thank you all for watching at home. we'll be right back here next sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and catch me monday through thursday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on the choice on nbc streaming channel on peacock. there is a clear message that's coming through. this is becoming the pandemic of the unvaccinated. we're seeing parts of the country that have low unvaccinated coverage because people are at risk. and communities fully vaccinated are generally faring well. after weeks of decline, current infections are on the rise across the country iechlts being driven entirely almost by places with low vaccination rates. the question is could mask mandates come back even for vaccinated americans? plus, president biden's

bipartisan infrastructure deal faces a major test this week with a vote scheduled for wednesday. the question is will lawmakers agree on how to pay for the package? and u.s. tennis star coco gauff won't be competing at the olympics after testing for the covid virus. "way too early" for this. good morning and welcome to "way too early," the show that is still here. i'm john lemaire and we're start with the news. covid cases are on the rise driven up by places with low vaccination rates. the surgeon general is suggest once again everybody should mask up indoors.

>> reporter: no signs of covid backing down. in los angeles county, a 700% increase in positive cases in just the last month as masks go back on while indoors. >> i think better safe than sorry for sure. >> reporter: former surgeon general jerome adams weighing in. he added, instead of vax it or mask it, the emerging data suggests the cdc advises you should vax it and mask it. the current surgeon general defended the cdc's suggestion that you mask. across america cases are rising in all 50 states, some hit harder than others. health care workers in seminole county point to a deadly trend. >> the death count is extremely high, 99.2% for the individuals that are unvaccinated. >> reporter: in arkansas, dr.

cam patterson said his hospital is full and they're running out of caregivers. and more worries around the world. prime minister boris johnson is in quarantine after a covid exposure. >> i've been pinned, been asked to self-isolate after i've been in contact with somebody who has covid. >> reporter: this comes just hours before the uk lifts its remaining restrictions dubbed freedom day, meaning no more masked mandate days at nightclubs and sporting events. five texas democrats have now tested positive after coming to d.c. they all fled to d.c. in an attempt to restrict republicans from passing restricted voter laws. they've all been fully vaccinated. the democratic qaa suss said the five are feeling good with only mild or no symptoms. facebook is taking on the

white house after president biden called out the covid virus misinformation on the platform. the social media website pushed back. president biden made his views apparent in striking comments on friday. >> what's your message to platforms like facebook? >> they're killing people. i mean they're -- look. the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they're killing people. >> those are undeniably powerful comments from the president of the united states. in a blog post facebook slammed the an administration's position writing in part, quote, at a time when the covid-19 cases are rising in america, the biden administration has chose on the blame a handful of american social media companies. the data shows that 85% of

facebook even in the u.s. have been or want to be vaccinated against covid-19. president biden's goal was for 70% of americans to be vaccinated by july 4. facebook is not the reason this goal was missed. senator schumer will begin debate on the proposal. the republicans have balked at this type of deadline and say they may not vote in favor of the legislation if it's not completely written. >> how can i vote when the bill hasn't been fully written. unless senator schumer doesn't want this to happen. you need a little bit more time to get it right. >> chuck schumer, with all due respect, is not writing the bill. neither is mitch mcconnell. senator ron portman of ohio who you saw there said that's

not the way to pay. >> one reason it's not part of the proposal is we did have pushback. another reason is we found out that the democrats were going to put a proposal into the reconciliation package, which was not just similar to the one we had, but with a lot more irs enforcement. in terms of irs reform or irs tax gap, which was what was in the original proposal, that will no longer be in our proposal. it will be in the reconciliation proposal, we were told. >> it's left lawmakers scrambling to figure out another way to raise the necessary revenue without raising taxes or adding to the debt. joining us now, congressional reporter nicholas wu. good morning. this has been a long saga with lots of twists and turns. where are we now? what are the roadblocks that we're currently facing in order

for this infrastructure deal to happen? >> you identified one of the key roadblocks here. senators are still trying to figure out ways to pay for anything let alone identify their key spending priorities. and so even if the senate does advance the bill and passes the procedural vote on wednesday, it still leaves them time to hash everything out. as was mentioned a few moments ago, this is something that could face a lot of resistance among republicans if they're being told to vote for something that has really not come together yet. and so this is yet another roadblock in the long path to achieve some kind of infrastructure package. >> let me ask you a quick followup on this one? what's your assessment? how close was this deal to collapsing last week? do we feel like it's in decent shape now? do we know how much the white house wants?

there's a lots to have a bipartisan agreement. do you think it's still on track? >> it seems like there's enthusiasm all around. the thing these telling here is even the minority leader mitch mcconnell has kept its cards pretty close on where exactly he stands on this package rather than coming outright in opposition. you know, negotiators are still going to try to come to some sort of compromise here, but without one of the key funding provisions in here, it's going to be much harder for them to pay for the whole package without these tax increases and the deficit spending that a lot of republican senators are averse to. >> nicholas, one more few for you. we mentioned these texas democrats, some of whom caught covid after they left their home state as they come to washington. it comes amid the backdrop of the fight in loan state. they're mirroring what we've seen in other states across the country after the 2020

elections. what's the latest there? what are the democrats still in d.c., what are they doing? who are they seeing? are they in talks with the president? what's been the reaction so far with their visit, and what happens next? >> well, it really seems that these covid cases high light the continued dangers of the pandemic. d e spite the precautions, the danger is still very much there, and these positive tests are something ta the republicans in particular have seized upon in order to criticize these lawmakers. for example, several of them have posted pictures maskless onboard a chartered airplane in d.c. this is something republicans really highlighted. at the same time, you're right. this will make it harder for them to meet with more people in d.c. even the vice president's office quickly put out a statement

saying the vice president had not been at risk when she met with some of these texas democrats. but as more cases trickle out among them and as they start testing members and staff daily, we might see more positive cases. for now, they might be sequestered in their hotel here in the capitol. >> politico's nicholas wu. still ahead, while many republicans downplay what happened on january 6th, new reports show that most gop lawmakers knew what was unfolding during the capitol riot. plus, more flash flooding hits germany, adding to the devastation we saw last week, and bringing the death toll up to more than 150. meteorologist bill karins will have more on that coming up next. xt

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here comes the winner right here. >> 11 months after his first major victory in front of an empty venue at the pga championship, fans applauded collin morikawa for his win in his debut at the british open. morikawa is now the first to capture two different majors on the first attempt. the u.s. men's basketball team lost some significant games, but they won in the final exhibition game. but ahead of friday's opening ceremony here on nbc, rising tennis star coco gauff won't make her debut in tokyo.

nbc correspondent molly hunter has more. >> reporter: 17-year-old tennis star coco gauff announced she tested positive for covid-19, pulling out of the olympics. i'm so disappointed to share the news. it's always been a dream of mine. i want to wish the u.s. special luck. it's unclear if she had been vaccinated before traveling to europe or where she tested positive. in tokyo with less than a week until the opening ceremony, the case numbers are rising. >> there's no such thing as zero risk, and that we all agree. at the same time, the mingling of the population is incredibly limited, incredibly limited. we can ensure that transmission between the various groups is almost impossible. >> reporter: since july 1st, according to the organizing

committee, 55 people under their jurisdiction have tested positive for covid, including four athletes, four media, and other games personnel. on sunday the south african team announced two players tested positive in the olympic village. >> the screening program since the 1st of july has already delivered more than 30,000 results. that's how dill janet we are in terms of monitoring the population which is here, and we'll continue to do so. >> reporter: dozens of people following strict protocol now under quarantine, athletes just hoping they won't have to miss their big event. >> our thanks to nbc's molly hunt fehr that report. the angels' shohei otani showing form. ohtani went two for three the with two walks and two-run walk.

the two-way star who's so fun to watch is slated to start on the mound in oakland tonight. here in new york the yankees playing without aaron judge and others who tested positive won a second game against the red sox, 9-1. the yankees, mind you, had dropped the first seven meetings between these two teams this year. i can't believe all of this is in the teleprompter, and i have to read it. before last thursday's opener was postponed for testing and contact tracing after the yankees outbreak. boston which has lost six of it last games. meanwhile, the fan ejected from yankee stadium for hitting red sox left fielder with a baseball thrown from the stands has been banned from attending games for

life. ly note john bresnahan, a fan, is on the show later. finally in queens, the new york mets dug themselves into a big hole against the pirates yesterday after a mistakenly embarrassment in the infield. >> go, go, go. it's fair ball iechlts a fair ball. oh, my goodness it's fair ball. do you believe this? it's still in play. pirates score three. oh, my gosh. we've seen it all now. we've seen it all. >> my 6-year-old's little league team wouldn't do that. after all-star taiwan walker charged the dribbler, rolling up to the third base line and flipped it toward the pittsburgh dugout thinking it was foul. the mets were slow to respond. the pirates took a lead.

the mets recover and would go on to defeat the pirates, 7-6. the baltimore orioles shut out the kansas city royals 5-0, that must have been in front of our fan, kasie hunt. good luck, kasie. we miss you already. let's go to the forecast. bill, what have you got? >> only the mets can do a play like that. let's talk about this weekend. obviously the weekend continues in the west. the fire is spreading, the smoke is spreading throughout many areas of the midwest. in the east it's still raining. it's still pouring in areas south of nashville. outside of atlanta, we've gotten heavy rain, charlotte. have the umbrella ready this morning if you're in the southeast. this is the area that will get rain today. if you're in the yellow or orange, especially alabama, charleston, wilmington, shreveport, areas toward dallas, you're going to get significant

rainfall during the day today. it's very humid, very tropical. and the heat is just relentless. montana today could be up to 106 degrees in montana. heat warnings in effect for some of our friends in billings. and the fire weather danger. this map, i could use this every single day. it's red flag warnings. that means for firefighters, if fires form, they could spread rapidly. the week ahead forecast, scattered showers in the southeast, still some showers left in new england. i don't want to mention how miserable it was this weekend in new england. jonathan, i was up in the adirondacks. i don't think i've ever seen it rain so long without it being like a tropical storm. it was an ugly weekend. >> bill karins, let's cancel summer. it's been terrible. too hot. storms every day on the east coast. and we're keeping an eye on the worrisome temperatures and fire dangers in the west. thank you, sir.

still ahead, a chemical leak at a texas amunsment park sends dozens to the hospital. what investigators are saying about that incident. we'll be right back. saying about that incident. we'll be right back. express business card, which offers spending power built for his business needs, to furnish a new exam room. the doctor will see you now. get the card built for business. by american express.

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vienna, austria, has reportedly become the new hot spot for what u.s. intelligence officials are calling havana syndrome. since biden has been sworn in, about two dozen have reported mysterious ailments. the symptoms are said to range from vertigo to headaches to vision problems. behind closed doors, the biden administration reportedly suspected that russia is to blame. the working theory is that kremlin agents have been aiming microwave radiation devices at them to steal information from cellphones and laptops. the u.s. is not able to declare

microwave radiation or russia responsible. a frightening incident sent dozens of people to the hospital gasping for air. nbc's vaughn hillyard has the story. >> reporter: thousands fled from an amusement park in texas on saturday after a chemical gas leak. some struggled to breathe. >> we have 29 individuals. >> reporter: that number only grew. 31 people transported to nearby hospitals. 55 others decontaminated on site. >> i started coughing and my eyes started swelling up. >> i thought it was a terrorist attack. >> reporter: some answers. six flags says a hazardous vapor was released by a kiddy pull after a combination of chemicals.

chlorine and bleach. >> they can create a toxic compound which is called chlorine gas, which if inhaled could cause serious lung injury and be life-threatening. >> reporter: authorities do not detect foul play. >> have systems in place where the minute there's something wrong the system can record that. >> reporter: dangerous chemicals also caused evacuations atwater parkers in utah in 2015, and michigan in 2015. here this weekend, a major scare. >> what began as a fun family day has turned into very much a nightmare for many families. >> reporter: and a warning for others atwater parks this summer. still ahead, despite warnings from health officials, in new polling shows that unvaccinated americans don't seem to be concerned about the

delta variant. we'll dig into those two numbers. but before we go to break, we want know why, just why are you still awake? i'm your reasons to "way too early" @msnbc.com or tweet me @jonlemire. i want to note this is my first show in 15 months with hair and makeup. we'll read our answers later in the show. we'll read our answers later in the show ership rewards points on purchases for her business. now she's the office mvp. get the card built for business. by american express. age-related macular degeneration may lead to severe vision loss.

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welcome back to "way too early." it's 5:30 on the east coast,

2:30 out west. i'm jonathan lemire. covid-19 cases continue to rise in all states particularly in areas with low vaccination rates. according to the white house, nearly 20% are occurring in florida alone. the cdc says almost all recent cases have impacted those who have not received a covid-19 vaccine. meanwhile more counties across the county may follow los angeles's lead and ramp up, calling for more mask mandates. scott gottlieb issued a warning to unvaccinated americans about the risk. >> this variant is so contagious, it's going to affect the majority. most people will get vaccinated or have been previously infected or they will get this delta variant. it's going to be the most serious virus they get in their

lifetime in terms of the risk of putting them in the hospital. >> dr. gottlieb will be a gefts on morning joe. despite warnings, new polls show the groups most vulnerable are the groups least concerned about it. in a new cbs news.gov poll, 48% of not fully, not vaccinated are concerned. that's 24 pointss than those who say they have it. top doctors have repeatedly stressed the best way to protect yourself from the delta variant is to get yourself vaccinated. joining us now, founder and ceo of advancing health equity, an msnbc contributor, and we're lucky to have her with us this morning. >> thank you. >> doctor, what are some recommendations that you say the administration has been struggling with this for months, you know, people who are hesitant, reluctant to get the

vaccine, and those who flat out say they won't. what's the recommendation yos would give to encourage people to get vaccinated? >> well, first of all, thank you so much for having me. what i will say is this unvaccinated group, they're not a monolithic group. they have different reasons for not wanting to get vaccinated. some will help to shift the needle. no pun intended on that. i think the hyperlocal and local approach of the biden administration is focusing on right now, working with community based organizations is helpful, but i think vaccine mandates in health care facilities by employers is going to be what makes the difference among this unvaccinated population. >> we just heard the former surgeon general recently call for indoor mask mandates. do you think more cities will follow l.a.'s lead, but more than that, is that where we are?

are we at the point where mask mandates should be reinstated, even for those vaccinated? >> i think that is where we are. i think we've pulled the band daid off of the wound. there's no going back. we are at a place where we are going to see surges as we head into the fall, and i think places like l.a. down if i in terms of the decision being made, it makes sense. we're looking at hospitalizations, at vaccination rates, transmission levels in the community. those metrics should decide whether or not to reinstitute those mask mandates in order to save lives, to prevent more people from being infected. unfortunately that's where we are. the delta variant has thrown a wrench into the current situation. >> certainly you make a good point about doing a local aproechlt there are areas where transmission rates remain low,

although cases are rising to some degree everywhere, and certainly parents are watching nervously with school on the horizon before we know it. drc blackstock, we really appreciate you being here. "space jams" at the box office, and the sleeping arrangements for athletes inside the olympic village. "way too early" is back in just a moment. village. "way too early" is back in just a moment pain hits fast.

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this hero. thank you, dr. fauci, for all your hard work. we appreciate your intelligence, honest bravery, compassion. we love you. >> oh. >> that's very nice to say that. this is a part where we talk about something totally different. that was teen pop star olivia rodrigo and dr. anthony fauci encouraging young people to get vaccinated. olivia rodrigo recorded a series of public service-style announcements after visiting the white house last week, helping the biden administration spread the word. she has a number one album in the country and she hosted "saturday night live." also, "space jams" threw one down this weekend. the new lebron james film earned $31.65 million domestically. the film, a remack of the 1996

michael jordan/bill murray classic beat out "god city la". the hometown of the scripps bee winner held a parade. they celebrated zaila avant guard, the first african-american to win the national competition. the 14-year-old who's a remarkable young woman spelled murraya. she has three guinness world records for her basketball dribbing skills. the bed frames made of a sturdy cardboard that can hold up to 440 pounds, stronger than widen beds. the frames will be recycled into

paper products following the games, and the mattress components reused in plastic products. they're specifically designed to hold one person to help prevent the spread of covid-19. athletes shared jokes. one asked if he could spill water on it. another asked if he could train sleeping on the floor just in case. still ahead, what we're learning about what republicans knew about the january 6th attack on the capitol as it was happening. >> and as we go to date, a look at this date in history. 16 years ago, president george w. bush announced his choice of judge john roberts to replace supreme court justice sandra day o'connor. roberts ended up succeeding chief justice william rehnquist who died in september.

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lawmakers understand the real danger. in gnaw report gives a better understanding of how republicans felt as the capitol was overtaken by angry trump supporters. gop senator dan sullivan said, quote, it was really eff'd up down here. meanwhile senator lindsey graham called ivanka trump to get her to tell her father to get these people to leave. cawthorn told a local paper, i

don't want to exchange rate here, but it was the closest thing to 9/11. being attacked by people who want to subvert it. the north carolina republican added, quote, even though a lot of those people probably would have voted for me, i can't support that. joining me co-founder of "punchbowl news," john bresnahan. good to see you. don't bring it up. since january 6th, we've seen republicans dig deeper and deeper into this lie that the insurrection was overexaggerated, that they were harmless tourists? what do we make of it? is this going to be their argument? they're going to ramp it up? and tell us the latest on kevin mccarthy selecting his own committee to that day? >> it's lewd russ as somebody who was in the capitol that day. it was a horrific, horrific

scene. it was terribly dangerous. and the members were in grave danger, and they knew they were in grave danger. this is a group of people who we're talking about hanging mike, then vice president mike pence. i think that there's clearly an effort by some republicans to downplay the attack. now they're talking about there was -- i'm seeing now letters from some of these members complaining that the treatment of some of the 9/11 suspects -- i'm sorry, the january fth suspects, they're being held -- some are complaining they're being held in very harsh conditions inside federal price -- prisons as they await their trial. there's sympathy for the january 6th movement. i don't know where they're going

to go with this. i don't see how the american public is going to believe that somehow anybody who attacked the u.s. capitol is some kind of just, you know, tourist who was having a bad day, you know. it's an insane argument. now, let's talk about mccarthy for a second. the house minority leader has not named anyone to the january 6th select committee. the first meeting of that committee is next week. he will do it. we expect him to name members to the panel, but he hasn't done so. he's still talking to members as of this weekend. we touched base with some of the republicans involved in this. so, you know, we expect him to do this. he hasn't. he's played this out. i just don't think there's any way he'll go -- allow the select committee to go forward without having some republican allies on the panel. >> so, bres, we heard earlier that senator ron portman democrats dropped plans to boost

irs enforcement in order to pay for the bipartisan infrastructure deal. what happens now? how important is it to pay for this thing sf what are the mechanisms being looked at, and walk us through the timetable of this deal, whether it's this weekend or beyond. >> yeah. these are all excellent questions. portman announced over the weekend the group he's leading with this bipartisan group of ten senators is going to drop irs funding. that was kind of a low-impact way for this group to generate up to a hundred billion dollars in new revenue, give more money to the irs, to collect taxes that have already been imposed by congress as not new taxes. this is just taxes that americans already owe. so now they're looking at other backups. they'll have to go to thinks like spectrum sales or possibly dealing with pension reform. they've got a big problem here. now, what's going to happen

today is we expect senate majority leader chuck schumer to file. it's kind of a long-winded way of saying schumer is trying to get the group to turn over the proposal, release it in legislative form. he needs to get it scored, have the policy analysts and the congressional budget office look to see how much revenue it raises as it covers the trillion dollars that they owe. he's really trying to set the clock going on this group. he's trying to up pressure on them. i don't know if they're going to get a deal in legislative form by this week. i was talking to members of the bipartisan group this weekend. they made some progress. they have a lot to do. i don't see how this comes together this week. the question is, is that the end of it? right now i can't tell. i think they'll move forward or continue to try to move forward,

but i'm not sure i'll ever get there. >> we rely on you and your colleagues to get us there -- >> go yankees. >> no. you were doing well until just then. good-bye. earlier in the show we asked the question, why are you awake? robert writes, jonathan lemire is cracking me up reading yankees wins highlights. torture. that's going on here. matt mcdonald tweeted a photo of mcdonald jersey. and beth writes i'm up way too early to see jonathan lemire's handsome self, also my dog needed love. and my uncle ed chimed in as well. uncle ed, thank you for watching. up next a look at axios one big thing.

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joining us now with a look at axios a.m., political reporter for axios, hans nichols, hans, what is the axios one big thing for this morning? >> jonathan, the one big thing we're looking at is kind of what brez was looking at, how is this bipartisan group going to pay for the infrastructure package. to jump into the weeds, they're going to look at going through pharmaceutical drug rebates. i normally wouldn't look at these, but it's important here and i'll tell you why. it's important because this is also a pot of money that the democrats, that bernie sanders, wants to go after. we're seeing this bipartisan

deal hanging by a thread. we're seeing bipartisan republicans and progressive democrats fight over the same pot of money. and that's significant because it shows you, a, how badly republicans want to pay for this and, b, there's some real crossover here and the two deals aren't as de-linked as chuck schumer would like them to be. so this is going to be a very specific policy fight this week. there's some politics involved for a lot of the drug companies and medicare, there's billions of dollars involved but it gives you a sense of how hard everyone is trying to get the bipartisan deal across the line but as everyone is reporting, with the irs provisions out this is a heavy lift. >> we have a long way to go, i agree with that. hans another thing axios is reporting about this week are wealthy congressional candidates funding their own campaigns and circumventing filing disclosure

forms. how common is this? take us behind the reporting. >> ethics officials don't have a lot of teeth to whatever law is out there, they don't have a lot of sanctions they can oppose. my colleague's idea of a good time on friday night is pouring through financial disclosures. the problem for him, some of these self-funding millionaire candidates aren't disclosing how they've earned their money. so yes, they're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, a senate candidate in arizona is out there with $2 million on self-funding. when you do that, that's fine, you're allowed to do that, but you have to file your personal financial disclosures, how much money you have, where you're holding it, how much you're making, what the source of it is. and he's found a handful of candidates across the country, a couple republicans, a senate candidate in arizona and also north carolina that aren't disclosing where they're getting their money. we don't know how great and how

broad this problem is, in large part, because they're not disclosing. it's a real weakness with campaign finance laws. this is not true with this issue but true with all issues on campaign finance is that the sanction isn't very strong. there's not a lot you can do, especially if you win, other than a slap on the wrist and two or three days of negative headlines because you're in office. it's a fundamental weakness with the disclosure system and i'm sure my colleague will be spending more time digging through this to find out who's at fault here. jonathan? >> it does sound like a very fun friday night, hans. and thank you for that reporting. you're certainly right about the lack of real enforcement on some of these issues. that's an end here of "way too early" on a monday morning. what's going to be the headline that we started the show with is going to be a dominant headline

yet again, it feels like for a lot of the country the pandemic had receded and with the delta variant, particularly striking those unvaccinated, is going to be something we follow with all cases ticking up in 50 states. that does it for us on "way too early". i'll be back here tomorrow morning and all week. a very special "morning joe" starts right now. there is a clear message that is coming through. this is becoming a pandemic of the unvaccinated. we are seeing outbreaks in cases in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage because unvaccinated people are at risk and communities that are fully vaccinated are generally faring well. >> so why is there so much vaccine hesitancy? perhaps because some people are listening to their whacky uncle on social media rather than top

doctors in the world. it's one of the reasons president biden is lashing out at facebook. we'll get to his cutting criticism of the tech giant amid this unrelenting pandemic and the variants that are spreading through the country. in fact, for some communities in america this year will actually be worse than 2020. is that possible? we'll explain that and how the deadly delta variant is driving a wedge through parts of the country. coronavirus isn't the only big issue being fueled by conspiracy theories. there's also the attempt by some republicans to whitewash the january 6th insurrection. but that's not what they were saying in real time. as rioters attacked the capitol. we have the tale of the tape straight ahead. good morning and welcome to "morning joe," it is monday july 19th, joe and willie are off this morning. with us we have white house reporter for the associated pres jat