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PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, Transcript 10/30/2016

Guests: Joan Walsh, Elise Jordan, Gwen Carr, Lucia McBath, Sherrilyn Ifill, Michael Waldman, Tim Kaine, Joan Walsh, Elise Jordan

Show: POLITICS NATION Date: October 30, 2016 Guest: Joan Walsh, Elise Jordan, Gwen Carr, Lucia McBath, Sherrilyn Ifill, Michael Waldman, Tim Kaine, Joan Walsh, Elise Jordan

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Showdown at the polls. Voter suppression already happening. One candidate mocking the democratic process.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should just cancel the election and just give it to Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will talk about it with Sherrilyn Ifill.

Also, our interview with Hillary Clinton`s running mate, Tim Kaine calling out Donald Trump on race.

TIM KAINE, VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (via telephone): Why would he say that our first black president wasn`t U.S. citizen? The level of disrespect that`s shown for this community is huge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how the FBI`S new investigation into Clinton`s e- mails could affect the race. It`s "PoliticsNation" with Election Day just nine days away.

AL SHARPTON, MSNBC HOST: Good morning. I`m Al Sharpton. We`ll have more on the political fallout from the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton`s e-mails coming up. But we start with the right to vote under attack just a week before Americans go to the polls. People across the country are seeing stories like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How would you like to have people watching every move you make at the polls on Election Day? But this election season one presidential candidate is calling on his supporters to do just this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The recent federal court ruling that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted illegally removed more than a million voters who hadn`t cast ballots in six years.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tonight, some republicans are mobilizing as poll watchers saying they`re trying to prevent voter fraud. There are concerns this could discourage legitimate voters from going to the polls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More than 100 people in Beaufort County are having their voter registration challenged.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, 138 people had their status challenged, many were black registered democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t need to explain the importance of voting to 100-year-old Grace Hardison. She`s been doing it longer than she can even remember. That`s why when she found out her voter registration status was being challenged due to undeliverable mail, she was upset.

GRACE HARDISON, 100-YEAR-OLD AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMAN: My mail comes from post office. I don`t have the mail coming to my house. Ever since I`ve been here, my mail has been coming to the post office.

SHARPTON: That`s right. A North Carolina republican challenged the status of 100-year-old Grace Hardison. We`re seeing national efforts too, a group called vote for Texas is backing Donald Trump and trying to recruit 3,000 poll watchers in key battleground states. And a leading militia group, oath keepers, is enlisting former military and law officers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Call to action to go and hunt down, look for vote fraud and voter intimidation and document it to do the best we can to stop this election. I want to stress to our guys, go without the three gear on. We don`t want the bad guys to know which, you know, that we`re out there. We want them to worry about whether or not they`re being watched.

SHARPTON: They want people to worry about being watched. Make no mistake about where this is coming from. Donald Trump has led the charge, cracking jokes about the democratic process, while also calling for poll watchers.

TRUMP: And just thinking to myself right now, we should just cancel the election, and just give it to Trump.

We have a lot of law enforcement people working that day. We`re hiring a lot of people. We`re putting a lot of law enforcement.

We`re going to watch Pennsylvania. Very quickly, we`re going to watch Pennsylvania. Go down to certain areas and watch and study and make sure other people don`t come in and vote five times. So, I hope you people can sort of not just vote on the 8th, go around and look and watch other polling places.

SHARPTON: Democrats are fighting back. The DNC filing a lawsuit to prevent voter intimidation by the republican national committee. And the first lady is urging voters not to fear and instead hit the polls.

MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: So when you hear folks talking about a global conspiracy, and saying that this election is rigged, understand that they are trying to get you to stay home. Vote early. Vote right now. Leave here, go vote. And don`t let anyone take that right away from you.

SHARPTON: One person who isn`t backing down is Grace Hardison. She beat back efforts to take her off the rolls and she says she will be voting.

Joining me now is Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director Counselor of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Educational Fund. And Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice. He`s also author of "The Fight to Vote." Thank you both for being here.

SHERRILYN IFILL, PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR COUNSELOR OF THE NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE FUND AND EDUCATIONAL FUND: Thank you.

SHARPTON: Sherrilyn, how concerned are you about voter intimidation tactics in this election?

IFILL: You know, Reverend Al, I was concerned about this election. This is the first presidential election in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act because of the Supreme Court`s 2013 decision in Shelby County versus holder. And we`ve seen all of these voting changes that have happened since 2013, because jurisdictions no longer had to report these changes to the federal government.

So we were already concerned about this election. We assembled all of these voting changes in a report called democracy diminished to demonstrate that we need to pay attention in this election. But in the last several months, as there has been this discussion about the election being rigged, and about sending people out to do poll watching, our fears have absolutely and exponentially increased.

We take very seriously the issue of voter intimidation, which is absolutely against the law. You know, when you hear Mr. Trump saying, people should come out and watch people vote, the right to watch outside the polls, of course, is the right of a citizen to stand outside the polls and to watch.

But when it becomes intimidation, when people are suggesting that there are certain people who are not eligible to vote, when you`re not bothering to educate those poll watchers about the protections of the Voting Rights Act and other federal laws, then I think you`re creating a recipe for disaster on Election Day.

SHARPTON: Michael, I spoke to you the first week in January of this year, you said that democracy itself would be on the ballot. Is it worse, though, than you even thought?

I mean, we`ve seen this before, but I don`t know about at this level, the republican national committee is under consent decree and we`re seeing this operating here, that could raise questions about whether or not this consent decree has to be prolonged past, I think it`s December 2017 when it runs out.

MICHAEL WALDMAN, PRESIDENT OF THE BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: Well, that`s right. And of course, in that particular case they`re going to be forced to argue, oh, no, that`s not the Republican Party, it`s just its presidential candidate out there, loudly demanding that people go try to intimidate voters. Reverend --

SHARPTON: And under consent decree before being accused of being discriminatory in terms of trying to intimidate people at the polls for this very same thing.

WALDMAN: Exactly. And, of course, it goes back decades. Of course, it goes back centuries. In some ways looking from January till now, in some ways it`s better and in some ways it`s more unnerving. How is it better one of the good things that`s happened is states have -- brought these laws forth, they tried to do these things, they were allowed to move forward because of the Voting Rights Act have been gutted by the supreme court, but courts across the country, federal and state, and republican and democratic judges stood up to protect the right to vote.

In North Carolina, in Texas, in many other places, these worst laws were blocked because they violated that most basic and Central American principle. But now, and partly in response to that, you have Donald Trump saying, oh, the election is rigged, saying, oh there`s massive voter fraud, a myth of pernicious proportions. And saying basically in a cartoon version what a lot of these politicians have been saying for a while now.

SHARPTON: Well, he`s the nominee, Sherrilyn, this is not somebody just somewhere that we had to deal with down through the years in the civil rights community. This is the nominee of the Republican Party. One of the two major candidates. And I`ll give you another thing to respond to, you have the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones who`s a Trump supporter, and he`s cheerleading the call for poll watching.

Watch this, Sherrilyn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX JONES, CONSPIRACY THEORIST: Donald Trump is announcing on his official website an area for people to organize and get ready to be poll watchers and also to be exit pollers. He wants real polls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: I mean, is this the level of paranoia and fear that`s being put out there to use people to do things that are not only biased, because they`re telling them what areas to go for these alleged fraudulent acts that aren`t there, but it is also illegal.

IFILL: Yes, so, Reverend Al, I want to -- I want to make sure I say this because I think there`s so much of an effort to really promote kind of ignorance about voter -- alleged voter fraud. And as Michael pointed out, it`s a pernicious myth. There is no large scale voter fraud in this country. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than experiencing in person voter fraud.

So let`s be clear what the law is because you use the word illegal. The law protects every citizen`s right to vote, which means that right cannot be a bridge based on race or skin color. The Voting Rights Act specifically protects against voter intimidation and voter harassment.

People need to know that disabled people, those who are blind or literate are allowed to have someone assist them in the polling booth. That people who are citizens and eligible to vote but do not speak English or allowed to have language assistance, these are the kinds of things that people have to become educated about.

And, you know, when I hear that, when I hear about all these people out at the poll, coming out at the polls, let me be clear, I`m proud of my civil rights colleagues. We will all be out there poll watching and we`ve been doing this for a while. We kind of know what we`re doing. I`m pleased also that the justice department, although they will not have the same number of election observers inside polling places, we`ll have poll watchers out in 25 states.

So I really -- what I don`t want is for people to be scared off by these tactics of intimidation. We`ve been doing this, we`ll be out there, not just the NAACP legal defense fund but many other civil rights groups and activists protecting this right that people fought, and bled and died for.

We`re not turning around on this. And so whatever is the paranoia that they`re trying to create, we`re going to have a steady eye and a steady vision of who we are as citizens who have right to participate.

SHARPTON: No. Well, that`s what I wanted to open the show with, because all of us will be out there from various groups and the justice department. And not out there partisan, that`s nonpartisan.

IFILL: Nonpartisan.

SHARPTON: Michael, I think it`s very important.

WALDMAN: It`s very important. It is nonpartisan. This is a basic right. If people have any problem, they can talk to the folks who are there or they can call 1-866-our-vote. The election protection hotline which so many groups are part of. But I think Sherrilyn Ifill is exactly right. A lot of what Trump is saying may turn out to be just talk. In fact, the millions of people who have fought for and won that right to vote will be able to vote without obstruction and we need to not let anybody scare us away from the polls.

SHARPTON: That`s why I wanted to open up Sunday morning with it, it have the determination of Ms. Hardison, 100 years old and she won`t be turned around and neither should you.

Sherrilyn Ifill and Michael Waldman, thank you for your time.

IFILL: Thank you, Reverend Al.

WALDMAN: Thank you.

SHARPTON: Still ahead, we`ll dive into the latest on the FBI and Hillary Clinton`s e-mails. Also, new details on the republican confusion over a simple question. Should they support Donald Trump or not? But first, my interview with Clinton`s running mate, Senator Tim Kaine on civil rights, Donald Trump and more. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: Donald Trump appealed once again this week to minority voters. Offering his version of reforms which he dubbed the new deal for black America.

TRUMP: New deal for black America. That deal is grounded in three promises. Safe communities, great education, and high paying jobs. My vision rests on a principle that has defined this campaign.

SHARPTON: But the latest polling shows just four percent of black voters support Trump for president. The campaign`s diversity adviser promised this week that would change by Election Day, predicting Trump would get at least 16 percent of the black vote.

I spoke by phone about this recently with Hillary Clinton`s running mate, Senator Tim Kaine. This was before the latest news about the FBI e-mail investigation. Kaine talked about his own record on civil rights, compared to Donald Trump`s.

KAINE: For 17 years, about two-thirds of the work that I did was fighting housing discrimination against people who were turned away either because of the color of their skin or their disability. And really right about that same time, Donald was making his way as a real estate guy, got sued by the justice department, in 1973, for a very massive housing discrimination charge with respect to nearly 40 of his properties and many got challenged again, sued again in 1982 right about the time I was starting law practice, so he didn`t learn his lesson.

Both instances he basically entered into consent decrees where they promised under order of the court to do better and I just think that`s one of the things that really energized me about this race. I was also a missionary in Latin America for a year and when I hear him talk down immigrants and especially Latinos that combination of being anti-civil rights and being anti-new American kind of infuriating, but it definitely gives me the energy. I don`t have a voice left, I`ve the energy left to just going through the case.

SHARPTON: You would not buy that he would be the one that could give a new deal to black America, Senator?

KAINE: Reverend Sharpton, I mean, of course he`s going to say all kinds of things right now, but, remember, this is the guy who not only had that history in the house and world of discriminating. But, you know, for five years he perpetrated the bigoted lie that president Obama wasn`t a U.S. citizen and I always say to people, don`t let him just walk away from that unchallenged.

He said that in Virginia, in Richmond, what my friends thought about, it brought them back to the time when in the United States, if you`re African- American, you`re born here, even born free here, you could not be a U.S. citizen. That`s what the decision said that you couldn`t be -- your grandkids couldn`t be U.S. citizens.

And so why would Donald Trump, with no evidence, after they`ve been conclusively proven over and over again that President Obama was a U.S. citizen, why would he say that our first black president wasn`t a U.S. citizen? The level of disrespect that he`s shown for this community is huge. Not just the African-American community, you know.

He doesn`t pay taxes to support the troops, but now he`s going to be great for the military. He doesn`t pay taxes to support the veterans, but now he`s going to be great for the vet. He said he`s going to be great for everybody. But those are words, his life history shows otherwise.

SHARPTON: Contrast your record in terms of women rights, civil rights for African-Americans, and others, when as you`ve been governor of Virginia, with governor Pence. I mean, you`re directly running to be the vice president of the United States.

Well, this is -- this is an important one, Reverend Sharpton. And, you know, I think our nation, even though our founders were sure flawed, they had the wisdom to say equality should be the measuring stick for our country.

I don`t know that there`s another country out there that just says there is one measuring stick and it`s equality. And so LGBT equality, and I was proud to join my senate colleagues and urging the Supreme Court to recognize full marriage equality. Governor Pence opposes it, says it will lead to societal collapse, wants to put justices on the Supreme Court that will rule that pact with respect to women`s rights.

I think, you know, look everybody`s got the right to have their own moral opinion about issues with respect to reproduction and abortion, that`s very fair. But I don`t think government should be making women`s healthcare decisions for them. Women should be able to make that for themselves and so I support Roe V. Wade, allowing women to make these important decisions for themselves, Governor Pence wants to roll that back and sign it through to the ash heap of history so that states can use the criminal law to prosecute, punish and even jail women who make that choice. So that is a huge difference.

And then with respect to African-Americans, you know, I not only did I serve as a civil rights lawyer for 17 years, but then I was the mayor of a great city Richmond. Our current mayor Dwight Jones is a mutual friend of both of ours. And I say 60 percent minorities but they trusted me to be a mayor for everybody. And then I did the same thing as governor. I worked for everybody. And this is the kind of administration that you`ll have if Hillary and I have the fortune to be able to serve.

SHARPTON: You were the first person on a presidential ticket to ever give an entire speech in Spanish. What Spanish phrase best describes the Trump campaign in your judgment, Senator?

KAINE: Well, yes, I was at a church in Miami a couple of weeks back and they asked me to just come up and talk and I just got up and just talked for 10 minutes in Spanish to that Latino audience. And then after it was all done, I said, well, that`s making history. But why was that making history? Nobody`s ever done that before during the campaign. So that`s been fun for me.

But you know -- what I`ve been saying out there on the trail is [Speaking Spanish]

Forward not back, that was a phrase we used in Honduras when we were working on stuff back in the day. And I think that [Speaking Spanish] is what I would think about as a -- as a contrast between Hillary Clinton presidency and a Donald Trump presidency.

SHARPTON: Again, my thanks to vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine for taking a few minutes to chat with me on my national radio show this week.

Ahead, the potential October surprise. The FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton`s e-mails, we`ll get into it with the PoliticsNation panel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton`s corruption is on a scale we have never seen before. We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the oval office.

SHARPTON: Donald Trump jumping on the news that the FBI is looking into newly discovered Hillary Clinton e-mails. For months Trump has slammed the FBI for not bringing criminal charges against Clinton. Now, just over a week before the election, he gets a glimmer of hope. And it fits the republican narrative that Clinton needs to be investigated further. We learned this week house republicans are already preparing for, quote, years of investigation into Clinton if she becomes president. For her part, Clinton is pledging to work across the aisle if she wins.

HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I certainly intend to reach out to republicans and independents. The elected leadership of the congress, which you mentioned. I`m going to be doing everything I can to reach out to people who didn`t vote for me because I want to be the president for everybody.

SHARPTON: Let`s bring in Joan Walsh, National Affairs Correspondent at The Nation. And MSNBC Political Analyst, Elise Jordan who is also a former adviser to the Rand Paul for president campaign.

Elise, the FBI is looking into Clinton`s e-mails again. Is this the October surprise republicans were desperate for?

ELISE JORDAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: I think they`re certainly pretty grateful for it. I think this is really going to energize a lot of the down ballot republican candidates who have been struggling because Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket and it`s going to reinforce to republicans who maybe are so excited about Donald Trump for president that they need to get out and vote in those other races that are critical to reining in Hillary Clinton`s power.

The scandal just reminds republican voters and undecided voters what really bothers them about Hillary Clinton. She`s above the law that there`s an element of sleaziness about always hiding something so this reinforces that.

SHARPTON: Joan, how nervous should democrats be? Because I notice Elise said down ballot. That it may not impact the presidential race at the top, but down ballot, it may reinforce some republicans who were a little distant from Trump, maybe still there, people may stay home. How nervous should the democrats be as this bubbles up over the weekend into now?

JOAN WALSH, NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT AT THE NATION: Look, I think anytime, Rev, that you have a story that puts Clinton FBI and e-mails in the headline it`s not a good day for the Clinton campaign. On the other hand, I think that a lot of this is already taking into account people have had a lot of access to both leaked and hacked e-mails as well -- as well as great deal of transparency on the part of James Comey. Extraordinary transparency and describing what he found wrong with her e-mail practices. So I think there`s just not enough new in this to really shape democrats.

SHARPTON: What was extraordinary is usually you don`t have the FBI coming out public in a race this close to an election.

WALSH: Very unusual.

SHARPTON: And sending out something publicly. This is very unusual.

WALSH: And I guess I would -- one thing I would say to Elise, I don`t think you can argue that she`s above the law. Obviously she`s not. She`s been subjected to this long investigation and now, you know, 10 days before the election, this came out. You know, I think that she -- there are some practices that are easily challenged.

I think the e-mail, the private server was a mistake, but the idea that she`s above the law. She`s very much subject to the law. We`re seeing that right now.

SHARPTON: Well, I think also when you have this almost double barrel shotgun because you have whatever is or isn`t there in terms of e-mails, which we may or may not even know before the election. And it brings back Anthony Weiner and sexting investigation. I mean, you couldn`t have a worse duo to have to deal with and then a lot of people are saying --and we`re already getting ready for another season of endless investigations. Let me, for example, the head of the house oversight committee looked to a potential Clinton presidency this week and this is what he said, he says, "It`s a target rich environment. Even before we get to day one, we got two years worth of material already lined up, she has four years of history at the state department. And it ain`t good.

I mean, he`s calling Clinton`s record a target rich environment. It sounds like he can`t wait to get started.

ELISE JORDAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, and it`s -- this is what is exhausting for American voters who are sick of Clinton`s scandals. I`ve been going around the country with Lord Ashcroft polls and doing focus groups in battleground states and what I`ve heard repeatedly is how the Clinton years are remembered fondly in terms of how our economy is doing, the country is making progress, but people are sick of Clinton`s scandals. So this only brings back the very worst of what the memory is from the Clinton --

SHARPTON: Well, some of us were sick of republican investigations in house -- we`re all sick, but sick for different reasons.

JOAN WALSH, NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT AT THE NATION: We can all agree on that.

SHARPTON: Yes. I mean --

JORDAN: Yes. I mean, look, I think that this underscores that the Republican Party right now doesn`t have an agenda that it wants to pursue. Its agenda once again and this can be a --

SHARPTON: Well, they want to pursue scandals and --

WALSH: Right. That`s becoming an agenda. The party -- and this is -- this is part of what contributed to the rise of Trump, to be honest. This is what they did to Obama. They couldn`t unify around a message, they unified around hating him. He was less compromised in some ways than she was. So the investigation element --

SHARPTON: Well, when you don`t have a message, always go for some mess.

WALSH: Right.

SHARPTON: Joan and Elise, stay with me. More to come.

Up next, why so many republicans can`t decide whether they do or do not support Donald Trump. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Sharpton: republicans are having a tough time deciding how they feel about Donald Trump as their nominee. Earlier this month, GOP Congressman Jason Chaffetz disowned Trump after he heard the 2005 tape of Trump talking about groping women.

JASON CHAFFETZ, GOP CONGRESSMAN: I`m out. I can no longer in good conscience endorse this person for president. It is some of the most abhorrent and offensive comments that you can possibly imagine.

SHARPTON: And now, the congressman tweeted that he will be voting for Trump, even though, quote, he will not defend or endorse him. That`s an odd way to choose a president. But he`s not the only one. Watch Senator Marco Rubio dodge a question about whether Trump would keep our country safe as commander in chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will Donald Trump keep the country safe?

MARCO RUBIO, JUNIOR UNITED STATES SENATOR: Again, the military is what keeps us safe and we have to rebuild our military and she is a supporter of the defense cuts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: But, of course, some republicans are all in with their nominee. Check out how Congressman Kevin Yoder responded to a question about Trump from a child.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who are you voting for president?

KEVIN YODER, MEMBER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Which parent put him up to that? Is there a hot mike in here? Well, I`m a republican, so I`m supporting the republican nominee. No matter what crazy thing he says.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: No matter what crazy thing he says. That`s one way to do it. Coming up, what the negative headlines for Hillary Clinton mean for Donald Trump and other republicans, hoping to avoid a wave of defeat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OBAMA: If Hillary doesn`t win this election, that will be on us. It will be because we did not stand with her. It will be because we did not vote for her. And that is exactly what her opponent is hoping will happen. That`s the strategy. To make this election so dirty and ugly that we don`t want any part of it.

SHARPTON: Hillary Clinton getting a boost from one of the most popular political figures in the country. First Lady Michelle Obama. The Clinton campaign no doubt hoping appearances like that will help her overcome negative headlines, like the FBI investigation into her e-mails.

In the coming days, we`ll find out how much damage those headlines will do to Clinton. But, for Trump to win, the damage will have to be significant. A recent batch of GOP ads released before the latest news on the Clinton e- mails suggest that even republicans believe Clinton has the race wrapped up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One Hillary in Washington would be bad enough, reject Jason Kander.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can`t let extreme liberal Kim Myers and millionaire Martin Babinec rubber stamp Hillary Clinton`s agenda in congress.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With McGinty, it`s a blank check for everything Hillary wants.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now Evan Bayh wants back in the senate and he wants to help Hillary fill another chair on the Supreme Court.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liberal Carol Shea-Porter, she`ll be a rubber stamp for Clinton`s agenda.

SHARPTON: Let`s bring back Joan Walsh and Elise Jordan. Joan, some republicans are backing Trump and some are clearly running away from Trump. Is the GOP still confused on how to deal with Donald Trump?

WALSH: I think absolutely. I think that we, you know, we had a whole bunch of people move away from him after the awful "Access Hollywood" video was released and now some of those same people like Deb Fischer have gone back to him. I mean, the pendulum has been swinging. Speaker Ryan kept his distance, but still hasn`t rescinded his endorsement. So I think there`s a profound confusion and what`s been happening, what happened in the last week, you did see even before the e-mail situation came out, you did see a few republicans ticking back to him.

SHARPTON: Yes. That`s what I want to ask you, Elise. You saw earlier last week some ticking back a little at itty-bitty as one would say as a kid. Do you think now with the e-mails that you`re going to see some that may be even un-endorse him, re-endorse him now? I mean what are we going to see at this --

JORDAN: You know, there`s been no limit on the unfettered opportunism and politically just craven behavior of republican politicians, the cycle, when it comes to Trump. You know, figure out what you stand for and stick with it. The electorate has no respect for all of this flip-flopping.

It`s just kind of amazed me that people will go so quickly with the win. You know, Ted Cruz, when it was looking like Trump was doing slightly better and uptick in the polls, he went over, he finally endorsed him. And then the "Access Hollywood" video came out and he looked like a fool.

You`re seeing so many examples of that and it really -- you know, someone who I think is going to fare really well from this is Governor John Kasich, because he`s held his ground.

SHARPTON: He has held his ground. You know, when she brings up ticked up -- she`s talking about the polls, it`s interesting how some of Trump`s supporters have even questioned the polls. For example, Mike Huckabee, he`s been pushing the line that the polls that have Clinton ahead a flawed.

MIKE HUCKABEE, CHRISTIAN MINISTER: People who will not tell a pollster, they will not tell a news reporter how they`re going to vote. But they will lean over and whisper, but they won`t even tell their own families because it creates such a fight with some of their friends and relatives.

WALSH: I think this is garbage. I really do. I mean, I think we also on the Clinton side, there was a great story in Marie Claire this week about republican women, evangelical Christian women who won`t tell their husbands and won`t tell anyone that they`re voting for Hillary Clinton. So, I think that you can have some secret voters on both sides but this doesn`t really ever pan out. The people who whine the loudest about the polls are on the losing side as with Mitt Romney. There`s going to be a movement to un-skew the polls. But it`s not that big this time around.

JORDAN: There isn`t going to be a huge enough hidden vote that it suddenly renders all of these polls completely invalid.

SHARPTON: Oh, you mean there`s a lot hidden votes if these polls are right.

JORDAN: If these polls are that wrong then something seriously wrong with the way the entire polling industry is set up.

SHARPTON: Let me ask something else. A lot of focus groups are saying now what I started saying early that Trump is looking past November 8th himself and playing Trump TV. Let me show this.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have no interest in Trump TV. I hear it all over the place and I have a tremendous fan base. I mean we have a tremendous base. We have the most incredible people. But I just don`t have any interest on that. I have one interest, that`s November 8th.

SHARPTON: Elise, do you believe him or do you think he`s -- I mean, there`s already been reports that Kushner`s son-in-law`s talked -- has reached out to somebody. Do you think he`s really planning on

Trump TV if things don`t turn around in some miraculous way and make him president?

JORDAN: That was a rare occasion of Donald Trump staying it on message. As we`ve learned this campaign cycle, he`s absolutely obsessed with being televising he was before. I think Trump TV is the natural next step for him. And you look at the steps that his organization, the advisers closest to him that are -- that they`re taking to set up using his data and his e- mail list and the supporters that he`s amassed to turn it into money making operation. It really is a little con right now that`s happening to the Republican Party.

WALSH: But it could also -- both of these things could be true, that he may or may not be interested in that, but I think one interesting thing that we learned this week is this operation that Elise is talking about.

He has really taken the RNC`S own data. He owns republican data right now and his campaign CEO, Steve Bannon, associated with the alt-right, on the far right of the Republican Party, now is in a position to wage war against republicans. I mean, Steve Bannon has been waging war against Paul Ryan.

JORDAN: Hates Paul Ryan.

WALSH: Hates Paul Ryan. So they can either weaponize this data against the party or they can weaponize it as a -- as a new TV --

SHARPTON: So it`s not going to be over November 8th, both the national elections or the fights inside the national parties and we`re going to have a lot to that continues to happen.

Joan Walsh, Elise Jordan, thank you both for your time this morning.

WALSH: Thanks, Rev.

JORDAN: Thanks, Rev.

SHARPTON: Up next, Hillary Clinton has a powerful ally on her side. How a group of women, whom some known as the mothers of the movement, hope to get her in the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SHARPTON: For Hillary Clinton, the African-American vote may hold the key to the White House. And some of her most powerful allies on the trail are the women being called mothers of the movement. Five women whose children died at the hands of gun violence or police encounters. They were with her at the convention in Philadelphia. And they`ve been with her on the campaign trail as well.

GWENN CARR, MOTHER OF ERIC GARNER: Everybody, get out there and vote and take a friend.

LUCIA MCBATH, MOTHER OF JORDAN DAVIS: Help make her the 45th president of this United States.

SHARPTON: Clinton has praised their courage, promising to put gun violence and race relations at the center of her platform.

HILLARY CLINTON, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Their hearts were broken as any mother`s heart would be. But they have summoned the courage and the energy, the fierce sense of urgency, to try to do what they can to help us meet the challenges we face in our country.

SHARPTON: Joining me now are two of those women, Gwenn Carr, mother of Eric Garner, and Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis. And let me say a way of full disclosure, I`ve been part of the movement, their mothers up, but they`re in the campaign, which is another phase of their activity. Thank you both for being here today.

MCBATH: Thank you for having us. Always a pleasure.

SHARPTON: Let me ask you, Miss Carr. What do you expect Secretary Clinton to do about policing and crime in America if she wins?

CARR: I really think she`ll step up to the plate because she has promised us this. We all was in a meeting with her in Chicago last September, and she came in there, she took notes, she asked us what can she do for us. And if she was to become president, what would we like for her to do. I think she came in there as a politician, but she left with a little bit of all of the mothers.

We need someone like her, because she is a qualified individual. And I think right now she`s the only qualified individual that`s on the ballot.

SHARPTON: I know when she spoke at several forums including national action network convention that she had with -- that she came to us, she gave specifics. Would gun violence, Lucia, a specific question of how we deal with gun violence, and what happened to Jordan is something that has concerned many Americans? What do you think she will do and has since she would do around gun violence?

MCBATH: Well, Secretary Clinton has said over and over again, all across the nation that first and foremost she does believe in the second amendment rights for individuals to be able to bear arms, protect themselves, and their families, that is not what she`s trying to chip away at. But what she does believe is that we have to have regulations not so much regulations, but common sense laws put in place, background check legislation for all federal gun sales.

You know, she said over and over again that, you know, we have to build upon the legislative initiatives that President Obama has put in place to make sure that people in this country do not have to be in fear of being gunned down senselessly to the extreme gun violence.

SHARPTON: Now, Donald Trump, her opponent, has used some interesting language to appeal to African-American voters to vote for him. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The danger, the crime, the lack of education, no jobs. African- Americans are living in hell in the inner cities. I mean, they`re living - - they`re living in hell. You walk to the store for a loaf of bread, you get shot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: I mean, when you hear him say that, we`re living in hell, African-Americans, you walk to the store, you get shot. How do you feel when you hear him say that?

CARR: You know, I don`t know where he`s living. We have some affluent afro American people. I think that he`s just generalizing, he`s putting all afro Americans in one basket.

SHARPTON: Lucia?

MCBATH: Well, I think it`s a very discriminatory and blatantly outright racist statement that he made. I definitely take offense to that. As you will begin to see that the mothers of the movement, we represent all of minority America. And so we come from all religious backgrounds, and educational upbringing, we all come from different communities and so that`s very blatantly racist.

SHARPTON: And even different generations.

MCBATH: Absolutely. Absolutely. So for him to make a blanket statement like that, I know that minorities all over the country have definitely taken issue with that divisive and discriminatory rhetoric.

SHARPTON: Now, what`s it like been out there? I mean, I`ve marched with both of you and we`ve dealt a lot of things, but now you`re out there on the political road and I ran for president. I know how that can be gruesome. What has it been like? What has surprised you out there campaigning?

CARR: Well, it`s awesome, really. I never experienced it before. But now I know the meaning of living out of a suitcase. And dealing with different people, going to different forums, going to different churches, universities. And the crowds, you know, once you -- they open up to you, it is really, really awesome.

SHARPTON: It`s energizing.

CARR: Yes, very energizing.

SHARPTON: Lucia, what has surprised you, if anything?

MCBATH: Well, I think the thing is that even though we come from all sectors of society, most people that we`ve come in contact with, most people that I`ve talked to, we all want the same thing. When you start talking about politics and the politics of making sure that everybody has a place in this nation, truly we all really want the same thing, we`re just going about it in different directions.

SHARPTON: Gwenn Carr and Lucia McBath, thank you for being with me this morning.

CARR: Thank you.

MCBATH: Thank you so much.

SHARPTON: That does it for me. Thanks for watching. And keep the conversation going. Like us at facebook.com/politicsnation. And follow us on twitter @PoliticsNation. I`ll see you back here next Sunday.

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