all right. that is going to do it for us on this fine friday eve. tomorrow is friday, so today is friday eve. nobody can take that away from us. but i will see you back here tomorrow night. "way too early" is up next. despite america having unprecedented and a successful vaccination program, despite the fact that for almost five months free vaccines have been available in 80,000 different locations, we still have nearly 80 million americans who have failed to get the shot. to make matters worse, there are elected officials actively working to undermine the fight against covid-19. instead of encouraging people to get vaccinated and mask up, they're ordering mobile morgues for the unvaccinated dying from covid in their communities. this is totally unacceptable.

president biden unveils a sweeping new covid strategy heavily focused on vaccine mandates. the question is will it help get the delta variant under control? plus, the nation's second largest school district has voted that all students 12 and older be vaccinated against coronavirus. the question is will other districts do the same? and the justice department is suing the state of texas in an effort to try to block the nation's most restricted abortion law. the question is what will the courts say? it's "way too early" for this. ♪♪ good morning and welcome to "way too early," the show that is marking tomorrow's 20-year anniversary of september 11th. i'm jonathan lemire on this friday, september 10th. we'll start with the news. president biden announced new vaccine mandates for millions of

americans. >> over 200 million americans have gotten at least one shot. we've been patient, but our patience is wearing thin, and your refusal has cost all of us. >> the sweeping rules require any business with more than 100 workers to order employees to get the covid-19 vaccine or be tested weekly. any workers at health facilities that receive medicare or medicaid will also be required to be vaccinated. the president also announced he will mandate all administration employees and government contractors to get the vaccine without an option to be tested instead. >> this is not about freedom or personal choice. it's about protecting yourself and those around you, the people you work with, the people you care about, the people you love. my job as president is to protect all americans. the department of labor is

developing an emergency rule to require all employers with 100 or more employees that together employ over 80 million workers to ensure their work forces are fully vaccinated. the bottom line, we're going to protect vaccinated workers from unvaccinated co-workers. we're going to reduce the spread of covid-19 by increasing share of the work force that is vaccinated in businesses all across america. >> the president also tackled the uptick in violence on airlines. he has directed the tsa to double fines for unruly passengers who fight over mask requirements on flights. >> tonight i'm announcing that the transportation safety administration, the tsa, will double the fines on travelers that refuse to mask. if you break the rules, be

prepared to pay. and, by the way, show some respect. the anger you see on television toward flight attendants and others doing their job is wrong. it's ugly. >> but the president's plan is already seeing pushback. the republican leader of south carolina has tweeted, he will fight them to the gates of hell to protect the livelihood of every south carolinian. white house press secretary jen psaki told reporters there will be a 75-day window for federal employees to get the vaccine. joining us now. washington correspondent covering health policy for "the new york times." thank you so much for being here. we've already seen, touched upon some of that pushback. several businesses, often conservative-owned businesses, say they will sue over this mandate. could they have a case? what's your assessment here? >> legal experts told me the

president has brought authority to do what he's doing that under osha, the federal workplace safety laws, businesses are required to adhere to federal health safety standards and that protecting the public from an infectious disease, a deadly infectious disease is clearly within his rights. now, of course, that's not going to stop the lawsuits and things perhaps will get tied up in courts, but they do say he's on solid footing. >> so what sort of timeline do you think we're looking at here? he said the department of labor is going to draw up these requirements. as you said, there's probably going to be legal challenges. how long does this play out? are we talking weeks? months? what do you think? >> it's not clearly going to play out overnight. the president said it will take time to have impact. we already know for federal workers, they will have a 75-day window with which to comply. that's two months for federal workers, some 4 million workers

are covered by that. i would imagine it would take just as long to cover all of the health care workers -- that's 17 million -- and then another 100 million in private businesses. that may be where we see teen biggest legal challenges. >> sheryl, what could the next steps be? this is a significant enhancement of what he's trying to push and mandate and enforce, you know, but there are some who say he could have even done more like perhaps colleges and other institutions that receive federal funding. he could have a say in that. what else can he do? what else is in his authority to get more americans vaccinated? >> well, there are some other things he can do. we have already seen at the outset of his administration, he required masks on state -- interstate and international travel, at airports, trains, and

buses. there's no reason he couldn't do that with vaccines and require them as other countries have done. this is a very, very bold action by the president. what he's done is very expansive, much more than he intended do and really more than any president in modern history has done with respect to imposing vaccine mandates, but there are so many things he can do. >> you can see the frustration. senior white house aides i talked to before and after the president's remarks, there was a sense of disbelief and he was giving voice to those already vaccinated saying, look, we've done our part, why can't you, the unvaccinated do yours. the last one from you. we heard from the republican governor of south carolina looking to push back. what measures will they have? how do you see that playing out? republicans who governors -- we know states have a lot of authorities here too. what recourse do they have to block what biden wants? >> i guess he can go to court.

i mean, in the united states, vaccination is typically the province of the states. they impose childhood vaccine mandates so the governor of south carolina and others who want to block this can presumably take the administration to court. but that said, this is a public health crisis. governors, republicans, are casting this as a measure of freedom, but your freedom ends where my health safety begins. so that is the clash that we're going to see here. and in the past, the supreme court has really given wide latitude to the government to impose vaccine mandates in a public health crisis. that's been a long-standing precedent of the supreme court. so i guess they'll have to duke it out before the judges. >> sheryl guy stolberg of "the new york times."

police come back and keep us posted. the new law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy is being called unconstitutional. >> reporter: barely a week after the law took effect and after the supreme court declined to block it, the justice department took swift action to fight it in court announcing it's a near total ban on abortion in texas. >> this kind of scheme to nullify the constitution of the united states is one that all americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear. >> reporter: texas designed the law to make it hard to challenge in court, a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, earlier than many women know they're pregnant, but it does not make abortion a crime. it says anyone other than a state official can file a lawsuit for $10,000 for anyone who makes it possible.

the justice department says it deprives the federal government of the power to enforce that right and blocks delivery of federal health care, but legal experts say fighting the law won't be easy. >> the question is whether an order blocking the state from doing anything to enforce sba will also block private parties from enforcing sb-8, blocking others. >> reporter: they're eager to go to court and stop this law before other states get the same idea and try to do the same thing. jonathan? >> nbc's pete williams. thank you so much for that. still ahead, tomorrow marking 20 years since the september 11th attacks. our friend willie geist will join the conversation from lower manhattan. plus, we'll speak with a new york city firefighter who helped dig through in the aftermath. those stories and much more when we come back. when we come back

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democrats are still wrangling among themselves over president biden's agent za. jim clyburn said in an interview yesterday there's room to negotiate the $3.5 trillion package. it's a sign that the price tag may be too high for some key democrats to support. >> somewhere between 1.5 and 3.5 there is $2 trillion. those $2 trillion are there, and i think that there's a lot of room for people to sit down and negotiate. it may be when you're sitting around the table, you may not need $3.5 trillion to do what the president wants done and what the country needs done.

>> moderate senators, kyrsten sinema and joe manchin have already said they would not vote for a spending package that large. democrats will need their entire caucus to vote in favor of the passage. republican congressman liz cheney continues to stand up to donald trump. the former president endorsed her republican primary challenger and called cheney a warmongerer and a disloyal republican adding she's the number one provider of sound bites. in a response, cheney tweeted, here's a sound bite for you, bring it. she's been one of the most prominent republicans to impeach him. she's also said she would work to be sure he isn't re-elected if he runs again in 2024. trump has vowed to get cheney out of office.

police chief fanone was beaten and shocked unconscious during the insurrection and suffered severe physical injuries including a concussion. according to the "washington post," his heart stopped beating for a moment. a rioter took his arms and radio and another shouted kill him with his own gun. fanone, a 20-year veteran, was assigned to the bureau which compiles and analyze statistics used to fight crime-fighting strategies. meanwhile in an interview with npr, supreme court stephen breyer had this to say about his possible retirement. >> i'm only going to say i'm not going to go beyond what i previously said on the subject, and that is that i do not

believe i should stay on the supreme court or want to stay on the supreme court until i die, and when exactly i should retire or will retire has many complex parts to it. i think i'm aware of most of them, and i am and will consider them. >> democrats are wanting him to retire to make way for a democratic party. president biden will visit california on monday to throw his support behind governor gavin newsom just a day before the state's recall election. governor newsom will appear monday night to urge voters to keep newsom in office. if he loses, a republican could take his place. the rally is part of a multi-stop trip for biden, his first. it will include trips to idaho

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will face off in the u.s. open's women's final. canadian leila fernandez who turned 19 years old on monday advanced last night to earn a three-set victory over second-ranked arena salve reinoehl. that was followed by a straight set win for 18-year-old emma raducanu after defeating 17-seeded maria sakara of grease. raducanu and fernandez will return to arthur ashe stadium tomorrow for the first major final between two teen since the 1999 u.s. open won by then 17-year-old serena williams. time now for the weather. let's go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. bill, what have we got? >> so a pretty nice hot summer weekend is coming our way. we're at the peak of tropics.

there's a lot going on. larry is safely off the east coast, still a hurricane. the remnants of min d is off the south of the east coast. last night we had hurricane olaf near san cabo in mexico. the only one of great concern will be a new system heading toward possibly texas in the days ahead. it doesn't look to be a big strong storm, but it could bring a lot of rain. for today's forecast, just as gorgeous as it gets in the northeast. enjoy that. the southeast, not too bad either. the hot weather continues. yesterday it was 111 in phoenix. it's going to be 107 today. more record heat is possible saturday from texas through kansas. denver will have a chance of record-highs over the next couple of days. you notice not a lot of hot weather. it looks like a sizzling september, summer weekend almost from coast to coast.

jonathan, we'll end with this. we found out yesterday from our climate scientist that this summer tied the 1936 dust bowl summer as the hottest summer ever recorded in the lower 48, and five states out west had their hottest summer ever recorded. that shouldn't surprise anyone with all the fire new wes've been talking about and the epic drought in the west. tying the dubious 1936 summer, we keep setting these records. climate change at work. >> climate change at work. that punishing heat certainly a factor with the wildfires. that's part of the president's trip out west. he'll be making a stop in idaho to survey the situation there. bill karins, thank you so much. still ahead, a look at the sweeping new vaccine mandate put in place by the los angeles county school district and what it could mean for districts across the country. before we go to break, we want to propose that immotorial question, why are you awake?

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early." it's just before 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 on the west. i'm jonathan lemire. as president biden announced sweeping new vaccine mandates, los angeles became the first major school district in the united states to require the vaccination for eligible

students. under the new regulation, all children 12 and older in l.a. public schools must be fully vaccinated against covid-19 by january 10th in order to attend in-person classes. with more than 600,000 students enrolled, it is the second largest school district in the country. more than 5,000 students in los angeles county have tested positive for covid since the start of the school year. meanwhile dr. anthony fauci, the nation's top infectious disease doctor, warns that americans are now getting infected with covid-19 at ten times the rate needed to end the pandemic. in an interview, fauci said we're still in pandemic mode because we have 100,000 new infections a day. that's not even moderate. it's a public health threat. said in a country this size, you can't be hanging around having 100,000 infections a day. you've got to get well below

10,000 before you start feeling comfortable. fauci also said the longer it takes to end this pandemic phase, the bigger the chance we'll end up with a monster variant that not only eludes vaccines but also is dangerously transmissible. joinin us now, dr. uché blackstock. she's a medical contributor to msnbc. thousands of students are expected to return to the classrooms at the start of this new school year. most are back at school. the rest go back to school on monday. what are your concerns as we see students enter classrooms from coast to coast? should they be implements vaccine measures like we're seeing in los angeles? >> good morning. thanks for having me. this question is very important to me personally because i have children starting school in new york city next monday.

i will say that community transmission levels are also really important. that's another reason we need to make sure we get those cases down outside of school. but inside schools i had concerns. we have this delta variant that's highly transmissible, more infectious, and schools are returns to full in-person learning. and so in order to stay safe, they have to be able to follow all of these layers of the strategy. so it's universal masking. i think vaccines for anyone that's eligible and i agree with the vaccine requirement for those 12 years old and older. we know that physically distancing is important. we need to make sure schools have enough state and federal support, ensure ventilation in class roochls is key, and testing. we see that president biden's strategy to increase rapid testing and testing in schools,

you know, would be key to making sure they're safe >> i wanted to, indeed, return to president biden's new plan. we outlined it earlier in the show, which includes testing and sweeping vaccine mandates. i wanted to get your reaction to it in two ways. first of all, what's your sense in the health community, those you've been talking to as far as what's the reaction to his new plan, but also do you think it goes far enough? will this be enough to get this pandemic at least somewhat under control? >> so this is what i will say. definitely, i think the vaccine requirements as part of this strategy are well overdue. we saw the vaccine coming to -- vaccinations coming to a slowdown in this country. we knew that vaccine requirements would be needed. and so i'm glad to see they cover about a hundred million workers. health care workers, there's no doubt. it's non-negotiable. they need to be vaccinated. i also think it can go further.

i saw hardly anything in the strategy about masking policies. we know that. dr. fauci said over 160,000 infections a day. we need to get those cases down. it's going to take a while for vaccinations to start working. we need other strategies in place. masking is important. we need federal guidance around indoor capacity restrictions and we need to be able to tie them to metrics like hospitalizations, vaccination rates in the area, and we also need more support for school and workplace infrastructure like ventilation. so those are the things i wish i would have seen as well. i think this is a step this the right direction. will it certainly end the pandemic? i'm not sure at this point. >> dr. blackstock, one more quick one for you. could you give us a quick version of -- a 30,000-foot

view. there were slightly downward trends. that's a sign. what do you make of that? and are there any areas in the country we should worry about a potential rise? >> we have seen this in other parts of the world where the delta variant has spread and then quickly come down without really any explanation or intervention, but the concern i have is we're heading into the fall, colder weather. people will be indoors more often. and so without a doubt, we're going to see another surge if interventions don't happen. so my concern is we're going to see another surge again after this, and it's just a matter of time. >> dr. uché blackstock, thank you so very much, even for that sobering message. still ahead, the totally different way covid is being traced at the nation's airports. "way too early" is back in just a minute. "way too early" is bac a minute

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welcome back. as we approach the 20-year anniversary of september 11th terror attacks, america will pause to honor all those killed on that horrific day and reflect on how its aftermath has come to shape our nation. let's bring in our own willie geist who returns to the 5:00 a.m. by joining us live from lower manhattan. willie, great to see you, sir. can you set the scene at the start of this solemn anniversary weekend? >> reporter: yeah, jon. president joe biden will become

the fourth american president to attend one of these remembrances. he will be here, wu of three stops, as you've been reporting, along the day. he'll visit the pentagon and shanksville, pennsylvania, as well. there will be a moment of silence at 8:46 at ground zero. that's the time when the first plane hit the north tower and began one of the darkest days in american history. as we remember, we'll g through the politics of it, the end of the war of afghanistan, the declassification of documents around saudi arabia's involvement that came last week. but this time as always is about remembering those lost, around 3,000 in america. among them, a man named t.j. hargrave. he worked on thhe 105th floor o cantor fitzgerald. his daughter amy works at the 9/11 museum behind me. i got a chance to speak to her.

>> how are you doing 20 years later? >> i'm doing okay is the best way to put it. that's what's so hard about the 20th year is looking back. i was 4 years old when this happened. i'm now 24. what milestones did he miss? he missed graduations and new jobs and a new dog and all those new things. it's okay. i feel like coming here really helps, just the grieving process. >> reporter: you know, jon, hers is kind of an amazing story. amy was grappling with the grief obviously, the understand standable grief throughout her life. she was having a lot of trouble with it. her family said, what if you worked at the 9/11 museum, be a volunteer, talk about your dad, tell strangers, tourists about who your dad is and what kind of life he's lived. that's what she's done. that's really helped her. hers is a story of a generation that doesn't remember it, perhaps wasn't even alive for it, and is now being taught the

story of 9/11 and everything that came after it as a page in the his industry book rather than the memory and the trauma that we all shared. so we're going to get into much more of that on "morning joe," what they're doing at the museum to make it more than a history page and make it more memorable, jon. >> thank you. we will, indeed, see you again in a few minutes on "morning joe." joining us now, former new york city firefighter nils jorgensen. he tells 20 heroic stories about 9/11. thank you for being here and putting together this important project. tell us, if you will, about some of the episodes that have already been released. >> good morning, and thank you for having me, sir. we're doing 20 episodes of 20 special people that were associated with 9/11, some still alive. unfortunately some have passed from illnesses they received

from being at ground zero. and some passed away on that fateful day. i just want to say i have respect for somebody like amy. my daughter is also a redhead and she's 24, and luckily i came home and watched her grow up, so i'm so sorry about amy's dad, and god bless her for working at the museum and for preventing this from being forgotten. that's the main focus of the "20 for 20" podcast. many like myself feel this day has been so much forgotten from what we can understand. there's about 50% of the schools that do not teach anything about 9/11 in their curriculum, so we would like to bring these stories out and possibly change that this is one of the largest events in american history and

it's being brushed away. those who came down to help us, we feature some of them. and unfortunately some who work for the red cross, they're sick as well. one special lady, sonya, we'll feature in a few weeks, we call them the angel ladies who came to give us food and comfort and helped the rescue and recovery workers. >> certainly. >> one of the special stories we have is about a gentleman, mac hannah. he was an engineer working in the building that day. he basically assisted with his co-workers in the rescuing of dozens of people that were trapped on the upper floors, and his boss asked him to escort an older gentleman who was 89 down 78 stories for medical

assistance. they stopped on the 21st floor and encountered captain brown from ladder 14. he unfortunately passed as he proceeded to the upper floors to proceed with rescues. he quickly spoke with mac and asked about the building systems and firefighting systems and said you have to continue. mac wanted to stay on the 21st floor and captain brown said, no, sir, it will not be coming. you need to leave. you need to get out. mac and mo were considered the last two people to actually evacuate the tower prior to collapsing. mac was witnessed on video carrying mo. he carried him down the last bunch of floors, and as they got to the other side of the highway, the building came down just after they had left. >> simply extraordinary moments of sacrifice and heroism. >> yes. >> and i'm sure certainly

emotional for you to be dealing with it and putting these important stories out there. the "20 for 20" podcast can be heard on apple, spotify, and google. niels jorgensen, thanks for doing this. coming up on "morning on "morning joe," where the nation stands 20 years after the attacks on 9/11, we'll hear from homeland security secretaries past and present. former secretary, jeh johnson and current secretary mayorkas. and admiral john kirby will join the conversation. "morning joe" is moments away. the conversation "morning joe" is moments away.

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can't sleep after watching brady own it. mark emails i'm awake because of unknown flying objects spotted from my back porch. ufos, good morning. joining us now with a look at axios a.m. the co-founder of axios mike allen. mike, what is the axios one big thing for this what morning? >> it's friday, it's a solemn day, i know especially in new york. i was with president bush in sarasota, florida at the elementary school where his chief of staff walked up to him and said america is under attack. i was with "the washington post" and spent the day covering the day america changed. the coverage you had of willie

down near the world trade center in lower manhattan, it shows how much america has changed in 20 years because the axios one big thing is america's civil war of 2021. i know you saw it. the reaction from republicans to president biden's vaccine mandates. j.d. vance, author of "hill billy elolg". he went on twitter and called for mass civil disobedience. mass civil disobedience, his words. he said, my message to business is do not comply. i talked to top aides who said republicans in tough races felt like president biden had poured jet fuel on the debate over vaxx

mandates. officials told me they expected a backlash and an official invoked a civil rights parallel. this official said president biden is basically taking on southern governors, and some northern allies. pointing out 75% of people are with president biden. this is an interesting way to put it. this official said that's how you unify america in these times is the 75% against the 25% p. >> so let's go deeper as republicans, some of them anyway, think this can be an issue for them in the midterms. give us the democratic side. in terms of those in the house and senate, how do they think this debate over vaccines, the president's handling of the pandemic, how do they think it could affect next year's midterms. we know how slim the margins

are. >> democrats are leaning into this, president biden and his team knew what they were taking on. axios sneak peek had reporting they knew there was a risk from business, how much is business willing to back them. those 2022 senate and house candidates in tough districts you were referring to. and they know there's an onslaught of legislation coming. already republican governors threatening to sue. but what democrats tell me, if we didn't do anything more, the pandemic is with us forever, one way to look at this is president biden moving frustrations about the pandemic to the unvaccinated. and reminding people with this tough message that at a time when we know that vaccines work, if you choose not to be vaccinated, you're making a very difficult choice for you and

everyone around you. and the vaccine mandates taking in so much of america's workforce are designed to make it easier for people to make that choice. last quick point about this, we have polling from the axios coronavirus index that shows the idea of having your workforce enforce it moves people's opinion. we asked people different scenarios would you be willing to be vaccinated and if your employer requires it, that's a wakeup call and the numbers move dramatically. so that would indicate that the white house is going to win this bet. >> mike, one more for you. you mentioned the southern governors, indeed a resident phrase. and we already played the opposition from south carolina's governor from this. how can we see this play out? what opposition can these governors do against biden's

mandates? >> rachel maddow last night here had a fascinating segment showing how the federal government over time has used the power in this way. so president biden said that osha will enforce that requirement that 100 plus employers have their employees vaccinated. so the federal government is bringing in muscle. so jonathan, as we say good-bye, i know it's a difficult weekend for many americans and i just wanted to thank you and your colleagues for your coverage. >> mike allen, thank you for the kind words and being here this morning. it's an important day tomorrow, i was a young reporter in new york city on september 11th. thank you for getting up early with us. "morning joe" starts right now. ♪♪

today we commemorate september 11th, nearing the 20th anniversary of the day, the hour, the moment that moved us out of an old world and into a new age in which we now live. nothing, of course, can be said, no image shown, no memory recounted here or elsewhere that will adequately honor the dead from that day or from the last 20 years. for those americans who gave their last full measure of devotion in the fight against the darkest forces of error. lincoln's words at gettysburg resonate still and will be important over the next 24 hours we cannot