all about turnout. >> marc, great to have you, thanks for joining us. thanks for watching this hour of "velshi & ruhle." i'm ali velshi. i'll see you back at 3:00 p.m. eastern and 11:00 p.m. eastern. connect with our show @vels show @velshiruhle. with you turn it over to andrea mitchs and "andrea mitchell reports." next, rubbing salt into a wounded relationship as mccain's family and friends mourn. the president yielded only after pressure from the american legion on, after ignoring pressure all day. >> reporter: mr. president, any thoughts on john mccain? do you believe john mccain was a hero? nothing at all about john mccain? finally, making a statement after multiple missed opportunities. >> our hearts and prayers are

going to the family of senator john mccain. and we very much appreciate everything that senator mccain has done for our country. so thank you very much. [ applause ] beyond repair? attorney general jeff sessions' job on the line, says trump ally lindsey graham on the "today" show. >> this is a dysfunctional relationship. we need a better one. is there someone who is highly qualified that has the confidence of the president and will also understand their job is to protect mueller? yes, i think we can find that person, after the election. and living to serve. we talk to former president jimmy carter about john mccain, donald trump, and making a difference. >> i'm grateful that he finally made a statement that i think is, i would say, at best adequate. and now the flag is lowered during an appropriate period on

behalf of john mccain to remember him, that's very good. i'm glad to see it was done, although it was mistaken at first. >> coming up, more with the former president about politics and public service. good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington, where president trump is being sharply criticized for breaking political norms and refusing to comment about john mccain's death for much of yesterday, even lowered the flag over the white house. finally caving in after outraged pressure from veterans' groups with a statement last night. mccain's colleagues are trying to keep the focus on the late senator's legacy, not president trump. >> i think it's unfortunate, how this unfolded. but we're in the right place now. the rheeticence my colleagues he

had i think has been misplaced. >> let's look forward. clearly they had a contentious relationship. but he's not the only one to have a tense relationship with john mccain. i want to help him, i want to be a bridge where i can. >> senator mccain never got mad at you about that? >> oh, no. it wouldn't have mattered, i would have done it anyway. >> joining me now, msnbc political analyst andy card, former chief of staff to president george w. bush. msnbc political analyst elise jordan, a former aide in the bush white house. reuters white house correspondent jeff mason. and ron complain, a former chief of staff to vice president joe biden. jeff, let me ask you first, how to explain this president, refusing to lower the flag, refusing all of those opportunities, and only yielding after the american legion, the veterans of foreign wars, and

other groups spoke out so strongly against what he was doing in the aftermath of the death of john mccain, a period of national mourning. >> absolutely, andrea. and, you know, it's very difficult to explain. i think the way to start perhaps is just to look at how president trump reacts to things like this. his animosity for mccain was extremely well-known and he did not back down from that even in death, which drew a lot of criticism from people who knew senator mccain and who know president trump. it was very unusual yesterday to be here at the white house and to see the flag not at half-staff. i can tell you, just having spoken to some other white house officials about it yesterday, before the flag was taken down again, people around him were just sheepish about it and not wanting to talking about it. i think it created embarrassment at the white house for people who work for the president because of how he reacted. >> and also for republicans in

the senate. johnny isakson monday afternoon on the senate floor. let's watch. >> anybody who in any way t tarnishes the reputation of john mccain deserves a whipping, because anybody who criticizes him for doing the wrong thing didn't do the right thing when it was their turn. >> people are talking about the way this president has gone against mccain and other republican norms. >> you know, there's a credible expectation that the president of the united states will be the president of everyone in the united states, and pay particular tribute to those who have served this country admirably in war and admirably in elective office and admirably

as a maverick trying to do the right thing and as a champion of democracy. so i expect the president to be presidential. president trump was not presidential yesterday. and the pettiness he showed in not lowering the flag and his reluctance to say anything nice about john mccain. i'm glad that he finally recognized the errors of his ways and he did lower the flag and he did finally make a statement that i think was a good statement, i'm not sure it was as heartfelt as it should have been. he's got to recognize, he's the president of all the people and all of the people look to him to lead us, especially during times of strain and trouble and mourning. so, thank the president for finally recognizing he's the president of all of us. >> in the words of ashley parker in "the washington post," he's become a president non grata, and was president non grata, not really welcome at barbara bush's

funeral either. the white house says presidents don't really go to first ladies' funeral. >> president trump was very, very critical of jeb bush and george w. bush and wasn't that complimentary to the first president bush. i love the bushes, they're a truly remarkable family who have given so much to this country. barbara bush, being barbara bush, made it known she wasn't too excited about president trump and didn't think he was necessarily expected to come to her funeral. melania trump did come and she was very well-received, and i was in the reception with president bush and the others that came to the funeral. there was i think more honor in that presentation from the president than we saw

demonstrated over the last two days with regard to john mccain, and that's what troubles me. i do want president trump to be the president of all of us. and i'm hoping that he's continuing to climb that learning curve of being president. and i suspect he learned a valuable lesson. i credit a lot of people on the white house staff who i think told the president that he probably was making a decision that wasn't as noble as it should be, and thankfully he recognized that and did come around. >> rick davis, a longtime friend, adviser, and political aide, now spokesman for the mccain family, read this farewell letter, a moving but also sharply-edged farewell from john mccain. let's watch. >> we weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sewn

ha hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. do not despair of our present difficulties. we believe always in the promise and greatness of america. >> elise, what do you think john mccain was talking about there? >> i think john mccain was talking about the hope that america always can be better. and the fact that we are imperfect and we haven't always lived up to our values, but the nobility in the search and the mission to keep trying and to keep pursuing that goal. and i think that this is why john mccain's words have been in such sharp contrast to president trump's actions over the entirety of his presidency and over -- throughout the duration of his campaign too. i think back, john mccain was very ill at the time of the child separation controversy really hitting its critical mass

of protest, and he went to the trouble to release a statement saying that the policy was an affront to our dignity and protesting all of the children who had been separated from their parents as trump administration policy. and i think of john mccain as someone who wouldn't have been obsessed with the pettiness and the slights that donald trump heaps his way, because that's really what donald trump is best at. i think of john mccain is someone who would want us to look at what are the policies we have right now for the nation that are an affront to our dignity, and to speak out about those and to speak out about the values of american decency and the virtues of american decency that we should still keep trying to put forth in the world. >> to that point, ron klain, what is the moral obligation of white house staff and republicans on the hill to begin speaking out more forcefully? >> well, i wish they had

already. they should be doing it everyday. hopefully senator mccain and his final letter and the example he sets inspires some people to recall their values, recall why they're in politics. it's hard to imagine two figures in american life more different than john mccain and donald trump. john mccain served his country. donald trump is in this only for himself. john mccain is famous for being a straight talker, didn't always live up to it, always aspired to it. donald trump sets a record for p prevaricat prevarication. john mccain's sacrifices are an inspiration for people in both parties to not mimic the values that president trump has brought into our political culture. >> jeff mason, as ron just said, there couldn't be a greater

contrast between these two leaders, one who wanted to be president and one of course who occupies the oval office. do you sense any real learning curve here, or is this a matter of president trump realizing that he was facing a political -- paying a political price as we go into a week of events to commemorate the life and the legacy of john mccain? >> well, it's hard to say whether there's a learning curve. the president's rhetoric about john mccain has been pretty consistent since he was a candidate and since he's become president of the united states and has been sitting in the oval office. he will take advice from advisers sometimes when there's a political price to pay, but then he will often back away from that again. it's hard to say. we'll see how he continues to react over the next few days. you're certainly right there's a big contrast. and with regard to the political aspect, the fact that veterans were offended by him not honoring mccain, seems that that

could hold some political danger for him given how much he has tried to court veterans as the president and as a candidate. >> jeff mason, andy card, elise jordan, and ron klain, thank you all so much. breaking news now on a newly-released report from researchers at george washington university showing 3,000 people were killed by hurricane maria, 3,000 people, a number far exceeding the death toll released by the puerto rican government of 1,500. the study found that those in low income areas and elderly men were at greatest risk of dying. president trump prematurely touted a much lower death toll. coming up, jimmy carter, the 39th president, joining me to discuss his commitment to habitat for humanity and the legacy of senator john mccain and president trump's reactions. stay with us for that special interview, next, right here on

"andrea mitchell reports," only on msnbc. this wi-fi is fast.

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welcome back. 93-year-old jimmy carter, unique among former presidents, disdaining multimillion dollar speaking fees, book deals, devoting his life to public service. for the last 35 years he's dedicated his life to habitat for humanity, helping to build or renovate homes in 14

countries. i spoke to him moments ago about that today. he's in indiana, where the carters are buildings homes this week. first we talked about president trump's treatment of john mccain. mr. president, it's wonderful to see you again, thank you so much for being with us. i'm going to ask you about habitat and what you're working on today. first i want to talk to you about what is really overwhelming in the country, the mourning for john mccain. as a former president, can you explain or justify an american president for hours and hours refusing to lower the american flag and not even mentioning the death of an american hero, a former prisoner of war? >> i think there was a very serious mistake that president trump made. his friends and his opponents corrected him, i think, quite adequately. and now this most recent statement he's made, i would say is okay, is still not as

enthusiastic as it should be. i was proud to be in a regiment like john mccain's, and his service to the military in general and also his service in the congress of the united states made me proud to be a fellow graduate. >> there's a pettiness to the president's responses to those he has rivalries with. in a moment of death of an american hero, can't you overcome those political differences? >> well, most people can. and i think that president trump has a problem with that on occasion. but i'm grateful that he finally made a statement that i think was at best adequate. now that the flag is lowered during an appropriate period on behalf of john mccain, to remember him, i think is very good.

so i'm glad to see that it was done, although it was tardy and mistaken at first. >> you of course were diagnosed with brain cancer, and thankfully you were able to have immunotherapy, it was not the kind of fatal cancer of course that he suffered with. can you in your own way relate to what he must have been going through? >> well, i can certainly sympathize with john mccain. before i started getting my treatments, they were brand-new on the scientific field. i thought i had three weeks to live at most. and so i was prepared for death. and i think that john mccain showed heroism in his final days in dealing with his family and dealing with his own constituents and dealing with the world. so i'm very grateful for him and i'm grateful of course to the

scientists and so forth who made it possible for me to recover from brain cancer. >> you've lived a life of service, no celebrity, no multimillion dollar deals, no big speeches, no boards. what is it about habitat and the life of service that you and rosalyn carter have lived for all these years since leaving the white house? >> one thing i like about habitat, that makes me keep on coming back here, it's not a charity organization. every homeowner that will live in this particular house right at this moment that's being built behind me, will have to pay full price for the house. we don't charge interest because the bible says you don't charge interest to a poor person. quite often it's somebody on welfare and so forth. the payments per month are lower over a 30-year period without interest than the rent they had been paying for substandard or

subhuman housing, quite often. the other thing is, it gives me a chance, andrea, to put my christian faith into practice. it's very difficult for a person that has a lot, like i do, my wife and my family, to reach out, find a way to deal effectively with people who are desperately in need, who have never had a decent place in which to raise a family. habitat makes it possible to cross that barrier easily. we've helped with habitat houses, 1,400 in this country and 70 overseas. most people who want to help habitat can find a way to do it. it's very gratifying, we always feel much more grateful after a week of work at habitat. sometimes the work is very hot and hard. but we always feel like we get more out of it than we put into it. >> it's a question of values, really. as john mccain wrote in it his

farewell letter to the nation, he wrote, "we weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sewn resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. we weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down." what has been done to weaken the fabric of our country? >> i think all over the world, the united states is lockoked un now with a great deal of doubt that didn't exist years ago. i feel confident in america, and we've had some very serious problems to face in the past with the war between the states, the civil war, and then with 100 years of racial segregation after that. we've overcome those, basically. and i think that no matter what kind of setback we face right now politically, over a period

of time the resilience and the basic ideals of our country will prevail, and we'll see a correction to our mistakes. >> your commitment to our country as a candidate and has president was, you will never lie to us. we've now had a president who is either misstating facts or, according to "the washington post," lying thousands of times over the course of 18 months. what does that do, what example is that for the country? >> well, both john mccain and i went to the naval academy, and in annapolis, the basic unforgiveable sin was to tell a lie, even if it was a small, misleading statement to an upper classman or an officer, you were instantly dismissed if you were found guilty of telling a falsehood or making a false statement. i think it was deeply ingrained into john mccain and to me as well, and when i promised the american people that i would never lie to them and i would

never make a misleading statement, if i did, don't even vote for me, i think it touched a nerve. america does appreciate the truth. i think we'll get back to that standard again in the future. >> thank you for your service to our country, to habitat for humanity. thank you very much, president carter, our best to mrs. carter. >> thank you, andrea, very much. best wishes to you. >> jimmy carter, 93 years old and of course rosalyn carter, working, building houses for habitat for humanity in indiana today. our thanks to them. and coming up, breach of trust? lindsey graham suggesting a bigger problem between the president and jeff sessions than the mueller probe. what could that be? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. msnbc.

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paul manafort's lawyers have been in federal court today in the district of columbia this time, at a hearing before his second trial, which is scheduled to have jury selection in three weeks, opening arguments after that. "the wall street journal" reports that manafort's lawyers

talked to robert mueller about negotiating a plea deal before the trial but those talks fell apart. joining me is jill wine-banks, former assistant counsel of the army. jill, thanks for being with us. the scene was the jury was deliberating over in alexandria, virginia, on the first trial. what would get the defense lawyers to sit down and start talking about robert mueller's lawyers about a plea deal, not a cooperating deal but a deal to avoid the second trial. what would be the leverage on either side? >> i think the reason the manafort team would approach the prosecution is because they saw how the evidence went in. they saw the documents. they saw how compelling it was. they knew that their attack on rick gates would only go so far and that they had nothing else. and the documents were really clear and convincing, and that they knew there would be a conviction. so they started to talk about possibly doing some kind of plea

deal to reduce the sentence that he might face. that's the only thing that i can think of. i feel like the prosecutors would have felt, yes, for sure we're going to get a conviction, and there's no chance of an acquittal, there is a chance of a hung jury at least on some of the counts, and get what happened. can i also add that your piece on president carter was so touching, and i was general counsel of the army in the carter administration, and i feel so honored to have had that opportunity and to see what a great person he is and the values that he and john mccain both represent today, which are in such stark contrast to what we're seeing now in the administration. >> thanks for that, jill. i knew you had been counsel to the army, i of course didn't put it together, i should have, that it was in the carter administration, the first administration that i covered here in washington as well. and there is a very different --

there's an obvious difference in values between then and now. we are grappling with this case and with these suggestions, certainly suggestions from white house comments and tweets from the president as well as what he has said about manafort praising him, even after the conviction, suggesting that it was unfair, that it was tried unfairly. so do we expect that manafort may well be holding out for a pardon? >> manafort certainly might have been holding out for a pardon. and i don't know whether his wavering may entice the president to act even more quickly, despite the advice he's getting that he should not interfere with a witness against himself at this point, because that could be viewed as obstruction, which i think it would be. so he may still be hoping for that. he obviously knows he's in big

trouble, he knows what the evidence is. there is a big fight today in court as to how much evidence of other crimes will be allowed. but even without that, i have a feeling, with over a thousand documents, they have a very compelling case, and that if we could convince a juror like paula duncan who was a staunch loyalist to donald trump that the evidence mattered and that she had to vote for 18 counts of conviction, i think eventually american people, american voters, will start to evaluate the evidence against donald trump, not just against paul manafort, and that that may make a difference in the upcoming november elections. >> i wanted to ask you also about threats against the attorney general. you know obviously, he has recused, very controversially, even though it was absolutely required under justice department mandates, but this is what lindsey graham had to say on the "today" show, which

certainly indicates his tenure there is short-lived. let's watch. >> we need an attorney general that can work with the president, that can lead the department of justice. this relationship is beyond repair, i think. >> but senator graham, the only beef the president seems to have against him is that he's not going to get rid of the investigation into president trump. >> let me finish the second part. it's much deeper than that. >> what are we missing? >> we won't say on this show, but it's a pretty deep breach. and here's what i'm suggesting, that he's not the only man in the country that can be attorney general. >> the president can appoint an acting attorney general, recess appointment, for a year, who could then go ahead and fire rod rosenstein and fire robert mueller. so despite any promises, the mueller investigation could be under threat right after these elections. >> it has been under threat i

think since the day it got started. and the president, to me, is obstructing justice by his scant attacks on the russia-gate investigation. this is not something we should be calling the mueller investigation, because it isn't mueller who is the one. it is donald trump and his administration. it's the russians and what they did and whether they acted in concert with any americans. and that's what the investigation must be about. we need to protect our elections. we need to let this go forward. and i think at some point we'll get to the level of outrage that we got for the saturday night massacre, and the people will revolt, and will make it clear that firing anyone would be really the wrong thing to do politically as well as legally. and someone will continue this investigation, whether it is the house, whether it is the

investigators currently working on it, or a new group of investigators. maybe it's the southern district of new york. but this has to go forward. america needs to know what the president knew and when he knew it, and exactly what he did. those are the questions that were asked in watergate and we have to be asking them today. >> jill wine-banks, thank you, thanks as always, very much for joining us today. and next, coming up, trade wars. will congress go along with killing nafta? you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. nbc. ♪ it's the final days of the ford summer sales event. ♪ there are only a few days left to take advantage of great deals like zero percent financing for sixty months on the built ford tough f-150. so hurry and save big on ford, america's best-selling brand. get zero percent financing for sixty months

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we're outsmarting it. visit cancercenter.com and schedule an appointment with our cancer care specialists today. president trump is touting a new, separate trade deal he negotiated preliminarily with mexico, cutting out canada, clearly to try to force concessions from canada. but can he even kill nafta without congressional approval? joining me now, republican senator pat toomey, a member of the finance and budget committees. sorry, i'm a little hoarse today. senator toomey from pennsylvania, thank you very much. >> thank you, good to be back. >> can the president unilaterally kill nafta without coming to congress? >> no. no, absolutely not. remember, nafta was made possible, it became operative with the passage of legislation passed by both houses of

congress and signed into law by the president, the way we do legislation in this country. the president can no more repeal it unilaterally than he could repeal obamacare. no, he has to come back to congress. >> what about doing a side deal with mexico and cutting out canada entirely? >> i would rather see this remain as a triparty argument, it's a north american free trade zone, there are three big countries in north america and that's the way it ought to work, in my view. i have some concerns about the substance of the agreement with mexico. there are definitely so the good features. there are definitely things i don't like. when we see the actual text, i'll be able to evaluate the relative strength of those things. i would certainly want to see canada as part of this. but the president can't use the trade authority he was given, the expedited procedures in the senate especially, to switch

this to a bilateral agreement. when the president invokes congress, it was for the purpose of reforming nafta. a biparty agreement with mexico is not a forming nafta. they can't use tpa for that. >> tpa being the fast track authority to speed it through. >> right. >> how have exports from pennsylvania and the rest of the country been affected since nafta -- >> they've gone through the roof. what happened, fundamentally nafta is generally the elimination of tariffs, the elimination of taxes on trade across our borders. in my state of pennsylvania, exports from pennsylvania to mexico, for instance, have quintupled. it's up 500% since nafta. now imports are up too, which means pennsylvania consumers have had lower cost products that have originated in mexico. but our sales to mexico are up 500%, roughly.

>> the flag over the u.s. capitol was lowered immediately on senator mccain's death, and then we saw what happened at the white house where the flag was back at full staff until the president, grudgingly, after pressure from the american legion, finally relented, his own staff telling him. what signal does that send? >> you know, i don't know. clearly there was a lot of tension between senator mccain and president trump. my own view is that senator mccain, a flawed human like all of us, but nevertheless an icon, a war hero, a great example of self sacrifice for our country, a great patriot. he was a great senator. i disagreed with him from time to time. we all did. but i had enormous respect for senator mccain. >> should jeff sessions be replaced? >> i don't think so. i think jeff sessions is a good man. he brings unquestioned integrity

to this office. i think he's actually doing a very good job implementing the president's agenda, which is what he's supposed to be doing there. i think he was right to recuse himself from the investigation from which he did recuse himself. so i think jeff sessions should stay. >> senator toomey, thank you very much as always. >> thanks for having me. >> great to have you onset. coming up, false hopes. president trump backing off big claims about north korea. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." stay with us right here on msnbc. reports. stay with us right here on msnbc. for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. with a $500,000 life insurance policy. how much do you think it cost him? $100 a month? $75? $50? actually, duncan got his $500,000

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for the first time since he claimed with great fanfare in june that the nuclear threat from north korea is over, president trump is now implicitly acknowledging his hopes of a grand deal with kim jong-un were misplaced, abruptly canceling secretary of state mike pompeo's trip to pyongyang on twitter, a trip that was supposed to take place this week, only a day after it was announced he canceled it, amidst reports that the north sent another letter flatly rejecting the u.s.'s demands.

victor, welcome. let's talk about what we now see with north korea. they have yet to declare, as we expected or demanded, what their weapons were or come up with a timetable for denuclearizing. why would secretary pompeo announce with feign faanfare th going, and then the president going on twitter to announce it's not happening? >> it's puzzling. they're filling out their team, basically. this is a position so that the secretary of state doesn't have to do everything up the chain of command, that's a good move. but the fact that they were going to do this additional meeting and it got canceled to me is a sign that north koreans really are not moving on the things that you just described, the three things we care about,

which is an inventory, right, verification, and a timeline on the core negotiation, which is the denuclearization issue. north korea is doing things around the side, but they're ny allowing us to cut into the current negotiation. >> the president was blaming china, which has certainly eased off on its sanctions. there's a lot of cheating going on. >> yes. >> but should he have expected that? and china now we think xi's going to make the first trip to north korea. >> they're definitely moving closer. all say that the china/north korean relationship has now normalized which is basically code for all the commercial activity's back on track. everything they can do and get away with that is not a blatant violation of u.n. security council resolutions. they will start to do. there's more activity on the border now.

all of this is a function of it is president saying i'm ready to talk. as soon as he said that, the chinese started adjusting their strategy. movingway from seven years of keeping this young north korean leader at arm's length. >> also we see south korea no longer in lock step with the u.s. do you think they may actually declare the end of the war, which is the 70th anniversary is september 11th. >> it looks like we're heading in this direction. that's over is billion. that's all money that they want to use and spend on north korea. that is a sure sign of any of the direction. and whether they're going to wait for the united states or not is not clear. which could really lead to a split in alliance coordination. >> secretary mattis said today that those military exercises that were suspended while peace

was breaking out all over, ironically, i should say, he announced today at the pentagon that they're going to resume these joint exercises. let's watch. >> as you know, we took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good faith measure coming out of the singapore summit. we have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises. >> well, is that to try to put pressure on the south koreans to get back in line with us? >> well, they're going to have to. i mean, we're going to do the exercises together. they're joint exercises. particularly the big one next spring. but i think this is a good thing. the exercises were suspended unilaterally by president trump. nobody else knew about it. mattis didn't even know about it. the south koreans didn't know about it. when you suspend exercises,

you're basically putting alliance equities on the table to negotiate with north korea. we shouldn't be doing that. those exercises help to preserve the peace. they don't create provocations with north korea. for the defense secretary to say that i think is a good sign. it's good for all the other countries in the region to know that the united states is not backing anway from it. >> so has split the allies and also weakened our negotiating, our leverage. >> and vis-a-vis china as well. china's moved into a much better position as a result of this. you can't blame the president for wanting to try. but there's a point at which you have to really think, you know, look back at the entire negotiations and see if we're making any progress. perhaps the administration's internally doing that reassessment. >> thank you, as always. coming up, it's primary day.

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it's primary day for voters in florida and arizona. in arizona, we find kacie hunt who's been following all of the races. you've got some big shoes to fill of course in arizona in that senate primary but also in florida, we've got some big races. >> absolutely true, that tight

three-way race here in arizona among republican companies who have raced to embrace president trump really at the expense of the legacy of john mccain. and of course of senator flake who they are replacing. of course the central figure in all of these races, in arizona and then in florida, is president trump. in that florida race, the critical primary we're watching is the one on the republican side for governor. that's between desantos who got the endorsement from president trump and putnam who has been a longtime congressman. a political blue blood if you will. he's lined up all the endorsements that one would typically line up with. including law enforcement officials. pam bond, the other figures in florida. so of course the president's endorsement has made a huge difference with the republican base. this of course has some republicans in washington concerned that they could potentially see the governorship

of a critical state heading into another presidential election down the road to democrats. just because they depict somebody who may be unacceptable to the broader electorate. if this is indeed the election that's expected that could sweep -- we think gwen gram is the likely candidate on the other side. nothing determined yet. the florida race also determined by local issues like the algae water bloom. but still, it's impossible to escape the influence of president trump. ron desantos ran an ad that shows him reading to his child out of donald trump's book essentially that got a lot of attention as well. a lot of drama. of course the president central to all of it, andrea. >> the president is the central drama to a lot of other things as well. kacie hunt, thank you. that does it for our busy edition of "andrea mitchell reports." follow the show online and on

twitter @mitchellreports. ayman mohyeldin is up next. >> we're going to be picking up right where you left off with all of the politics, good afternoon everyone, from msnbc news headquarters in new york. i'm ayman mohyeldin in for craig melvin. the allies of president trump and allies of the late senator john mccain now playing out among voters in several key states as people there head to the polls. in arizona, how will the loss of the war hero and longtime public servant affect their vote? plus, 2,975. breaking news. a new study found that 2,975 people died there in five months after hurricane maria. why is this number so much higher than the government's? also, trump trolls google, believe it or not. why he says america's most