fall. jonathan lamire -- well, jonathan, why don't you just tell willie what you tweeted about the red sox -- >> okay. >> a sure sign that they're about to break like secretariat down the home stretch of the belmont stakes and win the world series. go ahead. >> okay. >> it's really baseball lure lore. we know about babe ruth calling the shot, ernie banks saying "call two." it's a cliche, really, that any time there's a pandemic-mandated doubleheader rule, where you only play seven innings in a game, and you lose the first game in walk-off fashion but rally to win the second, how many times have we seen it? that's a sure thing. this team, red sox, destined for october. joe and i are clearing our calendars. how many times have you seen it? >> how many times? it is, willie, truly, it's baseball lore by now, is it not? if you win the second half of a

twilight doubleheader, shortened, seven innings, that's a sign, will. how are the yankees doing, by the way? >> whoa, i knew you were going to -- i'd like to point out that secretariat was not 13 1/2 games back when he broke down the stretch at the belmont, but -- but, the yankees now are tied in the loss column for fourth place in the a.l. east after losing again last night to the blue jays. they're tied for fourth place. this is a team on paper we thought was going to win all the games. >> what's happening there? >> well, everybody -- >> i mean, and i'm being really serious here, because i've been so obsessed with the red sox. i haven't been looking around the other league, i mean, the rest of the league. then a couple of days ago, i saw that they were a couple games above .500. i expected them to be like ten games in first. so, what's going on with the yankees? >> so, they get garrett coal, the best pitcher in baseball, we figure okay, this is one of the best yankee teams we've seen in a long time. well, everybody got hurt again. last year stanton got hurt,

torres got hurt, hurt or not performing. the pitching's not what we thought it would be. the bullpen's not what bethought it would be. they're still 6 1/2 games out, but man, when you looked on paper, this was going to be a really good yankee team and they have totally disappointed. they started great. they looked good and totally fell off a cliff. >> oh, my gosh. >> and not to put everything on injuries, but when literally half of your starters are on the injured list, it's tough to win. >> it is bizarre how snake-bit the yankees have been over the past couple of years. i said when the red sox won 108 games in 2018, that that really wasn't the most remarkable thing, even in the american league east that year. it was that the yankees won 100 games, as beaten up as they were. and man, you guys have been beaten up every year. now, how many of -- again, i'm sorry, i haven't been paying close enough attention -- >> you're focused on the sox, that run, that magical run. >> i'm focused on polls.

>> well, seriously, if we can cue up "one moment in time" by whitney houston after last night. but how many of the yankees players do you guys expect to be back in time for the playoffs? >> for the playoffs, they should be back, but the question at this point is do they make the playoffs? i mean, i think they're holding onto the eighth spot right now. i have to look after last night. but they are clinging to a playoff berth. so, they'll get -- you know, they've got time before the playoffs and they'll get guys back, but the question is will it be too late by then to catch those magical red sox? >> yeah, and by the way, willie, any updates on new york city crime blotter? >> no, no, okay. >> i haven't loonked this morning, but thank you for asking. >> kibosh. looking at the polls -- >> no, i have -- >> i don't want to hear what lemire has had to say. he has had his say and then there's a delay and he finally says it and it's like, wah-wah. enough of the banter. we're talking about polls. there's a new poll in pennsylvania -- >> i wanted to talk about the

other guys. >> -- out just now with joe biden up nine points over donald trump. in the latest nbc news marist poll, biden up 53%-43%. he holds an advantage over suburban voters. by 19 points, voters with a college degree. by 29, women by 21 and independent voters by 22. white voters are split between biden and trump at 49% each. president trump holds an advantage with white evangelicals. why? why? >> and why shouldn't he? >> because he got that endorsement from jerry falwell jr., and i guess that was it. >> i mean, seriously, he is a living, breathing example of the beattitudes walking among us. >> 59 points. wow! that's a whole story among itself. white voters without a college degree by 22. rural voters also by 22. and among men by five points. >> so, willie, you know, we have, i think, again, because so

many people are still jarred by 2016, all you hear is oh, this is just like clinton and trump. this is going to -- same thing's going to happen again. the one thing we're seeing here is joe biden in more polls than not when he's ahead, is getting close to 50% or above 50%. here he's sitting at 53%. and a lot of other polls we're going to share this morning, he's at 50%-51%. there aren't a lot of persuadables left. and people were going in the last few months of 2016 trying to figure out who they were going to vote for. bluntly, many said they were trying to figure out who was the lesser of what they considered to be two evils. here, that's not the case. and we should say that this pennsylvania poll's a bit of an outlier. other polls show it at 2, 3, 4, 5. this one has nine points. but again, looking at biden's numbers, he's above 50% here.

that certainly is where you want to be two months out. >> yeah, no question about it. and i think the panic was inevitable from democrats. it's such a long race. it starts to feel good over the course of the summer. some polls show donald trump closing the gap a little bit and the panic sets in a bit. but if you look through -- and we will in a moment -- these morning consult battleground polls, joe biden's still leading in most of those, some tighter than he'd like it to be. but let's remember, eddie glaude, the race last time was won by a sliver, to be generous, in wisconsin and pennsylvania and michigan and all those states. so if joe biden can swing a few votes in two or three of those states, he'll win the election. and if you look inside those cross tabs among suburban voters, among women, among americans with college degrees and all these battleground states, he's enjoying comfortable leads. there are areas of concern, like latino votes in the state of florida. but by and large, despite the panic that we hear from some democrats right now, he's still basically where he's been.

>> yeah. good morning, willie. good morning, everyone. i think he's in good position. i think it's important for them not to get too confident. we do know that it will continue, i think, to tighten in certain ways. but i think vice president biden needs to in some ways invest more in the latino community. those numbers in florida raise some questions for me. it kind of threw me back into the 2016 moment, i guess, joe, with hillary clinton in milwaukee and some other places. but i think he's in good stead. i'm always worried now, in the context of the pandemic, willie, what do we make of the ground game? how will it look? what does the turnout look like? how's the ground game make itself known in this context? but he's in good position, and i think that's a good thing, to not say anything worth saying, but he's in a good position. >> so, why don't we go, mika, to the florida poll -- >> sure. >> -- that eddie was referencing? >> the latest nbc news/marist poll has biden and president trump tied at 48% among likely

florida voters with some key demographics shifting their support from 2016. biden is up with black voters by 72 points, women by 17, independent voters by 11. and it is a statistical tie among seniors, which is a demographic group that trump won by 17 points, according to 2016 exit polls. that must be pandemic-related, you would think. president trump holds an advantage among men by 20 points, white voters by 15, white voters without a college degree by 28 points, and among latinos by four points, which is a statistical tie. we're going to have more on that in just a moment. but in the latest "morning consult" poll, biden holds a six-point lead nationally over president trump, 50%-44%. among key battleground states, biden is up by ten in michigan, up by eight in wisconsin, by six

in colorado, by five in florida, pennsylvania, and minnesota, by three in arizona, by one in north carolina. the two are tied in texas. and president trump holds a two-point lead in georgia and a five-point lead in ohio. >> yeah. jonathan lamire, a lot to go through there. i've got to start with, we're talking about polls that seem to be a little bit outside the margins. that pennsylvania poll showing eight, nine points. that really looks like an outlier. maybe it's a sign of things to come. same thing with arizona, sitting at about two or three percentage points there. that's been a more comfortable lead for biden and still is showing up as a more comfortable lead in most states. but i mean, in most polls about arizona. but you look at all of these numbers, and again, it shows a steady, solid lead for joe biden. here we are, a week past the

conventions, a week past kenosha, and i remember you and me talking in early august, saying, hey, you know, trump keeps saying i've got three months. his staff was trying to say, well, no, mr. president, early voting starts soon enough. well, early voting has started, and these numbers are not moving in trump's direction, except for what we're about to talk about after this, about hispanics in the state of florida. but other than that, boy, these polls are pretty solid. >> yeah, it's striking, joe, despite the spectacle of the conventions, and obviously, the tumult we've seen on the streets in kenosha and portland, things that the republicans thought would all benefit president trump, just how stable this race remains. yes, i think you're right on that pennsylvania poll. that seems to be an outlier. neither campaign thinks the margin is anywhere near that big, though both agree that joe

biden right now is up, but by a smaller amount. i think there are a few things to go through here. one is that there seems to be sort of a little bit of disconnect in some of these states. i know we're going to dive in deeper to florida in a moment. the idea that florida certainly is a state where there has been some tightening. yet a demographically similar state, florida, has not been the case. joe biden's had a pretty healthy lead there. same with the great lakes states, pennsylvania, wisconsin and michigan. michigan throughout this race has been joe biden's probably best battleground state. he's had a pretty sizable lead, to the point where earlier this spring and summer, joe, we talked at length about it, the trump campaign had all but thrown in the towel in michigan. they've reversed course there now. they feel like they see some movement. they've invested some money there. but certainly, biden is still up. he still enjoys a pretty decent lead in wisconsin, too, despite all of the energy that the trump campaign has poured into wisconsin, thinking that kenosha would be the turning point. but yet, while those two still

lean clearly to biden, pennsylvania, this one poll aside, looks like more of a toss-up, although it is hard to imagine a scenario where joe biden would lose pennsylvania, his native state, where he has such strength, both in the cities of philadelphia and pittsburgh, but also in the northeast, in scranton, where he's from, that part of it. and most of all, in the philadelphia suburbs. there's a sense that that "t" in the middle of state, the red "t" of rural voters, there probably just aren't quite enough votes there for donald trump this time around, though, of course, he did pull it out narrowly four years ago. there's also another factor here. as much as the trump campaign is pointing to that they're putting ads up in the next few days, there is an issue about money. they have not released their fund-raising total in august yet, which is striking. here we are, september 9th, or you know, coming up on september 10th and 11th, and they still haven't done it. that's days late, after the biden campaign put up a record $350 million or more fund-raising haul from august.

the trump campaign has remained silent. and they're looking to expand the map, because they are so nervous about states like arizona and they are trying to figure out a path to 270. they realize they've got to figure out some other states to put in play, which is why we're seeing the late investment in minnesota and now heading into this weekend, nevada. that's another state, nevada, where the trump campaign feels like they have to play, because otherwise, if they lose arizona, there's no path to 270. >> well, more now on trump leading biden by four points among latinos in the nbc marist poll of florida voters. it's a demographic that went for hillary clinton in 2016 by 27 points. trump's lead over biden in that poll is sizable among latinos of cuban descent, whereas biden is just slightly ahead among all other latinos in the state. and another poll out of florida shows a similar trend. in the ben dixon amandi poll in

miami-dade county, biden leads among non-cuban hispanics by 26 points, 58%-32%. however, among cubans, president trump has a 38-point edge, 30%-68%. >> we've seen in 2016 and 2018 cuban-americans making a huge difference in how elections turn out with a majority going for donald trump in 2016, and actually, not enough cuban-americans going for the democratic candidates for governor and senators and allowing republicans to really go against the tide in 2018. so, victoria, as we talk about these polls that are causing democrats to flinch nationwide this morning, in florida, a couple of things. yes, cuban-americans are put

off, especially put off by socialist policies, by the fear that joe biden, if elected, will implement policies influenced by people like bernie sanders and aoc. that's certainly what the trump campaign has been pushing. but also, man, nothing works like work. and donald trump has been working hard, advertising nonstop in the cuban-american community for some time. and that hard work, surprise, surprise, is paying off dividends right now. joe biden has not worked hard down there in the hispanic communities, in the cuban-american communities yet, and i think we're seeing the result of that, at least in these two polls. >> and they should indeed be flinching, joe. democrats should absolutely be

flinching at these numbers. i mean, look, the cuban numbers are not surprising. we know that republicans have always had a very strong base with cuban voters. however, we've seen that base grow under donald trump. he has cultivated that vote over the last four years. and as you pointed out, joe, he has been putting in the work. the trump campaign has been up in florida with tv ads, with digital ads, for at least a few months with biden coming, i would say six weeks later than that. so, that matters. but what i have my eye on, and what i think democrats should really be worried about, is the non-cubans. so, if we remember, in 2016, hillary clinton won non-cuban latinos 71%-26%. so, what's happening there? what's happening with the puerto rican voters who are traditionally more democratic and who have been growing in huge numbers as a result of puerto ricans migrating over

from the island because of the economic downturn, because of the hurricanes? they are ripe for the picking in terms of getting them registered to vote and bringing them over to the democratic side, but these polls aren't showing that. so, i think that what we're seeing here is two-fold -- the trump campaign building out its cuban base very healthyfully, something that obama had chipped into in '08 and '12, and at the same time, i'm seeing that the trump campaign is also picking up some non-cuban latinos. i'm thinking, you know, the d ii diaspera. this will be very worrisome as we get down to the homestretch of the election because there isn't going to be that much more time to mobilize these voters, register to vote and turn out, because it's also a mobilization game. so, this is something that democrats should have their hair on fire about, absolutely.

>> yeah, you know, and willie, the mistake -- and we've been saying it on this show for many years now, the mistake that democrats have made for some time is -- a lot of democrats have made for some time, progressive democrats especially -- is the assumption that all hispanics, all latinos are the same, other than cuban-americans, that they all vote the same, that they all think -- it's just not true. like black voters in south carolina and across the deep south, and really, across america, proved in the democratic primary this year, they are far more conservative with a small "c" than some of the more woke elements, the white woke elements of the national democratic party, as reverend al calls them, latte liberals. so, this message that donald trump's team is sending not only to cuban americans, but also to

new voters that are coming in from puerto rico and across latin america, that joe biden is going to be implementing socialist policies? you know, that is a very persuasive argument if you're a new arrival from venezuela, or if you're a new arrival from nicaragua, or if you're a cuban-american. and that's something that the trump campaign understands, and it's something that democrats have missed for a very long time. nothing against bernie sanders, but sanders' brand of socialist policies does not play well among a lot of latinos, at least in the general election. i know he did well in the

democratic race but not in general elections, especially in florida. >> there's a reason the trump campaign continues to push this idea that joe biden is merely a vessel for what he calls the radical left -- bernie sanders, aoc, et cetera, et cetera, and you can see it's gaining some traction in the hispanic community, even if others roll their eyes and say, wait a minute, look at joe biden's career over 50 years. he's been a centrist and has been criticized, even as recently as the democratic primary, for being too much of a centrist. victoria, i'm interested in your view of whether this plays beyond the borders of the state of florida. 3 million or so registered -- eligible voters -- hispanic eligible voters in florida. 1.3 million eligible hispanic voters in the state of arizona. in both states, that's more than 20% of the electorate. so, is this more than a florida story? should democrats be worried about other places, beyond florida? >> they should be worried. i guess it's the level of degree, right? so, i think when we're looking

at arizona, we've seen traditionally hispanics being more conservative, even though they're of mexican-american descent -- more conservative than say latinos in california or in new york. that being said, if you remember back to sb-1070, the "show me your papers" law, since then, we have seen activism by a part of the latino community in response to that, and nothing mobilized like anger, so that anger against sb-1070, the anger against joe arpaio. so, i think that's helped democrats with the latino community in arizona. so, i think that's where we're seeing some headway with joe biden in arizona. the other thing about arizona is that you have a very competitive senate race. you have mark kelly, a centrist, a hero, an astronaut, doing outreach to the latino community in arizona. so, i think that's going to help as well, in addition to the difference in demographics of latinos, you have that race.

and here in texas, i can't believe my eyes that we're seeing the ds and the rs tied in texas, you know, deep-red texas. but latinos are, again, part of the story, but we have to recognize that there are shades of ideology within the latino community. here in texas, it can't be assumed that all latinos in texas are going to be a lock. remember, this is a state where george w. bush got 49% of the latino vote when he ran for re-election as governor. latinos are open in texas to voting for a republican. so, i think biden has made inroads, especially because latinos in texas have been so hard hit by the pandemic, but still, you know, be very cautious if you're a democrat mobilizer, because the trump campaign knows that they can creep into that latino base and pull them in terms of family values, in terms of entrepreneurial spirit, in terms

of that. so, i think there's a little bit more comfort than in florida, but not a whole lot. >> i'll tell you what, the texas race is, it really is remarkable that we have seen one poll after another showing, basically, a tied race over the past several months, and we're still within the margin of err you there, and a lot of that does have to do with the explosion of latino voters in texas, but also the loss of former republican strongholds to gop candidates in the suburbs of dallas, in the suburbs of houston, in a lot of areas that used to be the reddest of red states. so, thank you so much, victoria defrancesco soto. we greatly appreciate you being with us. jonathan lamire, one final thought on arizona. you and i have been talking for some time about how arizona it's

been interesting to see arizona and florida going in two different directions. most polls show donald trump losing arizona by five, six, seven points, and florida tightening up, and that's been a trend over the past couple weeks. and other than the cuban-american issue in florida, which is obviously very big, we've been asking why, and i think victoria may have just really touched on it there. when she talked about the anger towards some of the things that republicans have done in the state of arizona. and i'm just wondering if characters like joe arpaio, who donald trump pardoned -- i wonder if joe arpaio doesn't prove to be the pete wilson of arizona at the end of the day. and by the way, i'm speaking in short -- >> he -- >> pete wilson, of course, was the republican governor who pushed anti-immigration laws in

that state, and, well, republicans haven't won statewide races since then. but go ahead, jonathan. >> no, i think there's a comparison to be made there, in the backlash to some of these policies. and we certainly know donald trump's rise in the 2015-2016 republican primary was due in large part to his rhetoric on immigration, his hardline stance on immigration, and he has not backed away from that since taking office. you know, he has during this pandemic, he has still made a couple of trips to arizona, twice now, to yuma, one when i was with him to inspect the border wall. he is still making that a central part of what he's about, despite everything else that's happening right now. and i think there is some backlash to that. he is seen in arizona. it's also a senate race, certainly, where the democratic candidate, mark kelly, has a wide margin over martha mcsally, the republican, far greater than at the moment joe biden has over donald trump. you know, this is potentially,

maybe the most vital state on the map. going back to what we were saying before. in terms of reaching that 270, so many of the trump scenarios include arizona. and if they don't, if they don't get arizona, that puts an extraordinary amount of pressure for him to win more than one of those great lakes states, and that could include minnesota, but that's not enough. they need more than that. they might need to flip pennsylvania, which would be exceedingly, exceedingly difficult. and the biden campaign knows that. they have devoted a lot of resources in arizona. there is talk of a candidate visit out there shortly. but one thing they are looking at, though, the difference between the two candidates' ground games to talk about briefly what eddie said earlier, d -- the republicans have made more investment, despite the pandemic, so concerned about health issues, about going door to door still. they have put more into that effort, far more than the democrats have. and that's something to watch carefully over the next two months. let's look at other stories we're following this morning. there are now more than 500,000

coronavirus cases in children in the united states -- in children. according to the american academy of pediatrics, these numbers came from. from august 20th to september 3rd, 70,630 children, the cases were reported, an increase of 16%. the largest increases were reported in six states -- indiana, kentucky, missouri, montana, north dakota, and south dakota. while it is rare that children develop severe symptoms, experts warn that children can pass the virus on to more vulnerable family members, also to teachers. children's cases now make up nearly 10% of total cases in the country. the president of the academy of pediatrics said in a statement, "these numbers are a chilling reminder of why we need to take this virus seriously." >> well, and mika, also what we

don't understand -- we don't know right now, what are the long-term impacts of coronavirus on children, on younger kids, on teenagers? we just are assuming that, all right, if they get it, they have the sniffles, they move on. >> right. >> we found even in athletes -- the red sox best pitcher, a 27-year-old athlete, got it. and now he's got heart problems, and that's something that we've seen happening with others as well. so, again, we don't know the full extent and the long-term impact of the coronavirus on children or on teenagers or all these people that we just assumed, they can get it, you know -- >> speaking of children, where is betsy devos? who -- i mean, where is the plan for schools? because right now there's mitigation, the leadership on mitigation is barely there, compared to other countries. and vaccine hopes are becoming a little fleeting.

>> there is no plan. so, destructive wildfires continue to spread across california, where officials have successfully transported out more than 100 people stranded in remote locations of the sierra nevada by the creek fire. yesterday, 148 campers and others along with 16 dogs were air-lifted to safety by the california national guard. as of this morning, the creek fire has spread over 143 acres and is 0% contained. the state has seen a record-breaking 2.3 million acres burned this year alone. and the entire command structure of the rochester police department stepped down yesterday in the wake of protests over the death of daniel prude in police custody. the rochester chief of police, the deputy chief of police, and a commander announced their retirements while another deputy chief and commander were

demoted. the police chief said in a statement, "the mischaracterization and the politicization of the actions that i took after being informed of mr. prude's death is not based on facts and is not what i stand for." rochester police had not disclosed prude's death until his family's request for records led to the release of body cam video from the night of his march arrest. protests have ensued in rochester, calling for the resignation of the chief and the mayor since the video was released last wednesday. the chief denied any wrongdoing on the part of the officers who have since been suspended. the 20-year veteran will step down at the end of september. >> eddie glaude, what's your reaction to the events in rochester? >> well, it seems to me that it is a reasonable outcome, joe. look, the pressure that brought to bear on the command structure

of the rochester police was a direct result of the disclosure of the video. prior to that, the family was groping for answers, and they only moved -- that is, the rochester police command structure -- they only moved with public pressure. if the video was not revealed, if the evidence had not come into view, would they have done anything? that's the question. and so, he might make the argument that they did nothing wrong, but it's not until the actual evidence -- and the same thing happened in the ahmaud arbery case, if you recall, not in regards to police, but nothing happened until the video was revealed that these white men literally shot this black man down. nothing happened in terms of policing with regards to holding folks accountable. so it makes sense that public pressure generates this outcome. people have to be held accountable, joe, and this is one example of the public bringing pressure to bear and folk actually being held accountable. >> yeah, and jonathan lamire, you just sent me some sad news.

with all the talk of college football starting up and with us talking about the impact of covid-19 on not only young children but also athletes, some very sad news out of college football. >> joe. and i think that's to your point about how we simply do not know yet the ramifications of this insidious disease on children and even those among us who look like the youngest and healthiest. a college football player, it's been reported by various sources, including nbc -- jamien stevens, the son of a former nfl player, died at age 20 due to coronavirus pandemic. their season had been canceled, you know, but 20 years old. i think it points to -- and certainly our hearts and prayers go out to him and his family and teammates and so on. it shows, again, though the president himself is part of the

pressure here to get these colleges to play. you know, some conferences are resuming, or are going to have their seasons, others not. the nfl's going to start on thursday night. there's still so much we don't know. and particularly in college sports. you know, these are athletes who are not being paid. they are not able to make the same sort of risk-reward decisions that a lot of their pro counterparts can. it just goes to show just how much of this disease we don't know and why, you know, there are some that it's an extraordinary risk for some to be out there resuming these sort of group activities. >> well, and willie, the question is, how much of a risk are you willing to take to be entertained? that's the question. and again, we talk about e. rod, a fantastic, young pitcher for the red sox, who got covid. everybody assumed, okay, he got it at the beginning of the season, he'll be back in about 20 days. well, no, he's out for the year because he's got a heart condition now and may never

pitch again. >> yeah. i don't know if there are pre-existing conditions for this young man who died, and it does look like just reading this story that his college team had canceled their season, so i don't believe he was playing with his teammates. but your point is -- >> right, no. >> -- which is the right one. these are young, healthy people in the primes of their physical lives. and we don't -- by definition, as you said earlier, we don't know much about this disease. it's called the novel coronavirus. that means it's new. that means it's something doctors and scientists have never seen before. so, as public health experts like dr. jah and others tell us when they're here, we're learning as we go. doctors are learning as we go. we don't know the long-term effects of this on children, on healthy, young adults. we've seen what it can do to senior communities. but this is a learn-as-you-go thing, and i think that's why you see so many people erring on the side of caution, because they don't want to roll the dice and learn later that their decision cost lives. >> yeah. still ahead on "morning

joe," a major vaccine study gets put on hold due to a suspected adverse reaction. nbc's keir simmons joins us with that new reporting. plus, former fbi agent peter strzok, who became a target of the president for his role in the trump/russia investigation will be our guest. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. the united states postal service is here to deliver your packages. and the peace of mind of knowing that important things like your prescriptions, and ballots, are on their way. every day, all across america, we'll keep delivering for you. can it one up spaghetti night? cleaning power of liquid. it sure can. really? can it one up breakfast in bed? yeah, for sure. thanks, boys. what about that? uhh, yep! it can?

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astrazeneca, one of the companies racing to make a vaccine for the coronavirus, announced yesterday it has paused now its global trials. that includes large, late-stage trials of experimental coronavirus vaccine. that's due to suspected serious adverse reactions in a participant in the united kingdom. joining us now, nbc news senior international correspondent keir simmons. keir, good morning. so, this was one of the many

promising vaccines that was out there. what exactly happened here? >> reporter: that's right, willie. it's come to be known, i guess, as the oxford university vaccine. you are making the great point just before the break that there's so much we don't know about the coronavirus. that point extends to vaccines. so, two crucial things to say, willie. the vaccine research does not work to a political timeline. it works to a scientific timeline. and we have to face the sobering reality, which this brings into stark relief, that we may not find a vaccine for the coronavirus. but here's what we know. this trial involving tens of thousands of people here in the uk, there in the u.s., in brazil, in south africa, in india, has been paused. it's been paused for everyone, both phase two and phase three trials. it's not the first time. there was a pause that just lasted a few days in phase one, when someone had an adverse

reaction and was hospitalized. there is an independent review under way. and astrazeneca making clear that that is a routine action whenever there is unexplained illness. so, in a way, it is routine, but it is also serious. "the new york times" reporting that a volunteer in the trials here suffered from transverse mailitis, which is a viral infection of the spine. nbc news hasn't confirmed that one source reporting, but it just brings home the point, willie, that this vaccine, potentially, would be given to billions of people around the world. so it's not just about whether it's effective. it's about whether it's safe. and even if there's a fraction of danger, that has the risk of undermining people's confidence and also, of course, risking people's health. and willie, today, we've spoken to one potential person who would take part in the trial in his 60s who says he's now having second thoughts. so, that just underscores that you really do have to make sure

these vaccines are safe. otherwise, you know, frankly, they are self-defeating. >> yeah. we should remind people that these companies are moving at unprecedented pace to try to get this vaccine, not just the one you're describing, but all of them. so, is it your sense, keir, that they feel the political pressure, if you will? president trump talking all the time about perhaps a vaccine ready by election day or before election day. dr. anthony fauci came out yesterday and said he finds that very unlikely by the end of the year at the earliest. but are these companies feeling that pressure? >> reporter: well, clearly, there's money involved, so there's always pressure from that. we speak regularly to the scientists at oxford university who are behind this particular vaccine. and i've got to say, they give no impression that they're under that kind of pressure. the only pressure they feel under is that, of course, there is a global hunger for a viable vaccine. he also makes another point -- and the head of vaccines welcome making this point in a

statement, saying "this is why it's important that we work on multiple vaccines," because some may be effective in different ways, some may work, and others may not work. so, i think that the political pressure plainly is there, but frankly, the real pressure is just for these scientists and doctors to find a way to help people around the world. >> and they're moving quickly. keir simmons in london for us this morning. keir, thanks so much. mika? well, coming up, a disputed re-election, massive protests, police violence, and now an opposition leader detained. we'll talk about the deepening political crisis in belarus, russia's role, and how the u.s. is responding. "morning joe" is coming right back. when it's hot outside your car is like a sauna

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a leading belarusian opposition figure, maria kolesnikova, has been detained while trying to flee the country to ukraine, according to belarusian state media. but her colleagues dispute that, saying she tore up her passport and threw it out of a car at the border to avoid being forcibly expelled from belarus. kolesnikova is part of a trio of women forming the opposition to belarus president aleksandr lukashenko, who refuses to step down amid mass protests that erupted in the wake of last month's disputed elections. on monday, kolesnikova was abducted along with two colleagues by masked men who snatched her from the street and forced her into a car, according to local reports. her colleagues spoke from ukraine yesterday, confirming they had been kidnapped. and while they accepted to leave

belarus, kolesnikova refused. speaking to russian journalists yesterday, lukashenko blamed the u.s. for the protests in his country, warning, quote, if belarus collapses today, russia will come next. nbc news has contacted the belarusian border services, and president lukashenko's office for comment. no word back. joining us now, the president of the council on foreign relations and author of the book "the world: a brief introduction," richard haass. also with us, former u.s. ambassador to sweden under president obama, mark brazinski. he served on the staff under president clinton as director of russian and eurasian affairs. >> so, richard haass, "financial times" reporting this morning that maxim znak, who is another of the coordination council which was set up to negotiate a transfer of power, has been abducted this morning by the state.

that now means five of seven members of this council have been abducted or arrested or driven from the country. what has donald trump's response to this been? >> well, the united states, joe, and the eu, have both criticized what's going on. i think trump called it a, quote/unquote, terrible situation. the united states and the eu are talking about economic sanctions. but quite honestly, events on the ground are outpacing what the united states or europe are saying and doing. and what you describe is essentially an attempt to decapitate the political opposition in ukraine. so rather than something blunt like you saw in ukraine, what we're seeing in belarus is something much more targeted, in this case, on the leadership. i think it's probably being done with a significant degree of russian assistance. >> and mark brazinski, what

should the united states government do in this situation? >> joe, the choice that the west faces in belarus is, is this going to be poland, which is now a free european country and a member of nato and the eu, or is it going to be ukraine, a country now physically occupied by russia? that's the choice. 40 years ago, this year, there was the birth of the solidarity movement in poland out of the godinst shipyards. that was a solidarity of opposition between workers and intelligentsia, between eastern poland and western poland. that is belarus. that's the opposition there. it's a consolidation of all the different groups that oppose the person known as the last dictator of europe. and what did america do 40 years ago when solidarity was born? it funded solidarity. i mean, mika will remember that

our father was national security adviser at the time. he literally signed off on blocks of cash being delivered to lack valencia, the head of solidarity. or will this be ukraine, which in certain ways stumbled along after the collapse of the soviet bloc? 26 countries emerged out of the collapse of the soviet bloc. some thrived. some stumbled along. and the vulnerable have been picked on by russia, which is trying to integrate them into something that putin hope residence respects some kind of skeleton of the former soviet bloc. >> well, and you know, it's very interesting. mark is talking about how dr. brzezinski, obviously, and the carter administration worked to fund solidarity. what was so fascinating are the stories that he told about how he worked quietly with the reagan administration, and bill casey especially, to continue to

help dissidents behind the iron curtain well into the reagan administration. richard haass, are you surprised? i guess we shouldn't be surprised by anything that vladimir putin does when he knows that he's going to get very little pushback, or not at all, from the president of the united states. are you surprised how open vladimir putin has been in offering his support to crushing these democratic protests? >> no, i'm not surprised, joe. he's got geography on his side. but again, putin does not want to do what he did in ukraine. you don't have a russian ethnic demographic in belarus like you had in ukraine. it would not be nearly as politically popular at home. he wants to do it more subtly. the words you're seeing in the conversational phrases like soft annexation, integration -- he wants to draw the 10 million or so people of belarus back into the russian orbit. and you know, we obviously don't have military options. the options we have are things like mark talked about,

supporting the opposition, also financially. we can sanction the russians. we can sanction belarus people around lukashenko. but let's be honest, our options here are less than good. and again, geography infers tremendous advantages on the russians and on the leadership in belarus. that said, it's hard not to be impressed by the breadth and depth of the opposition, the role of women. it always comes down to security forces. if the security forces are willing to arrest and kill their own people, it will be very hard for the protests to prevail. >> hey, richard, friday is the 19th anniversary of september 11th, and we got news just moments ago that one of the wars launched in response to the iraq war in march of 2003, the footprint will be reduced. centcom announcing just a couple of minutes ago that american troops will be reduced down to

3,000 over the course of this month, just in the next few weeks. is that a good decision? what's the impact? obviously, there will be some politics involved here a couple months before the election. the president can say i'm bringing the troops home. but what about this decision? >> it leaves me uneasy, willie. there's two reasons to keep the troops there. one is the war against terrorism doesn't end. it's an open-ended proposition. the other thing is if we're that worried about iran and the middle east, one of the ways we push back against iran is by our closeness with iraq, keeping a u.s. force presence in iraq. and to do this unilaterally to reduce our presence in iraq it seems there's an increasing gap between the robustness of our rhetoric against iran and what we've seen in syrian, now what we're seeing in iraq, the winding down of an american physical presence in the region. >> so, mark brzezinski, the g7 yesterday, as i'm sure you know,

condemned the poisoning of navalny and actually pompeo signed on, despite the fact donald trump is still claiming he has no idea how such a thing would ever happen. what should the united states do? let's move forward, and just for argument's sake, assume that we have a new administration on january 20th, 2021. what should the united states' position towards russia be on matters such as this, when putin poisons or skills his next political opponent or poisons or kills the next journalist who writes a negative article about him? >> joe, these issues, whether it's the poisoning of navalny, the situation in belarus, these aren't just american problems. these are international problems, and it is good when others join us. my concern about the current

dynamic, whether these issues or corona or the threat of international terrorism, is that we have fragmented our alliances. we have turned against our friends, and we have a little bit coddled our enemies. and i think that a unity of -- whether it pertains to belarus or whether it pertains to navalny, speaking in one voice, has a much more credible impact on someone like putin than low-level administration officials in the trump administration, you know, speaking tough about belarus but then really nothing much coming from the top. the opportunity of a national election and change in america is generating a unity of purpose among shared minds around the world against these challenges. i mean, look at canada. the deputy prime minister of

canada, christia freeland, who used to appear regularly on your show, is a sanctioned speaker of russia, because she speaks toughly about putin and about what happens in central europe. these are things that we should join with our friends to stand up against, and we are not doing that credibly. in certain ways, what's happening in belarus is low-hanging fruit. this could be democracy's dawn in central europe, and i'm speaking to all of the americans who have slavic endings on their last name like mika and i share. we hail from people in a part of the world that until recently were occupied and have a very delicate position now. we have an opportunity to really support the opposition and to create change in the heart of europe in belarus, and in so do further consolidate a stronger position to support the right side in ukraine.

we're not doing that. >> richard haass, i want to end -- we talked about russia -- i want to end talking about china. because one thing that, obviously -- and i understand this happens in every campaign -- there is a rush to see who can bash china the most, from both of the candidates. and i understand that's happening. despite the fact -- despite all of china's bad behavior -- and we've spoken about this before -- the united states and china are going to be occupying the global stage together for the next 40, 50 years, most likely. and back in may, i remember you wrote a piece saying that a cold war with china would be a mistake. i agreed with that then. i agree with that now. but you have, of course, over the past week, started talking about leaving behind some of the ambiguities that we allowed to seep into our relationship with china. and again, i understand that,

too. but can you just talk, not only to our audience, but also some of the people in both of these campaigns that are watching the show today, and talk about what is at stake in the united states/china relationship and how two things can be true at the same time, that yes, we are deeply offended by many things that china does, and at the same time, we have no option but to figure out a way to forge a way forward with china, because anything we want to achieve on the global stage will only be achieved with the united states and china doing it together economically, environmentally, and so many other spheres. >> you set it up exactly right, joe. this will be the defining relationship of this era, just like the u.s./soviet relationship was the defining relationship for four decades of the cold war. the challenge for the u.s. and

for china is going to be, how do we structure the competition in ways that don't spill over into direct conflict over taiwan or over the south china sea? how do we structure the inevitable competition so it doesn't preclude or rule out cooperation, say on climate change or on dealing with the north korean nuclear challenge or in dealing with stability in afghanistan? so, we're looking at a relationship that's going to have multiple personalities. and this is going to place tremendous -- a real premium on the quality of foreign policy, on the quality, but it's not going to be one-dimensional. it's not going to be one-directional. we're going to have to find a way to cooperate on tuesdays and thursdays, yet compete the rest of the time, and we're going to have real disagreements, but can we still limit the disagreements, so again, like it worked out with the soviets, it doesn't spill over into direct conflict? and can we shape our relationship overall so we can

still cooperate, say on global public health? it serves our interests to do that, even if we disagree fundamentally on the south china sea. that will be the challenge. and how well that challenge is met will probably, as much as anything, determine the character of the next 50 years of this era of history. >> all right. former ambassador mark brzezinski and president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass. thank you both for being on this morning. and it's just past the top of the hour now. princeton professor eddie glaude jr. is still with us. and joining the conversation, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle, editor at large for the non-profit newsroom, the 19th, and an msnbc contributor, errin haines joins us. and national political correspondent for nbc news and msnbc, steve kornacki is with us. we'll start with a spade of new polling. in the latest "morning consult" poll, biden holds a six-point lead nationally over president

trump, 50%-44%. among key battleground states, biden is up by ten. in michigan, up by eight in wisconsin, up by six in colorado, up by five in florida, pennsylvania, and minnesota. by three in arizona and by one in north carolina. the two are tied in texas. and president trump holds a two-point lead in georgia and a five-point lead in ohio. willie? >> so, steve kornacki, let's stay with these battleground state polls, just this morning out over morning consult. there is some consternation today about joe biden's work in the latino community. we can look at that inside the polls in florida in just a moment. but just those snapshot battleground polls look an awful lot like the polls we saw even back before the convention. so, what's the state of the race this morning? >> yeah, i would say in our nbc marist poll, i think the most significant here coming out of pennsylvania this morning, because pennsylvania is where the most questions, i think, have been raised in the last week or two about, here's a

state that trump won by a fraction of a point in 2016. you've seen larger biden leads, perhaps steadier leads in the recent polling in other states, so i think there's been a bit of a question mark if, perhaps, something a little different was happening in pennsylvania, something a little bit more advantageous to trump than we were seeing in other states. and i think our nbc marist poll today throws a little bit of cold water on that notion. there's joe biden leading by nine points there. you see that by now very familiar split when you look inside this poll among white voters, donald trump doing very well among white voters without a college degree, joe biden doing very well with white voters with a college degree. but the overall story when you look at white voters, you see at the bottom of the screen right there, in pennsylvania, 49%-49%. that is movement. that is significant movement from where the 2016 election ended. donald trump won the white vote in pennsylvania by double digits in 2016. now it's a tie.

that is the common thread i'm seeing in polling in state after state. i'm seeing it in national polling. the biggest movement from 2016 to now has been toward the democrats among white voters. in a state like pennsylvania, with a large or particularly large white population, when you have that kind of movement and it favors one party, you're going to get results like this. >> so steve, we've heard so much about suburban women, suburban women, suburban women, and donald trump perhaps losing those suburban women. we've seen him tweeting as recently as yesterday about joe biden abolishing the suburbs, a claim that obviously doesn't make any sense, but he's driving that home. he thinks it works, somehow. if you look again at that graphic we had up, just take pennsylvania, where those suburbs are so important around philadelphia and pittsburgh. he is up by 19 points in the suburbs and 21 points among women. >> yeah, and if you look at sort of the five collar counties there outside philadelphia or immediately outside it, in the 2016 election, if you just took the cumulative vote in those

suburbs, it's the suburbs of philadelphia, might be defined a little bit differently than the graphic you're seeing there. but just by way of comparison, the margin there in 2016 in those counties for hillary clinton over donald trump was nine points. and if you looked at the exit poll in 2016 among white voters with a college degree in pennsylvania, you were looking at a tie. the exit poll showed in 2016. now you're looking at a biden margin in pennsylvania in excess of 20 points. so, the combinations we're seeing in different states vary a little bit, but again, the common thread is suburban, metro area, white voters with a college degree, some version of those three sort of factors i just put out there, those groups of voters have moved pretty dramatically away from republicans toward the democrats. trump continues to do well, you know, with non-college white voters, blue-collar white voters. but right now in most places, he's not doing quite as well as he did in 2016. so he's experiencing slippage kind of on both ends there

demographically of the white vote. >> you know, steve, i really expect those pennsylvania numbers to end up within five for that to be a really tight race. but i've been saying for some time, just looking at philadelphia, and the incredible numbers that hillary rolled up out of philadelphia, how well she did in the suburbs and expecting biden to do better there than hillary, who did very well there in '16. and then you go to scranton, wilkes-barre, and you know, that's joe biden's home base. expecting him to do better there. i've been able to see, and i thought florida was going to tighten and in the end florida would probably end up going for donald trump. i still am having trouble put -- if i'm trying to figure out a way for donald trump to win pennsylvania, it's actually one of the harder states for me to figure out how to put into

donald trump's column. structurally, what are you seeing in pennsylvania? are you seeing the same there? what's his best chance for victory in pennsylvania? >> yeah. here's sort of the challenge i see for trump demographically. it's kind of a double-edged sword. i put pennsylvania, michigan, wisconsin -- and his campaign likes to talk about minnesota, you know, a clinton state in '16, that they like to say they think they can flip. out o i put those four states in one bucket demographically, where you've got trump sending messages talking about the suburbs right now, but what he really needs in those states, and what is potentially available to him, just when you look at the demographics of those states, is non-college white voters, blue-collar white voters, sort of his bedrock base in 2016. to get what he got from them in '16 and more, to find a way to drive up the numbers further, at least theoretically.

you look across those midwest states, and the possibility is there. it's not bearing out in the polls right now, but theoretically, it's there. when i say double-edged sword, what i mean is this. let's say he's able to go offer that vote in a pennsylvania, in a michigan, in a wisconsin, and let's say he's able to connect and get one of those states, get two of those states, something he absolutely has to do from the electoral college standpoint. that alone is not going to be enough to get him to 270 with the changes we're seeing in arizona, in north carolina, in the second congressional district of nebraska, a suburban district, a metro area, omaha. this is where they give out the electoral vote by congressional district. and i wonder -- and the tension here may be, the more trump leans into a message that could help him hang on to a wisconsin or a michigan or a minnesota, the more he leans into that, he may also be alienating the exact voters he needs to hang onto a state like arizona. because the polling has been very discouraging for him in arizona, and there you're

talking about the key voters being suburb asuburbanites, pho metro area folks, maricopa county, where it's like 60% of the population of the state is right there. so, there's that demographic tension. if we talk about the white vote going in two very different directions politically, and trump taps into the non-college white vote in the midwest and can hang on there, he may also, with the same message, be alienating the exact voters he needs to hang onto in arizona. and it looks like he's going to have to do some combination of both if he's going to get to 270. >> it's such a great point. if you gain a voter or two in wisconsin, with that sort of divisive message, how many do you lose in arizona? how many do you lose in the i-4 corridor? how many do you lose in the suburbs of philly? how many do you lose in macomb county? how many do you lose in all of these swing states, swing areas of these states?

errin, there's another number here. we have thrown a lot of polls out there, which, i think just to figure out how volatile this race is, that have been very interesting, but there's one number that i'm looking at this morning that shows an extraordinarily stable race in a state that you would think would be all over the board, and that is wisconsin. once again, joe biden in wisconsin, up eight points, like he was in two polls yesterday, like he was even in the rasmussen poll yesterday, up eight points. wisconsin has been extraordinarily steady for joe biden, a plus-eight state with biden over 50%, which, by the way, is another thing that's very different from 2016. the democratic nominee over 50% in a lot of these polls.

and i just don't know what other assumption can be drawn but that donald trump's june 1st stunt, violent stunt in lafayette square didn't work any more than his reaction to kenosha worked. >> yeah, joe. you know, i think an assumption that can be drawn is that joe biden may have learned some lessons from 2016, and not just in wisconsin, but also in michigan where he's going to be today, and in pennsylvania, where he was earlier this week. senator harris also in wisconsin this week. listen, joe biden was one of the key surrogates for hillary clinton headed into the home stretch in states like this and was going there repeatedly when, frankly, she was not there nearly as much. and the trump campaign was there quite a bit. and so, trump voters told me, especially in places like wilkes-barre the day after the election in 2016, that they saw president trump, that they saw

members of his family coming to places like this over and over again. they felt seen by president trump. they felt heard, you know, by then-candidate trump. and that was the reason that you saw him winning by those very thin margins in some of those places. joe biden understands that these are battleground states and that he needs to treat them as such. and i think that that may be what's making a difference. the campaign told me earlier this week, coming out of the convention, the republican convention, they were looking to see if president trump was going to kind of get that post-convention bump, especially with his message of law and order about places like kenosha. that didn't really happen. that has not really materialized. and so, you know, they're continuing to stick to their message that this election is a referendum on this president and his inadequate response to the dual pandemics of coronavirus and racism. and really, his campaign's original message since he launched last april that this is a battle for the soul of america, and that's something that seems to be resonating with voters, which was, you know,

true i think for them before the campaign but has come into even sharper focus in the pandemic. >> mike barnicle, you are plugged into the biden campaign. i'm curious how you think they're feeling right now. as i said, the numbers have just been incredibly consistent over time, even with two conventions, some tightening in polls over the last couple weeks that showed president trump making up some ground. but if you tick through those battleground states, it's incredibly consistent. as i said earlier there was always going to be some panic among democratic voters -- uh-oh, here comes 2016 again, here comes president trump. but how, with less than three weeks to go now until the first big moment now where we see them on a debate stage together, how is the biden campaign feeling about where it is? >> well, i think they're confident but not overconfident. they are keeping their foot on the gas pedal. they intend to do that right through november. i think they also realize something that we don't talk about a whole lot here in the morning, is that the significant differences between 2016 and

2020, willie -- there is no jim comey this year, there is no hillary clinton this year. there is the virus on the ballot this year. and the virus will be on the ballot this year. they also realize that in 2016, there were 14 states where neither donald trump nor hillary clinton got 50% of the vote. and the three states that steve was just talking about -- michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin, the third-party candidates in those states got more of the vote percentagewise than the difference between donald trump's election. so there are some significant differences between the two years and the two candidates, and it's going to come down to the message, where are we going in the future? that's what people want to hear. they don't want to be scared. they want to know, where are we going? >> where are we going? the latest nbc news marist poll of florida likely voters has biden and president trump tied at 48%. biden is up with black voters by 72 points, women by 17,

independent voters by 11. and it says statistical tie among seniors, which is a demographic trump won by 17 points, according to 2016 exit polls. president trump holds an advantage among men by 20 points, white voters by 15, white voters without a college degree by 28 points. and among latinos by four points, which is a statistical tie in a demographic that went for hillary clinton in 2016 by 27 points. trump's lead over biden in that poll is sizable among latinos of cuban descent, whereas biden is just slightly ahead among all other latinos in the state. and another poll out of florida shows a similar trend. in the bendixen and amandi international poll out of miami-dade county, biden leads among non-cuban hispanics by 26 points, 58%-32%. however, among cubans, president trump has a 38-point edge --

68%-30%. let's bring in former republican congressman carlos scerbello of florida. good to have you on the show. looking at those numbers, what's the logic behind them from your point of view? >> a couple factors. number one, in 2016, a lot of cuban-americans are so upset about the nasty race between donald trump and marco rubio and jeb bush, two favorite sons here in south florida, so they had not consolidated behind the president. now some of those voters are behind him. the other issue is that, throughout the country, the trump campaign's weapon of choice is scare voters with law and order, tying joe biden/kamala harris to some of the protests, the violence, the rioting. here in south florida, the weapon of choice to scare voters, to motivate the trump base, is socialism and tying the biden/harris ticket to socialism. and remember, a lot of cuban-americans, venezuelan-americans,

nicaraguan-americans are people who fled socialist revolutions, so that message is penetrating, is breaking through, and is costing joe biden some votes here in this part of the country. so, the biden/harris ticket, they have an offensive strategy on covid-19 here in florida. they probably need a defensive strategy against some of these efforts to tie them to some of the socialist revolutions that voters here in south florida fled. >> well, and congressman, as you know, as i said last hour, nothing works like work, and donald trump has been working to the cuban-american community very hard over the past few years. there is concern among democrats that the biden campaign hasn't worked hard enough down there. what can you tell us on the ground that you've seen? is there a disparity between the biden presence and the trump presence? >> well, joe, that's right. and you know how important it is to work the cuban-american community. a lot of people credit that

community with george w. bush's tight win in this state in the year 2000. of course, fewer than 1,000 votes. and the president has been here a lot. there were cuban-americans featured prominently at the republican national convention. the biden campaign hasn't had a strong presence here. there weren't any cuban-americans featured prominently in the democratic national convention. so, time is running out. but if the biden/harris campaign wants to win florida, they ought to invest more resources here in this crucial part of the state because miami-dade county is a democratic county, and democrats need to run up the score here if they want to make up for other, more republican parts of the state, especially up north. what's happened here in florida is actually quite interesting. we've seen donald trump gain minority support. even saw double digits there in support from african-americans. and he's also gained support among latinos while losing

support from suburban white voters. >> so, steve, latinos make up more than 20% of the electorate in both florida and arizona. if you're on the biden campaign this morning, how concerned are you about that number you see in florida? >> right. well, we talk about the hispanic vote. obviously, we're talking about the term there being just a large umbrella term. so what the former congressman is talking about there, the polling we did here -- nbc marist -- suggest it's really specific what's happening there in florida to the cuban-american community -- south florida, miami-dade. that's a huge, huge part of what's happening in florida that's not so much a factor elsewhere. but the big-picture story there in florida, that's the single most encouraging poll, if you're the trump campaign, you've seen in a while, the 44%-44% tie in florida, and it's for exactly the dynamics you're discussing here. one thing is happening in florida that we're seeing everywhere -- the erosion of trump's support among white voters. i just talked about those numbers in pennsylvania. you look at florida, you're seeing the same thing. in 2016, trump won the white

vote in florida by 32 points over hillary clinton. in the new poll, his margin among white voters -- you could see it right there -- it's down to 15. so it's been cut in half, and that's entirely consistent with what we're seeing across the country. so, that thing is happening in florida, too. but florida, with the latino vote, more specifically, the cuban-american vote, huge, huge there in florida. trump has found another group of voters that he is tapping into right now that he was unable to tap into in 2016. it's one of the few places where he has shown real significant demographic growth. and you can see, it offsets in florida, or at least potentially offsets the erosion among white voters, puts him in a tie in florida, when in state after state after state we see him losing right now. the problem for trump is you look at arizona and do not see something comparable happening in the polling right now. you see the erosion of trump's support, particularly among white suburbanites in the

phoenix, maricopa county area. you don't see the degree of surge. to this degree, clinton won the hispanic vote in florida by 27 points in 2016. our poll now has trump by four. you don't see that kind of movement. you see some movement there, some non-white movement away from the democrats towards trump -- some. not to this degree. and when trump is suffering the kind of erosion he is in state after state among white voters who remain just a very, very large voting bloc, he needs dramatic movement in other demographic groups. florida is the only state where i'm seeing that right now. >> so, joe, to put some more data behind steve's point about the distinction between cuban-americans and other latino voters -- in that new miami herald poll, joe biden is actually up in florida 58%-32% among non-cuban latino voters. but among cubans, he's down 68%-30%. >> and again, that's the difference between arizona and florida. for everybody who believes that

hispanic/latino voters are homogenous and all think the same, all vote the same, which, by the way, i've seen democrats do that for a quarter of a century, it is just not the case. and there's always about this attitude that, you know what, we're just going to write off the cuban-americans in south florida because they're never going to be with us anyway. there has been a move, a bit of a move, towards the center for many cuban-american voters. but certainly not this year. and not in 2018. they werelifeline for ron desantis. they were a lifeline for rick scott in those races, which the pollsters showed democrats winning throughout most of the campaign. so, there is no doubt, the biden campaign, if they want to win the state of florida, are going to have to do better, not only in south florida, not only in miami-dade, but also in central florida, in the i-4 corridor, in orange county, florida. they're going to have to do

better among hispanics. and if i remember correctly, that was also a weakness for joe biden during the primaries. so they are going to have to figure out how to get hispanic voters moving in his direction, at least as much as they moved in hillary clinton's direction. let's talk about those white working-class voters who have always been considered donald trump's lifeline in state after state after state, especially in the industrial midwest. i think we're seeing through these polls -- and i'll say it again -- especially in wisconsin, that for every white, working-class voter you pick up by seeming to embrace a 17-year-old kid from out of state that's running around wisconsin's streets with an ar-15 around his neck, shooting at people indiscriminately -- for every one voter that may pick up, you're losing a couple

of more. we saw it after charlottesville. david duke praising donald trump for his moral equivalency. and yes, maybe that got some hardened trump voters to be even more supportive of their president, donald trump's moral equivalency. certainly, hacks in the press continue to insist that he didn't preach moral equivalency and that people like david duke weren't thrilled by what he said after charlottesville. but you look at these numbers from pennsylvania over to wisconsin, it seems that this strategy may harden, boil down and harden his support. but man, it seems he's paying a price for it, a heavy price among white voters in the suburbs. >> yeah, joe, but it was really interesting, as i was listening to steve earlier talk about the double-edged sword of the strategy of how to, in some ways, expand the base among high

school-educated, non-college educated white voters, rural voters and the like, doubling down on law and order, grievance and the like. and as you noted, every time he does this and hardens his support among that constituency, he loses a suburban voter of the like. but it's also a twin strategy. remember yesterday, you talked about very briefly how donald trump is still polling very strongly among those who believe he will handle the economy better than joe biden, right? even though the numbers are what they are, there is this sense that donald trump can, in fact, be the one to hold off the radical left, the socialists that joe biden is supposedly beholden to. so, there's a sense in which the strategy maybe -- and i might be wrong here -- kind of relies on these twin efforts. double down on grievance and fear and on selfishness and self-interest, that many folk in the suburbs will not take the risk of betting on joe biden because joe biden and the radical left will jeopardize their economic well-being, their

401(k)s and the like. so, those two strategies go hand in hand. as one appeals to grievance, the other appeals to self-interest, and hopefully, he can thread that needle. i don't know if it will work, but i think that's the strategy that responds to in some ways the double-edged sword that steve mentioned earlier. >> well, and mika, you know, joe biden as a left-wing radical, joe biden as the aoc in a business suit, joe biden as bernie sanders from delaware. that kind of cuts against what joe biden's been attacked for over the past 30, 40 years, being too close to banks, being too close to credit card companies, being too fiscally -- too pro business. that's been his knock. article after article over the past 30, 40 years has been that biden, a guy who has represented a state that is home to

multinational corporations, the knock has been that he has been too friendly to corporations. so, it's really hard to recast him after three or four decades as some shea gruvera left-wing socialist who's going to hike taxes up to 70%. >> trying to recast him in a lot of different ways. it doesn't appear to be sticking. now to president trump's rally last night, i guess another superspreader event is another way of putting it, in north carolina, where he launched into another attack against mail-in voting. he accused democrats, without any evidence, of sending out unsolicited ballots and repeated his suggestion to a packed crowd, very close together, that voters should test their state's election system. >> and by the way, when they send out their millions and millions of unsolicited ballots, when you get a ballot -- say, well, i wanted to go and vote, darling, i wanted to go and

vote, why are they sending me those ballots? now, sometimes you'll ask for a ballot. that's a solicited ballot. it's okay. you have to go through a process. you sign a form. you get it. sending out millions of unsolicited ballots. make sure you send the ballot in, and then go to your polling place and make sure it counts. make sure it counts. because the only way they can win is by doing very bad things. that's the only way. >> you know, i'm -- just a simple country law here, but it appears that he is asking the good people of north carolina to commit a felony in his name. >> well -- >> that is a very interesting home stretch strategy for any candidate, but literally asking them to commit a felony by voting twice. let's bring in -- >> a real lawyer? >> -- a real lawyer, somebody who's not a simple country lawyer. let's bring in fin ginsberg. he's practiced election law for 38 years and co-chaired the 2013 presidential commission on election administration. he's written an op ed for the

"washington post" titled "republicans have insufficient evidence to call elections rigged and fraudulent." and ben, it is always good to talk to you. i'll let you first -- if there's anything in what the president said there, feel free to correct it right now. but why don't we start with donald trump's continued claim that these elections are rigged? >> well, the problem, joe, is that i've been looking for 38 years on election days, along with literally legions of other republican liaawyers and politil operatives for elections that are rigged in fraud. it is true that there is an occasional election where you can prove fraud. those are caught. but elections and the credibility of the results of the elections is a fundamental bedrock of our democracy. and to say overall that elections are rigged and

fraudulent and the only way i can win is if there's cheating going on, is just not borne out by 38 years of looking for those incidents. and it's time for the republican party to basically deal with that reality in what they do. >> yeah. and ben, of course, for those that don't know, has been working with republican candidates, republican presidential candidates, republican presidents, for some time, looking into election law and looking for these instances. ben, also, you know, a question that i've been asked a good bit, because of course, donald trump wants to stir up doubt, is, hey, what's the difference between an absentee ballot and mail-in voting? and my response is, really, there's not really a difference. it depends on how the individual states define that process.

what can you tell us? are there any differences that i'm missing? >> so, the president is confusing what nine states do, which is universal balloting, sending out actual live ballots to all voters. so, nevada and new jersey put that into place with this election. and what i think were bad moves for the credibility of their elections. governor newsom in california decided to do that. it means there are lots of live ballots sort of out there going to bad addresses. but the rest of the states, and really, they are not any of the states that you've been talking about this morning as target states, that do that. what they do is require voters to request an absentee ballot. those are absentee ballots in some states, mail-in ballots in

other states. it's really just a labelling and not a definition. but there is the difference between universal ballot states, which is the nine -- and really, nevada and colorado are the only potential target states in there -- and then every other state in the country. so, there is no demonstrable proof of rigged or fraudulent elections or even really anything to be able to rise to the level of the rhetoric of rigged and fraudulent elections in the vast majority of states. >> and of course, willie, this is the second time that donald trump has gone to north carolina and lied and claimed that everybody had a ballot sent out to them, and so, they should vote twice, which is, of course, a felony in north carolina. >> it is. and if you thought there was some gray area or he misspoke that first time, he's said it since a couple of times to remind us exactly what he's telling people to do there. as you point out, that's against

the law. ben, it's great to see you this morning because you know this stuff so well. you worked, of course, on the 2000 recount. so, help us game out what might happen on election night and beyond, in the days, perhaps weeks, after that, what it might look like if the votes come in on election night, but we haven't yet counted all these millions of mail-in ballots that are coming in. what will that process look like? do you expect lawsuits? how long might it take? how are you looking at election night or election week or election month this year? >> well, first of all, willie, i think it will be very different from the florida experience. that was a historically close election in a state that mattered to tip the electoral college. the results were quickly canvassed, and the recount activity began, really, three days after election day. what we're talking about in 2020 is the onslaught of absentee ballots that you mentioned.

that is going to postpone the count a good deal. a number of states are allowing ballots to be received either three days or a week, or in some cases, a couple of weeks after election day. that means there won't be the final tallies. so i'm not sure we're in recount territory in this election. no reason to think the fickle finger of recount fate is going to point more in this election cycle than others, but we will have all the deadlines for beginning the process of finalizing the results, pushed back a good deal. what's interesting about this cycle and concerning is that you do have the hard deadlines in the constitution for the end of the president's term and for the meeting of the electoral college on december 14th. and this delay in getting final certified results can really bump into those deadlines in a way that we just made in florida

in 2000. >> all right. so no hanging chads. thank you. at least we have that nightmare won't be on the horizon. attorney ben ginsburg, who knows this stuff because he's lived it. great to see you. thanks so much. congressman curbelo, last word to you on the state of the race as we turn out of labor day, looking ahead, as i said, less than three weeks until those first debates, the presidential debates. what is the state of play right now in florida where you are? you talked about the latino vote, but more broadly as you look at it across the country, where is this race? >> well, willie, florida, florida, florida. that was coined by nbc news years ago, and it could come down to this state. and what we see is the trump campaign knowing they're behind, trying to scare voters to the polls, trying to scare people away from the biden/harris ticket. two big weapons of choice. one is law and order. trying to tie joe biden and kamala harris to the protesting, to the looting that we've seen in some american cities.

and then in other parts of the country, it's this message of socialism, trying to scare voters by saying that the biden/harris ticket are going to take this country toward a radical extreme. the vice president campaign has an offensive strategy. we've seen the messages on covid. they also need a defensive strategy. they need to reassure some of the voters, white suburban voters, hispanic voters here in south florida, that they are going to try to bring the country together, that they are going to try to heal some of the wounds that have been opened in this country in recent years. i think whether or not the trump campaign is able to scare a sufficient number of voters and whether or not the biden campaign can defend themselves from those efforts can prove to be decisive on november 3rd of this year. >> carlos curbelo, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. it also could be michigan, michigan, michigan, you know? president trump and joe biden will both campaign in the key

battleground state of michigan this week. joining us now, michigan's governor, democrat gretchen whitmer. great to have you back on the show, governor. i guess, first of all, the trump events, from what we've seen so far, more like rallies, and there's not a lot of social distancing. are you concerned a bit about the health threat that a trump event could pose? >> yeah, of course i am. we're watching the events that he's holding in other states leading up to this is visit here in michigan tomorrow, and we know that there's no social distancing, there's very little mask-wearing. they're projecting their voices. and those are the prime conditions for the spread of covid-19. we've pushed our curve down. we've saved thousands of lives. our economy's re-engaged. and yet, we know that all of this is very precarious, and a superspreader event could change all of that and make us have to roll some things back, and that's what we're desperately trying to avoid. so of course i'm concerned about it. >> and what are you able to do

as governor? because if the president wants to come to town, is that it? can you not have guidelines that the people of your state need to instead of like what we're seeing here? we're showing video of another rally. >> yeah, we have guidelines. you know, we see the vast majority of people in the state following them and doing the right thing. i'm not going to stop the president from coming into the state of michigan, but i am going to do everything i can to encourage michiganders continue doing the right thing and protect themselves. we know this virus does not care about party line, doesn't care about state line. it's still a very real threat and that's why we've got to stay smart, we've got to do the right thing and protect the economic gains we've made and the lives we've saved. we've got to mask up. >> hey, governor, joe scarborough here. let's talk about covid and the state of michigan. obviously, you've won a lot of

praise, not only from members of the media, but also, i think, for you, probably more importantly, from voters in the state of michigan, if you look at your approval ratings. but we're in the fall now. this is what we've been warned about for the past six months from epidemiologists and doctors, about the possibility of flu and covid hitting at the same time. what is michigan -- how are you all doing right now in terms of infections and deaths? and what are you doing to protect people in your state as we go into these possibly dangerous times? >> well, joe, we were rising at the same time that the city of new york was and new orleans. we were the -- we're the tenth largest state in the nation, and for a long time, we had the fourth highest death rate and covid cases. now we are in the 40th position in terms of number of covid cases and our positivity rates are 3.7, which would be the envy

of probably almost every other state in the nation, but for a handful that are doing a little bit better. the fact of the matter is we've made incredible strides. we've paid a huge price for it, too. you know, real sacrifice. but with a vacuum of leadership in d.c., it's put on the nation's governors to take the lead, and our aggressive actions have taken off. we've saved lives. we're in a stronger position. but we know the weather is changing. it's 55 degrees here in michigan today, which means more people will be inside, and that's when we've got to be heightened concerns for a resurgence, a second wave. and that's why we're promoting the flu shot. we are continuing to be aggressive around actions we're taking to preclude community spread. we have 30,000 tests a day, which is a phenomenal step that we've been able to build here in michigan. but a national strategy coming out of washington, d.c., and the resources to support our effort in terms of a supplemental that we'd like mitch mcconnell and donald trump to get over the finish line would go a long ways

towards protecting our economy and the health of our people. >> governor, mike barnicle is with us and has a question for you. mike. >> yeah, governor, on that point, the president of the united states seems to have two themes that he sticks to in campaigning for re-election. one, of course, is radical violence in american streets and cities, and the other is rigged elections. but to your point that you just raised, the last federal assistance check that many, many families got was july 1st. there has been no covid relief bill passed since then to give families a boost who need a boost. and we are on the edge of an economic catastrophe for millions of americans. what is the status muof that catastrophe among michigan workers? >> well, it's the stark reality. dinner table issues -- at least here in michigan. that's why i've been encouraging the biden/harris campaign to keep doing what they're doing -- focus on addressing the health care crisis so that we can get

people back to work and keep them at work and build our economy back better. the dinner table issues are that there's a lot of americans that are out of work right now, fearful, whether or not they're going to make it through this upcoming fall season and winter season, and that's why the inaction in washington, d.c. -- every state in the nation is waiting for d.c. to get the supplemental done. it's about public safety and public education and public health, arguably the three most important things we need to do as a nation right now in the midst of this pandemic. the trump administration didn't create covid-19, but they are responsible for the terrible response with a lack of a national strategy. and that's why right now, more than ever, they've got to get this floor supplemental done so that we can help american families stay in their homes while they're fearful of just paying the rent. >> governor whitmer, it's willie geist. good to see you this morning. one of the ways president trump is trying to win votes in your state is by encouraging michigan and michigan state to play football along with the other

teams in the big ten. do you believe michigan and michigan state should be playing football games this fall? >> you know, i love football. i wanted to be a sports broadcaster. that was my original plan. i'm a state kbrad and i've got a kid at the university of michigan. the fact of the matter, is the big ten made a decision based on the best epidemiology, their research institutions, learning from the best and making decisions, and i think we've got to respect the decision that they made to keep their student athletes safe and families safe, and i think that making this a political question really undermines the seriousness of this issue and how critical it is that we follow science and we do what we need to do to protect people. we can play football again. there's no question about that. but we've got to be safe right here and right now, and we're still in the midst -- >> so you agree with the big ten's decision then? >> i do. and if the trump administration had had a national strategy and taken this seriously, we might be able to safely play football now, but that's not the case, and that's why we've got to be

smart right now with the circumstances that we're dealing with. >> all right, governor gretchen whitm whitmer. thank you very much for being on the show this morning. and coming up, with more than 500,000 american children infected by the coronavirus, we're going to check in with former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb about where the country stands as the new school year gets under way. "morning joe" is back in a moment. orni jngoe" is back in a moment ♪

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♪ hey, welcome back to "morning joe." let's bring in former fda commissioner dr. scott gottlieb. thank you for being with us. i'm wondering with what the news out of oxford yesterday does to the timeline that many doctors and other health care officials have been given to be expecting a vaccine by early november? >> well, it could prompt regulators to take a closer look at the clinical trials, certainly the astrazeneca trial, but also the other ongoing

trials. there are two large trials that are pretty far along, one with the pfizer vaccine, one with moderna's. i'll remind you, i'm on the board of pfizer, the company that's developing that vaccine. it's unclear if the side effect that was unmasked in this trial -- and "the new york times" is unmasked in this vaccine, a form of meningitis, if that's related to the vaccine. the other question, if they determine it's likely related to the vaccine itself, the other question, is it related to the vaccine constructs. you're using basically a virus, a chimpanzee adnovirus, a virus that causes a common cold in mopg monkeys. in this case the spike protein. the question is, is it the adno viral vector causing the side effect, if there's a direct link or the spike protein itself. fitz the spike protein, it might

be a side effect you'd be concerned about with other vaccines so you'd want to take a close look at them, too. this is early days. it's speculative right now. we don't know whether or not there's a relationship between the vaccine and the side effect. >> doctor, i have not spoken at least in person to a doctor who believes that vaccines can be delivered safely by early november. most say it's going to be late 2020 or more likely 2021 event. and obviously it's a moving target. i'm just curious where we are in sect. we're coming to the middle of september. what does the timeline look like to you? >> i think it's unlikely we're going to have vaccines certainly for the general population this year. i think the idea that you can go to your doctor or go to a vaccine distribution site and get vaccinated for covid for the general public, that's a 2021 event. hopefully the first half of

2021, the first quarter of 2021. it's going to happen next year, not this year. the best case what you could see toward the end of this year, and i don't think it won't happen in october or maybe not november as well, but perhaps november, is a staged entry where you get an emergency use authorization where the fda provides access to certain high-risk populations either because of the way people work, where they work, so think of health care providers or people who are at unique risk of a bad outcome. think of older people, people who might be in a nursing home. i think it's unlikely we get data in october. it's possible if everything goes right, you could get data towards the end of october. getting the data and getting the fda to issue an emergency use authorization are two very different events. i think it's very unlikely we would see an emergency use authorization at any point in early november. i think at best case it's a late november event, maybe december. i know tony fauci has said perhaps toward the end of this year. i think that's probably a good base case.

>> dr. gottlieb, the american academy of pediatrics opened some eyes when they said there have been 500,000 cases of covid in children, that represents about 10% of the total number of cases in this country. what does that number tell you, especially as we send many kids, not a lot, many remote learning, but as we send many kids back into schools? what does that number tell you? >> it tells me, number one, the virus has become epidemic in children so we should take steps to protect children. in certain cases we are, in certain cases we aren't. i think some schools are doing a good job implementing measures. when you look at the outcome among kids, there is some reason to be reassured. there was an article out yesterday looking at rates of hospitalization, rates of intubation and icu, saying it's proportional to what we see in flu. that's not trivial.

kids have bad outcomes from flu every year and we know that. the rate of bad outcomes with covid doesn't appear to be higher than flu. that could be a sort of base case of what the experience is going to be. on the flip side of that, the cdc just reported on the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, this sort of post-viral syndrome in kid that seems to be a post mediated viral syndrome and they reported on 792 cases. the number has gone up. that's a cause for concern. i think the data is mixed, but on a whole we're not seeing the kinds of high rates of bad outcomes we certainly see in older kids. >> you've come on over the last several months and others and said, you expect some form of a second wave in the fall and winter as it coincides with flu season as well. is that still where you are now as we turn into fall? do you believe this is going to come back in many parts of the country? >> i think that has to be our

expectation. if it doesn't, that would be a surprise. it obviously would be good news. we've been in this position before when cases came down after new york, everyone thought it was over and covid wasn't coming back. we sort of bottomed out at 20,000 cases a day in sxen we had the epidemic in the south. there's a lot of parts of the country that have been largely untouched by this virus where the virus is going to want to spread. as we enter into the fall season, people go back indoors, schools restart, colleges have restarted, that's a focal point of spread. there's a risk we see a third wave, a third bounce in cases as we head into the winter season. coronaviruses are respiratory pa pathogens that typically spread in the wintertime. you don't typically see them in the summer. this is going to want to spread in the fall and winter, so we need to contain to, vigilant. i know people are exhausted by what we've been going through, but this is probably the riskiest point that we're entering. >> the number that we're at,

190,000, remember when it was such a massive story when it was 100,000 dead. now we're edging toward 200,000 dead. at the rate we are going now, from the directions that are being given from leadership to the way this country is operating in terms of this virus, is that number going to go down or is it going to consistently go up? >> well, it's certainly going to go up. we're going to end up tragically somewhere between 200,000, probably 300,000 deaths by the end of this year. i think the ihm model which predicted over 400,000 deaths is wrong. i think it's going to be hard to get to that number, fortunately, but it's definitely going to be above 200,000 by the end of the year. somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000. we're doing a much better job preserving life. in-hospital mortality has been cut substantially so the rate of death will go down as the

proportion to the total number of infections. there will be people that we cannot rescue in the hospital still. >> hopefully -- mike barnicle is with us and has a question for you. mike? >> doctor, i can't imagine a group of americans who are more filled with fear and anxiety over the virus than young parents, about the decision whether to send their child to preschool, kindergarten or first grade. what would you tell them? >> the first thing -- i just sent my kids back to school, in-class learning here in connecticut. i think the first thing to look at is what the local prevalence is. is the local infection is low, it's a safer environment to send kids back to school. i think when kids go back to school, it's prudent for schools to take precaution. mask wearing, trying to bias teaching towards outside the

classroom, if you can hold classrooms outside, be mindful around lunch if you're delivering food in the school, that's a point where you can have mixing of kids. so, the more you can keep kids sort of separated in discreet social groups and not have them intermingling with other children, that will reduce risk. we need to think of risk as cumulative. if you're going to do certain things that increase your risk, look for other places where you can lower your risk because your risk of contracting this over the course of a day is cumulative. you can't say, well, i'm doing this, this is high risk, so i'll give up on all the other stuff. you should think if i'm going to be taking certain steps that are risky because they're important to me, then the other places where it might have taken some risk, try to reduce those risks. >> dr. scott gottlieb, thank you so much. still ahead, we'll talk to peter strzok, the former fbi agent vilified by the. the and congressional republicans in the wake of the investigation. we'll have his new warning ahead

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with peacock premium included at no additional cost. no strings attached. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, september 9th, along with joe, willie and me, we have white house reporter for the associated press, jonathan lemi lemire, professor at principeto university, eddie glaude jr., and professor at ly.

ndon b. johnson school of law, victoria defrancesco so ito. >> as jonathan lemire -- well, jonathan, why don't you just tell willie what you tweeted about the red sox and sure sign that they're about to break like secretariat down the home stretch of the belmont stakes and win the world series. go ahead. >> it's really baseball lore. we know about babe ruth calling his shots, we know about ernie banks saying, let's play two. it's a cliche, really, any time there's a pandemic mandated doubleheader rule where you only play seven innings in the game and you lose the first game and walkoff fash, but rally to win

the second, how many times have we seen it? that's a sure thing. >> it happens all the time. >> joe and i are clearing our calendar. how many times have you seen it? >> how many times? it is, willie, it's truly baseball lore by now, is it not? you win the second half of twilight doubleheader, short seven innings. that's a sun. how are the yankees doing? >> the secretariat was not 13 innings back when he broke down the stretch but the yankees are tied in the loss column for fourth place in the a.l. east. they are tied for fourth place. this is a team on paper. >> what -- i'm being really serious here because i'm i've been so obsessed with the red sox i haven't looked around the

rest of the league and a couple days ago i saw they were a couple games above .500. i expected them to be ten games in first. what's going on with the yankees? >> they get gerrit cole, best pitcher in baseball, we figure this is one of the best yankee teams we've seen in a long time. well, everybody got hurt again. it happened last year. stanton got hurt, judge got hurt, torres got hurt, gary sanchez is hurt and can't hit. you go down the list, hurt or not performing. the pitching is not what we thought it would be. the bullpen is not what we thought it would be. there's still time. they're 6 1/2 games out. man, when you looked on paper, this was going to be a really, really good yankee team and they totally disappointed. they looked great and totally fell off the cliff. not to put everything on injuries but when literally half of your starters are on the injured list, it's tough to win. >> it is bizarre how snake bit the yankees have been over the past couple of years. i said when the red sox won 108 games in 2018, that that really

wasn't the most remarkable thing, even in the american league east that year. it was that the yankees won 100 games as beaten up as they were. man, you guys have been beating up every year. sorry, i'm -- i haven't been paying close enough attention to this. >> the sox on that run, the magical run. >> i'm focused on polls. >> if we can cue up one time by whitney houston after last night. how many yankees players do you and. to be back in time for the playoffs? >> for the playoffs, they should be back. the question at this point is, do they make the playoffs? i think they're holding onto the eighth spot right now. i have to look after last night. they are clinging to a playoff berth. they have time before the playoffs and they'll get guys back. the question is, will it be too late to catch those magical red sox. >> by the way, willie, any updates on the crime blotter? >> no, no. none this morning. thank you for asking. >> kybosh.

>> lemire had something to say. >> i don't want -- >> it makes us all said. >> jonathan lemire has had his say, then there's a delay and he finally says and it's the -- enough of the banters. we're moving to polls. there's a poll in pennsylvania -- >> i wanted to talk about the other guys. >> that has joe biden up nine points over president trump. in the latest nbc news/marist poll, biden is up in pennsylvania, 5%. biden holds an advantage among suburban voters, by 19 points. women with a college degree by 29. white voters are a split between biden and trump at 49% each. president trump holds an advantage with white evangelicals -- >> and why shouldn't he? >> he got that endorsement from jerry falwell jr.

>> he is a living, breathing example of the be attitude. >> there you go. up 59 points. wow, that's a whole story within itself. white voters without a college degree by 22. rural voters also by 22. among men by 5 points. >> willie, i think we have again, because so many people are still jarred by 2016, all you hear is this is just like clinton and trump. same thing is going to happen again. the one thing we're seeing here is joe biden in more polls than not when he's ahead is getting close to 50% or above 50%. here he's sitting at 63%. a lot of other polls we'll show this morning, he's at 50%, 51%. there aren't a lot of persuadables left. people were going in the last two months in 2016 trying to

figure out who they were going to vote for. bluntly many said they were trying to figure out who was the lesser of who they consider to be two evils. here that's not the case. we should say this pennsylvania poll is a bit of an outlier. other polls show it at two, three, four, five, this one has nine points. looking at biden's numbers, he's above 50% here that is certainly where you want to be two months out. >> no question about it. i think the panic was inevitable from democrats. it's such a long race. starts to feel good over the course of the summer. some show trump closing the gap. battleground polls, joe biden is still leading in most of those. some tighter than he would like it to be. let's remember, eddie glaude, the race was won by a sliver in wisconsin, michigan and all those states. if joe biden can swing a few votes in two or three of those

states, he'll win the election. if you look inside those cross tabs among suburban voters, among women, among americans with college degrees in all these battleground states, he's enjoying comfortable leads. there's some areas of concern, like latino votes in the state of florida. by and large, despite the panic that we hear from some democrats right now, he's still basically where he's been. >> good morning, willie. good morning, everyone. i think he's in good position. i think it's important for them to not get too confident. we know it will continue. to tighten in certain ways. but i think vice president biden needs to in some ways invest more in the latino community. those numbers in florida raised some questions for me that threw me back into the 2016 moment, i guess, joe, with hillary clinton in milwaukee and some other places. but i think he's in good stead. i'm always worried in the context of the pandemic, what do we make of the ground game? how will it look?

what does the turnout look like? how does the ground game make itself known in this context? but he's in good position. i think that's a good thing, to not say anything worth saying but he's in a good position. >> so, why don't we go, mika, to the florida poll. >> sure. >> that eddie was referencing. >> the latest nbc news/marist poll has biden and president trump tied among likely florida voters with some key demographics shifting their support from 2016. biden is up with black voters by 22 points. independent voters, by 11. and it is a statistical tie among seniors which is a demographic group that trump won by 17 points due to 2016 exit polls. that must be pandemic related, you must think. president trump holds an advantage among men, white voters by 15, white voters without a college degree by 28

points. among latinos by 4 points, which is a statistical tie. we're going to have more on that in just a moments. in the latest morning consult poll, biden holds a six-point lead nationally over president trump. 50% to 44%. among key battleground states, biden is up by ten in michigan, by eight in wisconsin, by six in colorado, five in florida, pennsylvania and minnesota. by three in arizona. by one in north carolina. the two are tied in texas. and president trump holds a two-point lead in georgia and a five-point lead in ohio. >> jonathan lemire, a lot to go through there. i've got to start with, we're talking about polls that seem to be a little outside the margins, that pennsylvania poll showing eight, nine points. that really looks like an outlier. maybe it's a sign of things to come. same with arizona sitting at

two, three percentage points there. that's been a more comfortable lead for biden and still is showing up as a more comfortable lead in most states. in most polls about arizona. you look at all of these numbers, it shows a steady, solid lead for joe biden. here we are a week past the conventions, a week past kenosha, and i remember you and me talking in early august. trump keeps saying, we have three months. the staff was trying to say, no, mr. president trump, early voting starts soon enough. early voting has started and these numbers are not moving in trump's direction except for what we're about to talk about after this, about hispanics in the state of florida. but other than that, boy, these polls are pretty solid. >> it's striking, joe, despite

the spectacle of the conventions and obviously the tumult we've seen on the streets in kenosha and portland, things republicans thought would benefit president trump, just how stable this race remains. i think you're right on that pennsylvania poll. that seems to be an outlier. neither margin think it's near that big. both agree joe biden is up but by a smaller amount. could be disconnect in some of these states. i know we'll dive deeper in florida. florida is a state where there has been tightening yet a demographically similar state, arizona, has not been the case. joe biden has had a pretty good lead there. the same with the great lakes, pennsylvania, michigan, and wisconsin. michigan throughout this race, joe biden's probably best battleground state. he's had a sizeable lead where earlier this year we talked

about the trump campaign all but have thrown in the towel there. they have reversed course. they have seen some movement, invested some money there. biden is still up and enjoys a pretty decent lead in wisconsin despite all the energy the trump campaign has poured into wisconsin thinking kenosha would be the turning point. while those two still lean pretty clearly to biden, pennsylvania is more of a tossup. it's hard to imagine a scenario where joe biden would lose pennsylvania, his native state, where he has strength in philadelphia and pittsburgh and also in the northeast, in scranton, where he's from, that part of it, and most of all in the philadelphia suburbs. there's a sense that middle of the state, rural voters, there probably isn't enough votes there for donald trump this time around. though, of course, he did pull it out narrowly four years ago. there's also another factor here. as much as the trump campaign is

pointing to putting adds up for the next few days, there's an issue about money. they have not released their fund-raising total in august yet, which is striking. here we are, september 9th or coming up on september 10th and 11th. they still haven't done it. that's days late after the biden put up a record $350 million or more fund-raising haul from august. the trump campaign has remained silent. they're looking to expand the map because they are so nervous about states like arizona and trying to figure out path to 270. they have to figure out other states to put in play which is why we're seeing the late investment in minnesota and heading this weekend to nevada. that's another state, nevada, that trump feels they have to play because if they lose arizona, there's no path to 270. to florida and how the cuban vote is having a big impact on the vote there. you're watching "morning joe." microban 24.

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for more on trump leading by four points in latinos in the latest marist poll, it's a demographic that won for clinton in 2016. trump's lead over that poll is sizeable among latinos of cuban descent where biden is slightly ahead among all other latinos in the state. another poll out of florida shows a similar trend. in the miami herald poll out of miami-dade county, biden leads among nonhaiku ban his pan i guesses, 58% to 32%. among cubans, trump has 68% to 30%. we've seen in 2016 and 2018,

cuban americans making a huge difference in how elections turn out with a majority going for donald trump in 2016. actually, not enough cuban-americans going for the democratic candidates for governor and senator and allowing republicans to really go against the tide in 2018. victoria, as we talked about these polls that are causing democrats to flinch nationwide this morning, in florida, a couple of things, yes, cuban-americans are put off, especially put off by socialist policies, by the fear that joe biden if elected will implement and policies influenced by people like bernie sanders and aoc. that's certainly what the trump

campaign has been pushing. but also, man, nothing works like work. and donald trump has been working, advertise itting nonstop in the cuban-american community for some time. and that hard work, surprise, surprise, is paying off dividends right now. joe biden has not worked hard down there in the hispanic communities and the cuban-american communities yet. and i think we're seeing the result of that in these two polls. >> and they should, indeed, be flinching, joe. democrats should be flinching at these numbers. the cuban numbers are not surprising. we know republicans have always had a very strong base with cuban voters, however we've seen that base grow under donald trump. he has cultivated that vote over

the last four years. as you pointed out, joe, he has been putting in work. the trump campaign has been up with tv ads, with digital ads, with biden coming up, i would say, six weeks later than that. so that matters. what democrats should really be worried about is the non-cuban. if we remember in 2016, hillary clinton won non-cuban latinos. what's happening with the puerto rican voters who are traditionally more democratic and have been growing in huge numbers as a result of puerto ricans miami graiting over from the island because of the economic downturn, because of the hurricanes. they are ripe for the picking in terms of getting them registered to vote and bringing over the democratic side. but these polls aren't showing that. so, i think what we're seeing here is two-fold. the trump campaign building out

its cuban base very healthfully, something obama chipped into in '08 and '12, and at the same time i'm seeing the trump campaign is also picking up some non-cuban latinos. i'm thinking the folks who have come throughout latin america, your nicaraguans, and some puerto ricans. this is worrisome as we get down to the home stretch of the election because there won't be more time to mobilize these voters register to vote and turn out because it's also a mobilization game. this is something democrats should have their hair on fire about, absolutely. coming up from florida to texas, it's another state packed with votes. that in many ways are up for grabs. we'll break down the latest from there next on "morning joe."

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country. do you know who's further left than crazy bernie? kamala. kamala. kamala. >> there's a reason the trump campaign continues to push this idea that joe biden is merely a vessel for what he calls the radical left, bernie sanders, aoc, et cetera, et cetera. you can see it's getting some traction in the hispanic community, even if others roll their eyes and say, wait a minute, look at joe biden's career over 50 years. he's been a centrist and been criticized, even as recently as during the democratic primary as being too much of a centrist. victoria, i'm curious of your views if this plays beyond the borders, 3 million registered -- 1.3 eligible registered voters in arizona. is this more than a florida story? should democrats be worried about other places beyond florida? >> they should be worried.

i guess it's a level of degree, right? i think when we're looking at arizona, they seem traditionally hispanics being a little more conservative, even though they're of mexican-american descent, even a little more conservative than latinos in california or new york. if you remember back to sb pen 70, the show me your papers law, since then we've seen activism by part of the latino community in response to that. and nothing mobilizes like anger, so the anger against s.b. 70, i think that helps latinos in arizona. i think that's where we're seeing headway with joe biden in arizona. the other thing about arizona is you have a very competitive senate race. you have mark kelly, a centrist, a hero, an astronaut, he's been doing good outreach to the latino community in arizona. i think that's going to help as well. in addition to the difference in

demographics of latinos, you have that race. and here in texas, i can't believe my eyes we're seeing the ds and rs hide here in texas, deep red texas. but latinos are, again, part of the story, but we have to recognize there are shades of ideology within the latino community here in texas. it can't be assumed all latinos in texas are going to be a lock. in is a state where george w. bush got 49% of the latino vote when he ran for re-election as governor. latinos are open in texas to votesing for a republican. i think biden has made inroads, es and he shally because latinos in texas have been so hard hit by the pandemic, but still, you know, be very cautious if you're a democrat mobilizer because the trump campaign knows they can creep into that latino base and pull them in terms of family

values, in terms of entrepreneurial spirit. i think there's a little bit more comfort than in florida, but not a whole bunch. coming up on "morning joe," it's a name you heard a lot during the russia probe. former fbi agent peter strzok joins us with his new book and a warning about warngs. introducing stocks by the slice from fidelity. now you can trade stocks and etfs for any amount you choose instead of buying by the share.

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mr. chairman, at any time in any of these texts did those personal beliefs interview the realm of any action i took. furthermore, this isn't just me sitting here telling you, you don't have to take my word for it. at every step, at every investigative decision, there are multiple layers of people above me, the assistant director, deputy director, and director of the fbi and multiple players of people below me, section chiefs, supervisors, unit chiefs, case agents and

analysts, all of whom were involved in all of these decisions. they would not tolerate any improper behavior in me any more than i would tolerate it in them. that is who we are at the fbi. and the suggestion that i and some dark chamber somewhere in the fbi would somehow cast aside all of these procedures, all of these safeguards and somehow be able to do this is astounding to me. it simply couldn't happen. the proposition that that is going on, it might occur anywhere in the fbi, deeply corrodes what the fbi is in american society, the effectiveness of their mission and it is deeply destructive. >> then fbi assistant deputy direct of counterintelligence, peter strzok testifying in 2018 about text messages that got him removed from special counsel robert mueller's investigation. strzok is now the author of a new book "compromised: counterintelligence and the threat of donald j. trump" and he joins us now. good to have you with us. you said you wrote this book

because the president's relationship with russia is too important to ignore and the american people deserve to know about it. what specifically can you tell us about his relationship with russia that we don't already know publicly? >> absolutely. look, i worked county counterintelligence under six different administrations, republicans and democrats. what i can tell you is that what i saw with regard to president trump is deeply concerning. a lot of that remains classified and i can't tell you about it, but a lot has started coming to light. and there are k356r78sexamples give you. all of these revolve around his financial entanglements with russia. whes when he's on the campaign trail in 2016 and assuring the american public he has no financial relationship whatsoever at russia, at the very same moment his personal attorney is pursuing a deal for a trump tower in moscow. the minute he says that on the campaign trail, vladimir putin knows that he's lying. trump knows that he's lying. the fbi happens to know at the

moment he was lying as well, but nobody in the american public did. and so to maintain that lie, trump needs putin's complicity. that creates a coercive relationship putin can use to leverage trump's actions or inactions and goes a long way to explaining some of the inexplicable things we've seen trump do relating to russia. >> as recently as in just the last week, actually, when he wouldn't condemn vladimir putin for the poisoning of navalny. so, you've said in the book that you could have destroyed president trump in 2016 and you could do it again now knowing everything you know. you use that as a defense that you weren't biased personally because you could have done worse and you could have exposed information. is there something in there you can tell us now, now that you are a private citizen? what do you know about president trump that you think voters should know less than two months away from the election? >> well, absolutely there are things that are not known that would still be damaging. the decision to release that is

up to the administration. you've seen them declassify material, which unsurprisingly tends to all be helpful to president trump. there's a lot of material that simply is classified and that i can't talk about. but it's there. le american public has a right to know it, but that is a decision for the administration to do. i can't go declassifying information. i'm going to honor my oath to both the office that i held as well as the security clearance that i held. that information, the american public deserves it and the administration, frankly, deserves to have that known as well. >> you mentioned the trump organization's pursuit of trump tower moscow over the years. is it fair to say, if you can't disclose classified information, is it fair to say broadly that the nature of president trump's relationship is a business relationship and that is, perhaps, why he will not push back against vladimir putin time and again? >> i think that's absolutely fair. if you look at the scope of his businesses relationship to russia, going back decades.

if you look at the statement by one of his sons about the disproportionate amount of russian holdings that represented the trump financial assets, all of these things speak to an ability of russian interests, of illicit interests, to hold him under their sway and get him to do things that, frankly, we can't explain. why isn't he speaking out against russia placing the bounties on the heads of american soldiers in afghanistan? why isn't he pushing back against, as you mentioned, the attempted assassination of navalny? why is he talking about withdrawing from nato, from withdrawing 11,000 troops from germany? the list goes on and on and on. none of these things are in america's interest. most if not all are in russia's. it begs the question, why is he doing this? my answer, what i believe is, because there is leverage russia holds over him that is causing him to act in his rather than america's national security interest. >> some people will listen to that and say, all that for a hotel in moscow? in other words, he's willing to

put to the side relationships we've had with other countries, as we talked about nato, willing to ignore things that vladimir putin has done for a hotel in moscow. there are people, including, by the way, prominent members of the intelligence community, former, who have suggested that donald trump is a, quo te, asse of russia. do you believe that's true? that sounds extreme to a lot of people but do you believe in some way vladimir putin has so much leverage over donald trump that he is a, quote, asset? >> look, i recruited spies for two decades. what that looks like varies. on one end, you can have somebody who fully knowsness they're working for you, taking tasking and going to do every single last thing you say. on the other end there's somebody who doesn't even realize they're working with the united states government. i think the truth with president trump lies in the middle. do i think he's a manchurian candidate? i do not. do i think he's doing in the

united states because russia is holding things over him that he does not want known? absolutely. if you step back, if you look at that as a patriot, as machine american citizen, it's horrifying. but it's exists, it's real and something every american should be concerned about. >> are the thins you're saying russia holds over him, in your words, is that just a hotel or other things you can't say publicly? >> look, i think it's fair to say within the context of what i can and can't say, his financial involvement with russia and all of his business dealings are very broad. there exists within that multiple opportunities, not just multiple hotel deals but between real estate holdings, licensing opportunities, beyond just simple donations potentially to his campaign. there are a variety of entanglements that he holds, without getting into classified detail, are of great concern and present prime opportunities for leverage over the president. >> peter, jonathan lemire with the associated press is here.

he has a request question for y. jonathan? >> peter, as you well know, when president putin was asked if they had any compromising material on president trump or his family, that question in helsinki, he didn't give a no to that. i want to ask you about robert mueller's investigation, for which you were part of for a time. you mentioned here in great detail the business dealings of the president and you've written in your book you felt a broad-based, deep investigation was needed into the president's business dealings. mountains of financial records would need to be sifted through and pored over. but can you, as you see the finished product, as you've examined what robert mueller and his team were doing after you were removed from the investigation, do you feel like that has happened? was the work done that was needed to really examine the president's financial dealings? >> well, my concern is that it wasn't. look, director mueller and the scope of his work within the special counsel's office was never going to touch on the

counterintelligence aspects of that investigation. when you look at the recent bipartisan senate intelligence report, almost 1,000 pages signed off on by both republican and democratic senators, it's clear there is a pervasive counterintelligence problem surrounding trump's campaign and his administration. that -- to do that effectively, to understand that would need to go back decades and would have to, as you know, very detailed in looking at those financial transactions. could the fbi be doing that? absolutely, they could. if they were, i would have -- i would expect it would be quiet, classified, you wouldn't hear about it am. at the same time, given the way trump has fought tooth and nail to avoid releasing anything about his financial truth, i would expect had anybody in the government attempted to go after the financial records, we would have heard about it in the press. he would have been fighting about it, he would have been taking it to court. the fact we haven't heard anything like that gives me some concern that that sort of deep look never took place.

>> peter, what do you make of -- what the president has done to morale and to, frankly, the effectiveness of the fbi? we know he's called you out repeatedly from the rally stages across the country, and called into question the integrity of former director komi and others who have worked at the bureau. i'm sure you still talk to people inside. what is your sense of where things are at the fbi and, more broadly, at the department of justice under william barr and after a year's worth of attacks from this president? >> look, the people i speak to still in the fbi, the people i knew, the men and women at the fbi, they are fearless and they are strong. having said that, there is no way in this environment, given the attacks not only on me, not only on the fbi by the president, but if you look across the board, at career civil servants he's attacked at

the department of state and department of defense in literally every single department and agency of the united states government, coupled with the statements to the attorney general who is throwing out plainly misleading and inaccurate statements about the lack of junction for the investigation, all of that cannot help but have a chilling effect on the day-to-day work of anybody in the government, including the fbi. so, i think that the people -- i know the good men and women i've worked with, that they're holding the line, that that's continuing to the good work continues to occur, but i'm very, very worried about the prospect of what another four years of a trump administration administration will do to destroy the -- what's going on within the rest of the executive branch. >> peter, we came into this segment with your forceful testimony where you said, yes, despite these text messages with lisa page, i remain professional, i remained objective. but when people read you texting to lisa page, we will stop it, talking about the election of

president trump in 2016, when you write, he simply cannot be president, he's an idiot, he's loathsome, awful, all these different texts, the things you said about donald trump, how could someone read those and not see personal bias against this president? >> look, i can understand that concern. i point to two things. the first is, every single thing that the fbi did investigatively with regards to secretary clinton and candidate trump, almost an individual item all hurt secretary clinton or helped candidate trump. the second thing i've pointed to, there have been multiple investigations, multiple congressional looks all of which have found no indication of any improper activity based on impermissible bias or other acts. so, the record is very clear. the work that we did, the work that i did, was independent,

objective and thorough. and any suggestion otherwise is pure partisan nonsense. >> what is your concern here now, we're two months away from election day, about what russia may be doing? knowing what you know as former counterintelligence official in the fbi, you watched it in 2016. how bad is it now and are you concerned it may tip the scales? >> look, it's bad and it may get worse. as we are talking this morning, there are people in russia scouring social media, who are reading american media reports and watching the show and others, finding where those flashpoints are within american society and tailoring propaganda to exacerbate those splits. as we talk right now, there are people attacking our voting infrastructure, who are seeking to get into voter rolls and databases and equipment software and that is only going to increase as time goes on. the russians saw what they were able to do in 2016. they haven't been sitting still

the last four years. they have taken the things they have done, they have improved them, they have increased their ability to hide their hand so it's not as obvious when they are working, and they are actively working right now. and my concern is that it's only going to increase not only up to the election, but past the election as we try and come to terms with whatever result occurs in early november. >> it may be a while after election day. the new book is "compromised: counterintelligence and the threat of donald j. trump." peter strzok, thanks for your time. still ahead on "morning joe," the justice department intervenes in a defamation lawsuit brought against president trump. we're back in a moment. n a momet

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the justice department yesterday told a federal court it seeks to take over the president's defense in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. in a motion filed in federal court, doj lawyers argued that the president was acting within the scope of his office in 2019 when he denied in interviews having sexually assaulted journalist e. jean carroll in a department store dressing room more than 20 years ago. since the denial was an official act, the doj says, the government should therefore be allowed to stand for the president's -- stand in for the

president's private attorneys. court documents go on to say the united states will file a motion to substitute itself for president trump in this action, making the u.s. government instead of the president the defendant in the defamation suit. the filing moves the case from state court to federal and it was made on the president's last day to appeal a new york state court ruling that the defamation suit could proceed while he was in office. carroll responded by tweet saying trump hurls bill barr at me just when trump is required to produce documents and dna in discovery. he sics the doj on us. this is unprecedented. the department of justice did not respond to requests for comment. jonathan lemire, unprecedented to say the least. can this happen? it just seems sort of in so many ways inappropriate to say the least.

>> yeah, highly unusual is another phrase that would certainly fit here, mika, to have the justice department take on what is a personal matter for the president of the united states. mind you that means taking on a taxpayer expense. this is the federal government using americans' taxpayer dollars to mount this defense, claiming their justification is that president trump denied knowing carroll while in office, but these are events that took place, carroll alleges, well before he was president of the united states. simply as a public citizen. i think for the blowback to this has been fierce and swift. and for a number of people, legal observers and critics of the administration, this is another example where the department of justice has seemingly stepped beyond its bounds in order to defend the president of the united states. as our last guest outlined, we have certainly had attorney general barr a number of times seemingly wade in to help the president with his own legal

matters, whether that's dismissing the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york or framing the results of the mueller investigation before they were made public really shaping the narrative of that case. there are several other examples as well. this is another very unusual move and i think it is going to, i would assume, face sharp criticism from democrats. >> e. jean carroll's allegation is from 1995 or 1996, 20 years before donald trump became president. meanwhile, jonathan, the army's top general defended military leaders yesterday after president trump accused them of making war to keep defense contractors happy. his words. here's trump's comment on monday followed by general james mcconville in his response. >> i'm not saying the military is in love with me. the soldiers are. the top people in the pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy. >> when i take a look at, you

know, the senior leaders in the united states military, i'm talking generals, i'm talking admirals, sergeant majors, many of these leaders have sons and daughters that serve in the military. many of these leaders have sons and daughters who have gone to combat or may be in combat right now. so i can assure the american people that the senior leaders would only recommend sending our troops to combat when it's required for national security and a last resort. we take this very, very seriously in how we make our recommendations. >> jonathan, we've seen this a few times over the last year or so, where military leaders have come out, sitting military leaders, and have to contradict in their diplomatic way what the president of the united states has said. but again, president trump twisting himself in knots to defend himself against the allegations in "the atlantic"

piece that were confirmed by a number of media outlets. >> right, and that's the backdrop to this, willie, that we shouldn't lose sight of. the president and his team spent the last 24 to 48 hours trying to clean this up, suggesting these are comments in line to dwight eisenhower's warning when he left office against the military industrial complex. if that's true, it defies credibility that that's what the president was trying to this in this off the cuff remark at the news conference in the midst of this story so we'll set this aside. but this is him again trying to clean up and repair the story from t from "the atlantic" in which he is heard denigrating those who have sacrificed, soldiers, many of whom who have lost their lives and how they loved their country to make that sacrifice. it was a ham-handed attempt to try to get around that. instead, he has only caused himself more trouble.

i will say as we barrel into the last two months of the presidential race, this is something that drives his advisers simply up the wall and it's simply not a surprise, but his inability to stay on any sort of message and instead relitigating fights, battles with the media, and distracting from the story that the campaign is trying to tell in lieu of settling personal feuds. >> i've always been surprised, willie, at how certain members of the white house, either former members or staffers are actually out lying for the president when it's kind of obvious that this is sort of the way he speaks about people, especially on the mccain front and on the kelly part of the story. before we go today, amid this pandemic just about everybody's workplace has completely changed. at know your value.com, the focus is on resetting your entire approach to your work and your career. it's all part of the kyv pandemic reset. every day we're looking at ways to grow your value during this

very uncertain time. today it's all about the art of the zoom meeting now that we're all suddenly on camera, so you can get great pointers and join the conversation only at knowyourvalue.com and on our social platforms. and that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hi there, i'm stephanie ruhle. it is wednesday, september 9th. here's what's happening. this morning, the race for a coronavirus vaccine hitting a serious speed bump. drug maker astrazeneca announcing it will halt global clinical trials on its vaccine because of an unexpected illness in one patient. while the company says this is a routine check, it is unclear how long the pause will last. out west, fires in california, washington and now oregon are taking a very dangerous turn. new mandatory evacuations put in place across california overnight, as a total of at least 362 people have now been rescued by the