Transcripts For MSNBCW MSNBC Live With Velshi And Ruhle 20180829

That title in florida. Heres what he just said about gillum on fox news. How do you plan to beat him . Well, look, florida elections are always competitive. This is a guy who although hes much too liberal for florida, i think hes got huge problems with how hes governed tallahassee. He is an articulate spokesman for those far left views and hes a charismatic candidate. I watched those democrat debates. None of that was my cup of tea, but i mean he performed better than the other people there, so weve got to work hard to make sure that we continue florida going in a good direction. Lets build off the success that weve had with governor scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work, thats not going to be good for florida, so im going to fight for what i believe in because i think im the guy who can really lead florida in a good direction. Did you hear that . Lets be clear. That was a white republican nominee for governor using the word monkey when talking about his black opponent for office, monkey it up. Lets listen one more time. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda. Okay. A spokesperson for de santis tells nbc news that his comment, quote, had nothing to do with race or anything like that and its something that he says frequently to express something that was messed up or not done right. Lets talk this through. Joining me now is nbc news political reporter ali vitali who lives in orlando. Also michael hopkins, and sirius xm host mark thompson. Welcome to all of you. Ali, there are lots of issues. Were trying to figure out what the driving force was that took Andrew Gillum from behind to the front. I talked to him several weeks ago when he was talking about his platform, which was very progressive and possibly very appealing to people. There were gun antigun lobbyists or groups that were interested in his message. He had young voters. He had the support of bernie sanders. He had the support of tom steyer. He had the support of george soros. The fact is it is a big deal that an africanamerican nominee for governor is now going to be on the ticket in november. Has there been any reaction so far to de santis inelegant at best monkey comments . Yeah, exactly. And the campaign did give me that response, this is something that he says, quote, frequently and that this had nothing to do with race. But the democratic side is saying that this is from the Florida Democratic Party Chairman says its disgusting that ron de santis is launching his general Election Campaign with racist dog whistles. I asked one of the spokespeople on the gillum campaign, what do you think about the de santis campaign is saying this and they said bless his heart. This feels like what weve seen with the Trump Campaign over and over again. I say campaign in the broader sense that its usually when the president is out on the campaign trail and in my experience in covering the campaign that there have been dog whistles like this before and the media does what were doing. We break it down and then the candidate comes back and says the media is making all the hay about this. The de santis campaign seems to be saying the same thing. I said what do you think about people who will see this as a racial dog whistle. They said, well, people are going to make hay of it regardless but thats not what he was talking about. Already were seeing some of the tendencies that weve already seen coming out of pennsylvania avenue happening down here in florida and its just going to be another point added in the race as we kind of keep Going Forward seeing how these candidates start shaping the general election, ali. Michael, you work with Andrew Gillum. We spoke with Andrew Gillum several weeks ago. Have you spoken to him about these comments yet . I havent. But what i can say is ive spoken with Florida Democrats all across the state. That wasnt just a dog whistle, that was a bull horn. That was a blatantly racist comment. If de santis wants to say that he uses that kind of language all the time, he should stop talking. What hes doing is not just denigrating the state, but denigrating the voters who are going out and trying to be good americans and work hard and dont want that racist language used in campaigns across the state. Mark, what did you hear when you heard those comments . I want to be i want to give desantis the benefit of the doubt thinking he uses this term in nonracist ways otherwise. Is there any possibility of that . No, theres no possibility of that whatsoever. Youve never heard the term . No. Ive never heard anybody say that. Ive heard people say it in nonracist terms. In the environment in which i live as an africanamerican, thats not something thats normally said. I dont know i dont know anybody who says that frankly. Maybe im divorced from that. But look, its not a dog whistle. When you say monkey in reference to an africanamerican, he might as just as well said the nword. Donald trump needs to condemn this. Desantis needs to immediately apologize or drop out of the race. This is absolutely racist. If he gets away with it this time, hes going to continue to do it. They did it to do obamas, referring to them as primates and now hes going to do it to Andrew Gillum. The thing of it is, and this is really unfortunate, because history was made yesterday. Yesterday is a sacred day in africanamerican history. August 28, 1955, emmitt till. 1963 the great war on washington. 2008, barack obama, the first africanamerican to accept the nomination for president. Just yesterday, august 28th, the queen of soul lay in state. And finally for the first time in history, Andrew Gillum august 28th, 2018, is nominated to be the governor of the state of florida. A great source of pride. He wasnt expected to win. So to come out less than 24 hours later and use the term monkey in reference to an africanamerican, im not fooled by this at all. I know exactly what desantis meant and every africanamerican does in florida and im sure many white voters know that. He ought to be condemned by the president and ought to apologize and maybe even step out of the race. Michael, you said if thats what he said, if he says it all the time, he should stop saying it. Do you accept the fact that he may not have meant this in a racist way . No, absolutely not. He knew where he was when he said it. He knew the audience he was talking to. Just to build on the previous guests point, i was at the Victory Party last night for shawn shaw, the first black attorney general nominee for the Democratic Party in floridas history. One of the things that i heard people talk about is how quickly this race was going to turn racial because of donald trump and because of his rhetoric. Its not even 12 hours after the race was called that now were hearing racist language being echoed by desantis. Were seeing trump attack gillum on twitter. This is just beneath the american spirit. This is not what were about. Im sick and tired of it honestly. Im sick and tired of people using racist language and gas lighting us and telling us its not racist. Its racist and he needs to be held accountable for it. Ali, President Trump has slammed gil up on twitter, calling him a failed socialist mayor whos allowed crime and many other problems to flourish in his city. Crime in gillums district is down by 15 . As i said, weve talked to him. Hes got progressive views. Im not quite sure the danger with progressive candidates is always that somebody calls them socialists. But the fact is florida is a state that is a swing state. Desantis best chance was going to be to appeal to a lot of moderates. If he is going to this place in which his appeal is going to be to people who may have racist tendencies and may be fearful of a black candidate as governor, it does endanger him from getting those moderate candidates who dont really want to be associated with a racist. I think thats certainly true, but i guess i want to break down the general state of this race right now is that on both sides you have the candidate who was the furthest towards their political pole. So you have ron desantis who is more of the diehard trump base thats coming out here in florida. On the other side of things, you do have Andrew Gillum. When he won the nomination, he ran to the left of a very crowded field here in florida, so he is someone who certainly both will have to work to win moderates. Comments like this definitely make it harder, but both of them are coming from a place where they have to work their way back in towards the middle, ali. Michael, what do you think happens next . Mark is talking about desantis getting out of the race or apologizing and donald trump commenting on it. I think ive got as good a chance of that as growing hair. What do you think is actually likely to happen . I think theres going to be silence on the side of republicans and thats going to be an indictment. Were going to have to wait and see what desantis does, what the president does, what the party does. This is just disgusting. Somebody has got to get held accountable for it. We cannot continue. Kids are watching. Theyre taking their cues from our public leaders. What are we teaching . What are we teaching them about who we are, how we treat each other . Because this isnt it. Mark, what do you think . I hear what youre saying you think should happen, but given the likely environment, what do you think will happen . And what do you think people who find this offensive should do . They should vote for Andrew Gillum. They should mobilize, they should call out desantis wherever they are. If theyre at the water cooler at work, if theyre in the pew in church, they should decry this and say how despicable it is. With all due respect, i would not say that Andrew Gillum is running so far to the left. His platform has been about education i think hes more progressive. Well, hes progressive. But how progressive or how left is it to want young africanamerican men, whom im sure desantis would also call monkeys not to be killed under the stand your ground legislation. He was able to get the other Democratic Candidates to sign on to wanting to withdraw that legislation. We just had another recent killing, marcus mcglockton under that stand your ground foolishness. So i dont think its radical at all. I think its radical for that law to stand. Its as radical as desantis using the term monkey. Its radical for these young mens lives to be at risk on the for there to be a double standard. I hear you, but your criticism is that they are calling him left and socialist. Thats not what were saying. We are saying this guy has what in america is described as progressive views and as im sure many times, im from canada, these things are not thought of as progressive views to Want Health Care for everybody, things that Andrew Gillum wants. But i dont think i think were going to get old waiting for the Trump Campaign to talk about this. Well, i think its inevitable now hes going to lose. If he doesnt apologize for this and he doubles down, if he repeats it, this might just help andrew win because i find it hard to believe that the majority of the voters in florida in 2018, and there was great turnout, a million and a half democrats, 1. 6 million republicans, thats a lot of turnout. I find it hard to believe that the majority of those voters are going to abide desantis saying Something Like that and continuing to be a viable candidate. Mark, thank you for your time. Michael, thank you for your time. Michael hopkins is a consultant for Andrew Gillum. Mark thompson is a sirius xm host and ali vitali is a reporter covering this race. President trump is taking credit for something he didnt actually do. Why evangelicals are sticking by trump anyway. First, President Trump tweeting this morning about Anonymous Sources. He says, quote, the fact is that many Anonymous Sources dont even exist, theyre fiction made up by the fake news reporters, enemy of the people. When you see anonymous source, stop reading the story. Its fiction. Just a reminder, President Trump has cited Anonymous Sources himself and even posed as one on many occasions. Heres one tape from a 1991 interview between People Magazine and a man who tells the reporter his name is john miller. He can speak to her off the record about how many women are after trump, including madonna. I dont think we ever reported about madonna. She called and wanted to go out with him, i can tell you. One of the other people that youre writing about by the way, im sort of new here. What is your position here . Im handling pr because he gets so much of it. Dear foremothers, your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 2 times more geographic detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com than psoriatic arthritis. As you and your rheumatologist consider treatments, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a once daily pill for psoriatic arthritis. Taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain. Swelling and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts and higher liver tests, and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. Dont let another morning go this is moving day with the best inhome wifi experience and millions of wifi hotspots to help you stay connected. And this is moving day with Reliable Service appointments in a twohour window so youre up and running in no time. Show me decorating shows. This is staying connected with xfinity to make moving. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Stay connected while you move with the best wifi experience and twohour appointment windows. Click, call or visit a store today. President trump is claiming victory for something he didnt exactly accomplish. An audio excerpts from a closed door dinner with evangelical leaders thats been reviewed by nbc news, the president is heard claiming he got, quote, rid of the Johnson Amendment, long revialed by religious leaders. The comments came after the press had left mondays dinner. Hes referring to an executive order he signed directing the treasury not to, quote, take any adverse action against religious organizations for speaking about a candidate or cause, something they werent prohibited from in the first place. Theres a clause typically included in these types of executive orders which says this order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law. In this case, consistent with the Johnson Amendment. According to constitutional law professors, the order does almost nothing. Lets take a look at the Johnson Amendment and how the president didnt really get rid of it. Lets turn the clock back to before 1954. Back then nonprofits and churches could support or oppose candidates as they saw fit using their taxexempt status to supplement a candidate or partys electoral push. In 1954, then texas senator Lyndon Johnson was facing a blistering campaign with several nonprofits supporting his opponent. As a response, johnson wrote a provision into that years tax code saying all section 501 c 3 organizations are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in or intervening in any Political Campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for elective public office. Effectively banning taxexempt groups from jumping into the political arena to endorse candidates, but not restricting their right to free speech. Churches were swept up into this ban despite not being involved in that particular fight with johnson. But the times also reports the provision was so noncontroversial that it was passed by a Republican Congress and signed into law by republican president dwight eisenhower. This law is rarely enforced. According to proreligious Group Alliance defending freedom more than 2,000 mainly evangelical christian leaders have made intentional violations in protest over the past ten years. Only one has been audited by the irs and zero have lost their taxexempt status. If the president did want to overturn the amendment hed have to go through Congress Since they are the only body that can actually make or repeal laws. Joining me now is nbc news Investigative Reporter ken dilanian. Ken, i think this is a really interesting intellectual question, but theres actually something more about this, and that is a warning that the president at the same time gave to some of those evangelical leaders about what would happen if republicans lost the midterm elections. Thats right, ali. He suggested there would be violence on the part of leftwing activists like antifa. Really what he was communicating to these ardent supporters is that everything they hold dear is at risk if the republicans lose this midterm election. I mean he talked about abortion rights, he talked about the first amendment, he even repeated his claim that we are now allowed to say Merry Christmas to one another because donald trump is president and that would be at risk if they lost the election. It was really sort of a red meat pitch to these evangelical leaders who applauded and cheered throughout and seemed to have no problem with Donald Trumps personal foibles as long as he is on the same way with them in a policy direction. Ken, this does feel like a turning point, right . This feels like we are living in a global competition of culture and that people weaponize that culture for political purposes and that results in people getting into groupings and voting certain ways. But when you start speaking about the threat of violence, President Trump did this a couple of times during his campaign, but when you Start Talking about this, i think it goes down a road that could be very dangerous. I agree. Look, theres a long history, unfortunately, in our politics of using this kind of ideological appeal. We remember that Richard Nixon famously campaigned on a law and order platform when people were very troubled by the sometimes violent demonstrations of the 1960s. And President Trump has gone to this well a number of times. Hes also repeatedly trafficking in untruths by saying that he repealed the Johnson Amendment. Fact checkers have found that he has uttered more than 4,000 false or misleading claims. Why does that not hurt him . Because if i make a mistake, i get emails, texts, social media about things that wasnt correct. I think thats viewers trying to be helpful, but it makes me feel badly when i make a mistake like that. It just seems that it doesnt cost donald trump to lie generally, and it really doesnt cost him to lie to the evangelical community. I think part of the reason is that people dont believe these fact checkers. Theres a Certain Group of americans that dont believe what they see on our network and other places so they dont think donald trump is lying. And then theres also a kind of a grading him on a curve. You know, that as long as he is appointing the right Supreme Court nominees and he is with them on abortion rights and on things like this Johnson Amendment thing, they are fine with they are willing to let him slide on some of these other matters. Ken, thanks very much for your reporting on these. Coming up, we have breaking news. Donald trump confirmed this morning that white house counsel, don mcgahn, will leave the white house this fall. What that could mean for the president and the mueller investigation. This comes as trumps former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, makes a lastditch effort to move his second criminal trial and hes blaming the president for that. First, time for our monumental american. Julius chambers was an africanamerican civil rights lawyer who argued several precedentsetting cases. In 1964 he founded a law firm in charlotte that became the first integrated law firm in north carolina. He took on dozens of desegregated desegregation and discrimination cases and won a case before the Supreme Court that led to the use of buses to integrate schools. Later chambers also served adds directorcounsel of the Naacp Legal Defense Fund and was the founding executive director of the unc center for civil rights. Chambers work wasnt always welcome, by the way. His home, car and office were firebombed during his career, but he never stopped fighting. He passed away at the age of 76 in 2013. If youve got a monumental american, please tweet us velshiruhle. E. Booking a flight at the last minute e. Doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. You may be learning about, medicare and supplemental insurance. Medicare is great, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medicare costs. A Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan may help cover some of the rest. Learn how an aarp Medicare Supplement Insurance Plan, insured by Unitedhealthcare Insurance Company might be the right choice for you. A free decision guide is a great place to start. Call today to request yours. So what makes an aarp Medicare Supplement plan unique . These are the only Medicare Supplement plans endorsed by aarp because they meet aarps high standards of quality and service. Youre also getting the great features that any Medicare Supplement plan provides. You may choose any doctor that accepts medicare patients. You can even visit a specialist. With this type of plan there are no networks or referrals needed. Also, a Medicare Supplement plan. Goes with you when you travel anywhere in the u. S. Call today for a free guide. Its a revolution in sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now, from 899, during sleep numbers biggest sale of the year. It senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. It even helps with this. So you wake up ready to put your pedal to the metal. And now, all beds are on sale. Its the last chance to save 50 on the new sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 36month financing. Ends labor day. Sleep number. Proven, quality sleep. The full value oft wyour new car . Youd be better off throwing your money right into the harbor. Im gonna regret that. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement well replace the full value of your car. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty welcome back. Here are the top stories were watching right now. More than 150 undocumented workers were detained by i. C. E. Officials after a raid at a trailer manufacturer in texas. Federal Authorities Say its part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the company. The company says it will follow the law and cooperate with authorities. A former texas police officer, roy oliver, now faces what could be a life sentence after being found guilty of murder for shooting and killing a 15yearold unarmed black teen named jordan edwards. Oliver opened fire on a carful of teenagers leaving a house party in 2017. Edwards happened to be in the car. A texas firearms entrepreneur announced tuesday hes selling 3d gun blueprints despite a court order that bans the distribution of that data online. Cody wilson argues that the judges order not to distribute blueprints was an authorization to sell them. Amazon stock is up 65 this year and Morgan Stanley just raised its price target to a whopping 2,500 a share. Thats up from where it is now, 1,850. At the new price amazon would have a market valuation of 1. 2 trillion. The body of senator john mccain will lie in state at the Arizona State capitol today. Its the first of four days of services for mccain who passed away on saturday. A Memorial Service will be held in phoenix on thursday and then mccains body will be flown to d. C. Breaking news, the president tweeted last hour that White House Counsel Don Mcgahn will be leaving his position in the fall saying, quote, shortly after the confirmation hopefully of judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court, i have worked with don for a long time and truly appreciate his service. Who will be his successor . Axios is reporting that mcgahn is pulling for emmet flood. Joining me now is msnbc contributor and former assistant special watergate prosecutor, jill winebanks. Jill, good to see you. We have been talking for a few days about mcgahn being on his way out and some have associated that with the idea that donald trump is very seriously considering a pardon for Paul Manafort and that mcgahn is not onboard with that and he has suggested that if mcgahn doesnt get onboard, hes replacing him. What do you make of this announcement . I think its a good thing for mcgahn who has been a voice of reason, so it seems from the outside. He has said no to donald trump and seems to have had some impact, so im sorry to see him going because we need someone in that position who is willing to tell truth to power and to say, no, you cant do that. No, you shouldnt do that. No, its not good politically. No, its illegal. And i hope i dont know emmet flood. I hope that he will have the same courage. I always thought during watergate if john dean had spoken up sooner rather than when he did, maybe we would have avoided the whole watergate scandal. So it just takes a very strong person. Its one of the biggest lessons of watergate. But at the same time the president , we have learned last night, has been talking about firing Jeff Sessions now as late as this month. Thats not a big surprise to us because weve been talking about it for a long time. Hes been tweeting about Jeff Sessions. Strangely, Jeff Sessions seemed to grow a spine last week and talk about how the Justice Department under sessions will not be politicized. It seems like a few republican senators took him out to breakfast a little while ago and said fight on, stick around, dont resign. On the other hand, senators like Lindsey Graham who were saying there would be holy hell to pay if sessions were fired is now saying maybe his time is up and its time for someone else. How significant is the potential departure of sessions in this politicized environment . In a normal environment, it should be a dramatic problem, but im afraid that america has gotten almost inured and numbed to the corruption in the white house. Firing the attorney general, which could easily be viewed as and properly so as obstructing the investigation of the russia interference in our election, will probably just be one more thing that donald trump gets away with. I hope thats not the case. I hope that america will rise in anger if he is fired. I dont think its going to make a difference whether it is before the election or after, although obviously theyre trying to avoid interfering in the midterm elections. But the anger should be the same afterward because if it is interfering in the investigation that is going on in which donald trump is a subject, even if hes not a target, were looking at his people, at his campaign and at his conduct, his relatives conduct and that investigation has to go on and firing Jeff Sessions should not be tolerated. And if he is fired, the next one, whoever is appointed, must agree to not interfere in the investigation, to support mueller and to give him his independence. Thats what was required after the firing of attorney general richardson by nixon. Just last week on fox news the president said that had he known that sessions would recuse himself, he wouldnt have made him the attorney general. He wants loyalty. He said what kind of a man is that . So the point is donald trump simply wont want to appoint someone who doesnt give him some sort of loyalty pledge. But youre saying that if he doesnt, if this person doesnt recuse themselves or doesnt say theyll let the investigation go on, that that prompts some sort of crisis . Im not saying he has to recuse himself. The recusal of Jeff Sessions was absolutely mandatory under department of justice rules. He was involved in the campaign. He was involved in the very conduct that was under investigation. He could not oversee it any more than donald trump can oversee it, despite donalds claim that he can. But even if he doesnt recuse himself does not mean that he has to take away the independence of the special counsel. That has to be permitted. As i say, thats what happened as part of confirming the replacement for elliott richardson. There was a requirement that the investigation continue unimpeded and without any interference from the attorney general. Jill, good to talk to you, thank you very much. Thank you, ali. All right, today marks the 13th anniversary of hurricane katrina, a storm once known as the most devastating the u. S. Has experienced, but now were learning that Hurricane Maria was even more deadly with thousands more americans killed than previously reported. Well be live in puerto rico, a territory some say was abandoned. Youre watching velshi ruhle on msnbc. E on msnbc its so simple, i dont even have to think about it. So i think about mouthfeel. Introducing chase ink business unlimited with unlimited 1. 5 cash back on every purchase. This just in on our top story. The campaign of florida nominee for Governor Ron Desantis just released a statement about his controversial comment involving the democratic nominee, Andrew Gillum. Again, heres the comment that desantis made on fox news. How do you plan to beat him . Well, look, i mean florida elections are always competitive. You know, this is a guy who, although hes much too liberal for florida, i think hes got huge problems with how hes governed tallahassee. You know, he is an articulate spokesman for those far left views and hes a charismatic candidate. I watched those democrat debates and none of that is my cup of tea but he performed better than the other people there. So weve got to work hard to make sure that we continue florida going in a good direction. Lets build off the success weve had on governor scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That is not going to work. Thats not going to be good for florida. So im going to fight for what i believe in because i think im the guy that can really lead florida in a good direction. The controversy there, of course, is that he said the last thing we need to do is monkey this up. His opposition is an africanamerican man. The campaign released ron desantis was talking about florida not making the wrong decision to embrace the socialist policies that Andrew Gillum espouses. To characterize it as anything else is absurd. The last thing we need is a far left democrat trying to stop our success. Gillum is the first africanamerican to be a nominee for governor in florida. All right, 13 years after hurricane katrina, the United States is facing another major challenge. The realities Hurricane Maria left behind in puerto rico. Heres what President Trump just said listen to what he said when he visited san juan in october. If you look at a real catastrophe like katrina and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, and what is your death count as of this moment, 17 . 16, sir. 16 people certified. 16 people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together. 16 versus literally thousands of people. Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of whats taken place in puerto rico. For facts sake, puerto rico was a real catastrophe. The u. S. Government should not be proud of what happened before or after Hurricane Maria. Heres shocking new data from a study commissioned boy puerto rican officials. The report found that Hurricane Maria killed 2,975 americans. Every demographic was affected by this. But the deaths were especially higher in lowincome areas and among the elderly. The new total is more than 46 times the original estimate toll which after it was 16 was raised to 64. So just how powerful was Hurricane Maria . She made landfall as a massive category 4 storm. Maria ripped through the island with maximum sustained winds of 155 Miles Per Hour and it affected nearly 3. 4 million people. The total population of puerto rico, leaving behind 90 billion in reported damage. The third costliest in u. S. History. Overall, Hurricane Maria was the worst storm to hit the u. S. Territory in more than 80 years, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in u. S. History. All right. Joining me now from san juan is nbcs Gabe Gutierrez. Gabe, lets first of all talk about the conditions in puerto rico now. How much improvement have we seen . Reporter hi there, ali. Well, things have improved here in puerto rico quite a bit. Power has finally been restored to the entire island, although the last customer restored was just a few weeks ago. Many people say that took much too long. If you go to san juan, the Tourism Industry is trying to flourish once again. The economy here needs visitors and the government is trying to lure people back here in order to pump up this areas economy again. But, ali, as youre mentioning this new report really seems to confirm what a lot of people here on this island have been telling us for months. Nearly 3,000 people are estimated to have died following Hurricane Maria, making it the deadliest u. S. Natural disaster in more than a century. Think about that, 3,000 people. More than 1,000 than were killed in hurricane katrina. The magnitude of this is overwhelming. We should point out some other things that this report from George Washington University Also pointed out. It blamed puerto rican officials for a Massive Communications breakdown and for not having the proper protocols in place in terms of emergency response. Now, the governor yesterday, he said that the official death toll would be updated because of this report. He said that the buck stops with him and in hindsight things could have been done differently. But the white house still saying it is proud of the federal effort here, saying that more than 12,000 personnel had come to puerto rico. But that statement isnt sitting well with many people here on this island, including san juans mayor, carmen cruz, whos been an outspoken critic of the federal governments response. Watch what she had to say after the white houses statement. Shame on the white house and shame on the president. All he had to say was im sorry that 2,975 of you died. Thats all he had to say. But hes incapable of doing that. Reporter now, we are here in front of puerto ricos main months ago the government brought in refrigerated containers to hold the unclaimed bodies here. Weve been speaking with so many of the people here on the island and also in the u. S. Mainland who said they lost close family members in the weeks and months after the storm. This wasnt a situation where there were so many deaths during the actual storm, structural collapses or drowning during the flooding. This was a slowmoving disaster because power was gone for so long. There was no access to medical care. Thats where many of these deaths happened. As you mentioned, the biggest risk were those lowincome communities and the elderly. So certainly devastating news here in puerto rico, but its something that many people here expected. Gabe, whats the way in which they used a series of months after the event to calculate deaths. Whats the rationale there, that these are people who otherwise, 2,975 people who otherwise wouldnt have died if that hurricane hadnt been there . Reporter right. Thats 2,975 excess deaths. So to put that in perspective, they looked at from september to february, about five, six months or so, you know, around the time of the storm, and remember that Hurricane Irma also grazed puerto rico just before Hurricane Maria. During that time, this study looked at those deaths specifically and it did Something Different than other studies hadnt. It also factored in all the people that had left puerto rico. Tens of thousands of people. So it took that into account and was able to come up with that number. Beforehand you had that harvard study that had a wideranging estimate saying it could have been as many as 8,000 and zeroed in on 4, 600. This was a survey the puerto rican government had been hanging its hat on. It was highly anticipated for many months. They had refused to make that death toll higher. They kept it at 64 for so long and were waiting on this George Washington university report. It was commissioned by the puerto rican government. It cost more than 300,000. Thats why this is so significant. The George Washington university is also asking for more resources to be able to look at these numbers even closer, but the bottom line is the governor of puerto rico yesterday for the first time acknowledged nearly 3,000 people died as a result of this disaster. The deadliest u. S. Natural disaster in more than 100 years, and more than 60 higher than hurricane katrina. Unbelievable, gabe. Look, you were there for a long time and you saw a situation on the ground that looked very different than what both the federal government and a lot of puerto rican officials were describing. I joined you there for a few days and saw the same thing. It was hard to believe at the time that the death toll was what both the puerto rican government and the u. S. Government were saying. This is an interesting and disappointing outcome. Thank you, Gabe Gutierrez for us. Were looking at midterms all over the country, the red wave versus the blue wave. Whos doing better overall . Steve kornacki breaks down results and makes some predictions of his own. First, a federal court ruled north carolinas congressional districts are gerrymandered to unfairly favor republicans and the state might be required to implement new districts before the midterms and that could affect the makeup of the u. S. House. Republicans are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court which traditionally does not approve of these types of actions so close to an election. Youre watching velshi ruhle live on msnbc. Nbc. If your moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis nbc. Or crohns symptoms are holding you back, and your Current Treatment hasnt worked well enough it may be time for a change. Ask your doctor about entyvio®, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohns. Entyvio® works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract, and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. Infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. Entyvio® may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. Pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. Tell your doctor if you have an infection experience frequent infections or have flulike symptoms, or sores. Liver problems can occur with entyvio®. If your uc or crohns treatment isnt working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio®. Entyvio®. Relief and remission within reach. When did you see the sign . When i needed to create a better visitor experience. Improve our workflow. Attract new customers. Thats when fastsigns recommended fleet graphics. Yeah now business is rolling in. Get started at fastsigns. Com. Welcome back. President trump did not make an endorsement in arizonas Republican Senate primary until this morning. The president tweeting, quote, Martha Mcsally is an extraordinary woman. She was very talented, a fighter jet pilot and is now a highly respected member of congress. Shes strong on crime, the border, and our under siege second amendment. Loves her military and our vets. Has my total and complete endorsement. Mcsally adopted last nights gop primary with 52 of the vote, extinguishing hopes for kelli ward and controversial candidate joe arpaio, who the president has pardoned, by the way. Last night mcsally drew a stark contrast with her opponent by touting her military service. My opponent brags she owns over a hundred pair of shoes. I on the other hand have over a hundred combat missions serving our country. On the democratic side, krirs t Kirstin Sinema defeated her opponent. Weve got a race in our hands in arizona. You put the results on the board, and the tweet from trump is significant there. Why . Martha mcsally won over kelli ward and joe arpaio. She wants trump out there tweeting, supporting her, she wants to get them on board for the general election. The risk is were talking about a swing state. Trump won arizona in 2016 but his margin was only three points. Mcsally also needs to try to get those swing voters, more traditional middle of the road voters. Shes got to get them on board in the fall but she needs turnout from the base as well. You mention as well the democrats nominating Kyrsten Sinema out there. The democrats havent won a senate race for 30 years in arizona. In a poll, sinema was running four points ahead of mcsally. Does mcsally alienate the middle and give sinema an opening . And if she runs too close to the middle, does she give the trump folks a reason to stay home . The backdrop, this is one of democrats few chances to pick off a Republican Senate seat. I dont know if jeff flake would have done, but sinema said she respects jeff flake. Says good strategy on her part. I havent seen a poll on this in arizona but i bet you right now jeff flake may be more popular with democratic voters, certainly independents, than he is with the republican base, he even said in an interview here just the other day that his endorsement wouldnt have done any good for any republican candidate out there. So if jeff flake, because of that friction with President Trump, it gives him more reflect in t ron desantis referred to his opponent, gillum, as articulate, and said we dont need to monkey up the environment. Is this a smart move for did desantis at the top . Here is the desantis race. The story in these primaries, two things. One, desantis obviously ran toward trump hard on the democratic side, gillum ran to the left hard. Desantis sees extremely high turnout in this republican primary. There was high turnout in the democratic primary too. We had a president ial race in this country, 2004, when it really wasnt about swing voters, it was about the bases, i wonder if thats what florida will be this fall. Steve, good to have you, thank you very much as all. Next hour, new reaction to the breaking news, President Trump announcing that White House Counsel Don Mcgahn will be leaving this fall. Well be right back. The line between work and life hasnt just blurred. Its gone. Thats why you need someone behind you. Not just a card. An entire support system. Whether visiting the airport lounge to catch up on whats really important. Or even using those hardearned points to squeeze in a Little Family time. No one has your back like american express. So no matter where youre going. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. This wifi is fast. I know i know i know i know when did brian move back in . Brians back . He doesnt get my room. Hes only going to be here for like a week. Like a month, tops. Oh boy. Wifi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. In many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40s. Thanks four watching this hour of velshi ruhle. Im ali velshi. Ill see you back here at 3 00 p. M. Eastern. Check us out on social media and connect to our sho show velshiruhle. Now time to hand it over to Andrea Mitchell reports. Right now on Andrea Mitchell reports, heading for the exits. President trump announcing White House Counsel Don Mcgahn will be leaving after the vote on his new Supreme Court nominee. The announcement on twitter is the president is reportedly still eager to fire attorney general Jeff Sessions despite support for sessions among some top senate republicans. I have total confidence in the attorney general. I think he ought to stay exactly where he is. Should Jeff Sessions be replaced . I dont think so. I think Jeff Sessions is a good man. He brings unquestioned integrity to this office. Coming up here, dianne feinstein. The