we will ask iowa farm bureau president craig hill.ins us next. ♪ ♪ david: so could another farm bailout be on the way? president trump hinting at that in a tweet. the president saying, quote, as they have learned in the last two years, our great american farmers know that china will not be able to hurt them in that their president has stood with them and done what no other president would do, and it's i will do it again next year, if necessary. this is china announcing what's being called a body blow to farmers, cutting off all imports of u.s. ag products including crops and livestock. here now iowa farm bureau president craig hill joins us. good to see you, craig. do farmers still feel that the president has their backs? >> oh, i think in general, yes. the answer to that is yes. at least in iowa. iowa farmers appreciate the president and the efforts he's made in regulatory relief and a number of other efforts. i would tell you also that tariffs would not have been our first choice. diplomacy, china has been a bad actor, but we would

hill? >> craig think there you're going to see conversations and debates. but i think a lot of americans are really frustrated with that being the only thing that we usually see now when these circumstances unfold. and i do think that the main question here is how fast is public opinion changing on this issue of guns? and there is some real evidence that particularly in the suburbs across the country many of the places that, quite franklin, were responsible for the democratic wave in 2018, that the way people are thinking about this issue is actually changing. and there are some republicans who are privately pretty concerned about what that means in the long term. but, when it comes to actually getting something done under the current structure with republicans controlling the senate, with more representation from rural states where the gun issue is something that really animates a lot of their voters, it's just really, really hard to see how anything gets done in congress on this that's actually really meaningful. i mean, you were talking there about the a

hill. nbc's craig boswell has more. >> reporter: president trump leaving for vacation says he's spoken with lawmakers about gun background check legislation. >> talking about meaningful. add that word, meaningful background checks. so that sick and dee mentioned people don't carry around guns. >> but he's apparently not talking about universal background checks vigorously opposed by the nra. while he says mitch mcconnell is on board with potential action, neither the president nor mcconnell offered specs. house democrats have. and two bills are sitting on mcconnell's desk. >> but the problem is one in five gun sales happens without a background check. this is a gaming loophole. house bill is bipartisan fixes it. >> people in el paso and dayton are still grieving and funerals people were gunned down there last weekend. wal-mart today issued a statement saying out of respect for the victims it is taking down displays of violent video games in stores. it comes a day after a heavily armed man walked into a wal-mart in missouri. >> still shaking. it was just terrifying. >> no one was injured and

craig has more on capitol hill this morning. >> good morning, everyone. the attorney general blasting the federal facility where epstein was found dead. members of congress are demanding answers, too. >> the federal jail in mshg where jeffrey epstein apparently handing himself saturday morning is enter intense scrutiny. >> we are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning. >> as the attorney general vow is to get to the bottom of his death, they are determining if he was on suit watch. epstein's cell was not checked every 30 minutes as required. >> i think we're going to find that there's a series of inappropriate procedures followed that were a violation of their own policies. >> while the justice department and the fbi digs deeper, investigators raided epstein's private caribbean island. epstein is accused of trafficking girls as young as 14 for sex. >> they're asking for any additional victims to come forward. >> despite epstein's death, the case against any coconspirators and possibly his estate conditions. >>>

believe he's unfit to be president and it's a dirty little secret, craig, but almost all of my former republican colleagues on capitol hillhat as well. they're afraid to say it. so many republicans i think, craig, around the country know, that this guy's unfit. they're tired of him. they're tired of the lies and tired of the cruelty and the bullying. i wrote that piece, craig, kind of just to shake up the party, come on, man. wake up. somebody needs to challenge him. and it can't be about tariffs and it can't be about the debt and deficits. there needs to be a primary referendum on trump the man. his unfitness. >> so you don't think that the primary opponent should necessarily go after the president on policy, it sounds like you think there needs to be some sort of moral challenge to this president? >> it's the moral case, craig. look, the policy is part of it but if you're going to think, you're going to challenge donald trump and talk about how he's increased the deficits he has, i'm sorry, i agree with that, that's not going to carry the day. we've -- i mean, craig, think about this. we've never been in a position like

hill surrendered to authorities >> he's coming out he's coming out. >> police on the ground say he was then taken to the hospital nbc's craig boswell joining us >>craig, good morning. this was a very tense situation for police at one point they had two officers trapped inside? >> reporter: yes, phillip. good morning good morning, everyone there were two police officers trapped inside this north philadelphia home. there were also three other civilians inside this barricade i had home with a gunman that police say was heavily armed with a number of weapons including an ak-47 a s.w.a.t. team rushed in and rescued these officers right around midnight. they fired tear gas into this home got in and got these officers out safely got the civilians out safely ending a dramatic hours long standoff, right about eight hours long a number of rounds, hundreds of rounds fired from this home, police say, during the standoff. even at one point, only an aro ed get within the vicinity of this building what gunfire would reach. take a sound. >> shots fired shots fired inside >> it's right there. >> [ bleep ] >> shots fired officer shott this location. lower extremities.

hill. what do we expect to hear from mr. biden there? >> reporter: craig'll be greeted by a very strong crowd here, one of the biggest i've seen for the former vice president, at least here in south carolina. a mix of students here at clinton college, home of the golden bears and a couple of older folks out here as well. i expect to hear a couple of issues at the forefront of the vice president's remarks today. first, health care remains the top issue in this race, the top issue for this candidate. the biden campaign very much likes the contrast they're able to give between his proposal to build upon and expand upon obamacare versus the medicare for all proposal his closest opponents are backing and secondly i expect to hear about student loans, affordability of college and about defending and funding hbcus themselves. this is an historically black college here in south carolina, an issue that the former vice president likes to talk about a great deal on the stump, even when he is not on such a campus, i am very confident he'll come up today but this is al

craig is accused of illegally concealing information about his lobbying work in ukraine. >>> a beverly hillsnfl player sean phillips are among the victims. charges against these two include 32 counts of money laundering, 12 counts of first degree residential burglary, and identity theft. >>> now to a double murder/suicide that has stunned much of the atlanta community. dr. marcia edwards is suspected of shooting and killing her two adult children before turning the gun on herself. their bodies were discovered in her home in an upscale atlanta neighborhood. edwards is the former wife of the prominent surgeon christopher edwards. >>> more fallout in the death of accused child sex trafficker jeffrey epstein. they have subpoenaed as many as 20 staff members at the new york jail where epstein took his own life. the jail was understaffed and guards were working overtime when they reportedly failed to check on epstein every 30 minutes as required. earlier this week attorney general william barr said the investigation has slowed because some witnesses have been uncooperative. >>> this close call for

host: charlie craig of turning point suggest section 230 protection should be removed from his companies if they don't quit suppressing speech. >> guest: that's a big focus on capitol hill. there's been legislation and using republican senators, in favor of doing that. it is one of the options we should have a robust debate about and i look forward to having that type of debate. there's no question that this is going to be an issue that in some ways unites the right and left. you will have those conservatives and those liberals who see some ability to work together on this issue and hopefully those who believe in the market competition can push back effectively. >> guest: i'll start that debate and, unfortunately, charlie is dead wrong on this issue. section 230, there was a great book that came out, and law professor at the united states naval academy wrote this book in 26 which it created the internet and basically the end internete know today for all of the immediately very fast services and services that are falling in price, if not free services that we have, would not exist without section 230. section 230 really was a preemptive codification of the direction i th

craig i'm from baltimore where. oklahoma judge finds the pharmaceutical giant. guilty fueling the u.s. state's opioid epidemic and causing a surge in drug related. johnson and johnson will finally be hill accountable for thousands of deaths and addiction. by their activity. triple threat tension so we're in the middle east israel carries a strike against the troops in syria comes just days after suspected this really drone attacks in lebanon and in iraq. also ahead on the program president putin meets his turkish counterpart reject berta one of the 21000 marks earth show being held near the russian talks are being held between the 2 leaders after they took in the open. one minute past 4 pm here in moscow this tuesday august 27th a very warm welcome to the program my names you know o'neill. we begin this hour in the u.s. a judge in oklahoma has ruled that the drug maker johnson and johnson is responsible for driving the state's opioid crisis ordered it to pay a 572000000 dollars fine he said the pharmaceutical giant had run a full dangerous marketing campaign which don't play the risk of addiction directly contributed to it johnson and johnson said it will appeal the decision. got a lan

hill reese the letter. you think that would also be a good topic for a book? >> there are a couple. craigas a book on the reagan post- presidency, bob spoke which is a credo grave has a lot of new material. there is an amazing story about reagan's doctors coming back to the house and bel air to talk about the diagnosis and while they're talking, he gets up and goes over to the table in starts writing the letter after the doctor just told him and he later gave between eight and said one you clean this up and send it out. he said it's perfect the weight is. so they released it as it was. it was an amazing story. but i think in general post presidencies are fascinating. you are looking at with presidential biographies the use of power and with the post- presidency the loss of power. in adjusting to life without that power. in this case in a much more dramatic way having to take it from him. i think it's a fascinating topic and we know how presidents who are living longer lives, george w based on his genetics will live well into his 90s and 70s now. and i think it's in different interesting e

farewell to hannah hill, never forgotten by her family and friends or as it turned out by the criminal justice system. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline," i'm craig you for watching. you for g >>> good morning, i'm dara brown in new york at nbc world headquarters. 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. thanks but no thanks, congresswoman rashida tlaib explained why she declined israel's 11th hour offer. details behind that. >>> casting doubt, jeffrey epstein's death officially ruled a suicide, why his lawyers aren't buying the medical examiner's report. >>> 2020 shake up, a new poll shows who's on the rise and who's struggling to stay afloat. >>> market tail spin, recession fears leading to a rocky week on wall street, what it means for a president counting on

craig. this morning all that's left to determine is the cause of saoirse kennedy hill's death you'll remember week for a possible overdose, and today that is the focus now that her family has said good-bye. so many of the mourners were so young. saoirse kennedy hill's classmates and friends gathered outside the church as the 22-year-old's body left the kennedy compound where she died last week. a police escort brought the kennedys to our lady victory church, where they have celebrated and grieved over the years. grandma ethel, the 91-year-old widow of senator robert kennedy helped out of the car by her son max. former congressman joe kennedy and his son joe iii a current congressman were pallbearers along with ted kennedy jr., nbc news anchor maria shriver was an usher. a happy kennedy hill beamed from the program. inside one of the songs, "when irish eyes are smiling," the words changed to "when saoirse's eyes are smiling." an unnamed mourner telling the "boston globe" the service was full of hope and laughter and love in celebration of a wonderful young woman who filled the world with her a

farewell to hannah hill, never forgotten by her family and friends or as it turned out by the criminal justice system. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline," i'm craig melvin, thank you for watching. you for g >>> good morning, i'm dara brown in new york at nbc world headquarters. 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. thanks but no thanks, congresswoman rashida tlaib explained why she declined israel's 11th hour offer. details behind that. >>> casting doubt, jeffrey epstein's death officially ruled a suicide, why his lawyers aren't buying the medical examiner's report. >>> 2020 shake up, a new poll shows who's on the rise and who's struggling to stay afloat. >>> market tail spin, recession fears leading to a rocky week on wall street, what it means for a president counting on a strong economy. >>> first this morning, new controversy sparked by the back and forth over a visit to israel by two u.s. house members. israel initially blocked reps rashida tlaib and ilhan omar for visiting and then agreed to at least allow talib to visit her grandmother. she refused the offer because of the conditions. as a result, "the washington post" reports long standing u.s

hill. they say that he will face charges that include attempted murder, aggravated assault, firearms possessions, and they hope to put him away for the rest of his life craigsavannah. >> ron allen for us there in philly thanks >>> some important information this morning about the climate july was the hottest month on record that announcement coming yesterday from the national oceanic and atmospheric administration the average global temperature in july was 1.7 degrees above the average. the previous ever was three years ago in july of 2016. it shh rank arctic sea ice to historic lows. >> let's bring in mr. roker. you have been talking about this for sometime, global warming is real. >> that's right. it is climate change we will look at that report in detail in the next half hour heavy thunderstorms and tornados, this is alta vista, kansas, outside of toe peek ah we have more storms possible today. let's look at the risk area. as you see right now we have heavy showers and thunderstorms firing up, moving from kansas into missouri. thunderstorm watches are in effect seven states up for hail, damaging winds, possible tornados, and that goes into tomorrow as w