monday night as we start a new week together. thank you so much for being here with us and good night from nbc news headquarters in new york. ♪ this morning the president taking on the russia investigation in an interview with reuters. he says he could run it if he wanted but he decided to stay out of it. plus, first lady melania trump speaks out against cyber bullying, but in the past week her husband has called former staffer omarosa a dog and john brennan a hack. fall-out over brett kavanaugh. in it he suggests graphic questions for then-president clinton about his affair with monica lewinsky. ♪ good morning.

it is tuesday, august 21. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside frances rivera in for yasmin, and louis bergdorf. president trump, who is using the powers of his office to go after critics and perceived enemies, is asserting he could personally take over the probe into russian interference in the 2016 election. an investigation in which several of his former aides have already been charged. now, in an interview with reuters, trump said his administration was, quote, a smooth-running machine except in that world, and i've decided to stay out. now, i don't have to stay out. i can go in and i could do whatever. i could run it if i want, but i decided to stay out, he said. i'm totally allowed to be involved if i wanted to be. so far i haven't chosen to be involved. i'll stay out. well, the president also expressed doubt about the findings of the u.s. intelligence community, saying the probe played into the russians, if it was russia. they played right into the russians' hands. meantime, president trump agreed with his lawyer that truth isn't truth.

in an interview with reuters, trump echoed the concerns of his top lawyer in the probe, rudy guilliani, who has warned that any sit-down with robert mueller could be a perjury trap. the president expressed fears investigators could compare his statements with that of others who have testified in the probe, such as former fbi director james comey, and that any discrepancies could be used against him. even if i am telling the truth, that makes me a liar, trump said. that's no good. >> after a report that white house counsel don mcgahn gave insight into the president's comments and actions into the possible obstruction much justice, nbc news reports that mcgahn's legal team said that he would have resigned if he thought he witnessed a crime. a source familiar with the matter says there's no way of knowing mcgahn's testimony may fit with other evidence mueller has collected. meanwhile, "the washington post" reports that mcgahn reassured

the president about his comments to investigators since november. quote, he did not incriminate him, mcgahn's attorney bill burke wrote in one e-mail to trump's lawyers, which were scribbled by multiple people. both mcgahn and burke declined to comment. first lady melania trump spoke about the impact of bullying on social media. take a listen. >> social media is a preventable part of our children's daily lives. it can be used in many positive ways but can also be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly. >> the first lady made the remarks at a summit to discourage online bullying yesterday. however, as mrs. trump discussed the importance of her initiative, her husband, president trump, was simultaneously targeting former cia director brennon and bruce ohr on twitter. meanwhile, mrs. trump announced she will make her first solo trip overseas in october. in a statement, she said the

trip will be her first ever to africa and she is excited to educate herself on the issues facing children throughout the continent. in an interview with right ertz, president trump says it is dangerous for social media companies to ban certain accounts. he said yesterday, i won't mention names, but when they take certain people off twitter or facebook and they're making that decision, that is a really dangerous thing because that could be you tomorrow. it comes after several major tech companies took action to remove content posted by 'election jones and his info war show earlier this month. trump argued that social media is totally discriminating against republican/conservative voices. he went on to say, too many voices are being destroyed, some good and some bad, and that cannot be allowed to happen. i want to bring in eugene scott. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> we read your piece this morning on "the washington post" on melania trump's, be best

campaign event. while the first lady talked about cyber bullying here, and even when she first announced that would be her initiative, the president -- all you have to do is read his tweets attacking government officials, other people also. are we ever going to see a point where he will start taking his wife's initiative to heart? >> as of now it doesn't seem like it. within an hour of the first lady's speech the president attacked at least three people in the way that he normally does, giving them nicknames or calling them things like a political hack or a total joke. the reality is melania trump currently has the highest favorability ratings in the trump white house, but some are getting frustrated because they can't tell if she is as committed to the cyber bullying effort as she says she is when her whole household seems to be moving in a different direction. >> let's switch gears and talk about don mcgahn and the fact that his lawyers are reportedly reassuring president trump's legal team that mcgahn the not

tell bob mueller anything that would incriminate president trump. there was also the caveat that had he witnessed a crime he would have resigned. can that be known for certain, depending on what else mueller has learned throughout the probe that don mcgahn did not offer anything that is incriminating to the president? >> well, absolutely not. what we have right now is the word of mcgahn's attorneys, and so people who were not privy to the conversations cannot know for sure what was told. the reality is it is a bit comforting to the president, of course, because there's ongoing concern that people close to him could say something that would harm him. but perhaps mcgahn didn't share anything that could incriminate trump because there was nothing to incriminate trump, which is the argument trump has been making all of this time. but the reality is the investigation is ongoing and we will see more in the near future. >> speaking of the reality, eugene, we are talking here when it comes to the mueller investigation, you have president trump, who says he has been staying out of it but if he wanted to, if he wanted to he

could jump back in and run it. what's the reality of that? >> well, the reality is he does have more power to change who is involved and change leadership, to make more pressure, put more pressure on jeff sessions, of course, to make some decisions, and he's done that quite a bit right now. but the reality is his lawyers have cautioned him against that, and it, of course, makes him look as if he had done something that is problematic. that's the only reason he would probably change the leadership of this investigation to protect himself. it would probably be in his best interests if he is as innocent as he claims he is to let the case run out the way the american people want him. >> yes, some lawmakers suggested it would be a constitutional crisis if the president tried to take over the russia investigation so to speak. thank you very much. we will touch base with you in a little bit. >> awesome. in a memo written almost two decades ago, brett kavanaugh urged kenneth starr and his team

to take a tough line on then-president bill clinton's behavior with monica lewinsky. the memo which contained graphic detail and questions about clinton's conduct with lieu went sky was released by the national archives and records administration on monday. the two pages, dated august 15, 1998, kavanaugh then wrote in part, quote, i am strongly opposed to giving the president any break in the questioning regarding the details of the lieu went sky relationship. kavanaugh was adamant that the independent counsel's team had a responsibility to, quote, make clinton's pattern of revolving behavior clear. that year kavanaugh expressed regret that congress published the report, including the sexually explicit portions of it but he defended the content of the memo. it has raised questions on capitol hill ahead of the confirmation hearings. >> i'm troubled by his role in

"the star" investigation and what he pressed to be included in the report. >> ahead of brett kavanaugh's hearing next month, conservatives ramped up pressure. conservatives have run more than 7.5 million dollars in tv ads. that's compared to approximately 1.3 million from liberals in the fight over kavanaugh's confirmation. the conservative campaign has focused largely on democrats, including doug jones in alabama, joe manchin in west virginia, heidi heitkamp of north dakota, also joe donnelly in indiana, republican susan collins in maine and lisa murkowski of alaska. it comes as president trump's nominee faces low popularity among voters. 40% of americans said kavanaugh should not be confirmed to the supreme court according to a recent cnn ssrs poll. 37% say he should be confirmed

and 22% said they have no opinion. . the taliban rejected calls for a cease far. the attack comes this morning after several meetings with the u.s. delegation last month in an attempt to broker trust and a three-month truce between the taliban and afghan government. no one was injured in this morning's attack. the taliban will head to moscow next month to join regional talks on afghanistan's future, a summit likely to exclude the u.s. according to reports from the "wall street journal." russia has taken an increasingly active role and hosted multi-lateral talks on the region in the past, however, this is the first time the taliban is known to have accepted an invitation. now, the taliban has also engaged in separate discussions with pakistan and china and maintains contact with the united nations and other aid groups. china, india, pakistan, iran are all expected to attend talks in

moscow scheduled for september 4th. now, the state department did not respond to the "wall street journal's" request for comment on the matter. >> it will be interesting to see how it plays out. still ahead, what pope francis has to say about last week's report that hundreds of children were sexually abused by predator priests in pennsylvania. plus, president trump escalates his attacks on the federal reserve, criticizing chairman jerome powell for raising interest rates. those stories and a check of our weather when we come right back. ♪

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this wi-fi is fast. i know! i know! i know! i know! when did brian move back in? brian's back? he doesn't get my room. he's only going to be here for like a week. like a month, tops. oh boy. wi-fi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. in many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40's. welcome back. pope francis is addressing the latest accusations of sexual abups a abuse by priests in the catholic church. in a letter yesterday he condemned what he calls atrocities. >> it comes after a grand jury last week detailed seven decades of abuse by church leaders in

pennsylvania. anne thompson has more. >> reporter: a remarkable confession from pope francis, admitting the leaders of the catholic church failed their people on priest sex abuse. we showed no care for the little ones. we abandoned them. writing in a letter to the world's 1.2 billion catholics, we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner realizing the magnitude and the damage done to so many lives. sean dockerity says one of those lives is his. >> the last three popes should have made that statement. they're really behind the times on this. there's a lot further that he needs to go. >> reporter: the catalyst, that horrific pennsylvania grand jury report, detailing sickening abuse by 300 priests over 70 years, victimizing more than 1,000 children. in pittsburgh, the anger visible. a school sign bearing washington cardinal donald wuerl's name vandalized. wuerl under fire for the grand jury's finding that he protected

predator priests when he was bishop of pittsburgh. wuerl insisting the report is not accurate. anguish theology professor heard at sunday mass. >> in that moment a father rose to his feet and called out, how, how do we reform the church, what did we do, tell us how to begin. >> reynolds is one of some 2800 catholics signing an online letter urging bishops to submit their resignation to the pope. kathleen cummings echoed the call for radical change. >> the bishops created this crisis and people who create the cries aren't going to be the people who are going to lead you out of it. >> thanks to anne thompson for that report. and president trump is challenging t challenging independence of the u.s. federal reserve. the president told reuters he is not thrilled that jerome powell is changing interest rates,

adding, we're negotiating very powerfully and strongly with other nations, but during this period of time i should be given some head by the fed. it is pretty rare for a president to criticize the u.s. federal reserve, but it is the second time trump has done so just this summer. the president says he will keep up the campaign if the fed continues to raise rates. both u.s. stocks and the dollar took a hit after the president's comments. the u.s. and china will resume trade talks tomorrow, but right now there is no telling when the dispute will be settled. the "wall street journal" reports that the trump administration is moving closer this week to levying new tariffs on china. the president also tells reuters there's, quote, no time frame for resolving the dispute. he also accused china in the new interview of manipulating its currency to make up for the tariffs imposed by washington. all of this comes as u.s. businesses continue to suffer. many companies and manufacturers are voicing their concern during an extraordinary six days of public hearings being held by the office of the u.s. trade representative. all right. so you may remember that the

president claimed repeatedly on the campaign trail that he hires the best people, but with four ex-advisers now indicted, three pleading guilty, his former campaign chairman on trial and a former aide in oprey volt, monmouth university posed this question in its latest survey. dolls donald trump hire the best people. 30% said yes. the majority, 50%, said no. 50% of adults surveyed disapprove of the president's job performance, up four points in june. when asked about the direction of the country, just 35% say it is on the right track. 57% say it is on the wrong track, a nine-point swing in the negative direction. let's take an unscientific poll to see who likes the weather a little cooler now that we're getting a taste of fall or who wants to keep summer going. high, bill karins. >> you're on the fence of that one. >> i'm not. >> i know. ayman is all in on the heat.

>> all in on the heat. >> we will get some of the thunderstorms we have been dealing with overnight moving through the great lakes. we woke up in the middle of the night in kalamazoo with the heavy rain shifting now to the north. detroit has been in and out of showers. toledo had one heavy downpour but more still to come. same for cleveland. as we go throughout the day take, we will be watching a slight risk of severe storms. about 14 million people included, anywhere from cleveland to buffalo, erie, all of virginia and western half of virginia. we may get some storms around d.c., norfolk, virginia beach. they probably won't be as severe, but we still could have them. the timing appears to be around 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. this is 5:00 p.m. this afternoon. the cold front triggers the storms out ahead of that. pittsburgh, for the evening drive home through the heart of west virginia, charleston to beckly. we will watch a few storms

popping up around d.c. we will continue the trend through the evening. new york city and boston, other areas may get overnight showers and storms but not a lot of bad weather as far as severe weather. 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, the rain on and off. boston, raining decently. notice not too bad the i-95 corridor. we may ring out a few showers later in the afternoon, but it is not going to be that bad. it won't be like a lot of wet weather out there for your wednesday. the temperature is relatively cool in boston and new york. there's the thunderstorm threat late today in t.c. hot in texas, 100 in san antonio today. beautiful weather, oklahoma city, no complaints at 85. a peek at tomorrow, early in the day we could get showers and storms and then better in the afternoon. but only 78 in chicago tomorrow, so that's some of your coolest-type weather. i didn't say the f-a-l-l word, ayman. >> exactly, not until halloween. thanks for that. still ahead, in the nfl a big-name running back signs with the skins while over in college,

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even sooner, the national champion alabama crimson tide will begin title defense ranked number one, earning the top spot in the "associated press" top 25 preseason poll. for the third year in a row, ranked number two is clem ton, followed by georgia, wisconsin, and ohio state rounds out the top five. i'm sure joe is happy with that. the start of a four game series between the indians and the red sox that could be a playoreview the playoffs. corey kluger put the red sox up 4-0 through the fourth inning. solo shot to lead off the fifth. in the next frame michael brantley tied the game with a bomb out to the right field there. greg allen clubs a two-run shot that puts the indians up for good. they go on to beat boston in the series opener 5-4. finally if you thought your

monday was rough, we'll show you one little leaguer that suffers an injury that hurts as bad at any level of the game, puerto rico second baseman is pegged below the bat. ouch. at his bat yesterday at the little league world series elimination game against panama. vasquez is taken out of the game, but his team goes on to win. >> poor guy. >> a little silver lining there. >> exactly. >> and a long way to go to adulthood, so -- >> all right. >> still ahead, president trump and his lawyer rudy guilliani talk former cia director john brennan after he threatened to go to court over security clearances. plus, george pap dop lous. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream.

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♪ good to be with you on this tuesday morning. i'm frances rivera alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis bergdorf. whereas mind has the morning off. it is the bottom of the hour and we have you covered with this morning's top stories. we start with this. president trump escalating his public feud with john brennan, daring the former cia director to sue over his revoked security clearance. on sunday's "meet the press," brennan who is a senior nbc analyst, said he was willing to go to court if it would prevent other intelligence officials from having clearances revoked. yesterday, president trump tweeted, i hope john brennan,

the worst cia director in our country's history, brings a lawsuit. it will then be very easy to get all of his records, texts, e-mails and documents to show not only the poor job he did but how he was involved with the mueller-rigged witch hunt. he won't sue. president trump's lawyer rudy guilliani weighed in on twitter writing to john brennan. today president trump granted our request, jay sekulow and me, to handle your case. after threatening if you don't, it would be just like obama's red lines. come on, john, you're not a blowhard. >> oh, wow. so the top democrat on the senate intelligence committee is filing legislation that would prohibit president trump from revoking security clearances for political reasons. senator mark warner is offering an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that is currently under debate on the senate floor. warner said yesterday, quote, president trump is setting an extremely dangerous precedent. he's using the pours of his office in an attempt to sbim tate and silence his opponents and he's politicizing a process that is, by design, supposed to

be non-partisan and apolitical. on twitter yesterday president trump suggested money is motivating scores of retire top intelligences, military and national security officials to stand up against his stripping ex-cia director john brennan of his security clearance. the president wrote, everybody wants to keep their security clearance. it is worth great prestige and big dollars, even board seats and that is why certain people are coming forward to protect brennan. it certainly isn't because of the good job he did. he's a political hack. trump also suggested fwregreed a factor among russia investigation, writing that the current do swrrj official writi quote, will bruce ohr, whose family received big money for helping to create the phoney, dirt east, discredited doesier, ever be fired from the justice department. the president publicly urged the fib to fire former deputy director andrew mccabe before he was eligible for retirement,

which it did. trump accused mccabe without any evidence of embezzling money from his wife's 2015 state senate campaign to go easy on hillary clinton. interesting to hear the president refer to the justice te department as jeff session's justice department. joining us, reporter for "the washington post", eugene scott. good to have you back with us. let's talk about the twitter trolling from the president and his lawyer. they really aren't backing down from john brennan's threats to sue them. what would a legal fight over brennan's security clearance actually look like? >> well, if you listen to the president it would certainly look like pulling private documents of brennan's, involving perhaps his conversations and statements about the president, which is what the president has based some of his actions o he says that brennan is being overly-political and harmful in his anal sims ysis of the presi but most of the criticism of

trump is that his decisionmaking is political. that's the reason he wants to hurt brennan's reputation and those of other people with clearances. >> you have the top democrat of the senate intel committee as we were reporting who is making an amendment to stop the president from pulling these clearances. how far can it go? >> it is not likely to go incredibly far if we see congress to look the way it presently toss wi presently does with republicans having so much power. we have not seen lawmakers in significant numbers speak out against the president's actions in terms of how he is handling security clearances, and to expect them to speak out moving forward considering midterm selections and the desire of trump supporters for them in their races, it is not likely. >> the president seems, eugene, to be trying to discredit those who came out in defense of john brennan over the security clearance being revoked issue. he is saying they're motivated by money and the prestige that comes with those positions.

how is that playing out with the larger intelligence community? it seems that the president is, once again, involved in direct confrontation with members of the intelligence community. >> well, we've seen people in the intelligence community on both sides act very defensively in response to the accusations that they want to hold on to their clearances because they're quite lucrative. some have gone so far, quite frankly, to say that they are not as lucrative as people think or perhaps at all, but that's up for debate. there are some book deals, there are some contributorships that people have been granted in part because of their non-agenda expertise. but the president is definitely politicizing the security clearances in a way we have never seen a president do in years past and how the public is responding to it is not yet clear. >> indeed. eugene scott for us in washington, d.c. this morning. thanks, yu again and former trump campaign adviser george papadopolous is

feeling speculation over what his next steps may be in his plea deal. yesterday he sent out this cryptic tweet. been a hell of a year, decisions. it came after his wife suggested he is strongly considering backing out of the plea deal he struck with mueller's team, which she reiterated in an interview last night. >> we are discussing now the possibility and the technicalities behind this possibility with lawyers. we have important meetings tomorrow, some lawyers reached out to me for my tweet where we were looking for further assistance and further legal opinions. >> simone papadopolous said her husband would make a final decision about his plea deal today. mueller's team is recommending he be given up to six months in prison for lying to the fbi. and jurors in the fraud trial of former trump campaign chairman paul manafort will be back in virginia today.

this morning after failing to reach a verdict for a third day in a row. thursday, friday, they didn't get the verdict, neither the they yesterday. the jury was relatively quiet during yesterday's deliberations, not sending any notes to judge t.s. ellis with questions as they had done during thursday and friday's proceedings. the jury remained at the court until shortly after 6:00 p.m., later than they stayed in the previous two days. that sparks speculation they could be nearing a verdict. the jury is weighing 18 counts of tax evasion, bank fraud and hiding foreign bank accounts against manafort. all right. so former presidential candidate hillary clinton is stepping back into the lime light after -- or i should say before the midterm elections in november. she is doing so to help fund raise for the dnc. come fall she will be hosting, quote, intimate dinners with discussions in san francisco, chicago and in new york. all of this in an effort to boost the party's chances of taking back the house and the senate. now, although clinton does not

yet have specifics about the candidates that she may campaign for, she does intend to fund raise for some women running for congress in key races. even though the dnc has lag behind the rnc in fund raising, clinton's outside political organization onward together has been contributing to democrats challenging house republicans representing districts she won in the 2016 presidential contest. >> it is being called another one of those awkward moments. still ahead, president trump facing criticism over his praise of hispanic border patrol agents. plus, migrant parents fighting to be reunited with their children. jacob soboroff shows us how some parent say they were coerced into signing away the rights to their kids. ♪

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he recently arrested a smuggler in president trying to bring 78 people into the u.s. illegally inside a truck trailer. the president ended up inviting him on stage this way. watch. >> adrian, come here. i want to ask you a question. so how did you -- come here. you're not nervous, are you? speaks perfect english. come here. >> all right. so the officer thanked trump but made no comment on the president's remark he speaks perfect english. kind of awkward there. >> another one on the list. it has been nearly one month since a federal judge's deadline for the trump administration to reunite migrant children with families after being separated at the southern border. 565 of the kids remain in the government's custody with officials saying the parents of 154 of them have waived their right to get their children back. >> but many of the parents are actually saying they were pressured or mislead into signing a form to do so. nbc correspondent jacob soboroff has more on one father's story.

>> reporter: where are we going right now? >> to see one of our clients. he is a dad who is separated from his son. >> reporter: lindsey teslowski is executive director of the immigrant defenders law center. today most of her time is spent representing separated families, and it turns out many ended up in the los angeles area, some parents still behind bars. >> we are going to the detention facility which is about 90 miles outside of l.a. we have attorneys up here almost every day of the week. >> reporter: lindsey and other lawyers head out here on a regular basis to push back on the government's contention that parents of 154 kids didn't want to be reunited and intentionally signed documents giving up that right. >> you're representing ten people in this facility alone who are fathers who were separated from their kids, and signed papers that basically said i don't want to be reunited with my kid. >> yeah. >> reporter: so this guy, his

name is what, ascencio. >> yes. >> reporter: did he give up his right to be reunited with his son? >> absolutely not. he refers to him signing this document he didn't understand as a sin. >> reporter: a sin? >> yes, because he didn't know what he was signing. only now that he is working with attorneys he understands the repercussion goes of what they signed. people sign because it is an officer in a uniform telling them that they should sign this. >> reporter: this is atalanto? >> it is the de-finks facility. >> reporter: that's your colleague over there, alfonso? >> yes. >> reporter: what's up. i'm jacob. nice to meet you. how are you? >> good. >> even though ascencio who i hopefully will meet signed something that says i am affirmatively, knowingly, voluntary requesting to return to my country's citizenship without my minor children who i understand will remain in the united states to pursue available claims of relief, they say they didn't know what it meant? >> yes.

they said they were intimidated into signing this, that they are going to be deported regardless and it is up to them to decide if they want their child deported with them or released to a family member here. >> reporter: so they said those are your only options? >> yes. >> reporter: are those the only options? >> no. >> reporter: i'm going the try to go in and meet ascencio who signed this form give up being reunited with his son. >> reporter: we headed in and after three hours headed out without meeting with him. what happened inside. >> we talked about his son. >> reporter: did you guys talk about his son and that he signed the form in error? >> yes. >> reporter: he knew i was here and he would have been cool to talk to me? >> not just cool to talk to you but he wanted to talk to you. he wanted people to know the story of what happened to him and his son. >> reporter: did he write a note? >> he did?

>> reporter: can you read it to me. >> they are deporting me without me even knowing. i feel like the government is treating me really bad. i feel ignored and i am going crazy. i am in an inhumane situation. this does not have a name. i fear they will deport me and it is signed by him. >> reporter: and it says his name. >> yes. >> absolutely heartbreaking story there. it is hard to imagine that parents would knowingly and willingly sign to have their children in any capacity be separated from them, even deported in some cases, knowing they're leaving their children behind in a foreign country. >> tough in the beginning, even more so at the end. >> thanks to jacob soboroff for that report. let's switch gears and get a check on your weather with meteorologist bill karins. what have you got for us? >> we are getting towards the peak of the hurricane season in the atlantic basin. after last season, everyone was scared to see what would happen this year. not to jinx it, but it is eerily quiet. there's a lot of people going to bed in hawaii concerned with

their forecast in the next three to four days. this is hurricane lane. look at the well-defined eye. this is a powerful hurricane, wind of 150 miles per hour. right now it is only 500 miles away from the big island here. that's not all that far away. the forecast path of it has gotten a little bit closer. it was looking like it was going to maybe miss and be a glancing blow. now there's a possibility of a little more significant concern. here is the path. we take it today, it is kind of slow-moving. notice we go from category four. then on wednesday down to category three. it takes kind of a north wards turn. the big island of hawaii is in the cone of uncertainty, so is maui and honolulu. almost all of the island are now in the cone of uncertainty. it weakens because of shear as it gets closer to honolulu. the greatest threat is to the big island. dangerous and high surf all week with strong gusts. back here to the lower 48, the

concern are severe weather risk, 16 million people as risk, maybe an isolated tornado but the biggest concern is heavy rain. the other story is the below average cooler weather come down from canada. enjoy this today. kansas city, only a high of 80. still ahead, wal-mart strikes a bill with a health care provider to help seniors get access to some of their medications. >> plus, president trump going after his own fed chair over his fiscal policies. details on the president's criticism and the other stories driving your business day. ♪ at midas, you will too. and your oil change comes with a tire rotation as well. ooo that's good! i could put that on an airplane banner. hmm. maybe. nice work. was that...? yeah, king midas. yeah. at midas, we're always a touch better. which is why our $19.99 oil change also includes a tire rotation. book your appointment now at midas.com

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welcome back. let's tub to business. two of the biggest retailers in the u.s. are making pushes into the health care sector. walmart and amazon. for more on both cnbc's reporter joins us. >> reporter: good morning. walmart is parting with an insurer to expand access to over-the-counter medicines for seniors. starting in january, those enrolled in this plan can use insurance to cover otc medication, goods like first aid supplies also and pain relievers. the incentive, reduce costs for the people on the program as well as oversee a check to walmart customers.

a.m.son amazon is hiring a star cardiologist from massachusetts. the doctor announced the move yesterday on twitter. he didn't disclose which team he will join but that it would be an exciting and challenging role. part of many measures amazon made into the health care space. a few months ago said they were partnering with others on how to reduce health costs for employees. >> president trump is voicing unhappiness with fed chairman powell saying he's not thrilled about raising interest rates once more. what impact will this have on the fed september meeting? >> reporter: indeed. there criticizing the fed again. economists argue when unemployment is at a 60-year low, hike rates to prevent

overheert iove overheating. there's a 90% chance of a hike coming in september and 80% in december. brushing off the news there. but the greenback, the dollar, did take a little beating yesterday and treated slightly softer. the dollar is any other a one-year high. >> thank you. live from london, thanks so much. coming up, a look at this morning's "one big thing." the president doubling down on his argument that the truth is not the truth on "morning joe." and the president talking about concerns over a potential sitdown with robert mueller and says even if he tells the truth he'd be considered a liar. "morning joe" is just moments away. ew laptop, 24/7 tech support. yep, thanks guys. i think he might need some support. yes. start them off right, with the school supplies they need at low prices all summer long. like these for only $2 or less at office depot officemax.

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joining us from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m., nicholas johnson. what is the "one big thing" for us this morning? >> good morning. our "one big thing" today is a

trade war that trump administration thinks it can win. the fight against china. administration officials we talk to say they think they've knocked china on its heels with tariffs and expect more to come. a new reporting in the "wall street journal" expect them to move ahead with chinese imports and reuters tell us they don't expect progress to be made in the trade talks with china later this week. expect more on that. remember that trade is one of president trump's key issues. the things he's focused on his entire time in public life going back to the 1980s. people tell us he feels confident about this. one hill source told us they are 100% in on this trade war against china. >> see what happens when they pick up the talks tomorrow. and looking at the class of 2019 and fresh faces we'll see in january.

focus on who those are. >> coukortes, the youngest woma l ever elected to congress. the first palestinian, further somali immigrant, wisconsin, first wisconsin senator possibly and a woman expected to join the pennsylvania delegation. first in four years, and on the republican side, there might be the first korean-american elected out of california. we're seeing in this election, mid-term year, very much a sense of the demographic trends sweeping the entire nation that will essential reshape the house of representatives next year. >> seems like a bit of a diverse list there, to say the least. i know axios has polling on how americans see president trump the hammering of u.s. allies, all the european bashes that's

taken place. what does it show? >> this week we asked about foreign relations. whether they think president trump's actions abroad are preventing countries from pushing us around or damaging potential alliances. found majority of americans think trump is going too far. 56%, doing too much damaging alliances. breaks these into voting groups, splits amongst party lines. african-american women, young people, never hillary independents voted for trump because they voted against hillary clinton last year support of president and his strongest voting base overwhelmingly think the president is doing the right thing. look for both sides to continue to play into base voters in the mid-term elections. and also making news, a "best" mishtive. outspoken. time and time again what's comes

up, hypocrisy in all of this. look at the president's twitter feed showing you the opposite direction she's going. and planning of a solo trip to africa just announced as well. how does that come into play? doing favorably when it comes to somebody in the white house? >> setting her own agenda on issues. the frisch trip, a big step for her. cyberbullying an interest split-screen moment holding an event at the white house as the president attacks critics on twitter but hasn't been shy starting her on role. saw it with immigration. went to the border to visit families, children detayed. like many first ladies, look for first lady trump to chart her on course. and it's early in the week. what are the things you're tracking for the week ahead? >> one thing, building up to the supreme court confirmation hearing. those start the week after labor

day. access to documents over kavanaugh's record and in former administrations. and continuing to fight the heat-up as democrats look to stop the freight train of a nomination. >> thank you. we know what we'll be doing later on. reading ec ining axios a.m. the newsletter is at signup.axios.com. that does it for us on this tuesday morning. "morning joe," everyone, starts right now. i'm honored to hope this important summit on cyberbullying previous. >> she tweeted that again this morning, which hun morning. >> the safe and responsible use of social media. >> bruce ohr. >> but can be distractive and harmful when used incorrectly. >> he's been venting his frustration in a series of ten tweets over the last 24 hours. >> conduct t