issues in europe, in the middle east, in asia means that he's woefully unprepared to do this job. i think what's been interesting is the repeated denunciations of his statements by leading republicans including the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader and prominent republicans like john mccain there has to come a point at which you say somebody who makes those kinds of statements doesn't have the judgment, the temperame temperament, the understand iin to occupy the most powerful position in the world/think i

was right and mitt romney and john mccain were wrong on certain policy issues but i never thought that they couldn't do the job. there has to come a point at which you say enough. >> so those comments played out simultaneously with donald trump's rally. a short 35 miles away in ash burn, virginia. but like he's done repeatedly over the last 48 hours, trump could not let the controversies lie. >> you know, something very nice just happened to me, a man came up to me and he handed me his purple heart. i said "man, that's, like -- that's, like, big stuff." i always wanted to get the purple heart. [ laughter ] this was much easier. our veterans are being treated horribly. we're going to turn that around so fast your head is going to spin. by the way, wouldn't it be great if we got along with russia? wouldn't that be great?

hillary clinton will be worse. she has bad relationships with people like putin. >> we are on the trail with trump. also at the white house at this hour. i want to begin with ron allen who joins us from the lawn at the white house. this is pretty rare for president obama to take such a strong stance. we heard the contrast he made about trump to his former rivals in mccain and mitt romney. this is basically president obama saying i would not have wanted those men to win but i would have felt they could hold this office with respect and with experience. >> well, do the job is -- he didn't endorse them too much but, yeah, thomas. it was striking, just sitting a few feet away from president obama it was -- he's a very analytical and sometimes speaks very matter of factually and very understated tone and i think all that added to the impetus of what he was saying. he has said things like this before in speeches and other

press conferences but i think what really got to him was that he's been simmering about this gold star family issue more to for a couple days. he spoke about it yesterday briefly at an event where he was talking to a group of veterans at the v.a. hospital in atlanta yesterday but he didn't want to make that event political is what his aides were saying so when we asked would he talk about the khan dispute and trump then they said know essentially. so today he knew he would get the question and he just let out in, again, a very matter-of-fact way. president obama has a very deep negative feeling for donald trump and i think that's putting it light ly we know the history the controversy, i think it's fair to say that his essence has been questioned repeatedly by the opposition again and again

and again and donald trump to some extent now running for president as the nominee for the opposition party is the personification of so much of that and i think this is what we're going to see going forward with president obama. he does not want -- he said months ago donald trump will not become president and now you're seeing what he means and how he's going to do everything he can to make that not happen. thomas? >> ron allen at the white house for us, ron, thank you very much. i want to bring into the conversation right now ben ginsberg, an msnbc political analyst, partner at jones day and former general counsel to the rnc and corrine jean pierre worked for the obama 2008 and 2012 campaigns. good to have you both here. ben, i want to start with you. we hear from president obama denouncing modern-day republicans who won't separate themselves from the nominee. explain the stakes for republicans who have endorsed trump and are at steake and wil

be running for reelection on the same ballot? >> well, look, i think what you've seen looking at the house and senate campaigns that i do a bunch of work with is that those campaigns are very much running as their own people. so whether they've formally endorsed trump or not enzorsed trump they're developing their own messages, their own ground games, their own data analytics in a way that will allow them to localize the races going back to tip o'neill's adage that all politics is local and i think that's what you're seeing in the races today. >> and we know coreen, the words that president obama just delivered about the matter of fact -- trump being unpitt to that office. we know the baton he wants to pass goes straight to hillary clinton who was a member of his cabinet. why do you think or do you think these words will have an effect on voters now just clicking in

and paying attention after the conventions? >> well i think you just said it, tom, voters are starting to pay attention and click in, especially after labor day we'll see more of that. there are only five living u.s. presidents out there that can speak what it's like to be commander-in-chief and two of them are republicans who have not endorsed donald trump, so, yes, the president gave a remarkable unprecedented rebuke against donald trump which is very important because the -- as we've seen, donald trump just continues to espouse hateful rhetoric and dehumanize groups of people and him going after the gold star family was actually the thing that probably will continue to get traction because at the end of the day it's not a democratic issue and it's not a republican issue it's actually just un-american and just very insulting. >> i want to get this on, ben, it's something we're just getting. we haven't confirmed it

ourselves, politico is reporting on this, the fact that governor chris christie is saying the trump criticism of the khan family is inappropriate. he said "i didn't see mr. khan's speech at the dnc but i'll just say this, i'm a father and i cannot imagine the pain of losing a child under any circumstances and for mr. and mrs. khan the pain of losing their son while defending our country is unfathomable. i think it gives them the right to say whatever they want whether they're right or wrong." but then again using this line saying that it is -- i want to read down here, "we have to honor their sacrifice, their son's sacrifice of this country but then again talking about the fact that this would have been inappropriate for donald trump to go after them. four remembers right now -- and we had them first read today ben about there could be this gop exit ramp and this has been talked about before as a headline, an exit ramp. do republicans that you're in contact with, folks you're

talking to think there is a point of no return about certain things trump may say? >> well, i think there is, as you've heard in the statements from republicans over the last few days a great deal of con sister mission about that. i think what chris christie just said is eloquent and very representative of what i'm hearing from republicans running for office, republicans on the hill, republicans on statehouses so that's a matter of recalibrating a campaign if it's possible. >> all right, so karine, ben, thanks so much. i want to get to kelly o'donnell standing by in washington, d.c. do we have any reaction from the trump campaign about the president's critique? >> yes, there is a statement coming from the trump campaign that sounds, at least to my ear as i read it, to be more of a crafted by the campaign than donald trump himself. let me get to the that here, i was just trying to do reporting on the side while you were --

>> hey, we love that. don't worry. >> give me one second to pull this up so this is -- this was a lengthy statement, multiple paragraphs, which is often the trump way but let me read along with our viewers. "obama/clinton have destabilized the middle east, handed iraq, libya and syria to isis and allowed our personnel to be slaughtered at benghazi." a lot of keynotes that matter to conservative voters. "they have betrayed our security and workers and hillary clinton have proven herself unfit to serve in any government office." that gives you an idea of how almost point by point on the fitness to serve question where the trump campaign was responding to the president without speaking directly about his new remarks so this is a part of the rapid response which has been part of the buildup of the campaign to try to leave -- we know the candidate leaves no shot unresponded to and now the campaign in a more organized

fashion is pushing throughout written statement which can be put out and talked about by various news organizations. saying that it can be put right back to hillary clinton as a member of the obama administration and in her candidacy now. so it is going to be this kind of general election. we knew that, thomas, but it is getting very, very intense where the news cycle is shrinking to moment by moment by moment and that's what we're going to have. nothing will be left hanging, nothing will be left without a response and that's what the trump campaign is doing this afternoon. >> meanwhile, kelly, i want to point everybody as i mentioned about first read before, also within the reporting by our first read team they talk about the fact that really this is a moment where trump has overshadowed a misstep by hillary clinton over the weekend where she talked about the fbi investigation, the answers about james comey and whether or not she was truthful in her answers or not. his description of that when he

gave testimony. but the -- as it is said in first read, the -- i guess heightened and enlightenment of lack of empathy to a gold star family is dominating the headlines about donald trump and what that means as commander-in-chief as that person is in charge of our military service. >> and we have seen the republican national committee and other republican candidates take up the points you just highlighted, areas of vulnerability, perhaps, for hillary clinton. areas she could be challenged at and they have been running with that. but trump himself continues to be a bit off tempo when it comes to being able to directly combat hillary clinton on specific points or weaknesses that might be in her candidacy and he gets stuck in the news of a day or two or three ago and keeps that news cycle going. for a consumer of news with as voracious an appetite as donald trump has shown himself to be and admits to consuming so much

news, he seems to be a little off on the ability to measure the news cycle and how he is feeding it by continuing some of these stories instead of going against his direct opponent in this race, hillary clinton so it's a combination of i think some of his attitudes about things, as you know, he has characterized the kahn family as being part of the dnc convention therefore inserting themselves in politics while at the same time also trying to say their son is a hero. it's a convoluted circumstance that almost any typical politician would have stayed ten miles away from and it's another way trump moves he is no politician and is willing to do things to step on the third rail without -- with really very little blowback from his own hard core supporters. we're seeing republican officials who are uncomfortable, certainly democrats who are going after him and it will be the independent voters who are so krit dmal how they assess this kind of conduct from donald

trump. >> and you talk about him not being a politician, we have coming up steven cortez who is a trump surrogate. we'll talk about all of this. in the past he has said on air to kristen well dhaer trump is like a weebl wobble, they can get knocked down but get right back up. the rest of the headlines that donald trump seems to be making. we're back after this. t the roof repaired like new. they later sold the cow because they had all become lactose intolerant. call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance. try cool mint zantac. hey, need fast heartburn relief? it releases a cooling sensation in your mouth and throat. zantac works in as little as 30 minutes. nexium can take 24 hours. try cool mint zantac. no pill relieves heartburn faster.

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>> this is daily and weekly where they are distancing themselves from statements he's making. there has to be a point in which you say this is not somebody i can support for president of the united states. >> so there we have president obama and the stinging rebuke of republican leaders who have toe it had line even while criticizing donald trump's rhetoric from his campaign. so the president's words there

come on the heels of a pretty choppy 48 hours from the trump campaign. steven or tcortez is chief strategist for bgc partners and a trump surrogate. you once said donald trump was a weeble wobble and lebron james combined. he stumbles but get right back up. has the president's comments changed your opinion as he characterized the fact that he would look at a mccain or romney, two people he was able to beat as fit for the job to be president, obama just felt he was the better person for that job? >> right, and thomas mentioning weeble wobbles, it shows my age, unfortunately. i'm old enough to remember playing with them back in the 1970s. >> i know the slogan -- "weeble wobbles -- get knocked down. request" >> they wobble but they don't fall down that's what i said of donald trump.

he's a political cat, he has nine lives. he takes hits but he comes back strongly. >> what about the collateral damage, though, of the fact that he is the standard bearer and while he may wobble and fall down and get back up there are republicans that are being crushed under the weight of having to support what he says. having to defense an attack on a gold star family. >> look, i would say this regarding -- first, regarding your first question i'd like to address what the president said today. i thought first of all it was quite unpresidential. in your last segment one of your reporters said it was unprecedented. it is because it's not right. the president shouldn't insert himself into that partisan a manner. when he says donald trump is unfit to serve i think we should focus on hillary clinton who is unfit to serve. she would be unable to get a security clearance for a mid-level job at her own state department or the department of defense yet she wants to be our commander-in-chief so if we want to have a discussion about fitness of candidates i'm happy as a trump guy to have that

discussion with hillary clinton to your second question regarding dissent among republicans, we've heard loud cries from some pretty poor candidate, people like john mccain, people like lindsey graham so i view those as cat calls from the cheap seats, they have either been opposed to trump or at best unenthusiastic supporters of trump so i don't expect to get ringing endorsements out of them. i think donald trump has transformed the republican party and to that matter gone beyond the republican party. i think this election in many terms isn't so much republican against democrat, it's america against washington. it's the people against the power structure, the rigged crony system that washington, d.c. embodies and sadly a lot of republicans are part of that, too. >> let's talk about republicans. the chris christie comment we've gotten within this hour about the fact that he feels that trump's remarks were inappropriate and says we need to honor their sacrifice for our

country, we need to honor their son's sacrifice for our country. but he was one of the closest advisors and someone being considered far potential running mate for donald trump so it's not just, you know, the president or democrats inserting themselves in this but republicans, people very close to donald trump whether personally or politically are saying that this was inzbloept and that's a fair point, thomas, i have enormous respect for governor chris christie. i think he'd make a great cabinet member if president trump is a reality come january. as a trump supporter when he makes mistakes i wish he hadn't engaged with the khan family, that was a mistake but i think he's recovering from that mistake. the last thing he said regarding captain khan was that he was a hero so he couldn't be more clear about that and yesterday and today he hasn't talked about it, i suspect he's not going to talk about it from here forward and i hope he doesn't, we've got much bigger issues, it's not trump against the khans, it's

trump against hillary and the people against washington. we need to grow again. we've been getting miserable economic numbers, this is the weakest recovery since our grandparent's day. there are growth problems we need to address and i'm confident donald trump will sell his winning optimistic message to the american people on those points and we're done with some of the issues that aren't a winning formula for us. >> steven, i want to show this though because there is this moment getting attention. of an air force mom, a service member's mother who was asking a question of mike pence at a rally last night. take a look at this. >> time and time again trump has disrespected our nation's armed forces and veterans and his disrespect for mr. khan and his family --

[ boos ] you have a son in the military, how do you tolerate this disrespect? >>. [ boos ] >> well, i thank you for the question. >> what different does it make? >> don't politicize the military. >> folks, that's what freedom looks like and that's what freedom sounds like. >> so is that an image that the party wants to project with the trump supporters there, or folks there to siemens who's the running mate booing the air force mom in her question? we know the "new york times," steven, is without this piece today about trump and vietnam, the deferments he got as a college student and one for a medical condition that doesn't seem to have plagued him for the decades since about having bone stuhrs in a heel. how does this ticket assure military parents they have the capacity to weigh the consequences of sending america's men and women into harm's way? >> right, you know, that crowd should not have booed that mother. i think that's inappropriate, i think it's reprehensible.

there's a lot of anger in america right now and the anger is understandable and sometimes that anger gets misdirected as it did with that crowd. >> but does donald trump's willingness to go after a gold star family give license to their supporters to do the same thing and in an instance like we saw last night at the pebs event? >> i don't think it does and this is important, to mike pence's defense, and i have enormous respect for that governor as well, to his defense he shushed the crowd, he said let her speak, this is what democracy is about so he on the site corrected that crowd right there but i would point out -- >> well, that was an even thing where he said it was the mom's right to speak like that but it was their right to boo her. >> well, sure, of course it's their right too i just wish they wouldn't but this is the most important part. if we want to talk about legitimacy as commander-in-chief in charge of our armed forces, talk to actual military people and veterans. i think you'll find there is overwhelming support among that group for donald trump, i don't have stats, poll numbers that i can show you -- >> i do, i do because clinton is

seen as a much more trusted person on foreign policy, the example being the new cnn/orc poll finding hillary clinton widening her edge over donald trump has more trusted to handle foreign policy 59% to 36% and has pulled even with trump on handling terrorism. >> that's among the broad public. but i'm saying among the military i think you'll find overwhelming support for donald trump. he's getting tremendous support for veterans and active duty personnel. i think they would far prefer and hopefully we will get polling on this but they would far prefer donald trump rather than hillary clinton than their commander-in-chief. >> even the vfw came out and condemned trump saying he's crossed the line here, the fact that they are saying that this should be sacred territory, that you never challenge what is considered to be the ultimate sacrifice, that it's considered the ultimate sacrifice for a reason because a family member has lost a life in service to this country.

>> right, captain khan represents the best of america, an immigrant who love this is country and gave his life for this country. i wish donald trump hadn't engaged as i conceded before but we can't equate that mistake with a mistake like benghazi where people died because of the policies and the willful neglect that hillary clinton and her tame showed in a time of incredible crisis and the military knows that and because of that the military doesn't want her as commander-in-chief, they want donald trump. >> trump campaign surrogate steven or tcortes, great to havu on, sir. >> thank you. should donald trump take warren buffett up on his challenge to release his tax returns? he was saying yes, let's show up and show what we got in there. they're both under audit, the pulse is live. take a look. 95% of you think yes, 5% say no. check it out, pulse.msnbc.com. and it was earlier where president obama bluntly asked gop leadership why they were still endorsing donald trump

despite strongly repudiating many of his prior campaign statements and actions. up next, the implications that it could have when looking at the down-ballot races. and with an estimated $6 billion projected to be spent on this election cycle alone, this is shaping up to be the most expensive in u.s. history. >> how much money have you give on the candidates? >> in the millions anyway. >> given and raised? probably 100 snld. >> you want to know the truth? i don't remember. >> it's eye opening. unprecedented access as filmmaker alexandra pelosi goes behind the scenes to meet the donors. she's here to discuss that new documentary "meet the donors, does money talk" coming up. time. gilman: go get it, marcus. go get it. ...coach gilman used his cash rewards credit card from bank of america to earn 1% cash back everywhere, every time. at places like the batting cages. ♪ [ crowd cheers ] 2% back at grocery stores and now at wholesale clubs. and 3% back on gas. which helped him give his players something extra.

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including the speaker of the house and the senate majority leader and prominent republicans like john mccain and the question i think that they have to ask themselves is if you are repeatedly having to say in very strong terms that what he has said is unacceptable, why are you still endorsing him? >> so there we have president obama after this on going feud with donald trump for years and now donald trump's recent gold star family we have him really going after trump and also the republicans that remain in his camp supporting him and they are facing this increased pressure to distance themselves from the gop's nominee and the response so far from party officials to denounce the candidate but not so much as take back an endorsement. to this day no one has withdrawn

their support except for mark kirk who is an embattled race with tammy duckworth in illinois for his senate seat. but senator john mccain has been challenged for failing be-to-back down for his support of the gop nominee. >> i support the nominee of the party and i tell you what, any time from now on when that question is asked, if i change my mind i'll let you know, okay? >> joining my on set, reverend al sharpton, host of "politics nation" on msnbc. rev, great to have you with me. i want to add the fact that we've got the first republican member of congress saying he's going to vote for hillary clinton, this is representative richard hanna saying the primary process geared toward the party's political base ignores the fact that we have largely alienated women, hispanics, the lgbt community, young voters and many others in general. i mentioned mark kirk rescinding that endorsement of donald trump. have you ever seen anything like

what we saw today from president obama? not only going after trump's fitness to hold that office but also calling out those that would remain in his zmamp remain endorsed behind the candidate? >> i've never seen anyone that is president doing that but i've never seen anything having to do it. i've not seen anyone like donald trump running. you're talking about a man who has not only said up acceptable things that even as the president correctly pointed out the speaker and others have said not only the kind of language that is unacceptable but they still endorse. you have a man running to be commander-in-chief that doesn't know what happened in cape cod or in crimea. i mean, this is unbelievable. i was saying to some students the other -- right after he said it, when i ran for president in 2004 and we had everyone from

general clark to john kerry and all of that that i ran against, i was boning down to be a good candidate, less known a good president if i caught on fire and won. he's not even a good candidate because he seems ill-prepared to even discuss the issues and be verbal enough to debate the issues. i shudder to think what will happen in a debate if they deal with real facts when he faces secretary clinton. he can only come with bombast because i don't think he knows anything else. >> that's another thing. we can't seem to nail down when the debates will happen and representative hanna not running for reelection in new york so not much to lose when it comes to being down ballot. mark kirk does have smog to lose up against tammy duckworth but we know mitch mcconnell, paul ryan, they've had to come out and be questioned or defense these statements, push themselves away from it. for donald trump, though, this is a one time only show, he's only doing this once, it seems

as if it doesn't matter what he leaves behind for the republican brand after the november election. so what do republicans need to think about for the long game as we consider our country still being a two-party system? >> i think they need to think about how he has lowered the bar so in terms of what the republican party has stood for, even though we may disagree with it it has had standing and i think the president said he never doubted john mccain or even mitt romney's ability to govern and understand the issues. i think secondly they run the risk of really damaging their lower candidates on lower parts of the ticket and how they repair that. but even more importantly, what they're doing to the reputation of the country all over the world. i travel a lot. people all over the world are saying what is going on in, my? i mean, imagine how we look globally. imagine the markets and the global markets if we have this

kind of unstable man sitting as president of the united states that doesn't even know what's going on in asia and africa and what's going on in russia and ukraine and korea as i've said. >> the trump people knew enough about it, allegedly, to reform that rnc plank about supporting lethal weapons to ukraine against putin and russia to language that just says "appropriate assistance." so somebody on their team or somebody had enough knowledge to change that plank. that's the only thing they want to change. >> but did they brief him as to why they changed it and what is going on on the ground? you're talking about a president that wakes up every morning to intelligence briefings which you would assume has some basic knowledge of what he is reading and what it applies to and what is going on. we're not talking about his decisions, we're not talking about his conclusions, we're

talking about the premise that he operates from in terms of basic knowledge. but when you have a man who says "i'm running for president but i don't read the papers, i don't read any of these things, i watch television" i mean, are we serious? this is 2016 where we are in crisis with certain domestic issues and global issues and we've got a guy that sits up surfing the dial that we're talking about is going to have the nuclear weapons at his fingertips it would be a joke if it wasn't so serious and that's why the president did an unprecedented thing. pun intended? >> reverend al sharpton, thank you for joining us. you can see "politics nation" sunday mornings on msnbc. so donald trump equating hillary clinton with satan. yes, reverend. yes, with the devil in a new line of attack. >> look, it was rigged against bernie sanders, you could see that from all of those e-mails. he made a deal with the devil

and he made a bad deal if he would have just not done anything, just go home, go to sleep, relax, he would have been a hero, but he made a deal with the devil. she's the devil. he made a deal with the devil. it's true. >> so support for hillary clinton spike in a brand new poll. clinton leads donald trump by eight points in the nbc survey monkey poll and nine points in the latest cnn/orc poll, more evidence of a convention bounce after philadelphia for the democrat, nbc's kristen welker covering the clinton cam joining me from washington. kristen, what is the clinton campaign saying and responding in this new line of attack from donald trump? do they feel they even need to? >> not really. they're brushing it aside. secretary clinton isn't on the campaign trail but campaign officials saying it's a sign donald trump is unraveling. they say his fight with the khan family, another sign he's unraveling. the challenge for donald trump is that there are real issues he could be challenging secretary

clinton on. instead he keeps creating these controversies. the clinton campaign continues to pounce. it comes as we are seeing the jump in the polling numbers for secretary clinton. if you dive deeper it's interesting to see where the support is coming from. take a look at the midwest. those critical swing states, secretary clinton got a post-convention bounce of four points from 43% to 47%, compare that to donald trump. 47% who dipped to 44%. take a look at what happens in the west where she got a huge bounce from 52% to 56%. donald trump again his numbers dipped from 39% to 35% and then in the south clinton doing better here but she's still behind, 51% to 48% for donald trump, secretary clinton, her numbers did increase 41% to 46%. so you were seeing numbers all across the board go up so the clinton campaign feeling encouraged by that. the question is how do they keep this momentum going? she is facing her own challenge,

particularly over her e-mails, she continues to face tough questions about that. i think you'll see her continue to point out the controversial comments of donald trump and she'll keep talking about issues like the economy and bringing on top surrogates like warren buffett who was with her yesterday in home ha, nebraska. and certainly a big appeal in those critical swing states. >> the billionaire bundling behind hillary clinton. chris ken welker, thanks so much. good to see you. >> you, too. up next, as the cases of zika rise in florida, it's prompting a historic travel warning from the cdc where state officials are rushing in with reinforcements. why health officials are warning cases will likely spread. plus -- >> you're saying ivanka is a strong powerful woman, shi wouldn't allow herself to be objected. >> donald trump's son eric now under fire for what he said defending his dad who told "usa today" that if his daughter ivanka were sexually harassed he would "like to think she would find another career."

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donald trump in a new controversy over comments he made about sexual harassment. in an interview with "usa today" trump was asked how he would feel if his daughter ivanka was to be harassed at work. this was based on the situation with gretchen carlson and rorjer ailes. his response "i'd like to think she would find another career or company if that was the case." those comments getting criticism. then we have trump's son eric trying to clarify those remarks this morning. >> he's saying ivanka is a strong powerful woman. she wouldn't allow herself to be objected to it and you should take it up with human resources and she would as a strong person. at the same time i don't think he would allow herself to be subjected to that and i think that's the point he was making and did so well. >> jane harmon is a former california congresswoman, the president and ceo of the woodrow wilson international centers for

scholars, jane, great to have you with me. >> thank you. >> explain as we try to see this through the lens of men and women, it's really a black-and-white issue that seems to be misunderstood by so many folks about what it means to be the victim of sexual harassment. >> right. well saying someone is a strong and powerful woman and she could walk away doesn't apply to most women in a workplace. is a generation ago when i was a young lawyer i was in a couple of workplaces like that and there weren't hr policies and and understanding that it should be different. and it was hard for me as a young woman to find my boundaries and to be clear and to survive there. now this has changed and women should have the -- and men, the expectation they won't be harassed at the workplace. there are clear policies, they should apply across the board to our military, that's something i worked on in congress and is still being worked on but they certainly should apply to news

organization workplaces where women are very prominent all over the airwaves. it's intolerable to think that in some workplaces women are treated as objects rather than as revered and equal partners. >> meanwhile, jane, the onus is put on the person being victimized by this because they either have to calculate being the troublemaker, someone that will go and maybe face some type of retribution or the person that has to look the other way and ignore it. >> i agree with that comment. in the early '70s that was exactly the calculation i had to make. there were no better options and i managed to survive. women and men -- because men can be victims, too -- should not have to make that calculation anymore and certainly should not have to make in the a news organization and saying that one woman in particular is powerful enough to walk away really it seems to me by implication is

saying to the rest of the women who don't have trust funds from their parents and who don't have other options that they have to stay there and put up with it. a and that's absolutely 100% unacceptable. >> former california congresswoman jane harmon. jane, great to have you on today, thanks for making time for me. >> thank you. >> absolutely. the pulse question we've been asking, should donald trump take warren buffett on about that challenge for him to release his tax returns? both men are under current audit. the results so far, 96% say yes, 4% say no, pulse is live at pulse.msnbc.com. up next, after the cdc issues this unprecedented warning over zika concerns in florida, miami specifically, the agency is dispatching an emergency response team. what you need to know if you're traveling down south. 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. you want to work for ge too. hahaha, what? well we're always looking for developers who are up for big world changing challenges like making planes, trains and hospitals run better. why don't you check your new watch and tell me what time i should be there. oh, i don't hire people. i'm a developer. i'm gonna need monday off. again, not my call. afdave stops working, but his aleve doesn't. because aleve can last 4 hours longer than tylenol 8 hour. what will you do with your aleve hours?

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so in california, five people are dead after a charter bus swerved and crashed into a pole and that punctured through the center of this bus. a total of 30 passengers were on board, five had to be flown to nearby hospitals according to california highway patrol. officials say the bus was headed to sacramento from southern california. in other breaking news we've been following in new york city, mayor bill de blasio announcing today that two-time commissioner of the new york police department bill bratton is retiring from the force. this news comes days after bratton told the "new york times" he would stay on this job into 2017. >> in september, commissioner bill bratton, whose contributions to our city and to law enforcement not only here but across the nation are literally inestimable and extraordinary, in september commissioner bratton will retire from the nypd. >> so this was the first appointment by de blasio after being elected in 2013.

there we see the city's top cop, current chief of the department, james o'neill, will be stepping in to take over for bratton. we have a rare travel warning for the centers for disease control for a neighborhood in miami. health officials confirming 14 cases of zika in this florida neighborhood just over the last week. those cases believed to be transmitted from local mosquitos. that prompted the cdc's rare travel warning for pregnant women to avoid the area. the cdc is also dispatching an emergency response team to that neighborhood. so as we are on the brink of what's expected to be the most expensive election in u.s. history. a new documentary on hbo goes inside the deep pockets of politics. >> never underestimate projection of power. if i have a picture with me of

president obama on my wall. >> she will discuss their donors. time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. john nice grew up in his parents' grocery store but with competition from the big changes, the old world grocery could no longer compete -- so now they don't. now they focus on one thing only -- soda. they sell over 750 kinds. for more, watch your business sunday mornings at 7:30 on msnbc.

big money donors are part of the political landscape, often times giving millions to certain folks whochl folks. who are these ultra rich donors that get the chance to rub elbows with the nation's top politicians. a new hbo documentary entitled "meet the donors, does money talk" takes you behind the scenes, introducing us to a host of high rollers with their own motivations into writing those big checks. >> i didn't want john kerry. it's that simple. the swift boat deal i think won the election in 2004 for bush. he may not feel that way but i do. i think it did make the

difference in who was president of the united states in 2004. joining us is alexandra pelosi. you're from a political family, you know these folks, the documentary premiered last night, why did you want to do this? what gave you the motivation to go behind the scenes? >> nobody gets to go to those parties. you have to pay a lot of money to get in the front door and i got to go with my mom, she snuck me in -- >> your mom being minority leader nancy pelosi. >> and i felt i had an obligation to share because people think it's some sort of secret clandestine underground thing that's going on and really all it is is that you get to hear the stump speech but you get to be in the room and rub up with the politicians but people have a misunderstanding i think about who these people are and why they're doing it and that's what i was trying to show. >> let's listen to one donor regarding the amount of money

that he's either given or raised for candidates. >> how much money do you think you've given to political candidates over the years? >> given and raised? probably $100 million. >> $100 million? democrats and republicans? >> yes. >> how much do you think you're going to contribute in 2016? >> i don't know. maybe a few million. >> just a few million. no big deal. >> no big deal. >> to you that's nothing? >> it's nothing. >> shake out the sofa and give it away basically, this is pocket change. for these big donors is this like gambling to them? almost addictive? if he's willing to go both left and right and giving away his money, what's his main motivation? >> well, he says in the film i just want to pee with the large dogs. that's his big motivation. a lot is vanity. they want pictures they can put on the wall to impress their friends. i was hanging out at camp david. have you ever been to camp david? >> no. >> he has. many times with different presidents. >> he'll give money to everybody -- except my mother. >> that's why you've never made

it to camp david. >> is this just about influence and being able to have the pictures or are they looking to have their finger in the pie of baking policy? >> well, that's the multimillion dollar question. when the wikileaks documents came down everybody was scrubbing through to see what the donors were getting and there was back-and-forth of the seating chart "i'm giving this much money, i want to sit next to the president." a lot of it is about insurance, having someone you can call, it's not necessarily i'm giving you this check because i want this law pass ed. there are donors on every side of the issue. you just have access. >> so you're ingratiating yourselves for the big moment. >> right. >> so if you get into a state dinner it's during march madness and you know what to talk about,

his brackets. the amount of money some donors put into campaigns, let's look at this because it's stagger in. george soros, we've heard their name. the pritzkers, we've heard about them. jeffrey katzenberg, we know him. but do we actually know the extent of their influence? it's not just about state dinners. there's more to it, right, alexandra? >> absolutely. and no one will say i wrote a $10 million check so i could get this law passed to make me rich. but these are all the winners, they're billionaires so they're doing something right. this is how the game is played in america. if you want to have influence, you have to write these checks and i think i'm just trying to explain to people that when you run for president there's a monopoly board that you have to go around to collect these checks of these 100 families that fund our democracy. >> park avenue, board walk, pass go again and watch this documentary on hbo called "meet the donors, does money talk."

alexandra pelosi, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> the poll question, should donald trump take warren buffett up on his challenge to release his tax returns? this is what you think. take a look. overwhelmingly was it before 96%? now you think it's the same, 96% yes, 4% no. the conversation continues, check it out. that will do it for me today. i'm thomas roberts, my colleague kate snow picks things up next. thanks so much thomas, hi, everyone, i'm kate snow. it was the most blistering critique yet from the president. >> i think the republican nominee is unfit to serve as president. i said so last week and he keeps on proving it. >> president obama tearing into donald trump, blasting republicans who are supporting him. >> there has to come a point at which you say somebody who makes those kinds of statements