who say i should wait my turn but with due respect i'm not sure this is a moment for waiting. our system has been letting down a lot of people for a long time and we can't fix it if we don't challenge it. i've got some ideas on how to do that and i don't think our democratic process promises anyone a turn. that is all for tonight. we'll be back tomorrow with more "meet the press" daily and the beat starts right now. amin is in for ari melber. >> i am in for ari melber. president trump promoting his golf courses at the g7 summit in france. plus democrats subpoena another trump staffer as the impeachment caucus continues to grow. i'm going to talk to a democratic presidential candidate ahead of this week's big debate deadline. we want to begin with a series of setbacks and embarrassments as trump heads back from confusing our allies overseas at a major world summit. when trump lands in d.c. tonight, he's going to face a new challenge from the right in

the gop primary. he is also dealing with an embarrassing report that he suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them from hitting the u.s. a report that he is now denying. and he will face fallout from his extended promotion of using his own golf course in florida as the setting for next year's g7 summit. >> doral happens to be within miami. it's a city, it's a wonderful place. it's a very, very successful area, florida. it's very importantly only 5 minutes from the airport. by the way, my people looked at 12 sites -- all good, but some were two hours from an airport, some were four hours -- they were so far away. it's not about me. it's about getting the right location. >> actually, it's sort of does sound like it is about him. and this push comes after a series of troubling stories about the doral property. in fact, the washington post reporting earlier this year, business at doral has sharply declined.

members who quit the club, they're still waiting years to get refunded. and revelations that trump hired undocumented workers to do construction projects there. well, today trump sounded more like one of his company's promotional videos than a world leader working on diplomacy. >> doral happens to be within miami. it's a city -- it's a wonderful place. >> and the city of doral, a lot of people don't realize one of the most successful cities in the world. >> each country can have their own villa or their own bungalow. >> village all magnificent. >> they each hold from 50 to 70, very luxurious rooms with magnificent views. >> we have location nobody has. >> i think it's a great blue jays to be. >> it's going to be an exciting time. we have it all at doral. >> and as trump is trying to sell his golf course, his allies back here at home, they're trying to sell his china trade policy by saying, we just have to, quote, accept the pain.

>> the democrats for years have been claiming that china should be stood up to. now trump is and we've just got to accept the pain that comes withstanding up to china. how do you get china to change without creating some pain on them and us? i don't know. >> all right. mara gay is a member of the editorial board. rick stengel in the obama administration and former editor of time magazine. michael steele, former chair of the rnc. all of them are going to help us break down what we just discussed here. we are we're going to start by talking, rick, is there anything wrong with the president of the united states trying to sweeten the deal a little bit? he's saying doral is a great place. he's going to include wi-fi and free satellite tv for world leaders when they stay there. joking aside, though, why is this so bizarre that you have a world leader, the leader of the free world pitching his real estate property as a venue for a g7 summit? >> there is something called the emoluments clause of the constitution which the framers created so that presidents of

the united states could not benefit monetarily from the decisions and actions that they're taking. i mean, in fact, it's so bizarre because everything trump has done on the world stage has always been partly about kind of feathering his own must literally and figuratively. every single thing has been about, in part, what can benefit his business. and the fact he was up there today at a g7, kind of doing a -- for his resort is unheard of in the history and anales of diplomacy. >> michael steel, you've been around politics quite a long time. walk me through what you're thinking about this because this is one of the more bizarre moments, i think, when we think of, you know, an american president on the world stage, we generally don't think of him trying to pitch his real estate venue as a site of a g7 summit. >> no, you don't. but we're not in that space any more, you know? dorothy may have clicked her heels, but we're still in oz,

baby. we are not where we thought we were. and here's the rub. why the president sees no problem with any of this, tell me what the consequence have been from actions that he's taken in the past that have benefited him personally or his family. there have been none. yeah, there may be threats of lawsuits and the courts say you don't have standing and all of this. so as far as trump is concerned, you can have that battle. in the meantime, i'm going to pitch doral and we will be at doral next year for this summit, for the g7, which will be the g7 plus one because putin will be there, too. again, there are no consequence. so where there are no consequence, he is free to act. >> and the crazy thing about this, mara, i want to play you this sound bite. the president in all of this still pitches himself as the victim. he'll come out and say, i'm losing money by being president of the united states as if

somehow that is a reason why people should feel sympathetic to him. but watch. >> probably it will cost me anywhere from 3 to $5 billion to be president. couldn't careless, otherwise i wouldn't have done it. people have asked me, what do you think it costs? and between opportunity not doing -- i used to get a lot of money to give speeches. i do speeches all the time. you know what i get? zippo. >> zippo. the president is standing on the world stage and saying he is losing money being the president of the united states and expects the american people to care about that. >> it's a huge sacrifice he's making. >> right. >> all jokes aside, though, part of trump's power, i believe, is this narrative that he's spun really out of a bunch of lies, that he's this extremely successful businessman and his pitch to some of the voters and his base, i believe, is kind of akin to, hey, you can be rich, too. this is what it looks like to be successful in america.

and it's really a powerful narrative that democrats are up against because, really, what i see as a journalist and as an american when i look at that behavior is a public official using his public office to enrich himself. and i guess the question is, it just depends on the eye of the beholder. i really think that the democrats, in particular, need to kind of start to chip away at that narrative and really start talking about the ways in which this president, instead of serving the american people, has used the american people to serve himself. >> rick, i want to ask you a little bit on something michael steele brought up, potentially having a russian president vladimir putin attend the g7 summit, not to get too bogged down why he was initially pushed out of it, for the annexation of crimea which is considered illegal. we talked a lot about this during the mueller probe. people in syria asking, what is president trump trying to do that benefits russia? well, what if it is trying to

bring russia into, into the fold once again, what if that is the objective here? >> yeah, i mean, it could be a gigantic quid pro quo. that is the thing that putin would have wanted more than anything else to kind of normalize himself on the world stage. as you said, he was kicked out of the g7 for violating the boundaries of a country that was not theirs by annexing a country illegally really for the first time since world war ii. it was a gigantic thing. it meant a huge amount to europe. ukraine is a country the size of france in europe. so all of the help that the russians gave trump, i mean, the recompense and the reward would be trump saying, yeah, you guys are back in the family of nations again and let's all -- let's move past this. >> one of the things, michael steele, donald trump talked today about russia, in his meetings at the g7, so many of the issues constantly brought up involved russia. he said it should have been russia in that room to try to solve some of the problems. the part he left out was russia

was partly responsible for a lot of those problems in the first place. >> right, right, he kind of missed the big picture there, sir. the reason they were talking about russia is they were the problem. donald trump to his point doesn't see russia as the problem. donald trump has been told and recounted by his own family members has a financial tie to russia that has mattered to him. for whatever reason beyond that, he's not looking to upset that. so when the g7 part neners get around the table and they had these conversations about what's happened in europe and what russia is doing in places like crimea and the ukraine, donald trump has a deaf ear to that. and so i think what you're going to see is more action unilaterally, if you will, by those other partners without the u.s. because, after all, this is

on their turf. and in the past they could rely on the u.s. to support them, and they can't any longer. >> michael, let me switch gears for a moment and get your thoughts on lindsey graham coming out in defense of the president's china trade policy. he seems to understand it better than others because he's essentially saying we have to accept the pain of trump's trade war, and i'm curious to get your thoughts as a former member of the rnc. when you have the white house on one hand signalling, consumers -- american consumers to be specific -- are not being hurt by this, we're very optimistic where things are going. >> right. >> the pain is on the chinese side. and then you've got one of the most loyal senators to the president saying, no, americans just got to take this pain right now. what kind of reelection message is that? >> so, which is it? are we in pain or are we not in pain? is the administration right when it says the economy is great, no one's in pain. the farmers are wonderful. corporate farms are, but what about mom and pop farms? and when lindsey graham sits there and says, well, you've got

to accept the pain, okay, i'll take the pain, but tell me there's a plan, there's a reason why i'm taking the pain, because there is no coherent policy here other than we're just going to have a trade war. and then we'll back off of it a little bit when the markets start to get a little roilish and we'll go back into it. so you're causing the pain, but -- what end? i think for a lot of american farmers in particular, that question is becoming more and more pronounced as time goes on. and when we get to first quarter next year and the numbers start to look even more shaky than they do today, i think that pain is going to result in some loud screaming around the country. >> mara, let me get your thoughts on that because i know senator lindsey graham, president trump, are golfing buddies. what do you think the conversation is going to be like when they're on the golf links together? >> oh, my gosh, to be a fly on the wall for those conversations between the two of them. i really just think it's really disturbing to me that the base

has been so willing to put up with this president, including in congress. they're essentially willing to say -- it reminds me actually of the story of the protester. there was a trump rally a couple weeks ago and there were some protesters at the rally. all of a sudden there was someone who the president started making fun of because he thought he was one of the protesters. >> this is called him overweight. >> it turned out he wasn't a protester, he was a trump supporter. then the news crews went to that individual and said, are you upset the president made fun of you on national tv? the man said, no, it's okay, i love donald trump. >> he's totally co-opted the republican parties. >> he's co-opted them. >> in his vision. >> in his vision, but also in values. i mean, we're asking americans to just take the pain? for what -- to what end? >> rick, i want to get your thoughts on this. >> well, the question is who can take pain more? donald trump or xi jinping? donald trump has an election 18 months ago.

xi jinping has an election never. >> right. >> he's not running for anything. >> leading for life. >> he is president for life. they can take pain for -- i mean, way longer than donald trump will even be on the world stage. and by the way, they have only recently come out of desperate poverty. >> right. >> the u.s. is, you know -- >> prosperous country. >> not suffering. so i think trump will welch on this. >> it's not a winning electoral message, especially in the midwest. >> it's going to be interesting to see how like that conversation plays out between those two. but let me get your thoughts on this because this is actually a real story as well, but it's kind of also a funny one. it reports that the president wants to nuke hurricanes. michael steele, you're up first. what do you make of that? >> why did you come to me first on this one? [ laughter ] >> do you want to pass? do you want to phone a friend? >> we'll take it. i'll take hurricanes for 20, alex. let's see. no, where do you go from here? so, the president is briefed about storms and about a whole

lot of things. in the course of those briefings, you know, he's given some data points, historic data points. yeah, the 1950s, this is something eisenhower looked at&t scientists went, what, are you crazy? and no one ever talked about it again, until now, because someone brought it up to the president and he thought it was, quote, a good idea. >> does he have a fascination with nuclear weapons? and he's always trying to find ways -- yeah, he's always trying to bring it into the conversation whether it's bombing afghanistan, rick, or bombing hurricanes or if it's -- >> he's, he's scientifically ill illiterate. it would make chernobyl look like a rainstorm. it's a crazy thing. where does he even get these conspiracy theories? you used to insulate a president so you can't see this kind of

stuff going on. >> saturday morning on twitter. >> it's like the response of a 6-year-old boy, you know? just blow it up. >> instinctively. michael, the last word. go ahead, mike many. >> one thing. you asked the question about why this fixation on nuclear weapons. remember what we're talking about. we're talking about a man who grew up in the '50s. he grew up in that time, so he sees these weapons a lot differently than we do today. and he's kind of stuck in that space about, about a lot of things. trade wars, for example, and how you can use nuclear -- the nuclear arsenal, which we've worked out with a lot of our partners and adversaries over the last 70ers . >> michael steele, stick with me. mara gay, rick stengel, thank you for joining me this hour. coming up, a trump aide moves forward as another lawmaker moves in favor of

impeachment. also why the primary challenge could be a problem for trump's reelection bid. a police illegally kept a u.s. citizen in jail because they thought he was an illegal immigrant. all that plus my live interview with kiersten gillibrand. and since coming out of cancer treatment. i'm in for ari melber. you're watching "the beat" here on msnbc. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. wow. thanks, zoltar. how can i ever repay you? maybe you could free zoltar? thanks, lady. taxi! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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the house judiciary committee subpoenas a new former trump aide as the impeachment inquiry continues to heat up. rob porter is a key mueller witness in the obstruction case against trump. he was the white house staff secretary controlling every piece of official paper the president saw, resulting in a near constant presence around mr. trump. well, the mueller report details how trump asked porter to reach out to d.o.j. official about taking over the special counsel investigation. porter refused to do so because he didn't want to be involved with an effort to end the probe or even fire mueller. in other words, he knew instinctively that it was wrong. the white house now likely to try to invoke executive privilege as they have for other subpoenaed aides. all this amid growing calls for impeachment. in fact, nbc's count now up to 133 democrats openly calling for impeachment. speaker nancy pelosi feeling the pressure even in her own

district. >> the lifetime achievement award ceremony is interrupted with people holding impeach now signs. >> impeach now. >> impeach now. >> reporter: police escorted shouting protesters out of the room. >> with me now is prosecutor john flannery and margaret carlson with the daily beast. good to have you with us this hour. let's start with you, margaret, if i can. why is it important for rob porter to testify? >> rob porter knows absolutely everything. there's no room he wasn't in when the door closed. staff secretary under describes what he did, because every piece of paper passed through his hands. he especially knew everything about don mcgahn and what he was doing, and he knew what donald trump did to try to get rid of him. these are crucial elements in, in oversight hearings.

you can, however, hear donald trump saying what he said about don mcgahn. only now we know he's going to say, i hereby order you not to appear. he will fight that tooth and nail as he fought the others. >> to that point, john, i'm curious to get your thoughts and to play devil's advocate here for a moment. you can almost hear that the white house is going to say, look, this has already been adjudicated with the mueller report. this is over. stop wasting your time. what do you say to that potential response coming out of the white house? >> well, it's been adjudicated against the white house, for one thing, because trump apparently had this mantra of sessions, unrecuse yourself, unrecuse yourself. that's why he was trying to reach out for rachel brand to become the new a.g. and she could control the special counsel. twice with porter present in the room, he -- that is trump -- said to sessions, you know, i'd like to kill this investigation of me and i'd like you to go look at hillary again.

and on top of that, what you have is rob porter making notes, and he had two interviews with the special counsel. and you can't forget the fact that he was allowed to do that earlier, and it was in the report, and we have it chapter and verse. so i think that what the white house likes to do is to delay no matter how frivolous is the question. i think that the judiciary committee should step up and use its internal powers to directly require mr. porter to testify and not go to court, to use their inherent powers, to even put him in a comfortable room in the basement of the congress, because we have such a historic crisis here that we can't allow this evil benny hill to obstruct the processes of congress. >> so, do you think as a former federal prosecutor the charge of or the defense against the charge of executive privilege will hold up when the white house says, hey, you know what, executive privilege, don't talk to him? >> no, i don't think it will. executive privilege, first of

all, is nowhere in the constitution and it's been narrowly defined. i don't see how it applies here. the notion of a privilege is it always takes flight in the face of misconduct. and we have misconduct here because if you look at mueller's report, he says, a, we have an event that is obstructive. it has a connection to two different grand juries. and finally, we have the intent of mr. trump as exemplified by the notes of porter and the conduct he had with sessions who is also interviewed in the same section of the report about page 109 in the second part of the report. so it's frivolous, it's obstructive, it's transparent and hopefully the judiciary committee will show some teeth. and the people, i think, have given them, if you will, a spinal transplant to those members of the democratic caucus that didn't get it while others did. >> so, margaret to, that point politically speaking, will testimony from trump aides like porter potentially affect the debates surrounding impeachment

one way or the other? >> well, what the public doesn't know and what john will disagree with me on is how much going to articles of impeachment as opposed to an impeachment inquiry makes a difference in what you're going to get from these -- from the white house. in other words, how hard is the white house going to fight a subpoena whether it's the impeachment inquiry that nadler has announced or whether articles of impeachment are, are drawn up. on porter, he may be even someone that the white house feels even more strongly about because, remember, he was protected even after the information came out about why he was initially denied a security clearance, that he had abused, fiscalphysically abused wives. he was protected by john kelly after that was known because rob porter has the keys to the kingdom. he knows so much. trump will go to great lengths --

>> right. >> -- to keep him from testifying, whether it's a full fledged impeachment, articles of impeachment or impeachment hearing. >> so speaking of impeachment for a moment, i want to play you guys house speaker pelosi, chair nadler were talking about impeachment just earlier this summer. take a listen. >> if the caucus wants to go forward with an impeachment inquiry, would you go for if? >> it's not even closely a caucus. you know, why are we speculating on hypotheticals? >> nancy pelosi said all options are on the table. they are on the table and when we get more information, as this process continues, we'll have to make decisions down the road. >> all right. so, john, by our count it's 133. has the impeachment debate shifted since the mueller hearings -- >> absolutely. >> -- and these developments? you think that number is going to continue to grow? >> oh, yes, i think so. and i think the time back in the districts has made a big difference to anyone who had any doubts that they had support. i mean, 72% of democrats, according to polls, support

going forward with an impeachment. that's the bread and butter of all these elected officials and that's, i don't know, floating around 45 million persons care about this. how can you ignore them? and i think that pelosi's challenge is how does she lead a group that is leading her now, at least in terms of numbers? and i don't know how she gets back to lead this group, but i think the group is going to outrun her. and i think we're going to have an impeachment, and i think we'll have it by halloween, appropriately. >> john flannery with the prediction there. mar gre margar margaret carlson, thank you very much for your time this evening, guys. up next, michael steele is back on the beat talking about this new primary challenge to trump from a controversial figure even more right than president trump, believe it or not. we're back in 30 seconds. ondsea. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

e-commerce deliveries to homes we're oscar mayer deli fresh your very first sandwich,m... your mammoth masterpiece. and...whatever this was. because we make our meat with the good of the deli and no artificial preservatives. make every sandwich count with oscar mayer deli fresh. all right. make that two primary challenges to donald trump and it could spell trouble for him, believe it or not. former gop governor bill weld is already running. now former congressman joe walsh is jumping in. yes, you heard that correctly. that joe walsh, the birther joe walsh who claimed obama was a muslim, joe walsh. he's apologizing for those views and slamming trump. >> i'm running against a guy who lies every time he opens his mouth. he's a narcissist like we've never seen. he's a sexual predator. all he cares about is himself. he's cruel. he wakes up every morning and sends a tweet out insulting

average americans. i mean, this is above the issues and it's above me. he's unfit. >> and it could still get more, republican mark sanford is also considering a challenge. here's the problem for trump. even if he still wins the nomination, which he is likely to do, nbc's first read points out every modern president who has received a credible or even semi-credible primary challenge -- ford, carter, bush 41 -- has gone on to lose reelection. back with me is former rnc chairman michael steele. good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> let me play you just a quick mash up of some of the other republicans, including justin amash, you know, scaramucci and joe walsh. >> there are lots of other republicans who are out there saying these things privately. they're not saying it publicly. i think that's a problem for our country. >> the guy is unstable. everyone knows it, everyone outside knows it. >> i'll tell you what, george, everyone believes in the

republican party. everybody believes he's unfit. >> michael steele, you're plugged in with the rnc or the republican party at large. what do you make of that assessment from some of your colleagues? >> i think the keynote or take away from that sound bite is the fact that what these gentlemen are saying is something that all of us hear every day in some form or another. so now to have folks sort of come out and begin to put a light on some of that is revealing. and what it reveals is a couple things. one, self-interest for some people who may be trying to position themselves for other things. but it also, i think, shows some cracks within the party itself. the numbers have begun to soften a little bit. yes, the hard base -- don't get it too construed the wrong way. the hard base is still there. but that's not the entire republican party. and you had a lot of republicans, particularly republican women, who supported this president in the last election who have now softened

and the problem that we have with the female vote, the women's vote, the problem that we have with other minority constituencies which the rnc is now doubling down on the effort to reach out and sort of bring those voters back, it speaks to that softening that's there. so, yeah, these gentlemen have decided to break loose. we'll see where it goes, but i think the broader point is do you want to be president or is your effort really to undermine and keep trump from winning reelection. >> from your sources and from the power players in dc and the lobbyists and everyone you're plugged in with, are these challenges a troubling sign for the trump campaign or is it just about seeing president trump get punched a little bit from members of his own party? >> no, it's a troubling sign. they don't like it. folks may sort of slough it off and say it's not a big deal, but they don't like it. there's a reason why last year that the trump campaign pulled

the rnc, the republican national committee, into its orbit, making it literally an arm of the campaign. not a stand alone entity, which is going to be a problem, quite honestly, because these candidates, as they announce and start their campaigns, they're going to look to the rnc for the same resources and information they're providing to donald trump, who is no different once he's formally declared his reelection bid. no different than any other candidate running for the seat. yes, he's the incumbent, but he's still a candidate. so that's going to create some real interesting tension points down the stretch, particularly if any of these campaigns -- if sanford gets in, with weld there, and now joe, that combination creates enough energy around the idea of a primary that even republicans -- who always, you know, like to brag, we like to have the challenge in the primary. >> right. >> suddenly have to say, well, maybe this could be a bit more of a problem. >> let me get your thoughts on

this. there's two potential ideological competitors to trump. you've got mark sanford who is like i want to run on the deficit, the budget, the economy. >> right. >> and you have the ideological guy like joe walsh who went out there today or over the past couple of days accusing the president of his character, calling him a sexual predator, a liar, a thief, all those things. if the economy worsens, which one are you likely to see have a better success after going after the president? >> i think that's advantage sanford because he's been a consistent fiscal conservative on these issues. he's been principled in his arguments about the spending during the bush years, the spending during the obama years, the spending now during the trump years. so i think as the economy begins to take some additional hits that weaken it due to trade wars and everything else, yeah, sanford is going to be in the better position to make the case on a consistent basis why republicans need to rethink

their current support because that, he will say, is not conservative nor is it republican. >> all right, michael steele, always a pleasure, my friend. >> all right, buddy. >> thank you. still ahead, a man accused of being an illegal immigrant and held in jail even though he proved he was an american citizen. also a landmark ruling against drug makers in the opioid crisis. and my live interview with presidential candidate senator kirsten gillibrand coming up next. next 'cuz i'm way too busy. who's got the time to chase around down dirt, dust and hair? so now, i use heavy duty swiffer sweeper and dusters. for hard-to-reach places, duster makes it easy to clean. it captures dust in one swipe. ha! gotcha! and sweeper heavy duty cloths lock away twice as much dirt and dust. it gets stuff deep in the grooves other tools can miss. y'know what? my place... is a lot cleaner now. stop cleaning. start swiffering. [horn honks] man this is what i feel like when i wear regular shoes,

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starting to come into focus and getting a bit smaller. three candidates dropping out in the past two weeks. at the same time, others appearing to pick up steam. elizabeth warren drawing an estimated 15,000 people to a rally in seattle this week, and bernie sanders grabbing headlines with sharp attacks on mitch mcconnell while sanders campaigned in kentucky. and in two days, a big test for

everyone, wednesday is the deadline for candidates trying to qualify for the next debate. more than half of the field still hasn't qualified. my next guest is fighting to make the debate stage next month in houston. 2020 presidential candidate and senator from new york, kirsten gillibrand. senator, thank you very much for joining us. let me begin with your thoughts about how concerned you won't make that debate cut off in the next two days. >> i will make that debate stage. i intend to do so. and i hope that your viewers go to kirsten gillibrand.com and send a dollar so that i can qualify. but i'm really excited about our campaign because i felt like we've led the debate on reproductive freedom, going to the front lines of georgia and missouri, on gay rights in this country and getting that politics, all issues we need to be debated on the next stage which is why i intend to get there. >> fair point, but there aren't any specific polls between now and then to suggest that you will perhaps make that debate stage. you need to meet both of those.

the donor threshold and three more qualifying polls. do you have an update as to where you stand on both of those today? >> we just had a qualifying poll out of iowa and we're hoping there's more local polls in iowa, new hampshire, states where i've spent a lot of time. i've been there almost a dozen times each. and it makes a difference to talk to the first of the nation primary and caucus goers about your vision and why you believe you're the best person to take on trump and that's exactly what i've done. >> senator, let me get your thoughts on the g7 and turning to some of the big issues affecting the world. today trump suggested hosting the next g7 at his doral resort in florida. what is your reaction to that? >> i think it's entirely unacceptable and sounds like he's lining his own pockets. it is inappropriate on every level, and i think president trump really harmed america's economy and future in how he handled the g7 meetings. i think six of the participants

are working together to get things done, and america is really on the side lines. >> let me actually play you this sound bite and i'll get your reaction from t. this is president trump talking about russia rejoining the g7. >> i think it would be better to have russia inside the tent than outside the tent. do we live via the way? yes, we live via the way. is it politically popular for me to say that? possibly not. i think a lot of people would agree with me frankly, possibly not. i do nothing for politics. >> senator, what is your reaction to that statement about russia and the fact that the president saying he does nothing for politics? does that surprise you? >> president trump is an embarrassment on the world stage. he's unwilling to stand up to putin. and the reason why russia is not included is because of their behavior, because of their efforts to annex another country, to actually try to undermine another country's sovereignty. that is why they were excluded, because of their behavior. and president trump is unwilling to stand up to strong men,

unwilling to stand up to putin, and we've seen it. we've seen it from his performance at helsinki, and his performance just recently. >> one . more telling moments of the g7 summit was president trump's skipping the climate meeting. was it a mistake also for the dnc to reject holding a climate change debate specifically about this topic, if you're trying to encourage voters or people in america to take climate change seriously, and you have a climate denier as president not attending g7 meetings about it and the dnc not holding debates about it, what do you make of that? >> i will make attacking global climate change a cornerstone of my presidency. if you have a threat as grave as global climate change to humanity, you need a solution that is as bold and as big as the problem you're trying to face. and i can pass a green new deal. i know how to get things done. i can reach across the aisle and have investments in infrastructure, in green jobs, in clean air, clean water. i will put a price on carbon. i will make sure the polluters

pay. i put forward a robust policy, a public/private partnerships as well as state investments into attacking global climate change aggressively because i think we should get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. i think we should have net zero carbon emissions in the next ten years. it's an aspirational goal that will be a measure of our competitiveness and how great our engineers ask signists are. i will not only re-sign onto our global climate accords, but i will lead a worldwide conversation about what we can do more. i will not start a space race with russia. >> right. >> i will start a green energy race with china and that's how you get it done. >> let me get your final thoughts on a debate that is taking place among the democratic party. last week jill biden said her husband joe is the most electable even if he's not the democratic voters' favorite. i'm curious to get your thoughts. is electability simply enough of an argument for vote toerz go out and choose a candidate? is it you to say can you beat donald trump or should you

represent something bigger than that? >> i think the issues we face are bigger than that, but i do think you have to beat donald trump. and i believe that i have the most electable experience than anyone. not only did i run in a 2-1 republican district twice and won by 24 points, but i just won back 18 counties that went to trump. and i brought together my state with the highest vote threshold in its history. higher than obama, higher than hillary, higher than trump, higher than anyone that's run for senate or governor ever. not only electorally, but i bring people together to get things done. i passed 18 bills in the last congress, all of which president trump signed onto law. he does not know he signed my bills, but he did. and that's because i can bring this country together. so you do need to beat trump, number one. and number two, you need to restore this nation and bring it back together again. heal the wounds that have been created, the divides created by president trump and move us forward and restore our moral leadership on the world stage. that's why i'm running and that's why i believe i'm the best candidate to beat trump. >> all right. we'll wait and see if you do in

fact make it to that final debate threshold in the couple -- in the next couple of days. senator and 2020 candidate kirsten gillibrand, thank you very much for your time this afternoon, senator. >> thank you. >> ahead, troubling new details of a u.s. citizen who says he was kept in jail because police thought he looked undocumented. plus an important update on rbg after news last week of her cancer treatment. ♪ limu emu & doug and now for their service to the community, we present limu emu & doug with this key to the city. [ applause ] it's an honor to tell you that liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. and now we need to get back to work. [ applause and band playing ] only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacist-recommendeding?

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tonight growing outrage over the arrest and lock up of an american citizen in baton rouge, louisiana. the aclu suing a louisiana sheriff and several others in that parish on behalf of ramon torres, a u.s. citizen originally from honduras. the lawsuit alleging torres was jailed on suspicion of dui. a federal judge ordered him released the next day, but jail authorities actually refused that order. they suspected he was undocumented even though he had a valid driver's license on him when he was arrested, and even after a friend quickly sent in copies of his social security card and american passport. torres was locked up for four days. the sheriff saying it's their policy to contact i.c.e. whenever they suspect someone is undocumented. another sheriff's employee actually saying they do that for all latinos who are arrested. if true, then these police are changing how they treat people based on their ethnicity or how they look, and that echos language we heard last month

from the acting director of i.c.e. watch. >> i.c.e. does not have the lawful authority to say anybody is or is not a citizen. what we do is when we are provided with probative evidence that an individual in our custody is -- looks to be a citizen, we will release that individual from will release th citizen from custody. >> you advance it when they look to be a citizen. it just strikes me that all of these individuals are latinos and that you're talking about how someone looks. so can you talk to me a little bit about -- >> actually, i was not referring to anybody's appearance, and that was clear if anybody listened to the context of what i was saying. >> all right. with me now is an executive director of the aclu of louisiana, the group behind this lawsuit. great to have you with us this evening. let's start with the lawsuit itself. why did you or why did the aclu file this lawsuit on behalf of the mr. torrez? >> the aclu filed this lawsuit because we believe it is unconscionable for a person, a u.s. citizen, to be detained and

incourse rated based on their looks, based on their race or based on ethnicity. it is a violation of mr. torrez's constitutional rights, both his fourth and 14th amendment constitutional rights. the aclu wants to be on the front lines of this battle against president trump's mass deportation agenda here in louisiana. >> do you have any evidence or do you believe that authorities have now at least admitted that ethnicity or his ethnicity to be specific was a factor in his detention? >> well, i can tell you this, mr. torrez had valid -- a valid social security card, he had a valid louisiana driver's license, which you cannot obtain unless you provide proof of citizenship. he had a passport and his family members and co-workers provided additional -- additional proof that he was a u.s. citizen. and so once the sheriff's office received that information and decided to continue to hold mr.

torrez, even despite a judge's orders, what else can a reasonable person think other than the sheriff was holding mr. torrez based upon his ethnicity and suspicion that he was in this country as an undocumented person? >> how has mr. torrez's time in jail -- how was he treated once he was there despite the fact that he tried to prove his citizenship? >> mr. torrez recounts that there were many other individuals who were not represented, who were similarly situated, whose rights were likely being vie latelied as well, and so we know that this is not an isolated case and we also know that many of the facilities that are being used to house folks in louisiana are not -- are facilities that are essentially -- were deemed very violent places, very brutal places, and so this is certainly not a place that any citizen would want to end up, and certainly not in the circumstances that we found mr. torrez in.

>> so let me juxtapose your answer that you just said there for us with how the trump administration and border officials within that administration have described immigration detention facilities. watch this. >> so, if you think of yourself as a college dormitory, that's what the rooms look like. >> they're campus-like settings with appropriate medical, educational, recreational and dining and housing facilities. >> i think the best way to describe them is to be more like a summer camp. >> your reaction to that? >> i'm appalled. and i think every citizen in this country should be appalled. we have more defense facilities opening every day in louisiana than any other place in the country, and that is because louisiana is a place where the immigration judges are more stringent than other places in the country. these detention facilities are in remote locations. where lawyers cannot access their clients. and we've already seen stories of folks being tear gassed for

exercising their first amendment rights when they do hunger protests and things of this nature. they've been beaten. they've been tear gassed. it is unconscionable that someone would describe these circumstances as a summer camp. i would not allow my child to be in those facilities. all of us as americans should be outraged that this is being characterized in this way. it's not only a mischaracterization, it's insulting and it's unconstitutional. >> thank you very much for joining us this evening. >> thanks for having me. when we're back, an important update on justice ginsberg's health. stay with us. us on our full line vehicles. us now at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. lease the 2019 es 350 for $379 a month for 36 months and we'll make your first month payment. experience amazing.

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a big update on the health of supreme court justice ruth bader ginsberg. today the 86-year-old made her first public appearance since completing radiation therapy for a cancerous tumor. she flashed her famed humor when asked about the nickname a law student gave her, the notorious rbg. >> she took the announcement of my dissent that i read from the bench and she created a tumblr. she coalled it the notorious rb after the notorious b.i.g. >> yes. >> which she said is all together fitting and proper because, after all, we had one important thing in common, we were both born and bred in

brooklyn, new york. >> ginsberg will be returning to the bench in october for the next supreme court session. that does it for me. you can catch me every morning on 1"first look" at 5:00 a.m. eastern. "hardball" with chris matthews is up next. mission for moscow. let's play "hardball." good evening. i'm chris matthews in new york. president trump is on his way back to washington tonight after acting as russia's ambassador to the democratic nations. and as business promotor of his florida golf resort. before heading home, trump tried to put a rosy spin on the three days of g7 talks. >> this is a truly successful g7. there was tremendous unity.

there was great unity. if there was any word