all right. that's our show for today. am joy will be back tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. alex up next with the latest. i understand you're at home in california and crow felt a little bit of that earthquake potentially? >> felt them both. of course i remember last weekend when you were here everything was calm, cool, and collected. i get to town, look what

happens. i don't know what to say. anyway. >> listen to me. >> it's been something. >> yeah, it's something else. i remember those from when i lived in colorado. we would feel the ones coming all the way from california we'd feel them in colorado. i don't know if it was the same ones or we just felt them. it's a really weird thing to feel. be safe out there. >> it's something that you get used to. i was with my daughter on the fourth of july in the morning and i looked at her and said we're having an earthquake. and she not being from california, really? orvetio oh, yeah, this is not a truck, it's an earthquake. we're going to have lots of chatting about that and i look forward to seeing you again soon. a have good day -- >> see you soon. >> bye-bye. from afl offhere from the broke caul news center in los angeles. it's high noon in the east, early 9:00 a.m. on the west. tremors, fires, rock slides, how crews are assessing the damage from the strongest earthquake to hit southern california in decades. >> and big one hit and it knocked my little one to the

ground. >> i was like trying to get to mom. i couldn't. i was like, just holding on to the ground like trying not to open up. >> whew. census battle, why the president is fighting to get a citizenship question on next year's form. and considering an executive order to make it happen. and as the 2020 polls get tighter, how joe biden is trying to hang on to his lead. we begin with this breaking news. we've been talking about it all day from here in southern california, that's where first responders are getting a first look at all of the damage for last night's 7.1 magnitude earthquake. it is the most powerful in 20 years. of course that was felt across a massive area. the epicenter believed to be right near ridgecrest, but the tremors were felt as far as sacramento to the north, san diego to the south, las vegas to the east. so far, good news, no reports of casualties. however, look at this. firefighters certainly battling flames at several properties overnight where ruptures in gas

mains may have caused some fires to break out. and then here's what it looked like when rock slides shut down 178 in concern county last night. we're looking at the aftermath in a liquor store in ridgecrest. what a mess. you can imagine the cost of the damage from this earthquake, what that might be for proprietors like that. if you to look close loy, you can see the lights swaying. can you imagine on this roller coast center scary enough that coaster 80 alone with the sways. basketball fans in an nba game in las vegas, they headed right for the exits once the arena started shaking. while most people stayed put through the tremors. >> people were kind of spooked and hesitant. they didn't know whether -- >> pausing and looking to move and walk away. >> they didn't know whether to run out or stay in place and hope for the best. >> we were actually kind of running away so we were in line still and we felt like the whole

shake. everyone was like an earthquake. we were running and grabbing their kids and stuff. >> once it stopped, crowd started cheering around us, then everybody's on their cell phone like texting people and probably checking facebook. >> so officials here in california just wrapped up a press conference. let's go to steve patterson with all of the latest there. pretty scary times particularly for those folks in the ridgecrest area in kern county. tell me what the press conference had to say about things. >> parly for those folks in kern county, but you're talking about a blast area, an area which 20 million people likely felt some form of that earthquake. that was concern county who just had that press conference, one of about four that we expect within the next 4 few hours. they're basically saying that they're waking up to all of this just like everybody, but they're finally getting some light on the situation. able to get some vehicles into those areas where we're talking about extensive damage from the rock slides, the gas fires that

had to be put out overnight, those. so fires in several places around kern county. but also the structural damage. taking a count of any possible injuries that may have come in. as you mentioned, though, thankfully no casualties reported, no fatalities. minor injuries that obviously they're going door to door to door to check. but because everything is just sort of opening up with the first light that we're getting on the situation, it's going to take some time. the initial reporting, though, is that things are under control. however, when you're talking about under control, after a 7.1 magnitude earthquake, that is still an incredible situation for those first responders and for the people that are now going in and cleaning up and assessing the damage. so that will take some time. as you mentioned, this is the most powerful earthquake that we've seen in the last 20 years in this region. that's 6.4, the one that we were all talking about just a few days ago fon the fourth of july

now thought to be a fore shock to the one we just had, that 7.1 from last night. kern county officials were already responding to that one, already had their hands full with one that. not to mention the hundreds upon hundreds of aftershocks that we are all now experiencing following these -- both of these quakes. the usgs says there's been about a hundred following that 7.1, that they will get more dramatic. there's insome good news. we've been speaking to dr. lucy jones. she's the incredible authority on all of this, has incredible experience covering all of these things. i think the voice of reason and calmness that we all listen to in these situations because she has such a grasp on what she's talking about. she's saying there's about a one in ten chance of another 7.0, that number decreases if you go beyond the 7.1 mark in the next coming week. but when you get down in numbers to let's say a 6.0, there's maybe about a 50/50 chance that we'll have a 6.0 earthquake or

maybe even, you know, you're talking about a 5.0 earthquake. those are extremely likely as we move forward from this. but also speaking to her about just how rare this situation is. and she actually said that in these situations, in about 20 years you should be having an earthquake the magnitude of a 6.0, that it's rare that we've gone so long without it. here's what she said about the situation that we're under right now. listen to this. >> california would expect to have a magnitude 7 once every 15 or 20 years. the last one was 20 years ago. we would expect to have a 6 every three years or so and bigger surprise is that we've gone 20 years without a 6. this is more think of this as a return to what california's supposed to be doing rather than really that the last 20 years was the standard. >> and of course those first responders and officials also include the police department, the chief there in that kern county area telling residents to

stock up on food and supplies because they may not have enough resources to get to everybody as they're trying to make sure everybody's safe and assessing all the dabbling they have all the damage that they have to deal with. >> good to hear from lucy jones as always. as you said, voifs reason. i've got another voice of reason joining me right now. he's a professor of size molg at ufc. john, did we dodge a bullet here? at 7.1 the fact that this was in kern county, much less populated area, i think 3,000 or so live in the ridgecrest community. >> yeah, we were definitely lucky. an earthquake of that size anywhere near one our large cities would have had much more impact. >> like how much more impact? >> well, it depends exactly where it. it's the details that matter that we never know until we see. so it could be destroying a small city. i mean, the earthquake in christchurch in new zealand basically disabled that city for years. they're still rebuilding. or you could have magnitude 7

earthquake ten or 20 miles out of town that sends its energy off in a different direction than is much less damaging. >> there was some concern that the fact here in las vegas aos that we didn't get some sort of early warning system. is that because it was far enough away that in l.a. we felt it but it wasn't really rocking and rolling? >> yeah, that's right. and it's complicated. you know, they're just developing the early warning system so it's only been started with the county of l.a., not the whole state. and the way they're starting it is to not warn people unless the shaking gets up to a certain level. just a decision because they want to make sure it's working right, they don't want to give people false alarms at the beginning. so that 6.4 thursday morning didn't reach the level at which l.a. should be washed. i'm not su warned. i'm not sure what happened last night. i think they had a fore shock and they have to work out the

system with what happens with a swarm and starts swelling and then has a bigger earthquake. we'll have to hear what happened during that bigger earthquake. >> perspective the difference between 6 point to 4 which again i felt and i was significantly away, i was by the beach. you felt it. but 6.4 to a 7.1, differential there is how much? >> yeah, we can look at it a couple of ways. one way is it's about ten times as much energy that's coming out of the ground. another way is that kind of the strongest motions are maybe twice as strong. and another way is that it lasts about twice as long. so the motions are different in a number of ways. and i felt that 7 much more than the 6.5. >> does this mean anything to you? you going to sleep tonight thinking uh-oh? >> we hear that question pretty often. it's all prohibits to us. as they say, there's a 10% chance of another one of these or bigger. there's 90% chance we'll only have smaller earthquakes. i wish we knew. we've been trying to decades to find that giveaway that things are coming in the next hour or the next day or the next week.

and all we can say is right now aftershocks are likely and it's much more dangerous than a usual month, but what's coming tomorrow we can't say. >> okay. thank you for saying what you can. much appreciated. >> thank you. we're going recap. still there nor reports of fatalities. not even any major injuries. this from last night's again 7.1 magnitude earthquake. it is the most powerful quake in nearly 20 years. that jolt was centered in ridgecrest, california, about 150 miles or so northeast of los angeles out in the desert. it did cause several fires. you're seeing the result of that right there. cracked open a couple of streets as well. going to put the pavers to work. seismologists are cautioning large aftershocks will continue. that's a guarantee. and we here at msnbc will monitor for more seismic activity for you. let's get to other headlines developing this hour. a federal judge ordering a case go forward on whether or not a citizenship question can be

added to the census. the judge saying that the lawsuit from immigrant rights groups will focus on whether the trump administration was steeped in discriminatory motive. that order issued shortly after the administration told the judge that government lawyers are indeed looking at all available options forrarding the question to the 2020 census form. >> are you going to issue an executive order on the census? >> we're thinking about doing that. it's one of the ways. we have four or five ways we can do it. it's one of the ways and we're thinking about doing it very seriously. we're doing well on the census. >> meanwhile, fear of i.c.e. raids are growing as the president says his administration will move forward fairly soon with mass deportation roundups of thousands of migrant families across major u.s. cities. this weekend marks the end of that two-week deadline the president imposed on democrats to work out a solution to the asylum loophole problems at the southern border. and the mystery deepening over vice president mike pence's abruptly canceled new hampshire trip 'week. here's what the president told reporters about it yesterday.

>> why did mike pence -- the other day, do you know? >> you'll know about in about two weeks. there was a very -- a very interesting problem that they had in new hampshire. and i can't tell you about it. it had nothing to do with white house. there was a problem up there and i won't go into what the problem was, but you'll see in about a week or two weeks. >> but according to the "washington post," the top police official in salem, new hampshire, says he was unaware of any security threat that would have caused the vice president to cancel his trip. well, house democrats are ramping up efforts to fight back against the president's immigration policy after an inspector general's report found dangerous overcrowding in one texas facility while children in at least two other facilities were left without access to showers or hot meals. the president is disputing that report and putting blame solely on the democrats. let's take a listen. >> the southern border is being

policed very well by mexico. mexico is doing far more than the democrats. we all know it. i've seen some of those places and they are run beautifully. they're clean, they're good, they do a great job. they do a great job. they're crowded because the democrats will not give us any relief from these loopholes. >> the house oversight committee will hold a hearing next week on the treatment of migrant children. the heads of homeland security and border patrol have been asked to testify. joining me now here in the studio in los angeles, the vice chair of that committee, democratic congresswoman from california, katie hill. so glad to see you here in person. >> thank you so much. >> earthquake, what's happening in your area there? >> we felt it. we felt it pretty significantly and right now we're focus opened making sure that we're prepared and we can really get everyone in the district feeling like we're under control as much as possible because i think this is a wakeup call for a lot of people. >> you don't want to get complacent in the have southern california, you worry about that after 20 years.

>> and edwards air force base is just outside of our district, they're providing support to the lake so we want to make sure they have the resources they need as well. >> we just heard the president blame your party for the conditions at the centers where they're holding migrants and others along the borders, those seeking asylum and the like. is there a point that he makes, could democrats have potentially signed a bill earlier to alleviate the issues at these centers? >> no. i think that the issues at the centers come from really frankly systemic structural problems. the first issue that i have and that i think we need to examine in this maehearing is why is it that law enforcement agencies are operating these centers that need to be centered on humanitarian relief? you're talking about what would normally in any other situation be operated by a nonprofit for by a community-based organization like the red cross. this is where you have people living in conditions that they're not criminals, they're in many cases they're unaccompanied minors.

that's not a law enforcement function. and, frankly, i don't think that it's even something that we need to be considering. we need to shift away from that. that's one thing that i think we need to be having much bigger conversation around. and i think that that would actually free up border patrol to do more of what it's supposed to be doing. >> do you just secretary, cbp, either of hem planning to come to your committee to speak on this? i know you've requested if? >> we believe so. we hope so. i'll find out more when we get back. but as of right now we believe that the hearing's going to continue on friday. >> okay. census. we have the president saying that he could issue something of an executive order to allow for the citizenship question. the logistics of it are nearly impossible to figure out how that would practically happen. what are your thoughts about that, that the president would do that? >> so this is where i think we're coming closer and closer to a true constitutional crisis. we have the three branches of government and the supreme court has made a decision that what

the administration was trying to do with the citizenship question is not allowed. normally, in any other circumstance, we follow the constitution and the supreme court makes that decision and that's it. but under this administration, this president, he is continuing to try to pretend like those normal, you know, the normal way of doing things doesn't apply to him. and so if he issues an executive order that directly contradicts the supreme court, that literally throwing away the constitution and the checks and balances put in place by our founding fathers. that's when i think we have no choice but to move towards something like impeachment. >> we've talked about that. before i ask you another question on census, what is the tenor of that right now? i know that you have spoken and said that for very common sense reasons you feel that the president needs to be held accountable approximately but t the. but you're in the final nor the for the democratic party. >> in terms of. >> in your position in believing that the president needs to be held accountable potentially

with regard to impeachment, at least to start an inquiry. >> i have said that we need to go through the process that we're going through right now. >> right. >> the implications right now, right now on the litigation side we are being -- our subpoenas are being upheld. >> right. >> we've been seeing vic fridto in that regard and the courts are moving faster than anybody could have anticipated. each committee is working on their aspects of it. i think we need to continue to let that play out, get the evidence in place. we are basically as the house, are more or less prosecutors. so we have to have the case as som litd solid as it can before it would effectively be i trial. but there will be a moment where we might have to say this is -- the line is past, he's gone too far and we won't have a choice but to move forward. >> with regard to the census being the process that you decided in the loushouse, if th president issues an executive order, what can you do? we've seen how they play out in

the past? >> i think that's where it comes down to what form does it take and, you know, unfortunately it's all a question of, you know, how is he going to try to do it? how fast is it going to move? obviously i would imagine that we would sue in some capacity. but if he's defying the courts, then that's where everything comes into question. i feel like at that point is when we would probably have to move towards something like impeachment. i just think that that's such a blatant violation of how checks and balances are supposed to work and a move towards frankly, you know, something like an authoritarian government, which what we were frying to prevent when the constitution was set up. >> when you go home to your district, how loud is the clambering against this kind of behavior by those, your constituents? >> about the president's behavior? >> yeah. >> it's getting louder and louder. i think people are constantly in shock about what he tries do and says. i feel like it's also a matter of just what can we do to mi

mitigate the damage and hold him accountable? people are aware of the situation, which even if we impeach which we may have to in the house, the senate is unlikely to actually remove him from office because of how complacent they are because of how much mitch mcconnell has shown he is willing to let the president do whatever he wants. i believe that doesn't change things, that means if we have to we will still impeach and that the senate needs to be held accountable by the voters if they refuse to do the same thing. so i think that it's -- we're getting to that point where there is -- we may not have an option. and the senate will be at a place where they have to decide what side of history do they want to be on. and it's going to be up to the voters to determine, you know, what they want to do about that. >> put the ball in the senate's court after the house specially -- >> and we're not there yet, but i think we could be coming close. >> we will see. katie hill, it's so good to see you in person. why five of the 2020

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the race for 2020 putting its focus on new orleans this weekend. five democratic contenders are heading to the city for the 25th anniversary essence fest. that's where they're aiming to make a direct appeal to black women voters. joining me now from new orleans, janelle ross. big welcome to you. it's a big crowd behind you there.

what are you hearing from the voters? what are they looking for from the candidates that will be speaking there this weekend? >> i hear a combination of things. i keep hearing from people there that there's this desire to sense a level of both comfort and familiarity with black america and its issue, but also some level of specific commitment to specific qualities and solutions. and i think underlying all of that is a desire, what i keep hearing expressed, is a sense of i want a candidate that i feel or i know respects me and understands that this group, black women who are the majority of the people here, are absolutely critical to the democratic base. an election cannot be won without them. >> is there someone who is hitting all of those points you've just mentioned? is there one candidate who you think at least the chatter is being dominated by that person? >> i would say that there is a

lot of interest in kamala harris. some of that might be simply about the fact that she herself is a black won wman who say candidate for president. but there is a lot of favor for her out of those debates and some of what people saw in the debates really began to challenge some of the prevailing narratives about electability and who can really take on trump. so there's a lot of talk about her. but there's also a lot of interest in elizabeth warren. i think her very specific plans appeal to a lot of people. and sort of speak to that respect issue that i was referring to. and then of course there's plenty of talk about joe biden here as well. >> okay. those being the top three, relative to elizabeth warren, that must have played fairly well, the concept that she would have an executive order day one of her administration that would basically hold companies accountable if they did not hire black women in kind and be, you

know, faithfully representing the greater community. they'd have a hard time getting any sort of federal contracts. she would maybe ban them completely from getting them if they didn't reflect appropriately. has that been, you know, permeating the crowd there? have they said, wait, this would be good? >> i haven't heard a lot of people make specific reference to her promise to implement an executive order regarding pay equity but also hiring and inclusion. but i have heard people make reference to the fact that she's being -- to be a woman who has a very clear understanding of some of the economic issues that are at the core of the black experience and what needs to be done on a policy level to address them. and i think more importantly, this sort of -- she has expressed an interest in a move away from the politics of blame and the politics of i guess the idea that black people's economic situation is completely of their own making and a recognition that there are a

number of things that are happening in the structural way that make it very difficult for many americans, including black americans, to make economic progress. i think with regard to the pay issues specifically, there are many, many reasons why black women in particular might be particularly interested in that proposal. not the least of which is that black women are the bread winners in their household so it matters a great deal. >> it zin deed. this whole event does as well. janelle ross, thank you so much for joining us from new orleans. appreciate it. on the attack, the president already taking jabs at joe biden. how it might actually help the former vice president's campaign. ent's campaign r hear "it's not my job." that's because right where you live, there's a need for your time and skills and effort and talent. please consider volunteering and feeling that feeling that you helped someone today. but dad, you've got allstate. with accident forgiveness they guarantee your rates won't go up

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back to politics now. the president today slamming former vice president joe biden in a tweet calling him a remembering la medication project, claiming, quote, china and other countries that ripped us off for years are begging for him, won't win. joining me now the white house reporter from npr and peter baker and msnbc diplomatic analyst. welcome to you both. let's go ladies first here. why does the president continue to single out joe biden? >> it fits with what president

trump has really done from the beginning. he's always been invested in showing that he feels like he's better than former president obama and biden is definitely a part of that. and it also helps now because biden is the front runner. and it shows that biden is really on the -- on president trump's mind. and so by him -- and so what trump is able to do is say, look, you don't want to go back to biden, i fixed all these things, i stood up to china and all these other areas, so you don't want to go back to that. it's a way for him to do what he always likes do, which is to pick on obama and then to also set himself apart from biden who right now is at the head of the pack. >> you know, peter, something that you've written about in your latest piece, even if the president isn't calling out bind by name, he's taking a veil swipe at him when criticizing the obama administration. so what end? do you think it's because -- do you have any sense that that is

the candidate at least at that point whom he fears the most? >> well, i think in some ways there obviously is concern within the trump camp about vice president biden in part because biden might any way appeal to the specific states that trump flipped from blue colonel tloum red column in 2016. that's those american states like michigan, ohio perhaps, wisconsin and pennsylvania where biden was born. if the appeal that biden has is one of -- to a more working class democrats, he might fit that bill. that's what gets him in trouble within the democratic primary because there's a lot of energy on left that says, wait a second, we're not looking to go for trump voters, we're looking to excite our own base and our own people and to draw a sharper ideological contrast with president trump. but within the trump camp they see biden as a threat. and the president likes to have an enemy, i think. he likes to have somebody he can target. biden is the biggest -- the biggest guy on the other side

right now as we were just saying. and so i think that's one reason why he really likes to target biden. >> peter, anyway this woorks rk well for joe bide snen does tn?s does that benefit him? >> if your goal of democrats is to defeat president trump in the fall of 2020 it's because he comes after me because i'm the one likeliest to do it. as long -- that's his argument. his argument is the issue is trump, not the differences among the democrats over issues like busing and on climate change and healthcare and all the other things 'in which they agree largely but have some disagreements. his point is let's not focus on those internal disagreements, let's focus on trump who is the candidate most likely to take him down, i'm the guy to do it. that may not be the case after the debates last week. but that's been the core of his argument. >> yeah. well, to that point, ayesha, joe biden, yes, he holds the lead, but support for him has gone down. he was at 41% when he first

launched, now it's at 27%. losing if you do the math, maybe about a third or so his support. do you think he should be concerned? >> well, what biden has to do is really kind of tricky. he is this person who's been around for decades and he has to show -- he has to answer for the things that he did in the past while also showing that he's present right now and firmly plant himself in today and to show this is why you should vote for me. and obviously he doesn't want to keep going. and that's what happened on that debate stage is he got called out for his former positions and he didn't really have a good answer for that. so that's what he's going to have to try to do to come up with that answer. so to say, yes, these were the positions that i had today, they may not fly in 2019, but it was a different day. and maybe bring voters along for this evolution, why did he change his views if he changed them, and what does that mean going forward? >> yeah. quickly, peter, senator harris's

fundraising numbers, she's behind three contenders even though she was seen as the standout performer at that debate. your take on that. >> it's a three-month reporting period, of course the 'the benefit she would have gotten from that debate would only have been seen in the last week or so. she wouldn't have been able to catch up at this point. but the question she has the sorts of pizzaz right now among -- the buzz right now among the democrats. it's a long campaign and there's always a risk of peaking too early. question is can she stain it and turn it into a more enduring campaign? that's the challenge going forward. >> okay. peter baker, ayesha, good to talk to both of you guys. the real reason the president wants a citizenship question in the 2020 census, that's next. a citizenship question in the 2020 census, that's next. app in the wor ld. - you're learning phrases that you can use right away in real life conversations. after just four weeks i was feeling confident enough

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. want to let you know we're covering in breaking news. you're seeing there a bit of disarray in the center of your screen as a result of a gas explosion. this is in plantation, florida. that specific facility is called the fountains. it is a large shopping mall, but the l.a. fitness center has been greatly affected by this. there is debris, shattered gr s glass. they believe it's a gas explosion. there are reports of injuries. we're trying to find out the extent of those injuries right there. but you can about imagine on a saturday of a holiday weekend

looking at kind of late morning there, there were probably a number of people inside of that l.a. fitness. we have no numbers at this point. so we're going to keep a close eye on this. it looks devastating there. if that is the top of the roof of the l.a. fitness, one can only imagine what was going on inside there. again, reports of multiple injuries and this is a result of a gas explosion there in plantation, florida. the l.a. fitness hit pretty hard at the fountains but police and rescue on the scene. we will get you more information as we get it. let's get to some other news now. the president on why his administration's citizenship question is needed on the 2020 census. here he is. >> what's the reason, mr. president, for trying to get a citizenship question on the census? >> well, you need it for many reasons. number one you need it for congress. you ned it for congress zrikting. you immediate it for appropriations. where are the funds going? how many people are there? are they citizens? are they not citizens?

you need it for many reasons. >> his appearance comes just hours before the justice department in a new court filing said it is unsure if it will formulate new justification for the question. and in advance to the department's delayed request for a case on whether the government acted with racial motivation. a judge has issued an order for discovery regarding motive to proceed. joining me now is the census director for the national association of latino elect and appointed officials. with a welcome to you. are you straight exactly as to where the president stands on this? because he talks about districting, and yet he has his so he listor general not offering that as a reason why he's moving forward in this direction. >> we don't have clarity and the attorneys for the government don't have clarity. >> that's a problem. >> according to the last hearing on thursday, we know that apportionment or reapportionment

has been done. so we're particularly not clear. however, there has been documents, i have that have been revealed through various sources that demonstrate that there are some partisan politics in play here. so what we've seen is that there's a sense of partisanship and this is where this is coming from. but it is not clear what their next move it and what kind of shenanigans they have planned up their sleeve at that point. >> i can badge about imagine. and the discriminatory part of all of this. there's a judge saying we need to figure out if there was a racial motivation in all of this. how likely and confident are you that they're going to get the answer to that question? >> i think that we've kind of gotten the answer already by -- because you -- they don't have exact rationale. the rationale that it supported the voting rights act -- it was in support of the voting rights act was not there. and this is why the sfrooem supreme court said go back and find another rationale. because everything that has supported their argument to date

has been around the fact that they're trying to count citizens of voting age population for reapportionment which would discriminate against latinos specifically if you look at the numbers. so i think we have in our sense understood that that's where it's coming from. i think now the battle be in the courts to demonstrate that, in fact, that is where it's coming from. >> yeah. >> we want to make sure that we affirm the constitution and that every whole person is counted for reapportionment. that's what has always been done and that's what we hope will continue to be done. so we hope that the constitution, democracy and science will prevail in this case. >> what about the president saying that he is considering, i think it's one of four or five options right now, of issuing an executive order to put the citizenship question on the census? never mind the fact that i think from a logistic standpoint getting this thing printed we missed the deadline, that was june 30th you have to have it up and running so that it can get printed so it can be done ten

years apart from the previous one next year in 2020. >> right. >> what happens if the president tries to do that and potentially delayed this? >> if there's more delay we know it will be more expensive. trying to add an addendum to the questionnaire is noncommonsensical and illogical. this is the first time we're seeing the executive branch really challenge the judicial branch which the supreme court said we're going to send this to a lower court so you can find another rational and until then we shall proceed with the census questionnaire being printed without the question. so i think it's a constitutional crisis at the same time. we already know that the census bureau is running out of deficit in terms of how much money they have to do the census. it's becoming a more expensive census for no particular reason because we know that in order to enforce the voting rights act we have the american community survey. and in order to get reapportionment correctly and

fair, we have to count whole persons so what is the purpose? >> lots to follow, lots of bouncing balls. we'll be speaking with you again. thank you so much. >> thank you. back to this breaking news. we have had an explosion there. you're looking at the results of the aftermath at plantation, florida. specifically the fountains. we believe that to be an area in the -- around the l.a. fitness center there. there you look at a bomb sniffing dog. we think it's as a result of a gas explosion, probably looking to see if there's anything else that needs to be uncovered by rescuers there on the scene. we'll take you back there as soon as we get more information. stay with us here on msnbc. mor. stay with us here on msnbc comp. olay regenerist hydrates skin better than creams costing over $100, $200, and even $400. fact check this ad in good housekeeping. olay. if his denture can cope with... a steak. luckily for him, he uses super poligrip. it helps give him 65% more chewing power.

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well, i don't know what you'd wanna buy because i'm just a guy on your tv. esurance. it's surprisingly painless. look who won last time out. we had -- and by the way, i think ocasio-cortez is a brilliant, bright woman, but she won't win a primary. in the general election fights, who won. mainstream democrats who are very progressive on social issues and very strong on education, health care, look, my north star is the middle class, when the middle class does well, everybody does well. it's center left, that's where i am. where it's not is way left.

>> former vice president joe biden on where he sees the democratic party and his own position in it, pushing back against the idea that most democratic voters are moving dramatically leftwards. let's bring in strategist, elena beverly, rick tyler, and democrat democratic strategist chris, good to see all three of you on this holiday weekend. elena, your reaction to the clip we heard. is biden knocking democrats who are further to the left than he puts himself? >> alex, my take is that vice president biden is trying to claim that he's a centrist, and in doing so, though, he has too main challenges that he has to overcome. first he has to overcome with the fact that he's appearing out of touch with the lived experience of the backbone of the democratic party, which are african-american voters and the comments he has made in the last

two weeks, his touting working with segregationists and saying he was in favor of local role over federally mandated musing and also saying -- bussing and also saying that the majority of americans don't remember that bussing occurred that. goes against the lived experiences of most african-americans who are over the age of 50 and anyone under the age of 50 who knows their history and how we have gotten to the point of structural discrimination and segregation now. we also have the challenge and very quickly, he has the challenge of seeming out of touch with the current political context. the current political realities, where republicans have been obstructionists and republicans are no longer putting people first or country first, but party first. >> yeah, so that political context, rick, biden is seemingly dismissing aoc's primary. when he's in the middle of his own primary fight. is he getting ahead of himself with this focus on the general election voters. >> i think it plays well for him

now. the problem is joe biden was challenged and got hit very hard in the debate by kamala harris, and he had a very poor reaction to it and he's trying to regain his footing. it's a little bit surprising, but i think joe biden's premise is correct and that is he is where most democrats are id logically. they are not over to the far left and if he wants to beat president trump, which seems to be the main concern of most democrats, all you have to do is turn out most of your base and win the middle and you will win, and if you -- but if you choose a left wing democrat with ideas of taking away people's health insurance, including union health insurance, taking away their guns, talking about you are not working toward the voters that you need to win the upper mid western blue collar states and joe biden seems to be best positioned for that. he's got to up his game, though, if he's going to maintain his

lead right now. >> you know, chris, biden is also making some headlines with regard to the comments he made on the supreme court in an interview with iowa at the starting line there, and it reads, i think we should have been a whole heck of a lot harder on mitch mcconnell, biden said when he was asked if there was anything he and barack obama should have done differently on the merrick garland, sure i would when asked if he would be open to nominate garland again. how did uz thoes that play with? >> i don't know if it plays one way or the other. i know why he's doing it. the part i'm struggling with when i look at biden's campaign is he seems to be at one point saying, you know, i'm the most electable candidate, then he's also saying that the parties elect me is because reality is the democratic party is not as far left as everyone makes it out to be. actually, i'm not sure that's true. i mean, especially if you look

at it in terms of some of the specific primaries, specifically iowa. iowa clearly based on our research has moved more to the left on some of the key issues. biden doesn't win iowa, his campaign is cracked wide open. and so i think he's having a real tough time walking through this ideological series of land mines where the party, and especially the activists have moved left. he's struggling trying to figure out which way to go, and he hasn't found, i think, the right formula yet, and if he's going to have to because that next debate, he can not have a repeat performance, and i guarantee you, though candidates who are trying to fight to win the nomination against him are going to come after him hard again. >> okay. listen, guys, thanks to all this breaking news from florida and a bit on the earthquake, i'm going to have to call it a wrap there. i loved all three of your answers. they were great. thank you so much, you guys have a great weekend. appreciate that. and again, brack to this breaking news, explosion at a

shopping center in south florida, we're going to give you a live report at the top of the hour as we take a look at some of the damage right there. a looe of the damage right there. hey! i'm bill slowsky jr.,

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it happened this morning in plantation. that is just a bit west of fort lauderdale. nbc's morgan chesky is joining us on the phone. i know you are in the process of gathering all the information as to what specifically happened. what do you know this far. >> we just checked with plantation fire department who initially reported the explosion a little more than an hour ago. there is a serious respond from first responders at this time near the shopping center where this explosion took place. we're going through a lot of videos on social media working to confirm them right now. what we are seeing from the aerials above this area in the debris field that stretches for the majority of the parking lot, people describing a whole building shaking, a feeling blast from as far away as across the street and blocks away from an hour ago. this is believed to be a gas explosion.

however, we have yet to find out the initial cause of this blast from fire department officials who are there at the scene right now. we do know that multiple people are being treated as a result of this explosion. we have yet to hear the extent of those injuries at this time. the police department has set up a command center near where this took place. we're in route to that location right now where hopefully we'll be getting an update. but we are seeing report after report from witnesses in this area, showing damage to vehicles that were in the parking lot, showing pieces of this building thrown a great distance away as a result of this blast. and we do know that it was near by a gym. it didn't take place at the gym, but as you can imagine, on a weekend, a lot of people there inside. fortunately, we don't believe that a large number of people were injured at this time. however, we are hoping to learn more in the next few minutes. alex. >> i got to tell you, we have

been looking at the video, and at first not being able to get the full scope and thinking what we are seeing has tremendous damage, the top of the building, which looks completely blown to smith smithereens that could be the l.a. fitness, people could be in there working out on a saturday morning. we are just hearing word that thus far no fatalities. that is very good news. they caution it is early and they do not know the extent of the injuries for the many who have been injured. you can see the parking lot a couple of cars still there that probably either can't be moved or people have been told just leave them there, it's not safe to head over that way. but again, when this is happening in the morning there on a saturday morning on a holiday weekend there in plantation, florida, specifically, it's called the fountains shopping center. morgan, thank you for giving us what you know, as you get more information come back to us and

we'll get you back on. let's go now to another breaking story, the after math of the 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck right here in southern california. it's the most powerful in 20 yea years. we're giving you a look at scope of where the tremors were facility, from sacramento in the north to san diego in the south, even all the way to las vegas, heading to the east, more people are sharing videos now of the harrowing seconds when the earth shook. take a look at the light fixtures swinging violently. look at that. swimming pools shaken to the point of water spilling out. you can about imagine how that would spook the pets, right, as well as kids. it was a pretty scary time for those in that area, in curran county where it was epicentered. they are counting their blessings, no reported fatalities so far. relatively speaking, minor damage to mobile homes and roadways. >> we do feel like there is

damage. we don't know the extent of it yet. nobody was trapped. no major collapses that we know of, and we're out there searching. >> we were definitely lucky. an earthquake of that size, anywhere near one of our larger cities would have had much more of an impact. >> the region is bracing for after shocks, they can potentially be dangerous. the usgs reporting hundreds of after shocks in the last 24 hours. let's bring in steve patterson in the bureau with me. for younger people in this area, steve. it may be the first time they can recall experiencing an earthquake this powerful. you're a younger guy, what was it like for you? >> well, first of all, yeah, this is the most powerful earthquake that we have seen in this region in the last 20 years. that was true that we've seen decades ago on thursday, and then you have another one that's even more powerful yesterday. for me, i mean, it's probably, i would say, literally the most physically, and emotionally humbling experience i think i have ever had and that's just

being in about 150 miles away from the epicenter. you just basically have to get under something, hold on and just pray or hope or whatever you do that it ends quickly. that first one was about 20 seconds, the second one was about 40 seconds, and more violent, thankfully, it was kind of that rolling feeling for residents in los angeles. that's because it's so far away. that's probably also because so many of the buildings here are up. that rolling feeling is a good feeling. let's you know the building is structurally sound, can handle that. for residents in ridge crest, i cannot imagine what that must have felt like. very near the epicenter, terrifying experience. >> i've got a few years on you, and i grew up here, and i can remember sharp jolts and they are very very disconcerting but you have to remind residents this is closer to the norm, right? >> this is closer to the norm, yeah. doctor lucy jones, somebody that is an expert on all of this, somebody we have been speaking

to obviously a lot in the past 24 hours has been saying that this is more common. it's much more likely that every 10 to 20 years or so, you will have an earthquake that's over a 6.0. for people here, for people in my generation, we have never felt anything like that. yeah, this is much more of the norm. that may be some comfortable news to hear. she spoke a little bit more about that, but also we spoke to the police chief in ridgecrest who was talking about the fact that you might want to start stocking up on supplies if you're near the area, near the epicenter, because they're trying to get to so many residents, trying to take account of the damage, trying to take account of the injured and they may not be able to get to everybody. i want to play back-to-back sound bites from the chief and dr. jones who may be able tos a suede your fears just a little bit. >> something bigger than today,

stuff starts crumbling and these stores can't get back open, we need to make sure that -- and if we can't get to you right away, you have to be able to take care of yourself for a period of time. >> california would expect to have a magnitude 7 once every 15 or 20 years. the last one was 20 years ago. we would expect to have a 6 every three years or so, and bigger surprises that we've gone 20 years without a 6. this is more -- think of this as a return to what california's supposed to be doing rather than really the last 20 years was the standard. >> and dr. jones also played some good news bad news. bad news is that we could expect hundreds of after shocks, that this was not the big one that has been predicted to come for years and years and is still being predicted to come, but good news in that this doesn't necessarily mean the onset of the big one that's supposed to happen, that may crack the san

andres fault and bring a massive tidal wave of earthquakes. dr. jones says that's obviously still possible, still very likely, and still expected so residents obviously very on edge all over the region, all over southern california, alex. >> nobody is wanting to make those hollywood block busters a reality anytime soon. that's for sure. steve patterson many thanks for covering everything. joining me now professor of civil and environmental engineering, jonathan stewart joining me on the phone. i understand you were right at the epicenter of everything in ridgecrest. talk about the aftermath, and talk about how long we can expect to experience aftershocks here throughout southern california. >> professor stewart, sir, can you hear me? okay. guys, i guess we don't have the professor right now, but again, he was in ridgecrest and that's an area that we have been showing you which was the epicenter of things.

7.1 just last night to start off this weekend, fires and the like. a couple of just recaps here, no reports of fatalities, not even any major injuries stemming from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake. again, the most powerful in two decades. ridge crest, california, that is the epicenter there. it's located about 150 miles or so northeast of los angeles. you're seeing the result of it, with regard to fires, gas mains that have broken there. seismologists in general are cautioning that large after shocks will continue and we are going to monitor this for you, and hope we don't have to experience while we're broadcasting live at the brokaw center in los angeles. let's get to political headlines developing this hour. a federal judge ordering a case go forward on whether a citizenship question can be added to the census. the judge saying the lawsuit from immigrants rights groups will focus on whether the trump administration was steeped in discriminatory motive. that order issued shortly after the administration told the judge government lawyers are looking at all available options

for adding that question to the 2020 census form. >> we're thinking about doing that. it's one of the ways. we have four or five ways we can do it. it's one of the ways that we're thinking about doing it very seriously. we're doing well on the census. >> democratic representative katie hill joined me in the last hour saying the situation is pushing us closer to a constitutional crisis. >> this president is continuing to try to pretend like the normal way of doing things doesn't apply to him, so if he issues an executive order that directly contradicts the supreme court, that is literally throwing away the constitution and the checks and balances put in place by our founding fathers. that's when we have no choice but to move towards something like impeachment. the fear of i.c.e. raids growing as the president says the administration will move forward fairly soon with mass deportation roundups of thousands of families across major u.s. cities. this weekend does mark the end

of the two-week deadline, the president imposed on democrats to work out a solution of the asylum problems along the southern border. and the mystery deepening over vice president's abruptly cancelled new hampshire trip this week. here's what the president told reporters about that yesterday. >> why did the vice president cancel his trip the other day? >> you'll know in about two weeks. it was a very interesting problem that they had in new hampshire that i can't tell you about it. it had nothing to do with white house. there was a problem up there, and i won't go into what the problem was, but you'll see in about a week or two. >> according to "the washington post," a top police official in salem, new hampshire, says that he was unaware of any security threat that would have caused the vice president to cancel his trip. joining me now, betsy woodrough, reporter for the daryl beast, and msnbc contributor, jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters. big welcome. always good to see you. i'm curious what both of you are

hearing about the mystery around the vice president being called back to washington. betsy, you first. >> it's a mystery to folks i reached out to on this particular topic and people in the white house are adamant that there was nothing particularly dangerous or sinister about the reasons for him being called back but ultimately what this ep co so -- episode reminds us is the white house cares about their reputation with the public. all presidents and all white houses sometimes say things that aren't true, and sometimes push out messages that are contrary to facts, sometimes in more dramatic ways than others. in this case, the trump administration has largely just entirely jettisoned much of this historic tradition of white houses trying to maintain credibility with the public and that's part of the reason that this bizarre episode with the vice president is generating as much eyebrow raising as it has. >> yeah, i'm curious, jeff, your thoughts on this.

what do you think we should take away from the president's response? he's basically punted and said you're going to know in about two weeks and saying there was an interesting problem there in new hampshire. >> yeah, well, i think the first thing i would say to that is the president likes to say, you'll find out in one or two weeks. he uses that on lots of different issues, whether it be on tariffs, in japan, earlier this year, when he set sort of a deadline or a time frame for the deal with the japan that the japanese were unaware of. using deadlines or time frames is something he will throw off the cuff without necessarily following through on it. as for the reasoning that the vice president ended up not going to new hampshire, they, you know, as betsy says they haven't given any details on that, and i'm eager to find out, and if that's in two weeks or if it's ever, we'll be watching. >> okay. let's move on to this, the president having said that the plans for isis family operation will be moving forward. let's blisten to a bit more of

what he had to say on that. >> they'll be starting fairly soon. i don't call them raids. we're removing people that have come, all of these people over the years that have come in illegally. we are removing them and bringing them back to their country. >> so what more do we know about this, jeff? and the president is being careful not doing as you just pointed out, any kind of a time frame like he has done before. >> well, yeah, remember, and this sort of ties in with what we were talking about, he did set a time frame for a deal with democrats that was about two weeks. that deadline is coming up, but he doesn't seem to be emphasizing that again, so it could be that they're going to give it more time, continue to see if there's any progress between the two sides on that. obviously there is still a threat and whether you call it a raid or whether you call it something else, there is a threat to people who are in the united states, who came here illegally from being removed and being removed right away.

>> yeah, the president, betsy delayed that operation last time and part of the reason you said he did it was at the request of democrats and congress would get a chance to work out a solution to the asylum and loophole problems. do we know where the discussions stand on that right now? >> they seem to have made no significant or serious movement. it's impossible to imagine any sort of deal where democrats and the white house would be able to come to any sort of agreement when it comes to this very important asylum question. just increasing funding for dhs and for what republicans characterize as humanitarian aid to the border was itself deeply divisive within the house democratic caucus. many of the more progressive members of the lower chamber were really frustrated with leadership. they saw it as pelosi, of course the speaker of the house acquiescing to the white house, failing to stand up harder in the way they would have wanted to, and given that tension within the democratic party as it tries to decide where exactly

it draws the line when it comes to immigration enforcement. it seems incredibly unlikely congress would be able to pass meaningful legislation regarding the asylum process anytime remotely soon. >> let's take a look at what the president did this morning when he took a swipe at former vice president joe biden slamming him as a reclamation project, and claiming that china and other countries that ripped us off for years are begging for him, but he won't win. i asked this of analysts in the last hour, jeff, why is the president singling out biden and will that change if the former vp is singled out in the polls, seen as the front run sglner. >> biden is the front runner, he has also shown in the last few days that he likes to continue to use president obama with whom joe biden obviously served for eight years as a scapegoat. he sees that as an easy target

when he's trying to contrast his own policies and his own views with that of the previous administration. i think, alex, to your question about whether that will change, certainly it will if somebody else comes on the scene, be it a senator kamala harris or any of the other ones who are competing against biden for the democratic nomination. as we see the polls change, and they're certainly likely to move, there's a lot of time between now and the iowa caucuses. i suspect the president's attacks change zas well. >> i'm out of time unfortunately. i know i'll talk with both of you again. jeff, betsy, always good to speak with you. the house democrats make a play to get trump's taxes. why has it taken this long and will they ever see them? that's next. aken this long and will they ever see them? that's next. this is jamie. you're going to be seeing a lot more of him now. -i'm not calling him "dad." -oh, n-no. -look, [sighs] i get it. some new guy comes in helping your mom bundle and save with progressive, but hey, we're all in this together. right, champ? -i'm getting more nuggets.

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22 minutes past the hour, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit southern california last night. it struck near ridgecrust, where the 6.4 earthquake shook nearby. residents remaining on edge as the usgs is reporting. the earth under southern california keeps rumbling with about one after shock every minute to varying degrees of course. joining me now california represent live linda sanchez -- representative, linda sanchez. where were you, did you feel it?

>> i was eating dinner with family and friends. we felt a gentle rolling. i was in los angeles. it wasn't as sharp as other areas. >> how about your constituents, they would be a good distance away from ridgecrest. >> yes, but i live in whittier, and whittier has a fault line as well. we have had an earthquake in the past. it does set people on edge a bit. >> i can imagine. fortunately no reports of damage or injuries for you and your constituents. all good. let's get to the president's tax returns. >> yes. >> because i'm well aware that your committee is suing the trump administration in federal court. it's been, what, six years of tax returns that you're trying to get with no effect getting anywhere close. what is is the point of this, there's no need, we have to prove there's a need for the taxes, for what gain. talk about what your lawsuit says. >> sure. so because of past scandals in administrations where there was bribery and use of federal lands for oil companies and timber

companies, there is a section of the united states code, 6103 which says upon the request of the chairman of the ways and means committee, which is a tax committee in congress. the irs shall turn over the tax returns of the president, so our chairman richard neal has been following the letter of the law, requested six years of trump's business and tax returns, returns i might add that the president said during the election he would be happy to turn over and still hasn't. so he made the request to the irs, the irs deferred to department of treasury, treasury says we're not going to give them to you. so that was in april. in may, we issued subpoenas for those documents. they pretty much just ignored the subpoenas, so the final step in trying to enforce that was on july 2nd, we filed a lawsuit trying to enforce them turning over those documents and the statute is very clear. it says upon the request they

shall turn them over. >> you're emphasizing the word shall and i remember back in april, there was all this discussion about the interpretation of the word shall. did we just waste so much time going over that? >> if you ask any judge, shall is pretty clear, if means you do it, you get asked you have to do it. yet this administration, the president himself thinks he's above the law. thinks he doesn't have to answer to the courts or judges and seems to want to just completely erase the separation of powers and the checks and balances that are set up in our democracy to make sure that somebody is not enriching themselves by their office or not, you know, not being nefarious in their dealings. that's all we're trying to find out is, you know, what does a president, has he benefitted from many of the tax policies they have put into police station -- into place, where does he get funding from. is he hiding assets, those are

relevant questions. if you have a president who's enriching himself because of the office, that's not good for america and democracy. >> i want to get to the prospect of the president adding as he wants to, at least he's contemplating adding the citizenship question to the 2020 census. the likelihood of that happening, just from a logistics standpoint, we missed the deadline of june 30th for them to add anything. this now has to go to print. but he wants to use potentially, an executive order to add that. what is the detriment of doing that, the congressional hispanic caucus, very much opposed to it. >> another instance in which the president doesn't seem to want to respect the power of judiciary, the separation of powers. the supreme court ruled the reason they gave for wanting to include the question was false. they basically lied. d it's not for apportionment. there's a constitution very

clear that says person should be counted, not citizens. there's an you wiulterior motiv which is to decrease participation of immigrant communities through fear. if they don't stand up and be counted, then they get less representation, communities don't get their fair share of resources and the president doesn't seem to want to listen to the supreme court. the supreme court said the reasoning was false. you know, the folks at the department of justice seemed to concede and say, okay, we're going to go to print with the census questionnaire without that question and the president tweets and reverses, even the lawyers were caught off guard. they didn't know what rationale, the president was trying to use. him saying, i'm going to do it by executive order, again, doesn't respect the judiciary and the fact that you can't just do what you want because you're the president and not have to answer for your actions.

there are mechanisms and there is a structure you have to follow. you don't get to make up the rules as you go. he seems to want to do that. he seems to be pushing that envelope, and heading towards, you know, creating a crisis where a crisis isn't necessary. you know, i don't think that they can come up with a justification that is a true justification for including that question. >> california representative linda sanchez, lots to talk about. thank you for staying on the case on both of those issues. thank you so much. some of the most popular 2020 candidates are making their case to african-american voters in new orleans. we're going to be live at essence fest, next. be live at seesnce fest, next ok everyone!

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back again with this breaking news this hour we're following for you. a massive gas explosion has rocked a shopping center in florida. multiple people have been injured. we do not know yet the extent of the injuries, though we are told at this point, no fatality. police and firefighters are on the scene. they're investigating the cause of this blast. it happened a couple of hours ago in plantation. just west of fort lauderdale. and again, we fortunately repeat, no reports of fatalities at this point. we do know that explosion has sent large pieces of debris as far as 100 yards across the

street. you're seeing the mess for yourself, scattered through a majority of the parking lot. we have all stores and businesses being shut down until fire officials can determine whether or not it is safe to return. also this breaking news from right here where i am in southern california, officials getting a first look at the damage from last night's 7.1 magnitude earthquake. let's go to joe fryer. one of the most powerful earthquakes in 20 years. talk about what you're seeing and the residents' reaction there. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. alex, so daylight gives us a better look at exactly what happened because when this earthquake hit, it was nighttime out, and behind me, you can see just some of the damage. that's a mobile home that actually went up in flames immediately after the earthquake. we have john towler here. john lives across the street from this. you were here when this happened, the way you described it is you felt sort of an after

shock and sort of wondered is that's the worst it's going to be. >> that's right. i felt a small after shock, and a couple of minutes later, the big one started and this definitely isn't it. i wasn't able to get out of the house, and i didn't have anywhere to cover, i just hugged the wall and prayed for the best. that's all i could do. >> reporter: what was going through your mind at that point, could you tell it was stronger than the one you experienced about 36 hours earlier. >> it felt a lot more violent. there was more bouncing, the trailer behind me was lifting up. it was a scary experience. >> reporter: and about how long did it last for as far as you can tell. >> it felt like an eternity, but in reality, it was probably 15, 20 seconds. >> reporter: you didn't know what was going to happen because you were inside that trailer, and it's on concrete stilts, is a good way to put it. what were you worried about? >> i was worried the whole trailer was going to bounce up and bounce off the stilts and like we have seen other trailers in ridgecrest that have completely tilted and are off

the tilts and that's why i was worried, if i would go flying against the wall. i really didn't know. >> reporter: as soon as the earthquake is done, you step outside, and you look across the street, and what is it you saw. >> a fire, unfortunately, it was devastating. at first it was quite small and we were hoping we could save it. >> the family that was inside was able to get out safely. still people assessing the damage here. certainly some structural damage. some damage caused by fires. and people here continue to brace for the possibility of aftershocks, alex. >> that's right. they have to brace for that. they're certain to be coming. joe fryer thank you so much for that report from the epicenter of the 7.1 quake. thanks, joe. let's look ahead to 2020, despite a rough week for joe biden's campaign, he is leading the polls nationwide according to the abc "washington post" polling. biden sits at 29%. then you have bernie sanders close behind, just outside that margin of error at 23%. senators elizabeth warren and

kamala harris, they are tied with 11%, and the candidates are out in force this holiday weekend from nevada to new hampshire, six of whom in new orleans right now for the 25th anniversary essence fest. let's go to nbc shaquille brewster who's in hot louisiana, i understand the weather is oppressive there. let's get to the candidates, what are they saying there? >> reporter: they're staying that black women are a priority for the democratic party. six candidates are making their way to the essence fest. it's considered to be the largest annual gathering of black women in the country. we have already heard from senator bennett. we heard from mayor de blasio and senator kamala harris who got an extremely warm reception. as i was watching her speech and watch people watch her speech, you noticed that many people even though they liked her, they were hearing policies for the very first time. listen to how senator harris framed her speech. >> people will often come up to me, and they will say, well kamala, talk to us a little bit

about black people's issues. and i look at them, and i say you know what, i am so glad you want to talk about the economy. i am so glad you want to talk about health care. i am so glad you want to talk about the racial wealth gap. and let's talk about national security while we're at it, and let's talk about the dreams people have for our children. >> reporter: in that speech she announced a $100 billion plan to close the racial wealth gap, including help and assistance for closing costs for home buyers, and down payment assistance, it will help about 4 million home buyers. elizabeth warren is announcing executive proposals. many women who have been watching the candidates say they believe the democratic party has taken them for granted. they like the fact that they are

being targeted directly and there are policies directly targeted to the african-american community. alex. >> as they should appreciate that. okay. all good there from the essence fest. thank you so much, shaq, good to see you. show me the money, how fundraising is shaping the race to the 2020 democratic no, ma m nomination. that's next. nomination that's next. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. nice! but uh, what's up with your partner? oh! we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize car insurance because no two people are alike, so... limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. ya... he'll figure it out. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

now to the 2020 dash for cash and campaigning announcing

eye popping fundraising halls, pete buttigieg is on the top of the democratic field, bringing in $24.8 million. joe biden following second with 21.5 million. bernie sanders with 8. those numbers nowhere near the president's fundraising haul, pulling in a whopping $105 million last quarter. senior aide to hillary clinton's campaign. conservative strategist, lauren zelt. amy holmes former speech writer for bill frist. $105 million in the second quarter. what kind of an advantage does that kind of cash haul give the trump campaign over democrats and how much does it matter at this stage of the race. >> let's start with money, if money wins campaign, hillary clinton would be facing jeb bush in 2016. he raised $100 million to get 3% of the republican primary vote,

and hillary clinton she actually outraised donald trump, and yet we know that donald trump became president of the united states. what money can do is being able to buy ads in very expensive news areas, media areas. one of the other things donald trump has as an advantage at this moment is incumbency and a unified party, unified around a seasoning single candidate. democrats are running for the nomination, 20 of them competing for money, time. >> any republican is only going to give to donald trump, with all do respect to william weld who's declared a candidacy. it's not making a lot of splash shall we say. what do you think about buttigieg raising more funds than joe biden, what's that about? >> i think buttigieg had a lot of room to grow, and i think

what buttigieg has done is tapped into new sources of funding, there is a really active lgbt donor community in the democratic party and obviously a lot of those forces have circled around the buttigieg candidacy, but i think amy makes an important point. the president is not running against a field of 20, so it shouldn't be a surprise, but also i would say none of these numbers have really been disqualifying. i think kamala harris's number came in lower than what a lot of people were expecting. she was at $12 million. none of the numbers to me are disqualifying. all of these top tier candidates have a chance to really put a strong efforts forward given their fundraising place in the race. >> and you know what, joel you got to remember, this is cumulative over the entire second quarter and kamala harris's big leap, if you will, might have come the night of the debate, so cumulatively, she may not have garnered as much in cash contributions and maybe she is now when you put it all together.

how do you read all of this, lauren, in terms of its perspective for the whole campaign. amy was talking about jeb bush. she made a very good point there. >> amy does make a good point. i disagree a little bit. i think the money really matters. where president trump is, he's well ahead of where president obama was in terms of fundraising before he went into his reelection campaign. the amount of money the rnc has pulled in in the second quarter is staggering. $100 million with cash on hand. the dnc, i agree, it's difficult because donors are giving to their preferred candidates but the dnc is in dire trouble. they spent more than they earned, or than they raised this year, and took out $3 million in new debt. that is a big problem come the general election. >> i disagree with that, but what i would also say, too, is donald trump's place in the race is big and unless he's going to take some of that hundred

million dollars to release kids from kacages in the border. he's run a base strategy and he's going to double down on that. that's not going to make movements in this race if you ask me. >> let's take a look at some of the new policies being rolled out by democrats this weekend as they take the stage at the essence fest. you had elizabeth warren announcing executive action she would take on day one trying to boost wages for women of color. kamala harris releasing her own plan to invest in black home ownership, and addressing the racial wealth gap. how persuasive could these plans be when it comes to reaching this critical voting block, amy. >> i think it could be persuasive and as your reporter pointed out, african-american women are essential to the democratic primary and success in general elections and i agree with senator harris that the economy is a black women's issue, but i don't agree with the approach and they're talking about, for example, the gender wage gap. the wage gap between white women and white males, that has been debunked.

that $0.77 number has been debunked over and over and over again, and what they seem to be pitching is you have to wait until one of us is elected to be able to implement these coercive collective policies in order to get ahead, i would say what about policy that empowers the individual women, empowers women in the marketplace, better use of the money they're going to be spending on this would be buying mika bring z-- mika's book. >> i can't let you go with regard to the president's campaign being in turmoil, saying there's an escalating cold war between jeb buared kus and donald trump jr., according to a person close to don jr., that jared wants to take control of the campaign, this is all about power, according to a former west wing official and the report goes on to say that spokes people within the rnc and white house denying this.

but what do you make of it? >> donald trump, his campaign in 2016 was the most nontraditional campaign ever. i think that the only traditional thing about his reelection campaign is the fact that there is, that people are trying to be the most important person and the closest to the candidate. that's actually very normal in presidential campaigns especially, so that might be the only thing that we see on the trump campaign, but, you know, i think overall from what i see and what folks are telling me is that the rnc and trump campaign are working really well together, and given that money that they have behind them, the democrats are going to have to work hard to catch up once we get to the general election. >> too spoiled entitled brats. >> >> there has been no reporting about a lot of this if it's at all happening, it's only now we're seeing there might be infighting among the trump clan when you consider how high profile they are. >> we give too much spotlight to this.

two spoiled, entitled brats going on 3rd base and fighting who can steal home first. i have no interest whatsoever. >> i'm sorry i asked. >> not at you, alex, new question, though, i appreciate the question. >> all right. guys, talk to you later. thank you so much. >> thank you, alex. coming up next, why some believer the real crisis at the southern border isn't the migrants coming to the u.s. e migrants coming to the u.s hi. do you have a travel card? yep. our miles card. earn unlimited 1.5 miles and we'll match it at the end of your first year. nice! i'm thinking about a scuba diving trip. woman: ooh! (gasp) or not. you okay? yeah, no, i'm good. earn miles. we'll match 'em at the end of your first year. about the colonial penn program. here to tell you yeah, no, i'm good. if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's.

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developing this hour, a new report showing the dangerous conditions at migrant detention centers that they are more widespread than we knew. extreme overcrowding, children younger than 7 being held in custody for more than two weeks. they are among the urgent issues disive co discovered at border facilities after unannounced visits by internal watchdog. joining me now nancy santiago, vice president. i want to ask you your reaction to these photos and for being here. and who is responsible for chaungei changing what is going on in these centers. >> this is so hugely important. those photographs are just the beginning of what folks are getting to see officially and

i'm very thankfulthi fuful that inspector general's office released photographs of the official ones. what we're seeing on the ground is deplorable but it's the responsibility of this administration to, one, be held accountable to this. i think congress has a lot to say here and hasn't said nearly enough. i'm very happy for the democratic coalition of folks that went to the ground to see it. i think it just was too long in coming. folks needed to have seen this when it was coming. we are now in dangerous situations. >> look, nancy, the president has his reaction to things. let's take a listen to what he had to say delivering his own mesage message to the migrants and these facilities. >> i think they do a great job with those facilities. number one, tell them not to come because it's illegal. >> your reaction to that lisening to the president say that because not everyone in these facilities are crossing over into the country illegally. but would you even know that

based on the president's rhetoric? >> no, you wouldn't understand. these are people coming here to seek asylum, which they have the right to do. what we've done is created this crisis in the u.s. right now. folks are coming to seek asylum. coming to a port of entry as they're supposed to. what we're not understanding is that the president's own rhetoric has inflamed the situation and created a sense of urgency where one may not have existed prior. so, for those of us who have been in facilities and i have been in them and on both sides of the border to see these situations at hand. we're creating a situation that even the agencies can no longer handle. this inflammatory language that he's using and scaring people by thinking that he's closing these borders tomorrow. there's a sense ofu urgency to get protection and get it now. this is a monster of our own making. >> nancy, a disconnect in terms of the approach here. a new cnn poll which shows nearly three-quarters of americans show, yep, there is a

crisis at the border. among them it is a crisis because of the way they're being treated and a crisis because of the number of migrants coming into the u.s. how do you fix a crisis like this when you cannot even agree on the root cause? >> the problem is the crisis, we can't begin to fix it until we can get the president to stop making it worse. part of it is cutting the aid to these countries. people were already in desperate situations which is why they were coming to ask for asylum. then you tell people you are not able to get in. they start to flood out as quickly as possible to be able to claim asylum. now you have the perfect storm because we now have agencies that cannot keep up. so, we've created this haphazard change of policy is making it not only untenable for our staff and the agencies to keep up, but also the people at the border to understand what is really going on and whether they should be trying or not to ask for asylum. >> nancy santiago, keep it up

appreciate your effort. breaking news to share. explosions in south florida. pretty extraordinary there. a live report for you at the top of the hour.

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yes, we are past the top of the hour, so, i'm out of time. i'm alex witt. a lot of packed news today. the earthquake, the fire and, yeah, i mean. >> did you feel the earthquake this morning? >> yes. it was last night i felt that one and iel