we actually did get a couple hours of daylight, which was nice for the areas hardest hit to get an initial assessment. i'm sure the police were out there going through the list of 911 calls and trying to get to people that needed help first. but that's what's been going on now. >> millions are still in for a rough night. our coverage will continue to go back and forth. for now "hardball" with chris matthews begins right now. good evening i'm chris matthews in new york. it's 7:00 p.m. on the east coast right now and hurricane michael, a king kong of a storm has battled the panhandles of florida. at the same time, president trump is starring in a political fund-raiser and rally in erie, pennsylvania. it's a devastating split screen if you will. michael is the hardest to make

landfall and the third most powerful storm to hit florida. aware of the optics tonight, the president defended his decision to travel to the fund-raiser and rally. let's watch him on that. >> we have thousands of people lined up, so we wanted to make this stop. it would be very unfair, you have thousands of people that started coming last night. so we're going to do that and we have a lot of happy people. >> the president didn't say before the rally this evening he hosted a $250,000 fund-raiser up in erie. what's dodgy about tonight's schedule, of course, is that the same donald trump ridiculed his predecessor, barack obama for doing pretty much what he's doing tonight. back in 2012 president trump attacked president obama for campaigning while the hurricane sandy cleanup was going on, that was weeks after hurricane sandy made landfall, trump barely waitwai waited an hour for his political

kill. while president trump entertains top donors tonight, the scenes from florida could not be more catastrophic. hurricane michael made landfall this afternoon as a category 4, these pictures are amazing. look at these pictures. flinging debris and raising potentially life threatening storm surge. speaking from the oval office earlier today, the president had this warning for those that remained in the path of the hurricane. >> do you have a message for those who are in the storm's path? >> i say god bless you all. that's my message. that's what it is. the storm is there. i mean, that storm is there. it's sort of too late to do anything about it now from the standpoint of moving. >> nearly 400,000 people along the panhandle of florida were urged to evacuate. but emergency responders are concerned many ignored the warnings. the storm is expected to unleash

punishing wind and rain to the carolinas who are still overcoming hurricane florence flooding. we turn to kerry sanders, who's on the beach there in panama city beach. kerry, i see the wind in your pants there. go ahead. kerley? i guess we're having a problem. he's talking but i'm not hearing him. is kerry getting on the air? i guess not. meanwhile, in tallahassee, florida, wind gusts reached up to 90 miles an hour today. 90. the mayor of tallahassee, andrew gillum joins us by phone, he's also the democratic nominee in florida's gubernatorial race right now. tell us what's going on in your capital city in tallahassee, but also to the west of you. what reports have you been getting, sir?

>> chris, thank you so much. again all of our hearts go out to those west of tallahassee who bore the brunt of the storm surge that came ashore. we've seen the disturbing catastrophic images of the storm surge just rushing through mexico beach. we're here to be their neighbors. we, in fact, took in a number of folks who evacuated and came to our area to wait out the storm. my community, it was a different nature, it was one of wind. as i talk to you, i'm in a utility vehicle moving around my city as we observe street after street, road after road with huge trees strewn across it, utility poles that are down. we could have had it much worse in the area, considering we have an area that's about 50% tree coverage here. about 30 minutes ago we released our ems, fire and police, along with the utility to get back on the street.

the utility workers are taking assessment and stock of the damage. and starting at about 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning they're start with the restoration process to get our community back up and going. >> let me talk to you about the politics of climate -- i know you're running for governor. i think about the water level coming up within a few feet of miami, how your state is in danger by climate change. is this regular weather we're getting now? category 4? your thoughts? >> no. listen, it's stuff i've been asked, with the panhandle caught by surprise here. sunday i was in miami, i was going from an event on another mission, as you mentioned in my introduction, we got a call look, this tropical system looks like it's heading our way. we thought we might deal with a tropical storm and tropical storm force winds.

it went from that sunday night to a near category 5 storm today. that was significant. and obviously that has to do with the warm -- the warmth of the gulf waters at this time. and that storm was able to gain tremendous strength and hit our state at 150 miles per hour in the panhandle, 7 miles per hour below what would necessitate a category 5 storm. for all intents and purposes, adding in the wind gusts you're dealing with a category 5 hurricane hitting in october. we have obviously a challenge on that end, and i'll tell you, we got some work to do to build us a more resilient state. the truth is right now we have to try to make sure we recover as many people and get as much of our community back up and going as we possibly can. i fear this is going to be a long journey. >> you know you're on

"hardball," what do you make of your opponent out there running against you as republican, running negative ads trashing you in the middle of this, what do you make of this? >> i agree with craig fugate, with jeb bush, with governor rick scott in this case, said it is unseemly to run those kind of ads. i was informing the public here in north florida about the storm this morning as we were anticipating impact and in my ear i could hear a negative ad being run about hurricane response. i just thought we've had a lot of divisive politics in our state but i can't remember a time we didn't have a time when statewide candidates pulled down negative campaigns, particularly in parts of the states where people are trying to run for their lives. we have communities under water this afternoon and they're running these ads. it's unseemly. >> when people are running for

their lives they shouldn't be hearing trash talking from politicians. thank you. more from lester holt, who's in panama city. thank you for joining us tonight. you're in the middle of this all day. what can you tell us? >> i'll tell you what struck everyone here was how quick it moved through. it spun up fast. i've been saying like a liquid blow torch, the 150 mile an hour winds driving everything. the water, the localized flooding. when it blew through, it was relatively short, it was pictures like these, power lines down, trees down, we don't have information on casualties here. it was again stunning on how fast it came through and kind of blew through. the rain has stopped a couple hours ago, it's breezy with an occasional gust or so but clearly it has done what it's going to do and moved on. now it's the states north of us that are going to bear the brunt

of the storm. >> the pattern is unusual. we're used to atlantic landfalls. now here's one hitting us from the overheated gulf of mexico, sweeping up in a northeast direction. it's something else. it's supposedly, lester, the worst, highest caliber category storm to ever hit the panhandle. >> we've never seen anything like this in the panhandle of this strength. this was for all intents and purposes as strong as it comes for a hurricane. we certainly see hurricanes along the gulf coast. it happens. but this one spun up so quickly. it was hardly on anyone's radar at the start of the week and suddenly you're hearing about michael, michael, michael, and it was growing in its intensity. how many times have we seen these things, a three, a four, a five, and it comes ashore as a one. this is a reminder you can't take these things from granted. this was the real deal that came

through. >> i remember having the honor of sharing the trailer with you back in the katrina days. do you remember that? >> i do. >> thank you, lester holt. for more we turn to kerry sanders in panama city beach. i think we have you now, kerry. >> reporter: yes, and we're looking at the end of a very ugly, long, brutal day. and as i take our camera a little bit out here towards the setting sun, it's just ironic to see how beautiful the sun is setting on a day that has been so ugly. and off in the distance there, you can see the pier which is still standing after this category 4 came in. now, what's interesting is, the category 4 storm that did so much damage, winds at 155 miles an hour, i felt them today, they really beat up on me, the actual hardest hit areas are not right

here on panama city beach, which is interesting. but the -- let me see what i see flying over, actually. we have a coast guard helicopter right now flying over head. i think what they're probably doing is surveying the coast here before it gets dark, heading off in the direction of mexico beach, which, of course, we know is the hardest hit area. about 13 miles in that direction, which is east, is where the eye wall passed over. and so, on this side of the storm we didn't have as much storm surge but we certainly the winds. on the other side, on the eastern side of the eye wall, that's where the storm surge came in, that's where mexico beach got nailed and that's an area cut off and we're waiting to find out, sadly, if there are going to be any deaths. we don't really know that yet, but, chris, that's the one thing so many people fear, that storm surge and the drowning. back to you. >> the word surge scares the

heck out of us. thank you, kerry sanders on the beach in panama city. we continue to watch the storm, but tonight president trump is holding a campaign rally and fund-raiser up in erie, pennsylvania after attending the fund-raiser. the president knew that people would be commenting on the fact of the split screen. he's not tending to business as chief executive, protecting the homeland, if you will. no, he's raising money and throwing red meat out to the crowd. why do you think he made the calculation i'd rather be up there than not? >> i think he realizes if he's going to have any time on air, he wants to control it and he wants the message to be what he has to say. he knows he can't win a battle with a hurricane, he knows that. he's been cited for being so incompetent, whether it be maria or other things, he doesn't know how to handle it, he doesn't

have any sympathy, can't talk about real people and what they're going through, and offers no comfort. he might as well go where he can control the message and stir up trouble, that's what this president likes to do. >> i say he shoots the moon like in hearts. he does the opposite of any normal politician and somehow it works with his crowd. >> he's right. this whole idea that you shouldn't campaign in natural disaster -- >> or raise money. >> -- or raise money, it's one of the rules of politics that isn't written down, his people don't care about it, people in pennsylvania are not going to be watching a hurricane in florida and his party needs him to be out there and get the faithful out because they're about to lose races in that state. he's doing the wise thing in political terms. >> there has been a fatality. i think about geography, suppose there's a natural disaster

hitting new york and he was down campaigning in florida, it wouldn't happen because most people live in new york. but it's okay when it's down there and he's up where most people live in the northeast. i'm thinking he's calculating that, too. he has to hold the rust belt and erie is the heart of it. >> he has to hold the rust belt. and as sad as it is and dangerous as it is, i was comforted by mayor gillum, he sounded like he had things handled. there's also expectations. you have hurricanes that hit the south. you have hurricanes that hit parts of georgia and south carolina and florida. so the president saying i'm going to be in pennsylvania campaigning, it isn't strange because we know that florida gets hit by things like this. if something like this were to happen in new york, if you were having some horrible series of tornados in ohio, if it's an unexpected catastrophic yes, donald trump would find a way to

be there. an expected event, even if it's a tragic one, he'll be there. >> he bashed obama four years ago well into the cleanup of sandy -- how can he deal with his hypocrisy here. we're learning how does trump do it? he does it his way, which is obnoxiously counter intuitive but somehow people cheer him on. >> what's worse in this case is florida is in play right now for republicans. there's a u.s. senate race, a governor's race. the president could say i'm providing resources to florida, he could be playing that card -- >> he wants rick scott to get the credit with his navy hat on. that's what he wants. >> he could be saying i'm offering, working with, he could be helping those folks,

especially desantis who's going to need it after the disaster. >> i think rick scott is in better shape than desantis. >> yes. >> i think right now he's up in pennsylvania, what matters is after the water is gone down, or hasn't gone down, after the wind has stopped, what's the recovery look like? that will matter for gillum, for trump and for scott. >> thank you susan and nick. much more to come tonight. we'll have the latest on hurricane michael, of course, and check in on today's biggest headlines, including that trump rally in erie. stay with us. ions, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management.

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welcome back to "hardball." hurricane michael made landfall a few hours ago along the florida panhandle and it's left a path of destruction in its wake. you've seen it. it's now making its way across georgia and now one confirmed

fatality in florida. we turn now to bill karins for the latest on the storm. bill, it's moving so fast, by the time we get there, he's already gone, michael is. >> that was good we were able to get in some of the areas hardest hit at 2:00 this afternoon. we had a few hours of daylights for first responders to get to people that needed rescuing and for the crews to get video so we know how bad it is. and this is bad especially around panama city and mexico beach. that's the thousand people they're wondering if they're going to have a town left to rebuild. we'll get you more pictures tomorrow. the current storm, it's still a category 2. we're finally done being a major hurricane, five hours of a major hurricane over land. we still have hundreds if not thousands of trees falling and the power outages are going to grow through the night as the storm moving through georgia,

albany, georgia is one of the areas we're about to lose power. the hurricane center just updated us. 100 mile per hour winds is the intensity. by the time we wake up tomorrow morning should be down to a weak tropical storm somewhere over top of augusta, georgia. and then it's a rain event through the carolinas. it's rare we get hurricane warnings from south georgia through the carolinas. it's going to be windy and pouring tomorrow throughout the southeast. that's going to be one of the issues. when we look back in history at this storm, it's going to be how fast it game through us. i told you about the thousand people town that they don't know if there's going to be anyone left to rebuild. but this is going down as our third lowest pressure ever recorded in a landfall in 140 years and the fifth strongest

winds. this was uncharted territory with the storm. we'll see how bad it is tomorrow morning when we wake up, a lot of tree damage and millions of people without power come morning. >> apparently people got out of the way, only one tragedy so far. let's go to nbc's tammy litener who's up in albany, georgia. has it hit there? >> reporter: chris, we are getting hit with the dirty side of the storm. things have changed in the last hour, they've picked up dramatically, the winds, the rains, you can tell there is nobody out on the street right now. everybody is hunkered down at this point. there have been no mandatory evacuations in this area, but they have advised people if you live in a mobile home, if you live in a house that does not have a sturdy foundation, get out, go somewhere safe. we visited a church a couple hours ago, they've opened up

their doors, become a shelter. there are about 60 people at that church. we spoke with one woman who was there with their grandson and two dogs. they had to be rescued a couple years ago so they said they weren't taking any chances this time around. typically this town, albany, it floods very quickly because it's flat. a lot of people in this town, they're prepared. they've flooded time and time again every time a storm happens, so not taking any chances. but the eye of the storm is supposed to hit here around 10:00, so this is not the worst of it chris, we're still a couple hours out. back to you. as florida reels from the direct hit of a category four, the president campaigns in erie, pennsylvania where he's attacking democrats, big surprise. you're watching "hardball." you get straightforward advice, tailored recommendations,

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welcome back to "hardball." president trump is campaigning tonight up in pennsylvania, despite the massive storm winding its way across the southeast after already hammering florida, the panhandle down there, he said he owed it to the people who came to see him tonight. trump had a different perspective back in 2012, several days after hurricane sandy battered the mid atlantic coast, he tweeted, yesterday obama campaigned with jay-z and

springsteen, while hurricane sandy victims across ny and nj are still decimated by sandy. wrong. well, the president opened tonight's rally by wishing those in the storm's path all the best but then moved on to attack the democrats or the dims as he calls them now. i want to start with jason. again, here we are tonight back again with the president campaigning effectively with his base, entertaining them. he's good at that. they laugh. the laughing now is about, well, i guess it's the righteous indignation about the treatment of brett kavanaugh that the skinny white guys are now life's victims. that seems to be an effective, well, ploy, is what it is. >> it is. but it's only effective but so far, chris. i really think you can beat this brett kavanaugh thing but so much. look, the guy won, he's on the

supreme court, he's going to be there. there's so much energy you can draw from it. i will say this, what trump is doing right now is effective. what he can't counter is the effectiveness of candidates on the ground. look at what gillum is doing, what rick scott is doing, that's how a campaign is going to be won. the president is effective at riling hing up his base but wha still can't do, he can't expand his base. he can't make more people to vote for candidates. he attracts people to him. but he can't sprinkle the fairy dust on the candidates. the president attacked the democrats. we don't have the bite for him -- we have it now? let's go. >> what the radical democrats did to brett kavanaugh and his beautiful family is a national disgrace.

it's a disgrace. what they did was a disgrace. you look at corey booker the way he talked and then you look at what he did. you look at senator dianne feinstein, what she did. >> what's this -- the way heville annizes people, feinstein is a grown up democrat, been around a long time, used to be mayor of san francisco, people in california who were republicans respected her. this crowd is going -- they don't even know feinstein, why are they joining in the jeering here? why are they led along like lemmings? they don't know who dianne feinstein is. >> they know they saw trump the

night before leading a rally of lock erup. >> leaking, some lawyer she may have had leaked. >> they make it sound like corey booker and dianne feinstein broke into kavanaugh's house and beat up his family. >> i'm not suggesting that he did it intentionally, but the first place i go when he named corey booker -- >> is african american. >> correct. >> that's exactly why he did it. >> that's where he wants to go in the rallies. what's he doing in pennsylvania? he's costing seats for republicans. >> they're not going to win the governorship in pennsylvania, they're not going to beat bobby case si, so what's he doing? he's sprinkling the fairy dust. trump called the handling of his supreme court nominee disgraceful. here's that tonight in erie. >> the disgraceful leaking of documents. you look at what they did.

you look at the false charges. you look at the false accusations. it was a disgrace. it was a disgrace. and people were saying thank you, sir, for sticking, and thank you for not giving up. you know what, i never even thought of it, folks. i never even thought of it. >> you know what, jason, the man is amazing at creating notions of these infractions. benghazi went on for years, what was benghazi again? yeah, there was people killed there, but what did hillary clinton do wrong? they never said that, just said benghazi over and over again. like waving the bloody shirt after the civil war. they don't know what they're talking about. >> exactly. >> here we have a leak? excuse me, washington is built every moment on leaks. the idea it's a crime is absurd, yet the crowd is cheering, they're jeering. how does he get them to act like

trained seals? how does he get his crowd to react, they cheer or jeer according to his orders. >> it's like a high school pep rally or talk about 1984 and say we're at war with eur-asia. whoever trump says is the bad guy is going to be the bad guy. the trouble he runs into, you've seen it with hillary clinton, you said benghazi, at some point he starts to sound like the old high school quarterback who keeps talking about that game he won in 1978, it's over now. talk about the new thing you're doing. kavanaugh is great now. it's a hot victory story now. it's not going to matter in two weeks. it's not going to matter in florida in two weeks, in arizona in two weeks. i'm telling you, there are some republicans out there in desperate seats. there are republicans in ohio, missouri who are like i need you

to bring something new. talk about these tariffs that are hurting me, talk about the tax plan because screaming and yelling about a supreme court justice is not going to help me. >> nick. >> you see it here as being a victim and self-pity. it's the country that is winning is actually winning. the party that has control of everything is actually on the verge of defeat. the people in america who are relatively prosperous are being cheated and doing terribly. that's the framing he excels at and that's the framing for his whole politics. >> there's news tonight about the attorney general. "the washington post" reporting that the president talked recently with jeff sessions, his own chief of staff about replacing jeff sessions as attorney general. according to people briefed on the conversation, the president remains interested in ousting his top law enforcement official. he seems to get the biggest kick

out of torturing this little guy. he openly trashes him, and now leaked probably he's been talking to the chief of staff about the guy he's going to fire and lindsey graham seems to be feathering all this. >> and jeff sessions keeps on going, that's the most shocking part. he says, say what you're going to say, do what you're going to do. but donald trump he loves that story, he went to his chief of staff, tried to undercut him, because donald trump is about taking down people. that's what he likes to do, that's where he gets his own strength from. do you ever see him supporting someone, except for maybe nikki haley because he's afraid of her -- >> tell me about that. why is he afraid of nikki haley. >> because she's one of the most successful high level women in his administration and is leaving and could be a potential challenge to him. >> do you think she will? >> no. >> i'm hearing no from jason. >> she's not going to challenge him. >> i'm not able to read minds

yet. you think she may run? >> i think she may run, it's more likely if donald trump doesn't take on the challenge. >> she'd challenge mp mike pence. >> i don't think he'll run. >> you're saying no. >> nikki haley is not running in 2020, donald trump is running in 2020. she would not be an effective candidate across the country. she has no record to run on in south carolina, while there are some religious conservatives that would be happy with it, the rest of america would look at the poor education, restrictive health care, the failure of the assassination of nine people in church, anyone who thinks because she did a nice job for 18 months in d.c. that's going to work in ohio, texas, and california hasn't been paying attention to what the rest of the country wants when it comes to change. >> did we not say this about

donald trump in 2015? >> i didn't say that about donald trump in 2015? >> she has the same constituency as marco rubio did. it's not meaningless, but that's where it is right now. >> she's no little marco. susan, nick and jason are sticking with us. up next, president trump is promoting national unity by calling democrats unhinged, crazy, crime loving wakkos. you're watching "hardball." with fidelity wealth management you get straightforward advice,

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president trump's making his midterm pitch right now in pennsylvania, this after he gave another taste of his us versus them campaign strategy in a rally in iowa last night. painting his own dark version of the democratic party. >> the democrats have become totally unhinged. they've gone crazy.

no, they've gone crazy. now the democrats, or as some people would say the dims, the dims, they've become, frankly, too dangerous to govern. they've gone wacko. i've been saying this and i mean it. democrats are the party of crime. they are. >> well, the president continued those charges today writing an op-ed in "usa today" writing if democrats win control of congress this november we'll come dangerously close to socialism in america. trump has a very interesting way of finding the most leftish, far out part of the democrat party, whether it's mack seen waters and her comments about confronting people in public places or bernie on medicare for all, and he says that's the democratic party. that's the danger the democrats

face, the most leftish, far over points you can say the most progressive becomes his point of attack. >> exactly. that's the point that gets these rallies going, and unites them, something so far out in left field, no pun intended, he uses this kernel of fact of once upon a time and uses it to divide the country and get his people behind him because that's all he knows how to do. he talks about not knowing how to govern. he has yet to govern because when you govern, you work for everybody. >> he's warming up for a campaign against elizabeth warren, corey booker or kamala harris. he's addressing all his political guns at the left, saying they are the democratic party, socialism, health care

for everybody, schools for everybody, sanctuary cities, he does it all. >> he's not totally wrong on the first three, that's where the party is moving. what he's doing for the midterms is a version of political gaslighting. he's trying to tell democrats that their passion is a weakness, their anger is craziness. that their kind of organization is a weakness. it's a panic move. it can be effective but it's basically gaslighting. >> explain gaslighting. >> it's a way of telling people that they're crazy for the way they're feeling. the actual anger they feel about kavanaugh, the passion they feel to get involved is actually a crazy and bad thing. it could be effective, i'm not sure it will be. >> do you see -- jason, do you see any democrats second guessing their progressivism because trump is mocking it. >> the democrats got silenced six or seven weeks ago when they said abolish i.c.e. wasn't going to kill the party.

the caution we have to make sure we reach out to trump supporting democrats, they have been beaten, defeated. the loud, angry, passionate democrats are the ones who seem like they're going to be successful when it comes to midterms this fall. that's how politics works in america. screaming and yelling is what made the tea party effective and what made abortion a republican plank for the last 35 years. everyone knows you don't have a fear a quiet group of people sitting in a room talking politics, you fear an angry crowd. and now democrats are the angry crowd, and republicans haven't seen this, they don't know what to do about it. trump thinks he can get people to change their mind, but that's not going to work. >> trump also targeted dianne feinstein mocking her denial that he leaked a letter from christine blasey ford. and the crowd started with the

chants again, aren't they interested in process, lock her up. >> how about senator feinstein, that's another beauty. did you leak the documents? what? what? no, i didn't. did we leak? did we leak? no. no. no, we didn't. he just said, no, we didn't leak. >> lock her up. lock her up. lock her up. lock her up. lock her up. >> i think they're talking about feinstein, can you believe it. >> first of all, it's feinstein, he mispronounced it. i don't know why he gets the names wrong. anyway, the timing is ironic given his complaints in recent days of the treatment of his supreme court justice brett kavanaugh. >> the entire nation has

witnessed the shameless conduct of the democrat party. they're willing to throw away every standard of decency, justice, fairns and due process to get their way. they threw away and threw aside ever notice of fairness, of justice, of decency and of due process. nobody's seen anything like it. >> what happened to the kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency and due process. >> so dr. ford is just a casualty along the roadside, he's knocked her, attacked her, called her a liar and those people cheer. >> let's not forget he praised her as being credible -- >> once. >> but every time i hear donald trump use the word decency i cringe because he's the least decent president we've ever had. he doesn't know what the meaning is of decency. he doesn't show it to anyone,

even those people who work for him. all he is seeking to do is create an environment where he is the king of the hill of a very loud audience that thinks he's great. and this is part of what you do when someone is about to get a huge hit, which he is going to take in the midterm elections when it comes to the house. you put them in a situation -- >> you're with me on that. >> -- you keep them riled up, because it's what you do and they thrive on it. >> what's he going to do when he loses 30 to 40 seats in the house and there's no more republican speaker. >> he'll blame paul ryan. i'm looking behind him at the rally, the people behind him, they're smiling, having a good time. they are not angry. they are watching the trump show. it doesn't matter if they know who corey booker is. it doesn't matter what name the president uses. they are just pieces and players in the script and everyone in

the room has seen the script and heard it and love it. it's like a game show. >> thank you so much. jason, you were hot tonight, brother. >> thank you. >> progressives have heard their voice tonight from you. up next, the pieces are starting to fall into place in the mystery of the journalist who vanished in istanbul. was his disappearance state sanctioned murder? it looks like that. you're watching "hardball." zero expense ratio index funds. that's value you'll only find at fidelity. ♪ one thing leads another that's value you'll only find at fidelity. our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition... for strength and energy! whoo-hoo! great-tasting ensure. with nine grams of protein and twenty-six vitamins and minerals. ensure. now up to 30 grams of protein for strength and energy!

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. well, the harm -- khashoggi has been missing for over a week now ever since he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul last tuesday and never reemerged. turkey's officials have told "the new york times" khashoggi was killed while inside the consulate at the order of the saudi arabian government. "the washington post" and other outlets have obtained video that's been airing on turkey's television. it shows a team of 15 saudi agents who conducted that operation after flying into istanbul on two gulf stream jets. most disturbing is that according to one senior turkish official who spoke to the "new york times" that team, you won't believe this, this is grotesque, dismembered his body with a bone saw they brought for that

purpose. president trump says he's spoken to the saudi government. here's how he reacted to that story today. >> it's very sad situation, it's a very bad situation. and we want to get to the bottom of it. i don't want to make -- i don't want to say that. i hope he's not. i hope he's not. yeah, we're demanding everything. we want to see everything that's going on here. it's a bad situation. the fact that it's a reporter, you could say in many respects it makes it -- it brings it to a level -- it's a very serious situation for us and for this white house. we do not like seeing what's going on. >> we're bringing in karen matia. do you basically go along with what we're hearing about the chain saw cutting, like the mob, went in there with a plan of killing this guy and removing

his body piece by piece so it wouldn't be observed? that seems to be how it comes together, the story here, the horror of it. >> sure. just so you know, khashoggi jamal was a friend of mine. i was his editor for the last year so it is -- it is hard to hear or to talk about, you know, what might have happened to him. you know, i think for all the people that i've talked to who may be close with the saudi government they don't put anything past them, especially under this crown prince who, you know, reports of torture, disappearances, detaining. yeah, this is how he operates. >> let's talk politics for a minute. why would a -- wants good relations with the west, had good relations, trying to develop good relations with israel and their common front against iran risk this horror which is not going to sell with any of the western countries, including israel, why was it so

important for the crown prince to remove the threat of this one journalist? >> i mean, khashoggi -- jamal was outspoken, he was a critic in his columns he wrote for us. and jamal told me he was under pressure from his family. why would they risk this? again, this is a brazen, even for the -- if this were all to be true it would be brazen and a new, grotesque, a new grotesque low. here's thing, jamal didn't want to be seen as a dissident. he was close to the saudi royal family. he was an adviser, in many ways a loyalist and seen as part of the royal machine. so, you know, that's why -- the fact he wrote it in his columns, the saudi regime can turn on you just like that. >> he was getting marriage documents. >> right. >> what should the united states government do? i mean, you have the powers of the pen here. what should the government do? >> well, absolutely, you know,

if it comes to pass that we have, you know, conclusive evidence that the saudis murdered him, not only murdered him, but murdered him in a consulate, a flagrant violation of international law, then consequences as far as there's talk of sanctions on saudi officials to come here and spend money, pulling out of investment opportunities. there's an investment conference that's happening later this month in october in riyadh. any government officials they should pull out if they care about freedom of expression and want to back up trump's statements, they need to do the right thing. >> we're out of time, sorry. i understand your passion as a professional and a boss and losing a colleague like this in this unbelievable horrible way. "hardball" back in a minute. only fidelity offers

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that's "hardball," "all in" with chris hayes starts now. >> good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. an unexpectedly powerful storm, hurricane michael savaged the florida panhandle and now quickly moving through southwest georgia as a category 2 storm. even now, hours after landfall, it is the strongest storm to hit georgia in 120 years. also tonight as the president campaigns right now in the state of pennsylvania there is new pushback on the wild claims being made by the president and his party