accuse donald trump of sexual misconduct -- >> he grabbed my shoulder and began kissing me. >> trump keeps denying the >> the stories are total fiction. >> this morning my interview with vice-president joe biden. >> what he said is a ttbook definition of sexual assault. >> and with the republican nominee for vice-president mike pence. now that trump says the shackles are off, how damaging has this episode been? the latest numbers from our brand-new nbc news wall street journal poll. the great american divide. we go to one county that's all

against her. i don't see how anybody can vote for her. >> and another where everyone seems to be for clinton. >> i don't understand how people are voting for him. >> just how divided are we? joining me are hugh hewitt. joy reid, chris cillizza and kristen welker of nbc news. welcome to sunday, it's >> from nbc news in washington, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. good sunday morning. every week we say it and every week it's true. there's never been a week like this in american presidential politics. here we go again. admittedly there were times that we had trouble keeping up with the number of women who came forward claiming donald trump had groped, propositions or sexually harassed them. as the trump campaign began to buckle, republicans feared that his troubles would metastasize

party's hold on the senate and perhaps even the house. we have a new indication of just how dire things have become for trump. in our new poll out right now, hillary clinton leads donald trump in a four-way race by ten points among registered voters. if you limit it to likely voters, check this out, clinton's lead grows to 48% 37% before likely voter models would actually help trump, not in this case. but there's a silver lining for democratic lead has snapped back to two points. a week ago, it had opened up to seven. these numbers come after a head shaking week when trump was under constant assault and seemed to be at war with just about everyone. in the face of more accusations of sexual assault, trump is lashing out. >> it's a rigged election, because you have phony people comining up with phony allegations.

jessica says she sat next to him on a plane in 1979. >> when he started putting his hand up my skirt and that was it. that was it. this woman was ass the '90s. >> the person on my right who unbeknowned to me was donald trump, put this hand up my skirt. >> a "people" magazine writer was in within seconds he was pushing me against the wall and forcing his tongue down my throat. a former contestant on "the apprentice." >> i pushed his chest, put space between us. i said, come on, man, get real. he repeated i had words back to me, get real. as he began thrusting his genitals.

instead, abeing taattacking. >> some are doing it for probably a little fame. >> even suggesting that they should not be believed because they were not attractive enough for him to assault. >> believe me, she would not be my first choice that i can tell you. >> he has blamed media, the clintons. he has blamed a mexican billionaire. the trump campaign has pushed back on all of the allegations, it w it was jessica who was being fl flirtatious. trump released a statement on summer write being, i never met her at a hotel or greeted her inappropriately a decade ago. in fact, she continued to contact me for help, e-mail mig office on april 14th of this year, asking that i visit her

all of these allegations led to a passionate speech by michelle obama who rarely weighed in to partisan politics this steeply. >> i can't stop thinking about this. it has shaken me to my core in a way that i couldn't have predicted. >> i'm thursday, i sat down with vice-president joe biden at a union hall in las vegas where he was campaigning in an attempt to help hillary clinton lock down the state of nevada. accusations of sexual assault against donald trump. why shouldn't he get the benefit of the doubt? from these accusers. >> his own words. i don't have to even go to the accusers. when a man says that -- what he said is a textbook definition of sexual assault. i mean, it's a text book definition. the thing that is -- makes it so

just that he said it but his sort of instinctive abuse of power. he acts in the private sector, he acts in the way he treats employees and that i -- i live in the penthouse. i'm a billionaire. i'm a star. and i can do what i want. that's the most disturbing piece. my father used to say, the greatest abuse is abuse of physical power. and this is not a guy that should be representing the united states in any way. >> why do you think it's not been disqualifying for even more voters yet? >> i don't know how deeply it has sunk into the consciousness. i don't know that we think that something gets said once, twice,

over a weekend and everyone absorbs it. most people are trying to figure out how to put bread and butter on the table. so i don't know. i think it's sunk in pretty deeply. it has changed the dynamic around the country in a pretty substantial way so far. >> we have a culture that has given this a permission slip. >> this is a new level. and i was with my -- help granddaughter with a paper. she's a bright young woman. i was embarrassed. i was embarrassed to even -- i have four granddaughters. i was embarrassed that this is even being discussed. >> a lesson for men. i heard a lot of people say as the father or the mother of two daughters or three daughters or -- what about the message to young men or young boys?

students. and i asked them to go to a website. what can we do to better protect them? you know what the overwhelming answer was? get men involved. the vast majority of men don't share the view of donald trump. i was a pretty good athlete in high school and college. i don't ever remember that kind of locker room talk. never. you might have a guy say, look at that or -- make comments like that. but the idea that she lets me do anything because i'm a celebrity is what's wrong is, we have to change the whole culture here. and that no man has a right to touch a woman, to raise a hand to a woman, to abuse a woman for any reason. we have actually had cases -- i have a federal law passed. a judge asking a woman, well, you were in the bar. were you wearing underwear, how short was your skirt? no man has a right to touch a woman.

clarence thomas and anita hill did an interview. she expressed disappointment in you. >> she did. >> what was your reaction to that? >> my reaction was, i thought it was unfair. i voted against clarence thomas. i believed her. the question was whether or not she should be able to initially -- should she be able to make her complaint without identifying herself. you can't run a star it was, very, very, very tough. >> anything you do differently? >> no. no. >> as you know, donald trump is bringing up everything bill clinton right now. should that matter? >> no, it shouldn't matter. i can't make an excuse for bill clinton's conduct. and i wouldn't atelt tempt to. he was impeached. he expressed his deep sorrow and

this guy as i said has acknowledged that he has been a sexual predator. he has acknowledged he abused his power. as i said, the text book definition of a sexual assault. >> let's talk about this working class white voter issue that democrats seem to have. sort of the people that you speak to. biden voters. he just look at pennsylvania right now, the 15 counties that make up you and the president won by three points. right now she trails by eight points. it's clear there is something a lack of connectivity or something with trump. what's your diagnosis? >> you were a friend of my son. he was a greated ami edadmirer . i might find myself choking up. everybody says, he's a good father. what a decent guy. she chokes up and says

and she's playing the woman card. this is the -- this is the -- this is different. number one. number two, the truth is, i don't think we -- i'm a broken on this.n the democratic party i don't think we speak enough to the plight of family, husband and wife making and they are struggling. >> they worry about this minority group, they worry about these voters over here, they worry about this state. what about me? >> they don't talk to me. >> that's what i hear. >> i do, too. what happened is we had to spend so much time dragging a car out of the ditch, worrying about going over the cliff, dealing with people who didn't have enough to eat, making sure people were able to just hang on that it's only now that we got

begin to focus on what is a large portion of the middle class who has felt like they have been left behind and we don't talk to their needs. >> let's talk about her then. what's your advise to her? she has this deplorables line that's hard for her to shake. president obama used bitter, cling to your guns and bible. he never shook that with a certain part of the electorate. she may never shake deplorables. how should she try? >> by demonstrating where her heart is, what she cares cares about the people struggling. that's been who she is. look, as i said, i know her well. she has been so batter and beaten. we all make mistakes. she has made mistakes, too. for her to open up -- for example, i remember talking to her about having -- i had breakfast there every tuesday morning when she was secretary of state at my home.

college and paying for college and telling a story about how my dad tried to borrow money to help -- i had a grant and aid but get me enough money. i went to his place of business. i wanted to see him about something. i walked out, he was pacing back and forth. i'm so ashamed. i'm so ashamed. my word, i'm so ashamed. i went to the bank and they won't lend me the money. i'm so ashamed. she is sitting across from me understands that it's not just the kid that doesn't get a chance, it's how many middle class people have been stripped of their dignity, stripped of their -- the one thing -- >> you understand why they are gravitating to trump right now? to somebody that says, i'm going to make it better again. >> i do. but it's not -- i don't think there's so much gravitating to trump. they have been stung so badly by the recession, hurt so bad.

recession. if you lost your home and you are not back in a home and you don't benefit. when the market was -- if you lost your investment in the market through your 401(k), and now it's $18,000, the guys who made the big money -- they look around and say, wait a minute. >> i want to go to syria here. i know you are doing a big session that's coming up next week about what to do. why is there not a no-flyon over aleppo? >> simple proposition. the first things first. we must defeat isil. we must take out raqqah. we must take out mosul. we must eliminate the caliphate. it's the direct immediate threat to the american people. number one. dod told us in the beginning that the assets we need to be able do that would have to be diverted. we could not do both, could not

number two, we -- in order to be able to do what needs to be done, you remember, we tried to get the authority to use force before. all those republicans talked about how tough they were. i spoke to 156 members of the house and senate for a minimum of an hour. groups of two to 25 in the situation room. no support. no support. okay. they would say, what happens? we send planes over there. they get shot down. ha them. >> let me ask you this, how does syria not become the rwanda of this administration that you wonder what if, what if? >> r >> this is complicated. we have to deal with central and eastern iraq to clear isil. that will fundamentally change -- >> once mosul is taken care of you, you think the focus can be back on syria and trying to

where we know plotting is taking place against the homeland in those areas. secondly, russia is in real trouble. they're getting themselves in a quagmire. they have economic problems. they are dragged into this. isil gone, russia in a totally different place creates a lot of additional opportunities. >> we're not going to regret not doing more in aleppo? >> the answer is, we i regret that we're not doing something about mutilation in africa. i regret there's problems in afghanistan. but there has to be a sense of humility about what is able to be done at the time. what we're doing is the right thing, generating a consensus among the arab countries as to what we should be doing in the region. and at the same time, going after isil to destroy it.

i talked with former russian ambassador and we talked about the idea that -- you gotta respond when they are hacking. you have to do something. he described it as a high hard one, maybe just sort of -- in baseball, you throw a high hard one to send a message. why haven't we sent a message yet to putin? >> we're sending a message. we have the capacity to do it. the message -- >> he will know it. it will be at the time of our choosing. and under the circumstances that have the greatest impact. >> will it be enough that it will get him to back off? how concerns are yed are you th country will question the result of the election? >> i am not concerned. the reason i'm not is we're working closely with all the departments of elections across the country, number one. number two, the american people are pretty damn resilient.

fundamentally alter the election is -- it is not what people think. i tell you what. to the extent they do, we will be proportional in what we do. >> a message is going to be sent? will the public know it? >> hope not. >> when we come back, the man who would like to have joe biden's job. donald trump's running mate, governor mike pence of indiana. you can fly across town in minute or across the globe in under an hour. whole communities are living on mars and solar satellites provide earth with unlimited clean power. in less than a century, boeing took the world from seaplanes to space planes, across the universe and beyond. and if you thought that was amazing, you just wait.

welcome back. one republican whose representation has not suffered is donald trump's running mate mike pence. in our new poll, pence's total positive rating was plus eight points. just 28% negative. that put him ahead of paul ryan, the republican party as a hole and donald trump. governor pence joins me now from >> good morning. good to be with you. >> let me start with getting your reaction to michelle obama's speech from earlier this week. let me play a clip and get you on the other side. >> so while i would love nothing more than to pretend like this isn't happening and to come out here and do my normal campaign speech, it would be dishonest and disingenuous to me to just move on to the next thing like this was all just a bad dream. this is not something that we

it's not something we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. >> governor, the first lady was speaking directly about donald trump's comments caught on the 2005 video. do you agree with her comments that they should not be swept under the rug? >> let me say that i have tremendous respect for the first lady and for her efforts on behalf of the american people over the last seven and a half years. trump made comments in an open mike 11 years ago that he has expressed deep regret for. he is embarrassed about it. he apologized last weekend to the american people and made it clear that it was just talk. he has apologized to his family. i accept that apology. i truly do believe that this election -- this election is of such an ee norm unormous magnit it's important we move beyond

at home and abroad. as i traveled across florida this week and across the country, the people that i'm encountering are focused on those issues about really restoring this country and reviving our economy and that's where we're going to continue to be focused. >> donald trump does not want to move off of this issue. in fact, he said he has been getting advice saying that, but instead, he has been responding to every single accusation. here is what he accusers. >> she's right. she's a liar. she's a liar. she's writing a story -- check out her facebook page. you will understand. i was sitting with him on an airplane. and he went after me on the plane. yeah, i'm going to go after -- believe me, she would not be my first choice. that i can tell you. man. you don't know. that would not be my first choice. >> that was friday, governor

you just dismissed it as just talk. we have nine accusers that have come out since you have said it's just talk. do you really believe it's just talk? >> i really do, chuck. what we have this week is a series of unsubstantiated allegations. and donald trump -- >> let me stop you there. they are not unsubstantiated. >> he has denied those allegations. >> you have firsthand accounts. they are unproven, but they are you have a firsthand account. we have somebody that disagrees with that account. but they are substantiated. no? >> well, no, these are not substantiated accounts. these are people who have brought forward allegations going back in some cases decades. and donald trump has made it clear that he categorically denies these things ever took place. i have to tell you, it really is astonishing to most americans that as these unsubstantiated

this network and other networks, that revelations coming out of secretary of state clinton's years in the state department and the clinton foundation are virtually ignored by the national media. we discovered this week that state department officials actually directed contracts for the haitian recovery after the earthquake to friends of the clintons. literally, that got almost no media attention while those that step forward with donald trump has denied were treated with headline news and continuous coverage. it's one of the reasons why so many americans feel like they election is being rigged by a national media that's constantly trying to change the subject away from and practice willful ignorance toward the corruption and misdeeds and pay for play politics of the clintons. >> do you believe that women who believe they were victimized by sexual assault, that come out,

hasn't that been part of the problem with rooting out sexual assault in our culture is that there is this feeling that women get ignored? >> no, i won't say anything to disparage any woman who believes they have had an experience like this. but donald trump has made it clear that these allegations are categorically false. we have had more evidence that has come out to challenge those versions of the facts. the ignorance -- ri national media is ignoring an avalanche of real, hard evidence of corruption during the years of the clinton administration. "the new york times" just a few minutes ago posted a story about -- in exchange for five minutes with bill clinton, the government of qatar was going to give $1 million to the clinton foundation. we know that more than half of hillary clinton's meetings while she was secretary of state were given to major contributors to

the haitian government think, the speeches about open borders, socialized medicine, it's getting virtually no attention. >> you just cited "the new york times." >> denied by donald trump are getting all the attention. the american people see right through it. >> you cited "the new york times." obviously, not a small news organization. we have been reporting on this. front page of nbcnews.com. we will report on this throughout the show. your running mate is the one under fire with this. time, you used to refer to donald trump as this good man. you haven't done that this week. any reason for that change? >> sure i have. sure i have, chuck. the donald trump i have come to know loves his family, loves this country. he has made a connection to millions of americans because he has given voice to the frustrations and the aspirations of the american people. when you have the president of france over this weekend say

foreign policy of moving red lines in syria that russia was emboldened to invade ukraine and take a larger role in syria, that's really saying something. the american people know that that -- america has weakened at home and abroad because of the policies of obama and clinton. >> you brought up russia. do you -- i know you are getting intelligence briefings. do you believe the american intelligence that says behind all of these hacks into former white house chief of staff, john podesta, the dnc, do you believe the american intelligence community on this? >> i think there's more and more evidence that implicates russia. there should be serious consequences. >> why doesn't your running made -- >> the privacy and security of the american people. >> why doesn't your running mate believe that? >> i certainly hope what the vice-president said this morning is something they follow through

not believe -- >> this is an administration has spoken things on the foreign stage and not followed through like moving red lines, faini --e is that if the evidence does flow to russia that there are serious consequences. remember, this avalanche of e-mails -- >> governor, governor, governor, why doesn't injure running mate believe what you believe about a foreign government in russia trying to hack into the american democracy? should follow the facts. america should stand strong. we should stand up for cyber security. he had an entire presentation about his call for a new cyber security task force bringing together some of the best minds in the country to protect america's privacy,rellect intellectual and defense. it's not just flowing out of

able to uncover the fact that while she was secretary of state, hillary clinton's staff was directing contracts for the haitian recovery effort to friends of the clintons. >> i understand -- again, you keep saying unsubstantiated. that's not true. you have a firsthand account. it's unproven. but they're not unsubstantiated. let me ask you this final question. tweeted at what point are you going to feel uncomfortable defending donald trump? he said, given that he has been utterly humiliated by the trump campaign, does mike pence have the self-respect to resign from the ticket? how do you respond to bill crystal? >> i accepted the invitation to run for vice-president of the united states, chuck, because i think this country is in a lot of trouble. i think donald trump has

america great again that's connected with millions of americans, despite the opbvious bias in the media and attacks against donald trump, i have to tell you this week, the crowds i saw here in florida, the crowds he had in new hampshire and maine yesterday attest to the fact the american people want change. for me and my little family, we're going to continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with this man and fight all the way through election day and deliver a great victory for america. we're going to make america great again. >> will you accept the results of the results of the election. look, the american people will speak in an election that will culminate on november 8. the american people are tired of the obvious bias in the national media. that's where the sense of a rigged election goes here, chuck. >> when you say -- >> when the media comes in with negative attacks against my running mate, instead of focusing on the hard evidence coming out about corruption -- >> are you at all --

frustrated. >> the more you say rigged election -- >> we will fight through. we will accept the will of the american people. >> you keep saying rigged election. are you concerned that the more you say it, the more you actually undermine our democracy unintentionally? >> look, one of the great, great traditions of america is the peaceful transfer of power. in elections -- you are a student of history. elections get rough. i expect they're going to stay just as rough as they are right now going into november the 8th. th but as donald trump said in that first debate, and i will say to you today, we will accept the will of the american people. between now and election day, we're going to work our hearts out against all odds, against most of you in the national media. we will go lay out a story for a stronger, more prosperous america. >> i understand why you want to continue to attack us. i think it's misguided attacks. i understand, governor mike pence, i appreciate you coming on the program. thank you.

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the panel is here. hugh hewitt, joy reid, chrkrist welker. one of them pulls close. i lost large number of women voters based on you have backed away from trump. how did mike pence defend him this morning? >> i thought mike did a very good job. in fact, i'm a "game of throwns" geek and i saw that. >> you and maureen dowd, she made a reference to that, calling him the mad king. >> the end of the biden interview -- this is not in response -- it's so newsworthy

able to do mosul and aleppo at the same time, what he said about everything, it leads to, here we have the worst election in modern times when the greatest crises of the post soviet era are growing, it's a disconnect that's beyond me. >> the irony is that donald trump, the last thing he wants to do is talk about syria. >> my takeaway was the end of the interview when you asked him if he would accept the election results. he said, yes. donald trump is sending out he is trying to lay the groundwork for this idea that the election is rigged. yesterday you had the clinton campaign and paul ryan coming out in very strong terms saying we will respect the results of this election. republicans increasingly concerned that they need to be louder about that so that whatever happens on election day is respected. >> i think you see the struggle within mike pence. he is trying to yield to what are clearly the talking points that the candidate wants, which

then he said, we will accept it. he still has to sell this idea. jeff sessions is selling this idea. for the republican party, just as an institution, there has to be a righting of the ship. the integrity of the united states election is bigger than any candidate. >> i just -- i think he is such a dominant figure within the party. i know not for party regulars. many party regulars reject that idea that paul ryan is -- >>for your average republican voter, he is it's so hard for me to imagine that what he says in tweets over the last week somehow three w weeks from now he says, i want to say, i have announced i placed a call to hillary clinton to congratulate. i struggle to wrap my mind around him doing that. i think it's in all of his business interests, conservative media network, a faction of the republican party, all of those

say -- >> mike pence may concede. >> secretary clinton, if she wins, may get a call from governor pence. the tweet that will matter most when the best accounts of this worst election are written i think will be dr. rice -- secretary of state rice's enough last week. i haved am ed amad d d a admira. when she tweeted underscored, i think, the resignation to results that are in the air. >> part of the calculation on the part of the clinton campaign is that they don't want to just win. but they want a big win so that the results can't be questioned. they are sending out e-mails to supporters saying, it's imperative you come out in big numbers. we need to this to be -- >> it's important to note that he is not -- we say this

what he is running is not a campaign in a traditional sense. it's a revenging of or avenging against people he believes wronged him or sort of a grievance, an airing of grievances. a campaign has a message that you stick to that you have figured out resonates with the american people and that you believe. he had 19 messages in five minutes over the weekend when he was teleprompter. eight words i did not think i would utter in public. >> let's move from presidential to down the ballot. there are a lot of people who think the presidential race may be in one category. the results may be known but we don't know the size of victory. what will republican dozen down the ballot? democrats want to go after trump and republicans are trying to distance here is a montage of new ads

supporting the nominee. >> he stood by trump. >> would you point to him as a role model? >> absolutely. >> i have a lot of disagreements with donald trump. i have been clear about that. what's important for pennsylvanians is having a senator who will stand up to any president's bad why ideas. >> i have daughters. i have friends. >> for me it was the final straw. >> hugh, republican -- it's a bar fight. we're trying to save every republican no matter what it takes. some distance from trump. some can't. damage down the ballot, what do you see? >> my analyst hat, not advocate hat. i think the house is secure and paul ryan is doing a fine job of directing resources. i believe the senate will come down to nevada on the night of the election as to whether -- i think toomey will survive.

>> there's a threshold at which the margin of hillary clinton's victory in a state becomes fatal to the person down ballot. florida where if hillary clinton wins by two or three, you can see marco rubio surviving. you see more ticket splitting in the polling than you typically. at a point the tsunami takes down all of the candidates. i don't think toomey will survive. portman seems to be the strongest. but also, ohio is the least associateth him. >> the least and most in odd ways, which i will show you actually in a minute. when we come back, divided america. the part of america that can't imagine anyone voting for hillary clinton and the other part of america that doesn't understand why anyone would vote

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efits to this woman, with new cabinets. they all have insurance crafted personally for them. not just coverage, craftsmanship. not just insured. chubb insured. welcome back. do you have any friends who are going to vote differently than you plan for president? maybe not. this country is nowo by race, income, geography and culture that we tend to live with and among people who think exactly as we do. it helps explain why we are so sharply divided. we decided to visit to counties who can't imagine why anyone would support the other candidate for president. one county was a washington, d.c. suburb filled with wealthy, highly educated voters. starbucks central. in other words, this is hillary clinton country.

that will continue to support him with all of the sexual predatory behavior. >> the other place was monroe county, ohio. it's rural, struggling, people who didn't get the opportunity to go to college. people gather for coffee as mcdonald's. in other words, this is trump country. >> i don't see how anybody can vote for her. >> we have a lot more on our visit to both of these counties. see our full report on our website. we will h press" daily tomorrow. we will be back in a moment with a preview of the third and final debate this week in las vegas. >> my question is, what do you like about him? >> i do like how generous he is. just last friday, he handed me

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back now with the panel. there will be a third and final debate, believe it or not. i want to throw a couple things out here that we haven't gotten into. more is from our poll to show you the racial divide in this country. among all white voters, this week, this is donald trump's worst week yet. look at this, hillary clinton has a higher negative rating on all whit trump. i think that tells you there's a structural -- there's a structure here, there's a floor that donald trump -- >> that's when we talk about trump will get 35%. it's literally almost structurally impossible for that to happen. combine the polarization in the country, self-sorting in the country and the feelings about hillary clinton, whether you think they are justified, they exist. he has, i think, a very hard floor. his problem at least if you

his floor and his ceiling are close to one another. >> a half floor. >> his ceiling is 42. >> i want to bring up how the campaign is handling the podesta hack, the russian hack, wikileaks is the conduit here. we finally got speech transcripts. to me, if you take them all in totali totality, she's a calculating had this come out during the primary, could this have cost her the nomination? >> it could have. to your point, it reinforces everything a lot of people thought about secretary clinton. the fact that it's coming out right now is awkward for the campaign. they're having to answer a lot of thorny questions in the days leading up to election day. but in terms of their strategy for dealing with this, they are pivoting. they are not acknowledging or authenticating any of the e-mails and saying, this is the

election. yesterday they started with this line that this is like wat watergate. that is their way to change the conversation. the problem with the leaks, as of yet, there hasn't been a major bombshell. could there be? >> i tell you -- let me pause you there. i think the leaks will haunt her if she becomes president with the progressive movement. they will use these leaks to beat her up when they don't like what she's doing. >> maybe. but i'm sort of in the camp that says there's she's a politician, no kidding. most americans don't know who john podesta is. so having sort of conversations in the background of a campaign, that's how campaigns and that's how politics operating. do progressives have discomfort with her core beliefs, maybe. but i don't think it matters.

overwe overwhelming support from african-americans. >> i did have -- i had a clinton supporter admit to me, they said, they won the primary but they lost the campaign. >> the russian hack -- they did lose the campaign. the russian hack is very troubling. if they drop -- the russians drop her private e-mails, the race could turn again. what governor pence said about the haitian leak, that's criminal wrongdoing. it does not come from the russians. it comes from a department directed aid to friends of bill, that is criminal wrongdoing that will haunt her into her term if she wins. you can't rule out donald trump. if the russians drop -- no matter -- if they drop her private e-mails, that means she's compromised. wait and see. >> the one thing i return to is the way you started earlier in the show, which is talking about trump's tweets.

case you just heard hugh hewitt make, have you heard donald trump make a case that was that concise and that to the point? no. because he is constantly inflicting self-wounds. tweeting about things, tweeting about random cultural events. he cannot make this story about her. the more it is about her, this has been the case over and over again, whether it's e-mail, clinton foundation, other state department stuff, the more it's about her, the worse she does. worse he does. >> you can't get way from the fact that when you are talking about the russians, you are talking about the leaks, you bring yourself back to another narrative that the trump campaign has not dealt with this, this affinity between himself and his camp and the russians in this and the fact that they are blatantly attempting to help him become president of the united states. that's to me the looming issue that is the dog not barked. it's also unprecedented. i think troubling for a lot of

didn't in the debate, well, putin, he says nice things about me, i say nice things about me. that's not what mike pence outlined today. >> i can't tell you how many times this week journalists have said, what would this news cycle look like if we hadn't had the 2005 tape of donald trump? if these allegations hadn't come forward from all of these women? we would be almost solely focused on these wikileaks. yet, donald trump continues to kind of make these errors. >> this whole obsession of the media's role in this, i think everybody is hyping it up too much. we have candidates' words and candidates' speeches here. that should be the focus. we will be back with our end game segment. what donald trump said about drug testing presidential candidates. >> coming up, "meet the press" end game and post game brought to you by boeing, building the to you by boeing, building the future one century at a a time - this costs you money and runs on gas. this saves you money and runs on calories.

biking is better for your body and your budget. the more you know. "meet the press" end game is brought to you by boeing, building the future one century at a time. >> back now with end game. sometimes trump says stuff and you just have no idea what he means.

on drug testing. listen. >> we're like athletes, right? so athletes, they're making -- athletes, they make them take a drug test. i think we should take a drug test prior to the debate. i do. >> hugh, of all the head scratchers, this is -- i have to say, he did it in new hampshire with the opioid epidemic is real. to throw that out there. >> that compreh portman is winning. we're in cleveland, red, white and blue here. >> it's more about this hillary clinton stamina issue. >> it gets back to the point that chris made that is the point that this is not a campaign. what donald trump is doing is he is performing. he is performing for his audience. he feeds off of and gets emotion sort of support and he has -- he is feeding a need in himself. this is not about trying to become president of the united

>> it's firing another warning shot at her before the debate that it's going to about no-holds-barr no-holds-barred. >> what is this -- let me ask you this. what is this debate going to look like? >> wwe. >> she pulled a punch. i felt like she pulled punches in the second debate. >> she let him do his thing that she knew would not be -- i think he will continue to just engage in flights of fancy as he appears to be doing at this point. this feels to me like at the presidential level. it's you do you end, which is okay. all of his strategists, all those people are i think essentially saying, all right, you are going to do what you want to do anyway. why don't you just go and do it in this last month? that's a disastrous strategy if you are a down ballot republican. but it will give him some leave of gratification.

to go after her on haiti. it will be the word of the night. >> that's interesting. i will be surprised. >> i don't know he will. he should. can he stick to a message? >> nbc news will provide live coverage of the debate wednesday from las vegas. it begins at 9:00 eastern on your local nbc station. that's all for today. we will be back next week. will it be another one of those unprecedented weeks? because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." >> you can see more end game i on the "meet the press" facebook

ing up on "retirement talk with sandy morris." >> and you can plan and you can try to have the best plan ever, but inevitably, something happens. and i've always said, it's never when one thing happens that really rocks off course. it's usually when a couple things happen simultaneously that cause problems. >> if you're working with a financial advisor right now, or you may think you need to seek professional advice from a financial professional, there are some questions that you can ask yourself and that you can ask a potential advisor that will greatly make your decision easier. >> you do not want to have anything showing on your tax return that you're not