♪ trying to flip the how is this fall, former president barack obama hits the campaign trail and makes the case against his successor, donald trump. plus, george papadopoulos speaks out after being sentenced to 14 days in jail and president trump continues to search for the anonymous writer of the "new york times" op ed. ♪ good morning, everyone. former president barack obama

continued his foray back into the political scene this weekend. once again, the case being made against the man now holding his old job, president trump. the former president was on the campaign trail in california on saturday, working to rally voters as democrats make plays for seven competitive congressional district there s . obama was working to turn out the vote number november rather than directly attacking the trump administration. still, the former president took a number of veiled shots at his successor. >> we're in a challenging moment, because when you look at the arc of american history, there's always been a push and pull between those who want to go forward and those who want to look back, between those who want to divide and those who are seeking to bring people

together, between those who promote politics of hope and those who exploit politics of fear. it's always tempting for politicians for their own gain and for people in power to try to see if they can divide people, scapegoat folks, turn them on each other, because when that happens, you get gridlock and government doesn't work and people get cynical and they decide not to participate. >> despite the former president's latest rebukes, one of his comments from his speech in illinois on friday appears to have gotten under president trump's skin. during that speech mr. obama reminded the crowd that the economic success mr. trump likes to claim credit for actually began under his watch. >> by the time i left office,

household income was near its all time high and the uninsured rate had hit an all time low and wages were rising and poverty rates were falling. i mention all this just so when you hear how great the economy is doing right now, let's just remember when this recovery started. >> following that comment, president trump fired off a number of tweets on the economy over the weekend, including one siting comments from former house oversight jason chaffetz. president trump is delivering the american dream. but looking at one of the most closely watched economic indicators, job creation, it appears president obama has the advantage over president trump. so far this year an average of 206,000 jobs have been added per month under trump, an uptick from last year's average of

182,000. but during president obama's second term, he added an average of 250,000 jobs per month in his final three years. the white house continues its search for the eamon nous wriaa of last week's op ed in the "new york times." he wants attorney general sessions to investigate, suggesting the op ed amounts to treason. >> do you think jeff sessions could be investigating who the author of the op ed piece was? >> i would say jeff should be investigating who the author of that piece was, because i really believe it's national security. >> you said last night it's treason. are you serious about that? >> we're going to take a look at what he had, what he gave, what he's talking about, also where he is right now. >> what is it in the op ed that

would make it treason? >> what makes you think the -- how are we secure, chuck, that the four corners of any op ed are all that somebody who doesn't have the guts and the courage to come out and put their name to that op ed, how do we know they haven't promised other things? how do we know they're not taking other documents? >> the president of the united states wants the attorney general to investigate. what law was broken here that the attorney general need to investigate? >> it depends. there could be and there could not be. so you don't know that and i don't know that. >> so he has ordered the attorney general -- >> nobody's investigating an op ed. >> has he ordered the investigation of who wrote this op ed? >> i won't talk about that. he said he thinks we should found out who this person is. >> members of the trump administration continue to deny involvement in the writing of the op ed. mike pence says he's confident it wasn't anyone on his staff.

>> let me be very clear. i'm 100% confident that no one on the vice president's staff was involved in this anonymous editorial. >> you asked them? >> you know, honestly, i don't have to ask them, because i know them, i know their character, i know their dedication. i am absolutely confident that no one on the vice president's staff had anything to do with this. >> so nikki haley has written her own op ed, slamming the anonymous piece in the "new york times." she writes, when there is disagreement, there is a right way and a wrong way to address it. i pick up the phone and call him or meet with him in person. as a former governor, i find it chilling to imagine that a high ranking member of my team would secretly try to thwart my agenda. that is not the american way. it is fundamentally disloyal. former trump campaign advisor

george papadopoulos says the campaign was fully aware of his efforts to arrange a meeting between president trump and vladimir putin during the 2016 presidential campaign. >> did anyone discourage you from pursuing that possible summit between trump and putin? >> as far as i remember, after that meeting on march 31st, i actively sought to leverage my contacts with the professor to host a meeting. the campaign was fully aware of what i was doing, including corey lewandowski. i think actually preceding the meeting, sam clovis was telling me excellent work while i was actively discussing with the group and sam that i was talking with this person that could potentially organize a meeting for us with putin. >> papadopoulos contradicted jeff session's testimony to congress last year when he was asked about that potential meeting. >> there are reports that you

shut george down when he p proposed that meeting with putin. is this correct, yes or no? >> yes. i pushed back. >> yes. your answer is yes. >> yes. >> the attorney general says he pushed back. is he telling the truth? >> all i can say is this was a meeting from about two years ago. my recollection differs from jeff sessions'. >> the one-time foreign policy advisor to trump was sentenced on friday to 14 days in jail as part of robert mueller's russia probe. when asked if he believes the investigation will show collusion, he had this to say. >> do you think when the entire mueller investigation is finished that they will demonstrate that there was collusion between the trump campaign, between trump advisors and the russians? >> you know, i have no idea. all i can say is that my

testimony might have helped move something toward that, but i have no idea. >> joining me now from washington, d.c., jeff mason. great to have you with us bright and early on this monday morning. i should note that jeff was the former president of the white house correspondent's association, a true washington expert. jeff, if true, how significant are these claims that jeff sessions was enthusiastic about trump meeting with vladimir putin ahead of the 2016 election? does that change the dynamic at all of what we've known about this story? >> it's significant because it contradicts the testimony that attorney general sessions gave about that meeting to congress. so, yes, if in fact that is the case, then that would put a whole new light on sessions' role during the campaign. as i said, it would contradict what he has said already to

lawmakers. we'll see. i'm sure given the chance to comment on that again, attorney general sessions will stick to what he has said before. it also comes at a pretty complicated relationship between the attorney general and the president. >> it comes against the time with the midterms somewhat in limbo in the sense that if democrats retake the house, we can see all these investigations kicked up again and subpoenas. let me ask you about the 14-day jail sentencing for george papadopoulos. is it really a slam dunk for mueller's investigation going forward? >> well, the judge made clear that for similar offenses that a regular sentence for that could be anywhere between probation and six months in jail. he said that papadopoulos deserved more than just probation, but also deserved credit for having cooperated. the fact that he got more than just probation was something.

>> what do you think of the fact that papadopoulos is talking publicly and doing media now? >> it's interesting that he's doing that. certainly an attempt, it seems like on his side, to sort of shape the narrative now that that sentencing has come down and perhaps to continue to stay relevant in some way in the public discourse about this issue. still ahead, a police officer in dallas arrested after fatally shooting a man in an apartment she thought was her. plus a controversial ending for serena williams during the u.s. open final. those stories and a check on weather when we come back. ♪

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officer who entered an apartment she thought was her own and fatally shot the resident inside. amber guyger was arrested last night and released on $300,000 bail. questions swirl as to whether or not she will actually be charged. >> reporter: dallas police identifying one of their own who killed an unarmed man in his apartment. >> right now there are more questions than we have answers. >> reporter: police say amber guyger, a four-year veteran now on administrative leave, finished her shift thursday night and headed home, but she went to the wrong floor and the wrong apartment. the officer, who's white, told investigators she thought botham jean thinking he was an intruder and then called 911. dallas police had initially said they would ask for a warrant for guyger's arrest on manslaughter charges, but were told to hold off by the texas rangers, which

is now heading the investigation. shot dead, 26-year-old botham jean, a harding university graduate. >> my harding experience has really inspired me to want to serve. >> reporter: who ran for student body president. an associate of pricewaterhou pricewaterhousecoopers. and according to his minister, a church leader. >> he would often say to me, i want to do more. >> reporter: jessica berry taught bible study with jean. the friends spoke daily. >> i feel lost and empty. >> reporter: a community grieving with some saying race played a factor in the fatal shooting. >> he was sitting at home and his skin color was still enough for him to get shot at. >> reporter: a call for action as jean's mother searches for answers. >> we are christians, we forgive. but i need to look into her eyes and ask her why she did that to my son.

>> absolutely heartbreaking story there. what a tragic loss for that family. let's switch gears and get a quick check on your weather. a lot of rain out there. >> we had a drenching rains over the weekend. we're going to see drenching rains again in the northeast, but we are also at peak season. hurricane florence, hurricane helene and hurricane isaac. it's going to be a very serious, very interesting week. if you live along the southeastern united states, we have four days to prepare for this storm. this is as of the latest advisory about 15 minutes ago, a category 2 storm, so it does continue to strengthen. it's in the right environment, warm waters, low wind shear. that's going to help to blossom that storm.

105 miles an hour winds, that's a strong category 2 storm. by tuesday, 140 miles an hour winds, that is a category 4 storm, a major storm. that is what we expect as it heads toward the southeast coast. thursday into friday we are looking at a major storm hitting the southeast coast. this could be catastrophic. we're going to continue to watch this over the next four days. still ahead, one of the nfl's best is carted off the field only to make a triumphant return. all the highlights for the first sunday of the nfl season next in sports. first man to walk on the moon. it'll be a hell of a ride. it's a job so difficult, we're gonna have to start from scratch. we need to fail down here so we don't fail up there. this isn't just another trip, neil. we have serious problems. do you think you're coming back? five...

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yesterday, but they didn't exactly win either. doing it instead with a 21-21 tie against the pittsburgh steelers after pittsburgh blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and missed a game winning field goal in overtime. anthem protests continued yesterday, but only in miami where dolphins wide receivers stills and wilson kneeled during the sounding of the star spang led banner. colin kaepernick called the miami players his brothers. the league will not implement a new national anthem policy this seas season. the day culminated in a matchup between the bears and the packers. to green bay and a big scare for the packers. trailing chicago 10-0 in the second quarter when star quarterback aaron rodgers is sacked, left writhing in pain with an apparent knee injury. he has to be carted off the

field. the bears continue to pad their head in the first half, holding the packers scoreless without aaron rodgers in the back field. rodgers makes a return in the third with the bears up 20-0. he leads green bay to an improbable comeback, tossing three touchdown passes in the second half alone. 24-23 victory in green bay's opener. what a comeback. turning now to the u.s. open tennis, novak djokovic collected his 14th grand slam title in the men's final, his second consecutive major after winning wimbledon just two months ago. the drama came a day before in the women's final that saw osaka crowned champion over williams. the trouble for williams began early in the second set when

chair umpire carlos ramos gave williams a violation for receiving coaching, which is not allowed during any grand slam matches. >> he's giving me a thumbs up. it's not coaching. i don't cheat to win. i'd rather lose. >> williams also demanded an apology from the chair umpire. ultimately osaka won in straight sets, becoming the first japanese player to take home a major singles title. still ahead, the cbs network says its chairman and ceo les moonves is out after several new reports of sexual misconduct emerged. also this morning at least one top trump official is predicting a loss come november for texas senator ted cruz. i don't keep track of regrets.

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♪ welcome back, everyone. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. president trump set to return to the campaign trial this week, looking to energize republicans with less than two weeks until elections. it comes as the administration is in crisis mode following that scathing "new york times" op ed and bob woodward's new book, both hitting last week. jeff bennett has more. >> reporter: this morning

president trump is on the defensive across multiple fronts. white house staffers are still trying to do damage control over bob woodward's latest book, which paints a picture of chaos in the west wing. then there's the anonymous op ed in the "new york times" serving up a scathing indictment of president trump. both accounts paint a picture of a president who is unprepared, uninformed and unprincipled, all of that overshadowing what the white house would rather be talking about. that's the tlohriving economy a supreme court pick brett kavanaugh. the hope is that it's going to help motivate, help energize trump voters and help republicans keep control of congress come november. in the wake of last week's "new york times" op ed written by an anonymous senior administration official, republican senator ben sass says it is the latest in a series of

events that shows the trump white house has become the center of creating too much drama. >> i don't have any desire to beat the president up, but it's pretty clear that this white house is a reality show. the drama of omarosa and cohen and manafort and the woodward quotes and these op eds, what you'd like is the president to not worry so much about the short-term of staffering b ista. pull us together, help us deliberate about where we should go. right now it feels like there's way too much drama every day and that distracts us from the longer term stuff. >> sass also addressed whether he is considering leaving the republican party and becoming an independent. >> i think i've been saying for three years that i conceive of myself as an independent conservative who caucuses with the republicans. >> why stay a republican? and when's the last time you

thought about becoming an independent? >> i probably think about it every morning when i wake up. i'm committed to the party of lincoln and reagan as long as there's a chance to reform it. >> sass sparked the speculation after responding to a tweet from an iowa woman last week who asked if the senator would consider switching to no party. the republican tweeted back, yep, regularly consider it. florida congressman ron desantos spoke on four separate occasions at racially charged freedom center conferences, this according to new reporting from the "washington post." past speakers have included alt right provocateurs including steve bannon, milo yiannopoulos. he has decried white oppression

and espoused anti-muslim views. he immediately stepped into controversy after using racially tinged language to describe his opponent democrat andrew gillam who would become florida's first black governor if elected. desantis told the "washington post" he appreciates those who support his efforts and he is happy to be judged on his record. he does not buy into this six degrees of kevin bacon notion that he is responsible for the views and speeches of others. in three of the four speeches reviewed by the "washington post," desantis did not explicitly comment on race. mick mulvaney warned that the party was battling serious vulnerabilities in the upcoming midterms. according to the "new york

times" mulvaney raised the prospect that senator ted cruz of texas could lose his reelection bid because he's not seen as likable enough. mulvaney conceded that president trump's personal unpopularity was a problem for the party, but he predicted it would not be a decisive factor for most voters. he also alluded to mr. cruz as a lawmaker who might lack the charm to win a contested race this year. he said there's a very real possibility we will win a race for senate in florida and lose a race in texas. i don't think it's likely but it's a possibility. how likable is a candidate? well, that still counts. senator cruz waved off mulvaney as, quote,some political guy in washington. even senator cruz's former spokesman says it's possible that cruz could lose to beto

o'rourke. >> it seems as though ted cruz might actually lose this race. >> it's possible. again, you look at texas and you say it's a red state. >> it's a democratic pipe dream, never going to happen. >> it's never going to happen. but beto o'rourke has out fund raised ted two to one. he doesn't take pac money. >> let's talk a little bit about the politics. ronna mcdaniel is echoing mulvaney's sentiments, saying the chances are really 50-50. should republicans be worried that some of their elected officials are openly skeptical about the future of the party? it's certainly not helping their cause. >> i think some republicans probably view that as a reality check because of the enthusiasm that the democrats have seen. that doesn't mean there isn't

enthusiasm on the republican side, but there are historical factors playing here and there are certainly the president's poll numbers, which director mulvaney referred to in his speech as well. the president is not popular in many parts of the country, and that undoubtedly will have an effect in some cases on some of these races. that said, his base loves him and the president is going to be spending a lot of time on the campaign trail in the coming months, including in texas. you were just referring to the ted cruz race. expect to see the president working very hard to ensure that cruz stays in the senate. >> let's go back and talk about ben sass. obviously all of this is happening at the time that he is starting to question his own future within the republican party. he's been a little more outspoken calling it a reality show presidency. what's contributing to the president's issue in terms of holding his party together?

and is ben sass now the person who will be willing to speak out against the president in the likes of a bob corker and a jeff flake, who we should know are actually leaving at the end of their terms. >> that's the difference. their leaving has given them a little more freedom to be critical of the president. democrats including president obama very recently have been questioning whether republicans in congress will hold president trump to account. as some republicans perhaps are seeing that their own political fortunes are threatened, perhaps we'll see more of that. this criticism is not usual, though. it's not something we've seen a lot of from republicans in congress, because they've been focused more on the tax cuts and other things they feel president trump has done successfully. that said, the popularity issue is a big issue, as is the chaos that we continue to see around the president as sort of manifested in the last week with the op ed in the "new york times" and with bob woodward's

book. >> we constantly hear from republicans behind closed doors that it's not worth the headache to take on the president publicly. les moonves has stepped down as ceo and chairman of cbs amid an onslaught of sexual harassment allegations. moonves is out after multiple claims surfaced that stem from the 1980s to the early 2000s. in july the new yorker ran a piece which detailed six women's misconduct allegations. on sunday amid talks that moonves was negotiating a hefty break from cbs, the allegations multiplied. an additional six women came forward with their stories of sexual must conduisconduct. he said untrue allegations from

decades ago are now being made against me that are not consistent with who i am. i am deeply saddened to be leaving the company. the severance package is still in flux. cbs's statement says that moonves and the company will immediately donate $20 million to one or more organizations that support the me too movement. the rest of his payout will be put on hold barring the result of the company's ongoing external investigation. still ahead, the young man who rose to internet fame over his series of reactionary faces at a trump rally is speaking out. what he says led to his exaggerated expressions at the event. this is important for people with asthma.

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welcome back, everyone. hurricane florence is tracking toward the east coast. officials haare warning residen to prepare. the national weather service predicts it will become a powerful category 4 storm before making land on thursday. south carolina, north carolina, virginia have already declared a state of emergency. residents are advised to continue their preparations for a major hurricane landfall and to have a plan in place should they be required to evacuate. with all of that happening, let's get a check now on your weather with michelle grossman. you were describing this as a catastrophic weather event. >> where it stands now, that's the potential. you have four days to prepare if you live anywhere along the southeast coast. right now, already a category 2 storm. it's strengthening by the minute. it really doesn't have any ingredients that it's going to run into that will weaken it, so

we do expect it to strengthen over the next several days. right now 105 miles an hour winds. we expect it cto be a category storm later this afternoon. by wednesday a category 4 storm. you can see it kind of stays on that trajectory, doesn't weaken at all, actually strengthens, has low wind shear. it's in very warm waters. that's going to help to strengthen it. we have steering mechanisms, an area of high pressure that will help to steer it to the southeast coast. what's going to happen that's going to make matters worse, we have that high in place that's going to block it from moving. it's going to move very slow and bring drenching rains, 10 up to 20 inches of rain in some spots. this is the rainfall potential. again, anywhere from 10-20 from virginia down to the southeast coast even into the mid

atlantic. >> if you live in the carolinas, definitely take those warnings seriously. switching gears now, the young man who found himself at the center of the internet's attention for his string of eye-catching facial expressions at president trump's rally last week is finally speaking out. 17-year-old tyler linfesty is a senior at billings west high school in montana. you may remember him as the plaid shirt guy. he says he was planning to attend the rally with friends when he got an e-mail the morning of the event saying he had been selected for vip status allowing him a meet and greet with the president. it also placed him right behind trump at the rally. and not long after the president began speaking at the end, social media noticed a number of linfesty's confused facial expressee expressio expressions. eventually a woman makes her way over to him and his friend and

then he exits the vip area. he says he and his friends were asked to leave by people they believe were trump campaign staffers. >> before the rally started, they told us that we want you to be enthusiastic, smiling, clapping, cheering. but i couldn't do that because i didn't agree. i wasn't going to change my views. i had to be honest to myself during that rally. so i wasn't going to clap or cheer for something that i personally didn't agree with. i wasn't going to change my political views just to please the people at the rally. >> all right. linfesty says after he left the stage, he was escorted to a back room where none other than the secret service and the police were waiting to talk to him. he says after about ten minutes with the officers he was let go and told to leave, saying he wasn't mistreated by them. still ahead the founder of alibaba looks to down play whispers of his retirement. plus, apple finds itself in the sie sites of president trump.

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i'm trying to do some homework here. so they're ready for anything. welcome back, everyone. let's turn to business. president trump spent the weekend tweeting at tariffs, urging two major u.s. companies to get on board with his trade policies, this after threatening china with another round of punishing tariffs.

what more can you tell us about this ongoing trade war? >> essentially apple and ford on saturday. the president went after applea saying they expect the next load of chinese import tariffs $200 billion to impact the price of its goods in the u.s., that's things like bluetooth earbuds, apple watch, laptop cases even some of their chargers. trump's tweet urged the company to start manufactured in the united states and start preparing production facilities now. tim cook has been launching a bit of an offensive against trump, that's why this tweet was not as aggressive as other companies have experienced. one company that has been at the broadside of a trump tweet, on sunday the president claiming he had forced ford, the car company to build the ford focus in america where it would avoid tariffs on chinese-built vehicles. what ford had said is that they dropped plans to ship the model from china to america, after

that tweet came out on sunday they clarified they would no longer look to sell the model in the u.s. at all since they had not expected huge sales numbers and to build it in the u.s. would not be profitable anyway. >> the devil is always in the details sometimes overlooked by the president. i want to ask you about jack ma, one of the wealthiest people in the world, china's e-commerce pioneer announced that he's planning on stepping down as chairman of alibaba next year. what does that mean for the company and for e-commerce in china this general? >> reporter: well, for the company it means that in a year's time exactly which will be 20 years since the firm was founded by jack ma, that dan zing one of his principal proteges will take over at chairman, he is currently the ceo. he's 46, ma, i think, is 54, he is one of the richest men in the world, certainly the richest men in china. he says he still has, quote, dreams to pursue with a net worth of $40 billion. that will help make those dreams

come true you might imagine. >> you have a lot of dreams to pursue, right? >> absolutely. >> all right. thanks. coming up, nicholas johnson has a look at this morning's one big thing. coming up on "morning joe" trump officials keep up the denials over that scathing "new york times" op-ed, the latest on the fallout over the piece as administration members make their rounds on the sunday shows to do damage control. this as the president calls on his attorney general to take action over that op-ed, suggesting it amounts to treason. democratic senators chris coons and joe manchin both join the conversation to weigh in on that and much more. "morning joe" moments away. sometimes, the pressures of today's world can make it tough

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but now with keytruda, we have hope. (avo) living longer is possible. it's tru. keytruda, from merck. ask your doctor about keytruda. welcome back. joining us now from washington, d.c. with a look at axios a.m. great to have you with us. what is the one big thing you guys are watching. >> the one big thing today is the coming blue tsunami. we've been describing the midterm elections like a blue

wave but the more people we talk to and the more data points we see make it seem like it could be worse news for republicans. consistently we've said democrats look like they're in good shape to take the house, but there's red warning lights flashing for republicans in the senate and state races up and down the ballot. earlier on the program you reported about some of the challenges republicans are having in the senate. one republican operative we spoke to described this year as similar to the 2010 midterms for democrats, that's when the tea party wave swept democrats out of power, that's what it's looking like for republicans this year. >> one of the things we reported on earlier was mick mulvaney talking about the president's unpopularity, if you will, being a potential nonfactor. he would argue it's not going to effect voters. how much of a factor is president trump in this potential blue wave in november? what are you guys hearing? >> i think that's a really big question. the president is already hitting the campaign trail, he was in montana last week, i think mississippi this week. those are pretty solid republican states, i think the president's approach is to rile up the base on issues that are

important to them, things like the wall and immigration, but what the polling shows is that he doesn't do that well among independents, the real question is where do these middle of the road voters come out. midterms are typically elections when the base shows up on both sides, it's not a high turnout, but if the independents come out they definitely break against the president so the president's unpop later amongst them could drag down republican candidates. >> let's switch gears and talk about two of the big headlines from last week, the white house is continuing to do damage control over the bob woodward book "fear" he also had a lot of officials going out to talk about the anonymous "new york times" op-ed. what kind of tactics could with he see this week to try to downplay some of the book's claims. >> this book isn't even out yet and has been dominating the conversation for the last week. the white house has a pdf of it as they're trying to figure out who were the biggest leakers to bob woodward. the white house has settled it's probably gary cohen and rob porter as the two people

woodward spoke to the most. look for possibility of the white house going after them more publicly, even the president himself possibly attacking their credibility. >> i know you have new reporting on the successor to white house counsel don mcgahn. what are your sources telling you as to who is likely to replace don. >> this is probably the biggest personnel pick trump has to make with the mueller investigation and possible democratic probes if they win the house. the leading candidate is a current fannie mae executive who is -- who we think is the top of the president's list. what the president is looking for right now really is someone who is loyal and will go on television. those are the two things the president values the most. current counsel who is on his way out, don mcgahn was loyal to the president but wouldn't be an attack dog on television. the president loves what rudy giuliani his personal lawyer does. so i think that's what he's focusing in on. this is something the president hasn't decided on yet, but this is a white house counsel that is severely understaffed, a lot of

the deputies have been leaving so look for the president to make decisions on that soon. >> legal experts over at fox news might get the call. you, too, can sign up for the newsletter by going to sign up.axios.com. i'm ayman mohyeldin, "morning joe," everyone, starts right now. we are americans, we're supposed to stand up to bullies. not follow them. we're supposed to stand up to discrimination. and we're sure as heck supposed to stand up clearly and unequivocally to nazi sympathizers. how hard can that be? saying that nazis are bad?

>> it's a good question. former president obama on friday tossing out that unwritten rule that former presidents should not lash out against their predecessors but it's a different time, joe, and a very different place that we're in. good morning, everyone, it's monday, september 10th. with us we have political writer for "the new york times" nick confess sorry, professor at princeton university eddie glover, jr. the executive producer of "the circuit" on show time mark mick kinnen is with us and heidi priz blah. we will get more on president obama in just a moment, joe, but the other kind of big sports story we're covering this morning and i'm bringing it up because i found it to be fascinating. serena, can you believe it? >> it was a fascinating way to end a u.s. open and