i want to go to kristin welker. kristin covers the clinton campaign. kristin, trump went there. he brought up bill clinton's past. just heard hallie say he may bring those women out again. in the audience bringing accusers into the spin room where you are. and what do you think the clinton campaign will say about the way she responded to that line of attack? >> well, kate, first of all, just two characterize her thinking going into this debate, secretary clinton, i was told, was bracing for an all-out attack and that's essentially what she got. there was a lot of speculation she might be thrown off of her game. instead the two candidates had that vigorous back and forth that andrea just mapped out on a whole host of different issues. but you're right. that moment when donald trump raised bill clinton's accusers, fact they were there, in the audience, was a stunning moment. the campaign saying that the way she responded was steady. the fact she essentially stood up and say i got some of the facts wrong and proceeded to quote michelle obama who said when they go low, we go high an

let's turn to the reporters, kristin welker in st. 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

. >> kristin welker joins us with the campaign in daytona beach, florida, where secretary clinton will spend most of her day there. the question might be, what's the mood after the last 24 hours? >> they seem defiant and determined to fight this, richard. their strategy moving forward is to ratchet up the pressure on fbi director james comey to release more information. they are calling on the democratic allies, cbc holding a press conference, chc calling on director comey to release more information. i think you are going to see more democrats jump on that bandwagon. i'm told they are going to look to some republicans, as well. you have a number of republicans saying we need to know more about what it is james comey is looking at. what we do know is that this probe centers on former congressman anthony weiner in the wake of his latest sexting scandal. he is married but estranged from top clinton aide huma abedin. she was not on our plane today. donald trump trying to seize on all of this. listen to what he had to say earlier today. you. >> i wonder, is she going to keep huma? huma's b

. >> let me bring in kristin welker who is covering the clinton campaign for us. team clinton had a little fun on twitter last night mocking mr. trump, but also bringing up a serious issue. what was that about? >> they did. this was a middle of the night tweet storm aimed at poking fun at donald trump for having a tweet storm the night before about alicia machado. in the clinton version they tweet, it's 3:20 a.m. as good a time as any to tweet about national service. there are hundreds of thousands americorps applications than spots. horrible! let's expand it from 75,000 annual members to 250,000. the implications here are that tweeting in the middle of the night, not the most serious way to go about getting your message across. of course, this is the message secretary clinton was touting on the campaign trail in florida on friday. trying to energize and talk to those younger voters. those voters she is struggling with a little bit right now. from the perspective of the clinton campaign, they think alicia machado storyline is helping to really rally some of the vo

kristin welker following the clinton campaign for us. thank you. in an exclusive interview with telemundo's morning show, alicia machado reacted to trump's latest attacks. >> the point here is he's a mysogenic guy. >> joining me is dr. devi bell, crowned miss america who is now a veterinarian. donald trump was a judge when you were competing. >> yes. >> what interaction did you have with him? >> of urse, there was no interactions with any of the judges as i was competing. there is a tradition at that time, whatever hotel the contestant who won was staying in, she would get upgraded to a high roller suite. i was staying in a trump hotel. he volunteered to escort me and my family and the friends with me to my high roller suite. he was very lovely. he was very gracious. he asked if there was anything i wanted in my youthful ignorance what i asked for was pizza because what is starving at the time. he called a friend and got him out of bed and asked him to make a pizza. that was my interaction with him. >> his commentary about weight and repeatedly doi

let's get to kristin welker covering the clinton campaign. a good day to you. let's talk about the campaign and if they areongoing drip, drf wikileaks e-mails. >> reporter: the timing is not ideal from the speakperspective the clinton campaign. their strategy so far has been to not authenticate any of the e-mails and to try to pivot to russia, to point to the fact that you have u.s. officials saying russia is likely behind the attacks. yesterday, the campaign started pushing forward this notion that this is like watergate. to try to essentially say, look, there's a criminal element to this. bottom line, when you look at these leaks, they reinforce what critics of clinton would say, which is that she's different in public than she is in private. fur if you are a supporter, there's not that much that's new. it's not clear that to date these wick i ckileaks hacks are to move the needle. we anticipate there will be more leaks through election day. it remains what the impact will be. >> what about the other big story, that being the latest accusations against trump

. >>> let's get to kristin welker who is joining me from north carolina where hillary clinton will hold a rally. good to see you. thanks. as you know, hillary clinton maintains this double digit lead in the national polls. is there a sense that the campai thinks they have wrapped up this election? >> reporter: well, no, not yet. they are certainly feeling emboldened by polls like the one that you mentioned. secretary clinton in that latest abc news poll enjoying a 12-point lead nationally. if you look at the cbs ba cbs battleground tracking poll, she's up in florida. that doesn't mean they think they have this wrapped up. the strategy on the part of the clinton campaign is not just to do well but to run up the score to try to blunt any talk of a rigged election. that's what donald trump has been talking about. in terms of the state of play here in north carolina, secretary clinton does have a narrow lead. early voting though is under way. according to our latest analysis, there are more republican affiliated voters who have turned out so far. they can't take this state or any other stat

number of states, nbc news has crunched the numbers and as nbc's kristin welker explains, hillary clinton appears to have an early edge. >> tonight hillary clinton in colorado, trying to capitalize on chaos in the republican party. hitting donald trump for what she called his scorched earth policy. >> it's all they have left. pure negativity. pessimism. and we're not going to let donald trump get away with it, are we? >> reporter: now exclusive nbc news analysis of e news for clinton in seven critical battleground states. in five states, more democratic affiliated voters have cast ballots so far. in florida and georgia, more republicans have voted. party affiliation is a strong predictor of voter choice, but not a certainty. today the clinton campaign out with this tough new web ad. >> this was locker room talk. >> john mccain who has probably the dirtiest mouth in all of the senate. double-digit lead, a convincing victory in battleground states like this could help provide an exclamation mark if she wins on election day. but the campaign still facing fallout from the continuing release o

nbc's kristin welker is in las vegas with more. good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. is getting a big boost this morning. an endorsement from "the washington post" which writes she has the potential to be a great president and calling donald trump, quote, dreadful. all of this comes as her campaign is taking sharp new aim of the latest controversy enveloping donald trump. hillary clinton hitting her stride and hitting donald trump before a crowd in las vegas wednesday night. >> his campaign has said today that he has going to, and i strategy. whatever that means. that is how desperate they are. that is all they have left. >> and while she didn't directly mention the new allegations levelled against trump, she did slam him for his alleged treatment of women. >> you know, this latest incident about, you know, how he treats women, well, he has doubled down. he doubled down on his excuse that it is locker room talk. controversies head on saying these reports suggest that he lied on the debate stage and that the

. >> kristin welker has more on how donald trump is casting a cloud of integrity on the whole process. >> faltering in the polls, donald trump is lobbying some of his sharpest attacks yet, saying this with no apparent basis ahead of wednesday's debate. >> i think we should take a drug test prior to the debate. >> reporter: and intensifying his claim that the u.s. election is rigged. >> the election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president. >> reporter: there is no evidence to support that. and even mike pence trying to turn down the heat. >> i think what donald trump is talking about is, frankly, what appears to be the monolithic support of the national media for hillary clinton's campaign. >> reporter: but in a tweet, trump doubled down, writing, the election is being rigged by the media but also at many polling places. sad. house speaker paul ryan firing back, our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integri

let's get the latest from the clinton campaign from my colleague, kristin welker, in washington, d.c. let's talk about the controversy with clinton and miss machado. what is clinton saying now on that topic? >> she is trying to capitalize and she sees an opening and she threw out the bait and raised the issue over machado, and donald trump took it and has been going with it. to the surprise of the clinton campaign, they thought it would get under his skin but did not realize it would turn out into a five-day news story, and she sees this as more women and latino voters and she talked about it on the trail yesterday. >> his latest twitter meltdown is unheupbinged even for him, at proves again he is unfit to be president and commander-in-chief. >> clinton secretary is seeing a bump in the polls, and she is up in nevada by six points. her challenge is winning over more of those younger voters, and some of them giving third-party candidates like gary johnson a very serious look. in fact 23% of millennial voters right now are choosing third-party candidates, so her goal from now until elec

nbc's kristin welker reports. >> reporter: this morning more fallout over donald trump's taxes. the "new york times" revealed three pages of trump's 1995 tax returns, showing he declared a $916 million loss, which may have allowed him to legally avoid paying federal income taxes for 18 years. trump supporter rudy giuliani on defense on "meet the press." >> the reality is he's a genius. >> reporter: while trump hasn't released his tax returns, his campaign says he's paid over hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes over the years. trump tweeted on sunday, i know our complex tax laws better than anyone who has ever run for president and i'm the only one who can fix them. the clinton campaign pouncing, why don't he go ahead and release his tax returns, showing how smart he really is? on saturday, trump tried to put the focus back on hillary clinton, i mitating her getting sick. >> she can't make it 15 feet to her car. gimme a break. gimme a break. >> and then leveling this stunning and baseless accusation. >> i don't even think she's loyal to bill, if you want to know the truth. .

let's go to my colleague, kristin welker who is in washington, d.c. and covering the clinton campaign for us. good to have you with us. secretary clinton is taking full advantage of the alicia machado fallout and what is the play behind it all? >> she sure is and is trying to capitalize on the controversy, and the clinton campaign sees it as a way to energize latino and women voters. she was in the battleground state of florida, and she hit him for it, and he said what type of a person gets up at 3:00 in the morning and starts tweeting about miss universe and that's what happened. we all woke up yesterday to this tweet storm donald trump had had. i think you will hear more about this. her campaign officials have been tweeting and poking fun at donald trump and we woke up to tweets from her campaign, and making fun for tweeting in the middle of the night, and only these tweets said, it's 3:20 a.m., and as good a time to tweet about national service, and that was her theme yesterday as he was courting the younger millennial voters. as you point out, hil

kristin welker covereri erining clinton campaign. the new batch of wikileaks e-mails, did it do anything to damage the campaign ? >> reporter: what it has done is create a series of thorny questions that they have to answer in the days leading up to election day. if you don't like hillary clinton, this will reinforce some of the negative stereo tapes thtape s. but if you are a supporter, it's hard to see anyone really changing their support because of what is in these hacks. having said that, the clinton campaign very intent upon trying to shift the narrative. they're not authenticating the e-mails. as you heard tim kaine say, there are questions about whether some of the e-mails might be doctored. they're trying to put the blame on russia. u.s. officials have said they believe these hacks are the result of russia and the clinton campaign making the point that they're trying to meddle in the u.s. election and may be working with the trump campaign. this is what vice-president biden had to say to chuck todd. take a listen. >> we're se

. >>> i want to get over to kristin welker, as you have been i know working in the room behind us here. hillary clinton responding to some of this paul ryan news. >> yeah, she is. she is making the point and stressing that he is still endorsing donald trump, that he hasn't officially pulled his endorsement. >> is it the same point peter king just made. >> exactly. she tweeted it out. she is using that point to essentially try to capitalize, i think, on the divisions within the republican party, and the fact that not everyone is standing up to donald trump. she is using that as a way to energize her base. hallie, at this hour, clinton campaign releasing new ads, testimonials of republicans who are breaking with donald trump and of course, we saw the avalanche over the weekend, well, the clinton campaign, featuring testimonials of long time republicans who say they cannot vote for their party's nominee and i think we have a clip. let's play it. >> i fought for my country in kosova and iraq, i've been a republican all my life. i'm the father of three girls. i can't stand hearing donald tr

kristin welker covering hillary clinton. kelly ann conway had striking comments on sunday. take a listen to what she said. >> we are behind. she has tremendous advantages. she is a former president campaigning for her, current president, first lady much more popular than she can hope to be. >> the bottom line is they acknowledge they are behind. we have seen the numbers that way for quite a while now. what do you think is so significant about the acknowledgment. the language has almost become an acknowledgment that there may not be a post election trump administration. >> i think there are two interesting points. one is the comment which they are acknowledging the reality. remember who is not acknowledging that is the candidate himself. that makes this so striking or significant. we do see where we are in the polls. we are behind. trump refused to say the same. he tweeted about what he called phony polls, the idea that democrats are rigging the system to make up the numbers that show him trailing. that is something you hear reflected in supporter after supporter. many don't

. >> kristin welker is on the ground in winston salem where that rally took place. the first lady taking a role in the campaign. curious about that. but the clinton campaign, is there any action you're hearing from the clinton world about this new wikileaks revelation, about the clinton foundation, about his wealth, certainly donald trump going after hillary clinton. any reaction at all from them? >> reporter: we have been lop pressing them for reaction all day. so far the only reaction is to say that they are not going to comment on the individual leaks that continue to happen every single day and they continue to pivot to the russians, the fact that u.s. officials say the russians are behind these hacks and they say that the russians are essentially weaponizing wikileaks. but we do continue to press on that, steve, because there's no doubt that these latest revelations are casting a cloud over the clinton campaign at the very moment she's pulling away in some of these key battleground states as you were just discussing. and it is overshadowing what was meant to be

and kristin welker shouting, "when did you find out?" she said "right when you did." is the clinton camp saying, you know, we're fine, is the spin saying people made up their minds about the emails months ago? >> i think a lot of people made up their minds about the emails months ago. the question is, are there people who are still persuadable that would go over to donald trump's side or perhaps just say to heck with it all, and either stay home or vote for a third party candidate, and you know, the clinton people have to be very worried about that. so i -- you know, i think on a basic level, they're right, that most people are settled on the e-mail issue. and of course we don't know what will come out in the next ten days. it would be odd if the fbi director cast aspersions on a political candidate 10, 11 days before the election, didn't clarify it, and let voters go to the polls with this mysterious thing. >> with that, jane, is there any way to assess what lifeline this provides to the trump camp and how much they can use this to their advantage in the short amount

. >> chris kristin welker is join. the clinton campaign is responding to the latest round of e-mail hacks. what is their strategy for dealing with that over the next 16 days? >> reporter: good afternoon. their strategy is what it has been over the past several weeks. which is that they are pointing the finger at russia. u.s. intelligence officials saying russia is behind these hacks. the clinton campaign underscoring donald trump has praised president putin on a number of occasions. take a listen to a little bit more of what campaign manager robby mook had to say ermarlier today. >> this is the discussion that russians ba s want us to have. i can't verify any of the information. we don't have enough time as a campaign. >> i promise you, if these are not -- if these were not true, you would tell us. >> we are trying to go through some of them as we can. we don't have time to go through them all. >> reporter: the wikileaks continues to overshadow the clinton campaign as she is surging, as you point out. but it's a remind

nbc's kristin welker has been looking at the relationship between two of the country's most influential women. kristin, good morning to you. >> reporter: matt, good morning to you. clinton campaign officials call michelle obama a rock star, someone capable of energizing the obama coalition while at the same time shredding donald trump. hillary clinton and michelle obama have had a official says there is no better surrogate. this morning, a first. hillary clinton and michelle obama teaming up on the campaign trail together. >> thank you! >> reporter: for a powerful 1-2 political punch. >> hello, everyone! >> reporter: an increasingly if big presence on the train, she is her not so secret weapon. especially women. one official telling nbc news this famous line from michelle obama's convention speech. >> when e we go low, they go high? i'm reminded of what my friend, michelle obama, advised us all. when they go low, you go high. >> and clinton aides say there is no one better at attacking donald trump. >> he is threatening the very idea of america and we cannot stand for that. >> reporter:

. >> kristin welker. thank you very much. >>> it is a chilly start in the northeast and new england. it will stay that way until we get to the weekend. a big dip in the jet stream. the moisture makes its way in. we'll be seeing all of the snow. look at the temperatures, it finally gets into the 50s in utica. 59 in bangor, 50. denver will be 20 degrees above average at 80, wichita, 77, memphis, you'll see 80 degrees and heading into the weekend, temperatures into the 70s in annapolis. atlanta is in the mid-80s. houston, the mid-80s as well. >>> and >> and get your lates weather. check it out on the weather channel 24/7. >> how can you really tell if the meat in y f fr taste it, right? actually, we'll show you a new tool that promises to change your life. >> you say this to someone else, try this. >> a new way to look at a halloween favorite. >> hi, good morning, i'm jeff rossen, coming up, so many of us visiting haunted houses but some of them warn you if you have a heart condition, don't come in. it got u

kristin welker kicks off our coverage this morning. >> reporter: savanna, good morning to you, she is increasingly looking beyond donald trump. her transition team now eyeing joe biden for a possible top job, but donald trump isn't letting up, trying to capitalize on the latest controversy raised by wikileaks. the spotlight. nbc news confirming hillary clinton's transition team is adding him to a short list for secretary of state. a story first reported by politico. after considering a run himself during the primary, biden has been a constant trail for clinton. clinton is ahead in most polls, but the race isn't locked up yet. and thursday, donald trump unleashing a new line of attack in battleground ohio, about clinton's tenure asre state. >> hillary clinton put the office of secretary of state up for sale and if she got the chance, she would put the oval office for sale also. >> reporter: trump is seizing upon the latest wikileaks document dump, including a 2011 memo written by bill clinton aide, doug band, who had worked for the clinton foundation and described what he called bill c

kristin welker has been looking at the relationship between two of the country's most influential women. good morning to you. >> matt, good morning to you. clinton campaign officials call michelle obama a rock star, and somebody capable of energizing the obama coalition while shredding donald trump. hillary clinton and mich relationship in the past. this morning a first. hillary clinton and michelles teaming up on the campaign trail together for a powerful one-two political punch. >> hello, everyone. >> an increasingly frequent presence on the trail. >> ae enough is enough. especially women. one saying this famous line from michelle obama's convention speech. >> when they go low, we go high. -- has become one of the biggest principles. principles. >> i am reminded of what my friend michelle obama advised us all, when they go low you go high. >> reporter: and clinton aides say there is no one better at attacking donald trump. >> he is threatening the very idea of america itself. and we cann >> reporter: but it wasn't always rosy between the current and former first lady. in 2008 when hil

hillary clinton out with her running mate tim kaine, kristen welker traveling with the campaign. kristin, good mo. >> reporter: good morning. she has two campaign events in north carolina. she is score, while donald trump is trying to pull off a major political comeback. surging in the polls, hillary clinton and tim contain holding a rare late-night rally in the heart of philadelphia on saturday. >> there is so much at stake in demonstrating uneequivocally that the united states is bigger than donald trump. >> reporter: the first time the two have campaigned together since labor day and holding a clinton's campaign plane, where clinton all but some of the the gop nominee. >> i debated him for 4 1/2 hours. i don't even think about responding anymore. >> reporter: but on the stump the talk of a rigged system dangerous. >> make no mistakes about this, my friends. he is threatening our democracies. >> reporter: the democrats want to win big. surrogates in battleground states. >> we're also excited f >> reporter: while trump and running mate mike pence making, later saturday. >> folks, it's a

. >> kristen welker in las vegas, kristin, thank you. leapt's bring in msnbc political analyst, former communications director for president george w. bush, nicole wallace. kellyanne conway speaking to stephanie just a few minutes ago on msnbc. here's part of what she said. okay, well, we don't have that. we'll try to get that up. since the last debate, donald trump has gone after the women who accused him of sexual misconduct. gone after paul ryan on a very nearly daily basis. there was that news conference with the accusers. he's been talking about this election being rigged. are we going to see a guy tonight who doesn't have anything to lose? >> well, listen, this race is slipping away from donald trump. and what's so interesting is he's channeling the anger of his supporters. he's always really been a reflection of that part of the republican base that feels mostly angry about everything happening in this country, about the direction of the party. and now he's reflecting their frustration. i think what he's missing is that some of th