was a long weekend, your brain was wiped, but you have to remember that on your schedule. >> please take lots of pictures. >> my dad is a member of the intrepid so i've done the behind-the-scenes tour there and everything. i'm excited about it. >> thank you, my friend. >> bye. >> thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. okay, mississippi. mississippi, seriously. it's, you know, this is the start of the campaign supposedly. when mississippi comes up from the news in the way it did today, you could be forgiven for thinking that it might still be the weekend, maybe it's still monday morning, maybe you're asleep, maybe you're dreaming and this isn't the real world. but, no, today, in the real world, on the first day after labor day, which is the traditional start of the campaign season in american presidential election years, today mississippi, this news today about mississippi was apparently for real. it is almost impossible to

believe and if the common wisdom is true that this is the start of the campaign, that most americans who haven't been paying attention to the presidential election before now, they've started to pay attention as of today, now that we have the unofficial end of summer, labor day behind us, if it is true that a lot of americans are tuning in for the first time today, to really start paying attention to the presidential election, i think there are a handful of things that people are seeing in the news today, including this mississippi thing that aren't going to seem real. that aren't going to seem possible to a lot of people who are just tuning in to politics for the first time. i mean, overall, the big picture snapshot of the presidential race right now is that it is pretty close nationally, if not tied. the latest national cnn poll has trump leading by one point. the latest national nbc news/survey monkey poll has clinton up by six. there's also a new national l.a.

times poll that has clinton and trump in a tie. so close or tied. those are the national numbers. that said, we do not do our presidential election as a single, national election. we do it state by state. and "the washington post" today teamed up with survey monkey, just like nbc did their survey monkey poll. washington post has a survey monkey poll that is a state by state poll of the entire country. it's a very unusual way to poll. it's a huge sample size. more than 70,000 people. because it's in all 50 states and it's so many thousands of people in the sample, it takes them a long time to get that sample. people got surveyed for this poll between august 9th, and september 1st. all o these things are atypical. it's not your usual poll, but it's fascinating because it's a 50-state survey, and it has produced results that would be seen as incredible to the point of nuttiness in any normal year. i mean, again, the baseline

numbers are not themselves that crazy. overall, hillary clinton is leading by a lot, beating trump 2-1 in the electorate college, just with states that are democrat or leaning democrat, she's almost got the nomination -- excuse me -- she's almost got the election won. she's almost up to the number she needs in order to win. she needs 270. she's at 244, so she's within 26 electorate votes of winning the election altogether. in contrast, trump would need to double his electoratal votes in order to win at this point. so there's some stuff that is in keeping with what you might have been hearing about the election. but just look at this. look at the states that are neither democrat, nor republican. look at the toss-ups. again, some of them you'd expect. ohio, florida, florida, north carolina, wisconsin. that's a fairly typical list of swing states, right?

fairly typical. but look at the rest of the list. this is the swing state list. the toss-up state list. see there in the lower left-hand corner there, see where it says texas? "the washington post" knows that you think that that texas result is going to seem too insane. so they go out of their way today to point out that the sample size for this poll in texas was over 5,000 registered voters, which is a fairly big sample. but this "washington post" 50-state poll has hillary clinton leading in texas by one point. and that's not even the crazy result. the crazy result is mississippi. in this current, 50-state poll by "the washington post," mississippi is a swing state. mississippi is a toss-up. no way to tell what's going to happen in mississippi this year, you guys. i mean, right now, they have donald trump, yes, leading in mississippi, but leading there by a grand total of two points. which in technical terms means that this year's presidential

election is insane. it's as close in mississippi as it is in ohio. really? i mean, if that's true, if mississippi is within two points, if mississippi is a swing state this year, then i actually have to take a moment to debunk myself. because if these new numbers are accurate, then i have been very, very, very wrong on this exact subject. >> why on earth is your candidate in mississippi tonight? if everything you could possibly imagine that was bad for your candidate happened between now and november and everything great for hillary clinton happened between now and november, your candidate is still going to win mississippi by double digits. >> that's right. >> why is he in mississippi? you're wasting your donors' money. the best possible outcome is he might win by extra double digits. why is he there? >> he is there because he wanted

to do a rally in jackson, mississippi. >> so two weeks ago, donald trump's campaign manager was agreeing with me, that there was no rational explanation for what donald trump might be doing in mississippi. she said he was there because he wanted to be there. she conceded there's no imaginable political circumstance in which mississippi might be at risk for donald trump. there's no circumstance under which any republican nominee, including donald trump, would have to try hard in order to win in mississippi. she agreed with my blunt assertion that donald trump is absolutely guaranteed to win by double-digits in mississippi no matter what else happens on earth? if we were on the same page about nothing else, we both agreed on that. and ta-da, that's not true! mississippi, two-point lead. welcome to the campaign. if you're just joining us for the first time, the first thing you need to know is that everything is nuts. forget everything you ever learned or expected. anything could happen. and here's another defiance of history in today's news.

that texas number, hillary clinton ahead in texas, leading by one point in texas, that is basically as big a shock as the mississippi as a swing state number. today the largest newspaper in texas, "the dallas morning news," they made some news on their editorial page. they're a famously conservative editorial bent. "the dallas morning news" has endorsed every republican nominee for president since 1968. tomorrow morning, they're going to announce who they're endorsing in this year's presidential election. but ahead of that announcement, today they issued an anti-endorsement, to make clear they are breaking with a half century of unbroken republican endorsements. this year, we haven't yet learn wh ed who they want us to vote for, but this year, they're saying they want their voters to not vote for donald trump. a remarkable editorial, especially given where it's coming from.

quote, donald trump is no republican and certainly no conservative. trump is or has been at odds with nearly every gop ideal this newspaper holds dear. we have no interest in a republican nominee for whom all principles are negotiable, nor in a republican party that willing to trade away principle for republican victory. we are certain trump shouldn't reflect the gop of the future. donald trump is not qualified to serve as president and does not deserve your vote. tell us how you really feel. whether or not you take voting advice from the dallas morning news or from any newspaper, this is just as political science, this is a remarkable break with modern, political history. the last time this conservative paper in texas, the last time "the dallas morning news" found itself unable to endorse a republican nominee for president was 1964, when barry goldwater was the republican nominee, and a lot of people couldn't endorse him that year.

barry goldwater lost in 1964 this badly. when we learned last night of the death of conservative activist phyllis sh lovely, i was reminded that her first book in her remarkable career as a conservative activist and author, the very first book she ever wrote, was her self-published probarry goldwater vote in 1964. it was called a choice, not an echo. she self-published that book, skrinted hundreds of thousands of copies of that book during the republican primary in '64, and that book, a choice, not an echo, i'm sure it helped barry goldwater get the nomination from his party. even if it did not to protect him from the landslide that buried in the general election. but it's interesting and it will go down as an interesting quirk of history. she wrote 27 books over her long life, the first was about barry

goldwater in '64. the last one actually came out today, the day after she died. and her final book is called "the conservative case for donald trump." she felt like donald trump was the second coming of barry goldwater. that's how she talked about him. that's how she referred to him. she described him when she endorsed him this year as a choice, not an echo. she used the title of her barry goldwater book to describe why she believed so much in donald trump this year. if the phyllis sh lafly's of the conservative movement look at donald trump and see another barry goldwater, that's one thing. the democratic party running against donald trump is hoping for exactly the same thing, given the way it turned out with goldwater in '64. if mississippi is a swing state this year, they might be right about that. that said, this is officially, as of today, a new phase, right? this is the home stretch. this is the day after labor day,

day one of the rest of your life. this is the first day of the campaign in ernest. and it's starting off in a place where it doesn't usually start. and i think that's substantially because of what's about to happen tomorrow. tomorrow is the nbc news commander in chief forum, simulcast on nbc and msnbc, hosted by iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, iava. this is the first time that hillary clinton and donald trump will both be at the same event since both of them became the nominees of their party. this is a very rare, back-to-back appearance by the nominees. it's the only time that we know of in history where the nominees of the two major parties have squared off in a televised event, other than at the debates themselves. once people have the nomination, and we know the one to one match-up between the republican and the democrat, we think this is the first time they've had a head-to-head event other than the debates themselves, at least one that will be televised.

but the reason they're doing this, the reason this event was proprosed in the first place was substantive. it wasn't just to see what they look like on the same stage, it was to try to push to the foreground at this crucial stage of the campaign, these key issues that did not get enough attention in the primaries. these key issues of national security and veterans affairs. and that effort to push those to the forefront has already succeeded to a certain extent. to the extent that both these candidates are confirmed, they're going to do it. they did the coin toss today to see which candate will go forward. it will be hillary clinton first and donald trump second. we know the entire audience is going to be veterans and service members. it's on. so that's a success already, getting the candidates to agree to be there. the other way it's succeeded, it's already made the campaigns and the candidates take a turn toward national security and toward veterans issues as they head into this forum. we saw that intensively today. on the clinton side, it included

brand-new ads. this one is an ad the clinton campaign started running in five states today. now, the most widely run ad for the clinton campaign in total so far this year is the ad you've definitely seen where they show little kids watching statements by donald trump. sort of implicitly raises the question about what kind of roll model he would be for this country and for kids in this country. this is a twist on that ad, showing veterans watching donald trump make remarks disparaging veterans and the sacrifices of military families. so this ad, showing veterans watching clips from donald trump, hard-hitting ad from the clinton campaign, debuted today in advance of tomorrow's commander in chief forum. i think it's one of the more intense ads, more intense approaches to an ad what the clinton campaign has run thus far. but it's actually, a little bit overshadowed today, because it pales a little bit in comparison to a different pro-clinton ad that started running in five states.

this is an ad from a pro-clinton super pac. i think this is basically supposed to be an echo of the daisy ad with the mushroom cloud that lbj ran against goldwater back in 1964. watch. >> i'm really good at war. i love war, in a certain way. including with nukes, yes, including with nukes. i know more about isis than the generals do, believe me. >> nuclear is just the power, the devastation, is very important to me. i want to be unpredictable. unpribltable. >> priorities usa action is responsible for the content of this advertising. >> that's supposed to be, i think, this year's daisy ad, from a pro-clinton super pac, started running today in north carolina, florida, nevada, iowa, and ohio. and of course the campaigns and these super pacs are not

supposed to coordinate their activities, but clearly candidate hillary clinton is running with that same theme in some of her attacks on donald trump in advance of their big face-off tomorrow night. >> his whole campaign has been one long insult to all those who have worn the uniform, to protect our most cherished american values. and a man who is so wrong about our veterans isn't right to serve as our commander in chief. when it comes to fighting isis, he has been all over the map. you would have to literally map it out. he's talked about letting syria become a free zone for isis. look at the map, donald. he's talke about sending in american ground troops, not on my watch. that is not what we are going to

do. he's even talked about using nuclear weapons. he's very loose in his talk about nukes. he says he doesn't care if other countries get them. doesn't know why they haven't been used already. i mean, it's so mind-boggling when i hear these things, i say, that can't be true. and then they replay it for me again. he says he has a secret plan to defeat isis. but the secret is, he has no plan. >> hillary clinton speaking today in tampa, florida. introduced by a female veteran. lots of references to veterans issues, as well as national security issues throughout the speech. she's basically ramping up toward tomorrow night's commander in chief forum on the intrepid in new york city.

on the trump side, no new ads from him or his super pacs, the way they were on the clinton side. i think that's in part because they don't run very many ads at all. that said, the trump campaign did roll out a list of retired generals and admirals who support trump's candidacy today. donald trump also gave a speech tonight in north carolina. it was basically a continuation of his criticism of hillary clinton for her use of a private e-mail server while she was secretary of state. donald trump said tonight in those remarks that hillary clinton has been caught trying to cover up massive crimes. >> no one takes all the risks hillary clinton took unless they're trying to cover up massive, massive crimes. >> he did not say what these crimes were, but they are massive. in terms of specific commander in chief issues ahead of

tomorrow night's event, donald trump did hold what was billed today as a town hall on military and veterans' issues. that was held in virginia beach, which is a very heavily military town. that said, it was strange. the event was billed as a town hall. they're still congratulating themselves tonight for having held a town hall, with members of the military and veterans, but even though they called it a town hall, donald trump took no questions from anyone in the audience at that event. that will not be the case tomorrow night when hillary clinton and donald trump sit down for an audience of veterans and service members on board the intrepid. matt lauer is going to be the moderator for the event for both candidates. both candidates will be taking questions from veterans directly. i cannot wait. frank rich joins us next. thing g right by our customers. who's with me? i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. i'm in. ♪ ♪

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we've had federal judges nominated by presidents since president george washington picked the very first one in september 1789.

for the first century and and a half of our country, federal judges looked only like these guys, with more or less hair both on top of their head and on their face. in modern times, the federal bench has slowly gotten slightly more diverse. tracked by ethnicity and gender, you can see, for instance, we've had three native americans as federal judges. three pacific islanders, 409 federal judges who are women. today president obama nominated a lawyer named abib koreshy for district court in washington, d.c. he was the first muslim american ever nominated in the history of our country to be a federal judge. mr. qureshi has been celebrated for his pro bono work, for working for clients who need top notch representation, but they can't afford to pay for it. because the senate doesn't do things like confirm judges,

they're considered very unlikely to take this up, the man who would be the first muslim american judge ever. just by president obama nominating him today, we can imagine a world where it's not a job requirement to be a federal judge that you definitely have to look like one of these guys. hold that thought.

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donald trump! donald trump! oh, my god! >> the hostile takeover of donald trump has happened! >> will it be, will it be? yes, it is! >> yeah! your republican presidential nominee in 2007 indulging in a little wrestle mania. this weekend mr. one and the same expressed his opinion to a room full of fellas on the presidential looks or lack thereof of his opponent, hillary clinton. >> i was the first one to use the term. it's a rigged system. when you see all the money going into hillary clinton's bank account, why? to have her? give me a break. think she looks presidential, fellas? hillary clinton would be a disaster. >> she looks presidential, fellas. today the clinton campaign pointed out that donald trump has been saying this kind of thing for weeks now.

>> now you tell me she looks presidential, folks. i look presidential. >> i don't think so. she doesn't even look presidential to me. she certainly doesn't. >> she looks so presidential. you see her walk onto the stage. she looks presidential, i don't think so. i don't think so. i don't think so. i don't think. i being i think presidential, to be honest with you. >> if you are trying to figure out just where donald trump is going with this talk of a presidential look that he has and she doesn't, this morning she tried to explain. >> you've often talked about hillary clinton's stamina. >> right. >> you've even said she doesn't ok presidential. >> i really doelieve that. >> what do you mean by that? >> i just don't think she has a presidential look. and you need a presidential look, you have to get the job done. i think if she went to mexico,

she would have trouble. we had a big success. >> but when you talk about her not looking presidential, are you talking about aesthetics here? >> i'm talking about in general. >> i'm talking about in general. in general. the social media director for president obama's re-election in 2012 was laura olin. and when hillary clinton clinched the democratic nomination for president this year in june, laura olin posted this online. she sent tiny emoji art to mark this moment. you sort of get the point. it's true, but it's a little simple. the first 43 weren't all bald. also president obama has no amazing mustache. but i think what trump is getting at here, with the whole presidential look thing, is that there are some people who look at this point in the emoji art and see it not as a welcome change, but as a cause to freak out. joining us now, frank rich,

writer at large for new york magazine. thank you for being here. >> good to see you. >> presidential looks, how do you know when somebody has one? >> well, if you look like a croupier from ocean's 11, the original version, like trump, i guess that means you're presidential in looks. it's hilarious. i guess he's a white man, although are we sure he's white, as opposed to, say, orange? >> well -- >> i'm sorry. >> i don't know the source of his tone, his physical tone. but is it just raw, women don't look like presidents? and the reason i ask that is not to be overly obvious. it's because i feel like stuff like that would be something you'd hint at or would be beyond the pale to say so directly. but maybe with him it's okay to say it, a woman shouldn't be president? >> i just don't think that flies at all in this culture. first of all, people are used to women being world leaders

elsewhere, great britain, germany. if people watch primetime television, half the presidents on tv are women and have been for several years now. so i just think it's like everything he does. it's frozen back in some locker room in whatever prep school he was at where he, i'm sure, led his class, and taught the teachers latin and everything else he claims to have done. but i think it's anti-dlufian. it's completely out of touch. >> as the campaign takes this turn it's taking, a little bit of a forced turn, toward commander in chief issues, towards veterans issues because of this forum tomorrow, i think we didn't know, once the forum got scheduled, if it would shift the whole campaign, but looking about what they're talking about, putting out ads for, it does seem like it's put those issues front and center in the campaign. which of these candidates is sort of doing the best job at turning those issues to their

advantage? >> well, i think that clinton is, and for the simple reason she actually knows something about them. she knows where countries are on the mad. i like the clip you showed earlier of her speaking, because it's a little looser and a little bit more, you know, what is this? this guy doesn't know anything about nuclear weapons. and that, indeed, that replay of the ad, to the extent that tv ads mean something now, i don't know if they do, kind of effective rehash of what goldwater was beset with by lbj. >> she's been pushing this line, that she's temperamentally unfit, that he's not the kind of person, in terms of his character, in terms of his character and the way he reacts to stimuli, that he's not capable of carrying out the duties of president. i'm not sure whether it's

changing anybody's minds about whether or not they're going to vote for him. certainly his polling standing hasn't been affected negatively since she started making that argument. >> i think it's an effective argument. he has no attention span. he talks about nuclear weapons as if he was talking about chewing gum or something. that said, i think the one thing that donald trump said that is accurate, that he could go out on fifth avenue, pull out a gun and shoot somebody and his voters would still be faithful. i don't think she's going to pull away any trump voters with that. she's preaching to people like us, to the converted. she's got to do more about, i feel, herself, and people feeling her commander in chiefness, if that's a word. because i think everyone knows who trump is. and the people who love him, they know this and they love it and they love him for it. so logic, the kind of logic that someone like hillary clinton and most of us believe in, the reality-based rational arguments

don't really fly. >> do you believe that mississippi is a swing state? >> that is unbelievable. but we'll take it. >> frank rich, writer at large for new york magazine, always great to have you here. >> thank you. lots more to come tonight. stay with us. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework... wire... and plants needed to give my shop... a face... no one will forget. e what the power of points can for your business. learn more at chase.com/ink no one will forget. e what the power of points can for your business. afoot and light-hearted i take to the open road. healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. the east and the west are mine.

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>> every so often we get into a story where the moral implications of a story are

icky, maybe on the far side of icky. we have a story like that tonight. we started reporting on this one in 2013, it's all come due today. it does have an ick factor at a moral level, so please stay with us. i don't want to do this one without you. across new york state, from long island to buffalo, from rochester to the hudson valley, from albany to utica, creative business incentives, infrastructure investment,

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but just one aleve has the strength to stop pain for hours. tylenol and vil can quit after 6. so live your whole day, not part... with 12 hour aleve. three years ago, almost exactly, in early september 2013, we reported on an odd but ugly scandal in florida politics. the state of florida is what you might call an enthusiast when it comes to capital punishment. florida kills a lot of their prisoners. this time, three years ago, the republican leadership of the state of florida, was pushing to speed up that process. they wanted to kill more of the state's prisoners faster. republican governor rick scott had signed a bill to make execution says go faster in the state. pam bondi was defending that law

in court, kill florida prisoners faster. but then this strange thing happened. three years ago this week. on september 10th, 2013, they were scheduled to kill another florida prisoner. but this time, there was a delay, and it wasn't the pris ner or his defense team that asked for the delay. it's the state's attorney general who asked for the delay. which is weird, right? the same crusading attorney general who was publicly demanding that executions must go faster, that there are too many delays, now she's the one asking for a delay. she wants a delay in the process before killing the next guy that is due to be killed by the state. well, it turned out the reason the attorney general wanted that delay was because she had a fund-raiser scheduled for the night of the execution and she didn't want that pesky execution to be a distraction during her big fund-raiser. it was the kickoff of her re-election campaign. it was a really big deal. and so a man named marshall gore

got to live another 19 days in florida, they put off killing him until october 1st that year, so florida's republican attorney general pam bondi could raise $140,000 toward her re-election effort. that was 2013. it was just at a human level, just a gross enough story to make national headlines, even though it was a story that seemed to be confined to florida. well, now that same florida story is making national headlines again, because a week after that state attorney general postponed an execution in order to hold a fund-raiser for her re-election, just one week later, the pac supporting that attorney general received one of the biggest single donations she got that whole cycle. a check for $25,000 from the donald j. trump foundation. and that raised a lot of eyebrows in the florida press, because right before that donation came in, right after pam bondi's big re-schedule the

execution fund-raiser, the "orlando sentinel" was reporting this. new york's trump university suit draws florida officials' attention. this was a story about how pam bondi's office, the attorney general's office in florida, they were considering having florida join other states that were suing trump university, claiming that trump university bamboozled people, including a lot of floridians out of their money. that piece ran on september 13th. pam bondi considers having florida join the suit against trump university. four days after that, september 17th, the trump foundation sends pam bondi's re-election pac, a $25,000 check, and then voila, within weeks, pam bondi's office announced they would not be pursuing a lawsuit against trump university. well, now, thanks to new reporting from "the washington post's" david farenthold, we know the $25,000 donation from the trump foundation to that pac supporting pam bondi, that was

not legal. charities like the donald j. trump foundation, they can't give money to political campaigns and candidates like that. we also now know that the trump foundation misreported the donation as if that money for pam bondi was actually paid to some sort of charity. we also now know that the irs figured that out and trump ended up having to pay a fine to the irs for that illegal contribution. trump says he has since personally reimbursed the foundation for the $25,000. the trump campaign says the whole thing was just a cascade of clerical errors, all of which were just coincidental. for her part, pam bondi says she did personally solicit that $25,000 donation from donald trump. she said she asked him for it personally, but she says that was a long time before the donation actually came in. she said at the time she asked him for the money, she didn't know anything about the complaints concerning trump university. see, it's all one big misunderstanding. this is three's company we're

all dumb old mr. roper and these crazy kids just seem more guilty than they are. except there is this undisputed fact that donald trump gave $25,000 to the florida attorney general while her office was considering suing him before they decided they wouldn't sue him after all. >> what were you hoping to get out of that donation? >> i've just known pam bondi for years. i have a lot of respect for her. never spoke to her about that at all. and just have a lot of respect for her as a person, and she's done an amazing job as the attorney general of florida. she's very popular. >> he says it has nothing to do with the trump university case, that was not at all discussed around the donation. he said he gave her that donation out of essentially long standing friendship. he knew pam bondi for years. we've reached out to pam bondi's office and the trump campaign for details about pam bondi and donald trump's years' long

relationship. how long have they been acquainted. we've asked if they've ever done any events or held any meetings before he threw $25,000 her way in 2013. we should say, as far as we can tell from the florida press, there is no public record of any joint appearances or meetings or other signs of a long-standing friendship between them. we have not at least been able to find one in the public record. we've asked the trump campaign and pam bondi's office if they have any record of this allegedly years' long relationship which preceded this donation which donald trump described to reporters today. we haven't heard back. joining us now, david farenthold, reporter with "the washington post." trying to untangle the world of donald trump's money. mr. farenthold, thank you for your time tonight. >> great to be here. >> in terms of the pam bondi donation, i want you to give me

the chance to correct me if i'm wrong. is that basically what we understand about that thus far? >> you got it right. >> donald trump said he and pam bondi had a long-standing relationship, it's not out of character, no reason to look for a quid pro quo. my office, we can't find any evidence of them having a preexisting relationship. >> i haven't seen it either. there's also donations from ivanka trump that come in about the same time as pam bondi's office was looking at considering this lawsuit against trump university. so the timing is very coincidental. >> is the issue, part of it, one of the things you dug up, a donation of this kind, from the trump foundation to a pac supporting an attorney general running for re-election, that's improper, you can't make those kind of donations legally

between those two kinds of entities. do we know if he's done that with other pacs? >> i've looked for it and not found it. he took a real interest in state attorney general about the time the trump foundation was coming under fire. the other ones were coming out of his personal account, as is proper. >> in terms of your overall beat that you have right now, looking into trump's donations, his charitable contributions, his foundation, are you discerning anything that we should see as a pattern or any sort of predictive tick in terms of understanding how donald trump has spent money charitiably, how he's made donations, how those things follow from his public statements? >> sure. you find a real interesting pattern. back in the '80s, he starts a foundation and gives some of his money away. not very much for a guy who

supposedly has billions of dollars. in 2008, he keeps it called the donald j. trump foundation, but he stops making donations to charity. he gets other people to don't to the foundation. but he basically, as far as i can tell, ceases to give money to any charity, including his own, about 2008. and so this is a period in which -- the period in which he gave this donation from the trump foundation to pam bondi's group, that wasn't even his money. it was somebody else's money in his foundation. >> david farenthold with "the washington post," this beat that you're on right now is unique and weird and riveting. thank you. we have much more to come tonight, including late word of a new lawsuit against the trump campaign. stay with us. ah, my poor mouth breather. allergies? stuffy nose? can't sleep? enough. take that. a breathe right nasal strip of course.

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they were a remarkable and remarkably cute opening act at a donald trump rally in florida way back in january. they sang childhood favorites about things like stamping out the out the enemies of freedom and donald trump making america great again. they were a sensation at a donald trump rally in pensacola, got nationwide attention. now because it's nuts day in the news, now those little girls, they're now suing donald trump. the lawyers for usa freedom kids say they broke verbal agreements and refused to pay for the group's travel expenses. they could only sell their merchandise. y breaking promises to little girls in sequence dresses is sad and bad politics but yet it gets worse because the new lawsuit, trump security in the end,

despite their promise that the girl could sell their merchandise, trump security wouldn't actually let them sell their merchandise at that rally any way. because the girls were forced to leave their posters outside of the parking lot, all of that stuff got stolen from the parking lot, leaving them with nothing. they say the trump campaign offered to make it up to them, only to have them tell them they were not needed at that event and that left them sitting in the sequence dresses. and now they have joined the list of people who are suing donald trump over him not paying them. some research. let me introduce you to our broker. how much does he charge? i don't know. okay. uh, do you get your fees back if you're not happy? (dad laughs) wow, you're laughing.

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happy announcement, at 11:00 p.m. eastern tonight here msnbc, it's right after lawrence. tonight will be the first episode of the 11th hour with brian williams. mr. williams has been anchoring our network's breaking news and election coverage and now every night you will also be able to find him at 11:00 p.m. live right here on msnbc. it starts tonight and he's landed a great guest for his great show. he'll be joined by john kasich tonight at 11:00 after the last word here on msnbc. yay! we'll be right back. ...of whatever flavors are calling your name.

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i once worked for a radio

network called "air america" that air america not to be mistaken for the 1990 comedy "air america" starring mel gibson and robert downey, jr. honestly not that great a movie. that was a movie that got basically every single fact wrong. but it was loosely based on a true story. there was an airline called air america that was secretly owned by the cia. it was a passenger and cargo airline that moved troops and refugees and goods to and from the country of lous. they secretly directed local forces and secretly had our own troops in los. air america was a front for that big paramilitary operation. that lasted forever. that para- military operation went on for 13 years. they dropped more than 200

million tons of bombs dropped on louse. they're the most heavily bombed country ever. and that's why it was such a big deal that president obama went there today as the first sitting president to step foot in that country. that was suppose to be the big headline thing about his trip to asia. laos was suppose to be the really big news. instead the american headlines about this trip started in china with some drama. not president obama's, it started with a set of stairs, president of the united states usually travels with his own set of rolling air stairs, u.s. air force brings them in. in the past chinese have been okay bringing the president's stairs that he uses to descend air force one. this time, the chinese insisted

that president obama had to use their stairs and then just as air force one was landing they changed their mind and saying we could use our own stairs. he had to exit air force one from the middle of the aircraft for the middle of the aircraft. it got so contentious, it included one chinese official yelling on camera, this is our country. this is our airport. another official yelled at national security adviser, donald trump said today, if he was in president obama's shoes, he would have pulled up the landing gear and air force one and left the g 20 summit altogether because of the no red carpet on the stairs snafu. president obama did not leave g 20 over this. yesterday he abrupt di cancelled the meeting with the new preponderate after the new philippino went off and called

him a son of a rimes with "ditch" he later expressed regret and apologized. yet vladimir putin had a talk about a cease fire in syria chrks of course is awkward in light of the reporting of their plans to disrupt elections. north korea test fired three ballistic missiles without any warning, that all literally happened during president obama's trip to china and laos. for his departure, the chinese did get him a shiny set of stairs, fancy stairs, so maybe it's all, you know, well and good. that does it for tonight. we'll see you again tomorrow. now. it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnel. >> as you may have already noticed, i do hav