he is giving a speech to the people of poland. this is his first major remarks in a city overseas outdoors to a group like this. and we have seen some excerpts already. it's a fairly lofty sweefrpeech. he will talk about how people in the west succeeded now because of paper and regulations, but because they had the ability to chase their dreams. >> and let me ask you about a point that stuck out to me and i know you've covered the white house and you saw him on the campaign trail. he also tried to cast a little bit of doubt about the credibility of the intelligence assessment that russia was interfering. you pushed him hard to say that the 17 intelligence agencies were the ones that came out and said that they believe russia was definitively behind it. it seemed he once again reverted back to the campaign rhetoric where he would say well, we look the ed it's only three
the g-20 summit where that big meeting will happen. we know that the two -- at least russia wants to talk about the situation in syria, ukraine, the fight against isis. it remains unclear whether president trump will in fact bring up russia interference in the election. >> if we can keep you, we'd like to, but stand by. we want to take -- >> i have to run to a bus, gang. >> understandable. thanks for joining us. we actually want to go to the exchange between the president and hallie. and then we'll talk. >> well, i think it was russia and i think it could have been other people in other countries. could have been a lot of people interfered. i said it very simply, it could very well have been russia, but i think it could well have been other countries and i won't be specific. but i think a lot of people interfere. i think it's been happening for a long time. it's been happening for many, many years. the thing i have to mention is that barack obama when he was
november 8th, why did he do nothing. his people said he choked. i don't think he choked. >> so the followups for you, you again say you think it was russia. your intelligence agencies have been far more definitive. they say it was russia. why won't you agree with them and say it was? >> let me just start off by saying i heard it was 17 agencies. i said boy, that is a lot. do we even have that many agencies? it turned out to be three or four. it wasn't 17. and many of your compatriots had to change their reporting and apologize or correct. now, with that being said, mistakes have been made. i agree i think it was russia but i think it was probably other people and/or countries and i see nothing wrong with that statement. nobody really knows. nobody really knows for sure. i remember when i was sitting back listening about iraq. weapons of mass destruction.
how everybody was 100% sure that iraq had weapons of mass destruction. guess what? that led to one big mess. they were wrong. and it led to a mess. so it was russia and i think it was probably others, also. and that has been going on for a long period ever tiof time. but my big question is why did obama do nothing about it from august all the way to november. he did nothing about it and it wasn't because he choked. >> all right. we're haerlg tearing the presid there responding to her questions about whether or not he believes russia interfered in the u.s. elections. i want to bring in christopher dicky from "the daily beast." you heard that exchange. it's setting the stage for us in regards to the major conversation that we're looking forward towards on friday afternoon with president putin of russia. will the president confront him, talk to him about russia's
interference in the u.s. elections and also as well russia sort of casting a shadow over poland, as well, and the 3 cs considering their involvement and basically how poland is worried about their security when it comes to russia and along with energy as well. talk to me about that and your reaction to that exchange. >> well, there were a lot of mixed messages in the entire press conference by president trump and andre duda. when it comes to the question of will he confront putin on the question of interference in the american elections, apparently not. he really does not want to address that. i think that you can say clearly that he was blowing a lot of smoefr smoke. he was doing everything he could to avoid saying russia wanted to get him, donald trump, elected. which is what the intelligence community has concluded. again he attacks the intelligence community. about maybe we can't rely on the
fbi, the cia, the nsa because there are 17 members of the intelligence community and he didn't know that? it's pretty extraordinary stuff. maybe if you want to be charitable this is because he wants to try and have a reset in the relationship with russia and he is trying to reassure all these former satellites of the soviet union that he will protect them without by the way still without saying that he will honor article 5 of the nato treaty that guarantees that the u.s. will intervene to defend estonia, lithuania and latvia who are members of nato as well as poland. so he was sending a lot of mixed messages. we'll protect poland, we'll be good with poland, we'll protect our friends, especially if they pay their nato dues. but at the same time, we didn't want to point the finger at russia too much. i think the big takeaway from the meeting with putin pretty clearly is going to be about fighting isis.
i think the u.s. is moving the question of assad and whether he stays or goes into the back ground and it's going to try and announce with putin that there will be coordinated action against isis. and that is about as much as we can expect from that meeting at least in public. >> and let's me ask you aboe l response about the question regarding north korea. if he was sending mixed signals to some of the european allies about the russia issue and having their back vis-a-vis russia, certainly a different tone about ambiguity when it came to what he is going to do about north korea. he said they were behaving very badly, but still not giving any definitive plan of action as to how he plans on curtailing that threat. >> and that is because he doesn't know what to do. he's already sent three carrier battle groups into the waters off the korean peninsula and at the same time, we're hearing that there can't possibly be a
war because hundreds of thousands of south korea onnia s s will be killed if that happens. basically seoul is being held hostage by north korea because of its artillery positions and other weapons that are trained on the capital. so he can't go to war. he has tried to rely on china, but he's been disappointed in china's performance because china's big concern is it doesn't want to get rid of kim jong- jong-un, it doesn't wants entire regime of north korea to collapse because then there will be a massive refugee issue and all kinds of ancillary problems for dhoochina. so awful these thill of these tg on and he doesn't have an answer. so he's being ambiguous because in fact he doesn't know what he's going to do. >> christopher dickey, thank you very much. keir simmons now. in talking about the precarious position that the president is in considering all of the things that are on the table in this conversation when it comes to president putin, it's hard to
understand how he will approach this going forward not only speaking of the position that he's in with poland and eastern europe, but also considering russia's role in the u.s. elections. how much is riding on this conversation and considering russia's role in syria as well and speaking to what christopher dickey just touched on? >> reporter: well, a lot is riding on the meeting with president putin. the optics will be crucial and what actually comes out of it will be very important. let's just mention that president trump did talk about russia as destabilizing. that is a crucial criticism. so while he is not fully criticizing russia for intervention in the u.s. elections, he did seem prepared to criticize russia in other ways. so the question then is what will he say to president putin when he sees them as christopher dickey mentioned, he may be looking for trying to emerge from that meeting with some kind of declaration about the fight
against isis. whether that makes a difference on the ground in syria is a different question because that in and of itself is extremely complex, extremely difficult to simply talk about a fight against isis without taking in all of the other issues in syria. and then in terms of north korea, look, i think one of the questions during the g-20 summit will be how much attention in the u.s. is focused on that meeting with president putin while president trump will have a crucial and perhaps more important meeting with president xi of china because that is where the north korea question really comes up, although he russia has appeared to build an alliance with china over north korea. but that could be a testy meeting. and what we heard from nikki haley overnight was a suggestion that the u.s. reserves the right to take military action, but could also resort to trade action in relation to china unless china begins to clamp down economically on north korea. now, you know, say it quietly,
we're not there yet, but that brings about the spectacle of a trade war with china. that would be extremely economically damaging and could easily be a slippery slope that could lead to problems for u.s. companies, many u.s. auto manufacturers for example during important work in china setting selling a lot of cars in china. so all of this is so complex and i think what you have to take away is the complexity of it maybe just glon straights how difficult the next few days will be. >> certainly complex. i want to listen in now to 3 cs conference. this includes all 12 countries of eastern europe. >> as it's been said many times before, the impossible has become the possible. and thanks to the 11 leaders in this room, i think that the expression will become the story of this incredible initiative.
i want to con grat late you gru the great job you've done. this region has special significant to me as you know, my wife is slovania. every one of your nations has an inspiring story. you've overcome years of oppression and you all are united by the hope that your citizens will flourish, your commerce will prosper and your countries will thrive. that's what is going to happen. because i know the people. there is a spirit of hope that brings us all together. open fair and energy markets bring greater prosperity to all of our to citizens. we are sitting on massive energy and we are now exporters of energy. so whenever you need energy, just give us a call. on on behalf of the american people, let immediate say that
we stand with the 3 cs nations. beautiful nations by the way. beautiful country. we support your drive for greater prosperity and security. we applaud your in addition difference to expand infrastructure, we welcome this historic opportunity to deepen our economic partnership with your region. it's been 28 years since your brave sit tcitizens lifted the curtain and defeated communism, yet much of the infrastructure within central and eastern europe has remained a relic of the old soviet era. pretty incredible. your people have been held back by the old roads, rail ways and pipelines that still operate on restricted systems. the 3 cs initiative will transform and rebuild the entire region and ensure that your infrastructure like your commitment to freedom and rule of law binds you to all of
europe and indeed to the west. the united states strongly supports the creation of the 3 cs business forum so that your countries can build cutting edge projects with the best talent in the energy industry and do so under budget and ahead of skuof school. i love that sound. underbudget and ahead of schedule. nothing like it. new energy infrastructure is essential. we hope that the 3 cs nations will advance the same goals we're working on to achieve for our people in america. we're doing tremendously well. our stock market just hit an all-time high. we have in 16 years it's the lowest unemployment rate. our military is getting stronger and stronger. we're adding billions and billions of new equipment. the best equipment in the world. we make the best equipment in the world by far. we're adding many billions of
dollars of brand new equipment. and the united states is doing very well, very strong. we've taken off restrictions and people are moving hard. so when i say that the stock market is at an all-time high, we've picked up in market value almost $4 trillion since november 8th, which was the election. $4 trillion. a lot of money. personally i picked up nothing, but that is all right. everyone else is getting rich. that's okay. i'm very happy. greater access to energy markets, fewer barriers to energy trade and development and strengthening energy security is what we're looking to do. the 3 cs initiative has the potential to accomplish all of these essential objectives and very quickly because you have incredible people. and they will get it done quick cannily. i congratulate your nations for already beginning the critical projects that open us up to greater access and you will be
totally open and have access to energy markets and remove barriers to energy trade such as floating lng terminal on the croatian island of kirk. did you ever hear of that, right? you know all about that. i'll bet you know all about it. these projects and many others are kruf shal tcrucial to ensur your nations continue to diverse if i your supp suppliers and routes. and i also applaud pursuing a pipeline from the black sea. we just approved the keystone pipeline. it was under consideration for many, many years and it was dead. and i approved it in my first day of office and it's now under construction. and another pipeline be sides that, big ones. dakota access. the united states is proud to
see that our abundant energy resources are already helping the 3 cs nations achieve much needed energy diversification. in fact, i want to take this opportunity to congratulate the government and people of poland for receiving their first shipment of u.s. liquefied natural gas last month and you made a very good deal i understand. let me be clear about one crucial point. the krund wiunited states will e energy to coerce your nations. you don't want a monopoly. the united states is firmly committed to open, fair and competitive markets for global energy trade. america will be a faithful and dependable partner in the export and sale of our high quality and low cost energy resources and tech be knowledg nole tech be k. we make the best technology for
fighter jets, ships and equipment. all over the world i talk about the greatness of our military equipment and nobody comes close. so when you buy military equipment, hopefully you will be thinking only of the united states. with the expanded trade and new infrastructure, we will unleash incredible energy innovation that is safe, responsible and environmentally friendly.united states supports a common sensitive approach to protecting that will resources. one that responsibly balances economic growth, job creation and energy security. we invite all countries to work with us to achieve this objective and to develop innovative technologies that empower nations around the world to be faithful stewards of their natural resources while lifting millions out of poverty and into great and beautiful futures.
the 3 cs initiative will not only empower your people to prosper, but it will ensure that your nation also remain sovereign, secure and free from foreign coermpanerciocoercion. the 3 seas nations will stand stronger than they ever have before. when your nations are strong, all the free nations of europe are stronger and the s stronger as well. it can bring greater paereace, prosperity and safety. this is largely about energy because we are that great good port ex-porter. we've just become what is going on in our country is incredible. and i hope you take advantage of it by using these resources. i'm thrilled to join you today and i want everyone to know that the united states supports your bold efforts. these projects will improve countless lives across the
region and throughout the world. america will be your strongest ally and steadfast partner in this truly historic initiative. so congratulations to everybody. and we stand ready, willing and able to help with your energy needs and other needs as they come along. thank you very much. >> you're looking at live pictures out of warsaw where president trump gave his remarks at what is being describeds a t satisfies the three seas initiative and praising the initiatives as they try to rebuild after years of what he describe bd as oppression. some of those countries obviously part of the soviet influence. so we're now looking at live pictures of the polish president that you saw president trump there speak for a few miptdew m. we'll have more extended
coverage out of warsaw as president trump makes his first trip to that country after the break. stay with us. noo introducing the easiest way to get gillette blades text "blades" to gillette on demand text to reorder blades with gillette on demand... ...and get $3 off your first order so we know how to cover almost almoanything.hing even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪
get a free sample at depend.com. ♪ ♪ award winning interface. award winning design. award winning engine. the volvo xc90. the most awarded luxury suv of the century. visit your volvo dealer today and get up to $4,500 in allowances. welcome back, everybody. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top story. president trump taking questions from reporters less than an hour ago in poland where he addressed among other things this week's intercontinental ballistic missile by north korea. take a listen. >> in lights of north korea's latest icbm testing, do you
think they are beyond redemption or is there a chance that they might make a u-turn and are you willing and ready to launch military action against them? >> as far as north korea is concerned, i don't know. we'll see what happens. i don't like to talk about what i have planned. but i have some pretty severe things that we're thinking about. that doesn't mean that we will do them. i don't draw red lines. president obama drew a read line and i was the one that made it look a little bit better than it was. but that could have been done a lot sooner and you wouldn't have had the same situation that you ever right now in syria. that was a big mistake. but i think we'll just take a look at what happens over the coming weeks and months with respect to north korea. it's a shame that they are behaving this way, but they are behaving in a very, very dangerous manner and something will have to be done about it. >> joining us live again keir
simmons. good to have you with us. you're in germ ananygermany. tomorrow the big g-20 summit. european leaders watching closely. what are european leaders looking to hear from president trump and do you think given what we just heard in that exchange about north korea, russia and what have you he hit some of those benchmarks for them? >> reporter: well, what the european leaders would like to hear the most is that president trump specifically reference article 5 of nato which pledges nato including the united states will defend all its members. he appeared to kind of suggest that during the news conference. but perhaps not as explicitly as the europeans would have liked. in terms of north korea, clearly this g-20 summit is happening while what is increasingly looking like an unfolding crisis
is taking place in asia. overnight the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. nikki haley has been pretty straightforward saying that the u.s. reserves the right to take military action and suggesting that if not that, it might look at taking trade action perhaps against china which has the ability to clamp down economically on north korea. and president trump seems to reinforce that, underscore that in his comments saying i have some pretty severe things that we are thinking about and then at the same time in that news conference that you saw as we've seen so many times the president kind of somewhat diverted by question over fake news and that controversy surrounding his tweet with his wrestling tweet that most people would have seen in relation to cnn. let's take a listen to what he had to say about that. >> sensitive you started the whole wrestling video thing, what are your thoughts about
what has happened since then? cnn went after you and threatened to expose the identity of the person responsible for it. >> i think what cnn did was unfortunate for them. now they have some pretty serious problems. they have been fake news for a long time. they have been covering me in a very dishonest way. do you have that, also, by the way, mr. president? with cnn and others. nbc is xwaulequally as bad desp the fact that i made them a fortune with at prentiss oth"th but they forgot that. cnn are has taken it too seriously and i think that they have hurt themselves very badly. very, very badly. and what we want to see in the united states is honest, beautiful, free but honest press. we want to see fair press. i think it's a very important thing. we don't want fake news.
>> reporter: what we went on to see was a clear example the way the president's comments echo around the world. the polish president using that as an opportunity to criticize some polish media. all of this of course sets the scene for the g-20 that will take place here in hamburg, president trump's most important two meetings aside from meeting with angela merkel will be his meeting with the chinese president xi where north korea will inevitably come up. that could be a tough meeting, that could be an exexplosive meeting honestly. and at the same time, he will then go on to meet with president putin we think tomorrow evening. so many questions that will come up there and perhaps for the u.s. one of the primary ones will be will president trump bring up the question of russian alleged intervention in the u.s. elections. >> let's talk a little bit on north korea. the president there in that press conference being asked if north korea was beyond redemption.
his first answer sort of being we'll see what happens here. but he then went on to say after talking for a little bit that something does have to be done. obviously that subject coming up when he meets with the president of china there and you mentioning of course how tense of a conversation that can be. a lot of the conversations surrounding north korea is does a global coalition has to be formed in order to squeeze north korea out a bit despite the fact that their main resources are coming from china, global coalition do create even a stronger force there. talk to us a little bit about that and what the stakes are there. >> reporter: look, the consensus is that the u.s. has no good options when it comes to north korea. if you take military action, north korea has its conventional missiles trained on south korea including seoul where millions of people live. thousands of u.s. service maend women are in south korea. so there is that extreme risk
from a anything taker intervention by the u.s. as nikki haley the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. seemed to suggest overnight, if you look at taking trade action against china, which might be popular in the u.s. to try to push china to take economic action against north korea, that could ratchet up very, very quickly and for example many u.s. automatic towed manufactuauto manufacturers have huge interests in china. the chinese know that. so if it ends in a trade war with china, that would be extremely economically damaging for north america and the whole world honestly. so there are no good options because at the same time, it is pretty clear now that the north korean leader is determined to gain nuclear -- a nuclear missile capable of reaching the u.s. mainland and clearly no u.s. president is going to be prepared to accept that. >> we'll certainly continue you're coverage of the
president's visit to poland and of course look forward to the g-20 summit. keir simmons for now, thank you. switching gears a bit, a federal judge are is expected to rule on an emergency motion against the president's limited travel ban. three days after the supreme court's ruling that the administration could begin partially enforcing the executive order, the state department said parents,ing parents in law, spouses, fiances, children and children in law would be exempt from the ban on visas for travel to the u.s. from six muslim countries. but grandparents, aunt, uncles, nieces, nephews and siblings in law would be subject to the ban. on wednesday hawaii and others filed their opposition saying that the federal government is misconstruing the supreme court's partial stay. and also the number of states putting up a fight against the commission on voter fraud is growing as the head of the panel pushes back. by abc news' count, 44 states are either declining to release any of the requested data or
providing only limited information. the commission is looking for information including voters' date of birth, voting history, information on felony convictions and whether they have lived overseas. 19 states both red and blue are refusing to comply with the request citing privacy concerns. while some claim that the fraud panel is politically motivated. 26 states are saying they plan to only hand over what is deemed public information by their respective state laws. six states say they have yet to receive the commission's request or are still reviewing it. speaking with msnbc yesterday, kentucky secretary of state am police s alison grimes a democrat put a fine point on her refusal to comply. >> the commission has received a reception nationwide that hasn't been positive. as my grandmother used to say, it's about as welcoming as a
breeze off an outhouse. >> vice chairman of the voter fraud commission is disputing that states are refusing to cooperate calling it fake news. in a statement released yesterday, he says in part, quote, despite media distortions and obstruction by a handfulle of state politicians, this bipartisan commission on election integrity will continue its work to gather the facts through public records requests to ensure the integrity of each american's vote because the public has a right to know. but in an op-ed in the "washington post," michael chertoff writes that president trump's voter data request poses a gank danger to national security saying hackers could steal that data. so far the fourth of july recess is not bringing senate republicans any closer to an agreement on health care. senator john mccain says yesterday that he would not support the repeal now replace later approach that the white house and other republicans have suggested.
quote, i fear we may fall under the trap of repealing and not replacing and that would be bad for america. this always other gop members continue to face protests with several scheduled for the district offices of mitch mcconnell, jeff flake, marco rubio, pat toomey and rob portman. and its not just republicans. maria cantwell hosted a town hall where some of the loudest applause came after audience members called for a single payor health care system. audience members shouted for her to get behind bernie sanders' promised medicaid for all bill when he introduces it. senator sanders will be holding two rallies this sunday in morgantown, west virginia and covington, kentucky. on still ahead, a congressman is forced to apologize after being shamed at what he did at a notorious c concentration camp. and hobby lobby finding millions
of dollars over artifacts and hundreds evacuated in ski towns. those stories and a check on weather when we come back.
and the otezla prescribing information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. don't take otezla if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. otezla may increase the risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts... or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight... and may stop treatment. side effects may include diarrhea,... nausea, upper respiratory tract infection... and headache. tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ask your dermatologist about otezla today. otezla. show more of you. explore your treatment options with specialists who treat only cancer. every stage... every day.... at cancer treatment centers of america. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country,
we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you . a member of congress is having to apologize after fill himming a video of himself at a concentration camp. gabe guttierez reports. >> reporter: it's not what clay higgins said, but where that is stirring outrage. this five minute video sharing on his facebook page was recorded inside a former nazi death camp in poland. as he tours a gas chamber, higgins warns the u.s. should be more aggressive in fighting terrorism. >> homeland security must be squared away. >> reporter: museum officials scolded the congressman saying there should be mournful
silence, it's not a stage. anti-defamation league and anne frank center also took notice. >> it was pure and simple a grotesque exploitation of the holocaust. how dare congressman higgins use auschwitz at his own personal tv studio. >> reporter: he says my intent was to offer a refer rent homage to those who were murdered. my sincere apology for any unintended pain is extended.ren to those who were murdered. my sincere apology for any unintended pain is extended. this is not the first time he's courted controversy. in a facebook post last month, he wrote that the free world is the a war with islamic horror and when it comes to radicalized suspects, the u.s. should kill them all. >> the united states is more accessible to terror like this. >> reporter: he is it apologetic after critics say this message went too far. >> thank you to gabe guttierez for that reporting.
hobby lobby is having to pay out millions of dollars after being caught smuggling thousands of artifacts out of rank. t iraq. despite warnings in 2010 that some of the items they sought to buy were lewded from historic ci sites, the retailed are paid $1.6 million for items and many shiped marked as clay tile samples. the company will have to return the pieces and pay out $3 million. the company's president says they fully complied with the federal investigation. back in the u.s. in the dry heat of summer wildfires are beginning to pop up out west. near breckenridge, colorado, nearly 500 homes have been evacuated and the entire town is on alert. the peak 2 wildfire is expected to flare up again today since it started yesterday morning. it has expanded to about 84 acres. and with that we turn to weather with bill karins. welcome back. >> good morning. the fire season out west will be a long one. we're already in a very hot
weather pattern. it's dry and if we stay this hot and dry, all the vegetation from the wet winter, look be out late summer and early fall. today, 13 million people at risk. if you are in wisconsin, iowa or northern illinois, including chicago, wind damage is your threat late this afternoon into this evening. we have a storm moving through kentucky. you can see the showers in tennessee and kentucky hit and miss, and the warm front from washington, d.c. down to norfolk, virginia beach, a lot of wet weather in this area and that will continue through the morning. so probably one of the worst drives out there is around d.c. you can see the rain moving around the beltway. this is 7:00 a.m., storms over lieu advice and the rain around d.c. by the afternoon, it breaks up around the nation's capital. just hit and miss. worst of it this morning. we'll track this rain from 4:00 p.m. through this evening, so you probably get another round in d.c. and baltimore overnight. and then 8:00 a.m. tomorrow
morning around philadelphia, possibly new york city, long island, hit and miss showers and storms also. and we mentioned the heat and wildfires out west. 101 again in salt lake city, phoenix 113, 90s in the middle of the country. so this is the time of year where it's either really hot or maybe you're lucky enough to get some rain and showers and thunderstorms. really not too much in between. >> thanks, bill. still ahead, south korea carrying out a third day of military exercises in the wake of north korea's latest missile launch. we'll go live to saul for the soul you oig foilg for theo tensions. noo introducing the easiest way to get gillette blades text "blades" to gillette on demand text to reorder blades with gillette on demand...
...and get $3 off your first order trust #1 doctor recommended dulcolax. use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. suppositories for relief in minutes. and dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. dulcolax. designed for dependable relief. but their nutritional needs (vremain instinctual.d, that's why there's purina one true instinct. nutrient-dense, protein-rich, real meat number one. this is a different breed of nutrition. purina one, true instinct.
welcome back, everybody. we are covering the other big story of the day and an increased sense of urgency to find some sort of diplomatic agreement to pressure north korea off its nuclear course. >> for more, let's go now live to nbc's janice in seoul. the presidents now is accusing north korea of very, very bad behavior. so far, though, u.s. pressure doesn't seem to be moving two major players on this issue, russia and china. any change of the horizon with these two countries? >> it's unlikely that any resolution that the had u.s. puts forward to the u.n. security council is going to get approval from either russia or china. they both hold a veto, as well.
china assumed the presidency of the u.n. security council for the month of july. the position of china and russia on north korea state remains that there needs to be concessions on both sides, that the u.s. and south korea need to back off from their joint military drills that provoke north korea every year. as well, north korea needs to halt the testing of its nuclear and weapons programs. ambassador nikki haley talk about some of the measures that might go into a u.s. plan to apply diplomatic pressure, specifically targeting countries that trade with north korea. china wasn't mentioned specifically, but 90% of north korea's trade is with china. and also talking about perhaps restricting access to foreign currently and restricting oil shipments. so, again, that's why china becomes a player because most of
the imports that north korea gets from comes from china. it puts a lot of pressure and puts all eye owes that meeting that president trump is supposed to have with china's president xi jinping at the sidelines of the g20 summit. president trump will likely try to persuade xi jinping to do more, but as ever, he's unlikely to gain much. >> there's going to be a lot to watch tomorrow as those leaders will be in the same place at the same time. thank you for that, janice. secretary of state rex tillerson says isis has been badly wounded in syria. he also signaled the u.s. is ready to collaborate more with russia on ending the syrian civil war. in a statement released last night, he said, quote, the united states is prepared to explore the possibility of establish, russia joint mechanisms for ensuring stability, including no-fly zones, on the ground cease-fire observers and coordinated
delivery of human tear yar services. >> we've talked about our relationship with russia previously. and we've characterized it as being at a very low point. we have been engaged with russia for some time now to identify area that we should have mutual interest. syria certainly is one. the this is where we begin to rebuild an effort to build confidence between ourselves and russia at the military level .also the diplomatic level. so i think it is an effort that serves both of our interests as well as broader interests of the international community. we hope that this is going to be the beginning of other important areas that need to be addressed in order to strengthen our relationship. but we're at the very beginning and i would say at this point it's difficult to say exactly what russia's intentions are in
this relationship. >> and tillerson went on to say the most important thing now is for a good exchange between president trump and president pietin. coming up next on "morning joe," everybody, we are following president trump as he continues his trip overseas. >> the president is prepared to address people in poland in just over an hour as he prepares to meet one-on-one with russian president vladimir putin. >> plus, former u.s. ambassador to russia michael mcfall talks about his summer readsing list and former director of the national counterterrorism center michael ryder joins the conversation. "morning joe," everybody, just moments a away. wondering, what if? i let go of all those feelings. because i am cured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no
prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if you've ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. ready to let go of hep c? ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. depend real fit briefs feature breathable, cotton-like fabric. in situations like this, there's no time for distractions. it's not enough to think i'm ready. i need to know i'm ready. no matter what lies ahead. get a free sample at depend.com. testinhuh?sting! is this thing on? come on! your turn! where do pencils go on vacation?
pennsylvania! (laughter) crunchy wheat frosted sweet! kellogg's frosted mini-wheats. feed your inner kid and it's also a story mail aabout people and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you wiback like it could used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena
employees. just last week, it was announced the vice president is head hadding up the newly reestablished national space council. and protests are expected to take place at the office of several republican senators and their home states of overgoing battle over health care. that does it for us on this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right thou. the friendship between our peoples dates all the whack back to the american revolution. it's a long time. i look forward to speaking more about these enduring bonds of faith and freedom when i address the entire polish nation in just a little while. here we have a big crowd, mr. president. i think they're showing up for you, not for me, right? we're going to have a big crowd, that's what the word is. >> well, i mean, if they compare -- we hope they don't
mr. cohen sought reimbursement of those expenses and mr. trump fully reimbursed mr. cohen in 2017. the category of value would be $101,000 and $250,000, and the interest rate would be zero. we're going to explain all this in a moment. remember, michael cohen paid a $130,000 settlement to the adult film star, stormy daniels, who claims she had an affair with donald trump. the president has denied those allegations. joining me now, the senior director of the campaign legal center. he previously worked in the office of general counsel for the federal election commission. we had you on yesterday. we were wondering if this disclosure was going to show up in this -- or this payment was going to show up in this disclosure. it did. what questions do you have now? >> well, we were saying that the president's decision of whether to disclose this payment in this report put him in a really tough spot because in he did disclose it, it would raise the question of why he didn't disclose it
the way that this payment was structured being routeded, broken up into different payments, and then routed through a law firm, certainly would be read to suggest some intent to conceal it. that might factor into decision of whether to bring criminal charges. >> did we learn anything else in this financial disclosure of interest? >> well, i mean we learned that the president's lawyer is continuing to have this inability to get him out of trouble without getting him into more trouble. it is incredible that they could have resolved one of the two problems that the president faced here. they could have taken off the table the campaign finance violation or they could have taken off the table the personal financial disclosure violation, and they did neither. >> adav noti, thank you for breaking this down for us. back to the other breaking news we're following this hour, newly released documents are shedding more light on that controversial trump tower meeting between trump campaign officials and a kremlin-connected lawyer. the senate judiciary committee
hicks. in a statement issued this morning, donald trump jr. seemed pleased with the release saying the public can now see that for over five hours i answered every question asked and was candid and forthright with the committee. the fallout on capitol hill regarding the document dump is split along party lines. to republicans the testimony is consistent with what we've heard, but to democrat they say the interviews raise more questions than answers. >> do you still have questions about the extent to which the trump organization was communicating with the russians? >> the answer to your question would be question. >> are you satisfied that you know the whole story now? >> i'm satisfied that we got a lot of collaboration by different people that were there and they seemed to draw the same conclusions. >> we have a piece of the picture, a part of the puzzle. but the full mosaic will require further investigation. the american people deserve to know the truth.
incriminating information from these russians about hillary clinton. according to one participant, he by gan t began the meeting saying simply, i understand you have some information for us. at another point when the meeting was rambling along, he got right to the point and said what do you have on hillary? the testimony was he was really disappointed there wasn't any derogatory information about hillary clinton. the third take-away, this russian oligarch, was really pushing this meeting even when some of his employees were telling him it might be a bad idea. he really wanted this to happen. we also learned he tried to broke of two meetings between donald trump and vladimir putin, one in 2013 at the miss universe pageant and again in 2015. those meetings didn't happen but it is curious this man who is a billionaire and so close to vladimir putin is pushing this relationship between russia and donald trump. >> what issue do you see being raised by the special counsel
after we learned this from this senate testimony? do you think that they have all this information? do they potentially have more? >> oh, absolutely. it is one of the great mysteries, what does mueller have. clearly, for example, he's got the ability to find out if there is a blocked number who controlled that number. i mean he's also going to get into the big question that this meet being raised, it showed the trump team was willing to accept help from the russian government. they thought it was coming from the russian government, incriminating information about hillary clinton. the question of the whole investigation is what else -- what other meetings did they have, what other potential help did they accept. we know that a campaign aide named george papadopoulos was approached with an offer of e-mails, hacked e-mails. what we don't know is who did papadopoulos communicate that over to, what other contacts there were with russians. we don't know it but robert mueller is developing a picture of that evidence, katy. >> don jr. was also asked do you know if any of the following people made any efforts to obtain clinton e-mails. a number of people were listed in the campaign. did you ever have a conversation with mr. stone about e-mails or
other information obtained as part of a cyber attack? was there any discussion that you were involved in within the campaign or anyone else about potential use of the information that had been obtained through the cyber attacks? don jr.'s answer was always -- i don't know, or i don't recall. eli, what do you make of that? >> well, as donald trump himself has said, you don't plead the fifth if you actually are innocent. when you don't go in front of people and say, you can't recall all these things over and over again, if you're actually telling the truth, you do not go and scramble and call other attorneys who were involved of the meeting and people who were involved to try to get your story straight before you go and testify. there are a lot of damaging things that came out in these document from the senate committee here. we were all on the campaign. we can all recall just how frenetic it was. how they were just kind of going from one moment to the next, triaging the situation. not really thinking about the repercussions. not thinking long term and certainly in this situation when
this information, overture was made to them, they said we may have some information for you that could be helpful for hillary, even when they believed that this was coming from the russian government, they did not step back and think, maybe we should call the fbi and let them know that a foreign government could be attempting to interfere in this election. >> when you had this meeting and they were offering dirt on hillary clinton, did you at any point think that maybe you should go to the federal norts and alert them to it? don jr. said i would have if something had come out of it but nothing came out of it, so i didn't think it was a very big deal. >> so many records of phone calls and conversations and e-mails, communications from the 26th floor of trump tower, that one call was never made. the call to alert the authorities. this is an outside influence. it is a foreign power. attempting to influence this election, attempting to give dirt, campaign dirt, incriminating materials, about your opponent. that call never gets made. yes, the excuse from the
campaign is, they were so ad hoc, things were flying day by day, we didn't have the resources to do that. or, we didn't get anything incriminating, so no harm, no foul. but that's a pretty low bar to clear to say, look, we didn't accept anything. but this happened. this is a national security threat potentially and they never did that. the perception there, the appearance is there. it is very troubling. >> it makes you wonder if anything else happened after that in order to get information that was dangled in front of them. the other thing i found interesting was don jr. said he had no idea whether or not his father was involved in crafting the statement, jon. bring us back to that moment in time and tell us what we know from our reporting about whether the president was involved in crafting that statement aboard air force one? >> right. so the moment came as sort of this meeting was uncovered and unveiled and. don jr.'s participation was revealed in news reports. the president was actually in europe at the time. coming back on air force one as this story was about to blow up. and as "the new york times"
the clinton administration. and also, editor in chief of government studies at brookings institute and an msnbc legal analy analyst. harry, does it pass the smell test that don jr. would not have known about his father crafting that statement on air force one about don jr.'s meeting and jared kushner and paul manafort with a russian lawyer offering dirt on hillary clinton? >> well, actually, as jon pointed out, he later in his -- it's not testimony, by the way. this is the first important point. it is just an interview. he's not under oath. but he hedges on this very point and said maybe he did it through hope hicks. i think in this kind of setting, what that means is, if i'm pushed to the wall, i'm going to cover my bases and say, well, maybe he did know. but your general point is really important. he's got 22 "i don't recalls" in there. some of them are understandable, but others are on details that strain credulity.
important to note that when people say, it wasn't a big deal because we didn't get anything out of it, that's not actually quite true because what the trump campaign in fact got out of it was the release starting relatively soon after this meeting of massive quantities of purloined e-mails. and releases that continued throughout the duration of the campaign. and so it isn't -- it is true that they didn't get disparaging information at this meeting. but it is not true that they didn't get disparaging meeting about their campaign opponent. so i think it is -- i think the meeting remains a terribly damaging episode for them, and at bare minimum, what it shows is that if there was no collusion, all caps, exclamation mark, exclamation mark,
exclamation mark, it certainly wasn't for lack of trying. >> there's also a really interesting report out by "the new york times," michael schmidt and another reporter, about an e-mails, a missing e-mail that investigators are looking for. the article says that john k. mashburn, a trump advisor, said he remembered an e-mail coming from george papadopoulos who was approached by a russian agent some time before the party conventions talking about whether there were -- talking about e-mails that the russians had on hillary clinton. the senate judiciary committee was unable to locate the e-mail that mashburn claims having received. he -- they are confident in his honesty in his testimony. they believe he is telling the truth. they've pored through millions of documents. still, they have not found this one e-mail. harry, if they cannot find this e-mail, if mueller's team cannot find this e-mail, how damaging
is that to the investigation, or how damaging could it be? >> i mean i don't think it is very damaging. it's another very interesting tidbit if they don't find it, they move on. but mashburn is sure he got it and he's sure he went to other people. and papadopoulos is not the easiest last name to spell. so they've now gone back to the campaign and asked them to try to look at different iterations of his spelling. but that final little link between papadopoulos and when he passed things along about the overtures from russia, to sessions, to manafort, to anyone on the committee, has yet be to filled in, at least based on publicly available information. so something like that would be really key to make a final link joining europe and russia to the united states. >> it's not that easy to spell if you're not greek. let's put it that way. i'm greek so i feel like i got a
good handle on spelling it. but that's just me. rex tillerson has something to say now that he's out of the administration. you'll want to hear it. it's next. and we got to know the friends of our friends. then our old friends from middle school, our mom, our ex and our boss joined forces to wish us happy birthday. then we discovered our uncle use to play in a band. and realized he was young once too. and we found others just like us. and just like that we felt a little less alone. but then something happened. we had to deal with spam, clickbait, fake news, and data misuse. that's going to change. from now on, facebook will do more to keep you safe and protect your privacy. so we can all get back to what made facebook good in the first place. friends. because when this place does what it was built for,
we all get a little closer. stop fearing your alarm clock... with new*! zzzquil pure zzzs. a drug-free blend of botanicals with melatonin ...that supports your natural sleep cycle... ...so you can seize the morning. new! zzzquil pure zzzs. but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®.
with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena®
grounded in facts, then we as american citizens are on a pathway to relinquishing our freedom. >> that's rex tillerson seemingly taking jabs at the president behind closed doors. that was rex tillerson who reportedly took jabs behind closed doors at the president as he served as secretary of state. nbc news reported that he called the president a moron. he didn't exactly deny it either. now though he is taking some of that criticism public. latest on what tillerson called the growing crisis in ethics and integrity that i'm in a speech to graduates at the military institute today. elise jordan, former advisor to senator rand paul's campaign. she's also an msnbc political analyst. obviously the relationship between rex tillerson and donald trump was not a good one. we know from the way that he was fired through twitter. we know from the way john kelly first alerted it to him and all those sordid details about that.
we also know that rex tillerson according to our reporting called the president a moron after talk of nuclear warheads and nuclear capabilities. for him to come out and make this commencement address and bring some of it public, why do you think he would do that? >> i think that for rex tillerson the level of truth that the trump administration and the president himself presents to the american public was always problematic. you look at how when he reportedly said the moron comments, which a [ bleep ]ing moron in front of it, actually, he never denied it. he didn't dig down into it but he didn't outright deny it. you look at other trump surrogates such as dina powell and h.r. mcmaster. they would deny things on behalf of the white house such as, on this day just a year ago, in 2017, "the washington post" reported that president trump had disclosed information to the russian ambassador in the oval
office. tillerson essentially confirmed it. powell and mcmaster denied it. so i do think that the element of truth within the administration always was a problem for rex tillerson. >> do you think tillerson is going to want to talk more about his time and maybe what the president said to vladimir putin during the meetings? do you think we'll ever hear about that? >> frex wrex tillerson was the male at the top of the most powerful corporation in the world, exxon-mobil. then he goes into the trump administration and is treated pretty terribly, the way john kelly noted him while he was suffering from -- >> if you need to, look it up. >> that was just disgraceful. he was treated pretty terribly by the administration and by the president himself getting fired by tweet. i think if donald trump didn't want him to talk about what he really thought, then maybe he should have treated him a little bit better. >> what is this going to mean for other people who might leave this administration, other
senior officials? i am looking at h.r. mcmaster who might know things -- i'm no the saying reveal classified information but might know things of the way this white house operates. do you expect anybody else to come out and raise some red flags? >> i would think that h.r. mcmaster would be up there in the list. h.r. mcmaster had his moments where he would seemingly back up the trump administration, such as the russia ambassador meeting, for example. and it didn't seem to be exactly truthful and he would seem to be compromised. overall he managed to navigate the waters fairly well and come out with his reputation intact. rex tillerson came out with his personal reputation, his integrity not necessarily
bismirnb bismirnlgb smurn besmirc besmirced. >> i wonder if you're really concerned, vaguely addressing it at a commencement speech is the way to go. >> commencement speech is a fairly good platform. >> it is high-profile. >> for going out there with a boom. you've been silent. you never really gave very many interviews. i do think it is pretty disingenuous for rex tillerson to act like he's all about truth and transparency in government when he was pretty notorious for closing off access to the state department press corps. >> very true. very true. >> but, at the same time i would like to hear his side of the story and i think it would be important for everyone to understand how the president's temperament in particular influences the foreign policy decisions that donald trump makes. >> rex tillerson, you have an open invitation to join us here at 2:00 on msnbc. please take it. elise jordan, thank you very much. north korea's threatening to scrap a high-stakes summit with president trump over its nukes. but haven't we been here before? stay with us.
i'm a fighter. always have been. when i found out i had age-related macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. my doctor and i came up with a plan. it includes preservision. only preservision areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the national eye institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. that's why i fight. because it's my vision. preservision. try areds 2 + multivitamin.
from the ground up and having citi as an early investor worked as a signal to others to invest. with citi's help we built a wonderful maternity ward and we were able to purchase an mri machine. we've made it possible for the people who live here to lead healthier lives and that's invaluable. ♪ president trump is taking a wait-and-see approach to north korea's latest threat that it could cancel plans for a historic meeting next month. >> we'll have to see. >> we haven't been notified at all. we'll have to see.
we haven't seen anything. we haven't hard anything. we will see what happens. >> confirming he's still insisting on denuclearization. pyongyang said earlier it could walk away from the summit if the united states tries to force the country to give up all of its nuclear weapons up front. north korea has already called off scheduled talks with south korea to protest joint military drills with the u.s. those exercises happen every year. this is not the first time that north korea has cast doubt on pledges related to its nuclear program. time and again the kim dynasty has made promises to rein in the country's nuclear activities only to brake those promises later on. the big question now is who will blink first in the nuclear showdown with north korea. let's bring in nbc news pentagon correspondent hans nichols and jeffrey lewis from the nonproliferation program at the middlebury institute of international studies. hans, what is the latest? >> the latest from this building
is that you have strategic ambiguity on what the approach to north korea is going to be. we've heard from south korea that these military exercises will go on. they've been very clear about it. here at the pentagon though, there is a slightly different approach. they're saying that these are long-standing exercises. they are stressing they are defensive in nature. but if you listen to people carefully here, no one has said on the record that these military exercises will continue. they are preserving strategic space. they are preserving the ability for the president to make the decision on these exercises. >> wouldn't that be groundbreaking though, hans, to cancel these exercises? we've never done that before. >> they've toned them down in the past. you could have a way where the south koreans could potentially announce this and the u.s. wouldn't do it. they have a fair amount of space here though, at least on this stage of the military exercises, because they never really fully articulated just what kind of assets would be used. so there is a lot of back-and-forth right now. will they pull the b-52s? the u.s. never said b-52s would
be in the offing. they've been very careful. the biggest change from the pentagon in terms of their public posturing is about two months ago they turned off all attention toward these military exercises. normally if you want to fly out to korea, ride along in a tank, they'll let you do that. not this year because they wanted diplomats to have the space to negotiate. that's still what they're trying to do at the pentagon. strategic ambiguity. >> jeffrey, if we do tamp on on military exercises or allow them to be canceled, what sort of message will that be sending to kim jong-un? >> well, i think this is really a battle of framing. the north koreans have been saying that they're not planning to give up their nuclear weapons and that this is really a conversation between two nuclear powered equals. the trump administration has been saying quite the opposite, that this is about north korea giving up their nuclear weapons. i think some of the things that john bolton was saying about a libya-style deal, which didn't really end all that well for
libya, got to the north koreans. so what i think the north koreans are doing is trying to demonstrate that they are actually the ones in charge and they are the ones who can force concessions. so it is actually very unclear, as hans said, whether there were going to be any b-52s involved. i think the north koreans will count it as a win if there are no b-52s. i think the north koreans are probably pretty happy with sarah sanders statement this morning when she seemed to throw john bolton under the bus when saying there was not a libya style deal. only a trump style deal. >> broader context. do you think kim jong-un is going to want to open up north korea to more western business? open up its economy. is that something that a dictator like kim is going to welcome in that country? >> you know, i don't think it is that kind of opening. i think that the north koreans want foreign investment. they wan chinese and south korean money flowing in. but i think they are going to try to keep a pretty tight
control on it. in the past when we've seen foreign investments in north korea, they're very tightly circumscribed. the regime wants to whet its beak. they certainly want to get the benefits of that, but i don't anticipate a kind of political or economic opening of the kind that for example we saw in china in the 1980s. >> from 1 to 10, 1 being no 10, 10 being every chance, what are the chances north korea gives up its nukes in exchange for that, jeffrey? >> you didn't give me the chance of zero. >> zero. there you go. jeffrey lewis, it is not a funny story but the answer was amu amusing. jeffrey lewis, i appreciate it. hans nichols, i appreciate it as well. things are looking good for women democrats in the mid-terms. about last night with steve kornacki. don't even go there -- no, no. we're talking about the primaries. coming up right after the break. this is your wake-up call. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis,
month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. talk to your rheumatologist. right here. right now. humira. let's take a look at some numbers: 4 out of 5 people who have a stroke, their first symptom...
is a stroke. 80 percent of all strokes and heart disease? preventable. and 149 dollars is all it takes to get screened and help take control of your health. we're life line screening... and if you're over 50... call this number, to schedule an appointment... for five painless screenings that go beyond regular check-ups. we use ultrasound technology to literally look inside your arteries... for plaque which builds up as you age- and increases your risk for stroke and cardiovascular disease. and by getting them through this package, you're saving over 50%. so call today and consider these numbers: for just $149 you'll receive five screenings that could reveal what your body isn't telling you. i'm gonna tell you that was the best $150 i ever spent in my life. life line screening. the power of prevention. call now to learn more.
my mouth feels so clean. i'll only use an oral-b. oral-b. brush like a pro. the full value of your new car? you're better off throwing your money right into the harbor. i'm gonna regret that. with new car replacement, if your brand new car gets totaled, liberty mutual will pay the entire value plus depreciation. liberty stands with you. liberty mutual insurance. it was a big night for democratic women in last night's primaries. our own national political correspondent and master of the big board, steve kornacki is here with the major take-aways from last night's primaries in idaho, nba, oregon and pennsylvania. steve, what are you looking at? >> let's start in nebraska. this was the big upset of the night. nationally, this is a big story. we say nebraska, we don't usually talk about it as a big national story but if democrats want to get back the house, this is one of their targets. this is omaha.
this congressional district donald trump only carried by two points in 2016. democrats recruited a former congressman, brad ashford. he represented his district, lost narrowly 2016. a big surprise last night. a candidate challenging him from the left, running on single payer health care, kara eastman beat brad ashford. the conventional thinking of the political establishment is you got to nominate somebody like ashford to win in a district like this? does that matter as much as the establishment thinks it does? can a grassroots candidate running more to the left actually have broader appeal than anybody the establishment ninks? this will be a fascinating test in the fall. much more of the story though last night. more broadly it was pennsylvania. democrats trying to get back the house. they need to pick up 23 total seats. they could potentially get a bunch of those out of pennsylvania. here's one.
remember they redrew the maps recently out there. this is one of the districts there. democratic primary. this district changed so much in the redistricting, this is as good as being the general election here. mary scanlon winning this primary. that would be a democratic pick-up if they wins that district. it was pat meehan, a republican. another district where the map really moved in the democrats' favor, christy houlihan winning that primary. she faces off against a republican opponent, greg macaulay. but this district a very, very promising target for democrats. first district for scott wallace goes after ryan fitzpatrick. we'll talk a lot about that race in the fall. susan wild emerging on charlie dent's seat. democrats on the left breathing a sigh of relief. in the tenth district, basically could, if everything broke their way, get 5 of those 23 right there in the yellow in that part
of pennsylvania. >> we will be watching. steve kornacki, thank you very much. appreciate it. my next guest travels outside the beltway in search of an answer. can donald trump win again? that is next.
i give him credit for -- >> the economy. >> i give him credit for -- >> north korea. >> the economy. >> the economy. >> the new tax changes. >> sticking to his promises. >> the economy and taxes. >> his guts. just being the president. >> tax changes. the divide in america. >> conservative judges. >> he's been a disappointment when it comes to -- >> his tweets. >> mueller. >> his mouth. his tweets. being kind. >> he's standing with the rest of the world. >> tweeting on petty issues. >> his action as president. >> unity. >> mimicking people. >> his actions. >> can donald trump win again? i'm sure a lot of you out there will declare, no, absolutely not, how could he? just look at x, y and z.
but are those really the best indicators or your indicators of how well or poorly donald trump is doing? what if those who are looking at him are actually looking at a, b and c? that focus group of six trump voters and six clinton voters near milwaukee, wisconsin, gives trump credit for the economy and ding him for how he behaves. dan balls from "the washington post" went a little deeper. he repeatedly visited minnesota, iowa, wisconsin and illinois doing repeated and extended interviews with voters in counties that flipped from democrat to republican in 2016. counties that helped trump win the electoral college. he writes, this is a region of small towns an rural attitudes populated by communities that have felt the devastating effects of deindustrialization. adding what follows is not a scientific survey of the country. instead, it is a story of how
attitudes toward the president have changed gradually over time, told through the voices of a selection of people in a unique ecosystem of trump nation. among the president's true loyalists, his grip remains strong. among others who supported him, that has weakened. even his most ardent supporters don't appreciate the president's tweets. though for some it is rnot the content but hs inability to control impulses. dan balls, chief "washington post" and also the writer of that piece. and also white house reporter for the associated press and msnbc political animal lialysna jonathan lemire, and eli stokols. i suggest anybody out there to read it. you live and work in washington. going out there talking to people. what do you think the big thing you learned was? >> well, what i learned really is that people see donald trump
in three dimensions and that whether they're trump supporters or trump opponents, they have a variety of views about him. and so as the piece says, there are some -- i would say many trump supporters who are still very much with him. and any time you suggest that there is anything other than that, they take issue and take umbrage with that. there are a few -- don't know how to quantify it -- but some have given up on him who voted for him, but they've had enough. they just don't like the way he's separating. then there is another group which i think is in the sense the key to his future who are still with him, who voted for him. who like some of the policies but they find the conduct not just unbecoming but quite unpresidential. and in talking to some of these people over a long period of time, many, many months, what i sensed was a gradual movement away from him. as i say, they haven't broken
with him yet, but they're much less comfortable with him and we'll have to see what he's able to do between now and 2020 to reassure them he's going to be able to do 2020 to reassure them. >> you write this the piece about one of the men relayed a story why people voted the way they did in 2016, voted for donald trump. the american dream of a highways, of driving a car down the road that doesn't have something falling off of it and going out with a family to eat for a reasonable price is disappearing. at first i thought it was a casual thing, and then it became a flood. that is the sentiment we heard a lot on the campaign trail, this feeling of this lack of hope, looking around their towns and not seeing mom and pop stores, not seeing kids growing up, riding their bikes around town. not seeing any opportunity going forward. do you think that that stuff in
the atmosphere that still economists in a strong enough way to where people that voted for donald trump in 2016 might overlook all of the negatives they see now and decide hey i am going to take another chance in 2020. >> yeah. i think that's clearly possible. i think if you talk to democrats, they are really concerned about this. i talked to a high up stroot gist about this yesterday. their concern is that democrats are overplaying the russia hand and the impeachment hand and that that's not going to meet the voters where they are. they are worried they don't have anybody speaking to the people and countering trump's message saying we understand that economically things have been difficult for you. but here's the truth. it's not going to take education. it's not other people's fault. it's going to take the social safety net that this president is gutting. er going to need that at some point. they are not making the argument to the people how this president's policies are actually hurting them. that's an argument strategists
think will be critical to being able to one over those voters. >> a lot of people in the balls points point over to the social media there is a feeling that no matter what donald trump does there is going to be negative coverage of it. they are willing to look at what is out there and say listen i'm not going to believe it or i'm going to justify it because i like this. is it the truth to say that folks who don't like donald trump may be looking at xy and z, while folks who like him are looking at ab and r. >> there are different interests here than in other parts of the country. the president has done a good job of politicizing the media so that he is playing a role in it. part of it is a deliberate act. it is a not just to score a pill point at a rally, but to cast doubt on some of our reporting shows. therefore, if people don't trust us they may not believe the
negative stories or the factual stories because they don't like them because they are unkind in their estimation to the president. but there is no question that there are people out there -- the piece is terrific -- in the upper midwest noting in the 100 counties or so that had gone democrat for five straight election cycles, those that trump flipped, whether it's iowa, illinois, wisconsin, minnesota, trump won two of those. almost won minnesota. add pennsylvania. that's where he won the election. he could win it again if those phoenix are delivering change. if they don't feel the results yet who do they blame, him or democrats or us? >> to yourpoint, bashing the media is striking a bond with these people about what they are against. if he hasn't done anything for them at least they are together against the media, the elites, et cetera.
>> the margin of error is very small. if he loses a vote or two or a thousand votes in one district he could definitely lose the electoral college again. one more question to you, dan. this is what a lot of folks out there might say, hey listen i think donald trump voters voted for him because they are racist or i think they voted for him because they are sexist or xenophobic. i think that's a broad brush to pain but i want to read from one gentleman what you interviewed. a man whose last name is brunning in clayton county. he sasic i think one of the reasons is that it is exhausting to have to edit yourself all the time and trump was completely opposite of that. he said trump allowed people not the feel bad about holding say anti-immigrant views or something. that's one thing i notice is people are able to say how they feel about a host of different
things. he went on the say that hillary clinton didn't pay enough attention to this county, that she wasn't speaking to voters directly, wasn't hearing from them and wasn't connecting with them. what do you think of those charge was race and sexism and immigration? >> we should note he is the county democratic chair in that county. and he was trying to give a kind of what i think was a pretty even-handed view both crediting trump with his ability to reach people without being politically correct, and you know, crediting clinton with failure to come out there. i think that there is no question that race and gender and national identity were factors in this election. i think it's too easy to say all of trump's supporters are rac t racist. but i think we know that this country is divided racially and continues to be show. and that trump has helped to
feed that in some ways. but i think that's too easy an answer for democrats to think that that's the only thing that caused trump to win. >> dan, i hope you are going to continue doing this reporting and if you do that you will come on this show and share with us. >> will do. >> dan balls, and eli stokels. we'll be right back. starts in outer space. where satellites feed infrared images of his land into a system built with ai. he uses watson to analyze his data with millions of weather forecasts from the cloud, and iot sensors down here, for precise monitoring of irrigation. it's a smart way to help increase yields, all before the rest of us get out of bed. your digestive system has billions of bacteria, but life can throw them off balance. try align, the #1 doctor recommended probiotic. with a unique strain that re-aligns your system. re-align yourself, with align.
when it comes to travel, i sweat the details. late checkout... ...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. don't sweat your booking. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices.
walter shaw said this, imagine nixon waiting for a stack of pardons after the watergate break-in. he has the power to put his henchmen above the law. that is what trump is telling manafort and others with the pardon of d'souza. for more, we have jim acosta an at t -- acosta at the white house. >> reporter: the president is not only considering granting pardons with celebrities, but he granted a pardon for dinesh d'souza and considering martha stewart and blagojevich. d'souza has made offensive and racially loaded comments over the years about former president obama. the president is considering each case on merits. here is what deputy raj shah
corruption charges. and the u.s. is hitting tariffs and they are hitting back. the u.s. slapped tariffs on the eu, mexico and canada. the three had temporary exemptio exemptions, but the white house let those expired after it did not get what it wanted in negotiations. the goal is to help u.s. steel workers. metal tariffs could raise prices. think cars, appliances and food cans. it puts the u.s. in another trade dispute as it is targeting $50 million in chinese goods. these three struck back. eu and mexico with tariffs on u.s. goods. canada will tariff on equal amounts. justin trudeau says this just won't hurt canada. this risks 2.6 million american jobs. especially if it causes nafta to
fall apart. president trump responded saying he wants a fair deal on nafta or nothing at all. the needless trade war will hurt the u.s. economy and foreign policy and perhaps republicans in november. republicans are fuming. senator ben sasse says it is dumb to treat allies the way you treat opponents. you should work with them instead of targeting them. watch this space. more to come. imagine this, the former spy chief and top aide to a dictator of a country that threatened to nuke the united states sitting face-to-face with the commander in chief. that will play out in washington today. secretary of state mike pompeo confirming the top north korean official met with kim yong chol will hand deliver a letter to the united states. we have nic robertson in seoul,
south korea. it appears the summit is still on track in singapore. good morning, nic. >> reporter: good morning, david. president trump thought progress was made in the talks with mike pompeo and kim yong chol. for his part, pompeo said progress had been made in the last 72 hours. that was a positive sign. he still said it is not clear whether the summit will actually go ahead. he believes that the korean leadership is contemplating a fundamental shift. a strategic change that would be something different than the path taken in the past. it will require a bold move by kim jong-un. he describes this as historic movement and pivotal time. emphasis now is very much on the north korean side. in the letter, maybe kim yong
thing with trump and russia is a made up story. it's an excuse by the democrats for having lost an election that they should have won. >> hard to forget that one. new information this morning on the cost of the mueller probe. the spend aing report shows the justice department spent $17 million since last may. ten minutes past the hour. steve bannon speaking out on the russia probe in the exclusive cnn interview. bannon saying he was against firing james comey and is a supporter of special counsel robert mueller. bannon had harsh words for former trump lawyer ty cobb. >> if you fire him, get a special prosecutor. i have been part of that as a witness of fact. i always said he is a combat marine. great individual. it should play out. where i have a problem and huge problem, i was a guy that said publicly that ty cobb should be
fired. he gave the president, i thought, terrible advice. i think actually lied to the president consistently about the nature of the investigation and timing of it. >> bannon also says that deputy attorney general rod rosenstein should be fired. if he refuses to turnover all documents with the fbi source whom president trump accused of spying on his campaign. you can see the full interview tonight at 9:00 and during fareed zakaria on sunday. washington post reporting that fbi director james comey was interviewed by the u.s. d.c. attorney's office to see if his deputy andrew mccabe broke the law. claiming he misled investigators about disclosure to the media. this is a sign that the office is considering whether mccabe
should be charged with a crime, but not definitive indication. ahead, you can hear the fans in cleveland screaming. shoot the ball, j.r. smith. check the clock. historic blunder that sent the nba finals in overtime. we will tell you how it turned out next. but there's one... that blows them all out of the water. hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid it goes beneath the surface to plump skin cells from within and lock in hydration leaving skin so supple, it actually bounces back. the results will blow you away! hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena®
ukrainian security services, a makeup artist came to his house and made him look dead. he said he was covered in real pig's blood and given a shirt with bullet holes in it. they faked his death outside his home with shorts ts allegedly b fired. he was put in an ambulance with a doictor and brought to the morgue. he said only after the doors of the morgue were closed were what he calls resurrected and brought to a different location and came out that the whole thing had been staged. allegedly to uncover a plot the ukrainians say came from russia. he has been under criticism for faking his death. someone could undermine the credibility of journalists worldwi worldwide. he is unapologetic about it. he felt the plot was real. he said for him it was a choice
of saving his life and upholding journalist standards. in the end, it was about saving his life. >> thank you, fred. fascinating. ahead, this baby has quite a story to tell. read the shirt. why her father is her hero and why she is surrounded by all these soldiers. next. from the first moment you met, it was love at first touch. and all you wanted to do was surround them in comfort and protection. that's why only pampers swaddlers is the number one choice of hospitals to wrap your baby in blanket-like softness and premium protection. so that all they feel is love. pampers the number one choice of hospitals, nurses and parents i saw my leg did not look right. i landed.
i was just finishing a ride. i felt this awful pain in my chest. i had a pe blood clot in my lung. i was scared. i had a dvt blood clot. having one really puts you in danger of having another. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®. to help keep me protected. xarelto® is a latest-generation blood thinner that's... proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or pe blood clots from happening again. in clinical studies, almost 98% of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of blood clots. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting,
tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can... to help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. am i willing to pay the price for loving you?.
you'll make my morning, but ruin my day. complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid. it's delicious 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose. mmm, that's good. lactaid. the real milk that doesn't mess with you. and try calcium enriched lactaid. 100% real milk with 20% more calcium. still no lactose.
i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. new mandatory evacuation orders in hawaii in leilani estates as the threat from kilauea grows.
look at the pictures. residents have until noon local time to leave. anybody who stays, could be arrested and at their own risk. the fissures could flow into the area. resulting in fast moving lava flow. the u.s. geological survey says temperatures now reach above 2,000 degrees. >> unbelievable. today is the official start of the 2018 atlantic hurricane season. there is concern that puerto rico may not be able to weather another storm. nine months after maria hit, 20,000 homes are still without power. according to a study this week, 4,645 people have died as a results of hurricane maria. more than twice as katrina.
do you know how to spell? new national champion did. >> k-o-i-n-o nits-n-i-a. >> the new national champion. he edged out in the final that went 18 rounds. the greek word is an intimate spiritual communion and sharing in a common religious commitment. he wins more than $40,000 in cash and prizing. good job. >> well done. missing in the nba finals. golden state taking game one of the finals. a brutal mistake at the end of regulation may have cost cleveland the win. george hill missed a free throw.
j.r. smith gets the rebound and instead of shooting, he dribbles out the clock. appearing not to know the game was tied or the time on the clock or any situational awareness. he said he thought they were going to call a time-out. warriors put the game away in overtime. 124-114. lebron james had 51 points for the cavs. not enough. game two in oakland. this is a photo shoot you will never forget. 2 month old christian harris met special people. soldiers who met alongside her late father, christopher harris was killed in afghanistan in august. one week after his wife told him she was pregnant. britt harris was pregnant, she got support from the men of his division. she gathered the soldiers and some who survived the very explosion that killed her husband. in the photos, christian, that
baby, wears her father's dogtags along with the onesie that reads my daddy is my hero. >> quite a shot. quite a story. ahead, president trump and rod blagojevich have met before. >> you're fired. >> you're fired. now he might pardon him. why is the president only helping people with connections to his adversaradversaries? guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide.
it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. these types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. rates are competitive, and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. remember - these plans let you apply all year round. so call today. because now's the perfect time to learn more. go long.
conservative fire brand. could this be a signal for aides caught up in the russia investigation? fierce pull back from allies and the president's party over new tariffs from the trump administration. perhaps as many as 2.5 million american jobs could be on the line. do something about your dad's immigration practices you feckless [ bleep ]. >> still shocking. samantha bee apologizing for the vulgar crack about ivanka trump, but she gets to keep her job. is there a double standard? welcome to "early start." i'm dave briggs. >> i'm christine romans. did you know today is friday? >> yeah. i have been waiting on it all week. >> that's the breaking news i can get behind. 4:31 in the east. welcome to "early start." dinesh d'souza, rod blagojevich and martha stewart. what do these names have in common? all prosecuted by trump adversaries and now on the list for pardons. it started when president trump
announced a full pardon to d'souza. he pleaded guilty in 2014 for violating campaign finance laws. d'souza has a history of ra racially charged against about obama. now d'souza says obama and his stooges tried to extinguish my american dream and destroy my faith in america. thank you, donald trump. >> the president's move raising eyebrows of many. including the former director of the office of government ethics who tweeted quote imagine if nixon was waiting with a stack of pardons for plumbers to return from the watergate break in. the president has the power to put his henchmen above the law. that is what he is telling us. for more, here is jim ancosta. >> reporter: the president is not only considering granting
pardons with celebrities, but he granted a pardon for dinesh d'souza and considering martha stewart and blagojevich. both martha stewart and blagojevich made an here answpp "the apprentice." d'souza has made offensive and racially loaded comments over the years about former president obama. the president is considering each case on merits. here is what deputy raj shah told reporters. >> is he sending a message to his allys? -- allies? >> each of the president's actions on pardons or other things should be judged on the merits and circumstances surrounding that case. >> reporter: the president has shown a willingness of pardons for controversial figures. including sheriff arpaio. he was convicted in court of ignoring a judge's order of stopping racially profiling latinos. dave and christine. >> thank you.
the white house admitted to jim that you can't ignore trump's considerations. consider this, former u.s. attorney preet bharara prosecuted dinesh d'souza and james comey and martha stewart. as well as patrick fitzgerald. and the u.s. is hitting tariffs and they are hitting back. the u.s. slapped tariffs on the eu, mexico and canada. 25% on steel. 10% on aluminum. the three had temporary exemptions, but the white house let those expired after it did not get what it wanted in negotiations. the president calls this fair trade. the goal is to help u.s. steel workers. metal tariffs could raise prices. raise prices on cars and appliances and food cans.
it puts the u.s. in another trade dispute as it is targeting $50 million in chinese goods. these three struck back. eu and mexico with tariffs on u.s. goods. canada will tariff on equal amtd ever amount -- amounts of tariffs for the u.s. justin trudeau says this just won't hurt canada. >> unfortunately, we know this will lead to harm for the american industries. our economies are too inter linked to not have significant disruption in american families and american communities south of the border. >> the chamber of commerce says this move risks 2.6 million u.s. jobs. especially if it causes nafta to fall apart. nafta is 1.5 million jobs tied if the u.s. leaves nafta. president trump responded to trudeau saying he wants a fair
deal or none at all. "wall street" editorial board slamming trump. hurting his foreign policy and perhaps republicans in november. republicans are fuming. ben sasse says this is dumb. speaker paul ryan says the u.s. should work with allies instead of targeting them. "the wall street journal" editorial. i encourage you to read it. it says the president thinks he is being ronald reagan. >> but terrifying echos of herbert hoover. the sunset clause in particular is one that is baffling. certainty is what is needed with markets. >> a non-starter. the white house wanted a fi five-year sunset clause on nafta. justin trudeau did not come to the meeting in washington after that. >> g-7 is a week away. samantha bee apologizing for an ugly crack about ivanka
trump. bee's insult on her show "full frontal" came after she posted a picture of ivanka trump and her son with the immigration issue at the border. >> ivanka trump who works at the white house chose to post the second most oblivious tweet we have seen this week. you know, ivanka, that's a beautiful photo of you and your child, but let me say one mother to another. do something about your dad's immigration practices, you feckless [ bleep ]. he listens to you. put on something tight and low cut and tell your father to [ bleep ] stop it. tell him it was an obama thing and see how it goes. okay? >> bee's slam comes the same week roseanne was fired for a racist tweet and some yelling of a double standard. it is not smart or funny. samantha bee tweeted i would like to apologize to ivanka trump and viewers.
i crossed a line and i deeply regret it. >> tbs is owned by the time warner. joined bee seeking forgiveness. samantha bee has apologizing and those words should not have aired. auto trader and state farm are pulling ads from bee's show. sarah sanders called the language vile and vicious. this is further than the white house or president went denouncing roseanne's comments following the president's demand for apology for his treatment by abc. imagine this. the former spy chief and top aide to a dictator of a country that threatened to nuke the united states face-to-face with the commander in chief. that will actually play out in washington today. secretary of state mike pompeo confirming the top north korean official he met kim yong chol will hand deliver a letter from kim jong-un. we have nic robertson live with the latest from seoul.
good morning, nic. >> reporter: good morning, dave. north korea's former spy chief, a man under sanctions, given dispensation to travel to the new york area and has now a waiver to go to d.c. and hand the letter to president trump. what is inside it? we don't know. president trump listened to what mike pompeo told him about the talks. pompeo and chol made clear that pompeo believes progress has been made in the past 72 hours. he also made it very clear the moment they don't seem to have anything completely concrete and that the north koreans are ready to get to the summit in singapore. he still is not sure if it will go on. it is a historic moment and pivotal moment. it depends on the analysis he has and president trump seems to have that the north korean leadership is contemplating,
these are his words, contemplating a change of path. a strategic shift away from the way they acted before. when the letter is delivered to president trump, will it unlock the doors to the summit in singapore? unclear. pompeo not willing to make that commitment we he spoke yesterday. dave. >> a rapidly evolving story. nic robertson in seoul. thank you. "the washington post" reporting former james comfbi d james comey was interviewed by the department over andrew mccabe after mccabe misled investigators. this is a sign the office is considering if mccabe should be charged with the crime but is not a definitive indication. the pressure on jeff sessions to un-recuse himself on the russia investigation was not limited to one conversation.
cnn confirmed the president tried four times in the last 14 months to get his attorney general to change his mind. sessions recused himself after conversations with the ag and russian ambassador during the campaign. the frustration from the president has grown which left trump without a loyalist overseeing the russia investigation. for the first time, we hear from michael cohen on tape making threats against a reporter. the reporter now works for npr. he was with "the daily beast" in 2015. he reached out to cohen on a rape accusation ivanhis former made against donald trump before their divorce. here is what took place. >> talking about the frontrunner for the gop.
as well as private individual who never raped anybody and of course i understand that the very definition you can't rape your spouse. if you write a story that has mr. trump's name in it with the word rape and i'll mess your live up for the rest. for as long as your on this planet, you will worry about what i'm going to [ bleep ] do to you. >> michael cohen was wrong. spousal rape is a crime. he apologized for the remark. in the comment following the release, cohen said as i said in a previous statement. i made an inn -- inarticulate
statement after the horrific question posed by the reporter. the massive blunder that sent the nba finals in overtime. how it turned out next. and pampers gives all of them our driest best fitting diaper. pampers cruisers with three-way fit. they adapt at the waist, legs and bottom with up to twelve hours of protection for all the freedom to move their way in pampers cruisers only pampers diapers are the number one choice of hospitals, nurses and parents.
they have businesses to run they have passions to pursue how do they avoid trips to the post office? stamps.com mail letters ship packages all the amazing services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus $100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again
and gave him a shirt already with bullet holes in it. he was staged outside the apartment block and the ambulance was called and on the way to the hospital, they called and said he already died. they then went to the morgue where a real mortici arkmortici him dead. only after the doors were closed, he be was able to get u and left. he said this was all staged to save his life. there was a real plot to assassinate his life. he has come under criticism. this undermines the credibility of journalists if you stage your death to do this. he said he is absolutely unapologetic. he was presented with evidence he would be killed. he said it was a decision about staying alive or upholding journalistic values.
>> i think we would make that decision. thank you, fred. house speaker bemoaning the party he once led. john boehner said this. >> there is no republican party. there's a trump party. a republican party is taking a nap somewhere. >> boehner said american voters were not the only ones surprised by the election results. >> the two most surprised people in the entire world that night were hillary clinton and donald trump. i think donald trump promised melania he would not win. he promised her she would never live in the white house. that's probably why she doesn't look real happy. >> is that a bloody mary? >> very perceptive. every interview should be done with a bloody mary. can i institute that here? >> i would love it. you mix them. 49 minutes past the hour.
this baby -- this story is so amazing. quite a story to tell. read the shirt. why her father is her hero and why she is surrounded by all these soldiers. that's next. you don't want to live with mom and dad forever, do you? i'm making smoothies!
so, how can i check my credit score? credit karma. don't worry, it's free. hmmmmm. credit karma. give yourself some credit.
parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what? you could apply for a medicare supplement insurance plan whenever you want. no enrollment window. no waiting to apply. that means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. medicare doesn't cover everything. and like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. so don't wait. call now to request your free decision guide. it could help you find the aarp medicare supplement plan that works for you. these types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. rates are competitive, and they're the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp.
remember - these plans let you apply all year round. so call today. because now's the perfect time to learn more. go long. the first survivor of ais out there.sease and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. visit alz.org to join the fight.
visit alz.org to join the fight. i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. new mandatory evacuation orders in hawaii's leilani estates as the threat from kilauea grows. residents have until noon local
time to leave. anybody who refuses could be arrested. fissure number eight is at concern of overflowing. breaches can happen without notice. the u.s. geological survey says lava temperatures reaching above 2,000 degrees. today is the official start of the 2018 atlantic hurricane season. there is concern that puerto rico may not weather another storm. nine months after the hurricane hit, 20,000 homes on the island are still without power. officials fear a small storm could plunge them back into darkness and start the crisis all over again. according to the harvard study released this week, 4,600 people died as a result of hurricane maria. a number that dwarfed the original estimate. the national champion
speller. >> k-o-i-n-o-n-i-a. >> that is correct. s>> karthik from texas is the national champion. the final went 18 rounds. the greek word is an intimate spiritual communion. of he wins more than $40,000 -- he wins more than $40,000 in cash and prizes. poise under pressure there, but not in the nba finals. lebron james with 51 points in game one. lebron was left ex-as pasperate here. j.r. smith grabs the rebound and dribbles out the clock. he said he thought they were going to call a time-out.
warriors put the game away in overtime. 124-114. despite one of the best performances of the nba history finals, game two is in oakland sunday night. this is a photo shoot you will never forget. 2 month old christian harris got to meet special people. the soldiers who served alongside her late father. her father killed in afghanistan in august. just one week after his wife told him she was pregnant. brit harris was pregnant and she got the support from the men and women of the 42nd airborne division that served with her husband. she gathered the soldiers and some who survived the explosion that killed her husband. in the photos, she wears her father's dogtags and the onesie that reads my daddy is my hero. >> a beautiful girl. 57 minutes past the hour. rain continues in the east with the severe storm threat
developing on the plains. meteorologist derek van dam has the look at friday weather. >> good morning, dave and christine. keep an eye to the sky if you are across the plains today. we have the potential for severe weather. in fact, the storm prediction center with an enhanced risk of the storms in dakotas with damaging winds and large hail and isolated tornadoes. it is thanks to a low pressure system moving east across the region. other headlines we are following. fire risks continues across the four corners. hot temperatures across the dew point -- across the deep south. we have a series of thunderstorm active ctivity with up to 4 to inches over the weekend. wi we have a storm system to settle in across the northeast. you will see that in the next four days with the temperature outlook. check out new york city.
82 degrees today. we start off next week in the upper 50s. back to you. >> derek, thank you. "early start" continues right now with the fascinating day in the white house with who the president is pardoning. the president's controversial pardon of a fire brand. why are celebrities getting a priority and could this be a signal for aides caught up why the russia investigation? fierce pull back from allies and the president's party over new tariffs from the trump administration. perhaps as many as 2.5 million american jobs could be on the line. do something about your dad's immigration practices you feckless [ bleep ]. >> samantha bee apologizing for the vulgar crack about ivanka trump, but she gets to keep her job. is there a double standard? we will discuss this in a moment. good morning. welcome to "early start."
The latest news from around the world.
>> reporter: trump jr. testified he never told his father about the meeting. when asked, did you inform your father about the meeting or prior to the meeting? trump jr. responded, no, i was not. when he was later asked why he didn't share news? i wouldn't tell him anything until i knew what was myself. last year he testified before two congressional meetings. a source familiar tells cnn, he did not testify trump had any advance only in of the meeting. now his attorney rudy guiliani is attacking the credible. >> man is a liar a proven liar. there is no way you will bring down the president of the united states on the testimony uncorroborated of a proven liar. i germany tee you, this guy is a proven liar. >> reporter: when just a few weeks ago, guiliani seemed to have plenty of faith in con's truthfulness. >> if he believes it's in his
>> reporter: no, they're not. but i think in this sort of lexicon of international diplomacy, which mr. putin who is usually a sticker is referring to tlrk he wants to see progress on what happens what was or ran agreed. he wants to see progress at official levels on for example syria on perhaps cooperation and a number of other areas that were touched on at helsinki, possibly more people getting into the long grass and starting to work out so that when they did have a future summit, there would be something substantive to talk about. >> that is my interpretation of what those conditions may mean.
but a very interesting development indeed, thank you. now, here's another one involving russia. a u.s. senate democrat says she's the victim of a cyber hack and guess who she blames? russia. senator claire mccaskill who says the attempt was not successful had some strong words for the russian president. >> we discovered it because microsoft contacted the senate and then the senate personnel let us know. so we have been aware of it for this month. >> has everyone been made aware? >> i will not be intimidated. i said many times putin is a thug and a bully and he is somebody who does not allow the people of russia to have freedom. >> incidents like that are why u.s. president trump held a meeting of the national security council. he received updates about the
media about the relationship between trump and putin. but on the other hand, i think to some extent, president trump looks at other optics, which has to do with his political base. i think there is a broader geopolitical mood going on as well. i think we should try to keep an eye on that, too. because i think u.s. russian relations seen in a broader context then bring in other challenges or peer competitors to the united states like china. i think that may be an area we need to explore somewhat more. >> president trump talks about the importance of closer ties to russia. do you get a sense, you mentioned a geopolitical move. do you get a sense of what he is really wanting to achieve with a closer tie? >> it was a very interesting interview with henry kissen ger
in the "time's" a week ago. he has a particular style and skill where he could do with more work. i think there is an underlying strategy. but his ability to explain it in a matter that might build up a border constituency for it is probably lacking. i do think there is a desire to drive a wedge between russia and china in order to assure the eurasia line mass running through to europe isn't kind of a unified block, which effectively gives transportation, trading and other links, a kind of land route from the far east to what you can call the far west. i think that's a chris him that wants to be exploited. i expect the discussions are, what is the price that president putin may want to extract, in order to be able to sort of cut
loose a bit from china and flow is lost a little bit with the united states. >> it's so interesting, isn't it? the tracks that you are seeing. we got this track that you are discussion and the track of the russian investigation ongoing and trump's lawyer may be flipping and have some information that perhaps mr. trump did know about that infamous meeting involving russians and that could turn this significantly. could it not? if it is true in. >> well, absolutely. i think the amount of pressure which is coming from within the kind of beltway politics. this is largely where this remains. i'm not sure how vast they are moved by these things, but it is keeping that had minstration under pressure and each side, the republicans and the democrats, are trying to manage the optics of it as well,
neither wants to be seen obstructing justice or impeach president trump, but at the same, each one will keep the other unstable. i think there is a geopolitical chris him there, too much i think there is a disagreement about this broader geopolitical strategy and the degree to which russia is left off the hook in ukraine, georgia and elsewhere. i think there is a disagreement there. and i think this other thing, of course, 2016 and the election and the defeat of the democrats. i think there is still a kind of a desire to continue the strategy of that election by the democrats going into 2020 and blaming external interference plays a domestic function as well. >> we always appreciate your insights. my goodness, we'll have an opportunity to talk with you again for sure. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. well, massive wildfires rage in
california, reducing entire neighborhoods to piles of ash. we'll show and we'll talk about where this is happening coming up here. also, u.s. president trump is excited about the latest economic indicators. some think his excitement might be short lived. we'll go beyond the numbers coming up here on cnn "newsroom."
house when they moved up from san jose right before i was born. everyone else that helped us put so much work into this house, i can't believe it's gone. you know, all those memories, you know, childhood memories. >> a victim there of a massive car fire in northern california, since erupting monday, it has consumed 20,000 hectares, 48,000 acres. two people have died, 500 structures destroyed. authorities believe a malfunctioning vehicle started this still out of control fire. california governor has asked president trump to send federal assistance for the communities impacted by the fire. that's just one of self burning in california and elsewhere all around the world. >> reporter: the devastation is beginning to set in for people
in redding, california the aptly named car fire officials say first sparked by a vehicle has ravaged the region since monday and doubled in side in just the last 12 hours. >> it's then out a lot. >> reporter: deadly and out of control, it has charred some 45,000 acres as firefighters try to contain it. >> wow! >> reporter: in some areas, the difference of a home spared and scorched is a few feet. >> we don't know what we're grand jury to do tomorrow, we don't know what we're going to do tonight. >> reporter: they never imagined they see their fire like this. >> we didn't think the fire was going to come here so we didn't take things out. like everybody else scrambling at the last minute when we saw the fire on the ridge. >> reporter: officials say strong temperatures and winds make this fire all the more fee, it is one of three major blazes burning across the state. >> this is that new normal, that
unpredictability, large growth fires. >> reporter: sadly scenes like this are the new normal world wide, in greece, experts say extreme summer heat accelerated the fire that turned these iconic white hill sooisd black with ash. the flames rose so quickly, some families rose into the sea for relief. >> the temperatures were so high, so normal. they could do anything as you can see, houses, cars, everything destroyed. >> reporter: the greek fires claim more than 80 lives so far, in just the last few weeks, more than 3400 daily high temperature records have been broken or tied, including unprecedented numbers in the north. montreal canada at 82. in sahara desert, they packed at 124 degrees this month. so are we ready for triple digit temperatures and consequences to go from extreme to expected?
if are you in redding, the answer is no. >> it seems part of my heart is gone. >> reporter: as can you see the fire continues to smoldner faces and folks are bracing for more potential problems as the area remains under a red flag warning. derek is here to talk more about these fires the two words that stuck out for me in that report are new normal. this is the near normal to that mart of the world. >> and climate change. even though we can't directly pin these individual events on climate change, what we as meteorologistsed on scientists around the world are recognizing, all these things are occurring more frequently. so the fingerprints there of climate change definitely quite invisible. all right. so let's re-visit the car fire,
because this is just an incredible fire to see burning. this could be your house. this could be my house. anyone watching today, it's difficult to see these fires, especially at night. there is a 30,000 foot plume of smoke that's cast over northern california just from this particular fire that's led to the evacuation of just under 40,000 residents there the california national guard has soldiers and airmen currently fighting the fire. let me take you to another fire just outside of los angeles. this is the cranston fire. could you believe it, authorities believe this was set by an arsonist. look at all the fires approaching these homes. not what we want to see. let's go to the details. you will start to see the three fires a car fire and 5% containment. some better numbers for the cranston fire.
it looks as if firefighters are getting a handle. it is hot. we're talking triple digit heat today. >> that will last through the course of the weekend. it will make it difficult for the fire to be put out and extinguished. in terms of largest fires, it doesn't register on our top ten list, that puts that into perspective, remember thomas fire in ventura county. that was over 110,000 hectares. there are 89 large wildfires amongst an extreme heat wave that continues. there has been some relief in california. look at the sacramento valley. still we have heat advisorys and warnings. triple digit heat continues and really there is no ryan i sign of letting up from this extreme heat. so, natalie, i'm sure you can see where i'm going with this,
the fires will endure as long as that red you see on the map continues to build. >> yeah, absolutely. and our next story illustrates how the extreme heat is affecting all kind of ways of life. extreme heat in southeast england is causing long delays tore people traveling under the channel to france. the brutal heat wave is making things miserable in western uniform it's not letting up. how it also fueled the devastating wildfire in greece and sweden. >> the fires have gone, but the devastation remains. an eerie silence has fallen in this village where houses once today. now they're just charred remains. nothing was spared, authorities believe arson was to blame. >> this is the first time so for my service seeing so much
catastrophe from the fire. >> reporter: as the blaze tore through the coastal village, many sought refuge in the water. many didn't make it. dozens died. almost 200 were injured. >> i feel a pain in my heart, a very heavy load. a very big burden. >> reporter: greece is not alone. across europe, tinder dry conditions combined with a scorching heat wave are stretching emergency services to the limit n. sweden a fire front continues to burn out of control even the country's air force has been deployed to help, dropping a bomb to starve a nearby fire of oxygen. >> it is not something we've done before, so we have been working closely with the rescue leader. we have done meticulous calculations. >> germany, too, is dealing with
its own fire, including one that forced the major roadway. amid sweltering temperatures, firefighters in cologne are being used to water the trees. in berlin the water cannon usually reserved for riot control has been brought out. this time, though, it's to keep the heat at bay. erin mclaughlin, cnn, london. >> we are moving from one extreme to another. japan is bracing for a powerful typhoon that can dump up to 500 millimeters of rain. the storm is threatening to unleash its heaviest rainfall around the region around tokyo. officials warn it could hit the western parts of the country where more than 200 people were killed by deadly flooding and landslides earlier this month. all of this comes while a heat wave grips japan with record
break temperatures. . well, the u.s. economy is skyrocketing. the u.s. president is claiming victory. economists warn what goes up must come down. we'll tell you about their warning, why they think those new numbers may come down in the future. plus, one of the most powerful men in american television is being accused of sexual misconduct the head of cbs responds to the allegations. r mr but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena® so it bounces back. is this at&t innovations? yeah, wow..this must be for one of our new unlimited wireless plans. it comes with a ton of entertainment options. great, can you sign for this? yeah. hey, uh.. what's in that one? that's a shark.
new and only with at&t, you can get unlimited data, 30+ channels of live tv, and your choice of things like hbo or pandora premium. more for your thing. that's our thing. visit att dot com. the chili pepper sweat-out. not cool. freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting? now that's cool! coolsculpting safely freezes and removes fat cells with little or no downtime. and no surgery. results and patient experience may vary. some common side effects include temporary numbness, discomfort,and swelling. ask your doctor if coolsculpting is right for you and visit coolsculpting.com today for your chance to win a free treatment. i was on the fence about changing from a manual to an electric toothbrush. but my hygienist said going electric could lead to way cleaner teeth. she said, get the one inspired by dentists, with a round brush head. go pro with oral-b. oral-b's gentle rounded brush head removes more plaque along the gum line. for cleaner teeth and healthier gums. and unlike sonicare, oral-b
is the first electric toothbrush brand accepted by the ada for its effectiveness and safety. what an amazing clean! i'll only use an oral-b! oral-b. brush like a pro.
does your business internet provider promise a lot? let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go online today. welcome back to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. you are watching cnn "newsroom"
live from atlanta. i'm natalie allen. firefighters are trying in hot conditions to battle the fire, two people have been killed and it's only 5% contained. the deaths consumed nearly 20,000 hectares, that's more than 48,000 acres. japan is prepare foing for type. the storm expected to hit the region around tokyo the hardest. officials warn it can pass of person japan where more than 200 people were killed by flooding and landslides. on top of all that, they're having a heat wave in japan. chinese president xi jinping is finishing off a trip in south african the leaders there promise more open and multi-lateral trade. they introduced to support the paris climate change agreement.
russian president vladimir putin says he is ready to visit washington. however that invitation has been pushed to next year. he invited the u.s. president to moscow but said any meetings between them must have what he calls necessary conditions. the u.s. economy is firing on all cylinders. the president on friday was very happy to take credit for that. but over shadowing the event is donald trump's denial again he had advanced only in of a 2016 meeting at trump tower between his top campaign advisers and russians. here's more about it from cnn's jeff zeleny. >> on a sun splashed morning at the white house a cause for celebration. >> i am clild to announce that in the second quarter of this year, the united states economy grew at the amazing rate of 4.1%. >> the president trumpeting the
soaring economy. >> these numbers are very, very sustainable. this isn't a one-time shot. >> for a few moments at least the controversy swept aside. the president hailing north korea for handing of what are the remains of killed troops. >> at this moment the plane is carrying the remains of some great fallen heroes from america back from the korean war, they're coming back to the united states. >> reporter: in most presidencies, it would be a banner way to end the week. but in this one, so many other questions are looming. for the third straight day the president not answering questions about his long-time protector michael cohen turning against him. the white house grappling with fallout from the helsinki summit. where the president sided with vladimir putin over the
intelligence community that believes russia interfered with the 2016 election. after downplaying the threat only a week ago. >> is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. president? in there make your way out. >> reporter: meanwhile the next dance over the trump-putin meeting continued. after the white house talks about a meeting next year. putin made a statement today. >> we are ready to invite mr. trump to moscow to be my guest. he has such an invitation. i will go to washington. i repeat if the right conditions for work are created. >> reporter: sarah sanders said he is feeling it is possible to go based on his -- >> who is the week like?
>> upbeat. broad. >> reporter: jeff zeleny, cnn. the white house. >> jeff just mentioned the new economic numbers. they show the economy grew at its fastest rate since 2014. in the last few months, the annualize gdp surge is a result of several factors. this is investment row as companies invested some of the money they saved from tax cuts. consumer spending and government both increased and concern over a trade war helped, too. u.s. exports rose as foreign buyers stocked up on american products before they were hit with tariffs. if the economy gross at 3% for the entire year, it will be the highest growth since 2005. >> during each of the two previous administrations we averaged just over 1.8% gdp growth. by contrast with renow on track to hit an average gdp annual
growth of over 3% and it could be substantially over 3%. each point, by the way, means, approximately $3 trillion and 10 million jobs. >> here's how these numbers stack up against the lyft three administrations. earlier we spoke to an expert on how to look at this current economy. >> i think there is two big thing people should be looking at. one is what will happen with these tariffs and trade wars. i think that is actually the biggest risk factor we are facing for the markets and the economy. it can be just as little as the threat of a trade war that can
make people and businesses pull ba back. the second thing is interest rates. what will happen to interest rates? are they going to continue to go up? and at what point do short-term rates get higher than long-term rates? that's interest rate inversion. when that happens, you see this very predictable pattern of the stockmarket basically hitting its peak within six months. another six months after that bottoming out. it's almost like clockwork. more women are making accusations regarding the "me too movement." the "new yorker" magazine is reporting sexual allegations among the most powerful men. the article sites incidents of unwanted advanced, intimidation and retaliation involving six women. cnn have not independently
confirmed the allegations. >> guys, it's been likened to a nuclear bomb ripping through hollywood. six women now accuse leslie moonves, the allegations go back decades as they all follow a similar pattern. these woman say he invited them into his office at one point and forced himself upon them. within they rebuffed his advances, these women say he used his position of power to effectively harm their kreempca. one coming from illyaen na douglas. she says she was fired from a cbs project because she did not agree to moonves' advance, both moonves and cbs are casting doubt. moonves does acknowledge he made some advances decades ago that
may have made some women feel uncomfortable. he says, i recognize there were times decades ago when i may have made some women uncomfortable by making advance, those were mistakes. i regret them immensely, i abided by the principle that no means no, i have never misused my position to harm or hinder anyone's career. cbs cast more doubt on the story saying cbs takes each report of misconduct very seriously. we do not believe, however the picture created in the "new yorker" does the best to treat its tens of thousands of employees with dignity and respect. now the cbs board of directors before this story came out and were aware of the allegations said that they would be looking into the charges. they would take every allegation seriously and they would come back and respond once they had had a chance to review all of
the details. >> that is a response we will likely not get until next week. meanwhile, moonves own wife is standing by him, calling him a good man a caring father and an inspiring corporate leader. guys, back to you. >> we are going to turn now to pakistan. there is still no final vote round, imran khan and his movement for justice party have declared victory. but every other major party says the election was rigged. some are threatening pro test unless there is new starle help is seen as a military favorite. here's what his opponents, though, are saying. >> reporter: the all parties conference versus unanimously rejected this election. we do not consider this election to be the mandate of the public.
we reject the claims of those people claiming victory as a result of this election. we do thought want to give them the right of governance. >> the european union has also cast doubt on wednesday's vote. eu observers say there are signs of a systematic effort to undermine the governing party. they urge any challenge to the election be done legally. an outspoken critic of this election knows khan right well. she's a journalist and one of imran khan's ex-wives. here's what she is telling cnn about the man who would be prime minister. >> he is the ideal puppet because when he wants something so desperately and you have been repeatedly in public compromising on ideology. this was the thing with us as well. lot of people say why the breakup in what happened? i keep telling them i couldn't
compromise on principles. i couldn't talk about you talk about anti-corruption, but there are corrupt people in your party. you talk about chrony-ism and what is happening with the person disqualified. the supreme court has taken the decision. you saw him in the speech that happened yesterday. so chrony-ism, corruption, he's let us down on so many occasions. >> we'll continue to follow developments in that disputed election in pakistan. more than 30 minute ago gra migrants made it to spain, the migrant as you see right there jumped off their raft on to a beach and scattered into the sand dunes, curious sun bathers looking on the breach is near the state of gibraltar.
the reunification of families deadline has come and gone. tell that to the hundreds still waiting to be brought back with their parents. what the government has to say coming up here on cnn "newsroom." y prevention to strengthening teeth. so instead of protection like this, you get protection like this. listerine® total care. bring out the bold.™ more important than your brain? your mind is an incredible machine, but as you get older, it begins to slow down. blood flow declines, neurons misfire, and your brain even shrinks. you may experience a lack of sharpness, find it harder to focus, or forget important information. fortunately, now there's forebrain, a top-selling cognitive performance supplement at gnc from the experts at force factor. for a limited time, every man and woman in america can claim a complimentary bottle. just use your smartphone to text the keyword on the screen to 20-20-20.
forebrain's scientifically studied key ingredients have been clinically shown to promote sharper recall, clearer mental energy, and better concentration. nothing is more important than taking care of your brain. and now you can, with forebrain. claim your complimentary bottle by texting the keyword on the screen to 20-20-20 with your smartphone. do it now - before you forget. that's the keyword on the screen to 20-20-20. do it now - before you forget. jimmy's gotten used to his whole yup, he's gone noseblind. odors. he thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this... luckily for all your hard-to-wash fabrics... ...there's febreze fabric refresher. febreze doesn't just mask, it eliminates odors you've... ...gone noseblind to. and try febreze unstopables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power, you'll want to try it... ...again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in irresistible freshness. febreze unstopables. breathe happy.
everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. the others? nope! get internet on our gig-speed network and add voice and tv for $34.90 more per month. call or go online today. thursday's deadline has come and gone for the u.s. government to reunite migrant children with their families, but it is unclear what whether happen to some 700 children still in custody. the department of homeland security claims it reunited all eligible parents in i.c.e. custody with their parents and says it is complying in good
faith with the court order the american civil liberties union demand that be allowed to stay in the u.s. here's what an aclu attorney said friday. >> to not have these parents and children go the rest of their lives thinking they have been separated solely because the parent didn't understand a form. what we are hearing is the forms were often given to them in english. sometimes it was a group presentation where the parent had one to four minutes to figure out. didn't believe they could ask questions. >> that would be outrageous if parents are sent back to their country and the children are left here because they didn't understand the form. it's remarkable the united states going is going to hold people to lose their child based on confusion or after all these months of keeping these children separated they are unwilling to give seven days to allow these parents to make a decision that's literally life altering.
>> my goodness. philadelphia's mayor said friday his city will not renew the agreement with the u.s. immigration enforcement agency to share a key city law enforcement database known as pars. there they admitted the use of pars in i.c.e. could result if immigration enforcement against philadelphia residents who have not been acaused of nor committed of a crime. it instills near e fear in the community and make it more difficult for the police department to report crimes. we could not in good conscience allow the agreement to continue. >> we are learning about a growing number of police calls over several years at migrant shelters. this is according to investigative non-profit pro hub licka. their numbers go back to 2014
the group looked at 70 immigrant youth shelters run by health and human services and here's what they found. police responded to at least 125 calls in the past five years alleging sex offenses at shelters. police reports and call logs also document allegations of fights and children missing. cnn was not able to obtain the data they used in its report independently. we reached out to some of the shelters but with no response. some responded to pro publica, though, health and human services gave this statement. quote, our focus is always on the safety and best interests of each child. these are vulnerable children, in difficult circumstances and hhs treats its responsibility for each child with the utmost care. any allegation of abuse or neglect is taken seriously and
invested by for and appropriate action is taevenlt. a super sonic flight. it could take passengers into face. how virgin galactica got one step closer for one giant leap. pack your bags. that's next.
well, this is the virgin rocket to send you and me into space. it reached nearly two-and-a-half times the speed of sound. it flew into the meso sphere before gliding back down to earth. virgin galactic says this test is the most successful. they hope people can afford to pay the $250,000 ticket price. we're not sure if it's more for extra leg room.
ha ha. we've just had the longest luan ar eclipse, it's a blood moon, sunlight reflects through the earth's atmosphere and makes the moon appear red. did you see it? no special glass is required. it was next everywhere except right here in north america. photographers had an eclipse there. the red planet mars was also closer to us than it's been. oh, look at that shot. how cool was that? wouldn't you have liked to be in that airplane. so it's not exactly watergate when donald trump gets caught on tape ordering a soda. jeanie mos reports on why this secretly recorded conversation is so popular. >> reporter: talk about grasps at straws, have you heard the juiciest part of the trump-cohen
tape is this. >> you don't have a legitimate purpose. >> reporter: incontrovertible evidence of a thirsty president living up to his reputation for a daily consumption of 12 diet coax, right? >> that's 144 ounces of president's fuel. >> reporter: you'd be surprised. my favorite part is get mae coke, please. others rank up from with mom the meatloaf from "wedding crashers." there were comparisons to jfk, my fellow americans. >> ask not what your country can do for you. >> reporter: but there was one thing that got the most comments that contradiction found pleasing. wow, he said please, he said please? must be a fake. trump says please to the help, that's my president. he hasn't always been
complimentary about his favorite beverage tweeting i have never seen a thin person drinking diet coke. i will still keep drinking that garbage. jimmy fallon downed his favorite dozen. >> the american dream is dead, bing, bing, bong and dat. and god bless the united states. >> now we have the red button on his oval office for a coke. when he was a candidate he had to speak. >> give me a coke, please. >> reporter: as one commenter noted things, including hush money, go better with coke. ♪ things go better with coca-cola". >> reporter: jeanie mos, cnn, new york. >> well, i imagine coca-cola likes that free advertising. >> that is "newsroom." for everyone else, stay with us for "amanpour."
thanks for watch theing. sometimes, bipolar i disorder can make you feel unstoppable. ♪ but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by talking to your doctor. ask about vraylar. vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in adults. clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent. side effects may not appear for several weeks. high cholesterol and weight gain; high blood sugar, which can lead to coma or death; decreased white blood cells, which can be fatal; dizziness upon standing; falls; seizures; impaired judgment; heat sensitivity; and trouble swallowing may occur. you're more than just your bipolar i.
ask about vraylar. man: are unpredictable crohn's symptoms following you everywhere? it's time to take back control with stelara®. for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease, stelara® works differently. studies showed relief and remission with dosing every 8 weeks. woman: stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop any new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. man: are you fed up with crohn's symptoms following you? talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore
cost support options. remission can start with stelara®. hey i'm a small business, but i have... big dreams... and big plans. so how do i make the efforts of 8 employees... feel like 50? how can i share new plans virtually? how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple.
Former GOP representative Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski interview newsmakers, politicians and pundits about the issues of the day.
was obvious the meeting was to get information from foreign nationals which is a crime. lawyers running around collusion is not a crime. anybody knows -- a low he ranking congressman like i was in my first year understood you can't get an in kind contribution from mullahs in iran or vladimir putin in russia. >> that's right, joe. the president is concerned. he's anxious, fearful about where this is all headed. his legal team is focused on that trump tower meeting as they have been for some time. that's a key moment in the mueller investigation. our reporting, despite what the president tweeted in response to it very much is that he's worried about don junior, expressed that worry to people he's been talking to on the phone, privately brouting about this. mueller seems to be inching
closer and closer to the oval office, to the people in the president's circle. that's why you see the president lashing out at twitter, lashing out at the campaign rallies, tweet about the witch hunt more and more, tweeting about robert mueller more and more and more. that's how he's channelling all that frustration and for. >> it's important to keep reviewing the facts as the president and others try to muddle them on twitter. "the new yorker's" adam staved son lays out the facts about which there's no dispute at all, that the president and top advisers knowingly met with officials connected to the russian government hopefully to obtain dirt on their political opponent. that document stolen and were later used in an overt effort to sway the election. these are facts, that when the trump tower meeting was uncovered, the president instructed his son and staff to
political scandal, at the end of the day, it may not be the crime, but the coverup to the crime that does the most damage. we have all this in broad daylight. donald trump lying through his teeth about this meeting specifically from the beginning. >> that's the principle point of danger for mr. trump right now, what happened after post meeting. we know for a fact, f-a-c- t, he sat on air force one and helped prepare a false statement. richard, this further i'm meshes him into, not collusion, but a conspiracy. >> harkening about watergate, it's about what you did and then what you do about what you did. when you read the law, it never says money has to change hands, it can be a contribution of any sort.
power of the office of the presidency, but it cuts even deeper than just simply the symbolic significance of that office. it cuts to the heart of who we take ourselves to be as a democratic society. not only was it conspiracy to defraud, he's aiding and abetting, and undermining of our democratic society. what's interesting, i keep going back to this page 379 in michael wolff's "fire and fury." bannon blowing his stack over this meeting and what they did on the airport. he said donald junior will crack like an egg. michael cohen will crack like an egg. bannon said way back when -- whatever we think about that book, bannon expressly said that this would be the problem, this meeting right here. >> and you can disregard so much, kasie hunt, of what bannon
said. you can disregard so much of what's in fire and fury if you want to, but bannon was dead on there. i actually talked to a reporter back in march or april of 2017, and i asked who do you think is in the most legal jeopardy. his response, don junior. he knew about this meeting. none of us, though, knew he was in close with the trump campaign. he knew about the meeting. and if he knew about the meeting, you know mueller's team knew about the meeting. there is no doubt for over a year the mueller team has been looking at don junior and this meeting and the setting up of this meeting and how excited he was to have this meeting and considered him to be perhaps of all the people around donald trump, the person in the most legal jeopardy. >> joe, think about robert mueller's broader strategy as a prosecutor.
he has shown throughout this investigation that one of the most effective ways for him to put pressure on the principals he's interested in going after is to go after their families, to pressure michael flynn's son, for example, to pressure manafort -- paul manaformanafor daughter and son-in-law has come under pressure. it shows you that this is working. this is his name sake's son. those tweets reveal this president has been pushed farther than he has ever before and this is really getting to him. that's not an accident. that's a strategy. >> hey, phil, i've got to ask you just because your team, your paper, you all have done some of the best reporting on this and done the reporting on this particular case that seems to have triggered the president. i find it one of the most extraordinary iron anies of this
whole thing, by writing this tweet out of concern for his son, donald trump has made his son's situation worse by effectively going on the record and saying his son, in fact, was doing something that was illegal. i want to ask you in that context what do people around the president think comes next, given one of the things that triggers trump most is the possible jeopardy of the people close to him including his family, what do they anticipate will be the next stages of this, as trump starts to lash out on twitter, how far do they think he will go to try to protect his son, son-in-law, daughter, anybody in bob mueller's crosshairs. >> john, it's entirely speculative. in truth, they don't know quite how far the president will go. there's a couple of things going on here. there's a general feeling on the legal team, at the white house, generally speaking, that there could be a big shoe to drop from
mueller in the next couple weeks before labor day, he may have another round of indictments and take some action before the midterm campaign season really kicks into gear, labor day, at which there's an expectation that mueller would go dark for a little while until after the election. the second thing going on is trump is currently weighing whether to sit down with mueller for an interview. those discussions are going on right now as we speak over the next few days. he's expected to decide -- he and his lawyers have been disagreeing about this. the president wants to talk to mueller for the interview. the lawyers obviously don't want him to because of all the potential problems the president could create for himself if he's not truthful. we know he's not always truthful. "washington post" fact checker has over 4,000 miss truths and lies so far. that's what you're seeing fueling the president. >> a larger universe that
haven't spoken about. it's the universe called america. right now america is being led by a man who uses his public appearances at rallies across this country, first time in my lifetime, first time in anyone's lifetime, that the president of the united states uses these appearances to foster hate, division, unrest, and you just wonder now really the impact of that. i wonder about it, about the impact of that much more so than these legal things that he's going to go through, obstruction, whatever you want to call it, conspiracy. this is really a pivotal moment in the course of american history. >> it really is. there are so many different americas. it's a big place. i remember during the bp spill and we looked at the sewage -- the oil coming out of that pipe at the bottom of the gulf.
and somebody that was a lifelong resident of the gulf of mexico was concerned. we were all concerned. we read articles about how that would destroy all life in the gulf for 50 years to come and shrimping industry would be wiped out. well, it's a big gulf. it went away. thank god it went away and hopefully there won't be too much contamination about it. but there are different americas. there is the america of donald trump's white house. there's that reality, something that we focus on an awful lot because it's our job to focus on it. the russia investigation is extraordinarily serious. the violence he does to constitutional norms, extraordinarily serious what he says about reporters, extraordinarily serious. we focus on that. most of americans aren't focusing on that right now.
they are still focusing on their job, their paycheck every two weeks, how their small business is doing, are they going to be able to comfortably afford to send their kids back to school in the fall, are they going to be able to get a new car? by that standard, a lot of america is thinking things are going pretty well and no, i'm not going to be watching donald trump at a rally, i'm going to watch "the office," "modern family," a movie on netflix. that's sort of what i found during impeachment. we were all going crazy up on capitol hill. most everybody else during that time, the kids were out of school. they're getting ready for christmas. they were focusing on things far different than what we were focusing on. it doesn't mean what we or talking about, mika, right now isn't extraordinary important. i think it is. as far as history goes and
government goes, it is the most important thing, and we have to talk about it. people have a responsibility to talk about it. we do have to understand that for a lot of people donald trump is an entertaining side show, perhaps a maddening side show, but they see a very strong economy. it's going to be a question, do more of those people go out in november, or do more young people, black voters, hispanic voters that have been insulted, muslim american voters who have been told you don't belong in america, do more of those voters go out and say, enough, this isn't the land that we read about growing up. this isn't the land that is framed by the statue of libbert. we'll see. there's no doubt right now it's a little complicated out there and either party can win. >> a lot of folks are busy with their jobs. our jobs are to ask the
questions which we'll continue to do. philip rucker, be thank you and your reporting. >> mika, also, what our jobs are, too, to watch the yankees and the red sox. >> well, there is that. >> richard, let me tell you something, 162 games -- as you know, this time yesterday, this time yesterday 40 years ago the boston red sox were 40 games ahead of the new york yankees and then a guy named bucky dent came into fenway and hit a home run. it ain't over, richard, until it's over. but just between you and me, it's over. >> joe, i thought you were a bigger and better man. if it makes you feel big to go after me today, i mean really. >> it's really all i have in life, richard. >> still ahead on "morning joe," trump says he likes mike. michael jordan says he likes lebron. how the president's attempt to
divide sports fans, backfired completely. one of the folks weighing in on that, the ex-president of iran who stepped up his twitter trolling over the weekend. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. call in the next ten minutes... and if that's not enough, we'll look after your every dollar. put down the phone. and if that's not enough, we'll look after your every cent. grab your wallet. (beeping sound) (computer voice) access denied. and if that's still not enough to help you save... oh the new one! we'll bring out the dogs. mush! (dogs barking) the old one's just fine! we'll do anything, seriously anything, to help our customers. thanks. ally. do it right. it's a high-tech revolution in sleep.
the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. smarter sleep will change your life. i couldn't catch my breath. it was the last song of the night. it felt like my heart was skipping beats. they said i had afib. what's afib? i knew that meant i was at a greater risk of stroke. i needed answers.
my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. for afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®.
and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. president trump spent part of his weekend in a war of words with basketball superstar lebron james. >> because that really makes sense, mika. if you're worried about an upcoming election in ohio, you want to attack ohio's favorite son right before that special election. >> the president tweeted, lebron james was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, don lemon, he made lebron look smart which isn't easy to do. i like mike, a reference to michael jordan. the tweet followed an interview by lemon of james for the new school for at-risk children in
his hometown of akron, ohio. it included a negative assessment saying the president using sports as a way to divide us. james received a wave of support including from michael jordan. a spokesman saying he supports james adding he's doing an amazing job for his community. first lady melania trump commended james on his school. her spokeswoman maintained in a further statement that mr. trump was not taking sides on the matter. >> kind of like the united states saying on december 8, 1941, we or not taking sides on the matter. >> over five years ago, he tweeted congratulations to king james on winning athlete of the
year. lebron is also a great guy. >> you can almost hear -- this guy sounded like an old, grumpy, white racist grandpa in queens or in alabama yelling at his tv said saying this black man is stupid, that a black man is stupid. first you'd say, gee, boy, he's really losing it because who would be that racially insensitive to do that, but no, it's his strategy. it's what donald trump thinks. he told his staff members, basically attacking black athletes, that's really good for me, that's really good politically going into the midterms. >> i think you're right, joe. remember the speech in alabama when he went after nfl players
and called them s.o.b.s. it's a situation trump is most comfortable, especially when he's in trouble, to to be the cultural warriors that speaks to the dark underside of this country. to go after lebron revealed very clearly a pattern, a pattern that speaks to his on going belief about black folks and women in particular because he has this pension to describe black people as dumb. he has a tendency to describe women as dumb, not just maxine waters, but women in general. so it seems to me this is trump being the cultural warrior. the irony is this is the man who founded trump university, this fraudulent thing. here is lebron james opening up a public school in cleveland. you couldn't get a better contrast of moral human beings. >> and every phase of their life, mike barnicle. by the way, mel len dwra's spokesperson can say she cuss on the trying to get involved, but
she got involved in the middle of it and chose to side with lebron. >> joe, this gets to what we were talking about before the break and what eddy just spoke about. race remains now and forever the third rail of american life, not american politics. we really don't have a handle on it. we have a leader, the ostensible leader of the united states of america, the president of the united states, who continually plays with it and provokes people with it. it's truly dangerous and it's going to end even more badly than it is right now. >> it would be bad enough if it were restricted to african-american athletes and to african-american women, female members of congress like maxine waters. think about it. you have barack obama, the first african-american president of the united states, he's from kenya. maxine waters, she's an idiot.
blackwater, idiot. black after countries, s holes. if you think of anything in political life, cultural life, gloenl life that associates itself with dark pigmentation, the president of the united states thinks they're idiots, evil, fraudulent. it's not just a pattern that extends -- yes, he's obviously mao maoing colin kaepernick and african-american nfl players and lebron james now. he doesn't restrict himself to one species of african-american, or one category of african-american. if you're black, the president takes a crap all over you. this gets to your point about toxins. it's the most consistent thing in your public profile. >> he's injected it. >> other than don king you can't find an african-american that the president has any respect for. >> it's such a turn to his
private life before he was in politics and when he actually both personally and professionally had friends, had acquaintances in the black community. yu can talk to reverend al about it. you can talk to a lot of entertainers about it. so it is this calculated, cynical, david duke-like use of racism for political gain. as meacham always says, it may be a good starter, but it's a terrible finisher. you don't have to go back that far, john heilemann, to see what's happened in the past, predict what's going to happen in the future. go back to doug jones' special election in alabama. i think one of the most remarkable statistics i've seen in quite some time is the fact that more alabama black voters
across what they call the black belt in central alabama, a higher percentage of black voters came out to vote for doug jones in that special election than voted for barack obama in '08 and '12 percentagewise, is unheard of. it is historic. it's probably never happened before, and donald trump is the reason it happened. right. joe, i'll ask eddie about that. the president thinks this strategy helps with his base clearly. there's plenty of evidence to suggest that donald trump is a stone-cold racist. beyond that, there's the politics of it. he thinks it helps with his base. for every dispossessed, self-pitying white voter who likes the fact that donald trump takes on every feyerick in sight, there's often an african-american female voter we saw in alabama who is equally
inflamed by donald trump's behavior towards african-americans and his tolerance for and praise for white nationalists and neo-nazis in charlottesville, virginia. >> we saw that evidenced in alabama and virginia. i think it's important that we not simply think about donald trump appealing to a racist base. he sits in the sweet spot between loud racist, the soft bigotry of liberals and the contradictions of american capitalists. and what do i mean by that? when he sends out that bone, throws out the red meat, that's okay. it speaks to them. the soft bigotry, that's the silent majority, the folks that believe big government is taking money from hard working white people and giving it to undeserving brown people. these are folks that want to keep their neighborhoods the way they are, the folks committed to
racial equality but according to social science data, that are skeptical of policies that will remedy racial inequality. then you have folks working their behind off in rural america, working their behinds off with three jobs in urban america who can't make ends meet. donald trump sits right in that sweet spot. every time he engages in a cultural war, he's throwing a bone to the racists. it's easy for us to think we can just denounce him as the loud racist, but that's not the source of his power. the source of his power is he sits at the intersection of all three of those things, in my view. >> he kbruuses this power to cr policy that separates children from families and attacks a sports star who creates a school for at-risk kids. it's really sad to use the president's little term, sad.
still ahead, from the start of his presidency, donald trump has muddied what should have been a clear message, russia interfered. now "the washington post" is taking a deep dive into what happened in 2016. that is coming up next. is z hey, no big deal. you've got a good record and liberty mutual won't hold a grudge by raising your rates over one mistake. you hear that, karen? liberty mutual doesn't hold grudges... how mature of them. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪
this president wants to make very clear that he was not the president in 2016 when evidence of russian interference and meddling in our democracy in 2016 was presented to that president and his security team and buried because they wanted the other person to win and indeed thought she would win the presidency. >> white house counselor kellyanne conway yesterday giving some more alternative facts. but when the department of homeland security and director of national intelligence issued a statement in october of 2016 publicly blaming russia for hacking, president trump claimed it was to hurt his candidacy. >> i notice any time anything wrong happens, they like to say the russians -- she doesn't know if it's the russians doing the hacking. maybe there is no hacking. they always blame russia. the reason they believe russia
because they think they're trying to tarnish me with russia. >> this morning "the washington post" announced this coming october it will release a book exam eng russian enter fines in the 2016 election and the subsequent political, legal and diplomatic fallout. the book is entitled "the apprentice, trump, russia and the subversion of america," written by greg miller who joins us now. greg, thank you very much for being on. >> thank you. >> who is the apprentice in this case? and also, i understand you conducted hundreds of interviews with people who are there. as much as donald trump thinks it's to hurt him, this is about america being attacked, is it not? >> the apprentice, we love the title. it works on a number of levels here. trump is an apprentice in many ways, learning on the job.
it ties back to the job and he's so subservient to vladimir putin that he seems like an apprentice to the ruks leader. >> to what extent would the russian policy or intervention, however you want to call it, was that triggered by donald trump's emergence on the american political scene. regardless of the specific candidates that emerged if. >> that's a great question. what we know from intelligence reports and intelligence sources is that it started broad for russia. the sber feerns in the 2016 election, started with broad objectives to undermine american democracy, to make america look dysfunctional. it had a side objective of trying to tarnish hillary clinton because of vladimir putin's animosity toward her. in the middle of the campaign when it looked like trump was starting to rise above the
crowd, the russian campaign pivoted behind him. we're coming to terms with the extent and reach of that effort. this books goes really, really far in trying to understand and explain just how significant it was. >> greg, it's kasie hunt. i've envious that you've had so much time to focus on one topic as we've struggled to keep up with the daily pointing. to that point, we are struggling every day to understand, to follow these tweets, figure out what is important, separate the noise from the substance. having spent all this time looking at this, what are the points that we should be spending the most time focused on? is it the trump tower meeting? is it the president calling for russia to find the 30,000 missing hillary clinton e-mails? what are the key turning points? >> you hit on a couple of those key turning points, but i have to say two things. one, i feel you.
the daily deluge -- even working on this project for the past year was really hard at times, to turn your eyes, to avert your gaze from the daily developments and crazy and chaos. by i think what i took out of this exercise was to look at the sweep of the story. what we tried to do with this book is help people understand the origin of this and where it's taken us as a country. it goes inside not only the white house, but the president's legal team. it goes inside facebook. it goes inside the cia, inside the fbi and inside the mueller investigation, and it brings all of that together. >> greg, you just mentioned one of the least discussed aspects of where we are now with regard to putin and russia and the present administration, and it's the root of this, the origin of this. hillary clinton and vladimir
putin. give us an explanation of what happened and why it so affected putin to the extent he's doing what he's doing. >> as you must know, vladimir putin is really animated and motivated by a deep sense of grievance, a conviction that the collapse of the soviet union was a terrible development for russia, that it stepped back and ceded power in the world in a way it should president have. he became focused on hillary clinton much later when he was president of russia, when there were protests around russia in places like ukraine. and then when protests erupted in moscow, he blamed hillary clinton who was the secretary of state at time for fomenting this opposition to him, and he identified her as the point person for an american effort to
unseat him, for regime change. he really believed that that was the case. >> the book "the apprentice, trump, russia and the subversion of american democracy" will be available october 2nd. greg miller, thank you very much for being on this morning. >> thank you for having me. still ahead, a closer look at the abolish i.c.e. movement and the president's child separation policy. we'll talk to the author of a new piece entitled "how i.c.e. went rogue". plus, nicolas maduro survives what his government describes as an assassination attempt. we'll discuss that when we come back. (vo) this is not a video game.
this is not a screensaver. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ when you have something you love, ♪ you want to protect it. at legalzoom, our network of attorneys can help you every step of the way.
with an estate plan including wills or a living trust that grows along with you and your family. legalzoom. where life meets legal. booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline.
all around louisiana... you're a nincompoop! (phone ping) gentlemen, i have just received word! the louisiana purchase, is complete! instant purchase notifications from capital one. so you won't miss a purchase large, small, or very large. technology this helpful...could make history. what's in your wallet?
in caracas. he was speaking when an explosion occurred. the camera cuts to a wide shot of the scene and following another apparent explosion. large number of soldiers in attendance break rank end flee. the attack came from overhead drones. in an address shortly after, maduro blamed far-right groups in venezuela inaddition to financiers and planners that live in the united states in the state of florida. maduro also says it's part of a plot linked to colombian president, something a colombian officials tells reuters is absurd. the ap and reuters report a group called national movement of soldiers in t-shirts has claimed responsibility on twitter although nbc news has not confirmed the account. venezuela says it has detained at least half a dozen people so far. richard haas, what is going on? >> what you have is a country that has the world's largest
reserves of oil is collapsing. venezuela is a failed state. the currency is down 1 mill thrown the dollar. hemorrhaging between 25 and 50,000 people a month. overwhelming its neighbors. this is a country that -- it's way past the point of any viability. being propped up more than anything else by cuban security personnel, and the question is how does this nightmare end, or does it end? >> richard, let me ask you, how does a country that has such a wealth of oil reserves, how does it collapse this way over a decade or so? >> because over a decade first you had chavez now mr. maduro. it's totally corrupt. totally status leadership. it's anti-business. it's against the people. it's driven out the most
educated, talented people. this is a tragedy. any other place in the world, joe, we would be having a conversation herer and elsewhere about how does the world act? is there some form of intervention. ? instead we have limited sanctions. we can have this conversation in six months or a year. this is an unfolding tragedy. let me spend 30 seconds on something else. what's so interesting with these drone attacks as if we didn't have enough to worry about, we have to add this to the list of things to worry about, wherever people congregate, people can use a drone against our political figure. i think this is a real threat. >> absolutely. coming up the president blows up his team's lie about the trump tower meeting with a single sunday morning tweet. we'll talk about what it means for the mueller probe. and is the state of new york in a position to take out the n ranch. andrew cuomo tweeted if the nra goes bankrupt because of the state of new york they will be
in my thought and prayers. the governor joins us ahead on "morning joe". e the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro. with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were very saggy. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with new sizes, depend fit-flex is made for me. introducing more sizes for better comfort. new depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit. it's a high-tech sleep revolution. the sleep number 360 smart bed intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts. so you wake up ready to run the world.
the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999.
compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. all throughout, like hundreds, a hundred years, 125 years, whoever has the white house, that party tends to lose the mid-terms. i don't know why. we have the greatest economy in the history of our country. we've had things that never happened before. if the democrats get in, they are going to raise your taxes.
you're going to have crime all over the place. you're going to have people pouring across the border. why would that be a blue wave. i think it could be a red wave. really, it should be a red wave. [ cheers and applause ] >> welcome back to "morning joe". it's monday, august 6th. >> by the way, again, so many things -- >> where do you begin? >> you have to say it. things going well out there. this isn't the greatest economy ever. this isn't close to the greatest economy ever. barack obama had more people getting jobs his last 16 or 18 months than they had jobs during donald trump's first 16 or 18 months. again not to say the economy is not doing well. it is. but all of these claims and i'm not even talking to trump supporters, i'm talking to news reporters who i cannot believe actually will ask a question by saying yes the economy is doing better than it's before done
before. we're in an extraordinary six, seven year recovery right now and that's a recovery we can all be grateful for. and, you know what? that's something we republicans, now a conservative, we conservatives have always given credit where credit is due and that's the small business owners to people working hard. unfortunately, this economy taking two or three jobs. but, yeah, it's a strong economy but mika, this is not an economy that donald trump gave us. this is an economy that's part of the seven year on going recovery. >> got to keep up with the facts. still with us we had have mike barnacle. national affairs analyst for nbc news and msnbc john heileman. professor at princeton university and president of the council on foreign relations richard haas. nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of ca
kaciedc, kasie hunt. and columnist and political contributor for msnbc and nbc news, peggy. >> -- peggy noonan and peter baker. >> peggy, i want to start with you. always curious what you're thinking. obviously donald trump this past weekend -- well actually hard to say that he went to new territory because he's always in new territory, but, obviously, more unhinged and more unmoored than usual. obviously concerned about his son's possible legal troubles. but where do you put donald trump, the white house and this country as we move into the dog days of august? >> well, i still think in a funny way, even though there's
so much that happens each day the news cycle always seems to dance that there's too much going on. at this same time nothing happens, i think, until more mueller stuff comes in and a final report comes in. that's the point at which you really know where you stand. having said that, i think the thing with the president is something true of him now that was true of him the second day after he took office. it's been true throughout his administration. he talks too much. he obscures and steps on and made us obvious not anything good happening in his administration. he thinks his constant communication is his power. i think instead his constant need to talk and tweet and be in your face and be the center of attention is, in fact, his weakness. but he cannot stop.
he doesn't have enough self-discipline to hold himself back and let events unfold in an interesting way. i think his rallies are amusing to his supporters, and kind of inspiring and kind of fun. for one thing, they all get-together. americans aren't normally together in a big room. they get to see each other. they get to cheer their guy together. i think he says a lot of things that are not true that they know are not true. but they understand or they recognize it's part of his show business, part of his desire just to say things. also he seems to me very big on this statement that's farther to the reality. he likes to say things as if they are true to make them true. that's what we have a year and a half in is a continuation of the drama of donald trump. >> yeah. you know -- >> sorry to go so long.
>> no, no, no. >> no, no. mike barnacle i spoke with three gentlemen this weekend, educated, good guys, decent guys, all trump supporters and sat there and just listened to them and requested why they supported trump, and quite gave me some, you know, some facts that just weren't the case. but, again, i was just listening. but what struck me was they were good men, they were decent men, they were honorable men, they were fathers, they were grand fathers, they would never accept that sort of behavior out of their children or grandchildren or friends that they ignore when it comes to donald trump. there's no doubt donald trump lives by a different set of standards than everybody else. and it just seems -- it was interesting. these trump supporters, these voters did not like him as a
man. wouldn't want him around. but the economy is doing well. and it reminded me so much of what frustrated republicans in the 1990s about bill clinton. it didn't matter what he lied about, if he was lying about transferring missile technology to china versus an intern, it just didn't matter. people would go, you know, the economy is doing well. he is who he is. and that seems to be the attitude that has stuck here. >> well, i'm sure bill clinton will be thrilled that you lump him in with donald trump in what trump is doing, but joe -- >> but it is important, though, that republicans -- republicans were saying the same exact thing in the late 1990s about bill clinton and his lies and nobody caring about him lying that democrats and independents are saying about donald trump now, and i guess what the bigger point is this.
as long as the economy is doing well, everybody is fine. >> that's true. that's true, joe, to a point, i think. but the people who you were with, the men who you were with, i'm sure they were great guys. sadly for them and a lot of others, including a lot of people we see in these halls where the president gathers the crowds together they are falling for the con. language and words as peggy alluded to are the currency of leadership. and the words that this president uses, that mr. trump uses, are all aimed at two things that presidents of the past, no matter who they were, no matter what party they belonged to they never utilized these words in these two ways, to poke at agree grievances and enlist division. >> i said it in the last hour there are so many different
americas, so many subsets. you got, you know, all the americans looking at donald trump and i suspect, i predict that democrats are going to do very well this fall. i'm not so sure how they will do in 2020 if trump runs for re-election. then you have the subset of people that go to these rallies and this really does seem to be the most hardened core of donald trump's supporters who may believe half the things he says there even though so many are lies. then you got the type of people i spoke to this weekend that i know you talked to out on the campaign trail that say yeah i don't like him. i wish the guy would stop tweeting. yeah, he may not be well mentally. he makes a joke of himself. he embarrasses himself. he embarrasses the white house. but things are going well. the economy is going well. my god, what am i going to do, turn it over to nancy pelosi and chuck schumer and have my taxes raised and have my small business damaged.
that's the mindset for so many americans out, there isn't it? >> it is. look voters have always weighed pocketbook issues. i'm surprised he's doing as poorly in the polls as the economy is doing good. a good economy we float the boat of a president and his party heading in to an election. yet this president is still around 40%, 45% depending on which poll you see. numbers as bad as any were before the mid-term debacle for bill clinton in 1994, barack obama in 2010. so, you know, i look at the poll yesterday, in fact. the differential between his approval rating and disapproval rating is minus 15 which is higher than any president. but that core group of people, 40%, 42% whatever it is are sticking by him and part of it is yes the economy is doing
well. he's not getting as much credit as normally he would because of these other issues, his own conduct in office, the investigation, other things that are holding him back. >> we talked about last week, there are political realities. presidents that have 40% approval ratings, lose the house and they lose the senate in mid-term elections. presidents that kowtow to vladimir putin, ex-kgb presidents. donald trump is not in a strong political position. again when we're trying to figure out why people are supporting him a lot has to do with economy which might help i'm in 2020. i'll keep saying this over and over again. 1994 a huge republican year, bill clinton had a strong economy. 2006 a huge democratic year,
guess what? you had george h. w. bush with a strong economy. you can say the same thing about 2014 and barack obama, the economy was, at that point, was in a four or five year recovery. republicans still had a big year. sign the mid-terms it's not always the economy, stupid. usually that's in presidential years. >> let's talk more about the president's sunday tweet. here it is. fake news reporting, a complete fabrication that i am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, don't had in trump tower. that was a meeting to get information on an opponent totally legal and done all the time in politics and it went nowhere. i did not know about it. donald trump confided to friends and advisors he's worried that
mueller probe could destroy the lives of innocent and decent people namely trump jr. who is under scrutiny by mueller for organizing a june 16th meeting with russians promising dirt on hillary clinton. notice the president at the end says i didn't know about it to make sure he saves himself mostly. as one adviser described the president's thinking, he does not believe his son purposely broke the law, but is fearful nonetheless that trump jr. may have inadvertently wandered into legal jeopardy. on saturday former communications director hope hicks was spotted on the tarmac joining the president on his trip to ohio. according to trump, trump jr. senate testimony hicks was in the middle of the president dictating his son's misleading statement about adoptions to the "new york times," followed by explanation that quickly unravelled.
>> politics is not the nicest business in the world but very standard where they have information and you take the information. in the case of don, he listened. i guess they talked about, as i see it, they talked about adoption and some things. >> there was nothing as far as we would know to lead anybody to believe there was anything but adoption. >> president didn't sign off on anything. he's coming back from the g-20. the statement that was released on saturday was released by donald trump jr. in consultation with his lawyers. >> he certainly didn't dictate but, you know, like i said he weighed in, offered a suggestion like any father would do. >> one of those false statements you heard there was from president trump's lawyer, jay sekulow yesterday. george stephanopoulos got a chance to ask him about it. >> why did you deny trump's involvement. when did you learn that the denial wasn't true. >> number one, i was in the case
at that point, what a couple of weeks and there was a lot of information that was gathered. as my colleague rudy giuliani said i had bad information at that point. i made a mistakes in my statement. >> however, sekulow did not say where he got the bad information from. it's hard to keep up, joe, with the twists and turns of how the president is trying to handle his own lies, trying to protect his son but really actually working harder to protect himself because ultimately it appears to be all about trump. >> well, john heileman, it shouldn't be surprising, but you see one, two, three, four not false statements, lies. four lies spewed out by four different people in the administration, including the president of the united states, and any other administration that person would go out, issue
an apology, said i had bad information, i am so sorry, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. in this case, that line has become so common from some of those same characters, that there's quite a bit of discussion this weekend about where somebody who works for donald trump right now and spread lies for donald trump right now, and refuses to distance themselves from donald trump calling the free press the enemy of the people right now, you sit there and go where are these people going to get jobs as soon as donald trump leaves town? the answer is they just are not. not in any respectable firm. not in any respectable business because of their brand is lying. >> right. it's easy given the fact that as was pointed out earlier given how much the president lies, given the documented 4,000 lies
or something in the course of the first 18 months of the presidency it's easy to lose focus on how extraordinary this statement was, what the president said on twitter on sunday. the president basically came on twitter in a casual enraged fit. went on twitter and basically said that he misled the american people, he dictated a statement, helped shape a statement that was an outright lie about a pivotal moment in the history of the presidential campaign and the history of this investigation. basically said, admitted straightforwardly, went on the record and said this meeting was about colluding with a foreign government or attempting to collude with a foreign government to get dirt on my opponent. he basically said i lied about this, i been lying about this. everyone around me has been lying about this. it is -- i would say peter baker
i'll ask you because you've been with many presidential administrations. you've seen a lot of things. you've seen a lot of lies. there's not a president we've covered that we haven't seen lie. even by the standards of donald trump or by the standard of any president i've covered this is one of the most extraordinary admissions of having lied on the record of any president. i can't think of anything in anales of presidency that's anything like this, not just as gratuitous but consequential. >> it is consequential. we've seen these reports of measure mural looking at the president's tweets as part of his look into whether there's obstruction of justice. certainly in the last couple of weeks more tweets would add to that possible case. this being one of them. the other is his not quite order to jeff sessions to shut down the investigation. so you got a president here that
any lawyer would certainly be leery of having as a client because you can say anything at any time, undermines his own case, his own defers, his own story, his own version of the truth. it must be frustrating to lawyers, like jay sekulow shown right before you were talking there about bad information. who gave him bad information. that was an important thing. if i was a lawyer in a situation being given bad information you have to wonder whether it's worth staying and if you're putting yourself in professional jeopardy. >> peggy, you worked for a president who used language to soar, to make america feel more at ease, more comfortable, to explain things to america. the challenger explosion, things like that, ronald reagan. we all had our differences with ronald reagan, that administration had difficulties as well as every other administration does.
what goes through your mind when you listen to the language being deployed and employed by this president? >> a few things. one is that reagan was clear to use clarity. he wanted to be clear about his thinking. he wanted his arguments to be clear. when he said the soviet union deserves to fall and well he gave the logical case for it. he gave you his thinking. so way beyond a certain aspirational nature or language there was the simple desire for candor and clarity. look, that is not the age we're in now. i think when donald trump was elected i said we have entered the age of the post-heroic presidency. it seems to me people kind of decided, kind of deliberately we're not going be looking up to these fellows any more.
the next person we choose might be someone from the field of entertainment, or an unusual field but it won't be a political figure and it won't be someone aiming for the aspirational styles of old rhetorically. we're in a new time. it's a post-heroic time. i think donald trump knows this, and asserts on it. >> richard, the questions that, you know, we've been asking and we can continue to ask because they are just as relevant now as they have been since january 20th, 2017 is what is the impact of donald trump lying. everybody in his administration lying. one day after another. we talk about baghdad bob, but i'll tell you some of, i think some of america's greatest currency during the cold war, ronald reagan's greatest currency was that the soviet
union lied. they lied to themselves, they tlied their people, they lied to the countries they were enslaving, they lied to the world. and for us that was always a sign ever weakness that they had to lie to try to shape a reality that was vastly -- that could compete with the united states with the reality was that they were vastly inferior morally, economically, and militarily to the united states of america. now it's a president who admires russia's leaders, russia's governing that is producing his own form of problem every day. >> the implications are terrible on many front. you have a divided country that many people can't believe what the president says so how can we act in a unified, concerted way. some of the important things the
united states does in foreign policy doesn't have anything to go diplomats or soldiers it's the example we set. we just talked about ronald reagan who we worked for. this is not a shining city on a hill. the idea we're having the coarseness of this dialogue, this degree of untruth said, this is not a country that the rest of the world will respect, and, again, we should never forget the rest of the world depends on us. if we're seen as lying, if we're seen as not being reliable, essentially the rest of the world will take its fate into its own hands. this will be a world that will have far less american influence, this will be a world that will be far less stable because people will essentially be going their own ways or deferring to powerful neighbors. what this is doing is setting in motion trends here domestically where it's harder for us to come together and reinforcing sentry
fug -- centrifugal forces in the world. this is serious, this is consequential. >> totally agree. peter baker, thank you very much. still ahead on "morning joe" we'll have conversations around two of the most controversial and consequential aspects of the trump administration. the role i.c.e. plays in his immigration policy and the dark undercurrents that welled up in charlottesville one year ago this week. we'll be right back.
ooh sfx: [cell phone dialing]
oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula available. it's clinically proven to work on fine lines and wrinkles. one week? that definitely works! rapid wrinkle repair®. and for dark spots, rapid tone repair. neutrogena®. see what's possible.
are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. . we're protecting american workers. supporting american law enforcement. including i.c.e.. i.c.e.. we love i.c.e.. [ cheers and applause ]
[ audience chanting build that wall ] >> president trump speaking in ohio on saturday and joining us now, national correspondent for the atlantic, he writes the magazine's cover story for the latest issue entitled "how i.c.e. went rogue inside america's unfolding immigration crisis" joe there was some critique of my concern that the president has lost a step or two, or is over the edge on friday, and some analysts or i don't know what to call them, trump abologists state tv that what you thought there was brilliance unfolding before our eyes. he's so talented i can't understand talent when i see it.
>> they said you were so boring. >> that's the other reason. >> went on and talked about you for ten minutes. >> that's okay. >> no, it's great. >> got to talk about something. >> got to talk about something. >> no news to cover. there's nothing going on. at all. >> just wanted to talk about boring things for ten minutes. frank, yesterday what fascinated you. we haven't been able to talk about the world cup on tv, premier league, football starts next week. >> it's going to be good. when are you booking your game clock for the show? >> very soon. they will have a great year. we'll get you back on. we'll get you back on with roger. let's talk about i.c.e. right now. it seems that so much of the immigration debate, so much of donald trump's schtick during the campaign, the crowd chanting, building that wall,
build that wall. it's all nonsense. not fact driven. we've talked about immigration rates plummeting, for a decade now. one thing that's very real is what is now happening on the border with i.c.e. and the separation of children, it seems that i.c.e. has lost its focus on its primary mission because they got a president pushing them to do certain things. >> if we step back we can see that this is a donald trump problem but also an american problem in that we've spent generations now building up a massive immigration enforcement apparatus. and because it exists in this little bubble, this little pocket of civil law in the department of homeland security, it exists in such a manner in which it's able to dehumanize all the people it comes in contact with. the department of homeland security is a classic example of a bureaucratic mess that was put
together in a rush with resources not clear delineations of its authority. we just didn't pay much attention it until the trump administration. now what trump has done that's very different is that he's deliberately tried to cultivate fear. that one of the ends of his administration's policy and this grows out of a doctrine that's very clearly declinated is to cause people to deport themselves. that they want to raise the consequences for the 11 million undocumented, and to make them feel a sense of terror and panic and foreboding that causes them to leave the united states on their own accord. and i studied a group, i went to columbus, ohio, spent with a community of west african-americans who came here, applied for asylum, were rejected because they got scammed. every time i go back to columbus
i see people leaving to go to canada because fear has taken hold. >> i want to ask a question. let me frame it in this way. i want to ask a question about the moral crisis that i.c.e. has put the nation in. in the 1850s there was the fugitive slave law. because it did what it did suddenly tissue of slavery was nationalized. not justin south. it was a moral question that m emerson had to confront in massachusetts. now we have i.c.e.. trying from text family members from being snatched from them. this fear you've talked about. how has this i.c.e., this 248% crease in jail tran fierce, how has this created a moral crisis that's nationalized now, not a local issue. >> that's exactly the way i would frame tight, there's this moral crisis that, you know, i believe in borders and that a nation state has the prerogative
to figure out who comes in and who comes out of the country and immigration is something we should legitimately regulate. when it comes to the 11 million who exist within our communities, these are the other who exist within us, and two-thirds of them have lived in this country for over a decade. and so the way that we treat them is a test of our national character because never before or very, very rarely in our history have we attempted to excise the other from our midst. sure we've turned people away at the border oftentimes callously or turned away immigrants trying to enter through ellis island. but only in very, very rare instances have we gone after and tried to remove people who live amoungs. we did this in 1950s with operation wet back where millions of mexicans were moved and that was a moral stain on our country.
but before the existence of i.c.e., before we ramped up i.c.e.'s existence after nooirn we never had a significant police apparatus that was assigned the mission of removing immigrants from the interior of the country. and it's a tremendous power. it's really -- it's largely unchecked. the way we use that power is indeed a moral test. >> well, you know, peggy, the man you worked with, the man you worked for, ronald reagan believed that immigration was a moral test. he also believed that immigration was extraordinarily critical to who we were to the character of america and he said it throughout his presidency. >> i think in his farewell address he said if a nation has to have walls, the walls should have doors, meaning those who want to come here, who have a compelling reason, who we can
accept, get them in here. it's what we have always done. why would we stop this? reagan thought, i think, in part that the desire to be an america, a hunger to be an american, the hunger to live here was to a certain degree an establishing rationale or a reason for you to be taken in. however, i'll tell you i think we need immigration control, we need an immigration control agency. of course we do. but it looks to me like this is a large agency that maybe has a very strong sense of what is possible for it in terms of its aggression. i'm wondering what could a president do right now, could this president do if he had a mind to, what two things could he do to make this albert on the ground and make i.c.e. seem less intrusive and less obnoxious and
less bullying. >> the ronald reagan example is an interesting one because he was the last president to give amnesty in large number to undocumented immigrants and really the failure of impressive immigration reform is the most serious indictment of our political system because we've had bipartisan agreement about the necessity of coming up with some sort of compromise on immigration reform and because we've had major votes endorsing it it's only because of guerilla tactics of house republicans and the lahaster rule. ronald reagan would understand the problem of bureaucracy has run amuck. that's the issue with i.c.e.. barack obama struggled with how to corral this institution. it took him a long time and a lot of trial and error and a lot of flops before in the last couple years of his administration he was able to
impose priorities on the organization. he said that, that i.c.e. should only target serious criminals for deportation. in the absence of immigration reform that would grant amnesty to most of the 11 million, he said you know what? we're not going to send you out of this country if you swerve out of the wrong lane or run a red light, but if you commit a serious crime you're going to be deported. i agree with you, peggy, that we do need to have some sort of apparatus that deports, deports immigrants because that's just something that we need to have a functioning society but i don't think we want to have a bureaucracy like the one that we've amassed. >> yeah. frank, thank you very much. we'll be looking for your reporting online and in the upcoming september issue of the atlantic. still ahead nearly a year since the deadly rally in
charlottesville, virginia and many perpetrators of that racist violence have not been held accountable. a new documentary is investigating why. that's coming up next.
the first thing that was important for me to change was the culture of the company. and i think that had to shift to responsible growth. second thing i wanted to change was the leadership of the company. and the third was for us to start listening. listening to our riders. listening to our driver partners. i think listening is ultimately going to make us a better company. your insurance rates a scratch so smallr you could fix it with a pen. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪
nearly one year after the deadly rally in charlottesville, virginia, pbs front line are investigating white supremacist resurgence in america with a new special entitled documents hate, charlottesville. here's a clip from the report that premiers tomorrow night and some of the scenes might be disturbing to watch. >> charlottesville rally was supposed to be about a confederate monument. but anyone who was paying attention could see it was about more than a single statue. it felt like a national reckoning around race was coming. i came here to ask questions. and as the day unravelled into chaos around me, one thing became clear, this was not a place to listen or understand.
charlottesville was a crime scene. front line correspondent and reporter a. c. thompson joins us now. what did you fine in your search for whether or not justice was served out of charlottesville? >> you know, i think one of the key things for us is we encountered one person after another who had been violent in rallies after char advocatesvil -- charlottesville before and after charlottesville. there was no consequence for them. we went looking for these violent actors, not the people who wanted the spotlight but the people who didn't want to be in the spotlight, want to operate
from the shadows and engaging criminal activity and there were a lot of them out there. >> why no consequences, one year after charlottesville why no consequences? >> that's a good question. what we know is that a lot of these local authorities, for example, in berkeley, california to charlottesville don't have a ton of resources to go after these characters. in some cases they haven't been vigorous in going after these characters. we believe that the federal bureau of investigation is more interested in some of these groups, and has acted. but it's still an open question why some of these people haven't been brought to justice. >> what's the consequence that follows from the failure to foum. we know what just happened in portland, oregon. what are the consequences that follow? >> i think the concern is that people that are able to go from one rally to the next and physically attack people, and basically then return to their normal lives they feel like hey i can do this, i can get away
with this and engenders more violence. >> how is it that a collection of neo-nazis stone cold racist from across the country, from many, many different states across the country gather in charlottesville for one specific purpose, everybody in charlottesville once they gets there know what the purpose is. where was the preparation, police planning? >> that's a totally crucial question. it's been overlooked. there was a 200 page report that came out after charlottesville that said hey here are the failures and there were many. there were intelligence failures on the front end. there were failures to really plan. there were failures between the virginia state police and the local police to coordinate and even be able to talk to one another on the same radiofrequencies, but most importantly what we know now is that basically the police said we're going to allow this to escalate. we're going to allow violence to
happen. when that violence has happened we'll have a reason to declare unlawful assembly and clear these people out. that helped to lead to failed consequences of that day. >> it's a year later, right. i'll ask you the biggest urgent question i can. take everything that's all happened, all the attention ever char lost via, what the president said, the counter reaction, the recruiting videos, the totality of everything. a year later has charlottesville been good or bad for the cause of white supremacy in america. >> it works in two ways or even three ways. a lot of people have left the movement. they felt they were chastened by what happened. they don't want to be a part of it. other people said we have to organize big ways. we'll do flash mobs. posters. other people said we'll do terrorism. we'll go underground. we're done with protests and politicking now we'll start
killing people and start blowing stuff up. it goes in three different ways. >> how many people were at charlottesville that day when it all blew up? how big transparent crowds? how big were the opposing forces. >> that's still in debate. if you look at the numbers people put white supremacist 500 with more people on the opposing side. that's about right. you had mostly, you know, around 500 white supremacists, a bigger group of opponents. in the streets directly in front of them was a smaller group. most opponents were nonviolent. >> in a nation of 305 million, 500 really bad guys that's not a lot. so what does it imply to you >> two things. one thing is i think they are reflective of a deeper fissure in society. that's a key thing. is that they are the extreme edge of a deeper movement and a
deeper unease. there's a lot of white people who have to some competent in the last few years said hey, i'm unhappy about illegal immigration, i'm unhappy about immigration period and returned to this na negativist racist rhetoric and these guys are the most extreme version of it. the other thing you don't need a lot of people to do extreme violence. we know that from tim mcveigh. he killed 168 people basically by himself. when you have people this motivated to do harm you don't need a lot. >> you know, kasie hunt, if you go back over the trump presidency, yes, there are bizarre things happening every day. there are abnormalities politically. but i look at three events that caused donald trump, i think, the greatest political consequence. one was charlottesville. two was ripping babies from their mothers at the border and three was what happened in
helsinki and vladimir putin. i think the long term impact of that will being a great. but also great for the republican party. i think going back to charlottesville wasn't that really the beginning of almost -- well, a dramatic abandonment from suburban moms, suburban women and suburban voters that were formerly republicans who helped elect a democratic governor in virginia and helped elect a democratic senator in alabama? >> i think that we are still facing as a country pretty crucial tests around exactly those moments that you point out, and this one in charlottesville was in some ways the beginning. also, it was the sharpest, most emotional in many ways, crystallizing all of the things that this president has done -- did as a candidate, in pushing on these -- or ripping open
really these wounds that have been a part of the american fabric since the beginning of our country. and it is a real test, i think, for american voters to see, okay, you know, are those women that you mention, are they going to come out to the polls in droves in 2018 and then in 2020? or is this president's strategy of inflaming these racial wounds going to really be shown to actually have been effective, joe. >> yeah. and, eddie, i ask you this same question about the long-term political impact of charlottesville. we certainly saw in alabama black voters coming out in higher numbers than even for barack obama's elections in '08 and '12. in a presidential year versus an off-year special election, which it is just an extraordinary political event, and also in virginia. does this -- does charlottesville and beyond, is that what actually breaks donald
trump's hold over washington that's run by conservative republicans? >> i think it certainly will be part of the reason, joe. we will see barack obama numbers, i believe, among african-american voters in the midterm and in the 2020 election. but i want to be very clear, we need to move from melodrama where we have our obvious villains and our obvious heroes and our desire for a happy ending, and we need to understand how deeply tragic this is. a.c. said something that's really important. the white supremacists in charlottesville were the radical edge of a deeper, deeper current. we need to understand that all of this stuff has to be made explicit for us to imagine america differently. if we don't, if we fall back into the old mode we will find ourselves on this racial hamster wheel again, and we can't have that happen. hopefully we are moving into a different moment, but i'm not sure. our history says we won't, but i'm not sure. >> the film is "documenting
hate, charlottesville." premieres tomorrow night on pbs and online at pbs.org/frontline. you can read related reporting at propublica.org. a.c. thompson, thank you for being here. >> thank you for having me. up next, governor cuomo is picking a fight with the nra. we will talk about that and the primary challenger he is facing this fall. the new york democrat joins us straight ahead on "morning joe." ♪ this is a story about mail and packages.
and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena® so it bounces back. whoamike and jen doyle?than i thought. yeah. time for medicare, huh. i have no idea how we're going to get through this. follow me. choosing a plan can be super-complicated. but it doesn't have to be. unitedhealthcare can guide you through the confusion, with helpful people, tools and plans.
including the only plans with the aarp name. well that wasn't so bad at all. that's how we like it. aarp medicare plans, from unitedhealthcare. we really pride ourselves on >> temaking it easy for youass, to get your windshield fixed. >> teacher: let's turn in your science papers. >> tech vo: this teacher always puts her students first. >> student: i did mine on volcanoes. >> teacher: you did?! oh, i can't wait to read it. >> tech vo: so when she had auto glass damage... she chose safelite. with safelite, she could see exactly when we'd be there. >> teacher: you must be pascal. >> tech: yes ma'am. >> tech vo: saving her time... [honk, honk] >> kids: bye! >> tech vo: ...so she can save the science project. >> kids: whoa! >> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪
are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. still ahead, president trump admits the true purpose of the infamous trump tower meeting, but claims it was totally legal to get dirt on hillary clinton from the russians. we'll discuss that. also, there are quite a few people that are suggesting that hope hicks going on air force one and meeting donald trump will require hope hicks to go back in front of robert mueller. we'll talk about that and much more in three minutes. is this at&t innovations?
yeah, wow..this must be for one of our new unlimited wireless plans. it comes with a ton of entertainment options. great, can you sign for this? yeah. hey, uh.. what's in that one? that's a shark. new and only with at&t, you can get unlimited data, 30+ channels of live tv, and your choice of things like hbo or pandora premium. more for your thing. that's our thing. visit att dot com. the first survivor of alzis out there.ase and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association. it's a high-tech revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep.
to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. smarter sleep will change your life. yeah, i got some financialbody guidance a while ago. how'd that go? he kept spelling my name with an 'i' but it's bryan with a 'y.' yeah, since birth. that drives me crazy. yes. it's on all your email. yes. they should know this? yeah. the guy was my brother-in-law. that's ridiculous. well, i happen to know some people. do they listen? what? they're amazing listeners. nice. guidance from professionals who take their time to get to know you.
said he said publicly just a year earlier. he blamed bad information for the original lie without saying where exactly, he joe, that bad information came from. >> well, wherever it came from, it is very obvious you have, first of all, sean spicer lied or was lied to when he went out and gave the briefing, saying that there was nothing but adoption adoption that original meeting was about. then you have jay sekulow lying or perhaps he was lied to by donald trump. either way, it is bad when he also said it was all about adoption. then you had sarah huckabee sanders doing the same thing. she lied to the american people or she was lied to by donald trump. of course, donald trump lying from the very beginning, getting everybody together on air force one, concocting the lie about adoptions, mika. i will tell you, federal prosecutors, state prosecutors, any prosecutors will look to somebody's state of mind.
and when they find out they're lying about something, they understand that there's much more to the story. this was not an innocent meeting that everybody thought was on the up and up. this is not what everybody does, which is their argument. nobody does this but donald trump, and maybe rush's favorite congressman dana rohrabacher. but outside of that, nobody does it because it is illegal to get information, to get anything of worth from a foreign national. so things much cloudier this morning over the white house legally when it comes to robert mueller and the russian investigation. >> and with that, good morning. it is monday, august 6th. just another monday. with us we have msnbc contributor and a very, very happy red sox fan. >> yes! >> mike barnacle. >> yes! >> stop, mike. mike, i may have -- i may have misjudged you. jimmy the greek i am not. i said the yankees since it was august would sweep us. i just had it off just a little bit, mike. >> just a little, capped off by
last night for throws who went to bed early last night, the sunday night game, red sox came back in the ninth to tie it and won it in the tenth, 5-4. richard haas next to me, how are you today? >> let's go back to the news. >> yeah. >> i mean, richard, you could have made that throw from third base to first. i mean in the ninth, i thought -- seriously, i thought it was so nonchalant, i couldn't believe they didn't get zander out. >> even the wild card is beginning to look slightly questionable. this is -- this is worse than the nightmare many of us were concerned going into the four games. so i think it is time to move on though, joe. i don't think we ought to dwell on it. >> mika, it is time to move on, but at some point -- i know we only talk about east coast teams and specifically only two east coast teams. one of these mornings, mike, we're going to have to talk about the oakland a's and the extraordinary job they're doing
right now. >> yes. >> billy ball in full swing. >> oakland is playing very well. again, to richard's point, oakland could catch the yankees for the wild card. >> that would be heartbreaking. >> everyone is a little sleepy this morning. as you see, we have national affairs analyst for nbc news, john heilman, the president of the council on foreign relations -- a very dejected yankees fan -- richard haas. professor at princeton university, eddie claw jr. white house bureau chief at "the washington post" and political analyst for msnbc and nbc news philip rubber, and host of "kasie dc" on msnbc, kasie hunt. i was watching last night. she is awesome. anyhow, joe, as you were saying, it was pretty clear anyway, but now president trump is directly confirming that his son attempted to get dirt on hillary clinton by hosting russians at trump tower. is that bad? we'll get to that in a second. meanwhile, he split his time
over the weekend between attacking the media and attacking lebron james. we'll show you that. and why michael jordan is weighing in, among many others. speaking of stars from the '90s, steven segal is teaming up with vladimir putin. russia made him a special representative to improve relations between the u.s. and moscow. >> that will do the trick. >> we will get to that as well. >> maybe instead of getting a burned-out movie star, maybe just don't try to subvert democracy in america. it will be good. you keep steven, we will keep our democratic processes, and we'll call it even. >> you have dennis rodman for north korea and segal for russia. who is next? who is for iran? anyhow, we will begin with president trump reigniting the controversy around his campaign's june 2016 trump tower meeting with russians. tweeting on sunday, fake news reporting a complete fabrication, that i am concerned about the meeting my wonderful
son -- this is always bad when he does this -- donald had in trump tower. this was a meeting to get information on an opponent. totally legal and done all the time in politics. >> nope. >> and it went nowhere. i did not know about it. >> that's a lie. >> this means he knew about it and his son really messed up. that's my translation. >> three lies in a row, boom, boom, boom. >> he appears to be referring to "the washington post" reporting, trump has confided to friends and advisers he is worried the mueller probe could destroy the lives of what he calls innocent and decent people. remember when he called you about miller, joe? >> yeah. >> anyhow, namely his son who is under scrutiny for organizing a meeting at trump tower, let me help you understand, it is bad. you know he is up and tweeting. as one adviser described the president's thinking, he does not believe his son purposely broke the law. >> since ignorance of the law is actually a -- oh, wait, never
mind. >> but is fearful nonetheless trump jr. may have wandered inadvertently into legal jeopardy. on saturday hope hicks was spotted on the tarmac, joining the president on his trip to ohio. according to trump jr., senate testimony, hicks was in the middle of the president dictating his son's misleading statement about adoptions to "the new york times", followed by explanations that quickly unraveled. >> politics is not the nicest business in the world, but it is very standard where you have information and you take the information. in the case of don, he listened. i guess they talked about, as i see it, they talked about adoption and some things. >> there was nothing as far as we know that would lead anyone to believe that there was anything except for a discussion about adoption. >> the president didn't sign off on anything. he is coming back from g20. the statement that was released on saturday was released by donald trump jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyers. the president wasn't involved in that.
>> he certainly didn't dictate but, you know, he -- like i said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do. >> it really is odd. it is breathtaking. we're used to the lying, but on something this big, perhaps the most important part of this entire investigation, everything you heard from every white house representative there was a lie. and donald trump admitted this weekend they were all lying. what are the consequences of this? >> well, i don't know what the consequences are, but i know that it is an indication that some folks here are not just in serious trouble, but now recognize they're in serious trouble. i think if you ask the question, joe, you know, last week we watched as donald trump went further, deeper into the realm of public obstruction of justice when he started attacking the mueller probe, suggesting that the attorney general should shut it down. we now have a pretty clear explanation of why it is, that the president is starting to look at the manafort trial
focusing on rick gates, focusing on some of the things that perhaps michael cohen has told investigators about this meeting, about what led up to it, about who might have known about it in advance, about what the president's role might have been, about what donald jr.'s role was. we have an e-mail trail on that. as the president has started to recognize, using various metaphors, walls closing in and the facts are starting to come closer to the surface and corroborating witnesses are starting to come forward or appear to be about to come forward, the president is in an exact 180-degree opposite of what his statement in the tweet says. as mika suggested just a second ago, you know if he's up and tweeting about how he's not concerned about donald trump jr., he's concerned about donald trump jr. >> he's concerned about donald trump jr. phil rucker, he's concerned that donald trump jr. may have stumbled into some illegal territory on his own. also obviously he has to be
concerned by the fact that, again, it is going to be coming out, not only whether it is in the manafort trial or somewhere else, that it is obvious that meeting from the very beginning was to get information from foreign nationals -- in this case the russians -- which is a crime. they can run around -- people, lawyers running around, collusion is not a crime. anybody knows, a lowly-ranking congressman like i was in my first year understood, you can't get an in-kind contribution from, you know, mullahs in iran or vladimir putin in russia. >> that's right, joe. and the president is concerned. he's anxious, he is fearful about where this is all headed. his legal team is focused on that trump tower meeting as they have been for some time. that is a key moment in the mueller investigation, but our reporting, despite what the president tweeted in response to it, very much is that he's worried about don jr. he has expressed that worry to the people that he has been talking to on the phone.
he has been privately brooding over this, sort of feeling very uneasy that mueller seems to be inching closer and closer to the oval office. >> yeah. >> to the people in the president's circle, and that's why you've seen him -- the president lashing out on twitter, lashing out at these campaign rallies, tearing into the media, tweeting about the witch-hunt more and more and more, tweeting about robert mueller by name more and more and more. that's how he's channelling all of that frustration and fear. >> you know, it is important to keep reviewing the facts, especially as the president and others try and muddle them on twitter. the new yorker's adam davidson lays out the facts about which there is no dispute at all, that the president's son and top advisers knowingly met with individuals connected to the russian government, hoping to obtain dirt on their political opponent. that document stolen from the democratic national committee and members of the clinton campaign were later used in an
overt effort to sway the election. these are facts. that when the trump tower meeting was uncovered, the president instructed his son and staff to lie about the meeting and told them precisely which lies to use, and that the president is attempting to end the investigation into this meeting and other instances of attempted collusion between his campaign staff and representatives of the russian government. joe, the president all along saying, no collusion, no collusion. >> yeah, well, i mean no -- that means nothing. he might as well be saying no whiffle ball tournaments in the backyard. i mean if there's conspiracy, that's a crime. if there's a conspiracy to get information from a foreign national, anything of worth, that's a crime. mike barnacle, he can run around saying no collusion all he wants, you know. maybe -- maybe it is a conspiracy again to collude with
a foreign national, to get something -- anything of value. that's a crime. but, again, in this case, as we said about watergate, as everybody says about it seems every political scandal, at the end of the day it may not be the crime, it may be the coverup to the crime that does the most damage, and we have all of this in broad daylight. donald trump has been lying through his teeth about everything, but about this meeting specifically from the very beginning. >> yeah. >> well, joe, that's the point, the principal point of danger for mr. trump right now post-meeting, what happened after post-meeting. we know for a fact, f-a-c-t, that he sat on air force one and helped prepare a false statement. richard, this just further enmeshes him into not collusion but a conspiracy. >> yeah, because, again, harkening back to watergate, it is both what you do and then what you do about what you did. so now we have the pretty clear
evidence that this meeting took place, and when you read the law it never says that money has to change hands. it can be a contribution of any sort. so you've got the meeting, and then you've got now the attempt to essentially hide what actually the purpose of the meeting and what happened at the meeting. so you've got it coming and going. i think we've actually entered now a very different realm because we're no longer speculating. now we actually have people essentially admitting what happened. >> the president. >> the people, yeah. the people in this case being the president of the united states in word on twitter admitting what happened. >> still ahead on "morning joe", it was one of the more biting responses to president trump's attacks on lebron james. one puts kids in classrooms, the other puts them in cages. we'll break down the president's tweets straight ahead. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill. >> well, mika, we had a lot of hot temperatures to talk about, but first to talk about the fires in california. the mendocino complex fire exploded over the weekend, burning thousands upon thousands
of new acreage. it is the fourth largest fire in california history, it is still growing. only about 20,000 acres to go to top last year's number one, the thomas fire. yes, two years in a row we're likely to break the record for the largest fire ever recorded in california history, and those records go back to about 1932. it hasn't been your average fire seasons the last couple of years. so 50 million people under heat advisories in the northeast. hot, just like yesterday. 26 million people under excessive heat warning in areas of southern california and arizona and southern nevada. we are hot in the northeast and the west. gusty thunderstorms, watch out detroit to chicago. by the time we get to wednesday, the showers make their way through kentucky, tennessee, the mid atlantic and the northeast and we're hot throughout all areas of the west. that's where the heat will be, and it will get worst during the week as temperatures may be record highs by thursday and friday. look at boise, 104 by friday.
looks like another week we will be talking a lot about the heat and also probably more fires out in areas of the west. kind of the opposite of what they wanted. new york city, heat advisory. it will feel like 100 degrees in the shade this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ hey allergy muddlers: are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec® zyrtec® starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec®. muddle no more®. and try children's zyrtec® for consistently powerful relief of your kid's allergies. so let's promote our summer travel deal on choicehotels.com like this. surfs up. earn a $50 gift card when you stay just twice this summer. or, badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com
party's over, 'six legs', she's got simparica now. simpari-what? simparica is what kills tick and fleas, like us. kills? kills! studies show at the end of the month, it kills more ticks in less time than frontline plus and nexgard. guess we should mosey on. see ya never, roxy! use simparica with caution in dogs with a history of seizures or neurologic disorders. the most common side effects are vomiting, diarrhea, and lethargy. say goodbye to ticks and fleas... with monthly simparica chewables. wells fargo has supported community organizations like united way, non-profits like the american red cross, and our nation's veterans. we knew helping our communities was important then. and we know it's even more important today.
so we're stepping up to volunteer more and donate over a million dollars every day. so our communities can be even stronger. it's a new day at wells fargo. but it's a lot like our first day.
the interview included james' negative assessment of the trump sayi saying trump used sports to divide it. james has received support from michael jordan. a spokesman for the legend says he supports james, adding he is doing an amazing job for his community. first lady melania trump commended him on his schools, saying she would be open to visiting his facility. her spokeswoman said in a statement that mrs. trump was not taking sides on the matter. >> it is like the united states saying on, you know, december 8, 1941, we're not taking sides in the matter. >> just over five years ago, donald trump had nothing but praise for james, tweeting, congratulations to king james on winning athlete of the year in last night's espys. lebron is also a great guy, joe.
a great guy. >> yeah, you know, eddie, you could almost hear, this guy sounded like an old, grumpy, white racist grandpa in queens, you know, or in alabama. >> yeah. >> yelling at his tv set, saying, this black man is stupid! that black man is stupid! i mean, you know, first you would say, well, gee, boy, he's really losing it because who would be that racially insensitive to do that? but, no, it is actually his strategy. it was with nfl players, it is with nba players. it is what donald trump thinks, and he's told his staff members, basically attacking black athletes, that's really good for me. that's really good politically going into the mid terms. >> i think you're absolutely right, joe. remember the speech in alabama when he went after nfl players and called them sobs.
it is a sense in which trump is also most comfortable, especially when he's in trouble, to be the kind of cultural warrior that speaks to in some ways the dark underside of the country. in this instance to go after lebron really reveals, i think, very clearly a pattern, a pattern that kind of speaks to his ongoing belief about black folks and women in particular because he has a penchant to describe black people as dumb. he has a tendency to describe women as dumb. not just simply maxine waters but women in general, right. >> yeah. >> it seems to me this is just trump being the cultural warrior. the irony, of course, is this is the man that funded trump university, this fraudulent thing, and here is lebron james opening up a public school in cleveland, right. you couldn't get a better contrast of moral human beings. >> well, in every phase of their life, mike barnacle. and, by the way, melania's spokesperson can say she wasn't trying to get involved, but she
got involved in the middle of it and chose the side of lebron. >> yeah. but, joe, this gets to what we were talking about before the break and what eddie just spoke about. i mean race remains now and forever the third rail of american life, not american politics. we really don't have a handle on it, and we have a leader, the ostensible leader of the united states, the president of the united states, who continually plays with it and provokes people with it. it is truly dangerous and it is going to end more badly than it is right now. >> coming up, the governor of new york state, andrew cuomo, is standing but. he joins the conversation next on "morning joe." when you rent from national... it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball.
because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if it's a better car class than the one you reserved. so no matter what, you're guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] (vo) go national. go like a pro. see what i did there? booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. until i held her. managing my type 2 diabetes wasn't my top priority. i found my tresiba® reason. now i'm doing more to lower my a1c. i take tresiba® once a day. tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. (woman) we'd been counting down to his retirement.
it was our tresiba® reason. he needs insulin to control his high blood sugar and, at his age, he's at greater risk for low blood sugar. tresiba® releases slow and steady and works all day and night like the body's insulin. (vo) tresiba® is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating, confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your prescriber. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. (man) i found my tresiba® reason.
find yours. (vo) ask your health care provider about tresiba®. covered by most commercial health insurance and medicare part d plans. you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.
the nra told npr if insurers remain afraid to transact with the nra, there is a substantial risk that nra tv will be forced to cease operating, and the governor of new york, andrew cuomo, joins us now. thank you very much, governor. i understand there's a little bit of a delay here, but we'll get through it. are you black listing the nra? >> no. what happened, mika, is, as you know, states regulate the insurance industry within that state, and we have a law in new york that says you cannot insure someone for an intentional bad act. you can't insure someone for breaking the law, and this insurance product was called carry guard. it was designed for people who carry weapons, and it basically insured them for an intentional bad act. the expression was murder insurance. the insurance company that was
providing the product paid a fine. they signed a consent order. they're no longer selling the product. the nra was the broker on the product essentially, and they were making a commission. they're no longer making the commission, but they were selling an illegal product, you know. i don't have a lot of sympathy for a group that says, well, i've lost the revenue from now being disabled from selling that illegal product. you know, that's -- i don't -- they don't get a lot of sympathy from me in general, mika, but here they clearly broke the law. they are right that i have been a long-term political opponent of the nra. it went back to my time in the federal government with the clinton administration. i believe they are an extremist organization. i believe they don't want any progress on gun reform because it would put them out of business. the majority of gun owners in this country support reasonable gun control, background checks, et cetera, and i think the nra
frustrates any progress just so they have a business line to further. >> so i don't understand, governor. when i was reading these stories over the past several days that the nra claims it is in a financial crisis and may be facing bankruptcy because of some issues that they're having in the state of new york. i don't really understand that considering they still give millions of dollars to people that promote their agenda on capitol hill. so are we just talking about a reorganization that would prevent them from being liable in any possible legal lawsuits? when they say they may be facing bankruptcy, what exactly does that mean? >> no, joe, i'm with you. i think it is a frivolous lawsuit. i don't even know their point. i am sure they lost revenue from losing the sale of this insurance product.
i did not know that it was such a significant portion of their revenue. i'm not sure that it is, by the way, but they're crying poverty. now, it is true that they rely on the money because the way they bully the politicians, joe, as you know, we have both seen it, they need millions of dollars to run those ads to keep the politicians in line. and they're saying that the loss of this insurance product is going to make a significant dent on their coffers. i don't know if that's true or not true, but, look, from my point of view i do disagree with them politically. and if they have less money to bully and threaten politicians into irrational positions, you know, i'm not going to lose any sleep over that. and if they went away, you know, i would offer my thoughts and prayers, joe, just like they do every time we have another
situation of nninnocents losing their lives, 154 mass shootings this year. the nation is paralysed. we're doing nothing, no reasonable reform that we know we could agree to if you didn't have politicians scared to death of the nra. >> hey, governor. john hooilman hereilman here. i want to ask a question in a broader scale. it seems the action you are taking and the effect you are having, you are fighting a guerilla campaign, like a guerilla warfare against the nra. i wonder if you think you are successful, and if you do at whatever level, make kind of a dent in the nra, whether this provides a blueprint to ways in which other states can chip away at the nra's power or, on the other hand, whether the only way to really take the nra down is on the national level?
>> well, it is a good question, john. you know, i think they have shown a vulnerability here, frankly, that i didn't see. when they said that loss of this insurance product is going to make such a significant difference on their revenues, i am now reaching out to the other states because i believe this insurance product is going to be illegal from a public policy point of view in most states. now that the nra said this is a major source of revenue, i'm going to pursue it nationwide. it wasn't a guerilla attack. look, i think these guys are bad guys, and it started from the clinton administration with the safe act that could have done great work that the gun manufacturers supported until the nra came in and literally pressured the gun manufacturers not to make an arrangement.
i passed the best gun control law in the nation five years ago called the safe act. they demonized me. the safe act does everything we're trying to do today, everything. mental health database, assault weapons, et cetera. you know what? five years later, hunters still have their guns, legal owners have guns. there was no slippery slope. the nra hates that. they hate letting people know that you could actually have reasonable gun control that most gun owners support. but if we -- if we're not willing to take them on, we'll never get anywhere on this problem. i mean i was there. i know the dynamic in washington. the republicans are afraid of the nra, period. the president after the parkland shooting did that briefing in the white house conference room where he was asking very reasonable questions.
why don't we raise the purchase age? why do we really need young people with assault weapons? he met with the nra and did a 180 the next day. they're afraid of the nra and that's why we're doing absolutely nothing. >> all right. governor andrew cuomo, thank you so much for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. >> thank for having me, joe, mika. >> thank you so much. >> thank you. we got quite a delay here, sort of here to pakistan almost. mike barnacle, color me skept kl her skeptical here. the nra in financial trouble? i don't think so. maybe they're saying that in their court filings, but here is an entity that already contributed $5.6 million this election cycle over the past year and a half to republican candidates and maybe one or two democrats, and they're going to be spending another four to five million for the end of this year. it seems like just a
reorganization effort to me. >> yeah, i don't want to talk you out of your scepticism, joe. i think it is well-earned. history has shown it is well-earned. one of the things that is really -- that i think a lot of people fail to understand, and governor cuomo just mentioned it, you know, he has gone after reasonable gun control and has succeeded at a certain level in achieving reasonable gun control. in this day and age when people can organize so many things so quickly using social media, i am amazed and i think more people are amazed that a collection of police associations around the country, in various states, various big cities, haven't been organized as a group to combat the nra. they and the innocent victims who die in mass shootings obviously are among the biggest victims of out-of-control or uneven forced gun laws in this country and people being able to get guns with more ease than a library book. the fact they haven't been
organized as a unit to combat the nra -- and i think it would be a powerful group, police combatting the nra -- hasn't been done is kind of a mystery. >> it is a mystery. what is so interesting is, mika, when we talk about it there used to be a huge gulf between conservatives and liberals on gun issues, even going back into the '90s. conservatives obviously and nra supporters wanting more access to more guns, while liberals were talking about the banning of handguns. >> yeah. >> you don't even have that conversation anymore. what you have now, the gun battle is being fought on pretty comfortable territory for middle america. you know, increased background checks, which have -- you know, a lot of people have wanted since newtown. >> common sense. >> increased background checks to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, to keep begins out of the hands of domestic
abusers, to keep guns out of the hands of those not mentally fit to have guns. even if you talk about the assault-style weapon, the military-style bans, that's -- you know, for most of the things we've seen, 55, 60, 65, sometimes even 70% of americans support that as well. so this battle is not actually even a battle at all. you've got three or four people who are nra leaders up in washington, d.c. that are pushing the most extreme agenda for the gun manufacturers, while most nra members across america want the enhanced background checks, and also even a majority last time i checked wanted a ban on military-style weapons being sold, especially to people who were under 21. >> that amidst an epidemic of mass shootings that everybody can see and feel for themselves. up next, republican strategist rick wilson joins us with his subtly titled new book,
"everything trump touches dies." we'll be right back. the fact is, there are over ninety-six
now that you know the truth, are you in good hands?
with us now republican political strategist, troublemaker, northwest florida hero rick wilson. he is out with a new book, "everything trump touches dies." our republican strategist gets real about the worst president. >> ever! >> you know, rick and i grew up in the same backyard. >> yeah. >> we knew the same political players. we had the same sort of inter-party battles which actually -- there wasn't a great difference between republicans in primaries, even though -- >> yeah. >> not you, but everybody would have to exaggerate the issues. what i'm hearing from a lot of my republican friends now, especially in northwest florida, some representatives up there, it is just extraordinary. i mean -- >> sure. >> -- people that are doing like
vladimir putin by trying to cover up political investigations of putin's interference in american democracy. >> yeah, imagine how it would have played in the first or second congressional district of florida five years ago. >> yeah. >> the idea that somebody was trying to cover up russia interference in our elections, there would have been pitchforks and torches in the streets of pensacola. >> yeah. >> now we look at the governor's race, and you and i both have known adam putnam for years. he is a guy getting his tail whipped because donald trump is tweeting about his opponent. you know, so the ground has changed, but, unfortunately for a lot of the guys that accepted that gift of trump in the primary, they're going -- it looks like they will be paying a heavy price for it come the general election this year. >> and that's how bizarre it is. i'm glad you brought up adam putnam. here is a guy that's been in politics, in public service for years and years. >> yeah. >> i knew him when he served in congress. >> sure. >> everybody that has known him
says he is great, decent guy, a good man and representative. as i was explaining a week or two ago, just because a guy reads his kid trump bedtime stories doesn't mean he will be able to handle things when it hits the fan and a category four hurricane comes in tampa bay. >> right. >> yet that doesn't seem to matter to a lot of primary voters. >> it doesn't seem to matter to primary voters, but it may matter in the general election when we have a democratic governor in florida for the first time in decades. it is definitely a -- the signs of trump's doom in the general, yeah, we've seen it play out in all of the special elections so far in the last year and a half, and we're seeing it play out i think this fall in the imminent doom of a lot of republican candidates in swing districts all over the state and swing states like our home state of florida. >> i tell you what, we're going to give the audience a treat right now. we don't usually go behind the
scenes, but just so you all know, rick has an understudy for his book tour if for any reason he gets sick during the book tour, has problems communicating because of a bad cough. >> oh, my gosh. >> i couldn't grow that beard. >> john is here. john, do you have a question. >> plus i'm about a foot taller than rick. >> oh, wow. >> can we have the book cover up on screen real quick? just show the book cover. the book cover has two fundamental truths it announces. one, everything trump touches dies, and also look at that tiny hand. look at that little, itty-bitty hand. there's cocktail sausage fingers. i'm not sure it could be clearer. here's the question -- here's the thing. you are one of the avatars of
never trump republicanism, right? >> yes. >> for a little while there were a lot of loud never trumpers, and they seemed important. one of the things we have seen, one of the most extraordinary thing is the fact that the president can genuinely boast he has the highest approval rating within his party of any president in the modern history of america. s there's just a huge courage deficit in this country.
we have eddie with us. >> real quickly, now, we tend to exceptionalize trump. but you just talked about the id of the republican party. give me more content. what's the soil of the republican party that made possible trump? you can be a never trump but it seems to me you need to be a never that too. >> i am a never that. >> say more of that then. >> i think there's a part of the gop that has emerged in this populist culture, in this separated media silo that is built by the 90 million households that fox news hits every day and by this talk radio and online segment that really didn't want a fair and balanced approach to the world and how we talk about issues. they wanted that separate media thing. they wanted what they always think the liberals have. where only their views and their grace notes were hit. and i think there is a -- there is a deep underpinning of racial anxiety that informed a lot of
trump voters. as i said this before, not every single trump voter is a racist and aphobic jerk. every single racist and aphobic jerk is a trump voter. >> true. >> rick, you know, one of the -- i'm just curious how you're sorting through this. guys like you and me have spent our entire lives pushing back on the belief there was this subterranean racism in the republican party. that it wasn't really about that. whether it was about freedom. whether it was about economics. whether it was about low tax rates. whether it was about the american dream. whether it was about affording everybody, you know, equal opportunity, that's what i believe my entire life, and it is, at least to me, it's been shocking and somewhat embarrassing just how wrong i was all along that a huge chunk
of the republican party was exactly what liberals had been accusing us of being for a very long time. >> joe, it's a fight -- like you said, we've both pushed back on it for years and years and years. and said that's ridiculous, that's absurd. we can go back to dwight d. eisenhower. this whole arc we pushed back on for years, we were wrong. there's a faction of this party that really wants to hear that message. there's a whole industry now in the trump world of, you know, what i call the coal country christophs. the people that want to explain away the racial animus trump has ignited in a lot of these folks. there's a part of it, we have to call it out. i call it out in the book pretty directly. if a conservative party wants to survive in the future, it has to purge that. aggressively go after people who believe in that stuff, who touch the alt right, involved in this
sort of explaining away trumpism in this regard. >> mika, you know, when you have unemployment at 3.9% and when donald trump himself says the economy's doing better than it's ever done before, which it's not, but it's still doing very well, it's kind of hard to say, oh, people are being racially incensensitive because the economy's so bad. that's just in the words of my friend rick wilson, that's just chicken bonk. >> yes, or something else. the book is "everything trump touches dies." it's out tomorrow. rick wilson, thank you very much. >> thank you, rick. >> up next, education runs on lies. that's a direct quote from former education secretary arne duncan's new book. he joins us next to explain it. ', we offer innovative investing tools to prepare you for the future. looks like you hooked it. and if that's not enough, we'll help your kid prepare for the future. don't hook it kid. and if that's still not enough,
we'll help your kid's kid prepare for the future. looks like he hooked it. we'll do anything... takes after his grandad. seriously anything, to help you invest for the future. ally. do it right. joining us now is former secretary of education under president obama arne duncan. he has a new book out tomorrow,
"how schools work, an inside account of failure and success from one of the nation's longest serving secretaries of education." in it, writes, in part, education runs on lies. that's probably not what you'd expect from a former secretary of education, but it's the truth. how schools work best is often by confronting and fighting these lies, but this is exhausting and sometimes perilous work. usually undertaken by an isolated teacher or principal. so the lies persist. they are emblematic of our system as an apple left of the corner of a favorite teacher's desk. but unlike the apple, the lies aren't sweet. they are overripe and rotten. arne duncan joins us open in thank you for being with us. >> good morning, thanks for having me. >> what are the lies? >> i'll start with the basic premise that we care about education. and the fact is we as voters, we never vote on education. we don't hold any politician accountable for results at the local level, at the state level,
at the national level. good words, good sound bites, but not reality. we say we value teachers. and teachers are so hugely important. but we don't compensate. we don't train. we don't reward teachers like the true professionals they are doing the most important work as, you know, raising, educating our babies. for me, maybe the toughest lie is we say we value our children. what we've done as a nation, much to my horror, we have raised a generation of teens on gun violence, on mass shootings. that doesn't happen in other nations. that has a direct impact of children growing up terrifies, living with trauma, living with fear. i don't spend much time listening to what they say. >> tell me what the country's going to look like in 20 years when we have an educational system where if your child is in an inner city school, you're a
single mother, you're working a part time job, and that child going on to another inner city high school is going to have to compete against other kids from suburban schools where they have much more materials to work with, their families are more secure. what's it going to look like? >> it's competing with children in india and china and, you know, south korea. so for me, doesn't matter if you're coming out of the inner city or rural america ornative american reservation. if you have access to great teachers. if you have teachers that care about you. if you have a fantastic principal, i'm actually very optimistic. i think you can be on track to be successful. if we don't do those things, though, we perpetuate cycles of poverty. >> are we doing them now? >> it varies place by place and school by school. i had the joy of traveling the nation. visiting schools. i saw amazing schools at the heart of the inner city. in west virginia.
i also saw places that break your heart. >> so one of the lies is we've never committed ourselves to educating all of our kids. all of our kids. how do you convince the country, folks who are in very homogenous neighborhoods, however you want to describe it, that we should be committed to educating owl of our kids? >> that's the right question. if we want a thriving and growing middle class. if we want a vibrant civic democracy, we have to do that. it's in our nation's best interest. it's not just my children, your children. we need to educate all of our children and we all gain. rising tide lifts all boats in this area. >> all right. the book is how schools work. it's out tomorrow. secretary arne duncan, great to see you, and thank you so much for being on the show this morning. >> thank you for having me, i appreciate it. final thoughts, joe? >> well, we see the madness.
Updates of the day's news.
good morning, everybody, it is wednesday, august 8th. a lot to talk about this morning. let's begin with that closely watched special election in ohio in a district that has been in gop hands for three decades, republican troy balderson leads danny o'connor by less than 1% of all votes cast, making it too close to call. the official outcome may not be known until all the ballots are counted in the coming weeks the race could be coming to a recount as the final results are actually certified. still despite the razor thin margin, troy balderson has claimed victory and daniel o'connor has not yet conceded. listen to this. >> it's time to get to work.
over the next three months, i will do everything i can to keep america great again so that when we come back here in november, get ready, we got to come back here in november i have earned your vote for a second time. >> can you believe how close this is? we, we are in a tie ball game. we went door-to-door. we went house-to-house. we made our case for case. we will make that case tomorrow. we're not stopping now. tomorrow we rest and then we keep fighting through to november. let's go out there! let's get it done! let's change this country. >> so we're actually going to see a rematch come november when they compete for a full term in congress. yesterday's special election was to fill the remainder of the
term. there is another nail bitener kansas, where secretary of state chris kobach holds the lead over jeff colyer. colyer served seven years, trump's endorsement of kobach might have put him on time. he went from even in the race to up 7 points after president trump weighed in. in michigan, republicans nominated another trump endorsed candidate john james for u.s. senate. james faces an uphill battle against democratic debbie stabenow and republican dino rossi advances for an open republican held seat that clinton won as democrat kim
election for the seat long held by excongressman john connors. joining us from capitol hill mollie huber. i love seeing you. it's been so long. >> i love seeing you, especially on a wonderfully squeakery morning. >> okay. >> reporter: a squeaky morning after the election results where we don't know who won. >> let's talk about that election, we're talking ohio, red since the 1980s last night's special election too close to call. both of them at this point think that they're winners. what does that say about what's going on in ohio? >> it says a lot, well, this is kind of a tough race. number one, it is a special elect. number two, these candidates both of them will face off in a general election for a full term in the house and number three,
it's august, parent getting their kids ready to go back to school the turn outis unclear whether that was affected, the end of summer days. but at the same you look at it. you see a guy, if you are listening to the speech, you know, the election night speech, it's hard to tell whether the democrat was the winner. he has a lot of enthusiasm and vigor. the democrats if you look at twitter, you see quite a few coming out saying this is a big win for her to party rorls of whether or not o'connor actually clinches this special election because it is so close and a seat that was held for so many years by republicans. >> mollie, i want to ask you about the power of the president in a couple of these race, you had the president weighing in to throw his support behind the gop candidates in those two states. what does it say to you when you look at the races and the
deadlocks they're in about the power he has as an endorser, the role he is playing as we head to the mid-terms? >> well, it says a lot about the way lawmakers have been approaching these mid-term elections. if you look at it, president trump weighed in on a primary for the kansas governor and kris kobach seems to be taking the lead. keep in mind if he win, then he faces a democrat in the fall and he's probably you described him as say a more extreme candidate of the two and when it comes to the general elect, that's going to matter. and it's probably why you are seeing republicans on capitol hill fought condemning some of the things trump says as publicly's they would leak to, because they don't want to face them again or not in some cases a general election where they have to moderate what they've
said in the primaries. so it's a very difficult position to take. >> all right. on this squeakery morning. >> always comes up with the best words. >> i love it. thank you again. >> reporter: thank you. despite the agreement signed by president trump and north korea's kim jong-un back in june, north korea is not taking any steps to de-nuclearize. >> the united states has lived up to the singapore declaration. it's just north korea that has not taken the steps we feel are necessary to at the nuclearize. secretary of state mike pompeo is prepared to go back to north korea to meet with kim jong-un. we've proposed that in our most recent letter from the president to kim jong-un. the president is prepared to meet. what we need is not rhetoric, what we need is performance from north korea on de-nuclearization. >> the national security adviser criticizing north korea for not
fully turning over the remains of the soldiers killed during the korean war. >> a nation that was truly committed to turning page here would return the remains of all soldier, south korean soldier, australians in the coalition in the early 1950s as well as american soldiers. there is no point is withholding the remains from a conflict that long ago. >> john bolton's comments on north korea's nuclear comments echo the remarks. the senate panel that mike pompeo says they use it in making nuclear weapons. it reflects a report of the ongoing missile program and last week a leaked report shows the dprk has also continued to conduct illegal trades of oil and coal less than two months ago, president trump proclaimed there was quote no longer a nuclear threat from north korea.
in the trial of president trump's former company chairman, paul manafort, star witness rick gates is back on the stand getting personal as manafort's attorneys take aim to attack his credibility. justice correspondent pete williams has more. >> reporter: in two days of testimony, rick gates said he never told accountants the actual amount of money paul manafort made because he told them not to let them know how many millions of dollars were paid for the political consulting work they did for ukraine's president victor yanukovych. when the work fell, he was hit with a big tax bill in 2014 he e-mailed gates, i just saw this, wtf, how could i be blindsided by this and he made up fake documents. manafort's defense attorneys went on attack when their term
came to question gates. he said he used money he stole carrying on an affair in london and helped falsify financial documents. when he had trouble recalling what he told mueller's prosecutors about his past like he says, haven't they confronted with you so many lies that you can't remember any of it? after manafort left the trump campaign, gates stayed on to work on the inauguration. he says it's possible he submitted personal information there. prosecutors reveal manafort kept asking for favors from gates. manafort e-mailed a banker that helped him get a loan should be considered for secretary of the army and get tickets to the trump inaugural. >> our thanks to pete williams for that report. republican senator lindsey graham spent part of the weekend golling with president trump and at an event on monday night, he
told the audience that the mueller probe came up in conversation several times. >> why don't each of you step up and stop the mueller investigation? >> well, did trump ask that question in he must have mentioned that about 20 times. i told the president, i know you don't like it, i know you feel put upon. you just got to ride it out. i want to win in november. if we stop the mueller probe tomorrow, you wouldn't be able talk about anything else. >> just got to ride it out. still ahead, everybody, we are learning new details about president trump and vladimir putin, but it's coming from russian state media. plus info wars creator alex jones putting up a fight after being banned by several tech giants those stories and a check on the weather when we come back. ♪
welcome back. i want to turn to a new story involving several former trump campaign aids, foreign lobbying and one corey lewandowski. two people that worked for the campaign in addition to the avenue stranls luset up called twin rocks global, it's first and currently only client is the alliance of social democrats a russian-backed serbian nationalist party. they lobbied for another firm turnberry solutions. according to abc news, both firms are registered to the same address at the townhouse lewandowski cities in, in washington, d.c. he says he quote has nothing to do with this company or the story. he says he has nothing to do with turnberry, one of
turnberry's clients, t-mobile, said in may he was advising on a merger, he left his avenue strategies lobbying firm after accusations he was meddling his access to the white house and lobbying without properly registering. we are learning more about what was discussed during president trump's hours long meeting with vladimir putin in helsinki last month. although it comes from moscow, according to a russian do you mean obtained by politico. president putin presented president trump with a series of requests, clawing proposal to hold new talks on nuclear arms control and prohibiting weapons in space the document reportedly a page of proposed top effects for negotiation addresses rising tensions in eastern europe. the kremlin and trump have previously revealed syria was discussed in the meeting to have u.s. officials head to moscow to question russian recently
indicted by robert mueller in exchange for russia being allowed to interview a senior number of diplomats the white house refused to answer most questions discussed in that private meeting and last week, director of national intelligence dan coats said he was not in a position to understand fully or talk about what happened. but no mention by the way of steven seagal. just, fyi. after multiple tech companies dropped info wars from their platform, they have a plea to their remaining follower, buy more merchandise. alex jones previously claimed the sandy hook shooting was a hoax took to his radio show to ask listeners to rise up against what he called anti-trump sociopaths. it comes after a group of companies did away with info cars and its controversial content. so far that list includes, apple, facebook, youtube,
spotify, pinterest and linkedin. those assessments have cost jones millions of subscribers. let's switchgoers with nbc meteorologist bill kierans. it was quite a storm last night wmt ve our in-house storm chaser with us. >> louis? who now he had such talent? you captured a photo in. >> more from the safety of his couch. >> right out the window. i couldn't believe it. it looked like a scene out of ghost mabusters. >> ghost busters, it looks like a marshmallow man. a lot of delays period towards the end of the evening rush hour. we will do it again in the east. ground-to-ground lightning can be a problem. we have 38 million people at risk of a heat advisory from boston to hartford, providence,
new york, philly. richmond, north of virginia beach are. so the cold front is trying to bring if a little less hume air mass. so instead of hot summer weather conditions with high humidity. it's summer heat there ut the galaxy. it's hot and humid along the million dollar atlantic. so let's get into the forecast. this is what you have to wait for, into thursday, we get relief in the northeast. instead of the heat index 100. it will be 93 in philadelphia. thursday is a little relief. you have to wait until closer to the fall. so boston, you go 86 on friday. the weekend does look a lot better. st. louis looks better, too, so it's a slow improvement. afternoon storms for the east coast. >> you'll make it. you'll do it. >> i just don't know if i will, though, that itself the thing. still ahead a 19-year-old breaking a parrier set by mickey mantle while this guy is not
having a very good day at all. we will explain why next. >> oh, something is happening. >> hold on. in sports. we'll be back in a moment. >> angry, that garbage can. ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business
the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ until i held her. managing my type 2 diabetes wasn't my top priority. i found my tresiba® reason. now i'm doing more to lower my a1c. i take tresiba® once a day. tresiba® controls blood sugar for 24 hours for powerful a1c reduction. (woman) we'd been counting down to his retirement. it was our tresiba® reason. he needs insulin to control his high blood sugar and, at his age, he's at greater risk for low blood sugar. tresiba® releases slow and steady and works all day and night like the body's insulin. (vo) tresiba® is a long-acting insulin used to control high blood sugar in adults with diabetes. don't use tresiba® to treat diabetic ketoacidosis, during episodes of low blood sugar, or if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. don't share needles or insulin pens. don't reuse needles. the most common side effect is low blood sugar, which may cause dizziness, sweating,
confusion, and headache. check your blood sugar. low blood sugar can be serious and may be life-threatening. injection site reactions may occur. tell your prescriber about all medicines you take and all your medical conditions. taking tzds with insulins like tresiba® may cause serious side effects like heart failure. your insulin dose shouldn't be changed without asking your prescriber. get medical help right away if you have trouble breathing, fast heartbeat, extreme drowsiness, swelling of your face, tongue or throat, dizziness or confusion. (man) i found my tresiba® reason. find yours. (vo) ask your health care provider about tresiba®. covered by most commercial health insurance and medicare part d plans. welcome back. time now for sports. to the south side of chicago the second night in a row the outfielder took the home run away from a new york yankee reaching over the wall at left center to bring back a crucial
would be solo shot in the 5th. while the yanks defeated them, last night's contest need several innings. several. this after both teams knocked in two runs in the 10th the 23-year-old yankee with a single knocking in, the go ahead run. it would prove to be the game winner. the yankees take this one 4-3, but what a game. and in toronto after the blue jays tied against the red sox in the bottom of the 9th to sunday it to extra, boston answers with a 10th inning hit by mitch moreland, earning the first place red sox a fifth straight win. they are on fire. let's go to the nation's capital last night, a 19-year-old solo launched his freeng homer of the year. a first inning that moves him past mickey mantle for the fifth most by a teenager in mlb history, ken griffey, jr. the
next on the list with 16 home runs before turning the age of 20 congratulations to him. finally, for a new level of protest following a baseball ejection, we head to an independent league matchup in fargo, north dakota, one player mels down after arguing with the home plate ump. incensed, he unleashes a minute of obscenities before leaving the feld to trash the ump. the rejectled player retrieves a gar badge can, walks back on the field and drops it off behind home plate shouting go to your home before finally exiting to the clubhouse him he needs to take a cold shower and cool off. >> bitterly with the drag can. >> drag style. >> to be updated. >> very familiar with sesame
street. still ahead the legal questions are continuing to mount for michael cohen. we are following new reporting that trump's former fixer is under investigation for possible tax frauld. plus a new bombshell report that claims wilbur ross can rank among the biggest grifters in american history. >> that and more coming up next.
with my bladder leakage, the products i've tried just didn't fit right. they were very saggy. it's getting in the way of our camping trips. but with new sizes, depend fit-flex is made for me. introducing more sizes for better comfort. new depend fit-flex underwear is guaranteed to be your best fit.
welcome back, everybody. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. this morning marking day seven of the trial of former trump campaign chair paul manafort. evidence and testimony from rick gates yesterday seems to confirm exclusive reporting from nbc news earlier this year the special counsel's team was investigating, ojob in the white house in return for $16 million in home loans. yesterday, the injury was sent e-mails manafort sent gates asking for a series of favors including calk be considered secretary of the army. calk did not get a job. he imaged to launch him into an ad advisor on the campaign. when manafort's attorney
questioned gates whether any other members on the special counsel's team asked about his time on the campaign, prosecutored objected. the court then went into recess and the topible never came up again. gates also testified he had embezzled from man a for the and as a -- manafort and an extra marital affair kept an apartment in london and stayed in luxury hotels. a new reporting suggests the president's former fixer is being investigateled for more than possible bank fraud and possible campaign finance violations. also on that list is tax fraud. one person familiar with the matter tells the journal federal officials are looking into the income was under reported in federal tax returns. the person said the income proves hundreds of thousands received in cash and other payments over the last five years. officials are also reportedly investigating if cohen
misrepresented or made false statements on loan applications. his former accountant has been subpoenaed. cohen has previously denied any wrong doing. a bombshell report, commerce secretary wilbur ross is being accused of funneling $100 million from former business partners into his own pocket. forbes magazine interviewed 21 people and accuse him of taking millions of dollars for himself on multiple occasions. >> that report also cites a series of lawsuit, payments and a fine by the sec. one instance involves a lawsuit filed in 2015 by a former senior managing director of ross' firm w.l. ross and company. they claim he stole his interests in a private equity fund, transferred them to himself and tried to cover it up with false paperwork the attorneys representing rossing a only inned in court filings that one of ross' companies re-allocated part of it to ross,
adding it's possible under international business agreements. both men recently agreed to a confidential settlement. the commerce department issued a statement by forbes saying the anonymously forbes story is based on false rumors, innuendo and unverifiable claims the fact remains no regulator has made accusations against the secretary this rehash of old stories is clearly the result of a personal vendetta, baseless claims made in the story were well publicized long ago and are not news the author states even half of the accusations are legitimate, the commercing is could rank among the biggest grifters. they are suing for limg asylum bus of domestic and gang violence the suit is asking the court to declare attorney
general jeff session's policies to be contrary to the law and vacate them and enter an order staying removal of the asylum seek torres allow them the ability to be given new credible fear interviews. this as the white house is expected to put steven miller's plan limiting the number who obtain legal status if there are household members who have used obamacare, children's health insurance, food stamps and other benefits. yesterday a 6-year-old boy was reunited with his mother in guatemala after being separated three months within they originally crossed the border on may 10th. his mother said it was three months of torture. even though the policy was ended several weeks ago, hundreds of children separated at the border still remain in u.s. custody. let's go to the reporter for the hill, let's talk about manafort's trial yesterday.
a lot coming up with regards to the gates' testimony, specifically bringing up gates' affair he had about a decade or so ago talk to me about the defense's strategy here and discredited gates? >> reporter: well, they need to do whatever they can. it seems like it. after reading reports of what's happening in that courtroom, rick gates had some damming testimony that essentially paul manafort asked him to, you know, forge or create false loan do you means to obtain loans and you know the first two days of his testimony was just i mean it read you know for those of us who have been covering this whole story for the past year-and-a-half it feels like, it was pretty damming. now the thing is, the defense needs to do whatever they can to discredit his testimony. it's certainly one of those things when you watch "law and order," do you want to put
somebody on the witness stand who is proven to have lied in his past? because that could create a question in the juror's mind to believe what he is saying now. however, it seems like there is documentation to back up what rick gates is saying and aside from that, it's just been fascinating to see what's been coming out of this trial to think, oh my gosh, how can this happen here? >> definitely, it's got a soap opera feel to it. >> in august here. >> the hottest months on the other side of the potomac. let me ask you about that "wall street journal" report we brought up a few modems ago, michael cohen is up for investigation under tax fraud. the question is whether or not president trump can be linked. what are you looking for as the story continues to develop in. >> we are looking for that leverage, it depends on whether any of these payments had to do with trump's various assorted,
you know, women that he had liaisons with. if that money can be, you know, associated with it. it's unclear at this point and really it's one of those things where if you talk to lawmakers, especially republicans on capitol hill, they justp it to go. they don't want this to be out there. the more something like this is out there the more proep president trump is to tweeting about it and keeping this story in the overall narrative, which doesn't reflect well on republicans back home. they don't want this, so from that perspective, from the folks two are up on capitol hill and are trying to get reelected to office, they don't want to see this anymore. >> i got to stay, instinctually, the story is to the going away. >> reporter: oh my go, bilking, swindlers, oh my go, what an august. >> thank you very much. thank you for joining us once again. >> reporter: thank you. and a special prosecutor has
been appointed to investigate allegations of possible election fraud in a mid-term race involving republican scott taylor of virginia. aids are being accused of forging signatures to help independent shaun brown get on the ballot in the hopes of get shifting it away from his challenger. paid staff and others associated with the company forte lor, two months after brown dropped her bid following her indictment on federal corruption charges. taylor said his staff did nothing wrong and only wanted to assure brown a place on the ballot. analysts say the freshman congressman is seen as vulnerable this november. new hampshire democrats are renaming their full fundraising event after eleanor roosevelt, dropping the old name clinton-kennedy. that comes after resurfaced zrut my over allegations of sexual assault lodged against president clinton in the '90s at the urge of state republicans an
uncomfortable democrats the committee says they've chooseen roosevelt for her role as a historic trail blazer and the party's steadfast commitment dedicated to women testimony original name jefferson jackson was replaced in 2016 under criticisms of racial transgressionles. those two presidents committed while they were in office. all right, still ahead, everybody, fire crews in california are working overtime to try to get the upper hand on a number of wildfires there. climb change is playing in the growing number of blazes we are seeing each and every year. >> we will check in with bill kierans. he will have the latest to provide any help to those cruise on the ground in california. cal. .
of getting us to our renewable energy goals. ♪ (shelee) if we can create our own energy, we can take care of this beautiful place that i grew up in. ♪ you might or joints.hing for your heart... but do you take something for your brain. with an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in clinical trials to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.
but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena® (burke) so we know how to cover almost anything.en almost everything even "vengeful vermin." not so cute when they're angry. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ . welcome back. crews in california seem to battle the mendocino fire.
>> extreme weather conditions are hindering efforts to combat a number of fires in the u.s. and across europe. experts are arguing that climate change is adding to this. anne thompson has more on this. >> reporter: wildfires are no longer contained to a season in california. this is now a year-round battle. >> i think this is the new normal that we will see in dachl. >> reporter: fanning the flames, they point to climate change, ementions from cars, and power plants making our air warmer. >> you got all the ingredients for unprecedented filed i wildfires. >> reporter: in 14 states from alaska to arizona, large fires are burning. researchers at the university of idaho say climate change creatingworm warmer than doubled conditions hindered the forest fires. this summer europe is burning, too, sweden, portugal and
greece, where more than 90 people died. record heat there and here caused by a loopy weakened jet stream that's not moving hot air along. yet, scientists blame climate change, too. >> when you melt the sea ice in the arctic and you change the temperature patterns in the atmosphere, you actually change the jet stream him you change it in a way that you slow it down. >> reporter: fire and heat altering landscapes in the northern half of the world. anne thompson, nbc news, new york. >> bill, it's a scary thought that this fire season is now a year-round season and the weather doesn't seem to be helping out there on the west coast. >> you think of the climate change on the jet stream. there is a lot of unknown. there's theories out there about what will happen. stalled out jet stream increases to areas of flooding and drought
and then of course fires and that's one of the leading fields where the research needs to go as far as we move with a warming planet. the planet is warming. we can't do anything ability that or haven't been able to to do anything about that yet the jet stream will be an important piece of the puzzle as we go forward. when we get more news and studies on that we will try to brig bring it to you. the death valley, barstow, these areas are under an excessive heat warning. further to the north and northwest, it will be a two-day heat wave, portland and walk state very warm also, so the heat dome sits over the west. it's been here much of the summer, it's intensified in areas of the north of us. how hot is it today? this is in the shade, redding, so 3, portland, oregon, 97. seattle 93 degrees. investigate agency at 108. thursday a two-day heat wave.
fresno 106. so again it's really not much is going to change. although we cool it off in the northwest. redding does not, bakersfield does not, sat lake city, portland and seattle, you will catch a break. not much changing in the west yet. >> a lot of triple digit temperatures. >> china looking to make a trade move with president trump. how apple could fit into that equation. >> plus shares of tesla after elon musk is considering taking the company private. and the other stories on your business day coming up next. advancing public policy, and providing local support to those living with the disease and their caregivers. but we won't get there without you.
join the fight with the alzheimer's association. your hair is so soft! did you use head and shoulders two in one? i did mom. wanna try it? yes. it intensely moisturizes your hair and scalp and keeps you flake free. manolo? look at my soft hair. i should be in the shot now too. try head and shoulders two in one. you shouldn't be rushed into booking a hotel. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia.
add-on advantage. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome.
target on the back of apple, which recently reached a valuation of 1 trillion thanks in part to cheap labor in china. what does this all mean for obviously could be a lot of collateral damage as the trade wars go on for apple. >> yes. ever since this spat between the u.s. and chikmichina began, asyc actions from china talks, devaluing currency, changing holdings in u.s. treasuries and target u.s. companies and seems apple is in their cross hairs. chinese newspapers arguing nearly $10 billion over the quarter to june could somehow be shared with chinese individuals. not clear how that would happen. the american companies the biggest winners meaning
companies like apple have the most to lose. one man winning seemingly yesterday, elon musk, tweeting he was prepared to take more than $6.6 billion to take his company private allowing tesla the firm to focus on the long-term, avoid criticism in shareholders and keep trade secrets from competitors. 11% pop in the tesla share price yesterday. that allows him to pay back obligations in stock rather than cash. >> "lon musk making a bold and strategic statement there. also, disney shares lowered but then bounced back according to rival networks. an incredible library. they could do well. >> a long time coming and not launching until late 2019. talking details, not having a
deep bench like his netflix or huge numbers of titles. focus "on the uniqueness of that back catalog including films from marvel, pixar, lucas film." if the future, that fix from "toy story" you'll have to watch it on the stream service. >> i need that toy fix. f how did you know i was a "toy story" fan. >> i love it! hi, philip. >> please, say hi. talking are carolinians. >> how long did you actually work together? >> maybe a year and a half. memorable year and a half. >> did you enjoy working with him? >> i loved it. >> every day. >> we were deskmates. sat next to each other. >> you know the real secrets of each other's lives. >> got it all. up there. good to see you. >> live from london, thanks. coming up, axios has a look
at "one big thing," and also a razor-thin lead over democrat danny o'connor with the president already declaring balderson the winner despite the results not being certified. >> during the conversation to say whether he plans to concede that race and what that race could signal about democrats chances in the mid-determine elections. "morning joe" is moments away. ia cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪ experience the versatility of utility,
with a range of suvs perfect for any adventure, at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials
from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get.
associated press saying you can't call it since there could be a recount ahead, but republicans are calling this a victory, believe the victory will stand as we saw there, both the president and the republican declaring victory, but what do we learn from this? whatever way this race tips tells three important things about november. all encouraging for democrats. all of them cautionary for republicans. we see that in race after race, and steve kornacki here on msnbc painted this so clearly last night. special election amp special election, republicans vastly underperformed how republicans did in these same states and districts in trump, d clinton. in the trump era, republicans are losing suburbs, a key part of the trump coalition and three, now every race is a trump race. >> mike, back to a question i
asked a few minutes ago of another guess. what did we learn about the role president trump paid in this special election and what he might play going forward, how effective he was a campaigner for troy balderson. >> a key for the president. he wants to turn trump voters into republicans. turn out his people. he's doing that, but what is the route to that? these rallies, we've seens clips morning after -- president loves it but they do nothing to bring the country together. they just excite his people. especially on the issue of immigration. saw that fine axios survey monkey poll. how you feel an immigration is how you feel about trump. that shows how much more we'll hear about that this fall. >> what about the strategy going forward looking ahead to november? >> republicans know that they need the president in districts
where he can help. the problem is, for republicans, the president thinks he can help in a lot more districts than he can. the president, we hear, behind the scenes is antsy, wanting to get out into the states and districts. his quick victory lap we saw there in his tweet from last night show you how he's feeling about these, but there's plenty of places he's not that helpful and they need to figure how to navigate that. >> the president planning to be on the trail six or seven day as week. mike allen, thank you very much. you, too, can sign up for the axios newsletter at signup.axios.com. that does it for us. "morning joe" starts right now. it's time to get to work over the next three months i'm going to do everything i can to keep america great again. so that when we -- when we -- when we come back here in
good morning, everyone. it is monday, august 6th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis bergdorf. president trump reignited the controversy around his campaign's june 2016 trump tower meeting with russian. the president tweeted on sunday, fake news reporting, a complete fabrication, that i am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, donald, had in trump tower. this was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics, and it went nowhere. i did not know about it. well, he appears to be referring to "the washington post's" reporting, quote, trump has confided to friends and advisers that he is worried about mueller probe could destroy the lives of what he calls innocent and decent people, namely trump jr., who is under scrutiny by mueller for his role organizing a
june 2016 meeting at trump tower with russians promising dirt on hillary clinton. as one adviser described the president's thinking, he does not think his son broke the law but is fearful that he may have wandered into legal jeopardy. former communications director was spotted on the tarmac adjoining the president on his trip to ohio. according to trump jr.'s senate testimony, hicks was in the middle of the president dictating his son's misleading statement about adoptions to "the new york times", followed by explanations that quickly unravelled. listen to this. >> politics is not the nicest business in the world but it is standard where he they have information and you take the information. in the case of don, he listened. i guess they talked about, as i see it, they talked about adoption and some things. >> there was nothing as far as we know that would lead anyone to believe that there was anything except for a discussion
about adoption. >> the president didn't sign off on anything. he was coming back from g20. the statement released on saturday was released by donald trump jr. and i'm sure in consultation with his lawyers. the president wasn't involved in that. >> he certainly didn't dictate, but, like i said, he weighed in, offered suggestion like any father would do. >> one of those false statements you heard there was from president trump's lawyer jay sekulow yesterday to george stephanopoulos. he got a chance to ask him about that. >> why did you deny president trump's involvement? when did you learn that the denial wasn't true? >> well, let me tell you two things on that one. number one,s a you kn as you knt point i was in the case a couple of weeks. as my colleague rudy guilliani said, i had bad information at that point. i made a mistake at that point. >> he didn't say where he got that bad information from, by the way. >> interesting. joining us, reporter for
"the washington post", eugene scott. he had a late night last night. i saw you on cas"kasie dc." i appreciate you getting up for us. >> sure. >> the president basically with his tweet threw his son donald trump jr. under the bus. how do you see it? what's the significance of the tweet for donald trump jr. and for the narrative about what happened at the meeting? >> i think the biggest issue is the impact it has on the presidency and campaign as a whole. the president, of course, was not attempting to throw his son under the bus. he was attempting to protect his son, but in the process he seems to admit more clearly than he ever had before that the primary focus of the meeting was not on learning about how to change adoption policy in russia, but to get information from a foreign government, one that's an adversary of the u.s. government, to use against an american in an election, and no lawyer would have given him any advice suggesting that this was
what he should be doing with his time. >> do you think this, eugene, adds more fuel to the fueler investigation here, which obviously we know trump is demanding be wrapped up and we know mueller is looking at trump's tweets for evidence. >> absolutely because it certainly brings up the question what about trump know, what did he know beforehand and what role did he play in it. i think one thing that people are doing that seems to lose focus and context about this meeting, it wasn't trump's son at the meeting. it was donald trump jr. who was a senior adviser for the campaign along with jared kushner along with paul manna port. this was not a personal family gathering. this was something that the involved some high and senior officials of a leading presidential campaign, involved in something nefarious. >> eugene scott for us. we will talk to you again in a little bit. thanks, eugene. >> sure. and president trump spent a good part of his weekend embroiled in a war of worlds,
not with a fellow world leader but with basketball superstar lebron james. the president tweeted late friday night, lebron james was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, don lemon. he made lebron look smart. it followed a tweet on the new school for at-risk children he opened in his hometown of akron, ohio. the interview included james' negative assessment of the president saying trump kind of used sports to divide us. in the wake of the president's tweet, james has received a wave of support, including from michael jordan. a spokesperson for the nba legend tells nbc news he supports james, adding he is doing an amazing job for his community. it appears james may have support from at least one person in the white house. first lady melania trump broke from her husband, commending james on his school, saying in a statement she would be open to visiting the facility. her spokeswoman maintained in a
further statement that mrs. trump was not taking sides on the matter. sound like it. should be noted five years ago trump had nothing but praise for james, tweeting congratulations to king james on winning athlete of the year in last neat's espys. >> how things change. president trump didn't bring up his criticism of lebron james in ohio on saturday. in what was build as a rally for troy balderson who is locked in a tight race in a generally republican district, but the president only made passing remarks on the special election. instead, he took time to embrace another ohio politicians, embattled jim jordan. >> jim jordan. how great is he? how great is he? what a great defender he has been. what courage. i tell you what, there is brave, tough cookie. if you want to stop the radical
pelosi and waters -- maxine waters -- agenda, there's only one choice in this election. that's vote for troy balderson, he's going to help mark meadows. he's going to help vince. he's going to help jim. he is going to help everybody. the fact is we need more republicans. people say we have a majority. we don't really have. you're the elite. you are the elite. you're smarter than they are. you make bigger incomes. you've got everything going, you know. so let them keep calling -- you ever hear it, hey, you go to the best schools. you do a tremendous job, you own companies. you work for tremendous salaries. you do all of the things that you do. you're talented, with your hands, with your mind, and then you hear, the elite has just
the landmark iran nuclear deal are set to be imposed. part of the u.s., president trump announced the withdrawal in may. mike pompeo says they will be enforced and remain in place until the iranian government changes course, naming iranian leaders bad actors who have to behave like a normal country. >> joining us from london, nbc international correspondent cal perry. good to have you with us on this monday morning. explain to us what is expected to take place in the sanctions. how significant are the sanctions kicking back? >> these are crippling sanctions for the country of iran. these are two waves of sanctions you will see in the next three months, these sanctions coming at midnight. they will hit iranian currency hard. it will hit the sale of precious metals, two of the largest industries in eye rain, the
automotive and aviation industry, will be hit hard as well as sanctions on european companies if they break the sanctions, companies like mowing, mazda, air bus. we are talking about crippling sanctions. there will be a second wave on november 4thth. that will hit the oil shipping and the central bank. these sanctions are tantamount to regime change in a country that is seeing sort of protests bubbling in cities around the country. this is going to make things much for straesfessful for eye . >> how do we expect iran to respond to these sanctions that are being kicked back into place? also talk about the significance of the strait of hormuz here. >> if you look at that map, and we pulled the map of the persian gulf, there were military exercises over the weekend,
iranian military exercises, about 100 ships. these are normally well-publicized exercises. cent com which controls on the u.s. military side that controls things going out of the point, said that the iranians have drilled around the strait. that is iran's lifeline to the rest of the world. >> cal, let me get your take on something that has happened. the former president of eye iran taking to twitter to weigh in about the lebron james/donald trump controversy. >> hitting trump where it hurts, right? we have the tweet. @realdonaldtrump. he says,, a basketball player way before his time, well before colin kaepernick, 20 years ago
in 1996 he refused to stand before the national anthem. he received death threats. his house was burned down. >> oh, man. >> so some interesting cultural trolling by the former iranian president, or maybe they're trying out for a sports show. >> take a page out of the book of the president. >> mahmoud ahmadinejad is enjoying retirement. >> maybe it means he is coming out of retirement. thanks, cal. still ahead, what we know about the explosion that took place while venezuela president maduro was speaking. >> a new announcement shows voter turnout is surging among the blue side. a check on those stories when we come back.
the first person to survive alzheimer's disease is out there. and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen by funding scientific breakthroughs, advancing public policy, and providing local support to those living with the disease and their caregivers. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve short-term memory. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. vulg vu
i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave every time. invented in boston, made and sold around the world. order now at gilletteondemand.com. gillette. the best a man can get.
>> incredible footage. >> it was. it occurred as he was giving a speech to soldiers, broadcast live on television. he was speaking when an explosion he occurred. the camera then cuts to a wide shot of the scene, and following another apparent explosion -- there you see it there -- a large amount of the soldiers in attendance are breaking rank and fleeing, as you see on your screens there. the venezuelan government says the attack came from overhead drones. in an address shortly after, he blamed far right grupoups in venezuela in addition to, quote, financiers and planners that live in the united states and the state of florida. he says it is part of a plot linked to colombian president, something that they tell reuters is absurd. a national group in tee shirts has named responsibility on twitter, although it has not been confirmed.
venezuela has detained at least half a dozen people. >> mike pompeo is down playing the latest spar. north korea's foreign minister accused the u.s. of failing to live up to the agreement president trump and kim jong-un signed, saying his country is, quote, alarmed about u.s. intentions. he complained about u.s. sanctions and what he says is america's reluctance to negotiate a formal end to the war. pompeo noted that the tone was different than the apocalyptic back and forth of last year. on friday pompeo said, we still have a ways to go to achieve the ultimate outcome we're looking for. a u.s. diplomat delivered to a north korean official a letter from trump for kim responding to trump's recent letter to kim which was revealed on thursday. meanwhile, this morning north
korean state media called on the united states to drop sanctions against that country. that comes just days after a confidential u.n. report leaked which reportedly states that the dprk has not stopped its nuclear and missile perhaps, and has continued to conduct illegal trades of oil and coal. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. bill, a little bit of severe weather and a lot of heat. >> yeah. good morning, louis. the weekend turned out half decent in some areas on the east coast. it is hot in the west, and it will get worse with the fires. up in the middle of the night, alarm clock, you don't need it in iowa. you have been in and out of thunderstorms all night long, a lot of lightning with the storms. they moved through mill wacwaukd will now make a run for chicago. severe outlook, peoria, chicago all in it. 22 million people at risk. of course, that will mean
airport delays when the line goes through chicago and detroit. let's get to the hot monday forecast. 48 million people under heat advisories. just about all of new england, even areas towards burlington, vermont will be very warm, philadelphia included. baltimore and also d.c. not included in the heat index, but still very hot. the heat index is a combination of the temperature taken in the shade, add it to the humidity. it will feel like 99 this afternoon in new york city. burlington also 99. rochester at 97 and d.c. at 96. new york city goes 92, 91, 87, so it will be a warm week ahead. as i mentioned, we will talk more about the big heat wave heading for the west coast again, the least thing any of the firefighters want to hear about. >> yeah, i was going to say they're not getting a lucky break out there. thanks for that, bill. still ahead, the red sox looking for a series sweep
against the yankees. this one went into extra innings in boston. all of the details next in sports. this is a story about mal and packages. this is a story about mal and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ the new united explorer card makes things easy. traveling lighter. taking a shortcut. (woooo) taking a breather. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com but there's one... that blows them all out of the water. hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®.
with hyaluronic acid it goes beneath the surface to plump skin cells from within and lock in hydration leaving skin so supple, it actually bounces back. the results will blow you away! hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena® ♪ hawaii is in the middle of the pacific ocean. we're the most isolated population on the planet. ♪ hawaii is the first state in the u.s. to have 100% renewable energy goal. we're a very small electric utility. but, if we don't make this move we're going to have changes in our environment, and have a negative impact to hawaii's economy. ♪
verizon provided us a solution using smart sensors on their network that lets us collect near real time data on our power grid. (colton) this technology is helping us integrate rooftop solar, which is a very important element of getting us to our renewable energy goals. ♪ (shelee) if we can create our own energy, we can take care of this beautiful place that i grew up in. ♪ welcome back. time now for sports and the conclusion of golf's wgc-bridgestone invitational to ak von, ohio, where justin thomas cruises to his third win of the season so far, closing out a 4-shot tournament victory with yesterday's final round of 69.
thomas becomes the fifth player in the last 30 years to win nine or more pga tour titles before the age of 26. turning to major league baseball, in los angeles the dodgers salvage a win in the final of a three-game series and a 2017 rematch, 3-2 victory puts it back into first place with arizona atop the nl west. the phillies maintained their lead atop the east completing a four-game sweep of the marlins with a win yesterday thanks to cabrera's go-ahead homer in the eighth inning there. finally, to boston where new york tried to avoid a critical series sweep. it was not the case. it was scoreless in the first when mookie betts pushed one over the green monster and out of the park. a little glimmer for the yankees. but the bronx bombers busted it open in the seventh, scoring two runs on an error and one on a wild pitch in addition to an rbi
single. blue saved big time, giving up three runs, only one of which was earned allowing the sox to tie it at 4. in the tenth, benintendi hit one up the middle. boston wins a crucial one, 5-4. it is boston's fourth four-game sweep of the yankees since 1969 and opened it a 9 1/2 game lead over the yankees in the division. >> you want to give us the inside track on how barnacle is feeling? >> i think we can get the inside track because he is sitting over there. >> i don't think he is happy he is here on a monday and it is so early, but he's happy about the sox. >> you happy, barnacle? >> oh, it was unbelievable. >> there you go. that's the reaction you need right there. >> someone turn the lights on for him at least, will you. >> fantastic. >> look at him. >> can't wait to give it to
willie. >> he's so happy. can we go back to that shot? >> all right. >> he's obviously not been following the news over the weekend. still ahead, much more on the sanctions against iran that are scheduled to be put back in place today. we will go live to tehran for the latest. >> plus, new reporting about foreign money flooding into president trump's manhattan hotel. we have that story and much more coming up next. ♪ ♪ a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. scheduled to be put back in ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia. it only takes a second for an everyday item to become dangerous.
tide pods child-guard pac. helps keep your laundry pacs safe, and your child safer. to close, twist until it clicks. tide pods child-guard packaging. (burke) so we know how to cover almost anything.en almost everything
even "vengeful vermin." not so cute when they're angry. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪
i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis bergdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. while the rhetorical back and forth between the trump administration and iran appeared to cool down in recent days, things may be about to heat back up. at midnight tonight the first set of sanctions waived under the landmark iran nuclear deal are set to be reimposed. part of the u.s.'s withdrawal that president trump announced back in may. let's cross over live to tehran. nbc news bureau chief joins us from there. ali, give us a sense how iran is expected to respond. >> reporter: well, ayman, as you know, initially the iranians didn't react well to the sanctions being reimposed. it was one of outrage and anger. they called them illegal and tried their best to get the other signatories of the nuclear deal on their side, but that hasn't gotten much traction. now they're trying to counter the tangible effects of what they describe as an all-out war
by the trump administration on iran's economy, which is in really bad shape, by the way. the currency is in free fall. the real has lost around 80% of its value over the last year. there's hyperinflation. the price of basic goods, if they can be found, goes up by the hour and people are stockpiling because of shortages and fears of not finding essential items. now, this is all happened before the sanctions even kicked in at midnight tonight, as you mentioned. now, on saturday iran's interior minister said if the government doesn't come up with a plan to deal with u.s. sanctions, then you could see up to a million jobs being lost in the country. now, the sanctions, which snap back tonight, cover the purchase of dollars, bank notes, trade in gold and other precious metals and iran's automobile industry, and the government announced yesterday measures to try and stop the bleeding by easing foreign exchange rules, lifting restrictions on the import of dollars and gold in the country,
but it seems unlikely it is going to work. for now, rouhani, iran's president, will address the nation to talk about the economic crisis and respond to trump. but the general feeling here is tensions still will go up as long as the economy is in bad shape. ayman. >> ali, let's talk about the people here. iran has seen a rash of recent protests, mainly about the state of the economy there as you have been talking about. how is that playing into all of this? >> reporter: well, yasmin, it is a very pertinent question, and the protests are a major source of concern for the ruling establishment, as they mainly stem from bread-and-butter issues. people are concerned about the economic well-being of the country. protests have taken place in a few cities, including tehran, over the past week, driven by concern over the economy but as well a wider anger towards the political system. however, they're still far from the scale of the protests that took place in december and
january. they're much less spread out, but the general consensus is they will continue as long as the economy is tanking. back to you. >> we're going to stay on top of this, and i know you will as well. thank you for. all right. president trump was on defense over the issue, tweeting that the 2016 trump tower meeting that involved his son, donald trump jr., and a kremlin-linked attorney was totally legal according to the president. the president is saying that the meeting was intended to get information on an opponent, which seemingly contradicts a statement from more than a year ago. nbc news white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has all of the details. >> reporter: feeling the heat. >> even though it is 110 degrees in this crazy room -- >> reporter: saturday night at a sweltering ohio rally, the president raised alarm over ongoing election interference. >> we got to stop meddling, we have got to stop everybody from attacking us, but there are a lot. russia is there, china is there. >> reporter: but he was running
a fever on twitter, denying a news report as a complete fabrication, that i am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son donald had in trump tower. that june 2016 meeting included a kremlin-linked russian lawyer and lobbyist along with the president's son, son-in-law jared kushner, and then-campaign chairman paul manafort. but the president changed his story, dropping the earlier claim that russian adoption policy had been the focus. this was a meeting to get information on an opponent. totally legal. he adds, i did not know about it. for 16 months the special counsel has been examining russian interference and whether the trump campaign had any improper involvement. this new tweet may draw further scrutiny, but a lawyer for the president questioned whether the trump jr. meeting crossed any red line. >> the question is what law, statute, rule or regulation has been violated. nobody has pointed to one. >> they actually pointed to several, including conspiracy to
defraud the united states. >> reporter: defending his eldest son and name sake and defending himself, appeared to ignite the president's frustration, enough to make this claim about the media. they can also cause war. they are very dangerous and sick. top adviser kellyanne conway offered this explanation. >> he said it really refers to those who aren't also telling the truth and giving emotion over information. >> reporter: the pet's lawyresi lawyer said he has no indication that donald trump jr. is a target for criminal liability. the president's son-in-law received his security clearance after investigators were well aware of his attendance at the meeting. and the lawyers say president trump wants to speak to the special counsel, but the legal team remains concerned about the potential risks, and so no final decision has yet been made. ayman. >> all right. our thanks to kelly o'donnell for the report. new reporting from "the washington post" offers a
glimpse into how the president is making money from foreign governments even as he leads u.s. foreign policy. the post obtained a may 15 letter from the general manager of the trump international hotel in manhattan, stating after two years of decline room rentals increased by 13% in the first three months of 2018 because of a visit to new york from the saudi crown prince. the general manager wrote that the trump hotel did not have suites big enough to accommodate the crown prince but members of his entourage stayed there for five days in march. such transactions fueled criticism trump is reaping revenue from foreign governments even as he controls u.s. foreign policy towards those companies. trump is currently being sued by the state of maryland, accused of violating the ee momoluments clause. the midterms are three
months from today, and in ohio over the weekend president trump predicted democrats will be disappointed in their effort to reach control of congress this november. take a listen. >> all throughout, like 100 years, 125 years, whoever has the white house, that party tends to lose the mid terms. i don't know why. we have the greatest economy in the history of our country. we have things that have never happened before. if the democrats get in, they're going to raise your taxes, you're going to have crime all over the place, you will have people pouring across the border. why would that be a blue wave? i think it could be a red wave. i tell you what -- really, i think it should be a red wave. >> now, despite the president's prediction, the pugh research center relosed new numbers for voter turnout this primary season. overall, the analysis found through june of this year 13.6 million people had voted in democratic house primaries, an 84% increase compared to 2014,
the last midterm election. about 10.4 million votes had been cast in gop house primaries. that's a bump of about 24%. in ohio, the number of democratic and republican primary voters also grew. democrats saw a 67% increase compared to a 39% increase for republicans, but overall republicans still held the advantage in the raw number of votes cast in ohio. in iowa, democrats saw a hugin crease in voter turnout this primary season with 152% increase while republicans saw a steep drop of 35% there. >> joining us once again, reporter for "the washington post", eugene scott. let's talk about the don jr. meeting at the trump tower tower in 2016. we know opposition research happens a lot and that is, in fact, legal. opposition research, eugene, from a foreign government not necessarily so. absolutely. there's an op-ed in "the washington post" this weekend
that said no law would have advised the trump campaign to actually attend that meeting. that's because enough people familiar with how these laws work know that accepting this type of information, especially via solicitation from a foreign government to be used against you opponent in an american election, is, in fact, illegal and there's no justification that the president gave via twitter explaining why he thinks this was appropriate and acceptable under u.s. law. >> not to mention adding to eugene's point there, the fbi and law enforcement had warned both the trump campaign and the clinton campaign there was an attempt by foreign governments, including russia, to try to infiltrate them. interesting to see the president not taking take warning seriously. eugene, a new "washington post" report dives into presume's financial gain from foreign governments through one of his new york city hotels. are we any closer 18 months into this presidential term to seeing president trump's personal financial statements? >> reporter: it doesn't look
like it at this point. i mean the president has not suggested that he would do anything in terms of releasing his tax returns, and calls for doing so actually have decreased. but there is growing interest in whether or not he has made more money in his hotel business specifically from his role as president. we don't know for sure whether or not the saudi government paid for this most recent visit you hear described in "the washington post", but we do know that a judge did allow for a case to move forward, figuring out whether or not this is legal according to the constitution. >> all right. live for us in washington, d.c., eugene scott. great to have you with us. thank you. >> thanks, eugene. >> speaking out on the shuttered group. the critical allegations he is laying out against the white house over what he says was the true goal of the commission. plus, bill karins is back with a check on the forecast, including some relief from the heat for some. ♪
into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. where we're changing withs? contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com.
welcome back, everyone. a member of the president's disbanded commission to investigate supposed voter fraud is speaking out. maine secretary of state accused the white house and the commission's vice chair of making false statements. he also claims an outline of the commission's report came with sections with specific names that were blank, indicating a push to find evidence based on predetermined conclusions. dunlap believes the panel was set up merely to validate the president's baseless claims he has repeated many times of voter fraught. >> bill karins, what do you have for us? >> we are continuing with the heat in the northeast like yesterday, and we're still watching southern california and much of the west, the heat is getting worse instead of better. these fires went out of control this weekend, too. mendocino went from the 25th largest in the history of state of california and now is up to four. remember last year, thomas fire,
that was number one. we still have the carr fire burning, too. 48 million people at risk in the northeast today. just like yesterday, very hot and humid. it won't be like 105 to 110, but it will feel like 95 to 100. if you are outside for an extended time, or the kids or the pets, a little extra water would be good. the heat advisory is the lower category, and when we get to the heat warning this is where it is dangerous to be outside. this area is used to being hot, but you're going to be especially hot today and it looks to continue for much of the week. look at the week ahead forecast. one of the big things is going to be what happens here in the west with these temperatures. today in 87 in seattle is not too bad. you get warmer as the week goes on. thunderstorms today in chicago, maybe one round this morning and another round this afternoon. the same for detroit. by the time we get to the middle of the week, that front kicks to the east. it will cool things off a little
bit, but with humidity in place we will deal with showers and thunderstorms. i'm not too concerned with flooding like we had for the last two weeks, but the numbers get very warm in the west. we go very hot. of course, you have the firefighters trying to fight the blazes, and if any new blazes form, they'll spread rapidly. 102 in boise. up to 97 in portland, oregon. that's a hot temperature for you. 91 in seattle. another front cools off the great lakes, 81 in chicago. we get a little relief in seattle, but still hot and dry in many areas of the west. typical summer storms here in the southeast. but, guys, the fire numbers out in california, just adding them up, and it is pretty incredible stuff. >> thanks for that, bill. still ahead, markets overseas under pressure in some parts over the concerns about president trump's trade policies. and starbucks looks to get into cryptocurrency but creates confusion with its goals over the currency. details on those and others
coming up next. quick question. do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? yes? great! then you're ready for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. sweet! e*trade. the original place to invest online.
mincing words. they wrote an editorial saying president trump is starring in his own street-fighter style deceitful drama of distortion and intimidation. that was in the people's daily newspaper. on friday afternoon they revealed an extra $60 billion worth of proposed tariffs if the u.s. were to go ahead with their threat of another $200 billion worth of tariffs as well. as you would expect, chinese equities were down more than 1%, actually they're down more than 25% for the year. so definitely feeling the effects there. but let me bring you some corporate news as well. walmart last week announced they were testing driverless cars to bring online groceries home. today they've announced they are testing robotic technology to bring products to shoppers quicker and to fill online orders quicker than in the past. they are testing the new technology in salem and new hampshire and they have plans to have it fully running by the end of the year.
we'll see how that goes. >> also, joumanna, starbucks created buzz over the weekend after announcing a new cryptocurrency venture with microsoft on friday. there's confusion what the company is looking to do in the sector. first there were reports you could use bitcoin to buy a frappuccino and it was finally taken away. what is the story with starbucks and cryptocurrency? >> reporter: sadly, you won't be able to buy your trap chinos with bit counsel. they have unveiled a new company that will make it easier for customers to convert their cryptocurrencies and bitcoins into cash, and then they can use the cash to buy starbucks' products. they're not quite ready to accept cryptocurrency yet. some of the bit processing speeds can vary 10 to 20 minutes time, which is a long time to wait for a coffee. >> that is a long time to wait. i can't wait that long.
thanks so much. >> especially when you have to get up for a morning show and you need that jolt of caffeine. >> i would be angry if i stood there 20 minutes while someone paid with bitcoin for their latte. coming up on "morning joe", president trump changing the story over the 2016 trump tower meeting. the potential fall-out over the president's admission his son met with russians to get information on an opponent. what this could mean for bob mueller's investigation and how the president's legal team is handling their clients' revelation. >> plus, democratic governor andrew cuomo of new york joins the conversation to discuss the nra's lawsuit against him, claiming he paid a role in the group's recently announced financial troubles. "morning joe", just moments away. s into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world.
nobody else even comes close. it's about delivering a more comfortable shave every time. invented in boston, made and sold around the world. order now at gilletteondemand.com. gillette. the best a man can get. the leof up to 24 lapsline is taround the world.ent experience an unrivaled feel for any road at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. i do. check out the new united explorer card. saving on this! saving on this! saving in here. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com
such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. ask your doctor about tremfya®. tremfya®. because you deserve to stay clearer. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. all right. welcome back, everyone. joining us from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m., cofounder for axios, mike allen. what is the big monday thing for
us? >> happy monday. axios' one big thing, inside trump's summer playground. as we have seen here on msnbc the president is at his club in new jersey. he will be there all week, and the trump staff has changed their theory about how to manage trump on vacation. so they used to try to keep him busy, pack his schedule, but my colle colleague jonathan swan has learned that the president's week is pretty open. he likes to be able to meet with other members. he likes to be able to wander around, golf when he wants, but there's some side effects to that. one of them is the president is constantly on the phone, and somebody who spent a lot of time at bedminster with him tells us staff has no idea who he is talking to. >> i love that little nugget. >> who is he talking to about this? tell us about the new report titled the tivo presidency from
jonathan swann. >> this is trump watching trump. we knew on the president's campaign plane he used to love to watch the rallies as he was flying home. he would do an event, and on his own boeing 747 he would watch coverage of whatever event he had just done. well, he has taken that habit to the white house. so the president on his big tv in the dining room right next to the oval, he's got a tivo, and swa, if n found out it is preloaded with the president's favorite highlights of himself. >> wow. >> >> from rallies and going back to the debates. he watches this like an nfl coach watching game film, and he will give little narration. somebody who has watched it with him says the president will say, wait for it. and he'll say, do you see what i'm doing here. >> in all fairness, yasmin does that every day after the show. >> right. >> she gets off and texts me the highlights of the show. let me ask you quickly about some interesting tweeting over
the weekend. axios i know has been reporting on the president's trump tower admission that caught a lot of people by surprise. what is your takeaway about what he said about the infamous 2016 meeting with the russians? >> this could turn out to be a historic tell-all, and the president had hinted at this before, but now he's saying clearly that that trump tower meeting was about getting political information. why does it matter? in axios style, this is a meeting that as your viewers know, special counsel bob mueller is very focused on. if the president's lawyers want to argue he doesn't know that much about it, as he said in his tweet, he didn't know before, but now that he's tweeting about it, it makes that argument harder. but our be-smart trump insiders tell us they believe the president is in the end going to give an interview to mueller. he wants to, no question about that. he thinks he can make his own best case, and as one associate said to me, he just can't help
himself. >> crab the popcorn. that should be interesting to say the least. mike allen, live for us in washington. >> see you on the tivo. >> yes, see you on the tivo. we will be reading axios am in a bit. sign up for the newsletter. >> that does it on this monday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis borg dov. "morning joe" starts now. >> i think it is important to point out in a situation like this, you have over time facts develop. >> alternative facts. >> facts develop. >> alternative facts. >> facts develop. yeah, when donald trump is your boss facts can be stubborn things. his lawyer was on tv yesterday, forced to completely reverse something he had said publicly just a year earlier. he blamed bad information for the original lie without saying where exactly, joe, that bad information came from.
Former GOP representative Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski interview newsmakers, politicians and pundits about the issues of the day.
that's 1,754 votes ahead in a sdlact h district that has been in gop hands for three decades. the official outcome way not be known until other ballots are tallied and the race could be headed to a recount if the k candidates end up within 1% of each other once the votes are certified. this morning, balderson is claiming victory. o'connor has not conceded. regardless, we'll see a rematch when they compete for full term in congress. welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, august 8th. with joe, willie and me, we have associate editor of commentary magazine noah raufman. former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst steve rattner and national political correspondent for nbc news and msnbc news, is he still away, steve kornacki.
but you see this same thing happening. they're bleeding. republicans are bleeding so badly right now in suburbs, and then you go north of frank lynn county to the excerpts, they're basically splitting it, holding their own, but, again, losing a ton of votes. this is a party, the republican party, that's becoming more and more every day a rural party. also, the thing i've always loved and talked about it for years on this show. i love what madison and hamilton and our founders did when they put down a government that constantly has this system of checks and balances, elections every two years. that always have the electorate sort of tugging and pulling. you see a lot of voters out there thinking, a lot of republicans, a lot of moderates, a lot of independents, thinking that donald trump has gone too far so they're pulling back the other way.
yesterday something remarkable happening in missouri. a very conservative state, pro-trump state, pro-republican state. you actually had people coming out in a referendum, and dealing a blow to the right to work forces who were really buoyed by a supreme court decision seen as a death nail for unions. yesterday, i've got to say. that union in missouri, one of the biggest wins in a very long time and, again, you just have to believe. once again. that's the electorate sort of tugging and pulling back. oh, okay. supreme court's going to take us too far to the right, we're going to pull this country back to the center. pretty remarkable what we see in, you know -- every time americans go to the voting booth. >> amazing to watch overnight, and the people are having a chance to speak. willie geist, the president is certainly taking this one in ohio personally. >> he's declared victory. sent out a tweet last night.
we don't have an official call yet here at nbc news, but he's declared victory saying when i decided to go to ohio for troy balderson, he was down. not good. after my speech saturday night, a big turn for the better. now troy wins a great victory during a difficult time for voting. he will win big in november. steve car knacky, cautalk about what happened yesterday. big republican state and president trump won it two years ago by 11 points. first of all, numbers here. is there a chance with balderson up by about 1,700 votes now with provisional ballots, mail-in ballots that that result changes, that o'connor somehow comes out on top? >> the suspense is extra weird on this one, because you expect the provisional ballots to break towards the democrat. you don't expect them to actually erase 1,754 vote republican lead. however, if the margin were to cut that 1,754 in half, not
implausible, then the overall victory margin for balderson would be under .5 points. by state law if you're under .5, more generous than you'll see in other places but under .5, automatically there's a recount. we're in a situation now i think it's plausible that o'connor with the provisional votes can get it close enough that the state law is triggered, causing a recount, and even then if you're a democrat, i wouldn't get your hopes up necessarily. the recounts don't tend to change huge numbers of votes. o'connor in a position needs to change 700, 800 votes. nothing's impossible? politics. much rather in balderson position than o'connor, but it's not implausible we are going to go through a recount that could take this thing out into late august. >> talking late august, early september recount, as joe said, then another election between these same two guys two months later. however that comes out if there is a recount what did we learn
about the state of the republican party last night? >> yeah. three parts to this district. focus an the suburbs right in and immediately around columbus. northern franklin county. more than one-third of the district. put it in perspective. the franklin county part, span of six year, contribute to donald trump, obama winning by three points in 2012, clinton by 18 in 2016 to democrat danny o'connor winning by 31 points, in the span of basically half a decade. that the trump effect in places like franklin county, ohio. last night, margin was there for democrats. turnout -- if you told democrats this is what franklin would look like, they would have set that's it. we win. start the celebration. what didn't happen, turnout not great in rural parts, but boardson attracted trump-level
support among those who voted in the rural part of the district. talk that might recede back towards democrats. didn't happen. balderson up around 70% in some rural counties. that didn't happen. bottom line, came down to delaware county. wealthy, suburban. a little different i think in character than franklin county when we say suburbs. franklin is a little more -- closer to, a little more in some cases blended with the city. when you take a step, that next level of suburb out, kind of delaware. what happened there, by historical standards trump didn't -- boardson didn't do well for republicans but matched the trump number and didn't fall back further from the trump number. looks like just enough to hang on's in what was a trump district by 11 two years ago. >> ask quickly, steve, about delaware county. not dissing donald trump and we'd all say it here. i think that donald trump in most republican primaries is going to be the deciding factor.
what's interesting last night, and a bit ironic, a guy he can't stand, john kasich. if you look at delaware county and look at kasich's home county and see that actually, and franklin county, trump's candidate's getting wiped out. but in delaware county, a last-minute endorsement by john kasich had to have a significant impact for the republican candidate and help him hang on there. right? >> so funny. think of events in the final days of this campaign that got so much attention. overinterpret everything, can you do that, but you can see them having very different effects on very different groups of voters in the district. kasich coming out, endorsing the republican. absolutely. kasich coming out saying, publicly hey, i don't know if balderson even wanted trump to come out. you can see that argument made
for delaware. the fact donald trump was out there, the day before the election, you had balderson dissing and makebackfired right there. >> didn't last night. balderson came out, thanked a lot of people. he didn't thank john kasich which was not a class move. and maybe he's trying to please donald trump by not thanking john kasich. that's somebody that would help him out in november. so we'll see. politics is always very fascinating, but noah, you tweeted end of the night that for conservatives, for republicans, not a lot to be cheerful about. a very bad night for republicans underperforming, and you said, for conservatives and for the conservative movement, the worst bit of news actually came out of missouri. >> yeah. you mentioned it was the right to work vote. missouri, as you said, pretty red state at this point.
senator claire mccaskill notwithstanding and half the union is right to work. essentially means, you don't have to join a union if you join a union shop. don't have to be forced into a union shop. and if you do, you don't have to be forced to pay union dues. the supreme court you mentioned and we're seeing a rollback. on the state level democrats are expected to do very well particularly in governorships. spent a lot of time focusing on congress but governorships are far more important when it comes to reforms, advancing conservative reforms and they've done extraordinarily well advancing them over the obama years. it is disheartening from a conservative perspective. look at more of the national environment, got a taste of it in ohio but is a some, too, in washington. a top two primary system. functionally a democrat versus republican race, and candidates like incoumbent representative
cathy mcmorris rodgers got barely ahead of her democratic opponent, 4/10 point at this point and the fourth ranking republican in congress. very little, look at results of last night and say republicans had a very good night. they squeaked out something of a victory in ohio, you could call it a victory but it's a very pureic one. >> historic night for candidates and the numbers are only going to go higher. laura kelley, nomination for governor. in michigan, former democratic leader of the state senate gretchen witmer handedly won her party's gubernatorial nomination, women, now the major party nominees for governor in 11 states breaking the record of 10 set in 1994, and that number is almost certain to grow with the remaining primaries. and at least 20 more women nominated for the u.s. house last night, that total is now at 182. a record number of major party
nominations with still more to come and one more milestone last night as michigan's rasheda talib likely will become the first muslim woman in serve in congress. a former state rep, unopposed in the general election for the seat. long held by ex congressman john conyers. i think in a lot of ways this is a response to trump. joe, women are stepping up. >> yes. willie, so much, and, again, not a surprise. just like 1996 was a response to bill clinton. 2010, a response to barack obama. no doubt about it. 2018 seems to be such a response to donald trump, with the republicans underperforming everywhere. and women, democratic women particularly, doing well in these early contests. >> yeah. no question. what a preview, perhaps what we'll see in three months. last night across several
states, steve rattner, get to your charts in a few minutes and look at the historical perspective on all this, but just what can donald trump expect three months from now, when you put together that history of what a sitting president faces in his first term and all the energy we're seeing among democrats right now? >> without stealing my own thunder from my charts, i'm sure steve kornacki knows all this, combined with the president's approval rating, a mid-term election is incredibly bad news for president trump. saying something about the women a shout-out, went home to michigan to fight out michigan 11 against an incumbent republican, stetted down. she stepped down. they give her a good shot at winning. >> awesome. >> noah -- >> it's awesome. >> -- while it looks like
democrats, a lot of women, in the democratic party will do exceptionally well, you look on the republican side, and just like you said. you've got people like barbara comstock in northern virginia who is in danger, and actually as of last week was not getting a lot of support from the major party. you just talked about the fourth ranking republican. another woman. underperforming in ways we've never seen before, and i wonder if that has to do with her being a woman in the republican party? or if it's just that mainstream conservatives in the age of trump are going to underperform every time nap this is a party right now that is, at least in the primaries, at war with itself? >> i'm not sure if there's a gender-related aspect there to the extent i could say there might be one, women in general in the electorate, to say nothing of the republican party,
railroad all that hot on donald trump. the president has been -- >> that is the understatement of the morning! women -- >> a lot of republican women. >> literally. >> i guess that's a better way to put it nap really is, noah, as you look at the map last night, and you look at these races as we continue, this is sort of the home stretch before we go into the final push after labor day. that seems to be the overarching headline of all of these results that women have not just been offended by donald trump, but they have been activated to such a level that, that's probably, women are probably the greatest threat to the republican majority right now. >> yeah. i would say that's probably accurate. and we saw some of the backlash that a lot of us predicted would occur with the shifting republican coalition towards white working class voters, former democratic voters. a big broad base of voters without a degree that can get you states like michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania, but
at the expense of the former -- that core republican base status quo ante, marginally affluent upper middle class degree holders. and ohio 12 is a really well-educated district and that's where you're going to see the backlash. see it from women. see it from degree holders. people making more than the national average and the income scale, and that's where the traditional republican base was. so where that base exists and it's deflated and not turning out, republicans like barbara comstock, like kevin mcmorris rogers are going to suffer. >> women are going to be -- i think what we're seeing in realtime is women carrying out one of the key tenants, joe, of know your value, which is step up, because no one's going to do it for you. absolutely no one. in the age of trump we have to. and the second one is, women are learning in realtime to fail publicly. andrea accostio cortez, a rough run since she won in new york,
but we do it, just like men and have a bigger reaction to it, because for some reason, when women fail it's much more of a story than men, but we're pushing through it. much more at knowyourvalue.com. still ahead on "morning joe" we'll talk to the democrat locked in an election too close to call. danny o'connor joins us inalities while. plus susan page writes in "usa today" about whan what happene and when bob mueller issues a public report. examining why conservatives aren't freaking out about republicans budget-busting deficits. don't get that. and barbara mcquade is live outside the courthouse in virginia where paul manafort is on trial. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. bill? >> good morning to you, mika. big thunderstorms causing a lot of delays in new york city. more of those up and down the east coast. today it's so hot and still so humid out there.
going all right this morning. areas dealing with a little rain, southern ohio rain overnight. louisville, cincinnati and additional storms through kentucky. five p.m., coming home from work today. these area, showers and storms, watch out from nashville to knoxville to chattanooga. areas in the mountains of north carolina, west virginia, throughout new york state. areas of the catskill and possibly around the mass pike. later than 5:00 p.m. maybe 7:00 or 8:00 p.m., bet chance for boston, new york, into d.c. hit and miss. not everyone will get them. extremely hot. 38 million people in the heat advisories. last day of it. showers and storms cool us off and a slightly drier air mass moves in for tomorrow. out west, the story is still the heat. los angeles a little cooler for you and how about the pacific northwest? this will be the hottest two-day stretch of the summer from spokane into areas of interior
washington state, 105 today. boise, 102. seattle 93. friends in portland, oregon, 97 degrees today. the heat continues in the west along with all the extreme fire danger and the fires that are burning are still burning hot, and you have to feel for the firefighters. new york city, what a thunderstorm last night. a lot of clouds, lightning. could do it again later this afternoon. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. i thought i married an italian. my lineage was the vecchios and zuccolis. through ancestry, through dna i found out that i was only 16% italian. he was 34% eastern european. so i went onto ancestry, soon learned that one of our ancestors we thought was italian was eastern european. this is my ancestor who i didn't know about. he looks a little bit like me, yes. ancestry has many paths to discovering your story.
get started for free at ancestry.com do you want the same tools and seamless experience across web and tablet? yes? great! then you're ready for power e*trade. the platform, price and service that gives you the edge you need. sweet! e*trade. the original place to invest online.
but there's one... that blows them all out of the water. hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid it goes beneath the surface to plump skin cells from within and lock in hydration leaving skin so supple, it actually bounces back. the results will blow you away! hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena®
are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. now to some other races yesterday, and a nail-biter in kansas where a secretary of state kris kobach holds a razor thin lead over governor jeff collier for the republican gubernatorial nomination. just 533 votes spraeparating th. collier served seven years at
lieutenant governor and elevated after president trump made governor sam brownback ambassador. trump's endorsement of kobach monday night put him over the edge according to the "new york times," a private tracking poll so he went from even in the race with collier to up seven points after trump weighed in. in michigan, republicans nominated another trump endorsed candidate. john james for u.s. senate. james faces an uphill battle against democratic senator debbie stabenow, and in washington's eighth district, republican dino rossi advances in the race for an open republican-held seat clinton won as democrat kim schreyer leads another democrat who who gets to head the general election. >> steve kornacki, professor pearson who would ask us a question that would always be a setup. you knew you were about to get run over and he said, you should see the next question coming at
you like a slow-motion low motive, coming out of a tunnel. right at you. well, you could, you could say the same about the republican party's fortune. in fact, we've all been talking about it for a year now. you have a donald trump endorsement that helped somebody like kris kobach, possibly win the republican nomination, but then sets him up, sets the republican party up for a, makes it more likely that they lose in the fall, because of just -- what we saw in the ohio race last night. the massive bleeding of republicans and in what was once a republican stronghold. the suburbs. since the late 1960s have been where republicans have gone to win elections, and now, you know, a donald trump endorsement of a candidate like kobach -- that repels so many people in
those once solidly republican areas. so, you know, a win in september or a win in august possibly leads to a big loss in the fall. >> that is certainly the -- it was so striking you had that trump endorsement of kobach in a couple of hours later on monday right before the election, mr. kansas republican politics, bob dole, 95 years old weighs in with endorsement of the opponent, the acting governor. establishment speaking in response to donald trump making that move. interesting thing, when you put those results up now where kobach is clinging to the lead just over 500 votes, it's one county, one giant county, one giant suburban upscale more affluent county, johnson county, overland park, right outside kansas city where outstanding votes have been for the last eight hours basically everything's from johnson county. when johnson county was completely outstanding at about
midnight, everybody's assumption, that's it. now collier's going to win the nomination because kobach won't win in the suburbs. now about two-thirds of johnson county has been counted overnight and kobach continues to lead those suburbs have not strangely enough come through for collier the way they expected them to overnight. i think it's true. kobach in november, a democrat, saying, goodness, a golden opportunity to win if kobach's the republican nominee. the suburbs supposed to be endangered, republicans voting there maybe now are not seeing it that way quite as much. >> yeah. willie, kobach winning. if he ends up winning. it's like claire mccaskill trying to draw todd akin back the last time she ran. you never know how it turns out. kobach may be different than todd akin when he gets out on the campaign trail, and may do much better, but just generally, you do have trump candidates, people embracing donald trump,
setting themselves up for a much bigger fall come november. >> there's a reason the republican governors association and other national republicans pleaded with president trump not to endorse kris kobach. in fact, many of his own advisers reporting in the "new york times" on monday pleaded with him not to endorse kris kobach for the korea reason you've laid out. polling shows he is not a good candidate for republicans and democrats could then not only win back the governor's mansion in kansas but also energize democrating to come out and vote in the house races in kansas down ballot to vote against kris coreback. get to the charts and look at the big picture. steve rattner what are you leading with? >> the house. not a good night for republicans. i'll show you data from other midterm elections that won't look better for the republicans than we saw last night. start looking at the last 13 or so mid-term elections. we plot the presidential approval on the vertical axis against the number of house seats won or lost on the
horizontal axis. drew a line called aggression analysis across them to basically find what is statistically most accurate. what you find, about a 70% correlation between a president's approval rating and the number of house seats won or lost in a midterm. at say 50%, that would lead you to expect something like a 30-seat loss in the midterms. however, we have a president, we know is at 41%. if you start at 41% and draw a line across, you would find it comes out around here in the, about 60 very vote loss category. note the two red dots above here represent our two most recent you'd call wave elections. 1994 and 2010, both with presidents who is not even as low popularity as donald trump but somewhat low popularity and you can see that there were masses losses from both of those folks in the midterm. >> reminder, democrats only need 23 seats to flip the house. >> exactly. if you look at another indicator where the republicans sit, which
is income dents deciding not to run. as you know, something like an 85% re-elect rate for incumbents. having an open seat, advantage for whichever party is contesting that seat. you can see again going back to 1976, the number of retirements both democratic and republican over that period of time, you can see for example, in the 1994 period, there were a huge number of democratic retirements. that presumably anticipated the wave election of that year, but you also see this year up to i think 41 at the moment. republican retirements, and that is a historically high number for republicans and historically high for both parties and much lower number of democratic retirements. that augers well for democrats trying to contest open seats in a house that tends to go with the incumbent. lastly, 1,000 prognosticators who tried to run simulation what's they think will happen this fall. one by the economist, ran 10,000
simulations of various outcomes using both national variables and local variables. they found that by their math there's about a 71% chance of the house flipping to democratic by at least one vote. they found that if you -- that there's a 50/50 proposition of about a 14-seat majority for democrats in the house which would be a swing of about 37 votes. and so by their math, there's almost a -- 70% probability of the house flipping. close to 100% chance of democrats getting more votes and a lot of this, of course, comes down to the built-in edge for republicans the way the gerrymandering has worked, the way the districts are set up. the economist thinks about a 3.5% edge for republicans. other numbers as high as 7% even see 10% but all does not auger well for the republicans. >> yeah. noah rothman, you never know exactly what's going to happen in these races. i remember 1998 while bill
clinton was in the middle of impeachment, many democrats and republicans were expecting a massive wave for the gop. they ended up i think picking up four seats. and that led effectively to the end of newt gingrich's speakership. 2002 leading up to the iraq war. many surprised that the republicans actually picked um some seats in that off year election. so sometimes there are surprises that -- and we could all be surprised this fall. maybe the republicans come out in massive numbers. you're smiling. i'm just saying, anything is possible. i'm not exactly sure what would do that, and i was looking at a frank lutz tweet last night. a one-point victory is nothing to celebrate -- talking about in ohio 12 -- saying the gop will have to do something raeally significant in september if they want to keep the house. what could that be? what could republicans do in
september for the three days back from their august recess before they leave for their september recess to actually hold on to the house? >> it's tough to envision, and nobody seems to have any interest in doing very much of anything in congress. it seems like the conservative movement, to say nothing of the republican party. it is pretty deflated. i don't remember the last time i heard a conservative talk about a conservative idea. they talk how awful the liberal ideas, the spoesdemocratic poli, you would think people would be defending, for example, the extent to which right to work legislation, we talked about in the last break harks spre, has across the union and liberating people from the confines of a union to which they do not belong. you would think you would hear people talking about the economy, the extent it demonstrated capacity for growth. 4% gdp growth, good number.
unemployment, 4%, pretty good number. record employment among minor y minoriti minorities, et cetera. but you don't really hear that. fear is a better motivator than enthusiasm, than, you know, thankfulness towards the republican party. but i just don't see it. i don't see any of it manifesting in some sort of a victory, and donald trump leaning in to these primary victories, demonstrating saying that "he is responsible" for the victories a tone deaf. it's silly. he'll have to run away from a loss in september if republicans suffer. he's setting himself up as the key architect of voters, whatever the voters want to do in november. whether they go to the polls for him or against him, he's supposed to be preserving his mandate and he's not doing that. running in front of that saying it's all about me and that's going to backfire in november. >> if there were any conserve
2i6sh conserve -- conservatives left in the republican party, they ask about putin and protectionism, but what conservatives left in the party would be energized to go out for the sort of things that got me and i'm sure you voting for candidates in the past? are they small government conservatives? i mean, here you have donald trump running up the largest federal debt ever. you've got donald trump promising the most tariff taxes on middle class and working-class americans than ever before. you have donald trump and the republicans in congress passing the largest spending bill ever. let me say that again. donald trump and republicans that dominate congress passed the largest spending bill ever, and the deficit's exploding to over $1 trillion a year, and, no. those aren't barack obama's deficits. you can look and see what donald trump's own government is
saying, and trump's actions over the past year, the past year and a half have added hundreds of billions of dollars to his deficits. what small government conservative will get excited and say, hey, i'm going to call all my friends at church and tell them to go with me to the voting booth? >> and entitlement reform as we understand it, it's necessity, is not on the table. nobody wants to talk about it. like putting nor pyour peas on table first saying, eat up. i know there's mixed feelings about the tax bill and i have as many mixed feelings about it as you do because the extent it balloons the deficit, but there is some value to it in the sense that it has put so much -- so much money into the economy. so much liquidity into the economy you can have the kind of bits activity without that kind of boost that comes from
anticipation that the corporate tax, for example will generate capital investment. make that case. say that -- be less afraid of this tax bill. there's only major reform the congress has passed. make that case. >> i understand that, but mika, the tax bill is deeply unpopular with the american people. most americans believe that the benefits went to -- well, actually, who donald trump said the benefits went to. >> his friends. >> denied it after had passed. went to march large oh sat around with millionaire friends and said, i just made you all a lot of money with the tax cuts that i passed. you've got that side of it. it hurts donald trump the populist, it hurts populist republicans. it looks like it's going to billionaires and to ceos and multi-national corporations for stock buybacks and then on the other side of it you have conservatives thinking, gee. it wasn't really targeted to stimulate the economy, and it's
just driven us deeper in debt. that's why, and we could go over the numbers later with steve rattner, but that's why even the one thing they did. cutting taxes. deeply unpopular with many americans. >> well, on taxes and on immigration, the president has done things that i think hurt his positive brand with the people who were blindly following him. i think those two issues have problems that will stick with him. still ahead, we're learning new details about last month's summit between president trump and vladimir putin, but it's coming from moscow. >> of course it is. >> of course. plus, trump has been tweeting a lot about the mueller probe lately. senator lindsey graham says he's talking about it a lot, too, on the golf course. we'll have that, coming up next. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely.
but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard. with feedback to help you drive safer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunately, it can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... are you in good hands?
(indistthat was awful.tering) why are you so good at this? had a coach in high school. really helped me up my game. i had a coach. math. ooh. so, why don't traders have coaches? who says they don't? coach mcadoo! you know, at td ameritrade, we offer free access to coaches and a full education curriculum- just to help you improve your skills. boom! mad skills. education to take your trading to the next level. only with td ameritrade. these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. experts from all over the world, working closely
together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com it's the ford summer sales event and now is the best time to buy. you ready for this, junior? yeah, i think i can handle it. no pressure... ...that's just my favorite boat. boom. (laughs) make summer go right with ford, america's best-selling brand. and get our best deal of the summer: zero percent financing for sixty months on f-150. right now, get this special offer on f-150: zero percent financing for 60 months - during the ford summer sales event.
up and stop the mueller investigation? >> well, did trump ask that question? he must have mentioned that about 20 times. i told the president i know you don't like it. i know you feel put upon. you've just got to ride it out. i want to win in november. if we stop the mueller probe tomorrow, you wouldn't be able to talk about anything else. >> you know -- >> wow. >> yeah. >> what do you think, mika? >> well, i just think that that's telling the truth, which i think people appreciate, but hard to understand unless you spend a lot of time in walk how hard that is to do for people in office in the senate and in congress. that is hard to do and lindsey graham stepped up. >> you look how lindsey graham spent his last week, saying no
to the president on the golf course about 20 times. and something that's even harder. when you're in a roomful of constituents, the overwhelming majority want you to do something on one of the most heated issues of the day. lindsey graham stepping up, saying you know what? >> sorry. >> we need to finish the mueller probe. >> yep. >> and -- you know, we talk about republicans not showing courage enough. certainly in that clip, that's lindsey graham doing -- he's right politically. it's best for the republican party it would lead to a meltdown that would really hurt republicans. lindsey has been straight, got to see it through the end. let the chips fall where they may and let's see how the russians interfered with american democracy. so that was -- i thought -- i thought certainly a lot more courage than most of his
republican colleagues have shown in town hall meetings and with the president. >> yeah. senator graham has done a service several occasions over the last couple of years speaking to president trump and telling him the truth, but it is instructive that the president, 20 times, probably an exaggeration. >> probably not, actually. >> well, whatever the number is, that the president is obsessed with this. he has it in his mind and is asking people around him why he can't just end the mueller investigation. we all know he's asking. the idea people put out there, he would never do this, political suicide, trigger a constitutional crisis, just ask lindsey graham if president trump would be willing to move the pieces around to get rid of bob mueller and end this investigation. i think the answer is, yes. joining us now, white house correspondent for reuters, jeff mason good to see you. >> good to be here. >> you cover the white house very closely. how much has the president trump been watching on cable news, paul manafort going through his trial ant sees his son don
junior might be in some trouble as well. how obsessed, concerned is the president with the mueller investigation? >> really obsesses with it and the fact he's sort of on vacation now, although the white house doesn't want to call it vacation in bedminster, even more time to watch television and weighing in on that. people have been asking me also, why is -- seems like the escalation. an escalation between the media and the president in the last few weeks and that's maybe why as well. he likes to choose a scapegoat. often the media or somebody else when really upset about something and this is likely one of the things really on his mind. >> what was discussed during his hour-long meeting in helsinki last month with putin, although, again, coming from moscow. a document obtained by politico, putin presented president trump with a series of requests including a proposal to hold new talks on nuclear arms controls and prohibiting weapons in space. the document purportedly a page
of proposed topics for negotiation also addresses rising tensions in eastern europe. the kremlin and president trump previously revealed syria was discussed in the meeting in addition to president putin's proposal to have u.s. officials will ed head to moscow to talk with those held in exchange for being able to ask about the 12 indicted here. asking exactly what was said between president trump and president putin. >> you're saying today the president direct ud to make the issue of election meddling a priority. how do you explain the disconnect between what you are saying, his advisers, and what the president has said about this issue? >> i'm not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. i'll turn it over to the national security director here. >> the issue was in fact
discussed and in fact president putin said the first issue president trump raised was election meddling. >> should americans believe he is listening to you, your advice? or that he is going his own way when he's having meetings like he did with the president of russia? >> i think the president has made is abundantly clear to everybody who has responsibility in this area that he cares deeply about it and that he expects them to do their jobs to their fullest ability and that he supports them fully. >> jeff, the president shortly thereafter answered your second question calling it a russian hoax at a rally after re reportedly sent his national security team out to talk to you all in the briefing room. so who do believe? >> that's the question. going on -- one reason i asked it that day. in the run-up to the moscow -- not the moscow, the helsinki summit. the meeting with putin. all of president trump's avoiders were talking about russia's maligned activity.
president trump said he would raise it. and given the opportunity by myself and john lamere from the a.p., he didn't raise it at all. the question, when you bring out advisers like that at the white house saying this is a big deal, something that president trump trump is really interested in, is really concerned about, do you believe them or do you believe him? >> you know, jeff, it's really jarring to see donald trump's national security adviser, john bolton, up there only because he has been vladimir putin's toughest critic. we talk a good bit about how putin loathed ambassador mcfaul, but i think if you lined mcfaul's words up next to john bolton's, bolton's would be just as tough or perhaps even tougher if we can even imagine that. and then you look at what john bolton said about north korea, basically came out and said, yeah, they're doing nothing on
nuclear weapons. they're continuing to move forward and not adhering to any promises they made. that's exactly what you expect from a john bolton outside of the government but we're hearing it from john bolton inside the government. what can you tell us about this relationship, this tough anti-communist hawk, anti-north korean hawk, anti-iranian hawk? how is that relationship working out with donald trump? is donald trump obsequiously says he'll talk to the iranians without preconditions and not from a position of strength. he's obsequious in front of kim jong-un and obsequious in front of kim jong-un? word of the morning, obsequious. >> it's one of the conundrums of president trump and his team of advisers. he seems to be happy with ambassador bolton.
you're right the policies that bolton talked about before coming into the administration are many cases completely at odds with the man he works for now. it's hard to get any information about the nsc that bolton needs about that. he had positions before he came into the administration. now his job is to serve the president. the president said as a candidate, i'm my best adviser and seems to be following that as a way of dealing and setting national security now that he's in office. >> all right, jeff mason, thank you for being on this morning. still ahead, we have more from mark leibovich's article with paul ryan for the new york times magazine. keep it right here on "morning joe." ♪
this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ ♪ (electronic dance music)♪ ♪ ♪
special elections and looking ahead to the midterms? are they voting on these issues? >> i think they're voting on one issue in the midterm and the issue is trump. the question of trump is what do you make of him? what do you think is most important, mueller, russia, do you think it's the tweeting, do you think it's the economy? do you think it's what he does to his opponents, how he gets them riled up? maybe you like that. it's however you look at trump and whatever you think of it, i think everything kind of filters through that. they say midterms are a referendum on the president, never been more true than now. >> yeah. in terms of the economy, this president is so unpredictable, i think there's going to be an effect on the economy that people are already feeling. it's the subtle instinctive thing. we'll talk about that. steve, thank you very much. coming up, we'll talk to danny o'connor, the democrat locked in in that ohio special election that is just too close to call. plus, the trump campaign comes up as a topic for the first time in the trial of paul manafort. we'll go live to the courthouse
for day seven of testimony. "morning joe" is coming right back. hey allergy muddlers: are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec® zyrtec® starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec®. muddle no more®. and try children's zyrtec® for consistently powerful relief of your kid's allergies.
time to thank vice president pence. congressman pat teaberry. chairman steve stivers. there's many others, i could go on and on. >> republican troy balderson he thanked a loft people last night for his narrow lead in ohio's special election. but he didn't thank the state's republican governor. he didn't thank john kasich, joe, who held the same congressional seat and who vouched for balderson with ohio voters. balderson holds a raiser thin edge over democrat danny o'connor, but the race is too close to call in a district that went republican by almost 37 points less than two years ago. welcome back to "morning joe." it's wednesday, august 8th. kind of a special day. >> it's a special day. katheri
katherine scarborough's birthday. >> we have noah rothman, former treasury official, steve ratner and joining the conversation washington bureau chief for usa today susan page, former chair of the republican national committee, michael steele, he hosts the aptly named podcast, man of steele. i like it, michael. >> thank you. >> that's good. because you are a man of steele. co-founder, publisher real, clear politics tom bevan joins us now. >> tom, i'm reading this guy, sean t. at rcp, you may know him, but sean wrote last night this tweet which i thought really sort of summarized everybody was freaking out on all the channels over who was going to win this race or who wasn't going to win this race and it was a nail biter. sean tweeted -- i know people don't want to hear this, but at this point it doesn't really
matter. ohio 12 shouldn't even be a nail biter for the gop. even with two solid candidates running. talk about the ohio race, whether you agree with your colleague that a nail biter in ohio 12 is a bad sign for republicans generally. >> yeah, look. i agree with sean. let's use the sports analogy since it's columbus, let's say this is like ohio state, okay, they're playing a team they play every year and win by four, five touchdowns. last night they won in overtime by one point. if you're an ohio state fan, you're happy they won but you're saying oh my god, what does this mean for my team for the season that's coming up. i think that's where the republicans are. they spent $3.5 million in this district. they brought in all the big guns to drag balderson across the line. they're not going to be able to do that in the 50 competitive tossup and lean republican districts that are in play in november. they're just not going to be able to cover that much ground.
it does oger poorly for republicans and democrats in november. >> michael steele, you ran the republican national committee, ran it through some very, very successful election cycles. you had to be looking at the map in a way that the democrats are looking at it right now. >> right. >> because my gosh, we've all been talking about the 24, 25 seats that hillary clinton -- that are republican seats where hillary clinton did better. >> right. >> this expands it out, though. there are like 68, 69 congressional seats where, you know, clinton did better than here, however it works. this expands the map to 67, 68, 69 seats, makes it a lot harder for republicans to figure out exactly where they need to defend this fall. >> it does, joe. the bottom line is that republicans got exposed last night.
this district is really one of the most conservative, reddest-leaning districts in the country, in the top seven of those districts, and to be in this position going into the fall is not a good sign. it does augger well for democrats looking at the map. they now see real wins in front of them. they have an opportunity that they had not really seen crystallize before. it came closer into clarity last night with the ability to go out and do that ground game district by district. they don't have to play the way the republicans have to play. in other words, dumping a whole lot of resources into this districts. they have a ground team they can learn from how to put together the kind of race that not takes a competitive race and make it more competitive but actually deliver the win. that's where the republicans got exposed last night. their resources will be
stretched thin. and their ability to actually buttress back against what the democrats will do becomes much more difficult. >> yeah. tom, let me go back to you for a second. i was mentioning to noah before that my entire adult life, republicans especially presidential candidates have gone to tsuburbs to run up big victories. that's how they wan, reagan and bush, you name it, they all won in the won in the suburbs. now you have republicans getting slaughtered in counties like franklin county, which we always saw as sort of our version of broward county for democrats. >> yeah, no. that's absolutely true. what we saw in 2016, that was one of the big shifts. the question is whether that shift is -- this is something that's a permanent feature now moving forward. republicans have to have those voters, right, as part of their coalition if they want to
continue to win at the state and national level. this is what you saw balderson try and do, right? you had trump come in and try motivate the base in the you recall parts of the district and then you had kasich vouching for balderson and trying to win back some of those votes and at least keep the democrats margins down in the well educated suburban areas where the republicans struggled in 2016. looks like they will struggle there in 2018. the question is whether that's a permanent shift or not. >> susan page, your reporting is on the front page of usa today this morning, revealing evidence that donald trump's base continues to support the president. of the most recent survey made of trump voters you write in part this -- the loyalty of trump's voters has been a political strength for the president through 18 tumultuous months in the white house. now two thirds of the supporters believe russia interfered in the 2016 election, they tend to
accept declarations by the president and his team that the allegations and investigations have been overblown or disdirected a conclusion with potentially enormous consequences down the road. if and when special counsel robert mueller releases a public report, those voters are poised to take any negative findings with a grain of salt. as the investigation has intensified, their predictions about history will judge trump's presidency have risen. susan, i think it's fascinating because as the media rightfully asks the questions and follows the mueller probe, there's definitely a different take across america especially among trump's base. >> you know what was interesting to us in talking to these voters that we've been checking in with since the 2016 election, is that they do believe that russia meddled in our election in 2016. but they see it through the same lens that the president is
offering them, that everybody does it or collusion isn't illegal or the real collusion was with the hillary clinton campaign. and this is, i think, the success of the president's political strategy when it comes to address the mueller accusations. there's no ways that the tweets that the president has been making on mueller serve his legal interest, but it's clear they served his political interests here. even among the voters who see russia as an adversary and are suspicious of russia, many are old enough to remember the days of the cold war. even though they don't like russia, they don't like putin, they do trust donald trump. >> michael steele, just as president trump loomed over last night's elections particularly in ohio, he will loom over the elections in three months. you point out last night in ohio is game one of a two-game doubleheader. we'll see these guys go at it again in three months at the end with a recount even. if you're the chair of the national republican committee,
what are you thinking? what has to change over the next three months? is it changeable in that short of time with president trump controlling the levers of what goes on? >> you start by asking yourself where is the weakest part of my line? my front line, defense to hold off that 23 seat opportunity for democrats, where is the weakest link there? and i begin to take a closer look at the type of candidates that are running. the resources that are available, the ground game that's in place and whether or not the state party organization in addition to county and local organizations are all prepared to do what needs to do to hold that line. how much re-enforcement do i need to put there? the senatorial committee. so that becomes an important assessment. but here is the other thing, willie, i think the party needs to do, we have this the history that when we win, we somehow
forget how and why we won. we don't really dig down and understand the real nature of the win. so if you take this as a win, which the party likely will do outright, you still have to step back and go, it was a win but was it really? and assess and analyze exactly what happened on the ground with messaging, with organization, and again the role the president played or didn't play since you have the white house available to you to make that win a possibility and does that translate in the fall. >> well, now more mark leibovich's remarkable interview with house speaker paul ryan "the new york times." ryan talks about his relationship with the president saying trump used to call ryan boy scott, quote, i thought it was a compliment, said ryan, but after the republican-controlled congress passed a few bills, trump announced to ryan that he would stop using the nickname, quote, so i guess he meant it as an insult all along the speaker said.
i didn't realize it. ryan shrugged. he put out a tweet last night that was really good, ryan told me after he and the president hung up. it was apparently an innocuous tweet about trade. leibovich writes that the speaker's words carried the vaguely patronizing tone of a parent affirming potty-training milestones. i don't spend a lot of time thinking about that stuff? shouldn't you, leibovich said. if you're not going to touch that, who is? i don't think he's going to do things like that, ryan said of trump. he already has leibovich said referring to trump's pardoning of law-breaking allies like joe arpaio and dinesh d'souzd'souza. triablism and identity politics are twin scourging that contributed to the environment that exists today. donald trump didn't give us all
this. donald trump is showing us what it looks like. what is he going to own anything? or take on anything or is he just going to leave as badly as he is there right now? i don't get it. >> i don't get it either. a lot of people who have known paul for a very long time. >> he's a good guy. >> i always believed personally, willie, paul is a great guy. i always liked paul. i don't think, though, i've ever been as surprised and i guess confused as the reaction of somebody who is seen a conservative warrior like paul ryan through his entire career, never been surprised at somebody that in the time when he has the ability to stand up and right
the ship of state as the third ranking constitutional officer in america that time and again he has backed up he's hidden. oh, i haven't seen this. or this story. or i haven't heard about that story. i haven't looked into this outrage or that outrage. we're not talking about policy issues. we're talking about racist statements, unconstitutional statements. >> third in line, you're going to close your ears? >> again, i actually as you can tell i don't have words to adequately express myself about how a guy has behaved when america needed him to stand up and speak out, not start a civil war but just adhere to the basic tenants of democracy. he has not done it. he has not defended
constitutional norms. >> at the times when he has, it's almost reluctantly, when he's pushed into a corner and finally says, okay, okay, yeah, he shouldn't have said that. he shouldn't have tweeted that. tariffs are bad. he has, noah rothman, you know, he has built a career on being a conservative serious, fiscal conservative, tax reform. i'm not sure as speaker of the house he was ready for the challenge that donald trump on a personal level would present because clearly he hasn't stepped up and confronted him in ways that most people would have hoped he would. >> yeah. i sympathize with the speaker. as joe said, his obligation is to not start a civil war and attack the president or even criticize him forcefully would be to invite the president ignite is civil war himself. the speaker's position is not that solid. anybody in a leadership in congress is not on solid footing. i sympathize with him for this
point, he spent six of eight years in his -- in the obama era 2010 through 2016 building a conservative coalition, the most conservative coalition in congress, i think. at least my life time and possibly ever. then donald trump runs for the presidency and explicitly anti-conservative message. he says i like the individual mandate obamacare. we're not touching social security. and he wins. and he wins a mandate. so we have a conservative coalition in congress and pretty anti-conservative president. there's very little you can do there that won't risk stepping on a land mine, won't risk blowing up this coalition. as a leader, his responsibility is to keep the troops in line, not to necessarily be an ideologic fire brand. >> all that is well and good, but now he's retiring. so do you expect that either post-retirement or before he retires, at some point do you think he'll stand up and be a profile in courage? >> i don't know about that. but donald trump's utility as a vehicle to animate republican voters is going to be tested in november.
and if he shows that his utility is limited, the calculation might change. >> michael, still though, paul ryan is more than just a republican. he's more than just a guy that's trying to herd cats. as john roberts saw himself, he is the speaker of the house. he's the protector of the institution. he's the protector of the legislative branch of article, one -- the republican legacy. are we the party of abraham lincoln? or are we the party of david duke? there is no doubt publicly that donald trump's voice has clearly stated in 2018 that he wants the republican party to be closer to
david duke than abraham lincoln. it seems that paul ryan has more of a responsibility than just staying in power as speaker of the house. he has the responsibility to the constitution he represents, to the party he represents. >> yeah. >> and to the country he serves. that's not me being poly anish. he should be polished enough, skillful enough as a politician to do two things at the same time. >> yeah. i agree with that and i think that going back to the point that was just made about the coalition that he spent so much time building what i find fascinating about that process, the end part of that process is that he never used the coalition to fight for the very things you just describe. you have you are number three in line to the presidency. it's not like you're sitting in a corner. you are a player on the field. and as a player, who has pieces that can be moved on that field, he never really figured out how
to use that leverage effectively. he didn't have to create a civil war with the president. yeah, we know the president will go off in a tweet. but you have this coalition of like-minded soldiers who have been out there fighting for this moment where those big policy issues could be put into practice and capitulated. they gave into a tweet. they didn't stand up for the constitution. they gave in to a sly word by the president or fear of a very narrow base and didn't push back. i find that fascinating that with all that building of coalitions and policy, you didn't use it as a soft hammer to push back and redefine the relationship with the white house. >> i do find it amazing that members of congress that have voting cards walk around in fear perpetually of a negative tweet. tom, let's end with you. we've all talked about the
house. the house is much easier to game out. democrats need 23, 24, 25 however many seats it is. it looks like they're probably going to get that if last night is any indication. the senate, though, much, much tougher to sort of game out. what's that looking like as we move towards labor day? >> that's a great question, joe. not enough attention has been paid to the senate. we -- look, the democrats right now are looking decent in the senate. they've got a small lead in nevada. missouri is doing okay. highcamp doing okay in north dakota. we have joe donley in indiana. if that race -- if joe donley is doing well in indiana, you're looking at a situation where democrats could be gaining a seat or two in the senate and potentially -- it's going to be creeping closer to a point where
they might be able to take the senate as well. that's a huge story that currently really hasn't been covered. the one bright spot for republicans right now is in your home state where rick scott is leading bill nelson. hard to see if democrats will do as well as they seem to be doing in some of these other states that rick scott is going to pull one out in florida, but that's where -- that's right now what republicans are hanging their hat on. >> boy, tom, isn't florida a remarkable state. it's a state that most thought hillary clinton would be winning because it was diverse, getting more diverse by the day. yet it's actually a state that sort of become little -- from a totally purple swing state tim russert sayi ining florida flor florida fl. a state moved from red to purple back to red. >> it went from looking at early precinct returns we got this is a lock. it's a no brainer.
it's done. to wait a minute. hold on a second. let me see what's going on. oh my god, what just happened? it was a state that democrats thought they had in the bag. it is surprising. you have this influx of folks from puerto rico democrats are trying to register and in the orlando i-4 corridor area. it's a fascinating place to watch. and i think that race is going to be close and it's going to be expensive. it's going to be high profile. and it's going to be part of the mix certainly in terms of whether democrats are able to take control of the senate or not in november. >> all right, tom bevan, thank you very much. still ahead on "morning joe," we'll speak live with one of those two ohio candidates we've been talking about. democrat danny o'connor joins us in just a few minutes. but first, paul manafort is staring down a potential prison sentence if convicted on a litany of charges. the government's star witness rick gates returned to the stand as manafort's legal team tries
to go after his credibility. we'll go live to the courthouse straight ahead. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. at ally, we're doing digital financial services right. but if that's not enough, we have more than 8000 allys looking out for one thing: you. call in the next ten minutes... and if that's not enough, we'll look after your every dollar. put down the phone. and if that's not enough, we'll look after your every cent. grab your wallet. (beeping sound) (computer voice) access denied. and if that's still not enough to help you save... oh the new one! we'll bring out the dogs. mush! (dogs barking) the old one's just fine! we'll do anything, seriously anything, to help our customers. thanks. ally. do it right. it's a high-tech revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed.
it intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. smarter sleep will change your life.
booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline. this is not a screensaver.game. this is the destruction of a cancer cell by the body's own immune system, thanks to medicine that didn't exist until now. and today can save your life. ♪ ♪
it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. this morning marks day seven of the trial of former trump campaign kmarm paul manafort. evidence and testimony from rick gates yesterday appears to confirm exclusive reporting from nbc news earlier this year that the special counsel's team was investigating whether manafort promised the ceo's of federal savings bank a job in the white house in return for $16 million in home loans. yesterday the jury was shown e-mails manafort gates of favors. caulk did not get a job in the administration. manafort launched calk part of a
quid pro quo agreement for the loans. when manafort's attorney questioned gates about any other members of the special counsel's team had asked about his time on the trump campaign, prosecutors objected. lawyers were called to the bench. the court then went into recess and the topic never came up again. gates also testified that he had embezzled from manafort part of an extramarital affair nearly ten years ago, kept an apartment in london, flew first class and stayed in luxury hotels. joinsing us now barbara mcquad. good morning. what was your headline walking out of the courtroom yesterday? >> i think my headline was that gates got beat up a little bit on cross-examination and may have been damaged but i don't think so much so that it's going to lose the case for the prosecution. >> and what about this relationship with calk? who exactly is he? how does he figure into this big picture for paul manafort?
>> yeah, he's an interesting name. he is this person who is a lender from a chicago bank, lent paul manafort during a time when he lost his job, lost his money, was really broke. lent him something like $16 million. and his name then shows up on the counsel of economic advisers for president trump. paul manafort, as you said, wants him to be considered for secretary of the army. he shows up at the inauguration. he's an interesting figure. we have not heard a lot of evidence about this particular loan yet. i imagine that gates was put into the middle of the trial by prosecutors, so that if he were to stumble, they started strong, they'll finish strong with a lot of evidence on paper that is much harder to cross-examine. >> obviously as we said many times, this trial is not about paul manafort's role as president trump's campaign chairman during the campaign, but it is obviously why so many people are interested in it to see if there is any crossover in there. what did you make of the judge yesterday sort of snapping on
and calling the attorneys to the bench and shutting down conversation about that part of paul manafort's career? >> well, i thought it was interesting because the prosecution did raise for the first time yesterday the name trump was uttered outloud in court. it's sort of been like vold mort, never to be spoken aloud. yesterday it came up in a very narrow context of this particular bank fraud and that was all we heard about it. on cross-examination, the defense really wanted to delve deeply into this. they asked a very open ended question did there come a time when you met with the special prosecutor's office and were asked questions about president trump. and so that was when the prosecution jumped up and said, objection. lengthy side bar and never heard more about it. they moved on to another topic and i think that's because there's a whole world there that the prosecution does not want exposed to the world, including on going investigation about what's going on with connections. to the detriment of prosecution,
i think the jury is left with a misleading impression because they now know that rick gates has been promised a lot of things, leniency, including the possibility that his lawyer can ask for a sentence of probation and the government will not oppose that. now, that doesn't mean he'll get probation. the judge gets to decide. but sounds like a real sweetheart deal when you think of all the many years in prison he was looking at. my guess is the reason he got so much benefit is not just for his testimony in this case, which is really a tiny sliver of his cooperation, but for all of the other cooperation he has given about all the other things about what he learned on the campaign in exchange for trump. this jury will never know about that. so i worry that it looks like he's getting a real sweetheart deal when manafort is exposed to likely many, many years in prison. >> right. barbara, steve ratner, just to broaden out the question about the judge a bit because i think back in the spring during some pretrial stuff he said some things that the trump administration liked. since this trial began, there have been a number of occasions where he's snapped at the prosecutors, told them not to talk about things, cut them off,
whatever. a, what should we make of that, if anything, about the judge's attitude toward this trial and this case? b, will it matter when it ultimately goes to the jury? >> well, i am told that this is kind of the way this judge operates. he is very much a part of the trial. he is very noticed. he injects himself into the case very much. i'm told that's the way he rolls in many cases. i worry about the impact he could have. he has been very hard on the prosecution in the interest of move things along. he's constantly after them to stop asking questions. with a witness like gates bs it's really important they get an opportunity to corroborate his testimony to show documents that he's allowed a lot of lee way there. to me, yesterday when gates was testifying that manafort was very involved in knowing all of the financial matters, the judge said well obviously he wasn't watching that closely because
you were able to steal from him. a gratuitous comment. this is a person who the jury sees as the authority figure and independent judge and expert on the law to say that has to have some influence on them. i'm really worried about that statement. >> yeah. barbara, noah rothman from commentary. briefly on that point, i think yesterday we learned that con stan tin, a ukrainian businessman, active ties to russian intelligence up to and including 2016 that gates testified that manafort directed him to report overseas income as loans in order to lower taxable income and some of that income came from this gentleman. what do we make of that? do you have any idea whether that registered with the judge or the jury? >> i don't think it registered to the judge and jury that's a connection to russia or russian intelligence. they've been focussed very much on the significance of padding the income or lowering the
income as the case may be here to try to reduce paul manafort's tax bill. but in the bigger picture as observers, there are bigger themes coming out. keep in mind, that is money coming from russian intelligence. what was the purpose of that? other themes, these are incredibly reckless fraudsteres in paul manafort and rick gates. donald trump put these people on his campaign in high level positions. did he know about their backgrounds? did he know or not care? >> everybody else knew. surprise if donald trump didn't. barbara mcquad translating what she sees in the courtroom for us. good to talk to you. thanks so much. >> great. thanks, will li. still ahead, the results for ohio's special election are razor thin. we'll talk to danny o'connor about his continued bid to turn the reliably red district blue. "morning joe" will be right back.
i get it all the time. "have you lost weight?" of course i have- ever since i started renting from national. because national lets me lose the wait at the counter... ...and choose any car in the aisle. and i don't wait when i return, thanks to drop & go. at national, i can lose the wait...and keep it off. looking good, patrick. i know. (vo) go national. go like a pro.
tomorrow we rest and then we keep fighting through to november. let's go out there! let's get it done! let's change this country! >> joining us now the democratic candidate in ohio's 12th district, which nbc news says is too close to call, danny o'connor. and danny, the president, the republican party in ohio and your opponents are calling you the loser this morning. to that you say what? >> i say that, you know, we're excited to continue to have this conversation with voters each day about why we need folks who are going to go to washington and fight for working people. this race is too close to call. the margin is 1,700 votes. w we have 8,000 votes left to be counted. the fight continues. we'll be out there campaigning today. we're not resting because people are counting on us to get it done for them. >> danny, how strange is it that you have to run a marathon all
for the glory of running a sprint for a full term? it's got to be kind of unsettling for you but also kind of confusing for voters. >> you know what, it's awesome, i think. it gives me opportunities to have more conversations with folks about the direction that they want to see our country go in. and when people sit around the kitchen table at night, they're worried about how they're going to pay their mortgage, how they're going to afford to retire, how they're going to afford these rising costs of health insurance. these are things worth fighting for. to have this conversation like we have been and will continue to do is really just an honor and a privilege. >> so you did better than any democrats has done in ohio 12 in, my gosh, i guess in your life time. but the question is let's say you come up short 500 to 1,000 votes. the question is where do you find those votes? what's your message to some of those rural counties that like
so many rural counties across america feel like donald trump is a lot more interested in their best interests than nancy pelosi and the democratic party that you represent? >> yeah. the good thing, joe, is that we have three months to talk to those folks still. the way i campaigned and the way we work, we sprint hard across all seven counties of this district. i want to represent all seven counties in congress. we're just going to take everyday and try to win every single day, talking to people about the issues that matter to them because that's how we're going to win this thing in november and that's why we feel so good right now. >> so danny, there's a question about nancy pelosi and whether you would support her as speaker. some people say you bungled the question the second time it was asked. seems like you clarified it. but just so we have it on the record, if you become ohio 12's
congressman when they go around at the beginning of the next session, will you vote for nancy pelosi to be your speaker of the house? >> no, i won't. and we really need new leadership because what we've seen in washington -- and i think this was demonstrated last night, the same old politics aren't working. the desire to fight things out in the partisan nature instead of being pragmatic isn't getting the job done for working families. that's why we're having so much success here and convincing so many people to support our new version of leadership is because people recognize that we need to have change in washington. they recognize that i'm someone who wants to get the job done for their family. >> danny, i've known nancy for a long time and like her personally, but there aren't a lot of people in middle america, there aren't a lot of people from youngtown, ohio, to columbus, ohio, that believe that democrats have leaders that represent their interests.
there's a massive cultural disconnect. who is the type of speaker for the democratic party that you would like to see and therefore the democrats that would better represent rural counties across your district? >> you know, honest to god joe, i don't have anyone in mind. i would have to see who is running. i want to be a part of the conversation. i know when i'm out talking to families, whether in their coffee shops, doorstep, in their homes, they're worried where we're headed as a county. they're worried about folks like my opponent who wants to raise the retirement age, serious issues that families are facing. people don't ask me about the inside game in washington because it's not what keeps people up at night. it's kitchen table issues. >> danny, willie giest in new york. he said he pushed balderson over the top here. if this result does, in fact,
hold. republicans as you know sent in the big guns. president trump showed up there, the vice president among many others. are you disappointed that more national democrats didn't come in and support you that maybe would have given you that advantage to win here? >> no, not at all. you know, we've had grass roots support from the beginning. what's more important to me is having folks in licking county and delaware county and marion county, everywhere in between who are fighting for me and who have my back because they know i'll fight for them in washington. i think that all these people coming in, they fly in for a couple hours, give a speech at some fancy dinner, then they leave our community. they're not walking on our streets. they're not dealing with the public health crisis that we have with addiction. their kids don't go to our schools. i think having a true grass roots campaign is what's important. that's what we're focussed on is making sure that we have conversations. that's what we're going to do for the next 90 days. we're going to be sprinting. >> do you think, danny, the president pushed balderson over the top here?
>> no, i don't think he knows what he's talking about in that regard because when i am out talking to folks, i ask them what they're worried about. they say we're worried about health care. we're worried about social security. we're worried about having economic opportunity. folks aren't worried about people showing up for a couple hours and leaving. i think that we're in a race that's too close to call. the gap is 1,700 votes with 8,000 to be counted. and we're sprinting today. we'll be out talking to voters throughout the day. we'll be doing that tomorrow. and we'll be continuing through november. and we might take a break on some saturdays to watch some football, but we'll be talking to people. >> all right, danny o'connor, candidate for congress in ohio's 12th district. a race that is too close to call this morning. thanks for being on. susan page, looking at these numbers, this could go either way. what do you think will put one or the other candidate over the edge in this district?
>> well, of course what's remarkable it's so close in a district that donald trump won by 11 points. one thing i noticed was that there was a green party candidate in this race that got more than 1,000 votes, not quite the margin between the two major party candidates but close. and i wonder if that could end up making a difference and whether that is a little bit of a red flag for democrats that there's -- that all this energy among the most liberal voters in their party and that you need to keep them in the fold if you're going to win competitive districts like this one. >> and michael steele, your thoughts before you go? >> it's interesting listening to danny. the question becomes, so you wont have the big guns coming in on the republican side this fall because they can't be there in all the other races. and the democrats are interested but not that interested because they're going to be trying to get other seats. how he puts together his ground game to go to joe's point about capturing those suburban voters, those center right republicans
and democrats who may still be on the fence about his campaign will be very interesting to watch. >> all right. michael steele and susan page, thank you both for being on "morning joe" this morning. coming up, conservative columnist john pa doer its has a theory when it comes to the president's media bashing. we'll ask him about that ahead on "morning joe."
how do you win at business? stay at laquinta. where we're changing with contemporary make-overs. then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. who has the upper hand now? start winning today. book now at lq.com. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices,
provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. steve ratner, the critical reason for donald trump to get re-elected in 2020 is the same region that we are talking about all this morning an yesterday. that is of course the midwest, the upper midwest. where trump's populism, the usa "today" today is crumbling. a lot of that has to do with tax cuts. only 37% of americans in a recent poll said they supported the tax cuts. should republican candidates run on those tax cuts going in to the fall? >> well, i think the facts are
around the tax cuts are not good for republicans. 84% of the benefits from the tax cuts went to either business or individuals making over $75,000 a year. the average middle class american got something like a $900 tax cut. half of which has already been eaten away by higher gasoline prices. real wages after adjusted for inflation are flat in the last several months and they've gone up less under trump than they did under obama. so i do think that the tax cut economic message is a really tough message for a republican to run on. >> noah, it is one thing to be running on tax cuts in a primary. if i were a republican this year, i would be running on the tax cuts in the primary. quite different in the general election. let's say in more blue-collar districts, even places like ohio 12. should republicans run on those tax cuts in the general election? >> i think they should for two reasons. one, it's pretty much the only thing that this congress has accomplished. it is their major piece of legislation. if you're going to run on an
accomplishment, you got one. you might as well run on it. second, you don't get to a place where you are 37% without losing a lot of partisan republicans. we're all partisanship would kick in if republicans would make the case for tax cuts. they are afraid and are running away from it. i think that's a mistake. you could make the kay the amount of economic activity we saw in the last quarter is partially due to the fact that we've injected all this money into the economy -- >> why are republicans afraid of the tax cuts, noah? >> because they're at 37% approval rating. it is self-generating this approval rating when you aren't making the case, the predicate for these tax cuts. >> it may be somewhat self-generating but it is also the facts. the facts are 84% of the benefits go to wealthy americans and the american public has figured that out. in addition to that, they have busted the budget, which is an issue near and dear to joe's heart, my heart and probably a lot of other people. in addition to that, this 4.1% gdp number which noah correctly points out does result a bit
from the tax cuts is a one-quarter phenomenon. any projection by anybody shows growth going back down toward 2% over the next four quarters. >> so noah, way back in the ice age in 1993, i saw john kasich and tim penny talking about deficit reduction on the floor of the house. it was during my spring break and i was watching that on c-span which tells you what a loser i had been for a very long time. but kasich inspired me to run for congress and inspired me to run for congress because i believed in balanced budgets. i believe that we needed to be fiscally responsible, that we needed to save this country, the american dream, for the next generation. is that just a thing of the past? nobody talks about that. does nobody in this my former party -- does no conservative care about these issues anymore? because we're melting down at a
$21 trillion national debt. >> "the new york times" made a good point -- republicans don't talk about the debt anymore so why would democrats even pretend to care. in 2020 we had the simpson-bowles commission because republicans were making a big deal about the debt. you can move the ball ahead if you talk about the deficit but nobody's talking about it. we just heard from o e owe congressional candidate danny o'connor who hopes to help his party take back the house this fall. we'll break down the balance of power on capitol hill and just how much momentum the democrats really have 89 days out. plus, twitter says it is up to journalists to counter the conspiracy theories being pushed by the likes of alex jones on social media. reporters say they have, with facts, and it only encourages the info wars crowd even further. will twitter ever have to take responsibility, any responsibility, for part of this?
"morning joe" is coming right back. [telephone ring] ahoy-hoy. alexander graham bell here... no, no, my number is one, you must want two! two, i say!! like my father before... [telephone ring] like my father before... ahoy-hoy! as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. these are the specialists we're proud to call our own. experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. expert medicine works here. learn more at cancercenter.com
second time. >> can you believe how close this is? we are in a tight ball game! we went door to door. we went house to house. we made our case for change. we're going to make that case tomorrow. we're not stopping now. tomorrow we rest, and then we keep fighting through to november. let's go out there, let's get it done! let's change this country! >> the closely watched special election in ohio is this morning too close to call, according to nbc news. you heard at the top, republican troy balderson and democrat danny o'connor speaking last night with balderson currently leading o'connor by less than 1% of all votes cast. that's 1,754 votes ahead in a district that has been in gop hands for three decades. the official outcome may not be known until over 3,400 provisional ballots are tallied
in the coming weeks. and the race could be headed to a recount if the candidates end up within half a percent of each other after the final results are a certified. this morning troy balderson is claiming victory but danny o'connor has not conceded, and regardless of the outcome, we're going to see a rematch between these two come november when they compete for full term in congress. welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, august 8th. with joe, willie and me, we have associate editor of commentary magazine, noah rothman. former treasury official and "morning joe" economic analyst, steve ratner. and national political correspondent for nbc news and msnbc -- is he still awake? is he still awake? steve kornacki. joe, the guy's been up all night. >> he's been up all night. >> look at him. >> these two poor candidates have been up not only all night but been up probably the last three weeks. think about -- think of what they're doing.
they are fighting tooth and nail. they're giving everything that they have all for the glory of winning a special election that will seat them in congress for about a month and a half. and then they have to do it again. of course, run for full term in november. but mika, this is -- this race -- we don't know who is going to end up winning it. regardless of who ends up winning it, republicans certainly know, as well as democrats, that -- i mean this is another race where republicans have underperformed. they underperformed in a district that is deep, deep red. i mean i'll talk to steve in a second. i think maybe democrats have won it once since the 1930s. but you see the same thing happening. they're bleeding. republicans are bleeding so badly right now in suburbs. then you go north of franklin county to the exurbs.
basically splitting it, holding their own. but again, losing a ton of votes. this is party, the republican party, that's becoming more and more every day a rural party. also, the thing i've always loved -- i've talked about it for years on this show. i love what madison and hamilton and our founders did when they put down the government that constantly has this system of checks and balances, elections every two years, that always have the electorate sort of tugging and pulling. you see a lot of voters out there thinking a lot of republicans -- a lot of moderates, a lot of independents thinking that donald trump has gone too far. so they're pulling back the other way. yesterday something remarkable happened in missouri. a very conservative state. a very pro-trump state. a very pro-republican state. you actually had people coming out in a referendum and dealing
a blow to the "right to work" forces who were really buoyed by a supreme court decision that actually was seen as a death nail for unions. well, yesterday -- i got to say -- that union win in missouri, one of the biggest wins they've had in a very long time. and again, you just have to believe, once again, that's the electorate sort of tugging and pulling back. oh, okay, the supreme court's going to take us 2-4 to the right? we're going to pull this country back to the center. pretty remarkable what we see in -- every time americans go to the voting booth. >> it's been amazing to watch overnight and the people are having a chance to speem. but willie geist, the president certainly is taking this one in ohio personally. >> old, he's declared victory. he sent out a tweet last night. of course we don't have an official call here at nbc news but he's declared victory. he said when i decided to go to ohio for troy balderson, he was down in early voting 64%-36%. that was not good. after my speech on saturday night there was a big turn for
the better. now troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. he will win big in november. so steve kornacki, let's talk about what happened last night. as mika referenced, this has been a republican seat since 1982 consecutively since john kasich won it. president trump less than two years ago won it by 11 points. first of all, the numbers here. is there a chance, with balderson up by 1,700 votes right now, with provisional ballots, with mail-in ballots, that that result changes, that o'connor somehow comes out on top. >> the suspense here is extra weird on this one because you expect those provisional ballots there to break toward the democrat. you don't expect them to actually erase 1,754-vote republican lead. however, if the margin there were to cut that 1,754 in half -- which is not implausible -- then the overall victory margin for balderson would be under .5 points. by state law, if you're under .5 -- that's more generous than you'll see in some other
places. but if you're under .5, there is automatically a recount. so we are in a situation right now where i think it is plausible that o'connor with the provisional votes can get it close enough that the state law is triggered causing a recount. even then, fur peaif you're a d, i wouldn't get your hopes up because these recounts don't tend to change huge numbers of votes. o'connor probably would need to change 700, 800 votes. but you'd much, much rather be in balderson's position than o'connor. but it is not implausible we'll have a recount that could take this thing out in late august, early september. >> another election between these same two guys then two months later, as joe said. however that comes out, if there is a recount, what did we learn about the state of the republican party last night? >> i mean there were -- there were three parts to this district but focus first on the question of the suburbs right in and immediately around columbus, northern franklin county. it was more than one-third of
the district. put this in some perspective. the franklin county part of this district has gone in the span of six years -- you can attribute this entirely to donald trump -- from obama winning it by three points in 2012, to clinton winning it by 18 in 2016, to the democrat danny o'connor winning it by 31 points last night, from 3 to 31 in the span of basically half a decade. that's the trump effect in places like franklin county, ohio. and last night the margin was there for democrats, the turnout seemed to be -- if you had told democrats the start of the night this is what franklin's going to look like, they'd say that's it, they won, let's start the celebration. those were more than the numbers they thought they needed. what didn't happen for them last night, turnout was not great in the rural parts of the district but balderson attracted trump-level support among the people who did vote in the rural part of the district. there was some talk that that might recede back towards the democrats a little. didn't happen. balderson was up around 70% in some of these rural counties so that didn't happen. bottom line, it all came down to
delaware county which is wealthy, which is suburban. it is a little different i think in character than franklin county when we say suburbs. franklin county is a little bit more -- it is closer to -- it is little bit more in some cases blended with the city. when you take a step at next level of suburb out, that kind of delaware. what happened there was by historical standards trump didn't do -- balderson didn't do well for a republican but he matched the trump number, he didn't fall back further from the trump number. it was just -- looks like just enough there to hang on. in what was a trump by 11% two years ago. >> i want to ask quickly about delaware county, steve. certainly n lly not dissing don trump. i think we would all say it here, donald trump in most republican primaries is going to be the deciding factor. what's interesting last night and a bit ironic, a guy that he can't stand, john kasich. if you look at delaware county and look at kasich's home county and see that actual lly -- and
frankly county trump's candidates getting wiped out. but in delaware county a last-minute endorsement by john kasich had to have a significant impact for the republican candidate and help him hang on there. right? >> yeah. it is so funny. you think about some of the events in the final days of this campaign that got so much attention. you can overinterpret everything but i can see them having very different effects on very different groups of voters. kasich coming out and endorsing a republican in the district giving that more moderate republican stamp of approval, absolutely. you look at delaware county, kasich coming out, for that matter, and saying publicly, hey, i don't know if balderson even wanted trump -- i don't know how this guy ended up out here. you can see that tailor made for delaware county. the fact that donald trump was out there, the fact that the day before the election you had balderson is dissing franklin. my god, you look at the turnout in franklin, maybe it backfired right there. >> i tell you what, he didn't --
last night, balderson came out and thanked a lot of people. he didn't thank john kasich, which was not a class move, and maybe he's trying to please donald trump by not thanking john kasich? that's somebody that would help him out in november. so we'll see. politics is always very fascinating. but no withah, you tweeted for conservatives, republicans, last night a very bad night, not much to be cheerful about. a very bad night for republicans underperforming. for the conservative movement, the worst bit of news actually came out of missouri. >> you mentioned it. it was the "right to work" vote. missouri is pretty red state at this point. senator claire mccaskill notwithstanding. half the union at this point is "right to work" which essentially means you don't have to join a union if you join a june onshop. you don't have to be forced into a union.
if you don't join a union you don't have to be forced to pay union dues. it was the supreme court decision you mentioned and we are beginning to see a big rollback here. on the state level democrats are expected to do very well, particularly in governorships. we spent a lot of time focusing on congress but governorships are far more important when it comes to advancing conservative reforms like this. they've done extraordinarily well in advancing them over the course of the obama years. if we see this roll back right now it is extraordinarily disheartening from a conservative perspective. if you look at more than the national environment -- we got a taste of it in ohio. but we saw some, too, in washington where they have a top two primary system. functionally democrat versus republican race. candidates like incumbent representative kathy mcmorris-rogers got just barely ahead of her democratic opponent .4 point at this point and she's the fourth-ranking republican in congress. there's very little you can look at the results last night and say republicans had a very good night.
they squeaked out something of a victory in ohio. you could call it a victory. coming up on "morning joe," women are now major party nominees for governor in 11 states. and some more glass ceilings are about to break. that's straight ahead. but first, bill karins with a check on the forecast. >> morning to you, mika. definitely the dog days of summer. not a lot has changed in the west and east coast, we're still stuck in oppressive humidity on the gulf coast, eastern seaboard. heat indices 90 to 100 from boston down through the southeast. few people are under heat advisories. 39 million people. about the same people yesterday from philadelphia, new york, hartford, boston. richmond and norfolk, wilmington, myrtle beach and almost down to georgetown. west coast still under excessive heat warnings in las vegas but they've been dropped in los angeles and phoenix just a couple of degrees cooler today. now we are seeing the peak of the summer heat in the pacific northwest. portland under an excessive heat warning, along with spokane and
a good section of northern half of montana. these will be the hottest two days of the summer for this region. he are right under the heat dome here and that's not good news for all the firefighters out there trying to fight these blazes. portland today, 97. redding, 103. these are temperatures in the shade, remember, this afternoon. vegas, 108. it will be a little bit cooler by the time we get to the weekend but still very hot on thursday. medford and seattle at 102. no such cooling for california. you'll probably have to wait another couple weeks or months until you get a little cooldown as we head toward the fall season. new york city got hit, nailed by some thunderstorms that had some significant airport delays yesterday evening. we can easily do that again today. much of the eastern seaboard, carry that umbrella. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one.
that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia. your insurance rates a scratch so smallr you could fix it with a pen. how about using that pen to sign up for new insurance instead? for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ it's a high-tech revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the
patience of a saint. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. smarter sleep will change your life.
tremfya® is fors caadults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i'm ready. with tremfya®, you can get clearer. and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. ask your doctor about tremfya®. tremfya®. because you deserve to stay clearer. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options.
tuesday was a historic night for female candidates and the numbers are only going to go higher. in kansas, state senator laura kelly won the democratic nomination for governor. and in michigan, the former democratic leader of the state senate, gretchen whitmer, handlely won her party's gubernatorial nomination, which means women are now the major party nominees for governor in 11 states, breaking the record of ten set in 1994. and that number is almost certain to grow with the remaining primaries. with at least 20 more women nominated for the u.s. house last night, that total is now at 182. a record number of major party nominations with still more to come and one more milestone last night as michigan's tlaib will likely become the first muslim woman to serve in congress. a former state rep, she's unopposed in the general election for the seat.
long held by ex-congressman john conyers. i think in a lot of ways, this is a response to trump. joe, women are stepping up. >> yeah. willie, so much. again, it is not a surprise. just like 1996 was a response to bill clinton. 2010 was a response to barack obama. no doubt about it. 2018 seems to be such a response to donald trump with the republicans underperforming everywhere. and women -- democratic women particularly, doing well in these early contests. >> no question what a preview perhaps of what we'll see in three months. steve ratner, we'll get to your charts in a few minutes and look at the historical perspective on this. but just what can donald trump expect three months from now when you put together that history of what a sitting president faces in his first term and all the energy we are seeing among democrats right
now? >> without stealing my own thunder from my charts, i think the summary -- and i think steve kornacki knows all of this -- a swing of this magnitude combined with the president's approval rating, combined with the fact that it is a mid-term election is all incredibly bad news for donald trump. but can i just say one thing about the women? on a personal note, shout out to my own colleague, haley stevens, who was chief of staff on the auto rescue task force. went home to michigan to fight out michigan 11 against what appeared to be a incumbent republican. he stepped down. she just won the primary. she'll face another woman in a republican-leaning district but where i think most people give her a pretty good shot of winning. >> that's awesome. >> noah, while it looks like democrats -- lot of women in the democratic party are going to do exceptionally well, you look at the republican side, and just like you said, you've got people like barbara comstock in northern virginia who is in danger and actually, as of last
week, was not getting a lot of support from the major party. you just talked about the fourth-ranking republican, another woman. underperforming in ways we've never seen before. i wonder if that has to do with her being a woman in the republican party or if it is just that mainstream conservatives in the age of trump are going to underperform every time, that this is a party right now that is, at least in the primaries, at war with itself? >> i'm not sure if there is a gender related aspect there. to the extent i could say there might be one, it is that women in general in the electorate, to say nothing of the republican party, aren't all that hot on donald trump. the president has been -- >> that is -- that is the understatement of the morning! >> as you look at the map last night, and you look at these
races as we continue, this is sort of the homestretch before we go into the final push after labor day. that seems to be the overarching headline of all of these results, that women have not just been offended by donald trump, but they have been activated to such a level that that's probably -- women are probably the greatest threat to the republican majority right now. >> yeah, i would say that's probably accurate. also we saw some of the backlash that a lot of us predicted would occur with the shifting republican coalition towards white working class voters, former democratic voters. big broad base of voters without a degree that can get you states like michigan and wisconsin and pennsylvania. but at the expense of the former republican -- really core republican base status quo ante which was marginally affluent, upper middle class, degree holders. ohio 12 is a really well educated district. that's where you are going to see the backlash.
you'll see it from women, you'll see it from degree holders, people making more than the national average in the income scale. that's where the traditional republican base was. where that base exists, and it's deflated, and it is not turning out, republicans like barbara comstock, like kathy mcmorris-rogers are going to sufficient. coming up on "morning joe," we'll talk about the future of the house and senate next on "morning joe." ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail
they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death.
oh! no increased risk? ♪ ozempic®! ♪ ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. tell your doctor if you have diabetic retinopathy or vision changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. i discovered the potential with ozempic®. ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ (vo) ask your healthcare provider
if ozempic® is right for you.
statistically most accurate. you find about a 70% correlation between a president's approval rating and the number of house seats won or lost in a mid-term. if he were at 50%, that would lead you to expect something like a 30-seat loss in the mid-terms. however, we have a president who we know is at 41%. if you were to start at 41% and draw a line across, you would find it comes out around here in about the 60-vote loss category. note that two red dots above here represent our two most recent i guess what you would call wave elections. 1994 and 2010. both with presidents who had not even as low popularity as donald trump but somewhat low popularity and you can see that there were massive losses for both of those folks in the mid-term. >> reminder, democrats only need 23 seats to flip the house. >> exactly. exactly. if you look at another indicator of where the republicans sit, which is incumbents deciding not to run, as you know, there's something like an 85% re-elect rate for incumbents so having an
open seat certainly is an advantage for whichever party is contesting that seat. you can see again going back to 1976, the number of retirements, both democratic and republican, over that period of time, you can see, for example, in the 1994 period, there were a huge number of democratic retirements and that presumably anticipated the wave election of that year. but you can also see this year, you're up to i think 41 at the moment republican retirements. and that a historically high number for the republicans, historically high number for both parties and a much lower number of democratic retirements. so that all augers well for democrats trying to contest open seats in a house that tends to go with the incumbent. and then lastly, there have been 1,000 prognosticators who have tried to run simulations of what they think is going to happen this fall. here's one by "the economist" which ran 10,000 simulations of various outcomes using both national variables and local variables. what they found was that by their math, there's about a 71%
chance of the house flipping to democratic by at least one vote. they found that if you -- there is a 50%-50% proposition of about a 14-seat majority for democrats in the house, which would be a swing of about 37 votes. and so by their math, there's almost -- there's a 70% probability of the house flipping. there's close to 100% chance of democrats getting more votes. a lot of this, of course, comes down to the built-in edge for republicans, the way the gerrymandering has worked, the way the districts are set up. "the economist" thinks there's about a 3.5% edge for republicans. other numbers are as high as 7%. i've even seen 10%. all of this does not auger well for the republicans. coming up on "morning joe" -- paul ryan talked about the debt crisis all the time when barack obama was president. >> it was very important. >> it was important to him. >> it's what conservatives care about. >> that's part he who he was. >> i ran for congress. that's why we all went to
washington, to take care of big spending. we're small government conservatives. >> weird, we're not hearing much about it now that republicans are running billion dollar deficit. where did that go? we'll talk about that straight ahead.
>> kids vo: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace ♪ you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed? let's say it in a really low voice. carl? lowest price, guaranteed. just stick with badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com
quote, accounts like jones' can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors, so it is critical journalists document, validate and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions. this is what serves the public conversation best. several journalists then posted screen grabs of them doing just that offering hard factual reporting to contradict jones' false claims, only to face more skepticism and attacks from jones' supporters. this, joe, is -- it is a long-running controversy about what a platform is. is it a publisher or not. and can they completely separate themselves from any responsibility. >> well, no, they can't. they're the ones that are publishing the lies and jack dorsey's defense is pretty
remarkable. when you have info wars founder spreading lies that actually endanger of lives of sandy hook parents, he's sitting there going, well, it's not really up to us to determine whether these are actors who are pretending that they're 6 and 7-year-old children's bodies were riddled with bullets on the friday before christmas vacation. that's really up to journalists to figure that out. right? i don't understand. as david french said, if it's slander, if it's a lie, then isn't that the best measure of whether you publish it or not? >> okay. so this goes directly to the heart of corporate strategy of social media companies. right? so there is a provision in the law, and has been governing this for two decades, that basically treats information that travels over the internet as though it
is a letter inside an envelope. and twitter and facebook and your e-mail companies and all of that are held harmless by the law because they're like the postal service. they're not responsible for what's inside the envelope. right? that's the legal theory. it's not a legal theory. it is how the law works now. that is unsustainable because it is not the case that twitter and facebook are simply delivering mail from one person to another. these are public, free-access sites, and i think there is going to be an enormous amount of pressure over the next couple of years to compel these companies to -- i mean a change in the law that says that they are not harmless for the information that's purveyed on their site. i think there -- >> well, you know, john, they actually profit from spreading
lies, from spreading slander. and if any public figure tries to speak out against it, then that generates more hate, which of course generates more traffic, which benefits twitter even more. jeff greenfield wrote this. if someone tweets that jack dorsey presitsdz over satanic chi child rape slauters at twitter hq, you don't know how to be be an arbiter of that truth? calling sandy hook a fake is not a viewpoint, for god's sake. you have the same person, karen, talking about how robert mueller is at the middle of a child kidnapping ring. again, there's absolutely no defense for any of this speech.
it's slander, and it -- i don't understand why twitter a eter dragging their feet here. >> i think corporations are struggling to sort of figure out what's the line between speech that is offensive and speech that is actually harmful. and it is a difficult thing. free speech -- now corporations are not bound the way the government is to respect freedom of speech. >> well, karen, just to step in here though, how difficult is it to figure out whether it's slanderous and whether it is acceptable or not, to spread rumors that led to pizza gate, that led to the shooting at pizza gate. or that sandy hook parents are actors who are actually having to move from one place to another to another because the hatred spread on twitter and other sites are actually leading them to fear for their lives? >> my own opinion is that alex
jones has definitely crossed that line and the issue for twitter is going to be potentially this may be something that ends up getting settled in court and costing them a lot of money. but it's a business decision and the fact that so many other social media platforms see it so clearly, i don't know what is going on in twitter's business model where they think that this is like a good idea. >> can i just -- >> yeah. jump in. >> if -- if -- it's a bad idea. if twitter is supposed to mediate the comments, twitter's an unsustainable business. god knows, 5 million, 10 million tweets a day? every one of them under an editorial policy would have to have an eye cast on it by a twitter employee to approve it before it goes up. that is not any way that that company can manage. >> so noah, part of the
counterargument to this is that if you take hate speech -- talking about libel, slander and even harassment. if you take this as hate speech, social media companies should not be in the position of determining what is hateful in speech and thereby putting people out of the public square whose world view they disagree with. alex jones may be a unique case, but the precedent of their deciding that could be problematic. >> yeah. then you have to define what is hate speech. in the uk they don't have a first amendment. you can be prosecuted for things that you post on social media that run afoul of certain guidelines. the extent to which you could punish people. i do not understand the impulse among journalists to say -- why doesn't twitter police this speech? we don't want to have to do this. this is ridiculous. i don't want to have to address this. why not? my impulse is always to say that the cure for the ills of free expression, is always more free expression. to extent to which we are shutting this down creating a
taboo around it isn't healthy, it is not going to make it go away. jones isn't a new phenomenon. there was a 9/11 conspiracy. everybody likes doing this. i don't understand why there is a reticence to engage this guy. he's a target. >> there is a line. john, to your column in the "new york post" that there may be something behind president's "blame the media" blitz. >> my view is when last week as the heat -- trump turned up the heat on the media, "horrible people," "enemy of the people," all of that, that it seemed weird because he had so much good news to bandy about. right? 4.1% growth. reporting 9% unemployment. this is what you want to talk about on the campaign trail -- or a normal politician would normally want to talk about. is trump putting successes and saying vote for my people so we can keep this going. that was not where all the energy was.
i'm wondering whether somewhere in the back of his mind -- or even as a possible deliberate white house strategy -- the idea now is that he is establishing the predicate for the reason that republicans lose the house in november, which is to say the fake news did it, the fake news made me lose. >> yep. >> and that if you think about it, when in 2016 when he kept refusing to say that he would abide by the results of the election because the election was rigged, this is a new way of saying the election -- he can't say the election was rigged because republicans run most of the electoral processes in the united states. states and he's the president and they have the house and the senate. so he has to have another reason why he lost, that he can blame, and it is the media. >> this is vintage trump. karen, we'll get to your piece in just a moment. but from our knowledge of his personality and the way he thinks, i don't think this is white house strategy. this is just what trump does.
this is his sweet spot. >> he also was just a master of distraction and the media is one of his favorite ways of doing that. in part, i fault the media here because we essentially swing at every pitch he throws over the plate here. it is also a way of turning the conversation from places that he doesn't want it to be. >> that's actually a great baseball metaphor. it is like watching your favorite team and watching a batted batter swing at one low and outside pitch after another. that is what the media's been doing for the first 18 months of the administration. every tweet is breaking news. every insult is a screaming headline. that's exactly what he wants. what he doesn't want, karen, he doesn't want americans reading stories about what you say a trump republican should be worried about, which is, again,
the reason i got in to congress in 1994 was about the rising deficit, the rising debt. it was at $4 trillion then. it's at $21 trillion now. and trump is spending -- biggest spending bill ever passed by this republican congress because of donald trump. >> and it's really -- trump also, by the way, ran on the promise that he would not only reduce, but that he would pay off the national debt. he's going exactly the opposite direction. it's really surprising how few conservatives are even willing to talk about the fact that the receipts to the government have gone down drastically thanks to tax cuts, that spend something growing, that trump has taken entitlements completely off the table. and now republicans are talking about a second round of tax cuts. all of this is ballooning the
deficit to levels that we have never seen in a time of prosperity. deficits usually go down when the economy is doing well. >> john, we have to talk about mission impossible in just a second. but first, since we've exhausted our analyst this morning over almost three hours of ohio 12, what's yours? what happened last night? >> what happened last night is the republicans lost the house. i mean, there are 23 seats. democrats needed 23 seats. there are 24 seats that have republican congressman that hillary clinton won the cd in 2016. if any of them has an even remotely credible candidate, the democrats wins. under these -- the thing that we saw last night is democrats up 10%, republicans down 10%. so no one survives that. >> and with republicans and the president with their foot on the gas in that district trying to push him over the top. okay. "mission impossible." your review, you write one of the most astounding action
adventure pictures ever. the most entertaining picture of the year. based almost solely on your review i took my kids to see it. i agree, it was incredible. >> trust content from john podhoretz. i wasn't expecting to feel this way about the movie. i find i've been very "meh" on both of the six "mission impossibles." fourth was kind of fun, fifth was okay. this just knocked me out of the back of the theater. forget the plot. we were discussing this. you can't understand the plot! >> i just don't get it. >> don't try to follow the plot. >> tom cruise still has it, and then some. so good. don't you agree, mika? >> i don't get it. no, i just -- no. >> i'm going today. >> i'm not into all this stuff. karen tumulty, thank you very much. thank you, both. coming up, president trump has recently praised saudi arabia's leadership and hammered
canada's. now those two countries are locked in a growing diplomatic dispute. will the u.s. take sides? the president might but will the u.s.? there are two separate things there. that's all next on "morning joe." how'd that go? he kept spelling my name with an 'i' but it's bryan with a 'y.' yeah, since birth. that drives me crazy. yes. it's on all your email. yes. they should know this? yeah. the guy was my brother-in-law. that's ridiculous. well, i happen to know some people. do they listen? what? they're amazing listeners. nice. guidance from professionals who take their time to get to know you. hi! how was your day? it was good. it was long. let's fix it. play "connection" by onerepublic. (beep) ♪these days, my waves get lost in the ocean♪ ♪seven billion swimmers man ♪i'm going through the motions ♪sent up a flare need love and devotion♪ ♪trade it for some faces that i'll never know notion♪ ♪can i get a connection? ♪can i get can i get a connection?♪
♪can i get a connection? ♪can i get can i get a connection?♪
are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec®. it's starts working hard at hour one. and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®. since joining ninehahi, ubmonths ago,o. my priority has been to listen to you... to cities and communities, and to my own employees. i've seen a lot of good. we've changed the way people get around. we've provided new opportunities. but moving forward, it's time to move in a new direction. and i want you to know just how excited i am, to write uber's next chapter, with you. one of our core values as a company, is to always do the right thing. and if there are times when we fall short, we commit to being open, taking responsibility for the problem, and fixing it. this begins with new leadership,
and a new culture. and you're going to see improvements to our service. like enhanced background checks, 24/7 customer support, better pickups, and ride quality, for both riders, and drivers. you've got my word, that we're charting an even better road for uber, and for those that rely on us every day. ♪ i do. check out the new united explorer card. saving on this! saving on this! saving in here. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com saudi arabia and canada are currently locked in a diplomatic row over human rights with both countries refusing to back down despite a threat to future trade deals and a flurry of other sanctions.
it began last week over canada's foreign minister tweeted concerns over a recent arrest of a woman's rights activist in saudi arabia who had relatives living in canada. the saudis responded with fury calling it a string of diplomatic sanctions against canada while expelling the canadian ambassador. on monday, the saudi government froze all new trade with ottawa. and ordered around 16,000 students studying in canada to leave. for its part, canada doubled down on its stance but their foreign minister stating canada will always stand up for human rights in canada and around the world and women's rights are human rights. the arab league, bahrain and the palestinian authority have all stood by saudi arabia, while the u.s., traditionally, one of canada's closest allies has remained on the sideline. reuters reports that canada now plans to seek help from the
united arab emirates and britain to defuse the dispute. meanwhile secretary of state mike pompeo recently lifted restrictions in $195 million in military aid to egypt, frozen last year in part to protest that country's desire human rights record. pompeo is scheduled to meet later today with egyptian foreign minister shukri. we recently statistic down with the frorm and asked him the status of human rights in the country and the u.s./egyptian relationship. >> mr. foreign minister, 40 years ago, mika's father, dr. brzezinski, as you well know, was part of the camp david accords where egypt and israel came together and brokered a very difficult piece. but one that's ensured 40 years of peace in that region, at least. the lack of major ground wars. where are we now in the peace process, and what is the
possibility of reconciliation between the palestinians and the israelis in 9 months and years to come? >> we are at a difficult stage in terms of pursuing the peace process. current developments in the situation in the region has complicated the process, but we're still confident that the united states and its efforts to communicate and to encourage both sides to reach a negotiated settlement, with the assistance of countries in the region, primarily egypt, and we're confident that the united states has the resources, has the ability, these negotiations have been under way for 25 years. and many of the issues have been discussed between the two sides and the parameters are well defined by the international community through the security council and other direct negotiations between the two parties. >> mr. foreign minister, this is willie geist.
as you know, the sanctions that were part of the iran deal, the iran deal that was ripped up a couple months ago, the sanctions back in place. with the elimination of the iran deal with president trump is the world now safer? >> well, the marines have been fraught with difficulties and dangers over the last seven, eight years. and we have to, i think, resolve all of these issue, including the potential threat of nuclear proliferation from iran. and there is room for the efforts being undertaken by the europeans. and we would hope that more favorable agreement can be reached in the foreseeable future. >> and mr. foreign minister, yas yasmin vossoughian has a question for you, mr. foreign minister. >> good morning, sir. i want to the go off of what willie was just asking about, do you think that president trump said he would meet with president rouhani with no preconditions involved should be meeting with him? >> well, the president in making that declaration, i'm sure, has the best interests of the region
at heart. and is continuing to work towards the stability, security and maintaining the peace in the region. whether that meet will go materialize or not remains to be seen. the initial reactions of the iranians was not forthcoming. we believe that discussions, negotiations, communication can always lead to a greater understanding. and agreements related how best to deal with the challenges and the threats of the region. >> i just want to talk to you about your human rights record in your country, mr. foreign minister. the u.s. real lease $195 million in military aid making that decision to the end of july. we know that money has been withheld because of your human rights record. human rights watch says your ghost continues to preside over the worst human rights crisis in decades, what is your response to that, where are you with regards to the human rights? >> unfortunately, that seems like a gross exaggeration, i
believe if you monitor the conditions in egypt, the freedom of the press, the freedom of the political association and the general conditions and egyptians in general, being satisfied and confident with the current leadership and the current policies. we have every determination to continue on the road to reform. and not to say that everything is perfect. but we are dedicated to creating political, economic and social reform. this is a process of evolution for any society, and we will continue to address it in most transparent and impactful manner. >> what is the greatest challenge, right now, to the u.s./egyptian relationship? >> i believe that, to work together, to regain the stability, to regain the status of the nation's states of the region so they can undertake the responsibilities in protecting their citizens against terrorism and to provide the necessary
been reliably red for three decades. but balderson's team says he was able to hold his own and do well enough to eke out a win. and he's paid special thanks to president trump. >> i'd like to thank president trump. america is on the right path, and we're going to keep it going that way. >> reporter: again, this was a race that too close to comfort for many republicans, and it's a race that's soon to be repeated. both candidates will face each other again come november. >> jason carol reporting there. well, democrat danny o'connor was up beat when he spoke to his supporters late tuesday, and he took a swipe at president trump. >> we made our case for change. we're going to make that case tomorrow. we're not stopping now. tomorrow we rest, and then we keep fighting through to
A recap of the day's news.
gets checked. 8,500 votes roughly still to be counted and sorted out. the secretary of state says 5,048 outstanding absentee ballots, 3,500 provisional ballots. the question is does it change this? in most elections it does not. these tend to stand. but this one is pretty close. 1,766 votes. the republicans will be breathing a sigh of relief tonight but the lawyers, the election lawyers will be involved tomorrow. >> bill, always great to have you on the show. of course we're covering key races in five states but the major contest is the ohio special election in the congressional 12th district where republican troy balderson fought a very tight race in a seat that should have been safe for republicans.
remaining 8,400 and some ballots. the absentee and provisional ballots would have to be pretty overwhelmingly for o'connor for him to make up that margin. so i wouldn't say it's impossible, but it's going to be difficult for o'connor to win. but in any case they're going to fight again because they're both on the ballot in november. the difference is this. in november if balderson is the incumbent, he'll have the advantage. incumbents do very well in special elections. >> reminder supporters this will be fought again in november, and this is what president trump tweeted. after my speech on saturday night there was a big turn for the better. now troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. he will win big in november. so, bill, was this a great victory as the president suggests, and can mr. trump take all the credit for balderson's numbers improving? >> not all the credit.
maybe a little. but that's all balderson really needed. when he endorsed balderson, and we've seen this happen in several races across the country, there is a trump effect. he has a very loyal base. it's a majority of the republican party. when he endorses a candidate, wave seen it again and again and we saw it today in several states, it drives out the republican base, the conservative base that are loyal to trump they come out and they basically act upon his direction. in this case they voted as he suggested for mr. balderson. >> and would you say the ohio special election was a referendum on the trump presidency as some have suggested? >> not entirely, no. because the democrat didn't make trump an issue. he knew that it's a republican district and that trump is very popular in that district and voted for him by 11 points. so the democrat did not run on the issue of donald trump.
he ran on the issue of medicare, on the issue of health care. he talked about inequality. he talked about a lot of things but not donald trump because he knew trump had a lot of appeal among voters in that district. >> bill, i want to look at some numbers. let's look at what outside groups spent. more than $5 million was spent on the republican candidate while around $1 million on the democratic candidate. what does that tell you? >> what happened in that district was that spending among republicans certainly was primarily by outside groups. the democrat and the republican, it democrat actually raised more money for his own campaign than the republican did. the democrat had a lot of volunteers, had a lot of people who were sending in small amounts of money, but there were huge interest groups, independent spending committees not controlled by the campaign that spent money on behalf of the republican candidate. we're going to see this again
and again all over the country. it's really nationalizing american politics. every race, everywhere is going to be a national contest about donald trump. >> bill snyder, always great to get your analysis. there is another nail-biter right now in the republican primary in kansas, another trump backed candidate chris kobach is neck and neck with jeff colyer. you may remember donald trump picked kobach to investigate nationwide claims of voter fraud, but that commission found noeds of that. either kobach or colyer will face laura kelly in november. and in missouri republican state attorney general josh hawley will face two-term incumbent claire mccaskill in november,
and mccaskill could face an uphill battle in missouri. and in michigan cnn projects gretchen whitmer will be the candidate for governor. whitmer will face the republican attorney general bill scutte in the november election. the race is too close to call, but if she prevails she will run unopposed to replace former representative john con yryers. an extra marital affair and admissions of tax evasion.
faces a grueling cross-examination, that is next. plus will president trump and the north korean leader meet for a second summit? why the u.s. national security advisor now says it is a possibility. and with new u.s. sanctions in effect president trump issues a warning to anyone thinking of doing business with iran. we're back in just a moment. don't go anywhere. you've tried moisturizer after moisturizer but there's one... that blows them all out of the water. hydro boost water gel from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid it goes beneath the surface to plump skin cells from within and lock in hydration leaving skin so supple, it actually bounces back. the results will blow you away! hydro boost and our gentle exfoliating cleanser from neutrogena®
it's a high-tech revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. smarter sleep will change your life. i saw my leg did not look right. i landed. i was just finishing a ride. i felt this awful pain in my chest. i had a pe blood clot in my lung. i was scared. i had a dvt blood clot. having one really puts you in danger of having another. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®. to help keep me protected.
smuggled booze and dodged the law. even when they brought you in, they could never hold you down. when i built my family tree and found you, i found my sense of adventure. i set off on a new life, a million miles away. i'm heidi choiniere, and this is my ancestry story. now with over 10 billion historical records, discover your story. get started for free at ancestry.com
trump in a speech to supporters just a few hours ago. democrat danny o'connor says he will keep fight. another big story we're following, the correct of the prosecution's witness came under attack in court tuesday. rick gates was a deputy and now testifying against the former trump campaign chairman. >> reporter: back on the stand admitting during a harsh cross examination to having an extra marital affair a decade ago but denying accusations by paul manafort's lawyer he was embezzling money from manafort in order to fund his affair. and what the defense referred to as a secret life in london elsewhere. after two weeks after donald trump's election paul manafort recommended that his banker,
stephen cox become secretary. he detailed how broke he was when he joined the trump campaign in march 2016 working at the time for no salary. he said his consulting firm had no clients there and was trying to secure a contract in ukraine. manafort was clearly frustrated, wtf manafort wrote to gates. how can i be blind-sided like this, manafort says. gates admitted that he also supplied false information to banks in order to help manafort secure bank loans. gates testified that manafort made more than $5 million between 2011 and 2012. doing consulting work for a ukrainian billionaire. gates went into detail about how
shell companies were used to move money into hidden accounts in cypress. in one instance according to gates a payment supported lobbying in the united states. gates stated that manafort reported some of the payments to u.s. tax officials as loans, though they were in fact income. adding that manafort was quote trying to decrease his taxable income. prosecutors demonstrated that manafort directed these activities through e-mails. there were hundreds of these, gates said in court. adding quote, typical practice was mr. manafort would send me a list of wired requests. gates admitted he used information provided by manafort to create invoices for fake amounts of money for wire transfers. but the money never actually went to the vendors. instead it went to the banks. the purpose of this, according to gates, so that the wire transfers would not be recorded on u.s. business records. nonetheless on monday the
prosecutors elicited testimony from mr. gates and one of mr. manafort's accountants that tied him closer to russia. the accountant testified in 2006 mr. manafort received a $10 million loan from oleg deripaska. she said she saw no evidence the loan was ever repaid. throughout paul manafort's attorneys focus has been on undermining the credibility of rick gates, saying why should the jury believe him now considering the fact he has lied before, admitted to lying before to federal prosecutors. rick gates' answer is that he's taking responsibility now for those mistakes. and there was a powerful moment in the trial today where he said that is a choice paul manafort has not taken as well. jim sciutto, cnn, at the courthouse in virginia. president trump is prepared to meet with kim jong-un again
at any point. that is according to u.s. national security advisor john bolton. and he told fox news that the president is not alone. >> the secretary of state mike pompeo is prepared to go back to north korea to meet with kim jong-un. we've proposed that in our most recent letter from the president to kim jong-un. the president is prepared to meet at any point. but what we really need is not more rhetoric. what we need is purchase from north korea on denuclearization. >> let's bring in cnn's will ripply who joins us now live from hong kong. good to see you, will. why are we seeing this push for a second summit with kim jong-un given very little progress was achieved as a result of the first summit. what are the benefits and what are the drawbacks for doing this? >> well, the north koreans blame the united states for lack of progress since the first summit. they feel since his most recent trip to pyeongyang mike pompeo
went in there what they view with a list of demands. and yet the north koreans say they haven't seen anything in return from the united states in terms of a willingness to lift sanctions gradually, and more importantly perhaps the security guarantee that a peace treaty ending the korean war would allow. they want guarantees that kim jong-un is going to stay in power and be safe as the north korean leader for many years to come if north korea were to take the step of denuclearizing, something they see happening over a very long period of time. they feel the negotiations with president trump and the north korean leader kim jong-un went very well, that the two leaders had a good rapport, and that his lower level administration officials, the rapport was not good. the visit was described as really a disaster by some people who viewed secretary pompeo as being snubbed when kim jong-un didn't meet with him. what a sort of mine is saying that the north koreans feel the best deal is direct with them with a face-to-face meeting with
president trump and and his security advisers saying he's open to doing that so saying a second summit is possibility between the two leaders. >> we'll watch to see if that indeed does occur. will ripply joining us live from hong kong. many thanks. well, president trump is warning other countries to review iran or they won't be doing business with the united states. he tweeted were the boast biting sanctions ever and adding he wants world peace nothing less. meanwhile the iraqi prime minister says they'll not violate the sanction but added iraq does not support sanctions against any country. >> and we'll get back to our breaking news after a short break. donald trump's popularity put to the test in elections across the united states. plus california is just in the middle of its fire season,
but the u.s. state already faces wildfires of historic proportions. and there seems to be no end in sight. we're back in a moment. i landed. i saw my leg did not look right. i was just finishing a ride. i felt this awful pain in my chest. i had a pe blood clot in my lung.
i was scared. i had a dvt blood clot. having one really puts you in danger of having another. my doctor and i chose xarelto®. xarelto®. to help keep me protected. xarelto® is a latest-generation blood thinner that's... proven to treat and reduce the risk of dvt or pe blood clots from happening again. in clinical studies, almost 98% of patients on xarelto® did not experience another dvt or pe. xarelto® works differently. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of blood clots. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can...
to help protect yourself from another dvt or pe. talk to your doctor about xarelto®. and it's time to get outside. pack in even more adventure with audible. with the largest selection of audiobooks. audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. or discover magic when you hit the open road. with the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. and for just $14.95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. if you don't like it exchange it any time. no questions asked. you can also roll your credits to the next month if you don't use them. so take audible with you this summer... on the road... on the trail... or to the beach. start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. no matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. text summer5 to 500500 to start listening today.
how can i download an e-file? virtual tours? zip-file? really big files? in seconds, not minutes... just like that. like everything... the answer is simple. i'll do what i've always done... dream more, dream faster, and above all... now, i'll dream gig. now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. comcast, building america's largest gig-speed network. welcome back to "cnn newsroom." i'm rosemary church. the race for ohio's 12th congressional district could be headed for a recount. donald trump's candidate republican troy balderson holds a slim lead over democrat danny o'connor. mr. trump won this district by 11 points in the 2016 presidential election. more than 8,000 absentee and
provisional ballots still have be counted. and although balderson is claiming victory o'connor is not conceding. >> i'd like to thank president trump. america is on the right path, and we're going to keep it going that way. over the next three months i'm going to do everything i can to keep america great again. >> as we see division and discord tearing apart our country we must remember that each and every one of us are god's children and that all of us need to be treated with dignity and respect. and i think we could use a lot more of that spirit in washington these days. >> scott lucas is a professor of international politics at the university of birmingham in england. he joins us now live. good to have you with us. >> thank you. >> so let's focus on this major contest, the ohio special election in the 12th
congressional district whereas we saw republican troy balderson declared victory in a very close race with his rival danny o'connor in what was previously a safe republican seat. so what might this signal might occur in the november mid-term elections? >> it signals it's going to be one heck of a show. probably i think the most important mid-term election in u.s. history. if and when eventually balderson's victory is confirmed that this is vindication for them. whereas the democrats will say even if they can't overhaul that narrow lead, look, there was a 13% swing to us from the last congressional election and from trump's victory in 2016. now, that's part of politics.
i think what's important here for me is that, one, it shows you that each and every district that is contested in november could potentially be in play. there will be some that will be safe, but we're going to see an unprecedented number of house and senate races that are going to be extremely tight. and beyond that i think the risk is we try to apply a single model fits all, and it won't. it might be different from somewhere what happens let's say in the deep south where i'm from. and i think you have to take cog nizan nizance of so many local issues that even that presence of donald trump we get fixated on i don't think he's necessarily going to be the guiding star of what happens. >> i do want to look at president trump's tweet. he put this out just a few hours ago. when i decided to go to ohio for troy balderson he was down in early voting, 64-36. that was not good.
after my speech on saturday night there was a big turn for the better. now troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. he will win big in november. so scott, the president is painting this as a big victory, and he's trying to take credit for turning things around for balderson. is this a win for mr. trump? >> look, donald trump's the guy who always says if i crow it makes the sun shine. the fact of the matter is donald trump's tweet is incorrect. troy bauderson was not far behind in the campaign in ohio emphas. it was always a toss up race. it may have been his appearance in ohio that might have an effect. but i think trump saying this might have won everything, i think it shows you first of all the republicans barely hung on despite being the contest they had to win, and comes back to
the point i just made, donald trump may claim credit he's reshaping american politics and has made the rules different, but he's not the only factor in play here. and indeed it is more possible the more donald trump says that the more it may galvanize people to come out and vote for the opponents in november. donald trump, let's face it, he intervened for a republican named roy moore in november and the republicans got tossed on their backside. we'll have to see whether he's a positive or negative for the gop in november. >> there's still nearly 8,500 absentee ballots and provisional ballots to be counted. do you think it could change things as they stand? >> i think this is right cnn is not calling this, but it is a task for o'connor. he's got to have about a 25% margin amongst those absentee and provisional ballots to be able to overhaul the lead.
that's a pretty hard task. but it's not impossible. so, you know, given that ohio is up to ten days to count the outstanding ballots and given there is a recount provision if the margin is within 0.5% you and i could be talking about this for a couple weeks to come. >> right. and i do want to get your take on the kansas governor election. that's a very tight race as well, trump endorsing chris kobach over the incumbent governor. and that makes some republicans very nervous. what does that signal to you? >> well, it should make republicans nervous. that's first of all, and that's because of two things. one is it shows there's a contest whether this is the republican party or whether this is donald trump's party. we've seen this in previous campaigns. we saw it down in alabama last year. we've seen it in other contests in which trump has defied the establishment of the gop. but the second and important reason why it should make
republicans nervous, some of those trump candidates have got baggage. chris cobotch was the head of that ill-fated election commission that tried to prove voter fraud because donald trump said there were thousands of illegal voters that came out to vote for hillary clinton. that commission fell flat on its face. if donald trump is saying i make the sunshine he might bring in a bit of darkness for the republicans in a few months time. >> scott lucas, appreciate it. let's turn to missouri now in a shocking upset in tuesday's democratic primary there voters chose this man, leslie bell, ousting incumbents and lewis county prosecutor robert mucullic who is tie to the highly controversial ferguson police shooting. you may recall michael brown an african-american teen was fatally shot by a white police officer four years ago in ferguson. the shooting sparked riots and a
national debate about race relations. mcculloch was widely criticized for failing to charge the officer who killed brown. tuesday's primary ozviewed by many as a vote on his handling of the case. bell is effectively assured to become the st. louis prosecutor as he does not face a republican challenger in november. well, coming up as california faces wildfires like it has never seen before some scientists are now warning we face a climate change emergency. we'll take a look at that when we come back. can be relentless. tremfya® is for adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. i'm ready. with tremfya®, you can get clearer. and stay clearer. in fact, most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. tremfya® works better than humira® at providing clearer skin, and more patients were symptom free with tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment,
your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or have symptoms such as: fever, sweats, chills, muscle aches or cough. before starting tremfya® tell your doctor if you plan to or have recently received a vaccine. ask your doctor about tremfya®. tremfya®. because you deserve to stay clearer. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options. oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? ♪ ozempic®! ♪ ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis.
do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. tell your doctor if you have diabetic retinopathy or vision changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. i discovered the potential with ozempic®. ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ (vo) ask your healthcare provider if ozempic® is right for you.
let's get you the latest numbers now on that ohio house race seen as a referendum on donald trump. right now republican troy balderson has a very narrow lead over democrat danny o'connor. president trump campaigned for balderson over the weekend, but o'connor is not conceding just yet. more than 8,000 absentee and provisional ballots still have to be counted. california is struggling to contain some of the worst wildfires it has ever seen. president donald trump has not acknowledged a growing scientific consensus that climate change is contributing to the ferocity of the fires. instead he cites other reasons, but it seems the white house is not quite sure what he's talk about. cnn's stephanie elam has more. >> reporter: tonight the mendocino fire churning lmalmos
300,000 acres. so far it's scorched more than -- the holy fire has already burned over 4,000 acres. across the golden state 17 large fires are raging as more than 14,000 firefighters battle the fast moving flames. spurred on by dry and windy conditions. president trump monday blamed the state, inaccurately linking california's long running water shortage to the intensity and spread of fires in the state. tweeting, california wildfires are being magnified and made esomuch worse by the bad environmental laws which aren't allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. trump also incorrectly suggesting that california diverts water into the pacific ocean. tweeting, governor jerry brown must allow the free flow for the vast amounts of water coming from the north and foolishly
being diverted into the pacific ocean. but cal fire, the agency in charge of fighting these fires is rebuking those claims in a statement saying, there is nothing to release. there are no specifics to the tweet. we have plenty of water to fight these fires. the current weather is causing more severe and destructive fires. white house officials have declined to clarify the president's statements. before the people devastated and threatened by these wildfires the concern is less political and far more personal. >> we're working as best we can with the resources we have to manage this, but mother nature has taken its course and we've needed to adapt to it. >> reporter: just to give you an idea how devastating this wildfire season has been so far in california, in the last three weeks 550,000 acres have been burned. and we're nowhere near the end of the season. stephanie elam, cnn, lake county, california. >> and the wildfires ravaging
california are underscoring the catastrophic effects of climate change. former u.s. vice president al gore is sounding the alarm writing this. deeper droughts and longer hotter summers driven by the crisis are making wildfires more common. what do you think? send us your thoughts at facebook.com/cnni. our international viewers can join the conversation and have their say live on cnn talk. a panel will be discussing your questions that's at noon in london and 7:00 p.m. in hong kong only here on cnn. still to come on "cnn newsroom," elon musk shocks wall street by announcing he wants to make tesla a private company. we'll ask our market analyst to weigh in. that's next. t people. but on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain. fibromyalgia may be invisible to others,
but my pain is real. fibromyalgia is thought to be caused by overactive nerves. lyrica is believed to calm these nerves. i'm glad my doctor prescribed lyrica. for some, lyrica delivers effective relief from moderate to even severe fibromyalgia pain, and improves function. lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions, suicidal thoughts or actions. tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worse depression, unusual changes in mood or behavior, swelling, trouble breathing, rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever, tired feeling, or blurry vision. common side effects: dizziness, sleepiness, weight gain, swelling of hands, legs and feet. don't drink alcohol while taking lyrica. don't drive or use machinery until you know how lyrica affects you. those who've had a drug or alcohol problem may be more likely to misuse lyrica. with less pain i can do more with my family. talk to your doctor today. see if lyrica can help.
it's a high-tech revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999. smarter sleep will change your life.
welcome back, everyone. well, it is too close to call in the race for ohio's 12th congressional district. president trump campaigned for republican troy balderson who currently has the lead over democrat danny o'connor but thousands of ballots still have to be counted. this district has been republican for more than three decades and donald trump won it by 11 points in 2016. let's turn to tesla now and elon musk who's stunned investors by announcing he wants to take the company private. in a tweet he said he'd already lined up funding at $420 a share. he calls the move the best math forward for the electric car company and said it would relieve tesla of the pressure from wall street and short
sellers. following musk's announcement tesla finished the day 11% higher. let's bring in david madden, a market analyst in london. we'll have a look at his perspective on this. thanks for joining us. the announcement by elon musk that he wants to take the company private saw the value of tesla raise, but also raised questions about whether musk broke any laws with his tweet. did he? was this a smart move? >> it all depends on the intent behind the tweet. if mr. musk was genuine and honestly is considering taking the company private or is actually in the process of that behind closed doors taking the company private, no laws -- i imagine no laws would have been broken. it's only if mr. musk deliberately stated he was considering taking the company public as a way of driving the share price higher and also squeezing out the short sellers. currently tesla is a very
heavily shorted stock, about 27% of the free flow of tesla shares, the shares available on the market, are in the hands of short sellers. traders who are betting against tesla and they want to see the share price go down. so any rally in the share price of tesla would then put pressure on those traders who have taken a bet against tesla share price of short sellers. so if mr. trump was intentionally saying he's considering taking the company private just as a way of getting back at the short sellers, that would be a different story. that would be something the sec, the securities and rate exchange commission would take seriously indeed. but it all comes down to mr. musk's actual intent. >> interesting. why do you think musk is doing this right now? what message do you think he's trying to send? >> i think mr. musk has been -- has had a difficult few months. in the most recent earnings call he actually apologized to
investors and analysts in the way he treated them on the previous earnings call. things aren't exactly going according to plan, and this could be a temper tantrum by elon musk as a way of saying that i don't have to be bothered answering questions by market analysts or journalists or being under the scrutiny of wall street. this could be may of saying, you know what, forget about it. i'm going to secure the funding myself, i don't have to divulge any details or information. it seems to me mr. musk wouldn't be threatening it take the private company -- not long ago he just about achieved his production, and even though the company has lost money in the first two quarters of this year mr. musk has said they will turn a profit in the second two quarters of this year. it could be the pressure is getting to elon musk. it's also worth pointing out
this sort of erratic behavior could be argued you might except that from exceptional innovators or inventors. but if you're the ceo of a multi-million dollar company -- >> shareholders have to approve this, how likely is it that that would occur? >> given that we're about with the share price closed somewhere in the region about $40 below the price mr. musk was quoting it's about 10% premium above the price there's a likelihood that shareholders would approve it given that as i mentioned there's a very large short interest of investors out there who are actively betting against elon musk. on the flip side of things only yesterday we heard from a saudi
arabian sovereign wealth fund. there's clearly an appetite for this. soverei saufb sho they might view it as maybe we should consider the offer should the offer of $420 be put on the table. >> and thank you for your company this hour. i'm rosemary church. remember to connect with me anytime on twitter. "early start" is next for our viewers in the united states and more on the special election in ohio you can join hannah van jones who is up next in london. 6 it was here.
my doctor and i chose xarelto® to help keep me protected from a stroke. once-daily xarelto®, a latest-generation blood thinner significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. warfarin interferes with at least 6 of your body's natural blood-clotting factors. xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor. for afib patients well managed on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. don't stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase your risk of stroke. while taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. it may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. get help right away for unexpected bleeding or unusual bruising. do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. before starting, tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures and any kidney or liver problems. learn all you can to help protect yourself from a stroke. talk to your doctor about xarelto®.
Former GOP representative Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinski interview newsmakers, politicians and pundits about the issues of the day.
jonathan, we're probably going to get swept in like three when we get divisional playoffs. so, i mean, but, listen, it was a fun summer. mika, why don't we go to the news. in an interview last night president trump's lawyer said special counsel robert mueller will personally have a lot to answer for just hours after they rejected mueller's reported latest offer to get a sit down interview with the president. trump's legal team said they have made the counteroffer listing their conditions for access to the president who is a subject in the wide-ranging investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election. trump's attorneys also publicly voiced their desire for the probe to end. within the next three weeks and suggested that mueller would be violating doj policies, if it does not end. >> don't have an internal deadline. we are moving. i use the phrase, expeditiously. i said and i know you said, we
want to see this come to closure soon. mayer? >> it is about time it ends and i also think and i hope the special counsel as sensitive to it as we are, we don't want to run into the november elections. so back up from that. this should be over with by september 1st. >> if it isn't over by september, then we have a very, very serious violation of the justice department rules that you shouldn't be conducting one of these investigations in the 60-day period. >> but, what giuliani claims would be a serious violation is, in fact, a distortion as the justice department inspector general recently wrote that the 60-day rule is not written or described in any department policy or regulation. adding it is generalized, unwritten guidance that prosecutors did not indict political candidates or use overt investigative methods in the weeks before the election
not that they terminate investigations. >> mika, it's important to remember that rudy giuliani back in the 1990s, he was into the investigation of bill clinton and it was perfectly fine that ken starr conducted an investigation and went on years and years through one election after another after another. robert mueller is not going to be indicting anybody right before an election and that will be consistent with guidelines. but you have, if you're in pursuit of a couple of dozen russians who you have evidence that violated american democracy and tried to undermine american democracy, you don't end that investigation because rudy giuliani tells you to end that investigation. in fact, you need guidance from rudy giuliani and go back on just about every topic and see what he said when republicans were indicting or trying to
that's more ilegitimate than this one and i wonder where is the sense of justice on the part of mueller, on the part of the justice department. the real story here is not that this case isn't going to fizzle. it's going to blow up on them. the real question is, what we talked about before. a lot more to what they did that nobody knows about yet. and mueller is going to have a lot to answer for. >> you know, willie, with rudy giuliani going around and izeyes bulging while he's talking and looking disoriented, you look for excuses for america's mayor, for being this wildly off base. again, we just showed off the top of the show all of the members of the trump administration and the trump campaign that have already been indicted and are also, that have also pled guilty.
that have already pled guilty. i mean, you on top of that have 25 russians. this is an active investigation. now, rudy giuliani says they have nothing. they already have trump's second campaign manager. trump's -- i mean, indicted. trump's deputy campaign manager indicted. trump's national security adviser indicted. this is like the grand jury indicted all of these people. trump's foreign policy adviser that he said was one of his two most important, indicted. trump's first campaign manager had charges dropped. and trump's first congressional endorser now indicted. the man who put him, who put his name into nomination for republican nominee now indicted. and 5 russi25 intel agencies sa
is the forensic evidence of vladimir putin, the gru, ex-kbg agents trying to undermine de c democra democracy. how does rudy giuliani even have the nerve to go on there and say what he just said? >> that is an awful lot of indictments and plea bargains. trump's legal team continues to put out these arbitrary calls based on, i don't know what, other than they want it to end to clear the president. may 10th the vice president of the united states said, quote y think it's time to wrap it up. rudy giuliani said again, and also repeated last night that bob mueller doesn't have anything. laid out everything bob mueller has shown he has. neither rudy giuliani or you or
i know what he has. >> first of all, the president's team who has been delaying for eight months an interview is also saying they need to hurry up and end. but, second, just look at -- i'm just always amazed what the mayor's team will say on the record. what he said in that interview is that the president's story, if told to mueller, would put him into perjury. so, what he's saying is the president's story is wrong. it's a lie. he just admitted it on national tv because of the president's version is true, its it is not perjury trap. we have kind of blown right past the fact of what he admitted just there. >> matt miller, go ahead, joe. >> i was just going to say to nick, hey, nick, the point and people think i'm joking about it. i'm not. if i were president of the united states and all of my
lawyers thought i was too stupid or too much of a liar to sit down and just talk to robert mueller, i'd fire them. but this is all we have heard consistently from donald trump's lawyers. that he's too stupid to sit down with robert mueller. that mueller will twist his head in circles. or that he's such a liar that he can't, that it would be a, quote, perjury threat. now, listen, if i were going to sit down and ask you a series of questions, there would be a problem if the editors of "new york times" called me up and said, you know, we can't let nick know on today. why not? you'll catch him in lies. my response would be, don't lie. just have him tell the truth. this is what every time giuliani and his lawyers come on and say he's too stupid or he's just not smart enough. they say that behind the scenes to keep up with the robert
mueller. but every time they come on to a show like hannity say we can't let him on because he'll perjure himself. he's such a liar, he can't help himself. >> sit down with the special counsel is no joke and even an innocent person would go into that with fear and trepidation. this is the president and he has a team of qualified lawyers around him who could prep him for this and if he can learn to tell the truth for two hours he could get through it. >> learn to tell the truth. >> here jewgiuliani is, what do he think we're, he accuses miller of thinking that the president's teams are fools. i think he should be accused of thinking the american people are fools. we need to like call it out. you know, this is ridiculous. they want justice, let's do the justice. you can demonstrate justice in front of us. >> what giuliani is doing. not much of a legal strategy.
this is a public relation strategy. trying to drum up outrage among republicans or perhaps some independents about this probe. we have seen it's been somewhat effective. like the polling on mueller's probe has dropped in recent weeks and months. we know he's been chipping away at people who view this investigation has integrity and should continue. and they, meanwhile, as we just pointed out, they're the ones dragging this on. that's part of this argument. it's taking too long and a waste of taxpayer money and waste of time and distraction and slowing down the president's agenda and becoming more and more of a talk point and as the doj of regulation, mueller may push pause here but he doesn't have to wrap it up before september 1st. and, of course, we saw from james comey high doe doesn't ha
push pause either. >> so, matt miller all the times i laid out previously that the trump administration and trump's lawyers have called for an end to it, bob mueller has ignored those calls. is he aware and conscious and do you think he feels any pressure from the outside on his investigation? >> i doubt he feels a lot of pressure from the outside. when bob mueller was running the fbi, he handled his job with the fbi the same way he handles this one which is to put his head down and plow forward. one of the interesting things about the president's strategy is i think the time when mueller's probe was in this long, kind of five-month period between when they indicted russians for the social media interference and indicted russians for the hacking. there was a five-month period where they were really dark. the president was making some headway arguing at this was going on too long. he is now back in business. he's back out. kind of indicting russians.
and to the point i think jonathan made, you know f txwok president agreed to the interview a long time ago or drawn the line a long time ago, i'm not going to agree to this interview, they're going to have a better case. but a better political case that this was going on too long. by dragging it out themself they are the ones responsible for the obstruction of justice portion of this. it could have been wrapped up a long time ago if the president aagreed to an interview. >> they're doing thedo their be but they're even horrible at this. i mean, you look at the fact that now the administration is saying that they are going to sanction russia and foreign governments for interfering with elections. they're doing that specifically because of the indictments that were laid down last month. robert mueller using the u.s.
military information had the specifics of how the russians tried to destroy our election. what computer screens, what their key strokes were. what buildings they were in. the detail was so specific that we busted them red handed beyond any reasonable doubt. but think about this. if mike pence had his way and this had been shut down in may, like mike pence was saying, we would never have this evidence that, basically, showed what the russians tried to do and what they're going to try to do again in 2018. >> oh, yeah. that's just one part of it. i mean, for instance, before the mueller probe began, we were operating in which the trump campaign and trump white house was insisting that there was no contact with russians at all. >> but mike pence said, can you believe that mike pence actually had the nerve to say in 2017, we
were never talking to any russians. nobody related to this campaign ever talked to any russians. we were talking to americans. just as extraordinary lie when you look at the collection of russians that they were talking to throughout 2016. >> i feel like sometimes people don't quite, it's not presented comprehensively in front of people and people don't grasp how much robert mueller and his team and sometimes we're jaded about it. for instance f , if we just fou out today there was a meeting in trump tower, we would think it is a political crisis but now it's. the issue and i think we have to bring this in here because it's a prong of this, it is not just the media pressure and it's not rudy giuliani going out there, there is intense capitol hill pressure, too.
rachel maddow last night unearthed a private recording of devon nunez saying they were going to take another stab at the impeachment of rob rosen ste stein. so we have this congressional prong that seems to be working to provide some for the trump white house and to kasie because she's so plugged in on the hill. is this a serious threat from nunez or acting rogue here? >> we're going to have to ask paul ryan whether he would let something like that go forward. in theory, they could make that privilege and force his hand. but the broader point you're making, sam, is the right one. we're really headed for the real wreckeni reckoning and easy to lose sight of it and the drips out of the special counsel's office and evolving what seemed to me a set
of excuses that rudy giuliani was giving to republicans that would question what is going on with robert mueller. but, look, republicans are going to have to decide at some point depending on what bob mueller is going to find. are they going to defend the president at all costs? that's what nunez is saying on that tape. he's saying no matter what mueller finds, we need to stand behind president trump. there is going to be republicans on the hill who are going to do that. and i think a wide middle that is going to have to really look inside themselves and decide, okay, how am i going to handle this? we saw that in water gate what turned the tide for richard nixon after it was clear that there was crimes that were proven that republicans in his own party turned on him. >> you know, if you look at devon nunez, if you look at some members of the freedom caucus, they remind me of the people that we conservatives used to call useful idiots that would fly down to nicaragua that the
united states is doing terrible things and we're apologizing and we conservatives, we republicans called them useful idiots for always apologizing for the russians and always being part of the blame america first crowd. well, when you look at what leaders of the freedom caucus are doing, when you look at what nunez is doing, i think we need to stop saying what they're doing is trying to protect donald trump. because what they're actually doing is they're protecting vladimir putin and covering up more crimes that the united states military and intel agencies are digging at right now this very moment. they've unearthed some of his crimes. they're looking for more crimes. but you have devon nunez
bragging about trying to stop the investigation and russia's interference. it's shameful. >> a division within america in here between the white house and the institutions of america in here. we're actually, basically, what i hear about trump supporting and invade the investigation, i hear him defending the mafia, the biggest mafia of the world in vladimir putin, basically. you have a have to address him d address that head on rather than being divided among us. i feel like president trump has a choice here. step up and lead the country ethically speaking and stop defending corrupt leaders around the world. >> no sign that's happening any time soon. but that would be the hope. still ahead on "morning joe" criminal charges ahead, chris
collins says he will be on the ballot this november. we'll break down the government's case against him and what it means for republicans' message heading into the midterms. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. you've tried moisturizer after moisturizer
but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena® wells fargo has supported community organizations like united way, non-profits like the american red cross, and our nation's veterans. we knew helping our communities was important then. and we know it's even more important today.
so we're stepping up to volunteer more and donate over a million dollars every day. so our communities can be even stronger. it's a new day at wells fargo. but it's a lot like our first day. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home,
and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. all right. willie we have some clean up here. we're going to be talking music. we have some cleanup here. i must admit i must have been sleepi sleeping. >> he did an interview addressing the back lash for the first time. kasie doesn't like dave, but they do, along but they go to
every phish show. >> before you go hating on dave matthews, you need to watch the movie lady burird. >> i have seen it. >> you realize where they're making fun of dave matthews, it is the mean girls making fun, you're being a mean girl about dave matthews. >> i'm hurt by that accusation, joe. i really am. the boys i went to high school with who listen to dmb just left it, i can't do it. i can't do it. >> so, sam stein, is this sort of -- is this along the line of creed. is this like a creed/nickelback
backlash? >> am i wrong? >> yeah, you're wrong. >> i don't know. >> it's the fans of dave matthews. who we recall as the big fans of dave matthews from high school and college and, of course, willie, have turned us against him. >> is this what we're really talking about today? >> can we please move on. >> i have to say, willie, you know, alex says we're circling the drain. >> we're down the drain. we're not circling. >> you know, i did not for some reason like steely dan when i was in high school and college, but i like him now. some great music. >> okay. >> i'm going to help alex and try to pull us up out of the drain. mika, this is for you. chris collins of new york has been charged with insider trader and lying to investigators alleged to have worked with his
son to avoid significant losses on a inesthavestment. prosecutors say collins was at a congressional picnic at the white house last year when he learned that they received bad news about a drug trial for the company's only product. he served on a board for three years until 2017 and remains one of the biggest shareholders. the congressman frantically attempted to reach his son, cameron, who he tipped off to the corporate information days before it was made public. they claim cameron collins and several others used the information to avoid more than $700,000 in losses. when news of the failed drug trial was made public, the shares of the company aplplumme. he refuted the allegations against him. >> the charges that have been levied against me are meritless. and i will mount a vigorous
defense in court to clear my name. i look forward to being fully vindicated and exonerated ending any and all questions related to my affiliation. as i fight to clear my name, rest assured i will continue to work hard for the people and constituents of the 27th congressional district of new york and i will remain on the ballot, running for re-election this november. >> you know, collins is just the latest member in the trump orbit to find himself in legal jeopardy over financial gain, including at least one with the same prosecutor. his former personal attorney as president, michael cohen, also as you know, under investigation by the southern district of new york for tax fraud. that, according to "wall street journal." cohen simultaneously served the president and had a business and cashed in on his connections.
a top donor agreed to paid cohen $10 million if he successfully pushed a project. sitting with questions of financial misdoings. forbes recently, man, what a report, that commerce secretary wilbur ross' practices have sparked lawsuits and reimbursements and a fine from sec and tom price was also questioned about a favorable purchase of a stock at the time that was also at the center of collins' arrest. price was fired amid scandals and former epa administrator scott pruitt talk about the swamp. it's now up to trump's neck. he, of course, intendinattended
white house and then he was allowed to resign. but, willie, there is such a -- such a culture of corruption there. somebody yesterday said that collins had to feel picked on when you had wilbur ross, in their words, doing insider trading at a pace the guy thought he only had two weeks to live. and, you know, since trump says he's only good until 11:00 a.m. in the morning, that was a pretty busy 9:30 to 11:00 block to do insider trading. you look. look at the "forbes" article. just a culture of corruption and, of course, as they always say, the fish rots from the head. >> matt miller, these are just the people around, profiting off hotels and ivanka had to shut down her clothing line. they put money in a trust that
does not isolate them from profits, certainly, to put it mildly. >> i think joe hit the nail on the head when he called it a culture of corruption. democrats have the ability now to make this case that there is this culture that starts at the top with donald trump and starts with his family members and pervasive throughout his administration and also list the treasury secretary on government planes and under inspector general investigations and now moving it over to a member of congress. the problem for other members of congress. this is not to say every republican member of congress is corrupt. of course, not. but every one is allowing this to go unchecked. no one in a leadership one on tg we need to stop it and investigate it and shine some sunlight. that becomes a political vulnerability for all of them. one of the interesting subplots of this chris collins thing, he is the second person to literally have committed a crime
on the white house grounds. they made that call while he was standing on the white house grounds. it's the same place where mike flynn, in his white house office sat down with the fbi and lied to the fbi. the highest crime rate of any neighborhood in washington. >> i don't know if i'll go that far but maybe. you know, the point that i keep coming back to is 2006. that year democrats mounted a fairly robust culture of corruption campaign to take back the house. and it was effective. you talk to any democratic strategists that work in those races. that was the theme that they resonate the most. this go around you have arguably way more data points to point to here as we listed right now. but i don't see democrats making this case. i mean, matt's right. i mean, you could argue that a really effective campaign strategy say, look, republicans are letting this go unchecked
and we have x, y and z and you need to elect us so we can actually bring some ethics and disability and oversight to this process. but that's not really in the democratic playbook and i'm not entirely sure why. >> democrats almost have an embarrass of riches to figure out how to run and some people who are nervous on that side that they will not come with a clear message, it will be too muddled. if they regain control of the house, something that trump allies have told me. more than impeachment proceedings which could be a gift to the president. day after day and where they're marching up every single person who has any affiliation in front of the cameras on capitol hill and bogging them down that way. to follow up on matt's point, it's remarkable. the indictment has the listed time in which he makes the call to his son to tell him this. footage of him on the phone at that moment. there aren't too many occasions where we have live streams of
insider trading. >> beyond democrats, iful feel like we ne to have -- we have politicians helping write the ethics rules of insider trading and all of these things corrupt. we need to go back beyond the parties and we need to go back to the people and people need to vote for people who are ethical. go back to the people and people want ethics and valus and all of these things. i want to say one thing, though. he needs to have a fair investigation is the fair thing in here. so, we do need to give due process due process so we don't jump to conclusion but we need to watch all the warning signs in here and go back, again, to saying what is right and what is wrong. >> well, kasie hunt, that is absolutely right and to an extent i think people are open to the truth.
joe found out on the campaign trail himself giving his constituents bad news in realtime, even if they didn't like hearing it, that helped him actually at the polls. but in this case, the truth is being so devalued. i just worry that it's going to be a very difficult landscape running up to the midterms and beyond for republicans especially for some of who are participati participating. >> that answers sam's question why democrats aren't using this broadly. they tried this against president trump and they tried to make everything stick and nothing sticks to the guy, it seems. i'm not convinced based on my reporting that is going to be true in the midterm elections and strategists are saying people are demanding more from their candidates, but part of the reality is, too, democrats aren't calling for collins to be shoved out of office. that's partly because, you know, they face their own ethical problems.
i mean, bob menendez fought an indictment while he remained for quite a while in a powerful post on the foreign relations committee. this is a problem that goes across the establishments in washington and i think people are frustrated by that. and don't forget, one thing animating the democratic base right now is opposition to corporate money in elections. one litmus test issue for a lot of progressive candidates is are they refusing to take donations from corporate packs? that's also something that leadership in washington is grappling with. they're not sure what to do about it. i do think they're creating some problems for themselves in that way. still ahead, another trump campaign figure facing serious legal jeopardy. we'll check in on paul manafort's trial. how an alleged $16 million spending spree came into play. that's coming up on "morning joe." you're turning onto the street
with i get rewarded explowherever i go. going out for a bite. rewarded! going new places. rewarded! learn more at theexplorercard.com
testified that the former trump campaign chairman had at least $16 million in unreported income from ukraine, which manafort allegedly spent between 2010 and 2014. just a few years before he sought an unpaid role leading the president's campaign. after the conclusion of testimony by manafort's deputy rick gates there was a tense moment between counsel prosecutors when ellis discovered an expert witness had been in the courtroom for other testimony. as "the washington post" described ellis erupted saying that he typically bars all witnesses, save the case agent from observing the proceedings and thought he had done so in this case. u.s. attorney uzo asonye said he believed the transcript and
ellis snapped. i don't care what the transcript said. maybe i made a mistake. don't do it again. >> matt miller, the judge, the judge has been bheads with the prosecution and doesn't seem to like the prosecuting attorneys too much. what is going on there? >> i think a little case of black robitis. he is known to be a tough judge and he has been out of line here. if you look at him here. almost like when your parents say, doesn't matter what i said, do this anyway. sort of admitting that even if he made a mistake he's blaming the prosecutors on it. he is accusing one of the prosecutors of crying. i think the ultimate question is what impact it will have on the case. if this were a much closer case, i bet the prosecution would be pretty worried that his remarks some of which would be in front
of the jury would have an impact. such strong evidence against paul manafort and such strong evidence of his guilt that it is not likely to tip at end the of the day. >> i was surprised when the judge told one of the attorneys to stop crying in the courtroom. he's like, i'm not crying. it's just like yesterday where they said, but you said he could. read the transkrcript. i don't care what's in the transcript. not the sort of stable justice that you want overseeing an important case like this. what is his story, what is his background. >> let me just say something about the crying. that particular prosecutor that was crying. he locked up the family in new york and actually, actually had to be around the clock protection because while he was investigating, they tried to assassinate him and have him killed. i doubt he was crying in the courtroom because of tough words
from the judge. this judge has been on the bench for long time. you know, judges, look, they have lifetime terms for a reason. to make them insulated from political pressure and lack of accountability. i think largely we like that, but there are always down sides that come with the good sides. you see some judges that have this arrogant approach in the courtroom and you hear from people who practice in that court that judge ellis is like that in a lot of cases, but he's also a judge that i think when reporters are in the room and high profile and likes to show off a little bit for the press and i think you're seeing some of that here. >> all so fascinating. the ohio congressional race that was already too close to call gets even tighter, thanks to a couple hundred uncounted votes. we'll show you where the candidates stand this morning. we'll be right back.
booking a flight doesn't have to be expensive. just go to priceline. it's the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40%. just tap and go... for the best savings on flights, go to priceline.
it's a revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999, intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts. so you wake up ready to train for that marathon. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. ends wednesday.
welcome back to "morning joe". we're having sort of a battle of the bands and it is going in the downward direction. i'm going to our control room. alex, do you have a confession, a rock and roll confession >> huey lewis. top of the list there. partridge family to some people. but i'm picking huey. >> these are all classics. abba, "waterloo." beethoven's fifth. one are two pieces by tchaikovsky. >> hall and oats. >> willie, you don't have any problem with huey, do you? he was a sound track to ""back to the future"."
>> i didn't know he wasn't cool. i think he's great. >> everybody just stop. we're all so old. still ahead president trump and his legal team appear to be playing "hardball" with robert mueller over a possible interview. member of the judiciary committee senator richard blumenthal will join us to weigh in on that and rudy giuliani's timeline for the russia probe, rudy expects it to be done soon so i guess we should all hurry. plus, we'll talk to the michigan demonstrate who is poised to become the first muslim woman in congress. rashida talib will be our guest coming up on "morning joe". (ford chime) it's the ford summer sales event and now is the best time to buy. you ready for this, junior? yeah, i think i can handle it. no pressure... ...that's just my favorite boat. boom. (laughs) make summer go right with ford, america's best-selling brand. and get our best deal of the summer:
zero percent financing for sixty months on f-150. right now, get this special offer on f-150: zero percent financing for 60 months - during the ford summer sales event. are you one sneeze away from being voted out of the carpool? try zyrtec®. it's starts working hard at hour one. and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. stick with zyrtec® and muddle no more®.
if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach.
presidency effective at noon tomorrow. >> that was president richard nixon, 44 years ago last night as today marks the anniversary of the first and only time a president resigned from office, joe. >> mika, you had said before that your father, obviously, knew richard nixon, and after his wife pat died, that he actually came over to your house, and you remember seeing him as such a broken man. >> yeah. it was, obviously, i think the loss of his wife. but he was sitting on our porch on a chair was pulled out from the table with a setting sun behind him down the hill and i just sort of couldn't believe what i was seeing. so much history and so much turmoil for this country all wrapped up in his story. >> but, really, willie, it's interesting the only time richard nixon broke down in
public. anybody saw him breaking down in public was when his wife pat died. at the funeral he broke down so much he was embarrassed about it later. but that 44 years ago, john meacham says it's his first memory of any news event despite the fact all he talks about is the french and indian war. we should talk more about watergate. >> walter isaacson is here, the "new york times" tweeted out their front page. still takes your breath away for a skorngsd president of the united states resigns from office. >> yeah. the issue here is that it resonates with what happens today. it's an obstruction of justice. nixon afterwards and mika remembered him being sad. afterwards nixon became kind of a statesman. he talked about the world, doing
discussions. he would do these amazie ing to. during his time in office he became unhinged when it came to justice. we have to go back and look at things. >> walter, i'm curious, when you look at the people that got indicted, got in trouble during the nixon administration, we went over a laundry list and, of course, nixon was in for six, seven years before things really completely blew up for him. just in a year's time, a little over a year's time donald trump has seen his first campaign manager or second campaign manager indicted in a trial right now. his first national security adviser indicted, pled guilty. his deputy campaign manager indicted, pled guilty. a guy that worked for him
through the inauguration who, of course, already pled guilty. one of his top campaign foreign policy advisers pled guilty and is pleading with the government. his first congressional endorser and member of his transition team has pled guilty. along with 29 russians. we don't know what the 29 russians have been indicted, what they have to do with the trump campaign and whether there is a conspiracy to influence the election. that's part of the investigation, but even if you just look at the list there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven -- six or seven people that have already been indicted and most of them pleading right now, guilty. how does that stack up with nixon and watergate even seven years in? >> well, it's stinkier in a way because he said drain the swamp. so many of these things involved
just people wanting to make large sums of people. people slurping at the trough like the congressman doing insider trading on the white house lawn. nixon at least wasn't lining his pockets. you see that with the trump hotels and their businesses and finances. this is the type of thing voters rebelled against which is this pure line your pockets and get rich type of corruption. the other thing is nixon did like trump try to discredit the institutions of our society. discredit our norms. but nixon never went as far as this to call, you know, to try to obstruct justice publicly in a way that trump is doing. so, it's amazing that we've gotten back to this. >> it is amazing. sam stein, of course, you're
reporting always tries to take it to a higher level, 30 years after, of course, richard nixon resigned you are, of course, digging deep into a controversy about the dave matthews band and what happened in chicago 30 years later. >> don't do it. >> and scandal, sam, that according to your reporting was called poopgate. explain. >> okay. >> it's breakfast time. >> we were doing so well. >> you want to jump off of walter's point? >> i'm only quoting your tweet, sam. you just tweeted it like ten minutes ago. don't sit there acting all innocent. follow up on walter's -- >> well, i'll say -- >> talk about watergate or
poopgate. >> and maybe you can weigh in on this. >> i was struck by how a lot of what we see with trump, we sort of don't take as seriously as maybe we should because it happened so out in the open. so for instance, a tweet he put up a week and a half ago, roughly, in which he basically was talking about firing jeff sessions for not closing down the investigation. i thought at the time that was pretty wild. then i thought to myself, having read the memo and sent it privately to jeff sessions about getting rid of the investigation into russian collusion and that memo has been read by a journalist we would think this is the craziest thing ever. because he tweets it out in the open part of us think this is trump being trump. same thing to a lesser degree with the respective break in. so if the russians had literally broken into the dnc and stolen a file cabinet as opposed to hacking e-mail account, maybe we
would conceive of this differently because it would be physical as opposed to something on the internet. i'm wondering to a degree, how does this affect our thinking? >> well all of our norms have been totally disrupted and when you set out to break norms, norms get broken. we now have a society in which people can do things like openly to affect justice. openly line their pockets. and somehow we've become ignored to it. if we watch it in plain sight it's like they destroyed all the norms. the biggest norm of all which even nixon tried to do, i'm trying to bring people together. i'm a unifier. here you have a guy who outright tries to divide the couldn't. >> yeah. >> yep. >> you had watergate tapes and now this time around you just
have everything that the president says on television. there's no tapes to be uncovered. as you see with us we have sam stein, walter isaacson. the fact that omarosa thinks he's unhinged. >> omarosa can secretly tape the president of the united states inside the white house, the fact that his lawyer and so-called fixer is taping the white house, what do you think the russians and the chinese -- >> what a useful idiot is what they are thinking. the fact that he would bring in someone close, that he would be so unbelievably reckless to bring in someone close who would audiotape their conversations. what kind of people do you have around you? again, he needs a wall around him. white house reporter for the associated press jonathan lam
erelameer is with us. kasie hunt is with us. >> joe, are the google dolls cool or uncool? >> that's a good one. let me tell you something. the google dolls are cool. amazing. iris amazing. you know what if you don't like the dolls, if you don't think black balloons aren't the best songs of the '90s turn off the tv right now. >> and eamon javers is here. >> he often sings his questions to the white house staff and the president in tune. >> i was more of a punk rock guy than a google dolls guy. they were harder core and then
drifted more into a poppy kind of thing. i liked them before they sold out. >> i liked them before they sold out and after they sold out. it's great. >> you're good with all of it. >> anybody like pink floyd? >> we all liked pink floyd. >> got it. >> okay. here we go. >> in an interview last night president trump's lawyer said special counsel robert mueller will personally have a lot to answer for just hours after they rejected mueller's reported latest offer to get a sit down interview with the president. trump's legal team said they made a counter offer. i'm sure it's fantastic. >> there was one of my favorite episodes on the simpsons was when lionel huts said to mr. burns we have a counter offer, we think you'll like it. and actually mr. burn turned it around and he wrote zero.
he picked it up and said we'll take it. release the hounds. that's what robert mueller is thinking right now. you have a counter offer. listen, i got what they call a subpoena. i'll just put that one on you any time you want. >> this is incredible. so trump's team listed their conditions in their counter offer for access to the president who is the subject in the wide ranging investigation of russian interference in the 2016 election. which endangers this country. trump's attorneys also publicly voiced their desire for the probe to end within the next three weeks. >> that's not going to happen either. >> and suggested mueller would be violating doj policies if it does not. >> actually that's a lie. >> giuliani went on to challenge the special counsel's motive for seeking an interview and suggested mueller will soon be the one under screw ti. >> i. >> not true. >> we offered them an opportunity to do a form of
questioning. he can say yes or no. we can do it. if he doesn't want to do it. he knows the answers to every question that he wants to ask. he's going to ask him did you tell comey to go easy on flynn. the president will say no i didn't. hey, bob, you know it. why do you want to get him under oath. do you think we're fools. you want to trap him in perjury. we're not going to let you do that. i've never been involved in an investigation on either side that's more illegitimate than this one, that's so more obviously illegitimate and i wonder where the sense of justice is on the part of mueller, on the part of the justice department. the real story here is not that this case isn't going to fizzle, it will blow up on them. the real question is what we talked about before, there's a lot more to what they did that nobody knows about yet and mueller is going to have a lot to answer for. the investigation here has to be
on the investigators because we cannot let this happen again in american history. we may not have a president as strong as president trump. unless a president could have really been cracked by this. >> walter, i'm an older guy. i know you, of course, are not, you're a spring chicken. >> yes, he is. >> us older guys do you remember that unbelievable saying in absence of malice when it was said, i got these things called subpoenas, now you can talk to me now or i can give you a subpoena. and either way i'm going to talk to you and i'm going to get the truth out. rudy giuliani of all people trying to negotiate whether donald trump is going to talk to robert mueller is so rich because it was rudy giuliani in 1998 who told charlie rose when we're talking about bill clinton, it doesn't matter whether the president wants to talk to the special counsel or
not, if he's given a subpoena, he has to comply and sit down and talk to the special prosecutor. >> you know, rudy giuliani keeps going on air to make it seem more and more like there's smoking guns all over the place. he's doing the greatest disservice to a client i've ever seen a lawyer do. then he says well we don't want to testify because trump may accidentally tell the truth or he may end up lying and both will be bad. well it's just ridiculous what he says trying to trap him in perjury, it wouldn't be perjury if trump went there and just told the truth. so i don't know why giuliani is out there unless he's some sort of weird agent trying to undermine his client and to make this investigation look even more stronger than it is. >> he's out there because he wants, it's a very simple political objective which is to turn public opinion against robert mueller. only way you'll do that is
hammering him every day. main people who are receptive are people who watch fox news. it's not just republicans who are souring on robert mueller specifically it's viewers of fox news who are souring on robert mueller's investigation, that's because there's a constant drum beat of negativity from rudy giuliani -- >> real quickly, let's say it quickly. robert mueller has not been leaking. >> of course. >> he's an honorable man. he's been extremely successful in this. he's a life long republican. he's a person who has served the country with honor. how can they have no shame when they do this? >> this is tactical and not just with the mueller investigation. i go back to this quote that trump gave. he talked cynically about his anti-press comments, this whole fake news thing. he said very clearly the reason i'm doing it is because i want to be so when you report
critical stories of me half the country doesn't believe it. >> that's obvious. they have been softening the ground whatever mueller comes out with they discredit it to people who believe this. they have been reporting this from vice president pence down to rudy giuliani. time to wrap it up. they are giving a directive to robert mueller to wrap up the investigation. it's worth taking a step back. robert mueller is looking at russian interference into the election. >> we've seen very little concern of that from the president of the united states. we know, of course, he missed the opportunity in helsinki to chastized putin on the world stage. we know justin last week or so, we saw that display of force at the white house where his national security officials did finally talk about steps we'll take. warned about russia doing it again in the mid-terms this fall. but that felt like a moment of president versus presidency. they seem very out of step.
hours later donald trump goes to a rally in pennsylvania. i was there and said called the whole thing a hoax, it was a hindrance and holding back our ability to have a better relationship with russia. this is what they were doing. mueller will not leak, talk publicly and they are just going hammer away. as you say weigh down public opinion and eventually to when mueller does deliver this report to have half the country not believe it. >> walter, i want to ask you a question. the way i hear it is a bunch of bully, bullying everybody, and distracting everyone from the truth. if you go back to nixon, how do you take back the discussion, actually? how do you go back to what is real, what is unreal and what is untrue? >> the way we did it is the way we did it when it happened with nixon. honorable people in the republican party. honorable people in all parties. honorable people in the administration step forward and say no this is not what america is about.
we try to tell truth. >> a lot of republicans are not stepping forward and playing the trump game. what's your message to them. how do we speak to fox news people audience. >> in the mid-term elections people say this culture ever corruption is not something i want to have continue. leadership in the republican party, they will follow what they hear. it only happens if the mid-terms vote out some of the people who have been spineless. >> we know congressional republicans are helping the president do his bidding on this. they presented the freedom caucus did anyway on the idea of impeachment. rod rosenstein deputy attorney general is overseeing the special counsel's investigation. rachel maddox played last night in primetime devon nunes saying they would like to get rod rosenstein but wait until after kavanaugh has been seated on the supreme court. what's happening on the capitol
hill as they rally around the president. >> you look at the president and say those voters who were supporting the president those are our voters too. therefore, we got to do what the president wants. we have to appeal to those voters. at the same time you have this bizarre sort of long form slow motion negotiation, the ultimate art of the deal in term of whether the president will sit down or not sit down. look at the timeline. you see rudy giuliani on tv saying we want mueller to wrap this up, we want it to be over by september 1st. but you have these offers and counter offers going back and forth. it seems as if the giuliani team has an incentive to stretch this out than wrap it up. and push it past the september timeline. and then at some point the department of justice will not want to move forward with anything dramatic if you get too close to that mid-term election because we'll have the same problem we had back in 2016 with announcements coming out that
could be accused of manipulating the election. if you look at the series of offers and counter offers going back and forth about whether the president will sit down. i did some reporting on this yesterday. some people involved in all of this who feel there will be more rounds of offers and counter offers. i think that ultimately helps the president push this out as far as he can, push it closer to the mid-term election. that gives them many months to try to tilt public opinion against the mueller investigation. the longer they stretch this out the better they are despite what rudy giuliani is saying. >> so, you obviously, are covering the chris collins investigation. give us a sense of where it goes from here and how it plays into all the problems plaguing this presidency or the questions plaguing this presidency. >> chris collins said last night up in buffalo he'll fight this. he thinks he's done nothing wrong. he said he lost money himself personally on this insider trade. that's not the issue.
what the prosecutors have alleged is that what chris collins did was use his position on the board of the company to illegally tip off his son and his son was then able to avoid masses losses. when that stock went down 92% when it turned out that the drug that the company made didn't work at all that was a dramatic loss for the son and some of the friends and family around the son, they were facing that loss. able to sell and get out ahead of it and dump that loss on other unsuspecting people in the financial markets. collins said i held on to mimi shares personally i didn't do anything wrong. i lost millions of dollars on this trade. prosecutors say all you need is somebody with a fiduciary obligation to the company which collins did have then tips and then a trade and then you have illegal nude e insider trader. collins will fight eight and run for re-election. will he be able to win while
still under indictment and that's possible. >> all right. >> cnbc's eamon javers. thank you so much for being on. >> a punk rock fan. >> i want you to play the ramones all day on your office computer. >> i doubt we'll do that. mika, we met -- thank you. by the way, it was great to meet jimmy buffett a couple of weeks ago. >> you were on stage on broadway playing. >> jimmy was nice enough. >> margaritaville. >> this is a guy that bob dylan told rolling stone of his favorite songwriter. he's playing fenway tonight. wish i could be there. he's playing fenway tonight. he fills it up like every year. kind of crazy. >> so cool. still ahead on "morning joe," senator richard blumenthal joins the table.
he'll weigh in on the secret recording of devon nunes. you're watching "morning joe". we'll be right back. when you rent from national... it's kind of like playing your own version of best ball. because here, you can choose any car in the aisle, even if it's a better car class than the one you reserved. so no matter what, you're guaranteed to have a perfect drive. [laughter] (vo) go national. go like a pro. see what i did there?
♪ hawaii is in the middle of the pacific ocean. we're the most isolated population on the planet. ♪ hawaii is the first state in the u.s. to have 100% renewable energy goal. we're a very small electric utility. but, if we don't make this move we're going to have changes in our environment, and have a negative impact to hawaii's economy. ♪ verizon provided us a solution using smart sensors on their network that lets us collect near real time data on our power grid. (colton) this technology is helping us integrate rooftop solar, which is a very important element of getting us to our renewable energy goals. ♪ (shelee) if we can create our own energy, we can take care of this beautiful place that i grew up in. ♪
another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home,
and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. welcome back. willie, i'm looking at some of these songs. we're getting responses. i got to say a couple of great ones and, again, you can't pick a cool band and say oh, well my guilty pleasure is elvis costello that concentrate count he's the king of cool. here's some great ones. abba, "bread." who can listen to david gates. gary puckett and the union gap. the archies. let me tell you something about
archies "sugar sugar." '60s radical, radical generation. "sugar sugar" one of the top five songs of the 1960s. and don't dis archie and jughead. that song rocks. have you figured out an uncool band yet that you're willing to mention? >> i'm going to stick with mine. i feel no guilt about the dave matthews band. there's a large faction of americans who don't like dave matthews and i picked him up in college. good memories around it. no apologies. but there's a backlash against dave matthews. >> bunch of hippies. >> in the next segment sam stein wants to ask you about the steve miller band. >> come on. >> sam not here at the moment. let's turn to united states
senator who is waiting patiently -- >> counselor you opened up the door on the steve miller band. you're not going to stop. steve miller band had a couple of extraordinary albums like from '75, '77, '78. >> take it up to stein. >> hit me where i live. "take the money and run." this guy was great on immigration policy. >> let's get right into it. a member of the progressive group provided the rachel maddox show of you a do of david nunes speaking at a fundraiser in washington last week for kathy rogers. in the recording nunes and rogers said rod rosenstein cannot be impeached but only because it would imperil the nomination of brett kavanaugh. say he should not impeached. nunes spoke about the importance of protecting president trump.
>> >> so i don't think you'll get argument from most of our colleagues. the question is the timing of it right before the election. >> the senate has to start -- >> the senate would have to drop everything they are doing and start to, start with impeachment of rod rosenstein. then you take the risk of not getting kavanaugh approved. so it's not a matter of impeaching rod rosenstein it's a matter of timing. so there in lies your catch 22 situation where -- it puts us in a tough spot.
that's why we have to keep this. we have to keep the majority. if we do not keep the majority, all of this goes away. >> that's the voice of devin nunes. nunes office did not return calls seeking a response. joining us now a member of the judiciary and armed services committee senator richard blumenthal. thank you for your patience. let's talk about what you just heard. not news that devin nunes believes rod rosenstein should be impeached. he said it publicly. the freedom caucus introduced the idea of impeaching rod rosenstein as deputy attorney general. house speaker paul ryan came out the next day and said he did not support that, the impeachment of rod rosenstein. what nunes is saying there we'll put it to the side for a moment while we get kavanaugh on the
bench. but we come back to the idea that rod rosenstein should be impeached. what does that tell you and how seriously do you take that? >> that tells me republican leadership is putting priority on confirmation of brett kavanaugh. we may be the one to determine whether the president has to comply with the subpoena. this strategy is really the most craven and brazen kind of politics in its approach to undermining the rule of law and the second point to be made here is that the reason for retaining a republican majority is simply to protect the president against potential consequences that may involve other subpoenas uncovering other wrongdoing. this culture of corruption is so pervasive, wilbur ross, other
members of the cabinet, the president himself violating the clause by taking foreign benefits and payments. we have sued the president, other members of congress have join my lawsuit. it's unparalleled in american history. >> as you look ahead at the dominos that could fall if somehow rod rosenstein were impeached is that to put somebody in place, do you believe who could then fire robert mueller. is that the ultimate goal? >> that's a really key question because people look at the special counsel and say his position is critical, which it is. but ultimately the one responsible for approving the potential indictment, all of the budget, all the personnel of the special counsel is, in fact, the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. so in firing him or impeaching him or unrecusing the attorney general to fire him is really at the core of what i think this
strategy is. >> senator, a question for you. nunes is known as somebody who hates the investigation, who has cast doubt on it. but seeing the number for house republicans echo his comments, rogers echoing his sense of the strategy was new to me and i wonder if you take that to mean that the full house leadership is actually secretly behind this plan to impeach the deputy attorney general? >> in my view the republican leadership is ambivalent. it knows what the right thing to do here is. it needs the grit and back bone to stand up and really uphold the rule of law. and that applies to brett kavanaugh as well because right now the republicans are engaged in a conscious effort to hide and conceal documents that are necessary to evaluate brett kavanaugh's nomination. they've not only limited the
scope of the documents to exclude all the relevant paper and communications involving brett kavanaugh's service in the bush white house as staff secretary but they've also turned over the screening process to a team of republican lawyers headed by a lawyer who was, in fact, kavanaugh's deputy in the bush white house. and now is serving as a lawyer to a number of people in the bush administration or formerly in the bush administration like brett kavanaugh and they are cherry picking, pre-screening, sanitizing documents so that we have now filed a freedom of information request, we the democrats on the senator judiciary committee, we did it yesterday, because it's the last resort. >> you know, walter, getting back to devin nunes and what devin nunes' strategy is going
against rod rosenstein, even the white house sources are telling reporters that the white house considers nunes and the freedom caucus' attacks on rod rosenstein to be a joke. they know it's not serious. they know it's not going anywhere. yet you just wonder why paul ryan is allowing it to continue, and people are now looking about and trying to figure out what paul ryan's legacy is going to be. right now if this continues his legacy is allowing a guy to destroy the intel community's bipartisanship, historically bipartisan nature and secondly allowing members to run around and try to provide cover for vladimir putin by destroying an investigation that looks that putin is crying to undermine american democracy. it's pretty straightforward isn't it?
>> the white house considers it a bit of a joke that nunes is acting this way but it's not a joke. we used to be able to have a consensus in congress that people are going to rise above partisanship at times like when we got attacked by russia. i would love to turn it to the senator because i don't quite -- i mean you remember the times when there would be republicans and democrats who say, okay, this transcends our partisan differences, let's figure it it out. other than bob corker and jefr flake who are honest. republicans in the senate are talking to you and saying maybe we ought to move this along. i know mark warner has had some success on the intelligence committee doing that. is there some hope there? >> i always have hope. that's the reason i go to work in the mornings. but i am deeply disappointed in the republican leadership in the senate as well as the house. they've really collapsed like rusty lawn chairs.
and the real crying need is to return to that bipartisan consensus. we face an ongoing threat. not only the special prosecutor looking at putin and the potential conspiracy involving the trump campaign in the past and obstruction of justice which is unfolding before our eyes in real-time it's looking forward what putin is doing right now, the pervasive and ongoing threat to our democracy is what's really important. >> looking into the florida voting wells too and it's amazing to me that both parties don't want to say let's stop russia from hacking our election system. >> they are saying the right thing. but what's missing is action. and that will require republicans really standing up to be counted. as they did during watergate. >> senator richard blumenthal,
thank you so much for being on "morning joe" today. still ahead, in 2016 she was booted out of a luncheon for heckling donald trump. now she's on course to become the first muslim woman in congress. rashida tlaib joins us next on "morning joe". oh! oh! ♪ ozempic®! ♪ (vo) people with type 2 diabetes are excited about the potential of once-weekly ozempic®. in a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. oh! under seven? (vo) and you may lose weight. in the same one-year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds.
oh! up to 12 pounds? (vo) a two-year study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. oh! no increased risk? ♪ ozempic®! ♪ ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes, or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not share needles or pens. don't reuse needles. do not take ozempic® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to ozempic®. stop taking ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, itching, rash, or trouble breathing. serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis. tell your doctor if you have diabetic retinopathy or vision changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems.
i discovered the potential with ozempic®. ♪ oh! oh! oh! ozempic®! ♪ (vo) ask your healthcare provider if ozempic® is right for you.
muslim woman ever elected to congress and thank you for being on this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> so let's start with tezy questio -- the easy question but i have to love it. why your running? >> look, i'm really tired of being outside of the ring, especially now during a time when our country, i think, a lot of us are going through what i really believe is a troubling time in history where we don't feel like we belong or that we feel we're being left behind no matter your background. i think a lot of us on the 13th congressional district want to be able to have equal access to thrive and that's what i ran on and that's why i felt this need to run and to really fight back for all the families that are my neighbors, the people that, you know, helped raise me in the community, and i'm really excited for the opportunity to actually be able to be a voice
for all of them. >> rashida tlaib, first congratulations for winning. my question for you is you're a woman of color, you're of muslim -- you are a muslim, of immigrant origin. your parents are immigrants. you just won. how are your going to speak to some of the white americans who are scared, who are scared of they are going to be a minority, scared of people of color, of immigrants. how do you reach out to them and make sure they are on board with you and see you as an ally. >> it has to be through action not just through words. so for me my congressional district is predominantly african-american and white. many of them supported me primarily because of my history in the michigan legislature and what i stood up for. and many of them are going to have to have that direct human contact with me and the work i'm going to do. and throughout the district i'll create neighborhood service centers getting people to every
day issues will go hand-in-hand with the legislative work i do. it has to be through actions. they have to be able to proudly say yes she represents my ovals, she represents what i'm about. so many of us want to only be able to label people. she's a child of immigrant. she's palestinian. she's arab. she's a woman. but i'm a girl who grew up one wayne county like them. many of them really relate to the fact of my struggles as a new mom with the public school system, growing up in again in detroit with all of the different issues with poverty and challenges that we face every single day. so it's going to be through action and going to be able to be spoiled by me and they are going to forget that i may not look like them, but i think me having the similar challenges and me having their backs is what i think they are going remember and why they are going to be able to continue to support me. >> fair enough. yet we have a president who is working on divisive politics in this country. it's about us and them and fear
is a major role in that. how are you going to address that? you know in terms of divisiveness, in terms of fear of muslims. you know beyond action, how are you addressing that sentimentally even in your own words. >> our country is not divided. people truly believe that. i believe we're disconnected. i stood up when president trump called mexicans rapists. i stood up and absolutely said that's the most unamerican thing company have said. absolutely unfair. i stood up for my african-american neighbors when police brutality is still number one issue. black lives matter to me is something that i stand up for because as an american we all should be standing up for. we are just as connected. that's the problem with our country. that disconnection is why, you know, president trump and all the different people that are surrounding him are able to be able to be loud and be able to
continue to divide us is because we're not talking to each other and i'm hoping to be able to build a lot of that connection so that people can see just how beautiful our country is and we'll continue to be able to be. >> beautiful country. >> we just saw the video footage of the august 2016 donald trump speech which you were thrown out of. walk us through that moment. what were you proifting. what were you trying to communicate there. can any line be drawn from that day to what happened this week with you now running for office? >> you should know that moment. it wasn't just me. it was 12 other women that were with me that day. every two minutes he was asked a question. this was the first time ever that the detroit economic club didn't allow us to ask questions. he was a candidate that wanted to run for president of the united states. people don't always ask me what did you say? i asked him have you ever read the u.s. constitution. it was important to me because he was pushing for the muslim ban. he was pushing for things i
thought was against core values of our country and against the essence of the u.s. constitution. and all of us as i stood there, you know, i did it as a former michigan state representative and a lot of women knew i was coming they felt a sense of like okay if she can do it i can do it. i wanted to help elevate their voices and stand up. i'm proud of that moment because it was the most american thing i ever could have done to push back on that rhetoric. he was spewing out so much of information but not really getting to the core issues that were important to me and the other women that were in that room. >> sam stein here. i think to mika's point about women running for office, the man you will likely replace, representative john conyers was ousted in part because he was accused of being a serial sexual harasser of people in his office. he denies it, of course, but
that was the context of him leaving office. so i'm not asking you to speak specifically to his case, but in general how much do you think this me too movement has both p deciding to run, but also voting sentiment about with what type of public officials they want holding public office? >> i think, you know, it's really important to know congressman conyers was pretty courageous. one of the things you should know about him is he voted against the iraq war when it was unpopular. he voted against the patriotic act, one of the very few. we never had to check him on his votes. obviously the "me too" movement is something that is very close to me because i'm a victim of sexual harassment. i remember that moment of not really understanding what just happened. it was my first job out of college. there are people in leadership, not only in congress, but if
companies all across the country and different areas of the vector of business, film, you name it that are silent that are now speaking up and pushing back against the environment that is very toxic and unfair for women. and i'm really somebody that i hope to bring a voice to and i know that for us women, we wait to be needed. we wait until, you know, i call it the bat signal. >> that's correct. >> trump was so much the bat signaller for us like, women, we have to push forward. people laugh at me when i say clear tout room, boys, it's time for us. i don't care if you're a democrat or a republican woman, if you put us in a room to fix and deal with the gun crisis, we would do it in a matter of a few hours. we're so much more courageous when it comes to those kinds of issues that are very personal to us. and i'm hoping that we fill the halls of congress with moms like
me, with people that are so much more focused because we have so much more at stake when we're not in the room. >> and we have so much to offer. you touch on so many points that i work, rashida, every day to express to the know your value community. and i met a woman running for congress yesterday who is stepping up for many of the same reasons. women may be reticent to step up, but with when we do, we are so frustrated and we have waited so long for our moment that we're like, we're doing it, move over. rashid, you're a politician, an attorney, a mother and a wife, you are the child of immigrants. thank you. still ahead, three weeks after the one-on-one meeting between president trump and vladimir putin, the u.s.
announces new sanctions on russia over the poisoning of of a former spy in the uk. "morning joe" will be right back. ♪ this is a story about mail and packages. and it's also a story about people. people who rely on us every day to deliver their dreams they're handing us more than mail they're handing us their business and while we make more e-commerce deliveries
to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget... that your business is our business the united states postal service. priority: you ♪ the full value oft wyour new car? you'd be better off throwing your money right into the harbor. i'm gonna regret that. with liberty mutual new car replacement we'll replace the full value of your car. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪
you always get the lowest price on our rooms, guaranteed? let's say it in a really low voice. carl? lowest price, guaranteed. just stick with badda book. badda boom. book now at choicehotels.com are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home,
and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. you know, willie geist, while we've been talking about 70s acts that haven't gotten their due, we're overlooked one of them. bill murray and his lounge act, having the real words to "star wars" which my kids have been tortured by for 30 years. ♪ star wars nothing by star wars ♪ but you're talking to bill murray this weekend. >> yes, sunday today. we're doing a big two parter because it's bill murray. he doesn't do a lot of interviews. he has a 1-800 number.
he doesn't have a publicist or a manager. you call the 1-800 number. if he wants to call you back, he will. that's coming up on sunday today. >> very cool. so still ahead, president the president's legal team turns down robert mueller's latest proposed terms for an interview. >> we can hear you guys talking, by the way, sam. do you want to share with the rest of the class? >> i said nothing, literally. >> come on. do you want to shaure it with te rest of the class? steve miller rocks the house. >> that's how steve miller is. >> as rudy giuliani explains, the special counsel wants to get the president under oath to trap him into perjury. plus, republican congressman chris collins isn't the only person in trump's orbit with who is entangled in financial trouble. we're going to go down the list and it's a long one. "morning joe" will be right back. fact is, every insurance company hopes you drive safely.
now that you know the truth... are you in good hands? i have the honor of seconding the nomination of donald j. trump as the next president of the united states of america.
>> that is congressman chris collins, just over two years ago at the republican national convention. today, he joins this list of people charged with or pleading to crimes. trump's second campaign manager, trump's deputy campaign manager, trump's first national security adviser, trump's campaign foreign policy adviser, trump's first campaign manager and now trump's first congressional endorser and member of his transition team. >> hey, i'm no special counsel, but it kind of feels like there's a pattern here and maybe, maybe one of these witch-hunts where you just walk out of your front door and all the witches are just landing in your front lawn. >> right there in the yard. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." i don't know. it seems like a pattern on this thursday, august 9th. we've got joe, willie and me and along with us politics editor for the daily beast sam stein, political writer nick comfosori,
john that here mere of the associated press and author zaneb salbi, former justice department spokes maman and now msnbc analyst matthew miller and now kasie hunt. okay. in the news this morning in an interview last night, president trump's lawyer said special counsel robert mueller will personally have a lot to answer for hours after he rejected mueller's latest effort to get a sit down interview with the president. they had they had made a court offer. trump's attorneys publicly voiced their desire for the probe to end within the next few
weeks and suggested mueller would be violating doc policies if it does not end. we don't have an internal deadline. we are more special dishusly. you've said and i said we want to see this come to chose your soon here. >> yeah. i also think and hope the special counsel is as sensitive as to it as we are, we don't want to run into the november elections. this should be over by september 1st. >> if it isn't over by september, we have a very, very serious violation of the justice department rules. but what giuliani claims would be a serious violation is, in fact, a distortion. as the justice department inspecer general recently wrote that the 60-day rule is not written or described in any department policy or regulation.
adding, it is generalized, unwritten guidance that prosecutors did not indict political candidates or use overt investigative methods in the weeks before an election, not that they terminate investigations. >> and mika, it's important to remember that rudy giuliani, back in the 1990s, was -- i mean, he was whole hog into the investigation of bill clinton. and it was perfectly fine that ken starr conducted an investigation that went on years and years through one election after another after another after another. robert mueller is not going to indict anybody right before an election and that will be consistent with guidelines. but you have -- if you were in pursuit of a couple of dozen russians who you have evidence have violated american democracy, tried to undermine american democracy, you don't end that investigation. because rudy giuliani tells us
to end that investigation. in fact, if you need guidance from rudy giuliani, just go back and on just about every topic see what he said back when republicans were indicting or trying to indict bill clinton. >> giuliani went on to challenge the special counsel's motive for seeking an interview. and suggested mueller will soon be the one under scrutiny. >> we offered him an opportunity to do a form of questioning. he can say yes or no. we can do it. if he doesn't want to do it, he knows the answers to every question that he wants to ask. he's going to ask him, did you tell comey to go easy on flynn? no. why do you want to get him under oath? because you want to trap him into originalry. t perjury. >> he has all the answers.
they're not going to change. the president is not going to change his testimony. so stop the nonsense. you are trying to trap him into perjury because you don't have a case. >> i've never been involved in an investigation on either side. that's more illegitimate than this one that is so obviously more illegitimate and i wonder where is the sense of justice on the part of mueller, on the part of the justice department. the real story is not that this case is going to fizzle. it's that it's going to blow up on them. there's a lot more to what they did that nobody knows about yet. and mueller is going to have a lot to answer for. >> you know, with rudy giuliani going around and his eyes bulging and he's looking disoriented, you look for excuses for america's mayor. for being this wildly off base.
again, we just showed off the top of the show all of the members of the trump administration and the trump campaign that have already been indicted and are also that have already pled guilty, that have already pled guilty. i mean, you, on top of that, have 25 russians. this is an active investigation. now, rudy giuliani says they have nothing. they already have trump's second campaign manager, trump's -- i mean, indicted. trump's national security adviser indicted. and trump's first congressional endorser now indicted.
the man who put his name into nomination for republican nominee, now indicted. and 25 russians where the united states military and the united states intel agencies have said, this is the forensic evidence of vladimir putin, the gru, ex kgb agents trying to undermine american democracy. how does giuliani even -- i mean, how does he even have the nerve to even go on there and say what he just said? >> that's a lot of indictments and plea bargains for an illegitimate investigation. may 10th, the vice president of the united states says i think it's time to wrap it up. rowdy giuliani has said time and time again, put up or shut up.
and he repeated as he did last night that bob mueller doesn't have anything. >> the president's team is now saying that they want it to hurry up and quickly end. i'm always amaze at what the mayor's team will will say on the record. what he said in that interview is that the president's story, if put into testimony, is a lie. because it would put him into
perjury. >> people think i'm joking about it. i'm not if i was president of the united states and all of my lawyers thought i was too stupid or too much of a liar to sit down and talk to robert mueller, i'd fire them. but this is all we have heard consistently from donald trump's lawyers. that mueller will twist his head into circles that he's such a liar. there would be a problem if the editor of the "new york times" called me up and said we can't let nick go on today. my response would be, well, then don't lie. have him tell the truth.
every time giuliani and his lawyers say he's just too stupid or he's not smart enough, they come on and say, you know what? we can't let him on there because he'll perger himself. >> a sit down with a special counsel is no joke and even an innocent person would go into that with some fear and trepidation. if he can learn to tell the truth for two hours, he can get through it without being in perjury. >> this isn't a clear obstruction of justice. you have a lot of construction here.
we need to call it out. >> he sets these arbitrary deadlines and he keeps moving the goal posts trying to outrage republicans or others. it's been effective. the polling on mueller's probe has dropped in recent months. they're the ones who are dragging this on. that's part of this argument here is they're saying this is too long, it's a waste of time, it's a distraction, it's slowing on the president's agenda. >> mueller may push pause here. he doesn't have to wrap it up before september 1st. this could be something that
resumes in november or december and, of course, we saw from james comey, he doesn't have to push pause, either. this is no hard and fast statute on the books that says he can't do this in election season. >> still ahead, there's donald trump and donald trump jr., michael anyone and michael flynn jr. congressman chris collins and his son, cameron. there's a new legal affair under streetmy at this time. we'll talk about it straight ahead on "morning joe." but first, here is bill carin wes a check on the forecast. >> we have 60 large tun tamed fires now in california. still burning in the mendocino complex and the carr fire is about to head into the top ten, too.
it's endless. we're not getting the wet weather or the cooler temperatures. and the temperatures themselves today are soaring. it's going to be 106 in the interior sections of washington state. so today's forecast in areas of the southeast, you'll get some thunderstorms to deal with. we're getting a break in areas of new england after the overnight storms. not too bad in the middle of the country. stray storm around chicago. but look at how hot. boise, 106 today and tomorrow will be even hotter. the possibility of getting up there, about 108 all-time temperatures in boise, 111. so not that far away. and no moisture coming this weekend as we head towards the west. saturday, watch out. another soaking rain coming from the mid-atlantic states. that should linger over the top of us on sunday. the weekend forecast has quickly gotten worse for areas around philly, new york city and southern new england for saturday and sunday. unfortunately i'm all full of bad news today. new york city, enjoy today is
the bottom line. sunny and highs in the upper 80s. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. this is your wake-up call. if you have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis, month after month, the clock is ticking on irreversible joint damage. ongoing pain and stiffness are signs of joint erosion. humira can help stop the clock. prescribed for 15 years, humira targets and blocks a source of inflammation that contributes to joint pain and irreversible damage. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. before treatment, get tested for tb. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection.
help stop the clock on further irreversible joint damage. talk to your rheumatologist. right here. right now. humira. it's a revolution in sleep. the new sleep number 360 smart bed, from $999... intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. and snoring? how smart is that? smarter sleep. to help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the
patience of a saint. and now, save up to $500 on select sleep number 360 smart beds. plus, no interest until january 2021. ends wednesday. sfx: [cell phone dialing] no. no, no, no, no, no. cancel. cancel.
please. aaagh! being in the know is a good thing. that's why discover will alert you if your social security number is found on any one of thousands of risky sites. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app.
it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. the first member of congress to endorse president trump, chris collins is now charged with lying to investigators on an investment in an australian biocompany. collins was at a congressional picnic at the white house last year when he learned that innate immuno therapy putics received d news on a trial. prosecutors say the congressman franticly attempted to reach his son, cameron, whom he tipped off to the confidential corporate information days before it was made public. they claim cameron collins and
several others used the information to avoid more than $700,000 in losses. when news of the failed drug trial was made public, the shares of the company plummeted. speaking yesterday after being charged, collins who pleaded not guilty refuted the allegations against him. >> the charges that have been levied against me are meritless. and i will mount a vigorous defense in court to clear my name. i look forward to being fully vindicated and exonerated ending any and all questions relating to my affiliation with innate. as i fight to clear my name, i will continue to work hard for the people and constituents of new england and l remain on the ballot running for re-election this november.
>> collins is just the latest to find himself in legal jeopardy, including with his former personal attorney as president, michael cohen, also under investigation by the southern district of new york for tax fraud. cohen simultaneously served the president and had a business to cash in on his connections. last week, the journal reported that a top trump donor agreed the to pay cohen $10 million if he successfully pushed a nuclear project. and then there's sitting and former members of the president's cabinet with questions of financial misdoings. forbes had recently, man, what a report, that comments of wilber ross's businesses have sparked lawsuits, reimbursements and a fine from the s.e.c. tom price was questioned about a favorable purchase of a stock at the time of -- that he was also
at the center of congressman collin's arrest, price was fired amid scandals and his use of private jets. and then there's former epa administrator scott pruitt. talk about the swamp. it's now up to trump's neck. he, of course, intended the white house fourth of july barbecue while under 16 investigations. many of those involving his personal finances. then he was allowed to resign. but there's such a culture of corruption. since trump says he's only good until 11:00 a.m. in the morning, that was a pretty busy 9:30 to 11:00 block he had there doing
some insider trading. but you look, you look at the forbes article, there is just a culture of corruption and, of course, as they always say, the fish rots from the head. yeah. and matt miller, these are just the people around president trump. what about the trump family itself, still profiting in many ways off its hotels. ivanka finally had to shut down her clothing line. but they are still making money. they put things in a trust in a way that does not isolate them from profits to put it mildly. >> i think joe hit the nail on the head when he called it a culture of corruption. democrats have the ability to make this case that there is a culture that starts at the top with donald trump, starts with his family members, kind of pervasive throughout his administration. you could talk about the treasury secretary's flights on government planes, the interior secretary has been under inspector general investigations. now we see it moving over to a member of congress pt and the problem for other members of congress, that isn't to say every member of congress is corrupt. of course not.
but every one of them right now is allowing this to go unchecked. there's no republican chairman, there's no one in a leadership position. there's really no one on the hill who is saying, you know what? we need to get to the bottom of what's happening in this administration and stop it and investigate it and shine some sunlight. so that becomes a political vulnerability for all of them. i think want one of the interesting subplots of this chris collins thing is that he is now the second person to literally have committed a crime on the white house grounds. he made that call while he was standing on the white house grounds. it's the same place where mike flynn, in his white house office, sat down with the fbi and lied to the fbi. you could make a case that the white house compound now has the highest crime rate of any neighborhood in washington. coming up on "morning joe," do as i say, not as i do. that's how you might interpret a heated moment yesterday between the judge and prosecution during paul manafort's criminal trial. matt miller explains that, straight ahead. "morning joe" is coming right back.
but one blows them all out of the water. hydro boost from neutrogena®. with hyaluronic acid to plump skin cells so it bounces back. neutrogena® so it bounces back. the first person to survive alzis out there.ase and the alzheimer's association is going to make it happen by funding scientific breakthroughs, advancing public policy, and providing local support to those living with the disease and their caregivers. but we won't get there without you. join the fight with the alzheimer's association.
$16 million in unreported income from ukraine. >> wow. >> which manafort allegedly spent between 2010 and 2014 just a few years before he sought an unpaid role leading the president's campaign. there was a tense moment between special counsel prosecutors when the judge discovered a witness had been in the courtroom for other testimony. as "the washington post" described, ellis erupted saying that he typically bars all witnesses, save the case a agent from observing the proceedings. and thought he had done so in this case. u.s. attorney yuso asanye said he believed the transcript would back him up that he had allowed the case expert to remain. >> i don't care what the transcript said.
maybe i made a mistake. don't do it again. >> matt miller, the judge has been butting heads with the prosecution it seems from the beginning. doesn't seem to like the prosecuting attorneys too much. what's going on there? >> i think a little bit of a case of black robitis. judge ellis is known to be tough on the prosecution. i think a number of times he's been out of line here. if you look at him here, it's almost like when your parents would say it doesn't matter what i said, i want you to do this, anyway. sort of admitting that even if he made a mistake, he's blaming the prosecutors on it. you've seen him at times accusing one of the prosecutors of crying and personal terms. i think the ultimate question is what impact it's going to have on the case. if this was a much closer case, i bet the prosecution would be pretty worried, some of which would be worried if it were in front of a jury.
there's such strong evidence on of paul manafort that it's not likely to tip the balance at the end of the day. >> i was surprised when the judge told one of the attorneys to stop crying in the courtroom. he said i'm not crying. and it's just like yesterday where they said, well, wait, but you said he could. just read the transcript. i don't care what's in the transcript. not the sort of stable justice that you want overseeing an important case like this. what's the story? what's his background? >> let me just say something about the crying. that particular prosecutor that he said was crying used to prosecute the mob. he locked up the benado family in new york and had to be under round the clock protection because while he was investigating the benado family they tried to assassinate him. so i doubt very much he was crying in the courtroom because of tough words from the judge. this is a judge that's been on the bench for a long time.
judges, look, they have lifetime terms for a reason, to make them insulated from political pressure. there are down sides that come with the good side and one of the down sides is you see judges with this air began approach in the courtroom. you hear from people that practice in that court that judge ellis is like that in a lot of cases. but he's also a judge that likes to show off a little bit from the press and i think you're seeing some of that here. >> coming up, is seeing believing? the russian bots trailing social media. we'll talk about it next on "morning joe."
if yor crohn's symptoms are holding you back, and your current treatment hasn't worked well enough, it may be time for a change. ask your doctor about entyvio, the only biologic developed and approved just for uc and crohn's. entyvio works at the site of inflammation in the gi tract and is clinically proven to help many patients achieve both symptom relief and remission. infusion and serious allergic reactions can happen during or after treatment. entyvio may increase risk of infection, which can be serious. pml, a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection caused by a virus may be possible. this condition has not been reported with entyvio. tell your doctor if you have an infection, experience frequent infections or have flu-like symptoms or sores. liver problems can occur with entyvio. if your uc or crohn's treatment isn't working for you, ask your gastroenterologist about entyvio. entyvio. relief and remission within reach.
a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage. discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. only when you book with expedia.
house, during my spring break and i was watching that on c. span which tells you what a loser i have been for a very long time. >> a membership is expected to continue work on a broad budget outline embracing president bill clinton's economic plan that was unveiled to congress on february 17th, as well as the $16.3 billion fiscal year 1993 supplemental spending bill. >> the american people proved in 1992 that they were ready to hear the truth. >> reducing the federal government, being reform oriented and believing in change is ultimately the answer for the united states of america. >> so i believe that is how you spent your spring break back in 1993? >> '3. those were rocking good times. .and i will say, you move it forward now to 2018, and people should have been listening to tim penny and john kasich back
then. and, of course, we balanced the budget three years in a row after that, but right now, it's pretty remarkable. we've got the largest national debt ever. under donald trump and the republican congress. we've passed the largest spending bill in the history of america under donald trump and the republican congress. biggest pentagon budget ever in the history of the united states. we're spending more now on entitlement programs than we ever have before under this republican congress. more on domestic spending. i mean, every single category that you go through. donald trump and this republican congress, spending more and stealing more from our children and grandchildren than ever before. you know, mika, this is -- these people, if you just look at how they're spending our taxpayer
dollars, they're not only corrupt, but they'res also -- they're not conservative. they're not close to being conservative. they're big spending radicals and they're speeding us up towards insolvency. it's really reckless and irresponsible. >> you wonder who people are trying to protect and exactly why. joining us now, eugene robinson, brett stevens and deputy washington bureau chief at "time" magazinelty ex altman. the latest issue in time includes a piece called the real fake new crisis. bots and propaganda are part of the problem. the bigger issue is your brain. >> you know, brett, speaking of conservatives and republicans, you know, the one thing, we would always fight on the floor
of congress on with whether it's on foreign spending, foreign aid, whether it was trade, with whether it was getting involved in bosnia, whether it was -- when it had to do with taxes. there were always battles. but the one thing that always united conservative and moderate republicans where we were always together was on smaller government. >> right. >> on balanced budgets. on fiscal responsibility. and this radicalism, this spending radicalism that you can see in black and white, that you can see in dollars and cents, that you can see on the national debt clock, it shows just how radical donald trump and paul ryan and mitch mcconnell's congress has come to spending us into debt. >> right. they're unrecognizable as the republican party that i remember and that i was proud to see
my -- to affiliate with when rob a ronald reagan was president. not so subtle white identity politics and blow out deficits and blow out spending. so what's the point? it's the reason why people should be cheering the idea that democrats should take over at least one house of congress, not just for the political hygiene that would represent. but if you're going to have big spenders, let's have big spenders who believe in those purposes of government rather than essentially a hypocritical party mouthing pieties in precisely the opposite way, joe. >> and you have great advice for democrats who are running for office. you're saying forget collusion. just talk about the corruption. this is the most corrupt administration in our lifetime.
if you look just judge them on their first 18 months. one of the biggest problems for democratic candidates would be narrowing down all of the corruption and figuring out what to zam into a 30-second ad because there's so much corruption in there and donald trump, paul ryan, and mitch mcconnell's washington. >> corruption and then the questions of honor and integrity in the white house, the ones that, by the way, george w. bush successfully ran with in 2000 against a much less -- a much less tainted white house in bill clinton. i'm not saying forget collusion because i don't think it's potentially important or revelatory. what i'm talking about is strategy. if robert mueller comes up with the goods, if we discover it's as bad as many of us expect, then the chips will fall where they may. but i sometimes fear that democrats will spend all of their time talking, taking a
gamble in effect that the russia story is going to pay political dividends for them. it may or may not. what really they ought to be focussing on is the fact that you have a president who lies several hundred times a day, give or take an administration in which there's one scandal after another, most recently with wilbur ross with, tom price, scott pruitt, you know, that ought to be front and center in -- on every democratic campaign mat form. >> gene robin sorn. >> yeah. >> brett mentioned the lying. and we write about that all the time. but i don't think we actually pay enough attention to it. think about it. we have a president of the united states who lies at a clip of at the moment 16 or 17 times a day. he tells the american people things that patently are false, that are self-serving and false. we never had that before. we had presidents who, you know, lied here or there and who spun
things this way or that way. we've never had that. it's just an extraordinary situation. and brett is absolutely right. this is certainly the most corruption administration that i can recall and that's with no sort of, you know, not carrying any water for with, you know, nixon and, yes, there were some ethical challenges with the clinton administration and every administration. actually, except the obama administration, there's usually somebody indicted. but this is just incredible and extraordinary. i don't think democrats are going to miss that. at least i hope they don't. >> it's really hard to wrap our head around everything that's going on at this point. alex, let's go to the piece in time, the real fake news crisis. what is it? >> well, there's a dimension that academics and researchers have been noticing that goes beyond politicians spreading
misinformation or bots and controls or bad foreign actors. and that's the fact that we, the readers, are extremely susceptible to false claims spread around the internet. all day long, we use cognitive shortcut toes make decisions to help get us through our day. and those tend to break down when we're confronted with an avalanche of information. so we do things like move too fast, we click on headlines we haven't read. we share links that we've only seen other people's synopsis on. we rely on other people's credibilities. what academics and psychologists say if we want to stop the proliferation of bad information, we need to slow down and engage our critical thinking faculties because we are a big part of the problem. >> alex, what's the reality of that happening? the world is not getting slower, it's going faster every minute of every day. so how do you stop something
that is so pervasive and so becoming built into our brains, which is to say i've seen something before, i believe it to be true or not to take na extra step of confirming what i read or having to take everything online with a grain of salt? >> you make an excellent point. that's why a lot of the folks say it's really a public health crisis. in some effects, what we need you to do is rewire the way that we interact with when we're confronted on the landscape of the internet and all of these tore ends of information. we need to slow down. we need to read more carefully. we need to question the claims that we're seeing, whether they're by politicians who we may agree with, politicians who we don't. even studies that may seem to be tip top officials. so, you know, it's really on us. you know, i think that the -- the russian effort sort of to sew discord and spread false information government officials say is not going to stop, including with the president,
has a predelection for spreading this, this notion that fake news is pervasive. in order to avoid amplifying some of those claims, we have to do our own part. >> and i wonder, brett stevens, how much this really is new to american politics. and how much of it has just been part of our core for a very long time. you go back to the election of 1800, people talk about that being the nastiest race in american history. 1964, the famous book by richard hofstetter, and think about that fact. this is a politico headline from april 22nd, 2011. more than half of democrats believe that george w. bush knew about the 9/11 attacks and that was a story talking about how more than half of republicans believed that barack obama was
born in kenya. and so the question is, you know with, is this just who we have been? the difference is we have reckless public figures that are feeding into this paranoia. >> well, whether he said it or not, the line attributed to p.t.barnum for a long time, there's a sucker born every minute. i think two things are new here. one is the level of civic education has been declining. civics aren't being taught as they should in school so people believe all kinds of things about how government operates. how does a phrase like deep state gain as much currency as it has today, except through a kind of 30 or 40 years of miseducation of the american people? and then that has been weaponized, if you will, by the tools of social media in which
the dissemination of false or truthy news happens at a speed that is simply unbelievable. look, the other issue here is simply this. as the facebooks of the world have proliferated, as more people get their news from social media, the function of editors has diminished. and so, you know, what do editors do? we are a line of defense against, you know, a second pair of eyes saying, hey, that doesn't sound right to me. there's something the matter with that. and now the number of news organizations in which those editors play that core function is getting, unfortunately, smaller and smaller. >> and the reach of those news organizations that do that is less significant in terms of how people get their news. >> the post of the times are doing well. but -- >> exactly. but i mean, we used to be a filter, a big filter.
>> but that's a great point, gene, because think bit. you have the daily news in new york which is always provided an extraordinarily important function of keeping local and state officials honest. mean, b newsroom was wiped out. and you have facebook, which is having trouble figuring out whether alex jones conspiracy theories, same with twitter, about whether that's worth publishing or not. facebook itself, 50% of americans getting their news from facebook. i mean, therein lie also the problem right there. >> yes, that's part of the problem. we could do a whole show on the crisis in local and state level news. and as brett said, "the new york times" and "washington post" are doing fine. national, international reach and everything. but, you know, papers that cover cities and state government are
suffering. and, you know, there's malfeasance going on that's not being reported. >> ask yourself, how did the seth rich story not kill sean hannity's career. and that's -- i think that's some instructive -- >> the reason here is in this "times" story, right, the enemy really is us. what facebook is a mirror. it's the most effective mirror and concentrator of what we already care about and are passionate about. if you look at russian propaganda on facebook, it is mostly real material taken from actual real facebook faces. what they've done is held up the mirror to our own worse anger. what we have here is a hard problem to solve because it's really -- it's rooted in what we as americans want and are passionate about. >> alex altman, thank you so much. last hour, we spoke with rashida talib, poised to become
the first muslim woman elected to congress after her victory on tuesday in michigan. 2018 is set to become a record year for a variety of diverse groups with a record number of women. 185 so far having been nominated to run for the house alone. this november. and women are now the major party nominees for governor in 11 states. as many as 90 muslim-american candidates have ran for statewide or national office this year, the most since september 11th, 2001. and there are a record number of native americans and a record number of women among that group as well running for office in the midterms. our next guest is helping to usher in a rainbow wave with a record number of lgbtq candidates. more than 400 running for office this year. former democratic mayor of houston, aanese parker, joins u now.
thank you very much for being on this morning. tell us why you are running at this point. what's your biggest message? >> all of our candidates are running because they care about their constituents and they're focused on local issues. but they're also very aware that the lgbt community is facing a backlash across the country, particularly in state legislators, where anti-transbills, so-called bathroom bill, are popping up. where so-called religious freedom bills are targeting the lgbt community and they are motivated just as the other communities you mentioned, wanting to serve, but concerned about the direction of our country. >> and talk about this rainbow wave that you're looking at and you're running. we got 400 lgbt candidates running for office this year across the board. what is this inspired by? and is it trump based? >> it's partially trump based
but it's not just that. it is a concern about the direction of the country all across america. while there is a very real fear that the trump administration will roll back a lot of the progress we've made in the lgbt community, the worst of the bills that are targeting us are coming in the statehouses across america, and we have an unprecedented number, as you've said, more than 400 out lgbt candidates running. there are only 559 currently sitting lgbt elected officials. we have a map called the alpha america map. anyone can access it and look it up. 559 currently serving. this is a surge of candidates. many of them reflect that broader wave of women, of candidates of color, of transcandidates. we have a handful of republican candidates, a very tiny handful
of republican candidates. these are people who are values-driven leaders who want to serve their community who happen to be lgbtq. they may be running an anti-trump message but that's not the basis of their campaign. that's a tactic that may work in some districts. >> mayor, it's good to see you this morning. i've thinking about danica rome who won a seat in virginia. a transwoman. the emphasis of her campaign was to clear up congestion and get rid of the traffic on route 28 and she hammered that local message home until she was elected. some people even criticized her for not emphasizing more of the fact that she was a transwoman. so how do you recommend to candidates wanting to work that balance between their identity, how important is that, versus the themes and issues that are important to voters in their districts? >> all politics is local. danica execute perdly on the playbook. and that is to be open and authentic, to allow voters to
know who you are. and what she cared abouts what serving her constituents and that particular issue was the top issue for her constituents. that's what we ask our candidates to run on across america and that's what they're doing. they're running for the same reasons anyone else runs. they want to serve. and you have to match your district. you have to understand your district. >> anise parker, thank you so much for talking about the surge of these candidates running for office, stepping up. we appreciate it. >> you know, mika, we do so much throughout the day, three hours, it's hard to really consolidate the most important few minutes of every day. you know? >> well, i know, because there's so much going on. >> too much. >> before we wrap up today, joe, let's take a quick look back at the day's most important conversation. >> who's your uncool band, and it can't be like black flag. >> i'll stick with dave matthews. >> dave matthews is cool. you have to go with
monkeys or the carpenters. is this along the lines of creed? >> sam likes kiss. >> sam stein, he told me before the show, he still has a poster of hanson up. i said the carpenters. they rock -- >> anyone like pink floyd? >> yes, we all like pink floyd. >> and the dead? >> operation social distortion. >> hall and oats? >> mick said the wiggles. >> straight up def leppard guy. >> i like andy gibb and the bee gees. >> i did not, for some reason, like steely dan when i was in high school and college. i like them now. >> are the goo goo dolls uncool? >> i was more of a punk rock guy than goo goo dolls. huey lewis has to be top of the list. abba has made an appearance, partridge family. >> maybe i'm not cool. i didn't know huey lewis wasn't cool. >> i used to be with it but then
they changed what it was. now what i'm with isn't it and what's it seems weird and scary to me. it will happen to you. >> oh, my gosh. oh, my gosh. joe. really took things off the tracks. >> ten years ago, rolling stone put out a list of the top 25 guilty pleasure bands. ready for the top five? number five is chicago. number four is abba. number three is journey. number two is elo. and the number one guilty pleasure band according to rolling stone magazine, rush, number one on the list. >> oh. rush. >> pretty good choice. don't stop believing. >> what happened to van halen? are they a guilty pleasure or just a pleasure? >> just a pleasure, turns out. >> straight-up pleasure. >> no one says duran duran, right, because that's too guilty? >> no, no. >> we never admit that publicly. >> joe, you cannot forget the
reason kasie d.c. exists and that would be ac/dc. >> how about enya? i kind of like enya. >> way too cool for this discussion. mika, you mentioned bee gees. now, i hope you're referring to disco-era bee gees because that's a guilty pleasure of mine. >> andy gibb had an album -- >> -- the c-span soundtrack. >> i do like that. i do love that. >> and that soothing voice, mika, that soothing voice. >> well, shadow dancing. there's nothing better. >> well, actually -- yes, there is a hell of a lot better. we don't have time to go through that. by the way, i didn't know that rolling stone -- i didn't know that elo was a guilty pleasure. another great band. chicago. the eagles. >> let's just end it.