Lastminute inperson push from President Trump overnight. Will it be enough for the gop . Were live on the ground. And to the last big race of 2018 to chatter of 2020, a breakout for the dems pulling a 180, yes, beta orourke. He told us he wouldnt run for president but now he says hey, maybe he might. How this could translate it a nationwide plan to take down donald trump, and who else can get in the mix . A lot happening and good thing our team is ready to go. We start with new developments in the special counsel investigation. President trump and his team firing back after prosecutors accused Paul Manafort of breaking his plea deal. We had a tweet storm from the president taking shots at mueller, calling him a conflicted prosecutor gone rogue. Manafort is facing what effectively could be a life sentence, unless he gets a pardon from President Trump. Prosecutors for the special counsel say manafort lied to them repeatedly and they want to sentence him now but this also means Robert Mueller has lost what a lot of legal experts consider the star witness in this investigation. Manaforts legal team disputes the special counsels claim, also, by the way, asking to be sentenced. I want to bring in nbc news investigation reporter tom winter. All of this, the backdrop to the new report coming out this morning said Paul Manafort met with julian asank, acclaim clai wikileaks tweeted out just four minutes ago and disputed. If accurate, theyre hinging this on one wellplaced source. This is from a source or sources as well as some documents that they have been able to review. Hallie, the significance of this, the guardian report says Paul Manafort visited the Ecuadorian Embassy in Julian Assange in march of 2016. This was around the time as you and i both know well, ubing on the campaign trail and us talking about this, that Paul Manafort was joining the Trump Campaign or about to join the Trump Campaign. We need a little more details on the dates to be specific about it. In addition the guardian report said Paul Manafort had other trips to the Ecuadorian Embassy in london and those trips started in 2013 if i remember the report correctly. This raises some questions as far as what was the purpose of that . Why would he have met with wikileaks . Im not sure that it points to anything that says Paul Manafort was involved with the dnc hack but it does raise questions as to why he would meet with them and if for some reason Paul Manafort was doing business with ecuador as part of his pliolitil consult business, why did he met in the London Embassy instead of washington, d. C. . He has a location not far from washington, d. C. So it does raise questions to the location and why specifically that embassy, which is, of course, where Julian Assange lives. So i think this is a report that bears more followup at this point. Just to explain some of the timeline here, youre correct this apparently did begin in 2013. Sources have said manafort, according to the guardian, went to see assange recently as spring of 2016. According to one of their sources it was march of 2016. As you know Paul Manafort joined the campaign shortly after that, Trump Campaign. Weeks later wiki released those emails. We should note Paul Manaforts lawyers did not comment to the guardian, tom. I did just speak to jason, Paul Manaforts spokesperson and at this point theyre not putting out an ontherecord response but this may change later today. I will say we have reached out to Paul Manaforts representatives about this story as well. We should know wikileaks tweeting out as were coming on the air, this is a total fabrication, destroying the guardians reputation. So wikileaks denying any of this took place. Much more to be done on that. And all of this as Paul Manafort is waking up this morning looking at a sentence or perhaps a pardon after being accused by the special counsel of lying and blowing up his deal essentially, hurts manafort but does it in a way hurt the special counsel too . Can you explain that. I believe so. If you have somebody that youre trying to look into russias efforts to interfere in the 2016 election and whether or not it had anything to do specifically with the Trump Campaign and if there was any sort of coordination, the Campaign Chairman, who was the Campaign Chairman as we were just discussing going back to march, podestas email account was hacked in march of 2016. And when the idea wikileaks may first have some material when the russians in the 2. 0 account and some of the their own accounts put out informations from the hacking campaigns, he was Campaign Chairman through that, some of the information that came out had nothing to do with the Trump Campaign. Yes, you have the guy who could perhaps best answer questions as to what discussions may have occurred or not occurred. I think that to lose him to lose him not only from the standpoint hes no longer cooperating but the information that he gave you appears to be according to their filings not accurate, yeah, i think that does hurt from somebody who can kind of help fill in some of those pieces. Nbcs tom winter. Tom, thank you much. Please stay ton of thp of that us know what you find. Hans nichols is at the white house. Plenty going down where you are too. The president is talking about the special counsel. His lawyer now is telling nbc, hey, basically everybodys lying, right . Fill us in. This is a doublebarrel attack, hallie. You have the president hitting his twitter thumbs making his case this is a prosecutor gone rogue. You have Rudy Giuliani, the president s lawyer, raising the prospect of a pardon. It appears to be establishing a predicate for a pardon. Heres what Rudy Giuliani said last night the purpose theyre accusing of unethical behavior is andrew weisman. He said he has a history of prosal misconduct but now its an obsessive and overpursuit boldly lying. Pressuring them to lie under oath and read their script. Its pretty clear whats happening this morning and its casting a sharper leaf now, question the authority, question this report. Remember last week he submitted, the president did, his answers to mueller that were requested in writing. Hallie . Hans nichols there at the white house. See you in a minute. We thought it was important to take a welcome at what exactly the Mueller Investigation has done so far, the results essentially. You have as of this moment 32 people indicted. That includes six guilty pleas, one conviction, four people have gone to jail or prison with the former trump adviser george pop pop dop lus being the latest. I have betsy woot rough, politics from the daily beast and msnbc contributor. Gang is all here. Plenty to talk about. I will give you first crack of this because there are pieces in play to where this goes now. We know what happened and what the special counsel is saying about manafort not telling the truth, manaforts lawyers denying that. This is chockful of incidents we can draw from. Neither party is seeking to withdraw from the plea agreement. Theyre both saying we are ready to proceed to sentencing. That tells me one thing, one, mueller has gotten everything he wanted out of manafort and two the defense is unwilling to try to fight the battle of where theyre wanting to withdraw from the plea aagreement. Theres one very interesting passage in paragraph five that tells me even manaforts lawyers recognize he probably didnt tell the whole truth. What they say is after signing the plea agreement, manafort met with the government on numerous occasions to answer the governments question. Manafort has provided information to the government in an effort to live up to its cooperation obligations and he, manafort, believes he has provided truthful information and doesnt agree with the governments assessment. Boy, that is the weakest defense of a client by a defense attorney that i have heard in a long time. Heres the thing, man acourt will mo manafort will move on and get sentenced. He could also get pardoned. President trump in the many times hes been asked about Paul Manafort has not ruled that out. Heres a little trip down memory lane. I dont talk about that now. I dont talk about that now. Are you considering pardoning Paul Manafort . I have Great Respect for what hes done in terms of what hes gone through. Is there any consideration at any point of a pardon . I dont want to talk about that. Seems like it could be on the table, glenn. I think it unlikely. One, you would have to believe trump has some sense of loyalty or if not its in his tactical interest to give manafort a problem. I think the special counsels investigation has collected up everything they want and need from manafort. I recently spoke to one person in the president s orbit who said he didnt have direct knowledge of the president s thinking but said if the president were to pardon manafort, its likely it would come after any 2020 election. The political consequences, of course, pardoning manafort in the lead up to his reelection would be tet tonic. However waiting until after that date passes would else the political cost on trump himself. Meanwhile, democrats are like we have thoughts if you end up pardoning Paul Manafort. Adam schiff talked about that. Watch. I think it would be very important if there are any pardons in the Mueller Investigation that Congress Investigate whats behind the pardon, that we find out whether there have been any private communications, whether there were any promises of pardon, whether there were inducements from these witnesses not to cooperate with bob mueller. Yeah, this is why the democrats winning the house was so significant because they now have the manpower, ability to look into this to the degree that they want to if trump behaves in a way that they find problematic. This is why many what many voters were hoping would happen. There are a lot of questions people still have about this investigation and theres real fear trump could squash it, especially if Matthew Whitaker stays around. One of the interesting challenges for democrats dealing with all these issues is who gets to investigate these questions . The pardon issue is very interjurisdictional on capitol hill. The house judiciary could have questions about it, if there are financial questions, the Committee Maxine Waters is potentially set to chair also may want a piece of it. The democrats will have a challenge deconflicting all of the ambitious, hungry investigators who want to get a piece of the investigation pie. Thank you for coming on and talking to us in the big morning in the developments of the special counsel investigation. Other news happening today, including decision day for mississippi, because one way or another, that state is sending a senator to washington tonight. Will mississippi make history by voting for democrat mike hesy . Or will he sideline hydesmith after a galoring endorsement from President Trump . With Liberty Mutual new car replacement, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Its proven quality sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed, from 999. 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You see, mississippi, we just still seem to be last on the good lists and at the top of all of the bad lists. In mortality, were first. Education, were almost laugh. Job training, were almost last. All the things you want to be first in, we seem to be lagging towards the bottom. I know i cant do it alone but i am certainly going to roll up my sleeves and work with everyone, irrespective of race, irrespective of party, irrespective of religion, irrespective of sexual orientation. I worked with everyone of goodwill who wants to pick mississippi up. Ive done it all my life and i will do it as the next senator. So, you know, its into the hands of the people now. Its out of my hands. All of the bells have been rung, all of the songs have been song. So now the vote just has to come in. I appreciate we can vote today, that we can vote for a candidate by choice. I encourage everyone to vote. If i can just say vote for mike hesy, i hes espy, ill be the best senator you ever had. Secretary, real quick, you last ran for Elective Office i guess the late 80s, early 90s . 1992 was my last term. Whats the biggest difference from running then until running now . Technology, technology for sure. In 1986, you can ask anyone, we had the best organized campaign in mississippi up to that point. And it was mainly boots on the ground. We organized the precincts and the zones because mississippi is a very rural state. We dont have a lot of urban centers like atlanta and they have in florida. We have rural zones. You have to recruit people other people know. So we had folks on our election payroll for almost a year ahead of time getting to know the folks in their neighborhoods and the polls, getting to know them, getting them to get out to vote in november and there was a district that was not majority black, and i want to remind everyone, go back and look, in 1986 in the Second District of mississippi, the poorest district in mississippi, the poorest state, it was about a 53 gross black population, so slight majority population but when you have to discount for voting age population and registration, it was about 45 , 46 africanamericans and i won 80 black, 20 white. I beat the governors stepson, nephews ko nephews cousin. And then as things progressed and people believed i would serve everyone when i ran in 1992, i got 90 of the black vote and 40 of the white vote. It wasnt because i wore great suits or my personality was sterling, its because i served everyone equally. Thats what i will do this time. So the difference between 1986 and 2018 is just a worlds difference in technology. We didnt even have internet then. So now comments that someone made about public gangs has went viral in a nanosecond. We were able to utilize that Technology Last night into today. Millennials are getting peertopeer texting on their digital devices so we dont have to do a lot of handtohand electioneering like we did then. Were still doing it but were employing technology. I think we have the best run campaign in 2018 that certainly any democrat has run in this state. I know that. And excuse my voice, guys, im just hoarse. Playing off what you says about previous elections, how optimistic are you you will get enough of white vote in a statewide election to win this run . If only africanamericans come out to vote for me and even if they come out in record numbers, i wont win. I have known that all the time. I have known that throughout my career. So we have to have a good number of crossovers and we see that. We see theyre not polling. I see that when i talk to them, and i dont talk to them as white voters. I talk to them as missippians. Mississippi young people who want to reduce their debt coming out of college. Mississippi young people who want to go and stay in this state and not go to atlanta and dallas to get a good job. Mississippi teachers who are white, who want a better pay for their Public School teaching occupations. You know, farmers, we were endorsed by a very large farmer of the mississippi delta, and he compared me to east land stanlis, and i was very humbled by that. I remember his father, who i knew a little better than the son, and i think it was 2004, 05 there was a big ice storm and it destroyed all of their pecan orchards. And i was secretary of agriculture, i was able to come, go to that farm and bring relief to the pecan farmers all over mississippi. There was a need and as secretary of agriculture, i could bring that need to him, and he remembered that. So, you know, white farmers and black farmers also are struggling under President Trumps tariffs. They do not want these tariffs being imposed on the chinese. They do not want that. They want open trade and open borders. All of my life, i have been a free trader. I negotiated, personally negotiated the nafta treaty. President clinton gave me the ability to negotiate them alone not alone, but with a interpreter and economist. All around the world, we did that. So when they say im liberal in that sense, i am. I believe in liberal economic boarders. I believe in opening trade to everybody and america can be based on technology, our prowess, our intellect, and i just think that farmer in lineham, mississippi, understood that and encouraged all farmers and white farmers to vote with me. So in answering your question, i was the secretary for everyone and congressman of everyone, i will be the senator of everyone. Next question i will take all of your questions. Dont worry. Im sorry, i didnt hear you. With the news at the State Capitol, is that you have been listening to mike espy, democratic candidate for senate. Today, of course, election day in mississippi. Espy is fighting to become the first africanamerican senator from mississippi since reconstruction. Hes talking with reporters right after voting, presumably casting a ballot for mihmsehimst state. Up against cindy hydesmith. I want to bring in the mayor of jackson. I appreciate you joining us on the show. Thank you for having me. Its a pleasure to be here with you. Just to note, theres a little bit of a delay between us. We will power through that, mayor. Let me start with the question that mike espy was just getting around to answer about when we dipped out of there, about the nooses found hanging at the State Capitol in your city. Signs left at the scene indicate whoever did this felt like they were calling attention to mississippis Racial Injustice with a sign that said on tuesday, thousands of missippians will vote for a senator. We need someone who respects the i loves of lynch victims. Do you believe that was the right way to send that message . I would definitely say that is a shocking way of sending that message, maybe not one that i would choose. But any time we see the rhetoric that has been created in this campaign, then it avails itself to that type of response. We see a rise of bigotry, a rise of negative comments throughout the nation and we have to strike a cord that we no longer want that and we want a unifying message. President trump delivered his own message. As you know, he was in your state and in a couple of cities actually to campaign for cindy hydesmith, the republican mike espy is essentially fighting to beat tonight. Heres what the president had to say. I will play it for you. First of all, there was an apology made, and i heard that loud and clear. Second of all, it was really something that was said and a little flippant. I know where her heart is. Her heart is good. The president , of course, defending hydesmiths racially divisive comments related to a public hanging. The picture, of course, at the confederate museum. Do you believe President Trumps appearance in mississippi is going to be enough to put hydesmith over the edge. I hope not. I hope that people actually listen to both candidates on the issues, and i believe once you look at this Campaign Based on the issues and the proposed policies of the candidates, then mike espy is the candidate of my choice, and i think that he can prevail. And the president s comments to suggest that there was an apology made, i would suggest it was too little too late, given the opportunity to acknowledge the insensitivity of those remarks, she failed to acknowledge that on several occasions prior to their debate. Im certain that prior to the debate she was prepped that she needed to show some level of contrition but that was a repulsive statement. To say it was an exaggerated phrase utilized does not meet the smell test, in a state that has the greatest history of lynchings in the nation, it does not seem like an exaggerated statement. Mayor, quickly before i let you go, what are the chances you think mike espy pulls out a win tonight . If we get people out to the polls, if people truly have heard his message, then i think hes certainly viable to win this election. I encourage everyone to get to the polls. We have an unusually cold day in mississippi, so i dont want anyone to be distracted by that. We need people to get to the polls, cast your vote and move towards progress. Jackson mayor out there campaigning today for democratic candidate mike espy. Mayor, thank you very much. Let me bring in republican strategist and longtime mississippi operative henne barber. Henry, thank you for coming on the show. I appreciate you being here on this big election day in a state you know quite well. Let me pick up where the mayor of jackson left off, talking about the apology to cindy hydesmith, the apology President Trump recognized in your state overnight. Does hydesmith need to do more . She so far refused to clarify what shes apologizing about or what shes sorry for. Is that enough to you . Look, were the party of lincoln, the Republican Party. Thats a great history. And we have a troubled history in mississippi, and everybodys familiar with that. And my view is it was a bad statement. I dont doubt she had no ill intent in her statement but she should have apologized immediately and she should have apologized certainly more strongly, in my opinion. That go ahead. Go ahead, hallie. I was going to ask do you think those comments could end up costing her her seat . Well, it has it certainly energized africanamerican voters in mississippi, and i think its not been helpful. But i think at the end of the day, theres a clear choice in this raise for voters who want somebody whos going to vote with nancy pelosi and the democrats, they have mike espy at their best choice. If people want to have somebody that is going to he vote with donald trump, they have cindy hydesmith on their choice. I think theres a clear choice and i think there are policy differences. I will say this, i think both of these are good people. I dont have a doubt that both of them would be people of good will to try to work with whites and blacks if theyre elected. I dont have any doubt about that for mike espy, and i dont have any doubt about that for cindy hydesmith. Let me ask you before i let you go, henry, why do you think there are those inside the Republican Party, inside the gop, who seem to have had a difficult time calling out hydesmiths comments as racist . Well, i dont think she intended them as racist. I thinker her intent, and what you heard the governor talk about, her heart, i know cindy hydesmith, i dont think she had ill intent. I just dont think she cleaned it up. She should have cleaned it up immediately. That was not helpful to her interest or states interest but at the end of the day people ariare looking at the issues whether its kavanaugh or corsis or abortion or taxes, and i think thats why at the end of the day, she will win, policy differences. Henry barbour, thank you for coming on the show. Eugenes been writing a lot about this. Youve been talking a lot about this race and reporting a lot on it. What is your sense . I spoke with voters in mississippi last week, and not only do they believe her intent was ill, theyre concerned if she did not know what she was saying about Voter Suppression, about the nooses was problematic, theres real concern she could actually represent this state. They have the largest percentage of black people in the United States. Theres real concern about many people in mississippi about being at the top of all of the bad lists and they want to see someone who could deliver them results they see happening in places like georgia and florida as they become more developed. But right now they dont have a lot of confidence hydesmith can do that. Eugene, thank you very much. Betsy, stick around. Much more coming up including other news of the day whether troops might be ordered to defend the southern border and ordered to stay longer. 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Every road in the world is now an information superhighway. phone ringing and the car has become an accessory to the smartphone. Ride hailing, car sharing, carpooling. Mobility services are proliferating. And theres a new generation who dont seem to want to own cars in the first place. It all means massive disruption to the car industry, cities, businesses and investors. Im Martyn Briggs for bank of America Merrill lynch. This morning in tijuana, more than 5,000 centralamerican my grants are asking themselves, whats next . Do they try to apply for asylum . Do they try to cross into the u. S. Illegally, or do they stay in mexico . The border is open today although the president s threat to close it still stands. Troops are in texas, california, and they mischaractered what happened over the weekend when the Border Office misfired claiming they rushed the border fence. Heres what donald trump said why is a parent running up into an area where they know tear gas is forming and its going to be formed and theyre running up with a child . In some cases, you know, theyre not the parents. These are people, they call them grabbers. The president didnt offer evidence for that claim. He also contradicted his own Border Patrol when he said some agents were hurt very badly. Cdp said that was not the case. Gatti, its been several days since this went down sunday. Whats your perspective from what happened on the ground, what everyone thinks happened and what happened. Where do you stand . Here in tijuana theres a small group of men that gathered near the border and they threw rocks and bricks over to the United States side. We know cdp returned basically with the gas that was used, the pepper spray and the gas. And i think basically what happened was there were injures on this side of the border and officers hit on the United States side, four cpb officers but were told they were not hurt because they were wearing protective gear. Were told there were several people hospitalized. This sent a shockwave throughout this Migrant Caravan camp. This is one growing. This is the outskirts. You can see theres an overflow area where people are just basically sleeping on the streets. Hallie, a lot of this has to do with quite a bit of confusion, and the makeup of this caravan is a little bit different than what we have seen in the past. I want to show you video we saw yesterday that shows you the composition. This caravan consists of mostly single men. We have about 3,600 men here at the shelter, where as theres about 1,000 women and 1,000 children. So many of these men and women and children seem to be under the misconception that its relatively easy to get into the United States. Many of them are not familiar with the asylum process. Many have told us theyre here just looking for work permits or the ability to come into the United States. You may wonder how they could think that, and the reality is here in mexico, its relatively easy for them to come in to find jobs, to be accepted, to get humid visas. In fact, it takes about seven days for them to get a humanitarian visa here in mexico and be allowed to work. A lot were under the conception you can do that in the United States. And after what happened on sunday, they are not shaken. Many of them are starting to inquire about selfdeporting. We know about 60 people turned themselves in yesterday, trying to get back to their countries. So a lot of frustration here and a lot of confusion. Hallie . That was my question, gadi, if you have seen people now given what happened sunday start to basically turn around and go back to their homes . Yes, and thats very difficult, because many of these people got everything they could and they walked over 2,000 miles to get here and theyre literally up against a fence. But the ones that weve been speaking to say they were told and they believed when they left from honduras and some of these other countries that it was going to be much easier to get in the United States than after what happened on sunday, many are facing that reality, that the process for getting into the United States is a lot more complicated than they originally believed. Hallie . Gadi schwartz there on the border. Gadi, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Let me bring in raul reyes, attorney and contributor to msnbc. Com. Thank you for being with us. To touch on a broader point gadi is making, what happens to some of these people, women and children, looking for better lives . The ap spoke to one woman, cindy martinez, who came from el salvador who wants to get into the United States. She said, i see it as impossible for them, the u. S. , to give asylum. Because of the word President Donald Trump said, i think this is impossible. How do you see what happens happening over these last 72 hours along the border changing what happens over the next year, five years, decades perhaps . Im not so sure what we are seeing happen in the last 72 hours will change anything in the status quo today or even Going Forward and that has to do with the Immigration Law both in the u. S. And mexico. First of all, all of these people amassing on the southern border, we have 45,000 now, the u. S. Is only processing between 60 and 100 a day. So theyre not going away. Whats interesting, i want to let the audience know is for example they dont want to go home to Central America because of the threat of violence and forced gang conscription and all sorts of dangers there. But they cannot most of them cannot remain in mexico either. Under mexican law, you can apply for asylum but it must be done within 30 days. Because these people started out in Central America and for most of them the journey took weeks, they have probably passed that deadline so its too late for them to try to get us to seek asylum in mexico. Aside from the fact mexico is a very dangerous nation. Last year mexico had Something Like 27,000 killings and this year theyre on track to exceed that. Many of the gangs that are very active in Central America are transnational, meaning they operate in mexico too. Mexico is not a safe option for the great majority of these migrants. I think what the Trump Administration is going to have to figure out is some type of compassionate, and by necessity, complex solution in terms of what to do with these people. Again, who do have the right not only to aploy for asylum in the United States but to remain in a safe place while the claims are heard. Raul reyes, thank you for coming on and talking to us. I appreciate it. Back in a minute with breaking news out of afghanistan, where this morning we learned multiple americans were killed in the line of duty. Discover. I like your card, but im absolutely not paying an annual fee. Discover has no annual fees. Really . Yeah. We just dont believe in them. Oh nice. You would not believe how long ive been rehearsing that. No annual fee on any card. Only from discover. Gimme two minutes. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza. Is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 percent. Medicare will pay for. Whats left. This slice here. Well. You have to pay for that. And thats where an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company comes in. This type of plan helps pay some of what medicare doesnt. And these are the only plans to carry the aarp endorsement. Thats because they meet their high standards of quality and service. 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It allows you to choose any doctor, who accepts medicare patients. And these are the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Whew call or go online and find out more. But he has plans today. Ain. Hey dad. So he took aleve. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve. All day strong. We are back with some breaking news out of afghanistan. The pentagon says three u. S. Service members were killed this morning, another three were hurt by an improvised explosive device, an ied near gauzy city. Courtney is joining me now from the pentagon. What do we know, if anything more, about what happened . As you said, hallie, their vehicle hit an ied, which is a roadside bomb, near ghazni city. You may remember in august there was a lot of attention on ghazni city and larger province of ghazni southwest of kabul when the taliban overran a large part of the city and parts of the province. There were at least 100 people killed. We never really got a lot of fidelity on how many people were killed in that fourday siege but it has remained a very difficult and volatile area ever since then. So we know these three u. S. Service members were killed, three injured and one American Contractor was also injured. The three who were wounded are now receiving medical treatment. This comes, you know, in a very difficult and deadly month for americans in afghanistan. There was the u. S. Army ranger who was killed over the weekend in what now looks to be a case of an active Service Member likely accidently shooting him. That was sergeant jsio. And we had major taylor killed inside a month in a major attack, mayor back in utah in the United States who was there on his hard duty, hallie. Our viewers may not know, you were just in afghanistan i think a couple of weeks ago, within the last month. Can you give us a sense of what you saw on the ground, what your sense was of what was happening there . Here we are years and years into this and were still talking about u. S. Troops dyeing and being killed over there. Thats right. I think people forget. Afghanistan is not in the daily headlines, its not even in the weekly headlines here in the United States. People forget theres still 14,000plus americans there who are serving there. And theyre not only still the taliban presents a threat, isis province known as isis k is a deadly and dangerous group there. Many of the highrow file attacks we hear about in afghanistan are actually carried out by isis there. We have americans assigned to u. S. Forces in afghanistan to support the missions going after terrorists. They are largely in an advising role but even the advising role has become more aggressive. When i was there a few weeks ago i interviewed general miller, who is the commander there now, general scott miller, and he talked about how when he got in there he realized there needed to be a more aggressive Mission Going after the taliban because they have continued to be a very deadly force. People forget back here, hallie, because theres so much going on domestically but the u. S. Is still engaged in a war with afghanistan. I appreciate you bringing us that reporting on that story can, thank you. Coming up after the break, were soon off to the races. 2020 races, of course, with no clear democratic frontrunner, not surprisingly. But we have new signals this morning that beto, bernie and bloomberg could be setting the stage to give President Trump a run for his money. Thats next. Of helping people. Were in the business of helping you. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. The meeting of the executive finance committee is now in session. And. Adjourned. Business loans for eligible card members up to fifty thousand dollars, decided in as little as 60 seconds. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. But one blows them all out of the water. Hydro boost from neutrogena®. With hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. Neutrogena® can you say definitively that no matter what happens tomorrow, you will not be a candidate for president in 2020 . I will not be a candidate for president in 2020. Thanks. I think thats as definitive as those sentences get. I mean, that was a simple sentence. Seemed pretty clear. That was just three weeks ago. Congressman beto orourke saying no, hes not going to be a candidate for president in 2020. Flash forward to today. He lost that senate race to ted cruz. Now when he was asked about a 2020 run, the Texas Democrat told reporters quote, we are thinking through a number of things. A decidedly different sentence than the one he told garrett haake. Eugene and betsy are back as well. Theres a lot of like when you look at the twitter, who cares, he changed his mind. So what, people are allowed to change their mind. This could have consequences for whap what happens in 2020, right . Absolutely. There are a lot of democratic operatives and donors who are waiting to see what, if anything, beto orourke decides to do with his future before they decide who they might support as a challenger in 2020. Orourke does potentially bring a lot to the table if he does decide to run, most notably perhaps is his ability to raise stacks and stacks of money. Remember, he raised more money than any other Senate Candidate in history running in texas as a national figure. Again, he potentially would be able to do the same thing. Folks i talked to around texas politics look at his options and say two things that he could potentially do next, if he wants to stay in politics. He could challenge john cornyn, the Number Two Senate republican also from texas up in 2020, or he could run for president , and orourke has said often that a lot of this is about his family. He wants to be around his wife and three younger kids f. You. E if youre going to run again, why not run for the big job, not the smaller job. Thats certainly what john cornyn has been saying as well, probably would not run against someone named beto himself. Definitely a softening by the democrat. We have to consider him a possibility until we hear more. Is he running around the hill today . Hes on capitol hill, right . Reporter if hes back, i havent seen him yet. The house comes into session at noon today. Its possible well be able to track him down. All right, good luck. Garrett haake over on the hill. Thank you much. Its not just beto orourke, right . Youve had a series of democrats, this is now the time when democratic campaigns are looking at, you know, campaigns to be we should say, are looking at hiring people, thinking about when they might make an announcement, et cetera, including several high profile democrats who just in the last 48 hours were talking about this. Watch. Right now, i am just still thinking about this, talking to people. Look, i would not be honest with you if i didnt say that im thinking of running. Were seriously thinking about it. Were seriously talking about it with family and friends and political allies who have come to me about this. Add to that cory booker saying i will consider running for president. He said in new jersey, and by the way, Mike Bloomberg heading to iowa, just going to iowa to hang out as we hikely consideli a run for president as well. What billionaire doesnt like a vacation in iowa in november . I love iowa. That is not to disparage the beauty of that state. Totally normal vacation spot. Betos switch a radroo on this c is a good reminder why this is always called silly season. I remember in 2014 when everyone was writing pieces about whether Chris Christie or rand paul was going to be the 2016 president ial nominee. This stuff is interesting. Its fun getting a sense of the different parties within the Democratic Party how these different candidates are talking about issues as theyre test driving some of the messages theyre potentially putting out there. I thought senator Sherrod Browns interview on meets press was interesting, hes focusing on workers, people who have hourly jobs, people who dont tend to get as much attention from the east coast elitist cohort. You talk about republicans. Its not just democrats looking in 2020. Theres some of these never trumpers, john kasich, jeff flake whose names have been in the mix. And they havent done too much to say take my name out of the mix. Watch. Very seriously im considering it, george. Look, we need different leadership. There isnt any question about it. Ive said all along somebody needs to run on the republican side, if nothing else to remind republicans what it means to be conservative. It seems like the only republicans who believe that the Republican Party needs different leadership are republicans who dont support trump. The majority of republicans support trump and at levels higher than any other president weve seen in the past, and so to think that these individuals could take these voters away from trump isnt based on what were seeing in the polls. Well leave it there for now. We want to end the show as we always do with more on what your sources are saying about a variety of stories. Eugene, what are you working on . I was actually in florida yesterday talking to a lot of people about the governors race postgillum. Theres real concern about Voter Suppression in rural areas of the state that may have happened in this past election, and theyre looking into maybe launching some investigations to see what could be done to prevent that from happening. And betsy youre looking at something with i. C. E. We obtained a copy of an independent autopsy yesterday that was conducted on a trans woman named Roxanna Hernandez who died after trying to migrate to the United States. The autopsy whose results i dispute, indicates that hernandez was beaten before she died in i. C. E. Custody. Of course the agency itself says thats not correct, but it highlights the extent to which theres growing concern about the way that migrants who come to the United States are treated after their detention. Betsy woodruff, important reporting, thank you. Eugene thank you for joining us. Always a pleasure to have you both. More to come this week, too. We want to end with todays big picture. You might have noticed here on msnbc all day long, we are celebrating giving tuesday. Each of us here on msnbc has picked an organization, an outlet we think is really important. Mine is one thats called first book. This is former First Lady Michelle Obama teaming up with first book leading story time with a group of l. A. Students. This is a nonprofit that helps kids all across the country get access to books. The point is to try to transform their lives, figure out how to help them escape. So far since 1992, theyve distributed more than 175 million books and other resources to kids in need for more than 30 countries. As a kid who loved using books to escape, i can say that promoting childhood literacy is an awesome effort, hashtag giving tuesday. The photographer here willie san juan for envision and ap. For more ways to highlight what you have done, head to givingtuesday. Msnbc. Com. And check out my twitter. Ive posted my top five giving tuesday nonprofits including the National Park foundation, including give well and locally here the Capitol Food Bank as well. Its a cool day and a good ca e cause. Craig melvin, i know you dont disagree with that. I agree with all of that. We spent all of that money on black friday and cyber monday. Lets do some good on this tuesday. More on that a little later. Craig melvin msnbc headquarters, and new york city, weve got breaking news. Secret talks, a report from the guardian. Sources telling them that Paul Manafort met with Julian Assange. This follows the bomb shell news that the special counsel says manafort lied repeatedly. All about turnout. Voters in Mississippi Head to the polls today in the Senate Special election there. The president betting his star power will push the republican candidate over the finish line. Democrats hoping theyve mobilized enough voters. 2020 vision, democrat beto orour orourke, the breakout star of the party changing his tune and says he is no longer ruling out a run for the white house. What that could portend for the field of democrats eyeing the white house. Well dig into that a little bit later. We start with that