And as you can see from the tape, the cameras were not on. It was only a mike, and i wonder if they even knew that the mike was on, because they were kind of a boy talk, and he was lead on, like, egg on, from the host to say dirty and bad stuff. You feel the host, billy bush, was sort of egging him on . Yes. Well, a note about the clip trump is referring to, the audio was recorded on an access hollywood bus tour in the presence of others. Access hollywood is an Nbc Universal program. Anyway, melanias defense comes as several new polls show how far back trump is, clinton is in the lead right now showing clinton leading trump by four points nationally, and thats the best hes doing, hes only down by four. Shes up nine points in a new cbs poll out tonight. She leads by 11 points in a new nbc wall street journal poll, thats our poll and she is ahead by 12 points in the new monmouth poll out today. Meanwhile, trump has spent the last week complaining about a rigged political system, electoral system. Instead of being held accountable, hillary is running for president in what looks like a rigged election, okay . It looks to me like a rigged election. The election is being rigged by corrupt media, pushing false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect Hillary Clinton. The process is rigged. This whole election is being rigged. We have to make sure the people of philadelphia are protected, that the vote counts are 100 . I hear these horror shows, and we have to make sure that this election is not stolen from us and is not taken away from us. So important that you get out and vote. So important that you watch other communities, because we dont want this election stolen from us. We dont want this election stolen from us. Well, yesterday, trumps allies explained he was referring to the media when he talked about a rigged system. Lets watch. Well, i think what donald trump is talking about is, frankly, what appears to be the monolithic support of the National Media for Hillary Clintons campaign. And i believe the rigging is level of the national establishment. I dont think its at the level of stealing votes at the precinct level. Its pretty clear what he means. Hes never talked about cheating at the polling place. Well, they all said it was about media, and trump didnt back him up. He contradicted his supporters here. Here he is tweeting, catch this, hes tweeted, keep going, later sunday saying, the election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing crooked hillary, but also at many polling places. Sad. And today trump tweeted, of course, there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day. Why do Republican Leaders deny what is going on . So naive. So why is trump calling foul three weeks before election day . And why is melania making the rounds now . Im joined by nbcs kelly odonnell. Kelly, let me talk about melania. Why do you think shes been brought out . Shes sort of an unknown figure. Were not used to hearing from her. And there she is talking about an area interesting, she said she didnt think that her husband knew he was being taped. I think we agree on that. We all assume he wasnt aware he was going to be taped for later use, but he was. Your thoughts about her defense . Well, i think Melania Trump is the greatest character witness that donald trump can have right now, because she is someone who has been by his side. You can imagine that in their home life, this has been a key topic. And there is no one who can speak to his character better than his wife or his children. And so for her to come forward and to support him after these kinds of allegations and all of the fallout from that can be powerful. The fact that we see so little of her probably enhances the value of her coming forward and speaking. We know that she has been a very private person. That politics is not something she ever imagined would be part of her life. And you can argue that theres perhaps no one in Donald Trumps world who has been more negatively affected by participation in this campaign than Melania Trump. Her privacy gone, her husband put through this kind of scrutiny, which for political families of any party, whenever crisis hits, its always tough on the spouse, on the children. So having her come forward can be powerful. Chris . You know, i was just wondering whether its not the same thing. Maybe it is the same thing. In broad brush terms, youre dead right. The question, though, in the case of the clintons, it was infidelity, which was the issue, i think. In this case, its just sort of general bad behavior, you know, awful behavior, that really didnt have much to do with seduction or anything like that, but you were laughing, because it is so absurdly bad that its like not even credible to even have a conversation about. Because we dont even talk about it. But infidelity is something were more familiar with. And thats where hillary was able to come out and say, im still with him, leave me alone, its my business. Im not sure its the same question, is it . Well, and times are different. I dont think the country is as innocent as it might have been 20, 25 year ago, so that always changes the lens through which we look at these things. Also in the clinton case, with respect to monica lewinsky, that occurred inside the white house with an intern, and there was sort of an Employment Situation there. And, of course, with paula jones, there was litigation. And so with donald trump, in most cases here, were talking about new people coming forward with old accounts, and it has not had time to be litigated yet. Are these believable accounts . The corroborating information, all of that is being reported out. And many people are looking at this and saying, these women appear credible. And there are others who are supporters of donald trump who say, this is politically timed to undercut his candidacy. Its the kind of land mine everywhere situation politically. And youre right, it is uncomfortable. No one wants to talk about these things. Theyre salacious, theyre uncomfortable. He says hes embarrassed. I think the countrys embarrassed, as well. And voters who want to look to a president ial candidate for character, this certainly undercuts his character if people believe these allegations and the stories brought forward by these women are believable and truthful, that hurts him. Then you find supporters who say, he may have misbehaved, he may have said things he should not have said. Im not looking for that in a president or a president ial candidate, i want change and hes the closest in the twoperson choice of this election, of course, four candidates. But the binary choice that most people are considering. So, times have changed, i think the country is wearing down in its sort of threshold of what strikes people with horror. And theres also the timing of this. This has come one after another after another. Very late in the campaign. And its something that trump has had some difficulty responding to. A little reporting also from you tonight, kelly. What about this christie interview you did with governor christie where he said something about this case regarding the access hollywood and the way that the candidate for president has handled or failed to handle it. Well, i was able to see governor Chris Christie here in manhattan tonight. He was attending an event and we were able to stop him on the street and he spent a few minutes talking with us. And he told me that on a couple of things, he felt that donald trump did not sufficiently apologize for the recording, the access hollywood recording. He thought that those words were defenseless. I also asked him, given their long relationship, had he ever personally witnessed any Inappropriate Conduct . And he said he had not. In addition to that, he said he believes that donald trump has told him privately that these are false allegations and he is willing to accept his friends account of that, that these are false allegations, and so he is standing by donald trump. He has not been as visible in the last week or so in the campaign, and that certainly raised questions. And i think in talking with governor christie, he would say that he was not pleased that donald trump did not do more to be more contrite publicly to express his embarrassment and his sorrow over those words recorded. Thats, of course, before the women came forward. This is a complicated set of facts for anybody involved in Donald Trumps world and supporting his campaign. Governor christie tells me he is not going to the las vegas debate, but he continues to support him and continues working as the chairman of his transition team. Chris . Thank you so much, kelly odonnell, for nbc news. A spokesman for Speaker Paul Ryan reacted to trumps charge of a rigged election, quote, our democracy relies on confidence in Election Results and the speaker is fully confident that the states will carry out this election with integrity. Meanwhile, the ohio secretary of state, a republican and a trump supporter, also took issue with trumps rhetoric. Lets watch that. We have so many safeguards in place in our election system. Its bipartisan. Its transparent, and theres just no justification for concern about widespread voter fraud. I actually intend on voting for donald trump. But im just remorseful or regretful that hes saying things like this, which really undermine the potential that he has as a candidate. They are not the kind of things that he should be saying. Anyway, trumps talk of a rigged election might be having an impact. According to a new poll from politico and the morning consult, 41 of registered voters now agree the election could be stolen from trump. Thats two out of five think this could be rigged against trump. Joining me now, the former chair of the Republican Party of florida, al cardenas, hes also a former Senior Adviser to jeb bush and also david corn. A little time for comment here. What do you make of these charges that seem so third world. You know, the operative word is access. He had a softball pitched at him. He could have talked about Campaign Shenanigans in the clinton campaign, he could have talked about the emails, he could have talked about the chairmans resignation. He could have talked about everything and say, hey, its coming our way, be careful, but, no, he had to add electoral fraud. You heard the secretary of state. Weve had 200 some years of democracy in america. We have never in our history had to deal with that kind of conversation. Our country, what sets me off is that were an example of the world what an election is like. Peaceful transfer of power, orderly process, electoral process. Everybody in the world comes to see how we do it so they can do it like we do it. And all of a sudden with these remarks, all you do is just throw a whole bunch of crap into the fire. We had a case in 93 in philadelphia, state senate race, there was some vote stealing. They broke the rules about absentee ballots. The judge threw the guy out, put the republican in, dealt with. Its taken seriously. You know, it happens once in a while, but donald trump cant you can see that he might legitimately lose. Is this a hedge . Its a hedge, because he wants open rebellion should he lose. Hes setting up a situation where republicans will have to pick and choose between two sides. One side, well, he lost, lets get on with life. The other side, it was stolen from donald trump, Hillary Clinton is illegitimate, you must impeach her. You cant work with her. This is what he did with birtherism. He said obama was an illegitimate and now hes going to say shes illegitimate before shes elected. There is no kernel of truth lets talk politics and not ideology. Just think for a second. How does this help his band of excited people . It looks like hes thrown in the towel. Al, if im out there, i would say, this guys given up. Hes already blaming people. He is blaming a crooked election. Because they believe he has a populist movement going who believes beyond this election that theyve got a movement going and theyre going to turn america around trumps way. So he believes he needs to fuel that fire every single day and get and he also believes that this crowd is, going to go and vote 90 and overwhelm the its 7 00 sunday morning, this is monday, these things move so fast. But yesterday morning, i must have been somewhere, i get up in the morning and im reading his tweets its not 4 00 in the morning or 3 00 in the morning, but 7 00 in the morning, hes tweeting at least three tweets attacking saturday night live. Yes. Whats that about . It was a pretty brutal picture of him alec baldwin did. I know we have three weeks to go until election day, but i think we have to dispel the notion, dispense with the notion that he does things in a rational, sane way. Ive got to put this on. Of course you but its idiotic for him to do it. Another target for trump on twitter this weekend was saturday night live. Trump wrote, quote, watched saturday nightlife hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec baldwin portrayal stinks. If he cant handle alec baldwin, how does he handle Vladimir Putin . A few weeks ago, he praised saturday night live. He was a special guest of saturday night live. Same thing he does with cnn polling. He had a tweet about that, he said, oh, its great, im ahead. I dont think he thinks. I think he pulls the trigger theres a Mental Health issue. I mean, we dont talk about are you getting into this, he said shes taking drugs, youre saying hes got Mental Health he acts in an unhinged, erratic fashion all the he once attacked iran because their soldiers gave us the finger at some of our ships. He is erratic and i feel sad for melania, who comes out and says, those are bad words. You know what i like, i loved emily blunts monologue last night when she sang. The talent on that show is unbelievable. Anyway, thank you, al cardenas, thank you, david corn. I dont think saturday night live is focused on him but focused on being great. Up next, donald trump and his supporters are running at a quid pro quo between the state department and the fbi. Weve got the facts on that. This is hardball, the place for politics. Xwxexe this is very big and frankly unbelievable. What was just found out is that the department of justice, the state department and the fbi colluded, got together to make Hillary Clinton look less guilty and look a lot better than she looks. This is one of the big breaking stories of our time, in my opinion. This shows corruption at the highest level and we cant let it happen as american citizens. Welcome back to hardball. That was, of course, donald trump responding to just released fbi documents relating to the investigation into Hillary Clintons private email server. One note seems to indicate a quid pro quo suggestion between the fbi and the state department over the classification of one email. The fbi note cites an fbi official who, quote, indicated he had been contacted by patrick kennedy, undersecretary of state, who had asked his assistance in altering the emails classifications in exchange for a quid pro quo. In exchange for marking the email unclassified, state would have reciprocated by allowing the fbi to place more agents in countries where they are presently forbidden. But the fbi and state department both pushed back today. One fbi official told nbc news it was an fbi agent, not kennedy, who first brought up a possible quid pro quo. For more, im joined by nbcs kristen welker. This is a big one. Its a big one, yes, in the sense its giving a lot of fodder to republicans. But heres the bottom line, your last point, the fbi and state department saying, this gets it all wrong. There was a robust discussion about all of these emails, chris, between the different agencies. How should they be classified . And this discussion pertained to an individual email. It was upgraded to classified and it stayed that way. So, there was never a quid pro quo, but to this point, this request came from an fbi official. And thats what that document confuses, according to both the fbi and the state department. Let me just read you the statement from the fbi and we can talk about it a little bit more. The fbi says, having been previously unsuccessful in attempts to speak with a senior state official during the same conversation, the fbi official asked the state department official, so it came from the fbi official to the state department official, if they would address a pending unaddressed fbi request for space for additional fbi employees assigned abroad. The classification of the email was not changed, and it remains classified today. So thats sort of the crux of this. The email remained classified. At the same time, an fbi official raised during one of these discussions, can you have more fbi agents abroad . Important to also understand what 302s are. They are notes that were taken by fbi officials during interviews. So is it possible that those notes were in some ways exaggerated or missed the point . Its possible. I dont want to say thats what happened in this case, but it seems to be thats the pushback that youre getting from the fbi and state department. The state Department Says this allegation is inaccurate and does not align with the facts. They maintain there was no discussion of a quid pro quo. Thank you, nbcs kristen welker. When we return my election diary two days before the final president ial debate. This is hardball, the place for politics. Beyond the headlines, beyond the face, the spotlights, the fodder and bravado, beyond the well, blaming billy bush is probably as good an argument youre likely to get and has the strength of blaming one celebrity over another in a Public Relations sense might do good even if it doesnt make donald trump look much like a leader. The important question as i began with who is the real donald trump, the gifted brand man capable of building Tall Buildings or portrayed by these women who have come forward . Is he the guy on the tape, the guy on the bus, the guy whose voice we heard . Second question, is melania going to put a positive face on this race, or is the Trump Campaign going to be a complaint that the election is going to be rigged, stolen from him despite his plurality in the votes . Melania is a signal of the first, but if he keeps yelling we was robbed, all the positive pr isnt going to help. Who are you going to Pay Attention to, melania sticking it to billy bush or donald trump sticking it to the american political system . Thats hardball for now. Thanks for being with us. Join me tomorrow at 7 00 eastern. See you then. Romantic moments can happen spontaneously, so why pause to take a pill . Or stop to find a bathroom . Cialis for daily use, is the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, or adempas for pulmonary hypertension, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. Do not drink alcohol in excess. Side effects may include headache, upset stomach, delayed backache or muscle ache. 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And from cordial adversary to allout enemy. She should right now be in jail. The dangerous Uncharted Waters of 2016 when all in starts right now