Good evening. In just 49 days, americans will elect the next president of the united states. And to that end, each evening we will be gathering here to talk about that day in the campaign right up until election day. That is unless and until Campaign News gets mingled along with current events. Well, that has happened tonight. It happened all weekend. Over a period of 50 hours, in fact. And the reason, of course, was terrorism. Not that we knew it was terrorism right off the bat. These were a series of perhaps unrelated, disparate events that all took place within a twohour drive in the new york tristate metropolitan area. It came to a violent end this morning. We thought we were close to something last night. The candidates have reacted, though we have much time to discuss that. Here is how it ended, for an afghanborn, 28yearold, Fried Chicken restaurant worker who authorities now believe, they believe acted alone. And all these different bombings and attempted bombings from the jersey shore north to new york city and beyond. N our nbc news correspondent has spent the day at the scene where the takedown took place. Amon, what have you learned as of tonight . Reporter we know this evening, brian, that Ahmad Khan Rahami is obviously in police custody, being treated at a hospital. He is, according to police, an individual who was shot here. But he is going to survive, shot in the leg, shot in the arm. No indication yet if he is offering any actionable intelligence to Law Enforcement officials. And late this evening, brian, we learned from Law Enforcement officials that he is going to be charged with five counts of attempted murder. Five counts of attempted murder in relation to the activity that took place here at the scene behind me on this very street, where he tried to escape Police Capture after he was identified in a shootout that took place with Police Officers from the linden county police force. Now linden city police force, rather. According to Police Officials weve been speaking to, on his body there were no traces of explosives, no detonator, no cellphone that would have linked him immediately to the crime scene. They are still working this area behind me to try to determine if there were any other clues that could help in this investigation, brian. Amon, all weekend long weve heard various experts, some saying what he did was actually rather sophisticated for a lone actor. Others have said he was rather incompetent at what he attempted to do and what he carried out. We do know it ended in the oddest way. The owner of a tavern later reported he was sleeping outside, awakened perhaps by the rain, and then moved inside where he fell asleep in the kind of lobby vestibule of a bar. What happened at that point . Reporter yeah, thats right, brian. All of this happened on two fronts. The intelligence and the investigation moved very quickly in identifying this suspect based on fingerprints, based on records, based on intelligence, speaking to family members. What actually led police to this individual was a tip they got from the bar owner just behind me here on the street. Here is what he told us about how that went down. I came to the store around 6 45. At that time this guy was sitting outside. It wasnt raining, so theres a bench outside, he was sitting on the bench, his face was covered, like hes sleeping, sitting and sleeping, you know . I thought ybe i wanted to look at him. When it started raining, he went into the vestibule of the bar, theres a glass enclosure. We have a door there, the lock got ripped off. He went there and just like slouched there. This guy looked so similar to the guy i just watched on the tv. I got busy with the store, still its in the back of my mind. And my friend from the truck repair shop, i said, vinnie, you saw the guy sleeping in my vestibule . He said, yes, i saw. I said, look at this photo, he looks exactly like him. I called the cops and said, there is a guy, he doesnt look good to me. They said, dead or alive . I said, check somebody to check it out. They sent an unmarked car, he was looking at him like this, he didnt talk to him, maybe he was waiting for his backup. Another cop came in, he went towards the vestibule or entrance of the bar, and the moment he talked to him, waked him up, at the very time he went towards the guy. I was watching everything. The guy across the place, my store is just across the street, watching from the door. And he just pulled out the gun. So he just pulled the gun and shot, pow, pow, he shot twice. I think the cop was shot at that time. He got up and started running towards the streets. The cop just went behind his suv and started shooting at him. Even between the cars, theres a lot of cars parked there, and he started going towards the street. The first two shots, he ran away after a few seconds, he fired a few shots. The cops are firing shots. 30, 40 shots i heard, pow, pow, pow, like that, you know. Brian, this evening those two Police Officers who identified Ahmad Khan Rahami were slightly injured. Theyre being celebrated for heroes for their quick action, the fact that they chased after him and were able to capture him alive. Interestingly enough, though, one of the Law Enforcement officials i was talking to here on the scene was saying to us, he found it somewhat odd that at the end of all of this, he was found sleeping by himself. The bar owner telling us he appeared to be exhausted. Perhaps an indication that he did not have a network of accomplices or anyone who was willing to take him into shelter to help him evade capture by the police. All he had on him was the handgun that was used to shoot back at police. According to that bar owner, a bottle of water. Amon has been our correspondent at the scene in linden, new jersey on this story all day long. Amon, thank you very much for starting off our broadcast tonight. A few words here about what happened and where this happened. Linden, new jersey, is a very urban environment, kind of the fringes of the industrial heart of northern new jersey, packed with single family, multiple family dwellings, and we now know, an Excellent Police department featuring two terrific Police Officers doing the work that Police Officers do across this country every day. Both of these officers paid for it with wounds suffered in the shootout. We are so happy to be able to report they are both, we are told, going to recover and be okay. The other lessons from this, good people doing the right thing, starting with the bar owner there. But other people who did the right thing all weekend long. The police slogan, if you see something, say something. Since 9 11, it has seeped into our society. People are indeed taking it to heart, especially in urban areas like this one. Finally, what has emerged as the new wanted poster of our day, and that is what happened in new york this morning. Everyones cellphones went off at the same time. Youll see more of that in this report to follow. Again, were talking about a 50hour drama. When it started, we didnt know it was going to be the start of a 50hour terrorism drama that would end with the largest manhunt in new york city in a generation. It started very innocently, about a twohour drive from the city on the jersey shore. 9 35 a. M. Saturday, in seaside park, new jersey. All right, i got some type of explosion that occurred on ocean avenue at d street inside of a garbage can. An explosion blows up a garbage can near the starting line of a marine corps 5k run. The race, which would have gone right past this point, is running late. Police are called in after the blast. Okay, we need to shut down this run. Shut down the run, get them out of the boardwalk. The race is cancelled for today. Authorities later discover unexploded pipe bombs as well. The bomb squad arrives and the fbi gets involved almost immediately. Leading this investigation, again, its going to be the federal bureau of investigation, our joint Terrorism Task force. Again, were working closely with our partners from the federal, state, and local area. 11 hours later, around 8 03 on a beautiful late summer saturday night, a blast thunders through manhattans busy chelsea neighborhood. I just heard a massive explosion. I wasnt sure what it was. It wasnt like a thunderclap. And then i started to hear, you know, fire trucks and police cars. It was scary at first. Then it sounded like thunder. It just sounded really heavy. If youre close, you felt it in your heart, you know . Like when youre hearing fireworks. It started like a million pianos just dropped. The blast shattered windows a block away. It blew up a dumpster on the street. Get off the street First Responders were at the screen within moments. 29 people were rushed to the hospital with injuries. Thankfully, none of them lifethreatening. At 11 30 p. M. , four blocks to the north, on 27th street, petra meyer discovered another device on the sidewalk. I saw a pot on the sidewalk with things sticking out of it. I remember them saying, if you see something suspicious, called 911. I said, that looks suspicious, i better be safe and call 911. Saturday night and into sunday morning, officials were doing everything they could to assure the public every effort was being made to solve this crime. Life will go on in new york just the way it did the moment before the bomb exploded. Were not going to let them win. And you should know you will see a very substantial nypd presence this week. Bigger than ever. We would normally have an expanded presence for the United Nations general assembly. Youll see an Even Stronger presence now. Then late sunday evening, the fbi stopped a vehicle near new yorks verrazano narrows bridge. Five members of the rahami family were questioned. But no one was detained. Then around 8 30 p. M. On sunday evening, five pipe bombs were found in a backpack near a train station in elizabeth, new jersey. While attempting to disarm the bomb in the train station, a bomb squad robot instead sets it off. Behind the scenes, the investigators moved fast. Surveillance video, a fingerprint on the Pressure Cooker, and records from the cellphones used as detonators all pointed to rahami as the suspect in the new jersey and new york city bombings. At 6 00 a. M. , fbi agents gather at the rahami family restaurant, First AmericanFried Chicken, in elizabeth, new jersey. At 7 27, the nypd releases a photo of rahami, wanted for his role in the bombings. Minutes later, the fbi releases its own wanted poster for for rahami, warning he is armed and dangerous. At 8 00 a. M. , authorities issued a cellphone alert via wireless Emergency Alert system. It hit all the mobile phones in the new york city area. And it said, wanted, Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28yearold male, see media for picture, call 911 if seen. The officer got hit initially when he confronted him. He told the gentleman, when the gentleman picked up his head, he had a beard, the officer recognized him from the wanted poster. Then we said let me see your hands. He pulled the handgun out and discharged it at the officers, hitting him in the abdomen. Rahami fired one shot at the officer, who was wearing a bullet proof vest. Then he ran, with surveillance cameras picking him up along the way, gun in hand. He shot another officer before he was shot and apprehended. Thats how the day started here in the new york metropolitan area. And yes, it has found its not intertwined in the run for president. We want to show you what new york city looks like tonight, as coastal fog works its way in over the city. This city turns into a police state, in plain language, one week per year, during the United Nations general assembly. That happens to be this week. Whatever police state plus is, new york city is tonight. Its hard to get around. Security is thick for good reason, given what the city and this area has been through. We have two terrific guests standing by to talk to us about what weve just witnessed. Our first break. Well be back with that conversation right after this. Using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework. Wire. And plants needed to give my shop. A face. No one will forget. See what the power of points can do for your business. Learn more at chase. Com ink endless shrimp is back atints can hold red lobster. Rks. 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We are back, and as promised, we have two terrific and experienced guests to talk to us about all it is we have just witnessed over this 50hour ordeal. And its important that we read their backgrounds to you. Juan serate is in washington, dc. Special note in his bio, Deputy Assistant to the president , Deputy National security adviser for combatting terrorism under president george w. Bush, senior fellow at the west point terrorism center, where they combat terrorism. We should note, former federal prosecutor who served on terrorism prosecution teams prior to 9 11. In philadelphia is our friend malcolm nance, 30year veteran of the counterterrorism business, a veteran of special ops and intelligence agencies. Two decades in clandestine antiterrorism, counterterrorism intelligence. U. S. Navy, arabictrained, intelligence collections operator and field interrogator, notable for our next conversation, and the author of defeating isis. Gentlemen, its good to have you both with us. Malcolm, well start with you, because it was saturday night, you and i were both on the air together by telephone while this was unfolding, and you said something that stopped me in my tracks. You said, and im paraphrasing you, that in your line of work, there are no coincidences. This beautiful saturday started on the jersey shore, a town im very familiar with, seaside park, an undistinguished trash can that is now a former trash can, fast forward 11 hours, a normal side street in chelsea, not notable for any reason. Why did you have early reason to think that these two disparate elements were perhaps part of a whole . Well, you know, in the Intelligence Community, there was a thing known for a very long time as the fleming dictum, thats from ian fleming, the writer of james bond. In his first book, goldfinger, he wrote that once is an accident, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action. But since then, the Intelligence Community has developed a little better. And i have a thing i call nances law, coincidence takes a lot of planning. We had this attack that went down at 9 30 a. M. , this attempted bombing in seaside park. A very narrow spit, its really not anywhere that somebody would go to do an attack unless they went there for a very specific purpose. There was a marine corps 5k happening at that time. I happened to be at Mcguire Air Force base at that time. I thought, you know what, they really should have attacked a more capable base. Later on in the day, 11 hours later, we had the chelsea bombings. Not near anything of great significance. Just too big a coincidence. As i said, coincidence takes a lot of planning. And were not trying to diminish any of this, it scared a lot of people, the definition of terrorism. It injured a lot of people, 29 souls in new york city. And it continued scaring people until this morning. What they were not, though, were, malcolm, the spectacular attacks, that term we all learned after 9 11. These were small, localized. You take that on before i turn to juan. Well, the attack methodology in this incident, in all of the incidents, started to lead us to believe very, very early on that we were dealing with an amateur bomber. Even though the devices themselves had some level of sophisticati sophistication. The moment i saw it was command foam detonated, using a cellphone, told me this was not a right wing american extremist, they generally use fuses and timers, i thought they might have had foreign training. And a Pressure Cooker bomb, that is ubiquitous in the muslim world, certainly american soldiers have run into these pot iuds all over the place. Even thoug hhad good Weapons Systems, he could have gone one block to the east and attacked the flatiron building triangle there at the 23rd street metro or Madison Square park. All of these things, the trade craft that the bomber demonstrated. And then, no suicide, no mart martyrd martyrdom. All the hallmarks of Jihadist Terrorism were not checked in this operation, which led us to believe it was more of an amateur that had a little bit of skill. Over to juan serate, to our viewers, these are both lovely men in a scary line of work. Juan, Public Officials have been saying, this guy acted alone. Ive heard two reviews, as i said, number one, that he was quite skilled in these explosives. He covered a lot of ground. While it didnt all succeed, thankfully, he had some skill. Number two, ive heard people call him flatout incompetent amateur. What do you just of all of it . Brian, i think its a combination of both, actually. He was able to be dangerous. He hurt a lot of people. He was disruptive to one of the great cities of the world. And certainly with some amateurish tactics, he was able to draw a lot of attention to himself and whatever cause he is subscribing too. At the same time, as malcolm indicates, this is not a sophisticated series of attacks, does not seem to be coordinated in any way with others. He didnt seem to have a base of support where he could retreat. Keep in mind, for example, in brussels, the authorities in belgium had to search for weeks to find a suspect there. Here he was found within basically 24 hours of his name being published. And so this was amateurish in many ways. But you dont have to be very good to cause disruption. We saw with the Boston Marathon bombers that Pressure Cooker bombs can cause a lot of damage. And certainly can bring a major city to its knees. So this is the nature of 21st century terrorism, where individuals can use relatively basic ways of destroying and attacking fellow citizens. And frankly, affect a major city in the united states. And so in a sense he did both. He was amateurish, and he wasnt wellcoordinated, wasnt all that effective. At the same time, he was dangerous, and his plot worked to the extent he hurt people. And scaring folks and injuring people from seaside to new york is absolutely the definition of terrorism. Malcolm, do you think theyve got the guy . Do you think theyve got all the devices, and do you think this de guy acted alone . Right now ill say, conditionally, that he was acting alone. Until we get more evidence. They have good surveillance on him. And they saw him bringing that bag. Now we know the initial reports that two people were handling that bag were actually people who were trying to steal a bag that was left there. I think if the fbi and the jttf says theyve got one man, then theyve ripped this guys life apart as far as they can get physical evidence, and they know he at least was the delivery guy. Where is his bomb factory is the key question, where did he build these devices. People tend to build these devices in pairs. We have at least four pairs that were used. The last bomb left in elizabeth was a bundle of five. My first thought on that was he dumped that device, he dumped his remaining Weapons Systems in order to get rid of it. And the two pot bombs, as we saw, the two Pressure Cooker bombs, one detonated, one did not. We have quite a bit of information to work through. Gentlemen, i cant thank you enough for staying up late with us and joining us after a busy day in your line of work. We cant note enough, worked because of Good Police Work and members of the public taking their role very seriously, as long as we have more good people than bad, that balance will always work. Gentlemen, thanks. Our broadcast continues right after this. Performance machine. With this degree of intelligence. Its a supercomputer. With this grade of protection. Its a fortress. And with this standard of luxury. Its an oasis. Introducing the completely redesigned eclass. Its everything you need it to be. And more. 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Were back, and back to the thesis of our broadcast, were supposed to this day in the campaign, the most unusual in easily a lifetime. Well, the subject of terrorism early and often made its way into the discussion of the campaign. We heard from both of the candidates on this topic, beginning with Hillary Clinton. We know that Donald Trumps comments have been used online for recruitment of terrorists. We also know from the former head of our counterterrorism center, matt olson, that the kinds of rhetoric and language that mr. Trump has used is giving aid and comfort to our adversaries. I have sat at that table in the situation room. Ive analyzed the threats. Ive contributed to actions that have neutralized our enemies. I know how to do this. And i understand how we dont want this to get even bigger than it already is. The facts are pretty clear that we still have challenges. Thats what i have been talking about throughout this campaign. I am prepared to, ready to actually take on those challenges, not engage in a lot of, you know, irresponsible, reckless rhetoric. You dont hear a plan from him. He keeps saying he has a secret plan. The secret is he has has no plan. Lets focus on what we really can do. And what ive laid out is a path forward that will keep us safer, protect our country and go after the terrorists to finally destroy them. Thousands of people are pouring into our country. We have no idea what were doing. Our leaders are i dont even say weak. I say stupid. We want to make sure we are only admit people into our country who love our country. We want them to love our country. Today we have caught this evil thug who planted the bombs. Thank you, Law Enforcement. Thank you, police. Now we will give him amazing hospitalization. He will be taken care of by some of the best doctors in the world. He will be represented by an outstanding lawyer. His case will go through the various Court Systems for years. And in the end, people will forget, and his punishment will not be what it once would have been. We must have speedy but fair trials and we must deliver a just and very harsh punishment to these people. Hillary clinton is a weak and ineffective person and i will tell you, if you choose donald trump, these problems are going to go away, far, far greater than anybody would think, believe me. So as nicely as two 50second or so segments of sound can paint to portraits of two different candidates in this race, you just saw a sample of today, lets talk about today with our two guests tonight. Nicole wallace is back with us, former communications director, of course, for president bush xliii and a veteran of too many campaigns to mention. Shes joined by yamich yamiche alcindor, welcome very much, good to see you. I will begin here, nicole, with the compression of time and space, something we talk about a lot. Donald trump landed in colorado, gets off the plane, calls it a bomb having exploded in new york. Everyone lying in wait. Is he going to be right, is he going to be wrong . Everyone else trying to take a measured approach. What matters for anything anymore . I think this is one of those another example of his supporters feeling great about everything he did and said, when he did it and when he said it, and even some of his supporters who may be a little embarrassed or ashamed of some of the immigration policies that border on unconstitutional and unamerican. They make more sense to their friends and neighbors in the wake of Something Like this. Donald trump broke out of the back after san bernardino. Hillary clinton, in democratic circles, you would know better than me, i think there was some angst and hand wringing last week about the tightening of the polls. There was an opening when former secretary of defense robert gates came out and said Hillary Clinton is beyond repair but Hillary Clinton is someone i could support. I think they view this argument as being squarely in her wheelhouse. I will say for the seven undecided voters, you heard a lot of venom. Im not sure thats the way to win hearts and minds. Does that match what youve been observing covering the clinton effort . Ive actually been covering both campaigns, and i think what we saw was both of these candidates showing themselves as exactly who they are. They were very genuine to what theyve been pitching. Hillary clinton is pitching herself as someone whos going to be measured, steady, working with all the different nations and knows the way this works. Donald trump is says, you know what, im going to be the person who fixes all your problems, im going to know whats best for him. He came out and said it was a bomb, he said, i should be a newscaster. His supporters are excited by that, hes not waiting to see whether or not this had been terrorism. If this had been terrorism, it would have taken him off track, because in some ways he jumped to conclusions. Theyre pitching exactly who they are. It will be interesting to see on the debate stage in one week, how theyll go at each other. They have two different styles of really governing, really what theyre saying theyre going to do if they become president. Theres a phrase that has come out of our modern wartime, asymmetrical warfare. Tonight, a tweet by Donald Trumps son donald jr. Is an example of what the clinton forces are up against. The copy in the center of it reads, if i had a bowl of skittles and told you just three would kill you, would you take a handful . Thats our syrian refugee problem. At the bottom its aborted with the graphic, trump pence make America Great again. That image says it all, thats what the Clinton Campaign is up against, that is ricochetting all over the place. On thursday night, we talked about this idea of how you wage a campaign thats as asymmetrical. Hes a joyful scoundrel, who boasts about buying influence in a political system only he can fix, and he calls a bomb a bomb before anyone knows what the heck happened. I dont know that she wins by fighting this on her terrain. But i think shes heard the message loud and clear, to rachet up her own language. We heard from her this morning some of the most forceful language about his being a recruitment tool for isis. Shes trying to fight fire with fire. Jon favreau, former speechwriter for barack obama, who had a large hand in some of the more notable speeches of the first half of his presidency, says on this, hey, donald trump, this is one of the millions of children you compared to a poisoned skittle today, this now iconic image of the 5yearold boy on the ambulance. So this is the state of our political debate tonight, a week from tonight we have whats being called the largest single event thus far in this campaign. How do you prepare to debate a week from tonight . Ive been talking to the Clinton Campaign about how shes comparing. One of the things she saw in that tweet was really emotion meeting emotion. Donald Trumps Campaign are very proud of the fact they feel like theyre speaking to everyday people, everyone can understand what it means to stick your hand in a bowl of skittles and what it might mean to be poisoned. At the same time, the image of that little boy, if youre a mother who looks at children and feels emotional, theyre telling you, this is what that means, this kid is not a piece of candy, were talking about human lives. In that debate, and what ive been talking to the Clinton Campaign about, theyre trying to prepare for the style, not just the substance of what hes going to say, but how they push back against someone who is going after emotion, emotion of fear. Yamiche, im a fan of your work, nicole, im a fan of your work, thank you both. Next, well talk to josh earnest. Nah. What else . What if we hire more sales reps . Nah. What else . What if we digitize the whole supply chain . So people can customize their bike before they buy it. That worked better than expected. Ill dial it back. Yeah, dial it back. Just a little. Live business, powered by sa when you run live,you run. Just cant wait to get on the road again [ front assist sounds ] [ music stops ] [ girl laughs ] on the road again like a band of gypsies we go down the highway [ beetle horn honks ] no matter which passat you choose, you get more standard features, for less than you expected. 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Ll your doctor about all the medicines you take, and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Ask your dermatologist about otezla today. Otezla. Show more of you. I want to take this opportunity to reassure the people in this city, in this region, and americans across our country that our counterterrorism and Law Enforcement professionals at every level, federal, state, and local, are working together around the clock to prevent attacks and to keep us safe. Moments like this, i think its important to remember what terrorists and violent extremists are trying to do. They are trying to hurt innocent people. They also want to inspire fear in all of us. We all have a role to play as citizens in making sure that we dont succumb to that fear. And theres no better example of that than the people of new york and new jersey. The president speaking earlier today when he did not yet know that the linden, new jersey pd had shot and taken down the chief suspect. The president is now in new york for at least two days for the u. N. Gathering. That meant earlier we were able to invite White House Press secretary josh earnest here to the studio. I began the conversation asking if we knew anything more about the suspect. Theyre still gathering as much information as they can about this individual. They want to make sure end everything they can. Obviously theyve done a search of his home. They want to understand about his relationships, what kind of communications he may be having with people both in this country and anywhere else. They want to understand exactly what may have motivated him to carry out these acts. Theres a lot of work still being done. Were in the very early stages of this. Here is the one thing we definitely know, brian, is that this is a great example of state, local, and federal Law Enforcement working seamlessly together. If you think about how all this came together, we had a detonation in new york city late on saturday night. By monday morning, the fbi put own an alert about an individual. Seven hours later that individual is in custody and they knew that person is responsible for the attacks. This is a testament to what Law Enforcement can do, brave men and women who put their lives on the line, skilled experts evaluating investigative material, pursuing leads over the weekend and keeping us safe. How high is the confidence that he acted alone . Weve heard this all day from our Public Officials. There seems to be some confidence, but theyre not going to declare that until theyve been able to run down every lead and make absolutely sure of what they know or what they think they know about this individual. So im not in a position to make any pronouncements at this point, because we want to make sure we follow the facts where they lead. On saturday night, before we knew of the story in new york city, Cable Television fans were watching your boss give a speech at the Congressional Black Caucus dinner, when there came this moment. I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election. You want to give me a good sendoff . Go vote is that what a tightening race looks like and is that what a threatened legacy looks like for your boss . I think it is a clear illustration of the president s sense of just how high the stakes are in this election. The president has poured his own blood, sweat, and tears into his presidency, obviously, and he takes that very personally. Hes proud of the remarkable progress our country has made, avoiding a depression. The numbers from the census last week that indicate weve got basically the strongest Income Growth for households in america on record, and that growth was most pronounced at the lower and middle income levels. The success weve had overseas in terms of preventing iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, fighting climb change. These are all things that the republicans are promising to roll back. He made a personal, charged case to his supporters saying all the change we worked for over the last eight years is absolutely on the ballot, and if were not as engaged as we were when my name was on the ballot, then the last eight years are at risk. What about the language of our times politically . Is the president at a disadvantage because of his office . Sitting here at the new york papers, one of them just says terror, a word the new york pair pointedly did not use saturday night. Is there a double standard, that nald trump feels that there is a Political Correctness in our political speech . Well, im not sure its easy to articulate exactly what the republican nominees philosophy is for all of this. I get the sense that he is very skillfully chasing these kind of headlines and trying to leverage them for his own maximum political advantage. And thats gotten him quite a ways. He is somebody who has demonstrated an ability to such of those headlines for his own benefit. The question is, that may be a pretty effective political strategy, at least it proved to be in the republican primary. It remains to be seen if thats an effective political strategy in a general election. I think the president has some doubts about whether that is an effective strategy for governing the country and leading the free world. Prior to this series of apparent terror attacks, the lead story going into the weekend was the day of birtherism on friday. Do you view birtherism as a case closed, something the president will never speak of again . Brian, i actually happened to be in the White House Briefing room on that spring day in 2011 when we literally on paper passed out the long form version of the president s hawaiian birth certificate to reporters in the White House Briefing room. And that was the day that we thought it was done. That was the day we thought we had finally put it to rest. But, you know, a variety of interests on the internet and in real life have trafficked in this one for one or another. And, you know, their case apparently has changed a couple of times over the years. But ours hasnt. The president s case, back in that day, the president coined this term in terms of describing the purveyors of this information, as carnival barkers. Those people have been effective in getting attention for themselves. But thats not a strategy for running the country. Thats not a strategy for making the American People safer. Thats not a strategy for creating jobs. Those strategies and the debate about the most effective way to do that is what the president hopes and would like this president ial campaign to be about. Josh earnest, thanks for coming. Nice to see you. The White House Press secretary with the traveling white house here in new york. When we come back, a former u. S. President in the news tonight. And a late live update on the bombing investigation here in new york. Nope, its lemonade. Is that icet . Lemonade. Icet . Whats with these people, man . Lemonade, read the sign. Monade. Re it. Ok. Delious. Iceat a Lemonade Stand . Surprising. Whats not surprising . How much money marin saved by switching to geico. Yo, icet its lemonade, man fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. What powers the Digital World . Communication. Like centurylinks Broadband Network that gives 35,000 fans a cutting edge game experience. Or the network that keeps a leading hotel chains guests connected at work, and at play. Or the it platform that powers millions of ecards every day for one of the largest greeting card companies. Businesses count on communication, and communication counts on centurylink. Using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the fruit. Veggies. And herbs needed to create a popu pickyourown juice bar in the middle of the city, so now everyone knows. We have some of the freshest juice in town. See what the power of points can do for your business. Learn more at chase. Com ink if you were watching msnbcs coverage all weekend of these disparate terrorist attacks, you saw jonathan dienst from wnbc in new york. Hes here in our studio tonight. You have something new as we look toward tomorrow. Tomorrow we believe the police or fbi will be releasing a video or photos from the video of the 23rd street location, the Pressure Cooker bomb that did not explode. It shows two men come up after the device was left and they take the Pressure Cooker out of the suitcase it was contained in and walk off with the suitcase. The investigators are trying to figure out who are these two guys, why did they do that, were they coming to take the suitcase, do they have any information . They want to talk to these guys, theyre treating them as witnesses. Theres an open question as to who were these two guys and what were they doing near the scene. Perhaps it was accidental, perhaps they were lucky that they moved a bomb and it didnt go off on them, perhaps they jiggled a wire and thats why it didnt go off. But police want to find these guys. Give me the 30second version of, did he act alone . Right now the evidence is he acted alone. But there is concern, how does he learn how to build these devices himself, how does he build him and nobody else knows whats going on if hes the suspect, where did he build these devices . They still dont know. They found some materials inside that apartment that could be consistent with some of the materials that were found on some of the devices. Too soon to know. But unclear if they were built in that apartment. Maybe theres a Storage Facility out there. Maybe he had some help. They just dont know at this hour, its still so early on. 50hour investigation, in some ways were just getting started. Jonathan, terrific work as always this weekend. I heard it say today, if he was working with a team, he wouldnt have fallen asleep in the lobby of a bar in new jersey. Well know soon enough. Another break. When we come back, another former president in the news tonight. Some relationships you stick with. Over time, they get even better. Thats why more people stick with humana medicare advantage. We Work Together with you to find the best plan, however your needs mig change. Because great things e ahead of you when your health is ready for them. Humana medicare advantage. E plan people stick with. 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And when you need legal lp with that business, were here for you. Were legalzoom. D over the last 10 years ve helped one million businesswners navigate every day challenges. So visit us today for the legal help you need to start and run your business. Legalzoom. Legal help is here. One last thing before we go tonight, a story youll be hearing a lot about tomorrow. Its from our friends at politico. Here is the headline. George h. W. Bush to vote for hillary, subhead, a kennedy outs a bush. How can this happen, whats going on here . Long time bush family friend and aide to president bush 43, nicole wallace, has hung out with us tonight. How did this happen, whats going on . Well, bush has entertained lots of people, hes very interested in whats happening. I think the bush family has made a decision. But i think you can look at some ill make a points of light joke, get it . You saw jeb talking to jimmy kimmel on the emmys about running a positive campaign and see what happens. You see president bush sharing a personal opinion, maybe not. They made a decision, this applies to bush 43 too, not to weigh in or come out before or against anybody. I dont expect that to change, from mrs. Barbara bush, from bush 41, i dont think youll expect a public endorsement of anybody. I know it has been pursued. I know people have sought his endorsement of secretary clinton. I dont know if the secretary herself has made that outreach. I know at very high levels they have sought his endorsement. This was Kathleen Kennedy reporting this. And picked up by politico. So this will be interesting. It will be interesting. Theres a lot of bush Clinton Family history. They know each other well. Former president s. Theres a very exclusive club, to name two of them, bush and clinton. This story, again, will get quite a ride tomorrow as politicos reporting george h. W. Bush plans to vote for hillary. Nicole, thank you very much. That is all the time they have allotted us. We went long tonight. We did the hourlong home version of our broadcast tonight. We will see you back at the 11 00 p. M. Eastern hour, thus the name a lot going on in the news tonight. Really appreciate you being here. Charges have just been filed against the, alleged bomber. From the new york and new jersey explosions this weekend. String of bombing attacks. Started saturday morning. In seaside park, new jersey. That was followed by a large explosion in the chelsea neighborhood of manhattan on saturday night. That was followed in the overnight hours last night by a further explosion in elizabeth, new jersey. A Police Bomb Disposal robot tried to diffuse another group of explosive devices that were found on the street by a couple of very, very, very lucky homeless guys who did not themselves get hurt after theyve handled the devices in elizabeth