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The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Transcript 8/10/2016

Guests: Matt Katz, Dan Rather, David Cay Johnston, Charlie Pierce. Ryan Solen, Rick Wilson, Karine Jean-Pierre

Show: THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O`DONNELL Date: August 10, 2016 Guest: Matt Katz, Dan Rather, David Cay Johnston, Charlie Pierce. Ryan  Solen, Rick Wilson, Karine Jean-Pierre STEVE KORNACKI, MSNBC HOST:  All right, that`s going to do it for us  tonight, we`ll see you --  MATT KATZ, JOURNALIST:  A few weeks I think --  KORNACKI:  All right, Matt Katz from WNYC, thanks for the time, I  appreciate it. KATZ:  Sure, Steve.

KORNACKI:  All right, that`s going to do it for us tonight, we`ll see you  again tomorrow, and now it`s time for THE LAST WORD with Lawrence  O`Donnell.  Good evening to you, Lawrence. LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST:  Good evening Steve, you know, it always  amazed me during the Chris Christie presidential campaign that so much of  the media forgot what was happening back in New Jersey in this criminal  case which still is going to involve Chris Christie as a witness probably. KORNACKI:  Yes, always sensed that Republican voters knew at the back of  their minds --  O`DONNELL:  Yes, they did --  KORNACKI:  That`s why you couldn`t get traction. O`DONNELL:  Yes, that`s -- you could see that in the polls --  KORNACKI:  Yes --  O`DONNELL:  That`s true.  Thank you, Steve.

KORNACKI:  OK. O`DONNELL:  Well, Donald Trump had the whole world thinking about  assassination today, not just the United States, because Donald Trump`s  words yesterday about the possible assassination of the next president of  the United States brought painful memories rushing back. Not just here in the United States, but in places where words like Donald  Trump`s have really been words that killed.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  Hillary wants to abolish the  Second Amendment.  LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS:  Trump sparked an uproar.  TRUMP:  If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.  HOLT:  With comments suggesting "Second Amendment people could act against  Hillary Clinton."  TRUMP:  Although, the Second Amendment people -- maybe there is, I don`t  know.  HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  Words matter, my friends.  TRUMP:  The media is almost as crooked as crooked Hillary Clinton.  RUDY GUILIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR:  The liberal media is making it  impossible for him to carry on a campaign.  JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC:  It was very painful watching Rudy Giuliani, a guy  that I`ve respected for a very long time, do that routine.  CLINTON:  Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual  comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line.  UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  This was a joke that he made during a rally.  REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:  He should never joke about  something like that.  REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK:  It was wrong, he shouldn`t have said it.  GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  He misspeaks a lot.  UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  You don`t believe that he was inferring any violence  relating to Hillary Clinton?  PENCE:  Oh, of course not.  TRUMP:  I mean, give me a break.  CLINTON:  Friends, don`t let friends vote for Trump.  (CHEERS) TRUMP:  We have a small, a very small planet compared to the universe,  right?  (END VIDEO CLIP)  O`DONNELL:  "Though I am a murderer, I am not a liar."  Those are the words  of a self-confessed assassin.  He surrendered on the spot to police after  putting two bullets in the back of his target.  And the spot he surrendered on was a political rally.  And the spot where  he was inspired to become an assassin was at another political rally.  A  boisterous, combative political rally of the candidate who he, the  assassin, supported.  The assassin`s favorite candidate had many rallies where the opposing  candidate was delegitimized and dehumanized, and instead of chants of "lock  her up", the crowd chanted "traitor" and "Nazi."  And were reminded of that today by "New York Times" non-partisan columnist  Thomas Friedman, in his reaction to what Donald Trump said yesterday about  Second Amendment people doing something to stop Hillary Clinton after she  is elected president.  Tom Friedman`s first sentence today was "and that, ladies and gentlemen, is  how Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated."  The current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister  Rabin`s opponent in that campaign.  And the "Times" today described Netanyahu then as "addressing a feverish  right-wing rally from a balcony in Jerusalem`s Zion Square as protesters  below shouted for the death of Rabin the traitor."  Yitzhak Rabin was depicted in a Nazi uniform then, the worst conceivable  depiction of a Jew anywhere, all because of this.

Yitzhak Rabin had participated in negotiations with Palestinian leader  Yasser Arafat, negotiations that were brokered by the President of the  United States, Bill Clinton. Yigal Amir, then a 25-year-old law student in Israel, thought Yitzhak  Rabin`s dealings with the Palestinians was a crime against the Jewish  people for which he, Yigal Amir, had the moral and in his view legal  authority under religious Jewish law to execute capital punishment against  the Prime Minister. Yigal Amir believed that Prime Minister Rabin was putting the people of  Israel at risk and had to be stopped.

Donald Trump tells his followers that Hillary Clinton has already put the  United States at risk through the nuclear deal with Iran and countless  other ways. Donald Trump`s version of calling Hillary Clinton a Nazi is to give her an  imagined role in creating the Islamic State.

In the feverish dementia of Trump world, President Obama and Secretary  Clinton are the founding father and founding mother of the Islamic State.

This is Donald Trump earlier tonight.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  TRUMP:  ISIS is honoring President Obama.  He is the founder of ISIS, he is  the founder of ISIS, OK? (BOOING)  He`s the founder.  He founded ISIS.  And I would say the co-founder would  be crooked Hillary Clinton.  Co-founder, crooked Hillary Clinton.  (END VIDEO CLIP)  O`DONNELL:  As that audience knows, the United States military has executed  by drone and otherwise every founding member of ISIS they`ve been able to  find.

If Donald Trump`s audience is as mentally unstable as he is, and if  millions of them are as he would put it Second Amendment people, then  Donald Trump is telling millions of Americans with guns that Hillary  Clinton is one of the worst deadly enemies of the United States that we`ve  ever had.  For shots to be fired, all Donald Trump needs is one person who hears him,  who believes him, who has access to guns, and who is as mentally unstable  as Donald Trump is.  Just one.  Out of millions of Trump supporters, Donald Trump and countless Republicans  want Trump supporters and the rest of America to believe that Hillary  Clinton already has blood on her hands because of the loss of four American  lives in Benghazi including Hillary Clinton`s friend, Ambassador Chris  Stevens.  Hillary Clinton is now a convicted criminal, convicted in the court of  Trump, convicted by Trump at Trump rallies with Trump juries.  The chant is  not "indict her."  The chant is "lock her up."  The chant says we don`t care that FBI agents and prosecutors have looked at  Hillary Clinton`s State Department e-mail arrangement and not been able to  find a criminally prosecutable offense that they believe they could get a  conviction on.  The chant says we don`t care about guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  The  chant does not say charge her with a crime, put her on trial.  The chant  jumps past all of that and says "lock her up."  And every once in a while,  there`s someone at a Trump rally who says "kill her."  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Hang the bitch.  (CROSSTALK)  (END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  Israeli columnist Chemi Shalev wrote, "like the extreme right  in Israel, many Republicans conveniently ignore the fact that words can  kill.

If anyone has doubts, they could use a short session with Yigal Amir;  Yitzhak Rabin`s assassin, who was inspired by the rabid rhetoric hurled at  the Israeli Prime Minister."  Yigal Amir was despised by most Israelis after the assassination, but not  all.  He had his supporters who believed that he did the right thing for  Israel.

The most important thing to Yigal Amir after he assassinated Yitzhak Rabin  was that he did not want anyone to think he was crazy.  He wanted everyone to know he thought carefully about firing two hollow- point bullets into Yitzhak Rabin`s back and that he had done it for good  reason because he was protecting the people of Israel from a Nazi. He was protecting the people of Israel from a traitor, an enemy of Israel.

He was saving Israel from Yitzhak Rabin.  He was doing what Donald Trump  says he has to do -- save America from Hillary Clinton.  Yigal Amir told Israeli police, "I am at peace.  I did what many people  wanted to do.  I am totally normal.  I do not want people to think that I  am crazy, otherwise, I will not achieve my goal."  The question for America tonight, and the urgent question for the Secret  Service tonight, which issued a worried statement about Donald Trump, about  what Donald Trump said yesterday, is how many Yigal Amirs are there here?  Who believe every word that Donald Trump says about Hillary Clinton.  Who  believe when Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton a monster that she is a  monster.  Who believe when Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton a devil, that  she is the devil.  Those are his words.  And that the devil must be stopped.  How many believe  that? In this country of hundreds of millions of guns and millions of  Donald Trump supporters, millions of Hillary Clinton haters.  What are the chances that Donald Trump`s feverish out of control language  can stir up the passions of a Donald Trump fanatic who hates Hillary  Clinton and has a gun? It only takes one.  One Trump supporter, that`s all it takes.  Rudy  Giuliani seems to think the Trump rallies are filled with potential  assassins.

This morning, he insisted that Donald Trump did not in any way imply that  Hillary Clinton should or could be assassinated, and then he said this.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  GIULIANI:  With a crowd like that, if that`s what they thought he meant,  they`d have gone wild.  (END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  So there`s Rudy Giuliani saying Donald Trump`s crowd would have  gone wild if he had even more directly suggested the assassination of  Hillary Clinton.  The crowd would have gone wild.  And it only takes one to go really wild.  Joining us now is Dan Rather,  former anchor of the "Cbs Evening News", he is currently host of "AXS TV`s"  "The Big Interview".  Dan, when we`re reaching for historical precedent and in big historical  moments like this, we turn to you.  You were there in Dallas on November  22nd, 1963.  You saw what this country went through in a presidential  assassination.  That anyone near our politics could have said anything like what Donald  Trump said, leaves us all reeling.  But for you, with your experience, it  must have been something truly unique.  DAN RATHER, AXS TV:  Well, yes, it reminds me that, you know, history is  watching and history will judge.  Not just what Donald Trump says but what  the American people decided, how we settle this election campaign.  But beginning in my adult lifetime with the assassination of President John  F. Kennedy, we followed with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King  and with a lot of exploitive and incendiary language used against Dr. King. And again, it only took one --  O`DONNELL:  Yes --  RATHER:  You know, with Robert Kennedy who was a candidate for president,  let us not forget in 1968 was assassinated, it only took one.  You respond saying that, you know, this is not just another sort of wild  Donald Trump statement.  This is serious.  Because the rhetoric is the  candidate.  It`s no good saying, well, he doesn`t mean these things or he doesn`t think  these things through or it`s a joke, which by the way I take special  resentment to this as a joke.  This is not a joking matter.  And I never thought that having gone through,  say, a lot of assassinations, by the way, there was an attempt on  presidential candidate George Wallace`s life in the early 1970s as well.  Attempt on Gerald Ford`s life, I mean, Ronald --  O`DONNELL:  Ronald Reagan --  RATHER:  Reagan very nearly died from only one assassin.  O`DONNELL:  And all mentally unstable people.  It`s not --

RATHER:  Yes --

O`DONNELL:  That`s who`s out there.  That`s who`s vulnerable to this.  RATHER:  Exactly.  And among the side effects of what Donald Trump did by,  you know, wink.  Well, Second Amendment people may have to take care of  Hillary Clinton, paraphrase of it.  A side effect of it is that I grew up in Texas, I grew up in a gun culture,  I know a lot of people who are strong for the Second Amendment.

And what Donald Trump did was he undercut a lot of decent, intending  citizens who own guns to make it so that it plays into the stereotype that  every one of them is a gun-crazy nut job just looking for a target.  Which is not the case.  But set that aside at the moment because the  (INAUDIBLE) of this story has to be, is this -- is this or is this not  acceptable conduct for a major party candidate for president of the United  States. I think the obvious answer, not a matter of opinion, the obvious answer is  absolutely not.  That`s not -- that`s just not who we are as a people.

This is not what we`re about as a society, as a country. And we`ll see how this all plays out.  You know, I`ve said to you before, I  think Donald Trump can win the election.

I think his chances are less now than they were maybe two weeks go before  the Khan sordid business and the gun business. But it would be a mistake to think that the potential is not still there  for him to get elected, to beat Hillary Clinton.

A lot of unexpected things can happen along the way.  But I have enough  confidence in the American public.  You know, the American people are civil, decent people.  Yes, they  sometimes feel strongly about their politics or their ideology.

But this kind of uncivil, indecent, offensive and I agree with what one  newspaper today said, with the gun statements. Donald Trump moved from being offensive to being reckless.  And you can`t  abide this kind of recklessness in a presidential campaign.  I don`t care  what you call yourself, progressive, conservative, Republican or Democrat.  O`DONNELL:  The -- of course, Donald Trump denies that it was a joke.  But  what he does is he denies that he said what he said.  Let`s listen to his  explanation tonight on "Fox News".  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  TRUMP:  What we`re talking about is political power.  There`s tremendous  political power to save the Second Amendment.  Tremendous.

And you look at -- you know, you look at the power they have in terms of  votes and that`s what I was referring to, obviously that`s what I was  referring to, and everybody knows it. (END VIDEO CLIP)  O`DONNELL:  So, Dan, he goes on "Fox News" and he just lies about what he  said.  That`s not what he said.  And Greta Van Susteren, no one at "Fox  News" argues with him about that.  What is the -- what is the right way for an interviewer to handle someone  who`s just going to lie about what he said yesterday?  RATHER:  Well, the way to do it is to ask him a direct question and insist  on a direct answer and to keep following up on the question.  O`DONNELL:  Yes --  RATHER:  Very few people in television, and I fault myself some of the time  to it.  You may ask the tough question.

The interview subject does the old political side shuffle, which is what  Donald Trump is attempting to do here, and you move on.  It takes a kind of bore in, keep asking the question, if it takes asking it  10, 12 times, ask it 10, 12 times until and unless it`s clear that the  candidate is not going to answer the question or fesses up that he has said  a lie. And by the way, that`s the operative word sometimes, I think --  O`DONNELL:  Yes --  RATHER:  Many of us in television are too reluctant to use the word lie.

We say, well, misspoke himself or dealt in ambiguity.  But you know, again, Lawrence, I`ll come back to, I think I have great  confidence in the American people as a whole of being able to separate bull  shine from brass tacks.  And when Donald Trump said what he said about guns, people got it.  They  know what he meant.  They also know it wasn`t a joke.  And no amount of  backfilling and side-stepping is going to change that.  Now, one could hope and pray that Donald Trump will completely reboot his  campaign and stop saying these offensive and now reckless things.  But I  don`t think that you`re going to bet the rent money on that.  O`DONNELL:  Dan, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  I want to see  Donald Trump do the Dan Rather interview.  That`s the one that I`m waiting  for.  Thank you very much, Dan.  RATHER:  Thank you very much, Lawrence.  O`DONNELL:  Coming up, Donald Trump under oath.  How many times do you  think Donald Trump got caught lying when he was put under oath?  And Paul Ryan still won`t comment on Donald Trump`s comments that he last  night pretended he hadn`t heard about the Second Amendment people and  Hillary Clinton.

The Democrat running against Paul Ryan, trying to make history by unseating  the speaker of the house will join us tonight for his first national  interview.  (COMMERCIAL BREAK)  O`DONNELL:  Here`s a look at how protesters were treated tonight at a  Donald Trump rally in Florida.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  (CHEERS) TRUMP:  We`ve got every group imaginable.  I think we have the smartest  people.  I think we have among the most successful people.  (END VIDEO CLIP)  O`DONNELL:  Oh, yes, the smartest people and most successful people.  How  many times do you think Donald Trump lied -- oh, not lied, got caught lying  once he was put under oath about his lies? Tweet us your answers.  The answer is coming up next.  (COMMERCIAL BREAK)  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  He is not a politician.  He is not a person like you  who`s very articulate, very well spoken.  He`s a business person.  (END VIDEO CLIP)  O`DONNELL:  You cannot say that a candidate running for president is not a  politician.  You can say that he`s a rookie politician.  You can say he`s  only been a politician for about a year.  But you cannot defend a politician by saying he`s not a politician.  But  that defense of Donald Trump will never die.

Even after he won 36 primaries as a politician.  Even after his name will  be on the ballot in 50 states as the Republican candidate for president.  He`s not a politician.  That`s the defender`s official line.  And that line  allows them, they think, to defend any lie that Donald Trump tells.  And it  allows them to pretend that lies are not lies.  The one place in Donald Trump`s life where he hasn`t been able to get away  with lying is when he is under oath in litigation.

Donald Trump made the breathtakingly stupid mistake of suing Tim O`Brien, a  "New York Times" reporter who wrote a book about him.  And in that book said that Donald Trump lied about a lot of things,  including his wealth.  O`Brien estimated that Donald Trump`s wealth is  between $150 million and $250 million.  Nowhere near a billionaire.  Donald Trump lost the lawsuit but left behind  a 170-page under oath deposition in which he has -- was at several points  forced to admit several lies that he told in public as part of his routine.  Donald Trump was being questioned by highly experienced former federal  prosecutors who were then in private practice representing the publisher at  no expense to the author.  How many times did they catch Donald Trump lying when they put him under  oath? Thirty.  They caught Donald Trump in 30 lies.

And when he was caught lying, he said under oath in the deposition, "I am  no different from a politician running for office.  You always want to put  your best foot forward."  So much for Donald Trump not being a politician.  Joining us now, David Cay  Johnston, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and columnist with the "Daily  Beast".  He has a new book out, "The Making of Donald Trump".  And also with us,  Charlie Pierce; writer-at-large for "Esquire".  David Cay, you`ve been  studying a lot of this territory that Tim O`Brien studied.  You`ve gone over more than once.  This is your latest volume, I always have  it with me now, "The Making of Donald Trump".  This deposition is  invaluable because it has Donald Trump under oath.  He knows that if he lies in the deposition he faces perjury charges.  And  so what they present to him is a bunch of public lies that he has rattled  off, and they force him under oath to admit that he was lying when he said  those things publicly.  What are some of the gems in there?  DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, COLUMNIST, DAILY BEAST:  Well, my favorites out of that  deposition are frankly about how he`s lied about his wealth.  He`s asked  about how do you determine your net worth? And while this isn`t quite a lie  in the way you`re talking about it. He says, well, my feelings, and he goes on at some length that his feelings  and what`s happening that day and his mood, that determines his net worth.

And he`s suing Tim O`Brien over an issue of net worth, and it`s what he  feels like?  Hey, you know what? This has been a good day, Lawrence, I think I am worth  a billion dollars today, how about you?  O`DONNELL:  Yes, he publicly was very definitive about one thing in his  life that he never did.  He said he never, ever borrowed money from his  father`s estate, never, absolute zero.  Under oath he said, "I think a small amount a long time ago.  I think it  was in the $9 million range."  So, Charlie Pierce, out there to the public,  zero, never borrowed a penny from my old man, under oath only $9 million.  CHARLIE PIERCE, WRITER-AT-LARGE, ESQUIRE:  It`s amazing what the effect of  putting your hand on a Bible, when that Bible is backed up by a prison cell  will do for a fella.  Yes, you fastened, Lawrence, on one of my pet peeves,  which is any politician who runs for office claiming not to be a  politician.  But even taking him at his word, ever since he ran his mouth about the  Second Amendment people the other day, I`ve talked to dozens of people,  none of whom are politicians, and none of them would have said that.  O`DONNELL:  Yes, exactly, and now to go -- going to the lying point.

Donald Trump is now lying about what he said yesterday.

He could have used the insanity defense.  We all would have accepted that.

He could have said it was a joke like Paul Ryan did, OK? Very bad joke if it`s a joke.  But instead, he says, I didn`t say what you  heard me say.  And let`s listen to one of the Trump audience members who`s  now become famous because he`s the red shirt guy who we all saw behind  Donald Trump.  Let`s listen to the way he interpreted what Donald Trump said.  (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)  UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I was thinking exactly what I said to my neighbor,  Connie(ph), and that was, I can`t believe he said it.  The media will have  a field day with this one.  Down here in the south, we don`t curse in front  of women.  We don`t drink liquor in front of a preacher, and we don`t make jokes like  that in public.  But it was clear to my mind and to the people around me  that he was trying to make a joke.  (END VIDEO CLIP)  O`DONNELL:  So, David, he sees it as a joke, but he also doesn`t in any way  confuse what Donald Trump was actually saying.  JOHNSTON:  But Lawrence, he was obviously a plant paid to be there by the  Hillary Clinton campaign.  (LAUGHTER) He`s now --  O`DONNELL:  Trump supporter --  JOHNSTON:  You know --  O`DONNELL:  True blue, a true red Trump supporter --  JOHNSTON:  Right --  O`DONNELL:  Yes --

  JOHNSTON:  We`re joking about this, but listen, Donald`s lies have led to  violence.  Not just the violence he`s called for and then denied.

But one of the Upstate New York newspapers say, has a story about a guy  wearing a Trump shirt who was beaten and attacked. He is unleashing terrible forces in this country, and it`s going to get  worse.  And let`s assume the media suddenly says we`re not going to cover  these things.  That won`t have any effect here.  He has now let the dogs loose.  And there is going to be trouble down the  road.  And I don`t know what you do to stop this once you have done what  Donald has done.  Which is signal to people that it`s OK to carry out a  crime that Donald wouldn`t himself do. He wants you to do for his benefit.  O`DONNELL:  Charlie --  PIERCE:  Yes, Lawrence --  O`DONNELL:  Donald Trump used to primarily avoid any interview on Prime  Time here on Msnbc, he`s never done it.  But he`s now limiting himself  almost exclusively to "Fox News", where it`s going to be all softball.  And Greta Van Susteren have the softballs in her hand tonight.  She allowed  Donald Trump to tell the lie about what he said yesterday with absolutely  no come-back from Greta Van Susteren at all.  PIERCE:  Yes, I think by November, he`s going to be appearing exclusively  on Ham radio sets in upper Michigan. O`DONNELL:  Yes --  PIERCE:  Which will be -- which will be all right because we`ll all be able  to hear him in our teeth.  O`DONNELL:  Yes --  PIERCE:  No, I think David came to a very good point there, and I sensed  this actually in 2012.  And it goes back further than that.  It certainly  goes back to the first inauguration of this -- of this particular  president.  There`s a wildness and an untamed element to American conservative politics  that`s gotten worse over the last 20 years.

And it`s sort of like this free-floating dark energy that`s been looking  for a focus, a focal point over the last two or three cycles.  And boy, it  found one this time.

O`DONNELL:  David --  PIERCE:  Indeed, I mean, I`ll tell you what.  It -- I went to a Donald  Trump rally, the first one I ever went to in Lowell, Massachusetts almost a  year ago.  And it was flat terrifying, it really was.  O`DONNELL:  David Cay Johnston and Charlie Pierce, thank you both for  joining us tonight, I appreciate it.  PIERCE:  Thank you.

O`DONNELL:  Coming up, when was the last time the speaker of the house lost  his own congressional re-election in his own district? I can remember it  vividly as if it was yesterday.  So, it`s not 200 years ago.  The man  trying to repeat history is now running against Paul Ryan, and he will join  us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) O`DONNELL:  It`s only happened once.  Well, it`s happened more than once.

But only once in the 20th century, only once in modern American history has  the speaker of the house been defeated in his re-election campaign in his  home district.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TOM BROKAW, NBC NEWS ANCHOR:  For the leading congressional Democrat it was  insult added to injury.  Tom Foley not only lost his job as House speaker,  he lost his congressional seat as well, conceding this afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  Joining us now for his first national interview, the man who  wants to pull off that miracle once again, Ryan Solen, winner of the  Democratic primary in Wisconsin, who now has the honor of running against  House Speaker Paul Ryan in the general election.

Mr. Solen, thank you very much for joining us tonight.

RYAN SOLEN (D-WI), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE:  Thank you for the opportunity.

I appreciate it.

O`DONNELL:  What is your pitch to voters in that district, why they should  get rid of the most powerful member of Congress representing them now?

SOLEN:  The idea behind it all is that Paul Ryan has been ineffective  speaker of the house at this point.  He`s had an awful lot of opportunity.

He`s been in office for a long time.  And he just has not been as effective  as he should be.

We are trying to make progress on an awful lot of issues, and so far, it`s  just been gridlock.  And being the ranking member of the Republican Party,  he should be doing more.

O`DONNELL:  It`s really quite striking that as speaker, he`s the leader of  a party whose mission is to actually do nothing.  They don`t want to pass  appropriations bills.  They don`t want government spending going out there  into these districts.

So, historically, speakers have been really big benefactors to their own  district, and he leads a party that is basically opposed to delivering  anything to anyone.

SOLEN:  Yes, you are correct in that assessment.  I think we`ve been  waiting for a while.  We`ve gone through a really rough time as far as  economics have gone.  I know there have been claims that the economy is  bouncing back.  You could take the Dow Jones and use that as an estimate.

But the fact of the matter is the people themselves I don`t think are  feeling that.  They`re still looking for more.

O`DONNELL:  Let`s listen to what Paul Ryan said last night in defense of  Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:  I heard about the Second  Amendment quote.  It sounds like just a joke gone bad.  You should never  joke about something like that.  I didn`t actually hear the comments.  I  only heard about those comments.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  What was your reaction to that?

SOLEN:  Well, my first reaction would be to Donald Trump.  I really am  trying to figure out what his end game is here, you know?  I don`t think  that that`s appropriate, to even be joking about, for an office that he`s  aspiring to, it`s totally inappropriate.

And for the speaker of the House to say it was just a joke gone bad I think  that needs to be retracted.

O`DONNELL:  What is ahead for you in this campaign?  Do you think there  will be a debate in this campaign against Paul Ryan?

SOLEN:  I certainly hope so.  We`ve actually contacted the Paul Ryan  campaign and have asked for a debate.  So far, we have not heard anything  back.  But I`m hoping that we will have one soon.

O`DONNELL:  Do you have any disagreements with Hillary Clinton in terms of  her platform and the programs that she wants to advance through Congress?

SOLEN:  Right now, I think that she`s got a very solid platform.  I know  she said she`s going to adopt some of Bernie Sanders` additional issue  items, and I think that`s going to go a long way toward healing the  apparent rift that occurred earlier on.  I really think that she`s got  great chances and good opportunities to make a difference in the country.

O`DONNELL:  Ryan Solen, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  I  really appreciate it.

SOLEN:  Thank you.  I appreciate it.

O`DONNELL:  Coming up, there is a new candidate for president.  He`s a  Republican.  He`s a Mormon.  No one`s ever heard of him, which is the down  side.  But those two other factors, Republican and Mormon, means that  Donald Trump is in more trouble than he already was in Utah.  Hillary  Clinton might be the first Democrat to win Utah since 1964.

And Hillary Clinton has more Republican states leaning her way now.  All of  that is in tonight`s campaign war room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ANNOUNCER:  This is THE LAST WORD on campaign 2016.

O`DONNELL:  Forty-two years ago this week, our politics and our government  went through something that it`s never gone through before and may never go  through again.  A crisis like we have never seen, a crisis that has lessons  for the age of Trump.

But first, here`s how it looked today on the campaign trail.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  This is not a normal election.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  Hillary will be a horror show.

And I`m going to be an unbelievable positive.

CLINTON:  In the first 100 days of my administration, we will make the  biggest investment in new jobs, good-paying jobs since World War II.

TRUMP:  Take a look at the promises she made as a senator from New York and  the job she was going to create.  Take a look at what happened.  It is a  wasteland, what`s happened up there.

CLINTON:  I believe in small business.  That`s why I want to be a small  business president.  And that`s a big contrast with Donald Trump who has  spent his career stiffing small businesses.

TRUMP:  Look at the bad decisions that she`s made.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  More e-mails have come  to light today that seemed to provide direct evidence that favors were done  by State Department officials for foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation.

That`s the old pay-to-play system the American people are sick and tired  of, and Donald Trump and I are going to bring it to a crashing end.

TRUMP:  Look at the bad judgment.  And now we`re going to put her in charge  of our country?  We won`t have a country left.

CLINTON:  Trump`s belief that he alone can fix America`s problems is so  contrary to who we are as a nation.

TRUMP:  Politicians will tell me, you can`t build a wall.  Really?  You can  build a wall?

They don`t know.  You know, I`ve built 90-story buildings.  Building  buildings is tough.  Building a wall, boy, is that easy.

CLINTON:  I am humbled and moved by the Republicans who are willing to  stand up and say Donald Trump doesn`t represent their values. (END VIDEOTAPE) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) O`DONNELL:  What did you have for lunch today?  Was it better than this?

That lunch was ordered by a guy who could have had anything he wanted, the  president of the United States.  And it was his last lunch in the White  House.  He obviously didn`t have the stomach for much that day.

Richard Nixon`s last days and nights in the White House were a nightmare  while an impeachment investigation was closing in on him in the Congress.

The day before his last lunch, he had a final meeting with his cabinet,  pictured here.  He insisted to them then that he would not resign.  And  three days later, on August 9th, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned and waved  good-bye to Washington forever as he boarded a helicopter on the White  House lawn.

Several months before that, Richard Nixon defended himself this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT:  Let me just say this.  And I want to say  this to the television audience.  I made my mistakes.  But in all of my  years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public  service.  I`ve earned every cent.  And in all of my years of public life, I  have never obstructed justice.

And I think too that I can say that in my years of public life, that I  welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or  not their president is a crook.  Well, I`m not a crook.  I`ve earned  everything I`ve got.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  It was a stunning word choice for the president.  Crook.  "I`m  not a crook."  And anyone who heard that never forgot it.

In those days, as suspicious as everyone had the right to be about  criminality in the Nixon White House, we lived in a pre-Trumpian world of  politics in which none of Richard Nixon`s opponents in Congress had called  him a crook.  Richard Nixon is the first elected official to use the word  "crook" in relation to Richard Nixon.

Throughout that crisis in the White House, civility prevailed in Washington  even though crimes were committed.  Prior to Donald Trump, American  politics was capable of dealing with terrible things, with criminal conduct  in the White House, with a presidential resignation -- and doing it without  the political leaders of either party name-calling or suggesting that the  solution to the problem maybe should be left to Second Amendment people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP:  Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment.

By the way, if she gets to pick --

(BOOS) If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.  Although the  Second Amendment people, maybe there is.  I don`t know.    (END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) O`DONNELL:  Time for tonight`s "War Room".  Hillary Clinton is reaching out to voters in a state that has not been won  by a Democrat in 52 years, Utah.  A new poll of Utah voters shows Donald  Trump at 37, Hillary Clinton at 25, Gary Johnson at 16.  That`s high for  him.  Jill Stein at 1.  Anti-Trump candidate Evan McMullin, who was born in  Utah, also hopes to appear on the Utah ballot now as a presidential line.

He could take votes from Donald Trump.

Here`s what he said on "MORNING JOE" earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) EVAN MCMULLIN (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  As a former CIA officer, I  deeply believe that Donald Trump harms the strength and prosperity of this  country.  Donald seeks to divide us.  He seeks to pit us against each other  one race and religion against the other.  This is the work of our  adversaries.  This is the work of Vladimir Putin.  And as I say, it is the  work of Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  With 89 days left for the campaign war rooms, joining us  tonight on THE LAST WORD "War Room" are Rick Wilson, a Republican  strategist helping Evan McMullin in that campaign.  Also with us, Karine  Jean-Pierre, a veteran of President Obama`s and Martin O`Malley`s  presidential war rooms. So, Rick, you`ve got a foot back in the war room in this campaign.

So, just a little by bio stuff on Evan McMullin.  He is Mormon.  He is from  Utah.  He worked on the Hill for a while for Republicans, worked in the CIA  before that.  It looks like he can get on the Utah ballot because you`ve  got to do it by August 15th.  It`s only 1,000 signatures.

But a lot of deadlines are going to be impossible for him in a bunch of  states.  How many ballots do you think he can get on?

RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST:  We`ve got a strategy for very wide  ballot access, Lawrence.  And even in some of the states where the  deadlines have passed, we have a ballot strategy to engage with minor party  ballot access in those states, and with appeals to some of those deadlines  in those states.

And if that fails, we feel like we`ve got a very good litigation case to  make, to open up access, including some of the noted legal scholars in the  country who said that a lot of these things have simply been untested and  we`re about to go test them.  But we`ve got a team of junkyard dog lawyers  and a campaign expert who are going to go out in these states, in the  states where we still have time we`re going to be out there doing the  petition route.  We`re going to be getting out in those states.  We`re  going to be doing the third party ballot route.  We`ve got a few other  tricks up our sleeve in that regard as well.

O`DONNELL:  Karine, so here we have the alternative on the ballot for  Republicans in Utah.  Gary Johnson`s doing -- outperforming his national  numbers in Utah.  Now we have Evan McMullin coming along.  Presumably, they  will take votes away from Donald Trump.  And, by the way, Hillary Clinton  is an alternative to Donald Trump for a bunch of Republicans in Utah too.

Interviews in the "New York Times" today saying that they will vote for  Hillary Clinton to very specifically prevent Trump from becoming president.

This is a state that the Clinton campaign is now taking very seriously.

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, FORMER MARTIN O`MALLEY ADVISOR:  Yes, which I think is  a very smart strategy.  We saw that they did an op-ed.  Hillary Clinton did  an op-ed in one of the local papers out in Utah.

And look, Donald Trump is running one of the most offensive, divisive  campaigns of all time.  So, it`s not surprising that she`s appealing to  disaffected Republican voters, independent voters, which is like I said a  very smart strategy.

Look, at the end of the day this game is going to be won on the ground.

You`ve got to get 270 electoral colleges.  And you know, because of this  hate-filled campaign that Donald Trump is running, the Democrats actually  have a clearer path to getting 270.  But not only that, they could expand  the electorate as well.

O`DONNELL:  Let`s listen to what Donald Trump said about Mitt Romney, who  is one of the great admired political figures in Utah.  Let`s listen to  this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP:  For a guy that really let us down, this poor Mitt Romney, it`s sad,  he`s going around saying oh, oh --

(BOOS) He`s a sad case.  He choked.  You know what I choke artist is?  Right?

You know what a choke artist -- you know when a guy misses the kick you get  rid of him.  You bring another one in, right?  Because you don`t want that  thought going in his head too much.  He choked.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  Rick Wilson, it seems to me the only strategy for Donald Trump  to try to win Utah is to stay out of Utah and not let them hear his voice  and just hope that the word "Republican" beside his name gets him the win  there.

WILSON:  Lawrence, that`s increasingly true everywhere in the country.  I  mean, if you`re sitting in the Donald Trump war room, which I think  basically is his Twitter account, and you`re looking at the map right now - -  O`DONNELL:  It`s a guy in pajamas with ice cream and a Twitter machine.

WILSON:  Pretty much.  You`d be feeling a lot of depression if you were  Donald Trump because he`s being soundly rejected by the American people  across the board.  That`s why Evan thinks he`s got a moment here that Utah  and beyond, where we can offer people a different alternative to the Trump  disaster and frankly a different alternative to Hillary Clinton as well.

We`ll see how we do.  But we feel like there`s a moment here.

O`DONNELL:  Karine, the Clinton campaign has to decide where it`s going to  seriously invest resources hoping for a win.  And then there`s another  decision to make.  Where are they going to put in some resources hoping to  force Donald Trump to spend some time there and take Donald Trump away from  more important states where he should be campaigning?

JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, what`s very interesting that`s happening is there are  states that have been heavily Republican for some time now that are  potentially possibly in play.  It looks like Arizona, which is heavily  Latino, Latino population.  Georgia, which has a large African-American  population.  And North Carolina, which President Obama won in 2008 but lost  in 2012.  And remember, the first stop that he made, the first campaign  stop that he made for Hillary Clinton was in charlotte, North Carolina.

So there are definitely opportunities there for the Hillary campaign to  kind of focus on, to make the Trump campaign focus in on more.

O`DONNELL:  Karine Jean-Pierre and Rick Wilson, thank you both for joining  us tonight.

JEAN-PIERRE:  Thank you.

WILSON:  Thanks, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL:  We`ll be right back with the last word.

(COMMERCIOAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP:  Oh, and by the way, they said my wife Melania might have come in  illegally.  Can you believe that one?  No, no, no.  They said, headlines,  maybe she came in illegally.  Maybe.

Let me tell you one thing.  She has got it so documented.  So, she`s going  to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks.  That`s  going to -- I love it.  I love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O`DONNELL:  Prediction.  Melania Trump will never have the news conference  that Donald Trump just promised she would have.  And we will be cataloging  one more lie in the Trump campaign when that doesn`t happen as we expect it  not to happen.

That`s THE LAST WORD for tonight.

Our live coverage continues now with Chris Hayes.  He`s going to take us to  midnight.

Hey, Chris. END

  Show: THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O`DONNELL Date: August 10, 2016 Guest: Matt Katz, Dan Rather, David Cay Johnston, Charlie Pierce. Ryan Solen, Rick Wilson, Karine Jean-Pierre

STEVE KORNACKI, MSNBC HOST:  All right, that`s going to do it for us tonight, we`ll see you --

MATT KATZ, JOURNALIST:  A few weeks I think --

KORNACKI:  All right, Matt Katz from WNYC, thanks for the time, I appreciate it.

KATZ:  Sure, Steve. 

KORNACKI:  All right, that`s going to do it for us tonight, we`ll see you again tomorrow, and now it`s time for THE LAST WORD with Lawrence O`Donnell.  Good evening to you, Lawrence.

LAWRENCE O`DONNELL, MSNBC HOST:  Good evening Steve, you know, it always amazed me during the Chris Christie presidential campaign that so much of the media forgot what was happening back in New Jersey in this criminal case which still is going to involve Chris Christie as a witness probably.

KORNACKI:  Yes, always sensed that Republican voters knew at the back of their minds --

O`DONNELL:  Yes, they did --

KORNACKI:  That`s why you couldn`t get traction.

O`DONNELL:  Yes, that`s -- you could see that in the polls --

KORNACKI:  Yes --

O`DONNELL:  That`s true.  Thank you, Steve. 

KORNACKI:  OK.

O`DONNELL:  Well, Donald Trump had the whole world thinking about assassination today, not just the United States, because Donald Trump`s words yesterday about the possible assassination of the next president of the United States brought painful memories rushing back.

Not just here in the United States, but in places where words like Donald Trump`s have really been words that killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  Hillary wants to abolish the Second Amendment.

LESTER HOLT, NBC NEWS:  Trump sparked an uproar.

TRUMP:  If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.

HOLT:  With comments suggesting "Second Amendment people could act against Hillary Clinton."

TRUMP:  Although, the Second Amendment people -- maybe there is, I don`t know.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  Words matter, my friends.

TRUMP:  The media is almost as crooked as crooked Hillary Clinton.

RUDY GUILIANI, FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR:  The liberal media is making it impossible for him to carry on a campaign.

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC:  It was very painful watching Rudy Giuliani, a guy that I`ve respected for a very long time, do that routine.

CLINTON:  Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that crossed the line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  This was a joke that he made during a rally.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:  He should never joke about something like that.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK:  It was wrong, he shouldn`t have said it.

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  He misspeaks a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  You don`t believe that he was inferring any violence relating to Hillary Clinton?

PENCE:  Oh, of course not.

TRUMP:  I mean, give me a break.

CLINTON:  Friends, don`t let friends vote for Trump.

(CHEERS)

TRUMP:  We have a small, a very small planet compared to the universe, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  "Though I am a murderer, I am not a liar."  Those are the words of a self-confessed assassin.  He surrendered on the spot to police after putting two bullets in the back of his target.

And the spot he surrendered on was a political rally.  And the spot where he was inspired to become an assassin was at another political rally.  A boisterous, combative political rally of the candidate who he, the assassin, supported.

The assassin`s favorite candidate had many rallies where the opposing candidate was delegitimized and dehumanized, and instead of chants of "lock her up", the crowd chanted "traitor" and "Nazi."

And were reminded of that today by "New York Times" non-partisan columnist Thomas Friedman, in his reaction to what Donald Trump said yesterday about Second Amendment people doing something to stop Hillary Clinton after she is elected president.

Tom Friedman`s first sentence today was "and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated."

The current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister Rabin`s opponent in that campaign.

And the "Times" today described Netanyahu then as "addressing a feverish right-wing rally from a balcony in Jerusalem`s Zion Square as protesters below shouted for the death of Rabin the traitor."

Yitzhak Rabin was depicted in a Nazi uniform then, the worst conceivable depiction of a Jew anywhere, all because of this. 

Yitzhak Rabin had participated in negotiations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, negotiations that were brokered by the President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

Yigal Amir, then a 25-year-old law student in Israel, thought Yitzhak Rabin`s dealings with the Palestinians was a crime against the Jewish people for which he, Yigal Amir, had the moral and in his view legal authority under religious Jewish law to execute capital punishment against the Prime Minister.

Yigal Amir believed that Prime Minister Rabin was putting the people of Israel at risk and had to be stopped. 

Donald Trump tells his followers that Hillary Clinton has already put the United States at risk through the nuclear deal with Iran and countless other ways.

Donald Trump`s version of calling Hillary Clinton a Nazi is to give her an imagined role in creating the Islamic State. 

In the feverish dementia of Trump world, President Obama and Secretary Clinton are the founding father and founding mother of the Islamic State.  This is Donald Trump earlier tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  ISIS is honoring President Obama.  He is the founder of ISIS, he is the founder of ISIS, OK?

(BOOING)

He`s the founder.  He founded ISIS.  And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.  Co-founder, crooked Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  As that audience knows, the United States military has executed by drone and otherwise every founding member of ISIS they`ve been able to find. 

If Donald Trump`s audience is as mentally unstable as he is, and if millions of them are as he would put it Second Amendment people, then Donald Trump is telling millions of Americans with guns that Hillary Clinton is one of the worst deadly enemies of the United States that we`ve ever had.

For shots to be fired, all Donald Trump needs is one person who hears him, who believes him, who has access to guns, and who is as mentally unstable as Donald Trump is.  Just one.

Out of millions of Trump supporters, Donald Trump and countless Republicans want Trump supporters and the rest of America to believe that Hillary Clinton already has blood on her hands because of the loss of four American lives in Benghazi including Hillary Clinton`s friend, Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Hillary Clinton is now a convicted criminal, convicted in the court of Trump, convicted by Trump at Trump rallies with Trump juries.  The chant is not "indict her."  The chant is "lock her up."

The chant says we don`t care that FBI agents and prosecutors have looked at Hillary Clinton`s State Department e-mail arrangement and not been able to find a criminally prosecutable offense that they believe they could get a conviction on.

The chant says we don`t care about guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.  The chant does not say charge her with a crime, put her on trial.  The chant jumps past all of that and says "lock her up."  And every once in a while, there`s someone at a Trump rally who says "kill her."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Hang the bitch.

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  Israeli columnist Chemi Shalev wrote, "like the extreme right in Israel, many Republicans conveniently ignore the fact that words can kill. 

If anyone has doubts, they could use a short session with Yigal Amir; Yitzhak Rabin`s assassin, who was inspired by the rabid rhetoric hurled at the Israeli Prime Minister."

Yigal Amir was despised by most Israelis after the assassination, but not all.  He had his supporters who believed that he did the right thing for Israel. 

The most important thing to Yigal Amir after he assassinated Yitzhak Rabin was that he did not want anyone to think he was crazy.

He wanted everyone to know he thought carefully about firing two hollow- point bullets into Yitzhak Rabin`s back and that he had done it for good reason because he was protecting the people of Israel from a Nazi.

He was protecting the people of Israel from a traitor, an enemy of Israel.  He was saving Israel from Yitzhak Rabin.  He was doing what Donald Trump says he has to do -- save America from Hillary Clinton.

Yigal Amir told Israeli police, "I am at peace.  I did what many people wanted to do.  I am totally normal.  I do not want people to think that I am crazy, otherwise, I will not achieve my goal."

The question for America tonight, and the urgent question for the Secret Service tonight, which issued a worried statement about Donald Trump, about what Donald Trump said yesterday, is how many Yigal Amirs are there here?

Who believe every word that Donald Trump says about Hillary Clinton.  Who believe when Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton a monster that she is a monster.  Who believe when Donald Trump calls Hillary Clinton a devil, that she is the devil.

Those are his words.  And that the devil must be stopped.  How many believe that? In this country of hundreds of millions of guns and millions of Donald Trump supporters, millions of Hillary Clinton haters.

What are the chances that Donald Trump`s feverish out of control language can stir up the passions of a Donald Trump fanatic who hates Hillary Clinton and has a gun?

It only takes one.  One Trump supporter, that`s all it takes.  Rudy Giuliani seems to think the Trump rallies are filled with potential assassins. 

This morning, he insisted that Donald Trump did not in any way imply that Hillary Clinton should or could be assassinated, and then he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIULIANI:  With a crowd like that, if that`s what they thought he meant, they`d have gone wild.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  So there`s Rudy Giuliani saying Donald Trump`s crowd would have gone wild if he had even more directly suggested the assassination of Hillary Clinton.  The crowd would have gone wild.

And it only takes one to go really wild.  Joining us now is Dan Rather, former anchor of the "Cbs Evening News", he is currently host of "AXS TV`s" "The Big Interview".

Dan, when we`re reaching for historical precedent and in big historical moments like this, we turn to you.  You were there in Dallas on November 22nd, 1963.  You saw what this country went through in a presidential assassination.

That anyone near our politics could have said anything like what Donald Trump said, leaves us all reeling.  But for you, with your experience, it must have been something truly unique.

DAN RATHER, AXS TV:  Well, yes, it reminds me that, you know, history is watching and history will judge.  Not just what Donald Trump says but what the American people decided, how we settle this election campaign.

But beginning in my adult lifetime with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, we followed with the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and with a lot of exploitive and incendiary language used against Dr. King.

And again, it only took one --

O`DONNELL:  Yes --

RATHER:  You know, with Robert Kennedy who was a candidate for president, let us not forget in 1968 was assassinated, it only took one.

You respond saying that, you know, this is not just another sort of wild Donald Trump statement.  This is serious.  Because the rhetoric is the candidate.

It`s no good saying, well, he doesn`t mean these things or he doesn`t think these things through or it`s a joke, which by the way I take special resentment to this as a joke.

This is not a joking matter.  And I never thought that having gone through, say, a lot of assassinations, by the way, there was an attempt on presidential candidate George Wallace`s life in the early 1970s as well.

Attempt on Gerald Ford`s life, I mean, Ronald --

O`DONNELL:  Ronald Reagan --

RATHER:  Reagan very nearly died from only one assassin.

O`DONNELL:  And all mentally unstable people.  It`s not -- 

RATHER:  Yes -- 

O`DONNELL:  That`s who`s out there.  That`s who`s vulnerable to this.

RATHER:  Exactly.  And among the side effects of what Donald Trump did by, you know, wink.  Well, Second Amendment people may have to take care of Hillary Clinton, paraphrase of it.

A side effect of it is that I grew up in Texas, I grew up in a gun culture, I know a lot of people who are strong for the Second Amendment. 

And what Donald Trump did was he undercut a lot of decent, intending citizens who own guns to make it so that it plays into the stereotype that every one of them is a gun-crazy nut job just looking for a target.

Which is not the case.  But set that aside at the moment because the (INAUDIBLE) of this story has to be, is this -- is this or is this not acceptable conduct for a major party candidate for president of the United States.

I think the obvious answer, not a matter of opinion, the obvious answer is absolutely not.  That`s not -- that`s just not who we are as a people.  This is not what we`re about as a society, as a country.

And we`ll see how this all plays out.  You know, I`ve said to you before, I think Donald Trump can win the election. 

I think his chances are less now than they were maybe two weeks go before the Khan sordid business and the gun business.

But it would be a mistake to think that the potential is not still there for him to get elected, to beat Hillary Clinton. 

A lot of unexpected things can happen along the way.  But I have enough confidence in the American public.

You know, the American people are civil, decent people.  Yes, they sometimes feel strongly about their politics or their ideology. 

But this kind of uncivil, indecent, offensive and I agree with what one newspaper today said, with the gun statements.

Donald Trump moved from being offensive to being reckless.  And you can`t abide this kind of recklessness in a presidential campaign.  I don`t care what you call yourself, progressive, conservative, Republican or Democrat.

O`DONNELL:  The -- of course, Donald Trump denies that it was a joke.  But what he does is he denies that he said what he said.  Let`s listen to his explanation tonight on "Fox News".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  What we`re talking about is political power.  There`s tremendous political power to save the Second Amendment.  Tremendous. 

And you look at -- you know, you look at the power they have in terms of votes and that`s what I was referring to, obviously that`s what I was referring to, and everybody knows it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  So, Dan, he goes on "Fox News" and he just lies about what he said.  That`s not what he said.  And Greta Van Susteren, no one at "Fox News" argues with him about that.

What is the -- what is the right way for an interviewer to handle someone who`s just going to lie about what he said yesterday?

RATHER:  Well, the way to do it is to ask him a direct question and insist on a direct answer and to keep following up on the question.

O`DONNELL:  Yes --

RATHER:  Very few people in television, and I fault myself some of the time to it.  You may ask the tough question. 

The interview subject does the old political side shuffle, which is what Donald Trump is attempting to do here, and you move on.

It takes a kind of bore in, keep asking the question, if it takes asking it 10, 12 times, ask it 10, 12 times until and unless it`s clear that the candidate is not going to answer the question or fesses up that he has said a lie.

And by the way, that`s the operative word sometimes, I think --

O`DONNELL:  Yes --

RATHER:  Many of us in television are too reluctant to use the word lie.  We say, well, misspoke himself or dealt in ambiguity.

But you know, again, Lawrence, I`ll come back to, I think I have great confidence in the American people as a whole of being able to separate bull shine from brass tacks.

And when Donald Trump said what he said about guns, people got it.  They know what he meant.  They also know it wasn`t a joke.  And no amount of backfilling and side-stepping is going to change that.

Now, one could hope and pray that Donald Trump will completely reboot his campaign and stop saying these offensive and now reckless things.  But I don`t think that you`re going to bet the rent money on that.

O`DONNELL:  Dan, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  I want to see Donald Trump do the Dan Rather interview.  That`s the one that I`m waiting for.  Thank you very much, Dan.

RATHER:  Thank you very much, Lawrence.

O`DONNELL:  Coming up, Donald Trump under oath.  How many times do you think Donald Trump got caught lying when he was put under oath?

And Paul Ryan still won`t comment on Donald Trump`s comments that he last night pretended he hadn`t heard about the Second Amendment people and Hillary Clinton. 

The Democrat running against Paul Ryan, trying to make history by unseating the speaker of the house will join us tonight for his first national interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL:  Here`s a look at how protesters were treated tonight at a Donald Trump rally in Florida.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERS)

TRUMP:  We`ve got every group imaginable.  I think we have the smartest people.  I think we have among the most successful people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  Oh, yes, the smartest people and most successful people.  How many times do you think Donald Trump lied -- oh, not lied, got caught lying once he was put under oath about his lies? Tweet us your answers.

The answer is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  He is not a politician.  He is not a person like you who`s very articulate, very well spoken.  He`s a business person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  You cannot say that a candidate running for president is not a politician.  You can say that he`s a rookie politician.  You can say he`s only been a politician for about a year.

But you cannot defend a politician by saying he`s not a politician.  But that defense of Donald Trump will never die. 

Even after he won 36 primaries as a politician.  Even after his name will be on the ballot in 50 states as the Republican candidate for president.

He`s not a politician.  That`s the defender`s official line.  And that line allows them, they think, to defend any lie that Donald Trump tells.  And it allows them to pretend that lies are not lies.

The one place in Donald Trump`s life where he hasn`t been able to get away with lying is when he is under oath in litigation. 

Donald Trump made the breathtakingly stupid mistake of suing Tim O`Brien, a "New York Times" reporter who wrote a book about him.

And in that book said that Donald Trump lied about a lot of things, including his wealth.  O`Brien estimated that Donald Trump`s wealth is between $150 million and $250 million.

Nowhere near a billionaire.  Donald Trump lost the lawsuit but left behind a 170-page under oath deposition in which he has -- was at several points forced to admit several lies that he told in public as part of his routine.

Donald Trump was being questioned by highly experienced former federal prosecutors who were then in private practice representing the publisher at no expense to the author.

How many times did they catch Donald Trump lying when they put him under oath? Thirty.  They caught Donald Trump in 30 lies. 

And when he was caught lying, he said under oath in the deposition, "I am no different from a politician running for office.  You always want to put your best foot forward."

So much for Donald Trump not being a politician.  Joining us now, David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and columnist with the "Daily Beast".

He has a new book out, "The Making of Donald Trump".  And also with us, Charlie Pierce; writer-at-large for "Esquire".  David Cay, you`ve been studying a lot of this territory that Tim O`Brien studied.

You`ve gone over more than once.  This is your latest volume, I always have it with me now, "The Making of Donald Trump".  This deposition is invaluable because it has Donald Trump under oath.

He knows that if he lies in the deposition he faces perjury charges.  And so what they present to him is a bunch of public lies that he has rattled off, and they force him under oath to admit that he was lying when he said those things publicly.

What are some of the gems in there?

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, COLUMNIST, DAILY BEAST:  Well, my favorites out of that deposition are frankly about how he`s lied about his wealth.  He`s asked about how do you determine your net worth? And while this isn`t quite a lie in the way you`re talking about it.

He says, well, my feelings, and he goes on at some length that his feelings and what`s happening that day and his mood, that determines his net worth.  And he`s suing Tim O`Brien over an issue of net worth, and it`s what he feels like?

Hey, you know what? This has been a good day, Lawrence, I think I am worth a billion dollars today, how about you?

O`DONNELL:  Yes, he publicly was very definitive about one thing in his life that he never did.  He said he never, ever borrowed money from his father`s estate, never, absolute zero.

Under oath he said, "I think a small amount a long time ago.  I think it was in the $9 million range."  So, Charlie Pierce, out there to the public, zero, never borrowed a penny from my old man, under oath only $9 million.

CHARLIE PIERCE, WRITER-AT-LARGE, ESQUIRE:  It`s amazing what the effect of putting your hand on a Bible, when that Bible is backed up by a prison cell will do for a fella.  Yes, you fastened, Lawrence, on one of my pet peeves, which is any politician who runs for office claiming not to be a politician.

But even taking him at his word, ever since he ran his mouth about the Second Amendment people the other day, I`ve talked to dozens of people, none of whom are politicians, and none of them would have said that.

O`DONNELL:  Yes, exactly, and now to go -- going to the lying point.  Donald Trump is now lying about what he said yesterday. 

He could have used the insanity defense.  We all would have accepted that.  He could have said it was a joke like Paul Ryan did, OK?

Very bad joke if it`s a joke.  But instead, he says, I didn`t say what you heard me say.  And let`s listen to one of the Trump audience members who`s now become famous because he`s the red shirt guy who we all saw behind Donald Trump.

Let`s listen to the way he interpreted what Donald Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I was thinking exactly what I said to my neighbor, Connie(ph), and that was, I can`t believe he said it.  The media will have a field day with this one.  Down here in the south, we don`t curse in front of women.

We don`t drink liquor in front of a preacher, and we don`t make jokes like that in public.  But it was clear to my mind and to the people around me that he was trying to make a joke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  So, David, he sees it as a joke, but he also doesn`t in any way confuse what Donald Trump was actually saying.

JOHNSTON:  But Lawrence, he was obviously a plant paid to be there by the Hillary Clinton campaign.

(LAUGHTER)

He`s now --

O`DONNELL:  Trump supporter --

JOHNSTON:  You know --

O`DONNELL:  True blue, a true red Trump supporter --

JOHNSTON:  Right --

O`DONNELL:  Yes --   

JOHNSTON:  We`re joking about this, but listen, Donald`s lies have led to violence.  Not just the violence he`s called for and then denied. 

But one of the Upstate New York newspapers say, has a story about a guy wearing a Trump shirt who was beaten and attacked.

He is unleashing terrible forces in this country, and it`s going to get worse.  And let`s assume the media suddenly says we`re not going to cover these things.  That won`t have any effect here.

He has now let the dogs loose.  And there is going to be trouble down the road.  And I don`t know what you do to stop this once you have done what Donald has done.  Which is signal to people that it`s OK to carry out a crime that Donald wouldn`t himself do.

He wants you to do for his benefit.

O`DONNELL:  Charlie --

PIERCE:  Yes, Lawrence --

O`DONNELL:  Donald Trump used to primarily avoid any interview on Prime Time here on Msnbc, he`s never done it.  But he`s now limiting himself almost exclusively to "Fox News", where it`s going to be all softball.

And Greta Van Susteren have the softballs in her hand tonight.  She allowed Donald Trump to tell the lie about what he said yesterday with absolutely no come-back from Greta Van Susteren at all.

PIERCE:  Yes, I think by November, he`s going to be appearing exclusively on Ham radio sets in upper Michigan.

O`DONNELL:  Yes --

PIERCE:  Which will be -- which will be all right because we`ll all be able to hear him in our teeth.

O`DONNELL:  Yes --

PIERCE:  No, I think David came to a very good point there, and I sensed this actually in 2012.  And it goes back further than that.  It certainly goes back to the first inauguration of this -- of this particular president.

There`s a wildness and an untamed element to American conservative politics that`s gotten worse over the last 20 years. 

And it`s sort of like this free-floating dark energy that`s been looking for a focus, a focal point over the last two or three cycles.  And boy, it found one this time. 

O`DONNELL:  David --

PIERCE:  Indeed, I mean, I`ll tell you what.  It -- I went to a Donald Trump rally, the first one I ever went to in Lowell, Massachusetts almost a year ago.

And it was flat terrifying, it really was.

O`DONNELL:  David Cay Johnston and Charlie Pierce, thank you both for joining us tonight, I appreciate it.

PIERCE:  Thank you. 

O`DONNELL:  Coming up, when was the last time the speaker of the house lost his own congressional re-election in his own district? I can remember it vividly as if it was yesterday.  So, it`s not 200 years ago.  The man trying to repeat history is now running against Paul Ryan, and he will join us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL:  It`s only happened once.  Well, it`s happened more than once.  But only once in the 20th century, only once in modern American history has the speaker of the house been defeated in his re-election campaign in his home district. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BROKAW, NBC NEWS ANCHOR:  For the leading congressional Democrat it was insult added to injury.  Tom Foley not only lost his job as House speaker, he lost his congressional seat as well, conceding this afternoon. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  Joining us now for his first national interview, the man who wants to pull off that miracle once again, Ryan Solen, winner of the Democratic primary in Wisconsin, who now has the honor of running against House Speaker Paul Ryan in the general election. 

Mr. Solen, thank you very much for joining us tonight. 

RYAN SOLEN (D-WI), CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE:  Thank you for the opportunity.  I appreciate it. 

O`DONNELL:  What is your pitch to voters in that district, why they should get rid of the most powerful member of Congress representing them now? 

SOLEN:  The idea behind it all is that Paul Ryan has been ineffective speaker of the house at this point.  He`s had an awful lot of opportunity.  He`s been in office for a long time.  And he just has not been as effective as he should be. 

We are trying to make progress on an awful lot of issues, and so far, it`s just been gridlock.  And being the ranking member of the Republican Party, he should be doing more. 

O`DONNELL:  It`s really quite striking that as speaker, he`s the leader of a party whose mission is to actually do nothing.  They don`t want to pass appropriations bills.  They don`t want government spending going out there into these districts. 

So, historically, speakers have been really big benefactors to their own district, and he leads a party that is basically opposed to delivering anything to anyone. 

SOLEN:  Yes, you are correct in that assessment.  I think we`ve been waiting for a while.  We`ve gone through a really rough time as far as economics have gone.  I know there have been claims that the economy is bouncing back.  You could take the Dow Jones and use that as an estimate.  But the fact of the matter is the people themselves I don`t think are feeling that.  They`re still looking for more. 

O`DONNELL:  Let`s listen to what Paul Ryan said last night in defense of Donald Trump. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE:  I heard about the Second Amendment quote.  It sounds like just a joke gone bad.  You should never joke about something like that.  I didn`t actually hear the comments.  I only heard about those comments. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  What was your reaction to that? 

SOLEN:  Well, my first reaction would be to Donald Trump.  I really am trying to figure out what his end game is here, you know?  I don`t think that that`s appropriate, to even be joking about, for an office that he`s aspiring to, it`s totally inappropriate. 

And for the speaker of the House to say it was just a joke gone bad I think that needs to be retracted. 

O`DONNELL:  What is ahead for you in this campaign?  Do you think there will be a debate in this campaign against Paul Ryan? 

SOLEN:  I certainly hope so.  We`ve actually contacted the Paul Ryan campaign and have asked for a debate.  So far, we have not heard anything back.  But I`m hoping that we will have one soon. 

O`DONNELL:  Do you have any disagreements with Hillary Clinton in terms of her platform and the programs that she wants to advance through Congress? 

SOLEN:  Right now, I think that she`s got a very solid platform.  I know she said she`s going to adopt some of Bernie Sanders` additional issue items, and I think that`s going to go a long way toward healing the apparent rift that occurred earlier on.  I really think that she`s got great chances and good opportunities to make a difference in the country. 

O`DONNELL:  Ryan Solen, thank you very much for joining us tonight.  I really appreciate it. 

SOLEN:  Thank you.  I appreciate it. 

O`DONNELL:  Coming up, there is a new candidate for president.  He`s a Republican.  He`s a Mormon.  No one`s ever heard of him, which is the down side.  But those two other factors, Republican and Mormon, means that Donald Trump is in more trouble than he already was in Utah.  Hillary Clinton might be the first Democrat to win Utah since 1964. 

And Hillary Clinton has more Republican states leaning her way now.  All of that is in tonight`s campaign war room. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER:  This is THE LAST WORD on campaign 2016. 

O`DONNELL:  Forty-two years ago this week, our politics and our government went through something that it`s never gone through before and may never go through again.  A crisis like we have never seen, a crisis that has lessons for the age of Trump. 

But first, here`s how it looked today on the campaign trail. 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  This is not a normal election. 

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  Hillary will be a horror show.  And I`m going to be an unbelievable positive. 

CLINTON:  In the first 100 days of my administration, we will make the biggest investment in new jobs, good-paying jobs since World War II. 

TRUMP:  Take a look at the promises she made as a senator from New York and the job she was going to create.  Take a look at what happened.  It is a wasteland, what`s happened up there. 

CLINTON:  I believe in small business.  That`s why I want to be a small business president.  And that`s a big contrast with Donald Trump who has spent his career stiffing small businesses. 

TRUMP:  Look at the bad decisions that she`s made. 

GOV. MIKE PENCE (R-IN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE:  More e-mails have come to light today that seemed to provide direct evidence that favors were done by State Department officials for foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation.  That`s the old pay-to-play system the American people are sick and tired of, and Donald Trump and I are going to bring it to a crashing end. 

TRUMP:  Look at the bad judgment.  And now we`re going to put her in charge of our country?  We won`t have a country left. 

CLINTON:  Trump`s belief that he alone can fix America`s problems is so contrary to who we are as a nation. 

TRUMP:  Politicians will tell me, you can`t build a wall.  Really?  You can build a wall? 

They don`t know.  You know, I`ve built 90-story buildings.  Building buildings is tough.  Building a wall, boy, is that easy. 

CLINTON:  I am humbled and moved by the Republicans who are willing to stand up and say Donald Trump doesn`t represent their values.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL:  What did you have for lunch today?  Was it better than this? 

That lunch was ordered by a guy who could have had anything he wanted, the president of the United States.  And it was his last lunch in the White House.  He obviously didn`t have the stomach for much that day. 

Richard Nixon`s last days and nights in the White House were a nightmare while an impeachment investigation was closing in on him in the Congress.  The day before his last lunch, he had a final meeting with his cabinet, pictured here.  He insisted to them then that he would not resign.  And three days later, on August 9th, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned and waved good-bye to Washington forever as he boarded a helicopter on the White House lawn. 

Several months before that, Richard Nixon defended himself this way. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT:  Let me just say this.  And I want to say this to the television audience.  I made my mistakes.  But in all of my years of public life, I have never profited, never profited from public service.  I`ve earned every cent.  And in all of my years of public life, I have never obstructed justice. 

And I think too that I can say that in my years of public life, that I welcome this kind of examination because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.  Well, I`m not a crook.  I`ve earned everything I`ve got. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  It was a stunning word choice for the president.  Crook.  "I`m not a crook."  And anyone who heard that never forgot it. 

In those days, as suspicious as everyone had the right to be about criminality in the Nixon White House, we lived in a pre-Trumpian world of politics in which none of Richard Nixon`s opponents in Congress had called him a crook.  Richard Nixon is the first elected official to use the word "crook" in relation to Richard Nixon. 

Throughout that crisis in the White House, civility prevailed in Washington even though crimes were committed.  Prior to Donald Trump, American politics was capable of dealing with terrible things, with criminal conduct in the White House, with a presidential resignation -- and doing it without the political leaders of either party name-calling or suggesting that the solution to the problem maybe should be left to Second Amendment people. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment.  By the way, if she gets to pick -- 

(BOOS)

If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks.  Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is.  I don`t know.  

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O`DONNELL:  Time for tonight`s "War Room".

Hillary Clinton is reaching out to voters in a state that has not been won by a Democrat in 52 years, Utah.  A new poll of Utah voters shows Donald Trump at 37, Hillary Clinton at 25, Gary Johnson at 16.  That`s high for him.  Jill Stein at 1.  Anti-Trump candidate Evan McMullin, who was born in Utah, also hopes to appear on the Utah ballot now as a presidential line.  He could take votes from Donald Trump. 

Here`s what he said on "MORNING JOE" earlier this week. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN MCMULLIN (I), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:  As a former CIA officer, I deeply believe that Donald Trump harms the strength and prosperity of this country.  Donald seeks to divide us.  He seeks to pit us against each other one race and religion against the other.  This is the work of our adversaries.  This is the work of Vladimir Putin.  And as I say, it is the work of Donald Trump. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  With 89 days left for the campaign war rooms, joining us tonight on THE LAST WORD "War Room" are Rick Wilson, a Republican strategist helping Evan McMullin in that campaign.  Also with us, Karine Jean-Pierre, a veteran of President Obama`s and Martin O`Malley`s presidential war rooms.

So, Rick, you`ve got a foot back in the war room in this campaign. 

So, just a little by bio stuff on Evan McMullin.  He is Mormon.  He is from Utah.  He worked on the Hill for a while for Republicans, worked in the CIA before that.  It looks like he can get on the Utah ballot because you`ve got to do it by August 15th.  It`s only 1,000 signatures. 

But a lot of deadlines are going to be impossible for him in a bunch of states.  How many ballots do you think he can get on? 

RICK WILSON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST:  We`ve got a strategy for very wide ballot access, Lawrence.  And even in some of the states where the deadlines have passed, we have a ballot strategy to engage with minor party ballot access in those states, and with appeals to some of those deadlines in those states. 

And if that fails, we feel like we`ve got a very good litigation case to make, to open up access, including some of the noted legal scholars in the country who said that a lot of these things have simply been untested and we`re about to go test them.  But we`ve got a team of junkyard dog lawyers and a campaign expert who are going to go out in these states, in the states where we still have time we`re going to be out there doing the petition route.  We`re going to be getting out in those states.  We`re going to be doing the third party ballot route.  We`ve got a few other tricks up our sleeve in that regard as well. 

O`DONNELL:  Karine, so here we have the alternative on the ballot for Republicans in Utah.  Gary Johnson`s doing -- outperforming his national numbers in Utah.  Now we have Evan McMullin coming along.  Presumably, they will take votes away from Donald Trump.  And, by the way, Hillary Clinton is an alternative to Donald Trump for a bunch of Republicans in Utah too.  Interviews in the "New York Times" today saying that they will vote for Hillary Clinton to very specifically prevent Trump from becoming president. 

This is a state that the Clinton campaign is now taking very seriously. 

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, FORMER MARTIN O`MALLEY ADVISOR:  Yes, which I think is a very smart strategy.  We saw that they did an op-ed.  Hillary Clinton did an op-ed in one of the local papers out in Utah. 

And look, Donald Trump is running one of the most offensive, divisive campaigns of all time.  So, it`s not surprising that she`s appealing to disaffected Republican voters, independent voters, which is like I said a very smart strategy. 

Look, at the end of the day this game is going to be won on the ground.  You`ve got to get 270 electoral colleges.  And you know, because of this hate-filled campaign that Donald Trump is running, the Democrats actually have a clearer path to getting 270.  But not only that, they could expand the electorate as well. 

O`DONNELL:  Let`s listen to what Donald Trump said about Mitt Romney, who is one of the great admired political figures in Utah.  Let`s listen to this. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  For a guy that really let us down, this poor Mitt Romney, it`s sad, he`s going around saying oh, oh -- 

(BOOS)

He`s a sad case.  He choked.  You know what I choke artist is?  Right? 

You know what a choke artist -- you know when a guy misses the kick you get rid of him.  You bring another one in, right?  Because you don`t want that thought going in his head too much.  He choked. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  Rick Wilson, it seems to me the only strategy for Donald Trump to try to win Utah is to stay out of Utah and not let them hear his voice and just hope that the word "Republican" beside his name gets him the win there. 

WILSON:  Lawrence, that`s increasingly true everywhere in the country.  I mean, if you`re sitting in the Donald Trump war room, which I think basically is his Twitter account, and you`re looking at the map right now - -

O`DONNELL:  It`s a guy in pajamas with ice cream and a Twitter machine. 

WILSON:  Pretty much.  You`d be feeling a lot of depression if you were Donald Trump because he`s being soundly rejected by the American people across the board.  That`s why Evan thinks he`s got a moment here that Utah and beyond, where we can offer people a different alternative to the Trump disaster and frankly a different alternative to Hillary Clinton as well. 

We`ll see how we do.  But we feel like there`s a moment here. 

O`DONNELL:  Karine, the Clinton campaign has to decide where it`s going to seriously invest resources hoping for a win.  And then there`s another decision to make.  Where are they going to put in some resources hoping to force Donald Trump to spend some time there and take Donald Trump away from more important states where he should be campaigning? 

JEAN-PIERRE:  Well, what`s very interesting that`s happening is there are states that have been heavily Republican for some time now that are potentially possibly in play.  It looks like Arizona, which is heavily Latino, Latino population.  Georgia, which has a large African-American population.  And North Carolina, which President Obama won in 2008 but lost in 2012.  And remember, the first stop that he made, the first campaign stop that he made for Hillary Clinton was in charlotte, North Carolina. 

So there are definitely opportunities there for the Hillary campaign to kind of focus on, to make the Trump campaign focus in on more. 

O`DONNELL:  Karine Jean-Pierre and Rick Wilson, thank you both for joining us tonight. 

JEAN-PIERRE:  Thank you. 

WILSON:  Thanks, Lawrence. 

O`DONNELL:  We`ll be right back with the last word. 

(COMMERCIOAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP:  Oh, and by the way, they said my wife Melania might have come in illegally.  Can you believe that one?  No, no, no.  They said, headlines, maybe she came in illegally.  Maybe. 

Let me tell you one thing.  She has got it so documented.  So, she`s going to have a little news conference over the next couple of weeks.  That`s going to -- I love it.  I love it. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O`DONNELL:  Prediction.  Melania Trump will never have the news conference that Donald Trump just promised she would have.  And we will be cataloging one more lie in the Trump campaign when that doesn`t happen as we expect it not to happen.

  That`s THE LAST WORD for tonight. 

Our live coverage continues now with Chris Hayes.  He`s going to take us to midnight. 

Hey, Chris.

 

END