Good morning, everybody. It is tuesday, september 8th, and i am yasmin vossoughian. Weve got less than two months to go until the 2020 election, and the president spent labor day using the white house as a backdrop to launch an attack against joe biden and kamela harris. Biden cheers china as a great power because they add to nonproliferation and human rights. Well, that didnt. They took advantage of stupid people, stupid people. And bidens a stupid person. You know that. Youre not going to write it, but you know that. Youre not going to write it. Biden and his very liberal running mate, the most liberal person in congress, by the way, not a competent person, in my opinion, would destroy this country, would destroy this economy. All right. So later during that same appearance the president also demanded that Reuters White House correspondent jeff mason take off his mask. The issue of what happened when you were in france continues to be youre going to have to take that off, please. You can take it off. Your health how many feet are you away . Ill speak a lot louder. If you dont take it off, youre very muffled. If you would take it off, it would be a lot easier. Ill just speak louder. Is that better . Its better, yeah. Based on your you sound so clear as opposed to everybody else. All right. So major elements of the atlantics reporting on the president s disparaging remarks on u. S. Sourcing by other organizations, his discenter in finding captured soldiers has now been reported by the Washington Post and New York Times. His discomfort with wounded veterans now confirmed by the New York Times, his asking whats in it for them while standing with john kelly at kellys son grave has been reported by the Associated Press and the Washington Post, the claim that the president did not want to visit an American Military cemetery in france because it was, quote, filled with losers, was also reported by the a. P. Sources also told the post and the New York Times that unlike him, they didnt find a way to dodge service. And this is what fox News ReporterJennifer Griffin confirmed. Ive spoken with two senior u. S. Officials who were on the trip to france who confirmed to me key details in the atlantic article and the quotes contributed to the president. My source, a former Trump Administration official said when he spoke about the vietnam war, he said it was a stupid war, anyone who went was a sucker. As to veteran, he said what was in it for them, they dont make any money. The source said it was a character flaw for the president. Regarding the french chip to mark the end of world war i, according to the former official, the president was not if a good mood. French president macron said something that made him mad. He questioned why he had go to two cemeteries, why do i have to go to two. Regarding the military parade planning, during a Planning Session at the white house after seeing the deal day parade, he said regarding the inclusion of wounded guys, he said, quote, thats not a good look. Americans dont like that. All right. So amidst all of these sources confirming this report, the president yesterday continued his denials. The storys a hoax. He made up the story. Its a totally made up story. Who would make up a thing like that . Only an animal would say a thing like that. Theres nobody who has more respect not only for our military but for people who gave their lives in the military. So former white house chief of staff john kelly has stayed silent following last weeks report in the atlantic despite being pushed by friends and associates who speak out that kelly has refused on the record interview requests on comments President Trump reportedly made while kelly was with him on a 2018 trip to france, but even kellys silence didnt keep the president from attacking him on friday. I know john kelly. He was with me. Didnt do a good job. He had no element, was petered out. He wasnt able to function in the last number of months. Was unable to function. He was unable to handle the pressure of this job. This job was a tough job. Mark meadows is doing a great job, but kelly was unable to do that. Serving in wars also takes a lot of pressure, and he certainly survived that. Democratic president ial nominee joe biden spent the Holiday Weekend continuing to lay into President Trumps reported comments Bashing American troops. While at a Campaign Stop in pennsylvania yesterday, joe biden told Union Members he was close to losing his temper as he called trump, quote, unamerican. When it comes to veterans, hes downright unamerican. Ive never said that about a president ever, ever, ever, but calling those who have served, who risked their lives, gave their lives to our nation, losers, suckers, these are heroes. According to axios, bidens campaign is seizing this moment and investing heavily in ads to sway voters around military bases in five swing states. The ad dubbed protect our troops which debuted earlier this year, highlighting bidens connections to the u. S. Military and his plans to support troops will relaunch this week as part of a 47 million ad buy across tv, digital, and radio. Its going to roll out to voters living near military braces like fort mccoy and elsewhere. So lets get into this a bit. Joining me now, managing editor of the Washington Examiner magazine, jay caruso. Jay, good morning to you. I hope you had a good labor day weekend. Good morning. I did. A lot happening these last couple of days as were marching closer and closer to the election. What do you make of the president s defense following this atlantic report, especially when you consider outlets like fox news that we played, Jennifer Griffin there, confirming key aspects of this report . Well, first, yasmin, let me commend you for keeping a straight face as the president attacked somebody elses temperament, which i thought was rather amusing when he said that about john kelly. As far as the story is concerned, yeah. Other news outlets have confirmed it. Heres the thing. Is the story believable . I think so. If you go back to what President Trump said as candidate trump about john mccain back in 2016, disparaging his service because he was captured, saying i prefer people who werent captured. Weve heard him say nasty things about people before. You can be skeptical because all of the sources are off the record. The other outlets could have confirmed with the same sources. However, when you have this when everybody was going nuts saying, oh, its the atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and all of a sudden its fox news, all of a sudden its like, oh, well, its fox news. And Jennifer Griffin is an excellent reporter. The thing is these kinds of stories with anonymous sources, the whole idea that Jeffrey Goldberg got some sources and went with it, he has people to answer to, despite the fact hes the editor of the magazine. They still have to go through people to see whether this is val valid. Is there a possibility that there are details of the story that are inaccurate . Sure, we may find that out. As far as the president s denial, i dont take them at face value whatsoever. Unfortunately he hasnt earned any kind of good will in that respect. So i think the ultimate question here that a lot of folks are asking, is this going to hurt him come november 3rd, this new atlantic reporting and what hes been saying about troops over time in his presidency. I think i can say outright that it doesnt necessarily seem like its going to hurt any of his base support because they turn out no matter what this president says. But beyond his base with which the president has had a lot of difficulty turning out and expanding his base and getting more folks to turn out, is it going to hurt that . Yeah. Theres the solid base probably which is what, 35 , 36 of republican voters. It doesnt matter what he does, what he says, who he talks about, theyre going to vote for him no matter what. Theres a section of what you refer to as wobbly republican voter. Smib may have voted for him in 2016. Maybe they didnt. Will it hurt him . Probably. Its another layer of people who may say, im going to stay home, not that theyre going to vote necessarily for joe biden but that theyre not going to go out, saying, im going to sit this one out. Jay caruso, thank you. Stay close. Im going to talk to you again in just a little bit. Still ahead, the white house is launching an zbegs into the postmaster after pressuring employees to make campaign contributions. Also banning diversity training. Those stories and a check of your weather when we come back. Your weather when we come back its my 9 12 nodaysoff migraine medicine. Its ubrelvy. For anytime, anywhere migraine strikes without worrying if its too late, or where i am. One dose can quickly stop migraine in its tracks within two hours. Unlike older medicines, ubrelvy is a pill that directly blocks cgrp protein, believed to be a cause of migraine. Do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. Most common side effects were nausea and tiredness. Ask about ubrelvy. 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Learn more at cosentyx. Com. Novartis is committed to supporting our community. Another day, another chance tlets do this. Rd. By making internet speeds fast and reliable. So you can keep up with your customers. By ensuring those speeds have wireless internet backup. So if the power goes down, your connection doesnt. And by covering all your connected devices with serious security. So we can handle this. And this. While you get on with this. And this. Be fast, be secure. Bounce forward. With comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Call or go online today. Did you pay back several of your top executives for contributing to the Trump Campaign by bonusing or rewarding them . Thats an outrageous claim, sir, and i resent it. Im just asking a question. The answer is no. So, that was postmaster general louis dejoy and denying Fundraising Campaign promises. Despite that, the Washington Post reported on sunday dejoy pressured his employees to contribute and then reimbursed them through bonuses. Five people who worked for dejoys former business new breed logistics say they were pressured to write checks and attend fundraisers. The post writes this Carol Maloney said she is opening an investigation on the matter and is calling for dejoys immediate suspension. It was reported mr. Dejoy was never notified by the new breed employees referenced by the Washington Post of any pressure they might have felt to make a political contribution, and he regrets if any employee felt uncomfortable for any reason. Joining me now, msnbc legal analyst danny secevallos. It doesnt seem like theres any denial there. Its interesting to say the least. What part, first, of Campaign Finance law here is alleged to have been violated, and how would it need to be proven in a court of law . First, that denial, thats a classic one. If youre accused of one, call it outrageous and move on without actually denying it. I think thats what youre saying. No, no, no. In his testimony let me just clarify. In his test he actually said, yeah, thats outrageous, but from this spokesman for dejoy ill just read it again. Mr. Dejoy was never notified by the new breeds reference by any pressure they may have felt and he regrets if any employees felt uncomfortable for any reason. So is that statement there is not an outright denial. Thats even more damning because really the pressure that an employee felt is irrelevant to an analysis of whether or not federal or state law was violated because federal law prohibits the straw person donor activities and also prohibits the coercion of an employee to do this, but thats only you know, the coercion part is only one prong. Masking up the donations by reimbursing bonuses is independently a violation of federal and probably state law. There are federal violations. And in North Carolina they have no statute of limitations for felonies, so even if it has passed for federal crimes of, say, five years, they have likely not passed in North Carolina where the statute of limitations is infinity. So what about the fact that new breed was sold back in 2014 . How is that going to play into it . It wont make much of a difference. Whether or not the company it could be held criminally liable. Companies can be held criminally liable, but individuals is probably who investigators would be interested in. Even with the statute of limitations passed in federal court, there are many ways around statutes of limitations. So if theres any effort to cover this up over time that is still within the statute of limitations, federal prosecutors or investigators could look at that, too, as a possibility to get around where the statute of limitations has expired on some other crime. They do it fairly often. They may consider it in this investigation. All right, danny cevallos. Glad to see your daughter back in studio, my friend. Thank you as always. Still ahead, everybody, the latest on the wildfire threat in california. Its a state of emergency as firefighters race to contain flames that are burning across the state right now. Were back in a moment. Were back in a moment i dont know what happened. burke this . Eh, Nothing Happened. driver Nothing Happened . burke Nothing Happened. driver sure looks like something happened. burke well, youve been with farmers for three years with zero auto claims. driver yeah . burke so you earned your policy perk accident forgiveness. Now instead of this being something, it s driver its nothing burke get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. They should really turn this ride off. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum go go go on a real vacation. Visit go rving. Com or your nearest rv dealer. A lot goes through your mind. How long will this last . Am i prepared for this . 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Protests were peaceful last night. Protesters marched to the steps of city hall where they announced their demands including the firing and prosecution of the officers involved in the death of daniel prude and the resignation of the mayor and police chief there. The peaceful demonstration followed days of clashes between police and protesters which began with the release of body cam footage of prudes arrest. He went into cardiac arrest and died a week later. Letitia james announced she will im panel a grand jury to hear evidence on the officers actions during that arrest. The president yesterday tweeted they all had bad nights. Rochester mayor lovely warren released a statement that said i ask that all involved ignore the commentary from the president. It is clear it is his only desire to bait people to act with hate and incite violence that he believed will benefit him politically. We will not give him what he wants. Lets go to california. The state faces a recordbreaking fire season. Dry conditions and high winds have fuelled the blaze now torching more than 2 million acres, forcing the Forest Service to close eight national forests. In northern california, the threedayold creek fire has grown and is zero percent contained. At least two dozen homes in the small Mountain Town of big creek have been destroyed but no injuries have been reported thankfully. People were trapped at the vermillion resort. The pacific gas and Electric Company has started shutting off power in parts of 22 counties because of the Severe Weather there. For a first look at your forecast, lets go to nbc meteorologist bill karins