nations that are apparently free of such fires. that is our broadcast for this evening. thank you so much for being here with us. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. this morning, there are growing calls for labor secretary alex acosta to resign. he's defending his role in securing a plea deal for wealthy sex offender jeffrey epstein more than a decade ago while top democrats demand that he step down. plus, new reporting from nbc news. details how migrant children held in a border station in yuma, arizona, not only told about the conditions but also sexual assault. and a federal organization rejects the dispute over the

2020 census. good morning, it's mens july 10th, i'm geoff bennett alongside alex witt. how many hours of television have we done together and we're meeting in person just today. >> yeps i'm here for you. >> thank you. to the top stories. president trump said he's not a fan of registered sex offender jeffrey epstein. that's a contrast to the comments in the new york magazine in which he's quoted as saying i've known jeff for 15 years. terrific guy. he's fun to be with. it's even said that he likes women like i do and many of them are on the younger side. here's what president trump told reporters at the white house? >> anybody else?

>> well, i knew him like everybody in palm beach knew him. when people in palm beach knew him, he was a fixture in palm beach. i've had a falling out with him a long time ago. i don't think i've spoken to him 15 years. i wasn't a fan. yeah, long time ago. i'd say 15 years. i was not a fan of his. i was not a fan of his. meanwhile, calls for resignation of labor secretary alex acosta continue to intensify. acosta is being criticized in his role that allowed epstein to forego the possibility of a heavy jail time for sex offenders involving minors. multiple top democrats say acosta needs to go, including all of the senate democrats who voted to confirm him in 2017. but so far no republicans in congress have joined them and that includes senator ben sasse

who demands the justice department's handling of him but has refrain for calling for acosta's resignation. >> the nonprofit organization looks like it was protecting the people who were raping those little girls in palm beach. there's an ongoing investigation that the office of professional responsibility is conducting and they're reporting back in the judiciary committee and then we'll have a lot more to say. >> last night, democratic senators tim kaine and patty murray asked the justice department for an update on their personal investigation of the epstein deal. we're going to cover that with senator kaine on "morning joe." alex acosta is weighing in on the latest charges citing in a series of tweets, quote, the crimes committed by epstein are

horrific, and i'm pleased that the new york prosecutors are moving forward. with the evidence available more than a decade ago, federal prosecutors insisted that epstein go to jail, register as a sex offender. and put the world on notice that he was a sexual predator. the new york prosecution offers an opportunity to more fully bring him to justice but miami herald investigative journalist julie k. brown who spent more than two years interviewing more than 60 women and girls who said they were sexually abused by epstein, she hit that on twitter saying except the records show that you had evidence in 2007. remember the 53 page indictment, the witnesses who worked for epstein. >> allegations for protests are among the latest claims of poor treatment conditions migrant children are facing at the u.s. border. according to the information conducted by government case

managers and obtained by nbc news, dozens of children held at a detention facility in yuma, arizona, have reported these horrendous conditions. a 16-year-old guatemalan boy said when he and others in his cell complained about the taste of food and water, the border patrol agents took the mats out of their cells in retaliation, forcing them to sleep on hard concrete. a teen age girl said a man groped her. according to the account, the girl said she felt embarrassed as the officer was speaking in english to other officers and laughing during the entire process. speaking last night, two california congresswoman expressed how critical it is for congress to have oversight. >> is there a problem from grassroots, cp agents all the way to the top.

that's with need to hold them accountable. >> i believe the children and we should all believe the collision and we have to change these conditions. >> i begin to wonder where we need to have new procedures in place where we have female officers overseeing young girls at these facilities and not letting the men do it. it's disturbing to hear about it and to hear there is no investigation, completely unacceptable, and we have to do something to prevent this from. happening and exposing other young girls to people like this if this is what's going on. >> in response to the allegation, the border patrol said the allegations do not align with our facility. it's important to note that the allegation of sexual assault is already under investigation by the department of homeland security's office of inspector general. >> the trump administration was dealt another blow in its fight to add another controversial citizenship question to next year's census as a federal judge blocked all but two of the justice department's

substitutions. meaning those lawyers who had reportedly expressed ethical and legal concerns about arguing a case had to continue unless the justice department can provide an adequate and specific explanation for their withdrawal. u.s. district jesse fuhrman who ruled against adding the question earlier this year called the request, quote, patently deficient and lacking satisfactory reasons. the doj's three-paragraph notification had tried to assure the court that the replacement would not disrupt the slow proceeding which judge fuhrman wrote, quote, was not good enough given the court argument deadline on friday. the news laying hard at the white house as president trump railed at the, quote, obama-appointed judge and questioned whether the denial was on twitter. the justice department has the option to resubmit its request to replace attorneys which will only be accepted if submitted along with sworn statements from each lawyer outlining why they're quitting so late in the

case. joining us from washington to help make sense of this is a reporter for "the washington post," eugene scott. great to see you this morning appreciate you getting up. given the new developments, it looks like the president is going to have to take no on the answer to the census, or will he, do you think? >> well, for now, he certainly does. i know there was some frustration among career lawyers at the department with how the case was being handled which is part of the reason why some wanted to see some changes and did not want to work on the case. but the judge just didn't feel like sufficient evidence had been provided as to why decisions needed to be made related to changes this closely to their next meeting. and so, this whole process so far is not going the way that the president would have hoped. he's blaming judges, but the reality so far is that his administration doesn't appear to provide sufficient evidence for his question originally for changes that need to be made. or just how this benefits the

american people as a whole. >> yeah. so, can we get back to the jeffrey epstein case and specifically relating to our current labor secretary alex acosta when he was the attorney general for the state of florida. he's fully under the microscope because they're trying to figure out what went on in the nonprosecution of epstein, that was back in 2008. you got lawmakers what investigation they might do. where does that stand, eugene? >> it's best to say he's fully under the microscope from democratic lawmakers. we've seen ben sasse speak out. we've seen lindsey graham suggest if something bad happened, that should be looked in. it's coming from the left. we've seen nancy pelosi and chuck schumer call for his resignation. yesterday in the gaggle with the president, the president didn't seem to suggest at all any great focus or will to look into this

situation because he's so pleased with how acosta has performed as the labor secretary. but we do know there are democratic lawmakers who want to see a hearing and would like to make public whatever findings with how the case was handled. >> eugene, thank you so much. time for coffee. we'll talk to you in a bit. let's get to lead diplomatic cables which reveal that sir ken darroch does not think who highly of this president. in those memos, darroch wrote that trump is inseept and insecure. and trump has said, a back wac and pompous fool. the state department was asked about that yesterday. >> the state department -- >> we will continue to deal with all accredited individuals until

we get any further guidance from the white house or the president which we will, of course, abide by the president's direction. >> so, you have not received any instruction from the white house to cut contacts with the embassy or the ambassador? >> no. >> meanwhile, boris johnson, the front-runner to become the uk's next prime minister is refusing to say whether he would keep darroch on as ambassador. johnson's challenger jeremy hunt is taking a different route tweeting that trump's twitter comments are disrespectful and wrong with respect to great britain and the prime minister. let's turn to the 2020 race because joe biden reported $15.6 million in family income in the two years after he left the white house. that's according to the tax filings released yesterday. the figure makes the former vp the highest earner among the

competitors in the 2020 nomination. dr. bill biden made $20 million and $5.8 million in 2018 and mostly from their book deals and speaking fees. joe biden reportedly gave as many as 40 speeches with fees as high as $235,000. >> okay. >> still ahead -- >> jinx -- >> government lawyers drop plans for former national security adviser michael flynn to testify at an upcoming trial. plus, what mental mitch mcconnell is saying about amy mcgraff's bid to unseat him. a check of weather when we come right back. johnson & johnson is a baby company.

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his efforts to a lenient sentence for lying to federal agents, michael flynn has backed off in a federal case against a former business associate. flynn was set to be the star witness at that trial which deals with lobbying work. however, suggesting in court filings they do not believe flynn would tell the truth on the stand and they now believe he's a co-conspirator rather than a cooperating witness. flynn now flames his former lawyers of filing inaccurate forms without his knowledge, although flynn is not disputing that the filing itself contains some false information. a federal judge delayed sentencing flynn last year regarding lying to the fbi so he could continue cooperating with the government in a separate case in hopes of obtaining a lighter punishment. joining us here on the set, legal analyst danny cevallos.

can you make some sense of this? >> isn't it training to think, many months ago when flynn came before the judge and the judge said i should let you cooperate a little more, otherwise, i may give you jail time, that flynn might have been better off taking that jail time. because now, if he's backing out, he's essentially breaching that plea agreement. if you look back at flynn's original charges, yes, his sentencing guidelines range is zero to six months. so it's likely he will be sentenced within that range, but the statutory maximum for this crime is five years. so if this plea agreement were to vanish somehow which i'm not saying is going to happen, this is a crime that has a maximum of five years. but in this case, in many cases, cooperating witnesses sometimes go south. they don't do it as often in federal case because there's just so much paperwork and so many layers of the cooperation process that the government has kicked the tires before they

finally settle on using a witness, another bad guy to catch yet another bad guy. >> and we're, of course, talking about somebody who used to be the national security adviser, pointing that out. this is at least the second time, or second time he's accused of making false statements or admitting things. what does this mean overall for his first plea agreement? >> his first plea agreement which he entered into, it's not certain whether or not the government is going to completely blow up that plea agreement. and he's been cooperating. that's the funny thing about cooperation. when you cooperate with the federal government it is a long process, saand oftentimes, cooperators find that, wow, this is a lot more than i bargained for. i was prepared to give up that guy and that guy. but i wasn't going to give up this guy. sometimes, they're surprised. sometimes, it's a family member. they didn't plan on burying somebody that they planned on way back at the beginning or they just get cold feet.

but the prosecutors are aware this happens sometimes. and when that does, sometimes, they can introduce the cooperator's prior statements that they won't say now on the stand against him on the stand. >> will you explain something quickly, even though the russia investigation is over, "idomuel the special counsel, they get confused. so what more could he offer the government after the investigation is done? >> that's the essence of the cooperating witness. even though he agreed to cooperate on issue "a," "b" and "c," the government can come out with new things they're investigating. after all, when the government conduct s investigations, they'e secret. and with flynn, people are bringing up, oh, he's getting cold feet. he's not so sure he wants to continue cooperating. if he does that, he's rolling the dice with this judge who already sent him a signal months ago that he's going to hold him

strictly to this agreement and that the judge has to be satisfied that he's cooperating. that was an unusual event. >> danny cevallos, thank you so much. i learn something every time you're here. let's get a check on weather with bill karins. >> all eyes on the tropics, the north gulf of mexico, of course, obviously what happened with hykel last year. this storm is still in indiants infancy. it has three days and then head for the texas/louisiana border or maybe southern louisiana. it's generally going to head west. it's kind of centered south of tallahassee. it's not organized. there's no center of low pressure so nothing officially to track yet. the hurricane center says this is about a 90% chance this is going to become a tropical depression. we're pretty sure we're tracking something, say, tomorrow morning. here is the development zone. this is where it is now. it drifts just south of the

coastal areas from mobile to biloxi to new orleans. what we do know, we're going to get heavy rain out of this, regardless of the intensity. how much surge and wind we deal with is the million dollar question. one of the concerns for the new orleans area, you still have the mississippi river which has still a ton of water and major flooding from baton rouge. then you could get the surge with water coming into the mississippi. and we have right in the middle is new orleans and baton rouge. they are expecting some possibilities of some big flooding issues. and here's that rainfall forecast. 48 inches widespread, a foot of rain, mostly targeting louisiana and mississippi so, we'll continue to update this, again, if the timing, if we're going to get this thing, a strong tropical storm or a low-end hurricane it will likely be friday and saturday. that's the biggest days for impacts. new york city is set to celebrate the world cup champion u.s. women's national team.

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ceremony at city hall. and they're expected to fly to los angeles to attend the espy awards. joe manchin introduced a bill that would block federal funding for the men's tournament when the u.s. co-coasts in 2026. until the u.s. soccer federation agrees to pay equal pay for both teams. golf's 148th open championship that is going to tee off in north ireland next thursday, however, it's going to do so without former champion john daly who has withdrawn after the organizer denied his request to use a cart. daly who suffered from an arthritic knee regularly uses a cart on the senior tour and was granted an exemption to use one back in may. he's instead, expected to compete state side at the

barbasol until kentucky. >> let the guy have his cart. still ahead, a growing number calling for labor secretary alex acosta to resign. at least one in the trump administration is reportedly ready to see him get the boot, too. plus, the oversight battle by preparing a dozen new subpoenas. we'll tell you which trump associates the judiciary committee is targeting. that's coming up, next. even if you're sensitive. delicious. now, i've heard people say lactaid isn't real milk. ok, well, if it isn't real then, i guess those things over there can't actually be cows. must be some kind of really big dogs, then. sit! bad dog. but prevagen helps your brain with an ingredient originally discovered... in jellyfish. in clinical trials, prevagen has been shown

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♪ welcome back. i'm geoff bennett alongside our friend alex witt who is in for

yasmin. it's the bottom of the hour. let's start with top stories. more and more democrat are calling for removal of labor secretary alex acosta for his role in the nonprosecution agreement with sex offender jeff epstein. president trump is taking a wait and see approach and he even expressed sympathy for his cabinet official acosta in comments to reporters yesterday. take a look. >> you know, if you go back and look at everybody else's decisions, whether it's the-u attorney or assistant u.s. attorney or a judge, you go back 12 or 15 years ago, 20 years ago, and look at their past decisions, i would think you'd probably find they would wish they maybe did it a different way. i do hear that there were a lot of people involved in that decision, not just him. i can only say this from what i know and what i do know he's been a great, really great secretary of labor. the rest of it we'll have to look at. we'll have to look at it very carefully.

but you're talking about a long time ago. again, it was a decision i think made not by him but by a lot of people. i feel badly actually for secretary acosta because i've known him as somebody who worked so hard and has done such a good job. i feel badly about that whole situation. >> meanwhile, a top official in the trump administration is reportedly advising the president to fire secretary acosta. politico reports that on monday acting white house chief of staff mick mulvaney privately advised president trump that the drip of information surrounding acosta will be harmful. the report notes that mulvaney is among the acosta critics who have argued that the secretary has not been aggressive enough in stamping out obama era employment regulations. and they're using the epstein lawsuit to push him out the door. a spokesman for mulvaney did not respond to requests. and party leads are weighing

in. house speaker nancy pelosi is calling on the labor secretary to step down. >> president said he's sticking by the labor secretary. >> no surprise, he knew about this before he nominated him. >> and when asked if she would consider launching impeachment hearings against acosta, pelosi said, quote, it's up to the president. it's his cabinet. we have a great deal of work to do for the good of the american people. we need to focus on that. >> and here's what senate majority leader mitch mcconnell had to say about this yesterday. >> there's no question that the accusations against epstein are horrendous. and i think it's good news that they're being pursued further. as to secretary acosta's continued service, he serves at the pleasure of the president. and i'm inclined to defer to the president to make that decision. >> the house judiciary committee will vote tomorrow to authorize

subpoenas for 12 of special counsel robert mueller's russia probe witnesses. those expected to be called respois more. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell in a fight with amy mcgrath to oust him. mcgrath's announcement generated tons of buzz for most of the day along with the hash tag ditch mitch. the former fighter pilot was one of the most successful candidates during the midterm elections. she nearly lost her bid to unseat andy barr. speaking on capitol hill yesterday, mcconnell was asked if he's worried about mcgrath as an opponent? >> unlike a lot of my members, i won't name any names, i actually enjoy campaigns. as you know, i've had a few of

them. and it will be a spirited race, particularly because i've become leader in the senate. i've noticed i get more attention than i used to. >> senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said he would like to see secretary of state mike pompeo throw his hat in the for the kansas senate race. >> the kansas race is still unfolding. i've said several times. i'm not sure the president agrees with this, that i'd love to see the secretary of state run for the senate in kansas. but the filing deadline is not until next june. and mcconnell's comments come after kris kobach announced he would run for fill that seat vacated by pat roberts. roberts said he has spoken with 11 republicans that would include pompeo. roberts said i think he shows a little leg, if you want to use that term. i think the president probably pulled down the cuff pretty

quick and i think he has no time to consider it. pompeo plans to spend part of next month in that state for a partial vacation. according to plans, he has asked friends in chance political and business worlds to keep their schedules open. >> joining us again, a reporter from "the washington post" eugene scott. it used to be being secretary of state was the pinnacle of one's career, but mitch mcconnell apparently has other plans for mike pompeo. if he were to jump in, how would that affect this race? >> well, it would certainly give some sense of confidence to mcconnell that he could keep the senate. and that's a major concern. we know that 2018 was a very difficult year for the republican party. and he's thinking what about could happen with an election year, where the president is not doing particularly well. and that could affect turnout from the left, that could cost the republican party to lose

some of its seats in the senate and congress. and this is one that he wants to maintain. we know that other conservatives like kris kobach have expressed interest in the seat. and a race like that could be far more risky for the gop. so, it should be no surprise to see mcconnell going in a direction that he thinks would make a win more certain. whether or not pompeo would actually make that move, considering his relationship with the president, and how pleased the president peaappearo be with the job he's doing isn't clear right now. no major decisions have to be made this week and we can expect changes to opinions and views coming from all of those parties after a further investigation of the landscape is conducted. >> can we get back to alex acosta, eugene, we were talking about the fact that the politico report you that have, chief of staff mick mulvaney is asking for him to step down. you've got more members of congress asking him to step

down, certainly on the democratic side. what is your best hunch here? is there any sort of scuttle but butt that is saying he is not long for that? >> it's very possible. we do know that the president does not like this type of negative attention, especially on his cabinet. it certainly exposes some questions and brings into question, should i say, his ability to hire the best people. something that he pledged while campaigning. and just as another headline that he doesn't need as he's heading into 2020, especially considering the problems he has with women and concerns about his treatment of individuals involved in issues related to misconduct, related to sexual activity. but the reality is, the president is really pleased with the job acosta has done related to the economy. and keeping unemployment numbers low. and so we could see him decide that ultimately he wants to

stand by this person who has helped this administration. >> okay. thank you so much, eugene scott. we'll see you again coming up soon on "morning joe." thank you. still ahead -- the world of politics and entertainment are mourning the loss of two huge figures we'll look back at the lives of ross per wrote and actor rip torn. and your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. " is back in a moment ♪

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welcome back, everyone. ross perot, of course, the self-made texas billionaire who ran twice for president as a plain talking independent, he died yesterday in his home in dallas surrounded by his family. known for turning the 1992 presidential election upside down, perrot will be remembered for one of the most colorful ever to run for the president of

the united states. >> reporter: he was a billionaire before donald trump. >> party is over and it's time for the cleanup crew. >> reporter: a man from texas born into poverty who built an empire. launched daring missions into iran. turning the presidential race upside down. he was leading president bush 41 and democratic challenger bill clinton in a three-way race. >> you don't care about anything but making money there will be a job sucking sound going south. >> reporter: with folksy praise and twang that was fodder for dana carvey. >> i can't deal with it unless i can feel it, touch it even more. >> reporter: always combative on tv. >> may i finish? >> reporter: using a dizzying array of charts. >> it's time to take out the trash and clean out the barn. >> reporter: abruptly running

the race and still winning 20% of the wrote. the bushes blamed it on the loss to bill clinton. and running again for president. a naval academy graduate, ross perot was inspired by winston churchill. >> never give in. never give in. never, never, never. >> reporter: and by his never-ending love for the lone star state. >> i was texas-born, texas-bred, and text akana. and hollywood is announcing the death of rip torn. no cause of death was given. his career spanned tv and movies and he made his film debut in the role of 1956 "baby doll." he'll be known for his role as

the bombastic producer. we all know those. >> oh. you're not going to be here long. >> he won an emmy for the role in 1996 and nominated several times. torn was also nominated for oscar and tony award. >> wow. let's get to bill karins. >> i didn't realize we're airing grievances. a very interesting segment. all right, let's get into the hurricane forecast, hopefully not going to be hurricane but potentially could be. an area of low pressure is trying to spin up here south of the florida panhandle. notice it's over the gulf, warm waters here. a strong storm but disorganized. later on today, the hurricane hunters will send an aircraft out here to see if we have what's considered consolidated low pressure. something that we track as the center of the storm. we need that to intensify. our european model is still the

most accurate. this overnight brings it pretty much south and west south of new orleans. you notice it gets stronger by the tile we get to thursday. by the time we get to friday and saturday, this model is actually becoming a hurricane and heading somewhere near the texas/louisiana border. that's just one of our computer models. so the range goes may this be a low-end tropical storm to a low-end hurricane. none of our computer models have it being a robust storm. it still is going to bring tremendous amounts of rainfall to louisiana. we could have problems with storm surge. the other head line, how about 4 million people under heat advisories. the heat is really on. oklahoma city is under excessive heat warning now. you have advisories go all the way up to st. louis. yesterday, guys, it was 112 in tulsa with the heat index. today and tomorrow is going to be about 107 to 110. >> yeah, it's --

>> it's summer. >> yeah, exactly. >> thank you. still ahead, twitter takes new steps to police speech and crack down on hateful conduct on its platform. plus chief jerome powell prepares to go before congress on his take of the state of the economy. details of what he may say. and the other stories driving the business day, coming up, next. fights cancer, repairs shattered bones, relieves depression, restores heart rhythms, helps you back from strokes, and keeps you healthy your whole life. from the day you're born we never stop taking care of you.

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powell is scheduled to testify before congress today and tomorrow to possibly make the case for a potential cut in interest rates. cnbc willem marx joins us live from london. well let willem, how are the markets reacting as investigators await powell's testimony. >> let's go to the next picture in europe. but in the u.s., it looks like the three major indices willlow have seen the yields in some of the bonds across europe rising in the last hour or so. there does seem to be some expectation around this communication conundrum facing jerome powell. what he has to do based on the available economic data is decide not exactly whether he should cut or not but how to communicate when and how big that interest rate cut will be, and that's the real challenge for him in this testimony because of course there's a lot of people riding a lot of money on this decision, and we have heard a lot of criticism from

president trump pushing for the cuts to come sooner than later. twitter has user based on hate speech, what they are calling dehumanization on the basis of religion. they sent out a user survey, got feedback from people who feel like they should change their system. they will delete posts that they consider that offense. they might win support from those who have been victimized and likely to anger those who don't like a curb on free speech. >> i'm sure you're a fan of streaming services and when you're a super fan of shows like friends, you have to know where it's good, it's leaving netflix for good, going to hbo max. what more can you tell us so we can watch it? friends ended a long time ago, but it has had millions of viewers in the uk and u.s. ever since then.

netflix punished t netflix purchased the rights for it. analysts put it above 100 u.s. million dollars. that set of rights ran out this year, and now hbo max, the warner media effort is going to be taking those over. in terms of what they're trying to do, of course they're competing with the likes of nbc universal's own streaming app by bringing in their own original content like netflix has done, as well as tried and true formulas like friends. >> thank you for the update from london, appreciate it. a look at this morning's one big thing, and after that on "morning joe," president trump's labor secretary faces growing pressure over the arrest of jeffrey epstein. the latest on the calls for alex acosta to resign for his role in the agreement that allowed epstein to avoid a harsh jail sentence. tim kaine will join the conversation and explain why he says acosta needs to go. "morning joe" just moments away. .

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joining us from washington with a look at axios is cofounder and ceo, jim vandeheim. good morning. what's the one big thing. >> we're looking at this grievance group, conservatives from conservative media who are complaining about what they consider to be pervasive bias on twitter, facebook, the big social media platforms, and they plan to use this forum. they're going to keep twitter, facebook and others out of it, and it really is what they're calling a family conversation with conservatives to crank up the criticism on bias. the reason this matters is it's part of a much larger 2020 plan for president trump where he is trying to play the grievance car, cities versus rural, capitalist versus socialist, conservatives against the social media platforms. and in the social media platforms, it's ironic, because

when you look at the data, conservatives especially on facebook tend to do a lot better in terms of getting raeeadershi on their stories and they're seeing stories from conservative o o outlets. >> does this conservative understand with whom they're going to be meeting, this president uses twitter to communicate everything and when it comes to bias, certainly he's putting his side of the story out all the time. is there a likelihood this is going to go someplace and the president would follow? >> well, i think the president used to not care about this topic. his son don jr. tweets about it all the time. i think now has caught the president's attention because he thinks he might be losing followers or losing interaction because of some supposed bias. it's not like trump has not done well on social media. you can argue convincingly that no politician has done better on

social media, in terms of twitter and getting his message out. you see a lot of conservatives, a few have been kicked off facebook or twitter for violating the policies that these platforms have on racist language or, you know, sensitivity language, and that's what he's now worried about. >> let's turn and talk about the labor secretary, alex acosta and the fallout he's facing over the jeffrey epstein arrest. we're hearing that the administration, if he does leave, if thhe is forced to resign, there are those in the administration including the chief of staff, who feel like acosta hasn't been fast enough to enact the trump agenda such that it exists over at the labor department. what's the axios reporting on this? >> exactly what you just stated and i think your viewers are probably savvy enough to understand that when you see a bunch of stories out of the administration essentially throwing him under the bus and saying he wasn't that good of a secretary beforehand, it's not a

good signal about your long-term fate inside the white house. he does not have a ton of credibility. bill duff with the white house chief of staff, trump defended him yesterday but the minute they see it as problematic, trump will do what he needs to do for himself, which might be to push him aside. this is a tough case for them to be able to defend. trump said yesterday, you know, sometimes you have to make settlements in these cases, but you're dealing with the trafficking of young girls, it's creepy. >> very creepy. what else are you watching today? >> yeah, we're taking a look at, we put a lot more emphasis on cities, this big divide between cities and rural areas which i think is at the heart of what trump is talking about in 2020. we are launching a news letter on it today because so much of our economic growth comes from the biggest 25 cities and it creates more disparity, not just income inequality, access to education, access to jobs,

access to technology, and i think over the next ten years, one of the big trends that people need to pay attention to is how all of these now innovations, new technologies, new companies, really are being tightly centered in places like san francisco, new york, washington, d.c., at the expense of all of these other communities which is one of the reasons you get so much sort of upheaval and people who don't feel like they're sharing in the wealthy. >> and that goes back to what you said earlier, the president is going to use those divisions, people who live in cities, versus those who live in rural areas. >> for sure. if you look at the politics of people in big cities, almost every big city is governed by a liberal. very few republicans run cities because they are running for the hills, they don't want to be anywhere near liberals, they are living in the country or suburbs, it's why you get the red blue map, and why you have so much emotionalism in our

politics which leads to volatility, which leads to who the hell knows is going to win the race. we don't know. i think our politics are being