americans to safety. plus another 1 million americans received a dose of the covid-19 vaccine yesterday. what it means for the country's fight against the pandemic. and you might think this is video from a police academy at like a boot camp or something. but this is actually training that some flight attendants are undergoing with more and more passengers acting out. we'll have that point. we'll get to yesterday's bomb scare in washington and the anti-government messages the suspect was streaming in real time, another attack in the nation's capitol. but first the biden administration is working to pick up the pace of the evacuation in afghanistan. 3,000 people were evacuated from kabul's airport yesterday. that brings the total to 9,000

since last saturday. but many more are still waiting. richard engel documented his own journey at the kabul airport and filed this report. >> reporter: thousands of afghans were evacuated overnight from kabul airport. they're thankful to be escaping taliban rule, but it isn't pretty to flee a war zone. we watched one group of hundreds of afghans gathered in front of the departure hall leading to the runways. they wait outside for hours until the planes arrive. surrounded by trash, always under guard. most arrive here already exhausted because to get here they had to navigate through taliban fighters. who control the airport perimeter and whose idea of crowd control is using guns and whips. >> outside the airport people

don't let me to go in. >> did you see the taliban beating people? >> yeah. beating and shooting. they run behind you with the ak-47. boom, boom, boom. >> what do you think about what is happening right now to your country, to you? >> our country is like now -- it's finished. no more afghanistan. >> reporter: eventually they're moved inside to a waiting room. a marine tries to lighten the mood, joking with the children. they're given water and military rations. and then more moves and more waiting. there's no fixed time for how long it takes. some are afghan americans, others are seeking asylum. most have just one bag to start their new lives. >> richard engel reporting from the airport in kabul. meanwhile, president biden is facing intense criticism over the exit in afghanistan because of scenes like those. the president will deliver a message later today on the

evacuation effort. >> reporter: the white house says 6,000 people made it safely, but the state department could not say how many americans need to be rescued. >> i don't know that level of detail. >> we're not in a position to give a number right now. >> reporter: the president defended the position. despite the chaos. >> no one is being killed right now, god forgive me if i'm wrong about that. >> reporter: among the most vulnerable, afghan women and girls, fearful of taliban repression. >> there are afghan women outside the gates i told them, get them out, get their families out if they can. >> reporter: the pentagon said they can air lift 9,000 a day but far fewer were evacuated.

>> this is all on president biden. there is no plans to get u.s. citizens outside of kabul into kabul and once they get to kabul there's no plan to make the taliban to let them through. >> reporter: two dozen diplomats at the u.s. embassy warned the state department last month about the possibility of a taliban take over. a source tells nbc news, they sent antony blinken a cable to remove officials and send a memo to be firm and direct. nbc news has not seen the cable firsthand. the day after it was sent, the biden administration announced operations allies refuge to support the relocation of afghan

nationals and their families. let's bring in courtney kube this morning. good to have you this morning. what is the latest with the evacuations and how they're going? and also the cable, again more and more indications that there was a lot of warning about how rough this would be and how bad some of this would go. >> yeah, absolutely. the evacuations are ramping up, as you mentioned, there's been about 3,000 in a roughly 24 hour period on august 19th. so that's up from where they were on sunday and monday where at one point there was a complete stoppage of all flights in and out. the goal right now or the maximum capacity that the military has to take people out is somewhere between 5 and 9,000 people per day, that's roughly a flight every hour. they're not at that point but they're moving in that direction. they also stepped up and nearly

hit their capacity for the number of u.s. military that they're bringing in. they're over 5,200 right now, the goal is just north of 6,000. the mission to evacuate people and get troops to secure the airport is well under way and progressing from several days ago. on that cable it was sent july 13th. i was in kabul that day, on july 13th. it was the day after general scott miller, who was the long-time commander there stepped down as the commander of u.s. forces, and the nato commission there. he said that they were very worried about the ongoing taliban offensive then, they were threatened kandahar, one of the largest cities in the country. so the notion that the taliban took over in a couple days, it's really not true. there was a taliban offensive in the country well under way when

those diplomats sent that cable on july 13th and the taliban was already threatening major cities and there was a real concern already about the afghan's military ability to hold them off. at that point the u.s. military was already advising the afghan government about how to take on the taliban offensive. one way, they recommended sending commandos to the major cities in the country like kandahar and herat with the hope of holding off the onslaught and helping out the afghan conventional forces in the areas but in the days and weeks it became clear that the taliban, they were going to roll through many of the rural areas and as they hit the major cities and more critical kind of strategic provinces, in some cases the afghan military couldn't hold them off and in other cases the afghan military sadly just

folded, mika. >> courtney, as i talk to former military, to a man and woman, they wonder why the united states abandoned a week before that cable the bagram air base. if the plan was to air lift american and afghan allies out of the country bagram would be the place do it, it's been there 20 years and the united states literally left in the middle of the night. why as you talk to your sources at the pentagon did they abandon that if the plan was to get all these people out and do they regret it now? >> so bagram makes sense as a place to stage a lot of people and take them out. there's more runways than kabul airport, it's not in the middle of kabul. it's easier to secure from that perspective. it's not right in the middle of several million people. but it's also not ideal logistically for a major airline in that you have to get the

people from kabul out to bagram. i've driven the road, it's a long road to get out there, it's also an enormous sprawling base so it takes a lot of troops to actually secure the perimeter there. i've heard the criticism but i don't know that bagram would have been the answer to this issue, this problem. just getting the people out there, look at the people outside kabul right now. one of the issues that the u.s. state department and military are facing is, it's not just getting people through the taliban checkpoints and then into the gate and manifested on the flights but what about all the people who can't get to those first taliban checkpoints in kabul. if you were talking about having to get people out to bagram air base it would be one more logistical hurdle and there are checkpoints that existed on that road already so you can only assume that the taliban have

checkpoints and people on the road getting out to bagram. i understand the criticism. the turnover of bagram, though, what that did, that was a game changer for the morale of the afghan military. it was clear when bagram turned over, that was the symbolic end of the united states military presence in afghanistan because the vast majority of troops left when bagram closed or were leaving in those days that was a blow to the afghan military morale. they had the support in the way of medevacs, air support, intelligence, logistics and it became clear with that turnover that the military was not going to be supporting them the same way anymore going forward. >> and now all those weapons in the hands of the taliban. courtney kube covering the pentagon for us. thank you so much. back at home, a north carolina man is facing charges this morning after an hours long stand off with police that he

streamed live on facebook. pete williams has more from washington. >> reporter: nearly five hours after he parked his pickup and claimed to have explosives, a 49-year-old man from north carolina gave up and followed instructions to crawl away ending an intense standoff. >> he got out of the vehicle and surrendered and the tactical units that were close by took him into custody without incident. >> reporter: capitol police say it began a little after 9:00 a.m., when the man, floyd ray rosebury parked his pickup on the sidewalk at the library of congress, called 911 and said he had a bomb. nearby buildings were evacuated, including the supreme court and a house of representatives office building. police and federal agents swarmed in, including the fbi and atf and streets were shut down several blocks away, a massive response in a city on high alert after the capitol

riot and social media threats of violence. he first communicated with them writing notes on a dry erase board. as it began he was sending a live feed from inside the truck to his facebook page. >> all right, guys. looks to me like i'm getting ready to make the phone call. >> reporter: he then made a long series of anti-government statements. a short time later facebook cut off the feed and took down his page. while it was active he showed glimpses of what could be a bomb. investigators reached out to his family members and searched his north carolina home looking for clues of what he might be up to. police sent a robot carrying a phone so they could negotiate with him but they said he never used it, just simply gave up. >> while most members of

congress thanked police for their work. one republican lawmaker seemed to sympathize that man, mo brooks wrote i understand citizenry anger directed at socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and very fabric of american society. the way to stop the march is for patriotic americans to fight back in the 2022, 2024 election. i urge patriotic americans to do that more so than ever. congressman brooks was one of the republican lawmakers who spoke at the trump rally ahead of the january 6th insurrection at the capital and voted in favor of challenging the 2020 election results. brooks was ridiculed by democrats and republican congressman adam kinzinger.

writing the gop has a decision to make are we going to the party that keeps stoking sympathy for domestic terrorists and pushes out truth or finally take a stand for truth. i've made my choice. >> it's remarkable that the leader of the republicans in the house hasn't condemned a fellow member who actually was praising a domestic terrorist, a potential domestic terrorist who delivered a tirade over facebook, live video, which he held biden and the democrats and called for a revolt, and claimed there were other patriots waiting in trucks in d.c. the revolution is here, it's today, america needs a voice, i will give it to them and then it

went on attacking, willie, joe biden, democrats, they're killing america, and this is the -- this is the sort of rhetoric, this is the sort of language that we saw leading into january the 6th. we saw the results of that. and this is -- this is so sim to condemn. you have someone who's a domestic terrorist says he has a bomb by the library of congress, right across the street from the capital and you have a member of congress praising him. it's un-american. and i just wonder what republicans would say of democrats if democrats were praising domestic terrorists that were calling for an insurrection against the united states government? >> and just to remind people at that january 6th rally before

the assault on the capitol, it was congressman brooks who told the crowd to start taking down names and kicking as. that was his quote before the crowd did, in fact, go to the capitol. let's bring in eddie glaude jr. and michael schmidt. good morning to you both. eddie, let me begin with you, we can be thankful there was no bomb in the truck, no explosion, no one was hurt yesterday but what do you think when you hear his rant on facebook and you hear a republican congressman, who i'm sure is not alone in his sentiment, offering his support to the man? >> good morning, willie. it makes concrete that the domestic terror threat is real. we know what's happened since january 6th, the stoking of resentment among those americans who feel marginalized, they're

being replaced, it stands on the precipice of violent reaction. this was an example of the powder keg in some ways but also the cynical nature of the politicians who tried to exploit that resentment, that sense of being marginalized and alienated. so mo books, described the people of january 6th as patriots at times. so there's a debate as to what constitutes patriotism here, some of us want to describe these folks at domestic terrorist, that's what they are. others as patriots defending an america that's under threat. it seems obvious the dangers. >> as eddie said, the threat from domestic terrorist is real. it remains with us. not only that but you have republican members of congress, elected republicans, actually

voicing for support for somebody who says he has a bomb and says he is going to start the revolution and going to blow up the library of congress or congress itself. and yet no condemnation from kevin mccarthy. -- >> reporter: yeah this is the threat that state and local law enforcement have been warning around in the past few months. it's this type of person, an agrieved individual who wants to take the world into their hands, the law into their hands and do something drastic. the capitol has always been a target going many years back for individuals like this. but what we saw on january 6th was that thousands of them were willing to do this. unfortunately if you talk to law enforcement analysts and folks looking at the problem across the country it's that there are many, many more of these people

sitting around today willing to do this, thinking about doing this, seeing this. going onto facebook talking about it and then, like this individual, broadcasting it on facebook. so the capitol, which saw -- always had people that were crazy from across the country that wanted to come there to do something and at times there would be standoffs and different violence it has just enhanced it, january 6th has made it a bigger shrine to these individual gs. and the legacy of that day living on as an a attraction for for more and more people to want to go up there and gain attention and scare and undermine the basic fabric of our democracy. >> yeah, and joe, yet another example, if we needed one, of the enemy from within. this country, fueled by trump, and yet another example, if we

needed one, of facebook literally the guy was broadcasting live on facebook, they had to bring him down but not after he broadcast live on facebook. this platform is being used to fuel the most violent of the most violent rhetoric and acts that we see in live, real time. >> it is, i think it's fascinating, first of all, that, of course, he chose facebook because -- >> why wouldn't he? >> -- so many people did leading into january 6th. but what michael schmidt said, eddie cloud, it's a great insight. we've always had crazy people that have always done crazy things around the united states capitol. in fact, if these were normal times we might do a one-sentence statement and move on to the next story. what makes 2021 different? what makes this different is,

you have a republican members of congress who says he understands domestic terrorism. he understands, he supports the domestic terrorism he gets it. he's one of the same people that talked about before the insurrection against united states of america on january the 6th, and again it's -- some people are offended when you say that. look up sedition in the federal statutes and you'll see it lines up so neatly with that. but you have a members of congress saying, i support this. you have a leader of the republican party that refused to condemn it, and then you have a former republican president of the united states whose lies, over years, have created this sort of environment so you have a republican party that sits

mute while domestic terrorists plot the next overthrow of the u.s. government. >> joe, i think you're right. if we put all of that together, one can conclude that there are members of the republican party, and we might say the republican party as such, that present a clear and present danger to our democracy. one of the things that michael schmidt made really clear to us is that january 6th unleashed, in some ways, the crazies, it allows them to me metastasize. but there are folks denying the significance of january 6th. at the moment we saw a threat to the people's house we've seen over these months members of congress on the republican side, particularly, denying what that actual event represented. so here we have again the latest instance of someone threatening the library of congress, providing the rational for doing

so, and a member of the republican party engaged in craven and cynical exploitation of danger for that political gain. and we need to describe it for what it is. >> and to be very clear, i've been saying it here for a couple of months, michael schmidt, we have three parties right now in the united states, we have democrats, we have republicans, and we have an insurrectionist party. and in that insurrectionist party you have people like ron johnson who said january 6th, he had absolutely no fear of the people coming, there was nothing untoward about what happened on january 6th. if it had been black lives matter ron johnson said that would have been different, i would have been nervous about that with police brutalized with american flags he wasn't concerned about that. you have the representative who was helping push the object in front of the door, the capital

doors who later said there was nothing but a punch of tourists going through the capitol that day, just another day. and you have donald trump calling people who savaged police officers, beat police officers up, brutalized them, calling them patriots. which is interesting going from calling them antifa to patriots, all these people carrying trump flags and brutalizing the police. therein lies the real problem. you can have some republicans trying to distance themselves from these insurrectionists, these domestic terrorists and as long as you have the leader in the house of representatives for republicans afraid of his own shadow, afraid to condemn this domestic terrorism, afraid to move against members of his own caucus that say things, it seems

on a regular basis, that deserve sanction then you have at least the house republicans who own this domestic terrorism because they won't call it out. >> throughout american history we have had sections of our society that have been deeply skeptical if not deeply at odds with government. they have not believed in respecting the federal government. they have not wanted to do what the government said about medical things. they have been skeptical of vaccines, these are pockets of the country that have always existed, but when you have politicians that embrace that rhetoric, it just gives license and helps that section of the country grow because they are hearing people in leadership, who they are looking up to and who they believe have authority endorse their views of the world. so whether that is about january 6th and what happened there,

whether that is about vaccines, whether that is about wearing a mask, these sections of society are getting an okay -- an endorsement of their view from people whose voices are amplified over a range of platforms and what we live in today in our country is exactly that, it is those groups being fed by politicians and believing more in their own unfortunate misguided notions of what is actually going on in the country and what needs to be done to get us to a better place. >> all right. michael schmidt, thank you very much. and eddie, please stay with us. still ahead on "morning joe," president biden is facing backlash over the exit from afghanistan. but former president trump is facing criticism too. including from some of his former administration officials. plus a growing number of

senators are testing positive for coronavirus, despite being vaccinated. this delta variant is strong. also a programming note, next week i sit down with incoming government of new york, kathy hochul. who's set to become the first woman to lead that state. catch that exclusive interview tuesday morning here on "morning joe." before we go to break, let's go to bill karins with a check on the forecast. you're tracking a weather threat to new england. tell us about it. >> mika, this has changed once again overnight we're looking at hurricane watches for the first time in ten years issued for long island and areas of new england. we are expecting the first hurricane to make landfall in southern new england in 30 years this weekend. that's sunday afternoon, you have two days of preparations, hundreds if not thousands of people will be pulling boats out of the water today. i imagine grocery stores will be

empty in southern new england today, too. we have the hurricane watches from islip to mon talk, martha's vineyard. it's a tropical storm, it's still safely off the southeast coast. it's going to take the turn to the next over the next 24, 36 hours, the hurricane center brings it up to a category one hurricane off the coast of eastern north carolina saturday afternoon. then the storm heads northwards as we go through the the weekend and it looks like the landfall would be sunday afternoon. right now pinpointing it into rhode island that would bring the strongest storm surge and winds over massachusetts, and bring heavy rain to areas of new england. how sure are we where the storm is going, the black line is the hurricane center, some of our commuters are saying direct landfall into long island, some

are saying cape cod. we're telling everyone from new york city to boston, be prepared for the possibility of an extended period of power outages starting on sunday. this would be a big deal and we'll probably see millions of people come monday out of power in southern new england. today, showers and thunderstorms around washington d.c., starting off with a gloomy morning. you're watching "morning joe" we'll be right back. ♪ you probably think visa is a credit card company, huh?

♪ but it's actually a network. ♪ connecting just about everyone to just about everyone else. ♪ it can open eyes with a cup of coffee and change minds on what makes a business, a business. and it is working to connect everyone, everywhere. so, meet visa. a network working for everyone. ♪ finding new routes to reach your customers, and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business changes, we're changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide. same day shipping across town. returns right from the doorstep, and deliveries seven days a week. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. your mission: stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis.

and take. it. on... ...with rinvoq. rinvoq a once-daily pill can dramatically improve symptoms... rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. and for some rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. that's rinvoq relief. with ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred... ...as have certain cancers, including lymphoma, and tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. tell your doctor about any infections...and if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. take on ra. talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. rinvoq. make it your mission. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. if you can't afford your medicine, this couple was on a camping trip...

...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ comcast nbcuniversal is investing in entrepreneurs to bring what's next for sports technology to athletes, teams, and fans. that's why we created the sportstech accelerator, to invest in and develop the next generation of technology that will change the way we experience sports. we've already invested in entrepreneurs like ane swim, who develops products that provide hair protection so that everyone can enjoy the freedom of swimming. like the athletes competing in tokyo, these entrepreneurs have a fierce work ethic and drive to achieve - to change the game and inspire the team of tomorrow.

it's time for the biggest sale of the year, on the new sleep number 360 smart bed. it helps keep you effortlessly comfortable by sensing your movements and automatically responding to both of you. and, it's temperature balancing to help you stay comfortable all night. it even tracks your circadian rhythm, so you know when you're at your best. in other words, it's the most energy building, wellness boosting, parent-powering, proven quality night's sleep we've ever made. and now, all smart beds are on sale. save 50% on the new sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 0% interest for 24 months. only for a limited time. joe." 6:33 here in new york. in washington, three united states senators reported breakthrough cases of covid-19 on thursday. senators angus king, roger when

i can -- whiker, and john hickenlooper. they're the latest vaccinated politicians to announce positive tests in weeks others include lindsey graham and texas governor greg abbott. the archdiocese of philadelphia is the latest district of the catholic church to reject religious exemptions to the covid-19 vaccine mandates. church leaders in the city has urged priests not to help parishioners avoid being vaccinated. at least five other diocese in san diego, new york, los angeles, honolulu and camden, new jersey have given similar guidance. it stands in sharp contrast with other bishop and catholic organizations that have

supported those wanting exemptions for religious reasons. >> this has been an ongoing debate in the catholic church for some time and, of course, with covid everything seems new for so many people like the debates have never happened before. but actually, the catholic church going back to 2005 was debating the fact that in vaccine research often fetal tissue from years back are actually -- is used in research, which ultimately leads to a vaccine and even back in 2005, the catholic church gave direction saying that if there were alternatives to use the alternatives but if there were not alternatives and something needed to be used for life saving reasons then to do that and that's what you're seeing the catholic church doing here in philadelphia and other archdiocese saying that catholic

parishioners should, in fact, get the vaccine. >> we have a few stories now that should really frame why the vaccine is so necessary. another mother, 31 years old, in florida, died on sunday from covid-19 less than a month after giving birth to her second child. she gave birth to her daughter via emergency c-section on july 18th, a week after being admitted to the hospital with the virus. after giving birth, the virus progressed rapidly and she was placed on a ventilator, where she remained for 19 days before her death. my god. according to her fiancee, grace was young, healthy and in great shape and active. he added she was unvaccinated only due to her pregnancy -- which doctors say that is

incorrect -- they explain they took the threat seriously. last week the cdc urged all pregnant women to get vaccinated, saying there's no evidence that the vaccines cause miscarriage. pregnant women need to get the vaccine. there are too many stories like this. >> right. there has been a question among pregnant women who have been wondering whether it was safe or not, the cdc last week came out with a very strong recommendation that also followed the recommendation of most health groups that if you're pregnant, get the vaccine. and you're right, mika, we've seen too many stories like this. >> we have a missouri congresswoman who lost her husband, again unvaccinated. it's got to stop.

people have got to get the vaccine. it has to happen as soon as possible so we can get this country back on track. get this country healthy. >> and willie, we're -- we talk about the health of it all, but again, so ironic that the same people a year ago were yelling, open up, open up businesses, open up schools, open up the countries, many of these people are saying we're not going to do the one thing that will allow that to happen, which is to get the vaccine. it's just in the numbers. just an overwhelming number of icu beds that are filled, over 90% in most cases are filled by the unvaccinated. the emergency rooms are jam packed with the unvaccinated. across the deep south and large parts of florida, icu beds completely filled because of unvaccinated americans.

so for those people saying open the country a year ago, we have that opportunity. but that opportunity comes if people get vaccinated. >> yeah, it's the same conversation we had a year and a half ago around masks. which is that it's not an abridgment to your freedom, it's the path to freedom. the freedom to opening your businesses and getting kids back to school was a mask then. now we have a miracle drug that was started under the trump administration and doctors and scientists, they did it, made the miracle drug that can get us out of this. but the tragic awful story of the woman who died after her child was born, you know, you can understand hesitancy from a pregnant woman wanting to understand what she's putting in her body that's why the cdc is saying get it. but there's a lot of bad

information out there online and on cable news and other places that can overwhelm the medical expertise and the information that's getting out there. a terrible tragedy there in florida. coming up on "morning joe," new concerns after the taliban reportedly gained a massive war chest with u.s. made hum vies, helicopters, drones and more. a retired admiral joins us next with his perspective on what's going on right now, this morning in afghanistan. "morning joe" is coming right back. in afghanistan "morning joe" is coming right back

♪ ♪ dry eye symptoms keep driving you crazy? inflammation in your eye might be to blame. [inflammation] let's kick ken's ache and burn into gear! over the counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief.

those drops will probably pass right by me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. [inflammation] what's that? [inflammation] xiidra? no! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda-approved non-steroid treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait fifteen minutes before reinserting contacts. [inflammation] got any room in your eye? be proactive about managing your symptoms by talking to your doctor about twice-daily xiidra. like i did. [inflammation] i prefer you didn't! xiidra. not today, dry eye. ice cream is like whooping cough, it's not just for kids. whooping cough is highly contagious for people of any age. and it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination because it's not just for kids. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination after my car accident,

because it's not just for kids. i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm. it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible. call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

it is 44 past the hour, and rainy, gloomy, washington d.c. this morning. a live look at the white house. the biden administration has new concerns in afghanistan. the massive war chest of u.s. weapons and equipment that now belong to the taliban. and the group's ability to use that weaponry against civilians.

"reuters" reports there is video of the taliban inspecting lines of vehicle and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear, military drones and night goggles that the u.s. left for the new dispersed afghan army. the current assessment is that the taliban are believed to control more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including u.s. humvees and up to 40 aircraft potentially, including black hawk helicopters. the administration is so concerned about the weapons that it is considering launching air strikes against the larger equipment such as helicopters but there is concern that would antagonize the taliban at a time the united states' main goal is evacuating people. joining us now retired four star navy admiral, a diplomacy

analyst for nbc news and msnbc, and joe, this seems to be getting more and more complicated. >> i suppose so. admiral, let's talk about how complicated this is. obviously you don't want to antagonize the taliban while we're trying to get troops out right now the head of set com has gone to them said here's the deal we're going to get our people out, don't get in our way. if you do, we're going to antagonize you. so regarding this equipment, what would your recommendation be? get the people out and then start drawing up plans to destroy some of the more effective equipment left behind? >> i expect we're well into the process of figuring out how to destroy it when the right time comes joe. but you're right. job one, the tactical mission in

front of the armed forces at this minute is to get people out of afghanistan. and, of course, the challenge is actually not getting them out of afghanistan. we, as the saying goes, we have the technology to do that, the technology is getting them in, getting them into the airport. so we've got a tactical challenge that is extreme in front of us. i know that's got the full attention of the administration. when we get the maximum number of people out, then yes, this big equipment cache is a challenge. look back at iran when we left iran. iranians inherited a lot of u.s. equipment. look more recently at the islamic state, they rolled toward baghdad on u.s. humvees in some cases operating really heavy armor and artillery. the taliban are capable, they're smart as we see, they're going

to jump at using this equipment not only against their own people but potentially other scenarios i can envision. that's a big problem but not as big as getting people out of the airport right now. >> i want to read what "the wall street journal" wrote in one of its latest editorials. the right and our afghan allies. the editorial board writes this. the biden administration is rightly attempting to evacuate special immigrant visa applications. these are thousands of people who proved they work well with americans. they aren't muslim extremists, gop hostility to these afghans is also a political mistake. voters know the difference between lawlessness on the southern u.s. border and afghans who earned the right to

immigrant in a lawful program. conservatives claim to believe in american exceptionalism and once took pride in exiles from american land. afghans who fought with us deserve no less. and i know, admiral, that i'm going to get a big hearty amen from you on this one. how important is it that we welcome these heroes, these allies into our country in their time of need? >> it is 100% who we are as a nation. and we need to remember that. we have built this country on actions like that. and by the way, i'm from south florida, i've seen the cuban american community, what they have given to this nation is extraordinary. and more recently, think about the vietnamese american community, now many of them on

active duty in the military, for example, children of people who were picked up in boats during the evacuation of saigon are now commissioned officers, commanding ships in the united states navy. we would be very foolish to turn away from this, a, on the pragmatic side of it these people are going to come and contribute. look, this is the hunger games. the people who make it here through the gauntlet, i want them on my team for pragmatic reasons. and secondly, joe, as we started the conversation, it's who we are as a nation. we've got to step up and make this happen for all of those reasons. >> admiral, it's willie, good to see you this morning. the case has been made by many people on this show and elsewhere, that leaving a small american force in afghanistan would have prevented what we've seen over the last two weeks, just a few thousand troops. do you agree with that assessment? would that small strike force,

that response force of american troops have prevented the taliban from rolling across the country? >> you can't prove the counter factual, of course, but my instinct is that we could have -- and i commented on this and advised many in the administration on this, wait. we negotiated this agreement with the taliban under the trump administration. but it was always going to be conditions-based. the taliban never lived up to their side of that bargain. so i'm not sure what the rush was to pull all of our people out. and yes, i believe if we had stretched it out a bit, i still take the president's point, strategically it's time to get out of afghanistan but tactically this has turned into a very difficult situation. it would have been different in my view. >> it's been a little bit jaw dropping, admiral to hear some people entertain the notion this is a different taliban, something they said back in the '90s.

we've changed we're going to allow women to go to school. they're saying that again and some people publicly appear to be taking that seriously despite what we know about the taliban being a medieval torture cult effectively. what's your take? >> taliban 2.0, if you believe they're going to be kinder and gentler and listening to their better angels, if you believe that, i have a bridge to sell you and i can sell you that big white house behind you, willie. we are seeing reports already how they are treating women and children, seeing on video how they're conducting crowd control with whips, chains and guns. nothing i'm seeing in taliban 2.0, other than they are much bet erat media. they are working to kind of improve their public image. but so far i don't see anything

that gives me comfort in that regard, tragically. so i think again, job one, let's get our people out of there. and then let's assess whether we have a taliban 2.0 where we're going to have to go back in, gather intelligence, get rid of weapons systems in their hands. those are missions for another day, unfortunately i suspect they'll be in our gun sights in our future again. >> eddie glaude has a question for you. >>ing president biden is poised to speak to the country today about afghanistan, what do you expect him to say and what do you think he should say to the american public about this current crisis? >> i think he'll reiterate the strategic view he has. that it's time to get out of afghanistan. and i think the majority of the country agrees with that, to be honest. you can have a debate about it but at this point good deal, bad deal, it's a done deal.

so he'll hit that bell again. i think secondly, in terms of what's happened in front of our eyes here, he needs to take responsibility for the difficulties, for the challenges in a very direct way. and then, more importantly, he needs to talk about what's next. and that means laying out a bit of the tactics, how are we going to get our people out, get our allies back here. number two, how are we going to do intelligence, how are we going to make sure al qaeda doesn't resurface, and number three, i'd like to hear him say something about our allies or really something to our allies that, hey, this is not a bright, shining moment for america in the world. but we are with you, we're going to consult, we're going to conduct ourselves in ways that make us a valuable ally going forward. people in taiwan are watching the scenario closely, for example.

i think there's a reassurance component, willie, and eddie, that needs to be in there. >> and obviously people in taiwan are watching this, so are people in china, so are, of course, people in moscow, all over the world. i want to ask you, admiral, about how much has been lost. i'll tell you, as i'm sorting through all of this, and please correct me where i need correction because i know i need correction so much. but i'm sorting through all of this and perhaps if people just -- 75% of americans wanted us out of afghanistan. then perhaps i understand why this president and the last said maybe it's time to get out of afghanistan. i do wonder, though, if there wasn't a deal to be made with the taliban where we weren't asking them but telling them, we're going to give you the country we're keeping bagram, one of the most strategically

based airfields in that part of the world. it's between china and iran. helps us project power across central asia. as we look at the debacle over the past couple of weeks. as the wall street journal page said we gave away bagram for nothing. we left in the middle of the night. and it was like ten aircraft carriers sitting in the middle of the ocean for us to project power. it was a loss. how do we project power in that part of the world without it? >> it was an enormous loss. just look at a map. china, iran, pakistan, the stans, russia to the north, it's strategic, grand central station, big loss. how do we project power going forward, the old fashioned way. take three aircraft carriers bring them north to the sea, 300

miles to go just to get to bagram. you bring in long range aircraft to bases we can do the over the horizon thing. it's not mission impossible but it's mission very, very hard from bagram. >> thank you, admiral, for being on this morning. still ahead, white house communications director, kate bedingfield will join us as the u.s. struggles to pick up the pace of evacuations in afghanistan. plus the biden administration is recommending covid booster shots for most vaccinated americans but some health experts are not convinced a third dose is needed. "morning joe" is coming right back. s needed "morning joe" is coming right back

>> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. this couple was on a camping trip... ...when their windshield got a chip. they drove to safelite for a same-day repair. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them.

>> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ i've lost count of how many asthma attacks i've had. but my nunormal with nucala? fewer asthma attacks. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection-site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your doctor about nucala. find your nunormal with nucala. after my car accident, i wondered what my case was worth. so i called the barnes firm. when that car hit my motorcycle, insurance wasn't fair. so i called the barnes firm.

it was the best call i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, our r inry a attneysys wk hahard i could've made. atat t bararnefirmrm, to get you the best result possible. call us now and find out what your case could be worth. you u mit bebe sprisised ♪ the barnes firm injury attorneys ♪ ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪

beautiful shot of new york city. live this morning -- >> happy friday. >> it is friday. welcome back to "morning joe." top of the hour on friday, august 20th. eddie glaude jr. still with us. joining the conversation we have peter baker. and msnbc national affairs analyst john heileman. good to have you. >> i'm curious, peter baker, where do we stand at the end of a week that started extraordinarily chaotic in afghanistan and now seems to be stabilizing a bit. we're getting some americans out and getting those that supported america's efforts in afghanistan over the past 20 years out. how does the white house feel about where we are today? >> well, i think they're feeling a little calmer today than they were earlier in the week, they

reported this morning, they now shipped out 9,000 people this week. most of the americans who are trying to get out, they believe have been able to get out, there are some there, many afghans who allied with us over the years there still. but the taliban are still outside the airport that has the potential to blow up any moment, they know that. but the fear of an iranian hostage situation where americans were in some ways harmed directly or held hostage on the way out, the fear seems to be receding a little bit as the planes are taking off and landing at this point. the broader issue is still there, which is now that we have turned over afghanistan to the taliban, you know, what have we, you know, left behind. the 38 million afghans who will still be there, not be evacuated. are going to be subjected to one

of the most repressive regime in some time. there will be pictures and stories that will make the biden administration uncomfortable even as they stand by their decision. >> john heileman, i'll ask you the same question and let's look at it through a political lens as many people have. you have -- before this happened you have 75% of americans who wanted us out, according to some polls. i saw a poll come out later in the week this week that showed that an overwhelming majority of americans didn't think fighting in afghanistan was worth it or fighting in iraq was worth it. most people want our troops home. i'm wondering, as we move further away from the story how much it fades in americans' minds and they end up, despite hating the way it happened and the chaos if most americans

won't, as we move forward, say yeah, we should have been out of there anyway. >> right. i think joe, number one on the politics of it all, the white house has been disciplined. sometimes you pointed out that joe biden -- i think yesterday you used the word brittle, which i thought was a good word for his interview with george stephanopoulos. there's been evident frustration the way the story has been covered and with the facts on the ground obviously in the administration. but they've been disciplined throughout the week in trying to continue to frame the message here as being the story should be the thing you just mentioned, overwhelming american support for ending the war in afghanistan. if they can keep that conversation on that question, should we stay, should we go, that is an argument they think they can win in the long term and i think they're probably right about that. if the discussion is framed around how the exit took place, that's a discussion they're less

comfortable with because the images were terrible and people don't like what they saw. but as time fades and peter pointed out correctly, 9,000 americans are out, i believe there's not been an american death on the way out the door and if they can continue on that path, saying we got all americans out and no one died, that helps to put the short term focus on how the execution of this played out. put that in the rear view mirror and stay focused on the large question, that americans wanted us out of afghanistan, like it or not. the other thing that the white house is concerned about long term is up until last week, there's not been any daylight between the white house and any element of the democratic party. they have kept. they have had almost no internal party criticism. even when you've seen some on the left make noise about the domestic legislative agenda and trying to hold nancy pelosi's feet to the fire or moderates doing the same.

criticism of the white house, if you look back to january has been almost nonexistent until this week. this is the first time the white house has been in the cross hairs from various factions of the party. from obviously a lot of former veterans, the seth moldens of the world. but also from progressive women who are concerned about the fate of afghan women and girls. this is the first time they've had to face that. it's an uncomfortable position to have eight months free of criticism and now have your own party going after you in this way. it's a sign that the honeymoon is over, the question is whether they can pull the party back and get to the solidarity they have before. that's the job politically as we head into the fall. >> eddie glaude i know i'm in the minority, i think we should have kept 2,500 troops in

afghanistan. i guess the overwhelming members of joe biden's party think he made the right move, even if they didn't like the way things unfolded? >> i think you're right, joe. i want to pull back for a moment because i agree with everything that john just said. what does this reveal about the biden doctrine. we came through four years of donald trump and some ways his attempt to undo the post-world war ii consensus, do we see the decision to pull out of afghanistan as the beginnings of an outline of the biden doctrine around foreign policy. we're seeing the shifting of the ground of american politics domestically and we're seeing the shifting of the ground of america's presence in the world how we project power across the globe. so i'm wondering how we might drill down in this moment, joe. and think about, is this the beginning of the understanding of what a biden doctrine might look like, i'm not sure. but you're right there's a

general consensus in the party that he's doing the right thing here. >> we have white house communications director, kate bedingfield joining us later on so we can ask her a lot of these questions. we'll turn now to the latest on the pandemic. the debate over booster shots continues. with some questioning the value of a third dose while many refusing to get their first. nbc news correspondent miguel almaguer explains. >> reporter: with 155 million americans set to qualify for a booster over the next eight months some leading experts are not yet convinced a third dose is actually needed. citing multiple studies, the white house task force laid out a case of waning protection from infection and the delta variant. so far there's only been a slight decline in the prevention of hospitalization and serious illness. >> i do think the administration is moving a bit too fast. we vaccinate to save lives.

the purpose here is not to prevent mild cough/cold flu symptoms or something that leaves you laid up in bed. the point is to prevent severe disease hospitalizations and death. >> reporter: in a campaign blitz top officials look to reassure americans warning they're not just trying to prevent the explosion in new cases but more importantly the surge of hospitalizations already overwhelming some medical centers. >> rather than saying let's wait until we start seeing significant disease and hospitalizations, let's get ahead of the curve. >> reporter: the w.h.o. says other countries will pay the price for boosters. >> we're planning to hand the extra life jackets to people who have life jackets while we're leaving other people to drown without a single life jacket. >> reporter: left out of the debate those vaccinated with johnson & johnson it could be weeks until we know if they too need a booster.

now some worry the new dose could undermine the confidence of those who chose not to get vaccinated. miguel almaguer nbc news. let's bring in executive vice president of the robert wood johnson foundation, dr. julie marita, she served on the advisory board during the transition. i want to ask you about booster shots in a moment but we're still telling stories every day of people who didn't even have one shot, who refused to get the vaccine ending up dying of covid, young mothers, members of congress, their husbands who have chosen not to get the vaccine. where do we stand as a country in terms of being able to beat this pandemic as it pertains to the numbers of those who are still choosing not to get vaccinated? >> good morning. nice to see you. i think your point is really a good point.

at this point we still have less than -- just over 50% of all of our people available in the u.s. to get vaccinated have gotten vaccinated. so we have a large percentage of people who have not gotten vaccinated. that has to do with people having questions and concerns about vaccines but some of it has to do with people not being able to access the vaccines because they're not able to get them after hours or because transportation isn't easy for them. so these things need to be addressed. everything that can be done should be done right now to make sure people can get their first and second doses so we can stop the surge. >> doctor, it's willie geist. as you know, we bumped up against the ceiling of people willing to get vaccinated. 70% of adults have at least one dose, double dose is around 50% in this country despite the best efforts by public health officials, and trusted partners in states and communities, they've tried everything.

there's a group of people in this country that won't take the shot. what does that pertend for areas with low vaccination rates? >> the vaccine levels are less than what we want them to be and the vaccines are our best way out of this pandemic. everything that needs to be -- that can be done should be done to make sure they get their vaccines. what i think is reassuring is the -- that a million doses of the vaccines were administered in the last 24 hours. that's a huge improvement from what it had been in prior weeks. we levelled out at about 500,000 doses a day and we're back up to a million doses. given my past experience in immunization work, when we saw disease rates increase, that was often the best motivation for people to get vaccinated. we let our guard down and think about ourselves protected when we don't see surges in disease but the delta variant is making the disease more real than it

has been in recent weeks. so i'm looking forward to recent uptakes in the vaccine. >> john heileman has the next question. >> doctor, i'm curious about what you think about the importance of and how to handle the competing imperatives here of obviously trying to keep american people healthy, vaccinate as many as possible, give boosters to people with two shots and so forth and the problems we face worldwide, the problems of the unvaccinated world serving as a breeding ground for new variants. joe biden said the other day we can do both. we can have plenty of vaccine doses for americans while also sending tens of millions of shots out into the world. but the vaccine supply is finite. it seems to me in the long run if we're concerned about new variants, the global challenge here is in some ways maybe the

most important challenge because of the -- just that there's 6 billion people that haven't been vaccinated yet and that's where the new variants are going to take root. >> your point is an excellent point but i also don't think it's an either/or situation. we must focus on protecting our country and people within the u.s. and we also have to keep our eye on what's happening globally because we're not protected in the u.s. unless the rest of the world is protected as well. while we're contemplating whether or not a booster dose is recommended and there's still steps that need to happen before a booster is recommended and that means the fda has to approve it for emergency use and the cdc has to have the advisory committee weigh in, and looking at all the data available, including information from the manufacturers themselves, that will inform whether a recommendation occurs in september.

but at the same time everything that can be done should be done to ramp up production and make more vaccine available globally. that is an imperative from our perspective for the rest of the world but also ourselves and the united states. >> doctor, thank you very much for joining us this morning. still ahead on "morning joe," amid growing criticism over the exit from afghanistan, president biden is expected to deliver remarks today on the evacuation efforts. but before that, white house communications director kate bedingfield joins us to weigh in on the efforts to get americans and our allies out of kabul safely. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ning joe." we'll be right back. without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month.

prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices.

hey lily, i need a new wireless plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. oh, we can help with that. okay, imagine this... your mover, rob, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown, your sales rep lisa has to send some files, asap! so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee... yeah i should've just led with that... with at&t business... you can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. >> tech: every customer has their own safelite story. this couple loves camping adventures and their suv is always there with them. so when their windshield got a chip, they wanted it fixed fast. they drove to safelite autoglass

for a guaranteed, same-day, in-shop repair. we repaired the chip before it could crack. and with their insurance, it was no cost to them. >> woman: really? >> tech: that's service you can trust, when you need it most. ♪ pop rock music ♪ >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ at usaa, we've been called too exclusive. because we only serve those who honorably served. all ranks, all branches, and their families. are we still exclusive? absolutely. and that's exactly why you should join. find your rhythm. ar your happy place.ve? absolutely. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c.

introducing xfinity rewards. our very own way of thanking you just for being with us. enjoy rewards like movie night specials. xfinity mobile benefits. ...and exclusive experiences, like the chance to win tickets to see watch what happens live. hey! it's me. the longer you've been with us... the more rewards you can get. like sharpening your cooking skills with a top chef. join for free on the xfinity app and watch all the rewards float in. our thanks. your rewards. being raised about how the

taliban raised the money to fund its takeover in afghanistan. chief foreign affairs correspondent "andrea mitchell reports." >> reporter: new allegations about how the taliban could have financed their bombing campaign in afghanistan and paid off local afghan leaders paving their way to a lightning march on kabul. according to a lawsuit filed by 500 victims, accusing some of the world's largest banks of knowingly laundering $100 million to the terrorists. victims like an, seen here in 2013, 12 days later she and four others were killed by a taliban ied while delivering books to school children outside the capital. this week's news bringing it back to her parents. how do you feel now seeing the

taliban in charge of afghanistan. >> it's been hard to watch and i think a lot about all the different work that ann was doing, especially with afghan women. >> he was bringing books to the children when this terrible thing happened. >> because she knew that was the key. to educate the children of afghanistan for their future. >> reporter: now they joined the lawsuit accusing big banks of violating u.s. anti-terrorism laws. the banks refused to comment. >> if companies are making money by aiding the taliban to kill americans, then yes, they ought to be held accountable for that. and this is the plague. >> reporter: her parents are comforted by a garden and plaque at the hometown library and memorial at the state department. later they found what she wrote on her application.

>> a post in kabul will require great sacrifice, but this is the reason i joined the foreign service, to serve my country in the best way i can. >> reporter: they hope her work lives on in the people she affected, now challenged more than ever. andrea mitchell, river forest, illinois. afghan forces who did fight the taliban also are at risk in the country, taliban forces are searching through old files to exact revenge on the opposition. the times reports, the militants are threatened to arrest or punish family members if they cannot find the people they are seeking, according to the former afghan officials. the report prepared for the united nations and veterans contacted by desperate afghans who served alongside them. they've been combing through

records drawing up lists of operatives to search for. and there are more reports that militants are exacting swift and fatal revenge when they are found. video posted last week by afghanistan's public broadcasting showed dozens of bodies left by the side of the road, many reportedly afghan soldiers who had been executed. >> that stands in contrast to claims from the group that it changed since the late 1990s. protesters waved the afghan flag in kabul and other parts of the country demonstrating against the taliban takeover. taliban authorities also instituted a 24-hour curfew after violently breaking up a protest in one province. this comes after three people were reportedly killed on wednesday after replacing a taliban flag with the flag of

the former afghan government. we're going to ask white house communications director kate bedingfield about all of this next on "morning joe." we'll be right back. xt on "morn" we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ discover card i just got my cashback match is this for real? yup! we match all the cash back new card members

earn at the end of their first year automatically woo! i got my mo-ney! it's hard to contain yourself isn't it? uh- huh! well let it go! woooo! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. one, two! one, two, three! only pay for what you need! with customized car insurance from liberty mutual! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year.

nothing rhymes with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ i've spent centuries evolving with the world. that's the nature of being the economy. observing investors choose assets to balance risk and reward. with one element securing portfolios, time after time. gold. agile and liquid. a proven protector. an ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions. an asset more relevant than ever before. gold. your strategic advantage.

welcome back to "morning joe." it is absolutely pouring rain at the white house. 7:27 in the morning there. here on the east coast. president biden will speak today about the ongoing evacuations in afghanistan. the president facing bipartisan backlash for the slow and chaotic evacuation of americans and afghan allies. the white house says 3,000 people were evacuated yesterday from kabul's airport, bringing the total to 9,000 since last saturday. joining us now, kate bedingfield. thanks for being with us this morning. can you give us an update on those numbers, how many people do you expect to evacuate today

and how many american and afghan wartime allies remain to be evacuated. >> we are continuing to increase the numbers every day, overnight we announced we have moved out 9,000 people since the fall of kabul and 14,000 since july. so we are -- we have taken control of the airport. we are -- flights are leaving regularly. i would say that's not something that happens without planning. that's not something that just happened. the president planned for multiple contingencies, that's why he prepositioned troops in the gulf able to move in immediately, taking control of the airport and setting up flights to get people out of the country. it's a mission he's laser focused on, getting every american who wants to leave afghanistan out of afghanistan and moving people out as quickly as possible. >> obviously we're fighting the pouring rain behind you in terms of the audio here but as you look back at it now, as

president biden watches what's unfolded in the last five or six days, would it have made more sense to have secured the airport, kept bagram perhaps, to evacuate all of these people before american troops left? in other words, isn't what we're seeing now play out, the chaos at the airport and the fact that american troops had to go back into the country, doesn't that make the case for having stayed long enough to get the people out first. >> i'm glad you asked this, this is a question people have raised. it's important to remember that at any point that we began a mass evacuation of americans and afghan allies out of afghanistan it was going to signal the imminent collapse of the afghan government it was going to be a chaotic situation whether it happened five months ago, five weeks ago or this week. so our effort was to continue to try to ensure that the afghan government had the opportunity to remain in place.

now we've prepared for every contingency we knew the rapid fall of kabul of possible and that's why we prepared and put the troops in the region. 48 hours after the fall of kabul we evacuated all of our embassy personnel to the airport without a shot fired. that's not something that happens that requires foresight and planning and that's what president biden and his team did. >> on july 8th, president biden as you know said a taliban takeover of the country is not inevitable, he called it highly unlikely. how did he get that so wrong as the taliban rolled across the country in the span of eight or nine days? >> he was talking about whether this was a possibility and not an inevitability. as we've seen in all the reporting the last week, the president saw a wide array of intelligence, you heard from general milley, director haynes, they saw no intelligence that

suggested that kabul would fall within 11 days. that was not a scenario that was put in front of the president. so he saw a wide array of intelligence but ultimately at the end of the day he's the commander in chief and the buck stops with him, he made the decision. he believes sending another generation of american men and women to fight, to prop up a government whose leadership was unwilling to fight for itself is not in our national interest and not in the interest of our troops. this was a decision he made knowing this was the right thing for our men and women in uniform and also in the national interest of the united states. >> i think a lot of people in the country agree with you, a plot of people voted for the idea of getting out of afghanistan they didn't vote for the way it's playing out right now. does the president not have any regrets about the way this was handled as he watches the scenes in afghanistan? >> of course the scenes are

heartbreaking, are difficult. i think at any time when a government, and a 300,000 person army essentially melts away, there's going to be some level of chaos. it doesn't make us acceptable, that's why he's moving, why he has directed the department of defense to move to get every american who wants to get out out. to get our allies out of afghanistan. that's why we're having the flights taking off and the number of people increasing each day that we're moving out of the country. of course, the scenes of chaos are heartbreaking but we're working to get every american out of afghanistan who wants to get out of afghanistan. >> can i ask you about the balance of evacuating people from afghanistan and dealing with the weaponry that has been left behind, what kind of weaponry is in taliban hands? what's the plan for that? and do you wait until you evacuate everyone you want to

evacuate? >> those are not details that i'm going to discuss in public. those are obviously operational details that our military is handling. i will say that our focus right now is on getting every single american out of afghanistan who wants to get out of afghanistan, and getting out afghan allies as well. so we are running, arguably, the largest air lift in history to get these people out of the country. this is a logistical undertaking that only the united states military can execute on, and that's what they're doing. so i will let the military speak to those operational details on the ground. >> peter baker has the next question. peter? >> kate, thank you for doing this. the president, in the last few days, has been critical of president trump, has been critical of the afghan government that has fallen, the afghan security forces and the afghan civilians were responsible for the fact they did not evacuate sooner because they didn't want to leave, he's not been critical at least not

much of the taliban. i wonder if you can talk about that? is that a calculation at this point that we're trying not to offend them while we're evacuating. they're going house to house, meeting protests with force, beating journalists in the streets, what does he have to say about the taliban? >> peter, i would say, of course, he does not condone that kind of behavior. but look, i think the most important thing in this moment right now is to get people out of the country who want to get out of the country. so we are working with the taliban to facilitate safe passage of people to the airport. we're focused on the logistical and operational pieces that are necessary right now to get these people out. that's the immediate focus. of course, we will have discussions and the president will speak to how we will interact, how the united states will interact with an afghanistan run by the taliban.

we'll discuss that moving forward. with regard to the human rights abuses, the president has said, obviously, what we see -- images of women and children in afghanistan, of course, it's appalling, it's horrifying. what he would say is the best way for us to combat that around the world is not for the united states to put boots on the ground in every country where there are human rights abuses taking place we can do this through economic levers, humanitarian aid and rallying the world to put pressure on these people. but his belief is we can't defend it will rights of every person around the globe by putting american men and women in harm's way. >> john heileman? >> i think everyone can foresee, as you talk about getting first americans out and then america's afghan allies out of the country in the days and weeks ahead. everyone can foresee a debate over what's going to happen to

those afghan refugees, knowing today's republican party and knowing the context of our politics around immigration and other related matters, are you guys -- is the white house prepared for that debate? what's the position of the white house going to be about what happens with those -- many of them very courageous afghans who have helped america in the course of the last 20 years there -- about bringing them to america, taking them elsewhere, give us a sense how you think that debate is going to unfold. >> president biden is not thinking of any of this through the lens of politics. right now he's thinking of getting these people who have helped us out of the country. obviously there will be a rigorous vetting process, screening process. the department of defense and the department of state are working now on all of the immediate planning to move people to where they need to be. it's a massive logistical under taking but there's the full commitment from the president of the united states and the u.s. government to help as many

people who have helped us over the last 20 years in afghanistan as possible. >> kate, before we let you go, will president biden after his remarks today take questions? he's given a couple speeches, did the interview with abc news, but the white house press core and the american people have direct questions for him. will he take those today? >> the president never shies from taking questions, so i'll let it up to him whether he takes questions. he did a full sit down interview on this, but he'll decide if he's going to take questions after his remarks today. >> kate bedingfield in the pouring rain at the white house. thanks, we appreciate it. there's a lot of focus overseas but some big political developments here at home. after more than a month of protests by texas state democrats, there were finally enough lawmakers at the state house for the chamber to begin working.

three houston democrats broke rank to attend the ledge slay -- legislative session. in a joint statement they said, quote, we took the fight for voting rights to washington d.c. and brought national attention to the partisan push in our state to weaken ballot access. now we continue the fight on the floor. there were 99 representatives present yesterday with 49 absences. just one more absence and they would not have reached a quorum. a few other democrats have returned to the house floor against the wishes of most in the party with the quorum. republicans are now cleared to pass their controversial restrictive voting bill. the texas tribune reports the gop elections bill would, among other things, outlaw local voting options intended to expand voting access and bolster access for partisan poll watchers. eddie glaude jr., your thoughts?

>> well, we knew that eventually the efforts of the texas democrats would -- you know, would run up against the reality of the power situation in austin. so we knew this was going to happen eventually. i know that many of those representatives that returned said they had to return because they were witnessing the surge of covid in schools, in their districts, they had a range of responsibilities here. so this gives us a sense of the layered crises that we're facing but also suggests to me, mika, that we have to insist that democrats in d.c., politicians in d.c., must address the question of voting rights head on now. if we're going to head off the crisis that we're experiencing across the country. >> there's also new movement on infrastructure just days before the house returns from the august recess, minority leader, kevin mccarthy has come out against the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

in an interview on fox business, mccarthy slammed democrats saying no house republican would vote for the bill if it remains tied to the reconciliation package. house speaker nancy pelosi has been trying to balance the conflicting views from the centrist and the progressive democrats in the caucus. moderate democrats have threatened to vote against the reconciliation package if the bipartisan bill is not done first. speaker pelosi will need nearly her entire party to vote in favor for it to pass. peter baker, will she get that? >> well, look. it's always a mistake to underestimate nancy pelosi's ability to corral her own caucus. she has shown to people over the years a remarkability to bring together the dispair rat wings of her party on any important must have vote. she won't do it, bring it to the floor, until she's got that. so that's a challenge for her going forward.

she has the moderates on one side pushing in one direction, progressives on the other side pushing in another direction. she knows she can't count on any republican votes so she has a margin of three. and she's going to do what she has to do to push both of the packages through. she's let clear she's not letting one go through without the other. what she has to do to make it happen, we're not sure yet. that's the test really for the whole biden administration at this point. one thing that president biden wants more than anything i think is re-establish some sense of momentum and competence after the last week's debacle in afghanistan. >> so, john heileman, the dynamics on capitol hill are complicated and i think it would be in the republican's best interest to cooperate in some way given covid raging through states where republican leaders have gone against science, extremists trying to bomb washington landmarks. wouldn't they want to at least

function inside the halls of capitol hill? >> mika, you would think that, if you -- i believe you started by saying if you were a republican you would think that they would see that as being in their interests, which just lays clear the fact that you do not think about the world the way republicans do. rationality might push you towards that conclusion. but i think that republicans have learned a lesson over many years that the way the root back to power to them is lock step opposition to whoever the democratic president happens to be. that's the lesson they learned in barack obama's term, and what they think is going to apply to joe biden's term. i will not give prospect that they will have an epiphany. so if that's where mccarthy is at right now i don't imagine

we're going to see any sign of republican cooperation in the house and this is all going to be down to nancy pelosi and, as peter said, her past proven skill at threading needles and pulling off feats of legislative complexity that seems doomed. she somehow manages to get it done, we'll see if she's able to do that by telling democrats the fate of joe biden's presidency rests on them coming together here. amid a growing number of covid cases nationwide, the united states saw a huge boost in vaccinations. plus the latest on yesterday's bomb scare in washington. and the republican lawmaker who appeared to sympathize with the suspect. "morning joe" is coming right back. ning joe" is coming right back

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ so then i said to him, you oughta customize your car insurance with liberty mutual, so you only pay for what you need. hot dog or... chicken? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

♪ ♪

even if you had to miss your quince. there's always your quince plus one. ♪

welcome back to "morning joe." live pictures at 7:48 in the morning of coney island in new york city. some former trump administration officials are criticizing the former president and his secretary of state mike pompeo for the chaos unfolding in kabul. after more than a year of talks the united states signed a deal with the taliban in february of 2020 that set the stage for the withdrawal of american troops from afghanistan. according to "the new york times" some senior officials are calling that agreement fatally flawed saying it did little more than provide cover for a pull out that president trump was impatient to begin before his re-election bid. >> our secretary of state signed a surrender agreement to the taliban. >> you're talking about mike pompeo? >> yes. >> this collapse goes back to the capitulation agreement of 2020. the taliban didn't defeat us, we defeated ourselves. >> my concern was that president trump, by continuing to want to

withdraw american forces out of afghanistan undermined the agreement. which is why in the fall when he was calling for a return of u.s. forces by christmas, i objected, and formally wrote a letter to him, a memo based on recommendations from irks we not reduce below 4500 troops unless and until conditions were met by the taliban. >> former defense secretary mark esper speaking there after h.r. mcmaster. the "new york times" notes. both trump and pompeo have emphasizeed that their deal with the taliban was conditional, saying at least they would have taken over. but the taliban have not violated any of the written conditions of the four-page agreement or planned for the evacuation of americans. john heilemann as the president,

himself, president biden says the buck stops with me. he's the man at the till right now. the deal signed if late february of 2020 after which president trump paradesed the taliban leader saying we have common interests, they want to see the violence stop in that country just as much as we do. he was anxious to get that deal. yeah, more than anxious, willie. if you recall in recent months post-departure of the former guy, there has been reporting about the frantic trump scramble in the waning day is of the election, at a time when he was maintaining falsely that the election ras fraud will bet in december or january he was trying to issue orders to have a last-second completely unprepared for, completely on the fly departure from afghanistan so he can claim that for his legacy as he walked out the door. i think that's indicative of how

serious trump was of managing this process in an orderly way and i think that the fact that we have seen some number of trump administration former officials come forward now and point out that this entire thing that is whenever you want to say how joe biden handled this, if trump had been in charge of managing this, it's likely to have been even worse. of course, there has been incredible -- we had a thing on the recount the other day mike pompeo referring to the taliban as butchers. a bunch of people he stood next to and legitimized in the state department. so the hypocrisy is extraordinary and all cutting trump was looking for a cheap little victory here and would have not managed this other than in a totally chaotic way. >> all right. we want to get to a story now that we touched onty top of the show. this year alone, unruly airline

passengers have racked up $1 million in fines. flight attendants are taking self-defense classes to protect themselves from others and violent passengers. nbc news correspondent tom costello has more. >> reporter: at an air marshall training center in chicago, up close and personal self-defense tactics. a dozen flight attendants here on their own time as the faa reports nearly 3900 cases of unruly behavior on board passenger planes just this year. passengers attacking crew members, often drink or angry about mask mandates. one flight attendant even losing two teeth after being punched. the faa detailing thousands of

cases, passengers fined up to $45,000 each. toll fines surpassing aple dollars. >> every time a flight attendant is putting on a uniform, they're saying, is this the day someone punches me in the face. >> reporter: flight attendants don't sign up to get into a job with a fist fight. if it becomes physical, they're told, don't be timid. >> if they are going after myself or anybody on the plane, it's you or me. right? i will protect myself. >> if i'm a passenger i'm coming at with you a first, you will block, right? smr sometimes it will be a quick block, a glancing block. >> reporter: what did they teach you that you didn't know? >> stand like this, step, pivot, bring it back, turn. making sure you bring that hand back into your face defending yourself. >> reporter: defending against a new reality in the skies. >> wow, that's just wild that

we're at this point. our thanks to nbc's tom costello for that report. peter baker, before you go today, what are you looking at today? >> i think i will be watching president biden's statement at 1:00 on this afghanistan station. this is a messaging change in offering empathy. he was elected as a man known for empathy. these not shown much of in this week to the afghan people who are facing a world of hurt. we will be watching to see if he takes questions. we have a lot of them. >> okay. yeah. absolutely. still ahead, nbc news foreign corporate richard engel with a first-hand look at the evacuations in kabul. he joined hundreds of people making the harrowing journey to flee the taliban. "morning joe" is coming right back. taliban "morning joe" is coming right back welcome to allstate.

where our new auto rates are so low, ♪ you'll jump for joy. ♪ here, better protection costs a whole lot less. you're in good hands with allstate. click or call for a lower auto rate today. discover card i just got my cashback match is this for real? yup! we match all the cash back new card members earn at the end of their first year automatically woo! i got my mo-ney! it's hard to contain yourself isn't it? uh- huh! well let it go! woooo! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. as your business changes,

the united states postal service is changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide, and returns right from the doorstep. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. ♪ ♪ ii had the nightmareld again maxine. the world was out of wonka bars... relax. you just need digital workflows. they help keep everyone supplied and happy, proactively.

let's workflow it. then you can stop having those nightmares. no, i would miss them too much. whatever you business is facing... let's workflow it. servicenow. find your rhythm. your happy place. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c.

oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board... and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪♪ . good morning, welcome to "morning joe." it is friday, august 20th and it's never been a busy news day with president biden set to speak today about his administration's troubled evacuation in afghanistan. the white house released new numbers saying 3,000 people were

evacuated from kabul yesterday. that brings the total to 9,000 since last saturday. but many more are still waiting. nbc news kroern correspondent richard engel documented his own journey at the kabul airport and filed this report. >> reporter: thousands were evacuated, they're thankful to be escaping taliban rule. we watched hundreds gather in front of the departure hall leading to the runways. they wait outside for hours until the planes arrive. surrounded by trash, always under guard. most arrive here already exhausted because to get here they had to navigate through taliban fighters who control the airport perimeter and whose idea of crowd control is using guns

and whips. >> don't you see the taliban people? >> people beating, shooting. like they run behind you with an ak-47 going boom, boom, boom, boom. >> reporter: what do you think is happening right now? >> our country right now is finished. no more. >> reporter: eventually they move inside to a waiting room. a marine tries to lighten the mood, joking with the children. they're given water and military rations and then more moves and more waiting. there is no fixed time for how long it takes. some are afghan americans, others are seeking asylum. most have one bag to start their new lives. >> richard engel reporting from kabul. meanwhile, kabul is facing intense criticism. he will deliver remarks later

today. kelly o'donnell has more. >> reporter: u.s. officials say another 6,000 people made it safely to the kabul airport awaiting evacuationle pressed repeatedly, ditionals at department of defense cannot say how many americans still need to be rescued. >> i don't know with that level of detail. >> we're not in a position to give a number right now. >> reporter: in an interview, the president defended the evacuation mission despite chaos near the airport. >> well, right, but, look, no one is being killed right now. god will forgive me if i'm wrong about that but no one is being killed right now. >> reporter: among the most vulnerable, afghan women and girls fearful of taliban repression. >> there are afghan women outside the gate him i told them, get them on the planes, get them out. get the families out, if you can. >> reporter: the pentagon says it could air lift up to 9,000 a day. far fewer were evacuated.

republican contradiction say mp more must be done. >> there is no plan to get u.s. citizens outside of cable into kabul. once they get to kabul, there is no plan to milwaukee the taliban to let them through. >> two dozen diplomats in kabul warned last month about a taliban takeover. source familiar with the situation familiar with nbc news says they sent a dissent cable july 13th urging officials to begin air lift operations. that source also called for officials to be firm and direct if describing atrocities being committed by the taliban. nbc news has not seen the actual cable first hand. the day after it was september, the biden administration announced operation refuge to

support the eligible afghan nationals and their immediate families. let's bring in national security and military correspondent this morning. good to have you. so what is the latest with the evacuations and how they're going, courtney, and also this cable. again, more and more indications that there was a lot of warning how rough this would be and how bad some of this would go? >> yeah. absolutely. so i mean the evacuations are ramping up. as you mentioned, there has been about 3,000 in a roughly 24-hour period august 19th. so that's way up from where they were just on sunday and monday, where at one point there was a complete stoppage of all flights in and out. the goal right now or the maximum capacity the military has to take people out is somewhere between five and 9,000 per day. that's roughly a flight every hour. they're not at that point. they have moved in that

direction. they have also stepped up and nearly hit their capacity for the number of u.s. military that they are bre bringing in. there are over 5200 right now. the goal is somewhere north of 6,000. to the mission to evacuate people is well independent way. it's actually progressing from where it was several days ago. on that cable, it was sent july 13th. i was in kabul on july 13th. it was the day after general scott miller, who was a long-time commander there stepped down and the nato mission there and i did an interview with the general mackenzie. he said they were very worried about the ongoing taliban offensive then. they're threatening canned has which is one of the largest cities in the country. so the notion that the taliban took over afghanistan in a couple of days, it's really not true. this was a taliban offensive in the country that was well under

way when those diplomats sent that cable and the taliban was already threatening major cities and there was a real, very real concern already about the afghan's about to hold them off. at that point the u.s. military was advising the afghan government about how to take on this taliban offensive. one of the ways they recommended sending commandos to major cities leak kandahar and to the north and west with the effort of hoping to hold off this taliban onslaught and helping out the conventional forces there in these various areas. but in the coming days and weeks, it became clear, the taliban were going to roll through the areas and they hit the strategic provinces, in some cases, the afghan military couldn't hold them off and in

other cases the afghan military folded. >> as i talk to a former military to a man and a woman. they want to understand why they abandoned the bagram air lift, if the plan was to carry them out of the country, bagram would have been place to do it. it's been there 20 years. the united states left in the middle of the night. why did they abandon that if the plan was to get all of these people out and do they regret it now? >> so bagram makes sense. there is more runways at kabul airport. it's not in the middle of kabul. you know, it's easier to secure from that perspective. it's not right in the middle of several million people. but it's also not ideal logistically in that you have to

get people from kabul out to bagram. it's -- i've driven the road, actually. it's a long road to get out there. it's also an enormous sprawling basis it takes troops to security the perimeter there. i heard this criticism i don't know bam rak would have been the answer to this issue, this problem. it's not as, just getting the people out there look at the people who were outside kabul right now. one of the big issues that the u.s. state department and military are facing is. it's not just getting people through the taliban airport in kabul and into the gate and get a manifest on the flights. it's what about all the people who can't get to those first taliban checkpoints in kabul. if you were talking about having to get people out to bagram airbase, it would be one more logistical hurdle. i can tell you when i've driven that road, there are checkpoints that exist already. we can only assume the taliban

have check poipts and people getting out to bagram. i understand the criticism the turnover of bagram, though, what that really did, that was a game changer for the morale of the afghan military. it was very clear that when bagram turned over, that was really the symbolic end of the united states military presence in afghanistan. because the vast majority of u.s. troops left when bagram closed or were leaving in those days. so that was a blow to the afghan more rail. they had the u.s. military support in the air in the way of medevacs, air support, intelligence, logistics. it became clear with that turnover the military was not financial to be supporting them in the same way going forward. >> now all those weapons in the hands of the taliban, thanks so much. still ahead, the renewed concern over domestic terrorism after a bomb scare in the nation's capitol and the

american law maker appearing to sympathize with the suspect involved. you are watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. u are watch. we'll be right back. without my medication, my small tremors would be extreme. i was diagnosed with parkinson's. i had to retire from law enforcement. it was devastating. one of my medications is three thousand dollars per month. prescription drugs do not work if you cannot afford them. aarp is fighting for americans like larry, and we won't stop. that's why we're calling on congress to let medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices. like many people with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis

or crohn's disease, i was there. be right back. but my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. so i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people with uc or crohn's disease. and humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. ♪

♪ ask your gastroenterologist about humira. ♪ ♪ vo: the climate crisis is here. berardelli: these temperatures are almost unbelievable even for a meteorologist. vo: and the solution is here too: clean energy. like wind turbines and solar panels. now, congress has to invest in it and the millions of workers ready to install it across the country. because in america, we don't hide from problems like climate change. we take them on. we innovate. we lead. because if we invest in these workers, and their future at this moment, that's how we build back better. i became a sofi member because i needed to consolidate my credit card debt. i needed just one simple way to pay it all off. it was an easy decision to apply with sofi loans, just based on the interest rate and how much i would be saving. there was only one that stood out and one that actually made sense and that was sofi personal loans. it felt so freeing.

i felt like i was finally out of this neverending trap of interest and payments and debt. ♪♪ every day in business brings something new. interest so get the flexibility of the new mobile service designed for your small business. introducing comcast business mobile. you get the most reliable network with nationwide 5g included. and you can get unlimited data for just $30 per line per month 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.

a north carolina man is facing federal charges after an hour's off standoff he streamed live on facebook. >> reporter: nearly five hours after he parked his pickup and claimed to have explosive. a 49-year-old man gave up and followed instructions to crawl away ending an intense standoff. >> he got out of the vehicle and surrendered and the tactical units that was close by took him into custody without incident.

>> reporter: capitol police say it all began to a little after 9:00 a.m. when the man floyd a. roast rosebury parked on the library of congress and called 911 and said he had a bomb. nearby buildings were evacuate, including the supreme court and house of representatives office building. police swarmed in, including the fbi and atf and streets were shut down several blocks away. the city is still on high alert after social media threats of social violence. at first rosebury communicated with writing notes on a dry erase board saying, don't shoot me and asked for a preacher. he was sending a live feed from inside the truck to his facebook page. >> hi, guys. it looks to me like i'm getting ready to make a phone call. >> reporter: he made a long series of anti-government statement him a short time later

facebook cut off the feed and took down his page. while it was active, he showed glimpses of what looked like a bomb anded a explosives in the tool box in the bed of the pickup. they searched his north carolina home looking for clues of what he might be up to. police september a robot carrying a phone. they say he never used it and simply gave up. >> pete pumps reporting there. wow, most members of congress thanked the capitol police. one law maker appeared to sympathize with that man arrested near the capital. alabama congressman mo brooks wrote a statement that reads this way. the way to stop socialism's march is for patriotic americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 election.

i strongly encourage patriotic americans to do exactly that more so than ever. he did earlier pray for the safety. and he spoke at the trump rally ahead of the january 6th insurrection and voted in favor of challenging the 200 election results. brooks was ridiculed by democrats and republican congressman adam kinzinger, are we going to be the party that keeps stoking sympathy for domestic terrorists and pushes out truth? i've made my decision, so has mo. now it's up to gop to make there's. house leader kevin mccarthy has yet to comment on brooks or the incident near the capitol, joe. >> it's remarkable that the leader of the republicans in the house hasn't condemned a family

member praising a potential domestic terrorist who delivered a tirade according to washington post in way he called for a revolt against the federal government and claimed there were other patriots waiting in vehicles elsewhere in d.c. quote, the revolution is on. it's here, it's today, he said, in this live stream. america needs a voice. i will give it to them. and then he went on attacking democrats saying they are killing america. this is the sort of rhetoric, the sort of iraq that we saw leading into january the 6th. we saw the results of that. this is so simple to condemn.

you have someone who is a domestic terrorist who says he has a bomb at the library of congress right across the street from the united states capitol and you have a member of congress praising him. it's unamerican. and i just wander what republicans would say of democrats if democrats were praising domestic terrorists qualling for an insurrection of the government. >> a reminder at the january 6th assault brooks told the crowd to start taking down names and kick [ bleep ]. james stavridis weighs in and the hurdlele standing in the way of afghanistan. "morning joe" is back in a

moment. moment.

woman: from our classrooms... man: ...to the playing fields. maybe more than ever before, we are ready for this school year. i'm so excited to see all of my students. we're doing all we can to make sure our schools are safe...

woman: ...to make sure our schools are safe. i want to thank parents and families for working with us. and continuing to be our partners. thank you so much. we can't do it without you. we can't do it without you. woman: because we know quality public schools make a better california...

. the biden administration has new concerns in afghanistan. the massive war chest of u.s. weapons and equipment that now long to the taliban and the group's ability to use that weaponry against civilians. reuters reports, there is video of the taliban inspecting lines of vehicles and opening crates of new firearms, communications gear, military drones and night goggles that the u.s. left for the now disbursed afghan army. a u.s. official tells reuters the current intelligence assessment was the taliban are believed to have controlled more than 2,000 armored vehicles, including u.s. hum-vees, up to 40 aircraft potentially blackhawk helicopters. they are considering launching airstrikes against the larger equipment such as helicopters,

there is concern it would an tag fiez the taliban at the same the main goal is evacuating people. joining us, retired four-star navy general james stavridis. joe, this seems to be getting more and more complicated. >> well, i suppose so. admiral, let's talk about how complicated this is. obviously, you done want to antagonize the taliban while we are trying to get troops out. the head of sit-com has gone to them and said, hey, here's the deal, we will get our people out and don't get in our way. and if you do, we're going to antagonize you. so regarding this equipment, what would your recommendation be? get the people out and draw up

plans to destroy some of the more effective equipment that was left behind? >> i suspect we're well into the process of figuring out how to destroy it when the right time comes? are you exactly right. let's face it. job one, the tactical vision in front o. armed forces, the minute they get people out of afghanistan, of course, the challenge is not getting them out of afghanistan. as the saying goes, we have the technology to do that. the problem is getting them in, into to airport. we have a tactical challenge extreme in front of us. i know it's got the full attention of the administration, when we get them out, this big equipment cache the a challenge. look back at iran, joe, when we left iran. the iranians inherited a lot of u.s. equipment.

look more recently at the islamic state. they ruled on baghdad in hum-vees, in some cases operating heavy armour and artillery. so the taliban are really capable. they're smart as we see i think they will just as using this equipment but potentially in other scenarios. that is a big problem. it's not as big as getting people out of the airport right now. >> i want to read to you what the "wall street journal" wrote, the right and our afghan allies. the board argues, it isn't concerned to betray a promise for those who fought with us and the "wall street journal" editorial page, editorial board writes this, the biden administration is rightly attempting to evacuate special immigrant visa applications. these are thousands of people who proved they work well with

americans. they aren't muslim extremists. gop hostility to these afghans is also a political mistake. how large is the constituency for betraying allies? conservatives claim to believe in american exception ammism and they once took pride in welcoming exiles from authoritarian lands. they still court the votes of cuban, venezuelan, korean, all as american as anyone. afghans who fought with us deserve no less and i know, admiral, that going to get a big hearty amen from you on this one. how important is it that we welcome these heroes, these allies into our country if their time of need? >> it is 100% who we are as a nation. we need to remember that we have

built this country on actions like that. by the way, i'm from south florida, soon that cuban-american community. what they have given is extraordinarily. think about the vietnamese movie. now many on active duty in the military. for example. children of people who are picked up in boats are now commissioned officers commanding ships in the united states navy. we would be very foolish to turn away from this. a, on the pragmatic side of it, these people are going to come and contribute. look, this is the hunger games. the people that make it here through the gaughantlet, i want them on my team for pragmatic reasons, secondly, joe, as we started the conversation, it's who we are as a nation. we've got to step up exactly for all those stavridis,

thank you for being on. coronavirus cases continue to overwhelm hospitals nationwide. in louisiana evacuation rates are low. the death toll is rising. plus the voice of college football on espn, college game day analyst kirk herbstreit joins us ahead on "morning joe." joins us ahead on "morning joe."

it's a thirteen-hour flight, that's not a weekend trip. fifteen minutes until we board. oh yeah, we gotta take off. you downloaded the td ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets? yeah, actually i'm taking one last look at my dashboard before we board. excellent. and you have thinkorswim mobile- -so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. you two are all set. have a great flight. thanks. we'll see ya. ah, they're getting so smart. choose the app that fits your investing style. ♪♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ discover card i just got my cashback match is this for real? yup! we match all the cash back new card members earn at the end of their first year automatically woo! i got my mo-ney! it's hard to contain yourself isn't it? uh- huh! well let it go! woooo! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. your skin isn't just skin, it's a beautiful reflection of everything you've been through. that's why dove renews your skin's ceramides and strengthens it against dryness for softer, smoother skin you can lovingly embrace. renew the love for your skin with dove body wash.

and there you have it- woah. renew the love for your skin wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. -big deal! ...we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, i get that too and mine has 5g included. that's cool, but ours save us serious clam-aroonies. relax people, my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one upping itself. . welcome back to "morning joe." it's 8:34. you, of course, are looking at the capitol of college football. new york city, the colombia lions. is it rutgers? isn't that jersey?

>> yes. the colombian lions. great day experience, you take the subway up. watch them play harvard or cornell, it's fun. >> we have done that ourselves, i love it. college football is coming. i am very excited. as you know, three things coming up. mika loves, three shows, one, of course, as you know, always love the top hardball. number two, of course, politicians nation with reverend al. on weekends, we're sitting there. >> all are you saying this is true. >> she loves seeing kirk sitting around and the boys, the girls, everybody talking ab football. she's a huge fan. she's excited. are you excited about the

college football season coming up? >> well, first of all, i love kirk herbstreit, he will preview the season where your squad is the pre-season number one as they usually are. alabama is pre-season number one. we have a lot to talk to kirk about in a few minutes. i want to talk to the news from kirk, the ongoing coronavirus surge being driven by the delta variant showing no signs of slowing. hospitals in several states running out of space completely in icus. on capitol hill, three senators tested positive in breakout cases. sam brock joins us from florida with a look at where things stand. >> reporter: willie, good morning, good to be with you. this is other than a full-blown crisis. we are debating whether or not kid should wear masks. there are 7,000 more patients with covid in the hospitals than

there were during our previous peak last summer. child hospitalizations are soaring. there are 15 kids in the hospital right now. the u.s. booster program also coming under fire. this morning the hundreds of thousands of covid break-through cases that have america on edge have now burst into the halls of congress. three vaccinated u.s. senators, roger wicker of mississippi, john hickenlooper of colorado and angus king of maine revealing they've all tested positive. king noting in a statement, while i'm not feeling great, i'm definitely feeling much better than i would have without the vaccine. hospitals reeling with nine out of ten patients unvaccinated. >> i know mommy. she left her husband and le little kids. >> reporter: the florida hospital association putting out this sobering psa after reporting three out of four hospitals in the state expect to reach critical staffing levels in the next seven days.

what does that actually mean? >> it means they are not able to accept any additional patients. that's what we are worried about right now. >> reporter: some doctors say they're quickly losing patients for parents who refuse to get vaccinated. in alabama, one doctor is now refusing to see patient who's are unvaccinated according to birmingham news, dr. jason bal lan tine writing, if they asked why, i told them covid is a miserable way to die and i can't watch them die like that. one physician describes a dying man under 50 with a wife and who young children who chose not to get vaccinated, writing, last year, a case like this would have flattened me. this year, i struggle to find sympathy, as the white house recommends boosters shots. >> if the two vaccine dosage is still working to prevent severe disease, hospitalization and death, why is this third booster set necessary?

>> we are starting to see in other countries, they're seeing waning infection against more severe outcomes. we're planning for it so we can be ahead of this virus. >> reporter: a good portion of the entire globe has not received a single dose. some half a billion will be distributed by the united states to the rest of the world by the middle of next year. willie, back to you. >> nabz's sam brock in hollywood, florida. thank you so much. let's bring in a man from the health system and largest private employer. it was forced to delay more than 1,000 pearce last week because hospitals were swamped with covid patients. i guess i started to answer my own question with the delays to those own surgeries, but what is the state of affairs in terms of covid patients, in icus,

hospitalizations in your system? >> good morning, willie. it's a critical situation in louisiana. we have about 130 covid patients. july 1st we had 60 covid patients at ochsner. we redeployed 800 employees out of our clinics in outpatient areas to help take care of patients. so it's definitely a very difficult situation and as you indicated, we've delayed about 1,100 surgeries and procedures from last week. we're not able to take transfers from other smaller hospitals around the state at the referral center and we take about 50 transfers a day for a higher level of care. we have only been able to accept about 20 a day so that means that patients are out if other organizations not getting the care they need to receive at a facility like ochsner health. it's a difficult situation. this fourth surge is the worst

one we've seen in louisiana and the worst for our organization. if we thought the healthcare workers last year were heroes, this year, they're super heroes and the work our team is doing is absolutely incredible. they're out there changing and saving lives every day. but it's very, very difficult. >> what is the percentage of hospitalized patients that are unvaccinated, if you have that number? >> we do have it. it's 90% of our patients that are in the hospital are unvaccinated. so this is really evolved to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated and really a make of misinformation. there is just so much misinformation out there about the vaccine and about the effect of it. the other thing we are seeing in louisiana about niep% of the 99% of the patients are the delta. there is not immunity from a week or go, the vaccine is a way to create a safe situation for

yourself. >> mr. thomas, we're hearing, obviously, anecdotal but stories of young mothers dying, days, weeks after giving birth and children dying. what are you seeing as the rate of young people under the age of 12 in your health system? and also where are you hearing this misinformation is coming from? >> yeah. we're seeing about 26 pediatric patients in our facilities today. our positivity rate of pediatric patients was at 4% a month ago to 24% today. so it has increased substantially. as far as moms, we have 11 expected moms in our horpts being cared for who are covid positive. if you go back to the first surges, we did not see this with expected moms. it is absolutely impacting younger patients. it absolutely is impacting

pregnant women who are not vaccinated. once again, 100% of these women expectant in our hospitals are unvaccinated. >> of the 11 expect apt moms that you have, are any in the icu? what is their condition? >> one is in the icu, i want baited in very critical condition. >> can you tell me about the vaccine rate? are people getting vaccines at a higher rate these days? or is the problem still the same? >> i would say we have definitely seen an increase in our vaccine process in the past two or three weeks. we were doing like three to 400 a day. we are doing 2,000 a day now. ochsner has done about 010,000 vaccinations across the state of louisiana. we continue to see an escalation in this every day. we've also seen an increase in our work force. so our work force has 69% is sa

first dose vaccinated and we see that growing each and every day, so generally this delta variant in the fourth surge has encouraged people and motivated people to get vaccinated. it just needs to be at a faster rate. >> so louisiana, as you said has a 39% rate of complete vaccination, both doses. schools are opened in most parts of the state right now, you said patients are younger and younger as they come in. what is your message to schools to parents to school boards about how this fall and going into the winter should be aapproached among young people. >> you get the virtual experiment last year was not successful. we think kids should be masking. this isn't something that's debatable. we know masking does prevent and

a mitigation of the spread of the disease. our governor has put forth a mask mandate across the state. so we absolutely think that kids should be masking in school and it will absolutely mitigate the spread of the virus, especially this delta variant which is having a big impact on children. >> all right. warner thomas, we present you bringing us up to speed on what's happening in louisiana and send our thanks to doctors around nurses doing that exhausting incredible work at your hospitals. we'll talk to you soon. we want to turn back to some severe weather, tropical storm henri is churning in the atlantic this morning expected to get dangerously close to new england. nbc news correspondent kathy park has the very latest. >> reporter: the threat of tropical storm henri is moving over new england as the remnants of another storm system moves out to sea. tropical storm fred leave okay path of destruction for days across the southern and mid-atlantic states before

soaking the northeast. >> all of a sudden the water started coming in through every room. >> reporter: at least two tornadoes confirmed in pennsylvania. >> all of a sudden it got windy, windier. we thought, this isn't good, all of a sudden we thought we should head to the basement. >> reporter: in massachusetts stranding drivers. >> my whole arm was covered in mud and water. i was like, oh, okay, we need to get out of here, because this car is going to serving. >> reporter: in north carolina, two are dead, at least 20 missing after fred dealt a foot of rain causing widespread flood zplg we will always lean on that side of hope that we may find somebody that needs our help. >> reporter: as communities are trying to recover from fred, parts of the northeast are poiseing for the weekend. the storm's impact could step from new york's cape cod and

maine. >> i am very much concerned about this hurricane headed our way. >> reporter: more extreme weather out west with at least 100 active fires burning across 13 states. just outside sacramento, the counter fire exploding ten times its size in two days, forcing tens of thousands to evacuate. firefighters struggling to contain the flames. >> it's resill yes. it's stubborn. it won't go away. >> reporter: an unreleapting fire season fueled by dry winds and conditions on pace to set new records. >> and up next, we are just a week away from the college football season kickoff and a familiar name is topping the pre-season rankings, once again. college football analyst kirk hershstreit joins us ahead. >> he's your favorite. >> he is not my favorite. >> every saturday. >> so awkward, willie, do you have anything planned for sunday

today? >> i will, as a matter of fact, we will be on, i have a great interview with sean penn. i sat down with him a couple days ago in new york. >> oh, wow. >> i walked through his career. she starring and directing in a movie "flag day." also his on-screen daughter in the movie is his real life daughter dylan penn, a lot of work to talk about and haiti. and that viral appearance on "morning joe," a few months back with the hair, the whole thing. sean penn this weekend on nbc "sunday today." we'll be right back. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. discover card i just got my cashback match is this for real? yup!

we match all the cash back new card members earn at the end of their first year automatically woo! i got my mo-ney! it's hard to contain yourself isn't it? uh- huh! well let it go! woooo! get a dollar for dollar match at the end of your first year. only from discover. this is a gamechanger, who dares to be fearless even when her bladder leaks. our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected, and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. as your business changes, the united states postal service is changing with it.

with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide, and returns right from the doorstep. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. college football fans and players both want full stadiums this fall. let's make sure we can safely make this happen by getting vaccinated. please get your covid-19

vaccine. we want the stadium loud again this coming season. roll tide. forget the governor, right there is the most influential voice in the state of alabama, crimson tide head coach nick saban doing his part to ensure the upcoming college football season kicks off safely amid the pandemic. and that season will start with every team chasing the tide once again. alabama is ranked number one in the a.p. top 25 preseason poll for the first time in the last six seasons. oklahoma, clemson, ohio state and georgia familiar names rounding out the top five. joining us now, former ohio state quarterback, award winning espn college football analyst

kirk herbstreit, author of the new book "out of the pocket." we can't wait to talk to you about some s.e.c. college football, but want to ask you about the book too. we've watched you and loved you on tv for so long on gameday but really didn't know your whole childhood story. in the book you call yourself a survivor. why do you say that? >> well, i think a lot of people, the whole hope here is that this book will resonate. i just thought that it was -- during quarantine, wojciechowski asked me if i'd be willing do a memoir. he knew me on a personal level. a lot of people who see me on tv don't know the story so i felt like it was okay to be vulnerable and open up. my parents divorced when i was 8. and i was an introvert by nature. went to eight schools in nine years. both parents remarried, both divorced again. so i was bouncing around quite a

bit and quite often. and as a shy kid, i'm talking painfully shy kid, that is a hard thing to deal with. and my dad and i, he went from being my hero to not really being there to just somebody i really longed to have a relationship with until he passed away about four years ago of alzheimer's. so just my journey, some of my trials and tribulations. and i just thought that it was maybe okay to open up and do something i don't -- i think my own family might learn something when they read this book because i don't talk a lot about my feelings and don't open up very often. >> it is not an easy thing do and you sure do it in this book, you talk about always wanting to sit in the last row of the classroom, that you were a shy guy as you say, you were quiet. so how does that kid go on to become the quarterback at ohio state and the most prominent college football analyst in the country? how do you command a huddle, how do you do all those things a

great quarterback has to do if you are sort of shy and quiet and like to be in the background? >> willie, for me when i got on the football field, that was my escape. that was my place where i felt at home. being with my friends, being in a sport that i could play, i don't know, i turned into a different person when i was on the football field. and so what is more amazing is that i'm talking in front of millions of people. i still struggle if i have to get up in front of 20 people and give a speech. but for whatever reason when i talk football in front of millions, i'm comfortable doing that because i have a passion for that. and i really stumbled into this profession. i was a business major at ohio state. was going to go the conventional way of pharmaceutical sales or medical sales, whatever it might be. i had a lot of opportunities. ended up taking a job in local radio. and having no idea what it might lead to, but just sounded like a job that i would love to do. and i learned a valuable lesson

that day when i made that decision about chasing a passion and doing something not for hone but for the love of it. and i've just been really lucky that doors have opened up and i just keep working hard, as hard as i can. i didn't have a big name. you watch tv and you watch guys on college or pro football, they all were heisman winners or all-americans or won super bowls. i look at myself as a grinder. just work as hard as i can. >> you know, you talked about even when you got a break to try out at espn that you were sweating, you said even your sweat had sweat. this sounds unfortunately -- mika has heard the stories. that is all too familiar to me. i'm as comfortable as everything and then i put one of these things on and i was sweating for the first five years. willie had to slap me around, come on, kid, get it together. but talk about that, how it actually was unnatural. you make it look so easy, but at the beginning it was unnatural. you were out of your comfort

zone. >> well, again, when you go from being just a person that has been an introvert and you start -- i didn't study broadcasting, i studied business. my training was being interviewed. when i was captain of the ohio state team two or three times a week you'd have eight cameras in front of you and 20 or 30 microphones. and i think that training subconsciously really got me ready for what i would do down the road for my future. but yeah, i mean, i did not a audition, they told me you won't get the gameday job, i was 25, you won't get it, but it will be good for you to go through the audition. so they brought in lee corso and chris fowler and they started the music and i couldn't believe that i was next to lee corso who is now one of my dear friends. i was terrified. i was sweating. and i don't even know what i said. when i left, i got back into a car at the airport and just happened in the blink of an eye, i was like i blew that, i guess

i ruined that opportunity. and then they called my agent if you want to call him that, really a friend of mine, and he called me and said two months later, hey, are you sitting down. they are going to hire you. they want to hire you for college gameday. and so i was just -- it was a game changing phone call and i've been doing it now this is my 26th year this year on college gameday. >> really quickly, we could talk to you for hours, but really quickly, i'm just curious, i grew up an alabama fan. and obviously saban every year he's at the top. i mean even bid wilkinson and bear bryant, where every year -- this is almost reaching wooden type proportions. i'm just curious, do you have any insight into how he does this every year? >> i've been very fortunate, coach saban either allows you in his inner circle or you are out

side. and for whatever reason, he allows me in his inner circle. i getting assess probably few get. i look at him as much as a friend as somebody that i velle. and as you said, he doesn't slow down. he just signed another extension. i keep waiting for him to maybe come join us on college gameday. i'm like coach, you got to do this full-time and he kind of has a little itch for it, but he cannot take himself out of that competitive environment. he loves to recruit at his age, he's relentless, he loses coordinate tors and great players, and the blueprint stays the blueprint. think about what he lost this past year to the nfl. think about how many unknowns they have and where are they in the preseason rankings, right there number one in the country, despite breaking in a new quarterback, a new running back, they lost devonta smith, their best offensive lineman, bill o'brien their new offensive

coordinator. so everything changes around him and he just keeps winning football games as a head coach. greatest ever to do it. like i said, i marvel at his excellence every season. >> before we let you go, we look up and down the top ten, familiar names, alabama, clemson, ohio state. give us a dark horse. a lot of people talk about north carolina, iowa state, cincinnati is in the top ten. who do you like to maybe surprise some people this year? >> i think vandy oig has something for you this year. >> there you go, i set you up for that one. that is my nashville guy there. >> i think cincinnati is dangerous this year. luke fickle has done an incredible job building the program. here is the trick. when you are a group of five or a team that is off the radar, you need nonconference opportunities to be able to show people we can play with the big boys. they play at indiana who is a top 15 team, they play at notre

dame. so if cincinnati who brings -- and georgia all that can he handle in the sugar bowl, if they win those two games, cincinnati may not have ceiling, i think they got a real shot. >> we'll be watching. and thank you for the vandy shout out. new coach, a new day in nashville. new book is "out of the pocket." we'll be watching you and the guys up in the booth all season long on espn. kirk, great to see you. congrats on the book. and that does it for us. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hi there, i'm stephanie ruhle. we start with afghanistan. as we speak, president biden is preparing to meet with his national security team less than two hours from now. he will address the situation in afghanistan in public remarks rl