upgrade your phone system and learn how you could save at vonage.com/business it's 9:00 in the east, 6:00 out west. now here's what's happening.

we begin with new reaction from donald trump amid the latest allegations of sexually inappropriate behavior n a series of tweets this morning, he ramped up his conspiracy theory behind the allegations. for example, in one tweet, he says this election is being rigged by the media pushing false and unsubinstant yated allegations. at one the rallies in north carolina last night, he told his supporters all of the claims are 100% false and pointed to a series of other possible motives. >> it's not hard to find a small handful of people willing to make false smears for personal fame. who knows, maybe for financial reasons, political purposes, or for the simple reason they want to stop our movement. they want to stop our campaign. very simple. >> trump's running mate mike pence didn't address the

allegations as he came to his defense at a rally in florida yesterday. >> despite the willful ignorance in the media bull things clinton and the constant, the constant attacks levelled at my running mate in the national press, we continue to see momentum all across the country because neighbors are talking to neighbors, co-workers are talking to co-workers. >> if you wear a red hat, don't take it off for 25 days. sleep in that thing. >> praising obama for her emotional speech for clinton. clinton spoke out in seattle last night. >> the whole world has heard how donald trump brags about mistreating women. and the disturbing stories keep coming. i take no satisfaction and

seeing what trump does and says because it hurts. it hurts me and it hurts our country. it hurts all of us. >> clinton is off the campaign trail today as trump traveled to the northeast for two rallies, the first in new hampshire followed by the other in maine. let's go to bangor, main, where trump is set to speak later today. my colleague is there. jacob? >> good morning. the trump campaign wants to get back on offense but instead the candidate finds himself defending accusation after accusation that he kissed and groped women without their consent. trump supporters are defiant as ever and the candidate is blaming it on a vast left wing conspiracy. >> the whole system is rigged. >> reporter: his campaign on the ropes, his teleprompters broken. >> i like my speesh better without teleprompters.

>> he lashing out in north carolina. >> false smears for personal fame. who knows, maybe for financial reasons, political purposes. >> reporter: implying his accusers are unattractive. >> she would not be my first choice, that i can tell you. >> reporter: trump is the real victim he insists. >> the political establish ment is trying to stop us because they know we are a threat to their totally corrupt control. >> reporter: after denying ever kissing and groping women without their consent. >> have you ever done those things? >> women have respect for me and i will tell you, no, i have not. >> reporter: eight women have come forward to say yes he did. trump groped this woman at his club in 2003. this was almost like a lift of my butt cheek to feel it. >> season five apprentice contestant summer zervos. >> i pushed his chest to put swas between us and i said come on man, get real.

he repeated my words back to me. get real as he began thrusting his genitals. >> and kristen anderson says she met trump at a new york city nightclub in the early 1990s. >> the person on my right who i didn't know at that time was donald trump put their hands up my skirt. he did touch my vagina through my underwear. >> reporter: nbc news has not confirmed any of the allegations and the trump campaign says substantial evidence will refute them. they tout a new york post interview with a british man who claims to have a photographic memory and insist that's 30 years ago he witnessed one of the accusers coming on to trump. other women who worked with trump have come forward to defend his character. >> and behind the scenes were all furious because we know donald trump is such an incredible and outstanding man. >> and more trouble for mr. trump on friday is new york city's comptroller found trump may have lied about a $10,000

donation to the 9/11 fund. no such donation was ever found. hillary clinton's campaign, meanwhile, also on defense after wikileaks released another round of embarrassing e-mails. one from clinton campaign manager robby muck asking bill clinton to cancel a speech to a wall street investment firm. eventually convincing bill and hillary clinton the speech would be a very consequential unforced error just before she announced her white house bid. nbc news has not awe thenlt indicated the wikileaks documents neither has the clinton campaign. meanwhile, this morning trump still on defense tweeting out that all of the accusations are 100% fabricated and part of the media and clinton conspiracy and meant to poison the american voters mind. meanwhile, clinton is off today and tomorrow as well. and trump is in new hampshire and here in maine where the latest poll has him behind by nine points.

>> let's bring in danny freeman in our d.c. bureau g to see you again. is clinton staying off the campaign trail before the debate and part of the campaign strategy to just kind of stay out of the way as trump deals with all this? >> good morning, aman. i think it's definitely true that we're not going to see hillary clinton as jacob said today or tomorrow or likely before the final and third debate in las vegas on wednesday. but i don't think the campaign would say explicitly it's because they're trying to have their candidate lay low while trump stews in this latest controversy. jennifer palmeri yesterday with her traveling press said that they have had a very aggressive schedule in this past weekend between debates and last night hillary clinton was in seattle at a fund-raiser with the artist maclamore and members of pearl jam were also there to greet hillary clinton. she was also on the west coast

for a media paerns in "ellen." here she is quickly, what basically hillary clinton said to ellen is reflecting on her debate performance back in st. louis saying that donald trump was stalking her almost as he loomed behind her very, very largely. but what is interesting is that hillary clinton right now is in west chester, new york. she's down for a few days. and the thing about hillary clinton she's able to have a bit less intense of a schedule because she has a bit of an army of surrogates behind her able to help out. we had michelle obama in new hampshire this week, clinton in iowa as well and we learned that bill clinton will be back on the trail in new hampshire this coming monday. president obama will also be stumping for hillary later this week. >> all right. thank you for that. joining me now, political analyst erin mcpike. katherine, if i can begin with you, trump's really been denying the allegations. he's blamed the media and the establish ment as he defends himself. how much more can the trump

campaign withstand this pressure of all the accusations? one woman after the other just coming in day after day now? >> hi. there yeah, it's hard to know how they can pivot away from this at this point in time. women keep coming out, especially if there is more. and i think the issue for trump, as it has always been is that he has needed to find a way to build beyond his base of support. and that means getting support from moderates, getting support from independents, winning, you know, moderate women and this constant conversation about the allegations makes it very hard for them to in any way grow their support, reach new voters, do anything like that. it just stays stuck on this conversation. >> take a look at some of the numbers on trump losing support. he's got 24 days to bounce back. is there any way, erin, you can see him changing this narrative? >> no. i don't. and as katherine said, more and

more will come out. i'm sure that those tapes from the apprentice and some of the transcripts of the tapes, even though we heard that legally they cannot come out, that will probably surface at some point before election day. and think of the bill cosby story. that went on and on and got worse and worse. and there is no reason to think with all of the women coming forward that this story will be any different. you can't turn that around in 24 days. >> so erin, should trump just pivot at this point and try to talk issues or, you know, is there anything that he can do to just breakaway from the allegation that's constantly keep coming at him? >> that would certainly get him better press if he pivoted to issues. continuing to go on the offensive against hillary clinton and especially bill clinton is going to make matters worse for him. so if i were advising him and i'm certainly not, i would definitely recommend it. the american voters are not hearing anything about things that would affect their lives directly and that is what american voters want to hear

about. so if he could get a point or two back, that would be the way to do it. >> katherine, these latest accusations, they widen the rift between donald trump and fellow republicans. "the new york times" this week said this turmoil could unleash a down ballot nightmare saying the nightmare possibility for the party is that swing voters punish the party because of mr. trump. the andy trump republicans stay at home and mr. trump's base casts a ballot for him and he leads the poll. how plausible is that scenario? you think this is having an infect on down ballot races? >> i mean that certainly is the nightmare strategy scenario. i think that republican leaders like paul ryan are really working to try and prevent something like that happening. it's hard to say. i do think there are a lot of republican voters who are good at, you know, separating some of the issues. i talked to a lot of voters who are prepared to cast a ballot in a down ticket race but perhaps

leads the top of the ticket blank or vote for someone else. i think voters are making decisions around how they do this. but certainly, i mean, if a lot of people stay home that, is a problem for the party. >> the turnout is going to be a big factor one way or the other. to the clinton campaign now. clinton has been surging in the polls. she says she doesn't want to get complaisant. we saw that in an ellen interview this week. but she has no events scheduled this week or even the beginning of this week. what is the strategy here? is that the right approach? is she kind of resting up before the debate? >> well, yeah that, is something she has done before the previous debates. take some down time so she can really focus on that debate prep. en that is a good strategy. obviously, your seeing millions and millions of americans watching the debates and making decisions based off of the debates. in terms of staying out of the limelight that, is a great idea. she's not getting a ton of coverage and the trump story is so salacious and the media is focusing on it with such a laser

focus right now that, of course she should stay away and let trump have the disaster in the press that he's having. >> and katherine, you wrote about the latest batch of e-mails released by wikileaks. is there anything that could derail the clinton campaign here? >> the wikileaks e-mails are not get as much attention as they might otherwise because of everything that is happening on the other side of the aisle. some things have come out. one of the latest things as was discussed earlier an effort by the clinton campaign to halt a speech that bill clinton was going to give to an investment bank in the time leading up to her campaign launch. so that raises this conversation that was part of the primary about the clintons' relationship about wall street and banking. there are things coming out that they certainly don't want to be part of the conversation and the closing day to the race. but they just aren't getting as much attention as what is happening in other sides of the aisle. >> all right.

thank you very much for both of you joining us this morning. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> from talk of a possible u.s. cyber attack to russia to democrats counting on hispanic voters on election day. i'll ask bill richardson about those concerns and much more. stay with us. gary, gary, gary... i am proud of you, my man. making simple, smart cash back choices... with quicksilver from capital one. you're earning unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. like on that new laptop. quicksilver keeps things simple, gary. and smart, like you! and i like that. i guess i am pretty smart. don't let that go to your head, gary. what's in your wallet?

an unprecedented step in an election changing history. intelligence officials tell nbc news today that obama administration is considering launching a covert cyber strike against russia if retaliation for that country's alleged interference in our elections. let's bring in bill richardson, former governor of new mexico, former ambassador to the united nations and msnbc contributor. pleasure to talk to you, sir. >> thank you. >> so if this strike occurs, how significant would it be and where would it leave the next

president in terms of the relationship with russia going forward? >> well, it would be enormously significant. the president hasn't decided. i think what has to be settled is what kind of proportional response we take because the russians according to the fbi have been interfering in our electoral process, democratic national committee computers no with the e-mails and the campaign. this cyber option would be extremely serious. i think the president has to basically make very tough decision. there has to be a serious response. now, it's obvious the russians are takisaying we're not going rebuild relations, we're going to wait for the next president. and i think this relationship has to be restored. it's very important much we got energy issues. we got syria. we got iran. we got nuclear issues.

plutonium agreement which i signed when i was secretary, they scrapped that last week. so, you know, my hope is that we restore and rebuild this relationship. but it's probably the next administration. >> yeah, some described it similar to what was at the peak of the cold war in terms of animosity between the u.s. and rush yachlt yesterday former cia chief michael morel who public i endorsed hillary clinton said he is 100% confident that russian president putin orchestrated the dnc and podesta e-mail hacks to boost donald trump. i'm curious to get your thoughts. how likely is that? would visit gone to that high level of the russian government? and to what end? >> i don't have all the facts. but if the former cia director says that and the fbi says that there is russian involvement, i

don't think anything happens in russia without president putin's approval or nod in that direction. it is part of very high russian officials that probably made this decision. to what end? look, it seems there is a romance between putin and trump. i mean, dhoenthey don't critici each other, they praise each other. i think trump would like to see putin be his best buddy and vice versa. so i don't have those facts. it seems very plausible of that link between putin and donald trump. and that's not good for the country. i mean politics aside, no country should interfere in our electoral process, especially as powerful and important a country as russia. >> governor, let me ask you about wikileaks for a moment if i may. you were mentioned in one of the leaked e-mails that nbc has not authenticated. but we know that john podesta

confirmed the e-mail has been hacked. as part of a group john pa defendanta called needy latinos sh i'm curious to get your thoughts on do you believe the e-mails in that particular comment to be authentic and if so, what does it tell about the campaign's attitudes towards hispanic voters? >> well, it's john podesta. somebody that i have known for 30 years, a colleague, a friend. i know his family. i worked with him when he was chief of staff in the clinton administration and i was in the cabinet. doesn't bornther me at all the reference. you know, it's a political reference. it is objective at the time is trying to get me and the clintons back together after i had endorsed president obama when i got out of the presidential race. and the objective was achieved. you know, so it doesn't bother me. i think the latino vote is strongly in hillary clinton ace column because of her record because of her positions that she's taken and also because

donald trump wants to build a wall and he wants to -- he calls a lot of us -- a lot of latinos rapists. he wants to deport 11 million people. you know, so i don't think it's going to have much of an effect. and i stand by john podesta. he's a first-rate policy guy. and he's also been a very good campaign manager. it's unfortunate all of this wikileaks stuff is happening. there is also a conspiracy between the wikileaks people and the russians possibly and trying to influence our election. that's not good. >> let me ask you a little bit about syria if i may. president obama convened the national security council to re-evaluate the strategy in syria with just months left in his term. can he really help accomplish anything in the last few months? >> probably very difficult because russia is a key player and russia is not being helpful. they're trying to prop up assad,

stay with him. you know, they've taken the military steps that are very divisive. bombing the convoys. so i think the only thing we can do is try to engage in a cease-fire peace process as much as we can. keep the level of violence down. it's going to be very difficult. but a real collaboration with the russians which is key to resolving this problem is probably not likely until, again, until the next administration. that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop trying. that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop helping some of the humanitarian crisis that is taking place there and the killings in aleppo and young kids that are being decimated. but i think the likelihood of any positive movement is not there. i think the president -- i would hope he considers safe zones, no fly zones. i think we need to accelerate and increase our military

entrance which so far i think has been good. i think we need to ramp up the pressure. >> let me xbu politics in the southwest part of the united states. arizona battleground state. hasn't really voted democratic really in the past ten presidential elections. it is actually now become a tossup state this time around. ironically, immigration is a big factor of the trump campaign and also a big thing for arizona voters. why do you that i happened? why do you think arizona is a tossup state despite the fact historically it's been republican? >> well, because of the immigration issue. 25% of the voters in arizona are hispanic. and they're outraged by trump's position. as you know, the immigration issue has played very strongly in arizona. so states like arizona and georgia which are republican are now in play a good part because of the immigration issue and also in georgia. got news is that states like

colorado and new mexico are now moving very strongly in the democratic column because of this outrage that hispanic voters have with donald trump's position. >> former governor of new mexico, former ambassador to the united nations, bill richardson, always a pleasure. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> donald trump takes aim at his accusers. what he is saying and will it work with voters to drive the poll numbers back up? stay with us. technology... ...doesn't go on your wrist. ♪ the highly advanced audi a4, with class-leading horsepower.

you're a smart saver. you find ways to stretch your dollar. so why not compare your medicare part d plan with other options?

call or go online now and see how aetna medicare rx saver could help you save. with a low monthly plan premium. access to over 60,000 pharmacies. plus $1 tier 1 generic medications at preferred pharmacies including walgreens and walmart. shop smart. compare your part d options today. and find out if aetna rx saver is right for you. welcome back, everyone. we're here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. here what we're monitoring for you. pat civic north southwest bracing for more extreme weather today for the past two days the region has been hit with strong winds, heavy rains and tornadoes. the national weather service in portland, oregon, surging people to stay off roads as many are flooded and impassable. later in the hour we'll have a live report from seattle with the very latest. to politics now.

it's not 10:00 a.m. but donald trump is already on the defensive as can you imagine tweeting just a short time ago. that the growing number of sexual assault allegations against him are 100% fabricated and pushed strongly by the clinton campaign. meanwhile, here is michelle obama talking about that tape from last week with donald trump talking about his approach to women. take a listen. >> because this was not just a lewd conversation. this wasn't just locker room banter. this was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. >> let's bring in our politicalablpolitical analyst and former speechwriter for bill frist. author of the center holds obama and his enemies. good to have both of you here. >> good morning. >> let me begin with you. as republican women, how do you respond to the trump defense and

his allegation that the clinton campaign is behind this drive by women coming forward with all the accusations? >> i can't speak as a republican woman since i'm not. but i can talk you to as a political analyst and what we're seeing in the polling dat yachlt donald trump took a big hit and seven pointses behind hillary. after the debate, his numbers started to creep up. we have him at had 43 to 41, two points ahead hillary. let's face it, on the other side, how voters are going to respond to wikileaks. so donald trump, i think he's tactically making the wrong decision about continuing to address this. when people really want to talk about the issues. >> what is your reaction to michelle obama's speech in new hampshire? >> well, it's drawn a lot of

attention. i think it is unusual to see a first lady so much on the offensive against the republican nominee. and, frankly, as a conservative, it's sort of shocking and ironic to me that democrats who spent eight years defending bill clinton are now attacking donald trump for sexually predatory behavior. >> jonathan, hillary clinton does not have a lot of public events scheduled before the debate s that a smart strategy? what is the strategy behind keeping a low profile in the midst of preparations for this final debate? >> well, you know, one of the oldest rules in politics is never interrupt your opponent when he's in the process of committing political suicide. >> so you think trump is in that process? >> when you're explaining, you're losing. he should have pivoted off this and changed the subject and turn to the issues that the american public care b instead, he has turned into a whiner and saying, you know, denying everything. saying it's 100% made up i mean maybe some of the store

yifz the women might be more reliable than others. but the idea that 100% made up, that every reporter for "the new york times" is what he calls a corporate lobbyist for carlos slim who is a big mexican investor who owns part of "the new york times." he's in crazy town now. and that does not help. >> so -- it's better for her to stay out of it. >> he's keeping the stories in the headlines. >> yeah. he is tweeting about it again. he's not trying to pivot and say i'm not talking about this, i'm talking about the issues. >> hill i have doing what she always does is prepare. she is a very well prepared person. she is going to go into this debate as she has in the previous two well prepared. she's taking time as candidates have in the past to make sure that she's good for tuesday's debate. just one quick thing about michelle obama's speech. any of your viewers who have not seen that, not seen, you know, the seven, nine minute version of it really owe it to themselves to watch that speech. it's one of the most emotional and impactful and important

speeches. >> you disagree with. that. >> i don't necessarily disagree that it's impactful. sure. but to go back to hillary clinton, her staying out of the public eye. i think that is smart as jonathan is saying. you know, let donald trump create this controversy or respond to controversy around him and let it be about him. but we also know that with hillary clinton she has very high negatives. very high unfavorables. she does better when she's out of the public eye. >> let me ask you about donald trump before all the sexual assaults and allegations came forward. he wasn't doing very well with women. so is this pretty much the nail in the coffin among women voters or does he have a chance between now and november will 8th to find a way to turn things around for women? >> yeah. >> the numbers are on the screen there. >> they're not great for him, no. of course he has women supporters. women for trump, women united for trump. the question is can he get the suburban moms that used to be called soccer moms and then security moms. this year i'm not sure what

phrase we have for them. >> let me play this sound bite. hillary clinton was on "the ellen degeneres show" talking about she didn't want to relax and assume this election is over. take a listen to this. >> i don't want anybody to think this election is over. because it's been so unpredictable up until now that i'm not taking anything for granted. we've got to work really hard for the next 3 1/2 weeks because who knows? who knows what can happen. >> when she says who knows or unpredictable, what does she mean by that in a way that could impact her or hurt her? >> three weeks is a lifetime in politics, especially in a fall campaign. so a lot can happen. and she's just being smart and not taking anything for granted. i think it's very important for people who are in solidly blue or solidly red states who support hillary clinton to make sure that they don't figure that this thing is over and that their vote doesn't count even if their state is not in play.

the marge sin very, very important this time around. if it's close, even if hillary wins, trump will claim the election is rigged and stolen. that would be very, very bad for our democracy. so the only way to put us on right course into next year is for there to be a big hillary clinton victory which we -- people everywhere coming out to vote. >> vote for hillary. this is a tactical response. this is not necessarily what she thinks internally about what the election results are going to be. she wants to make sure there is not complaisancy and the voters get out there and also speaking to bernie sanders supporters and saying she needs their support as well. >> does low voter turnout favor trump or clinton? >> i think it's hard to sachlt you're seeing that jill stein has a little bit. gary johnson has a little bit. i think it favors donald trump. he needs very high turnout when it comes to working class whites. she needs high turnout when it comes to minority and young voters. >> she has a get out the vote operation and he does not. >> she needs that with

millennials more than any other group. >> absolutelyst but all voters, remind them to go to the polls. >> let me put up this map about the key states. this is based on nbc pro jectionz. you have long time red states like arizona, utah and georgia becoming tossups. we visit up there on the screen. how can that change the race that these states that have been traditionally republicans, arizona hasn't voted democrat in the past ten cycles, now it's up for grabs. >> dramatically. that if hillary clinton can get arizona, then she doesn't need worry about ohio, north carolina, and other states. her path to victory gets wider. donald trump's path to victory gets narrower. >> so, you know, she can withdraw resources from states that seem safely in her column now like virginia which used to be a republican -- >> and trump has withdrawn. >> it's a resource question. can you go into some of the other states and maybe go for the bern, go for the landslide. the poll is an outlier.

most show hillary ahead. but, you know, it's not clear -- >> don't forget the "l.a. times" poll as well. >> that one had its own problems. but the turnout mod rlz not necessarily accurate. polling is oftentimes as much art as science. people have to be very careful before they make assumptions about this race. >> let me ask you about wikileaks, is it getting enough attention? is it not getting enough attention? is it becoming a factor in this campaign and should it be a factor? >> interestingly, it's the most searched terms on google. i'm paying attention it to. i think it is overshadowed by the trump controversy anz and the media's obsession with the donald trump controversy. >> this is russian that's have hacked american political parties? >> that's what the clinton campaign is saying. >> others are saying it as well. >> there is the content of what you're reading in wikileaks. hold on, let me finish, in the hands of a more skilled republican opponent. i think this would be more

damaging to hillary clinton. >> i don't agree. the u.s. government, our intelligence people, career intelligence people say this is russia. so for the trump campaign to say maybe it's not russia, they're telling all the people they don't know how to do their job. second of all, i have taken a look at some of these e-mails. it's kind of a big nothing 1burger. there is little news. the press would be all over it if there say lot to chew on. there is a little bit to chew on but not very much. i think by the time after the sony hacks and the other hacks, hillary clinton in particular knew not to put anything that is real damaging potentially damaging in e-mails. >> we have to agree to disagree. >> always a pleasure to see you. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> the storm in the northwest is bad and it's going to get worse. how bad? that's next. new bikes aren't selling guys... what are we gonna do? how about we pump more into promotions? ♪ nah. what else? what if we hire more sales reps?

♪ nah. what else? what if we digitize the whole supply chain? so people can customize their bike before they buy it. that worked better than expected. i'll dial it back. yeah, dial it back. just a little. live business, powered by sap. when you run live, you run simple. here you go.picking up for kyle. you wouldn't put up with part of a pizza. um. something wrong? so when it comes to pain relievers, why put up with just part of a day? you want the whole thing? yes, yes! live whole. not part. aleve.

i have to tell you something. dad, one second i was driving and then the next... they just didn't stop and then... i'm really sorry. i wrecked the subaru. i wrecked it. you're ok. that's all that matters. (vo) a lifetime commitment to getting them home safely. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. happening now. residence across the pacific northwest battered by strong

winds and heavy rain are likely to see rougher weather over the weekend. thousands across the region without power. nbc's joe fryar is in seattle for us. joe, give us an update. what are the conditions there this morning? >> things are quiet right now. it's not going to stay that way for long. nakt, we're hearing reports that this storm system is expected to start a couple hours oorlyer than initially planned. so later this morning and then into the afternoon hours we're going to see a lot of rain and really heavy winds. 25 to 50 miles an hour. maybe even higher. 60, 70 mile an hour gusts up and down the west coast here in the pacific northwest. that's why they're urging people to really stain doors today. they're concerned about massive power how theages and also they're concerned about uprooted trees and falling limbs. already a 4-year-old boy in seattle was seriously injured by a falling limb. there is also report of another man in one of the islands near seattle was injured by a tree.

this is round two of this one-two punch. the first round started thursday into friday. it has been destructive, especially in oregon. a number of people lost power. a good deal of flooding. and two confirmed tornadoes which is a rarety in oregon. one of the tornado was actually caught on video. it started as a water spout that developed over the pacific ocean. and then moved on to land causing a good deal of damage in a coastal tourist town. no one was seriously injured there. but a lot of damage. and now that area is bracing for more wind and rain. that's going to be coming up later on today. >> all right. joe fryar live for us in seattle. thank you for. that. >> the three most important numbers influencing the he lek rugt now and coming up on "a.m. joy," allegations of sexual assault by trump, that's coming up at the top of the hour. you don't want to miss that, folks.

tonight on msnbc, the premier of the msnbc original series "in other news". it looks back at news events overshadowed by bigger news story. tonight looks at what happened while the 1992 l.a. riots happened. >> at least 27 people are now dead since it all began following the acquittal of four police officers in the rodney king beating trial. >> on friday, may 1st, there were still a lot of hot spots. but the authorities were better organized and my assignment was we got word that rodney was going to make a statement. and an enormous assemblage of media gathered around this yard area around this podium because we hadn't heard from him. >> i just want to say, you know, can we all get along? can we get along? >> initially that wasn't what he was supposed to say. he was given a script to read. he felt it was necessary to just speak from his heart. >> please, we can get along

here. we all can get along. we just got to, you know, i mean we're all stuck here for a while. you know, let's try to work it out. >> i've always been very proud of him. very much. that's something that still brought up to this day. i think it made an impact. >> as king pleas for calm -- >> people are still reportedly being held hostage by an armed gunman in the library building at the high school. >> catch the series premier of "in other news" tonight right here on nbc at 9:00 p.m. eastern time. the numbers that matter most from this week in politics, that's coming up next. what is success? 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 who values it as much as you do. learn more at tiaa.org

ugh. heartburn. sorry ma'am. no burning here. try new alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. they don't taste chalky and work fast. mmmm. incredible. can i try? she doesn't have heartburn. new alka-seltzer heartburn relief gummies. enjoy the relief. keeping the power lines clear,my job to protect public safety, while also protecting the environment. the natural world is a beautiful thing, the work that we do helps us protect it. public education is definitely a big part of our job, to teach our customers about the best type of trees to plant around the power lines.

we want to keep the power on for our customers. we want to keep our community safe. this is our community, this is where we live. we need to make sure that we have a beautiful place for our children to live. together, we're building a better california. the fallout from donald trump's sexually charged comments caught on tape is showing up in the latest polls.

that's where we begin in this this week's numbers that matter the most. joining us the chief polling analyst, my man steve shepard. always good to see you with this usual time we have. one of the most important ones, 6.8, why is that figure so significant. >> that's her lead in the latest realclear politics averaging. it would be 7.8 if it wasn't for the inclusion of the l.a. polls that's conducted differently. that's her largest lead really since the middle of august. similarly in the forecasting models whether it's 538, the "new york times" upshot, she is at her greatest chance of winning right now since august. it's partially because she's been on an upward trajectory since the first debate, but also particularly over the sect week. moving on to ohio, the

number 58 is important to donald trump. why? >> trump was tied with hillary clinton in ohio this week. he's getting 58% of the vote among white voters without a college degree. they make up about half of the electorate in ohio altogether. if he can continue to run strong there, he can keep his ohio firewall together. the problem is there are other swing states that don't make up half the electoral, and he's struggling i those. another divide. 60% of white college graduates in a fox news poll say they're extremely interested in the election of the 48% of whites without a college degree don't say so. what does this indicate to you? >> this is what we usually see in election. more educated white voters turn out than less educated. it's been a little different. we've seen donald trump mobilize

these folks. we're seeing over the past week things are getting back to where we are usually. it suggests that donald trump may struggle to turn out all of these infrequent working-class white voters that he really needs. >> that's what i was going to ask. which segment of the white population is he most likely to gain support. >> he's been doing much better with less educated white men, the problem is in the fox news poll, of 0% of white men with college degree are interested. only 46% without a college degree. it suggests the enthusiasm there for donald trump has lowered over the past week. quinnipiac poll, what's the latest to note is the shift among young voters. what are the latest numbers there telling you? >> barack obama won almost two thirds of younger voters in 2012. hillary clinton is struggling to win half. she's only in the 40s amo

young voters. even though young voters really don't like donald trump, they also don't like hillary clinton. her big struggle here is to keep a lot of them from peeling off and voting for third-party candidates, gary johnson or jill styne, in western states evan mcmullen. she can bring those voters back. in her column, that makes it very, very different. and the caucus that includes insiders from both parties in key swing states, what is their outlook. >> we ask them every week who would win? during most of september, at least half of republicans were saying they thought trump would win. that number down to 27% in this week's survey. republicans are beginning to look at the polls that show donald trump falling behind. they're beginning to look at all

these allegations, and they think prospects are dimming. >> hey, i'm impressed that we got through a lot of those number. steve, always good to talk with you. thanks for joining us. that would do it for me this hour. at the top of the hour, joy reid takes over, claiming the women whog -- you don't want to miss that. "a.m. joy" is next.

are you saying that what you said on that bus 11 years ago that you did not actually kiss women without consent or grope women without consent. >> i have great respect for women, nobody has more respect than i do. >> for the record you're saying you never did that. >> frankly you hear these things, i