together by the republicans, the lincoln project, to take us off the air this evening that. is our broadcast for our wednesday night. on behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. despite a surge in coronavirus cases, president trump is pushing for schools to reopen and pushing the cdc for new recommendations. >> plus a supreme court win for the administration. it gives religious employers more leeway in providing free birth control to workers. and tulsa, oklahoma, sees a spike in coronavirus cases, and the top health official is suggesting it stems from the president's rally last month.

good morning, everyone. it is thursday, july 9th. i'm alex witt. president trump is putting more pressure on schools to reopen this fool amid the potential of a second wave. yesterday he tweeted in germany, denmark, norway, sweden, and many other countries, schools are reopened with no problems. the dems think it would be bad, but it's important for the children and families. may cut off funding if not open. he also tweeted this. i disagree with the ckc on their very tough and expensive guidelines for reopening schools. they're asking schools to do very impractical things. a senior administration official says among the guidelines the white house finds too restrictive are the limiting of sharing toys, electronic devices, and books. here's vice president mike pence

on the president's next steps. >> the president said we don't want the guidance to be too tough. that's the reason why next week the cdc is going to be issuing a new set of tools, five different documents, that will be giving more clarity on the guidance going forward. >> while the president threatened to cut funding to schools that do not reopen in the fall, the vice president said the federal government would core providing incentive for states that do reopen schools. mayor bill de blasio announced yesterday new york public schools will not fully reopen this september. instead, classroom attendance will be staggered and limited to only one to three days a week. the new york public school system is the large northwest the country with 1.1 milli yuio students and nearly 1,800 schools >> i've heard from community members, i've heard from people in the business community, civic groups, clergy all over the city, the same message. everyone is looking to the public school system to indicate

the bigger direction of new york city. >> now as "the new york times" points out under the mayor's plan, there will probably be no more than a dozen people in the classroom at any time including teachers and aides. that's different from the typical start time which hovers around 30 children. it should be noted these plans could always change. health care workers across the u.s. are yet again scrambling to find enough personal protective equipment to safely treat a resurgence of coronavirus patients. "the new york times" reports that hospitals, nursing homes, and private practices are among those on the front lines facing a dire shortage of respirator masks, isolation goumdwns, and disposable gloves. meanwhile "the times" notes hospitals in florida are handing

out loosely fitting surgical masks for workers working with presumed symptomatic patients. the trump administration dismissed the ppe shortage and instead encouraged reusing supplies. >> i have received encouraging reports even through this morning, strong supplies of ppe and hospitals -- hospital capacity remains strong. we also are issuing renewed guidance on preservation and reuse of ppe. we're encouraging health care workers to begin now to use some of the best practices that we learned in other parts of the country to preserve and to reuse the ppe supplies. >> a key witness in the impeachment case of president trump, lieutenant colonel alexander vindman yesterday announced his retirement from the u.s. army. his reason, his lawyer alleges a cam pin of bullying and retaliation by the president. he was a top ukrainian expert

and as part of the impeachment probe, he testified about that july 25, 2019 call between trump and the ukraine president that was at the heart of the testimony. he said the president's conduct on the call was improper and inappropriate. vindman was ousted. his twin brother, also a lieutenant colonel, was escorted from the white house the very same day. the 21-year veteran was retiring because it was made clear that the institution he has dutifully served would forever be limited. he was set to be promoted to full colonel this year. congressman adam sheriff who led the house impeachment investigation sent a letter to vindman saying in part, quote, right does not matter to donald trump, but it matters to you. it matters to this country and to its people. house speaker nancy pelosi said in a statement, quote, it is sad

that america's losing this patriotic soldier because of the president's cruel vindictiveness and disrespect for the constitution and our national security. senator and iraq war veteran tammy duckworth blasted the man, defense secretary mark esper in a statement saying that his failure to protect his troops set as new dark precedent that any commander in chief can interfere with achieved military promotions and carry out personal veb detas against military officers who follow duly authorized s&ps while upholding their oath of office and core principles of service, adding vindman's flaer fled russia because he believed the united states of america rented air toke rck rahcy where truth matters. we're set to get another update on the labor market with

the weekly initial jobless claims reports. economists predict an additional 1.4 million cases were filed across the country as of last friday. according to yahoo! finance this brings the total number to about 48 million over the past 15 weeks. joining me now, u.s. economy managing editor for bloomberg, peggy collins. a very good morning to you on this thursday. are we going to see the impact of all of these latest numbers, the spikes across the country of the coronavirus cases? is that going to add to the coronavirus number? >> that's what we're looking out for this morning. it's expected that since the first start of the pandemic, the weekly jobs numbers actually go up. we've seen a slow grind down over the last few weeks. we're expect another 4.1, 4.3 million people to file for weekly jobless claims benefits

we're going to see that churn in the market because some of the states are starting to recoil on their reopening plans. >> what about a stimulus package from capitol hill? is this going to affect that? is that going to happen? >> this is becoming the topic of the day on capitol hill and elsewhere in the country among lawmakers mainly because the unemployment benefits that were extended to an extra $600 per week for people is expiring july 31 is 1st. that's something people and the government are waiting to see if that will be extended. there are multiple proposals in terms of a back-to-work bonus or $600 more. that's going to become a key focus going forward in terms of how the economy will continue to move on given that we're still dealing with the virus spreading. >> our director had up a graphic of a headline, yes, baking up

your statement, this expires in july, but economists are not optimistic about what happens after. is there a sense of gloom, if you will, that they will not come to some agreement on a fourth stimulus package that's badly needed? >> i think many economists and investors are expect lawmakers to do something. the question is how much and how fast. sew republican leader mitch mcconnell has said he vows to get something done before lawmakers go back on vacation in early august, and so we're looking to see how close they get before that july 31st number actually turns on the clock and how much volatility it could create in people's lives and in the market if they don't do it before then. >> okay. peggy collins, thanks for waking up early with us. thank you so much. still ahead, we're digging into the supreme court's decision to side with the administration's change on birth control under the affordable c.a.r.e.s. act and despite

pushback from the president, new york city is set to begin painting a new "black lives matter" mural on fifth avenue. those stories and a check on your weather when we come back. n your weather when we come back around here, nobody ever does it. i didn't do it. so when i heard they added ultra oxi to the cleaning power of tide, it was just what we needed. dad? i didn't do it. #1 stain and odor fighter, #1 trusted. it's got to be tide.

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the supreme court greatly expanned the kinds of employers who can opt out of the affordable c.a.r.e.s. act requirement to provide free birth control. the trump administration is hailing the 7-2 decision as a major victory to religious freedom. it could result in up to 126,000 women losinging contraceptive coverage as virtually every employer is now permitted to opt out of the precontraception requirement with a religious or moral objection. justice clarence thomas who wrote the majority saying the department of health and human services has the authority to creates its own rules and

exemptions while justice bader ginsburg says it leaves women to figure it out for themselves and pay out of their own pockets. joining me now nbc legal analyst danny cevallos. >> good morning. >> this is somewhat familiar. there was a case that affected smaller employers. how does one expand on this decision? >> this is a classic regulatory case. you have a regulatory statute, the affordable c.a.r.e.s. act. and all it provides is that the employer provide preventive care and screening. what the heck does that mean? the agencies consist of not one elected person but yet by issuing ruling, they create law. it gave them the power to expand these exemption for religious-based employers. really what the supreme court

held today is, look, if congress wanted to allow or preserve this kind of coverage including contraception, it could have done. so it didn't. it left this vague language and gave tremendous power to the agencies to create these rules, and that's exactly what they did. all the supreme court did is uphold the regulatory power of the agencies. and if congress wanted to change it, they can and could. >> okay. so in part the reason why this isn't the final word is, yeah, it looks like a win, but the legal question of this, that's been punted, right is it's gone back to the lower court? >> that's exactly right. back when this was -- this issue last became before the court, there were only eight justices on the court because justice scalia passed away. so because they were at a tie, that means the lower court, the circuit court decision stands, and it sort of paused until we

get back up to the supreme court again. and all yesterday's ruling really does is uphold the power of the regulatory agencies to issue these rules. and that could be traced directly back to the affordable c.a.r.e.s. act's vague language about what exactly employers and their health plans are required to provide. >> so there was another religious freedom case described. can you give us a quick rundown on that? >> yeah. basically when you look at teachers of the school, you don't look at them as priests or other religious leaders, but there's a rule that says priests an ministers and other religious educators can't sue for employment discrimination because the first amendment prohibits the government from interfering in how religious organizations run their business, and by business, i mean their education or religious education. and so the question becomes if

you have a teach never a school who believes she's been discriminated against because of age or disability, is she precluded from suing the school? and the supreme court held, yes, they are, because even teachers in a relifrmgs school perform some kind of ministerial duties and therefore they cannot sue their employer for discrimination, even though a religious school teacher doesn't seem the same as, say, a priest or cardinal or someone whose primary job is educating or i guess i would say teaching religi religion. >> very interesting, danny cevallos, as always. thank you. the supreme court is expected to release its rulings on whether the president trump's financial records muld be produced when subpoenaed. it should be introduced around 10:00 a.m. they can decide to hold those cases for the fall.

at issue is whether three congressional committees and a new york grand jury may obtain the president's tax returns and other financial documents from banks and accountants who hold them. the president has certainly fought the release of records in three lower courts but he's lost, arguing he can't be looked at while in office. new polling is taking a look at how united the democratic party may be. those new numbers coming your way next. coming your way next ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat

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over warren. democrats said warren who was their top pick backed biden, 96% to 0%. there were a significant number of sanders supporters who never embraced clinton's candidacy. she won 74% of voters who backed sanders in 2016 and we had just 13% voting for trump there. let's get a look at our forecast. to do that, we go to none other than bill karins for the meteorologist's forecast. let's see what's going on there. something's brewing in the atlantic. >> i know. by the end of today, we could have tropical storm watches and warnings from virginia to southern new england including new york city. it's not every day new york city gets a tropical storm watch or warning. it's all possible because of this here. this little storm in wilmington has a potential to get stronger.

hurricane hunters will go there and decide whether to call it a tropical storm. let's get into it and show you the latest. the hurricane center saying 80% chance that this develops into at least a tropical depression. if it does get a name, it would be faye. here's the development zone over the outer banks today. so here's how it's all going to play out. later on the storm will be over cape hatteras. very little rain. maybe a little bit around virginia beach. as the storm gets a little bit stronger, it throws rain back inland, even as far as washington, d.c., on friday. a period of rain is likely from cape may, maryland, delaware,

northern new england. and by the time we get to saturday, it will be heading up to new england. by the end of saturday it will be pretty much done. beach conditions on friday from long island, southern new england, jersey shore, i'm sure we'll have a lot of red flag warnings and the lifeguards will have people off the beaches. 1 to 3 inches of rain is possible. yesterday we had 26 tornadoes. watch out from milwaukee to madison and tulsa to ft.smith. and finally, alex, it's july. it is hot. after we get done with this tropical system, that heatwave is going to continue into next week. >> i'd like to say thank you, but i'm not sure i like the forecast. thanks, bill. former "glee" actrectress h been reported missing. they took that book out on the boat and three hours after

renting it a voter found the young boy asleep inside without his mother and notified the police. they were looking for the actress with diving teams. the search and rescue will resume at daybreak. they're calling this a missing persons investigation. still ahead, there's been a spiking coronavirus cases in tulsa, oklahoma, and one person says the president may be to blame for it. plus several universities are taking legal action against the trump administration over visas for foreign students. we're back in a moment. r visas for foreign students we're back in a moment [indistinct radio chatter] (mom) come on, hurry up!

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt. we're going to begin this half hour as the president puts more pressure on schools to reopen this fall despite a new surge in coronavirus v coronavirus. >> learning by computer is not as good as learning in the classroom. >> earlier complaining on twitter about the cdc's voluntary guidelines for reopening schools, blasting them as very tough and expensive. while they want them open, they're asking the schools to do very impractical thing. hours later the white house announced the cdc will issue new guidelines next week. >> every american knows that we can safely reopen our schools. >> i'm among the cdc's current recommended policies, keep desks six feet apart if possible, close cafeterias and playgrounds

if possible, and use face coverings. they tried to provide clarity for schools. >> i want to make it very clear that what is not tin tent of cdc's guidelines is to be used as a rationale to keep schools closed. >> the president is now threatening to cut off budgets for schools. the president says any opposition is politically motivated. the dems think it would be bad for them politically if u.s. schools open before the november election. the cdc director says the chances of children getting sick or spreading the virus are remote. >> this virus does not caution significance illness in children. we have no evidence that children are driving the transmission psych ofl this. >> but teachers union members warn the fear is real. >> no one's going to go back

full-time if their health is in jeopardy. harvard and mit filed lawsuit against trump for revoking the visas of students who do not take classes in person this fall. the students will not be allowed to stay in country if the institution is only holding online course this fall and those failing to comply with the rules will face deportation. according to "the new york times" the new rules are designed to pressure campuses to reopen classes during the pandemic. massachusetts's attorney general said the state will support the suit saying massachusetts is home to thousands of international students who should not fear deportation or put their health safety at risk. it came from i.c.e., it's cruel, it's illegal, waebld will sue to

stop it. just over two weeks after the president held a campaign rally in tulsa, oklahoma, health officials there are reporting a surge in covid-19 cases a according to the executive direct over the city health department. trump's rally which drew thousand of supporters likely contributed to a surge in new cases. there are over 251 new cases on monday, which is a one-day record high. and there were 206 cases the next day. when asked, white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany said she had no data that the rally was the source of increasing cases. >> i'm would say i have no data to indicate that on my end, but it's the decision of individuals whether to go. we encouraged the wearing of masks. as the president said, if he couldn't distance, he would. it's the individual choice of the person. >> dr. anthony fauci expressed his frustration yesterday saying

the u.s. is facing its current spike in cases because certain states opened too soon. >> you know, it gets frustrating because not to name any states but some states admittedly opened up too early and too quickly, so that was something that probably should not have happened that led to this. >> and given dr. fauci's absence from yesterday's coronavirus task force briefing, white house praes secretary kayleigh mcenany was asked if the administration was settling a score for his absence in previous days. >> today he was told to come here to the white house for the task force meeting which means he could not answer questions from reporters. >> look. that's a decision for the task force as to who appears at the briefings, but you've heard from a lot of our doctors, dr. birx, dr. fauci has appeareded on programs. you heard from him in a task force meeting on the 26th and he

participated in the president's press briefing on covid-19. you heard from him recently along with the rest of the doctors. >> does the president still have d confidence in dr. fauci. >> it's up to him to determine what to do with that information and to take what we hear from dr. fauci, dr. birx and others and take what he values and come to the ultimate consensus that's best for the country. >> a very detail and prepared answer right there, obviously anticipated. joining me now, monica alba. a very good morning to you, my friend. let's go to the president's push. what's driving that effort. >> again, that is a great place to start with. dr. fauci's absence. trying to lay out how this might happen. he was not a part of that. he didn't take questions on it. he has been one of the most outspoken voices to say that when students go back to school, it must be done safely.

and this is really where you have this mixed messaging because the president's own cdc has guidance that social distancing is essential, that people, especially in hot spots shouldn't be gathered in any large numbers, more than ten people, for example. that was a plea from dr. deborah birx yesterday. we're talking about decisions that need to be made in the next six weeks as educators try to plan for that next semester, and it comes at a time when the president is trying to push this reopening and sense of normalcy. we saw it a couple of months ago with places of worship when the president department like his own cdc guidelines. he said, i'm going to issue my own. now we're seeing it with schools. again, he's saying he doesn't like the restrictive nature of some of the cdc's own guidelines, so he's pressured dr. robert redfield to change

that. what's changed here is there isn't enough data to make decision about how this might affect kids because they were pulled out of school so many months ago when the pandemic started. so while it does appear that younger people are not affected as seriously as others for coronavirus, there simply isn't enough information. so how do you make these decisions about which kids can go back to school and which counties. that does fall, imseems, to the governors and state executives. it's something that will ultimately be made by specifics. what the president brought into this as well now is a funding threat. even though most comes from the state, he has said that now that may be a factor in deciding what schools get what money from the federal government depending on whether they reopen or not, alex. >> very interesting. okay. it has been 19 days since that tulsa rally. plenty of time in which the coronavirus could incubate,

right is it's greater, in fact, than that two-week period some of with regard to that rally. you have the president's campaign team defending that event, but we can't forget that shoichls own staff, i think it was six -- tested positive while working that event. how about rallies moving forward? is there any word on how they're going to handle this as it relates to covid-19? >> you're right. there were six campaign staffers who tested posted even before the rally started. then after the rally, they revealed that two additional staffers also had contracted the virus while being in tulsa. then you have the questions of other top campaign officials and surrogates who were at that rally who later tested posted. it's impossible to say whether they contracted the virus there who were both at that packed rally as well as other events who have now speculated that may be where they, in fact, contracted the virus, but as we

look ahead to new hampshire where they'll be rallying on saturday, they have taken different precautions. they will be holding that outdoors in an open-air situation at the airport. they'll be distributing masks. as opposed to tulsa, they're going to strongly encourage people to wear them. it appears to be a shift in tone and availability of this important ppe that can defend people. in new hampshire, cases are much lower and there's much less of a risk, it appears from officials there. of course, that doesn't mean a few weeks from now you count necessarily -- >> i'm was going to say, let's hope we're not talking about a surge in new hampshire. thank you so much. still ahead, in defiance of the president, new york city will be painting a "black lives matter" mural on fifth avenue in front of trump tower. and a first look at "morning joe." we're back in a moment. joe. we're back in a moment

new york city will begin painting a "black lives matter" mural at the foot of trump tower, a message president trump call as symbol of hate. it will most likely keep fifth avenue closed for several days. he wrote on twitter, new york city is cutting police funding by $1 million but they're going to paint a big sign on fiskt avenue, denigrating this luxury avenue. this will further an tag nice new york's finest who love new york and vividly remember the horrible blm chant your luxury came from their labor for which they have never been justly compensated. we're honoring them, the fact that you see it as denigrating

your street is a definition of racism. there is no symbol of hate here, just a commitment to truth. attorney general bill barr acknowledged yesterday that policing among communities of color is disproportion at to those of white communities calling it a widespread phenomenon. >> i do think that it is a widespread phenomenon that african-american maeles particularly are treated with extra suspicion and maybe not given the benefit of the doubt. >> is that wrong? >> i think it is wrong if people are not respected proposetly and given their due. let's check in with meteorologist bill karins. another good morning to you. >> thanks, alex. yesterday morning at this time i thought the fatality numbers for covey 19 were going to be very important to see which direction we were trending because we had the high number on tuesday coming off of the holiday. here's what happened yesterday.

we had about 890 wednesday fatalities reported that. was the highest wednesday number since june 10th. right now we're sitting around 134,000. why is that important? we like to track the average. one-days doesn't give you a big picture. you want to track the seven-day average. right now it's at 585. because of the last few days where we had that uptick, this is the first time since june 2nd that the seven-day average has increased in fatalities two days in a row. you can see how the line went way down and was continually going down, but in the last two days, it's begun going up. now we'll wait and see if that trend continues, but that's not something we wanted to see. here's the reason why, total cases, brand-new record, 61,848 broke the previous record of 58,910.

we've gone up. we'red a a seven-day average of 54,265. a month ago it was 21,000. that's how quickly we're heading upward now. that's mostly by our southern states. let's look at the forecast for the weekend. very hot conditions from texas all the way to the midwest. we'll see strong storm, watch out, from milwaukee to madison. on friday, that rain system, which could be a tropical storm will be right over areas from philadelphia to new york city. beach conditions will be horrendous. they'll likely be closed from the jersey shore, song long island. it's gone for the most part by sunday. it's kind of a quiet sunday and then we're going to watch that impressive heatwave building. if you look closely at that map. yes, that's 108 degrees in west texas on sunday. we have a couple of record highs possible. >> i have to tell you, bill, i'm trying to get my head around the numbers, the increase in the

number. >> not a good day. >> i'm hoping it will be better news tomorrow. thank you, bill. cistill ahead, we're going go to the cdc, the stories driving your business day coming your way next. driving your busig your way next. alright let's roll. c'mon pizza's here. whoa! is that shaq? this is my new pizza the shaq-a-roni and it's bigger than pizza because for every shaq-a-roni sold, $1 is donated to the papa john's foundation for building community. $1 is donated to the papa john's foundation

♪ ♪all strength ♪we ain't stoppin' believe me♪ ♪go straight till the morning look like we♪ ♪won't wait♪ ♪we're taking everything we wanted♪ ♪we can do it ♪all strength, no sweat

another 1 million more people were likely to have filed for unemployment benefits last week. let's go to london for the latest. what kind of numbers are you seeing? juliana, i'm sorry, i think we have lost the signal. we'll try to get back to you in just a minute. up next, we expect to get to axios "one big thing," and coming up on "morning joe," we'll talk with leading eck

perts including dr. scott gottlieb about where we stand amid the coronavirus. and praise. governor larry hogan will be joining the conversation as he considers will be joining the conversation as he considers a potential run to the white house in 2024. "morning joe" will be coming your way in about 10 minutes. org your way in about 10 minutes i'm a performer. -always have been. -and always will be. never letting anything get in my way. not the doubts, distractions, or voice in my head. and certainly not arthritis. new voltaren provides powerful arthritis pain relief to help me keep moving. and it can help you too. feel the joy of movement

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we're going to try this again, second time is the charm. we're bringing in julianna tatelbaum from london for us. good morning to you. the latest on the state of the u.s. workforce, what are the numbers showing this morning? >> very good morning to you. so the number to watch today is the weekly jobless claims number. we are expecting 1.38 million more people to have filed for unemployment claims in the last week. that's what economists are expecting. now around 20 million people have been collecting unemployment on an ongoing basis. that is a slight improvement from recent weeks but still much higher numbers than during the great recession. a couple of companies in focus today i want to highlight for you. brooks brothers has filed for

bankruptcy protection. one of america's oldest clothing brands, dates back to 1918. as you well know has dressed many u.s. presidents and it joins j. crew, jc penny, neiman marcus as a result of the crisis. and united airlines may cut up to 36,000 jobs. the main flight attendants union said this is bigger than 9/11 and the great recession combined. bigger than anything we've seen before by five times. it's not just the flight attendants at risk. manufacturing is at risk here. air bus the plane maker said it received no new orders for aircraft in june. >> numbers all together not so great. julianna tatelbaum thank you so much. good to connect with you. joining me now with a look at axios a.m., nicholas johnson. good morning to you.

>> good morning. >> what is axios' one big thing? >> trump's reopening gamble. the trump administration's push to reopen schools nationwide is on a collision course with america's rising caseload and school districts struggling to figure out what are the plans to reopening and to pay for the changes they would need. we could see schools and children becoming a main driver of increasing caseloads if reopenings don't go well. schools are central to american life, a way of delivering services to children, teaching, mental health, counseling services, they provide meals for millions of students, and, of course, they're a key element of day care. many people won't be able to go to work this fall if school is reopening giving them that kind of child care. the only way to reopen the economy is if schools are open 100%. there's a lot of debate going on

how we can do that. clearly the cdc guidelines that went out, recommended masks and keeping children 6 feet apart from each other. everyone with kids knows that's improbab impossible and the president agrees, sending the cdc back to the drawing board on that. and trying to figure out how to pay for it. they need to retro fit it, clean it. one philadelphia school told us it would cost $60 million per school to meet the standards and cities are already strapped for crash because of the coronavirus. i think this will be the biggest thing we'll be talking about for the next couple of weeks as we head into the fall school year. >> 100%. it is a domino effect, the schools are closed and all the things that fall as well. with the president's threat to cut funding, is that the only leverage he has?

>> that's the key issue is how much is set by the federal government and how much by states, how much do mayors, county commissioners, governors have to say in that, the leverage the federal government has is not as powerful as the president would like. federal funding does play a part, but it's a lot more at local officials and i think local officials will be making the calls. >> i know that axios is reporting the numbers have increased significantly in at least 33 states. but the argument will be the only reason they are increasing is because it's increased testing. so we're getting the numbers. however, you are finding out that's not necessarily the case, right? >> 100%. when you look at the overall picture, the number of caseloads is outpacing the rising increase in tests. this is the 11th or 12th week we've been doing this math and this is our worst case scenario. we saw the spike last week in a lot of the country heading the

wrong direction, that's spread almost all over the country except the upper new england. and another key metric to note, the lagging indicators, hospitalizations and deaths as you reported earlier in the hour those are starting to tick up as well. it's a case of the united states does not have the coronavirus pandemic under control. >> testing is increased by 7% c according to axios, cases have risen by 24%. those are the numbers right there. nicholas johnson, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i'm going to be reading axios a.m. in a little while, sign up for the newsletter at signup.yosignup signup.axios.com. that's it for me, i'm alex witt. "morning joe" starts now. dad, i'm sitting here today in the u.s. capitol talking to our elected professionals. it's proof you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the soviet union and come here to the united states of america

in search of a better life for our family. do not worry, i will be fine for telling the truth. >> that was the testimony back in november from lieutenant colonel alexander vindman during the impeachment hearings of president trump. yesterday the 21 year veteran announced his retirement from the united states army. his attorney alleges a campaign of bullying by the president. his attorney said he will forever be limited. good morning and welcome to "morning joe," it's thursday, july 9th. i'll willie geist, joe and mika have the day off. we'll have more on lieutenant-colonel vindman's retirement later on. also ahead, trump is pushing to reopen schools this fall, rejecting the cdc's current

guidance. this as several states continue to see hospitals at or near capacity with full icu beds renewed concerns about a shortage of personal protective equipment and the mayor of phoenix sounding the alarm over a lack of available testing. dr. fauci said the united states is seeing a spike in case gs because some states opened too soon. tulsa, oklahoma seeing a spike and a local official suggesting it may stem from the president's rally last month. the supreme court is expected to end its session today with a ruling on whether the president's financial records must be produced when subpoe subpoenaed. let's bring in white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemire. now a two-day fight for the president over schools and reopening schools, pushing them to open, criticizing colleges and