honor. that's our broadcast on a wednesday night. thank you so much for being here. good night from our headquarters in new york.

two weeks after the october 2nd incident. >> president trump was asked about a recording of the murder. >> have you asked for the audio and video. >> we have asked for it if it exists. >> are you surprised they haven't turned it over. >> no.

i'm not sure that it exists yet. probably does, possibly does. >> the president also appeared reluctant to criticize saudi arabia. >> we saudi arabia in terms of our fight against all of the terrorism, everything happening in iran and other prices. with that being said, saudi arabia's been a very important ally of ours in the middle east. we're stopping iran. they are an ally. and they're a tremendous purchaser of not only military equipment but other things. they're an important ally. >> why not send the fbi in to figure this out? >> he wasn't a citizen of this country, for one thing. and we're going to determine

that. you don't know whether or not we have? >> have you sent the fbi? >> i'm not going to tell you. >> the "washington post" has published the last piece written we kashoggi. the piece was received the day after he was reported missing in istanbul. he says the post held off publishing it because kashoggi's colleagues hoped he would come back. in the piece he writes, arab governments have been given free rein to silence the media. these governments, whose very existence relies on the control of information have blocked the

internet. the arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed. we need to provide a platform for arab voices. we suffer from of the, mismanagement and poor education. through the creation of an independent forum, ordinary people in the arab world could be able to address the problems they face. scott, what can you tell us about the white house's reaction to this? >> well, the white house initially backed the house in its initial denials that it had anything to do with kashoggi's murder, which was unusual considering that almost immediately the notion that a saudi national in a saudi

consulate in a foreign country would disappear completely in a highly monitored building seemed on its face improbable. the crown prince is known as a famous micro manager. the -- he created a mass purge of people who were initially marketed by the saudi arabian government as people who are corrupt, who were skimming things off the top. part of the problem is he has such a strong reputation as a micro manager that the white house's initial agreement that he and the saudi royal family had nothing to do with khashoggi's murder didn't seem

on its face viable. >> there's been a lot of pushback on that position from capitol hill. what's the likelihood congress could open up an investigation and take matters from there? >> part of the fun of this is the united states senate does have the ability to step beyond what the white house is willing to set as far as international agen agenda. when it comes to saudi arabia, a huge part of the conversation has to do with the hundreds of billions of dollars we provide in arms sales. they know that the saudi arabian government is currently the tenth largest holder of treasury bonds overseas.

if we were to push back on this, it could potentially invoke a mass selloff of these treasury bonds. >> are their positions in keeping with how they have acted toward saudi arabia in the past? >> those positions are in keeping. part of the problem is they have to follow the orders coming from up top. the president was quick to invoke this comparison between the united states and saudi arabia and his attempts to put brett kavanagh on the supreme court. he said this is another situation where one has to presume innocence, which means similarly once push comes to shove, his backers are going to fall in line behind the

preside president. white house counsel don mcgahn has left the west wing. his departure was first reported by the "new york times." two white house officials also confirmed to nbc news that yesterday was mcgahn's last day. the times reports that mcgahn yesterday attended a cabinet meeting and sat for a farewell shot with president trump. mcgahn had long planned to leave the white house this fall, but announced on twitter that he would be leaving his post after the confirmation of brett kavanagh to the supreme court. the announcement came less than two weeks after the "new york times" reported that mcgahn spent 30 hours talking with robert mueller's team. he has t deputy attorney general rod rosenstein is defending robert

mueller's investigation. he spoke with the "wall street journal" yesterday and called the investigation appropriate and independent, a stark difference from president trump's description of the inquiry as a rigged witch hunt. rosenstein said i focus on what we're actually doing. we try to ignore the media attention. he also acknowledged some attacks from conservatives saying people are entitled to be frustrated but at the end of the day the public will have confidence that the cases we brought were warranted by the evidence. michael cohen continues to meet with federal investigators. according to cnn cohen met with

officials investigating various aspects of president trump's family business and charitable organization. the group included federal prosecutors from the southern district of new york. the group also reportedly included officials from the new york attorney general's office. a caravan of migrants freeing hon durs and heading north has grown to an estimated 4,000 people. u.s. customs and border protection is tracking the caravan. secretary of state mike pompeo will travel to mexico on friday to meet with his counterparts there.

still ahead, democrat beto o'rourke launches new attack ads against ted cruz in the closely-watched texas senate race. plus, the president lashes out at the associated press claiming fake news. the a.p. standing by their reporting. the a.p. standing by their reporting.

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away health care from millions of american families. he's tried repeatedly to roll back protections for preexisting conditions. when teachers in texass are working a second job just to make ends meet, ted cruz wants to take our tax dollars. he's selling paranoia and fear. >> senator cruz responded, quote, this morning the o'rourke campaign unleashed the dogs. it's clear they're in trouble. o'rourke says his campaign does not use pollsters, though cruz claimed they out sourced the task. the latest quinnipiac poll in new jersey shows democratic senator bob menendez had 51%, just 7% ahead.

>> when will we as a society begin to believe women, to trust women? >> what a hypocrite. what about the under age girls who accused you? >> new jersey's bob menendez is being forced to deny allegations of engaging with prostitutes. >> the "washington post" says there is no evidence behind the claim. senator menendez responded to the ad calling him desperate and a liar. two highly watched governor races are at this point effectively tied. in georgia brian kemp just slightly ahead of sta stacy abr.

>> congressman chris collins' lead over his democratic challenger is closing and campaign contributions have all but stopped in the wake of his august indictment for insider trading. he raised just about $33,000 during the third quarter with only three contributions from individuals within his district. it's a third of what he pulled in last quarter. it is one of the lowest marks of any engaged incumbent in this election cycle. the democratic nominee trails according to the latest poll. the president has been on the campaign trail to rally supporters for republican candidates. during an interview with the associated press on tuesday, the president was asked if he would

take responsibility should republicans lose the house in the midterms. trump said in part, no, i think i'm helping people. i don't believe anybody's ever had this kind of an impact. after the a.p. reported yesterday that trump dismissed suggestions that he might take responsibility as his predecessor did. trump tweeted a.p. headline was very different than my quote. fake news. >> you asked if he thought he would bear some responsibility if the republicans lose the house. and the president said no, i think i'm helping people. then he took issue with this head line today that trump tells a.p. he won't accept blame if gop loses house. >> we certainly stand by the interview. the transcript is there plain as day. we asked the question, he answered no.

>> let's get a check of your weather now with bill karins. >> did you bring the big jackets in this morning? >> the fluffy coat. >> the temperatures have dipped down and windchills are in the 20s in many areas. it's the coldest morning we've had this season by far. even the big cities are chilly. it's not exactly freezing. it feels like 40 in new york city. we have freeze warnings for detroit, columbus. all this means is that if you didn't take in those vulnerable plants, they may not make it through the morning. frost advisories through kentucky. it's going to stay cool today even with the sunshine this afternoon, it will still be a little breezy. nashville should be in the low 70s. you're only going to be 62. so it's pretty much everywhere.

through friday it stays coolish. the cooler spots will be in areas of arkansas and texas. this upcoming weekend, d.c. not a bad fall weekend. it's not going to be rainy but it will be cool. areas like green bay only 44. we were complaining on the east coast about the humidity only about seven days ago. now it's quickly turned to mid to late october type weather. in texas still some rain out there, still a flash flood watch, nothing close to the horrific flooding that we saw two days ago, but we'll see isolated problems. san antonio and abilene are in the flash flood watch. travel weather, not that many problems at the airports. just bundle up this morning especially in the northeast and the great lakes. the red sox are one game

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bottom with the home run. but the crew chief calls interference on the play after a fan makes contact with the glove of mookie betts as he reached up for the ball. altuve is ruled out. it is a questionable call. that potential two-run home run would prove to be the deciding factor in the end as boston went onto win 8-6. they take a commanding 3-1 series lead and seek to send houston packing to advance. the dodgers pushed the brewers to the brink of elimination. clayton kershaw making up for a miserable performance in game one the mastery on the mound yesterday allowing just three hits in seven innings of work on the way to a 5-2 victory.

the dodgers look to puchblg the -- punch their ticket to the world series. toronto the debut of kawhi leonard with the raptors. the knicks also having a staillr night last night. the defending stanley cup champs end a two-game skid hosting the rangers. ovechkin scored but the caps needed over time to put the rangers away by a score of 4-3. playoff baseball unbelievable. >> i want dodgers/red sox. wouldn't that be so exciting? >> it would be a lot of fun. still ahead, what secretary

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welcome back, everyone. it is the bottom of the hour. we're going to start you off

with the morning's top stories. mike pompeo is back home after visiting saudi arabia and turkey regarding the disappearance of "washington post" columnist jamal kashoggi. during the flight home, the secretary was asked what sort of response the u.s. may take against riyadh and if he heard the audio turkey says it has of the murder.

>> did they say that mr. kashoggi is alive or dead? >> i don't want to talk about any of the facts. they didn't want to each in that they want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way. >> president trump is defending his recent comments about saudi arabia's denial about being involved in the disappearance of jamal kashoggi, continuing to use deals between saudis and u.s. companies to justify those remarks. >> when i went there, they committed to purchase $450 billion worth of things and $110 billion worth of military. those are the biggest orders in the history of this country. >> the total value of those deals was actually between 300 and $400 billion. a state department official confirmed yesterday that the u.s. received a payment of $100 million from saudi arabia on tuesday. that's the same day secretary of

state mike pompeo arrived in riyadh to discuss the disappearance of kashoggi. the state department denied any connection between the payment and pompeo's discussions with saudi officials about kashoggi. early voting began yesterday in tennessee and turnout in nashville was near the presidential level with over 10,000 people showing up to vote, compared with 12,000 in 2016. a reuters the poll shows only a three-point race there. the republican at 47% and the democrat at 44%. poll was taken october 4th- 11th. at his campaign office in nashville yesterday, he spoke about the decision to nbc news. >> i tried to look at it primarily from the standpoint if i thought this person was

qualified for the job. i didn't think that dr. ford certainly was believable. in the end i didn't think the weight of the evidence was there to really say that's enough to overturn the president's choice. i thought it through carefully. i've always admired senators like john mccain who are willing to think things through on their own and not just follow the party line. >> the poll conducted earlier this weekend in florida shows a neck and neck race with governor rick scott ahead of democratic senator bill nelson 49% to 47%. the final senate debate was cancelled yesterday. the "new york times" is reporting that scott's federal disclosure filing shows he had visibility into the blind trust he created over conflicts of interest. in he wins, scott could become

the richest member of the next congress. in a statement, scott said he never made a decision based on personal financial considerations. house speaker paul ryan chose his words carefully yesterday when he was asked about president trump's performance leading the nation. >> do those rallies ak search ra accentuate the things that unite us or do they do something successful in politics which is sew division in the country. do you see that happening in his rallies? >> sometimes. >> meaning? >> sometimes. i wonder about tribal identity politics becoming the new norm. as conservatives we thought this was sort of a left wing thing. unfortunately the right practices identity politics as

well. >> sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't. >> come on, honestly. >> on economic growth and tax reform and helping veterans, those have really brought people together. >> and president trump is not actually on the ballot in 19 days but he's making an all out push for republicans nonetheless with himself front and center. since the start of the month he has held eight rallies, participated in nine major interviews and done 22 press availabilities. he spoke about the strategy yesterday with fox business. >> does anybody ever say to you you're doing an awful lot of media and you like it? >> i don't like it. i like getting the point across. >> are you going to ckeep up ths pace of media after the midterms? >> probably not. this is just for the midterms. we want to win. we want to get the republicaned

elected. >> the president is enjoying some of the best approval ratings he's had since he took office. disapprove and 47% appr. that is one point less than the high he registered in february of 2017. a treasury department employee has been arrested for leaking confidential documents relating to the mueller investigation. natalie mayflower edwards has been charged with unlawfully disclosing suspicious activity reports and conspiracy to continue. details from those leaked reports appeared in nearly a dozen buzzfeed news articles since 2017. officials say edwards was in contact with an unidentified reporter as recently as september. the articles highlighted and

cited specific transactions by accused russian agent maria buttina as well as paul manafort and rick gates, both of whom have already pleaded guilty to financial crimes. if convicted edwards faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison. prosecutors from robert mueller's office are seeking information about president trump's friend and business associate roger stone. sources tell abc news that special counsel's office is pushing paul manafort for information on roger stone. according to abc news, nearly a dozen individuals close to stone have been brought in for interviews with the mueller team. many of those same individuals have also appeared before a federal grand jury. mueller's interest in stone appears to be focused on whether stone or his associated communicated with wikileaks about the release of damaging

e-mai e-mails hacked from hillary clinton's campaign. >> how does this square away, continuing an investigation with roger stone when we've heard that mueller's investigation may be pretty much wrapped up and just waiting for the passage of the midterms. how does that square up? >> here's the thing about federal investigations, is that every time they turn over a new rock and find new potential lines of inquiry, they're going to pursue those options. there's not exactly a set parameter of, okay, we've found the people who could be culpable. that explains why someone like paul manafort who was brought up

on allegations relating to funneling money that he hadn't paid taxes on from overseas, acting as a lobbyist without notifying the state department, why they pursued those charges against him even though they weren't technical ninically res to the initial line of inquiry. >> how is it working out? is it translating for the president? >> i think one important thing to remember is that the president's approval ratings have started to increase. as the camera was off of him, there was the hurricane, focus on the brett kavanagh confirmation, now there's kashog kashoggi. so the less attention the public

is paying to the president, generally the better the feeling is toward the president. now that he's going to be redirecting that focus to him, particularly when he's endorsing and lobbying for republican candidates that he hopes to help keep republicans in control of both houses of congress, that might start to chip away at this newly invigorated popularity he's seeing. still ahead, we have new documents revealing a failed attempt at getting wikileaks' julian asaungs osange out of hi away. his hide away cancer.

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ecuadoran government in london to russia by naming him as a political counselor in moscow. he was blocked from taking the job in russia. the files were made public late tuesday by an ecuadoran lawmaker who opposing her government's decision to grant assange nationality. documents also show that ecuador attempted to move assange to moscow just before christmas of last year. let's get a check on your weather now with bill karins. bill, it was a rude awakening this morning. you step outside and it feels cold. it feels like winter is upon us. is this our new reality. >> it is. it was so warm for so long that we knew it would come crashing down. the only really concerning weather we have today is in texas, still because the ground is saturated. we didn't have a lot of horrendous flooding yesterday

which is good. but we still have a lot of high rivers because the damn rele re are so extreme right now. for today's forecast obviously it's a very cold morning from the great lakes through the ohio valley through the northeast, windchills in the 20s in many areas. still hot in florida. tampa once again in the 90s today. dallas into the 60s today. as far as the weekend forecast is going to go, we still see the rain on friday in areas around dallas. that's going to be the last really wet day for you in north texas. kind of cool, but not bad in the northeast on friday. as we head into saturday, we take the rain threat a little further south into southern texas. we'll have a little disturbance through the great lakes bringing rain showers and even some snow showers. minneapolis, 42 degrees on saturday. then on send that cold shot

comes through the northeast. it will be windy. we'll get some lake-effect showers and snow in upstate new york. but we finally dry out in areas of texas. a nice quiet weather map as we go through sunday. upcoming weekend looks very typical for heading towards the middle to late october. >> fall is here. still ahead, lawmakers on capitol hill demand answers from amazon's ceo after a video showing anti-union practices surfaces. facebook faces new troubles as the company is hit with a lawsuit over its advertisement data. shaquem get in here. take your razor, yup. alright, up and down, never side to side, shaquem. you got it? come on, get back. quem, you a second behind your brother, stay focused. can't nobody beat you, can't nobody beat you. hard work baby, it gonna pay off. you got this. with the one hundred and forty-first pick, the seattle seahawks select.

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welcome back. facebook is feeling a new scandal after a new lawsuit alleges the company knowingly inflated its video matrix in an effort to boost publisher content. >> good morning. so facebook under fire today. a group of advertisers have come together and filed a claim that facebook was well aware of issues in the way they tracked metrics with regards to video ad viewership long before they disclosed them to the advertisers. the group claimed facebook was showing reckless indifference to the matrix. the lawsuit is seeking class action status. at this point, a facebook

spokesperson has denied they tried to hide the issue and moved to dismiss the fraud claim. amazon is also in the spotlight. senators warren and bernie sanders are both pressing amazon chief jeff bezos over what they chief jeff bezos over what the illegal behavior toward unions so really anti-union talk. in a joint letter, the two senators cited a leak to video in which they said bezos directed supervisors to take illegal actions. amazon has said that they will respond directly to senators warren and >> after a positive earnings report, united airlines has decided it's keeping one of its moviene advicive policies. tell us about that policy. it'sat one that is hard to agre with, especially if you travel a lot.al >> for sure. and if you're a heavy packer like i am, it is hard to agree

with. united airlines has decided to keep your no luggage overhead policy. meaning even if your bag fits the requirements for a carryon bag, you c cannot use the overhd baggage even if you buy the cheapest tickets. something to consider when you book your next weekend away. >> charging for the carryon, that's rough. thank you so much. >> that was actually not cool. >> we need that overhead bin space. comingin up, axon has a look at this morning's one big thing and president trump remaining steadfast in his defense of saudi arabia over the alleged murder of jamal khashoggi despite details emerging about the gruesome operation to end his life. richard haas will break down what keeps the president from

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joining us now from washington, a look at axon a.m. we have mike allen with a good thursday morning to you, mike. what do you have there at axios.? >> to you with, also alex and david, so the axo one big thing is a private prod to the saudis. so the washington post calls what trump has been doing a soft stance. those two words are the perfect way to express it. while the president has had this soft stance, secretary of state mike pompeo had had aer message with the crown prince. we're toll that behind the scenes, the secretary of state told the crown prince that he needed to wrap up this investigation within 72 hours.

and here is the key word. he said he needed to own these results, said the kingdom needed to act fast or its look on the world stage would continue to deteriorate. >> mike, there is pressure mounting here for the president to admonish saudi arabia. what is your sense of how long he can keep that up? >> david, that's right. and there's this flood of irrefutable reporting, harder and harder, less and less tenable for the president to take the stance that he has been taking, the slow walking, the blame. where this is probably headed, it looks like the crown prince will find some scapegoats and the president's public signals have been that he will take that and try to go back to business as usual. as we've seen right here on your air, the pressure from the capital behind me are going to make that hard. this is going to be a continuing crisis, both for washington and for riyadh. >> absolutely leading the the

headlines, for sure. mike, this time of year with midterms and ahead with the general election, i'm always buckling up when i think about the amount of money that goes into the contest. overall, can you quantify how much has been spent? >> yeah. about $2 billion. >> oh, my gosh. >> so "the washington post" crunched some numbers and more than $1 billion has been raised by democrats. that breaks a report. the previous record was under that in 2012. here is what's interesting. this is if first time since 2008, the obama year, the democrats have outraised republicans. so you you look at that graph and you see what's fueling that. the heavy democratic fund-raising makes such a huge difference. it allows them to put district necessary play that otherwise

wouldn't be and again and again we see republicans pulling back from districts, shrinking their chances to win. >> and basically, i go, again, back to beto o'rourke. this is all from small donations. there's a lot of people being energized that way. >> no. that is a great point. and when you look at the small donations, the gap is even bigger. and that is such a proxy for how much excitement there is. in the case of baito, you have democrats around the country looking for places to spend money. funny, washington conversation after the baito number came out, one of the operatives that i have talking to were talking about how you would possibly spend that much money in 19 days. >> it's a great question, mike, and leads me to my last one here which is how do you translate this to momentum with a sum like that, $38 million plus added to a kitty that size, how do you

translate that? >> texas is still -- texas and those are the indications, there was a time and this was the definition of a wave. and i think there's a blue wave which is a cat for or a cat five. the definition is things that are predicted. it's a remarkable performance that the he's pulled off. and, of course, a new standard for the moolah. >> definition of political physics with mike allen. thank you so much. we'll read axios a.m. in just a

lot while. >> that wraps it.up for us this morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> and he makes the catch. oh, what a play! game saver. andrew betantendi. the red sox win on a spectacular catch by betantendi in left field. wow, what a game. what a finish. >> what a game and, you know, mika, you were just saying what a coincidence, 14 years to the day after dave roberts' incredible steal at second base. that happening. you're exactly right. heek ka, you called that one of the best playoff games you've ever seen. >> no, i didn't, but my