>> i hope you have a great weekend. with a 10% tarifst. and good afternoon to you. it's 11:00 a.m. out west. 2:00 p.m. in new york where the announcement sent stocks we're following breaking news that a judge is recommending into a free fall.jing pushed bat that daniel pantaleo, the officer at the center of the fatal arrest of eric garner be fired. the nypd issued a statement that the foreign ministry saying it that officer has been suspended would take counter measures if they followed through with the effective today. threat. china says they don't want a last hour bill de blasio hailed trade war with the u.s., they're not afraid of fighting one. the recommendation saying it was the big question we're asking today at this hour, is the proof that the justice system president winning his trade war? was working. >> for the first time in these to help us break that question down, nbc news white house long five years, the system of correspondent, kelly o'donnell, justice is working. jeff mason, and sarah mcgregor. today we finally saw a step towards justice and thanks to all of you for being here. accountability. kelly, i want to start with you. back when the president was at and i hope that this will now the j 20 summit, he indicated he bring the garner family a sense was not going to slap new of closure and a beginning of tariffs on china. he wanted to give these talks a

chance. what changed here, kelly? some peace. >> the ruling comes after a >> frustration on the president grand jury decided against indicting pantaleo on criminal ea 's part certainly. charges last month. not getting china to make the kinds of step that the president the matter isn't over. wants and part of what we'll see his lawyers and prosecutors in today with this eu announcement the case have two weeks to enter allowing u.s. beef producers to responses to the commissioner sell more in the european union who ultimately has the power to is perhaps a win for the administration amid some of the overrule the verdict. questions that come with china. the family of eric garner these are different topics, but reacted to the news. in the big trade picture, it take a listen. >> this has been a long battle. gives the president something to five years too long. talk about favorably. but when it comes to the china and finally somebody has said story, what we're hearing is that there's some information that this cop has done something frustration from president trump. wrong. earlier today, economic adviser we've waited five years. larry kudlow talked about the the recommendation has been president using this power that don't go into effect immediately made. commissioner, file pantaleo. that's all we're asking. to try to get china to get on >> joining me now, nbc news news board. >> in terms of the progress of the deal, the president is not correspondent, kathy park and satisfied. and so he's imposed this 10% paul butler. tariff on the remaining balance. it's about 300 billion. thanks to both of you for being

as you know, september 1st is here on this day of breaking the start date. news. cathy, i want to start with you, we will see. what is the latest on this case? the president himself and the gaggle yesterday said future >> so right now this is just a actions on tariffs and related preliminary ruling that came down that was handed by the nypd matters depends on the progress judge. right now pantaleo's attorneys of the china trade deal. as well as a civilian complaint >> reporter: and we have some review board attorneys will have breaking news that has just a two-week time frame to review developed in the seconds we've this decision, but at the end of been talking. the president has decided to the day it will be the police pull from consideration his nominee for the intelligence, t commissioner,ny commissioner james o'neill who will make that final ruling and decide whether the officer will be terminated. as you know this has been a hot congressman john ratcliffe. he's been criticized as a pick topic ever since the death of eric garner. it's been five years and it has for this job of not having really divided the nation and sufficient intelligence really at the crux of this was background. and accused of inflating some of that choke hold, whether it was his resume as well. legal, illegal, and mayor bill the president says that he's been treated unfairly by the media and rather than going de blasio has been vocal through months of -- what the throughout this entire case. president described as slander and liable. and we heard from him moments ago. he explained to john how

let's take a listen. >> we saw a process that was actually fair and impartial. miserable that would be for his family and john has decided to but full justice means that stay in congress where he's done such an outstanding job there can never be another tragedy like the one that befell representing the people of texas. i will be announcing my eric garner. full justice is when we never nomination shortly. have another death. that is all of our so dan coats who announced his responsibility and it requires us to change everything. resignation effective august 15th, something that's gotten >> and in the media gaggle he the ire of the president because was pressed as to whether he he's spoken about russia's agreed with this decision and ongoing interference and the mayor said that he will attempts to interfere in the leave it up to due process and elections process as well as often speaking truth to power, he also went on to say that this at times at odds with the white is a process that has taken far house. the president effectively too long. unhappy with the performance of but ultimately it once again will be going down to the commissioner, the nypd coats, pushing him out with that commissioner who will go make resignation, choosing someone that final decision. who had taken to task director he has that two-week period so mueller during the recent appearance on capitol hill and mayor bill de blasio deferred to being a very frequent critic of him.

>> pick up on the important the russia investigation. and we've seen this before where point that kathy makes. the president offers up a name this took five years. this is a case that gripped the of someone he'd like to see in a entire nation, had broad high-profile role. that person gets gobbled up by implications in communities all across the country. why did it take five years? the process and is quickly not why did it take so long to get here? >> in 2014, just a few weeks guilty in t-- in the running an after mr. garner was killed, the longer. today that is john ratcliffe out new york medical examiner ruled of the running for this that it was a homicide. important post. >> tremendous that you were able then the issue was whether there to get on the record with that breaking news. would be state charges, possibly i want to just live in this murder or manslaughter. moment and go to jeff mason on the staten island district this breaking news. jeff, your reaction and let's attorney declined to bring those take a step back and put this into a broader context. charges. because as kelly points out, mayor de blasio was waiting on this is yet another major them to act. shakeup for the president. and attorney general barr said that charges would not be this is a hugely significant brought. in doing so, he overruled the post. we are entering yet another election season. experience career lawyers in the election meddling at the top of the list of what the dni civil rights division who director could be focused on. talk about the significance of this and the fact that there thought there should be charges were signs it might be going in brought and they could get a conviction. this direction.

the evidence here was >> i didn't last very long. overwhelming in this 47-page he just -- just a few days ago opinion tha reportedly wrote. it's not public ye announced this as his pick and there was some criticism right away about ratcliffe. pantaleo used force. there were some question marks about whether or not he would be able to be confirmed. the president in the tweet that kelly just read out loud to all of us was starting to blame the >> you talk about the role of media and that's a scapegoat dee blasio. during the that he uses often. but probably if he's done it so democratic debate when this quickly, he must have gotten issue came up. i want to play that clip, paul, some signals from congress and and get your reaction about the perhaps his people here in the implications on the other side. legislative affairs department let's take a look. at the white house saying this pick is not going to go well, >> officer pantaleo used a check hold that was prohibited by the the confirmation process is not going to go well. nypd. he did that for seven seconds. and that's the decision that he made. >> and, kelly, talk a little bit 11 different times eric garner said he couldn't breathe. about the practicality here. he knew what he was doing, and as jeff points out, this is a he has not been brought to matter of getting the votes and justice. that police officer should be off the street. >> i know the garner family. there had been a lot of concern they've gone through about whether or not he could get the votes because there was extraordinary pain. they're awaiting for justice and so much concern about his background, that he was padding

they're going to get justice. >> he should be fired. his resume. he should be fired now. the president was asked about as president, i would make sure that very matter earlier this week and he seemed to be that we had a full investigation, that the report would be made public and we standing by his man. but now, obviously, that's not would have a consent decree. the case anymore. >> reporter: before coming to >> paul, your reaction to that, congress he had been a mayor in de blasio, is the mayor, he says texas and said on his website he would need to defer to authorities before weighing in that he had prosecuted terrorism on that. >> as a legal matter, that's not suspects or put them behind bars correct. it's true that the justice and our colleagues in the investigate part of our team department would have preferred that he wait until they made found that not to be the case, their decision about a criminal in a he had done some work prosecution. but that doesn't mean that related to terrorism but not the officer pantaleo deserved to same thing. and of course is a gaping hole wear the uniform of a new york when you're asking to be police officer and so the mayor could have acted much more considered by the senate for confirmation to oversee all areas of the intelligence quickly, especially considering when he first ran for mayor, his community. he'd also been a critic on fox whole platform was based on news of different branches of reforming the nypd. the intelligence community. the mayor has an african-american son who he put in a commercial to talk about that doesn't necessarily go over his concerns, really his fear about the nypd. so a lot of folks expected that well. richard burr released is a the mayor would be more statement saying he had not met

proactive on this issue than he has been. john ratcliffe, but would work with him through the process. >> and, kathy, obviously very the intelligence community is a emotional to hear from eric garner's family members. small community and there have been times when people have come set the scene emotionally. to these positions without a what is the mood there right now deep bench of experience but it in new york as this breaking certainly goes much better when news that is now five years in they have established relationships and at least a the making unfolds? public record of respect for the >> kind of to put it into work of the intelligence context, going into the decision communities. he is a former u.s. attorney and that the judge was going to hand he's got that law enforcement piece but he's been very down today, there were whispers critical of the russia investigation at a time when that law enforcement be that is still in many ways still potentially prepared for any a part of our experience with sort of reaction, emotional reaction, whether it be protests the election that is still that could potentially be coming. so that is a real problem and triggered by the decision of the there were other republican senators who expressed doubts. judge. and obviously, so far things you still have to be confirmed have been relatively calm. by the senate for this position but we heard in that performance and the signs were already up. from eric garner's family, democrats were not going to obviously, they kept stressing support him and some republican that justice took far too long senators had expressed some and at the end of the day eric garner is dead. >> very quickly, the two weeks doubts as well. >> let me turn to our colleague, that the new york police commissioner has to make this

final decision about the andrea mitchell who has now officer's fate, what joined me on set. talk about the significance and specifically will he will reviewing? how will he make this call? what kelly points out which is >> he'll look at the report, we're entering an election cycle it's 47 pages, overwhelming and a lot of lawmakers on evidence, and the officer gets capitol hill felt as though he to respond. was not the right person for the commissioner will get his side as well. this moment. >> i think the key was richard going forward, 800 complaints of burr. when this nomination was announced, it was very clear from richard burr's statement, illegal choke holds since he said when we receive this nomination, a clear indication garner's death. fewer than 2% of those officers that he wasn't even sure it was have been disciplined. going to be sent up, that he if officer pantaleo is fired, he would not pass the vet. will be the first police this is another case of the department on the nypd to be president nominating someone fired for using this illegal choke hold. without the fbi clearance first >> important context. taking place. and if you look at his appreciate that. thanks to both of you. background, claimed to be the back here in washington, we u.s. attorney, well, he was the acting u.s. attorney for a year. are keeping an eye on the white house where the president is he was never confirmed by the senate. expeprident vowed to hit china and he was the mayor of heath, texas. that is an unpaid position. it's a community of 7,000 people, basically some golf resorts. there are other parts of the community, but it is very, very

small. he had claimed inaccurately to have prosecuted and sent to jail terrorists. nbc news was the first to report, my colleague pete williams worked on that and we reported that that did not take place. and "the washington post" today with more examples of embellishments of his resume. he was not known in the community. he was not respected by the intelligence community and in place you have the principle deputy who is a career person who is so highly respected and then today a report in the "new york times" that the president was planning to by pass her complete when she's supposed to be taking over as the acting dni. >> and one of the points that werner made, he was concerned that this would be a yes man and that was the key concern as we enter this new election cycle, andrea. talk about the threat that whoever does become the next dni

will face, will have to grapple with. >> well, by statute, the dni, when it was created after 9/11, when this whole position to organize all 17 intelligence agencies under one head, that person is supposed to have extensive appearance in military or intelligence and john ratcliffe does not meet that at all. this importantly was a republican-led senate raising all of these concerns. say, but be confirmed. and it was because even with the majority of republicans in place, they were not going to hold the republican majority for him. and the other piece of this is, we know already by executive action that the attorney general, william barr, is going to be getting declassified

emails on -- into the origins of the mueller russia probe. and it was only the dni who could prevent that from being shared. and there was concern he was going to politicize it and do what dan coats refused to do is roll over to the politicians. >> and we have reminders this week that russia is trying to interfere in our elections. the president was asked about it. did he raise it with putin? he said he didn't raise that issue with putin. mark warner tweeting, we don't know if the president is ignorant or he just wants the help. either way, we need to protect our elections now. what type of pressure are you expecting on this administration, on this president as he tries to choose someone to replace dan coats? >> i think there's going to be a lot of pressure to leave it with sue gordon. he's not going to want to do

that because of his suspicions of anyone he considers to be part of a deep state. but she's worked her entire career in intelligence under republicans and under democrats and has a tremendous loyalty and support on the hill as well as among our intelligence partners overseas. >> and, kelly, let me go back out to you. give us the view from the white house today. obviously president trump tweeting out this news. reporters are going to try to be able to ask him about this directly, if the weather holds, right? >> reporter: right. we expect that the president will be leaving for his weekend at bedminster. john ratcliffe has tweeted himself now, he said i was humbled that the president put his trust in me to lead the nation's intelligence operations and remain convinced that when confirmed i would have done so with objectivity and fairness. however, i do not wish for a national security and

intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation however untrue to become a political and partisan issue. the country we all love deserves that it be treated as an american issue. i have asked the president to nominate someone other than me for this position. that is ratcliffe adding his voice today to the president's decision to make this withdrawal. certainly if we have the opportunity to ask the president, if the weather holds, we'll have that experience on the south lawn where the president goes out to marine one to depart. he would likely want to talk about this. we saw that he brought the former secretary out to speak to cameras when his last day in the cabinet was made public. so perhaps the president would want to talk about this new vacancy. it's been a turbulent administration. this one takes on the position of something so high profile, but for all of those other

reasons of the president's own mistrust of government and of the intelligence community that makes this such a critical pick and one in which the senate has an unusually important role to play. kristen? >> kelly, thank you. andrea, before we wrap this, can you step back and look at the broader picture and the fact that this is yet another shakeup, yet another moment when this administration is going to be left without someone in a permanent position that is critical? >> and just yesterday we got a report recounting that over the last two years, the positions that have been vacant at the state department and the transition from tillerson to pompeo left so many reforms undone and this has been throughout the national security community. we only just this past week got a permanent defense secretary, that job was -- two actings

since december since jim mattis left. this has been a real challenge for this administration, for this president. >> it sure has. thank you for rushing out to the set for this breaking news. kelly o'donnell, thank you for breaking it in realtime on air. and jeff mason and sarah mcgregor, i want to reset with both of you because we started off talking about trade, before the breaking news. the president right now announcing a deal with the european union on u.s. beef exports. but the much bigger news continues to be this escalating trade war delve into that just little bit. this is a threat by the president. he's saying i'm going to impose these new tariffs against china next month. do you expect this to really happ happen. >> we heard from larry kudlow today who said there's a bit of time here. and it looks like the trump administration is holding out hope that china is going to follow through on more

agriculture purchases. why is it so important to the trump administration? one, trump has said he's going to sort of narrow this trade deficit, but we're heading into an election year and trump is going to rely on those farmers to bolster his political base. soybeans in the first half of the year were the lowest in more than a decade. it's a real problem and i think as much as the trump administration has tried to paper over it, it's reaching a boiling point now and i think for the trump administration, that immediately win from china would be important to get those agriculture purchases. we'll have to see if they're going to budge. but it doesn't suggest that they're willing to do that. >> sarah, such an important point and it encapsulates why this is so risky for president trump, jeff.

so many of those farmers who are already impacted live in trump country. they put him in the white house. you're seeing the stock market react. but from the president's perspective, what must be more disconcerning is how this is impacting pocketbooks, wallets, all across the country. how risky is this on behalf of the president? >> and 401(k)s. the president loves to talk about how people have gotten richer under his presidency. the effect of his tariff announcement is that the stock market has really dropped and may continue to do so because this trade war he has now made clear is going to continue and probably continue up until 2020 and until his election. he has sort of signaled that he thinks maybe china is trying to outwait him, if joe biden or another democrat were to win in 2020. but you've got these very, very high tariffs now and costs going on, products that are imported into the united states, this

latest round will affect even more consumer products. and that's going to hit people' they're buying products in the stores. and all of those people are voters. >> they sure are. all right. we will watch and wait to see what the president does with this threat of new tariffs. thanks so much to both of you for sticking around through the breaking news. really appreciate it. great information. and still to come this hour, another member of the gop decides to retire. the latest, the only african-american republican in the house. so what does it say about the parties's future prospects. plus the fbi issues a warning to social media users about a growing threat on line that's led to violence. the president rallies his supporters in ohio while sidelining his recent wave of attacks against the squad. he blamed all democrats for, what? we'll tell you. that's next. ext. it's tough to quit smoking cold turkey.

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the democrat party is now being led by four left-wing extremists who reject everything that we hold dear. >> four left-wing extremists, that was the president's only reference to the so-called squad last night. the president also skipped past any mention of his other recent target, elijah cummings instead, blaming the democrats as a whole for the demise of inner cities. >> no one has paid a higher price for the far left's destructive agenda than americans living in our nation's inner cities. for a hundred years, it's beene name one after another, but i don't do that because i don't

want to be controversial. >> joining me now, democratic pollster and msnbc political analyst and digital senior white house reporter. shannon, let me start with you. you were at this rally last night in cincinnati. set the stage. i watched the entire thing. the president sort of walked up to the line of trying to get the crowd going, talking about the four left-wing extremists, but he said i don't want to do anything controversial. what was your take and how was the crowd responding last night? >> he was kind of dancing around the issues and he had an opportunity where he could have really gone after elijah cummings. before the rally began, as the crowd waited to start, there's about a dozen african-american

supporters in the audience with t-shirts that said trump and republicans are not racist. and at one point they stood up and held these t-shirts and the crowd erupted, cheering and applauding. it was something that was on the crowd's mind. and when the president was eluding to the issues with certain unnamed democrats in inner cities, that's when the crowd was most engaged and fired up. >> he didn't talk about the names, he was talking about the inner cities. he didn't name the so-called squad. he did call out nancy pelosi. let's take a look at that exchange. >> the conditions in nancy pelosi's once great city of san francisco are deplorable. they're deplorable. do you remember the word "deplorable"? >> so sort of linking nancy pelosi and hillary clinton, who

used the term "deplorable." >> and this new line of attack on the inner cities is interesting because you can wonder what he would do about rural areas which many have issues with drugs and unemployment and crime, just as inner cities do. it's hard to imagine him talking this way about rural areas. but the democratic run inner cities, he's decided to make them a target. and it's kind of interesting because i know the campaign has wanted to target african-american voters. they know they don't have a big shot there. but in an area like michigan and a city like detroit, that could help turn the election if they could pick up a little bit of ground. but they seemed to have all abandoned all thought of that strategy at this point. >> what an important point. the margin is so narrow in some of they see critical swing states you just mentioned. let me bring you in and get your

reaction. he didn't mention the congressman last night. the president tweeted, really bad news, the baltimore house of elijah cummings was robbed. too bad! . some of his former officials felt he was being is a sarcastic. what do you make of this battle he's waging and his latest tweet digging into the culture wars. >> he doesn't have to mention any particular representative by name. but when you make -- decide to make the urban areas or cities the center piece of your wrath, you know what you're doing. you're making it about other people. despite the fact that much of what he's talking about and the problems that plague inner cities, you can make the same conversation about rural areas. he should probably go visit the

appalachian mountains. this whole play is able doubling down on tribalism. this is a president who can't run on the tax plan, can't run on building the wall, can't run on successes in trade. the only thing he has is racism. without racism the emperor has no clothing. and his hope ishat -- make as many white voters go to their corners as humanly possible and that african-americans last tim, and this is real, they will -- the russians will target minority voters to try to get them to break away, third party, which is what denied hillary clinton the ability to cobble back together the obama majority coalition. he has to really double down on this taoiribalism. >> president trump did unveil a somewhat new strategy last night

in addition tveme, practically. >> cornell, didn't take long for the president to pounce. i've been talking to some former obama officials today who say, look, it's not very smart strategy for the democrats to be going back, picking apart obama's legacy. why don't they talk about what they're going to do next. >> i'm an obama person also. i worked both of his campaigns. but i'm going to try to step aside from that and give a clear political analysis of this -- >> you can -- tell me what was your gut reaction. >> president obama is the most popular figure in the democrat party, only surpassed by his wife michelle obama. the idea that you're going to gain ground by attacking policy of barack obama and his legacy is really, really bad strategy to come after the -- the

person to win back-to-back majorities in t joe biden. anytime joe biden can stand there and defend the most popular democrat in the country, it helps him. >> all right. really important analysis there and interesting. thanks to both of you for that. meanwhile some unwelcome news for the gop. another republican house member is announcing plans not to run for re-election. this one is a big one. losing texas congressman will hurd means losing the only black republican in the house and one of two black republicans in all of congress. it also means losing the only republican representing a district on the u.s.-mexico border and it could mean losing that swing district in 2020,

making it all the more difficult for the gop to win back the house. and joining me now anna palmer and "new york times" congressional correspondent. thanks to both of you for being me go to you first on this. how big of a deal is this announcement that will hurd is retiring, especially in the context of all of these other people who are saying they're not running for re-election. >> it's been a gut-wrenching week for republicans in the house. just the sheer number of retirements when they're already in the minority, there doesn't seem to be any effort that has been successful to stem the blow of republicans who day after day -- there seems to be another one around the bend who are retiring. these are two of the only woman in the house conference and now will hurd. and he's important because he's somebody who represents a border state but also one who has a lot of credentials on the national

security front and sometimes will criticize the president in a way that a lot of his other fellow members haven't. he's a voice that a lot of republicans have looked to when they felt like somebody needed to stand up to the president. and him leaving is going to leave a major hole. >> i think it's an important point because so often you sort of have will hurd's voice as this lone voice. not always sharply critical, but sometimes just saying, look, this is not necessarily how i would have phrased something. he only narrowly won re-election though. and the report already has the district leaning democrat for 2020. is there a risk in democrats taking this seat for granted? >> well, i suppose there's always a risk. it's true that will hurd lost -- or won very narrowly. will hurd is a former cia agent. he's a quiet and thoughtful republican. i would definitely call him a

trumper. he opposed president trump on the wall. he represents 800 miles of border. bu against ortiz jones and she too has national security credentials. one minority for another. i think they have a very strong candidate. this is a big blow for republicans. 90% of the house republican conference is white men. now they're losing their only black republican, there are only 13 female republicans in the house conference. two of them have announced their retirement. this is a party that cannot be the party of white men if it wants to continue and flourish. it's got to expand its tent and that's not happening. >> let me read you what a senior gop lawmaker told the hill this week. serving in the era of trump has

few rewards. he has made a political environment worse. every day there is some indefensible tweet or comment to defend or explain. it is exhausting and often embarrassing. as the gop looks towards 2020 and looks towards trying to essentially win back control of both chambers, how difficult is it when you do see this lawmaker of color stepping down and you start to see this party sort of lose its diversity? >> if you're will hurd, do you want to run for re-election in a seat that you only squeaked by two years ago when donald trump is at the top of the ticket making all of these comments, racially charged remarks about one of your fellow members of congress. at every turn, will hurd and others like him will have to be defending trump's comments that they probably personally find indefensible. >> you could tell will hurd was struggling with this latest

controversy. anna, today the president signed into law the new budget agreement. "the washington post" writes the agreement stands as a rare example of bipartisan legislation in the trump era and is one of the few major votes congress will take this year. we always hear that term "do nothing," but this congress has been starkly divided. does that make it even more difficult? >> i think it does make it more difficult in terms of members justifying why they are here. right now you're going to have a lot of members going back for the august recess. they're going to be hearing from their constituents who are very frustrated. they feel like washington is broken. you have a lot of new members who wanted to come to washington to change the way it would work and have found out that things are very intractable. the other thing that can't be -- mentioned enough is that a lot of minority.

when you're in the minority, there's very little comfort, you don't get to pass the bills you want to pass, you don't even get to know what the schedule is. all of a sudden people are taking the time to see do i really want to be here or not. >> the fallout will be felt in the coming days and weeks that will hurd is not going to seek re-election. thanks to both of you for a great discussion. really appreciate it. next a leaked fbi development details the risks posed by people who believe in fringe conspiracy theories. fringe conspiracy theories ♪ and with bank of america and merrill, the benefits you get can grow, too. as a preferred rewards member, you can enjoy priority service and exclusive discounts... so your growing life can be more rewarding, too. ♪

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the fbi is sounding the alarm on the risk posed by domestic conspiracy they arists. a leaked document from the phoenix field office describes it as a growing threat. it notes that this is the first report to examine the threat. the report mentions a group that believes in a deep state conspiracy against president trump. joining me now to discuss this, ben reporting on this. so, what is the very latest? what's the key takeaway from these leaked documents? >> sure. so this is one field office from the fbi which doesn't necessarily mean it's the view of the entire fbi, but this is a field office that was about an hour and a half, two hours away

from a specific event down in tucson, arizona, where a guy was in an armed standoff with police last year because he believed there was a child sex trafficking camp that was really a homeless encampment. these people have sort of taken to the real world to express their belief that this is not a joke by the way. they believe that there is a baby-eating kabal run by the world by hillary clinton. it sounds nuts because it is nuts. this allows this one group of extremists to sort of push this message out there. >> and let's just delve a little bit more deeply into who they are. who are these -- who has joined that group, who has considered themselves a part of that group? there is a poster on this website called achan that claims

that he has government clearance, that he is a government insider with the trump campaign. this is not true almost certainly. we have tied the origins to it back to a bunch of people who are veterans in the trolling space basically. and what they, do again, they lead these people down this path to believe there is this kabal running the world. this week there was supposed to be a large event that happened on wednesday. didn't take place. the very first post by q, the guy who's allegedly this government insider said that hillary clinton is about to be arrested, and the national guard is about to take over. that didn't happen. that was in 2017. so that's really where we're at. it's all about trying to get over -- trying to get these people wrapped up in this thing that doesn't really exist. >> and, ben, we saw some of the video right there. i've been at plenty of trump rallies where i've seen people with the q on their shirt or

somewhere else you just saw that man holding up the q sign. how has the president responded? >> there's been no response yet from the white house. there have been people who have left the white house who have been combative with these people and said, look, this doesn't exist, this is not helpful to accuse people, often private citizens, of ridiculous crimes. but nobody in the actual white house that we've seen has commented on this in any capacity. >> let me just read you what christopher wray the fbi director had to say. he said we've had more domestic arrests than the prior year a majority of domestic terror cases are racially motivated, somehow some version of what you might call white supremacist violence, but it includes other things as well. how does this fit into the broader picture, ben? >> sure. basically on the internet and on these extremist sites, there are people rooting each other on to commit these attacks based on

white supremacist literature that's been algorithmically driven to people who need answers in their lives. qanon is part of this who gives people who have lost their identity or their jobs, and it's gruesome answers for them. but it allows them to see the world in a much more positive light in their own terms. that sort of extremist violence comes from this lit on the internet, comes from white nationalist violence. their overlaps are stark between qanon and violence. this is the sort of thing that they are now looking at because they have to. the numbers show that this is a real thing. >> yeah, christopher wray clear. nbc's ben collins, thank you for that important reporting. really appreciate it. >> thank you. a trump loyalist says he's eyeing a run for senate in a key swing state. "one more thing" is next. i swid saved hundreds. that's a win.

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and there's just one more thing before we go. >> former trump campaign manager cory lewandowski says he is seriously looking at a run for senate in new hampshire if he launches a bid and wins the gop primary, lewandowski would face off against jean shaheen, the first woman to serve both as a dw and a senator. has, quote, failed new hampshire and voted in lock steb with chuck schumer and nancy pelosi. the democratic party of new hampshire quickly fired back in a statement defending senator

sha shaheen's record. who has been incredibly accused of assault. the shaheen campaign clearly eyeing lewandowski's time. in march of 2016 lewandowski was as she attempted to question then candidate trump at a campaign event in florida. the charges were ultimately dropped. since being fired from the first trump campaign, lewandowski has served as a lobbyist co-founding the firm avenue strategies. >> i read today about a ten-year-old girl with down syndrome who was taken from her mother and put in a cage. i read about a -- did you say wawa to a 10-year-old with down syndrome? how dare you? -- how absolutely dare you, sir.

>> a moment that went viral there. but perhaps the biggest question in all of this, what does president donald trump think, the president has not commented, but we know lewandowski remains a trump confidant. and he hinted that he could help the president by having a pro-trump candidate. you might remember that new hampshire was a razor thin victory. all right. well, that wraps things up for this hour. i'm kristen welker in washington. ali velshi picks things up from new york. hi there, ali. tossing it back to you. >> thank you, friend. you have a great afternoon, kristen. president trump's pick for director of national intelligence is no longer up for the job. trump tweeting last hour our great republican congressman john ratcliffe is being treated very unfairly by the lamestream media. rather than going through months of slander and libel, i

explained to john how miserable it would be for him and his family to deal with these people. john has therefore decided to stay in congress where he's done such an outstanding job representing the people of texas and our country. i will be announcing my nomination for dni shortly. let's get right to the white house. kelly o'donnell is standing by, and we just heard from congressman ratcliffe. kelly, we have learned the white house is now seeking to prevent the principal deputy sue gordon from becoming the acting