muslim-american soldier killed in iraq. now senator john mccain is jumping into this fight. and debating the debate schedule. trump and the rnc complained two debates are on the same night with two nfl games with trump claiming the nfl reached out to him with their concerns. a claim the nfl denies. and we have new comments from the nonpartisan commission behind the debate schedule. plus, washed away. some terrifying scenes and dangerous rescues as water floods a maryland town, the worst, by the way, in half a century. and now more storms in the forecast. good morning, everyone. tamron hall live from our msnbc headquarters in new york. developing now, senator john mccain doing what no other republican leader has dared to do, slamming donald trump by name over his comments about the parents of captain khan, killed in iraq in 2004. lengthy statement released this morning by senator mccain says in, part, in recent days, donald

trump disparaged a fallen soldier's parents, suggested the likes of their son should not be allowed in the united states to say nothing of entering its service. i cannot emphasize enough how deeply i am -- how deeply i disagree with mr. trump's statement. i hope americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our republican party. its officers or candidates. it goes on to say, i challenge the nominee to set the example for what our country can and should represent. arizona is watching. it is time for donald trump to set the example for our country in the future of the republican party. our party has bestowed upon him the nomination. it is not accompanied with unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us. the khan family is not backing down, and, again, speaking out this morning, putting the pressure on donald trump to apologize. >> this candidate amazes me. his ignorance. he can get up and malign the

entire nation, the religions, the communities, the minorities, the judges. and yet a private citizen in this political process, in his candidacy for the stewardship of this country. i cannot say what i feel. >> now donald trump appeared to be watching tv this morning, and the khan interviews. went on twitter, in fact, after seei some of the interviews and said, in part, this story is not about mr. khan, who is all over the place, doing interviews. but rather radical islamic terrorism and the u.s. get smart. trump has been on the defense, since last thursday, when the khans made their emotional appearance at the democratic national convex. convention. >> let me ask you, have you even read the united states constitution? [ cheers and applause ]

i will -- i will gladly lend you my copy! you have sacrificed nothing! and no one! >> now the next day, donald trump taped an interview with abc that was heard around the world yesterday. >> he was, you know, very emotional, and probably looked like a nice guy to me. his wife, if you look at his wife, she was standing there. she had nothing to say. she probably -- maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. you tell me. but plenty of people have written that. >> what sacrifice have you made for your country? >> i think i've made a lot of sacrifices. i work very, very hard. i've created thousands and thousands of jobs. tens of thousands of jobs. built great structures. i've done -- i've had tremendous success. >> those are sacrifices? >> oh, sure, i think they're sacrifices. >> captain khan's mother says

she was too overcome with grief after seeing her son's picture at the dnc on that stage. and that is why she did not speak that day. but she is speaking out now. in an interview with "morning joe," she remembers the last time she talked with her son. that was on mother's day, 2004, a month before he was killed. >> i knew he would do something that would be hard for me. but he said, mom, i have a responsibility for my soldiers, for my regiment and my people. i have responsibility for them. i won't quit that responsibility. i will love -- i love my soldiers. so i will be -- i will take care of them. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us live from washington, and

kelly, the statement from senator john mccain, we know he's in a tough re-election battle. but he is willing to draw the line in the sand here. paul ryan, mitch mbl come, both released statements but did not call donald trump by name. they did not specifically address the concerns with their nominee. john mccain willing to go a step or a mile further than any gop leader so far. >> he has. and he comes at it from, i think, several different perspectives. as you pointed out, he's in a re-election fight, he has a primary later this month. he has also said he would support the nominee of his party, because that's a pledge he has always made. and he is the former nominee of the party. of course, a candidate eight years ago. but also comes from a family steeped in military tradition and service. his father, his grandfather, two of his sons, a daughter-in-law all serving. and mccain is laying it out that he believes that donald trump has gone too far, and that there is a line of about honoring the

service of military families, especially those that have sacrificed in this way. at the same time, he says he doesn't have a moral high ground over donald trump, but wants to make it clear. now, we also just received a statement from mac thornberry, the house armed services chamber, the counterpart to mccain, and he writes, i am dismayed at the attacks khazir khan have endured after they spoke about their son's service and sacrifice. there is never enough honor. we can show the families of those whose loved ones have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. service to our country is above politics. i believe that each of us are called every day to show our deepest respect and gratitude to all of those who protect our freedom and their families. so he too, not naming trump, but in many respects, these are very strong statements that implicitly go right after donald trump. and for republicans who are in that balance of trying to recognize that their candidate is out there and wanting to support their candidate.

these are strong, strong condemnations about this particular conduct of donald trump. >> all right, kelly. of thank you very much. and a program note. we will talk live with a gold star mother, among a group of gold star family's moms demanding an apology from donald trump and will join us live in a few minutes. first on to the other controversy facing donald trump this morning. trump is clarifying comments he made about russian president vladimir putin in ukraine. he was questioned whether he had anything to do with the changes to the platform at the rnc. the modified party platform drops its call to provide arms to ukraine in response to russia's occupation in 2014. >> i wasn't involved in that. honestly, i was not involved. i was not involved in that. i would like to -- i would have to take a look at it. but i was not involved. >> do you know what they did? >> they softened it, i heard, but i was not involved. >> they took away the part of

the platform, calling for provision of lethal weapons to ukraine to defend themselves. why is that a good idea? >> i have my own ideas. he's not going into ukraine. just so understand. >> george stephanopoulos immediately pointed out that putin is already in ukraine, having annexed the province of crimea. this morning, trump is tweeting, when i said in an interview that putin is not going into ukraine, you can mark it down, i am saying if i am president, already in crimea. joining me live is huffington post correspondent donte. you're reporting that trump changed position and now claims he did not. let me play what paul manafort, his campaign manager said yesterday. give us more on your reporting. >> how much influence did you have on changing that language, sir? >> i had none. in fact, i didn't even hear of it until -- after our convention was over. >> where did it come from, then?

because everybody on the platform committee had said it came from the trump campaign. if not you, who? >> it absolutely did not come from the trump campaign. i don't know who everybody is, but i guarantee you -- >> so nobody from the trump campaign wanted that change in the platform? >> no one. zero. >> what are your sources telling you? >> right. this is amazing. because in real-time, while it was happening, everyone knew it was coming from the trump folks. and then last week after it was over, he -- folks at the rnc understood full well where it had come from, and they didn't think it was that big a deal. in fact, they were kind of praising trump for not changing other things like on abortion or gay marriage. and so they were saying, look, he laid off our conservative activist base. all he did was this one thing. and just a platform so what does it really matter? and now they're coming back and saying that they had nothing to do with it. well, that's -- hard to explain.

>> so is this now -- because i didn't -- it's been a remarkable week fact-checking some of the things that have come out of donald trump's mouth, including his relationship -- or lack of relationship with vladimir putin. but here it seems with fact-checking, and sources here, they have indicated that it was pushed by the trump campaign. so why -- the ginger walk behind it. if it was the campaign, when can we say that it was the campaign, and not the committee? >> right. the committee -- the members of the committee, they didn't think of this on their own. in fact, they were looking at an amendment to actually turn the language further. and they didn't. they pulled back, because the trump campaign wanted to change it the other way. and take out the stuff about the armaments. so i think what happened in the intervening time, we had the hack of the dnc e-mails and signs pointing it came from russia. and i think maybe perhaps the trump folks are now zant of

that. >> absolutely. because when the platform changed the language changed, you have to ask the motivation. who benefits from something like this. and this points back to, again, what is the relationship with vladimir putin with the trump campaign, and with trump himself. here's what he said again yesterday when asked about knowing vladimir putin. >> what exactly is your relationship with vladimir putin? >> i have no relationship with putin. >> do you have a relationship with vladimir putin, a conversational relationship, or anything that you feel you have sway or influence over his government? >> i do have a relationship. >> when i went to russia with the miss universe pageant, he contacted me and was so nice. >> i have no relationship with putin. >> but if you have no relationship with putin, why did you say in 2013, i do have a relationship, in 2014 -- >> because he has said nice things about me over the years. >> so s.v. are any sources

saying donald trump was lying then or is lying now? both can't be true. >> well, they don't want to touch this with a ten-foot pole right now. the party pros are in a tough bind, i guess. they have a nominee who says different things on different days, and they try to make it as small a deal as they can. >> yeah, but this is not exaggerating ratings or, you know, exaggerating the size of a crowd. this is what is the relationship with someone who has a dubious relationship with this country, and who very well may have an agenda here. affecting our election. >> right. well, that's -- they're going to have to figure out a response, aren't they? because so far there has been a lot of silence. they don't want to have to defend vladimir putin. that's very clear. >> all right, s.v., thank you so much with your reporting. we'll continue to follow up and is hopefully have you on with more. thank you very much, s.v. >> you're very welcome. 17 gold star families have signed a letter demanding an apology from donald trump for his treatment of the khan family. that letter saying in part, when

you question a mother's pain by implying that her religion, not her grief, kept her from addressing arena of people, you are attacking us. when you say your job-building -- buildings akin to other sacrifice, you are attacking our sacrifice. this goes beyond politics. it is about a sense of diseasy. and joining me by phone is one of the star moms who signed the letter, mother of army sergeant sherwood baker, killed by an explosion in iraq in 2004. thank you so much for your time. >> thank you. i appreciate being with you. >> let us give our condolences to you. i know that 2004 and every day you as a mother have to deal with the loss of your son as the khan family. and now you're here demanding an apology from the gop nominee. what is your direct message to donald trump today? >> well, i think that what i would really love to see would be that mr. trump would take a

deep, deep breath and understand that the people who have sacrificed their lives for this country are people of all faith, of all genders. they have supported the country and been willing to give of themselves to answer the call for all these years. and we owe them our best. we owe them our loyalty, our allegiance and our gratefulness. and none of us would wish to see any of the other gold star families attacked for speaking out, basically. i have great respect for all of the families who have lost someone, no matter what side the political fence they're on. we are all gold star families. and, of course, i don't speak for everybody. but i do give my honor to all of the families who have lost people.

it's a time that we shouldn't quibble about this. this should never have become a -- an issue to fight about. so i would ask mr. trump to apologize to the families and i would ask the other republicans to please, like senator mccain did, just clarify what sort of person are you who -- what do you think we as americans ought to be saying about the families of the fallen? i'm -- it just makes me very, very sad, and i feel such sympathy and wonder at the khans. their courage is so evident. they're really standing up to a firestorm. and i think it would make their son proud. >> i know that in this letter sent out by the 17 gold star families, it says, this goes beyond politics. governor mike pence, donald trump's running mate said he

gave his life due to the disasterous decisions of barack obama and hillary clinton. a once stable middle east has been overrun by isis. this must not stand and con flats the death of captain khan which happened in 2004, the same year your son, sergeant baker was killed, combining these two moments. >> one needs to look at the history, because the war in iraq began under president bush by his choice to go into that war. my son was actually killed while serving with the iraq survey group. they were looking for the weapons of mass destruction. which everyone had long agreed were not there. so before i blame the obama administration, i think i would take a longer look back, and figure out who actually got us to iraq. so, you know, facts get lost in these situations pretty quickly. because everybody wants to spin out their own story. but to me, the real story is the

khans are the parents of a heroic son. that's all you need to say. and they, as immigrants, are representing the best of our country. and i have often noted, when i've been at arlington, i have seen their son's gravestone, because i've been to that section 60 in arlington for funerals. and i look and i see the signs of the tombstones of the young people who have died. they have their dates, and their names and they frequently do have a symbol of their faith. but you know what they don't have? they don't have a political affiliation and they don't have any indication of their wealth. so let us stop that as a measurement of anything. and measure people's courage and their decency and their loyalty to the country. >> celeste zappala, it's a pleasure to speak with you and you gave the ultimate sacrifice

in your son dying for this country. and thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. let me bring in admiral chuck, national security policy adviser to donald trump. admiral, thank you so much for joining us. and thank you for your service, as well. my father was in the army for 30 years of his life. when you hear donald trump say his sacrifice was job creation, is that a proper answer? to you? >> well, good morning, tamron. and thanks for letting me join you today. i think that mrs. zappala summed it up with very sincere eloquence when she talked about the anguish all gold star parents feel, and particularly for her son and in the case of the khans, their grief really represents the same anguish that thousands upon thousands of gold star parents have experienced. and we all, you know, feel for them, and we all respect their sacrifice, and really none of us -- not you, not me, not mr.

trump, not hillary clinton, has had to make that sacrifice. and so it's difficult for us to fully understand it. but we really must honor it, because in particular, all of those, you ow, military soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, truly were heroes over there serving their country and serving all of us. >> admiral, should donald trump apologize to these families? >> well, i think he has recognized initially that the khans -- the me motions the khans felt and i think he has stated clearly that their son was a true hero. but the deeper story that hasn't come out yet is the fact that he was operating in a combat zone, under restrictive rules of engagement set by a politician. so when the taxicab approached his position, he wasn't authorized to fire 50 caliber grounds into the grill to stop it. he had to go out there to try to flag them down. and i think what you will see is under a hillary clinton administration, more of the

same. getting us into wars where we have to fight with restrictive rules of engagement. i was there during the same period that the khans' son was killed. and mr. trump has made it clear that war will be the last resort in his administration, but if we have to fight, we'll fight to win. and we won't, you know, constrain our soldiers to restrictive rules of game. to give an upper hand. >> admiral, both captain khan and sergeant baker were killed in 2004. mike pence voted for the iraq war. i know that you want to talk strategy and weaponry and some of the things that quite honestly i may not even be able to refute, because i don't have those notes in front of me, i'm not as expertise as you may be on military strategy. but what i do know is, if that war were not authorized and backed by the bush administration, khan, baker, thousands of others would not have been there. donald trump says he would not have supported the war in iraq, but mike pence did.

so what do you say to mike pence, beyond strategy, perhaps those men and women who lost their lives would never have been there if mike pence had not been a part of those in washington who supported that war? >> well, you know -- and again, you did make it clear that mr. trump did not support that war. >> but he was -- and well, that's up for dispute, as well, because i believe it was one appearance on howard stern, that's not to disparage howard stern, but not usually a place of record, to talk about military actions and there have been other documents that he may have exaggerated that. but let me go back to the core of what i ask you. >> okay. >> donald trump has not apologized to the khan family. he put in question why a grieving mother was silent and implying she was -- >> i think what's done -- >> admiral, you are a man of the military, a hope a straight shooter here. you have worn this nation's uniform. you have gold star families who

are heartbroken by hearing this. step aside from being a spokesperson for a campaign or part of a campaign. should he apologize? >> my thought is, the whole issue of an poll gee or not to apology has been terribly clouded. i think it's clear that donald trump recognizes their grief and he recognizes the heroism of his son. and he also recognizes that these are not the kind of wars that we need to get into. i think my point earlier was that had our leaders, our political leaders, realized that in 2004 we were still in active combat in iraq, and had authorized combat rules of gaugement, whether we had gotten in there or not, we were still in combat and still needed to fight the way we had been trained to fight, not with handcuffs on. >> so i'm goi to take it as you saying he doesn't need to apologize. that's what i have to assume you're saying. >> well, i think my words speak for themselves. >> i think they do. admiral, thank you so much for

your time and thank you for your service, sir. >> thank you so much. look forward to meeting with you again. >> okay. at this time tomorrow, the khans will join me live to talk about the latest on this situation and the number of gold star families who join them in calling on lawmakers to take a stabbed on stand on this latest controversy. meanwhile, today hillary clinton's campaign -- travels to nebraska. she will be joined by billionaire investor, warren buffett. a statement romney won in 2012 in nebraska. nebraska is now a tossup state. and we fact collect clinton's claim that comey said her answers on classified e-mails were truthful. what she said then and now. we'll be right back. been making dog chow for 36 years now. my dog girlfriend is 17 years old. she's been eating dog chow from her very first day and she can still chase squirrels.

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♪ welcome back. hillary clinton will campaign in omaha, nebraska, today. it will be her first stop after a post convention bus tour in pennsylvania and ohio over the weekend. alongside running mate tim kaine. she slammed donald trump's controversial comments about khazir and ghazala khan. making a statement about how fbi director, james comey, categorized her statements regarding her e-mail server. >> director comey said my answers were truthful and what i have said is consistent with what i have told the american people. that there were decisions discussed and made to classify retroactively certain e-mails. >> the "washington post" gave it four pinocchios, a four-point

boins points and i'm joined by brian fallon, national press secretary for the clinton campaign. thanks for joining us here. >> hi, tamron. >> hi. so you have the "washington post" saying this claim deserves four pinocchios here. how is the campaign trying to clarify what he said, compared to what comey said, which i have in front of me here? >> well, thanks, tamron, for the opportunity to address it. number one, as secretary clinton mentioned yesterday and has said repeatedly, obviously her use of a single account for a personal e-mail account was a mistake, error, she regrets it and has apologized for it. i think the question she got yesterday was sort of suggesting that she had misrepresented things to the american people over the last several months, and what she attempted to indicate in her response was that director comey was very clear when he was asked in the hearing before congress last

month about the nature of the answers she gave in her interview to the justice department and director comey was quite clear he had no reason to believe that anything she ever said to the justice department was at all untruthful. and what she was indicating in that interview to chris wallace was that what she said to those justice department interviewers was entirely consistent with what she has said to the public for the last several months in the many questions we have answered on this issue. >> but at the heart of the question was classified material in the e-mail was an exchange. let me play what director comey said when asked that. >> secretary clinton said there was nothing marked classified on her e-mails, either sent or received. was that true? >> that's not true. there were a small number of portion markings on i think three of the documents. >> secretary clinton said i did not e-mail any classified material to anyone on my e-mail. there is no classified material. was that true? >> there was classified material e-mailed. >> i know this morning, robby

mook said these were employees who sent the classified e-mail to secretary clinton. do you understand why that received a "what" from a number of people after she said it in that interview? >> let me just address those two points raised in that round of questioning that you just played. because later in that same congressional appearance, director comey expanded on those answers and so on the first point, director comey indicated that, yes, there were three e-mails that appeared to have something resembling markings. what he said later in the same hearing is that those were improper markings and anyone reading those three e-mails could have reasonly concluded the information was not classified. that's why we have resolved that issue, notwithstanding that exchange you just played. the second issue with director comey was about the 110 e-mails that director comey says were classified at the time. but what we have always maintained and still maintain is that she did not believe that those e-mails were classified. they lacked any markings.

they were sent to her by people that know the difference between what's classified and what's not. so she was acting entirely in good faith and had no reason to believe those e-mails were classified. and later in his congressional appearance, the director acknowledged that he had no reason to question that -- whether hillary clinton actually believed those e-mails were classified. so on both of those two points, he expanded on his answers later in the hearing and that's what secretary clinton was referencing in her interview with chris wallace yesterday. >> thank you so much for your time. we graeshtly appreciate it. thank you. next, new investments in the war against isis. the u.s. military has launched new air strikes in libya today. we have some new information coming in right now from the pentagon. we'll have a report after a short break. for lower back pain sufferers, the search for relief often leads to places like... this... this... or this. today, there's a new option. introducing drug-free aleve direct therapy. a tens device with high intensity power that uses technology once only available in doctors' offices. its wireless remote lets you control the intensity, and helps you get back to things like... this...

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>> tamron, it's important to point out, this is a brand-new u.s. military air campaign against isis there in libya, and it came at the request of the legitimate libyan government. according to defense officials, manned and unmanned u.s. military aircraft launch air strikes, taking out one isis tank and several other vehicles. we're told that this will be the first of a number of air strikes in the coming weeks, perhaps even months. now, both the libyan government and libya militia, actually, have been closing in and en circling sirte, occupied by as many as 5,000 isis fighters. now we are told that number has been reduced to about 2,000, as many of them started to flee under the attacks from the libyan government. but it's clear that they can't do it without u.s. help. and that is what the u.s. is providing now from the air only. special operations forces on the ground in a train adviser role

earlier, but not there this time. it is air strikes only and they will continue against isis there in libya for some time, tamron. >> thank you very much for the latest there. and coming up, hillary clinton and donald trump tied in the battleground state of ohio. up next, i'll talk live with ohio's former governor and senate candidate, ted strickland, right after the break. trolling for a gig with braindrone? can't blame you.

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of the early polling, it shows real clear politics, you're behind four points to incumbent rob portman. but this controversy involving the gold star family, the khan family, the last couple of days you and many other democrats have really tried to put the republicans' feet to the fire, to be accountable for donald trump's comments. but if they're not going to stand up, they are responsible, as well. >> well, how low can donald trump go before my opponent, rob portman and other republicans say enough is enough? i mean, this man has denigrated prisoners of war. he has mocked disabled people. he has implied that he may use nuclear weapons in europe. he has called women pigs. and now he's been insensitive to a gold star family. and what is it rob portman say? he says, i disagree with what he said. but he doesn't condemn any more.

he continues to support him. and i am just -- i am just flabbergasted that donald trump can be donald trump and do and say what he has said and people like rob portman continue to embrace him as a presidential candidate. it just almost is beyond belief. and i think it's an example of rob portman putting party over country. i really believe it's that basic. >> when you look at the state that you know very well, obviously, having been the governor of ohio, and you see that the polling is so close right now between hillary clinton and donald trump, but in 2012 obama took it by nearly three points. 2008 by five points there. it is greatly about jobs. but the question i think that's been posed so many times, and i'll ask you it again, what is it about donald trump's message that's resonating in ohio, a state again, you know better than anyone? >> well, donald trump gives easy answers to difficult problems.

and so he is a con artist. he says things without any factual basis. he doesn't say how he's going to accomplish what he says he wants to accomplish. on the other hand, hillary clinton has a program to rebuild this country, to create living wage jobs that would rival anything done since world war i ii. ohioans want jobs, fairness in the economy, and hillary clinton and i -- you know, i'm here in cincinnati today to propose a major national infrastructure bank that would really rebuild america. our roads, our bridges, our water and sewer systems. the deployment of internet capability everywhere. improving our electricity grid. these are the things that are important to the future economy of our state. and these are the kinds of things that hillary clinton and myself, i'm talking about those things. donald trump is basically full of hot air.

he just says things with no factual basis, no plans to implement them. and i think he's a con artist. and assignments people listen to con artists. but eventually, when it comes time to vote, they're going to realize this is serious business. we're talking about a commander in chief. we're talking about the leader, not only of our country, but of the free world. >> governor strickland, thank you so much for joining us. we'll keep an eye, obviously, on your race, as well, as it potentially is one of those down ballast races that would have a big impact on republicans as a result of donald trump. and wee see right now it's a tight race in ohio. we'll see what resonates. thank you so much for your time. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. coming up, donald trump and the rnc, they're complaining the two upcoming debates coincide with nfl games. trump is accusing the clinton campaign of rigging the process. despite the fact that the schedule was made last year -- last september. the debate schedule was made. the football schedule came out in april.

so that puts all of the scheduling before either of the candidates had become the nominee. that's next. . ♪ geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides.

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i don't plan on slowing down any time soon. stay strong. stay active with boost®. welcome back. so donald trump is raising questions about the dates of two upcoming presidential debates. the gop nominee. as usual, hillary and the dems trying to rig the debates. saying last name with bernie, unacceptable. trump also went on to say he actually received a letter from the nfl complaining about the schedule. the nfl rejects trump's claim saying we obviously wish the debate commission to find another night, we did not send a letter to mr. trump. and joining me now, jeremy peters from the new york sometimes and jennifer reuben, opinion writer for "the washington post." as we mentioned before, the debate schedule set last september, football schedule this past april. there have been debates set game

night. the nonpartisan commission said it's impossible to avoid every sporting event. they tried to avoid religious holidays, a list of things. and this is how it shakes out. so where does the trump campaign get that it's rigged? >> well, that's been one of trump's strongest arguments, one of his biggest rallying cries in targeting his base, saying that every political system, every political institution is rigged. and it's stacked against his supporters. so this is not at all surprising he would make an argument like this. i think it's a classic example of the way that trump misdirects and deflects. and instead of focusing on the issues and in this case being this controversy he created by attacking this muslim family, he wants to complain about the debate system being rigged in hopes of creating a distraction. >> but what happens here, jennifer, he said he received a letter from the nfl, they say no you didn't, so it puts in action his ability or inability to tell

the truth. but looking at the debate schedule, september 26, we can put it up, that's the first debate. there is -- october 9th, sunday debate. and then when we look at the debates' past, 2012, there were -- october 3rd, major league baseball game, regular season that night. october 11th, 2012, steelers versus titans. you see other examples there. so this is not as if this is a unicorn. this has happened before. >> jeremy is right. this is typical trump, makes up lies so he misdirects people. i think it's also telling that trump always has to be the worst victim around. when we had the shooting in orlando, trump had to claim, i was right! as if he is the most important thing when a shooting goes on. he has to be as big a victim as the khan family, who have lost a son. he has to be the victim of some made-up controversy, made-up cabal involving the debates. and this is just trump. he's a narcissist, and that

makes him a whiner when things don't go his way. >> to your point in his tweet this morning, saying he's being viciously attacked by the khans. >> yeah, that kind of just is typical of where he goes. goes. donald trump, i don't think, has the ability to control himself. there's no possible explanation for why this might help him. he's not some clever genius, he's out of control he is impulsi impulsive, he's aggressive, and he is taking on a bunch of gold star families. that's dumb. >> jeremy, looking at mike pence's statements over the past few days, it was at the end of the last week that we talked about name-calling on the campaign trail, as if he's forgotten who has become the king of name calling. again, this is not something that you have to deep dive to fact check some of the language that we've heard from his running mate and to call out name calling seems like an interesting strategy. >> right. or it's no strategy at all. and this is something that just slipped past the trump

campaign's advisors which would not surprise me at all. i think that one of the most important things that i've been hearing from republicans whether on capitol hill or republicans who are running ts campaigns for the number of senators and congressmen who are up for reelection this year, is they are terrified at what trump might do next. and even before this whole controversy with the con family came about, one of the things you heard from them, it was almost as if they were speaking about trump as a patient in the hospital with some grave illness or saying oh, it's day-to-day with him, we just don't know what's going to happen next. and i think living with that over the next four months here as we get toward november is going to be a real, an accelerating fear. >> j-squared, thank you both for your insight. coming up next, our first read.

welcome back, carrie, your first read team says can a person who makes an enemy of a gold star family serve as commander in chief, question mark? >> that's right, tamron, we've seen this movie before with donald trump. right, both a year and a little bit ago when you took on john mccain questioning his status of a war hero. more recently donald trump going after the mexican-american judge saying he wasn't fit to judge a case involving donald trump. in both cases like this one with the con family, republicans coming out and asking him to disavow those statements. i think there's big differences here, especially with the con family. they're in a position to engage with donald trump and kind of hit back. john mccain as you know ultimately endorsed donald trump and the judge in that case that donald trump took on was, as being a judge wasn't able to engage with donald trump. the second big difference i would say, this is a gold star family. this is a group that has traditionally been completely

off-limits or veered in american society. i think we're going to see this going forward and donald trump is really going to have to keep answers questions from within his own party about his temperament. >> those are going to be challenged to speak out and not release statements without naming him. we'll see what happens, but by the way, tomorrow, the con family will join me live at 11ing eastern time. great, pleasure having you on. we'll be right back. proud of you, son. ge! a manufacturer. well that's why i dug this out for you.

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pass, but the burden of voting for a divider, voting for excluder will not, will put such a burden on our souls for the remainder of our lives. that we will not be able to bear it. russian reset. the republican presidential nominee denying the reality of vladimir putin's military movements in ukraine. >> he's not going into ukraine, okay, just so you understand. he's not going to go into ukraine. you can mark it down. you can put it down. you can take -- >> he's already there, isn't he? >> well, he's there in a certain way. and calling interference, riding a post-convention bump, hillary clinton slamming trump for questioning the debate schedule because it'll be up against nfl prime time. >> they set up a schedule last fall. and neither campaign, because who knew, we didn't know who the nominees were going to be. i'm going to be there.