joe." a live look at los angeles and the fourth hour of "morning joe" starts right now. it's 9:00 a.m. in the east and 6:00 a.m. out west. we've got a lot to get to this hour. the latest from the war in ukraine as russia claims gains in the east while ukraine reports advances in kharkiv. retired u.s. army brigadier general peter swak and richard hus will join us. plus how trump backed candidated fairs and the former president's grip on the gop. we'll go live to west virginia for that. we start with the latest inflation report. >> breaking news just now, the april consumer price index shows consumer prices jumped 8.3% compared to this time last year. not quite as high as the 8.5% spike in march, but we still are

at the highest levels of inflation in 40 years and prices are soaring, especially at the gas pump which just set another record high this morning at $4.40 a gallon. the markets already reacting. yesterday the dow tumbled for the fourth straight day as investors began to sour on the u.s. economic outlook. some on wall street warning of a recession because of inflation possibly as soon as next year, mika. >> that's one reason why president biden addressed it in a major white house speech, calling inflation his top domestic priority and trying to shift blame for rising prices by attacking republicans and what he calls their ultra maga agenda. he also blasted their policy ideas as extreme and said they would make inflation worse, not better. >> really ask yourself how well are we going to sleep at night

knowing that every five years maga republicans, if they're still republicans -- as i said, this is not your father's republican party. if we're going to have to vote on whether you will have social security, medicare and medicaid and what amounts you'll have in each of those programs. >> that speech coming at a pivotal time as the president tries to flip the debate to the economy sixth months from the midterms. joe, it's going to be tough. there's so many competing reasons for why this is happening and many of them are out of the united states' control. >> you have inflation of the eu. it's about 7.5%. inflation across the globe. it's interesting. i see republican politicians going we have inflation and it's all joe biden's fault. it's not joe biden's fault. it's the fault of coming out of

covid. we knew this was going to happen. steve ratner has been saying all along and he was right in that ratner like larry summers and other people said listen to joe manchin, do not do a massive $6 trillion spending bill, don't do a $3 trillion massive spending bill, because if you do it's going to screw up the economy royally, it's going to heat up the economy even more, even more inflation. i don't even think there are progressive economists out there that would not suggest it was a good thing we didn't pump $6 trillion into the economy or 3 trillion more dollars into the economy. you have the $2 trillion sitting on the sidelines through covid, people coming out of covid spending that money. that obviously fuelled the economy. we knew it was going to happen. you have the russian war driving

oil prices up even more. they were up before the war. they're up even more now and going to continue up. then china is just absolutely idiotic zero covid policy, which is driving up inflation because it's screwing up the supply chain again. we had problems before the war with the supply chain before christmas, but it's compounding those problems. there are like three things right now driving inflation. most of what joe biden's going to be doing over the next six months is just window dressing just like the republicans, because these are macro factors that are affecting the entire world, not just the united states. >> two out of the three things you mentioned are global problems or problems outside of this country that we have no control over. >> the third one as well with covid. >> right. >> covid, russia and the oil

supply and china's zero covid policy. >> let's bring in andrew ross sorkin. what do you make of this consumer price jump and the numbers this morning? >> look, the truth is -- and i'm listening to what both of you have been saying. you're spot on. this is not the kind of report you want, because it does mean that things are much hotter. that puts a lot of pressure on politicians, but there's nothing they can do. and then on the fed and they're the only ones who have any instrument and it's a blunt one. if you are the federal reserve do you try to put the economy into a recession? is that really your only option? demand seems to be remarkably strong. wages continue to be high. that's sticky, by the way. that's not going down any time soon. we're seeing it in the food and

gas prices. housing prices have been stubbornly high, again, great if you own a home or are trying to sell a home, bad if you think about the broader economy. you're seeing it today even before the market opens this morning. the futures were up across the board. they have gone the opposite direction. even things like bitcoin, which has been this speculative asset now under $30,000, really suggesting that i think there is an increased anxiety that even if this was peak inflation, it's not clear this is going to get that much better any time soon. that means the fed is actually going to have to act. that acting, i think, is what has people more anxious than they were yesterday. >> as we said earlier, gas is up to $4.40 a gallon this morning, a new high.

the cpi report showed gas is up 44% year over year. the politics are who's responsible for this, does biden deserve the blame. the white house has tried on this putin's price hike argument. but to a landscaper pulling up to a gas station filling up four mowers, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. what's left out there to bring prices down now that they continue to rise without an end in sight? >> it's like a great question without a great answer. the only answer really is probably what the fed can or can't do. if they continue to raise interest rates, which they're likely to do to try to bring down demand, there is an argument to be made that as the stock market continues to fall, that will bring the wealth effect down so people will feel less inclined to go out and buy as much. that would bring demand down and

take a little bit of the pressure off. we're talking this morning about bitcoin coming down to $29,000. there was something like a trillion dollars of crypto currency value that people had. as that comes down, people may be less flush. politically, there's not much you can do. in fact, if you were to spend money -- we've talked about student debt and other things. that would have the opposite effect. that would put money in people's hands and increase demand at a time that supply is in short supply. that is the conundrum of the year. >> it really has been. biden did try the putin gas hike. that certainly was the case in the past, but as we move forward it looks like that's going to be the case more and more as we move forward. we actually have rounded perhaps the top and there is reason to believe a lot of the forces on

inflation are going to be decreasing over time. the one big exception to that, because of the war, is going to be energy prices. at this point, biden's putin tact gas hike, at this point moving forward starts to make more sense than it did a month ago. >> by the way, it's the gas issue, but you were also talking about china covid. we haven't resolved that, so the supply chain problem we're confronting -- and it's not of our own doing. and the sad part is there's nothing if you're in this administration or part of the go competing against this situation saying these guys aren't doing it, it's not clear there's something they can do. i know there's a helplessness about it, but that is the truth. >> andrew ross sorkin.

>> really at the end of the day it's in the hands of the fed. they're going to have to raise interest rates and they're going to have to raise them significantly if they want to slow inflation down. the question is they worry about a hard landing but we can't keep inflation at 8.5%. they're going to have to move quickly. that's why you're going to see the markets going down. >> the fed said we're going to go another half a point or whatever it takes when we meet again. let's talk about the practical impact on the ground of inflation. shaquille brucer is in duvall county. what are you learning about the state of the economy and inflation there? >> reporter: when you talk to voters here, you get a real sense this is going to be a

political problem come the midterm elections because for them it's a real personal problem. they see it at the gas pump, they see it at the grocery store and especially here in florida, in jacksonville, they see it with the cost of housing. in jackson they saw a 30% increase in rent just in the past year. the cost of housing rising at its fastest pace since 1991. this is an issue that voters see each and every day. based on our conversations, you get a sense of how important this will be when they head to the polls in november. >> i feel like with everything we've gone through in the past few years, it's just like natural that you're going to see this change in prices and stuff. hopefully as time progresses, we'll see things come back to normal. >> the coronavirus was the key factor. yes, i agree that they didn't need to do that last stimulus.

it has thrown everything out of whack maybe faster than it should have. >> i didn't agree with the last stimulus, because the market was moving in the right direction in regards to inflation. but going forward right now, i think everyone just needs to come together and figure this thing out. i don't think one party can fix it. >> reporter: now, these voters that you're hearing from, this is duvall county, this is a county that was traditionally republican but flipped to democrats in 2018 and then president biden flipped it in 2020. this is an area where democrats thought they were having some momentum, but now republicans feel they have the wind at their backs. when you ask voters throughout the south florida who do they blame for the inflation, look at this poll from last month. the biden administration, 64% of

voters say that. you hear what president biden is saying with covid-19. 83% of voters say covid-19 is somewhat or very responsible. then you see that number for the war in ukraine. about 62% of voters blaming the war in ukraine. there is room for democrats to continue to put the blame on others or look at the factors, the war in ukraine and the supply chain issues in china. but you get a sense voters are not happy with what they're seeing in the economy and they're running out of time to change the voters' opinions as we get closer to the midterm elections. >> those voters spreading the responsibility as that poll shows. shaquille brewster in jacksonville, florida. the american rescue plan, you listen to the voters shaq spoke with there saying they didn't

support that. president trump put in a couple of massive multitrillion dollar packages as well. the country felt like it was on the brink. it saved a lot of businesses and livelihoods, but there are downstream effects. >> you want to point out the democrats, people like larry somers who vote an op-ed warning of coming inflation, telling democrats they needed to pull back on spending. our own steve ratner did the same thing as well. so there were these concerns coming. unfortunately, if you look at the fiscal policy, the monetary policy, it's just been money for nothing for the past 20 years. it's caught up with us here. no doubt about it. meanwhile treasury secretary janet yellen says more economic

turbulence could be on the way. yesterday she told the senate banking committee that the u.s. financial system is working well, but warned of the potential for more volatility in the near future. secretary yellen also weighed in on the abortion debate, telling senators that overturning roe v wade would also hurt the economy. >> i believe that eliminating the right of women to make decisions about when and whether to have children would have very damaging effects on the economy and would set women back decades. >> later this afternoon, the senate will vote on a bill that would effectively codify the right to an abortion, although it is almost certain to fail. the senate also will need to pick up a new aid bill for ukraine after the house yesterday overwhelmingly approved a $40 billion aid

package. >> let's bring in msnbc contribuor live from capitol hill. there are some questions why schumer went beyond a simple roe bill that would codify where roe is right now. people close to manchin and the two republican senators saying they could get on board with that bill. but again, i don't know if it's a gesture or what's happening, but democrats are swinging for the fences and won't even get those republicans or manchin on the bill. what's the strategy? >> well, richard blumenthal who wrote this bill, we talked to him yesterday about the strategy and his view is they need to stop or slow the states that are going beyond roe already. he thinks that's imperative. it's important to step back here. democrats are short of not only

if the filibuster wasn't in place, they are short of 50 votes that it would take to get this bill across the finish line. obviously they would need 60 to get past that republican filibuster and they don't have the votes to change the filibuster. there is very little the democrats can do, whether they did straight up codify roe into law, that still wouldn't go anywhere. i get the sense from the ether that democrats should be doing more. there is no more they can be doing. they can't eliminate the filibuster, which requires 60 votes for every piece of legislation. they can't even get 50 at this point on this legislation, so they're really out of options. although the house has passed a bill codifying roe into law, the senate is just not going to get there. >> even if you can't get to 60, wouldn't it make more sense to

have a bipartisan bill that just codifies roe and doesn't go beyond it? then republicans stop debate on that bill and democrats go out and say, my god, republicans wouldn't even let us vote on a bipartisan bill. >> susan collins is in talks with senator tim kaine of virginia for a bill that's a lot less aggressive, that's much more along the lines of what you're saying, joe. but i cannot see at this point chuck schumer giving susan collins a vote on her bill. i just don't see it at this point. there's a lot of, to put it nicely, friction between these two. democrats really feel they have the majority and they should go as far as they want to go. you're right. a lot of people might be scratching their heads at this because there is a straight codify roe into law piece of

legislation that they're having at the moment. >> i'm a former republican. people can say blah blah blah, right wing former republican. it just seems to me, again, susan collins ran for reelection in 2020. people like me and most in washington thought she was in big trouble and she was going to lose because of her vote on kavanaugh. she won by nine points in a state that joe biden won by nine points. chuck schumer is upset at susan collins and people don't want to give her a vote. they're cutting off their nose to spite their face. if you simply codify roe where it is right now, will murkowski go, where would collins go, where would manchin go? if you listen to what they are saying, if you look at them talking to democrats about a

possible compromise bill, but again you're just codifying roe. why wouldn't you want the republicans to stop debate on a bipartisan bill instead of a gesture that once again swings for the fences and only pleases the base? >> and that conversation isn't even on the table. they know they're not going to win this. they'll send a signal to democrats that we're trying our best and the only recourse we have is to elect more democrats in the fall and control the senate in a way that we don't right now. but that's not going to satisfy many democrats and progressives who do want to see roe codifies. $40 billion of aid to ukraine making it through the house on a bipartisan vote overwhelmingly. it moves now to the senate, where because of action and movement it looks like the senate will pass it as well. explain why that accelerated a

bit as the covid-19 fund was moved out of it. >> mitch mcconnell has been pushing for two weeks to separate those issues, the covid-19 aid and has said, listen, if you get rid of that, we're happy to pass the $30 billion, which has now turned into $40 billion. we're happy to push that immediately. that was the fight he took. his line in the sand was separate the two issues. once he won that, they actually plussed up the money for republicans. now it's $40 billion. i have to imagine the senate -- i don't know that they could pass this on unanimous consent. this is going to be an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. two points on this. number one, 57 republicans voted against this bill in the house of representatives, kind of shocking to me. they say they didn't have enough time to read it. many people say it's too much

money, we shouldn't be giving all this money to the ukrainians. number two, it's stunning to see the commitment that congress has made to ukraine at this point, billions and billions of dollars. people you talk to suggest this is more to come. this is not the end, only the beginning of money we're going to send to ukraine. while the u.s. doesn't have boots on the ground, congress is opening the checkbook time and time again to support the ukrainians. >> thank you for your reporting. coming up, russia is claiming a strategic victory in the east as the u.k. strikes a new security agreement with sweden and finland. we'll talk to retired army general peter swak and richard hawes about that.

>> statewide in nebraska, again, the candidate stomped his guy. >> we'll be joined by vaughn hilliard from the campaign trail. plus an interview with john fetterman ahead of next week's primary in that state. >> we are squandering an enormous opportunity to do some transformative good through legislation that is being stopped by a senator like joe manchin. stopped by a senator like joe manchin. [zoom call] ...pivot... work bye. vacation hi! book with priceline. 'cause when you save more, you can “no way!” more. no wayyyy. no waaayyy! no way! [phone ringing] hm. no way! no way! priceline. every trip is a big deal. this is koli. my foster fail (laughs). when i first started fostering koli

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we go to the war in ukraine now where the kremlin is claiming a critical strategic victory this morning. >> i don't believe them. >> according to the "new york times," the russian defense

ministry says its forces in eastern ukraine have breached the border between the two separatist held regions in donetsk and luhansk. the ministry's assertion, if confirms, strengthens the prospect that russia could soon gain complete control over the donbas. the donbas seizure also gives the kremlin enormous leverage in any future negotiations to halt the conflict. >> you know what the pentagon said in response? i don't see it. >> they seem to be at odds with the assessment from the pentagon, where a u.s. defense official said just yesterday that the russians have not made any appreciable or specific progress in the donbas. >> why would the russians just lie? oh, never mind. >> at the same time, ukraine is claiming to have regained territory in the northeast,

repelling russian forces from the area around kharkiv. late yesterday president volodymyr zelenskyy said ukrainian forces had retaken four villages in the area, pushing the russians back toward the border. the ukrainian military also warned that before leaving, russian troops placed mines everywhere, including in kindergartens and private homes. more on this in just a moment when we are joined by retired army general peter swak and the president of the council on foreign relations, richard hawes. we are just six months out from the midterm elections. and for the first time this election season, a trump backed candidate has lost. in nebraska jim pillen won the state's republican primary for governor defeating charles

herbster. eight women accused him of inappropriately touching or kissing them against their will. herbster has denied those allegations. in west virginia alex mooney beat david mckinley in the republican primary for the state's second congressional district. joining us from wheeling, west virginia, is vaughn hilliard. so kind of a split decision last night for trump. tell us what happened in west virginia. >> reporter: good morning. i think that we can have the debate and the conversation over the extent to which trump is holding a grip on this republican party. i can tell you, look at charles herbster in nebraska. this was a 3% difference that he lost by. this was under the shadow that eight women alleged that he groped them in the past years.

one said he reached up her skirt, as well as a former aide of his in his state senate office who accused him of grabbing her butt at an event. here in west virginia, i think if you look at those results, it was about 20% victory for alex mooney, who objected to the 2020 election results. he voted against what would have been an independent january 6th commission. he voted against an infrastructure package that passed through congress despite west virginia being 50th in roads, bridges, waterways, rural broadband access. yet when you look at the makeup of this district here, the republican party folks who you talk to said on paper this should have been mckinley's race to win. essentially this new congressional district encompassed almost entirely mckinley's old district and only made up about half of mon money

district. mooney is under investigation for the potential misuse of tens of thousands of campaign dollars. the folks that told us they were voting for mckinley, they were providing some reasons, whether it be the infrastructure vote or the fact that he's represented here for more than four decades. when it came to mooney, frankly we were having a hard time getting people to provide context for their vote except that trump was endorsing him. not only do you see fred upton bowing out in michigan of a competitive race this summer here. but now you have the likes of mckinley going down. you're looking at a line-up here potentially ahead of south carolina primary next month when other targets of donald trump are also potentially on the line of being ousted from their congressional seats as well.

>> vaughn thanks so much. in some places just uttering the word trump again and again may get you elected. but other places like nebraska it doesn't work. >> maybe we have a sliding scale here. you have a state like west virginia where, i think, donald trump fared better than than maybe any state in the country. it certainly is in the top two or three. i know he got in the high 60s there in 2020. you go to nebraska, there's a state joe biden picked up an electoral vote there, that omaha electoral vote. it will be interesting to see what happens in ohio versus pennsylvania, climatologist -- which is coming up. if you look at tim ryan in

youngstown, ohio, he would seem to be custom made for that race, going up against a guy, an ivy leaguer who now hates the ivy league, a silicon valley guy who used to brag about silicon valley being the center of the universe, now hating silicon valley, a guy that lived in san francisco and loved it when he was there, now saying he doesn't like san francisco. that's going to be interesting. mika, also in pennsylvania, also the democrats seem to have somebody that, again, he's not a moderate, he's a progress, but at the same time he really speaks to working voters in pennsylvania. >> well, that primary election is next tuesday. a new poll shows a very tight race among three republican candidates for senate. trump backed dr. oz is at 22%, followed by david mccormick at 20%, who is still sort of

leaning into the trump agenda despite recent criticism from the former president. we should note the poll's margin of error is 3%. conservative commentator kathy barnette who does not have trump's endorsement and has never run for office before has surged in the polls to 19%. on the democrat side, congressman conor lamb and john fetterman are the two top candidates. fetterman is what could be the democrat's best chance at flipping a senate seat with more than half of registered democrats in the state saying they plan to vote for him. dasha burns spoke exclusively with fetterman and his wife gisele at their home in pennsylvania. she joins us now from philadelphia. how is he gearing up for the

primary next week? >> reporter: mika, when you watch fetterman on the campaign trail, when you talk to him, when you talk to voters about him, you really get the sense that he is doing something different. look, at the outset of this race early in the primary days, folks really thought it was going to be a tight race between conor lamb and fetterman. you said it there, fetterman has really run away with this thing. it's interesting to think about what that says about the direction of the democratic party. he's got not your typical democrat type of brand. he campaigns in a hoodie and gym shorts. he speaks plainly to people. he talks about winning over those democrats that went to trump. at the same time, though, it's

not just the candidate, but actually the couple that make this especially unconventional. his wife gisele is sort of his polar opposite and she has been front and center in this game. his team will tell you, you may be voting for john, but you're also getting gisele. she is an immigrant from brazil. she grew up undocumented in america. we talked to her about how much her story influences his views on immigration. she's done so much work in their home down of braddock, really appealing to some of the new school democrats where he's trying to get the old school democrats. you get the sense those two are kind of trying to bridge the gap. looking at the polls, it might be working. in our exclusive conversation, we hit on a whole lot of top eks. i want you to hear just a little bit of our conversation. >> are you a progressive?

>> no. i'm just a democrat that has always run on what i believe and know to be true. six years ago that was considered progressive. but now there isn't a single democrat in this race or any race i'm aware of that's running on anything different. we are squandering, in my opinion, an enormous opportunity to do some transformative good through legislation that is being stopped by a senator like joe manchin. i'm not criticizing him. i'm simply saying i would vote differently. i don't believe it's a moderate to derail your party's and president's agenda. >> do you think democrats have done enough to fix the system? >> no, i don't think they have. i remember crying to him because a good friend of mine, a family i grew up with had just been deported. it's very personal to our family. >> how much does your experience that you, of course, share with john, your background and what you experience now as an immigrant in america, how much does that influence his

positions on the issue? >> i think it does very much so, because he's seen cases where i'm treated differently than he is. you know, we've seen cases where i'm out with the children and people think i'm the babysitter and not their mother. to him, he's seen it firsthand. >> reporter: mika, a lot of really interesting conversations with the two of them. we'll have a lot more coming up across msnbc and on "meet the press daily." >> thank you so much for that report. still ahead, the latest on the war in ukraine. both russia and ukraine are claiming strategic victories, while the top u.s. spy chief warns the conflict could stretch on for quite some time. >> richard hawes is going to be here. >> "morning joe" will be right back. "morning joe" will be rigt back excuse me? do the research, todd.

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for prolonged conflict in ukraine, during which he attempts to achieve goals beyond the donbas. >> avril haines speaking to the senate armed services committee. joining us is u.s. army brigadier general peter zwack. richard haass is with us as well. he's president on the council on foreign relations. >> great to have both of you here. richard haass's background makes you look even more learned than usual. he's even a yankees fan. richard you wrote something yesterday that struck me as being, i thought, pretty dead on. you talked about the options that vladimir putin had. you said the most likely option

would live with a long, low intensity war with reduced casualties. that seems to me, again, if he can't win, well, he certainly can't afford to lose. so have almost just to borrow from world war ii throughout this entire war over the past couple months, have a low intensity war where you never have to admit just how badly you miscalculated ukraine, nato and the west. >> yeah. you never have to admit anything wrong. you never have to accept or sign off on lesser demands. there's no way putin is going to agree that ukraine can be an independent, sovereign country. he clearly doesn't want it to be in the eu. plus, by playing for time, if you're putin, the feeling is who

knows what could happen. just had an election in france. who knows what happens in this country in three years, who knows what happens with ukraine. better to keep this open. it becomes another frozen conflict. he lived with conflict in the donbas region for eight years. the idea that he'd live with a slightly larger conflict for another eight years, from his point of view, why not. another critical thing here is whether the west can finally curb its appetite for russian gas exports, because that's an important funder of his war effort. that could at least create a little bit of impatience on his part. >> you know putin may find himself in the position of four american presidents who knew they couldn't win the war in afghanistan, but didn't want to be the one to take the troops out of afghanistan until joe biden finally said i'm getting

them out, we're not staying any longer. trump was desperate to get the troops out of afghanistan, but he didn't want to be blamed for the loss, obama the same, and even george w. bush knew they couldn't win that war. >> that took 20 years to gets troops out of there. this would be even worse for vladimir putin in terms of humiliation because he views russia as a dominant power and it's proving to the world it couldn't do much in ukraine. parading the tanks and missiles through the streets of moscow, frankly didn't look like their heart was in it, a tour putin sitting with a blanket in his lap. he says we're making progress in the donbas. the pentagon says, no, actually you're not.

what is your assessment of the state of play now in the east? >> i think when we look at the situation and we talk about an end state that is going to be determined in years possibly in the future, let's go back to 2014. we have basically ukrainians and russians already have a frozen conflict with the donbas. russians have illegally annexed crimea. and it was like northern ireland on steroids, meaning, the russian forces in the donbas were unattributed and there were people being killed, but it wasn't being well reported and kind of quiet. this is big, what's going on in the donbas and along the black sea. and an extended conflict, a key part is i don't think the ukrainians are going to let it sit still. they want to push, they want to

force out, ideally through negotiation, but it's not going to happen. they want to avoid the russians getting a cease fire and freezing the ground. then you have a massive, if you will, frozen conflict that the russians can't avoid and will involve a lot of casualties. so i think this is different and it will be ugly. it will be unresolved. but i think the key x factor is ukrainians, i don't think, are going to let russian forces sit on hundreds of hundreds of square miles that had been occupied since the 24th of february this year. >> yeah. you know, richard, that is such a great point. i say ken burns' documentary on vietnam. obviously, we understood how strong the north vietnamese were

after the defeat, had many years to mull that. but i was struck by one general after another that had been fighting that war that just kept talking about the resolve of the vietnamese them. just talking about the extraordinary nationalism, the bravery, the strength that we americans just so grossly underestimated and the ramifications were catastrophic for the united states. as the general says, vladimir putin, he's made the same miscalculation with ukraine. so perhaps the ukrainians aren't going to let him sit here and drag this war out. >> that's possible. what you're pointing to, joe, and i think it's 100% right, is the pattern and history of imperial wars. we learned it the hard way in vietnam. russia learned it the hard way

in afghanistan. those who are fighting in defense of their country tend to have more heart in the battle than those trying to impose their rule on another country. ukrainians can raise the level of casualties for the russians and that will be one of the factors. i can see the cutting off of gas imports in places like germany to raise the economic cost, and it might be, i'm not ruling it out at some point putin would basically -- i don't know if you remember senator akin from vermont, he would essentially declare victory. he would say this is what we've tried to do, we've now done it. he controls the information space in russia and he could try to sell half the loaf as the entire loaf. he would rather do better. but if the costs go up, i think that is an option down the road. >> all right, president of the council on foreign relations, richard haas and retired u.s.

army brigadier, general, thank you very much for being on this morning. now to the incredible story out of florida we've been talking throughout the morning about. a passenger was forced to take control of a plane in flight after the pilot suffered a medical emergency. so with the guidance of an air traffic controller, the small private plane landed safely. nbc news correspondent kerry sanders reports from palm beach international airport. >> reporter: if you've ever wondered when you're getting on a plane, what would happen if the pilots became incapacitated, could you take control of the plane and land? that just happened. a man on a plane who was a passenger, the faa says he was not a student pilot, on a single engine plane, had to indeed take over and, remarkably, landed safely here at palm beach international airport. terrifying moments in the sky, turning into a miracle landing

tuesday, after a passenger was forced to land a small plane in florida when the pilot suffered a medical emergency. >> i've got a serious situation here, my pilot is incoherent. >> reporter: the faa saying the single engine cessna 206 with people on board landed safely at palm beach international airport around 12:30 p.m. the aircraft was flying just off the coast of boca raton when the passenger realized there was something wrong with the pilot. then a dramatic exchange, the passenger contacting air traffic control while trying to figure out what to do. >> i have no idea how to fly an airplane. >> roger. what's your position? >> i have no idea. i can see the coast of florida in front of me and i have no idea. >> reporter: the air traffic controller carefully guiding the passenger to become the pilot. >> try to hold the wings level and see if you can start descending for me. >> yeah, i'm descending right

now at 550 feet a minute. >> maintain wings level and just try to follow the coast, either north or southbound. >> reporter: eventually air traffic control taking control, talking the passenger through a safe landing. >> did a great job. >> did you say the passenger landed the airplane? >> that's correct. >> great job. >> no flying experience. >> reporter: this morning a new pilot staying calm in the face of unbelievable pressure, and sticking the landing. we don't know the name of the passenger who is now a pilot, but he certainly has a story to tell and hopefully he'll share it with us soon. meantime, the pilot who had the medical condition that set all of this midair emergency into motion, his condition is unknown this morning. >> that was kerry sanders reporting. >> wow! >> let's not talk about it. oscar nominated actor james

cromwell now -- >> he's great. >> he was in "babe", "succession". >> he was amazing in "l.a. confidential". >> the actor is making headlines this morning. the animal rights activist superglued his hand to a counter of a starbucks in new york city yesterday. >> what? >> he is protesting customers for being charged extra for plant-based milk substitutes. there's no reason -- >> there's no reason for it except greed, he said. starbucks charges up to 77 cents extra for coffee with plant-based milk. i'm so confused. >> ouch. >> wow. >> but why glue your hand? what does that mean? what does that mean? >> it's a vegan up-charge, willie, is what i'm hearing. >> is that symbolic to the

protest? >> a few qualifiers here. number one, truly a great actor, one of our best. >> we love him. >> done incredible work over his life, activism on civil rights and animal rights. having said that -- >> i admire him so much. >> -- gluing yourself to the counter of a starbucks for an up-charge on vegan milk, "south park" could not have written a better parody of celebrity protests, i think. >> it's that time again, let's start doing what we do for the first three hours of "morning joe." what you got today? >> how about a no-hitter from the angels last night from a rookie pitcher. reed detmer, the first solo no-hitter last night. threw a career high 108 pitches, only his 11th career major

league start. struck out only two batters, walked only one, kept tampa bay's hitters off balance, forcing eight flyouts. angels beat the rays 12-0. angels off to a nice start and this gets them the national attention they deserve. let's go to detroit. a catch not even oakland's tony kemp could believe he made. the second baseman sat stunned after a diving grab on a ball up the middle to end the top of the eighth. look at that face. >> wow. >> anchor down, the a's beat the tigers 4-1. joe, i think i saved the best for last. big comeback from america's team, the new york yankees, playing in the bronx. trailing the jays 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth. it is time, joe. >> and the one-two. to left field!

there it goes! >> aaron judge, two on, one out, three-run walk-off bomb. that is the first walk-off of his career. hit it out to left, 6-5 win over toronto for the first place new york yankees. very exciting. >> well, you know, finally, willie, when the yankees announcer screams it is a home run, it actually is a home run. that's a change. >> you had to find the negative. >> i did. i've successfully done it. also very good to see that the angels did not take out their pitcher. we've seen it time and again that these pitchers aren't allowed to go nine. it was nice he was given a chance last night. >> i had the same thought when i woke up and saw that this morning. i thought how many pitchers did they use, five, six?

it was an old-school leave the starter in, let him throw 111 pitches. a hot angels team. >> hot angels team and it's like we say all the time here on "morning joe," west coast friends, there ain't no baseball like west coast baseball. >> right, something like that. >> that wraps up the hour for us. our job here is finished. >> okay, fine. that wraps up this hour. our fourth hour of "morning joe," and it's only wednesday. >> i could do this all day. >> i know you could. you're so good at it. why not? we'll see you there. >> west coast baseball. good morning. it's 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. we begin with breaking news. a new report shows soaring consumer costs. we'll ask a member of the white house council of economic

advisers about the president's plan to alleviate the strain on american families. meanwhile, a massive aid package for ukraine is one step closer to reaching president biden's desk as the war on the ground intensifies. we're going to bring you the latest from kyiv. also happening today, a major vote on a bill that would lock in protections for abortion rights, but is expected to fail. and we're learning new details about a palestinian american journalist killed in the west bank overnight. we begin with a sign the soaring inflation may be peaking. the government reported a short time ago that the consumer price index rose 8.3% between april of 2021 and april of 2022. now, that's down slightly from the 8.5% reported in march. but prices are still high. very high across the board. food up nearly