i'll be back tomorrow, and see you again a little bit later on on "morning joe." that starts right now. after 20,744 american servicemen and women injured and the loss of 2,461 american personnel, including 13 lives lost just this week, i refuse to open another decade of warfare in afghanistan. we have been a nation too long at war. >> one day after the last united states troops left kabul, president biden defending his decision to end america's longest war and pushing back against the notion his administration did not do everything it could to get every united states citizen out of the country despite the fact many of them still are in the country. plus, hundreds of thousands of people in louisiana still without electricity or running water in the after math of hurricane ida as temperatures

soar there. we'll have the very latest. plus, we are following the continued battle in florida over the governor's ban of school mask mandates. a judge ruled the governor's order was unconstitutional, but the state still has gone ahead with financial penalties against school districts. we'll have an update on that story. good morning, welcome to "morning joe," it is wednesday, september 1st, i'm willie geist, and we're start with president biden's address to the nation, one day after the final american troops left afghanistan, officially ending our part in the war. peter alexander takes us to the president's defense of the decision. >> reporter: with the taliban declaring victory in afghanistan, president biden at the white house marked the end of america's longest war. >> leaving august the 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline. it was designed to save american lives. >> reporter: facing bipartisan backlash, the president at times

angry and defensive, standing by his decision to end the mission with up to 200 american citizens still stranded. >> 90% of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave and for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. we remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. >> reporter: that move breaks this promise president biden made less than two weeks ago. >> if there's american citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them all out. >> reporter: the last soldier out, major general chris donahue, seen here boarding the final c 17 cargo plane monday at kabul's airport. the president touting the safe evacuation of more than 124,000 people as a quote extraordinary success. >> extraordinary success of this mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery, and selfless courage of the united states military and our diplomats. >> reporter: while insisting despite the frantic final days

in the loss of 13 u.s. service members, there was no way to carry out america's exit without chaos. >> there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenge and threats we faced. none. >> reporter: but republicans are accusing the president of betraying americans. >> you don't leave your people behind, man. and i'm afraid they're going to kill these people and hurt them the entire time. >> reporter: the u.s. says it foiled another isis-k attack at the airport. president biden delivered this warning. >> isis-k, we are not done with you yet. >> joining us now msnbc white house correspondent mike memoli at the white house. good to see you.

as much as this was an explanation of his decision. he went through point by point, whether you agreed with him or not, meeting some of the criticism. >> reporter: this is a white house that for the last two and a half weeks since the fall of kabul on august 14th has been in crisis mode. behind the scene all of us have been getting a lot from white house officials criticizing the way this is being covered, defending against some of the criticism they have been facing from all sides, even democratic allies, but they have never had the ability to mount a public pushback because they have been sweating out the real threats that were faced by our americans on the ground obviously that led in one case to a tragic loss of life. yesterday we saw the white house really begin now that the final americans are off the ground there, at least the military operation is concluded, pushback, really begin to do that. it started in the morning with jake sullivan talking about the criticism they're getting, having had to be in the

situation room, and go through the threats and make the tough calls. the president was defiant, defend the broader decision to end 20 years of the war. president trump had made the deal with the taliban, he was faced with the decision of expanding our military presence and withdrawing. he already was inclined to withdraw from the start, and he got into the difficult, chaotic, tragic scenes. he acknowledged it was a flawed assumption to believe that afghan government would hold up for a few more weeks to provide a more, let's say, efficient withdrawal from afghanistan but he talked about the fact that any fall of a capital as we have seen here was going to lead to the kind of a chaos, and broadened it out to hit at the defining characteristic of his foreign policy over the last eight months so far, which is this idea of democracies, versus

autocracies, and his assessment, his real conviction that the continued military presence in afghanistan was not in our national interest, that our focus needs to be on a terror threat that has metastasized beyond afghanistan but more broadly on this idea as we have been talking about democracies versus autocracies, saying china and russia would love nothing more than to see us bogged down in afghanistan for another decade. >> and one of the central criticisms was leaving americans behind. we know as peter pointed out in his piece, the president promised to get every american out of the country in that interview with george stephanopoulos. the president and national security adviser are pointing out the administration gave americans living in afghanistan a number of warnings to get out before this withdrawal daylight. here's what he said. >> since march, we reached out 19 times to americans in

afghanistan with multiple warnings, and offs to help them leave afghanistan, all the way back as far as march. the bottom line, 90% of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. and for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. we remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. >> we gave 19 messages starting in march to americans to leave the country. we offered them financial assistance to leave the country, and then for more than two weeks, we gave them specific instructions for how to come. 97% of the people we communicated with got to the airport and got out on planes. >> so mike, you might have heard the president say they got 90% of the americans who wanted to leave out of the country. the white house updated the transcript, the president misspoke, and say it was 98% of americans who wanted to get out were able to leave the what the president is saying, and what jake sullivan is saying is these

americans were given every chance to leave the country since march. they were given warning after warning, and in fact, their argument goes, the people who remain, the americans who remain in afghanistan are there by choice. we know that's not entirely true. there are passport holders who still want to get out, duel citizenship, but they say by and large, most of the americans who are there want to be there. >>. >> reporter: we were getting receipts, e-mails sent over the course of months to those based in afghanistan describing an incredible operation over the last two and a half weeks to do everything they can to find americans in afghanistan, identify them, ask three simple questions, where are you, do you want to leave and do you need help getting to the airport. a white house official said of the 6,000 safely evacuated, the hundred to 200 that remain are the most complicated cases,

these are people who obviously waited to the last minute in some cases, people with duel citizenship, with deep connections to afghanistan, and also those who, as part of the evacuation efforts, part of the intersections they had with embassy personnel, they wanted not just to leave but have their families and extended families come with them. by definition, those who remain, the small number were by definition, the most complicated, nuanced cases, the hardest to identify. but the president said for those who do remain and want to leave, there is no deadline. yes, it's now a diplomatic effort but there will continue to be efforts made to get anybody who's in afghanistan and wants to leave out of the country. >> the president reiterating the promise, that leaves out all the afghan wartime allies we heard about veterans from the show that they are privately scrambling behind the scenes to get out of the country.

joining us now, u.s. senator, now msnbc news and political contributor, claire mccaskill, and sam stein. what did you think of the president's performance yesterday, the argument, the speech he made in defense, as i said, he went by sort of point by point, and met the criticism he's received, a lot of it from democrats, about his handling of the situation over the last couple of weeks, what did you think? >> i thought it was slightly defensive but brutally honest. i think he laid out exactly why he made in decision, and why he's standing behind it. in many ways, i found it refreshing. you know, nobody really believed that the afghan government would melt away as quickly as it did, and that complicated this. but he's right about one thing, willie, you don't ever announce you're leaving the country and not have a rush to the exits, and that rush to the exits,

whether it was at a bagram air force base or kabul airport was going to be dangerous, for the military trying to process that because they became sitting ducks for suicide bombers and that's exactly what happened. i thought it was very interesting that he made clear to america that we're not done with isis, and i want to remind everyone that our military has been fighting isis and al qaeda and other terrorists across the globe effectively since 9/11, and i think our country will continue to do that. >> sam, if you look at the polling and i know you've got new numbers to show us, the american people, a majority of them are with the president on the decision to withdraw from afghanistan. he has made no secret, this is something he wanted. he talked about it as a candidate for president. he talked about it since he got into office, and now he says, i have delivered on the promise. it's the execution of the

withdrawal that's less popular with the american public. >> yeah, i mean, despite everything that has happened over the past three weeks, the president in our poll shows the withdrawal, 50% to 41%. it's on the execution where they are soured on the withdrawal. i would just say this, i thought biden's speech, while defensive for sure, you know, to me, and i would be curious what senator mccaskill thinks about this, which is to me it read like someone who wants to close the loop, in post 9/11 era. you don't need to be showy and muscular abroad in order to be effective and the real problem with the afghanistan war was not withdrawal and the execution and the rationale for getting in in the first place. biden has been around for a while, but he was there and a major player in the post 9/11 politics and he saw the degree to which national security

decisions can be used politically against democrats, and when i saw that speech yesterday, when i heard it, to me, what really stood out was this idea of a person saying i'm not going to get clipped on this stuff again. i'm not going to allow myself to get clipped again. i don't know if it's going to work in our same poll, for instance, we have a 21% increase in concerns about islamic extremism from january to now. a product of the current media climate, a political reality he has to deal with. to me, when i watched it, that was what came through, biden remembered and recalled the politics of post 9/11, saying this is not going to happen again. >> i think you're right, sam, i think he exactly is trying to make sure that it is very clear to his political opponents that they are not going to box him in into a political position that somehow he needs to apologize for ending this war. the one thing that hasn't been

talked about enough about this war over the last ten years. this was a war of contractors, the number of people being paid by american taxpayers in afghanistan was by and large contractors over the last decade. way more contractors than military. in fact, three months ago, there were almost 20,000 contractors in iraq, compared to a few thousand military. so this really became a prop up the afghan government, pretend, as it turns out that we're building a military. hire private police. build infrastructure projects that the afghans can never afford to maintain. so there were so many mistakes that have been made in afghanistan, and i think that what he did yesterday was rip the band-aid off and said it was wrong. we were there too long. it's time to move on. we got to focus on the competition of russia, and china, and continue to fight

extremism, terrorism, around the globe, not just in afghanistan. not just in that neighborhood. >> claire, you were sitting in the united states senate for large chunks of this war in afghanistan. i'm curious what you think now that we have officially left after nearly 20 years, and what lessons the united states may learn that you may have thought it would have learned from previous engagements in places like vietnam. what do you take away as you see the last c 17 take off from kabul. >> i think that members of congress, really, frankly, gave up a lot of their power since 9/11. it used to be that congress had a role in declaring war, and a continuing war. this really became kind of a status quo that billions and trillions of dollars would flow in to afghanistan, and frankly, the corruption.

a lot of my oversight work was on contracting, and that's when i discovered things like we built a gas station for cars that run on natural gas in afghanistan. well, there are no cars running on natural gas in afghanistan. a total contractor boondoggle. the way that americans shed tax dollars in afghanistan was a scandal, and it was a continuing scandal, even with the oversight that the inspector general was doing. the military kept saying we've got to continue the mission. that's the good news and the bad news, willie, our military will take any mission, but our military will also refuse to say one can't accomplish a mission when one is unattainable. >> it's interesting, too, this relationship that our united states military at the 11th hour has asked to engage with the taliban and work side by side and to partner with them. here's what the president's chief of staff ron klain said about whether the united states will now recognize the taliban as the government of

afghanistan. >> i don't think anytime soon. i don't know if we will ever recognize their government. what we know is that the taliban says they're going to form a government. we'll see what that looks like. we'll see what kind of credentials they present. more importantly, we'll see what their conduct is, do they honor their commitments to respect freedom of travel, respect human rights. the question of recognizing a new government in afghanistan is down the road here. >> despite that, we're learning new details about how far the collaboration between the united states military and taliban went to get american and afghan allies out of the country. three senior defense officials say the taliban drove americans through check point, cleared streets so americans could pass safely and even carried the luggage to airport gates for the american military. let's bring in nbc news correspondent covering national security and the military courtney kube. good morning. so the taliban reportedly also helped prevent one potential attack. what more do we know about that? >> yeah, that's right. and look, we should point out

here, there are many many many cases that we have heard about and that we are aware of where the taliban did not help, particularly afghans get to the airport safely, but what we have been learning about over the last week or so is that there was this agreement between the u.s. military there on the ground with who are essentially their military counter parts in the taliban to help americans get safe passage to the airport and so what the state department would do is they would identify these americans who were ready to come to the airport. they had evacuation flights ready. they would send them a text message with a pass, essentially, and tell them where to go. there were two locations that they would go, and they would basically meet taliban fighters who were there. the taliban then had a copy of this pass, and they had a list, a manifest, essentially, of who would be coming through, and the americans would come. the taliban would basically process them at these locations,

and then they would ensure that they had safe passage, the last distance, a very short distance left to the airport, through these large crowds that would often gather around the gates. the defense officials said there were times the taliban would help them carry their luggage to the gates. it's important to point out there's been criticism that the u.s. was providing the taliban with the manifest of names. while they did give them names of people to go through the check points, the taliban had to turn the names back over. of course they could have taken photos, they could still target some of the people who were on these lists but they weren't handing over lists of names for the taliban for them to keep. there was also another case that we learned about just on sunday. this was in 24 hours of the u.s. finally leaving afghanistan for the last time, there was a bus that was headed through one of these check points on its way to kabul airport. it was stopped at a gas station right outside the airport. everyone on board told to get

off. and they were ordered to get off. there was an american man and his six daughters who were on at the time. they were told there's potential explosive device on this bus. there are two potential suicide attackers on here. go, run, and the americans and the others on the bus went and they fled and they hid in a drainage ditch until the taliban told them it was safe to go. they got up and eventually made their way to the airport. i can report sadly that those six women, young daughters, and the father, the american citizen, still are in afghanistan. they didn't make it out of the country. but what's important to point out is this is a case as others that we are now hearing about, where the taliban seemed to have potentially stopped a suicide attack and may have saved american lives. this is someone who the u.s. fought for two decades in afghanistan and in these last days, they may have actually been saving american lives,

willie. >> yeah, courtney, i think a lot of people would hear this list of stories, and say of course the taliban wanted to put on a good face to help usher the united states out of town and begin their celebration of the defeat of a super power. what will the american government be watching out of the taliban, and what would be a punitive measure that we have been hearing about? we heard from the defense secretary, we heard from ron klain that they will be watching with a skeptical eye how the taliban operates and, if they go back to their old ways, which people expect they will, they reserve the right to do something about it, what does that look like? >> absolutely. i mean, the defense official i spoke with said this was a bit of a confidence building measure, the fact that the taliban did in large part help the united states military in this case. it's important to point out, they had two very similar goals to the united states, one, get americans out, and number two, to stop any potential attack from isis-k. so for this short period of

time, the u.s. and taliban had a similar view, and they were, you know, working toward similar aims. that being said, defense officials are very very skeptical that this is a new and improved taliban and this signals there's some path forward for the united states to work particularly on a military-to-military level with the taliban going forward. there is likely to be some sort of diplomatic engagement going forward and that's because there continue to be americans and afghans who the u.s. may work to get out in the future. the question is would that be direct diplomatic ties. more likely it would continue to be through some sort of intermediary as we have seen happen for the last several years. there's also the economic piece so i think going forward, the 20-year military mission in afghanistan has ended. the diplomatic and economic way forward, that's what we're going to see more going forward. the u.s. military is quick to point out they will maintain the ability to strike in afghanistan

if and when that is needed. >> in the meantime, there are americans who still need to leave, as you say, nbc's courtney kube. thank you so much. other stories this morning, a navy helicopter crashed off the coast of san diego during a routine flight operation on tuesday. one crew member has been rescued. a navy spokesperson had confirmed to nbc news, there were six people on board the helicopter when it crashed. search and rescue operations on board this moment. the navy is investigating the cause of the crash. an overnight development out of the supreme court. early this morning, the court did not take action on a request to block a texas law prohibiting most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. that allowed the most restrictive abortion law in the nation to go into effect in texas. some texas abortion clinics were turning patients away even before the state's harsh new abortion law went into effect at midnight.

claire, are you surprised the supreme court didn't even take a look at this? >> you know, i'm more worried than i am surprised. you know, willie, i think back to my days as a prosecutor, and i handled hundreds of sexual assault cases and several cases stick in my mind right now, and that is young girls, barely teenagers who had been raped by family members or boyfriends of mothers and who had been impregnated and didn't even know they were pregnant until after six weeks of their pregnancy. this law that was allowed to take effect last night would force those young girls to have those children, to have those babies that were a product of rape by their fathers or their step fathers or their mother's

boyfriends. that is a chilling change in american law, and one that i think women across this country are not going to take well, and i think the draconian nature of these laws that are meant to overturn roe v. wade, the court is going to hear one from mississippi in the not too distant future, and i think most of us believe with a 6-3 court that roe v. wade will go away, and will go back to the days where so many women, especially young girls who are facing in situation, really don't know where to turn. >> yeah, that mississippi law bans abortion at 15 weeks, and you're right, claire, the supreme court is going to take a look at that one. this texas law is six weeks. as claire says, that's well before some people even know they're pregnant and has no exception for rape or incest. the supreme court not taking a look at the texas law, and it will go into effect barring any further court intervention. still ahead on "morning joe,"

power outages are plaguing much of southeast louisiana as temperatures soar in the wake of hurricane ida. it's a dangerous situation. we'll talk to the chief medical officer helping to lead recovery efforts across the state. plus, in northern california, the fast moving caldor fight, we'll have the latest on firefighters' attempts to contain the blaze. and on capitol hill, kevin mccarthy's veiled threat to companies cooperating with the committee investigating the deadly january 6th attack on the united states capitol. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. "morning joe." we'll be right back. [relaxed summer themed music playing] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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water and dangerous conditions are making rescue efforts much more difficult. this comes amid soaring temperatures in louisiana and across the gulf coast. power lines remain down and could stay that way for days or weeks to come. we have a pair of reports from our teams on the ground. we begin with nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: the race to rescue is still unfolding in louisiana, the beaten and battered, stranded for days, plucked from homes where the water is rising and hope was fading. >> we got rescued by a truck just now. >> reporter: pregnant and desperate, heather webe finally escaped the flood waters. >> our house is under water, we would have drowned. >> reporter: facing a complex maze of submerged roads, bucket highways and alligator infested waters which likely claimed one life, search teams still can't reach the hardest hit communities. in just this one area of

jefferson parish, not far outside new orleans, they have 135 rescues in just one day. if you want to go further, you'll need a boat. the easiest ways into grand isle and la feet is through the area. what happened in minutes could leave the stranded for days. >> it was unbelievable, 4 feet of water just came rushing in. >> reporter: with the scope of destruction coming into focus, what's out of view is devastating, surrounded by water, half a million have none from their taps safe to drink. lines for gas and supplies are leaving locals in searing heat. for some, the storm's after math more devastating than the impact. >> this is probably the worst i have been through. i mean, i went through katrina. >> reporter: though torrential rain has passed, in mississippi, the deluge helped erode a highway, the collapse, killing two and injuring ten.

across this battered region, no break from the heartbreak, the storm gone but the crisis still unfolding. >> reporter: i'm morgan chesky in new orleans. it's a slow moving disaster, leaving more than a million people in the dark. do you have any idea when you'll get power back? >> right now, no. >> reporter: how does that feel? >> crazy. >> reporter: the energy provider saying it could take three weeks before hard hit areas are back up. >> the schools are not open. the businesses are not open. the hospitals are slammed. there's not water in your home, and there's not going to be electricity. >> reporter: in st. charles parish west of new orleans, officials are warning residents to prepare for more than a month! these are all empty. >> reporter: for clive jackson, fuel for his generator, more precious than water. >> i can't get diesel. so, i mean, once that goes, it goes. >> reporter: what then? >> that's it. >> reporter: many hospitals, including new orleans's ochsner

health are still relying on generators, but as ida struck, neurosurgeons faced an emergency. >> we brought him into the operating room, took a piece of skull off. >> reporter: in a hurricane. >> the lights flickered and dr. smith said i guess we'll do the whole thing under candlelight. >> reporter: the lights came back on just in time. thousands of line crews racing against time, fighting brutal heat and ida's after math to bring one disaster to a close. >> morgan chesky reporting there. joining us now dr. ed rock, chief medical officer at global medical response which includes american medical response, fema's prime emergency medical services contractor. dr. rock, thanks for being with us this morning. i know how busy you are. you were out there wading through the scenes, confronting some of what we saw in the reports. what are you seeing on the ground? how dire is the situation? >> you know, willie, this is a

complex disaster, as our colleagues just pointed out. this is essentially three disaster in one. it's the storm, it's the impact of the storm, you know, the continuing challenge with the infrastructure on top of a substantial patient population who's infected with covid or potentially could transmit this. so this is a very complex evolution with no clear end in sight. >> and there's no power in much of the state, including in new orleans. they hope to get some of it back today. we're hearing that means no air-conditioning in the summer heat of louisiana. what are your concerns as this extends from days into weeks of no power in most parts of the state? >> so it's very worrisome because there is a sub population, there are a sub population of patients who over time without, you know, power, without appropriate nutrition, without clean water have underlying medical conditions or will develop those medical

conditions which then require health care. with the infrastructure interruption, with the roadway interruption, with the flooding, getting those patients to the right level of care so evaluate and to manage them is extraordinarily difficult, so while the storm itself has completed its pass, the flooding is there, there's an ongoing, continuing challenge with more people getting sick as they have challenges with access to the things that prevent further progression of illness. and remember, too, a lot of medical care is provided in non-hospital centers, and with primary care offices and standard medical offices not able, patients will try and get to already over burdened hospital systems in order to get care, so it's very worrisome. >> new orleans, louisiana, the

gulf coast has had its share of hurricanes as we know, prepares for things like this. if you're talking about a couple of weeks without power, what are the impacts on a hospital? >> so hospitals do everything they can and hospitals obviously have to be prepared for disastrous events. there's a triage system in place to try and get the sickest patients access to those resources so that they can preserve them over time. i think as was identified a couple of minutes ago, challenges in the operating theater, with operating rooms, patients that need surgery, interventions, you know, supporting ventilators, supporting health care technology, then is extraordinarily important and becomes difficult when power is either interrupted or is limited in those circumstances. >> as you say, this hurricane and this emergency comes at a

terrible time, particularly in the state of louisiana where hospitals are full with covid patients. some of them overrun by covid patients. what is the status right now of covid in louisiana as you layer over that. this hurricane, vaccination rates remain low. what does it look like in the hospitals where you serve? >> so, you're correct, vaccination rates remain low, and unfortunately to your earlier question, it's becoming difficult to get vaccination during this time period, so, you know, one of the challenges is we expect to see almost a pause in the number of individuals who get vaccinated during this time period. so the close quarters, the shelters, transporting patients in groups and the lack of available ppe for the community creates a very difficult super spreader event related to the

challenge of evacuation, the challenge of appropriate housing on top of them, the challenge of the storm itself, so very worrisome. we have not seen a disaster of this complexity in our time period. this is a tremendous number of moving parts. >> i know you've got a lot on your hands, we appreciate you taking the time this morning. dr. ed racht, chief medical officer. we appreciate your time. let's bring in bill karins, we were just talking about the heat in louisiana as we turn the page to september. pushing 100 degrees with heat indexes. what does it look like there as we think about those places that have no power in about as hot as you can think of. also with a bunch of humidity laid on top of it? >> yeah, willie, good morning, you know, to give you an example of just how hard it is to get power back in these areas, yesterday, at this time, it was

a little over a million people without power in louisiana. 50,000 people got their power back on yesterday, out of over a million. not many. mississippi, on the other hand, which wasn't hit as hard, you peaked at 120,000 people without power. right now it's down to 20,000. so a hundred thousand people got power back in mississippi yesterday, only 50,000 in louisiana. that's the difference between a tropical storm versus a category four hurricane. you're not going to get heat relief for a long time. the end of september and october until you get the taste of cooler air. we have heat advisories, it's hot, it's going to stay hot. today is a dangerous day. today could be a deadly day in areas of the mid atlantic and the northeast from what's left in the remnants of ida. we have a ton of rain coming and a tornado threat this afternoon, and this is especially dangerous situation in the areas that are in the green, flash flood watches from boston to west

virginia. we have a flash flood warning right now around the pittsburgh area, you're waking up to, and this is pretty rare. we don't get these days that often, only about 14 times a year do we have high risk flash flood days, and this one includes 19 million people. almost all of connecticut, new york city, north of philadelphia, poconos, cat skills, some areas got a ton of rain from henri a week ago. rainfall predictions, widespread 5 inches from pennsylvania to new york city to hartford, someone has a chance of getting up to 8 inches of rain, and this will happen in 6 to 12 hours this evening. that's the time to be off the roads. we're going to have highways washed out. streams are going to quickly rise out of their banks, small towns in the rural areas of the poconos, cat skills, could have extreme damage, and d.c. to baltimore to philadelphia, 43 million people under risk of severe weather. we expect tornadoes this

afternoon into this evening, especially philadelphia to atlantic city to d.c. keep an eye to the sky and keep tuned here. we'll give you all the updates we can on this dire situation, willie. we have a chance of losing more lives in this weather scenario today in the mid atlantic and northeast than we saw with the landfall of ida two days ago. >> yeah, and that big storm just keeps chugging along, as you show on your map. bill karins, thank you so much, bill. coming up here, the state of florida is withholding funds from a pair of florida school districts for making kids wear masks. that's despite a court ruling that invalidates the governor's order against those mask mandates. we'll look into why governor ron desantis felt he could defy a court's decision. defiy a court's decision wondering what actually goes into your multivitamin? at new chapter, its' innovation, organic ingredients, and fermentation. fermentation? yes. formulated to help you body really truly absorb the natural goodness.

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but there are better days ahead. >> as a boy, i fought polio. today, america has been polio free for 40 years thanks to vaccinations. protect yourself and your family, get vaccinated. >> learn more at cdc.gov/coronavirus. >> senate minority leader mitch mcconnell encouraging people in the state of kentucky to get the covid-19 vaccine in that new psa. it's available to stations nationwide, and has aired over 100 times in local tv markets in mcconnell's home state, which has seen a spike in covid cases over the past several weeks. kentucky has 48% of it population fully vaccinated and 57% with at least one dose. now to the latest in the political fight over mask mandates in schools. the florida department of education made good on a threat to withhold funding from local school districts that defied a ban from governor ron desantis on mask mandates. that came just days after a

state judge ruled the governor's ban was unconstitutional. nbc news correspondent kristen dahlgren has more. >> 11-year-old payton lee is fighting covid in a florida hospital. >> it's my worst nightmare. >> the 5th grader with down syndrome wore a mask in school, but it's not required, and many didn't. >> there's people out there, children out there like my daughter who have special needs, and make them even more vulnerable, and that's what people should be thinking about, keeping everyone safe. >> reporter: this week, the florida department of education withheld funds from two school districts that made masks mandatory in classrooms. while the federal department of education has now opened an investigation into five states for not allowing school mask mandates, claiming it violates the rights of children with underlying conditions. this week, the children's hospital association had a warning. there may not be sufficient bed capacity or expert staff to care

for children. almost a quarter of all covid cases reported last week were children. >> they're sicker, it's more contagious, and it's a much more virulent strain. >> reporter: 3-year-old aurora cannon spent days in the icu struggling to breathe. her mom, an emergency room nurse is vaccinated but worries she brought it home from unvaccinated patients. >> it's really hard seeing what i have seen for the past 18 months, and then watching my daughter go through it. >> reporter: aurora has been released from the hospital, but tonight, many children like payton continue to fight. kristen dahlgren, nbc news. >> joining us now, the head of one of the school districts financially penalized by governor desantis for imposing a mask mandate in schools, interim superintendent for broward county public schools, dr. vicky cartwright, also with us, the lead attorney in the lawsuit brought against the state of florida by parents who want districts to be able to mandate masks in school, charles gallagher. good morning to you both.

dr. cartwright let me begin with you as a practice question, what does this mean? the state has handed down the department of education this order that they're taking the money away from your school district. who's losing the money, how do they do it, and what's your reaction to? >> so first and foremost, thank you very much for this opportunity to talk with you this morning. what is happening at this point is on a monthly basis we get funds that come from the state, and so today on september the 1st, what will happen is they will have removed the amount of our school board's monthly salary away from that allocation that they're providing to the school district, so what we are going to be doing in response to that is because do have, from the federal government, that we can utilize our federal funds in order to fill in that gap. that is what we intend to be doing. >> and can you just explain for our audience and perhaps for the

governor and the department of education why you put in this temporary mask mandate? >> here locally in broward county, covid is very real. it's having a significant impact, even as of yesterday morning, our hospital utilization beds for the icu for both adults as a result for pediatrics is 90%, they're almost at full capacity. we're recognizing that unfortunately this has taken a toll on a lot of our children, our staff members, our families. we, in fact, already lost three staff members here this past month due to covid. so this for us is something that is a necessity, in order to ensure that we are protecting our students, our staff, and our teachers. our board made a very difficult decision to do that because they don't want to go against the governor, but the more we have continued to look at this, the more we believe that we are complying with the statute as

well as the rule. >> so you're trying to protect young children, you're trying to protect your staff, you're trying to protect the families of your children is what you're doing with a mask mandate in this case, a temporary mask mandate. charles, help us understand what happened here because just the other day we got the news that you all had won the first round of the lawsuit against your state, and in fact, the first ruling was that the governor's order was unconstitutional, so how are they now penalizing broward and alachua counties? >> it's questionable at best. yes, we did prevail at trial on friday. our ruling we received from the court was very clear that there was no right to enforce this executive order. no right to penalize school districts. so as a result during this gap in time between the oral order and a written order our belief is they are trying to use that window to make these enforcement actions, which is, you know, contrary to the court's ruling with the court being very clear

on those issues. >> mr. gallagher, i'm just curious about this, so what you're saying is they are trying to use a gap between the order that the judge gave from the bench and the written memorialization of that order as an excuse. but, i mean, let's back up here, we are all pounding podiums about the fact that the taliban doesn't respect the rule of law. meanwhile, we have a governor in florida that clearly is giving the back of his hand to a state judge, not much less, the elected members of the broward county school board. were you surprised that the governor tried to make political points by defying this court? >> sadly, i was not. they have taken the approach to double down over and over and over again on these issues without deferring to the court, without deferring to the rules

as they are. so sadly i was not surprised, but definitely we are concerned about the ruling and once we have a written order in place, we certainly will move for some contempt sanctions. >> dr. cartwright, this is sam stein here, putting aside the legality of this, i'm just curious from a cultural perspective, what are you, the parents you talk to say about the need for a mask mandate or, i guess on the other side of things if they find it burdensome, what has the reaction been among the students as well? i know you're in one slice of florida, it doesn't represent the entire state, but i am just curious, what's the reaction been around this, and can we define anything about how this issue plays for the governor. >> here in south florida, at least here in broward county, i can speak. we have not really had any concerns related to this. it's a small handful of parents that showed up to our school board meeting in order to protest about the requirements, but overwhelmingly our families

are complying. they're wearing the masks, they're supportive. they're doing what they need to do in order to make sure that we're supporting one another. how do i know that is because one of the sanctions that is currently in place is on a daily basis at 5:00, i have to certify to the commissioner of education how many students have either been disciplined or some extraordinarily loose language, harassed or anything to that effect, and so we have been taking the words of our parents when it's not clear cut as to if they feel that their child has been harassed for wearing a mask and reporting those numbers. yesterday, the number of students that we reported was seven, and remember, this is a district of over 250,000 students, seven, it has ranged anywhere from maybe like three students up to seven students, and it's on a daily basis that we're having to do this, and talk about a financial impact.

even though our governor very specifically or i should say the commissioner of education very specifically outlined not using the funds that they're withholding to harm students or teacher pay, what about the amount of time it's taking in order to comprise this report on a daily basis. it is requiring every one of my principals and every one of my schools to take some type of action. they're having to take time out of their workday, a day that they would normally be spending with their teachers and their students and parents in order to go in and complete a report, certifying that the information that they're providing is accurate and then that comes to central office, and then it takes people from there having to work on the report, as well as myself. >> it's just outrageous, as if the job wasn't hard enough to teach school and run a school in times of covid. we have been talking dr. cartwright on the show to dr. carly simon out of alachua

county, and she said again and again, i do not want a political fight. i did not get into this job to argue with the governor. i'm just trying to protect my students, that's all i want to do right now. what will you do as this case moves up through the courts, if this is up held, if the governor's order is up held, and they say you must. you must not have a mask mandate or else we'll continue to take money out of your schools or worse, where do you think this goes from here? >> at this point in time, i know that our county as well as there are a few others that are joining in with us in order to take this to court as well. so we will continue to go in that approach as needed. and again, we want to revisit this after labor day. our school board is going to revisit this issue. and the reason is because we're going to be using, what is the

data, the boots on the ground in broward county. are we at a position that we don't need this as mitigating factors. has covid slowed down enough to where we don't have to have that. they're going to continue to revisit this and continue to make sure that they're making the right decision, but again, my board, they are really committed to doing what they believe is in the best interests of our local community, our local students, staff and teachers. they are here. we're living this on a daily basis. we're not in a different location of the state. so to say that, again, where do we go from here, we continue to go forward with it, just through the legal system. we continue to be advised over and over again, we are complying. >> well, i'm sorry you're having to waste your time with this business, as you say, it's gumming up an already difficult school year. thank you for continuing the fight, and thank you for what you and all your teachers do, especially in these times.

interim superintendent, dr. vickie cartwright, and charles gallagher, keep us posted. president biden is defending his decision to end the war in afghanistan amid the ongoing criticism of how the withdrawal was conducted. we'll hear more of his remarks and speak to an attorney who has been working to help afghan refugees to relocate. also this morning, in less than two weeks, voters in california will decide whether to recall democratic governor gavin newsom. it's a special election that could have national implications. we'll take a closer look at what's at stake, and how that might end. "morning joe" is coming right back. ght end. "morning joe" is coming right back

just after 7:00 in the morning in new york city as we have turned the page on the calendar, it is wednesday, september 1st. welcome back to "morning joe." i'm willie geist. claire mccaskill is still with us, and joining the conversation, msnbc contributor, mike barnicle, and pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of the "washington post" eugene robinson. good morning to you all, amidback lash from both sides of the aisle, president biden is forcefully defending his decision to end the war in afghanistan. in the first speech since troops left kabul, he said yesterday he refused to prolong a forever war

and credited his administration's evacuation efforts as a quote extraordinary success. >> my fellow americans, the war in afghanistan is now over. i'm the fourth president who has faced the issue of whether and when to end this war. when i was running for president i made a commitment to the american people that i would end this war. today i've honored that commitment. it was time to be honest with the american people again. we no longer had a clear purpose and an open-ended mission in afghanistan. after 20 years of war in afghanistan, i refuse to send another generation of americas sons and daughters to fight a war that should have ended long ago. to those asking for a third decade of war in afghanistan, i ask, what is the vital national

interest? in my view, we only have one. to make sure afghanistan can never be used again to launch an attack on our homeland. remember why we went to afghanistan in the first place? because we were attacked by osama bin laden and al qaeda on september 11th, 2001. and they were based in afghanistan. we delivered justice to bin laden on may 2nd, 2011. over a decade ago. al qaeda was decimated. this decision about afghanistan is not just about afghanistan. it's about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries. we saw a mission of counter

terrorism in afghanistan, getting the terrorists and stopping attacks morph into a counter insurgency, nation building, trying to create a democratic cohesive and united afghanistan, something that has never been done over many centuries of afghan's history. we have been a nation too long at war. if you're 20 years old today, you have never known an america at peace, so when i hear that we could have, should have continued the so-called low grade effort in afghanistan, at low risk to our service members, at low cost, i don't think enough people understand how much we have asked of the 1% of this country who put that uniform on, who were willing to put their lives on the line in defense of our nation. there's nothing low grade or low risk or low cost about any war. it's time to end the war in

afghanistan. i give you my word, with all of my heart, i believe this is the right decision, a wise decision. and the best decision for america. >> after the last american troops left afghanistan, the taliban quickly declared victory, celebrating as they took over the kabul airport. nbc news chief foreign correspondent richard engel has more. >> reporter: victory day for the taliban, and during the airport, there are fighters inspecting the spoils the u.s. left behind at what was the last american toe hold in afghanistan. the taliban spokesman saying the group wants new relations with the west and are even open to foreign investment. they looked over the aircraft and weapons u.s. troops abandoned and decommissioned so they can't be used. but american forces did not damage the airport itself.

the united states is relying on the airport to reopen quickly, to evacuate american citizens and translators who never made it out in the air lift. some of them now in hiding from the taliban and who one day once they have documents will have to pass through here to leave. the taliban insisting they'll let them go. the taliban also promising to fight isis and never allow afghanistan to be a sanctuary for terrorism. but will they? in the remote host province, the taliban held another victory rally, parading mock nato coffins. a speaker praised the isis suicide bomber who killed 13 u.s. service members, and 200 afghans, saying the taliban have now established the islamic state the suicide bomber yearned for. >> mike barnicle as you watched the president speak at the white house, he spoke with the conviction of someone who believes he's doing the right thing, and in fact, there's new

polling that shows a majority of americans believe we ought to leave afghanistan, we've been there too long, almost 20 years. and a large number of them, including democrats, don't like the way it happened, and his use of the term extraordinary success was not the best choice of words, what did you see in that president yesterday, what did you hear in his remarks? >> well, willie, i heard a very strong defense of his position. after 20 years of death, deception, despite some immense progress in afghanistan with regard to women and education, 20 years of delusion. i know from speaking to people who have spoken to the president that he was angered and outraged to his core at the murder of 13 americans, 11 marines, one army man, and i think one navy

corpsman at the gate. he was outraged at that, and i think it triggered what we just saw yesterday in his speech. the president knows that only one thing is forever. and that's death. he knows that most of those at the airport were there in afghanistan for perhaps their first time, greeting complete strangers, people they've never met, in order to save their lives. he knows that the government of karzai and ghani over the past two decades have literally allowed their country to be looted and perhaps participated in that looting. he knows that the united states today is more prepared, skilled, dealing with terrorists and terrorism, than we were on september 10th, 2021, before the world changed and he knows that we have the technical capacity, the tactical capacity, the military, financial, and cyber tools to deal with any and every threat to the united states, and he also knows, perhaps, most importantly that the idea of

nation building, of bringing elements of our democracy to countries around the world is totally fool hearty, when we are living in a country where voting rights are under siege, where wearing masks has become a political statement, helping save your children from the virus, a political statement. he knows all of that, and i think that was the bones and the strength and the outline of what he spoke to yesterday. >> there are a lot of republicans, actually, who believe we should leave afghanistan, donald trump, chief among them. he brokered this deal. he wanted to get out of afghanistan as well. the criticism you have heard over the last couple of weeks is about the rush and leaving people behind, so the president spoke to that yesterday, and we have heard from jake sullivan, the national security adviser, the white house has gone out of its way to make it known for months we have been telling americans it's time to get out of the country, and let's get you out of here. they suggested yesterday that most of the 100 or 200 or whatever that number is of

americans left in the country are there by choice. we know of course not all of them are, but clearly based on that defensive speech yesterday, the president hears all of the criticism being leveed against him. >> i'm sure he hears the criticism, but my guess is he slept pretty soundly last night. i believe in his heart, joe biden believes he did the right thing, and i think he believes that the evacuation of 120,000 people or more was a success, an unprecedented success. and, look, nobody can say that the sequencing of this was ideal. the military promptly withdrew. civilians were slower to move, as you said. we were advising americans to leave for months.

but people didn't leave, and so we were stuck in a situation where as the afghani government collapsed, we were trying to evacuate too many people with too few troops and too few resources and so you wish that hadn't happened that way. but this policy that president biden is pursuing is what he has advocated for a decade or more. it is what he absolutely believes, and frankly, i think history will prove him right. i think the choice was between withdrawing and there's no easy way to withdraw from a war you don't win. withdrawing or committing indefinitely for years, perhaps for decades more to a military

presence and an occasional heated combat in afghanistan. and he thought that was a bad use of the nation's resources and a waste of american lives and decided to end it and i think he's very pleased, whatever the short-term political fallout may be. >> yeah, and he answered the theory that we should have left 2,500, 3,500 troops there by saying we speak to casually about the sacrifices made by american troops, no matter how large or how small the number is. an afghan interpreter who came to the rescue of president biden is pleading with the president to save his family after they were left behind. in an interview with the "wall street journal," a man named mohammed said while he had a chance to be air lifted out of afghanistan, he did not want to leave his wife and four children

behind. now he says they are in hiding, fearing retribution from the taliban. in 2008, the journal reports, mohammed was stationed at bagram airfield when he rushed out to save three united states senators whose helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in a snowstorm, on that helicopter, chuck hagel, john kerry, and joe biden. white house press secretary jen psaki addressed the calls for help yesterday. >> first, our message to him is thank you for fighting by our side for the last 20 years. thank you for the role you played in helping a number of my favorite people out of a snowstorm. and for all of the work you did. and our commitment is enduring, not just to american citizens but to our afghan partners who have fought by our side, and our efforts and our focus right now is as you heard general mckenzie say and others say over the last 24 hours is to the diplomatic phase. we will get you out. we will honor your service. and we're committed to doing

exactly that. >> we will get you out. that's from the white house. joining us now, long time attorney and human rights lawyer, kimberly motley, she has focused her international work on afghanistan, including training lawyers in the country and recently working to help refugees to resettle. she also is an msnbc legal analyst. kimberly, great to have you on this morning. i want to talk to you a lot about women and girls in afghanistan, but first, the work you're doing right now to help afghan refugees, what does that process look like from where you sit? >> good morning, thanks for having me. my role -- can you hear me? good morning, my role is to not only help people to evacuate from the country if they so choose but also to support the many many afghans that choose to stay within the country. there's many many people around the world who have been volunteering to help rescue

people that want to leave. many people that don't even know each other. there are still rescue missions happening within the country. people are trying to leave by land right now as that's the only option that's available to them, and my role also is to help people legally as well as other lawyers that are on the team to make sure when they are sent to a holding country, which we see is happening that they are legally allowed to go to different countries that can accept them. and so we're very grateful to the various countries, including the government of mexico which is where i'm at right now, who are opening their doors to afghan evacuees, which is so critically important at this moment in time. >> so kimberly, what is your sense of how many people remain in afghanistan who want to get out of that country? obviously the american footprint is gone. the ability to have american military forces to help get those people out of the country has left. so who is there? and what is the process from

their side of things in afghanistan to get out of the country? >> well, right now, i mean, to be frank, there's millions of afghans that want to leave the country. i think we see the photographs of the many many and thousands of afghans caught at the border. we saw the tragic photographs of people outside the airport trying to desperately get in. so there is millions of people that want to leave afghanistan. they're very unclear of what the new government, the taliban government is going to look like, and they are obviously concerned. and i'm concerned as well. even though, you know, the last sort of plane has left afghanistan, military plane, certainly the u.s. footprint still remains in some capacity, and, you know, i'm just here to help. i'm here to do my part along with many many other people within the country and outside the country. and i think what's also really really porn to know is that everyone that left afghanistan,

over 100,000 people that left, every person that left left because an afghan person helped them to leave, and i think that's really really important to note that those cars that were driving people to the airport, they weren't driving themselves, you know, people that were being escorted, they weren't solely being escorted by, you know, international forces and things like that. but there were a lot of really good and well intentioned afghans that were still doing their part and continuing to do their part to help afghans and help foreigners trapped in the country right now. >> kimberly, claire mccaskill has a question for you. >> yeah, what are you hearing? we know that money is leverage, and it will be particular leverage in afghanistan right now where the united states of america has been their gdp for the last decade. they are a very poor nation, a very young nation, and the taliban may try to govern, but they have a huge job on their

hands trying to unite a disparate company fed on religious and ideology that all of these sects are much different than each other. money here could be huge leverage, and private organizations that receive donations from individuals or from various governments including our european allies are in the strongest position to help the women of afghanistan and to help other potential refugees from afghanistan that are our friends. what are you hearing about their effort and whether or not the united states government will help fund these ngos, these not for profits that could go in and actually facilitate getting people out of this country that want to go? >> i mean, i'm so glad that you asked that. i think certainly money is a motivating factor, and i think, you know, it's one thing for the taliban to, you know, sort of take the country by brute force, and to bang their hands on their chest, but it's another thing to run a country properly, and i

think that definitely we as an international community and frankly, the united states government, we definitely should make our aid and our money conditional in afghanistan, to make sure that women's rights are followed, to make sure human rights are followed, to make sure that women are seen in the community. you know, if the taliban government intends to deprive half of its population, which is the women, a real, you know, seat at the table, then they are doomed to fail. i mean, the reality is that the afghan women are a economic power house within the afghan society. they are not, you know, just one dimensional, can only talk about women's rights, but they are also represented in virtually every sector, the business sector, the health sector, the legal sector. you're absolutely correct that it's the private company and private community that need to step up to the plate and make sure they're doing what they can to protect women and to make

their monetary, you know, sort of contributions conditional on basic rights and basic, you know, sort of equal economic scales being followed. so i think that's really really important moving forward, and like i said, i can't stress enough that if the new government of afghanistan refuses to recognize half of its population, the women, and also its youth population where over 70% of the population is under the age of 25, their economy will fail, and so i think that's really really important for all of us to watch. >> kimberly, i mentioned women and girls in afghanistan, and i think our viewers should know that over the years you and others have helped to establish a rule of law and justice system in afghanistan. you have elevated women. they have become lawyers and judges and politician, but now you're sounding the alarm about what's going to happen to the women and girls in afghanistan, and expressed some frustration, frankly, on this administration for not focusing on that.

what does it look like from the people you know through the years, the people you're talking to right now for women in afghanistan? >> well, unfortunately right now it looks very grim for afghan women. a lot of women are terrified, understandably so. we see how women are being erased from public spaces. people are painting black paint over women in public spaces. we're seeing and hearing how women are being told to not come to school, not go to work. we are seeing for the schools where there's young girls and boys, they're putting physical partitions between the boy and the girl students. you know, it's really disheartening, and i think it's even more important for us to make sure that we're protecting and supporting the afghan women because like i said, that society will fail, and i think it's really important for us to accept that even if our troops are not physically in afghanistan, that country is still part of the global dysfunctional family, and we're still going to have to deal with

the country of afghanistan, and one way we can try to uplift it is by making sure we continue to support the women. continue to make sure their voices are heard, and continue to recognize that they are the economic power house that they are in afghanistan, and give our aid conditionally. and frankly while i'm at it, i think that pakistan should be sanctioned. frankly, they were a large part of this country invasion. they helped to invade afghanistan. there's been reports of a lot of the taliban fighters speaking punjabi, and not speaking the local language of the country of afghanistan, and i think we really need to look also at our aid that we're giving to pakistan and consider what we're going to do for them also participating in this invasion of afghanistan. >> human rights attorney kimberly motley who does incredible work and has around the world. thank you for being with us this morning, we appreciate it. the devastation from

hurricane ida is becoming more apparent as the survey of damage continues this morning. entire communities under water. dangerous conditions are making rescue efforts much more difficult. this comes as temperatures soar across the south, well over 100 with some heat indexes. power lines are down. they could stay that way for days or weeks to come. nbc news correspondent miguel almaguer has more. >> reporter: the race to rescue is still unfolding in louisiana. the beaten and battered, stranded for days, plucked from homes where the water is rising and hope was fading. >> we got rescued by a truck just now. >> reporter: pregnant and desperate, heather webe escaped flood waters. facing a complex maze of submerged roads, busted highways, and alligator infested waters which likely claimed one life, search teams still can't reach the hardest hit communities.

in just this one area of jefferson parish, not far outside new orleans, they had 135 rescues in a day. if you want to go further, you'll need a boat. the easiest way into areas like grand isle and lafitte, what happened in minutes could leave the stranded trapped for days. >> it was unbelievable. 4 feet of water just came rushing in. >> reporter: with the scope of destruction coming into focus, what's out of view is also devastating. surrounded by water, more than half a million have none from their taps safe to drink. lines for gas and supplies are leaving locals in searing heat, for some, the storm's after math more devastating than the impact. >> this is probably the worst i have been through. i mean, i went through katrina. >> reporter: though torrential rain has passed in mississippi the deluge helped erode a highway. the collapse killing two and

injuring ten. across this battered region, no break from the heartbreak, the storm gone but the crisis still unfolding. >> miguel almaguer reporting from louisiana for us. still ahead on "morning joe," house minority leader kevin mccarthy warns companies not to turn over phone records to the committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol. what congressman adam schiff is saying about that. an incredible story out of rural alabama where one woman took it upon herself to get nearly her entire small town vaccinated against covid when there was no easy access to the vaccine. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪

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joe," it is 7:29 coming up on the bottom of the hour at the united states capitol, house minority leader kevin mccarthy yesterday told telecommunications and internet companies the following quote a republican majority will not forget if they turn over phone and e-mail records to the congressional committee investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol. the committee has asked more than 30 companies to preserve records, including apple, verizon, and google. prompting mccarthy to issue a statement that reads in part quote, if these companies comply with the democrat order, his term to turn over private investigation, they're in violation of federal law and subject to losing their ability to operate in the united states. a republican majority will not forget and will stand with americans who hold them fully accountable under the law. mccarthy did not specify which federal law he was referring to. a spokesman for the committee tells nbc news, we have asked companies not to destroy records that may help answer questions for the american people. the committee's efforts will not

be deterred by those who want to whitewash or cover up the events of january 6th or to obstruction our investigation. here is reaction from a member of the january 6th select committee, congressman adam schiff of california. >> it's a threat on a preps of a falsehood that somehow asking companies to preserve records or ultimately turn over records of people involved in an insurrection is against the law, but mccarthy, look, he's scared, and i think his boss is scared. they didn't want this commission and this select committee to go forward. they certainly didn't want it to go forward as it is on a bipartisan basis, and they don't want the country to know exactly what they were involved in. and you can see why. >> congressman mccarthy previously has acknowledged speak to go former president donald trump while the attack on the capitol was underway. so gene robinson, republicans have had chances at every turn to get a bipartisan look at what

happened on january 6th. they refused that. they didn't want to participate in the select key, save for a couple of republicans appointed by nancy pelosi, and you have kevin mccarthy suggesting that it's a violation of the law for the committee which does have subpoena power, i will remind our viewers to ask for the phone records. >> it's not a violation of the law. kevin mccarthy is not a serious person. kevin mccarthy is worried among other things about his own phone records, his own conversations on january 6th. and the conversations of the contacts of republican members of the house, of his caucus, with potentially with the president, with insurrectionists, with, you know, the people who brought about january 6th leading up to that day. any of those kinds of contacts, he doesn't want coming out into the light. potential contacts, i should

say. we don't know that there were such contacts, but you would think that the minority leader of the house would want to know about what exactly led up to the gravest attack on our capitol and our democracy since the civil war. you'd think he would want to know, get to the bottom of that, but obviously he does not. he's trying to protect his caucus and protect the former president. >> hey, claire, i'm going to ask you to put your prosecutor's hat back on for a moment. what i'm listening to when i hear kevin mccarthy, i'm thinking, okay, a crime was committed. crimes were committed on january 6th. these requests are not for conversations. they're for phone records of people who were perhaps witnesses to the crimes that were committed on january 6th,

and the records are being requested in order to speak to those people who may have had had contact with the participants in this. am i wrong? >> no, you're not wrong. you know, kevin mccarthy reminded me of a mob boss yesterday, threatening witnesses with extension if they cooperate with law enforcement. that's what this has come to. it is unbelievably bold for a leader of a major political party to threaten major sectors of american businesses out of business, threaten them with extinction if they cooperate with a lawful investigation into violations of the law. and you know, these members of congress, when they decided to run for congress, they decided they were going to open their lives to public scrutiny. nobody forced them to do that. nobody forced them to run for congress and become public

figures, and now they're uncomfortable with the idea that anybody could even get records of who they called, who they talked to during a pivotal moment in our american democracy, at a moment where americans have a right to know who was talking to who. and you know, whether or not the contents of those conversations are ever revealed, it is certainly just the basics of an investigation that you ask people to retain records so that you can determine if there could have been conversations that contributed to the lawlessness that we saw that day. kevin mccarthy's got a lot of nerve complaining about the taliban. he's busy doing lawless stuff from a podium in the united states congress. >> and one wonders why republicans are working so hard to make sure this information about january 6th doesn't get out. coming up, alabama has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country, but our next guest is working to make sure her small town is the exception.

even if it means going door to door. an extraordinary story when "morning joe" comes right back. an extraordinary story when "morning joe" comes right back

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heard people say they get sick. >> they're all going to hurt sometimes. i didn't have no problem with mine at all. look at her smiling at me. you know i know you, don't you. you ready to take that shot? put him down. see, i got him. i'm good. >> put me down. >> that's a clip from the pinola project, a short documentary from the new yorker about who women from the tiny rural town,

dorothy oliver and county commissioner, drucilla rush jackson, who took the time to go door to door to convince neighbors to get the vaccine. their work has gotten nearly every resident vaccinated, 97% of the town, in a state that has one of the lowest rates in the country. one of the women featured in the documentary, dorothy oliver. we're so happy to have you with us this morning. thank you for joining us. i want to underline those two numbers, the state of alabama, 38% vaccination rate. your town, panola, alabama, 97%. how did you do do it? >> we decided the best way to do it, first of all, we started calling on the phone trying to take them to make the shot, make the appointment, and after we see we need to go a little bit further, so we decide to bring the vaccination to panola.

and we went door to door talking to them, and we didn't have any problem. i have been doing this for a long time. i used to do it in other projects also, so everybody respect me, and know i'm an honest person. we didn't have any problem, and they respect the commissioner also, so we didn't have any problem at all. we went door to door, and we called on the phone. we did whatever we had to do to make sure they get vaccinated. >> so dorothy, why did you have to undertake this effort? was it a lack of access to the vaccine? was it hesitancy by the people in the town of panola, or why did you take this upon yourself? >> well, what we decided to do, the people just didn't have the access to go get it because we live so far. we're in a rural area. so we knew that if we didn't do something, a lot of people wasn't going to be able to call. a lot of times they don't know how to make the phone call, don't have internet to make the appointment. it's hard to get internet in our area, and we decided we would

make it better for them, you know, just bring it to panola and make sure nobody wouldn't have an excuse not to get it. >> so 97%, dorothy, did you have to twist anybody's arm or when you showed up knocking at the door because as you said, you are so trusted in your community, did they say, yeah, dorothy, i'll do it? >> it wasn't that easy. a lot of them it was. a lot of them said, thank you, we appreciate it. we didn't even know what we had to do to get it. and then we had that few that we had to really twist their arm to try to get it. they had a lot of excuses, you know, they had a lot of excuses, i just want to wait to see what it going to do to everybody else or i just think it's politics. they had a lot of different reasons, so we didn't have a lot of people like that. just a few of them. >> dorothy, a lot of people in the country are having conversations with family members or neighbors or people you care about. it would be interesting for the

people that are hesitant, what were the conversations like, how did you convince them to get the shot? >> i kept talking to them, and i said, look, you got to do this, you got to get that shot because this disease, it ain't plain. you see it killing people everywhere. you got to take it for your family, because if you don't, this disease ain't picking the person that it hits. so you got to go ahead and take it. and i just keep talking, keep convincing them, and believe me, in a few minutes, they just got on board. >> ms. oliver, this is gene robinson from the "washington post." congratulations on what you've accomplished. >> thank you! i'm curious as to what the result has been for panola? has the vaccination campaign managed to pretty much keep the

disease at bay and keep it away from panola? >> that's correct. my understanding. we only had two people, maybe one person because i think the other person wasn't diagnosed with. so we kept it out of panola. we only had one death that i know of out of panola. >> mike barnicle, i think we need to get dorothy oliver going across the country. it seems like she can convince people to get the shot. >> yeah, dorothy, i hope you're willing to travel, but let me ask you this, who did the vaccinating, who did the vaccinating, how long did the vaccinating take before you got as many of your neighbors vaccinated, and lastly, can you get to montgomery and birmingham today? >> well, we'll have to think about that one because i'm a long way from birmingham and montgomery, but it didn't take

long. what happened, we started off like i said, just calling. i would call people and see did they need my help and everything so after that, we decided to bring it to panola, and we only brought it to panola three times, i believe. we talked to them, and they came up, and then we had the national guard and the health department to come. so we didn't have like three trips, i believe, is what it was. and then we just about had everybody by then, just a few left. >> what was the root of people not being vaccinated in your town? was it fear? was it the fact that they weren't aware of the lethality of the virus? what was the root of their opposition if it was opposition to getting vaccinated? >> i think the root was that people just was real afraid to get it, and they was thinking

i'm just going to wait. that's what i got a lot of that, i probably got probably two or three people just said, well, maybe one person that said it was politics. the rest of them was just scared and i had some people say i just didn't know how to get it, how to, you know, how to get the appointment. >> dorothy, first of all, congratulations, and what you have proven is that reaching out to your neighbors works, that if you make an extra effort, people respect that and they respect that you care for them, and this is something that is deeply rooted in christianity. do you feel like ministers in your area have done enough and what would you say to ministers across rural america about what role they should have in teaching people to get a vaccination so that they can take care of others as well as themselves? >> i would say the minister

really need to play a role, because if the minister play a role, that would encourages people every sunday, and kind of encourage them, and kind of put a little push there, and i know that would help a whole lot. in my area, i think -- i know some of the ministers have been announcing in church and all that and making sure that people go out and get their shot. i know that happened in my area. >> dorothy, i know you're sitting at 97% which is just incredible, but just listening to you and the conviction in your voice, would you like to get it to 100% in panola? >> oh, yes. like i said, i'm not going to stop until the job is done. i'm still calling. yesterday i was out making sure, making phone calls to try to get the other percentage. so we're going to try. i got a few that's pretty tough, though, so i don't know. >> dorothy oliver, you are a light. you are a saint. thank you for the work you're

doing in panola, for the work you're doing, we so appreciate you. thank you. >> thank you. coming up here on "morning joe," california governor gavin newsom is facing a tough recall election this month. msnbc's jacob soboroff sat down with the governor to talk about what is at stake. jacob joins us just ahead. "morning joe" is coming right back. ♪ you've got holes in your clothes and booze on breath ♪ ♪ breath ♪ ♪

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welcome back to "morning joe." a rainy times square at 7:53 in the morning. the federal aviation administration is stepping up its work to combat the problem of people pointing laser pointers at planes in the air. we could see a record number of incidents this year.

here's nbc news correspondent tom costello with more. >> we're getting hit by that laser again. >> reporter: it happens every day. cockpits lit up by hand-held lasers. >> he's been hitting us with a green laser. >> reporter: in florida a man in a boat first admitted pointing a laser at a sheriff's department chopper but is now pleading not guilty. >> when the laser hits, that beam is big enough to envelope this entire cockpit. >> reporter: sheriff's department chief pilot brian smith says he's been hit many times at low altitude when he's most vulnerable. >> you can get laser burns that are in your eye. those laser burns hurt. it feels like somebody punched you in the side of the face or poked you in the eye. >> it happened on united airlines captain jonathan sawyer on approach with passengers on board. >> i turned to look at what it was and it was a green laser that illuminated the entire flight deck. >> reporter: fortunately the first officer was able to land safely. even with low air traffic last year the faa reports nearly

7,000 laser attacks in 2020, the most since 2016, and even more this year. most often on friday and saturday nights. california, texas and florida report the most cases. the suspects very often young men who may not realize the danger to pilots and passengers. >> it doesn't really matter what the motivation is. it's got to stop. you certainly don't want pilots to be distracted while they're flying the airplane. >> tom costello reporting there. still ahead on "morning joe" an unfolding disaster in afternoon where one wildfire is forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate from the popular lake tahoe resort area. we will have a live report with the very latest when "morning joe" comes right back. omes righ. their own safelite story. s 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.

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after 20,744 american servicemen and women injured and the loss of 2,461 american personnel, including 13 lives lost just this week, i refuse to open another decade of war in afghanistan. we've been a nation too long at war. >> one day after the last united states troops left kabul, president biden defending his decision to end america's longest war and pushing back against the notion his administration did not do everything it could to get every united states citizen out of the country, despite the fact many

of them still are in the country. plus, hundreds of thousands of people in louisiana still without electricity or running water in the aftermath of hurricane ida as temperatures soar there. we'll have the very latest. plus, we are following the continued battle in florida over the governor's ban of school mask mandates. a judge ruled the governor's order was unconstitutional, but the state still has gone ahead with financial penalties against school districts. we'll have an update on that story. good morning, welcome to "morning joe." it is wednesday, september 1st. i'm willie geist. we will start with president biden's address to the nation yesterday afternoon, one day after the final american troops left afghanistan, officially ending our country's role in that war. nbc chief white house correspondent peter alexander takes us through the president's defense of that decision. >> reporter: with the taliban declaring victory in afghanistan, president biden at the white house marked the end of america's longest war.

>> leaving august the 31st is not due to an arbitrary deadline. it was designed to save american lives. >> reporter: facing bipartisan backlash, the president at times angry and defensive standing by his decision to end the mission with up to 200 american citizens still stranded. >> 90% of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. we remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. >> reporter: but that move breaks this promise president biden made less than two weeks ago. >> if there's american citizens left, we're going to stay until we get them all out. >> reporter: the last soldier out, major general chris donahue, commander of the 82nd airborne division, seen boarding the final c-17 airplane monday at kabul's airport. the president touting the safe evacuation of 124,000 people as an extraordinary success. >> extraordinary success of this

mission was due to the incredible skill, bravery and selfless courage of the united states military and our diplomats. >> reporter: while insisting despite the frantic final days and the loss of 13 u.s. service members there was no way to carry out america's exit without chaos. >> there is no evacuation from the end of a war that you can run without the kinds of complexities, challenges and threats we faced. none. >> reporter: but republicans are accusing the president of betraying americans. >> when you -- you don't leave your people behind, and we did. i'm afraid they're going to kill these people and hurt them the entire time they're dying. >> reporter: two days after the u.s. says it foiled another isis-k attack on the airport, president biden delivering this stern warning. >> to isis-k, we are not done with you yet. >> peter alexander reporting there. joining us now, nbc news white

house correspondent mike memoli at the white house. mike, good morning, good to see you. the president was defensive yesterday. as much as this was an explanation of his decision, there was no celebration, there was no mission accomplished. he sort of went through point by point whether you agreed with him or not meeting some of the criticism he's faced over the last month. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, willie. this is a white house that for the last two and a half weeks since the fall of kabul on or around august 14th has really been in crisis mode. behind the scenes all of us have been getting a lot from white house officials criticizing the way this is being covered, defending against some of the criticism they have been facing really from all sides, even some democratic allies. they have never really had the ability to mount a real public pushback in part because they were sweating the very real threats to the americans on the ground and in one case lost to a tragic loss of life. we saw the white house really begin now that the final americans are off the ground

there, at least the military operation is concluded, pushback, really begin to do that. it started in the morning with jake sullivan talking about all the criticism they're getting are from people who haven't had to be in the situation room, haven't had to go through the threats and make the tough calls. and the president himself really defiant. he did a number of things in that speech. one what we've heard throughout this process, which is defend the broader decision to end 20 years of a forever war, as he put it. he talked about the decision president trump had made, the deal with the taliban, and said he was faced with a decision of either expanding our military presence or withdrawing and obviously he already was inclined to withdraw from the start. and then he got into some of those very difficult chaotic and tragic scenes over the last two weeks. he acknowledged it was a flawed assumption that led them to believe the afghan government would hold up for a few more weeks to provide a more, let's say, efficient withdrawal from afghanistan. but he talked about the fact that any fall of a capital as we've seen here was going to

lead to the kind of chaos. and then he broadened it out to really hit the defining characteristic of his foreign policy over the last eight months so far, which is this idea of democracies versus autocracies and his assessment, his very real conviction, that the continued military presence in afghanistan was not in our national interest. that our focus needs to be on a terror threat that has metastasized beyond afghanistan but more broadly on this idea as we've been talking about, democracies versus autocracies and saying china and russia would love nothing more than to see us bogged down in afghanistan for another decade. >> obviously one of the central criticisms that the president has heard is leaving americans behind. we know as peter pointed out in his piece that the president promised to get every last american out of the country in that interview with george stephanopolous a couple of weeks ago. the president and his national security advisor are also pointing out the administration gave americans living in

afghanistan a number of warnings to get out before this withdrawal date. here's what he said. >> since march, we reached out 19 times to americans in afghanistan with multiple warnings and offers to help them to leave afghanistan, all the way back as far as march. the bottom line, 90% of americans in afghanistan who wanted to leave were able to leave. and for those remaining americans, there is no deadline. we remain committed to get them out if they want to come out. >> we gave 19 messages starting in march to americans to leave the country. we offered them financial assistance to leave the country and then for more than two weeks, we gave them specific instructions for how to come. 97% of the people we communicated with got to the airport and got out on planes. >> so, mike, you might have heard the president say they got 90% of the americans who wanted

to leave. the white house later updated the transcript. the president misspoke and they say it was 98% of americans who wanted to get out were able to leave. so what the president is saying here and what jake sullivan is saying is that these americans were given every chance to leave the country back since march. that they were given warning after warning. in fact their argument goes that the people who remain, the americans who remain in afghanistan are there by choice. we know that's not entirely true. there are passport holders who still want to get out. there are dual citizenship people who want to leave that country. but they say by and large most of the americans still there want to be there. >> yeah, willie, as part of what we heard there publicly yesterday, we were also get behind the scenes the receipts, as the kids say. they were showing us those emails sent over the months to those based in afghanistan and describing an incredible operation over the last two and a half weeks to do everything they can to find americans who were in afghanistan, to identify them, and then to ask them three simple questions. where are you, do you want to

leave, and do you need help getting to the airport. a white house official i spoke to yesterday said that of the 6,000 that were safely evacuated, the 100 to 200 that remain are the most complicated cases. these are people who obviously waited until the last minute in some cases. these are people with dual citizenship, with deep connections to afghanistan. and also those who as part of the evacuation efforts, as part of the interactions they had with embassy personnel, were communicating that they wanted not just to leave and have their immediate families come with them but extended families. that was just not something that the u.s. could accommodate. so by definition, the white house officials were stressing behind the scenes yesterday that those who remain, the small number, were by definition the most complicated, most nuanced cases. but the president said for those who do remain and want to leave, there is no deadline. so they are insisting that yes, it's now a diplomatic effort but there will continue to be efforts made to get anybody in afghanistan who wants to leave out of that country. >> the president reiterating that promise.

that leaves out, unfortunately, off the afghan war time allies that we heard about from so many veterans on this show yesterday that they are privately scrambling behind the scenes to get out of the country. mike, thanks so much. joining us now former u.s. senator and now an nbc news and msnbc political analyst claire mccaskill and sam stein. claire, i'll begin with you. what did you think of the president's performance yesterday, his argument, the speak he made in defense. as i said, he went sort of point by point and met the criticism he's received, a lot of it from democrats, by the way, about his handling of this evacuation over the last couple of weeks. what did you think? >> well, i thought it was slightly defensive but brutally honest. i think he laid out exactly why he made this decision and why he's standing behind it. in many ways i found it refreshing. you know, nobody really believed that the afghan government would melt away as quickly as it did

and that complicated this. but he's right about one thing, willie. you don't ever announce you're leaving the country and not have a rush to the exits. and that rush to the exits, whether it was at bagram air force base or at the kabul airport was always going to be really dangerous for the americans trying -- the military trying to process that because they became sitting ducks for suicide bombers. and that's exactly what happened. i thought it was very interesting that he made very clear to america that we're not done with isis, and i want to remind everyone that our military has been fighting isis and al qaeda and other terrorists across the globe effectively since 9/11, and i think our country will continue to do that. >> sam, if you look at the polling, and i know you've got some new numbers to show us. the american people, the majority of them, are with the president on the decision to withdraw from afghanistan. he's made no secret this is

something he wanted. he talked about it as a candidate for president. he talked about it as he got into office and now he says i have delivered on that promise. it's the execution of that withdrawal that's less popular with the american public. >> yeah. despite everything that's happened over the past three weeks, the public still in our poll at least supports the withdrawal 50% to 41%. it is on the execution where they are soured on the withdrawal. i would just say this. i thought biden's speech, while defensive for sure, to me, and i'd be curious what senator mccaskill thinks about this, which is to me it read like someone who wanted to sort of close the loop on post-9/11 political era. to lean into the idea that you don't need to be showing muscular abroad in order to be effective and that the real problem with the afghanistan war was not in the withdrawal but the execution and the rationale for getting in in the first

place. you know, biden obviously has been around for a while, but he was there and a major player in the post-9/11 politics. he saw the degree to which national security decisions can be used politically against democrats. and when i saw that speech yesterday, when i heard it, to me what really stood out was this idea that -- of a person who said i'm not going to get clipped on this stuff again. i'm not going to allow myself to get clipped again. now, i don't know if that's going to work. in our same poll, for instance, we have a 21% increase in concerns about islamic extremism from january to now. that could be a product of the current media climate we're in. that could be a political reality he still has to deal with. but to me when i watched it that was what came through, was that biden remembered and recalled the politics of post-9/11 and said this is not going to happen again. still ahead, new details about the taliban's role in the evacuation of americans and their allies from afghanistan. nbc's courtney kube brings us

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we are learning new details about how far the cooperation went between the united states military and the taliban to get americans and afghan allies out of the country. three senior defense officials tell nbc news the taliban drove americans through checkpoints, cleared streets so americans could pass safely, and even carried their luggage to the airport gates. let's bring in nbc news correspondent covering national security and the military, courtney kube. courtney, good morning. so the taliban reportedly also helped to prevent one potential attack. what more do we know about that? >> yeah, that's right. and look, we should point out here, there are many, many, many cases that we have heard about and that we are aware of that

the taliban did not help particularly afghans get to the airport safely. but what we've been learning over this last week or so is there was this agreement between the u.s. military there on the ground with who are essentially their military counterparts in the taliban to help americans get safe passage to the airport. and so what the state department would do is they would identify these americans who were ready to come to the airport. they had evacuation flights ready. they would send them a text message with a screen -- a pass essentially and tell them where to go. there were two locations that they would go and they would basically meet taliban fighters who were there. the taliban then had a copy of this pass and they had a list, a manifest essentially of who would be coming through, and the americans would come, the taliban would basically process them at these locations and then they would ensure they had safe passage the last distance, it was a very short distance left to the airport, through these

large crowds that would often gather around the gates. the defense officials explained as you said, willie, there were times where the taliban would even help them carry their luggage to the gates. it's important to point out there's been some criticism about the fact the u.s. was providing the taliban with these manifests of names. the defense officials i spoke with ensured me while they did give them names of people to go through these checkpoints, the taliban had to turn the names back over. they could have taken photos and could still target some of the people on these lists but they weren't handing over lists of people to the taliban to keep. there was another case we learned about just on sunday, so this was within about 24 hours of the u.s. leaving afghanistan for the last time. there was a bus that was headed through one of these checkpoints on its way to kabul airport. well, it was stopped at a gas station right outside the airport. everyone on board told to get off and they were ordered to get off. well, there was an american man and his six daughters who were on at the time.

they were told there's a potential explosive device on this bus. there are two potential suicide attackers on here, go, run. and the americans and the others on the bus went and they fled and they hid in a drainage ditch until the taliban told them it was safe to go. they got up and eventually made their way to the airport. i can report sadly that those six women, young daughters and the father, the american citizen, still are in afghanistan. they didn't make it out of the country. but what's important to point out here is this is a case, as others that we are now hearing about, where the taliban seem to have potentially stopped a suicide attack and may have saved american lives. this is someone who the u.s. fought for two decades in afghanistan and in these last days they may have actually been saving american lives, willie. >> yeah, courtney, i think a lot of people would hear this list of stories and say of course the taliban wanted to put on a good face to help usher the united

states out of town and begin their celebration of what they call the defeat of a superpower. so what will the american government be watching out of the taliban? what would be a punitive measure that we've been hearing about? we heard from the defense secretary, we just heard it from ron klain that they'll be watching with a skeptical eye and they reserve the right, does the american military, to do something about it. what does that look like? >> yeah, absolutely. so while this defense official i spoke with said this was a bit of a confidence-building measure, the fact that the taliban did in large part help the united states military in this case, but it's important to point out they had two very similar goals to the united states. one, get americans out. number two, to stop any potential attack from isis-k. so they were -- for this short period of time, the u.s. and the taliban had a similar view and they were working towards similar aims. that being said, defense

officials are very, very skeptical that this is a new and improved taliban and that this signals that there's some path forward for the united states to work particularly on military-to-military level with the taliban going forward. there is likely to be some sort of diplomatic engagement going forward and that's because there continue to be americans and afghans who the u.s. may work to get out in the future. the question is would that be direct diplomatic ties. more likely it would continue to be through some sort of an intermediary like the qataris as we've seen happen now the last several years. there's also the economic piece. so i think going forward, the 20-year military mission in afghanistan has ended. the diplomatic and economic way forward is what we're going to see more of going forward. the u.s. military is quick to point out, though, they will maintain the capability to strike in afghanistan if and when that is needed. >> in the meantime, there are americans who still need to leave, as you say. nbc's courtney kube, thanks so

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the devastation from hurricane ida is becoming more apparent as the survey of damage continues. entire communities are underwater and dangerous conditions are making rescue efforts much more difficult. this comes amid soaring temperatures in louisiana and across the gulf coast. power lines remain down and could stay that way for days or weeks to come. we have a pair of reports from our teams on the ground. we begin with nbc's miguel almaguer. >> reporter: the race to rescue is still unfolding in louisiana. the beaten and battered, stranded for days, plucked from homes where the water is rising, and hope was fading. >> we got rescued by a truck just now. >> reporter: pregnant and desperate, heather finally escaped the floodwaters. >> our house is underwater. we would have drowned. >> reporter: facing a complex maze of submerged roads, buckled highways and alligator-infested

waters which likely claimed one life, search teams still can't reach the hardest-hit communities. in just this one area of jefferson parish not far outside of new orleans, they had about 135 rescues in roughly a day. they have never seen water quite like this before. if you want to go further, you'll need a boat. the easiest ways into areas like grand idle and lafitte is through the air. their only roads quickly turned to rivers. it could leave the stranded trapped for days. >> it was unbelievable. four feet of water just came rushing in. >> reporter: with the scope of destruction coming into focus, what's out of view is also devastating. surrounded by water, more than half a million have none from their taps safe to drink. lines for gas and supplies are leaving locals in searing heat. for some, the storm's aftermath more devastating than the

impact. >> this is probably the worst i've been through. i mean i went through katrina. >> reporter: though torrential rain has passed in mississippi, the deluge helped erode a highway, the collapse killing two and injuring ten. across this battered region, no break from the heartbreak. the storm gone, but the crisis still unfolding. i'm morgan chesky in new orleans where it's a slow motion disaster leaving more than a million people in the dark. >> do you have any idea when you'll get power back? >> right now, no. it's crazy. >> reporter: ida crippling a massive power grid. the energy provider saying it could take three weeks before hard-hit areas are back up. >> the schools are not open, the businesses are not open, the hospitals are slammed. there's not water in your home and there's not going to be electricity. >> reporter: in st. charles parish just west of new orleans, officials now warning residents to prepare for more than a month. >> these are all empty? >> reporter: for clyde jackson, fuel for his generator more

precious than water. >> i'm on diesel now and can't get diesel. once that goes, it goes. >> what then? >> that's it. >> reporter: many hospitals, including new orleans ochsner health, are still relying on generators. but as i hadda struck, neurosurgeons dr. joseph smith and lockwood faced emergency. >> brought him into the operating room. >> the lights flickered and the lights went out. dr. smith looked at me and said i guess we'll do the whole thing under candlelight. >> the lights came back on just in time. thousands of line crews fighting brutal heat and ida's aftermath to bring one disaster to a close. >> morgan chesky reporting for us there. coming up, governor gavin newsom is fighting for his political life in california. we will talk about the recall election there and what it might say about the upcoming midterms. "morning joe" is coming right back. t back

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welcome back to "morning joe." high winds in northern california are complicating the battle against a major wildfire as crews race to save lives and homes. let's bring in nbc news correspondent steve patterson live near lake tahoe where tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. steve, what does it look like there? >> reporter: willie, lake tahoe is potentially facing what is the worst disaster in its history, a situation so dire that emergency officials are now moving emergency operations across the border into nevada while a dedicated core of firefighters is working around the clock to save as many homes as possible from these out of control flames. this morning, firefighters in south lake tahoe are the last

line of defense between the massive caldor fire and thousands of homes. >> the fire has been very volatile. every time we think we're getting a foot hold on getting containment lines put in, it shows us it will do what it wants. >> reporter: the smoke getting into neighboring states. a summer paradise now shrouded in smoke and flame. >> i wonders if i'm going to have a home to come back to. >> reporter: it is quickly closing in on the resort town. >> homes are threatened and our community is threatened. i never thought that was possible. >> reporter: hundreds of structures already destroyed. more than 30,000 others now under threat with more than 50,000 residents under mandatory evacuation. >> when you evacuate, you realize how many things you left behind, but it's too late. you evacuate, you can't get back in. >> reporter: ahead of a typically busy labor day weekend, residents and visitors are instead fleeing. >> it's heartbreaking.

it's unfortunate. there's lots of family and years of memories and it's absolutely devastating. >> reporter: others choosing to stay behind for now. >> as long as the smoke isn't so bad and the flames aren't real close, we're going to stick it out, you know. if not, we'll high tail it out. >> reporter: burning nearly 200,000 acres, massive smoke plumes can be seen from miles away. on the ground, red-hot flames devouring dry brush and tall trees. these evacuees are getting ready to move yet again. this center 40 miles from south lake tahoe is now sending californians seeking shelter another 50 miles away to reno, nevada. >> this moving kicks the day lights out of me. it's tough. it's very tough. emotional. >> reporter: it's a battle against the blaze, with relief hard to see amid the heavy haze. >> this fire continues to grow, we continue to fight but this community is still very much at risk. >> reporter: today is expected to be the most critical point in the firefight so far. the winds expected to pick up,

the heat expected to pick up with these red flag winds and red flag warnings extending through the night. willie. >> 200,000 acres burned, what a massive effort by those firefighters. nbc's steve patterson. steve, thank you. staying in california, the special election to remove democratic governor gavin newsom from office is now just two weeks away. the latest polling average from 538 shows 51% of voters there want to keep governor newsom in office, 45% want him removed. if the governor is recalled, polling averages show republican larry elder a conservative talk show host in the lead to replace him. the recall could have national implications and both president biden and vice president harris said they will campaign for governor newsom before the september 14th vote. jacob soboroff spoke with the governor about his chances and jacob joins us now. jacob, how's it looking there in

california? >> really close, willie. really, really close. closer than anybody thought it would be in a democratic 2-1 state. you just read the polling average and it is not 2-1 in favor of the democratic governor gavin newsom. voters are already voting right now with mail-in ballots, vote-by-mail ballots. i asked the governor himself why he thinks he's in this position and voters too about what they're going to do with the opportunity to recall the governor of the most democratic, bluest state in the union. watch this. a pizza delivery from embattled california governor gavin newsom looking to fuel the fight for his political survival at this l.a. campaign stop. here the main argument volunteers are asked to make is one blaming republicans for using a process they call undemocratic. >> what we're seeing here is a power grab to circumventing the will of the people. >> reporter: in a state where covid, wildfires, homelessness and crime are in the headlines, the process itself is what newsom wants on the ballot. >> do you really think about is

about a republican recall and only that, that there aren't people unhappy with governor gavin newsom? >> of course everybody is upset with everybody the last 18 months. it's been a terrible, difficult 18 months across the spectrum. but let's talk about who's behind this. this is a republican recall backed by the rnc, gingrich, huckabee and nunes. >> reporter: the ability to recall is shared by governors in 19 states. opponents collected 1,719,000 signatures. every voter will get a mail-in ballot and two questions to vote on. should gavin newsom be recalled from the office of governor? and who should replace him? republicans might only get newsome so far. >> you're moved? >> i'm moved. >> reporter: up north i checked back with bernadette who was commuting six hours a day to and from the hospital in san

francisco where she worked. because of rising crime she sent her son to live with his dad. >> person shot. >> person shot 0.6 of a mile away. >> that's going on around here? >> yeah. >> you're having a tough time. >> mm-hmm. >> have you thought about whether or not you want governor newsom to be recalled from office? >> i can't put the blame on him. i think that he should keep his job. this would be something that definitely keep him on his toes in little areas that need more attention. >> like? >> homeless, covid. >> reporter: in long beach i first met 23-year-old camilla in june and learned about respiratory problems she has from growing up next to the freeway. she graduated from college a year ago. despite having two jobs can't afford to move out of her parents' house. >> do you get the sense that the governor understands how hard life is for you and people like you? >> no. it's really upsetting.

i don't mean to get emotional, but he has no idea. he has no clue, you know. >> reporter: the race itself could hinge on struggling voters like camilla who share that sentiment. >> it sounds like you're going to vote to recall the governor. >> i am. i am. i actually was independent up until last week. i just switched to republican. like what 23-year-old latina is going to reregister as a republican, and here i am. >> reporter: newsome has focused his attacks on the recall itself and his leading challenger, republican larry elder. voters like bernadette and camilla are looking for leadership that understands what matters to them. >> inequality is worse in this state, in your state, than anywhere else in the united states of america. do you blame people for wanting a change of leadership? >> i just got here two and a half years ago. >> but democrats have been in power over ten years. >> and for over two decades we've led the nation in terms of some of those challenges.

yeah, we're the richest and poorest state. i recognize that. i also recognize a responsibility to do something about it. >> willie, governor newsom continues to hammer his leading challenger, larry elder, basically as a trump republican. elder says he's not a trump republican but he does differ from governor newsom on virtually every issue. climate, abortion, minimum wage, you name it. what governor newsom needs is for voters like bernadette who might be on the fence about showing up but don't blame him for the crises this state faces, to show up and vote. in this off-year election, that's really going to be the challenge. then you have people like camilla who are fired up about a change in leadership. again, that is not a good sign for governor newsom at this point. >> jacob, stay with us. i want to bring into the conversation jean guerrero. jean, great to have you with us this morning. so what does this look like to you as you handicap this race? obviously this is only the second time, as jacob pointed

out, in the history of california that an effort, a recall effort got enough signatures to make it onto the ballot. gray davis was recalled in 2003, replaced with arnold schwarzenegger. how is this going to turn out? >> well, it isn't clear. it depends on how many people turn out. i think it's important to remember that this is a recall that was fundamentally launched by anti-immigrant nativists. despite the fact that it has picked up steam among people who are frustrated for more legitimate reasons, the fact of the matter is that the people who were angry with gavin newsom's pro-immigrant stance are the people who launched this recall. he has been the most pro latino governor that this state has ever seen according to immigrant rights leaders i've spoken to. he's invested heavily in public education, which has helped working class latinos. he has expanded health insurance to undocumented seniors and protected essential workers

during the pandemic. he's prioritized high-risk latino areas for covid vaccines and those are the reasons, when you look at the voter information guide that comes with the ballot, those are the reasons that the recall was launched. it's important to remember as well that while newsom is not perfect and there are legitimate reasons to vote him out in the next legitimate election, not like this one, the alternative who is far to the right on immigrant rights and racial justice issues. he wants to reverse all of california's progress on sanctuary laws. he wants to take away driver's licenses from undocumented immigrants. he doesn't believe in in-state tuition for dreamers and doesn't even believe in birthright citizenship which is enshrined in our constitution. larry elder has made a career as a talk show host who denies the fact of systemic racism and he

mentored trump senior advisor stephen miller, who calls him his guy. so there's a lot of reasons to be concerned about this recall election. >> jacob, there is a regularly scheduled gubernatorial election next year. in fact the primary is only nine months away next june. talking to people on the ground like you have been, jacob, what is the impetus for those who are saying, yes, this governor should be recalled? many of the leaders who are launching it have pointed to restrictive mandates, shutting down of businesses and schools and masks and the other things that have accompanied this pandemic, but what is the thrust against governor newsom? >> this has been a horrendous 18 months in california for virtually everybody, including covid, but not just limited to it. this is the most unequal state in the union when it comes to income inequality. i drove in this morning in los angeles past multiple homeless encampments of unhoused people.

there are more unhoused people sleeping on the streets of los angeles county than anywhere else in the nation. but i think jean makes a really important point, willie. these are big, big policy differences here, especially when it comes to issues like immigration. jean, i just wanted to ask you, you mentioned it briefly, but i see your book "hatemonger." you studied stephen miller extremely closely. larry elder essentially is a mentor to stephen miller. he appeared multiple times as you reported on larry elder's program. stephen miller of course one of the architects of the family separation policy that here in california and throughout the nation was sort of uniquely disavowed by republicans and democrats. what has larry elder said about the role stephen miller would play in a larry elder governorship in california? >> well, according to correspondence that i obtained for my book "hatemongerer" he wants stephen miller to be president of the united states some day.

he told stephen miller that. and as i mentioned before, stephen miller called larry elder his one true guy. when i interviewed larry elder for the book, larry elder told me that, you know, he defended stephen miller's family separation policies. as i mentioned, he is very anti-immigration. we're not just talking about illegal immigration, i'm talking about legal immigration. he doesn't believe people who are born in this country should be citizens if their parents don't have their papers in order, which again is enshrined in the constitution. so, you know, if the republicans succeed in flipping the most pro-immigrant rights, pro racial justice state in this country, it is going to set a nightmare precedent for black and latino communities across the united states because it's going to feature heavily in midterm ads, it's going to embolden anti-immigrant xenophobic governors in other states and

potentially stall immigration reform efforts in congress and create questions around whether latinos are a legitimately powerful political entity given that newsom has done so much for latino communities. while it is as you mentioned true that many latinos are upset with newsom because of how difficult it has been during the pandemic. >> well, that election is 13 days away on september 14th. as jacob points out, much closer right now in the polling than governor newsom would like it to be. jean guerrero, thank you. jacob, thank you as well. we will see you again up extraordinarily early on the west coast to host "way too early." thanks, jacob. coming up next, it is difficult enough for big cities to handle the covid crisis, but it can be just as hard for rural communities which are much less equipped to handle the surge of hospitalizations. we will look into that next on "morning joe." ext on "morning joe." the stinging. my skin was no longer mine.

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we're building it... now. ge building a world that works. back now to the fight against covid-19, cases continue to surge across the country, and four southern states are almost completely out of icu beds now. nbc news correspondent erin mclaughlin has details. >> reporter: this morning the delta variant pushing hospitals closer to crisis. icus in alabama, georgia, florida and texas now at 90% capacity or more. nearly a quarter of covid cases reported last week were children. the push to get them vaccinated

more urgent than ever. pfizer telling nbc news its vaccine data for 5 to 11 year olds will be ready this month and energy use authorization could come as soon as thanksgiving. this as the pandemic hits rural communities the hardest. here at marshal hospital outside sacramento, this physician assistant faces a record surge of covid patients, many struggling to breathe. three patients have arrived within the span of 15 minutes and you're already out of beds? >> yes. >> reporter: the lives she's trying to save, often those of her own friends and neighbors. this woman has had severe symptoms for six weeks, so bad she can't work. her two sons had covid and her best friend died from it, yet she still refuses to get the vaccine. >> i just want to be sure, what if i am that small minute number that actually dies from it. >> what do you tell someone like antoinette? she's your friend? >> i have lost sleep over that. i am trying to help folks trust

in medicine. >> reporter: she says she's terrified of getting infected herself and giving it to her husband and kids. >> i don't know if i could forgive myself if i brought home covid and they were suffering. >> reporter: just eight miles from the hospital burns the caldor fire, leaving some hospital staff devastated. this orderly lost her home to the fires last week. still, she's showing up for work, cleaning the rooms of critically ill covid patients. >> it's not all about just me. it's the patients, the patients' families, and sometimes you just have to set that aside and do what you do. >> erin mclaughlin reporting for us there. obviously covid vaccination rates remain way too low in way too many states. as we approach the 20th anniversary of the attacks of september 11th, 2001 next week, joining us is ceo of the tunnel

to towers foundation, who is commemorating the day by walking more than 500 miles to honor the first responders who died that day. frank, thank you so much for being with us. let's talk, if we can, first, about the genesis of tunnel to towers, where that term comes from, and most importantly about your brother steven. >> well, it comes from what my brother steven did in new york city, a firefighter on september 11th, 2001, when he heard that the towers were hit. he just finished his ninth tour in squad one in brooklyn. he turned his car around, got his gear and drove to the mouth of the tunnel, where it was closed for security reasons and he strapped fire gear on his back and ran through the tunnel to the towers to save people. but while doing so, he gave up his own life. that's why we still have the tunnel to towers foundation and we're doing many things over the last 20 years, but nothing more important than taking care of our men and women in uniform

that die in the line of duty, for our country, our gold star families who pay off their mortgages or build them a mortgage-free home, and also for fallen first responders, firefighters and police officers that die and leave young families behind. we pay off or mortgages and we delivered over 200 mortgage-free homes this year alone. >> as you know, this organization has broadened its scope beyond 9/11 families to take care of military families as well. >> the work, the money that frank has helped raise has helped many, many families, having less to do with september 11th and the focus of the tunnel to towers foundation. frank, when you were in flint hill, virginia, beginning your walk, you were joined by a flint hill volunteer firefighter. i believe his name was duane prather, who joined you for the

first 12 miles, carrying an oxygen tank. can you tell us about that and any others who have joined you along this march? >> you know, i did start on august 1st at the pentagon. i said a prayer with my family. i proceeded to shanksville, august 21st i was at shanksville. i was with 40 new york city firefighters. i was at the site where flight 93 made the impact right there in shanksville. i knelt down and we said a prayer with the firefighters. i put my hand on that boulder and was overcome with emotion. i've been surrounded by so many people that love america who protect us every single day. i have ordinary people that have come and walked with me and thanked the foundation and myself for making sure that we never forget what happened 20 years ago when terrorists tried

to kill as many americans as possible and did kill 2,977. >> you know, you and your brother, seven children in your family. your parents had seven children. and steven was how old? he was 31 when he died, i think? and along this march -- go ahead. >> he was 34 years old. he was married and a father of five himself. he was my little brother. he was the youngest of seven. my parents died when he was a little boy and we actually had to raise him ourselves. thank god we were much older than him and we had that capability to make sure that he was loved and taken care of. he grew up to be this incredible human being, so incredible that he died for our country and our community on september 11th,

2001. the tunnel to towers foundation wants to make sure we never forget and honor the sacrifice not only to steven, but all who perished that day. but we want to do good, too. and we are doing good. we are doing good by taking care of the greatest of all americans, those who are willing to die for you and i, and we ask people to join us on our mission. part of my walk is i'm looking for 1 million people to join us on a mission to take care of these brave heroes' families that are left behind that give it all for us. go to tunneltotowers.org and see how you can help. $11 a month, we're asking people $11 a month, we can make a promise that when someone goes out and serves their country or community, gives their kids a kiss good-bye and doesn't come home, we're going to take care of the families left behind. that's the promise of tunnel to towers foundation and we hope

people will join us on our mission. >> it's worthy of people's time and donation if they're able to make one because it also takes care of the 9/11 first responders who have died since 9/11 because of what they breathed on that pile for weeks and months on end. it's called tunnel to towers. you can go to their website if you would like to help. frank, thank you so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you and god press america. in our remaining seconds here, there is a full circle moment with the end of the war in afghanistan two days ago as we begin to turn our eyes a week from friday -- excuse me, a week from saturday on the 20th anniversary of september 11th. >> willie, we just heard about the promise and the gift that is america every single day, the gift that too many of us neglect, forget about, ignore. frank is talking about, you know, who he was accompanied by on this march. that's what america is. >> amen. mike, thanks. we'll see you tomorrow. we'll see all of you again

tomorrow morning. for now, stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage. hey, steph. hi there. i'm stephanie ruhle. it's wednesday, september 1st. we are here in new york city and this morning following several major stories across the country and the world. in texas, the most restrictive abortion law in the nation going into effect overnight, banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and cutting off access to millions. also this morning, ida continuing to make its way north as louisiana begins its long road to recovery. more than 1 million people still without power, now facing brutal heat, as rescue efforts continue in some of the hardest-hit areas. one community entirely damaged or destroyed. and one day after the deadline, most americans are out of afghanistan, but who is left