kentucky wrong in the first one. that's our broadcast for tonight, thank you for being with us. and good night from nbc headquarters in new york. refusing to release president trump's tax returns treasury secretary steve mnuchkin is defying request from state democrats. hundreds of federal prosecutors weigh in on the mueller report arguing donald trump would have been charged with obstruction of justice if he were not president. the white house ratchets up the trade fight. the chinese trade delegation is expected to arrive in washington this week as president trump's tariff threat rattles markets. good morning, everybody. it is tuesday, may 7th.

i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside jeff bennett who is in for ayman mohyeldin. let's start with treasury secretary steve mnuchkin rejecting a request from house democrats. this is the third time he's failed to meet a congressional deadline to hand in documents raising stakes for a legal battle between congress and the administration. another legal battle. in a letter to house ways and means chairman, mnuchkin said the committee's request lacks a legislative purpose. citing guidance from the justice department, mnuchkin went on to say, out of respect for the deadlines previously set by the committee and consistent with our commitment to a prompt response i'm informing you now that the department may not lawfully fulfill the committee's request. he added the doj would publish a legal opinion on the issue soon. the chairman respond in a statement saying he would consult with counsel and determine the appropriate

response. the justice department appears to be making another counter offer to the house judiciary committee after refusing to turn over another report. will bill barr be held in condemocratic. jerrold nadler said his staff will meet with justice department officials today after postponing the contempt vote. the committee's draft report for holding barr in contempt outlines the extent of their proceedings. the investigation is being under taken pursuant to the full power of the kmeeft that is to include articles of impeachment of the president or any other official. >> new york's attorney general has filed suit over the treasury department for failure to respond to a request. latisha james along with the new

jersey's a.g. made the move in a bid to get the disclosure requirements for certain tax exempt group. the rule change was pushed forward by koch industries, nra and other major political organizations. yams said she needs to adequately oversee nonprofit organizations in her state. the trump administration and a number of congressional republicans have argued the guidance helps to protect privacy and prevent taxpayers from being targeted for their political beliefs. congressional democrats have criticized the guidance saying it makes it easier for foreign governments to influence american politics through dark money groups. 500 former federal prosecutors are making their case that president trump would have been indicted for obstruction of justice in special counsel robert mueller's

russian probe if he didn't hold the country's highest office. it was signed by ex-prosecutors who signed under both republican and democratic administrations including at least 35 who have served in the justice department under trump. the document offers a rebuttal to attorney general bill barr's determination that the evidence mueller uncovered in his two year investigation was not such into establish that trump committed a crime. now barr defended that determination last week during his testimony before the senate judiciary committee. >> i didn't exonerate. i said that we did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to establish an obstruction, an offense which is the job of the justice department. and the job of the justice department is now over. >> now mueller declined to say whether trump should have been charged. he cited a justice department legal opinion that sitting presidents cannot be indicted along with concerns about the fairness of accusing someone for whom there can be no court

proceeding. in their letter the group of prosecutors argue each of us believes that the conduct of president trump described in mueller's report would in the case of any other person not covered in the office of legal policy against indicting a sitting president would be indicted fob obstruction of justice. these are not matters of close professional judgment. there are potential defenses or arguments that could be raised in response to an indictment of the nature we describe here. but to look at these facts and to say a prosecutor could not probably sustain a conviction for obstruction of justice, the standards set out in fed prosecution runs counter to logic and our experience. >> joining us is danny cevallos. talk about how big this is. 500 former federal prosecutors basically signing on to the fact that they believe the president obstructed justice here. does this have any legal recourse, any legal impact?

>> it shows how human a process prosecution is. you can have such desperate believes. this letter is compelling in that it lays out the argument had a different attorney general, one of these 400 prosecutors looked at the same evidence and concluded that this was obstruction. it takes away the arguments that president trump had a unique article ii power as the only human in the world who has that article ii power and looks at things like witness intimidation, which it really done matter that the president was the president. if he was, in fact, intimidating witnesses or trying to suggest ways for them to lie or give testimony that's favorable to the president. >> let's talk about these tax returns because written in the tax code and i've read it, it makes clear that the irs has to turn over the tax returns of any

u.s. taxpayer to include the president if the house ways and means committee requests it. here you have the committee requesting it and now the treasury department, steven mnuchkin is trying to slow walk the process. >> the law is on the committee's side. the statute is very clear. it uses the word shall. upon a written request the treasury department shall turn over the records including tax returns. that doesn't mean the committee can release them publicly. now on the other hand, the treasury department is going to argue that congress has no legitimate legislative purpose for these returns. >> but the tax code doesn't suggest you need any legislative purpose. you can request the tax returns of any u.s. citizen. >> you got it. the argument against releasing them is the structural constitutional one. it's a general creative argument that in this particular situation congress needs a legitimate legislative purpose.

but in this case you have a specific statute that says thou shalt turn over those returns. this argument by the treasury is a general one, a constitutional one, but it might not override the specificity in that federal statute. >> what happens now? it seems as the trump administration is punting everything. everything will be held up in the court system. how long does this go on? at what point do they have to abide by subpoenas. at what point does trump administration have to turn over president trump's tax returns. will this be a never ending fight that will lead into 2020. >> now you're seizing on congress' right to obtain the information and whether it can enforce the right. that's the problem with congressional subpoena. congress requires then of at least one of the other branches to enforce its subpoenas. if it wants to hold somebody in criminal contempt it needs the doj to present that case to a

grand jury. it needs a court to enforce a civil contempt proceeding. congress' subpoena power may just be a paper tiger. it was a wild ride for the stock market yesterday. the dow jones, s&p and nasdaq took a massive divisive at the open following president trump's tariff threat aimed at china before recovering to finish at last week's close to view trump's threats more as negotiation tactics. the change in fortunes was accelerated after reports stated that the chinese trade delegation is still traveling to the u.s. for continued talks this week. however, it is apparently smaller than the 100 person delegation originally planned. meanwhile u.s. trade representative robert lighthizer said yesterday trump's tariff threat came due to china reneging on prior commitments

and seeking changes. treasury secretary steve mnuchkin adds while the trade deal is 5090% complete those changes have the potential to change the deal dramatically. >> micah johnson has reported to prison. he'll serve a three year sentence after pleading guilty to a number of charges including lying to congress, tax evasion and campaign finance violations. cameras caught him reporting to the federal prison in otisville, new york yesterday. before arriving there cohen briefly spoke to reporters. >> i hope that when i rejoin my family, and friends, that the country will be in a place without xenophobia, injustice and lies at the helm of our country. there still remain much to be told. and i look forward to the day that i can share the truth and thank you all very much. >> former contractor for

president trump's inaugural committee who also served as former adviser to first lady melania trump are disputing the account of her departure. she's jecting claims from officials she was dismissed. she has specifically taken issues that she was forced out because she had profited excessively in her role in organizing inaugural events. she gave an account to what happened to the "new york times". she served as an unpaid adviser to the first lady after the inauguration. she said in a statement was i fired? no. die personally receive $26 million? no. was i thrown under the bus? yes. her lawyer recently informed officials she has been cooperating since last fall with prosecutors in manhattan investigating the committee's spending and fundraising. still ahead new developments in the investigation to a fiery

russian plane crash. black box, have been recovered and authorities are searching for a cause. it's deadline decade for don mcgahn to turn over documents to the house judiciary committee. we'll run through everything democrats have requested. plus we'll have a check of the weather coming up next. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis

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♪ ♪ beyond work and life... who else could he be? there is the moment. beyond technology... there is human ingenuity. ♪ ♪ every day, comcast business is helping businesses go beyond the expected, to do the extraordinary. take your business beyond. welcome back. russian officials say the black box flight recorders of a passenger jet that made a fiery emergency landing in a moscow airport on sunday had been recovered. investigators tried to determine the cause of the disaster are looking into three main possibilities. insufficient pilot qualifications, equipment failure and weather. 41 people were killed after the rear are of the plane burst into flames as it bounced off the tarmac. u.s. state department has confirmed one american is among the dead. nearly 1 million of the estimated 8 million plant and animal species on earth are at

risk of extinction, many within decades. more than 450 scientists and researchers from 50 countries collaborataed on the study. the u.n. is calling it the most accurate and comprehensive review of human cause damage on the planet and unprecedented warning among its finding global plastic pollution has increased 10 fold since 1980 while urban areas have doubled. 75% of land environment and 66% of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions. while some 300 to 400 million tons of industrial waste has been dumped into the world's water systems. between 100 million and 300 million people now face increased risk of floods and hurricanes because of loss of coastal habitats and other

environmental factors. unbelievable numbers there. let's get a check of your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> those numbers -- >> not a pretty picture. >> happy we're here now and maybe we can find solutions to make it better. we have a multiday severe weather outbreak. yesterday only three tornadoes reported. didn't hit anything. today it's going to be one of those days that we're going get some tornadoes. a few will be big. tons of storm chasers in west texas. this area is flat. great visibility. storm chasers like to be. they get great views of these things. let's hope today they miss these towns and out over the open fields. we have a moderate risk, this area of red near childress, texas. all through west texas today is the areas of greatest concern. 5 million people. multi-day event. we get to the population centers for tomorrow.

33 million in a slight risk orien hansed risk and that does include areas of waco, austin, shreveport, dallas and little rock and springfield. by slight frequency and numbers of storms, there won't be as concentrated in areas of yellow or orange so greater concentration of the severe storms. by thursday we still are watching areas from louisiana to memphis to little rock. another 7 million people. by friday we're not talking severe storms any more, we're talking rain storm heading to the east coast. on we did have strong storms in area of kansas. numerous areas are dealing with significant water issue. three inches of rain in many spots. couple of spots that do have flash flood warnings from heavy rainfall overnight, 5 million people at risk. we did have one confirmed tornado in lincoln, nebraska. take a look at this time lapse video. look how ominous the sky is.

eventually that system did spin up a tornado. so, yep, one of those days. it's may. we expect this stuff to happen like this. we hope we get through it without ever taking any lives. >> i've never seen a tornado coming in real-time but is that normally how it is where there's this darkness and then the sun right next to it? >> sometimes the tornadoes actually come up where they are rain-wrapped. you can't see them they are obscure. those are dangerous ones to chase. back left of the storm in a clearing you can get the tornadoes. those are the ones storm chasers shows us the great pictures. new poll says former vice president joe biden continues to dominate the democratic presidential field during his second week as a candidate. morning consult shows biden with 40%. bernie sanders is down three points. and elizabeth warren and kamala harris are in third and fourth

place with 8% and 7% each. but drops two points fifth place with 6% and beto o'rourke at 5% with cory booker at 3%. the massachusetts republican party has approved a new winner take all delegate plan in an apparent effort to protect frump perimeter challenger such as former massachusetts governor. under the new rule all of the party's delegates will be awarded to the candidate who clears 50% of the vote in the state presidential primary. the rule which was approved last week will not apply to local or state elections and nonbinding for future state committees. weld already face an uphill battle as his anti-corruption campaign focus on independent voters, suburban women and millennials. if the rule was replicated in other states, he would be essentially stonewalled at the republican national convention next summer. still ahead, after winning

the masters and a major come back tiger woods has something else he can be proud of. prince harry and meghan markle welcome their first baby and well wishes are pouring in. we're back in a moment. we're back in a moment

thanks for coming. no problem. -you're welcome. this is the durabed of the all new chevy silverado. it looks real sturdy. -the bed is huge. it has available led cargo area lighting. lights up the entire bed. it even offers a built in 120 volt outlet. wow. plug that in for me. whoa! -holy smokes! -oh wow! and the all new silverado has more trim levels than any other pickup. whoa! oh wow! -very cool. there's something for all of us. absolutely. it's time to upgrade. (laughter) welcome back, everybody. disqualified first place finisher at the kentucky derby maximum security will not run in the preakness on may 18th. the horse's co-owners announced

the decision. the derby winner was denied by the horse racing commission telling the associated press there's really no need not having an opportunity to run for triple crown to run a horseback in two weeks. along with 81 pga victories including 15 major championships, golfer tiger woods can add the presidential medal of freedom to his trophy case as he was honored by president trump in a rose garden ceremony at the white house yesterday. following a nearly 15 minute long introduction in which trump discussed woods a global symbol of american excel lens, he fought back tears as he thanked his family and supporters. >> you see the good and bad, the highs and loss and i would not be in this position without all of your help. in '97, yes i won the masters and i was there to -- i ended up hugging my dad and my mom. my dad is no longer here but my mom is here.

i love you mom. thank you. >> incredible emotional day for him yesterday. we have a new little prince, everybody. it's not ours. joining britain's royal family prince harry and meghan markle announce yesterday they welcome their first child a baby boy. prince harry who was by his wife's side during the birth excitedly shared the news with reporters outside of his home in windsor. >> baby is doing incredibly well. the most amazing experience i can ever possibly imagine. >> so the couple said they have not settled on a name yet but that we will get our first peek of the newest member of their family later this week. the baby is queen elizabeth's eighth great-grandchildren and seven in line to the throne. there obviously are some bets as to the name of this baby. as you mentioned earlier there was this tweet marrying the names, so marry the american and english descent of this baby.

>> one british tabs meghan wanted to pick a name to bridge the u.s./uk divide. >> albert, arthur, alexander. >> i'm going with jamal. let's do it. >> all right. still ahead could the 2020 democratic field get any bigger? what new york city mayor de blasio is saying about a potential white house run. house democrats are renewing an investigation into the federal response to the deadly hurricanes that hit puerto rico and the virgin islands in 2017. the latest on that probe coming up next. i don't keep track of regrets.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside jeff bennett. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. today is the deadline for former white house counsel don mcgahn to comply with the judiciary committee for documents. it includes the michael flynn investigation, firing of james comey. they want communications related to paul manafort's cooperation with mueller's office, the 2016 trump tower meeting, michael cohen investigation and all documents referenced in the mueller report. the subpoena calls for mcgahn to testify by may 21st, two weeks from today.

president trump says he'll try to prevent mcgahn from testifying but so far has not taken any steps to do so. the documents are due the at the capitol at 10:00 this morning. >> the house oversight committee wants to know more about federal response of hurricane irma and marie. elijah cummings sent a letter to the white house restating his october 2017 request for communications related to emergency planning and response before and in the days following the hurricane's aftermath. elijah cummings requested documents from the department of health and human service and the federal emergency management agency. "the washington post" northeasting that many of the documents related to fema's response were jointly requested in october of 2017 by elijah cummings and then republican chairman trey gowdy but have not been turned over. a spokeswoman for fema said the agency received the request and

working with the committee. yesterday president trump again falsely asserted that puerto rico has been given $91 billion he says in aid. he overstated the amount by $80 billion. he added puerto rico should be very happy. the nra's newly elected president has taken a hard-line in the political debate happening in her own backyard. long time god resident caroline meadows is flipping her home district from blue to red. lucy mcbeth clinched the victory in last year's mid-term elections. in an interview with the marietta daily journal meadows said the reason mcbeth won is because of her anti-gun stance. that didn't have anything to do with it. hit to do with being a minority female. congresswoman mcbeth pushed back

on tweets. mcbeth i won this race after my son was senselessly murdered in 2012 i school district up to do something about it. i realize that nobody was going to change our laws for us so i had to do it myself. in a statement to "the washington post" meadows joized to mcbeth who said her comments were insensitive and inappropriate. 2020 democratic presidential candidates cory booker has rolled out an aggressive plan combat gun violence. his 14 part plan includes a national gun licensing program, a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines and requirements for future gun owners to submit fingerprints, sit for an interview and complete a gun safety course. the senator defended his proposal writing my plan to address gun violence is simple. we'll make it harder for people who should not have a gun to get one. i'm sick and thierd of hearing thoughts and prayers for communities that have been

shattered by gun violence. his gun control roll just is the most progressive and likely to see push back from gun rights groups like the national rifle association. information congressman beto o'rourke says he officially supports impeaching president trump. he told a dallas morning news in an interview yesterday yes i think there's enough evidence now for the house of representatives to most forward with impeachment. he previously avoided taking a stance on impeaching the president. when asked if the question last month the presidential candidate had this to say. >> i'm going to leave that to those members of the house who, as they review those findings can make that decision. but ultimately i believe at this point this is going to be decided in november of 2020. >> and new york city mayor de blasio has not decided on a potential run for president, denying reports of an impending announcement during an interview

last night. >> is this night you let us know when you're going to run for president, if you run for president? >> not the night, no. not night. and not the week. >> and not the week. we can confirm that. >> there was a story that assumed a specific thing that never was. you can have an announcement before there's a decision. >> it took the mayor more than three days to knock-down the "new york daily news" report he would be announcing a run this week but will he or won he join the 20 plus candidates at this point? >> looks like he will. >> looks like he will. joining us now white house reporter for axios. good to talk to you this morning. thank you for joining us. let's talk about don mcgahn. today is the day he needs to produce these documents. what needs to happen if he doesn't make the 10:00 a.m. deadline? >> i think the big question here is really whether the white house does exert executive privilege over don mcgahn both the documents and potential testimony that they requested

two weeks from now. from all of my reporting and sources close to the president and his legal team they believe that executive privilege is something that can be exerted not something that can be waived and that's what house democrats are challenging. they say you waived it when you allowed don mcgahn to sit for hours with the special counsel during his investigation, you can't exert executive privilege now. if that does happen, if the white house does exert executive privilege don mcgahn is in a hard place. he can either comply with house democrats and go against the white house or he'll potentially face contempt from congress. we've seen they are willing to do that with the attorney general william barr. house democrats have indicated that's on the table for don mcgahn as well. >> let's talk about william barr. as we know staff at the house judiciary committee they are meeting with doj officials to try to figure out if or how those democrats might be able to get the full unredacted mueller

report they have been seeking for weeks. nadler says this contempt the threat of contempt is still on table. he says it still stands. what weight does that carry if congress were to hold barr in contempt? >> well, i think what democrats are realizing is that there's not much they can do with the white house, with these stalling tactics and with them saying no to everything. they don't have the support of the other party. hard to investigate a president that is trying to stonewall you. so, of course, yes they could try to hold william barr in contempt, but in all of the most recent cases we've seen the most recent, the former attorney general eric holder those efforts fizzled. so the former hillary clinton aide that forced a subpoena during the benghazi investigation said you're in a good place if you give congress the middle finger.

that was a quote from him. so i think that the stalling tactics, there's not a lot that democrats can do and if anything a lot of legal experts said the bigger threat is the precedent it sets for future white houses. >> is there any indication don mcgahn count produce these documents? he came forward after the mueller report came out. he verified what was said in the mueller report about his interactions with the president. he's been pretty forth coming to say the least since the release of the mueller report. now he's a private citizen and nothing is holding him back except the white house not wanting him to testify and produce these documents. >> that's exactly right. i think a really good point that a lot of legal experts pointed to don mcgahn is a young man. to have a contempt charge from congress potentially could be be really damaging and be a stain on his career as he faces, you know, many years that he still has ahead of him.

yeah. he's a former official. enot held in any legal way, really, to what the white house says. if they try to exert executive privilege that's something he has to contend with. >> thank you for your time this morning. still ahead, it is shaping up to be another tough day on wall street as a result of the ongoing uncertainty of a u.s./china trade deal. plus bill karins is back with a check on forecast including a potential for severe weather. stay with us. r severe weather. stay with us ♪

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here to get back on track. >> reporter: yes. there's a little bit of hope now prevailing. remember we're coming from a situation a couple of days ago where market sentiment got hit on concern that these trade talks would be called off completely. but now the vice premier of china will actually be attending the trade talks this week on thursday and friday so there's optimism. but the reason the talks broke down to begin with, some things they agreed on, robert lighthizer called it an erosion of commitment. unless they find an agreement those tariffs will go up friday morning at 12:01:00 a.m.. chinese equities yesterday were down 5%. worst day in three years. u.s. equities at one point lost 400 points. dow ended a percent lower. today sentiment is take a hit. markets are seeing opening up in

the red. crucial day for the markets. >> here's a completely off topic question. i'm not sure if you're a "game of thrones" fan. there was a small detail that didn't belong that's causing quite a stir. see that starbucks cup. >> reporter: full disclosure, i'm not a "game of thrones" viewer orphan. that aside some eagle eyed viewers observed a cup that looks like a starbucks cup in front of the queen. which is a bit out of place for a period drama. hbo has confirmed that it was a mistake albeit a bit of an embarrassing one and starbucks did not intentionally put the cup there as part of product placement. some analysts estimate if they had that intention it would have

cost them about a quarter of a million dollars. >> if that was from the product playment team they were not doing a very good job. all right. thank you. good seeing you. all right let's get a check on your weather now with bill karins. >> unfortunately multi-hazard day. flash flooding. tornadoes. flash flooding and risk most likely in areas of kansas and dealing with that already this morning. let's take 7:00 a.m. this morning, kansas city will have heavy rain over the top of you and then later this afternoon we get a tornado threat. this is areas of north texas, rural sections and towns and cities in here. a matter of we're going to have tornadoes. . just a matter of where they hit. we'll have ton of storm chasers out here today and if there are tornadoes we'll have a lot of pictures. probably a lot of up close pictures. few night we take these storms through oklahoma city. storms in dallas. wednesday afternoon storms are down in new orleans, little

rock, near jackson, mississippi, few hit or miss storms in mississippi. by thursday we don't push this storm system in to areas of south. isolated severe storms in mississippi, alabama and that line of storms goes through kentucky and tennessee too and then eventually on friday just like the last three fridays in a row all this wet weather moves to the east coast. here's the dangerous weather today. all of west texas, about 5 million people in this area of north texas could even get strong storms, strong tornadoes and tomorrow we'll watch you in dallas to houston up to little rock. so middle of the country is where the problems are. by the time we get to the weekend we'll talk about the rain for the east coast. good news. still ahead turkey's president faces public backlash after scrapping election results following his candidate's deteeth by the opposition. the >> groings tensions between the u.s. and iran as the trump administration justifies sending war ships to the middle east. we're back in a moment.

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>> two reuters journalists imprisoned in myanmar are free today after more than 500 detains custody. the reporters were reunited with their families today after being convicted of revealing state secrets. they have now received

presidential amnesty along with 6,000 other prisoners. the trump administration is revealing more about why it's sending the "uss abraham lincoln" carrier strike sending the "uss abraham" striker to the middle east. new intelligence also shows that iran and its proxies are moving forces and may be planning for both land and sea attacks. that's according to u.s. officials and a defense official. the commander of u.s. central command made the request for more assets after the u.s. designated the iranian guard

core as a terrorist organization last month. secretary of state mike pompeo also addressed the situation and the potential for war. >> we have continued to see activity that leads us to believe that there's escalation that may be taking place and so we're taking all the appropriate actions both from a security perspective as well as our ability to make sure the president has a wide range of options in the event something should take place. >> let's turn to turkey where president erdogan has voided the opposition opposition candidate's victory in the mayor's race.

akp lost by about 13,000. shortly after the election, his party also claimed that voter fraud marched the election. >> coming up, everybody, nikolas johnson has a look at axios' "1 big thing." and the white house battle with democrats continues to escalate as steven mnuchin rejects lawmakers' requests to turn over president trump's tax returns. >> this as the justice department tries to ward off a vote to potentially hold attorney general william barr in contempt for his failure to turn over the mueller report. "morning joe" just moments away. . because sometimes inner peace requires a little external soundproofing. or pnc total auto. a place online to easily find and finance the right car for you. and your passengers.

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joining us from washington now with a look at axios a.m. is editor in chief for axios nicholas johnson.

what's the "1 big thing" for this morning? >> the smoke-filled rooms have burned down. big wigs getting together to clear the path for the candidates, that is over. it's the sam thing that happened in the republican party four years ago when donald trump steam railed a bunch of cabinet candidates on the way to the nomination. now in the democratic party, the same thing. almost two dozen vying for the favorite. it's like a quickens news cycle has blown up the process to pick a president and now it's the same on the democratic side. >> who holds some serious sway still? >> almost nobody. mitt romney is a senator who

tweets at the president, the bush family is no longer playing a big role. on the democratic side, there is former president barack obama. whenever one of the candidates goes to meet with hmm for advice, that is always huge news. but he's held back from the fray, hasn't stepped out and endorsed anyone in particular, and even after joe biden announced, he gave a tepid statement. >> how is this all playing out when it comes to policy proposals from the 2020 candidates? you've got the green new deal, medicare for all. >> not only is it driving what kind of candidates are being picked, it's what they're talking about. the big issues are driven by the progressive side. the green if you deal, brought up by many progressives who won in the midterm elections in the house. impeachment is an issue

establishment democrats do not want to talk about. and many -- breaking up big tech. they're bubbling up through activist bases pushing these candidates. >> let's talk money. who is driving where the money goes? >> another new report we were writing about this morning is showing where a lot of the money went in the midterm races. and we're told enflungs news letters aren't picking what kind of candidates get money. it's getting traction on social media and reach people oaf the internet, someone sitting on their coach, seeing an ad and sending $10 is, again, not from the big check writers and establishments. >> we heard cory book are has a pretty aggressive gun policy. is this something we'll see across the board from democratic candidates, a must.

>> >> i think absolutely. each candidate is picking a lane and you watch the others go and follow. we had a great item over the weekend, the "1 big thing"s about all the candidate, each candidate is trying to find a lane to make a distinctive policy decision and get some sort of traction in in very crowded field. >> nikolas johnston, thanks so much. you can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. it cory booker coming out with a really aggressive gun policy. the question is what is really going to resonate with voters out there and we've heard it's health care, number one. >> and for these democratic voters, do they care about the progressive is to beat donald

trump and are those two thanksgiving mutually exclusive. >> that is the big question is are those two thanksgiving mutually intensive, someone that can beat donald trump and is feel inspired by. that does it for us. i'm jauf alongside geoff bennett. morning joe starts right now. >> you've seen the good and the bad, the highs and the lows and i would not be in this position with all of your help. in and 97 i won the masters and i was there to -- i ended up hugging my dad, my mom. my dad is no longer here but my mom's here. i love you, mom. thank you. good morning. welcome come to "morning joe." we have mike