we have ari melber to talk about it. paul ryan, the fbi re-opening the case. you heard that from jason chaffetz and bob goodlat. republicans seizing on this. in your view is this the case being re-opened? what is it and what isn't it? >> this is a fairly unusual letter saying there is additional evidence in a closed criminal inquiry they are going to review, as they should if they discover evidence that could be pertinent. the thing about evidence you don't know how pertinent it is until you review it. because of the scrutiny on the case involving a major party nominee the fbi did something that would be unusual which is tell a congressional committee about it. the fbi doesn't update congressional committees in most cases and the congress doesn't usually ask about most cases. that's what it is. an update saying they will look at the e-mail. the letter doesn't say much. it is a careful, tight, lawyerly letter. it does say they are in an unrelated case. the fbi said they have e-mail now. they don't sigh who from. it could be relevant that they got through anothe

ari melber, thank you. coming up, house speaker paul ryan on the trail not for donald trump but for the gop. we are waiting for donald trump to respond to these latest accusations of the new accusation from a former "the apprentice" and we'll bring you apprentice" and we'll bring you the response as soon as we get woman: how do we protect them from $4 billion in new cuts to california schools? man: vote yes on proposition 55. woman: prop 55 doesn't raise taxes on anyone. man: not on working californians, not small businesses. no one. woman: instead, prop 55 simply maintains the current tax rate on the wealthiest californians. man: so those who can most afford it continue paying their fair share... woman: ...to prevent new education cuts... man: ...and keep improving california's schools. woman: vote yes on prop 55 to help our children thrive. . >>> on a busy friday here, hillary clinton is off the trail today, she's fund raising, her surrogates is out there. chris jansing, an event by president obama, chris

that's a closed case, no admission of wrongdoing. >> chief legal correspondent ari melber walking usllegations. thank you for breaking it down, sir. >>> when we come back, it's been a heavy week, folks. your reward for making it to friday, dancing. dancing. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? american express open cards can help you take on a new job, or fill a big order or expand your office and take on whatever comes next. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. find out how american express cards and services redid you say 97?97! yes. you know, that reminds me of geico's 97% customer satisfaction rating. 97%? helped by geico's fast and friendly claims service. huh... oh yeah, baby. geico's as fast and friendly as it gets. woo! geico. expect great savings and a whole lot more. >>> we have a campaign moment now that you may have missed from the presidential debate. it was uncovered by ellen degeneres. >> no one is talking about this moment, but we have to show it. >> this is not an ordinary election. we are g

ari melber, chief legal correspondent. anything that's really stopping that would really stop mark burnett from putting this out? >> legally, maybe. with so many other stories about donald trump, he has not proven to be very transparent or provided much evidence. the claim is that they have standing contracts, mgm basically with mark burnett that might prevent them. you might sign a confidentiality agreement with mr. trump, of course, the star and executive involved in the show that wouldn't allow you to release that. this goes to a bigger question with donald trump as he runs for president, craig, something often called the jay-z test who famously said, i'm not a businessman. i'm a business, man. and that's certainly the case with donald trump. he is a businessman but he has the trump organization. it's business activities. it's tax structure. it's corporate subsidies. it's dealings for decades have been intermingled with his personal life, his personal tax status and in this case, the personal candidacy for president. >>

i want to get answers from msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber.t to start with juanita brodrick. she's accused bill clinton of raping her. here's what she said last night. >> hillary is not for all women. hillary is only for one woman. that's herself. >> what are the facts about these allegations? >> you hear it there. we should note, three of these accusers are talking about more of bill clinton's conduct than hillary's. juanita brodrick has alleged bill clinton raped her in a hotel room in 1968. we should note that she originally swore under oath that that did not happen, in 1998, in litigation regarding polly jones. in 1999, who granted immunitimm she swore she did not think these things were true, but when granted immunity, she said they were. >> when did she get immunity? >> 1999. that's on the next graphic we can show. basically, that's the unfolding of that allegation. we have seen this in many cases, the fact that a woman doesn't initially speak out doesn't mean her ultimate accusation is untrue, but that is something that was never resolv

>> goodday, i'm ari melber here, and this is "pulse of america" where your voice can be heard. here are the stories that e want to know. a national poll is showing donald trump down by double digit digits and a big position of port supporters say they won't accept the election, because they believe it is rigged. and we want to know if you believe that russians are specifically going to influence our election? and snl gets one more chance to poke fun at the candidates, and we will show you some of the very best moments. as we kick it off here, the pulse, cal perry has the pulse. >> you can go to.msnbc.com/america, and go on line to take a look at the web page and you can vote as many times as you want, and vote through the segments and we will break it down from demographics and age and gender and the political affiliation which is key for today's questions. ari? >> great. we will start with the new poll numbers that spell trouble for the trump campaign as the campaign continues to play up the ideas of the the election rigging. the poll has clinton up 12 points which is the high

when i hear those words, i want to speak with ari melber, msnbc chief legal correspondent. this has been a long day for you. thanks for being here, i appreciate it. >> absolutely, rachel. >> you said actually on twitter just a few minutes ago that this may be proper as a legal matter but distorting as a political matter. what do you mean by that? >> what i mean is that jim comey testified under oath they weren't looking at any more e-mails. if they are looking at more e-mails for any reason he feels he needs to update that testimony so it is fully accurate. when the facts change, you change your testimony to congress and he says as much in the letter. but the way he wrote the letter and what is happening in response, which you and others have been reporting on and documenting suggests that this is confusing, cryptic, distortive even if people given a cryptic set of messages think this is bigger than it is. jim comey may have been trying to do the right thing legally, but has done it so poorly and so vaguely that practically it is a mess and distortive and something he may ul

joining me is ari melber. to point out we reached out to both the hillary clinton and donna brazile. if this is true, is this a legal concern or just a political concern of favoritism? >> it's both. legally these are allegedly hacked, stolen e-mails. there's no digital difference under the law whether someone breaks into your home to take your papers or goes online and takes your e-mails. that's illegal. and nbc has confirmed the united states government is pointing the finger at russia. buyer beware, we haven't cleared that. clearing the caveats, the notion that the clinton campaign obtained some sort of extra edge for favorable treatment because of the people it knows, on the flipside, donna brazile is a long-time dementd parocratic pa leader so it's not a shock she's in touch with democrats. >> again, the caveat here is donna brazile, we reached out to her, she has not given a response. a cnn spokesperson responded saying, we have never, ever given a town hall question to anyone beforehand. in one of those

. >>> ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >> good evening to you. i'm ari melber with our live election coverage for this monday, october 24th. the election is now just two weeks from tomorrow. and that doesn't leave much time for donald trump to make up his deficit in the polls. though trump may not actually know it, this afternoon, he told florida voters he's doing well in those polls. >> just in case you haven't heard, we're winning. not only florida, but we're going to win the whole thing. what we have is we have a movement like they've never seen before. >> he also tweeted about winning, but when pressed in a separate interview with a north carolina radio station this morning, trump did acknowledge the external reality that this is now an uphill battle. >> i guess i'm swa behind in the polls. but not by much. i mean, in your state, i'm one point, two points, and even in three polls. one, point, two points, and even. >> he used the word "somewhat," which may depend on who is judging. trump is now in a new all-time low in that abc poll. he trails

ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >>> good evening to you. i'm ari melber. 6:00 p.m. here on the east coast of the united states, where the most catastrophic hurricane since hurricane katrina is, we expect, hours away from making potential landfall in florida. it is the storm surge from category 4 matthew has forecasters at the national hurricane center so concerned this evening. 11 million people in florida under a hurricane warning tonight, 1.5 million under evacuation orders. the governor simply telling them to get out. he's not pulling any punches, warning, quote, this storm will kill you. >> evacuate, evacuate, evacuate. this is game day. this is when we're going -- this is going to hit. our number one priority, keep everybody safe. >> airports are closed from miami and right up the entire coast there. so far today, more than 1,000 flights already canceled. we are bracing, obviously, for what could be a long and dangerous night. our team here at cnbc has it covered. >> the entire southeastern u.s. is bracing for impact. >> we've been out here for the last seven h

thank you, ari melber and kasie hunt. coming up over those wikileaks e-mails.s it another reason for voters not to trust her. jennifer granholm joins me next. plus, it was a sharp attack on trump's character. >> such a nasty woman. i'm here in bristol, virginia. and now...i'm in bristol, tennessee. on this side of the road is virginia... and on this side it's tennessee. no matter which state in the country you live in, you could save hundreds on car insurance by switching to geico. look, i'm in virginia... i'm in tennessee... virginia... tennessee... and now i'm in virginessee. see how much you could save on car insurance. or am i in tennaginia? hmmm... ok, so we drowned the fire... yep. stirred it... mm-hmm. drowned it again... mm-hmm. and now just feel if it's cold. yeah. cool. [camera shutter clicks] [whistling a tune] smokey just gave me a bear hug. i know. i already posted it. i was working in the yard, my chest started hurting and i thought, well, you need to go to the doctor. i was told that is was cancer, and i called cancer treatment centers of america

. >>> ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >> good evening to you.ri melber with our live election coverage for this monday, october 24th. the election is now just two weeks from tomorrow. and that doesn't leave much time for donald trump to make up his deficit in the polls. though trump may not actually know it, this afternoon, he told florida voters he's doing well in those polls. >> just in case you haven't heard, we're winning. not only florida, but we're going to win the whole thing. what we have is we have a movement like they've never seen before. >> he also tweeted about winning, but when pressed in a separate interview with a north carolina radio station this morning, trump did acknowledge the external reality that this is now an uphill battle. >> i guess i'm swa behind in the

ari melber is here with us. ari, he's talking about this today, he's working on filing a suit. can he do that? >> he can. this is part of the push back appeari. the standard for public figure to win this kind of case as you know and viewers may have heard about this comes from a 1964 case against the "new york times," that not only you have to prove the allegations are false. tough prove that the "new york times" paper or publisher knew they are false at the time. we can put it up on the screen so people would know it is very hard for donald trump to put on this suit. it will raise a whole slew of problems that you cover extensively in our reporting on sexually assaults and viewers may remember in the bill cosby situation where it was a civil suit that people filed and he filed which of a real claim otherwise it would have never been in court. >> and there is a bunch of suit around boill cosby as well. >> i feel like i have been asking you of this issue. have we been here before? >> we have seen this back and forth with presidents, some of the case long comes from president nix

i'm ari melber. hillary clinton grappling with the news the fbi is looking at e-mails from the investigation into her private server. telling supporters today look beyond the headlines. >> there's a lot of noise and distraction, but it really comes down to what kind of future we want and who as our president can help us get there. >> her campaign calling on the fbi director to release more about the discovered e-mails the bureau says are pert innocent into the investigation to clinton's e-mail server. clinton telling nbc news the fbi has not contacted huma abedin of the e-mails found during a second fbi probe into her former husband, anthony wiener. >>> donald trump supporters can't get enough of the renewed focus on the e-mails, trump railing against what he calls clinton's "criminal action." >> it was just announced on friday that the fbi is reopening their investigation into the criminal and illegal conduct of hillary clinton. her criminal action was willful, deliberate, intentional, and purposefu

i'm ari melber. we have special coverage for a lot of news tonight. two storms basically on topping our headlines. the political storm picking up strength. we have republicans in this hour as they call on their presidential nominee to step aside following the comments he made about sexual assault. the other storm a serious one for many across the eastern seaboard. hurricane matthew did make landfall in south carolina and left a trail of destruction up the southeastern coast. we updates on the areas feeling the effects we begin with donald trump's presidential campaign in what is clearly i think objectively the greatest crisis it's ever faced. trump vows today to stay in the race. the fact that he has to talk about that in october shows you how dire it is. just last hour, this was the scene outside of trump tower in midtown manhattan, came out to greet supporters who came to gather in an impromptu rally of support. in the upper echelons of the gop, we can tell you there are calls coming up and down fo

i'm joined by ari melber. ari, here's a gut question, the nut of the matter. is there any reason to believe there's any probative evidence that suggests hillary clinton did something wrong based on the statement by the fbi director? any reason to believe she's done something wrong or they see something wrong? >> no. there's nothing in the letter that says that. >> nothing. >> no, not in the letter and all the letter says is, hey, i told congress we were done reading e-mail when i testified under oath and that was true then, we were done. we have now legally lawfully obtained more e-mail and we're going to read it rather than not read it, which is a prudent investigative thing to do, but this close to an election needing to update your testimony sets off all these alarm bells. >> but they have had this laptop in their possession for a while. i assume. >> five weeks. >> why didn't they notice there was an e-mailed address in ther for huma, that she used it to do her work. it doesn't sound right and if that's all they know is that there is an e-mail address. what

ari melber, our chief legal correspondent, will explain the legal issues surrounding this coming up ande of the voters. looking at key moments from last night's debate and what voters were thinking as they watched. here's just a snippet of what they told us afterwards. >> i don't think anyone's given us any ideas on who we should really vote for. i don't really trust either one of them. uch abt w you're a digit, yet here youre building a jet engine. we, ge is digil d industrial. like peat butter andelly. yeah. ham d cheese. cops and robbers. yeah. nachos and kate. ahh. not that one so much. e rest were really gd. ahh. not that one so much. socks and shoes. ok, ricky. re smarter. you findayto sttcyour dollar. so notparemedica part d plan with other options call or go oine noand see howr could help y save. access to er 60,00 phes. plus1 tier 1 generic dicaons op smart. compare your partd options . anfi out if aetna rx sar right you. >>> she got caught in a total lie. her papers went out to her friends and said things, wikileaks, that just came out. and she lied. now she's blaming the lie

chief legal correspondent ari melber has been looking into this for us including looking into actual reports of voter fraud. the percentage to give people perspective here. >> that's right, tamron. basically, donald trump is doubling down today in his tweets on the idea that in-person voter fraud could swing the entire national election. that's just not true. not only has he not offered evidence, as others pointed out, but legally, he couldn't because there have been studies that look over a billion ballots over a decade and found roughly 30 allegations of voter fraud, 31 incidents that were alleged. that is to say there's not a practical numerical way to swing out as trump is hypothetically alleging. >> when you look at the rarity as well, we know numbers have never persuaded people who were looking for a reason to be angry. and as we go after the election day and if donald trump is not successful, the numbers that you just cited, ari, those are like air in the wind if his voters are looking to be angry and feel they've been robbed. >> i think you make a good point and this is somet

lets move onto ari melber. he's going to break down the language in this letter from director comey sent over to members of the house and the senate. it is moving really fast. he was briefed by his staff just yesterday. is that right? >> that's exactly right. >> this is political and news bomb shell by any means. it is not niesely on a legal bomb shell. it is too unusual. according to the fbi, yesterday, the director was briefed that in another case of a separate and unrela un unrelated case other e-mails turned up and they are basically interested in reviewing they will them. >> he basically says in connection of an up ya case, the fbi has learned of the existence of e-mails that appears pertinent to the -- i agree the fbi should take appropriate investigative steps to allow investigate everiors to review e-mails to assess their importan importance. >>> that line right there is the fbi director. >> his statement is different from what donald trump and some other immediately responded. >> what he's saying is th

chief legal correspondent ari melber.lonel jack jacobs, nbc military analyst, medal of honor recipient. this is exciting. i'm glad we were able to convene all three of us for this. here's what donald trump and hillary clinton had to say about the high court and the justices they would appoint and the second amendment. here it is. >> the justices that i'm going to appoint will be pro-life. they will have a conservative bent. they will be protecting the second amendment. >> i understand and respect the tradition of gun ownership. it goes back to the founding of our country but i also believe that there can be and must be reasonable regulation. >> so one of the major from trump is pick me or we're going to get a liberal court for generations to come. the second amendment. roe v. wade. is it a litmus test? >> that's what trump was going toward. it was more precise and nuanced than it started out in the campaign. that would suggest he's listened to advisors or done homework on this and for people who don't like donald trump pe

ari melber picks up our coverage right now. >>> good evening to you. i'm ari melber. 6:00 p.m. here on the east coast of the united states, where the most catastrophic hurricane since hurricane katrina is, we expect, hours away from making potential landfall in florida. it is the storm surge from category 4 matthew has forecasters at the national hurricane center so concerned this evening. 11 million people in florida under a hurricane warning tonight, 1.5 million under evacuation orders. the governor simply telling them to get out. he's not pulling any punches, warning, quote,

i'm ari melber, joining you from msnbc world headquarters in new york. and here is what's happening. we begin with the politics and the reaction from donald trump here about former miss universe, alicia machado. a new interview with the "new york times," trump saying he was, quote, absolutely disgusted that mrs. clinton aligned herself politically with machado, saying, she, mrs. clinton, has portrayed miss machado as a victim and made this young lady into a girl scout when she was the exact opposite. so late last night, machado tweeting back, he's attempting to distract from his campaign's real problems and his inability to the leader of this great country. trump did not bring up the controversy in a rally in michigan yesterday, discussing other issues, like what he says is a concern about voter fraud. >> go to your place and vote and go pick some other place and go sit there with your friends and make sure it's on the up and up. because you know what? is that's a big, big problem in this country. and nobody wants to talk about it. nobody has the guts to

i'm ari melber here at msnbc.orld headquarters in new york and at the half hour, here is what we are monitoring. hurricane matthew now officially a category 4. that makes it the strongest storm to hit the atlantic in about ten years. something a lot of people are watching. we have w nbc meteorologist raphael miranda with us. where is the storm headed? >> wear watching closely in jamaica, cuba and haiti, the spots in the bulls-eye of hurricane matthew, a category 4 storm. full of surprises that explosive development last night to a category 5 storm. it has weakened a bit today. it appears to be undergoing an eye wall replacement cycle, robling a bit to the south. we'll see how this develops. it may regain lost strength later on. these are the current stats. winds 145 miles per hour and the movement basically to the west 6 miles per hour. just drifting to the west. eventually will take a turn more towards the north and tomorrow night into monday morning, that's when all eyes are on jamaica, also haiti and then cuba

chief legal correspondent ari melber is back.ing the possible outcome of this election with what happened to al gore. would you compare to t the two? >> al gore said it wasn't even a question because al gore had not sewn doubts and both candidates said they would accept the outcome. the difference is here absent a close race or irregularities, someone repeatedly casting doubt on the very mechanism and fairness of the election system even though as many people understand, it is overseen locally by local officials in both parties. so this would have to be a conspiracy by many against one on a scale that is physically impossible based on how voting works in this country and i just want to say, what donald trump is doing and implying is incredibly unprecedented and haven't seen a major party nominee do this and irresponsible. it takes well meaning people who like his politics, which is fine, this is an election and turn them potentially into doubters of our democracy which is bigger than any single election. >> this is what we've hea

. >> our ari melber, i know you have been on the phone with our sources since friday fight. if they do review of what pete just describing, is there a possibility to find the need of a legal action? >> that's the lead. they want a different outcome charges against her. i spoken to former prosecutor and legal experts across the spectrum. the basic view, the nature of this evidence and we don't know what's in it, the nature of the evidence makes it unlikely that you would reverse course and get charges. the reasons several prosecutors tell me goes back to the standard that the fbi used here and james comey outlined and lets play of how he explained that standard in july. >> our investigation looked at whether there is evidence that classified information was in properly stored or transmitted in their personal system in violation of federal statues that makes it a felony to mishandled classified information either intentionally or grossly. >> she would have intentionally would want to miss handle that information. >> supposed there was top secret information in these huma abedi

i want to bring in chief legal correspondent ari melber and the republican strategist and josh barrows. josh, you recently changed your republican to democrat. clearly showing this is an exciting election. ari, i want to start with you. this decision on director comey's part. this is opening a hornet's nest. all of us and the justice department and hillary clinton found out like the rest of us. does this mean it is a foregone conclusion what is in the e-mails is explosive or could it be a prosecutor tying up loose ends? >> it is most likely tying up the letter is unobjectable for what it says. i think comey is doing what he should do. update testimony. he told congress we are not reading anymore e-mails. now he has people looking at newly discovered e-mails. the reaction is as we reported is much bigger. because the letter cr cr cryptic, he is doing what he needs to do. >> josh, congress has an obligation to learn about the e-mails. does he has an obligation to the voters who are going to the polls in 11 days? >> yes. while i think it is likely -- what they found is there is a laptop o

i'm ari melber.e'll have more on 2016 and on hurricane matthew, so keep it locked right here on msnbc. bp enginee use underwater robots, so they can keep watch over operations below the sea evenrom thousands of feet above. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. >>> hurricane matthew watch continues. friends, the storm, has for now, stayed far enough offshore to spare central florida, the direct hit many had feared. it is not over yet. the city of jacksonville, areas of georgia and north carolina are still on high alert and we'll be tracking that throughout the show. meanwhile, just 48 hours before the second presidential debate,

i want to bring in quickly ari melber, senior legal analyst here at msnbc. ari, the presence of what she's saying are corroborating witnesses, the detail in this encounter, the fact it took place ten years ago, but all of the detail she's put on the table, does this make this accusation, in your view, different in some way from the others? >> this accusation is somewhat different, although it is important for the public record that there are some similar behavior patterns being alleged. we haven't confirmed them. obviously, we're processing this new -- it is notable that while ms. allred and this individual making accusations said there were discussions at the time with others, they are not today making those other people available. from a legal perspective, that makes it a weaker case, if you will, as compared to some of the people who have put forward corroborating witnesses who basically were able to confirm that-of-the discussion or allegations about mr. trump that occurred then and that thus occurred absent a political campaign and the other questions th

i'm ari melber. straight ahead "citizen trump" with chris matthews. >>> i'm truly honored by your support. >> trump is right and americans know he's right. >> tonight we close one chapter in history and we start another. >> you may not like his policies but you got to like his guts. >> we're at this point in the race and nobody has any idea what his actual policies would be. >> you've given me the honor to lead the republican party to victory this fall. >> the notion that the republican party wasn't ripe for a populist takeover, he just misunderstands the mood of the republican party. >> he has tapped into a part of the electorate that is i think deeply angry about the state of the economy. >> better hope i'm president. >> don't have to talk about his ego. it sticks out of every pore in his body. >> you're getting donald trump full throttle, ready to destroy anyone who gets in his way. >> ladies and gentlemen, we will make america great again. remember. thank you. >> good evening. i'm chris matthews.

these are unsub stan -- ar stan -- ari melber is with me. >> these are brand new allegations.'s sharing it for the first time and she's represented by gloria allred who represented several accusers. >> what she just detailed there which you are still seeing some footage of is the idea that she interacted with mr. trump on more than one occasions that she had sexual advances, groping, touching in a hotel room during a period where she was reaching out to him pursuing help either getting a job from his recommendations or getting a job with the trump's organization. a couple of important points from an investigative inspect activi inspect --

so ari melber will take over our coverage as we continue our coverage of the category 4 hurricane matthew. >> good evening to you. more than 2 million people across the southeast have been ordered to evacuate today. at least 95,000 homes and businesses are already currently without power, the storm threatening a 300-mile stretch from palm beach to jacksonville. matthew is expected to bring sustained winds of up to 130 miles per hour in some area. state and low officials are prepared of this her vein, if he though he called this storm a monster just tonight. >> i traveled as far as the east coast urging people to prepare and get ready for hurricane matthew. it's here. we're starting to see the impacts and it's a monster. our number one priority is protecting every life in the state. >> storm surges of up to 11 feet predicted, officials expecting those surges to be even more damaging than the devastating winds in some regions, warning that some areas may be uninhabitable for weeks or even months. bonnie schneider has been following every track tonight. bonnie, what is the latest? >> the lat

. >> our ari melber. it is great to have you on today. >> we got two live events we are watching. is detroit with clinton and on your right, that's pennsylvania, that's where donald trump is going to be coming up later this afternoon. their first campaign appearances since that debate last night. let me take a look at our pulse. house speaker paul ryan says he won't defend trump or campaign for him the next 30 days. should paul ryan withdraw his endorsement of the nominee. 9 96% of you say yes and 4% say no. the pulse is live, cast your votes on www.pulse.msnbc.com. we'll be back after this. king simple, smart cash back choices... with quicksilver from capital one. you're earning unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase, everywhere. like on that new laptop. quicksilver keeps things simple, gary. and smart, like you! and i like that. i guess i am pretty smart. don't let that go to your head, gary. what's in your wallet? i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i t a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male ann

. >> msnbc's chief legal correspondent ari melber is here. we should point out for the purposes of this conversation we have not confirmed, nbc has not independently confirmed any of these allegations. trump denying all of these allegations. let's put the political ramifications aside. legally, what is he looking at here potentially? >> what he's facing now that's different than before is people accusing him of what, in several states, would amount to at least some kind of misdemeanor. that's a bad thing but we've analyzed this here in the legal unit this morning. most of the statute of limitations have run. that means the deadline is over and he's not facing any potential criminal charge here. something that many pointed out including lisa bloom earlier on our air, it's not uncommon to see women in this situation delay before speaking out or ever seeking to press charges. that doesn't speak to the voracity of the underlying claims. >> i do want to read this statement from the trump campaign on t"the new york time" reporting. this entire arti

i'm ari melber.

msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber has been looking into last night. ari, of course, the thing people always expect from donald trump is a threat of litigation. then you have this letter which other legal analysts say is meaningless. what is your analysis of this? >> the letter doesn't do anything legally. it is no different than a tweet in the sense it's just communication about what they don't like about it. it could set up the plan to sue "the new york times" with donald trump directly threatened. the problem for him on that is two-fold. number one, there's already a supreme court case from 1964 about "the new york times" that said the standard for public figures like a presidential candidate is very high. he would have to prove not only the charges are false but that "the new york times" knew they were false when they published them or not reckless about it. number two is the same problem that bill cosby had is when you open the door by suing people who are accusing you or publishing accusations, you're creating an environment in court under oath to

my colleague ari melber picks up coverage after a quick break.with us. >>> good evening to you. msnbc world headquarters here in new york continuing to follow two major stories now. more fallout for donald trump following lewd inappropriate comments caught on tape. 31 days until the election the republican nominee saying hours ago he'll never withdraw from the race even as members from his own party calling increasingly for him to do that. >>> also, south carolina feeling the effects of hurricane matthew. residents along the coast of florida and georgia beginning to assess damage. also updates on the storm and its aftermath throughout the hour, but we begin with donald trump's campaign in what is clearly its worst crisis ever. donald trump himself defiant, vowing on twitter he will stay in the race but calls going all over the place from top republicans saying he should step aside. this is essentially unprecedented territory. the audio, of course, leaked. you probably heard by now, of deeply offensive comments trump made about women and potential

i want to bring in chief legal correspondent ari melber to talk about more about this quid pro quo allegation. we can expect it to come up but what is the essence of hillary clinton's opposition in critics saying here? >> this story has been completely overblown and may be because a lot of people don't understand how the fbi investigative process works and why should they? this isn't something we usually get into the weeds on. the allegation is because one person out of dozens interviewed made an allegation within the interview that that somehow would be automatically true. that's not the case. what you have in an investigation, andrea mitchell just mentioned, the so-called 302s are contemporaneous notes of what different people say. by definition, when you're investigating something, you're going to have allegations and you're going to have things going back and forth usually you disagree. rare you interview 32 people about anything, let alone a potential criminal investigation and you find everyone saying the same thing. so this is an allegation that one person made saying they were under t

. >>> more from ari melber, chief analyst.d to have y here to break it down, especially the legal side. james comey here 11 days before the election saying, hey, we've got a new look into the emails here. when it comes to the level of significance, uses the word "pertine "pertinent," but the level of significance is what's in question. if somebody says, does this imply because he's doing it before the election that it is serious, not necessarily, though? >> not at all. i mean, he explicitly says in his brief and confusing letter that he's doing two things -- reading the e-mail to see if it contains classified information, and reading the e-mail to see if it has "importance to the case." those are questions neither of which they've been able to answer. another interesting part of this that hasn't gotten as much attention as everyone is volted by the new information is all of this is coming, according to fbi director comey, from lower level agents new york stock exchange his story-- agents. in his storyline thursday, agents came

for legal advice, ari melber. i will take the selfie. >> do it. >> what's the deal?rst of all, as you reported because there was confusion on the internet. at first you don't have to "cry me a river" for justin. >> i can't. >> i got it out of the way. >> i need a drink. i'm listening, go ahead. >> it is illegal in most states. >> why? >> great question. there is so much concern in other areas around any pressure, tampering, interference that a lot of states don't want recording devices or even talking on the phone once you are inside the polling place. if you are home watching you can ask if you are in most of the country you probably can't use your phone to record anything. you can ask as you walk in and find out so you don't break rules. having said that, i will tell you the states are on the wrong side of the first amendment here. >> unconstitutional people are saying. >> the tennessee law does say flatly you can't do what justin did. they are not going to investigate. it says you cannot use your phone as a recording device or a photographic device in the polling

i'm ari melber. we have special coverage for a lot of news tonight. two storms basically o

so ari melber will take over our coverage as we continue our coverage of the category 4 hurricane matthewening to you. more than 2 million people across the southeast have been ordered to evacuate today. at least 95,000 homes and businesses are already currently without power, the storm

msnbc chief legal correspondent ari melber. help me out. could this election possibly be rigged?d trump is talking about. the tweet you showed within the last hour allegedly massive in-person voter fraud. the independent studies have been done on this one found over a decade. there were over 31 individual alleged instances of voter fraud. you would literally, that's out of a billion ballots as we head open this space. you would need something on the border of thousand times voter fraud across multiple states. this is more than a conspiracy theory but really fantasy and it is dangerous, many election experts to sew these kind of doubts. >> what about a close election? if that's a close election, the fact out he raised this narrative, could you see a recount? >> if he's close enough that it's down to 1 or 2 states, he's obviously trying to gin this up. whether it's because he doesn't care about confidence in the election or he wants to prepare for some kind of recount, you ask a good question because the big difference from the last recount, everyone remembers in 2000 is we had two