breaking news overnight, a suspicious device near a new jersey train station explodes as the bomb squad was attempting to disarm it with abot. brand new video just in. it was the second blast in new jersey since saturday morning and it also followed a bombing that injured 29 people in new york city saturday night. plus, an isis-affiliated news outlet is claiming responsibility for a stabbing attack in minnesota. the fbi is investigating it as a potential act of terror. good morning, everyone, it is monday, september 19th, i'm alex witt alongside louis burgdorf and we are following this breaking news out of new jersey where a suspicious device found outside a train station exploded early this morning in elizabeth,

new jersey, roughly 20 miles or so from saturday's bombing in new york city. two men discovered a backpack thrown into a garbage can in the station. when they opened the bag and found wires and pipes inside, they immediately informed police nearby. the fbi says there were multiple ieds inside. the explosion happened as a police robot was cutting into the device and this is video captured of that blast. speaking shortly after that explosion, the mayor struggled to make sense of what happened. >> the people who are doing this, they have no value on human life, and it's really difficult to understand their rationale. you have to wonder on the

thoughtfulness on humanity and their perspective of human life, which is in their minds a real negative, and as we spend all day trying to make it better, they spend all day trying to make it worse. >> the discovery of the latest device comes as police in new york city continued their investigation into saturday's bombing in manhattan that hurt 29 people. authorities say they stopped a vehicle of interest last night near the city's verrazano bridge. none have been charged. officials say surveillance video captured near the scene of saturday's blast, along with video of where a possible second device blocks away may show the same man at both locations. investigators are looking at the devices in new york city and the one in seaside park, new jersey. they say all three contained older flip-style mobile phones. several law enforcement officials tell nbc news they are concerned there may be an active terror cell with multiple

players at work in the new yo / york/new jersey area. andrew cuomo says it had not been linked to an international terrorist group. he has ordered 1,000 police and national guard members throughout the city for extra security and offered a defiant message for the people of new york city. >> whoever placed these bombs, we will find and they will be brought to justice. period. we will not allow these type of people and these type of threats to disrupt our life in new york. that's what they want to do. we're not going to let them do it. this is freedom, this is democracy, and we're not going to allow them to take that from us. >> as you can imagine, rail service is currently suspended in the affected areas. joining us from elizabeth, new jersey, miguel almaguer. good morning to you.

what are authorities saying this morning about the i.e.d.s found there? >> reporter: well, alex, we expect a news conference here in about an hour and a half. we haven't had a lot of information from authorities in the last couple of hours, because they are still actively working the scene. we've seen members of the atf, fbi, state police all here, all gathering evidence. we were on scene shortly after midnight when we heard that powerful explosion. it certainly caught many people off guard, both police and other folks who live in the area and came to see what the commotion was all about. many folks actually scattered and ran from this area. we know this was not a planned explosion. instead it just simply happened as police were probing that device. investigators here say there were five devices inside that backpack. they were able to cut into one. that's when the detonation happened. the four other devices, the mayor told us, have been scattered all across the area. investigators are doing what they can to kind of collect those pieces of other devices

that are still out here. investigators say they'll likely take those to quantico, virginia, where they'll be examined by the fbi, but this is still a very active investigation, still very fluid here, and police say just judging by the pure blast here, it certainly could have been deadly. this device was just a few hundred feet from a nearby bar, more than 25 people were inside. fortunately no injuries. this area was evacuated. >> trying to put everything together, the seaside park explosion inside that plastic trash can, it had three pipe bombs, one of which detonated, two did not. are they saying these i.e.d.s in the elizabeth incident, are they pipe bombs, or are they being described differently? >> they've simply said devices, but it did sound like from the first two men who discovered the backpa backpack, they said they found pipes and wires inside the backpack, so one could assume they may have been fashioned

like pipe bombs. investigators also say there are similarities but no detail among that, alex. >> can you imagine being those guys? thank you very much, miguel a a almagu almaguer. chris pollone, what's the latest there on the five people being questioned? >> reporter: yeah, alex, as you mentioned, fbi says they have five people, they say they pulled over a car of interest, that's what they are calling it, around 8:45 last night on the verrazano bridge which goes between staten island and brooken in new york city and that's about all the detail they are giving out. nobody has been arrested just yet, but when the fbi told us about this car stop, they did say that they are investigating a possible connection to what happened here in new york's chelsea neighborhood on saturday night. right now on 23rd street just down about a block from here, the street is still closed. that is where the device went off about 8:30 saturday night,

injurie ining 29 people. all wounds consistent with shrapnel wounds and all have been released from the hospital, but now with the additional developments of what's going on in new jersey that miguel just told us about and the car stop overnight, you know, police are, obviously, increasing the tenor of this investigation. it was already going to be a heavily secured day here in new york city today. of course, the u.n. general assembly is getting under way in midtown. the president is also in town, but now security has been increased by 1,000 more national guard and state trooper, new york state troopers, as they try to give a sense of calm to people in new york. alex? >> which might be kind of hard in the wake of these incidents. okay, chris pollone, thank you so much from new york city. this morning the fbi is investigating a stabbing attack in minnesota as a potential act of terror. it happened at a shopping mall saturday night, where nine people were hurt before the

suspect was shot dead by an offduty officer. nbc's gadi schwartz has the latest. >> reporter: families with small children escorted outside a minnesota mall after a man with a night disguised as a security guard went on a violent rampage. >> the stabber ran by, somebody was stabbed outside the door. >> reporter: witnesses say he was yelling about allah and asking about islam. >> he charged me with a knife, how do you respond with that, when somebody has a knife a foot from your face? >> reporter: nine people hurt ranging from 15 to 53 years old and the man with the knife shot and killed by an offduty cop now being hailed a hero. police now watching surveillance video. >> as the suspect was lunging at him with the knife, not only did he fire, the suspect went down, he came back up, three deferent occasions.

>> reporter: isis released a statement claiming the attacker was a so-called soldier of isis, but there's no evidence at this point to verify that claim. the fbi carrying out searches of the suspect's department. both the police and islamic community of st. cloud, minnesota, say it's too soon to know the motives. minnesota is known as a large population of somali refugees, predominantly muslim. community leaders say they've been working with authorities for years to fight against islamic radicals who have tried to recruit their young men. >> isis does not represent us, it does not represent islam or somalis. >> reporter: now the refugee community in st. cloud fears they'll be target of backlash against muslims in the united states. >> that was gadi schwartz reporting. let's turn to the presidential election. donald trump's running mate has once again been tasked with defending controversial remarks. governor mike pence says it was

nonsense to suggest donald trump was suggesting violence against hillary clinton when he said this in miami friday night. >> now, you know she's very much against the second amendment. she wants to destroy your second amendment. i think that her body guards should drop all weapons. they should disarm. right? right? i think they should disarm. immediately. what do you think, yes? yes. yeah. take their guns away. she doesn't want guns. take theirs. let's see what happens to her. >> he said the secret service protecting hillary clinton should disarm, and then he said, let's see what happens to her. what did he mean by that? >> well, i think, you know, donald trump believes in the safety and security of every american, and any suggestion otherwise regarding secretary clinton is just nonsense. the point he was making is hillary clinton has had private security in her life the last 30

years, but she would deny the right of law-abiding citizens to have a firearm in their home to protect their own families. i think what donald trump was saying, if hillary clinton didn't have all that security, she'd be a whole lot more supportive of the second amendment. >> let's see what happens to her, the message sounds a lot like a threat or encouraging violence. >> that's absolute nonsense. his comment was, she didn't have all that security, she'd change her attitude about the right to bear arms and i bet that's probably true. >> hillary clinton's campaign manager released a statement saying in part the republican nominee for president has a pattern of inciting people to violence. whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally, casually, or even as a joke, it's an unacceptable quality of anyone seeking the job of commander in chief. also says he's unfit to be president and it's time to step up to denounce this disturbing

behavior in their nominee. donald trump finally acknowledges barack obama was born in the united states. and president obama is weighing in on the issue with a sigh of relief, well, sort of. those stories and a check on weather when we come right back. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit... veggies... and herbs needed to create a pop-up pick-your-own juice bar

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to low-cost, high speed internet at home, helping to make sure that every hand in the classroom goes up. male teacher: okay, veronica. amphibian. male teacher: excellent. welcome to a brighter future. comcast. welcome back. on friday donald trump said at last that he believed president obama was, in fact, born in the u.s. he made the announcement during a stop at his new washington hotel, but if that declaration was meant to put an end to the controversy, it didn't, with surrogates trying to pin the blame on hillary clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. >> if your campaign believes it's a smear, shouldn't donald trump apologize to the president? >> we were reminding people where this started. >> i know there's news reports that trace this birther movement

all the way back to hillary clinton's campaign in 2008. >> you believe that hillary clinton started the birther movement? >> look -- look, i'll let the facts speak for themselves. >> i think that it was something that got started in the 2008 presidential campaign. whose fault it was, you know, hillary clinton herself, her supporters, her interns, her staffers, clearly, it was something that was circulating in 2008. he -- so i'm agreeing with you that he took it further. >> yeah. >> he took it further, and he brought it into the public debate even more so than what was brought in in 2008. and by the preponderance of evidence before us, hillary clinton or her campaign were definitely involved in this issue. so we can't keep saying it's not true. that's ridiculous. >> they were questioning where he was born. >> democrats were. >> of course. >> who? >> i don't know what that is about. >> by the way, an issue patty solis doyle of the clinton campaign of 2008 admitted was an

issue that mrs. clinton also injected into her campaign in 2008 in a very quiet, but direct way, against then-senator obama. >> well, as this is a point of fact again, donald trump did not accept when barack obama released his birth certificate in 2011. he kept up this whole birther thing until friday, that's five years, but we only have a little time left, so i want to ask you -- >> jake, that's just not true he kept it up for five years. >> sure he did. it is true. >> no, jake, it wasn't like he was talking about it on a regular basis until then. >> at the annual dinner of the congressional black caucus foundation this weekend, president obama left off donald trump's effort to end the birther controversy. >> there's an extra spring in my step tonight. i don't know about you guys, but i am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over.

i mean, isil, north korea, poverty, climate change, none of those things weighed on my mind like the validity of my birth certificate. in other breaking news, the world is round, not flat. >> at that same event, president obama also delivered a plea to his democratic base calling for african-americans to vote en masse this november. >> if you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake, all the progress we've made is at stake in this election, my name may not be on the ballot, but our progress is on the ballot. tolerance is on the ballot. democracy is on the ballot. justice is on the ballot. there's no such thing as a vote that doesn't matter. it all matters. and after we have achieved

historic turnout in 2008 and 2012, especially in the african-american community, i will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. you want to give me a good signal? go vote! >> and last night president obama spoke at a fundraiser for hillary clinton here in new york city. at the event, the president suggested that bias against powerful women could hurt clinton's chances in november. he said, "there's a reason why we haven't had a woman president. we as a society still grapple with what it means to see powerful women and it still troubles us in a lot of ways unfairly." let's get a check on your weather now with meteorologist bill karins. i was trying to think of a way to bridge that story, but i came up with nothing, except good morning. >> it's early in the week. umbrella weather this morning, a lot of people need it and want the rain, the drought has gotten

severe in areas, especially massachusetts. there are some downpours, mostly in new hampshire and portland, maine, few downpours that are crossing the pennsylvania/new jersey border and areas around d.c. northwards to baltimore, still wet this morning, too. here's how much rain we're going to get in the next two days, we're hoping one to three inches, richmond could get about an inch and a half and notice it's mostly coastal areas with the best chances of rain. i-95 after the rain early today, you should dry out over the next couple days. we've shown you where the rain is this morning, the timing of it. this is noon today. heavier rain shifts, right along the coast, the jersey shore, dover, all through long island and southern new england, d.c., philadelphia, baltimore, most of the heavy rain should be over. so you get a break, then the front washes out a bit and some more showers will bubble up late in the day. hit and miss downpours throughout the day today from d.c. northwards through new england. how about the heat in the middle of the country. we're going to welcome in fall this week. it's not going to feel like it.

we're easily in the 90s throughout much of the week in the middle of the country. >> kind of used to it, what can you say? >> hot summer in many places. >> thank you, bill. still aled, all the highlights from sunday night football. sam bradford makes his first vikings start and does not disappoint. we're back in a moment. anyone with type 2 diabetes knows how it feels to see your numbers go up, despite your best efforts. but what if you could turn things around?

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in the end zone and caught, johnson, what a play! caught, touchdown, mike wallace hauls it in! >> pressure up the middle. he's going to run and he's going to score! >> 38-yard attempt from the left hash. it is blocked! and on the recovery is jenkins. and jenkins will take it all the way for a giants touchdown! >> with time. guess who. greg olsen. and there he goes. it's a touchdown, carolina. >> steps up, and dumps it off over the middle to williams. williams has got some daylight. inside the 15. crosses to the 10 and now bounces towards the goal line, touchdown, san diego. >> 1:51. got to go 75 yards. here comes miller. the ball comes out. it's scooped up by ray, and the

broncos put it away. >> football is back, and it feels so good. those were some of the biggest plays around the nfl yesterday. now let's go to minnesota for the vikings hosting the packers on sunday night football. sam bradford under center for minnesota, bradford did not disappoint, airing it out for 286 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the game. while the vikings defense sacked green bay quarterback aaron rodgers five times, ouch, and shut down the packers' offense, minnesota improved to 2-0. it wasn't all good news for the vikings, running back adrian peterson was helped off the field after twisting his knee in the third quarter. peterson is expected to undergo an mri today. let's turn now to major league baseball, where the red sox have all but dashed any hopes of the yankee playoff appearance this season. to boston, the red sox complete a four-game sweep of the yanks with a 5-4 win last night thanks

to the bat of hanley ramirez. a go-ahead solo homer in the seventh that cleared the green monster in left field. look at that. yankees drop to four games out of the american league wild spot. unbelievable there. finally, we await a response from u.s. sock herb after megan rapinoe kneeled once again, this time before the national team's 3-1 victory over the netherlands yesterday. rapinoe was not punished after a similar display before last week's friendly against thailand, however, u.s. soccer released a statement after expressing an expectation our players and coaches will stand to honor our flag, the women's national team next plays on october the 19th and we'll see if there's any backlash there from that. >> can you bring back, please, the nfl plays? that was so exciting to watch. >> red zone, we can just load up the clips monday morning. >> thank you, louis. still ahead, donald trump

supporters are beginning to wear the term deplorables as a badge of honor. first, the latest from new jersey, train service halted after a device is discovered and one goes off after officials are saying was not an intentional detonation. back after this. if you try to write, on a plain old mac the difference can be seen (it doesn't work) get the surface pro (the keyboard detaches from the screen) get the surface pro (i like the blue!) trust number one doctor recommended dulcolax constipated? use dulcolax tablets for gentle overnight relief suppositories for relief in minutes and stool softeners for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax, designed for dependable relief

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breaking news overnight, another explosion in new jersey, the second in that state since saturday, and on the heels of that bombing in new york city, which injured 29 people. are these acts of terror? we're go