sexist, discriminatory or biased-based policing. without a doubt, we will become a model for the rest of this nation, i firmly believe that. we haven't just sat back waiting for doj to tell us about our shortcomings, we've worked to enact significant changes and reforms before we arrived here before you today. with our agreement in principles, we have already worked out with justice a detailed roadmap for a path ahead. i'm looking forward to our partnership and moving forward with the department of justice. as i said a number of times, this isn't something we're doing to police officers in baltimore. it's something we're doing for police officers in baltimore. mayor rawlings blake has been wholeheartedly supportive of all the changes we have been implementing in the bpd. without her support, we wouldn't have had the opportunity to change so many policies and

enact to so many initiatives well before this report was ever published. i can't thank her enough. i had the opportunity to live through a doj consent decree in the first police department i worked for here in maryland. that agency served a population with demographics similar to that of the city of baltimore. what i know is that we came out of that consent decree a better and stronger agency. two immediate additions i made to the baltimore police department were bringing in two high ranking members who have had experience working through doj investigations and consent decrease. deputy commissioner jason johnson and director vernon haren have worked hand in hand with the department of justice through investigations and consent decrees and they will help us get better faster.

we also stood up a doj compliance team under miss martin well before the findings. this is something historically done after the findings. that's another unique thing with baltimore and this doj investigation. this will position us better to move forward and address the concerns that have been noted. we are serious about making meaningful changes. that can't be lost in the details of this report. we are very, very serious and committed. change takes time. change takes commitment, and change tasks trust. we will get there. we will get there together. we wille better. we will pve it to the world, to this city that it can and will be done in baltimore and baltimore will be the model for this nation. it will be hard, but it will happen. this is a moment to get better. it's undoubtedly a tough moment, but a moment we will be able to

reflect upon in the future and know that this was a turning point for better policing, not just in baltimore, but in our united states. i want to close by echoing something that the mayor says routinely. we are going to do whatever it takes, whatever it takes to have a police department that our citizens in baltimore deserve. thank you. >> thank you very much. we even open it up for a few questions. >> mayor, how much do you anticipate this report costing to implement? >> i first want to start by saying we're committed to make sure these reforms happen. while we understand baltimore doesn't have a blank check, in order for the reforms to happen there has to be a commitment to the dollars it takes to make meaningful reform. we've seen in other cities where that can cost from $5 million to $10 million annually.

we anticipate that being the range. i have made a commitment to the department of justice, to my team to put the city in a position to meet that anticipated expense. >> mayor, who is responsible for the police department being in this state? if you're talking to citizens of the city, who should be held responsible for the police department practicing these policiless which your report shows they are systemic. >> they are systemic. by the nature of your question, a system is not an individual. that being said, i'm responsible for ushering the meaningful reforms that have taken place thus far. i'm certainly committed to making the meaningful reforms moving forward. the work that happened prior to the department of justice collaborative review, the work that happened prior to my request that the department of

justice do a patterns and practice investigation, that work is a clear -- sent a clear signal i think to the department of justice and to the country so we're serious about reforming the department, and that type of work isn't aided by pointing fingers of blame. it is aided by rolling up your sleeves and doing the very tough work that we are in the midst of in order to provide the citizens of baltimore with the department that they deserve. >> ms. gupta, where do things stand now with the city? >> if i can just add to that, it is, as the mayor said -- the investigation that we conducted is focused on the systemic and structural deficiencies, and it is not a -- we looked at a period of time at the police department, the goal was not to cast blame or figure out who to cast blame to. these are problems that have been longstanding in the baltimore police department. the goal now is to work with a

kind of city leadership and the commissioner who have shown the proactive desire of reform, to remedy longstanding practices here at the baltimore police department. >> do you have an agreement to seek consent decree? >> what we have is an agreement in principle that lays out the framework sfor our negotiations moving forward. what's going to happen in the days and weeks ahead, the department of justice will be fanning out to meet with members of the community, members of law enforcement to get their feedback about what kind of police department they want, what kinds of remedies people are seeking and what is going to benefit the most to the baltimore community and to baltimore police officers. we'll be spending our time doing that, while also negotiating a consent degree with the city. given the level of cooperation we have thus far, we're anticipating our ability to move expeditiously to get that done.

>> -- this might have the opposite of the intended effect at least in part with a backlash against police departments like we've seen in other cities, and also the ferguson effect whereas the police pull back, murder rates increase. >> one thing i have to say is, throughout our investigation, we heard from police officers, we heard from the fraternal order of police directly about their desire for reform, their desire and understanding they haven't had sufficient resources, on the technology side, ton training side, on staffing charges and the like. these are issues that the baltimore police department isn't going to stop working and the commissioner can speak to this directly. we heard from officers throughout the city about the desire of reform because they're witnessing every day as they do the hard work of policing what happens when the level of trust is broken in communities. it's only going to enhance officer safety and public safety and meet the needs of the

baltimore community to do this hard work of reform. i fully expect that that is ultimately going to result in the community and the baltimore police officers getting the mutual respect that they deserve. >> [ inaudible ]. >> the only way we'll be safer as a city is when the community and the police have a mutual respect and trust, and we can get the work of policing done. there's nothing the community can do on its own to create the safe neighborhood that we want. there's so little that the police can do without the cooperation of its citizens. i've said all along that we have to figure out how we can repair this relationship because that is how we will see a much safer city. we've seen crime go down, and we've seen crime go up. we've seen under my administration the lowest and the second lowest homicide rate that the city has seen in

decades. but at the same time, we knew it wasn't sustainable if we didn't have those relationships of trust. that's what this is about. we can't ignore the problems and that's why i was to so determined to make these reforms ahead of the department of justice investigation and i asked for the patterns of practice. we have to heal our city. people say who is to blame and what's the answer? the answer is we have to get through this tough work together. i made the commitment to do that tough work, not to sugarcoat the problems, not to hide, to sweep them under the rug, but to reveal very clearly what our obstacles are, what our challenges are. i feel tremendously blessed to be at this place where we have the cooperation with the department of justice that objectively did the investigation and the leadership

that the police department and the rank and file in the police department and the command staff that's committed to getting this right for the citizens of baltimore. with those places, with those things in place, i know that we're laying the foundation for a much safer city. >> commissioner davis, can baltimore citizens can expect -- [ inaudible ]? >> let me address that question and the previous question. fighting crime and having a better, more respectful relationship with the community are not mutually exclusive endeavors. we don't have to choose one or the other. we're choosing both. it's 2016. so the baltimore police department is choosing both. so we realize the necessity of the crime fight. but we also realize right now, and it's laid out in this report, the necessity to have a much, much better, stronger, legitimate relationship with our community. in terms of cleaning house, i've fired six police officers in 2016 alone. that's a small number. but those who have left this

agency, deserved to leave this agency. i'll continue to hold police officers accountable. i do that as much to remove them from our communities as to ensure that the good police officers know that their leadership is paying attention to good policing. >> commissioner, you said you were very concerned about some of the things you read in the report. was there one thing that jumped out to you in particular that you were very concerned with? >> well, it's 163 pages. i've gotten through it once. i need to go through it several more times. it lays out so many things we need to work on, lays out concerns about training, policies and procedures, discipline, and i know from my previous experience with the department of justice that they look very, very critically at our hiring, our training, our policies an procedures and the way we hold police officers accountable. it's all important to me. i don't rank or prioritize the

content of the report. it's all important to me because it's all important to our citizens. >> mr. burns? >> can you talk about the other part of the system? the report talked about a system atting lack of housing, employment, educational opportunities. can you talk about what you have done or what you have about to do? >> on those areas? >> yes. >> listen, none of these things -- none of these problems we have in baltimore exist in a vacuum. respectfully of your question, i would like to focus on the department of justice department principles. but the work we're doing to revitalize our neighborhoods continues. baltimore has one of the most highly regarded blight elimination plans in the country. we're about to start a school year with a lot of optimism about the leadership in the baltimore city public schools that hopefully will redouble its efforts to bring educational

excellence to all of the children of our city. we're working every day on ways to find employment and bringing our institutional anchor partners in the city together to the table to find opportunities for those in our city that are hardest to employ, that work continues. that being said, i don't want anyone to be mistaken. i'm not sitting around and nobody is sitting around until we solve poverty before we make police reforms. nobody is sitting around before we solve the issues of discrimination or poor housing or any of the challenges that baltimore faces, along with other cities. we're not going to solve all these problems before we address the needed reforms. that push, that commitment to have meaningful reforms, meaningful court enforceable reforms will continue to happen. >> what should we think about the results of the freddy gray

case in light of this report? did the justices get it wrong? >> say it again. >> what should we think about the results of the freddy gray case in light of this rereport? did the justices get it wrong? >> one has nothing to do with the other. i don't know if ms. gupta wants to speak to it, but the department of justice did an objective and thorough report. what i've said all along that justice is a process, not a verdict. what i want to continue to reiterate to people is that the commitment to having a police department that our citizens deserve, that work with continue, and that has very little to do with the outcome of the case. i don't know if you wanted to address that. >> the only thing to add is that our report is focused on all the systemic and structural deficiencies, not focused on any

particular case. the goal is that where there is trust, these critical incidents, the triggering incidents that can happen are ones where there is a bank of trust between the community and the police department and the ability to self-study, examine and figure out where did things go wrong and what can we fix. i think that is what i have heard the commission ter talk about. that's what i've heard the mayor talk about and that's what we're focused on moving forward. >> we've been watching this press conference in baltimore, maryland. i'm kate snow here in new york. you've been watching the baltimore mayor, stephanie rawlings blake. right on your screen, vanita guap that from the civil rights division of the department of justice. also heard from the new police commission ter, relatively new, named last fall, kevin davis. we've been digesting this report that came from the department of justice, a 163-page report finding nurm rouse problems with the system in baltimore, finding police practices are racially

biased, overwhelmingly effect those residents who are black residents in baltimore in low income neighborhoods. pete williams reporting earlier baltimore police routinely stop, search and even arrest the city's black residents without provocation according to this department of justice review. joining me now, msnbc's trymaine lee who has covered balt more extensively and criminal justice professor. you've been watching this remarkable press conference. it's a remarkable report in that it's so out front about the issues and the problems facing that city. >> this report certainly is scathing. the heard of this, they talk about systems, structure and culture. system and structures that target minorities in this community and a culture that supported it. supervisors who would give mandates to officers to go out and target certain communities.

when we think about the uprising, that's what so many actives have called, the unrest after freddy gray's death, an uprising. while we're talking about systems, targeted individuals, between 2010 and 2015, 300,000 individuals, pedestrians stopped, but only 3.7% arrested. that's hundreds of thousands of innocent people being stopped. when you think about the on going trauma of these encounters that sometimes turn fatal -- i spoke to a young woman before i came on whose brother was killed by the police a few years ago. she said, no kidding. i'm glad squomeone finally notices. that's the big question, what does this all mean? >> joe jacalone. the police commissioner started last october. prior commissioner anthony batts was removed to make some change. you heard the commissioner san jose we have to work on this, i haven't finished reading the

report there, but we'll get there. what do they need to do to fisks everything identified in the report? >> the first thing he mentioned is getting rid of bad cops. police departments in baltimore and everyone else run their departments based on come stat. when you use a statistic, you end up stopping people you should president stop. >> tell people what come stat is. >> it's computer statistics where they attract police activity, stop, question and frisk which is known as a terry stop, parking summons. when you use that as a measure of the effectiveness of your police department, the police end up stopping individuals they shouldn't be stopping. they said they're stopping people without reasonable suspicion which is needed to do a terry stop. if they don't know what probable cause is, they shouldn't have been cops in the first place.

here is the issue where training has failed dramatically. this has been going on for a long time. this has not just come to light. without the death of freddy gray, it would be business as usual in baltimore. >> they were trying to separate the two. i was going to say, the mayor's words were one has nothing to do with the other. you're linking them. >> absolutely. there was no talk about this prior to this incident. she's been a mayor for a while. with computers, you hit a button and it can tell you what your stops are, who they are, meaning if they're predominantly black, white, green, purple, whatever. to say here we are three years into an administration and now we're just covering it because the doj said so is disingenuous. this is a systemic problem, an organizational problem. i think you'd find com stat is at the center of all these issues. new york city with the same thing with their stop, question and frisk.

two different police departments, same problem. we have to start looking at the organization itself. >> a lot to digest out of that report. joseph jack loan, trymaine lee, pete williams is our man who covers the justice department. he's with us in washington, d.c. pete, talk about the significance of this report. it's not the first time the do jonchts looked at a city. we remember ferguson and others. >> reporter: justice department had the authority to do this since the rodney king incident in los angeles. they are allowed to conduct pattern or practice investigations, looking for pattern or practice of racial discrimination. there have been a dozen or so of these right no that are enforceable, court ordered decrees, and that's how this will end up. i think what you've got a flavor of, kate, is how cooperative this is. remember, the city asked for this report, the mayor, the police commissioner were in agreement justice should do

this. they welcomed this. this is the kick they wanted and they certainly got it. this is a scathing report. everybody agrees this doesn't reflect the entire baltimore police department. but they found a consistent pattern of police harassing the members of the african-american community, charging them with loitering for standing on the sidewalk. the city says it's already making changes. the baltimore police department has a bad policy on the use of force that they tend to escalate confrontations instead of deesque lating them. they use the force when it's not necessary, against juveniles, people with mental held problems and the police commissioner said, for example, kate, they're already starting to revise their policies on the use of force. this is going to be a long process because a lot of this is going to involve training, a whole new approach for what you tell officers when they hit the

streets. >> pete williams in baltimore, rather. when i came in, thomas roberts was sitting here, a native of baltimore and talking about how comprehensive geographically this report was. the people they talked to, not just in freddy gray's neighborhood, they were all over baltimore. it really is a comprehensive lo look. >> reporter: right. what the report says is the police department seems to have directed most of the enforcement priorities on the african-american communities. they have a higher stop and search stops even though the arrests in those neighborhoods is low, very out of proportion to the number of crimes in those neighborhoods. the city doesn't disagree there's been a serious problem of racial discrimination in the baltimore police department. >> our correspondent pete williams on the scene in baltimore. thanks so much.

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donald trump trying to clarify an ambiguous comment made by the republican nominee for president. this time it was about second amendment people doing something about hillary clinton if she ends up being the one to pick supreme court justices. let's just play exactly what donald trump said. >> hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and if she goats pi gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing u you can do, folks. although the second amendment

people, maybe there is, i don't know. but i'll tell you what. what will be a horrible day. >> the clinton campaign, democrats, even a few republicans taking that as a recommendation for violence against clinton. the secret service even tweeting out that they were, quote, aware of what was said. but not everyone is convinced trump crossed a line, insisting his words were taken out of context or he meant something else entirely. house speaker paul ryan on the same day he beat his primary challenger by a whopping 68 points in wisconsin had this explanation for trump. >> i've been a little busy today. i've heard about this second amendment quote. it sounds like a joke gone bad. you should never joke about something like that. i didn't hear the comments, i only heard about the comments. >> hillary clinton facing brand new questions about her e-mails. never-before-seen e-mails have people asking about possible connections between staffers at the state department under

clinton and the clinton foundation. we have both of those important stories covered for you this morning by our -- two of our best reporters. nbc's katy tur has been with the trump campaign since the beginning. any further comment from the trump campaign this morning on this comment last night? >> reporter: the campaign is insisting it's a joke and taken out of context. the media is trying to exaggerate it for effect and the clinton campaign as well. this morning rudy giuliani saying he was trying to insight voters to go out and use their influence, not necessarily violence. when you take this as a whole throughout this campaign, 14 month of campaigning, donald trump has a history of joking about violence. if he doesn't expressly condone violence, doesn't expressly condemn it either. he joked about killing journalists at one point. he joked about shooting people on fifth avenue, joked about telling rally-goers to punch

protesters. he at one point in a rally in las vegas said he would like to punch a protester in the face. remember one of his advisers, still an adviser on his campaign, al bald sar row saying hillary clinton should be taken in front of a firing squad. there's a history of donald trump referring to violence saying that he wants to use violence against those that disagree with him. so when you put that into context, that is why some people are finding it so hard to believe that donald trump could have been joking at this point. >> nbc's katy tur. thanks so much. let's get to the clinton campaign and never-before-seen e-mails turned over on tuesday to a conservative advocacy group after they filed suit seeking access, raising new questions. kristen welker is in des moines, iowa, with the democratic nominee. two things, these new e-mails. is there any expectation that clinton might address trump's second amendment comment this

afternoon. >> reporter: to your first question, these are 44 new e-mails. a number of them raise questions about whether there was too much coziness between the clinton foundation and secretary clinton's state department. in one you have one of the top aides at the foundation requesting that the state department put a donor in touch with an ambassador. so these are the types of e-mails that are drawing new scrutiny. the clinton campaign pushing back, saying two of the top e-mails that are in question, quote, neither of these e-mails involve the secretary or relate to the foundation's work. they are communications between her aides and the president's personal aide. the recommendation was for one of the secretary's former staffers who was not employed by the foundation. that's the pushback, kate. obviously there have been on going questions about this ever since secretary clinton first launched her campaign and these types of headlines don't help. republicans are already pouncing and saying this is more evidence of impropriety. as for secretary clinton, she

got a number of questions about donald trump's second amendment comments yesterday. didn't answer any of them. we're going to try again today based on conversations with clinton campaign officials 679 they'll try to determine if she's going to talk about it. the reality is a number of surrogates are doing that work for them. kate? >> nbc's kristen welker in des moines, iowa. thanks so much and keep us posted on what happens there. let's turn to national spokesperson for the trump campaign, katrina pierson. let's talk more about this comment, katrina. i know you explained that trump was talking about unifying second amendment supporters, getting them to the polls to stop hillary clinton. we just heard katy tur saying the campaign is calling it a joke. which is it? >> well, i'm not sure where the joke narrative came from. the campaign itself issued a statement last night talking about the political power of the nra. this is, after all, the oldest continuous operating civil rights organization in the

united states. it's been active for over 144 years. it's one of the top three political groups in washington, d.c. with 93 million voters and people in the country who own guns legally, there have been massive, massive support for the second amendment and for the nra specifically. kate, they have produced documentaries on how powerful the nra is. >> that's not what donald trump said yesterday. let's play the sound again so we can be clear on what he said. >> hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the second amendment. by the way, and if she gets to pick -- if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks. although the second amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. i tell you what, that will be a horrible day. >> the second amendment people, maybe there is something they

can do. what is he suggesting? >> well, if you complete the video, right after he says that would be a horrible day, he said if hillary clinton gets to pick the supreme court justices mainly because the nra is a bipartisan organization and that is also left out of the discussion and the media considering how there are even democrats who won't touch gun legislation in an election year because the nra has been able to take out democrats as well and even been able to block appointments to high-ranking positions with the atf. they do have a lot of political power, even beyond just turning out voters. >> the thing that's confusing people, katrina, he's framing this -- when he starts the comment he's saying, if she's in power, if she's president of the united states, she then gets to pick nominees to the supreme court. he's assuming she's in power and then says there's nothing you can do about it at that point. well, but maybe the second

amendment people, maybe there is, i don't know. those are his act words. >> absolutely. that's exactly what i just said, talking about democrats. >> how is that not inciting violence? >> absolutely not. no one is talking about the power of the nra on the democrat side. they have been able to stop senators from appointing people that are hostile towards the second amendment. that's what he's talking about. that would be the only way to stop something like that happening, is if the nra were able to get out there and stop these senators from approving anyone hostile to the second amendment because there's a lot of political power here, even for democrats. >> if others on the campaign are telling katy tur this was a joke about violence, you're not saying that, you're not saying it was a joke at all. >> i'm not saying that at all. in fact, i haven't seen anyone from the campaign say that it was a joke. the initial statement said nothing about a joke. i'm not even sure where katy is getting that information. >> let me play some sound from retired general michael hayden,

former director of both the nsa and cia. this is what he said about mr. trump's comment. >> if someone else had said that outside the hall, he'd be in the back of a police wagon with the secret service questioning him. i would tell my seniors at the cia, you get to a point in this business, you're not only responsible for what you say, you're responsible for people hear. that might be a good lesson here. >> katrina, let's assume you're absolutely correct, that he did not mean to insight any violence, that's not what he was saying, but people heard that. >> well, people may have heard that. and it's been reinforced by the media. the reason hillary clinton is not commenting on it is because she, herself, did talk about the actual assassination of obama in 2008 and the msnbc video has been release zbld does he have a responsible -- >> that's why she's not talking about. >> this isn't about hillary clinton with all due respect.

this is about donald trump. you just said people may have heard that. if people heard that, doesn't he have responsibility -- >> because it's being reinforced by the media. that's the second part of what i said. >> should we play it again? would you like me to play it again? >> he talks about this at every rally. he talks about this at every rally. >> we're reporting what the candidate for president said -- >> able to appointed supreme court candidates against the second amendment, there has to be something to stop her. >> for something people interpret as a remark inciting people to violence. >> if he had control over the liberal news networks, absolutely, but he does not. that's another reason why we're talking about this today, because they have picked out a piece of what he was talking about in the greater context of a topic he's talked about in every single rally. and that is the power of the nra

and the ability for hillary clinton, if elected, would support candidates at the supreme court that would actually strip the rights piece by piece from law abiding citizens and their ability to defend themselves. >> if he's elected president, every word is going to matter. every word matters when you're president. he brags often about being able to deal with china, being able to renegotiate trade deals with china. if his words are misinterpreted, he will not get a do-over when he's president of the united states. i think that's what a lot of people are reacting to here. if he misspoke, you don't get a do-over when you're president. >> you don't get a do-over really on anything at that level. just like the imaginary red line over in the middle east, and just like paying hostage money over to iran. there's a lot of things we could talk about that are really, really bad for the country. but when you're talking at a rally about the second amendment

and hillary clinton and supreme court justices, and to infer that something horrible can happen, i think we should talk about the horrible things that have already happened while hillary clinton was at the state department, just like the e-mails that were just uncovered where she was trading favors as secretary of state for her donors of the clinton foundation. these are things that have a real impact on national security as well as how the government functions. hillary clinton is for sale, and that means our government would be, too. >> you have no -- to go back to my question, you have no concern about his ability as president if he were president to make an argument with foreign leaders, with -- in negotiations and not be misconstrued or misunderstood? >> absolutely not. i have no concerns with that whatsoever. he's not going to be dealing with foreign leaders at a political rally. it will definitely be a more serious discussion and not an off-the-cuff discussion. >> there's a difference between speeches at a political rally

and speech with foreign leaders when you're president? >> well, yeah, he wasn't talking about policy, wasn't talking about implementation of policy. he was talking about what would happen if hillary clinton were to be elected, and he was absolutely right. >> i'm speechless because i'm trying to follow your logic, katrina. i'm having a hard time. >> i can tell. >> there's a difference in your head between speaking to a rally and things you say in front of a public group like that and what he's going to do when he's actually in the office? >> you know, i really don't see barack obama sitting an telling us exactly what happens in his private discussions with foreign leaders. the administration has already admitted to lying to the american public about the iran deal. we already know hillary clinton lied to the public about what happened in benghazi and lied to the faces of the families who died in benghazi. there were very different things being said behind the scenes than what was being said in public.

wouldn't you agree? >> let me ask you about one other thing before i let you go. hillary clinton is hiring in states like arizona and georgia, hiring crews on the ground, people on the ground. those are states that have been traditionally -- well, haven't been democrat since the '90s, haven't been won by a democratic candidate since bill clinton. she's investing in those states. are you losing this election? >> no, not at all. donald trump is investing in states that haven't been won by republican for a very long time. this is going to be a very close election. mr. trump does have the right policies for many people. that's why you've seen tens of thousands of democrats supporting him in blue states as well as leading hillary with independents to this day because this is a very serious election, and it is about who is going to tell us the truth and who is going to sell off more of our government, whether or not you're talking about classified material or access to oil refineries. >> katrina pierson with the trump campaign, thanks for being with us. >> great to see you, kate.

up next, the inspiring story of the refugee olympic team. u.s. ambassador to the united nations samantha power will be onset to talk about their road to rio and what happens to them after the games are over. to tal. ge is an industrial company that actually builds world-changing machines. machines that can talk to each other digitally. hello? they don't talk to each other like that, ricky. shhhh, you'll anger it. he looks a little ticked off now. trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief

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ten athletes from around the world forced to flee their home lands make up the first ever refugee team at the olympic games. they all have compelling stories on how they got to rio. my colleague kelly cobiella spoke with a syrian swimmer who literally had to swim for her life. >> this is mine. >> that's all you have now. >> that's all i have. >> isra and her sister escaped damascus, made it to lebanon and turkey. halfway to greece, their boat started to sink. isra and her sister jumped. >> you swam and tug a boat for three hours. all that time you weren't

afraid. >> i were, of course i were afraid. fear will not help me. i had to survive. >> tried to survive the frigid and choppy seas where thousands before them had lost their lives. they made it to lesbos, through police crackdowns in serbia, over the border into hungary and finally on a train through austria to germany. >> where she trained and then joined the olympic team. joining me is the u.s. ambassador to the united nations, samantha power. her journey took 25 days. she's just one story of so many on that team. how important do you think it is to have this team, the first time we've had a refugee olympic team. >> i think it's helping change the conversation. people at different stages in this huge flight of persons from so many different parts of the world, especially syria.

people have started to get overwhelmed by the numbers. 65 million displaced, more people displaced hand the second world war. and i remember when pope francis came to washington and spoke to both houses of congress. he said see their faces, don't view them as a mass. >> when you see someone swimming in a pool, you see her face. >> see her face, learn her story. learn more about why she fled. you hear sometimes in the debate these are people who just want a better life and they could have stayed where they were. you hear about barrel bomb attacks and gas attacks and sniper attacks and what these people are fleeing. i think all of us are more inclined to put ourselves in those shoes and say, my god, what if something like that happened to me and my family. >> op ed columnist roger cohen wroed that the world loves refugees when they're olympians. his point is yes they're moved by team refugee, but they died

at sea, in the back of a truck, dianon mouse deaths. how do we make sure we pay attention beyond the olympic games? >> the whole point of publicizing and amplifying who team refugees are and each of their individual stories, is to try to galvanize a more forceful global response. he's right in the sense that the needs are outpacing the generosity. the generosity of countries and of citizens is greater than we've seen in response to any other crisis, visa-vis syria. yet it's not enough. the outflow is outpacing what we're able to do. harnessing the empathy and taking advantage of the coming general assembly, president obama is hosting a summit to try to get countries to take more refugees. >> you can't ignore it comes at a time when countries are debating what to do, how many to let in and this country in our political election year, it's a

huge debate about whether to even allow syrians to come in and close the border as one candidate says. >> we are allowing 10,000 syrians in our country this year. we're looking to increase next year. that's 85,000 this year and 100,000 next year. we know that's just a small slice of the number who would like to be resettled. in the united states we have an advantage because we're not having people sort of descend upon us in the way that in europe they've had an uncontrolled flow of people which makes it harder to work some of the security checks and the vetting that you need to do. we have a rigorous, careful process and we think for all the concerns that get surfaced particularly in the political season, some of those concerns are legitimate about security. we think we can stay strew to our values, take our share of the privilege. these are the kinds of people that can make your country stronger and keep the american people safe.

that's what we're dedicated to do. we have to leverage what we're doing to get other countries to do more as well. >> can we talk about aleppo, syria for the moment. the un warning of a humanitarian disaster there, over 2 million people without electricity, without running water. what's the solution? you're at turksn every day. what's being done? >> our appeal, our demand is the siege be lifted. this is a siege put in place pa few weeks ago by the russian federation and syrian regime, supported by iran and hezbollah. it was done during a cessation of hostilities we have tried to broker along with russia. we're in intensive consultations with them now to see if we can secure a regime pullback and get whack to what we need which is full humanitarian access. and that is just to freeze things so there's less suffering so we can get back to the political negotiations to try to bring about a transition to end the war so isra is in a position to actually go home. >> you mentioned putin.

can i ask you quickly, your advice to the next administration, whoever it is, on vladimir putin and how to deal with him or what his role ought to be in this world. >> well, i think our relationship with russia is extremely complex and i live it every day because they're a permanent member of the security council. there wouldn't be a piece keeper active in sub-saharan africa if rush y didn't go along with it. you find the areas where you can cooperate. you hold president putin and his counterparts accountable. >> samantha powers, so nice to have you with us. thank you so much. >> great to be here. >> coming up, we'll go live to rio for the latest on team usa. boomer phelps. michael phelps may have won his 21st goal, but his infant son is making a splash. look at the noise-canceling headgear. headgear. we'll be right back.

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team usa seeing pure gold. a member of the cycling team took a gold medal a short time ago. after an exciting night of near perfect performances in gymnastics and swimming. chris jansing joins me once again from rio. chris, exciting. >> reporter: this had to be one of the greatest nights of swimming ever. medals 20 and 21 tore michael phelps who at 31 defied age and showed why he is the absolute best ever. 200 meter butterfly he lost in london. this is a grudge match against chad le clos had been trash talking phelps. phelps communicated where it counts n the water, annihilated le clos who finished fourth. then he follows up with a win in the 4 by 200 relay. when phelps climbed into the stands to kiss his infant fan,

the stands erupted. katy ledecky was pure gold. the 200 is an event she only started swimming internationally last summer. she is really something to watch. it looks like she can't believe it. speaking of greatness, the final five, they have a name. team usa women's gymnasts beat the nearest competition by an astonishing eight points. that's like 51-7 in football. few athletes at these games came in with higher expectations than this woman simone biles. if that weighed heavily on her, she didn't show it. the entire team is flawless. there's still the individual and apparatus finals. tennis star serena williams suffered a stunning upset. fighting back tears after what could be her last olympics

tennis match. 75-year-old soccer legend pele missed the opening ceremony but hopes to be in rio for the closing. the american you mentioned at the top, kate, who just won a cycling, a grueling cycling gold medal, she'll be 43 tomorrow. >> yes! i love that. >> power to women in their 40s. chris jansing, i am so jealous. i say this every day, of you having that front row seat. thanks so much. >> wish you were here. >> wish i were there, too. chris jansing in rio. that's going to the news for this hour. i'm kate snow. do not go anywhere. your live rio olympic games coverage begins right here on msnbc three minutes from now. a reminder our regularly scheduled programming will pick back up at 5:00 p.m. eastern time with ""meet the press" daily" with chuck todd. have a great day everybody.

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ahh. not that one so much. the rest were really good. socks and shoes. ok, ricky... >> the pool it's just fine. glad you can join us as we go inside to men's water polo. italy against montenegro. with the call is paul and wolf. >> all set here for preliminary round play. a game of special interest to