Hot spot. Top rivals, joe biden and Kamala Harris are holding a combined five different events a day after the former Vice President apologized for remarks about two segregationists senators. That apology getting lots of reaction. I think it is fair to talk about the fact if youre dealing with a racist or segregationist as he was, you have to call them out. He has now apologized for not doing that at the time and apologized for his past statements on bussing. I first want to say thank you. You know, we are at a point in our country where we need our leaders to be able to speak towards race issues without falling the law defensive bur posture or shifting blame. I cant believe he said i should apologize. Democrats also continuing to pursue africanamerican voters this weekend in new orleans. Pete buttigieg, threeeighths to appear at this weekends Essence Festival. The south bend mayor addressed the continuing anger over the Fatal Police Shooting in the city. But as we faced our own challenges with Racial Equity in our city, a number of areas im proud, and a number of areas where we have fallen short. We have to own up to that and its important to accept responsibility for what needs to change. Pete buttigieg talking with reverend al sharpton. Were going to talk with the rev in a few minutes. Stick around for that. Candidates not only on the ground but in the air. Four democratic hopefuls on the sunday shows. But it was not a democrat getting all the attention this morning. It was the man who prompted a twitter tantrum from the president , michigan congressman justin amash explaining his decision to leave the Republican Party. Ive had concerns with the Republican Party for several years. Ive had concerns with the party system generally. When i first got to congress, i thought i could change things from the inside, but as ive spent time there, ive seen that not only me, i dont think there is anyone in there who can change the system. Today a New Washington post abc poll shows that trump with his largest Approval Rating of his presidency, but far more people a full 53 still disapprove of the job hes doing as commander in chief. Shaq brewster is in new orleans. But lets start with mike memoli in charleston where joe biden is speaking now at a town hall. I understand the former Vice President talked to reporters just a short time ago. Thats right, richard. Im going to try to keep my voice low. Vice president is actually taking questions from the audience here, something we havent seen him do a lot in the campaign. As you mentioned, yes, he did take questions from reporters. Part of an effort here by the campaign to really turn the page from what has been a difficult few weeks since those comments about segregationists lawmakers more than two weeks ago and then, of course, that tense debate exchange with Kamala Harris last week. One of the ways hes trying to turn the page is talking about the future. But at least the repehes talki about his service along with president obama. We heard perhaps thats a signal that hes a weak frontrunner, that he cant stand on his own two feet. I had a chance to ask him about that earlier today. Lets take a listen. What do you say about using the name of obama because you cant stand on your own . I say lets talk about the future instead of talk about the past. Thats what this is all about. Have i made mistakes . Yes. Do we grow, yes. But thats why i chose here in South Carolina and chose an audience that, in fact, would be the most likely to have been offended by anything that was said. The Vice President was also asked about why it did take so long to make that apology. What he told reporters was that he wanted to do that in a setting like South Carolina which has, of course, significant africanamerican population. That audience is one that would have been most offender, and thats why he wanted to do it in South Carolina. Mike memoli there with joe biden speaking right behind him covering what has happened within the last 24 hours. Appreciate that. Over to the last day of the 25th anniversary Essence Festival in new orleans where Pete Buttigieg was the last of the 7 2020 candidates to speak at the event. Hes been under fire for a Police Shooting in his hometown. Shaq brewster is at the Essence Festival. Shaq, can you tell us what was the reaction there to what Pete Buttigieg said . Reporter mayor pete was the last candidate to speak on stage here. Just to set it up a little bit, right now theres a celebration of black women and gospel going on behind me. Essence festival focused on black women and black art. Mayor buttigieg was asked by reverend al sharpton about the so about that apologize bend you heard from Vice President biden. He was the last of six candidates to come up on that stage and take questions and give a speech and give his pitch to voters. Listen to what he had to say. Its important to accept responsibility for what needs to change. And i hope now the conversation can be a forwardlooking one about Racial Equity because every candidate, frankly, especially white candidates, need to find their voices on this issue. Reporter and the Common Thread from all the candidates that went on stage today and yesterday was that black women should be the focus of the democratic party, that black women have showed up and showed out at the polls. So they need to be targeted with specific policies. Thats why you heard senator Kamala Harris yesterday announce a 100 billiondollar plan that focuses on home ownership. You heard Elizabeth Warren saying she would take executive actions on day one that would address wages for women of color. You see the candidates coming out here, spending their time with black voters trying to show these voters are the focus. Shaq brewster there in new orleans covering the Essence Festival. A lot was covered over this last day. Thank you so much, shaq. Our very own reverend al sharpton speaking to the candidates, appearing there at the Essence Festival about how they will fight for black americans. Take a listen. Were making sure we have a full review of everything from use of force policies, with a lot of transparency to the way these body cameras work. How would you deal with the race wealth gap and the race economic gap . The racial wealth gap has gotten wider and has not closed over the last two decades. A lot of the policy ideas that i have dont just address poverty in general, but they also specifically get at this issue. Are you convinced deep down inside that you are ready for the fight if youre the nominee with this kind of president . Im ready. I have taken all kinds of predators. And ill tell you, we have a predator living in the white house. [ cheers ]. Joining us from new orleans is reverend al sharpton, host of politicsnation here on msnbc. Good to see you and glad you were able to speak with all the candidates at the festival. Who appeared the most president ial . I think that all of them came off reasonably well. I think certainly Kamala Harris being the black woman candidate was well received, but all of them, i think, were well received. And i think that they came specifically with policy points that they would do, which shows the respect they have for the gathering. One of the things i was concerned about and michelle e. Banks, who also shared with me in the conversation we didnt want to be patronized. We wanted to see what specifically they would do about race, what specifically would be their policies in terms of economic inequality as well as criminal justice. And they came prepared for that. This is the essence. I was asked to host that part of it because ive spoken every one of the 25 years and i wanted to followup the fact that all of them other than two, about 14 of them had appeared at National Action networks convention that committed to come to essence and we would do it as a followup as we will ton to do throughout the primaries. Spoken at every single of the 25 Essence Festivals. That says a lot there. In the arc of that, rev, where has the Energy Changed this year compared to the last cycle when you had a black man running for president and here you have, again, at least one africanamerican running for president this cycle . I think the Energy Change is that when barack obama was running and came to the Essence Festival, i believe it was in 06 into 07, that there was the aspiration of electing someone that could be president that was prepared and that had a shot at winning. I think today the difference is that theres the aspiration of seeing someone beat donald trump. Right. I think that the real motivation of a lot of the people and there are hundreds of thousands that have been there this weekend is that they feel trumps policies are hurting what has transpired turnover last half century in terms of civil rights and Voting Rights achievements. Hey, rev, i know you know the poll that came out from quinnipiac that looked at black innovators. You look at biden, 31 . Kamala harris, 27 . Booker, 5 . The key is biden in the last 24 hours that we started this hour staying yesterday he decided to finally apologize. You were the first person to interview him after he declared his candidacy and you asked him about this very issue. What do you make of his response now after he apologized yesterday . I think that he could have done it two weeks ago. He was on our show tweaks ao weo in South Carolina. I tried three or four ways to get him to understand the feelings, the hurt, and i said personally. And he didnt. He came back to South Carolina and apologized yesterday. That is good he apologized. It shows the president between him and the sitting president. But the question many will ask is why did it take two weeks . I think he could have done that two weeks ago, which not only would have been the political right thing to do because it would not have been an issue in the debate. I think it would have been the moral right thing to do if, in fact, you understand that your words were hurtful to a lot of people. You should stand up and own it and i think he had an opportunity to do it but it took two weeks. But im glad he did get there. I would just wish it had been two weeks ago. On the floor there at the Essence Festival, was it talked about in terms of the former. Vice president apologizing, number one . Number two, as he mentioned, barack obama vetted me, i must be okay, thats been his response so far. How did those two message points work with those on the floor there at the Essence Festival . I think that a lot of people that i spoke with over this weekend have said that they did not understand why he couldnt apologize. Many of them favor him because of his vice presidency with president obama. But they were perplexed, particularly with his answer that seemed to lean towards states rights when he said to senator Kamala Harris, you were bussed because the local school board. That was perplexing. Some were relieved when he apologized. But saying president obama selected him twice, that carries weight. But these statements he made two and a half weeks ago was after obama had selected him. Hes got to deal with the fact that even though theyre talking about things 40 or 50 years ago, he didnt make those statements 40 or 50 years ago, he made them two and a half weeks ago about how he could work with races and segregationists and the question they never called him boy and all that. That was not said 50 years ago, so barack obama couldnt have vetted what he said two and a half weeks ago. Reverend al sharpton live at the Essence Festival. Thank you so much, rev. Be sure to catch the rev on politicsnation. Thats going to be at the top of the hour. Stick around for that. Coming up, the u. S. Womens soccer team, can i say anything else here . History, fourpeat . They did it. They made history at the world cup. Its a lifelong adventure finding all of these new connections all the time. New features. Greater details. Richer stories. Get your dna kit today at ancestry. Com. Or trips to mars. 4. 95. Delivery drones or the latest phones. 4. 95. No matter what you trade, at fidelity its just 4. 95 per online u. S. Equity trade. Thats it. U. S. Wins their fourth world cup. Yeah, you wanted to be there, all 330 million of you americans out there. They are champions. U. S. Now has won half of all of the fifa world cup competitions. They are the winningest in the world. They bead the netherlands 20 to win its fourth world cup in three decades. Fans coast to coast celebrating this hour. [ cheers ] usa usa usa little girls get inspired by this. The womens team are like superheroes to me. I cried every single goal. Theyre awesome, yeah. All right. Nbcs kelly cobe is in leon. Richard, i can guarantee you, american fans will be partying through the night tonight after their team won their fourth world cup, backtoback victories now, the only second womens team to accomplish that. German did it back in 2007. No doubt the u. S. Team is now the best in the world. But boy did they have to fight for it. The dutch really put up a strong defense. The u. S. , which has scored in every other game in the first 12 00 this tournament, didnt get a goal until the second half and it came off a penalty on alex morgan, Megan Rapinoe nailed it. A short time later, rose la very well coming getting through two defenders to score the second goal. This was an incredibly emotional win for this team. They said all along theres a target on their back because theyre defending champions. Theyve been criticized for the way they play, the way they celebrate, and for issues that theyve taken on off the field. Tonight the cocapital, Megan Rapinoe at times controversial has won it all, essentially. The golden boot for most goals scored, six goals, three assists. The golden ball for best player of the entire tournament, and best player of this match tonight when she was asked about it, she said its surreal. I dont know what to feel right now. Its ridiculous. Lots of congratulations as you can see imagine are being tweeted out tonight, including from first lady, melania trump. As you know, richard, the parade is already being planned. Richard . We cannot wait. We will see you at that parade. The winningest World Cup Team womens soccer. Coming up, a leaked memo from one of britains top diplomats, causing a stir over what he says about President Trump. Plus, the fallout over congressman justin amash turning his back on the republican parties. S back on the republican parties. vo parents have a way of imagining the worst. Especially when your easily distracted teenager has the car. At subaru, were taking on distracted driving [ping] with sensors that alert you when your eyes are off the road. The allnew subaru forester. The safest forester ever. The latest Charter School scandals are piling up. Leaders of one san Diego Charter network . Indicted for conspiracy and grand theft. Thankfully, the governors Charter School policy task force just made important recommendations for reform more accountability on Charter School spending. And giving local School Districts more control over the authorization of Charter Schools. Reforms we need to pass now. So call your state senator. Ask them to support ab 1505 and ab 1507. Welcome back. The u. K. s top diplomat in the United States reportedly says President Trump is incompetent. Thats according to diplomatic documents leaked to the mail on sunday newspaper. Britains ambassador made the highly critical comments in a series of memos to london. The paper says he says the Trump White House is inept, insecure, clumsy, uniquely dysfunctional and filled with knife fights. Nbc news has not seen these cables. He reached out to the white house and the u. K. Ambassadors office for comment. The u. K. Foreign office defended him saying ambassadors are allowed to be candid but added his views do not represent those of the government. Nbc news correspondent hans nichols is in berkeley heights, new jersey, where the president is this weekend. Hans, those who are following european leaders would say, okay, this is an ambassador to the United States who minds his ps and kqs. Hes been around for four decades and many european leaders have weighed in with similar criticisms of this president. On the flip side, has the white house, has President Trump reacted to these reports because hes known, at least by critics, as having fairly thin skin . Reporter nothing from the white house yet or the president. He will be flying back here to washington, d. C. , shortly and hell end up at the white house this evening. Well see if the press pool will have a chance to engage the president and get his view as well as a variety of other topics. He this is before you had public diplomacy. Theyre trying to explain their government positions to royal