Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Election again this november. Over the next three months im going to do everything i can to keep America Great again. To keep America Great again. That sentence doesnt even make sense. Sex, lies and betrayal. Manaforts defense team goes after rick gates painting him as the ringleader who stole millions from manafort to support a lending. Had a great day. A great day. And turn signal, teslas ceo elon musk comes Out Of Nowhere on twitter, suggesting he has securelied funding to take the Company Private in what would be the biggest buy outin history. Hearings the question, is it for real . Or is it musk to punish the sellers of the stock and the doubters of what he thinks is his genius . We begin, of course in the state of ohio where critical special election for an open
house seat is still this morning too close to call. The republican Candidate Clinging to a narrow lead in a solidly red district. President trump won by 11 points less than two years ago. I have a great panel here to break all of it down. But first, lets take a look at where things stand at this moment. In the district, that has been in the gops hands for 35 years. Democrat Danny Oconnor trails behind Republican Troy Balderson by a razor thin margin. 1700 votes. That is less than 1 of all of the votes cast making this race officially too close to call. According to nbc news, we may not know the official outcome for weeks while all the conditioning and Absentee Ballots are tallied up. And if they end up within half a percent of one another, then they will be headed to a rekountsd. Republicans are claiming victory this morning while oconnor has
not yet conceded. Tonight, im going to promise to you that im going to work relentlessly, relentlessly for this 12th congressional district. Can you believe how close this is . We are in a tie ball game. We went door to door. We went house to house. We made our case for james. Were going to make that case tomorrow. Were not stopping. Tomorrow, we rest and then we fight through november. President trump in signature style taking president for it, sweeting after my speech on saturday night, there was a big turn for the better. Nowle troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year. Nbc is not calling this race, it is simply too close to call. And weve got a development in a
Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Votes are counted. And there was a long i mean long, until five minutes ago. For chris kobach over jeff colyer. The incumbent here. Generally the recounts dont shave a lot off the leading margin. So kobach is sitting in a good position. As you mentioned, stephanie, the uncounted votes were in one place in kansas. Large suburban county, Johnson County, right outside of kansas city. Oberlin park, if you know the area. Suburbanites, college educated, white, color professionals. Republican leaders say, hey, you put kobach at the top of the ticket, you risk losing kansas. Guess what, overnight, Johnson County, the Republican Voters at
least cognizant to win the county. But kobach held his own in Johnson County that colyer could not catch him. Again, not official its not a declaration by nbc, i think were pending a recount but kobach in a strong position to lead. And Republican Leaders when you saw bob dole come out the other day and endorse that candidate. And suburb s around kansas city and kobach, if hes too polarizing for 2018, factors a combination in place for kobach, a republican, to lose this. This is the outcome. Democrats wanted. If President Trump wants this outcome, democrats did, too. Balderson, hes only leading by about 1700 votes. When he got up there and spoke, it was like a victory speech. He was thanking a lot of people, including pence. But he did not thank john kasay who got a stronger Approval Rating in his state than the president does on a national level. Yeah, its fascinating the Cultural Divide in this district. First, i want to take folks through when we say too close to call. 1754, the margin for balderson. Why dont we call it . What are we waiting on . Its this, two polls of votes still out there, provisional ballot, 3435 of them. 11 or 10 days from now, they will be counted. We expect them to break for democrats. Are they going to break for democrats in numbers that will erase 1754 . No, we expect it to put a dent in that 1754. Other pool of voters, uncounted Absentee Ballots. Holy smokes, 5,000. Guess what, most of these are probably going to end up being ballots that were mailed out and
nobody sent them back but if you did send them back and have it postmarked by monday that will still be counted. Some of these will still be counted. Some of these are also military. But in the end are we talking about a scenario where oconnor Laps Balderson . Probably not but a triggered recount thats what were waiting on. You know what im looking at there, 52. 2, 49. 3 and 1 to manchik. Is this an alert to green party guys saying hey guys, imagine if that 1 went to oconnor. Youd be looking at 50. 3 for balderson. Give us a look on the ground there. Reporter may, stephanie, for there are a combination of overtime and halftime in the race. Steve talked about the idea theyre still counting ballots here. The democratic candidate danny
oconnor says hes still out campaigning today. Thats in part for this race where all of the votes have been voted but not counted. Thats in part because these two men are going to face off again in november. And democrats want to try to capitalize on the energy that they saw yesterday. To bring a district that has not been in close proximity of a win for democrats. Heres Danny Oconnor talking about what happens next this morning. Yeah, we got a few hours of sleep last night but were back up and working hard because we know working people need a voice in washington. Well be out campaigning today and having serious conversations with voters about their future. Reporter those conversations will continue this afternoon. Stephanie, so Many National democrats and National Republicans are watching this race. Theyre trying to figure out what they can pull out of it. Oconnor ran a meat and potatoes democratic campaign. He talked about health care. He talked about social security. He did not talk much about President Trump or russia. He let the fired up Democratic Base do that work for themselves. Sand focused on these core issues and came it appears within a Spitting Distance of a win. Well see how he proceeds with this message today and what democrats take from what they saw here last night. I want to bring you a fantastic panel. Anita kumar my friend mike testa, and caitlin, i go to you first, what was your biggest takeaway in ohio. I love that dress very much. Thank you. Republicans are spinning that as a win, but notably, you listen to what came out from the conversational leadership fund. This is a super pac involved in fundraising. They were sending Warning Shots last night saying even though this could be a win, republicans are being outraised over and over and over again and that cant happen. Also, wee focused on ohio,
rightfully so sand there are other districts where trump won by less than this or Hillary Clinton won but also lets think about what happened in Washington State last night. There were a couple of races. Thats a twotiered primary system. And that gives us a good kind of barometer heading into november. Where the republican and democrat in those primaries were very, very tight. In two of those districts trudge won overwhelmingly as well. Were seeing across the country and the bigger picture, republicans are still concerned, even if they can claim victory in ohio. Mike, i want to stay on caitlins original point, that super pac stated while we won tonight this is a very tough political environment, moving forward, any republican running for Congress Getting vastly outraised by an opponent needs to start raising more money. So, yes, some are claiming victory. How worried should they be, especially in ohio . They should be extremely worried because there are 50 or 60 seats more flipable than this one. And this one came within 1 but i do have to pump the brakes on the entire reason were looking at it you said it a couple times but lets reemphasize it. This seat will be up in november. Were talking about three months of someone serving a congress thats still overwhelmingly republican. For those three months i look at the calendar, congress is in session only two weeks of those months. What a gargantuan waste of money . The thing is its a data point. If the democrats come within 1 or 2 , lever votes, its the same data point. And the data point is telling us this is imminently winnable, not overwhelmingly, but imminently winnable for democrats. What does it mean . So, big deal, you send another republican to congress for three months. Why should anyone waste their energy at the 1,000 voters who didnt vote for the democrat . Who actually holds this seat for the next three months doesnt really matter. What really matters is the data. I dont know about that. Why not send the message to the Democratic Party, lets all get on the same page. Youve got two major parties. One party believes Climate Change exists. The other party doesnt. Get on board with the team that does. I agree with that message. But im talking about, if you look at this race and say, oh, my god, greens, had you only changed your votes, your actual representation of this district shouldnt really matter that much to anyone. The symbolism and data should matter. No ones been more critical of jill stein and her voters than me but it doesnt really matter why america thinks this is important. But is the message broader than that . It might not even be to the green party, but the Democratic Party. Those who are pushing very far to the left, or to the middle, lets all get on the same page. Lets get a united force lets have one foe instead of
fracturing our party. The democrats could be having that conversation going forward. Right. They did Something Different in this race, he was not really talking about President Trump. I know a lot of democrats in the country want to say, hes the foe, lets run against President Trump. He didnt really do that, he stuck to issues. So that might be the way to go forward. Which is lets not talk about President Trump. Theres enough out there, we hear that all the time. I just want to go back to the money for a minute. They poured a lot he didnt raise the money, the republican. He being whom . Balderson didnt raise a ton of money as we just said. National republicans sent money there. This isnt the kind of race they want to send money to. They got way more importantly to send it to as well. This is kind of a shot on the money. Do we have 80 seats that theyre going to have to send that much money to . Caitlin, President Trump has a good track record, he adores his candidates. We saw that happen in florida and iowa. And you look at what the president faced criticism for nancy pelosi. He said nancy pelosi, i wouldnt vote for her again. He backed off of that. Theres a lot of push for leadership in the Democratic Party but you cannot forget theres no greater fund razor for democrats than nancy pelosi. Thats right, thats the argument that she and other democrats have been making. Republicans use nancy pelosi as a boogieman of sorts because it is effective especially in these districts where there is a deep traditional republican dna. Theyre trying to use pelosi as a foil to say to Republican Voters who may have voted for trump reluctantly or didnt vote for him at all to say, look, you may not like what hes doing or behaving in office, do you really want a Democratic Congress and what that would would mean . Thats why theyre trying to tie all of these candidates to that to try to negates trumps own
popularity which is of course what republicans are facing in all of these districts. I want to talk about Voter Turnout in highly populated areas. You saw a bigger turnout more than you did in rural areas this is an ominous sign for republicans. The highest income and best educated elements of the electrorate electorate, theyre showing up and the same thing happened in virginia a few months ago. Yes, once again, if were looking for data points it confirms where is everything were seeing, where is the excitement . These voters, thats a big ask so i think theres weariness in the rural areas. I want to question one thing does donald trump have a good record . Or has he chosen candidates who may be too extreme . This is something that sarah palin will in 2010 and 2012. She stated they and wound up
losing the senate. Im not talking about the senate. To that same point, Jauvn Moroney said oconnor winning is a win for the democrats. Hes a Lightning Rod there. Theres just been so much on immigration, voter fraud. And he worked on the Voter Fraud Commission that the president had. He headed that up. Theres so Much Negative about chris kobach in the state. Its going to be tough. The notes on that Voter Fraud Commission, it went nowhere. He was odd Mon Initialled by the judge to go back and learn the law in that case, did you know that . Great conversation. Coming up, Rick Gates Set to take the stand for the third time in the Manafort Trial just a few minutes now. Explosive day two explosive. Remember when everyone said it was going to be such a boring trial . As Rachel Maddow said, its like a soap opera. Painting gates as a liar and cheater. Were going to go live to the courthouse, next. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 2 times more geographic detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com
yeah, i got some financialbody guidance a while ago. M. Howd that go . He kept spelling my name with an i but its bryan with a y. yeah, since birth. That drives me crazy. Yes. Its on all your email. Yes. They should know this . Yeah. The guy was my brotherinlaw. Thats ridiculous. Well, i happen to know some people. Do they listen . What . Theyre amazing listeners. Nice. Guidance from professionals who take their time to get to know you. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Telephoned that he and manafort committed crimes together, Hiding Millions from the u. S. Government but he also admitted to embezzling. And on tuesday, he admitted to an extramarital affair as well and that gates lied. And saying that gates credibility is shot. Saying after all the lies youve told and the fraud youve commits do you expect this jury to believe you . Gates responds by saying, yes, i made a decision. Im here to tell the truth. Heres the lawyer after the crossexamination. How do you think you did with mr. Gates today . Mr. Manafort had a great day. Had a great day. I dont know what he constitutes a great day. But if i was sitting there on trial potentially going to go to jail for the rest of my life, none of that would feel great. I want to bring in nbcs National Security reporter julia
ansley, okeydoke, has this crossexamination does so much damage to gates credibility . Reporter i think it puts a dents in his credibility. It remains to be seen if that will put a dents in the prosecution case, though. It seems for a large part of yesterday they were presenting a man shoo would not presenting a life to the jury. This is a man who was able to have a flat in london for his terrorist trysts. And its unclear, why he kind of still seems squirrelly. And if he was there to fell the truth, as he just put out from that transcript, why Wasnt He Being more direct . Why Wasnt He Being more remorseful . It may be that the jury is going to have a hard time believing but the prosecution, when they first started questioning him they were able to bring out a
number of documents to corroborate great point by point, everything he was saying, the money he was moving illegally through the company that he ran with Paul Manafort. The lies that were told, they were able to corroborate all of that. Well see what the defense will do to the way the character of this man was portrayed. Thats very important its not just he said versus he said. Its he said and he said these are the documents supporting these claims. Pie want to bring in matt miller. Mike pesca and Caitlin Huey Burn