is in getting the maximum level of sanctions that a lot of the eu would like to see. >> i think you're right. that has been one of the real challenges, is holding the alliance together. remarkable so far, but if it goes on for months, it could change. michael weiss, thank you. thanks for getting up "way too early" on this tuesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." beautiful picture of sunrise over new york city on this last day of may. it is tuesday, may 31st. today mark one week since the massacre that killed 19 children and 2 of their teachers in uvalde, texas. we'll go live to the grieving town as loved ones today begin to bury their dead. plus, new reporting on the uvalde school police chief who made the call for officers not

to rush in immediately and take down the gunman. he was set to take his place on the city council tonight. we'll tell you what the town's mayor is saying about that. and the latest in the debate over gun reform. more on what the key players are thinking and saying ahead of a senate meeting that is scheduled for today. along with joe and me today, we have former aide to the george w. bush state departments and white house, elise jordan. and the host of "way too early," jonathan lemire. the white house bureau chief at "politico." the senators led by chris murphy and john cornyn of texas will hold a meeting tonight. many issues should be held at the state level, but they said mental health, background checks, and red flag laws are something congress can address. after spending four hours with families on sunday in uvalde,

the president returned to the white house and expressed hope that republicans will go for reform. he also discussed the limitations of his power on this issue. >> there's the constitution. i can't dictate this stuff. i can do the things i've done, and any executive action i can take, i'll continue to take. but i can't outlaw a weapon. i can't, you know, change the background checks. i can't do that. >> so, joe, we heard from the president yesterday. we know mitch mcconnell encouraged john cornyn and other republicans to join the bipartisan group with chris murphy. on the other hand, it does feel we've been here before, after sandy hook and many other times. do you have reason to believe at congress, the national level, legislation can get through? >> i actually do. i think you're never disappointed if you underestimate the will of congress to do anything

considerable, anything significant, on one of the most important issues when it comes to protecting our children. if you look at the numbers, they're absolutely staggering every year. more children die by gunfire than police officers die in the line of duty, than military troops die in combat, that black americans die being shot by police officers, or that all americans die being shot by police officers. those are all issues we talk about an awful lot on tv. combine all those numbers together, more children die from gunfire. and the numbers are staggering. so i think the biggest tell here that this may be different, may be different, is that mitch mcconnell, what does he always tell us? i represent my republican caucus, so if they want to stay with trump, i'm going to stay with trump. he never gets too far ahead of the republican caucus. the fact this bloodshed

continues, that it happened in the reddest of red states, that it happened in a red state where the insanity of the gun laws, the insanity of tweets coming from the governor of texas, being disappointed that they're not the number one gun-buying state in america, that they're behind california. all of this, the incompetence of the leadership of the governor. we saw it yesterday when he was booed. i think all of that is adding up. also, the numbers are just on the side of people who believe in gun safety. 85% of americans, according to the latest poll, they support universal background checks. 85% of americans, they support red flag laws. what does that mean? that means greg abbott can't go somewhere in the state of texas, ron desantis can't go anywhere in the state of florida. there is no safe political zone for them to hold a town hall meeting and speak out against

universal background checks to keep children alive in schools, to keep parishioners alive in churches and synagogues, to keep country music fans alive at those concerts. so, yes, i know after sandy hook, we had, of course, joe manchin working with one or two republicans, but that was it. this has a feeling. you have john cornyn being directed to, of course, talk to chris murphy, maybe, just maybe there is a chance, there is an opportunity for those red flag laws. there is an opportunity for universal background checks to possibly see the light of day, get debated, and get passed on the floor of the united states senate. >> john -- >> not military style weapons, but possibly those two issues. >> jonathan, i want to underlie what joe said with some numbers. the politico morning poll that came out a few days ago. 88% of americans support universal background checks. 84% support red flag laws.

67% even support banning semiautomatic rifles in this country, the kinds used, frankly, in almost all the mass shooting. where does that leave us in washington? are they that insulated from what is happening in the country? >> 88% of americans don't agree on anything, particularly something considered a hot-button issue, when perhaps it isn't or shouldn't be. this is something americans want to get done. whether that translates to action in washington remains to be seen. we talked last week about the nra being a diminished organization, but it is a cultural thing now. guns are still linked to the intrinsic identity of so many in the republican party, it is hard for them to move. the president spoke yesterday coming back to washington the day after he'd been in texas, and he believed there were, quote, rational republicans who would be willing to make a deal. he put minority leader mcconnell in the group. there are many on his staff who don't share that opinion. mcconnell has a long track

record of blocking efforts for gun safety measures, gun reform measures. he has been someone closely tied to the nra. there seems to be some movement here. chris murphy, senator from connecticut so moved by the sandy hook shooting, he is the leading voice. he thinks there is a chance for a deal, and we take him at his word. but something would be better than nothing. >> at least for every john cornyn in the room, there is a ted cruz saying, why are we politicizing this? we need to talk about mental illness, which we do, but we also need to talk about guns. where is your level of optimism here? >> i'm not that optimistic, just because congress can't seem to get anything done, but i do think that the republican senators who are standing firm on absolutionism when it comes to protecting all second amendment rights, i think they're in the minority.

that 88% represents the people that you hear from in red state america who don't want their kids worried about being mowed down by assault rifles at school. i remember a couple years -- i'm trying to remember what tragedy it was. there are so many mass shootings that, unfortunately, they blur all together, but doing focus groups in memphis, tennessee. randomly, the group ended up being about 6 out of 10 teachers. they were trump supporters. this was right after a school shooting. they said, the last thing we want is to have to be responsible for a gun in our classrooms. these were people who were familiar with guns and carried firearms. just the republican senate is so out of step with the ordinary american on this one. >> joe, that's among the solutions we've heard from some republicans, to sort of change the subject, is teachers should be armed. we need to harden the schools even further. perhaps have school resource officers carrying ar-15s. the list goes on and on. have one door to the school was

one proposal. most of those un-serious. but what of these pieces of legislation, universal background checks, banning semiautomatic rifles, red flag laws, where do you see the most hope in getting something through that could prevent the next attack? >> well, you're not going see semiautomatic rifles, military style weapons, that's not going to pass. certainly not in a 50/50 senate. red flag laws that have 85% support, universal background checks that have over 85% support, where the majority of republicans and nra members support those pieces of legislation. there you do have, actually, the most hope. and what republicans have been doing since sandy hook is they're constantly changing the subject. they've talked in the past about violent video games. they've talked in the past

about, you just need one good man with a gun. that doesn't work anymore. we've seen the picture of the police officer standing outside scared to go inside while little kids are shot and bleeding out and calling 91 desperately. that image really says it all. you have an 18-year-old with severe mental challenges that's able to walk in, and by two weapons of war on his 18th birthday, and is able to scare police officers from coming in after him while little children are dialing 911. that is a defining moment. that should be a defining moment for any sane american. i know that it's certainly not for a lot of republicans who are now talking about mental health. that's the latest thing. you know, willie, if you stack up gun deaths in the united states versus gun deaths in

europe, and let's take britain, a country that culturely is the closest to the united states of other european countries, almost 4 americans out of 100,000 are killed by guns in america. in great britain, it is 0.04%. what is that? 100 times as many in mass shootings. we have them repetitively over and over again. you look at the numbers in europe. kids in europe play violent video games. kids in europe play call of duty. kids in europe play other war games. kids in europe have mental health challenges. adults in europe have mental health challenges. it is the easy access to guns, especially the easy access to weapons designed for war, willie, designed for war, that

police officers are afraid to confront. again, americans should just look at that image of police officers outside, scared to go in and confront the gunman because the nra has been pushing for years and years for 18-year-old kids, for just about anybody, to be able to get military style weapons. they've been pushing against universal background checks, background checks in private sales, pushing against background checks at gun show. they've been pushing against the gun safety measures that almost 9 out of 10 americans support, willie. i think that's why you're actually seeing americans moving. republicans, their game has been a game of distraction. i don't think that game is working anymore, especially if you look at the reception greg abbott got when he went back to uvalde yesterday.

>> yeah. >> on sunday. >> we'll continue to talk about the issue of the guns. for now, the funeral services of some of the kids you were talking about, joe, are under way. they're scheduled to stretch all the way to june the 16th because there are so many of them. 21 all together. joining us from uvalde, texas, nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster. good morning. we had memorial services for two 10-year-old girls yesterday in uvalde, texas, who, one week ago this morning, were getting ready for school. what more do we expect to see this week? >> reporter: yeah, we're starting to see the visitation, the funerals for all of these victims of that shooting yesterday. you mentioned it was the visitation for amerie jo garza. she was one of the people making a call to 911 as the shooter was in the room. we also know there was a visitation for 10-year-old

rodriguez. she wanted to be a marine biologist. we're going to see those two laid to rest and 21 other people laid to rest over the course of the next week. 22 if you include the husband of irma garcia, one of the teachers in that classroom, who days after suffered from a fatal heart attack. so this is going to be a grieving community. we saw that yesterday as the memorials outside of robb elementary school, the memorial in the town square, they continue to grow. we saw over the course of the weekend people waiting in line at the memorials for more than an hour in 100 degree heat just to lay down their flowers and break out in spontaneous prayers with members of the community. it is a heartbreaking scene. more pain for this community and also more questions. when you talk to folks, there are a lot of questions still unanswered, specifically why the decision was made not to send the officers into the classroom

as the shooter was still there. that's a decision that, according to state officials, the department of public safety, they're pointing the attention at the police chief of the uvalde school district, pete erdondo. we expected to see him later today. he was elected to city council a few weeks ago, and his swearing in was scheduled for today. the mayor and town manager now telling us that that swearing in has been canceled so that the attention could focus on the burials that will be taking place. there are still many questions unanswered in terms of why the officers did not go in. he's become the main focus, there are still questions we're dealing with. see the statement on your screen there from the uvalde mayor. we got this statement yesterday, of one of the few statements we've been getting since the update on friday. he says, pete arredondo was

dually elected to the city council. there is nothing in the city charter, election code, or texas constitution that prohibits him from taking office. it's still not clear when exactly that will happen. but you have the mayor saying that he will still be a member of that city council as of now. there is nothing to stop him. the mayor also making some news yesterday in the statement, saying that as he knows it, there is no investigation of this police chief. he, again, was the incident commander. he made the decision not to send the officers in, deciding it was a barricade situation instead of an active shooter situation. so many questions we have. we haven't gotten an official update to the investigation since friday, friday before this holiday weekend. one other point we heard from the mayor is that school, robb elementary school, the site we saw 21 people gunned down, he's saying that that school is likely going to be torn down. he said that he cannot imagine

asking any other student to enter that classroom or enter that building. he wants the building torn down and a new elementary school to be built again. according to the state officials who met with the president this weekend, that was something the president talked about helping the community out with. >> i'm sure it will be. that's what they did in sandy hook, building a new beautiful school and much more secure at that. shaquille brewster in uvalde, texas, thank you. the justice department will conduct a critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the school shooting in uvalde. it coms at the request of the mayor after there was a string of failures in response to the attack last week. in a statement, the goal of the review is to proside an independent account of law enforcement actions and responses that day, and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter

events. let's bring in justice department reporter for the "new york times," katie benner, msnbc contributor. great to have you with us this morning. the truth is, there are a lot of best practices in place for mass shootings, school shootings like this, and they just were not employed in uvalde, tragically, obviously. what exactly do you suspect the justice department is going to look at here? >> sure. first of all, this is not a criminal review. this is not a criminal investigation. it is a review the department undertakes when asked to by a local government. what they're going to do is they're going to come in and try to answer a lot of the as yet answered questions. why were the choices made that were made? what was the thinking? what happened? who made the calls? was there pushback? ultimately, they want to create the most full narrative of everything that happened that day, so they can make recommendations to the mayor and the city of uvalde, saying, while these might be your practices today, here are improvements that could be made, and here are the several things that each actor did or did not do.

>> katie, good morning. it is jonathan lemire. i assume also this would create a template for other cities in order to prepare for a possible shooting in their town. let me ask you this. there's been so many questions raised about the police response in the town. so much anguish and anger from the families of those lost, who wished officers had stormed the school much sooner than they did. even if it is not this justice department probe, is there going to be any sort of mechanism here? is there any scenario where someone could be held responsible, there could be official blame assigned? will there be investigations at the local level, to provide answers parents are seeking? >> first, the reviews, what they do is uncover tremendous amounts of information. as we know, it is difficult for local governments to take any punitive action toward law enforcement. there's all sorts of reasons for

that. uncovering this information do give the mayor's office and other city officials the top cover they need to make the more difficult decisions around accountability, and that could be very helpful. it's one of the reasons the reviews tend to move fairly quickly, though justice does move slow, fairly quickly. to your point, information is uncovered. nobody yet knows what will ultimately be found about the culpability of each of the actors. again, while this is not a criminal investigation, if any actual laws are found to be violated, that would change. >> as you say, katie, these investigations have been conducted in places like orlando after the pulse nightclub shooting, san bernardino, other mass shootings, as well, so not unusual. justice department reporter for the "new york times," katie benner. thank you so much. elise, as i mentioned, they're going to look at the protocols and what went wrong, but the protocols were in place, in writing by the state of texas. december, uvalde practiced what to do, and they just didn't do it, is the truth of the matter. >> well, they just had

simulations and trainings. >> yeah. >> at the end of the day, we can parse through what went wrong in every step of the response, but we all know what the answer is. why are these high-capacity weapons of war that have the high-volume magazines, and the kid had over 1,500 rounds of ammo unleashed. why? it goes back to that. i mean, we can try to work on an official response all we want, but the prevalence and the accessibility of the weapons of war is the problem. >> the investigation will proceed for weeks to continue. the debate will intensify in the senate about gun reform. there is a zoom meeting scheduled for senators. but the focus today are the funerals, stretching to june 16th because of the sheer number of victims. it also underscores the size of the town. there are two funeral homes, now

stretched to capacity. a tragedy getting worse by the day. >> there is a devastating account from the only pediatrician in the town of uvalde who had to go in and help on the scene and deal with all these kids he has been treating since they were babies. we'll get to that coming up in a bit. also ahead on "morning joe," new york city mayor eric adams among the many leading voices calling for congress to take action on gun safety. a problem in his own city, as well. mayor adams will be our guest. plus, while the united states wrestles with a way forward on guns, canadian prime minister justin trudeau is trying to take some action in his country. we will run through the new legislation he is proposing and the prospects for it passing. also this morning, president biden lays out his three-point plan for tackling america's rising inflation. we'll read from his piece in the "wall street journal." and the latest from ukraine, as the new u.s. ambassador arrives in kyiv, marking the first time in about three years

the united states has had an ambassador in that country. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. >> the day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day... a "let's dig in" day... >> mm. >> ...a "chow down" day... a "take a big bite" day... a "perfectly delicious" day... >> mm. [ chuckles ] >> ...a "love my new teeth" day. because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face,

mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. ♪ ♪ i'm the latest hashtag challenge. and everyone on social media is trying me. i'm trending so hard that “hashtag common sense” can't keep up. this is going to get tens and tens of views. ♪ ♪ ( car crashing ) ♪ ♪ but if you don't have the right auto insurance coverage, you could be left to pay for this... yourself. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. right now, we're all feelin' the squeeze. we're having to get creative. find a new way. but birthdays still happen. fridays still call for s'mores. you have to make magic, and you're figuring out how to do that. what you don't have to figure out is where to shop.

because while you're getting creative, walmart is doing what we always do. keeping prices low for you every day. so you can save money and live better. ♪

it is 6:27 on the east coast. the ambassador to ukraine arrived after the post being vacant for three years. bridget brink is honored to be part of the team as, quote, we stand with ukraine. brink will present credentials to president zelenskyy later this week. the u.s. reopened its embassy in the war-torn country after a three-month closure. brink, a veteran diplomat fluent in russian spent most of her career in europe.

the last ambassador to ukraine was removed by president trump. the southern part of the country, ukrainians are being asked to flee as ukraine tries to take back its land. the deputy prime minister encouraged all ukrainians to move to ukrainian-controlled territory, saying, quote, i know it is difficult, but you have to find sways and opportunities. she said ukraine will win back its land, but there will be a fierce fight to liberation. ukraine launched a counterattack to take an kherson, which fell to the russians in early days of the invasion. "new line" magazine's michael weiss joins us. as a country the last week, we've been consumed by the events in uvalde. bring us up to speed about where this assault is, the invasion is, where the pushback from

ukraine is in the east. what is the state of play? >> ukrainians are pressing a counteroffenive in southern ukraine, kherson. it was the first major population center to fall to russia at the outset of the war in late february. it's north of crimea. the russians have poured everything they've got in terms of fire power and manpower into the east, right? there's hitched battle taking place in luhansk, which is what the russians want to claim. putin's new objective is all of the donbas. that's his victory. if the ukrainians can take advantage of the fact the russians are pulling their tactical groups out, it'll be whack-a-mole. they leave this area, we hit here. the russians are makingluhansk. half of a major city has been taken, evolving into street

fighting in the donetsk. if the city fell, all luhansk would fall to the russians. >> the united states has spent billions of weapons in financial aid. is it making a difference on the battlefield? >> absolutely is. i've seen video of heavy artillery cannons the u.s. provided. other countries, canada, the uk. ukrainians will tell you the systems are great. they've been begging for stuff like this for eight years. there was a brouhaha over the weekend. president biden said, we're not gong to give ukraine long-range rockets that can target inside russia. everyone took this to mean that means multiple launch systems, the mobile version on wheels, will not be provided. what i can tell by chasing this up with administration officials, that's not what he meant. he meant long-range, meaning there is a munition that goes to the systems with a range of 190

miles. the logic there is if we give that to the ukrainians, russians will see that almost as we're giving them, like icbms. not quite but you know what i mean. there are other ranges, 40 to 70 miles. ukrainians can do a great deal of damage with those systems, and they're set to get them, unless, you know, biden comes out with another comment and says that's off the table. >> michael, we've talked a lot about putin's end game here, his strategy, which seems to be prolong this conflict as long as he can, to wear down the alliance, the europeans and u.s., and try to pressure points to strain those ties. we saw the eu put together this oil ban, partial oil ban over the weekend. we saw a carveout for hungary. >> yes. >> give a sense as to how this is playing in the european capitals. are we seeing signs of fraying in the alliance, as some countries seem to be pushing ukraine more toward a negotiated settlement than others? we heard pressure from paris, from italy. we had some pressure from germany on that. how long can this alliance stick together? >> this is the million dollar

question. i mean, obviously, the germans and the french tend to be the most seekers of peace, let's say. german chancellor is coming up with all manner of excuses that german sources say are invented for political reasons. emmanuel macron has this tick that he always wants to reach for the phone and dial up putin and try to go for peace. i'd prefer he sent heavy armor whenever he felt the need, as a cognitive behavioral therapy. look, this alliance has been holding better than most people had expected at the beginning. you still have spoilers like viktor orban in hungary, who has extracted a bribe from the european union to allow this sanction package to go forward. look, the longer this drags out, the more people will get tired. we're not talking about ukraine the way we were three months ago. war fatigue set in already. he is betting on the west essentially beginning to fray in

its resolve. he may well get his wish. >> john mentioned the european union agreed to ban 90% of russian oil imports by the end of this year. charles michel wrote, quote, this immediately covers more than 2/3 of oil imports from russia, cutting financing for its war machine. the agreement comes during a european council summit in brussels where diplomats yesterday discussed a sixth package of sanctions against the kremlin. elise, europe has come a long way from when they said we can't get off russian oil. it'd cost jobs, and it'd spiral us into recession. now announcing 90% by the end of the year will be banned. >> that brings me to a bigger question, where is the status of ukraine joining the eu, and how is the timeline moving along as you see it? >> the eu will say you must follow the proper protocols like

everybody else. there is no cutting ahead to the top of the line kind of thing. the problem as i see it, and from what i've been able to figure out with diplomatic sources, is you need more western countries going rah-rah for ukrainian succession. you mentioned italy. draghi is jung-ho about ukraine, but he's the only one. macron said it won't happen for decades. germans are obviously not so eager for this to take place, at least they're not making a big fuss about it. remember, the bigissue for the ukrainians is they wanted to be a member of nato, of the eu. remember, the succession agreement killed off the revolution in 2014. the former president basically campaigned on joining this agreement, then took a bribe from putin and that was it. people turned out in protest. ukraine wants to be part of europe. this war, they consider

themselves now the center of gravity for the west, for liberal democracy. they don't see themselves as part of the russian empire. they'll talk in grand terms about this is asia, this is europe, and we are part of this community. again, putin is kind of preying upon these weaknesses and divisions within the continent. there's not a big drive to make this happen in a way that ukrainians would like to see it happen. >> michael weiss, news director for "news line" magazine and expert in this. thanks for being here. we have more coverage from uvalde, including a first-hand account of what it was like to treat the kids who survived the shooting from the town's only pediatrician. plus, some states not waiting for congress to take action on gun legislation. we'll have more on the measures will be proposed along party lines. also ahead, president biden meets with the fed chair today to discuss inflation. we'll have a first look at the president's new plan to stabilize the economy. all of it when "morning joe" comes right back.

there's a monster problem and our hero needs solutions. so she starts a miro to brainstorm. “shoot it?” suggests the scientists. so they shoot it. hmm... back to the miro board. dave says “feed it?” and dave feeds it. just then our hero has a breakthrough. "shoot it, camera, shoot a movie!" and so our humble team saves the day by working together. on miro. time. it's life's most precious commodity, especially when you have metastatic breast cancer. when your time is threatened, it's hard to invest in your future. until now. kisqali is helping women live longer than ever before when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant... in hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer.

kisqali is a pill that's proven to delay disease progression. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain... a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. avoid grapefruit during treatment. your future is ahead of you, so it's time to make the most of it with kisqali. because when you invest in yourself, everyone gets the best of you. you're pretty particular about keeping a healthy body. what goes on it. usually. and in it. mostly. here to meet those high standards is the walgreens health and wellness brand. over 2000 high quality products.

rigorously tested by us. real world tested by you. and delivered to your door in as little as one hour.

the lone pediatrician in the small town of uvalde, texas, is a local who attended robb elementary school. he opened up about what it was like having to treat shooting victims he's taken care of since birth. dr. guerrero spoke to today.com for us, saying, quote, it was a mad house, what you see in disaster movies. doctors and nurses in every single room. people running around like maniacs, he said. kids in the hallway bleeding and screaming. surgeons working on kids. the horrible part, i guess, was seeing parents i knew outside screaming, asking me to look for their kids. you never really get that out of your head. five of the children who were murdered were his patients. several more were witnesses to the massacre. one 11-year-old girl told dr. guerrero what she saw. quote, she said she saw people being shot and falling dead. her best friend was next to her, so she grabbed some of her blood

that was coming out of her, smeared it on herself, and played dead on the floor, the doctor reported. as families begin to bury the children they lost, we're learning more about the emotional scars that will haunt those who survived. andrea herrera was a few classrooms over from her brother jose. jose was one of the 19 children murdered inside robb elementary. she told her grandparents she witnessed a teacher being killed before climbing through a window to escape. andrea found it painful to be at home in the days since the shooting. she's become withdrawn and fearful, as you can imagine. that first night, she told us everything, said beatrice herrera, her grandmother, but ever since, she's been quiet, by herself. she's still scared the bad man may still come back and find her. she also misses her older brother desperately. they played together and talked about school. he was older, but she was taller. closer in age than the younger two, they were protective of each other.

the "washington post" spoke with survivors of past school shootings from columbine to sandy hook about the trauma and anxiety they still deal with. samantha haviland didn't want to know all the details. she turned 40 years old. she was in the building at columbine. for years, sandy hook survivor camille's trauma surfaced through debilitating panic attacks. it'd hit her during swim practice. the moment she was short of breath, her body would unravel. she'd sit on the edge of the pool deck crying and shaking. maggie's best friend in 2012 was daniel barton. she was in the third grade. he was in first. they liked to dance to "dynamite" and play pirates together on the barton swingset. the most enduring consequence of the shooting for maggie is what

his killing did for her. she hesitated to connect to people. she lost the best friend she ever had. making new ones meant she'd only have somebody else to lose. all those accounts, that reporting from the "washington post." coming up, the latest from uvalde as the grieving community begins now to lay to rest the 21 victims of the shooting. plus, new york city may mayor eric adams will join us with the senate calling for gun safety. also ahead, the president's new plan to fight inflation. "morning joe" is coming right back.

moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq.

rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin. plus, they felt fast itch relief some as early as 1 week. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers including lymphoma and skin cancer, death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq, as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. disrupt the itch and rash of eczema. talk to your eczema specialist about rinvoq. learn how abbvie can help you save.

new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. -hi, i'm smokey bear and i made an assistant to help you out.

because only you can prevent wildfires. -hey assistant smokey bear, call me papa bear because i'm "grrr-illing" up dinner. haha, do you get it? -yes. good job. -so, what should i do with all of these coals? -don't just toss them out. put them in a metal container because those embers can start a wildfire. -i understand, the stakes are high. assistant smokey vo: ha-ha, ha-ha. -see, smokey think's im funny! memorial day is always a day

where pain and pride are mixed together. we all know it sitting here. jill and i know it. today is the day our son died. still, it always feels to me on memorial day, i see it, not as he was the last time i held his hand, but the day i pinned his bars on him as a second lieutenant. i see him with me down at the memorial bridge hugging all the gold star families. days like this bring back before your eyes their smile and their laugh. the last conversation you had. each of you know it, the hurt can be overwhelming. but for so many of you, as is with jill and me, the hurt is wrapped around the knowledge that your loved one was part of

something bigger, bigger than any of us. they chose a life of purpose. >> president biden honoring america's fallen heros on memorial day at arlington national cemetery. the president, along with vice president harris, laid a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier before delivering those remarks. president biden focused his address on the importance of democracy and the bravery of those willing to give their lives to protect. >> today, as a nation, we undertake a sacred ritual, to reflect and remember. because if we forget, the lives that each of those silent markers represent, mothers, fathers, siblings, spouses, children, if we forget what they sacrificed, what they made, so that our nation might endure, strong, free, and united, then

we forget who we are. >> joe, i was at a service yesterday, memorial day service, in a very small down in new york. it's always moving to have the veterans group up there ticking through the names of the five or six kids, and they were kids from the local high school who died over the course of the vietnam war or afghanistan, world war ii veterans up there in their mid 90s with their hands over their heart. it is a day truly to stop and think about the sacrifice that, as we said many times over the years on this show, falls, these days, on less than 1% of our neighbors. >> it really does. and, you know, every time we send out a message on memorial day, you or myself or mika or any of us, we're flooded with stories coming back from so many people whose fathers, whose uncles, whose brothers, whose

sisters gave their all. it is -- there is an old saying on memorial day, we don't know them all, but we owe them all. and that is always -- that's always hit me. i will say, i was reading a "military times" article a couple months ago, talking about in memorial day last year, it was the first year for memorial day to memorial day in this post 9/11 world -- we'd been fighting wars in afghanistan and iraq for 20 years. it was the first year there were no combat-related deaths. that was in, of course, may of 2021. then, of course, we have the tragedy in afghanistan where 13 marines were killed. it's just a reminder that the sacrifices are always there, whether we're in active wars or not. there are troops right now in

syria that are standing side by side with our allies, that are doing things that we don't even know about, whether it's in syria or across the world. defending the freedom of this country and helping our allies, as well. and so many give the ultimate sacrifice there. again, we don't know them all, but we certainly owe them all. whether, like you said, it is world war i or ii or the korean war, that forgotten war, or vietnam, iraq, afghanistan, or a hundred different points all across the globe right now. >> no question about it. for the families of those fallen, it's not just memorial day, it is a daily grieving they go through for their son or their daughter who gave their life for this country. we'll talk much more about this coming up. also, we'll go back live to uvalde, texas, one week now after the shooting. the mayor of that small town is

calling on lawmakers to take action in the wake of this horrifying tragedy. also, new york city mayor eric adams joins us at the table in new york for a conversation on gun safety reform. it is all straight ahead on "morning joe." you still get nightmares? all the time. what matters... is what we do now. ♪("i've been everywhere" by johnny cash) ♪ ♪i've traveled every road in this here land!♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere, man.♪ ♪of travel i've had my share, man.♪ ♪i've been everywhere.♪ ♪♪

new poligrip power hold and seal. clinically proven to give strongest hold, plus seals out 5x more food particles. fear no food. new poligrip power hold and seal. okay season 6! aw... this'll take forev—or not. do i just focus on when things don't work, and not appreciate when they do? i love it when work actually works! i just booked this parking spot... this desk... and this conference room! i am filing status reports on an app that i made! i'm not even a coder! and it works!... i like your bag! when your digital solutions work, the world works. that's why the world works with servicenow. wow! it's been 38 years since we were here. back then we could barely afford a hostel. i'm glad we invested for the long term with vanguard. and now, we're back here again... no jobs, no kids, just us.

and our advisor is preparing us for what lies ahead. only at vanguard, you're more than just an investor you're an owner. giving you confidence throughout today's longer retirement. that's the value of ownership. ♪ ♪ i came, i saw, i conquered. (all): hail, caesar! pssst caesar! julius! dude, you should really check in with your team on ringcentral. i was thinking like... oh hi, caesar. we were just talking about you. ha ha ha. yeah, you should probably get out of here. not good. ♪ ♪ ♪ ringcentral ♪

right now, there is 28 million people in texas. you know how many mental health beds are available a day in no more than 1,000. that's sad. i'm not -- look, guns play a role in this, too. i'm not downplaying that either, and i don't want to get into a second amendment or guns deal, but it took a person to pull the trigger of that gun. so we need to address both issues. we need both pariies to come together and say, look, let's sit at the table and come up with common sense rules. get rid of this my way or the highway attitude or both sides, republican and democrat. because that's not what we

elected you for. we elected you to go up there, sit down at a table, and work together and come up with common sense rules. >> that is the mayor of uvalde speaking yesterday to a local cbs station. today marks one week since 19 children and their 2 teachers were killed inside a classroom in the small texas town. now comes the painful process of laying the victims to rest. as the debate over gun reform picks up again, the mayor of new york city, eric adams, will be our guest in a moment to discuss the legislation he'd like to see to address the crisis of gun violence in new york and across the country. along with joe and me, we have jonathan lemire and elise jordan. the shooting in texas reignited the debate over potential gun legislation. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell has the latest on that. first, from uvalde, funerals for the victims are under way. morgan chesky has that part of the story. >> we are still working on this

active investigation. >> reporter: in uvalde, fallout for the police chief, arradondo, who made the call not to take down the shooter. he was just elected to uvalde city council but won't be sworn in as planned. he's not issued any comment since the shooting, when officers waited inside robb elementary for 47 minutes before killing the gunman. >> this is a law enforcement failure at every level. >> reporter: state senator roland gutierrez says there are still gaps he wants answers to. have you had a chance to listen to some of the 911 calls made from inside the school? >> i've seen the transcripts. i've not listened to them. i did see some of the footage of the first seven officers in the school. >> reporter: what'd you see? >> ashamed to say it, but they pulled back. >> reporter: at the request of the uvalde's mayor, the department of justice is

reviewing the shooting response to identify lessons learned and best practices, to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events. at the elementary school turned crime scene, a massive memorial. >> devastating to understand what they went through, what they saw, what they heard, you know,? it's tough. >> reporter: the school's future uncertain. during president biden's visit sunday, officials say they discussed federal grants to raise and then rebuild a brand-new school. >> what happened in uvalde was a horrific act of evil, and as texans, we must come together and lift up uvalde and support them in every way that we possibly can. >> reporter: the start of a painful week of funerals. hundreds arriving to remember little 10-year-old amerie jo garza. the fourth grader in the fateful moments called 911. her services, the first of 21. each life, each loss drawing this quiet community even

closer. >> it's our hometown. we have to come and show our respects. >> reporter: a different loss, often caused by weapons made for war, tears at deep divisions. what can or should government do when gun violence brings such trauma to schools and stores? president biden said the toll of gun deaths may finally bring change. >> it's gotten to bad, that everybody is getting more rational about it. >> reporter: mr. biden stressed he will use his influence but only congress can pass real reform. >> i can't outlaw a weapon. i can't, you know, change the background checks. i can't do that. >> reporter: under pressure to act quickly, a bipartisan group of senators is weighing a range of proposals, mindful of getting the votes. among them, expanded back ground checks, red flag rules to bar weapons from those deemed a danger, safe gun storage

requirements, more school safety resources, raising the gun buying age to 21. republican lindsey graham. >> we need a system to keep guns out of the hands of people who are mentally unstable, with due process. you just can't take somebody's gun. >> reporter: however, some republicans say those reforms would be unfair and ineffective. >> one, they infringe on the rights of millions and millions of gun owners. two, they probably wouldn't have the outcome you're hoping for. >> reporter: democrats hopeful for now. >> i may end up being heartbroken. i am at the table in a more significant way right now with republicans and democrats than ever before. >> kelly o'donnell reporting for us there. joining us here in new york is new york city mayor eric adams. he is co-chair of mayors against illegal guns, a non-partisan coalition of more than 1,000 mayors. it works within every town for gun safety. mayors are asking the senate to take action on gun reform in the wake of the mass shootings in

uvalde and buffalo. mayor, thanks for being with us. great to see you. as we're talking about the funerals this week of 10- 11-year-olds, you've had to deal with it as a mayor yourself. we had an 11-year-old girl shot and killed in the bronx last week. what do you propose first for your city, then we the talk about the country, stopping gun violence. >> that's important. at the top of the show, the mayor, i'll call him today, it is a mayor's battle. mayors are impacted. here in new york, we saw last week two guns outside a school, inside a school. young man had two loaded guns in his backpack. we also saw another child the next day that had a loaded gun in his backpack. he was 13. so we want to focus on several

different ways. number one, my neighborhood safety team, we took 2,900 guns off the streets since i was the mayor. that's unimaginable. in addition to that, we are making sure that we continue to have the drills with our school safety officers inside our schools. school safety agents inside our schools will be prepared. we are. the goal is to go after the goals but also stop the pipeline that are feeding children to carry guns. >> we've been focused on the ar-15, other semiautomatic rifles because of the horrific damage they can do so quickly, as evidenced a week ago in uvalde, texas. the overwhelming majority of gun violence takes place with handguns in this country, particularly in new york city. how do you stop that? >> you hit it right on the head. we've ignored the real crisis. the crises in america is the handgun. that's what chicago is experiencing. san francisco, atlanta, new

york. there's several, i like to say, rivers that feed this crisis. number one, we have to deal with the ghost gun issue. right now, laws have not caught up to the creativity of bad guys. ghost guns are disassembled, we need to treat them as real guns. we need to look at the shipment of the parts. that is very important to do so. second, we have to really look at the ruling about to come out of the supreme court. open carry is a crisis. can you imagine being on the train with someone openly carrying a firearm? then we need to have the coordination between our atf. right now, we only have 2,400 atf agents in our entire country. about 60 of them are here in new york. we have to double that size. we have to get a leader there so we can do information sharing like we do every day in new york, to talk about the dangers people are carrying guns and focus on gangs. that's how we're taking the guns off the street. that's why we have 30% decrease

in shootings in the city during the month of april. we're looking at the same pathway in the month of may. we have precision policing on the dangerous people carrying and using guns. we have to keep them off the streets. that's the work. >> joe is here with a question for you. >> mr. mayor, thank you for coming and talking today. we have, of course, a national crisis. we have, right now, democrats trying to get republicans to agree on an issue 85% of americans support, universal background checks. what i'd love for you to explain to everybody across america that's watching right now is how this is a national problem. it is not a state problem. you can pass all the laws you want, the gun safety laws you want in new york city, but talk about the stream of illegal weapons that are bought in other states that have more lax laws regarding gun safety, have more lax laws regarding background

checks, and how those guns get into new york city. those guns get into chicago. this is a national problem that needs to be addressed by an expa expansive, universal background checking system. >> you're right, this is not a local problem. it is not in new york. it is not a atlanta, chicago problem. this is a national crises, and we have not been attacking this as a national crisis. new york city, we have strong gun laws that we may lose through the supreme court. but we have strong gun laws. when you allow guns to be purchased in georgia, atlanta, and other localities, then they're brought into the inner city through the iron pipeline, that's some real problem. look what they did in atlanta. in atlanta, they basically dismantled all the rules around background checks and identification. that's an issue we must face. but background check must go

further than just look at someone's id. we need the social media industry to be part of this, using artificial intelligence to identify those who are using dangerous terms so we can conduct a proper background check, not only what's on paper and documented but what they're doing in social media. >> mr. mayor, also, i want to talk about something you've seen far too much of. that is young people dying, children dying. at the top of the show, we told our viewers this statistic. if you add up all the numbers of police officers who were killed in the line of duty last year, add up all of the troops, u.s. troops that were killed in combat. if you add up the number of black americans who were killed by police officers, add up the number of all americans that

were killed by police officers, and put all these numbers together. that still would not equal the number of children who were killed by guns last year. now, we talk about, obviously, and we should talk about all of these issues. but for some reason, a 2-year-old dies in the bronx, and that's a local story but it doesn't catch the attention of everybody. or in chicago, so many people die every weekend in chicago. it reminds me of what you were talking about during the campaign. you said, you know, we focus on the ar-15 deaths because they're so horrific. you said, but you all don't understand, this is a battle we have to fight day in and day out because of the proliferation of guns in new york city and all across america. talk about that tragedy. >> it's clear, the number one killer of young people are the guns.

it's clear. and we have basically normalized young people dying from gun violence, and it is unfortunate that many of the killings are taking place in poor black and brown communities. we have not considered this the crises that it is. it's ironic that some who advocate to stop killings in other areas have totally ignored the largest number of killings from guns. that is why i refuse to go with what is politically expedient or politically popular. we need to be honest about this issue, and we need to have a concerted effort to really stem this tide. we have not acknowledged this issue. to his credit, president biden is really the first president that has really turned this into a national narrative, not when the mass shootings take place, but throughout the entire year. he's talking about chicago and

new york and atlanta. we were not hearing that coming out of the white house in previous presidents throughout the year. >> mayor adams, you mentioned the need for more atf agents. there is not an atf director currently. president biden's nominee has yet to be confirmed by the senate. beyond, of course, being play your, you served in the police for a long time. you know how difficult these moments are when an active shooter is present. tell us, there's been so many questions raised about the response of the law enforcement in the small town of texas. what is your assessment of what they should have done differently? >> even the public safety head in texas indicated that there were real mistakes there. that is not going to happen in new york. we go in with an active shooter. not only would the police go in with an active shooter, but the fdny, ems, they're trained to go in with an active shooter. this was traded more like a

barricaded armed person or hostage negotiation scenario instead of an active shooter. here in new york city, well trained, deep intelligence. the goal is to go in and stop that immediate threat right away. >> mr. mayor, one of the goals of mayors against illegal guns is taking on the gun lobby, to some extent, and gun manufacturers, and making sure that there is some repercussion for these guns that they have, you know -- the lobby has been pretty much unscathed from liability. how is your coalition taking on that problem? >> well, we were armed with a new weapon, and that is the senator's bill that seemed to have indicated that we can sue gun manufacturers and others who improperly are using tactics to

sell and overproliferate our cities with guns. it is an important tool, and we want to continue to lean into that. our goal is to do lobbying on several areas. let's go to our federal lawmakers, but let's also mobilize the families and cities that are being impacted by this. because the mayors are seeing this every day. we know this is a fight that we must lead. we are at the tip of the spear because these guns are impacting our cities and communities. when i spoke with the mayor of san francisco, chicago, atlanta, we're all having the same problem with these guns. they're just saturating our cities. >> this is a big problem you're working on, and it is one of the main reasons you were elected mayor. if you look at the polling after the fact, the biggest issue for people is public safety, crime. i want to feel better walking through my city and riding the subway. there have been high-profile incidents on the subway. the shooting death of a man going to brunch a couple weeks

ago, stabbings, all the things we associate with the 1980s in new york city. how do you make the subway system in this city safer? >> exactly what we are doing. we were criticized for going in and removing the encampments, removing the homelessness, the feeling of disorder, but we knew it was the right thing to do. first week, only 22 people took us up on our offers to leave and live in a decent environment. now, we're up to over close to 1,000 people that took us up on that. also, police officers there, omnipresence is the key. we're going to continue to evolve, to get more and more officers out of desk duties and into the subway system to deal with the feeling of disorder. then zero in on those who are impacting our quality of life. we stop going after people who jump the turnstiles. wrong thing to do. we caught a person that was carrying a loaded firearm when he jumped the turnstile.

when you don't pay your fare, often you're carrying out illegal action. we're zeroing in on quality of life and we'll see the results of that. >> one of the headwinds you face, we were talking about this in the commercial break as you sat down, there are so many people who commit those crimes, when they're arrested, we'll hear, he has a rapt sheet of 20, 30 arrests, 40 arrests. beat somebody up on the subway, innocent victim. what do you do about that problem, when you have a revolving door of criminals. >> it's on several levels. level one, our criminal justice system is bottlenecked. it's time to give back the court courts in operation so we can get dangerous people off the street. when you're arrested monday with a dangerous gun and you're back out on tuesday, it defeats the purpose. during the '80s, everyone was playing on the same team. we had lawmakers, judges, and police all playing on the same team. we don't appear to be there

right now. we need to get back playing on the same team, protecting innocent people in the city, in this country, and that is our focus. we're going to do our job, as i stated. 2,900 hundreds off the street. safety team has been successful. we've seen a 30% decrease in shootings. we're doing our job. now, we have to keep the bad guys off the street. >> frustrating to arrest the same person two, three, four, five times, joe. >> so frustrating. and it's frustrating also for politicians who -- and elected officials who want to get things done. they have others who are dragging their feet and not letting them pass the sort of reforms that will keep the streets safe, that will keep the subways safe. mr. mayor, let me ask you about military style weapons. as a former cop, as a guy who has been in law enforcement most of your life, obviously, again,

the numbers are driven, that shooting deaths are driven mainly by handguns, as you said. at the same time, we have situations, whether it's in parkland or whether it's in uvalde or whether it is in buffalo, where a good man with a gun or good woman with a gun is not enough to stop an 18-year-old kid that's carrying a weapon that was designed specifically for war. talk about your attitude, talk about law enforcement officers' attitude toward ar-15s and these weapons that were designed for war. i know that with a 50/50 senate, there's not going to be any further restrictions on the purchasing of those weapons for a while, most likely. but talk about law enforcement officers. what sort of disadvantage do they put you in? >> it is an extreme disadvantage. there's several of us, joe, that

you mentioned that we need to look at. the bullets will cause a different level of bleeding and first aid that's needed. we have to have an extensive stop the bleed training for those bullets. in the scenarios, these guys are wearing tactical bulletproof vests. the officer coming with a 9 millimeter, as we saw in buffalo, i was at the funeral over the weekend in buffalo, he was struck and able to continue because he is wearing high capacity, bulletproof vests. the officers outside the s.w.a.t. or high-level teams, we're carrying 9-millimeters on patrol. it is a different fight. the bad guys were overpowering

the police. now, we're at the scenario again. you're seeing the vests and training. the third scenario, you're seeing online where there are individuals who are tutoring and training people how to carry out these actions. so the onslaught of just information, equipment, high-capacity bullets and r ak-47s, you can now buy through ghost guns and make them at home, buy them easily through our stores. america is up against a battle, and congress must stop thinking that we're not up against a crises. i take my hat off to the senators that are going to be talking later today, to say it is time to come together and resolve the national crisis. >> you'll continue to push for action because you see the impact in your city. new york city mayor eric adams, the co-chair of mayors against illegal guns. thank you for being here today. >> thank you. still ahead this morning on

"morning joe," we'll have a live report from uvalde, where over the next 2 1/2 weeks, the community will gather to say good-bye to the 19 children and 2 teachers killed in last week's attack. plus, new reporting on the uvalde school police chief who made the call for officers not to rush in immediately to take down the gunman. we'll explain why he will not take his place on the city council tonight as had been planned. also this morning, a look at one ukrainian village recently freed from russian control. what the people there are saying about the ongoing war and the cost of liberation. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. (♪ ♪) (♪ ♪)

[♪♪] if you have diabetes, it's important to have confidence in the nutritional drink you choose. try boost glucose control®. it's clinically shown to help manage blood sugar levels and contains high quality protein to help manage hunger and support muscle health. try boost® today. (♪ ♪) (♪ ♪)

7:24 in the morning on the east coast. russian forces are advaning

further into ukraine's eastern donbas region. richard engel spoke with the area's residents, including children still struggling to survive. >> reporter: russian troops are reinforcing their positions to drive deeper into the donbas in eastern ukraine. the russians are only about a mile from the village and closing in. they've destroyed the train station and cut the power and running water. this child, 11 years old, used to go to the classes in the main school until the russians bombed it about a week ago. what do your parents tell you about why this is happening? [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: his favorite subject was health and fitness. he knows something about it. he suffers from anemia, but there is no medicine for him now. without his pills, he sometimes feels weak and nauseous.

it's a hard lesson. i'm sorry you had to learn it at 11 years old. was that your stomach? [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: the hospital has become a shelter for 39 people. all their homes were destroyed. when i'm down here, i can't help but think, what did these people do? these are elderly people. they weren't bothering anybody. now, they're under attack, and they have to live like this in the darkness under the hospital. the hospital which can't provide them medical care. they can only provide a little shelter. for what? for a land grab that's costing ukraine and russia dearly, but which is personal for president putin, who has said repeatedly ukraine should not exist. >> richard engel reporting from the ground in ukraine. elsewhere, ukrainian forces are pushing back against russian troops along other battlegrounds, but the progress does not come, of course,

without a cost. nbc news foreign correspondent matt bradley has the latest from one recently liberated village in ukraine. >> reporter: in this village in northeastern ukraine, russia's war still hangs in the air. and litters the ground. but this destruction marks a dramatic shift in the fighting. in this part of the country, ukrainian troops haven't just held off the russians, they've pushed them back. launching a successful counterattack that reportedly forced russian soldiers back across the border. year, ukrainian territorial defense forces restore a border post with russia. we made it, mr. president, he said. we're here. but for those who live in this village, victory has left enduring tragedy. so the russians were living next door to you. they were occupying the house next to you?

>> translator: it was like a bis base for them. they were sitting by the windows, observing, taking photos. that's why my house was attacked. >> reporter: like many in this village, she spent two months living in an underground cellar, avoiding constant bombardment. when she emerged, her home was too damaged to return. were you surprised the russians did this? >> translator: they were brothers and sisters before. we fought in the second world war together. i don't know why they came. i worked all my life for that house. all my family lived there. my kids, my grandkids. now, i don't know what to do. >> reporter: the russians occupied this village outside kharkiv for weeks. for ukraine, the cost of liberation was destruction. for weeks, russian soldiers lived in the home of christina's father. the family had already fled. have you seen any evidence of the russian occupiers inside the

house? >> translator: yes, they looted. they destroyed everything. look inside. there's nothing. >> reporter: there's still a russian corpse rotting in the home next door. they destroyed your house, but then it was the ukrainians who bombed it. is that correct? >> translator: yes. when the ukrainians were trying to liberate this area, they also bombed my house. here were a lot of russian military vehicles, which is why the ukrainians shelled this area. the russians left their vehicles, tanks, near the houses they were hiding in. >> reporter: most of this destruction was caused by ukrainian counterattacks doesn't seem to bother christina or her grandmother. for a lot here, the loss of their homes was a price worth paying. >> translator: we didn't ask them to come. we didn't want them here. >> matt bradley reporting from ukraine. a french journalist has been killed in the crossfire in the war in ukraine.

he was traveling with volunteers in the donbas region, evacuating a village under russian attack. he was covering the evacuation for broadcaster bfm-tv when he was hit by shrapnel from a russian shell that killed him. president emmanuel paid tribute. i share the pain of the family, relatives, and colleagues of frederick leclerc-imhoff, to whom i send my condolences. to those in theaters of operations, i want to reiterate france's unconditional support. coming up, continuing coverage from uvalde, texas, as the town now begins the painful process of saying good-bye to the 19 children and their two teachers who were killed one week ago today. plus, president biden says fighting inflation is a top domestic priority. we will talk about his new plan to address it with a leading white house adviser. and we will tell you about the new action from the january

6th select committee. lawmakers now targeting a former trump aide who has talked openly about plans to overturn the 2020 election. ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card. ♪ ♪ bonnie boon i'm calling you out. everybody be cool, alright? we've got bonnie right here on a video call. we don't take kindly to video calls. oh, in that case just tap to send a message. we don't take kindly to messages neither. in that case how 'bout a ringcentral phone call. we don't take kindly to no...

would you can it eugene! let's just hear her out. ha ha ha, i've been needing a new horse. we've got ourselves a deal. ♪ ♪ ♪ ringcentral ♪ this is not the stallion i was imagining. okay season 6! aw... this'll take forev—or not. do i just focus on when things don't work, and not appreciate when they do? i love it when work actually works! i just booked this parking spot... this desk... and this conference room! i am filing status reports on an app that i made! i'm not even a coder! and it works!... i like your bag! when your digital solutions work, the world works. that's why the world works with servicenow.

only at vanguard, you're more than just an investor you're an owner. that means that your goals are ours too. and vanguard retirement tools and advice can help you get there. that's the value of ownership.

7:35 at the white house on a tuesday morning. president biden plans to discuss high inflation at a meeting later today with federal reserve chairman jerome powell. it comes at a time when prices are rising quickly on everything from gasoline and food to housing. this is the first time the two are meeting since powell was confirmed to another four-year term as chairman of the central bank. the fed has faced some criticism for being slow to address inflation, which president biden has tapped as his top economic priority. meanwhile, the president outlined a three-part plan to tackle inflation in a new piece this morning for the "wall street journal."

he writes, quote, americans are anxious. i know that feeling. i grew up in a family where it mattered when the price of gas or groceries rose. my plan has three parts. first, the federal reserve has a primary responsibility to control inflation. i have appointed highly qualified people from both parties to lead that institution. second, we need to take every practical step to make thing more affordable for families during this moment of economic uncertainty. the price at the pump is elevated in large part because russian oil gas and refining capacity are off the market. we can't let up on our global effort to punish will putin for what he's done. third, we need to keep reducing the federal deficit which will ease price pressures. i welcome debate on my plan to tackle inflation. i'll work with anyone, democrat, republican, independent, willing to have an open and honest discussion that delivers real solutions for the american people. joining us now, director of the white house national economic council, brian deese. good to have you with us.

i suspect you had a hand in the writing of this in the "wall street journal," or at least informed the president a bit. what is president biden going to say when he sits down with chairman powell today, and do you, and does the president believe the fed acted too slowly on this problem? >> well, when the president sits down with chair powell, what he will reiterate is his commitment to giving the fed the space and the independence it needs to do its job to tackle inflation. that may sound basic, but it has not always been the case. we've not had presidents in the past that have been clear about respecting the independence of the federal reserve. the president wants to do that clearly today and make clear that the fed has the tools that it needs to address inflation, while also sustaining our economic recovery. i think that is an important part of the president's message in the piece he published today, which is that we are in this transition from what has been a historic economic recovery, historic in the jobs created,

historic in the wealth created for american families. now, we need to transition to more stable and resilient growth. that's what they'll be talking about. >> brian, good morning. jonathan lemire. to pick up on your point, if the federal reserve is independent and if they're largely the ones in charge of this, what is the point of this meeting today, beyond a photo-op, and what measures are you guys, can the president actually take to combat what is a spiraling crisis? >> yeah, it's a great question. it is standard practice for presidents and chairs of the federal reserve to meet from time to time so the chair can share his or her views on the economic outlook. that will happen today. the reason to do it is to underscore that this president is committed to respecting the independence of that institution. but that's not the only issue. as you outlined, there are two other important parts of what the president is focused on. the first is bringing down costs for families.

there's a variety of things that we can do and are doing on that front. lowering the cost of internet bills for american families. making it cheaper and easier to move goods from ships to trucks to railways, so that people can get the things they want cheaper. we're working on all of those pieces. then there's important pieces we need congress' help on, as well. for example, lowering the cost of prescription drugs. all of those things are our focus. some of them we need congress. some we can do on our own. they're all focused on one central idea, which is how can we make things more affordable for families during this transition period? then, of course, as willie mentioned, lowering the federal deficit. this is a place where we made notable progress, more than $1.5 trillion reduction in the deficit this year alone. we want to keep making process on that front. a set of proposals to do that. there is broad support among the democratic caucus to do that to tackle tax reform, so we home to

make progress there, as well. >> i'd like to talk to you about tax reform. in the op-ed, president biden mentions he will be taken o common sense tax code reforms. specifically, it is outrageous in the unfairness in the tax code that allows a billionaire to pay lower rates than a teacher or firefighter. what specifically is going to be doing so a billionaire does not pay a lower rate than a teacher or firefighter? >> first, we can move on the president's proposal of a billionaire minimum tax, which would mean that if you have more than $1 billion in wealth, then on an annual basis, it would make sure that you pay at least 20% of your overall income in taxes. that would put a billionaire in a position where they're paying about the same rate as a teacher or firefighter but would be a dramatic change from today, where the typical billionaire pays only 8% of his income. and do the same on the corporate tax side, as well.

we have proposed and the house has passed a 15% minimum tax on corporations so that they pay a minimum and we make sure we don't have the situation where you have 50 companies that made $40 billion in profit and paid zero dollars in taxes. those approaches, billionaire minimum tax, corporate minimum tax, are the common sense approaches the president is talking about. like i said, it's got a lot of support congressionally. we're hopeful we can move that forward over the course of the next several weeks. >> brian, looking at the proposals in the op-ed, the three points, while laudable in many ways, are long-term thinking. ending the war in russia. bringing down the deficit. even fed action would be delayed some time. for people who are paying $5, $5.50 a gallon and making difficult decisions in homes about what to do and what not to do, and truck driver saying the price of diesel, it's not worth taking this haul, what are you

saying to people in short-term for inflation? >> as the president said and as we will reiterate, we get it. we get the prices are hitting right now and people are looking for some relief, which is why we're using every tool we have to provide relief in the immediate term, even as we work on some of these incredibly important medium-term issues. so i'll give a concrete example. the president used his executive authority to lower the cost of internet bills for 50 million families. that doesn't solve every pocketbook problem that families have, but it does mean people can get lower costs and, in some cases, free internet. take one of the monthly bills off of the table. there are other steps we can take right in the immediate term to try to get goods moving more quickly. anywhere where we can take immediate steps, we're going to do so. i also wouldn't undervalue the medium term. housing prices, rent prices in the united states, if we start building more supply of affordable housing today, we are going to have an impact on the market and we'll solve this problem earlier than we would otherwise.

we have to focus both on the medium term and immediate term. >> it's the grocery store and gas station now where everyone is feeling it. director of the economic council, brian deese. thank you for being with us. still ahead on "morning joe," we'll go live to uvalde, texas, ahead of another emotional day of funeral processions for the victims of last week's school shooting. and while investigators probe the initial response to the attack by law enforcement, one of our next guests says when it comes to putting on a police uniform, quote, to do the right thing, you might have to die. end quote. david french joins us to explain. "morning joe" is coming right back. it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala reduces asthma attacks it's a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occured. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions,

back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala.

xfinity mobile runs on america's most reliable back p5g network,tigue. but for up to half the price of verizon so you have more money for more stuff. this phone? fewer groceries. this phone? more groceries! this phone? fewer concert tickets. this phone? more concert tickets. and not just for my shows. switch to xfinity mobile for half the price of verizon. new and existing customers get amazing value

with our everyday pricing. switch today. this? this is supersonic wifi from xfinity. it's fast. like, ready-for- major-gig-speeds fast. like riding-a-cheetah fast. isn't that right, girl? whoa! it can connect hundreds of devices at once. [ in unison ] that's powerful. couldn't have said it better myself. and with three times the bandwidth, the gaming never has to end. slaying is our business. and business is good. unbeatable internet from xfinity. made to do anything so you can do anything. former adviser to president trump in the white house, peter navarro says he's been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury about january 6th at the capitol. now, he's trying to hit back with his own lawsuit. according to "politico," navarro claims the subpoena related to

his refusal to testify about january 6th. prosecutors are seeking, quote, any communications he had with former president trump. navarro, who is not represented by a lawyer, said he intends to file his proposed lawsuit and is seeking to convince a federal judge to block the house committee and the grand jury subpoenas, which he says are unlawful. jonathan lemire, you've written a book, "the big lie," which ties into this, coming out july 26th, i might add. peter navarro is the guy who openly on tv was talking about the green bay sweep again and again. the plan he helped to implement, where they'd steal the election. he said the only reason it didn't work is vice president pence didn't take the ball over the goal line in the end. >> first of all, thanks for the plug. second of all, bold choice to act as your own attorney, peter navarro. >> special when you're him. >> yeah. he is at the center of the scheme, to come up with alternate electors, to work with

lawmakers, some in the house, some in the senate, to object to then president elect biden's certification of his victory. he has openly spoken about this. there is almost no need to subpoena him. watch his appearance with ari melber when he talked about it. former president trump flat out tweeted in recent months and said on the rally stage, if mike pence had done what we wanted him to, i'd still be president. we know the january 6th hearings are coming. peter navarro, his role is in this well-established. but what impact do we think we'll see? hearings are two weeks away or so. at least a couple scheduled for prime time. do you have a sense this could move the needle politically, as trump is trying to step back onto the political stage? or at this point, has everyone made up their mind as january 6th. i'm not endorsing this, but will it just not matter much? >> well, i do think it is already baked in among a certain group of republicans, but also, there are republicans who just don't want to talk about it

anymore. and so january 6th, by having the testimony, by having these hearings, it will be in the forefront of the political discussion. i think that being forced to reckon with what happened that day is very important for the country, just in terms of terms how the integrity of our free and fair elections was challenged. i do think a lot will depend on the stage craft of the democrats running the hearings. is it going to be flashy, are they going to have moments that are designed for maximum shock value, those are things that could really capture the news cycle and perhaps get the minds of the american public, too. >> that's coming up in a couple of weeks. adam kinzinger was on the show last week saying we will tell the story and lay it out clearly for the people. police are investigating an incident in paris sunday where a man threw a piece of cake at

leonardo da vinci's mona lisa. he was disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair, was allowed to get close to the painting because of that. man shouted think of the earth while being escorted away by authorities. it hit the glass barrier and didn't damage the masterpiece. the suspect was arrested and has been taken for psychiatric evaluation. "top gun: maverick" is the biggest memorial day weekend movie ever. the sequel which sees tom cruise in the cockpit after 36 years made $156 million in the first four days release. the previous record was held by "pirates of the caribbean at world's end" which end 153. the reason, it is so good. >> looks like tom cruise hasn't aged a day in 36 years since the first movie. give us your review.

>> i saw it several weeks ago, i interviewed jon hamm for sunday today, let me go to a screening room to watch it. i wayne there alone. as a kid in middle school when it came out, nostalgia kicked in, then it moves forward, it is better with sequences and technology and the mission is cool. that was one guy with nostalgia. over the weekend my son and his buddies saw it and loved it as much as i did. whether you're 47 or 12, you love this movie. that's why you get 156 million bucks. tom cruise keeps getting it done. >> last real movie star, him and denzel washington. it is different now. celebrity is different. actors moved to smaller screen tv, see them every day, they lose a little mystery. tom cruise is mysterious, also a guy can open a movie that's record setting, even with much of the country --

>> you don't see many limited release series on the television set. tom cruise is in that plane in the cockpit and doing his own. he learned to fly for this role. >> no streaming. he is like you have to see this in the theater. that's why they waited until covid was over. still head, we return to uvalde. many that are pro-gun rights don't want to politicize the tragedy. the circumstances that allow for mass murder of children inside their schools are inherently political. that conversation ahead on "morning joe." til.ca that conversation ahead on "morning joe."

if you've been living with heart disease, reducing cholesterol can be hard, even when you're taking a statin and being active. but you can do hard. you lived through the blizzard of ninety-six... twelve unappreciative bosses... seventeen fad diets... five kids, three grandkids... one heart attack... and eighteen passwords that seem to change daily. and with leqvio, you can lower your cholesterol, too. when taken with a statin, leqvio is proven to lower bad cholesterol by over 50% and keep it there with two doses a year.

common side effects of leqvio were injection site reaction, joint pain, urinary tract infection, diarrhea, chest cold, pain in legs or arms, and shortness of breath. with leqvio, lowering cholesterol becomes just one more thing life throws your way. ask your doctor if leqvio is right for you. lower. longer. leqvio. [ marcia ] my dental health was not good. i had periodontal disease, and i just didn't feel well. but then i found clearchoice. [ forde ] replacing marcia's teeth with dental implants at clearchoice was going to afford her that permanent solution. [ marcia ] clearchoice dental implants gave me the ability to take on the world. i feel so much better, and i think that that is the key.

from prom dresses the a to workoutske on the world. and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. ["only wanna be with you" by hootie & the blowfish] discover is accepted at 99% of places in the u.s. ["only wanna be with you" by hootie & the blowfish]

i don't think anybody's plans are to tear the building down and it needs to be torn down. i would never expect a child to have to walk in those doors ever again. the building needs to be gone, taken away and gone.

>> that's the mayor of uvalde, texas on what might be next for the building where 19 children and two teachers were gunned down, likely to be razed as sandy hook was. jonathan lemire, elise jordan are still with us. today is one week since the deadly school shooting in uvalde and funeral services have begun. on a hot memorial day, flags flew at half staff not only for fallen soldiers but for ten years girls. funerals for the victims are expected to stretch until june 16th. the uvalde school police chief who recently was elected to city council will not be sworn in tonight as previously planned. pete aradondo was the commander on scene when police waited over an hour to enter the classroom.

that prompted some to ask for his removal. in a statement, the mayor writes because the town is focused on grieving families, the swearing in ceremony will be delayed. he said he was duly elected to the city council, there's nothing in the city charter, election code, or texas constitution that prohibits him taking the oath of office. nbc news reached out for comment. got no response. the justice department will review the law enforcement response to the shooting in uvalde. it comes at the request of the city's mayor after authorities admitted a string of failures in response to the attack last week. a justice department spokesman writes the goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement aktsds and responses that day and to identify lessons learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events. joining us from uvalde, nbc news

correspondent liz mclaughlin. what's the latest there? >> reporter: it has been hugs and tears here, willie. it is really just a tough time. hearts are aching in this community. over the last week it has been a lot of confusion and shock for the community, for victims' families. now reality is setting in. i spoke to spiritual care volunteers, mental health providers who say there's just a lot of trauma, a lot of mourning happening. this will be an especially tough time. yesterday it was supposed to be a joyous day for the community, start of summer break here, and instead families going to visitations for two children, one of which called the police, was one of the children that made a 911 call. the funerals start today. 21 victims, 22 if you include joe garcia, who died from a heart attack a couple days after

her shooting death. folks that know the couple say it was heartbreak that killed him. they leave behind four children if you can imagine that. four children with no parents right now who will be going to a funeral. right now, the focus is on unity and love and trying to move forward. we just learned it is likely robb elementary will be torn down, it will be impossible mentally, spiritually for people to have to walk through the door again. there are talks from a state senator to get federal funding to help make that happen and rebuild. >> liz mclaughlin reporting from uvalde. thanks so much. a bipartisan group of senators led by chris mu fee of connecticut and john cornyn will have a remote meeting in hopes of reaching a basic framework for gun reform. senator cornyn said many gun issues should be discussed at the state level, but did say

background checks, mental health, and red flag laws are things congress can address. after spending four hours with uvalde familiar hes sunday, the president returned to the white house yesterday, expressing optimism that rational republicans will make a move this time. he decried easy access to high caliber weapons and discussing his own limitations to take action on this issue. >> there's a constitution. i can't dictate this stuff. i can do the things i've done and executive action i can take i continue to take, but i can't outlaw a weapon, i can't change the background checks, i can't do that. >> john, the sin i can says congress didn't do anything after sandy hook, why now. is there anything different we haven't expected in the past? >> the president is right, there's a limit to what he can do on his own. there are further executive orders on ghost guns that is a

priority, but his power is relatively limited. it has to go through congress. if meaningful gun reform didn't happen after sandy hook, it never will. there seems to be energy. senator murphy, everlasting -- a key meeting is held today by senators and democrats to talk if there are small things can be done around background checks, red flags. we should keep expectations in check, maybe nothing at all. we know there are staunch opponents. there's an open question to something the president said earlier this weekend, he said there were rational republicans that he can deal with, including senate minority leader mcconnell. he has been a fierce obstacle and had been significant beneficiary of nra. >> the incoming dean at columbia

school of journalism and senior editor at the dispatch, david french, columnist for the atlantic. good morning to you both. want to read from your respective pieces. the atrocity of american gun culture. you write in a single ten day stretch, 44 people were murdered in mass shootings throughout the country. a carnival of violence that confirmed among other things the political coward is of a large portion of our elected leadership, the thin pretense of our moral credibility and the sham of public displays of sympathy to translate into no actual changes in laws, our culture or our murderous propensities. the circumstances that make mass murder of fourth graders possible are inherently political. some of this is on second amendment fundamentalists and

politicians who translate into law, the rest is on every one of us who has yet to find the courage to stop it. i will let you flush that out and add context apology we saw again that showings nine out of ten americans want universal background checks, two-thirds of americans and politico say outlaw semi automatic assault rifles that are used in mass shootings. when people say it shouldn't be political, you say what? >> i mean, it is inherently political. there's no way around it. we're look at the culmination of political decisions. the reason the shooter here, shooter in charleston and buffalo, too many shooters to list, the reason they've been able to gain access to high powered weapons is as a result of possible policy.

when you say they commit political acts and the response you heard from senator ted cruz, you heard from the mayor of uvalde, from other people on the podium in the first press conference telling people not to politicize what was happening was an astounding statement of just moral coward he is. >> how do you break through that. you have a total disconnect between what appears the american people want done around the issue of guns and what leaders in washington are willing to do. how do you change the dynamic? >> i don't know how we change the dynamic. that's one of the frustrating things. we have a democracy which we're supposed to see the will of the public translated into law, but that's been stymied by the influence of a small number of people, lobbyists and politicians that do their bidding and so on. i have to say one thing about background checks and other

kinds of small measures people are touting, we're now relieved of the possibility, the frail possibility of making small changes for gigantic problems. those things are just not going to save the next fourth grader in line of sight of an ar-15. >> david, your piece titled pass and enforce red flag laws now. when we talk about dmon gun control proposals after mass shootings, whether we refer to expanded background checks assault weapons bans or limits on magazine capacity, the general rule is none of those would have actually prevented any mass shooting. a well drafted red flag law should contain safeguards, burden of proof on the petitioner, hearing requirements and default expiration date unless there's a clear showing of continued need. red flag laws i amly indicate a core constitutional right.

poorly drafted laws are subject to abuse. david, you are a supporter of the second amendment, you served in the military, you understand guns, you understand gun safety very well. what is plausible, what is necessary. what do you see as something on the table, take red flag laws, for example, as getting done here. >> i want to say about red flag laws, orders that allow someone when they demonstrate harm to themselves or others allows the police to go in and take guns from the home, prohibit future gun purchases. the reason why i focus on these is sadly now we have 50 years of study of mass shootings. 50 years of study of these things. we know in most cases to quote from an institute of justice funded study, most cases shooters leak plans before

opening fire. when we talk about red flag laws, we talk laws that are specifically targeted to this phenomenon. if you look at the shooter in the uvalde shooting, this is someone that would have qualified for red flag treatment based on his record prior to the shooting, conduct prior to the shooting. we see it time and time again. it is designed to give law enforcement and school officials, employer and family tools to go in and ask a court to order the seizure of weapons. this is something that americans, this is a kind of system americans are used to. think about domestic violence restraining orders where you could bar a person from their own family upon showing they're a danger to their family. the other thing is that they have bipartisan support. this is one of the few measures you'll see with bipartisan support. marco rubio, rick scott introduced legislation recently as last year, mitt romney indicated openness to this, we

have seen republican governors sign legislation. this was implemented after the parkland shooting in florida. in florida, there are thousands of red flag orders enforced at this moment. it is a reform that can concretely move in and save lives. >> david, elise jordan. just to follow-up. you're a constitutional lawyer. what could biden do by executive order to make change in this country? >> almost nothing constitutionally. what you're talking about when you talk about gun control in this country, you're talking mainly a matter of state statute. if you're going in and you're going to implement any measure that has real national scope or national reach, it is going to have to happen through the law making process. that's why i think there's a need to focus on attainable reform that's targeted at the problem that we see. one of the huge holes we have in

the system now, you look at mass shootings, the vast majority of them obtain weapons legally. vast majority don't use assault style weapons, they use handguns. but the majority also broadcast their intentions. we saw it in parkland, we've seen it time and time again where the shooters engage in behavior and radiate men as and threat for a long time and people just don't have the legal tools needed to intervene in the same way they do when people say radiate men as or threat in a potential domestic abuse situation. >> good morning, it is jonathan lemire. no question in a moment like this actions mean more than words. we hear that from the victims' families, we hear that from civic groups, from so many americans. but words do matter to a point. what would you like to hear from

president biden who has in recent days played the role again of consoler in chief with trips to buffalo and texas. he showed some fire on the issue. he says change must be done. what do you want to hear from him, how do you want to hear him frame this issue, this american tragedy with guns? >> i think unfortunately we have, we could publish an anthology of eulogies delivered in these circumstances. one thing that made joe biden appeal to voters is the fact he broadcast a sense of empathy about his personality, how he operated as the political office holder. i think he has done a good job of framing this conversation, talking empathetically, making the demand, placing the moral onus on congress to do something. the problem is how much that translates into actual activity.

we haven't seen any of the eloquence of any of the presidents who addressed this issue translate into substantial change in the state of affairs we're dealing with. >> national conversation, not so much national action. david, you're writing about law enforcement response to the shooting, the criticism police are taking, how long it took to act. when a man or woman puts on a uniform and straps on a gun, whether a police officer or soldier, they should be making a profound declaration. they're willing to die to protect their community and nation. they don't want to die but are willing to pay are the la moment of devotion should that moment arrive. at 11:35 a.m., they had one choice, fight to the death to protect and save as many children as they could. they were to emerge from the school with their child or on it. but they waited and waited. two different girls called 911

begging for help, classmates were dead and dying around them. had the first seven officers pressed in even as one or more of them fell, we'd still mourn the children who died and be torn apart by debates over guns, we would -- i hope we can pause on monday and remember those who did not stand down. i am remembering the guidance we saw a few days ago from state of texas on school shootings, what it shows the priority of life, people inside the building and then yours and the line after that was if you're not prepared to do this, perhaps you should choose another career. >> yeah. the details are just stunning. at 11:35, according to dallas morning news timeline, there were seven officers, seven outside the classroom. two had been grazed by gunfire,

lightly wounded. seven. but the shooting didn't end for more than an hour, incident didn't end more than an hour after that. it is staggering to contemplate. during that time at least two different girls made 911 calls from within the classrooms that were besieged by the gunman. i think this is a moment. this isn't just a moment of soul searching when it comes to our ability to enact a single measure, red flag laws that i talked about that are targeted at the problem. it is also a matter of soul searching because this is the second school shooting, isn't the first, this is the second mass school shooting there were fundamental failures of law enforcement, the good guys with the guns on the ground. it happened at parkland, the sheriff's deputy stayed outside while you could hear gunfire inside. wasn't just him.

later reviews showed multiple officers arrived on scene while the shooting was going on and stayed outside. so the point of the piece was to say if you put on the uniform, you do not have the choice to stay outside. you don't have the choice to get through that door on the other side, no matter what's waiting for you. that's not the choice you have. you made the choice when you put on the uniform what your decision would be in that critical moment. glad to see doj is studying response in uvalde. every police officer in the united states of america should be looking at that response in uvalde and saying to themselves that will not be me. >> police officers, law enforcement show courage every day by putting on the badge, going out on their beats. sometimes it takes uncommon courage inter finding moments like this. david french, joe lanny, great conversation. hope you'll come back soon to continue to discuss this. thank you. there have been 14 mass shootings across the country since the uvalde attack a week

ago. most happened over memorial day weekend. several during parties, many victims were teenagers. in all since last wednesday nearly 70 people have been shot in america. seven killed. the data comes from gun violence archive, independent research group that defines mass shooting as minimum of four people shot in a single incident, not including the gunman. meanwhile, a fifth grader in cape coral florida was arrested and charged sending a text message threatening to carry out a mass shooting. the sheriff's office learned of a threatening message sent by a ten-year-old student. a local team was immediately notified and began investigating. the sheriff saying this child made a fake threat, now is experiencing real consequences. the team did not hesitate to investigate the incident. still ahead on "morning joe," more coverage from uvalde as survivors and first responders share their stories

and the emotional scars they're carrying from last week's massacre. in the fourth hour, we are joined by the archbishop who led the mass in uvalde over the weekend which was attended by president biden and the first lady. and following the headlines out of eastern europe. ukrainian forces attempt to retake a city that's been under russian control for months. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. you' wreatching "morning joe." we'll be right back. more protection, more sun, more joy. beach defense® from neutrogena® the suncare brand used most by dermatologists and their families, neutrogena® for people with skin. i look back with great satisfaction neutrogena® on my 32 years of active duty. i understand the veteran mentality. these are people who have served,

they'e been in leadership positions, they're willing to put their life on the line if necessary and they come to us and they say, "i need some financial help at this point in time." they're not looking for a hand out, they're looking for a little hand up. my team at newday usa is going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that veteran gets that loan. moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection. it's one pill, once a day, that's effective without topical steroids. many taking rinvoq saw clear or almost-clear skin while some saw up to 100% clear skin. plus, they felt fast itch relief some as early as 1 week. that's rinvoq relief. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots,

some fatal, cancers including lymphoma and skin cancer, death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older with at least one heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq, as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. disrupt the itch and rash of eczema. talk to your eczema specialist about rinvoq. learn how abbvie can help you save. ♪ we could walk forever ♪ ( ♪♪ ) ♪ walking on ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ ♪ some ♪ ♪ may say ♪ ♪ i'm wishing my days away ♪ ♪ no way ♪ ♪ walking on the moon ♪ throughout history

i've observed markets shaped by the intentional and unforeseeable. for investors who can navigate this landscape, leveraging gold, a strategic and sustainable asset... the path is gilded with the potential for rich returns. this is xfinity rewards. our way of saying thanks, with rewards for the whole family! from epic trips... to jurassic-themed at-home activities. join over 3 million members and start enjoying rewards like these, and so much more in the xfinity app! and don't miss jurassic world:dominion in theaters june 10th. how do we ensure that san francisco can be a city for all? making smart investments in muni with prop a,

without raising taxes. investing in our public transportation system with prop a is essential to ensuring everyone in san francisco can get to work and school safely and reliably. prop a improves pedestrian and bike safety throughout san francisco. prop a benefits everyone in every neighborhood, regardless of their income. vote yes, and soon we'll all see the impact of a everywhere. the justice department now will conduct a critical incident review of the law enforcement response to the school shooting in uvalde. it comes at the request of the city's mayor after authorities admitted to a string of failures in response to the attack last week. a justice department spokesperson writes the goal of the review is to provide an independent account of law enforcement aktsz and responses to day and to identify lessons

learned and best practices to help first responders prepare for and respond to active shooter events. let's bring in justice department reporter katie benner, an msnbc contributor. great to have you with us. truth is, there are a lot of best practices in place for mass scootings, school shootings like this, and they were not employed in uvalde tragically obviously. what exactly do you suspect the justice department will look at. >> first of all, this is not a criminal review or criminal investigation. it is review that the department undertakes when asked to by a local government. what they're going to do is come in and try to answer as yet unanswered questions. were were the choices made that were made. what was the thinking. what happened. who made the calls. was there any push back. ultimately they want to create the most full narrative of everything that happened that day to make recommendations to the mayor and city of uvalde saying while these might be your practices today, here are

improvements that can be made and here are several things each actor did or did not do. >> katie, good morning. jonathan lemire. this would create a template for other cities to prepare for possible shooting in their town. let me ask you this. there are so many questions raised about police response, anger from families of those lost that wished officers stormed the school much sooner than they did, even if it is not this justice department probe, is there going to be any scenario someone could be held responsible, there could be official blame assigned, are there going to be internal reviews on the city or state level to provide parents any sort of answers to questions they're desperately answer. >> two things on that. first of all, as you say, the reviews uncover tremendous amounts of information. as we all know, it is difficult for local governments to take

any punitive action towards law enforcement. all sorts of reasons for that. what covering this amount of information can do, it can give the mayor's office and other officials the top cover they need to make more difficult decisions on accountability and that could be helpful. it is one of the reasons these reviews move fairly quickly, those justice moves slow, fairly quickly. and as information is uncovered, nobody yet knows what will ultimately found about culpability of each actors. while it is not a criminal investigation, if any laws are found to be violated, that would change. >> these investigations have been conducted in orlando, san bernardino, other mass shootings as well. not unusual. justice department reporter for "new york times." katie benner. thank you so much. elise, i mentioned they'll look at the protocols and what went wrong, but protocols were there in place in writing by state of

texas. in december, uvalde practiced what to do and they didn't do it is the truth of the matter. >> just had simulations and training. at the end of the day, we can parse through what went wrong in every step of the response but we all know what the answer is. why are these high capacity weapons of war that have high volume magazines and the kid had over 1500 rounds of ammo unleashed. we can work on official response, but the prevalence and accessibility of weapons is the problem. >> the investigation will proceed for weeks to come. the debate will intensify in the senate about gun reform. a zoom meeting is scheduled for senators. starting today, the funerals, stretching to june 16th because of the sheer number of victims.

it underscores how small the town is. only two funeral homes. stretched to capacity. that's also why this will take so long. truly american tragedy that gets sadder. >> bringing in funeral directors from across the state. there's a devastating account from the only pediatrician in the town who had to go in and help on the scene and deal with the kids he has been treating since they were babies. we'll get to that in a bit. katie benner from "new york times," thank you for your reporting. coming up, u.s. ambassador bridget brink arrived in kyiv to start mission as head of the american embassy in ukraine. we breakdown developments in the bar there when "morning joe" continues. when "morning joe" continues. (johnny cash) ♪ i've traveled every road in this here land! ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ crossed the desert's bare, man. ♪ ♪ i've breathed the mountain air, man. ♪ ♪ of travel i've had my share, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪

♪ i've been to: pittsburgh, parkersburg, ♪ ♪ gravelbourg, colorado, ♪ ♪ ellensburg, cedar city, dodge city, what a pity. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere, man. ♪ ♪ i've been everywhere. ♪

only at vanguard you're more than just an investor you're an owner. that means that your priorities are ours too. our interactive tools and advice can help you build a future for the ones you love. that's the value of ownership. when you need help it's great to be in sync with customer service. a team of reps who can anticipate the next step genesys technology is changing the way customer service teams

anticipate what customers need. because happy customers are music to our ears. genesys, we're behind every customer smile. . the ambassador to ukraine filled a post vacant nearly three years. brigitte brink announced arrival

in kyiv in a tweet writing she's honored to be part of a team as we stand with ukraine. she will present her credentials to zelenskyy later this week. brink, a veteran diplomat fluent on russia spent time in europe. meanwhile, ukrainian officials urge residents in russian controlled areas in the southern part of the country to flee if possible as kyiv launches an operation to take back its land. in a statement yesterday, the country's deputy prime minister advised all ukrainians to move to ukrainian controlled territory saying i know it is difficult but you have to find ways and opportunities. she said ukrainian forces would win back all lost land but warned there likely would be fierce and prolonged fighting on the road to liberation.

ukraine launched a counter offensive to take back her son which fell during early days of the invasion. joining us, news director at news lines magazine, michael weiss. as a country for the last week, we have been consumed by events in uvalde. bring us up to speed about where the assault is, where the push back is in the east. >> as you mention, ukrainians are pressing counter offensive in southern ukraine in the region of her son. it fell to russia at the outset in late february. north of crimea. what the ukrainians calculated, russians put everything they've got into the east. a battle in provens of lieu gans being.

and all of donbas, that's his victory. they pull tactical groups out of kherson. it is true, the russians are making gains in lieu gans being. a major city is half objecting bide by russians. if that city were to fall, it would fall to the russians. that would be a symbolic victory. >> the united states sent tens of millions in military and financial aid in large packages approved by the president. is it having impact? >> yes. >> making a difference on the battlefield? >> it is. i see how itser systems, artillery cannons. the ukrainians tell you the weapon systems are great. they've been begging for stuff like this for eight years.

there was a brou-ha-ha, president biden said we're not giving them long range rockets to target inside russia. everyone took it to mean multiple launch rocket systems or the mobile version on wheels will not be provided. from what i can tell from my own reporting and chasing this up with administration officials, that's not what he meant. he meant long range meaning a kind of munition that goes with the system that has a range of 190 miles. the logic is if we give that, the russians see that as we give them icbms, not quite. they have other ranges, 40 to 70 miles. the ukrainians can do a great deal of damage with those systems. >> we talked about putin's end game. seems to be prolong this conflict as long as he can to wear down the alliance, try to

put pressure points to strain the ties. we saw the eu put together a partial oil ban over the weekend. significant carve out for hungary. how is it playing out. are we seeing signs of signs pushing ukraine more to negotiated settlement than others. pressure from paris, italy, germany on that. how long can this alliance stick together. >> this is the million dollar question. germans and french are seeking peace. the german chancellor has repeatedly foresworn giving heavy weaponry to ukraine with all manner of excuses german sources say are for political reasons. macron seems to have a tip, dial up putin and try for peace. i prefer he sent heavy armor as cognitive behavioral therapy. this alliance has been holding

better than most people had expected at the beginning. you still have spoilers like hungary, extracted a bribe from the european union to allow the sanctions package to go forward. putin's calculation is longer it drags out, more people get very tired. we're not talking ukraine like three months ago. atrocity, war fatigue has set in already. he is betting on the west essentially beginning to fray in its resolve. and he may well get his wish. >> thank you very much. we have much more on this including secret planning that kept the white house a step ahead of russia. david ignatius joins us with new reporting on that question coming up on "morning joe." reporting on that question coming up on "morning joe. wealth is breaking ground on your biggest project yet. worth is giving the people who build it a solid foundation. wealth is shutting down the office for mike's retirement party.

worth is giving the employee who spent half his life with you, the party of a lifetime. ♪ ♪ wealth is watching your business grow. worth is watching your employees grow with it. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ i came, i saw, i conquered. (all): hail, caesar! pssst caesar! julius! dude, you should really check in with your team on ringcentral. i was thinking like... oh hi, caesar. we were just talking about you. ha ha ha. yeah, you should probably get out of here. not good. ♪ ♪ ♪ ringcentral ♪

the lone pediatrician in the small town of uvalde, texas is a

local that attended robb elementary school. he opened up what it was like to take care of victims he has treated since birth. he spoke to today.com. it was a complete mad house, what you see in disaster movies, doctors and nurses in every single room, people running around like maniacs. kids in the hallway, bleeding and screaming. surgeons working on kids. the most horrible part was seeing parents i knew outside screaming, asking me to look for their kids. you never really get that out of your head. five children murdered were his patients. several more were witnesses to the massacre. one 11-year-old girl told the doctor what she saw. quote. she said she saw people being shot and falling dead. her best friend was next to her, so she grabbed some of her blood that was coming out of her, smeared it on herself and played dead on the floor, the doctor reported. as families begin to bury

children they lost, we're learning about the emotional scars that will haunt those that survived. andrea herrera was a few classrooms from her brother, jose. he was one of the 19 children murdered. she told her grandparents she witnessed a teacher being killed before climbing through a window to escape. "new york times" says she found it painful to be home in days since the shooting, has become withdrawn and fearful as you can imagine. the first night she told us everything, said her grandmother. ever since, she has been quiet, by herself. she's still scared the bad man may come back and find her. she also misses her older brother desperately. they played together and talked about school. he was older but she was taller. closer in age than the younger two, they were protective of each other. "the washington post" spoke with survivors of past shootings from columbine to sandy hook about trauma and anxiety they deal with all these years later.

columbine survivor half land did all she could to avoid details of what happened in texas, she didn't want to know. years of therapy helped, but passage of time was no cure. wednesday, she turned 40 years old. was in that building at columbine. for years, sandy hook survivor camille's trauma surfaced through debilitating panic attacks. would hit her during swim practice. the moment she fell short of breath, her body was unravel. she would sit on the edge of the pool deck crying and shaking. her best friend in 2012 was a boy named daniel. she was in third grade, he was in first, they liked to dance to "dynamite" and played pirates together. the most enduring consequence of the shooting was what his killing did to her. afterward, she hesitated to connect with people, lost the best friend she ever had, making new ones meant she would only have somebody else to lose.

all those accounts, that reporting from "the washington post." coming up, the latest from uvalde as the grieving community begins to lay to rest the 21 victims of the shooting. plus, we go live to the white house for new reporting on the pledge to, quote, do something on gun reform. eugene daniels joins the conversation straight ahead on "morning joe." conversation straight ahead on "morning joe." trelegy for copd. [coughing] ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on by... ♪ if you've been playing down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day,... ♪ ...it's time to make a stand. start a new day with trelegy. ♪...and i'm feelin' good. ♪

no once-daily copd medicine... has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy, and save at trelegy.com.

a monster was attacking but the team remained calm. because with miro, they could problem solve together, and find the answer that was right under their nose. or... his nose. if you have type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure

you're a target for chronic kidney disease. you can already have it and not know it. if you have chronic kidney disease your kidney health could depend on what you do today. ♪far-xi-ga♪ farxiga is a pill that works in the kidneys to help slow the progression of chronic kidney disease. farxiga can cause serious side effects including dehydration, urinary tract or genital yeast infections in women and men, and low blood sugar. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may lead to death. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking farxiga and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, an allergic reaction, or ketoacidosis. and don't take it if you are on dialysis. take aim at chronic kidney disease by talking to your doctor and asking about farxiga. if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help. ♪far-xi-ga♪

are you going to send long range rocket systems to ukraine? >> we're not going to send ukraine rocket systems to strike russia. >> the united states will not send long range rocket systems to ukraine, as russia's offense

intensifies. including rocket launchers that can fire hundreds of miles away. senior white house official said multiple launchers are under consideration, nothing on the table with long range strike capabilities. peter burgen, hist book "the cost of chaos, the trump administration and the world is out now." good morning to you both. i want to get to your book in just a moment. david, let me begin with you and talk more about ukraine, where we are as we said earlier, we had our eyes on uvalde for the last week or so. what is going on in the eastern part of the country and ukraine continuing to hold its ground? >> so, willie, the russian offensive in eastern ukraine in the area they call the donbas has intense fied in particular around a call donetsk on the

edge of luhansk which is one of the two territories that russia would like to claim and i'm hearing genuine concern among u.s. and other military analysts about the progress the russians are making. this is a significant offensive. the ukrainians are having difficulty dealing with it. they have a counter offensive to the west and in a town called kherson which they hope will relief the pressure. but the question of delivery of these long range missile systems to ukraine should be seen in the context of concern in the u.s. among our military that the ukrainians are in some difficulty in the eastern portion of the battle. the decision is against climbing the he is callatory ladder with the initial proposal for missiles but we'll see. this is not a good week for ukraine from the reports i'm hearing. >> peter, it is jonathan lemire, it does seem that it is the

first time that russians have had some success advancing into ukrainian territory. and want to get you in on the discussion we were having earlier in the show. it seems that putin's strategy is a war of attrition. he knows if he keeps at this, his bet is that eventually russian resolve will weaken, there will be many divide among allies here between washington an the european countries who may not want to continue to be this supportive of the effort this this stretches for month and months if not more. what is your assessment, is that a bet that putin could win? >> very possibly, stalin fame usaly said that quantity has a quality of its own and i think that is putin's calculation. at end of the day he may have an army that is not professional in terms of nato standards. but, you know, he could send more and more troops not ad fin

item, but he could fight a war just across his own border. and, a war of attrition is clearly what he's doing. >> so david, you're most recent piece is the secret planning that kept the white house a step ahead of russia. obviously the united states, president biden committed tens of billion dollars of aid, military, humanitarian, financial and other wise to ukraine. take us inside what you found in your reporting for that piece. >> what i found, willie, was that the success and supporting ukraine really was the work of many, many months of effort by u.s. officials in the state department, the cia, the national security council, the military, it didn't happen automatically. and this really has been our strongest weapon in dealing with russia, is that extraordinary unity of nato and nato countries

in backing ukraine. i should add the most important factor is the determination and the guts fighting power of the ukrainians themselves. but this coalition of support, the commitment to deliver weapons to help the ukrainians, it didn't come about automatically and i try in this piece to summarize the meetings. month after month in which people got together in secret and made plans, the u.s. delivered intelligent that initially people didn't believe but it was right. even president zelenskyy in ukraine, when he was informed by sect of state blinken that the russians were coming, as late as january, didn't fully believe it. didn't think it was going to happen. so, this is what our diplomats, our intelligence officers do when they're out in the public eye and this is an example of how it could be successful, how it gave the u.s. a real edge when the russians came. >> peter, elise jordan here, the

paper back version of your book, "the cost of chaos" is out today, congratulations. what updates do you have to the book and how has your perspective, has it changed at all since the initial release? >> yeah, it has. i think the book came out in 2019, a lot of things happened after 2019. and i think if you -- one of the things i said in the book was up to that point president trump has been lucky. most presidents have some major crisis, whether it is 9/11 or saddam invading kuwait and trump hadn't one and covid came and it played to his weaknesses. he never did homework. he didn't expert experts and goes with his gut and none of that is likely to produce effective policy and it didn't. and i think if you do the experiment if covid didn't happen, i think trump would have gotten a second term and it did happen and he didn't rise to the

occasion. that is the opinion of dr. deborah birx who said 34 to 40% of the deaths happened under trump's administration were avoidable and trump didn't model responsible behavior and denigrated masks, he had big events at the white house with unmasked guests and you know, at a moment when he could have done something to help the public, he was vaccinated in secret with his wife melania and any president who had the slightest iota of interest in the people would have made that a public event given the vaccine his tense annie. but because of his treatment, because of the covid issue and of course because the denialism around the election. though no other american president has consistently and publicly not conceded an election that he's lost. >> peter, an excerpt from the updating portion of your book, you write this. it was clear from the first that trump's inclinations were

radically more blunt force than his predecessors. when briefed by the pentagon on iran and the strait of hormuz, the next time they sent their boats into the strait, blow them out of the water. get mad dog on this. when told that seoul and south korea was so close to the border that millions of people would die in the first hours of any all out war. trup had a bold response. they have to move, he said. the officials in the oval office were not sure if he was joking, he raised his voice, they have to move. very quickly it became clear to a number of people at the highest level of government that their gravest mission was to protect america from donald trump. you mentioned deborah birx, that is what we've heard in the years since donald trump left office, from people like defense secretary esper, who remained in their jobs to protect america, to provide some guardrails because you wouldn't like as an american who was coming in after them if they left.

>> yeah, cliches are not because they have a element of truth. and the idea there was a group of grown ups trying to restrain trump. i think it is true. the first two years, he defeated isis and came up with a strong policy against china. and also to give him his due, when the coronavirus came, he did operation warp speed. he did produce vaccines at an unprecedented rate and the trump administration deserved kudos for that. but i think as time went on, the group of people that were around him, i call them the first generation of trump and his generals because hr mcmaster and kelly, and we have mattis, and they did provide guardrails and as time went on fewer and fewer guardrails came about. and the reason i think the book is important right now is 54% of possible republican primary voters would pick president trump according to our cnn poll in february. and 21% would pick governor desantis and the rest are polling at 1%.

so, i think it is as likely as warm weather in mar-a-lago that he will get -- run for the nomination and get it and right now if the election happened tomorrow, he would defeat president biden because he's polling at 39%. so who he was at commander in chief is important right now. this is not history. we are in the process of the future being created right now. and the future could well include trump running for the nomination and winning the nomination and becoming president again. the first since grover cleveland who would win after a one term and then into another. >> and he may not be able to resist the temptation. the book is out now in paper back. it is updated with new reporting. peter bergen, great to have you on our side for the book. nice to see you, thank you. joe, as we've been talking in the last few minutes this morning. we talked to brian deese, and the white house about inflation this this country. we learned 8.1% inflation in the

euro zone which is the highest its been since the creation of the eu in '99. >> well exactly. and that is what i was going to ask david ignatius about. you were talking about what a great job the white house and the administration had been doing, the coalition of the willing, we all know the historic gains that nato has made over the past several months. i am curious, though, based on your reporting, how was the euro zone, how were those individual european countries going to continue with inflation at record highs at 8.1%. obviously driven so much by this war. >> joe, i think they're getting nervous. i was worried that over this weekend we'd had a real crack in the nato alliance with the european summit taking place. and i think we've had some frig ilty, they are those at strong as they might have been.