under hillary clinton, and allegations of pay to play. >> the amounts involved, the favors done, and the significant number of times it was done require an expedited investigation by a special prosecutor, immediately, immediately, immediately. >> october surprise, 15,000 more clinton e-mails likely to come out just before the election. even as hillary clinton tries to laugh it off on jimmy kimmel live. >> have you considered using facetime instead of e-mail? >> um, actually, actually, i think that's really good advice. and auditing trump. clinton supporters striking back by focussing on donald trump's bottom line. >> donald trump has zero credibility talking about any of these issues until this man

releases his taxes. and good day everyone, i'm andrea mitchell in washington. donald trump now demanding a special prosecutor to be appo t appointed to look into the clinton foundation. >> the foundation donors, included corporations and individuals with significant matters before the state department. not good. the clintons made this state department into the same kind of pay for play operation as the arkansas government was. pay the clinton foundation huge sums of money and throw in some big speaking fees for bill clinton, and you got to play. >> nbc's hallie jackson is in austin, texas, ahead of donald trump's rally there this evening, kasey hundredt coverine

campaign in washington, d.c. hallie, you have been following donald trump now for months and months, this is the most focussed that i've seen him on issues that seem to come straight out of a breitbart playbook and stephen bannon and kellyanne conway, tell me if this is the result of the new regime. >> reporter: well listen, let's put this into context, you have a point, but it's been generously four days, right? five days. some would argue two days that donald trump has stayed on the message. it's not as though there's a particularly lengthy period of time to compare this to for donald trump, but yes, i think what you are seeing from donald trump, it is indisputable, he's focussing more on hillary clinton, focussing more on the accusations of pay to play against her than he has at certain points throughout the campaign, when, frankly, she was in the headlines. when her controversies were making news, and donald trump's controversies were overshadowing hers, and it was a source of

deep and extreme frustration for republicans who were watching this campaign unfold. so, yes, donald trump is focussing on clinton, he is getting past his own controversies, he's trying to drill out of this idea of a special prosecution against her, talking about policy, which is something that his new campaign manager has been previewing for several days now that he would make the shift to substance. direct result of a new team in place? i think part of it is that. the i think the other part of it is trump's team seizing on the opportunities with news being made about hillary clinton's e-mails to make the case that this is the turn for donald trump. but i do roll my eyes a that the slightly andrea, because i don't think we're going to see a new donald trump. he's not going to the pivot. he said he's not going to pivot. talk about it is jond the bounds, what is clear is he is, for-now, more focussed. and he's been staying the teleprompter, staying on the script. >> i'm not suggesting he's going to stay on script, but the script is different in that talking about a special prosecutor, in talking about

arkansas, this is, kasey hunt, this is getting into hillary clinton's head. this is what he hated most, what she fought back against in the '90s, and this is a different playbook. >> it is a different playbook, andrea. and i think we took a small detour off of it when there was this question about his immigration policy and the deportation force and all of that, but i think that the trump campaign has been much more effective the past couple of days in highlighting these controversies. that really do harken back to everything that -- you know, it plays directly into what many americans who are on the fence, many swing voters, are inclined to believe about clintons. it's clear that someone is now telling donald trump, hey, if you want to win this thing, you have to doed is by making it about her. and i think more than any period in the campaign so far, i think they've been most successful in doing that. keep in mind, this isn't, you know, bill clinton's sexual past the way donald trump immediately turned to, remember right after

he won the nomination, that's what he wanted to talk about. this is clearly building a case around this idea of pay for play of influence that is part of what drives those untrust worthy numbers that are such a problem for her. i think the question will be, as hallie eluded to if he can stay on the message. this is a different tact. and i think it's going to be interesting to see particularly once hillary clinton herself is a little more out there in public, she's been behind closed doors fundraising by and large, how she grapples with questions about this. >> and of course what they are saying is that yes, these e-mails clearly show that there was some access that the calls were made, there's no proof, they claim, that any of these meetings led to anything. any quid pro quo happened. the other thing donald trump's been doing and one would say to a lot more criticism is going after, you know, his whole pitch for african american votes, doing it in a rather strange way, doing 12 in kbhiwhoot aread

insulting rhetoric, kristen welker, we show certainly new numbers, how unvowed this is in terms of african american support for donald trump. even compared to mitt romney and other republicans. >> absolutely. and he's really struggling to register in the polls with african americans, andrea. and his pitch, you point out, is raising eyebrows. he's essentially saying what do you have to lose? and if i'm elected, african americans can walk down the street without getting shot. that is backfiring to some extent. some african americans leaders say hey, wait a minute, this feels a little bit like stereotyping, the clinton campaign is firing back. they released a statement yesterday essentially saying this is bigoted rhetoric, today, surrogates, african american leaders, latino leaders are going to be holding a conference call to push back on some of the rhetoric that we've heard from donald trump. and african americans were so critical to secretary clinton's wins in the primaries. and she is essentially turning

to them now and saying, hey, don't buy this rhetoric, the question is will it work? will he be able to win over in fact some african americans. part of his argument is that democrats have taken their votes for granted. i asked brian fallon about that, he said that's absolutely not the case. clinton is not going to take their votes for granted, but it's clear, this is his new strategy and the clinton campaign pushing back very hard on it. >> and one would suspect that in doing it in all of these white communities in fredericksburg and virginia and north carolina and also outside of milwaukee that it's really aimed at suburban republican college-educated voters who have been especially women who have been very concerned about some of his rhetoric. >> that's absolutely right. and when you look at his track record throughout the course of this campaign, he hasn't spent a lot of time talking about these issues, and he's turned down invitations, andrea, to talk to african american groups. the naacp as well as nabj, the national association of black journalists. the urban league, they cite

scheduling conflicts, but there's no doubt that you have african americans saying if you want to talk to us, you have to come into our communities, come and talk to our groups and certainly accept some of these invitations. >> cory lewandowski telling cnn that's because he couldn't go to some neighborhoods for reasons of whatever safety. thank you. >> uh-huh. >> kristen welker, we look forward to your reporting today and tonight on nightly news. and hallie jackson and kasey hunt. today i spoke to terry mckau live and his reasons in virginia causing a big outcry from republicans. governor, thank you so much for joining us today. first of all, you have just restored voting rights to 13,000 felons who have now been released from prison. and this is after a court order saying that you could not give blanket voting rights to all of the felons who've gotten out of jail. so how have you done this for

these 13,000? you say you're doing it individually, how does that work? >> first of all, we will continue through the pros of all 200,000. we are complying with the court order. the court order, very publicly, was wrong, the constitution was clear, four constitutional experts, including the man who drafted the 71 constitutions said i have the authority. so i have now taken what the supreme court did and moving forward. we've restored the rights of nearly 13,000. and andrea, this is a civil rights issue. virginia was one of the worst states in america. 40 states had already done what i had done. it is unfortunate that the republicans, the leadership, continuingly tries to disenfranchise voters in this state. and the action i took, illuminated about 114 years of racial prejudice, when these laws were put on the books in 1902, senator got on the floor of our capital and said, we are taking in, and i quote him, to keep, to eliminate the darkies

as a political force in virginia. that was his quote. those actions that i took eliminated 114 years. it's the right thing to do. these folks are back in our communities, they have already served their time, they're done with probation or parol, they're going to church, back in society, going to grocery stores, they're paying taxes. i want them back as full citizens of the common wealth, productive citizens paying taxes and you can't do that by treating them like a second class citizen. >> well, you know what donald trump is saying. donald trump is saying that the system is rigged, and republicans are accusing you of increasing the african american vote because they would most likely be hillary clinton voters, not donald trump voters. >> and here's where they're wrong and once again donald trump has proceeded to embarrass himself. he was here, he said this three days ago in fredericksburg, virginia. the arch person who are getting their rights back, andrea, is a 48-year-old white male. now, i'm not sure that's hillary's demographic, but maybe it is. but what i did, the a,s i took,

these are new voters. i tell republicans, democrats, alike, go out and earn their vote, and let me also talk practically for a second. we don't need these votes and i speak for the hillary campaign. she is going to win virginia. we've been anywhere from eight to ten points up now for five or six months. we have built a massive ground operation. she's going to win it. she doesn't need these votes, but let me tell you this, we're going to earn them and put the message out on why they should vote for hillary. she's very good shape. but let me say, people say the this was a partisan act, it wasn't, it morally the right thing to do. what was partisan, andrea, was years and years of the republicans here in virginia disenfranchising these voters, state senator who for years put up a constitution amendment to wash our constitution clear of these disenfranchisement tactics. republicans for years and years have failed to do anything to bring these people back into society. 40 states had already done what

i had done. people don't understand that. i put virginia -- why are we always at the back of the pack on civil rights issues? we should be leading the nation, i ran for governor on this issue, this is why i will tell you this, you elect democrats, we are going to fight for individuals to restore their dignity and their civil liberties. >> well donald trump, who is most recently first in fredericksburg, before that he was in north carolina, he was outside of milwaukee and wisconsin, all in white areas, and again, akron, ohio, just now, last night, at a rally, trying to appeal he said to african american voters. let me play for you what he had to say. >> okay. >> the way african americans are living in many cases, and in many cases the way hispanics are living, and i say it with such a deep-felt feeling, 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. crime. you can walk down the street without getting shot. right now you walk down the street, you get shot. >> who do you think -- who do you think that donald trump is appealing to with that kind of rhetoric? >> nobody. first of all, why does he never speak to the african american communities when he makes these speeches? but the speech he gave the other day about how your schools are horrible, you're all unemployed, you'll have no future, you're all worthless, what kind of enlightening message is that. i would love for donald trump to come out with specific ideas of what he thinks we need to do to move america forward. i disagree with donald trump, i disagree with the four days at their convention, it was a tear-down america. andrea, you've known me for many years. i think we're the greatest nation on earth. can we be better? of course we can. those are the plans that hillary has talked about and free tuition for those under $125,000 a year for families, new infrastructure investment, that

will create jobs. hillary's laying out plan after plan after plan, donald trump, which i think is a disqualifier, first and foremost, you know, after i lot of military here in the common wealth of virginia as you know and we have 800,000 veterans out of about 8.5 million. i'm very proud of our military. active duty and our veterans. after i son in the united states marine corps. the family from virginia, they lost their son fighting for our nation. anyone who puts on that uniform deserves the ultimate respect and any family who loses a loved one -- he disqualified himself as commander in chief. >> let me ask you though about his calls now for special prosecutor, something that hillary clinton certainly doesn't want to hear and thinking back about the '90s, but what about the clinton e-mails, what about the clinton foundation and the conflicts of interest that have been alleged? she's now going to have all these e-mails dumped out right before the debates, and right before the election. isn't that a big drag on hillary

clinton? >> i would say first and foremost, donald trump has zero credibility talking about any of these issues until this man releases his taxes. how is it -- could you just reverse the roles, andrea, for one second. could you imagine if hillary clinton, today, was refusing to release her taxes. andrea, you and the rest of the press corps would absolutely -- i can't even imagine what would be going on across america. this man, until he releases his taxes, he says well i'm under audit, then release the years that weren't under audit. he's refusing to do it. what is he hiding? hillary has put out years and years of her taxes. tim kaine put out his taxes. what's in those taxes? does he have russian investors, it is what it is, we in america are going to the polls should understand exactly what it is he is try to hide so we can make a

decision. the idea that he's calling for a special prosecutor is crazy. we need to know what is in donald trump's taxes. he needs to release his taxes before anyone continues his discussion further, and i would say this, anyone involved in the campaign, donald trump, release your taxes, and that would be my answer every single time he tries to come back on our campaign and talk about e-mails. release your taxes, donald. what are you hiding? >> and finally, very briefly, you've spent a lot of time with hillary clinton, how healthy is hillary clinton? she's been attacked by rooudy giuliani and donald trump. >> it's disgraceful the way these republicans have operated. i have spent a lot of time with hillary. she is as fit as anyone i know. healthy. engaged. knows the issues inside and out. as you know, she can endure anything. and she has endured anything. and the idea that there's a health issue, i just think, honestly, is reprehensible that people in american politics today are trying to make these

allegations. they should be embarrassed. it is a disgrace to our nation. let me go back to the point i started with, we are the greatest nation on earth. we can be better. hillary clinton is laying out plans to make our nation greater. here i sit in the common wealth in virginia, andrea, 3.7% unemployment, was 5.4 when i was governor, steepest drop in 34 years. we're working together on traveling the globe, we're opening up markets all over -- this is how you grow a nation, it's how we're growing virginia, and you know what, the republicans ought to focus on ideas to move america forward instead of these disgraceful attacks on hillary clinton's health and the other issues that they have brought up. let's hear ideas. >> terry mcauliffe, the governor of virginia. >> thank you. and heading south, breaking news from florida. where the governor has announced that health officials have found five new non-travel-realitied kagss of zika. once was found in pinellas county on florida's gulf coast. four others were in the winwood

area of miami. investigations are under way in pinellas which includes st. petersburg, clearwater. health officials still believe that ongoing active transmission of zika is only taking place within that small, identified area, the winwood area and also miami beach. coming up, louisiana strong. this hour, president obama about to land in baton rouge to tour the flood zone. we'll go live there next on "andrea mitchell reports" only on msnbc. policy is 22 pages long. did you read every word? no, only lawyers do that. so when you got rear-ended and needed a tow, your insurance company told you to look at page five on your policy. did it say "great news. you're covered!" on page five? no. it said, "blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah..." the liberty mutual app with coverage compass™ makes it easy to know what you're covered for and what you're not. liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance.

the oil companies pollute our air. putting their... ...profits ahead of our kids' health. now they're trying to weaken california's clean air laws. i'm tom steyer. we've had a million kids get asthma. we need to send the oil companies a message. tell your legislator to stand up to the oil companies and protect our clean air laws. don't let the oil companies put their profits... ...ahead of our kids.

i know how katrina victims feel now. >> right. unbelievable. >> yeah. >> and i'm still not coping with it too good. >> yeah. >> it's really just getting me upset and just can't believe it's all gone. >> some of the thousands in

louisiana. residents coping with devastation from historic floods. president obama is about to land in baton rouge. for talks with state and local officials and to tour the damage. nbc news tammie lightener joining me now where every home was flooded. how do people cope? does it help when the president of the united states shows up? >> reporter: i think people are happy. and they don't have the attitude too little too late. these people just want help. it's utter devastation out here. most people lost everything. it's house after house after house. i've been in a number of these houses. i've spoken with a number of residents, and you know, this is a lifetime of memories here. it's not just furniture and baby clothes, these are pictures, these are things they've collected over an entire lifetime. a lot of these people lived in this community for years and years, now earlier this morning, the governor was out here, he was speaking with residents, he was going inside some of the houses, we spoke with him.

let's listen to a little of our conversation. what do you want the president to know when he shows up this afternoon? >> first i want him to know that we appreciate the response that we've had thus far from fema and other federal partners, but that we are now closing out the response phase, getting into the recovery phase. and we are going to need a lot more help. this community cannot recover with only the assistance that comes from fema. >> reporter: and i want to the give you an idea of how high the water got. it got about eight feet in this neighborhood, about to the bottom of that roof there. picked up that boat and lifted it. you know, it was just so overpowering that most people in this neighborhood, andrea, they lost everything. >> really is heart-breaking. and it is political, of course, tammie as you await the president and he'll see the governor, donald trump who was there on friday, briefly said, tweeted out, president obama should have gone to louisiana days ago. instead of golfing, too little, too late. the governor was quoted as

saying to the president, don't come until we're ready. right now it would interfere with the recovery and rescue operations. thank you to tammie lightener in louisiana. and campaign check-up. hillary clinton laughing you have questions about her health with jimmy kimmel. more on that coming up next on "andrea mitchell reports" right here on msnbc. real is touching a ray. amazing is moving like one. real is making new friends. amazing is getting this close. real is an animal rescue. amazing is over twenty-seven thousand of them. there's only one place where real and amazing live. book a seaworld vacation package and eat free. to the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford? let's hear what actual customers are saying. [ hanson ] the hartford's integrity is something

that's very important to us folks over 50. i get the highest levels of coverage. i get the highest levels of service, low premiums, but when it comes time to deliver, the hartford's been there. and that's what value's about for me. [ mccoy ] only the hartford offers lifetime renewability. it's their promise not to drop you even if you're in an accident. it's a great feeling to know that they're not gonna drop you for that reason. [ mccoy ] get the level of trust, value, and service experienced drivers like us deserve and see why customers rate the hartford 4.7 out of 5 stars for their claims experience. [ female announcer ] go to visithartfordauto.com today to learn more about the aarp auto insurance program from the hartford and get a quote. that's visithartfordauto.com.

be the you who doesn't cover your moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. be the you who shows up in that dress. who hugs a friend. who is done with treatments that don't give you clearer skin. be the you who controls your psoriasis with stelara® just 4 doses a year after 2 starter doses. stelara® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before starting stelara® tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. always tell your doctor if you have any signs of infection, have had cancer, if you develop any new skin growths or if anyone in your house needs or has recently received a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems

these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to stelara® or any of its ingredients. most people using stelara® saw 75% clearer skin and the majority were rated as cleared or minimal at 12 weeks. be the you who talks to your dermatologist about stelara®. the clintons made the state department into the same kind of pay-for-play operation as the arkansas government was. pay the clinton foundation huge sums of money and throw in some big speaking fees for bill clinton, and you got to play. you got to do what you wanted to do. the amounts involved, the favor is done, and the significant number of times it was done, require an exme dietd investigation by a special prosecutor immediately,

immediately, immediately. >> hillary clinton facing tough criticism from donald trump involving the clinton foundation. newly released clinton e-mails obtained by a conservative watchdog group, judicial watch showing big donors did get access, they got meetings through her top aid during his time as secretary of state, but the clintons pushed back saying that they didn't get anything for those meetings. there's still of course fighting the perception in the polling that she is not viewed as trust worthy or honest. joining me now is bob, long-time democratic strategist senior advisor to the john kerry campaign. good to see you, thank you so much. look, now they are saying that bill clinton, if she's elected with lep down from the board, no longer be involved in fundraising which begs the question, if it's not good enough to disprove conflicts of interest or perceptions of conflict as president of the united states if elected, why was it okay as secretary of state? >> look, i think the press is completely obsessed with this, i

think that donald trump is desperate. and i think everybody is ignoring some fundamental facts. one, the fbi looked at this. decided there was no basis to move forward legally. number two, they want to move forward, the republicans want to move forward politically, but one of the most telling findings in any recent poll was where they asked a really smart question and if i may paraphrase, the answer that was 64% of people are tired of hearing about hillary clinton's damn e-mails. they're baked into the equation. none of this is solving donald trump's fundamental and disqualifying problem. people think he is not fit to be president of the united states, not fit by temperament, he's not stable, and in fact, as he gives these speeches, he's just reinforcing that case. that's why you're nbc survey monkey poll hasn't moved an inch. >> well, let me just state that the fbi did not look into clinton foundation access or any of these issues, they were

looking into -- >> we don't know that actually. andrea, we do not know that. >> we know from what james comey said -- >> no, he refused to answer a question that congress asked about -- he was asked in the house about whether or not they had investigated the clinton foundation. we just don't know. >> i'm going to return to that later and just double check my own recollections, but i do think it was contrary to that, in any case, i want to the ask you about the health issue. because the trump and giuliani team have been going after hillary clinton on her health. and i want to play the way she handled this on jimmy kimmel last night and ask you on the other side what you think they're trying to do. >> rudy giuliani was on fox news yesterday and today and saying 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. so make sure i'm alive. >> oh my god, there's nothing there. >> there's nothing there. back in october the national inquirer said i would be dead in six months. >> oh wow. >> boy. >> every breath i take -- >> you have new lease on life. >> new lease on life. can you open this jar of pickles. this has not been tampered with. >> so, certainly one way to handle what they are calling deranged conspiracy theories. >> well i think it is a deranged conspiracy theory. i think it's demagoguery, i think they're throwing everything they can at the wall because donald trump is in fundamental trouble. he's demographic cul-de-sac in terms of the rising american electorate. he's in trouble in almost every battleground state. deep trouble. sop he's pivoted.

deeper into the darkness. there is absolutely no evidence for these health allegations, her doctor has put out a statement and it is by the way, far more convincing and credible that donald trump's believe innovating statement and the donald trump's health. i think we're going see more of this. trump is going to sink deeper into the mud. i don't think it's going to rescue him. i don't think attacking e-mails, health, the clinton foundation. i don't think any of that is going anywhere. >> well, let me just say just for the record, according to our pete williams, the fbi has not closed the book on the clinton foundation. they are still looking into it, they have been looking into it. >> but that was my point. there is no evidence that it the fbi thinks that legally there is anything to move forward on here. i think the press is making a big mistake, taking the bait, and i think the reason is they want to race. i love you, i respect you immensely, but i don't think that this is what the american people want to talk about. they want to talk about jobs.

they want to talk about health care, they want to talk about income inequality, and we're still on the same old story, i don't think it's helping trump, he's unfit to be president. he proves it every day. >> okay. let me just say, for the record, that sometimes our job is to look at things that may not be what the public wants to know about, but that if the clinton foundation, if the clintons had been more transparent all along -- >> i agree with that. i think it would have been a very good idea never to use a private e-mail server. i agree totally with that. i'm just saying that this -- donald trump has taken us down this road because he has nowhere else to go. and i understand that you have to report it, but i think it ought to be reported with skepticism. people ought to say, these are outrageous health claims, unsubstantiated and no evidence. >> in our case we have, this morning on the "today" program and last week on nightly news. we have made that point. but this has been a good conversation, bob. it's always well. >> i think it's really important for the press to say that this

stuff is unsubstantiated. for example, meeting a high official of bahrain as secretary of state proves the conflict of interest, we have our largest fleet, andrea, as you know based there. the secretary of state and american officials meet with the high official of bahrain all the time. it's not evidence of corruption. >> thank you very much, bob. point taken. and coming up, the biden doctor, and steve clemons joining me to discuss his exclusive interview with the vice president. more on that next. plus joe biden's nato slam against trump. we'll be right back. the right things working together can give you an advantage. like trubiotics with immune support advantage. its unique formula supports immune health in two ways. with probiotics that work in your gut. and antioxidants that work throughout your body. trubiotics from one a day.

i'm in vests and as a vested investor in vests, i invest with e*trade, where investors can investigate and invest in vests... or not in vests. sign up at etrade.com and get up to six hundred dollars.

marcopolo! marco...! polo! marco...! polo! marco...! polo! marco...! sì? polo! marco...! polo! scusa? ma io sono marco polo, ma... marco...! playing "marco polo" with marco polo? surprising. ragazzini, io sono marco polo. sì, sono qui... what's not surprising? how much money amanda and keith saved by switching to geico. ahhh... polo. marco...! polo! fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. polo! and vice president joe biden is trying to reassure the baltic states that the u.s. will not abandon it's nato allies with a blast at donald trump on the way for his criticism of nato. >> i want to make it absolutely clear to all the people in the baltic states.

we have pledged or sacred honor, the united states of america, our sacred honor to the nato treaty and article v, we mean what we say. we have never reanythinged on any commitment we've ever made. our sacred honor is at stake. and the fact that you occasionally hear something from a presidential candidate and the other party it's nothing that should be taken seriously because i don't think he even understands what article v is. >> joining me now is steve clemons, the washington editor at large for the atlantic. had the vice president made a lasting contribution in foreign policy reading the website now. this is exactly eight years, according to to the vice president's facebook, he reminds us eight years ago today, he was unveiled as the running mate in illinois. >> president obama to be, to be uncle joe. >> and how has uncle joe done?

especially in foreign policy which was his strength? >> well, i think that one of the things, he had a legacy before becoming vice president having served as chair and ranking member of the foreign relations committee. one of the things i've become interested in, all of his interaction with foreign leaders and when you began looking at that, you can say well it's just a big mess or it emerged and i saw what i thought were patterns and that led me to ask him, does he think there's a biden doctrine. and he said yes, there is. >> and this is what he had to say about hillary clinton. his some time rival over foreign policy inside the administration. >> but with hillary -- hillary has an open mind, and hillary's got some really good people. i think she can use her reputation for being hard-edged to some advantage. like everybody talks about she has this terrible relationship with putin. that's not such a bad thing right now, because he knows he can't push her around and i think that's not a bad thing.

>> and putin just relationship with donald trump has been so controversial and the intelligence allegedly hacking democratic websites and trying to influence the election. what about biden's explanation for the failures to deal with the syrian civil war? >> well, when you get into the, into that, i mean he laid out that, you know, something that you and i talked about before. that it's a real knot. it's, you know, domestic civil war with a proxy war on top of it. and he made the comment that you could throw 200,000 troops into syria today and you could stabilize the situation, but if you took those troops out, it would return back to the mess it is today. so, i think his heart goes out to it. i think it remains one of those problems that a lot of people in the obama administration look at as a failure, regrettable failure with no easy fix. >> and another thing that he talked about was terrorism. and interestingly saying it's not an exthat sensual threat to

the united states. let's play that audio. >> terrorism is a real threat, but it's not an exist ten shl threat to the existence of the democratic country of the united states of america. it is, it can cause real problems. it can undermine confidence, it can kill relatively large numbers of people, but it's not an exist ten shl threat. >> that's an interesting thing to say politically -- >> imagine if he were running for president of the united states. >> donald trump's numbers zoomed after san bernardino after he first started talking about the muslim ban and reaching out to t the. >> terrorism a threat you can overrespond. you can throw so many resources at something, at the wolf at the

door as he called it, but there are lots of other wolves in the field. and so he talked about proportionalty, and when it comes to proportionalty, we need to understand that we don't need to turn our entire way of existence upside down to deal with the terrorism. you have to deal with it, but that doesn't mean you should take the eye off the ball on nuclear threats, china and russia, what kim jong-un, he cited jim jong-unhimse himself. >> fascinating stuff. >> thank you. so much. and sadly a day after 100 american soldiers were sent into the province of afghanistan, news today, one american sfgs member has been killed killed there. happened when an ied exploded during a training mission with afghan soldiers. the taliban captured several districts in recent weeks. now reportedly are threatening to overrun the capital where today's attack took place. and we'll be right back.

will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. all i could think about was our deadlines racing towards us. a loan would take too long. we needed money, now. my amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders. opportunities don't wait around, so you have to be ready for them. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. this is todd hardy. a fitness buff, youth baseball coach-and lung cancer patient.

the day i got the diagnosis, i was just shocked. the surgeon in dallas said i needed to have the top left lobe of my lung removed. i wanted to know what my other options were. and i found that at cancer treatment centers of america. at ctca, our experts examine a variety of therapies, treatments and technologies to identify a plan specifically for each patient. my doctor understood that who i am was just as important as what cancer i had. we talked about options. my doctor told me about a robotic surgery that was less invasive. we have excellent technology that allow us to perform very specialized procedures for patients who have lung disease. at ctca, it's all about what you can do. i feel fantastic now. exploring treatment options is at the heart of how we fight cancer. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more about our treatment options at cancercenter.com/lung. appointments available now. what makes wendy's baconator different? while the other guys use frozen beef from far away. wendy's only serves fresh beef

from ranches close by. so we don't have to freeze it. add six strips of thick, applewood smoked bacon. and wendy's baconator isn't just different, it's deliciously different. burning of diabetic nerve pain, these feet learned the horn from my dad and played gigs from new york to miami. but i couldn't bear my diabetic nerve pain any longer. so i talked to my doctor and he prescribed lyrica. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression, or unusual changes in mood or behavior. or swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling or blurry vision. common side effects are dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain and swelling of hands, legs, and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who have had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. now i have less diabetic nerve pain. ask your doctor about lyrica.

the state department said that they have to release 15,000 e-mails by the deadline, a couple days before the debate. are you concerned about that. >> no -- >> i would be terrified if my e-mails were released. >> jimmy, my e-mails are so boring. >> yeah. >> and i mean -- >> mine aren't. >> they are so boring. and so we've already released -- i don't know, 30,000-plus, what's a few more? >> well, hillary clinton trying to brush off the latest headlines over her e-mails as secretary of state, but what the democratic nominee could be a big deal to undecided voters. joining me now for our daily fix, chris alyssa and founder of the washington post fix blog, and new york times political reporter nick. welcome both. chris, is this the right attitude to take at this point with these e-mails? bob and i debated this a bit ago in the show with him saying, nobody but us cares. >> yep. look, bob's point that it's

somewhat baked in is a fair one. and i will note that hillary clinton was on a late night comedy show. she wasn't doing meet the press or an interview with you. that said, she didn't turn -- the e-mails were required to be released by a federal judge, number one, number two, we're talking about 14,900 documents related to the e-mails. we don't know how much overlap it is and things she deleted. we know those were things not turned over to the state department. you know, again, transparency, honest and trust worthy issues, there's no question. does she benefit on that? absolutely. issues with honesty and trust worthiness. that's where this hits hard if donald trump can continue on a clinton foundation and clinton e-mails message which he won't. >> and nick, what about the

timing of this? these e-mails are going to be dumped out, dribbled out, they're going to come out just before the debates, just before the election, does it matter to the voters? >> i think it does. i think hillary clinton is being too modest, andrea. i think her e-mails are very interesting. we saw in this batch some evidence that the clinton foundation is both philanthropy, but also a vehicle for donors to the foundation, to try to purchase access to the clinton state department. which is not a small thing, i think it does go to worries and questions about the clinton foundation and the blurrying of lines between the political worlds of the clinton's and their donor network and as chris said, i think it goes directly to the questions about, you know, honesty and trust worthiness she faces with many voters. i think when those e-mails are dumped been that debate, people are going to look closely at them. if there's more of this kind of thing, it's going to raise those questions at an awkward time for

her. >> andrea, quickly, i want to add about the clinton foundation. you know, no one -- not you, not i, not nick are denying that the clinton foundation does tremendous amounts of good in the world. lots and lots of aids vaccines -- >> hiv aids. 70 countries in fact. >> right. no one is -- no one is questioning any of that. but nick's point about the blurring of the lines that has always been a clinton problem, it is a perception thing. if you were getting this money and then doing this, they know a quid pro quo is certainly not going to be proven, but thousand looks, they have always been not great at seeing how someone who was not favorably inclined to them would perceive something. this is a continuing narrative on and on and on that's been with us since bill clinton got into the white house in 1992. >> and nick, you're in new orleans on assignment, the president as you can see air force one now arriving in baton

rouge. donald trump tweeted out today, too little, too late, he shouldn't have been playing golf last week. we know the governor who was a democrat said don't come yet, fema is doing it's job. jeh johnson was there. what is the balancing job that the commander in chief, chief executive should take with vacations, with golf, with personal time? during a time of real national tragedy and disaster? >> well, personally, i think that presidents need vacations. the problem is that the optics as they say in politics are not good. the problem for the president and all presidents i think that there is almost always something going on that requires urgent attention. there is almost always a disaster of some kind of proportion. the question what point does to see the commander and chief and leader focus og than problem. and i think perhaps belatedly, the current white house saw what was happening and realized that people here wanted to see more

of the flag, obviously, some local officials blessed his decision to stay away for longer, citing problems he might cause with emergency vehicles and blocking up roads, but look, kind of moments of crisis in states like this, you want to see the commander in chief. and i think that's a real emotion people have. >> well chris alyssa, even some supporters privately say to me, you know, there were times like this when he should come off the golf course, put on a tie and jacket, go into a briefing room, and say what, what his latest briefing was from fema, at least speak to it and say i'm going to go next week when things are better under management there. >> yeah, two points, nick is right that it's so difficult in the connected world that we live in for the president to sort of pick and choose what sort of rises to the level of doing that. but number two, andrea, i do think barack obama has never liked sort of caving to public pressure from what he views as

political elites in his political opponents. he does not like being told what he should or should not do, by the media, by his opponents in the democratic or the republican party, and i think it makes him less likely to do the sorts of basic blocking and tackling, as you've said, find a room, put a shirt and tie on and talk a little bit about this. because nick, again, nick is right. we do look to our presidents, to our leaders in general, our governors our mayors in this day and age as a today issing why force. a reassuring force. mike pence came on friday with a tractor-trailer full of relief

supplies that were donated by the trump, by donald trump or his organization. does this put the president disadvantage or do people get it? >> well, i think, you know, as chris was pointing out and this is kind of our chris thing here, but i do think that -- i think the problem is he didn't want to be seen -- i think the president hates to be seen as playing to symbolism in what he thinks of as a chief way. the problem is, now of course he is in louisiana, and politically speaking, and in a cheap way, i think trump won the day here. he came in first, they barraged the president with criticism, and now he's coming in, and i'm sure they're coming in according to plan. i'm sure they feel like this is the appropriate time to do, and of course it now looks like the president is responding to trump and not simply doing his own thing which is always not so great in politics. >> and chris alyssa, at the same time as all of this is going on, what about donald trump's call for a special prosecutor?

is that just fasle given the fact we know how special prosecutors are appointed? one is not going to be appointed between now and election day. >> breaking news, that's not going to happen, right. >> strong aversion to the two words special prosecutor going all the way back. >> you know, look, you're exactly right, andrea. this is not going to happen. just the past has suggested he can't. this is a good message for him. >> as you're speaking, just to tell our viewers those listening on xm radio, the president coming down the steps, being greeted by the governor, by local officials there in louisiana. a beautiful, bright day, obviously the rain has stopped, but the flooding has not fully receded. the devastation has been extraordinary. thousands and thousands of people, i think upwards of 60,000 homes, people left homeless, still.

and the damage incredible and fema has been getting good marks, chris, i did interrupt you, but the good marks for fema. we now take it for granted, that was not always the case, but it has nots been such under two administrations that organization pulled itself together since katrina. >> one thing just to throw in to this whole conversation about the politics and optics of when obama should go and trump go. we know about the war in iraq is sort of why president george w. bush's popularity faded and led to a real reckoning within the republican party, if you look at the poll numbers, it's in the wake of his handling of hurricane katrina in which his numbers really begin to drop. we know for a fact that when events like this happen and you have the eyes of the public, not just the political people, but the eye us of the public on it, they are judging and looking and making sort of long-term decisions about how did this person do and what did it mean? that's what's difficult.

but we know for a fact, herself ri suggests people are looking and making judgments based on what our leaders and those who want to be our leaders do. that's the sort of conundrum that a trio like the three of uses are in. even when you sort of see the humanity here that the president is going to try to focus on. >> and it is the fact -- chris, and nick, nick, to you, that seeing something firsthand bearing witness, not just being the comforter in chief, it's also taking in information from people on the ground. what do they need? what didn't work quickly enough? we already know there's been criticism down there. this wasn't a horrific storm like a hurricane. it was a slow-moving disaster an didn't get as much attention quickly enough. they are not getting the

supplies, money, donation to the red cross that we saw in previous tragedies including super storm sandy, nick. >> that's correct. ts scale is not as with katrina. it's a smaller disaster. it doesn't help people down here. when the president is on the ground, erin stands up straighter. i think that president obama will be judged ultimately on the performance of federal authorities in dealing with this. so far, some reports are pretty good that the fema's been doing a good job. responding quickly. i think ultimately in the same way this president bush was hurt by the performance of his administration from katrina, it was a disaster, i think the president obama is going to be judged on how well federal authorities perform here. >> and so far, fema, craig, whom

we talked to other the day. jeh johnson was down looking at the homeland security operations. all of that has been functioning fairly well. although, there is, you know, a timetable for these things, and some of the immediate relief operations do not come as quickly as some might have wanted. the president's going to be touring the area as we said with the governor, the governor by the way, will be on msnbc it with chuck todd at 5:00 tonight on mtp daily with his first interview after the president's visit. telling us how things are doing and what the analysis now is and what more needs to be done. chris alyssa in our final moments here. it's hard to avoid the politics of this, as you pointed out, donald trump tweeting he was there first and too little too late, but we'll see after a tour like today is whether or not this, the politics we see is the flood waters have receded and we can focus more on the immediate

needs of the region. >> i think the point you made, andrea is important about attention. everybody says what can he do? bring attention to this, it's very important to remember this wasn't a massive, sort of thing that we kept an eye on for weeks as it was moving into up the atlantic like hurricane katrina or sandy. this is not a attention-getting nationwide. when the president goes there or donald trump goes there, attention focuses on it. you see more, the average person sees more of these images. that's an important, a role for any -- again, any leader or someone who wants to be leader, actually very smart politically and good for the people trying to recover from the louisiana flooding that donald trump went there on friday. giving out goods and services, drawing attention to it. i mean, criticize donald trump all you want, but doing that help whether weather you agree with anything he says or does otherwise, helps. and the samz way that president obama doing what he's doing now helps. >> to chris alyssa, nick, thank

you both so very much. that does it for us. for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." as the president begins his tour of louisiana. stay with us for more coverage of president obama's visit to baton rouge. stephanie rule is up next right here on msnbc. stephanie. >> thanks andrea. i'm stephanie rule, that is president obama moments ago, air force one touch down in louisiana, he is now leaving the airport to tour that flooded area. he's expected to spend the day there and in comes four days after donald trump visited the area, made a donation, saw victims of the flood, donald trump who was very critical of the president for not being there as well. take a look. >> the spirit of the people is incredible, and honestly, obama ought to get off the golf course and get down there. >> and while president obama has made his way to baton rouge today, donald trump maintains this same li