>> you heard the man. bill nye to take us off the air. and that is our broadcast on this thursday night. thank you very much for being here with us. on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. two landmark rulings from the supreme court. the justices say president trump cannot stop a new york prosecutor from seeing his personal finances, but they also blocked congress from getting them, at least for now. plus, new reportinreporting president trump is responding to a rift regarding the pandemic. and joe biden says he can hardly wait to debate president trump, mocking him as a, quote, stable

genius. hey, there. good morning, everyone. it's friday, july 10th. i'm alex witt. well, in a split decision yesterday, the u.s. supreme court decided that the president's financial records must be handed over to a new york grand jury, but congress has a bit more work to do to make its case. both were decide on a 7-2 vote to go back to the lower supreme court. in each was the unanimous opinion of the justices that the president of the united states does not have absolute immunity. writing for the majority chief justice john robert as asserts, no citizen, not even the president trump of the united states, is reduced from presenting evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding. we reaffirm that principle today. the supreme court decided,

however, that congress is not yet entitled to see many of the same records sought in new york. it said the case should be returned to lower courts to examine whether congress should narrow the parameters of the information that it sought. joining me right now, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. okay, danny break all this down for us. first of all, deciding the president does not have absolute immunity, that was a no-brainer. was the same true in the decision on the congressional subpoenas? talk about that and what happens next. what do they have to do? >> the key in the congressional case is that congress can issue legislative subpoenas and investigate anything that may relate to a valid legislative purpose, and that sounds like an incredibly broad standard, but it has limits. congress is not allowed to engage in law enforcement activities.

so given congress has the power to issue subpoenas, the court has said, well, if you didn't show your work, and you see on the full screen there are different points, different questions that have to be answered, and that is the kind of test that the court put together to decide whether or not a congressional subpoena does meet -- does fall within congress's power to investigate. congress cannot engage in law enforcement activities, but congress can investigate issues to law enforcement if they're going to legislate on law enforcement. it's a confusing standard, but it shows that congress does have limits when it comes to sps and the lower courts have to hash that out. >> before i get to another legal question, danny, do you think there's an element of trying to make sure there's not a political undercurrent with regard to how the law is interpreted, this relative to the congress case? >> yes. that's what the supreme court

always endeavors to do. by sending it back, they're essentially saying to congress, show your work. put this in concrete to show this is a subpoena that can withstand the challenge. the argument is if congress had done that on the front end, the supreme court's decision might have been different and we might have had a totally different outcome. that's the importance of congress laying out its specific reasons and its valid legislative reasons for issuing a subpoena so that congress doesn't have a broad unchallengeable authority to issue subpoenas for people's personal papers. >> okay. with regard to new york, it's a bit confusing, so straighten this out for me because the case is also going back to court, right? but the documents have to be produced. so what happened there, and what do you think will happen? >> that's right. in a sense, the trump side could argue that both cases were a win, at least politically if not legally because both cases are heading back down to the lower

courts, and that will take time, and we're just a few months away from a presidential election. time works in favor of the president, both in the new york subpoena case and in the congressional subpoena case. but in the new york subpoena case, the court rejected that the president had some broad immunity from any kind of state process. and that is a really fascinating holding because there are those that might argue that, look, you can't have a bunch of -- thousands of state attorney generals and district attorneys combined who can issue subpoenas and essentially bring the president's job to a halt. the court rejected that idea and is sending it back down to the lower courts so the president can at least challenge on other grounds, but it does appear that at least the president does not have absolute immunity from state grand jury process. >> so, danny, i mean correct me if i'm wrong, but the lower courts, didn't they all rule against the president? again, the lower courts, that's

where these cases are going back to? >> that's right. if you're a betting person, you might bet in the lower court. of course, the president wins if they take too long to decide these cases, but, yes, the lower courts ruled against the president. so even if the president goes back and articulates new arguments, ones maybe he didn't articulate before, it does seem likely that the lower courts will continue to hold consistently with the way they did in the past that the president does not have this absolute immunity from state grand jury investigation. >> so you're saying that the president wins in terms of time relative to the 2020 election, the likelihood of seeing his taxes, financial records is slim to none at this point. that said, what happens after the election? >> that's the key. immunity arguably may end after the president leaves office or if he stays in office, the pret president -- there are a lot of crazy political options, but

keep in mind the president cannot issue a self-pardon with anything that happens in the state judicial process or anything that a state prosecutor may do. so going forward, it really will be fascinating to see what the lower courts do if they issue something relatively quickly and whether or not the pretsident, f course, will likely appeal that and take as much time as he humanly can. but once the president leaves office, he could be thoroughly investigated and possibly even charged. >> all right. thank you so much, danny, for having a good cup of coffee. have a good weekend. hospitals are being flooded with patients as coronavirus continues to surge. according to "the new york times," at least six states hit single-day amounts. deaths linked to covid-19 have

begun trending upward over the last few days. texas, for instance, recorded 105 deaths yesterday. governor greg abbott extended a ban on elective medical procedures. florida also broke its own record recording 120 yesterday. cases in the state have doubled since late june, but governor ron desantis is continuing his push to reopen schools in the fall. dr. anthony fauci called the pandemic the world's worst nightmare and said the u.s. is not doing great with its response to the coronavirus. the cdc is increasingly feeling pressure from the president as his health experts grow more strained. they find themselves forced to constantly backtrack and be sidelined from pivotal discussion including when it's going to be safe to reopen. one said there's a view the cdc is staffed with deep-state

democrats who are trying to tweak the administration. meanwhile the president's prospects tied to economic recovery say they've been deeply frustrated with what they say are cdc staffers who determine to keep things closed according to a senior administration official. meanwhile cdc official dr. robert redfield is pushing back on schools reopening. he says the cdc is providing additional reference documents. >> i think it's really important. it's not a revicks of terevisio guidelines. it's to provide additional information to help schools be able to use the guidance we put forward. that's what the cdc has done. they put forth guidances. they're not requirements. the students are best served by getting the schools reopened. right now we're working with local jurisdictions to take what

we give them to make it practical for the schools to reopen. >> dr. anthony fauci conceded in an interview yesterday that the u.s. is struggling to handle the coronavirus pandemic because many states are not adhering to the proper guidelines. >> how do you think the u.s. is doing right now? like just in a -- if you're looking across the world, what are your feelings about how we're doing right now? >> as a country when you compare us to other country, i don't think you can say we're doing great. i mean we're just not. >> after that, an interview on fox news, the president criticized dr. anthony fauci when asked about the surging number of cases here in the u.s. >> dr. fauci is a nice man, but he's made a lot of mistakes like you don't have to ban them from coming from a very infected china. i did it anyway. we saved hundreds of thousands of lives. i banned italy when france and spain were having all the problems. we saved hundreds of thousands

of lives. a lot of people said don't do it. they've been wrong about a lot of things, including face masks. a lot of them said don't wear a mask, don't wear a mask. now they're saying wear a mask. a lot of mistakes were made. >> white house press secretary kayleigh mcenany declined to offer full-throated report for dr. anthony fauci. >> the president has confidence in the conclusion of our medical experts, but it's up to him what he does with that information, take what he values in their opinion and come to the ultimate consensus that's best for this country. still ahead, america's top general appears before lawmakers and says the united states is perhaps not doing as much as we could or should to deter russia. plus, tropical storm fay has formed off the coast of north carolina and is expected to bring heavy rain and wind to the

northeast. meanwhile meteorologist bill karins is tracking the storm. he'll have the latest coming up next. storm he'll have the latest coming up next

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we look at north carolina's outer banks. the storm is expected to make landfall impacting areas of southern england. faye is expected to generate 3 to 5 irchls of rain and 40-mile-an-hour winds, but it's not expected to reach full hurricane status. a tropical storm warning is in effect from cape may, new jersey, rhode island as well. wind warnings and flash flood watches for lots of the coast. let's go right to meteorologist bill karins. it's a busy morning for you. what are you seeing out there?

>> good morning, alex. they did gradually increase it. we went from 45-mile-an-hour maximum sustained winds to 50-mile-an-hour maximum sustained winds. it's going to be a one-day event. a cancellation of beach day in new jersey and tomorrow into areas of new england. let me get to the latest. tropical storm fay is now 60 miles south-southeast of ocean city, maryland. it's moving north at 10. we like to see these storms 10 miles or longer. they move along. the rapid motion to the north of the system will protect us a little bit. you can now see some of those heavier rain bands are now moving onshore into southern new jersey and along the coastline where delaware and maryland meet. here's the forecast path. it's not often you get a chance for a tropical system to go

right over the top of new york city, but that will happen later on this evening, right around 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. as we go through the day today, we'll get additional landfall. for the historical records, it should be along the jersey coast, maybe near atlantic city this afternoon. then this system will weaken as it hes to northern new england. it will be gone by the time we get to saturday afternoon. what does this all mean. >> tropical storm warnings, wind gusts are possible from the new jersey coast, new york city, long island, again, scattered to isolated power outages. i do not expect a lot of downed tree limbs. the biggest problems will be at the beaches with rip currents. it's a canceled day through the jersey shore and all the way to southern new england. wean been in a mini drought in the northeast. we're not too concerned with flooding, but we have flash flood watches up that includes much of eastern maryland, new

jersey, hudson valley, and even sections of connecticut and massachusetts. the areas that will see the heaviest rainfall, definitely new jersey. possibly a widespread and isolated storm. that will cause some problems with some flooding. here's the timing on everything for you. let's pause it here when the wor worst of it is around atlantic city near philadelphia. that's at noon. notice rain in new york stock exchange by noon. the worst of the bands begins around 3:00 p.m. and will continue until 8:00 p.m. that's moving the heavier stu stuff to the hudson valley by 8:00 p.m. notice the system right over the top of new york city and then it races to new england. the cold front comes into the humid air mass and we will see additional storms. but, again, the storm itself, faye, will be gone. the headlines, faye into the northeast with landfall this afternoon, heatwave for the south, and very hot conditions from the southwest to texas.

alex, if anything else with faye, it's a one-day cancellation of plans for outdoor activities in areas of the northeast today. it's kind a wakeup call for everyone, you know, you have to have your hurricane plans in place. we're heading toward the peak of the season. >> absolutely. it doesn't mean you have to put away patio furniture and lower umbrellas and things like that. >> no. if you have your -- yeah. >> go ahead. you finish up. >> no, that's okay. minor stuff you do want to put away, stuff that can blow away. but you don't need to batten down the hatches. >> thank you, my friend. still ahead, one of president trump's former associates is heading back to prison while another tries to stay out of it. those stories and more coming up next. e stories and more coming p next

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here's what they had to say. >> there's a big distinction between arming and directing. we know about arms. we know about weapons. we know about support and things like that. we don't have in the case of the russians -- we do not have concrete corroborating evidence, intelligence, to show directing. that's a big difference. >> if, in fact, there's bounties, i am an outraged general just like every one of us in uniform is, if, in fact, there were bounties directed by the government of russia or institutions to kill american soldiers. that's a big deal. that's a real big deal. >> yeah. >> to the best of my recollection, i have not received a briefing that included the word "bounty." >> you cann't acknowledge there were bounties, that there were reports of payments, is that

correct? >> congressman, that's correct. >> well, the president's former attorney michael cohen was sent back to prison for refusing to comply with conditions of his fur lou. cohen who was released early due to covid concerns was at a federal courthouse to sign a home confinement agreement. there was a gag order to prevent him from interacting with the media or publishing with a book. u.s. marshals tomb hick back into custody when he refused to sign a book. somebody on high is involved here. i don't know that, but something seems off to me. trump's former adviser roger stone said he is concerned go e prison will be a death penalty, adding he is optimistic trump will come to his rescue. he's going to prison frn lying to congress, witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

stone has appealed his conviction and has denied any wrongdoing. he had asked the appeals court to push off his sentencing date to december over covid concerns. in political news, senator pat roberts joins the growing list of republican senators who say they're planning not to attend the republican convention in jacksonville next month. >> do you plan to attend the convention? >> well, i have some things in kansas i've got to do, and unfortunately i didn't know what was canceled, what was not. >> roberts becoming the sixth senator to take a pace joining chuck grassley, lisa murkowski, susan collins, and mitt romney. earlier mitch mcconnell said he would attend.

he told the party they'll wait and see if the event can be held safely. >> i think the convention is a challenging situation, and a number of my colleagues have said they're not going to attend. we'll have to see how things look in late august to determine whether or not we can safely convene that many people. still ahead, president trump is raging over the supreme court's new rulings concerning his financial records, but his aides are framing it as a win. plus, joe biden lays out a new economic plan that takes on president trump's "america first" policies. we're back in a moment. "america first" policies. we're back in a moment that if this happens... ...or this happens... ...or this.... ...or this... ...or even this... ...we've seen and covered it. so, switch to farmers and you could save an average

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welcome back, everyone. i'm alex witt. let's get more on the split ruling on the supreme court over subpoenas for the tax records. the court rejected the president trump's claim over absolute immunity, ruling that they can move forward but congress must do more to make its case. the president's first response was to lash out on twitter, claiming in part, this is all a political prosecution. i won the mueller witch hunt and others, and now i have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt new york. not fair to this presidency or admin strachlgs he follows up writing in part, the supreme court has given a delayed ruling. we catch the other side spying on my campaign, the biggest political crime and scandal in

u.s. history and nothing happens, but despite this, i have done more than any president in history in the first 3 1/2 years. the president then said this on camera. >> the rulings were basically starting all over again, sending everything back down to the lower courts and you start all over again, so from a certain point i'm satisfied. from another point, i'm not satisfied. frankly, this is a political witch hunt, the likes of which nobody has ever seen before. ite's pure witch hunt, a hoax, just like the mueller investigation is a hoax that i won. this is another hoax. this is purely political. >> hmm. that tone was not the tone in the brief press room. press secretary kayleigh mcenany described it as a big win for the president. >> you mentioned the ruling today was a win. it didn't sound from the president's tweet this morning he thought it that way. has his thinking changed since

he's had more time to digest. >> no. the president was making a general point on deference on the principle of absolute immunity, which is the posture that the president took in court. you know, he believes there should have been more deference there. justice alito citing the harvard law review made a very good point that constitutionally speaking the president never sleeps, he must be ready at a moment's notice to do whatever to preserve and protect the constitution of the american people. justice kavanaugh said to all nine justices it needs to be remanded back to the lower court. >> give me your interpretation of the president's reaction of the supreme court ruling over his financial records we heard what he said right there and that which he tweeted. >> sure. it's pretty clear he's not happy about it, and i think just taking a step back for a moment,

this is a president who has successfully hid for years now his tax documents, financial records from investigators and from the public, and so knowing what we know about trump and knowing what we know especially about his belief about justices he 'pointed will look out for his personal political interests, it's not surprising that he would see this as a blow to him personally, to see these 7-2 rulings in two separate cases in which nominees he appointed to the supreme court sided with the majority. so, you know, it's not difficult to understand why that would be surprising for the president. that said, you know, if we look at this, legally this is a loss for the presidency, but politically at least in the short term, this is a win for him. so i think what we can expect to see, especially in the next few days and weeks moving forward is the president kind of adapting

and falling more in line with what his advisers have said, which is, you know, them kicking this back to the lower courts is actually a win for him, if not on the absolute immunity claims, then certainly on other questions on whether they can subpoena the president's records. let's talk about the gop convention and the growing number of senatorsful there are now six as we've reported who say they're going to skip this event because the cases of coronavirus are surging in florida. you heard mitch mcconnell say, you know, they've got to make sure this can be safe before proceeding. what reaction are you hearing. >> yeah. so it's one of the -- one of the things that's very important to note here is that a lot of these senators who are skipping out on the convention are in the group that is at high risk of

contracting the coronavirus, and if they get it, they're at a higher risk of facing more severe or serious consequences of getting this disease. and so it makes sense from that standpoint that they would want to skip out on the convention. it's also worth noting a lot of these senators are ones who have publicly spoken out against the president in some way or another, especially over the last couple of years. obviously mitt romney was the one republican senator who voted to impeach trump. lisa murkowski and susan collins have spoken out against the president on issues like health care. mitch mcconnell is also treading lightly on this, so it kind of speaks to the concern that might be going on behind the scenes with republican senators. i think politically it cause as little bit of a dilemma for them because so many have spoken out strongly and supported the president's, you know, action on controlling the pandemic, and so when you have members of your own party who are saying, you

know, we're going to skip this convention where we're nominating the president as a republican nominee, it kind of speaks to the discrepancy between what we're hearing publicly on the way the virus is being handled and what we're hearing behind the scenes. >> in in this case, action speaks louder than words. thank you so much. the state of florida remains locked in a brutal fight over the coronavirus. there were over 100 deaths yesterday. it brings the state's death count to above 4,000. that's the highest tally in the nation. florida has emerged as the new epicenter in the u.s. as numbers continue to soar. on wednesday, the seven-day average is 9,205. they had over 409 patients being

admitted. meanwhile florida governor ron desantis doubled down on his reopening of schools. he argues that because student as i peer less at risk, students must return to work. he remarked if walmart and home depot are open, schools should reopen as well. teachers are protesting the move and defying the governor's order to reopen schools next month. as for the state of texas, it's reported more than 100 deaths for the first time and high hopizations for a tenth day in a row. in response, governor abbott has banned elective surgeries to free up hospital beds across the state. he's ordered hospitals to postpone surgeries and proceeds

th procedures that are not emergencies. nbc new's peter alexander pressed the white house press secretary yesterday over the coronavirus and hospitalization and here was that exchange. >> hospitalizations are up 50% since mid-june. how can the president say the country is in good shape right now? >> hospitalizations in a lot of these hospitals -- i spoke with dr. birx this morning -- they're about 10% to 40%. a lot of hospitalizations are not pertaining to covid. what i would also note -- >> most of the hospitalizations are not because of covid? >> a lot is because of elective surgeries and hospitals that have opened up. about 10% are covid-related. >> according to the covid tracking project, covid hospitalizations topped 27,000 compared to this week jumping up to 44,000. that's a 58% increase in one

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these fundamental values and apply them to a new economy. we have to build in the years ahead. folks, it's not just build back. we have to build back better. that's what my plan is. build back better. it's bold, it's practical, and it's built on building an economy for the future, not for the past. let's use this opportunity to take bold investments in american industry and innovation so the future is made in america, all in america. >> as our own nbc reporting describes, biden's plan calls for directing $400 billion in federal spending on american made products while tightening enforcements of buy american provision and investing another $300 billion aimed at initiatives and developments. it's also reported that trump

top adviser steve bannon said that biden's bid to rest away one of the few advantages, the economy, could prove a success, that the former vp appears to be stealing notes from trump's 2016 playbook. let's check in now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. it's going to be all about faye for some places in the country, right? >> yeah. we're seeing gusty winds as fay moves through. you can see where the storm is located here. all of the yellows and reds. it isn't a powerful storm. it's going to have impacts isolated where it rains the heaviest. flash flooding will be an issue and an isolated tornado or two. here's the forecast as we go through the day. by 2:00 p.m., we should see fay moving inland over the top of southern new jersey and over the top of new york city by 8:00 p.m. this evening. that's going to be one of the

areas we're watching. also the forecast will have heatwave conditions in areas of the west. the weekend forecast, fay will be existing as we go through saturday. the heatwave in the west continues. alex, the last thing i will leave you with, yesterday was another day we saw an increase in fatalities. 960. that was the highest thursday since the beginning of june. here's the part everyone was waiting for. are all of these new cases, alec, going to lead to an increase in the number of deaths? we go up. if we go above today, the last time we did that would be april. we're starting to see an uptick. >> really sobering. the chart looks like we should have to anticipate that unfortunately. so much. still ahead, iconic coffee chain starbucks is taking a firm stand on wearing a face mask in its storrs and why some parts of

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amid the rising number of covid cases in the u.s., starbucks is taking a very firm stance on the issue of face coverings saying all customers must wear one. julianna tatelbaum has more. good morning. what do you make of this, juliana? >> a very good morning to you. starting july 15th, starbucks will mandate all customers must wear a mask. it's a pretty big step-taking by starbucks. looking at the industry more broadly, we have fresh data coming out of the bank of america. they say big restaurant chains are recovering faster than the rest of the industry. small chain restaurants and independent industries are taking much longer than the larger chains to recover from the pandemic. a study that they conducted found that spending at small

chain restaurants lagged by about 20%. in trade groups as we've discussed many times before have warned about the dire impact and what this means for the future of independent restaurants acro across the united states. and in some political news that's definitely touching the business world. yesterday the supreme court ruled that president trump's tax and financial records can be turned over to the new york prosecutor but rejected the democrats' bid. so conflicting decisions there and it looks like we're not going to get the president's tax returns before the election. we know that president trump came into office with this big international business empire that drew claims. he could be susceptible to influence from foreign governments and raised questions around whether russian money has

flowed into his companies. so this is a step to potentially forcing trump to release those records. >> you have -- coming up on "morning joe," more from yesterday's landmark supreme court rulings that say the president does not have absolute immunity. as medical centers are flooded with coronavirus patients we'll look inside the covid icu at one of the largest hospitals in the carolinas. "morning joe" is moments away. s "morning joe" is moments away. at the golden opportunity sales event. get zero percent financing on all 2020 lexus models. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. little things can become your big moment. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream.

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prevagen. healthier brain. better life. convention scheduled for next month in jacksonville could move outdoors due to concerns over the rise in coronavirus cases in florida that's according to several officials with knowledge of the plans. "the washington post" reports while know decision has been made, republican officials are studying two outdoor sports stadiums by the vystar veteran's arena, where it's currently scheduled to be held. they're looking at the

convention. the president is looking forward to the event as the cases of covid-19 rise in the state. trump is expected to make a final decisions in the coming days officials told the post. a spokesman from the republican party declined a request for a comment on the potential move. joining me now with a look at axios, national political reporter jonathan swan. very good morning to you, jonathan. what is axios' one big thing this morning? >> it's a piece by my colleague sam baker. i think it's useful to help understand supreme court chief justice john roberts. obviously he's been in the news very prominently lately with

controversial and big decisions that could have consequences for years to come. obviously there's a bit of a trope on the right that roberts is a traitor to the cause. sam, i think, convincingly goes through roberts' long record and lays out an argument that when you look at his record in the cold light of day. almost every time that he sides with the majority, the law either stays put or it moves to the right. so he, far from being someone who's this closet liberal, he is consistently conservative just not as aggressively as some of the activists want him to be. baker interviewed the conservative legal expert jonathan add leladler, i though came up with a useful term to describe roberts he said he's

guided by, quote, an anti-disruption principle. that's a useful phrase when you think about his big decisions, preserving the affordable care act, not terminating daca. this is roberts not wanting to blow up an existing law or throw people off a federal program when he can avoid it. it think it's a useful way of thinking about him and his tenure on the court. >> absolutely. he's not the chief disrupter, that's for sure. what about axios, as you know, has obtained a copy of jeffrey berman's opening statement before his closed door hearing. does it basically refute the prospect that this came out of left field? he knew there was stuff percolating having spoken with bar, right? >> yes. but -- so i got my hands on the

testimony. it's a peculiar series of events regardless, i want to make sure i get the quotes right. he describes several conversations with attorney general bill barr leading up to president trump firing him. he said barr urged him to take a different job in the department, warning him getting fired would not be good for his resume or job prospects. he pitches this other job running the civil division saying to berman, according to berman, the role would be a good resume builder and help him create a book of business once he returned to the private sector. and bermman also writes in his opening statement he told barr, quote, there were important

investigations in the office that i wanted to see through to completion. so it's a very peculiar series of events. he asked bill barr on that friday night whether they could hold over to monday to have the final conversation. barr says i'll talk to you tomorrow on saturday. and then a couple hours later at 9:00 this press release came out saying he had resigned, which was news to berman, because he never resigned and was saying the opposite, in fact. >> it was a heck of a friday night surprise. that's for sure. jonathan swan thank you so much. i'll be reading axios a.m. in a little while. you can sign up at signup.axios.com. that does it for me, i'm alex witt. "morning joe" starts right now. how do you think the u.s. is doing right now? like just in a -- if you're

looking across the world, what are your feelings about how we're doing right now? >> as a country, when you compare us to other countries, i don't think you can say we're doing great. we're just not. >> america's leading infectious diseases expert dr. anthony fauci with his assessment yesterday of the united states handling of the coronavirus pandemic. he says effectively, not great. good morning, welcome to "morning joe," i'm willie geist, it's friday, july 10th. six states set single state records yesterday. several hard hit states are considering reimplementing stay-at-home orders. texas had 105 deaths yesterday and governor greg abbott extended a ban on elective surgical procedures. florida recorded 120 deaths yesterday, cases in the state have doubled