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All In with Chris Hayes, Transcript 9/1/2016

Guests: April Ryan, Cornell Belcher, William Barber, Steve Cortes, Maria Hinojosa, Adriano Espaillat, Marco Gutierrez

Show: ALL IN with CHRIS HAYES Date: September 1, 2016 Guest: April Ryan, Cornell Belcher, William Barber, Steve Cortes, Maria Hinojosa, Adriano Espaillat, Marco Gutierrez

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST (voice-over): Tonight on ALL IN --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think you`re going to see there`s really quite a bit of softening.

(END VIDEO CLIP) REID (voice-over): Daytime Trump, meet nighttime Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: My first hour in office, those people are gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGINING VIDEO CLIP)

REID (voice-over): The target audience for Trump`s Breitbart speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s got about an 18-point lead in the demographic of white males. This speech is clearly geared at those individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID (voice-over): Plus, telling his supporters today --

(BEGINING VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We`re going to build a wall, Mexico`s going to pay for the wall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID (voice-over): What he wouldn`t tell Mexico`s president to his face.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIM KAINE, DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When he sat down and he looked President Pena Nieto in the eye, he didn`t have the guts to bring that up.

REID (voice-over): Then a major victory for voting rights in North Carolina with big implications for November. And Trump goes to Detroit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: African-Americans, Hispanics, vote for Donald Trump. What do you have to lose?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID (voice-over): Why he`s decided not to speak to a black congregation. ALL IN starts now.

REID: Good evening from New York. I`m Joy Reid in for Chris Hayes. There have been all kinds of reaction to Donald Trump`s immigration speech and the trip to Mexico that proceeded it. The Democratic vice presidential nominee today mocked him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAINE: Donald Trump did a little fly-in to Mexico, and I think you probably saw what he did. He has been talking non-stop since the beginning of this campaign, we`re going to build a wall, we`re going to make Mexico pay for it. But when he sat down and he looked President Pena Nieto in the eye, he didn`t have the guts to bring that up. And then he flew back. And, boy, when he got back here it was like, we`re going to make Mexico do this. He was, like all fired up. But when he had the chance to sit down and look the other leader in the eye, it was like he choked, he caved, he lost his confidence, he lost his will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Now, Tim Kaine is getting at something that we`ve begun to notice: There`s daytime Trump and there`s nighttime Trump. The Trump that flew to Mexico to meet with its president spoke of its admiration for Mexicans, the interest of, quote, the hemisphere. And when asked about Mexico paying for the wall, he claimed, it didn`t come up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The United States first, second and third generation Mexicans are just beyond reproach, spectacular, spectacular, hardworking people. We all share a common interest in keeping our hemisphere safe, prosperous, and free. Keep manufacturing wealth in our hemisphere. We didn`t discuss who pays for the wall, we didn`t discuss it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: But the Trump that delivered his nighttime immigration speech in Phoenix, Arizona was full of tough talk, fear mongering, and whipping his most ardent supporters into a frenzy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Number one...are you ready?

CROWD: Yes!

TRUMP: Are you ready? We will build a great wall along the southern border and Mexico will pay for the wall. They don`t know it yet, but they`re going to pay for the wall. Number two, we are going to end catch and release. We catch them, oh, go ahead, we catch them, go ahead. Two million people, criminal aliens, we will begin moving them out day one as soon as I take office, day one. My first hour in office, those people are gone. And you can call it deported if you want. The press doesn`t like that term. You can call it whatever the hell you want. They`re gone. We`re going to triple the number of ICE deportation officers. Within ICE, I am going to create a new special deportation task force, focus on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants in America who have evaded justice, just like Hillary Clinton has evaded justice, OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: And then today daytime Trump was back in action telling radio host Laura Ingraham that he is softening his immigration policy.

LAURA INGRAHAM, THE LAURA INGRAHAM SHOW, HOST (voice-over): The line last week you were softening on immigration, then you come out with a very specific very pro-enforcement plan last night, Where`s the softening?

TRUMP (voice-over): Oh, it is softening. Look, we do it in a very humane way and we`re going to see with the people that are in the country -- obviously, I want to get the gang members out, the drug peddlers out, I want to get the drug dealers out. We got a lot of people in this country that you can`t have, and those people will get out. And then we`re going to make a decision at a later date once everything is stabilized. I think you`re going to see there`s really quite a bit of softening.

REID: But there are plenty of people who will not forget last night ever. Speaking about who should be allowed in this country, Trump went into brand new territory about how immigrants should be screened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Another reform involves new screening tests for all applicants that include -- and this is so important, especially if you get the right people, and we will get the right people -- an ideological certification to make sure that those we are admitting to our country share our values and love our people. The time has come for a new immigration commission to develop a new set of reforms to our legal immigration system to select immigrants based on their likelihood of success in U.S. society. We also have to be honest about the fact that not everyone who seeks to join our country will be able to successfully assimilate. We also have to be honest about the fact that not everyone who seeks to join our country will be able to successfully assimilate. Sometimes it`s just not going to work out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: And today came word that members of Trump`s National Hispanic Advisory Council are resigning. One of them, Jacob Monty, telling Politico, "I was a strong supporter of Donald Trump when I believed he was going to address the immigration problem realistically and compassionately. What I heard today was not realistic and not compassionate." And joining me now is Steve Cortes, part of Trump`s National Hispanic Advisory Council and a Trump surrogate. All right, Steve. So let`s start where we finished there. Upwards of maybe half of Donald Trump`s Hispanic Advisory Council are resigning after the speech that they heard last night. Why do you suppose they`re leaving, and do you think that Trump last night harmed himself with Hispanic voters?

STEVE CORTES, NATIONAL HISPANIC ADVISORY COUNCIL: You know, Joy, I don`t think he did. And by the way, I don`t know that half are leaving. I know this, I know that I`m not leaving. Now was his speech entirely what I wanted? No. And, Joy, I`ve tried to be very reasonable with you. As ardent as I am a supporter of Donald Trump, I don`t support everything he does, and I gave him advice on immigration as did other people on the council. He didn`t take all of it. But you know what, I`m not the candidate. He is. And he, I think, very seriously considered our advice and then he made his decisions on immigration. I think this is important, too, though, when it comes to the bedrock principles, I don`t disagree with him at all. And those are two-fold. Number one, we have to secure our border. Our southern border has not been secured for decades. Number two, there can be no citizenship for illegals. You cannot reward criminality with --

REID: Hold on a second.

CORTES: -- citizenship, and that is a --

REID: Let me stop you right there.

CORTES: -- stark difference from Hillary Clinton.

REID: Let me stop you just one second. I`m going to just stop you right there. You are Hispanic, Steve. Are you comfortable with that term, illegals? That is a pejorative to a lot of people. Why do you use that term?

CORTES: You know why, Joy, because words matter, OK.

REID: Yes, they do.

CORTES: And because if you do something that is against the law, it`s illegal. If you go into a store and you shoplift, you`re not an undocumented holder of a good, you`re a thief. If you come to the United States against the immigration laws of the United States, you`re not undocumented, you`re illegal.

REID: Do you consider a child --

CORTES: And you need to do it --

REID: Hold on a second. First of all, do you consider a child who was brought into this country, the people who are eligible for DACA, who were children when they came here, you would label that person essentially the equivalent of a shoplifter or a thief?

CORTES: No. Because they had no choice --

REID: But that`s what you just said.

CORTES: -- in the matter. No, I did not. I did not say that at all. Because they had no --

REID: So you don`t think they`re -- you wouldn`t call --

CORTES: They had no choice in the matter.

REID: -- a child eligible for DACA an illegal? You wouldn`t use that term with that child?

CORTES: I would not because they didn`t have a choice. A shoplifter has a choice, an illegal alien has a choice.

REID: Right.

CORTES: A child did not have a choice. So no, that`s --

REID: That`s fascinating that you, as a person of color, would use that term. All right. Well, let me just give you a couple other people who are definitely resigning: Alfonso Aguilar, who is at least as fervent a Trump supporter, once he switched over, as you are. He said that he felt that Donald Trump used conservative Hispanics as props. He and others who are leaving, Mr. Monty, has said the same thing. They essentially said that they felt used, that they went and sat in front of Donald Trump, he told them one thing, and then he went out last night and did something completely different.

CORTES: Right.

REID: You said that you didn`t agree with all of the things that he said last night. Point out two or three of the things that you did not like.

CORTES: Joy, listen, I would have a softer tone on illegals, all right. And I`m not speaking on behalf --

REID: Can you do me a favor? Can you do me a favor?

CORTES: Hold on.

REID: Steve, just while you`re talking to me, can you not use that terminology? But go on.

CORTES: No. No, I will not do you that favor because --

REID: All right.

CORTES: -- the English language matters.

REID: Yes, it does.

CORTES: It matters that we use terms --

REID: It does.

CORTES: -- that are --

REID: It does. My last question --

CORTES: They are illegal.

REID: Wow.

CORTES: They`re here illegally.

REID: My last question --

CORTES: We can`t get over that.

REID: My last question -- fascinating.

CORTES: My father came here legally.

REID: Yes, well, my parents came here into this --

CORTES: Millions of Hispanics came here --

REID: -- country as immigrants, too. So that --

CORTES: -- legally. So, no, I`m not going to --

REID: You know what, my parents came here, too --

CORTES: -- agree to your terms and use --

REID: -- so congratulations on that.

CORTES: -- code words. That`s absurd.

REID: You just used a code word. And let`s go one last question. I`m going to see if you can do it without, you know, upsetting and disturbing, offending lots of people who are listening. Why is it that Donald Trump, if he feels so strongly about Mexico building his wall, why didn`t he -- let`s take Tim Kaine`s criticism -- why didn`t he have the guts to say that to Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto`s face?

CORTES: You know, Joy, I`m glad you asked that question because I have a great answer, I think. I think it`s because he`s a very decent and polite person. This is the first time, to my knowledge at least, that they`ve met. It`s certainly the first time they met in this setting as an almost quasi state visit. And you don`t go as the invitee of the host and immediately get into every single detail, particularly meddlesome details, like who`s going to pay for the wall. They are getting to know each other, so --

REID: And by the way, by the way, Steve --

CORTES: -- out of decorum --

REID: -- the president of Mexico has said repeatedly now including on Twitter that they did bring it up and that he told Donald Trump personally that Mexico would not and would never pay for any wall. So it did come up. Enrique Pena Nietosays he brought it up. So Donald Trump is either not telling the truth about the conversation they had, or he didn`t have the courage to respond to the president of Mexico that he is going to try to make him pay for the wall -- make Mexico pay.

CORTES: Well, I think the idea that Donald Trump is scared of confronting anyone is pretty absurd. He is not scared of anyone or anything. But I think what he did do is show incredible statesmanship, he acted extremely presidential, and he showed great decorum. You don`t go down there to Mexico City and lecture them in your very first meeting. Now do we --

REID: You just do it when you`re --

CORTES: -- have issues?

REID: -- in front of your crowd?

CORTES: Absolutely. Yes.

REID: All right, well, that`s a very interesting way to conduct yourself. Steve Cortes, thank you very much. Joining me now, MSNBC political analyst Joan Walsh, national affairs correspondent for the nation and a Hillary Clinton supporter, and Maria Hinojosa, executive producer of PBS "America By The Numbers" and executive producer of NPR`s "Latina USA." Maria, I feel like I have to come to your first because Steve insists that he`s going to continue to use the term illegals. I guess that he`s quite in love with that term, he thinks it`s quite appropriate. Your thoughts?

HINOJOSA: So actually because I run my own newsroom, it is one of the terms that we do not use in my newsroom. And I love to tell this story because people will probably think, oh, Maria Hinojosa, Mexican immigrant, you know, now American citizen, you probably learned that from a radical Latino Studies professor at Barnard, that feminist college that you went to. No. Actually the reason why we do not use the term illegal, one is it`s grammatically incorrect. But actually I learned this from Elie Wiesel, who survived the Holocaust. He was the one who said there is no such thing as an illegal human being. They may have committed a crime, which by the way crossing without papers on the border is just a misdemeanor. But it doesn`t mean that you`re an illegal person. That would mean that, Joy, every time that you got a ticket when you were driving you would now be referred to as Joy Reid, the illegal driver.

REID: Right.

HINOJOSA: No. So it`s a term that does have a tremendous impact and a tremendous amount of weight. And just in terms of what happened with Donald Trump`s speech last night, I can sense that there were people who were literally feeling fear as he was speaking. And the fact that you guys put that clip together where he said, you know, day one, hour one, you will not be here, we will make sure that you are taken out, that may be playing to his base in Phoenix, but the ripple effect of all of that on people who are, you know, your neighbors, your neighbors, my neighbors, your kids` playmates, for real.

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: Really.

REID: And you are seeing these increased incidents, you know, that people are reporting around the country of kids actually using Donald Trump`s name --

HINOJOSA: Sure.

REID: -- you know, as a way to attack people. But, Joan, on this question that Steve Cortes sort of echoed Donald Trump in sort of making it sound like we had this tremendous crisis at the border, but if you look at the actual data, you`ve seen that net migration from Mexico into the United States has leveled off. I think net migration at this point is zero.

WALSH: Yes.

REID: How is it that they`re able to sort of create this vision of people streaming over the border in this endless hoard when the data just doesn`t support that that`s happening?

WALSH: Because the people they`re speaking to, Joy, really don`t care about the data. And I`m really grateful to Corey Lewandowski who maybe for the first time in his life told the truth today when he said, this speech was not aimed at Maria, it was not aimed at us, it was not aimed at even the suburban white women that Kellyanne Conway thinks she`s going to bring back into the fold. No. It was aimed at doubling down with his white, male, angry voters. And that speech last night, even to me, though, was a little bit terrifying. That was a man who seemed out of control. That was a man who was angry, red-faced, shouting, just beyond what you expect to see in the normal course of a political speech. He said that President Eisenhower didn`t go far enough with Operation Wetback -- that was what it was called --

REID: Yes.

WALSH: -- which actually killed hundreds if not thousands of Mexican people who were sent on boxcars back into their country. He took it to a level of both rhetoric and also just physical anger that I think was really maybe the highest point we`ve reached in the campaign.

REID: And to that point, Joan, I want to play -- just a sense of the mood in the room. Because as I was listening to it as well -- I was here at 30 Rock listening to it -- you could almost feel the kind of rage energy that was generated by every word that he was shouting essentially --

WALSH: Yes.

REID: -- into the teleprompter as he was reading the teleprompter. But this is just a sense of the mood of the room. One of the people in the crowd, what they yelled while he was speaking. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton has pledged to keep both of these illegal amnesty programs, including the 2014 amnesty which has been blocked by the United States Supreme Court. Great.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: String her up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: And, Maria, if you couldn`t understand what that person said, they screamed, "String her up." What do you make of that kind of thing taking place at what was billed as a policy speech?

HINOJOSA: I think actually I`m going to use a term that we also don`t use in my newsroom, which is minority. Because actually this is a minority of Americans. And not just a minority of Donald Trump supporters, it`s a minority of Americans. In the most recent ballot poll -- not recent, it came out in June, July -- it actually has the majority of Americans saying that they don`t want massive deportation rates, that they don`t believe that this is the way to solve the problem. So why aren`t we talking about those numbers? Here`s some other numbers. Because we can talk about the pain, the injustice, the --

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: -- the Constitutional rights violations.

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: Let`s just talk about the numbers --

REID: Right.

HINOJOSA: -- OK. Right now, what it is costing in terms of immigration detention and enforcement --

REID: Right.

HINOJOSA: -- more money is spent on that than all federal --

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: -- law enforcement agencies --

REID: Combined.

HINOJOSA: -- combined.

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: So if we`re talking about massive roundups --

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: -- just in terms of our tax dollars --

REID: Yes.

HINOJOSA: Is that really where we want to be --

REID: And who`s going to pay for it? The American taxpayer, not Mexico. Joan Walsh and Maria Hinojosa, thank you very much. And coming up, the vice president addresses Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT, OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: And we`ll have more of the Biden treatment, but first after last night`s speech, half of Trump`s Hispanic Advisory Board is reportedly ready to resign. I`ll speak with the founder of Latinos for Trump who`s standing by the candidate after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: Donald Trump used his speech last night to warn immigrant populations that they are living here on borrowed time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We will break the cycle of amnesty and illegal immigration. We will break the cycle. There will be no amnesty. Our message to the world will be this, you cannot obtain legal status or become a citizen of the United States by illegally entering our country. Can`t do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: After that speech, according to Politico, several major Latino surrogates for Donald Trump are reconsidering their support for him. And CBS reporter Leslie Sanchez tweeted out that a Hispanic leader who advises the Trump camp is telling her that half of Trump`s Hispanic Advisory Board is ready to resign today. And here`s why that should seriously worry Donald Trump. After the 2012 election when Mitt Romney lost the Hispanic vote by a 71 to 27 percent margin, the Republican party put together their so-called autopsy report called The Growth & Opportunity Project, which included a look at how the party could avoid a similar fate in 2016. It states, quote, if Hispanic Americans perceive that a GOP nominee or candidate does not want them in the United States, i.e., self-deportation, they will not pay attention to our next sentence. And as of right now, Trump has even less support from Hispanic voters than Mitt Romney did in the 2012 election. Joining me now is Adriano Espaillat, a New York State Senator and a 2016 Democratic nominee for Congress, and Marco Gutierrez who`s the founder of the group Latinos for Trump. Thank you both for being here. And I`m going to start with you first, Marco, because you are one of the Hispanic advisors who has not left the organization. We`re hearing that as many as 15, as many as half the members of that group are walking away. You recall that autopsy, I`m sure, in 2012 when Republicans spent a lot of money to do the research to decide that they could not afford to do as poorly with Hispanic voters as Mitt Romney did. Do you feel that Donald Trump --regardless of whether or not you still are on his team -- is hurting the Republican Party`s ability to win the election and long term to grow its numbers among Hispanics?

GUTIERREZ: No, I don`t think so. My friends, we stand with Donald Trump. There is a lot of Hispanics that are in the closet because of the violent criticism of the left. But they support Donald Trump. But you think -- so put your friends aside. The polling shows that Donald Trump is doing even worse with Hispanics -- this is before last night`s speech -- he was only at about 22 percent. Romney, you know, lost by 5 million votes at 27 percent. So forgetting your friends aside, it seems that overall Hispanics are rejecting Donald Trump in huge numbers. Can you refute that?

GUTIERREZ: Yes. Because the polls are done in two blocks. You have the born citizens here, and then you have me, like, I was born and raised in Mexico. My section, it`s more against Donald Trump because of the relationship that they have with the unlawful immigrant, illegal or undocumented, however you want to call it. But you have the natural borns that are more into 40-something percent.

REID: That`s actually -- you have no -- I mean, you have to present some sort of a name of a poll. Because there`s actually no numbers or research to support what you just said. You just gave us a number out of whole cloth. But I want to go to Adriano for that because there is no data that shows that some 40 percent of Latinos are for Trump. Sorry. It just doesn`t exist. But you yourself at one point have been undocumented. You would be elected the first formally undocumented person to be elected to Congress. How do you respond to what you just heard?

ESPAILLAT: Joy, when I came as a 9-year-old, I came here without documents. And had Donald Trump been the president then, he would have deported me, according to his policies that he laid out yesterday. I wouldn`t be here to tell you my story. And I think that`s not what America`s about. Are we a country of dreams and aspirations or are we a country of deportation? And so his very aggressive speech, his very intolerant speech I think scare many of his supporters. Somebody like Jacob Monty, who`s one of his advisors, I saw him on Spanish TV tonight talking about how he felt afraid. I would have ran right outside of that room, had I been there. I mean, it sent a chilling effect through many of us whether you are documented or not. It was an intolerant speech, and of course more of Donald Trump.

REID: And, Marco, you know, I`ve heard this Trump moment described as a Barry Goldwater moment, which is of course the tipping point when African- Americans became so identified with the Democratic Party that essentially it became almost impossible for Republicans to win more than 10 percent of them. I`ve heard it described as a Prop 187 moment when the California law that went after undocumented migrants there really harmed the Republican Party. It`s never recovered. Are you not at all concerned that Donald Trump is so alienating people with his tone last night, that yelling into the prompter speech and just the tone toward undocumented migrants, toward immigrants in this country, that you are now facing a Barry Goldwater moment for your party?

GUTIERREZ: Yes. But, you know, Donald Trump is a genius. I believe in the message and, yes, it was a tough message to deliver, but he did it in a way that`s showing us that we have a problem. And the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few. And different times, different problems. Yes, indeed there`s a lot of people -- my colleague here would not be here. But we need to understand that this is a different time and we`re having problems here.

REID: What problems?

GUTIERREZ: We need to reform --

REID: What problems are you talking about?

GUTIERREZ: My culture is a very dominant culture. And it`s imposing and it`s causing problems. If you don`t do something about it, you`re going to have taco trucks at every corner. And you --

REID: Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. I`m sorry. Hold on a second. I have to let Adriano in here.

ESPAILLAT: I don`t know what --

REID: I don`t even know what that means and I`m almost afraid to ask.

ESPAILLAT: I`m offended.

GUTIERREZ: I`ll tell you what --

ESPAILLAT: Our culture says --

GUTIERREZ: -- that means. The Spanish never conquered Mexico. We are a culture that -- we have a lot of good things --

REID: Are you --

GUTIERREZ: -- that we bring to the United States, but we also have problems. And you guys are going nuts over something that there`s a ten step to this problem and you guys are already talking about the tenth step. We haven`t even started walking this path. In any --

REID: Let`s let Adriano respond because we don`t have unlimited time.

GUITERREZ: OK.

ESPAILLAT: I don`t know what culture Mr. Gutierrez is talking about, but I know that the Hispanic culture has a saying, a very prominent saying, mi casa su casa, my house, your house. It is a tolerant culture, it is one that welcomes neighbors in, it is one that shares their culture, their music, their folklore. It is not an aggressive or bullying culture as was displayed by Donald Trump by his ten points that he laid out, including these deportation taskforces. What are, really, these deportation -- are they like unmarked vans that are going to go in and raid churches and community centers, going to do midnight raids? Is this what America`s really about? That`s what we all have to ask ourself. I don`t think that this is what America`s about. America`s about giving opportunities, America is about being flexible with different groups that want to pray to different gods, they want to speak maybe different languages, they want to move forward and be part of The Great American Experiment. I think Donald Trump spoke dramatically against all those values last night. I think that he will dip in the polls. I think it was just a terrible, terrible, terrible message that goes across race, ethnicity --

REID: Yes.

ESPAILLAT: -- religion, gender, a terrible moment for his discourse.

GUTIERREZ: I think you haven`t been in Mexico for a long time. And that`s the problem that you guys have with (INAUDIBLE). You guys defend a Mexico that doesn`t exist anymore. There is a new Mexico that`s rising with crime, and we need to stop that, and it starts right here.

REID: You know, we are out of time. But I think it sounded like you were giving a pretty full-scale indictment of Mexico as a country and as a culture. I don`t know that that is the way to increase Hispanic fealty to the Republican Party. That seems incredibly counterproductive to do it that way, but that is what you`ve chosen to do. So Adriano Espaillat and Marco Gutierrez, thank you both for joining us.

ESPAILLAT: Thank you, Joy.

GUTIERREZ: My pleasure.

REID: And coming up, the Supreme Court blocks what has been called one of the worst voter suppression efforts in America and it could have a big impact this November. That`s ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: For years, when people have toured the Jack Daniel`s Whiskey Distillery in Lynchburg, Tennessee, they have been told this origin story: when he was a boy in the mid-1800 Jack Daniel was taken in by a white reverend named Dan Call who taught Daniel how to make whiskey. That story still appears on the Jack Daniels website, which said, "Daniels learned the art of whiskey-making from the preacher."

But with this year marking Jack Daniel`s 150 anniversary, the New York Times reports the distillery has tentatively moved to tell a new story, that Jack Daniel likely didn`t learn distilling from Dan Call, but rather from a man named Nearis Green, one of Call`s slaves. In realty, slaves like Green played a central role in the history of American whiskey-making and not just at Jack Daniel`s, the Times report that George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and several prominent Kentucky distillers relied on slaves to run their operations.

Jack Daniels is not the only institution now grappling with a white-washed history. Coming up, an historic announcement from Georgetown University today that it is taking steps to atone for its early reliance on the labor and sale of slaves to keep the university alive. That`s ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: This week the Supreme Court weighed in on something that could have a huge impact in November. It blocked the state of North Carolina from reinstating its strict voting law, called one of the worst voter suppression efforts in the nation.

The law, passed by the state`s Republican-controlled legislature, and signed by its Republican governor in 2013, required voters to present photo identification at the polls. It also eliminated same-day registration and preregistration for young voters, and dramatically all of which disproportionately affected the poor, the elderly and African-American voters who happen to vote overwhelmingly Democratic.

North Carolina Republicans were able to pass the measure shortly after the Supreme Court struck down a key section of the Voting Rights Act, which required areas with a history of racial discrimination to get federal approval before changing election laws.

But in July, a federal appeals court weighed in on North Carolina`s voting law and unanimously struck it down, saying its provisions deliberately target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.

After that ruling, the state of North Carolina asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow the state to reinstate three key provision of its voting law before the upcoming election in November in order to prevent what it characterized as voter confusion.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a one-page order, declining to intervene in the matter, but noted the court`s four conservatives -- Justice Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, would have granted most of North Carolina`s request.

This evenly divided court highlights once again the impact of the death of Justice Antonin Scalia who would have very likely joined the other conservatives and would have thus would have allowed North Carolina to reinstate its law.

Now, as the state emerges as a key battleground with the latest polling showing Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump essentially tied, how will this decision impact the election?

Well, joining me now to discuss that is Reverend William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP and pastor of Green Leaf Christian Church Disciples of Christ.

Reverend Barber, you are the one person that I love talking with about been fighting this for so long in North Carolina. Does this ruling say to you that it is good news that the Supreme Court upheld, you know, the position of voters essentially in North Carolina, or does it kind of scare you, because you really had this hanging on a 4-4 thread.

WILLIAM BARBER, PRESIDENT NAACP NORTH CAROLINA: Well, it`s a mixed bag. Let me first of all thank our lawyers Linda Pendahen (ph), Allison Reed (ph) and others. We fought three years. This actually shows the damage when you do not have preclearance.

None of this would have been possible if we`d had preclearance. And still the Voting Rights Act has not been completely restored.

You`re right, there was four conservative justices that would have upheld racism, that would have upheld a unanimous -- that would have overturned a unanimous decision by two whites and one African-American in the lower courts.

REID: And when you have that lower court decision saying there was surgical precision with which they did research to find out how African- Americans vote and they said, we`ll target those things for removal. How do you square, not only Justice Clarence Thomas ruling that despite reading that lower court ruling, but also Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts said we don`t need these sections of the voting rights act, because this kind of discrimination doesn`t take place anymore. Well, clearly it does.

BARBER: You say it doesn`t happen. And then when it happens, you say, well, we wouldn`t uphold it. But there`s a pattern in Justice Roberts -- you know his history, and some of the ways in which he was prepared for the Supreme Court.

It says to us why this election is so important, why the Supreme Court and who sits on that Supreme Court is very important.

To think in the 21st Century, we could have ended up with laws that were intentionally racist. It`s one thing to be disparaged, but intentionally racist, targeted racism.

We are also, though, thankful that we won, that all of the laws go back, we have same-day registration back, we`ve got early voting back, we`ve got out of precinct voting back.

I believe people are going to engage in a massive turn-out in this election. This is heavy stuff. And it says something about the whole nation. North Carolina`s ruling and our victory is a victory for the nation, because it says, even if you don`t have section five, there`s still section two. There`s still the principle of section five, the 14th Amendment still means what it says, and the 15th amendment still means what it says about nobody can deny or abridge the right to vote.

REID: So this comes at a time when Governor McCrory is not doing well in the polls. He is losing to Democrat Roy Cooper in the latest polling for his reelect at governor. It comes in a time when in the Senate race, Richard Burr is barely ahead of the Democrat, only four points ahead of Debra Ross. And at a time when Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are tied in the state.

Was this a direct attempt to swing the immediate election, or do you think that Governor McCrory just sort of is standing for the larger principle that he doesn`t want these liberalized voting laws?

BARBER: No, I think it`s about this election and elections beyond. President Obama won in 2008 because of same-day registration and early voting. He would have lost if there was just an election day.

We went from a state -- the lowest state in voting to the fourth highest per capita increase, 70 percent of African-Americans voted. That means that you no longer have a solid south in North Carolina. And it`s beginning to break wide open.

And so I think that they`re very scared about the changing demographics of the south and they wanted to block the possibility of it and this ruling is -- says that we are going to have a new south. We`re going to break through.

REID: Absolutely. And fighting all the way. Reverend, thanks so much.

BARBER: Thank you.

REID: Always great to talk to you. And coming up, for a famously free- wheeling candidate, there are shocking new revelations about just how scripted Trump`s new outreach to African-Americans will be this coming weekend.

But first, tonight`s Thing One, Thing Two right after this break.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAINE: When he had the chance to sit down and look the other leader in the eye, it was like he choked, he caved, he lost his confidence, he lost his will, he couldn`t just be honest with that person. We all know people like that, right? We all know people like that. They`re going to talk a good game, but when the chips are down, OK, now is the point where, if you`ve got an opinion, and something matters to you, you say it, they fold like an accordion, and that`s what Donald Trump did yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Thing One tonight, while the man who would be vice president, Tim Kaine, lit into Donald Trump for caving on his wall-building rhetoric in Mexico, it wasn`t -- it was the current vice president who made the strongest case today against the Republican candidate`s foreign policy bonafides.

Joe Biden`s knockout punch is Thing Two in 60 seconds.

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REID: When it comes to the foreign policy expertise, there are few people in public office better equipped than the man who spent 12 years as the chairman and ranking member of the Senate foreign relations committee -- Vice President Joe Biden.

And today in true Biden fashion, he let fly exactly what he thinks about the Republican nominee for president, one Donald J. Trump.

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JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don`t believe the guy`s a bad guy, I just think he is thoroughly, totally, completely uninformed. He has no idea what the hell he`s talking about. And guess what, that`s OK sometimes. That`s OK sometimes.

But I got a military aide with me, carrying a brief case. No, I mean this sincerely. That brief case has the nuclear codes in it. And god forbid if something happened to the president and a decision had to be made, I open it up and the nuclear codes are there.

Just imagine giving this guy access -- no, no, no, I really mean it. Imagine giving this guy access to the nuclear codes, a guy who says how he`d consider using nuclear weapons, a guy who talks about how maybe other countries should become nuclear powers. I mean, my god.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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REID: An historic announcement from Georgetown University today. The oldest Jesuit university in America saying it`s taking steps to atone for a long unacknowledged aspect of its history -- its early reliance on slave labor to both build and fund the university, including the sale of 272 slaves in 1838, to help keep Georgetown out of bankruptcy.

The university announcing it will award preferential status in the admissions process to descendants of the enslaved, similar to the status afforded to the children of alumni. As well as creating an institute for the study of slavery, erecting a public memorial to the slaves whose labor benefited the institution and renaming two campus buildings, named for two former Georgetown presidents involved in the 1838 sale of slaves, one of which will be named after a slaved named Isaac.

The university also plans to formally apologize for its participation in slavery. And today its president acknowledged the descendants of the slaves who helped to keep it -- build it and keep it afloat.

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JOHN J. DEGIOIA, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: I wish to acknowledge and recognize the descendants of the enslaved children, women, and men of the Jesuit plantations and from whom our university benefited.

Some descendants and their families have joined us here in person, some have joined online. And it is with deep gratitude and humility that I recognize your presence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Last fall, Georgetown students held rallies and sit-ins to push for the university to grapple with its history. And while some feel today`s announcement is not enough, Georgetown is not at this point offering scholarships of the descendants of slaves. The university`s decision to offer preferential treatment in admissions is a step beyond what`s being done by other prominent schools now grappling with their own ties to slavery. In other words, it`s a start.

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REID: It was originally billed as a speech to show the, quote, heart and compassion of Donald Trump to a predominantly African-American congregation in Detroit this Saturday. Instead, there will be no speech, just a one-on- one interview with the congregation Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, set to air a week later on the bishop`s own Christian TV channel, The Impact Network.

And tonight, there are shocking details of what it will look like.

The New York Times has obtained an eight-page document that purportedly shows the 12 questions the bishop intends to ask Mr. Trump as well as lengthy -- lengthy scripted answers for Trump to use, answers that were devised by aides working for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee, according to an official who has been involved in the planning.

Asked for comment, Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hick said I`m not aware of the document that you referenced, but as you know Mr. Trump is an unscripted candidate. He is genuine and authentic, but not unprepared.

And joining me now is April Ryan, White House correspondent and Washington bureau chief for American Urban Radio Networks, and Cornell Belcher, president of Brilliant Corners Research and strategies, and former pollster for the DNC.

OK, so, April and Cornell, this is weird. April, what do you make of the fact that Donald Trump, you know, we talked about this a little bit earlier about what he did in Mexico versus Arizona. He talks a good game when he`s in front of his own crowd, gets in front of the president of Mexico, not so much. Talks a lot about African-Americans at these rallies in all-white communities. But now when it`s time to go before a black congregation, he needs a script. What do you make of that.

APRIL RYAN, AMERICAN URBAN RADIO NETWORKS: Well, Donald Trump does not know African-American history and some would even question he doesn`t know the history of this country to a certain extent. So, therefore, I understand why the script.

But what is the point of having the interview? We already know the questions, we already know the answers and he`s just going to sit in a church. So, what is the point?

And Joy, as you know, many of us, many of us in the African-American community, many African-American journalist who work for black media have been making a formal request of Donald Trump to talk to us, unscripted, unabashed, and just talk to us, real, one-on-one. And to this -- this -- this, I don`t know, this scripted event this weekend, I look at it as editing at its best. You won`t see the faux pas that we`ve seen before. I just -- I`m sad. I know it`s a great boom for the bishop to get that interview, but he needs to answer real questions in front of real journalists, because there are so many negatives in almost every category when it comes to African- Americans.

REID: And Cornell, I don`t know that it`s such a good thing for the bishop. He`s being slammed by a lot of people for doing it this way.

Right now, the latest public policy poll has Donald Trump`s favorability with African-Americans at zero. Here are some of the questions that he has been scripted to answer. We`ll go right to the one whether or not he is racist.

Is your campaign racist. Donald Trump`s response is going to be -- the script suggests Mr. Trump avoid repeating the word racist and speak of improving education and getting people off welfare and back to work. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. And Trump is advised to say coming into to a community is meaningless unless we offer alternatives to the horrible progressive agenda, yadda, yadda, yadda.

You as somebody who is a man of data, will that appeal, saying we`re going to get all of you black people off welfare. Is that the way to appeal to African-Americans?

CORNELL BELCHER, BRILLIANT CORNERS RESEARCH: There`s a couple of things that are really hilarious here to me. Also that report is he`s consulting black Republicans.

You know what you shouldn`t do if you want to win more black voters is consult black Republicans, because in fact you get stuff like if you ask if you are racist, you talk about getting off of welfare. What? I mean, it is not like -- it is...

REID: Cornell, now you know we live in these hell holes and we have to crawl out of them through the muck just to get to work every day.

I have to play you guys this real quick. We don`t have a lot of time. This is an earlier exchange that we have. This is not about African- American outreach. This was a guest who was the head of Latinos for Trump, Hispanics for Trump, this is what he said to me about Donald Trump`s Latino outreach. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a different time. And we are having problems here.

REID: What problems? What problems are you talking about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My culture is a very dominant culture, and it`s imposing -- and it is causing problems. If you don`t do something about it, you are going to have taco trucks at every corner.

REID: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I`m sorry, hold on a second. I have to let Adriano in here. I don`t know what that means and I`m almost afraid to ask.

UNIDENITIFIED MALE: I`m offended.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`ll tell you. The Spanish never conquered Mexico. We are a culture that we have a lot of good things we bring to the United States, but we also have problems.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: I can give you each at least 15 seconds. You have 15 seconds. April, go. Your response.

RYAN: Donald Trump took a picture with a taco bowl. Come on. What in the world?

REID: Cornell, give us the science on this. What does that mean? I did not understand it.

BELCHER: The science is you remember the character Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks? Uncle Ruckus. That`s the science.

(LAUGHTER)

REID: Oh my god. You said Uncle Ruckus.

Well, this should be a very interesting weekend. And thank you very much for interpret that for me. April Ryan and Cornell Belcher. Wow.

Thank you very much.

That is All In for this evening.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. END