hello, everyone. i'm alicia menendez. thank you for spending part of your saturday with me. we have a lot to get to. prayers in wisconsin. a vigil this afternoon for jacob

blake as his family calls for justice. >> to stand up, not just for jacob, but for all the people who have not gotten justice. president trump fanning the flames, calling black lives matter protesters thugs at a campaign stop last night in new hampshire. today the president is visiting hurricane laura. while trump's 2020 rival joe biden tries to clear up a number of lies republicans told to the nation about his policies. we'll break down this week's gop convention, the voters republicans were targeting, and how democrats plan to push back. and breaking news. why the director of national intelligence says he will no longer brief congress in person about foreign interference in this year's election. we start in kenosha, wisconsin, where marchers are rallying today, calling for justice for

jacob blake. today's vigil and march marks the seventh day of demonstrations in the wake of the police-involved shooting. blake remains in serious condition after being shot in the back seven times by officer rusten sheskey. the fight for equality took center stage in the nation's capital on the 57th anniversary of martin luther king's "i have a dream" speech. tens of thousands gather for the march on washington where the families of jacob blake, george floyd, and breonna taylor shared emotional messages. blake's father appeared with the reverend al sharpton on msnbc earlier today. >> i wake up sometimes at like 2:00, 1:00 in the morning and i can't go back to sleep because, you know, i'm just -- i know -- i just wish i could pick my baby up and make it right. >> president trump was asked about blake's death for the first time last night.

>> do you believe that officer was justified in that shooting? >> well, i'm looking into it very strongly. i'll be getting report, and i'll certainly let you know pretty soon. but i'll be -- it was not a good sight. i didn't like the sight of it, certainly. and i think most people would agree with that. >> the issue of racial justice and an end to police brutality is a flash point in the 2020 presidential race. trump used the republican national convention to slam those who are calling for change. >> the vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding americans or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists and agitators and criminals. >> people of faith are under attack. you're not allowed to go to church, but mass chaos in the streets gets a pass. >> the hard truth is you won't be safe in joe biden's america. >> trump says you won't be safe in biden's america, but black americans argue they are not safe in any america.

here is how kamala harris spoke about the shooting. >> it's sickening to watch. it's all too familiar. must always defend peaceful protests and peaceful protesters. we should not confuse them with those looting and committing acts of violence. >> professional athletes also taking a stand against racial injustice this week. the houston astros and oakland a's walked off the field together last night to protest the shooting of jacob blake. wnba players on the washington mystics wore t-shirts with seven bullet holes painted on the back to honor blake. and nba players in the midst of play-off finals forced a three-day shutdown as they considered what their role in the social justice movement would be. the league announced that its arenas will now be used to expand in-person voting locations in cities across the country as a result of negotiations with players. let's bring in wnba star renee

montgomery, who decided to take a year off from the atlanta dream to fight for social and racial justice. brittany cunningham, activist and founder of love and power works and a msnbc contributor. >> and rashad robinson who is the president of color of change. brittany, a lot there, and i want you to help put it all in context for us. when you watch what is happening in kenosha, how do you somewhat it in the larger movements that we've seen across this country? >> people have to remember that the freedom struggle in america is generations old, and this is the latest chapter. so days like yesterday where we saw commemorations of the march on washington across the country, we also saw and heard very clear calls for justice and freedom now, just as we heard them 57 years ago. we also heard people working to ensure that we expand our understanding of who freedom has to include, because if everyone isn't free, then none of us are

free, and we have to ensure that the women that the transfolks, that the disabled people who continue to also suffer from this kind of violence are included in the conversation and the solution. i also think what's really important about understanding the context here is the political game that the republican national convention and the party has continued to play. i think it was so important that you showed us that footage of trump responding to this conversation and getting up behind a podium as it had been happening all week, quite frankly to try to cast a movement that is based in justice as something that is not as a political strategy, we have to be consistently wary of that. we have to be clear that there are a lot of influences external to this movement that have tried to exploit it and make it appear something else. and we have to make sure that he cannot continue to play political games with our very lives. >> rashad, a stunning united

front from professional athletes this week for you as someone who's work is dedicated to that exact type of culture shift, how does that change the conversation, to have them now involved in this way? >> it's absolutely incredible to see four years from colin kaepernick taking a knee to see how much soil has been tilled in terms of people willingness to not accept what's in front of us. so much props and appreciation for the powerful year-long efforts happening inside of the wnba. and i know we're going to talk than in a second. but this cultural sort of change is so important because i think as people are watching at home, i want people to recognize that we're not simply in a hearts and mind shift. this is about power. there are clear forces that are standing in the way of power that every single time we end up in these conversations. they want it's to believe that it's just a couple of bad apples. they want us to believe that we're going to victimize the victim, that there is a reason

why we don't have to change laws. and that is not by accident. we have fraternal order police. we have towns that make their profits off of jails being filled. we have judges that don't want their old cases being looked at. we have district attorneys that want to keep doing work as usual. part of a movement is changing the rules, forcing those in power to be nervous about disappointing us, and forcing them to do things that they don't want to do. and that means we need as many platforms as possible invested in the effort of building power and changing rules. >> renee, rashad speaks of power. i would also argue that part of what we saw this week is professional athletes really understanding the depths of their own power. can you pull back the curtain for us and give us a glimpse into the conversations that were happening this week among professional athletes? >> yeah. i think a lot of players felt that, you know, we've done the shirts.

we've said everything in the interviews. we brought up the topic, and that's not enough. i think players wanted a ferret action item. they wanted to feel manage was being done, not just bringing awareness. that's when they came up with the list. a lot of people should they have came back so soon? should they have not? i think the players do what they want to do. some players as an athlete, sometimes if i'm having a bad time or i'm having a bad time in life, i go to the gym as my escape. so sometimes players want to get away from the gym when they want goat their escape. you never know how a player is going react. so that's why i'm glad that the league adds a whole came and decided all right, some may want the play, but what can we get done? i think those action items are something that could really create a change more than a vote was already doing those things. and now you see on a larger scale so many different arenas opening up, and people -- you can't argue that that's a change, a progressive change. >> brittany, are there other businesses that you would like to see follow the nba, the wnba's lead?

>> i mean, at least the answer is all of them. the necessity of labor strikes, the effectiveness of labor strikes as we've seen throughout history can and absolutely does make real and lasting change. i also think it's really important to recognize that the women of the wnba have stepped forward to fight for communities but are also engaged in their own fight across the sports industry, that so often when we see people shining the light on those who stand up for social injustice, or stand up against social injustice, they're shining the light on the men. and when people have a conversation about equal pay in sports, they're shining the light on white women. a and the wnba have been at the vanguard of both those conversations in making sure that the unique intersects that face black women and everything from police violence to equitable pay and more is addressed and taken care of. so i really want to make sure, and i believe that we all do, want to see lasting and

transformative change across every single industry. and we've continued to see that reckoning happening beyond sports. but i also want to make sure that the full reckoning that needs to happen in sports is recognized and seen especially given the powerful leadership of the wnba. >> rashad, i do not need to tell you that is all happening against the backdrop of a presidential election, and part of what has made this moment so interesting is watching support come from communities where we have not seen support before. polling in wisconsin, though, is now showing a drop in support for protests from 61% in june to 48% now in august. what do those numbers tell you, rashad? >> those numbers will go back and forth, but i can't lick our finger and put it up in the air and wait for the wind to tell us whether or not we should fight for justice. part of our fight for justice is about the constant work to till the soil and recognizing that the poll will move here and

there, but the public needs to see that our efforts are not about polling. our efforts are not simply about election. they're about continuing to push this country forward with the hope that those that want our vote will put forward an aspirational vision for the future, a vision about how we will deal with all the barriers that have far too often stood in the way, that we will deal with addressing hope and not just sort of level into fear and all the ways in which racial unrest can really depress the vote without a real sort of conversation about where we're going. and so, you know, part of what we're doing at my organization is really engaging an army. tens of thousands of volunteers around the country leveraging technology to be able to reach voters who don't traditionally vote and have conversations. part of this is simply not about convincing people who may be on the fence, but trying to create a wave of voters that recognize

that this election is not simply about electing someone that we think is going to solve all of our problems, but putting one in office that we know we can hold accountable, that we can push, that we can challenge. elections are a step on the road to progress, and i want all the people who are watching to recognize that if we're looking at challenging poll numbers, if you're looking and uncomfortable about what's happening, potentially could happen in this election, this is the moment now to get involved, to volunteer, to make sure the people in your family are registered. part of the road to actually making change is actually putting people in office that we can then get to work by forcing them to do what they need to do. >> renee, brittany and rashad, thank you all for spending some time with us. this week has been a nightmare for ethics watchdogs trying to keep up with the possible violations. we'll talk about the consequences for holding a political rally at the white house. plus, we're following breaking news. the director of national

intelligence says he will no longer brief congress in person about foreign election interference. we'll explain why and what congress might do about that. and from super heros to american heroes, he brought his talent and joy to the big screen. today the nation is mourning the loss of actor chadwick boseman. a diagnosis of metastatic breast cancer can overwhelm you with thoughts, yet also leave you at a loss for words. take a deep breath. go here: findyourmbcvoice.com take a deep breath. do i use a toothpaste that or one that's good for my teeth? now i don't have to choose. crest 3d white. it removes up to 95% of surface stains. and strengthens enamel. from the number one toothpaste brand in america. crest.

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breaking news coming out of the office of national intelligence. the director there announcing today that he will no longer provide in-person briefings to congress about election security and foreign interference. for more i want to bring in nbc news intelligence and national security correspondent ken dilanian. ken, dni director radcliffe told the house and intelligence panels that his office will still provide written briefings. so what exactly does that mean? what's the difference? >> if kidifference, alicia is lawmakers can't question a piece of paper about nuance and

meaning in an intelligence report. there is a law called the intelligence oversight act of 1980 requires the executive branch to keep the congress fully informed about significant intelligence activities. and for decades that's been both written products and in-person briefings. and i can't think of any precedent, i've been covering intelligence for ten years where an administration has fully withheld in-person briefings on a certain suggest. they tell us they're doing it for two reasons. they're concerned about leaks, unauthorized disclosures by members of congress, and two, they want the administration to speak with one voice. well, look, the issue of leaks has been around for a long time. leaks have always been a problem with congress. no administration has ever done this before. i think this is more of an issue of concern about when the odni puts out a statement and talks about foreign interference by china, russia and iran, this has happened twice now, democratic members of congress who have gotten the classified briefings

behind closed doors have come out and said this statement puts the wrong emphasis on things, because only russia is actually intervening on social media and aspires to help donald trump get elected. the trump administration doesn't like when they say that, and now they're going to make it harder for democrats and independent republicans to question the premise behind the written intelligence product that they're being given. >> ken, i'm told that we have some new sound from president trump reacting to this news. take a listen. >> why are -- why is the dni no longer going to be updating the house and the senate on election security issues in person? >> well, i could have mark answer that question. mark, please? >> i talked to ratcliff, and as you know, he has been giving briefings. he is going to ultimately give full briefings in terms of not oral briefings, but full intel briefings, but it really comes down to one simple thing. the last time they gave briefings, a few members went out and talked to the press and

disclosed information that they shouldn't have disclosed. so he is going to make sure that they're there is the proper tools for their oversight and make sure that they contain it in a way that does not jeopardize sources and methods for the intel that we get. >> ken, that sounds like that comports with all of your reporting about the motivation behind this, or at least what dni is saying about their motivation. i wonder what you're hearing from democrats on capitol hill. >> well, predictably, alicia, democrats are absolutely outraged by this move. in a statement, house speaker nancy pelosi, along with intel chairman adam schiff called this a shocking abdication of the trump administration's lawful responsibility to keep the congress currently informed and a betrayal of the public's right to know how foreign powers are trying to subvert our democracy. but the thing i'm waiting for, alicia, a statement from the senate intelligence committee, which often has spoken with the bipartisan voice on intelligence matters. so it's really up to senator

marco rubio, the republican chairman as to whether they're going to push back in any meaningful way, because that's the only way this decision gets modified is if there is republican pressure. congress really has no leverage here with nine weeks to go before the election trying to subpoena some of these officials as we know from past history would take too long. so the only meaningful leverage is if republicans pressure the trump administration. >> nine weeks to go before this election. all right. ken dilanian, thank you so much for spending some time with us. >> you bet. the trump administration has never had much respect for the hatch act, the law that prohibits federal employees from engaging in politics inside federal buildings or while on duty. it famously did nothing last year when the office of special counsel recommended that kellyanne conway be fired for disparaging presidential candidates in her official capacity multiple times. but the level of disregard at this week's republican national convention was striking. among the most egregious potential violations were using the white house as a campaign

backdrop during the president's acceptance speech, having acting homeland security secretary chad wolf use a convention event to administer a naturalization ceremony, and allowing secretary of state mike pompeo to speak to the convention while conducting official u.s. business in israel. the question now is what, if anything, can the government do about it? for that let's bring in harry litman. he is a former u.s. attorney, former deputy assistant attorney general and host of the talking feds podcast. harry, walter shaub calls this, quote, the most visible misuse of official position for private gain in history. what is going on here? >> it's certainly the most brazen. what's going on is a complete disregard, almost a gleeful one, alicia. trump's statement, we're here, they're not, really took pleasure in sort of sticking it to the critics. there is no doubt, not the slightest doubt it was one

massi massive long transgression of the hatch act. not pence and trump themselves because they're excluded, but even to them, if they engage others, that's a criminal violation. but it's much more profound than that it seems to me. there is definitely the regulatory problems that point to the need to have more teeth in the hatch act. but it was something a lot deeper to actually see fireworks over the washington monument like a political rally at a convention. you know, that's the sort of thing they do in russia and red square. they equate the leader and the party with the country. and this was the ultimate violation of the hatch act in spirit as well saying, as trump put it, we're here, they're not. we are the country. we are the washington monument. we are july 4th. that really is deeply offensive about the actual seat of

government. and as walter says, completely unprecedented, miles beyond the pale. >> well, harry, to your point about the regulatory part of this, you have the office of special counsel which is supposed to enforce, this but it would seem that enforce is a very generous verb to use there. >> yeah. generous as in optional. you're so right. we've had this again and again. it's really what ken was talking about with odni. there is all kinds of norms in government, alicia, that people just follow or at least give lip service to and negotiate about. i think this is really the first administration in history that simply thumbs its nose at it and says we don't have to and make us. and since the mechanisms for making them are within the executive branch, it's all stitched up. nobody thought before, however, that you would encounter an executive branch that is completely willing to disregard

with impunity and brazenness. and when you get that situation, as the last three and a half years have shown in a range of settings, laws just simply go unenforced. >> harry, thanks for spending some time with us. >> thank you. still to corp., president trump touring hurricane-ravaged parts of the gulf coast today. we'll get you an update from louisiana. ate from louisiana. if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back, inflammation in your eye might be to blame. looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes

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when i dare to challenge the system that would relegate us to victims and stereotypes with no clear historical backgrounds, no hopes or talents, when i requested that method of portrayal, a different path opened up for me. the path to my destiny. when god has something for you, it doesn't matter who stands against it. >> powerful words from actor chadwick boseman, who died friday after quietly battling

colon cancer for four years. boseman portrayed legends jackie robinson, james brown and thurgood marshall. boseman also brought a super hero to life in his revolutionary role in marvel's "black panther." even offscreen he was a super hero. he was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2016. and while going through countless surgeries and chemotherapy, he continued filming. in a 2018 interview during boseman's own private fight with cancer, he shared a story about two young boys with terminal cancer who were anticipating "black panther." take a listen. >> throughout our filming, i was communicating with them. knowing that they were both terminal, and what they said to me and their parents said, they're trying to hold on until this movie comes. it's a humbling experience, because you're like this can't mean that much to them, you know.

but seeing how the world has taken this on, seeing how the movement, how it's taken on a life of its own, i realized that they anticipated something great. and when i found out that th they -- yeah. it means a lot. >> boseman has been celebrated by co-stars and fans. former president barack obama recalled a time boseman came to the white house to work with kids. obama writes you could tell right away that he was blessed to be young, gifted and black, to use that power to give them heros to look up to, to do it all while in pain, what a use of his years. with me now is jamel smith, senior writer for rolling stone, and franklin leonard, founder and ceo of the blacklist. as i was trying to process this loss, i turned to both of you, to your twitter feeds where i

watched both of you sort of processing this with everyone else. jameel, as you heard this news today, as you consider his legacy, what most stands out to you? >> well, alicia, what most stands out is the fact that he had so much more left to give. i think that the very promise of his gift is evidence in his performances. all the way from defy bloods with spike lee most recently. i think he was an extremely versatile actor, but of course in his star-making role he is going to be burned into the minds of perhaps an entire generation of children as a hero. and as well as he should be, because he certainly lived that life. >> franklin, he truly seemed to touch both the people who he met, the people he worked with, and people who he would never meet but in him saw themselves, saw a hero. >> i think that's right. and i think a diaspora is

grieving today. and i think that's because if you look at not only was he an extraordinary actor, here is a man who in the span of seven years played the first black man to cross the color in america's pastime. the founder of the naacp legal defense fund, the man who coined "say it loud, i'm black and i'm proud" and gave us african royalty in super hero form who had been untouched by colonialism. and he did that all in roughly six years. so i think the aggregate sum of his work, though we were still robbed of so much, both as an actor and many people forget this, he was also a writer and director. he studied directing at howard. icon doesn't do it justice. and the symbolic meaning of who he is and his now having left the stage, i don't quite have words for it yet. and it feels very strange to be talking about it.

>> of course i understand that. and i appreciate that you are trying on our behalf. jamil, you wrote an incredible cover story about boseman about "black panther." talk to me specifically about the significance of that role and of that film. >> well, at the time when i wrote the story, the film hadn't come out yet. i sat down with boseman and with the director, and he and i, the three of us actually sat around for about 45 minutes, you know, partially talking about the film, but also talking a lot about as franklin mentioned, african diaspora and what this would mean to children, to people who are seeking to make changes in hollywood as far as our representation on screen. and both of them saw this as a starting point. i think chadwick said something that i thought was really profound. how can we use this essentially to be viewed as aspirational? how can this be viewed as an

opportunity? and found different ways to define that hero that he was portraying. and he understood the power of portraying someone who lived outside of colonialism, who lived outside of the worlds that we know. and frankly, i think that the power weighed on him, an he held and carried that weight admirably through the rest of his life. >> franklin, we heard that sound from boseman's howard address wanting to get beyond stereotypes, wanting to be offered a broader swath of roles. i wonder what you think his legacy will be inside of industry, how the roles he was able to take on the success of the films that he was a part of changed the equation when we come back to this conversation over and over again about diversity, equity, and inclusion in hollywood. >> yeah, you know, ava duvernay

tweeted about this today that the black hollywood is a very small village. chad and i were not friends, but we would see each other from time to time at industry events. and i think even before he passed on, he in many ways set the standard that many of us tried to live up to in terms of this is the work, and i'm not compromising. i'm going to present these stories on my terms, and i'm going to make sure that they're successful. and if you go back and look at his credits, they all were, and they were all successful in large part because of the sheer force of his ability and his commitment to them. i think that the financial success of those films will hopefully make it more likely that hollywood continues to invest in these things. but frankly, as chad would have told you five years ago, hollywood should have been investing in those things years ago because the financial success of them would have been there before. it just took them getting to chadwick boseman to make to take that risk and invest in them. >> jamil, we started this show

off talking about what is happening in kenosha, the movements we are seeing across this country, the election that we are anticipating in november. i wonder what you see as the common thread between boseman's work and the moment that we are in this country. >> well, first i think there is a moment of sadness, as franklin mentioned that a lot of black people are feelinged today. we've seen so much death today. disproportionate death from covid and certainly targeting by the police, and we want to sometimes escape from that. and a lot of us, i know that i count myself in this number, have turned to movies like "black panther." and to know that even we're losing our super heroes, that death is touching them is really humbling and saddening. so there is that at first. but i think more oddly, i think the movement is showing that we benefit from empowerment, and empowerment can take any number of forms.

empowerment can come in the form of financial investment and it comes in forms of public health services and benefits. it also comes in the form of representation. and we cannot discount the importance of that. >> jamil and franklin, thank you both for spending some time with us. chadwick boseman gone too soon, but he left with us a legacy of hope. >> i don't know what your future is, but if you're willing to take the heart away, the more complicated one, the one with more failures at first than successes, the one that has ultimately proven to have more me meaning, more victory, nor glory, nen you will not regret it. now this is your time. as a caricature artist, i appreciate what makes each person unique. that's why i like liberty mutual. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car

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the sound of your laugh cry screams. and how you make every day here the best day ever. we can't wait to get you back so we've added temp checks, face coverings, social distancing and extra sanitizing to get the good times going again. we're finally back, and can't wait until you are too. buy now and get two days free at the parks. restrictions apply. since the start of the pandemic, over 30 million americans have lost their jobs, causing entire families to rely on unemployment benefits to get by. and with congress unable to agree on a new relief package to help them make ends meet, some are taking action by running for public office, adding their voices to a new pool of political candidates who have found theirntpandemic. as highlighted in a piece from "the washington post," the candidates, quote, are using their inexperience as a boon and focusing on formerly arcane

issues raised by the pandemic, like unemployment insurance systems as well as the plight of the unemployed workers. joining me is a candidate for florida's 56th house district. kelly, you are a single mom of eight. you have never run for office. why run now? >> basically was covid-19. that's exactly why. i was thrown into the unemployment system. i was furloughed from both my jobs before covid-19 i was a working class mom of eight. and getting into the unemployment system, and the months that followed, i was able to link arms with some of the best people that i've never met. and we fought the system, and we fought it hard. and one of the things i realized through that process was that there was a lot more fighting to be done, and that fighting had to go all the way up to tallahassee. >> we've heard a lot about the unemployment system in florida. i wonder what you ran up against

in your own personal filing. >> for me it took about two and a half months for me to get benefits. i had to contact my district 65 representative and that fell on deaf ears. i was able to contact other representatives in the area and marco rubio ended up being the one that was able to get me my benefits two and a half months late and of course still hasn't been paid up in any sense of that word. >> you have traditionally voted republican. you supported president trump in 2016. not anymore. what has changed? >> what changed is all of the sudden i paid attention to what was going on in politics. if anybody would have ever told me that i would be sitting here right now today talking about this in front of all your viewers, i would have told them they were absolutely insane. the one thing i hated more than

anything is politics. but i voted for president trump because i really felt like he was the better candidate for what we had at the time. and sadly, after that, i was working two jobs and i really didn't have a lot of time to pay attention to the work of my elected officials so to speak. but once i became unemployed, i got to pay a lot more attention to what was going on, and i was really angered. i've been angered for a very long time about what has been happening. i feel like a leader needs to be behaving in a much better fashion, and i do not feel like the changes that have happened in this country, even -- not even thinking about what has happened with covid-19, but the changes in general in this country, we have gone downhill, and where we should be at least going slightly uphill. >> one of your core issues is fixing the state's unemployment system. how do you want to see it fixed? >> first of all, we have one of the lowest weekly benefit

amounts possible in this entire country. that needs to change. there is no reason that a person who was working full-time should be making $275 a week. so that needs to change. we pay into the system. our employers pay into the system. this is an insurance type of deal. so that money is there, and it needs to be distributed much more fairly and much more abundantly to people who are hurting. so that's the first thing that i will change. the second thing is making people accountable. we need to have a full audit of exactly what has happened here. i can tell you things, and it would probably take hours of just my experience and what has happened with the system. it was a failed system in the first place. rick scott said we're lazy and we don't -- if we get extra money, that will prevent us from going to work. and that is so far from the reality of what's happened. we have so many unemployed floridians who are talented,

smart and successful, who are at the brink of losing their homes and their lives all because of the way that the unemployment system is run here in this state. so it will need to be revamped entirely, but it will start with increasing that weekly benefit and a total accountability to what has happened over the past five months. >> kelly, what is it like to not only run for office for the first time, but to run for office for the first time in the middle of a pandemic in a state that has been hit very, very hard by this virus? >> it's interesting. i'm kind of lucky that i haven't ever run for office before. so i don't really know what it's supposed to look like, but, you know, we have to be super careful about other people's feelings. we are hurting here in this state of florida. we rely heavily on rather our tourism industry and our hospitality industry. both of those have been affected

a versely from covid-19. so there is just a lot of hurting people. they don't necessarily have the money that they would normal ly have to fund the campaign. so we're kind of a grassroots campaign and a really heavily budgeted campaign. everything that i do from campaign headquarters so to speak is on a budget and done thinking about our bottom line. is this going to waste money? is this going to be smart for what we need going forward? so it's different. it's also very social media based. there is a lot of advertisements that go out on facebook, instagram and twitter. and currently i have some of my children working on my tiktok, which should be a very interesting thing going forward. it's different. >> i have a ton of questions about that social media strategy. final question for you, as you talk to your fellow floridians, what is top of mind for most of those voters?

>> definitely the economic recovery. a lot of small businesses in our area have had to shutter their doors permanent. in the pinellas county region, we rely heavily on those smal area with the quaintness and just the character. we're basically a lot of shoreline over here and beaches and we need those small businesses to thrive. so that is definitely the number one concern. >> all right, kelly. thanks for joining us. coming up, it was a big theme at this year's republican convention. why conservatives are so focused during this election cycle. focd during this election cycle ate te ulcerative colitis, are you okay? even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so i talked to my doctor about humira.

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which faced heavy blows from laura as it passed through. state officials estimate at least 10 people have died and more than 200,000 residents are without water. the death toll from laura is at 15. across state lines, thousands in the path of the storm from louisiana to arkansas to texas remain without power. now recovery and repairs are under way as residents sift through the as-far-as-the-eye can see that's left. and we look at how residents are recovering in the wake of this monster storm. >> reporter: the sun is out in lake charles today and residents who are out sort of surveying the damage to their property and beginning the process of figuring out what it will look like to rebuild. we've seen so many folks out today with those chain saws, looking to remove those trees from their property and remove the debris and really begin the

process of recovering from this. and president donald trump was also on the ground here in lake charles today to survey the damage, likely seeing what we have seen over the past several days. homes that have just been utterly destroyed, the power lines that are down, causing a power outage for more than 500,000 people in this state, not to mention the more than 200,000 people who are without running water right now. the president also visited a fema distribution center where they're giving out food and water to those who need it, and he made a promise that he would make sure that the state had the money and the resources that they need to begin this recovery process, that for so many is going to take a while. it's going to take some time for those folks to be made whole. we saw yesterday the president actually approve a major disaster declaration that would allow for folks here to begin applying for those individual fema benefits that could help them with finding temporary

housing if necessary, debris removal, all of those things that happen in the wake of these hurricanes. but i will tell you one thing that i have heard so much just from speaking to various residents here is that they have been through this before. you know, hurricane rita was 15 years ago, hurricane katrina was also 15 years ago and hit the state of louisiana fairly hard. folks here have been out helping their neighbors and saying they are going to get through this together as a community. alic alicia. >> priscilla, thank you. at the top of the hour we break down week that was at the gop convention. you might be surprised who the republicans were trying to get on board. plus, this moment at the white house can't erase nearly four years of immigration policy. why advocates said this naturalization ceremony during the convention was so dishonest. ♪

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