afghanistan, faces military charges today. >> 20 minutes out i'm going good grief, i'm in over my head. suddenly this really starts to sink in. i really did something bad. well, not bad, but i really did something serious. and nailed it. a historic vertical landing for spacex ushers in what the company's founder is calling a quote, revolutionary moment. >> this is the most exciting thing i have ever witnessed. i have never seen people more excited, like freaked out excited. good day. i'm luke russert in for andrea mitchell. in the frontrunners' feud between donald trump and hillary clinton is heating up after clinton claimed isis was using trump's words to beef up recruitment, trump fired back and demanded clinton's apology. the clinton campaign released a simple response, hell, no. well, last night trump let loose again. >> donald trump is on video and isis is using him on the video to recruit. and it turned out to be a lie. she's a liar. no, it turned out to be a lie. turned out to be a lie. and the last person that she wants to run against is me, believe me. believe me. >> that was just the start of trump's attacks against clinton last night. that got even more personal and, well, i think we can call it far less p.c. it all comes as a new national poll out today shows trump still on top with ted cruz nipping at his heels. joining me to discuss all of this, for our daily fix, robert costa, msnbc contributor and "the washington post" reporter, jean cummings, political editor for the "wall street journal," msnbc political correspondent kasie hunt and nbc's hallie jackson in nashville, where ted cruz just wrapped up an event. kasie, we will go to you because what was not in the introduction there was donald trump's use of some yiddish slang which blew up the blogosphere, the twitterssphere, some really intense stuff. >> that's one way to put it. trump's supporters say they like the fact that he's not politically correct and was very politically incorrect as he continued to talk about hillary clinton. we obviously played some of the more politically correct sound just then. but he used a vulgar term to talk about the male anatomy in reference to hillary clinton's loss to president obama in 2008. we want to play the full context for our viewers so they can get a sense of what happened. >> i may win, i may not win. hillary, that's not a president. that's not -- she's not taking us -- everything that's been involved in hillary has been losses. you take a look. even a race to obama, she was going to beat obama. i don't know who would be worse. i don't know. how does it get worse? but she was going to beat -- she was favored to win and she got -- she lost. i mean, she lost. >> so there you have it. hillary clinton's communications director coming out with a nonresponse response, essentially saying we are going to keep our hands off of this, so to speak, but anyone who is offended by it or understands what he was talking about should maybe get in there and respond. >> let's bring you in, jean, on that point. palmieri saying we are not responding to trump, that everyone who understands the humiliation of this degrading language inflicts on all women should respond, #i'mwithher. this is hillary clinton rallying, i would argue the female vote against a man who has been quite sexist over the course of his campaign. >> absolutely. absolutely. they will raise money off of it as well. we saw the clinton campaign shift to attacking trump earlier this week in the debate. that was deliberate. john podesta talked with supporters of the clinton campaign and made it very clear to them he's an enduring frontrunner so they are going to start going after him. and that's what they are doing. and of course, he doesn't ever sit quietly by when he's under attack. but this is really, this one is really beneath the office. this is beyond schoolyard taunting. it's vulgar. >> and bob costa, there is an element here that this is symbiotic in some capacity. you now see donald trump and hillary clinton really going after each other in quite a forceful manner. give us a little bit of your astute political analysis on how this is mutually beneficial for both of them. it allows hillary clinton to sort of define the republican party as donald trump and there is nobody that that base of support that trump gets despises more than hillary clinton. >> it benefits both sides to be looking toward the general election in eyeing each other as their main rivals. trump is trying to eclipse his competitors and say he's ready for a general election, he can take on secretary clinton in an aggressive way, different than other republicans. secretary clinton, whether or not donald trump wins the nomination, she wants to run against donald trump in november. if she wins the nomination. >> certainly she would love to do that, because they think his negatives are so high she would have a really easy pathway forward. hallie jackson in nashville, ted cruz not taking the bait on this one, saying that he refuses to criticize trump over this, but we see the new quinnipiac poll. cruz now nipping at trump's heels nationally. cruz has to be feeling pretty thankful heading into the holiday season here. >> kind of a good news gift for him on his 45th birthday today. yeah, he talked about that poll. his poll position now nipping at donald trump's heels. why would ted cruz take the bait? he hasn't so far. so there's no need for him to do so down the road, given that he is i believe where his campaign wants to be. we talk about this fly-around he's been doing this past week in the s.e.c. primary states. there are two big reasons why cruz has seen success, particularly after the most recent debate. one, strategy and two, the intangibles. talk about strategy. he has the money. not just from the big dollar donors but ted cruz has publicly made the point he's gotten grassroots donations as well as he coalesces the conservative base around him to help him move forward. the other part, he's making a play not just for iowa which we talk about all the time, the state where he leads donald trump, the key early voting state but he's making a play in the march 1st super tuesday states in alabama, georgia, here in tennessee, places where there is a red meat conservative base that likes what ted cruz is throwing. the other part of it, what we have seen is last maybe five days or so, big crowds coming out for ted cruz. a lot of energy in these crowds. i was with cruz back in august for a bus tour in these states and we are seeing today and recently a more confident candidate, somebody who is more relaxed, looser one-on-one with voters, with the media, even, so cruz definitely picking some momentum as we head into the holiday season. when you talk to people here, i will make one final point, they are rabid cruz fans that come out. one gentleman told me this is his super bowl. he talks about cruz the way some people talk about the patriots or the eagles. at the same time, there are people who are out, coming to kick the tires. i spoke with one gentleman, this is anecdotal as well, he says i'm a trump supporter but trump said he would make cruz his vp. that's why i came. i wanted to see potentially the future vice president. luke? >> ted cruz as somebody's super bowl? i don't know if it's the patriots or eagles. that's a really great discussion we should have later on. hallie jackson, thanks so much. one thing we have seen ted cruz do and seen donald trump do is run against the media. donald trump took it to another degree last night. i want to play it and get our panel to weigh in. >> they said, you know, he's killed reporters and i don't like that. i'm totally against that. by the way, i hate some of these people, but i would never kill them. i hate them. no, i think -- no, these people, honestly, i'll be honest, i'll be honest, i would never kill them. i would never do that. let's think. no, i wouldn't. i would never kill them but i do hate them. some of them are such lying, disgusting people. it's true. it's true. it's true. but i would never kill them and anybody that does, i think, would be despicable. >> it's great to know he doesn't want us killed as journalists. i have been at a trump rally and he does point at the media that is sequestered in that little pen in the back and you do incur the wrath of some very angry individuals. he stirs this up. i think what's so fascinating is that trump has stirred all this up essentially being arm in arm with vladimir putin, saying vladimir putin, you can't prove that he ever killed a journalist. what is going on here? >> yeah. well, the praise in defense of the russian president is certainly an odd thing coming from a frontrunner in the united states presidential race. and you have had many republicans sort of -- that gave them pause as well. but his relationship with the media is total love/hate. he loves the media. he hasn't bought any tv ads because he can get on television for free and so it's very much a love/hate relationship. but the level of hostility that he stirs up at his rallies is a little disturbing. we have seen protesters, the media feels it, and he doesn't do anything to tamp down on it. if anything, he stirs it up. >> he encourages and likes it and it gives him a rallying call. bob costa, what is the strategy embracing putin? if obama did anything along these lines, i said on a tweet the national guard would have to be called out by some governors because the upheaval would be so significant. how is trump able to pull this off embracing putin as a leader and seemingly turning a blind eye to what he does to journalists? >> i would hesitate to use the term embrace vladimir putin but trump certainly accepted his praise and when you look at foreign policy, trump is aligned with the more non-interventionist wing of the republican party. he's okay when it comes to syria, to letting russia intervene there, the united states not having ground troops in that conflict, and when it comes to human rights, he's not making that an issue with what russia has had with its own abuses of journalists and others. so you see him toeing the line trying to get the voters who are okay with russia, having a more prominent role in the world, and just taking it at that. >> kasie? >> i think to a certain extent, the people who are coming out to these rallies with trump are people who want strength over anything else. if there's a caricature of vladimir putin out there, it's someone of extraordinary strength. i think honestly it would be difficult for trump to come out there and say i completely reject this guy. but i do think to the point, just to follow up on the reporter question, i think if there is a risk for trump going forward, we have talked so much about how he can essentially say anything, it never hurts him in the polls, i do think there is, you have experienced this yourself, kind of an undercurrent of tension that's emerging at some rallies whether between trump and his supporters and the protesters or the media. i think there is a risk that that could get out of hand. if it does, i think what happens after that it pretty unpredictable. >> toeing the line. jeanne, kasie, hallie, bob costa, thank you so much to all of you. we appreciate it. coming up, court-martial, former p.o.w. sergeant bowe bergdahl who walked away from his post in afghanistan appeared before a military judge today. the latest ahead. ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. just about anywhere you can use splenda®... ...no calorie sweetener. splenda® lets you experience... ...the joy of sugar... ...without all the calories. think sugar, say splenda® came out today thousands of people to run the race for retirement. so we asked them... are you completely prepared for retirement? okay, mostly prepared? could you save 1% more of your income? it doesn't sound like much, but saving an additional 1% now, could make a big difference over time. i'm going to be even better about saving. you can do it, it helps in the long run. prudential bring your challenges welcome back. bowe bergdahl, the army sergeant who walked off his base in afghanistan in 2009 made his first appearance before a military judge today in an arraignment hearing. bergdahl did not enter a plea, instead deferring it until his next hearing in january. bergdahl is facing two charges, desertion and misbehavor before the enemy. i'm joined by jim miklaszewski and medal of honor recipient, retired u.s. army colonel jake jacobs. mick, for us laymen out there who don't necessarily understand how the military justice system operates, what is happening today with bergdahl specifically and what are the next sort of steps after today? >> well, certainly essentially it was an arraignment hearing for bowe bergdahl which gave him the opportunity to make several decisions to enter a plea, which he did not do, which gave him the choice to choose judgment by either a single judge, a judge advocate general in this case, or by a jury of his peers. he chose not to do that. the second appearance for bergdahl will come january 12th in which he may be able to enter those decisions at that time. >> colonel, i want to play what mr. bergdahl said in a serial podcast regarding what he did. >> i was trying to prove to myself, i was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me that i was capable of being that person. >> like a from soldier, you mean? >> yeah. capable of being what i appeared to be. like doing what i did was me saying i am -- >> right. >> -- like, i don't know, jason bourne. >> a character in a book or whatever. a character. >> yeah. so i had this fantastic idea that i was going to prove to the world that, you know, i was the real thing. i could be, you know, i could be what it is, all those guys out there who go to the movies and watch those movies, they all want to be that. but i wanted to prove that i was that. >> colonel jacobs, what leads a soldier to this type of behavior and can the military do anything to try and safeguard against it, or is it so many folks deployed you are bound to have one who perhaps thinks like this? >> i think the law of large numbers says that in any population, no matter how well trained, you are going to have people who are quite frankly stupid. the short answer is stupid. you see it from time to time. rarely in combat. frequently in garrison but i never saw it in all the time i was in combat, people do anything, anybody do anything like bergdahl did. and he didn't help himself by going through the routine of airing all this in public before the hearing. he had another session also in which he talked about the time that he spoke with afghans about this whole situation after he had left, and he didn't help himself at all. >> it's almost as if he was trying to assume a character. we hear the name jason bourne in there, and we think of how these characters are sort of created by hollywood. do you think that's a recurring problem? people in this current technological world, social media, want to assume something else in the military? >> i doubt it. i can't think of assuming anything more significant than being a soldier in combat with your mates in a difficult situation. of course, this was all -- all this discussion was after the fact. he had already left, he got captured, he was repatriated, then the story came out. i mean, to anybody who has spent any time in combat this sounds like dissembling, making up a story post facto but the kind of thinking and behavior you are talking about, assuming a character you're not, you don't need any of that. all you have to do is be armed and in combat and in danger with your fellow soldiers. >> indeed. jim, an update from the story we spoke about yesterday, the six americans who were killed on patrol outside bagram air force base, we are starting to learn their identities? >> that's right. there's a new identity that nbc news has learned just a few minutes ago, that among the six u.s. airmen killed in that suicide bomb attack outside the bagram air base in afghanistan yesterday, it includes one female airman. defense officials confirm the identity as major adrianna vorterbrugen who was killed in that attack. her identity was revealed by family members in a facebook entry and confirmed by u.s. defense officials here in the pentagon a short time ago. the remains of all six victims will be returning to the u.s. to dover air base in delaware at about 12:30 tomorrow afternoon. >> of course, our thoughts with those families. thank you both so much for your time today. we appreciate it. coming up, crushing it. why the weather this holiday weekend is going to be an unprecedented record breaker. you might be able to wear shorts on the east coast. plus ready for launch. how spacex made history last night. they are certainly excited there. ideas are scary. they come into this world ugly and messy. ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known. they are the natural born enemy of the way things are. yes, ideas are scary, and messy and fragile. but under the proper care, they become something beautiful. oh no... 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(unenthusiastic) oh... ha ha ha! joanne? is that you? it's me... you don't look a day over 70. am i right? jingle jingle. if you're peter pan, you stay young forever. it's what you do. if you want to save fifteen percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. ♪ you make me feel so young... it's what you do. ♪ you make me feel ♪ so spring has sprung. but i think women would agree... watching football together is great... huddling with their man after the game is nice too. the thing is, about half of men over 40 have some degree of erectile dysfunction. well, viagra helps guys with ed get and keep an erection. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra. available in single packs. it's the first day of winter and this holiday weekend is going to be a record breaker. the east coast is poised to set records for the warmest christmas eve ever while the pacific northwest and northern plains are bracing for heavy snow and gusty winds. nbc meteorologist dylan dryer joins us with all the details of this crazy weather. >> this is really a wild setup we have going into the christmas holiday. this is going to be unprecedented. the heat we are going to feel as we get into christmas eve and christmas day. out west, though, the pattern we have been dealing with for weeks now has been this stream coming in off the pacific ocean that's dragging in all of this moisture. we have seen lots of rain from washington to oregon down through california. yesterday in oregon we had reports of mudslides, winds have been gusting near 65 miles per hour and this also means a lot of mountain snow. with the highest accumulations about two to three feet above 8,000 feet. now, where there's a trough there is also a ridge. it's the ridge that's responsible for the record high temperatures we are going to see over the next several days. high temperatures will be running about 30 to almost 40 degrees above average for this time of year. even today we are looking at highs mainly in the 50s and 60s across the northeast. that's about 20 degrees above average. green bay, well above freezing, 39 degrees feels pretty nice this time of year. down in the southeast we are looking at highs closer to 70 degrees. then as we go into wednesday, thursday and friday, that's when the temperatures are really going to soar. peaking on christmas eve, especially for the northeast. thursday, in new york city, 73 degrees. that will crush the old record in the northeast. atlanta, we should be approaching 80 degrees by friday. houston will stay in the 80s through the middle and end of the week. tampa, looking at high temperatures close to 90 degrees. so with this spring-like setup, we are also looking at the risk of spring-like thunderstorms. we will see those develop especially later on tonight through texas and oklahoma, southwestern arkansas, northwestern louisiana. the biggest threat tonight will be for large hail but we could also see damaging winds and of course, the heavy downpours and dangerous cloud to ground lightning we see with these storms. tomorrow we will increase the chance of stronger storms. we could see more or less severe weather outbreak, especially in tennessee, northern mississippi, and northwestern alabama, where we could end up seeing a few of those tornadoes develop through the afternoon. so wednesday's a big travel day. really rough conditions out west, trying to get through the passes will be brutal, but in the southeast, it's all about the storms with rain up and down the east coast tomorrow, then on christmas eve, then as we go into christmas day, we lose the threat of heavy rain in the northeast but still looking at some showers along the gulf coast. luke? >> santa does not need the overcoat when he comes east. coming up, citizen trump, chris matthews joins us to talk about the republican frontrunner and the msnbc original documentary about how we got here. it is certainly must-see tv. ya know, viagra helps guys with erectile dysfunction get and keep an erection. talk to your doctor about viagra. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain or adempas® for pulmonary hypertension. your blood pressure could drop to an unsafe level. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. ask your doctor about viagra. he has tapped into a part of the electorate that is i think deeply angry about the state of the economy. >> how stupid are the people of iowa? how stupid are the people of the country? to believe this crap? >> this guy is just saying what people are thinking. >> donald j. trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the united states until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on. >> trump's statement is a dangerous proposal that overrides history, the law and the foundation of america itself. >> they're giving donald trump full throttle, ready to destroy anyone who gets in his way. >> that was a clip from the documentary "citizen trump" with chris matthews which premieres tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern on msnbc. more than anything else, donald trump has caught the attention of millions this election season and this msnbc original documentary traces trump's career and the events that led to his presidential run. joining me to talk about all of this is the man himself, chris matthews of "hardball." thank you for your time. what did you learn about mr. trump when you put this together? what is he hitting on? >> cajones, guts, nerve. the ability to say i'm going to do something and do it. he's always been -- people have always been skeptical about him. this thing about how much is he really worth, that stuff has always been going on. is he as good as he says he is. that's always been going on. yet he keeps plowing forward. this thing, using that yiddishism the other day, there is always one of those things, too. there is always some problem of ten minutes ago, something he just said. so there's a recurrence to the guy and reality to him. what i think we found out was that there's more to donald trump than what he said ten minutes ago. unfortunately, the media coverage, we have to cover news. the news on donald trump is always what he just said when in fact, he has been a builder, he is not just a debater or one line artist like some of the other guys. >> go back to 2008 and the election of president obama, everybody thought we were now coming into a post-racial society, that hope and change was going to carry the day, the divisions that ravaged the country for the past decades would seemingly start to go away bit by bit by bit. the opposite has happened. the country has gotten more divided, more angry. what happened along the way here that trump was able to tap into? was it politicians trying to use president obama's election for cynical purposes or was the electorate totally misunderstood in 2008? >> well, so many things going on. i think all these police shootings have been one thing driving while black and all those things we worry about, incarceration rate is one area. not sure that's related to obama. the idea of having an african-american president in that building there disturbs about 10% or 20% of the country. there's no doubt about it. there's no doubt those people are looking to trump. there's no doubt about it. but he's doing better than that. there's something else going on in the country. a failure of the political establishment we all grew up with. the failure to deal with, you could say illegal immigration is not a problem. to a lot of people, it is a problem. you can call it undocumented workers, you can call it whatever you want. people say you are coming up for a clever new word for it. it's a problem. you can say trade's not a problem but if you live in the big cities and used to get a job at bud or boeing or one of those companies, those jobs aren't there anymore. the working guy doesn't have a job anymore. so you say those aren't a problem, they are a problem. so a lot of these wars, these stupid wars like iraq, where the working guy has to go fight these wars and get killed and dismembered and lose family time for years at a time, you say that's not a problem? it is a problem. who bears the brunt of that? the working guy. all the time, the working guy takes the hit. the elite that can move around with ivy league degrees and move around don't care. i got enough degrees to handle any economic change. but the average working guy can't. he's stuck. so a lot of it's economics. it's also nationalism, a sense that the elite running our country don't protect the individual american citizen. they don't look out for them. they don't look out for them in trade, in war. they're not looking out for the average worker out there. the average worker says these big shots are all buddies with each other, all hanging out with each other, the media are all part of it and they are all elite and have great educations and i'm stuck out here making the same money i made 30 years ago. i'm ticked about it. he talks to that guy -- trump has another skill. look, you know politics as well as i do. when you -- we all listen with our tongues but we listen to the way people react to what we say. you watch trump. he is watching and listening to every reaction to what he says. he doesn't do this hillary thing, hey, how you doing. completely phony stuff. what he does is hey, am i right? am i right? i'm right, right? he's back and forth, he's interactive. he hears the audience. he's good at it. nobody makes terrible comments like this dyiddishism. there is an interconnectedness with him and the crowds. >> you are a history guy. if you look at successful insurgents in the past, people who seemingly came out of nowhere but were representing a segment of the population that felt jilted, you have ross perot and george wallace at the presidential level the last decade. >> also goldwater and mcgovern. >> where does trump fit in? is he a mix? >> he's more ross perot. there is always a piece of george wallace in american political life. race is there. i would say he's non-idealogical because when he says -- he's no hawk. he hates the republican policy towards getting into everyone's business. he says let putin fight in syria. he is very much against the hawks. he doesn't fit with the republican establishment which is hawkish. i don't find him easy to figure out. i would say nationalist. maybe we haven't had one of those in awhile. it can be scary. a nationalist can be scary. if you are not a nationalist and don't look like one, sometimes obama comes off as too cool for school. too international, he loves trade, loves dealing with cuba, loves dealing with the climate issues and all those issues internationally. that's very big picture. to the average guy out there, get back to the ground with me where i live. look out for me, buddy. focus on my job and my career, my kids' careers. they didn't go to college either. i think the president, being a bit up here, has left the ground below him wide open for trump. >> well -- >> tonight that's what we talk about. >> tonight at 7:00 p.m. on msnbc. >> i don't know whether tonight is going to be his favorite movie or not. we will see. >> i suspect he will watch it. >> i suspect we will be hearing -- you think the first tweet will come from him? 8:10? >> at least. not a chance in the world he doesn't watch this live. chris, thank you so much. coming up, the routine traffic stop that went dramatically wrong. sandra bland was found dead in her texas jail cell three days after her arrest. the grand jury has made a decision as to whether to indict any jail employees in connection to her death. here's a little healthy advice. eat well, live well, and take of what makes you, you. right down to your skin with aveeno® aveeno® daily moisturizing lotion with the goodness of active naturals® oat and 5 vital nutrients for healthier looking skin in just one day. healthy skin equals beautiful skin. and for shower softness, add the body wash, too! aveeno® naturally beautiful results® gifts for the tech-savvy uncle. and the 5-year-old. done and done. with up to 50% off our hottest tablets, like the ellipsis 10-inch tablet for $99.99. get the best deals and the better network. toto the nation's capitalut to support an important cause that can change the way you live for years to come. how can you help? by giving a little more, to yourself. i am running for my future. people sometimes forget to help themselves. the cause is retirement, and today thousands of people came to race for retirement and pledge to save an additional one percent of their income. if we all do that we can all win. prudential bring your challenges® ♪ everything kids touch during cold and flu season sticks with them. make sure the germs they bring home don't stick around. use clorox disinfecting products. because no one kills germs better than clorox. the texas grand jury in the sandra bland case has decided not to indict any jail employees in connection with her death. over the summer, police dash cam video was released by the texas department of public safety showing bland pulled over for failing to signal a lane change. she refused to get out of the car and was arrested, accused of assaulting the officer. three days later, bland was found dead in her jail cell. authorities say she committed suicide by hanging something -- by hanging, rather, something her family disputes. bland's mother and lawyer appeared on msnbc a short time ago reiterating their lack of confidence in the grand jury process. >> my daughter is gone and so what i would have liked to have seen is some sort of information to show what has happened to her. i have seen nothing, i have heard nothing. all i know is what i hear in the media and so i have no idea what was presented at that grand jury proceeding. i have no idea what was put in front of the grand jurors. i have no idea. >> i'm joined by msnbc's tremaine lee who has been following this case. thanks for being on the show. what is the latest developments? we know grand juries operate in secrecy, you don't necessarily know what was put in front of them, what they saw. in this case it brought back no indictments. critics saying this was a tool of the prosecution. >> that's the concern for the family and all the supporters who have gathered nationwide to support the cause of sandra bland. they can't figure out how a promising young woman who seemed so excited to be returning to texas for a job at her alma mater, how does she end up hanged in her jail cell? they never bought the narrative presented by police. now this grand jury decided not to indict anyone in connection with her death or anyone in the jail. a special prosecutor did say the grand jury will return in january to determine if any charges should be filed against the officer that was part of that very contentious arrest that began with sandra bland apparently not using her turn signal properly. it ended up with a demand to get out of the car and apparently being -- sandra bland being thrown to the ground. that's what kicked off a series of events that still in the dark, that ended with sandra bland being dead. again, they will return in january to determine what if any charges should be filed against this officer. but as sandra bland's mother and attorney said just moments ago, that they still don't have any answers. no one presented them with any evidence either way to give them any assurance that this process has been transparent. again, to give any indication, any clue of exactly how sandra bland, you know, the series ended with her death. >> thank you so much for that report. for more on this, i'm joined by jenae nelson, associate director and counsel for the naa legal defense and educational fund. thank you for your time. one thing that your organization has pointed out and is backed up statistically is that there are troubling trends for what happens to people of color once they are in police custody. can you talk about that and actually, the lack of data that law enforcement makes available for those individuals? >> that's right. there's an unfortunate dearth of information and data and research on the number of african-americans and latinos who die at the hands of police who are either unarmed or armed but who wind up perishing under very suspicious and concerning circumstances. there is no mandate that police departments across the country keep this data statistically. we have demanded that this data be collected, that it be tied to federal funding and that it's broken down, disaggregated by race, by age, by gender, by sexual orientation and other categories that are of consequence so that we can ensure that our law enforcement is enforcing laws and dealing with the public in a way that is fair and just. without that information, we can never know. the only reason why we are here today talking about sandra bland is because there was video footage of that stop and it eventually rose to get some national prominence. otherwise this would have been another unknown statistic among many who have been killed at the hands of police without much fanfare. >> i think what's so striking to so many people is that the expectation many are taught is that if you are around mees or are in police custody, you might be in trouble but at least you are safe. you are with those who are supposed to be enforcing the laws. but if you look over the course of the year, freddie gray, sandra bland, there's this area where nobody knows what exactly happened behind closed doors, we are getting conflicting accounts. aside from data, when you talk about police cameras, what more can be done for more accountability between the time of an arrest and the time of an arraignment? >> well, we think it's incredibly important to have the footage and data that have surfaced in many cases and you're right, there is a real fear among people, particularly people of color, who get stopped by police. i think that explains why sandra bland did not want to exit the vehicle when the officer insisted that she did. not only was it baseless, but i'm sure she feared for her safety and rightfully so. i think what we can do is ensure that we are not only looking for individual accountability. that's of course extraordinarily important and the family deserves that, and anyone else who cares about this individual young woman who died unfortunately should have that. but we also need to be looking at systemic and structural issues within law enforcement and there has been a request for a pattern and practice investigation of the police department, of the state troopers' office and that needs to happen in places like waller county that has a deep and long history of racial discrimination, not just in areas of policing but in politics and many other areas of society. and we need to be looking at this holistically, not just seeking that solitary indictment. that is just the first step to look at this broad issue that we are seeing on our tv screens every day now. >> i was struck, the question that allegedly sandra bland asked her sister in a voice mail how did a traffic stop, how did all this come out of changing lanes at a traffic stop. it really is quite extraordinary in a negative way. jenai nelson from the naacp, thank you for your time. we appreciate it. coming up, out of this world. yes, that's the first ever vertical landing of an unmanned rocket. tom costello explains why it's not just space junk he's excited about this historic moment. ws the best kind of holiday... is the kind where everyone gets what they wished for. make this holiday extra happy when you buy one get one free on our most popular smartphones... like the samsung galaxy s6. buy one get one free. so spread some cheer. and capture every minute of it. right now at at&t, buy one get one free on our most popular smartphones. so wi got a job!ews? i'll be programming at ge. oh i got a job too, at zazzies. (friends gasp) the app where you put fruit hats on animals? i love that! guys, i'll be writing code that helps machines communicate. (interrupting) i just zazzied you. (phone vibrates) look at it! (friends giggle) i can do dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs... you name it. i'm going to transform the way the world works. (proudly) i programmed that hat. and i can do casaba melons. i'll be helping turbines power cities. i put a turbine on a cat. (friends ooh and ahh) i can make hospitals run more efficiently... this isn't a competition! we made history today by landing the first stage of our rocket back on land in cape canaveral, florida. >> very excited crowd there as spacex headquarters in california last night, blown away by the success of the company's high altitude history-making adventure. they managed to launch a rocket into space, deliver 11 satellites into orbit and then safely bring part of that rocket back to earth in a vertical landing in less than 20 minutes. absolutely amazing stuff. tom costello covers all things space for nbc news and joins us now to explain what all the excitement is about. we have this great private industry space race. elon musk and jeff bezos trying to outdid each other. why was this such a big event last night? >> i don't think either one is as crazy as howard hughes but right, think about this. they launched a rocket, they deployed 11 satellites flawlessly in space, and the first stage which by the way, is the most complicated and the most expensive stage because it has the engines to the rocket, right, they brought that becoac and landed it right back down perfectly almost as if it was a pencil. their analogy is imagine launching pain silaunch ing a pencil over the empire state building, break it in half and bring the first part of the pencil back and land it on a shoebox. amazing accomplishment. what this means is it is possible for them to do space travel a little more cheaply. if they can recover the first stage, reuse the first stage, then you are going to be able to service the space station which is critical here much more efficiently and cost effectively. but elon musk, the founder of spacex, says listen, ultimately the goal is to go to mars, right? in order to go to mars, he says there are no runways on mars. you've got to land vertically and take off vertically. so that is what this ultimately, this technology is for. we need to mention, however, that the ceo of amazon.com and also blue origin is in direct competition, of course, with elon musk and spacex and just in november, late november, jeff bezos and blue origin also launched a rocket and also brought it back down vertically. spacex and elon musk, it was a bigger, more complicated affair but the truth is, you have two companies putting a tremendous amount of engineering expertise and brainpower to work. the results were stunning. >> quickly, they do fill the void that nasa has left, because we need to use the russians to get up there to the space station. we don't do this anymore. >> that's right. nasa several years ago was told by congress and at the time, president bush, we want to reorient nasa's focus. nasa needs to be focused on the long game, going back to the moon and/or mars eventually, and we are going to turn over the low earth orbit stuff, going to the space station, turn that over to the private sector which is why you have spacex now and the russians servicing the space station and ultimately, the idea is spacex will carry astronauts to the space station. other competitors want to do the same thing. it will not just be cargo but that's the goal here. >> early christmas gift for space lovers like you. >> it is cool stuff. you know what? one last thing. only in america. seriously. only in america right now, this is the only country that can do something like that. >> have to let donald trump know about that. take care. that does it for this edition of "andrea mitchell reports." see you back here tomorrow. "msnbc live" with the great thomas roberts is next. i'm thomas roberts. we start with what has become a very personal, public feud between donald trump and hillary clinton. trump upping the rhetoric last night, again going after the former secretary of state. this time using a vulgar comment alluding to the male anatomy in reference to her loss of the nomination to then senator barack obama in 2008. he also made crude references to clinton's bathroom break during saturday night's debate. >> what happened to her? i'm watching the debate and she disappeared. where did she go? i know where she went. it's disgusting. i don't want to talk about it. no, it's too disgusting. >> clinton is expected to speak at an event in iowa in roughly 15 minutes. don't expect her to respond to trump's latest barbs. this morning her communications director tweeted quote, we are not responding to trump but everyone who understands the humiliation this degrading language inflicts on all women should hash tag i'm with her. we have our reporters fanning out across this story. our political team about this growing feud and let's begin with msnbc political correspondent kasie hunt. let's talk about the reaction that this crude comment has gotten. >>