Good evening. Im Chris Matthews in washington. Donald trump ends the week down in the polls, outmatched in fundraisering and coming under intense criticism from a number of Republican Leaders for comments he has made since the shooting in orlando. Speaker paul ryan told my colleague, chuck todd, republicans should vote their conscience, and he called the 2016 matchup a very strange situation. Well, still, the republican nominee to be isnt changing his tune. Today he tweeted, people very unhappy with crooked hillary and obama on jobs and safety. Biggest trade deficit in many years. More attacks will follow orlando. Well, last night, trump stuck by his controversy called to ban muslim immigration. Were allowing thousands and thousands of people to come into our country from countries that are terrorist countries. And whats happening is a percentage of the people coming in, and ive been pretty good at this stuff. Ive been a good prognosticator. Ive said keep the oil. Ive been pretty good
Ties to russia. Is the campaign on the defensive . The transition, i should say . Reporter theyre on the defensive, katy, but theyre also digging in. First to the tillerson flap backlash that we are seeing. Look, theyre bracing for a fierce fight in that Senate Confirmation hearing. They know theyre going to get one, but they feel confident, they say, that ultimately he will be confirmed. And youve started to see them really lay out the case for tillerson over the weekend. The president elect himself saying that tillerson is a dealmaker. Someone whos done deals internationally, all across the world. Trying to paint the fact that he has these ties to russia as a positive. Which, of course, runs counter to so much of the policy that weve seen promoted by republicans. Its a real sea change to try to have a secretary of state that has these close ties to russia. So they know theyre going to get a fight. But as you know better than anybody, katy, when the president elect digs in, he doesnt
Dylann roofs shocking confession to the massacre at the black church in charleston, South Carolina. What he told investigators now part of the evidence in his trial for the 2015 mass shootings. I went to that church in charleston and i did it. Also breaking tonight, president elect donald trump taking his thank you tour to grand rapids, michigan. We still dont know who trump will pick to be his secretary of state, but we know whos not getting that job, and thats Rudy Giuliani, one of trumps staunchest supporters during the campaign. Out of the running for that position, and any other post in trumps administration. Whats that all about, well discuss. Lets get to tonights Political Developments in just a few moments, but first i want to begin with dylann roofs video confession. Cnns Paolo Sandoval is in charleston for us this evening. Paolo, good evening to you. Youre in charleston. You have been in the courtroom. Describe some of the testimony youve heard. Reporter this has been heartwr
penalty phase if roof was convicted. nbc s mariana attencio is with us. what did the father have to say? he just gave me a hug. that is how hard it is for some of the families inside that courtroom. he said, some days i don t know how i am doing. he is the father of the 26-year-old who stood up the night of the shooting and asked dylann roof why he was doing that. his mother was phylicia sanders, the one who testified on the first day and she was the witness who brought that courtroom to tears. now, the father, he told me, you know, that he steps out of the courtroom, cries, that he was reading a story in the paper about this trial this morning and it also brought him to tears. and he carries a business card,
paolo, good evening to you. you re in charleston. you have been in the courtroom. describe some of the testimony you ve heard. reporter: this has been heart-wrenching testimony here for so many people, heart-rending testimony for so many people who have been sitting in the courtroom now for about three days now, listening to the testimony, perhaps the strongest testimony coming from one of the survivors in that shooting, phylicia sanders, who watched as her son and aunt were shot and ill canned that summer day last year. but, perhaps you ll remember, the most significant development here, something many people had been waiting for, that confession video of dylann roof shot the day after he went into that church and shot and killed nine innocent people. in it you can clearly see and clearly hear the now 22-year-old self-described white supremacist say that he did it. and also why he did it. his main objective, according to what he told investigators that day, was to simply start a rac