hurricane julio is nipping right at its heels. >> from this point on, to the latter part of the weekend through late sunday to deal with both of these tropical systems and whatever they're going to throw at us. good day. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. it is a food fight. vladimir putin's ban on chicken imports from america and fruit and vegetables from europe in response to western sanctions. but is putin taking food off the table of his own people? former ambassador to russia michael mcfaul is an nbc contributor now at stanford and joins me. thank you very much. let's talk about putin and whom he is hurting because he's banning food from the u.s., about $1.3 billion a year. i've talked to a chicken producer here and others in the

agriculture sector. they say that 40% of his food and drugs come from europe and he is really hurting the russian people. >> yeah, that's right. i mean, it's tragic in my view. not least because we worked several years when i was in the government to try to increase trade and investment including food imports to russia. and at the end of the day, who is going to be hurt is the russian consumers both because these goods will no longer be on the russian market and because their absence will increase inflation. that's just simple market logic. the consumers in russia are the ones that are going to be hurt, not the americans. >> and there are a number of ceos who have been here in washington for this africa summit. they're bidding on african contracts trying to counteract china which has been investing so heavily in the continent. they've all been largely affected because these are big global players. they say that it isn't good for their companies but they think the u.s. is doing the right thing. >> i think that's right. i mean, the other piece of this,

of course, is that russia tried for many, many years to get into the world trade organization. that finally was completed two years ago. and just a few years in now they're violating the rules of the game. they're violating the norms that she signed up for. that's going to make people suspicious in the longrun. that makes investors nervous and anybody making economic decisions about a long-term strategy in russia is much more cautious today than they were just 24 hours ago. >> snowden's asylum in russia has been extended. i guess that's not a big surprise. but also we're seeing a massing of russian troops along the border with ukraine and a warning today from the nato secretary-general warning from the polish prime minister yesterday that he's concerned about a russia move into the poland proper not only into ukraine. do you really think this is going to become not just a trade war but a hot war, a military action? >> i still think it's a low

probability but a much higher probability than just ten days ago. for the simple fact that the ukrainian military is winning in eastern ukraine and putin's surrogate there, these russian intelligence officers that are running the military campaign on his behalf, they're losing. he doesn't have very good options left. putin has really bad options right now. one is to admit defeat, the other is to think about an excuse to go into eastern ukraine. so i'm very concerned. i'm not so concerned about him going into poland, by the way. i think our article five commitments within nato is a good deterrent there. i think it's right that nato is trying to increase our commitments to that article five commitments. i'm really much more worried about eastern ukraine. >> what do we see in eastern ukraine now, you mentioned the fact that the government forces are beginning to win, they've made moves into donetsk and

elsewhere, what is the balance of military power right now, between the pro-russian separatists and the kiev military? >> the military, the kiev military, the ukrainian military has surrounded the major city of donetsk. that's where the concentration of the rebels, so-called rebels, ukrainians hate it when you call them rebels. so i'll call them so-called rebels. so the situation inside the city, of course, is disastrous for the civilians in terms of just sanitary conditions and food supplies and things like that. but the pressure is on, and you had shelling last night in the city for the first time in many weeks. its feels like it's coming to a head in donetsk which is the major city that the rebels now hold. >> thank you so much, ambassador mike mcfaul. good to see you. and president obama right now is at ft. belvoir in virginia. he'll be making remarks before

signing the veterans health care bill that was passed by congress before congress left for its recess. he's about 45 minutes late. there's a lot of conversation about what delayed him and if there's some other foreign policy issue on the table today. >> as some of you may know, bob headed up one of the biggest most successful companies in the world, but he also was a west point grad, also a -- also a ranger who served valiantly on behalf of his country. and this is a labor of love for him and he has hit the ground running. he's heading out to v.a. hospitals and clinics around the country starting with phoenix tomorrow. so thank you, bob, for accepting this charge and this challenge in making sure we're doing right by our veterans. i know you're going to do a

great job. really proud of him. i want to thank all the members of congress who are here today. i especially want to thank those who led the fight to give bob and the v.a. more of the resources and flexibility that they need to make sure every veteran has access to the care and benefits that they've earned. senator bernie sanders, senators richard burr, representative mike misho, representative jeff miller. give them a big round of applause, thank you. that's some good work. we're all grateful to our outstanding veterans service organizations for the work they do on behalf of veterans and their families. thank you very much to all the veterans service organizations. most of all i want to thank general buchanan and major turnbull and all who served here at ft. belvoir. for nearly a century this base

has helped keep america strong and secure. 70 years ago troops from here, the 29th infantry division, the blue and gray, were some of the first to storm omaha beach. in recent years many of you have deployed to iraq and afghanistan, and you've risked your lives on multiple tours to defend our nation. and as a country, we have a sacred obligation to serve you as well as you served us. an obligation that doesn't end with your tour of duty. every day hundreds of thousands of dedicated public servants at the v.a. help us honor that commitment. at v.a. hospitals across america, you've got doctors and nurses who are delivering world class care to america's veterans. you got millions of veterans and their families who are profoundly grateful for the great work that is done at the v.a., and as commander in chief, i'm grateful, too. but over the last few months,

we've discovered some inexcusable misconduct at some v.a. health care facilities. stories of our veterans denied the care they needed, long wait times being covered up, cooking the books. this is wrong. it's outrageous. and working together we set out to fix it and do right by our veterans across the board no matter how long it took. we've already taken the first steps to change the way the v.a. does business. we've held people accountable for misconduct. some have already been relieved of their duties and investigations are ongoing. we've reached out to more than 215,000 veterans so far to make sure that we're getting them off wait lists and into clinics both inside and outside the v.a. system. we're moving ahead with urgent reforms including stronger management and leadership and oversight and we're instituting a critical culture of

accountability. rebuilding our leadership team starting at the top with secretary mcdonnell. and his first acts is that he's directed all v.a. health care facilities to hold town halls to hear directly from the veterans that they serve to make sure that we're hearing honest assessments about what's going on. now, in a few minutes we'll take another step forward when i sign into law the l.a. reform bill that was passed overwhelmingly with bipartisan majorities and that doesn't happen often in congress. it's a good deal. this bill covers a lot of ground, from expanding survivor benefits and educational opportunities to improving care for veterans struggling with traultic brain injury and for victims of sexual assault. but today i want to focus on the ways this bill will help us

insure that veterans have access to the care that they've earned. first of all, this will give the v.a. more of the resources that it needs. it will help the v.a. hire more doctors and more nurses and staff more clinics. as a new generation of veterans returns home from war and transitions into civilian life, we have to make sure the v.a. system can keep pace with that new demand. keep in mind that i have increased funding for the v.a. since i came into office by extraordinary amounts, but we also have extraordinary numbers of veterans coming home. so the demand, even though we've increased the v.a. budget is still higher than the resources that we've got. this bill helps to address that. second, for veterans who can't get timely care through the v.a., this bill will help them get the care they need someplace

else. and it's particularly important for veterans who are in remote areas and rural areas, if you live more than 40 miles from a v.a. facility or if v.a. doctors can't see you within a reasonable amount of time, you'll have the chance to see a doctor outside the v.a. system. finally, we're giving the v.a. secretary the authority to hold people accountable. we've got to give bob the authority so he can move quickly to remove senior executives that fail to meet the standards of conduct and competence that the american people demand. if you engage in an unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be fired, period. it shouldn't be that difficult. and if you blow the whistle on an unethical practice or bring a problem to the attention of higher-ups, you should be

thanked. you should be protected for doing the right thing. you shouldn't be ignored. you shouldn't be ignored. and you certainly shouldn't be punished. to care for him or her who shall have borne the battle, that's the heart of the v.a.'s motto. that's what the bill i'm about to sign will help us achieve. but i want to be clear about something. this will not and cannot be the end of our effort. implementing this law will take time. it's going to require focus on the part of all of us. even as we focus on the urgent reforms we need at the v.a. right now, particularly around waitlists and the health care system, we can't lose sight of our long-term goals for our service members and our veterans. the good news is we've cut the disability claims baglo backlocd now by half but now let's eliminate the backlog.

let's get rid of it. the good news is we've poured major resources in improving mental health care, but now let's make sure our veterans actually get the care they need when they need it. the good news is we've helped to get thousands of homeless veterans off the street, made an unprecedented effort to end veterans homelessness. we should have zero tolerance for that. but we've got still more work to do in cities and towns across america to get more veterans into the homes they deserve. we've helped more than a million veterans and their spouses and children go to college through the post-9/11 gi bill. but now we've got to help more of them earn their educations and make sure they're getting a good bargain in the schools they enroll in. we've rallied companies to hire hundreds of thousands of veterans and their spouses. that's the good news. with the help of jill biden and michelle obama, two pretty

capable women. they know what they're doing. and nobody says no to them including me. but now we've got to help more of our highly skilled veterans find careers in this new economy. so america has to do right by all who serve under our proud flag. and congress needs to do more also. i urge the senate once again to finally confirm my nominee for assistant secretary for policy of the v.a., linda schwartz. my nominee to lead the board of veterans appeals constance tobias, my nominee for cfo, helen tierney, they've been waiting a month or more for the vote. in constance's case nearly a year. they're ready to get to work. it's not that hard. it didn't used to be this hard to just go ahead and get somebody confirmed who is well qualified. nobody says they're not. it's just senate doesn't seem to

move very fast. as soon as the senate gets back in september, they should act to put these outstanding public servants in place. our veterans don't have time for politics. they need these public servants on the job right now. so let me wrap up by saying, two months ago i had the chance to spend some time with some of america's oldest veterans at omaha beach. some of you may have seen on television the celebration, the commemoration of those incredible days, the 70th anniversary of d-day. this was my second visit to democracy's beachhead, the second time i'd gone as president. it's a place where it's impossible not to be moved by the courage and the sacrifice of free men and women who volunteered to lay down their lives for people they'd never

met. ideals that they can't live without. that's why they're willing to do these things and some of these folks that you met, they were 18 at the time. some lied about their age. they were 16. landing either at the beach or sometimes behind the lines. the casualty rates were unbelievable. being there brought back memories of my own grandfather who marched in patton's army and then came home, and like so many veterans of their generation, they went to school and got married and raised families and he eventually helped to raise me. and on that visit to normandy, i brought some of today's service members with me because i wanted to introduce them to the veterans of d-day and to show the veterans of d-day that their legacy is in good hands, that there's a direct line between the sacrifices then and the sacrifices that folks have made

in remote places today. because in more than a decade of work, today's men and women in uniform, you've answered every mission we've asked of you. today they continue to serve and risk their lives in afghanistan. it continues to be a difficult and dangerous mission as we were tragically reminded this week in an incident that injured our troops anded took the life of a dedicated soldier, major harold greene. our prayers are with the greene family as well as with those who sacrifice so much for our nation. four months from now our combat mission in afghanistan will be complete. our longest war will come to an honorable end. in the years to come, many from this generation will step out of uniform and their legacy will be secure. whether or not this country properly repays their heroism,

properly repays their patriotism, their service and their sacrifice, that's in our hands. i'm committed to seeing that we fulfill that commitment because the men and women of this generation, in 9/11 generation of service members are the leaders we need for our time, as community leaders and business leaders, i hope maybe some leaders in our politics as well. from the greatest generation to the 9/11 generation, america's heroes have answered the call to serve. i have no greater honor than serving as your president and commander in chief and no greater privilege than the chance to make sure that our country keeps the promises that we've made to everybody who signs is up to serve. as long as i hold this office, we're going to spend each and every day working to do right by you and your families. i'm grateful to you, god bless you, god bless america. about that i'm going to sign this bill. thank you very much, everybody. >> and as we watch president obama is now going to be signing

the veterans bill. i've just mentioned going into his speech that he was delayed. we now know we believe why. "the new york times" is reporting that he had a national security meeting to discuss the plight of as many as 40,000 iraqi religious minorities trapped, dying from heat and starvation on a mountaintop in iraq and surrounded by isis militants. and that the u.s. is considering, the president is considering air drops or air strikes against the isis militants. air drops of food and humanitarian relief supplies and/or air strikes against the isis militants which would be the first aerial action if it were decided against those militants in iraq. we'll be reporting more on that as well. standing by at the white house is the under-secretary of treasury and the point person for those sanctions against russia. thank you for waiting while your boss, the president, was speaking on his delayed spoech at ft. belvoir. but i want to ask you about the

effect of putin's retaliation against the economic sanctions. we've been reporting that it will hurt russia economically more than it hurts american companies, but what is the next step here as we get into a potential trade war with russia? >> well, good afternoon, andrea. i think you're exactly right. these retaliatory steps that russia has announced will have an utterly insignificant impact on the u.s. economy. our food exports to russia are something like one-tenth of 1% of our economy. russia on the other hand imports something like 40% of all of its food from abroad. so what the russians have done here really is essentially impose sanctions on their own people. and there's a cruel irony to this. that in all of our sanctions programs including our sanctions programs against russia, against iran, anywhere else in the world, we never target food, medicine, medical devices.

our sanctions don't go after access to food. what the russians have done here by banning the imports of some food is really to impose sanctions on sort of the very basics of russian life, access to food. it's going to drive up prices in a way for the russian consumers who are already suffering from really significant inflation. so this will not have much of an impact if at all on the u.s. economy. it will -- and it really sort of very unfortunate way, the russian economy and on the russian people. >> you would think that putin would back down, would find an exit ramp out of this growing confrontation. he has not. he's doubling down. is there any internal pressure that you're picking up from business community or anyone else in russia? i know how much control and how popular putin is for going up against the west, but at what point is there a turn there against him for hurting russia's

economy? >> look, we're hearing voices in russia that deputy finance minister has made comments, business leaders have made comments about the increasing costs of the sanctions. you know, and we've been very clear in our partners in europe who joined us last week in imposing some very significant sanctions on russia have been very clear that we will continue to increase the costs impose additional costs on the russian economy if president putin doesn't change course here. you know, as president obama said last week, you know, it doesn't have to be this way. president putin were to change course, were to stop supporting the separatists, stop supplying the separatists with heavy artillery and other weaponry and accept the offer of a diplomatic resolution here, the impacts, the growing impacts on the russian economy could come to an end, but if he doesn't, what we have seen, which is a

deteriorating russian stock market, a deteriorating russian currency capital flight out of russia, that's only going to continue to mount, and i think you will continue to hear additional voices in russia questioning the cost of the russian, you know, aggression in eastern ukraine. >> under-secretary david kohn, thank you very much for being with us today. >> thank you. in hawaii, it is bracing for double trouble today. what could be the island's first direct hit by a hurricane in more than two decades. hurricane iselle is gaining steam and set to make landfall overnight tonight on the big island of hilo with julio on its tail. will power outages and flash flooding cripple the island? it's time for the "your business" entrepreneurs of the

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these steps, that we are working within the confines of my executive power, but i promise you the american people don't want me just standing around twiddling my thumbs and waiting for congress to get something done. >> he's ignoring those supposed impeachment threats. president obama promising executive action in the face of congressional gridlock. how far will he go and does it backfire for his party in november? joining me now for our daily fix, amy walter, national editor for the cook political report. well, jonathan, do you think that this backfires or is this a good move to fire up his base? >> well, we have to see what the president actually does. i mean, the president's base, particularly hispanic advocates, immigration advocates have been calling on the president to take executive action, to act on his own to do something about

immigration, but we're in a very tense time here in the country but particularly in washington in terms of the president's relationship with congress and republicans in congress and between the speaker's lawsuit and others that may be backbenchers itching to impeach the president, they'll be looking at what the president proposes very carefully to look to see if he does indeed go over or go beyond his executive authority in dealing with the immigration problem, but the one thing is clear. the american people in polls and just in mood and tenor and tone, they're tired the of sort of the dysfunction and the inaction on capitol hill. immigration is a particular problem. the president has been telegraphing for days now, if not weeks, that if congress doesn't do something, which they should, then he's going to do something. it's a big gamble for the president and the white house. >> you have to remember that when we talk about the base,

we're talking about, i think in this case, can you motivate latino voters? and the battleground for the senate is not in the but for one state, colorado. most of the battle in the senate, they're in states where to win the democratic candidate needs to do better among white voters. it is not enough to just gin up the base of minority voters. that's issue number one. number two, you talk to democrats in competitive districts, red state democrats or competitive seats in the house, and they say this would be terrible for us because it would really energize republicans, conservatives who are already more excited to turn out to vote and they're very much worried. >> what about a nonimmigration issue, for instance, this tax inversion. that's a populist issue that could have appeal across party lines. >> right, that would be something where you say, okay, here's something where the president is saying congress doesn't deal with this, i'm

going to work on this, certainly something that democrats want to be able to show voters that we're able to get something done for regular middle class families, corporations can't go hide their taxes overseas. whether or not that's going to get enough attention, we will see. >> and the president certainly he's going to take his own break. we know they've announced he's leaving on saturday for a vacation with his family. so it becomes harder, doesn't it, jonathan, for him to say the do nothing congress, they're off on vacation. everybody is on vacation, except you, me and amy. >> that's true. but look, it's august. a lot of people, except for us, are paying attention to what's happening. and look, congress is already gone. it's not like congress is in washington and the president is the first one to leave town. he's the last one to leave town. so i think, you know, holding off this fight, you know, with all of them in town together until late august, early september, is anyone really going to notice besides me, you

and amy? >> indeed, i think they might notice, jonathan, but especially if you're gone. thank you, jonathan capehart, amy walter, see you later and someone else who is not on vacation is, of course, dr. nancy snyderman. the world health organization continued emergency meetings in geneva today. experts are determining whether or not the recent ebola outbreak is a global emergency. here in the u.s. the centers for disease control raised their level to the highest level for internal staffing purposes reserved for the most dangerous health situations. not far from the cdc in atlanta, americans nancy writebol and kent brantly continuing their treatment in an isolation unit et at emory hospital. nancy snyderman working around the clock. thanks for being with us. what's your take from all your reporting of how this is spreading? and you had described it as a wildfire? it does seem that there were sparks now. we saw the saudi patient finally

diagnosed. nigeria looks bad. >> we do have a wildfire in the western african countries and we can add nigeria to sierra leone, guinea and liberia. we have an out of control ebola outbreak like never before. this is the deadliest running outbreak in the history of mankind. the cdc made their announcement yesterday because they not only want to put boots on the ground but they want to pull people internally doing other projects, right now all hands on deck, ebola is our number one issue. not that it's a risk to every american but because we have to put ow the wildfire or there will be these little global sparks that you talked about, the cdc is receiving every day samples from patients around the world asking for confirmation, is this ebola, is it not. it can be quite overwhelming.

almost 1800 cases with well over 900 deaths. this is unprecedented. >> what is the hope for this extraordinary serum that was used on both dr. nancy writebol and dr. brantly? >> there's a lot of secrecy around this. we don't know, it's from a biotech company in california. it's a medication, if you will, antibodies against ebola. the dosage which seems to be three different doses, but it was split up in this case. brantly got a dose, writebol got a dos and there was a word they got another dose once they left liberia and came to the united states. here's the interesting thing. this has never before been tested in human beings. only tested for safety reasons in primates. i'm not sure it's been given correctly in these two patients, but it was given, frankly, in a hurry, in a foreign country, and

now i think the cdc and the fda, the nih are probably all huddling trying to figure out how do we move forward. this is not a medication that came out of clinical trials. this is a medication that is truly experimental and this is rather unprecedented for something to be used like this. >> thank you so much, dr. nancy snyderman. we'll be looking forward to all your reporting throughout the day and on "nbc nightly news." the sad journey home. the remains of army general harold greene returning home this morning. the army's chief of staff was on hand for the dignified transfer of greene's remains at dover air force base in delaware. the two-star army general was killed in an insider attack tuesday in afghanistan. this is . setting up the perfect wedding day begins with arthritis pain and two pills. afternoon arrives and feeling good, but her knee pain returns... that's two more pills. the evening's event brings laughter, joy, and more pain... when jamie says... what's that like six pills today?

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representing congress since 1933. unless something happens, that legacy will continue. even though john dingell is the longest serving member of the house in american history is retiring at the end of the year, his wife debby won the democratic primary in michigan to succeed john dingell in the overwhelmingly district. joining me from detroit, debbie di dingell. congratulations. great to see you. >> thank you. >> your first interview since winning, so we're really happy to have you on. tell me about running this year. you've got so much anger against congress. i know you're not an incumbent, but you're not really an outsider. you've got a historic name. how do you campaign with so much anger against the do-nothing congress? >> like i do all of the time. i am meeting with groups across

the 12th congressional district, i'm trying to do as many house parties, i'm at the farmer markets, i'm in the barber shops, in the grocery stores, i'm talking to people. what you do hear is they're tired of the partisan breakdown in washington. they want to see people work together. they want answers to the solutions. i'm someone, as you know, that has had a record of bringing people together. you see some of it in washington, but here in michigan, i've brought district groups together for a very long time trying to find common ground. that's what they want to see and that's what we got to tdo in washington. >> a latest poll this week, only 14% approved of congress. have you found those 14% out in michigan? we haven't found them here. >> let me say this, if you are working hard, which i'm trying to do and meet with as many people as possible, you're meeting all kinds of people and you're meeting people that are angry, you're meeting people that are happy with some of the things that are being done, you

know, if you're working hard, you're meeting them all. what you really are hearing is what i've just said and what you're hearing. they want to see people work together. they want to see solutions to the problems. they're tired of partisan bickering. >> the economy is clearly what's driving most people because in our polling also people haven't recovered from the recession. particularly out there in michigan, people are probably saying to you, you know, what are the fixes? aren't they also frustrated with the democratic white house? >> you know, i think that it's bipartisan frustration as you and i talked about. what you just talked about is very real. i feel it. i come from the auto industry, as you know. and the recovery is very fragile. people are still worried about their jobs. incomes have not -- are not rising. they're not keeping up with inflation. one of the things that people are very aware of, ceos' income

was 20 times the of a worker on the line. now a ceos' salary is almost 300 times what a working man or women's salary was. the average working man and bottom is scared. they want to know is their job safe, is their pension safe? are they going to have to pay for health care, basic issues, yeah, they're worried. >> debby dingell, running for congress. >> thanks very much, andrea. now to some monkey business. these amazing photos show a monkey out in the wild taking a selfie, but even more incredible than the photo itself is the fact at the center of a major legal battle. who owns the copyright to these picture, the photographer who handed the camera to the monkey. he said the monkey is his assistant, wikipedia thinks that no one owns the photos because the monkey took them making it part of the public domain.

wikipedia is refusing to pay for the photos or take them down from this page. believe it or not, many legal scholars are siding with the monkey on this one. tors like din negatively impact good bacteria? even if you're healthy and active. phillips digestive health support is a duo-probiotic that helps supplement good bacteria found in two parts of your digestive tract. i'm doubly impressed! phillips' digestive health. a daily probiotic. but parallel parking isn't one you do a lof them.ings great. you're either too far from the curb. or too close to other cars... it's just a matter of time until you rip some guy's bumper off. so, here are your choices: take the bus. or get liberty mutual insurance. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. see car insurance in a whole new light. call liberty mutual insurance.

while a body in motion tends to stay in motion.

staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. but if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain. and it's not a narcotic you and your doctor should balance the benefits with the risks. all prescription nsaids, like celebrex, ibuprofen, naproxen and meloxicam have the same cardiovascular warning. they all may increase the chance of heart attack or stroke, which can lead to death. this chance increases if you have heart disease or risk factors such as high blood pressure or when nsaids are taken for long periods. nsaids, like celebrex, increase the chance of serious skin or allergic reactions, or stomach and intestine problems, such as bleeding and ulcers, which can occur without warning and may cause death. patients also taking aspirin and the elderly are at increased risk for stomach bleeding and ulcers. don't take celebrex if you have bleeding in the stomach or intestine, or had an asthma attack, hives, other allergies to aspirin, nsaids or sulfonamides. get help right away if you have swelling of the face

or throat, or trouble breathing. tell your doctor your medical history. and ask your doctor about celebrex. for a body in motion. it was a tuesday afternoon. and i said to general haig that i would resign but it would be with dignity and with no rancor. your exit, he said, will be as worthy as your opponents are unworthy. then i thought a minute and i said, well, al, i really screwed it up, didn't i? he didn't have to answer. >> wow. president richard nixon recalling his final days in office. this is a 1983 conversation with white house aide frank gannon. part of an interview being released by the nixon library

this week to commemorate the 40th anniversary of nixon's historic resignation. this is a new documentary currently airing on hbo focuses on thousands of recently declassified audio tapes. >> i remember the headlines, nixon bugged himself. taping was done for the purpose of having it for the historical record. it was voice activated. everything was taped, which, of course, was probably stupid. >> probably stupid? you thing? joining me now is nixon by nixon lead researcher ken hughes, author of the book "chasing shadows, the nixon tapes, the chen ault affair and the origins of watergate." fascinating stuff. so great to meet you. the book is so interesting. first of all, your premise is that there was a 1968 crime, a violation of the logan act when he was first running for office which was to interfere with

negotiation, ongoing negotiations to end the vietnam war. it was that crime that sets the premise for his hole mentality for the crimes that followed. when he took office he was already someone who had committed a crime according to your theory. >> and he needed to cover it up. it's a fact that republicans sabotaged johnson's peace talks in the final days of the 1968 campaign. the fbi wire tap on the south vietnamese phone hurt a republican fund-raiser named dana chenault. telling them we're going to win. >> meaning the republican candidate. >> and that was the same day that saigon announced it was boycotting the peace talks. >> that's a picture with john connolly with dana chenault. anna chenault was a very powerful figure in the day. hard to describe just how powerful and how big a fund-raiser, of chinese origin.

>> and one of a kind, the only chinese american woman at the republican convention in 1968, raised a quarter of a billion dollars for the republicans that year. >> we talk about this, what do we know about nixon trying to stop these peace talks from succeeding, just to give him an edge? because it's hard to remember but back in 1968 hubert humphrey after announcing a bombing halt was beginning to gain some altitude as a candidate. >> the race got very, very close. and i have to admit in the book and to you, there's no smoking gun proving that nixon was behind chenault, but there's a lot of very suggestive evidence. we know for a fact that nixon set up an ultrasecret meeting between himself, chennault because one of his speech writers kept a memo of that. nixon said he wanted to keep it a secret from the secret service agents, the guys there to protect his life. chennault said this was the meeting that nixon said you are

the sole representative between my campaign and the south vietnamese government for the duration of the campaign which puts the fbi report wherein chennault saying i just heard from my boss, hold on, we're going to win, into a very damning light. >> how do you connect this to watergate and the plulers unit? >> the month nixon took office he ordered his aides to get their hands on every document related to the bombing halt. and one of the things the aide that wound up with the job was houston, later notorious for the houston plan to combat domestic terrorist using illegal break-ins. on tape, the only thing we hear nixon say he wants to use the houston plan to do is to break into the brookings institution, this washington think tank where houston had told him there was this very detailed report with all the documents on the bombing halt. that turned out to be false, but that's a crime we know nixon ordered.

>> so the break-in of brookings and, of course, then the break-in that never took place, that he kept pressing halderman and ehrlichman to do and then the break-in at the democratic headquarters, of course, at the watergate. >> they're connected. nixon put together the plumbers, the special investigations unit, this illegal unconstitutional secret police unit that he ran out of the white house in order to do the brookings break-in, that's clear from the tapes. that in and of itself is a crime. and, of course, to the plumbers, g. gordon lidden, e. howard hunt a year later became the masterminds of the watergate break-in. so when the watergate burglars are caught, nixon had to halt the investigation of those because if he didn't it would lead to his own crime of the plumbers break-in at brookings. >> the zin to resign, it became inevitable. we'll talk about that more with howard -- with john dean

tomorrow, but it became inevitable when leaders of the senate, gold water and hugh scott went to the white house and said it was over. >> nixon didn't have the one-third of the votes in the house. >> after the house had voted to impea impeach. congratulations on the book "chasing shadows." we never thought we'd learn something new after 40 years. >> honored to meet you. >> tune in tomorrow as we'll continue marking the 40th anniversary of president nixon's resignation, an unprecedented moment in american history. joining us will be nixon's white house count during watergate and the author of a new book john dean. tune in for a special one-hour program. chuck talks to key figures who were there when it all happened, bob dole, dan rather, john conyers and more. that's tomorrow right here on msnbc.

when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here

creates something else as well: jobs all over america. engineering and innovation jobs. advanced safety systems & technology. shipping and manufacturing. across the united states, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. when we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. that's not a coincidence. it's one more part of our commitment to america.

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and what story will be making headlines in the next 24 hours? i think it will be secretary of state john kerry. he arrived today on a secret trip to afghanistan. kerry tweeted a picture earlier this hour. he's meeting with afghanistan's current president hamid karzai trying to mediate the election dispute that has held up an election between the two men hoping to become afghanistan's next president. waiting on final results in a runoff election audit by international observers that kerry previously negotiated. that does it for this edition of "an degrr "andrea mitchell reports." tomorrow steve israel and john dean. ronan farrow daily is here next. hey there, happy thursday.

your business travel forecast. a nice one in new york and d.c., however some slowdowns expected in the boston area with thunderstorms in the forecast. chicago looking good. meanwhile some locally strong thunderstorms around kansas city could slow you down. any thunderstorm there could locally produce heavy downpours. typical summertime thunderstorms in florida. the summer of this. the summer that summers from here on will be compared to. where memories will be forged into the sand. and then hung on a wall for years to come. get out there, with over 50,000 hotels at $150 dollars or less. expedia. find yours. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan.

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storm and the hill is bracing to blame president obama. >> those dual hurricanes bearing down on hawaii where only three have made landfall since 1950. >> some areas will pick up to a foot of rain. >> more evidence the government sees the ebola outbreak as a serious threat to human life. 932 people in four country have died. >> mitch mcconnell he loves to try to label anyone who dares to oppose him. one label that i will wear proudly, i am a clinton democrat. >> don't forget to remind people she's also way prettier than mitch is. 1:00 p.m. on the east coast, 10:00 a.m. on the west. here's what you need to know right now. hawaii is bracing for an unprecedented double threat. not one but two storms expected to hit back-to-back. hurricane iselle is scheduled to slam into the islands tonight. less than 48 hours later

hurricane julio wshould hit. jim cantore has more on the calm before the storm. >> pretty much calm right now. that is going to change as we go on through the day today and possibly by 8:00 tonight we'll see the center of the storm come very close the hilo. the other thing i'm worried about here on ka mehameha avenu, these windows are only single pane. any debris could break these windows. only a few have boarded up so far. if these local businesses do not choose to board up, especially with winds expected to be around 80 miles per hour. other than that, it's the seas. you're talking about 25-foot waves off the coast which are rolling in. when it stops raining here and i just listen off on to the other side of the bay, i