smidge. that wraps up this hour for me. see you back here at 8:00 eastern for "all in with chris hayes." you can watch on sirius xm radio, tune in, apple tv and msnbc app and all over social media. thank you for watching. "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts now. >> hi, everyone, it's 4:00 in new york. in public and in private donald trump is reportedly shane by the prospects of an economic downturn. having pinned all of thinks hopes for re-election on the strength of the economy. he also woke up to ominous poll numbers from his most favorite network, fox news, that show him losing to all of the top democratic candidates for president in 2020. here are those numbers. biden beats donald trump 50 to 38, bernie sanders 48 to 39, elizabeth warren 41 to 39 and

kamala harris 45 to 39. and on that topic of vulnerability had, the mounting signs of global economic stress has alarmed president trump whose worried the downturn could imperial his re-election, even as administration officials acknowledged they have not planned for a possible recession. "the new york times" adds this, quote, in private he's expressed his own anxiety about the economy taking a dive, knowing his electoral fortunes are likely tied to it. even if he vents frustration that his opponents are overstating the troubles. as the president's anxiety meter surges, his rally performance and another point of pride for the reality tv president has also taken a hit. "the new york times" describes last night's rally like this, quote, his speech was at times the greatest hits album, a favorite line, replaying the 2016 campaign against hillary clinton. should note she's not running this time. and bashing the news media, democrats and american allies in

europe. typically rambling, veering on and off script seemingly add random, over an hour and a half. he repeated points he had already made earlier in the evening. as if he did not remember already making them. at one point he veered so off script, he attacked a supporter for being overate. >> that guy's got a serious weight problem. go home, start exercising. get him out of here, please. got a bigger problem than i do. got a bigger problem than all of us. now he goes home and his mom says, what the hell have you just done? >> that is where we start today with some of our favorite reporters and friends. from "the washington post," white house bureau chief phil rucker. with us at the table axios political reporter alexi mccammond, republican strategist and former communications director for the rnc, tim

miller. plus former u.s. attorney joyce vance is back and rev al sharpton, host of "politicsnation" here on msnbc and president of the political action network. ruck ge rucker, let me start with you. what about last night? >> nicolle, it was a rambling speech that went on for more than an hour and he veered across so many topics. but i found most interesting what he had to say about the economy which was basically you have to vote for me because the economy is strong right now. privately our reporting has been he's quite alarmed and rattled about some of these negative indicators that we've seen this week and over the past couple of weeks as well as what's happening abroad with some of these foreign countries, foreeconomies. and trump is calling out to ceos, to friends, to some of his real estate buddies trying to take their temperature and also voicing skepticism about some of

the data that he's seeing, saying some of these statistics are not to be believed because they're cooked up by economists who have an anti-trump bias. we will see how this plays out but it's not a particularly good sign from some of his advisers. >> because this donald trump let's go high and lou. he attacked a man who turned out to be one of his own supporters. i don't know where there are many schools in america you can bully somebody like that and not get suspended. >> yeah, that probably calls for a time-out in a lot of preschools in america. the white house officials this morning were saying president trump actually called that supporter from aboard air force one last night on his way back here to new jersey. he did not apologize, according to the white house. he's not somebody who ever really apologizes but he did convey to the supporter that hep did the mean to offend him and he thanks him for his support. >> joyce, let's go there because "the new york times" did. i read this in the open but i will read it again.

the speech, as phil rucker said, typically rambling, veering on and off script, seemingly at random, over an hour and a half. he repeated points he had already made earlier in the evening as if he did not remember already making them. and i have been on jury duty so let me enter that into evidence, alongside of a couple of other things. david brooks reported in 2017 that a bunch of republicans came out of a meeting with donald trump explained some signs that were similar to the early stages of alzheimer's. you've got reporting i think from phil's newspaper, from axios and other places that in and out of the rooms people either disparagingly or affectionately are saying at an increased clip, he's crazy. >> you know, there's pervasive reporting and disregard and if it was grandpa, you would probably take him to see a neurologist or someone who specializes in geriatric

medicine. that hasn't happened here -- >> that we know of. >> that we know of is right. the remedy is the 25th amendment and that requires an intact cabinet which trump does not have, whether by design or not, most of the cabinet is acting and there's no will to take that on in any event. >> so there's no will to fill a cabinet with the kind of appointees that have that power. i would pause that there's not a lot of will to have this conversation but when it shows up in black and white in the hard copy print of "the new york times," it's impossible for me to ignore it. you have the white house beat reporters including in their stories about the rally the man repeated himself as though he didn't already made those points. >> when you look at the fact that grandpa is not sitting home reading the paper but he's on the front page of the paper and grandpa is the football with the nuclear bomb mechanisms near him, this is crazy. you're talking about a man

yesterday that at one point in his speech was attacking hillary clinton, which was 2 1/2 years ago, kept repeating himself, attacks an overweight supporter of his that he didn't know was there supporting him. we've been hearing over and over again he's losing it. and i think what is driving this even more, nicolle, is that with the economy afearing to be headed at least downward, if not a recession, wouand you have england and other problems in europe, it drives him further into whatever cloudy area he is in mentally and he's becoming desperate because the race card he used the last couple of weeks is not working. you cannot tell farmers sitting there with soybeans and others in your base that you caused these trade wars and rumors, you can't tell them they got it, it's their fault but so long. you told me you would improve my lot and it's not improved.

where is the infrastructure bill? where are the things he promised his own supporters. forget about us. he told us we would not do anything in terms of what we believe. but the infrastructure to farmers, coal miners, he promised all of that and he can't blake that on blacks and mexicans because we don't have any of those jobs. >> part of the reason we're not hearing about infrastructure or economic plan for a potential recession and we are hearing about hillary clinton and overweight men in the crowd, elizabeth warren, who he called pocahontas because it's so much easier for donald trump to run against an enemy of any sort he can identify and make a caricature of them and drag them through the mud than it is to run for himself. which is lack of a plan on health care, infrastructure, social security. a lack of a plan to deal with an economic recession. instead of getting up there and touting what claims is a booming national economy, he can't do that. he can't run against himself or on all of his accomplishments so

instead he targets anyone he can to make an opponent, to turn his base against that person. >> phil rucker talked about his own scepticism, the president's scepticism about economic data. let me read you something that captain rampio of "the washington post" writes on the topic of fake staff. when obama was president and the official economic statistics were good, trump saider this fake. when trump became president and inherited the disability same stats, suddenly they were real. now that they're turning south, they're fake again. my question for you is, is he putting too much faith into what he's already programmed his voters to do, not believe their eyes, not believe their ears, only believe him. or would the numbers not lie as the riv said the rev said? >> he has no choice but to do it. he lies. he can only tell his advisers

not to listen to the experts. electorates told him not to run and he wouldn't win. so now he's here in the white house and the same nerds or weenies, whatever he called them, weenies, seriously, he called them weenies -- >> i won't take that personally as a former staffer. >> that's okay. and so i think what he's going to do to go forward all the way up until november of next year is you can either believe me or your lying eyes and say the economy is great no matter what happens, no matter how bad it gets. >> phil rucker, you're propertying on the president's angst about the economy today is so interesting. i heard anecdotally the president's calculation on 2020 is he's in decent shape if, and only if, the economy holds up. is there any indication that -- and i'm not sure how he turns any harder, and you and your clo colleagues have a great piece about paper straws.

but the creatures are sort of one, the magic he feels he creates notice room. two, the culture issues you all wrote about this week, plastic straws, attacking nfl players, the wedge issues. and the third you reported on today, the economy holding up, is there any inkling or any talk of anything else being out there for this president to cling to? >> that's about it right now, nicolle. the one hope that trump has that he could have a huge foreign policy breakthrough potentially between now and the election. he's obviously -- >> that's scary. >> he is relying on north korea, wants that sort of a deal on kim jong-un and potentially if there's some breakthrough that we can't imagine happening today if that were to occur, that could change the dynamic, similarly if there were some sort of war or national security threat to the homeland that he was responding calculus. but right now the trump advisers

are thinking about the economy, thinki thinking about these culture issues and that's the only card they have to play and it's dangerous and risky. unlike in 2012 when barack obama was running for re-election this a down economy, obama had so much sort of popular goodwill among the american people, people wanted him to succeeds, that it helped prevent mitt romney from running that election. but that goodwill does not exist, at least according to the polling we have seen, with donald trump. >> so phil just perfectly framed my next question for all of you. all he's got is stoking racial animus in this country, spinning or lying about the strength of the economy, which is still good but not as good as he says it is, and we have flashing yellow lights on the foreign policy front as well. if you look at the news from fox news, no less, and if you do down farther than the top four, he's still in a very, very tight

race. i guess my question, the predictions i'm looking for, is he scarier when he feels like he escaped a bad faith like being exonerated from mueller, or is he scarier when he's politically weak and desperate? >> i think he's plenty scary right now and democrats should not look at those polls and breathe any kind of sigh of relief. there are structural issues built into this election. there's gerrymandering, there's voter suppression and unless democrats stay on that down until november of 2020, trump could pull this off. he will be dangerous like a wounded animal. >> wow. >> and there is no boundaries to what he will do. >> right. >> because you're talking about a man who is not only looking to stay in the white house, but he's also looking to stay out of jail or at least the courthouse. so he's going to swing with everything he has. i think for the democrats to in any way relax thinking we got this in the bag or we should not come with the best candidate would play right into his hands. but he's going to have a hard

time even with a breakthrough with a foreign situation to convince people that he did what he said -- he didn't promise those farmers or the people in appalacia or the people in pennsylvania that i'm going to bring kim jong-un to the table. that's not what he promised them. but if the democrats can articulate and drive that message home, he will get away with it. a lot of it is going to be do the democrats understand what they need to do? if anybody can beat themselves, democrats have then they can do that. >> republicans were pretty good at showing they can beat themselves running against donald trump. just about everything predicted came through, chaos president, he's a liar, he debased the office. i watched olds footage of jeb bush and everything he warned about has come to pass. whats your advice to democrats as these polls look promising but i agree with joyce and the

refb abo rev about the dynamics? >> i think what the democrats need to do is just zero in on the economy, on the economic attacks on him, on the way he's left people behind. like you said, rev, we get caught up in all of these scandals of the day. they should talk about it. they need to focus on the people donald trump has left behind, the promises he made to them. the whole campaign is promises kept. he hasn't kept any of his promises. the main three promises were mexico would pay for the wall, hillary would be in jail and he would drain the swamp. >> and he was going to build a wall. >> those are the three things. he hasn't followed up on any of those. the manufacturing base of this country hasn't come back. so what is his card in his card is going to be to divide and attack and be as nasty and divisive as possible coming from all angles, coming from the right and the left against democrats and the only way to defeat him is going to be go right back at him. >> so two questions for you,

just first pick up on -- from all that you see in your focus groups, this message about the economy that i hear increasingly from democrats on the campaign trail and smart democrats around this table, that does represent both an opportunity for democrats and vulnerability for trump even with the swing voters you talked to, right? >> that's exactly right because the swing voters whether it's pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, michigan, they can so easily -- and these are folks who voted for obama twice and then switched to donald trump, they can so easily regurgitate national headlines the economy is doing so well. and then we flip it, are you feeling that personally in your wages and paycheck and two, three jobs you're stringing together to afford childcare? and they say no. that is an opportunity for democrats to say you might think the national economy is moving in the right direction no matter what trump is trying to do with tariffs but if it's not reflected in your paycheck, you should think about that twice and three times if you're going to the voting box on election

day november 2020. that is what's really fascinating when we are hearing economic stats from donald trump, people's wages are not going up. it's heartbreaking to hear from people saying i make $18 an hour and that's only because i can get government assistance to pay for my childcare. otherwise i couldn't get childcare for my kiz. donald trump is not talking about that. he's not talking to those folks. >> it's such a good point in terms of the time he's had to speak to their concerns. i spent a lot of time with these two obama voters who voted for trump in erie, p.a. and michigan. in the first six months their jobs had not come back, of course. but they were willing to give him time. i guess what you're seeing is there's an open question now about whether he had enough time. i want to put one thing for you from this fox news poll. voters have a negative view of biden and trump backed biden by a 43-10 margin in the head to head. they don't like either. we heard a lot of this in 2016, didn't like the choices. in the biden/trump case, 43% to

10% favor biden. some wouldn't vote for any and some are undecided. that's a flashing yellow in this poll. >> especially after the 2016 election. people who didn't like hillary, he won them by 17% and the crucial battleground states that afforded him his electoral college victory. and there's something else in that poll that the aaron blake at "the washington post" wrote about the base support and margin of error between that and the folk who actually support him. the people who approve of his job is higher than the vote share he's getting. it might be fours or five percentage points but that's still something he has to think about when he's playing to this base of supporters who are mostly white and might approve of the dog he's doiing but are n him again. >> and don't forget the popular rhetoric he falls back on. he said he would go after prescription drug companies and

banks. he hasn't done any of that. i think a lot of voters who flipped from obama to hix, they good resonated in the scandal. >> you have to remember we talk about obama had a bad economy in '12 and moving forward, he inherited a bad economy and people were saying well, he to fix it. this man inherited a good economy. >> that's fair. >> and he has not delivered. so he's like a dentist giving you norv acane but when the novocain wears off, you have a political political toothache. people are hurting. the novocain is wearing off and you can't get another shot in my jaw, mr. trump. where's my job? >> phil rucker, i want to give you the last word and your insights and reporting and analysis on how trump reads these polls. we know how he reads coverage that's true that people close to him are sourced on, calls it fake news and the truer, the louder the squeal from the oval

office. what is your read on any of the polls? kellyanne conway is the pollster. she can tell a good poll from a bad poll. the fox news poll being dismissed as fake news? >> well, publicly, nicolle, it's a pretty simple way to think about it. if the poll shows trump winning, it's a real poll. it's an actual poll. if it shows him losing, it's a totally fake, disgusting, biased, rigged poll. but the people in the white house, kellyanne conway especially but others as well and on the campaign know how to read polls. they know this data is not great for the president but they think they still have a chance in part because they view the democratic field as somewhat weak. one point on this conversation we were just having, i kept thinking about a phrase trump used in the campaign and it was i alone can fix it. it seems like the real danger for him is that a majority of americans conclude that he couldn't fix it. that him sort of pitching himself as their genius who could fix everything that ailed our society and country and

economy is that he's more of a fraud. and that's what a lot of democratic voters have already concluded, obviously. the question is whether or not his supporters do. >> all right. thank you for that, phil rucker and for starting us off. >> after the break, the best possible spin on donald trump's haphazard approach to foreign policy was the madman strategy. but what happens when that stops working? also ahead, while republicans are not exactly fleeing donald trump, they're starting to turn on him at a faster clip. we will go inside the latest gop defections. and is the jay-z/nfl partnership a strategic alliance or sellout? we'll put that question to all-star guests. donald trump failed as a businessman. he borrowed billions and left a trail of bankruptcy and broken promises.

he hasn't changed. i started a tiny investment business, and over 27 years, grew it successfully to 36 billion dollars. i'm tom steyer and i approve this message. i'm running for president because unlike other candidates, i can go head to head with donald trump on the economy, and expose him fo what he is: a fraud and a failure. of course he's got plans. with labor day deals starting from 20% off,

bookers are leaving summer with no regrets. it's labor day! book a place to stay and be a booker at booking.com.

we must as a nation be more unpredictable. we're totally predictable. we tell everything. we're sending troops, we tell them. we're sending something else, we have a news conference. we have to be unpredictable. and we have to be unpredictable starting now. . >> well, he kept that promise. donald trump has offended nearly every foreign policy tradition. just take this week, for example. he involved an ally in a partisan fight against two of his perceived political enemies in congress, pressuring the prime minister of israel to block two dually elected congresswomen from entering israel to visit. he's defying his aides, who are pushing him to take a more forceful stand since the part of the protesters, pro-democracy protesters in hong kong. the cautious distance from hong

kong has left him politically isolated from both parties in congress, the state department, european allies and his most hawkish advisers at the white house. and if those two stories weren't enough, trump signaled interest in purchasing greenland. to which they said no thanks. and north korean just launched two new missiles and rejected the idea of talks to south korea. and today he's meeting with his secretary of state to discuss, of all things, withdrawal of troops from afghanistan. what a week. phil rucker is still here and the arest of t the rest of the table too. phil rucker, talking about the strategy, the only thing that strengthens his political foundation is the prospect of an unforeseen political victory which showcases strength or steadiness or stability.

you read the headlines, i don't think anyone thinks they will do that for him. >> no, and let's be clear, nicolle, i wasn't suggesting there's one in the offing. >> i know. it's how you respond. i get it. >> this stuff is always volatile and can change. something could happen months down the road that we don't see. if we just zero in on the hopping congress protest, that is so stunning the president has not come out the way john bolton has to stand behind these pro-democracy protesters. that has been the historical role of the american leader in modern times, to defend democracy around the world, to defend those values, and he's not doing it. but it's in keeping with what trump has done at other moments in his presidency, most especially i think the press conference in helsinki alongside vladimir putin where he stood with him and was -- it --

supported what spvladimir putin said about russian interference in the election, his denial rather. >> and i'm not suggesting you suggested they were strengths but it still remains and every american hopes in a crisis our president would do well. those are things you cannot predict and voters process them in realtime the way we cover them in realtime. but i want to follow up with you on hong kong. the reporting on this story has been so interesting -- this is where figures like mike pompeo or john bolton or people who have been around, as you said, through normal times, when any american president just stands for pro-democracy forces inside any country ace so's sort of ci unrest, civil tension, it is unprecedented for the american president to be so mum. >> yeah, and part of the reason, nicolle, is there's these ongoing trade negotiations with china, which have become increasingly acrimonious but trump is hopeful of some sort of

a breakthrough with president xi in china and i think is reluctant -- i know he's reluck ta tant to criticize xi or get in the middle of this. when he's been asked about it he said both-way statements like i hope nobody gets hurt or nobody gets killed. i hope it will all be okay. but he's been reluctant to stand up and speak forward. he almost acts like he doesn't know what's going on or he's not watching it. it's been all over cable news but the one issue on cable news he's not tweeting about or talking about. >> maybe that's when he takes a bathroom break or something. >> this idea in one of the reports and phil implied he's isolated from pompeo, isolated from bolton and republicans on the hill. i wonder, really? are we sure about that? we're not -- there sure isn't a lot of courage and bravery from republicans on the hill or within this administration standing up to him and saying

with he should be standing with people fighting for democracy, not the oppressor. i don't remember any of our colleagues osh friends criticizing the president over this saying where are you? to me you get anodyne statements from a few senators on the hill but nobody mentions the person in the white house leaving them out to dry while they're waving the president flag and the president isn't doing anything to give them support. it's outrageous. >> i take your point. i think the only distinction is it's reported distension. but you're right, there's not a published report saying you're wrong and we are with you, protesters. you're right. >> and i think it must be clear we're talking about the president who was not at all adverse sitting with putin acting like russian interference, i agree with him over the intelligence. talking about democracy in hong

kong, how about supporting north carolina or texas? you talk about a president who formed a panel to deal with voter fraud that never existed and the panel is disbanded with no explanation and we're dealing with attacks in georgia and all over the country, i would rather if he stood up for democracy in the united states and then we can show him hong kong on the map. >> i take all of your points and perhaps i didn't frame this for the truth tellers appropriately. i think the conversation that you're having is the right one. but there's another layer to this, which is it used to be when america -- what is it, when america sneezes, the world catches a cold. there's a long tail to not just the president but the republican silence. there's a lot of signal sent around the world. you're right, i worked for george w. bush and john mccain and both men, plenty polarizing and flawed, but there was no pro--democracy force in any country that had any question

about where either of those men stood when they went to fight for democratic -- and that goes to some of the most contentious places in the middle east. to pick up on the points which were better than mine, joyce, when does this leave us in terms of the president pulling bibi netanyahu into a fight with two congresswomen? the protesters really being left to dry, left hung out to try in hong kong? what is the new state of america's role in the world? >> you know, it should be clear to everyone that this president does not care about democracy. democracy is not important to him. that oath he took to uphold the constitution was false. he's sort of like a savant, who's focused only on deal making and the good part of being a savant. all he cares about could i bet a good deal in north carolina -- i mean north korea? can i make these condos. and greenland, the beautiful

shot in greenland. it's devastating to watch what he's done in this country. the impact of not being willing to stand up for democracy on a national footing will devastate the world. >> let's not forget his america first schtick. that's reflected in all of this. he approaches foreign policy by this mentality of he settling personal scores. he's doing that with israel when he was punishing his political opponents here at home who are dually elected members of congress by pushing netanyahu's and haed to fornd to force them allowed to enter israel. now he wants to settle a score with china and president xi and tariffs. now he's doing what he can to make maintain a positive relationship with china by not interfering in the pro-democracy protest in hong kong. and it's not putting america first but putting himself first. >> and lindsey graham has been tweeting about donald trump's brilliance and brilliant golf swing tweeted something in support of the protesters.

and i still take your point, it hasn't been anything close to what it would normally be, whether barack obama were president or bill clinton or donald trump. but let me ask you what the political case is, the democrats can take to the country knowing full well that that isn't always a top-of-mind issue for voters? >> i will just say really quick, if mccain was still alive and was president, lindsey graham and john mccain would be on the ground in hong kong waving the flags. the one tweet on that, fair correction. >> i'm with you. >> politically, i agree. this is a beltway issue. this is an issue among elites. i think the place where it can become a little built of a threat to trump is erratic natured. if there are actual damages people are feeling because of his erratic actions, that could be happening on the trade issue with china. people see the market go up and down. then when it impacts them and people see, man, four more years of this guy without having to face voters again, can we trust him on foreign policy? i think there's a certain

category of republicans who don't like trump who are on the fence about what to do, who have tended to come home, that if things get back, can he lose them. i think that would be the one area where there's political possibilities. >> so lack of leadership, lack of stability, lack of proimises kept. >> and trust. >> but don't listen to us. phil rucker, thank you for spending time with us. we're always grateful to have you. after the break, buyer's remorse. there's an uptick in chatter that the republicans bet on donald trump may not work out. o. what's up with your... partner? not again. limu that's your reflection. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪ about the colonial penn program. here to tell you if you're age 50 to 85 and looking to buy life insurance on a fixed budget, remember the three p's. what are the three p's? the three p's of life insurance on a fixed budget are price, price, and price.

a price you can afford, a price that can't increase, and a price that fits your budget. i'm 65 and take medications. what's my price? you can get coverage for $9.95 a month. i just turned 80. what's my price? $9.95 a month for you, too. if you're age 50 to 85, call now about the number one most popular whole life insurance plan available through the colonial penn program. it has an affordable rate starting at $9.95 a month. no medical exam, no health questions. your acceptance is guaranteed, and this plan has a guaranteed lifetime rate lock, so your rate can never go up for any reason. and with this plan, you can pick your payment date, so you can time your premium due date to work with your budget. so call now for free information. and you'll also get this free beneficiary planner, and it's yours just for calling.

so call now.

we are back with some breaking news. the for medical examiner has just released alleged sex trafficker jeffrey epstein's autopsy. easy for me to say. autopsy results. after earlier this week saying further information was needed to reach a cause of death. let's go to nbc investigative reporter tom winter for the details. tom, what are you learning? >> yes, nicolle, two senior law enforcement officials familiar

with the matter tell myself and colleague jonathan dienst the medical examiner in new york city has determined jeffrey epstein's cause of death is suicide by hanging. this was what was presumed all long and what officials believed when they found jeffrey epstein dead in his cell a week ago on saturday morning. it was just after 6:30 a.m. they found him unresponsive. the m.e. conducted the autopsy on sunday, the following day. and then said they needed a little more time and a little more information to determine the cause of death. but now we know it's suicide by hanging and this kind of ends this portion of the investigation. of course, there's still ongoing investigations on several fronts, nicolle. one is the fbi investigation into the death to see if there's any criminality. and we've got the inspector general that's going to look into the mcc, the facility to see what policies were followed or not followed in this particular case. and on top of that you have the ongoing investigation into the

conspiracy for which jeffrey epstein was first charged. of course, that conspiracy looking into people that were in his inner circle. you discussed several of them i know over the last couple of days here. so we will wait and see what happens with the outcome of those investigations but at least from the new york city medical's examiner's perspective, her work is done and has determined jeffrey epstein died suicide by hanging. >> tom winter, was there anything -- was this done with more people involved? did it go to a higher level? did they do this quicker than normal, because of the political atmosphere in which this entire story has been covered since the body was found last saturday morning? >> sure. i really appreciate the question. based on our reporting and based on what i can tell, this was a fairly standard, all things considered investigation. i think was there probably a little more checking of the dots on the is and ts, without a

doubt. on the other hand all normal protocols we with could find, at least to our knowledge at this point, were followed here. dr. michael bauden, pathologist was allowed to attend the autopsy when it was conducted last sunday. but that is something that is allowed, representative from the family can view the autopsy, or for the person who's deceased, i should say, nicolle. that is something allowed and was allowed last sunday to occur. i think it's completely normal, particularly in a case like this, with as much attention on it, intense media focus, intense law enforcement focus for them to take several days just to double-check and make sure they have all of the information and can basically soak in whatever findings they found from their investigation and things with the mcc to include that in this report and come up with the determination they have come up with today. >> tom winter, thank you very much for staying on this and joining us with the breaking news. joyce, i want to come back with an argument you made and update

it with the breaking news and tom winter was generous to sort of engage this question about the climate in which the suicide took place, in which an investigation into how that could happen, in which an autopsy will be released and there's incredible analysis all week long about how this story epitomizes the conspiracy/post truth world in which we're all functioning. >> and the president fueled the fire, retweeting conspiracy theories about epstein's death. so here i think is the problem. it is reassuring it in a strange way that it was a suicide. it's a good thing it was not ruled a homicide. the medical examiner's resuming is the first part of this investigation. there needs to be oversight of what was going on at mcc and why their procedures were so faulty. and the problem of this happening in the middle of all of these swirling conspiracy theories and the attorney general's personal involvement in this matter with so much of

an appearance of conflict from his former law firm's representation of epstein, his father's relationship and the intertwined interaction the president with epstein, really the attorney general should step away from this investigation and let the deputy attorney general or better yet, career people run it. then at the end of the investigation, everyone could have confidence in the outcome and doj could begin to reclaim a little bit of its integrity, it's apolitical reputation. i don't think we will see that though. >> i want to just put up, we've covered this story because epstein was a predator the scale of which i don't know i have seen in my lifetime in terms of someone who preyed on young women and essentially got away with it. >> he's the most well-resourced predator of this type i have ever seen. >> but what added a layer, i have never seen a president involve himself in either the death of or the investigation of

or the prosecution of someone like that. here was a president defending spreading conspiracy theories. >> yeah, he's a very highly respected, conservative pundit. he's a big trump fan. that was a retweet. that wasn't from me. that was from him. but he's a man who has half a million followers, a lot of followers and he's respected. >> so that was donald trump defending a retweet, let's not confuse it, mr. president, with an original piece of work from the twitter feed, of a conspiracy theorist on this question at a time, as tom winter just said and joyce said, what is normal is to expect the results of an autopsy from professionals like what we have today. >> what we know to be true about president trump is he's the conspiracy theorist in chief. he's been that way since he started the conspiracy theory about obama and his birth

certificate not being born in this country, he can get to the worst parts by saying he retweeted someone who is respected and tons of followers, as if anyone really cares. and does that make it better? no. the fact if i remember correctly that conspiracy theory was bill clinton had some involvement in jeffrey epstein's death. that is just another sort of leg in this story that he's telling about the clintons, whether it's hillary or bill. but i mean, i think at the end of the day what is interesting about jeffrey epstein's death in addition to all of the political chaos around it is a dead man tells no tale and donald trump could have very well been in those tales. bill clinton may be in the tales. tons of other people are involved in the scandal and now that he's dead we're lacking the truth at some of the parts of the story. >> we have a videotape of him and jeffrey epstein several years ago at a party with all females. so i mean, he's not talking just

objectively. donald trump and i are both new yorkers. there's a game they play right outside about five blocks down called three card monty, where you play this shell to get the eye of this shell. he doesn't want to be questioned about that tape of him and jeffrey epstein, their friendship. so he starts throwing retweeted conspiracy theory about bill clinton. he knew jeffrey epstein himself. so if he was a normal president, or for that matter normal experience, since you knew the guy, have nothing to say, mr. president, go get in your hec . helicopter. but since he's not normal, he has to try to throw you off and what you have to do is keep your eye on the right shell because he's getting ready to beat you in the shell game. he's going to say here and you keep looking for the shell. >> right now we're dealing with the time where misinformation and the way it ed perfects online is such a problem. if there's any other president who was a normal president,

their job would be to stamp that out. >> to be part of the solution. that is one of the more remarkable things about the time in which we live. when we come back, this one is either the power play of the century, alliance between jay-z and the nfl or evidence that everything and everyone is for sale. that story coming up. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do. well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. it's an all-in-one so it's ready to go when i am.

the cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. and the pad absorbs it deep inside. so, it prevents streaks and haze better than my old mop. plus, it's safe to use on all my floors, even wood. glad i got that off my chest and the day off my floor. try wet jet with a moneyback guarantee wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say get that son of a [ bleep ] off the field right now out? he's fired. [ cheers and applause ] he's fired! >> donald trump has stoked the flames of racial anamists since the earliest days of his campaign. and the crusade of his players kneeling to protest social injustice, turned professional football into another front in his larger culture war. the nfl has announced a major

new partnership with jay-z whereby he would oversee social justice issues for the league. but there is some controversy. jay-z facing criticism for partnering with the institution that effectively kicked colin kaepernick out of the league for protesting during the national anthem. let's bring into our conversation nfl hall of fame quarterback warren moon. thank you for coming back to the show. give us your thoughts about the partnership and the pros and cons for both sides. >> well, yeah. this has received a lot of controversy. but i think in any situation where you're trying to make change, anything is good. and i think the relationship can be a very, very good relationship for the nfl and only because jay-z is a guy who comes from the streets. so he understands what some of these initiatives are all about and some of the social injustice that's been going on in these communities for many years. and he has a voice to those communities. he also has other initiatives around the country in other

different neighborhoods. so he's a guy that i think can relate to both sides. i think he's a guy through his music and through his representation of all the players and entertainment artists that he represents can get that message across to the nfl and to other people in higher positions that more needs to be done. this isn't a problem that's going to be solved by the nfl by itself. but i think what the nfl owners did last year was they donated the $90 million over six years to their players' initiative fund and a lot of those programs are starting to be initiated throughout the country. i don't think a lot of people know about that. and now they're starting to take it a step further with this association with jay-z and rock nation. so i think things are being done in the right direction to try and help some of the social injustice that's being done in these communities. but it's not going to be done only by the nfl. it's going to take a lot of different entities to get that done.

and then when it comes to colin kaepernick, you know, he's a guy that's been away from the league now for three years. and i think there were teams that have offered him an opportunity to play, but they also wanted him to give them the word that he was going to stop his kneeling. and when it comes to kneeling and protesting, the reason you protest is to make change and try and get people to make change. well, i think that change is starting to happen. so there really isn't a need for the kneeling to happen when you start to get people to make positive change for what you were protesting in the first place. >> but, warren, can you see how some supporters of kaepernick might see him as having been left behind? you've got these two titans, jay-z and the nfl which might be the only entity with more money than jay-z, teaming up. and you've still got kaepernick literally and figuratively on the sidelines. >> i'm that. but like i said, a lot of teams are not going to go out on a limb and bring in a guy who they feel like is going to be a

distraction to their football team and to their organization. and i think collin has been offered some opportunities to play football, but they wanted him to guarantee that he wasn't going to become a distraction by continuing to kneel and continuing to keep this negative light on the nfl. so i think that's one of the reasons why he is still not been able to get a job in the national football league. >> i don't think colin kaepernick did and continues to represent is to put a bad light on the nfl. it's to put the light on some things that were being ignored in this country like police brutality and other issues. this morning i preached the funeral of eric garner's stepfather who just died. and many of the mothers were there and we're going to talk on this issue. jay-z has a record of working with the mothers and working with many of these situations. but the nfl should not be able to duck the fact that they were actively involved in not letting

colin kaepernick make this protest on behalf of people in his community, and nothing will -- i don't care if they did 90 million with the players or 9 zillion with somebody else, they've got to deal with colin kaepernick. he was protesting for real change about the criminal justice system, not about players and scholarships. i think jay-z is one that will shoot straight. he has a track record. i'm not prepared to say whatever we're going to say collectively. but i do not want to see anybody have a discussion with colin kaepernick who's not given credit for doing what a lot of people wouldn't do. >> well, let me just follow up. it would seem that the nba and even women's soccer seams to absorb with more comfort their players' right to protest in the nfl. what is the structural problem of the nfl with protests? >> that's the big question. you just had at the pan am

games. so how can anybody understand people's right to make a statement but the nfl? you're talking about hong kong. you can go and protest for democracy there and we're saying, wait a minute, be careful, but you can't play ball if you take a knee, a knee. we're not talking about he disrupted the game. he didn't do it in the middle of the game. a knee during the national anthem is to say that there is some wrong going on. he should not be left out. at the same time if the players are doing constructive things and jay-z who i have not talked about his program is constructive, that's fine. but let's not punish the one who gave some real support and comfort to these families that were hurting because i've been with them families and still am. >> all right. my thanks to warren moon for being part of this important conversation. as football season nears i'm sure we'll pick it up again. we are going to sneak in our last break. we will be right back. be right . that a handle is just a handle.

or -- that you can't be both inside and outside. most people haven't driven a lincoln. discover the lincoln approach to craftsmanship at the lincoln summer invitation. right now, get 0% apr on all 2019 lincoln vehicles plus no payments for up to 90 days. only at your lincoln dealer. stimulant laxatives forcefully stimulate i switched to miralax for my constipation. the nerves in your colon. miralax works with the water in your body to unblock your system naturally. and it doesn't cause bloating, cramping, gas, or sudden urgency. miralax. look for the pink cap. woman: (on phone) discover. 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.

my car insurance, so i only pay for what i need. and this is me now! any physical changes to this man's appearance are purely coincidental. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

i could talk to these friends for another hour, but we ran out of time.

my thanks to you for watching. that does it for our hour. i am nicole. "mtp daily" with my friend chuck todd starts now. ♪ if it's friday, it could be the president's biggest vulnerability. it's not an economic shock. it's that we're not shocked anymore by his displays of anti-democratic behavior. either way, voters are signaling in their own way they may have had enough. plus, israel does not allow u.s. congresswoman to visit. then it does, sort of with conditions, and then she declines anyway. could this diplomatic clash inat the gaited by the president have a greater impact? and. and elizabeth warren on the rise. she's overtaken bernie sanders on yet another poll. what it means for the progressive wing's chances against the frontrunner.