>> i'm shocked that a question like that would come up at a time when we have so many other things to do. not that shocked actually. i was pretty confident about where i was born. i think most people were as well. >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. after 30 minutes of promoting the hotel and donald trump finally after five years of conspiracy theories and questionable comments states that president obama was born in the united states. trump tried to pin birtherism on hillary clinton and the 2008 campaign. despite all evidence to the contrary. in fact, it was trump, not clinton who rode the wave of birtherism to prominence. kristen welker covering the campaign with me. katy tur covering the campaign.

explain the dynamics of what happened today. there were some expectations. you can help us on why he might answer questions. he was surrounded by medal of honor. he referred to them as medal of honor awardees or award winners. tell us what happened there. >> this is national p.o.w., missing in action day. he was trying to honor veterans. it is important to know this was initially billed to us in the media as a news conference. he's been hammering hillary clinton. he was hammering her before she gave a press conference for hiding. hillary clinton has given -- and the stage is falling apart behind us if you can see this. anyway it is important to that he hillary clinton got five conferences, maybe more. donald trump has given none.

we were hoping to ask questions. we were hoping to ask donald trump about it. we were told he would make an announcement about birtherism. he would announce that president obama was born in the u.s. basically this is a photo op for the hotel. the new d.c. hotel opening in a few days. it's on a soft opening here. he stood up on stage, got applauded by a group of hand selected veterans. he said hillary clinton started this which is not true and that he ended it, also not true. donald trump sent investigators to hawaii but never turned up any evidence that president obama was born anywhere else. you could say he was part of the pressure on president obama to release a birth certificate but can't say donald trump ended this especially since he went on for years after that continuing to question president obama's

birthplace. even recently, andrea. he said president obama doesn't really have a degree at harvard law school -- excuse me, he tricked his way into harvard and that he's somehow sympathetic to terrorists. we were going to ask when to come to the conclusion that president obama was born here. why. what about the timing. we are 53 days from the election. why now after all these years. and does he believe president obama is a muslim. this is important because this is what many of donald trump's supporters believe. we hear this at rally after rally. something that donald trump himself doesn't try to dissuade supporters. when he mentioned president obama's name at rallies we'll hear people say obama is a muslim. often times when we talk to them in sound bites and in reporting they believe he's not for western values. that he's trying to instill

sharia law here. this is an important issue that goes beyond weather donald trump believes president obama was born here. this goes beyond. it is predicated on something that's factually inaccurate. >> just as we move to kristen welker who is at hillary clinton's event today and joy reed joins us. just want to point out as you know better than anyone, today was reminiscent at first when he came in and said, great hotel, best hotel. it reminded me of brexit day on the links when he was promoting his golf course. hillary clinton and the irony is she tried yesterday to relaunch her campaign but they are not calling it a relaunch or reset and to focus on what she's going to do affirmatively rather than

taking down donald trump. she got swept into the birtherism thing. it was unavoidable at the event last night. let's play what she said today at the black women's leadership conference about birtherism and take it from there. >> for five years he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president. his campaign was founded on this outrageous lie. there is no erasing it in history. donald's advisers had the temerity to say he's doing the country a service by pushing these lies. no, he isn't. >> clearly this doesn't put it to rest and to put it out in the

context as jason miller, his spokesman, did last night. trying to pin it on the clinton people. we understand they are trying to pivot as quickly as they can to this. the bottom line is this is the wrong argument to be making at this point in the campaign. secretary clinton as you talk about the reboot. she was trying to talk about the affirmati affirmative. there is no doubt it helps energize the base. african-americans, african-american women and women in general. hillary clinton called on donald trump to apologize and made the point that there is no erasing history. what does that mean? she's not letting today be part of the conversation. this is a key part of the strategy in terms of energizing

her base, the obama coalition. i talked to a top aide and said will you encourage your surrogates to talk about this? the aide said we don't need to. nothing angers and energizes our supporters more than this issue. it's something they will talk about. the challenge will be she can't get too mired in this. as you point out at the top of the remarks she has to focus on what to bring to the country. not just slamming donald trump. but there is no doubt democrats care about this issue. they do feel like it smacks of racism. >> not just democrats. joy reed, this cuts across a lot of lines. the suburban women, republican women around the philadelphia suburbs. undecided voters. this is a fundamental issue for people. the delegitimizinging of the first african-american president. >> george romney was born in new

mexico. birtherism dates back to as early as 2007 and people questioning whether barack obama was a secret muslim, sneaked into the country essentially by his mother. it was really not about a fact finding in addition. it was about delegitimizing and humiliating obama. when barack obama was elected the ueeuphoria wasn't universit f universal. there was a drive to bring him to his knees, humiliate him. it's why chris christie was a popular name as a potential opponent for him in 2012. it was seen he would not be afraid to punch obama, bring him down. it was done from the well of congress. not just for african-americans but people who observe the president treated in a way no previous president had, what the trump people are missing is the

idea that donald trump would come around to the idea that barack obama san american is irrelevant. the point that a citizen, any citizen. this guy who was a gadfly at the time had the right to demand the papers of the president of the united states, to demand he show papers to donald trump, to me. it was a sense of attempting to personally humiliate him and cause him to subordinate himself to one donald trump. who was he to question the president of the united states in the first place? no one cares what he's come to. last night speaking to robert costa of the washington post he wouldn't say the president was born in the united states. >> it's clear after that, now it

is trump reading from a text, not taking questions. here is the trump tweets. the compilation of trump tweets. an extremely credible source has called my office obama's birth certificate is a frauz. how amazing the state health director who verified copies and all others lived. attention all hackers, you are hack everything else. so please hack obama's college records, and check place of birth. you wonder why in the survey monkey online poll in july 72% of republican voters still doubt president obama's citizenship. that gets to what katy tur has been finding on the trail. perhaps because of barack obama's name, because he's

defined as an authother by peop like donald trump. katy, you talk more to the people at the rallies than i have certainly. that's not what we found on the trail. >> reporter: you know, it's got to be a different experience. donald trump mentions his name. we find vitriol, folks who say there is nothing that president obama could do, period, that would make them feel warmly to him in any way. it is not just i don't like this president and i don't think his policies are correct for the country. it's vitriol. in some cases there is hate behind it. i spoke to -- you know, one instance sticks out. i was speaking to older gentlemen in iowa during the vet event out there when he skipped the debate. i asked why they believe in donald trump. they told me they don't believe the way this country is going is

the right way. they think we have taken a wrong turn. i asked if it is because they lost jobs or is it an economic issue? they said, yes. but mostly because this president doesn't belief in western values. they weren't talking about japanese or chinese values. i pressed them further to say do you mean middle eastern values? muslim values? is that what you are trying to say? they said, yes. we don't believe he's a real american. we believe he's for muslims. in some cases i have heard that he's for sharia law. donald trump has flled that, andrea, by implying that president obama was somehow sympathetic to terrorists. it happened most recently after the orlando massacre. >> kristen welker, again the challenge for hillary clinton, this is an easy thing for her to attack.

instead what she was trying to do in north carolina in a carefully calibrated speech is talk more affirmatively about her values, about children, families and the contrast with donald trump only in terms of his positions on the economy, his positions on child care that were laid out. her positions and how it would contrast. how her presidency if she were to win would affect people's lives. we see the narrowing of the polls. she's now seeing a narrowing in polls where he has a definite path -- if iowa, if florida, if ohio. the pattern we are seeing, if it continues after this bad two weeks she's had she's got to worry about how she defines herself. >> that's right. the campaign said she's going to be focused on defining herself in the coming weeks but that's the challenge. you're right. the campaign has become focused on attacks and the clinton campaign would acknowledge that.

she's rolling out a series of speeches. the one you mentioned yesterday fit into the series of speeches of the stronger together theme which is, of course, her campaign slogan. we heard her talk about families and children yesterday. in the coming days you will hear more themes. >> next wednesday. >> the economy, criminal justice. i think that will be critical. i want to say, just heard from a clinton campaign official. they are working on a reaction to what trump said. so i expect we'll get that. >> about bliming their campaign. >> correct. >> we'll get something soon. >> thank you, kristen. thanks to joy reed and to katy tur. former iowa governor tom vilsack, a hillary clinton supporter joins me now. >> i don't know where to start. you were part of the campaign. you have served in the cabinet. let's fact check what donald trump said about the hillary

clinton campaign having launched birtherism. >> donald trump will lie when the truth would serve him better. it under scores the concept that he doesn't have the temperament or character to be the next president. i was struck by the setting in which he made the comments. surrounded by military heroes, people who showed courage and guts in the face of adversity. donald trump was gutless today. he could have admitted he made a mistake. he could have admitted he was wrong, that he wasn't telling the growth for many months. he refused to do so and doubled down. perpetuating for some time. my concern about this is it under scores an important aspect of this campaign. that's who's got the temperament to be the next president of the united states. why is he up eight points in

iowa, your home state? >> this is an ebb and flow campaign. i anticipate that as secretary clinton comes back as senator tim kaine campaigns we'll see a fluctuation of the polls. it's who was there last. he's been there. governor pence has been there. it's a reflection about that. we have to do a better job making sure people understand hillary's plan for the economy, how it will create ten million jobs according to independent analysis. his plan will cost him jobs. the opportunities to speak to working families about the programs she has for making child care more affordable. college expense. less of a burden for people. as we talk about the issues, you will see a change in the polls in iowa. you will see a strengthening of the polls in other states where she's clearly doing well. >> i have been traveling with

her. she's been going to ohio, for instance, weekly if not bi-weekly. she spent time in all the battleground states. she's challenged in florida, eye wachlt he's pulling ahead in some national polls. this is becoming a tight race with donald trump in the lead. >> everybody expected this to be close. ultimately they will deliver votes on november 8 and before. i'm confident on the ground game in ohio. of the balt ground states. there is a lot of investment and time spent reaching voters. at the end of the day you will see a clinton win. there is a lot of work to be done. i'm sure secretary clinton will be back on the. ka pain trail looking for the first debate. >> which direction does she is go in as in the north carolina

speech yesterday of showing affirmatively what she would do on specific subjects. too much of a risk? just talking campaign strategy. do you take the affirm ty and try to fill in the gaps? >> it is important to say what he says about issues he often flip flops within a 24 hour time period. i don't think you can rely on what he's saying. on the other hand, you have a life long record of support for families, for women, for the disadvantaged. it is important for her to continue to talk. >> quick question. was basket of deplorables a mistake to go after his

supporters that way? >> she can speak to that. she is speaking to the united states, to people in the united states who want a president who's got the character, the temperament to be president, who understands we work better together, that we should not be di vie si. we need to leave the world and not isolate ourselves from the world. she has the strength of mess kaj and of character to win the election. we'll see it in the next 53 days. >> thanks for being with us. harry reid spoke about his reactions to trump. hall jackson joins me from miami. we know harry reid was viciously on the today tack. strongly on the attack he's the democratic leader. what do you have to say to me? >> he kept up the same tone in the interview who was conducted after donald trump and delivered

his brief statement on president obama. i wanted to find out if he believed donald trump. listen. >> do you believe donald trump? >> i believe donald trump is an exaggerator, a liar, a bully. pretty well describes him. what he said on president obama, where he was born means nothing. any reasonable person knew that barack obama was an american, born in hawaii. donald trump has generated a lot of controversy. it's been harmful to the country. in the long run, extremely harmful to the most -- presidential candidate we have had in the history of our country. >> senate majority leader harry

reid. i want to know more reaction. we are seeing it from people on both sides of the aisle. john kasich is there talking tpp. within this last 30 minutes he was asked a question about it. kasich sarcastically said i was thinking bruce springsteen must be happy. "born in the usa" will sell more albums now. kasich was there speaking about it. he said he's there to focus on tpp and said if he drafted a movie script they would have thrown us out about campaign 2016. he called it a fiction that goes beyond any fiction that would be possible. it is a remarkable and wild day in the campaign. >> thank you, hall jackson. joining me now, washington post columnist michael gurson. you had a column anticipating this because you have been so close to this. the david duke comments and the

birtherism is just another extension of it. writing about the fact that donald trump and his supporters and even mike pence have been unwilling to affirmatively step away from some of the most outrageous movements. >> they have been given the opportunity to have easy sister soldier moments where they could distance themselves from the far right, the far racist right. they refused to take it. this ethnocentric appeal is essential to what donald trump's appeal is. he talks migrants, muslims. he talks about mexicans. this is the way he rose in american politics. it will be hard for him to escape that by just repudiating his past. >> what do you think is the fundamental mood of this. is this central to the way he

rose to prominence? is this an act? hard to get in someone else's mind. it's difficult but consistent. the use of conspiracy theories. he raised the possibility that vince foster was murdered, that judge scalia was murdered. this is part of the way he creates a media reality, dominate it is narrative. that part of it is. from his first day in talking about mexicans being rapists, the threats to america that come from the other. that's been the center piece appeal. he's used them to rise in american politics. he created and encouraged the attitudes in the country. >> what do you make of him coming up today and say him reading a hostage video statement.

it's not consistent what he told robert costa within 24 hours. what do you make of him saying i believe president obama was born in the united states, period, walking out. >> there are people in his campaign that urged him to do something rational he was reluctant to do and he did it. he's been doing it for a couple of weeks at a time when hillary clinton has not run a good campaign. that's shown the fundamental evenness of the election. it's an anti-establishment electorate. she's a resumé candidate. that's a tough situation for her to be in. >> thank you very much. turning to overseas threats, here we are deciding who will be the next commander in chief. threats around the world. north korea saying it is ready to respond to u.s. military exercises pyongyang calls provocations. the escalating rhetoric after the weapons test ratcheting up a possible threat to u.s. and its

allies. joining me now, former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral michael mullen and sam munn, cochairs of the independent task force of independent policy to north korea. we were talking about a nuclear armed state and a leader who is hard to design and analyze for american intelligence. we know your recommendations. how do you put in effect making this a front runner issue to get more military help to the allies. >> the report as to the united states and china lead this effort. basically the task force was composed of 17 people deep in the subject area. strongly recommends that the

u.s. and china lead the effort to implement a series of steps that would put more pressure on pyongyang to bring them to the table. and especially alert, tries to alert everybody to the fact that it won't be long before pyongyang has the capability to put a nuclear weapon on top of a missile that could strike the united states. that's a threshold that's unacceptable in terms of pyongyang crossing it. the initial step would be to go through china. we talk about negotiations, sanctions. we talk about increased strengthening deterrents, relationship relationships. we talk about military options to make sure that threshold isn't crossed. >> u.s. policy has been to rely

on china. secretaries of state i have traveled with over there keep going to beijing expecting china to step up. but china seems to have made a calculation that they would rather tolerate a nuclear threat next door in north korea than increased u.s. south korea deterrents to the south. to japan and south korea in the threat. they are right next door. >> they could cut the border off. they could cut them economically in a nano second. why won't china step up to it? >> china is worried about refugees across the border. if there is a collapse china is worried about the disposition of u.s. troops. we need to sit with china and have a new dialogue and talk about the things. we want china to take into

account our applications in the growing field that both allies and we the united states are going to be under threat of a north korea bomb. we have to understand that china has concerns. we'll have hopefully that kind of dialogue. that's what we are recommending. if the united states in china, japan, south korea work together. we can achieve the goal of a stable korean peninsula without nuclear weapons. if we don't it will be difficult. as mike said, we have to strengthen deterrents, our defense independent of another country with the allies, south korea and japan. tightening down on the sanctions. there is a powerful sanction of the u.n. security council with china's full support and russia's full support. basically requires every member of the united nations to search ships and airplanes coming in

and out of china, in and out of north korea for goods including military, nuclear and conventional. we have powerful tools and we have to work together. >> what about donald trump having suggested into a series of interviews in past months he would be okay. if the south koreans and japanese got the nuclear weapons. >> i hope trump gets a good adviser who knows about that. the last 40 years it would be extremely dangerous for the whole region and for the countries themselves. >> we are living in an era that i think the vast majority of people in the world would like to see a reduction in nuclear weapons. >> before i let you go admiral,

there is an unusually public dispute between the defense secretary and the secretary of state whether to trust the russians to try to get this cease-fire in syria. do you think we should be going down the route of a cease-fire relying on the russians to get the humanitarian aide into those areas. >> i felt strongly we would need a political solution here. i'm not sure whether or not we are on the verge of it. this is a step in the right direction. i recognize there is risk associated with this. i'm not specifically familiar with the details of this. i have a lot of faith in military colleagues that they would be smart about how anything about this gets implemented. there are risks associated. i don't know how you solved the crisis without taking risk in a relationship with russia.

we need to further engage across the board and the issue of how to establish a level of trust in a crisis that's killed upwards of half a million people and displaced several million as well. we need to come to conclusion on this. while there may be in the government, the administration said they are going to give it a try and all the agencies need to line up behind that policy at this point. >> we have a president. the president has to decide between cabinet officials disagree sincerely. it indicates why we need more communication with the russians. the distrust is profound between the countries. talked to his counterpart. i would like to see secretary of defense carter authorize his military commanders create a dialogue. what we are experiencing is a

danger between the united states and russia not only over syria but over possible conflicts including europe and other places in the world. communication is absolutely essential to rebuild trust. there is not nearly enough of it now. >> indeed especially with the russian hacking that's suspec d suspected. thank you very much. it's good to see you both. it is the debate we should be having in the campaign. >> thanks. >> coming up, too little too late. after stoking the birther saga can donald trump move past it? this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. [ music stops ] ♪ just can't wait to get on the road again ♪ [ front assist sounds ] [ music stops ] [ girl laughs ] ♪ on the road again ♪ like a band of gypsies we go down the highway ♪ [ beetle horn honks ] no matter which passat you choose, you get more standard features, for less than you expected. hurry in and lease

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went up the waterspout. down came the rain... ...and clogged the gutter system creating a leak in the roof. luckily the spider recently had geico help him with homeowners insurance. water completely destroyed his swedish foam mattress. he got full replacement and now owns the sleep number bed. his sleep number setting is 25. call geico and see how much you could save on homeowners insurance. donald trump -- [ laughter ] >> -- is here tonight. [ cheers and applause ] >> but no one is happier, no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the donald. and that's because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter.

like did we fake the moon landing? [ laughter ] what really happened in roswell? and where are biggie and tupac? >> president obama's roast of donald trump back in 2011 at the correspondents dinner when then reality star trump was leading the birther movement insisting president obama wasn't born in the u.s. joining me for the daily fix, chris alyssa, founder of the washington post fix blog and sam stein, huffington post senior editor. i want to read the clinton campaign response. trump's actions today for disgraceful. after five years of pushing a racist conspiracy theory into the main stream it was appalling to watch trump appoint himself as judge of whether the president of the united states is american. it shows why donald trump is unfit to be president. that from the clinton campaign.

we'll have more from them later. sam stein, what do you make of what we saw today? >> i was there. it is tough to figure out what to make of it. objectively the press corps got played. we were told to show up for a major announcement. it ended up being 30 seconds of a statement that could have been in a tweet basically. instead we got an infomercial for trump's hotel and testimonials from veteran advisers about how great he was that cable carried nonstop virtually. what happened is he played the press corps for fools. i don't think he put the issue behind him at all. there are so many questions that happened here. >> he put it to rest in 2011, he didn't. three, he refused to apologize. there will be questions that surround us that continue to drag him and that i hope and assume will be continued to be asked of associates and surrogates in the da ahead.

your political take given how the polling narrowed and how trump is obviously, according to robert costa's reporting, he spent 10, 11 hours with him. how confident he seemed to be feeling. >> if you look at the numbers trump is closer. within striking distance. the thing i finished is i don't get that on wednesday -- thursday he's been with bob costa and straight out the president born in the united states. he said i don't talk about that anymore. now he says the president was born in the u.s., period and i'm the one for figuring it out. he's also responsible for starting it and main streaming the idea. forcing the president to show his birth certificate in the

white house which happened in the white house briefing room. i'm still amazed it happened. to sam's point, you can't -- he basically said two things. one, hillary clinton started this. incorrect and false. two, well, now everything is fine because i believe it. you spent five years pushing this into main stream conversation. you don't just get to say, hey, everything's fine. what's the evidence? what changed his mind? does he apologize for what he did over the last five years? >> there is a lot more questions and answers. >> this is a reprise of some of the comments going back to 2015. >> why doesn't he show his birth certificate? i wish he would. i think it is a terrible pale hanging over him. >> i'm starting to wonder whether or not he was born in this country. >> nobody knows who he is until later in his life. >> he may have one.

there is something on that, maybe religion, maybe it says he's a muslim. i don't know. i have people studying it and they cannot believe what they are finding. i want to see his college records. trump comes along and said birth certificate. he gave one. whether or not that was a real certificate because a lot of people question it, i certainly question it. >> a few years ago you led the birther movement. >> well, i don't know. according to you it's not true. >> as recently as 2015 and even in this campaign there are plenty of suggestions. as recently as yesterday, the day before refusing to say to robert costa he disavowed it. sam stein? >> yeah. i mean he can't get away from saying it's over now. obviously it didn't end for him, himself in 2011. he continued to bring it up, tweet about it. discuss it, so on and so forth. this is a stroke of genius on

his part or that he handled it well. i don't get it. he was riding high. the narrative was working in his favor. we were discussing a number of things that were critical of hillary clinton. her foundation, e-mails and health. now as we head into the weekend, this is going to be the dominant topic for a lot of people and shows. i think he tried to get publicity for his hotel, tried to game the system to see veterans praising him on national tv. in the end it came at a cost which is it reminds people he not just dabbled in but promoted and main streamed a racist insinuation and attack on the president of the united states. >> chris, how does this work for hillary clinton. does this put donald trump on his heels or.

>> on one hand it continues that he dictates the race. he sets the agenda. >> exactly. >> at the same time the terms of the race it's not that friendly for him. if you want to dictate the terms of race, pick fights on advantageous battlefields that's one thing. they may be the fights he wants but ether not necessarily an advantage wous battlefield. if you believe what donald trump did was to finish the task of finding that president obama was born in the united states you are already for donald trump. that's not -- right? the key now, there are 54, 53 days left. the key now is to find people who aren't for him. the gains he made are republicans coming back to him because they don't like the idea of voting for hillary clinton. he needs to now find other people who aren't loosely affiliated with the republican party who need a reason to vote

for him, for him to be a safe harbor. birtherism but he declared the end of it today by fiat, that's not an issue you want debated. that's not a majority position in this country. >> in fact, it is not going to help him with the key undecided voters in important states. the swing voters. many of them women. >> suburban white women. >> do you think this attack en de -- endeers people to him? i doubt it. >> we'll see what michelle obama say this is afternoon. this is really a painful issue for both of them. especially with their young girls in the white house. thank you very much to you both.

sam stein was in the room today for the interesting announcement. >> whatever it was. >> and chris cillizza. >> whatever it was. >> much more here. this is "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back. >> let's reject the cynicism, the bullying, the divisive rhetoric that my opponent uses to make us afraid of each other. (announcer vo) who says your desk phone always has to be at your desk? now, with one talk from verizon... hi, pete. i'm glad you called. (announcer vo) all your phones can work together on one number. you can move calls between phones, so conversations can go where you go. take your time. i'm not going anywhere. (announcer vo) and when you're not available, one talk helps find the right person who is. hi, john. (announcer vo) so wherever work takes you, you can put your customers first. introducing one talk-- another way verizon connects your business better. learn how at onetalk.com.

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it was huge for everybody. she just started to decline rapidly. i was rushed to the hospital. my symptoms were devastating. the doctor said, "pam! if you'd waited two more days, you would've died." pneumococcal pneumonia almost took me from them. if i had known that a vaccine could have helped prevent this, i would have asked my doctor about it. he looks at a gold star family. he sees them as muslims, not patriotic americans. he looks at women and decides how our looks rate on a scale of 1 to 10. i look at america. i see everyone. i see our great diversity which is one of our core strengths,

not our burden. >> hillary clinton today at a black women's leadership event before donald trump finally admitted president obama was, guess what, born in the united states. as part of the battleground america series chris jansing has been voting to north carolina voters. the key battleground state i was in yesterday with hillary clinton. you have been talking specifically about donald trump's tone. we have been told that the clinton campaign will be coming back and back and back to north carolina. they think they can go on offense and turn it democratic. this time president obama didn't win it last time. what are the voters telling you? >> it's fascinating. we first talked to this group two and a half months ago. they haven't moved at all. those three undecided voters haven't changed their minds not moved over to one of the candidates by any of the controversies. not birtherism, the basket of

deplorables. >> he says whatever he wants whether it is derogatory or offensive. he makes no apologies for it. we are supposed to just get along and be okay with it? no. >> hillary clinton did apologize. she made a comment about half of donald trump's supporters being in a basket of deplorables. do you wish she hadn't said that? >> i wish she never would have said that. >> she apologized within the next day or so. donald trump has not apologized for anything. he made things worse. i'm determined. i believe what i believe, take it as i say. it's always "believe me". >> after the khan incident donald trump did say in a rally i apologize for anything i said that offended everybody. >> never apologized. >> that's not true. >> he didn't say the name khan. it was directly after that incident. hillary clinton's basket of deplorables comment reminded me

of obama saying people cling to guns and religion and the view of conservatives is that they are all backwards racist redneck hillbillys which turns people off. >> every four years we have a president call election. personal attacks. name calling. >> how many of you think it's too much. >> there are a lot of people who weren't disenfranchised before who have become. i know of a lot of broken-hearted republicans in my family. it's been the most divisive election i have seen. it's breaking up families. >> what's going to move the undecideds. i asked how can you not know. they think the debate that's coming up in a few weeks could change the direction of the race as a lot of us have thought. critically important in north carolina for donald trump. no republican won the presidency

without winning this state since 1956. andrea? >> wow. in fact, that debate will be all critical as we know. september 26, hoffstra university. hillary clinton dispersing major reinforcements to battleground states. the stars are out. this is "andrea mitchell reports." ligious bigot. donald trump is a phony, a fraud. he's not a serious adult. i can't vote for donald trump given the things that he said. trump should not be supported. i believe he's disqualified himself to be president. i just cannot support donald trump.

that's what barack and i think of every day as we try to guide and protect our girls through the challenges of this unusual life in the spotlight. how we urge them to question those who question their father's citizenship or faith. >> michelle obama stealing the show at the democratic national convention in july. the first lady goes out to campaign for hillary clinton

solo for the first time in northern virginia across the river where we find kasie hunt in fairfax, virginia. that could not be a better platform. it's the millennials, young people. they want to hear from mrs. obama. they have not been enthusiastic enough about hillary clinton. >> that's right. this is part of a broader push for millennial voters involving hillary clinton herself. it is involving elizabeth warren and bernie sanders. michelle obama is a powerful messenger for the clinton campaign. that speech at the dnc, one of the most talked about of the peek. something people seem to pick up on and it seems to resonate the campaign feels. they are hoping to hear more from michelle obama today. the birther issue is personal for the first lady. you heard her testify to that there. we'll see if me get more of that in fairfax.

>> we know she'll appear this afternoon. before that she had an appearance with laura bush. that was more of a first lady event. not a campaign event. >> that's right. they have appeared together before as part of the grander tradition that first ladies have. you can expect the tone there to be different from the one this afternoon. >> thank you. good to see you both. she's attending a luncheon, one of the fund-raising events. a group working to recruit, train and elect lgbt public officials. then she heads to 30 rock for a taping with jimmy fallon that will airen oh monday.

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hi, everybody. i'm hallie jackson. as andrea said live in miami at the bay side marketplace. this place is where donald trump will hold a rally hours from now after a wild morning. the race neck and neck in battleground florida. the story dominating the day. birther in chief. donald trump trying to be reborn. president obama barack obama was born in the united states, period. now we can get back to making america strong and great again. >> barack obama was born in america, plain and simple. donald trump owes him and the american people an apology. >> lots to look ahead to with the teamf