i'm chris matthews in washington. donald trump's cavalry is taking to the field against hillary clinton. it's boots and saddles with the bugle calling charge. the only question is which direction. will trump head back to his winning message of standing up for the country, the nationalist and populist excitement that won him all the primaries? can he focus his attention on hillary clinton? can somebody keep trump, trump? the phenomenal figure who did defeat every rival to win the republican nomination? tonight, we have as our lead guest, the somebody trump picked himself to do just that. his brand new campaign manager, kellyanne conway. thanks for joining us. here's the question. you probably have a lot on your mind but the question i have tonight is how do you do it? you have so many weeks between now right to the finish, you got to turn this baby around, you got to remind everybody why they like trump, get him back to 50-50 where he was pretty much before the conventions and get a

majority. how do you do ? >> sounds like you're inur strategy meetings. you are exactly right. that's part of our focus. i'm glad you added something to how does he do it and you talked about getting him to be trump again, the person that 50% of the country went for. it's important that he be authentic. i think we see with hillary clinton what happens when you try to be something you're not. this guy has to feel comfortable when he's out there on the trail. it's a combination of things. it's taking this campaign away from content-free conversation into a debate on the issues. we feel the issues benefit us. when he talks about radical islamic terrorism or terrorism on monday, when he talks about middle class tax relief last week, when he takes his debate right into the communities of color on tuesday and challenges hillary clinton to show why and how after decades in public service, some of these measurements are not any better for all of us in our inner cities, then why should we have more of that. i believe when he takes the case

right to hillary clinton, he looks at it as a tennis match, lobbing, lobbing, lobbing at her, not picking a fight with the ref, not booing the crowd, and he focuses that way he's able to do two things. he's able to be himself stylistically, he's able to be trump and authentically, yet he's able to move this conversation into a general election contrast with hillary clinton. we have two new ads going into rotation this week, our first major ad buy as a campaign. it's contrast. here's what hillary clinton said, here's what we're saying. you make the choice. >> how do you talk to him? maybe you can't tell me this. we will talk years from now about how it worked out. i don't buy this there's been a problem of trump being trump. i think the problem is he has not always been trump. he's gotten involved in side fights with the khan family. you and i know, getting fights with megyn kelly didn't help him, having the thing with me about women having abortion should be punished. how do you discipline a guy

worth $11 billion? he says you're not worth the kind of money i'm makinghow can you tell me what to do? is he willing to be helped to be himself? the part that wins? >> it's a great question. first of all, he's never talked to me that way. he listens and he hears a bunch of us, a multitude of counselors and i'm very happy to report that donald trump promoted a woman to his campaign manager. i think it says a lot about him. >> first time. >> that's right. first time for the republicans. thank you. and three wonderful women, by the way, on the democratic side, susan, donna and beth, all of whom i respect a great deal. i'm very happy to be in that small class with them. the way we do it is not telling him -- my approach is not to tell him what to do and who to be. he don't ask a pollster for focus group results about how to say this or that word. that's actually very refreshing to a professional pollster. what i do is present him with information and basically i said to him if you want to win, there's a path. this is one of the easiest races you and i have ever seen. correct? we have two very complex candidates and a very simple almost binary choice between

them. is she going to own obamacare, the affordable care act and take it a little further, will it be single pair? what does she think about aetna pulling out this week and united health care doing it for $1.5 billion in losses. >> i agree with you but you're not running against obama. >> i want to know what will she do with the affordable care act.

goes home and goes to sleep. i think she sleeps. >> importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on isis and all of the many adversaries we face. >> well, he's been doing it, did it again last night in a recorded comment. why is that relevant? >> many things are relevant -- >> the health of the other candidate, why is that a focus of your candidate? >> they think that his tax returns are so relevant so both of their health is not relevant but i will say this. >> i think they're both relevant. is there a health problem of hillary's? >> i have no idea. >> he keeps saying she has a health problem. >> i have no idea because i'm not a doctor. let me make that very clear. >> he's not either. >> i want to say something about that. somehow, she and senator warren and the whole lot of them at the democratic convention where we were in our hometown of philly together, somehow it's okay for them to insult this guy six ways

to sunday every chance they get and if he shoots back with one comment, it's look at him, he's attacking a woman, taking on her health. have you seen the way they speak about him? listen, i would lay it all down tomorrow if she actually wants to have a debate on the issues because she can't. she can't defend the millions more in poverty, the fact that 81% of the country feels less safe than they did a few years ago. she can't defend against obamacare. she can't defend against the fact she pretends she's here to help people in our communities and yet is against charter schools and school choice which frankly has helped so many hispanic and african-american students right here in new york and elsewhere in this country. i put it all aside if she actually would come out of hiding and have a debate on the issues. i want to say something else. >> there will be debates, won't there? there will be debates. >> oh, absolutely. >> three of them. >> record ratings, right, i think we will all be very excited for those debates. >> you can see as the campaign manager there will be three, right? there will be the big hour and a half debates, right? they will happen? >> yes. >> just take a look.

an hour ago, news here, trump campaign spokeswoman, katrina pearson, said hillary clinton had a condition called dysphasia. here's what she said. >> he has said she doesn't have the strength or the stamina for a very long time. that part is nothing new. what's new are the other reports of the observations of hillary clinton's behavior and mannerisms specifically with what you just showed in those previous clips as well as her dysphagia. >> we are not doctors. your candidate is not a doctor. but your people are putting out the word there's -- you have seen this. you see how politics works. you put out the word there's something wrong with the guy or the woman and the people start buzzing about it. is this a tactic you appreciate, that you like? >> oh, i don't like it as much as just tang her on on the issues and taking her on on her record. i think it's very relevant today that the clinton foundation said

if in fact she's elected president they would stop taking money from foreign entities. why do we have to wait that long? are they admitting some kind of guilt there? it's more relevant to talk about the fact that just today the state department confirmed the $400 million paid to iran was quote, for leverage which of course to lots of americans means ransom no matter how people want to wordsmith it. talk about pay for play. i think there are so many things >> you got a good point there. don't bury your lead. that's a very good point. until now, they have been denying linkage. now they are admitting linkage. the $400 million and hostages getting out and everybody is going you said there was no linkage. let's take a look at something you're pretty good at before you got this big title. congratulations on the career opportunity. this is history you are actually the first woman to run a republican presidential campaign. you know pennsylvania. most recent nbc/"wall street journal" poll up there, marist poll, hillary clinton is leading donald trump among women voters

by 25 points. now, down in florida, he's got a 40 point lead among white men. this is a strange election, almost like women here, white men here, all over the place. i don't like talking like it's apartheid land but it is like that. what will do you about women in pennsylvania? i think he needs pennsylvania. that's my judgment. it may be yours. >> no question. we are fighting hard for pennsylvania. it's one of the five states where we are starting our first ads, a state where the last couple presidential candidates did not fare well in at all. wasn't even close. we are competing there and i want to talk to america's women. we will compete on health care, on education, on economic prosperity, on national security and homeland security and many different issues that women care about. i have to tell you i'm already so thrilled that we have heard so little about quote, women's issues this cycle. why? because we believet the trump campaign that all issues are women's issues. i have never not once in 28 years of being a pollster heard the phrase men's issues. there's a reason for that.

everybody thinks men can talk about all the issues but we are supposed to only talk about a couple of few. what's really dynamic about female voters is how many different issues they are putting into the cauldron. the numbers you showed where hillary clinton is among 55% at women in pennsylvania, we want to earn their votes and speak to women directly. i still am confounded how the first female presidential candidate nominee is not doing better among women. if donald trump really is this awful person who took the wings off of butterflies as they say every day, how is she not at 65%? why aren't women excited to vote for -- >> we live in the same universe. last night when ron reagan said your candidate was a sociopath, i don't like that either. but as a woman, you are also a republican, all the things, we are all complicated, what did you think in march when i interviewed your candidate and he said women should be punished for having abortions? what did you think when he got in that fight with megyn kelly? i don't think anybody is an innocent here. he with all in the field.

there's no good guy and bad guy but what do you think when you heard his comments? didn't you think this guy has to get an education? he needs to be taught some things. >> when you talk to him about abortion i was very disappointed and expressed it at the time for a very simple reason. i'm pro-life and proudly pro-life. the pro-life community has worked hard for decades to make very clear we don't believe in punishing the woman. >> i know you don't. >> we don't look at her as the perpetrator at all. let me make that very clear. i think it comes from, i think it was a very fair assessment but i think it comes from him not being this focus group polished politician. he's pro-life and has said so

and said much like many americans that he came to that opinion over time. maybe in his adult years through a very personal experience, he's told the story many times publicly. so when i hear things like that, i hear i want to introduce him to members of the pro-life community, leaders who have toiled for years to make sure we feel there are two victims of abortion. the woman is not a perpetrator. number two, talk about crisis pregnancy centers. we can agree they do fabulous work. i want to be part of a party that says women facing unplanned pregnancy deserve our compassion and support, not our judgment and condemnation and we can all support that woman in her unplanned pregnancy. i have discussed this -- >> our church does that. what about donald trump and women? 25 point gap in pennsylvania. i think it's fair to say that by the way, today's the anniversary, the anniversary today of the 19th amendment having passed. i know we all agree that's a really good thing. that was passed after world war i that women can vote. some states allowed women to vote before that. i didn't know that. everybody has a right to vote now. what's your pitch for donald trump for women? they're listening right now. a lot of them moderate, lot of

progressive, some conservatives are watching right now. what do you want to tell them about why they may have been wrong about trump? >> i want to tell them two things. in practical terms, i want to tell them this is a man who promoting a woman without mentioning the gender of the voters either. this is someone who has a history of promoting women on their merits. you see in the trump corporation, you heard from people like the wonderful lynn patton who worked for him for a number of years, his daughter ivanka obviously is testament, she talked about all the women he's promoted. you should judge people by their actions not just their words on a political campaign trail. number two, on the issues, he does not think obamare is going well. we women are the chiefealth care officers of our household. we tend to be the majority not just of consumers but providers. we are the home health care aides, 90% of nurses, we are a growing number of pharmacists and physicians. so lots of women out there still have great concern about obamacare which the affordable care act which should be -- also we know security is a huge issue this time. yes, it's national security and homeland security, terrorism, no doubt but also job security. it's every day affordability.

he should take his message of every day affordability and say hillary clinton, you have been in political life for decades, how can you really say to women they are better off now and should have four more years of what's happened, we have millions of women in poverty, we have people who feel less safe, really take the case to her and ask women if they want a change maker or more of the same. it's a very simple construct. >> you have 270 electoral votes in your head? >> i do. we do. i have one that's got us at 284, one that's got us at 270 plus. >> not a lot to spare. >> not a lot to spare. >> pennsylvania in there? >> yes, it is. it is in there. >> so i got to cut off. i would love to have you come back because you are a big get now. you have become a big get. here's the thing. here's the thing. a lot of people think what trump is doing now in bringing you aboard and bannon aboard, the

two new leaders of the campaign, what he's really going to do is like ted kennedy did when he knew he was losing, he gave his georgetown speech. he wanted to go out with a bang. i'm going to lose this thing but i'm going out and letting everybody know where i stand. is this to win or create a big bang on the way out the door? >> i'm there to win it. i can tell you that. i walk around trump tower every day in our campaign headquarters and everybody in there is there to win it from the fabulous volunteers we have all the way up to the candidate himself. i think this week he seems very buoyant and one conversation i had with him last week which i'm sure people -- he doesn't mind me sharing, i told him how remarkable it is that millions and millions of people actually who always say i hate politicians, i want somebody who is outside of politics to run, yet they never really vote for that person. we have third party candidates, people saying i'm a businessman. he's been able to actually build a movement. and people have relied upon him for 14 months and he's got to

see it through, got to do it for them. they are relying on him to do it. no, this is a guy who doesn't like to lose. we know if you look at the polling, one thing is very clear. there are a lot of people in this country who have decided they have a reason to vote against hillary clinton. there is some reluctance there. they now need reasons to vote for donald trump. that's why i'm there. i'm going to think about that every day and try to earn every vote. >> i hear what you hear. thank you so much. kellyanne conway, thank you. congratulations to be the first woman to run a republican presidential campaign. i'm joined by republican strategist john feehery. what do you think of this shake up, bringing in kellyanne and this guy bannon from breitbart. they will hit tough, she says she will discipline him and keep him focused on issues -- >> kellyanne's a pro. she will bring a lot of great messaging to the campaign, hopefully a lot of discipline. not so sure about this bannon guy. he seems to be out of right field. if kellyanne is on the stump talking about this with trump,

that could be a powerful combo. >> the problem is all this talk about let trump be trump, like a line, i am what i am. it's stupid. it's not about being who you are. it's about not screwing it up. reagan knew who he was and focused on the key reagan stuff of economics. didn't get off into all this social stuff. >> you can be authentic but you don't have to be stupid at the same time. with all these mistakes trump has made -- >> fighting with the gold star family. >> kellyanne certainly knows that. she won't pick these stupid fights like hillary's health. what better thing to deal with -- >> she was averting there. hillary's in good health. it's a stupid argument.

i'm amazed she didn't jump on and hang on to the news that just broke tonight which is they weren't given the full story about the prisoner release, that it was connected to the money we sent over in the unmarked ships. >> one man's ransom is another man's contingency. >> it's going to hurt. >> it's going to hurt obama. as long as the trump campaign doesn't get in the way of the story. let's not make any other news. >> why in the world, if i was kellyanne i would have talked about it for ten minutes. here's the problem. don't ever say something can be disproved later. there's no point in it. you don't save yourself anything. if you can say there's no connection between the $400 million we sent over there in currency, in cash, had nothing to do with releasing the

prisoners, our p.o.w.s over there, hostages, then it turns out we were giving them the money, what is it, only after they released the hostages so there was a connection. >> during the clinton administration, it used to be said telling the truth slowly. this is just a huge blunder by the obama administration and the state department. get it out there. >> when in doubt, put it out. michael, i don't know if you know, but the state department, the word was put out we released that money after the prisoners came back, the hostages came back. there's a link. now you have to argue were we going to give the money anyway, would the prisoners have gotten out if we hadn't and most people say walks like a duck, talks like a duck, this is a deal. your thoughts. your president, ronald reagan, did the same damn thing. he got caught trading money for hostages. described as a fighter's fighter. he's not afraid to take on fellow republicans. he's not afraid to let trump be

trump. an inside look at the man now running the republican campaign for the white house. plus, is hillary clinton ready for the onslaught that's coming? a new era of let trump be trump means she will be facing an even nastier fall and autumn or autumn than we imagined. what tactics will the campaign use to counteract the assault that's already on tonight? this hour, donald trump has a campaign rally in charlotte, north carolina. hallie jackson gives us the live report as it begins in a few minutes now. the "hardball" roundtable is coming to tell me and you something i don't know about this presidential campaign. we keep getting news.

here's that big story. state department spokesman john kirby today said delivery of that $400 million the united states paid to iran has been withheld as leverage until the american prisoners held in that country were released. so there was a connection. this comes after the white house said there was no connection between the payment and the

release of those americans. i'm joined by nbc's andrea mitchell with the latest. >> basically john kirby is a straight shooter. he won't lie to the press corps. he was asked at the briefing did you sit on the money which the "wall street journal" first reported, until the prisoners got out. he said yes. he said it wasn't simultaneous. we sat on the money until we knew the prisoners were out because that's when we had the maximum leverage and we would have been faulted if -- >> would we have gotten the prisoners out without delivering the money?

>> he said we have concerns.

what a news night. welcome back. donald trump's hiring of steve bannon as his campaign chief executive signals the republican nominee's doubling down on the brand of provocative right wing populism he's become known for. as a newcomer to presidential campaigns, bannon's a former banker for goldman sachs who found common cause with conservative activists, most recently as top executive at the right wing website breitbart news. he even called the republican national committee a failed brand. back in 2013, bannon described the insurgency he saw inside the conservative movement and it's a

description that closely fits the profile of a trump voter today. he saw trumpism before there was trump. watch him. >> it's really an insurgent and center right populist movement that is virulently anti-establishment and will continue to hammer the sitting progressive left and the institutional republican party day in and day out. i think it's galvanizing a majority of the people, working people and middle class in this country to really have a voice. everything that we see and every trend that we see is very strong to really an outsider's voice and outsider's movement to

really take their country back. >> all the phrases are so trumpian. the voters described back then also comprised the readership of breitbart news. the "new york times" describes the website under bannon's leadership as a hybrid between a news organization and opposition research operation aimed at discrediting, guess who, mrs. clinton. i'm joined by josh green of bloomberg politics and dave weigl of "the washington post." let's talk to somebody who hasn't been living in america. how about a regular person like me who doesn't know who this guy

is. what is he, a force of nature? he looks like he likes steaks, obviously. looks like a big guy. he looks like he doesn't kill himself by restraining from the table. good for him. >> he's a bit of a wild man. in a lot of ways, a lot like trump, a guy who comes out of the media world, investment banker at goldman sachs but what he did was hollywood. he was an oscar winning producer in hollywood, started doing his own documentaries. >> how do you get to be the voice of the people? how do you get that red-hot rural anger at the elites. how does he get it? he looks like a successful guy. what's he mad about? >> i think he's mad about a lot of things. he was in the navy when carter was president. big, big reagan guy. loved wall street in the '80s. all about pro-u.s. >> i know exactly. i think the guy doesn't like the republican whigs, the bushes, people who have been running the party for years. country club republicans, he doesn't like them. too moderate, too boring, too stuffy, too old money. doesn't like that. doesn't like the wine and cheese liberals or the left one bit. i sort of get this guy. he likes the angry middle of the road, not middle of the road, maybe hard right. what is he? >> before he had trump in his sights he had sarah palin. he was casting around for a populist republican figure. >> there was nothing there with her. she had the right cut of the jib, she came off great in the beginning but she didn't know anything. you have to know something. don't you? don't you have to have some content? she's very attractive politically. i get the whole thing.

when she came on the stage people said wow, this is a westerner, a woman with some style and political point of view and is not afraid to say it. but when you get into the interviews and she thinks it's a trick question when you say what do you read, that's not a trick question. >> that's where hollywood comes in. he makes a documentary in 2011 about sarah palin that mythologizes her and tells the story she's a great leader. >> how do you know that? who said? that's the problem. >> he decided in the course of research. >> bill what's his name, kristol, they went out there and said this is a superstar, we met her up in alaska. >> she was. she was a popular republican governor in alaska, a reformer who came in and wiped out -- hold on, who came in and wiped out the corrupt republican party in alaska, got indicted by the fbi. it's exactly the profile of somebody who bannon would want to support. that's where -- >> take her to washington to run the country? >> didn't work out so well. >> trump gravitated to breitbart because in 2014, no one wanted to talk to trump.

>> right now, right now forward, we have 11 weeks left. what will it be like because of bannon and kellyanne? >> i think it will be the pure trump, the most successful trump when he's not making a gaffe that throws him off the news. if he makes a gaffe when it's on what he wants to talk about. >> how do you stop him from stream of consciousness? how do you stop him from stream of consciousness where you never know what's coming out next? doesn't he have to focus on nationalism, we are getting screwed on trade, immigration, fighting stupid wars? stick to that. >> you fill his head with that, and he can't not react to the polling that shows him losing. you got people like bannon who basically agreed with him and a site that agrees with him and say look, as you see in that

clip, this is what americans believe. >> how do you stop him from playing sinatra in a bar? how come he has to fight with the family of, the gold star family, with carly fiorina, with megyn kelly? >> that's his impulse. the role bannon will play is the same role mickey played in rocky. the guy whispering in your ear in the corner. >> the guy who turned out to be jewish in the third movie? >> maybe we will find out in time. >> bannon helped with the speech in milwaukee, bannon was nudging on that. >> his big thing is clinton. he produced that clinton cashbook. he wants trump to focus attacks on clinton. >> so kellyanne is the cut man. like the last round saying i'm willing to make the change? i always liked rocky. thank you. this is great stuff. last minute changes mean there has been a problem. right? >> there definitely has been a problem. >> nbc's hallie jackson will be here with a report from north carolina.

welcome back to "hardball." we go to charlotte, north carolina, where donald trump is set to rally tonight. nbc's hallie jackson is standing by. >> reporter: hey, chris. donald trump took the stage about four minutes ago and we expect tonight as you hear him talking about radical islamic terrorism as he often does, about law and order, continuing the themes of the speech that

started on tuesday night, again making the kind of direct appeal to african-american voters as we saw him do to a largely all white crowd back in wisconsin earlier in the week. what's interesting, you can see behind me, he's reading off teleprompters again. this is not a policy speech. it's been billed as a rally. you can see there's a big crowd. people are excited. this is the second time now this week we have seen donald trump work off prompters in front of a crowd that's ready to kind of see unfiltered off the cuff

trump like we all have seen this these events. so far they have been fairly into it for what that's worth. you got to wonder how comfortable trump is getting on prompter given that this is something that sources tell nbc news he will be doing more of. >> in the news tonight we hear he is going to put out a note on the campaign that he is going to hit hard on this issue. the state department admitted today money was involved, we paid the money, $400 million, shipped it over there. it was part of a linkage with getting our hostages out, having denied that for weeks and months

that there was a deal, money for hostages. we are now admitting they weren't going to get the money until we got the hostages. you can argue chicken and egg. they denied it and now they are admitting it. >> reporter: a senior adviser was telling us they will discuss that tonight. what you hear republicans say, if he's smart, donald trump will not stop talking about that because this is an area where you look at president obama and hillary clinton, they want him to be talking about exactly

that. >> something real. >> reporter: the trump team pounced really quickly on it, too. andrea talked about this earlier in the show. almost immediately you saw his team pushing this out in the

oppo world to make sure frankly the media knew trump would be

this is what you don't do in politics.

you don't let somebody else bring the story out. tough question. today they got the truth, why did we have to wait so long for the truth? hallie jackson in north carolina. does this new era foreshadow a nasty fall campaign against hillary clinton? that's coming next with the roundtable. we're back.

these are the forgotten men and women in our society and they are angry at so much and on so many levels. the poverty. the unemployment. the failing schools. the jobs moving to other countries. i'm fighting for these forgotten americans. 14 months ago, i declared my campaign for the presidency on the promise to give our government back to the people. every day since then, i have worked to repay the loyalty and the faith that you have put in me. every day, i think about how much is at stake for our country in the upcoming election. this isn't just the fight of my

life. it's the fight of our lives together to save our country. thank you. i refuse to let another generation of american children be excluded from the american dream which is what's happening. our whole country loses when young people of limitless potential are denied the opportunity to contribute their talents because we failed to provide them the opportunities that they deserve. let our children be dreamers, too. our whole country loses every time a kid doesn't graduate from high school or fails to enter the work force or worse still, is lost to the dreadful world of drugs and crime and so many are. so, so many. when i look at the failing schools, the terrible trade deals, the infrastructure crumbling in our inner cities, i know all of this can be fixed

and i can fix it but i know it can be fixed very, very quickly if we know what we're doing. >> okay. joining us tonight at the roundtable, howard feinman, kristen welker and paul singer. paul, want you to start, go

around the table. i was blown away by the news that just came out, the state department spokesman, a foreign service professional, doing his job, said yes, there was a linkage to getting our people back from iran and paying that $400 million. it was linked. they had always denied it before. >> president obama gave a press conference, said this was not a nefarious deal, there was no linkage, it was a debt we owed them. >> why hide it? >> they are still saying, i believe it's still true this was frozen assets owed. >> from 1979. >> now it is also clear this money sat on a tarmac waiting for our prisoners to be released. if that's not money for hostages i don't know what is.

campaign an opening, republicans an opening. they have been trying to link secretary clinton to this. she was out of the state department when this happened. >> you cover these guys. why don't they admit the obvious? it was a deal. >> bottom line is obviously you can't pay ransom and the language becomes very important. >> we don't say ransom. >> you said there's a linkage. he finally acknowledged that. i think this is something that's going to come up on the campaign trail for secretary clinton because remember, she helped lay the groundwork for the broader deal. had nothing to do with that actual payment. had nothing to do with the actual payment. but you can hear donald trump and what he will say -- >> i have to remind conservatives, fair enough, yuck over this. don't forget ronald reagan gave toe missiles to iran to get our people back. this has been done before. and lied about it for months and months and months. >> the annoying thing to the american people might be that president obama was insulting

their intelligence. not their secret intelligence. their brains. because it was obvious, it was obvious to anybody what went down. the pallets of money, the unmarked ship. come on. the president executed one of those maneuvers where he overstated the accusation, then denied it. he said this is not a nefarious deal, key word nefarious, it was i deal. everybody knew it. that in addition to the substance of it i think is what gives a political opening to the republicans. >> i'm going to know whether donald trump is at least smart politically. if he doesn't drive that home in a head line tomorrow morning when we get up, he's blown it. because he's been blowing -- the crazy stuff, the gold medal family, going after miss kelly and all the other people. he's blown the opportunities. hillary coming out in these reports, economic reports.

>> well, i would be surprised if he doesn't. so far the headline, what's interesting is he said he regrets some of controversial comments he's made. >> that's not the headline he wants. >> but i think it's interesting. i will just make this point. you had that big interview with kellyanne conway. that might be her stamp on this, walking back some of the controversial comments. to your point, if he lets this news cycle go by without jumping on it -- >> he has to own this. >> her stamp, kellyanne's stamp

has to be that donald trump says

the role some people think he is going to play, then i agree with currency, in cash, had nothing to do with releasing the

prisoners, our p.o.w.s over there, hostages, then it turns hostages, but it was. it just came out. he said, we don't pay ransom, but we did. he lied about the hostages, openly and blatantly, just like he lied about obamacare. you remember, you can have your doctor, you can have your plan, right? you can have your doctor, you can have your plan. didn't work out that way. now the administration has put every american traveling overseas, including our military personnel, at greater risk of being kidnapped. hillary clinton owns president obama's iran policy. one more reason she can never, ever be allowed to be president. let's talk about the economy.

here, in this beautiful and great state, so many people had suffered because of nafta. nafta. remember nafta, what it's done to this country. bill clinton signed the deal and hillary clinton supported the deal. north carolina has lost nearly north carolina has lost nearly half of its manufacturing jobs since nafta went into effect. bill clinton also put china into the world trade organization, another hillary clinton-backed disaster. your city of charlotte has lost 1 in 4 manufacturing jobs since china joined the wto, and many of these jobs were lost while hillary clinton was secretary of

state. our chief diplomat with china. she was a disaster. totally unfit for this job. totally unfit. hillary clinton owes the state of north carolina a very big apology and i think you'll get that apology around the same time you'll get to see her 33,000 deleted e-mails. in other words, you'll never see the apology. another major issue in this campaign, has been the border. our open border has allowed drugs and crime and gangs to pour into our country and our communities. so much needless suffering. so much preventable death. i've spent time with the families of wonderful americans -- >> okay, paul singer, tell me something i don't know. >> jill stein told my colleague today that she's willing to chain herself to the door at the debates, get arres so much needless suffering.

so much preventable death. i've spent time with the families of woerful americans >> okay, paul singer, tell me something i don't know. >> jill stein told my colleague today that she's willing to chain herself to the door at the debates, get arrested if she has to, to get in the door. and they think donald trump's going to help her, because he doesn't want to be on the stage alone with hillary either. >> i have to credit andrea mitchell for this one, but bill clinton has no paid speeches through november and doesn't plan to give any when secretary clinton's elected. >> hillary clinton's going to unload with advertising in september that will mimic the way they went after mitt romney in the senate race. >> totally negative campaign. howard, kristin, paul, thank

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>> well, back to say goodbye, that's "hardball" for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. >> good evening from new york, i'm joy reid in for chris hayes. tonight, donald trump is holding his first big campaign rally since overhauling his campaign leadership -- again. and he just did something i don't think he's ever actually done in public. apologize.

>> sometimes in the heat of debate, and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words. or you say the wrong thing. i have done that. and believe it or not, i regret it. and i do regret it. particularly where it may have caused personal pain. too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues. but one thing i can promise you this, i will always tell you the trut