Disavows the chant. But youre not going to believe what else he is saying about it. Plus new revolutions of the Stormy Daniels hush money scheme. New documents show just how closely involved the president really was. Good evening, to you. Im Peter Alexander in washington for my friend chuck todd today to give you a sense of the sheer magnitude of what we are dealing with in washington right now, today we saw the president do something he practically never does, rebuke his supporters. We begin tonight with the unbelievable fallout from last nights trump rally in north carolina. You heard some of it at the top of the show. But lets show you that moment in its entirety, which is going to be important, trust me here, where President Trump amid an escalating series of attack on those four women of color riles up the crowd about muslim congresswoman ilhan omar. Omar has a history of launching vicious, antisemitic screens. [ crowd chanting ] and she talked about the evil israel and its all about the benjamins, not a good thing to say. That moment there set off a firestorm of condemnation, blame, and chaos. And amid it all, this was the scene around congresswoman omar today, look at this, as she responded to those chants. At one point she even had to help out a photographer who was caught in that throng of journalists surrounding her, questioning her about whether she feared for her safety. I am not. What i am scared for is the safety for people who share my identities. This is what this president and his supporters have turned our country that is supposed to be a country where we allow democratic debate and dissent to take place. So this is not about me. This is about us fighting for what this country truly should be and what it deserves to be. Around the same time as that, some of the president s fiercest allies on capitol hill were trying to find a way to defend the president. House minority leader Kevin Mccarthy went so far as to claim that the president tried to stop those chants of send her back. And then we heard this Remarkable Exchange between the president and members of the White House Press core. Why didnt you stop them . Why didnt you ask them to stop saying that . Well, number one, i think i did. I started speaking very quickly. It really was a loud i disagree with it, by the way. But it was quite a chant. And i felt a little bit badly about it, but i will say this. I did, and i started speaking very quickly. But it started up rather fast, as you probably noticed. So youll tell your supporters never to well, i would say that i was not happy with it. I disagree with it, but, again, i didnt say that, they did. But i disagree with it. But they were echoing what you said in your first week they need to go back. Well, i think if you examine it, i dont think youll find that. I disagree with it. The president claimed he tried to stop those chants as mccarthy had earlier. But the tape clearly shows the president let it breathe. It went for 13 seconds. He didnt start speaking until it died down. And the president s claim that his supporters were not echoing his tweets, we simply ask on earth what were they echoing then . This whole episode of racially charged attacks punktated today by the president s rare move to disavow his actions at a campaign rally, obviously raising some serious questions about what kind of campaign the president is running. In just a moment i will be joined here on set by a top official in the trump campaign. But we kick things off right now with my colleague nbcs chief White House Correspondent hallie jackson. Help us understand why the disavowel. What changed . Reporter you know, there are a couple of reasons potentially for this, peter. I can tell you that according to someone familiar with the situation, one of my sources, the Vice President was told by some republican allies that these chants of send her back, for example, were not helpful. These im told, people that the president trusts, people that the president listens to, and the message was that kind of behavior at campaign rallies, for example, has to be discouraged. You pointed out that President Trump said in the oval office that he stepped in quickly. I mean, let the tape roll, right . It lasted about 13 seconds. As you note the president allowed the chant to die down and then began speaking back over it, which is why there are those questioning what you can even call a disavowal in the first place. Despite the fact that he was the one who initially tweeted that this congresswoman, ilhan omar, as well as three of her freshmen progressive colleagues should go back to their home countries. This is a president who is now facing his fourth day of fallout. You know that its not often that a story has legs in the news cycle, so to speak, the way that this story has. But yet everyone on capitol hill and at the white house, the president and his allies are facing questions about not just that racist attack that happened on sunday but about everything that has happened since then. The tweet first triggering and sort of setting off this domino effect to everything that came after it. And i think thats one of the lens in which ikd view this. The president as weve been talking about has set upon this strategy for 2020. He is not afraid to fan the flames of racial discontent, if you will, and racial politics. That is not something he is shying away from. He is leaning into it. But that may have worked for him in 2016 in certain states, but it did not work for all republicans in 2018, and there are serious questions about whether this will be effective again come 2020, particularly now that you have democrats who are being so vocal about this regularly on such a big platform airing their concerns. I should note as far as republican reaction, our team over on capitol hill has snagged a myriad of senators walking by the cameras saying that they had no comment or that they hadnt seen or that they hadnt heard, which again is a pattern of what we have seen in certain instances in the past of controversial things the president has said or tweeted. His allies like senator Lindsay Graham has come to his defense, as well as Kevin Mccarthy. Hallie, thank you very much. Joining me here in washington is mark lauder. He is the director of strategic campaigns for the former trump campaign. I appreciate you being here. Simple question, why did the president lie saying that he tried to stop that chant . Well, i think what hes showing is that as he was able to take that in, he said that he did not agree with that. But i think what weve got to make sure that we are talking about is that some of the statements that have been made by the squad well talk about the squad in a second. But just to be clear, he said i started talking very quickly. We can play it again. 13 seconds passed. He let it go. And if you go back into the 2016 campaign during the lock er up chants, they were actually clapping. So that was okay but this isnt . And were really focusing on a threeword rally chant and what i would say is go back to 2016 and hillary clinton, well, shes still not locked up. It was a rally chant. Lets be clear about this, if theres a problem with a chant, will you agree that this chant is racist . I would say that it does not convey the spirit of the campaign that the president wants to see but is it racist . Im not going to say that its racist. Whats not racist about saying that an american who is a person of color to go back to their home country . They were saying send her back. What im saying is the president actually said today this is not what he believes in. He would discourage it in the future. But this shouldnt take away from what the broader message is, is that with the members of the squad have voiced some very disturbing heinous statements in the past that have also not been so why not but you saw the president talking about it. But the president did talk about that last night, but obviously the president began this entire episode with a tweet over the weekend where he said go back to your crimeridden places from which you came. So the president , ultimately, isnt he the one responsible for this . He is the one who started this tweet in the first place. He said go back where you came from. Well, ultimately i think that the rhetoric that has been used by these members of congress, that is whats actually started this controversy when you have them actually talking about things that are antisemitic. When you have things that are asking for compassion for people who are trying to join terrorist groups or actually saying the 9 11 terrorists were some people who did things. I think the president is calling it out as heinous statements and as he has said many times before, the president is being proamerica. He attacked people on twitter saying these four women were socialists. Theres only one democratic socialist in the party right now. Its Bernie Sanders. Why isnt he telling Bernie Sanders to go back to his home country . Why is he focusing on four democratic congresswomens . The Green New Deal he attacks but he focuses on these individuals. I think on a campaign side we have talked about all of the democrat candidates for president who have talked about socialist policies like the Green New Deal and taking away Peoples Health care. It would actually prove the point is that the squad is actually leading the Democrat Party right now. You know the squad is not leading the Democratic Party right now. Obviously Nancy Pelosis been leading the Democratic Party right now. But just for some more clarity, is the president disavowing the chant, is the president disavowing his original tweet . I dont think hes disavowing the original tweet. He stands by the message of go back to your home country . He has talked about that in the past. I think what hes talking about is that if you think that a lot of these socialist policies that are being espoused by democrats by the squad whether its coming from venezuela, whether its coming from other socialist countries that have been proven not to work, then why dont you see if they can work there first before trying to bring them to the United States . So youre on the campaign. How is the Campaign Going to make sure that this does not happen again . What are you guys doing right now to make sure that if that chant begins again on another location on another night that it stops immediately . Is the president going to stay stop . Is the Campaign Going to have initial security out there to hush people in the crowd . As you know, its difficult to hush 10, 20,000 people. Youve got big blasting mega phones. Obviously this is just something thats happening today but its something that the president says he would discourage. So as we move forward. Plus, i think this conversation right now will tell people out there who support President Trump that when you come to the next rally that this is not a chant that is something that he supports. I would hope that they would take that to heart. You said it took a little time for the president to let it soak in, in that moment. In 2008 you worked in support of john mccains campaign in indiana. You saw the way that john mccain handled that moment with a woman saying that president obama was an arab . He said, no, youre wrong, the president is a decent man. Much different situations. That was a townhall meeting one on one with he has the only microphone in the place, marc. And the person who was talking directly to him rather than a chant that is being started by 10,000 people thats happening organically. Its much different when youre talking one on one to be able to disagree something rather than in an arena with 10,000 people. I think we would agree if the president said lets stop that for a moment, we are not going to chant going forward. The president and aides and allies have said that president s issue is not with immigration, its with ilLegal Immigration. Ilhan omar came to this country legally. She was a child refugee from a wartorn country, so many somalia. He has a problem with those who come here through Legal Immigration channels, doesnt he . The president is focusing on the words that she is using. And when it comes to representative omar. He said go back to where you came from. Like questioning the 9 11 attacks of some people who did something or not even able to distance themselves from antifa attacks earlier this week in our country. None of the squad or democrats have criticized that. This is the president calling out rhetoric which he believes is dangerous to our country overall. It has nothing to do with the race, the gender of the people who were saying it. Hes talking about this rhetoric is wrong. There are Trump Supporters watching right now. You represent the trump campaign. Theres going to be plenty of more rallies before the 2020 election takes place. Feel free, whats the message to them if they want to say send her back at the next rally . Please dont do so. Absolutely we want you there. We want you excited. Theres so much energy for this president , but lets not engage in that kind of rhetoric. There are plenty of other chants im sure that we can show our support for this president. You said there was a lot of criticism that the president has of these congresswomen of color. But isnt it hippocracy on the president s part . Peter baker from the New York Times said because america was not exceptional. He said it was no better than Vladimir Putins russia by promising to make America Great again, he made it clear that he believed it was not great anymore. Then the president who trashtalked america, says anyone who trashtalks america should leave. So why was it okay for donald trump to trashtalk or express frustrations with america but not for ilhan omar to do the same . Well, and i think, again, what are we talking about . We are not talking about an argument over tax cuts versus tax increases. We can have that political argument. The president was talking in 2016 about making America Great again, taking it into a different direction. But he also wasnt asking for compassion for people who were supportive of terrorism. He wasnt taking on and saying antisemitic things which drew so much condemn dation. And so the president is going to call that out. I think theres a much different set of facts when dealing about where you want to take the country versus criticizing and calling out some basic tenets. Marc lotter works for the campaign. Its nice to see you in person. Ahead, twitter attacks rallied chants. Now the president implicated a hushmoney scheme. We will bring our experts in to make sense of all of it. Plus, in the wake of all these democrats, what do democrats do now . A member of the House Oversight committee joins us live. Thats just ahead. Just ahead. Liberty mutual customizes your Car Insurance, so you only pay for what you need. Nice but uh, whats up with your partner . Oh we just spend all day telling everyone how we customize Car Insurance because no two people are alike, so. Limu gets a little confused when he sees another bird that looks exactly like him. Ya. Hell figure it out. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Eh, not enough fiber. Chocolate would be good. Snacking should be sweet and simple. The delicious taste of glucerna gives you the sweetness you crave while helping you manage your blood sugar. Glucerna. Everyday progress did you know congress is working to end surprise medical billing . 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That was the Top Republican in the house of representatives congressman Kevin Mccarthy trying to muddy the waters amid the fallout of those chants of send her back at last nights rally in north carolina. Charlie savage, washington correspondent for the New York Times, mira tanden, president of the center for american progress, and editor in chief of the Washington Free beacon. I just want to get a take from everybody. It felt like this was a moment. What is your reaction . I think the moment yesterday, the chanting itself was a really scary moment for the country. I thought of it as something that would go in the history books like a bill conor moment where you have that level of hatred emanating from a gigantic crowd towards four women of color just struck me as i havent seen that level of divisiveness in these very divisive times. Did the president did enough to shut it down . I thought the president recognized he has a political problem and so he may have heard from a republican or two, but obviously in the fact that hes lying about what he did in the rally itself, he didnt stop the rally at the time it happened. He did