this morning at 90 passing away. >> willie geist 14 of his 18 seasons of the world series and he fought d-day. >> yeah, he's a great american story. his family were immigrants from italy. moved to st. louis and dropped out of school 8th grade and started playing baseball and never stopped. because he was such a character,

his career is a little bit over shadowed as maybe the or maybe one of the greatest catchers of all time. >> and a wonderful man. yogi berra and i were on field and tim asked yogi about his years in the major leagues and he had a roommate and said his favorite roommate was whitie ford and i had to ask him was yogi your favorite roommate and he said no, andy dickenson was. >> we're going to have more coming up live and also the pope is on the national stage in the united states of america and this morning heads to the white house. we'll be doing the live kovrmg

for msnbc until 10:00 eastern time this morning. of course he'll be addressing congress. we have national political correspond nt with us and msnbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steal. >> there's so much to get to today. we talked a good bit yesterday about the republican party. this morning, boy, the news is all the democratic party and starts with a shocker of a pole that was embargoed until two minutes ago. >> brand new pole numbers in the battle for the democratic nomination is now looking like a three way contest. hillary clinton at 33%, just 8 points ahead of joe biden. the vice president edging past

bernie sanders not even in the race. meanwhile, the unions have decided to delay their endorsements. >> mike, i'm shocked it's bunched up this quickly. >> i'm actually stunned at those numbers. i would never have guessed that. 33-25, the vice president has shot up from nowhere without announcing. the clinton people i'm told are making a concertive evidefforts make him out of the race. he is not even an announced candidate. >> and the union holding back as we just reported. they're waiting for joe biden. >> we've heard unions and african americans wanting to wait until they see what joe biden does. how can you not look at some of these poles and say i can win

this race if you're joe biden sitting on the outside. now we know the cloud of the e-mail story is going to go on for months and months. >> and it just blew up yesterday in fact in the middle of a demonies register interview where hillary had to say i have no answer for that. >> there's a discrepancy in terms of when and why and where she turned over her e-mails. she had been asked to turn in her e-mails once people started looking into the e-mails. she turned over e-mails when they asked all the former secretaries to turn over e-mails. even after the clinton statement, there's no clarity as to why there's a discrepancy

there. the fbi was able to start recovering some of those deleted e-mails. >> you're killing hamlin in the first act. you're right though, really quickly about the pole numbers, does that surprise you? >> a quarter of democrats are leading democrats willing to back somebody who hasn't announced yet is a surprise. the other thing is the favorite blt. that continues to trend on her favorables. joe biden right now, for any number of reasons which it's due to his time as vice president, what's happened to his son, people like him and democrats want him to run and he's a major issue. >> you touched on two of these points. the fbi recovered some of hillary's e-mails. bloomberg reports the bureau has

recovered personal and work e-mail that had been presumed as deleted. political reports undisclosed e-mails have surfaced in a federal court filing. most of the documents also appear to be withheld from state department response to house selected committee. a state department spokesman said that the department made every effort to cooperate. while she's characterized her information as routine, they're characterizing it differently. the request was not about general recordkeeping but bien e entirely from the discovery clinton used the entire server. yesterday clinton was asked to

explain the discrepancy. >> all i know is they sent the same letter to everybody. >> all i know is what i have said. what i said is it was allowed and is state department confirmed that. the same letter went to my predecessors and i said hey, i'm the one to help. we'll give you additional information as we get it. >> willie, so much happened yesterday. mika just blew through some stories we only have three hours but you could untangle a lot of these threats for three days whether it's a state department filing or not. >> they have been pushed to the wall. there's other things going to come out pretty soon, i'm sure and talk about how her story is

not correct. this is one of them. it's all about the concern once they discovered she had her private e-mail server. we've heard conservatives complain for several months there was a gap from the times the e-mails were produced. yesterday, she didn't produce and the state department produced. for a campaign that wants to get on to other issues, the headlines just keep going and this fbi investigation just keeps churning. >> on the washington post story you had the state department on the record. john curry, on the record. sources talking to people and saying we went after this because of something specific with hillary clinton. on the fbi question, we've always asked who got to decide which of the e-mails made it to congress and which e-mails were

kept and marked by personal by hillary clinton? 30,000 were marked personal. fbi had access to those and they could go through. now it's not hands of the fbi. we don't have the take hillary clinton and the campaign's words. anybody reporting can see that as well. we are all hearing just like we hear things from the state department which come out later but i certainly am hearing and you're hearing and everybody i talk to is hearing from democrats, powerful democrats a rising concern about hillary clinton and this fbi investigation and they're looking at joe biden. they're looking at bernie sanders. they're looking hard at other options. >> rising concern, your phrase is putting it mildly. >> it is. if i say anything more it's near

panic for a lot of democrats who want to win the white house. >> between the reality of what's in these e-mails, we don't know, and the perception of the e-mails themselves which is devouring her candidacy. her perception around the e-mails is devouring her candidacy. she can't seem to get ahead of it or out of it. again, the e-mails in context that we don't know, we don't know what's in the e-mails but you hear from any number of democrats, like yesterday, jerry brown, the governor of california was considering entering the race because of the e-mail controversy and their doubts about the strength of hillary clinton's campaign. >> she's trying to keep it on policy. >> we do know this, her story has been inconsistent and wrong. she has had to reverse herself several times. mike says we don't know what's in the all the e-mails.

i think we'll find out. when i first became a lawyer, i was told, tell the jury everything about your client. >> right. >> if you don't let them assume the worst, tell them the worst right up front and then they'll work with it. if you don't, they'll always assume the worst. that's exactly what's happening here. >> maybe they're all about yoga. we'll see. she's trying to keep in her policy, she's declined to take an issue on the policy for months. clinton's delay has left her in a tough spot since the project is supported by major labor unions. here's a look at the evolution and how she came to this point. >> this is president obama's decision and i am not going to second guess him. i want to wait and see what he and secretary carrie -- carey

decide. i've been waiting for the administration to make a decision. i thought i owed them that. i can't wait much longer. i'm going to tell you what i think soon. i can't wait. i thought they would have it decided way by now and they haven't. >> i feel now i've got a responsibility to you and other voters who ask me about this and i think it is imperative that we look at the keystone pipeline as what i believe it is a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change and unfortunately, from my perspective one that interferes with our ability to move forward to deal with all the other issues. therefore, i oppose it. >> what did she just say? >> she opposes it. >> i heard that. i didn't understand everything before that.

>> why now? she said she was waiting, waiting, waiting. >> i thought she was going to wait. >> mike. >> i don't get it. >> i don't know how to say it. let's be polite. >> there's no reason not to be. >> that was just not good. >> in a year when people are being attracted to outsiders, to people who don't speak to politics and just throw out their opinions no matter how bizarre they are and people are attracted to outsiders and don't act like polpoliticians, unfortunately, the secretary of state acted like nothing more than an ordinary politician. >> like scott walker flip flopping on issues. that's what caused a lot of concerns on the republican side. here hillary is flip flopping.

>> for what? what happened? >> it would be like going to ohio as a republican and saying i'm going to wait until the white house tells me -- >> if she were to come out against the pipeline then maybe you could understand it. but when she came out with the position, i think everyone assumed she had and it will not hurt her anywhere in the primary, why didn't you say that years ago. it's been under investigation and they've had all these studies five and a half, seven years. there's all the pieces of it and michael steal, the other thing is she dropped the news literally as the pope was stepping off the plane at joint base andrews there. what do you make of that? >> well, it's the ultimate hail mary. she pulled -- it's amazing a, she did it. the timing was perfect, but b, to the point that's been said,

she basically said nothing or at least nothing more than she could have said six months ago, six weeks ago, a year ago. it just plays into the narrative clintons are, their calculation and their politics is just bad. they just don't get how they sound and how they're perceived and i think mike put it exactly right. the narrative around her is eating away and tearing her campaign. >> actually, i think the problem is that bill clinton can do this. >> yes. >> he's good at doing this. >> he can scratch his face and sound like he's telling the truth when he's not. >> he's got to be enraged. >> all right. so it looks bad, i agree. i still don't get it'd wi with e-mail thing. but, but, but, there's always the republican party. >> you can always count on us. >> i really, you guys are

awesome, thanks. i really appreciate it. >> that's why we're here. >> in an interview donald trump defends himself for not announcing comments made at a new hampshire town hall when a man stood up and said we have a problem in this country, it's called muslims. >> and i wonder what that tells us about you? >> he went on to say other things. >> but the bigger part? >> look, he said mostly about obama. i don't have to defend president obama. he's not going to defend me. whether you agree with the man or don't agree and there were people in the audience that did agree with him. >> it was a testing moment for a man running for president. you never know when they're coming but here you had a biggot you couldn't slap down. >> you don't know that. he said there's a problem in this country and it's muslims.

i love the muslims. i have many friends that are muslims and phenomenal people. like everything else you have people where there are problems. we can say there's no problem with the muslims, no terrorism, they didn't knock down the world trade center. to the best of my knowledge the people that knocked down the world trade center, they didn't fly back to sweden. >> there is some, how do you do that? there's some accuracy to it but his overall point about trying to take sector people and make them feel discriminated against by talking about them in a way. this is just parsing in a way we don't need. >> we talked about this last week after it happened and again, i don't want to retread that ground but trump is like i really need this. i explained it.

i ignore the stuff. i'm not going to get in a fight with a crazy person who believes george w. bush knocked down the twin towers or that barack obama or whatever they were saying there. but at the same time, it is a bigger problem, still, obviously, i believe with the republican party i did a little stick yesterday where i was trying to explain how republicans can be angry and strong and speak out against this and it does cause a real concern. i will say in ben carson's case yesterday you actually heard backtracking from carson and backtracking from the campaign who said i understand there is a problem. we need to meet with muslim american groups and i saw that as a first positive sign in 48 hours from my party. should i not be concerned about the direction this primary contest is going in?

>> i think you should be concerned. i think the red rick from my perspective is not a healing reddre carson and trump spoke to a very deep vain that runs through the country when it comes to the question and the issue about muslims. you've had on this show, joe, the discussion about how the muslim communities per receive and how they can return respond to help diminish or alleviate some of the negative blow back they get. there's all this royaling around right now and playing to the lowest common denominator is unfortunate. it does not help the overall effort of the r and c to expand. >> i think the bigger problem too is for me, mika, over the past couple of weeks we had the

party that, i'm a constitutionalist. outside my congressional office is the 10th amendment. yet over the past couple of weeks we've had republican candidates, successful republican candidates, national figures questioning the validity of the 14th amendment and questioning the validity of the supremacy cause and questioning article 6 of the constitution of the united states. are we constitutionalist or not and do we only want to comply to evangelical christians or do we want to comply to everybody that comes to this country? it is troubling. >> i saw donald trump trying to make a point. i saw him trying to make it very clear. ben carson, what we're about to show you coming up, is him actually lying about his own.

>> about what he said. >> it's really disturbing how well he's doing when he's lying to the american people. >> something else trump said also, he said i'm focussing on jobs, i'm focussing on this, i'm focussing on that. i think he needs to stay on it. he says he's not talking about that stuff anymore and if he doesn't talk about that stuff anymore, i guarantee, we talk about dog whistles. i'm going to say dogs follow dog whistles but at the end of the dog as bret talking about the dog food, the dog food that you can't make the dog eat the dog food, i can tell you as a republican the dog food i want, i want people to talk about lower spending. i want them to talk about replacing and reforming obama care. i want to talk about the russians in syria right now. i'm really concerned about that. >> that's fair. we're going to ask hillary clinton about e-mails and we need to also ask the republican

candidates about fundamental things that are trouble troubling. >> that's exactly what's being done right now. i can say if we continue obsessing over this and not worry about the fact putin is expanding the syria and we have a massive refugee crisis and chaos spreading across the middle east in a large part because of what we have not done in syria in two or three year, at the end of the day republicans are going to vote on that more than nods and winks over where barack obama was born and other questions. i'll be clear, the republicans should speak out aggressively against it but at the end of the day, that's not going to move voters to vote for one candidate or the other. at the end of the day, it's the issues. >> i would love to see a lengthy debate on that. still ahead, we have full coverage of pope francis' immediating with president obama at the white

house. we'll have more on the life and legacy on yoga berra. plus david takes to the hill to warn about the conditions in syria. you're watching morning joe. we'll be right back. you drop 40 grand on a new set of wheels, then... wham! a minivan t-bones you. guess what: your insurance company will only give you 37-thousand to replace it. "depreciation" they claim. "how can my car depreciate before it's first oil change?" you ask. maybe the better question is, why do you have that insurance company? with liberty mutual new car replacement, we'll replace the full value of your car. see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. it's not about hugging trees. it's not about being wasteful either. ♪

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yogi berra, the hall of fame catcher known for his personality and play passed away last night. the museum announced this on twitter. he joined the yankees in 1946 at the age of 21. before that, he served in the navy during world war ii. he returned from the war and goes on to spend 19 seasons as a professional baseball player winning 10 world series and three mvp awards along the way. every last one of them in new york. >> there's no tomorrow. this is brock lin. today the seventh game of the 1956 world series. the yanks and dodgers go for

keeps with don on the mound for the brooks. first inning, one on, two out, yogi berra up. the y narkanks are up 2-0. in the third inning yogi connects again his second consecutive home run. >> how great is that footage? >> your right. we get to know him for his colorful personality so much it did overshadow. i see clips of that and go wow, he's really good. >> 15 all star games and 10 world series. the great derrick jeter. yogi began with the yankees. we're, of course, his words

nonsensical, con ttradictory statements. the most famous, perhaps it ain't over till it's over. on a special edition of meet the press, tim russer got yogi to explain. >> when you come to a fork in the road. >> take it. we got one back home and that's why i said take it. >> half the things i said i never said. >> i'll tell you the truth, i don't know i say these things. i really don't. >> i like the one about the restaurant in st. louis. he says nobody goes there anybody. it's too crowded. >> also the one where he ordered the pizza for the clubhouse and they said you want it sliced in four or six slices and he said four because he couldn't eat

six. >> the two leave behind three sons and 11 grand children. he was 90 years old. >> all right. the opinion pages are next on morning joe. we'll be right back. com. he gets a ready for you alert the second his room is ready. so he knows exactly when he can settle in and practice his big pitch. and when craig gets his pitch down pat, do you know what he becomes? great proposal! let's talk more over golf! great. better yet, how about over tennis? even better. a game changer! your 2 o'clock is here. oops, hold your horses. no problem. la quinta inns & suites is ready for you, so you'll be ready for business. the ready for you alert, only at lq.com. laquinta! they come into this iworld ugly and messy. ideas are frightening because they threaten what is known.

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32 past the hour. a lot going on today. >> the new york press plays straight today. >> there's no pope pop's band.

>> please don't try to make something up. >> close as we got here was the daily news. not too bad though. >> what we got? >> jester and chief cracking each other up. having a good time. >> how about the pope driving away in a fiat too. >> this is going to be good. joining us now the washington post and msnbc contributor. a lot to talk about on the republican side. can i go there on ben carson? >> sure. >> republican presidential candidate ben carson saying he's taken out of context for his statement on a muslim becoming president. >> that has nothing to do with being a muslim. that was the question specifically asked.

you have to be able to hear the context. anybody of any religious faith whatsoever if they embrace american values and place our constitution at the top level above the religious believes, i have no problem with them. >> he said it was taken out of context. we'll show you context. either that's not what he was talking about or he's not telling the truth. carson was not asked about someone establishing a bu bureaucra bureaucracy. >> should faith matter? >> if it's inconsistent with the values and principles of

america, then of course, it should matter. if it fits within the realm of america and consistent with the constitution, no problem. >> so do you believe that islam is consistent with the constitution? >> no, i do not. i would not advocate we put a muslim in charge of this nation. i absolutely would not agree with that. >> michael, still, i guess those two statements aren't consistent are they? >> no, they're not. >> it's unique to watch him. >> he's not consistent at all with what he said. >> i think there may be a little bit of that yogi berra going on. i think that's part of the problem he has right now. he gave a clear and direct answer to the question. now they're doing the pack

peddling to say they're distorting it and taking it o ut of context. the context itself was clear. it goes back to what we were talking about before. this is part of the on going narrative that's beginning to emerge among the candidates that makes it hard for the republicans to take a broader approach to the election. we're going to get mired in the side bar elections in response to what this candidate said. is this what you believe as well. >> that's why i say you know, mika, donald trump doing what he's doing now, he needs to stick with that. he needs to say i'm not talking about these distractions. that was then. i'm going to talk about syria and jobs and veterans issues. they need to start focussing on the issues and again, putin in syria. focussing on income disparity.

with ben carson here, it's a rocky mistake too. this is a guy and you can tell the campaign is now backtracking quickly, but phil, he's making a lot of rookie mistakes. it's not easy running for president. >> it's generous. monday night he had a facebook post that went out saying without the explicit renouncing of multiple tenants he cannot advocate for any muslim candidate. the bigger concern, i was talking to folks around the campaign, they thought this was great for a period of time. they thought this was great. at the beginning when this first happened who in new hampshire in iowa is going to have a problem with this? more is going to be against us than with this. that facebook post is 196,000 likes.

they're wa the walking back not only took time but they're raising money off of it. i think the bigger question to michael's point, every republican candidate now has to respond to this. not policy or the national security, it take oefver the ra. i think the broader problem is people inside the camp recognize this is an opportunity and that's problematic for politics in general. >> it really is and you just wonder why more people didn't come out like ted cruz immediately. saying hey, you know what, i believe in the constitution. you said a lot of other people actually believe in the constitution and believe the constitution says what it says came out and said it earlier, i wonder why this isn't a distraction for republicans. looks like carson is distancing himself from carson. >> very clearly. here's the other thing. there is a significant, if you look at the poles, a significant

portion of the country that believes president obama is muslim and muslims shouldn't be president. it doesn't necessarily hurt donald trump to go out there and not condemn the man who said the thing at the town hall or for ben carson to continue saying things. as phil points out, it's never had a bigger period of fundraising. when they sent out an e-mail about ben carson being a republican president. >> right. that's all great for short term political gain if what you're trying to do is win the republican nomination and you want to win the republican nomination that way, more power to you. don't expect to become president of the united states. i think we should look for better in a presidential candidate and presidential nominees. you know, here's a person who is, who says honor the constitution and yet says something that is completely

unconstitutional. this is a guy who under no circumstances, i've long said that ben carson should not be president and each day, and especially in this controversy, he is showing why he should not be president of the united states. >> and by the way, it's the week to kick republicans around for all of this and there's a great point about a lot of the republicans don't believe barack obama was born in america and don't believe he's a christian. ben smith back when he wrote for politico wrote this article. on april 22nd, 2011, more than half of democrats believe that bush knew about the attacks on 9/11. this is a question asked by scripts howard. how likely is it people in the federal government assisted in the actions because they wanted the united states to go to war in the middle east?

>> more than half the democrats believe bush was come police it in the 9/11 terror attacks. maybe there's a general sickness in our politics that's not limited to the republican party. we have an angry paranoid electorate on both sides. more than half of democrats believe that george bush killed 3,000 people. >> i get that. let me ask the table a question. one word answer. everyone here and in washington, what do you think the percentage would be of people who respond to a pole in answering this question? do you think a muslim ought to be president of the united states? yes or no? what percentage do you think would say no? >> 10%. i miss understood. 90%. it's one of these things if people were asked the question without worrying about feeling

bad about themselves, maybe 10% of americans. >> ben carson has distorted the election for himself. >> and as far as the two front runners are concerned, if you look at donald trump's statements on muslims, it's similar to his statements on immigrants. they're in some technical ways accurate while ben carson is going way out there on a limb and quiet frankly, i think ultimately, hurting our country. so i wrote this thank you note to ben for hillary clinton. i drafted it for him. it's yogi berraisms in it. bottom line, they need to keep doing what they're doing because they're helping her in a big way. >> you saban -- say ben carson. >> i know you guys have gotten

upset with me over the past 10-15 years for saying you're doing something stupid that's going to lose you the white house and you lose the white house and afterwards you say i guess you were kind of right. i don't want to hear that after we lose again. get it right now. >> satellite images out of syria show russian forces expanding their presence in that country. >> this is an issue we need to talk about. >> we're going to hear from david who says the u.s. needs to step up operations in syria. keep it right here on morning joe. alaska. finally. the search for brown bears begins. denali highway. low on gas. pit stop. fill up. double points. yep, that's cold. tired. day 2. coffee. eggs. double points. beautiful. majestic... nothing. where are you, bear? warm. warmer. warmer. yes.

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with xarelto® there is no regular blood monitoring, and no known dietary restrictions. treatment with xarelto® was the right move for us. ask your doctor about xarelto®. pictures released yesterday appear to show russian forces expanding their presence in

syria the defense resource group says they show two more facilities near the mediterranean coast. they are not commenting but russian officials have said in the past the military build up is for the fight against isis. the pentagon is trying to assess what exactly the russians intend to do with the new facilities. meanwhile, david was back on capitol hill yesterday and said fighting progress has been inadd kwat. >> syria today is a geo political noble. the longer it is permitted to continue, the more severe the damage will be. >> that's right. barring the phrase from you are

an ambassador about boz knee i can't as it applies here. this is a problem from held and we're doing nothing about it. we've done nothing about it over the past three years and it keeps getting worse. with us now, we got fellow in the center from middle east policy and the director on the project of u.s. relations, also the edge of faculty member on john hopkins university. out with the latest, now the top 10. the isis apocalypse. the doomsday of the islamic state and really, they are at the center of this noble. this geo political noble aren't they. >> right. that's where the bomb went off. interestingly, the only people interested in fighting the islamic state are the united states and europe and jordan. all of the other countries and groups have higher priorities right now. doesn't mean they don't want to

see the islamic state go away but they want other things much more. until they want it as much as we do, the islamic state persists. >> talk about the doomsday precision you write about in our book. >> islamic prophesies of the times, iraq and syria figure large. they're using this effect because they believe they're rebuilding god's king doll on earth and building that for a final confrontation. >> how much of the factor of recruitment is geared to the fact they are so brutally violent as opposed to al qaeda also violent but not quiet as brutal or public as isis? >> this was a big split between

al qaeda central and the islamic state. they wanted to emphasize a campaign to gather them behind their vision. the islamic state went the exact opposite direction. they're going for a tiny slither of the population. one way we mobilize them is by using extreme acts of violence. anyone in that sort of thing, we want them to come join the islamic state. >> for all practical purposes, home base for isis, would you agree now is syria. >> that's right. it's the heart land. would you agree syria is for all practical purposes a failed state. >> that's right. now we're beginning to see the end game. russia has gone in. other parts are being hived off. we're definitely seeing the end game in syria. >> what can the united states do then? it's time for the west, the

world to act. this has gotten so bad. a lot of people say arm the rebels against. we don't quiet know what that means and who they are. what's the best idea you've heard? >> that was an option earlier. it's not a great option now. the extremist lead much of the opposition. the best idea, i think, is to focus on army local tribes, to clear those areas of the islamic state and to mobilize popular units to protect their own people. the islamic state circulated a document in 2010 in which they identify tribes as the gravity and their model is what the united states had done in the -- >> can they stand up? >> no, they can't. this is about throwing off the yolk of isis. >> i know you can't predict but russia is going in now.

turkey is engaged. he's going to survive just because it's in everybody's interest as horrid as it is to drive out isis. that's how he survives. >> nobody at least in the washington community wants the regime to completely collapse. he may not be at the head of it for long but his regime will stay in place. >> the book is the isis apock li -- apock -- apocalypse. >> potential war crimes from another conflict. we have new reporting on the horrific story we've been covering this week broken by the

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i apologize for being perfect. >> that would be you because i wouldn't say anything like that. >> the real strong have no need to prove it to the phonies. >> that would be it's not me.

>> it's not me either. it's charles manson. >> coming up on morning joe, leaving by fiat. the people's pope gets a round in the economy car. we have his meeting this morning with president obama at the white house plus a three way race for the democrats. questions over hillary clinton's e-mail server. have they opened the door to joe biden? and presidential candidate lindsey graham joins us from the campaign trail. all that straight ahead on morning joe. ♪

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you're a critic of the iran deal. my guest tonight is dr. ernst. you've never met him. would you do something for me? i got a copy of your book, the art of the deal, would you sign it to the doctor here? maybe something like dear earny, better luck next time. >> i was about to say the same thing. >> before we go, i got you a little something. it's the art of the deal signed by donald trump what does it say? >> to ernst, better luck next time. >> so cute. welcome back to morning joe. mike, phil and michael still

with us and jonathan as well. also joining the conversation msnbc political analyst and professor at the university of michigan school of public policy, former democratic congressman, harold. we have a lot to talk to harold about. i think you've have three points on everything. >> new york cio, i don't. >> we've been talking about republicans over the past three days. ben carson stepped in it. donald trump always the focus on the conversation. democrats today seem to be all over the headlines, especially a pretty stunning new pole. can't tell whether it's a leading indicator yet or outlier. >> it's definitely worth looking at. out just an hour ago new pole numbers show the democratic pole nomination heating up. likely a three way contest including a candidate. >> see the numbers that surprise

you. keep those numbers up. >> they do a bit. it speaks to, i think, michael said this morning joe biden whether he's in the race or out of the race, he's sort of in the race. democrats are hungry for a big debate. they're hungry to hear mrs. clinton lay out a vision. i think she's fully capable of it. this is going to put more and more pressure on her and the campaign to do that. vice president biden is flirting with the idea. if he decides to run, he obviously, starts at a very strong. >> add to that, the top unions including one who backed clinton early in the 2008 cycle have decided to delay their endorsements. the american -- and municipal employees along with the service employees international union remain uncommitted after unions this week.

there you go. now we move on to the e-mail controversy, the fbi has recovered some of hillary clinton's e-mails off her private server according to bloomberg politics. a bureau has recovered personal e-mail that presumed to be deleted. political reports undisclosed with state department e-mails about a dozen related has surfaced. most of the documents appear to have been withheld from the state department held on benghazi. the state department has made every effort to cooperate. while clinton has always characterized her participation and turning over the e-mails from the server to the state department as routine, officials are characterizing it as differently. according to the washington post, siting state officials,

the request was not about general recordkeeping and spurred entirely from the discovery that clinton had only used a private server. yesterday clinton was asked to explain that to the demonies register. >> all i know is that they sent the same letter to everybody. that's my understanding. >> they're reporting now there's question about. >> you know what, you're telling me something i don't know. all i know is what i have said and what i have said is it was allowed. the state department has confirmed that. the same letter went to my predecessor and i'm the one who said hey, i'm glad to help. we'll give you additional information as we get it. >> and here is clinton back in her news conference at the united nations in march. >> after i left office, the state department asked former

secretaries of state for our assistance in providing copies of work related e-mails from our personal accounts. i responded right away and provided all my e-mails that could possibly be work related which totalled roughly 55,000 printed pages even though i knew that the state department already had the vast majority of them. >> this is a web. it keeps piling up. they want the story to go on. there's things hillary clinton has said in the past not true at the u.n. press conference. yesterday the state department felt they had to distance themselves on hillary on one of the untruths which is this was just general recordkeeping. it wasn't. john said it's all about hillary clinton and that have, they decided we'll ask the other secretaries as well. she also said something that we know from talking to all our

sources in the state department also is not true. that the state department allowed it. the state department didn't allow it. she just decided she was going to do it. >> and then you put on top of that the news. >> then that's going to come out too. my question is even when she's answering questions about previous untruths, she adds a layer of another untruth that the state department is going to come out later and prove to be untrue as well. >> the state department said they didn't allow. >> they're going to. >> in other words, the public record does not dispute what she said. >> the public record disputes what she said yesterday. what i am saying is just as we knew the state department would come out with that statement because it's the truth, we know the state department when it comes out will also come out with the fact it was not allowed by anybody. she just brought the system to the state department. that is varied sources.

i'm simply saying she should have avoided that. >> technically, she might not be lying here. maybe what she means is i allowed it. >> i allowed it. >> all these things make you wonder why from the beginning. why not come out and say what happened, get through it and now it becomes the story that goes on and on. now you got to fbi accessing the server. it can find the e-mails. there were 60,000 e-mails, 30,000 the hillary clinton campaign and her people decided 30 were deleted or wiped. whichever the story is. the fbi says they can find the 30 deleted. they can find out whether they're work related or classified or pertinent to the benghazi investigation. the fbi says it's going to take months and months. >> going in as february 1st, the

iowa caucuses, they will still be talking about it. >> who would have blamed clinton if during the press conference she said i set up a server because since 1998 republicans savaged my husband and me for political gain, profit, because they personally hate us. they have hurt our family. >> they have hurt our family, our daughter, hour marriage and been on a witch hunt since 1978. was i too protective? maybe i was. but i make no apologies given the republican's record since 1978. i am sorry. a i apologize. >> i would have done something similar to that. >> it would have been over. >> bathey said this morning the content of the e-mails are irrelevant now. it's the way she's putting this

out. i don't think there's any doubt something right along the lines would have put this to rest much, much earlier. instead you're going to january, february, march and perhaps the e-mails say nothing. the act itself is getting the attenti attention. >> i love that. >> you're a journal i was, obviously, you've written a lot and you know how we read articles and sometimes it's what the article hints at. i saw something yesterday in an article. i think it was a washington post article. i'm not sure where. in all these clinton articles they talk about how the fbi will not explain how they're reconstructing the server. it goes to again what we're hearing across all agencies, top people in the obama administration saying this is not just a run of the mill fbi investigation. it's much deeper. much more serious. this is the obama

administration. not just republicans. top leaders saying this is much more serious than the public knows. >> well, i think i am with the vast majority of the american public and that i am lost now in a maize of e-mail stories. >> that's what the clintons want. >> they're not going to get that. i mean, there's only been a certain. >> they want you to be confused, board, distracted. let's just move on before the fbi and everybody else gets to the truth. that's what they want. >> tif that's what they want, that's not what they get. a lot of people lost in the e-mails and decision tracted by how many of e-mails have been released. i don't know what percentage of the e-mails have been released but i am now focussed on the perception she shaz fed that's led to the frailty of her campaign as to why haven't they just dumped out all the e-mails. here they all are. go through them. friday night, 60,000, 80,000, i don't know how many e-mails.

here they are. why did not nthey not do that? her campaign is led by competent people. it leads to the impression why didn't they do this? they are competent. why did they just dump out all these e-mails? what are they hiding? that's what they ask. >> part of the investigation, i don't have any knowledge from the campaign or justice department, i think part of it is reading the story to determine whether the server was hacked which she did not intentionally do. i think it's important. she's not the target of this. they're reconstructing the server for a variety of reasons. >> not criminality in her part. it would be the server hacked by

someone. >> that is certainly a benign situation. >> that would also be quiet frankly extremely damaging because that would mean she put classified information in a very unsafe place. we had general testify yesterday. they don't think it's benign. here's a greater, i think the greater problem michael steal is on the republican side we're talking about muslims and on the democratic side we're talking about e-mail servers. the russians are moving into the middle east. there is one crisis, the rich

are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. income disparity continues to explode. i'm not making any apologieapol. we have to figure out whether the candidates have the character to run the most important country in the world. we can't get there because they can't get out of their own way. >> they can't. why you see bernie sanders and joe biden and why even donald trump despite his comments stays very firmly in front of the pack of republican candidates. i think, you know, on the joe biden piece, joe biden will never be more poplar than the

day before he announces. part of his strategy speaking of how we keep that momentum going in the light of the things you just laid out. that's one of the things working for him right now to his advantage and for donald trump to a large extent as well the question comes to the points made to everyone at the table. taking us down holes of who can and cannot be president of the united states and show us your leadership. >> one issue of substance of the keystone pipeline debated for years, hillary clinton declined the issue for months and now says she's opposed to the pipeline. here's a look at the evolution on the issue. >> this is president obama's

decision and i am not going to second guess him. i want to wait and see what he and secretary kerry decide. if it's undecided when i become president, i'll answer your question. i have been waiting for the administration to make a decision. i thought i owed them that. i feel now i have a responsibility to you and other voters that ask me about this. i think it's imperative that we look at the keystone pipeline as what i believe it is as a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change and unfortunately, from my perspective, one that interferes with our ability to move forward

with the ability to deal with other issues. therefore, i oppose it. >> she's not going to second guess the white house. she's not going to step on the president or secretary kerry. >> no. she's going to wait and tell them when she's president of the united states. >> now we know she supports the president on the keystone pipeline. the question is why did she wait so long? >> i think it was timed perfectly for right when the pope was setting foot. >> please. >> oh my god. >> when it came out yesterday and we saw it from the town hall and the comments, everybody had a collective what? why? how? i think what yesterday encapsulates is the huge frustration both inside and outside the campaign. if you look at yesterday and what hillary clinton said about yesterday to talk about, yesterday was a huge risk. she was talking about taking on pharmaceutical companies and

give medicare the ability. at the same time they were ra s raising the cost of the drug. they were really on top of it. and the day ends talking about wait, why did she come to the decision on keystone and three new e-mail stories. that's the frustration inside the campaign. everything ends up getting overcome by other issues and outside of the campaign, the concern you hear from democrats, how can you not get control of this. that's where they end up. >> they're not timing this on the pope. i don't understand the timing at all. yesterday i think around this time you were saying i can hear the money sloshing around and i have to say that looked like somebody who needed to talk to somebody first. am i wrong? come on. >> it makes no political sense that a democrat is holding back

on keystone. it also might, her explanation and second guessing the president. it is the most convoluted thing and you add to that she ran the state department and began studies and said the most environmentally sensitive thing to do would be to put in the pipeline. >> right. it was her state department that implemented the first of the studies and continued study of keystone which leads you, part of the problem with her candidacy at this point is we are all sitting here and probably other people are sitting around the country thinking did she really tie that announcement. >> and jonathan, this policy aside, it is what americans are rebelled against on both sides whether it's a bush or a clinton. just the calculation is just

embarrassing. >> well, we're shocked that politics is being played with this decision. >> look. i'm not going to get into her timing and why she decided to say what she said. she finally said it. now she can stop being asked that question. i'm going to go back to something you were talking about in terms of the poles and why it seems like vice president biden is now in second place not too far behind hillary clinton and i would sort of disagree with you on your characterization on democrats caring about the e-mail story. democrats i talked to, they don't care about the e-mail story. i think if anything they're coming at it from a perspective of barn cal and wondering why can't she get this behind her. also, the reason vice president biden is now second placing that in this new pole is because democrats want a competition. they want a debate of the ideas.

they want to see whoever ends up being the nominee actually work hard for it and it's not to say that hillary clinton is not working hard for it but it's easier to see she's working hard for it when she has real competition. she's getting that from bernie sanders in the race and the pole numbers show she'll get it from vice president biden if he does indeed get into the race. >> and we said it repeat willed i, she's a candidate after being pushed to the law. she became so much better in new hampshire and after new hampshire and when she was perceived to be the run away. >> i got to agree with jonathan and share it from the outset. i think democrats are hungry for debate. >> can i ask a question? >> a vision for where the country is going to go and how the country, how government will interact with energy and entitlements and taxes and how we reform things. in fairness on the pope thing,

the pope has made a climate change. we've had some republicans say they're going to boycott. i'm for the keystone pipeline. i've made that clear. >> yes, you have. >> for mrs. clinton to say that, she might have done it to show her alignment with the pope around climate change. every time and friend and whoever's going to just. >> let's go to michael stewart real quick. >> to jonathan's point. isn't the debate between clinton and biden the same debate. if the democrats are looking to have a debate isn't it going to

be between those two. >> shades of gray michael. shades of gray. >> wow, 50 of them. >> the democrats are not going to nominate a socialist to be a leader. >> not according to your chairman. >> i don't know what that means but i don't think we're going to nominate a. >> a lot of pauses. let's go to break. jonathan, thank you so much. still ahead whether american military looked the other way on a sexual assault scandal in afghanistan that's just absolutely shocking. we're going to go to the pentagon. the new york times, it's sickening. >> presidential candidate lindsey graham joins the conversation. also ahead, former michigan governor going to talk the political round table. you're watching morning joe. we'll be right back.

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now on the front page story in the new york times in which u.s. soldiers have been instructed to ignore the sexual abuse of young boys by afghan allies even when it happened on military bases.

the times reports the policy of looking the other way has been part of an effort to maintain a relationship in a country where boy play is widespread. you know, the paper reports that the policy has come under new scrutiny because of the troubling effect its had on u.s. soldiers but also because it appears to be alienating communities of parents whose children are forced to endure the abuse. >> that's another way of saying being raped. very disturbing story. we're trying to figure out yesterday who knew about this and when did they know about it and how high up the chain of command did it go? what can you tell us? >> the u.s. military and pentagon are very stingy with any kind of information. details about the particular case in which duncan hunter, the congressman from california blew the lid off the story when he

sent a complaint to defense secretary carter. first sergeant, first class charles martlin who confrontened an afghan commander who was reportedly abusing had a young boy as his sex slave in his command office and knocked him down or beat him up or something and eventually that green berate sergeant was forced out of the u.s. military. i can tell you that for years now we've heard these kind of rumors and speculation that these kind of this of things weg on. we could never nail down the details. this story alone says some of these complaints were true. the commander, john campbell in afghanistan says there's no policy to ignore the afwuss. they will then take the complaint to the afghan government. if you ask people around here

what kind of complaints are there and what happens to them, there's crickets. this is a scandal brewing and quiet frankly, if there was no policy, policy to ignore, these stories and incidents have been ignored. >> wow. >> if there wasn't a policy, then the green berate wouldn't been kicked out. i think we understand that his appeal was denied yesterday. >> yes, it was. nick, let me ask you while there is no policy. there's been such policies to prevent what's happening. >> when the u.s. times reports that one afghan commander actually had a young 11-year-old boy chained to his bed. >> right. okay. here's the official policy and you're not going to like it. because they say the u.s.

military cannot intervene because that would be considered a local crime as opposed to an act of war. the only time they can intervene is if sex is being used as a war tool to intimidate the enemy and there's no evidence of that. >> this isn't like letting people put their goats in a certain part of a field. this is the chaining and raping of an 11-year-old boy on united states property. >> i preface this. you're not going to find an explanation. >> all right. here's a statement about the new york times article by general john f. campbell of forces in afghanistan. he says i have served multiple tours of duty in afghanistan and

i'm absolutely confident that no such theater policy has ever existed here and no such policy has existed. i further expect that any suspicions of sexual abuse will be immediately reported to the chain of command regardless of who the alleged perpetrators or victims are. >> these are suspicions. these are out in the open. >> we're going to stick with, we're not going to like these policies. >> go ahead. >> general campbell. >> the policy gets articulated doesn't it. >> general campbell can say there's no such policy but that doesn't mean it's not happening. >> it doesn't mean it's not an understood thing. the way i read the article, if it's not something this black or white, it's not hush, hush. don't do anything about it which

is disgusting whether it's a break in policy or not. it doesn't represent where about. >> the aspect of it, these allegations and the times reported just recently you've heard from troopers in afghanistan and coming back from afghanistan, multiple tours talking about the country where they lived for six to eight, ten months at a time, widespread abuse. >> for years. let's go back to the pent state scandal where jerry sandusky was raping little boys in showers and you had an assistant coach see that and go to his father and say what should i do? we said at the time if we saw that happening, what would any of us do? we would go in and physically, physically take care of jerry sandusky and pull him away from the boy and save the boy.

that's exactly what this green berate did in afghanistan and phil, he's been kicked out of the service because of it. >> i think the big question and i direct this to you, these are the types of boys that spark change. you read this story and someone in the pentagon starts changing the policy. you get the sense in listening to the commanders there's no pathway to a new policy based on what's going on in the ground. do you agree with that or are you hearing something could change here. >> i get no sense that the u.s. military, u.s. government has any ability to effect that kind of change in afghanistan. >> before we go, tell us a personal story about the yo yogi berra who passed away yesterday you want to share. >> i had the young privilege for several years in a row playing

golf it was unbelievable. once you hit your first tee shot, you realize to held with the golf. i want to listen to the stories and they were wonderful and the best story i heard was joe, joe and yogi grew up in st. louis across the street from one another. it was a poor neighborhood and they played football. they played with no gear at all. they played against teams that were fully equipped and they told me the story that yogi was down on the line and he rammed heads with an opponent who was fully equipped with pads, spikes and a helmet and yogi knocked the kid out cold and i turned to yoge and yogi and he went yeah, that's right. yogi berra was a wonderful guy

and a truly national treasure. >> thank you so much for being on this morning. coming up. we'll go live to chuck todd at the white house. we'll be right back. surprise!!!!! we heard you got a job as a developer! its official, i work for ge!! what? wow... yeah! okay... guys, i'll be writing a new language for machines so planes, trains, even hospitals can work better. oh! sorry, i was trying to put it away... got it on the cake. so you're going to work on a train? not on a train...on "trains"! you're not gonna develop stuff anymore? no i am... do you know what ge is?

chuck todd has a boom box he puts to his feet. it's an 8 track, exactly. two turntable and a microphone. we want to talk about the pope, obviously, a massive story. a lot of hillary clinton starting with the bloomberg pole who i'm sure is as stunning to you as the rest of us around the table and three or four stories for the washington post. what's your take on that? >> all of it. >> i would start with the e-mails. just when this campaign, i think every time they think they're turning a corner on e-mails, here comes another story. the fact that the fbi can recover all the deleted e-mails which was an assumption if they got their hands on the server. i think the more important story

is the fact. it perhaps was the motivation to make the request which would it sounds as if there are more people in the dark at the statement department. >> i'm sure your sources of the state department are telling you off the record what mika's and mine are. we started a week or two ago a growing impatience. we're only going to stay mute about this for so long. we have our own reputations to worry about. yesterday you started seeing the state department saying enough. we can't let her continue saying things that aren't true. you can't help but wonder that. there has been this assumption that the clinton campaign put out there. this was about recordkeeping and

everybody seemed to be aware of it. we've had plenty of evidence that has come out that says not everybody at the state department knew that a private ser server, look at the e-mail that came out she admitted sending an e-mail to the secretary, the e-mail is down and they didn't know about your server situation. the it department didn't know. i'm guessing a lot of people at state didn't know. i think maybe perhaps you're right. people are saying you know what, we don't want to have this be about the state. >> so chuck, let's talk about why you're at the white house right now. we'll be following coverage throughout the morning. live coverage of the pope's visit to the white house. the historic and different part of the business is his address to congress. wha what can be expected today at the white house. >> it's ceremonial. obviously, he's going to have a private meeting with the

president. we'll see. it was the first private meeting we in hind site found out that's where the cuba discussions got off the ground and the pope was willing to play diplomatic helper on that front. i think the one issue, democrats are fired up about, the pope talking about climate change and income equality and i think some hoping the pope doesn't shy away on issues of life. i think the one issue where he's going to have an impact is on the refugee crisis. i think that's what, my guess is he'll push harder with the president today and i imagine you're going to hear that a lot at the u.n. on friday and perhaps some on congress. this, that is sort of that humanitarian front and that is something tangible he can get done on this trip which is get the united states to do more.

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this cubicle. being irregular is the worst. get more fiber with chocolaty-chewy fiber one bars. feeling good can taste great is there a hand held i could use? i think the the issue. contrary to some characters, i'm quiet soft spoken actually. >> good for her. this was carly fiorina in south carolina yesterday turning a microphone problem into an attack on donald trump. you get it? now you get it? >> it's so interesting we were talking to al fred yesterday on the phone and talking about maybe the reason carly breaks through is because she figures out how to attack donald and if she can do it through no contests then actually that's

even a positive way. >> it's great. sometimes it can be an advantage. joining us now the governor of michigan, jennifer -- on correct the record. >> it's a boring day for you. >> it is totally, watching you this morning. >> i wish they would talk about our candidate a little bit. >> i wish they would talk about your candidates a little bit more. >> that's been the last three days. >> i heard you. i was like joe. >> i've had republican halt mail for three days. we turn off that and now it's the hillary closet. let's talk about the bloomberg pole. i want to ask about carly. i know she's not your ideology or your party. it's got to be impressive to see

this woman come out and give them hell. >> from a style point of view, absolu absolutely. she was great at the debate. we won't go into that. nonetheless, her ability to carry herself is impressive and no one can take that away. >> 33, 25, 34, hillary, biden and sanders, does that surprise you? >> i think we've seen some of this in some of these other poles that have been recently done and then there are poles, this one did not take joe biden out of it to compare what it's like with the act yule people running. there's love for joe biden. everybody understands that. the logistics of him getting in and how he differentiates himself is not withstanding. let me just say yesterday at the

campaign headquarterers here in new york in brooklyn and listening to you guys this morning and coming from there, it was like a separate plane because there was a sense yesterday she's hit her stride and going out on these policies and i think you mentioned that this morning she was a great win on going after the prescription drug policy and she has a great policy she started on climate change. the keystone pipeline thing there was a big thing yesterday when she came out with that. to your point, i think that was stra steej rancic in the sense that it coincides with the pope's position. >> why did it take so long? >> i think to take her to work, she was looking at are they going to come out? how long do i have to hold off and finally she said i'm not going to hold out forever. i i owe the people.

>> that's correcting the record. where have we been off on the biggest issue that's played to her candidacy? correct the records. >> just thiscandidacy. >> just this morning the stories that have come out. is it so shocking? do we believe the experts at the fbi are not going to recover her private email? it was reported by the noi"new k times" of this year that she was responding to both the benghazi inquiries and to this letter that she got from the state department asking for emails. it's sort of a non-story. i'm not sure what the big ahhh is. >> they deleted the emails. the clinton campaign would prefer the fbi investigators were not able to recover the emails. there is friction there. >> she turned over the server and all the emails relative to work. we'll see what happens.

the point of the fbi having it was because they wanted to see if there was a hack, if there was something in danger. >> that's the purpose of reconstructing it, which is what we were -- >> but, but 70 in this bloomberg poll, 70% of democrats, 70% favorability rating. an iowa poll, 61% of democrats just don't care about the email thing. before yesterday no one in the past two avails that she had had, nobody was asking about the email thing. people want to know now, all right, she has apologized. let's move on. how do you differentiate yourself on policy. and that's exciting. >> governor, you mentioned the prescription drug policy that she was working on. yesterday, again, should have been the huge win. we get the vilified, greedy hedge fund guy to back down as hillary clinton was calling on him to back down. >> yeah. >> you were over there. you have a day like that, and then the day ends with three new

email stories coming out. are they throwing things against the wall? >> actually, i'm telling you, honestly, people over there feel like the fever has lifted. these email stories this morning, which really there is just not -- there is just not much there to them. there is nothing new in them. >> the state department is distancing themselves from hillary's story. >> i guess i question that. the state department sent a letter, and that's what she said she responded to. she also acknowledged the benghazi stuff. that's been a part of it. what's the new there? what's new is she is out cha championing the prescription drug thing. she has a phenomenal climate plan which will put half a billion solar panels on roofs. you have the pope coming. he is totally saying this is our home, and he said you have to make sure that we not just till

the soil but keep and till the soil. we haven't done any keeping, you know, in his climate -- his encyclical on climate change. there is so much stuff happening and coming out of the clinton world that the campaign itself feels infused with that energy. and that's exciting. >> let's do this. this is your time to correct the record. we shouldn't have a back and forth because we had the first hour and 45 minutes. >> right! >> so let's do this. come back a lot. so when we're in the middle of those discussions -- >> i would love -- >> -- we would love to have you be part of the process and part of the debate. >> i would love to. >> former governor jennifer granholm. >> great to see you. republican presidential candidate senator lindsey graham will be our guest at 8:30 a.m. live from new hampshire. our coverage continues as the pope arrives at the white house. programming note, "morning joe" will be stretching out to

10:00 today. we're going four hours this morning. we can do it. we've done six during election times. we look forward to it. it will be an historic occasion, we'll be doing a live coverage of the pope arriving at the white house. we'll be right brack. when broker chris hill stays at laquinta he fires up the free wifi, with a network that's now up to 5 times faster than before! so he can rapidly prepare his presentation. and when he perfects his pitch, do you know what chris can do? and that is my recommendation. let's see if he's ready.

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. ahead on "morning joe," our special coverage of the pope's visit to the white house. plus, the quotable yogi berra. we remember one of the greatest to ever put on a catcher's mask.

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yogi berra hits one. >> i love baseball. i really do. i always told my dad, said dad, i ain't going to make it work. i said, i like to play ball too much. which i do. we played hard. you have to work at this game, you really do. and it's fun doing it if you do it the right way. >> that's the great yogi berra. >> at 90, passing away. >> at 90. willie geist, 14 of his 18 seasons in the world series. oh, by the way, he fought in d-day, normandy beach. >> a great american story. family was immigrants from italy. moved to st. louis. dropped out of school in 8th grade and started playing baseball and basically never stopped. i think because he was such a character. we all know the it ain't over till it's over and all those expressio expressions. his career is overshadowed as one of the or two or three greatest catchers of all time. >> a wonderful man, by the way.

just a wonderful man. yogi, tim russert and i were on the field, the clip from the all-star game in philadelphia. tim asked yogi berra about his career, traveling by train, his teammates, all the years in the major leagues. he had a roommate. he said my favorite roommate was whitey ford, a hall of fame pitcher. i asked him was yogi your favorite roommate, and he said, no, angie dickinson was. we'll have much more on his life coming up later in the block. also, the pope on the national stage in the united states of america. this morning he heads to the white house. so we will be doing a live coverage for msnbc until 10:00 eastern time this morning covering the pope's historic visit to america. he will be addressing congress. and there are lots of things to talk about with that. we have national political

correspondent for bloomberg politics with us. and nbc political analyst and former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele. a lot to get to this morning. >> we talked a good bit yesterday about the republican party. this morning, boy, the news is all with the democratic party. and it starts with a shocker of a poll. and if this poll is a leading indicator, the democratic race just got a lot more interesting. >> brand-new poll numbers in the battle for the democratic nomination. it's now looking like a three-way contest. the bloomberg politics poll shows hillary clinton at 33%, just eight points ahead of joe biden. the vice president edging past senator bernie sanders, 25% to 24%, not even in the race. two top unions, including one who backed clinton early in the 2008-cycle have decided to delay their endorsements. >> l's look at the numbers. mike, i am personally shocked

that it has bunched up this quickly. >> i am actually stunned at those numbers. i would never have guessed that. 33-25. the vice president has shot up from nowhere without even announcing. the clinton people, i am told, are making a concerted effort to keep him out of the race by sending all sorts of signals that he will be vulnerable to this attack or that attack. he is not even an announced candidate. >> willie, the unions now holding back as mika reported. waiting for joe biden. >> the more these numbers come out, i know we can't see into joe biden's heart, but how can he not look at some of these polls and say, i can win this race, if you're joe biden sitting on the outside. i know mika is going to get into this. now we know this cloud of the email story will go on for months and months. >> it blew up yesterday. in fact, it blew up in the

middle of a des moines register interview with the editorial board was hillary was complete pflumm oked. >> the "washington post" laid out she had been asked to turn over the emails once people began to look into the benghazi investigation, which was three months before the other secretaries of state were asked to turn over their archived emails. hillary clinton said from the beginning she turned over her emails when they asked the others to turn over their emails. even after the story came out, even with the clinton campaign statement, there is no clarity to why there is a discrepancy. it was reported last night that the fbi was able to start recovering some of the deleted emails. >> you're killing hamlet in the first act. mika is about to report on these stories. you're right, though. quickly about the poll numbers.

does that surprise you? >> a quarter of leaning democrats, being willing to back somebody who hasn't announced yet is a surprise. the other thing is the favorability ratings. joe biden will have high favorables now. she is down ten points in four months. that continues a trend line we have seen on her favorables. joe biden for any number of reasons, whether it's due to his time as vice president, whether it's due to his son. people like him right now and democrats want him to run. you touched on two of these points. the fbi has recovered some of hillary clinton's emails off her private server. the bureau has recovered personal and work email that had presumed to be deleted and more previously undisclosed state department emails, about a dozen related to benghazi, have surfaced in a federal court

filing. according to ploolitico most se to have been withhold from the committee on benghazi. a spokesman says the department has made every effort to cooperate. while clinton has always characterized her participation in turning over email from the server to the state department as routine, officials are characterizing it a bit differently. according to the "washington post"s, citing state department officials the request was not about general record-keeping but was spurred entirely from the discovery that clinton had only used the private server. yesterday clinton was asked to explain the discrepancy to the des moines register. >> all i know is that they sent the same letter to everybody. that's my -- that's my understanding. >> so the post is reporting now that there is -- that this -- there was some question about whether the server was deleted. >> you know what, you're telling

me something i don't know. all i know is what i have said and what i have said is it was allowed, the state department has confirmed that. the same letter went to, as far as i know, my predecessors and i am the one who said, hey, i'll be glad to help. you know, we'll give you additional, you know, information as we get it. >> boy, willie, so much happened yesterday, it's hard really to keep track. mika just blew through some stories that, yeah -- but you could untangle a lot of these threads for three days, whether it's the state department having enough. they have been pushed to the wall enough. other things will come out i'm sure pretty soon and talk about how her story is not correct. this is one of them. oh, they sent it to all the secretaries of state. congressional subpoenas being ignored. we have been hearing conservatives complain for several months that there was a gap during the time of the

benghazi attacks and the emails produced yesterday, some were unearthed that she didn't produce, that the state department didn't produce. and other stories. a lot coming -- for a campaign that wants to get on to other issues, the headlines just keep going. and this fbi investigation just keeps churning. >> on the "washington post" story, the state department on the record. john kirby, he is on the record. these are not sources on the state department saying we went after this because of something specific with hillary clinton, we wanted to investigate that. on the fbi question, we've always asked who got to decide which of the emails made it to congress and which were kept and marked as personal by hillary clinton. 30,000 she says were personal. now the fbi has access to those. they can go through and decide if any were work-related or classified. now it's in the hands of the fbi and we don't have to take hillary clinton and the campaign's word for it.

>> a lot of clinton supporters feeling defensive right now. we can see it in our emails and on our twitter feed. any reporting on the story can certainly see that as well. we're all hearing, just like we hear things from the state department, which come out later, but i certainly am hearing, i am sure you're hearing, everybody that i talk to is hearing from powerful democrats, a rising concern about hillary clinton, about this fbi investigation. and they're looking at joe biden. they're looking at bernie sanders. they're looking hard at other options. >> rising concern, your phrase, is putting it mildly. >> it is. but if i said anything more, they'll go he is just a republican saying that. it's near panic for a lot of democrats who want to win the white house. >> there is a huge gap between the reality of what's in these emails -- we don't know -- and the perception of the emails themselves, which is devouring her candidacy. the perception around the emails

is devouring her candidacy. she can't seem to get ahead of it or get out from it. again, the emails that are in contest, we don't know. we don't know what's in the emails. but you hear from any number of democrats. i heard yesterday that jerry brown, the governor of california, was considering entering the race because of the email controversy and because of their doubts about the strength of hillary clinton's candidacy. >> she is trying to keep it on policy. >> but we just don't know what's in the emails. we do know this, though, mike. her story has been inconsistent. it has been wrong. she has had to reverse herself several times. mike says we don't know what's in all the emails. i think we'll find out. but, when i first became a lawyer, i was told, tell the jury everything about your client. >> right. >> if you don't let them assume the worst -- tell them the worst up front and then they'll work with it.

if you don't, they'll always assume the worst. and that's exactly what's happening here. >> maybe they're all about yoga. you never know. we'll see. >> and wedding pictures. >> she is trying to keep it on policy. she has declined to take a position on the issue for months, but now hillary clinton says she is opposed to the key stone pipeline. her delay has left her in a tough spot with many democrats since the project is supported by labor unions but opposed by environmental groups. here is a look at the evolution. >> this is president obama's decision. i am not going to second-guess him. i want to wait and see what he and secretary kerry decide. if it's undecided when i become president, i will answer your question. >> i have been waiting for the administration to make a decision. i thought i owed them that. i can't wait too much longer, and i am putting the white house on notice. i am going to tell you what i think soon because i can't wait. i thought they would have it

decided way, you know, way by now. and they haven't. >> i feel now -- i've got a responsibility to you and other voters who ask me about this. and i think it is imperative that we look at the keystone pipeline as what i believe it is, a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change and, unfortunately, from my perspective, one that interferes with our ability to move forward to deal with all the other issues. therefore, i oppose it. >> what did she just say? >> um, well she opposes it. >> i heard that. i didn't understand everything before that. >> well, so why now? because she has said she was waiting, waiting, waiting, for something to happen in the white house. >> she put the white house on notice. >> she did. >> put them on notice. >> they seemed really upset about it. >> they were flustered. >> flustered! mike. >> i don't get it. >> i don't know how to say it. well, let's be polite.

>> yeah. i don't -- there is no reason not to be. i don't understand the timing. >> that was not good. a good performance. >> in a year when people are being attracted to outsiders, to people who don't speak to politics, who just throw out their opinions, however bizarre they are, in a year when people are increasingly attracted to outsiders and people who don't act like politicians, unfortunately the former secretary of state, hillary clinton, acted like nothing more than a politician. >> like scott walker flip-flopping on the issues. i think at the end of the day that's what caused a lot of the concern on the republican side and here hillary is flip-flopping and saying i'll wait. >> for what? what happened? >> it would be like going to iowa as a republican and saying, i am going to wait until the white house tells me what my stance should be on partial-birth abortion. >> if she were going to come out against the pipeline you could

understand it. but when she came out with the position everyone assumed she had and it wouldn't hurt her in the primary, you say, why didn't you say that years ago? it's been under investigation. all these studies for five and seven years including while she was in the state department. all the pieces of it. michael steele, she also dropped the news literally as the pope was stepping off the plane at joint base andrews there. what do you make of that? >> it's the ultimate hail mary, you know. hoping nobody is seeing what she is saying here. absolutely amazing, a, that she did it. the timing was perfect. but b, i think to the point that's already been said, she basically said nothing,at least nothing more than she could have said six months, six week ago, a year ago. it plays into the narratives that the clintons are -- their calculation and their politics is just bad.

they just don't get how they sound and how they're perceived. and i think mike put it exactly right. the narrative around her is eating away and tearing asunder her campaign. >> good assessment. >> actually, i think the problem is that bill clinton can do this. >> he can scratch his face and sound like he's telling the truth when he's not. >> he's got to be enraged. >> all right. all right. still ahead on jo "morning joe," a legend behind the plate, yogi berra. coverage of the pope's first visit to the white house. but first, presidential contender lindsey graham joins us. what he makes of scott walker and ben carson's call for lower-polling candidates to step out of the way. this bale of hay cannot be controlled. when a wildfire raged through elkhorn ranch, the sudden loss of pasture became a serious problem for a family business.

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yogi berra, the yankee legend passed away last night. the museum announced the news on twitter. berra regarded as one of the best catchers in the history of baseball. joined the yankees in 1946 at the age of 21. he served in the navy during world war ii as a gunner's mate during a d-day invasion. he won ten world series and three mvp awards along the way, every last one of them in new york. >> there is no tomorrow. this is evan's field, brooklyn, the seventh game of the 1956 world series. first inning, one on, two out. yogi berra out.

sailed to the right field fence. and the yanks are off and running. hank scores. right behind him is the yankees' great catcher berra. in the third inning he connects again. his second consecutive home run and again with a man on base. >> how great is the old newsreel footage? >> you were right. we got to know him for his colorful personality so much that it did overshadow. i see clips of that and go, wow, he was really good. >> 15 all-star games. 10 world series. the great derek jeter by comparison, five world series. after his playing days ended he became a coach and manager for the mets and yankees, winning a pennant with each. also, of course, his words, the seemingly non-sensical contradictory statements that became known as yogi-isms defined him as much as anything on the field.

the most famous perhaps it ain't over till it's over. tim russert got him to explain. >> when you come to the fork in the road. >> take it. we have a street back home. that's why i said that. >> half the things i said, i never said. >> oh, boy! i tell you the truth, tim, i don't even know i say these things. i really don't. >> i like the one about the restaurant in st. louis. he goes. nobody goes there anymore. it's too crowded. >> he orders a pizza from the clubhouse. they say, do you want them to slice it in six or four slices? >> make it four. i can't eat six. >> berra devoted much of his life after baseball to community service and charity work. in 2014 he lost his wife of 65 years carmen. the two have three sons and 20 grandchildren. he was 90 years old. coming up on "morning joe," our nbc team is spread out

across washington this morning as pope francis kicks off a busy first full day in america. it all starts at the white house just minutes from now. we're going to go there live for complete coverage. first, 2016 politics. presidential candidate lindsey graham joins us from the campaign trail in new hampshire. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." ♪ so you're a small business expert from at&t? yeah, give me a problem and i've got the solution. well, we have 30 years of customer records. our cloud can keep them safe and accessible anywhere. my drivers don't have time to fill out forms. tablets. keep it all digital. we're looking to double our deliveries. our fleet apps will find the fastest route. oh, and your boysenberry apple scones smell about done. ahh, you're good. i like to bake. add new business services with at&t and get up to $500 in total savings. prge! a manufacturer. well that's why i dug this out for you.

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i can tell you the story of vera coking. she lived in atlanta city, new jersey. in this case the business interest was donald trump's casinos. donald trump's casinos and the city of atlantic city decided that they wanted a parking lot for limousines and they took over vera's home. one of the things that's going on in this country today is we have an unholy alliance between business interests and political interests and the lobbyists that serve both. they all get together and the individual becomes very small. as government becomes very big and powerful. >> joining us from manchester, new hampshire, republican presidential candidate senator lindsey graham of south carolina. we just saw bumping in from the break, carly fiorina. >> imminent domain trickier in

lindsey's former district and mine. >> mobile home, yeah. >> because the wheels keep moving. >> way ahead of you. >> i had lindsey tell that joke once to a keep in my home district. it's so hard because the homes keep moving around, it's hard. >> when they underpin it, i got you then. >> exactly. so lindsey, we have been talking about muslim comments on the republican side, email servers on the democratic side. they're all character tests. and you have come out on the right side on all of this stuff. so we can go, really, to what's really important right now, and that is the meltdown in syria. a geo political novo as general

petraeus called it. the russians aggressively moving in. talk about that and how serious a setback that is for u.s. interests across the middle east and the globe. >> number one, russia reentering into the middle east in a big way. they were pretty much kicked out in 1973. but supporting assad, the russians supporting assad, joe, means the war never ends. it's a great recruiting opportunity for isil because assad is aligned with iran. when the russians double down on assad, it means this war continues and syria continues to fall apart. it affects lebanon, jordan, and the next 9/11 is likely to come from syria. russian involvement means he doesn't go and the war continues. >> it also means that you have a major power hostile to israel a short distance from striking israel. again, the implications down the road -- >> enormous. >> -- could be remarkably bad for us, right?

>> yeah. and i worry about jordan and lebanon being the victims of the war in syria. they're more -- there are more syrian children in lebanese primary schools than there are lebanese children according to the intelligence community. the worst is yet to come. but with russia supporting assad, it means he doesn't go. it means that the radical sunni islamists have a great recruiting opportunity. the syrians want assad out, their brutal dictator and want isil destroyed. it means they're not going to get either anytime soon. >> at last check, i think the u.s. was accepting 100,000 or 80,000 migrants. do you think we should be bringing in more to this country in order to help with the crisis? >> i think the main thing is we need to stop the flow because the worst is yet to come. but yes, i would be willing to take syrian refugees if they're properly vetted. we do about 70,000, 75,000

throughout the world. upping the number gives us more capacity regarding syria. but if we don't get ahead of this, guys, it will be a blood-letting beyond what we've seen and it will affect the entire region. i worry about the king of jordan if this thing doesn't stop. >> it was interesting watching general petraeus' testimony yesterday on the strategic positions between vladimir putin's most recent moves. i am interested. president graham in office, what is he doing specifically to check what vladimir putin has done over the last couple of weeks? >> well, the first thing in syria is i would find a ground component that would destroy isil and put military pressure on assad to leave. he is never going to leave while he's winning on the battlefield. so it's in our national security interest to destroy isil. that means a ground force. general petraeus talked about an enclave in syria to train syrians. i don't know if that works or

not but my number one priority would be to destroy isil in iraq and syria. put pressure on assad to leave and tell the russians he is going to go. we will not accept syria with assad. that's a non-starter for us. try to find a way to get him out. you have to get on the ground and destroy isil. for that comes from has yet to be determined. >> do you think a ground force would cause vladimir putin to pull back military supplies of jets and tanks? >> yeah. i think what would happen is, if you begin to take the fight to isil more effectively, they begin to lose caliphate. you pull them up by the roots and turn your attention to assad and the russians will understand assad cannot stay. at the end of the day, those under his enclave, we've got to reconcile with them. they're worried about being slaughtered. you have to have a diplomatic as well as a military path.

i think the russians are not going to fight for assad. >> this is a growing consensus that syria is already a failed state. >> yeah. >> a growing consensus that, as you alluded to, jordan is under siege from refugees to the extent that jordan is in danger of collapsing. >> yeah. >> as unattractive as it might seem to many people, is it not a possibility that the best immediate strategy for syria is to realize that assad is going to be there for a long time, or not for a long time but is going to be there for a while and to work out some structure with the russians on the ground in syria to have assad leave whatever is left of syria for several months and then have him depart, but to recognize that he's not going to be going? >> i think the goal is to make sure that he does go. because if he stays, then he is a recruiting tool for isil and

al nusra and the other sunni extremists because he is a puppet of iran. under no circumstance can he be allowed to be a legitimate leader of syria because the war never ends. finding a transition for assad i believe only happens when he sees a military change, when the tide of battle changes and the russians and everybody else realizes he is not going to stay in power because the syrian people can come after him after we deal with isil. there are no good options left, guys. i don't want to sit here and paint a rosy picture. i am trying to pick the best of the bad options. >> senator lindsey graham. thank you as always. great talking to you. >> thank you, senator. >> thanks. still ahead -- >> i was going to say quickly to mike. mike, that is -- that seems to be what's happening right now in syria, that, if not assad surviving, assad's regime survives, the russians step in to make sure the regime

survives. the united states steps up pressure to help drive isis out. and once it -- when they don't have syria as their home base, things become much more difficult for them much more quickly. >> yeah. i mean, right now -- we've got seemingly two priorities. get assad out and fight isil. let's have one priority. take care of isil. we're going to live with assad for a while. bomb. still ahead on "morning joe," we're moments away from the pope's historic meeting at the white house. special extended live coverage when "morning joe" continues. (vo) what does the world run on? it runs on optimism. it's what sparks ideas. moves the world forward.

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morning, about an hour longer as pope francis meets president obama in the people's house. the pontiff's historic visit to the white house kicks off a whirlwind few days here in america. and we have got reporters all over the map covering this special event. a panel of experts on set including former u.s. ambassador raymond flynn and senior communications adviser to the vatican's secrety of state greg burke. chris matthews and andrea mitchell join us also. a quick break and we're back with the special ceremony and addresses by the pope and the president. when broker chris hill stays at laquinta he fires up the free wifi, with a network that's now up to 5 times faster than before! so he can rapidly prepare his presentation. and when he perfects his pitch, do you know what chris can do? and that is my recommendation. let's see if he's ready.

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welcome back to "morning joe." an extended "morning joe" this morning as we mark pope francis' arrival at the white house. >> the leader of more than a billion catholics is bringing his message to america. >> it's the pontiff's first visit to the u.s. in his whole life, sparking a massive security operation and raising big questions of which issues he intends to raise with president obama, members of congress and the american people. >> we have special coverage planned with top vatican experts and our nbc team.

spread out across washington. >> we have on set with us former mayor of boston and the former u.s. ambassador to the holy sea, raymond flynn. good to have you this morning. >> mr. ambassador, a very special day, obviously. only the third time the pope has visited the white house. a pontiff has visited the white house. >> fourth pope. >> fourth pope to visit the u.s. third to visit the white house. >> there you go. yep. >> last time in 2008. one time, mika, that you may remember in 1979. >> i do remember. we'll get to that. this is historic on so many levels. >> i remember that very well. mike. >> i certainly do. >> mika, as a matter of fact, i was with your father. i was with your father in the white house in 1976 on st. patrick's day. >> there you go. he is watching right now. i was a little bit younger. >> i know. >> took part in the ceremonies and we actually had a special meeting and dinner with the pope, which we'll talk about

later. that was incredible. 1979. there we go. okay. i looked just, you know, same hair. what can i say? >> he did a lot to defeat communism with he and ronald reagan and jimmy carter and john paul ii. >> my father had a special connection with pope john paul ii given their polish origin. they got along quite well. >> mike, this pope has very special connections with a catholic church in a way that the previous pope did not. doing extraordinary things, getting a lot of catholics interested in being re-engaged in the church. this trip to america, very important for the church and very important for this pope. >> well, the pope arrives in america, this particular pope arrives in america at a pivotal time for the catholic faith in america given the past decade or so of the stories buffeting the impression of the view many

people have had through the sexual abuse trials of various priests around this country. this pope's uniqueness, i think, lies in a couple of different things. one, this is just me. i don't know whether ray flynn would agree with me or not. but he is a jesuit. the first jesuit pope. jesuits bring a tradition in -- within catholicism that is different. they are teachers. this particular pope was a teacher. he teaches. he teaches the lessons of the faith throughout the world. do unto others as you would have them do to you. matthew 25. i met a stranger, we met a stranger. we welcomed him. we fed the poor. we gave water to those who were thirsty. >> right. >> the underprivileged. that's what this pope is all about. that's what the faith is all about. >> so we're mapping it out right now. the pope will be leaving the

papalnunciature. any minute now he'll start to make his way toward the white house where there will be lots of ceremony and then two addresses, one by the pope and one by the president. >> the reaction from the americans will be great, in part because of mr. ambassador what mike barnicle was talking about, a new focus with this pope. what i have called a matthew 25 christian, someone who focuses on the poor, the underprivileged. even challenging us in a way that past popes have not, talking about our obsession on rampant materialism is misplaced. >> that's exactly right. michael barnacle is right. this is pope francis. i met pope francis, jorge bergoglio, way back. this is who he was. man of humility. man of simplicity.

i saw him walking the streets of rome and had a cappuccino with him. he is no security around him. this is the way he was when he was archbishop of argentina way back when. but you know, there is something else, joe. i mean, i hope the people of america, in his first visit, get a chance to really see this, the goodness of this man. right now, to be honest with you, i am a little concerned that it's become so political, you know. the trip to cuba. raul castro, fidel castro, the white house, the congress, the united nations. to be honest i can't wait until he gets to philadelphia and meets the real people and he hears their stories and meets the handicapped and special needs kids. he meets all the people that are really the essential core of the catholic church. not the white house but the people themselves. >> yeah. he is -- he is, today, tomorrow,

he is meeting with recipients of aid from catholic charities in washington. he is coming in new york. he's going to east harlem and meeting jim dwyer in the "new york times" had a list of people he's going to meet with. day laborers, migrants, ordinary working people. >> what we're looking at right now we believe is the pope mobile, which is a fiat or some small car that conserves gasoline. there is something electrifying about this pope that no leader can accomplish and that is living the example of christ and saying five words that i think have made him on international star and less political. "who am i to judge." >> that's the most profound statement that i think i have ever heard anybody make. i remember ronald reagan, tear down this wall, mr. gorbachev.

be not afraid john paul ii. who am i not to judge. >> it's a simple statement. and it is a statement that is based so deeply in the teachings of jesus christ, but it is also a disconnect that too many catholics and too many christians worldwide have felt disconnected from their religious leaders who always seem to be in a position of judgment. this pope showing humility, showing christ's humility saying "who am i to judge" really did electrify a billion catholics across the globe. >> it gets to the roots of who he is. teach without judging. a jesuit. it doesn't mean he doesn't have strong opinions but teach without judging. >> beyond reaching out to the poor and disaffected and reaching out to those who are in need of help and those who feel

disillusioned and excommunicated, those who are feeling judged and those with problems within the catholic church that he solves with those five words. >> nbc news senior white house correspondent chris jansing joins us live from the south lawn. chris, tell us what's happening. >> reporter: this is a ceremony we're about to see that is reserved really for only the most important visitors. what a spectacular setting on a beautiful day with 15,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of that pope. i think that what we're going to see here today is a little more pomp and circumstance than the pope would normally ask for, certainly more than we saw at the welcoming yesterday. but it is going to be an incredibly powerful picture. you have the world's most influential religious leader, the leader of 1.2 billion catholics standing side by side with the leader of the free world. and what we're going to see today that's also unique is

going to be the remarks, the pope will be making his remarks in english. he says his english is not very good, although people close to him say it's actually better than he often lets on. and you're going to see, i think, the tenor of a person that you were all just talking about, a catholic leader who has transcended his faith, who has really been somebody who has appealed to people of all faiths. and we have seen it in the audience here, the few people i talked to along the line. certainly this is not a group that is all catholic. even this morning i can tell you my uber driver -- i said, what made you want to brave coming out early this morning in washington d.c. when they're telling people not to drive? and she said, i felt i could be of service. that is the example that this pope has set. so we're very curious to hear what the pope has to say. obviously publicly, and then he will be going into the private meeting with the president in the oval office.

joe and mika. >> as we look at the south lawn of the white house, we've seen dignitaries start to file in. joe biden along with joe biden there, joe biden of course surprising nobody, chatting up the cardinals. also, ethel kennedy, and secretary of state john kerry. how interesting secretary of state john kerry, mika and joe biden sitting fairly close to each other. two that have been the subject of intense political speculation over the past several weeks. at least in the halls of washington d.c. >> we're down to a matter of moments when the pope should be leaving the papal nunciature and heading to the white house. right on cue, he is headed to the white house, getting into the small car that he has been using since arriving here in the united states. the crowd is going wild. this is what i love about the catholic church and catholics.

they get excited about their pope, and they don't hold back. it's almost like a sports event. let's take a listen. >> and that is a change. [ chanting ] so, few, mika, few of us could have guessed when pope francis ascended and -- to the leadership of this church that this man could have excited the church the way he has. it was a church obviously that

had been mired in scandal, that had been -- mired in a series of problems. it seemed more disconnected than ever before from its followers. and now we see scenes of this pope that we would see anywhere across the planet, beloved by young and old alike. >> he has found a way very quickly and quite frankly at a time that the catholic church really needed to inspires people, all people, to turn back into their own humanity. what he does is makes them want to follow his example and actually do something kind, whether it's big, whether it's small, this man inspires positive action. >> he really does. let's go to nbc news correspondent ann thompson joining us live from washington. ann, you travelled with francis on the flight from cuba yesterday. what can you tell us? >> reporter: i can tell you, joe, that he was very excited to be coming to america. he was very energized after

three incredibly hot and humid days in cuba. but right now what the pope is doing is exactly what he wanted to do here in america. he wanted to get out and meet the american people. earlier i was listening to you and you were talking about the sort of political events that are on his schedule, the reception at the white house, the speech before congress, the speech at the united nations. yes, those are political events in the way we consider them, but you have to remember that he is going to approach all of these events as a pastor. that's how he sees this trip. he is the leader of the catholic faith, going out to meet his flock, in this case the american portion of his flock. and so, when he talks about issues like climate change and immigration, which are hot-button political issues in this country, he doesn't approach them from a political point of view but from a spiritual point of view, from what he believes god asks us to do. god asks us to take better care

of the gift of nature. god asks us to take care of our neighbors, to help them when they are in trouble. that's how he approaches these issues. so while, yes, there are portions of this visit that are going to look political, to him they are pastoral. >> thank you so much, anne. greatly appreciate your reporting. looking forward to getting back to you with more soon. mike barnicle, anne's statement about his focus on the spiritual more than the political, obviously seems to be the case when you compare him to someone who i always idolized, and that was pope john paul ii, who, because of his past, because of the horrors of world war ii, because of the horrors of stalinism, understood the importance of working forr the freedom of liberation of eastern

europe. this is a pope who seems to be more focused on the spiritual liberation of the catholic church. >> different times in history. what anne thompson told us is so true about this particular pope. it gets to our self-absorption of americans. we think everything is about us and our politics. it is not so with this pope. this pope is, again, you cannot reflect back enough on matthew 25. he comes as a pastor. i was hungry. you gave me food. i was thirsty. you gave me drink. he is talking about the larger, greater good. and he is in the city which is uniquely consumed with politics, but the american people ought to know and remember something that is so obvious. this man is not a candidate for anything. he comes with no pollsters. he relies on a larger focus group that none of us are a part

of. and he doesn't need to sit down and watch focus group information to address us with the things that he will talk about, both before the joint session of congress and at the united nations. it's the top of the hour. we are extending "morning joe" special coverage here as we follow the pope making his way from the papal nunciature in washington d.c. to the white house for a special ceremony. josé díaz-balart is on assignment covering the pope as well. as we continue our coverage, these scene are just vivid and beautiful. as you see the faces of the pope who broke his way into the crowd. i feel sorry for his handlers, joe, because he wanted to connect with the people. at one point i saw a woman touching his face, and they were embracing, and he made his way through and was kissing small children. this is what he loves. >> how interesting. as she was touching his face, he actually leaned