now 11 weeks from today. up first, donald trump attempting to capitalize on dual criticism of hillary clinton's private e-mail server and her family's charitable foundation. the gop presidential nominee now accusing clinton of fostering a pay-to-play culture while secretary of state. >> the amounts involved, the favors done. and the significant numbers of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special prosecutor, immediately, immediately, immediately. >> those calls for a special prosecutor come as new e-mails are publicized by a conservative activist group. they show how top donors to the clinton foundation work with the closest aides at the then secretary of state state department. and nbc's hallie jackson is covering the trump campaign in austin, texas, where the candidate will be later today. so hallie, let's start off with trump's call for a special prosecutor, essentially saying

the justice department and the fbi are corrupt, as you know. there is no chance that president obama is going to appoint a special prosecutor at this point in time. this is pure political strategy also an indication of this campaign shift we're starting to see in the trump campaign, right? >> reporter: well, so what it is, i think, kristen, donald trump going from defense to offense, exactly what his campaign wants to see. and frankly, it is what republicans outside of his circle have been all but begging for, for weeks, right? the idea that donald trump should be focusing on these headlines being made by hillary clinton. but again and again, since the convention and even before that, donald trump has stepped on that news by creating controversy of his own. so there is a sense that now he is going on attack against hillary clinton. you're exactly right, kristen. it's lip service, right? this is not going to happen. president obama is not going to appoint a special prosecutor here. but this place very well with his supporters, throwing red meat in places like texas and also plays well in those conservative circles, people who want to see trump getting on

script and on message. >> and also when you talk about his messaging, he seems to be shifting his messaging when it comes to immigration. this has been the crux of his campaign. the day that he first announced his campaign, drew a very hard line on immigration reform. he is signalling now, hallie, and correct me if i am wrong, that he might be looking toward moderating that message. what is your take? >> reporter: well, yeah. and listen, we don't have to try to parse it. this is one of those instance for donald trump where he himself is coming out and talking about it. i feel like again and again, it's been his advisers and surrogates, not rating his message or clarifying it. now we're hearing from the candidate. let's play that sound bite and talk about it on the other side. go ahead. >> the existing laws are very strong. the existing laws, the first thing we're going to do, if and when i win, is we're going to get rid of all of the bad ones. as far as everybody else, we're going to go through the process. what people don't know is that obama got tremendous numbers of people out of the country. bush, the same thing.

lots of people were brought out of the country with the existing laws. well, i'm going to do the same thing. >> reporter: trump essentially saying he's going to do the same thing, but he's going to do it better, basically than president obama did to paraphrase the candidate. this is interesting, because it's trump talking about what he would do with the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants. so he's potentially going to get some more clarity to how he would deport those undocumented immigrants and comes on the heels of us learning about the postponed speech that was supposed to be set for later this week in denver donald trump has called off. campaign sources saying it's simply because donald trump was trying to craft his message, getting information and policies he discussed at his hispanic round table over the weekend. of course, the timing raising eyebrows 24 hours after his campaign manager seemed to soften up on that so-called deportation force. >> all right. hallie jackson covering all of the angles from texas. appreciate it, hallie.

>> reporter: thanks. and in addition to those e-mails released by judicial watch, more documents could be coming. a federal judge is ordering the state department to review another 15,000 e-mails for public release. hillary clinton last night laughing it off during her appearance on "jimmy kimmel live". take a look. >> my e-mails are so boring. i am embarrassed about that. they're so boring, so we have already released, i don't know, 30,000-plus so what's a few more? >> i want to bring in the "new york times" white house correspondent, mark landler. great to see you. thanks for being here. appreciate it. >> great to be with you, kristen. >> i want to talk about that very point. these new e-mails focusing on the clinton foundation and clnlt state department. they do show a coziness, but they don't show a quid pro quo, necessarily. they have yet to actually prove that. but i guess the broader question, how problematic are these e-mails just before labor day? >> well, you sort of have to divide the e-mails into two

categories. there is this fairly large number of new e-mails the state department is now going to review and release on a timetable. and, you know, hillary clinton laughed it off. in fact, it's 14,900. a significant number of e-mails. some of which could contain information, embarrassing to her. she is right to say the bulk of her e-mails over the past year have been pretty mundane and uninteresting. but there are nuggets that could come up. the judicial watch e-mails released yesterday are problematic for her in the following sense. while they don't show quid pro quo, as you say, they do show that the clinton foundation had a lot of access to senior people around hillary clinton, and was not shy about making requests. and among the e-mails that came out yesterday were ones where douglas band clinton foundation executive petitioned huma abedin, a close aide to hillary clinton, to give appointments to the clown prince of bahrain and

saying he would get an appointment. so while that isn't necessarily a pay to play arrangement or a quid pro quo, as donald trump has charged, it is evidence that the clinton foundation wasn't show about trying to leverage the influence they may have had with the secretary of state. >> well, and let's unpack that just a little bit. because we learned yesterday bill clinton is saying he's going to step down from the board of secretary clinton is elected as president. does that go far enough in terms of tamping down this type of criticism, mark? >>. >> well, that's one of several things they have said. they also said they won't take donations from foreigners, foreign governments. and, of course, the criticism here is two-fold. one, why not do this earlier, why not do this when hillary can launch her campaign. and secondly, why were these arrangements acceptable when she was secretary of state, and arguably had a huge -- inarguably, had a huge amount of influence. so i think that these steps the

foundation has taken probably only opened the door to further pressure and in fact some people have tweeted this morning that really the best thing that the clintons could to is hand the entire foundation over to someone else. the gates foundation, for example. so i think you're going to continue to hear this theme, and, in fact, i think the focus will shift a little more from clinton's handling of classified information, which is what a lot of the last year was about, to the ties between the foundation and the state department. >> i think you're absolutely right and this continues to overshadow her campaign. mark, great reporting as always. appreciate your insights. >> thanks, kristen. we look at where the race stands right now. our onlike tracking poll out this morning shows hillary clinton maintaining her national lead. she's up eight points over donald trump. that's virtually unchanged from last week. and as we approach the first debate, it appears the republican is suggesting he may be modifying policy proposals, as we were just talking about with hallie. here to talk more about that,

msnbc political analyst, rick tyler, former spokesman for ted cruz's presidential campaign. great to see you. >> hey, kristen, how are you? >> i'm great. let's start with this point about immigration, as hallie was just saying. he does seem to be modifying his stance, now saying he only wants to deport the criminals. he sounds a lot like he's sort of reiterating the policy already in place under president obama. so is this the type of thing that could help with moderates but ultimately hurt with his base? what's your take? >> yeah, i think that's exactly the problem. look, not only is it exactly like the current administration, it was like the bush administration, which he has compared it to. remember, the law is that if you're in this country illegally, you should be deported. and so the question of enforcing law. but it's not fundamentally different from what marco rubio was saying in the primary. it's not fundamentally different from what john kasich or jeb bush was saying in the primary. and yet donald trump separated himself by having this policy that he was going to remove, and

actually seek out and find people who are here illegally and deport them. he said over and over again, they have to go. and now it turns out all that wasn't true or he's been persuaded by his new leadership he has to take this new position in order to attract moderates. i think it's very problematic. >> okay. in following up on that, you look at the timing, when you think about the fact that this could potentially be problematic. does this pivot come too little too late? does it make him look disingenuous, effectively? >> it does. it's hard to -- makes it look disingenuous, but hard to judge whether his supporters -- his supporters have this -- it's almost a strange notion that well, you all -- all you politicians do this, so he's just doing it too. and all you politicians change your position. so our guy can change his position too. the adherence to him is sort of very strange. and you sort of get that with a celebrity type. but it would seem to me that this was his strongest two

messages all during the campaign was his very tough stance on immigration and his tough stance on trade. and if you look down into now the details and now his campaign is talking about getting into the weeds and, you know, putting pleasure on the bones of what his policies really are, you find out that these policies are not fundamentally different from anyone else that he was running against. >> well, and to your point, i mean, in order to win the white house, he actually has to expand his base of support. and to do that, he has been making this pitch to african-american voters, a lot of critics kind of looking at this pitch and saying, hey, wait a minute, this isn't so much directed at african-american voters, as it is about bringing in some jittery, more moderate republicans. take a listen to last night and i want to get your reaction on the other side. >> what do you have to lose? i will straighten it out. i'll bring jobs back. we'll bring spirit back. we'll get rid of the crime. you'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot.

right now, you walk down the street and you get shot. >> rick, there's a lot to unpack there. worth noting, he's delivering that message to a largely white audience. what do you make of his pitch, and essentially saying, hey, if i'm elected, you're going to be able to walk down the street and not get shot? >> i think it's an odd thing to say. now, look, disproportionately, african-americans do attend schools that aren't as good as other schools. they disproportionately live in crime-ridden neighborhoods. they disproportionately are under the poverty level. so there's a message here that's true. that what have the democrats done for you, you keep electing democrats over and over again, especially in your urban cities, and yet things don't seem to change. but the question is, are they going to believe donald trump, and i don't think they will. i think mill re will hold on to the african-american vote, and i do think this is precisely about getting those republicans who

don't -- they don't want to vote for someone who they feel might be -- have -- even hesitate to use the word, because i don't think donald trump is racist. but they want a little more comfort with donald trump as he is accepting of minorities. and -- >> well, very quickly, rick, to that point. republicans have struggled to win over african-american voters. obviously -- >> yes, they are. >> rnc republicans have worked very hard over the past four years to try to change that. could donald trump -- >> that's right. >> -- sent this in the other direction? is that one of your concerns? >> it absolutely is. but i think donald trump is a bit of an anomaly here and the shame here is reince priebus and others. and i have worked with a lot of the chairmen and i think reince is one who really understands the necessity of attracting the african-american vote, the hispanic vote, the ever-growing asian vote, and he's worked really hard to do that. and donald trump has really -- i think this is really a setback. i do think it can be recovered.

but i do think it's sort of odd that reince would put so much effort into this, only to have it really hurt because of our nominee has not been able to attract african-american votes. the way i think the republican party should. i think our message -- conservative message is attractive to americans, and hispanics. except we have no one who seems to be able to articulate it that way. >> rick tyler, as always, thank you so much. >> thank you. happening moments from now, president obama making his way to louisiana's flood zone. some republicans and flood victims say the visit is too little, too late. we'll talk to the state's lieutenant governor. and breaking news out of afghanistan. one u.s. service member killed, another wounded. we'll have the very latest details when we come right back. stay with us. ♪ ♪

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and we have breaking news out of afghanistan to it tell you about. a u.s. service member has been killed in that country. we're also told another has been wounded. nbc's hans nichols is tracking the developments. what's the latest? >> reporter: the latest, they were out on an assistant patrol mission, triggered an improvised explosive device, caused the death of one u.s. member. there are six wounded on the afghanistan side of this. you know, as president obama announced earlier in july that he was tweaking, he was changing, modifying his proposal, he was going to have initially 5,500 troops left in the country when he left office. now that number is going to be 8,400. the second u.s. service member who has been killed this year. remember, this is heldmond province, the site of some of the fiercest fighting in afghanistan. some heavy combat taking place there all summer. there is a recognition, both inside and outside the white

house that the next president, whether that's hillary clinton or donald trump, will likely have a strategy review and try to figure out just what the u.s. footprint as well as well as the long-term goals and time line for true presence in afghanistan will be. kristen? >> hans, thank you. a reminder, afghanistan still very much a conflict zone. really appreciate that reporting on a tragic story. right now, president obama making his way to louisiana, where some neighborhoods are still waiting for historic floodwaters to recede. and the president faces criticism for not visiting sooner. we're live on the ground, next. i'm worried i can't find a safe used car. you could start your search at the all-new carfax.com that might help. show me the carfax? now the car you want and the history you need are easy to find. show me used minivans with no reported accidents. boom. love it. [struggles] show me the carfax. start your used car search and get free carfax reports

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save 50% on the labor day limited edition bed. know better sleep. only at a sleep number store. at this hour, president obama is headed to flood-ravaged, louisiana for a firsthand look at the areas worst natural disaster since hurricane katrina. just handing at air force base, board air force one and take off for louisiana. and which, of course, we will

monitor and show you live. president has come under criticism for not cutting short his vacation to visit the flood zone sooner. in just a couple hours, the president will be visiting a baton rouge neighborhood hit hard by the historic flooding. nbc's tammy leitner is there. so tammy, what is the white house saying about this criticism that the president is coming under, and including the criticism that he's been getting from donald trump? >> reporter: kristen, the white house is saying that it's too easy to focus on politics. the president has been focused on relief efforts going on on the ground, and families here that are trying to recover. families like this one that live in this house. now take a look here. this is everything that this family owns, all their memories, their pictures, a lifetime they have spent collecting this. and now it's essentially out for the garbage. i want to give you an idea, this neighborhood has hit very, very hard. how high the floodwaters were. if you take a look over there, the floodwaters reached all the way to the bottom of that roof.

about 8 to 10 feet. if you can imagine 8 to 10 feet of water inside of a house, not a whole lot is left. the president is set to arrive at noon. he'll meet with federal officials, he'll meet with state and local politicians and he'll also tour a neighborhood much like this one to see firsthand for himself the devastation. kristen? >> all right. tam tammyner, thank you for that report. and again, we are monitoring, president obama about to board air force one to take off for louisiana. now we want to head about 25 minutes south of where tammy was reporting from and bring in lieutenant governor billy nungesser. thanks for joining me. really appreciate it. >> glad to be here. how are you today? >> i'm doing well, but more importantly we want to learn how you and your community is doing. we just saw some of the devastation in tammy's live shot. how are you holding up? >> it's going to be a long haul. as you can see, it's a widespread area. this is a thousand-year event.

many people without flood insurance. we're going to need a lot of help, a lot of prayers and a lot of work to get back, but we'll come back. louisiana always does. >> i know that that is for sure. as you know, there has been a little bit of a political firestorm brewing right now about the president, the fact that he hasn't visited sooner. i want to let you hear what white house spokesman, josh earnest, had to say and get your reaction. take a listen. >> there's all too common temptation to focus on the politics, and to focus on the optics. but the survivors of the flooding in louisiana are not well-served by a political discussion. they're well-served by a competent, effective, strong, coordinated government response. >> lieutenant governor, your reaction to that. do you agree with the white house press secretary, or should president obama have visited sooner? what are your thoughts? >> well, i don't want to -- the politics aside, you know, i'm a

republican, i work with a very closely with a democrat governor. we have a great working relationship, and we work together for what's good for louisiana. whether he should have come before donald trump or after, doesn't matter to me. i'm just glad he's here. we welcome his visit. i met with the president many times as parish president durinn and hopefully he'll bring hope and some help to louisiana residents that are struggling. that's the important thing here that we focus on rebuilding, getting people back in their homes. and i welcome haddis visit, and i look forward to meeting with him, and showing him firsthand the severe damage that was suffered here in louisiana. >> lieutenant governor, you talk about the importance of working with the democratic governor there. we have not seen that type of cooperation here in washington, d.c. in fact, billed to get more funding to your state has stalled in congress, because democrats, republicans, cannot work together to get it passed. and while i'm asking you this

question, we're watching president obama depart marine one, about to board air force one to take off for your state. this is happening live. to that point, lieutenant governor, are you frustrated are you by the holdup in those extra funds that are just sitting there, waiting to get to your state? >> hopefully many of those leaders will -- our congressman and senators have reached out and asked other members of congress to come visit. the floodwaters did not distinguish between republican or democrat, black or white, rich or poor. it flooded everyone. so hopefully, a situation like this will bring them together to do the right thing. and that's all we ever ask, is do the right thing for the people they represent, and we'll be okay in the end. so hopefully, if enough of them come down and see the damage, you cannot imagine it, the tv doesn't do it justice until you walk those streets and see house after house, block after block, community after community,

totally devastated by these floodwaters. >> president obama just waving as he boards air force one, just moments away from taking off. lieutenant governor, more broadly, how would you rate the federal response so far, if you could spend a message, what more do you need in terms of money and aid? what are you not getting? >> well, the fema team on the ground has done a great job. they're flown with us, with the governor, to all of the areas. they have really been responsive. craig fugate was here, gave approval. so things right at the table. so i'm very thankful for that, as i know the governor is. what we're hoping, because this was a thousand-year event, and most of the people didn't have flood insurance, they were not required to get it, neither by their bank or the insurance companies. in some cases, even recommended they didn't need it. these people are going to need some kind of assistance. the faith-based community, the volunteers are rebuilding homes. we're going to need some kind of help to get these people back in

their homes, and the businesses that have been suffering without flood insurance. >> based on what we have seen so far, as many as 60,000 homes from damaged by floodwaters. you talk about the fact that there is this struggle with insurance. do you have a handle on the brooder economic impact right now? >> we do not at this point. you know, along the coast, everyone had flood insurance for hurricanes, we're ready for it, we know it. but these areas, as these rivers backed up and flooded communities that have never flooded, businesses, homes, churches, schools, went under. some of the private schools did not have flood insurance. so it's devastated everything in those communities that without some type of help will not come back. but we're going to work together, and i'm sure we'll come up with a solution, and louisiana will be back better than ever. >> and, again, we are just waiting for air force one to depart. looks like that is just moments away from happening. louisiana lieutenant governor, billy nungesser, thank you so much for joining us. really appreciate it.

>> thank you for your coverage. we need more of it. >> indeed. well, hillary clinton is using humor to fend off claims from donald trump and his surrogates that she is in poor health. here she is on "jimmy kimmel" last night. take a look. >> was on fox news yesterday and today, and he is saying you look -- you seem to be sick, you look tired, et cetera, et cetera. are you in good health? >> well, this has become one of their themes. you take my pulse while i'm talking to you. >> okay. [ laughter ] [ applause ] make sure i'm alive. >> oh, my god, there is nothing there. >> nothing there. back in october, the "national inquirer" said i would be dead in six months. >> oh! >> so with every breath i take, i feel like it's -- >> a new lease on life. >> a new lease on life. >> can you open this jar of pickles? this has not been tampered with. [ applause ] >> this is --

[ laughter ] >> oh, oh -- [ cheers and applause ] >> a lot of laughs there. nbc's kelly o'donnell joins me now to talk about all of this. so kelly, you saw secretary clinton sort of laughing off all of this discussion about her health. but not a laughing matter for republicans. they're really pushing this idea, including donald trump himself, to some extent that she is somehow tired or not in good health. politically, what's the strategy here? >> well, i would have trouble with the pickle jar. so lets get out of the way. this is one of the ways republicans and conservatives, both on the campaign and outside, some powerful surrogates, like rudy guiliani, are trying to challenge her fitness to serve in office, based on her health, wellness. we know that she did have a concussion, she did have medication that she needed to take. she provided a letter from her physician in 2015. but has not provided detailed records. and this is an area where those who are supporters of hillary clinton see this as wild conspiracy theories, conservatives see it as a way to chip away at her fitness.

i mean, donald trump sort of had this campaign overhaul and it seems like this is a part of that new strategy, to go on offense, to go on the attack in a more aggressive way. >> when you see steve bannon, brought in as the ceo of the campaign, these are areas well-known to him. executive at breitbart. these are the themes when it comes to the exchange of influence, perhaps, related to the clinton foundation, issues about her health. some of the most personal and serious attacks on hillary clinton is well-tread ground for steve bannon and he's bringing that to the campaign. >> we talk about the exact that the challenge for donald trump right now is not necessarily to rally his base, which these types of attack on her health will undoubtedly do but to expand his support. could this type of strategy actually backfire and wind up alienating more moderate republicans and independents? >> if moderate voters, be they democrat or republican, although she has the democrats locked up -- but those voters open to considering a trump candidacy,

if they view this it as a reach too far, it could hurt him. planting seeds of doubt they already have, drip, drip, drip, over the next 7 seven days, that could be influential. there is a difference. trump has not provided in depth medical records. he is 70, she is 68. and they are older candidates by the modern standard. and i can remember covering john kerry and john mccain. we had opportunities to be in a closed room with their actual medical records. we had an nbc physician who came with me, and we pored through the records going in john kerries case back to his vietnam service. we have not had that in this election cycle, the kind of in-depth review and it is terribly invasive, but sometimes they consent to that and in this particular iteration of campaign life, they have not. >> kelly o'donnell, i could talk to you all hour. but we are out of time. you heard hillary clinton laughing off republican conspiracy theories about her health. but is that the best strategy? we will ask a member of her campaign. that's coming up next, after a

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as we have been discussing all hour, hillary clinton coming under fresh fire for ethical questions about the clinton foundation and her e-mails. to discuss this, i bring in expectant campaign press secretary, brian fallen. thank you for joining me. i appreciate it. >> good morning, kristen. >> >> as you know, donald trump called for a special prosecutor to look into the clinton foundation's ties to the state department. i want to get your reaction and i wonder how concerned you are, given she has a strong lead in the polls right now. could this chip away at her lead? >> no. this is an absurd call by donald trump. it is an act of desperation on his campaign, given the turmoil that we have seen from his campaign in recent weeks. if believe media reports, the justice department declined to look into these allegations. and there are two important

things to bear in mind. number one, the clinton foundation is a charity, a world-class philanthropy based on its work, you have 11.5 million people in the developing world that have gained access to hiv/aids drugs, the cost of malaria drugs has gone down 80 to 90%. and the clintons to not draw salary. by contrast, donald trump, a web of business connections exposed in the "new york times" this weekend. he owes debt to countries like china, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. he has said as president he's going to stand up to china. how can he do that when his own personal businesses owe money to them. donald trump has to come clean about his own business dealings, explain how he will divest his holdings. these are far more serious questions than exist with a charity who pays the clintons no money. >> let me just follow up a little bit with you, because yesterday, of course, we learned that bill clinton sent that note to his supporters saying, look, if secretary clinton does win the presidency, he's going to step down from the board. yesterday we also got new

e-mails, which showed some coziness between the foundation and the state department. so it continues to give donald trump fodder, any way you look at it. why not take that extra step of saying, we're actually going to close the foundation all together, if she is elected as some of her supporters have even called for her to do, including former pennsylvania governor, ed rendell? >> because, kristen, the foundation performs life-saving work. we want to continue that work to the maximum extent possible while guarding against any conflict of interest appearances. that is why the foundation has taken steps. they went extremely far when hillary clinton took office as secretary of state, agreeing to annual disclosures, huge at your tailments of the resources funding that important work of making aids and hiv drugs more accessible across the developing world. that was no step when she took it. now they're saying they're going to go further and constrain this work which is ever-increasing demand to the far corers of the

globe. and you have not seen donald trump say a single thing about how he's going to guard against the conflicts of interests. is he going to divest his holdings? hundreds of millions of dollars he owes to the likes of goldman sachs, to the state-run bank of china, both of whom he said he is going to stand up to as president. he needs to explain to the american public u how he's going to ensure his decisions of president. the foundation answered those questions and donald trump has not. >> when it comes to the foundation, it continues to feed into this narrative, i guess. and this struggle that secretary clinton has in terms of earning voters' trust. it's one of her biggest liabilities. why not just put that to rest. i hear what you're saying. why nturn over to the foundatio to someone else, to the gates foundation, for example. continue the good work, but separate it from secretary clinton? >> well, kristen, the reality is that the president has said he's not going to be involved in the foundation, if hillary clinton is elected as president.

and they have already announced plans to spinoff certain aspects of the foundation's work. these steps are not taken lightly, because this is actually going to drastically curtail the type of important work that goes on across the globe. it is no small feat to even entertain these types of changes. but the clintons are extremely proud of this work. it is not something they want to close up shop and cease to perform. >> i want to make sure we get your reaction to these points. secretary clinton on "jimmy kimmel," talking about 15,000 e-mails that could be released before the election is this a laughing matter, is that a smart strategy to brush this aside? >> kristen, as someone that has asked her about e-mails in the past, she has been answering questions about this for over a year. of course, it's an issue that she takes responsibility for. she has said that she apologizes for it. admits it was a mistake. and has said she would do it differently. in terms of these additional e-mails, if any of them turn out to be work-related, i suspect

there is a mix of personal nature e-mails of a personal nature in there. but to the extent there are ones that are work-related, he want those could be released too. >> as we have been discussing, donald trump making a new pitch to african-american voters. let me play you a little bit of what he had to say last night and then i want to get your response. >> what do you have to lose? i will straighten it out. i'll bring jobs back. we'll bring spirit back. we'll get rid of the crime. you'll be able to walk down the street. without getting shot. right now, you walk down the street, you get shot. >> donald trump says what do you have to lose? what's your reaction to that? >> well, kristen, as it stands today, hillary clinton enjoys significant support from the african-american community. but we do not take that support for granted. that said, i think people will see through 11th hour pan derg from donald trump. i don't think anyone takes seriously. this is the original birther, seeking to delegitimize our

first african-american president and has responded with a wink and nod to support from white nationalist leaders, david duke has come out and said donald trump's nomination as the republican nominee for president represents their takeover of the republican party. so i think people will see through these comments from donald trump. >> on that initial point that you make, though, brian, donald trump says that democrats, that secretary clinton take african-american votes for granted. if you look at the unemployment rate, the african-american unemployment rate, far above the national average. is it he have a point? have democrats taken this voting block for granted? >> absolutely not. this campaign certainly has not. i think if you look back to president bill clinton's tenure, that administration lifted more african-american families out of poverty of under his policies in the 1990s. hillary clinton has laid out a very bold list of proposals that would make college more affordable, increase wages, including lifting the minimum wage, a raft of proposals that would directly help make lives better for all americans,

including those in the african-american community. on the issues of most concern to them, we are speaking out to them. she is actively campaign with them. you saw them, the mothers of the movement who have been victimizeded by gun violence, featured prominently at our democratic convention last month. so absolutely not. and i think that this is a highly cynical approach from donald trump. and it should be called out for what it is, kristen. i do not actually think it is a sincere overture. donald trump is hemorrhaging support within his own party. i think this is an attempt to make his own candidacy more palatable to republicans, especially suburban voters, who are extremely troubled by the prospect of donald trump and can't right now imagine themselves voting for him. >> all right. clinton campaign press secretary, brian fallon, really appreciate the time this morning. thanks, brian. >> thank you, kristen. coming up next, melania trump threatens legal action against some media outlets over outrageous reports about her early career. we'll have that when we come back. you only earn double miles when you buy stuff from that airline.

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melania trump firing back at reports her lawyers call false and hurtful. now she says she may take legal action against "the daily mail" and 11 other publications. her lawyers say they made false and defamatory statements about her. to discuss this, i want to bring in legal correspondent, ari melber, for insight into this matter. ari, i understand you have actually been in contact with the attorney in this case. so what's the very latest? what's the attorney saying? >> our legal unit has been in contact with charles harder, a name some may recognize, a powerhouse lawyer in los angeles, represented everyone from hulk hogan to lena dunham. and marty housen, legal unit, just touched base with him today. mrs. trump has placed several news organizations on notice of her legal claims against them for making false and defamatory statements about her supposedly having been a, quote, escort, in the 1990s, end quote. want to be crystal clear. that's quoting her lawyers

saying that is false. we are not reporting, nor indeed confirming anything about that underlying story from the "the daily mail." but this is a really sharp reaction, certainly people may have heard that trump, you know, organization and donald trump are often involved in litigation. but it's more unusual to have a candidate's family member doing something like this. these are basically demand legal claim letters telling these organizations, news outlets, to take down these charges, take down the story, or potentially face a lawsuit. i'll read quickly from that letter. it says, "we demand you immediately and permanently remove each of the states from the story and print a full and complete retraction and apology with as prominent placement as the original story." some websites are doing that at this hour. some have not done that yet. >> hmmm. all right. well, i know you will continue to track this story. ari melber, thank you for that. appreciate it. >> sure. coming up, why one reliable republican block could be about to turn blue for the first time in 40 years. what's when we come right back.

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♪ with donald trump trailing hillary clinton in a number of national polls, both campaigns are focusing on battleground states like ohio. but a recent cbs ugov poll showing trump trailing 46 to 40% and trump losing a key demographic, married women, with 73% calling the gop nominee risky. msnbc's erin comone. it's hard to imagine a voting block more important than women. what are they saying to you? >> when we talk about the women's vote, when we talk about the gender gap, it's important to think about which women. white women ten to vote republican. married women in particular. we know this overlap in that group. they tend it to be reliable republican voters. and the question for any democrat looking to win, how much can they cut into that group? so that's why we went and

visited with the east lake women's club in lake county, ohio, a swing county, in a swing state. we sat down with a buchl of ladies who have been friends for decades, some trump supporters, some clinton supporters, some undecided. and we asked them to speak to each other about how they felt. now when we talked about how they feel about trump's tone and trump's manner, even the trump supporters in the group had some doubts. take a listen to what they had to say. >> he's the boss, you know. and he's used to telling people what to do and how to do it. and be successful at it. so i think that's an attribute, you know, just if he could just tone things down. >> what would you like to see donald trump tone down? >> instead of being negative all of the time, he should say the positive thing, that he will do. not, you know, say nasty things about his competition. or groups. >> i would say 75% of the commercials i see on the tv are against trump and for hillary.

>> okay. >> okay? and they take whatever he says out of context, and, you know, i don't believe any of it. they say certain phrases and they stick them all together so that it sounds like, oh, my god, this man is terrible! he is outspoken, i will say he is very outspoken. and he has to learn to tone that down if he's going to make it in politics. so -- >> has he said anything that's offended you? >> no. not really. because i think america needs to wake up. look into your -- the principles and everything, that your candidate is. don't vote for them because they're a woman. don't vote for them because they're black. don't vote because they're a democrat or a republican. vote on their qualifications, and everything else. not on the fact that they are one thing or another. >> would you argue, then, that trump is more qualified than hillary, just to be in

government? >> not in this -- that respect. but he's got a strong person running with him as vice president, who is very good in government and everything else, just like hillary. so i think he'll do okay. >> do you really think trump is going to listen to this person? >> if he wants to get in, he's going to. >> has he listened to him since he has accepted the nomination? >> i think he's the lesser of two evils, let's put it that way. trump is. >> as you can see, some really spirited debate there between the clinton supporters and the trump supporters of the east lake women's club. the only other thing i would add, these women -- the ones who are trump supporters, when you read to them comments trump has made against women, for example, they say i'm not sure he said it, because i don't trust the media, but if he said it i i don't like it. >> what a fascinating conversation and the fact that

even his supporters are saying, hey, it's time for him to tone down his rhetoric a little bit. quick question. did you get the sense that there were some undecided women there, and that they might be leaning in one direction or another? >> yes. in fact, we had one undecided woman in our round table and her feeling was that she admires clinton but is not sure if she's, quote, only in it for herself. so by the end of our spirited debate, she still has not decided who she is voting for so definitely some votes up for grabs if any candidate wants to make the case. >> very spirited debate, indeed. fantastic conversation, erin car moan. thank you so much. really appreciate it. >> thank you, kristen. we will be right back after a quick break.

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conservative watchdog group about the clinton foundation during hillary clinton's team at the state department. the e-mails including exchanges involving bahrain's crown prince and musician bono. this has donald trump faces scrutiny and questions whether he's overcharging for rent on some of his properties after donations came into his campaign. and the heart of the storm. president obama now on his way to louisiana to meet with survivors and tour the damage from the worst natural disaster since hurricane sandy. plus, is it price gouging of a life-saving prescription? why the cost of the epipen used to treat potentially deadly allergic reactions has skyrocketed from $100 to more than $500. and there's a lot of outrage about this story. good morning, everyone. i'm tamron hall, coming to you live from our msnbc headquarters in new york. let's get right to the new