Good morning, everyone. It is monday, august 6th. Im Ayman Mohyeldin alongside Yasmin Vossoughian and louis bergdorf. President trump reignited the controversy around his campaigns 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 Posts 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 sons 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 didnt sign off on anything. He was coming back from g20. The Statement Released on saturday was released by donald trump jr. And im sure in consultation with his lawyers. The president wasnt involved in that. He certainly didnt 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 Trumps lawyer jay sekulow yesterday to george stephanopoulos. He got a chance to ask him about that. Why did you deny President Trumps involvement . When did you learn that the Denial Wasnt 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 didnt 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 caskasie 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 . Whats 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 thats 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 trumps 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 wasnt trumps 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 president ial 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 atrisk 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 neats espys. How things change. President trump didnt 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, theres only one choice in this election. Thats vote for Troy Balderson, hes going to help mark meadows. Hes going to help vince. Hes going to help jim. He is going to help everybody. The fact is we need more republicans. People say we have a majority. We dont really have. Youre the elite. You are the elite. Youre smarter than they are. You make bigger incomes. Youve 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. Youre 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 wellpublicized 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 irans 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 theyre 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 Alzheimers Disease is out there. And the Alzheimers 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 wont get there without you. Join the fight with the Alzheimers Association. But prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Vulg vu
ive been Making Blades here at gillette for 20 years. I bet im the first blade maker youve ever met. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Its 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 koreas Foreign Minister accused the u. S. Of failing to live up to the agreement President Trump and kim jongun signed, saying his country is, quote, alarmed about u. S. Intentions. He complained about u. S. Sanctions and what he says is americas 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 were looking for. A u. S. Diplomat delivered to a north korean official a letter from trump for kim responding to trumps 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. Lets 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 dont 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. Lets 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 theyre not getting a lucky break out there. Thanks for that, bill. Still ahead, the red sox looking for a series sweep
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