editor jial columnist ruth marc and kristen welker, covering the political campaign. first to you, ruth, constitutional law is pretty clear. i thought this we had resolved this back when john f. kennedy was running and went to houston, gave a speech explaining that the church, the vatican would not rule him, that he would take an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states. it came up again when jimmy carter, you know, reborn christian, baptist, was running in 1976. >> i don't think you need to be a lawyer or spend a minute in law school to know this is really outrageous, really not consistent with american values and really shameful. i would like to know what dr. carson would say to the third grade girl who is muslim but who stands up in class every morning and says the pledge of allegiance and explain to her why she can't think of herself as in his view, as a possible president of the united states. it's just wrong. and other republican candidates

kristen welker has more on her personal e-mail account. >> reporter: the "washington post" reporting the company that managed her private e-mail server says it has no knowledge of the server being wiped, meaning some of clinton's 30,000 e-mails she says were deleted may be recover rabbkovrecoverab. the clinton campaign isn't commenting on that report. it's a topic clinton has tried to downplay in the past. >> what, like with a cloth or something? no. >> reporter: the issue continues to take a toll. at the latest cbs news/ugov poll has bernie sanders topping her in iowa, 43% to 33%, in new hampshire, 52% to 30%. vice president biden who hasn't announced a run comes in third in both matchups. >> i think we are generating a lot of excitement not only in iowa and new hampshire. but all across this country. >> that means larger voter turnout. >> reporter: the clinton holds more than 250,000 lead in south carolina. the majority of democrats polled say the e-mail issue just didn't matter. >> that was kristen welker reporting. >>> some amazing images to show you of a volcano erupting on a ja

nbc's kristen welker has more on a new development concerning clinton's personal e-mail account. >> reporter: "the washington post" reporting the company that managed her private e-mail server says it has no knowledge of the server being wiped meaning some of clinton's 30,000 e-mails she says were deleted may be recoverable. the clinton campaign isn't commenting on that report. it's a topic clinton has tried to downplay in the past. >> what, like with a cloth or something? well, no. >> reporter: the issue continues to take a toll. the latest cbs news poll has bernie sappeders surnling ahead of clinton topping her in iowa 43% to 33% and in new hampshire, 52-30. vice president biden, who hasn't announced a run, comes in third in both matchups. >> i think we are generating a lot of excitement not just in iowa and new hampshire, but all across this country, and that means larger voter turnouts. >> reporter: clinton holds a more than 20-point lead in south carolina, the first southern primary and majority of democrats polled say the e-mail issue just doesn't matter. >> that was kristen welker rep

lester. >> kristen welker tonight, thank you. >>> a stunning turn today in syria. russian air strikes coming just two days after the war in syria was topic a for president obama and putin at the u.n. but the question this evening is whether russia is targeting isis or syrian rebels supported by the u.s., adding to anxiety surrounding one of the most dangerous places on earth. here's senior white house correspondent chris jansing. >> reporter: thick black smoke billowing in the skies over syria. death and destruction on the ground after russian air strikes opened a dangerous new phase in an already complicated and bloody war. >> this kind of action by the russians is ill advised and will backfire. that approach is tantamount to pouring gasoline on the fire. >> reporter: vladimir putin today saying the target is isis. russia releasing a video claiming terrorist targets were destroyed, but the real target appears to be opponents of syrian president assad, russia's ally. a direct challenge to the u.s. which wants assad out. >> strikes of that kind would question russia

>> kristen welker in davenport, iowa. i want to turn to cnbc's chief washington correspondent john harwood. john, it's the unofficial end of summer today. it's also the unofficial start of the summer's campaign season. >> like football, the preseason games only tell you so much. now the campaigns begin to spend real money on ads and engage each other more directly and voters begin looking more critically at potential presidents. those factors will start to tell us among other things whether donald trump is a political entertainer or running to win, whether jeb bush can turn around and become the more powerful candidate that we once expected. on the democratic side hillary clinton could benefit from a faster-paced campaign if it diminishes the focus on her e-mails. but she faces two big variables in addition to a surprisingly effective challenge from bernie sanders. one is the decision by vice president biden on whether to run against her. the other is her public testimony in october before the house committee investigatin

nbc's kristen welker has that. >> reporter: secretary clinton is trying to dig herself out of the e-mail controversy. >> but i'm not by any means a technical expert. well, it is like a drip, drip, drip. >> reporter: now she's explaining again why e-mails surfaced dated two months earlier than clinton initially said she set up the personal account. >> explain that discrepancy. >> there was a transition period. you know, i wasn't that focused on my e-mail account. >> reporter: clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of e-mails from her personal account dating back to march 2009. her campaign acknowledged she sent e-mails as early as january of that year. the explanation, she started using the account before the server was officially set up at her home. >> every phrase and every sentence that she utters is examined minutely by the press, by her critics, by everyone, and that makes it hard for her to kind of tamp down on the controversy. >> reporter: her new weapon, her husband, who is set to play a bigger role in the campaign. >> it really is similar to the strategy that the republicans employ

she heads back to iowa tomorrow. >> kristen welker at the white house tonight. thanks. >>> when "nightly news" continues on this sunday, how a church in the south transformed itself into a place where the views of all are welcome. what do a nascar® driver... a comedian... and a professional golfer have in common? we talked to our doctors about treatment with xarelto®. xarelto® is proven to treat and help reduce the risk of dvt and pe blood clots. xarelto® has also been proven to reduce the risk of stroke in people with afib, not caused by a heart valve problem. for people with afib currently well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® and warfarin compare in reducing the risk of stroke. i tried warfarin before, but the blood testing routine and dietary restrictions had me off my game. not this time. not with xarelto®. i'll have another arnold palmer. make mine a kevin nealon. really, brian? hey, safety first. like all blood thinners, don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of a blood cl

nbc's kristen welker is live at the white house with more. kristen, good morning. >> reporter: craig, good morning to you. could this be the moment that deflates the trump balloon? that is the question on everyone's mind this afternoon after the republican front-runner allowed offensive comments about the president and muslims to go unchecked. today, trump and almost every other presidential candidate, are back on the trail for what will be a very busy weekend of campaigning. ten gop hopefuls descending on south carolina friday night, but front runner donald trump was a no-show, canceling last minute. trump's campaign says he wasn't there because trump was closing a business deal if still, the cancellation came on the heels of this controversial moment after a new hampshire town hall thursday. >> we have a problem in this country. it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. you know he's not even american. >> we need this question, this first question. >> reporter: trump was immediately slammed from all sides for failing to corr

nbc's kristen welker is on the trail tonight in iowa.ith a raspy voice, hillary clinton is grasping for the rehe set button in highway this weekend as the e-mail issue continues to cast a shadow on her campaign. >> the contrast in this election could not be more stark. >> the latest nbc news poll shows she's in trouble. democratic rival bernie sanders narrowing the lead in iowa from 22 point in july to 11 points now. for the first time in our poll sanders has overtaken clinton by 11 points leading 49 to 38%. clinton supporters weighing in. >> do these new poll numbers concern you? >> it concerns me because of iowa and new hampshire, that's where it will drive her down. . >> that's a long time between new and february. we will see how it goes. >> clinton's campaign rocked this weekend with revolutions she personally paid a state department staffer to manage her private e-mail server. >> facts are tfacts and we've been trying to repeat them over and over. >> i believe in paid family leave. >> clinton's negatives also spiked more than half

let's go live to puerto rico, kristen welker is there this morning. good morning, kristen. first to clinton's trip there today. what is she hoping to accomplish while this benghazi investigation is under way? >> well, jose, good morning. puerto rico is becoming an increasingly important stop for presidential candidates. as you point out, secretary clinton trying to turn the page on the e-mail controversy. look, puerto rico is important. there is a june primary here. more broadly, presidential candidates have their sights set on the key swing state of miami. why miami? well, because it has an expanding population of puerto ricans. close to 900,000. so securing that key vote is critical to winning the all-important swing state of florida. now, secretary clinton making a stop like this will allow her to talk about some of the issues that puerto rican care about. immigration certainly one of them, what they're really focused on here in puerto rico is the massive debt crisis here. $70 billion in debt. president obama has called on congress to allow puerto rico to have access to

. >> nbc's kristen welker. kristen, thank you. >>> overseas as the migrant crisis intensifies, pope francis today called on every catholic church in europe to take in refugees and said the vatican would do its part by providing shelter to two families in the coming days. as that papal plea was made, the march of migrants and refugees into europe continued today. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel has our report. >> reporter: it was obvious today why so many migrants are sking everything to go to germany. [ speaking foreign language ] >> europe's richest country is taking the moral high ground and opening its doors. so is neighboring austria where today hundreds of volunteers drove in a convoy to offer food, toys and transportation. they're going to extra lengths in part because hungary's treatment has been an embarrassment to europe, pulling migrants off trains and making them walk, but if hungary thought it could stop the flow it was wrong. >> migrants in the thousands are still streaming into hungar

. >> nbc's kristen welker is in newton, iowa, following the clinton campaign. kristen, with a good day to you, my friend, mrs. clinton cannot seem to put this issue behind her, can she? >> reporter: she's having a difficult time turning the painful, that is for sure, alex. one of the reasons is this drip, drip, drip factor. she did that extensive interview with our own andrea mitchell on friday and then we learned on saturday, just a day later, she had paid that aide. brian pag liango, to set up and maintain her private server. by the way, alex, that's the same aide who said he was going to plead the fifth and refuse to answer questions before a congressional committee about this very same issue. so that's one of the reasons that she is still struggling, having said that, her campaign says she wants to have a reset. she wants to move on. she will be courting the labor constituency over the labor day weekend here in iowa. as she attempts to do that, focusing on things like jobs and the economy. but there's no doubt that the e-mail controversy is taking a toll. yo

i think it is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down. >> kristen welker, with hillary clinton returning to little rock, she will be there later today, an organizing event. she's in louisiana right now. she has tweeted out a personal tweet on this. can a muslim be president of the united states of america. in a word, yes. now let's move on. this has been something that she has leaped on. she was the first candidate in either party to jump in with a tweet thursday night on what donald trump had said. >> that's right. we have seen secretary clinton more aggressively go after republicans for some of these controversial comments and her tactic is to really try to paint the entire party with the brush of some of these controversial comments, which have typically come from donald trump, by the way. so she's really used donald trump as a foil to do that. today, of course, it is ben carson. i wouldn't be surprised if we saw her do it again later today verbally when she appears here in arkansas. it's something that i think is helping her to gain a little bit of traction to go back on offense to g

. >> nbc's kristen welker is live on the campaign trail with hillary clinton in little rock.bviously, that's the safe answer you just heard there from hillary clinton. i don't think hillary clinton or anybody follows politics six months ago thought we would be seeing polls in september that showed her running in the high 30s, low 40s. they've got to be a little nervous about this biden possibility. >> reporter: there is no doubt about that. they are watching it very closely. watching everything he says and everything he does. several sources close to vice president biden confirmed for me he is inching closer to getting into this race. he increasingly see as viable path to do so. having said that, he has been candid about the fact he still hasn't made a decision yet. he is very much mourning the loss of his son bo. and whether he has the emotional strength determines whether he would get into this race. it would be a game-changer. you just laid out those poll numbers. he would be a viable candidate against secretary clinton. the other candidate they are watching is vermont sen

kristen welker is at the white house this morning. kind of impact do you think this could have on trump's standing? >>. >> reporter: well, look, that's the big question, could this be the moment that deflates the trump balloon? that's what everyone is asking this weekend after the republican frontrunner led offensive comments about the president and muslims to go unchecked. meanwhile, today, trump and almost every other presidential candidate are back on the trail for what will be a very busy weekend of campaign. ten gop hopefuls descending on south carolina friday night. but frontrunner donald trump was a no show, canceling last minute. his campaign said he wasn't there because trump was closing a business deal. still, the cancellation came on the heels of this controversial moment at a new hampshire town hall thursday. >> we have a problem in this country, it's called muslims. we know our current president is one. >> right. >> you know he's not even an american. >> we need this question. >> reporter: trump was immediately slammed fr

. >> that was kristen welker reporting. >>> some amazing images to show you of a volcano erupting on a japanese island. mount aso erupted monday morning. police evacuated people from the mound tainsidement they are checking to see in any hikers are in that restricted area. due to the 6500 tall ash cloud you are watching, there has been no reports of injury or damage. >>> germany is shutting its doors to the tens of thousands of people fleeing war in the ar middle east. the germans have been very hospitable thus far, but now they admit they just can't handle all the people taking asylum. neither can hungry. it show, austria's chancellor did not see deportations in the holocaust. right now it is a country full of heart breaking stories, like this one, w h lesterhold hold, who is oak there. >> reporter: this child has just been brought across the border. he couldn't walk on the road. he looks flush and dehydrated. right now no one can seem to find her mother orbuny of her family. moments later, she appears, the child pregnant mother the younger child is also sick. >> if you look hard en

nbc's kristen welker has it all covered tonight from iowa. >> reporter: a crush of candidates this labor day crashing picnics, parading the streets, diving into crowds crowds, courting voters every way they can. a crucial moment for hillary clinton, making three stops in and around iowa today, a state she lost to barack obama in 2008. >> can you do a selfie? >> reporter: there are signs she's in trouble here again. according to the latest nbc news marist poll vermont senator bernie sanders has cut clinton's lead to just 29 in july. and in new hampshire the lead from clinton, 38%. >> it feels great. and i think we have, today, a lot of support in new >> reporter: one factor in clinton's drop, persistent questions about her e-mails. still again today in an interview with the associated press she insisted everything she did was allowed and she has nothing to apologize for. over the weekend clinton acknowledged personally paying a state department staffer, brian pagliano, to maintain her private e-mail server while she was secretary. this after pagliano said he will plead the fifth about his

. >>> i'm kristen welker in washington where secretary clinton is trying to dig herself out of the e-mailontroversy. >> i'm not by any means a technical expert. well, it is like a drip, drip, drip. >> reporter: now explaining again why e-mails surfaced dated two months earlier than clinton initially said she set up the personal account. >> explain that. >> there was a transition period. you know, i wasn't that focused on my e-mail account. >> reporter: clinton has turned over 55,000 pages of emails from her personal account dating back to march, 2009. today her campaign acknowledged she sent emails as early as january of that year. the explanation -- she started using the account before the server was officially set up at her home. >> every phrase and every sentence that she utters is examined minutely by the press, by her critics, by everyone, and that makes it hard for her to kind of tamp down on the controversy. >> reporter: her new weapon -- her husband, who's set to play a bigger role in the campaign. >> it really is similar to the strategy that the republicans employed against me wi

kristen welker is on the trail in davenport, iowa and joins us how. kristen?act it's labor day means all the presidential candidates will be ramping up their campaigns for the fall season, including former secretary clinton. they're not worried about the lathest poll numbers. they always expect the primary to be competitive, however, no doubt they're hoping for a restart this fall season. let's look at the numbers you just referenced, thomas. this is according to our marist news poll showing bernie sanders above hillary clinton by 11 points. meanwhile, donald trump is still surging and when he's matched against clinton in a general election, trump comes out on top in iowa, beating clinton by 5 points, although she holds a 1-point lead in new hampshire. while clinton is struggling against trump, when you match them against vice president joe biden who is still, of course, considering a run of his own, biden beats trump in a general election in iowa and in new hampshire. now, of course, the vice president is marking this labor day in the battleground state of pe

and joining us now is nbc's white house correspondent, kristen welker, who is out in little rock today hillary clinton and her about to start, any reaction from the clinton campaign and scott walker on the news he is dropping out of the race? >> reaction starting to trickle in, kate. i got off the phone with a clinton campaign aide who tells me not a whole a lot of surprise given his poll numbers. having said that, she does lose one republican to attack, full, she had drawn sharp distinctions with governor scott walker on the issue of unions. governor walker had fought with unions, as you well know. secretary clinton a staunch supporter of the union, she loses that talking point there's not a broader impact on her campaign because she is aggressively going to go after republicans on a number of issues. this is a key part of her strategy as she tries turn the page from the e-mail controversy. we saw that play out again when she attacked ben carson for his controversial comments when he said that a muslim shouldn't be president of the united states. she tweeted out, can a muslim be presi

let's bring in nbc's kristen welker at the white house for us. ing the clinton campaign on a nearly daily basis there. >> reporter: let's start with secretary clinton, alex. they have always said this is going to be a competitive primary. but this is likely more competitive than they were anticipating. the fact that you see bernie sanders leading in iowa and new hampshire, i think surprising not only the clinton campaign, sanders himself, but a lot of people throughout the political world. secretary clinton had said she's retooling her campaign to some extent. you're going to see a more human side to her. she's also more aggressively trying to answer some of these questions about her e-mails. she's more aggressively going after republicans, alex. we've seen that in recent days as well. as she tries to turn the page on this e-mail controversy. look, if you're inside the bernie sanders campaign, you like what you see. sanders campaign officials saying they're trying to ramp up his ground game. secretary clinton still far outpaces all of her democrat

nbc's kristen welker is live at the white house this afternoon. we expect from this particular visit? >> hey, craig, good afternoon. well, the stakes could not be higher for this visit. as you pointed out, there are going o be a number of hot button top ibs on this agenda. at the forefront cyber security. the administration believes that china is behind a number of major cyber attacks including that recent one in which the records of federal employees were breached at opm. it's believed that 5 million people were impacted. the white house hasn't said iks mess itly that china was behind it and china denies any involvement. still there's real concern around this issue. the u.s. was considering imposing sanctions on china ahead of president xi's arrival. they decided not to do that, and it is thought that one of the reasons is they're hoping to get a deal on cyber security. i asked white house press secretary josh earnest about this. take a listen to what he had to say. >> there's no agreement that i'm prepared to talk about at this point. but we hav

let's go quickly to the white house with nbc's kristen welker in reaction to this all day. and it's just been that, reacting to this news from overseas. kristen, good afternoon. >> reporter: brian, good afternoon. two highlights i want to point out from josh earnest's briefing so far. he said that u.s. officials have been in contact with russian officials. and that the goal of those conversations is to work out how they can de-conflict their military operations. that's washington speak for essentially making sure that if russia is launching air strikes and if the u.s. is launching air strikes, that's there no mistake in the skies. the other thing i want to point out is that josh said it's too early to tell what this specific target is of the air strikes that we are seeing from russia. but he said that d.o.d. officials are looking into that right now trying to determine exactly who is being hit. of course, russia said that they are targeting isis but some u.s. officials have questioned that, suggesting that this is not necessarily an isis stronghold. so this the real goal her

kristen welker, thank you. chuck todd is moderator of "meet the press" and nbc's political director. let's start in new hampshire. two months ago hillary clinton had a ten-point lead on bernie sanders there. she now trails by nine points. by my math that's a 19-point swing over the summer. what's going on here? >> the fact is bernie sanders is connecting. we sit here focus on hillary clinton and there is no doubt i think she's come across scripted. the e-mail story has reignited doubts that maybe progressive democrats had eight years ago about her. they are back a little bit. throw it all together and you have a surging sanders candidacy, tapping in to an excited, progressive wing. thrown together with a clinton campaign that looks like they are tentative, like the candidate sometimes looks like she's struggling to get out from under this e-mail story. here you go. i know the campaign said it's just iowa-new hampshire, they are white states, not diverse. wait for it to move to the south. losing both of them wou

let's go back then to kristen welker. kristen, how do you read what you made from secretary clinton? and making a distinction of when she was secretary and the situation on the ground right now. >> reporter: you are hearing her distance herself from president obama's foreign policy to some extent. this is something we have heard from her in the past and underscores the fact she's got to walk a very fine line on this. she wants to appear robust and she wants to remind people that she advocated for arming the opposition forces very early on before the president was on board with that strategy. at the same time, this is going to be a very hot button issue on the campaign trail. as you know, republicans have slammed president obama for his foreign policy in syria and in iraq in terms of fighting isis. so she has to be careful not to go too far over to sounding like republicans essentially in her criticism of president obama so that's why you're hearing her choose her words very carefully but, kate, i think as we look forward t

. >> kristen welker at the white house. thank you. >>> a county clerk in kentucky is coming under fire again this morning for removing her name from marriage licenses. she is refusing to issue to same-sex couples. kim davis did this after order by the judge not to interfere with the documents. janet shamlian has more. >> i don't want to be in the spotlight. >> reporter: this morning, kim davis is back in the spotlight after returning to her job this week saying she won't issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but won't stop deputies from doing so. >> any marriage license issued by my office will not be issued by me. >> reporter: a judge ordered davis should not interfere with issuing of licenses to eligible couples. >> the judge's order was emphatic. >> reporter: and deputy clerk brian mason says davis may have violated the order by making modifications. including deleting her name and all mention to rowan county. the changes may have quote raised to the level of interference against the court's orders. davis' attorne

. >> let's bring in kristen welker. you with the white house securing the 34 democratic votes. are they optimistic to get to the 41 to avoid the president getting out the veto pen altogether? >> reporter: they're optimistic and they say it's going to be tough to secure the 41 votes. this is a highly contentious issue and what happened today is being greeted as a victory of president obama. the fact that he secured 34 yes votes with senator mikulski announcing to vote yes essentially saying that the alternative would be military action. and that she thought this was the best way to try to prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon. you are going to see a robust campaign continue, though, from the white house as it continues to try to sell the deal. vice president joe biden in florida trying to sell the deal. and, of course, secretary kerry in philadelphia. here's a little bit more of what secretary kerry had to say. take a listen. >> when those same voices that accuse us of scare mongering now begin suddenly to warn, oh w

kristen welker is in iowa. kristen?porter: her goal is to move beyond this e-mail controversy. that gets very difficult when there continues to be this drip, drip, drip of information. just yesterday, another revelation. secretary clinton acknowledging that she paid her state department staffer, brian p padliano to set up and maintain her private e-mail server. he also said he would plead the fifth, refusing to testify before a congressional committee. secretary clinton wants to move beyond this controversy but it gets difficult to do that. she gave that big interview to andrea mitchell, expressed regret for using a private e-mail account. then we had another revelation on saturday. today she will be here, trying to turn the page and focused on the economy, on jobs. bernie sanders, his surge has been fueled by an anti-establishment sentiment here and by that e-mail controversy, he is within striking distance of her, within seven points of secretary clinton, according to the latest poll. now looking forward, it is going

thank you, kristen welker at the white house. and from there to alex in manchester, new hampshire, not necessarily a big civic center, but it is what it s and so tell us what popularity hillary clinton is getting as oppose d o bernie sanders? >> well, hillary clinton brought down the house, and interrupt bade lot of applause and the campaign did a good job to stacking the audience with the supporters and passed out over 700 tee shirts and it is a good day for hillary clinton who could use one, because she has not had one in a while, but one of the loudest applause lines came when she talked about donald trump who is a major punching bag when she has been up here campaigning for her in new hampshire. this is what she has to say. >> don't be distracted by the flamboyant frontrunner, trying to bully and buy his way into the presidency, and the latest outrage and the way he handled the question about president obama is shocking but it is not surprisi surprising. he has been trafficking in prejudice and paranoia throughout this campai

. >> kristen welker, thanks. >>> chuck todd is moderator of "meet the press." marking one year anniversary on meet the priest. congratulati -- "meet the press." >> thank you. >>> give me the report card for the democrats specifically. hillary clinton trying to overcome the e-mail over the course of the summer and bernie sanders. how do you grade how they have got ton this place. americans begin tuning in in earnest. >> let's expand it and look at the entire both parties. it's basically establishment had a horrible summer. outsiders had a great summer. it's working this way in both parties. bernie sanders surging. we'll have new polling come out of iowa and new hampshire. not to giveaway the score, but basically the song remains the same which is bernie sanders is urge ing and hillary clinton is suffering. we have joe biden viewed as the more electable democrat in the swing states than hillary clinton. >> wow. >> the traditional start of the campaign season, is labor day, we say. at the starting line hillary clinton is in some trouble. >> yeah. that's going add

nbc's kristen welker has it all. >> reporter: good morning, jeff. house speaker boehner, third in line to the president, is one of the most powerful republicans in washington. his decision to step down stunned the political world. with or without boehner, washington will remain a sharply divided place. washington is waking up this morning to a new reality. this man of the house is leaving the house divided. a decision he made friday. >> i woke up and said my prayers as i always do and i decided, you know, today's the day i'll do this. as simple as that. >> reporter: the move comes the day after boehner welcomed the pope to the capital. revolts from his party and gridlock from congress. >> it is clear to me the prolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable harm to the institution. >> reporter: the move sparked cheers from some trying to oust him. >> speaker boehner announced he would resign. >> reporter: one result is boehner would try to prevent a government shutdown for a little while by forcing a vote on a short-term spending bill. conservativ

kristen welker is live with the latest. kristen, what is it? is this a new development? >> it is.other blow to the clinton campaign, jose. clinton's former staffer who helped set up the server that housed clinton's private e-mail account is invoking his fifth amendment right. refusing to answer questions about the e-mails before a congressional committee. the house committee on benghazi subpoenaed him last month. the i.t. specialist worked for clinton during her 2008 presidential campaign and also at the state department setting up her e-mail in 2009. now, his lawyer told nbc news he would not answer questions asserting his constitutional right against self-incrimination. a clinton aide told me the campaign had encouraged him to testify and called his decision not to understandable but also disappointing. adding this statement, jose, quote, clinton has made every effort to answer questions and be as helpful as possible and has encouraged her aides, current and former, to do the same, including brian. meanwhile, we're also getting this from elijah cummings, the ranking democrat on

kristen welker joins me from little rock. good morning. >> hillary clinton will be campaigning, this is the state where she was once first lady. she'll appear here on this college campus. this is a part of her broader strategy to get back on offense and off of defense from that e-mail issue which has dogged her campaign. this campaign comes amid some good news. she is expanding her lead. if vice president biden is in the race, hillary clinton gets 42%, bernie sanders gets 24%, joe biden gets 22%. look what happens if joe biden is out of the race, hillary clinton gets 57% and bernie sanders on 28%. here's what joe biden had to say about it. >> we're just not quite there yet and i may not get there in time to make it feasible to be able to run and succeed because there are certain windows that will close. but if that's it, that's it. >> reporter: so biden saying publicly that he might not be able to get there but another indication that he might be inching closer, his team is officially pushing back against reports that his wif

nbc's kristen welker is at the white house for us. meeting come about? there's some question about that. >> hey, alex. good afternoon. it's interesting. president putin requested this me meeting with prtdesident obama. they hope he has something to bring in the table but they doubt it. they think this may be just for the optics. the meeting comes as russia has escalated its presence in ukraine and military build-up in syria. you can expect president obama to press putin on both of these issues. he's going to lightly urge putin to start to withdraw from ukraun and stop propping up bashar al assad. russia could be slapped with more sanctions if it doesn't find a way to draw down its forces in ukraine. they've imposed several rounds of sanctions on russia. four policy experts say, look, the relationship between the united states and russia is at one of its lowest points since the cold war. that is due in large part to russia a annexation of crimea but also the fact they're harboring nsa leaker edward snowden. another big meet, president

traveling with clinton and joining me from arkansas is correspondent kristen welker.hey didn't give a poker face to the numbers trailing rainy they playing the same game with these? >> reporter: they are to some extent, thomas. an aide saying they don't like to read too much in any given poll. this poll is an indication that secretary clinton starting to turn the page, the tide on the controversy and as you know dogged her campaign in recent weeks and part of the strategy to try to turn the page, thomas, has really been threefold. going after republicans more aggressively. two, granting more high-profile interviews. this weekend she gave a first sunday interview since 2011 and the third part of this strategy is to try to go back on offense on the key policy issues and that's what she is focused on today talking about health care, drawing sharp distinctions with republicans over the issue in louisiana, slamming governor jindal there also a candidate for president. for opposing the president's health care law and failing to expand medicaid there and creating a distincti

kristen welker has more on this.or a possible shutdown. what did they say? >> reporter: craig, that's right. white house press secretary josh earnest answering my questions about this making the point we are so close to a potential government shutdown that the government has needed to start these conversations. here's what he had to say in response to my question. take a listen. >> there is a process that we, unfortunately, are becoming all too familiar with. by which the government prepares for the possibility of a government shutdown. we are in the range of seven or eight days now before the deadline and it is only prudent for the federal government to begin planning for the possibility that the government could shut down. >> reporter: this comes, craig, as senate republicans have scheduled a vote on a short-term spending bill that would fund the government through december 11th. but here's the catch. it would cut off federal funding to planned parenthood. that is something that democrats are certain to blom. by th

thank you very much, kristen welker. see you again from the white house. >> thanks. >>> let's get some more now on the pope and nbc's claudio, let's talk about the pope's schedule for the day at which point does he reach the beautiful and old i think national historic register of the basilica behind you? >> reporter: the pope is supposed to land here at 9:30, so he arrives here at the basilica half an hour later. at 10:30, he is expected to hold a mass inside the basilica and another 1,200 people attended, selected by the archdiocese of philadelphia. well, i can see behind the camera here, there's already a couple -- well, like a hundred people already waiting. three hours to go to the mass. not many. usually you see a lot more gathering up, but probably it's because people are finding it quite difficult to move around this morning. well, last night. as a matter of fact, when we arri arrived, eight feet tall metal fences and concrete barriers were put around the city. roadblocks everywhere. magnetometers. quite difficult

. >>> for more on what's happening, i'm joined by ka tu tur, halle jackson and kristen welker in arkansashillary clinton's events tonight. thank you all for being with us today. kristen, let's start with you. some new numbers out today for the democratic field and the chatter really building around joe biden. i know you have been reporting on this. what are you hearing? is he in, out, and when will we know? >> kate, thank you having me on. several democratic sources saying that vice president biden is increasingly eyeing a run and more and more he sees a path to victory. what is also significant is that his team is officially knocking down reports that his wife dr. jill biden might not be on board and they say of course she is going to support him if he decides to run that's a big if. in an interview just out today, the vice president said he's undecided and sources saying he's very much grappling with the loss of his son beau and been vocal about n. terms of a time line, no word yet but certainly time is getting tight and that first big democratic debate slated for october 13th and by al