School. Now its time for the last word with lawrence odonnell. Lawrence, good evening. Steve, whats your favorite flavor of ice cream is a much tougher question than you might think. For those not addicted, it can be a very difficult question. If you have a 16yearold who beats the 5yearold, are you really proud of that . Winnings winning, steve. Rand paul is in iowa where he is running and running and sometimes ducking. What caused him to make a quick exit this smack in the dmiddle of rand pauls iowa tour. We have to go after people who havent been considering how smart is it for him to be hanging out with folks like steve king . Steve king of iowa has taken control of the gop clown car. Confronted by two hispanic activists. What does rand paul do . Drop your hamburger and run. The new etchasketch. Paul got the heck out of there. Then trying to run away from them before anyone notices. He didnt want to leave without his drink. He did not drop his hamburger when benghazi happened. He has to start by not running away from teenagers. You cant have your hamburger and eat it, too. What senator rand paul will sound like when hes an official 2016 president ial candidate. Rand paul is currently in iowa on a threeday, eightcity tour. Today, he went after the likely 2016 democratic nominee. Theres jihadists in syria and iraq. They now have a place to organize in libya after the bombing. Hillary clinton made a host of errors being there, not protecting our embassy, and i think precludes herself from ever being commander in chief. [ applause ] hillarys war in libya, or hillarys war in syria, none of this was ever approved by congress. The president did it unilaterally. And the unintended consequences are, there are more jihadists running amuck in libya, our embassy is done in libya, and there are 15,000 man pads missing. Rand paul started talking about hillary and benghazi in a speech last night. You know what . By not reading the cables, by not providing security, i think you have precluded yourself from ever being considered as commander in chief. One issue rand paul doesnt seem to want to talk about on that campaign trail is immigration. Last night in iowa, two young people approached congressman steve king about his support for legislation ending the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, which passed in the house last friday. Heres how rand paul responded. [ indiscernible ] joining me now is richard wolf, executive editor of msnbc. Com and msnbc political analyst josh farrell, correspondent for the New York Times and an msnbc contributor. Richard, so much to discuss. Lets start with hillarys war in libya and hillarys war in syria, which is rand paul yes, tell us whats news there . Well, for someone who likes to see a nominal, unannounced opponent is precluded from being commander in chief, you have to wonder about his own preclusions. There is no american war in syria. There was no combat engagement in libya. There was some support going on. But the idea that getting that fact wrong and then saying that it was a unilateral war is so mind bogglingly wrong, i think even the voters in rural iowa, and i spent a lot of time with voters in rural iowa, they are much better informed about whats going on in the world than from someone what you just heard who is running for president. I suppose well hear about hillarys health care plan, that everything in the Obama Administration that rand paul will object to will become hillarys instead of president obamas. Except shes the democratic opponent, which i suspect she will be. This is interesting for rand paul. Rand paul has a much less interventionist view than a lot of people in the republican party. Hes going to have some difficulty with opponents on his right saying that hes not Strong Enough on foreign policy, not wanting to intervene where some conservatives do. This is a way to sell that message to the base. And the benghazi message might be running out of steam. Theres a report in the San Francisco chronicle saying the House Intelligence Committee led by republicans concluded there was no deliberate wrong doing by the Obama Administration on the 2012 attack in benghazi, libya, that killed the ambassador and three other americans. Congressman thompson said the report confirms no one was deliberately misled, and no standown order to u. S. Forces was given. Richard wolf, assuming that report comes out and that report supports what the democratic congressman says it does, is it possible, and as i field the question being formed, is it possible then that republicans like rand paul will stop talking about benghazi . Youre such an optimist. I have to say, even if the House RepublicanLed Committee said there was no deliberate wro wrongdoing, there has been deliberate misleading and its by conservatives like rand paul. You can understand why a conservative voter in iowa would believe this stuff. It had been repeated so many times that there was some coverup. There was wrongdoing. It was something intentional. There were these orders that were pulled back. Its been repeat sed so many times, but who would believe the findings of the exitty when its been repeated to many times . If you were running for president , would say it too, because no one is going to dispute it. When were discussing this, it would be nice if we could get that video of rand paul trying to have lunch and making a decision that lunch is going to be over sooner than we think, because those young dreamers approach. Identify themselves, shake hands with congressman steve king. Rand paul, he hears it, as well as we just did, even better because hes sitting right there. Hes heard them identify themselves, and he makes the right political move for a republican candidate in iowa. Just get out of there. This can come to no good. This is such an awkward political issue for republicans. So much of the base is antiimmigration. The only thing House Republicans could agree on was a will to end daca and say no, we dont want to let these people stay in the country. At the same time, Immigration Reform polls well with the electorate as a whole. And when republicans talk about these issues, they come off as nasty. You have steve king right there with his calves the size of cantaloupes comment. So the right strategy for Anyone Running for president is to say as little about immigration as possible and certainly not be present for an argument between steve king and an immigrant that just wants to make a living in the united states. Classic political move. I dont know if the guy in the green shirt is a rand paul handler, but you get the guy out of there as soon as you hear those things. The story is he had a press briefing he had to attend, which is what the nod of the head was. Truth is, the glory of iowa and New Hampshire is you cannot run away. There will be a town hall, there will be another dreamer and more video cameras on him, and he wont be able to take half of that burger and whatever is in that cup and run away. Because he has to answer questions. Lets listen to rand paul talking about something no other republican talks about, expanding their base. Lets listen to this. To get more people to come to the polling. This may not apply to iowa so much. But if you want to win illinois, ohio, michigan, pennsylvania, we win 80 of the geography and huz all the big cities primarily because we dont get africanamerican vote. We have to go after people who havent been considering the republican party. Frankly, some of our laws have disproportionately affected africanamericans, hispanics and people that live in cities. Josh, a message never before heard by a republican call president ial primary voters. Its interesting, because this started at the state level with republicans. Youve had a lot of governors in the south doing sentencing reform saying were putting too many people in prison. It costs a lot of money to the economy and to the government and thats trickled up to congress. Rand paul is doing something quite serious on it with corey booker. The challenge is that its not just a single issue with which republicans can repair their reputation with africanamerican voters. Youve seen the voter i. D. Where rand paul danced back and forth on the issue whether he would push back on the republican party. This is an issue that really hurts republicans with back americans because they see it as an e. To keep them from voting. But when you talk to Republican Base voters, they believe theres a ton of voter fraud that needs to be combatted. Thank you both for joining me tonight. Coming up, soap opera details in the trial of disgraced Virginia Governor bob mcdonald. Youve got to hear this defense to believe it actually if you hear this defense, believing it is not going to be very easy. And a report claims that People Living in the cross fire in chicago are having some of the same emotional symptoms as combat veterans. And if you had a little more money, would you spend it on things you need or save it . The answer to that question and what the rich do with the money they cannot spend, so much that they cannot spend thats in the rewrite. In the nation, the safest feature in your car is you. Add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get 100 off for every year of safe driving. Which for you, shouldnt be a problem. Just another way we put members first, because we dont have shareholders. Join the nation. Nationwide is on your side. Youve been working like a dog if yall year. E me, but you dont need to camp out til labor day to reward yourself. Mattress discounters labor day sale is on now rest those tired bones on a queen size serta mattress and box spring set. Right now, theyre just 397. Get 48 months interestfree financing on the entire tempurpedic cloud collection. Not to labor the point, but this sale wont last long. Mattress discounters the vote totals are coming in slowly tonight in the Kansas Republican Senate primary. With about 27 of the precincts reporting, republican senator pat roberts has a 10,000 vote lead at this point in the night. That puts roberts with 50 of the vote and his Tea Party Challenger with 39 of the vote. Milton wolfs mother and president obamas grandmother are first cousins. Making milton wolf president obamas second cousin once removed. They only met president obama after he was elected. Senator roberts raised questions about wolfs judgment after wolf, who is a doctor, posted some xray images of people on facebook along with some morbid humor. More Election Results as we get them. Coming up next, the melo drama being laid out in court in a corruption trial. The trial of former Virginia Governor bob mcdonald. I love having a free checked bag. With my united mileageplus explorer card. I have saved 75 in checked bag fees. Priority boarding is really important to us. You can just get on the plane and relax. I love to travel, no foreign transaction fees means real savings. We can go to any country and spend money the way we would in the u. S. When i spend money on this card i can see brazil in my future. For a limited time, earn 50,000 bonus miles. Offer ends september 2nd. Chances are were already there. Be or what you want to do, 12 brands. More hotels than anyone else in the world. Like super 8, where every destination is super. Save up to 15 percent and earn bonus points when you book at wyndhamrewards. Com tomorrow marks the eighth day of the political soap opera that is the federal corruption trial of the former Virginia Republican governor and possible president ial hopeful and his wife. They are facing a 14count public corruption indictment that charges them with trading the influence and prestige of the Governors Office for money and gifts from the former ceo of a dietary supplement company. Prosecutors allege that the former first couple of virginia promoted the products of businessman Johnny Williams in exchange for more than 165,000 worth of gifts, including a lavish new york city shopping spree, golf clubs, a rolex watch and catering for their daughters wedding. Defense attorneys are arguing they did not promise anything to Johnny Williams and that Maureen Mcdonald accepted the gifts because she had a crush on the businessman and her marriage to the governor was falling apart. According to the Washington Post, mcdonalds lead defense attorney said Johnny Williams was larger than life to Maureen Mcdonald. But unlike the other pman in he life, Johnny Williams paid attention to her. Yesterday mcdonalds former Campaign Manager testified in 2012 he heard Maureen Mcdonald tell ann romney that a dietary supplement like the anatabloc dont put words like that in the teleprompter anymore. The product made by Johnny Williams company would help cure mrs. Romneys multiple sclerosis. The Campaign Manager said he was horrified by the exchange and thought it was a train wreck. Joining me now is Washington Post columnist and msnbc political analyst Dana Millbank and matt, who has been in the trial and is joining us from richmond. Maybe you can pronounce that dietary supplement. But dana, this defense is the one no one saw coming. we always try to guess how its working in the courtroom. What is the guess at this point . My guess is that governor mcdonald was taking some peculiar nutritional supplements, however you pronounce them, to decide this was a good idea. He was offered a plea teal in december, one count, his wife gets completely off the hook. We would have forgotten all about bob mcdonald right now. But instead, out of hubris, out of wanting to cheer his record, he decided to bring this into the courtroom. Basically dump the whole thing on his wife. Even have his daughter up there tearful on the stand. So before he looked like maybe he was a crook. Now he looks like hes a crook and cad. It doesnt appear that his defense is working so far. Matt, on that plea deal, was he going to have to do any jail time on that plea deal . Its hard to say. He couldnt reach an agreement where he was have no jail time, but his exposure was a whole lot less than it is now. They came to agreed upon sentences in this district in federal court. But with one charge of lying on financial documents, its not like hes looking agent now if he were to get convicted of the 13 counts against him. As the evidence is unfolding, matt, are they going to be pleading ignorance of the law in this case . No. I think what theyre pleading is, look, the governments got to prove a couple of things. One, the two conspired together. You talked about their defense. The upshot of that is, their marriage was so broken. Maureen had some interest in Johnny Williams. So they couldnt have conspired, they werent talking. Another element is look, these gifts are really bad looking. Theres a rolerolex, a ferrari , a vacation, 120,000 in loans, but looks bad. But what did the governor do for Johnny Williams . The defense is saying thats not enough to constitute a crime. And dana, theres also this issue that i dont think im not sure they can get this in front of the jury that many of the mings theyve done here are being charged would not be crimes under virginia law. Well, the thing to understand here, the idea of proving quid pro quo is a very difficult thing to do in these public corruption cases. Its not even disputed, the amount of gifts and money that were lavished on the governor and his family. And its also very clear that governor and his wife tried to do all kinds of things for Johnny Williams. Its not clear that he actually got much value out of it. That may have been because he had a lousy product that they couldnt sell despite the governors best efforts. So it is a difficult thing to prove. Thats what mcdonald is counting on here. But it seems like even if he wins if court, its such a puric victory. Johnny williams is where this whole case resides for the prosecution. The Defense Attorneys in cases like this normally point to that person who turned states evidence and is very much involved in the crime themselves and say how can you believe this person . How can you believe him . How is his credibility played so far . Oh, absolutely. That is the central issue of the case so far. Last week, i would say Defense Attorneys got some good shots in at him. When they asked him about these various meetings he had with law enforcement, he had a lot of trouble remembering, but he himself is a salesman. They came across to jurors. He talked about this product hes trying to sell. The origins is he took some tobacco, threw it in the microwave and removed the cancer from it. He isnt exactly the ideal witness if youre a prosecutor. But this week he held up a little bit. When he came back to the stand on monday, he was a little bit charming. Jurors were laughing. People in the court were laughing at some of his jokes. I think he held up to crossexamination as good as prosecutors could expect. You guys are making me wish i was in that courtroom. Thank you very much for joining me tonight. Thanks, lawrence. Coming up, tim harris, the man who hugged president obama. The big hug you saw it here last night. Hes going to join me later. daughter im really tired. vo the transfers. Well, thats kid number three. vo the copilots. All sitting. Trusting. Waiting. For a safe arrival. Introducing the allnew subaru legacy. Designed to help the driver in you. Care for the passenger in them. The subaru legacy. Its not just a sedan. Its a subaru. Captain obvious tell your travelgrandmother with the. Hotels. Com loyalty program, shell earn free nights. So theyre not the same, because theyre different. Woman jimmys not my grandson, captain obvious. Woman m