thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ today, president trump joins queen elizabeth to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the d-day landing. this, as he answers new questions about avoiding the draft during the vietnam war. plus, senate republicans warn the white house about the mexico tariff threat. the leader says there's little support among the party. and a security officer is facing charges during last year's parkland shooting. the school said scott peterson did knowledge to stop the gunman. ♪

good morning, everybody. it is wednesday june 5th. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett. president trump departing london heading to south sea castle where he and queen elizabeth will commemorate d-day on the eve of its 75th anniversary. in a new interview this morning, the president is commenting on why he did not serve in his generation war, vietnam, suggesting he would have been more eager to fight in world war ii. said he makes up for it by funding the military as president. >> you were not able to serve in vietnam because of a bone spur condition in your feet. do you wish you'd been able to serve? would you have liked to serve your country? >> well, i was never a fan of that war. i'll be honest with you. i thought it was a terrible war. i thought it was very far away. talking about vietnam, at that time, nobody even heard of the

country. this isn't like i'm fighting against nazi germany, i'm fighting against hitler. i was with a lot of people. i wasn't on streets marching saying i was going to move to canada which a lot of people did. i'm not a fan of that war. >> would you have liked to serve? >> why not have minded that at all. i think i make up for it $715 billion this year, and last year, i think i make up for it rapidly because we're rebuilding our military at a level we've never seen before. >> president trump has been tweeting all night and early morning, commenting on a range of criticisms including from actress bette midler. it's 1:34 a.m. in london and the president of the united states is awake and feeting about an actress who offended. then in another eyebrow raising tweet the president wrote, i

kept hearing that there would be massive rallies against me in the uk but it was quite the opposite. the big crowds which the corrupt media hates to show were those that gathered in support of the usa and me. but thousands took to the streets of london to protest trump's presence. the president also disputed recorded comments he made about the duchess of sussex, meghan markle. and he questioned whether the name "usa john mccain" was really covered to not upset him. >> i'm not sure it even happened. somebody said they're painting the ship and they have tarp poe li poelines all over the place. i don't talk about john mccain unless somebody asks me about him. >> do you think meghan markle is nasty or not? >> no, the question was asked of

me. i didn't know she said anything bad about it, and that's okay. hey, join the crowd, right? it seems like she had and sounds like the things she said was actually on tape. i wasn't referring to she's nasty. i said she's nasty about me. especially, i didn't know she was nasty about me but i said, you know what, she did a good job. i hope she enjoys her life. it just shows me how terrible the news can be because if you read that, i'm sure you did -- >> in the leadup, president trump broke from diplomatic convention and weighed in on uk politics on multiple fronts. on brexit, trump chastised outgoing prime minister theresa may for botching negotiations saying she gave the eu, quote, all of the cards and should have sued the eu. and the eu should walk away from the deal if they don't get everything they want. those comments came up in the

joint news conference yesterday. >> well, i don't like to take positions in things that i'm not really -- i understand the issue very well. yeah, i would think that it will happen and it probably should happen. this is a great, great country and it wants its own identity. it wants to have its own borders. it wants to run its own affairs. this is a very, very special place and i think it deserves a special place. and i believe the prime minister has brought it to a very good point where something will take place in the not too distant future. i think she's done a very good job. >> i continue to believe that actually it's in the best interest of the uk to leave the european union in an orderly deal. i seem to remember that the president suggest that i sue the eu which we didn't do. we came out with a good deal. >> that's not such a -- i would have sued but that's okay. i would have sued and settled maybe, but you never know. she's probably a better negotiator than i am. >> so president trump who previously criticized london

mayor sadik khan over terror attacks in his city was asked about his comments on monday where he called khan, quote, stone cold lose here has done, quote, terrible job. >> well, i think he's been a not very good may from what i understand. he's done a poor job. crime is up, a lot of problems. and i don't think he should be criticizing a representative of the united states that can do so much good for the united kingdom. we talked about it before. he should be positive, not negative. he's a negative force, not a positive force. >> joining us live from portsmouth, is matt bradley. portsmouth is where many troops set off to cross on d-day. it's also where president trump, queen elizabeth and prime minister and other heads of states will attend the major d-day commemorative events. what are you looking for? what can you expect? >> reporter: well, geoff, we're

going to see here, all of the different heads of states are going to be here. there's going to be 300 actual veterans of the normandy battle. this is a poignant point because this will probably be the last time they will see a major commemoration of the d-day landing like this. but also, we're going to be seeing a gun salute from a british naval vessel off the coast here. and we're going to see a fly-by, probably self-dozen vintage aircraft dating back to the time of the d-day battle flying overhead. so the images are going to be very, very strong. a poignant message for those veterans. but also there's going to be some politics involved, geoff. remember, all of the leaders who are going to be here are going to be sending a message to this president who has so often doubted those alliances. and saying those aliliances are

vital and just as vital now. >> matt bradley, thank you. >> joining us, eugene scott. eugene, thank you for joining us, preparing to remember dh day on the even of the 75th anniversary, president trump has been tweeting his differences, tweeting overnight about an array of things to say the least. what kind of a message does this send to our british allies? >> well, it certainly gives the impression that the president is not focused on and devoting his full attention to this historic symbolism of this anniversary, and what it could mean for the relationship between the united states and britain moving forward. we know that this is a president who is overwhelmingly consumed by criticism and pushback towards him which is why he spent so much time during this diplomatic trip focused on protesters and even american

actresses criticizing him. as well as an american royal who has criticized him for years ago for points that many americans believe were valid in her pushback. >> eugene, the president so often finds ways to court controversy on these foreign trips and of course, he did it last night. beyond that, what can we expect from the president's final hours in england before he heads to ireland this afternoon? >> well, hopefully, americans would like the president to note what he would like to do in the rest of his time in the white house, in terms of strengthening bond between america and britain. and what we could focus on in terms of addressing very similar issues that our governments have said have been threatened our safety, such as terrorism and national security, strengthening trade as well. and looking for other opportunities to collaborate on policy ideas that will benefit both americans and the british people. that's what many people would expect to happen in these last few hours. whether that actually will, it's

not likely, if we're basing in on what the president has spent the last few hours focused on. >> yes. that disconnect between reality and expectation. >> right. >> eugene scott, thank you. still ahead, a former school safety officer is arrested on multiple charges relating to last year's parkland school shooting. and later new reporting that president trump's former campaign manager paul manafort may soon be heading to a top lockup reicher's island, right here in new york.

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enforcement, 53-year-old scott peterson was charged with three charges of culpable negligence. peterson was booked into the broward county jail on a $102,000 bond. broward state attorney's office said the charges carry a maximum sentence of 96 1/2 years in state prison. peterson denounced the charges as unprecedented and furious. joining us here on the set, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. danny, what do you make of these charges that "the new york times" is called an unusual instance of law enforcement officer being held criminally liable for not protecting the public? >> it's very unusual. and it sets a dangerous precedent in many ways. because our long has long held that police officers are not the absolute guarantors of our safety. yes, they can be held liable, i mean civilly liable. but generally speaking there's no promise that a police officer

will keep you sage and we knfe that. peterson is charged with a criminal law that is child neglect. the police officer would have to be a caregiver under the statute. and a caregiver is defined as a parent, someone living in the household or something of that nature. or some other person responsible for the child's safety. i don't know that courts will extend that definition to anybody who had a contractual obligation to generally protect students like a school resource officer. >> and these charges carry a maximum potential of nearly 100 years in prison. how likely do you think it would be? >> super unlikely. it's often the case that we talk about the statutory maximum. and you arrive at that absolutely terrifying number by adding up all of the maximum penalties, lining them up, end to end, and that's how you arrive at a statutory maximum, or a stat max.

it's never what the ultimate punishment will be, especially what we have here, a first time offender? >> what kind of precedent could this set and what time could he actually see? the precedent that it could set, in peterson's case he was the only one on campus for all of those students on that particular day, that we may begin to hold those officers not just civilly liable, but criminally liable, if they fail to act or if they make a judgment call that just isn't the right judgment call. at its core, the real question here is causation as well. because can you point to me as an act or failure to act that specifically caused a death. i think that would be a challenge. >> shouldn't the bar be that high, though. if you were protecting children. protecting the safety of children, especially with regard to the fact that there are so many mass shootings that happen on school charges. elementary schools, middle school, high schools.

should the bar be that high? if you're an rso, if you're an officer on a campus, that you would be held criminally responsible? >> there's also a perjury charge that he lied about it. >> that part is true, there are statements that he may have misled police on activities that day. when you hold an officer criminally liable when somebody dies without direct causation, in other words, point to me the specific act that peterson did that caused a death, that resulted in a death. or is it the case that no matter what -- >> walked into the gymnasium when the active shooter was opening fire because you were -- >> right. but if the children would have died irrespective what he did -- >> how can you prove that? >> and if you cannot prove that, you have not met your burden. the burden is always on the government. it is never on the defendant.

so if you cannot show that any specific act of peterson's in other words, would the children have died irrespective of anything he did. or if the government can't show but for this particular act, this child would have lived, then the government's case becomes weakers. >> this makes this all the more gut-wrenching. >> it does. >> danny, thanks. let's get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. >> good morning, everyone. powerful storms rolled through minnesota. we had areas with flash flooding and we've also had a lot of active lightning as you see right there. this line of storms has pushed all the way through the south, it's moved over southern wisconsin and now over the top there, with cars that got stuck in high water. here's the scenario. it's an umbrella for millions and millions of people. high pressure from the gulf of mexico. high humidity levels in the eastern half of the country and two storms that are going to

kick off numerous amounts of rain. a high concern of flooding in the houston area for the morning rush shower. houston and heavy rain, a bad recipe. low elevation and the water just pools off. this heavy band of rain about to move over to houston and galveston areas, we're very concerned with a lot of problems on the roads with flooding during the morning commute. the other area we have storminess, overnight in chicago, we had one round of storms roll through. these are going to push down through the ohio valley through the day. once we get in the afternoon hour, we have the heating of the day, the high humidity, we have 31 million that could experience severe storms. st. louis, lexington, knoxville, raleigh and even charlotte, too. we may even see a stray storm around washington, d.c., philadelphia, baltimore, new york later could get a storm but they shouldn't be of the severe variety, guys. we'll keep an eye on it. yeah, as i mentioned, umbrella

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elizabeth warren with climate change. biden would propose $1 trillion over the next decade and net zero carbon emissions by 2050 and it would also have the u.s. rejoin the paris climate accord. >> one of the first thing i'd do is call a conference with all of these folks and say here's the deal, we have to all increase. >> warren released a plan that would commit $2 trillion that would help the u.s. dominate the clean energy sector globally. >> understand, we get to the point where we cleaned up in the united states. let's say, we get there. by 2030. hoo-rah, let's do that. but understand, that's only about 20% of the problem. we got to bring the rest of the world with us.

so what does that mean? we've got to use our research. our innovation, and our manufacturing. and we've got to sell it to the rest of the world. >> meanwhile, joe biden's climate plan rollout was met with criticism from both republicans and democrats. ronna mcdaniel wrote that joe biden has officially embraced alexandria ocasio-cortez socialist agenda. adding that biden is no moderate, he's just as extreme as the refuse of them. washington govern jay inslee also slammed biden's plan for not going part enough telling reporters, i have to express disappointment that the vice president's proposals really lack teeth and they lack an ambitious that is necessary to defeat the climate crisis. >> and the former vp was in concord, new hampshire last night, where biden addressed the

growing calls from president trump's impeachment from democrats and capitol hill. and from his fellow 2020 candidates. >> if the president does not soon start to cooperate with the legitimate investigations of the congress, then in fact the congress has no option but to begin an impeachment inquiry. because under an impeachment inquiry -- under an impeachment inquiry, they have more power to be able to demand a subpoena. i'm not looking forward to an impeachment process. i really mean it. i think it will be a jgigantic my job is to impeach him a different way, beat him. >> and democrats are facing more resistance. the white house has instructed hope not to cooperate.

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welcome back. i'm yasmin vossoughian. alongside nbc news white house correspondent geoff bennett. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with the morning's top stories. the white house has directed two former administration officials hope hicks and andy donaldson to ignore house subpoena us. it is the latest move by the house administration to block

investigations. two sources telling nbc news that hicks and donaldson have been told not to hand over any documents to the judiciary committee related to their time in the white house. a lawyer for hope hicks said she would not provide any document related to her time in the white house or on the trump transition team. but agreed to turn over some documents related to the trump campaign. in a statement, jerry nadler said this, the president has no lawful basis of preventing our witness from complying with requests. he adds, we will continue to seek reasonable accommodation on these and all of our discovery requests and intend to press there issue when obtain the testimony. paul manafort will reportedly be transported to rikers jail in the next few weeks. people tell the "times" that manafort will most likely be held in isolation. manafort is currently serving a

7 1/2-year federal prison sentence after being convicted last year on tax fraud. bank fraud and other charges stemming from special counsel robert mueller's investigation. according to the timers, the manhattan district attorney obtained an indictment of manafort on state mortgage fraud charges in an effort to ensure he would still face prison time if president trump pardoned him for his federal crimes. the paper reports that manafort will most likely be arraigned in the new charges in state premium court in manhattan later this month. the house passed a sweeping immigration bill yesterday that would offer a path to citizenship to more than 2 million undocumented immigrants. the american dream and promise act of 2019 would grant dreamers ten years of legal resident status. and permanent green cards after working for three years or after completing at least two years of higher education or military service. seven republicans broke ranks to

join all 232 democrats to pass the measure which requires clarity for millions of dreamers caught in limbo after president trump ended the daca program in 2017. it's unlikely that the bill will be confirmed in senate. vice president mike pence is set to welcome members of the mexican delegation to the white house. it's the last-ditch effort by mexico to keep president trump ace threat of putting tariffs on imports from that country from taking effect. the meeting comes as the president faces growing resistance from the move from republican lawmakers. two gop sources tell nbc news there are concerns that the white house hadn't fully thought through the possible economic consequences of the proposed tariffs. those sources say that during a policy lunch attended by republican senators and top administration lawyers yesterday senator ron johnson of wisconsin warned that lawmakers could deal

the president an embarrassing rebuke if he moves forward with the tariffs stressing, quote, i think the administration ought to be concerned about another vote of disapproval. according to "the new york times," senator ted cruz of texas didn't mince words with his message to the white house lawyers, telling them they didn't hear a single yes from the republican conference in support of the tariffs. calling them a $30 billion tax hike on texans. the "times" also says that fellow texas senator john cornyn complained, quote, we're holding a gun to our own heads. and mitch mcconnell reiterated his colleagues' lack of support for the president's tariffs. >> there's not much support in my conference for tariffs, that is for sure. i think it's safe to say you've talked to all members who are not fans of tariffs. we're still hoping this can be avoid. >> it's interesting, geoff, you can't help but think this is them setting up a paper trail,

distancing themselves from it come 2020. weapon know mitch mcconnell is up for re-election in 2020. he certainly doesn't want these tariffs if it's going to hurt the republican party. >> in reporting the story yesterday, i talked to a number of gop sources who said they fully expect that trump wants to talk tough on mexico. but they say, he hasn't really thought this through so they're trying to be the first line of defense against these tariffs. >> just historically, with trump, as you all know, when he puts something out in the campaign trail when he said something 20 years ago, we know how he feels about tariffs for quite some time. he wants to stick to his guns one way or the other even if he recognizes or the entire republican party realizes it's not good. a tweet at 1:00 a.m. local time in london president trump described tariffs as a win for republicans. so the president tweeted can you

imagine crying chuck schumer saying out loud for all to hear that i am bluffing with respect to putting tariffs on mexico. what a creep. he would rather have our country fail with drugs and immigration. but he gave mexico bad advice, no bluff. the president is dismissing a possible rebuke by his party. >> what do you think of republicans who say they may take action to block new imposing those tariffs? >> oh, i don't think they will do that, if they do it's foolish. there's nothing more than important than borders. i have tremendous republican support. i have a 94% approval rating in the republican party. that's an all-time record. can you believe that? isn't that something? i love records. >> joining us from "the washington post," eugene scott. eugene, what do you make of this republican rebuke already stirring up over the president's proposed tariffs on mexico?

>> the president talks often about the importance of the economy and how that should influence the american public response to him in the 2020 election which i think is what republican lawmakers are thinking about. the reality is, that if he's tariffs go into place, many of these companies will pass the costs to american consumers. and the rising costs of some products will be a thing that makes many voters feel like the economy is not as good as the president himself says it is. and, therefore, could not just hurt him, but hurt many of these lawmakers that are pushing back on the president. >> let's turn to the conversation surrounding subpoenas as we've been talking about for weeks at this point. the president, yet again, directing witnesses not to comply with the democratic subpoenas. what next steps can the democrats make in order to advance these ongoing investigations? >> well, we've seen the democrats suggest that they're going to have hearings, hoping to expose what they believe the

white house has done, that it's been corrupt and problematic, and moving many of them towards impeachment to let american voters know what it is that they think needs to be done differently, heading into 2020. including the lack of transparency and exposure coming from this white house. the democrats that i've spoken with, on the hill, are really looking into their legal options, seeing what can be done in the courts to get what they want from this white house. and to find answers to the questions that so many voters continue to have, regarding these multiple investigations and what should be done from what has been revealed so far. >> eugene scott, thanks for that insight. we'll see you again on "morning joe" isn't just a bit. >> thanks. >> thank you. in his first speech on the republican floor, senator mitt romney offered veiled criticism of president trump's foreign policy while urging lawmakers to develop a strategy in response to china's rapid rise. >> eight years ago, i argued that russia was our number one

geopolitical adversary. today, china is poised to assume that distinction. john mccain famously opined that russia is a gas station parading as a country. as it falls further behind, we must expect russia's inevitable desperation to lead to further and more abhorrent conduct. it's in the united states' most vital interest to see a strong nato, a strong europe, stronger ties with the free nations of asia, the pacific, the subcontinent. and with every free country, and to date, our national response has been ad hoc peaciecemeal. it's time for us to construct a comprehensive strategy to meet the ambitious china. >> meanwhile, senator lindsey

graham was asked about his ability and to hide the "uss john mccain." >> i talked to the second. he tells me this idea came from the white house interior office. it went directly to the seventh fleet. not to the department of defense. that when senior people saw the request, they shot it down pretty quickly. i think that was the appropriate response. the idea of moving the ship was offensive to me. that ship is named not only after my dear friend, but his father and his grandfather. that name is maybe legend. and i'm glad that this bad idea never materialized. >> did you take anything up with the president? >> the president has already spoken on this issue. he didn't know anything about it, and i believe it. still ahead, new polling on the 2020 race.

and who in the crowded democratic field has the key advantage? plus, bill karins is back with another check on the forecast. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. ♪

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welcome back, everybody. we're following some breaking news as you see there, the president arriving in portsmouth at south sea. to be specific, the south sea castle. and heading to south sea common on the eve of the 75th d-day anniversary. who is attending with the president, the prince of wales, queen elizabeth, prime minister theresa may as well. there's going to be an incredible celebration. i think we have 300 or so veterans. >> and the queen will be there as well. >> and the queen will be as well that are attending. so i think it's a very interesting ceremony. and we've been talking about what the president has been tweeting out over the last 24 hours. >> yeah. >> and the juxtaposition of that to former president eisenhower and what he was dealing with on the eve of d-day. i'm sure many people have read the speech that eisenhower

delivered to the troops. and part of being the commander in chief, the president of the united states, is inspiring -- inspiring the troops and providing safety for the troops and driving them forward. and i'm wondering if that will be on the mind of the president of the united states today, on the eve of d-day. an incredible moment in this world's history. >> yes. you certainly hope that the president will meet the moment, right? >> yeah. >> we'll have live positions all morning on "morning joe." welcome back, a new poll in michigan where donald trump won by less than 11,000 votes shows the president trailing. the poll on the michigan group finds joe biden and bernie sanders ahead of trump by 12-point margins. 53% to 41%. and mayor pete buttigieg has a six-point lead. 47 to 41%.

and elizabeth warren is up four points on the president, 43% to 43%. and then you've got senator kamala harris, three-point edge, 47% to 44%. in a tweet the president writes, if the totally corrupt media was less corrupt, i'd be up by 15 points based on polls. >> bennett has squeaked out 1% in three qualifying polls officially crossing the threshold yesterday with the new cnn poll. this makes bennett to qualify. with more than a week to go until the qualifying deadline, another one or two candidates could replace him. the dnc has said no more than 20 candidates will be allowed on the stage during back-to-back dedatd debates in miami.

>> when i say bennet, geoff is not running. >> you are not related. >> i'm not related. >> we could get him 1%, right? >> i don't know. we all love geoff bennett, though. >> good luck. all right. here's what we're dealing with today. if you're heading out the door, grab the umbrella in so many areas. it is pour already until houston. we have flash flood watches in effect for the houston area. almost all from the entire southern half of louisiana including new orleans. it's all tropical moisture. that's time of the year where humidity leveling jump. it's very humid. a lot of moisture in the air and it's going to pour this morning. the other story is severe storms possible for 31 million people. there's going to be damaging winds and thunderstorms from st. louis, louisville, lexington, cincinnati, all the way through much of north

carolina and south carolina. even portions of virginia, too. washington, d.c., new york city, philadelphia, baltimore, all have a chance of thunderstorms later this afternoon. but it shouldn't be of the severe variety. the other thing that's going to happen, finally later today, tomorrow morning, the crest of the mississippi river at st. louis. we've been waiting forever for that one. we still have major flooding. the arkansas river, illinois river. and still wait to see if any levees have issues. the timing of this today, 6:00 a.m. this morning, we watch the thunderstorms rage through the ohio valley. notice that line of storms from d.c. to new york. looks like the timing, guys, for the i-95 corridor will be from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. for downpours. so evening drives and airports could have problems too. stocks around the u.s. get a major boost following comments on the federal reserve's chair on possible cuts. details on what jerome powell says may force the central bank to take action. in clinical trials

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addressing economists in chicago, fed chair jerome powell said the central bank is prepared to act if the u.s. -- if the u.s. gon going trade tensions start to hurt economic growth. cnbc's giuliana tattlebaum joins us from london. >> this is a really important message from the fed chair. it drove shock waves through

markets boosting stocks. previously the message from the fed had been one of patience. and now the fed chair is signaling a willingness to act. now, the market has already bee the fed acknowledging that they are potentially willing to move on that front. we could be looking at a rate cut later in the year. as i mentioned, strong boost for wall street yesterday. it looks as though those gains are going to continue today. back to you guys. >> want to talk about carnival cruises here for a moment. this story is pretty astounding to me to say the least. they have been ordered to pay a $20 million penalty because they pled guilty to dumping tons of plastics and other waste into international waters, which i -- i can't even believe it quite honestly, and on top of that, they attempted to cover it up. what more can you tell us about this? >> well, absolutely. i mean vessel pollution is a

huge issue and carnival has been wrapped up in this a number of times now. so this, you'll remember back in 2016, there was a case against princess, which is opened by carnival, for illegally dumping those oil contaminated wastes that you described into the sea and covering it up. now they have violated the probation terms set forth for them in the wake of that case. the new violations that carnival and princess are being charged with, discharging plastic into the waters in the bahamas, falsifying records and interfering with court supervision of ships. a number of new violations on top of this. it's a huge issue. just to put it in perspective for you quickly, even the most efficient ships can't emit as much as three to four times co2 as jets can. >> $20 million doesn't seem like quite enough considering. live from london, thanks for your time. coming up, ax ios's jim

vandehei has one big thing. and more on president trump's sit down with piers morgan discussing his uk visit, climate change and much more as he continues to deny maefrtsz fact when it comes to the massive protests over his visit. senate foreign relations committee members tim kaine and chris murphy will join the conversation with their take on president trump's visit with a key u.s. ally. "morning joe" is moments away. ".

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. axios one big thing is sponsored by. . welcome back. joining us from washington with a look at axios am co-founder and ceo of axios jim vandehei. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> talk about axios' one big thing today. >> we're looking at two of president trump's top obsessions -- joe biden and global trade. a lot of his allies saying soon they will start to go after biden and try to call him a

globalist, the same thing he used to do to a lot of his republican opponents. they're going to hit him for support over free-trade pacts in the past. one of the reasons he's doing that, biden makes him nervous. he's seeing the poll numbers and how well biden does head to head against him in places like wisconsin, obviously pennsylvania, michigan, ohio. those states that he won to be able to win the presidency and that matchup is a one, according to the polls he's looking at, are the most difficult for him. he's hoping to pound home this idea that biden isn't a friend of the working class in those states. biden is spending a lot of time talking about topics in preparation for this. >> jim, the president's campaign manager says that the trump team is trying to now expand the electoral map to try to pick up states like nevada, new hampshire, new mexico. how do you think president trump will be able to do that or do you think he could do it?

>> it will be tough. if you look at least at historical performance in those states and how he did that time around, you just don't run into many people who didn't like trump before and didn't vote for him that would vote for him this time around. that is going to be his challenge. they feel they have to expand that map. i would throw north carolina into that mix as well. the reason that they have to is not from a position of strength, by the way, it's from a position of perceived weakness. they're worried about the northern states and a lot of these southern states. they assume they'll win texas, they assume they'll win georgia, but any southern state that has seen a surge in a hispanic population makes them nervous and they show the polls there too pretty close. look at texas where beto o'rourke lost the senate race but he only lost by two points in what has been a solidly conservative state. the truth is for all the public bravado, i think trump is more nervous about re-election than

he lets on. he is a realist in terms of looking at the map and numbers and seeing that those numbers that his staff is sharing with him don't look great right now. >> what about a ticket? is there a ticket you're hearing that trump is most worried about? >> definitely biden. i don't think that he cares about who is number two on it. he understands that these races are one on one. he clearly fears biden the most right now. i would say everybody else is in a different category. he's sort of crossing his fingers that the elizabeth warren/aoc wing of the party prevails because he would rather run against someone he can portray as a socialist. he understands that joe biden probably appeals to the voters that voted for him, at least some of those wavering swing voters who voted for him in the industrial midwest. he's worried biden can win those. biden is the chief obsession of trump. >> as we talk about 2020, you have terry mcauliffe the former virginia governor who will not throw his hat into the ring for the presidential race.

we see it there. terry mcall live likely to run for governor again. >> mike allen has a scoop this morning in his news letter that mcauliffe is telling anybody who will listen he's ready to get into the race for governor, wants to be governor again. there's a quirk in virginia law you can't run for consecutive terms but if you take a term off you can get back in. he was a popular governor and anyone who spent any time with him knows he likes the job. that will keep him out of the 2020 race which he said he's not going to run and get him focused on 2021. >> jim vandehei. >> we both enjoy having you on so much we want to thank you at the same time. >> thanks for your time this morning. we'll be reading axios am in a little while. sign up for the news letter. >> that does it for us on this wednesday. "morning joe" starts right now.

good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's wednesday, june 5th. i'm willie geist. joe and mika will be back tomorrow with our special coverage of d-day live from normandy. with us capitol hill correspondent, the how of k.c.d.c. on msnbc, kasie hunt, politics editor for the daily beast, sam stein, former aide to the george w. bush white house elise jordan, national security expert, columnist at "usa today" and author of "the death of expertise" tom nichols. we have to talk about chernobyl. with us the co-founder and ceo of axios jim vandehei and white house correspondent for pbs news hour. she is in london for us this morning. before we go any further let's go around the table and say their favorite bette midler movie. >> trying to context actualize this a little bit. >> on "morning joe" what we do is the gag first and then the text later.