because if it is sunday, it is "meet the press." and ready for the showdown in st. louis tonight. i'm kristen welker coming to you live from missouri university. are you pump up and excited? that says it all. this is is the place where in six hours from now, clinton and trump are going to be facing off for round two, the second presidential debate, and this one, it may not be too kid-friendly tv than tox the october surprise for trump. and the all-out gop revolt that

followed. >> i am automatically attracted to the beautiful -- and i start to kiss them and i'm like a magnet. either way, and when you are a star, you can do it. they will let you do anything. >> anything you want? >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> i have not a perfect person or pretended to be someone i am not, and anybody who knows me knows that these words don't reflect who am i. i said it. i was wrong. i apologize. >> there is a little bit of the elephant in the room, and it is a troubling situation, and i'm serious, it is. >> i believe that the only option is to formally ask mr. trump to step down. >> we go live to the hillary clinton's campaign headquarters where they have received news of the leak. ♪ >> ah, leave it to "snl" to nail it every time. trump landing in missouri and he is apologizing no more, and a taking to twitter to blast the bailing republicans and tweeting, quote, so many self-righteous hypocrites and

watch their poll numbers and elections go down. one of trump's staunchest supporters rudy giuliani supporting trump on the airwaves. take a listen. >> is there any chance that donald trump is going to listen to the republican party leaders begging him to with trau? >> i think that he answered that yesterday by saying that he is in the race, and he is going to remain in the race. he was selected by more republican voters than anyone has ever been selected in a republican primary and he owes them to duty to run. >> and then there's this campaign manager, kellyanne conway tweeting the pictures of trump topday with the top advisers and including herself smiling with the nominee, and speculation swirls of anger and discontent with trump. and my fellow road warriors, haley and casey have been following every twist and turn since news of the trump tape broke and there is a lot of

twists and turns. thank you, guys for being here. >> appreciate it. >> you can barely catch your breath. >> getting run off of the road. >> and haley, i want to start with you, and trump's plane landing moments ago and we know that the team is in damage c control mode, and kellyanne conway was supposed to be on the sunday talk shows, but instead, it was rudy giuliani, and i want to play the reaction on the other side. >> who did he do that to? >> well, first of all, i don't know if he did it to anyone, and this is talk. and gosh almighty, and he who has not circumstances nned throw the first stone here. >> i will gladly tell you, mr. mayor, i have never said that and i have never done that and i am ha happy to throw the stone, and i dont n't know any man and have been in locker rooms and a member of a fraternity and i have never heard any man ever brag about being able to maul women because they get away wit. never. >> and look, we have taken it to the exra tra degree, but in any

event, and we have taken it to the extra degree of what he said, but the fact is that men at times talk like that, and not all men, but men do. >> and that is damage control today. and you are hearing from kellyanne conway? >> yes, reports and rumors that she was unsatisfied and multiple sources telling us that she was concerned about what is happening now, and question marks about her future with the campaign, and she has reached tout say that this is essentially a crock in her words. she says what a crock and incredulous, and you went with it which is why obviously we reach out for comment from people in these situation, and publicly now telling nbc news or implying that she is continuing with the campaign, and you saw that photo, and that photo says it all. >> says it all. >> her smiling. >> and put it back up. because it speaks 1,000 words. >> and you know who took the photo? >> who? >> melania trump, who has been coming out with the apology at the center of the con troe vtro and the extraordinary moment of the campaign, and push back publicly issues in the campaign,

and that photo is interesting, because reince priebus, and jason miller there as well, and mike pence there on the phone, and question marks about pence today. >> and hallhallie, you know tha there is a sense of some sources telling you, katy tur, inside of the campaign it is like a hurricane, and what do you make about the reports? and is the campaign in crisis mode? it has to be and no matter how much the campaign comes out to say all is well, look at what has happened in the last 48 hours. gop elected officials pub luckily revoking the support of the candidate regardless that donald trump has said and will say the whole campaign that he is running against washington, and it does not matter what this is. and it is washington versus the rest of america as he has framed it and continue to frame it, but this is not great. even the supporters acknowledge it is not great, and the surrogates acknowledge it is not great, and this not the moment he wants to be in. >> and kasie, we saw how "snl"

handled it with the split screen of clinton campaign having a party, and that is of course sh, sa satire. >> yes, you know this, kris, that the mood is one of restrained glee, and they are trying not the show it is frankly quite helps her with trying to proceed in a methodical way, and jennifer pal ma marey that she is not sure if she has seen this momentt from 2005, and for them, this is a risky situation tonight. in debate is still presenting potential pitfalls for her, and working very hard on how to handle if donald trump does in fact raise all of the allegations, and we have tape of robbie mook talking about that earlier today. >> obviously, the clintons had a tough time in the marriage 20 years ago, and this is litigated a lot. i don't think that voters are

interested in litigating i again. if donald trump want ts to have discussion of hillary clinton's discussion of standing up for women, we welcome that. >> and you know that she will be trying to pivot back to policy issues at every opportunity. >> and we are learning that bill clinton and chelsea clinton will be in the debate hall tonight watching. secretary clinton prepared for that onslaught, but she has some of her own tough questions to answer, and particularly in the wake of the leak, and some of the paid speeches and we have not authenticated the speeches, but it raises questions including a comment that it is important for the politicians to be differently publicly and privately and feeding into the concerns of her campaign. >> that is what bernie sanders spent the campaign talking about, and pushing her to say, hey, this is what i was willing to tell the private banks and wall street groups that is what i will say, and we don't know if this is from a reported hack of john podesta's hacked e-mails,

and so what is the most damaging set of comment, and one is the notice of her talking about trade and open borders and a po en the shall problem in the primary and also, border security a primary issue of the election. >> and i would be surprised if donald trump does not make an issue of that. and one of the interesting c conversations that we will have between now and 1:00 a.m. in the morning. we are joined by trump's senior adviser, and a.j. delgado, and this is obviously, a very difficult moment for the trump campaign, and hallie reporting on kellyanne conway saying that she is not going anywhere and as a woman, and someone who considers herself a role model and is there a moment of thinking that you might leave the campaign? >> absolutelyt not. and i have always judged mr. tr trump based on the actions and not the words from a 10-year-old

tape. and trump's record is one of elevating the women, and that is why i came on the trump train early on, because the record is impressive as a woman. this is somebody who in the 1980s elevated to the chief lawyer, a woman. as a lawyer myself, i really appreciate that. his chief contractor and in trumpp tower in the 1980s was a woman. and he has a decades' long woman of being pro women, and even the platform, the maternity leave policy, and the platform and i am proud to support him as a wom woman. >> and why isn't he doing better with women, because prior to this, secretary clinton was beating him, and it is hard to believe that the gap won't grow after this. >> there is a false narrative in the media for the past year that he was at some howe at odds with women, and we have been trying to show that mr. trump's message is a pro woman platform and we have eroded it with a little bit of the setback with this unfortunate audio which he has apologized for, and i as a person of faith completely

accept his op apology and hope to move on and talk about the issues that women care about. >> and let me ask you about the potential fallout, and we have sources telling our own chris jansing that there some discussion about pence potentially leaving the ticket. obviously, he is going to be waiting and to see what happens in the debate and it is a pivotal moment, but what are you hearing about that? is that a possibility? >> no, i was with the top person of his team before walking over here, and mr. pence is on board with us, and we are on board with him, and so proud to have him on the ticket and so proud of the debate performance and absolutely united together until november 8th. >> but a.j., a sense that donald trump may not be able to survive this. you have so many republicans calling for him to get out of the race. they say that this is es s essentially a bridge too far. do you believe he can survive this? can he still win? >> absolutely. the republicans calling for the ouster are people who did not support him already or tep p

piddly did, so it is not a big groundbreaking moment for that. and i were more worried if i were hillary clinton what is going to be happening when this distraction goes away tonight, and she has to the answer for what is in those wall street transcripts saying that you have to have a public and private position on matters and saying that she is for open borders and i would be horrified if i were her campaign. >> and let's talk about what might co up, and that is signaling in fact that she dealt with some of bill clinton's past controversies, and do you think that he is going to be bringing it up and should he? >> listen, if she tries to come up with a spouse narrative once again that mr. trump is anti-women when he is incredibly pro women, absolutely want him to bring up the fact that hillary clinton went after the women who were victims of bill clinton themselves themselves. >> and a.j., the problem is two-fold, no real are proof of that and two, don't you run the r risk of alienating more women, and driving away the very voters that you need to win the race sfwlel with, there was a good new york times' article in the

times a week ago how hillary clinton had hired a private investigator dig into gennifer flowers to find out about her, and that not how a girl's girl behaves when her husband has some answer ing ing to do, and women were victims whether it is juanita or gennifer and then hillary clinton went after it seems. >> i know that you used the term assault, and important to say that no charges were brought in regards to that. >> sure. >> and thank you, a.j. delgado, and great to see you. >> any time. >> and the prime time coverage kicks off with chuck todd, and the debate is live right here at 9:00 on "meet the press," and then stick around after the debate for our full team coverage starting at 10:30 eastern. and when we return here in washington university in st. louis, donald trump says he will never drop out. we will talk with the msnbc analyst about the rules of

whether he can be forced out. that is before the debate of clinton versus trump, round one. >> you have so many things to do, and i don't believe hillary has the stamina. >> as soon as he travels to 112 countries and negotiates a peace deal, a cease-fire, or even spends 11 hours testifying in front of a congressional committee, he can talk to me about stamina. >> the world -- es when you buy stuff from that airline. wait...is this where youtypical? you should be getting double miles on every purchase! switch...to the capital one venture card. with venture, you earn unlimited double miles on every purchase, everywhere, every day. not just ...(dismissively) airline purchases. seriously... double miles... everywhere. what's in your wallet?

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mr. trump, many reps have stood by you through other scandals, but now they are pulling their support people like senator john mccain. >> coward. >> carly fiorina. >> she is a four.

[ laughter ] >> and ud i.d. senator mike crapo. >> more like crap-o. >> you must admit this is bad for you? >> well, the only person i need is my running mate mike pence. i love mike pence. i respect pence. i'll always have pence. >> well, actually, today, he said that he can't condone your remarks and then he canceled his campaign events. >> mike pence is a loser. i hate his guts, and i call him puny pence. >> alec baldwin in what might be one of his best roles yet. we are live from washington university in st. louis, and you are looking at the cheerleaders here at wash u and they are getting all revved up. you can see that this crowd is revved up as well. tonight, there's bound to be more material for next weekend's opening sketch of "snl" when the

real donald trump and hillary clinton take the stage here at wash u and what a backdrop for the second face-off. the campus motto here is strength are through truth. dozens of the republican officials have withdrawn their support for donald trump since that audio of his lewd remarks on women surfaced on friday. other republicans even calling for him top drop out of the race. and among them republican senator mike lee, and mike lee who has long been a trump critic has argued that on meet the pres that the gop nominee no longer has a path forward. take listen. >> i have serious doubts now about mr. trump's ability to defeat hillary clinton and in fact, i don't think that he can. and now there is a way here for mr. trump to have a legacy in this election cycle, and that is for donald trump to step aside and for the republican party to find a candidate who can bring together all of the elements within the republican party and defeat hillary clinton in

november. >> i want to bring in ben ginsberg, and thank you for coming in. >> great to be here. >> you have the mounting calls for donald trump to drop out of the race, and you have signs that the rnc might be withholding some of the work that they might be doing in fund-raising for him. and what are the practical options here? can the party get rid of donald trump? >> well with, the practical option s a options are the real issue. the truth is that there is not a vacancy unless donald trump k e creates it. there is no easy mechanism in the rules to do it, and i think that no will among republican national committee members who would have to pull the trigger to somehow say that he is disqualified. >> if the rnc, and if the pressure were to become so great that donald trump decides to step down, he is saying that is never going to happen in the million years by the way, and what would have to happen, and what procedure would have to go into place, and one rule that could be potentially maneuvered? >> well, there is a rule that if

there is a vacancy, the republican national committee can meet again and each state has the equivalent of the delegates it has at the national convention, and, so each member of the rnc would have a third of basically his or her state totals, and they would cast their votes and a nominee would have to get 1,237 votes to do it. there'd have to be am nomination process worked out by the rnc rules committee, and it is not a process built for speed. >> i hear you use the term process, process, process, and how long does a process like that take, ben, because we are a month out of election? >> yes, and in unchartered territory, and the question is if the rnc could operate in a unified manner to get it done quickly. the steps themselves are not difficult and you could do them quickly, but it is a matter of whether the members of the rnc would be willing to all pull together and we would have disparate views. >> and of course a lot of the republicans say what is at stake is the senate. i want to play a sound bite from kelly ayotte who is locked in a

tough battle for re-election, and i will get your reaction are from the other side. >> the tapes released on friday, the statements talked about in those tapes and the actions talked about in those tapes are fundamentally different. he is talking about assault of women. i thought about years from now when my daughter, kate, is old enough to know what is in those tapes, and to understand what he is talking about. i want her to know where i stood. i cannot vote for donald trump based on what he has said and done and the actions that he has talked about in the tapes. >> and you have a lot of people saying that they will write in mike pence. put your political analyst hat on, if you would, and what does this moment mean for donald trump and those down ballot

races? >> the down ballot races, and donald trump are separating out, and what you are hearing in kelly ayotte is a mother of sort of taking away all of the political considerations, and just saying, i know what my daughter needs to hear. so i think that you will see the down ballot races, and sort of operating on their own, and now, fortunately, each senate race has its own ground game operation, and it isn't dependent on the republican national committee in any way to turn out the voters. >> all right. ben ginsberg, as always, thank you for helping us to understand this. great to see you. >> we are learning that al gore is going to be hitting the campaign trail for hillary clinton. we will talk about that with a clinton supporter. and vp nominee mike pence said that he was offended by trump's words and action, and so what happens next? you will watching the site of the second presidential debate

coming up tonight. we are live in st. louis. stay with us. is it a professor who never stops being a student? is it a caregiver determined to take care of her own? or is it a lifetime of work that blazes the path to your passions? your personal success takes a financial partner

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a bayer aspirin regimen is one of those steps in helping prevent another stroke. a be sure to talk to your doctor is one of those steps before you begin an aspirin regimen. the site of the presidential debate where the students cannot wait for things to get underway. hillary clinton's plane landing moments ago in st. louis, and we just learned that she is now at a nearby hotel doing another round of debate prepa and slate of new polls providing a snapshot of where the election stands right now. just hours before she hits the debate stage, hillary clinton is maintaining a lead in some key battleground states, and our latest nbc/"wall street journal" polls put the nominee ahead in florida by three points and by 12 points in pennsylvania, and the new cbs poll, clinton leads by 4% in ohio, an 8% in

pennsylvania and 4% in wisconsin. and so will the 2005 tape of donald trump making lewd comments have an impact on those numbers? 54% of ohioans and 51% of pennsylvanians say no, the tape did not change their view of are donald trump. but, republican vice presidential nominee mike pence walking a fine line today between defending the man who put him on the presidential ticket and salvaging his own political future. pence was confronted by a reporter this the morning on the way to church about that 2005 tape of donald trump bragging about sexually harassing women, but refused to address the matter. >> governor and mrs. pence, would you mind answering question questions this morning. john mccain called the tape as sex yule assault, is that accurate? >> and for more reaction from inside of the spin room, we go to chris. what are your sources tling

y you? >> well, one long-time republican say said that the h issues that republicans are dealing with are more difficult than they have seen since richard nixon and that is going to tell you how important they think that tonight is, and how critical what this campaign decides to do, and now as far as mike pence goes, one person etch told me, and it was confirmed by a second person that there are conversation of whether he would walk away. and now we all know from the statement that he put out that he is deeply troubled by what donald trump had to say, and when i asked someone from the tr trump campaign a few moments ago whether they thought it was possible. they said, look, he is a guy of deep conviction and we don't believe for a second that he is going to leave this campaign. and nor will any republicans that i have talked to believe he will, but i have learned some conversations among the top senate republicans of owhether a group of them could go to donald trump if tonight goes badly and say to him for the good of the party, you should step down, and the conclusion that a lot of people who have been in the

group apparently have come to is to push him to try to do that would just put him in the other dr direction, and that he would in fact be more entrenched and again, the person that i spoke to a moment ago from the trump campaign said that you heard what he said, and no way that he is stepping down. finally a couple of the electives have suggested to me that the people who have withdrawn their support for donald trump have been getting tremendously positive feedback from their own constituents and when i said that to somebody in the trump campaign he laughed and said to me, kristen, they should look at the political poll that shows the number of republicans who still stand by donald trump, and look at what happened in wisconsin to speaker ryan when he was booed. >> the trump team is defiant, and no doubt about it. thank you for the reporting to my colleague chris jansing. thank you. so will donald trump go nuclear tonight at the debate? i am joined by john acosta, and

john heilemann, from bloomberg politics and co-anchor of "with all due respect." thank you, gentlemen for being here for this extraordinary moment. robe robert, i want to start with you and what chris was talking about, because there is no indication that pence is seriously considered leaving and he is no doubt watching the debate closely, and the fact that we having the conversation is incredible, and what are your sources telling you? >> pence's circle, and especially those from indiana have great concern about his political ren youtation and the political future should he stay on the gop ticket, but at the same time pence, himself, i am told by multiple sources is encouraging of trump, via phone, and spoke to trump before he boarded the plane tole st. louis, and he is saying that he will do anything that he needs to do to help donald trump. >> and now, i want to the weiha weigh in on the damage control this morn, and i want to play a little built of rudy giuliani and get your reaction on the other side. >> he is bragginging about

making unwanted sexual -- >> it is wrong. >> and unwanted sexual advances. >> you are are saying that the words are wrong and what about the actions? >> well, the actions would be worse and talk and actions are two different things. >> i do know that there is a tendency on the part of some ment at different times to exaggerate things like this. >> i have known donald trump for almost 30 years. and it does not reflect the man that i know. i have had many conversations with him, and i have never had a con v conversation like that with him. >> he has apologized about it and he is very embarrassed about it. he is a different man now than he was then. >> what a morning he had. did he help or hurt? >> no, no. it is irrelevant at this point. and only one person that the country is riveted to the race. and people who don't care about politics are riveted to the race, and people who care about politics are riveted to the race, and they are waiting to hear from donald trump. we have heard one thing from donald trump apart from the few going out in front of the trump

tower to yell a few things out, and we have heard the video that he put out friday night, and tonight is what everybody is waiting for. and everything else is noise. >> and what do you think that the strategy is going to be? is he going nuclear and going after bill clinton or the way that secretary clinton did or did not handle the scandals of the '80s? >> i don't mean to be cand the cankero cankerous, because we just don't know. and there is a strategy that was not executed in the first debate, and trump has not demonstrated the discipline to be executing any set of strategies or tactics, so the question is what does he do on stage when confronted by hillary clinton, and the moderators and the voters potentially over the things that have happened throughout the campaign and most particularly in the last 72 hours and no one including donald trump has any idea how he is going to be actually reacting in the moment. >> that is a great point. here you have hillary clinton who is practicing right now as we are being told, and robert,

what do you expect? i mean, as john points out, probably trump does not know, but you have been in contact with him, and you know him, and you have been following him. how do you anticipate that is going going to be reacting tonight? >> he will be reacting directly to secretary clinton and when i spoke to him at length saturday, he was furious about the republican defections and in no mood to have the republican party to feel bert about him, and he is going to be responding if he is baited in a scorched earth mentality and a scorched earth way. and the other thing i heard that i talked to jeff sessions from alabama and he says that the party is out of control in how he is leaving trump, and he expects trump to be a fighter. >> talk about the broader and reality here, and the poll up in florida and up in pennsylvania up by double digits and trump needs to win pennsylvania. and john s this ra, is this rac more broadly, do the democrats have a real shot at significant gains in the house? >> i thought that after last

friday a week ago friday and attacking alicia machado, i thought that the race was slipping out of his hands, and now a week later, worse. he has never been ahead a single day of the campaign and not a battleground in the state that current polling is showing him leading in, and let alone winning in the ones that he must win on the narrow path that he has. and is the race over? it is not over because existential events could happen, and nor damaging events from with wiki leek, but exogenous events off that magnitude would be required the with the way that things are going. and if he performs badly as bad as the week was, it could be worse. and you could see the entire party en masse abandoning him, and then not guaranteed to take the senate, and but on offense to have a better chance in months of taking the senate, and

maybe even the house if things are bad enough. >> we are in unchartered territory for sure. john, robert, thank you so much, and great conversation. as always, appreciate it. next, we will check in with nbc's kelly o'donnell who is with mike pence in indiana and has brand-new reporting about his future on the ticket. and if you are curious about what we might see tonight. >> and when she releases the 33,000 e-mails deleted and as soon as she releases them, i will release, i will release my tax returns. >> maybe he doesn't want the american people, and all of you watching tonight to know that he has paid nothing in federal taxe taxes. >> that makes me smart. >> if he has paid zero. using 60,0 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit... veggies... and herbs needed to create a pop-up pick-your-own juice bar

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if donald trump does not deliver a knockout performance at the debate here at washington university. "meet the pres nbc's kelly o'donnell will be there watching pence closely, and you have new details and you are a break news machine, and tell us the latest nuggets that you are getting? >> well, good to be with you, kristen. we are at the perimeter of the governor's residence here in indianapolis, and i have been talking to sources who have known him over time, and this is what i can tell you at the moment of a where is mike pence xwrup date? he has been at a tending the d indianapolis colts and bears game which is a way to enjoy the sunday and enjoy football and not perceived as hunkered down in anyway, but don't expect any comment from mike pence today. i am told by various sources today, that given the high stakes for the debate, he wants the give his running mate donald trump to be in his own lane and be on stage with expectation of

those in pence's camp that there is a show of real contrition. i am told that pence a has offered prayers to trump, and he is really leaving his own comments at his statement which is released publicly yesterday saying that he could not defend the comments. pence is, however, prepared the show the loyal the ti to the party and the campaign. and there have been no discussions about dropping off the ticket. that is what the sources are telling me. and why is that? in part, because pence is known for loyalty, and believes that the party needs that now. and this is about not the fact that donald trump simply selected him, but the fact that pence went through the process at the convention, delegates offered his name, and voted for him, and that is a commitment that he is at this point prepared to keep so that he announced a four-day schedule of campaign events without even running that by trump tower. kristen? >> and kelly, before i let you go, you are there to talk to all of the sources, and you are there by his home. what is the mood like right now as pence world prepares for what

is going to be a pivotal debate tonight? >> i think that we have seen mike pence be someone who could speak to policy for donald trump, and at times talk about his temperament, and this is different. it is personal, and involves tr trump and his family, and pence has gone as far as he is prepared to go in commenting on this. and so, i think that there is a sense that mike pence has a role to play for the republican party, and maybe even able to help other candidates, and it will have to be really resting in many ways on what happens tonight. and can donald trump change the course of things? can he show contrition? those are open questions, and so the best course for mike pence right now is to have a day with his family, enjoy some football, stay out of the way. kristen? >> my friend and colleague, nbc's kelly o'donnell, and thank you so much, kelly. coming up next, is donald trump tipping the hand about the debate strategy, and how does hillary clinton respond to the latest controe ve si of trum,

and the potential of trump bringing up bill clinton's past affair affairs. we will speak to a representative are from cleveland next. the debate is hours away, and this crowd is pumpeded up. stay with us. ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. i'm terhe is. golf. but i'd like to keep being terrible at golf for as long as i can. new pateed ensure enlive has hmb plus 20 grams of protein to help rebuild muscle. for the strength and energy to do what you lo. new ensure enlive. always be you.

what i am doing is to applijiing to the people, and those who were turned off by my hair, 50-50. >> and that is for the people who were up late watching "saturday night live" last night. and tonight, the stars of the show tonight are hillary clinton and donald trump. and this campus has offered some 4500 extreme people to the campus from security and journalists and some 85 million

eyes are expected to be watching from home. as we are counting down to the second presidential debate, donald trump has offered a preview of the attack line. tweeting a video of juanita broderick and others who first claimed in 1999 that president bill clinton raped her in 1978. clinton's lawyer denied the allegation, and clinton was never charged with anything. and then broderick file d an affidavit saying no assault, and later s later walked back that statement. and joining us is congressman -- and i want to get some breaking news because the governor of tennessee, bill has llam is sayg that he is not going to be voting for donald trump, and it is good for nation and the republican party for donald trump to step aside and let mike pence assume the role as the nominee, and he is joining a long list, and he is saying that it is time for donald trump to

go. what are you anticipating secretary clinton's strategy will be tonightt? >> i hope she does not spend much time on this issue, and the reason is that i think that there is always a danger in a situation like this to overstep where we could land safely. unless donald trump want ts to at her, we don't do that. this is a republican issue, and let them fight. and the democrats need to talk about the issues important about the economy, the immigration reform and tax reform and forget this stuff. the public is locking in on this. >> and as donald trump has been signaling, he might get very personal tonight. how shouldis ex tear clinton respond, and politically l it might be the riskiest strategy he could take, and how should she respond so it does not wind up this way. >> and this is what i would expect of you to blame me for my husband's infidelity, and that

is your whole career has been designed where you blame women for everything. if somebody should go to jail for an abortion, it should be the woman. i don't think that there is a safe way for mr. trump to address this issue. he better try to talk about the issues or he going to be ending up doing such a bad job tonight that his monday will be worse than his entire week. >> senly what a t lott lot of t republicans are calling on him to do is to stick to the issues for sure. as you know, this debate comes in the wake of a week of what appears to be a leak of some of secretary clinton's speeches that she gave to wall street, and in it, some revelations, including that she supports open borders and she says that sometimes you have to be different in private than you are in public, and to what extent are you concerned that fuels distrust of her? >> well, it will. there is no way around it. however, there are a couple of things. one, we need the to find out when she made the comments the

date of the speech, and after the campaign began and after the primary is over, she stuck to what she picked up in the primary and that is the american people are against the tpp or any trade agreement. and the other part of it is that sometime in the future, and she was likening this to the eu. and where they have open borders and free trade across the borders, but she did not say that is what i am going to do, and now it would have been better to not have said any of that, but she did. so we have to make sure that people understand that it is not a part of the platform, and that is not a part of what she has been pledging, and i don't believe she will do it. >> and we should say that president obama is out campaigning with tammy duck bwoh and we expect we might see him, and tonight s a town hall format and different than the first debate and the first and only vice presidential debate. and in terms of how secretary clinton might use this to connect, because you are saying that one of the issues that continues to dog her is the issue of trust, and how can she and should she use this moment

to regain trust among the younger voters? >> well, this is going to be playing to her strength. and you is heard as everybody has over the year that she priv. i've been in room with just the two of us. she's funny, smart, just i enjoy being around her. and so i think that this plays to her strength because an individual would be asking her a question, and i think she'll respond and commit with these individuals. i really think that if she can choose anything that would work on her behalf it would have been thind of a format. >> all right. congressman emmanuel cleaver, great to see you. >> good to be with you. >> enjoy the debate. you'll be in the audience. we'll be right back. [ cough ]

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as we approach the top of hour, we look at trump walking into the debate site. both donald trump and hillary clinton will be trying to appeal to undecided voters and those in battleground states. in his latest edition of "up for grabs," jacob soekrov is with those unaffiliated. jacob, i know you've been out there, talking to folks. what are voters telling you? >> that's right, kristen. those undecided, unaffiliated voters from this county is who both campaigns want to reach tonight.

donald trump would love to win you over to his side. you heard the chance. does he have any chance tonight? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: why? >> i feel very worried that our country has resorted to donald trump. i just don't think that he's right for america. i don't think that he really could be president. >> reporter: and you are a hillary clinton supporter i take it. >> i am. >> reporter: what do you want to hear from hillary clinton tonight when she inevitably gets into it with donald trump and the issues that were put forward in this tape, the lewd language, the deeply offensive language that we heard? >> well, i think she does need to confront him about that language and especially about the insult to women everywhere. and also i would like for her to talk about the middle class and more tax breaks for the middle class and having the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. >> reporter: all right. melissa, thank you so much. nice to meet you. kristen, we'll be watching the debate tonight here in boone,

north carolina. up the street, it will brewing company and restaurant, come by and watch it with us. we would love to share everyone's views on msnbc. >> we can't wait to hear those voters' reactions to tonight's debate. msnbc's jacob soboroff, thanks for that conversation. don't forget to tune in for our special primetime coverage beginning with "mtp daily" with chuck todd at 5:00 p.m. eastern. the debate will be live at 9:00. stick around after the debate for our full-team coverage starting at 10:00 p.m. from washington university in st. louis, host of tonight's debate. a look at some of the latest newspapers announcing their support for hillary clinton. so far no major newspaper endorsements for donald trump. the pursuit of healthier. it begins from the second we're born. because, healthier doesn't happen all by itself. it needs to be earned every day. using wellness to keep away illness.

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back live to washington university in st. louis. i'm going to toss things over to tamron hall. >> good afternoon. i'm tamron hall coming to you live in tonight's second and critical presidential debate. we are at washington university in st. louis. so many questions will be answered in just five hours from now on that debate stage that you're looking at. hillary clinton and donald trump are both now here in st. louis, arriving in the past couple of hours as the anticipation grows over the tone and tactics, each will take tonight. trump campaign xwhun cases adviser jason miller just tweeted this picture of donald trump going through the walk-through at the debate site. trump campaign manager kellyanne conway, who's been largely silent on social media as this latest controversy and scandal was