on this monday. i'm alex witt alongside -- say your name. >> louis burgdorf. almost forgot that. >> there you go, "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ good morning. it's monday, september 19th. welcome to "morning joe." we have with us mark halperin and john heilemann together. and chair of the department of african-american studies at princeton university, author of the book "democracy and black" and columnist for time magazine. >> what a busy weekend. >> a lot of things going on political lly but also with attacks in new york and across the country. >> we're following breaking news out of new jersey where a suspicious device found at a train station exploded early this morning. the blast happened just before 1:00 a.m. in elizabeth, new

jersey. roughly 20 miles from saturday's bombing in new york city. elizabeth's mayor says two men discovered a backpack which had been thrown into a garbage can near the station. the fbi now says there were multiple ieds inside. this is video of the captured blast just a little while ago. the discovery of this latest device comes as police in new york city continue 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 bridge. five people are being questioned. authorities say none have been charged. officials say that surveillance

video captured near the scene of saturday's blast along with video of where a possible secondary device was located just blocks away may show the same men at both locations. investigators are analyzing the possible similarities between the new york city devices and the one that detonated saturday morning in seaside park, new jersey. they say that 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 york/new jersey area. governor andrew cuomo say authorities are teaching saturday's explosion as an act of terrorism but watt ns not le to an international terrorism group. he offered a defiant message to 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. >> joining us from elizabeth, new jersey, nbc news national correspondent miguel almaguer. what are authorities saying this morning about the ieds found there? >> reporter: we do know that authorities according to the mayor cut into that initial ied and it exploded inside this backpack area where there were four other devices. the mayor told us a short time ago investigators were still trying to collect all of the rest of those ieds and this area and they would be taken to quanti

quantico, virginia. investigators including the fbi, atf and state police remain on scene here after that initial blast that we heard. authorities told us we may hear several follow-up blasts as they try to detonate those explosive devices or move them from this location. we have not yet heard another blast. this incident shut down the local area here including a major train station in this area. it's disrupted rail service along the corridor. investigators we know a short time ago were also seen walking over the tracks searching for any type of detonation device or ied that may be on the train tracks. the mayor told us from his perspective it appeared that the ied, this backpack, was found inside a trash can close to a local bar or tavern and it didn't appear as though the bag was specifically put near this train station. investigators remain very heavy out here. large police presence as they continue to sweep this area in

the dark and they're waiting for the sun to come up. >> nbc's miguel almaguer, thank you very much. we also have our cameras on a second location in elizabeth, new jersey, where there's apparently another active investigation under way there. no word yet exactly what's going on there. but our cameras are trained on that. a lot of concern obviously with the unga this week. president coming to town. a lot of security. helicopters whizzing above even as we walked in the buildings this morning. here's what both hillary clinton and donald trump said on saturday when addressing the explosion in new york city saturday night. >> i must tell you that just before i got off the plane, a bomb went off in new york and nobody knows exactly what's going on. boy, we are living in a time we better get tough, folks. we better get very, very tough. a terrible thing that's going on in our world and in our country, and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant and we're going to end it. we're going to end it.

>> i've been briefed about the bombings in new york and new jersey and the attack in minnesota. obviously we need to do everything we can to support our first responders and also to pray for the victims. we have to let this investigation unfold. >> your reaction to the fact that donald trump immediately called the explosion in new york a bomb? >> i think it's important to know the facts about any incident like this. i think it's always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions because we are just in the beginning stages of trying to determine what happened. >> so help me out here, mark.

donald trump talked about bombings. that was an hour later. hillary clinton said i've been briefed on the bombings. and you saw tweets from establishment type figures from influencers saying how reckless of donald trump to say even after hillary clinton said i've been briefed on the bombings. >> no doubt he is a little bit reckless and loose with his rhetoric. i didn't think in this case it necessarily was just based on what was being publicly reported let alone what he may have been told privately by law enforcement. that seemed like an unnecessary case of jumping on him for something which he does have propensity to do. i suspect this is going to be the dominant story all week. >> donald trump's running mate has once again been tasked with defending controversial remarks coming from the top of the ticket. governor mike pence says it was

nonsense to suggest that donald trump was encouraging violence against hillary clinton when he said this in miami friday night. >> she's against the second amendment. she wants to destroy her second amendme amendment. i think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. they should disarm. i think they should disarm immediately, yes? yeah. take their guns away. she doesn't want guns. 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 that he was making was that hillary clinton has had

private security now in her life for 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. donald trump was saying if hillary clinton didn't have all that security, she would be more supportive of the second amendment. >> let's see what happens to her. whether he intended that or not, the message sounds like a threat or encouraging violence. >> that's absolute nonsense. the comment was if she didn't have that security she, would change her attitude about the right to keep and bear arms. i would suspect that's probably true. >> we were very critical of what donald trump said on the second amendment people. that crossed so many lines. never heard anything like it. this is something that conservatives have been saying for some time. who is shocked and stunned and deeply saddened about this? >> he shouldn't speak that carelessly. >> what do you mean? >> he shouldn't speak that

carelessly. those remarks are open to interpretation. >> which part? let's have a discussion. you're speaking in generalities. >> see what happens to her if secret service agents don't have guns? >> but they are always going have guns. >> the implication of what he's saying is let's disarm those around her so she is vulnerable and therefore let's see what happens to her. >> see that's the thing. she's always going to be protected by guns. and this argument, by the way, hillary clinton has people around her with guns wherever she went since 1978. since 1978. for her to say somebody wants to protect their family with a certain kind of gun shouldn't have that gun and she's been against handguns as well or her husband certainly is talking about a handgun ban back in the

1990s, seems to conservatives to be the same as environmental activists screaming at americans for driving a pickup truck while they're flying around the country in a hawk or 800 xl. >> what's the proposal she has on the table to deny americans the right to keep and bear arms in their homes? >> extensive background checks so people with a medical or mental problem or a criminal conviction in their past can't have access to guns. it's a big difference between saying the secret service agents who are trained and authorized and responsible should have guns and saying that people who have mental problems and criminal backgrounds should have access to guns. >> i have the same problem that the two of these have. talking loosely about the safety

of the other candidate is a dumb thing to do. you're sort of suggesting that something bad might happen to her. why introduce that as a piece of rhetoric and then the pence thing that's just a lie. she wants to deny people to have arms in their home. i don't know that hillary clinton proposal currently on the table by which she says the second amendment should be repealed or people shouldn't be allowed to have guns at home. >> so we don't talk about things that are worse like birther thing and other things we have to cover. i think it's really stupid argument. it's incredibly stupid. >> like i said, far more offended by that whole -- who knows. maybe the second amendment people will have a solution than by this. i understand the -- let's see what happens is ridiculous as me saying, you know what? you think you're so smart? i'm going to build a rocketsh sp

and you're going to go to mars and let's see if you're as smart as you think you are. >> what we can't do is confuse people who have the legitimate use of firearms, police, secret service, and the like with every day ordinary citizens. the idea -- the analogy doesn't work for me. the idea of taking guns away from secret service is taking guns from police doesn't make sense. part of the problem is alignment, close proximity between the claim we all think was ridiculous about let's see what second amendment people can do and what happens to her. has a suggestion toome folk that harm can be done to her.

he shouldn't traffic in that at all. >> i'm in the minority here. i think again what i'm saying in my rocket ship to mars argument is hillary clinton will no more walk down the street without a ton of secret service people around her for the rest of her life most likely than you would fly to mars. he's not even making eye contact now. i totally lost him. >> you would make a statement like that never. absolutely never. >> let me just say, first of all -- >> to distract from what we're about to do. >> the statement i would make is it's easy for someone like hillary clinton or fill in the blank who right now may not have a proposal to do that but over the past 30 years the left has had proposals to do this. >> she has detailed policy proposals she's put on the table. the other thing is i have heard

you make 1,000 smart nuance arguments about what's acceptable gun safety measures and what are unacceptable intrusions on the second amendment. donald trump could make those arguments. he could criticize her in 500 ways on gun control. he could do that. there are a million ways to talk about that that don't incite these fears. >> again, i want to be well within the perimeters -- >> i want to be clear here since everyone will pile on me after this is over. i want to be very clear. if you want to see what i think about people doing anything that might encourage any wing nut out there to do anything to any politician, go back and look at the clips and see how i exscor a

exscoriated donald trump. maybe i'm just wrong. >> this one is worse. he did it again. you know, i'm against phony outrage by either campaign or anyone. this isn't phony outrage. it's upsetting to someone whose life has been threatened. just shouldn't do it. plenty for him to talk about and plenty of ways to criticize her. >> i must be wrong here then because -- >> he did it to distract. >> from this. on friday donald trump acknowledged that he believed that president obama was in fact born in the united states. but no. but no. he still had to -- making the announcement during a stop at his new washington hotel on budget. >> hillary clinton and her

campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. i finished it. i finished it. you know what i mean. president barack obama was born in the united states period. now we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. >> but if that declaration was meant to put an end to the controversy, it didn't. >> they penced all weekend. >> take a look. >> 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 traced this birther movement back to hillary clinton's campaign in 2008. >> you believe that hillary clinton started the birther

movement? >> look, i'll let the facts speak for themselves. >> i think it was something that got started in the 2008 presidential campaign. whose fault it was, hillary clinton herself, her supporters, her interns, her staffers, clearly it was something that was circulating in 2008. so i'm agreeing with you he took it further. he took it further. and he brought it into the public debate even more so than what was brought in in 2008. by the evidence before us, hillary clinton was involved in it. we can't say it is not true. >> they were questioning where he was born. >> by the way, an issue that patty doyle in 2008 admitted was an issue that mrs. clinton injected into her campaign in

2008 in a quiet but direct way against then senator obama. >> just as a point of fact again, donald trump did not accept when barack obama released his birth certificate and kept this until friday that's five years. we only have a little time left so i want to ask you -- >> that's just not true that he kept it up for five years. it's simply not true. >> it is true. >> it wasn't like he was talking about it on a regular basis until then. >> he's wrong. donald trump has talked about this continuously for the last five years. it's not true that he dropped it. it's not true that he walked back from it. every time he was asked about it, he raised it. >> john heilemann? >> i agree with katty. the notion that trump from the moment he obtained the birth certificate -- to begin with, from the start of the rumor

through to the provision of the long form birth certificate was an outrageous racist -- it's not like -- donald trump tried to claim credit for putting to race a legitimate debate. never a legitimate debate. he was always born in america. no sensible sane person thought he was born in kenya. then the birth certificate was produced. trump said after that i put it to rest. there was a tweet trail for him for years after and on television from 2011 to 2015 where every time he was asked about it he continued to say i don't know where he's from. maybe the birth certificate is fake. absurd he didn't talk about it for four years. it's false. >> heilemann called it an outrageous, racist trope. do you agree? >> absolutely. it's designed to deny the legitimacy of the obama presidency and has stoked a range of ridiculous kinds of

assumptions and responses to the obama presidency. so not only was it outrageous and racist, its aim and purpose was to in some ways block the way to the success or to the efforts of the obama presidency. so, yeah, i mean, then to deny that he -- to suggest that he put it to rest, this guy can say one thing and then say the exact opposite and think people are just stupid. >> so what's the long-term impact? >> he needs to answer questions about this. >> i'm just asking politically, he is moving up in the polls. hillary appears to be moving down. i personally think now like i said would happen two weeks ago when everyone said the race was over, just about everybody, i feel like it's flattening out now. i think things will tighten up. i think we'll see it in the polls a week from now.

i feel it. the hair on the back of my neck is telling me this. that said, if you're in trump's camp, why do you have to hold a press conference and explain this politically everything is going your way. >> there's an intervening event now and trump has done well when there's been terror attacks. unfortunately these attacks are going to be part of the discussion. i'm not sure that the trajectory is going to change. >> he didn't put it to rest is the problem. >> he must answer questions about why he was willing to say it. he's made this an issue. i'm not sure the trajectory of the birther movement and political implications until trump answers questions. >> look, all of his surrogates have been going out saying he no longer believes obama was born in kenya. he again in the middle of the week wouldn't put it to rest so he was forced to do the press conference. among the various transparent

political moves where someone says this is what i'm supposed to say now, the pivot, that's what this is supposed to be. i think the reason it's relevant as you watch this weekend barack obama standing up and saying my name is effectively on the ballot because the clinton campaign is worried about african-american turnout, the issue has -- >> he wanted to put it to rest. if he wanted to put it to rest. if he had said the president was born in the united states. i am sorry. i am sorry for the pain i've caused. i am sorry i was wrong about this. it's too bad it happened. i'm very sorry. the president was, of course, born in the united states. we need to move on in a more peaceful fashion. do you think we would be talking about it in this way? he put out a lie on top of a lie and sending out surrogates of which there are very few because very few people want to get onboard with a campaign that does this stuff. >> by the way, if i can --

>> nobody wants to be part of the campaign that does this. >> let me answer your question. we'll do this in order. we would still talk about it today. because even if he gave a heartfelt apology, people would say it's too late. you're a racist pig. >> this is doubling down. >> i think the other thing is he's had surrogates come out and say he believes that the president was born in the united states but he also had one surrogate out on a sunday morning show this weekend talking about barack obama and didn't come out and say that's not acceptable. it's dog whistle politics. the same racist, not quite american -- >> i hate to move this along so quickly. 24 after the hour. we got to go to break. we have to wait for the fix thing. we're going to talk about an article in the fix that talked about what happened on friday. donald trump not answering

questions about this. he was going to hold a press conference. and the fix wrote a column that said the low point of american journalism. donald trump's birther event is the greatest trick he's ever pulled and the low point of american journalism in this campaign. we'll talk about that when we come back. >> still ahead on "morning joe," new york governor andrew cuomo brings us the live update into the investigation of saturday's explosion. and bill bratton is here on set and we'll talk to chairman of the house homeland security committee, congressman mike mccaul and josh earnest is here in the studio for a live interview. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. t growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. with it, i earn unlimited 2% cash back on all of my purchasing.

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>> if you care about our legacy, realize everything we stand for is at stake on 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. 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 sendoff. go vote. >> that was a fired up president obama speaking at the congressional black caucus saturday night and you saw him pointing his finger at the camera as much as he did. do you know who he was pointing at? he was pointing at eddie glaude. he was point -- president of the united states was pointing at you. you can go up on your mt.

olympus and peel gofeel good ab yourself and wring your hands and do just that, rub your chin, you can look as intellectual as you want to, but if you do not vote for hillary clinton, barack obama says you are letting him down and you are letting down his legacy. >> insulting him. >> as we move closer -- i'll keep checking every week, you get -- your knees are getting wobbly on the protest vote. >> wobbly but still sturdy. i was really annoyed actually by the president's speech. >> were you really? i thought that was inspiring. >> i think part of what we see is the clinton campaign made a bad decision. they spent most of the summer trying to court disaffected republicans and taking their

baits for granted. what would a as she got endorsement of bush republicans and the like, how would that excite those folks who were supporting bernie sanders? how would that excite latino voters and african-american voters? what do we get? instead of a series of rationale arguments from the president to black voters, we get don't insult me. i just find that condescending. i know i'll get in trouble for it. >> interesting reaction. good conversation. so much more to get to. >> you and cornell are making trouble. by the way, is cornell going to come on this show ever or not? >> i think so. we have to get him here. >> what is he elvis? come on. >> not a big morning person. >> more to get to. reince priebus threatened republicans. we'll get to that in a moment. a lovely way to get people onboard of the campaign of trump. you brought up this piece. he wrote this is "the washington post." donald trump's birther event is

the greatest trick he's ever pulled. donald trump may have outdone himself on friday morning. he and his campaign tauted a major announcement at the newly opened hotel in washington d.c. it was a low moment for politics and political coverage. falsehoods. >> you have to understand donald trump retweeted this. a nothing burger filled with falsehoods. >> he read the headline and thought it was flattering when the article was really bad about him. unfortunately you have to read the article. >> the end of it says but for trump it might have been his

crowning achievement. he's a ringmaster calling the shots in the three-ring circus. this was peak trump. he said i'm not going to -- it shows how easily he manipulating the media. i'm not going to answer your questions. what happened on friday could sum up what happened over the past year and a half. we received a lot of criticism. cnn received a lot of criticism. networks received a lot of criticism. a lot of people have received a lot of criticism. i thought friday morning the fact that they ran an hour and a half commercial for a new trump property and for endorsements may have summed up this election cycle better than anything else. >> trump's ability to gain attention for himself and for his businesses should never be underestimated during the course

of what is disguised as a -- >> what about all of the media people who call him stupid? who say he's not smart enough to be president. he's shallow. >> i don't think anyone is calling him stupid. they're calling him uninformed. >> call him stupid. he's shallow. he doesn't have an attention span. he played -- i have never seen the media played as much as he played them on friday. >> it's possible he doesn't have an attention span. he's not interested in policy. he's not particularly well informed. that doesn't necessarily mean that he's stupid. the other thing that was peak trump about this is his incredible ability as we've seen over the last year and a half to change positions from -- have one position on monday. another position on tuesday. go back to position on wednesday. and -- >> and dominate the news cycle on friday. >> nobody is saying flat out stupid. i don't think he's stupid. i think he's brilliant in some ways. on a branding level, what he did

on friday and the way he manipulated the media was genius. you know what? he's also equally as ignorant on issues of national security and foreign policy unless there's something we don't know. we have not seen it. there's a bob gates piece that he wrote about both candidates and some concern about both of them. trump being beyond repair. and trump tweets, he tweets back. he has to tweet. he can't help himself. that bob gates is a dope. so let's just be honest. we can be fair but we have to be honest that he is really smart at some things. that was a branding brilliant moment. but this isn't funny. how stupid he does seem on some levels. i'm waiting for more. i want more. trust me. i'm nervous.

>> nobody said that -- >> nobody is calling him stupid blindly. >> so friday, i ask you guys quickly, does friday represent the low point of the media this year or does it just basically is it not a mi microcosm of wha happened. >> people were showing the podium but doing other things on cable during most of that hour and a half. i go back to he has to explain the legacy of what he did on the birther movement. >> he's not going to. >> john heilemann, friday for critics of what we do, critics of what the press does? what's your take on friday? >> trump has been brilliant in the way he's manipulated the media. systematically from start to finish. >> what should media do to stop it?

>> i think that to mark's point, i didn't monitor all of cable news coverage of that event but certainly until the period -- if i were god and i could control all cable news, i wouldn't have let him have air time until he turned to address the thing they said he was going to address. >> why were the cameras on him? >> control room producers were incredulous it would keep going and didn't want to miss the moment when he did it. two cable channels cut away from the event right before he did it and then had to come back. >> you don't have to have podium up on the screen. you can monitor it. >> they made a show out of it. >> i think we're overstating what he got out of it. >> he didn't actually do it. >> coming up, rnc chairman reince priebus said it's time for donald trump's challengers to support his campaign and he suggest there could be trouble in future if they don't. >> bill de blasio wasn't ready

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up next, saturday's bombings in new york came just hours after bill bratton stepped down as the city's top cop. we'll talk to the newly retired police commissioner when he joins the table next on "morning joe." be. these kids were headed to their first dance recital...

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we're not going to let them win. we're not going to let them win. what do they want? they want to instill terror. that's what they want. they want to make you afraid. >> joining us now the recently retired commissioner of the new york city police department. good to have you onboard. >> you stepped down when? >> the timing, you stepped down and then this happens. you probably slept more than your successor. >> i probably had a different weekend than my successor. >> what's going on? explain to people not only in new york but across the country. what do you see happening here based on all of your years? >> resolution of what happened over this past weekend in new york and new jersey. appears the two now may be linked. there will be a lot of resolution there in the coming hours. it is coming together quickly.

this part of the country has two of the best counterterrorism entities in the country. new jersey, new york, the joint terrorism task force is working very closely together. a number of people have been detained and are being questioned. a number of warrants being served. a lot of evidence to work with here. it seems to be coming together very quickly. >> a lot of explosions happen in places that are going to draw the biggest attention and you aim for big targets to get big headlines. nondescript street in chelsea. what does that tell you? >> both were found in an area of the city that at the time they were placed not much going on versus new york city is alive everywhere. >> times square. >> but even the devices in new jersey that was set to go off at the beginning of a race involving a lot of military veterans, that one could have been more catastrophic.

those two devices found in new york city are very similar. i think we'll have resolution very quickly. >> it would seem the placement if there was any thought to it at all which is the question is to make it appear that terror can happen anywhere and not in likely targets. that's what it would be if someone thought it out. >> is this the new normal for america? >> this is only the second successful attack since 9/11 in new york city speaking specifically to two new york devices. first was the hatchet attack on the new york city police officer two years ago. the fact that these bombs were planted. one went off and caused the number of injuries it did. that would be seen as a

successful attack. your point about was it intentionally placed in an area where you would not expect it, we've talked about that. this idea of soft targets. can you protect everything. you cannot. we have often talked it's not so much a matter of if but when. when has happened. >> they've seen the same man in -- we believe the same man in both places. >> very good video from what i understand. a lot of press reports this morning talk about that. we're very fortunate that in these cases that so often video and other evidence moves toward resolution. this city has more cameras, many of them linked than any place else in america. we're continually expanding the camera system. this case will come together quickly and a lot of of it is because of technology we have access to. >> part of the reason why this seems so ominous is unga week is

here. cgi week is here. this is a heavy security week anyway. what do new yorkers have to look forward to and i put that in quotes over the next few days as we ramp up -- >> a lot of visibility. more bag checks going into the subways for example. certainly as always with u.n. week here traffic is going to be a nightmare. if you can walk, walk or take public transportation. fortunately new york we've been ramping up. i can speak through my three years as commissioner and greg kelly before me has probably the most significant counterterrorism capabilities in the world. a lot of resources to work with. we expanded them dramatically. we have a lot to put out there very quickly to calm the public but so much of what we're dealing with is the idea of intelligence gathering and prevention before the fact and then if it is to be an incident as we just had, learn as much as you can to help prevent the next one. >> mr. commissioner, thank you for being with us. we appreciate it. >> bill bratton.

we'll see you again soon. still ahead, how the presidential candidates are reacting to the new developments on the terror front. kristen welker is covering the clinton campaign and katy tur reporting on donald trump. they join us ahead when "morning joe" comes right back. ok team, what if 30,000 people download the new app? we're good. okay... what if a million people download the new app? we're good. five million? good. we scale on demand. hybrid infrastructure, boom. ok. what if 30 million people download the app? we're not good. we're total heroes. scale on demand with the number one company in cloud infrastructure. hewlett packard enterprise. [ala♪m beeping] ♪

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>> there's plenty of room up front. >> thank you. you're a life saver. hey.

you're driving? >> i'm in between jobs right now. you know you can make $12 an hour driving for uber. >> i did not know that. that's great. i have to get downtown to the emmys. >> are you nominated? >> i am, yeah. >> wow. what's that like? >> it's nice. it's nice. >> do you think you can win? >> there's a lot of competition. probably not. >> here's what i know. if you run a positive campaign, the voters ultimately will make the right choice. >> funny thing -- >> jimmy, that was a joke. get out of the car. and shave that wig off your face you godless hollywood hippy. >> that's good stuff right there. >> adorable. >> i wonder how many takes that took. >> just one. >> jeb exclamation point. >> looks like he's having much

more fun than on the campaign. >> the actual jeb bush and emmys opening montage last night. did you notice the bumper sticker? >> did it say jeb 2020? >> it sure did. one more moment to share -- >> reince is threatening jeb. >> i think jeb should be very afraid because reince is right. what's he thinking? >> you're confusing us. >> we'll get to it. that's a whole other story we have to get to. i'm not going make jokes. jul jul julieann dreyfus. >> i would like to apologize for the current political climate. i think that veep has torn down the wall between comedy and

politics. our show started out as the political satire but it now feels more like a sobering documentary. so i certainly do promise to rebuild that wall and make mexico pay for it. lastly, i would like to dedicate this to my father who passed away on friday. i'm so glad that he liked veep because his opinion was the one that really mattered. thank you. >> that must have been hard. she does such a great job on that show. she is right. seems like reality on so many levels. that must have been hard on stage for her. still ahead on "morning joe," we'll speak live to andrew cuomo. top member of congress on homeland security, mike mccaul

and in 20 minutes, josh earnest will be here on set. we're back in a moment. i'm hillary clinton and i approve this message. i know more about isis then the generals do. john mccain, a war hero. he's not a war hero, he's a war hero because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured ok. donald trump compared his sacrifices to the sacrifices of two parents who lost their son in war. how would you answer that father? what sacrifice have you made for your country? i think i've made a lot of sacrifices, built great structures. i've had tremendous success, i think... those are crifices? runstaying in a differentns hotel every night. so i use the hotels.com rewards program to earn free nights. which i can use for my new friends here. thanks, captain obvious. you're welcome. roger that, sir. my name isn't roger. supported by hotels.com. or keeping a hotel's guests cuttinconnected.i to 35,000 fans...

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there's only one invokana®. ask your doctor about it by name. welcome back to joe scarborough. it's monday, september 19th. with us on set, managing editors of bloomberg politics, mark halperin and john heilemann. chair of african-american studies at princeton university and "time" magazine, eddie glaude, jr. and joining the

conversation, harold ford. >> harold! >> that's what we're going to do. >> chant his name. >> harold! >> that's ridiculous. >> now we have to -- let me try something, okay. i could be like darryl. i'm going to ask him a question and when he starts to answer let's try this. harold, how was your weekend? >> we had a -- >> harold. harold. >> that doesn't fit. >> it's going to be difficult to answer some questions here. >> we've got a lot to get to. why don't we start with the breaking developments out of new jersey. the area around a train station where a suspicious device exploded in early hours of this morning is beginning to return to normal. police on the scene are still very much in the heat of their investigation. the blast happened just before 1:00 a.m. in elizabeth, new jersey, roughly 20 miles from saturday's bombing in new york

city. elizabeth's mayor says two men discovered a backpack which had been thrown into a garbage can near the station. they found wires and pipes inside and immediately informed police nearby. the fbi now says there were multiple ieds inside. the mayor says the explosion happened as the police robot was cutting into the device. this is video captured of that blast. >> in the last few hours, law enforcement officials in elizabeth have gathered outside an address not far from the site of the blast. sources tell nbc news that the residence is connected to their investigation. meanwhile, the discovery of this latest device comes as police in new york continue 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 bridge. five people are being questioned though authorities say none has been charged. officials say that surveillance video captured near the scene of saturday's blast along with video of a possible secondary device located just blocks away may show the same man at both locations. investigators are analyzing the possible similarities between the new york city devices and one that dedicated saturday morning in seaside park, new jersey, that 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 york/new jersey area. they are treating saturday's explosion as an act of terrorism but say it's not been linked to an international terrorism group. he ordered 1,000 new york state police and national guard

members across the city for extra security. a lot going on in the city this week with the president coming to town. we'll speak live to governor cuomo in just a bit now to the fast moving developments in the presidential race. on friday donald trump acknowledged he believed that president obama -- he made a big show of this -- that president obama was in fact born in the u.s. making the announcement during a stop at his new washington hotel. >> hillary clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. i finished it. i finished it. you know what i mean. president barack obama was born in the united states period. now we all want to get back to making america strong and great

again. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. >> if that declaration was meant to put an end to the controversy, it didn't. surrogates continued to blame 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 of the way back to hillary clinton's campaign in 2008. >> you believe that hillary clinton started the birther movement? >> look, i will let the facts speak for themselves. >> i think it was something that got started in the 2008 presidential campaign. whose fault it was, hillary clinton herself, her supporters, her interns, her staffers, clearly it was something that was circulating in 2008. i'm agreeing with you that he took it further. he took it further. and he brought it into the

public debate even more so than what was brought in in 2008. 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 that patty doyle of the clinton campaign in 2008 was an issue that mrs. clinton injected into her campaign in 2008 in a very quiet but direct way against then senator obama. >> just as a point of fact again, donald trump did not accept when barack obama released his birth certificate in 2011. he kept up this birther thing until friday. that's five years. we only have a little time left. i want to ask you -- >> that's just not true he kept it up for five years. it's simply not true.

it wasn't like he was talking about it on a regular basis until then. >> harold ford? >> that's simply not true. >> he had a whole investigation going, didn't he? like in hawaii he sent tons of people there? >> absolutely. a big part of his whole political identity donald trump over the last five or six years is to remain relevant in the conversation with conservatives was to talk about this. i've seen governor christie when he gets tough and wants to be believed, he will just double down, triple down or quadruple down. he's doing that now. what it shows me also -- >> you don't think what he's showing is true? >> it's completely false but consistent with the narrative out of the trump campaign routinely where they are wrong on something and create a narrative that may have an ioda of truth to it. it may help drive up support for her not only amongst african-american voters but

remind voters how much on the fringe donald trump has been over the years as it relates to this presidency. as they try to come up with an answer. >> what's your response to what chris christie said this weekend? >> he's just wrong. the facts just play themselves out. evidence is clear that trump has been kind of trading in this issue for the last five years. what i found really interesting in the press conference is that trump said, okay, he's an american citizen. now let's get about the business of making america great again. so it is really reaffirming why the birther issue was important in the first place. it was to delegitimize the obama presidency and he doubled down on that claim by saying right after he's an american citizen -- >> on this show you remember when trump went on that morning after, i believe, the tragedy in san bernardino and said he wasn't tough enough.

he was insinuating the president might have alignment with people that may want to hurt the country. >> he took that tact several times. >> just in the last four or five months. >> after orlando too. >> as profession journalist, he cannot let a major party nominee try to change history by saying what he said. he has to be responsible for what he said. it's one of the worst things a major party nominee of either party has ever done. he's got to own up to it. >> why did he do it? >> i don't know. >> are his surrogates lying for him? >> can i ask one more question? why did the guy that led the birther movement ultimately win the republican nomination? >> it helped him. it did help him. >> that doesn't make it okay. >> i'm making a point. of course it doesn't make it okay. >> he would have changed his position a long time ago if he thought it would be politically

beneficial. he didn't because he thought it was beneficial to be in a sneaky, shifty way with the birther movement. >> are his is surrogates lying for him? >> yes. i think donald trump was looking for a foothold in politics. he was a democratic most of his life. he made a conscious decision to get a foothold in republican party politics. he seized on this issue. he knew there was large segment of the republican base that wanted to delegitimize the first african-american president that are racist and he found a way with this issue to become the most vocal, loudest, most prominent public proponent and that's why he's the republican nominee now. >> if you are pro choice and if you supported partial birth

abortion, if you supported gun control, if you gave money to nancy pelosi and harry reid and if you gave money to hillary clinton, if you said that hillary clinton would be a very good secretary of state and good negotiator, if you gave a lot of money to a lot of democrats, if you -- >> universal health care. >> if you supported universal health care. if you still support planned parenthood. you're going to have to come up with a doozy to make people forget all of the fact that you had been a democratic for 65 years of your life. following up on what john heilemann said, perhaps this is that doozy. >> this is what kept him v relevant. >> a political cluster bomb. >> we have to be careful -- be careful using bomb this morning. you remember that at one point and john and mark may know better, upwards of half if not

more than of the republican party for all of president obama's presidency believed he was not born in the u.s. and may be a muslim. trump saw an opening there. i couldn't agree more. it's disgusting. i'm hopeful that people do hold him accountable and hold people like chris christie who on national television would not only double down but triple down on a lie. >> when he has a trial going on. >> if you think, wow, what show are you watching because if you watched us six months ago it might have been different, or nine months ago, we always saw that donald trump had supreme abilities to communicate and to connect and be the candidate who sort of represents success in all american terms and aspirational qualities and we could see him drawing in people. i personally still do believe he has all of these communication skills and branding abilities and he was able to capture a movement.

a very real set of important people in this country who feel a certain way and he has done that. and he is not doing good things with it. that's what's turned here. >> he hasn't used his skill set to appeal to our better angels by no stretch of the imagination. >> i think -- it's not that he'll be damaging to our country but what's happening now is damaging. >> what's clear is we can no longer say given consolidation of republican support behind him and what reince priebus just did, we can't say he's uneducated, disaffected white supporting donald trump. >> he said he had investigators going to hawaii. >> he did it for political reasons and he did something with an impact on not just the president but on the country and legitimacy that was -- i'll say

one of the worst things any major party nominee has ever done. >> as i tried to say before, i think the question especially for republicans to answer is why that tactic worked? why did it work so effectively? why did he get 45% of the republican vote? that's something that my party is going to have to be grappling with as we move forward over the next four years. by the way, it's right now working in national polls. it's working in ohio where he's up five. it's working in florida where he's up three. it's working in virginia where he's now within two. it's working in state after state after state after state. this race is a tossup. >> what does it say about the country? here we are eight years ago getting prepared to elect the first african-american president. eight years later building on this conversation you have a nominee of a major party who catapulted himself by ta questioning the legitimacy of the president who happens to be

african-american and, two, taking on immigration in a way many people thought shouldn't have been taken on and now looks like he's running neck and neck. >> we around these sort of tables, we can't say that barack obama's victory proves that the american people are a great and noble and just and forward looking people. >> seems like a big jump. >> and then say -- i do want to say this. i want to be careful when i say this. i'm not drawing any direct comparisons. i was talking to a republican friend this weekend who obviously knows that i have serious problems with what donald trump has been doing with the muslim ban, the mexican judge, et cetera, et cetera, the birther movement. everything else. and he said, yes. he is a "scoundrel." he has a dark side. go back to 1992. did you think any more of bill

clinton in 1992, draft dodger, serial adulter, go down the line of all of the things people said about bill clinton in 1992, did any republican think anymore of bill clinton in 1992 than any democratic thinks of donald trump in 2016? >> yes. >> no, they didn't. >> yes. there's a difference. >> no, they didn't. >> every four years we are told that the republican nominee no matter who it is, is a racist. is a bigot. hates black ople. hates the elderly. paul ryan pushes grandma off a cliff. he hates old people. he wants to kill them. >> we never had a nominee continue to give us evidence -- >> i agree. to me it's far different. i will tell you for a lot of republican voters out there that have been hearing that everybody they support every year is a

racist and a bigot and helps black people and hates hispanic and hates elderly and wants to steal from the poor and give to the rich, they hear the same thing. there's a horrible human being. >> you agree we never had a republican nominee that couldn't denounce the kkk. >> i agree. all i'm trying to explain to people watching why all of the complaints and hand wringing and why a lot of republicans out there are going, yeah, wait, you said mitt romney killed a lady because he took away her health insurance. she did a 30-second ad saying he let a cancer patient die and that paul ryan took a grandmother to an edge of a cliff and shoved that grandmother over the cliff. if you want to know why a lot of voters are going, whatever, i hear this every four years about how evil the people the people i support are and how evil the

people are that are running against democrats are, i'm just going to tune them out. >> i think you're conflating two different things here, joe. >> i do that often. i minored in conflation. >> one party activates its base by appealing to fears and demonizing the other. that's happened on both sides. what's distinctive about this political season is that we're doing it in the shadow of 2008 and 2012. the first elected african-american president. and what it has activated what it has unsettled at the bottom of the american political process and what 2012 demonstrated is that you can elect a president without uneducated high school graduate white males and it seems to me is sent a ripple effect throughout the political electorate and we've been seeing

its effect ever since. so part of what i want to suggest to you is not to kind of make the equivalence between both sides doing what they are doing. >> i'm stuck on uneducated white males. >> i didn't mean uneducated. >> i know smart males that voted for mitt romney too. >> i'm talking about standard representation of the trump supporter of high school dropout blue collar white worker in western pennsylvania. the kind of standard representation of the trump supporter. what i'm suggesting is the difference with this election cycle is we're dealing with the consequence of 2008 and 2012 that has caused all of this stuff buried in our political process to come out. >> could this not also be a reflection of these people's disgust of republican leaders like george w. bush? let's remember, donald trump won the republican primary blaming

george w. bush for the september 11 attacks. >> i'm not saying he didn't have the ability -- >> blaming george w. bush. >> this doesn't make it okay. >> nobody is saying on this set -- >> it seems like you are. >> you aren't listening to me then. nobody is saying on this set that this is okay. i'm simply trying to explain why voters are tuning things out. while this is a reaction to barack obama over the past eight years, it is also a reaction to george w. bush who donald trump blamed for the death of over 3,000 americans on 9/11. who donald trump blamed for the economic meltdown in 2008. who donald trump blamed -- you name it. he hated the bushes. he went after them as well. trump is winning for a lot of reasons. >> including, for example, i believe we could probably find the sound bite and maybe we will at some point of him sitting on

a talk show and donald trump saying he had a team of investigators in hawaii checking into president obama's birth place and his background. do you remember when he said that? does anybody at this table think they are true? who are these people? have we asked those questions? you can blame the media as well. >> he didn't have investigators in hawaii. >> he had a big team investigating. >> no, he didn't. >> some setom selleck. >> where are these people? let's ask him. >> we have political polls that we're going to -- >> let's play the sound bite again and again and play it next to him on friday saying he was born in the u.s. are we allowing this? that's lying? >> i don't think we're allowing anything. >> that's not imagery. that's lying. >> the suggestion that the media has somehow taken it easy on trump over the past six months is outrageous.

let's look at the polls here really quickly. there's a new pennsylvania poll out. it shows that hillary clinton is actually way ahead and then it got tight and now i guess what is she up? eight points. hillary clinton up 40-32. gary johnson better known as the questioner of what is aleppo at 14%. jill stein at 5%. hillary clinton looks like she has a little more comfortable lead in pennsylvania than many were expecting. and then we go to minnesota. a race that's tightened up but a race that hillary clinton still comfortably ahead by six points there. still ahead on "morning joe," president obama is in new york city for the u.n. general assembly this morning. white house press secretary josh earnest joins us here on set and we'll ask what he's hearing about the recent terror scares and the u.s./russia cease-fire

plan that appears to be crumbling in syria and new york governor andrew cuomo joins us live with the latest on the weekend bombing in new york city. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. chines comm, might want to at least mention that. i'm building world-changing machines. with my two hands. does that threaten you? no! don't be silly. i'm just, uh, going to go to chop some wood. with that? yeah we don't have an ax. or a fireplace. good to be prepared. could you cut the bread? i thought my bladder leakage meant my social life was over. wearing depend underwear has allowed me to fully engage in my life and i'm meeting people. unlike the bargain brand, new depend fit-flex underwear is now more flexible to move with you. reconnect with the life you've been missing. get a free sample at depend.com. reconnect with the life you've been missing. ♪

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>> commissioner, is this the new normal for america? >> this is only the second successful attack since 9/11 in new york city. speaking specifically to two devices. first was a hatchet attack injuring a new york city police officer two years ago. the fact that these bombs were planted and one went off and caused the number of injuries that it did. that would be seen as a successful attack. your point about was it intentionally placed in an area where you would not expect it? we've talked about that. this idea of soft targets. can you protect everything? you cannot. we have often talked about it's not so much a matter of if, it's a matter of when. when has happened. >> this just in. the new york police department is seeking a man by the name of

ahmad khan rahami. joining us now white house press secretary josh earnest. will we hear from the president on these bombings? >> the president has been receiving information about this situation overnight and already this morning. i suspect he'll have an opportunity to sit down with his national security team, many of whom are traveling with him this week, and we'll see what the president's schedule looks like for later in the day. this is something that we're focused on. there are a lot of assets here in new york from the federal government for the united nation general assembly. a national special security event. you have dhs and secret service and other law enforcement agencies that are here in new york providing security for the u.n. there are a lot of resources that have been mobilized to keep people here in new york safe. >> at some point he'll address it today? >> i think the president will have an opportunity to talk later today and i'll let him

speak for himself. >> mark halperin? >> what are the lessons of these attacks based on what we know now about homeland security? >> we need to let investigators do their work. i want to be cautious and not jump to conclusions. the most important thing is -- let me say this this way. the most serious thing the president has talked about is the challenge of trying to disrupt lone wolf attacks. that really is the most difficult thing for our law enforcement professionals to get their arms around. there's not a conspiracy to try to disrupt. this is in many cases one individual. now, again, i'll let the investigators determine what's exactly happening here. vigilance is important. we need the public. dhs has see something, say something program. we encourage people to participate in that. the other thing the president has prioritized is to make sure we apply maximum pressure on terror organization that want to

do harm to the united states. two leading figures have been taken off the battlefield and that pressure on leaders of isil is a top priority of the president. >> i wonder if there's been a discussion in the white house and secret service about the tenor of the presidential campaign, about the birther discussion, the otherness to president obama, the failure to disavow the kkk and nasty edges of the campaign. is it a discussion within the white house and the secret service when it comes to the president's security? >> we let professionals handle their business and they'll do that without consulting the white house press secretary. >> is there concern over the tenor of the campaign? >> it stems from the fact that

there's so little substance being considered on the republican side of the aisle. i heard your discussion a little bit earlier. i think the real challenge facing the republican party is they've spent the last seven years, eight years, being against obama but not actually for anything. republicans actually have an historically large majority in the house of representatives of a significant majority in the united states senate, but they haven't used that majority to pass any legislation that is rooted in their own agenda, rooted in their own philosophy. the president at this point has vetoed eight or nine bills in his second term. seven or eight of those have been vetoing bills passed by republicans just overturn obama initiatives so republicans in congress are basically using whatever time it is -- whatever work it is that they're doing in congress, focused on trying to tear down the obama agenda and obama legacy in not trying to

promote their own agenda. that's why it's not surprising that they elected somebody to be their nominee who doesn't actually stand for anything. >> you talk about obama agenda and republican agenda, what can they come together on? >> a lot of opportunities to come together. immigration reform was a missed opportunity. seeing house republicans block consideration of a common sense bipartisan proposal is the best example of that? >> citizenship is never going to pass. >> well, it got almost 70 votes in the united states senate including senator rubio. >> is that a common sense compromise? that will never happen. >> it's something supported by law enforcement and evangelicals. >> if you come here and obama administration is coming here saying those terrible republicans won't do common sense immigration reform that leads to citizenship, then that's a nonstarter. how about maybe -- >> there are a dozen senators that support it. >> that's great. i think -- >> if we had that bipartisan --

here's the other thing. if speaker boehner bought that bipartisan proposal to the house of representatives, to the floor of the house, it would have passed. that's the reason. it's not like they brought it up for a vote and it failed. speaker of the house prevented it. >> how about something bipartisan. >> 70 votes in the senate is not insignificant. >> it would never pass the house. >> it wasn't given a vote in the house. >> my point is, there is not going to be an immigration reform bill that grants citizenship to people who got here illegally any time soon. maybe granting legalization after five, six, seven years. legal status. >> i disagree. i think it will happen. there will be a requirement that people will have to go to back of the line and pay a fine and learn english. there will be hoops they have to jump through as it should be. i think that we move it to a place where we have common sense immigration reform. strongly supported by bipartisan

groups across the country that includes a path to citizenship. >> harold? >> can i switch back to new york. commissioner bratton was on this show and other shows this morning saying this may be the first or second significant attack on the city since 9/11. the concerns about a lone wolf attacker. how do we stop it? any new kind of thinking that has to emerge around this lone wolf theory? it seems the last several that we're dealing with have been lone wolves. any kind of change or reform thinking within the white house or homeland security, maybe secretary johnson is better fit to answer the question. wondering what you guys are doing? >> we've intensified our cooperation with the private sector. we know that a lot of this radical ideology that isil is trying to propagate is spread online. we've had success working with twitter and facebook and other technology companies to shutdown outlets of those extremist organizations using to propagate

their ideology. they're trying to poison the minds of vulnerable individuals. there has been a stepped up cooperation from technology companies to do that. that's to their credit. the other thing that we can do is work to try to lift up the voices of prominent patriotic muslims in the united states. there are millions of them. they can speak to the poisonous, empty bankrupt -- this is a war of narratives. we want to get out our counternarrative against isil. we're making progress. more than 50 percent of the territory isil gained in iraq has been retaken by iraqi forces. 25% of the territory in syria has been taken back. we have intense pressure on leadership including taking out two senior external isil plotters in the last couple weeks. that counters the narrative they benefited from of being an organization on the move.

now they're an organization on retreat because of the strategy we've implemented. the last thing and the president talked about this a lot. we can't give them the narrative victory of suggesting that every muslim is responsible for this kind of terrorism. we can't give into this narrative that isil wants to build up that the united states is at war with islam. that is false and not true. with some of this rhetoric, we can't allow that kind of narrative victory to be given to them. we need to push back against that. that's part of the distressing rhetoric that the campaign has been a part of. >> white house press secretary josh earnest, thank you very much. coming up, new york governor andrew cuomo joins us for a live update on the man they're searching for in the manhattan bombing in connection with. we'll be right back with more on that and much more "morning joe." those new glasses?

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donald trump has more support from the ku klux klan than he does the leadership of the republican party. for years donald trump has led the charge on the birther movement and only when his handlers tied him down and made him, did he finally admit that it wasn't true. what kind of a man does that?

a man with a dark and ugly soul. a man who will never be president of the united states. >> she really ought to let it out. don't hold back, elizabeth warren. senator elizabeth warren rips into donald trump in hopes of helping hillary clinton win over millennial voters. nbc's kristen welker and katy tur join us ahead with their latest reporting. and we're back next with new york governor andrew cuomo. we'll be right back. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. he's not a serious adult. i can't vote for donald trump given the things that he said. trump should not be supported. i believe he's disqualified himself to be president. i just cannot support dona trump. (vonuitional needs...ur dog's all in one. purina one.

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ask your doctor about cialis for daily use. many men aren't aware their health insurance may cover cialis. contact your health plan for the latest information. we're following breaking developments regarding the bombing here in new york city on saturday. the new york police department is seeking ahmad khan rahami. this comes after the nypd stopped a vehicle of interest last night. this is a photo captured during that stop. five people are being questioned though authorities say none has

been charged. joining us now, new york governor andrew cuomo. thank you so much for being on this morning. connect the dots, if you could. >> good morning, mika. >> connect the dots if you could. any new information in terms of connecting the folks who were stopped at the bridge and men they're seeking and multiple bombs we've seen in the new york city area over the weekend? >> i think you start with the multiple locations. sea side park in new jersey. chelsea in manhattan. and when the bombs were explored, there were certain commonalties among the bombs. they weren't identical but certain technology was the same and certain chemicals were the same which fueled a theory that there was a common group behind the bombs. some of the bombs were not

detonated. those bombs often provide more evidence. you can get fingerprints off a bomb that's not detonated. you can get dna off a bomb that's not detonated. so that really drove the investigation. the investigation is now targeted to a particular person of interest as you mentioned. rahami and all points bulletin out for him as an individual of interest. he's of afghan descent. our information is that he's a u.s. citizen but of afghan descent. and that's now the focus of the investigation. we're trying to say at the same time that as the intent of terrorism is to disrupt is to intimidate and coerce, they're not successful. new york is up and running. subways are running. roads are open. 29 people were hurt.

thankfully no fatalities. but to the extent they were trying to disrupt new york, it didn't happen and we'll have more security personnel than ever assembled over the next week during the u.n. general assembly. >> you are also quick to say this is an act of terrorism which obviously it is. you have said that you suspect there may be a foreign connection. can we ask you if this is the end of the story? these bombs are being investigated. or is there concern there are more out there? is there concern there's an active cell? is there a concern this is the beginning of something? >> you know, mika, yeah, first, you're right. yesterday i said i believe clearly it was an act of terrorism. i don't believe in sugar coating information to people especially to new yorkers who want the facts and then want to know what you're doing about it.

i said yesterday we had no information that it was foreign related. today's information suggest it may be foreign related but we'll see where is goes. in terms of is this the end it, i mean, that's the $64,000 question, right? as governor of new york, my operating premise is any time, anywhere, seven days a week, you could have an incident like this. i remember the 1993 world trade center bombing before 9/11. my father was governor at the time. his office was in the world trade center. you have 9/11. you pick up a newspaper. there are terrorist activities all over this country. medium sized cities. small cities. international. the only safe, prudent, operating protocol is you have to be in a constant state of readiness. and that in some ways i believe

is a new normal for us when it comes to security. it's also the truth. new york is a target? why? because it's new york. there are a lot of reasons why new york is a target. and if you don't accept that premise, i think you're fooling yourself. we have no information that would suggest there's anything else. but i can tell you personally, my operating paradigm is it could be tomorrow, it would be in five minutes. always be ready. >> governor, mark halperin is with us and has a question. >> governor, what would you say it the efficiey of the coordination between state, federal and local in an investigation like this? are there areas you think based on the last 48 hours need to be improved? >> you know, mark, i was the former attorney general in new york. i started in the district attorney's office. coordination of law enforcement

at one time years ago was almost an oxymoron because you had so many jurisdictions. i have to tell you, it's a much different situation in new york today. the federal, state, city coordination was textbook. we have something called jttf which is coordinate ive body an it worked amazingly well. part of it is that we've had a lot of practice. part of it is the stakes are very high. but it's worked extraordinarily well. >> what's your recommendation as we wrap this up? i know you got to go. what's your recommendation not only for people of new york city but also to the people of new york on how they face these threats in their daily lives? >> you know, joe, it's a good question.

and i remember being in israel about 20 years ago. i am that old. and i was told by a very wise leader israel that was at that time experiencing almost weekly terrorist attacks. and he said, you know, one day, this will happen to the united states. right now, we're approximate geographically, but one day, they will come to the united states. and you can't let them win. and they win by disrupting. israel, as you know, fascinating me at the time, how you could have an incident in the morning and three hours later, you would go to that scene and there would be no sign of the incident. >> right. >> it's almost as if there were purposefully moving past it quickly. because it had become such a constant and frequent occurrence. so we're not there, obviously.

but you look at the frequency of these attacks, joe. all over the country, all over the world. you see it increasing. i say to new yorkers all the time, i would love to say this is the last time it's going to happen. i don't believe that. i believe you have to be ready. you have to be prepared. you have to believe you're a target. but in some ways you have to accept that there are people who want to disrupt our lifestyle. and you can't let them do it. >> new york governor andrew cuomo, thank you very, very much. >> thank you, governor. greatly appreciate you being with us. and we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." 98,352 what's that? the number of units we'll make nt month tthat's a projection. no, it's a fact. based on hundreds of proprietary and open data sets folded into a real-time, actionable analytics model. nine. eight. three. five. two.

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nbc sports soccer analyst and co-host of men in blazers. roger, where do we begin? >> go fast. >> the weekend, manchester united, watford, gary johnson of the premier league, and it was gary johnson that would score first. watford, the greatest thing out of watford since elton john, took the lead in the 34th minute. prison rules in full effect on the wing. sweep the ball in and surprise player this weekend. fourth goal. united couldn't have been more surprised if you slapped them across the face with a wet fish. they did equalize for watford. look at him.

came on 53 seconds earlier to finish the game. my favorite player in world football. looks just like drake in a fat suit. watford wins 3-1. united now six points behind. >> united, so much money. >> just five minutes played. >> amazing. the old coppola heart of darkness. too much money, too much equipment. they went insane. >> what happened on friday? >> eight seconds. >> friday night, you want to talk about it? friday night lights. look at it, like a phil collins no jacket required atmosphere. out come chelsea. they would show against mighty, mighty boston red sox of liverpool. sweeps in unmarked. the chelsea players. they have the worst offense since ryan lochte. can't believe they just scored. >> watch this shot. >> mika, even you would love

this. >> ooh. the only person who can swing it like that apart from jordan henderson is donald trump jr. when he puts it in his mouth. >> that is just an amazing strike by jordan henderson. >> that's it. >> he was going to say something else. >> liver fool football club, very fantastic. very happy for you. >> thank you so much. >> happy. up next, we continue to follow breaking news from the tristate area. one of five bombs found inside a backpack in elizabeth, new jersey, explodes as officials try to detonate it this morning. now, a person of interest. we'll have more on who he is. also, the chairman of the house homeland security committee, mike mccaul joins us, plus, a lot of politics to get to, including new allegations of donald trump inciting violence against hillary clinton. "morning joe," so much. back in a moment. roger, thank you.

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welcome back to "morning joe." it's 8:00 on the east coast and we're following breaking news this morning. the new york police department is seeking ahmad khan rahami in connection with the bombs left in new york and new jersey. according to an fbi poster, he is a u.s. citizen of afghan descent. he's considered armed and dangerous. his last known address was in elizabeth new jersey. the fbi says he should be considered armed and dangerous. he's about 5'6" and 200 pounds. last night, the nypd stopped a vehicle of interest near the city's verrazano bridge. this is a photo captured during

that stop. five people are being questioned, though authorities say none have been charged. the mayor of elizabeth, new jersey, says two men discovered a backpack late last night which had been thrown into a garbage can near the station. when they opened it, they found wires and pipes inside and immediately informed police nearby. the fbi now says there were multiple ieds inside. the mayor says there was an explosion as a police robot was cutting into the device. here's video captured of that blast. in the last few hours, law enforcement officials in elizabeth, new jersey, have gatored outside an address not far from the site of the blast. sources tell nbc news that the residence is connected to their investigation. meanwhile, the discovery of this

latest device comes as police in new york city continued their investigation into saturday's bombing in manhattan. the bombing that hurt 29 people. officials say that surveillance video captured near the scene of saturday's blast along with video of where a possible secondary device was located just blocks away may show the same man at both locations. now, nbc news sources say that man is rahami. investigators are analyzing the possible similarities between the new york city devices and one that detonated saturday morning in seaside park, new jersey. they say that all three contained older flip style mobile phones. several law enforcement officials tell nbc news that they're concerned there may be an active terror cell with multiple players at work in the new york/new jersey area. and earlier this morning, we

spoke with former new york cityplice commissioner bill bratton about this latest chapter of violence in his city. >> this is only the second successful attack since 9/11 in new york city. speaking specifically to new york devices. first was the hatchet attack injured a new york city police officer two years ago. the fact that these bombs were planted, one went off and caused a number of injuries. that would be seen as a successful attack. your point about was it intentionally placed in an area where you would not expect it. we have talked about that, that this idea of soft targets. can you protect everything? you cannot. and we have often talked about it's not so much a matter of if. it's when. when has happened. >> they have seen the same man in both -- we believe the same man in both places. >> there is a very good video, from what i understand, a lot of press reports this morning talk about that.

we're very fortunate in these cases that so often video, other evidence really starts moving very quickly toward resolution. the city has probably more cameras, many of them linked, than any place else in america. we continually expand the camera systems. the technology is getting better all the time. this case will come together very quickly, and a lot of it will be because of the technology we have access to. >> and house homeland security chairman mike mccaul will us in a bit. let's move on to the presidential candidates' reaction. here's what hillary clinton and donald trump said on saturday when addressing the explosion in new york city. >> i must tell you that just before i got off the plane, a bomb went off in new york. and nobody knows exactly what's going on. but boy, we are living in a time. we better get very tough, folks. we better get very, very tough. it's a terrible thing that's going on in our world and in our country. and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant.

and we're going to end it. we're going to end it. >> i have been briefed about bombings in new york and new jersey and the attack in minnesota. obviously, we need to do everything we can to support our first responders. also to pray for the victims. we have to let this investigation unfold. >> do you have any reaction to the fact that donald trump immediately upon taking the stage tonight called the explosion in new york a bomb? >> well, i think it's important to know the facts about any incident like this. i think it's always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions. because we are just in the beginning stages of trying to determine what happened.

>> so help me out here, mark. donald trump talked about bombings. that was an hour later. hillary clinton said i have been briefed on the bombings. and you saw tweets from, you know, establishment type figures, from influencers saying how reckless of donald trump, after hillary clinton said i have been briefed on the bombings. >> there's no doubt he's got a propensity to be a little reckless and loose with his rhetoric. i didn't think in this case it necessarily was just based on what was being publicly reported let alone what he might have been told privately by law enforcement. that seemed like an unnecessary case of jumping on him for something, which again, he does have a propensity to do. it's a real testing for both of them leading up to the debate of how they handle this. i suspect this will be the dominant story all week. >> well, donald trump's running mate has once again been tasked with defending controversial remarks coming from the top of

the ticket. governor mike pence says it was nonsense to suggest that donald trump was encouraging violence against hillary clinton when he said this in miami on friday night. >> now, you know she's very much against the second amendment. she wants to destroy your second amendment. i think that her bodyguards 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. i mean, the point he was making

is that hillary clinton has had private security now in her life for 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 is saying is that if hillary clinton didn't have all that security, she would be a whole lot more supportive of the second amendment. >> retrr see what happened to her. whether he intended that or not, the message sounds like a threat or encouraging violence. >> that's absolute nonsense. his comment was if she didn't have all that security, she would change her attitude about the right to keep and bear arms. i bet that's probably true. >> mika, you and i were very critical of what donald trump said on the second amendment, second amendment people. maybe they'll figure -- that crossed so many lines. never heard anything like it. this is something that conservatives have been saying for some time. i just -- who's shocked and stunned and deeply saddened about this? we will have a discussion. >> he shouldn't speak that

carelessly. >> what do you mean? >> he shouldn't speak that carelessly. >> what was careless? >> those remarks are open to interpretation. >> which part? let's have a discussion. you're speaking in generalities. >> let's see what happens to her if her secret service agents don't have guns. >> your secret service agents are always going to have guns. >> the implication is let's disarm those around her so she is vulnerable and let's see what happens to her. if she was in a position where she was not protected by guns. >> see, that's the thing. she's always going to be protected by guns. and this argument, by the way, that somebody like hillary clinton, and this is the conservative argument. hillary clinton has had people around her with guns wherever she went since 1978. since 1978. and for her to say somebody that wants to protect their family with a certain kind of gun shouldn't have that gun and she's been against handgun as

well or her husband certainly was talking about a handgun ban in the 1990s, seems to conservatives to be the same as environmental activists screaming at americans for driving a pickup truck while they're flying around the country in, you know, a hawk or 800 xl. >> what's the proposal she has on the table to deny americans the right to keep and bear arms in their homes? >> what's that proposal? >> to extend background checks so people with a medical or mental problem or a criminal conviction in their past can't have access to guns. there's a very big difference between saying that the secret service agents who are trained and authorized and responsible should have guns and -- >> she's asking for the same thing. >> and saying people who have mental problems and criminal backgrounds should have access to guns. >> katty and mark have, i think

talking loosely about the safety of the other candidate is just a dumb thing to do. you're sort of suggesting that something bad might happen to her, like why are you introducing that as a piece of rhetoric? then there's the pence thick, which is just a lie, as far as i can tell. >> what that? >> he says she wants to take away, deny people a right to bear or have arms in their home. i don't know of any hillary clinton currently on the table about what she's trying to say about the second amendment being repeals or people not allowed to have guns. >> throwing stuff out there so we talk about it so we don't talk about things that are worse like the whole birther thing or the other things we have to cover. it's just -- i think it's a really stupid argument. it's incredibly stupid. >> like i said, far more offended by that whole who knows, maybe the second amendment people will have the solution than by this. i understand -- >> on a curve. >> well, let's see what happens would be as ridiculous as me saying, you know what.

you think you're so smart. okay, i'm going to build a rocket ship and you're going to have to get in the rocket ship and go to mars and let's see what happens. >> eddie? >> what we can't do is confuse people who have the legitimate use of firearms, police, secret service, and the like, with everyday ordinary citizens. so the idea, so the analogy just doesn't work for me. the idea of taking guns away from secret service would be the equivalent of saying let's use the hypothetical of taking guns from police. that doesn't make any sense. >> not going to happen. >> so i don't know what the analogy is designed to do. >> to distract. >> the alignment, the close proximity between the claim that we all think was ridiculous about let's see what second amendment people can do, and then the claim, let's see what happens to her. those things bear a family resemblance that we have to be very, very careful about. so it has a suggestion to some

folks that harm can be done to her. you shouldn't traffic in that at all. >> i think i'm in the minority here. i think, again, what i'm saying in my rocket ship to mars argument was hillary clinton will no more walk down the street without a ton of secret service people around her for the rest of her life, most likely, than you would fly to particul mars. he's not even making eye contact now. >> honestly, you make a statement like that, never. so let's just -- if you were running for office, absolutely never. >> but let me just say -- >> why is he bothering to say it? >> to distract, which we're now ten minutes away from. >> the statement i would make is it's really easy for somebody like hillary clinton or fill in the blank who right now may not have a proposal to do that, but over the past 30 years, the left has had proposals to do this. >> let's not tar her with 30 years of the left. she has a very detailed policy

proposal she's put on the table. i think 1,000 smart nuanced arguments about where you think the line should be about what's accept gun safety measures and what are unacceptable intrusions on the second amendment. donald trump could make these arguments, he could criticize her on 500 ways on gun control. >> i think that hey be the problem. maybe he can't. >> there are a million ways to do this that don't insight these fears. >> i want to be well within the parameters of political discourse. >> i want to be clear since everybody is going to pile on me after this is over. i want to be clear. again, go back, if you want to see what i think about people doing anything that might encourage any wing nut out there to do anything to any politician, go back and look at the clips and see how i excoriated donald trump in the most brutal terms after that second amendment deal. i guess what i'm saying is, i think that people are maybe

conflating this type of rhetoric with that type of rhetoric. i don't see it. but a lot of people that i respect and whose views i trust do. so maybe i'm just wrong. >> i think this is worse. >> you think this is worse? >> because he did it again. >> yeah. >> i'm against phony outrage by either campaign or anybody in politics. this isn't phony. really upsetting with someone whose life has been threaten. >> he shouldn't do it. plenty of ways to criticize her. he shouldn't talk about her safety. >> i must be wrong here. then, because -- >> mika, he did it to distrath. >> from this. on friday, donald trump acknowledged that he believed that president obama was in fact born in the united states. >> hear hear. >> but no, he still had to like -- >> five years later. >> making the announcement during a stop at his new washington hotel. on budget. >> hillary clinton.

and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. i finished it. i finished it. you know what i mean. president barack obama was born in the united states, period. now, we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you. >> but if that declaration was meant to put an end to the controversy, it didn't, with surrogates spending a lot of the weekend continuing to put the blame on hillary clinton's 2008 campaign. take a look. >> 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 rumor all the way back to hillary clinton's

campaign in 2008. >> you believe that hillary clinton started the birther movement? >> look, i'll let the facts speak for themselves. >> i think it was something that got started in the 2008 presidential campaign. whose fault it was. hillary clinton herself, her supporters, her interns, her staff staffers. clearly, it was something that was circulating in 2008. so i'm agreeing with you that he took it further. 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 that patti solis doyle of the clinton campaign recently said was an

issue that mrs. clinton also injecting into her 2008 campaign in a quiet but direct way against then-senator obama. >> 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 -- >> but jake, that's just not true. it's not true that he kept it up for five years. >> sure, he did. >> that's not true. >> sure, it is. >> it wasn't like he was talking about it on a regular basis until then. >> katty kay. >> he's wrong. >> why? >> donald trump has talked about this continuously for the last five years. it's not true that he dropped it. it's not true that he walked back from it. every time he was asked about it, he raised it. >> john heilemann. >> i agree with katty. it's ridiculous. >> it's ridiculous. >> what's the most ridiculous part of that? >> well, the fact, the notion that trump from the moment he obtained the birth certificate,

to begin with, from the start of the rumor through to the provision of the long-form birth certificate, it was an outrageous racistrope. that was not -- like donald trump -- he tried to claim credit for putting to rest some legitimate debate. there was never a legitimate debate about it. he was always born in america. no sensible person thought he was born in kenya. then the birth certificate was produced. then he said, i put it to rest. then a tweet trail for years after and on 12 from 2011 all the way until 2015 where every time he was asked about it, he continues to say i don't know where he was from. maybe the birth certificate is fake. it's absurd the fact he didn't talk about it for four years. it's false. >> eddie, let me bring you in it. heilman called it an outrageous, racist troep. do you agree? >> yes, it's designed to deny the legitimacy of the obama presidency. and it has stoked, i think, a

range of ridiculous kinds of assumptions and responses to the obama presidency. not only was it outrageous and racist. it was -- its aim and purpose was to in some ways block the way to the success or to the efforts of the obama -- to the obama presidency. so yeah, i mean, and then to deny that he -- to suggest that he put it to rest is orwellian. this guy can just say one thing and then say the exact opposite and just think people are just stupid. >> still ahead on "morning joe," president obama was in rare form on saturday. 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. >> we're going to hear more from the president. plus, a cast of thousands. katy tur and kristen welker of nbc news, and anne gearan and philip bump of the "washington post." we'll talk to the chair of the house homeland security committee, congressman mike mccaul. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. abigaihiggi. ...a tree that bore the most rare and magical fruit. which provided for their every financial need. and then, in one blinding blink of an eye, their tree had given its last. but th their raymond james financial advisor, they had prepared for even the unthinkable. and they danced. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

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law enforcement can't rule out an act of terror cell after another night and more explosive devices discovered. the top lawmaker on the house homeland security committee,

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welcome back to "morning joe." we want to update you on the latest in the investigation into a series of explosive devices placed across new york and new jersey. the new york police department is seeking ahmad khan rahami, a

28-year-old male in connection with explosives left in new york and new jersey. according to an fbi poster, he is a u.s. citizen of afghan descent. he's considered armed and dangerous. his last known address was in elizabeth, new jersey. he's about 5'6" and 200 pounds. last night, the nypd stopped a vehicle of interest near the city's verrazano bridge. we have a photo here captured during that stop. five people are being questioned, those authorities say none have been charged. in the last few hours, law enforcement officials in elizabeth have gathered outside an address not far from the site of last night's blast. sources tell nbc news that the residence is connected to their investigation. hopefully closing in on this. we want to bring in the chairman of the house homeland security committee, republican congressman michael mccaul of texas. thank you, congressman, for being on the show this morning. you're being briefed, clearly,

on the situation here. multiple bombing situations in new york and new jersey. i guess the first, most active question is, beyond saying, you know, we all need to be vigilant at all times, is there a credible concern that there might be more bombs or bombers out there connected with this? >> well, i know there were some calls that came in warning that other bombs would go off. we always have to worry about that in these types of situations. remember, the old al qaeda playbook manual, always talked about simultaneous events, bombs going off simultaneously in multiple locations, which is what we saw, i think, saturday night, unfortunately. i don't think these sources are credible that other bombs were out there, but you have to take that threat seriously. i know that nypd and fbi are investigating those leads right now. ip think the good news is as you mentioned, we are starting to move in on the manhunt, if you will. given the video that we have recovered, and the tips that we

have recovered from just the good people of new york, i think we're now closing in on a person of interest, a suspect now. this ahmad khan rahami, who also, by the way, lives in new jersey. it's interesting to see if there's a connection between the events of what happened in the chelsea neighborhood and then what happened in new jersey at the marine charity run. >> i want to zoom in on something you just said. that there were calls coming in, that there were other bombs out there and the nypd and fbi are investigating those calls. what do you mean by that? can you be more specific in. >> obviously, the individual who called in with the information has been talked to and it's followed up as any lead would. the question is whether that was a credible lead or phone call coming in. >> coming in to the police. is that what you meant? a threat or people calling concerned they're seeing backpacks? was it a threat? >> it was more of a threat that other bombs would go off.

so that is obviously something that's being run down. i think the good news is that i do think the perpetrators here are now much more inside the bull's eye of the investigation. and you know, when you have this device, you have fingerprints and dna material that's been sent to quantico for examination. we can get all sorts of valuable information from that device that can lead us to the perpetrator. >> can you tell us any connection between ahmad khan rahami and the people who were stopped on the verrazano bridge? >> we're not sure about that. i know that those individuals were stopped. i know that also in addition to the pipe bombs in new jersey, that this other device was found in a backpack. another pressure cooker in new jersey around the area where the charity run event was to take place. but i think those are more in lines of tips that are coming in to both the fbi and new york police department.

but i think this is moving rapidly. and i think you're going to see the fbi closing in rather quickly. >> is ahmad rahami a suspect? and what do we know about his background and his record? >> well, right now, he's called a person of interest, but he is labeled as armed and dangerous. that says a lot to me, that he is more along the lines of a suspect. we do know he is of afghan desce descent. when we talk about, this was an act of terror, i don't think there's any question about that. i think the question has been all along is what was the motivation? was it islamist based terror or some other motivation to detonate these explosive devices. this is very consistent with what we have seen in the past from both al qaeda and isis. in terms of the times square bomber, the boston bomber, as you recall, used pressure cooker bombs. and also pipe bombs as the chase scene ensued when they tried to

apprehend him after the fact. so i think they have a track record here, if you will. we have seen this movie before. using pressure cookers to kill americans. i think it's very consistent. very likely that we're going to find at the end of the day, and now given the name that we have of the person of interest that it was islamic based terror. >> okay, so adding to that, is there credible information coming in that would point to an active terror cell in the tristate area? >> that's my concern. and that's law enforcement's concern. we have the reporting from law enforcement of the individual with the duffel bag at 23rd street. where a device was left. same duffel bag occurs at 27th street. two other individuals go to that duffel bag to unload the pressure cooker bomb that we know did not go off. but what that indicates to me is a former federal prosecutor is that now you have a conspiracy. now you have a cell, not just a

lone wolf acting by himself but rather an operational cell of terrorists who are working together to kill americans. >> all right. chairman of the house homeland security committee michael mccaul, thank you very much. hopefully we'll talk to you soon and hear more about this. thank you for being on. joining us now, we have mayor of new york city, bill de blasio. mayor, let's build upon what we just heard. i'll ask you what i asked the congressman. is there credible concern coming in to you and law enforcement that there are more bombs and bombers out there? >> mika, at this point, we need to get this individual in to be able to draw further conclusions. this individual, ahmad khan rahami, as you know, we have now sent out an alert to every cell phone and electronic device all over the new york metropolitan area giving people this description, this photo, all of our nypd officers have this photo and are looking for this individual. he is, we assume, armed and

dangerous. people should recognize that, anyone with information about him should call 911. that's what we have to do first. we do not yet know, and again, law enforcement has to be the ones to draw the conclusions. we do nod yet know if this was a lone wolf or if it was something involving additional individuals. we know the nypd found a car that they were interested in, trailed that car, questioned its occupants. we know they have gotten a lot more information in the last 24 hours along with fbi, and i do think each hour is changing the situation now. things are emerging very rapidly. but this individual is the key, getting him in for questioning. i think that's going to tell us a lot as to whether it was a lone wolf or something bigger. >> how armed is ahmad khan rahami believed to be? >> we have to assume, since we, again, believe there's the direct involvement in a bombing, we have to assume he would be well armed. in this city, of course, we have our police on alert. we have our critical response

command, which is over 500 anti-terror officers, on alert. very heavily armed and ready. a lot of police presence in new york city today, in part because of the united nations general assembly, but also to be preventative. >> what about this phone call or phone calls that law enforcement received ability potentially more bombs out there? >> we don't have anything confirmed yet that we know is credible. it's not surprising, these kinds of phone calls come in in these situations. we need to hear from law enforceme enforcement if they believe if any of them are credible. we want everyone veglnt, if you see a package, report it immediately. >> what the connection between the man you're looking for and the people stopped at the verrazano bridge? >> can't go into a lot of detail on that, but i can safely say that stop of vehicle was helpful and important. and a number of other efforts were made overnight to locate

information. that's what allowed us to zero in on this individual. >> what's the connection between those people, the man you're looking for, and the location in elizabeth, new jersey, being investigated right now actively? >> whereas yesterday we were not able to say definitively there's a connection, i can certainly say we're looking more closely and the fbi in particular is looking more closely at a kwekz between these pieces. we're not at a conclusive point yet, but more and more indications suggest a connection between new york and new jersey. >> are you looking more closely at the possibility of an active terror cell in the tristate area? >> we're starting to look. we have to lack at every possibility here. >> are you looking more closely at that now given the evidence you have? >> i would say until we know more, it's not time yet. it could be a lone wolf, it could be something bigger. the key is getting this individual in for questioning. mika, i can say safely, fbi, nypd, assume all possibilities, look at all options, but we don't draw conclusions unfill we have the evidee we believe is

accurate that then we can give to the public. >> new york city mayor bill de blasio thank you very much. >> thank you, mika. >> we'll bring in our political roundtable for reaction to this fast-moving developments and how they impact the presidential race. the "washington post" anne gearan and philip bump and katy tur and kristen welker all join the conversation. we'll be right back. we're good. okay... what if a million people download the new app? we're good. five million? good. we scale on demand. hybrid infrastructure, boom. ok. what if 30 million people download the app? we're not good. we're total heroes. scale on demand with the number one company in cloud infrastructure. hewlett packard enterprise.

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sacrifices of two parents who lost their son in war. how would you answer that father? what sacrifice have you made for your cntry? i think i've made a lot of sacrifices, built great structures. i've had tremendous success, i think... those are sacrifices? let's turn to our political roundtable. national correspondent for the "washington post," anne gearan, "washington post's" philip bump, eddie glaude jr. still with us as well. anne, i'll start with you. obviously, this is going to drive the news cycle, if there's more events or more information at least coming out and perhaps even concerned about an active terror cell confirmed, politically, who does this help? >> at first blush, you would say it helps donald trump because in the generic universe terrorism typically boosts turn out fears

of terrorism typically boost turnout for republicans. of course, this is an unorthodox year in every way. hillary clinton polls better on the general question of who would be a better commander in chief. she certainly has more experience in that lane than he does. but he polls better on who is tougher, who would be tougher on terrorism. so that is potentially a net wash or better for him, and we're only a week from the debate. >> he does, but philip bump, i have to say, when you're in the booth and your country is in crisis, i just don't -- i see this ultimately helping the candidate with more legitimate experience. in the moment, though, when you're looking at polls, you have the problem of a donald trump being able to touch on topics and broad brushing faths with no concern for their validity, which apparently seems to have an impact. it's hard to tell, isn't it? >> very hard to tell. it's a very weird election cycle.

one of the things we have seen is donald trump consistently does better in polls when you ask about the islamic state versus terrorism more generally which is an interesting distinction that could play a role here. we saw donald trump, one of the reasons he was able to do so well at the end of last year was the terror attack in paris. ben carson was doing very well against him in polling at that time. after the terror attack, carson plummeted and trump maintained his lead that he carried through the election. i think donald trump is -- there are very strong reactions how donald trump handles situations like this that i don't think are necessarily an asset across the board. >> i wonder if that's in circles not beyond major cities. i just wonder about that. >> that's a very good question. >> i really think sometimes we miss our nose to spite our face on this. let's bring in nbc news correspondent katy tur who is covering the trump campaign. what are the plans for today, and any reaction to the latest developments from the trump campaign? >> reporter: he has one public avent today. it will be in florida.

there's no other anticipated or expected or planned reaction to what is going on here in new york city and in new jersey. we have seen donald trump tweet a number of things. i think you might be able to expect a statement going forward. so far in his tweets, he's expectedly blaming hillary clinton and president obama for what he's calling their failed policies that led to this. he's also called them weak and said that repeatedly that in order to fix this, we have to get tough. we have to take them on. he hasn't offered specifics on what he would do. remember his plan to fight isis is a secret as of now because he wants to remain unpredictable, but he will also be listening to generals. so we're going to find out if donald trump has any more reaction as you mentioned a little earlier, he was pretty quick to call the explosion bombs before any of new york officials were calling them that. so he is facing some criticism over that this morning. i know you guys spoke about it earlier this morning. but as for any planned reaction or any visit to a site, we're not getting that from the tramp compain today.

he is going to be in florida for a rally. >> i know donald trump was tweeting recently about bob gates, calling him a dope. so i'm just curious, what -- and thisort of puts you on the spot. i don't expect you to have a list here, katy, but who makes up just sort of primary players? who makes up his national security team? who would make a voter feel confident that he actually knows what he's doing right now? >> well, the one person we see by his side quite often is general mike flynn. you could put him at the top of the list. you could also talk about jeff sessions, the senator from alabama, who has been strongly by donald trump's side on foreign relations matters. chris christie is one of them. but in terms of people with experience in -- >> heavy hitters. >> war zone experience, heavy hitters, former generals, mike flynn is the one we have seen him most often with.

keith kellogg as wels, we have seen him. for the most part, we don't know what advice he is getting and who his advisers are beyond those names because they're not really speaking that much to the political press or the national press, and they're not really talking on behalf of their candidate as of now. so mostly, this is donald trump's reaction to things. himself. >> okay. katy tur, thank you very much. now to nbc news white house correspondent kristen welker, who is covering the clinton campaign, live in philadelphia this morning. kristen, what's on the schedule today, and any reaction to the late breaking developments that we're getting out of the tristate area? >> no reaction yet. but we anticipate she is going to react when she gets here to temple university. i would just make a point, mika, that secretary clinton really had a stark, starkly different reaction to what happened over the weekend than donald trump. as katy tur just mentioned, donald trump responded, called it a bombing before law enforcement officials really

came out and said that. secretary clinton very deliberately had a much more measured response. she spoke to reporters on her plane, called for the need to support first responders but also said it's important not to get ahead of the investigation. so she sort of dinged donald trump on that a little bit. then yesterday, she put out another statement once it was clear this was an apparent terror attack, she condemned the attack and also reiterated some of her broader goals to deal with terrorism, including an intelligence surge. so i anticipate if and when she does speak about that attack here at temple university, she's going to talk a little bit about that. in terms of her broader goals here at temple, she is courting millennial voters. these are voters who overwhelmingly supported bernie sanders in the primary, as you know. but if you look at the latest polling, and i think we have some of it, she's really losing ground with millennials. dhar rr a key part of the obama coalition. the latest poll shows her at 31% with millennials. compare that to last month when she got 48%, where is the

support going? to johnson. he now gets 29%. that's up from 13 points from last month. so it's a real concern. the clinton campaign deploying some of their top surrogates. elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, who were out over the weekend, and they're trying to make sure the obama coalition is energized and mobilized, mika, because they're going to be a key part of her strategy in the fall. >> kristen welker, thank you very much. anne gearan, philip bump stay with us. we're back in just a moment with much more "morning joe." sunday mornings. ♪ you like football? it's directv nfl sunday ticket. i can watch every sunday ticket game live on any device. i'm retired. i just sit here, watching nothing. if i were you, i'd work as long as you can, son. work as long as you can. anks. (vo) get nfl sunday ticket oy on directv anwatch live gam anywhere.

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what you're looking at is video of what's happening right now in elizabeth, new jersey. this is an active scene. the fbi and law enforcement are searching an apartment that is tied to the last known address of ahmad khan rahami who is the man they're looking for, considered to be armed and dangerous in connection with the bombings in new york city as well as in new jersey. we're looking at kicks between these bombings and a potential terror cell being investigated. we'll bring you the developments as they come to us, but now to the panel. i'll start with eddie, but i'll go around the table. we're looking at the candidates now, very much through the lens of national security. my question is very slanted, because it is at this point so disturbing, so i understand the tone of it. i mean it, though, with all hone honesty. was does it say about a candidate who feels the need to tweet, calling a man who has

served at the highest levels in national security for both democrat and republican administrations a dope, because he didn't like an article he wrote? like, what does that mean? this is donald trump calling robert gates a dope because robert gates wrote a very serious article, very critical of both candidates, and exactly what their approach is to this election, but very critical of donald trump and his national security. he has the need to tweet right away. does that give you any concern given the fact that we're looking at a world that involves isis? >> it's the latest example of the adolescence of donald trump. and part of what we need to understand is that, in this environment, in this environment, we need measured responsible, thoughtful response to what's happening. >> anne? >> it's an impulse that hillary clinton has tried to highlight in negative ad after negative ad. and her comments on the stump that, you know, somebody who can be irritated by a tweet isn't

somebody you should have in the oval office. i expect to hear more of that today. >> philip, this is impulse control, isn't it? in black and white laid out for all of us to see, impulse control. if you have to tweet about something negative, my god, if i did that, i would be tweeting all day. >> i think that his goal is just to show, i'm going to be tough. part of his toughness is not waiting for determining exactly what happened but going hard and striking at them. i think one -- >> that sounds like a small child in a school yard. >> there are certainly various ways to look at it. one of the ways i would point out is in polling, the main people have is his qualification and that's based on his temperament. to anne's point, that re-enforces. >> thank you all. that does it for us this morning. stay with msnbc all day for the latest on today's breaking news. fast developing details coming in. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage after a quick break. rd, but i can't imagine doing anything else. now that the train makes it easier to get here,

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time is life. we have 18,000 people around the world. the microsoft cloud helps our entire staff stay connected and work together in real time to help those that need it. the ability to collaborate changes how we work. what we do together changes how we live. good morning. i'm stephanie ruhle. we have breaking news this morning. manhunt. police now in an all-out search for this man on your screen. he's wanted in connection with the explosions in new york and new jersey. this as five more homemade bombs were found overnight in elizabeth, new jersey. police detonating one of them. >> based on the loudness, i think people could have been severely hurt or injured. >> detained.