government and lying about it. 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, she will be testifying in that public hearing in the senate, as senate republicans try to make the obama administration seem very bad as a way of trying to make joe biden seem very bad. in advance of the election. i have a feeling she will hold her own. that's tomorrow morning 10:00 a.m. see you tomorrow night. "first look" is up next. a massive warehouse explosion in beirut kills dozens of people and leaves more than a dozen injury. we'll have the latest from richard engel. and mitch mcconnell admits a lack of support and says he'll have to rely on democrats to help come up with the deal. new overnight, the trump campaign has officially filed in the state of nevada over its plans to hold the 2020 election almost entirely by mail-in ballots.

good morning, everybody, it is wednesday, august 5th. a warning for the viewers, the following images are they are disturbing. the latest death toll was at least 100 people and 4,000 injured. the aftermath led shattered buildings and plumes of smoke. and warned of toxic gases and advised people to stay indoors and to wear masks. lebanon's prime minister said the blast is linked to a warehouse at the beirut port which contained hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate stored for

years. the compound is often used in fertilizers and explosives. lebanon called for a two-week state of emergency in beirut. citing unnamed generals, though, the president yesterday speaking about the explosion in beirut, saying it looked like an attack. >> you called this an attack. are you confident that this was an attack and not an accident? >> well, it would seem like it based on the explosion. i met with some of our great generals they just seem to feel it was. this was not -- some kind of a manufacturing explosion-type of event. this was -- seems to be, according to them, they would know better than i would but they seem to think it was an attack. it was a bomb of some kind. >> all right. joining me now from london, nbc news correspondent richard engel. richard, i've got to say when we heard the president say this was an attack yesterday, called it

an attack, it was fairly shocking for a lot of people considering what we've been hearing consistently from lebanese officials. so, talk us through the reality, the facts here. >> reporter: well, so far, president trump is the only person who is saying publicly, at least, that this was a deliberate attack. orchestrated by don't know who, in lebanon, the images and the explanation is that there was a fire in the port. and everyone believes in lebanon that this was an act of negligence. that there could have been corruption involved. that there may have been illegal materials stored at this port. that's why they're launching an investigation. but not that this was a deliberate attack designed to kill large numbers of incident people, spread out all across the city. first, there was a fire.

that is what everyone could see. at the port which is right in the center of beirut. beirut is surrounded by mountains. it is a port city. the city finishes down at the port. beaches that run along the water front. so everything is close to this port and other ports. first, the fire began. people started to trend their cell phone cameras on this fire that was sending plumes of smoke into the air. it was also crackling. so it looked a little bit like maybe there were fireworks or something inside this fire that was causing sparks to emit out of it which is not entirely unusual when you have an electrical fire. then, as this fire started to build and to roar, you saw this secondary explosion which went off at once. as if a large quantity of something, and the government says it was tons and tons, 2,750

tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored there, went off, apparently, at once. creating an enormous shock wave that barreled through the city, knocking down buildings. shattering glass. i spoke to a friend and colleague who says that almost no glass is left in beirut. i spoke to another friend and also colleague this morning who said that miles away, his windows were knocked out. and that he needs some stitches. his wife needs some stitches. hospitals that he went to, you saw people piled on top of each other on the floor, pools of blood reminding him of the scenes that we all used to see in baghdad, after massive car bombs or truck bombs. and this, by the way, in the time of covid, where you have people rushing and piling on top of each other in the hospital.

so, a devastating scene, and now they are trying to deal with the casualties and clean up at the worst possible time for lebanon. the country is going through a massive political and economic crisis with the currency collapsing. and many people's savings in the bank having been reduced to almost worthlessness. so, it is not a good time for them to have to rebuild their homes and their lives. >> yeah, richard, as i'm looking at some of these images, they are just startling. as you mention and make a good point there, essentially, it looks like a war zone overnight with this massive blast. and you think about that and juxtapose that with what the country is also dealing with and the world is dealing with and we're all dealing with, which is a pandemic. and hospital systems and medical systems which are likely overwhelmed now because of this blast and all of the folks that have been injured or subsequently have died from it. describe for us the extent of the international assistance, richard that lebanon is

requiring right now. considering the medical infrastructure that is probably being pushed to the limits with this pandemic. >> reporter: so, the lebanese government as of last night was putting out a call for international aid. already france which has a long history with lebanon was kind of a colonial protector of lebanon, has offered to send in tons of aid. israel, the long-term enemy of leban lebanon, particularly, the milt hezbollah, is even offering to send in aid. secretary of state pompeo say they're willing to support whatever they can. they need aid. the currency has been devalued to the point where it doesn't mean much anymore. it had long been legged to the

dollar, but there are runs on the bank. so, lebanon facing covid, facing economic collapse, and now facing a massive blast which president trump, unlike all of the lebanese officials says was in deliberate act of terrorism, a bomb, now needs help, perhaps more than any other time in its recent history. >> all right. nbc's richard engel for us, my friend, thank you for joining us this morning. i know you're going to stay on top of the story for us. appreciate it. i want to take a look at election results right now. in kansas, congressman robert marshall will be the republican nominee after defeats kris kobach, kobach's loss has helped the gop concern that a primary victory by the controversial firebrand might have cost him a seat this fall. and in missouri, corey bush has ousted longtime republican lacey

clay. clay has held the seat for two decades. it's the latest in upset against a party establishment. after six weeks of delays, the new york city elections confirmed by the board of elections, in the south bronx, 36-year-old richie torres won his primary for a soon to be open house seat. and congresswoman maloney won over patel, an aide for president obama. and considering the white house south lawn for the location of the president's nationally televised acceptance speech later this month. according to a republican familiar with the discussions, the post is reporting this, the decision to stage the most high-profile event of the re-election of the national power would be the latest break by president trump which

historically have drawn lines between the history of the president and campaign events. planners say a final decision has not yet been made. nbc news has not confirmed this. a convention was originally set to be held until charlotte and then later in jacksonville, florida. but trump changed the plans over concerns that large crowds could spread the coronavirus. still ahead, everybody, the president says mail-in voting is okay in florida. but now, he's suing nevada over the same issue. and later, a bipartisan group of governors teams up to work on coronavirus testing. those stories and a check of your weather when we come back. - oh. - what's going on?

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whatever your business needs, comcast business has the solutions to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. call or go online to find out more. why does that not apply to florida and doesn't apply to mail-in balloting across the country? >> so, florida's got a great republican governor. and it had a great governor.

ron desantis and rick scott, over a long period of time, they've been able to get the absentee ballots done professionally. florida is different than other states. the governor said let's send out millions of ballots. the post office could not be prepared -- i haven't spoken to the post office about this, i don't know how they could be prepared. florida has had a system for years. and that would be absentee or beyond absentee. in the case of florida, there aren't too many people that would qualify, they're so well run. florida is a well-run state. welcome back. as you can see, that was the president explaining an apparent change of heart in mail-in voting at least for floridians after repeated claims that mail-in voting would be, quote, massive fraud. the about-face became via tweet earlier in the day that said

florida's electric system has been cleaned up and we defeated democrats for change. and in florida, i encouraged to request a ballot and vote by mail. >> and kayleigh mcenany. >> the president has said that the voting in region is different than mass voting. >> it's the same thing. >> and also to refer to you the campaign on this, but there was a victory in florida with regard to ballots. so, i believe that's what he was referencing. >> and late last night, the president's re-election campaign followed through on the threat of suing the state of nevada to stop the mail-in voting. the republican party joined in the argument that the new law is unconstitution akons tugcons cu. arguing the new law is

unconstitutional for requiring election officials to accept and count ballots received after election day, even when those ballots are cast on or before election day. they say it postpones nevada's 2020 election past the election date established by congress. joining me nbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good morning, danny. good to see you this morning. >> good morning. >> i guess the question is is there any validity to the claims against this nevada law, anything? >> the constitution provides that the state, not the federal government, shall regulate the time, place and manner of voting. period. except not period. the constitutional allows the federal government or congress to impose some minimum limitations, or alter some regulations. and then, of course, any laws have to comply with individual constitutional protections. and that's why this lawsuit is brought not by the federal

government, but by the trump campaign, the republican national committee and nevada republicans because they're claiming, in addition to violating federal law, this law, nevada law, violates individual voting rights protections. the equal protection clause, for example, by treating voters differently than other voters. and also it violates federal law which requires the election to be held on a particular day. and by creating this allegedly wishy washy way of voting there's no way to know exactly when the election day ends. so it is a broad attack. and it does give the states a first pass at regulating their own election. >> so, there are some folks that are saying this is yet another possible delaying tactic. can this suit -- can it prevent the use of ballots even while this case is still being decided?

>> it could. the complaint is for injunctive relief. sometimes, when you file a claim, you're asking for money damages. this is a suit to prevent something from happening. but in any case, i can't see any case prolonging a case or halting an election in a particular state, in a deputy of state and federal voting laws. especially that the states have the first right and place to navigate the manner. so there's a protection of validity. unless they have a strong argument on the trump side, this election law should be allowed. >> all right, danny cevallos. thank you as always. good to see you, my friend. still ahead, everybody, we are taking a look at some of the damage left behind after a tropical storm slammed the east coast yesterday. meteorologist bill karins is joining us next. (neighbor) whatcha working on...

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welcome back, everybody.

defending champion rafael nadal said he will not play in this year's u.s. open because of the pandemic. news is coming day after the current number one ranked woman ashleigh barty announced she would be missing the open as well. nadal said the concerns over the pandemic and decision to sit doubt a decision he never wanted to take but rather would not travel. nadal hoped to win the 2020 open, which would have equaled roger federer's grand slam titles. let's talk weather for a minute. it was a big day for severe weather in the big portion of the east coast yesterday. i want to bring in nbc meteorologist bill karins to talk us through this. bill, wow, watching this progress at my place, up here in new york, it was incredible to see with high winds whipping. and there was a considerable amount of damage across the board. >> and there's still a lot of people waiting to get their power on, too, good morning to

you, yasmin. isaias showed people that even a strong tropical storm in areas that don't get a lot of storms in the northeast doing a lot of damage. just imagine what a hurricane would do. this is bad enough. isaias made landfall down around oak island. these are pictures, this is a beach community right on the ocean. all of the houses are bit on stilts because it's a very hurricane-prone area. you can see that storm surge took all of the sand dunes and just shook everything all through the community. a lot of cleanup still to be done there. it was one of their third highest storm surges that they've ever seen, so it does go down in the history books. and other areas that have concerned yesterday. we saw a lot of heavy area around the philadelphia region. and cleanup to be done there along with the downed trees. right now, we have 3 million people still without power. 1 million of those in new jersey, 800,000 of those in new york. hudson valley, especially on

long island. the tristate area, around new york city took the brunt of this. now, we have 70-mile-per-hour winds that hit jfk airport and laguardia, it was about 69. so pretty impressive wind gusts. so the storm is gone. it was fast-moving at least. it was in and out in four or six hours in most locations. it's now heading up through canada. it's not even considered a tropical system name. we're done tracking isaias, by the way, that name will probably return in five years. that's how often these names get recycled. for today's forecast for the cleanup for people that don't have power, it's going to be warm. i wouldn't call tell hot. but in the 90s. it won't be quite as humid. for a lot of people sitting in their homes with their windows up without power trying to get sleep it could be worse. it's not great, but could be worse. we have 50 large fires burning in the west right now. we've had a pretty quiet fire season to this point but it's been peaking in the last few

weeks. rapid fire spreads. and salt lake city, 96, denver, 92. west texas is in the 12000s tod. you can see in the areas of the great lakes. friday, showers and storms in the mid-atlantic and southern new england. and then we should see a pretty decent weekend for those areas. hopefully, the power crews get things back on for everyone in the northeast. and in the southeast. and much of the country, we're not looking at it, yasmin. anything else in the tropics, we get a little break it looks like for at least a week as we head towards the peak of the season. we'll take that. >> all right, thank you, bill. still ahead, everybody, a look at where coronavirus negotiations stand as mitch mcconnell admits there is no consensus among republicans. also with cases rising in mississippi, the governor issues a new mask mandate. we're back in a moment.

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♪ welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. we're going to begin this half hour with a step forward in the congressional negotiations for another coronavirus relief package. after weeks of resistance, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said yesterday he will support an extension of the now lapsed $600 federal unemployment insurance boost if the president backs it. >> the american people in the end need help. and wherever this thing settles, between the president of the united states and his team, it

has to sign it into law, and the democrat not insignificant minority in the senate and majority in the house, is something i'm prepared to support. even if i have some problems with certain parts of it. >> so mcconnell's comments are marking a potential turning point in the stalled relief talks as democrats remain eager to restore jobless payments, but republicans are divided how large they should be. in an interview yesterday, trump endorsed extending the $600 a week unemployment benefit. after meeting with top negotiator, top democrats, noted that progress is being made inching closer to a bipartisan deal. and without a national testing strategy for the coronavirus pandemic, seven states under the leadership of larry hogan have banded together with a deal with the rockefeller foundation to proceed with

300,000 tests. they've signed on to the deal, and hogan described the first interstate testi ining compact its kind. the governors of, three republicans, three democrats say other states may join them. approved by the fda to sell point of care antigen tests that can detect the virus in less than 30 minutes. also governor tate reeves of mississippi announced a new executive order yesterday that requires every mississippian to wear a mask at public gatherings and when shopping for the next two weeks. >> we have seen, over the last several weeks, that when people participate and wear masks, it helps. we are seeing improvements in our numbers, albeit much slower than any of us would like for it

to be throughout our state. and i am convinced because we are seeing more participation by individuals in wearing masks. >> so, the mandate is coming as covid cases and deaths continue to rise across the state of mississippi and more than 1 in 5 covid tests are coming back positive, a staggering rate, indicating rampant infection. so, the u.s. averaged more than 1,000 deaths for the ninth straight day yesterday. the number of deaths for the coronavirus here in the united states, it is now approaching 160,000 people. meanwhile, the president is continuing to cherry-pick data to downplay the death toll here. here he is being questioned by our own shatin pettypiece yesterday. will you talk more about, when you talk more about the mortality rate, the death and proportions of cases which i understand that's significant in looking how deadly the virus is and how good a country does in

keeping people alive, matter of fact. but when you talk about the scope of the virus when you look at the percent of the population that's died. there's only three countries that have more deaths than the u.s. how do you explain that why the percent of population that's died is so much higher than the u.s. >> well, actually i think the numbers are lower on i'll get back to you on that. we're proportionately lower than almost all countries, we're at the bottom of the list, relative to cases, we're at the bottom of the list which is a good thing being at the bottom of the list. but i can get back to you, we have four or five lists on that, we're generally speaking at the very bottom of the list. >> all right. so let's clarify this, when the president says that we are at the bottom of list, he's referring to the number of deaths in proportion to the number of cases here in the united states. on that list, the u.s. has the 14th highest number of deaths out of countries currently most affected by covid worldwide. but the cdc is defining the

mortality rate as the number of deaths compared to the population. here we find this country, the united states, has the fourth highest death rate per 100,000 people out of those top 20 countries. to frame it another way, the u.s. is just 4% of the world's population but represents 22% of the world's covid deaths. so the biden campaign released a new ad yesterday that highlights the president's response to the rising number of fatalities across this country due to the coronavirus. it is what it is. take a look. >> do you think it's under control? i'll tell you what -- >> how, a thousand americans are dying a day. >> it's true. it is what it is. it is what it is. it is what it is. ♪

>> okay. still ahead, white house press secretary singles out democratic cities over a spike in crime this year, chocking up the phenomenon to the defunded police movement. why the comments are misleading coming up next. your "first look" at "morning joe" is back in a moment. we miss you. it's totally not the same without you. we miss your let's do this look, the sound of your laugh cry screams, and how you make every day here the best day ever. we can't wait to get you back so we've added temp checks, face coverings, social distancing and extra sanitizing to get the good times going again. it's time to roll out the red carpet and kick open the universal gates. we're finally back... and can't wait until you are too. plan matters more than ever.

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we do consulting, but we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; it's important. we walk three to five times a week, a couple miles at a time. - we've both been taking prevagen for a little more than 11 years now. after about 30 days of taking it, we noticed clarity that we didn't notice before. - it's still helping me. i still notice a difference. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. when they gaze upon your semites, towering sequoia, the love of country grows stronger and they know that every american has truly a duty to preserve this wonderence inheritance. >> okay. so that was the president yesterday who seemed somewhat lost when trying to navigate how

to pronounce yosemite for the signing of the great outdoor act as he said, yosemites. white house pretty secretary kayleigh mcenany blaming it on a defunded police movement. she singled out minneapolis and new york. >> we've seen a 137% increase in shooting since july 19th in new york. when you defund the police, there are consequences and that's where the democrats of today stand. and unfortunately, we've seen a corresponding rise in violence in the democratic cities, and it's not acceptable. >> so, "the new york times" white house correspondent peter baker later pointed out that the movement cannot be the cause. tweeting this, white house blames rise in homicides in certain cities in from at one time 19 to the year on budget cuts that were not proposed just in the last few weeks.

i want to shift gears and get a check on your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. good morning, bill. >> yasmin, did you see the pictures of the tornado yesterday from the tropical storm? i mean, it was impressive, to say the least. it actually won't go down as a tornado outbreak. a tornado outbreak is ten or more. yesterday, we had 16. we had two fatalities related to that one that happened the 1:15 in the morning. right as the storm was making landfall. that was horrific. and we had a total of six fatalities storm-related yesterday. many areas of the mid-atlantic, a lot of downed trees. we had two fatalities from that. we had one car that got swiped off the road driving in too high of water and there was a fatality in that as also. what are we doing today? the cool weather is not going to quite make it to the southeast.

it's going to spark some storms. nothing severe. and tomorrow, wool see storm w in the mid-atlantic region. and some areas that still don't have power. some relief for you in the areas of the great lakes and midwest, a break from the summer heat. temperatures today in the 70s and low 80s. i'm not going to say it's a taste of fall yet. but you'll notice it actually feels a little refreshing out there. humidity is down, too. that lasts into thursday. but by the time we get to friday and the weekend, we start to see areas like chicago warming back up from 80s to hit 90 on sunday. we'll see areas like new york city going back to mid-80s by the time we get to the end of the weekend. this time of year in august, you don't expect a break from heat lasting long. i also want to give you covid. it feels like forever since i've done this for you. seven-day average, 58,000 new cases per day. and the crest was 69,000.

it's actually come down about 10,000 in the last two weeks. as far as fatalities, we may, we say may, yasmin, we'll see how the trend holds, in the last eight day, the fatalities hasn't really risen. 1 1,150 new deaths per day which is still horrific but at least it's not going up. good to see the new cases crest looks like it was about two weeks ago. >> thank you, bill. still ahead, everybody, the fed's latest move to prop up the economy. the stories driving your business day, coming up. this towel has already been used and it still smells fresh. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load and enjoy fresher smelling laundry for up to 12-weeks. my psoriasis. cosentyx works on all of this. cosentyx treats the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis to help you look and feel better. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx.

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welcome back. reuters has learned that the shortages of clorox wipes will likely last until 2021. the world's largest supplier has struggled to keep up with the six-world increase in the demand during the pandemic. despite ramping up the

production, the material used to create the wipes polyester is also in high supply, as it's used in masks including medical gowns. that along with the flu season has delayed the output of disinfecting wipes significantly. let's talk about the federal reserve as the federal government has continued to prop up the economy during the pandemic. the central bank is now expected to make a commitment on raising inflation. cnbc julianna tatelbaum is joining us live from london. julianna, good morning to you. talk us through what we can expect from the fed. >> so, the federal reserve has been embarkingen its federal policy. the results expected soon. and one of the main changes that economists think we could see is this move to ramp up inflation soon. a commitment to get inflation higher. and how could this work? well, the fed could pledge not to raise rating until inflation

hits at least 2%, and this is what some fed statements have pointed to, as well as what some economists have put out in terms of their expectation. markets have also been betting on higher inflation. and you can see this in the surge in gold prices as well as the falling dollar. and the rush to the inflation index bombs that we've seen recently. so, we'll keep an eye on the fed's review and what comes of it. now, one other story i want to highlight for you, the justice department is pursuing both criminal and civil cases against the opioid maker purdue pharma. this is a huge story. they're seeking $8.1 billion in fines from the bankrupt company. the filings for the first time really showcase the scale and the scope of what's been a year's long investigation into the bankrupt company. a federal company is looking into when is violated criminal

statutes. and on the civil side they're looking at whether purdue offered kickbacks to doctors and pharmacies to encourage them to prescribe opioids to patients. on tuesday, the talks to resolve the matter with the justice department had no further comment. yasmin. >> let's quickly talk about the s.e.c. here, i know they're investigating the $650 million federal loan from kodak last week. what more do you have on this? >> this was another pretty incredible story to watch unfold. kodak last week you will remember was rewarded a $765 million loan from the u.s. government to supply various drugs. they are going to start producing drug ingredients. now, the ftc is looking into kodak's deal of the disclosure this is according to "the wall street journal." on july 27th, the day the deal

was announced shares of the company surged 25% on much -- on huge trading volumes, far exceeding those in previous sessions. so the ftc's probe, still an early state to investigate the disclosure around this deal. that's according to "the wall street journal." >> cnbc's julianna tatelbaum live from london. thank you, julianna, good to talk to you. up next, a look at axios. and coming up on "morning joe" with no consensus on the coronavirus relief we'll, we're going to speak to jason crow on capitol hill. also as the trump campaign follows through on suing nevada, loretta lynch will be our morning guest. "morning joe" is moments away. ty hands lately. (neighbor) and that? (burke) oh, this? just an app i've been working on. it's called signal from farmers, and it could save you up to fifteen percent on your auto insurance.

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your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines, and if you're pregnant or planning to be. otezla. show more of you. i've covered you for a long time. i've gone to your rallies. i've talked to your people. they love you. they listen to you. they listen to every word you say. they hang on every word. they don't listen to me or the media or fauci. they think we're fake news. they want to get the advice from you. so when they hear you say everything's under control, don't worry about wearing masks, these are people -- many of them are older people --

>> under control, yeah -- >> it's giving them a false sense of security. >> i think right now it's under control. >> how? 1,000 americans are dying a day. >> they are dying, it's true! it is what it is, but that doesn't mean we aren't doing everything we can. it's under control as much as you can control it. this is a horrible plague that beset us. >> you really think this is as much as we can control it? >> well, i'll tell you -- >> 1,000 deaths a day? >> i'd like to know if somebody -- first of all, we have done a great job. we have gotten the governors everything they needed. many of them didn't do their job. some of them did. some day we'll sit down and talk about the successful ones, the good ones -- look at that smile. the good ones and the bad. we had good and bad and we had a lot in the middle, but we had some incredible governors. i could tell you right now who the great ones are and who the not-so-great ones are, but the governors do it. we gave them massive amounts of material. >> all right, that was more of jonathan swan's wide-ranging interview with the president that aired on monday's episode of "axios" on hbo.

♪ all right, joining me now with a look at "axios a.m.," political reporter for axios, hans nichols. hans, good morning to you. great to see you this morning. give us axios' "1 big thing" today. >> good morning. our "1 big thing" today is the one big thing everyone in washington cares about, everyone really that follows politics closely, and that is, whose vice president joe biden going to pick? and here's our reporting as it stands. the confidantes close to biden that are talking to him throughout this process thinks it's down to two final candidates, senator kamala harris and susan rice, the former national security adviser. something changed over the weekend. karen bass didn't have a great performance on the sunday talk shows, so karen bass seems to be in third place. and this race seems to be narrowing to two people, to two females. now, here's where i do my throat-clearing and caveating, and that is that no one knows, except for joe biden. and the closer you get to joe

biden in this process, the less likely people are to talk. but that's the snapshot, where it stands right now. biden's given himself a little bit of a delay, a little bit of a breather to make the decision. the campaign has clearly signaled that they want more time, so not this week, but next week. remember, the conventions start august 17th. they'd like to have someone in place at that time. so, that's our reporting. that's the snapshot. and there's a play here between obama alumni that some people are for susan rice and some of the obama alumni are for kamala harris. they think she presents, harris, the fewer, the less risk for actually winning the nomination. yasmin? >> so you're getting at my second point, or my second question, which is, how did they narrow this list down to just these last two standing? and what do you think from your reporting is going to put one of them over the edge to clinch the spot of vp? >> they're narrowing this list

through polling. they're narrowing this list through dozens of conversations that are happening out throughout time, and they're narrowing it throughout the vetting process we've seen. i misspoke a little bit -- it's not the nomination. obviously, joe biden's going to get it. they want the presidency. that's the goal here. the final decision is really going to come down to joe biden and his close advisers. now, remember, a lot of his longtime, close advisers, have longstanding relationships with democrats throughout town, and it's those democrats that are advocating for senator harris, because harris is a traditional pick, right? she's been vetted. she's gone through the process. it's difficult to go back, really, in the last 40 years, when maybe the exception of sarah palin, and find a choice that's truly a surprise, that doesn't come from the senate or hasn't run before. so, that's the risk side of the equation with susan rice. now, advocates for rice say, a, she polls well, and b, she's very close to both obamas, and you guarantee both of them coming in. you know, just one other quick

thing on who, regardless of who joe biden picks, there's going to be so much money coursing around. the biden campaign is reserving their ad time for the fall. just on advertising alone, they're doing $220 million. they've got another $60 million in digital. but $220 million in tv buys in 15 states? you know what hillary clinton did? she did 80. and the trump campaign has reserved $145 million. so, the biden campaign is trouncing, not only the trump campaign, but previous democratic campaigns, at how much they're spending. money will not be an issue in this campaign. yasmin? >> how significant is that number that you just mentioned when it comes to ad buys, especially when you're considering how it is that they're having to reach the public amidst a pandemic, something they can't necessarily do in person, as much as they would like to? >> no political strategist ever wants to lose a race because they didn't spend another

million -- a billion nationally -- but at least $1 million in a certain race, $1 million in florida or whatever the media market is, so the money matters on the margins. your point, though, yasmin, is exceedingly valid, and that is that in the age of coronavirus, there are so many other moments, events, that can take over and that can have this election going one way or the other. i mean, you imagine a school shut down in a crucial state. you see a little bit of that in georgia. you mentioned something big happening in the coronavirus in some of the swing states. no amount of paid media is going to be able to overwhelm that. so, yes, it's a big number. and you know, again, there will be seminars at universities that at least i didn't get into, talking about this after the fact, on did money matter in 2020? none of the political strategists on either side want to be in that conversation. well like, we decided to hold back another $5 million here and put it in digital. >> yeah. >> so, it's a big number, but it might not ultimately be conclusive.

>> all right, hans nichols, my friend, thank you so much. good to see you this morning. i'm going to be reading "axios a.m." in just a little bit. you can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. that's it for me this wednesday morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪ good morning and welcome to "morning joe." live picture of the white house on wednesday, august 5th. i'm willie geist. we're following a number of stories this morning, including the massive warehouse explosion in beirut that killed dozens of people, left more than 1,000 injured. we will have the very latest from nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel on what exactly happened there. then, back at home on the coronavirus, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell admits, a lack of republican support for new relief measures, now saying he will have to rely on democrats to help come up with a deal and showing some signs that he may concede.

then, new overnight, the trump campaign has officially filed suit against the state of nevada over its plan to hold the 2020 election almost entirely by mail-in ballot. and of course, president trump's attempt to say the word yosemite. >> when they gazed upon yosemite's towering sequoias, their love of country grows stronger and they know that every american has truly a duty to preserve this wondrous inheritance. >> twice for emphasis there. with us, white house reporter for the "associated press," jonathan lamire, nbc news and msnbc contributor shawna thomas, senior writer at politico and co-author of "the playbook," jake sherman, an msnbc political contributor as well, and co-host of "the circus" on showtime and contributor for "vanity fair," mark mckinnon. joe and mika have the morning off. so, jonathan lamire,