i'm joined by nbc's kelly o'donnell. kelly, let me talk about melania. why do you think she's been brought out? she's sort of an unknown figure. we're not used to hearing from her. and there she is talking about an area -- interesting, she said she didn't think that her husband knew he was being taped. i think we agree on that. we all assume he wasn't aware he was going to be taped for later use, but he was. your thoughts about her defense? >> well, i think melania trump is the greatest character witness that donald trump can have right now, because she is someone who has been by his side. you can imagine that in their home life, this has been a key topic. and there is no one who can speak to his character better than his wife or his children. and so for her to come forward and to support him after these kinds of allegations and all of the fallout from that can be powerful. the fact that we see so little of her probably enhances the value of her coming forward and speaking. we know that she has been a very private person. that politics is not something s

i want to go to kelly o'donnell down in the pit behind me here. i want to turn around. don't know if i'm supposed to. >> hallie, we have a president who is not on the ballot and one who need not debate tonight. len jessup from the university of las vegas, 30,000 students, a big institution. what does it mean to be the host tonight? >> it means the world to us. thank you for being here. we are the second most diverse in the country. we have the best students in the world. what do you think? >> reporter: so many of the students stepped forward to help out in all kinds of roles. how many students offered their time and in what way are they participating? >> we asked for volunteers. we have over 1,000 students who signed up to work. some are working here at your station. some are spread all over campus and excited about helping. >> how does that play out? >> a dozen faculty that are newly designed. >> journalism, political and history. >> the business side, there is a real world cost to hosting an event of this scale with the security implications. millions of dollars. how

louis, kel kelly o'donnell in north carolina, and nbc national correspondent, peter alexander. peter, first to you, you've been looking at the republican party and the divisions as well. what strikes you coming out of this debate and going into the final 32 days? >> reporter: i think what strikes me is just the tightening of this advice for so many of the republicans right now who rely on the base to help put them in a position to on competitive, but then they need the moderate republicans, suburban women to come on board to ultimately win in a lot of these races. gerrymandering which are heavily republican, but other place where is there are tight races, and also certainly states right now where a lot of senators, pat toomey, marco rubio, burr in north carolina, facing challenges today. they're going to have answer for donald trump's comments late last week and this is the position that they find themselves with only four weeks to go, if they don't say anything about donald trump, if in fact they try to hide from it, they're going to be forced to face this trump effectively no

>> kelly o'donnell. kristen welker. thanks. even as we were speaking we are hearing from another republican senator marco rubio standing by donald trump. this just now from the tampa bay times saying, quote, i don't want hillary clinton to be our next president. in effect saying that despite having reiterated, rejecting his offensive rhetoric and behavior. speaking of florida this afternoon hillary clinton will join forces with a familiar face in a critical state for her campaign. >> we need your help. florida is the key. if we win florida there's no way my opponent can win. that's why he's going to be in florida today. he kno that. despite all of the terrible things he's said and done he is still trying to win this election. >> andrea mitchell, the proud host of this show traveling to florida now with the clinton campaign just filed this report. >> reporter: hi, peter. as you just heard hillary clinton saying today what people have been telling us behind-the-scenes in her campaign. it is all about florida. if she can stop dona

joining me in las vegas, katy tur, kristen welker and kelly o'donnell. first to you, katy. donald trump. is this scorched earth 2 revisited, game change, desperation? >> we have had the worst three weeks in american politics. >> not a good three weeks. the trump campaign won't tell you that but they have nothing left to lose at this point. this is his last chance to stand up to hillary clinton face to face on the debate stage. we have seen he's trying already to use distraction tactics by bringing in not only obama's half kenyan brother but pat smith, the benghazi mom who lost her son during the attacks who blamed hillary clinton for the attack. they are doing what they can to get under hillary clinton's skin. what i can tell you is they have done a little bit more traditional debate prep than after the first debate. reince priebus standing in as unofficial moderator. chris christie sort of standing in as hillary clinton, bouncing questions off trump and helping him formulate answers. they are taking it more seriously, certainly than they took the first debate. we'll see wh

nbc's kelly o'donnell in indianapolis covering mike pence. and here with me, nbc's kristen welker who, of course, has been tracking the clinton campaign and joy reid, host of msnbc's "a.m. joy." welcome all. first of all, katy tur, your reporting just now about what reince priebus is telling republican campaign workers. fill us in on that. >> yeah, i've been told by an rnc staffer that reince priebus is telling them to basically go with their conscience, do what's best for them at the moment. there's a real worry inside the republican party that this is hurting reputations. that that's why you're seeing low-level staffers, i'm told, just not show up for work in some states. there are state directors who are extremely concerned not only about their own party and their own races, places with senators and congressmen, but they're concerned about the state of their party going forward. there is talk that if donald trump does win, if he does win in november and he becomes the president, what happens when more and more of these sorts of tapes come

kelly o'donnell joins us by phone. what do we know? caller: based on my reporting, donald trump has been recording a direct message for voters done tonight inside trump tower, the intention of this message is to further apologize for the comments that were recorded on that off-camera microphone 11 years ago. and the intent here is to try to make clear that he is embarrassed by this, that he recognizes this was improper and to try to turn back towards committing the voters that he can do better. i'm told that there were different scenarios considered by his closest advisers, recognizing while there was a paper statement already issued, which i'm sure you've already discussed in which the word apology was used, but it also talked about bill clinton's past conduct and said if people were offended. so recognizing that more needed to be done and up against a deadline of sunday's debate, there were many options being discussed. i am also told by my reporting that speak are paul ryan and governor scott walker of wisconsin sort of preempted th

>> my friend and colleague, nbc's kelly o'donnell, and thank you so much, kelly.oming up next, is donald trump tipping the hand about the debate strategy, and how does hillary clinton respond to the latest controe ve si of trum, and the potential of trump bringing up bill clinton's past affair affairs. we will speak to a representative are from cleveland next. the debate is hours away, and this crowd is pumpeded up. stay with us. ♪ everything your family touches sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. i'm terhe is. golf. but i'd like to keep being terrible at golf for as long as i can. new pateed ensure enlive has hmb plus 20 grams of protein to help rebuild muscle. for the strength and energy to do what you lo. new ensure enlive. always be you. >>> what i am doing is to applijiing to the people, and those who were turned off by my hair, 50-50. >> and that is for the people who were up late watching "saturday night live" last night. and tonight, the s

andare joined by kasie hunt kelly o'donnell.s, always a pleasure to be graced by your presence. what do you think about the vice president of debate taking place in either camp? kasie: the idea that they are trying to print tim kaine to be an attack talk -- trying to prep tim kaine it to be an attack dog. using his mr. nice guy persona to relate to the audience while also not letting up on mike pence. much more is a disciplined person to go after than donald trump. [laughter] i think mike pence is digging into tim kaine's gubernatorial records in a way that voters may not expect to hear what he did when he was in charge. i think they will use that to say that tim kaine would have raised taxes. mike pence, taxes have gone down in indiana -- the kind of argument. employment numbers. trying to find things about tim kaine that they can attach to the larger narrative about what trump wants to accomplish. both both these clinton is wanted run.y good the polls are in a very good direction. do you have a sense of what their current conc

. >> kelly o'donnell is covering the clinton campaign and joins us. this is an important strategic and tactical question in terms of how they responded. it's not just saying we think there is no there there, but this question of how hard do they go after the fbi and how close do they come to alleging an out right political agenda by the fbi and the director in. >> it is treacherous ground because hillary clinton embraced the results when james comey decided along with those in the justice department that there would be no indictment related to her private server. what you see today is a lighter touch from hillary clinton herself while there are many democrats who can be much more forceful in going after james comby and tugging a thumb on the scale from the fbi director. you heard her speaking to voters and saying of course look at the e-mails and there will be no finding that anything was wrong. her demeanor, facial expression and the words she used, getting the point across, but in a lighter tone than what we saw even over the weekend. i think they a

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kelly o'donnell is in washington for us to talk about this.linton campaign balancing the strategy of holding on to key states like pennsylvania while looking at new states, potentially arizona, right? what are the next steps in terms of what they are trying to do? looking at recent pennsylvania poll numbers, that gap is shrinking a bit. >> pennsylvania is often a tough fight for republicans who always say they want to take it on. hillary clinton is trying to blunt any kind of inroads there by the trump campaign. what we are seeing today in part is one of those unusual days where you have clinton and kaine appearing in the same state together. that doesn't happen all that often and drives the excitement. the clinton campaign looks at pennsylvania as a fire wall they believe they can win solidly there. they want to protect that. they are talking about key places where early voting is under way. they got star power on the trail with katy perry who has been working on behalf of hillary clinton for many months now and miley cyrus on the trail today

joining me kristen welker and kelly o'donnell. welcome both.irst of all, kristen, the democrats reacting to this of course. but trump's surrogates haven't denied the legitimacy of the tax returns. it would be legal. yet donald trump, in fact, on the defense and striking out against hillary clinton on saturday night. >> he certainly did. in a number of ways. first how the clinton campaign is responding. this is the issue they want to talk about. they have been calling on him to release taxes for some time. this gives memo more fodder to do it. that's what the clinton campaign did yesterday. they said if you're so smart, such a genius, release the tax return. that's the tactic you could see from them. the issue of transparency. you're right on saturday. donald trump took sharp aim at secretary clinton, mocking her for getting sick during the 9/11 memorial. also launching baseless accusations of her of infidelity. i asked about those in the previous hour. basically they are not dig any identifying that with a response except to say it is a sign th

as always, kelly o'donnell and peter alexander. of course kasie hunt on the bus already getting ready to roll back to the airport. chris cillizza will be joining me now to talk about the battleground map. the map shows hillary clinton is expanding her lead in elect call votes. now if the election were held today we predict she would be 287 electoral votes in her column, 17 more than she needs to win the white house. donald trump would have 157. north carolina and new hampshire have moved from toss-up to lean democratic. arizona, georgia and utah which were leaning republican moved to toss-up. that's a big move. joining me now is chris cillizza, otherwise known as chris jansing, if i could get the chris es straight. founder of the washington post fix blog. two of our favorites. chris cillizza, tell me about the significance in your mind of the moves to toss up traditionally republican states and where we stand on the battleground map. how much is movable between now and november 8? >> well, if it continues on this trajectory it's at

msnbc's kelly o'donnell has reporting for us. what can you tell us happened on that call?> reporter: i've not heard what you already discussed but let me bring the analysis that i have about this. what paul ryan is trying to do is to say to members of the house republican conference, do what is right for you to hold your seat. and remember, we know that our districts around the country are often jerry gerrymandered. so they've deeply red districts where donald trump has voters also going to have to consider who they want to be the next congressperson. what is distinct is paul ryan is not publicly withdrawing his endorsement. what he is saying is he is putting his energy and resources as the speaker of the house and the highest ranking republican office holder in america to trying to hold the house and senate. obviously, after the most recent disclosures regarding donald trump, there's grave concern in the republican party about a down ballot disaster that if republicans stay home because they're disheartened or because of that small group of swing voters chooses hillary cl

nbc's kelly o'donnell has more on the media call. what more did we learn? >> well, i think, sheinelle, what is so striking about this, how forcefully the clinton campaign prepared to talk to reporters who regularly cover their campaign, how strongly worded their condemnation of comey's actions were. and the fact they are trying to sort of set the landscape here. so what we were hearing from is campaign manager, robby mook, campaign chairman, john podesta, the voice in the clip you just played and top spokesperson, brian fallen. they are arguing this will have no effect on supporters, volunteers and votes and doesn't change the landscape. but the intensity of how they addressed this and the words they used and the forcefulness of it obviously suggests that they are ready to do battle with the fbi director and see this as a potential threat to the campaign in these very late stages. now to sort of reset things, remember, director comey sent this letter to republican and democratic officials of the committees on capitol hill that have some jurisdiction. and at

kelly o'donnell in washington, thank you. jai know want to talk about the strongest atlantic hurricane in almost a decade. jamaica, haiti, and eastern cuba are in the path of this storm. damage in some places could be catastrophic. wind speeds are at 145 miles an hour. and so far two people have died as a result of this storm. nbc's morgan radford is in kingston, jamaica. is the country ready for this impact? >> reporter: they're trying to get ready, richard. in fact, it's surprising how dramatically this weather has shifted in the past number of hours. this morning we saw the almost eerie calm before the storm. in the past hour we've seen the skies open up, the rain, thunder, the lightning. in fact, right now, the kingston airport in jamaica has shut down as we speak. they're not allowing any incoming or outgoing flights to jamaica. this is as we expect that category 4 hurricane matthew to strike jamaica's shore bringing winds of up to 150 miles an hour. 10, 15, 20 inches in some parts of the country. is that that's why the

kasie hunt, nbc's kelly o'donnell and nbc's kristen welker in pennsylvania covering the clinton campaign today. first to you, kasie hunt. this debate, the running mates, the second bananas, whatever you call them. the number twos. not a stellar event. they are two of the most controversial candidates in recent american history. they have a big challenge tonight. >> they do. under scoring the importance of this hillary clinton sent her top team to get tim kaine ready for the debate to make sure he's ready to have her policy positions at hand. of course mike pence has been having to defend donald trump at every turn on the campaign trail. for him the stakes are whether he can do that without creating a highlight reel that potentially got on the line for the best of his career could follow him. it's interesting. this is in many ways what we thought a conventional race might look like, mike pence and tim kaine. obviously different from the top of the ticket. >> these vice presidential candidates have to study all of the positions of the presidential candidate and also the vice presidential c

but first we'll check in with kelly o'donnell. she's on the ground checking on the trump campaign in toledo. kelly, the trump campaign thinks it has something to go on with this new wikileaks revelation, this new memo. tell me what donald trump is arguing here. >> reporter: well, steve, there are many republicans who want to see donald trump use facts that are damaging perhaps to the clinton brand much more strongly. that has been hit and miss throughout the campaign. so in these waning days, they believe what has been taken out of wikileaks which we know are hacked e-mails that contain memos and information and so something behind the scenes inside clinton world, something they can argue shows what's heavily publicized, trying to use that. in addition, the new figures for the health care law, obamacare and premium increases. republicans have long been saying through this campaign season is that's an area where donald trump can cement his case more effectively. with limited time left, he's doing both those things now. he's trying t

. >> i'm kelly o'donnell in las vegas. for hillary clinton a chance to be the one that closes the deal trying to look as presidential as possible. while for trump this is the candidate. this is donald trump's last chance. he has a number of surprise guests for the debate tonight. is he going to use them to try to muddy the waters? suppress the clinton vote? or make a concerted effort to expand his base. >> we are tracking hillary clinton's closing argument. she is out with a positive ad today. her goal to stay above the fray, hold court, and look presidential. wi for. >> i will be looking to see whether there will be basic civility at the start of this debate, high drama. remember last debate hillary clinton and donald trump didn't shake hands. will they tonight? we'll find out. >> they did at the end. nbc's coverage of the debate ates tonight at 7:00. >>> at least eight people were injured after a four alarm gas explosion happened this morning a contractor doing work in the area ruptured a gas line and reported the leak.

ha oofficials have been telling nbc news that a counter offensive is being plan and for more kelly o'donnelloing to be joining me from the white house. kelly? >> well, good to be with you, ari, and one of the issues where there has to be a public and private campaign coming from the administration. publicly, they want to put pressure and diplomatic shaming on russia to talk about the issues and raise awareness so that the americans are notably outraged about the potential infiltration of the u.s. democratic system whether it is in the actual apparatus of voting or in the sort of the messing with the landscape ahead of the election. but the other piece of it is how the u.s. responds, and that part is private. vice president joe biden spoke with msnbc, and he talked about his own interest of seeing some form of retribution. this is a little bit of the vice preside president. >> we are sending a message. we have the capacity to do it. and the message -- >> they will know it? >> he will know it, and it will be at the time of our choosing and under the circumstances that have the greatest impact.

kelly o'donnell standing by in the spin room with a special guest. kelly? >> thank you, brian.we're here with the first lady of indiana, karen pence, one of the two spouses who has a right to be proud and excited tonight. there is so much expectation that governor pence in some way needs to answer for some of the controversies of donald trump, whether it's the taxes or the comments about the former miss universe, what advice have you given him on how to handle that? >> you know what? i have seen mike his whole life prepared him for this moment. he was on the debate team in high school and worked for a policy, you knew him in congress and then as governor. i think he's ready for tonight. i just want him to be himself. i said, you just need to be yourself, be honest, be firm, be strong and i think that's what you're going to see tonight. >> i know governor pence's style is so different from donald trump. so when you have heard some of the things trump has said about women, about appearance, about weight, has that made you uncomfortable? >> we've gotten to know the trumps well ove

kelly o'donnell joins us just outside the center.ng that hillary clinton is going to get the first question and there's not going to be any opening or closing statement. so a little bit of information the there. what more can you tell us now? >> that opening and closing statement which is often a part of debates gives a candidate a chance to get a running start or make a big finish. absent that, this will be more question and answer, and it leaves open the possibility for some of those spontaneous moments. we don't know quite how it will all close. we're learning from the trump campaign they will have about two dozen of their surrogates in the spin room, everyone from the rnc chairman to the former government of arizona. the first senator to endorse don donald trump and some of the other figures we've seen on tv. and what we can tell you is that behind the scenes today, drummed already in vegas, spent a bit of time today working with reince priebus on debate prep, not the kind of rehearsal hillary clinton has done. but a question and

steph. >> all right, thanks, kelly o'donnell. we have to turn now to the clinton campaign, the democratic side. our own kristen welker is standing by in brooklyn. no surprise, kristen, hillary clinton doubling down on donald trump, excusing himself for his talk in that "access hollywood" tape saying it was locker room talk. >> she absolutely is, steph. she took sharp aim yesterday on the campaign trail. she was in michigan and ohio, encouraging and trying to rally voters to not only register but to get out and vote on election day. but she did slam donald trump again for doing essentially what you said, dismissing what he said as mere locker room talk. she said it doesn't cut it. take a listen to what she said in michigan. >> women and men across america know that is just a really weak excuse. >> secretary clinton really trying to capitalize on the momentum that she has gotten in the wake of the release of that 2005 tape, and of course, as our latest poll shows, she now leads donald trump in a head-to-head matchup by 14 points. a

>> kelly o'donnell with all of that. great insight. appreciate it so much. >>> comingup, what's at stake tonight with 40% of americans unable to actually name the vice presidential candidates. will tonight's debate move the needle at all? first, a memorable debate moment from back in 2008. >> nice to meet you. i can call you joe? thanks. thank you. thank you thank you. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. in fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. do not use if you are allergic to taltz. before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. or if

kelly o'donnell joins us live in the governor's home in indianapolis. i understand that governor pence -- we know he attended the first debate. he's not here tonight. he's at a football game? >> reporter: spending part of the sunday afternoon supporting his indianapolis colts. i think that politically that is a way for him to be visible without having to address the issue at hand, to be able to say he's spending some down time with his family off the trail to let donald trump handle this. and tomorrow he is expected to return to the campaign trail himself. he put out a four-day schedule of events across a few different states from virginia to nebraska to iowa and to north carolina. and what i am told is that sources close to mike pence say there have been no discussions about him getting off of the ticket. so the idea that pence would somehow like we've seen many republican office holders withdraw their endorsement, that is not in the cards here because mike pence was put on this ticket not only by the selection of donald trump but by the process at the

>> kelly o'donnell, thank you very much, appreciate it. that is the last word for tonight. our msnbc coverage will continue live now in anticipation of a statement by donald trump. that is the statement that kelly o'donnell was just referring to, expected to be released on video, recorded tonight at trump tower. it seems to be the kind of statement that republican senate majority leader mitch mcconnell was demanding earlier tonight from donald trump, his statement said trump needs to apologize directly to women and girls everywhere. and take full responsibility for the utter lack of respect for women shown in his comments on that tape. senator mcconnell was the only major republican who demanded specifically that form of apology. the apology is for what you are about to see on this video. this is video from access hollywood that was not used on the show, access hollywood at the time they recorded this in 2005. this is that video. >> i moved on her. and i moved on her very heavily. in fact, i took her out furniture shopping. i said i'll show you where they have nice furnitur

i want to bring in kelly o'donnell and kasie hunt to talk about the political implications. here we are 11 days out from november 8. one has to hear the news and think of the phrase october surprise. i want to pull up a tweet now from the chair of the house oversight committee. he says the fbi director just informed me that the fbi has learned of the existence of e-mails that appear to be pertinent to the investigation. case re-opened. kelly, you cover capitol hill. how do you see it playing out politically? from the big picture view in the last stretch before the election. >> i was also there when james comey laid out the body of evidence we had at this time where he reached the conclusion they didn't find sufficient evidence to move forward with a prosecution. i was there when comey testified before congress. first step, part of what it is, james comey is the straight shooter guy who long had good relationships with both parties. he's been under intense criticism from republicans thinking there was sufficient evidence for a prosecution. that was in the political realm. he

nbc's kelly o'donnell is there. what are you seeing and is this something that is on people's minds there, from what you can tell, or is it so far, business as usual? >> well, i would say from talking to some of the people who are outside, waiting to get in, they're clearly aware, some have family or know peel in top the area. so there is awareness of the concern, but really right now tonight, they are excited to see donald trump in person, with the chance to ask some questions. this is a very tightly packed room, invitation only. when i spoke to people who were waiting outside, they said they contacted the local republican party or they might have known a local office holder to get tickets to be part of this. and you did point out it's part of his regularly scheduled campaign activities, but it's extra special in this regard. this is debate prep in plain view. an opportunity for donald trump to prepare for sunday's format, the town hall format, something that he has done occasionally, but not anywhere near as often

there's no doubt about that and to that, i want to go out there kelly o'donnell. kelly, what is the clinton campaign doing to try to counter this narrative of a rigged election? they were infuriated. i talked to them throughout the weekend. they're trying to run up the electoral map, right? >> margins may be one of the issues that's the best case for saying that this is a proper result because of the overwhelming numbers. in some of the blue states, you would expect hillary clinton to do well but by targeting a place like arizona, that is really a key thing to look at because donald trump, if you look at an average of polling is still up by just a fraction. in some polls, hillary clinton is up by just a fraction and when we look back in 2012, mitt romney beat president obama by 10 points. of course, if you go back another psycycle, it's john mcc winning his home state. arizona is a state with a changing demographic, more and more hispanic americans are living there and there is also a more, i think, open idea to some of the democratic candidates in very select pla

in an exclusive interview with nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> is the party in crisis? >> i think -- i think the country's in a lot of trouble right now. >> but republicans fighting republicans -- >> i don't find myself thinking a whole lot about party right now. i find myself and donald trump finds himself thinking mostly about america. >> reporter: tonight, trump's expected to target not other republicans like he did online, but hillary clinton, and among other topics, her leaked campaign e-mails. bottom line, a top aide tells me, buckle up. lester? >> hallie jackson, thank you. hillary clinton, meanwhile, is facing new and potentially embarrassing revelations after wikileaks exposed more hacked e-mail from her campaign chairman purportedly. but clinton did get backup on the trail today from another one-time nominee, al gore, reminding key voters how florida cost him the presidency in 2000. we get more from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: tonight, former vice president al gore on the trail with hillary clinton for the first time, reminding voters how florida cost

in an exclusive interview with nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> is the party in crisis? >> i think -- i think the country's in a lot of trouble right now. >> but republicans fighting republicans -- >> i don't find myself thinking a whole lot right now about party. i find myself and donald trump finds himself thinking mostly about america. republicans like he did online, but hillary clinton, and among other topics, her leaked campaign eemp mails. bottom line, a top aide tells me, buckle up. lester? >> hallie jackson, thank you. hillary clinton meanwhile is facing new and potentially embarrassing revelations after wikileaks exposed more e-mail from her campaign chairman. but clinton got backup on al gore, reminding key voters how florida cost him the presidency in 2000. we get more from nbc's andrea mitchell. >> reporter: tonight former vice president al gore on the trail with hillary clinton for the first time, reminding voters how florida cost him the presidency in 2000. >> your vote really, really, really counts. >> reporter: both targeting millenials and former bernie

now e for kelly o'donnell back in the day.d thank you so much. a lot of activity behind us as more media crews get set up ready foe the big game and you are sitting at yesterday while we were up there and said s if we can you believe cleveland with one game that would bele you. so good because he had not just a win lastse night, but a huge win shout out. a little more path then asked up not just the coffeeor and donuts although tht is healthy. >> absolutely.y. we have more n the fans experience last night. good morning. >> good morning there they were 38,091 people inside progressive field yesterday that is notgr begin to describe the chaos in milling about in the morning into the noon hour yesterday what it used for street you could not walk from one end of the street to the other that wat complete standstill. cleveland fans are only wanting to witness the history but they wanted to celebrate with the cavaliers recently achievede by the time the 38,000 fans filled in the city had reached a zero pitch. >> the cubs had no chan home. game one on. g

let's start with kelly o'donnell. kelly, let me read what trump just tweeted a few moments ago. a very weak and ineffective leader. paul ryan had a bad conference call where his members went wild at his disloyalty. why do this now, kelly o.? >> reporter: yes, i copy you. >> we may be having trouble with kelly o. do we have her there? >> reporter: i'm here with you, craig. just ran across the street because got off the phone with a source. >> that kelly o. what did they tell us? anything we can use? >> reporter: all right. yes, i have a new statement from a source close to house speaker paul ryan. and here's what he tells me. paul ryan is focusing the next month on defeating. boy, let me do that again. paul ryan is focusing the next month on defeating democrats and all republicans running for office should probably do the same. in talking with sources, i am told that paul ryan has not conceded that donald trump is going to lose the election. that is not the position where he is. he believes that he and others in leadership in the republican party have the best chance of making an

there was no cable news back then, but it was and we have kelly o'donnell behind the scenes.hey hope to put pence on defense. we are in the spin room and there is an area set up where reporters have been come in every 15 minutes or so. tim kaine has been given a chance to see the debate stage and got a feel for that and went to a local museum that was the early start of the american civil rights movement. as he was exiting, he was asked by reporters and they say senator cane said he is feeling great and excited about tonight. behind the scenes, they have been working on tim kaine can make mike pence and the positions he has taken and the tone of the campaign. mike pence is working on his repertoire and he is going to try to make it about hillary clinton to pivot from the more contentious things back to issues and show a dwight on issues between the clinton campaign and the trump cam pair. if there is a chance to see something about issues, that might be the best chance in the long and often high voltage season. tim kaine has the home state advantage. he's the governor here an

pence, brought on board partly to mend fences with the republican establishment telling nbc's kelly o'donnell. >> i don't find myself thinkin now, i find myself and donald trump finds himself thinking mostly about america. >> reporter: but just four weeks until election day, new fallout for the gop ticket. this morning, nbc news has learned exclusively some big-dollar donors are demanding refunds, appalled by trump's sexually aggressive comments during a 2005 "access hollywood" taping, a show owned by nbc universal. in an e-mail obtained by nbc news, one donor writes he was regarding women, worried the campaign will assure a victory for hillary clinton. a trump spokesman saying we are unaware of any donors making such a request. as a new "usa today" analysis now shows a quarter of all top-elected republicans won't endorse their nominee. >> we'll have a separate party, yeah. >> reporter: but he still trails hillary clinton in almost every battleground, trying to turn the tide with sharper attacks in a >> hillary clinton doesn't have the fortitude, strength or stamina to lead in our world. >> r

. >> kelly o'donnell is on the trail talking to trump supporters. kelly, there is mike pence being confronted with the idea of fighting this thing past november 8th if we lose. he tries to tamp that down, but is that the spirit you are picking up on from trump voters? >> i can tell you there is that anger that has been the voice on the campaign trail. especially when it am cans to mike pence who is drawn to see him who is perplexed and uncomfortable with some of what is going on with donald trump. for example, governor pence and his wife making a stop for lunch. one person shouting that donald trump is despicable and another urging his running mates to focus more. this is that kind of election where people are certainly more vocal than in cycles past, challenging the candidates. the line seems to have moved quite a bit with where people are comfortable. there is an anger and sometimes even directed at the fact that the trump campaign is criticized for not being more effective and they waged this campaign against hillary clinton for those republicans

. >> kelly o'donnell, first to you, you had the big interview with mike pence, clearly mike pence is trying to stand with his man despite the fact that donald trump is just savages his fellow republican leaders. >> it was interesting, because has stood up for other republican leaders. he has been the earlier on in the campaign season when hi first joined the ticket to try to get people on board, and he's been trying to step the bleeding where there's been eruptions of controversy. here at liberty university, with a packed house of students he was given a pitch for those who consider themselves faithful christian conservatives, and he used the phrase, this is not a time to fling. >>> and concerns they have between a trump/pence administration and a clinton/kaine administration. he spot at greater length to his opposition to abortion. that is not always something he talks about on the campaign trail, and he tried to assure students here that donald trump would also hold those same views. we now that topic for donald trump has been treacherous grounds at times for some of the things he'

>> kelly o'donnell modulating her voice as paul ryan speaks behind her. we expect as kelly said there might be news made. we'll bring it to you later this hour as soon as we get it. >>> now to my colleague jacob rascon with donald trump on the campaign trail. trump has been talking about a global conspiracy against him. the idea that this system is rigged, that democrats, the press, even members of his own party are colluding against him. you were out on the trail. every day. is this gaining traction with people who support donald trump, with voters? what's your sense? >> the short answer is yes. i would say they all have their favorite issue. what unites them is the clintons and dislike or hatred of the clintons. from the first time voter to the older republican or democrat, women, men, college educated or not. they believe there is a conspiracy to discredit trump. they don't believe his accusers, the polls, the press. with this caveat though. i have talked to many of them who despite this will say even if the clintons are behind the accusers they wish tr

kelly o'donnell is here with us. good to get the band back together. for tv ads, democrats are outspending republicans by $18 million. how are the republicans trying to combat that gigantic disadvantage? >> that is being looking at key states in these remaining weeks where they preserved the time. part of that is republicans are sounding the alarm trying to get donors to chip in to even that out. what they are trying to do in places like pennsylvania where democrats are overwhelmingly out spending republicans and lock in a race where there is a strong incumbent. that opened up space for her to turn resources and the party to do that. the other thing i thought was notable, she has been advertising for her own candidacy. much less of that from donald trump. what people are saying is that makes it harder for candidates as well. that message and anti-clinton message would be hammered away and that is left to the candidate to fight on their. trump was loose and casual about his endorsement that came back to him. >> you are right and what is striking is hous

kelly o'donnell caught up with new jersey's governor chris christie, here's christie's take on whether trump still as a chance and the most recent allegations against trump. >> he's assured me privately, in fact what he said publicly, that these are lies and fan indication fabrications. i can only take him at his word. and i am. one thing that we have learned about this entire election season that anybody who tries to predict what's going to happen have looked like they have egg on their face when they get done. if i had counted as many times as people have said trump is done and buried, i wouldn't have enough fingers to count. and people have said that about hillary clinton over a period of time too. >> trump does have another campaign event later on tonight. >>> president obama delivered a vice to trump today, stop whining, the president said trump should make his case to win over the voters. >> i have never seen in my lifetime or in modern political history any presidential candidate trying to discredit the elections and the election process. before votes have even taken place. it's

. >> kelly o'donnell coming through. donald trump's approach is he is hitting back hard. here's the swipe at natasha, the reporter from "people" magazine who said trump forcibly kissed her while she was writing a story on his marriage. >> here's my question about the dishonest writer from "people" magazine. why didn't she write what she said happened before she wrote the story, why didn't she put it in the story? the story would have been one of the big stories. i was the big star of the apprentice. she is writing a story. think of this. think of this. she is a liar. she is a liar. she is writing a story. check out her facebook page. you will understand. >> i want to turn to ben ginsburg. an attorney who is with the republican party and the campaign. thanks for taking a few minutes. this has been a very busy hour and as we said, a surreal hour. on the one hand you had donald trump holding this rally and attacking all of his accuser who is stepped forward as simultaneously in los angeles a new accuser steps forward. what is your reaction on how donald trump is handling thi

. >> nbc's kelly o'donnell joins us with exclusive interview with the vice presidential nominee.hing "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ only those who dare drive thew. the cadillac ct6. at bp, we empower anyone to stop a job if something doesn't seem right, so everyone comes home safely. because safety is never being satisfied. and always working to be better. that i would never les become a superhero.tisfied. [singing indistinctly] but i learned how to fly. just to come back in a new disguise, and be the hero i've always wanted to be. >> paul ryan is my friend. i respectfully disagree with his focus in this campaign. i think it's important that we let trump be trump. >> is the party in crisis? >> i think the country is in a lot of trouble right now. >> republicans fighting republicans in this way, sir? >> i don't find myself thinking a whole lot about party right now. >> you're not? how could you not be? really? that was republican vice presidential nominee mike pence in an exclusive interview with nbc's kelly o'donnell. he kind of dodged that perfectly. kelly joins us