good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ this morning the white house is once again trying to clean up a comment made by president trump for the second time in as many days. officials say he does not hold the position he appeared to embrace. >> this comes as a growing number of democrats call for the translator who was in the one-on-one meeting between trump and putin to testify before congress. plus, a woman accused of being a russian agent has been put behind bars after prosecutors say she tried to cozy up to american officials to infiltrate the u.s. political system. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, july 19th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside

yasmin vossoughian and louis bergdorf. >> a day after walking back some of his controversial comments in helsinki, president trump is causing new confusion over some of his latest remarks. at a cabinet meeting yesterday the president appeared to suggest that russia is no longer trying to influence u.s. elections, and hours later the white house had to clarify that. nbc news chief white house correspondent hallie jackson has more. >> reporter: the president publicly putting vladimir putin on notice, holding him personally responsible for russia's attacks on the u.s. election. >> because he's in charge of the country, just like i consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. >> what did you say to him? >> i'm very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling. i let him know we can't have this, we're not going to have it, and that's the way it is going to be. >> reporter: that tougher tone in a new interview with cbs news coming after yet another donald trump translation from what he said to what he meant. less than 24 hours after the

president insisted he misspoke in finland on whether russia already interfered with our elections, he said this about whether he thinks the kremlin still is. >> reporter: is russia still targeting the u.s.,ment. >> thank you very much, no. >> reporter: that's not true, russia continues to target the u.s. election system. according to the president's own director of national intelligence who blasted the attacks with this stark warning friday. >> i'm here to say the warning lights are blinking red again. >> reporter: but the press secretary, trying to clean up the president's muddled message, said when he told reporters no he actually meant go, time to leave. >> it is the first thing the president said after the question was asked thank you very much, and then he said no, i'm not answering any more questions. >> why should this president have any credibility to americans in what he says if in fact 24 hours later, or in this case three hours later, the white house comes out and says just kidding? >> first of all, that's not what i said. i was interpreting what the

president's intention was and stating the administration's policy. >> reporter: the white house acknowledging the russian threat still exists and explaining the steps they've taken to protect u.s. elections. but to the president's critics, a hollow defense. >> it sure looked like he was saying no, and it took him a while to respond back. the problem is that's consistent with what he's been saying, you know, again and again and again, that he mistrusts our intelligence services and believes the word of putin. >> reporter: and, yasmin, the press secretary says she's not aware of any recording of that one-on-one meeting between presidents trump and putin. so that means the only other american representative in that room who knows exactly what was said besides the president is the u.s. interpreter. it is why some democrats in congress now say they want to hear from her, but it is not clear yet if the white house will let that happen. yasmin, back to you. >> thank you to hallie jackson for that report. and as hallie mention, the uproar over president trump's one-on-one meeting with vladimir putin is putting the spotlight on the translator who was in

that room. democratic senator jean shaheen is leading a push to have the translator appear before congress. bob corker is looking into whether or not that is appropriate. >> i think it is important for us to know what was said in the meeting. it is clear that there's no transcript, yet the russians seem to know what was said and what was agreed to. i think it is important for congress to know that as well. and so if the president is not going to share that with us, then the interpreter is the one in the room who may have some of that information. >> look, all of us want to know what took place in that meeting. we're looking into precedent there. we want to make sure that -- i mean i'm sure they're going to call executive privilege. i mean these are notes taken by translators, you understand, in a meeting. i'm not sure it is appropriate to subpoena translation notes. but if it is, we will certainly look at it. >> all right. so during a press briefing

yesterday at the state department, the spokesperson couldn't say whether or not the translator would actually be able to testify. >> is there any precedent for this? we've not been able to find that just yet. i can tell you there's no formal request to have the interpreter appear before any congressional committees at this point. overall as a general matter, you know, we always seek to work with congress. >> in an interview yesterday president trump said russia was responsible for meddling in the 2016 election and that responsibility rests at the top. >> you haven't condemned putin specifically. do you hold him personally responsible? >> well, i would because he's in charge of the country, just like i consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. >> but to the contrary, the president has been quick to pass the buck when things have gone wrong on his watch, and it began within the first weeks of his administration with the death of combat navy seal william ryan owens. >> well, this was a mission that

was started before i got here. this was something that was, you know, just -- they wanted to do. my generals are the most respected that we've had in many decades i believe, and they lost ryan. >> the president has fallen into a familiar pattern of shifting the blame for failure in his domestic agenda, blaming the democrats for his decision to rescind daca as well as his administration's family separation policy at the border as well as his lack of funding for the border wall. this morning we are also following news that president trump is considering allowing russian investigators to question u.s. citizens. for more on all of that i want to bring in nbc news national political reporter heidi prisbella. hi, heidi. >> hi. we are see that vladimir putin is trying to come for american citizens. the white house is entertaining whether to permit russian prosecutors to question some of

vladimir putin's biggest critics within the united states. the proposed exchange would allow special counsel robert mueller to witness interviews of russians indicted in the 2016 election, something president trump described monday as an incredible offer. >> congressional authorities named several americans they want to question several claiming a former ambassador, michael mcfall. is the president open to that idea? >> the president will meet with his team and we'll let you know when we have an answer on that. >> is it a topic that came up in their conversation. did president putin raise it with president trump? >> there was conversation about it but not a commitment made on behalf of the united states and the president will work with his team and let you know if there's an announcement on that front. >> reporter: and the russian prosecutor general's list includes former american ambassador to russia michael mcfall and other u.s. officials putin blames for an act which

leveled sanctions on the russian president and his allies for human rights abuses including the death of investment fund c, o bill browder's young lawyer in a moscow prison. in monday's news conference, putin accused browder of funneling stolen money to hillary clinton's campaign, an allegation that browder denies and which state department spokesman heather nowart flatly rejected. >> i can't answer on behalf of the white house with regard to that, but i can tell you the overall assertions coming out of the russian government are absolutely absurd, the fact they want to question 11 american citizens and the assertions they are making about the american citizens, we do not stand by the assertions that the russian government makes. >> reporter: speaking to brian williams last night, ambassador mcfall and an nbc news analyst said president trump could immediately have rejected president putin's suggestion if he had prepared for the meeting.

>> the way i interpret it is the indictment came out, they needed something to say. i don't think it is an accident that the number of americans named is 11, almost the exact same number, and then he's quite an effective story teller, vladimir putin. i've been in those meetings many times, and, you know, when you know the facts you can push back. but if you don't know the facts you can nod your head and say, okay, like the president said, that sounds like an interesting idea. that's just tragic. that means our president was not prepared to go into that meeting for five minutes one-on-one with vladimir putin let alone for two hours. >> and ambassador mcfaul joins the conversation on "morning joe." >> interesting the hear what he has to say. let me ask you quickly, heidi, about the politics behind all of this. is there anything congress could possibly do to prevent american citizens from being questioned by russians if, for example, president trump were -- >> can you believe, first of all, we are having this conversation? >> she left the -- sarah sanders

left the door open by saying we're consulting with the team and we'll let you know. >> and a state department spokeswoman called it absurd, but it all started in helsinki when the president in that news conference called it a great idea. yesterday sarah huckabee sanders were asked by the news media, that were outraged and incredulous, the president must have misspoken on this issue as well, and she said, no, we are discussing it in our team. so this would be a stunning shift in u.s. policy to even be having this conversation. and what it shows is an escalation. it shows an escalation in vladimir putin's behavior following his meeting with president trump, a meeting, again, which we have no information about what happened there. >> and, quickly, i know -- i believe senator mark warner said, oh, this isn't going to happen, we're not going the allow this to happen, but how many people is it going to take to put their foot down the make sure this thing doesn't happen? >> i don't know exactly what the levers are, but i guarantee our members of congress will not allow american citizens to be

sent to vladimir putin's russia to be interrogated by former kgb agents. >> let's hope so. let's get to new reporting you have on nbc news right now about the rising tension on the senate foreign relations committee. i know pompeo will be testifying in front of them next week. what's going on there? >> so there is rising tension because we now have deals with dictators part 2 where congress has not been brought in. if you recall the very contentious and unprecedented meeting between president trump and kim jong-un, the president was the first u.s. president ever to meet with the north korean dictator. congress was never briefed on that. okay. pompeo made an appointment, he cancelled. now we have this second meeting, another unprecedented meeting in private between the president and putin. again, we have no idea what was agreed to. i was briefed yesterday by aides on that committee who told me that, we literally have no idea what happened in the north korea meeting to the extent that we don't even know if there was a

framework agreed to, what was in that framework. but in both of these cases, we see the behavior by these gentlemen, these dictators, this autocrats, seeming emboldened after these meetings with president trump. congress wants answers. >> i can't help but think, how does pompeo even know what happened in those meetings because he wasn't in the room with either kim jong-un or with vladimir putin? >> good question. and there was a -- at least we know in helsinki there was a follow-up meeting following the one-on-one where maybe we can get some answers. but, again, i think this will be in coordination with calls for at least the notes from the translator. >> yeah, it seems like she will be the only person who knows exactly what happened in there. heidi, thank you so much. >> thanks, heidi. still ahead, a new revealed video of president trump's supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh appears to suggest he's no fan of councils. >> and the boys from the cave in thailand speak out for the first

time since being released from the hospital. what they have the say about the ordeal. of course those stories and a check on the weather when we come back. ♪ you shouldn't be rushed into booking a hotel. with expedia's add-on advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. add-on advantage. only when you book with expedia. add-on advantage. super emma just about sleeps in her cape. i'm super emma. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin,

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welcome back. congressman jim jordan has met with investigators as part of the on- going university investigation into alleged sexual abuse into the athletic department at ohio state university. former wrestlers told nbc news team doctor richard straws performed medically unnecessary examinations where they were inappropriately touched. dr. strouse died by suicide in 2005. jordan who was the assistant wrestling coach was asked whether he knew of the alleged abuse and turned a blind eye to it, an allegation he repeatedly has denied. in 2016 brett kavanaugh made this surprising admission about which case he would like to

overturn. take a listen. >> can you think of a case that deserves to be overturned? >> yes. >> would you volunteer one? >> no. >> pending confirmation hearings, yes, sir, right here. >> thank you very much. >> actually, i'm going to say one. morrison v. olson. >> they said that's the independent counsel statute. >> it's been effectively overruled, but i would put the final nail in. >> here, here. >> again, important to emphasize it was from 2016. the case he was referencing there, morrison versus olsen is a supreme court ruling up holding a 1978 law that creates a system for independent counsels to investigate and potentially investigate government officials for federal crimes. that law included sunset

provisions that were allowed to expire in 1999. yesterday democrat chuck schumer took to the floor, criticizing the nominee for those comments. >> considering everything we know about judge kavanaugh's expansive view of executive power and accountability, the fact that morrison v. olsen, of all of the cases in the history of the supreme court, was the first case he could think of overturning is deeply, teamly troubling. we already know he believes a president shouldn't be investigated while in office. that a president can't be indicted while in office, that a present doesn't have to follow law that the president deems -- his words -- unconstitutional. clearly judge kavanaugh's judicial philosophy incorporates an almost menarchal view of executive accountability, animated by a belief our chief executive gets to play by a

different set of rules. judge kavanaugh, particularly after this interview, needs to recuse himself from anything having to do with the mueller probe. >> let's get a check on your weather now with meteorologist michelle grossman. michelle, looks like another perfect summer day here in new york. >> it is. hi there, louis. perfect day to get outdoors. it was perfect yesterday, so if you liked that you're going to like today. once again, low humidity, temperatures really nice, especially for late july. unfortunately, not the case in the south. we have the dangerous heat continuing, one again excessive heat warning and advisories throughout the day and that's because we will see triple digits. 22 million people affect by the dangerous heat. we have seen it for the past few days. we will continue to see it over the next few days so it adds fuel to the fire so to speak in sperms of h terms of how it feels on your body. dallas, 107. that's 11 degrees above what is typical for this time of year. could see a record breaking

there today. their record is 107, so either matching or breaking it. then by friday, this will be the worst of it before we start to improve a little bit day by day. so dallas tomorrow, 108. amarillo, 103. san angelo, 107. this is going to fuel some storms to the north, so we have severe weather predicted for today in parts of the midwest, and that will scoot to the mid east throughout friday as well. we could see large rain and hail and gusty thunderstorms throughout friday. we are looking at a quarter inch up to three inches in some spot. in the northeast, we are looking good now but will see rain by the weekend. yasmin and ayman. >> thank you very much. a comprehensive look, seems like a tale of two cities or two different stories. >> exactly. >> summer in some parts, rainy in others. still ahead, a pair of blockbuster trades on the diamond and the hardwood. details next in sports. . throug

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it was fun. even though i still have fun, i put the one in there that means more to me now than it ever has, and that's my faith. my faith in the good lord, that he has plans. he has plans for my life. through my son hunter, we will make a difference. my family -- >> that was hall of fame quarterback and cancer survivor jim kelly, who lost his eight-year-old son to a fatal nervous system disease in 2005 in an emotional acceptance speech after receiving the jimmie v award for perseverance at last night's espy awards. baker mayfield earns the honor of the best male college athlete. eagles quarterback nick foles won the award for best championship performance after leading the philadelphia eagles to the first superbowl title. in a powerful conclusion to the ceremony, the hundreds of survivors of larry nassar's

sexual abuse were given the arthur ashe courage award. aly raisman accepted the award on behalf of the 141 nassar survivors who stood on the stage with her. not a dry eye in the room last night. an amazing espy awards. turning to major legal baseball where star infielder manny ma chauld owe chaud machado is headed to san francisco. he is in the final year of his contract, making him somewhat of a rental for the dodgers, who currently sit in first place atop the west. another major trade with the nba between spurs and raptors. san antonio sends leonard and green for de rozen and poetl in a first round pick in the draft. >> it puts things in perspective when you see all of larry nas

wrar's victims standing up there and survivors, because they are very much that, standing on the stage taking the award. it is incredible. such courage on the stage all together, and also the emotional speech, losing his eight-year-old son. i can't imagine what he has been through over the last years. >> the courage jim kelly show, it is unimaginable. the scope to which larry nassar affected these girls' lives and will continue to, we need to keep it in mind. >> in perspective. >> yes. thanks, louis. still ahead, what we know about the woman accused of being a russian agent who is behind bars this morning. plus, the youth soccer team rescued from a cave in thailand speaking out for the very first time, sharing their stories of survival. we will be right back. ♪ ing so we know how to cover almost anything. even a "cactus calamity". (man 1) i read that the saguaro can live to be two hundred years old. (woman) how old do you think that one is? (man 1) my guess would be, about...

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♪ welcome back, everyone. >> i'm yasmin vossoughian. >> i was waiting for you to jump in. >> alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis bergdorf. i'm excited to get the show started this bottom of the half hour. let's get to your morning top stories. the latest on the on- going fall-out from finland, and for the school board time in -- sec in as many days, despite remarks made by the president he actually means just the opposite. >> reporter: is russia still targeting the u.s.? >> thank you very much. no. >> let's go. make your way out. let's go, we're finished here. press, let's go. >> thank you very much,

everybody. we're doing very well. we are doing very well and we're doing very well, probably as well as anybody has ever done with russia. >> i had a chance to speak with the president after his comments and the president was -- said thank you very much, and was saying no to answering questions. >> can you tell us what's going on? >> well, since there's currently not an election today, not specifically. >> so despite the video that shows the president looking at cecelia and answering no to the question about whether russia is still targeting the u.s. and despite multiple people in the room understanding the president was responding to that question and despite the president never having said the word no, no repeatedly to usher the reporters out of the room, you're saying -- >> the first thing the president said after the question was asked, thank you very much, and then he said no. further, i think cecelia didn't realize what the answer was because she asked for

clarification and he didn't answer the follow up. i talked to president. he wasn't answering that question. he was saying no, he's not taking questions. >> this is the second time in three days the president has come out and reversed what the president. >> actually, i'm interpreting what the president said, not reversing it. i was in the room and i didn't take it the way you did. i was interpreting what the president's intention was. >> so despite the press secretary's assertion, the white house's official transcript of the meeting shows the president responding "no" to the question, is russia still targeting the united states and "no" to a follow-up question asking for clarification. >> so meanwhile, several prominent gop lawmakers are speaking out about the on- going confusion coming from the executive branch regarding russia's interference in america's political system and the president's views on putin. >> i don't know why it is so hard to concede they're still at it. our own intelligence services

keep saying it over and over again. so that threat is very much alive. anyway, all of us are puzzled by it. just still trying to figure out why in the world the president would say what he did in helsinki and then say what he did today again. >> i saw it. it sure looked like he was saying no and it took him a while to respond back. the problem is that's consistent with what he's been saying, you know, again and again and again, that he mistrusts our intelligence services and believes the words of putin. >> so i don't know what it is about the president's relationship with -- with putin that causes him to doubt, to trust him over our intelligence community, but it is really damaging moralee as as i unders it. i don't know what drives all of this. i think it is baffling to all of us.

i don't understand the enamorment that takes place. it is almost as if someone treats him with flattery or kindness and that determines our country's policy. but, look, this is a pattern. it happens on immigration. i mean one day you're for a bill, the next day you're against a bill. it is just a pattern that's taking place. it almost feels like his advisors forced him to walk it back, he wasn't comfortable with it but now he's walking it back in the other direction but i don't know. >> the president got another crack at his comments over putin and the 2016 election. for more on that i want to bring back nbc news national political reporter heidi przybyla. it is interesting that the president has been given chances to set the record straight definitively and still he fumbles it. >> time and again. that's right, ayman. president trump sat down for a second interview with cbs yesterday and took the exact opposite stance compared to his remarks in helsinki and in his

post-summit tweets and walk backs, sort of. take a listen. >> you say you agree with u.s. intelligence russia meddled in the election in 2016? >> yes, and i have said that numerous times before. and i would say that that is true, yeah. >> but you haven't condemned putin specifically. do you hold him personally responsible? >> well, i would because he's in charge of the country, just like i consider myself to be responsible for things that happen in this country. so certainly as the leader of a country you would have to hold him responsible, yes. >> what did you say to him? >> very strong on the fact that we can't have meddling. we can't have any of that. now, look, we're also living in a grown-up world. will a strong statement to, you know, a president obama supposedly made a strong statement -- nobody heard it. >> but he denies it. if you believe u.s. intelligence agencies, is putin lying to you? >> i don't want to get into whether or not he is lying. i can only say that i do have confidence in our intelligence agencies as currently

constituted. i think i did great at the news conference. i think it was a strong news conference. i think we did extremely well, and i think the press makes up -- look, it is fake news and people understand. the level of dishonesty in your profession is extremely high. >> but they -- the press covered the substance and the wording of that press conference accurately. >> i don't -- >> so many little nuggets in that interview there to pick. the fact that he says, when he asked him, would you say, you know, is president putin lying to him, i would, not i do. it is not definitive. he is bouncing around his criticism of -- >> and why wouldn't he decidedly say, yes, i believe president putin is lying to me? why not do that? why not be outright about it, especially now that you're not sitting next to him, standing next to him at a press conference? >> because he hasn't done that for the past year. >> right. >> and his behavior, not condemning putin, is entirely consistent with his behavior over the entire past year. so i don't know why we allow

this cat-and-mouse game to continue over splitting hairs, over how to conjugate verbs when the president's entire body of language has been -- >> you're saying you're not surprised? >> yeah, you're no longer surprised by that? >> no. here's the thing. he said i was strong in my meeting, i condemned putin. we can't trust that. we can't trust that at all. >> we can't verify it. >> because even if the words came out of his mouth, the way he did it is everything. >> i wonder, is it more about president trump or is it more about putin in that is he trying to defend sort of the consistent line in which he has taken the entire time, whereas if he came out and said, for sure putin is lying to me, then in fact he would be walking back his own statements he has been sort of staying consistent for the last year? >> we're at a critical juncture because until this point there have been many in the republican party willing to give the president the benefit of the doubt, the say, he's so insecure

about his election victory that he can't separate it out. now you have many republicans saying, i don't know. >> more than. >> it starts to feel like there's more to it, especially when you look at the timeline of events. >> let me ask you about the kind of controversy if you want at the white house press briefing with whether or not the president said no to a question from -- i think it was cecelia vargas. did he from your assessment answer that question or do you think that sarah huckabee sanders was totally trying to spin it and make it intentionally ambiguous about whether he answered the question. >> let me say this never happens in the white house briefing. i read the transcript and i watched it and he clearly said no twice. our hallie jackson said she has never seen him shoo the pool out of the room by saying no. leapt me tell you what effect this is having. just yesterday there was a new poll out showing that only 35% of republicans believe that there was actually election meddling. people are confused. >> wow. >> that's the goal. >> that is unbelievable. >> he's achieving it.

>> he's completely achieving it. between what the president has done and what rudy guilliani has done in the lead-up to all of this, it seems as if the pr campaign is actually working. >> and that's uniquely russian strategy is to exhaust people about what the truth is. >> that's an interesting point. thank you, heidi. good seeing you. all right. everybody, the woman accused of being a secret russian agent is actually behind bars after facing a federal judge yesterday, and now we are learning new details about the allegations against her. prosecutors say she took orders from a russian official close to vladimir putin and tried to trade sex for political access. nbc's justice correspondent pete williams has more on this. >> reporter: the fbi says during the two years mariia butina was making a name for herself as a washington, d.c. college student and gun enthusiast hoping to further relations with russia, she had a dark secret. prosecutors say her every move was directed by a russian government officials, aleksandr torshin, close ally of vladimir

putin. investigators say she hid in plain sight, joining the nra to get close to influential republicans, unaware, law enforcement officials say, that the fbi was watching her. >> the russians for decades have been trying to penetrate washington circles. this is very reminiscent of the ten russian illegals, the sleeper agents arrested several years ago, but this was a speed version of that. >> reporter: at a 2015 trump event in las vegas, she asked the candidate a question. >> if you are elect as president, what will be your foreign politics especially in the relationships with my country. >> reporter: court documents say she offered sex for access to an unnamed political group. the fbi arrested her last weekend when she was packing up to move. in court she pleaded not guilty. prosecutors said she should be jailed pending trial because she could slip into the russian embassy and the fbi couldn't stop her. but her lawyer says she's no flight risk and has known for months she was under investigation. >> she's not an agent of the

russian government, the russian federation. she is innocent of the charges brought against her. most importantly, she is a young student seeking to make her way in america. >> reporter: she's not charged with being a spy, but the fbi says she was part of a covert russian campaign to influence american politics. pete williams, nbc news at federal court in washington. another setback for former trump campaign chair paul manafort. a federal judge in washington, d.c. denied his request to suppress evidence seized in an fbi raid in his home. manafort's attorney argued that the search warrant was overly broad and unconstitutional, but judge amy berman jackson disagreed writing, quote, given the nature of the investigation the warrant was not too broad? scope. in regard to his second trial set to begin in september, he's also set to go on trial in virginia next wiednesday. he faces bank and tax fraud to failing to register as a foreign

agent for ukraine. >> we have good news ahead. the wild boors kicking again. that's the youth thai soccer team trapped in the cave. we're going to tell you about that in a moment. stay with us. i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. i bet i'm the first blade maker you've ever met. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making our thinnest longest lasting blades on the market. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close.

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more hungry, says titan, who at 11 is youngest in the group. they talked about what they called a miracle. their discovery by tw two british divers. >> how many of you? 13? brilliant. >> reporter: it was 14-year-old adul's voice on the video that captured the world's attention. >> and you speak english? >> a little. >> interpreter: i heard people talking. i wasn't sure if it was a hallucination, adul said, so we stayed quiet and realized it was real. their faces showing little trace of their terrifying ordeal, describing how they dug with rocks to try and get out, licked water off walls to stay alive, and conserved batteries in their one flashlight. at the press conference they hugged family and friends and mourned the former thai navy seal diver who died trying to save them.

i still want to be a professional soccer player, said ten-year-old dom, but i want to be a navy seal as well. back home dom is getting a bigger room and a party for the birthday he had inside the cave. >> you must be very excited to get dom home? >> reporter: his grandmother who raises him tells us they're thankful he's getting a second chance at life. a hero's welcome played out 13 times here where the boys are finally back home. janis mackey frayer, nbc news, cheng rai, thailand. >> that's such good news. we want to remember the life, of course, the navy seal that lost -- >> i think it was a powerful moment when they brought out the picture of the navy seal. >> he was the one that set out the oxygen canisters in the two-and-a-half miles they had to travel to get out. >> and a reminder how dangerous it was. that will be the only time the boys' talk to the press. yesterday's questions were screened by a doctor to avoid

triggering ptsd. >> thank god they're out. auto makers warn that jobs will be lost if the president pushes ahead with his tariffs. plus, mark zuckerberg said holocaust deniers who post on facebook are not, quote, intentionally getting it wrong. he's trying to clarify those comments. back in a moment. your hair is so soft! did you use head and shoulders two in one? i did mom. wanna try it? yes.

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welcome back. let's turn to business. president trump is standing by his threat on auto tariffs despite mounting resistance from lawmakers. live from london, good morning. >> good morning. president trump speaking at a cabinet meeting yesterday said he's looking for further concessions from trading partners, that includes europeans. traveling to d.c. in the not too distant future. we had an open letter from a pretty massive group of automakers both in the u.s. and internationally and dealers, parts makers they wrote in this letter that they will impact sales and damage the sector and they could lose jobs, as well. zuckerberg made surprising comments in a pod cast that was released yesterday. he said facebook does not remove posts that deny the existence of

holocaust because zuckerberg said that they make mistakes and hard to discern someone's intent. in this discussion about facebook's role in the spread of fake news and across the internet. final story i have been following, every member in the city council and council members in the past talk about how this aggravates the housing crisis in new york. and focus on profitable short term lets than long-term leases. air bnb has to tell new york city every month which apartments and which rooms in those apartments have been rented. it will mean that new york is the biggest market for bnb in the world. join barcelona and vancouver as major hot spots now trying to regulate those kind of services. >> lots of mixed feelings.

live from london, thanks so much. up next, editor in chief joins us from axios. this time after he contradicts trying to interfere in u.s. elections. the white house is actually entertaining the idea, believe it or not, the ambassador reacts in an interview, next. another jam-packed edition of "morning joe" just moments away. and at expedia, we don't think you should be rushed into booking one. that's why we created expedia's add-on advantage. now after booking your flight, you unlock discounts on select hotels right until the day you leave. ♪ add-on advantage.

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and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ♪ otezla. show more of you. welcome back, everybody. joining us from washington with a look editor in chief for axios, nicholas johnson. good morning to you. talk to us about axios as our one big thing. >> data points to try to put this year's midterms in the

context of other big wave election where the minority power swept into the house. our conclusion that is looking good for democrats. looking at a handful of these numbers, presidential approval rating and congressional approval ratings and a break down between oeeach of the parties. matches up when other parties swept in control of the house in 2006 and 2010 when republicans and, democrats and republicans respectively conquered the house. november is looking pretty good for house democrats. >> so, to that point, how are you guys able to explain that? any data points explain this trend? democrats have a clear, political vision that people rally about getting excited about or is this a problem with the republican platform from the president on down that is alienating people and triggering this potential blue wave? >> people not happy with the president. people not happy with the party in power and people not happy

with the direction of the country. this is very much an election that will hinge upon president trump. a lot of his backers, of course, will support republican candidates and polling that shows when he endorses a candidate and they do a little better in some different races and democrats running against republican and against president trump if they'll win the house and the senate. >> are we still very much seeing this as local races? >> that's very much dependent on the candidate. if they don't have a strong local candidate, to nationalize the election. democrats want to run against trump in places where he is unpopular. those red states where they're blue senators, in particular, republicans want to make trump the issue because he has more support there. >> let's talk about what is different about the political climate in this country this year compared to where it has been in previous years. >> there is one outliar in this chart and that is voter enthusiasm. democrats come across as more enthusiastic than republicans, but compared to some of the big,

sweeping wave elections earlier this century, not quite as high. that is a red flag for democrats. they have to get their people out to vote if they're dpoeg to get the win. >> a few months away, but a lot of it tension building up around these midterms. and, you, too, can sign up for the news letter by going to signup.axios.com. >> that does it it for us on this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> have you seen russian activity in the lead up to the 2018 election cycle? >> yes, we have seen russian activity and an impact on the next election here. >> yes, we have. >> anyone else? >> i'm here to say the warning lights are blinking red, again. >> is russia still targeting the u.s., mr. president? >> let's go, make your way out.

so, when the president said he saw no reason why it would be russia who meddled in the election, he really meant wouldn't and he believes the kremlin is targeting america, he was just saying no questions. it is thursday, july 19th. joe and mika have the morning off. i'm willie geist and sam stein and republican communication strategist and msnbc political contributor rick tyler and former aide to the george w. bush white house elise jordan and associate editor of "washington post" jean robinson and former justice department spokesman and now msnbc justice and security analyst matt miller. good morning, everybody. >> good morning. >> whip lash -- >> will, you just stole my word. >> the word of the day. ll