>> welcome to "kasie d.c." i'm kasie hunt. we are live every sunday from washington from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. eastern. tonight, brand-new nbc polling just out about the president and his handling of all things russia in light of the historic summit. and senator richard blumenthal joins us as paul manafort's trial gets ready to start and michael cohen drops his first mix tape. plus this time last sunday we were talking to bill broader about the summit with putin. he's going to join us live tonight after the russian president name chikd him on the world stage. and later states of play. democrats are serious about taking back the senate. heidi high camp will have to hold on to north dakota. we have new reporting on why it could be tariffs, not russia, that make the difference there.

but first it's hard to believe that this time last week we were previewing the president's meeting with vladimir putin. but, of course, we are apparently living in a different space time continuum here in 2018 where even gravity works differently. but more on that in a moment. all of that happened before friday when "the new york times" dropped that bombshell report about michael cohen and his recording of president trump. then came saturday when the d.o.j. made the documents about surveilling former trump campaign aid carter page public. and don't forget about paul manafort whose trial begins this week in virginia. along with a reminder that the president's former campaign chairman has been sitting in jail for over a month as he prepares to face a jury. but back to that part about gravity. the president's approval rating is ticking up, not down. a brand-new poll from nbc news and the "wall street journal" conducted before and after the helsinki summit shows the president approval rating at

45%. that is up 1 point from june. among republicans, that number is 88%, the highest ever his entire presidency. with that, i would like to welcome in my panel. joining me on set national nbc news julia ainsley. bbc world america and msnbc contributor katty kay. and principal at cogent strategy kevin mclaughlin. thank you all for being here. kevin, i would like to start with you. >> yes, ma'am. >> i would like you to explain why it is 88% of americans approve of president trump considering what saw contradicts republican orthodoxy for years. >> president trump has shown throughout his campaign and polling what i took away from the 2016 election is the american people want authenticity. may not like what authenticity is, what he's saying or how he's doing it, but he doesn't back down from it.

when he goes out and does these events, i will call them, it actually helps him in fly over country. the outrage you see is in the corridor where we all live and work. when we get out of here people say he's a knuckle head and stuff like that. we understand what he's doing can hurt us personally, but we have to make sacrifices. >> when he says he could walk down 5th avenue and shoot somebody -- >> he defies political gravity. i was thinking the exact same thing. >> the poll number that struck me was the poll that came out earlier last week, reuters poll that said only 32% of republicans believe russia meddled in the 2016 election. they do not agree with the assessment of the intelligence community. for republicans to say we don't believe the cia, fbi and nsa, we are siding with the president on this is fairly remarkable. i think the one thing that is

the divergence, the prospect of tariffs. you see signs republican voters are still not comfortable with that and the republican party is still not comfortable with that. if the tariffs start hitting the president, it's not going to be russia, it's going to be the economy. >> i would say that's very true. when you look at tracking, russia doesn't register on the radar for what people care about. it is literally not even close to the top 15 issue. >> julie, this is the strategy the trump campaign has been running as well, to cast doubt on whether this meddling ever happened. >> absolutely. we're used to seeing republicans go to war with democrats but not their own justice and

intelligence community. what you're talking about, the polling, reuters poll, is showing that people are not trusting the intelligence community. they're not trusting the justice department. >> they're trusting the president's tweets. >> exactly. they're trusting that instead. they think they're living under a new time when it comes to the justice department. i hear that sometimes. what happened to the justice department we used to know? the majority of those career investigators are still there and they're continuing the same

investigations. but we are looking through it through a different prism now. we're looking at it through trump's prism, at least a lot of republicans are who believe they have a president who wants to meet with people, reach across to people who used to be adversaries like kim jong-un and vladimir putin because they think it can help them in the end without actually looking at how this president is able to stand up to someone like vladimir putin amid all of these accusations -- not just accusations, documented evidence of 12 russian intelligence officers and the specifics and how they hacked into the democratic party.

>> it strikes me that this is sort of the "end game" for talking about fake news and casting doubt repeatedly on the media, right? this is a situation where he has created a universe where nobody believes anything any of the fact checkers say. >> every single time the president tweets fake news or witch hunt, all of the polling suggests it's working. this is a very smart strategy from the president's point of view. he is leading public opinion in a different direction. one of the more startling shifts in public opinion that we have seen -- we haven't seen it on tariffs, but we have seen it on general attitudes with russia, with more republicans generally more favorable -- take the

mueller investigation aside, take election meddling aside. views have changed in the republican party. that is almost entirely due to donald trump. >> but i think it is larger than that. i don't think this is an end game we're at with trump. it's a lack of faith in institutions. it's not just press. there's a lot of blame to go around from a lot of years. the most recent example for me it's impossible. and i think that we've seen that on both sides of the aisle from the press, from all over the place where people say, this is it. the deficit, everything, it's all going to explode. and people out where i'm from, minneapolis, are like, we wake up in the morning. it didn't explode. so i think we have a huge problem. this is where i go back to with president trump and his authenticity. whether or not you like it is not what people are judging him on. people are judging him based on delivering. he knows that. >> do you think it's true -- for so many years, when i started covering politics, the action i don't mean -- action i don't mean was people wanted to get things done. people ran on bipartisan ship. here are the examples of how i worked with people on the other side. that does not seem to be what the electorate is interested in now.

meetings, but, you know, to call me an advisor i think is way over the top. >> except in the 2013 letter you wrote, it says, quote, over the past half year i have had the privilege to serve as an informal advisor to the staff of the kremlin in preparation for the presidency of the g20 summit next month. >> informal, having some conversations with people, i mean, this is really nothing -- >> meanwhile, in the wake of its release, the fisa application has become something of a rorschach test on capitol hill. >> yeah, i don't think they did anything wrong. i think they went to the court. they got the judges to approve it. they laid out all the information and there was a lot of reasons unrelated to the dossier for why they wanted to look at carter page. >> a warrant on carter page was supported mostly by a dossier that came from michael steele who was being paid by the democratic party to do opposition research. >> was the surveillance justified? >> no, not at all in my view. >> my take is carter page is more like inspector gadget than

jason borne or james bond. trump never met him, never had a conversation with him. i'm sure he's been on the fbi's radar a long time before 2016. we'll never know whether the fbi had enough without the dossier. the unvetted dnc funded dossier, because they included it. and everyone who reads this fisa application sees the amount of reliance they placed on this product -- >> president trump issued his own response writing that they, quote, confirm with little doubt that the department of, quote, justice, and fbi misled the courts. witch hunt, rigged, a scam. first of all, julia, to your earlier point, casting doubt on that, jake tapper came back at carter page who said, look, i was never this. actually you claimed you were. >> he said he was a formal advisor to the kremlin. you can't have it both ways. you can't advertise yourself to

the kremlin in one year and the other year try to completely distance yourself although we see the president do that often with his advisors as he's digs tanzaniaed himself from page and manafort. i think out of the damage done around this, especially when the president says the fbi is misleading people in court, we heard from christopher wray at the aspen security forum when he spoke to lester holt, the fbi director saying when this becomes a problem is when my agents aren't believed in court. not just in this case, but in the thousands of other cases that they're doing around the country, to have the president casting doubt on their evidence.

and why carter page has been at the center of all of this for so long is because of how much the dossier was built around the fisa application. the nunes memo. >> what do you take away from getting a chance to see the application? >> so much of it is redacted. i think what the president is saying is no evidence to back that up. it really seems -- we've known this for a while. there's a lot more behind the fisa application to carter page than the dossier. he was a target of this investigation because he was an advisor to the kremlin. that stands on its own without the dossier. and so i think what the president is saying, there

really is no evidence i could glean from reading this to support what he's saying. >> kevin, where do you think republicans will come down on this? this has been devin nunes' cause for better or worse for the last several months alleging there were abuses that took place here. is that a plausible arguments for republicans to keep pushing forward with? >> by and large i wouldn't put devin nunes in this -- >> surprised to hear you say that. >> i also think marco, senator rubio, i should say, hit the nail on the head. and i think that this is a 400-page fisa document. there is more than just the christopher steele dossier in there. although it is part of it. i also think there is a couple other things to fly over a country again on this. number one, no one knows who carter page is, no one cares and i think they've rooted out this guy and they're trying to string him up. the second thing is they look at this like a foreign policy guy talking to a forbid government.

it was russia, but isn't that their job? the third thing is i just think it doesn't resonate. and i think the last thing i would say actually, there is not collusion here that i've seen. i haven't seen it, so even if carter page was colluding as a guy who ran campaigns, what would he do about it? a foreign policy guy on the campaign team, i have an idea, collude with russia? >> frankly if the fbi had not looked into what carter page had been doing, they would have been negligent in their duties. the wording is pretty strong. we didn't learn much from these justice department papers that were released, but we did learn that they felt that the wording from the justice department was strong, that they really felt they did have to go after this and investigate it. and although lindsey graham says the christopher steele document is a loaded garbage, we have not had that officially debunked. we don't know it was a load of garbage. he can call it that as frp as he likes, but we don't know that. >> nobody in the intelligence committee has been trying to figure that out. we don't know at what point -- >> draw information is what they have to base a lot of their

decisions on. >> it could be commissioned by the hillary clinton campaign and be correct or it could be commissioned by the hillary clinton campaign and be incorrect. >> there is a difference between being a foreign policy advisor and campaign and recruited to be functionally a spy for a foreign government. >> sure. >> when we continue, democrats are pointing at public comments from brett kavanagh and the watergate tapes as red flags as the mueller probe presses on. senator richard blumenthal joins me live and whether it's much ado about nothing. as we go to break, though, it has been another whiplash week in washington. yes, all of this really happened in the last seven days. >> dan coats came to me and some others. they said they think it's russia. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> several republicans are criticizing what they saw at today's press conference. >> the d.o.j. charging another russian tonight. >> a russian national, mariah butina. >> they did interfere in our elections, it's clear. >> trump's top national security advisors. >> instead of should have been i don't see any reason why i wouldn't or why it wouldn't be russia. >> maria butina pleaded not guilty. >> maria butina in the last hour has been order today remain in jail. >> is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. president?

>> he said no, i'm not answering any more questions. >> is russia still targeting the united states? >> i think we would be foolish to think they're not. >> president trump is inviting vladimir putin to the white house. >> say that again? [ laughter ] >> that's going to be special. >> a secretly recorded tape of president trump and his one-time lawyer michael cohen, talking about a payment to a play boy model. >> the president wasn't aware he was being recorded. >> michael cohen has made it very clear to me this morning that he is not going to be some sacrificial lamb.

welcome back. last night the senate judiciary committee released documents related to supreme court nominee brett kavanagh including some of his views of the watergate scandal. according to the a.p., a 1999 article reveals an instance in which kavanagh said u.s. versus nixon may have been wrongly

decided. you'll remember that decision led the supreme court to order president nixon to hand over tape recordings to a federal court. and ever since it has been referenced as one of the major cases that limits executive power. kavanagh's views on executive privilege are being carefully looked at as he makes his way through the confirmation process. joining me mao to talk about there and everything else that went on this past week, democratic senator from connecticut and member of the judiciary committee, senator richard blumenthal. senator, thank you so much for being with us tonight. i want to start right there with this revelation from these documents that the judiciary committee has found about kavanagh's comments on the u.s. versus nixon case. do you think that should be applicable in his confirmation

hearing? >> it is of profound importance to these confirmation hearings. the reason is very simply that u.s. versus nixon not only stands for the basic principle that the president must provide evidence that is relevant and cannot assert overbroad claims of executive privilege, but also that no one is above the law. no president is above the law.

and here we have judge kavanagh questioning whether it was rightly decided after a unanimous supreme court in an opinion written by the chief justice, warren berger, who was appointed by nixon, said that the president, richard nixon, must provide these tapes. it is potentially a bombshell in these confirmation hearings. >> there have been some indications that senator grassley is not interested in forcing the executive branch to turnover more additional documents for democrats and republicans on the committee to review, and it's been reported that mitch mcconnell behind the scenes is potentially threatening to push the

nomination vote until right before the midterm elections. are you seeing the documents that you need to? and do you think that chuck schumer should fight this to the point that you are facing down that vote right before the election? >> well, that's a really important question, kasie. first, we have yet to see all the documents that we need. and the recent rejection and withdrawal of the nomination of ryan bounds, he was nominated to the 9th circuit court of appeals, shows the importance of seeing all of the documents because his racial comments in the course of his past were extremely relevant to this nomination, and the excessive haste in that instance, the absence of adequate vetting, shows the importance of every single document here that we need to assess this nomination.

the american people deserve it. and so far, we have yet to see all the documents we need. and chairman grassley has yet to provide, in my view, the kind of cooperation we need. if this nomination vote is delayed until literally the days or weeks before the midterm elections, it will be the height of cynical manipulation in a vote that is probably the most important that most of us will ever cast because these are lifetime appointments, the highest court in the land. and again, judge kavanagh has indicated in the writing you just mentioned, we just discussed as well as others, that he is an outlier in many of his views out of the mainstream

and the result of vetting by extreme right wing groups, such as overturning roe v. wade and withdrawing protections under the affordable care act. so we deserve every document. >> what is the behind the scenes thinking of what kind of impact a vote so close to the election will have? there has to be some tension in the democratic caucus between those moderates facing reelection in red states who want to be out on the trail campaigning, and those liberal potentially 2020 candidates that, as we know, there are a number of them in your caucus. how is that playing out behind the scenes? >> what we need to do is to bring this case to the american people about how judge kavanagh has passed the trump litmus test, overturning roe v. wade, eliminating the protections for people who suffer from preexisting conditions, millions of americans who suffer from obesity or heart disease or alcohol abuse, and many other common conditions.

but the tension is really, in my view, exaggerated on the democratic side. i think our republican colleagues are going to have to answer to history. >> you don't have any doubt mitch mcconnell will go through pushing this right to before the elections. >> i hope not. and i do have doubt that he will. >> i mean, you're watching as closely as i have. i just -- it seems to me like he makes these kinds of threats and he follows through on them. >> kasie, you may be right. but let me just say that when i go to work every day, i have to believe that as an institution, our leadership and most particularly the republican leadership, will recognize that we are answering not just to the politics of the moment, but to history. every one of us will be judged by history on this vote.

and my hope is that mitch mcconnell wants to be recognized as a leader, not just a master politician, a leader of conviction and conscience. >> senator, i want to change gears quickly before we have to wrap up here. the events of the last week, what we saw with the president in helsinki, and then what we saw in aspen from dan coats, his director of national intelligence who was surprised by my colleague andrea mitchell and told that vladimir putin was -- had been invited to come here to the united states. he is a former colleague. i know him as an individual of integrity and dedication to our country. >> senator blumenthal, thank you so much for your time tonight. advanced oils for those hard-working parts. fuels that go further so drivers pump less. improving efficiency is what we do best. energy lives here.

the fbi and federal prosecutors will soon learn the contents of the recordings secretly made by michael cohen two months before the election. in which he and the president reportedly discuss payments to a former play boy model who claims she had an affair with mr. trump. karen mcdougal said her affair with the president began in 2006 and lasted for nearly a year. the president has denied those allegations. "the new york times" reports that on the audiotape cohen and trump can be heard discussing whether to reimburse the national enquirer's parent company which had purchased the rights to mcdougal's story. the recording, which was seized during a raid of cohen's office back in april was initially protected by attorney/client privilege, but trump's legal team waived that privilege after news broke that the recording existed, making it available to prosecutors. president trump was apparently unaware he had was being taped at the time and quote it is inconceivable a lawyer would tape a client. totally unheard of and perhaps illegal.

first of all, i just would like to -- i mean, we have heard from the president many miss truths regarding this. his spokeswoman hope hicks when this first broke, we have no idea any of this was ever going on, when clearly we know the existence of tape proves in fact he was aware. >> exactly. i'm sort of thinking back, a lot of people said karen mcdougal more than stormed was actually going to be the affair that could present the most damage to the president, especially now it is seeming because of the discussion of payments. that was two months before the election. and to me the timing of all this tells us everything we really need to know, especially about cohen's strategy. his habits for a long time, he's known it was seized in the raids. this was months ago, early may when the raids took place and it's now, now that we're getting to a point where he could be flipping on the president that this news is starting to come out because he sees his client,

the president, as someone who abandoned him. >> so why, if you're the president's legal team, why do you waive privilege on this? >> the only reason i could think is that they think there is something in the tape that could exonerate them or something that could actually be damning to cohen and so they would waive their privilege. but i'm head scratching on that. >> judging from the president's tweets today about this is exactly what julie thinks, he thinks this helps him and hurts cohen in some way. but for me, the fact that this tape exists just raises a whole host of questions about what other tapes exist and are there other cases we don't know about. and if so, were they recorded. i think that's, you know, that's what people are going to want to know coming out of this. >> and do they matter. deja vu all over again. >> i was going to ask you. >> we had a devastating tape i

would have told you a thousand times would have ended anyone's candidacy or career. >> that doesn't matter politically. it does matter the president -- if there is -- some lawyers have suggested to me this is why they are so nervous about the southern district of new york, the whole case is there a pattern that would emerge. >> right. >> from what was seized in michael cohen's offices that would suggest that there were concerted efforts made to protect the presidency and numerous -- we have no idea whether that's the case, but that's the kind of question -- >> campaign funds. >> you're right. >> it could be an fec violation. court of public a opinion aside, if it's like a john edwards' case, if he was using campaign funds to pay this woman and obviously he knew about it, that's the thing that could bring them down. the president from a political perception, a lot of damage was done just by that article coming out. the fact that it exists and maybe they think there are details in there that will

exonerate them and will help shed at least a little more texture on the story than what we have already. right now it's not looking great. >> #understatement. julie ainsley, katty kay, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. when we continue, no pressure, heidi high camp. >> you're one of the last great hopes, i think, for your party honestly. i do. i haven't heard you equate helsinki to pearl harbor or 9/11. you're in a position, though, in a red state with an election in november, so you're our last hope for any type of -- reasonable rhetoric. >> states of play takes us to north dakota as the fate of the senate could come down to one red state democrat. allie joins us with her reporting up next. ht cancer. and never lose sight of the patients we're fighting for. our cancer treatment specialists share the same vision. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver

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president trump is facing a growing battle with his own party over the mounting trade wars. senate finance chair orrin hatch warns, quote, flt administration continues forward with its over reliance on tariffs, i will work to advance legislation to curtail presidential trade authority. but the president is as defiant as ever.

>> i mean, honestly i don't want to use the word because it's a highly respected show. but they are taking advantage of us, okay. i'll use a different set of words. they are taking advantage of us. it's not as good as the other word. you know what the other word is. i raised 50 and they matched us. you can't match us because otherwise we're always going to be behind the 8 ball. >> you get to 500, though -- >> we have to go to 500. >> it goes almost without saying that all of this is a very real impact on all people and one of the marquee reasons in the mid terms. in tonight's states of play,

alley batali is in divide county, north dakota. first of all, ali, that may be the greatest state line in political journalism. how did you, by the canadian border, what brought you there and what did you find over the course of your reporting? >> reporter: well, kasie, senator heidi high camp as you know is one of the most vulnerable democrats up for reelection this year. she's in a red state that has only gotten redder since she was on the ballot in 2012. we spent two days with the candidates and voters if it's possible for this democrat to win in trump country. nearly 2000 miles away from washington, it's a matter of

putting north dakota voters first. >> we've got a great story here in north dakota if washington would just get out of the way. >> if donald trump is with north dakota 90% of the time, he and i are going to be north dakota. that time i'm going to be with north dakota the other ten. >> reporter: while not straying too far from president trump. after all --

>> trump, trump, trump, everything is trump. >> reporter: it's a delicate dance. one we saw firsthand in divide county and 120 miles away at the state fair in minot. kevin cramer, a three-term

congressman, was one of president trump's earliest 2016 backers. it's a political loyalty he's tried to use to his advantage. >> i've heard her say, gee, i voted with him 55% of the time. can you imagine going home and telling your wife i've been faithful to you 55% of the time? are you kidding me? >> hi, guys. how are you? >> reporter: meanwhile, senator heidi high camp a democrat has worked hard to thread the needle. sometimes earning praise. >> everyone is saying what's she doing up here? but i'll tell you what, good woman. >> reporter: sometimes not. >> and we need kevin cramer to replace liberal democrat heidi hide camp in december. >> reporter: but in recent days the president has tested the limits of cramer's support. this week on the hill you were a little critical about his press conference with vladimir putin. >> i was >> reporter: and those comments that he made. was the walk back enough for you?

>> well, his explanation, it was -- it was, he's going the right direction. he's explaining himself. >> reporter: do you believe that president trump believes it was russia? >> i don't know what he believes. i don't know what he believes. >> reporter: but you believe it was russia? >> i mean, you know, i believe it was russia as sure as i believe the sun comes up in the east. >> reporter: but it's tariffs, not russia, that could be the x factor in this already tight race. >> farmers are going to take a kick in the as with their soybeans. >> reporter: the state's agriculture, heavy economy makes it ground zero for trump's trade war and soybean farmers here are already seeing prices trending down. but not all are ready to cut and run from trump just yet. >> we have been taking it in the shorts for so long on our tariffs that it's time for somebody to stand up and say enough is enough. >> reporter: cramer can see the up side, too, even if he isn't a fan of the method. >> i don't like tariffs as a negotiating tool. i think the president will be successful at some point in the future. in agriculture, this is what i've advised him more than anything. in agriculture the short term is the long term. one season can ruin a farmer. >> reporter: what is your message to the president? >> my message to the president is stop it. i mean, you know, hit a reset button. >> reporter: hide camp is the only democrat in north dakota's

delegation. she eked out a less than 1 point victory in 2012. the same year that mitt romney won the state by almost 20 points. how do you win as a democrat in north dakota? >> it's always such an interesting question because people say how can you win? i say, well, i have. >> reporter: trump won big here in 2016. and the counties that pushed high camp over the edge in 2012 like this small one aptly named divide could reveal the bigger picture about high camp's chances come november. >> given the nature of this area, it's going to be uphill. >> reporter: though party politics rules most things these days, it might not divide voters here in north dakota. >> it's pretty rural life in north dakota. >> reporter: do you think that's it, the personal side of politics? >> i think so. she knows a lot of people. she gets out and meets people >> reporter: that could work in high camps favor unless they decide she is no longer the senator for the times. >> allie vitali in divide county. thank you for your great reporting. appreciate it. kevin mclaughlin, some of what she puts together, this president seems to do whatever he wants even if it causes personal harm and nobody seems to be willing to hold him accountable. >> i think it's totally true.

i've seen it in ohio voters, now in north dakota voters. the other thing that's crazy and i think the problem for heidi hide camp here is it's really hard to poll north dakota right now and find -- with a real sample and have her winning. >> the other thing they said in the piece i totally agree with, there's only 3300 voters in the district. it's personal. everyone knows heidi, they like heidi, but sorry, heidi, you're not for us. we've seen this with kay bailey hutchinson in the primary against rick perry. the polling would show her approval was going in a straight line and her ballot was going down, down, down. >> everyone wanted to go the other way. all right, kevin mclaughlin, thank you so much. really appreciate your time tonight. just ahead here on "kasie d.c." >> women in particular, by the way, i want you to get more involved. men have been getting on my nerves lately. i mean, i just -- every day i read the newspaper and i just think, brothers, what's wrong with you guys? studies showed relief and remission with dosing every 8 weeks. woman: stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis.

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everybody please give the national teacher of the year a big round of applause. it's a little surprising she got this award because you can tell she's a little shy. and lacks enthusiasm.

yet, somehow, she seems to be performing pretty well in the classroom. look at that smile. >> that was former president obama presenting the 2016 national teacher of the year award to jahanna hayes. she's running for congress and a campaign video gone viral. >> my students were all working and i looked down on them and said, who will speak for them? who will share their story with

the world? i said, me. and decided i was going to run for congress. i'm jahana hayes and this is my truth. >> joining me now is jahana hayes. so nice to see you. thanks very much for your time tonight. i want to start, your biography and your personal story is one frankly is atypical for a lot of currents elected members of congress. can you walk through your life and tell us why now was the moment to try to make this leap?

>> thank you for having me. you're absolutely right. my biography is very different from the traditional congress person. people like me live in communities and need to be represented. people at different points in their life feel like i, too, have value and want to have part

of this conversation. i've been asked many times to run for elected office. i said, no, because i wasn't sure if my story fit nicely within this narrative. i think it's time for people like me, all people to take a more active role in our government. >> the state democratic party has not backed you, they've backed your primary opponent. why do you think that is? do you think the connecticut state democratic party is in touch with the current moment? >> well, connecticut is one of only two states that still holds a convention. so, either by design or default, it's very difficult for political outsiders to penetrate that first layer and get into the system. i had to reach out and try to

get to delegates to try to get to the vote and get the ballot. i think i left as a first time candidate separated by only two votes says there's an appetite for change and the party should be listening to that and responding to that because people are taking notice and sitting up and getting engaged. i'm not sure that's happening. i think it's to our peril if we're not listening and responding to what is happening in our communities. >> if you were to win this election, would be the first black connecticut elected to

congress from connecticut. and there was a story about minority candidates running this environment. their campaigns face distinct challenge, difficulty finding initial support, a need to trust stereotypes and that members of their own party, a minority, that they can succeed in a predominantly white district. >> do you think that's a problem, that you can succeed in a predominantly white district? >> there are lots of conversations about my race that have entered this primary season. there's nothing i can do about that. i've always been represented by white congressman and women. they've been able to represent my interests. i don't think you have to look like someone. there is something to be said about starting a conversation with all people feel like they're included, all communities feel like our voice is being recognized and we belong here. we get to be a part of this conversation. it is difficult because i was not a part of that inner circle. i have a message that is very different but it's a necessary message. i think that's what it's supposed to look like. i believe government should be i think if we are having a conversation we need to broaden what representation looks like, what our leaders look like. if we want to engage young people and get the next generation encouraged to join. give them a reason to vote.

♪ new overnight, president trump lashes out at iran. he is warning president rouhani to stop threatening the united states. plus, a deadly shooting on the streets of toronto. one is dead and at least 13 others were with injured when a gunman opened fire. new questions about president trump's legal strategy after news that his former fixer michael cohen recorded a conversation with him discussing a payment involving an ex playboy model. good morning, everyone. it is monday, july