whether he did or did not plan to retweet something that may or may not have been aunt semitic counts as a strategic win over there. when you look at the numbers, 61% of americans are alarmed by this election cycle. it's no wonder. today will do nothing to make them feel better about their choices. >> and to that last point you just made, think about it, the difference of a few words and a different thesis statement at the end of comey's statement ends her campaign perhaps. >> i heard you say that right at the end of the last hour and that is absolutely correct. i think now we have the answer,

tied my brain in a knot when bernie sanders stayed in well past the point when he was mathematically viable as the democratic party's nominee. obviously there were people other than republicans who thought that sentence might have ended differently. i was thinking about bill clinton hopping on loretta lynch's plane and how mad hillary must have been at him and now i'm thinking about how mad obama must be at hillary for sending 110 -- e-mails that were classified at the time. it's an important part of this news conference because it gets to -- you can only assume it was a lie or something that she didn't know at the time but very problematic news conference from fbi director jim comey who was a bush 43 appointee and who was respected across the aisle. these are not things that will go away for a candidate with the a 20-point deficit to her republican opponent. >> yet speaking to a gop veteran in the last two hours, this

person said there's a way for the trump campaign to play this, to handle this for the rest of today and on into the future, there's that unease because he can be so unscripted and unpredictable and, of course, that's what brings big audiences to places like charlotte, north carolina at 7:00 p.m. on a tuesday night in july to see what he'll say tonight. >> it's the same reason people watch nascar and other live sporting events. you never know what's going to happen but i think even donald trump is skilled enough as a politician, there are some inkli inklings, the report katy tur delivered about the controversy and the way the campaign handled it is an incident of worry and fret for establishment republicans who have been wringing our hands for long months but the way he's gone about his vp selection process is on the other side.

the way he handles today's news will determine the rest of the course of this election. can he pull it back a little tiny mill meter? can he make this about a very specific thing that voters care about? about judgment? can he make it specific enough or is he going to be wild and talk about marching her off to prison 1234 if he can do the first thing, if he can make it about judgment, if he can quote fbi director jim comey on the trail, he hasn't done much of anything everyday. if he can impart message discipline and prosecute a case about her, he may regain the upper hand here. >> the very public ideological journey of nicolle wallace continues on live television today for veterans of our coverage this political season. nicolle, stay right where you are. thank you. thinkhe philadelphians we've heard so far, andrea mitchell, darryl hall and john

oates, now former governor of pennsylvania ed rendell. governor, how do you place what happened at fbi headquarters? the democrats after all are going to be in the business of kind of tacitly defending careless over criminal. >> well, i think the secretary long since has acknowledged that she made a mistake here and they didn't handle it well and i said that six, seven, eight months ago and got in trouble for it. they didn't handle it well and that's a fact and you can't avoid that but i think it's very important to understand that mr. comey was appointed deputy attorney general of the united states by george w. bush. when he was elevated to fbi director, republicans -- senators made growing comments about his integrity and he's made this judgment and his judgment is right. brian, there isn't a reasonable prosecutor in the united states of america, state or federal and i was d.a. for eight years and assistant d.a. for seven who

would have ever thought of bring criminal charges under this fact pattern. so yes, did the secretary make a mistake, did her staff make a mistake? were they careless? yes, they were. there's no awading that, were they criminal in any way? did they leak secrets? did they intentionally deal with classified information? an improper way? absolutely not. >> governor, one moment here, i just want to point out to our viewers what we've been seeing on the left-hand side of the screen, the traveling press corps has arrived and taken their place in front of the stage. secret service has arrived and taken their place. devices are aloft, we're waiting for clinton and obama to come into the room at any second so apologies in advance if i have to cut you off but one more question and that is if you were on that plane today for that 50-minute flight, would your counsel have been to at least mention this today? the elephant in the room? give it a glancing blow?

say something that sounds like something declarative and try to move on? >> yeah, i would, but that's a question of style, i would again say, look, we made a mistake, i acknowledged that several months ago, it was a my stake, i wish i could do it over but i can't. >> governor, thank you, he's going to be watching along with us as will nicolle wallace as will former new york mayor rudy giuliani who is with us by telephone, former associate attorney general, former u.s. attorney and mr. mayor, you were said to be shocked at comey's findings today. why? >> i'm shocked because he clearly found a direct violation of 18 united states code section 793 which does not require intent it requires only gross negligence in the handling of anything relating to the national defense.

when he determined she was extremely careless, the definition of gross negligence under the law is extreme carelessness. it's the first definition that comes up in the law dictionary, it's the definition the judges give to juries when they charge injuries on gross negligence. negligence equals carelessness. gross negligence equals extreme carelessness. so that is a clear absolutely unassailable violation of 18 united states code section 793 which is not a minor statute, it carries ten years in prison. i would urge people to read that and then say to themselves how can any reasonable prosecutor come to the conclusion she shouldn't be prosecuted under that statute? >> except, mr. mayor, let's use the word you put out there "unassailable." comey worked for you, you know the guy and he has been i think

it's safe to say in his career at large in his tenure so far at the fbi close to unassailable. there musk something that led him to believe he didn't have a case or had a weak one. >> well, he certainly has a weak case. if he thinks he has a weak case he's wrong. i mean, i know jim very well, i respect him, i consider him a friend and i think he's completely wrong. i think this is a case that if i were u.s. attorney would be indicted and, you know, i -- i was under similar circumstances in '88 when i brought the rico case against the teamsters union and cost the republican party their endorsement and it didn't bother me because i did my job. the reality is i don't know how jim came to that conclusion. of course we don't know because he walked out of the press conference. the first question would have been how can you justify your

conclusion when you're talking about no intent, that's fine, but there's a gross negligence statute, you said she was extremely careless and extremely careless means gross negligence. and i also -- this would be too complicated. i also think there is overwhelming evidence of intent, including the destruction of the 34,000 e-mails in which he would be entitled to charge to the jury that that alone can be used as evidence of guilty knowledge and intent. >> mr. mayor, i guess the gulf people have been pointing to today is extreme carelessness yes but does that equal criminality and it was his finding in the end that the answer was no. >> but under 18 usc 793 extreme carelessness equals gross negligence and he gave no explanation of why it didn't. i mean, he -- and he walked out.

also when you read this report, another question you would have been asked is would she get a top security clearance under any other circumstances? i mean, this is a person that if you had these facts you wouldn't hire for the state department or the justice department. >> what do you think happened? again since you've known comey for so many years. >> i don't know, i don't know. everybody makes mistakes of judgment. it is the a very consequential act to indict a person who is the presumptive nominee of either one of the two political parties, i don't know if the weight of that maybe affected judgment but when i listen to him i was sure he was going to come to the conclusion either that there were prosecutable offenses or he was not going to come to a conclusion at all and leave it up to the attorney general. when he came to the conclusion that no reasonable prosecutor

could bring this case i found that statement to be completely indefensible. a lot of reasonable prosecutors would bring this case, in fact, i think you would be unreasonable not to bring this case at least you should 18 usc section 793 subparagraph f which, again, is not an intent statute, it's gross negligence, everything he laid out leads to the conclusion she was grossly negligent. and the penalty is ten years in jail. we're not talking about -- we're talking about a felony. >> so you believe this is a lapse in judgment by james comey? >> i do. i believe to say that no reasonable prosecutor would bring this case is a lapse in judgment and i think the failure to conclude she should be prosecuted under 18 usc section 793 subparagraph f is about as clearly wrong as you can be.

>> former mayor of the city of new york rudy giuliani, thank you, mr. mayor, for joining us by phone. back into the venue where we see much hubbub indicating their arrival in the room is imminent let's try andrea mitchell again, andrea? >> sorry about the hall & oates, they've changed the music, at least. this is, as you've been discussing with your other guests, this is such a direct hit on hillary clinton from the fbi director that even though she has been company rated of any criminal prosecution, in saying that she was extremely ca careless with the handling of classified information, that's what they have to contend with. we're told she will not discuss this today and she and the president didn't discuss this on air force one because the president has to keep himself

from any comment or implication that he is interfering with decisions made by the prosecutors but as you can hear the music dialed up behind me and you've seen the white house press pool come in here, we expect them to come in together at any moment and try to pretend nothing has happened today but this is a moment, brian when the news from the e-mail controversy has stepped on her parade and i don't know how -- any other way you can look at it. >> it certainly has dominated the news cycle and as you point out, andrea, everyone will be looking at this joint appearance under the iconography, we might add "stronger together." which presumably refers to all democrats, which presumably refers to the so-called two-shot that will live on of president and former secretary of state, presumptive nominee on that stage togethering in a politically vital state like north carolina. let's go back to nicolle

wallace, watching and listening to all of this. so nicolle we have this disagreement here. i can't ask andrea for opinion judgment but i can ask you about the point rudy giuliani just made. if he's right how can it be that james comey who, really, in his bearing, and in his manner walked right out of a scouting manual how can it be right that james comey had a lapse in judgment on this? >>. >> i thought it was an interesting exchange. i wonder if donald trump will mention it and i wonder if they will go further and suggest that there was undue influence. it's not much of a leap in terms of an argument to make, a political argument when you have attorney general lynch acknowledging that it looked

terrible for bill clinton to have hopped on her plane last week. is i would not be surprised if that is an argument we hear donald trump make tonight. i think he certainly is not someone who does what i described last time we talk, reel in the a millimeter. he's someone who goes for the gusto and that would be this argument taken to its fullest and most frontal political fighting. >> there must be some celebration that the republican party doesn't have a lock on craziness this term because it's so macabre, the scene with the former president's private jet next to that of the current attorney general, a discussion of world travels and grandchildren and that ending up being, of course, germane to the current conversation and now this joint appearance, all that is not visible on this shot of the room is the elephant. >> exactly. and i think that's -- we've spent it feels like 19 long months talking about how

establishment republicans are all in a fit about the lack of discipline inside the trump candidacy but he's spent three days explaining away a questionable tweet that may or may not have been sourced back to an anti-semitic web site. republicans would much rather be making an argument against the democratic nominee about her judgment and using these prooch points, this chance meeting on a tarmac which also goes to another one of hillary clinton's vulnerabilities, she said in an interview at the beginning of the last book tour that she hadn't driven a car since the '90s. there are good reasons for that. she's been a protectee for a long time but it didn't make her relatable which is another one of her challenges. we now have bill clinton saying "i was parked next to her." most people will never park an airplane anywhere where they could be parked next to an attorney general. it is not the kinds of things she wants to be emphasizing, particularly when she's going out on the road on the trail with a newly popular president obama. he's at 51%, he's an asset that

at the beginning of this he may not have been a certainty that he would be an asset and someone she needs to bring around the sanders voters, one of her crucial political objectives but none of this is what she wants to be talking about. none of this is ideal for her but at the same time there's no certainty that donald trump will know what to do with everything he's been handed. >> such a good point that life takes place at a different altitude literally and figuratively at the national political level. certainly our former presidents, they tend to travel very well and we all as taxpayers seem to agree that they deserve a good life after serving in office no matter their record, no matter their party but there is that undeniable rule of being especially a secret service protectee. you give up a lot of freedoms, you become kind of owned by them

in your movements. your experience with president bush 43 his purchase of a pickup truck in texas. he used to live for getting out on a bike trail, getting out and clearing brush at his ranch because it gets tight. >> and it makes them feel normal and i know i throw that word around a lot but it's this disparity and it's political calculations made by voters turn around and access of who is the stronger lead er. who understands the problems of someone like me? donald trump's sons once described him as a blue-collar billionaire and both descriptions are right. he is i guess a billionaire, we haven't seen his taxes. but hillary clinton, who i think hailed more humble beginnings doesn't seem all that normal. you sort of can't imagine her driving a minivan and it doesn't matter, she's incredibly

accomplished but it's part of the mosaic that voters turn to and piece together when they're trying to make a calculation in an election year where they have told us that they are alarmed by the choices that they wish there were alternatives to these two candidates. >> nicolle wallace, that you can. let's bring in mark halperin, co-managing editor of bloomberg politics, one half of their nightly broadcast aired by them and by us of "with all due respect" and a campaign veteran whose first rodeo this is not. i think he's covered eight presidential campaigns and so mark the question for you. how should people process everything we've witnessed only thus far today? you're in raleigh, the scene of the trump rally tonight. we have miles to go before we sleep. >> i've never seen an event like the comey press conference today. as you know, this investigation had been shrouded in secrecy, less leaking than i remember from any high profile

investigation. i credit the fbi director and those working on the case because criminal investigations should be done in secret. the press would like to know more but in this case they held it tight and then today they went from almost no information about the case to an explosion of information and except at the very end when he announced he wasn't going to recommend an indictment, he inindictmented her. not legally but he indicted her i think revealing more about what she did wrong than we previously know. so on the one hand had she been indicted it would have been a death sentence for her and ccany but she gives republicans a lot to talk about. i thought when mayor giuliani said a moment ago "she couldn't be hired at the justice department" that's a powerful talking point. her campaign will use the fact that she's not indicted as a way to end this but i think republicans will talk about this for a long time and it plays to what her own aides would say is her biggest vulnerability with voters that they don't trust her

to be honest. >> mark, we may be seconds away here, i just saw the president's photographer peek around the curtain and devices are certainly raised in anticipation so i may need to jump out of this. but to your point about the lack of leaks. i found that striking. it's interesting to see the discipline when they want it to be disciplined but james comey is not going to like to hear his former boss rudy giuliani accuse him to your other point of having a lapse in judgment. >> well, it's an extraordinary thing because i think anybody watching his presentation would have thought he was headed towards saying there was there's some sort of charge that's appropriate. the judgment of any fbi agent, fbi director, any prosecutor, there's prosecutorial discretion, i have thought all along that the main point he made was true which is there's no analog, what she did was irresponsible, it was wrong, it wasn't just regrettable because

she suffered a political price but there were clearly problems in terms of being responsible for the records, the fact she hadn't turned over everything she said she had, a big problem but i never saw where the analog was for previous prosecution or what laws she broke. now the mayor and other republican lawyers have made a different argument but their problem, they couldn't ask from a political point of view for a worse fbi director. james comey is someone they have praised forever as a man of integrity. >> mark halperin in raleigh, scene of the -- what will be the scene of a trump rally this evening but, oh, we have hours to go until then and we have this to watch and talk about. look who's just come out from different sides of the stage, the president in shirt sleeves on a hot day in north carolina and on camera right, of course, the presumptive nominee of the democratic party, his long time secretary of state, one-time political rival hillary clinton. we will relinquish the

microphone and listen in all the way through this event. ♪ i'll be strong, i'll play my fight song ♪ and i don't really care if nobody else believes ♪ because i've still got a lot of fight ♪ left in me, a lot of fight left in me ♪ this is my fight song, take back my life song ♪ prove i'm all right song, my power's turned on ♪ right now i'll be strong ♪ i'll play my fight song and i don't really care

♪ if nobody else believes because i've still got ♪ a lot of fight left in me, a lot of fight left in me ♪ this is my fight song, take back my life song ♪ prove i'm all right song >> perhaps you got the point, this is hillary's fight song. hillary clinton now preparing to speak with the president off to her side in the convention center in charlotte, north carolina. >> thank you! [ crowd chanting "hillary" ] >> thank you so much.

hello, charlotte! [ cheers and applause ] it is so great to be back in north carolina with so many friends [ cheers and applause ] with congresswoman adams and congressman david price and congressman g.k. butterfield and your next u.s. senator debra ross. [ cheers and applause ] and your next governor roy cooper. [ cheers and applause ] and, of course, with our president p barack obama! [ cheers and applause ] i feel very privileged because

i've known the president in many roles. as a colleague in the senate, as an opponent in a hard-fought primary. [ laughter ] and the president i was so proud to serve as secretary of state [ cheers and applause ] but i've also known him as the friend that i was honored to stand with in the good times and the hard times. someone who has never forgotten where he came from. [ cheers and applause ] and, donald, if you're out there tweeting, it's hawaii. [ cheers and applause ] >> just in case he's confused.

>> so over the years, we've had some memorable experiences together, like storming a secret meeting of foreign leaders at a global climate summit. >> that was fun. >> that was fun. >> that was fun. >> you should have seen the chinese guards try to stop us. now, they put their arms out and the president just went right through. then they put their arms out and i went right under. [ laughter and applause ] and the president with that amazing smile of his says "hey, we've been looking for you." now, through it all as we went from political rivals to partners to friends, my esteem for him just kept growing. and so did my admiration for his brilliant wife michelle. [ cheers and applause ]

and his two amazing daughters that they have raised. [ cheers and applause ] you know, my husband and i know a little bit about how hard it is to raise a child in the public eye, in the fish bowl of the white house, but the obamas have done a fabulous job [ cheers and applause ] malia, who just graduated from high school and celebrated her 18th birthday yesterday. [ cheers and applause ] and sasha, who has the energy and enthusiasm of a wonderful young woman. now, i happen to think those two young ouimet be the most impressive accomplishment of all of our president. and it's one of the many reasons

why it means so much to me personally to have the president's support in this campaign after all, he knows a thing or two about winning elections, take it from me. [ cheers and applause ] and he also knows that despite all the progress we've made under his leadership -- and, yes, we have. [ cheers and applause ] we still have a lot of work to do. president obama's job, one that he did not ask for but was handed to him was to save us from a second great depression and that is exactly what he did. [ cheers and applause ] . actually, i don't think he gets the credit he deserves for saving our economy. [ cheers and applause ]

we've added 14 million private sector jobs. the auto industry just had its best year ever. 20 million people now have health care. clean energy production has soared. i could go on and on but you get the idea. that is what leadership looks like. so our next president has a different job to do -- building on the progress that president obama has made. we have to continue to take on deep structural challenges that existed long before the great recession. we see it here in north carolina and across the country. inequality is too high, wages are too low and it's just too hard to get ahead. we need an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.

[ cheers and applause ] so we're setting five big ambitious goals, first, under president obama and vice president biden we've had 75 straight months of job growth. [ cheers and applause ] i want us to see 75 more so in my first 100 days as president we'll make the biggest investment in new good-paying joobs since world war ii. [ cheers and applause ] and when i say good-paying jobs, i mean exactly that. donald trump thinks wages are too high. [ boos ] . she actually stood on the debate stage and said that and he wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage all together. [ boos ] well, i think anyone who is

willing to work hard should be able to find a job that pays well enough to raise a family. so we're going to increase the federal minimum wage and give the middle-class a raise! [ cheers and applause ] that's good for our families, good for our economy and, boy, is it good for our country. now, second we're going to make college debt free-for-all. [ cheers and applause ] and we're going to build on the president's idea to make community college free [ cheers and applause ] and we're going to help millions of people struggling with existing student debt save thousands of dollars [ cheers and applause ] third, we're going rewrite the rules and crack down on

companies that ship jobs over a overseas and profits to go with them. let's reward the companies that share profits with their employees instead. and we're going to defend and strengthen the tough reforms president obama put in place on the financial industry. not tear them up like donald trump says he'll do. we need to make sure that wall street can never wreck main street again. [ cheers and applause ] fourth, we're going to make sure that wall street corporations and the super rich pay their fair share of taxes. [ cheers and applause ] it is just plain wrong that a millionaire can pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries and we're going to stop it and, oh, by the way, we're going to keep asking to see donald trump's tax

returns. [ cheers and applause ] and finally, we're going to step up and respond to the way american families actually live and work in the 21st century. our families, our workplaces have changed so isn't it time that our policies change, too? now, donald trump can accuse me of playing the woman card all he wants, but if fighting for equal pay and affordable child care and paid family leave is playing the woman card than deal me in! [ cheers and applause ] and you know, most of all, most of all -- [ crowd chanting "hillary" ]

you know, most of all, though, we're going to build on the vision for america that president obama has always championed -- a vision for a future where we do great things together, not as red states and blue states but as the united states. [ cheers and applause ] when i look at president obama i see a leader with heart, depth, and humility. someone who in spite of the obstruction he's faced still reaches for common ground and common purpose. [ cheers and applause ] now, some of you might remember that he and i competed each other as hard as we could back in 2008, but when it was over i

was proud to endorse him and campaign for him. [ cheers and applause ] and i'll never forget when he called me the sunday after the election asking me to come to chicago it turned out he wanted me to be secretary of state and i don't think anybody saw that coming, especially me. [ laughter ] and as i traveled on behalf of our country, a lot of people would ask me how president obama and i could work so well together after being such fierce competitors. in some places, you know, the person who loses and election gets exiled or executed not asked to be secretary of state. [ laughter ] but president obama asked me to serve and i accepted. you know why? we both love our country.

[ cheers and applause ] that is now democracy is supposed to work. we just celebrated 240 years of our independence. in america we put common interest before self-interest. we stand together because we know we are stronger together. that is the kind of president barack obama has been. he's made difficult even unpopular decisions for the good of our country. i have sat with him in the situation room and seen him make the hardest choices a president faces, he does it with steady, principled leadership, he's a statesman leading not just our country but the entire world. [ cheers and applause ] it was his vision -- [ applause ] it was his vision and diplomacy that secured a historic global agreement on climate change, put

a lid on iran's nuclear program, opened up cuba and rallied the world to curb the spread of nuclear weapons. [ cheers and applause ] i saw him send in the troops to take on osama bin laden. [ applause ] this, my friends, is a president who knows us to keep us safe and strong. compare that to donald trump. [ boos ] can you imagine him sitting in the oval office the next time america faces a crisis? the world hangs on every word our president says and donald trump is simply unqualified and

temperamentally unfit to be our president and commander in chief. so here in north carolina this election is our chance to say our country is better than this. in america we don't tear each other down, we lift each other up, we build bridges not walls. [ cheers and applause ] we don't call the country we love a disaster or a laughing stock. we know america already is the greatest country on earth! [ cheers and applause ] just think about those early patriots who met in philadelphia that hot summer of 1776. they knew we would all rise or fall together now, nobody who

looked like barack obama or me would have been included back then but we're here today because the story of america is the story of hard-fought hard-won progress. [ cheers and applause ] [ crowd chanting "hillary" ] so i want you to remember that for 240 years our history has moved in that direction. slowly, at times, but unmistakably as the president has reminded us, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.

so if you believe, along with me and with the president that our best days as a nation are still ahead of us, please join this campaign. take out your phone right now, take out your phone and text "join "to ""47246" or go to hillaryclinton.com. we are hiring organizers right here in north carolina. we're going to fight for every vote in this state and with your help we're going to win it! [ cheers and applause ] so i don't know about you but we are fired up and ready to go! ready to win this election! please join me in welcoming the president of the united states, barack obama! [ cheers and applause ]

>> hillary! hillary! hillary! [ crowd chanting "hillary" ] oh -- how are you doing, charlotte? [ cheers and applause ] are you fired up? [ cheers and applause ] request ready to go? [ cheers and applause ] . fired up? i am -- i'm fired up. hillary got me fired up. she got me ready to do some work. so i hope everybody had a great fourth of july. >> we love you! >> i love you back. now first of all let me just say i like any excuse to come to

north carolina. [ cheers and applause ] i just like north carolina. i love the people of north carolina. i used to -- when we used to campaign here i used to say even the people who aren't voting for me are nice. [ laughter ] you know that's not true everywhere. so you've got great people here then you've got great food. north carolina has some good. in fact, i will find someplace to get some food before i head back to d.c. i know y'all have recommendations. i know i can't get to your house to get the food, although i'm sure you're an excellent cook. [ laughter ] and then you've got great basketball [ cheers and applause ] . you've got great basketball. we all know that. we all know that.

but i'm not going to get in between all the tar heel and wolf pack and -- [ cheers and applause ] blue devils -- see, deacons. i'm not going to get into all that. [ cheers and applause ]

no now this is not -- [ crowd chanting "hillary" ] as hillary mentioned, this is not the first time we campaigned together. we went up to new hampshire after our primary in 2008. we went through what is one of the longest, toughest primaries in just a minute. primaries are always tough because you're arguing with your friends instead of the folks you disagree with. sometimes you have to find things to disagree about even though you don't really disagree. so we were crisscrossing towns

from new hampshire to nevada and as much as i had admired her when we served together i came away from that primary admiring her even more. because during that year and a half, i had had a chance to see up close just how smart she was. you don't have to rub it in. you don't have to rub it in now. you know, she beat me, you know, at least the first half. and then i just barely could play her to a draw. i always had to be on my game because she knew every fact. and she knew every detail. and then during those 18 months,

i saw the passion that she feels for anybody who's experienced injustice, anybody who's faced discrimination, anybody who does everything right and still can't seem to get a fair shot, whether it was workers who had lost their jobs or kids unable to afford college. and you could tell it was personal to her, because she had seen struggles in her own life, she had known challenges in her own life, and she could identify and empathize with people who were doing the right thing and wanted to make sure that they got a fair shake. and then during the primaries again and again i saw how even when things didn't go her way, she'd just stand up straighter and come back stronger. she didn't give up. she didn't pout. she just kept on going. she was the energizer bunny.

she just kept on. and the bottom line is, she had to do everything i had to do, but she was like ginger rogers, she had to do it backwards in hee heels. and at the end of our contest, i saw the grace and the energy with which she threw herself into my campaign, not because she wasn't disappointed about the outcome of the primary, but because she knew there was something that was at stake, that was bigger than either of us, and that was the direction of our country, and how are we going to make sure that all of the people that are counting on us could see a better life. so, we may have gone toe to toe from coast to coast, but we stood shoulder to shoulder for the ideals that we share. so, maybe hillary was surprised, but i wasn't surprised when i

asked hillary to represent our interests and our values around the world as america's secretary of state. i knew she would do a great job. i knew she would perform. i knew the regard in which she was held in capitals all around the world. i knew that the minute she took that job, there was a stature and a seriousness that would immediately mend some of the challenges that we had had around the world during that time. now, let me tell you, north carolina, my faith in hillary clinton has always been rewarded. i have had a front-row seat to her judgment and her toughness and her commitment to diplomacy. and i witnessed it in the situation room, where she argued in favor of the mission to get bin laden.

i saw how as a former senator from new york, she knew, she understood, because she had seen it, she had witnessed it, what this would mean for the thousands who had lost loved ones when the twin towers fell. i've benefited from hoer savvy and her skill in foreign capitals where her pursuit of diplomacy led to new partnerships, opened up new nations to democracy, helped to reduce the nuclear threat. we have all witnessed the work she's done to advance the lives of women and girls around the globe. she has been working on this since she was a young woman working at the children's defense fund. she's not late to the game to this. she's been going door to door to make sure kids got a fair share, making sure kids with disabilities could get a quality education. she's been fighting those fig s

fights, and she's got the scars to prove it. and you know, hillary and i shared a big hug the first time we saw each other after we finally realized one of the great causes of her career, finally guaranteeing access to quality, affordable health insurance to every single american, because that's something she got started, and we picked up that baton and were able to get it across the finish line. the bottom line is, she was a great secretary of state. and by the way, that's not just my opinion. that was the view of the american people and pundits throughout the time that she was serving as secretary of state. before the whole political machinery got moving. you remember that? it wasn't that long ago.

it's funny how that happens. everybody thought she was doing a great job. that's because she did do a good job. but it's funny how the filter changes a little bit. same person. done the same work. but you know, that filter is a powerful thing. but you know, it wasn't just what happened in the limelight that made me grow more and more to admire and respect hillary. it was how she acted when the cameras weren't on. it was knowing how she did her homework. it was knowing how many miles she put in traveling to make sure that america was effectively represented in corners of the globe that people don't even know about. there wasn't any political points to be had, but she knew that it was important.

i saw how she treated everybody with respect, even the folks who aren't "important." that's how you judge somebody, is how do they treat somebody when the cameras are off and they can't do anything for you. do you still treat them right? do you still treat them with respect? do you still listen to them? are you still fighting for them? i saw how deeply she believes in the things she fights for. i saw how you can count on her and show she won't waver and she won't back down and she will not quit, no matter how difficult the challenge and no matter how fierce the opposition. and if there's one thing i can tell you, charlotte, is those things matter.

those things matter. i am here to tell you that the truth is, nobody fully understands the challenges of the job of president until you've actually sat at that desk. everybody's got an opinion, but nobody actually knows the job until you're sitting behind the desk. everybody can tweet, but nobody actually knows what it takes to do the job until you sit behind the desk. i mean, sasha tweets, but she doesn't think that she, thereby, should be sitting behind the desk. so, you can't fully understand what it means to make life-and-death decisions until you've done