media, in print, and thankfully right here on this broadcast on a regular basis. that is our broadcast on this wednesday night. thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. headquarters here in new york. ♪ ♪ good morning. reaction pouring in after a twitter tirade by president trump. he's issued his most explicit call on attorney general jeff sessions to end robert mueller's russia probe right now plus, back in court this morning, day three of paul manafort's trial will continue after jurors heard about his extravagant spending and lifestyle while the judge pushed prosecutors to get to the point. and former president barack obama wading into the 2018 waters. he is making his first round of he doan mrs. nt ahe endorsements ahead of the midterm elections. ♪ good morning, everyone. it is thursday, august 2nd.

i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian and louis bergdorf. judging by new reports and the president's own tweets, donald trump is seeking to end special counsel mueller's investigation one way or another. three sources tell "the new york times" trump is flouting his lawyers' advice and pushing for an interview with robert mueller in hopes it will clear his name. the report came hours after the president released seven tweets with misleading claims about the probe's origin, writing, this is a terrible situation, and attorney general jeff sessions should stop this rigged witch-hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further. bob mueller is totally conflicted and has 17 angry democrats that are doing his dirty work. are a disgrace to usa. well, the president ignored reporter's questions after a white house meeting while his surrogates said he was merely expressing himself. >> it is not an order. it is the president's opinion, and it is ridiculous that all of

the corruption and dishonesty that's gone on with the launching of the witch-hunt. the president is not obstructing, he is fighting back. the president is stating his opinion. he is stating it clearly. there's a reason that the president is angry, and, frankly, most of america is angry as well. there's no reason he shouldn't be able to voice his opinion. >> he used the media he uses for his opinions, twitter. one of the good things about using that is that he has established a practice that he expresses his opinions on twitter. he used the word "should," he didn't use the word "must" and there was no presidential directive that followed it. he didn't direct him to do it and he isn't going to direct him to do it. >> president trump's tweets urging the attorney general to stop the russia investigation from which he recused himself came after the white house received a letter from bob mueller, offering to limit the questions in order to secure a presidential interview.

"the washington post" reported that in a letter sent monday, mueller's team suggested that investigators would reduce the number of questions about potential obstruction of justicjustice this would ask in person and instead seek some answer in written form. the special counsel's office declined to comment on that. the president's legal team has sought for months to narrow the questions about trump's actions in office and set conditions for an interview. guilliani said the president discussed the latest response on tuesday night and wednesday morning, which would have been around the time he sent those tweets. now, according to golf linuilli there was a slight movement, enough to continue discussing a little longer. jeff sessions made light of the president's tweet telling him to stop the mueller investigation. as he discussed the president's directive to him on violent crime.

listen to this. >> the day i was sworn in as attorney general, president trump sent me a clear order. he can send out orders pretty quick, you know, and he's serious about it and we salute. >> reactions as you can imagine has been swift following the president's tweet urging sessions to end the mueller probe. former deputy attorney general sally yates tweeted out, today our president called on his recused attorney general to shut down his investigation of his own campaign. as shocking as that is, what is even more dangerous is that we've gotten used to it. the rule of law won't evaporate overnight, but it can slip away if we let it. here is how some senate republicans responded yesterday. >> the president's tweet is unfortunate. i think it is inappropriate for him to be commenting on an ongoing investigation. >> i don't think general sessions can fire mr. mueller. i think he's recused. >> should the president be sending these tweets out?

>> you have to ask the president. >> i think that's out of jeff sessions hands. he's recused himself from the russian investigation because he participated in the campaign, as we all know, and i think that was appropriate for him to do so. >> mueller's going to finish his investigation. the truth is all going to come out and that's the best thing that could happen for the president and for the country. and president trump weighed in on the trial against his former campaign chair for the first time yesterday, comparing paul manafort to the real-life scar face. the president tweeted, quote, looking back on history, who was treated worse, alphonse capone, legendary mob boss, killer and public enemy number one, or paul manafort, political operative and reagan/dole now serving solitary confinement. meanwhile, where is the collusion. >> meanwhile, it is manafort's day two of his trial.

the government produced invoices for more than a million dollars -- look at that -- worth of clothing purchased between 2010 and 2014. >> and ostrich jacket, wasn't there? >> yes, i'm not sure which one that is. some of which were paid through wire transfers from banks originating in cyprus. here is a photo -- >> ah. >> ah, there it is. i have to say, it is not a good jacket. >> i think i've seen louis wear something like that. >> an infamous $15,000 ostrich jacket on the left. also in evidence, a more than $18,000 python -- where is he going in these jackets? >> looks like a craig's list. >> exactly. the judge rebuked the prosecution norfolk using too much on manafort's lavish lifestyle, at one point saying the government doesn't want to prosecute somebody because they wear nice clothes. do they?

>> other testimony was a witness from mercedes-benz and a building contractor paid to do work on manafort's homes. both told the court they were paid with wire transfers from cyprus. the judge also took issue with prosecutors using the term oligarch, suggesting manafort was working with criminals while in ukraine. depending on how testimony unfolds, its star witness rick gates may not testify. the government also says it is moving ahead of schedule and expects to rest its case next week. joining us, dan ny savalas. >> this is a yak wool sports coat. they're having a sale.

>> not an ostrich jacket. >> let's talk business. what stood out in yesterday's testimony? >> i think one of the most brilliant strategic moves by the government may be avoiding using rick gates. >> why so? >> i'll tell you why. >> yeah. >> because the defense's opening statement centered on rick gates being a liar. in any cooperating witness case, and i have handled these, they're very challenging. one of the things you have to do is put the cooperating witness on trial and say, this person is a lie wrar, they are motivated lie, they have a deal with the government and they don't get the benefit of their deal unless they deliver here and tell you the story the government wants them to tell. imagine you have made that the theme in your opening and the government figures out a way to get in all of the evidence without gates authenticating, and that goes out without a whimper. >> that must mean the

prosecution feels they have a strong case without gates. >> it is a risky move because gates being on the inside the way he was will be able to authenticate all of the different documents. so the government must feel k confident they can get somebody in to say, yes, it is a bill, an e-mail, i can authenticate it because i was a recipient. as long as they can authenticate all of the damaging documents je against manafort, and there are many, then the government is okay because it is a risk. the power of a cooperating witness, even with the credibility problems, when they get on the stand and say, that's the guy, in my experience i find juries are willing to forgive a lack of credibility. >> you wrote in a piece that you think manafort is going to lose the trial. >> i do. the government didn't charge tax evasion which has a slightly burden, they charged tax perjury which doesn't require a tax

owing and due. it requires he subscribe to a return believing it contained a false statement. so the government is telegraphing that it wants a win. it is probably going to get a win because it is charged crimes that i think are easier for them to make out their case. >> quickly, we heard reports he could basically see the rest of his life in prison if he does lose this trial. do you think that's going to happen? >> it is possible. i mean without knowing his life expectancy, but, yes. the problem -- well, not the problem. the issue with federal sentencing guidelines is that they are incredibly harsh. now, i'm a defense attorney. i'm probably biassed, but your federal sentences, especially in economic crimes, can be really, really nasty and they can really add up quickly. >> all right. danny, we'll touch base with you in a little bit. stick around and former president obama endorsed 81 candidates ahead of this year's midterm elections, weighing in on more than a dozen states' races. he says he is eager to help his party gain seats this november. the former president's

endorsements include georgia gubernatorial candidate stacey abrams, new mexico house candidate deb holland. some noticeable absences include new york congressional candidate alexandria ocasio cortes. all right. still ahead, more details and shocking images of the miracle plane crash with all passengers and crew members survived. we are hearing from some of the people on board this morning. plus, the white house levels new sanctions on two turkish officials over the detention of an american pastor. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. ♪ ♪

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save $200 on this dell laptop are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. welcome back. we are getting first hand video of the aeromexico plane crash from earlier this week. this cellphone video taken by a passenger inside that plane

captured the moment, the frightening moment that airliner crashed on takeoff on tuesday. 65 americans were passengers on that plane, and yet miraculously all 103 people on board survived. nbc's tom costello has more. >> reporter: cellphone video captures the moment aeromexico flight 2431 begins its takeoff roll town the runway, the weather outside growing worse by the second. suddenly, just as the plane begins to lift it is violently slammed back down to the ground. skidding off the runway into the desert, frantic passengers stepping over each other to escape the burning plane. ramin parsa took the video. >> people are screaming and i was praying. i was praying to jesus, who saved our lives. >> reporter: firefighters rushed to the scene as passengers and crew jumped down the emergency escape chutes.

>> the cabin started filling with black smoke. at that point what we wanted to do, was we wanted to try to find the nearest exit. >> reporter: also on the plain, father sanchez from illinois and 15 friends celebrating his birth day. >> yes, i think it was a miracle. >> reporter: father sanchez being treated for multiple arm fractures. we spoke to him by skype from his hospital room. >> as the plane was traveling a little faster before it hit the embankment or if it flew a little higher, i don't think we would have walked out with all of us intact. >> reporter: in all, 49 people hospitalized, including the pilot and a passenger, both in critical but stable condition. the regional jet was departing from durango in north west mexico for mexico city. as the weather turned violent, wind, high rains and hail. had it been any higher than 50 to 70 feet off the ground, there could have been fatalities.

still, it is the latest in a string of plane crashes in which everyone has gotten out alive, from an air france crash in toronto, a british air crash in london, to a fire on an american plane in chicago, now durango, mexico. >> the big concern though as with all of these other accidents that are survivable, people are still taking carry-on luggage with them. you have got to leave it behind. your life is more important than your carry-on pgaage. >> reporter: investigators will have a lot of questions for this pilot, chief among them why did he hospital to try to take off in this ferocious storm. a lot of experts say they would have probably sat it out, waited it out on the ground. in the meantime, this video will be very helpful. investigators do have the black boxes already. now this video will help them tell the complete story, what went wrong, but also what went right. how did so many people, everybody on board, survive? louis. >> thanks to tom costello for the great reporting. all right.

the u.s.'s sanctions to high-level turkish officials over the detainment of pastor brunson, the action against the justice and interior ministers comes one week after president trump threatened to, quote, impose large sanctions on turkey due to the situation. a turkey nato ally has detained the pastor since 2016 on terrorism and espionage charges, alleging he aided in a failed coup attempt. >> brunson, an evangelical pastor from north carolina, who spent the last 23 years living in turkey, was released from prison last week and is now under house arrest. he still faces the same charges and 35 years in prison. turkish president erdogan previously implied brunson's release would be granted only when the u.s. extradites turkish cleric, a political rival to erdogan, who erdogan accuses of masterminding the coup attempt. secretary of state mike pompeo spoke with his turkish counterpart again yesterday

about the situation, and they will hold a meeting at the upcoming asean forum, and turkey vowed an equivalent response to america's sanctions. let's bring in bill karins with a look at the weather. bill. >> is it humid enough for you guys? >> yeah. >> so humid. >> yasmin says, yeah. the humidity up the east coast is just about as high as it gets in many areas. that's why we had so many downpours. this high pressure off the east coast is what is responsible for it. it is taking that moisture, the white arrows show the wind direction. it is taking the humidity typically in the bahamas and florida and sending it up the eastern seaboard. downpours will continue through the day. 34 million people are at risk from flash flooding from north florida through northern georgia up through the appalachians, into central portions of pennsylvania and a sliver of new york. that goes out through friday morning. we have another round of downpours this afternoon and we will do it again on friday.

today's forecast, boston, interesting. 92 degrees. it is one of the rare days boston has a chance of being the hottest city on the east coast, because you will have a little bit of sunshine, a little bit of forecast than anybody else with all of the rainfall. dallas will be very warm. areas of the west very warm, no signs of rain for you whatsoever. heading to the weekend, there's the heavy rain threat continuing into friday. on saturday it is more into areas of new england. we get a break around saturday. and if you look for a nice end to the weekend, you will get it in the northeast. it will be hot and humid, finally some beach weather returns with sunshine. i don't think the flash flooding will be horrendous, but we have to watch the carolinas and the mountains closely this afternoon. >> thanks, bill. still ahead, ohio state has placed the head coach on paid administrative leave. the cutest event of the summer, we will have all of the details coming up in sports.

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coach. in his six seasons as head coach, the 54-year-old was approved for a two-year contract extension in april and is signed through 2022. meyer issued a statement that reads in part, i agree that being on leave during this inquiry will facilitate its completion. i eagerly look forward to the resolution of this matter. all right. turning to major league baseball, a rough start to last night's game for the dodgers, hosting the brewers in los angeles. >> 2-1 pitch and he stings it. past dozier and a base hit to right center field. take it all the way. he's going to take the turn and third. here comes the relay. not in time, and it gets through and it goes in to the dugout, and lorenzo cane will come all the way around and just like that it is a 1-0 lead for the crew. >> a few errors there. milwaukee's cane leads off with a home run on that.

finally, for what might have been the marquise sporting event of the evening, we head to south carolina where a peanut butter eating contest was hosted between these two good boys there named bentley and charlie. while it is unclear which canine came out on top, in this one it is safe to say in a competition like this, ayman and yasmin, everyone wins. who doesn't like eating peanut butter? >> i'm not sure how it is a competition. who either more peanut butter? >> and faster, yeah. my dogs would kill it. i have three labs at home. they would have taken first place in that. >> they literally live off peanut butter. >> literally. they love it still ahead, the trump administration escalates the trade war with china, reportedly threatening to double proposed tariffs on imports. >> stay with us. a hotel can make or break a trip. and at expedia, we don't think you should be

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis bergdorf. it is the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. president trump attempting to put a positive spin on the potential of a government shutdown over his continued demands for funding for his border wall. in an interview yesterday, the president suggested that the federal government coming the a stop would actually help republicans ahead of the midterm elections. listen to this. >> i actually think it would be positive. >> your voters -- >> it is like pulling teeth, getting these guys to get it

done is -- and you have no i de how tough i've been. if you have a shutdown, you have a shutdown. it can take place after the election. i happen to think it is a political thing because people want border security. >> not all republican lawmakers are buying the president's optimism, including sen ton ron johnson of wisconsin who yesterday reiterated his opposition to the president shutting down the government to get his border wall. >> shutting down the government is not going to build the wall i don't believe. >> so president trump appears ready to escalate his tariff war with china. the trump administration revealed yesterday that the president has ordered his top trade official, robert lighthizer, to consider raising proposed tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of chinese goods from 10% to 25%. it appears to be part of trump's strategy to mainly use duties to push beijing into making a new trade deal with the united

states. negotiations for which reportedly are at a stalemate. a senior administration official told reporters that no particular chinese action led to trump's latest trade threat. in a recent interview with cnbc, the president threatened to impose tariffs on all $505 billion worth of goods china exports to the united states per year. meanwhile, the senate yesterday passed a defense bill that tightens national security reviews of chinese corporate deals while overhauling rolls over which u.s. technologies can be ex ported. however, the restriction on chinese mega company zte were weakened before the passage. the bill passed the house last week and president trump is expected to sign it. and the white house is giving rise to a slew of both old and new conspiracy theories during a white house briefing yesterday, press secretary sarah sanders addressed the president's group. the conspiracy group claims to

be run by someone privy to government information that shares rip ti shares cryptic posts online. take a listen. >> the president condemns and renounces any group that would incite violence against another individual and certainly doesn't support groups that would promote that type of behavior. >> but in the same breath as backing the media, sanders also gave life to another old and false anti-media conspiracy theory from 1998. take a listen. >> we fully support a free press, but there also comes a high level of responsibility with that. one of the worst cases was the reporting on the u.s. ability to listen to osama bin laden's satellite phone in the late '90s. because of that reporting he stopped using that phone and the company lost valuable intelligence. >> that claim is not true and has been debunked for more than a decade. the taliban released information on osama bin laden's phone records two years prior to any

u.s. report. >> it is incredible something like that slips through the crack at the white house press office. yeah. president trump is launching his most direct attack on the russia probe, announcing on twitter that jeff sessions should end it right now. peter alexander has more. >> reporter: president trump tight-lipped in person. >> sir, are you ordering the mueller investigation to be shut down? >> reporter: but explosive on twitter, for the first time calling on the nation's top law enforcement official to end the russia investigation, tweeting, attorney general jeff sessions should stop this rigged witch-hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further. the president's critics pouncing. >> these kinds of threats are no accident. they reflect a state of mind, an intent to obstruct justice. >> reporter: but president trump's team is offering its own interpretation. from the white house -- >> look, the president is not obstructing. he is fighting back. >> reporter: mr. trump's lawyer

rudy guilliani saying it was an opinion, not an order. >> he used the word should, he didn't use the word must. he at any time direct him to do it and he's not going to direct him to do it. >> reporter: still, it is the latest in an extraordinary series of rebukes from the president against his own attorney general. a source close to the president telling nbc news, mr. trump is constantly bashing sessions in private for recusing himself from the russia inquiry, that he simply can't get sessions out of his mind. sessions in arkansas appearing to make light of it. >> he can send out orders pretty quick, you know, and he's serious about it and we salute. >> reporter: the president again unloading on special counsel robert mueller in the middle of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort's tax fraud trial, charges unrelated to the 2016 election. president trump tweeting, why tn didn't the government tell me he was under investigation, slamming the case as a hoax. this morning's the president's lawyers are still in a back and forth with special counsel robert mueller about a possible presidential interview.

rudy guilliani calling on mueller to deliver his final report. his message, put up or shut up. whereas mind. >> thank you to peter alexander for that report. all right. four cities are suing president trump over his promise to let obamacare implode after congressional republicans failed to repeal the law last year. for more on that i want to bring in nbc news national politeal reporter heidi przybyla with more on her reporting this morning. what to you have? >> reporter: that's right. a lawsuit is being filed in maryland federal court by columbus, cincinnati and baltimore today arguing that trump's efforts to make good on his promise to let obamacare implode violate the constitution. trump has, quote, waged a relentless effort to use executive action alone to undermine and ultimately eliminate the law. the complaint charges according to a draft obtained by nbc news. the suit alleges that trump's directives ordering agencies to roll back as much of the affordable care act as possible violates article 2 of the

constitution that requires the president to, quote, take care that the law is faithfully executed. it is also going to rely on a list of trump's own tweets, indicating his intent to unravel the law according to a lawyer involved in the case. if successful, the suit would prevent trump from undercutting insurance markets and issue an injunction that he implements the law faithfully. so this has been going on for about a year, that they've been building this case, ever since the president failed to outright repeal the law via congress. >> so where tossdoes a lawsuit this go, heidi? could it feasibly stop the president's efforts to dismantle obamacare in its tracks? >> reporter: there will certainly be a fierce challenge to it, but here is why the scholars i talked to and the lawyers that i talked to think that it may have a chance. there have been many challenges using this article 2 part of the constitution, requiring the president to faithfully execute

the laws, but what makes this different is that there is no pretense here by this president that he is trying to faithfully execute obamacare. just yesterday if an interview with rush limbaugh, in fact, he said, i think i've almost ton aw dunaw done away with obamacare via execution of his pen. he has been open about sabotaging since his tweet last year saying, let's let this baby implode. >> it is different than the executive orders issued by president obama? >> reporter: well, this is trump's executive orders that have effectively tried to create alternative -- what the critics call junk insurance to try to drive people out of the markets. it is trump's orders to roll back funding for so-called navigators or people who could help people become enrolled in obamacare, and it is trump's efforts am -- for example, shorten the enrollment

period. all of those things according to lawyers drive up prices and depress enrollment and those are the things needed to instill faith in the law and to have a functioning insurance market pool, any independent of insurance, whether you are talking about cars or people or houses, has to have a diverse pool of participants in order for it to work, in order to minimize risk. >> heidi, to we have a sense from some of the legal experts you have talked to as to why only these four cities? why not others and why in the state of maryland did they choose that particular court? >> reporter: so i will tell you just in the course of my reporting this story, within the past few days a number of cities swrumd jumped on board. it started with columbus, and i think the answer to that is the word is befwginning to spread. chicago jumped on last night, and the reason for maryland is because it is where the center for medicare and medicaid are

located. >> we're going to have to follow this and see how it unfolds. >> a significant case and development. thank you for that excellent reporting and we will see you in a little bit on "morning joe" with more details. >> thanks, heidi. new polls show ted cruz struggling to maintain a lead against his democratic challenger. his edge is narrowing as the countdown to midterms ticks away. a quinnipiac poll shows o'rourke by six points. a texas poll shows the race closing in at even tighter numbers with cruz only two points ahead of his democratic challenger at 41% to 39%. voters will decide on november 6th. all right. still ahead, everybody, president trump ups his rate of making false or misleading claims. the new numbers on how many falsehoods he's actually offered. >> plus, a chaotic scene on capitol hill as protesters

disrupt efforts by lawmakers to meet with supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. bill karins is back with us for another check on the forecast. stay with us. ♪ we have got a problem. a few problems actually. we've got aging roadways, aging power grids, ...aging everything. we also have the age-old problem of bias in the workplace. really... never heard of it. the question is... who's going to fix all of this? an actor? probably not. but you know who can solve it? business. because solving big problems is what business does best. so let's take on the wage gap, the opportunity gap,

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all right. welcome back, everyone. protesters stormed senate office buildings, forcing supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh's meetings with senators to relocate. over 200 silent protesters lined the hallways waiting for kavanaugh to arrive for his meeting with senator john thune. after they were told the meeting was not happened in thune's office, it moved to another building. all three meetings were moved to the capital to locations that protesters on not access. a spokesperson for the u.s. capitol police said 17 people were arrested for obstructing after a demonstrate in the hart office building.

despite the disruption, senator fwrasly believ grassley believes that they will hold the hearing. if you at any time know the rate that the commander in chief makes false claims, according to "the washington post" the president has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in his days in office, averaging 7.6 a day. that's up from the 4.9 trump average touring his first 100 days as president. in the first six months of his second year in office, trump nearly matched the total from his entire first year and the rate continues to increase, by the way. in june and july of this year alone, the president averaged 16 false or misleading claims day, both ranking first and second for most in a single month during his presidency.

on july 5th he hit a new record, everybody. what a record to hit, by the way. >> 79 false or misleading claims. single day? >> yeah. i was hoping to deliver that, but -- >> i was excited to deliver it. >> yeah, there you go. >> a fact you can't believe. >> 79. >> sounds like bill karins' weather forecast, a lot of misleading claims. no, sorry there, bill. >> i love numbers, but that was a lot of numbers. we are going to see how many you get right this time, go ahead. bill. >> now the carr fire. we continue to watch, you know, we're not getting devastation and destruction which we had, but they're still fighting it and still only 35% contained. it is up to 120,000 acres. to make it into california's top 20 all-time largest wildfires, it only has to expand 5,000 more acres. so it is pretty much guaranteed that will happen, especially when it is up in the mountains and they really can't contain it as well as when it is down towards the cities. fire danger today, we continue, red areas under a fire weather watch. much of montana and portions of

washington state, a section of nevada here in the red flag warning for today. here is a tiny sliver of good news for the firefighters that have been out there fighting in 100-degree temperatures every single afternoon. today the carr fire, 100. friday, 98 and saturday, 94. the mendocino complex fire is up to 60,000 acres in mountainous terrain. 84 by saturday, which will be a help. in the changing west, you know, the pacific northwest has cooled off and this will slowly slide to the south. it is not going to last forever but it will be a little bit of a break for a short period of time. 69 today in seattle, it is cool. portland only in the 70s and 8, but they get a little warmer towards the end. we also of course in the east have a flood threat take. moderate risk in areas of central appalachian, eastern west virginia and in the mountainous areas of north carolina. we will watch the humidity and

downpours. carry the umbrella all the way from florida to maine. >> any help for the firefighters? >> there were pictures of the firefighters sleeping. someone took a picture of about eight firefighters who laid down in the backyard and slept on their backpacks. >> days without rest. thanks for that, bill. still ahead, starbucks locks up a deal to expand its presence overseas. >> details on when the next rate hike from the federal reserve may come, and the other stories driving your business day coming up. oh, milk. another breakfast, another dilemma. am i willing to pay the price for loving you? you'll make my morning, but ruin my day. complicated relationship with milk? pour on the lactaid. it's delicious 100% real milk, just without that annoying lactose. mmm, that's good. lactaid. the real milk that doesn't mess with you. and for chocolate lovers, try rich, creamy lactaid chocolate milk.

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welcome back. let's turn to business. the federal reserve is holding off on interest rate hikes for now. cnbc joins us live from london with more. the two words everyone is hinging on after that meeting? >> reporter: yes, essentially the central bank minutes indicate that the labor market continued to strengthen, adding that, quote, economic activity has been rising at a strong rate. you have to be a close watcher of fed language to us what they said in june.

claimed that the bank or nated and told tens of thousands of ress investors bought securities backed by the mortgages and the securities were worthless and lost billions of dollars and one of the factors behind the financial crisis we had in 2008. the bank is paying the $2 billion but not usually admitting liability. we've seen this before back at wells fargo a $2 billion fine to settle abuse claims focused on mortgage and other loan products. tough time for wells fargo. >> one more here. starbucks announced a new deal expanding their presence in that country with 2,000 stores getting more product. what does it mean for the

company? >> yeah, so, this is about growing the digital business there and also building out their delivery business. he said that they had been vetting a virtual starbucks store in alibaba and stations at 600 supermarkets and opening 150 stores in shanghai and beijing and 2,000 across the country. just to give you a sense of the scale and the speed is they're hoping to open those by the end of the calendar year. >> live from london, thanks so much. coming up, everybody. axios nicholas johnston has a look at this morning's one big thing. the top law man to end the special counsel russia probe. the call for jeff sessions to shut down robert mueller's investigation may suggest about where it may be going next as a

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welcome back, everyone. joining us from washington, d.c., nicholas johnston. great to have you with us. >> good morning. >> what is the one big thing for us today. >> the stealth actions to undermine the obama legacy. we're spending all this time talking about the mueller investigation and lisening to the president's attorney and watching president trump tweeting about the mueller investigation and manyi other things, undo key parts of his legacy. earlier this week, the president announced plans to expand use of so-called affordable care, skinny plans. they don't fit all the requirements. they are supposed to be temporary. this is a way to get people out of affordable care exchanges,

possibly making them less stable. another big thing we're expected today. the trump administration expected to announce a pause, a roll back of president obama's proposal to raise fuel economy standards up to 50 miles per gallon. keep those at 35 for higher fleets. one of president obama's key points to make. what we talked to administration officials in these agencies involved with that. they're saying all the noise throughout the mueller investigation, lots of things that are able to get done when people aren't paying attention. >> what is the long-term outlook for decisions like these? >> certainly on the affordable care act thing as you reported earlier. my good friend heidi was up here talking about the lawsuits. it could serve to undermine the entire fundamental basis making these exchanges too stable and pulling all the healthy people out of them and leaving premium increases too much because they're more full of theic

isser, leis e sicker, less healthy people. things on rules on fracking and oil and gas and, of course, the paris climate change. that was something president trump was able to do on his own. long-term consequences a number of these issues. >> help put this in context for us. is the degree of rollbacks from past administrations from one administration to the other common? >> yeah, i mean, there's always a big scene on the first day of any administration and trump wasn't the same as all the rest where they sign a bunch of executive orders undoing what the president before them did by executive order. what is important to note about this instance because president obama did many things administratively like these affordable care act provisions and the paris climate accord. things not done by congress but anything one president does another president can do. because congress isn't doing that much, any time the pendulum

shifts, a new president can do a lot of what the prior one did. republicans love it. they can't get anything through because of their narrow majority. look for them to try to stop it. >> what are you tracking for the rest of the week? what are some big things you're keeping an eye on? >> i'm looking ahead to t next week. important primaries where we see if the progressive way could play in the rest of america. >> interesting to see how the rest of that plays out. of course, we'll read axiosam in just a little bit. that does it for us on this thursday morning. "morning joe," everybody, starts right now.

>> it's not an order, the president's opinion. >> are president trump's tweets considered official white house statements? >> the president is the president of the united states, they're considered official statements by the president of the united states. wow. good morning. and welcome to "morning joe." >> i'm confused. so confused. >> what is that line from "the office"? universe, you win. it's thursday, august 2nd. and what a way to start the day. >> what a way. so, is it the official policy of the president or not? i think the most telling thing of the whole story is how much his lawyers freaked out immediately and started calling around immediately. he was just venting. just like a baseball game. when he's actually doing what -- talking about what would start a constitutional crisis. >> or