kasie hunt is here with us in the studio in new york. our political analyst robert costa is with us tonight from d.c., national political reporter for the "washington post." and we welcome katie packer, a gop strategist campaign manager on mitt romney's 2012 campaign, she formed a never trump pack and worked for 43. katie, you're the new guest around here, i would like to begin with you, your reaction when you heard the name of your old boss, to the end, we should say, a patriot and loyal republican, in re this opening for secretary of state. >> i wasn't surprised that donald trump would reach out to mitt romney. he's a smart guy, he's somebody that has a lot of very loyal followers in this country. about world affairs. he was right about an awful lot of things, whether it was the potential for the rise of something like isis, whether it was russia, whether it was syria. things. kind of guy that would meet with the president-elect. about there being a big offer or the acceptance of an offer. mitt romney is somebody that believes in ameri

kasie, let's go to you first. you've been with the clinton campaign. and now you're up in chappaqua. and the expectations are pretty high obviously. they have had so many ups and downs. but the mood today. >> reporter: i think it's the most optimistic i've seen them in a long time. and i think that this is really -- you were there last night at the rally in philadelphia, overnight in raleigh. i think there has been more of a tone of celebration, albeit with a little bit of, you know, we don't really want to go all the way there just yet. but i think that they would be shocked if she's not delivering the victory version of her speech. she's writing two version, a concession and victory speech,

let's go back to kasie hunt in florida. just the seven-state attack of hillary clinton with seven days to go. she has herself and her surrogates positioned where they need to be in these heavily worked battleground states. so, talk about the enthusiasm of folks you're seeing there in florida. >> reporter: well, thomas, you're seeing them be pretty strategic about where they send their surrogates in the final days. you had bernie sanders in new hampshire today. of course, he won there by big margins. i think they really are trying to remind people that, you know, hey, this guy you backed in the primary, he's with hillary clinton now and he thinks it's really important that you show up. there are, of course, is some concern, near the top of the list of concern, based on this fbi news of the past couple of days, because it tends to be kind of such an independent, swing type state. it's possible this could have saved kelly ayotte's senate seat for her, at least helped her. of course, you have president obama tomorrow heading to

let's bring in msnbc's kasie hunt in pembroke pines, florida. kasie, with a welcome to you. i was mentioning donald trump, just wrapping up the rally in tampa. tim kaine will be in florida. let's talk about the sunshine state there. how tight is the race there? are you able to glean from early voting data which side has the advantage? >> reporter: well, alex, this is incredibly close here in south florida, which is why we are back again in broward county, which is a prime place for democrats here in the sunshine state. hillary clinton, just a few minutes ago, making a stop in little haiti, reaching out to that community of people. she talked a little bit about campaigning with the mothers of the movement. mothers who have had children killed by gun violence. she also, of course, talked about her -- and her husband, bill clinton's connections to haiti, talking about earthquake relief, for example, an area where they have focused their efforts with the clinton foundation over the years. so very clearly trying to target a community that they think, if they turn out to vote, wil

kasie hunt in north carolina. their closing argument, at least what hillary clinton used in nevada last night, arizona, is imagine an america under president trump. here's a bit of the ad they rolled out today. >> putting a -- wouldn't you rather in a certain sense have japan have nuclear nuclear? >> saudi arabia. >> saudi arabia, absolutely. >> talking about maybe using nuclear weapons. nobody wants to hear that. >> why are we making snem why do we make them? >> i would bomb the [ bleep ] out of them. i love war in a certain way. >> they think, kasie, that's pretty effective. >> reporter: i think they believe that it is. it combines really the two messages that she's trying to close on here. they both are related to fear of what donald trump would mean for the country. on the one hand you have women voters and they've argued strenuously, the one-minute ad that included the clip that that new spot started with. she was out on the campaign trail making the argument he's unfit to be commander in chief as well. i do

msnbc's kasie hunt. so kasie, we wait to emerge from the meeting he's having with lawmakers.hat are you expecting to come from these meetings? obviously, there's so much on the table right now. republicans feeling emboldened. what do you think they hope to get out of these initial meetings? >> reporter: we're hearing the initial reports coming out of this meeting. they're essentially talking about how do we handle governing in the next couple of months before the inauguration ration a and then the first 100 days? the big question is how to fund the government. right now, expires on december 9th. one piece of business the congress will have to conduct and then early reporting indicates they're talking about the straight resolution to fund the government at all current levels. no changes through the spring of next year, through march. we'll see. we talk to more members as we work to nail down more of the details of this reporting, but i think that could give some of these members cover to get out of here early for the holidays, take some pressure off. assuming they can move tha

kasie hunt standing by. let's get technical, would republicans actually go about repealing obamacare? >> that is a great question, steph, because on the face of it, they would need 60 votes, which they frankly don't have. at this point, it looks like they'll have at least 51 run seats. that makes this inherently, extraordinarily difficult. the reality is both parties know that there are major problems with the health care law. there are things that democrats want to fix. they, of course, haven't cracked it open on capitol hill because republicans have pushed to repeal and replace it. now, republicans are in now challenging position of coming up with the plan that keeps the elements of it that everybody agrees on, making sure that people with pre-existing conditions can still get health insurance. as you saw trump talk about there, keeping kids on their health care plans until they're 26. but in practice, it's very hard to figure that out. speaker paul ryan has put a plan on the table to try to fix the pre-ex

jacob rascon and kasie hunt following the campaigns. ron allen traveling with president obama in miami and steve kornacki with me at the big map in new york. good to see you as well, my friend. let's talk about where we are right now. the race to 270. what, if anything significant, has happened within the last 24, 48 hours to change this map? >> i even say in the last 12 hours, something significant has happened. the story line here, one of the story lines we look at in the home stretch is donald trump trying to make incursions in blue state america and the clinton campaign sending money and hillary clinton into michigan trying to hold off a last minute push by trump and yesterday, we got indications from the blue state that maybe it was holding for hillary clinton but this morning, i'll show you, start with this. brand new poll with new hampshire. notice, new hampshire is blue on this map. we've been thinking this is a likely hillary clinton state and we'll take a look at what we see this morning. donald trump brand new poll out of tha

let me go back to kasie hunt. and kasie, this is a part of the closing argument for hillary clinton last night is she could essentially bridge this gap, this divide in the country represented by a division within the republican party. division of race, policy, the list goes on and on and believes after this grueling 20 months since senator cruz jumped into the race that she can mend these fences. >> reporter: i think, you know, those of us who have been out on the road for this campaign have felt that divide that you just showed. in this particular case, you had, it just illustrates all of the divisions based on geography and where you live, what kind of economic background you come from, are you a minority voter or not? and i think new york city, obviously, a place that's not very welcoming to donald trump when we were driving with the hillary clinton motorcade outside of pittsburgh, there were people standing alongside the road that were making impolite skrgestures at the mo r motorcade and i think it's going to

kasie hunt, i want to turn back to my colleague, hallie. you get reporting from mike pence. >> he's in indiana sort of second transition, you could say. the governor of indiana, now going to become the vice president of the united states so at a press conference now from the team sort of monitoring that, bringing it to us. pence was obviously asked about the his own transition and finishing the term. he was asked about the transition for president elect trump and said it's about finding people who have confidence and character and implement the vision of donald trump. he was also asked interestingly if he saw a role as the peacemaker between paul ryan and donald trump and pence's response was sort of very politically astute, if you will. saying the president elect was grateful for ryan's support and pointed to the great meeting they had last week. the focus for him is working with leaders of both houses and he's humbled as he moves forward in that and expected to be in washington and new york practically daily for the rest of the transition

the rest of our team now, kasie hunt, peter alexander, pete williams. let me start with you, kasie. new reporting on why some democrats are considerably more nervous today than they were this time last week. is this all about the fbi investigation also? take us inside the campaign. >> reporter: hey, craig. no. so i'm here on the ground in florida. we're in dade city which is outside of tampa and i'm looking at the early voting numbers and a lot of the strategists who worked in florida for a long time on both the republican and the democratic side are looking at the way those votes are coming in and saying, you know what? there actually might be reasons for hillary clinton to be a little bit nervous and that's a shift from last week. of course, the fbi investigation is still a little bit of a wild card here but so far, republicans have a very slight edge in early voting. so a few more republicans have showed up to vote whether by mail or in person early and that's a little bit concerning potentially for some democrats. there's also some demographic changes potentially. african-americ

>> kasie, let me ask you quickly about the politics of this. secretary clinton yesterday out on the campaign trail did not want to talk about her e-mails even though she got this gift from director comey. it seems like her strategy is to really try to focus on her closing argument and these remaining 24 hours to let surrogates deal with the e-mail issue. what are you anticipating today as she hits all of those critical battleground states you mapped out? michigan, pennsylvania, north carolina? >> reporter: i think they play away from the e-mail issue. we saw her in this crush of reporters that surrounded her and there you go. you can see her getting on the stronger together express. the last voyage for the campaign plane. only been flying on it since labor day but i'll walk over here otherwise i'll get left on the tarmac. but they want one more shot to talk to voters. michigan, pennsylvania. north carolina, they have a better idea. but there are places where they don't have a sense of what vote is in, how well their machine has or hasn't been w

kasie hunt is on capitol hill with more. talk to us a bit about who mike pence is meeting with today. >> reporter: hey, steph. it looks like mike pence is just landing here in washington, d.c. a couple miles from here at the u.s. capitol, where he is going to be meeting not just with republicans, as you say, but also with democrats today. he, of course, has spent a lot of time in these hallways. behind me is where republicans typically meet to hold their conference. we're down in the basement of the capitol building. he's going to be coming here first to talk to the caucus that he used to be a part of. he was a leader in the house gop conference. so he's somebody who has a lot of trust and understanding with a lot of these numbers. you can see a lot of them walking behind me now to head into the meeting. they're really kind of hacking their hopes on mike pence. i was just talking as well to chris collins who is the first trump supporter here on capitol hill. and is serving as something of a liaison between congress and the i

katy tur in new york and kasie hunt as well. i want to get to the microsoft pulse question of the day. despite calls to accept donald trump's victory, thousands of people are protesting into major cities. do you think the president elect can bridge the national divide? hit us up at pulse. msnbc.com. coming up, we are taking a closer look at who the president-elect is eyeballing for the key chief of staff position with thoughts on the job from a former chief of staff. >> the work of a chief of staff is to work with people on the edge of embracing the president rather than those who have already embraced him. fl >> much more ahead on a beautiful autumn day in washington: hang out fl. with the right steps, 80% of recurrent ischemic strokes could be prevented. and i'm doing all i can to help prevent another one. a bayer aspirin regimen is one of those steps in helping prevent another stroke. be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. i'm a substation electrician my nwith pg&e.ck varela. when i was 17 years o

kasie hunt is down there with the clinton campaign. kasie, do we expect hillary clinton to bring up the comey investigation again? is it going to be something she talks about or something they're trying to leave behind? >> reporter: i don't think we should expect her to talk about this again today, kate. this is something i think they want to make sure they put behind them and she is letting her campaign fight in her -- while she focuses on the things they want to communicate today. and i think they're really trying to change the subject to women voters. they have a new ad up on the air, a minute-long ad, that talks about what donald trump has said over the years about women. that's going into rotation today. she'll be introduced here by alicia machado, former miss universe who said donald trump called her miss piggy and miss housekeeping. i want to point out, also new from campaign officials talking to reporters on the plane on the way here, her campaign is going up on the air in a series of new states where they haven't been up recen

kasie, please stay with us. i want to bring in "washington post" national reporter robert costa, a man who knows the trump team very well. robert, i want to start with the news about jeff sessions. he's got a long legal resume, and also apparently bonded with donald trump over immigration and trade policy. we have heard from kellyanne conway over and over, mr. trump will remember who was loyal to him, who was close to him throughout the campaign, and jeff sessions was out there early. >> i was with him, with senator sessions in mobile, alabama, when he first came to meet donald trump as a presidential candidate. his raucous rally at a college football stadium, trump brought sessions on the plane. sessions put on a make america great again hat at a rally. you could see this hardline immigration views that sessions advocated was becoming the heart and soul of the trump campaign and they stayed close ever since. >> while voters may be okay with it, jeff sessions would need to get confirmed. 30 years ago, he could n

peter alexander, kasie hunt, jacob rascon. we have seen trump go after president obama, after the president's campaign rally earlier this morning, where he gave it right back to trump. what are you hearing that's different? >> reporter: in the course of the last 24 hours we've seen donald trump make the point. as he said it out loud, he has to stay on message. he has to stick to the script. he's stuck to his message, which his aides tell me is the most effective way forward. he acknowledged last night, no sidetracks, today hitting president obama on one item that is popular with many people in this room, what he calls t disast disasterous obamacare. saying a criminal indictment is likely for hillary clinton in light of a criminal investigation. the whole time, the secretary of state, none of which has been corroborated or substantiated, but all of which resonates with the people in that room, many of whom we've seen in the last hour or so marching around here proudly showing off their freshly spray painted shirt request "lock

kasie hunt, let me begin with you. the hill has been active today. vice president elect pence is meeting with nancy pelosi and there was this kumbaya moment. there was a pence moment. his chance to bridge the divide between the trump administration and congress as well as staffing the next administration. >> we have impounding the marble here today. so to speak in the hallway of congress as mike pence has gone to one of these meetings to the next, there is been a lot of nervousness about what does it mean for donald trump to win this election. it is taking them a little whoo i while to get their haefeads aro it. so pence went into the meeting and you showed that selfie there that he took with the conference, you can hear audible cheering for him. on the way out, he stopped to talk to me briefly about what it meant for him to be back here, take a look. >> it is humbling to me to be back in a room. i spent twelve years as member of congress and to be there with members that i served with and many men and women being elected and seeing the enthusiasm fo

we see the crowd there, we want to go to kasie hunt. these are the spots that could decide this election and we see melania trump now showing up five days before the election making the case for her husband. what are your sources and reaction to this addition. >> reporter: thomas, as we are getting closer here in the big picture, this race is and many ways it has been and i think even more intensely now about women and how they feel about donald trump and i think that you have been hearing more and more from the clinton campaign in recent days doubling down o on attack on donald trump because of things he has said. they are on their way of negative ads where a lot of the states they did not expect to be playing defense or seeing polls tightening so closely here. so i think that's part of why you are seeing clinton making sure that all of her surrogates are out and we see michelle obama an effective advocate on behalf of hillary clinton with women voters. >> do you think they areaving a hard time with michelle obama's mockery of "when th

thank you kasie. thank you, peter alexander at the trump rally. coming up, one of the architects of the affordable care act otherwise known as obamacare on today's trump/pence health care speech. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc, the place for politics. live from sanford, florida. before danny got what he was dreaming about for the holidays. before his mom earned 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ dinosaur growls ] and his dad earned 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs. yeah! even before they earned 3% back on gas. danny's parents used their bankamericard cash rewards credit card to give him the best day ever. that's the joy of rewarding connections. learn more at bankofamerica.com/getcashback. 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. dr. nader explained that they can pinpoint the treatment. once we identified that there was this genetic abnormality in her tumor, we were able to place her on very specific therapy. our individualized c

lets bring in kasie hunt just to wrap that part of the story and we'll go back to lucy. >> kasie hunt was a quick walk by there, we thought they'll talk to camera. although mitch mcconnell does not like to stop and talk to the press. did we know how long the meeting went or what they talked about? >> reporter: mitch mcconnell do not like to stop at unpredictable situation which was what this was. you may see him walking behind me and governor pence out to the door. they met for about just under an hour, 48 or so behind closed doors at mcconnell's office. they had more time because governor pence allowed his schedule here if washington to last longer. he's not lasting back to new york for meetings with the japanese prime minister. >> although we know governor pence is going to be returning to trump tower tonight presumably to debrief on what's going on today. mitch mcconnell is the central figure for the trump/pence administration. kate. l >> all right, casey, thank you very much. >> jeff sessions is in the lobby of trump tower speaking to the press. that's kellyanne conway next to him

kasie: putting me on the spot. this may not be your question, but i think one of the things that set this whole thing in motion is what happened at the white house correspondents dinner with donald trump and barack obama. a lot of this, especially in the beginning, was a drive by donald trump to prove that he could do something that a lot of people thought he could not do and would ridicule him for. sarah can probably speak better to this because she spent more time focusing on the character traits of donald trump. he seems to be driven by making sure that people taken him seriously. i think voters identify with that. a lot of people that voted for him feel the same way. they feel like people discount them, dismiss them as deplorables, or pick your word. i think there was a kind of anti-elitism or whatever it was driving that. i think that is how this entire thing got set in motion. >> i think it would be helpful in terms of balance how much of this was built in by those strong structural factors, versus campaign e

kasie hunt and peter alexander and kelly o'donnell.ie, what do we expect to see on the republican side? >> reporter: hallie, speaker paul ryan really expected to waltz right back in to being speaker again and has donald trump to thank for that. it's one of the spots of unity here on capitol hill. and ryan earlier today was leading what was really quite the show of unity today from the house conference when members went down into the basement here at the capitol building to talk about what's going to happen over the next couple of years. every seat had a red make america great again hat sitting on it and after their meeting, ryan talked to reporters and said welcome to the dawn of the new united republican congress. of course, this show, some division they are going to be wrestling with primarily between the congress and conservative republicans who have governed the house here and the new president-elect who, quite frankly, ran on a platform that went against a lot of the ideas that conservatives here in washington have been pushing fo

talk to you soon. >> thanks, kasie. let's look at what we'll be watching tonight and maybe into the early, early hours of tomorrow morning. let's check in with steve kornacki. we basically have you chained to the big board this afternoon. nobody knows this like you do, steve. tell us the best case scenarios for each of the candidates. >> hillary clinton just walks into this with a much bigger built-in advantage. she doesn't need too much. we see her sitting at 268, where she seems to be in pretty good shape. basically you win one of these gray states, battleground states, toss-up states. she wins one of them, that's it. she would be over 270. trump is walking a tight rope here. let me look at it from the trump standpoint. he's the underdog and needs a lot more to break his way. it means he's basically got to win, first of all, all the grays here. there's this congressional district up there in maine, rural district, that's winnable, new hampshire, ohio. he'd be north carolina, that's real iffy. he'd need georgia, florid

kasie, hallie, thank you. speaking of how the trump campaign is handling this, the reac, what they are going to be doing because of this, his campaign manager kellyanne conway just in the last hour sat down with me. i asked her about her reaction and what this means for her campaign. take a listen. kellyanne conway, look, when this story broke, friday october 28th, donald trump reacted and said this is bigger than watergate when it was announced there were newly discovered e-mails the fbi was going to be taking a look into. is it safe to say from your stand point now this issue is closed. >> some things haven't changed at all. fbi comey said under oath to congress is the same. she was reckless and careless in her handling of the information. she lied. there was not classified information. he said there was. she lied. she only used one device. he said under oath she used multiple devices. we know she left classified material at a hotel in china. we know as of this morning we come to find out she ask her houseke

jacob rascon, kasie hunt toll g following the candidates. is it public school 59 where trump will cast that ballot any moment now? kasie 50 miles north of there in chappaqua and jacob, let me start with you. whatever your politics, remarkable that donald trump sees himself on a general election ballot for the first time for president of the united states. >> reporter: no doubt. most people dismissed him early on but many of those supporters say they always saw this day. donald trump expected here very soon. behind here, ps 59. public school 59 where thousands have already come. the line wraps around the building and again, but donald trump when he shows up will not wait in line but cast his vote for himself. we remember when he did so during the primary and asked who he voted her, he joked it was a secret but said it was a special and great honor to vote for himself. he's tweeted already today in true trump fashion. he said, today, we will make america great again. and yesterday as he closed the final rally, tenth event in three days, 10 dif

and we begin with kasie hunt in florida with the clinton campaign.asie on the clinton campaign bus in pembroke pines, florida. that is where mrs. clinton is set to take the stage about an hour or so from now. so as i mentioned earlier, kasie, tim kaine is also going to be in florida. donald trump will be there too. are you able to glean anything from the early voting data, as to which side seems to have the advantage thus far? >> reporter: well, democrats are really 401( focused on the facty seem to have edged out republicans overnight in the new counts for early voting. but it's very, very close. democrats are really encouraged by the fact that there seems to be a surge in hispanics voting here in the state of florida, which will be really important for them if they want to hold on to this particular state. of course, hillary clinton doesn't need to win here in florida, as badly as donald trump does. without winning here, donald trump's path narrows to nothing. to 270 electoral college votes. but hillary clinton very much wants to win here. and has

she will be in cleveland ohio, kasie hunt is in brooklyn. i don't want to say there is panic into the hillary clinton campaign. a lot of the narrative was about could they expand the map or reach into the states. here we are talking much more about playing defense in michigan or new hampshire and pennsylvania. >> reporter: the last week of this had turned into a real grind and the way it felt a week or so ago when you were traveling with the clinton's campaign. the latest evidence and totally related to questions. the clinton's plane just landed and john podesta brought up nothing out of the blue and christian estros chris christie -- you can tell there are and they're looking to seize on whatever that's available here in this final week. it is not a stay above the fray close to victory campaign right now. if you are looking at the way they are targeting their final stops in ohio, it is going to be about the afrifluenz african-am votes. a lot of those people to vote for donald trump so that changes things around a little bit. michigan, make

for more on that lets turn to kasie hunt. she's covering the latest. >> reporter: hey, kate, this is the discontent that you are seeing from some members of the democratic caucus in the wake of this election. quite frankly, it was a huge shock to members on both sides but particularly democrats who are wrestling with how they are going to move forward after a devastating and surprising loss. this is taking the form of a letter to and from some members who waiting for a full list here essentially asking pelosi to delay the -- right now those elections are scheduled for thursday. i would character this ize this minor bump in the road. no one i talked to feel that this is a fundamental threat to nancy pelosi staying in charge of democrats here in the house. >> it is a broader issue that democrats had to wrestle with. they had the same leaders over the years. with hillary clinton, it is a warning of what could happen if they don't develop a deeper bench with more experience and younger members who have a more very experience. it

i want to start with msnbc's kasie hunt following the latest on capitol hill. this meeting is happening now, isn't it, with mcconnell and sessions? >> reporter: kate, that's the plan. we're going to see sessions here in the capitol building with majority leader mitch mcconnell. ahead of mike pence coming here to meet with congressional leaders. we've seen him a couple of times already meeting as well as donald trump, coming up here to capitol hill to talk with paul ryan and then with motorcycle. that's where we're going to see today. there obviously has been a lot of changing in the last week and a lot of new faces. this impacts congress and they have to confirm all of the cabinet picks and most of the senior advisers to donald trump with a couple of personal exceptions and the house and some of its members are being selected. tom price chairs the budget committee, for example. they are going to have to negotiate all of these things. that's going to be some of the conversation inside these meetings today. >> kasie, let me ask you about the big news on capitol h

but i think we have kasie hunt joining uts now. hillary clinton scheduled to speak in a couple of hours. she has brought a rather special guest. let's call it what it is. can we call it an epic troll? >> i suppose so. she's bringing alicia machado here to dade city, florida. it was a change of subject. if you will. just because, you know the focus has been on the fbi in that investigation. this, of course, is what they want to talk about vis-a-vis donald trump. alicia machado, the former miss universe called her miss piggy. this is the second day in the series. yesterday they talked about the nuclear codes and whether or not it was dangerous for donald trump to be in possession of them. this is a departure from what she wanted to be doing. they wanted a positive message. they wanted to talk about hillary clinton, her work for the children's defense fund. all of the things they tout as being her positive attributes. they have gone back to hitting donald trump on all of these issues and that tells you about the note on which the camp

kasie hunt joins us with more on capitol hill. ka sirks kasie, more word here in terms of what they want to do when they gain power? >> reporter: steve, we do have a preliminary idea now. we know mike pence walked into that conference meeting this morning a little after 9:00. that's where he took that selfie. we've seen pictures of him with a selfie stick, with an entire gop conference clearly excited to hear from him. as members started coming out of that conference, they started talking about the fact that it seems the trump administration wants them to continue to fund the government at all of the current levels until march 31st. so funding expires on december 9. there is some question about whether they're going to try to do a big spending bill where they would fund it themselves. it sounds like the trump administration want to be more involved in that, so they want congress to put it off and that's kind of the deal going on behind the scenes. pence is kind of a little bit of a celebratory moment for all of them. then he went

kasie hunt who first broke this story nine days ago joins us now. a whirl wind nine days, starts with james comey taking the entire political world by surprise on october 28th saying, whoa, we found new e-mails here suggesting all sorts of possibilities that have been reported on over the last nine days. now putting an end to this phase of the e-mail story. the potential political damage done to hillary clinton these last nine days. how do you catalog that? >> yeah, steve. it's remarkable really. brian fallon, the spokesman for hillary clinton's campaign, just tweeted that we're glad this issue is resolved but for the record it could have been learned before the first letter was september to the clinton campaign position here that, hey, yes, they sent this first letter but why didn't they do the work along these lines before they sent that letter that obviously would never likely have come to light if they had handled it that way. i think for the clinton campaign, they've been very focused the last nine days on trying to say and argue that the tight

kasie hunt is here with us, steve schmidt is here with us. if you follow hockey, it's just the next line. kasie, you've been off reporting. what can you report about what both parties are witnessing here? >> there's been a pretty dramatic shift in the conversation that's going on with the people that i have been talking to all night. at 7:00 both democrats and republicans that i was talking to were saying we're confident hillary clinton is going to win this election. we think that democrats are going to win the senate with either 50 or 51 seats and i was -- that seemed to be an across-the-board opinion, both establishment republicans and democrats. i would say that that has changed pretty dramatically in the last two hours. obviously there's still a lot of information out. we could go county by county and explain why that is but there are a lot of democrats who are nervous about what's happening, particularly in florida. they're seeing such high vote rates for trump that they're starting to wonder what does this mean for pennsylvania and mich

hunt as he walked out and kasie joining us live. give me a sense about those meet l l ings right now and give a little bait to get him talking. what did he have to say to you and what do we know about what he did privately? >> reporter: i think this was really the first celebratory moment for elections. there's uncertainty about what it will mean. i think republicans expected hillary clinton to win this election and a lot of looking around and thinking, okay, how are we going to go forward from here? i think mike pence gave them the opportunity to celebrate a little bit the fact they're going to be running the government, both houses of congress and the white house. mike pence, of course, coming back to his old stomping grounds. up here for 12 years, member of the house leadership. he took a selfie and i think we can show you with all of the members of the house gop conference behind closed doors. he used a selfie stick, you can see in the background there, everyone smiling, kind of excited. pence in the front with the selfie stick.

>> thank you, kasie. let's go to nbc's kristen welker.ng the president-elect and his transition team. kristen, we woke up today, a note from, a tweet from donald trump saying, in a couple of weeks, he's going to make a major announcement about his children taking over his business. >> that's right, tamron, on december 15th, president-elect trump saying that he's going to hold a news conference and he's going to announce how he's going to be leaving, in his words, my great business in total. a lot of qutions, though, about whether or not, whatever decision he ultimately makes, will get rid of any potential conflict of interest. this is what he told "the times" a couple of weeks ago, tamron. he said, the law is totally on my side, meaning the president can't have a conflict of interest. despite that, i don't want there to be a conflict of interest anyway. now, the reality is, the law does not say that presidents can't have conflicts of interest. however, they usually do put their holdings in a blind trust. will the president-elect do that?

. >> i want to go to my colleague now, kasie hunt. i know you've been working the phones, working your sources. are you hearing anything from inside the clinton campaign? >> we are heading back from philadelphia where we were with the campaign last night and this morning. i have to say i think there's a sizable lead for the clinton campaign, but that comes with grim determination because i think the reality is they know this and obviously people have covered this for the last week or so. it does have an impact on the sort of contours of the race. the clinton campaign has been very focused on trying to emphasize that the tightening in the polls had come before this news initially broke, that they knew that that was coming and this was not what had caused americans to decide that maybe they wanted to go for donald trump u up decided, who were maybe on the fence one way or the other. but it did have particularly an impact on the tenor of the clinton campaign itself. you were on the plane. you were at the press conference they threw toget

msnbc's political correspondent, kasie hunt joins me now. kasie, you've just been at a tim ryan news conference reacting to the fact that he had one third of the caucus behind him, but she had two-thirds. but it was stronger than anticipated challenge by the ohio congressman. >> reporter: it was, andrea. and i think it reflects the level of discontent that really is on display with democrats here in washington, who are really wrestling with how to move forward after this stunning, in their view, election loss of hillary clinton, as well as, you know, additional seats in the house and senate to republicans. and tim ryan made this pitch, saying, hey, we can't just be the party of the coast. we can't just be the party of elites. we have to be the kind of party that can walk into a union hall, into a fish fry, and talk to people. and i think there was a real response to that from a lot of the democrats here. i think some of this was also discontent with nancy pelosi and the way she has dealt with the various pieces of the democratic coalition. i

>> kasie, thanks. you're also looking at your screen, the pictures of president-elect trump and president obama in a meeting that white house press secretary josh earnest described as a little less awkward than you might expect. just the two of them in the room. they didn't recreate a presidential debate nor did they, according to the press secretary, resolve all their differences. we want to replay for you now that 3 1/2 minutes where we heard from both president-elect donald trump and president barack obama. listen. >> well, i just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with president-elect trump. it was wide-ranging. we talked about some of the organizational issues in setting up a white house. we talked about foreign policy. we talked about domestic policy. and as i said last night, my number one priority in the coming two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful. and i have been very encouraged by the, i think, interest in president-

obama. >> kasie hunt in florida for us. thank you very much. i want to add to our coverization a. political reporter for the "washington post," and a political editor, and beth, let me start with you. when we look at the stops, the map for both teams, is that really the closing argument description right there, these states are what they need for both their paths? >> as we know, secretary clinton has a much bigger list of states to choose from, and it's tighter for donald trump, so it's strange he is hop scotching the way he is. the states they need just to begin with are florida, ohio, pennsylvania, and why he is not staying in those states and digging down and drilling down to get the votes out in those really big states that would make the difference to him is a little unclear. at the same time, even if he gets all of what are the traditional battle grounds, he doesn't get to 270 electoral votes so the next thing he would have to pick-off a blue state like michigan. >> when we look at that, trump is going to visit wisconsin, colorado, and trump wants to toss everything at the w

. >> kasie hunt. what did i say? >> kasie hunt is covering the democratic nominee for us. >> it is crunch time. it is a big day and she's in nevada, that's on purpose. what's the strategies the next six days. after nevada, she heads to arizona. they think they can win and i think otherwise, the map is full of some warning signs for them. i would see the democrats are not at the point where panic israel stick. -- isra realistic. >> it changed from something so high and bubbly, she was going to see adele and it was hard to figure out where to point to when things can go wrong and this news happens and we are in a phase where she's just grinding it out. you see the polls starting to tightening and key places and donald trump making his efforts and the clinton's campaign and super pac allies both going up to super michigan which we are both talking about. you know you have to take it with a little bit of grain of salt. there is certainly people warning the campaign, hey, you should be paying attention to michigan and hil

here comes the kasie hucold frog through.outh bay will end up to minimal to no rainfall at all. what the system will do is help bring a really nice afternoon on the way to travel, across the united states and mainly cloudy skies and southern california getting a lot of sunshine. even across the nation on wednesday, not too many weather systems, you are tracking some rain into chicago. you may have some delays and great lake snow and much of the country you do see will be bashing in sunshine and quiet conditions if you are taking to the sky. here is your accu forecast. chilly on monday and evening showers on tuesday. mix of sun and clouds for thanksgiving on thursday. morning dryness to evening rain likely on friday. another chance of some wet weather moving into round up this seven-day forecast. >> drew, thanks a lot. >> yes. >> abc 7 sports with mike shuman. >> 49ers' owner, bartolo. now, the team met atdinner last night, i could not make it. >> all right, michael. i missed you last night but you still cannot catch. >> i lov

kasie hunt has that part of the story for us. what are your sources telling us what went down inside? >> reporter: we are here in the house of representatives where mi pence used to serve one of the leaders of the republican conference. that helps explain why he is being pretty warmly welcomed back. it is not necessarily the kind of reception of distrust fu full -- and republicans here on capitol hill and mike pence and joe biden had a warm meeting by all accounts, at the naval observatory is where mike pence will be moving into and pence joked with reporters where they got the cook tour of the place. you can see the bidens and the pences coming out. he does not think it is going to happen. and about a transition moving forward. mike pence also joking that he may talked his wife into getting a new dog to live on the ground of that compound which is not too far from where we are in massachusetts avenue at washington, d.c. >> kasie hunt, thank you very much. coming up, retired general michael flint is seen come and goes for this. w

kasie hunt in florida with the clinton campaign, and we begin with peter alexander in tampa with teamrump. trump scheduled to campaign in half a dozen states in three days and what is he hoping to accomplish? >> reporter: thomas, good morning to you. 72 hours, belief it or not, until the first polls open and donald trump is trying to capitalize new momentum, and telling us privately, he feels good about new mexico, nevada, and michigan, and trump hopes to capitalize in the late surge, and clinton trying to slam the door on trump in states in particular like michigan. beyonce, with a surprise appearance in ohio. alongside husband, jay-z, hoping to elect the first woman president. >> with your help, a glass ceiling to break once and for all. >> donald trump's strategy decidedly different. >> when we win on november 8th, we are going to drain the swamp. and even taking a crack at clinton. >> i didn't have to bring j.lo, or jay-z, the only way she gets anybody. >> trying to deliver an overwhelming turnout among white working class voters. >> a trump administration will stop the jobs from

nbc's katy tur is in orlando and kasie hunt. our chris jansing is in north carolina and our political reporter in the dc bureau. chris, can we kick it off with you. we know the president has left. the president winging his way to you and all those excited folks that have been in line for hours. the thousands in line to see president obama. you have been talking to the people there, can the president make a difference? >> reporter: they have someone speaking out. this was somebody who says he's going to be out once or twice a month. he's out six days or less or seven. he's speaking to a specific audience here in the state where we have seen, as you can see the size of this crowd. it was really i think unexpectedly huge, they have been going around passing out water. they're down about 16 points with the african-american vote overall. so he's going to try to get people to the polls and get them to get their friends to the polls and having him out here almost everyday in this final frenzy push. it tells youow valuable the campaign

m kasi would not vote for the gop hillary clinton: far too many families today don't earn what they need and don't have the opportunities they deserve. i believe families deserve quality education for their kids, childcare they can trust and afford, equal pay for women, and jobs they can really live on. people ask me what will be different if i'm president? well kids and families have been the passion of my life and they will be the 48 degrees here in the noone should be close to 70 as the winds pick up. strongsville at 49. clouds are fitting out to the west. temperature at progressive field is 48. winds ten to get strong in the city. look at the amount of warmth. the attempts now in chicago are warm front.s the streamlines indicate they'll be out of the southwesternh ill really kick in this afternoon knowledge bring it in warmth but also keeping the winds blowing out to right center during the game.lo record highs need g 84 early november. then the winds will start to die down again during the game and continue with the wind stain again lighter overnight tonightt we'll talk more about t

more question marks today than there may have been in previous weeks. >> kasie hunt out covering the campaign. as we wait for president obama, you can see someone introducing him in north carolina. we'll bring that to you or keep an eye on it. up next, two of new jersey's governor chris christie former aids found guilty on all counts of the lane scandal, a case that captures the nation's attention and shook up politics. 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've never liked marijuana. but i'm voting yes on prop 64 to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and over. it has important safeguards for families, like strict product labeling and child-proof packaging of all marijuana products. and banning edibles that would appeal to a child. raising a teenager, that regulated system makes a lot more sense than what we have now. plus, 64 taxes marijuana to fund priorities like after-school programs. personally, marijuana's not for me.