it's hard. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm craig melvin. thanks for watching. good morning. i'm jo ling kent at msnbc world headquarters. it's 6:00 in the east, 3:00 out west. here's what's happening now. new reaction and questions this morning after president trump's twitter attack on congressman ee lienl a cummings. what's behind it. a rare endorsement from president barack obama. what made him give his stamp of approval to a newspaper column. the great debate as more democrats join calls for img impeachment. the one piece of evidence they still need. murder mystery overseas. two americans held in the killing of an italian police officer. more questions than answers in the search for truth.

there is new reaction and outrage this morning as president trump doubles down on his twitter attack on house oversight chair elijah cummings, calling his baltimore district a rat and rodent infested mess. taking jabs and retweeting videos allegedly showing trash in cummings' district. also suggesting the congressman should focus on his district rather than congressional oversight. this response, the #we are baltimore began trending on twitter and the bault mo sun editorial board writing better to have a few rats than be one. nancy pelosi quick to support their democratic colleague. >> my mother used to say, it's a shame when a person is ignorant and they don't recognize that they are ignorant. he has done nothing but proven that he is exactly a racist. >> i know that elijah cummings understands that his grace, his

dignity, his ability to be an effective oversight chairman is exactly why trump is attacking him. because he's too effective and trump is so ineffective. >> the mayor of baltimore defending his city and explaining why he's refusing to ignore the president's attacks. >> you can ride through the congressional district and see all the development we've done and we're still working to rebuild some of the -- that need the help the most. we're not going to ignore anyone degrading our city -- no one. [ inaudible ] >> i don't consider it fueling the fire. i look at it as defending baltimore city, the city where i live. >> congressman cummings responded to that in his -- it is his constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the executive branch that but that it is his moral duty to fight

for his constituents. here are some of his constituents. >> the president is really not being the man that he's supposed to be. the things he said about baltimore, about the rats and everything, if he's that concerned about it, why don't he do anything about it? >> it ain't no support. the president probably never been here. probably don't know for himself. he don't know. he only speaking on knowledge from what he getting from everybody else. come here and see it. get the community together. that's not being done. >> former first lady michelle obama tweeting yesterday afternoon a video showcasing a baltimore step team performed in 2017. >> this is michele obama -- when someone is cruel, acts like a bully, you don't -- [ inaudible ] when they go low, we go high. raise our standards to the sky.

>> meanwhile, former president barack obama retweeting an opinion piece signed by 149 african-americans who served in his administration. obama writing he's proud of what this team has accomplished. his former staffers write, quote, we are african-americans, we are patriots, we refuse to sit idly by as racism, homoph e homophobia -- the poisoning of our democracy. good morning to you, mike. the president doubling down on his attacks. what exactly is going on here, mike? >> jorngood morning to you, jo. >> he's tripling down. local officials, presidential candidates, members of the public calling him a racist and accusing him of using racial divisions within this country to fire up his base for political gain. the outrage continues.

the president continuing to tweet on through the night. only taking a break yesterday while he was at his golf property in northern virginia for about four or five hours yesterday. it's important to remember the context here. the president had been simmering all week because elijah cummings, the chairman of the oversight committee and the house gave a grilling to the acting department of homeland security secretary, kevin mcmaka lien asking about the detention centers and in cummings' words sitting in their own filth. that prompted a baltimore trump supporter to go into west baltimore, just a portion of a sprawling district that representative cummings has in maryland and film these troubled areas or particular localities or pieces of property where there was trash strewn on the street and some people getting water from a fire hydrant. the president seizing on that very early after he saw it on fox news and continuing to tweet

throughout the day. the controversy continues. meanwhile, it should be noted that representative cummings, as the chairman of this committee, has just gained the authority to subpoena presidential records, nords messages and emails sent on a private server by white house officials in possible potential violation of the presidential records act. those people that would be subject to those subpoenas include jared kushner and ivanka trump. a lot of sore points at the white house as the controversy heightens and the rage continues in the fallout over what president trump is doing. >> jo. >> mike viqueira, thanks so much. joining me now is david leventhal and -- jonathan -- >> the basic question. why is this unfolding and why is it happening right now? >> number one, i think the president obviously, as mike

reported, is not happy with congressman cummings. they actually at one point were looking to broker a deal on lowering prescription drug prices together. but the president is not happy with the congressman over his investigation and interrogation of kevin maclien in terms -- jared kushner's money is tied to ivanka trump's money and to donald trump's grandchildren's money. jared kushner owns what critics have called slums just around, you know, the slum apartment complexes around congressman cummings' district. there's a lot of political push here. at the same time, here's another backdrop, jo. you've got the president doing as much as he can to try to win over white noncollege educated voters and we saw this with his

attacks on the squad, the four congresswomen of color, just a couple weeks ago. there seems to be a belief on his part if he attacks people of color who are in congress, that's going to be effective with his base. it's not going to alienate more people than it turns out to the polls. >> dave, what do you think, is that going to work with the base here? >> it could very well work with the base. but you got to almost think and squint really hard and remember what the president said during the state of the union address when he called on all americans, democrats and republicans to reject the politics of retribution and that seemed like a long time ago we had that conversation. >> long time ago. >> nevertheless, two things are going to happen. donald trump is not going to quit. he's going forward with any attack that's going to play with what he considers to be a base of supporters who will come out and not only support him in the 2020 election, year and a half

away, but also in the interim too. number two, you can expect that the democrats are going to act like a swarm of hornets, even the big impeachment question looms large about what democrats are going to do vis-a-vis donald trump. regardless whether impeachment is a path they take or not, the investigations will continue. the house is going to try to do everything that it can to make donald trump's life miserable and that's just going to be expected as we go forward here. >> john, the "washington post" is weighing in. quote, the president's allies say a combative approach appeals to republicans who were tired of being accused of racism. appealing to that white working class that we've been talking about here will not necessarily cost the president moderate voters. does that work out here? does the math add up? >> we'll have to see, of course, jo. i think, the strategy of going out there and talking about how

the president is going to make blatantly racist appeals with the hope that when there is a pushback that he's making blatantly racist appeals that will anger enough people who feel like they're being unfairly called racists for supporting him in the blatantly racist appeals seems like a dangerous political strategy. however, it's the only one the president is left with because he's so alienated people of color in the country and white people that don't like the way he approaches politics. that's not just the people who voted for hillary clinton last time in the 2018 midterm elections we saw a lot of white suburbanites move away from donald trump and the republican party. it's a numbers game and it's a numbers game in a small set of states that make up the balance of the electoral college. that's where it will be. >> it could backfire in the sense that a new poll came out.

fox news poll showing that most americans reject, regardless of party and certainly independence, reject the notion of donald trump doing what he's doing as it applies to race. that's an issue as well. >> dave, i want to talk about the family issue here. congressman cummings, his -- listen to cummings during a hearing. >> you feel you're doing a great job, right? is that what you're saying snoo. >> we're doing our level best. >> what does that mean? what does that mean when a child is sitting in their own feces? can't take a shower? come on, man. what's that about? none of us would have our children in that position. they are human beings. >> dave, do you think this is actually tied to the border here, the president following a strategy with these attacks or is this more about his own

family and some of the things that congressman cummings wants from the trump administration? >> on that state of the union address we mentioned a little while ago, the president said to reject the politics of revenge and revenge is what is being served up in heaps right now this week. elijah cummings, been a massive thorn in donald trump's side. he's said things that have clearly infuriated donald trump and donald trump is just not going to sit around and take that. he's going to fire back. he fashions himself to be sort of the ultimate political counter puncher and that's exactly the standard that he's living up to right now. so that's going to happen more and more, not less and less as we go into august here. >> go ahead. >> jo, there's a really important thing going on in that hearing with elijah cummings. the children on the border who are in these deplorable conditions who have been subjected to what the

congressman was describing are so much more sympathetic for the average american than members of congress who obviously hold a lot of power and have the ability to fight back against the president and potentially fight back either for themselves or on behalf of the children at the border. when a member of congress like elijah cummings can speak for them rather than speaking for himself orb the squad speaking for themselves, that's a much different thing. i think it was why it was a powerful moment and i think it's why it got a powerful president. he knows when elijah cummings is speaking to maka lien an like that, the kids, it's a different political calculation. >> you mentioned the go-back attacks of the four congresswomen of color. back when it happened, it was written that the president is not, quote a secret genius playing 3d racism chess. given the latest attacks, does

aoc have a point? does this validate what she's saying? >> it's neither the case that it's unstrategic nor is it that this guy, the president of the united states is playing some sort of advanced game theory here. that is to say, it's pretty obvious what he's doing. yet, it was done with purpose. so as dave points out, the question is, are americans going to buy it? which americans and in which places? i think that remains to be seen. my suspicion is that there is a limit to the number of people that you can turn out with this stuff on your side if you're the president and there is a limit that -- at the same level that the american public is going to take before there's a backlash against it. >> that's the president testing his limits. jonathan and dave, thanks for being here. we'll talk to you later about the post-mueller impeachment push. thanks so much. secret evidence. the legal fight by lawmakers to

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our test now is to get the evidence behind that out to the american people. we're going to go to court today to ask for the grand jury information underlying the mueller report and on monday and tuesday to enforce our subpoena of former white house counsel

don mcgahn. >> that's jerry nadler detailing the new efforts his committee has taken in the fight against the white house's stonewalling. nadler and democrats on his committee are seeking to obtain grand jury material from the investigation arguing articles of impeachment may be under consideration. the president in a new tweet criticized the tweet saying he gave nadler and the trump hating dems the -- katie fang is here. before we get to that position, what's your take on what the position is tweeting here? clear it up for us. did he give democrats the complete mueller report? >> obviously not. there's tons of redactions that the democrats haven't seen simply because of things like the federal rule of criminal procedure 6e, the underlying rule preventing things presented from the grand jury from testimony, transcripts, exhibits that were the underlying basis

for the mueller report. no one has seen it other than people like bill barr and mueller. that's why the democrats are going to court. it was a 53-page application. you put up portions of it, jo, on our screen. it's a really important thing that's been done. it challenges right now what will the department of justice do. we call is the barr doj right now. will they fight it? will they say no, no, no. the democrats can't get this because it's basically, quote, a witch hunt. we know, jo, on wednesday robert mueller testified and there's been a lot of criticism about whether he was dynamic enough. he was asked directly was your investigation a witch hunt to which the answer was no. i think it's important that the democrats get hair hands-on this. like any prosecutor or any person investigating a case, you want the underlying evidence. >> what exactly is nadler

arguing in that petition which i also want to talk about. explain the approach to us. is this litigation that they can win. >> that's the big challenge for the house democrat. they're relying on prior precedent. during the nixon era, with the watergate investigation and subsequent impeachment proceed, there was a formal impeachment inquiry that was voted upon and that was ongoing when they basically released the underlying grand jury information that usually is not disclosed. the difference today is, we don't have a formal vote that's been taken that says we're doing a formal impeachment inquiry in the committee. as a result of that, critics that are trump supporters are saying there is going to be a failed legal attempt to get what is otherwise confidential information that is not disclosed during the course of an investigation. >> all right.

katie, thank you so much. >> thanks. now to election security. why can't president trump and mitch mcconnell see the threat or do they even care? hmm. exactly. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. nice. but, uh... what's up with your... partner?

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now to your morning

headlines. the upper deck of a nightclub collapse on top of revelers in south korea this weekend and two people are dead. four american water polo players are among the 16 people injured. the americans are competing in the world championships there and club owners have been detained on suspicion of negligence. red sox legend david ortiz is finally home this morning after being treated at a boston hospital for more than a month. investigators say ortiz was not the intended target when he was shot at a nightclub while visiting his native dominican republic last month. the former big leaguer was released on friday and will continue rehab and be monitored by nurses and his personal doctor at home. that's good news. we're getting a first look this morning at the 2020 tokyo olympic medals. gold, silver and bronze right there. they were revealed saturday as part of the countdown to next year's summer games. fun fact. the medals are made from recycled mobile phones and small

electronic devices. that's pretty cool. now to breaking news from hong kong. pro-democracy protesters are back on the streets. tens of thousands of people taking part in yet another demonstration. one day after riot police charged into seemingly peaceful crowds firing tear gas and wielding batons and rubber bullets. matt bradley is covering the developments. it's almost 6:30 p.m. there. what have you seen develop today? >> reporter: cause way bay, it's one of the busiest urban centers really in the world and as far as the eye can see, this street is totally occupied. filled with protesters. you know, not only is this the 8th straight week of protests here in hong kong, this is the third straight protest this weekend. all of that to say that the protests aren't going away. folks are still pressing their cause, but the cause and the mood has shifted slightly.

as you remember, before, this was about an extra bill that could see anyone arrested here in hong kong extradited to mainland china to trial or to be detained for a long period of time. now because of violence, this happened repeatedly the last several weeks. especially last week. the focus has changed and so is the mood. as you can see a lot of the guys are kind of more ready. they're wearing helmets, carrying gas masks masks, they're carried anything. a lot of the young people are tearing apart the safety barriers, the railings between the road and the sidewalks and they're building these elaborate scaffolding used to try to prevent when police would try to raid this area and clear out the protesters. that's been happening several times. it all started because of last week a town 45 minutes northwest of central beijing, there was an attack by thugs, white-shirted thugs carrying wooden batons and a lot of protesters today,

they're carrying this poster, it says stop violence. like an anime rendering of the violence. it's got white-shirted protesters attacking what they would consider innocent protesters. a lot of people hearsay this was done in collusion or at least with the tacit acceptance of the hong kong police. that's why we're hearing instead of a lot of slogans directed toward beijing or the extradition bill, they're angry at the police. this could get a lot worse before it gets better. jo ling? >> matt, as the protests develop and become more complicated in nature, i wonder how beijing is react, how is the communist party responding? >> reporter: so far as i said, the focus of the protests has shifted from beijing to here at the police force and the authorities here in hong kong. all beijing wants to do is ignore it. when you watch the official beijing media, the official mainland chinese media, for the

most part, they're trying to let as little of this reach mainland chinese people as possible. we're spoken to mainland chinese people and ask them what do you think the protest is about? they'll say we really don't know. that's why a lot of people in hong kong are trying to bring mainland chinese people in and inform them about what's going on and the causes for what they're protesting here. jo ling. matt bradley with insight. thank you very much. back in washington, president trump firing off more than half a dozen tweets targeting the mueller investigation. he's blasting it as a witch hunt and hoax ignoring the key warning from the former special counsel on russian election interference. >> over the course of my crier, i have seen a number of challenge to our democracy. the russian government's efforts to interfere in our election is among the most serious. it was not a hoax. the indictments we returned against the russians, two different ones, were substantial

in their scope. wasn't a single attempt. they're doing it as we sit here. they expect to do it during the next campaign. >> joining me now is radio talk show host rashad richie and ned ryan, ceo of american majority and former speech writer for george w. bush. >> good morning, jo. >> good to be with you, jo. >> thanks for being here. ned, why is it hard for him to -- why is it hard to take a stand on something that's nonpartisan? >> i mean, he has. people are hoping for a wagging his finger at putin, giving the strong rebuke to him. what i'd rather see and i think i've mentioned this before, russia is going to always meddle. they've been meddling for decades. we should do everything to combat it. i would argue based off pompeo's comments last week, we've got a fairly decent plan. we're going to be diligent and reactive. what i want to see, jo, is for trump to make putin feel pain in

a real way. so when he talks about russia meddling, i want him to continue working with the issue, in central and eastern europe to cut off and hurt putin on his energy exports. that's how you make him feel real pain. that's how you say if you touch us again in election, you'll feel more pain in a real way. about half of putin's revenue comes from energy exports. that's where i want him to focus. >> rashad, what do you think here? >> i think people thought they were voting for trump pence, they were voting for trump putin. when it comes to the russian meddling, the interference, president trump is the eenl one who continues to say that this empire did not somehow help his election. beyond that, i find it quite ironic that the president of the united states can call congresswomen of color, he can call them unpatriotic and say

vile things about them, but can't figure out how to say anything negative about vladimir putin, his bestie who happens to be a dictator. i find is crazy insane and ironic that we have a president of the united states who refuses to stand up and be a leader against known tyrants who attack our very democracy. >> jo, could i -- >> hold on. let's take a look at what's transpired the past few days. i want to look at this in detail. the day after mueller testified, mitch mcconnell blocked two election security bills, he blocked them and called them partisan. ned, how can republicans defend not making elections more secure here? i mean, it's base kpli creating an appearance that they -- are they inviting more election interference or leaving the door open? >> first of all, we've already, 350 million towards more election security. i want to go back. i will address this. the obama administration was warned, legitimately warned in

the summer of 2014 that russia was going to increase efforts to attempt to meddle in democratic elections across the world. i would argue that the obama administration did not do nearly half of what it had to do. >> fair enough. >> ned, i want to jump in here and say i've asked you a question about the trump administration and what's going to be done going forward. >> 350 million, they've gotten much more aggressive. i will say this. i actually agree, i've seen democratic senators tweeting with things i agree on regards to election security. i would love to go back to paper ballots, jo. i would love to do a lot of different things. >> listen, if you have some of the democratic senators, mark warner one of the senators out of oregon. i totally agree with it. there are steps we can do and continue to do. i will say this, the one thing that gave me real pause about election security and cyber hacking, all this, congress pulls all of these national security chiefs to the congress back in february of 2018. their responses were troubling

in fact, i was a little concerned that they might not have a real plan. that all to say i think there are things we need to do moving forward. but to say that somehow the trump administration is not doing something, that's not fair. i think mitch mcconnell's real concern is that we overly nationalize and that the government becomes too much involved in some of the state elections. i think those are some of thinks concerns. he wants to solve those first. >> rashad, there's new report on president trump's tweets on cummings. the washingt"washington post" lt backlash against the tweets and the earlier attacks we talked about a few weeks ago against the squad. it says trump, who turned the deplorable label into a rallying cry for his base is seeking to do the same in 2020 as he tries to retain support in key midwestern swing states. rashad, does it cross your mind and most democrats to ignore the president here? what do you think? >> you can't ignore the president on this.

it is political hypocrisy jo. the president of the united states says love it or leave it. he's talking about america. don't talk bad against america. but then, he talks negatively, he bee sm-- owe by elijah cummings. he decides to talk about them. these are voters and americans. he's considered patriotic. but talking about them and saying it's rat-infested. when others talk about it, they're unpatriotic. about this obvious turning away for the american voter. >> ned, are you comfortable with the president upping his attacks on congress people of color for, it seems, political advantage? it seems like there's an opportunity to unite the country a little bit here. instead, he's choosing to divide

it. >> well, i would say, again, he would go after the squad, these four women, regardless if they were four white women from wellesley. it doesn't matter. he would go after them. in regards to elijah cummings. he's going after him because cummings subpoenaed ivanka and jared and after his dhs secretary in a very aggressive way last week. i will say this. trump is trying to secure his bait. if you're talking about midwest voters, i would remind people that trump won michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania by less than 100,000 votes combined. he needs to secure that vote. that's, again, every president going into re-election is going to say where do i need to win? obama did this. try to secure your base moving into a re-election move. >> jo, let me insert something really quick about the seventh congressial district. the district has a income of

$60,000 on par with the national average. they produce more college graduates nan the national average in the united states of america and have more african american graduates from college than the national average as well. he made an assumption that this was a bad district to live in. >> ned, i want to follow-up the point just made. david axelrod tweeted that if donald trump loses 2020 this will be why he's subjecting the country to a stream of ugly bombastic -- that's advice from the other side of the aisle. >> again, we've had this conversation. i want trump to focus on all the good things he's done. obviously, i think the economy is going very, very well and rashad made this point, too. if trump would focus on the economy, his approval numbers would be up. i think it's one thing coming into 2020, if he can focus a little bit more on positive messages and reminding people of the benefits he's done over the last three years for everyone, regardless.

hispanic, african american, women, all of these things. i think he's got a very good chance and i would remind you democrats are running against history. only five presidents lost their re-election bid since 1900. if trump can focus on this, economy keeps going, he'll win. >> rashad, the last word, quickly. >> very quickly. president trump is an anomaly. he's also the only president in modern era who has an approval rating as it relates to the economy over 60%. but an overall approval rating at 41 to 44%. he enjoys that first as well. i think this will be the first time in modern history where an american president is not judged based on the economy. >> all right. rashad richie, ned ryan, thank you guys as always. >> thank you. thanks, jo. it was a groundbreaking promise of jobs from president trump for a small town in wisconsin. but now those residents are telling me that promise has been

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two american teenagers behind bars in italy this morning accused of killing an italian policeman. the 19-year-old confessed to stabbing the officer apparently over a stolen backpack. nbc's sara harmon is live in london with more. what happened? >> jo, italian police are describing this as a drug deal gone wrong. it's a disturbing case, in part

because both of the suspects are so young. 18 and 19 years old. the crime they're accused of, a stabbing in the streets of rome is grisly. what's more, the officer who was killed was a young man at the beginning of his career and he was a newlywed who had just come back from his honeymoon. >> two american teens behind bars in rome over the fatal stabbing of a police officer there. italian police say 19-year-old finnegan lee elder and 18-year-old ghraib real christian north were arrested at a four-star hotel in rome ready to leave italy. police found a large sniknife hidden in a ceiling panel along with the clothes allegedly wore during the attack. repeatedly stabbed the policeman as he and a fellow officer confronted the americans over a drug deal gone wrong. an eyewitness saying he saw them

running away. both americans now accused of murder and attempted extortion. on saturday elder's lawyer says his client exercised his right not to answer questions during a detention hearing. the victim, a man who returned after his honeymoon. an outpouring of grief across the country. american amanda knox spent almost four years in an italian prison for the 2007 murder of her roommate before she was ultimately cleared of all charges. a lawyer who represented her and other americans locked up abroad telling nbc news -- >> these proceedings will be protracted and lengthy and i anticipate this going on for a very long time. >> the two teens remain in jail in a country mourning an officer gone too soon. and jo, this morning, one of the suspects, elder, his family put out a statement saying, in part,

we are shocked and dismayed but have very little independent information about these events. they went on to say, they haven't been able to speak to their son at all. as for the slain police officer, his funeral is set for monday at the same church where he got married in june. jo? >> sarah, a difficult story. thank you so much. now to a two-year-old promise of jobs and economic revitalization for a small town in wisconsin. president trump striking a deal with electronics manufacturing giant foxconn to build a massive lcd factory with thousands of blue collar jobs two years ago. weep wanted to see how things are going. we went to mt. pleasant to find out and residents are not pleased. >> it was heralded as a great deal. >> this is the 8th wonder of the world. >> two years ago, president trump announced a massive new plant for foxconn. the taiwanese electronics

manufacturer breaking ground in mt. pleasant, wisconsin last year. the plan, build a $10 million manufacturing hub to build lcd screens to create jobs. in return, they secured more than $4 billion in tax breaks from the state. >> it started out, i think, people were very excited. >> community activist kelly gallaher has been tracking it since day one. to make the plant possible, mt. pleasant borrowed money to buy up land. >> mt. pleasant is on track to spend close to $900 million in land acquisition and inf infrastructu infrastructure. that's 38 times our annual budget. >> the town's credit rating has been downgraded because of that. foxconn has changed the scale of the project as well. telling reuters it's too expensive to make tv screens in the u.s. then they said it was going to be a technology hub. then they said it would be an a.i. institute.

>> the drama has homeowners furious too. >> this is prairie view drive. this road used to lead into an entire neighborhood of houses. foxconn's building, they've been cleared out and the residents are now asking, was it worth it? >> kim mahoney is one of them. she built her custom home in this subdivision with a dozen neighbors. >> the whole process has been somewhat of a nightmare. >> mahoney is at the last house standing. her neighbors took offers to move out and raze their homes. she received a low-ball appraisal so stood her ground. >> i think this whole project was a scam. i don't trust anything our president says. he is not looking out for the residents of mount pleasant. he's looking out for himself. >> nbc news requested interviews with foxconn and the village of mount pleasant. both declined. in a statement, foxconn says it's pouring a concrete foundation. it's thrilled to be moving into the next stages of construction. the company says it looks

forward to beginning production in late 2020. the local government tells us they remain optimistic and the deal includes strong taxpayer protection. >> have residents been taken for a ride here? >> there's a real fear that we have been taken for a ride. our only hope is that they build something. >> foxconn is also telling us that so far they've created about a thousand jobs versus the 13,000 originally promised and they plan to open what they're now building at the end of next year, all of this expected to come after the 2020 presidential election. we're covering the push for impeachment following robert mueller's testimony. is the momentum growing? if so, what will happen during the august recess? recess? try great-tasting boost glucose control. the patented blend of protein, fat, and carbs is part of a balanced formula that's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels.

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new today confirmation that the house judiciary committee is moving forward with an impeachment investigation against president trump. congresswoman says the mueller hearing successfully put the details of the report on the record and speaker pelosi is on board. >> speaker herself has approved this is all going forward as a unified position is that we are

in an impeachment investigation. that is a process, we are considering as part of the article 1 powers that afforded to the house judiciary committee by the constitution. >> jonathan and dave are back with me now. jonathan, is the pelosi approval of the investigation significant shift here? >> it is and it isn't. the reason that it is that nancy pelosi has been coming under tremendous fire for not having already started impeachment process. i think that ignores the fact that she's had several committees investigating in ways that could lead to impeachment. the real value here is that the members of congress who are looking into this jerrold nadler believe their legal cases stronger to get documents until later at some point get testimony from trump administration officials if they're able to show that they are doing it for the purpose of investigating impeachment. that's the big deal there. it obviously doesn't really affect any votes. >> dave, what about the 101

house democrats that "the washington post" reports support impeachment now, or at least an inquiry. does that mean that there's enough momentum, or is it still very much early stages? >> still early stages and doesn't mean that there's enough momentum at all. also, too, we're going on vacation. the house is out right now. they're going to be gone for the next six weeks. they're not back in session until september. this is a process and it's a process that may never come to fruition. there are still a lot of democrats in leadership who believe the best way to get donald trump out of office is to beat him at the ballot box, not through an impeachment process. >> yeah. >> you have to remind people, too, that it took so long 20 years ago when bill clinton was impeached for that ever to come to fruition, too, and took five months from the time the house y judiciary committee went forward with articles of impeachment until he was let off the hook. we're looking at a weird time scale that doesn't play necessarily into the favor of democrats who do want to impeach

president trump. >> we'll see what happens with that august recess. there are certainly lots on the table. >> thank you, jo. >> it's a direct rebuke of president trump from nearly 150 african-americans who served in the obama administration. coming up, what they said in a washington post op-ed their promise to be heard and to make this promise a better place. se . ♪ let's go! ♪ this is mia's pulse. with pressure rising, and racing. this is also mia's pulse.

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♪ good morning, oim jo ling kent in new york at msnbc

headquarters. here is what's happening right now. more twitter attacks. fallout after the president goes after one of the most senior african-american lawmakers in congress. pushing back, former president obama endorsing an op-ed critical of the current president. should obama be speaking out more? and budget deal. questions about the real cost of that deal averted -- that averted a fiscal crisis. and who does the gop fear most? new incite ahead of the second democratic presidential debate. ♪ we have new reaction and outrage this morning as president trump doubles down on his twitter attack on house oversight chair elijah cummings, calling it a rat and rodent infested mess. the president taking rebeated jabs and retweeting videos allegedly showing trash in cummings district, also suggesting the congressman should focus on his district rather than the congressional