Were going to get the job done. Jonathan as President Bidens alarming new poll number. I have been doing this as long as anybody, and guess what . Ill continue to do it with your help. Jonathan the latest on the 2024 race with democratic senator chris coons, republican governor chris sununu, plus our powerhouse round table. Pivotal summit. The United States commitment to the g20 summit hasnt wavered. Jonathan taking on russia and china as their leaders skip the gathering. And the latest on the powerful earthquake in morocco leaving over 2,000 dead. Secretary of state Antony Blinken joins us this morning. Plus were in our strongest position yet to fight covid19. Jonathan covid cases rising again across the nation. Dr. Anthony fauci with what you need to know. Jonathan good morning, and welcome to this week. Republican president ial candidates flock to the iowa versus iowa state Football Game this weekend as there are signs everywhere that the 2024 president ial campaign is already in full swing. And on the democratic side, this week President Bidens team launched a 25 Million Ad Campaign. One spot touting the Biden Economic record, another dramatically telling the story of the president s trip to ukraine in february. An ad designed to push back on concerns about bidens age, showing a man on the move, swiftly making his way into a war zone, but it all feels less like a sprint to election day than a Campaign Running around in circles playing out a repeat in 2016 when donald trump took an early lead and never looked back and a repeat of 2020. Trump versus biden all over again. Sure theres been some movement on the republican side. Desantis down, haley up, but at the moment, trumps standing among republicans is as dominant as ever. For democrats this week, a new cnn poll landed with a thud. President bidens Approval Rating slipping below 40 . Despite all that talk about bidenomics, a majority saying bidens policies have made the Economic Conditions worse, and then theres this. Twothirds of democraticaligned voters say the party should nominate someone else, someone besides biden in 2024. This is just the latest indication that a majority of democrats are looking for an alternative that just doesnt seem to be there. Democratic leaders point to real signs that bidens policies are working. Inflation is down. Unemployment remains historically low. Economic growth is strong, but if the news is good, theres no indication that voters are feeling it. Were going to speak with leaders in both parties about all of this starting with President Bidens key ally in the senate, chris coons of delaware. So senator coons, you see the grim poll numbers and its not just this latest cnn poll. What does the biden team do . What does the president need to do to convince the American People that his policies are working and that he should be reelected . Well, the great news is that President Biden has a very strong record to run on, that what weve gotten accomplished in congress and what hes done here at home and abroad on the world stage has made a stronger has built a strong and recovering economy, and has put us on a great path forward, whether its signing into law bipartisan bills that strengthen infrastructure and brought 13. 5 million new quality jobs to our economy, or its signing into law and now implementing the first reduction and Prescription Drug prices in a generation. Whether its closing background check loopholes for guns to improve gun safety in this country, or investing in Community Mental health. Hes got a great record to run on, and jon, ill just mention were 14 months away from the election. At this same point in 2007, the similar head to head polls would have predicted mitt romney as our next president and in 2011 would have predicted Rudy Giuliani as our next president. I may have gotten that backwards, but the larger point was that this far out, it doesnt actually matter what a head to head poll says. What matters is whats your record. Jonathan i would certainly concede that head to head polls this far out dont mean much, but there is something were seeing consistently, and that is that democratic voters saying that they want somebody else to run. In this latest cnn poll, its 67 of democratic and democraticleaning voters say they want somebody else to be the democratic nominee. Why . Well, jon, as you know, our president , joe biden says all the time, dont compare me to the almighty. Compare me to the alternative, and the republican primary field, the alternative seems clearly to be donald trump, and if not donald trump, someone who will hold the same policies that he does, that are antichoice, that are racing to embrace the extremism that caused january 6th, and that are choosing things like the nra over the safety of our children. So i think as this Campaign Comes into focus in the coming year, the record President Biden has to run on, will move those polls in a very positive direction. Theres a lot of americans that have seen that President Biden is a seasoned, capable leader on the world stage. Hes just left india where at the g20 he demonstrated how hes masterfully pulled together 47 countries in support of ukraine and the defense of ukraine. Those other countries have contributed as much as we have. They are sustaining ukraines brave fight against russian aggression. Today hes in vietnam taking another step in strengthening our alliances in the indopacific where hes already shown great leadership with australia, with japan, with south korea, and hes continuing in that direction. Here at home, we have record low unemployment. 50 years we havent had this level of unemployment for this long. Inflation is down. Jobs are being created. Manufacturing is being brought back to the United States, and i frankly think, jon, all of these point in a positive direction for our president s reelection next year. Jonathan let me ask you about the latest news out of the special counsel, david weiss investigating the president s son, hunter. Weve learned he plans to pursue an indictment on gun charges on the gun charges before the end of the month. Heres what President Biden had to say about all of this four months ago. Sir, there is something personal thats affecting you. Your son, while theres no ties to you could be charged by your department of justice. How will that impact your presidency . First of all, my sons done nothing wrong. I trust him. I have faith in him. Jonathan hes said that many times, his son did nothing wrong. So let me ask you. Youre close to the president. Do you have a sense hes obviously not going to interfere. He says hes not interfering with this investigation, but when he learns that his sons going to be now indicted on this gun charge, whats his reaction . Jon, theres no news here. This is the same charge that u. S. Attorney weiss was preparing to go to a resolution here in the court in delaware. He was deep in addiction, hunter biden was, when he misrepresented that on a background check form. Thats been publicly known for a long time now. He was late on paying his taxes twice, and in a reuters poll last week, a majority of americans, twothirds of americans made it clear that they know the difference between hunter biden and his legal challenges and donald trump. Hunter biden is not going to be on the election polls. Hes not standing for election next november. Donald trump likely is, and the four different legal matters where Donald Trumps been charged with 83 counts stand in stark contrast as the reporter who asked that question you just played recognized, theres no ties between President Biden and his conduct as president and these regrettable matters with hunter biden. Hunters looking forward to resolving this, to moving forward with his life and his recovery, and i frankly admire the fact that President Biden stands by his son. Jonathan but does it may not implicate his leadership as president , and i dont believe it will have an impact on his reelection. Jonathan does he believe his son is being unfairly prosecuted . I wont speak for him on that matter, but he is committed to staying out of this, to allowing the department of justice to conduct what has now been a fiveyear investigation, and to move forward with this matter as they should, and i think that stands in sharp contrast to his predecessor who interfered in lots of matters at the department of justice. Joe biden knows about the importance of the rule of law, and of staying out of this particular matter, and of having a handsoff approach to how the department of justice conducts its inquiries and its ongoing business. So i respect that about President Biden. Jonathan all right. Senator chris coons, thank you for joining us. Joining us now is the republican governor of New Hampshire, chris sununu. Governor sununu, i want to ask you about the news this weekend. We saw former President Trump was just endorsed by south dakotas republican governor kristi noem. By any count hes up to i think four republican endorsements. Do you anticipate more republican governors getting online, getting on board with trump . You know republican governors. You you are one. I do. Look. My sense is theres a lot of governors sitting on the sidelines saying, how does this all play out . Just like most of the Republican Base is, like, theres a lot of time to go. Weve only had one debate. Were just starting to talk about the issues. The candidates are really on the ground. The fact that the former President Trump is a former president , the leader of the party, and he doesnt even really have 50 of the Republican Base support tells you theres a real problem there. Thats actually an incredibly low number. So you have all these other candidates out there, seven or eight of them at this point. That fields going to keep winnowing down, and that other candidate is undoubtedly going to beat him by the time the convention rolls around. The candidates have the discipline to narrow the field, theyll get there. In terms of endorsements, if hes a former sitting incumbent president and the leader of the party and he has four republican governors behind him, that tells you theres a problem. Jonathan in my senses talking to republican governors is a lot of them who have not endorsed anybody have real qualms about donald trump. You arent afraid to express those, but is it time for republican governors who do have concerns to get out there and to get behind somebody else . I mean, its going to be too late pretty soon, isnt it . No. It wont be too late. I think its important that everyone has a voice. I mean, and people can modulate and decide what that voice is going to be. Every state is a little bit different, but Everybody Needs to be talking about where they stand. Its inflation. Its the border crisis. Its a lack of financial control. Its all these things that were actually good ideas by the former president. He brought those ideas in 17, 18, and that didnt get done. We need to find a conservative leader who can fulfill on the mission. Thats all. Theres a lot of great opportunities in the field now. I mean, voters really wont decide until who theyre going to be voting for until maybe november or december time frame. Kids are getting back to school. Theyve come off summer vacation. The average voter will start getting engaged as the october time frame comes and if you can get down to six candidates by iowa, three or four by New Hampshire, youll have a oneonone race going into super tuesday, and thats where the former president is really in trouble. You have leverage in New Hampshire. Are you going to be making an endorsement before the primary . I would think so, yeah. Im not very good about being coy. When i figure out who im voting for, ill let everybody know. Jonathan whos on your short list . Who are you looking at . I wouldnt say theres a short list. Im with all the candidates. Im a big believer good retail politics translate into good retail management. Thats what the white house needs, someone who understands whats happening in everyday lives as opposed to just watching the media all the time. If you have been to these events, they arent talking about january 6th. Theyre asking about inflation, border security, and theyre asking about things and issues Mental Health, the opioid crisis. New hampshire, we have the lowest poverty rate in the country, but people here are seeing the crisis in california. Theyre saying, what are you going to do about the Mental Health crisis, the homelessness crisis that the left wing agenda has completely, you know, ignored in places like california . Theyre americans too. We have to look at the Broad Spectrum of whats happening across the country. Those are the questions being asked. The media just talks about january 6th and indictments, but the average voter isnt there right now. Theyre looking at the issues that will impact them and their families. Jonathan you see momentum with nikki haley . She seemed to get a boost after that first debate. Yeah. Oh, without a doubt. I think nikki haley did very well. I think vivek did what he needed to do. Everybody was talking about him the next day. I think mike pence looked incredibly strong. I think ron desantis did well. He looked president ial, and he wasnt being attacked so he was hitting the questions headon. Doug bergum is spending money and he talks the right issues. Theres a lot of time jonathan you didnt mention chris christie. Chris christie . Chris is doing a great job. God bless chris, man. He goes nuclear on the president and hes got his own style. His poll numbers are surging through the roof especially here in New Hampshire where hes putting time on the ground. He connects with folks. Again, hes a governor, right . I tend to be pretty partial to governors because what the white house needs more than ever is true executive leadership. Someone who kind of says the buck stops here. The biggest problem that a lot of us republican governors going back to your first question has, with the former president was fauci, right . Every day we were on those calls and every day fauci was there, and a lot of us kept saying, mr. President , when are you getting rid of fauci . He never did. He kept putting him out there as the voice of america on this stuff and hes got to be held accountable to that frankly. A lot of folks in the base arent forgetting those types of things. Jonathan were just about out of time. You stand by what you told me in july when you said, quote, the republican nominee is not going to be donald trump . Youre still confident of that . Nor will the democrat nominee be joe biden. Jonathan okay. Governor chris sununu, thank you for joining us. Coming up, President Biden is in vietnam after the g20 summit in india as the death toll after that powerful earthquake in morocco climbs past 2,000. Were on the scene and secretary of state Antony Blinken joins us next. My frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. For one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. One pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. Honey. Honey. Dayquil severe honey. Powerful cold and flu symptom relief with a honeylicious taste. Because life doesnt stop for a cold. Dayquil honey, the daytime, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, honeylicious, power through your day, medicine. Want luxury hair repair that doesnt cost 50 . Pantenes provitamin formula repairs hair. As well as the leading luxury bonding treatment. For softness and resilience, without the price tag. If you know. You know its pantene. The pandemic may be over, but unfortunately covid19 isnt going anywhere. In fact, its still among the top five leading causes of death in the us, right after Heart Disease and cancer. And covid19 related er visits are three times higher than the flu. So stay uptodate with the latest covid19 vaccines this fall, just like you do with the flu. Because youve got no time for 19. Stay uptodate with the latest covid19 vaccines. Jonathan some harrowing scenes there from morocco as search and rescue operations continue following a powerful earthquake friday. Lets get to Tom Soufi Burridge who is in morocco with the very latest. Good morning, tom. Reporter good morning, jon. Yeah, the death toll here quickly rising with more than 2,000 people confirmed killed by that devastating earthquake with a similar number injured, but in reality, jon, the true casualty toll is still not clear because the quake flattened hardtoreach mountainous communities south of marrakesh. A desperate search and rescue operation is under way there. The military drafted in with moroccos king promising to accelerate relief efforts and address the supply of Drinking Water and food in badly affected areas, but mountainous roads towards the epicenter are littered are rocks. Many buildings in those towns and villages made from basic materials which stood little chance against powerful tremors. It was the most deadly earthquake to hit morocco in more than 60 years. We found people sleeping on the streets of marrakesh for a second night too afraid to return to their homes. President biden saying the u. S. Is ready to provide any assistance, and a small team will travel here to help identify unmet humanitarian needs. Jon . Jonathan horrific. Tom, thank you. Earlier i spoke with secretary of state Antony Blinken. I began by asking him about the devastation in morocco. Mr. Secretary, thank you for joining us. I want to begin with that devastating earthquake this weekend in morocco. What is the United States doing to assist in the relief, recovery, search, and rescue operation there . Jon, youre right, it is devastating and we reached out immediately to the moroccan government, made very clear to them that we were prepared to assist in any way that we can. We have the u. S. Agency for International Development which takes the lead in efforts mobilizing, and were waiting to hear how we can be of most assistance, and were tracking this carefully. Our hearts go out to the people of morocco who suffered this devastating earthquake, and we want to help in any way that we can. Jonathan i want to return to your trip. You went to ukraine this week. You went from there to the g20 meeting in india. It does not explicitly condemn russias actions in ukraine. Why is it that you couldnt get World Leaders to agree on a statement calling out russias aggression as theyve done in the past . Well, the leaders here all stood up very clearly, including in the statement for ukraines sovereignty, for its territorial integrity. I think the statements a very strong one, and what i heard in the room as well makes very clear that virtually every member of the g20 perhaps minus one is intent on making sure that there is a just and durable end to this russian aggression, and leader after leader in the room made clear that for the rest of the world too, the consequences of what russia has done are having a terrible, terrible impact. Food insecurity around the world, you know, ukraine had been the bread basket of the world for so many years. Russia blockaded its ports after the invasion. A deal was negotiated to allow them to get out. Russia tore it up. That was while that deal was enforced, 30 million tons of grain were getting out of ukraine, and mostly to developing countries including countries that are represented here at the g20. 18 billion loaves of bread, and because of russia that stopped. It was very clear in the room going around the table that countries are feeling the consequences and want the russian aggression to stop, and i think the statement reflects the strong support that virtually every country in the g20 has for ukraine and its territorial integrity and sovereignty. Jonathan it doesnt explicitly condemn russias action which was done in the previous g20 statement, but let me move onto your time in ukraine. You spent quite a bit of time with president zelenskyy. What is your sense . How does he see this ending . Does he see himself coming to a negotiating table with the russians at some point . How does this end . Well, first, i found both president zelenskyy and every ukrainian that i met, whether it was folks in the government or whether it was many other ukrainians that we had the chance to engage with over the course of those days, incredibly resilient, incredibly resolute, and ultimately thats at the heart of this and the reason i remain confident in ukraines ultimate success which is that theyre fighting for their country, for their future, for their freedom. The russians are not, and putin has already lost what he was trying to do. He was trying to erase ukraine from the map, end its independence. Hes tried to subsume them into russia. That has been a failure. Where this settles, where lines are drawn, that will be up to ukrainians, but ive found a strong determination to get their territory back thats seized by russia, and as to negotiations, jon, it takes two to tango. Jonathan sure. And thus far, we see no indication that Vladimir Putin has any interest in meaningful diplomacy. If he does, i think the ukrainians will be the first to engage, and hell be right behind them. Everyone wants this war to end, but it has to end on just and terms and durable terms that reflect ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. Jonathan last question. We understand that the United States is considering sending those long range missiles that ukraine has been asking for, for a long time. These are long range missiles, 200 miles in range. Are you okay if those missiles allow y2k to attack deep into ukraine to attack deep into russian territory . Jon, first, we have had an ongoing conversation and engagement almost daily with ukrainians since the start of the russian aggression about what they need, when they need it, and all along, weve worked bringing together dozens of countries to make sure that they have in hand what they need to defend themselves and thats been a moving picture. Its been moving with the conflict itself from trying to make sure they were defending kyiv which they did so successfully early on, to trying to take back their territory in the south and east. At any given time, were looking and part of the reason i was in ukraine again was to hear directly from president zelenskyy who had been to the front lines, their perspective on how things were going, and what it is that they needed to be successful, all of which i report back to my colleagues in washington, but i think its a mistake to focus on any given system because whats so important is for anything we do and other countries do in support of ukraine, are they able to maintain . Can they use it effectively . Were working on that every single day. In terms of their targeting decisions, its their decision, not ours. Jonathan did you bring as a matter, we havent encouraged im sorry. Say that again . Jonathan weve seen an increasing number of attacks on russian territory by ukrainian drones. Some in moscow, just a couple of days ago. Did you bring that up or are you okay with no. Jonathan its their decision, but is this war escalating into russia . Jon, we havent encouraged them. We havent enabled any use of weapons outside of ukraines territory. Having said that, lets take a step back for a second. Virtually every single day the russians are attacking indiscriminately throughout the entire country of ukraine. Throughout the 48 hours that i was there going in, more missiles have launched at civilian targets including in kyiv. While i was there, a horrific attack on a marketplace. People just going to buy food. Civilians had nothing to do with this score. Killed 17 people. This is the daily life for ukrainians. This is what they face every single day. So they have to make the basic decisions about how theyre going to defend their territory and how theyre working to take back whats been seized from them. Our role of dozens of other countries is to help them do that and ultimately what we all want is an end to this russian aggression and an end to the aggression that again is just and is durable. Thats what ukrainians want more than anyone else. Thats what were working toward. Jonathan all right, mr. Secretary. Thank you for your time. Safe travels. Thanks, jon. Good to be with you. Jonathan the round table is next. Well be right back. You. Jonathan the round table is next. Well be right back. Its just changed so much. You can see what it once was. And then, i think about what it can be. As an entrepreneur, its about how i can give them the tools to empower themselves if we can just all do something small, all the small things will start to amount to something big. Thats why were here to help make it happen. [ ] how you feel can be affected by the bacteria in your gut. Try new align probiotic bloating relief plus food digestion. 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The president s age go hand in hand if you step if necessary. Are you prepared for that job . Yes. And how would you, you know, describe that process . Which process . Being ready for that to happen . Well, first of all, lets im answering your hypothetical, but joe bidens going to be fine. So that is not going to come to fruition. Jonathan theres Vice PresidentKamala Harris brushing off age concerns about President Biden. Were joined now by former dnc chair donna brazile, former new york republican congressman john katko, our political director rick klein, and polit politico plybook coauthor, rachel bade. I know youre not the nervous type, donna, but how concerned are democrats . These are this is not just this cnn poll. Theres a series of pretty devastating poll numbers for biden. Yeah. Yeah. Its going to been a x factor so with need to get used to it. I like the fact that joe biden is still willing and able to serve as president of the United States. It gives me high hopes for that moment when i turn 80, but the truth is jonathan a long time from now. Hell yeah. Let me tell you, ill enjoy every step along the way. I dont get up every morning and exercise. Joe biden gets up and exercises. I dont have to work 12 to 15hour days. Joe biden is working 15hour days. Joe biden has shown hes up for the job, willing to do the job. Is it an x factor . Yes. Should people be concerned . Of course. We should be concerned every day about our health and our vitality, but democrats also understand that joe biden has the experience to lead and the commitment to serve the American People, so while it might be an x factor, other factors will also come under consideration when we go to the polls some 420 days from now. Jonathan its the number i keep seeing is that democrats want somebody else. Of course. We also want another flavor of ice cream because the one we have been digging on is melting, but thats not the point here. The point here is look. Jonathan i dont know if thats on message. I mean, because im i like every ice cream, you know, in the freezer. The point im making is that you can also look at those polls, and when democrats say, were looking for someone new, someone different, but at the same time, they know joe biden. He know his commitment. They know his record. They know what hes done to help this country rebound after the pandemic and the president whose vision will have gas in his tank next year. Jonathan the 25 Million Ad Campaign dropped by President Biden, were 14 months away from the election, and this clues concern. You dont spend that money if you are not worried, but the biden team has said our economic policies are popular. This is where previous firstterm president s were polling, and all of that is true. You still have inflation which means prices are a lot higher and you have an older president. And that ukraine ad, that was all about vitality. That was all about showing him out there, and the fact theyre spending this kind of money, 20 million, 30 million this far away says theyre a lot more concerned privately or at least trying to address these issues than theyll ever say publicly. Theyre worried about this. They need to portray him in a different light. Jonathan and really what you hear from democrats privately, some publicly is ultimately its, you know, he has to beat trump. Despite what sununu told us hes not going to be the nominee, you know, that bidens beaten trump before. Hell beat him again. If you look at the poll, bidens negatives are baked in. Bidens numbers are baked in, and theyre not good, and despite how bad they are, some would say catastrophic, trump is not beating him. That shoots enough alarm bells in my opinion for the Republican Party. You have a group of people to put biden against and the only one that has a significant lead is nikki haley and shes almost three decades younger than biden and thats something you want to think about and the American People are looking at that. Donna might be cool as a cucumber, but this bedwetting were seeing amongst democrats, were seeing that. They make that joke themselves. There was polling this week we saw that showed a lot of voters, a significant amount of voters think that, you know, biden might have been part of or knew about what was going on with hunter biden making all this money from Foreign Companies when he was Vice President. So that doesnt bode well for him either. Jonathan the cnn poll said 61 of voters think that joe biden had some involvement. Again, no evidence that he did. Sure, no. This is showing where voters are right now, and this is why you do see some democrats right now say that biden needs to make more of a contrast with trump. He needs to talk about the legal challenges, the january 6th stuff. The white house is not touching that. Jonathan not at all . Theyre afraid this will make the process more political, but they are feeling they need to do something else, and this isnt working what theyre doing right now. I want to say something. Im an activist more than a Party Official or a party leader. Im not sleeping at night thinking all is well, okay . I have nieces and nephews who say, well, why should i vote for this guy . Hes a little old. You say, your papa was old too. Look what he did to help you. I think the democrats have to continue to make the case democrats should be concerned. We should run as if were ten points behind, not even so that the enthusiasm can be lifted up, but the bottom line is joe biden and Kamala Harris have a record, a record of accomplishment, and its not a grocery list. Its not like going to the Grocery Store and ticking off my favorite items. Its about showing theyve invested in the American People. Theyre growing the economy, and more people think things are made in america than ever before. Why . Because joe biden invested in that. So i think thats what the biden team should do, and im glad theyre spending some money because what good is money in the bank . Jonathan right. When your base is not happy . Jonathan theres no sign of any democratic challenge. Youve got rfk jr. Doing his campaign, and mary williamson, but they dont appear to be a significant threat to the nomination, and all those, you know, democratic governors, theres no sign of anybody jumping into this race obviously. You cant beat someone with nothing, and there is nothing right now that is getting no one has gotten in thats of substance. Bobby kennedy jr. Said he might run third party. Jonathan thats a threat. More concern about cornell west, no labels. Thats a bigger issue. The fundamentals of this, you would look at this, and where the president s polling and say, this is ripe for a challenge. How is the Party Standing by and watching this . Youve seen governor after governor, people like gavin newsom, and people like j. B. Prisker say were not going to get in the way. We wouldnt even get in the way of Kamala Harris if she ends up being the nominee. They all fall in line, but what happens if there is now a Third Party Candidate . If some of this angst manifests itself in a different kind of candidate outside of the party system. Jonathan now you know bobby kennedy, but also cornell west. I know all of the above and i believe that joe biden will be able to defeat them soundly in the democratic primary and also in the general election. Democrats have learned their lesson from ralph nader and jill stein. We cannot take any part of the Democratic Base for granted. Weve got to bring everybody back to the table. If i could add one thing, thats all true, and all the things you mentioned about bidens accomplishments already are true, and theyre well known, and yet he still has unbelievably bad numbers. So those numbers if you look at the polling over the last several months are getting worse. Theyre not getting better. So despite all his socalled achievements, hes in real trouble, and again, you go back to how is it the Republican Party doesnt look at this poll and realize theres a real opportunity if its not trump . Thats something i think theyve got to wrestle with over the next few months. Jonathan and part of the thing i want to act you about is the talk of the 14th amendment, speaking of trump, this idea that trump could be declared ineligible to be president again because he took apart of an insurrection or rebellion against the United States. Is that a Real Movement out there . This would be each states decision. I think this will go all the way up to the Supreme Court and well see how they rule, but its interesting to note that right after january 6th, there was actually a lot of private discussion amongst democrats on the hill about the 14th amendment and whether they could, you know, bar trump from Office Without a full impeachment. They didnt want to touch that with a 10foot pole. There was fear that would be overly aggressive, and it would strengthen trump in the long run. Even people who dont like him are fearful of this strategy because they think it could end up, you know, helping him get another term in the white house. Thats why you see people like mike pence who are against it and other trump critics. Jonathan brad raffensperger, the secretary of state of georgia. It would be interesting if he gets convicted of something in georgia. This was designed for people like robert e. Lee, known insurrectionists. Jonathan i want to turn to the situation in congress. Speaker mccarthy under enormous pressure for fear of impeachment. Impeachment for what . Unclear to me. You also have talk of a government shutdown. How real is the threat to mccarthy, and what will he do to save his speakership . This is the clash i think we have been waiting for since he took all those something 15 or something ballots when he had to cobble together this very uneasy coalition. Theres people saying shut it down, and the governor are saying, lets impeach joe biden or impeachment inquiry which they mocked when it was the democrats doing the same. If you do those things, they still might careen toward a shutdown. Hes in the drivers seat to an extent, but he only has as much power as theyll let him have. If hes going to have to navigate something, hell be in the uneasy position of not knowing where his own members will go. Jonathan remind us how this goes. The term is motion to vacate. We have to know that one. Jonathan a Single Member of the house is stand up and file a motion to vacate, and he needs to get more. The problem mccarthy has is a lot of these conservatives who very reluctantly backed him as speaker and a lot of times because, you know, donald trump was the one breathing down their necks to do so, they are souring op him and theyre asking him for things he cannot give them. On two issues, impeachment, he doesnt have the votes. There were moderate republicans who dont want to support impeachment. This is going to help joe biden. Newt gingrich who impeached bill clinton saying, make sure you have the evidence and cautioned them from doing this, and on governments funding, they want to cut spending, but it has to be bipartisan. Conservatives want to go to the low said. Ing levels and mccarthy is trying to cater to them, but funding has to be bipartisan. You have a Democratic Senate and a democratic white house, and its not going to fly. How is he going to navigate this . If he cant give them what he wants, and despite the circumstances its not up to him, conservatives will may him pay potentially and thats not good for him. Jonathan you have seen this play out. I miss congress. Not really. Its the same old song. You have mercenaries attempting to hold up the process. They dont know what theyre for, but they know how to disrupt. These are tough waters to 1 2 fate again, and sooner or later, the far right would be compelled to try and use a motion to vacate the chair. They dont know what else to do except disrupt and thats the ultimate disruption. Jonathan they want disruption. They want a shutdown. Tell me the last time a shutdown worked for the people who brought it. Ask ted cruz. It doesnt work. If they think thats going to be the ultimate thing, i think theyre sadly mistaken. It will not only hurt our economy, but the men and women who serve in our military. It will hurt our federal employees including those who protect our borders and our other securities. So i think its playing with matches and fire, but unfortunately this is the situation that Speaker Mccarthy finds himself. Hes given them too much power. When you give a chaotic caucus too much power, they will be disruptive. Jonathan shutdown bottom line . I want to watch donald trump. He wont stay silent. He has a lot of friends and loyalists on the hill, and is he urging this along and forcing the issue . Of course. Theres a chance hell play an active role. Jonathan thats all the time we have. Coming up, covid cases and hospitalizations are on the rise across the country. Well speak with dr. Anthony fauci next. Speak with dr. Anth fauci next. Offer on my car from carmax. In under two minutes. Well i got an instanter offer on my car. Even faster. Instanter . Thats not a thing. It is. Not even a word. I think you get instanter offers when youve had nine allstar appearances. 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I have explained to the press. I have been tested again today. I have been cleared across the board, but because it has to be ten days or something, i have to keep wearing it, but dont tell them i didnt have it on when it walked in. Jonathan thats President Biden joking about not wearing a mask after jill biden tested positive on monday. Its been a long time since we talked about the coronavirus pandemic on this program, but with cases rising and a new booster shot expected this week, we expect we wanted to check in with dr. Anthony fauci who is now a distinguished University Professor at georgetown university. Dr. Fauci, its great to have you back on the program. I want to start with that moment with President Biden joking about, you know, not wearing a mask. As i understand it, under current cdc guidelines, you should be wearing a mask indoors because obviously close contact with the first lady. Is it time for those guidelines to be revamped . Are they out of date . You know, the cdc continually, jon, relooks at the kinds of guidelines they put out. So i dont want to get ahead of them and say that they should, you know, change them, but certainly they reevaluate them intermittently to make sure theyre up to date with the current scientific knowledge. And i want to ask you about this current uptick. I mean, anecdotally, all of us either have had covid again or know somebody who has had covid again. How concerned are you . Whats your level of alarm about the Current Situation . Well, you know, jon, i wouldnt say that im alarmed, but im certainly keeping an eye on it. Theres no doubt as you know, and reported just a moment ago were having an uptick in cases which is being inflected by an uptick of about 17 or more of hospitalizations. Theres no doubt that this is going on, and since were now at the end of the summer, it is likely that that will increase as we get into the fall and the winter. So we need to be prepared for it. I dont think at all though again, you always have to keep yourself with an open mind with this virus. Its fooled us before, but given the level of immunity that we all have, that you just mentioned. In other words, people who have been vaccinated, boosted, people who have been infected like you and i where we have hybrid immunity, the chances of this being an overwhelming rush of cases and hospitalizations is probably low. So i think none of us in the Public Health field are predicting that this is going to be a tsunami of hospitalizations and deaths the way we saw a year or more ago. Thats the first part. The second part is that as you mentioned, were going to have boosters available shortly within a week or two hopefully before the end of september. Thats an xbb1 booster which is going to be pretty well matched to the kinds of viruses that are now circulating. If you look at the antibody responses, it should do well against the eg5 which is the major circulating and then the fl1. 5. 1, and theres another virus thats not prevalent at all, and its only in about nine or ten states, the ba. 2. 86 which the vaccine should work well too also. Jonathan these are highrisk categories but who should be taking that booster . Jon, i dont want to get ahead of the acip and their recommendation. My own personal feeling is that i believe certainly those who are vulnerable, the elderly and those with underlying conditions, but i believe we should give the choice to people who are not in the highrisk groups to have the vaccine available for them because again, we have experience with this type of vaccine in billions of people. Its a safe vaccine. Of course, with the mrna theres a very, very low risk particularly in young men of getting a myocarditis, but if you look at the risk of that, the risk from covid is greater than that of the vaccine and from my own personal standpoint, yeah, i would say make it available for even, but certainly recommend it for the highrisk people. Jonathan and were almost out of time, but i want to ask you theres a new study out that suggests that masks were actually not effective, at least not in a global sense in containing the pandemic. What is your sense looking back at all of this . Did masks prove to be less effective than you anticipated . You know, jon, some of the studies are confusing. The study that has been quoted a lot and causing a lot of confusion is this cochran study which even the people who run the cochran study say that that study can be misleading because people have commented on that study saying, absolutely masks dont work which is absolutely not the case because there are a number of studies that show that masks actually do work, and theres a lot of confusion when you take a broad series of studies and you look at them in a meta analysis. Only a couple of those studies have been specifically looking at covid, but you have to be careful that that study can be very, very misleading. Its a lot of data that masks work. Jonathan youve also said were not going to go back to the time of the federal mask mandates. Thats the thing of the past. I dont see that in the future at all. I can see that if we get a significant uptick in cases that you may see the recommendation that masks be used under certain circumstances and indoor, crowded settings, but i dont see them certainly not federal mandates. I would be surprised if i see that. There may be local organizations that may require masks, but what were going to see mostly are if the cases go up, that there might be recommendations, not mandates. Theres a big difference there. Jonathan all right. Dr. Anthony fauci, thank you for joining us. Thank you. Good to be with you. Jonathan all right. We will be right back. Us. Thank you. Good to be with you. Jonathan all right. We will be right back. Jonathan thats all for us today. Just a note before we go. Today is chuck todds final time moderating meet the press after nearly a decade in the chair. Hes been a fellow guide and a wor worthy whet or the, truth in complex times. A very warm welcome to another good friend, Kristin Welker as she starts on sunday mornings. Thank you for sharing part of your sunday with us. Check out world news tonight and a have a great day. Our inland valleys, mid and upper 50s. Right now, another 30 degrees of warming for near 90 today. Stay tuned. Abc seven mornings at 9 00 is next day event. Shop over 200 living rooms with sofas starting at 350 over 100. Bedrooms with queen beds starting at 150 and over 100. Dining rooms with dining sets starting at 250 plus pay no interest for 24 months on select purchases with your good credit