Rev. Al Sharpton reviews the days top political and humaninterest stories and interviews newsmakers from across the political spectrum. Might be shrinking a little bit, but that base is going to stay the same. The Republican Party hasnt changed. It remains free trade, doesnt like his tariffs, remains very solidly behind brett kavanaugh, they like neil gorsuch, they like the military buildup, they love 4 gdp. If the president were not dragged down by the scandals and the russian investigation, 55 , the generic ballot right now is 7 if you look, about 5 of them, but it is about 7 , i dont think there is a blue wave, i think that Heidi Heitkamp will lose in north dakota. I think that joe manchin will lose in west virginia, joe donnelly in indiana will lose, bill nelson will lose in florida. I think the republican to pick up four or five seats in the senate and theyre going to hold the house because you do not have outside of the core msnbc audience, outside of your core support, al, there just isnt the churning and the Resistance Movement that we thought would materialize in the
michael cohen tapes arent going to spark it. The assessment you just heard from you, theyre going to pick up four, five senate seats, when you look at the fact that we are hearing in the media blue wave, but we really dont know. I travel a lot, im on the ground a lot, i dont feel a lot of energy, more than you gave us. But i dont think were at the cemetery, but i do think that were in the hospital on the left. The question becomes to me, what does any of this i think you raise a very legitimate point, what does any of this do in terms of giving energy to people who come out and vote, do the russian investigators even matter in terms of the midterms . And suppose if mueller comes back and says i found nothing on the president , but ive got everybody else, doesnt back
fire. I think thats a rare possibility. I dont know thats going to happen. I think based on what we know now Dont Know Whats going to happen. That he comes back with nothing. We know enough now to know i think the president knew something. We dont know exactly the extent. Suppose mueller comes back and says all of this we cant indict him. I cant indict him. You dont think donald trump will use that for a victory lap . Absolutely. Will that not affect the midterm. It will affect absolutely and it will affect the midterms. Heres the thing. I think the people around donald trump meaning his son, his daughter, his soninlaw, theyre all implicated in this, not just on the Collusion Side and meeting with russians and trump tower, but also the Trump Foundation now is in a legal pickle and also the Trump Organization now, the cfo being subpoenaed is a very Significant Development and maybe more significant than the cohen tapes. I think this is going to impact the midterms. But what im looking at in terms
of the blue wave, im looking at the special elections we had. Certainly not a perfect indicator, but it does show when you see the state, doug jones in alabama, extenuating circumstances there, but you see Women Running For Office for first time, first time women candidates winning and women going out to the polls and organizing to elect these women to office, so i do think there is a blue wave when one of the things that im seeing is that the message of the democrats has not gotten out as sharply as the republican, you mentioned the 4. 1 gdp, they had that a couple of times under obama, but nobody is talking about that on the democratic side. So it looks like a major accomplishment when in fact hes done what President Obama did more than once. You know, it is your party. My party is out there talking economic growth, military strength, and judges. Youre out there talking impeachment, abolish ice and a bunch of marginal issues that dont impact anyone. No program on health care. It is called obamacare. What are you talking about . My party, we would be in charge of the senate and the congress and the white house. I might be a member of the party, but i havent quite made it my party. That might be the problem. Thank you. Coming up, are we getting closer to figuring out what happened in the private meeting between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin . And later, a new documentary, reexamines the life and leg acy of Trayvon Martin, whose death became a catalyst for the black lives matter movement. Well be right back. And should not be used more than once a day. Tell your doctor if you have a heart condition, high Blood Pressure, glaucoma, prostate, bladder, or urinary problems. These may worsen with anoro. Call your doctor if you have worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain while taking anoro. Ask your doctor about anoro. Go your own way get your first prescription free at anoro. Com. Get your first prescription free are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Appreciate you characterizing my questions. My questions is to get to the truth. We Dont Know What the truth is. Though it happened two weeks ago, we still Dont Know What was said in a private, but official meeting between President Donald Trump and his russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. So this week the Senate ForeignRelations Committee tried to get that information out of Secretary Of State mike pompeo. But he did not say a word about that one on one meeting. Earlier i spoke with senator ben cardin who sits on the Foreign Relations committee. Did you get any insight at all from his testimony on what was discussed in those two hours where these two leaders of various states that have been adversarial, what did they talk
about . Well, we do not have a readout for what happened in the room, mr. Pompeo would hide behind the fact that he said that no policies have been changed. But he didnt exactly tell us what was discussed or even what subjects were discussed in the one on one meeting. He did go over some general areas that were talked about, but he did not give us a real readout on the socalled agreements that were reached and why there would be a need for a followup meeting as early as this fall. He did not really give us much comfort in that regard. Isnt that alarming given that were dealing with the whole question of russian interference in the elections of 2016, his whole country based on democratic participation, as well as were hearing about tariffs, were hearing about trade agreements, all of which could have been discussed by the russian president and the u. S. President and we know nothing about it. Isnt that alarming to you . What is alarming is the fact there was a one on one meeting without third parties being present to record what was done. The director of National Intelligence said he would not have recommended that type of a format for the president of the United States meeting with mr. Putin. So we really dont have a clear readout. Thats one of the reasons why there is an interest in getting the notes of the interpreter. We do know that in russia they were cheering as to what happened in helsinki, and the white house, they were scrambling. So we really it is very concerning we dont have a clear readout as to what was talked about and what was agreed in helsinki. How troubling is it to your colleagues in the Foreign Relations committee that we have no real understanding, not only of the meeting, let me broaden
it, but real understanding of where we are with the russian interference in an american election. You have the president standing next to putin saying he has no reason to believe they were involved, then he comes back and says he misspoke one word which really the whole spirit of what he said in many words confirmed that one word he claimed misstated because if you look at the body of what he said, he clearly was not indicting putin or russia. Does that disturb members of the committee who has to deal with not only our affairs with russia, but our affairs with foreign powers all over the world . Absolutely. I think the Senate ForeignRelations Committee understands what is at risk here. You had the president of the United States getting a free pass, even worse than that, to the president of russia, who interfered in our elections. No question about that. Thats beyond any dispute that
russia interfered in our election, and mr. Putin directed it. With an opportunity to be clear thats unacceptable and that was brought up at the summit, President Trump passed on that. Worse, sided with mr. Putin rather than his own intelligence agencies. Thats why there is a concern not only for us to find out exactly what happened in the room, between the two leaders, but to pass additional legislation to protect us against the 2018 elections because we think the message in helsinki, by President Trump, to mr. Putin, you can do this again, and there will be little consequences. Talking about concerns, let me raise another. Many of us are concerned about the nomination to the Supreme Court of judge brett kavanaugh. Where do you stand on that and im asking you this, in light of the fact that Senate Majority leader Mcconnell Has said he
wants to move quickly, and there are many on the other side of the aisle, the democrats, that are saying they want to be able to go through his long extensive record as a judge and is working the white house under the bush administration. This is very troublesome for many different points of view. First, Leader Mcconnell said for President Obama, 11 months was not long enough to consider a Supreme Court nominee. Here we have Leader Mcconnell saying for President Trump, couple of months is adequate time. Secondly, with nominees that have worked in the white house, the tradition of our senate is to get all their records during that time theyre in the white house, that was done for justice kagan. And we are we asked for the same exact information in regards to judge cavanaugh and so far we have not gotten that understanding with the republicans. So thats extremely troublesome that we may not get access to
the full record of judge cavanaugh. And then lastly, when we look at his background, our objective here is that before voting on this nominee, we want to know whether he will be an independent voice on the Supreme Court to protect your rights against the powerful, whether that person is president of the United States, congressman, or the corporate america. And judge cavanaughs background gives us real concern about that, in regards to health care and regards to Consumer Rights and in regards to interfearing with the Mueller Investigation by the president. So that information is critically important for us to be able to make that case to the american people. So on all fronts, we are very concerned about this nominee. Certainly, and adding to that, of course, the Civil Rights Community that i work in, the voting rights, and affirmative action, other things, that this judge has a
background, not one we agree with, and making rulings, but you touched on something that is very troubling. And that is he has taken the position that a president should not face any kind of indictment or accountability in terms of criminality if, in fact, that is established proven or even accused, while hes in office. What happens if the Mueller Investigation comes back and says something about this president and you have someone he nominates sitting on the Supreme Court and it becomes a Supreme Court decision on whether they can proceed or not. Will you and others ask that this judge and for that matter Justice Gorsuch have to recuse themselves . It is a very important point. Were not at that point yet because we still hold out hope that the confirmation process, were going to find out
information about that and well see whether how the senators vote on this confirmation. Were not at this point that hes already been confirmed, but i do want to underscore the point that you made, the list that the president chose this nominee was done by an outside group, with an agenda, and thats unprecedented. And why did judge cavanaugh sort of stand out with President Trump. We think it is because of his outspoken record against the president of the United States being held during his term of office to outside investigations that he could defer all of that. Which seems to say that he would be a solid vote on the Supreme Court for President Trump against the Mueller Investigation. Thats deeply troubling to us. Deeply troubling. So your point that youre raising is absolutely accurate. It appears that the president wants to get a person on the court that will agree with his
position where it is critically important that the Supreme Court act as an independent check and balance on the presidency. Thank you. Up next, a brandnew edition of living while black. Be right back. At t provides edgetoedge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your business. So this wont happen. Because youve made sure this sensor and this machine are integrated. Atta, boy. Yes, some people assign genders to machines. With edgetoedge intelligence, youll know your customers love this color, dont love this one. Never getting grape again. You can adjust in near real time. If someone tries to breach your firewall in london you start to panic. Dont. Youve got allies on the outside, Security Algorithms on the inside. If its jammed up here, its hot in here. You know both those things, you can do this. Your flowers wont wilt. At t provides edge to edge intelligence. It can do so much for your business, the list goes on and on. Thats the power of. When her patients Blood Pressure drops, she can share the information with. And now, for this weeks gotcha. Our latest installment of dot dot dot while black, remember, thats the phenomena that recently made it dangerous to look for deals, use banking services, or make drinks for public consumption. While black, we kicked it off last week when a black entrepreneur, fresh off opening his own craft lemonade business, in gentrified san francisco, took to social media to share his terror at being questioned by no less than four armed Police Officers, responding to a call suggesting he was a burglar of the very restaurant he had
spent two years and a whole lot of his savings to open up. Then a 78yearold black florida woman filed a lawsuit against banking giant wells fargo, a year after she alleges a white Branch Manager suspected her of forgery and called the cops who ultimately confirmed her identity, enabling her to get money, but no kind of apology, she said. And in buffalo, new york, the manager of a Dollar General store lost his job this week after calling the law on a black teacher because she dared to use companyissued coupons. On learning the story, Buffalo Police were so over it, that they didnt even bother to keep a record. As i will continue to say, these videos, these stories visually
confirm the argument that i and other activists have been making for years, the difference between prejudice and racism is power. And this case, the power of biased civilians to invoke the state and constantly be believed or to take that action themselves and consistently live to tell about it. Later in the show, ill speak to two parents, still grieving six years after the loss of their son, because a racist took offense to a boy in a hoodie, walking in his neighborhood at night, while black. To anyone who still doesnt see the connection i dot dot dot gotcha. vo what if this didnt have to happen . I didnt see it. vo what if we could go back . What if our car. Could stop itself . In iihs frontend crash prevention testing, nobody beats the subaru impreza. Not toyota. Not honda. Not ford. The subaru impreza. More than a car, its a subaru. Then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth. . Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. Its a pill that treats psoriasis differently. With otezla, 75 clearer skin is achievable after just 4 months,. With reduced redness, thickness, and