>> bob woodward's book comes out next month. >> i am personally watching the kavanaugh hearings that are coming up. that does it for us on "kasie d.c." in a couple of days. that does it for us this week on "kasie dc." we will be back at 7:00 next week. for now, good night from washington. ♪ this sunday a funeral and a rebuke. the country says goodbye to an american hero, john mccain. >> he made us better presidents just as he made the senate better, just as he made this country better. >> with the senator's daughter, among others, taking aim at president trump. >> the america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. >> president trump respond later by tweeting, make america great again. plus, pressure points. president trump claims if democrats win back congress

they'll overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently. >> i hope there won't be violence. >> and warns he could step in the mueller investigation. >> i will get involved if i have to. >> this amid signs the white house is not prepared for what may be coming. my guests this morning, republican senator dan sullivan of alaska and democratic senator amy clobishire of minnesota. florida republicans pick a die-hard trump supporter. >> i was able to talk to the president. i want to thank him for his support. >> democrats choose an unapologetic socialist. this morning i will talk to democratic nominee andrew gillum. amy walter, national ed for to the cook political report. mark deibovick. kimberly atkins, chief washington correspondent for the

bost bost bost boston herald. >> from nbc news washington, the longest-running show in television history, this is "meet the press." >> good sunday morning and a happy labor day weekend to everyone. we saw yesterday at the national cathedral was more than a funeral for john mccain. it was a longing for what many fear is a lost era of american politics, and era when we could agree there's more than unites us than divides us. it was in other words a rebuke of donald trump's presidency and style of politics that he has brought to washington. though president trump's name was never mentioned, john mccain made sure to remind us what he thought of mr. trump by whom he asked to attend and speak and by what they said. the man he fought bitterly for the republican presidential nomination in 2000. >> if we are ever tempted to forget who we are, to grow weary of our cause, john's voice will always come always a whisper

over our shoulder, we are better than this, america is belter than this. >> then there was the man that defeated mccain for the presidency in 2008. >> he did understand that some principles transcend politics, that some values transcend party. he considered it part of his duty to up hold those principles and up hold those values. >> but more than anything or anyone else, there was mccain's daughter meghan. fighting through tears, she slivered a one-two punch at the current occupant of the white house. here was number one. >> we gather here to mourn the passing of american greatness, the real thing, not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly, nor the opportunistic appropriation of those who live lives of comfort and privilege while he suffered and served.

>> and then there was number two. >> america does not boast because she has no need to. the america of john mccain has no need to be made great again because america was always great. >> president trump was not invited. he spent part of the funeral tweeting, then left the white house during the funeral by motorcade en route to his virginia club to play golf. when he turned in, henry kissinger was speaking in case you wonder. later in the day as cable tv played meghan's america was always great remark over and over, tweet repeated by president trump, make america great again. >> good to have you back. >> good to be here. >> you said senator mccain was your mentor, he put his arm around you when you were elected. >> very early on. >> and he nominated you to

replace him as head of the international republican ins tupt th -- institute that goes out and promotes democracy, the vision john mccain was trying to layout yesterday. what did you take away from the service? >> first of all, it was a beautiful service. first, more than that, my condolences to the mccain family, cindy mccain, the children. i think that they showed great grace, strength, dignity. i think the service, really the whole week has been about unity. there's been, as you mentioned at the outset, some discussion about the tension between president trump and john mccain, but this notion of unity is really what i've been seeing. it is unity behind the values of a great american, and that's john mccain. courage, someone who loved freedom. you know, he loved freedom probably more than anybody because he had it taken away. >> that's right. >> service to our nation, and mentorship as you mentioned at the outset with me. you know, it is not just me but democrat and republican

senators. i thought it has been a very, very important week to kind of look at these values he represented. he wasn't a perfect man, he is the first to admit that, and celebrate those. but the notion of unity i think was actually much stronger than some of this tension that you have reported on. >> let me ask you this though. how do you make sure that yesterday wasn't a funeral for another era of politics, that this idea that, you know what, this is the donald trump style of politics is now how you win? john mccain was trying to send the message, no, no, no, no, don't go down that road. how do you prevent yesterday from being essentially a memorial service for in? >> look, john mccain was a fighter, there's no doubt about that, right? but he also was somebody that famously said that honesty, integrity is the core value, and keeping your word in the senate. i actually believe on a lot of issues there is bipartisanship in the way that senator mccain has focused on. >> i believe there is too. >> it doesn't get reported on

all the time. you know, you will have amy on after me. she and i worked together. >> the president wouldn't embrace it though. the reason it is not reported on is because the president is not -- you're not doing it. >> let me give you a couple of examples. bipartisanship that is important, the mccain and trump era focus, we just passed the act that all 85 senators voted for it. it was a mccain-led build on the armed services committee, it is about rebuilding the military, implementing a new strategy the president put out. that was very bipartisan. we are working on appropriations bills, first time since 1979, that we're actually getting appropriations bills, all of them done -- that's republicans and democrats in the senate and presidents pushing that. certainly john mccain was somebody that believed on that part of regular order. my point is, you're right, the message of working together, particularly in the memory of john mccain is important. but i do think a lot of that is

happening. do we have principle differences on some issues? absolutely we do, but a lot of those have been with us for a while. >> how do you explain the president's behavior and how he com ported himself this week in regards to john mccain? >> look, we know there was tension between them. i would say the trump administration overall was very engaged. you had an important speech the vice president gave at the ceremony of laying in state in the dome. yesterday, there were a number of folks from the administration there. >> kind of gloss over it. why? he's the president of the united states. >> what i'm trying -- chuck, i'm not trying to gloss over it. but here is what i think is more important. >> yes. >> there were tensions between the president and john mccain. this week though has been all about john mccain and the unity of his vision of courage, of patriotism, of freedom, of service before self. i think that's the lesson we should take away from the week. that's what i want -- that's what i think the family wants.

>> what about president trump? what should he take away from yesterday's service? >> i think there's a lot of things the president can learn. you know, the book on john mccain, his great life, it has been written. it has been written. but for all of us, you know, whether you, me or the president or other americans who are watching that, you know, we're still an open book. i think there's a lot of things all of us can do, the president, myself, other americans who are watching this. one of the things that john mccain was all about, he knew he was not a perfect man. he knew he made mistakes. as president obama and president bush emphasized yesterday, he was always looking for improvement in himself and his country, and i think that's something we can all takeaway, whether it is the president or anyone else watching these important, beautiful services. >> all right. something else that the president said this week about the november elections. he said, and it was in a meeting with evangelicals. he said, if the gop loses in november, quote, they will

overturn everything quickly and violently and he added, these are violent people, referring to democrats. is there any basis here? >> no. >> do you understand what he's referring to? >> i don't know. >> why is he speaking to evangelicals this way? >> i have not seen that quote and i don't think, you know, democrats are violent people. i haven't seen that quote. what i actually do think is important for the president, other republicans to talk about -- i know you are going to talk in the panel -- this fall is what we have accomplished. one thing that is very important for the american people, in addition as i mentioned to rebuilding our military, is growing the economy. i mean we are hitting an economy that is the strongest we have seen in decades, consumer optimism up very high, 4.2% gdp growth and these are because of policies, policies of less government, more freedom, tax reform, regulatory reform. chuck, here is an important part. on the democrat side we are seeing leaders elected in primaries that have a different view of the economy, more

focused on even the idea of socialism. let's have that debate in the fall. that's an important debate to have on the vision of growing the economy. i think our vision is working and it is strong. >> let me ask you a few questions that may come up in the next few months. jeff sessions, the current attorney general, do you believe he has committed fireable offenses? >> i supported jeff sessions when he was nominated, i certainly voepted for him and i think he's doing a good job. >> do you think the president has any reason to fire him. >> the president has the constitutional authority to remove him. >> is there a fireable offense? >> he can do it. is it politically wise? i don't believe so. i support jeff sessions and the job he is doing right now. >> you have been helping brett kavanaugh prepare and you're on judicial committee. >> i'm sorry. he's supposed to be code for

he's not overturning roe v. wade. when he says he is a believer in precedent overall, that's what every american should take away, that brett kavanaugh does not want to overturn roe v. wade? >> i have known brett kavanaugh for a long time. i think he was an inspired choice. i think he would make a great justice on the supreme court. he has been an outstanding federal circuit court of appeals judge. he is a man with a lot of humility, which as you know is kind of a rare quality in this town. i did talk to him about precedent, like judge gorsuch, justice gorsuch now. he actually wrote a book on it. he is very focused on it. with regard to woeroe v. wade, didn't get in the details when i met with him. >> do you see how silly this is to average americans? we can't get a simple answer to this from supreme court nominees, why can't we get them to answer this simple question?

>> which simple question? >> does precedent equal he doesn't want to overturn roe v. wade? >> i think he will be asked about this a lot during the whole week. we will watch on that, but i think that, you know, he's focused -- this is not just judge kavanaugh. when justice ginsburg went through the confirmation she said, i will not predict what may or may not come before the court because it would be prejudging and that's not the role of the judge. i do think on some key issues of judge kavanaugh, for example, his scepticism on the power and thorpt of federal agencies, something we need on the court, something consistent with the constitution. these are questions he will be asked about. i think he will make an outstanding justice. >> will he recuse himself on anything involving subpoenas involving the mueller investigation? >> i think he will look at what the ethics are with regard to a supreme court justice. you know, there's been previous questions. justice kagan had a similar

question on obama-related litigation. he will do what the code and ethics of a supreme court justice require. >> she recused herself on quite a few issues. we'll leave it there. >> great to be on the show. >> appreciate it. as we suggested earlier, there was a sense at the national cathedral with the loss of john mccain came a loss of a certain civility in politics. president obama made that point. >> so much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty. trafficking in bombast and insult and phoney controversies and manufactured outrage. it is a politics that pretends to be brave and tough but, in fact, is born of fear. >> joining me now on the other side of the aisle, democratic

senator amy klobashire from minnesota. >> thanks, chuck. >> what did you take away from yesterday and did you see it as a rebuke of president trump? >> i saw it as a story of john mccain, his grieving family, a grieving nation, people he had run against, people who defeated them, he invited them in. i think it is no surprise that the subject of the administration came up obliquely from time to time, but i think that george bush actually said it best, to explain it. he said that john mccain's life was defined in part by the fact that he detested the abups of power, whether it was people who poisoned political opponents or put reporters in jail or, yes, people who would take on immigrants in a way he thought was inappropriate like the president has done, or people who would go after fbi agents or p.o.w.s like himself. so, yes, it was part of john

mccain's strength and character, that he was willing to stand up and take on bullies. so i think that is how you saw it come up, but it was really a part of the arc of his life in fighting for those that needed someone to fight for them. >> some of us viewed this week as almost a memorial service for another era of politics. i talked to other senators, to jeff flake in particular who said, no, no, it should be a call to arms, to sort of bring the center of american politics back or bring the idea of compromise back. let's be realistic. both parties right now punish you if you -- either side works too closely with the other. how do you get that back? >> i think you get it back by listening to john mccain's words, that you have to be fighting for a cause greater than yourself, and you see that from time to time in the senate, especially when big things happen. we have to do it again. >> do you really see it though? >> i do. i mean i work with senator mccain on bringing down the cost of pharma prices, by bringing in

drugs from other countries. there are other republicans on that bill and i hope someone else will come and take the lead. he was sadly the only republican on the bill to take on the social media companies to make them put their ads out there. i'm asking another republican to get on that bill. so you have a number of cases -- and senator sullivan went through some of them -- where we work across the aisle all the time, but we have to see more of it. when people are afraid of upsetting president trump and they won't come over and work with us, it is a problem. people are going to have to rise to the occasion. >> let me move to the kavanaugh hearing. you are in judiciary. >> i am. >> i conflated your committees. my apologies. you know they're upset at democratic leadership. he didn't like the deal, they didn't like the deal chuck schumer cut with mitch mcconnell that in their minds fast-tracked some of the judicial nominees. why shouldn't the base be upset with that?

>> what matters is what happens in the next week at this hearing. i think you will see some really strong sets of questions from a number of us that are on the judiciary committee. the point i'm going to make is that this is not normal. you have a nominee with excellent credentials, with his family behind him. you have the cameras there. you have the senators questioning, but this isn't normal. it is not normal because we are not able to see 100,000 documents that the archivist has just -- because the administration has said we can't see them, they've excerpted their executive power. 148,000 documents that i have seen that you cannot see because they won't allow us to make them public. so i can't even tell you about them right now on this show. >> do you think -- >> and you have a president -- >> -- any of these documents make him unqualified for the job? >> i think you could ask interesting questions about the documents that i'm not even able to say because i'm not able to make them possible. i don't know what the result would be of a hearing. we had nominees like bourque that went down. >> so it raises questions to you about -- what you have seen in the papers we have not seen, it

actually raises doubts in your mind about kavanaugh's ability to be a fair justice? >> it would strongly bolster the arguments i could make. then you have the president's campaign chair having been just convicted. you have his lawyer pleading guilty, and you have a nominee who has had one of the most expansive views of presidential power we have seen in history. this is a guy that says, one, a president should be able to declare a statute constitution alibi himself, that he's in writing said you should throw out the special counsel statute. this is all very relevant and, no, it is not normal. >> let's look at the reality though. the democrats do not have control of the u.s. senate. there is no filibuster, and we know why we don't have a filibuster. this has been a game of chicken that both parties have played. there's nothing you can do unless you do something out of -- out of the ordinary. kevin daily owen who is running against dine feinstein in california is arguing this, he's

the nominee in the second slot there, stop playing polite, country-club politics with a supreme court nominee who represents one of the greatest threats the a womanes a right to choose in our lifetime. i guess the basic question is if in a similar situation, what would mitch mcconnell do? >> we know what mitch mcconnell did but it is because he had the power. to me the first answer is we need a check and balance on this white house and we need to win elections. >> some folks are suggesting you guys should just walk out of the hearing. you've heard that. >> you have kamala harris, dig bloom enthat will, diane, you name it, chris koonts. i think it is powerful for us to go in and ask the questions. we need that opportunity to ask the questions. if we walked out it would be one side asking the questions. so i don't think that's the way you examine a nominee and get the facts out. >> you would probably have the ability to get all of these papers public if there was a threat they needed 60 votes,

right? if democrats get control of the senate back, should the principle be that the filibuster should come back for supreme court nominees? >> well, first of all, we would have not supported changing this. >> i understand that. but if you get the power -- >> when the democrats were in power we said -- >> would you support bringing the filibuster back if you get power in november? >> i think we should have the filibuster in place. by the way, it sounds like a scary word to normal people out there. >> i understand that. >> but it is the idea you have to have consensus. i would like to see 60 votes on no matter what the judge is. i don't think we should have made that change when we look back at it but it happened because we were frustrated because president obama wasn't able to get his nominees. i think we would have been in a better place now. the point is we left the 60 votes in place for the supreme court and mitch mcconnell changed that. >> would you prefer to bring it back? >> i would prefer to bring it back. we are where we are and i don't think anyone wants to hamstring themselves. >> you are on the ballot in november. is keith ellis, the nominee for

attorney general, there's allegations against him having to do with potential spousal abuse, has he explained himself to you enough as a voter to feel comfortable voting for him? >> he has. there was a good article in "the new york times" that went through it all recently, he is still addressing this to the people of minnesota. i think it is being reviewed and i know that he is moving forward -- >> are you comfortable campaigning for him? >> right now i'm focused on judge kavanaugh. he hasn't asked me to campaign with him. that is where we are right now. we have an incredibly strong ticket in minnesota. we have two senate races up, a governor race. focused on that. >> if he asked, will you campaign for him? >> i will campaign for our ticket when the time comes. >> appreciate you sharing your views. when we come back, mueller, the mid terms and john mccain. the panel is next. mccain. the panel is next. t mail and packages. t mail and it's also a story about people.

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welcome back. the panel is here.

matthew, magtsd -- amy walter, national editor of the cook political report and mark leibowitz and author of the new book "big game, the nfl in dangerous times." welcome all. let me just get right to it. i think susan glasser in "the new yorker" put it in an interesting way about the john mccain funeral service with the headline, john mccain's funeral was the biggest resistance meeting yet. she writes, mccain's grand funeral, the ohm baugh au adviser david axelrod called it an exercise in civic communicaton. it is more united in its currently may be seen in its hatred of donald trump. amy walter? >> i thought it was interesting you asked the question about -- this was sort of a memorial service for an era of politics. that is no longer with us. i would also argue that that era left us a long time ago, and that this world we are in, the tribalism, the polarization, the

incentive structure pulled us to this place, before donald trump ever came. he is exacerbating it there's no doubt, but the service itself, i think the call to our better angels, our better selves stands out because of the contrast with the president. i just think whoever was president right now, these issues would still be the driving force. we're not going to get past it because of the fact that there is no incentive for folks to try to bridge this divide. >> amy klobuchar admitted that in the questioning. i'm old enough to remember when george w. bush was the most divisive president of our life times and barack obama was the most divisive of our life times, and yet these two were making a call to a more civil politics. >> don't forget bill clinton, too. ted kennedy, his funeral eight years ago or so, there was the same call to unity.

it is not cliche because i think it was real. this was deeply personal. there's no question it was deeply personal. there was no president not invited, pointedly not invited to an event like this, and, yes, this environment was created and donald trump might be perpetuating it in some ways, but i also think it is very trump specific. i think larger words and concepts like unity are important, but this was very trump specific. >> let's be -- it was the president's comportment that bothered so many people, matthew. really, you can't -- i guess we should be glad he didn't tweet a negative, but that's a low bar. >> certainly the mccain-trump feud began with comments by trump, but it became something larger. there's ideological component to the e uulogies here. but i saw mccain designing the rebuttal to president trump's inauguration address a year ago.

we went from a very negative speech to a very positive speech. everything is fine. america doesn't need to be made great again. the truth is john mccain's america, the america that was represented at the national cathedral yesterday doesn't need to be made great again because it is doing fine. the contrast is with trump and who trump represents. for them america is not doing fine. they like the more negative message. >> i'm glad you brought it up. kimberly, there was part of me that felt is this scene in the national cathedral going to be seen as like the last gathering before they come with pitchforks. >> i think before you ask, it will be both to some extent. it is important to remember as far as we are talking about bipartisanism, a bygone era, remember that the fights between john mccain and barack obama

were tough ones. they were on opposite sides of issues, and as soon as any policy came out of the white house, reporters, remember, in the box were immediately filling john mccain's office, really excoriating everything that barack obama did. but yesterday when he stood up there to speak he was listed in the program as friend. friend first, president of the united states later. they had respect for one another. there was not -- there was partisanism, there were bitter, tough battles, but there was not the pettiness we see today. that's what people were addressing yesterday. >> i thought there was one moment that stuck out for me. barack obama talked about, you know, yesterday, we had battles, we talked privately in the white house from time to time. no one advertised that. >> it was the first i heard that. >> it was the first i heard that. what was interesting is he ended the anecdote with the refrain, we never doubted we were on the same team. he said it twice. when i hear "team" that gets to loyalty to america, if you ask me. when i hear team i think patriotism, i think we both

never doubted we are trying to move the country forward. to me it was a very, very poignant rebuke. >> now we have a country where we don't believe we're on the same team. there are two americas that don't believe we're on the same team, and you have to choose a side. >> and if you're not on the right side of the team, you are unamerican. >> and it gets to your boots later on that we're having a massive fight over patriotism. >> one of the eulogies that struck me was henry kissinger. he talked about mccain lived by the warrior's code. he brought in things that are not normally part of the conversation in washington, things like courage, nobility, honor and character. these were values important to john mccain's approach to politics. it is one of the reasons he was able to create relationships across the aisle. these are values that i think have been diminished that come from john mccain's experience in the u.s. military. >> this week besides being about john mccain, there were days --

i want to put up thursday's tweet storm because it is the one where you were like, is it more of the same from him. literally it was, a rat-tat-tat, almost a tweet gun he issued. rigged russia witch hount. holt got caught fudging my tape on russia. fake book. collusion. everybody is like, is he acting rattled and it is like, there is something new. what is it? >> it is about keeping the energy up all the time, of people who are on his team to say never, ever take your eye off the ball because the second that you do they're going to come and get us and you got to keep this energy as part of it. i do think that this is what the remarkable piece of the entire campaign is. you had senator sullivan saying, remember, the economy is doing great, everybody is happy, we should be doing really well this election season. there's not one tweet in there about how great the economy was doing or about -- >> he does not know how to

campaign on the economy and it has been a big frustration with a lot of republicans. i'm going to pause this conversation here. when we come back the man that won the florida democratic nomination, andrew gillum. it sets up a battle between an unapologetic progressively and a die-hard republican in the most important swing state in america. stay with us. important swing state in america. stay with us this is important for people with asthma. yes. it's a targeted medicine proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, and lower oral steroid use. about 50% of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs.

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welcome back. we saw another huge upset in a democratic primary on tuesday night, this time in the state of florida. tallahassee mayor gillum defied the party to win the nomination. he is an unapologetic progressive up against an unapologetic trump supporter, ron desantis. the race has national implications. it will determine whether it is safe for the two party to abandon the middle and appeal primarily to firing up their bases. on day one of the campaign desantis said this. >> he is an articulate spokesman for the far-left views and he is a charismatic canned. the last thing we need to do is monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. >> desantis and his campaign insist the use of the words articulate and monkey this up

had no racial connotations. gillum said he is using trump-style politics. he said they no longer do whistles but are using full bull horns. we have joining us mayor gillum. we invited ron desantis to join us but he declined. >> thank you for having me. i want to quickly say yesterday's display of true patriotism was something to behold in today's america. it was inspiring and all of the speeches moved me personally. >> thank you for sharing that. let me start with the start of this campaign. you had that back and forth with your opponent, a neo-nazi group launched some really ugly robocalls. i don't even want to give the name of the group or anything because i think they are just trying to get free publicity here. are you satisfied with how quickly republicans shotdown

that neo nazi call? does it reassure you they don't want to make race an issue in this campaign? >> well, i mean i think what is important is that mr. desantis and obviously the president really try to go high on this thing. we cannot afford to weaponize race and to go to the bottom of the barrel here. honestly, people are going to take their cues from what the leadership says. in this case ron desantis is the leader and therefore he has to be very, very careful about how he addresses these kinds of issues. i'm pleased to see them decry those robocalls, but it is also important that ron desantis take control and ownership of his own rhetoric and words because we already know given the highly sensitive nature we find ourselves people take their cues and sometimes they act out in ways that go far beyond what is appropriate in today's environment. >> you do not think congressman desantis is a racist, do you? >> i have not called him a

racist. >> i know you haven't. >> what i simply said was that his rhetoric in my opinion has to be doantoned down. what i will call him is someone who worked to undermine the health care system, someone who has decided to join with donald trump in giving more and more money away to the largest and wealthiest corporations and less to everyday working people. i'm happy to debate him on the merits of public policy. i am not going to get into the gutter and name call. that's not what florida voters are interested in and certainly that's not why i ran for governor. i'm here to talk about the issues that confront the people of our great state. >> you ran as an unabashed progressive democrat. you're for medicare for all. you have talked about getting rid of i.c.e. and some things there, but i'm curious. one of the things, you were supported by two billionaires who came in and helped your campaign and largely your campaign early on was funded by them, george soros and tom steyer. how do you square sort of a populist, progressive campaign

that wants to get big money among other things, get big money out of politics, dark money out of politics, yet it is billionaires that have to prop up your campaign? >> i will tell you, i'm honestly deeply appreciative of mr. soros and mr. steier, both men i have known for sometime. the truth is our campaign was propped up by a lot of small contributions, including my mother who was on auto deduct $20 a month. we raised $2 million by everyday folks sowing a seed into our race. i think that will help us win on november 6th, is everyday folks deciding to sow a seed into the race. >> do you think the democratic party is giving you enough support? i saw the democratic governor's association made a $1 million investment. it can sound like a lot of money but this is the state of florida. i think there's 17,000 media

markets in the state of florida by last count. i'm exaggerating slightly. >> oh, yeah. >> $1 million, some democrats say there was zero missing there. do you think they're showing you enough support? >> i will tell you, chuck, i have every pants paganticipatio peculiex -- expectation that they're going to come in strong. you know this yourself, the implications in florida are so great, not just the race for governor but the united states senate. i think the pairing of bill nelson and myself and the other members of the cabinet, not to mention the legislative races are very, very critical for 2020 implications. i fully expect they will come in and have our back, but the truth is we will not wait or rely on that. we need everyday people to sow a seed into the race. we are trying to run a campaign similar to the way we ran the primary, which is through the strength and support of everyday folks willing to sow a seed into the campaign. >> now that you have been propelled a bit, on the national

stage a lot is getting scrutiny. "the new york times" dives deeper into the fbi investigation taking place into the city of tallahassee. i have read the story completely. you said the fbi told you that you're not a focus of the investigation, but i have a few questions. first, when did you find out it was a sting operation? >> well, this came to light for me i assume some time last year when i was first contacted by two agents that wanted to talk to me. i spoke to them for 20 minutes. in that meeting they told me obviously i was not a target of their investigation and asked me questions specifically about one of my -- someone else. but what we've tried, and i think it is important to point this out, that i nor the city of tallahassee is under investigation. we have worked to be as cooperative as we can because, as i said, anyone who has done anything wrong ought to be held fully accountable. contrast that to ron desantis and donald trump. ron desantis and trump worked at every step to undermine the work

of this important agency, the president going so far as to suggest a deep state. what we said is we want this thing resolved and anyone who is doing anything wrong should be held fully accountable. i think that's how you deal with these kind of things, not by standing in their way and obstructing any form of justice. >> as you know, there's perception and there's reality. let me ask this. have you changed your behavior as a public official given this experience you've gone through in. >> well, i will tell you i am obviously a lot more circumspect about everything. i think participate of being elect at the age of 23 and not really having to be, you know, overly cautious or distrustful at the local level, is i think i was a bit naive that everybody that comes into my space has good intentions. i honestly don't know i would have changed any of my interactions, but i will tell you it has certainly made me a lot more scrutinous as we run this race and as we move forward, to ensure i'm surrounding myself and allowing people in my orbit that only

have good intentions for me, my family and my community. >> in "the new york times" they said you would provide receipts having to do with a couple of trips that you did with a lobbyist. the receipts haven't been provided. should we expect that soon? >> you absolutely should. i will tell you, my commitment is to make every receipt available because i have nothing to hide. unfortunately, chuck, i have one interview left with the ethics board that's this week. following that we will make those fully available. i wanted to make sure the process worked the way it was intended to. >> andrew gillum, i will leave it there. the new democratic nominee for governor in florida. thank you for coming on and sharing your views. stay safe on the trail. >> thanks for having me. >> you got it. when we come back, what did we learn in the primaries this year and what might they tell us of what could map in november? of what could map in november to lower my a1c. i take tresiba® once a day. tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction.

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welcome back. data download time. labor day traditionally marks the kickoff of the general election season. it is a taking-stock moment where we ask what did we learn. take for instance, overall turnout for the big primaries in arizona and florida, turn yot was up over 14,000 in arizona and over a million showed up in florida. it is a large trend of increased turnout on both sides, especially among the democrats. the primary season has given us other indications of where enthusiasm lies. for instance, in fundraising.

democrat candidates out raised republicans across house and senate races. democrats literally have more candidates for the house right now. there are only four house districts in the country where there is no democratic canndidae running. there are nearly 40 where there's no republican candidate running either. we have noted how diverse the candidates have been. 2018 has become the year of the woman. the women nominees have 14 nominees for governor, 21 for senate, 226 for the house. by the way, our friend david wasserman notes that in house districts that don't have incumbents in them, democrats nominated women in 50% of the races while republicans nominated women in 18% of the races. what does it mean for november? obviously there's been a lot of talk about a blue wave and it is still too early to make that prediction, but the numbers show from cook that the battlefield is heavily tilted towards the democrats, particularly in the house.

only five democratic-held seats are rated competitive while 65 republican-held districts are rated the same. these are the places that the incumbent party is in jeopardy of losing in november. obviously two months, a lifetime in washington in most years and several life times in our current political environment. but we can say this for certain about 2018. voters are engaged. the candidate pool is diverse. democrats hold the edge. we just don't know how big that edge is. when we come back, a great american institution in dangerous times. an institution dangerous times. and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪

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♪ back now with end game or should we say big game? the nfl regular season begins later this week. of course nothing, not even the nfl avoids politics these days. our latest poll we found that 43% of voters believe that kneeling during the national anthem is an appropriate way to protest racial inquality. majority 54% say it is not appropriate. look how these numbers break down. 72% it is appropriate versus 23% isn't. 10% is, 88 is not. african-americans say 70% say it is appropriate, whites say no by a 20 point marvin, 58/38. president must be watching because he tweeted the following a few minutes ago about tiger

woods showed great class how they say the so-called left is angry at him. kanye, jim brown and so many other greats and even more. obviously you have the book, big game, mark leibovich. the issue of the anthem, trump, racial politics. it's exploding in the nfl, isn't it? >> they should have given it to the buffalo bills in 2014. they could have avoided all of this. the donald trump can't get into the club in some ways he's in their heads. look, donald trump is a real knack for discovery culture war sort of grenades. the nfl even before colin kaepernick was something that he thought was a metaphor for the softness of america. he thought there was too much political correctness. he saw the heartland of football in ohio, pennsylvania, alabama mimicked his own base of support. in some ways football and donald trump became the two big spectacles of american life and it was inevitable they would

emerge. >> this culture, it's interesting here with football, too, it's almost as if the football sided with college football fans over nfl fans by his attack on the nfl, but it is a part of his base. if you look at his base of voters, they are the sort of base, sort of the heart and soul if you went to any college football game in america you would see a lot of ads yesterday. >> a lot of people losing interest in the nfl over these protests over the flag and anthem are taking place. trump, continues to be on the majority side with this issue. the second, you mentioned the polarization. it's important for all of our discussions populism, democrats view it through the economic lens. there's the cultural lens that deal with the american story, trump is very effective at seizing on those symbols and polarizing them and rallying his base and some of those independents to his side. >> it's also pretty easy when the cultural issue equals what

white america is comfortable with. you're always going to be on the majority side of this. so that's where i think he's been able to be successful. what hasn't gotten discussed as much and i think this is where the discussion really needs to go, it is always about trump and kneeling and what it all means, but really the fundamental core issue is no matter how much wealth or prestige or influence you have, if you're black in america, the racism and race is always going to be the most important factor in your life. >> i agree. economic anxiety is a euphemism for nationalism, nationalism has very strong racial and cultural undertones. if you don't acknowledge that, you're missing the entire picture. >> i want to go to the other aspect of this and it's sort of what the president was getting at with tiger woods. nfl player, especially african-american players, the community expects them, hey, don't back down. at the same time, they're getting more and more pressure

the other way. they're being encouraged to speak up. and yet the president likes that. he thinks that will be good for him, too. >> he thinks that the stronger this war is, the harder that he sees himself as battling this cultural and racial divisiveness war, the better that it is for him politically. this isn't just about the idea of the flag. that's another euphemism for trying to take sides on an issue that he thinks is purely a political calculation. i take what mark said about not being able to be a member of the club. this is a purely, political calculation that he thinks is going to benefit him at the end. and this is nothing new. i don't think you'll see these players backing down. remember, muhammad ali. black athletes have been taking strong, political stances and putting themselves at the forefront of these issues for decades. >> that will be the last word. thank you all. thanks for watching and we'll be back next week. if it's sunday, it's "meet the press."

we'll leave you with the singing of "danny boy," the final moments of john mccain's funeral yesterday. ♪ ♪ i'll be here in sunshine or in shadows, oh danny boy, oh danny boy, i love you so ♪ ♪ sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

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it actually bounces back. the results will blow you away! hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena® trump's people. let's play "hardball." ♪ good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. welcome to the "hardball" labor day show. for purposes of this holiday, we're calling it the real characters of trump world. president donald trump campaigned on his star factor as the host of the reality show "the apprentice." that mindset has followed him all the way into his presidency where there's never a slow news day and every action he takes falls somewhere under unprecedented. for the next hour, we're going to look at the cast of characters of trump's