we'll hear from the new jersey bar owner who spotted him and called police. 49 days to go until the election. both candidates now turning up the heat and turning back to the issue of national security. and president obama in new york tonight, just hours after the attacks. we'll be joined here by the white house press secretary to talk about the president's increasingly passionate role in this campaign. "the 11th hour" begins right now. good evening. in just 49 days, americans will elect the next president of the united states. and to that end, each evening we will be gathering here to talk about that day in the campaign right up until election day. that is unless and until campaign news gets mingled along with current events. well, that has happened tonight. it happened all weekend. over a period of 50 hours, in fact. and the reason, of course, was terrorism.

not that we knew it was terrorism right off the bat. these were a series of perhaps unrelated, disparate events that all took place within a two-hour drive in the new york tri-state metropolitan area. it came to a violent end this morning. we thought we were close to something last night. the candidates have reacted, though we have much time to discuss that. here is how it ended, for an afghan-born, 28-year-old, fried chicken restaurant worker who authorities now believe, they believe acted alone. and all these different bombings and attempted bombings from the jersey shore north to new york city and beyond. our nbc news correspondent has spent the day at the scene where the takedown took place. amon, what have you learned as of tonight? >> reporter: we know this evening, brian, that ahmad khan rahami is obviously in police

custody, being treated at a hospital. he is, according to police, an individual who was shot here. but he is going to survive, shot in the leg, shot in the arm. no indication yet if he is offering any actionable intelligence to law enforcement officials. and late this evening, brian, we learned from law enforcement officials that he is going to be charged with five counts of attempted murder. five counts of attempted murder in relation to the activity that took place here at the scene behind me on this very street, where he tried to escape police capture after he was identified in a shootout that took place with police officers from the linden county police force. now -- linden city police force, rather. according to police officials we've been speaking to, on his body there were no traces of explosives, no detonator, no cellphone that would have linked him immediately to the crime scene. they are still working this area behind me to try to determine if there were any other clues that could help in this

investigation, brian. >> amon, all weekend long we've heard various experts, some saying what he did was actually rather sophisticated for a lone actor. others have said he was rather incompetent at what he attempted to do and what he carried out. we do know it ended in the oddest way. the owner of a tavern later reported he was sleeping outside, awakened perhaps by the rain, and then moved inside where he fell asleep in the kind of lobby vestibule of a bar. what happened at that point? >> reporter: yeah, that's right, brian. all of this happened on two fronts. the intelligence and the investigation moved very quickly in identifying this suspect based on fingerprints, based on records, based on intelligence, speaking to family members. what actually led police to this individual was a tip they got from the bar owner just behind me here on the street. here is what he told us about how that went down.

>> i came to the store around 6:45. at that time this guy was sitting outside. it wasn't raining, so there's a bench outside, he was sitting on the bench, his face was covered, like he's sleeping, sitting and sleeping, you know? i thought maybe i wanted to look at him. when it started raining, he went into the vestibule of the bar, there's a glass enclosure. we have a door there, the lock got ripped off. he went there and just like slouched there. this guy looked so similar to the guy i just watched on the tv. i got busy with the store, still it's in the back of my mind. and my friend from the truck repair shop, i said, vinnie, you saw the guy sleeping in my vestibule? he said, yes, i saw. i said, look at this photo, he looks exactly like him.

i called the cops and said, there is a guy, he doesn't look good to me. they said, dead or alive? i said, check somebody to check it out. they sent an unmarked car, he was looking at him like this, he didn't talk to him, maybe he was waiting for his backup. another cop came in, he went towards the vestibule or entrance of the bar, and the moment he talked to him, waked him up, at the very time he went towards the guy. i was watching everything. the guy across the place, my store is just across the street, watching from the door. and he just pulled out the gun. so he just pulled the gun and shot, pow, pow, he shot twice. i think the cop was shot at that time. he got up and started running towards the streets. the cop just went behind his suv

and started shooting at him. even between the cars, there's a lot of cars parked there, and he started going towards the street. the first two shots, he ran away after a few seconds, he fired a few shots. the cops are firing shots. 30, 40 shots i heard, pow, pow, pow, like that, you know. >> brian, this evening those two police officers who identified ahmad khan rahami were slightly injured. they're being celebrated for heroes for their quick action, the fact that they chased after him and were able to capture him alive. interestingly enough, though, one of the law enforcement officials i was talking to here on the scene was saying to us, he found it somewhat odd that at the end of all of this, he was found sleeping by himself. the bar owner telling us he appeared to be exhausted. perhaps an indication that he did not have a network of accomplices or anyone who was willing to take him into shelter to help him evade capture by the police. all he had on him was the handgun that was used to shoot

back at police. according to that bar owner, a bottle of water. >> amon has been our correspondent at the scene in linden, new jersey on this story all day long. amon, thank you very much for starting off our broadcast tonight. a few words here about what happened and where this happened. linden, new jersey, is a very urban environment, kind of the fringes of the industrial heart of northern new jersey, packed with single family, multiple family dwellings, and we now know, an excellent police department featuring two terrific police officers doing the work that police officers do across this country every day. both of these officers paid for it with wounds suffered in the shootout. we are so happy to be able to report they are both, we are told, going to recover and be okay. the other lessons from this, good people doing the right thing, starting with the bar owner there. but other people who did the

right thing all weekend long. the police slogan, if you see something, say something. since 9/11, it has seeped into our society. people are indeed taking it to heart, especially in urban areas like this one. finally, what has emerged as the new wanted poster of our day, and that is what happened in new york this morning. everyone's cellphones went off at the same time. you'll see more of that in this report to follow. again, we're talking about a 50-hour drama. when it started, we didn't know it was going to be the start of a 50-hour terrorism drama that would end with the largest manhunt in new york city in a generation. it started very innocently, about a two-hour drive from the city on the jersey shore. 9:35 a.m. saturday, in seaside park, new jersey. >> all right, i got some type of explosion that occurred on ocean avenue at d street inside of a garbage can.

>> an explosion blows up a garbage can near the starting line of a marine corps 5k run. the race, which would have gone right past this point, is running late. police are called in after the blast. >> okay, we need to shut down this run. shut down the run, get them out of the boardwalk. >> the race is cancelled for today. >> authorities later discover unexploded pipe bombs as well. the bomb squad arrives and the fbi gets involved almost immediately. >> leading this investigation, again, it's going to be the federal bureau of investigation, our joint terrorism task force. again, we're working closely with our partners from the federal, state, and local area. >> 11 hours later, around 8:03 on a beautiful late summer saturday night, a blast thunders through manhattan's busy chelsea neighborhood. >> i just heard a massive explosion. i wasn't sure what it was. it wasn't like a thunderclap. and then i started to hear, you know, fire trucks and police cars.

>> it was scary at first. then it sounded like thunder. it just sounded really heavy. if you're close, you felt it in your heart, you know? like when you're hearing fireworks. >> it started like a million pianos just dropped. >> the blast shattered windows a block away. it blew up a dumpster on the street. >> get off the street! >> first responders were at the screen within moments. 29 people were rushed to the hospital with injuries. thankfully, none of them life-threatening. at 11:30 p.m., four blocks to the north, on 27th street, petra meyer discovered another device on the sidewalk. >> i saw a pot on the sidewalk with things sticking out of it. i remember them saying, if you see something suspicious, called 911. i said, that looks suspicious, i better be safe and call 911. >> saturday night and into sunday morning, officials were

doing everything they could to assure the public every effort was being made to solve this crime. >> life will go on in new york just the way it did the moment before the bomb exploded. we're not going to let them win. >> and you should know you will see a very substantial nypd presence this week. bigger than ever. we would normally have an expanded presence for the united nations general assembly. you'll see an even stronger presence now. >> then late sunday evening, the fbi stopped a vehicle near new york's verrazano narrows bridge. five members of the rahami family were questioned. but no one was detained. then around 8:30 p.m. on sunday evening, five pipe bombs were found in a backpack near a train station in elizabeth, new jersey. while attempting to disarm the bomb in the train station, a bomb squad robot instead sets it

off. behind the scenes, the investigators moved fast. surveillance video, a fingerprint on the pressure cooker, and records from the cellphones used as detonators all pointed to rahami as the suspect in the new jersey and new york city bombings. at 6:00 a.m., fbi agents gather at the rahami family restaurant, first american fried chicken, in elizabeth, new jersey. at 7:27, the nypd releases a photo of rahami, wanted for his role in the bombings. minutes later, the fbi releases its own wanted poster for rahami, warning he is armed and dangerous. at 8:00 a.m., authorities issued a cellphone alert via wireless emergency alert system. it hit all the mobile phones in the new york city area. and it said, wanted, ahmad khan rahami, 28-year-old male, see media for picture, call 911 if

seen. >> the officer got hit initially when he confronted him. he told the gentleman, when the gentleman picked up his head, he had a beard, the officer recognized him from the wanted poster. then we said let me see your hands. he pulled the handgun out and discharged it at the officers, hitting him in the abdomen. >> rahami fired one shot at the officer, who was wearing a bullet proof vest. then he ran, with surveillance cameras picking him up along the way, gun in hand. he shot another officer before he was shot and apprehended. that's how the day started here in the new york metropolitan area. and yes, it has found it's not intertwined in the run for president. we want to show you what new york city looks like tonight, as coastal fog works its way in over the city.

this city turns into a police state, in plain language, one week per year, during the united nations general assembly. that happens to be this week. whatever police state plus is, new york city is tonight. it's hard to get around. security is thick for good reason, given what the city and this area has been through. we have two terrific guests standing by to talk to us about what we've just witnessed. our first break. we'll be back with that conversation right after this. ♪ take on any road with intuitive all-wheel drive. the nissan rogue, murano and pathfinder. now get 0% apr for 72 months, plus $500 bonus cash.

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we are back, and as promised, we have two terrific and experienced guests to talk to us about all it is we have just witnessed over this 50-hour ordeal.

and it's important that we read their backgrounds to you. juan serate is in washington, dc. special note in his bio, deputy assistant to the president, deputy national security adviser for combatting terrorism under president george w. bush, senior fellow at the west point terrorism center, where they combat terrorism. we should note, former federal prosecutor who served on terrorism prosecution teams prior to 9/11. in philadelphia is our friend malcolm nance, 30-year veteran of the counterterrorism business, a veteran of special ops and intelligence agencies. two decades in clandestine antiterrorism, counterterrorism intelligence. u.s. navy, arabic-trained, intelligence collections operator and field interrogator, notable for our next conversation, and the author of "defeating isis."

gentlemen, it's good to have you both with us. malcolm, we'll start with you, because it was saturday night, you and i were both on the air together by telephone while this was unfolding, and you said something that stopped me in my tracks. you said, and i'm paraphrasing you, that in your line of work, there are no coincidences. this beautiful saturday started on the jersey shore, a town i'm very familiar with, seaside park, an undistinguished trash can that is now a former trash can, fast forward 11 hours, a normal side street in chelsea, not notable for any reason. why did you have early reason to think that these two disparate elements were perhaps part of a whole? >> well, you know, in the intelligence community, there was a thing known for a very long time as the fleming dictum, that's from ian fleming, the writer of james bond. in his first book, "goldfinger," he wrote that once is an

accident, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. but since then, the intelligence community has developed a little better. and i have a thing i call nance's law, coincidence takes a lot of planning. we had this attack that went down at 9:30 a.m., this attempted bombing in seaside park. a very narrow spit, it's really not anywhere that somebody would go to do an attack unless they went there for a very specific purpose. there was a marine corps 5k happening at that time. i happened to be at mcguire air force base at that time. i thought, you know what, they really should have attacked a more capable base. later on in the day, 11 hours later, we had the chelsea bombings. not near anything of great significance. just too big a coincidence. as i said, coincidence takes a lot of planning. >> and we're not trying to diminish any of this, it scared a lot of people, the definition

of terrorism. it injured a lot of people, 29 souls in new york city. and it continued scaring people until this morning. what they were not, though, were, malcolm, the spectacular attacks, that term we all learned after 9/11. these were small, localized. you take that on before i turn to juan. >> well, the attack methodology in this incident, in all of the incidents, started to lead us to believe very, very early on that we were dealing with an amateur bomber. even though the devices themselves had some level of sophistication. the moment i saw it was command foam detonated, using a cellphone, told me this was not a right wing american extremist, they generally use fuses and timers, i thought they might have had foreign training. and a pressure cooker bomb, that is ubiquitous in the muslim world, certainly american soldiers have run into these pot

iuds all over the place. even though he had good weapons systems, he could have gone one block to the east and attacked the flatiron building triangle there at the 23rd street metro or madison square park. all of these things, the trade craft that the bomber demonstrated. and then, no suicide, no martyrdom. all the hallmarks of jihadist terrorism were not checked in this operation, which led us to believe it was more of an amateur that had a little bit of skill. >> over to juan serate, to our viewers, these are both lovely men in a scary line of work. juan, public officials have been saying, this guy acted alone. i've heard two reviews, as i said, number one, that he was quite skilled in these explosives. he covered a lot of ground. while it didn't all succeed, thankfully, he had some skill. number two, i've heard people

call him flat-out incompetent amateur. what do you just of all of it? >> brian, i think it's a combination of both, actually. he was able to be dangerous. he hurt a lot of people. he was disruptive to one of the great cities of the world. and certainly with some amateurish tactics, he was able to draw a lot of attention to himself and whatever cause he is subscribing too. at the same time, as malcolm indicates, this is not a sophisticated series of attacks, does not seem to be coordinated in any way with others. he didn't em to have a base of support where he could retreat. keep in mind, for example, in brussels, the authorities in belgium had to search for weeks to find a suspect there. here he was found within basically 24 hours of his name being published. and so this was amateurish in many ways. but you don't have to be very good to cause disruption. we saw with the boston marathon bombers that pressure cooker

bombs can cause a lot of damage. and certainly can bring a major city to its knees. so this is the nature of 21st century terrorism, where individuals can use relatively basic ways of destroying and attacking fellow citizens. and frankly, affect a major city in the united states. and so in a sense he did both. he was amateurish, and he wasn't well-coordinated, wasn't all that effective. at the same time, he was dangerous, and his plot worked to the extent he hurt people. >> and scaring folks and injuring people from seaside to new york is absolutely the definition of terrorism. malcolm, do you think they've got the guy? do you think they've got all the devices, and do you think this guy acted alone? >> right now i'll say, conditionally, that he was acting alone. until we get more evidence. they have good surveillance on him.

and they saw him bringing that bag. now we know the initial reports that two people were handling that bag were actually people who were trying to steal a bag that was left there. i think if the fbi and the jttf says they've got one man, then they've ripped this guy's life apart as far as they can get physical evidence, and they know he at least was the delivery guy. where is his bomb factory is the key question, where did he build these devices. people tend to build these devices in pairs. we have at least four pairs that were used. the last bomb left in elizabeth was a bundle of five. my first thought on that was he dumped that device, he dumped his remaining weapons systems in order to get rid of it. and the two pot bombs, as we saw, the two pressure cooker bombs, one detonated, one did not. we have quite a bit of information to work through. >> gentlemen, i can't thank you enough for staying up late with us and joining us after a busy day in your line of work. we can't note enough, worked

because of good police work and members of the public taking their role very seriously, as long as we have more good people than bad, that balance will always work. gentlemen, thanks. our broadcast continues right after this.

we're back, and back to the thesis of our broadcast, we're supposed to this day in the campaign, the most unusual in easily a lifetime. well, the subject of terrorism early and often made its way into the discussion of the campaign.

we heard from both of the candidates on this topic, beginning with hillary clinton. >> we know that donald trump's comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists. we also know from the former head of our counterterrorism center, matt olson, that the kinds of rhetoric and language that mr. trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries. i have sat at that table in the situation room. i've analyzed the threats. i've contributed to actions that have neutralized our enemies. i know how to do this. and i understand how we don't want this to get even bigger than it already is. the facts are pretty clear that we still have challenges. that's what i have been talking about throughout this campaign. i am prepared to, ready to actually take on those

challenges, not engage in a lot of, you know, irresponsible, reckless rhetoric. you don't hear a plan from him. he keeps saying he has a secret plan. the secret is he has has no plan. let's focus on what we really can do. and what i've laid out is a path forward that will keep us safer, protect our country and go after the terrorists to finally destroy them. >> thousands of people are pouring into our country. we have no idea what we're doing. our leaders are -- i don't even say weak. i say stupid. we want to make sure we are only admit people into our country who love our country. we want them to love our country. today we have caught this evil thug who planted the bombs. thank you, law enforcement. thank you, police. now we will give him amazing hospitalization. he will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world.

he will be represented by an outstanding lawyer. his case will go through the various court systems for years. and in the end, people will forget, and his punishment will not be what it once would have been. we must have speedy but fair trials and we must deliver a just and very harsh punishment to these people. hillary clinton is a weak and ineffective person and i will tell you, if you choose donald trump, these problems are going to go away, far, far greater than anybody would think, believe me. >> so as nicely as two 50-second or so segments of sound can paint to portraits of two different candidates in this race, you just saw a sample of today, let's talk about today with our two guests tonight.

nicole wallace is back with us, former communications director, of course, for president bush xliii and a veteran of too many campaigns to mention. she's joined by yamiche alcindor, welcome very much, good to see you. i will begin here, nicole, with the compression of time and space, something we talk about a lot. donald trump landed in colorado, gets off the plane, calls it a bomb having exploded in new york. everyone lying in wait. is he going to be right, is he going to be wrong? everyone else trying to take a measured approach. what matters for anything anymore? >> i think this is one of those -- another example of his supporters feeling great about everything he did and said, when he did it and when he said it, and even some of his supporters who may be a little embarrassed or ashamed of some of the immigration policies that border on unconstitutional and un-american. they make more sense to their

friends and neighbors in the wake of something like this. donald trump broke out of the back after san bernardino. hillary clinton, in democratic circles, you would know better than me, i think there was some angst and hand wringing last week about the tightening of the polls. there was an opening when former secretary of defense robert gates came out and said hillary clinton is beyond repair but hillary clinton is someone i could support. i think they view this argument as being squarely in her wheelhouse. i will say for the seven undecided voters, you heard a lot of venom. i'm not sure that's the way to win hearts and minds. >> does that match what you've been observing covering the clinton effort? >> i've actually been covering both campaigns, and i think what we saw was both of these candidates showing themselves as exactly who they are. they were very genuine to what they've been pitching. hillary clinton is pitching herself as someone who's going to be measured, steady, working with all the different nations and knows the way this works. donald trump is says, you know what, i'm going to be the person who fixes all your problems, i'm

going to know what's best for him. he came out and said it was a bomb, he said, i should be a newscaster. his supporters are excited by that, he's not waiting to see whether or not this had been terrorism. if this had been terrorism, it would have taken him off track, because in some ways he jumped to conclusions. they're pitching exactly who they are. it will be interesting to see on the debate stage in one week, how they'll go at each other. they have two different styles of really governing, really what they're saying they're going to do if they become president. >> there's a phrase that has come out of our modern wartime, asymmetrical warfare. tonight, a tweet by donald trump's son donald jr. is an example of what the clinton forces are up against. the copy in the center of it reads, "if i had a bowl of

skittles and told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful? that's our syrian refugee problem." at the bottom it's aborted with the graphic, "trump/pence: make america great again." that image says it all, that's what the clinton campaign is up against, that is ricochetting all over the place. >> on thursday night, we talked about this idea of how you wage a campaign that's as asymmetrical. he's a joyful scoundrel, who boasts about buying influence in a political system only he can fix, and he calls a bomb a bomb before anyone knows what the heck happened. i don't know that she wins by fighting this on her terrain. but i think she's heard the message loud and clear, to rachet up her own language. we heard from her this morning

some of the most forceful language about his being a recruitment tool for isis. she's trying to fight fire with fire. >> jon favreau, former speechwriter for barack obama, who had a large hand in some of the more notable speeches of the first half of his presidency, says on this, hey, donald trump, this is one of the millions of children you compared to a poisoned skittle today, this now iconic image of the 5-year-old boy on the ambulance. so this is the state of our political debate tonight, a week from tonight we have what's being called the largest single event thus far in this campaign. how do you prepare to debate a week from tonight? >> i've been talking to the clinton campaign about how she's comparing. one of the things she saw in that tweet was really emotion meeting emotion.

donald trump's campaign are very proud of the fact they feel like they're speaking to everyday people, everyone can understand what it means to stick your hand in a bowl of skittles and what it might mean to be poisoned. at the same time, the image of that little boy, if you're a mother who looks at children and feels emotional, they're telling you, this is what that means, this kid is not a piece of candy, we're talking about human lives. in that debate, and what i've been talking to the clinton campaign about, they're trying to prepare for the style, not just the substance of what he's going to say, but how they push back against someone who is going after emotion, emotion of fear. >> yamiche, i'm a fan of your work, nicole, i'm a fan of your work, thank you both. next, we'll talk to josh earnest.

i want to take this

opportunity to reassure the people in this city, in this region, and americans across our country that our counterterrorism and law enforcement professionals at every level, federal, state, and local, are working together around the clock to prevent attacks and to keep us safe. moments like this, i think it's important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do. they are trying to hurt innocent people. they also want to inspire fear in all of us. we all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we don't succumb to that fear. and there's no better example of that than the people of new york and new jersey. >> the president speaking earlier today when he did not yet know that the linden, new jersey pd had shot and taken down the chief suspect. the president is now in new york for at least two days for the u.n. gathering. that meant earlier we were able to invite white house press secretary josh earnest here to the studio. i began the conversation asking

if we knew anything more about the suspect. >> they're still gathering as much information as they can about this individual. they want to make sure end everything they can. obviously they've done a search of his home. they want to understand about his relationships, what kind of communications he may be having with people both in this country and anywhere else. they want to understand exactly what may have motivated him to carry out these acts. there's a lot of work still ing done. we're in the very early stages of this. here is the one thing we definitely know, brian, is that this is a great example of state, local, and federal law enforcement working seamlessly together. if you think about how all this came together, we had a detonation in new york city late on saturday night. by monday morning, the fbi put own an alert about an individual. seven hours later that individual is in custody and they knew that person is responsible for the attacks. this is a testament to what law enforcement can do, brave men and women who put their lives on the line, skilled experts evaluating investigative material, pursuing leads over the weekend and keeping us safe.

>> how high is the confidence that he acted alone? we've heard this all day from our public officials. >> there seems to be some confidence, but they're not going to declare that until they've been able to run down every lead and make absolutely sure of what they know or what they think they know about this individual. so i'm not in a position to make any pronouncements at this point, because we want to make sure we follow the facts where they lead. >> on saturday night, before we knew of the story in new york city, cable television fans were watching your boss give a speech at the congressional black caucus dinner, when there came this moment. >> 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! >> is that what a tightening race looks like and is that what a threatened legacy looks like for your boss? >> i think it is a clear

illustration of the president's sense of just how high the stakes are in this election. the president has poured his own blood, sweat, and tears into his presidency, obviously, and he takes that very personally. he's proud of the remarkable progress our country has made, avoiding a depression. the numbers from the census last week that indicate we've got basically the strongest income growth for households in america on record, and that growth was most pronounced at the lower and middle income levels. the success we've had overseas in terms of preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, fighting climb change. these are all things that the republicans are promising to roll back. he made a personal, charged case to his supporters saying all the change we worked for over the last eight years is absolutely on the ballot, and if we're not

as engaged as we were when my name was on the ballot, then the last eight years are at risk. >> what about the language of our times politically? is the president at a disadvantage because of his office? sitting here at the new york papers, one of them just says "terror," a word the new york pair pointedly did not use saturday night. is there a double standard, that donald trump feels that there is a political correctness in our political speech? >> well, i'm not sure it's easy to articulate exactly what the republican nominee's philosophy is for all of this. i get the sense that he is very skillfully chasing these kind of headlines and trying to leverage them for his own maximum political advantage. and that's gotten him quite a ways. he is somebody who has demonstrated an ability to such of those headlines for his own benefit. the question is, that may be a pretty effective political

strategy, at least it proved to be in the republican primary. it remains to be seen if that's an effective political strategy in a general election. i think the president has some doubts about whether that is an effective strategy for governing the country and leading the free world. >> prior to this series of apparent terror attacks, the lead story going into the weekend was the day of birtherism on friday. do you view birtherism as a case closed, something the president will never speak of again? >> brian, i actually happened to be in the white house briefing room on that spring day in 2011 when we literally on paper passed out the long form version of the president's hawaiian birth certificate to reporters in the white house briefing room. and that was the day that we thought it was done. that was the day we thought we had finally put it to rest. but, you know, a variety of interests on the internet and in

real life have trafficked in this one for one or another. and, you know, their case apparently has changed a couple of times over the years. but ours hasn't. the president's case, back in that day, the president coined this term in terms of describing the purveyors of this information, as carnival barkers. those people have been effective in getting attention for themselves. but that's not a strategy for running the country. that's not a strategy for making the american people safer. that's not a strategy for creating jobs. those strategies and the debate about the most effective way to do that is what the president hopes and would like this presidential campaign to be about. >> josh earnest, thanks for coming. >> nice to see you. >> the white house press secretary with the traveling white house here in new york. when we come back, a former u.s. president in the news tonight. and a late live update on the bombing investigation here in new york.

if you were watching msnbc's coverage all weekend of these disparate terrorist attacks, you saw jonathan dienst from wnbc in new york. he's here in our studio tonight. you have something new as we look toward tomorrow. >> tomorrow we believe the police or fbi will be releasing a video or photos from the video of the 23rd street location, the pressure cooker bomb that did not explode. it shows two men come up after the device was left and they take the pressure cooker out of the suitcase it was contained in and walk off with the suitcase. the investigators are trying to figure out who are these two guys, why did they do that, were they coming to take the suitcase, do they have any information? they want to talk to these guys, they're treating them as witnesses. there's an open question as to who were these two guys and what were they doing near the scene. perhaps it was accidental, perhaps they were lucky that they moved a bomb and it didn't go off on them, perhaps they jiggled a wire and that's why it

didn't go off. but police want to find these guys. >> give me the 30-second version of, did he act alone? >> right now the evidence is he acted alone. but there is concern, how does he learn how to build these devices himself, how does he build him and nobody else knows what's going on if he's the suspect, where did he build these devices? they still don't know. they found some materials inside that apartment that could be consistent with some of the materials that were found on some of the devices. too soon to know. but unclear if they were built in that apartment. maybe there's a storage facility out there. maybe he had some help. they just don't know at this hour, it's still so early on. >> 50-hour investigation, in some ways we're just getting started. jonathan, terrific work as always this weekend. i heard it say today, if he was working with a team, he wouldn't have fallen asleep in the lobby of a bar in new jersey. we'll know soon enough. another break. when we come back, another former president in the news tonight.

one last thing before we go tonight, a story you'll be hearing a lot about tomorrow. it's from our friends at politico. here is the headline. george h.w. bush to vote for hillary, subhead, a kennedy outs a bush. how can this happen, what's going on here? long time bush family friend and aide to president bush 43, nicole wallace, has hung out with us tonight. how did this happen, what's going on? >> well, bush has entertained lots of people, he's very

interested in what's happening. i think the bush family has made a decision. but i think you can look at some -- i'll make a points of light joke, get it? -- you saw jeb talking to jimmy kimmel on the emmys about running a positive campaign and see what happens. you see president bush sharing a personal opinion, maybe not. they made a decision, this applies to bush 43 too, not to weigh in or come out before or against anybody. i don't expect that to change, from mrs. barbara bush, from bush 41, i don't think you'll expect a public endorsement of anybody. i know it has been pursued. i know people have sought his endorsement of secretary clinton. i don't know if the secretary herself has made that outreach. i know at very high levels they have sought his endorsement. >> this was kathleen kennedy reporting this. and picked up by politico. so this will be interesting. >> it will be interesting. there's a lot of bush/clinton family history. they know each other well.

>> former presidents. there's a very exclusive club, to name two of them, bush and clinton. this story, again, will get quite a ride tomorrow as politico's reporting george h.w. bush plans to vote for hillary. nicole, thank you very much. that is all the time they have allotted us. we went long tonight. we did the hour-long home version of our broadcast tonight. we will see you back at the 11:00 p.m. eastern hour, thus the name of the broadcast, again, tomorrow morning. thank you for being with us. >> let us be vigilant. >> two candidates, two different responses to terror. >> a sobering reminder that we need steady leadership in a dangerous world. >> we'll have the latest on the bombing investigation and what we know about the suspect in crust day. >> donald trump has more support

from the kkk than the leadership at the republican party. >> my interview with senator elizabeth warren. >> you just really wonder what kind of vision donald trump has for this country. >> plus despite years of denials -- >> i don't get involved in traffic studies, lane closures, i didn't work the cones. >> federal prosecutors say chris christie knew about bridgegate. and setting the record straight -- >> i don't know about you guys, but i am so relieved that the whole birther thing is over. >> the new birther conspiracies. >> in other breaking news, the world is round, not flat. >> "all in" starts right now. good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. the man suspected of planting explosive devices around the new york area has been charged with five counts of attempted murder