On this monday. Im alex witt alongside say your name. Louis burgdorf. Almost forgot that. There you go, morning joe starts right now. Good morning. Its monday, september 19th. Welcome to morning joe. We have with us Mark Halperin and John Heilemann together. And chair of the department of africanamerican studies at Princeton University, author of the book democracy and black and columnist for time magazine. What a busy weekend. A lot of things going on political lly but also with attacks in new york and across the country. Were following breaking news out of new jersey where a suspicious device found at a train station exploded early this morning. The blast happened just before 1 00 a. M. In elizabeth, new
jersey. Roughly 20 miles from saturdays bombing in new york city. Elizabeths mayor says two men discovered a backpack which had been thrown into a garbage can near the station. The fbi now says there were multiple ieds inside. This is video of the captured blast just a little while ago. The discovery of this latest device comes as police in new york city continue their investigation into saturdays bombing in manhattan that hurt 29 people. Authorities say they stopped a vehicle of interest last night near the citys bridge. Five people are being questioned. Authorities say none have been charged. Officials say that surveillance
video captured near the scene of saturdays blast along with video of where a possible secondary device was located just blocks away may show the same men at both locations. Investigators are analyzing the possible similarities between the new york city devices and the one that detonated saturday morning in seaside park, new jersey. They say that all three contained older flip style mobile phones. Several Law Enforcement officials tell nbc news they are concerned there may be an active terror cell with multiple players at work in the new York New Jersey area. Governor andrew cuomo say authorities are teaching saturdays explosion as an act of terrorism but watt ns not le to an International Terrorism group. He offered a defiant message to the people of new york city. Whoever placed these bombs,
we will find and they will be brought to justice. Period. We will not allow these type of people and these type of threats to disrupt our life in new york. Thats what they want to do. Were not going to let them do it. This is freedom. This is democracy and were not going to allow them to take that from us. Joining us from elizabeth, new jersey, Nbc News National Correspondent miguel almaguer. What are Authorities Saying this morning about the ieds found there . Reporter we do know that authorities according to the mayor cut into that initial ied and it exploded inside this backpack area where there were four other devices. The mayor told us a short time ago investigators were still trying to collect all of the rest of those ieds and this area and they would be taken to quanti
quantico, virginia. Investigators including the fbi, atf and state police remain on scene here after that initial blast that we heard. Authorities told us we may hear several followup blasts as they try to detonate those explosive devices or move them from this location. We have not yet heard another blast. This incident shut down the local area here including a major train station in this area. Its disrupted rail service along the corridor. Investigators we know a short time ago were also seen walking over the tracks searching for any type of detonation device or ied that may be on the train tracks. The mayor told us from his perspective it appeared that the ied, this backpack, was found inside a trash can close to a local bar or tavern and it didnt appear as though the bag was specifically put near this train station. Investigators remain very heavy out here. Large Police Presence as they continue to sweep this area in
the dark and theyre waiting for the sun to come up. Nbcs miguel almaguer, thank you very much. We also have our cameras on a second location in elizabeth, new jersey, where theres apparently another active investigation under way there. No word yet exactly whats going on there. But our cameras are trained on that. A lot of concern obviously with the unga this week. President coming to town. A lot of security. Helicopters whizzing above even as we walked in the buildings this morning. Heres what both Hillary Clinton and donald trump said on saturday when addressing the explosion in new york city saturday night. I must tell you that just before i got off the plane, a bomb went off in new york and nobody knows exactly whats going on. Boy, we are living in a time we better get tough, folks. We better get very, very tough. A terrible thing thats going on in our world and in our country, and we are going to get tough and smart and vigilant and were going to end it. Were going to end it. Ive been briefed about the bombings in new york and new jersey and the attack in minnesota. Obviously we need to do everything we can to support our First Responders and also to pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold. Your reaction to the fact that donald trump immediately called the explosion in new york a bomb . I think its important to know the facts about any incident like this. I think its always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions because we are just in the beginning stages of trying to determine what happened. So help me out here, mark. Donald trump talked about bombings. That was an hour later. Hillary clinton said ive been briefed on the bombings. And you saw tweets from establishment type figures from influencers saying how reckless of donald trump to say even after Hillary Clinton said ive been briefed on the bombings. No doubt he is a little bit reckless and loose with his rhetoric. I didnt think in this case it necessarily was just based on what was being publicly reported let alone what he may have been told privately by Law Enforcement. That seemed like an unnecessary case of jumping on him for something which he does have propensity to do. I suspect this is going to be the dominant story all week. Donald trumps running mate has once again been tasked with defending controversial remarks coming from the top of the ticket. Governor mike pence says it was
nonsense to suggest that donald trump was encouraging violence against Hillary Clinton when he said this in miami friday night. Shes against the Second Amendment. She wants to destroy her second wbr id wbr4945 amendme amendment. I think her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm. I think they should disarm immediately, yes . Yeah. Take their guns away. She doesnt want guns. Lets see what happens to her. He said the secret service protecting Hillary Clinton should disarm and then he said lets see what happens to her. What did he mean by that . Well, i think, you know, donald trump believes in the safety and security of every american and any suggestion wbr id wbr5315 otherwise regarding secretary clinton is just nonsense. The point that he was making was that Hillary Clinton has had b
private security now in her life for the last 30 years but she would deny the right of law abiding citizens to have a firearm in their home to protect their own families. Donald trump was saying if Hillary Clinton didnt have all that security, she would be more supportive of the Second Amendment. Lets see what happens to her. Whether he intended that or not, the message sounds like a threat or encouraging violence. Thats absolute nonsense. The comment was if she didnt have that security she, would change her attitude about the right to keep and bear arms. I would suspect thats probably true. We were very critical of what donald trump said on the Second Amendment people. That crossed so many lines. Never heard anything like it. This is something that conservatives have been saying for some time. Who is shocked and stunned and deeply saddened about this . He shouldnt speak that carelessly. What do you mean . He shouldnt speak that
carelessly. Those remarks are open to interpretation. Which part . Lets have a discussion. Youre speaking in generalities. See what happens to her if secret Service Agents dont have guns . But they are always going have guns. The implication of what hes saying is lets disarm those around her so she is vulnerable and therefore lets see what happens to her. See thats the thing. Shes always going to be protected by guns. And this argument, by the way, Hillary Clinton has people around her with guns wherever she went since 1978. Since 1978. For her to say somebody wants to protect their family with a certain kind of gun shouldnt have that gun and shes been against handguns as well or her husband certainly is talking about a handgun ban back in the
1990s, seems to conservatives to be the same as environmental activists screaming at americans for driving a pickup truck while theyre flying around the country in a hawk or 800 xl. Whats the proposal she has on the table to deny americans the right to keep and bear arms in their homes . Extensive background checks so people with a medical or mental problem or a criminal conviction in their past cant have access to guns. Its a big difference between saying the secret Service Agents who are trained and authorized and responsible should have guns and saying that people who have mental problems and criminal backgrounds should have access to guns. I have the same problem that the two of these have. Talking loosely about the safety
of the other candidate is a dumb thing to do. Youre sort of suggesting that something bad might happen to her. Why introduce that as a piece of rhetoric and then the pence thing thats just a lie. She wants to deny people to have arms in their home. I dont know that Hillary Clinton proposal currently on the table by which she says the Second Amendment should be repealed or people shouldnt be allowed to have guns at home. So we dont talk about things that are worse like birther thing and other things we have to cover. I think its really stupid argument. Its incredibly stupid. Like i said, far more offended by that whole who knows. Maybe the Second Amendment people will have a solution than by this. I understand the lets see what happens is ridiculous as me saying, you know what . You think youre so smart . Im going to build a rocketsh sp
and youre going to go to mars and lets see if youre as smart as you think you are. What we cant do is confuse people who have the legitimate use of firearms, police, secret service, and the like with every day ordinary citizens. The idea the analogy doesnt work for me. The idea of taking guns away from secret service is taking guns from police doesnt make sense. Part of the problem is alignment, close proximity between the claim we all think was ridiculous about lets see what Second Amendment people can do and what happens to her. Has a suggestion toome folk that harm can be done to her. He shouldnt traffic in that at all. Im in the minority here. I think again what im saying in my rocket ship to mars argument is Hillary Clinton will no more walk down the street without a ton of secret Service People around her for the rest of her life most likely than you would fly to mars. Hes not even making eye contact now. I totally lost him. You would make a Statement Like that never. Absolutely never. Let me just say, first of all to distract from what were about to do. The statement i would make is its easy for someone like Hillary Clinton or fill in the blank who right now may not have a proposal to do that but over the past 30 years the left has had proposals to do this. She has detailed policy proposals shes put on the table. The other thing is i have heard
you make 1,000 smart nuance arguments about whats acceptable gun Safety Measures and what are unacceptable intrusions on the Second Amendment. Donald trump could make those arguments. He could criticize her in 500 ways on gun control. He could do that. There are a million ways to talk about that that dont incite these fears. Again, i want to be well within the perimeters i want to be clear here since everyone will pile on me after this is over. I want to be very clear. If you want to see what i think about people doing anything that might encourage any wing nut out there to do anything to any politician, go back and look at the clips and see how i exscor a
exscoriated donald trump. Maybe im just wrong. This one is worse. He did it again. You know, im against phony outrage by either campaign or anyone. This isnt phony outrage. Its upsetting to someone whose life has been threatened. Just shouldnt do it. Plenty for him to talk about and plenty of ways to criticize her. I must be wrong here then because he did it to distract. From this. On friday donald trump acknowledged that he believed that president obama was in fact born in the United States. But no. But no. He still had to making the announcement during a stop at his New Washington hotel on budget. Hillary clinton and her
campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy. I finished it. I finished it. You know what i mean. President barack obama was born in the United States period. Now we all want to get back to making america strong and great again. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. But if that declaration was meant to put an end to the controversy, it didnt. They penced all weekend. Take a look. If your campaign believes its a smear, shouldnt donald trump apologize to the president . We were reminding people where this started. I know theres news reports that traced this Birther Movement back to Hillary Clintons campaign in 2008. You believe that Hillary Clinton started the birther
movement . Look, ill let the facts speak for themselves. I think it was something that got started in the 2008 president ial campaign. Whose fault it was, Hillary Clinton herself, her supporters, her interns, her staffers, clearly it was something that was circulating in 2008. So im agreeing with you he took it further. He took it further. And he brought it into the public debate even more so than what was brought in in 2008. By the evidence before us, Hillary Clinton was involved in it. We cant say it is not true. They were questioning where he was born. By the way, an issue that patty doyle in 2008 admitted was an issue that mrs. Clinton injected into her campaign in
2008 in a quiet but direct way against then senator obama. Just as a point of fact again, donald trump did not accept when barack obama released his birth certificate and kept this until friday thats five years. We only have a little time left so i want to ask you thats just not true that he kept it up for five years. Its simply not true. It is true. It wasnt like he was talking about it on a regular basis until then. Hes wrong. Donald trump has talked about this continuously for the last five years. Its not true that he dropped it. Its not true that he walked back from it. Every time he was asked about it, he raised it. John heilemann . I agree with katty. The notion that trump from the moment he obtained the birth certificate to begin with, from the start of the rumor
through to the provision of the long form birth certificate was an outrageous racist its not like donald trump tried to claim credit for putting to race a legitimate debate. Never a legitimate debate. He was always born in america. No sensible sane person thought he was born in kenya. Then the birth certificate was produced. Trump said after that i put it to rest. There was a tweet trail for him for years after and on television from 2011 to 2015 where every time he was asked about it he continued to say i dont know where hes from. Maybe the birth certificate is fake. Absurd he didnt talk about it for four years. Its false. Heilemann called it an outrageous, racist trope. Do you agree . Absolutely. Its designed to deny the legitimacy of the Obama Presidency and has stoked a range of ridiculous kinds of
assumptions and responses to the Obama Presidency. So not only was it outrageous and racist, its aim and purpose was to in some ways block the way to the success or to the efforts of the Obama Presidency. So, yeah, i mean, then to deny that he to suggest that he put it to rest, this guy can say one thing and then say the exact opposite and think people are just stupid. So whats the longterm impact . He needs to answer questions about this. Im just asking politically, he is moving up in the polls. Hillary appears to be moving down. I personally think now like i said would happen two weeks ago when everyone said the race was over, just about everybody, i feel like its flattening out now. I think things will tighten up. I think well see it in the polls a week from now. I feel it. The hair on the back of my neck is telling me this. That said, if youre in trumps camp, why do you have to hold a press conference and explain this politically everything is going your way. Theres an intervening event now and trump has done well when theres been terror attacks. Unfortunately these attacks are going to be part of the discussion. Im not sure that the trajectory is going to change. He didnt put it to rest is the problem. He must answer questions about why he was willing to say it. Hes made this an issue. Im not sure the trajectory of the Birther Movem