Weather, to understand fuels better. So there are things that can be done at the federal level. But you know what, when you look at what happened at redding, when you look at what happened at santa rosa, when you look at what happened in ventura, where fires have gone from the wild land urban interface right into the suburbs, right into towns, thats at the state level. We have to look at our zoning. We have to look at our construction materials. We basically have to look at where we have people on the land and how we protect them. Right now we just have to thank those 14,000 firefighters that are on the ground. Incredible. Glen, thank you. Thank you for watching this hour of velshi ruhle. Ill see you tomorrow at 8 00 a. M. I turn you over to Andrea Mitchell for Andrea Mitchell reports. Former Paul Manafort deputy rick gates back on the witness
stand. Reporter theyre going to say hes damaged goods, he comes to court as a convicted felon. He was convicted of lying to the fbi when agents were investigating manaforts Political Consulting in ukraine. And theyll argue that because he cut a deal with the prosecutors, he would be able say anything to save his own skin. Election day, the last special election before november. Today in ohio, will president trumps Weekend Appearance there help or hurt the republican . He definitely brought major excitement. And they were excited to see him up here. He is the president of the United States. Reporter how much is donald trump on the ballot in this race . Well, hes not. And california burning. 14,000 firefighters struggling against the states wildfires, including now the largest in california history, taking lives and leaving thousands homeless. Theres a lot of fire on the landscape and not a lot of good
ways to catch it. They say evacuate, go. Take what you can grab and go. Good day, everyone. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington. President trumps former Deputy Campaign manager back on the Witness Stand today in the Paul Manafort bank and tax fraud trial. Rick gates revealing new details on criminal acts he says were committed at mr. Manaforts direction, including Falsifying Loan Documents and hiding millions of dollars in overseas accounts. The manafort legal team is waiting for their chance to crossexamine gates, hoping the jury will ignore a long paper trail and believe that their client was not involved in any of the wrongdoing. Joining me now, Nbc National Security reporter ken dilanian outside the courthouse. Former u. S. Attorney joyce va e
to essentially avoid taxes. I cant stress enough, andrea, how badly this trial appears to be going for Paul Manafort. A week ago the Washington Nationals were beating the New York Mets 190 in the fifth inning. The mets had a chance to cam back, technically, but the mets won 54. Thats what it feels like, there is a chance for the defense to make a case that gates is lying but there are these documents that seem to buttress what hes saying. It will be interesting to see how they crossexamine rick gates. I wont forget that game. The defense has had their chance at bat, to keep the metaphor going. Joyce, what are you seeing, especially because of the very prominent role judge ellis is taking in keep the prosecution from what it seems to feel is key evidence . Well, the prosecution would i guess to stay in tune, have to hit the ball completely out of the park to get an acquittal in this case. Former intern. If the Documentary Evidence against manafort is so strong, why hasnt he cut a deal with prosecutors . Manafort has always had a sense of impunity, and when you watch him in the courtroom you do get the sense that manafort still believes, against all the evidence, that he can get away with it and that he can still win. And you described him, i just want to read a little bit of your description, after spending more than a month in lockup so he hadnt had access to the high style designers, but you wrote that while his hair maintains the same sweeping part, the edges are jagged in an imprecise, Jailhouse Barber way that the unincarcerated Paul Manafort would never abide. Sitting at the defendants table, he not infrequently i
Interviews with political figures and news updates. But phil rucker, you say know better than anyone, the president has been trying to say oh, he was nothing, he was on the side, he was only there for a little while. And thats just not true. He was the chairman of the campaign. He was close to donald trump and had been around donald trump for years. But he was leading the Trump Campaign at a really critical moment. It was as trump was nearing the end of the republican primaries but had not yet sewn up the republican nomination. There was concern in trumps orbit that the establishment forces of the party would try to play a delegate game at the convention to install a different nominee. It was manafort who worked the system on behalf of trump at the convention and helped develop the strategy for the General Election through that summer. So he was a key figure on the campaign. He saw a lot, he knew a lot. He was in a lot of meetings including that Trump Tower Meeting with the russian lawyer. Thats why hes of such great interest to Robert Mueller and the Special CounselTeam Investigating the russia component. Ken dilanian, one of the
of this trial and perhaps manafort and his attorneys learned about it when they received discovery from the government, because the government is obligated to turn over all this information on gates to manafort. But there is a little bit of doubt here. Perhaps gates was late to disclose this. And so if that in fact is the case, the later that he disclosed the embezzlement to the government, that might give manaforts lawyers some opportunity to crossexamine him. The bottom line here, andrea, is the government will suggest to the jury the reason they can trust gates is because the deal he is getting from the government is contingent on his truthful testimony during this trial. If he is found to have lied in any way, even in small detail, then he will lose the deal he has with the government, the greatly reduced sentence that he will expect the government to recommend for him. And that will be the circumstantial guarantee of gates truthfulness. So just switching gears for just a moment, another figure
who reappeared over the weekend was hope hicks, traveling to ohio with the president and back. A lot of lawyers are suggesting that that really was not smart because she could subject herself to being reinterviewed by mueller. She and the president could have been talking with the president about the key explanation for the July 16th Trump Tower meeting that is of course such a key part of the mueller investigation. They could have been, andrea. We dont know if they were or not. Regardless, the optics were very bad for hope hicks because of everything thats swirling around, because she was on the plane the very weekend there was this heightened focus on the Trump Tower Meeting and the false explanation that the president dictated for his son. I know from my reporting that she was sort of there on a friendly visit. Shes living in new york now, shes not looking to come back to join the Trump White House in any official capacity. But she of course remains close
to the president. His daughter ivanka, soninlaw jared kushner, others on the white house staff, were taking advantage of being nearby to check in on them. Thank you so much for being here. Coming up, the last special election before the midterms. Can an ohio democrat pull off the first upset over a republican in this district since the 1980s . Nbcs steve kornacki, the one and only, joining us at the big board right here on Andrea Mitchell reports on msnbc. Ng. Hey dad. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Tylenol cant do that. Aleve. All day strong. All day long. Now introducing aleve back and muscle pain, for up to 12 hours of pain relief with just one pill. Home Political Base is here in columbus, in the past, but they cannot get behind donald trump and they cant get behind his version of washington. Youve got a democratic candidate who is not using any special sauce here, hes running on core democratic issues, leaving the Trump Bashing to others and saying if you want a more sane washington, vote for me. And it seems to be resonating. Here is one voter i talked to about this this morning. I really think the republicans have just totally caved in to trump. We need a break from somebody like that. Reporter do you normally vote for republicans or democrats . I tend to be a conservative determine. Reporter was it something about oconnor or about trump and the republicans . This is more about sending a message. The republicans have to wake up, you know . If theyre not going to be a break on this guy, then we vote for the other side. Reporter so andrea, bottom line, if thats the sentiment that prevails here, voters want
that check on donald trump. You might see a democrat go to washington from this district for the first time in a very long time. As i heard you say earlier, this is kind of the stefan of snl, something for everyone. Thanks, garrett, for setting us up. Steve kornacki, lets take a closer look at how this breaks down. And especially baldersons stumble on the leave of the election, dissing voters in Franklin County. Its interesting, balderson saying that is a gaffe, sure. But it reveals the giant Cultural Divide in this district. Look at this 2016 2012 president ial result, it looks like nothing changed in four years. The reality is that everything changed politically in this district in the age of donald trump. Here is what i mean. Take a look at this map. These are the counties that all
or some of them are part of the district. Balderson who says we dont want somebody from Franklin County representing us, he was saying that in his Political Base, zanesville, blue color, working class, noncollege whites who flock to trump. Where balderson is from, this is his county here. When barack obama ran in 2012, barack obama won this portion of the district. When trump ran four years later, donald trump won it by 30 points, almost 30 points. So that swing, when balderson is saying that, hes talking about this part of the district. Culturally this is lightyears from zanesville. The columbus suburbs, were talking upscale, college educated, white collar, professional class. Hillary clinton won it by 20 points. This was a major swing. When barack obama ran in 2012, it was basically a tie in the Franklin Portion of the district. Then clinton wins it by 20. So there is a cultural and demographic chasm between these parts of the district. What are we looking for tonight . Its a question of how much energy, how much turnout is going to be here in whats become the democratic heart of this district. Will that Swamp Everything . Also these voters who went from obama to trump, are they still with trump and the republicans tonight . Or are we starting to see them go back . Steve, when are we going to see results tonight . 7 30 eastern, the polls close. By 8 00 well start to get it. One cautionary note, there is a lot of early Absentee Voting in this district. That is expected to be strongly democratic. Ill expect early on youll see Danny Oconnor ahead probably by a wide margin. It doesnt mean the thing is over. It means those votes are being counted first. Thats why we have to keep watching and watching and watching you through The 11th Hour at least. I hope so. Thank you, steve kornacki, we will all be there. Coming up, party down . How will president trumps Support Impact Races around the country outside of ohio . Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports, Election Central right here on msnbc. Youre turning onto the street when you barely clip a passing car. Minor accident no big deal, right . Wrong. Your Insurance Company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen. Maybe you should take that pen and use it to sign up with a different Insurance Company. For drivers with Accident ForgivenessLiberty Mutual wont raise their rates because of their first accident. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty
president trump, testing the limits of his popularity with the republican base, now supporting kris kobach, the controversial kansas Secretary Of State running against an incumbent governor, a republican from kansas, the president ignoring the advice of his own aids who are concerned that kris kobach is so unpopular. Joining us now, the new cohost of the new words matter podcast. And jim massino, welcome both. What were watching, violating what used to be the commandment of ronald reagan, you do not get involved in a primary and oppose another republican. Thats the problem with donald trump, no one ever really knows exactly what hes going to do at any given moment. While it seemed possible he might endorse kris kobach, he was advised against it because there is a sitting republican governor. Donald trump has such strong views on his personal allies and the need to support people who strongly stuck with him, that you really can be nothing less than a trumpab so lawsuiti ab s his endorsement. People talk about the trump effect. Theres really two trump effects. One inside the republican primary and one with General Election voters. Inside the republican primary voters, hes changing these races. Look at florida recently with ron desantis. Exactly right. Another race, former congressman adam putnam is by far the best General Election candidate but trump endorsed a guy who cant win the General Election. Democrats are sitting back, having a great time, loving this, watching donald trump nominate people like kris kobach who probably cant win a General Election. Elise, what does this mean for the mitt romney, jeb bush traditional republicans . Theyre basically facing extinction if theyre not already basically extinct. Mark sanford of North Carolina voted with the president pretty much all the time, and he was ousted in his primary. You see strong candidates like that that just even the slightest dissent against donald trump, they are no longer tolerated or welcomed in the Republican Party by donald
trump, who is, for better or worse but i would say for worse, the standard bearer these days for the Republican Party. And taking a page from meet the press, chuck went through the data download, and weave seen a big increase in the number of democrats voting since the midterms of 2014 through the june primaries, 13. 6 Million People voted in democratic primaries, that was an 84 increase over 2014. During that same period in republican primaries, there was also an increase, 10. 4 Million People voting. That was up 24 since 2014. Now, we dont want to put too much stock in these numbers, but jim messina, what does this say to you about democrats hopes in the midterms . That were looking at a blue wave. In 2006 the democrats took the house for the first time in 12 years and took the senate for the first time in eight years. Year seeing in race after race, 46 seats around the country have gone from red to blue in the past year. And in every single one of those
raises, including alabama, virginia governors, et cetera, youre seeing mammoth democratic turnout. Tonight in ohio is another good bellwether. Even if Democrats Dont Win tonight, there are 60 congressional seats up in november that are more democratic than the seat that is currently tied in ohio. This blue wave is starting to look bigger and bigger. If dems win tonight, if youre a republican, youre in serious trouble. If youre a republican, elise, what are the issues youre hoping the democrats stumble on . Lets say youre a traditional republican. Some of the issues that they perhaps, if you look at Danny Oconnor in ohio, should not be talking about. They should not be talking about mueller, they should not be talking about trump under fire on these legal issues, they should be talking about pocketbook issues, right . Right. And they shouldnt talk about abolishing i. C. E. They need to keep the strength away from donald trump on
security. It hasnt been resonating, these tax cuts. They only have been getting more unpopular with voters. So its hard for republicans to brag about and laud the tax cuts and theyre increasingly unpopular with the electorate. Jim, i was listening to Charlie Cook Las