press". i think when this is over, the american people have a clear understanding of what we did, why i did it. but, look, that's their job. my job is to make judgments. my job is to make judgments no one else can or will make. i made them. i'm convinced i'm absolutely correct in deciding not to send more young men or women over for war, a war that is no longer warranted. >> with evacuations ramping up, president biden has acknowledged leaving afghanistan has been difficult and painful. but with thousands still waiting

to leave kabul, the question is will the u stits have to extend its deadline to withdraw troops. plus t "new york times" says that the fda is looking to approve the vaccine. and tropical storm henri makes landfall triggering flash flooding and knocking out power for thousands of americans. the question is what is the full scope of the damage? it's "way too early" for this. ♪♪ good morning. it's "way too early." we start with the news. president biden says the u.s. military is executing a plan to increase access to kabul's main airport. amid mounting criticism, the president defended the u.s.

troop withdrawal, telling reporters yesterday that the exit from afghanistan was always going to be difficult. >> let me be clear. the evacuation of thousands of people from kabul is going to be hard and painful no matter when it started or how it began. there's no way to justify it. it's just a fact. my heart aches for those people you see. our first priority in kabul is getting american citizens out of the country as quickly and as safely as possible. as we do this, we're also working to move our afghan allies who stood with us side by side and other vulnerable afghans such as leaders and journalists out of the country. >> so far about 5,000 have been

removed and 11,000 over the weekend. there are more who still need to be evacuated. the possibility of danger grew with officials say they're tracking, quote, acute and persistent threats from isis against those looking to leave the country. one taliban commander told nbc news in part, quote, there is no place for democracy in islam. the 18 aircraft from 16 u.s.-based passenger and cargo airlines will not fly into kabul but instead are being used to transport those who have already been flown out of afghanistan to military bases or transit points around the world. they activated the civil reserve air fleet in a 70-year-old program created in the per lynn

airlift with a backup for a major national defense urgency. this is only the third time that this program has been activated. previously it was used in the early 1990s and early 2000s during the iraq wars. local staff members of the u.s. embassy in kabul are deeply disheartened by the evacuation efforts and have expressed a sense of betrayal and distrust in the u.s. government. that's according to a state department diplomatic cable that's been obtained by the news. they sent a memo last wednesday inviting staff members at tell bacy to head to the kabul airport and prepare for difficult conditions. however, no one anticipated the brutal experience that occurred, the cable said. staffers reported being jostled, hit, spat on, and cursed at by taliban fighters. some staff members report they were almost separated from their children while others collapsed

in a crush of people and had to be taken to hospital with injuries. others said they collapsed on the road simply because of heat exhaustion. it would be better to die under a taliban bullet than face the krousd again was stated in the same cable. defense secretary lloyd austin defended the backdown insisting it was right from the beginning. >> we're going to try our very best to get every american citizen who wants to get out out. i think you have to go back and look at what the administration inherited. i mean, we came in and we were faced with a may 1 deadline to have all forces out of the country. he had to look at all options in terms of what he could do, and none of those options were good options. he went through a very rigorous

process, very detailed process, and so at the end of the day t president made his decision, but, again, he was faced with a situation where there were no good options. all were very tough. >> no good options. joining us now is our tehran bureau chief. president biden said yesterday the u.s. is executing a plan to move more people to the airport in kabul. are we seeing signs yet that that's happening? >> reporter: yes. i mean, they have increased the number of people that are getting out of kabul, but there are a lot of americans and afghan translators that remain stranded not only in kabul, but in far foreign places in afghanistan that are taking cover and they're too scared to break cover. so it's still a very, very trench russ situation to get anybody near the airport let alone inside it.

obviously the u.s. footprint of soldiers there has increased from 5,800. it's still a very dangerous situation outside the airport. in the early morning hours a gun battle broke out between afghan security forces and unknown forces. some were killed, three others injured. they added as the battle ensued, american forces had to join in. there's no reports of any of the american troops getting hurt, but it shows how volatile the situation is. despite that, people are still panicked and desperate to get to the airport because it's only one of the safe routes out of the country. yesterday so many people crowded there it caused a stampede. the british army said that

stampede cost the lives of seven afghans who were stamped to death. as you mentioned earlier, an added concern is there's a specific threat from isis k.p. they're in the country right now. they have about 200, 300 people there. they could see americans and afghans who helped them. it's a very soft target there. so that's making it more treacherous for people. it's chaos. dangerous for everybody. they're trying to increase the amount of evacuees they're getting out every day, every hour. >> let's talk about that isis threat. you had jake sullivan, the national security adviser yesterday saying the threats were acute. he called them persistent. do you know what the level of concern is and what the specific target might be? what are you hearing?

>> reporter: well, one of the problems is the u.s. has made a deal with the taliban to grant safe passage for those who worked with them. obviously that deep is not going to extend to isis-kp. they don't get on with them. the taliban was eventually able to fight them out in 2017 and draw them back, but they're not in control of these guys. we don't know exactly how they would do it. this could be as simple as knifing somebody in those huge crowds outside the airport to firing some sort of heat-seeking missile at a plane, and that's obviously been a concern for a lot of these flights evacuating afghanistan because they've been launching flares from their planes to distract heat-seeking missiles, so they're obviously taking everything into

consideration. >> ali arouzi, thank you very much. "the new york times" is reporting that the fda could give full approval to the pfizer vaccine as early as today. the news comes as the delta variant causes covid cases to surge across the country. nbc's emily aqueda has more. >> reporter: they battle a fourth covid wave in a relentless pandemic. >> we're trying to do our best, but something has to give. >> reporter: florida topping 3 million cases, the third state to do so. jesse jackson around his wife hospitalized after testing positive for covid-19. the reverend vaccinated back in january. meanwhile, icu beds filling fast. five states within 10% of reaching capacity. mississippi experiencing the most hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic. state helmet officials ordering

people to home isolate on the first knowledge of covid-19. the failure to do so could result in a $500 or time behind bars. >> you look at it and say this is preventable. >> reporter: vaccine hesitancy runs deep even at the recommendation of former president trump saturday. >> i recommend take the vaccines. i get it. it's good. take the vaccines. >> reporter: still, vaccination rates nationwide are kicking up, a trend that could see another boost by the fda's first full approval of the vaccine. >> full approval by the fda would mean that some of the things holding people back from getting vaccinated will hopefully be reduced or removed. >> reporter: a rare glimmer of

hope in an unforgiving pandemic. >> we need everybody and everything to try to encourage people to get those vaccines. in florida, the battle over school mask mandates, that's heating up. the state's department of education is issuing a warning defying school districts saying reverse universal mask mandates for students or face immediate financial pun,ment. on friday a letter was sent to two different school districts saying if they don't do it within 48 hours they'll begin with holding salaries of staffers. miguel cardona pushed back calling it deeply troubling and that the biden administration stands ready to assist any states facing repercussions. as the school year starts, of course, a lot of parents very

worried. we'll have the latest on tropical storm henri and flooding in tennessee. some saw up to 17 inches of rain, and dozens of people have been reported missing. house lawmakers return to washington. and division among lawmakers are facing challenges. those stories and much more when we come back. stay with us. with us the lasting cologne scent of old spice dynasty helps get you off your couch.

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>> 1-1. deep fly ball, right center field. it carries. it's gone! number 500 and history for miguel cabrera. >> this shows my ignorance. you'll have to be forgiving. miguel cabrera joins 27 other major league players with r5 00 career home runs, reaching the milestone with that solo shot in

yesterday's sixth inning over the toronto blue jays. it's been a slow road who had 446 at the end of the 2016 season and went 31 at-bats since his last long ball, playing in his 19th major league season, cabrera is now five hits away from 3,000. to oakland where a pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning made the difference in san francisco over yesterday's win against the athletics. the 2-1 victory makes the nl. league giants the first major league team winning this season. and in baltimore, the braves streaked to a ninth win in a row with yesterday's 3-1 victory over the orioles. poor orioles. atlanta has now won 16 of its last 18 games, five ahead of philadelphia, atop the n.l. east. meanwhile the orioles' 18th

losses makes for the longest skid in the majors since the kansas city royals dropped 19 in a row. that was back in 2005. leaving baltimore, three away from ratching the american league record set in 1988. i don't know much about baseball, but that's not a good thing. turning to the nfl where the titans might be without a head coach for the remainder of the preseason. after tennessee's mike vrabel has announced he tested positive for the covid virus, it follows a week of joint practices with the tampa bay buccaneers leading to saturday's preseason matchup. they'll test today. fully vaccinated and asymptomatic individuals can return after two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. otherwise it will be ten days before he can join the rest of the team. wow, i got through it. still ahead, meteorologist

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and each sheet is 2x more absorbent, so you can use less. i'll hold onto that. bounty, the quicker picker upper. this morning thousands of people across new england are without power after tropical storm henri made landfall. it had been downgraded from a hurricane, but many states saw heavy rain, causing streets to flood. kathy park has more. >> reporter: tropical storm henri headed toward new england. it packed a powerful punch after landfall with heavy rains and damaging winds. as it blew through rhode island, it knocked out power to tens of thousands. >> i'm pleased to report that the national grid has crews out across the state working on restoration. >> reporter: president biden saying federal support is

standing by. fema has already pre-positioned resources in the region to speed our ability to respond. >> reporter: massive waves crashed the coastline, closing a beach. residents venturing out when it appeared the worst was over. >> we lost the power at home, and so we came out to enjoy the waves. >> reporter: in connecticut, more problems with power. at least 24,000 customers losing electricity. our kristen dhlgren is there. >> reporter: flash flooding could be a tletd especially to the west of where we are. and here in connecticut, four nursing homes had to be evacuated. 250 residents moved as the storm was approaching. >> reporter: with winds clocking over 50 miles per hour, in massachusetts, trees didn't stand a chance. and in new england, roads

turning treacherous. henri winds down and moves out. >> our thank taska think park for that report. let's go right to meteorologist bill karins for more on the weather. so much focus this weekend on tropical storm henri, but actually what was happening down in tennessee seemed even more frightening. >> when you hear stories of mothers with their 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds on top of kitchen countertops with water rising around their ankles, the stories of their survival is just incredible. we're talking about tennessee. this is a thunderstorm complex that came in saturday morning, early, 5:00, 6:00 a.m. in the morning. from a four- to five-hour period, it drop 1/2 inches of rain. one location picked up 17 inches of rain in a short period of time. it went to 30 feet, ten feet higher than the previous record, the creek. we have reports of 20

fatalities. there's at least a dozen or two dozen missing they're still searching for, and the devastation from that flash flood is just incredible. it's sad. let's get to the latest on henri. it's a pesky storm. we're still dealing with a lot of rain problems, especially in new jersey. down the block from me, the river is at moderate flood stage. we have 33 million people at risk here, flash flooding, from the catskills to the poconos. about 33 million people are still going to see periods of heavy rain today. additional rainfall of top of several inches. this storm system will slide its way through. the latest from the hurricane center, the winds are not at issue at all. they're over the catskills and drifting. during the day today they'll take the journey through boston and off the coast by the time we get to tuesday. what this all means is pea b prepared for another day of rain

right through the city. still problems with the rainfall, but henri could have been a lot worse had it been a hurricane. >> yeah. by the way, tomorrow, bill f you could do the sports section, people would be happier. that was way too stressful. >> you did very well. >> i'm not sure i convinced anybody. thank you, bill karins. still ahead, president biden's approval rating slips. we're going to be digging into the new poling. and the president is going to meet with g7 leaders. we'll talk with members of the british parliament about the u.s. troop withdrawal. before we go to break, we want to know, why are you awake? email your reasons to "way too early"@meb meb or email me. we'll read your answers later on in the show. read your answers ln in the show. asthma attacks.

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adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes it. pshh, mine's so fast, no one can catch me. that's because you all have the same internet. xfinity xfi. so powerful, it keeps one-upping itself. can your internet do that? welcome back to "way too early." it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 on the west coast. there's new polling. in a new nbc news poll, 49% said they approved of his performance. 48% disapproved. this is down from april when 53% said they approved compared with only 39% who disapproved. the biggest draw from president biden came in his handling of the pandemic where his approval

rating fell 16 points. the same poll showed 25% of americans approved of the president's handling of the afghanistan withdrawal. two democrats reported fearmongering about bringing afghan refugees to the united states, especially those who helped american soldiers during the war. >> what you see is in the media ecochamber, this fearmongering, right? this they're coming to your neighborhood, these hoards who haven't been vetted. that's not american. you could have questions with how this was executed, but america's always been the country that's opened its heart. anyone who wants to offer fearmongers, you're either, a, interested in yourself, or, you can't say you're concerned about the health of the american people if you're out there doing stuff like that. >> we're talking about men and

women who risked their lives to protect americans. they fought hand in hand with our troops, and we made promises to them. there are 32 million afghans. we're talking 60,000 to 80,000 people. the first thing is the american people need to understand who we're talking about. we're talking about heroes who fought with us to take the fight against taliban. when you talk about that, you're welcome in my neighborhood. meanwhile today the house will take the first steps toward passing both the bipartisan infrastructure bill and that $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. but power plays by the different faxes of the democratic party have put the outcome in doubt. nine centrist democrats have vowed to vote against the resolution unless the bipartisan bill is voted on first. the moderates slammed the progressive wing of the party, writing part, some of our kol leeing who have decided to hold

the infrastructure bill for months if they don't get what they want. northbound argued the caucus needs to stay together, to finish their priorities by the september deadline. today's vote is the first in a long process that is expected to take months to finish. democrats hope to have both bills passed and signed by president biden before the midterm election. joining us now, politico's nicholas wu. thank you for joining. we show the approval rates dropping as we get to crunch time on votes in the house. the two related perhaps? >> absolutely. what we're seeing is a return to what the biden administration would want attention on, the infrastructure plan, his big social spending package. rather than this chaotic withdrawal from afghanistan which really seems to have put a dent in the president's poll numbers, something he had

campaigned on. pulling out of afghan did not turn out to be as clean as they would have liked. nancy pelosi vows to get it done. what are the chances they will pull out in time? >> that depends. you have moderates who say they would vote against this. on the bipartisan plan. and progressives saying they won't vote on it until they get the big spending plan. >> somebody's going to have to budge. >> yeah. we're kind of at loggerheads here. someone's eventually going to have to give. and pelosi has basically dared the moderates to cave by keying up these votes this week. >> let's talk about the poll numbers. it looks like a lot of the drop has come from the delta variant, the spread of the delta variant. not much the president could have done about that. but it's still impacting how he's perceived in terms of his

handing of the coronavirus. >> absolutely. i think for many americans, the return of masked mandates, seeing cases go up around the country has brought this back to the fore, especially after earlier in the summer biden, the president, rolled back a lot of restrictions and said live could return to normal. >> what does he need to do when it comes to that type of thing? you can't physically force people to get vaccinations, which is what it would take to stop the spread of the delta variant. >> for what it's worth, the biden administration seems like it's encouraged a lot of employers to -- and schools who have got mandates, universities and airlines and so forth. but beyond, that it really takes some reassurance of the american people that this pandemic is still under control, and we'll see how exactly they try do this over the coming months. >> which is why the fda move we might see today, they're

certifying the vaccine not just for emergency use but as irregular vaccine. that could have an impact. >> yes. i thought there would be lack of full approval for the vaccine was a big obstacle to getting it and perhaps this could change their minds today. >> there's an awful lot. we've got the vaccine, infrastructure. nicholas wu, thank you very much for joining us. still ahead, the totally different type of horsepower driving a chase down an indiana highway. you won't want to miss it. "way too early" back in a moment. too early" back in a moment

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in her first point, the united nations shared a letter to her from a young teen. she spoke about her fears after the taliban took over afghanistan jolie wrote in the caption, right now the people in afghanistan are losing their ability to secrecy theirselves so i've come on instagram to share their stories and those across the globe fighting for their basic human rights. the remains of josephine baker will be returned to paris. the entertainer who became a french citizen in the 1930s is hailed as a world war ii hero for her undercover missions. she'll be the fifth woman honored with pantheon bur

annual. congratulations posthumously to her. a racehorse was spotted on a totally different track in indiana. 2-year-old bucked her jockey and bolted, later being spotted on highway 41 in another evansville, indiana. police were able to capture the hours and give her medical treatment as she was overheating and suffering from an injured back leg. officials were able to return her to her owner. wow. what do the drivers think. a 5-year-old is now one of the youngest to complete the appalachian trail. he trekked more than 2,100 miles with his parents. they began back? january from georgia hiking to maine in 209 days, fueled by skittles and peanut butter.

he told the a.p. the rock skambles were fun and he was never bored. his parents said harvey distracted them from any pain and it brought their little family closer together. my kids would have never done that. they would have complained the whole way. we'll have tobias ellwood. he's going join us to discuss afghanistan. "way too early" coming right back. afghanistan. "way too early" coming right back switch today and get 2 lines of unlimited and 2 free smartphones. plus you'll now get netflix on us. all this for up to 50% off vs. verizon. it's all included. 2 lines of unlimited for only $70 bucks. and this rate is fixed. you'll pay exactly $70 bucks total. this month and every month. only at t-mobile.

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president biden is set to meet with leaders. biden has already spoken to a number of world leaders over the past few days including macron and the german chancellor angela merkel as well as british prime minister boris johnson. according to the meeting, prime minister johnson is expected to

press president biden to extend the deadline beyond august 31st in order to continue to secure kabul's airport from repatriation flights. joining us now, tobias ellwood. he's chair of the house of commons defense select committee. thanks very much for joining us. that g7 meeting tomorrow, what kind of reception do you think president biden is going to get give than he got such a warm reception earlier this summer? >> well, how life has changed. how the world looks so different today. there was real optimism. the country's coming together to say we're going to play a more coordinated roll on the international stage to deal with some of the challenges, yet here we are. president said america is back. briton is bavled as to why they choate to depart afghanistan and

we're also really bavled about the manner in which we're departing as well. the execution has been absolutely haphazard. the british field has not been included. we arguably have more problems to deal with, the stock of the united states. the world is, in fact, more dangerous than it was a month ago. yet here we are having to pick up the pieces. i know the prime minister and others will be expending the deadline. we owe it to the people who are now being pursued by the taliban, and if we don't get them out, the they easily could be killed. >> reporter:. >> if the americans can't go after the country and bring the americans to the airport in kabul, what does extending the deadline do? >> well, there are people at the airport themselves that simply need more time to be processed. but i don't understand why

bagram airport was closed down. if you're going to take civilians out, you get those out first before you extract your military. we've had to bring in extra military to do this. we also need to look further ahead and recognize that the taliban are now in charge of the capital city, but they're not in control. the capital is swelled by millions of people. many don't like the taliban and we need to bring in united agent is that's going to no doubt affect the company simply because the economy is in freefall. they're not going to be able to feed them and keep them going. the taliban has no training in running a country like this. we have to not only think of getting vulnerable and at-risk afghans out but a wider picture of those who haven't got the ability to depart, how they'll

look after them as well. >> you say there could be worse days ahead. you've tweeted out in the last couple of days, president biden, if you do not extend the august 31st deadline, afghans will be abandoned. and the airport will be closed. this will be the most darchls phase of the mission at potus, you write. you served in the british armed forces. why do you think the next few days before the troops leave, before the deadline could be so dangerous? >> well, there's two scenarios that could develop. we saw an incident develop last night involving the german forces, and i say an exchange of fire could ratchet up, which forces the american commander running the kabul airport to pull the plug and say we've got to get out of here, abandoning many americans, green cardholders and others. and the second aspect of this,

there will be a point where you can no longer take any afghans out. you start to have to return your own troops. there, of course, you become ever more vulnerable as the perimeter then shrinks. will be that depart leaving the rotaries at the end indeed. it's made all the more difficult because this is america's airport right now. >> you have good relations with the u.s. armed forces, have you been surprised by the way this withdrawal unfolded? particularly in the early days, by the way that it's been handled by the united states? >> you know, it really is quite upsetting where the british/american relationship is at the moment. i was born in new york, i'm a

dual national, carry an american passport. but to see president biden do this and spin this, along with president trump who started this off striking a deal in doha when there was no cease-fire agreed. pulling out troops. there were more personnel in the u.s. embassy in london than there were american troops in afghanistan. there's been no combat since 2014. there was enough international coalition support there to keep the afghan forces alive and well and the taliban at bay. absolutely afghanistan was messy. absolutely it was difficult and corrupt. but it was going in the right direction. and now, we depart with all the consequences of the humanitarian crisis, migration issue as well. and as i said, there will be real problems with the economy causing potential famine and so forth because the food will not

get in. we're not prepared for this. nobody imagined the taliban would win in the way they did. because we had forgotten who the afghan army is, as soon as they realized the u.s. has given up on them, they went back to their families and communities in the north, what mattered to them. we're seeing the northern alliance get back together again, it's going to be dangerous indeed. >> glad to get your perspective from the other side of the pond. thank you for joining us. earlier in the show we asked why are you awake? grace is up early because 12 week old murphy has way too much early morning energy. another viewer is up early waiting for my little man, baxter, to rise and shine. i'm awake editing pictures from

maine, gorgeous. another viewer wrote, i have to admit i was holding my breath watching katty kay do sports. wait, holding your breath? am i that bad at sports? up next a look at axios' one big thing and on "morning joe," the latest on the evacuation from afghan. and a check in of leading health experts as pfizer's coronavirus vaccine is poised to receive full fda approval. "morning joe" is just moments away. approval. "morning joe" is just moments away our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected, and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. experience our advance standards safety technology on a full line of vehicles. depend. at the lexus golden opportunity sales event. get 1.9% apr financing

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(burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [dog barks] (both) good girl! ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ joining us now with a look at axios a.m. political reporter for axios hans nichols. hans, what is the axios one big thing for this morning? >> the one one big thing we're looking at is the lack of firings inside the biden administration over the situation, the chaos in kabul. we talked to a lot of officials, a lot of people very close to

biden yesterday and they all said firings are unlikely. this matters because one of the next phase is to get everyone and make sure they're out of afghanistan but on a political level there will be congressional investigations, hearings and calls -- there have already been people like tony blinken and jake sullivan to be dismissed by biden. biden is unlikely to do that. here's the big hedge, that could change if situations on the ground deteriorate dramatically. but right now it doesn't look like biden will dismiss any of his senior national security commission. >> from your reporting what are they saying inside the west wing about how this last week has gone? >> look, there is a great deal of frustration about both the overall coverage on sort of focussing on what they think are negative images. there's also a great deal of frustration among senior

officials inside the biden administration on how the transition was handed with president trump, they said there was no plan with president trump to have any evacuation take place. now, at the same time, they'll say that lack of planning from trump didn't hamper their ability to execute the plan they're doing, right, because part of the overall theory of the case is that they think they're actually doing an excellent job logistically, americans are being evacuated. they want to focus on the number, the number of flights, how many people are getting out. and back to the earlier point on why no one is likely to be fired. that's because in large part they don't think they're at all the here, they don't think the situation has gone totally south. >> it does look better at the moment, the first few days looked chaotic. the house, they're looking at the spending plans, what are

we going to see this week? >> according to the nancy pelosi and the people close to her, her staff, she's going to be able to jam these nine centrists saying we're not moving forward on the $3.5 trillion budget unless you pass the infrastructure first. it's a staring contest, i don't think we'll see pelosi blink first but we have quotes from these nine lawmakers saying they're not going to bend. this is going to come to a fore in the next 24, 48 hours and sort of a version of the play we'll see throughout the next phase, probably all the way until november, maybe even christmastime where you have the different agendas, so much has to go right for pelosi, schumer and biden to get all of their spending plans through. they think they have a plan and they're confident they'll achieve it. >> hans nichols we'll be watching. thank you hans.

thank you for getting up "way too early" with me on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. let me be clear. the evacuation of thousands of people from kabul is going to be hard and painful, no matter when it started, when we began. it would have been true if we had started a month ago or a month from now. there is no way to evacuate this many people without pain and loss and heartbreaking images you see on television. it's just a fact. my heart aches for those people you see. we are proving that we can move thousands of people a day out of kabul. we're bringing our citizens, nato allies, afghanis who have helped us in the war effort, but we have a long way to go, and a lot could still go wrong. but to move out 30,000 people in just over a week, that's a great testament to the men and women on the ground in kabul and our armed services.