those democrats, you could see some centrist moderates, however we're supposed to refer to them coming on board. it will be a challenge, though, and republicans are always licking their chops and thinking about how they're going to message this, saying that democrats like maggie hasan, war knock, kelly, those seem to be the ones republicans are focusing on the most. we don't know where they are on a 2.5 to $3.5 trillion spending and tax bill, and those adds almost right themselves at a certain stage. >> they do. hans nichols, thank you very much for that. we really appreciate it. perhaps the best news we got this morning, the end of the 7th inning double header. thank you for getting up us with on this wednesday morning. don't go anywhere. "morning joe" starts right now. this is me touching the white house. this is why we're here.

>> what's worse, recording yourself in the middle of a crime scene or not even knowing which building was being overrun, that lack of awareness and basic civics didn't make it any less dangerous for officers like eugene goodman who faced down the january 6th insurrection even if some republican lawmakers are pretending it never happened. and speaking of that, one of the few republicans to stand up for the constitution, liz cheney is seeing a surge in fundraising, and as kasie hunt points out, i wonder why those numbers were leaked to a long time political reporter in new hampshire. 2024 anyone? plus, another political casualty of the trump era. former senator jeff flake lands a new gig in the biden administration. while the state of tennessee takes a giant leap backward on basic health.

why state officials there are stopping all vaccine related outreach to minors, not just covid vaccines, all vaccines. the virus meanwhile continues to flare up in serious ways with cases on the rise. and the american economy, still feeling the pinch, what the rise in inflation means for the recovery. we're going to have all of those stories and more ahead for you on this wednesday, july 14th. joe has the morning off. willie, we will start with president biden's big speech yesterday. >> yeah, the president trying to kind of reinvigorate those stalled talks over voting rights. in forceful terms, the president blasting those who have selling the big lie. >> in america if you lose, you accept the results. you follow the constitution. you try again.

you don't call facts fake. and then try to bring down the american experiment just because you're unhappy. that's not statesmanship. that's not statesmanship. that's selfishness. no other election has ever been held under such scrutiny, and such high standards. the big lie is just that, a big lie. the denial of full and free and fair elections is the most un-american thing that any of us can imagine, the most undemocratic, the most unpatriotic, yet sadly, not unprecedented. time and again, we have weathered threats to the right to vote in free and fair elections, and each time we found a way to overcome. the 21st century jim crowe

assault is real. it's unrelenting, and we're going to challenge it vigorously. it's no longer just about who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible voters to vote, it's about who gets to count the vote. who gets to count whether or not your vote counted at all. we're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the civil war. the confederates back then never breached the capitol as insurrectionists did on january 6th. i'm not saying this to alarm you. i'm saying this because you should be alarmed. we'll be asking my republican friends in congress in states and cities and counties to stand up for god sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our elections and the sacred right to vote. have you no shame? >> 17 states have enacted new voting laws since the 2020

election. texas could become the 18th. we'll have more on the fight in that state coming up in just a moment. let's bring in white house reporter for the associate press jonathan lemire, and coauthor of the play book, eugene daniels. this was a lot of passion from the president yesterday. the question is to what end. we know both of those bills are languishing in congress. both of the federal voting bills, what did he hope to do yesterday. >> i was there with him in philadelphia when he delivered that speech, probably his most forceful yet to these republican states and efforts to restrict access to the ballot. it was a good speech and powerfully delivered in front of a crowd, which the president hasn't seen much of because of the pandemic. he did, as was outlined in the video clips, wanted to illuminate what was going on here. after you cast your ballot, and

your right to do so may be limited but even after it's cast it may not properly count bid state legislatures, who may not want to certify if their election is lost. he took head on the big lie. he never mentioned donald trump by name, he squarely addressed this idea, this election fraud, these claims that are so baseless, fueled how elections are conducted in their state. the other word he didn't mention was filibuster. not once during the speech. and it seems unlikely there's any path to federal legislation without some sort of either the removal of the filibuster or at least an alteration to the filibuster, and aides are saying they are waiting on this. they want to have a series of speeches first, use the bully pulpit on the issue, and once hr 4 is drafted make a nuanced case and a decision what to do with

the filibuster. in the audience yesterday was our friend reverend al sharpton who spoke to the president in the moments after the speech. i spoke to the reverend who said he confronted biden, that was a great speech but what about the filibuster, and biden told him we haven't decided our position on that yet. before they do, it's hard to see how there will be meaningful legislation to protection voting rights. >> that's why the question is there, joe manchin, kyrsten sinema, no willingness to do that. a sitting president of the united states had to announce and say all the things president biden did yesterday. do not undermine our democracy. do not call the results of the election into question when it's clear who won. he has to do that not just because of what's happening at the federal level with donald trump, and including in the state of texas where as the

president said yesterday, a lot of this is coming on the back end. who gets to count the votes once they're in. >> absolutely. it's one of those things i'm sure a lot of people didn't expect. when you think about who would try to undermine an american election. you don't think about a former president. you don't think about sitting lawmakers and people around the country who have power to change laws, and i think that is one of the things that the president, people in the white house have been wanting to push for months, right, to be very clear, i think the president was as clear as he has been about what happened here, hitting knocking down all of those people without saying donald trump's name, like you said, but exactly what jonathan said is that there is almost no movement, right, so i talked to some of the activists who work on this issue, and they say this is great. we wanted the president to do this speech, and do more speeches.

they want to see him go on the road and sell democracy like he sold the infrastructure plans he has been running through, and that are going to go through congress pretty soon, and i think that's what they're hoping to see, and i think that's what we're going to start seeing, president biden is going to take this on the road, and fight for as one aide put it to me, fight for democracy, and make it very clear it doesn't matter who you are in the country, you don't get to pick the winner unless you're the voter. you don't get to after you lose decide who's in charge here. >> texas republican lawmakers yesterday voted to dispatch law enforcement to track down the democrats who fled the state in a last ditch effort to block passage of voting limits. the voting bill the democrats are hoping to block passed the republican controlled texas senate by a party line vote. the democrats' maneuvers mean the state house is now without the needed quorum to do

business. a roll call confirmed that only eight of the 150 members were present. in turn, republican lawmakers voted to send state law enforcement to track down those democrats who fled the state. as no crime has been committed and the legislature's only power is to compel attendance, texas law enforcement do not have the jurisdiction outside the state of texas, and cannot ask local police to bring the lawmakers home. this as the texas democrats who fled to washington appeared in front of the u.s. capitol yesterday to plead for lawmakers there to help. asking them to rewrite the u.s. senate rules in order to allow them to override republican efforts. so jonathan lemire, what is their end game here, and also, it feels like maybe the second or third time the texas governor or republicans have done something or threatened to do

something like arrest them that is simply not possible. >> yeah, mika, the threat for arrests, obviously without jurisdictional rights, it's a political show, a way to stir up passions and play to the base. there's no teeth to that. certainly what we're seeing here is the texas state democrats have come to washington and been embraced by democrats on the federal level. we saw them on capitol hill yesterday. they met with a variety of the democrat leadership there, and they met with vice president kamala harris who let's remember this administration has appointed to be their lead person on their efforts to defend the right to vote, and she praised their efforts. she praised their courage, and spoke again about just how important it is for americans to understand what's happening in these now more than a dozen states, how it's become harder to vote in some of those places, and how there's less of an ability to trust that the states

will indeed process your vote and certify it, the winner correctly. we know that the state lawmakers are going to be in d.c. for several days. white house aides when we pressed them, they didn't commit they would meet the president but certainly at some point an audience with president biden is possible too which would give them that much bigger of a stage, and help him propel his message. now we have this, which will really give all of this context. "the washington post" is out with now reporting on what it calls the birth of donald trump's big lie, and it's detailed in an excerpt from carol lenig and phillip rucker's book do out next week entitled "i alone can fix it" the setting is the white house 2020 as results were coming in. quote, rudy giuliani started to cause a commotion. he was telling other guests that he had to come up with a strategy for trump, and was trying to get into the president's private quarters to tell him about it.

some people thought giuliani may have been drinking too much and suggested to campaign manager bill stepien that he talk to the former mayor. stepien, white house chief of staff mark meadows senior adviser jason miller took giuliani to a room, asking stepien, meadows, what they were seeing and what's their plan. what's happening in michigan, they said it was too early to tell. votes were being counted. just say we won, giuliani told them. same thing in pennsylvania, just say we won pennsylvania, giuliani said. his grand plan was to just say trump won state after state, based on nothing. stepien, miller and meadows thought his argument was both incoherent and irresponsible. we can't do that, meadows said, raising his voice.

we can't. the book then details how trump ordered his advisers to call top executives and hosts at fox news to push back at its projection that joe biden had won the state of arizona. trump was livid. the book claims. adding quote he could not fathom that the conservative news network he had long considered an extension of his campaign was the first news organization to call arizona for biden. then giuliani reenters the scene, he pushed the president to forget about arizona, to forget about the arizona call and just say he won. to step into the east room and deliver a victory speech. never mind that meadows had earlier snapped at giuliani and said the president couldn't just declare himself the winner. just go declare victory right now, giuliani told trump. you've got to go declare victory

now. giuliani's interjections of his just say you won strategy infuriated trump's campaign advisers. it's hard to be the responsible parent when there is a cool uncle around taking the kid to the movies, and driving him around in a corvette. one of these advisers were called, that's sort of a metaphor there and carol lenig and phil rucker will be our guests about this week next week. willie, though, my god, i mean, i really was actually quite moved by joe biden's speech because that's where we are because of moments like that, and millions of americans, according to liz cheney and many others, have been misled about what happened. >> and you can see again in carol and phil's book which we can't wait to read and talk to them about, just how casual trump and his team are with our democracy. go out and say you won.

your people will be behind you all the way. >> they treated it like a joke. >> you watch the birth of the lie and see the seed that was planted by rudy giuliani and others, and donald trump happy to go along with it and fan the flames, and you see where led us, right to the steps of the capitol on january 6th. >> how disturbing to read that as it came out. i can't wait to read the book. i have a lot of things that i think one of the phrases that i have been using, a lot of people probably have, is it wasn't surprising but it's shocking. it's still shocking to read exactly how this worked out. we knew it had to come from somewhere. it's not surprising that rudy giuliani was the first person to say that, to, say, you know, let's just say we won, and that is something the democrats and people who care about democracy are fighting. right? it is this idea that the people that were around the president, not only pushed and put that idea in his head, knowing that

donald trump was a man who is transactional, still is very transactional, i alone can fix it, a throw back to how he thinks about everything. he puts himself first in a lot of ways he thinks about politics and a lot of other things, and it's transactional. i think as we move forward and look at the voting restrictions and it's important to remember how it started, right. it didn't start from, you know, on the day on january 6th from their lips where the speech happened, this was in the works for actually months, even before rudy giuliani said go out there and say you won. donald trump early on as states started to allow more mail-in voting said that he would only lose if he got to mail-in vote. that lie built and built and built, and has crescendoed, and now it has taken over the republican party. they talked about meadows and miller there, but at the same time, these people have still

continued to, if not just helped spread the big lie, they will help to prop up donald trump, and continue to allow him to say these things in public. >> and to build on the point, the months and months of consternation and questions within the postal service, the hearings with the trump guy who ran the postal service. this was a long build up to the big lie that everybody within trump's world, smart, educated people that he put in place played along with. >> reporter: then president trump had a remarkable ability to make aides and other republicans go along with whatever he said in an effort to keep him happy, be spared the wrath of his twitter account or to further their own agendas, and they saw trump as a useful vessel to do that. these seeds have been planted for quite some time, and there was an undermining of the faith

of the ballot, all of 2020 because of the mail-in votes, the constant claims of the president saying the only way i could lose is if they cheese, these claims, all false, amplified to the conservative media night after night on various talk shows or conservative radio, and his followers heard it, and many of them believed it, and what we saw of course then as the ballots broke against him on election night, we saw trump's rage in particular as it's been reported in several places, as arizona was called, first by fox news, which is usually very friendly to the trump cause and he saw the night slipping away, and we also know of course he had warned because he put such doubt about mail-in ballots, that he was wanting to focus on the votes counted that day, which showed him ahead in a number of states, and changed in the days ahead, and that built to the january 6th assault on

democracy, and the insurrection at the capitol. >> let's remember the big lie cooked up in the room is written by that book of rudy giuliani, and whose justification, whose rationale is there were ig regularities in the votes. i want to turn to the pandemic now where concerns are growing over new covid infections with the number of daily cases doubling in the last three weeks. this comes after over 1,000,084 americans are vaccinated. nbc's miguel almaguer has more. >> reporter: after a private zoom meeting with pfizer monday night, the cdc and fda say there's still not enough evidence americans need a booster. the nation struggling to get 98 million americans their first shot, much less their third. and now there's growing concern over protecting the 28 million school-aged kids under 12 who are still likely months away

from qualifying for a vaccine before heading back to campus. >> if you're not vaccinated, i do prefer they wear masks. >> parents say they are frustrated by the conflicting messages and lack of planning. the cdc says any student not vaccinated needs a mask at school, but most state have no uniform plan to require them. of the 25 million children old enough for vaccination, roughly a third are fully inoculated. any outbreaks could lead to closures. >> doesn't seem to be any planning being done right now, and that we're just setting ourselves up for failure for another chaotic school year. >> with nearly 20,000 new covid infections reported in children last week, the state health officer in mississippi says ten children there are currently on life support because of the delta variant. cluster of cases at summer camp are fueling new worry when school returns, there could be a fall surge.

>> the threat is incredibly real, and we're already seeing surges in parts of the country where there are high pockets of unvaccinated people. add to that an in-person school attendance of primary apply unvaccinated children, and you have an opportunity for surges and hot spots. >> as delta forces some hospitals to reopen covid wards, cases are on the rise again in 27 states. after outbreaks in rural and mostly unvaccinated communities, a troubling number of infections are now being detected in cities like st. louis, new york and los angeles, an evolving virus with an emerging threat just as the youngest unprotected americans get ready to return to the classroom. >> nbc's miguel almaguer with that report. meanwhile, the tennessee health department will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach. not just for coronavirus but all

diseases. amid pressure from republican state lawmakers. this is according to an internal report and agency e-mails obtained by the tennessean. this comes as republican officials nationwide are fighting efforts to boost u.s. vaccination rates through outreach. the paper reports that if the health department must issue information about vaccines, staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents. the health department will also stop all covid-19 vaccine events on school property, despite holding at least one such event this month. additionally, the health department will take steps to ensure it no longer sends postcards or other notices reminding teenagers to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. this is just hard to believe that we're here. all vaccinations, by the way. according to the paper, tennessee's average number of

new cases per day has more than doubled in the past two weeks. the state is also detecting a growing number of infections from the delta variant, and willie, when you have mississippi, when you have a dozen kids on life support, my god, this is a republican party that is self-destructing, literally. what is wrong with them? >> and now you have health officials, at least in this case bowing to political pressure. it went even further, mika. news channel 5 got their hands on an e-mail that showed there was to be no outreach at all on national immunization month, which is august. we typically put out a news release. let people know to go out and get your shots not just for covid, but polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hpv, and they say per the commissioner do not put out that release. we're not just talking about covid for kids, we're talking

about not promoting vaccines period. that's where we are in this conversation at least in the state of tennessee. >> and the data shows that those who are in the hospital with covid now, most of them are unvaccinated. the science is proving to be right for those who are hesitant, and still ahead on "morning joe," even amid concerns about a taliban resurgence, new polling shows most americans support the president's plan to withdraw troops from afghanistan. we'll dig into those new numbers. tomorrow marks three weeks since the surfside condo collapse, and the search and recovery effort could be approaching its final stages. and homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas has a message

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welcome back to "morning joe," u.s. homeland security is warning haitians and cubans not to come to the united states, amid its worst economic crisis in decades. nbc news correspondent morgan radford has more. >>. >> a third day of protests in miami. >> there's change coming, and it's time for a change. >> reporter: some demonstrators blocking traffic. many cuban americans worried about family back home.

>> this is now a life or death situation. >> reporter: where cubans on the island are grappling with dire food shortages, covid cases, and a communist dictator who's turning off the internet while people are starving for help. >> the cuban people need help. >> what's it going to take, if it doesn't happen now, when is it going to happen. >> reporter: their outrage and desperation captured by a viral hit song meaning homeland and life, a spin on the communist era slogan patria meaning homeland or death. cuban musician who fled cuba 25 years ago is one of its creators. >> you changed that slogan. >> si. >> you changed death for life. >> of course. we need life. >> we need life. >> muy importante.

>> they say they are fighting because their family on the island cannot. romero was on the show when it happened live. >> you thought that could have been my daughter? no one knows where she is. >> so far, the biden administration is not intervening, but issued a statement in support of the cuban people. this as cuba's president blames protests on the u.s. government and its embargo, but romero says this movement is for cubans and by cubans. >> there's nothing more beautiful than freedom. >> and this, he says is just the beginning. >> they need the freedom. they deserve it. it's been long enough. it's enough already. >> morgan radford, nbc news, miami. the leadership of haiti.

>> in this you tube video posted in 2011, christian portrays himself as a future leader of haiti who would battle corruption and turn the country around. the haitian doctor is one of the intellectual authors of the plot to assassination jovenel moise last week, and he planned to install himself as haiti's president, though questions are mounting about who financed the brazen attack. haiti's police chief says sunan was one of at least 29 people involved, 24 have been arrested or killed, including 18 colombians, two u.s. citizens and sanan. the haitian government says the assassins posed as u.s. drug enforcements agency. the d.e.a. does now confirm another one of its suspects was at times a confidential informant. as tensions escalate in haiti, three politicians are jockeying for power and met with senior

fbi and homeland security agents on the ground. the presidential's chief of security will be questioned to determine how the gunman got in. gabe gutierrez, nbc news. >> richard haas, let's start in cuba. we could apply the question of both stories in the ability of the united states to exert pressure in what happens there. we have seen uprising in the last 62 years in cuba always squashed. is it your sense this time may be different for some reason, and what can the united states do to effect change? >> first thing i would say, if you're sitting in the white house, the whole goal of the administration has been to focus on things domestic and push foreign policy off the agenda for the most part, and what we're seeing is no administration, no president can control events. things happen. what we're seeing in cuba is quite fascinating. it's spontaneous, it's from the

ground up. that said, and it's very different than haiti you still have a powerful, organized state, and very powerful organized security forces. so the united states can perhaps help by providing some greater access to the internet. we can challenge the cuban government as the administration is doing rhetorically. we're already providing a degree of food and medicine. what we can say is we would relax sanctions and exchange for political and economic reforms if cubans were to get out of places like venezuela, but i'll be honest with you, and it's not what people want to hear, so long as the state, as the security forces remain organized, it's going to be very difficult because you can't turn this into a u.s. cuban confrontation. that's exactly what the regime wants. that's why they're already blaming us. so in some ways, we want to keep in the backdrop and have this be about the cuban people, not about the united states. >> so looking a bit to the east

now, richard, what about in haiti, is there anything the united states can do. we have heard rhetoric from the president of the united states, what can our country do there. >> there it's almost the opposite situation. rather than dealing with a strong organized government, you're dealing with the absence of one. essentially a failed state. you simply do not have functioning institution of security, or economics of government. so the real question is how do you stand those up? the idea that we would send u.s. military forces quite honestly i think is a bad idea. what i would think about is possibly seeing if we couldn't organize something with latin america. the last time there was a major crisis like this, brazil took the lead, the current government under bolsonaro is not so inclined to say the least. the question is whether any other governments might be or you bring it to the united nations. i don't see why we want to turn

this into a unilateral u.s. issue because again, we might comet in there and initially be welcomed, but then what, sooner or later, the government, the gangs and others would turn against u.s. forces. this is not something we can deliver. haiti is a deeply, deeply flawed place. one of the controversial words of our business has become nation building. that's exactly what haiti needs, you're talking about decades or longer effort. this country needs to be rebooted and i don't think this is something the united states can or should take on unilaterally. >> let's move to afghanistan. new polling shows the majority of americans support president biden's decision to pull all troops from afghanistan. even as the taliban advances closer to the capital city of kabul, a morning consult and politico poll shows 59% of americans are in favor of the president's plan, including 42% of republicans. joining us now to break it down,

white house editor for politico, sam stein. dig into these polls with us. what are you finding out about how people are feeling about afghanistan and who they are? >> right. i mean, those numbers show wide support for the decision to withdraw on an expeditious time frame in afghanistan. it crosses across party lines. what you see is a 43, 42% of republicans, versus opposing decision. we could presume that number would have been different had it been described as donald trump's plan, which it was until donald trump left office to get troops out of afghanistan. what this suggests to me is there's a large domestic political appetite for a draw down of troops along lines of what biden outlined. the question of course is what happens if the plan goes awry. what happens if as we're seeing already, the taliban takes over

a strong geographic footprint, if the country become terrorism. picking up fear across party lines about the possibility yet you see support for the withdrawal itself. if i had a question for richard here, one is do you think the fear is legitimate. i mean, we have seen these territorial gains already. joe biden essentially dismissed the idea that kabul would be overtaken but did concede there's a likelihood the government itself will be fractured and you have multiple states within the region of afghanistan. but more to the point is how big of a domestic terror threat could end up being opposed by the future afghanistan if it disintegrates as a country in two to three years time. >> first of all, these polls are not surprising, as you correctly said. this was the trump policy, essentially carried out by the biden administration. and there is intervention to the idea that the majority of

americans would welcome our getting out to me is not at all surprising. what i don't think, and again as you suggest, as a majority of americans are going to feel comfortable with images of people being executed and slaughtered of girls and women suffering tremendously, and millions of afghans turned into refugees. i think that's likely to happen in the coming months and certainly years and then sometime over the next several years, yes, i do think you will see the return of terrorist groups operating out of afghanistan either with the support of the taliban or simply because the country is so disorganized and so divided that there will be these spaces that are essentially ungoverned where near the taliban or the government is asserting authority, and terrorists will operate out of afghanistan. that said, it won't be unique. i can imagine similar things happening out of lebanon or out of syria or out of yemen and other places, but afghanistan is obviously intimately tied to 9/11. we're coming up on the 20th

anniversary of that, and yes, i do think this will reemerge as something of a terrorism threat. it's a question more of when. >> i heard congressman adam kinzinger use the word sad talking about what he's seeing in afghanistan. something i have heard from veterans, and friends of mine, sadness. they're glad their buddy is coming home but there's a sadness that the 20-year fight to tamp down terrorism, and the friends they have lost and the way their lives have been changed at home. what was it all for is a question for a lot of them. as we listen president biden make that speech last week, i couldn't justify leaving troops there for another year if it wasn't going to change conditions on the ground. what is your sense of the weight that was on the president's shoulders as he made this decision, and an expectation, perhaps, that the united states may have to go back if it

returns afghanistan does, to what it was before 9/11. >> his predecessor that made the decision to send troops there, george w. bush, gave an interview yesterday in which he said, he disagreed with the decision to pull out, worried about what happened next. this is something that weighed heavily on the current commander in chief. joe biden has been pretty consistent about this, well before he took office, thought at a certain point it was tomb for american soldiers to come home. they had accomplished what was the central mission, he would argue, which was to make afghanistan no longer a headquarters, a home for terror groups looking to strike the united states. of course, pulling out troops now runs the risk of that reemerging as a threat, as a safe harbor for terrorist groups but now certainly they have said there will be some presence over there, including forces to secure the embassy, but obviously cia teams, other groups that could carry out

surgical strikes that needed to disable one way or the other, to disable these terror groups if there was an imminent threat. he did make that argument that so many americans had sacrificed so much overseas in afghanistan, and their now wondering what it's for, president biden would take that argument and spin it a different way. i can't ask american mothers and fathers to send their sons and daughters over there and maybe lose them for something that's not changing, that there isn't going to be a fundamental change to afghanistan, that we have done all that we can, and probably can't do more, and he has been clear cut on this, and at least so far they have not raised the possibility of sending more troops back. >> and mika, just to underline what jonathan said at the top there, former president george w. bush who sent the troops to afghanistan send in an interview with german television yesterday he believes the consequences of the troop pullout in afghanistan are going to be quote unbelievably bad.

his greatest concern is for afghan women and girls who he believes will suffer unspeakable harm in his words. we'll move to iran now. and we'll be coming back to that. four iranian intelligence operatives are charged in connection with an alleged plot to kidnap a new york journalist and human rights activist. those she was not named in court documents, a law officer familiar with the case identified the target as an author from brooklyn. who was born in iran has been a sharp critic of the country's current regime. federal prosecutors say the iranian government directed the four men to kidnap and bring her to iran. the alleged plot reportedly involved using military style speedboats to transport her from new york to venezuela. so richard, what is going on

here? and do we expect to see more tension with iran building up? >> this is a stunningly brazen attempt by iran to kidnap this iranian american and bring her back to iran. it's a sign that the iranian regime is truly repressive and truly going after whether irans at home or anywhere around the world, and it's also a reminder, mika, that, while, you know, most of the conversation about iran has been about its nuclear program, which is good reason to be worried about accelerating and spreading. but that's not the only threat from iran. they're doing all sorts of things around the region with hamas, with hezbollah, and the persian gulf, and yemen and syria, and the human rights situation at home, and these middle eastern countries, they don't play foreign policies by the rules we're used to.

you have the iranians trying to kidnap an iranian american, the saudis killing a journalist, an american resident in the consulate in istanbul. the middle east is spreading its wings. we saw years ago, iran killing jews in argentina, so this is just a reminder that it's not simply a local threat but a global threat, and i would think at the white house it complicates their plans, their goal to try to reestablish u.s. conversation and obviously get us both back into the 2015 nuclear agreement. even if we could, obviously it doesn't resolve the larger question of the iranian behavior. >> richard, thank you very much. coming up, deputy white house secretary, careen -- karine

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wow. >> that was straight out of the home run derby. vladimir guerrero jr. doing it in a real game in the third inning of the all star game. the american league beat the national league 5-2. vlad jr. became the youngest player to be mvp of the all star game, and hit that home run 15 years after his father vladimir guerrero hit a home run in the all star game.

shohei ohtani pitched a perfect first inning. so jonathan lemire, a lot of big expectations in this game, watching ohtani do his thing to shut them down. 1-2-3, there it is right there. just a fun weekend. the derby was great two nights ago, and a lot of new young stars in the game. >> you hit it. first of all, it was a fun couple of days. i still really enjoy the mlb all star game, it's the only one of the professional sports of the all star game that i feel like means a little something. and ohtani was obviously the story of the week, and a controversy about whether he's an appropriate face for baseball, yeah, he is. i know he didn't get a hit yesterday, but his performance in the home run derby was great, he pitched well last night. it's more than just ohtani. it feels like the game is in good hands. the league needs to do a better job of marketing these young stars. the number under stated joe buck, i rarely heard him make a

noise like that when vlad hit that ball. an absolute shot. fernando jr. is another young star, you know, juan soto who put on such a show the other day. the washington nationals star was already a world series hero. two red sox both got hits yesterday, and, you know, this is a -- the game is in a good place. i'm excited for the second half, which, willie, i might note, begins tomorrow night with one game, and one game only. red sox, yankees, a four-game series in the bronx. >> we're just this upstart club trying to chip away at the league you have with the salary cap, all the things that you've got, the budget you've got. it's incredible. look at this picture of sam stein. this is -- so that's vlad guerrero senior on the right, and his son vlad jr. who hit that titanic home run in the all star game. >> it makes me feel old for

starters, i remember cheering on vlad senior. i think there's a lot of good young starts. i thought bogart should have been mvp, went two for three, had an rbi last night, but the thing that stuck out to me as a baseball fan is how much more dominant the al is, what was that eight straight all star wins. i felt like it was not comparable. the al is just stacked, and yes, you're upstart yankees, i don't feel bad for them in the slightest. the al east, the stars on the blue jays, the continued success of the rays, the. >> my son just turned 12 years old, and he has only seen one yankees title. he was only three months old when they won in 2009. it's heartbreaking.

bogarts, the one hit he didn't get is because joe buck was talking in his ear the whole time. hear the announcer speaking with braves first baseman, freddie freeman, and the very tall aaron judge at the plate. >> 2-0, down and away. >> if he gets to first base, he's going to make me look so short. oh, geez. >> how tall are you? >> just under 6'5", and about to look really really small here in a second. >> yeah, judge is 6'7". >> i don't look up very often. he's going to potentially make me do it. >> how about that. >> here we go. >> gosh darn it. >> you look short, freddy. >> i told him i was going to look short if i got to first base, and here we are. a couple of guys with perfect teeth, though, i know that. >> talking about their dental work there at the all star game. coming up next on "morning joe." senate democrats unveil a new spending bill but does it step on the toes of a bipartisan

infrastructure deal? it's getting complicated. plus, new developments involving two of the republicans to stand up to donald trump. former senator jeff flake of arizona lands a new gig with the biden administration, while congresswoman liz cheney, sees a surge in her fundraising. a hospital patient in ohio, oh, my, gets a kidney meant for someone else. we'll explain when "morning joe" comes right back. we'll explain when "morning joe" comes right back

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live shot of times square in new york city. it is the top of the hour. welcome back to "morning joe." it's wednesday, july 14th. let's get right to the new developments on capitol hill. senate democrats now have a new

$3.5 trillion spending plan in place. it's an effort to finance major aspects of president biden's agenda. and is separate from the bipartisan infrastructure deal. majority leader chuck schumer said the plan will bolster medicare and include dental, vision and hearing coverage. it would also add major funding for clean energy. according to a democratic aid, the agreement would prohibit tax increases on small businesses, and people making under $400,000. president biden will join the senate democratic lunch today to discuss details of the plan. as senate democrats were negotiating their new spending deal, the bipartisan group of 22 senators were hashing out the last remaining issues of their own plan. they are hoping to nail down details of the $579 billion deal before the end of the week. the next step includes the congressional budget office doing a cost analysis to see if

the provisions in the agreement will actually offset the cost of the bill. doing the math. let's bring in nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early" kasie hunt, and also with us msnbc contributor, mike barnicle. these two plans working their way down the roadside by side. what's at stake here, and what are the potential pitfalls? >> well, i mean, this is basically the definition of success or failure for the biden administration the way they have set this up. they have said to voters we're going to put these ambitious plans in place. they know that they need to do it ahead of the midterm elections so they can show that they have actually taken action and follow through. and we are now on this two-track strategy that we have been following, i don't know which number infrastructure week we are on by this point, but they're hoping that it's one of the last couple, at least for the bipartisan plan. they really want to get it done this summer, and that big reconciliation deal is something that's a little bit longer term, but it's significant that they

came to an agreement on that number. so the big challenge looking at us right now is, okay, are republicans who have agreed to support the bipartisan plan going to be threatened by this $3.5 trillion spending bill moving forward. some of them have grumbled and complained about why would they support the bipartisan plan if democrats are going to turn around and figure out how to spend way more money by themselves. that's something to watch, and then there are still all of these questions about whether or not it's actually going to be paid for. that's been the hard part all the way along. spending money, very easy. figuring out how to raise taxes to pay for that spending, not so easy. the big thing we're waiting for this week is the score if the congressional budget office that says whether or not the bipartisan plan is actually paid for, and there's a lot of anticipation that it's probably going to come up a little bit short, and that's going to leave them scrambling around to try and find something else to use to pay for it. so everything is on track. it's moving forward. in the conversations i'm having, democrats in particular seem

optimistic about the way things are going. but we've still got quite a few potential pitfalls and problems ahead of us before we see any of this signed into law. >> kasie as you say, there's been so much legislation and proposed legislation, proposed and thrown out over the last couple of months, you forgive people for being kind of confused. as we talk about this bill, the $3.5 trillion proposal would have to have reconciliation, democrats only, that makes the assumption that every democrat is on board. is that a fair assumption when you look at joe manchin and kyrsten sinema and others who have had concerns about things in the bill. >> so far they haven't said definitively yes or no. a lot of progressives have demanded that sinema and manchin confirm in public that they will vote for whatever the reconciliation package is before the house agrees to pass any bipartisan legislation. now, sinema and manchin have said, no, we're not going to give that up ahead of time. manchin has left the door open,

and there's a sense that the two would likely go together. manchin wants everything to be paid for. i think the $3.5 trillion number may be a little high for him. he has said he's willing to raise corporate taxes but not by too much, he's willing to tax capitol gains, so gains that often wealthy people make on stock sales at a higher rate, but not all the way where some democrats want it to be, and that could mean there's less than 3 1/2 trillion dollars worth of pay that he would be willing to support. i think there's significant negotiations that have to happen here. one note i would say, the group of people, the budget committee that has been negotiating this package, it does have wide representation. bernie sanders is the chair but mark warner sitting on it as well. there has been input from the different segments and parts of the democratic party on this package, and of course president biden is going up to the hill today to have lunch with democrats to try to convince them, and obviously the message is going to be hey, guys, let's not sink the ship just as it's about to sail. >> the numbers they're casually

throwing around, 3 1/2 trillion dollars put together with the bipartisan bill pumping it over $4 trillion in new spending. president biden is negotiating that bill, but he's also thinking about voting rights, speaking in philadelphia yesterday, the president blasted republican efforts to limit access to the ballot box, calling it a test of our time. his remarks come as the battle over voting laws in texas heats up. republican lawmakers there are calling for democrats who fled the state to be arrested. nbc news chief white house correspondent, peter al sander, -- peter alexander has more. >> reporter: president biden delivering a stark warning that american democracy is on the line, condemning republican-backed efforts to restrict voting access. >> i'll be asking my republican friends in congress and states and cities and counties to stand up for god's sake, and help prevent this concerted effort undermine our election and the sacred right to vote. have you no shame.

>> reporter: denouncing former president trump's false claims he won. >> the 2020 election was the most scrutinized election ever in american history. the big lie is just that, a big lie. >> reporter: it comes hours after texas republicans called for the arrest of at least 51 democratic state legislators who fled the state from washington on chartered private jets to deny republicans the quorum they need to pass new voting bills. >> i'm not going to be a hostage. that my constituents rights will be stripped from them. >> reporter: the lawmakers casting their effort as part of a generational fight. >> ♪ we will overcome ♪ >> among the provisions, texas bills would add new voter i.d. requirements for mail-in ballots, and would end drive-through voting, and voting in overnight hours. republicans slamming democrats saying the bills do not suppress

the vote but secure it. >> they're doing this in a fit because they don't want mail-in ballots to be verified, they don't want the signatures to be verified. they don't want basic integrity steps to be strengthened this the state of texas. >> the state's republican governor calling the democrats' move a stunt. >> isn't that's the most un-texan thing you have heard, texans running from a fight. they're quitters. >> vice president harris praising the texas legislators for putting a spotlight on the issue. >> i'm here to thank you. >> reporter: democrats do not have the votes to stop the republican backed bills in texas nor to pass their voting rights bills until the senate. >> we the people will never give up. >> mike barnicle, you had president biden invoking jim crowe and the civil war, he spoke about democracy, in america if you lose, you accept the results, you follow the

constitution, you try again. you don't call facts fake and bring down american experiment just because you're unhappy. again, extraordinary that an american president has to stop and remind the public of that. >> yeah, willie, it was certainly perhaps his most powerful speech as president and he's in a very young presidency still six or seven months old and it also is a reminder of the elasticity that republicans have put into nearly every element of politics. of course there's the original big lie, the fact that joe biden's predecessor will resume the presidency in august, and the election was rigged and all of that, but the other big lie is election fraud. the idea that they're trying to sell in state after state, state legislature after state legislature, led by republicans that the elections were rigged because of fraud. when the element of fraud in national elections and in local

elections even is about as likely to happen as hailey's comet landing on the mound in fenway park, which is going to be a very rare event indeed, but they're selling it, and it's a dangerous idea, and it gets to the root of what the president was talking about yesterday. our right to vote. i mean, that's the basis of who we are as american citizens. they're not voting in iran today. they're not lining up to vote in places all around the world where we take the vote for granted and we ought not to do that anymore, and i think that's what president biden was getting to. >> for sure. joining us now, white house principle deputy press secretary karine jean-pierre, and welcome back to the show. we want to ask you about voting rights and the efforts there in a moment. i would like to follow up on the question that the reverend al sharpton asked the president yesterday. that is what is the white house position on the filibuster? >> thank you, mika, for having

me on today. it's good to see you all. as the president has been pretty clear on where he stands on filibuster and, you know, the president has been, the senator was a senator for 36 years. he understands what works, and he understands what doesn't work, and one of the things that he's talked about is going back to a period where the filibuster actually did work, where people had to stand their ground on the floor and really talk about their issue on the floor, and do the talking filibuster, if you will. you know, from 1917 to 1971, the filibuster was done about 58 times. in the past year, you times that by five. so it's not working in the way that it should be working. it's being used in a way that's obstructing. it's doing it in a way that the american people didn't vote for. and so there used to be a time where a senator would stand on the floor and talk and talk and talk, until they collapse, and

what would happen then is the filibuster would break, and then you would get to a quorum, and you would vote, and so that is what the president is wanting to go back to, to a time where the filibuster actually worked and things got done. >> okay. but karine, you're talking about the value of the filibuster historically. i'm -- i need to know, though, because you do realize that none of this happens unless the filibuster goes away? >> reporter: i think what the president is saying is he wants it to go back to a time where the filibuster worked, and that's the talking fill burster that i just laid out. here's the thing, mika. right now in the senate, they don't have the vote to reform the filibuster or get rid of the filibuster, i should say. that's a major component of it as well. what the president wants to do is he wants to continue to work in a bipartisan way as we have seen with his build back better

plan, as we have seen with the bipartisan infrastructure framework. this is what he wants to do, and on the duel track process that we're seeing as well with just broadly with a build back better agenda that we're seeing and as we're doing the duel track framework here. but here's the thing, we have to come together. this is a time to do that. the american people, you know, elected the president to make sure that we deliver, and this is what the president is working towards at the moment. >> karine, it's kasie hunt, i don't mean to harp on this, if you change it back to a talking filibuster, what's to keep republicans from grinding all of the work of government to a complete halt? we know it seems that they would be willing to go down to the floor and spend as much time as necessary. they view this as existential situation on voting rights, and there's still a lot of other basics of governing that you need to do.

just to underscore the question, how do you get this done if there is still a 60-vote threshold of any kind in the senate. >> here's the thing. the president yesterday made it very clear where he was on the voting rights, right, he went to philadelphia, a place where our democracy started, was created, and he was really clear on what he was seeing across the country with the attacks on our rights to vote. with what republicans were doing across the country. and what he was saying as well, is this is kind of the biggest threat to our democracy since the civil war, and it's critically important to get legislation done. it's imperative process for our nation. and so what he's going to continue to do, he's going to continue to have these conversations with congress on both sides of the aisle, republicans, and democrats, which he has done, and try to get to a place where we can get the legislation for the people

act, and the john lewis voting rights act passed. we still have a period now where with the john lewis act hasn't gone forth and hasn't been passed. there's hope to get that done, but the president is going to continue to do that. we as an administration are going to continue to have those conversation asks get that done. that's what the american people deserve. their deserve to make sure their vote is counted. >> are you open to the suggestion that jim clyburn made that there be a carve out specifically for voting rights, constitutional rights from the filibuster. is it possible president biden could support carving out voting rights and ending the filibuster on that issue? >> as you know, congressman clyburn is a friend of the president, is a colleague, someone who has been a leader in the space of voting rights and civil rights. he is incredibly respected by the president and all of us here. again, kasie, when it comes to

the filibuster, the votes aren't there yet, and so what the president is pushing for is a talking filibuster to go back to a time where the filibuster actually worked. and look, we're going to continue doing the work. we're going to continue talking to the american people as the president did, we're going to continue to make sure it's clear what is happening, this assault on our democracy is hurting the american people, hurting our right to vote. that's what we're going to continue to do, the president is going to continue to talk about. that's the most important thing here. >> white house principle deputy press secretary, karine jean-pierre, thank you very much for being on the show today. >> thank you. one of the most high profile capitol suspects has been released from jail to home custody pending the trial because he didn't know the difference between the white house and the capitol. take that in. douglas austin jensen faces

seven charges related to his leading a mob up the stairs on the capitol. they chased u.s. capitol police officer eugene goodman, who ultimately lured them away from the senate chamber. cell phone video released yesterday at the request of nbc news and other news outlets shows the chase, and jensen touching the capitol before breaking in believing that it is the white house. >> this is me touching the. [ bleep ] white house. this is why we're here. i'm at the white house. just so you know. >> my god, cnbc reports jensen's lack of awareness, that's one way to put it, about where he

actually was played a role in the decision tuesday by a washington federal court judge to release him after six months in jail into home confinement in iowa. according to court documents, jensen faces 20 years in prison for the charge of obstructing an official proceeding. joining us now, congressman hakeem jeffries of new york, chairman of the house democratic caucus. i know you want to talk about the child tax credit, and we will, but first i must ask you how you are working with republicans who claim to be pro law and order, who claim to be pro cop. and yet, they are not even coming close to recognizing what happened on that day. >> well, they continue to be divorced from reality, and it is very troubling that so many of my colleagues on the republican

side of the aisle continue to deny what happened on january 6th. that was a violent assault and attack on the capitol, the congress, and the constitution undermining the rule of law while they're perpetrating the big lie and continuing to bend the knee to former president trump. but at the end of the day, mika, i think what's most important, as house democrats, we're going to remain focused on getting things done for the american people, making progress, crushing the virus, providing relief and assistance to every day americans who are struggling laying the foundation to supercharge our economy, and that's why we were sent to washington, and that's the mission that we're on and when we complete that mission, i think the rest will take care of itself politically. >> congressman, it's willie geist, good to have you on the show. let's talk about voting rights, front and center, especially

with president biden's speech in philadelphia. he did seem to give a nod to perhaps this is going to have to get done at the state level because these big voting rights bills at the federal level don't appear to have enough support. are you resigned to the fact that it's going to be a state by state fight or you believe there's something that could be done at a federal level to monitor, and to change the way elections are conducted. >> i remain committed to making sure that we can try to get hr1, the for the people act, as well as hr 4 the john robert lewis act, we have had great leadership from speaker pelosi in that regard. we all remain committed to protecting our democracy with the fierce urgency of now. i just simply say we're not going to walk away from the fact that filibuster reform in the senate is possible. there are exceptions to the

filibuster that exist right now. reconciliation is an exception to the filibuster. republicans used it in 2017 to pass the gop tax scam. where 83% of the benefits went to the wealthiest 1%, and saddled us with $2 trillion worth of debt to subsidize the lifestyles of the rich and shameless. that was a filibuster exception, and mitch mcconnell has used a filibuster exception to supreme court justices being confirmed to steal not one but two supreme court justices, one from president obama, and the other from president joe biden. this is extraordinary, and so of course there should be a filibuster exception to the constitution for voting rights, as well as for lifting up our democracy, and ensuring that every single american can participate in the great democratic experiment that is the united states of america. >> you have to convince a couple

of democrats, namely joe manchin and kiersten sinema. the president said on the question of voting rights, what we're seeing in different states, including texas, is a 21st century jim crow assault. that struck some people as extreme language. i don't need to tell you what that means. do you believe actually that some of these laws across the country are a return to those times of segregation? >> it certainly is a return to a jim crow like mentality. this is a great country. we have come a long way in the united states of america. we have a long way to go, and part of the reality we're grappling with is systemic racism has been in the soil of this country for over 400 years. we are continuing a march toward a more perfect union. in order to get there one of the things we need to do is ensure

every american has the right to vote. jim crow may be dead. it was buried with the 1965 voting rights act, and the civil rights movement. jim crow has nieces and nephews that are alive and well. >> for sure. >> thank you very much for being on with us this morning. mike barnicle has the next question. >> congressman, as we have been talking about all day today, and yesterday and the day before, there was a fire hose of legislation, potential legislation being discussed both in the congress and coming across the president's desk. the reconciliation bill, the $1 trillion bipartisan bill, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but there was a child package that the president pursued the other day which would give 250

to $300 per week to poor families, poor mothers, really, to help raise children who were often in difficulty because of one basic thing, the lack of funds to buy more food, better food, diapers, school supplies, things like that. you know, and i know, and a lot of other people know that the inevitable onslaught will come from the republican party. we have heard it before, that this is waste, it's fraud, it's filled with waste and fraud. what's your rejoineder to that inevitable outcry that will begin. >> thank you for that question. tomorrow is going to be an extraordinary day. thursday, july 15th, when the child tax credit payments will begin and they are going to go to middle class families, working families, and low income families. this is what is so extraordinary about the implementation of the child tax credit is that it's going to benefit a wide swath of

americans, and yes, i support the fact that these tax payments are going to lift more than half of the children in america who are currently in poverty out of poverty. we should celebrate that fact, and we will not allow the republicans to demonize it. at the same time, these child tax credit payments are going to help working families and middle class families provide a more comfortable living for themselves, most importantly for their children, for their families. it will stabilize neighborhoods and communities, and it's consistent with what president biden said we were going to do. as we emerge from the pandemic, which is to build back better. not go back to pre-pandemic normal because during pre-pandemic normal, half of the american people reported that they couldn't afford a sudden $400 unexpected expense. this is the wealthiest country in the world.

that's unacceptable. house democrats think it's unacceptable, so do senate democrats, that's why we're doing something about it. >> congressman, hakeem jeffries, thank you very much for being on the show this morning: congresswoman liz cheney who was removed from her leadership role in the house republican conference raised more money last quarter than the woman who replaced her. the hill reports cheney out performed representative elise stefanik of new york by $400,000 in fundraising last quarter. cheney raised $1.8 million from april to june after raising more than 1 1/2 million in the first quarter. the fundraising hall set a record for the campaign. a cheney spokesperson confirmed the fundraising numbers. the biden administration is set to nominate former republican senator jeff flake to be the u.s. ambassador to turkey. the move was announced by flake on social media yesterday and

later confirmed by the white house. flake was a frequent critic and target of former president donald trump before leaving congress in 2019. his criticisms continued following his time in office when he endorsed joe biden for president in the 2020 election. and still ahead on "morning joe," a firsthand look at one of the world's most urgent humanitarian crises. the atlantic's jeffrey goldberg joins us next with that. plus, a key economic indicator shows prices are rising and fast. stephanie ruhle will be here to explain what is happening, and how long it will last. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. last. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter,

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now to some of the other news making headlines this morning as we approach three weeks since the partial collapse of the condo building in

surfside, florida, just outside miami. the search and recovery effort is almost over. officials believe four people remain unaccounted for while 95 are confirmed to have died in the collapse of the 13 story building. over 18 million pounds of concrete and debris has been sifted through to try and recover the bodies of those killed. the site of the collapse remains an active crime scene as an investigation into what caused the building to fall continue. engineers and a team from the national institute of standards and technology are looking into how the building was constructed including the area around the pool and parking garage as well as decisions made by local officials and the condo board about repairs. willie. a federal appeals court has struck down a law that prevents licensed firearms dealers from selling hand guns to anyone under the age of 21. in a divided decision, the

three-judge panel ruled the minimum age requirement violates the second amendment by restricting the rights of law-abiding citizens. at issue was a 1968 gun law signed by president lyndon johnson that banned the sale of handguns to people under 21 but permitted the sale of shotguns and rifles. the decision likely will be appealed. the biden administration acknowledged once again this week that a genocide is taking place inside of china. the state department highlighted the allegations against the chinese government for their human rights abuses against uyghur muslims, well over a million uyghurs are believed to have been detained inside prison camps while the world does little to stop it. details are limited about what is going on in northwest china, but this morning, the atlantic has published a rare firsthand account from a man described as one of the most prominent uyghur

writers who was able to escaped entitled one by one, my friends were sent to the camps. joining us now, editor and chief of the atlantic, jeffrey goldberg, jeffrey, tell us about this article, about this man's story. >> right. thank you. and you know, nothing i can say can do justice to reading this firsthand account by tahir hamut, the poet, one of the rare uyghurs, muslim uyghurs who has gotten out of china in recent years, and he shared with us, and you can find this on the atlantic.com, this morning he shared with us his whole story of the gradual claustrophobic tightening of repression around him, around his family, around his friends, and you know i don't say this lightly. i say this very mindful of history, but when i first read

some of this material, it really struck me as reminiscent of material that came out of germany in the 1930s when you had jews writing in their diaries, you know, hoping for the best but wondering what to do, and some people escaping and some people choosing to stay and hoping for the best, and this is just absolutely haunting what's happened, and what you see in this diary is the use of technology to gradually tighten the noose around people. the finger printing, the constant surveillance, the spying, the encouraging of neighbors to spy on each other, the gradual disappearance of people into camps. i mean, there are numerous examples in history of these kind of narratives. what's amazing is it's going ton right now, and equally amazing, though may not be surprising, is

that the world doesn't do much about it. >> mike barnicle. >> so jeffrey, you just mentioned the word technology, linking it to china and what's going on in china, a very repressive culture, government, are we so bound up by technology, for instance, i am wearing air pods, and we have iphones and things going on on the tv set that component parts of that are made in china, and we do very little really in terms of dealing with the repression that is constant in china. are we so wrapped up economically that we're not going to use the clout that we really do have to face, to confront china about these issues? >> you know, we have clout because we manufacture quite a bit there, and pay the salaries of a lot of people there. buy a lot of products, but we also don't have clout because our companies are so dependent on the chinese market, on

chinese workers that many of our corporate, fortune 500 corporate chieftons act in accordance with the will of the chinese government, of the ccp, of the communist party of china. and these ceos are very very mindful of not offending quote unquote, offending chinese authorities by bringing up unpleasant issues or issues that the chinese government finds unpleasant. it's not just persecution and genocide of the uyghur muslims, it's what they're doing in hong kong, the treatment of taiwan, obviously it's tibet. the laundry list of chinese human rights issues is quite long, and yes, i mean, to answer your question in a short way, yeah, we're so dependent and tied into their economy that

people who know better don't say anything! hey, jeffrey, it's willie. this is a breathtaking piece in the atlantic, and as you say, there are major american companies, sports leagues, actor, who don't want to cross china for the access of a market of 1.4 billion people, but to the larger question of your piece, and what's happening inside china, why is the chinese government rounding up uyghurs and putting them into camps. we know why these things happened in 1933, what is the root of this for the chinese? >> the root of this, there are many different roots of this. the root is a largely false fear or manufactured fear of extremism in this uyghur muslim community. that's the excuse. that's the predicate. what is really going on is an overwhelming desire on the part

of an authoritarian minded leader in china, and authoritarian minded party in china to have to maintain absolute control, and thought obedience on the part of citizens. remember, the uyghurs are not ethnic chinese, they are thousands of miles from beijing for one thing. they're a turkic people, and muslim, and there is an overwhelming desire on the part of the ccp to homogenize the entirety of the population of china, and keep people into not just behavioral compliance but even thought compliance, if you will. some of the most haunting passages in this have to do with uyghurs hiding and even throwing away their qurans, their religious books and objects in order to keep the police from knowing they read the quran, stuff that in the american mind

is abominable, but the desire for control not only behavior of thought is just built into this totalizing authoritarian culture. >> it is a stunning firsthand , one you don't see often or ever. it's in the atlantic. jeffrey goldberg thank you. the russian based hacking gang that has been attacking united states companies has disappeared. is the group gone for good or going dark. one of golf's very best analysts, the great david feherty joins us next on "morning joe." d heferty joins us next on "morning joe."

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away from the tee off at the open championship tomorrow at the royal st. george's course in england. the major tournament was postponed last year because of the pandemic. joining us now nbc sports analyst, and reporter for the pga tour, david feherty. it's great to see you my friend. we're excited to have the open championship back. we're missing a few guys due to covid. bubba watson won't be there because he was exposed to somebody who had covid. what should our viewers know about the tournament tomorrow? what are you going to be watching? >> you know, willie, it's one of the quirkiest golf courses that they play on the open championship roster. they say you play with one shoe on your foot, and the other shoe on your knee. there are no even lies on it, you can drive the ball down the middle of the fairway, kick left, or kick right. there's a lot for the players to put up with at royal st. george's, someone with a good attitude that will win this week.

>> david, just for the casual observer, how different is it to play a course like royal st. george's than say somebody who won the masters, won the pga, somebody who won the u.s. open. this is an entirely different style of golf. >> it is. it's target golf here on the this side of the ditch, and it's target golf there as well. but the target is moving. quite often you've got to land it, you know, 30, 40 yards in front of a green, and then read what the ball is going to do on it way up to the green, you know, so that's the main difference, willie. >> give us a couple of guys to watch, david, who do you think might be able to be standing there raising the jug on sunday? >> well, john rahm has been in tremendous form recently. and i don't know. i just have an inkling about jordan spieth. he's made a tremendous comeback. he's hungry, he knows how to win on this kind of golf course. i would expect him to play well also. >> he won 2017, i think it was. mike barnicle is here.

he's got a question. mike? >> david, you've already had some pretty good story lines in golf this year, phil mickelson, et al, but the thing for me as a patron of golf a viewer of golf, as a fan of yours, i'm wondering, the relationship between koepka and deshamdesham what's going on? >> they're single minded enough to go about their business on the golf course. for me, it's like two fleas arguing about the dog. but, you know, they'll just go on and, you know, and play their game. i don't think deshambeau, this may not be his week, the rough is horrendous, not the sort of golf course, you can hack it on the green. it's going to be a little more complicated than that. i would give koepka the edge

this week. >> you mentioned deshambeau off the tee. i don't know whether he's played this course before but the element of weather at the course, the element of weather is so significant i would think because it changes so quickly, it could change so quickly, what kind of an impact is that going to have on this field this weekend? >> well, there's the late/early draw, and you can get lucky at an open where, you know, you got a tee time in the morning and it's kind of flat cam. the tide turns and the wind gets up in the afternoon, and the following afternoon it may be calm again, so you can get two in a row like that or two bad ones in a row. it's really, again, kind of the luck of the draw, and it's one of the things that the players have to cope with this week, you know, everybody's going to have difficult conditions but it's a question of when they show up and how well you weather them. >> obviously tiger won't be there. he's recovering from the leg injury in the car crash. what's your sense of how he's

doing? we have heard bits and pieces from him. he has posted some things on social media talking about his recovery but, you know, he's getting, i'm not saying he's an old guy because he and i are the same age, he's getting there, pushing up against it a little bit, what's your sense of what he'll be able to do on the golf course? >> the only mistakes i made about tiger woods is when i underestimated him. i expect he'll be back, and i would expect him to win again. he has a desire unlike any player i think i have ever seen. he has the physical ability to go through rehab and do this, you know, get back, and you know, he won a u.s. open with a broken leg. you know, so he's kind of used to it. >> i hope so. we certainly want to see him back out there at his best. you can watch nbc sports exclusive live coverage of the 149th open championship starting tomorrow through sunday across nbc, golf channel and peacock, and we early birds like that the coverage starts at 2:00 a.m. for the british.

david feherty, it's great to see you my friend. thank you so much for being here, we appreciate it. >> you too, willie, thank you. coming up next, britney spears case is back in court this morning. what could be a pivotal day in the fight for her own freedom. more on the conservatorship she calls abusive. plus, the fight over requiring vaccinations for travel is heating up, the state of florida facing a new lawsuit over its ban on vaccine passports. "morning joe" is coming right back. ing right back

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three weeks ago pop superstar britney spears gave emotional testimony to a judge that she wants her conservatorship to end. today her case is back in court. nbc news correspondent eric mclaughlin has the latest.

>> reporter: this morning britney spears possibly taking the biggest legal step yet to win back control of her life. in just hours the embattled pop star expected to petition the judge to let her choose her own attorney, a request she made last month during her explosive testimony in court where she pleaded for her 13-year conservatorship to end, calling it abusive, alleging she's been forced to perform, take lithium and prevented from removing an iud meant to stop pregnancy. since then her court appointed attorney has resigned, and britney's father jamie is also in charge of her finances. she wants him out telling a judge back in june he loved the control to hurt his own daughter, 100,000% he loved it. but the court previously denied her request to remove him. jamie spears insists he had nothing to do with his

daughter's alleged bad treatment and. now as britney spins on social media her remaining conservators are sparring in a heated war of words. >> britney couldn't have planned it better. she's now pitted her two conservators against each other. >> reporter: jodi montgomery who's in charge of britney's personal affairs lashing out at jamey spears in court filings saying she wants to give britney a path to end her conservatorship, alleging he spends more than $2 million of his daughter's money on attorney and pr fees. jamey had no comment. jodi also telling the court she's received death threats and wants the conservatorship to pay for 24-hour security, an expense jamey argues will cost over $50,000, a month and is unnecessary. pointing to the enumerable and ongoing threats he too as received as britney's conservator.

with all these legal drama is any of this helping britney and the conservatorship? >> absolutely. as everybody else is fighting amongst themselves britney is sitting there watching all this and the court is taking note that really these conservators may not be the appropriate people to be taking care of britney's money, estate and medical decisions. and still ahead, president biden targets the big lie as he tries to breathe new life into stalled talks over voting rights. plus the inside story of how election night 2020 played out inside the trump white house. the new reporting that rudy giuliani advised donald trump to claim victory knowing full well it was not true. "morning joe" is back in a moment. true. "morning joe" is back in a moment among my patients i often see them have teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity and gum gives us a dual action effect

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and to lead. it's time to shine. and to move. time to punch the clock, roll up our sleeves and get to work to fight climate change. our president put forward a plan to create clean energy jobs in big cities, small towns, and everywhere in between. now it's time for congress to get it done. this is me touching the [ bleep ] white house. this is why we're here. >> what's worse recording yourself in the middle of a crime scene or not even knowing which building was being overrun? that lack of awareness and basic civics didn't make it any less dangerous for officers like eugene goodman who faced down the january 6th insurrection even if some republican

lawmakers are pretending it never happened. and speaking of that one of the few republicans to stand up for the constitution, liz cheney, is seeing a surge in fund-raising. and as kasie hunt points out wonder why those numbers were leaked to a long time reporter in new hampshire. 2024, anyone? plus another political casualty of the trump era. former senator jeff flake lands a new gig in the biden administration. while the state of tennessee takes a giant leap backward on basic health. why state officials there are stopping all vaccine-related outreach to minors, not just covid vaccines, all vaccines. the virus meanwhile continues to flare-up in serious ways with cases on the rise. and the american economy still feeling the pinch. what the rise in inflation means for the recovery.

we will start with president biden's big speech yesterday. >> yeah, the president trying to reinvigorate those stalled talks over voting rights. he was speaking from philadelphia yesterday in forceful terms, the president blasting those who have been pushing the big lie while condemning statewide efforts to restrict voting. >> in america if you lose you accept the results, you follow the constitution, you try again. you don't call facts fake and then try to bring down the american experiment just because you're unhappy. that's not statesmanship. that's not statesmanship. that's selfishness. no other election has ever been held under such scrutiny and such high standards.

the big lie is just that, a big lie. the denial of full and free elections is the most un-american thing that any of us can imagine, the most undemocratic, the most unpatriotic. and sadly not unprecedented. time and again we've weathered threats to the right to vote in free and fair elections and each time we found a way to overcome. the 21st century jim crow assault is real. it's unrelenting, and we're going to challenge it vigorously. it's no longer just about who gets to vote or making it easier for eligible voters to vote. it's about who gets to count the vote, who gets to count whether or not your vote counted at all. we're facing the most significant test of our democracy since the civil war. the confederates back then never breached the capitol as

insurrectionists did on january 6th. i'm not saying this to alarm you. i'm saying this because you should be alarmed. i'll be asking my republican friends in congress in states and cities and counties to stand up for god's sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election and the sacred right to vote. have you no shame? >> 17 states have enacted new voting laws since the 2020 election. texas could become the 18th. we'll have more on the fight in that state coming up in just a moment. let's bring in white house reporter for the associated press jonathan lemire, and white house correspondent for politico and coauthor of the playbook, eugene daniels. this was a lot of passion from the president yesterday. the question is to what end? we know both of those bills are kind of languishing in congress, both of the federal voting

bills. what did he hope to do yesterday? >> i was there with him in philadelphia when he delivered that speech, a really forceful speech, probably his most forceful yet denouncing these republican states and their effort to restrict access to the ballot. it was a good speech and delivered in front of a crowd which the president hasn't seen much of because of the pandemic, and he really did as was outlined in those video clips, really wanted to illuminate the american people, what a challenge this is to american democracy, even after you cast your ballot and your right to do so may be limited, but it may not be properly counted by state legislators who may not be to certify the election results if their candidate loss. he took on the big lie. these claims so baseless but have fueled all of these states trying to change how elections are conducted in their state. but here's the catch, the other

word he didn't mention yesterday was filibuster. not once during his speech. and it seems unlikely there's any path to federal legislation without some sort of either the removal of the filibuster or at least an alteration to the fill butter. and aides are saying they're waiting on this, that they want to have a series of these speeches first, want to sort of use the bully pulpit on the issue. and then once the hr4 is drafted, then make a more nuanced case and make a decision as to what to do with the filibuster. i'll note, willy, as a final point in the audience yesterday was our friend reverend al sharpton who spoke to the president in the moments after the speech. i spoke to the reverend who said look that was a great speech, what about the filibuster and biden told him we haven't decided our position on that yet. it's hard to see how there would be any meaningful legislation to protect voting rights. >> that's why the frustration is there democrats won't be able to get this across without

eliminating the filibuster. so eugene daniels, if you take a step back and look at the big picture it is extraordinary to stop and think that a sitting president of the united states had to announce and say out loud all the things president biden said yesterday, which is do not undermine our democracy, do not call the results of election into question when it's clear who won. but he has to do it now because of what exactly is happening not just at the federal level with donald trump, but it's state by state including in the state of texas whereas the president said yesterday a lot of this is coming on the back end, who gets to count the votes once they're in. >> no, absolutely. it's one of those things i'm sure a lot of people didn't expect. when you think about who would try to undermine an american election you typically don't think about a former president, you typically don't think about sitting lawmakers and people around the country who have power to change laws. and i think that is one of the things that the president, people in the white house have

been wanting to push for months, right. to be very clear i think the president was as clear as he has been about what happened here, hitting, knocking down all of those people without saying donald trump's name like you said. but exactly what jonathan said was that there is almost no movement. right, so i talked to some of the activists who work on this issue, and they say this is great, we wanted the president to do this speech and do more speeches. they want to see him go on the road and basically sell democracy like he sold infrastructure plans he's running through and are going to go through congress here pretty soon. and i think that is what they're hoping to see and i think that's what we're going to start seeing is president biden is going to take this on the road and as one aide put it to me, fight for democracy and make it very clear it doesn't matter who you are in this country, you don't get to pick the winner unless you're the voter. you don't get to after you lose

get to decide who's in charge here. >> well, texas republican lawmakers yesterday voted to dispatch law enforcement to track down the democrats who fled the state in the last ditch effort to block passage of new voting limits. the voting bill the democrats are hoping to block passed the republican controlled texas senate on tuesday by a party line vote, but the democrats' maneuvers means the statehouse is without the needed quorum to do business. a roll call yesterday confirmed that only 80 of the 150 members were present. they sent law enforcement to track down those democrats who fled the state. but as no crime has been committed and the legislature's only power is to compel attendance, texas law enforcement do not have the jurisdiction outside of the state of texas and cannot ask local police to bring the

lawmakers home. this as the texas democrats who fled to washington appeared in front of the u.s. capitol yesterday to plead for lawmakers there to help. asking them to rewrite the u.s. senate rules in order to allow them to override republican efforts. so jonathan lemire, what is their end game here? and also it feels like maybe the second or third time the texas governor or republicans have done something or threatened to do something like arrest them that is simply not possible. >> yeah. the threat for arrest obviously without jurisdictional rights, it's a political show. it's a way to sort of stir up passions and play to the base. there's no teeth to that. but certainly what we're seeing here is these texas state democrats have come to washington and been embraced by democrats on the federal level. we saw them on capitol hill yesterday. they met with a variety of the

democrat leadership there, and they met with vice president kamala harris who let's remember this administration has appointed to be their lead person on their effort to defend the right to vote. and she praised their efforts, praised their courage, and she spoke again about just how important it is for americans to understand what's happening in these now more than a dozen states, how it's become harder to vote in some of those places and how there's less ability to trust that the states will, indeed, process your vote and certify it, the winner, correctly. so we know the state lawmakers are going to be in december for several days. white house aides when we pressed them yesterday, they didn't commit they'd meet the president but telegraphed at some point an audience with president biden is possible too which would give them a bigger stage. still ahead, the birth of the big lie. new reporting traces the roots of donald trump's ongoing effort to undermine american democracy.

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when you get four lines- or mix and match data options. available now for comcast business internet customers with no line-activation fees or term contract required. see if you can save by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities. "the washington post" is out with new reporting on what it calls the birth of donald trump's big lie. and it's detailed in an excerpt from carol leonnig and philip rucker's new book due out next week entitled "i alone can fix it." the setting is the white house, election night 2020 as the results were coming in. quote, rudy giuliani was starting to cause a commotion. he was telling other guests he had to come up with a strategy for trump and was trying to get into the president's private quarters to tell him about it.

some people thought giuliani may have been drinking too much and suggested the campaign manager bill steppian, go talk to the tormer mayor. steppian, white house chief of staff mark meadows and senior advisor jason miller took giuliani off to a room to hear him out. giuliani went state by state asking steppian, meadows and miller what therapy seeing and what their plan was. what's happening in michigan, he asked, they said it was too early to tell. votes were still being counted and they couldn't say. just say we won, giuliani told them. same thing in pennsylvania. just say we won pennsylvania, giuliani said. his grand plan was to just say trump won state after state based on nothing. stepian, miller and meadows thought his argument was both incoherent and irresponsible. we can't do that meadows said raising his voice, we can't. the book then details how trump

ordered his advisers to call top executives and hosts at fox news to push back at its projection joe biden had won the state of arizona. trump was livid. the book claims adding, quote, he could not fathom that the conservative news network he had long considered an extension of his campaign was the first news organization to call arizona for biden. then giuliani reenters the scene. quote, he pushed the president to forget about arizona, forget about the arizona call and just say he won, to step into the east room and deliver a victory speech. never mind that meadows had earlier snapped at giuliani and said the president couldn't just declare himself the winner. just go declare victory right now, giuliani told trump. you've got to go declare victory now.

giuliani's interjections of this just say you won strategy infuriated trump campaign advisers. it's hard to be the responsible parent when there is a cool uncle around taking a kid to the movies and driving around in a corvette, one of these advisers recalled that sort of a metaphor there. and carol leonnig and philip rucker will be our guests about this book next week. will he, though? my god, i was really actually quite moved by joe biden's speech because that's where we are because of moments like that. and millions of americans according to liz cheney and many others have been misled about what happened. >> yeah, you can see again in carol and phil's book which we can't wait to read and talk about with them next week, shows just how casual trump and his team are with our democracy. go out and say who won, who

cares. you watch the birth of this lie and you see the seed planted on that night and you see where it led us right to the steps of the capitol on january 6th. >> oh, absolutely. how disturbing, right, to read that as it came out. i also can't wait to read the book. i have a lot of things that i think one of the phrases i'm using and a lot of people probably have is that it wasn't surprising but it's shocking. it's still shocking to read exactly how this worked out. we knew it had to come from somewhere. it's not that surprising that rudy giuliani was the first person to say that, to say, you know, let's just say we won. and that is something that the democrats and people who care about democracy are fighting. right, it is this idea that the people that were around the president not only pushed and put that idea in his head knowing this is -- donald trump was a man very transactional,

still is very transactional. obviously a throwback to how he kind of thinks about everything. he puts himself first in a lot of the ways he thinks about politics and all those other things. and it's all transactional. so i think, you know, as we move forward and look at the voting restrictions, and it's important to remember how it started, right? it didn't start from, you know, on the day on january 6th from the ellipse where the speech happened. this was in the works for actually months, even before rudy giuliani said go out and say you won. donald trump early, early on as states started to allow more mail-in voting, said he would only lose if people got to mail-in vote. so that lie built and built and built and has crescendoed, and now it has taken over the republican party. they talked about meadows and miller there. but at the same time these people have still continued if not just helped spread the big

lie, they'll help prop up donald trump and continue to allow him to say these things in public. coming up, a story we teased at the top of the show. the state of tennessee is no longer reaching out to teens about the covid vaccine or any vaccine for that matter. what it means for the continuing fight against the pandemic. next on "morning joe." #

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and smothered with melty american cheese. the new cheese steak melt, now at togo's. . concerns are growing over new covid infections. with the number of daily cases doubling in the last three weeks merchandise this comes as just over 184 million americans are at least partially vaccinated with less than half the population fully protected. nbc's miguel almaguer has more. >> reporter: after a private zoom meeting with pfizer monday night the cdc and fda say there's still not enough evidence americans need a booster. the nation struggling to get 98 million americans their first shot much less their third. and now there's growing concern over protecting the 28 million

school age kids under 12 who are still likely months away from qualifying for a vaccine before heading back to campus. >> if you're not vaccinated i do prefer they wear masks. >> reporter: parents say they're frustrated by the conflicting messages and lack of planning. the cdc says any student not vaccinated needs a mask at school. but most states have no uniform plan to require them. of the 25 million children old enough for vaccination roughly a third are fully inoculated. any outbreaks could lead to closures. >> there doesn't seem to be any planning being done right now, and that we're just setting ourselves up for failure for another chaotic school year. >> reporter: with more than 20 "news now" new covid infections reported in children last week the state health officer in mississippi says ten children there are currently on life support because of the delta variant. clusters of cases at summer camp are fueling new worry when

school returns there could be a fall surge. >> the threat is incredibly real, and we're already seeing surges in parts of the country where there are high pockets of unvaccinated people. add to that an in-person school attendance of primarily unvaccinated children and you have an opportunity for these surges and hot spots. >> reporter: as delta forces some hospitals to reopen covid wards, cases are on the rise again in 27 states. after outbreaks in rural and mostly unvaccinated communities a troubling number of infections are now being detected in cities like st. louis, new york and los angeles. an evolving virus with an emerging threat. just as the youngest, unprotected americans get ready to return to the classroom. >> nbc's miguel almaguer with that report. meanwhile the tennessee health department will halt all adolescent vaccine outreach not just for coronavirus but all

diseases. amid pressure from republican state lawmakers. this is according to an internal report and agency e-mails obtained by the tennesseeian. this comes as republican officials nationwide are fighting efforts to boost u.s. vaccination rates through outreach. the paper reports that if the health department must issue any information about vaccines staff are instructed to strip the agency logo off the documents. the health department will also stop all covid-19 vaccine events on school property despite holding at least one such event this month. additionally the health department will take steps to ensure it no longer sends postcard or other notices reminding teenagers to get their second dose of the coronavirus vaccine. this is just hard to believe that we're here. all vaccinations, by the way.

according to the paper tennessee's average number of new cases per day has more than doubled in the past two weeks. the state is also detecting a growing number of infections from the delta variant. and willie, when you have mississippi, when you have a dozen kids on life support, my god this is a republican party that is self-destructing literally. what is wrong with them? >> and now you have health officials at least in this case bowing to political pressure. it went even further because news channel 5 in nashville got its hand on e-mail that showed there was to be no outreach at all on national immunization month which is august. the doctors in the health -- the medical officials say we put out a news release to let people know to go out and get your shots not just for covid but on basic stuff, polio, measles, mumps, and they said per the

commissioner, do not put out that release. we're not just talking about covid for kids. we're talking about not promoting vaccines, period. that's where we are in this conversation at least in the state of tennessee. and coming up, inflation didn't just tick up in june, it surged. at the fastest pace in nearly 13 years. stephanie ruhle breaks down the numbers for us. plus a gang of russian hackers blamed for global attacks suddenly vanishes from the web. new details on that and how the biden administration is waging the fight in cyberspace. "morning joe" is back in a moment. erspace. "morning joe" is back in a moment

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organization, allen weisselberg, began resigning from his positions, all of them from trump's subsidiaries days before he was indicted for tax fraud and larceny charges according to documents obtained by "the washington post." weisselberg wrote in a letter dated june 25th effective immediately i allen weisselberg resign from each and every office and position that i hold. and then lists two pages of subsidiaries. "the post" identifying at least 54 of them as trump entities. the trump organization did not respond to questions about weisselberg yesterday, and it's unclear what his role in the company is now. weisselberg was indicted july 1st on 15 felony counts related to an alleged 15-year scheme to defraud. now to new concerns over

inflation with the country seeing the biggest surge in consumer prices in over a decade, and it's affecting just about everything we buy. nbc news senior business correspondent stephane ruhle has the numbers. >> reporter: in the grocery store, at the gas pump, in the car lot prices keep rising. from may to june inflation jumping, the largest increase in almost 13 years. a big reason the sticker price for used cars and trucks jumping more than 45%. ongoing supply shortages leaving dealerships without enough used cars to sell. >> pretty up there. new cars as well. got to have a car. you got to have a car. >> we have had the guts to go out and pay the escalated price to hope we could sell it to the consumer. we have an inventory the and the consumers are buying them. >> reporter: food prices also increasing like milk up nearly 6% along with fruits and vegetables up 3%. meanwhile restaurants are charging more to cover higher wages. and at the gas pump drivers are paying 45% more. experts describe it as a perfect

storm. businesses reopening across the country, supply chain problems creating shortages and consumer demand soaring. >> coming off last year afterwards actually prices for a lot of goods really fell. airline prices fell, hotel prices fell. now they're coming back with a lot of demand. >> reporter: the biden administration telling americans this is short-term brought on by the pandemic and the economic recovery. what can we to do to protect ourselves? >> elwith, you can shop around. you can make choices to go with substitutes or things that aren't quite as much. >> and stephanie joins us now live. good to see you. what's the federal government looking at here, what's the fed looking at as a possible response to spike in a prices? >> listen, they're eyeballing this every single day. it's good to make the argument this is short-term because, yes, prices going up are directly link today the pandemic. it's great news to see the country reopening with gusto and

consumers out there wanting to spend but we do have shortage issues. transportation shortages, labor shortages and all of this is driving prices up. people don't feel good about it. even though wages are going up, prices are going up faster. what can the fed do? they can look at interest rates. they can say, listen, things are too hot right now. people are spending too much money borrowing, investing, let's slow things down. the concern with that is you're going to crash the market so the fed is watching this, the treasury is watching this. republicans are pouncing on this but we're seeing prices go up around the world. remember it is a global pandemic and these are some of the short-term global consequences. >> you mentioned labor shortages. i remember you sounding the alarm months ago before most people were talking about it saying soon we're going to have more jobs we can handle, and we're seeing that this summer.

how big a concern is that? >> reporter: listen, it's a big concern, but people are forgetting we're also really seeing a labor shift. millions of people that had let's say low wage service jobs last year shifted in the last year. amazon alone hired 2 million people to work in their warehouses. that job starts at $16 an hour with benefits. so when you hear from restaurants, for example, saying they can't find a line cook, they can't find busboys, many people have said they don't want to go back to those jobs. and i would say a silver lining, we're seeing a boom for teen jobs. more teens have jobs right now than we've seen in over a decade. and that's because, yes, there are a lot of adults out there that can't go back because they're caring for their children but a lot of them have now gotten higher paid, higher skilled jobs. and it's good to see these teens in these jobs because it's keeping off the streets and it's good for small business.

>> we'll of course be handing off coverage to you coming up in a few minutes at 9:00. we'll see you then. all right, some other stories we're following this morning. norwegian cruise lines is suing the florida surgeon general over the state's law prohibiting requiring proof of vaccination against coronavirus. the company argues it can't safely resume sailing without ensuring that passengers and crew are vaccinated against covid-19. norwegian claims the ban is not valid because it preempts federal law and violates various provisions of the constitution including the first amendment. the cruise line is asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction so it can confirm the vaccination status of passengers and implement other guidelines if developed under the cdc's conditional sailing order. two baltimore city police detectives were shot and a homicide suspect was killed as a

u.s. marshals task force attempted to serve a warrant outside a warrant of a shopping mall tuesday morning. a police spokeswoman told the baltimore sun the wounded officers are part of the multi-jurisdictional warrant apprehension task force which does not typically wear body cameras so it's unclear if there's footage of the incident. the officers taken to a shock trauma unit with nonlife threatening injuries are in stable condition. a federal judge has blocked new york city's plan to send thousands of homeless people back to shelters after they were allowed to stay in hotels throughout the pandemic. the judge ruled city officials had not taken into health the people they're attempting to move. it stops the city from sending them to shelters until the new location is able to accommodate them. advocates for homeless people see the city's push as a public relations campaign that seeks simply to make thousands of people disappear. a spokesman for the city's

department of homeless services said officialed would make, quote, minor adjustments to our process and resume the moves next week. an ohio hospital is apologizing after one of its patients received a kidney transplant that was meant for someone else. two employees involved in the error have been placed on administrative leave while officials at cleveland's university hospitals investigate the incident. the official said the person who was given the wrong kidney is expected to recover since the organ happened to be compatible. but the other patient's surgery has been delayed as a result of the mixup. the hospital issued a statement apologizing writing in part, quote, we've offered our sincerest apologies to these patients and their families. we recognize they entrusted us with their care. the situation is entirely inconsistent with our commitment to helping patients return to health and live life to the

fullest. yikes. we do have a positive story about a kidney transplant to tell you about. nbc "nightly news" anchor lester holt explains how a conversation during a bathroom break ultimately saved the lives of two men. >> reporter: for coworkers tia and susan one conversation last summer changed their lives. both of their husbands had been dealing with kidney failure and were in need of trance plants. tia had an idea. >> i asked her what's his blood type and she told me it was o negative, and i thought, well, what do you know, i'm o, i'm o positive, i think that could match. so my next natural question well, what's your blood type. and she said that it was a positive, and i was thinking rob is a positive. so in a paired exchange they decided to each donate their own kidney to the others spouse.

>> i wish it could tell you it was this really gut wrenching decision that we had to ponder over. there was no hesitation or doubt or any trepidation whatsoever. >> reporter: now several months and two kidney transplants later all four are doing well, both men with a second chance at life. >> the culmination of susan and tia, i mean you got to look at it one way. they saved my life and they also saved rodney's life. >> being able to actually be with my family and actually enjoy, actually feel well enough to enjoy it, i mean it's definitely exciting. >> reporter: all four of them proved that a connection can change a life. >> we all have that quiet voice that's nudging us sometimes to help somebody else. answer it. >> nbc's lester holt with that story for us. that is amazing. up next, former president george w. bush speaks out on the

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welcome back to "morning joe." live picture of the white house. 8:49 in the morning here on the east coast. former president george w. bush is speaking out about the biden administration's decision to pull all u.s. troops from afghanistan. here's what the former president said in an interview with german media. >> i'm afraid the women and girls are going to suffer unspeakable harm. >> this is a mistake? >> i think it is because i think the are going to be unbelievably bad, and i'm sad. >> joining us now, former chief of staff at the cia and department of defense, nbc news national security analyst jeremy bass. what do you make of the president's comments? obviously afghanistan is a problem. you've looked at, studied, for many years. do you agree with him? >> i think he has standing to be concerned. he shouldered the burden of

sending troops into afghanistan, so i know he's concerned about the fate of our troops and the fate of the country they're leaving behind. but the reality is that we've been at this for 20 years and i don't know how much more we're going to be able to train up the afghan forces to protect their country. when you look at the terrorist threat more broadly, it em natures from syria, yemen, west africa. we have to have a globally employed strike force that can hit targets anywhere in the globe and having troops there will not necessarily achieve the objective. >> we're looking at a poll from politico, 60% of the country, 76% of democrats agree with the withdraw of american troops from afghanistan. you touched on it briefly, but what about the argument that is made for germany, leaving a small american force there, quick strike if something comes up, they can go and take care of it? there is a case for that. what do you say?

>> our forces have to be globally deployed so we have focuses in asia, whether it's checking china's aggression or dealing with the threat from north korea, and we have obviously forces in europe. but 2,500 troops in afghanistan wasn't going to prevent afghanistan from being a safe haven for terrorists. we got osama bin ladinen and now it's time to redeploy the forces around the region, whether in the east or gulf, so they can be positioned to hit terrorist targets and protect our country. that was the initial objective and i think biden leveled with the american people and said it's going to get ugly in afghanistan. we're not going to be able to protect the country from the taliban, but that doesn't mean our troops should be there forever. >> it's already getting ugly. we heard some of this from president bush yesterday in the interview, i said earlier in the show, i've heard from friends who served over there, there's almost a sense of sadness. they're glad their friends are

coming home to be with their families, but did we get the job done, is it worth it, is afghanistan going to become what it was on september 10th, 2001. what do you make of those concerns? >> it's heartbreaking to see that afghanistan has not been able to become a stable country, a country like the united states that protects people from all walks of life, that protects women and girls as the former president referenced. but i think we have to be really clear eyed and sort of push back on some of those emotions and say what is in our interest. but no doubt, as we do this and look forward to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we have to honor the sacrifice of those who have served and anyone who has walked onto the national cemetery knows the sacrifice very well. >> the ransomware gang revil suddenly has disappeared from the internet. the group's blog and payment process and infrastructure both are gone right now. unclear why the group is offline

or if it's really gone at all. ransomware gangs have been known to disband and return under different gangs. they've hacked over 360 american targets in 2021 alone, an extortion spree that locks up victims' computers, leading to demands of payment in exchange for a decripper program and a promise not to leak sensitive files. does anyone think these people have gone away. >> they probably haven't and this may be good news in that the russian government has cracked down on them or maybe the u.s. undertook clandestine action to decapitate their ability to go with the attacks. we have to be ever vigilant because they will be back. >> staying on the issue of russia, best selling offer daniel silva, his new novel featuring his character gabriel taking on the corrupting influence of dirty money from

russia. great to see you. i'm flanked by greatness. jeremy is a fan. there is so much in here. we're talking about russia, but there's a lot of america in here and i want to start with you having to rethink, at least, the ending of this book as you watched what happened on january 6th unfold on television. >> look, the book, as you pointed out, it focuses on the corrupting influence of russian money, the way that putin has used money, the wealth of russia, to undermine western democracy, the institutions of the west. i'm working on this plot, i'm sitting at home beginning the final stretch run of the book. my wife calls me on the afternoon of january 6th and says, go upstairs and turn on the television. i said i'm really busy right now, i can't do that. she said, you need to go upstairs. i turn on the tv and i see thousands of supporters of president trump e sieging our capital. like most americans, i stood in

front of the tv horrified for the next eight to ten hours. i got up the next morning and said this has to be in the book, i must write about it, it's a direct link to what i was working on. so i wrote a whole new ending. the problem was, the front half of the book didn't match what i had written, so i had to re-write the whole thing in six weeks. >> so you rewrote the whole book or retold the story based on what you saw that day? >> i had to include it. it's directly linked. i mean, i pulled a thread for the reader, how did we get here, what is the chain of events that led from russia intervening in 2016 to the capital insurrection of january 6th? and i think there is a straight line and you can pull through it and i pulled that thread in this novel. >> where do we find gabriel? your fans want to know where is he in this picture? >> it begins with a nerve agent

poisoning of a dear friend of his, one of the original russian oligarchs, he's murdered in london. gabriel pursues an investigation into who was behind it and why was he murdered, and that investigation leads him into a desperate race to try to stop an attack that's going to plunge this country into chaos and leave russia unchallenged on the world stage. >> as a former staffer at the cia, i can say this book and your 23 prior ones are pretty realistic. you must have great resources and must talk to a lot of people in this business. when you talk to people about the russia threat, are they dangerous because they are an ascended power or declining power? >> they are dangerous because they are a maligned power. they were described as the boyfriend from hell, the guy that won't go away. putin, he and his circle of cronies are interested in one thing, enriching themselves. they're not trying to make the

lives of their people better. they're draining the wealth of russia out of the country and not doing anything for their people and what they're doing is trying to drag us down with them, trying to make themselves a great and relevant power again by destabilizing the west. and i think they're doing a great job of it. the british government released the landmark, the russia report last year that looked at the corrupting influence of russian money on the british system and they think it's contaminated their politics and it's contaminated their financial industry and that these lawyers and money men and accountants are completely running a russian laundromat in london and wittingly or unwittingly helping the russians undermine liberal order. >> what's your sense of the way putin is looking at president biden differently than he looked at president trump? biden gives him the warning in geneva, more ransomware attacks. >> i worry that, you know, as i

point out in the book, russia is not an actual country, it's a gangster regime, a nuclear arm gangster regime. i'm afraid that putin is going to use these ransomware attacks and other online attacks to destabilize us in the next coming months and years to try to weaken president biden. that's what i'm afraid of. >> we've got a couple seconds left. would you agree with that? >> i think biden has been tough on putin and i think them sitting together in geneva shows that. >> dan, congratulations. the book has russia, january 6th, and it's rewritten up to the very last minute. congratulations on the book and say hi to jamie. >> thank you. >> it is called "the cellist". that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now.

hi, there. i'm stephanie ruhle. it's wednesday, july 14th, and we start this morning with breaking news. overnight a group of senate democrats struck a deal in theory to spend $3.5 trillion on new help for americans. things like expanded medicare, free pre-k and clean energy. that is the human infrastructure bill we've been talking about and it comes on top of a nearly $600 billion deal to fix hard infrastructure, things like roads and bridges. getting both of those proposals passed would be a massive win for president biden. we'll meet with fellow democrats on capitol hill today, but we are still a very long way away from those bills getting signed into law. i have a great group to break all of this down. let's bring in co-founder of punch bowl news, chief white house correspondent for "the new york times" and author of "the man who ran washington". also nbc news national political reporter. john, this sounds