we know, though, that based on our reporting that he is considering providing humanitarian assistance possibly through air drops and maybe even air strikes. again, white house press secretary josh earnest wouldn't confirm or deny those reports. what he did is to reiterate what we've heard from this administration consistently, which is that the president is calling on iraq's government to create an inclusive government to deal with this issue but we posed the question that this is an urgent situation and the idea of forming an inclusive government might work in the long run but how do you help these people in the short run, these people whose lives are at risk right now? josh did confirm that the president viewed this as an urgent situation so i wouldn't be surprised, joy, if we did get some developments about this and updates about the administration thinking throughout the day. again, earnest confirming that this is a humanitarian crisis.

but not at this point in time saying what president obama plans to do about it. joy? >> really quickly, is there any reason why the white house is being vague about who this religious minority is? is there any reason why they are not saying what kind of religious minority? >> reporter: well, i think before the white house gets ahead of any of this reporting, they always like to know specifically what they are talking about. but, of course, the reports are that this religious minority is referred to -- and we just had the terminology here which just escaped me. i apologize. the point is, i think the white house doesn't want to get ahead of the reporting before they are absolutely sure what they are talking about. this is, of course, something that we see from the president all the time. he doesn't come out and address the situation until he knows specifically, you know, all of the facts. so i think that is what they are in the process of doing, gathering the facts. president obama meeting with his national security team earlier

today. joy? >> all right, thank you, nbc kristen welker. joining me now is steve clemons, an msnbc contributor, and colonel jack jacobs, msnbc military analyst who we call upon frequently in moments like this. i'm going to start with you, colonel jack. not a lot of specifics but this idea of air drops and air strikes. >> you're not going to have an air drop unless you also have an air strike because you also have to be able to secure the area. and to drop humanitarian aid willy-nilly all over the countryside with the trapped people to collect it up, that doesn't make any sense at all. so i think if you are going to have an air drop, you're also going to have an air strike. this also may prove to be of target of opportunity.

if you have isil people ringing this mountaintop, it may be an opportunity to knock a lot of them out. we're not going to be dropping any material or doing a low-level extraction without also having air strikes. it doesn't mean that we're going to do them and it doesn't mean that airplanes necessarily will be involved because the iraqi air force is not really up to snuff. we may use cruise missiles, for example, air launched and sea-launched missiles from a great distance away but if you do that, there's not enough fire power to do the job. >> i guess that's my question. you're talking about something that is happening inside the sovereign country of iraq but before we identify who this minority is, that we're considering doing something at the united states rather than saying -- encouraging the iraqi government to do something. is this really about an opportunity to get militarily in front of isil or isis? >> i wouldn't turn down an opportunity to take advantage of this opportunity if i were in charge.

having said that, however, i believe that the administration knows exactly who is on top of that mountaintop and i've heard them described as mostly kurds but not entirely kurds and some christians as well. there's no doubt about the fact that there's a humanitarian problem on top of that mountain and we want to effect it positively. the fact that there may be an opportunity to drop exploding proje projectiles on top of isil. >> this is the first time that we've seen a theoretical and potential response to the people of the region by isil. they have been making really dramatic advances in terms of grabbing territory. i've heard it described as more territory as you've seen a terrorist group like this advance really, ever, that we've seen in the modern area. is this a ratcheting up of our

now direct involvement encountering this group? >> it could very well be. and it's a very dangerous moment because this could be a trigger that draws us back deeply into a conflict in the middle east that we have largely extracted ourselves from. this is not just an isil story. i respect jack's take on this but the reason is the collusion and collapse of other sunni groups. so what has gone on in the region and the inability of the maliki government and the broader sunni/shia divide has fueled their success and left momentum on their side. and for us to enter into a horrible humanitarian situation and i acknowledge that but to go in and think we're going to provide a tilting point opportunity through this without kind of dealing with the broader context is exactly how a slippery slope works. and that's very worrisome to me. >> i want to let hillary in but

jack, i want you to respond. that is really the question. there is the broader regional meltdown, i guess you could say, with all of these different factions, and then you have this military response to it, even if it's in the humanitarian realm, is that the first step or should it be behind a broader attempt to -- >> well, to respect the situation in which we extract some measure of success against isil over a short period of time, to have some standing and long-term effects, i don't think anybody expects that and i don't think the administration is very much interested, even if it does go in there to assist, is going to do very much more than just that. and i agree with steve completely at the end of the day, the only way the place is going to get squared away is if there's a political solution to this nagging political problem, elimination of corruption and so on. that is not going to get fixed with exploding projectile. >> hillary, you talked about the

other player, iran, that is constantly out there. you have the sunni/shia piece and there's so many moving parts and it's all bad. from your perspective, what does this potentially mean? >> well, on one hand i think it's a welcome, though long overdue, recognition that the u.s. administration and not just president obama but the entire congress behind the administration have really pursued some very dangerous policies in the middle east vis-a-vis iraq, vis-a-vis syria. in the past year few years since we withdrew from iraq, which i support. and the continued insistence of trying to keep iran out of the equation when it's an important player in the region, which is why i wrote the book, why the united states must accept the

islamic public of iran. not because i love islamic systems but because it's a necessary player to engage with constructively on regional dynamics. >> steve, you have this situation where our invasion of iraq brought the country of iran closer to iraq. it brought the government closer together. does iran have a part to play, a vested interest in isis or isil in not getting to baghdad? >> the equilibrium was broke by our invasion of iraq. it took away the biggest constraint, which was saddam hussein. and so i agree with hillary but at the same time this has created enormous doubts among other allies, the saudis, qataris, the emirates and whatnot who are also looking at what happened as a function of american weakness and in that sense of void of our presence,

you have different behaviors from both our enemies and our foes and our willingness on this side to do what hillary's husband used to talk about, a strategic grand bargain in the area that would reconcile some of this, restore trust. right now they are deeply divided and what we're seeing play out in this northern nightmare is a regional proxy war. and i think until you can respond to some of the manifestations very specifically but they run the risks of drawing us into something so much larger be that the 40,000 people that are trapped in these mountains, it's important to look at them, it's important to address them and shine a light on them but it's vital that we don't do that without a greater, broader strategic picture of how to take this region into a different direction. >> hillary, our attempt to broker a deal between those in gaza and israel, they are one of the players as well as egypt.

it's a multifaceted monster and our invasion was at the core of it. >> absolutely. there was, you know, years ago when nixon and kissinger went to china, there's always a diplomatic way out of it. we have to start seriously constructing and engaging players that we have you not done so before. we've relied almost exclusivelily on the saudis and we need to have a better relationship with turkey and qatar and look at what their interests are and it can prevent ordeal with these issues much more constructively. >> the immediate future we have our administration talking about an immediate humanitarian crisis. this is not just a diplomatic crisis that they are talking

about. >> it's become our default of power and effectively to use the other power, diplomacy on one and when you don't know what you're doing, the first thing you do is lock and load and pull the trigger. we have people who can do that very, very well. but that's not a long-term solution. >> always appreciate you colonel jack jacobs, steve, hillary man leverett. hillary's new book is called "going to tehran," why america must accept the republic of iran. thank you all three for being here. >> thank you. meanwhile, the remains of army general harold greene

arrived at dover air force base today. greene was the highest ranking military officer to be killed in a war zone since vietnam. coming up, not one but two hurricanes are barrelling towards hawaii and we'll tell you how people are preparing for these historic storms. and how to fight ebola conference has started. we'll keep you posted as news develops. of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪

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we know there will be impacts, probably a lot of power loss, not only here on the big island but throughout the entire island chain. >> now, you know trouble is on the way when the weather channel's jim cantore is in town. a one-two punch hurricane is

heading to the hawaii islands. hurricane iselle is going to be the first direct hit from a hurricane in 22 years. julio is following right behind. residents and visitors are stocking up on supplies. >> it's kind of serious. that's why i'm here to get more stuff. but it's all gone. i don't know what we're going to do. >> meteorologist alex wilson is squoining us. what is going on with iselle and julio? >> ise lle is the most immediate. this is going to be the bring worst conditions. we're going to be watching the big island for its first direct hit for this big island in history. and the first hurricane to approach from the east. this is a rare track for these storms. this is iselle, latest updated

winds at 80 miles an hour, pressure at 986 and it's moving to the west-northwest at 17 miles per hour. as we go through the day, things are going to get worse on the big island. tropical storm conditions throughout the day, hurricane conditions as we move through the overnight. we're talking about very strong winds. you heard jim cantore mention possible power outages. the big island could have rainfall accumulations of 5, 6, 7, 8 inches, possibly higher than that. we've got to watch for landslides and rockslides. that's going to be a concern. surf conditions very dangerous as well. as we move forward in time, friday afternoon, it continues to move off towards the west. saturday, early morning, moving away from the islands but then our attention will be on julio which is off towards the east of iselle. tropical storm warnings in effect for hawaii. the hurricane warning the first in over 20 years. flash flood watches as well. back to you.

>> thank you, alex wilson, of the weather channel. three things to know this wednesday. the three-day cease-fire between israel and hamas holds up as it enters its final 12 hours. egypt is trying to get both sides to extend the peace. after nine hours of questioning yesterday, the military resumed two interviews with army sergea sergeant bowe bergdahl. bergdahl's lawyer says his client is happy to tell his side of the story. and president obama signed a bill aimed at bettering the department of veterans affair. the plan will help the v.a. hire more doctors and nurses at hundreds of facilities. (birds chirping softly in background.) (loud engine sounds!) what! how's it going? heard you need a ride to school. i know just the thing to help you get going.

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and the reunion on jon stewart as he introduces the nine-man crew. >> east new york brooklyn. >> jordan clipper, michigan. >> that was the hilarious "daily show" correspondent. the real members went on to perform a single from their new album. wu-tang shows that i've been out of touch with pop culture for 20 years but many are calling the reunion the only thing you need to see today. join on twitter, facebook, instagram at msnbc.com. keep telling us what is important to you. princeton review ranked syracuse university the number one party school. check out which colleges have

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here. so they lost a number of villages, most of the people have left from this entire area because it's under threat and by the islamic extremists, they have devil worshippers for their beliefs and they have been titled. so they have been persecuted for centuries because of this. >> and tracey, as you are in northern iraq, there is always a question of how close is isil getting to this kurdistan areas of iraq. do you have any updates on that? >> yes. they are now within about 30 minutes of the capital of erbil, which is, yeah, closest since

saddam has been gone. the kurdish have been strong in holding the territory since the '90s yet it's very surprising the way that this is occurring. it's also at least 100,000 christians displaced. today at last night they took the largest christian villages around mosul and were holding thousands of christian refugees. so the area where i'm staying in erbil is a christian center and they are in abandoned buildings and just full of people here. they have said we have had enough and another minority, we have three minority groups that

have been wiped out from iraq. >> i'm wondering whether you're seeing resistance either by the iraqi military or even by some of the tribes who at one point rose up in a sunni awakening to try to fight al qaeda. is there any resistance to isil or are they sweeping through these towns unresisted? >> when they first moved in to mosul, the iraqis fled. all of the people were left unprotected and this happened very quickly and quite easily without much of a fight. but they were holding a pretty strong line and nobody thought it was going to fall and the

minority groups really thought that they would protect them. and up until a week ago, as they get strong so when the first attacks began, the first attacks began and refugee's started arriving and we were shocked given what has happened. they didn't protect us and the christians were saying the same thing. they tried to fight. they fought for a day and then all of a sudden in night they pulled back. >> right. >> they said the forces were too strong and they pulled out. so there has been some resistance but it's not enough.

they just seem to be too strong. >> appreciate that report. global post, tracey shelton, thank you. vladimir putin is firing back at the west, banning the import of items like chicken and granting edward snowden a three-year extension on sanctuary in russia. putin's swipe at the west food exports comes after the u.s. and eu hit russia with hard sanctions aimed at russian's banks and oil and gas companies in the wake of the downing of malaysia airlines flight mh-17. separatists there is being further tested as the government has reclaimed some lost territory. back with me now is steve clemons. all of these issues going on around the world, particularly in the mid-east, we still have russia out there. what do you make of putin making

sanctions of his own, barring food imports from the u.s. >> this fuels the notion that he is restoring russian power in the world, that russia not dependent on the rest of the world and after a couple of decades of what he considers to be humiliation and bad treatment by the west and despite the benefits russia has had for the rest of the world, he's basically saying, we are a superpower. we have capabilities on our own. we have things that the world needs and if the world is going to man handle us, we can man handle them back. it's petulant and esculatory. >> there's a really cost to what he's doing and the sanctions placed on him. in the united states, you're talking about $140 billion worth of exports and then you look at

what putin is trying to do to us. you're talking about potential for a 7.5% inflation rate as of july to go up even more could he wiped up hurting his own economy as he sends a message to the united states and europe? >> there's no doubt that he's hurting the economy right now. he's undermining the interests of his own people. but he believes that the costs of all of that are worth at what they are getting in terms of restoring a notion in the west that russia has interests, that russia has border concerns, and that russia is a consequential nation. it falls on his people. it's a tragic situation in many ways and he's testing obama's resolve as well. you basically have a very interesting shadow-boxing match between obama and putin waiting for who blinks because there could be long-term echo effects

and he believes that's worth paying for. >> very quickly, what do you make of him allowing snowden to stay three more years? >> i think it's another pinprick, a way in which he can show that he's not going to easily fall into track with what the west wants. >> steve clemons, appreciate it. >> thank you that would be my daughter -- hi dad. she's a dietitian. and back when i wasn't eating right, she got me drinking boost. it's got a great taste, and it helps give me the nutrition i was missing. helping me stay more like me. [ female announcer ] boost complete nutritional drink has 26 essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin d to support strong bones and 10 grams of protein to help maintain muscle. all with a delicious taste. grandpa! [ female announcer ] stay strong, stay active with boost.

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or what is left of it. joining me is zach roth who covers voting rights. zach, give us the details of this new report because it's not good news. >> no, it's not good news. you've covered it. there's ongoing discrimination in voting. there are certain states, mainly the southern states that were previously covered under the voting rights act where the problem is worse than in other states. the report did a great job of highlighting, as a result of shelby, and this hasn't gotten much attention, federal election monitors will no longer be placed to observe elections as they've been doing since the voting rights act was passed in the '60s. they were there to stop intimidation at polls and the justice department has concluded they no longer have the authority to do that. that won't happen anymore.

that's a big loss. >> barbara, you have justice roberts saying, our country has changed. you look at the states in terms of worse of voting skram nation, louisiana, mississippi, south carolina, georgia, the same states that used to be covered by pre-clarence. >> yes. in fact, what our reports showed, what the national rights on voting rights showed, that over 25% of the population lives in these formerly covered states and yet the states cover for 70% of the voting discrimination problems that we've seen in our country. so it's very, very significant, that there was a law that used to hold these states accountable but they are at it again. they are passing new voter suppressing legislation that is making it harder for voters to vote. it's based on hearings held all over the country, over 400

witnesses and this is what people are telling us is still going on today. >> and zach, you do have federal action taking place now, not just in these southern states but really in multiple states. tell us what the status of federal legal action is. >> it's very aggressive in pushing back on some of these things. it has lawsuits under the voting rights act against north carolina against that sweeping and restrictive voting rights law. just last week it intervened in ohio where they ended same-day registration. those are four big swing states or soon-to-be swing states in texas where they are pushing back very strongly. one thing that voting rights advocates say is they want to see the justice department do more on the local level where you have local level cases and usually the department has been saying we're not going to get involved in those. they are usually begging the justice department to get involved and that's something

that we could still see. >> barbara, you're fighting this on both fronts. you see it in states where that are, let's face it, swing states, states that are in important midterm 2016. >> that's exactly why all of our partner organizations and many national law firms join together to form what is called the election protection coalition. we will be in all of those states to protect voters to make sure that november 4th, election day comes, that people are there to help them at the polls, that they can call the national hotline, 1-866-our-vote and get help. because we know that there will be shenanigans coming on and we're aggressively suing jurisdiction. the lawyer committee has had over five lawsuits since the shelby situation challenging illegal voting discrimination by states. and also the report shows that there's a lot of voter

discrimination around redistricting and we're making sure that minorities cannot represent candidates elect of their choice. >> in florida the redistricting map was thrown out because of deliberately not doing what the constitutional amendment in florida set out to do. >> exactly. >> zach, barbara, thank you both for being here. i'm sure you guys will both be staying on this. >> absolutely, thanks. coming up, john dean on how the nixon era changed the republican party.

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. we're learning word that there's a verdict in the killing of raneesha mcbride in connection with the fatal shooting death of mcbride. we're trying to ascertain what the verdict is. the seven man, five woman jury

with four african-americans on the jury. they deliberated three hours yesterday. more than two dozen witnesses. theodore says he acted in self-defense when he shot through the screen door of his home when mcbride crashed her car, having been enebriated. he said he was frightened and shot through the screen door. you're being looking at the courtroom now. i believe that is the courtroom that we're looking@the moment and we're waiting to find out what the verdict is. the self-defense law in michigan allows for lethal force only if the person honestly and reasonably believes it will prevent death or great bodily harm. this is a version of the stand your ground law. there is no legal requirement for a person to retreat when

they are inside their home. the defense in the case says mcbride was trying to break into his home, or at least she thought he did, when he was awakened from his sleep by a violent pounding on the front and side doors. we do have karen desoto on the phone, an attorney here in new york. what do you make of a relatively quick return by this jury? >> it's funny, because people always ask me, is that some type of an indicator? i think it is when the charges are very serious i've had jury rape cases and when the jury came back very quick, it was for those areas of law, in this case, it was a not guilty. so in the more serious cases, if a jury comes back pretty quickly, it's favorable. but in a case like this, then certain types of evidence that

seem pretty hard. >> i just want to make sure that this is verified. theodore wc theodore wafer has been found guilty of manslaughter death by aim of intent but without malice. he's been found guilty of felony firearm charges the guilty on all three charges. what do you make of that, karen? >> that is not surprising in this case because if you recall throughout the trial, there was information and there was a car crash, he walked up to the port, this wasn't a situation where she was moaning or groaning. the evidence shows that he just shot. given the circumstances, a reasonable person should have

went to the door, it's not like it was a sudden instant, there was pounding, there was time to react and this is the type of verdict that you would expect and there have been cases in the past, a couple cases that we covered from texas where there wasn't even an indictment. it really depends on the facts of the case but i think we can all agree that a reasonable person would at least say, hey, get away from the door, back away from the door, what do you want, or call 911. >> indeed. >> karen, i want to go to peter alexander who is outside of the courtroom. we just had verdicts come in in the case of theodore wafer in the killing of renisha mcbride. what do you make of these three guilty verdicts? or what is going on outside of that courtroom? >> reporter: the word hasn't even trickled down to the folks. the family members of renisha mcbride are inside the courtroom and the man himself, theodore wafer is just stunned at the

reading of this verdict. there was some discussion that many people here at least speculating, legal experts and others thought this very likely would be manslaughter. it was unclear whether it would be viewed as second-degree murder. that gives you a pretty good sense of what evidence we knew here. let's explain what the ser circumstances were here. the prosecutors say that theodore wafer was a reckless, paranoid gun owner who didn't take any precautions before opening his door. he didn't offer a warning, ask who was out there, he didn't call 911. attorneys for wafer said he couldn't find his phone. he was awakened at 4:46 on that morning, just before 4:46 on that day, november 2nd, 2013. he was effectively crawling around inside of a dark home. there was, he said, reason to believe that he was under the risk of being hurt that the

individual outside may be about to break in and there was a law in michigan that says you are allowed to use lethal force if you honestly believe that you are about to be harmed in the course of a break-in taking place here. but again, as you just noticed, theodore wafer found guilty on all three charges by this jury that deliberated forebear barelr hours. the you're asked for information, and we'll speak them this afternoon, they asked for several pieces of evidence, including the shotgun used by wafer, the screen door they wanted to see and a tape measure. perhaps to get a better understanding of distances that existed in this case. again, that news is breaking as we speak. we anticipate that we'll hear from members of the mcbride

family as they exit the courtroom a short time from now. >> all right. i want to go to sema ire, one of our favorite legal analysts here on msnbc. sema, your reaction, all three verdicts, guilty on all three counts, including the second-degree murder charge. >> stunned, joy. i would have expected, like peter alexander was saying, we would have expected a manslaughter verdict. but to find him guilty of any type of intentional albeit reckless, i'm stunned that he was found guilty on all three counts. again, this is going back to what peter alexander said. this man, mr. wafer, was awoken in the middle of the night and i wish the defense brought forth an expert to say, at that point, 4:30 in the morning when you are woken up by banging and booming,

you don't get a chance to get out of your r.e.m. and normal cognative ability. that could have had some accounting for it, number one, why he acted that way. number two, why he couldn't find his cell phone, and also number three, that slightly inconsistent statement that it was an accident. >> i want to talk more about that but we're looking at the family of renisha mcbride in the courtroom. theodore wafer, the man who shot through a locked screen door from his home and killed renisha mcbride, you can see the family reacting. no visible reaction from theodore wafer who seems stunned in the courtroom. you can see the judge standing and i want to go to you, karen, on this question of the story that was changed, theodore initially saying that the gun just went off and then changed his story over the course of the

trial to say it was self-defense. do you think that is part of what hurt his defense? >> absolutely. when you're changing your story midway through, it just sounds like you're just trying to -- you're losing and changing the story to try to benefit yourself. that's never a good thing ever to do. inconsistent statements are horrible. even prior if it's a pre -- you know, pretrial, jury in the trial, there's usually three or four inconsistent statements but to start off the trial and change it, that would weigh heavily on the jury's mind. >> we're looking at file photo of theodore wafer. peter, if you're still there, has the reaction or verdict filtered outside the courtroom now and, if so, what is the reaction of the people standing there? >> reporter: well, certainly officers are aware of what happened. we've seen a few police cars pull out side of the courthouse in downtown detroit. there was a little celebrating between two individuals there and i think it's coming down to some individuals inside the

courthouse. we wait to hear from the mcbride family members. i think the sense of being stunned is something that a lot of people in this community may share. there was a large anticipation that this would come down to a manslaughter case, not a second-degree murder case. some of the details that made this a little fuzzy and may have added some questions in the mipds of jurors was the simple fact that theodore wafer never picked up the phone to call the police. he explains he was unable to find his cell phone, he didn't have a cell phone, and ultimately after the shooting took place, he patted down the papt pocket of the pants that he was wearing and found the cell phone was in his pocket. he had missed it in the course of those moments there and then called 911 immediately afterwards, telling officers that he had shot a young individual after hearing noises on his porch. let's give you a better

breakdown of the jury. seven men, five women. this had the potential to be a highly charged case. race, for the most part, was not an issue that was raised throughout the course of this case. it wags raised at the end during the closing arguments. many people said that this had a potential to be a very divisive case and there was certainly hope today that regardless of your opinions of the facts and the details that everybody in this community that justice was some way served. >> i want to bring in ann, a defense attorney. i believe the mother is about to speak, if we can listen in. let's listen in. >> a wonderful job of proving their burden that they had. they had a heavy burden but they

made it through. it was overwhelming. i kept the faith and i stayed positive. also renisha's father said it was going to happen. i'm very pleased. i'm astonished. >> what would you say to mr. wafer? >> i'm not pissed in vinegar. >> what would you say to the defense about how they were dragging your daughter's reputation through the mud essentially? >> we know who he was. and everybody has an opinion. you're entitled to that but we know as parents how we raised her. she was not violent. she was a regular teenager. and she was well-raised and brought up with a loving family and her life mattered. and we show that. >> you said you're astonished. >> astonished. >> that means you're surprised? >> i'm not surprised, astonished

as to relieved, overwhelmed. >> are you surprised? >> no, i am not. >> how should mr. wafer have handled this? >> he should have called 911. >> do you think he targeted your daughter? >> i don't think so. i think he just -- >> he was mad and what happened was he had already said it. he said he was mad and he came to the door with the shotgun and he shot her. >> her parents reacting to the all three guilty verdicts in the mcbride trial. "the cycle" is up next. >> psycycling right now on msnb not one but two hurricanes are barrelling towards the hawaiian islands. what could be the worst weather in two decades. the president signed into a

law aimed at protecting v.a. hospitals. right now the director of the cdc is testifying at a house hearing on ebola as another person has died from that outbreak. we have the world and crisis covered on "the cycle" for this august 7th. i'm abby huntsman. world problems seem to be coming up everywhere. first, the world health organization could soon declare the ebola outbreak an international public emergency. fear is still growing in west africa. this man was left helpless in the streets for nearly five ours. it's improving with the help of the experimental drug cocktail but two patients suspected of having