here with us. good night from nbc news headquarters here in new york. happy thursday. ♪ >> the time has come to establish the united states space force. >> that was not a scene from a movie. that was -- that was real. the space force is actually happening. they've got plans. they're finding money. michael bey is on board to direct the whole thing cries president mike pence laying out details for president trump's proposed new branch of the military, the space force, but critics say it is a waste of money and unnecessary. plus, dozens of children are killed after a saudi-led coalition air strike hit a bus in yemen. this morning there are calls for an investigation. first lady melania trump's

parents become u.s. citizens, apparently benefitting from a policy president trump has sought to end. good morning, it is friday, august 10th. i'm david gura alongside louis bergdorf. ayman and yasmin has the morning off. the trump administration as nounsed i nou announced i think plan to create a space force. vice president mike pence announced the new branch yesterday at the pentagon. the goal of the force is to protect the u.s. from emerging threats while combatting space-age advancements by china and russia. at the announcement, the vice president outlined a pentagon report delivered to congress later in the day. the 15-page proposal has a plan to pave the way for the space force including the creation of a u.s. space command over seen

by a four-star general, but the proposal did not offer an estimated cost of the project. mike pence, who was joined by defense secretary james mattis at the event, echoed the president's call to have the new service in operation by 2020, less than two years from now. >> now the time has come to write the next great chapter in the history of our armed forces, to prepare for the next battlefield where america's best and bravest will be called to deter and defeat a new generation of threats to our people, to our nation. the time has come to establish the united states space force. the united states space force will strengthen our security. it will ensure our prosperity, and it will also carry american ideals into the boundless expanse of space. while other nations increasingly possess the capability to operate in space, not all of them share our commitment to

freedom, private property and the rule of law. so as we continue to carry american leadership in space, so also will we carry america's commitment to freedom into this new frontier. >> while these steps have been vital to our national defense, they're really only a beginning. they're only a beginning of meeting the rising security threats our nation faces in space today and in the future. as president trump has said in his words, it is not enough to merely have an american presence in space, we must have american dominance in space, and so we will. >> well, the u.n. n secretary general is calling for an investigation into a saudi-led coalition air strike in yemen that killed dozens yesterday, many of them children. the images i want to warn you are graphic. nbc news correspondent matt bradley has the details.

>> reporter: the images disturbing and heartbreaking, children pouring into a hospital, most of them under ten years old, still wearing their backpacks and school uniforms, covered in blood. after their school bus was hit by a bomb, a crater at the site of the air strike, the smoke from the blast visible from miles away. at least 29 children returning from a school picnic among the dozens killed. aid groups demanding an investigation. >> children shouldn't be collateral damage. >> this little boy covered in soot and surrounded by the dead minutes after the strike was asked if he was okay. my legs hurt, he said. saudi arabia and the united arab emirates have been bombing yemen for more than three years, helped with intelligence, advice and equipment from the u.s. saudi arabia and the aeu said it

was justified. the consequences have been devastating, more than 10,000 people dead, mostly civilians. it is the children, half of yemen's population, who bear the brunt of this war. matt bradley, nbc news. >> our thanks for that report. >> difficult piece to watch there. shifting gears to north korea, they're slamming the u.s. in stepping up pressure in a push to get the regime to denuclearize. a statement says it lacks basic decorum. the country says it has been working with the u.s. by returning soldier's remains from the war and halting work at the test sites. but reports show north korea is far from stopping production of nuclear missiles. last week secretary of state mike pompeo said there's still a ways to go to achieve ultimate

denuclearization from the rogue nation. new court filings show hundreds of migrant children still remain separated from their parents. of the 2,551 separated from their parents at the southern border, 559 are still in government custody. 386 have parents who have already been deported, and officials have heard from 299 parents in the last week. however, they do not have any information for 26 parents and still have not filed a plan to reunite any of the 559 remaining children with their families. meanwhile, a federal judge in washington ordered a plane carrying a mother and daughter to return to the u.s. while their deportation hearing was under way. u.s. district judge emmet sullivan called the removal outrageous and threatened to hold attorney general jeff sessions in contempt. aclu attorneys were notified of the removal of the woman and her daughter during recess and requested that the judge delay the deportation. upon arrival in el salvador, the pair was sent back to texas

according to department of homeland security. first lady melania trump's parents have become u.s. citizens. they took their citizenship in a private ceremony in new york city yesterday. an attorney for them told "the new york times" melania sponsored her parents for their green cards and that, quote, they applied for citizenship when they were eligible. their lawyer stressed that the immigrants did not get any special treatment. the first lady did not attend yesterday's ceremony and her office declined to comment. president trump has railed against immigrants' ability to sponsor family members, tweeting last november, quote, chain migration must end now. some people come in and they bring their whole family with them, who can be truly evil. not acceptable. trump has proposed ending most family-based immigration, replacing it with a skills-based system. the president has not commented on his in-laws becoming u.s. citizens yet. after president trump openly sparred with western allies at the g7 in canada this past june,

some of his highest-ranking officials feared a similar personality clash could threaten an important deal with nato allies. that's according to "the new york times" that said john bolt on-and ots scrambled to get a communique done before the president's trip to brussels in july. citing european diplomats and american officials, the times reports that bolton worked with the u.s. ambassador to nato to complete the deal early. secretary of state mike pompeo and defense secretary jim mattis were reportedly inclined to avoid another confrontation. it achieved several goals critical to nato. it would formally invite macedonia to join the group. it would establish and at lan tick command post, hosted by the united states in norfolk, virginia to the coordinate a swift alliance response in the event of a war in europe between russia and nato allies. most importantly, they pledged

to build up their militaries and provide significant force to use in 30 days or less by the year 2020. the report worrying about the deal being up ended seems to be well-founded given the president's skeptical attitude at the conference. >> we're protecting germany. we're protecting france. we're protecting everybody, and yet we're paying a lot of money to protect. we have to talk about the billions and billions of dollars being paid to the country that we're supposed to be protecting you against. if you look at it, germany is a captive of russia. so we're supposed to protect germany, but they're getting their energy from russia. explain that. >> a reporter for "the washington post", eugene scott. i want to start by asking about the significance of the reporting in "the times" today. you have followed international conferences like this before. i mentioned communiques are often hammered out in final

stages while the conference is under way. what does it say to you about the effort to shield president trump from the secret talks? >> it is out of the norm for a president's top national security officials as well as their international affairs staffers to be working on such a significant agreement without his knowledge out of fear that he is going to destroy it himself. but i think what this act shows is that there is a pattern in place with this white house of top leaders wanting to put forward agenda items that are actually quite different from what the president himself has tweeted, and they are going to constantly reinforce that and try to communicate that to the american public afterwards to let them know that the tweets that come from the president are not as significant as we all, you know, interpret official statements from the president to be. >> hearing this week their opinions more than anything else, at least that's the case the president's lawyers and the communication staff are making, let me ask you about the more than 500 children still

separated from their parents in the wake of the president's zero tolerance policy. i think it is too early to talk about legacy at this point as we are still talking about children very much hanging in the balance here. how concerned do you think the white house is about this? how much reevaluation has there been to the white house's approach to immigration as a result of this policy, eugene? >> reporter: well, there's certainly real concern about how their base has responded to this. most republicans have looked at this policy as problematic and have been quite disappointed that when this decision was made that no decision to reunify, reunite these kids was in place. that's why you're seeing the white house still have some of the challenges that it has had moving forward during this election cycle when people who are running on trump's support, with trump's backing are finding themselves having to answer questions about this. the flip side of that is the democrats will not be able to campaign very aggressively in republican states against this

policy because they fear having the impression that they are more focused on immigrants than the american population. and so it will be a threat to the white house, but not as significant as one would think. >> eugene scott joining us from "the washington post." stay with us. we'll come back to you in a bit. still ahead, we're getting a firsthand look inside a new mexico compound where authorities believe children may have been trained to kill. the details of that disturbing story are coming up. plus, the very latest in the paul manafort trial as prosecutors look to rest their case against the former trump campaign chairman today. those stories and a check of the weather when we come right back. ♪

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kids were found, allegedly in the hands of muslim extremists. nbc news correspondent gadi swartz has this story. >> reporter: inside this compound a chilling mix of children's toys and weaponry. >> this is for an assault rifle. >> reporter: the property littered with gas, trash and korans. this shooting range was kept clear where authorities think children were given advanced weapons training to prepare for a school shootings. one boy had been used in the use of assault rifle to kill as many as possible. investigators alleged the suspects were muslim extremists, all five related to a controversial leader in brooklyn who claims he had no recent contact with his adult children. >> or family saying this is so bizarre, it is weird. what is going on? >> reporter: the local sheriff confirming the fbi was watching the compound. >> they didn't find that child. >> reporter: property owner

jason badger says for months he begged local investigators to do something about the family squatting on his land, worried about the little boy named abdul he recognized from the missing child's poster. >> i called the missing and exploited children's hotline, i called the state troopers and county sheriff and notified they were on the property. >> reporter: now he wished investigators moved in sooner. >> he said they didn't want a police officer to come up here and do that kind of stuff because they didn't want to risk a waco situation. >> reporter: the sheriff denied our interview request and the fbi is it not commenting. >> or colleague reporting. well, the government intends to rest its case against former trump campaign chairman paul manafort today. yesterday's proceedings focused on the fraudulent tactics he allegedly used to get bank loans. in one instance an officer testified he listed a property on a loan application as a second home only to find out his son-in-law was renting it on airbnb. the major headline from yesterday was the rare apology

from the judge. he went off on prosecutors wednesday for keeping a witness in the courtroom when he allowed it to happen. prosecutors filed the motion asking the judge to correct the record. he did so yesterday, admitting, quote, it appears i may well have been wrong. >> and the lawyer best known for representing porn star stormy daniels says he is exploring a run for the presidency. michael avenatti, who emerged as one of the president's outspoken critics, is currently in iowa. tonight he is expected to speak at a democratic fundraiser along two other declared democratic presidential candidates. that event in the past hosted other stars on the left like barack obama, hillary clinton and bernie sanders. avenatti tells the des moines register, quote, i want to come to iowa and listen to the people and learn about some issues facing the citizens of iowa and do my homework. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist

bill karins. bill, you say it will be the best day of the weekend forecast? >> yeah, that's my advice for people in the mid atlantic and to the northeast. your friday evening activities, you have a better chance of good weather for that than over the weekend. the forecast going downhill, especially for southern new england. this morning there's not a lot of troublesome weather. phoenix had thunderstorms go through. southern new mexico, not a lot of horrible stuff. central texas getting some of the rain. as far as the excessive heat goes, today will be one of the hottest days in boise history. all-time record high of 111. there's some indication it could get up there about 108 or so. from spokane to central portions of the rockies here, very hot, in montana too. here is how the forecast looks. there's 108 in boise. billings at 98. salt lake city at 100. the fire danger continues to be high throughout all of the west and the smoke is a huge issue for people trying to breathe with respiratory issues. in the east we're in the 80s and 90s from new england.

91 in d.c., and it is by far the best day you will get out of the next four or five. if you get lunch outdoors, i know it is hot, but try to enjoy it. into the weekend forecast, especially as we get intoed saturdintoed -- into saturday is when the rain will come up the eastern seaboa seaboard. i told them the graphic would work, but now it doesn't want. just the way it goes. there it goes. there's saturday. it shows the possibility of heavier rain and thunderstorms especially southern new england and areas of the mid atlantic. flood risk in areas of central texas, and unfortunately it doesn't change until sunday. still on-and-off wet weather through the at lane tick region. from the i-95 corridor south wards, it could be a good weekend to watch pga tour golf, go through the netflix list. >> i appreciate it. still ahead, the nfl preseason

getting underway but some of the attention is focused on the sidelines rather than the field. we will explain why next in sports. how was your day? it was good. it was long. let's fix it. play "connection" by onerepublic. (beep) ♪these days, my waves get lost in the ocean♪ ♪seven billion swimmers man ♪i'm going through the motions ♪sent up a flare need love and devotion♪ ♪trade it for some faces that i'll never know notion♪ ♪can i get a connection? ♪can i get can i get a connection?♪ ♪can i get a connection? ♪can i get can i get a connection?♪

so welcome back. time now for sports. we begin with the kickoff of the nfl preseason where things seem to have picked up where they left off last year with the focus still on the sidelines. in philadelphia, superbowl champion eagles' safety malcolm jenkins raised a fist in protest during the sounding of "the star spangled banner" ahead of last

night's opener against the steelers. jenkins should not face any discipline since the league previously suspended the enforcement of the anthem policy passed in may which requires players to stand if they are on the field during the anthem, and fines teams for any players who in fact protest. nor should three members of the miami dolphins who protested during the national anthem ahead of last night's exhibition against the buccaneers. two of the players, wide receiver kenny stills and albert wilson reportedly dropped to a knee. the nfl released a statement during the game reaffirming its desire for players to stand during the anthem, while talks with the players' association continue. the man at the center of the story, former 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick tweeted this photo of him and stills, acknowledging the miami receiver for his protest of systemic oppression along with williams for joining. going to the pga championship where gary woodland sits ahead

of the field after the opening round in st. louis, leaving 47 players who broke par. he sank seven birdies putts on the way to a 6 under 64, giving him a one-shot lead over rickie fowler who finds himself in the hunt. still winless while playing his 36th major start. he's going to get one soon, i feel it. finally, we go to major league baseball where in toronto the red sox' mookie betts hit for the first cycle last night. singling in the first inning, he tripled in the second and doubled in the four. he capped it with a solo home run hit out to left field in the ninth inning. it is not enough though to get boston the win as toronto stops the music for boston, 8-5. the momentum had to stop sometime for boston. >> thank you very much. still ahead, it has been 11 months hins hurricane maria left puerto rico devastated and officials say the death toll

could be higher than initially reported. plus, the trump administration fan for a space force is being met with scepticism this morning, including a few senior defense officials. we will be right back. the digital divide is splitting this country. we have parents who are trying to get their kids off of too much social media and computers, and then we have parents who would only hope their children have access. middle school is a really key transition point, right. the stakes start changing. students begin to really start thinking about their futures. what i like about verizon's approach is that it's not limited to just giving kids new tools, it's really about empowering educators to teach in different ways, and exposing kids to more active forms of learning. giving technology is not a total solution. teaching technology, now that is.

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♪ welcome back. i'm david gura alongside louis bergdorf. ayman and yasmin are off today. it is the bottom of the hour. let's get to the morning's top stories. it has been nearly a year since hurricane maria hit puerto rico and it is still unclear how many people were killed in that

disaster. the official toll is 64, but the puerto rican government has released an unofficial estimate showing the number is actually more than 20 times higher. nbc's gabe gutierrez has more. >> reporter: new confusion surrounding puerto rico's death toll with the island's government acknowledging more than 1,400 people may have died following hurricane maria in a draft report to congress, dramatically higher than the previous official count of just 64. the president touted the low death toll in october. >> if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died, everybody watching can really be very proud of what's taken place in puerto rico. >> reporter: the actual number now controversial. a harvard study estimated it could be more than 4600. the official government count unchanged, waiting on another study that's not yet done. this as people are still struggling almost 11 months

after the storm. >> our thanks to gabe gutierrez for that report. >> stunning development there in puerto rico. president trump is once again railing against the ongoing russia investigation. he tweeted yesterday, this is an illegally brought rigged witch-hunt run by people who are totally corrupt and/or conflicted. it was started and paid for by crooked hillary and the democrats. phoney dossier, fisa disgrace and so many lying and dishonest people already fired. he tweeted a post from graham ledger who said, quote, there's been no evidence that trump or the campaign was involved in any kind of collusion to fix the 2016 election. in fact the evidence is that the opposite -- that of the operates, that hillary clinton and the democrats colluded with the russians to fix the 2016 election. well, the house judiciary committee is reportedly getting ready to issue subpoenas for people connected to the controversial steele dossier. two congressional sources tell

the hill that republican chairman bob goodlatte is preparing subpoenas for bruce ohr, his wife nellie ohr, fuse co-founder and other officials. according to the hill, bruce ohr has come under republican scrutiny for his contacts with simpson and former british spy steele during the 2016 campaign, a revelation that sparked demands from trump allies for a special counsel investigation into the doj and fbi last december. simpson hired steele to help compile the controversial dossier that made salacious allegations against president trump's ties to wife. ohr's wife worked for fusion gps during the 2016 election which republicans seized on as a possible connection that links the opposition research firm and the justice department. kansas city of state kris kobach has announced he will recuse himself from recounting

the votes in the republican primary for the state's governor as his lead dwindles. yesterday he reversed course, saying he would recuse himself from a potential recount after saying the day before he would not. it comes amid growing pressure from his opponent who sent a letter that kobach reframe from instructing county officials on counting of ballots. as that plays out, kobach's lead has shrunk to 91 votes. election officials discovered a mistake in the listing of one county while tallying the votes. the results do not include provisional ballots or mail-in battle which are expected to be counted by next week. following vice president pence's space force announcement yesterday, president trump could barely contain his tweetment, tweeting this. space for all the way! not everyone shares the president's enthusiasm. the idea has been met with opposition from some in the defense department, including from defense secretary james

mattis as described in the "wall street journal." quote, late last year the secretary in a letter to the leaders of the house and senate armed services committees said he opposed a new military service dedicated to space. he wrote he didn't want the additional organizational layers at a time when we are focused on reducing overhead and integrating joint war fighting functions. he's apparently since refined his position to be on board with the president. the creation of a sixth branch of the military would need approval from congress. the president's plan is being met with a lukewarm reception. >> democratic senator brawn schatz of hawaii tweeted yesterday, quote, the vp announced a new military branch, a space force, because no republican is willing to tell potus it's a dumb idea. although space force won't happen, it is dangerous to have a leader who cannot be talked out of crazy ideas. former nasa astronaut mark kelly was also critical in his assessment of the idea. >> the only person that i've

heard say this is a fantastic idea is the commander in chief, the president of the united states. everybody else says it is redundant, it is wasteful. we don't have the need out there right now. i would have hoped he would have waited a few more years to get a it more educated on what our military capabilities currently are and what the threats are out there. i think there's a little bit of lacking of understanding in the white house at the highest levels at this point. >> joining us again, reporter for "the washington post" eugene scott. eugene, the administration is saying they want it to happen in two years. you listen to commander kelly, you hear from brian schatz via twitter, other lawmakers as well, how likely is it to happen on that aggressive timetable? >> not likely to happen, especially if the republican party does not do well during the fall elections. he needs approval -- he being the president -- from congress to move forward with a new branch of the military. and if democrats are as

successful as we've seen them be so far, they're not going to provide more spending for more military devices and goals and agendas that the left feels like we already are overfunding. >> how did we get here? you go back and look, this was kind of a throwaway line in a speech the president delivered. now when he goes to these rallies, it is one of the lines that gets the most applause if you look at the white house pool reports. as i mentioned, you got the defense secretary questioning the need for this, why this is a priority here for the administration. what is your take on that? how does it come to life in the way that it has? >> i think there are two things. one, i mean russia and china are very active in space in terms of like missiles and just monitoring other countries. i think the president wants the u.s. to have a larger footprint somewhere out there. but i think also the president has consistently shown interest in communicating this tough guy image that his critics say is rooted in perhaps some

insecurities related to not having served in the military himself, and these veterans, these military individuals are people who looked at him and aligned with his agenda and he wants to maintain their support. i don't know how he's going to be able to do that by diverting r resources from the air force which says they're already understrapped, to a new military unit that no one seems to say we really need besides the president and his top aides, specifically mike pence. >> yeah, eugene, on that point lastly here, what is the case that the white house is making? you look at that 15-page document that the administration released yesterday, you listen to vice president mike pence talking about what the space force might do. he is speaking in general terms, broad terms here. is there any legitimate rational for doing this at this point in time? >> it is just not clear right now why the space force is needed. it is a whole, i think, approach to saying we are tough on russia, we are tough on china in this way, from a president who

consistently is told he's not tough enough on russia or china. maybe i think he need one more area to be able to point to do say actually we are doing what needs to be done to protect the u.s. from these threats. >> thank you, my friend. i appreciate it. that's eugene scott, a political reporter for "the washington post." white nationalists had set to hold their second annual unite the right rally directly across the street from the white house this sunday. according to the application, a maximum of 400 attendees will be there. it is expected to draw white supremacists, neo nazis and kkk supporters. as many as 1500 counter-protesters are expected to attend. d.c. meteorologipolice say thei be to keep the attenders separate to avoid the showdown of charlottesville last year. states of emergency have been

declared in virginia and charlottesville, 1500 miles away from the weekend rally. president trump facing questions over his in-laws becoming american citizens using the same process he railed against in the past. bail cairns will join us once again with another check on your weekend forecast when we return. ♪ what does help for heart failure look like? ♪ the beat goes on. it looks like emily cooking dinner for ten. ♪ the beat goes on. it looks like jonathan on a date with his wife. ♪ la-di-la-di.

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learn more at theexplorercard.com i've been making blades here at gillette for 20 years. there's a lot of innovation that goes into making america's #1 shave. precision machinery and high-quality materials from around the world. nobody else even comes close. now starting at $7.99. gillette. the best a man can get. welcome back. there are questions this morning about a possible double standard when it comes to the first family. first lady melania trump's parents became u.s. citizens yesterday, apparently through a legal process president trump has repeatedly criticized and said he wants to end. nbc news national correspondent peter alexander has the details. >> reporter: the first in-laws, melania trump's parent, sworn in as citizens. they took the oath in new york city. their experience reuniting questions whether they obtained citizenship through chain migration, a family reunification process president

trump has repeatedly denounced. >> we have to end chain migration, and we have to build the wall and we're going to do it it. >> reporter: viktor aknavs and his wife became citizens. asked if they used chain migration, the attorney said, i suppose it is a dirty, dirtier word. the first lady's parent familiar sights at the white house. it all comes days after nbc news was first to report the trump administration is considering a crackdown on legal immigration. a proposal that would make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards if they or anyone in their household has ever used popular public assistance programs like obamacare or food stamps, a move that could impact 20 million

legal immigrants in the u.s. a federal judge has ordered the trump administration to stop deporting some immigrants seeking asylum to escape gang and domestic violence. the judge also ordering a plane carrying a mother and daughter to the el salvador to return around and bring them back to the u.s. david. >> thanks to peter alexander for that report. >> let's get a check on the weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. you are tracking weather in the west coast, that weather so critical to the wildfires still burning in northern california. >> yeah, of course, if any new blazes form, too. it is still very dry and hot as can be. right now our current map for -- this is uncontained, large fires across the west, 56 of them. we've been focusing on california of course because of the mendocino which is biggest in their history and the carr fire which has claimed another life, it has killed eight people and over 1500 structures, so those fires got the most attention. there's 11 in california and about 16 in the rocky mountains. all of this equals horrible air

quality throughout the region. of course, with it still be dry and hot, we have red flag warning which means if fires form they can rapidly spread today in northern california, western half of -- eastern half of washington state, also northern idaho and a good chunk of montana here. this is where it will be really hot with billings about 98, salt lake city at 100. boise at 108, and if that happens, it will be only three degrees away from the hottest temperature ever recorded. thankfully we cooled off in seattle after the recent hot stretch. maybe isolated and flash flooding arkansas and through areas of the southeast. enjoy the beautiful weather in new england and the mid atlantic because over the weekend the storm system from the south will move north ward. soggy will be the word used in areas of eastern north carolina, virginia beach, norfolk. there will be periods of rain going through saturday and eventually that works into

southern new england with thunderstorms and heavy downpours. it looks to be about a one to three-inch rainfall event. we had a lot of wet weather in the region, so isolated flooding could be a problem. southern new england, new york city especially, hit and miss showers and stormts s in d.c. boston to new york city to providence and hartford could see wet weather. our friends in dallas will be cooler with showers and storms. it is funny, for the east coast viewers the summer started out pretty dry and hot, and then it has gotten really humid and soggy the last month. >> i'm getting in my run this afternoon. appreciate it. still ahead, one popular restaurant chain looks to tap in to expanded sports betting to increase its line. the tribune files suit over a failed deal. details on those stories and others driving the business day next. and packages. and it's also a story about people.

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welcome back. let's turn to business. three weeks after the fcc voted to block sinclair's proposed acquisition of tribune media, tribune terminated the merge agreement and is suing. joining us live from london with more, nancy, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you. as part of the lawsuit, louis, the tribune is seeking $1 billion in damages from sinclair for what they allege is breach of contract. essentially they're saying that sinclair did not do enough to get the regulatory green light

for the $3.9 billion deal, which as you know, u.s. president donald trump had voiced his support for in the past. in the lawsuit they cite belligerent and unnecessarily protracted negotiations with tesla's board could ask elon musk to recuse himself when it comes to the discussions as to whether or not to move forward on that plan to take the company private. now, all in all, this could be a $72 billion deal, closer to $80 billion if you count the debt involved. so many questions still to be answered here on exactly where elon musk intends to get that financing. expect to get answer there's in

the coming days, perhaps. >> interesting time for tesla. buffalo wild wings, frequent ee often in college, looking to become a one-stop destination for places wagers on sports. already a destination for wings, beer and sports. what more can you tell us? >> why not? right? you have your wings. the game's on tv. now saying we're going add sports betting to this. this is all taking advantage of changes in the supreme court ruling on lifting restrictions related to federal, legal betting. so buffalo wild wings wants to explore traps even a partnership when it comes to offering sports betting in their restaurants. as you know, in all 50 states here. this could be interesting, because the company is still in the exploratory stages. many say they he's in a partner because betting laws change state-by-state. sounds like a perfect friday

night. >> i don't know. i say keep it wholesome. watch the sports, drink the beer. eat the wings. too many distractions. coming up, mike allen with a look at this morning's "one big thing" and coming up on "morning joe," the president looking to establish u.s. dominance in space. more on the white house's call to create a space force as the administration makes the case for a need to secure our safety in the heavens. just how much does this plan cost taxpayers and whether it will have the support in congress to actually get it off the ground, pardon the pun. "morning joe" is moments away.

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you can get a new taste of your heritage. save 40% with our lowest price ever. joining us from washington with a look at axios a.m., what is the "one big thing" this morning? >> we'll try to continue to keep it wholesome. happy friday. axios's "one big thing" midterm, messaging meg. we have an unusual situation

where as we head into labor day the heat of midterm campaigning. both parties having to make on the fly adjustments to messages because they've turned out to be problems or be duds. for democrats that means mueller and the russia investigation, which they plan to talk up, turns out that motivates republicans more, because of president trump's rallies and rudy giuliani's constant appearances on tv, it's actually republicans that are riled up about the russia investigation. of course, impeachment an issue republicans were afraid would backfire and that abolish i.c.e. boom also co-opted by republicans. see it on the air president trump and republicans candidates are talking how they're going to protect the immigration agents. >> michael, i want to ask about tax cuts. something the president is fond of mentions. talked about it yesterday at bedminster, a roundtable on prison reforms but tax cuts came

up. how enthusiastic of republicans to talk about the tax plan? >> turned out to be a big dud. a surprise. this was going to be the centerpiece of the fall. it was going to be tax cuts. we'll determine whether or not they kept majority, what republican operatives told me. instead, didn't make it out of march in that pennsylvania race where congressman connor lamb showed they weren't a popular issue. polling shows it soaked through, showing these helped the wealthy the most so republicans are talking less about it. saying to me it's just not popular. >> let me asking you about the democrats and a push for the blue wave. the president talks a red wave or red tide. you pick which you like. >> this is a cool graphic that you can see on axios and if you take the movement in the big ohio race this year, this week,

and you extrapolate it to the rest of the country. if the rest of the country moved as far democratic as that ohio district did since 2016, there would be a gigantic blue tsunami. remember, democrats need to net 23 seats. they would net 43 seats as we see in this graphic, if everyone in the country moved the same place ohio did. republicans would lose 100 seats giving democrats a massive 43-seat move, 20 more than needed. >> let me ask you about the white house's data operations as we look ahead. the way the white house is working with the campaign and the rnc to decide where the president goes. mike, he's expressed enthusiasm for being on the campaign trail six or seven days a week as we approach the midterms. what did axios learn about the way the white house, the president is using data deciding the way to go? >> six or seven may turn out to

be three or four. he actually has a day job as the president reminds him. the president is excited to get out there and axios found out from our conversations with the white house that will try to be systematic and scientific in where they put the president. they know that there's a lot of places he will hurt. they doesn't automatically help, and as usual around this white house, you have the audience of one. it's a lot better for them to be able to say to them, sir, the data says you'd be better off here rather than this candidate doesn't want you, doesn't play well with the boss. >> always good to talk to you. reading axios a.m. in a little while. viewers, you can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. that does it for us. "morning joe" starts right now. because in some parts of the country, it does seem like the america that we know and love doesn't exist anymore.

massive demographic changes have been hoisted upon the american people. and they're changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don't like. from virginia to california, we see stark examples of how radically in some ways the country has changed. now, much of this is related to both illegal and in some cases legal immigration that, of course, progressives love. and since this is the last speech that i will give as president, i think it's fitting to leave one final thought. an observation about a country which i love. it was stated best in a letter i received not long ago. a man wrote me and said, you can go to live in france, but you cannot become a frenchman. you can go to live in germany or turkey or japan, but you cannot become a german, a turk or japanese. but anyone from any corner of the earth can come