Go to bloombergpolitics. Com right now for coverage of the u. N. General assembly. Until tomorrow, say nonara. Coming up, hardball with Chris Matthews. The candidates debate terrorism. Lets play hardball. Good evening, im Chris Matthews in washington. Tonight, once again, the epicenter of the war on terrorism is new york city, the countrys point of entry, its historic melting pot. And once again, we have another name added frighteningly to the vocabulary of violence. Another episode to stir fear, the anger that always accompanies one, and the
instinctive search for greater security, now with two president ial candidates, donald trump and Hillary Clinton, claiming to know the way. Well, ahmed rahami, the suspect in this weekends bombings in new york city and new jersey, was captured this morning after a dramatic shootout with police. Rahami, a 28yearold immigrant from afghanistan and a naturalized u. S. Citizen was seen in Surveillance Footage saturday night near the site of the bomb blast in the chelsea neighborhood in manhattan. His fingerprint was also reportedly found in another device that failed to detonate, according to a senior Law Enforcement official. All told, there were three bombs saturday, the first went off saturday morning in seaside park, new jersey, before the start of a charity race. There were no injuries. On saturday night, a Pressure Cooker bomb packed with shrapnel exploded in manhattan, injuring 29 people. A second bomb that failed to detonate was found several blocks away. Well, on sundaye devices were f a garbage can, at a train station in new jersey. We learned more details about the suspect at a press
conference this afternoon with the new york mayor and Law Enforcement officials. Based on the information we have now, we have every reason to believe this was an act of terror. We have directly linked rahami to the events in mj. The investigation is ongoing. As we develop more information, we continue to go. But i have no indication that there is a cell operating here. Theres nothing to indicate that currently he was on our radar. We had report of a domestic incident some time ago. That was the allegations were recanted. And i dont have any other information. Well keep digging. Well, president obama is in new york himself today for the United Nations general assembly. He spoke earlier in the day. I want to take this opportunity to reassure the people in this city, in this region, and americans across our country that our counterterrorism and Law Enforcement professionals at every level, federal, state, and local, are working together,
around the clock, to prevent attacks and to keep us safe. By showing those who want to do us arm that they will never beat us, by showing the entire world that as americans, we do not, and never will give into fear, thats going to be the most important ingredient in us defeating those who would carry out terrorist acts against us. Well, both of the president ial candidates, trump and clinton, weighed in today. On fox news this morning, trump said this was due to the fact, this incident, this terrorism was due to the fact that the country has been weak. Here he is. Well, its a mess and its a shame and were going to have to be very tough. I think, maub were going to be seeing a big change over the last couple of days. I think this is something that maybe well get, you know, will happen. Perhaps more and more, all over the country. What do you mean . More terror strikes . Yeah, because weve been weak. Our country has been weak. Were letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands. Ive been saying, youve got to stop it. Thats that. This morning, Hillary Clinton also addressed the attack and answered a question about trumps approach to immigration. This threat is real, but so is our resolve. Americans will not cower. We will prevail. We will defend our country and we will defeat the evil, twisted ideology of the terrorists. So, lets not get diverted and distracted by the kind of Campaign Rhetoric we hear coming from the other side. This is a serious challenge. We are well equipped to meet it. And we can do so in keeping with smart Law Enforcement, good intelligence, and in concert with our values. Well, for the latest on the investigation, im joined by nbc justice correspondent, Pete Williams. Pete, what do we know about this guy, this guy who did it . Well, a fair amount. In terms of his past, he came here in 95 with his parents, when he was about 7 years old. He was born in 1988 in
afghanistan. His parents sought asylum. They were eventually granted a asylum. He became a u. S. Citizen, went to high school and college in new jersey. And then began to travel to afghanistan, not surprising, thats where hes from, but his friends have said that he became radicalized, or at least he was a change ed person after he cam back from afghanistan. Thats going to be one of the Big Questions here is, what caused him to take this root . Thats something that the governments going to have to try to figure out. But for now, theyre still trying to build a criminal case against him. And thats a case thats going to be based on evidence, chris. And the evidence here, theyve got a lot of it for the simple reason that two of the three bombs they say he planted didnt go off. Now, one of them was a Pressure Cooker bomb on 27th street in new york that they found as they were canvassing the neighborhood for other explosives. And they found his fingerprint on it. Thats really quite astonishing. They always look for it, but seldom find it in these bombing cases. But they found his fingerprint on it. Secondly, cell phones were attached to it. They got the number of the cell phone, found out whose cell phone it was, where it was purchased, again, leading to him. And then you have this Surveillance Video of him not that one there, but the Surveillance Video of him Walking Around the two places where the bombs were set. So just lots of evidence led to him, and thats going to be the basis of these charges. The fbi said today that they can link him to all three of the bombs. The one set at seaside park new jersey, at the 5k race on saturday and the one in chelsea sunday night. The question of his radicalization, what caused him to do this, thats one theyll eventually have to answer nor the trial. But in terms of filing the criminal charges, their goal now is to try to show that he did it. And of course, we havent obviously heard from him. Im told that he had surgery today. He was sedated for that. He hasnt they really havent had a chance to erequest him yet. Theyve tried a little, and he wasnt in a very responsive mood, im told. Thanks, pete. You answered all my questions without me asking them. Nbcs Ayman Mohyeldin is in lyndon, new jersey, where the suspect was taken into custody today. Ayman, thank you. What can we get out of this guy . What do you think the questions will be . He goes to over afghanistan or pakistan or both over the years. You know what disturbs me as an american, and you too, when somebody goes through the effort to become a u. S. Citizen, its not ease, understand our culture, at least verbally understand it, you want to become an american. And after go all of the effort to become an american, saluting the flag and pledge of allegiance and everything youve sweared to, you decide to go the other way. Thats what disturbs people like us. Reporter yeah, no doubt theres a lot of very troubling questions about this. Because, you know, chris, on one happened, you were talking about
something that was very american. On the surface, this was a father who had a small chicken restaurant, so in some ways, it is the American Dream. He immigrated to this country, lived in a bad luck community, his children worked with him, trying to make a Better Living for himself. There are no doubt there are some characteristics on the surface that would say that he was living that kind of american immigrant dream that so many people aspire to. But at the same time, youre also raising these questions about, well, what led this individual to carry this out . And all of these will become questions that authorities and investigators will try to piece together. Theres no doubt that were using the word radicalism right now given the identity of the individual, but that may be premature as we learn more about the motivations behind that individual. You know, one of the points that were brought up earlier today, when i was talking to one of the Law Enforcement officials here is i was asking him, why do you think this guy would be sleeping out on the street here, and, you know, on the run away from cops . And one of the things he said to me was, well, maybe he didnt have a network, maybe he didnt have this cell that weve kind of been talking about in the media. A suggestion that perhaps he carried this out by himself. He didnt have a network of support. He didnt have a network of accomplices who were willing to take him in and to try to provide him with that shelter. So this notion that he was part of a larger cell may be somewhat premature. And as Pete Williams was reporting, he has not been hearing that as well from his sources. But you brought up the point about the American Dream and how he fits into it. And those are certainly questions that are going to be asked by investigators. What, if anything, led to this guy carrying these type of attacks out. Was it some mental disturbance . Purely criminal or radicalization . Or was it just he didnt fit in and he was angry at the people who were hassling his family at that restaurant. Youve heard those stories, too. Ayman mohyeldin, thank you so much for this report on site. Joining me, tara mahler, a military analyst at the cia. Let me ask you about this. How do you put the motives together just on what you heard. Apparently regular people in the neighborhood were hassling
although its always struck me, if youre going to run a restaurant, youve got to be somewhat social. But they say this family didnt talk to anybody. I dont even know how you do that. I guess its a takeout kind of place. The other thing is, how do you put together these misfit operations. Somebody in the army, somebody out in san bernardino, in a Government Office out there. These people seem to be fitting into the category of people up in connecticut. Its a combination of, i dont like the people around him. Im going to blow out against them or im going to send a message internationally. And this guy didnt even have an escape plan. Youre exactly right. And in a lot of cases, we look to cling to one maufgs. He could have been problems at home. Having problems psychologically. He could have been exposed to radical jihadist content online. All of these things created a perfect storm and motivated him to carry out the attack. We dont know yet, but the speed of this investigation, how quickly they apprehended him,
the evidence they have, the computers and the cell phones theyve been able to get into, well have a lot more about his motivations, who he was in touch, what he may have believed, if there were jihadist motives behind it, well see that. A lot of these people arent having contact with isis directly. Theyre not having meetings or going and becoming part of a hightier network, theyre becoming exposed to the content, the propaganda online. Because they want it. They want it. Theyre seeking it out. And its out there. The Tech Companies need to start cracking down on a lot the largest countries in the world, china and india, have a lots of poor people. Theyre not coming at us. Why are there certain groups of people coming at us . Its not poverty. People who hit us on 9 11 were educated technicians. These guys who put that together had careers ahead of us. They were not impoverished or in trouble. They just didnt fit in somehow. You have strongholds in syria and iraq who are trying to propagate an antiwestern message. And some of these people franchise in different places, they will grasp on to this. Not just in terms of going to fight there as a foreign fighter, but ideologically, messages resonate. In this case, it didnt seem like there was such great planning. He dropped it in that dumpster. Whyd they find it at the doorstep . I thought he may have done it, being positive, because he didnt want to incriminate his family or anybody else. So im going to go let him pick me up. Youre ascribing very genuine and anine motivations. It seems like there were lots of problems with this actual attack itself. He could have probably put that in a lot of other places and hit more people. Fortunately, he did not. Why attack dumpsters . Dumpster is meant to confine an explosive in a sense. Its barricading it. Its a safe attack, but not a safe escape, because he left all the evidence. Coming up right now, the politics of terror. Well get reaction from former mayor rudy giuliani, and chris murphy of connecticut, whos backing Hillary Clinton. This is hardball, the place for politics. Bp drilling teams train in Virtual Reality simulators in here, so were better prepared for any situation out there. Because safety is never being satisfied. And always working to be better. With 50 days before the election, floridas too close to call. Lets check the hardball scoreboard. According to a new Siena College poll for the New York Times, donald trump and clinton are tied 43all down in florida. A headtohead matchup and theyre even. Next to georgia whereby a new monomoth poll has trump leading, 4542, in a state democrats havent won by 92, still, trumps still leading. Wii be right back. Sorry, captain obvious. Dont be. Ive got the hotels. Com app, which makes it simple to book a room for 500. Or 25, but it wont be here. You can stay with me. Thanks. Ive already lost enou today. Hei dont want one thathadused a big wreck just say, sh me cars with no accidents rerted find the cars you want, avoid the ones you dont plus you get a free carfax® report with every listing i like i start your used car search at carfax. Com
male teacher andthe the largest planet . Someone we havent heard from. Female teacher anyone else . Through internet essentials, comcast has connected more than 3 Million People in need to lowcost, high Speed Internet at home, helping to make sure that every hand in the classroom goes up. Male teacher okay, veronica. Amphibian. Male teacher excellent. Welcome to a brighter future. Comcast. Welcome back to hardball. This weekends bombing in new york and new jersey have pushed National Security back to the forefront of the president ial debate and the campaign itself. With each side lobbying attacks at the other. Donald trump accused Hillary Clinton of being harder on his supporters than she is on islamic terrorists. Here she goes. Hillary clinton talks tougher about my supporters than she does about islamic terrorists, right . She calls the patriotic americans, who support our campaign, many of them cops and soldiers, deplorable and irredeemable. And she means it. To hear the words Hillary Clinton uses, one could be forgiven for getting the impression that she cans thee s impression that she cans thehe s hardworking americans are somehow a greater threat to our country than islamic extremists. Hillary clinton pushed back, as you might expect, accusing donald trump of demagoguery. Here she deposgoes. Well, its like so much else he says. Its not grounded in fact. Its meant to make some kind of
demagoguic point. And the facts are pretty clear. We still have chablgs. Thats what ive been talking about throughout this campaign. I am prepared to, ready to actually take on those challenges, not engage in a lot of, you know, irresponsible reckless rhetoric. Anyway, for more, were joined right now by the former mayor of new york city, rudy giuliani, a big trump senior adviser. Mr. Mayor, always great to have you on the show. By the way, congratulations on having gotten your candidate to say president obama was a legitimate president. That was a heavy lift and i give you credit for that, even though it was a bit delayed. Also, Hillary Clintons health, i hope you just saw her there. She looked very healthy. Do you think shes back on her feet again . Or do you think its a more serious illness than pneumonia . I will i will keep silent about it, but shortly after i said, i thought she looked ill, she collapsed, so, i dont know. What was the causality there . Were you the cause or just the measurer . Maybe i was the cause. It was only four days after and
all you people in the media went crazy on me when i said she looked pale. I really meant it. She looked pale. Dont start saying im sick, because power beyond your imagination here, mr. Mayor. Thank you. It could be. Lets talk about something that youre positively known for, thats how to deal with terrible situations. Here again its new york. The epicenter of our fight against terrorism, viking new york and new jersey, right across from new york, across the hudson. And here we are, and yet its a person that really disturbs me. I dont know if you just heard a minute ago, like you and everybody else in this country, we would like to think that these people that come to america to make it a better life, become naturalized. With all the effort and purpose that that entails, becoming americans. And then becoming our enemy, potentially. Hes a suspect, at least. What do we make of those cases . Ill tell you what you make of it in the big picture. Were fighting a twofront war, but dont seem to realize it. Were fighting isis and various other islamic terrorist groups
overseas. In some way. Very minor engagement there. And then, the second front is the homeland. Isis, unlike al qaeda, has figured out how to activate terrorist attacks in the homeland. Al qaeda did one, september 11, and after that we didnt have another one until ft. Hood under obama. Yeah, but ft. Hood wasnt