and gender equality. go to nbcnews.com/mtpfilm and get your tickets. we hope to see you there. that is all for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more with more "meet the press daily. good evening, yasmin. >> new reporting raising alarms over military stop overs at a trump golf resort. also, the right wing revolt is growing with now a third primary challenger to trump. and outrage after over 100 bahamians fleeing the destruction were forced off of a rescue boat. but we start tonight with an escalation. the democrats impeachment investigation. for the first time ever today, democrats taking formal steps towards impeachment. the house judiciary committee laying out specific procedures governing hearings moving forward. the house judiciary committee expected to vote on thursday, calling it the, quote, next

step. the resolution outlining four key changes to committee hearings. one, it would allow chairman nadler to designate full committee or subcommittee hearings as part of the impeachment probe. two, it would allow staff to question witnesses for an additional hour. three, it would allow for secret grand jury material to be reviewed in closed executive session. finally, it would allow trump's counsel to respond to testimony presented in committee in writing. now nadler is using the same outline the committee used in 1974 during the nixon impeachment proceedings, and he says today it is the next step in the impeachment probe. this news coming as democrats expand the investigation beyond mueller. now investigating the hush money payments, reports trump dangled pardons to officials willing to break the law to implement his immigration policies. and whether his resort

properties illegally profited from government business. also today, three house committees announcing they are now investigating reports trump and his lawyer rudy giuliani pressured ukraine's government to assist trump's reelection campaign. all of this as congress returns to work in d.c. after a summer of a growing chorus of pro-impeachment democrats. watch this. >> i feel we can no longer wait. >> i feel compelled to call for an impeachment inquiry against president trump. >> i do not come to this decision lightly. >> the american people deserve the truth. >> a majority of house democrats are now on record publicly supporting an impeachment inquiry into president donald trump. >> that brings the number of house lawmakers backing impeachment to 135. >> all right. joining me now, executive editor of above the law and contributor at the nation. brittney cooper, professor at rutgers and nick confessore, political reporter for "the new york times."

ellie, i'm going to start with you. >> whoo! it's happening. it's happening. >> i didn't even get a chance to ask a question, and you're already launching into it. go ahead. >> i understand the people say the democrats never do anything. let's ignore the fact the democrats relate to the party and embrace the fact they showed up at all. what we're seeing is the direct result of the people out there who pigeon hole their congressman, who called, who demanded accountability, and now they've come back to work and they're starting to do something. the other person that you really have to give a lot of credit for today is donald trump himself, because his idiot strategy of completely unprecedented level of obstruction in terms of not allowing, not accepting the power of the house oversight committee, it is what has forced congress' hand. they're doing this not so much for the public. they're doing this for the courts. they're doing this because only under, only clothed in the power of impeachment do they have the strength to force people like don mcgahn and corey lewandowski

and all these people to give subpoenas. so it's really the fight club situation where donald trump has sent the summer telling democrats i want you to hit me as hard as you. and all he has accomplished is hitting his own self in the mouth. >> let's not mince words, ellie. brittany, give me your take. we heard people during this recess okay, i'm going to go home. i'm going to go home to my state, talk to my constituents and figure out what they feel about this impeachment proceeding and then i'm going to tell you whether or not i'm going to november pour ward on that. ellie is making the statement they did just that and here we are come september and they're moving forward. taking the next step. >> look, i think that's right. i think my biggest concern is whether we can get to 218. whether these congress folks who are in battleground states who are red state democrats, what that's going to mean in terms of how they will vote. because the one thing that we can't risk here is if we're going go for an impeachment inquiry we have to go all the way. we have to win. we have to decide that we're going to impeach, or else this becomes the aftermath of the

mueller report where everybody's all ginned up and then there feels like it's anti-climatic. that's one of the concerns. look, i've said for a long time the democrats have to get into the political theater of this. donald trump is beating us at every level, simply because he controls the theater of it. we have got to look like we are fighting back. i don't think it's only political theater, but it's just like when the republicans kept on repealing obamacare, even when they didn't have the votes to actually pass the repeal. they kept doing it as a way to say to their base we're fighting for you. and part of what democrats need is for our congress people to say we see this man is corrupt. you elected us in 2018, gave us the blue wave. no one said we could get because we're fighting for you. >> so knicks, brittney brings up a good point. tell me if i'm sort of not hearing you correctly there, but is this idea of being on the right side of history. and various reasons i've had about whether or not people feel like they want to proceed with the impeachment proceedings, oftentimes i've heard that. i want to be on the right side

of history. that's why i'm doing this. do you think that is part of this calculus here with these democrats moving forward? >> right now this is an awkward time for the democrats. their base and their members think the case is already closed on impeachment, that there is enough evidence and facts and examples to impeach the president. but the leadership doesn't want it, and the public at large is not quite convinced it's merited. so i think what's happening here in substance, this move speeds up the process. it creates a framework and a process. it allows to spread the work of the committee among subcommittees, spread witnesses around, bring staff in the discussion. so there is a way to move forward more quickly. and i think that they hope that the politics will take care of itself. >> let's talk pelosi here, though. because as we are having this conversation, ellie, nancy pelosi still very much speaker of the house, still very much does not support moving forward

with impeachment proceedings, despite the fact she feels the president is guilty of many of the things he is accused of by the house judiciary committee, she still doesn't support moving forward with it. >> yeah, yeah. >> really? nothing to say? >> that's going to be her problem, ultimately. that's going to be her cross toe bear, because the base of the party is leaving this barn without her. and if she wants to be the person standing at the end of animal house saying nothing to see here. all is well, she can be that person. she is put her finger up. >> do you think that's the message she is trying to send, nothing to see here, all is well? that's not necessarily the message i'm hearing from nancy pelosi. >> go ahead. but i don't think that pelosi wants to get out in front of this, but the party has left the barn. >> i think her calculation is wrong. i think she is using the clinton model. i think it's closer to the nixon model. the thing about clinton, the country watched that and said back in an era before me too, there was no real sort of moral framework for pushing clinton

out of office because he had an affair, right? there wasn't a lot of actual political sort of impetus behind that. so it seemed like a clear calculated move on the republican side. where as here, everyone, even republicans are looking at this president and going it's a train wreck. it's a train wreck. we need to be saved from it. trump's support is not going up. his base has stayed the same so part of what the party has to do, the democratic party is energize its voters. pelosi keeps using a sort of old political model. it's wonderful when she can do it in terms of keeping him from giving a state of the union address, but i actually think she is not in line with where the party is moving. >> so brittney is talking about energizing the voter, energizing the democratic base. but what about the argument about wanting to protect certain people that could help win this election come 2020, making certain they don't alienate certain voters come 2020. >> it's a good argument. first of all, the base is motivated. you can not find a democratic primary voter who is not super excited to go out and vote against donald trump. so i think her calculation is

will impeachment help or hinder the effort to get him out of office? i suspect she would rather have him beaten at the ballot box than have an impeachment vote that succeeds in the house but fails in the senate. >> before we go toe eric swalwell, quickly, ellie, i want to go to you on this simple question. how significant legally is this step in the impeachment proceeding? >> it's huge for two reasons. one i already said. the democrats are in the process of suing in the federal courts to make donald trump's people testify, when they clothe themselves in the power of an impeachment inquiry, that gives them more strength to go into courts. that's huge and number one. number two huge thing, as we saw in the rules, he is going to have now 30 minutes, these witnesses are going to have 30 minutes of being questioned not by congress people, but by actual lawyers and actual attorneys, and that's going to put their feet to the fire in a whole different way than we've seen before. >> joining me now congressman

eric swalwell. congressman, you have heard this very animated conversation. >> i've enjoyed it. i've enjoyed it. >> i'm sure you did. come thursday's vote, what are you expecting to happen? >> we're going have more tools to move forward in holding this president accountable. and just to -- i enjoyed the conversation. i'll just add this analysis. i believe one, there has only been impeachment proceedings ever in the history of the country. this would be the fourth one. the other thing we know is that no two so far have ever been alike. i would describe this as a bottom up impeachment investigation, meaning that it is unlike the clinton impeachment where it was top down led by newt gingrich. this is being led by the members of the committee, and impeachment is one of the remedies for a lawless president, and it is something that could be recommended to the rest of the house. but i don't think you can look at prior impeachments to inform us on this one. no two are alike.

we at least know that. >> so there is this concern, congressman, that by moving forward with these impeachment proceedings, you are ignoring some of the kitchen table issues that matter to voters right now, gun reform and health care being top of mind, especially in the lead-up to 2020. can congress walk and chew gum at the same time? >> yes. my life would be a lot easier if we were ignoring those other responsibilities, and i can tell you tomorrow we're going have hearings on the judiciary committee on getting rid of forced arbitration clauses. we're going to have legislation on gun violence, and then two days later we're going to have hearing on this impeachment resolution. so we're doing a lot. we recognize that this is not the only issue people care about, but also that unless you hold this president accountable, two things will happen. one, he will get worse, as we see, and two, future presidents will see the standard of conduct which they will be judged for impeachment will have been lowered. >> it's interesting, brittney. you brought up the question of how do you get to the number of

218, right? >> yeah. >> congressman, i pose that question to you. what is your plan to get to 218? >> well, you've seen courageous colleagues of mine like lauren underwood and katie porter. and if they were just political weather vanes, they would cautiously avoid holding the president accountable. but i think they sense that how can you not support having an impeachment inquiry with this president? if you don't do it with him, who would you ever do it with? i think they are models for others who are still considering it. and again, i don't think the number of people supporting impeachment will go down. it's only going to continue to go up. >> so what's the timeline here, congressman? we are approaching primary season very quickly. and at one point, the focus will have to be very much so on the 2020 election. will there come a point where you say, okay, we have to put this aside. >> next week we'll have corey lewandowski before the committee. what you'll hear from his testimony is that the president asked him to go to attorney general sessions and essentially

end the russia investigation. so i think seeing is believing. and having these witnesses not just reading what they said in the mueller report, but having them up-front and personal for the american people to see will continue to build support and let the reality set for the american people that this is a lawless president. and it's just not how woe we do business in the united states, and there has to be accountable for lawlessness. >> congressman, you heard elie mystal saying he doesn't necessarily agree with speaker pelosi and her position with regard to impeachment. have you spoken to speaker pelosi on this next move, on this thursday vote? and where does she stand on this right now? >> i'm headed right now to a leadership meeting. i'm on the leadership team. and i expect this will come up. but again, she said earlier today -- >> what do you expect to hear from her? >> i think she believes that impeachment is one of the remedies for the president's conduct. she wants to see the public support build. again, it's like a catch-22. the only way to build public support is have hearings. we're going have hearings. >> congressman eric swalwell,

brittney cooper, elie mystal, you're sticking around. staffers fact check trump on hurricane dorian. also, outrage over trump's response to storm survivors trying to flee the bahamas. >> i want to allow people that weren't supposed to be in the bahamas to come in to the united states, including some very bad people and some very bad gang members and some very, very bad drug dealers. and new details about military flights that seem to pad the profits of trump golf resorts. also, all that plus a new primary challenge in the gop presidential race. and john yang living his best life, crowd surfing -- andrew yang, excuse me, crowd surfing on the campaign trail. i'm yasmin vossoughian for ari melber on "the beat."

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welcome back. now to two developing stories, both opening new questions about donald trump's corrosive effect on the federal government. late today, "the new york times" reporting commerce secretary wilbur ross threatened to fire top employees at noaa after employees at the birmingham office contradicted trump's claim that hurricane dorian might strike alabama. the commerce department calling the story about ross, quote, false. it builds on reporting from this morning that noaa's chief

scientist is investigating why the agency backed trump over its own experts. all of this reviving so-called sharpiegate, where trump displayed a doctored map of dorian's path. the other story we're following is about trump's turnberry golf resort in cleveland reporting that air force members stayed there last fall. that's in addition to an overnight stop at turnberry they made this spring, a trip revealed on friday. political reporting, the military has also spent $11 million on fuel at a small commercial airport nearby helping to keep the airport in business. joining me now is tim o'brien, executive order of bloomberg view and author of "trump nation." his new piece is on trump, sharpiegate, turnberry, the taliban and chaos. boy you had to do a lot of research for that, tim o'brien, i can imagine. packing a lot of heat into one title. and back with me is elie mystal. first i'm going go with you,

tim, on this one. adding to trump's bottom line here with the stays at turnberry. >> it's not only that they're adding to his bottom line, because they're clearly doing that, it's that members of the federal government, whether the attorney general, the vice president, or the air force are consciously it would appear going out of their way to patronize trump properties. and at a minimum by lining the president's wallet either at doonbeg golf course, the washington hotel, or turnberry in scotland, they're showing that these institutions that are meant to be in place and be independent are essentially kowtowing to court favor with the president. that's just at a basic level. the larger issue that emerges here are financial conflicts of interest that have dogged trump since he was inaugurated, since he began campaigning, and the possibility of corruption. is there pay to play in any of this. and i think the unfortunate thing in all of it is in some of these instances, it appears that people willingly went to those properties without trump pushing them along, that they got the

message themselves, that if you're in this administration at this time, it behooves you to patronize the president's property is. >> so if that in fact is the case, what tim just spelled out, maybe it's not necessarily a direct message from the president, hey, stop over at this airport. why not stay at my hotel, but instead an indirect message of we get the message. we'll do this. what are the legal implications of that? >> unfortunately, very much nothing at all. the courts have done for the past really during the roberts court, they've done a lot to weaken our public corruption laws as they are. there is a reason why chris christie never got charged with bridgegate, right? they've weakened our public corruption laws as they are. trump is violating every kind of norm and standard of decency, but he is not violating the letter of the law, because there is no letter of the law. and i do think that democrats should maybe, i don't know, think about that while they hold power in congress. and certainly if a democrat wins the presidency, to strengthen our public corruption laws to stop exactly this kind of stuff

from happening. >> here's what i think is interesting happening with all this. the historical precedent. if we were to look back and say has the air force actually stayed at this trump resort before donald trump was president of the united states, that in fact would then say okay, maybe this has nothing to do with the fact that donald trump is now president of the united states, right? >> i don't think they -- >> but you don't think that's accura accurate? >> no, no. they use ramstein and other air force bases for stop overs. >> 2016145, and it went up from there. 2018, 257. by this year, 2019, 259 stopovers refueling at this airport. >> right. and patronizing a hotel that for most members of the military is way beyond their ability to pay for that accommodations. they're all on per deems. this doesn't fall into their budget. a person for "the new york times" is reporting they were given cut rates to stay there.

it's important to remember turnberry is a money losing golf course. the president needs as much help as he can get to keep that afloat. the other issue that gets raised here are the wheels of the federal government and taxpayer dollars being used to prop up a private business controlled by the president. >> he -- trump is just whetting his beak. that's how corruption works. it's there is not a secret envelope with a stack of cash in it, right. he is taking something that kind of already happens and okay, do it a lot more because i'll make more money that way. it's shady. it's wrong. is it illegal? no. but again, that's a problem with our laws, and that's a problem that we can fix if congress -- >> not easily. >> congress -- >> i mean, it's in the constitution. the emoluments clause. >> but could argue that this is not a violation of the emoluments clause. the argument can be made for or against the emoluments clause. >> the emolument's klaus exists to make sure no one can bribe the president of the united states in order to get policy favors. those can be domestic or foreign

entities. and the constitution envisioned the possibility of this. what they didn't envision is someone with as deep financial holdings as president trump becoming president. >> and they didn't envision one party and the country completely abdicating its responsibility. there is supposed to be a public check on corruption, but republicans refuse to do their job, publicly checking the president. so he can kind of run amok within the letter if not the spirit of the law. >> so hallie jackson had the opportunity to ask the president about this today. let's take a listen to his response. >> when a plane stops at a massive international airport and gets fuel, i don't own the airport. i own a lot of different places. soon you'll find that out, because i'll be at some point prior to the election, i'm going to be giving out a financial report of me. and it will be extremely complete. >> it will be extremely complete, tim o'brien. you know full well what financial reports of the president look like.

>> yeah. donald trump is never going to willingly give out a complete financial report about his businesses and finances for a number of reasons. it will show his business isn't as big as he has always claimed. it will show he's not as generous to charities as he's always claimed. he also doesn't want to get at the possibility that his business is funded from foreign sources. and that's the big thing looming over all the questions about his tax returns and his financial dealings are -- the issue is the president of the united states beholden to any foreign entities who have business or policy or diplomacy in front of the federal government. >> so quickly, while have i the two of you, i want to get to sharpie-gate that is the new news surrounding noaa and of course wilbur ross and threatening to fire some folks for defying the president with regards to sharpie-gate and all that in regards to alabama and the hurricane. you wrote this piece. you said sharpie gate is magnetic because it exposes the

president as the misfit he's always be that should prick up everyone's ears regardless of their political persuasion. tim o'brien, why? >> because he has taken this sort of nonsensical debate with the media about whether he was right about the path of a hurricane, which he could have disposed of by simply saying i was wrong, let's move on, and he started to force scientists and data analysts in the federal government to change their story, back him up, cover him up, essentially to lie. and i think this gets a the same thing we were speaking about at the u.s. air force using his hotels. donald trump is corrupting the wheels of the federal government to serving his private interests or his reputational concerns. >> the only difference here is that this actually is illegal. lying about the weather is illegal. >> not if you're president. >> because when people do not trust the weather, they die. it is a one to up with correlation here. if people cannot trust the hurricane reports, then they will not love when a hurricane is coming, and some of them will

die. so this is a clear illegal activity. >> and we have to wrap with that. tim o'brien, elie mystal, thank you both guys. as congress comes back, democrats ratchet up pressure to act on gun control. but first, trump has another primary challenger. we'll be back in 30 seconds. don't go anywhere. l be back in . don't go anywhere. any way you want 'em. like new sriracha-honey shrimp, savory grilled teriyaki shrimp, classic shrimp scampi and more! red lobster's endless shrimp is $15.99. hurry in. i am royalty of racing, i am the twisting thundercloud. raise your steins to the king of speed. make that three republicans trying to take down donald trump and the gop primary, and it's caught let's attention.

today trump lashing out as former south carolina governor and congressman mark sanford jumps in. trump calling sanford and them the three stooges. he night find their campaigns ridiculous, but that's not stopping their attacks, each of them blasting trump right here on "the beat." >> this president knows almost nothing. i think he is hopelessly over his head. he had no preparation for this job, and it shows. >> he's in essence led the republican party to the sidelines. the problem is he always had his daddy to bail him out when he got into trouble. we do not have that luxury as americans. >> i think he is unfit to be president. virtually every time he opens his mouth, he tells a lie. i don't believe he's capable, literally, of thinking about anyone but himself. >> all right. so what are they actually going to do about him? matt welch and tara dowdell, a democratic strategic. matt, i'm going to start with you on this one. what do you make of sanford

jumping into the race here? >> i think it's a heroic quest to be a bug on a windshield, and i wish him god speed. mark sanford, they polled him in south carolina, his home state, his home state in which he couldn't even win a republican primary as incumbent congressman as recently as 2018. he was polling against donald trump at like 4%. so he is not doing well in his home state. it's very interesting to me that all three of these men in a way are kind of the ghosts of the remnants of what once was the tea party movement, the interesting part of the tea party movement, which is to say the part where mark sanford especially foregrounds debt and deficits as being a pressing national problem that conservatism should be about fundamentally. joe walsh is more to the right of this and making more of a character kind of question. they're all hitting those same notes, the notes that donald trump has now run the party away from and also in terms of international trade. so the question to me is this sort of the remnants of something that is still going to exist, or is this is last

flicker before it gets extinguished entirely in the trumpian gop? >> each of these three candidates have said that other republicans have secretly expressed the fact that they do not like the president period, end of sentence, but they are scared of him you. buying it? >> i think some people probably said that to them. we hear that time and time again, but the point is it doesn't matter if they're saying behind closed doors they don't like the president. they're going to support the president. they support the president publicly, and they're out there on a limb, most of them, doing mostly what the president asks. it's just to me, i'm tired of hearing all of these people saying oh, well, behind closed doors, republicans don't support the president. but they've allowed him to be completely unaccountable. so it doesn't matter in practice. >> you know what i think is interesting, matt, when mark sanford was asked, i believe it was on morning joe, who he would vote for if he were to lose, he would not categorically say he would not vote for donald trump in his reelection bid.

he said he's an ideas guy. he said he would vote for the person who is most in line with his ideas. which you would naturally assume, let's say it was bernie sanders, elizabeth warren or joe biden up against donald trump, donald trump would be more in line with mark sanford's ideas than the other three candidates i just named. what does that say you? >> i would say he is running in the republican primary. the difference between him and justin amash. justin amash is no longer in the republican party. >> you're making a stance. shouldn't you say you would not be voting for donald trump if he were to lose to donald trump? >> if you make that second person question to me, yes. but i'm not a republican. he is running in a republican primary, right? so he is not going to rule that out. mark sanford is not going to vote for donald trump. let's be clear about that. he is either not going to vote for vote for a libertarian or maybe depending on how things are going in south carolina, he would vote for a democrat. but i doubt that. he is running in a republican primary. so he is not going to say i'm going to vote for president trump warren. it's just not how you're going to get four or 5%. >> could this chip away at the

president's base, with these three guys jumping in to primary him? >> no, i don't think so. if you look at mark sanford and joe walsh, they're basically versions of trump. joe walsh had said many of the same racist things that donald trump has said. joe walsh has a history of saying many of the same thing. we lowered the bar by electing barack obama, our first black president. the only reason that he got elected was because he was black. he said a lot of hateful, divisive rhetoric. he is actually in many ways, his rhetoric and that of other republicans have paved the way for donald trump because donald trump came out and said i'm going take this to a whole another level. mark sanford, a lot of the same character issues as donald trump. these guys want to be back on the stage, if you ask me, just like donald trump. the stage. >> but in fairness to joe walsh, he does run on saying he is apologetic for that. this is an act of contrition leading with the fact he helped pave the way for donald trump in that sense. and mark sanford is a fundamentally decent person in a

way that i would never be caught dead describing the president of the united states. >> let's drop this map, guys. these four states basically saying they're going to cancel their gop primary. kansas, south carolina, mark sanford's state, nevada and arizona. matt welch, this is not out of the ordinary to have -- >> it is and it is not. >> go. >> so you will have -- there are ten states in 2004 that in the republican primaries that didn't get held. but we haven't seen this type of top-down organization. the trump organization has been pressuring the state gops to do this. south carolina and nevada, that's third and fourth in the primary. mark sanford is in from south carolina. those are important early primary states, and that is under direct pressure from the trump administration because they have no confidence in themselves. they're showing a total insecurity that we didn't see for example by barack obama or bill clinton in '96 and 20 2we68. so they are -- this is the first time we've seen that type of thing happen since 1992 when george h.w. bush put pressure on

iowa and south dakota to not include pablo, which helped spark the revolt that pablo then got in new hampshire. >> all right. thank you guys both. appreciate it. still ahead, a top republican says trump needs to step up on gun reform. i'm going talk to the mayor of dayton, ohio who joined democrats today calling for action. plus, shock and confusion as evacuees fleeing the bahamas are forced off of a vote headed to the united states. we'll be right back. e united st. we'll be right back. that sophie opened up a wormhole through time? (speaking japanese) where am i? (woman speaking french) are you crazy/nuts? cyclist: pip! pip! (woman speaking french) i'm here, look at me. it's completely your fault. (man speaking french) ok? it's me. it's my fault? no, i can't believe how easy it was to save hundreds of dollars on my car insurance with geico. (pterodactyl screech) believe it. geico could save you 15% or more on car insurance.

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tonight, growing pressure on trump and republicans to act on gun reform. trump today praising the courage of police officers who responded to the recent shootings in dayton and el paso, but offering no plan to prevent future attacks. >> in the darkest moments of danger and despair, god calls the bravest to action. these 11 individuals answered the call to every one of the

heroes we recognize today. thank you and god bless you all. >> this coming as trump again flip-flops on his gun reform stance, retreating from an earlier pledge to act on background chesapeake bay, following lobbying by the nra and other pro-gun groups. meanwhile, top democrats in congress today joined by the mayor of dayton, calling on trump and mcconnell to act on background checks. watch this. >> two people in washington can make sure the background checks bill passes, donald trump and mitch mcconnell. >> i'm here on behalf of the citizens of dayton who called us that night to do something. this is something that can be done, can be fast, and will save lives. >> if this bill is not passed, mitch mcconnell and the republicans in the senate and the president will have hell to pay. >> in a moment, i'll be joined by nan whaley, mayor of dayton,

ohio who you just heard from. but first, it is not just democrats upping the heat on trump. missouri senator roy blunt telling chuck todd it is time for the president to, quote, step up. >> we're not going to vote on bills on the senate floor that the president's not willing to sign. the president needs to step up here. >> yeah. >> and set some guidelines for what he would do. if the president will let us know what he'd sign if it got on his desk, we'd be much more likely to do that. >> with me now is mayor nan whaley. thank you very much for joining us today. i appreciate on this very important topic as you know very personally, to say the least. why did you decide to go to washington today? >> well, thank you, yasmin, for having me on this evening. i think the thing that my community had said on the night of august 4th, the next even after nine people were killed in our historic oregon district was to do something. and so i came to d.c. to share

that message and to call what some 270 mayors have signed bipartisanly on a letter to say we need to pass into the senate an up other down vote on hr-8. it's very easy. we want an up or down vote on background checks, which 90% of americans agree with. 87% of gunowners in ohio agree we need universal background checks and the time is now. we don't want another city to be like dayton. >> you heard senator schummer there as i just played saying this is on two people. this is on president trump. this is on mitch mcconnell. you said this can be done. it can be done quickly, and it can save lives. how optimistic are you, mayor, that something can actually be done, that there can be gun reform? >> well, look, as a mayor you have to stay optimistic. you're optimistic for the future of your community and optimistic for the future of the country. we as mayors are hoping that

donald trump and mitch mcconnell follow what nine out of ten americans agree with, something -- i don't even know anything that is more popular, and just have the vote. we aren't going to stop. mayors across the country, we know that if they don't will continue to see senseless gun violence in our communities. and so there will be another city and another city and another city. and we'll be back here calling for background checks and common sense gun legislation. >> i just played this sound from roy blunt basically saying it's time for the president to step up you. talked about that poll, which i actually want to bring up once again. 89% of all americans overwhelmingly supporting expanded background gun checks. you think about the shooting most recently in odessa, texas, which in fact if there were extensive background checks in place, it would have prevented that shooter from actually obtaining those guns that killed all those people between midland and odessa, texas. why aren't gop leaders here, mayor, stepping up?

>> well, i can only assume that they care more about what gunmakers think and protecting gunmakers than protecting innocent american lives, and that saddens me. but i know there are profiles in courage in that senate, and if mcconnell will just let an up or down vote happen, we could put this all to bed, and the president could sign it. this isn't very hard. this is popular, and it's been popular in places where republicans win as well. so this isn't just a place like in urban communities where it matters. we're seeing it in urban areas because we know the massacres with hit anywhere from synagogues and mosques and churches to shopping malls and movie theaters to great trendy neighborhoods like the district, nobody is safe if we don't start moving on common sense gun legislation. >> mayor, quickly, are you worried that the momentum around surrounding gun reform

legislation will slow with the election just around the corner? >> look, unfortunately, yasmin, i don't think it will ever slow because we've seen so many mass shootings this year. dayton was number 250. i think we were august 4th. now it's september 8th or 9th, right, and we're at number 289. so the number of mass shootings just keeps piling up and piling up, so much that you can't even cover them all nationally. you only hear of the really large ones that are really outlandish. >> that's true. >> but we have mass shootings every day in this country. so that means in another community and another community this is hitting. so there is no slowing up of this issue, and the sooner the senate can do something and washington can do something and act on something that is not partisan in any other part of the country except on capitol hill, i think americans would reward that sort of leadership. >> yeah, it is completely true, the number of mass shootings in this country on a daily basis, it is completely astounding, and

we cannot keep up with the cycle of them. i appreciate your passion and your dedication to this issue. mayor nan whaley, thank you so much. >> thank you, yasmin. ahead, fleeing the complete devastation in the bahamas. outrage after more than 100 people fleeing the bahamas were forced off a rescue vote for not having u.s. visas. and later, some predebate prep for andrew yang. we'll explain, next. welcome to our busy world. where we all want more energy. but with less carbon footprint. that's why, at bp, we're working to make energy that's cleaner and better. we're producing cleaner-burning natural gas. and solar and wind power. and wherever your day takes you... we have advanced fuels for a better commute. and we're developing ultra-fast-charging technology for evs.. at bp, we see possibilities everywhere. so we can all keep advancing.

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welcome back. it is being called sick, inhumane and the height of cruelty. over 100 bahamians fleeing the complete and total destruction of their island from hurricane dorianboarding a ferry to florida, only to be turned away, forced off for not having u.s. visas. a local reporter in south florida was able to capture the moments after they were turned away. >> what do you think about this? >> i think this is terrible. i think they should allow everyone to come into the u.s. they originally said you can come without a police record and without a visa, and now they're taking that back. that's really ridiculous. that's awful. >> how many people do you think had to get off? >> they said 130 people had to come off. 130 people have to come off the ship tonight. >> and now? >> and now we're leaving them. it's only 200 people on the boat now. >> after being through so much and losing so much. one man was with his baby and

was told that he could leave with a bahamian passport, only to be forced off. watch this. >> they just got a call from cbp. . >> yeah, it is what it is. >> tacting commissioner mark morgan was pressed on this today, blaming the ferry company. >> we are not working and telling a cruise line that you cannot allow anyone without documents. that's not being done. okay. there is some confusion there.

we will accept anyone on humanitarian reasons that needs to come here. we will process them expeditedly. >> moments ago, president trump said the u.s. needed to be quote very careful with who was actually allowed in. >> but we have to be very careful. everybody needs totally proper documentation. because the, look, the bahamas had some tremendous problems with people going to the bahamas that weren't supposed to be there. i don't want to allow people that weren't supposed to be in the bahamas to come in to the united states, including some very bad people and some very bad gang members and some very, very bad drug dealers. >> all right. msn msnbc ali velshi is in the bahamas. there has been complete loss there, generational. >> reporter: yeah. >> generations of people wiped

out. >> reporter: yeah. >> the death toll is rising, complete destruction. people needing help. what are you hearing on the ground? >> reporter: yeah. well, i mean, the destruction is something i haven't seen before all over this island. we're at abaco island. we're in marsh harbor right now. the people the president was talking about who he said weren't supposed to be in the bahamas is largely talking about haitians who came here after the 2010 earthquake in haiti. there is a settlement of them half a mile away from here, where there were believed to be 7,000 of them living. we have watched bodies come out of there today. so while the official death toll has not increased commensurate to what we were watching, there are body, as you and i were talking about today, the smell of decomposition is strong here. there are people at the dock still trying to get out. i spoke to two parents and their son, an autistic child and they have been trying to get out. they're both government

employees. he said, i'm just waiting for my check so i can leave. but they get paid at the end of the month in the bahamas, so he was prepared to wait until september 30ing. he is sleeping outside, probably a quarter mile from me with his wife and autistic child. there is no bank, most of the cars are wrecked all of the buildings are wrecked, some reduced to just lumber. some are damaged and still standing, but there is nothing intact here. there is no work, nothing going on here. there is no running water so there is a disconnect between what's being done, the death toll, and what people's expectations are. we did see the bahamian military here giving out some food and what under the circumstances to people coming in to get help. but this does not look like the large scale operation that you would expect it to be given this island being virtually wiped out. jasmine. >> it's interesting. i feel like this point in the conversation after a hurricane,

we would be talking about when people can get in to rebuild. and that is not a conversation we are having because there is just such destruction there. it doesn't seem like rebuilding can be happening any time, quickly, ali what is being done to get these people out to help them to get them to safety? to get them somewhere, where they can get food and water. >> reporter: so, depending on where you are in the bahamas, are you looking to get to a major center. nassau is the goal for most people around here. and then some people want to get to america. a lot of people, the connection between the americans and the bahamas are very, very strong. most people here are actually descendants of american loyalists from the revolutionary war and their slaves. >> that said, if you are undocumented in the bahamas, it's been made very clear, there is no point in making an effort to get to the united states and nassau is a place based on a touristic economy. it does not have the ability to absorb all of this. this the a multi-multi-level problem.

as you and i discussed today, they are still finding bodies, we're not close to recovery and building yet. we're still looking for bodies here. >> ali velshi, i appreciate it, my friend. we'll be back with "u"one more thing." l be back with "u"one moe thing. of 5g with ultra wideband, so more screaming, streaming, posting fans... can experience 5g all at once. this is happening in 13 stadiums all across the country. now if verizon 5g can do this for the nfl... imagine what it can do for you.

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. welcome back. nobody seems to be having as much fun on the campaign trail as andrew yang. here he is last night crowd surfing at a forum in california. literally riding a wave of his yang gang supporters after speaking. that is some trust in your fans. it looks like a trust fall at its best. andrew yang is known to have these lighter moments on the trail as well, watch a little of this. ♪ .

>> a plus. >> i mean, he can rap. he can dance. he can kick. what more do you want? you wonder what he will do on the debate stage this week. we will be back for "morning joe" "first look." first "hardball" with chris matthews is next. >> the bucks stop here. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm chris matthews back if walk. truth, unity, we put a lot of stock on those words, our government was built on that, our system of government is built on average people can get beyond prejudice and tribe and unite to many