It becomes days after the senior white house advisers said the lawsuit could open the door to impea impeachment. A senators will unveil their plans to combat Sexual Assaults on campuses. This comes after 40 of colleges havent investigated a case of Sexual Assault in the last five years. Thats going to do it for way too early. Morning joe starts right now. Striking back with vengeance at hamas, israel launches one of its most severe ever. A whole neighborhood reduced to rubble. Gazas only power plant burned today, targeted by israel. Its destruction will leave 1. 8 Million People without
electricity. Tempers have now flared among allies. Secretary of state john kerry defended his efforts to broker a ceasefire after senior israeli politicians the European Union and the United States have announced tougher joint sanctions against russia. In what has become the biggest eastwest confrontation since the cold war. Russia is unwilling to recognize that ukraine can chart its own path. We have no plans to impeach the president. Its all a scam started by democrats at the white house. Ebola outbreak in western africa has taken a drastic turn. Patrick sawyer contracted ebola and died on a trip to nigeria. If we dont think this is a u. S. Problem, were dead wrong. Good morning. Its wednesday, july 30th. Welcome to morning joe. How is everyone doing around the table here . Great. You would not believe what just happened. With us onset we have morning joe contributor John Heilemann. They would not believe it. Morning joe economic analyst Steve Rattner. In Washington White House correspondent for the Associated Press julie pace. Good to have you all on board. Youre going to have to explain the whole segment we have coming up with this guy from sharknado. Is that a tease . You can play dumb if you want. Im not playing dumb. I didnt get at this time first time. Buy your advanced tickets. Have you heard of it . Ive heard it. Have i watched it . No. But ive heard of it. Must be a big money maker. Have to stay connected to popular culture. Ironically brilliant. Maybe ill learn something. We have all the news to get to. Russia facing a tough new round of sanctions targeting even thing from the Energy Industry to the stateowned banks. Both the u. S. And the eu his moscow with new economic punishments over the on going support of the rebellion. The new sanctions include arms embargo, limits on capital, the oil industry and restrictions on defense companies. Its seen as a serious move from the European Countries, many of whom have close economic relationships with russia. Still gazprom was largely left off the hook. President obama was asked yesterday if the International Pressure on the kremlin represents a throwback to the 1950s. Is this a new cold war, sir . No, its not a new cold war. What it is is a very specific issue related to russias unwillingness to recognize that ukraine can chart its own path. While there is a possibility
of further sanctions to come, a Top Administration official suggests the International Community may wait for a while to let the impact set in. Steve rattner, how long must one wait to see the impact of these sanctions and which ones stand out to you as potentially the most effective, if any . You could wait a very good long time. The history of sanctions and actually bringing a regime to its knees quickly is not a great list. Weve been trying to bring iran to its knees since 1979. Maybe now were finally succeeding a little bit. You go all the way back to cuba where we tried to use sanctions, you should never underestimate the power of a strong leader and a country to dig in and say were going to hang tough. This is not a total trade embargo. This is not trying to shut russia down because europe is still so dependent on russia for gas. When you say gazprom hasnt been hit, they want that gas, they need that gas. Theyre trying to trim around the edges and keep russia from
building more defense capabilities and doing international trade. Russia has said poout tin said himself that sanctions arent going to do anything. Hes really tough. I want to be clear, to get europe this far along, this united i think is surprising and i think its totally a functioning of the downing of the malaysian airplane. But it is still in the great scheme of life, youre not going to get obama is not going to get a phone call from putin today saying lets talk. A front page in the times this morning, as sanctions pile up russias alarm grow over putins tactics. Some people suggesting he back down. Julie pace, you cover the white house every day. There was pressure on the president to drag europe along. As steve points out, europe is tied more closely to russia economically than the United States is. What kind of leadership did the president show here and how did he make this happen . Theres been a really intense
lobbying effort by the president , other senior Administration Officials over the last two weeks since his plane went down and where you saw everything come together was on monday, obama convened a really unusual call where he had the leaders of britain, germany, france and italy all on a video teleconference together. Thats when they really came to this agreement to have these coordinated parallel sanctions, particularly important you had germany on board. Angela merkel had been talking tough over the last couple months, but others in her government had really been reluctant to move forward. Jrm any is obviously the European Economic powerhouse. What this plane crash did is it really brought this home to germany in particular, and people who had been reluctant under Angela Merkel said, finally, lets move forward and then you saw the other european nations follow. Health Officials Say a u6789 n. School packed with refugees was blasted this morning with shells from an israeli tank in
gaza. At least 15 people reportedly killed and 90 others injured. Witnesses say classrooms were blown to pieces as hundreds of palestinians took cover from the nearby fighting. So far theres no immediate comment from the israeli military. It follows a fierce day of air strikes in gaza which knocked out a key Power Station and sparked huge fires. Many of the attacks focused on tunnels used by hamas. One in a video showing a militant ambush that killed five Israeli Soldiers. The fighters disappear back under ground after the assault. While many outside countries push for a ceasefire, neither side involved in the conflict appears eager to put down their weapons. Theres talk of another attempt at negotiations in cairo. But signs of confusion within the different elements of the palestinian leadership. Now lets get the latest from gaza in msnbc correspondent aim
man mow yell din. Reporter today we headed to the school and spoke to both u. N. Officials on the ground as well as eyewitnesss who were there at the time of the attack. They described a very horrific scene. It was shortly after 5 30 a. M. Local time as some of those inside the school were waking up for morning prayers, that they say the first of seven explosions landed in the vicinity of the school, some landing inside the school courtyard. One of the School Classrooms we saw for ourselves was completely destroyed. It was there according to u. N. Officials and eyewitnesss that more than 15 palestinians were killed. Hundreds more were injured. People were showing us the blankets and sheets they were sleeping on soaking in blood. U. N. Officials on the ground
confirmed that shrapnel was taken from the scene of the location for their investigation. A spokesperson for a u. N. Agency told the bbc the initial investigation suggests it was an israeli shell that hit that school. It does give you a sense of the overall humanitarian situation that is worsening here. Even the places where people go thinking they would be safe or should be protected, they, too, are getting caught up in the violence. More than 90 different facilities in gaza have been affected by the on going fighting. Just driving the streets in the morning, were seeing people queued up for gas, bread, water. There is a shortage of everything and people are waiting hours to get their hands on the most basic of elements to survive another day. Nbcs ayman mohyeldin, thank you very much. The israeli ambassador to the u. S. Is going to be on the show this morning pushing back against criticism in israel of secretary of state john kerry. This comes after senior
officials in jerusalem were quoted as calling his ceasefire proposal a strategic terrorist attack. Kerry was asked about it. Ive taken hits before in politics. Im not worried about that. This is not about me. This is about israel and vales right to defend itself. Spend 29 years in the United States senate and have 100 voting record thats pro israel. I wont take a second seat to anybody in my protection to the state of israel. Prime minister netanyahu himself said to me can you try to get a humanitarian ceasefire for this period of time. If it brnt for his commitment to it, obviously the president of the United States and i would not be making this effort. Either i take his commitment at face value or someone is playing a different game, and i hope thats not the fact. John heilemann, what do you think is really going on with the secretary of state being attacked for what hes trying to do. This government in israel is carefully at tuned to american politics, both the ambassador, Prime Minister netanyahu, they know how american politics work and they do things in a very careful and calibrated way. I think theres no doubt that i think they got out a little bit over their skis in some of the krit tim which was mostly on background, not directly attributed to anyone in the government. Some of that criticism was pretty fierce. The pushback from the administration was also pretty fierce. Youre seeing them trying to recalibrate now. They know they need to have some kind of working relationship with the administration. To use republican surrogates in a lot of cases to make these attacks and people in israel to attack kerry was a little too harsh. And there you can see them kind of carefully trying to
recalibrate. Julie, im curious from your point of view what youre hearing from the white house. They were very upset at the kind of criticism kerry took a couple days ago. What is the mindset of the white house right now in terms of its relationship with the netanyahu government . We have heard over the last couple of days both publicly and privately some pretty harsh rhetoric from u. S. Officials aimed at the israelis. They think this is crossing a line to target kerry and even yesterday we saw a leaked transcript of a call between obama and netanyahu that was false and it was aimed at making the president look bad in this. The u. S. Simply doesnt understand the israeli strategy here. They point to the fact that at the u. N. Its the u. S. That is basically the only country that is standing by israel. The European Countries are increasingly losing their patients with israel, particularly as the civilian casualties in gaza mount. They say were the only ones
that are standing with you and youre going to turn your fire on us. I think the question of kerrys relationship and how productive it can be Going Forward remains an open one, though i think youre going to see him continue, maybe not traveling to the the region in the next couple of days but certainly this channel between the u. S. And straeld is definitely not going to be cut off. Steve, what julie is saying, you wonder about the israeli political strategy is in the United States. The United States obviously is israels closest ally in all this. What is the value in ratcheting up pressure . What is the value in calling out john kerry specifically by name . I think the israelis are following their usual multipronged approach. They have a strong and effective lobby and are very good at arctic eighting their position. Its been hard of them because of the number of civilian casualties. I think they generally perceive rightly or wrongly that what kerry was saying or doing was so
far over the line in terms of what they needed to feel in terms of his support that they had no choice but to go to the white house. Im going to turn to politics now. This is on the front page of the Washington Post. The corruption trial of former Virginia GovernorBob Mcdonnell. Opening statements have been read and the governors legal team is revealing a somewhat unusual defense. If you might remember, in january the mcdonnells were indicted on 14 counts of federal corruption after allegedly using the office of the governor to enrich themselves, accused of accepting 165,000 in gifts from this man, Johnny Williams, the former ceo of a Vitamin Company. The gifts included covering a 15,000 catering bill and a 1,000 dress for the mcdonnell doubter wedding. The couple were invited in vacations and golf outings and also alleges that the governor used his office to help williams eye business. Yesterday the attorney for mcdonnells wife marine say it is governor and his wife have been struggling through the broken marriage and Maureen Mcdonnells crush on the wealthy business is partly to blame. They claim Johnny Williams was larger than life calling him, quote, her favorite playmate. All right. We get the point. Obviously theres some sort of triangle here. Bob mcdonnells lawyer says williams used the rift between the couple to poison the marriage and take advantage of maureen. Theres personal emails where hes, quote, begging his wife to help save their marriage. This is an absolutely incredible story in some ways. You think about Bob Mcdonnell not even four years ago, widely considered a potential running mate for mitt romney ton republican ticket, someone who at the end of the campaign in
2012 is someone people thought would run for president. Bobs for jobs. Had been popular and successful in terms of the economic record. Very Successful Campaign at a very difficult time. Not a frontrunner, but somebody who could be a very credible aspirant to the oval office this time around. And now hes in tatters in every way, his personal life, his personal life being made public, the corruption charges themself that are very serious. Hes facing prison time if convicted on these charges. One of the most staggering falls from great height or a lot of promise to this place where he is right now. What i find interesting about these kind of things, and obviously they come in different flavors and sizes, that he was so selfunaware. I remember him debating whether a Highway Trust Fund was going
to pass. So unaware you can be on the stage when all this going on. Democrat john edwards, its not a unique case. They come to believe their own. The couple has separate legal its very complicated. Separate legal teams coming to court. Well follow it. Coming up on morning joe, chairman of the house Foreign Relations committee, congressman Henry Cuellar and Dannel Malloy join us on the show. Plus, the day were all waiting for. Theyre sharks, no one has been eaten. It takes a lot more than that to bring a good man down, a lot more than that to bring a new yorker down. The star of sharknado 2,
the second one, ion sooerg joins us. He came up with the whole concept. Something brilliant going only among Everything Else im hearing now. This close call on an 80foot high railroad bridge wins. Jesse ventura win it is battle against a Deceased Navy s. E. A. L. Mika, are you enjoying this taste of fall . What happened to summer . Its gone. A lot of people asking me, are we going to see summer returning . Not any time soon. This cool dry air is here to stay. This is just off the charts this morning. Its 50s and 60s, feels refreshing in many areas. Many people turned the ac off. Saranac lake is known as a cold spot in the heart of wenter, 37 degrees right now, five degrees away from a frost. You know people out there camping in the adirondack that are freezing in their sleeping bags. Through the midwest, 54 in fargo. Atlanta, georgia, record low this morning of 60 degrees. Yes, this has been a very unusually chilly july through much of the eastern half of the country. Today the big story is the rain. We got poured on in the denver area. Flooding on the roads there. We were afraid in the canyons and other areas we would get horrible flooding. Just light rain in oklahoma. That will change later today. If were going to have one spot to see possibly devastating flooding, it will be central and northern oklahoma, as much as four to six inches is possible. Watch out in tulsa and Oklahoma City area. Here is your wednesday forecast. Chicago, three days in a row of 78 degrees in the middle of
summer with no humidity. Atlanta is going to warm up for a beautiful afternoon. How gorgeous from the carolinas through boston. I talked yesterday about the tropical disturbance. It is yet to develop. Still watching it possibly a Tropical Storm near puerto rico on sunday. Then it should be off the east coast next week, maybe bringing us some waves. Well see how strong it gets. Youre watching morning joe, beautiful shot of washington, d. C. Well be right back. Vo this is the summer. The summer of this. The summer that summers from here on will be compared to. Where