His comments were aimed directly at president bill clinton, amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal. And if these comments prove anything, its that hypocrisy in politics is alive and well. That will wrap things up for me this hour. Kasie hunt is back with us for the 3 00. Kasie, i dont know what mike pence is thinking when he stares adoringly at the speak as the president speaks, but i wonder if any of that is going through his head . Reporter lets just say that some of the behavior that we have, has been alleged against this president , is not necessarily anything that the mike pence that i have covered for many years would have ever approved of. Katy, its nice to see you. You too. Iam kasie hunt in for ali velshi. Rick gates, former Trump Deputy Campaign manager, and manaforts longtime business partner, has just concluded his testimony and for the first time in the trial, were hearing about manaforts time with the Trump Campaign. Gates is cooperating with the special counsels office, after pleading guilty to lying to investigators and hes not holding the back. He just confirmed previous reporting by nbc news that Paul Manafort promised a friend of his a job in the trump white house. For more on this, were going to go now to ken dilanian, nbcs National Security and intelligence reporter. He is, again, outside the courthouse for us. Ken, tell us a little bit about what these revelations mean in context to the case and what do we expect this afternoon . Reporter that friend, kasie, is a man named steven caulk, and hes a chicago banker with, and manafort is accused of defrauding his bank as part of a 16 million loan. Yet manafort was trying to get him a job as the secretary of the army in the Trump Administration, and there was an email introduced into evidence from december of 2016. This is well after Paul Manafort had left the Trump Campaign and after donald trump was elected president. And the email referenced the
no . Reporter yeah, this is huge for them. And it looks like its going terribly for manafort. Theres a mountain of evidence against him now, and it seems like their only chance is to somehow impugn rick gates. But even if they do that and even if the jury discounts everything that gates has said, theres a host of other evidence, including manaforts own tax records and the testimony of his accountants and bookkeepers about these foreign bank accounts, where he had millions of dollars that he didnt pay taxes on, kasie. Reporter ken dilanian in alexandria, virginia, thanks for keeping an eye on it, what seems to be a fascinating courtroom to be in. Thank you, as always. For more on this trial, i want to bring in glenn kirschner, a former federal prosecutor who spent his 30year career here in d. C. Glenn, rick gates has not been shy about saying, look, these are crimes that i committed. Hes even gone out there and said, i told these prosecutors about crimes that i committed, that they didnt even know about before we sat down. What whats the best outcome
Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Of this. Surprised its not a more colorful term, to be perfectly honest with you. But perhaps there is one you cant say on tv. Occasional, we use more colorful terms, but not here. Glenn kirschner, thank you so much for your time and your insights today. Really appreciate it. Turning now to ohio. Quote, we need change. The words of a democratic voter in ohios 12th district. The last special election before novembers midterms. This area was once solidly red, but the Political Climate might have changed enough to flip this district blue. And the results have major implications for both parties. President trump has campaigned for the gop candidate, state senator troy balderson. Trump won the state by 11 points less than two years ago. But the president s support could now be a big liability. Thats because the democratic candidate, danny oconnor, has panted himself as the moderate in the race, and this is an area that former president ial candidate john kasich, a fierce trump critic, once represented. As politico sums it up, anything short of a 5 to 7point win over
upscale suburbs tend to be college educated, whitecollar professional class. This area is a third of the population, a third of the vote is going to come out of this. Right here, this small area. This is the blue part of the district. And its become really, really blue, because of donald trump. You see, trump lost it by nearly 20 points to Hillary Clinton. That was a huge change. He ran the president ial election here in this same area in 2012. It was almost a tie. Obama won by a couple of points over romney. Absolutely exploded in the age of trump, so this is the epicenter of Democratic Energy here. That sort of suburban resistance to donald trump. That is the story here. Take a look outside of that area, in a little bit of the suburbs up here in delaware. But take a look, you know, the rest of the district here, its the exact opposite story. You are talking about blue collar, tends to be a blue collar, noncollege whites, you know, rural in some cases, small cities. Talk about zanesville here. Heres a perfect kpamexample. Talk about the trump surge in places like this, this county,
overwhelmingly that they needed to turn out to vote, but that republicans, quite frankly, didnt, and that some of those attacks on Social Security and medicare issues had been working with seniors. What are you hearing on the ground . And what effects did trumps visit have there . Thats another thing these sources told me that, they really needed him to just make sure everybody was aware that they needed to go vote. Reporter yeah, kasie, prior to trumps visit here, i think you saw a reversal of what would be the normal midterm dynamic, where republicans tend to be a lot more dialled in on midterm elections than democrats are in this special election. Democrats were fired up in this one from the word go, and republicans needed a reason to get behind their candidate, troy balderson, who has been a state senator here for some time. Hes got a lot of experience, but has been a bit of a lackluster campaigner. He hasnt exactly set the world on fire. The trump visit here did help republicans in that sense. It galvanized their voters a little bit, got them to make sure they were paying attention, and make sure they could connect
balderson, who they only sort of care about, to trump, who is the core of the Republican Base right now. Whether that had the flip side effect of amping up democrats a little bit more is tough to say. Theres nobody in this district certainly that ive talked to who was somehow on the fence about donald trump before that visit. But the president has galvanized voters on the left, too, and what will make this left or break it, will be whether the president s existence, whether the way he and washington, d. C. Have operated over the last year and a half has turned off enough of those mitt romney republicans or conservative democrats, who dont typically vote, and got them out to the polls. I talked to some folks like that earlier today. Heres what ive been hearing. Its kind of, i dont know, embarrassing, i think, for all of us to see the kind of shenanigans that are going on at the highest level of government right now. This is really more about sending a message, you know . The republicans have to wake up, you know . If theyre not if theyre not
going to be a break on this guy, then we vote for the other side. Im really not happy with the way politics are going in our country right now and i really believe we need to change. Reporter so kasie, with the cavi caveat that its all anecdotal, what seems to be connecting with voters in this district is running against washington. That worked for donald trump in 2016. Danny oconnor seems to be the candidate who has captured that energy now. We will know tonight, hopefully, whether he captured enough of it to be the first democrat to represent this district in his own lifetime. Hopefully, indeed. Steve kornacki, if youre still with me, can i get a little preview of how the nights going to look . I know were all excited to see you at the big board, but what is one place . If were looking at one county, one spot on the map as a leading indicator here, where should we be watching . Yeah, look, i think delaware county. This is just north of columbus here, about a quarter of the
vote is going to come out of it. That was a bad number for republicans. Republicans should be winning that by a lot more. This is where trump came and had that rally over the weekend. If the republicans in balderson is in trump territory here or even worse, thats a very bad sign for republicans. Delaware county, the waukesha of tonights congressional race. Steve kornacki and garrett haake, thanks to you both, really appreciate it. So what does this tell us about the upcoming 2018 midterms in november . For that, i am joined by connie schultz, she is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and a former columnist for the cleveland plain dealer, now a nationally syndicated column iist. Full disclosure, she is married to sherrod brown. Connie, great to see you again. I really appreciate you being here. Im interested to know what you think, as someone who spends time on the ground, thinking through, understanding that the political dynamics of the state of ohio. This is a place that has often been the bellwether, so goes ohio, so goes the country. But there was some conversation after the election of 2016 that perhaps it would go for republicans and no longer be a swing state. What is this race that were going to watch tonight tell you about the State Of Play there . And where do you think things sit in ohio . Well, casie, first of all, i want to say, i dont usually come midday, but i have such high regard for your work as a journalist, which is why im here right now. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Sure. Back in 2004, stay with me for just a moment, when i was still at the plain dealer, we did a series. I wasnt part of it, but it was a huge amount of reporting called the five ohios, and it was called that for a reason. You cant look at one election in the state of ohio and make any determination about how the states going to go, because it is a bellwether state, always. And i was listening to steve and the other reporter, im sorry, im drawing a blank on the name. Garre garrett haake. Thank you. I couldnt see his face, so it was harder. No worries. There are substantiative issues at play. Health care looms so large. And a lot of suburban women care about health care. The other thing were not talking about at all, but suburban women are starting to respond to the Family Separations. So i think that could be in play, as well. Keep in mind that balderson, just last month, said he wanted to raise the eligibility age for medicare and Social Security. And, of course, that was a bomb that blew up for him. And hes tried to dial that back and he has his mother in an ad for him right now. But oconnor has an ad that compares him to kasich in terms of his willingness to work with others. And supporting what governor kasich, a republican did on medicaid. So you cant look at this one district and predict whats going to happen around the country, certainly. And not around the state. But, again, this has not been as was already mentioned, this Congressional District has not been in play for, what, three decades, almost. And that it is in play now has a lot to do with how people are feeling about these substantiative issues, certainly about trump, as well. And keep in mind, the day before trump came to ohio, he went
after lebron james. And you dont have to live in the cleveland area to care that the president was attacking lebron james. Hes popular around the country. He crosses all ethnic and racial lines, economic lines, and people all across the state love him. So that was not the smartest move for him. And then you have balderson yesterday talking about, he was in zanesville staying, we dont want people in Franklin County determining whos you know, my Immediate Reaction when i heard that was, wait a minute, ive got weve got two daughters, four grandchildren, two sonsinlaws we happen to be very fond of and they all live in Franklin County. Whats wrong with Franklin County . And it made me realize, there are a lot of people in zanesville who know or love someone in Franklin County right now. It was such a tonedeaf move, im still trying to understand how he could have said that. He must have really tired and hot. Well, we certainly have been dealing with a heat wave. Can i ask you, you know, i think for a lot of us who covered you know, i was on the road for the 2016 campaign, but there was a lot of assumptions about
who what the outcome of that was going to be. And theres been a lot of reflection since about, you know, how to make sure that those kinds of mistakes arent made again. Im wondering, is there anything that youre picking up on the ground in ohio that you think we in the National Media should be paying attention to . The local trends, the feelings among your neighbors, people who have switched, who may have surprised you. Is there anything that you think we should be watching in the next couple of months . Well, i live in the city of cleveland. So im not surprised, particularly, in our neighborhood, our surrounding area is predominantly africanamerican. So im not surprised, because its been very consistent. You know, we have the same conversations over and over again of real substance, but the concerns havent changed that much. What im hearing particularly from ohio, i go back to these suburban moms in particular who supported trump. Some of whom did not. Who voted for obama, but didnt want to vote for Hillary Clinton, they voted for donald trump. And two themes keep bubbling up. Number one, even if they still somewhat support trump, they dont want everyone else to behave like him. They dont want a governor like trump or a member of Congress Like trump or a mayor like trump, right . But again, i go to the Family Separations issue. I dont think were paying enough attention to how much this has affected a lot of voters, particularly women. Who, weve all seen the images. I mean, weve all been a child, right . Lets start that. And if youve ever loved a child and you watch that, and i dont think were paying enough attention to that, yet. That could have a longterm impact, depending on how much the democrats bring it up, i think. Connie schultz, thank you so much for your insights today and thanks for coming on. Sure. Coming up, what some are calling Junk Insurance. The new, inexpensive plans being pushed by the Trump Administration in an effort to undermine obamacare. Well explain who really pays for those. But first, an nbc news exclusive. President trumps next immigration target. Legal immigrants. The details of his plan, a plan
that could leave 20 Million People in limbo, up after the break. Youre watching msnbc. P. And at expedia, we dont think you should be rushed into booking one. Thats why we created expedias addon advantage. Now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. Boost® high protein. Be up for life. Legal immigrants to become citizens, affecting millions of people. And they plan to do it by going after anyone who has used certain Public Welfare programs. Nbcs National Security and justice reporter, Julia Ainsley joins me now with more on her exclusive reporting. First of all, julia, great reporting. Some of these programs include theyre essentially targeting people who have used obamacare, the Childrens Health insurance program, food stamps. Can you just explain a little bit about what the changes would be and also, how is it that the Trump Administration can do this basically unilaterally . Yeah, thats a great question. I was asking myself the same thing. So i was directed back to this law that was passed in the 1800s, if you can think ellis island days, that think that immigrants coming in who wanted citizenship, it should be considered whether or not they would be a public charge. Whether they would be a drain on the American Economy rather than supporting it. That has been broadened over the years. And even now, most immigrants who are on Social Security insurance, ssi, what we think of
as classic welfare, cash assistance, they would have a hard time gettinging citizenship. Generally, they want to see you prove that you are table to work here if youre getting a green card or moving from green card to citizenship. What is changing is how much they are broadening this. Theyre going after so many social programs that could be potential disqualifiers. That would be like, if youve used the Insurance Exchange thats provided through obamacare, if youve had Childrens Health insurance, which in a lot of states is given to people well above the poverty line, or if youve used food stamps. Some versions even included heat assistance. A lot of things that are, yes, given to people who might be falling through the cracks, and who need a social safety net, but also things given to people who could be making as much as 250 of the poverty line. Julia ainsley, thanks so much for shining a light on this. Kasie. Coming up, michigans race for governor is testing the limits of the left. One candidate, gretchen
whitmore, well talk to her about her strategy and her partys internal struggle in the primary. Stay right here with msnbc. Dear foremothers, your society was led by a wom