any time soon. there have been times in the brown's history when i think she would have been a better quarterback. but not this year. how are you, ali velshi? >> i'm well, thank you. you have yourself a great afternoon and a good weekend. >> and be careful in the storm. it's friday, august 30th. extremely dangerous hurricane dorian poses a significant threat. that's the national hurricane center's latest advisory as dorian, which is now a category 3 hurricane gains strength and moves slowly toward the northwestern bahamas and then the entire state of florida. potentially hitting florida as a category 4 when it makes landfall somewhere between the florida keys and southern georgia. just to help you picture what all of these categories look like, in a category 1 hurricane, wind speeds range from 74 to 95 miles per hour causing some damage like a home's roof, large tree branches snapping. category 2 wind speeds are 96 to 110 miles an hour causing extensive damage. trees snapping, uprooting and

widespread power outages. category 3 you are looking at wind speeds of 111 to 129 miles per hour. that's what the storm's at right now, devastating to homes and power outages for days to weeks. category 4 which is the category dorian could reach, has wind speeds ranging from 130 to 156 miles per hour, and it means catastrophic damage, very important to remember. the scale is just about wind strength. the majority of hurricane deaths usually are caused by storm surge and flooding. floridians have been stockpiling supplies preparing for the worst. the president has officially declared a state of emergency in florida. it allows federal money to be redirected and resources to be redirected to florida in anticipation of this storm. he has canceled his trip to poland to monitor the hurricane. let's get the latest on dorian's track. msnbc meteorologist michelle grossman joins me now. every update we get on this

hurricane makes it seem more serious. >> you are right, ali. it does seem like every update we get a little bit stronger and we made it to a category 3 storm. i love the explainer, a picture shows a thousand words and we need to get prepared. even looking at this enhanced image, you can see how much it has blossomed even in the past hour or so from your first frame to the last frame, there is that eye right there showing us how strong it is. let's look at the stats of where we're at right now. category 3 storm over those open waters, those warm waters helping it strengthen. and, yes, we will most likely see a category 4 storm. it is located 620 miles east of west palm beach, florida, 115 mile per hour sustained winds, gusts higher than that, and it's moving at 10 miles per hour. tonight it's going to begin to slow down and almost stall as it gets closer to land. so as we are tracking dorian, we are now at a category 3 storm. it seems unbelievable from day one on monday we were talking about a tropical storm, a small

storm that little engine that could and now blossomed into a 2 and 3. and between tomorrow and sunday we are going to see it explode into a category 4 storm at 130 mile per hour winds by monday, 140 mile per hour winds with winds gusting higher than that. and that is just north of the bahamas, northwestern bahamas. we do have a hurricane watch in place if you are there now you want to prepare for a hurricane coming your way. same thing in florida along the coast, even inland as far north as georgia, possibly even the carolinas, that still needs to be nailed down as we head throughout the next several days. but we do anticipate it making landfall as a category 4 storm. again, we have to think about a life-threatening storm surge, flooding, landfalling tornados as the hurricane makes its way on shore. so we will certainly be watching that. here is what we are watching in terms of your warnings and watches. we do have a hurricane watch for the bahamas. by saturday we're going to see the seas get rough. we are going to feel the winds pick up.

and then by sunday that is going to be the brunt of the storm for the bahamas. florida that will come later on monday into tuesday. let's talk about what we are seeing right now in terms of the wind field. so where you see the red, that's your hurricane wind field. it's about 25 mile in radius. as we head towards the yellow, that's your tropical storm-force winds. that extends 105 miles. we will be affected in the northwestern bahamas, also the florida coast. this is what we do know. we have been talking about what we don't quite know yet. we don't know where it's going to make landfall. we are still four to five days out. so we have to nail that down still. but we do know wherever it lands, we are going to see a life-threatening storm surge, we are going to see damaging and tropical hurricane-force winds, powerlines are going to be knocked down. it could be a week two, weeks, so you want to plan for that as well. and we are looking at heavy, heavy rainfall. parts of florida we are getting rain today and we are going to get a lot more rain as dorian

comes on shore. talking about the winds we are going to start to see the winds pick up as early as saturday in florida. but look at the bahamas. by sunday we are really seeing that over the northwestern bahamas and that's going to be a day for them. we are going to feel for them, we are going to pray for them that day because we are going to see those battering winds and also the very heavy rainfall. then as we near towards tuesday, that's where we are going to see the brunt of the storm over parts of florida wherever that landfall may end up. but, again, it's going to be a long stretch that's going to feel the effects of dorian. >> so as of now if one is trying to figure out if you're on the east coast of florida and trying to timeout a landfall. what are we looking at? what's our best guess as to when this thing might hit florida? >> monday we are going to feel the winds pick up. it's really monday night into tuesday where we're going to feel the effects of dorian and then all throughout tuesday. >> all right, michelle. thank you. as always we will stay in close touch on this.

joining me now is the mayor of miami gardens florida, oliver gilbert iii. he's declared a local state of emergency there. mayor gilbert, thank you for joining us. what are you anticipating happening, what are you doing in miami gardens? >> we are doing a lot. this is a very interesting storm because the cone is literally the entire state and really some parts of georgia. so you can't really be sure. we are preparing for the worst and actually hoping and praying for the best. from checking on, you know, seniors who sometimes are vulnerable and can't get themselves in position. and having three days of medicine and food available because we understand that first responders, they will try to get there as soon as they can if there is a problem. but it is going to be a storm. so be prepared to actually hunker down for a little bit. we don't know how big or bad this storm is going to be.

a couple days ago we thought it was a relatively simple tropical storm. now we are looking at a possibly category 4 hurricane. that's some ng that we know well here in florida. so we know that it can be really, really bad or in the alternative it can be some rain and some wind. we are preparing for the worst, praying for the best. >> what are people in miami gardens supposed to be doing? because you're right, the cone's really big. there may be some expectation that people in miami gardens don't have to leave at all if this storm tacks significantly north. but the flooding will come because you're in an area that floods even when there aren't storms in some cases. what is your best advice for people in your vicinity about what to be doing right now? >> well, definitely. if you're in a home and you have a home, clear the stuff that can be turned into weapons by wind outside your home. a lot of times we don't think about it. but the stuff that's just hanging around in our backyards, that's going to turn into debris if the wind gets going really good. you definitely want to have

water stored up. you want to have food, some canned goods stored up. and we want you to be neighborly right now. it's interesting, but this is a good time for neighbors to be neighborly because first responders will be there, the county will be there, the state will be there, the united states government will be there. but ultimately you're closest to the people who you're actually physically closest to. so we know how to prepare. clear up your yard, get your medicine, your water, your food. but lend a helping hand because this is a time when it really matters. >> you are very close to the coast in miami gardens. is there some point where the category 4 storm heading towards you that you are going to call for an evacuation? >> we probably won't call for evacuation in miami gardens. we are close to the coast, but there is a lot in between us at the point where miami gardens is where hard rock stadium is, it's where the super bowl is going to be played and the point that we would be evacuating, we'd have a

catastrophe in south florida that will be very difficult from our perspective to comprehend. we can comprehend a lot of tragedies. >> mayor, good to talk to you. please stay safe. mayor oliver gilbert iii of miami gardens florida. i want to go 65 miles north and bring you mariana atencio who is in palm beach. you've been talking to a lot of people there including the mayor. let's talk about this because as things stand now and it could change a lot between now and monday evening, but you're kind of where that storm is heading right now. how are people around you bracing for this, and what could be not just a serious storm but a multi-day event? >> reporter: ali, people are anxious because you said it. right now it looks like this monster of a storm could be headed right this way. i just spoke to the mayor, and he said the main thing for him right now is making sure that he is coordinating police efforts, firefighters, city officials to make sure that everyone is

working in conjunction. he said the most important thing is actually going to be the aftermath of the storm, the flooding, the rainfall totals, and that debris flying around. and of course hurricane irma for a city like palm beach gardens was the best exercise. they are more prepared than they were two years ago. but what are people buying? i can tell you that i've been at this costco in palm beach gardens all day. it's just been a constant flow of folks. people like robin over here, robin, can i ask what's in your cart? >> the main thing is my water and bread. even though they didn't have my comfort bread of white bread, i got bread. and i got the popcorn for watching movies. >> reporter: but most importantly i want to point out i see you have your medicine. >> i have my medicine, too. i picked up my medicine in case we do not have power next week, i want to make sure that i get my medicine, and that's something we have to do early. my shutters are up. i have everything i need. >> reporter: and i know you're a

veteran. robin has been here for over 60 years, ali. >> a veteran of florida. >> reporter: there you go. what is your message for people out there? >> to start early, and it's not a joke and if it doesn't hit here, this was our practice round. one will come again. >> reporter: so right now i see you're preparing to hunker down. is there anything that will make you change your mind in the next couple of days? >> no. i'm not leaving, my house is solid. and this is what i've always done. we've never left. >> reporter: you were here for andrew in 1992? >> i was here for betsy in '65. i've been here for all of them. and you have to protect your neighborhood and protect your neighbors. >> reporter: that's what we were hearing from the mayor of miami gardens. neighbors have to be neighbors in this time. thank you so much for joining us. >> you're welcome. can i say high to the scarotto

family in antapuesta? robin a big fan of msnbc. i know you are headed this way after the show today. we are welcoming you here with open arms. ali? >> you've covered a lot of hurricanes. for your guest to tell you there that she was there for betsy in '65, it's like, okay, she knows what she's talking about. but i'm glad people have prepared -- medicine is a big deal. having water, having food, and knowing if you know anybody who needs dialysis. people in a nursing home. i think this neighborly message is important. people if they can take care of themselves and their neighbors, this becomes less of an issue for authorities. mariana, i will see you in florida. all right. turning now to the 2020 race for the white house, we are taking a closer look at south carolina, a critical early voting state for candidates to build grassroots support, particularly from african-american voters. former vice president joe biden has maintained a large lead in

south korea. here is the real clear politics average of where the contenders stand where you can see biden holds a 20-point advantage over his closest competitor there. today senator bernie sanders and former hud secretary julian castro are stumping in an effort to break through. joining me now is msnbc's garrett haake who is on the ground for us in georgetown, south carolina. garrett, let's just remind everybody because we talk about this endlessly. but the viewer may not register. it's an early state, it's the fourth one which means it's heavily influential. it'll be in february of 2020. and african-americans play a larger role in the voter makeup of south carolina than they do in any of the states prior to south carolina. >> reporter: yeah. that's right, ali. south carolina is particularly important for two reasons. one, as you mentioned, it is the first of the primary states on the democratic calendar where the electorate actually looks like the democratic primary electorate in the rest of the country, which is to say it is a majority/minority electorate

here in south carolina. so campaigns that can show strength with the demographic here in south carolina tend to be able to show strength through the rest of the calendar. a lot of the early states their boosters like to brag about that state's predictive power. the but in south carolina the winner of the primer here has gone on to win the nomination every cycle since 1992 except for one, that's when neighboring senator named john edwards managed to win this race back in 2004. the other thing about south carolina, it is, as you said, the last of the early states. say we get to south carolina with four, five, maybe six candidates still in the running, if you're running low on money, if you're running low on momentum, this is arguably your last best chance to win something before we get to these incredibly expensive big states that you see vote on super tuesday like texas and california. if you don't have millions of dollars in the bank at that point and maybe a winner or two under your belt, you're in deep trouble. all of that means south carolina is going to be of importance as it does every four years. >> when joe biden first came out the gate and he made a couple of

gaffes and people said he's toast, particularly amongst african-americans, it didn't budge his support amongst african-americans in south carolina. and nothing seems to. >> reporter: no. that's really been true, ali. it's interesting, biden's support, i've covered all of the major candidates in different forms or fashions in all of these different early states. joe biden and bernie sanders are both of the two candidates whose supporters are shopping the least. which means when i go to their events, i always ask people who is on your short list, who else are you looking at, and biden supporters and bernie supporters are the most likely to say this is my guy or my georgal. that's backed up by data from the recent pew poll. biden is thought to be a known commodity. he's got a vacation house here in south carolina. he has never been in the presidential race by the time they got to south carolina, he's never been in the top competitors among it. but he's a zone commodity here and well liked here and he's

more comfortable here. i've just seen his performances have been much more even on the stump here in south carolina. and that's part of the reason why he's in his poll position here. >> garrett, good to see you as always. garrett haake has moved to myrtle beach, south carolina, just in the course of this interview that has lasted a few minutes. i want to bring in the chair of the south carolina democratic party. trav robinson. >> thank you for having me. >> look, it's always interesting when you've got a base that likes a candidate, and that candidate's really strong. but what you never want that to do is turn off other candidates from saying i've got to give this my best. south carolina matters to me. are you satisfied with what you're seeing from other candidates who are not polling as competitively as joe biden is in south carolina? >> well, i think it's an interesting dynamic here in south carolina. you know, we don't register by party and we have an open primary system.

and in 2018, we had out of 1.7 million people who voted we were 46,000 votes shy of having 1 million women vote. 200,000 more women than men voted. and an additional 200 to 250,000. so 65% of the electorate, 1.1 to 1.2 million were people of color. it really gives you a unique opportunity to look at the history of the voters you're chasing or, better yet, to change the electorate by putting a field organization on the ground or register voters to change electorate. >> that's interesting. you are basically sending a message to say, nope, don't pay too much attention to the polls. south carolina is in play. >> well, you know, i went to the university of south carolina. i didn't know a lot about football. i was too small to play. but i knew when the game cocks were up that my buddies as we were in the stands were always concerned to the extent that we

ended up losing the football game. so i think that you've got to remember that elections are about adding voters. two plus two is four and you need to get to five. so you have to keep that in mind when you're looking at a state where we have open primaries, and everybody can participate. >> let me ask you this, trav. what is the message? there is the game message you're talking about getting more people motivated to come out. from an issues perspective, are there overarches things that south carolina democrats want to hear from these candidates? >> there is no question we are feeling the pain of donald trump's war with china, and whether it's from the textile industry, the automotive industry, or if it's from the farmers who have planted fields of soy beans and they are just rotting in rural south carolina. not to mention the fact there are numerous plants who have had to beg for exemptions from the trade war. so, there's no question.

there is a message and at the end of the day people want, they want to make sure they've got a good job. they want to make sure they've got access to health care, good quality, education, and they want to be able to take care of their family. that's a message that resonates from various demographics, genders, rural voters, urban voters. and we're looking for a candidate who strikes that perfect tone. >> trav, good to talk to you. thank you for joining me. south carolina democratic party chair trav-robertson. coming up a trial is set now for the man known as the architect of 9/11. plus, president trump's personal assistant abruptly quits. what we're hearing from the white house. and we're tracking hurricane dorian as it continues to gain strength. we've got the latest as florida residents brace for the first major storm of this hurricane season. you are watching msnbc. ♪upbeat music she's doing it again. no cover-up spray here. it's the irresistibly fresh scent of febreze air effects.

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we are approaching 18 years since september 11th, 2001, and the attacks. and we now know when khalid sheikh mohammed will go to trial. he is the man accused of being the architect of those attacks. nbc news has confirmed that ksm and four other men also suspected of plotting the attacks will go before a military tribunal at the gaun tan moe naval base in 2021. hans nicole joins us from the white house. khalid sheikh mohammed and other plotters have been there for

well over a decade. what's taking so long? >> reporter: oh, logistical hurdles, legal disputes. you recall president barack obama wanted to do some of this in new york city. they have bedevilled the last three presidents. this president doesn't show much interest in shutting it down. he's talked about filling it back up. there are a lot of really complicated legal issues here, evidentiary issues, and just logistical things like how are you going to actually have a jury come down to gaun tan moe and the southern tip of cuba. what will they be able to hear, what sort of classification will be there, what sort of rights the defendants have. this is all new territory. there is of course their tradition of international tribunals, but this is something of a different one. it's a hybrid court. they've had to really invent the wheel as they go along. no one doubts this has been

complicated. people also don't doubt that it could've done maybe a little bit more smoother. but now we at least have a target date because a lot of things could go wrong. >> another big story we are following is the resignation of madeline. she quit after president trump learned that she had shared personal information about his family and oval office operations while she was having an off-the-record dinner with reporters earlier this month. i need you to give me some context around this because people come and go from the white house. people leak things in this white house. something happened that caused her to be dismissed. >> reporter: we don't know what the kul details are. we just know it was of a personal nature and had to do with comings and goings of the oval office. you have your eyes and your ears on who's going in to talking with the president. it's the kind of source, and, ali, i think you'd appreciate this, it's the kind of source reporters really want to cultivate because you can learn

so much from someone that's that close. apparently she said things that she shouldn't have said. she was talking to a group of reporters and that she left her job abruptly. i should add on this, though, it's not at all unusual for reporters to try to talk to people off the record. this happens all the time here at the white house. what's unusual about this case is the speed and the nature of her dismissal, and the president's going to be -- >> hans, thank you, and i don't know if you had enough appreciation expressed for the tan suit but i have always been a fan of that look. so i appreciate it. >> legions are lining up. get in line. there's been a lot of compliments. i still appreciate it. >> hans nichols for us at the white house. coming up next we are back to the main story. florida brasz for hurricane dorian as it strengthens in the atlantic. the very latest on when and where that storm is predicted to make landfall.

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we're keeping a close eye on dorian as it slows its path and continues to strengthen. a hurricane watch has been issued for the northwestern bahamas. right now it's a category 3 hurricane, but it's expected to strengthen into a category 4 before it makes landfall posing

a danger for pretty much the entire state of florida. and it could last for days. joining me now is nbc meteorologist michelle grossman. michelle, what's the latest? >> hi there, ali. we are looking at the enhanced satellite. you can see how strong this storm has become a well-defined eye. so let's take a look at the storm. winds at 115 miles per hour, moving at 10 miles per hour. taking a look at the track of this category 3 now we're going to see it blossom into a category 4 storm saturday into sunday. by monday 140 mile per hour winds. that's right over the northwestern bahamas. so a hurricane watch is in place eventually making landfall monday to tuesday somewhere along the coast of florida. again that cone remains very uncertain. we are going to watch that next several days. it'd be interesting also to see if the possibility of a cat 5 comes into play. let's take a look at the winds, catastrophic winds from the northern bahamas. we are going to really watch that closely on sunday the winds will begin to pick up.

on saturday we'll really feel the brunt of it on sunday. you can see this hot pink here telling us the high probability for those damaging winds moderate and then slight as you move to the north. heavy rain is going to be another factor. we are looking at the potential for flash flooding. we mentioned it before, flooding is the number one weather death as we look at statistics. so heavy rain northwest bahamas 6-12 inches isolated amounts up to 18 inches. so it will cause some problems to the coastal section of florida. i just want to say good luck this weekend. there is no one better to do the job. >> i will be keeping in close contact for you. i want to turn to nbc's kathy park who's on the ground in cape canaveral, florida. how are the preparations going there? >> reporter: ali, good afternoon. the preparations are only intensifying here in melbourne. i want to show you something pretty incredible. the line of cars wraps all around this parking lot. people have been waiting in this

line for about four hours now for sandbags. apparently 2,500 sandbags have been distributed today. 3,500 yesterday. then when you factor in the entire county, brevard county, 20,000 sandbags so far. so people are definitely preparing for this storm. you have inmates behind me. there is an inmate program with brevard county. so they are packing up these sandbags and then loading them into the car. but i want to bring in brook here. she lives in merritt island. so you've been waiting for sandbags for how long now? >> about four and a half hours. >> reporter: okay. so what do you do to pass the time? >> just a lot of videos, netflix, talking to family, just kind of making sure we're all in the same page, just making sure preparations are ready. >> reporter: why do you think it was worth it to spend a half a day here is earliy to get the essentials? >> just with flooding in my area, that's what i'm most concerned about. so i did rather wait for the

four and a half hours. my life is more important. >> reporter: have you ever lived through other hurricanes? >> yes, ma'am. i grew up in merritt island. >> reporter: i know we don't see hurricane dorian just yet, but any thoughts about it so far? how does this one compare to the others? >> it's a little concerning just because we don't know the path yet. so i think everyone is still just kind of doing the waiting game. but it's nice to see that it went down to a hurricane 3. but we are still preparing for the worst. >> reporter: broorks thank you very much. ali, so everyone watching and waiting, but clearly preparing for the worst. we are told that the cut-off here today is around 6:00. and they will continue again tomorrow morning at 8:00. ali, back to you. >> thanks, kathy. kathy park in cape canaveral florida. up next, why the dnc is blocking a plan to allow voters in iowa and nevada to caucus over the phone. that's ensure ma, with high protein and 1 gram sugar.

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the democratic national committee is rejecting plans by iowa and nevada to make sure that more voters can participate in the state's caucuses next february. after the 2016 election, the dnc mandated that states with caucuses allow some form of absentee voting. iowa and nevada proposed having virtual caucuses that would allow registered democrats to participate over the phone. but the dnc rejected those plans

because of concerns about hacking. party leaders said in a statement that, quote, there is no telecaucus system available that meets our standard of security and reliability. a short time ago iowa democratic party leaders discussed the issue during a news conference. nbc news political reporter was at that news conference in des moines. hi, my friend. what are iowa democrats saying about this decision and what they're going to do next? >> reporter: hey there, ali. so the iowa democratic party acknowledges that the threat landscape has changed majorly over the last year or so ever since the 2016 election. they are disappointed with the outcome as they worked hard to present a telecaucus plan for the dnc. they said they will continue to work with the dnc to find a solution. the iowa democratic chairman spoke at this press conference. here is what he told us. >> we still have confidence in our vendors, still have confidence in the process. but the dnc does not believe that the technology exists and that the process can be secure,

then we can't go forward with our plans that we originally put forward. >> reporter: the iowa democratic party plans to pursue alternatives and present them to the dnc. and, remember, ali, the whole goal here with the virtual caucus was to provide additional accessibility for voters who can't come out on caucus night. democratic presidential candidate julian castro immediately released a response expressing concern after the dnc rejected the telecaucus proposal today. >> all right. i think we were looking for julian castro. do we have that? okay, got it. maura, what does the dnc do next? because they had asked that these caucus states do something to sort of expand participation. this is a no. what does it look like? >> reporter: sure. so the iowa democratic party has a few options here. i just actually spoke with a

source with direct knowledge meeting in san francisco last week. basically the options that the idp has now is they can propose alternative solutions for nonpresent voting, absentee voting options. they can either maybe do voting by mail or early absentee ballot voting. all they need to do is make sure that it stay as way from what a new hampshire primary would like as a caucus state. and so as the dnc and the idp work together, the dnc is open to extending that september 13th deadline that the idp originally had to submit a plan. so they're willing to work together. and one alternative solution is the dnc could recommend a waiver for the idp to be exempt from an absentee option kind of like what they did in 2016. back then they had a teleconference call option for military members and disabled people to take part in. but they noted that only about 200 people participated in that

option. so it really doesn't complete the goal of expanding access to more people in iowa who might not be able to make it out on caucus night, ali. >> i don't know enough about this to understand why, but estonia has been doing fully virtual online things in elections for years. i just would guess america would be able to get to that point. but we'll figure it out together. thank you, my friend. nice to see you. nbc news political reporter maura barrett in des moines, iowa. when he appeared before congress last month, former special counsel robert mueller. >> in your investigation, did you think that this was a single attempt by the russians to get involved in our election, or did you find evidence to suggest they'll try to do this again? >> it wasn't a single attempt. they are doing it as we sit here. they expect to do it during the next campaign. >> as we prepare for the next election, experts are still divided over whether russian manipulation of social media helped to tip the 200 election

in donald trump's favor. however, a new report in science magazine lays out a blueprint for trying to assess how social media is trying to be affected by foreign influences and what can be done about it. >> joining us to talk about this is one of the authors of that report. the professor of management at the massachusetts institute of technology. he is a founding partner at manifest capital and author of the upcoming book "the hype machine" about how social media and how it disrupts our world. good to see you. thank you for being with us. i want to quote from the report about having the tools to research manipulation. we have promising research tools, but they have not been applied to election manipulation, mabel because of a lack of a access to data and lack of cooperation from the platforms driven in part by public policy and political constraints. our tech correspondent says the same thing that the information exists. our ability to fix it exists. but we cannot marry the data with people like you who are able to say i got the data, i

can fix this. >> what we do know is that at least 126 million people in america were exposed to misinformation from russia. 20 million on instagram, 10 million tweets on twitter to 6 million followers. we know that they targeted swing states, russia did. we know they attacked voting systems in all 50 states. we know that 27% of americans in the final weeks, voting age americans in the final weeks for the elections were exposed to fake news. what we don't know is what effect this has had in 2016-2018 or going forward in 2020 or in brexit or sweden, india, brazil, and so on. the point of the paper is to say we do know how to measure what the effect of manipulation is on elections. it is eminently knowable. we have the tools to protect our democracy. we are not using them. >> why can't you get the necessary data? >> so it's a thorny subject. but one that i think can be

solved. so it can be summarized in what i've called the transparency paradox which means essentially that the platforms are being simultaneously pressured to be open and transparent about what's going on, how do your news feed algorithms work, how do the trending algorithms work, who gets to see what and why. and at the same time they're facing extreme pressure to be secure and private with data. and so these two things are in conflict. there is an industry academic partnership called social science one started by researchers at harvard and stanford that is attempting to get facebook data in order to study things like election manipulation and political communication, and so on. craig silverman at buzz feed reported this week that two articles, one that the data has been delayed, the data that's been promised by facebook has not been revealed by facebook. and, two, that the funders of the initiative are threatening to pull out by the end of september if that data is not released to the researchers as

promised. facebook has responded and their response is essentially that we're having difficulty anonymizing and securing the private data of individuals to do this in a legitimate way. i think that that is a true and real response. i do think that they may be delaying a little bit. but i do think that it's not easy to thread the needle of the transparency paradox. they have to be open and transparent and secure at the same time. they have to use tools like differential privacy to release anonymous data sets. that's what they're working on. >> you just mentioned privacy. i want to bring it up in a different context because you wrote this as well. although privacy legislation may prohibit the retention of consumer data, such data may also be critical to understanding how to harden our democracy. we must manage these trade-offs and overcome multidisciplinary method logical challenges simultaneously. what do you mean by that? >> what i mean is that we are attempting to think about how to

regulate privacy through regulation. we need to think about how to legislate election integrity at the same time. election integrity requires auditing. auditing requires examining data on individuals. privacy requires keeping security and data. the way to do both is to try and achieve both simultaneously. we have to use an onmization techniques that guarantee to some extent private information is kept private while the analysis that's required to audit elections and what the effect of interference might be on election outcomes at the same time, to be able to do that. >> -- auditing elections rather than just opining about whether they changed votes? >> and it's going forward. it's not just a retrospect on 2016. what about 2020? what about liberal democracies around the world? and by the way, we have discussed, you and i, fake news in the past. the fake news of tomorrow looks a lot worse than today.

>> things that we won't -- until now we've been telling people there are ways you can try and prevent yourself from consuming fake news. that's all changing faster than we think. >> they say seeing is believing. >> he is the professor of management at the mit school of management. just weeks after the el paso mass shooting, texas is loosening its restrictions on where a person can carry a gun, including churches, schools and government property. what people there are saying. you're watching msnbc.

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sunday and will loosen restrictions where you can have a firearm in texas. weeks after a gunman opened fire in a walmart in el paso and killed 22 people. the new laws were passed in the republican legislature and signed by governor abbott back in june. let's look at what changes we're going to see as a result of the new laws. first, the laws remove the limit on how many school marshals can carry gun on campuses. they can carry in a state or school emergency even if they don't have a license to carry. they can carry them in churches

and synagogues, unless a sign states otherwise and they can if they prove they accidently brought a gun in a place that prohibits them. von is with us and he talked to students about these new gun measures. what have you heard, vaughn? >> what we heard is what steps have not been taken by this legislature. note, they only meet every other year and governor abbott said he's not willing to call the state legislature into a special session to address other potential legislation. to note those bills you mentioned, those were signed into law back in june, before the 22 individuals were killed in the el paso shooting earlier this month but they did come in the wake of the santa fe high school shooting out of houston, just one year ago that left 10 dead and southerland springs church shooting two years ago that led 26 dead.

what you're slated to see from the bill that's into effect sunday were gun measures that ultimately loosened restrictions on guns in situations like the church there. essentially that unless a church explicitly says guns are prohibited, individuals can enter church with their firearms. i want you to hear from one individual with concerns, ed scruggs, part of the local organization texas gun sense. this is a little bit of what he told us. >> it's going the wrong direction. it's basically saying guns are the answer to gun violence and not looking at ways that we can try to prevent guns from reaching the school campus. the laws that are going into effect next week are basically just little bite-size chunks that the gun lobby has taken to expand the exposure of firearms in our everyday lives. >> texas governor abbott was in el paso just yesterday holding a roundtable with locals in which the conversation came about what

to do next. his big focus was on mental health, securing extra funding and securing extra resources in order to address the mental health issues. to note though, texas governor abbott has not backed red-flag laws, which were proposed earlier this week by legislative democrats. red-flag laws, of course, would allow for family members or police officers to petition state courts to temporarily secure firearms away from individuals of noted concern. there were also measures put forward this spring that would essentially strengthen background checks. right now private sellers may sell their firearms to private individuals without going through background checks. there's been no indications from this republican legislature or governor abbott that they intend to take up such measures. as these conversations unfold, the governor has said he will continue to have these roundtable as cross the state. he three to date. he will be continuing to have these conversations about how to prevent gun violence in the

future here in the state of texas. ali? >> vaughn, thank you, sir, vaughn hillyard in austin, texas. pretty comfortable. rick blomquist thought he had comfort all figured out. but then, he laid on a serta and realized his life was only just sorta comfortable. i've been living a lie. [laughs] the serta icomfort hybrid mattress. not just sorta comfortable, serta comfortable. get a free motion base upgrade or get up to $900 off select icomfort sets.

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xfinity. the future of awesome. another look at hurricane dorian and now a category 3 storm continuing to gain strength. this weekend i will be reporting on the ground in florida where it's likely to become a category 4 storm as it hits florida. that wraps it up for me today. i'm ali velshi.

you can watch on msnbc.com/now, msnbc app and apple tv and social media. thank you for watching, "deadline: white house" with nicolle wallace starts right now. hi, everyone, it's 4:00 in new york. all eyes are on florida. that's because the hurricane is currently gathering steam over the atlantic. hurricane dorian has the potential to be the most dangerous storm to hit florida's east coast since hurricane andrew. the governor of the state ron desantis has declared an emergency in every county of the state, with warnings the emergency can go on for several days. dorian, a category 3 storm now, is expected to hit florida early next week. for his part, donald trump plans to monitor the situation from camp davis, canceling his trip to poland. when it comes to managing the storm he will work with the