>> maybe there are no more answers, no reason to keep digging up the past. just leave it rooted right where it is, and let the spanish moss grow. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. good morning. i'm dara brown in new york at msnbc world headquarters. it's 7:00 in the east, 4:00 out west. president trump blasting the iran deal but not killing it. new questions about whether congress will act to save it. we'll separate fact from fiction. a new attack from senator bob corker on the president. is the senator on his own, or do many republicans agree with him behind the scenes? some answers ahead. body cam video showing just how difficult the situation is in california. a deputy runs through fire trying to rescue people. this morning a new jump in the death toll.

new this morning, world leaders reacting to president trump's refusal to recertify the nuclear deal with iran. the president is stopping short of withdrawing from the deal for now. nbc's chief foreign affairs correspondent "andrea mitchell reports" he's putting its future in the hands of congress. >> reporter: in a blistering indictment of iran's terrorism, starting with the hostage taking at the u.s. them bembassy in ir 1979, the president threatening to quit the iran nuclear deal unless the allies and congress fix what he sees as flaws. >> in the event we're not able to reach a solution working with congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated. >> reporter: the president ordering new sanctions against iran's hardline revolutionary guard, instructing the intelligence agencies to reinvestigate reports iran is dealing with north korea. demanding congress restrict iran's missile program and make all restrictions on the nuclear program permanent under u.s.

law. all the very doubtful. >> our congress is highly unlikely to be able to resolve this issue. >> reporter: the reaction immediate. iran's president rouhani calling the trump language cursing. >> here in tehran there's a mood of anxiety and anger. a senior guard saying iran has buried many like trump and knows how to fight against america. >> reporter: and in an unprecedented joint rebuke, america's closest nato allies, the leaders of britain, germany, and france, saying they are concerned by the possible implications of the president's decision not to recertify iran is complying. >> he's trying to negotiate a prenuptial agreement after the marriage. >> that's nbc's andrea mitchell reporting. in minutes, i'll talk to analyst steve clemens who will separate fact from fiction. also news today, mounting pressure on congress to take action after president trump signed an executive order this week cutting off funding from a key set of obama subsidies.

insurance companies will no longer receive federal payments to help low-income americans afford coverage on the obamacare exchange. about 6 million people could feel the impact. the cbo predicts premiums would likely rise by 20%. the president is taking matters into his own hands after he says congress failed to act. >> so we're going a little different route, but you know what, in the end it's going to be just as effective and maybe it'll even be better. >> joining me now is the chief washington correspondent for bloomberg news, and the congressional reporter for the hill. great to have you both this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> thanks. >> "the washington post" has a headline that reads, throwing a bomb into the insurance markets, trump now owns the broken health care system. that's a loaded statement. is it all true? >> dara, i spoke with several sources from the administration and republican aides on capitol hill following this. the president two major steps this week to dismantle the obamacare exchanges.

first and foremost, he took action with senator rand paul in which he's allowing for small businesses to band together in associations and instructing administrators and department heads to look at taking further steps. that will encourage folks to leave the obamacare exchanges and yes, could dismantle the risk pool shares. in addition to that, the president refusing to fund key parts of obamacare, which again could further dismantle them. the bottom line is that all of this is taken because he wants to urge congress to take another look at health care. they've not been able to get it done regardless. >> and mike, this and subsidies that help some 7 million low-income americans buy health care, does congress have a plan to step in to fill this gap, or is there nothing that can be done, or is it too much to expect congress to actually do anything? >> well, there are a number of plans out there. there are proposals. some of them are democratic, some of them are bipartisan. the question is will they ever see the light of day.

this is donald trump's style. he's impatient. he's impulsive. congress has failed to do what he said he would do on the campaign trail, which is to repeal obamacare in its entirety. and so now he's taken matters into his own hands. he's in effect daring congress not to do something. he's very clearly trying to make this law fail. again, challenging congress to do something that they haven't done so far. we were thinking the other day, poor paul ryan, all he wants to do is tax reform. and here's the president, his supposed ally in the white house, throwing all these things on him. it's not just health care. it's immigration. it's daca. trump creates a crisis. but we have to help these people. congress, you do it. so there's all these issues that are going to come to the fore. we don't know what they're going to look like. it's a huge question going into this fall. are they going to wait until december to do something and wrap it into one big ball of wax? something paul ryan has said he doesn't want to do. but you can't imagine anything

coming to the floor as a standalone bill because these are the types of issues that just rip republicans apart. >> kevin, here's chief of staff john kelly in a press briefing appearance this weekend. take a listen. >> although i read it all the time pretty consistently, i'm not quitting today. i don't believe -- and i just talked to the president. i don't think i'm being fired today. and i'm not so frustrated in this job that i'm thinking of leaving. i would tell you, this is the hardest job i've ever had. this is, in my view, the most important job i ever had. >> another hot topic in d.c. what is conventional wisdom on this? there are reports general kelly is staying to keep the president in check, otherwise he'd leave. where does the truth lie? >> i thought it was interesting when chief of staff kelly then went on to say that the president had deep frustrations

with congress and their inability to accomplish things. the republican-controlled congress, mind you. for months, all year really, and every saturday when we talk, there have been questions about who's coming and who's going in the white house. you know, i think that those questions continue to swirl around this presidency, but he'd much rather talk about other things like the stock market. but i think at the end of the day, he's really hungry for a legislative win, whether it's on health care or tax reform. it's looking like we could see permanent tax cuts and comprehensive tax reform a bit more difficult. general kelly also suggesting that health care reform might not be done until this spring, but the president is clearly with the action on iran as well as health care daring congress not to act ahead of the 2018 midterms. >> let's talk about iran. mike, republican senator bob corker, his remarks this week about president trump's rhetoric, putting the u.s. on a path to world war ii.

is that a sentiment shared to other republicans in the senate, and how damaging could that be for the president if it is the case? >> well, that's right. what we're seeing is bob corker unleashed. of course, he's free to do that because he's announced his retirement. he won't be with us after 2018. it's clear that bob, coer, what he's saying out loud, is a sentiment shared by an awful lot of other republicans on capitol hill, off capitol hill. those on capitol hill can't really say it out loud because you have to remember that a lot of their base, a lot of the conservative base is still very much behind president trump. this is particularly true in the house where gerrymandering has created these very red districts. so 35%, 40% national support for trump translates into more like 60%, 65%, 75% in their district. so they can't criticize him outloud, but certainly behind the scenes they're frustrated with the president. they don't understand his style. they think he's a little too impulsive, a little too bellicose, a little too aggressive. you know, he's going after his own secretary of state, who's

trying to cut these diplomatic deals with china, with north korea, and then trump goes to twitter and says, you know, we're not going to do that, good try, rex tillerson, but the little rocket man isn't going to respond to diplomacy. so you're just having all of these mixed signals coming out of the administration. when the president is undermining his own cabinet, there is going to be plenty of unease on capitol hill and indeed there is. >> and kevin, a report late yesterday said special counsel robert mueller interviewed former white house chief of staff reince priebus. any sense whether president trump needs to worry about that? >> well, the mueller investigation continues. they've been interviewing everyone. nbc has the report out that there is more than -- that the ties between former trump campaign manager paul manafort are deeper than was previously known. i think that's interesting. but look, i think that the investigation is also taking a strong look at silicon valley

and particularly facebook and google. the notion that facebook might not release these ads, these thousands of ads -- i mean, every time during a campaign season, they always have to say who paid for the ads, and yet i guess it's a different set of rules for mark zuckerberg and silicon valley. that, i think, is also something that we have to focus on because silicon valley is definitely going to be -- that faces a lot of questions, especially ahead of that november 1st hearing up on capitol hill. >> so many questions. kevin, thank you so much. mike, great to have you here this morning. >> thank you. >> thank you. coming up, separating fact from fiction when it comes to the iran deal. what can congress do to save it? we'll break it all down for you next. we may be one of the world's most familiar companies, but we make more than our name suggests. we're an organic tea company. a premium juice company. a coconut water company. we've got drinks for long days. for birthdays.

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we're going to see what happens. we're going to see what they come back with. they may come back with something that's very satisfactory to me, and if they don't within a very short period of time, i'm terminate the deal. >> president trump yesterday moments after refusing to recertify the nuclear deal with iran. joining me now is steve clemens, washington editor at large for "the atlantic" magazine and msnbc contributor. steve, it's great to have you here this morning. >> good morning, dara. >> let's separate fact from fiction. mr. trump is not withdrawing from the deal to prevent iran from getting nuclear weapons, but he's not recertifying. what does this mean? >> what it means is he's stepping away from the process of saying he's going to put his stamp that the iran deal is okay by him. even though iran is not cheating, it is not doing what many of the critics of the iran deal said iran would do, they've done nothing that our department of defense or our intelligence or our various players have done to sort of show that they've done anything that would require that. zrump uncomfortable with the

broader iranian portfolio and what they're doing outside in the areas of ballistic missiles and whatnot. so he's kicking this to congress saying, okay, when we passed this, when barack obama did this deal, you said you wanted the right of review. you get the right of review, and you've got to fix this, according to donald trump. you've either got to leave things as they are, which they may do, or you've got to come in and look at what the terms are that sanctions might be reapplied to iran. now, that is the dicey part of this. if they were to sanction -- return sanctions on any of the issues that iran had previously negotiated, then the united states has ab rregaited the dea. what's most interesting is the threat. if they don't do something, he will. maybe he will, maybe he won't. right now nothing changes except the fact that our allies are extremely frustrated because they think we've walked away from an arrangement with them. and that may be the place where

the most tension is, american relationships with germany, france, england, and others that see this as a really valuable part of keeping the world stable. >> steve, you mentioned the sanctions. he's asking congress for sanctions against iran's revolutionary guard. would this affect the deal, and is congress likely to go along with it? >> well, he's going after the revolutionary guard in a very unusual way, a very legal, wonky way. rather than ascribing to them and describing them as a terrorist organization, which might create lots of complexities because we operate very closely in waters with the revolutionary guard. so if they're designated as a terrorist organization, we have to take certain steps with that. it would really raise tensions and put a lot of u.s. service people at risk. what he's doing is creating a different category of how them as an entity may be considered some of what they do as supporting terrorist activity, and it doesn't require the same response. but it's going to be interesting to see how this slight of hand

is read by the iranians. so yes, he's trying to raise the tension on the revolutionary guard, but it's a degree short of saying they are now designated as a terrorist organization. so what you see donald trump doing in both of these cases is taking a kind of notch up but not anywhere near the level of either ab ri gaiting the treaty or calling the iranian revolutionary guard a full-on terrorist organization. it's ratcheting it up, throwing it to congress. it's saying, i don't want to be involved in every 90 days giving the trump seal of approval to the iran deal. >> steve, you also mentioned the allies here. european leaders say no single country can kill the agreement. is there any scenario that allows the president to unilaterally end this? >> well, yes, because this arrangement is an arrangement. it's not something that was ratified by congress. it's one of the things that president obama continued to say. this is an international arrangement. everything donald trump has just asked congress to do, he can do

on his own tomorrow. he could do it this morning. he could snap back sanctions. he could say we're no longer a party of the treaty. there's a process that we would have to go through, but that doesn't necessarily suspend iran's arrangement with europe, with russia, with china, which were also part of this agreement. in fact, i've talked to iranian officials who say, look, we're not suspending this. all of a sudden this puts us in a situation where while the united states had worked with china, russia, europe in creating an environment of crippling sanctions that forced iran to the table, the irony of this is that if we were to walk away and britain, france, germany, china, russia, other countries remain connected to iran, the united states is now the isolated party, not iran being the isolated party. maybe that's donald trump's purpose, but it has an odd consequence that it really undermines the faith and trust that some of our allies had in working with us in putting this deal together. >> and steve, the trump

administration is saying that the iran deal is not legally binding. should congress get more involved in u.s. nuclear policy? and if so, what can they do? >> look, i'm a fan, honestly, just across the board of congress having oversight on a lot of issues, including this, of being involved. it's just important to create, i think, a constructive engagement, a constructive oversight. it is technically true that the iran deal is not necessarily legally binding, other than the fact that our behaviors have consequences. so if we were to abregate the deal, we don't know what iran's reaction would be. maybe iran will stay on the course. it could begin tilting in other directions. if it did do that, if it began building the capacity by which it could get enough material to build a bomb, it puts us close to where we were before this agreement was negotiated, which is iran is back on a track to a

potential nuclear warhead, a nuclear weapon of some sort, and that puts us on a military traction in that case. so i think congress should be engaged, should be aware, but should be aware not over the politics over this but of the substance of the issues. >> steve clemens, great to have you here this morning. thanks so much. >> thank you. well, they're finally home after being held by a taliban group for five years in pakistan. an american woman, her canadian husband, and their three children arriving in toronto last night. joshua boyle gave a statement to reporters about their horrific ordeal. >> authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, martyr boyle, as retaliation for my repeated refusal to accept an offer that the criminal miskree yants of the haqqani network had made to me and the subsequent -- and the stupidity and evil of the subsequent rape of my wife, not as a lone action by one guard, but assisted by the captain of the guard and supervised by the

commandant of the haqqani network. >> the u.s. says pakistan secured their release with the help of american intelligence. the family is expected to return to boyle's hometown of smith falls, ontario, with boyle's parents. body cam pictures as the deputy tries to save victims of california's wildfires. an update on the situation next. (burke) at farmers, we've seen almost everything so we know how to cover almost anything. even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ copdso to breathe better,athe. i go with anoro.

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stories we've heard. we've also really heard stories of heroism coming from the people who are the first responders here trying to help and evacuate these victims and families. so far there are about 9,000 firefighters across the state of california, and they're still battling those flames that have done damage like this. this is santa rosa, california. you can see entire neighborhoods have completely been leveled. behind me there are just charred chairs and televisions and ovens just crumpled and strewn about. the fire that caused this is still only 44% contained. remember, there's still 17 fires they're battling throughout the state. they've already charred about 200,000 acres. as you mentioned, 35 people have died. there are still at least 235 people unaccounted for. but as we mentioned, we're getting some of those first images from those first responders. the sheriff's department releasing footage from their body cameras. it was released just last night. they helped a disabled woman evacuate, and they rescued her. take a look. >> where are you at? >> help! right here!

come on! screw your shoe. come only! she's disabled. >> all right. let me get her feet. >> reporter: these are just some of the heartbreaking images we've seen throughout the state. remember, even though some of those fires are starting to become contained, it's still the air quality that's really an issue here. people have been asked to wear masks like these to keep some of those dust and particles from getting in and breathing into their lungs. there's been an air advisory and a health advisory in effect not only starting today but lasting through monday as well. dara? >> morgan, lots of people have been evacuated. where are they all going? >> reporter: some of them are going to shelters. we spoke to one woman yesterday, terry reynolds. she's disabled, in a wheelchair. both of her kids actually had to run through 30 feet of flames and carried her wheelchair out. now she says she's homeless and in a shelter. >> morgan radford, thank you so much for that report. that'll do it for me. i'm dara brown. there are reports the president is unraveling in the oval office. we'll talk to somebody who

covers the white house on a daily basis and ask if that's true. at the top of the hour, hugh hewitt will have more on president trump's executive health care order.

good morning. coming up on msnbc's "your business," the owner of this body cam company joined forces with law enforcement to come up with a product that helps them do their jobs. how the woman who owns this jewelry company is helping the homeless get back on their feet. plus, neil blumenthal of warby parker with some insight on what you can do to hold on to your best employees. let's grow fast and work smart. that's coming up next on "your business." >> announcer: "your business" is sponsored by american express open. helping you get business done. hi, everyone. i'm jj ramberg.