civil war and the spanish flu. that's not enough death for ron johnson, it seems, and the rest of the covid deniers on the right. they are not a pro-life party. they are a pro-death party. and there's no point pretending otherwise. thank you for watching tonight. we're looking not, i believe, to lockdown, but we're looking to some pain and suffering in the future because we're seeing the cases go up, which is the reason why we keep saying over and over again, the solution to this is get vaccinated, and this would not be happening. with coronavirus cases on the rise, a warning from dr. anthony fauci that things are going to get worse, but perhaps that's the thing that's sparking an increase in vaccinations in hot spots. will it encourage more americans to get vaccinated? plus, the feud between house

speaker nancy pelosi and minority leader kevin mccarthy escalates. mccarthy is now facing criticism for joking about hitting pelosi with the gavel if he becomes house speaker. the question is did he really think that comment was funny? and after much delay, senators have introduced the long awasted text of their bipartisan infrastructure bill. the question is when will we see a vote? it's "way too early" for this. ♪♪ good morning and welcome to "way too early," the show that at this point would settle for the bronze. we've got some breaking news in olympics just ahead. i eenl jonathan lemire on this monday, august 2nd. let's start with news. we begin with a grim new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic. according to an nbc tally, late last notice total cases

surpassed 635 million. florida is quickly becoming the epicenter of this fourth wave of infections, accounting for all, about a fifth of all new cases in the u.s. yesterday the state broke a previous record for current hospitalizations set more than a year ago, well before vaccines were available. hospitals across the state are once again becoming overwhelming. in jacksonville, for instance, hospitals have more covid patients than ever before, despite the availability of those vaccines. "the new york times" spoke to health care workers in florida who fell disbelief they must endure another surge. one nurse said, quote, we are scared of seeing what we saw, this time affecting the younger population. this is the hardest thing i've ever done in my career. another nurse told "the new york times" said it's the worst fear,

someone looking at you saying, i can't breathe, help me. despite the record number of cases in florida, governor ron desantis signed an order on friday that blocked schools from issued mandates. he argues that parents have the right to design if their children wear face coverings in school. at least two counties have required students to cover their faces when they return to school next month. the new zpec fiv order overrules those requirements. there is good news. in areas where cases are surging, vaccination rates are going up. in the past two weeks, at least 4 million americans have been vaccinated. more than 856,000 doses were administered on friday t highest daily figure since july 3rd. many of the new vaccinations are taking place in covid hot spots on. friday, multiple news posts report that louisiana has seen a

record increase. arkansas saw a 96% increase. alabama, 65%, missouri, a 49% increase. nbc's vaughn hillyard has more on the rising rate of vaccinations across the country. >> reporter: the country's hottest infection spots this month are now also leading the country in new vaccinations. >> now's the time. >> reporter: across the u.s., a 31% jump this week in first doses administered. some of the states most responsible, places like georgia, missouri, and texas. those with the country's lowest vaccination rates. with the delta variant sweeping through, doctors began pleading. >> we really need your help to help us. >> reporter: and republican governors taking a louder stand. >> it's time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks. >> reporter: now, data showing progress. in alabama, vaccinations up 138%. florida, 78%.

>> i can comfortably say it's gone up by at least 50% now since june. >> reporter: but why now? >> what took you these many months to finally get the shot? >> because i've seen the cases rise. >> because more people in my family took it and they're okay. >> i wanted to get the shot because i wanted to protect myself, and i also wanted to protect other people. >> we do know some that are close that have passed. >> reporter: in some states, offering $100 with the shot. >> the more i research about it, you know, the pros outweigh the cons, so that's why i decided to get it. >> reporter: and an urgent push from the fda saying it's all hands on deck as it works to formally approve the pfizer vaccine, elevating it from its current emergency use status. >> if that means more people will get vaccinated, i think they's a good outcome.

turning now to capitol hill where the bill, it's in. senators finally introduced the finished text of the bipartisan infrastructure bill yesterday after a rare weekend session. the bill clocks in at more than 2,700 pages. as senate majority leader chuck schumer says, he wants to pass it as soon as possible. >> given how bipartisan the bill is and how much work has already been put in to get the details right, i believe the senate can quickly process relevant amendments and pass this bill in a matter of days. then i will move the senate along the second track for our infrastructure -- of our infrastructure effort and take up the budget resolution. >> senators joe manchin of west virginia and susan collins of maine said over the weekend they expect the final vote on the bill to come this week before they leave for the august recess. schumer says they want to work on the reconciliation bill right

after that bipartisan infrastructure vote. that package contains the remainder of president biden's priorities including climate and child care. joining us now, congressional reporter for politico, nicholas wu. good morning, nicholas. thanks for getting up with us today. we've segued from the rise in covid cases to the state of play on capitol hill. with the threat of covid hanging over all that's happening here in these negotiations, can the country afford this price tag with the pandemic still looming? >> it really depending on who you ask, jonathan. i mean, the republicans have been hitting on this team of inflation and talking about how the country can't necessarily afford a lot of new spending for quite some time. but it's worth keeping in mind it's still a bipartisan group that put this infrastructure plan together, and we'll see how it plays out over the coming days, how many senators come together to support this bill in the very end. but the threat of covid still very much hangs over capitol

hill and it's fresh in the minds of many lawmakers. mask mandates came on the house side. there's a real sense of fear among a lot of staff, so this is -- this will very much factor into the debate as this moves forward. >> we just heard senator schumer's optimistic take on the timeline. what do you think? what does your vote tell you? what sort of schedule do you think that reconciliation bill will come under? >> well, if there's one thing that generally holds true about members of cob, they like their august recess. the senate is scheduled to leave town after this week. so at least in some ways there's an artificial deadline that can hold the senate to actually finishing work on the bill and the budget by the very end of the week, but, of course, we saw the senate work through this previous weekend. they could go into next week if they really need to as well. >> politico's nicholas wu, you

and i deserve an august recess. thank you so much for being here this morning. still ahead, the very latest from tokyo, where swimmers for team usa continue their dominant streak in the pool. and pga star xander shaufle wins golf. and usa gymnastics con fins we'll see simone biles compete this week. those stories and a check on the weather when we come right back. .

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show me the olympics. boost® high protein also [ "bugler's dream" playing ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ quick. welcome back. time now for sports. usa swimming wrapped up dominantly yesterday. caeleb dressel, one of the real breakout stars of these games, set the olympic record to win the freestyle, his third gold medal. he then joins the men's 4 tiemds

100 medley relay that sends him team home with five gold with a remarkable 14 consecutive games. meanwhile bobby finke once again wins the men's 1500 free style which along with katie ledecky's win completes an unprecedented sweep of the distance swimming in tokyo. golfer zander schauffele has never won a major, but he's now an olympic champion. the 27-year-old held his league over 56 golfers yesterday including a record-setting round from slovakia's sabbatini. he finished 18th in the tournament and brings home the gold medal. meanwhile simone biles will compete in what would have been her sixth event. usa gymnastics confirmed biles will return for tomorrow's

individual final on the balance beam. she most recently pulled out of this morning's events after bowing out of the team final, individual all around, vault, and uneven bars. with biles out of the competition. team competition jade carey is a top contender for gold in the floor event. meanwhile all around gold medalist suni lee earned bronze on the uneven bars yesterday and veteran gymnast mykayla skinner won silver for the vault, her very first. the track and field events also continue this morning. after keni harris won and kerley. earlier sun anders picked up silver with her 65-foot show. and the usa women's basketball team remains unbeaten in 52

straight olympic games beating france as they advance to the quarterfinals, and the u.s. women's soccer team against canada is currently tied at 0-0 at the half. now let's go to the weather. meteorologist janessa webb is here with the forecast. janessa, what have you got? >> good morning, jonathan. it's always nice to see a quiet weather france across the nation. that's what we're seeing. we're seeing a few raindrops starting to pick up across the deep south into the mid-atlantic going into your tuesday, but today the severe weather threat is very low across this area. this is a very sad rated area. you could see a possible 3 to 4 inches in the next 24 hours, but that's the biggest weather story we have for today. across this area, cooler air is starting to make its way in. it's all associated with this

cold front, and it really sticks around in the raleigh, north carolina, area. tuesday things start to dry out. the other big weather story as we start out august. man, some cooler air starting to make its way in. this is normally our hottest time of the year known as the dog days of summer, and we're really not seeing that. look at daytime highs for the midwest, the northeast. we're back in the upper 70s to lower 80s in most spots, and all that blue means we're below average for this time of year. most spots for new york city to the raleigh-durham area, 10 to 15 degrees below average. that's going to stick around throughout your tuesday, wednesday afternoon. thursday, friday, we'll start to notice a slight change in humidity levels from d.c. to the buffalo area, but still below average in the lower 80s. so this is a sensational start

to the workweek here across the great lakes down to the southeast. we'll continue to watch that flooding rain. flash flood concerns for the southwest. and then a change for the pacific northwest really starts to happen going into wednesday, thursday afternoon. we've dealt with some major heatwaves across this area, and that continues to pick up, but very dry conditions through the east coast as we go into your friday. jonathan? >> janessa webb, i wish i consulted you yesterday when i went to the washington nationals game when i got soaked because i didn't bring an umbrella. still ahead, a major loss for former pretty donald trump as the justice department decides the tax returns must be released to congress. we're back in just a moment. cons we're back in just a moment. of what matters most. we sweat the details. ask for what we want. get what we need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. living longer is possible and proven with kisqali

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they would try to overturn the loss of the presidency. according to "the new york times," then deputy richard donahue took handwritten notes of a december 27th phone call between himself, trump, and acting attorney general jeffrey rosen in which the president then pressed on substantiated voter fraught. he said no power could change the outcome of the election, and according to the notes, president trump said, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me. trump issued a denial on saturday that read in part, the corrupt and highly partisan house democrats who run the house oversight committee yesterday released documents, including court filings dealing with the rigged election of 2020, that they dishonestly described as attempting to overturn the election. in fact. it was just the opposite. okay. the notes were provided to the

oversight committee as part of its investigation into trump's attempts to overturn the election. trump's taxes, meanwhile, will finally be released to congress. the justice department said friday that the treasury department must turn them over to the house ways and means committee, finding it had given, quote, sufficient reasons for requesting the information. the trump administration refused to give the documents. an opinion from the office of legal counsel at the time agree and found the demand invalid. nbc news reports that in friday's opinion t office said that its earlier analysis, quote, went astray, failing to give a coordinate branch of government the respect and deference it was due. under an agreement filed in federal court in an existing lawsuit over congressional access to the returns, the government agreed to give trump's lawyers 72 hours' notice to give him time to try to

prevent the disclosure. meanwhile the justice department says russian hackers broke into the email accounts of some of the most prominent federal prosecutor offices last year. in a statement on friday, the department said that 80% of microsoft email accounts used by employees in the four u.s. attorney offices in new york were breached between may and september. the doj said the culprits were responsible for last year's hacking of u.s. tech companies solarwinds. russia has denied any involvement in that breach. still ahead, millions of americans are facing the tletd of being kicked out of their homes after an election moratorium expired over the weekend. now lawmakers are asking the president to get involved. but before we go to break, we want to know, why are you awake? tell us. email your reasons at way too early at msnbc.com or tweet me @jonlemire.

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welcome back to "way too early." it's coming up on 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. i'm jonathan lemire. the fight over the pandemic eviction relief is coming up. millions could be kicked out of their homes this week. nbc news correspondent ali

vitali has more. >> i'm behind four months, and the landlord is at this point just waiting, i guess, for the -- >> reporter: sierra green is just waiting for a knock on her door. green is one of 6 million americans behind on rent because of the pandemic. with the national eviction moratorium now lapsed, she's among the millions who could be put out on the street, but house lawmakers left town for a six-week recess. >> we need to be brought back to the house to finish this work while people end up on the industrial while we go on vacation. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi on the centers for disease control. >> we would like the cdc to expand the moratorium. that's where it can be done. >> reporter: the white house looking to the states urging them to doll out emergency funds that have been slow getting out the door. >> that money is there. they need to move that money to the landlords immediately.

>> reporter: $21 billion over the last year. meantime urging landlords and others along to work together. >> if you know the person is working with you cooperatively, it doesn't make any sense to evict. >> our thanks to ali vitali for that report. democratic congressman of texas says something has to change in the administrate's approach to handling the illegal crossings at the southern border. he and lindsey graham sent a letter friday asking jeh johnson to combat the influx of migrants coming through mexico. the "washington post" said although cuellar is not a critic of bind to tap jeh johnson, they're asking the president to toughen his posture. they say they're concerned about the spread of covid. they there was no comment from

the white house, but jeh johnson will be with us later on "morning joe." joining us now nbc capitol news correspondent leigh ann caldwell, and she's here on set. >> yay. >> let's start with that request from the white house in terms of immigration. we have democratic congressman, republican senator. where does that stand? is there any sort of sense the administration is receptive to this, and right now how much danger does covid pose at theboarder? >> republicans have made a big deal about covid at the border especially on capitol hill when they were talking about nancy pelosi demanding they wear a mask again and then they're putting it back on them and saying, what about what's happening at the border? these people are spreading covid into the united states, but it is a serious problem. secretary quay rar, although

he's a democrat, he's been the most critical on how they've been handing the border. his district lines the border, so he sees it firsthand, and there's been a lot of debate on capitol hill about what to do with it. of course, they're focusing the debate on legalization and the republicans are focusing on border security and the ages old debate intention still exists. >> certainly the republicans are having a hard time. they feel like this, it could be an issue when they do so. the other story we were talking about are these eviction moratoria. there's real confusion on friday with the washington pointing fingering at capitol hill, saying, wait, you didn't tell us we need do this. both sides saying, wait, the supreme court suggests it's legislation. where do things stand? what can they do with americans who may suddenly face losing their homes? >> the finger pointing has not

stopped. she's blaming others saying you put this in our lap way too late, two days before the house was set to leave for a six- or seven-week break. what the senate is doing, they could perhaps act. they're still in session. there's been no indication yet that the senate is going to do anything. i've been asking senate leaders, and i'm not getting any response at this moment, so it's really unclear what these democrats are calling on for the remainder of the tens of billions of dollars of funds that have already been allocated in the last covid relief bill to help these renters and landlords. just to release the money is a very minimum thing and to extend that deadline to october 18th. but there's no clear path on who's going to act. speaker pelosi has not said she's going to call the house back. the senate hasn't acted and the white house hasn't indicated they're going to do anything

yet. >> there hasn't been a lot, but certainly this is one of them. one thing that will tough as the infrastructure, we think we're getting a vote from the senate. we heard from representative alexandria ocasio-cortez over the weekend expressing concerns about whether aggressive progression would get in. how hard is it going to be for the white house and in particular nancy pelosi with the democrats who have a wide range of -- on the political spectrum, moderates and liberals. >> it's going to be a herculean task. after we heard from alexandria ocasio-cortez, immediately after we heard from senator joe manchin who said he cannot guarantee that this reconciliation bill that progressives are demanding will pass. we heard from kyrsten sinema last week saying $3.5 trillion was too much. that really ruffled a lot of progressive feathers, including senator warren who told me last

week she was visibly frustrated saying, wait a minute 3rks$.5 trillion was a compromise among the moderates in the caucus, and we setsled on this number. we have several months left to figure this out. the long ther goes on, the harder or more difficult to keep everyone in line. >> not just a hot infrastructure summer but into the fall. great. thank you so much. still ahead, the totally different way binge-watching netflix could pay off. "way too early" back in just a minute. "way too early" back in just a minute

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are my people as well. i think this is the house that whitney built. a national historian told the "washington post" it's one of the hot spots. it all began to be put on the map when dolly quietly invested in the area. the fact that dolly would buy in what was a black neighborhood was a very dolly thing to do. she is an machinery treasure. some place that used to play dolly's videos, m tv. it's been on for four decades. it launched august 1st, 1981, using the apolly 11 landing in 1969 with the m tv flag added to the mix. the bubbles, video killed the radio star, was the first to ever air on the message, a strong message for the new media that was taking over the world. now the network is focusing on

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house minority leader kevin mccarthy is facing strong backlash after he said this about speaker nancy pelosi at a fund-raiser over the weekend. take a listen. >> i want you to watch nancy pelosi hand me that gavel. [ cheers and applause ] >> it'll be hard not to hit her with it. >> it will be hard not to hit her with it. his comments were recorded by main street national.

a spokesman for mccarthy said, quote, he was obviously joking, but house democrats are calling on him to apologize. a congresswoman from new mexico tweeted in part, these comments are misogynistic and dangerous. congressman of new york tweeted, violence against women is no laughing matter. apologize. and congresswoman debbie dingell of michigan wrote, language like this led to violence and death at the capitol. mccarthy knows these comments carry weight. good morning, congresswoman. thanks for being here. let me get you to weigh in further on your take on what leader mccarthy said. also, how does this make it that much more difficult to get the two parties to work together in washington? >> you know, i think, one, it's always good to be with you. i'm a morning person who's always up at this hour. >> you have an open invitation. >> thanks. but i was deeply disturbed, but

that moment was something that set me over the edge during the week. when you watched what was happening during congress, there was plenty of name calling on both sides, and i find that unacceptable and childish. when people are throwing masks at staff people on the floor -- we have a mask mandate and they don't want to wear it, i had some very good conversations with some very angry members, quite frankly, on both sides. a republican who i have great respect for, i was on the elevate were him and he said i'm never working with a democrat again. i said you can't say that. later that day we had a very good conversation. emotions are high, but we have to all understand we're leaders with consequences. i'll tell you, i've been the object of some of those words when president trump wentz at me with the vengeance. when you don't understand the

hate machine you end up in when something like that happens. >> you mentioned in your tweet obviously on january 6th, that crowd, that mob at the capitol that talked about assassinating the speaker, we have kevin mccarthy talking about hitting her even if it was a joke, you pointed out the real tension about the masks and the two parties. what can be done to lower the temperature between democrats and republicans? >> i think everyone has a responsibility. i'm going to be frank about it. no one is perfect. i'm tried harder to go over and talk with republicans, especially some my party doesn't like. i do respect them. they were elected by the people. there are some that give me great pause. i'm even speaking to them. i'm trying to have a relationship. they matter. i also want to say when i was

attacked so awfully by president trump, i was stunned at the number of republicans that came to my defense. kevin mccarthy, lindsey graham, a host of republican house members, cabinet members, so we cross the line. we have to make a very calculated effort not to cross that line. civility matters. and i want -- nobody talks about this, but i think it's time people start talking about this, that we have foreign countries that are trying very hard on social media and in other ways to throw kerosene on the fire of pitting ourselves against each other, and i challenge every elected official to not become a tool of those trying to hurt us but that we have a responsibility to listen to each other, respect each other, and tone down the rhetoric. >> well, i would certainly vote for that, congresswoman, but that might be a tall task at

times. i also want to discuss the infrastructure bill that looks like it's going to the senate this week. obviously there's the big reconciliation package to come. also there's a real rise in covid cases across the nation. it's too early to say what direction that will go, and certainly there's a real push for the administration, democrats, some republicans, to get the vaccine. but if things go in a bad direction and more covid relief money is needed, is there an appetite for that? is there a possibility for congress to come up with another aid package? >> first of all, we've got to use what we've got, what we passed. we were in a very real crisis this weekend as the eviction moratorium expired. but we allocated $47 billion, and only $3 billion has gone out. states have to work on it. counties have to work on

simplifying the bureaucracy. people like myself and at the local level need to help these groups cut through the bureaucracy and set up ways to help people not have to be evicted. i'm someone who thinks we are in for a surge. i'm someone who wear as mask, but i'm out, period. i've beenperiod. i've had many people make fun of me the last couple weeks when i'm wearing my mask. i'm not shaking hands again. my hands on my heart, this is real. covid, there are breakthrough, you're not going into the hospital and dying, i'm sick and tired of people saying covid is not really, people complaining. i've gone to more funerals in the last year than i want to go in my lifetime. and it's killing people and people need to grow up and realize covid is real.

>> congresswoman debbie dingle, thank you for those powerful words and being here this morning. please come back. earlier in the show we asked why are you awake? one of you writes it's been unreal hot here so we're painting the bathroom at 2:00 a.m., fun times. brandon also dealing with the effects of the weather. i have to catch my flight to dallas-forth worth after it was cancelled yesterday due to the extreme weather and closure of the dallas airport. gotta make sure i make the flight. stuck in kansas city. another viewer is up way too early because rocky the raccoon was busy working overnight. there's rocky, faithful fan. thank you for tuning in. and sally tweeted i'm up early getting ready for a new nursing job and excited because it's an ino-home job and fully vaccinated. i'd like to thank the fans

none of them writing in about the red sox's disastrous weekend. coming up on a special "morning joe," as we mentioned former dhs secretary jeh johnson joins the conversation about the southern border. and we'll talk to cori bush after she spent a sleepless night protesting the end of eviction moratoriums. you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life.

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joining us now with a look at axios a.m. alexi mchammond. good to see you this morning, what is that axios one big thing? >> today's one big thing is about the boston mayoral race. for the first time in history a white man is not in serious contention to be the next mayor of that city. that matters for a couple of reasons. not least of which as you know well, boston has a checkered history with racism and it's

another sign that the face of the democratic party and the democratic party politics is changing. >> are you seeing this as -- certainly this is very noteworthy for boston, i grew up outside the city, and follow itself its politics closely. is this a trend we're seeing in other cities? eric adams is a black man who is the heavy favorite in new york. what are the trends you're seeing in your reporting? >> when i was reporting on the new york race, tons of operatives said this race is critically interesting but don't forget about boston and seattle. so new york, boston and seattle democratic strategists are telling me there are these parallels, multiple people, women, women of color in the races. the folks i'm talking to say the presence of multiple people and women of color allows for clearer ideological lanes and diversity. one black woman candidate i talked to in boston, andrea campbell, she told me because there are two black women

running for boston's mayor race, they're pushing back against this idea that black women are a monolith and have the same political ideologies and leaning. >> axios is reporting about president obama's 60th birthday this week. he has a substantial celebration planned for this weekend, one that is causing some controversy. walk us through what he's doing and what republicans are saying about it. >> former president barack obama is having his 60th birthday party in martha's vineyard this weekend, it'll be all outside. axios is told there's expected to be 475 guests there. they'll have food catered and it's outside to keep them safe, they have different protocols in place but there's this big political divide in how republicans and democrats are viewing the pandemic and pandemic safety. so any time republicans see

president obama or d.c. mayor, mur yal bowser having a party over the weekend, they're trying to say they're not taking covid seriously. the senate this week is about to go on the recess after the infrastructure bill. we know the ones in the house have already left. what's the tenor now? what's your anticipation as they fan out over the country? do people care about infrastructure, are they focused on covid, what's happening? >> what i hear from boston, new york, is that housing, education, racial education or achieving racial justice are some of the big issues. what's interesting, jonathan in these local races you hear over and over again, what happened with george floyd last summer continues to change the politics in the local races, particularly with voters and candidates focussing on inequalities across the board. >> thank you for being here.

great to see you again. some breaking news, the u.s. women's soccer team just lost to canada 1-0. i'd like to end the show thanking you for being here and bringing you some of my reporting, outside groups supporting biden revealed they're going to be spending about $1 million, they're going to use the time and money to blanket the airwaves to try to push the biden agenda and the white house is sending out cabinet secretaries, the vice president across the country to push for the infrastructure bill, the bipartisan portion and the reconciliation. they want to build momentum and point out just how popular these programs are with republican voters if perhaps not at all that many republican lawmakers. thank you for getting up way too early with us this monday morning. "morning joe" starts now. i'll see you there.

♪♪ good morning and welcome to "morning joe," it is monday august 2nd and we have so much to get to this morning. breaking news from the politics. simone biles will compete again. announcing she'll get back up on the balance beam. and the women who stepped up in her absence are continuing with their impropable medal run. we'll have their incredible stories. also a different kind of international incident, a belarus sprinter is at the airport of japan alleging belarus officials tried to force her back to her home country for criticizing her team officials. we'll have the update on that. and here in the u.s. we're following comments from minority leader kevin mccarthy who now claims he was only joking when he said it would be be hard not to hit nancy pelosi with the gavel if he