a stunning admission from president trump. he says he's been taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent he coronavirus despite warnings from health experts. also, drugmaker maderna says an experimental covid-19 candidate is showing promising results in early testing. and new details about the firing of the state department's inspector general. turns out he was looking into mike pompeo's role in selling arms to saudi arabia against the will of congress. good tuesday morning,

everybody. it is may 19th. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we have a lot of ground to cover this morning. we're going to begin with the big picture. a quick overview of where things stand this morning, the los angeles times writing in part about the president's efforts to distract and spread disinformation. they write this, quote, trump fired yet another inspector general, raged against a government whistle-blower and repeatedly tweeted videos of a local tv reporter being harassed in new york all since friday. he also amplified a sinister conspiracy theory he dubbed obamagate in which he alleges, but never specifies crimes by his predecessor. experts struggle to think of a historical parallel where the office is turned into a megaphone for wholesale fabrications and bizarre claims in an efrtd to confuse voters

and salvage his own political future. and now this. in a stunning claim that has prompted warnings from health experts, the president says he has been taking a daily dose of hydroxychloroquine for over a week. and a warning from the fda about potentially deadly side effects. president trump telling reporters just yesterday that he does not believe he's been exposed to the virus, but decided to take the drug after consult, the white house physician. watch this. >> the front line workers, many, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it. >> hydroxychloroquine? >> i'm taking it, hydroxychloroquine. a couple of weeks ago i started taking it. >> why, sir?

because i think it's good. >> did the white house doctor recommend you take that? >> white house doctor, yeah. no, he didn't recommend it. a lot of people are taking it. a lot of front line workers are taking hydroxychloroquine. i don't take it because -- people say, hey, maybe he owns the company. no, i want the people of this nation to feel good. i was waiting to see your eyes light up when i say this. but, yeah, i've taken it for about a week and a half now. i'm still here. >> what is the evidence that it has a preventive effect? >> i get a lot of positive calls about it. but i get a lot of tremendously positive news on the hydroxy. and i say, hey, what do you have to lose, okay? what do you have to lose.

so i have been taking it for about a week and a half. >> every day? >> yeah, every day. i take a bill every day. at some point i'll start. what i'd like to do is i'd like to have the cure or the vaccine and that will happen i think very soon. >> so the white house physician released a statement saying this, after numerous discussions he and i had for and against the use of hydroxychloroquine, we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks. he added that the president is, quote, in very good health and has remained symptom free. a white house official familiar with the president's decision telling nbc news that president trump started taking the drug after his valet tested positive for coronavirus earlier this month. white house aides were caught off guard by the president's decision to publicly disclose that he's been taking the drug. that white house official said only a small group of aides knew the president was even taking it.

president trump's latest endorsement of hydroxychloroquine prompted new warnings from health experts against using this drug. not wanting people to run out and buy it. dr. vin gupta said hydroxychloroquine can cause fatal heart arrhythmia and warned that the president is, quote, putting himself at risk. and in a tweet yesterday, dr. leani wen wrote in part this, there is no evidence for hydroxy chore quinn being effective in treatment of covid-19 or prophylaxis to prevent the disease. this is a medication that has serious sides effects. i am very concerned about president trump continuing to model behavior that could harm millions of americans.

watch this. >> if you are in a risky population here and you are taking this as a preventive treatment to ward off the virus or in a worst case scenario you are dealing with the virus and you are in this vulnerable population, it will till you. i cannot stress enough, this will kill you. >> in reaction to those comments, the president fired off several retweets from users attacking the fox news host along with the network itself with trump saying, he is, quote, looking for a new outlet. >> so the biotech company maderna announcing its vaccine candidate appeared to be safe and was able to build an immune response against the virus in a small group of patients. patients between the ages of 18

and 35 received a low level of a new vaccine. this is suggesting but does not prove that some level of immunity and represents the first of many steps in a long process. the president will be proceeding by continuing in additional age groups. next comes a face of 600 people with a third phase involving thousands of healthy people. joining me now, hans nichols for us. hans, good morning to you. appreciate you joining us today. what a day yesterday was, right?

the president announcing to the press that he started taking hydroxychloroquine when his valet tested positive with the coronavirus. why state this publicly and why take the risk, looking at every study out there saying that there are major ricks for heart arrhythmia and there is no science to prove that there is any preventive positives for taking hydroxychloroquine? >> the president is comfortable with the risks and he's heard enough anecdotal evidence from doctors he's talked to, from friends in the industry that he thinks this can have a positive effect. so this is the president playing his own doctor. obviously, they ran this through the white house medical unit. they hinted that there were

conversations by saying they ran this through the intraoffice agency. so at the president's request, he's decided to take this proif a profalactic. he had very little interaction with katie miller, the press secretary, the vice president, and today's actions show he may be more concerned than he let on. and there is a certain amount of gamesmanship, there is a certain amount of showmanship. and, you know, it wasn't just the press that was surprised. it was many members of his own

administration and i suspect the political team will be polling this and then we'll get a house reaction and not just from nancy pelosi and house adversaries and political allies. and now who else is doing this? who else is modeling? and what do they think about the president almost self-medicating. hans nichols, stick around for me. i'm going to talk to you again in just a bit. i want to address this new news with regard to vaccine development out of maderna biotech firm. still ahead, everybody, we're going to be digging into the new reporting that the la latest watchdog fired by

president trump was investigating additional information. and then, of course, a check on the weather with our own bill karins when we come right back. karins when we come ghrit back we live in uncertain times. however, there is one thing you can be certain of. the men and women of the united states postal service. we're here to deliver cards and packages from loved ones and also deliver the peace of mind of knowing that essentials like prescriptions

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welcome back, everybody. the state department inspector general first thought to be fired for investigating personal tasks assigned to a department staffer was also investigating the approval of arms sales to saudi arabia without congressional approval. officials telling nbc news they believe inspector general steve linick was fired in part for investigating saudi arms sales that congress had previously rejected. elliott enginel confirmed that investigation late monday. lawmakers are both sides of the aisle are demanding a more

complete sdmranexplanation for linick's firing. chuck grassley sent a letter to the president on monday. grassley reminded trump the law requires detailed explanations for dismissing a inspector general. and then the president confirming on monday that secretary of state pompeo requested the dismissal, but didn't directly address the issue of retaliation. watch this. >> mr. president, isn't there at least a conflict of interest if -- >> that i can't tell you. i don't think so. i think maybe he thinks he's been treated unfairly. again, he wanted to -- he asked me if that would be possible. i said i'll do that, sure. i think it should have been done a long time ago, frankly. this is a man that has had some controversy, this inspector

general. again, i don't know anything -- i haven't even read much about him. everybody agrees that i have the absolute right to fire the inspector generals. >> so secretary pompeo later dismissed the idea that his request for fires wag regarding an investigation into arms deals. because i simply don't know, i'm not briefed on that. it's simply not possible for to to be an act of retaliation, end of story. the state department's under secretary for management telling the post that a concern over linick had grown because of a pattern of unauthorized disclosures or leaks to the news media about investigations that were in an early draft form. he added that officials have no evidence linick was personally

responsible for the leaks. danny, let's get into this a bit. you have pompeo and other state department staff claiming that the ig himself might have been doing things that were not authorized by the ig statute. talk us through this ig statute. >> as you said, the allegations were that there may have been leaks coming from the office, not necessarily from linick himself, but political counterinsurntsy calls for burning down the whole village, firing everybody. and since he's the boss, they get rid of him. the other supposed thing he wasn't doing, this ig, was promoting the values and ethics put out by the secretary of

state, mike pompeo. but all of this doesn't matter because under the statute, the president can use the thinnest of reasons to fire an inspector general. the courts addressed exactly this issue when obama fired then an inspector general in 2009 and he challenged it in court. and basically the court said that as long as you say something like i've lost confidence in this inspector general, that's good enough under the statute. which is why you see that language in almost every firing since. lost confidence. >> but what if it is for political reasons, does congress -- and we talked about this yesterday with regard to checks and balances and waivivi the flags of checks and balances, as well, does congress have any way of checking or

overriding if proving this is for political reasons? >> probably not. the president really does have almost complete authority to fire and doesn't have to give a lot as far as reasons for why. the penalty's power to appoint and fire is pretty broad in this area. >> danny cevallos, my friend, thank you, as always. good to see you this morning. still ahead, the trump administration will reportedly make a new announcement about bringing pharmaceutical manufacturing to a new plant in the united states. that new reporting is next. the united states. that new reporting is next for business as usual. or is it? what if business as usual means putting people first... and understanding their needs? if that's your business. 365 days of every year, then business as usual is precisely what these times require. which is why your lexus dealer will do

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covid-19 patients back from overseas with a brand new company. the companiel, flow corporation, is based out of richmond, virginia, and would be responsible for manufacturing generic medications and pharmaceutical ingredients which are mainly produced in china and india right now. the 354 million four-year contract has the potential to be extended to teven years for a total of $812 million. white house trade adviser peter navarro said that the project will, quote, not only help bring our essential medicines home, but do so in a way that is cost competitive with the sweat shops and solutions agents of the world. it is unclear why the white house has selected a brand new company for such a massive contract. i want to switch gears here and bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins standing by for us with your weather outlook. good morning, bill. >> good morning. once again, we got some beautiful weather out there, but we have some problems that are going to develop in the days

ahead. so we got rid of our tropical storm. it wasn't a big deal because it wasn't a strong tropical storm. that is now off the coast. you see that spin over illinois. we have a lot of heavy rain over jaers of ohio, kentucky. it's been raining the last couple of days. flash flood warnings around columbus, ohio, right now. from cincinnati to lexington, also. and we're under a flash flood watch for 14 million people. the problems in ohio are going to be the problem for the next two to three days and especially in north carolina. this evening, if you want to go out there and enjoy some fresh air, beautiful in the northeast. from charlotte back through the appalachians to kentucky is problematic. and into wednesday, you notice this storm, it's going drift. it's not going to move. we are going to get some heavy rain in the carolinas over the next couple of days. we're going to be talking about some significant flooding possible. those dark balloon colors,

that's up to 5 inches of rain. isolated areas could get 8 inches of rain. that will cause the rivers to rise over the next couple of days. so the forecast for today, you want beautiful weather? new york, philadelphia, really up towards boston, hartford should be great, too. chicago, still a little cool, some showers around. how about the heat in south texas today? full out summer, 97 in san antonio. and we'll deal with more showers and thunderstorms in miami. and a look at your forecast for tomorrow. another great day from d.c. northward, early spring-like weather. yasmin, overall, looks like pretty quiet in most areas. we'll have to watch the flooding over the next couple of days. may may is our next tornado month. still ahead, what house speaker nancy pelosi is saying about the president's admission

that he's taking an unproven drug to prevent coronavirus. n un drug to prevent coronavirus.

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as far as the president is concerned, he's our president and i would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group, morbidly obese, they say. so i think that it's not a good

idea. that was house speaker nancy pelosi taking a jab at the president. trump telling reporters yesterday he doesn't believe he's been exposed to the virus, but decided to take the drug after consult, the white house physician. despite studies questioning its effectiveness at treating the virus and a warning from the fda about potentially deadly side effect. also, the u.s. has given the world health organization a 30-day dud line to make major substantive improvements or lose funding. president trump tweeted a letter addressed to the head of the organization last night, which reads in part this. if the world health organization does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days, i will make my tempora temporary freeze of the united states funding to the world health organization permanent andel i cannot allow american

taxpayer dollars to continue to finance an organization that in its present state is so clearly not serving america's interest. the u.s. is currently the top donor to the world health organization providing about 15% of the agency's budget. at the world health organization meeting yesterday, china pledged $2 billion over the next two years to help other countries responding to this pandemic. also, ag bill barr saying he does not expect the prosecutor he hand picked to review the 2016 phish investigation into the campaign would investigate former president barack obama or former vice president joe biden. >> as to president obama and vice president biden, whatever their level of involvement, based on the information i have today, i don't expect mr. durham's work will lead to a criminal investigation of either

man. our concern is focused on others. over the past few decades, there have been increasing attempts to use the criminal justice system as a legal tactic. as long as i'm attorney general, the criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends. >> so barr's comments coming after trump publicly suggested in recent week that top officials had committed crimes. president trump later told reporters he was surprised by bar's comments. and suggestion that not investigating obama and biden would be, quoted, the continuation of a double

standard. >> attorney general barr says he is unlikely tv any investigation of barack obama or joe biden. what do you think of mr. barr's decision? >> well, i think if it was me, they would do it. i'm surprised because obama knew everything that was happening. i think obama and biden knew about it. they were participants. so i'm a little surprised by that statement. but if it was me, i guarantee you they would be going after me. in his case, they're not so i think it's just a continuation of a double standard. >> joining me once again, so much to pull from that press conference. let's talk about the president's comments. the president making these unfounded accusations, right, against the former president and

the former vice president. now you have the attorney general bill barr basically coming out and saying it's not going to happen. the investigation is not going to happen from what he is seeing so far. what do you make of it? >> what i found interesting is all the hedges in barr's statement. he did not say there would be an investigation of president obama. he said i do not expect a criminal investigation at this time. so he is leaving himself some wiggle room. when you listen to bar, it's not to say there woernt be criminal investigati investigations. durham is the assistant usa up there in connecticut. there is still a possibility that there may be some

referrals. >> i want to talk about the possibility of the president possibility cutting funding to the w.h.o. how are folks reacting with regards to this cut to funding? i think -- did i lose hans? it seems as if i may have lost my friend, hans nichols. again, i wanted to talk to him for an hour, but we lost him. thank you, hans, for that. still ahead, we are going to dig into a new report that is

saying much of the $500 billion fund created in march to support businesses and local governments amid the coronavirus pandemic has gone unspent. your first look at "morning joe" is back in a moment. is back in a moment. i don't keep track of regrets and i don't add up the years, but what i do count on... is boost high protein... and now, there's boost mobility... ...with key nutrients to help support... joints, muscles, and bones. try boost mobility, with added collagen.

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morning. i was particularly interested in something that jerome powell said over the weekend. and in part, what i heard him say was that we do have a ballooning debt in this country right now because of the bailouts happening and the relief packages, but americans need the relief if we have not to save the economy and not have a long recession/depression that may not recover for quite some time. how is this message being received in washington, especially amid republicans who are now complain background a rising debt and see this $3 trillion new relief aid package that the dems are putting through the house as something that is dead on arrival? >> yeah. it's a key question. and the remarks by fed chair

powell over the weekend really strongly contrast with what white house officials have been saying, both publicly and telling us in private. they really are trying to wait and see. that is the phrase they keep using. they just say we just pour dollars $2 trillion in tto the economy in the stimulus package from march. let's see if that gets the job done, if the reopening and the relaxation of restrictions causes the economic uptick that will restore the economy. but mainstream economists i talk to and the fed chair clearly believe that is a dangerous road to go down, that families need more money, that unemployment needs to be extended, that states need hundreds of billions if not more than a trillion dollars in emergency age before they start furloughing and laying off, government employees that will have a further trickle effect and devastating impact on

the economy. so that is a key question to look for. can the white house resist the growing pressure from the fed and others to do more on the fiscal side? >> it's interesting because from the numbers that i've been looking at since this pandemic began, we've now increased our debt ceiling by $2 trillion or so. our debt was already exorbitant when we got into this pandemic. it didn't necessarily seem like during the time the trump administration has been in the white house. historically they have been been but during this time have been worried about the growing debt in this country when you think about the tax cuts, when you think about the funding that the president was advocating for his border wall. but now suddenly worried about the debt, especially when americans need this money most considering that so many americans have essentially been out of work or laid off or small businesses closed over the last three months. >> yeah. there's actually very interesting divisions.

within the administration twej trump's top advisers on this matter and it's really worth remembering that trump and many of his senior advisers come from a conservative idealogical think tank and world in d.c. his new chief of staff, mark meadows, was the founder of the house freedom caucus, strongly opposed increase in the deficit under obama, his budget director is also a staunch conservative. so this point, treasury secretary steven mnuchin has hacketted as a bipartisan peacemaker willing to pump trillions into the economy. so within trump himself, there seems to the be a tension and ambivalence about what to do with the deficit. and trump himself will sometimes say things that he himself is

concerned about this. but then when push comes to shove, at least at this point in the crisis, it largely allows mnuchin to cut deals. but that could change. and it's a potentially impactful dynamic to keep an eye on, given that the unemployment rate is posted 15 fers and most economists say more help is needed. >> and especially when we are inside the an election year and the president has continually tied himself to the success of the economy. jeffrey stein, thank you for getting up early for us. very much appreciate it. want to switch gears here and bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins this morning. >> good morning, yasmin. let me take you through the numbers and the forecast. into the fatality curve, we hit you -- went over 90,000 yesterday. we're at 91,500 total. let's put a positive spin on these numbers. eight states reported no deaths yesterday. so, you know, that seems hard to

believe if you're anywhere in the northeast where it's been a hundred every single day. yesterday we had 1,003 fatalities reported across the country. as far as the new cases went, we had 22,000 reported. it was the second lowest monday going back to march 23rd. again, we're trending in the right direction, but 22,000 is still a very high number and unfortunately a lot of those people will lose their battle with this disease, also. so as far as the state by state, i haven't done this in a while. for so long, it was new york number one, new jersey number two. but for the last few days, illinois has been at the top of this list. new jersey has come down. california is third. notice the big states with high populations are on this list. california, texas and massachusetts continues to see a down trend, still a thousand new cases yesterday. as far as any coastal threats go, from the tropical storm, just some rip current threats and some high waves from areas in southern new england down through the mid-atlantic. we're watching heavy rain from the ohio valley through the

mid-atlantic area, very hot in texas and windy and unsettled in areas of the west. not too many big weather concerns as we go throughout this week, yasmin. still ahead, everybody, market surge following positive indicators on the coronavirus vaccine front. those stories driving your business, coming up next. ose str business, coming up next ♪ ♪ ♪ here's one small way you can help them in return. complete your 2020 census today. census data helps communities plan funding for hospitals and emergency services. respond now at 2020census.gov.

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welcome back, everybody. maderna showed successful results from its preliminary vaccine trial. juliana is joining us from lornd on this. we have phase one results looking good out of maderna yesterday. it was only amid 45 people these results came from, but nonetheless, the markets pretty much ran with it. how is it looking this morning? >> that's right. this was early data and it was a small study, but it was encouraging, nonetheless. and it led to a global market

rally yesterday. the dow logged more than 900 points worth of gains. european markets rallied strongly. the main index here having its best day since march 24th. asian stocks also rallying overnight. today, we have a pause, investors catching their breath after the massive rally. we're seeing a european stock trading lower. as far as wall street is concerned, the futures market indicates a muted start to trade. mixed moves there. in terms of the day ahead, u.s. retail earnings are sharply in focus, as well as a testimony in washington from federal reserve chair jerome powell and treasury secretary steven mnuchin on the economic outlook. in terms of the economy, we have some news out of uber. the car ride-hailing company plans to cut 3,000 more jojobs. in a letter to employees yesterday, the ceo said they were considering shutting 45

offices around the world and considering cuts to other businesses such as freight. this is two weeks after an initial round of lay-offs. >> let's talk airline travel for a moment. airline travel significantly down across the board when it comes to the pandemic. people are still continuing to fly as of now. it will begin to go up, of course, as more states begin to reopen. that being said, there now are more regulations on the flights. talk us through some of these regulations that have been put in place now by some of these airlines. >> exactly. it is crucial for airlines to ensure that passengers and crew members feel safe returning to the air. airlines and airports are planning to roll out temperature checks for crew and increasingly for passengers. they also may look to employ thermal scans to spot people with elevated body temperatures. this, of course, is an early indication of the coronavirus. in terms of the numbers themselves, the latest data from

a tsa showed that, for the last week ending saturday, travelers went through tsa checkpoints was down 91% from a year earlier. the numbers have been now increasing, so people are getting back into the skies. >> wow, down 91%. unbelievable. cnbc's julianna tatelbaum, always great to see you. thank you. up next, everybody, a look at axios' one big thing. coming up on "morning joe," big show. senate republicans resist the new round of economic aid brought to the house. minority leader chuck schumer will join the conversation. "morning joe" is moments away. y. i don't keep track of regrets and i don't add up the years,

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some serious allergic reactions and lung inflammation can occur. talk to your doctor today, and learn how janssen can help you explore cost support options. remission can start with stelara®. welcome back, everybody. joining us from washington with a look at axios am, political reporter for axios, and my friend, lexi mccammond. good morning to you. good to see you this morning. >> hi. good morning. >> talk to us about axios' one big thing today. >> well, we have our axios ipsos

coronavirus survey. last week, we were talking about college students wanting to go back to campus, even without a vaccine. this shows americans who were locked down are starting to resocialize th izize themselves. they're sending kids out for playdates, visiting elderly relatives, and some are getting a haircut in the trying times. that matters. we're seeing the limits of social distancing. we're seeing the ways in which americans still think that interacting with others, especially strangers, is considered a risky social interaction, but we're starting to see the limits they're willing to go to get out of the house. to get a haircut, send their kids out, to see, again, elderly relatives. the other interesting thing is southerners are much more likely to be the ones going out and doing things, and others in the northeast or midwest, simply because of the politics of their state, the way the states are

reopening compared to others. >> let's talk politics amidst this pandemic. the pandemic, as we well know, and we've talked about the last couple weeks, forced political campaigns for the 2020 election to shift from in-person events to virtual events for both president trump and former vice president biden. how is this playing a role in the election cycle? how is it shaping the election cycle? >> well, it's making people spend a lot more money. that's for sure. specifically online. this is a crazy number to me. this virus has driven up political advertising spending to the point where it is now expected to reach $6.7 billion in the 2020 presidential cycle. billion with a "b." that is up 12% from previous projections. it was only going to be $6 million in the 2020 cycle. you know as well as i do, yasmin, that broadcasts and cable news are the hot spots for candidates and campaigns to

spend a lot of money on advertising. that's certainly going to remain the case in the 2020 cycle, but because the coronavirus plucked candidates off the campaign trail, reduced spending, basically eliminated spending for in-person events or rallies or town halls with folks, that's making candidates re-shift the budgets to focus on virtual town halls, virtual rallies, and ads. what is interesting is how the creativity behind the ads changes. there's a lot more money at the presidential level. if you're a local candidate running for office, congress, even state senate, you're not going to have as much money to spend on creativity and digital ads in the way we see from presidential races. it'll be interesting to see what people come up with in these times. >> it'll also be interesting to see how this shapes the next election, four years down the road, considering how virtual everything has become. if they have success with this, might that shape the next

election in the next round? alexi mccammond, thank you, as always, my friend. great to see you. i'll be reading axios am in a little while. sign up at signup.axios.com. that does it for me on this tuesday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. the front line workers, many, many are taking it. i happen to be taking it. i happen to be taking it. >> hydroxychloroquine? >> i'm taking it, hydroxychloroqui hydroxychloroquine. >> when? >> right now. couple weeks ago, i started taking it. >> why, sir? >> i think it is good. i've heard good stories. if it is not good, i'll tell you right. i'm not going to get hurt by it. >> you are in a risky population here, and you are taking this as a preventive treatment to ward off the virus or, in a worst-case scenario, you are dealing with the virus. you are in this vulnerable population. it will kill you. i cannot stress it enough, this will kill you. >> as far as the president is

concerned, he's our president. i would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group, what is morbidly obese, they say. so i think it is not a good idea. >> good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it's tuesday, may 19th. i don't know where to begin with yesterday. often, the president will say things to distract and, obviously, we're passing a 90,000 threshold of dead americans. you have many saying that, actually, it's far more than that. you have a lot of scientists and doctors and nurses saying that, from everything they've seen, it's far more than that.