that is our broadcast for this evening. thank you so very much for being here with us. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. this morning, joe biden facing back slash over remarks on segregationist senators. overnight, iran's revolutionary guard shot down a u.s. drone. they say it was shot down over iranian airspace. home hicks appears before the house but declines to answer questions about her time in the trump white house. good morning.

it is thursday, june 20. i'm yasmin vossoughian along white house correspondent jeff bennett. we begin with vice president joe biden rejecting criticism from his rivals after he evoked his work with powerful segregationists early in his career. channelling a southern drawl he said this, i was in a caucus with james o. eastland. he never called me boy, he always called me son. well guess what? at least there was some civilitiy. we got things done. today, you look at the other side you're the opposition, not the enemy. >> you don't joke about calling black men boys. vice president biden's relations

with proud segregationists are not the way we work. biden reacted and called on booker to apologize. >> i could not disagree with eastland more. he was a segregationists. i ran because i disagreed with that at the time. what i was talking about is the voting rights act. we voted against them and beat them in the voting rights act. the point i'm making it, you don't have to agree or like the people in terms of the views but you simply make the case and you beat them, without changing the system. >> reporter: how does it feel that your democratic rivals are saying you have issues talking about race? >> they know better?

>> are you going to apologize? >> cory should apologize. he knows better. there's not a racial bone in my body, period, period, period. >> last night, senator booker responded. >> when he says almost joke issingly, they didn't call me boy, they call me son. the reason they call a young white manson is because they could see in him themselves. the reason they would call black men boys is to degrade them. for him not to understand this and why people would take offense to the way he used and dredged up this awful language. i know i was raised to speak truth to power. i will never apologize for doing that. vice president biden shouldn't

need this lesson. >> senator booker was hardly the only democratic candidate to call for these comments. bernie sanders wrote, i agree with cory booker. this is especially true in a stiem when the trumped min strags is trying to divide us up. i'm not here to criticize but it is never okay to celebrate segregationists. never. senator kamala harris p responded that the segregationist senators opposed her advancement to the senate. invoking option to his multiracial family. >> my wife is african-american. we have two beautiful children. james eastland thought we should not have the right to marry and

our children should not exist. my question is, why on earth would a democrat speak nostalgically of working with a segregationist. >> coming to the aid yesterday, the highest ranking african-american in congress envoted the senator defending biden saying, i worked with strom thurmond all my life. >> sanders said that he did not praise segregationist. went on to say when you can't with them, work around them. let's talk more about this. a lot has been going on with regard to those comments.

good to talk to you. >> had biden's comments derailed the message and do others see this as a potential game changer for them? >> the campaign will be a long one. if he goes back to the original message about restoring civilitiy with the segregationist senators, this should be a blip. of course his rivals are using this as an opportunity. i think most americans are going to vote in the primary on this specific tiny issue. >> it seems like joe biden would do better for himself talking about where this should be.

how do you think this will play out in the debates? >> i think they will use this because this is one of the first blow ups because the rivals can attack him for what he said, even saying this is not a good move for him. i think there will be a lot of other issues talked about in the debate. just disgust with the administration. joe biden may say next week he's not going to talk about the segregationist senators. there is no upside to this. no one prompted him to talk about this. it is befuddeling reminding us that he was working as a senator in the '70s.

>> it is interesting. some of the comments i've been seeing on line with regard to this to the fact that people want the infighting to stop among the candidates and to stick with the issue. this is the first time we have seen them really go at each other. >> i am not in the view that there should be no infighting. you want to make the candidates strong. whoever comes out of this race, they need to have some tests because trump is going to attack the democratic nominee merslessly for months. if you don't have any experience

with the cycle, then that is not good for you. if you are a democrat, you shouldn't be opposed to this kind of infighting. >> good point. days after president trump accused "the new york times" of committing a, quote, virtual act of treason for reporting on the u.s. cyber attacks on russia, the publisher is pushing back. the op-ed titled, accusing "the new york times" of treason, trump crosses the line. the word treason is a loaded one, trump has gone from insult gs our business to demonizing our integrity. now the president has escalated his attacks even further accusing the times of a crime so

grave, it is punishable by death. no more serious charge a commander and chief could make against a news organization. what would it look like to escalate attacks on the press further. already reached for that language, what is left but putting his threats into action. still ahead, following breaking news from the middle east. iran claiming to have shot down a u.s. drone. >> just after president trump characterized the iranian oil tanker attack as very minor. we'll have more on the rising tensions coming up next. oh! oh!

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from iran have not been to the school expected. >> started to receive very credible and very disturbing intelligence threat streams that iran was plotting attacks against american interests in multiple theaters. a lot of what we were concerned about at the time has not come to pass for the time being. i think we have put in place the right kind of policy to restore deterrents against these attacks. what we have seen have not been on the scale we expected. that does not mean iran is not capable of doing those things. >> those remarks come as the daily beast reports president trump has been pushing his administration to tone down the aim on iran.

taken with hook's comments, it appears to line up with trump telling "time" magazine that the attacks were, quote, very mild. telling congress there are ties between iran, al qaeda and the taliban. leading them to, quote, ask if the administration is building a case that the white house to use to evoke the war notification to battle terror groups as legal cover for military action. however, iran is a majority shia organization and the two sides historically do not get along nor work together. there is breaking news out of the middle east, which could have major implications regarding iran. a u.s. official has confirmed a

u.s. military drone was shot down above the straight of hormus in an unprovoked attack. iran's revolutionary guard said its air force shot it down claiming it was in iranian airspace. a top official adds its airspace is a red line. it doesn't matter which country trespasses, we will give a firm response. but saying, quote, no u.s. drone was operating in the airspace and says the drone was not in the airspace. military reporter joining us. talk to us about what you know. >> reporter: one of the of the reasons there could be this misunderstanding or different views, remember, iran sees much

of the airspace an water ways around the strait as iranian waters. those 12 nautical miles, anything outside of there is international waters and airspace. we know last night local time, a u.s. drone, an mq 4 was shot down by an iranian surface to air missile. u.s. is saying it was international airspace, iran says it was not. this is just another step in the increase in tensions. this happened very close to where we were yesterday. we were just off the coast where we had up close access to see one of the tankers attacked last week. we got to see the blast hole up close. the u.s. navy provided hard

evidence that that blast was caused by a limpet mine. they showed a bunch of evidence that they said proves it was something in the iranian arsenal. >> thank you for that. quite interesting that you got that up front and personal look at all of that. still ahead, hope hicks spent seven hours testifying but refused to answer questions about her time in the white house. legal analyst joins us next to weigh in. i wanted more from my copd medicine... ...that's why i've got the power of 1 2 3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment . ♪trelegy. ♪the power of 1-2-3.

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former white house communicate kakss director appeared before the house. she refused to answer questions about her time working in the trump white house. >> they are preventing her from talking about anything? >> anything relating to her tenure in the white house. even something like where was your office located objection. >> almost every question, she is refusing to answer. >> this is an ongoing effort of the president to prevent congress from getting to the truth and the answers we deserve. >> heading into his office, the chairmanman told reporters his committee could, quote, destroy the white house doctrine of

absolute immunity in court but haven't indicted yet if they'll make hicks the test case. saying, hope hicks answered questions and testified for about seven hours yesterday. a transcript of the sessions is expected to be released sometime soon. joining us now is msnbc legal annist. did hope hicks have the legal right to refuse to answer questions? >> that would ultimately be for a court to determine. when a congress wants to subpoena executive branch comments, it goes to the courts to decide. really, all we know is that executive privilege exists but it is not absolute, which is why the statement that hope hicks is absolutely immune would be

untrue because what we know from the supreme court case that absolute immunity doesn't exist. what they probably meant is that in this particular situation, hope hick's testimony, her p production, she is immune in this time. >> saying this committee could, quote, destroy the white house doctrine of absolute immunity in court. >> that's right. if you choose to go to court. you look historically, the power to subpoena, yes, it can pass a criminal contemnt citation. congress knows the clock is running. congress itself changes every few years. if they really want to get

documents, the court process is not the best route. it is cooperation. >> you see this as more of a threat from the chairman as something they would follow through with. >> they may follow through but nadler knows it means time. even when you are congress suing the executive branch takes time. nadler realizes if you really want to get documents, the better part of val or is to negotiate. i would look in the days following the testimony, if congress is not happy with what they heard, more negotiation. better than going straight to court. >> thank you. dominican republic authorities say former red sox player was not the intended target and was shot by mistake.

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welcome back. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside white house correspondent jeff bennett. a poll shows the presidential field is relatively stable with one exception. joe biden retains 32% lead warren is the only top candidate to have gained in the last month. up five points to 15%. bernie sanders comes in third place at this time with 14. as candidates vie for entry, cory booker and yang are up to 2%.

de blasio and others take one point each. the first role of the race shows biden at 30%, sanders at 15, warren at 10, buttigieg at 9. also of note, castro and hickenloop each take a count in the poll. democratic hopefuls are flocking to south carolina this weekend. 22 candidates will attend the world famous fish fry, that's what it is called in what is likely the largest gathering of contenders. the event has become an important stop for democrats as it offers them the chance to woe voters early particularly in the african-american community.

. saying, quote, it would be a bit selfish of me to go out and threaten the foundations of where we are trying to build a new democratic party. they have ordered 4,400 pounds of fish. democratic calls for impeachment grows, nancy pelosi says if the house moves forward it will be because members are ready to vote. speaking yesterday, she down played the likelihood of that ever happening and dismissed the suggestion that the house could vote to censure trump. >> where is the line from you? you've spoken about threats, when does it rise above all the

other stuff for you? >> when we stop finding even more information. as i say with me, this runs deep. everyday, we see more. why would we stop with a less strong case. if you are going to go down this path, you have to make it so clear. >> i think krcensor is a way ou. that is nice but it is not commensurate with the violations. >> the house speaker is offering a warning to her fellow democrats as she continues to face some backlash for describing holding for migrants as concentration camps.

pelosi said she had not spoken to them but warned our fellow house members to choose their words wisely. >> understand that while the republicans have no interest holding the president accountable for those words, they will misrepresent anything you say just if you have one word in the sentence they can exploit. prominent african-american figures held a hearing. the hearing of the house judiciary subcommittee on the civil rights civil liberties coincide with juneteenth as the house moves forward to study its legacy and make proposals on repurations. watch this.

>> i sit here as the great grandson of a former slave. this hearing is yet another important step in the long and heroic struggle of african-americans for the damages inflicted by slavement, imposed emancipation and racial sclusry policies. >> it is a cancer on the soul of our nation. i believe this is an urgent moment. this billy am now leading is the beginning of an important process. not just to exam inand study the history, also to find practical ideas to address the enduring injustices in our nation. >> senate majority leader on tuesday, rejected reparations

for safely saying the country had addressed this through civil rights legislation and the election of barack obama. >> daniel, i covered that hearing yesterday. while this bill faces huge obstacles, it is at least sparking this national conversation about how the country should atone for its past. it appears to be emerging as something of a test for preparations for the 2020 democratic hopeful. how is this going to play out in this race? >> i think there is a lot of democratic candidates that want to be on the right side of this issue at least for how their voters see it. s a number of democrats have said this is something they are

interested in. you have to wait until they take back control of the senate. even then, they will probably focus on other issues first like climate change, health care, jobs and infrastructure and only go to repurations if they've kind of ticked off other items on the to-do list. >> there is a kmcommon theme he. when you try and get things done, we have to wait and see as to one party getting control of both. let's talk about the latest poll daniel for 2020 contenders. warren surging as biden slightly slumps, just slightly. bidd biden at 32, warren at 15 and sanders at 14. what do you make of this? >> my colleagues had a great story about how warren has become much more palletable to

the democratic party. they see her as an alternative to biden. they would much prefer warren to sanders who they don't view as having the chops to win a race against trump. they say warren's ideas resonate more with americans that wealth tax on people that have more than $50 million. that is something supported by majority of americans as well as 74% of democrats. warren has improved every year and has lots of policies that kind of back up her campaign. >> i think it speaks to the fact that warren talks a lot about the issue. being asked over and over again if issues matter, if that is what they are taking into account or being the current president or if those are one

and the same. she knows the issues and talks about the issues. i think this is representative of that. thank you. a special independent un investigator said the saudi crown prince should be investigated further in relation to the murder of jamal khashoggi. yesterday releasing a 100-page report. the access by turkish intelligence by some recordings from inside where he was killed and reported gruesome details and concluded he was the victim of a deliberate execution and killing for which the state of saudi arabia is responsible under international human rights

law. she added every expert reported it inconceivable that this could be performed without the crown prince being aware. the only conclusion is that there is credible evidence furthering investigation. calling for the trial of several suspects to be suspended saying it doesn't mean international standards. >> yet, the current president denies the possibility of the prince's involvement. some republicans including the president are calling had imto scrap that potential plan. >> and a check on your forecast. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment.

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r ray moore will announce later if he'll run again in 2020 despite tweets from president trump calling on him to stay out of the race. moore's wife confirmed the announcement and said more details would come soon. moore lost to jones in a special election amid allegations of decades old sexual misconduct by moore with young girls. jones will run for reelection but is considered one of the most vulnerable senators of the cycle. they view moore nomination as the best chance to win reelection and vow to oppose his candidacy. >> we had a lot of storms rolling through areas of arkansas and texas.

many wake up without power. these storms have weakened and are still tracking in northern georgia. we have about 50 million people with all the big cities included in this. seeing scattered severe storms. you could get hit. a 50/50 shot of being hit. the concentration of the severe storms could be a little higher. maybe an isolated tornado. wind damage and especially large hail which is rare for the east coast but we could see some baseball sized hail. we had a lot of rain in the philadelphia area. streams and creeks in flood stage. we'll have to keep an eye on that. 40 million people still at risk as the heavy rain now heading towards northeast and new england later on today. heaviest rain falls are hinting

out areas that haven't been hit as baddy. areas from new york city to long island, still possibly another inch or two. travel forecast possibly delays. we are clearing it out and heating it up. an active weather pattern is replaced by a little quiet especially in the east this weekend. >> i'm still thinking about that baseball-sized hail. >> i'm sure later today, you'll see pictures of that. still ahead, a divided federal reserve holds steady on interest rates. >> we'll get a report of how that could impact your wallet and overall economy. we'll be right back.

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welcome back, one of the u.s. industries is apparently facing signs of weakness despite that backing. u.s. steel announced it will temporarily idle two plants in michigan cutting production by 200,000 tons or more a month. they will improve when market conditions improve. this comes despite the tariffs put in place last year designed to help.

as the "washington post" points out, this comes amid border concerns of slow downs in that industry which could derail a key economic ability of the trump organization. steel prices have fallen amid demand. that assessment runs in stark contrast to president trump's take on it. >> thanks to our tariffs, american steel mills are roaring back to life. you know that. the federal reserve held the line on interest rates yesterday formally announcing withere wil be no rate cuts this year. predicting one or two cuts in the future but not until 2020. we'll go live to london, how can that help americans and the overall economy?

>> this could help the overall economy and consumers like you and me by offering a real reprieve. so things like this path of cutting rates. it would be because they see signs of weakness in the u.s. economy. at the moment they said that it's too early to make that call. they're still watching the data. they said the labor market remains at a strong place but they are going to continue to watch over the coming month in particular to see whether some of the weaker signs largely coming from the manufacturing sector provide enough of a trend for them to take action. in terms of the market reaction to the meeting, we saw equities rally. that is happening across the globe today and we saw treasury yields come down on the back of this decision. no chang to rates, as you said. the next meeting you watch will

take place in july. >>. >> this is an interesting debut to keep an eye on today. slack has followed the path of spotify. they are opting for a direct listing of their shares, rather than a traditional listing. what that means is they're not going to be selling any new shares, not going to be using the help of underwriters but they're going to directly list their new shares on the exchange. spotify did that as well. >> live from london, thank you. >> jim vandehei has a look at this morning's "1 big thing." and the latest on that breaking news overnight as u.s. officials confirm a u.s. military drone was shot down in an unprovoked attack by iran.

former nato allied supreme leader james stavridis will be on the show. >> and what joe biden is facing after citing his work with segregist senators. "morning joe" is on the way. segregist senators "morning joe" is on the way. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient

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and joining us from here in washington is co-founder and ceo of axios is jim vandehei. what's the "1 big thing" this morning? >> we're looking at joe biden and comments he made about the two s segregationists. they were worried for some time

he would harkin back to the good old days and seem like a democrat of the past. that's what worries the biden camp most. they're not as worried about some people running against them. he said he's not going to apologize. it's more these little reminders, some subtle, some blatant, that he is much older than the rest of the field and that he is of old democratic politics as opposed to buttigieg. >> so what's the strategy for them going forward? >> it's discipline. he has been pretty disciplined so far. remember the rap on him forever is that he has a lot of gas or he says things that gets himself in trouble. he just has to be talking about the future, the future and why he, more than others, could beat trump. that is an ace in the hole for him is a lot of democrats, especially older democrats, feel

like he more than anyone else could beat trump and he knows he has to say that over, over and over again and make sure that that's what people think of him. >> and sticking with 2020, axios i understand is also looking at the democrats' nightmare scenario in 2020. what does that look like? >> democrats have lots of nightmares still stemming from 2016. but the big one and david wasserman and political handicappers have been talking about that this week, that democrats could win the popular vote, it was 3 million this time, might be by 5 million this time and still lose the presidency. they could do better in texas, they could do better in california, they could do better in a couple of states but they could even flip pennsylvania, they could flip michigan and still lose the presidency if trump's able to hold places like wisconsin, arizona, florida and north carolina. and so there's a lot of talk about how do you make sure that

doesn't happen? there is a little bit of a electoral vote cushioned for trump. when you talk to democrats, they're convinced trump's going to win. you talk to republicans and they're like look at the polls in the states, look at his favorable numbers. there's no way a lot of republicans think he could win. it's all everyone thinking they knew it would happen in 2016 still haunts them today. >> we often talk about, jim, how a unified party is the winning party at the end of the day. are democrats strategizing with regards to this and basically asking themselves how do we stay unified? >> i don't know how you could possibly be unified when you have 24 candidates this early in the process. it has to be ugly before you unify. there's an authentic debate inside the party. there's a lot of party on the warren wing who want to push the boundaries in terse ms of publi policie policies.

others like biden want to be more centrist and focused on beating trump. once you get like that, trump will union fight democrats like no other person or dynamics in politics. >> what factors could be the deciding factor in this election? trump campaign manager said trump wants to win new hampshire, nevada and new mexico. joe biden thinks he could bring back pennsylvania. unpack this for us. >> i think a lot of those states that trump said he could win but didn't win seemed like stretches. hard to see him winning in new hampshire and mexico. i think it's going to come down to pennsylvania, wisconsin. i come from wisconsin so i have a bias there. if you told me today who wins wisconsin, that person probably wins the presidency or north carolina, which is always sort of in play.

trump's getting clobbered by 8 to 10 points in some of those polls. >> and democrats are holding their convention in milwaukee. jim vandehei, i know you're sticking around for "morning joe." we'll be reading axios a.m. in just a little while. >> that does it for us this thursday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside geoff bennett. "morning joe" starts right now. >> i worry about iranian himgenony,i worry about their align with vladimir putin. as you look at the geo political workout there, iran, russia, china, tell me your concerns. >> don't worry about a thing. everything's under control. doesn't worry about a thing. >> okay. so here i am. i was about to say