thank you so much for being here with us this tuesday evening. good night from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. ♪ this morning, total destruction in the bahamas. aerial video is giving us a look of what was left behind after hurricane dorian slammed the island for nearly two straight days. plus, new details about the mass shooting in odessa, texas. investigators are looking into who sold the gun to the gunman. it was listed as a private seller which doesn't require a background check. and boris johnson lost a key vote in parliament yesterday. and now brexit may be delayed once again. ♪ good morning, everybody. it is wednesday september 4th. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside

ayman mohyeldin. we begin with hurricane dorian lashing parts of florida's east coast overnight of with storm surge as far north as the carolinas. we're also following humanitarian disaster unfolding right now as we speak in the bahamas. aerial pictures showing parts of abaco islands decimated. major homes and infrastructures flattened. at least seven people have been killed and they expect that number to rise. the country's foreign minister said he went on a reconnaissance mission provided by the u.s. and found the area under water. and it, quote, looks like a lake. the red cross says 62,000 people are without clean drinking water and that 60,000 people are going to need food. here's more from the prime minister last night. >> our building codes are built

to withstand about -- our building codes were built to withstand about 150 miles per hour wind. we never expected that we would one day encounter the velocity as high as 180, to 200 miles per hour. but we will take that as a lesson. >> all right. staying on hurricane dorian for a moment. for the very latest on the track of that weather pattern, let's cross over to msnbc meteorologist janessa webb. >> it hovered over the bahamas for 52 hours. the squalls are taking over most of florida, the northern edge here, that's going to be the case throughout the afternoon into your evening here. the torrential rain, the flooding really going to be a problem. we have a category 2 storm. it's 90 miles of daytona beach,

florida. it's consistent out of the north-northwest at 8 miles per hour so speeding up a little bit. and we're going to consistently see the track here be a category 2. so, this just coming into the national hurricane center. we do have some dramatic changes in this track here. thursday afternoon, it's going to stay well offshore. so georgia and south carolina, you're completely out of the mix for a potential landfall. still watching very closely. this is very close to the outer banks wilmington area. this is friday, 2:00 a.m. but it goes back down to a category one. so, we did have floyd. and you remember that hurricane it went onshore in the outer banks as a cat 1 so we're watching that very closely. then you have this room of uncertainty here. we're going to start to see it go offshore here. but man, this is really too close for comfort here. the next update in the next hour, we're going to be watching how closely this gets to the outer banks.

the president appears to be mixing his hurricane response with campaign politics, potentially trying to help republican senator thom tillis up for re-election. yesterday, tillis tweeted, quote, just got off the phone with president donald trump. he told me he will be granting the governor's emergency declaration and assured me that north carolina will have the full resource of the federal government to respond to hurricane dorian. thank you, mr. president. but then the president tweeted, at the request of senator thom tillis, i'm getting the north carolina declaration signed tonight. hope you won't need. here's the thing, only governors of states can request a declaration of disaster. the governor is a democrat roy cooper, not republican senator thom tillis. law enforcement officials telling nbc news that the gunman who killed seven people and injured nearly two dozen on saturday purchased his weapon from a private seller.

a transaction that does not require a background check. officials said the gunman had previously failed a background check back in 2014 because of a disqualifying mental health issue. and investigators are now looking into who sold him that firearm. the seller could face criminal charges if they were aware of the shooter's mental health issues. meanwhile, senate minority leader chuck schumer released a statement blaming the shooting on the republicans in the senate for stalling a bill that would require a background check for all sales. if the house-passed background checks little would have been signed into law, this tragedy could have been avoided. leader mcconnell, you have no excuse. the senate must vote on the house bill next week. not a diluted bill, we must take a vote on the house-passed bill to close these loopholes without

delay. and new gun legislation to the senate floor as long as president trump supports it. mcconnell said that the white house is looking for different proposals and he expects to hear back from trump next week. >> we're in a discussion about what to do on the gun issue in the wake of these horrendous shootings. i said several weeks ago, that if the president took a position on a bill so that we knew we would actually be making a law and not just having serial votes, i'd be happy to put it on the floor. and the administration is in the process of studying what they're prepared to support, if anything, and i expect to get an answer on that next week. >> a white house official tells nbc news that the administration is still looking for a path forward on gun legislation. that official says the white house isn't going to push for something that doesn't have a chance of passing in the senate. so they're trying to get a

bipartisan group of senators together before backing anything. >> meanwhile, "the washington post" is out with a full-page ad "do something, mr. mcconnell." it must act on guns. the editorial includes the nails of mass shooting victims such as columbine, sandy hook, el paso and many more. the editorial board writes in part this, what if there was a mass shooting in the united states, not once or twice or four or six times monthly, but every single day. a big one. the kind that electrifies social media and squats for days. on page 1, would that be enough to move senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on his insistent inertia on gun safety. would any volume of bloodshed convince the kentucky republican that congress should act.

in dayton, ohio, el paso and west texas. >> joining us now national political reporter for the associated press juana summers. interesting take here on "the washington post." there's an interesting blame game going on. you've got democrats blaming mitch mcconnell for doing nothing. he said he's deferring to the president to get the legislation passed. the white house is saying we're trying to find a bipartisan bill that will have the support of all sides. and it seems in all of this, the debate about ones are fading away. how are lawmakers preparing to come back in august and approach the gun debate. >> hey, guys. so lawmakers come back from their congressional recess next week and one of the thinks we're seeing republicans coalesce around is this idea of red flag laws that would make it easier

for lawmaker to take guns out of the hands of people who are a threat to themselves or others. they say it takes guns out of the hands of people who haven't created a crime. democrats want to see more than that, they're looking for senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to take up one of the two bills that the house passed in february that would expand those background checks. they say absent that there's no meaningfy gun reform. democrats are also saying that the ball is in president trump's court here. they need to know where he stands. they say he's inconsistent and sometimes, they may be open to background checks, other times, he may not be. he needs to come out and say something so that his members are comfortable going forward with the nra. >> you're saying democrats obviously saying the ball is in the president's court here. mitch mcconnell also pointing his decision to bring gun legislation to the floor into

president trump's court as well. what do you make of mcconnell's push to the president which is he's been pretty consistent about, throughout the month of august, since the dayton and el paso shootings in which he's consistently said he's deferring to the president on all of this. >> yeah, that's absolutely right, yasmin. that's something that we've seen mcconnell do on a number of issues saying if the president indicates he will support legislation on a specific topic then he will bring it to the floor. he doesn't want to bring something to the floor that will be vetoed by the president or that the president himself will not back. so i think he feels a little painted into a corner because he hasn't gotten that clear indication. the president after the shootings in august indicated some willingness at that time to support background checks. he consulted with wayne lapierre from the nra. >> and this because mcconnell

feels he can't necessarily rally his own republican senators so in fact, he's punting it to the president to feel that the president could actually rally them behind something? >> yes. so, despite this national outcry over there needing to be something done on guns this has been a top view of republicans for a long time because of the power of the nra and republicans not wanting to buck that interest. it's mired in controversy. some see there might be a chance for a breakthrough on this issue now that doesn't exist before. >> juana summers, appreciate it. stay close. new report on president trump's proposed border wall now one for the construction profit will reportedly be spent on the wall. plus, michigan is cracking down on e-cigarettes. what the state is doing to minimize the harmful effects of vaping. those stories sa, check of the

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the bahamas unrecognizable. the first images from above abaco showing island paradise, turned paradise lost. >> absolute devastation. it's really heartbreaking just from the air. it looks completely level. >> debris for miles, boats littered across the islands. >> i just have to say, i've been to the abacos, it's one of the most majestic incredible islands on the planet. to see it devastated like that is so incredibly sad. even the loss of life, despite the fact that they're only reporting seven lives lost. >> you look at the devastation. >> the devastation, i mean, it's just -- we're really thinking about the people in the abacos. >> we were playing that clip from nbc news correspondent

morgan chest. let's go to nbc meteorologist janessa webb. >> good morning. we're seeing the system pick up on the track here out of the west at 8 miles per hour. but we're seeing the squalls taking over in florida. the eye's still offshore. the radius for the winds, you'll notice it the tropical force winds throughout the afternoon, potentially up to 85 miles per hour. but it's already in the northern area of florida. so, we still have a cat 2. we don't have a major hurricane anymore. 90 miles away from daytona beach with 105 miles sustained winds. that's really going to be consistent and the driving surge for the storm surge that's still in effect. west palm, you are out of the mix on that now in locations south florida. still two to four feet possible from jacksonville to southern georgia as well, myrtle beach. and also hurricane warnings that have been put into place for the

carolinas into south carolina as well. so the storm surge still a big issue. we're going to be watching that very closely. high tide today comes in at 12:00. >> thank you, janessa. today, michigan will become the first state in the nation to ban flavored e-cigarettes and vaping products. in an interview with "the washington post" gretchen whitmer said that the house department found vaping constituted a public health in which which prompt herd to take the action. the post writes, the governor complained that e-cigarette companies are using sweet flavors like bubble gum and froot loops to hook people on nicotine. the ban which covers both retail and online sales goes in effect immediately and will last for six months. and can be renewed for another six months. coming up this morning, governor whitmer will be a guest on the show. and danny cevallos to talk more

about it. state officials, danny, say they are working to develop permanent regulations to ban flavored e-cigarettes. what do you think this feasibly could look like to you? >> well, you start with the fact that e-cigarettes and vaping is something that's relatively new. regulations have struggled to define what exactly they are. they're not exactly cigarettes. they're something else. they don't use combustion the way others do. society has not become accustomed to them the way society has been accustomed to tobacco and liquor. so, what we see going forward, as we struggle to come up with regulations to define what they are and to possibly ban them, there isn't a lot of ingendered support for vaping in that nobody is going to say, well, it's been around forever. it's a part of our fabric of

society. so, banning them is probably going to be easier for states and federal government sooner than later. >> have there been any other states that have success with banning or cities that have had success with banning in general. and what type of option are we going to see for the makers or people advocating on behalf of vaping companies? >> san francisco has banned them, i believe, outright. but the michigan ban is particularly interested because they're banning flavored e-cigarettes and not e-cigarettes in general because it potentially affects children. now, that's not really logically consistent. hookahs come in all kinds of flavors and pungent aromas and those are not being banned. it's an interesting targeting. >> also about the marketing of it, right? you don't necessarily see them marketed that way? >> the ban is about the flavor, right? >> exactly, about the flavor in michigan. what's interesting there is science to suggest that at least

vaping may be more healthy than cigarettes. it's very interesting from a society perspective that michigan is targeted the flavored vaping and yet -- >> and that raises the question about other things that we flavor, whether it's soda or other things that have caffeine like canned juices and things like that where kids can ultimately be addicted whether to caffeine or sugar. >> how about actual froot loops, right? >> you want to ban froot loops? all right, danny cevallos -- >> all right -- >> if my kid was watching you, he'd turn the tv off. still ahead, the british parliament is set to extend the brexit deadline once again in defiance of boris johnson. we're going to get a live report from london, next. we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country.

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your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. welcome back. heading across the pond before british prime minister boris johnson suffered a serious loss in parliament yesterday furthering the brexit chaos. lawmaker as agreed to take control of parliamentary agenda from the government which would allow them to produce and likely pass a bill that would compel the prime minister to seek another brexit extension from the eu past the october 31st deadline. it would mark the third brex et cetera. prime minister johnson is a major supporter and a no-deal divorce although this deal would essentially kill that option.

johnson said he will more likely seek a general election in october which granted would be the third in great britain in just over four years. 21 members of prime minister's johnson's party supported the motion including the grandson of winston churchill. >> joining us live outside of parliament, nbc's correspondent matt bradley. a lot playing out on the british parliament floor. at one point, some people speculating that the prime minister could push until october 14th and delay that until the eve of the brexit vote so he could secure a no-deal brexit on october 31st. what in the world is happening? you got 30 -- >> reporter: if i sound confused because i'm not the only one here in london confused. a lot of the lawmakers don't know what's going on here, part of the problem is, remember,

yasmin and ayman, it's not written out the way the constitution is. they can't just fall back on the law. it's basically a bundle of historical legal documents that jurists and parliamentarians can draw. that's why there's so much confusion right now. those 21 lawmakers who basically voted to introduce this bill to delay this brexit from the europe union, they lost their jobs last night. they're still members of parliament, but they lost their affiliation with the conservative party. and you can compare them if you'll allow this tricky comparison, these voters who voted against boris johnson they're kind of like never-trumper republicans against a no-deal brexit move. so that was a tricky action and what's going to happen today, jeremy corbyn, the leader of the opposition, he's going to try to push through this delay to delay

brexit before the bill for nuew elections. that's a tricky maneuver that's going to pit him against the prime minister. >> it seems like a never ending saga. >> matt bradley live in london, thanks very much. still ahead senator bernie sanders takes on joe biden after the former vice president said inaccurate details in the telling of a war story are, quote, irrelevant. plus, walmart takes action. what the retailer is doing to tighten gun policies. those stories and much, much more coming up. have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast, for fast pain relief. tylenol®.

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. after a full-on strike in the bahamas that lasted almost two days, hurricane dorian is now turning its attention to the southeast coast. we're going to get the very latest track in just a moment. but first nbc news correspondent jay gray has more. >> reporter: as dorian inches towards the coast, we're getting a closer look now, at the devastation the storm left behind. abaco in the bahamas, battered and broken. communities splintered. others swallowed by floodwaters the island ravaged. >> absolute devastation. it's heartbreaking just from the air. it looks completely level. >> reporter: images serve as a stark warning for those now in the path of the storm. >> this is not a storm to mess with as we have seen how deadly

it was when it went across the bahamas. >> reporter: across the southeast -- families are packing up and leaving. bus loads. >> leave when you have the opportunity to leave. >> reporter: from florida to the carolinas more than 1 million people have been told to evacuate ahead of what could be hurricane force wins flooding rains and storm surge in communities from florida to virginia. >> water just coming over. i'm worried about our beach, beautiful. i don't want it to get ruined. >> reporter: as dorian makes its way north, just off the coast. jay gray, nbc news, savannah. >> our thanks to nbc's jay gray for that report. for the latest on the report let's go to meteorologist bill karins. bill, give us a sense of where it's moving, anyone breathing a sigh of relief? >> yeah, the beaches of brevard county southward, your winds have turned offshore and it's

not that strong. and you don't have to worry about getting the storm surge anymore. yeah, that's about the line southward where things are improving. also for the first time in the new update, month more warnings in the bahamas. today will be a day of trying to get in there and trying to help people and get them water. because the wells -- the fresh water wells from all reports, they have seawater in them. they're contaminated. anyone who didn't put water in their bathtubs or fill up everything else, they're going to start running out of water. that's something that you'll about today, get water to the bahamas. and northward, as we go, eventually, the weather is going to start going downhill in the coastal areas of georgia and south carolina. the winds did come down a tick, 105-mile-per-hour winds. the lower the winds the better. it looks like direct landfall in north carolina and maybe even the south carolina coast. it's going to be a very close

call when it makes this turn. this is as we go throughout the day today. later tonight and tomorrow it's going to be right along the south carolina coast. that will be the highest winds along the coast and the heaviest rainfall, too. then as we go through thursday night and friday morning, it's right along the north carolina coastal areas. you'll notice all of the eastern north carolina still in the cone, so is myrtle beach. and charleston, the chances of being a low category 1 or 2 hurricane could be over top of you in the next 24 hours. today is the final day for any preparations in north carolina. you should be prepared power outages and potential for flooding and storm surge if you're along the water. >> thank you, bill. we're going to be checking back with you in just a little bit. so the pentagon is cancelled $3.6 million to fund trump's long promised border wall. the move authorized by mark esper will affect 127 different

construction projects. officials said half the money would come from planned international projects, the other half, if needed, would come from domestic projects. details on which projects would be put on hold were not yet released. trump declared a national emergency at the border back in february in order to have $8 billion for various accounts to build a physical barrier. the border wall was one of trump's earliest campaign promises during the 2016 election. he repeatedly said, though, it would be paid for by mexico. >> and in a statement, house speaker nancy pelosi called the move dangerous. the administration's irresponsible decision to transfer funds from appropriated u.s. military construction makes america less safe and dishonors the constitution. "and senate minority leader chuck schumer slammed the white house saying the plan is a slap in the face to members of the

armed forces who serve our country that president trump is willing to cannibalize already allocated funding to boost his ego. and now to reports that joe biden is defending his convenient verbal flood after "the washington post" reported that he conflated and confused facts in a story he told about an american soldier. biden told npr and iowa public radio while he was not trying to mislead anyone in the story, he doesn't think the mistake reflects on his judgment. >> i was making a point about a generation. that has nothing to do with the judgment on whether you sent troops to war. the judgment of whether you bring someone home. you understand that. >> not judgment, but details. it's not something that i've heard from some voters maybe not at your events but details. >> but details are irrelevant in terms of decisionmaking. >> bernie sanders is taking

former vice president joe biden to task over his, quote, irrelevant details. he seized the moment to juxtapose on a range of topics including iraq, health care and climate change. the email includes, quote, biden has seen the details of monumental policy proposals and then used flawed judgment for ill-advised decisions that bernie opposed. it goes on to also, quote, treats details as irrelevant. joining us now a reporter for the associated press once again juana summers. juana, let's talk about joe biden here. what do you make on the reaction of his most recent flub in the campaign trail? >> yasmin, this is similar to what the former vice president told reporters when he met for an hour and a half last week, he made the report that the

ecosystem and people are seizing up on these comments and they don't matter and have anything to do with his qualifications. like the reporter questioning him, i have already heard from voters on the campaign trail occasionally that this is something that concerns him. they wonder if maybe he's as sharp as he was in his past campaigns. they wonder whether or not if this is going to be a persistent pattern as they're trying to size up all of these candidates. i do take one point that he made to me on this which is the fact that twitter is not reality while folks in washington and the east coast talk about this, when you talk to people from the former vice president this isn't where their focus is. >> juana, let me get your thoughts on the border wall which is now taking place about diverting funds negative -- excuse me if it is at all impacting negatively now that the defense secretary has decided to divert money from military projects to funding that wall? >> yeah, absolutely.

so, the tricky thing is here, of these projects where the money might be taken from, we don't know a lot about the details about them but what's difficult is this, if the department of defense wants that money restored that will need to go through congress. democrats. >> reporter: have been reticent. democrats saying yesterday they do not see a scenario in which they would backfill those funds so if the president and dod do indeed tap those funds in order to move ahead more aggressively as the reporting has said it may be difficult for them to get that money back. there's a slew of different projects that could be affected here. we'll be seeing details in the future. >> i wonder what the debate would look like if it was a democratic president that was willing to take money away from the military profit for climate change or health care. >> yeah.

>> juana summers, thank you for joining us. still ahead, nra hits back at walmart for scaling back gun sales and other gun-related changes at its stores. plus, vice president mike pence defends his decision to go out of his way to stay at a trump property over the weekend. we'll get a closer look at the devastation that hit the bahamas. your "first look" at "morning joe" is back in a moment. we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work. the united states postal service makes more e-commerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country. why fingerstick when you can scan? with the freestyle libre 14 day system just scan the sensor with your reader, iphone or android and manage your diabetes. with the freestyle libre 14 day system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose levels any time, without fingersticks. ask your doctor to write a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system.

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serious side effects may include pancreatitis. taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, belly pain and decreased appetite, which lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. i have it within me to lower my a1c. ask your doctor about trulicity. i just returned from an initial assessment on reconnaissance mission from abaco provided by united states of america. parts of abaco are decimated. there's severe flooding. there's severe damage to homes, businesses, other buildings and infrastructure. the national airport in abaco is under water. the runway is completely

floodeded. in fact, the area around the airport now looks like a lake. >> wow. >> i mean, it looks like tornadoes ravaged the entire island. not just a hurricane. it seems flattened, decimated. >> everything you were seeing was complete destruction. >> aside from a couple structures here and there. that was the prime minister of the bahamas speaking about the absolute devastation as you're seeing the you images in the is. right now, let's get another check of the path. >> speaking on top of what you were mentioning somebody at the "washington post" wrote it was the equivalent of being in the middle of a flash flood and a tornado for 24 hours. you know, that's what those people -- and there's some storm chasers that finally got to safety in nassau yesterday. one that i'm friends with, and his tale was -- you know, they were in a school structure that was cement, he thought, you know, that's the safest place to

be, usually it's cement and brick structure. went through the first part of the eye. and the school started crumbling. during the eye -- remember how slowly it was moving? >> yeah. >> yeah. >> he said the slow movement of the eye saved so many lives. because they were able to run out and rescue people. there were people with debris on top of them that had to get to safety again because the back of the storm was going to come on through just as strong as the front part. so that saved some lives. and they left that school with a bunch of people. >> do you have any idea, and if you don't just say it, but do you have any idea if people were actually able to get off the island? >> i hadn't heard -- >> that's what this point is, was there evacuation in place for the bahamians on the i'd to get them out? >> i mean, i imagine -- i don't know. some people may have. but i haven't heard a lot of specific numbers. 15,000 people was the population before the storm on great abaco, the pictures that we just saw.

>> yeah. >> how many of those people got off, i would imagine it's similar to other situations that the people that had the means usually can, and other people that can't had to ride it out. >> really quickly, are they going to get some relief with the weather now? >> yeah, it's all done. great abaco was better yesterday. grand bahama was not. only the second half of the day. today is a full-out humanitarian crisis, get all of the ships, air drops, water to these people, they just don't have water. they're running out. >> and you can just think about the reality now that they're facing today as they're looking at the destruction on that island and showing up with the sunlight shining through on the bahamian islands and having to see that their house is completely decimated. >> you look at those pictures, 15,000 that live on great abaco. how many still have a place to go home to? >> yeah. >> you saw the populated areas.

you're going to be relocating all of the people. >> we'll see the impacts. >> top of the hour, "morning joe" will get into the impacts on the u.s. and the islands. switching now to walmart which forcibly responded to the national gun debate when it announced it would stop selling ammunition used in magazines and opening encouraging its customer it's not to openly carry guns in stores. it was after a gunman killed 22 people in a walmart store in el paso, texas. according to a memo from walmart to its associates after selling through the current invent commitments which could take several weeks the company will stop selling certain short-barrel rifle am nation and all hand gun ammunition. the retail giant announced that it would call on congress to consider a rifle ban. it released a statement, quote, in it is shameful to see walmart

succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites. lines at walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of america's fundamental freedoms. vice president mike pence joined a growing list of republicans who have pittsburgh patrons following trump's stay at the trump resort in doonbeg. more than $20 million has been spent at the trump hotels by mostly political groups including mr. trump's own political committees. at least 24 of the 32 individuals who have served in mr. trump's cabinet. and 26 of the 53 republicans in the senate have been spotted at or spent money at a trump international hotel in washington, d.c. pence defended his two-night stay at trump's resort in doonbeg. a decision that required him to fly across the country and back in order to meet with irish

officials in dublin. >> it's deeply humbling for knee be able to come back to ireland and have the opportunity to go to the very hometown of my mother's grandmother. we'll have dinner tonight at a little pub i worked at when i was 22 years old when i came over here, shortly after my grandfather passed away. and right across the street is the house where my great grandmother grew up. before our original trip planned to at least spend one night in doonbeg. and i understand political attacks by democrats. but if you had a chance to get to doonbeg, you'll find it's a fairly small place. and the opportunity to stay at trump national in doonbeg to accommodate the unique footprint that comes with our security detail and other personnel made it logical. we checked it with the state department. they approved us staying there. and i was pleased to have the opportunity to return to that

family hometown, and to be able to stay there. >> okay. still ahead, markets rallied in europe overnight after the latest battle over brexit. a live report from london, coming up. "is your daughter ok?" that's where i felt relief. we're the rivera family and we plan to be with usaa for life. see how much you can save with usaa insurance. but we're also a company that controls hiv, 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. so, every day,

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european stocks traded higher early today after british lawmakers defeated boris johnson's in a vote. >> willem marx is joining us

live. good morning to you. talk about how this decision could move the uk closer to blocking a no deal brexit. >> reporter: what happened last night was the first day back for members of the british parliament after a summit break, and what they essentially voted to do late last night was take control of the schedule here in the house of commons for today, and that allows them, normally that's under government control, that allows them to introduce a fresh piece of legislation that would essentially block a no deal brexit, something people say is going to be economically damaging for the uk at the end of october unless mr. johnson can find a deal with the european union. this is something he has been very unhappy about. he insisted late last night, if this vote goes against his government again, then a fresh national vote could be inevitable. >> i think we'll do an election, the public, they want an

election. if the house votes for this bill tomorrow, the public will have to choose who goes to brussels on october the 17th to sort this out and take this country forward. >> reporter: he's referencing a summit next month where european leaders could potentially offer some kind of concession on brexit. because he has lost members of his own party over the course of the last 24 hours, he no longer has the government majority. he can't force through an election here, and the opposition say they want to offer him the chance to call a fresh election until this legislation blocking no deal passes parliament. >> wow. willem marx live in london. thanks. coming up next, jonathan from axios and a look at this morning's one big thing. jim mattis will be onset. and amy klobuchar stops by with the latest on her campaign and the top issues of the day from guns to the proposed border wall

to her new climate plan and of course we continue to follow the latest with the hurricane, its trek up the east coast and the disaster left behind in the bahamas, a jam packed edition of "morning joe" is moments away. "morning joe" is moments away. just between us, you know what's better than mopping? anything! at the end of a long day, it's the last thing i want to do. well i switched to swiffer wet jet and its awesome. it's an all-in-one so it's ready to go when i am. the cleaning solution actually breaks down dirt and grime. and the pad absorbs it deep inside.

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joining us from washington, d.c., national political reporter for axios jonathan swan, good to have you with us, what is the one big thing this morning. >> the extent to which the national security discussion surrounding china has been buried under the trade discussion. there is some very sensitive conversations happening below the presidential level but at the senior level of the administration that could have profound effects on the u.s. china relationship. one concerns taiwan and they have discussed at a very senior level the possibility of selling even more advanced weapons systems to taiwan beyond the f 16 fighter jets. they have also discussed changing the state department's

self-imposed rules around the visits of taiwanese officials to the state department, their ability to write direct letters. this is important because so far the president has viewed china through an economic prism, but the angrier he gets with beijing when he reads, he reports that fentanyl is still flooding in and the fact they're not falling through agricultural purchases, the more receptive he is to what is a unanimous opinion among his national security aids that china is a national security threat, not a potential partner and there are all of these policies waiting for trump to embrace them. >> jonathan, let's turn quickly to 2020. i know axios has insight into what appears to be media correction when it comes to predictions, talk to us about that. >> this is an interesting story, it's two trends we're seeing at the moment which is the media based on all the available data

is overestimating the chances of a recession and also of trump's reelection. that's not to say that neither event is possible. of course both events are possible, but reporters and the media at large missed the great recession in '08, they obviously missed trump's victory, and any other president with his current data set, with a 41% approval, losing to thhis top five competitors, upside down, you would call that person a dead man walking, similarly, we have pretty strong consumer spending and other data signals that don't suggest a recession is inevitable in the short-term, but the coverage has probably overcorrected down reports in that direction. >> jonathan, quickly, how much of that is because of the president's attacks on the media that has put the media in a gut check. >> all of that plays into it for sure. the really interesting point is this panic begets panic, and

already effects of this coverage. the president is, according to my colleague's reporting has himself been quite frantic behind the scenes, trying to figure out ways to juice the economy, and we have seen in recent surveys a drop in consumer confidence. this doesn't happen in a vacuum, and this kind of reporting can actually increase the chances of a recession. >> jonathan swan, live in washington, d.c. >> thanks for having me. >> always a pleasure. >> we're going to be reading axios a.m. in a bit, and you too can definitely sign up for the news letter by going to sign up.axios.com. >> i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts right now. good morning, and welcome to "morni