welcome back to "msnbc live." i'm alex witt here at nbc world headquarters in new york, where it's 1:00 in the east, 10:00 a.m. out west, and here's what's happening. we begin with politics. new reaction from donald trump's campaign manager on how the candidate will handle nonviolent, undocumented immigrants. >> we don't know where we'll be. we don't know who will be left. we don't know where they live, who they are. that's the whole point here, that we've actually never tried this. he will rescind all these executive amnesties and try to work with the congress. and so, at least he's trying to solve a problem. >> on the democratic side, hillary clinton's running mate is coming to her defense following the fbi's release of notes from its interview back in july. >> i have sat with her while she has answered questions, while she's answered questions about what she did and why, and then she said, look, by using one device, i made a mistake. i apologize for it. >> the democrats are also off the campaign trail today ahead of several labor day events tomorrow. hillary clinton and former president bill clinton will be on opposite ends of ohio. hillary clinton will take part in festivities in cleveland. her husband will march in cincinnati's parade. nbc's hallie jackson is commandeering things from donald trump's perspective in new york for us. good morning to you. how do you think the campaign's feeling after the visit in detroit? >> hey there, alex. i would say pretty good based on donald trump's reaction and the reaction we've seen from his surrogates in the last 24 hours. the trip had a lot riding on it, right? this was his first ever stop at a black church, his first ever time sort of being in the public eye in this way. and so, the campaign feels as though it has, i believe it feels that it's crossed this milestone for donald trump, right, when it comes to african-american outreach. they had come under fire quite a bit for reaching out to black voters, but only in white communities, so that did change a little bit in detroit and also in philadelphia. that said there were protests. there are critics who feel as though donald trump's message is problematic to african-american voters. the other big story we're following today, of course, is immigration, right? and this back-and-forth over immigration, what is to happen now. i want you to listen a little bit to what chris christie had to say earlier this morning. >> i think that what donald trump wants to show everyone is that he will be a leader for all americans and he'll be someone who's going to reach out, even when he has some disagreements with a foreign leader, to reach out and open a dialogue. and i think the words he used at the end of that meeting were very important, that he enjoyed the meeting, that he likes president pena nieto, and that he thinks they can work together to help improve the economies of mexico and the united states. all those things are very important and i think those are things that they also stand for, which are that they're going to fight for the people of their country. i don't think anyone expected anything less from a president trump or a president pena nieto. >> and remember, donald trump's big immigration speech was the day of that visit with mexico, with pena nieto, even though the two afterwards got into a war of words, you could say, online, with pena nieto insisting that he was not going to pay for the wall, donald trump insisting that mexico would, in fact, do so, insisting even now, really, that he believes he could negotiate an order to get the mexican government to do that. interesti interestingly, the "wall street journal" reported that it was only after pena nieto tweeted on wednesday that he wouldn't pay that donald trump added the lines into his immigration speech in phoenix. so, the meeting with pena nieto was another sort of milestone moment for trump. it was a moment that the campaign wanted him to be seen as more presidential. the contrast, of course, came later that day when he came out very fiery with that tough talk in phoenix, as we sort of track what's happening this week, alex, i think you will continue to see questions about donald trump's immigration policy, perhaps more questions about that mexico trip as well. >> okay. hallie jackson, thanks for the recall of everything that's going and what's ahead. anne gearan is following the clinton campaign for the "washington post" and molly hooper, congressional reporter for "the hill." with a welcome to both of you, molly, i'll go to you first here. based on what we played from kellyanne conway and chris christie's interview with hallie jackson this morning, as you heard, what sense are you getting to why there is still so much confusion about trump's immigration plan? >> because nobody knows what he's going to do. and that's half the problem. and i think that with an issue like, you know, how to handle the individuals who are here, whether they're going to be deported or what not, that's an issue that congress definitely has to be involved in. i think that donald trump realized after he met with hispanic leaders, his advisers, after he's talked to more congressional leaders, that a lot of the things that he said up front in the campaign, he can't accomplish alone. look at the backlash president obama receive d by an executive action earlier last year. so i think that donald trump, there is a question of how you handle that, in part because he would have to handle a congress, and we don't know what the makeup of that congress will look like. >> hmm. ann, what's your take on all this? >> well, i mean, i think that trump ended up having maybe unintentionally, you know, really no effect you can take from either his appearance with pena nieto, that he can hold himself, you know, hold in a presidential setting, that he can hold a diplomatic meeting, that he can have a civil dialogue and disagree with a foreign leader. that was his main goal in going to mexico. or you can take from the appearance later in the day that he intends to deport, by our analysis, at least 5.5, 6 million, if not all 11 to 12. and one message essentially negates the other. i doubt that's the way his campaign intended it from the beginning, but it sort of, it left everybody shrugging for the rest of the week. i mean, what part of the immigration message should voters actually believe? >> i'm curious, anne, do you think it is because a lack of clarity in explaining what the thoughts are, or do you think that within the campaign, the positions are not clear? >> well, i mean, certainly there's a good deal of reporting by a number of my "washington post" colleagues about the internal divisions in the trump campaign over this message in particular, over other issues as well, but this is really a flashpoint. and we saw the influence of kel kellyanne conway, who of course, is a pollster and a demographer. she's looking at really the numerical imperative for trump to gain some measure of hispanic support in this election, and no doubt, she and the rnc are looking down the pike at the even greater imperative of republican appeal to latino voters over the long term. no one in the republican party wants the legacy of this election, no matter who wins it, to be that there will be another 20 years of essentially, you know, less than 8%, 9% hispanic support nationally for republicans. >> okay. let's turn to trump's visit to detroit yesterday. molly, what struck you most about his speech and the overall visit to the city? >> you know, i think that what struck me most is that he actually did it, he went. and i think that, you know, one of the big criticisms that came after his initial outreach to african-americans several weeks ago when he was in wisconsin outside of milwaukee, one of the big criticisms was that he was speaking to an all-white audience in a relatively toney suburban area in wisconsin and that he wasn't actually going out and speaking to the people that he's seeming to be appealing to and that he wants to appeal to. and in fact, he did. he went there yesterday and he spoke to the crowd. i mean, he swayed back and forth, whatever that means, but he was there, and that's a big deal for him, especially when he's saying come vote for me, what do you have to lose? what did he have to lose by going there? and he went. >> okay. we are going to talk with a trump critic about his reaction to all this in just a few minutes. but i want to move on to this with you, anne, hillary clinton's lack of a news conference for 274 days. i know you have followed her campaign. is there a real frustration among the press, and is it fair to question her on this, because she does do plenty of one-on-one interviews? >> yeah, i mean, the campaign shrugs this off and really has been able to do so for many, many months now by saying there is no lack of hillary clinton's engagement with the press and no lack of her taking voters in a number -- excuse me, taking questions in a number of contexts, including from voters in some kind of town hall settings, including from reporters mostly in one-on-one settings and so forth. they're right on paper, but that does not change the fact that there's come an expectation, particularly when she's running against donald trump, who has press conferences pretty regularly, that she will subject herself to a forum that she intensely dislikes, which is the group press conference by the reporters who cover her most closely and are most likely to ask her about the things she least wants to talk about. she is going to start traveling with the press this week. it's a first. the post labor day unified plain begins on tuesday. >> okay. well, we'll see what comes from that. molly, i'm curious, the fbi report about her e-mails. is this something that -- will this be the last word, or do you think on the hill, will congress keep kicking this around? >> oh, congress is going to keep kicking this around. we heard tre gaudy last week, the former chairman of the benghazi committee and a key participant on the oversight committee, we've heard that he said, you know, looking through all these pages, reading the report, you know, fbi director comey said that he didn't see any intent with what hillary clinton was doing, but where were the questions that were asked regarding intent for hillary clinton? so, i think that you have lawmakers like jason chaffetz, head of the oversight committee, that have questions about the 302b that they saw and that they released the public version on the friday before labor day. it's not a good sign when people do that, because basically, they don't want it to be picked up in the news. and so, yes, congress has more questions, and i anticipate hearings in the oversight committee, a hearing in the next few weeks. >> anne, what is the real reaction from inside the clinton camp to the fbi report? >> there are two. one is a measure of relief that all of these documents are out and can't be leaked selectively in the campaign's view for effect, you know, having just pieces, parts of the documents released by republican members of congress who get a hold of them from the fbi. the other camp reaction is, of course, a long sigh of despair and frustration that yet again, when they would like to pivot and have a different kind of conversation, they are going to be talking about e-mails probably for this whole coming next week. >> okay. anne gearan and molly hooper. ladies, thank you so much. happy holiday weekend to you. >> thank you, and to you. >> thank you! happy holiday weekend! happening now, what was once hurricane hermine is spinning away from the east coast, but it is maintaining enough power to keep the beaches at risk for dangerous waves. coastal flooding remains a major concern. a tropical storm warning is still in effect in areas of delaware and virginia beach. overnight, two people were killed, hundreds of thousands of residents lost power. that storm packed high winds and heavy rains stretching from florida to virginia. we've got several reports on this for you. meteorologist bonnie schneider's tracking the storm. nbc's gabe gutierrez is in ocean city, maryland. and nbc's tammy leitner is in seaside heights, new jersey. so, tammy, let's go it to you right now. i know that the governor, chris christie, just had a news conference about the situation there. what have we learned on that? >> reporter: well, we've learned that they are not ready to say that anybody is out of danger in this area quite yet. as you can see, the wind is still whipping out in this area. the tide came up really high on this beach, much higher than it normally comes up. the surf out there is 6 to 8 feet. there's still an extreme danger with the riptides out here. let's go ahead and listen to what the governor had to say just a few moments ago. >> we still believe the greatest impact will be in cape may, atlantic and ocean counties. current rain forecast is now likely about an inch or less along the coastal counties. again, that could change, depending on the track of the storm. but the wind effects still seem to be about the same and could worsen. when it gets out over open water, it could increase back up to hurricane level, so the national weather service is reluctant to change their estimates at moment for this to be a moderate to major flooding incident in those three counties. >> reporter: there was a town just south of us that is under a voluntary evacuation. here in seaside heights, people are hunkering down, saying they're going to wait this storm out and hope that it passes fairly soon. alex? >> crossing fingers it does, safely so. thank you so much, tammy. msnbc meteorologist bonnie schneider's tracking the storm for us all this weekend. bonnie, you've mentioned the coastal flooding is a big concern for you. what parts of the east coast do you think will be hit hardest? >> exactly what the governor said, those southern counties in south jersey, that's where we're really concerned about possibly as high as 5 inches above high tide. but looking at the storm, it's really interesting because this is a post tropical cyclone. when you're talking about a tropical system or hurricane or tropical storm, you see more of a symmetrical pattern. right now we're just seeing this burst of convection well to the north and east of the storm's center. the storm has slowed down since the last advisory and strengthened. so now we have 70-mile-per-hour winds. still about 300 miles from the montauk point, but the movement is slow and we're actually expecting more intensity and the potential, of course, to turn to the north and then to the northwest. eventually by tuesday, the storm will be pushingway from us, but as long as it gets a little closer to the shore, that's where we run the risk of coastal flooding. most of it will be minor, but some of it has the potential tomorrow moderate to major. i want to show you where. from virginia's coastline all the way to new jersey, but with the concentration right here in south jersey, south of atlantic city all the way to ocean city. that's potentially where we could see some of the most flooding we'll see in the morning at the time of high tide tomorrow. also as you head out to long isla island, the north shore and the south shore. watch the winds get stronger and stronger as we go through the overnight period. the afternoon today and then into monday. soon we'll be talking about winds getting as fierce by the time we get to the early-morning hours. 40 miles per hour for wind speeds by tomorrow morning, so the potential is there for flooding, on long island as well, but the worst of it, again, we're expecting more towards new jersey. this storm could still change direction a little bit. it's not 100% in the forecast. all along with this post tropical system hermine, we've had a lot of uncertainty, so you'll want to keep checking the forecast just in case there's changes. >> i'll send you back to the weather center then. thank you very much, bonnie schneider. >> sure. a minister turned politician in detroit shares his thoughts on donald trump's church visit. and what is the gop nominee's biggest challenge to get african-americans to vote for him? 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[ laughs ] donald trump's visit to a black church in detroit is igniting controversy. detroit mayor mike duggan said his visit felt like a madison avenue image makeover. part of trump's speech focused on the economy. >> i believe we need a civil rights agenda for our time, one that ensures the rights to a great education, so important, and the right to live in safety and in peace and to have a really, really great job, a good-paying job, and one that you love to go to every morning. >> joining me now is reverend david alexander bullock, a pastor and civil rights activist. he is running for a seat on detroit's city council. welcome to you. nice to have you, reverend. thanks for joining me. so, what kind of impact do you think donald trump made on the african-american community during his detroit visit? [ no audio ] >> oh, goodness. you know what, guys, we need to get that sound checked out and try to fix that. maybe we should take just a very short break and we will be right back, everybody. if we don't come straight back with this interview, we will go to the tarmac confrontation in china. why was a chinese security officer chastising a white house staff member after air force one landed? the president's going to talk about the international incident, next. dog chow for 36 years now. my dog girlfriend is 17 years old. she's been eating dog chow from her very first day and she can still chase squirrels. she can't catch them, but she can still chase them. after 17 years i'm still confident in feeding her dog chow because i see the hh quality ingredients that go into it. i'm very proud to make dog chow right here in edmond, oklahoma. 80% try to eat healthy, yet up to 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day men's gummies. complete with key nutrients plus b vitamins to help convert food into fuel. one a day. will shorten the distancels packages have to travel, and save jet shoppers money. unbelievable work! where does that one go? ...happy birthday... whoa, slow down bill. save some for us. (everyone laughs) ...hahahahahahahah. at jet.com, we're always looking for unbelievable money saving innovations. when heartburn comes creeping up on you. fight ck with relief so smooth and fast. tums smoothies starts dissolving the instant it touches your tongue. and neutralizes stomach acid at the source. tum-tum-tum-tum-tums smoothies, only from tums. ♪ using 60,000 points from my chase ink card i bought all the framework... wire... and plants needed to give my shop... a face... no one will forget. see what the power of points can do for your business. learn more at chase.com/ink we have him back and the audio problem is fixed. let's go right now to reverend david alexander bullock, who joins us from washington. all right, so, the question before we had those issues -- what do you make of donald trump's visit and the impact it may have on the african-american community? >> well, i don't think donald trump's visit to detroit is going to impact the african-american community in a major way. it was a speech that was very simplistic, and i think like we've just discovered today, sometimes when you're talking to communicate, there are technical difficulties. there were some difficulties with that speech yesterday. and if he was supposed to have communicated to the african-american community and try to garner votes, i don't think he got that done yesterday. >> it may be because there seems to be an uphill battle for him to climb. i mean, let's take a listen to some of the comments that have gotten trump into hot water with black voters, compared to what he said yesterday in detroit. here's that. take a listen. >> we'll get rid of the crime. you'll be able to walk down the street without getting shot. right now you walk down the street, you get shot. look at the statistics. we'll straighten it out. by the way, how quickly people have forgotten that hillary clinton called black youth superpredators. remember that? superpredators. you're living near poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs. 58% of your youth is unemployed. what the hell do you have to lose? you do right every day by your community and your families. you raise children in the light of god. i'm here today to learn so that we can together remedy injustice in any form. i fully understand that the african-american community has suffered from discrimination and that there are many wrongs that must still be made right. they will be made right. >> david, both in rhetoric and in tone, in delivery, it seems as if there are two donald trumps here. which do you think is the real one? which is the one that resonated the most or potentially will resonate most with african-american voters come november 8th? >> actually, i think it's the same donald trump. definitely, the tone was different on saturday, but this is a donald trump who is very ignorant when it comes to the african-american community. for one, he talks about the african-american community like it's ha among nized. there are affluent blacks. there are blacks who live in poverty. there are educated blacks, there are uneducated blacks. and to say you people or you all, i mean, that kind of language used to be language that was obviously racial code. and so, i think whether the tone is soft or hard, mr. trump is somebody who seems to continually suggest that he's very ignorant about the realities of the african-american community, its complexity, what it has to offer to america, its history, our aspirations. and i think that ignorance is the reason why people don't think he's sincere. >> you wrote the five points, five lessons from this visit that you wanted to get across, one of them being that the black religious community did not initiate this meeting. so then what was the point of it, and did it succeed? >> i think this meeting was a political ploy. it was obviously a show. why did donald trump come to detroit? to try to destabilize the base, to try to get african-americans who tend to vote for the democrats to maybe question that. and look, he doesn't necessarily have to get blacks to vote for him. but if he can convince blacks to stay at home and not vote for hillary, then that might be a win for him as well. but i don't think the african-american community in detroit or anywhere else really sincerely believes that donald trump cares, understands or has a plan for the empowerment and continued inclusion of african-americans in america. >> you are running for a seat on detroit's city council, david. are you satisfied with the job that both parties have done at the local, state, federal level there for the african-american community in detroit? >> yes. i'm running for city council in detroit, and i would challenge both parties to do more. but let's be clear, politics is local. the republican party in michigan has closed over 60 schools. water rates are through the roof. insurance redlining is so horrible, people can't insure their cars in the city of detroit. the foreclosure crisis is still spiraling out of control. and so, when you talk detroit, you talk michigan, whether it's the flint water crisis, whether it's security in detroit or benton harbor, the truth of the matter is, is that it's the republican party that has failed detroit in our recent history, not the democratic party. >> all right. reverend david alexander bullock, a candidate for detroit city council, thank you so much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. the birther issue, it's back. should donald trump apologize for questioning president obama's birthplace? i'll speak with a trump supporter in just a moment. will your business be ready when growth presents itself? our new cocktail bitters were doing well, but after one tradeshow, we took off. all i could think about was our deadlines racing towardss. a loan would te too long. we needed money, now. my amex card helped me buy the ingredients to fill the orders. opportunities don't wait around, so you have to be ready for them. find out how american express cards and services can help prepare you for growth at open.com. welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt here at msnbc world headquarters in new york. we have new updates this hour on hermine. new jersey governor chris christie held a news conference just a short time ago. he is warning about coastal flooding threatening to hit areas all along the east coast. the governor said the storm will cause major beach erosion and strong storm surges. officials are also warning that strong winds associated with the storm system could knock down trees and power lines. let's turn from weather to politics. new polls out this morning show hillary clinton leading in key battleground states, including pennsylvania, where she is now ahead by eight points, and in north carolina clinton is holding a four-point lead over donald trump. let's go to washington, nbc's kristen welker is covering hillary clinton for us today. with a good day to you, my friend, how is the campaign feeling about all of these numbers? they look positive. >> reporter: they sure do, alex. good to see you. look, the clinton campaign likes what they see in these battleground states, but they also caution that the national polls are getting tighter, and they, frankly, expect all of the polls to get tighter as we get closer to election day. and of course, one of the ongoing vulnerabilities for secretary clinton is that trust factor, and these ongoing headlines about her e-mails. and on friday, we got another one. the fbi releasing its notes from their 3 1/2-hour interview with secretary clinton. and among the revelations was that on a number of different occasions, more than 30, she said she couldn't remember, including when she was briefed on how to handle sensitive information. so, all that has created a lot of questions for secretary clinton, a lot of pressure for her to be more available for the press in these coming weeks. tim kaine was asked about that and about the fact that she hasn't done an official press conference in more than 270 days. take a listen to what he had to say. >> she's had hundreds of interviews in the last year. and i've got to push back on the notion that she hasn't done a press conference. she gave a speech to the national association of black journalists within the last month, where there were also hispanic journalists there, and she did a press conference there. and members of mainstream media outlets, television networks asked her questions during that press conference. >> reporter: now, alex, starting tomorrow, secretary clinton will be on a plane with her traveling press corps, so we expect we're going to get a lot of questions. she's going to be stumping tomorrow in ohio and illinois, and some of her top surrogates are also going to be out on labor day, including former president bill clinton as well as bernie sanders and vice president biden. alex? >> all right, look, you guys may be all on the same plane. it all depends on whether she comes back to where you are sitting. >> reporter: that's for sure. >> we'll see what happens. >> reporter: we'll try. >> thank you, kristen. next sunday marks the 15-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. and while images of the twin towers falling were played over and over in a series of powerful documentaries, the attack on the pentagon remains a largely untold chapter. a new documentary looks closely at what happened behind the walls of the nation's military headquarters when flight 77 penetrated three rings deep into that building. >> another plane has been hijacked. this one out of dulles airport. and i realized, the white house is very difficult to see from the air. it's not all that big of a building. the washington monument's symbolic but silly. capitol building would be symbolic, but there aren't a lot of people in the capitol building. and then i just kind of thought out loud and i said, it's coming here. it's going to hit us. >> well, the man you saw right there is one of the survivors, captain bill toadie, a retired u.s. navalman was inside the building when that plane hit. and the captain joins me now. with a welcome to you, bill, i'm glad you're here as a 9/11 survivor. how does it feel for you each year on the anniversary? >> each year it's very poignant for myself and my family, my family in particular, because it was over four hours before they knew i had survived. so that was a very difficult four hours for them. and i think they struggled through the anniversaries a little more than i do. >> and the decision behind making this documentary was what? what led you to do it? >> well, i was very honored to be asked to participate in the filming of the documentary. and we call the pentagon attack the forgotten 9/11, just like people refer to the korean war as the forgotten war. there's a lot of stories to be told. and those stories haven't been told. and we're very grateful for pbs airing this because it's really important for the nation to understand what happened and the heroism of average, everyday americans who were working there that day. >> i want to play, in fact, another portion of this documentary. we'll discuss it together on the other side. so here it is. >> a flash or something over to my left will catch my attention when i look up. i see the airplane. >> and it keeps getting louder and louder, and you say, is this really happening? >> i turned my back to the airplane and i am running. >> this is not the way my life is supposed to go. is this how it ends for me? >> tell us about that moment. what was going through your mind and where were you looking for an escape plan? >> well, see, the sound of the airplane got louder, alex, you just really had no idea where it was going to hit. you knew it was going to be very bad for the point of impact, you know. you have this kind of thought, well, should i run somewhere? but actually, you know, since you don't know exactly where it's going to hit, there's no place to run. >> i can't even imagine the terror of waiting for that to happen. what was it inside after the plane crashed, what did it look like? >> well, you know, there was a bit of a jolt for those of us near where the point of impact was. it shook a bit. and then, you know, when you realize, hey, i'm still alive, i and a couple of my shipmates ran towards the point of impact, down the corridor and got to this point where the hall was filled with smoke and you could start seeing sunlight, which is not a good sign because there's a hole in the building. and of course, the floor, it got to a point where the floor just dropped out from in front of us. and at that point, we had to kind of double back, and i ended up running outside and to the point of impact from the outside, and that's where the scene that i just can't describe, you know, unfolding. >> you mentioned your family and that they couldn't find out if you were okay for four full hours. was that because you got up and dashed for it without bringing your cell phone or was there cell phone interrupted service, as there was in all of lower manhattan? >> sadly, the cell phone service was so jammed that none of the calls could get through. and back in those days of the flip phone, it didn't take much time, a few attempted calls before i killed my battery, and then i had to wait for an opportunity to present itself to communicate with the outside. >> yeah. we know that 184 people, sir, lost their lives in the pentagon attack. do you feel as though there has not been enough attention paid to this part of the attack on america? >> i do, alex. in fact, one of my annapolis classmates, captain jerry decano, with one of those killed in the attacks. he was on duty at the navy command center, where the plane hit. and he and other friends that were killed that day, the reason i actually agreed to do this is to make sure that we do what we can to preserve their memory. >> and what do you want the takeaway to be for people as they watch this documentary? >> you know, it is amazing in the weeks and months after the 9/11 attack how close this country became. there were flags on cars. i think we were more united than we had been at any time since the pearl harbor attacks. and to see how much we have regressed in the 15 years since then and to see the division and the bickering in this country over what in the larger scale are really meaningless matters, i hope that it brings people back to a point in time where the country united along the lines that we should be focused on, and maybe it will help, i hope to heal some of the division that we see now. but again, that may be just wishful thinking. >> well, it certainly would be nice if it was true, because i share those sentiments. i have experience reporting from ground zero on 9/11 and feel that same way about the unified nature of this country, and everybody in new york city, at least, certainly. so, thank you very much, captain. we appreciate your time. and i know a lot of us will be tuning in for this event. for all you, "9/11: inside the pentagon" airs tuesday, september 6th on pbs. >> thank you, alex. the birther movement becomes a central issue today in the presidential election. should donald trump have to apologize for challenging president obama's birth certificate? and coming your way at the top of the hour, chuck todd's entire "meet the press" interview with vice presidential candidate mike pence. o well. they can tell what i'm thinking, just by looking in my eyes. but what they didn't know was that i had dry, itchy eyes. i used artificial tears from the moment i woke up... ...to the moment i went to bed. so i finally decided to show my eyes some love,... ...some eyelove. eyelove means hang a chat with your eye doctor about your dry eyes because if you're using artificial tears often and still have symptoms, i could be chronic dry eye. it's all about eyelove, my friends. soon, she'll be binge-studying.. get back to great. this week 50% off all backpacks. office depot officemax. gear up for school. gear up for great. this car is traveling over 200 miles per hour. to win, every millisecond matters. both on the track and thousands of miles away. with the help of at&t, red bull racing can share critical information about every inch of the car from virtually anywhere. brakes are getting warm. confirmed, daniel you need to cool your brakes. understood, brake bias back 2 clicks. giving them the agility to have speed & precision. because no one knows & like at&t. 80% but up to 90% fall short in getting key nutrients from food alone. let's do more. add one a day women's 50+ complete multivitamin. with vitamin d and calcium to help support bone health. one a day. clicking around and start saving at hilton.com book direct... and get the lowest price online should he just apologize for this to let, if he really wants to reach out to minority voters? >> you know, if everybody apologized for all the things they said in politics, all we'd be doing on television shows is apologizing. maybe a lot of the democrats should apologize for calling donald trump a racist and calling him all kinds of terrible names. it gets a little silly. let's get down to the basic issue here. for years, people say republicans don't reach out to the african-american community. well, he reached out to the african-american community. >> and that was rudy giuliani this morning on the sunday morning talk shows. he was talking about the birther movement, of course, those people that had questioned the origin of president obama's birth. let's bring in paris dennard, a political consultant and former adviser to president george w. bush and former white house director of black outreach. paris, your thoughts, do you think donald trump should apologize if he's going to make any significant headway with black voters? >> i think the idea that members of my community are somehow sitting around the kitchen table and wondering, hmm, does donald trump, should he apologize because of raising legitimate questions about the birth certificate of president obama? that's not the main issue today. that's not what's on the minds of the people in my community. we're focused on jobs, unemployment, educational system and things that are really going to move our country, and more specifically, our community forward so that we can have more what he talks about as making america great again for everyone. i just don't think this is a real issue that's going to move the needle as it relates to moving the african-american vote, getting him at the 8% where he is now up to a higher percentage by november. >> but paris, look, you say it was a legitimate issue. it's not a legitimate issue, let's be real. come on. and this was something that was started by donald trump back in the day. >> well -- >> it could be something that if he were to apologize, people would see, all right, you know, i'm capable of apology, i have a change of heart. i realize that it was wrong to put so much into this birther movement. don't you think that would go a long way to help, as you wanted to do? you want donald trump to increase from this 8% rate right now of african-american vote. >> yeah. >> i mean, wouldn't that help? >> absolutely i want him to increase in that 8% rate, and i believe that, you know, if truth be told, it was hillary clinton and the clinton campaign in '08 who started this whisper campaign about president obama. but at the end of the day, what's going to help move the needle are the policies and the positions of mr. trump as it relates to our community. and having all these apologies -- look, would it help if tim kaine, if governor kaine apologized to what he said about kkk values? would it help if secretary clinton apologized for calling mr. trump a racist, a bigot and all of the things that are unsubstantiated? i don't think that's going to move the needle. what people are concerned about today are the issues at hand that are affecting our community. and i think this issue is a distraction to the fact that mr. trump had a very good week while he was engaging with the black community, secretary clinton was out fund-raising. she spent 274 days not talking to the press. mr. trump was engaging with the mexican government and talking about his ten-point plan to curb illegal immigration and he has had a continuing engagement with the african-american community and that's a positive thing. this is just a side show. >> so, paris, i do want to take issue, and certainly there is one poll that you cite, by the way, when you say that donald trump has support of 8% of the african-american community. a majority of polls, though, will say he has 2%. that said, mr. trump's speech yesterday marked his first to a predominantly black audience. he's been campaigning 14 months on the trail there. why wait so long to reach out? is it too late? should he have done this a lot sooner? >> well, then again, i disagree with your assumption that this is the first time he's reached out. this might be the first time he was in a black church, per se, at a campaign event -- >> i said a predominantly black audience. that's what i talked about, not a church, just a predominantly black audience. can you recall another time? >> yes, when he met with over 100 african-american pastors, when he went to south carolina and met with african-american leaders, when he went to pennsylvania and met with african-american leaders. >> okay, but it wasn't a large audience. let's not belabor that point. what do you think, should this have been done a lot sooner? >> i don't think one event at a predominantly black audience is going to move the needle. that's not the purpose of it. i think when you look at on the whole, look, the national coalition for trump was started during the primary, made up of african-americans, hispanics, jews, muslim americans for trump. then you heard at the debate stage, when he said in south carolina, i want the confederate flag to come down, he was talking about our community, talking about issues of our community. this is just the first time you've seen him do a specific campaign event since becoming the gop nominee, but he has been engaging and talking about our issues for a long time, and that's important. >> paris, how comfortable are you with folks like white supremacist david duke voicing their support for donald trump? >> look, david duke is so irrelevant to this campaign and to this earth, to be quite frank with you. mr. trump has disavowed david duke and any other white supremacist who might come out and say they want to support him. but to think that only white supremacists are supporting donlt is invalid. we haven't done all the investigation and all of this research to see if they can supporting secretary clinton, but it doesn't matter, because you have folks on both sides of the aisle, on each extreme, who are going to support somebody for whatever reason. >> how do you explain, though, that 59% of the folks polled out there say that the way donald trump communicates, the way he talks supports bigotry? >> i don't -- when you say we are all brothers and sisters, when you say i want to improve your communities, when you say i want to bring back jobs to this country, i don't hear racism, i don't hear bigotry. i hear somebody who wants to fight for our country and fight for my community. that's not racism. that's not bigot. >> all right, how about this? back to my point to my point ans he should have done this sooner. he's got two months to the election. do you think he's got the time he needs to increase his support among this community? before they go to the polls? >> yeah, i think that if you look back to the time from before he became the gop nominee where some polls had him at zero percent and we take issue at which poll. mitt romney got 6. senator mccain got 2. i think what you have seen is a continued increase in his support. and i believe that he's going to do a great job with the african american vote. because there are a lot of people who will go and vote for him. they may not want to take the heat of being a public supporter of mr. trump and others. but when they go in that voting booth they will say at the end of the day i don't support secretary clinton because i don't trust her. i want somebody that's going to shoot straight for me. i'm going to vote for mr. trump as a record of leadership. >> i'm glad you came out and spoke with us paris dennard. >> any time. >> after arrival of air force one in one in china, an hmmmmmm..... hmmmmm... 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>> well, after the president arrived, susan rice and others like ben rose were supposed to go out and greet him. they were behind a press rope line and the chinese official prevented them from going. the chinese are great sticklers for protocol. so i don't think this was an unintentional problem. this was an attempt to unnerve the american delegation. so clearly there is a problem here between china and the united states. >> wasn't there something uttered like this is our country and you do things our way when you are here or something like that. >> the chinese official did say that. because the secret service official wanted susan rice to be able to go see president obama which was planned in advance. and you have to remember this one incident occurred after the chinese did not have a stairway with a red carpet for the president. everyone else got one except for the leader of the free world. and there were a series of incidents here. and so therefore, you know, some people say well maybe they didn't know who susan rice is. of course they know who susan rice is. she's been there so many times. >> what's behind this? what is the under current here? >> i think there is a real problem inside the chinese leadership right now. the chinese want a controversy-free g-20. so this makes no sense. i think what's happening is xi jinping is trying to rally more nationalist elements of military and communist party and creating an incident where they have to fall in behind him. this is an issue, it's really about china. it is not about the united states. >> what about the agreements or policies you expect to come out of summit, what are they? >> i think really very little. the chinese have scrubbed the agenda of everything except for economic cooperation and global governance. countries aren't really worried about that right now. the real action is going to be on the side lines where we have leaders talking and what they really want to discuss, which is basically china and its more provocative action. there are a number of issues in asia right now. and also north korea. these things are going to be discussed but not only the formal agenda. >> thank you so much. we appreciate as always having you as our guest. thanks. and that is a wrap of this hour of msnbc live. straight had. chuck todd interviews mike pence and i'll be back here at 3:00 eastern showing you why colin kaepernick is going to take his protesting to church or this. today, there's a new option. introducing drug-free aleve direct therapy. a tens device with high intensity power that uses technology once only available in doctors' offices. its wireless remote lets you control the intensity, and helps you get back to things like... this... this... or this. and back to being yourself. introducing new aleve direct therapy. find you in the pain relief aisle. ...cle see ya!e off. when you're living with diabetes. steady is exciting. oh this is living baby! only glucerna has carbsteady, to help minimize blood sugar spikes. and try new glucerna hunger smart to help you feel full. ah, my poor mouth breather. allergies? 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or does he really not have one? >> we did discuss wall. we did discuss payment of the wall. they don't know it yet but they are going to pay for the wall. and this morning mike pence on what a trump presidency would do. >> i think he's been completely consistent. >> and get his reaction to the latest on hillary clinton's e-mails. >> just more evidence that hillary clinton is the most dishonest candidate for president of the united states since richard nixon. >> my sit down w