Welcome back, everybody. Lets get a check on the day ahead before tossing over to morning joe. Rick perry dips his toe to be i hampshire today with Business Leaders attending a gop reception. Bob mcdonnell is back on the stand again today in the corruption trial against he and his wife maureen. That is going to do it for way too early. Great week, everybody know what day it is . Payday friday morning joe starts right now president obama played eighth round of golf of his vacation today. Hes played so much golf, i guess he is getting pretty good but still not at the pro level yet and ill show you what i mean. Here is Rory Mcilroys tee shot. In the hole they are yelling get in the
hole, get in the hole. Now see the difference with obamas swing. Listen. Get back to the white house get back to work get back to work get back to the white house. Get back to work, get back to the white house. Thats pretty good. Thats funny. Hi. A little bit of a controversy that the president gets for sure. Every president. Why did you wear the same sweater . Vomiting blue on the set. Blah blah can i just say i want to wear my tshirt . Do it. Its friday. Why not . Hello, thomas. Good morning. When you get to be our age, it will be harder for you to get yourself together in the morning. Im just saying. Its hard. Yes, it is its friday there is a very blue theme going on over here. Payday friday check your apps and pay your bills, people its a good day to be an american. Thomas has been in a great mood since 3 00 a. M. Like rambling on. I like it a lot but sometimes its a little much. I got paid mika is bringing it this morning no kids. Kids . Do i have kids . No. A dog. A nice little beagle. Interesting. Kids, no kids. Thats all. Youre staring at me like youre appalled. Kids . What . I can tell by the price tag on your sweater. Im going to just listen, if you guys dont get mika like a different color here, im going to take this off and just wear my gray tshirt. Okay. Do i have to change . While you go to a clip, im going to a great tshirt. I think i should get a blue shirt and we should go all in on
this blue thing. What do we have here . A lot of news to cover. The press conference yesterday was scary. The pentagon, oh, my gosh. We start with that. We are also following the trial in virginia of governor Bob Mcdonnell and it is getting extremely personal. Really Big Questions about that. First, u. S. Officials are offering grim warnings about the terror group behind the beheading of an american journalist. The nations top general says it may be impossible to stop the militants without them hitting iraq and syria. Isil is a sophisticated and wellfunded, as any group that we have seen, they are beyond a terrorist group and this is beyond anything we have seen. We must prepare for everything. And the only way you do that is you take a cold steely hard look
at it and get ready. This is an organization that has an apocalypse end of day Strategic Vision which will eventually have to be defeated. To your question can they be defeated without addressing that part of the organization which resides in syria, the answer is no. That will have to be addressed on both sides of what is essentially, at this point, a nonexistent border. He lets bring in nbc news chief pentagon reporter Jim Miklaszewski who was at the briefing yesterday. Jim, as youve been watching this, we have been talking about this for a week. You got a sense of a week and a half ago that the white house realized that isis was a threat they no longer could ignore. Talk about humanitarian assistance and then arming the kurds and bombing and then couple of days later we are going in helping them take over a dam. Now we are actually talking about and i dont want anybody to take this the wrong way. Im not being critical. I am saying it is remarkable that just a couple of weeks later, we actually have generals going out, obviously, at the white house guidance and talking about the possibility of actually bombing syria. Talk about necessity. Talk out of total necessity. Talk about how quickly our focus is expanding. Well, joe, we talked about this last week. When we talked about the u. S. Backing iraqi and Kurdish Forces with air strikes to take the mosul dam. That was the opening salvo in what was going to be, according to some officials we were talking to, a long running war with isis, at least there in iraq for the time being. Nobody is under any illusion that i circumstances can simply be contained there in iraq and the fear, of course, as we have also talked about, is that the
threat from isis there in iraq is going to spread not only through that region, but could eventually find its way here to the United States in terms of terrorist attacks because they do have, for the time being, only a small number, a handful of americans within their ranks. They think that success that isis had in iraq is only drawing in more recruits and their numbers are thought to be about 17,000 right now, joe. All right. We talked about that News Conference being sobering. A lot of people who saw it, i just wonder what your thoughts were, mick. You go to these all the time. Yeah. Reporter well, the president has said you know, he was eluding to the fact this was going to take sometime. I dont think the u. S. Government was leveling with the american people. The folks we were talking to said this is going to be a long, hard slog, not to quote Donald Rumsfeld but this is going to take some time. We had talked about that also
earlier. First you have to contain them in iraq. Then you have to go after the leadership as general dempsey was talking about. And he didnt say it was necessarily going to be the u. S. He says this has to be a Broad International effort. And, so far, except for some humanitarian assistance, we havent seen any other of our european allies in particular weigh in and they are just as threatened potentially as the u. S. Is because many of those isis members are european. So europe european. So that has raised some level of disappointment here in the pentagon. Right. Reporter but, first, they have to deny that safe haven in iraq and just like al qaeda, and just like the attempts over the years to get Osama Bin Laden, they are going to have to cut the head off that snake and go after the isis leadership. Thomas . Wow. Mick, explain to all of us why we arent talking about Bashar Al Assad when it comes to the equation. I think most people getting read
in on this know the last time we were talking about saeyria, it president obama against assad and you better not cross that line. Now we are talking about syria, no one is talking where al assad stands on isis. Is he a trusting partner in trying to eliminate isis from his own country and are we really going to bomb syria and not have Bashar Al Assad on board . Reporter its not clear, first of all, the u. S. Is launching air strikes inside syria but it would not be inside syria. Technically, geographically it would be across the border but they would be going after what is now considered to be the isis state, the isis nation of terrorism. Quite frankly, Bashar Al Assad is sitting back there in damascus watching all this probably with some amusement because the u. S. Finds itself in
a battle with the same enemy which assad does. Its a strange partnership. You know, politics makes strange bedfellows of war and sometimes even makes stranger bedfellows. In this particular case, this narrow instance, assad and the u. S. Are on the same side and wanting to get rid of this threat from isis. Nbc has learned new details about the effort to rescue james foley. Last november, foleys family received an encrypted email in english demanding 132 Million Dollar ransom. After a brief email exchange the captors were not heard from again until last week, when a furious message from the group promised foleys death in retaliation for american air strikes. Later on morning joe, we are going to be speaking to the parents of journalist james foley about their sons Work Overseas and the governments attempt to save his life. That is coming up in our 7 00
hour. Nbc, Jim Miklaszewski, thank you very much. We will be following you on this. We move on to the krups tri corruption trial of former Virginia GovernorBob Mcdonnell. It was yesterday in richmond where the former governor delved deep in what he calls a troubled marriage. In an email he told his wife this. I want to be in love, not just watch movies about it. I am so spiritually and mentally exhausted from being yelled at. I dont think you realize how you are affecting me and sometimes others with your tongue. And when asked on the stand whether he thought his wife was having an affair with a donor of the center of it all, he said, no. But when asked whether they had a strong emotionally relationship, he said yes. All of this is being used to show that their marriage was so fractured that they couldnt have conspired to solicit
thousands of dollars in exchange for favors. Sam. Senior marriage correspondent . Senior marriage correspondent of the huffington post. Mika is very skeptical. Who are you skeptical of . She is skeptical their marriage is that broken. She thinks they are going to be found not guilty and go out on the courthouse steps and kiss and say, we got them. No double jeopardy. It will be the end of a great movie. Its not what i think but okay. She thinks its all a big scam. I dont think its a big scam. I think you look at what everybody said about his wife and it looks pretty ugly. Marital disputes have two sides obviously. I would be curious what email she sent him if she ever released those emails and i would love to see them. But there is something inherently sad about it. Yeah. Im sorry i hurt you . Yeah, the whole thing is very sad and unfortunate and its bizarre its gotten to this point that this is now the sort of crux of his defense i was estranged from my wife that our relationship is so bad we couldnt conspire could be corrupt. I dont know what the legal basis of this could be and how it will get them off on this, but it goes to show you so many bizarre things happen behind the scenes with politicians lives that its not this glamorous thing they put up. Oh, when youre in such a spotlight like that and you bring your family alone, it really changes the dynamic and things come out in people. The alternative universe, this man could have been mitt romneys Vice President. Oh, my gosh. We could have been seeing this play out at the Old Executive Office building. I think why are you skeptical . Im going to bring in a reporter who is covering this. What i question and i dont think there is i dont know what is going on. But i just think there is such an avid fervent effort to show
how fractured they were. I dont believe it. Let me say this. You can have a very acrimonious marriage and talk about the nice rolex watches that youre receiving. No way he did not know about all of these things. Maybe. That kind of goes against everything that he has proved about himself as a successful person. We dont know that. I think so. Listen. His wife seemed to want to have an affair with this Jonnie Williams guy. Yeah. She probably wasnt sharing everything with him. Im just guessing. Listen. There is two sides to this story. Im curious what her emails say. Let me just i have a question for the reporter. Why dont we hear her side, though . Exactly now that why is she not defending herself . You just answered my question. Do you know what im saying . You make funny of the ruse that might be going on here and yet
there is no pushback . That makes me sad. Lets bring in wall street journal valerie bord line. Valerie, am i the only one looking at this thinking something doesnt make sense here . I think you have the question on the mind of every person in this courtroom which has been packed because for four weeks, the question has been is this just so much kabuki theater we are seeing between the two people and not communicating or is the marriage that fractured . I think a sense especially after mr. Mcdonnell gave the chronology of the troubles in their marriage yesterday morning a sense from the people around and friends that this is really a marriage that is as mr. Mcconnell describes it in deep, deep trouble. Okay. And, yet, will we hear, i guess maybe concerns from the other side . Is this going to become some sort of Divorce Trial . Are we going to hear her side in this . I guess that is number one. Number two, the other question that i have would be how could he not know about some of these massive sort of exchanges that took place . Is that even possible . Well, i think to your first question, mrs. Mcdonnell is not expected to take the stand. Her attorneys have said that. Shes not on the witness list so we dont expect to hear it from her mourth. Mr. Mcdonnell said yesterday his wife often didnt write him back. Particularly from the labor day in 2011 he tapped that out on his blackberry in the middle of the threeday weekend and they werent speaking and he said she didnt respond. It wasnt said in opening arguments we would hear extensively on that point. It was bolsters she had a crush on mr. Williams if we dont see that content. One of the things that came up yesterday mr. Mcdonnell says he
is living with his parish priest. Its a blog that many priests would keep but yesterday he talked about mcdonnell trial by name and he said something i think gets at what youre talking about, what are we seeing . He said is any married person reading this and want to stand in front of the public and tell the whole truth about their life . Its a enriching experience i think for a lot of people to see. Valerie, for you as a reporter, this has to be interesting to cover because this is not about a celebrity divorce. This is about federal corruption charges that have been brought against a Virginia Governor and it seems as if the behind the scenes kabuki theater of the relationship of a Jonnie Williams maybe trying to buy access of the governor through Maureen Mcdonnell is what is really playing out here and that is the relationship that is being vetted more than what the
governor actually knew about where this flow of cash was coming from. Reporter mrs. Mcdonnells attorney say if he was trying to buy her influence, she didnt have influence to sell because she wasnt a public figure. She was not elected to anything. So its very important for prosecutors to tie mr. Mcdonnells complicity in this arrangement. I think we expect mr. Mcdonnell to take the stand again this morning and he is still on direct examination by his attorney. Prosecutors on the crossexamination, they dont care about the state of the marriage. They want to know when you hosted a luncheon and appeared at this luncheon, mr. Mcdonnell, that honored mr. Williams, why did you do that and give people samples of his product . Why did you, you know, why did you ask various members of your administration to work with with him . They will say we dont care. We dont care about the state of your marriage. We care about the acts you took as the governor. Given that is the question ultimately, ill try this from a different angle. Maureen mcdonnell is being raked over the coals. Her reputation is being completely destroyed and, yet, shes not ever going to take the stand . Shes not ever going to speak for herself . Is her team and is she okay with this . She is facing legal troubles in owner own right and they are calculated putting her on the stand is too much of a risk to take at this point. The question that mcdonnell has to answer why did he take these specific actions buying 30,000 share in Williams Company that he, himself, did. If youre so estranged from your wife and everything is going through your wife, why do you personally buy those shares . That is the question he has to answer. Wall street journal valerie bord land, thank you so much. Thank you, valerie. Come back and keep us uptodate. Appreciate it. Still ahead on morning joe, once wasnt nearly enough
for us. We have more on morning we have more this morning of the author of the narcissist next door. Who passed the test with flying colors . 9 out of a 4 thats correct. Since i didnt take it, with we must talking about someone else. Plus, both american ebola patients have been officially cleared of the deadly virus. We will talk about how doctors were able to pull that off with dr. Zeke emanuel. How much could you dead lift . Something tells me not as much as Hollywood Star hugh jackman. The dramatic rescue of the luc luc lucky koala. The fuzzy little bear, Something Like that. I actually think that the colors on my tie match your sweater. We are changing. We are going to put an end to this. Tels tell us about the weather. If youre in the adirondacks this weekend you will be complaining because its not going warm but the rest of the country bakes in a late august heat wave. The cool air moved in and over from new york to d. C. But the roads are probably a little wet and showers from albany, new york, over to boston if youre traveling on the mass pike. As far as the forecast goes, still additional showers later this afternoon from new york to d. C. , maybe a rumble of thunder. Look how cool its going to be. In the s60s for highs in area o new england. We got drenched in chicago overnight. Thankfully the rain is over with and flash flood warnings should be lifted shortly but we picked up 4 inches of rain in 40 minutes at Midway Airport so a lot of water out there near chicago. Drive carefully and drive slow. It should improve throughout the day. What is happening with the area
of tropics . No eminent threat to the southeast coast and florida coast but its a hot forecast from texas to the carolinas to florida. Friday, saturday, and sunday, nothing changes there. Its going to remain hot for the foreseeable future. Youre watching morning joe. We will be right back. Wondering what that is . That, my friends, is everything. And with the quicksilver card from capital one, you earn unlimited 1. 5 cash back on everything you purchase. Not just everything at the hardware store. Not everything, until you