hey, everyone, i'm jacob soboroff. pence says no. the vice president quickly shooting down a "new york times" report that he is several republicans planning to make a run for the white house in 2020. plus, a united stand against north korea. a billion dollar sanctions package approved by the united nation's security council for last month's missile test. kim jong-un now getting pressure from china. the russia investigation picks up steam. last week we learned robert mueller has been working with a washington grand jury and now he's looking for the white house to hand over documents about

fired national security adviser michael flynn. >> the entire russia investigation is a hypothetical. the president has called it a fiction. total fabrication to excuse the colossal and unexpected, unwanted defeat of hillary clinton in last year's election. and three years after ferguson, the look at how the city sparked a national conversation about race and police practices in america. first, the white house and mike pence pushing back against reports the vice president is prepping for a 2020 presidential run. a "new york times" article reporting the vp is part of what appears to be a republican shadow campaign. pence released a statement saying, "whatever fake news may come our way, my entire team will continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president's agenda and see him re-elected in 2020. any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd." i want to go straight to nbc's kelly o'donnell in bridgewater, new jersey, near the president's resort, where he is spending the next two weeks.

kelly, the president's team is pushing back on this pence report, as well. >> reporter: very much so, jacob. as two former road warriors, all i can say is, too soon, too soon. the 2020 race is alive when you talk about the political atmosphere. because the president is in a weakened position with his poll ratings and with the sort of unknowns of the russia investigation, there is a bit of a vacuum where some other republicans who have big ambitions may be wanting to fill some spaces. you'll see senators or governors who traveled to the early states and do political calendar kinds of events. mike pence, the vice president, has done that, as well, and has a network of donors, but the trump/pence re-election campaign is already up and running, so that by observation the pence world is saying is just a part of his job. the job he has now, not a future job he might seek. so kellyanne conway, counselor to the president and the campaign manager at the end of the 2016 trump/pence team,

really pushed back on this and said mike pence is loyal to president trump. >> that is complete fiction. that is complete fabrication, and i know that his advisers who had comments attributed to them have pushed back very strongly and as am i right now unequivocally. vice president pence is a very loyal, very dutiful, but also incredibly effective vice president, active vice president with this president. he is a peer to the president in the west wing. >> and conway also said president trump plans to seek a second term and be in office for seven and a half more years. mike pence is someone who has often been helpful to the president in good times and in some of the lowest points of the campaign or the presidency, and today they really wanted to assert that he is a partner to the president, not a future rival. jacob? >> fascinating to see. kelly o'donnell, once a road warrior, always a road warrior.

good to see you. joining us now is "the washington post" reporter, ali vitale and "new york times" reporter. good to see you all. i want to start with you, are you surprised by the aggressive response from the vice president to this story in your paper? >> i don't think so. in some ways the vice president understands president trump has really been turning and aggressively fighting back against people against him. this idea that mike pence knows what he really needs to do, what his best play is, to be quietly very much seen as someone supporting the president, someone who's backing him at every corner. while it's common sense that mike pence is looking long term and his own political career, he realizes the way he's really going to get president trump to back him and let him keep his job and keep his standing in the white house, it is to really look like he's not a threat to the president.

no, i'm not at all surprised. >> ali, what about you? why would the vice president feel the need to respond to what is basically a speculative article? is this response for an audience of one, the man in bedminster? >> you're exactly right, it is for an audience of one. of course, mike pence is looking forward to what's next in his career, but if 2020 is at all on his radar, he's playing the right way saying this is not my idea right now. if anything, it will be the president's idea at some point if that ever happens, so he really can't afford to be anything other than a positive mecher a messenger and partner to the man in the office. you have to be playing to an audience of one, always, because the president is at the end of the day the kingmaker or person who's going to run again with pence in 2020. so he can't afford a shadow campaign or speculation about it. >> let me get your take. the president's numbers are,

obviously, down. could this be the republican party repositioning itself going forward and wouldn't it be in some respect malpractice if the republican party wasn't considering options at a time like this. >> yeah, i think a lot of people look at the president's numbers and decline in his popularity. the controversy he continues to stoke and they worry not just about the impact on the 2018 midterms, but already looking ahead to 2020 and what's going to happen. i think it is sort of strategists have had in the back of their mind since the beginning of this administration, but when you look at mike pence, it's interesting. if he does run, i think his lane would be the heir apparent to trump, so he could not afford to alienate trump, any of trump's supporters. if he wants to occupy that lane if trump doesn't run, and we've seen in this administration nobody's really safe, whether it's jeff sessions, reince priebus, whether it's other former aides. if you get on the wrong side of this president, he'll not hesitate to call you out

publicly. i think pence is extra sensitive to that risk, that's why he's coming out and saying this today. >> that's a good point. i also want to listen quickly to arizona's jeff flake on "meet the press." let's take a look at this. >> to be a conservative isn't just to follow conservative principles in terms of limited government, economic freedom, free trade, but it is conservative in terms of comportment and behavior. referring to our colleagues across the aisle as losers or clowns is just not the direction to go if we're going to solve the problems in a conservative way that we need to. so i'll stand up every time to the president when he's doing things that i don't think he should be doing. >> ali, i want to go back to you. i've seen snapchats of you packed into the booth at the white house. you monitor this stuff closely. is the president concerned at all about the growing lack of support from inside his party?

>> look, we've been on the campaign trail still, even now, almost like 2016 didn't end. we've had several campaign style events this summer where the president consistently gets on stage, just as he did all throughout last year, and he has throngs of cheering fans calling his name out and telling me as i go around the crowd, he's keeping his promises, but republicans won't let him. if you look how that manifests itself in the white house, from a policy perspective he's done things to play back to his base. he's consistently talked about pulling out of the paris climate agreement and the transmilitary ban last week, something his base really liked. then when you hear him attacking republicans over failures on health care, he keeps himself at arm's length from the republican party and that's something that will always keep him in good standing with the base he's consistently trying to appeal to. >> right, i guess that base went to the white house this time. i don't know about next time. the president's view of attorney

general jeff sessions, we saw the tweet, he said on saturday for sessions cracking down on leaks coming from the administration. does this mean that the attorney general, the quote, unquote beleaguered attorney general, is back in the president's good graces now? >> i don't know in his good graces. i think the president understands he's going to have a lot of pushback if he was at all going to try to fire attorney general jeff sessions, mainly because the senate essentially has sent him a sign that says, look, if you fire jeff sessions, we're not confirming somebody else. by the way, jeff sessions has a lot of people in the senate backing him, so tread lightly here. if you have reports the chief of staff now, general kelly, has called jeff sessions to say you have my backing, when you have that kind of reporting, i think it's not so much that president trump somehow reversed and appreciates the fact he recused himself, i think he bumped up against a hard brick wall in his party and people said you need to back down on this one, because it's not where you want to go. that's what we're seeing here. of course, jeff sessions is also

trying to score political points with the president by going after leaks. he made a big deal about it, had a big press conference, said he's tripled leak investigations this week than what was being looked at when president obama was in office. so really what you have is jeff sessions saying, look, mr. president, yes, i'm still recusing myself, but i'm here to have your agenda, i'm here to do the things you want to do, and jeff sessions, by the way, is getting a lot of stuff done. he's going after sanctuary cities, looking at sentencing, looking at the drug war. the idea is while president trump might not like jeff sessions personally, he's getting a lot of the things he promised his base he was going to get done in a way the president himself hasn't gotten done. >> he may, it turns out, be going after us, too, in the press. we're going to talk more about that later this hour. shaun, i want to get the last word from you here. new chief of staff john kelly is finishing out his first official week on the job. maybe he's responsible for changes we're talking about. do you think there's a noted

difference inside this white house? >> i think there has been some difference. you talk to republicans on capitol hill who have not had a good relationship with the trump white house this year, they are hopeful he can restore a sense of order. there was this constant sense of chaos the first six months of the year. it never felt like anybody was in control of the west wing. reince priebus was the chief of staff, but never felt he was the chief of staff, that he ever controlled the message or the agenda or the staff. so we've seen initial signs that kelly is coming in and doing it a different way and trying to restore the sense of order, but at the end of the day, the president is the one who has to figure out how this goes, so we'll see if it works out. >> all right, thanks to all of you guys for joining me. appreciate it very much. have a good rest of your sunday. >> thank you. coming up next, it is a showdown between the trump administration and more than a dozen attorneys general and health coverage for millions of americans is on the line. i'm going to talk with one of the members of the coalition who is not backing down from the president's threats to take away

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the battle over the health care debate may be stalled in congress, but the fight to keep provisions is in courts. federal appeals courts have allowed 18 state attorneys general to battle over health care subsidies. the republican-led house first argued they never had a chance to appropriate the funds which are given to participating insurance companies to offset the costs for coverage for low-income americans. a district court ruled in favor of congress and the obama administration appealed, but now president trump's health department could drop the appeal and effectively cancel the subsidy program. doug chin is among the coalition

intervening in the lawsuit and joins me here in los angeles. good to see you in person. i feel i always see you on television out in hawaii. good to see you here. this is about what are called cost-sharing reductions. we've heard that thrown around a lot. president trump has said he wants to let obamacare fail, but this is essentially him helping it fail. what would be the impact on the affordable care act if the white house decided to not go through with the rest of this legal process here? >> we're at a critical time, actually, just this week. what's happening in my state, as well as in basically all the other states of the u.s. insurance commissions or their equivalent, whether it's an agency or regulatory board, they all have to decide this week whether or not they are going to be approving the insurance rates that are being issued by insurers or rejecting them or amending them. and so what's happening is that insurance companies are left having to decide what kind of rate am i going to offer? am i going to offer a rate that

includes the cost-sharing reductions that were to my mind promised by congress, or are they going to go without? and what it's doing is creating a regulatory nightmare. >> you are arguing and the other attorneys general are arguing this would harm states because it would leave fewer people insured. what would be the impact on the state of hawaii, for instance? >> what the d.c. circuit court of appeals had decided is states, including hawaii, do have a legally protected interest and exactly what happens is this. is that if the congress doesn't come in with cost-sharing reductions, if they don't fund that, then insurance companies are left with no other choice but to raise premiums. and basically every study that's out there indicates clearly that once premiums go up, you have people opting out of getting medical insurance. and really that was the whole reason why the affordable care act was passed in the first place. it was to give people the opportunity to have health insurance. >> and the injury to these

states would be if people do opt out of that insurance, the burden would be on individual states to take care of these people versus the affordable care act, is that right? >> that's exactly right. so we're talking about more uninsured people who would then be impacted and needing to get help from the state system in other ways. >> you had mentioned on august 16th these rates have to be locked in by insurance companies throughout the country. many of them are already increasing premiums in advance of this ruling even coming down. i have a feeling republicans would argue, look, the system is already in chaos. what does this decision ultimately matter? >> what would have helped is if the republicans really wanted to fix that, for them to pass something in congress, and so what's actually taking place right now if they didn't pass anything, they are in recess, there is some invitation from the president that they should still work on it. i'm not sure they they would do that, but in the meantime what we're left with is insurance companies and states need to know now. they need to know right now what kind of insurance rates are they setting for people next year.

>> if the president ultimately cancelled this federal funding, this cost sharing for low-income americans, what are you going to do, sue him directly, sue the administration? >> i think what we're really asking for is the court to make that decision right now. we're saying, court, if -- d.c. circuit court of appeals, if you guys can be able to order that these cost-sharing reductions -- excuse me, cost-sharing revenues need to be funded, please go ahead and do so. we'll take care of it from there. >> not just the issue of cost-sharing for low-income americans, also a section wof te affordable care act bans discrimination based on sex. there's so much nitpicking going on and different pieces of this law in the courts. back in washington, d.c. do you see a circumstance, a situation in which there can be a bipartisan compromise and actually pass health care legislation? >> well, you know what, i'm hopeful from the stirrings i hear coming from out of congress

about them trying to look for some sort of bipartisan solution. as far as the administration is concerned, i feel as a state attorney general and i think other states feel this way, that we have to be extra vigilant. it seems as if the current administration just wants to do whatever they can to pass a policy that might make a few people happy, but really have no factual basis whatsoever. >> all right, very good to see you. i know we normally see you under a different circumstance talking about the travel ban. just real quick, what are the preparations like going to the supreme court for the travel ban? >> great. we're set to go there october 10th. we're briefing that right now and we have a side issue whether to do with grandparents are close family. that's still being debated by the u.s. government and so that's in front of the 9th circuit. >> hawaii attorney general doug chin, thanks so much for being here. appreciate it very much. coming up, three years later. after the break, live in ferguson, missouri, with how a look at the shooting of michael brown sparked a national movement in policing across america.

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unrest in ferguson, missouri, that followed the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager michael brown by white police officer darren wilson. the shooting sparked a national protest against police brutality and calls for changes in policing practices, but has this predominantly african-american suburb of st. louis with mostly white power structure made progress to restore trust and peace in the community challenged by racial tensions? nbc's ron mott is in ferguson for us with a look back and a look ahead. ron? >> a lot has changed in ferguson, a lot of new faces in city government and places, as well, to replace what was destroyed, but you go around town and talk to people, they will say one thing in consensus, ferguson still has some work to do.

from his backyard, he had a front row seat to when ferguson erupted in fury three years ago this week. the charred remains of a convenience store are gone. riot police have faded from view and the neighborhood where michael brown was gunned down by darren wilson is calm again, but frustrations and doubts linger. >> it takes time. fr trust is something that's extremely hard to win back. if you break that trust, sometimes you can win it back, sometimes you can't. >> to win people over, the city overhauled city government, attacking a problematic culture spelled out in a damning justice department probe in 2015. for starters, the small department is more diverse today than the day michael brown lost his life. in 2014, of its 55 officers, 48 were white, just four black. now just 38 officers in uniform,

26 of them white, ten black. >> change doesn't come quickly. it's a gradual step-by-step process if you want to do it right. >> part of the right approach, he says, is making sure his officers are known in the community. >> you change people's perception and concept of the police department by actually getting out there and meeting them when it's not a crisis, when there are good times. >> his predecessor retired under a cloud. in a new book recently published, he contests many of the doj's findings and perceptions about his leadership. >> did you run a racist police department? >> no, it's a ridiculous assertion. >> while he admits the optics of brown's body sitting under a hot sun for hours on end contributed to tensions on the scene, something he regrets, gunfire added to the delay. >> at the time we were just following protocol. unruly crowd gathering around and suddenly gun shots come out from behind us. now it's an insecure scene. we have to resecure it. >> today the august heat is a

relentless presence here. the daily work of policing goes on amidst change. how much has changed in ferguson since you've been on? >> a lot has changed. >> the city council, nearly all white three years ago, is now nearly half black. problems persist, of course, but hope is rising in places literally and otherwise. >> there's a lot that we can do. there's some things we can't do, but i think as a community when we're working together, that's when you can move mountains. >> moving mountains here in ferguson, missouri. obviously, the quiktrip convenience store no longer here. standing in its place is the new urban league community empowerment center. they hope this will be a magnet for positive changes in the neighborhood, jobs being number one, which they are hoping to bring to this community. jacob, back to you. >> i want to ask you, here in los angeles we had decades of tension between the community and the los angeles police department. things have turned around, but there are still fissures. i'm curious, three years is not a lot of time.

what is the sense in the community today about the relationship between the community and the police department there? >> right now they are complaining about speeding. people speed up and down some of the thoroughfares, it's a public safety issue. we spoke to a council member elected after the brown shooting. he said he'd much have them complaining about potholes and speeding rather than police harassment and over use of force, i should say, so there is some work to be done, but there is some progress. people here like seeing that there is more diversity in their city government, so the confidence is building, but it will take some time. >> all right, nbc's ron mott in ferguson, missouri. thanks so much, appreciate it. be sure to join my colleague thomas roberts for a one-hour special. thomas is going to take a look at what's changed since michael brown's death and the violence that followed, including the

changes to policing across the united states. airs tonight at 6:00 p.m. eastern. only on msnbc. coming up right here next, more on the russia investigation and robert mueller's use of a grand jury and how the newest sanctions could affect the trump/putin relationship. stick around. so when your "side glass" gets damaged... [dog barks] trust safelite autoglass to fix it fast. it's easy! just bring it to us, or let us come to you, and we'll get you back on the road! >> woman: thank you so much. >> safelite tech: my pleasure. >> announcer: 'cause we care about you... and your co-pilot. [dog barks] ♪safelite repair, safelite replace.♪ how to win at business. step one. point decisively with your glasses. abracadabra! the stage is yours. step two. choose laquinta. where you'll feel like the king of the road. check out our summer rates now at lq.com.

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you're watching msnbc. secretary of state rex tillerson and his russian counterpart met face to face today for the first time since the country's exchanged diplomatic blows. the two traded pleasantries but avoided talk about the sanctions against russia. the president signed sanctions last week intended to punish russia for meddling in last year's election. moscow responded by expelling more than 700 american diplomats. all of this, of course, is going on as special counsel robert mueller is intensifying his probe into the trump campaign's ties to russia.

here is what senator lindsey graham had to say. >> secretary tillerson says some things unnerving about russia, but i can only tell you that president putin has done something nobody in america could do, unite the congress. it re-enforces the narrative that the trump administration is not really serious about pushing back on russia. >> for more on this we are joined by former host at "rt" and political writer for "the daily banter" and barbara mcquaid. good to have you both here. going to start with you, we just heard senator graham express concern the trump administration is not serious about pushing back on russia for their election meddling. i don't often hear you agree with lindsey graham, but does he have a point? >> lindsey graham has a point

and it's rare we see bipartisan consensus in congress, but shows they don't have to be completely dysfunctional and often on issues of foreign policy or the case we're seeing here now, seems like congress can agree. one thing i have consistently been pointing out if you look at this meeting between tillerson and lavrov, of course, they are not going to share public statements about the sanctions, because that is a lose-lose for both of them, right? if russia was hoping that the trump administration would be russia friendly, would lift the sanctions, they haven't gotten that effect, and for trump, this is a place where his hands have been tied and he's shown to be an ineffective leader. so this is interesting, because for russia they are seeing the check and balances do apply in the u.s. government process, but the one thing i would kind of warn and caution against, and i keep bringing this up, if the intent here is for the sanctions to get the russian government to change their position or punish putin, it's not actually going to work. thus far we haven't seen any change in position and action and policy and quite the

opposite, i think that it ends up uniting russian people against americans because they feel they are coming under attack. >> right. the latest news in the investigation is mueller is working with a number of grand juries. can you break down this process, explain it to us? >> sure, a grand jury gets impanelled to investigate all sorts of cases. a grand jury has a lot of authority. one authority it has is the subpoena power. so if robert mueller and his team wanted to get their hands on any documents, they would get them through the authority of the grand jury. the other power a grand jury has is compel people to come testify as witnesses under oath, which is powerful, and, of course, the third function is to issue indictments when the evidence rises to that standard of probable cause. >> could we ultimately, barbara, see the president of the united states called to testify before one of these grand juries? >> it is possible. president clinton, for example, did testify before a grand jury.

it seems like that would be a last step. typically if someone is a target of a grand jury investigation, you want to first gather all the information you can about them. they can be invited if they want to tell their side of the story, so we may see that at some point, but i would imagine that would be far down later in the investigation. >> yesterday on twitter the president thanked russia and china, as well, for voting for his north korean sanctions bill. he keeps playing nice and as this investigation plays out, do you expect the president to keep trying to mend fences with russia and to what end? >> i mean, it's hard to make any kind of predictions about what donald trump will do or say. he changes his mind constantly and i think we've all learned that, but i think that as far as cooperation on an international level with issues like north korea or syria or this general fight against terrorism abroad, that's kind of all that he has left in terms of areas where he

can actually take some action as president and show that there are areas where russia and the united states can actually work together and i think that's something that russia is going to lean into, as well. you know, back to a place where they can be a thorn in the side for the united states and make things either easier for them or more difficult for them. we don't often see them go along with u.n. security council votes. if anything, russia and china, you know, often are the ones that are trying to put themselves in a position where they disagree with the majority, so i'd say it's a pretty significant move. >> barbara, the president repeatedly has mocked this investigation, calling it a witch hunt, but his attorney has been quoted as saying they are cooperating fully with this investigation. how do you reconcile those statements? if you think it's a witch hunt, aren't you likely going to resist cooperating? >> well, i think that president trump is defending this on two fronts, right, there's the legal front and also the court of

public opinion. i think the witch hunt and some of those kinds of phrases he's throwing out there for the public and for his supporters, but it seems that he is hired council who p understands how the process works and, frankly, the best legal advice they can give him is to go through the process to cooperate and if he has nothing to hide and has not done anything wrong, the best way to work is to provide robert mueller and his team with everything they are looking for so they can ultimately close the investigation without any charges. >> real quick, as we've got to go. we know as much about these investigations because of leaks and now the department of justice says they are going to crack down on not just leakers but potentially us in the news media. what's your take on this? >> it's an incredibly dangerous step. all governments like secrecy and that's why a free press exists, to make sure we actually know what's happening and try to get answers out there. this is just another move against transparency by this administration. unfortunately, even the administration before it, it

doesn't matter who's in office, the obama administration prosecuted an unprecedented amount of leakers and whistle-blowers and this time we have the trump administration telling us ahead of the fact that it's something they plan to do. so i think no matter what side of the aisle you land on politically, where you land ideologically, you should understand that attacks against a free press and threats to subpoena reporters to make them testify against their sources is very dangerous precedent. >> all right, thank you both for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you. tackling the truth, concussions making headlines during one of the nfl's biggest nights. >> at 9 years old i received my first test. i began suffering from migraine headaches. just imagine, a 9 year old having to deal with vomiting, temporary blindness, and painful headaches just to play football. >> after this short break, we will talk with the doctor who exposed the link between football and head injuries and

get his reaction to a truly alarming study involving former professional football players. we'll be right back. rethink what's possible. rethink your allergy pills. flonase sensimist allergy relief helps block 6 key inflammatory substances with a gentle mist. most allergy pills only block one. and 6 is greater than one. flonase sensimist. ♪

get this, 99% of former nfl players tested suffered from cte or chronic traumatic enreceive lop encephalopathy. it was tested in 110 out of 111 donated brains of deceased nfl players. it's extraordinary. at the forefront of the research is author of a new book, "truth doesn't have a side." his story and the groundbreaking findings were depicted by will smith in the sports drama "concussion." >> i found a disease that no one has ever seen. repetitive head trauma chokes the brain. >> the nfl does not want to talk to you. you've turned on the lights and given their biggest boogeyman a

name. >> something of a trend in the nfl. two days after the release of the latest cte study 26-year-old ravens offensive lineman john urshel abruptly announced his retirement, saying it was attributed to links of the study. a few days after that, 22-year-old johnson quit the game saying he values his health. last year bills linebacker a.j. carpal tarply called it quits. chris borland retired at 24 after his rookie season. in response, the nfl says the league is committed to supporting scientific research into cte and advancing progress in the prevention and treatment of head injuries. just months ago the "c" word took center stage as gisele bundchen, wife of tom brady, opened up about her husband's health during an interview. >> an aggressive sport, right?

football, he had a concussion last year, he has concussions pretty much -- we don't talk about, but he does have concussions. >> the reigning super bowl mvp addressed his wife's comments for the first time on friday. he said, i don't want to get into things that happened in my past, certain medical history and so forth. you're not blind to it as a player, you certainly can be put in harm's way. joining us now is forensic and neuropathologist and former kansas city chiefs kicker nick larry. good to have you here. appreciate it very much. doctor, i want your reaction first to the study and the most recent cte findings. >> well, my reaction is that what we are seeing is not actually new. we have always known for centuries, beginning in 400 b.c., before christ was born, that whenever you engage in any human activity whereby your head

is open to repeated blows, there is a 100% risk exposure to permanent brain damage. the longer you play, the greater number of games you play, the greater the number of seasons, years you play, the greater the risk. that is why it's always been my position that no child under the age of 18 years old in the united states of america, and across the world, given what we know today, should engage in the high impact, high contact collision sports, the big six are american football, ice hockey, boxing, mixed martial arts, wrestling, and rugby. i want every parent out there to know, if your child plays these games even for one season, there is a 100% risk of permanent brain damage. and permanent brain damage is not cte. cte is just one disease in a broad spectrum of brain damage

stemming from repeated blows to the human head. >> why the age of 18? that's just because children can make their decision ultimately, teenagers at that point as adults? >> no, no, the age of 18 is when the child's brain becomes fully developed, when this is adequate brain cells sufficiently developed to handle stresses adults handle. and also because of the age of concern when you're fully cognitively developed to understand the consequences of the decisions you make. so it's not just a psychosocial justification or foundation, there's also a scientific foundation for the age of 18. >> nick, let me get you in here. you were just at the pro football hall of fame induction ceremony in canton where the study has been a big topic of discussion. what did you hear there from current and former players? >> first of all, thanks for having me on. i think today's players and the players of the past have a

consensus, which is we are now finally far too late than what we would have preferred to be in an era where we are able to make some educated decisions. i interviewed 31 players at length. dan foust, tim brown, tony dungy, will shields. all of these players said they would still play the game, because it taught them so many fantastic lessons. the difference is today that players and would-be players have the right to choose not to play. they have the right to learn everything about what can happen to them. and, frankly, as the doctor said, not only are head injuries an issue with regard to football, they are a worldwide life living phenomena. there are so many people that have traumatic brain injuries outside of football, as well, but football certainly and this evidence only confirms how serious this situation is. >> i think, nick, the nfl says since 200247 rule changes have

been made to protect players. what's your feeling on the steps the nfl has taken to address this issue? >> well, the real debate here is simply who are the true stewards of the game, and i believe more and more owners realize they are the stewards of the game. all of us are stewards of the game. we need to make educated decisions and face up to what's happening. everything that has to do with protecting the players, there are a couple things right now that can help that. the mvp robotic dummy has ended the era of teammate on teammate tackling in the ivy league. that should be universal in the nfl. that should be universal. also as the doctor knows, extremely important, they create functionally something of a cellular helmet. a ucla torrent study in 2014 found that those people in traffic accidents that were

taking taking them were 80% less likely to die from a traffic accident. so there are things today that are going to become in the next five years we hope multivitamins, if you will, for the brain and the cellular resiliency and e la resiliency of the brain. >> in 2014 the supreme court cleared the way for the nfl to begin payouts of an estimated $1 billion in a settlement. this is a multi, multi, multibillion dollar sporting league. is that enough money to combat the effects former players are experiencing in regards to cte damage? >> i don't think so. no. i'm a christian roman catholic. i strongly believe that even the life of one nfl player is worth more than the $19 billion profit the nfl makes. we can't put a value to human

life. but my position has always ban not to ban football. no, don't ban football. football should only be for adults. there are so many other dangerous activities in life. adults can play as long as they understand the consequences of what they do, but children don't have the prowess to understand the consequences. so as a physician and as a christian, i believe strongly that in 2017 for such dangerous activities like football, boxing, ice hockey, that we need to protect our children from such harm. the child of one life is worth more to me than the entire nfl put together. just as we have done, there's precedence. what did we do? we stopped children from smoking. a glass of cognac could damage a child's brain, what did we do? we stopped children from

drinking alcohol. what is the difference now? we wouldn't give a child a stick of cigarette to smoke, but we would put a helmet on him, send him out to a field to sustain concussions. which is safer? a stick of cigarette or a concussion of the brain? so this is a valued judgment society needs to address and that was why i wrote my book so that every parent should pick it up, read through it, and then understand why i'm making this bold statement today on a sunday. >> and the book, again, i know we just threw it up on the screen, "truth doesn't have a side." this has been a fantastic conversation. i never had the courage to go out and play football. this conversation makes me think about ever letting my little boy go out and do it. doctor bennett and nick lowery, thank you so much for being here. stick around, we'll be right back. you should be serving your country.

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do me a favor, i'm sticking around for the next hour, you should, too. coming up, only six months in and there are already rumblings republicans are positioning themselves to challenge trump for the white house in 2020. we're going to talk about one report that has the vice president pushing back today. we'll be right back. me than my vacation. so when i need to book a hotel room, i want someone that makes it easy to find what i want. booking.com gets it. and with their price match, i know i'm getting the best price every time. now i can start relaxing even before the vacation begins. your vacation is very important. that's why booking.com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. visit booking.com now to find out why we're booking.yeah! (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) (flourish spray noise) the joy of real cream in 15 calories per serving. enough said. reddi-wip. (flourish spray noise) share the joy.

hey. what can you tell me about your new social security alerts? oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ooh. sushi. ugh. being in the know is a good thing. sign up online for free. discover social security alerts. good afternoon, everybody, reports surfacing today that vice president pence is poised to make a move on the white house. allegations he vehemently denied. a "new york times" article reported that pence appears to be a republican shadow campaign. he released a statement saying whatever fake news may come our way, our entire team may continue to focus all our efforts to advance the president's agenda and see him re-elected in 2020. any suggestion otherwise is both laughable and absurd. a white house spokeswoman, lindsey walters, fired a warning shot in this statement of the

time saying the president is as strong as he has ever been in iowa and every potentially ambitious republican knows that. i want to go straight to nbc's kelly o'donnell in bridgewater, new jersey, by the president's resort where he's spending the next two weeks. we've seen the president out and about, including in iowa. is that part of the reason the president is pushing back on this pence report, as well? >> reporter: i think there is a big issue about loyalty in the trump circle, and mike pence from the day he was selected as a running mate has demonstrated that loyalty in good times and really rough times during the campaign and does not want that question now, especially knowing how important it has been for the president to lean on mike pence. sure, a lot of his activities have an overlap of campaign, which can go down to the benefit of trump/pence 2020. that's what officials say. the vice president, just like the president, has a new chief of staff. in the president's case he