place, new elections on the horizon. the president, a lot of misgivings behind the scenes about going on the saudi arabia trip, but sometimes for the good of your country, you have to talk to bad people, is how the white house is putting it. eugene daniels, thanks for being with us. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" on this monday morning. "morning joe" starts now. >> a very small portion of them to the capitol and a very small portion of them went in. but i will tell you, they were angry from the standpoint of what happened in the election. because they're smart and se and they saw what happened. i believe that's a big part of what happened january 6th. >> you typically don't want to talk about -- >> yeah, let's skip the 6th.

>> when you're telling people that a presidential election is being stolen, you can't be shocked when people believe you and then become violent. at some point, they have to take responsibility. >> you know, you know, the thing is, mika -- first of all, donald trump is saying that it's smart. yeah, so smart that while he is sitting there lying to them and grifting and getting hundreds of millions of dollars from people lying, saying, give me money and we'll fight the election, and it all goes to him. first of all, not smart there. also, unfortunately, there were a lot of people that went up to the capitol because they believed donald trump. they believed his lies. >> yeah. >> they're sitting in prison right now. he's just sitting back at mar-a-lago, living his life, loving it. >> family vacations around the world, on beaches. >> flying all around on his

private, well, you know, 757, whatever it is. flying from one country club to another. and they're sitting in jail, yeah. you'll notice, the kids didn't talk about what happened on january 6th, for good reason. they'll talk to the january 6th committee. we have the texts. they were all horrified like everybody else. begging donald trump to stop the mob. >> yeah, they could see it. >> stop the lies. >> so what you were watching was just a clip from a new documentary, "unprecedented" is the title. covering the 2020 election and the aftermath of the attack on the capitol. we're going to speak today with the film's director who had extraordinary access to the president and his inner circle during that critical time, now under investigation. and while the president's eldest children didn't want to speak about the events surrounding january 6th, other members of trump's inner circle are now

willing to do so. former trump aide steve bannon says he is willing to testify. former trump white house counsel pat cipollone has already testified behind closed doors. while a former member of one of the extremist groups that led the attack is set to appear as a witness at the next hearing scheduled for tomorrow. we're going to break down what all of this means for the investigation, which has very carefully laid out by the january 6th committee. good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it is monday, july 11th. with us, we have the white house bureau chief at "politico" and the host of "way too early," jonathan lemire, who never gets off television. five hours a day, no problem. he just keeps going. >> jonathan is probably tired this morning. watched a baseball game last night. a couple baseball games this weekend. >> no, he didn't stay up. >> you know, we somehow split with the yankees. despite all the money they spend, jonathan, it was

inspiring. >> yeah. and surprising. the red sox got crushed thursday and friday against what we can only call the juggernaut from the bronx, joe, with its $7.4 billion payroll. >> greatest team ever. >> greatest team ever. >> yeah. >> yet, these scrappy, hungry, just happy to be here red sox pulled off comeback victories both saturday and sunday. >> i think i can. i think i can. greatest team ever, mind you. >> yeah. >> sorry, ever. >> they had help from a red sox player named jeter, which we're getting used to. jeter downs named after derek jeter. i think he was a shortstop for the yankees years ago. i forget. >> i don't know. >> shorthanded. devers didn't play. we're down a bunch of pitchers. managed to get two games from the greatest team ever. so that's not a bad weekend. >> the yankees are the greatest team ever. they get the world series. we know that.

>> yeah. >> let's keep telling them they'll win the world series. look at the orioles, then we'll move on to news. this is an incredible story. the orioles, who have been in last place, i think, since, like, 1924. the baltimore orioles have won eight or nine in a row now. look at that. they're only a couple games behind the bluejays. couple games out of wild card contention. i don't -- i'm going to have to start seeing what's happening in baltimore. the o's are red hot. >> in fact, right now, you see the yankees, greatest team ever, running away with the division. >> greatest team ever. >> but the next four wild card contenders right now, and, remember, three teams make it this year, but the next four are those four teams. red sox, rays, bluejays. the orioles have struggled since

the coolidge administration. >> what's good for baltimore is good for america. >> we love baltimore. >> also, you know, we're talking about the other teams, and it really doesn't matter. you look at a team like the 2001 seattle mariners. won 116 games. of course, they won the world series. 1954 indians. greatest pitching staff of all time at one of the greatest records of all time. they won the world series. >> no. >> 1906, one of the greatest baseball teams ever, legendary. they played the cross-town rivals, the white sox. of course, they won that world series. when you win a lot of games in the regular season, jonathan lemire, you always automatically win the world series, right? >> the track record is there, joe. we'll look to the championship banners all the teams have hung and hope the yankees do exactly the same. >> why do you know that? anyhow -- >> by the way, all those teams set records for the most wins during the regular season, and all those teams lost. >> now back to the news. thank you, gentlemen.

>> they did not win the world series. >> for the love of the game, joe. that's why we play. >> we just love the game, against the greatest team of all time, the yankees. >> thanks, guys. >> who could beat the hearings? >> not us. >> never. the never hearing for the january 6th attack will be tomorrow, and it'll be the marshaling of the mob. it'll include coordination between donald trump world and extremist groups that led the attack on the capitol. such as the proud boys and the oath keepers. >> this, mika, of course, will be drawing the line. of course, every legal scholar says you have to draw a line between these extremist groups, stand back and stand by, and donald trump. >> oh, yeah. a source tells nbc news that former oath keepers spokesperson will testify. he left the group in 2017 but will speak about how it spreads propaganda and how it became radical over the years. he has met with the committee twice before.

former white house counsel pat cipollone sat down for a marathon interview behind closed doors. arriving around 8:45 a.m. and leaving shortly before 5:30 p.m. he and his lawyers took several breaks throughout the day, but all told, cipollone was in the deposition room for more than 7 hours. committee members says he was cooperative and testimony didn't contradict that of other witnesses. >> he had relevant information about what was happening in the white house, and we were grateful that he was willing to come before the committee to share that with that. >> what would he not touch? >> he claimed privilege on conversations that related to the advice he provided directly to the president or conversations with the president. but i think we still got a lot of relevant information from him. it provides us another perspective on what was happening in the white house in

those weeks running up to january 6th that were so critically important. i think there was a lot of information that fit into this bigger puzzle we're putting together. we have different voices telling about the same meeting and, more or less, telling the same narrative. >> are we going to hear excerpts of cipollone's video testimony in this week's hearings? >> yes. we will have some excerpts of mr. cipollone's testimony. he was able to provide information on basically all the critical issues we're looking at. and including the president's -- what i would call -- dereliction of duty on the day. >> we're going to get to use a lot of mr. cipollone's testimony to corroborate other things we've learned along the way. he was the white house counsel at the time. he was aware of every major move, i think, that donald trump

was making to try to overthrow the 2020 election and essentially seize the presidency. so i considered his testimony valuable. >> you know, jonathan lemire, cipollone is, i guess you could say, january 6th's trump card. you look at all the most important testimony that's come out over the past several weeks. you look at what the lawyers -- in the meeting, jeffrey clark was deciding he was going to take over the justice department, despite the fact that he was an environmental lawyer. you'd always hear these people testifying, donohue, eric, and they'd say cipollone was saying don't do it. you'd never heard from cipollone. cassidy hutchinson, other big revelations. saying with ms. hutchinson, mark, you have to do something here. people are going to die. mark, it is going to be on you.

it's always pat cipollone. other people speaking for pat cipollone. that testimony is going to be extraordinarily important this week, and it is going to be from the person closest to trump inside the white house, his counsel. i mean, you can't overstate the importance of him verifying what we've all heard so far. >> yeah, it can't be overstated. exactly right. what a key get this was for the committee. reports are cipollone did not decline to answer any questions. he was forthcoming. he also didn't contradict any testimony we've heard from other witnesses. that's important. that does include the group of lawyers, but also cassidy hutchinson, who a lot of people in trump world were trying to smear and say she couldn't be trusted. cipollone is sort of the authority here and the legal counsel in the room, of course. we know on january 6th, he repeatedly told meadows, other trump aides, and the president himself, "hey, this is potentially illegal. we could all get arrested

today." i'm paraphrasing. certainly, he was well aware of the legal jeopardy they were all in. the committee very eager to put his testimony in place here. we expect this is at least, for now, the last week of scheduled hearings. there are two tomorrow. then thursday, steve bannon, a former trump aide, and i know we'll talk about him later, but bannon now said he'd want to testify to. there is a reason for that, as he is trying to avoid being prosecuted in another case. the committee, while welcoming the testimony, wants to do it behind closed doors. they're not going to let him hijack a public hearing. we'll hear about the trump world's ties to hate groups on thursday. then the finale in prime time will be key, recreating the three hours on january 6th, where president trump stood by and did nothing as supporters committed violence in his name at the capitol. >> let's bring in staff writer at the "atlantic," mark leibovich. the author of the new book

officially out tomorrow. we're going to get to you in a moment. the book is "thank you for your servitude: donald trump's washington and the price of submission." it's about a lot more than trump. it's about the republicans and others, so we'll get to that in just a moment. president biden is going to be hosting an event today at the white house celebrating is signing of bipartisan gun legislation bill he signed last month. biden is going to welcome elected officials, gun safety advocates, and experts, along with survivors, family members, and victims of mass shootings. the new federal law funds crisis intervention, closes a so-called boyfriend loophole, and exchanges required background checks for people under the age of 21. mika. senate majority leader chuck schumer tested positive as covid. his spokesperson describes it as

a mild case. health officials urged residents to resume indoor mask wearing, noting they're seeing high levels of infection. and multiple chinese cities are installing fresh covid-19 restrictions to curb a new, massive outbreak of infections. over the weekend, country's most populous city confirmed a subvariant of omicron has arrived. city officials have told residents of several districts to get tested twice in another round of mass screenings from tuesday to thursday, in hopes of checking infections and preventing another all-out lockdown. the arrival of the latest variant in china comes as residents recently emerged from a grueling two months of confinement in their home. jonathan lemire, it has been, you know, not only has it been brutal for china when you look at what's happened with -- let's

just say it, their absolutely disastrous covid policy. a zero covid policy. not only has it just torn that country apart, it continues to wreck the global economy. it continues to cause massive shortfalls and a lot of imports, not only to the united states but countries across the globe. it is one of the key reasons why we have a supply chain crisis. it's really something that the country that started covid, you know, in wuhan, they're the ones that may be the last out of it because they mismanaged it so horribly. >> yeah, the issues you mentioned about supply chain are obviously contributing to global inflation. and, yet, despite by any measure a failed response to the pandemic, china has doubled down. beijing and president xi there have said they're going to keep doing this. they've mapped out the next few years, saying the covid zero policy, what they call it, will

continue, leading to the massive lock downs of these gigantic cities there, even after relatively small outbreaks. here at home, joe, certainly, nothing to what we're seeing there, but cases are rising across the united states, as well. senator sschumer, as mentioned. 90% of the country back in a high transmission area. thankfully, this variant doesn't seem to be causing more severe illness among people, but it is extraordinarily concontagious. those who got sick tend to get it again a couple weeks later because it evades immunity. officials are worrying about the strains here in the hospitals again. >> so contagious. we know so many people who have it. again, not serious implications, but, boy, they'll get it one time after another after another. as mika mentioned, we have with us staff writer for the "atlantic," mark leibovich. we've already talked about the boston red sox, so i don't think

we can talk about the red sox twice in one block. let's talk instead about your book out tomorrow, "thank you for your servitude: donald trump's washington and the price for submission." mark, what is interesting about this book, it is not a book about donald trump. it's really a sequel to your last books about washington, d.c. and how it is a company town but how -- and i love how you say this -- how what we used to look down upon ten years ago seems sort of like glory days of washington, when you compare what started happening in and around the white house and in and around the trump hotel just down the street. >> yeah. i did not want to write another trump book. i'm not trying to outdo anyone as far as finding the killer white house anecdote about donald trump feeding dog food to mike pence or something. i wanted to focus on enablers,

the republican party, the people in washington and basically washington was dominated in these years by donald trump and his republican lap dogs who made it work for them. i basically spent five years debriefing the kevin mccarthys and the lindsey grahams and, you know, the chris christies and the marco rubios, basically the party apparatus, on why they were doing this, why they were playing ball with this guy. essentially how they made it work for themselves and how they sort of let this be inflicted on the country in general. look, this is not a comedy of manners like this town was. hopefully it's a fun book people want to read on the book. it is about the people who allow him to be rehabilitated at every turn. >> mika, one of the most surprising things for me reading this book is seeing how these characters, lindsey graham especially, but lindsey and the

guy who runs the house for the republicans, they both admitted they do it for access. they do it for their own selfish reasons. >> yeah. but they all know how it ends. that's the part so hard to understand. >> it's weird. >> we'll talk about this more. mark, stay with us. we want to get into all those characters in your new book and also the questions we just discussed. also ahead on "morning joe," president biden is defending a controversial visit to saudi arabia next week. we're going to read from his new piece in the "washington post." does he really want to go? plus, the latest from ukraine. more than a dozen people were killed when a russian rocket hit an apartment building in the eastern part of the country. also ahead, filmmaker alex holder will join us to discuss his three-part documentary that pulls back the curtain on what was happening inside trump world before and after the 2020 election. and a pregnant woman in texas was pulled over for using

the hov lane but says her unborn child should count as a passenger since roe v. wade was overturned. >> well, yeah. >> she argues the state can't have it both ways. >> can't. >> you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. can't. can't. >> when traders tell us how to make thinkorswim® even better,r we listen. because platforms this innovative aren't just made for traders —they're made by them. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade welcome to allstate where anyone who bundles their homee joe. joe. we'll be right back.a little bu. what in the world are you doing? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home and auto insurance.

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♪♪ beautiful shot of the white house at 6:24 a.m. on the east coast. the sun is coming up over washington. >> what a gorgeous shot. last week, mika, out of nowhere, i tweeted something about chicago. >> uh-huh. >> and how much i loved the band, even though they were all kicked around by critics. and the response on twitter, pretty overwhelming.

i just say this, i was surprised by how many people just absolutely loved the band chicago. you know, critics love to slag on groups like chicago. of course, led zeppelin. paul mccartney all the time, despite he was perhaps the greatest figure in rock history. but a lot of chicago fans, of which have been searching so long. the op-ed entitled "i was betrayed by president trump." sergeant gonnell writes this, my right foot and left shoulder were so damaged that i needed multiple surgeries. i have spent a year and a half in physical therapy for chronic pain that i have been told will never go away. my young son almost lost his father, and my wife had to quit medical school. owing the demands and stress of

my ongoing recovery. five of my colleagues in law enforcement died and more than 850 rioters were arrested. so many families have been ruined because of one man's lust for power. even more galling are the republicans who still refuse to provide testimony under oath and, instead, dangerously downplay how close we came to losing our democracy. the enabing of mr. trump needs to stop now. he should not only be banned from running for any other government office, he should never be allowed near the white house again. i believe he betrayed his oath to defend the constitution, and it was to the detriment of me, my colleagues, and all americans whom he was supposed to protest. that's, of course, you know, one more question added on would be, you know, are there some legal issues that this president --

should he be charged with something? >> you know, the thing is, it has to be so galling, and you read this from yet another police officer, another cop. it has to be so galling after these people were running around, these republicans were running around for a year saying, "blue lives matter, and we love cops." democrats want to de-fund the police and don't love cops. despite every democratic leader said de-funding the cops was a stupid thing. republicans, when push comes to shove, really don't give a damn about cops. blue lives matter? no, not if they're getting the hell beaten out of them and sprayed with bear spray. these republicans see -- donald trump and the trump republican party see police officers getting the hell beaten out of them. >> my god, what do they care about? >> what did they say? donald trump says, the crowd that was beating the hell out of these police officers, beating

them to a pulp, beating them to within an inch of their lives, beating them so badly and putting them through things that some committed suicides, and most police officers that were there blame these riots for the death of several officers, what do they do? donald trump calls them patriots, says they're very smart. >> says he loves them. >> republican congressmen, what do they do? oh, they're just tourists. oh, okay. so if somebody beats the hell out of a cop in your town, what are you going to do, call them tourists? why is it? you hate cops if they're not doing your political bidding. >> why do you need to do that? >> why do republicans hate police officers? why won't republicans stand up for police officers and stand up for cops when they're getting the hell beaten out of them? in congress, they love yapping about how they support the blue when they go on the house floor, but when police officers are getting eviscerated, getting

brutalized, when they're getting beaten to death, suddenly, they love the rioters. they love the thugs. they love the people that are beating them up and beating them to death. these republicans who are calling these people tourists, these republicans that don't want to get to the truth, that don't want to really understand why police officers were brutalized that day, the same liars who said that they love cops, they're the ones that are stopping everybody who is responsible for the beating of and the eventual death of these police officers. they're stopping justice from happening. so they don't love cops. they hate cops if cops are actually doing their job and trying to stop their party from not being able to steal an election. >> so -- >> it is heartbreaking that i belong to a party that i thought was a law and order party. that's the word, the words we used. >> and -- >> those were the words we used our entire lives.

support the blue? blue lives matter? no, no, republicans hate cops. if you listen to the republicans that are trying to stop those of us who want justice for people who brutalized those police officers on january 6th. you can't say you love the cops in one situation and then not seek justice in another situation where police officers are getting brutalized, mika. doesn't work that way. >> joe. >> it makes me sad. >> these republicans, any of these republicans -- >> this party cares so little of police officers. >> any human being would seek justice in this happened at their home. this is the people's house, all of our house, and this happened. they don't see an issue here? who exactly are we talking about? >> we're talking about donald trump, because donald trump said he loved these people that brutalized police officers. we're talking about republican

members of congress who stood in the way of every investigation. you know, democrats wanted a bipartisan, bicameral look at this. they refused. house democrats, ask kevin mccarthy if he'd be part of a bipartisan process. he refused. you have members of congress, republicans, of course, actually standing at the door, were going to help police officers stop the mob from coming in and killing everybody inside the house chamber. within a couple days, they were saying, oh, they were just tourists. there was nothing wrong. mark leibovich, this comes back to you and what you're talking about. how can these people betray police officers, betray men and women in blue, betray these cops that they claimed they loved so much? simply because they wanted to defend donald trump's attempt to overtake the government more than they want to defend the men in blue, the women in blue.

>> i mean, what's maddening about this, and, you know, you watch this video, and i just find myself getting so, like, emotional. >> sick. >> just sick all over again. >> yeah. >> but, you know, again, i spent, you know, years, basically, talking to the republican party, who has basically assumed this posture where they're protected every day. you know, the leadership, kevin mccarthy, steve scalise, mitch mcconnell, they have large security details. they're probably very, very safe. but all of them, you know, when they get to an airport, they're accompanied by local police or capitol police if they're high enough up to protect them walking through the airport, to protect them from the angry mob they're now denying, you know, existed on january 6th. and, again, i mean, this is a distillation of the monumental cowardice that has overtaken the punitive relationship of the republican party, you know, right on down. it's nothing about, you know, donald trump that, you know -- i feel like there's a lot of information about donald trump

and assessments are now -- we have enough information on donald trump. i mean, what i do think is an undertold story and this is, again, what the book is about, are these republicans who have kept allowing it to happen. again, these police officers protect them every day. it's just, i can't imagine what it must feel like to be able to deny that these, you know, police officers, who were badly injured, you know, hundreds of them, killed in some cases on january 6th to protect them and their colleagues, you know, dear friends are protecting them as they walk from point a to point b. you know, they have to deny it happens on one hand. on the other hand, thanks a lot for walking me to my car, driving me to the airport, whatever. >> mm-hmm. >> i don't know how they can sort of live with themselves. you know, i talked to enough of them to know that it's kind of a miserable conscience experience. it is also a failure of conscience. >> here's what you wrote for the

"atlantic" adapted from the new book. it's been said before but can never be emphasized enough, without the complicity of the republican party, donald trump would just be a glorified geriatric fox-watching golfer. i've interviewed scores of these collaborators, trying to understand why they did what they did and how they could live with it. these were the kevin mccarthys and the lindsey grahams and all the other busy, parasitic suck-ups who made the trump era for them. who humored and indulged him all the way down to the last exhausted strains of american democracy. and here's more of what you write about kevin mccarthy and lindsey graham specifically. quote, i've known these men for years, but they are a classically washington type, fun to be around, starstruck, and desperate to keep their jobs or get better ones, to maximize their place in the all-important mix.

on various occasions i have asked them, in so many words, how they could side sidle up top like they have. the answer, basically, is that they did it because it was the savviest course, because it was best for them. nearly all elected republicans in washington needed trump's blessing, and voters, to remain there. people like mccarthy and graham benefitted a great deal from making it work with trump or managing the relationship, as they say. i could get trump on the phone faster than any staffers who worked with him could get him on the phone, mccarthy bragged to me. there was always a breathless, racing quality to the men's voices when they talked about the thrill ride of being one of trump's guys. mark, i'm wondering in these conversations, did they see the other side of this, the damage being done to democracy? did they care? because another thing trump does is he likes to sort of get stuff

on people and think he can kind of hold it over them. i just wonder why some of these men were pushed so far. >> yeah, i mean, look, boy, volumes could be written about that. i will say that the question is, did they know? of course they knew. in fact, they would know, you know, within seconds of saying one thing before a microphone and then going back into a green room or sort of walking away from the cameras and conceding that, like, oh, my god, you know. they all know the truth about this. lindsey graham, all of them have this expression. you have to get the joke about trump. the joke is that, ultimately, in private, they have no respect for him. at worst, they think he is a dangerous lunatic. but, you know, again, to say that publicly is going to make them obsolete within the republican party. again, what you've seen again and again with a lot of these folks is just this dereliction of any kind of character whatsoever. it is sort of a game to me. you asked, mika, do they care.

no. there's a section in the book listing, i don't care. i don't care about the legacy. i don't care about the history. i don't care what my grandchildren will think. i'll be dead. rudy used to think about that all the time, i'll be dead. trump himself used to say, you know, if i lose, the only thing that matters is i don't lose the election. that's the only part of my legacy that will matter. nothing else matters. it is annihilation. you see cassidy hutchinson, the witnesses on the january 6th committee, whether it's the british conservatives finally standing up to boris johnson. in a less political context, ukraine. there is great resistance you're seeing around the world, and, yet, the republican party remains blocked off from any effort to stand up and do what they all know to be right. >> mark, congrats on the book. you spent a lot of time with

this cast of characters, and they had a moment where they could walk away. >> several. >> january 6th, specifically. a few weeks, trump looked like he might be in the wilderness, and it reverses itself when kevin mccarthy goes to mar-a-lago. trump is acquitted of his impeachment, and off they go. there is another moment now. the january 6th hearings are damning, the portraits they paint of what trump did. is there any sense, do you have any suggestion at all that any of them would walk away from him, were trump to decide to run again in '24? >> my inclination is to say no. if history is a precedent, i mean, they've failed every single step of the way. even to this day, it is astonishing to me, that after january 6th, the immediate aftermath of january 6th, that he is still a viable figure within the republican party. more than a viable figure. certainly, the overwhelming favorite to be the nominee of the party for the third consecutive time.

third consecutive time. >> yeah. >> but, yeah, no, kevin mccarthy is caught on tape saying, yeah, i'll ask him to resign. mitch mcconnell publicly condemned him in the harshest possible terms. yet, you know, even before kevin mccarthy went down with hat in hand to mar-a-lago to kiss the ring eight days after donald trump left washington, mitch mcconnell gamed the system. he said, okay, we're not having an impeachment vote, an impeachment trial for the next seven, eight days, though it all happened right in front of them. he said, nope, we need to do this after the inauguration. after the inauguration, you know, most of the party said, well, he is a former president. we're not going to convict him. yeah, it was an easy two-step. mitch mcconnell, you know, maybe looks like more of a bystander than kevin mccarthy, but he's just as complicit. look, i don't think the republicans showed none whatsoever. ultimately, cassidy hutchinson,

the secretary of state, the speaker of the house from arizona. >> rusty bowers. >> there are people. maybe it's the threat of subpoena, maybe it's the wearing down of this, that are coming forward. so, you know, maybe these hearings, i mean, if nothing else, have given a forum for people to wrestle with their lawyers at least and maybe do something. >> this is incredible timing with your book coming out, the hearings this week. we'll have you back throughout the week for the new book entitled "thank you for your servitude: donald trump's washington and the price of submission." thank you, mark, very much. see you soon. coming up, steve bannon now says he is willing to testify before the january 6th committee. we'll explain why he might be ready to talk after fighting subpoenas from lawmakers. plus, the latest on the efforts to get brittney griner freed from a russian jail, as the wnba gives a big tribute to

the star player. and we will break down what is next in the looming, legal fight between elon musk and twitter. big developments over the weekend. "morning joe" is coming right back. e ice cream is like wh weekend. and it can cause violent uncontrollable coughing fits. ask your doctor or pharmacist about whooping cough vaccination because it's not just for kids. ♪♪ back ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ "shake your thang" by salt n pepa

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speaking out against the supreme court's decision to overturn roe v. wade. >> keep protesting. keep making your point. it is critically important. we can do a lot of things to accommodate the rights of women. in the meantime, fundamentally, the only thing that's going to change this is if we have a national law that reinstates roe v. wade. as president, i don't have the authority to say that we're going to, you know, state roe v. wade as the law of the land. the only way we do that is through an election of the united states congress. in the meantime, states can make those judgments. so my ultimate goal is to reinstate roe v. wade as a national law. we have a lot to talk about. meanwhile, the white house is defending the president's response to the supreme court ruling on abortion from progressives, who say he hasn't done enough. white house communications

director kate bedingfield told the "washington post," quote, joe biden's goal in responding to dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream of the democratic party. it's to deliver help to women who were in danger and assemble a broad-based coalition to defend a woman's right to choose. a senior staffer from the 2020 biden/harris campaign said she and other activists are offended by that statement. >> these people going into the street saying that we need a bodily autonomy, that is the excitement that democrats need right now ahead of the midterms, and to demonize them, say they're not mainstream, well, abortion is a very popular issue in the country. it goes across democrats and republican lines. i think it was an unforced error. i hope they address it. i'm not sure they will. but i took it -- offense to it, and lot of people have. >> so i'm trying to understand what exactly -- what can't he be

doing right now that he is not doing, joe? >> that's what the white house is saying in the statement. >> yeah. >> by the way, i'm sure a lot of thought went into that statement. jonathan lemire, as you know, there has been, for quite some time, you've had the progressive left in the democratic party, and let's just say it right here, the progressive left who hated him in the primaries, the progressive left who cheered his losses in iowa, the progressive left who cheered his losses in new hampshire, the progressive left said he was too old, too moderate. there was no way he could win. the progressive left who was shocked when he won big in south carolina, won big across the south, when he won big and ended up sweeping his way to victory in the democratic primary. so there has been in washington -- i can't speak for all over the country -- but in washington, there has been a question, why did joe biden run as a moderate?

then get to washington, d.c. and worry so much about what the most progressive elements of the party were saying? i think the white house finally had enough saying, okay, you're going to keep criticizing us about everything? listen, we're going to do what we can do. stop acting like i can just wave a magic wand and suddenly make roe v. wade the law of the land again. and you've reported on it an awful lot. talk about that tension between moderate democrats, between the most progressive wing in the democratic party, and how this statement played out, and why the white house finally had enough. >> yeah. the progressive left, long time, as you just outlined, not enamored with joe biden, but when biden was elected and they saw this as an opportunity to do big things in his agenda. white house aides were blunt about it, they wanted to be fdr. they wanted to be lbj. that meant adopting some of these progressive platforms. not all of them came to be. as we know, part of the president's legislative agenda fell on the rocks, crashed

against the rocks last winter. but there's been a real source of tension here. the white house repeatedly has tried to reach out to the progressives. white house chief of staff is the emissary from the west wing to the progressive caucus. i think there's been a growing sense of frustration in the white house. aides i talked to confirm this. they have been really almost fed up with some of the demands from the left. of course, they understand them on some issues. other things, far less so. i think that statement this weekend was a bit of a tell. a tell from the white house saying, look, we're doing what we can on abortion. we're doing what we can on guns, on voting rights. that is frustrating to some democrats. now, to be fair, it wasn't just the progressive left upset at that kate bedingfield statement. a number of democrats across the party were frustrated by that because they feel like abortion rights is not just a progressive issue. there are some things that are in the camp the progressives want more than other democrats. abortion rights pretty much has

unanimous support across the democratic party. there were a number of democrats across the spectrum who felt they were being marginalized by the statement. interesting to see if the white house says more about that in the days ahead. one careful about their messaging, this one was not well received. to the broader point, we heard more executive orders from the president on friday on abortion rights. they're exploring others thing, potentially the federal emergency, the health moment, but i think we're seeing democrats wanting more fire, even if they can't deliver more in the way of results. still ahead, as russian casualties mount in ukraine, moscow appears to be desperate for new recruits. we'll tell you about the stealth mobilization it is resorting to. we'll be right back with much more "morning joe." l be

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55 past the hour. live look at washington, d.c. as the sun comes up this morning. united states is sending $400 million in weapons and security systems to ukraine. the department of defense announced the package friday. it includes four rocket systems, tactical vehicles, artillery systems and ammunition. since the war began in late february, the u.s. committed more than $7 billion in aid to ukraine. >> boy, it really does continue. jonathan lemire, you have president zelenskyy, at this point, just an open verbal warfare with germany and germany's leaders and france, as well. zelenskyy, who was a bit critical toward everybody in the beginning, is now saying the

united states is just doing absolutely everything it can do. but, man, he is embittered by germany and france. >> white house aides always said they don't blame zelenskyy for these appeals. even for the criticisms and, at times, it was directed at the white house, as well. president biden and the administration more than stepped up. another aid package coming. certainly in a few weeks, i'd expect we'd get another, aides said. but zelenskyy is frustrated with a couple other countries. germany and france top of the list. it comes on the heels of those nato and g7 summits just in europe two weeks ago, in which those leaders all pledged their support for as long as it takes to give kyiv what it needs. now, it seems they're not following through. as the violence continues to escalate in the donbas region, the ukrainians are worried they'll run out of weapons. they need other countries to do their part. russia appears desperate to add new troops to their ranks.

"the new york times" reports they need more soldiers desperately, and are already using what some analysts call a stealth mobilization to bring in new recruits without resorting to a politically risky national draft. avoiding a draft allows russia to maintain that the war is, quote, a special military operation. the paper continues, to make up the manpower shortfall, the kremlin is relying on a combination of impoverished ethnic minorities, ukrainians from the separatist territories, mercenaries, and militarized national guard units to fight the war, and promising hefty cash incentives for volunteers. the numbers of battlefield dead and wounded are closely held secrets on both sides. the british military recentliest recently estimated the tens of thousands in wounded. the number is far greater than the number of american troops

killed over 20 years in iraq and afghanistan combined. a number of analysts raised doubts about how long russia can sustain its offense in ukraine would be a general mobilization draft. >> they're relying on people from the most impoverished regions, ethnic minorities inside russia. >> promising cash. >> 25,000 troops killed. >> do they get the cash? >> only a handful of troops from moscow or st. petersburg. only a handful. you have people bitterly complaining they're not getting paid, then they're being pressured to go out and recant that. it's not a good situation in russia. >> it's a mess. coming up, quote, high noon for liz cheney. that's how a new piece for the "economist" puts it. the example being set by wyoming

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["only wanna be with you" by hootie & the blowfish] ♪♪ ♪♪ the terminology around january 6th has been watered down over time. talking about it as a riot or an insurrection. those are perfectly good words. they capture a piece of it, but they don't capture the extent to

which this was a revolutionary act. or an act of treason. >> dramatic footage from the new documentary, "unprecedented." on the aftermath of the 2020 election and the attack on the capitol. >> and -- >> what an attack. >> -- call it what it is, as the gentleman just said. it's treason. >> the film's director -- >> donald trump committed treason against the united states of america. if you're wondering what january 6th is about, it's about treason. >> yeah. >> if you look at those images, if you look at what those people were trying to do, they were committing treason against the united states of america. that's something -- we're looking at don jr. that's something don jr. understood. >> yeah. >> something ivanka trump understood. >> they understood it too late. >> it is something the children understood. >> i'm talking about january 6th, calling and trying it stop it. it is something sean hannity

understood. something laura ingraham understood. something all of the people who supported him the most understood on january 6th. >> yes, they did. >> they were trying to get him to stop it. he didn't. he didn't. that's something that merrick garland and people of the justice department, as they just get this extraordinary evidence from the january 6th committee, it's something that they need to look at closely and understand that, in america, there's some of us who are still suckers. there's some of us who still believe that no man should be above the law. >> yeah. >> even if that man is a former president who tried to destroy american democracy. it's pretty cut and dry. it's pretty black and white. people can fight about it if they want. the anti anti-trump mobsters online, they can do whatever they want, say, "oh, look over there." no, you can't look over there. you can't say, "look what nancy pelosi did or aoc." no, we're talking about january 6th.

either we live in a country where no man is above the law -- >> right. >> -- or we don't. >> that's the bottom line. >> that's something merrick garland has to figure out. yes, it is merrick garland who, he loves investigating. >> i don't know where he is. >> i don't know if he likes actually bringing top political figures to justice or not. we will find out. >> yeah. >> that will be his legacy, and that will determine what leaders do in the future, if they feel they can get away with anything, including trying to overthrow the united states government. >> so many people are -- >> it's cut and dry. >> -- serving time for what they did in the name of trump. that's what the january 6th committee is working very methodically to prove. that line between trump and the people who carried out the attack, and they're sewing together an incredible story, a reality show. because it was reality. it was trump's reality. and the film's director we're

talking about now had extraordinary access to the white house during that time. he's going to be our guest in the next hour. we'll also have the very latest on the house investigation into january 6th. former trump aide steve bannon says he is willing to meet with the committee. former white house counsel pat cipollone met with the committee on friday. while a former member of the oath keepers extremist group is set to testify publicly tomorrow. welcome back to "morning joe." monday, july 11th. a lot going on. jonathan lemire is still with us. let's dive into the new developments. the next hearing into the january 6th attack on the capitol is tomorrow. it will focus on what the committee has called the marshaling of the mob. this will reportedly include evidence of coordination between trump world and the extremist groups that led the attack on the capitol. such as the proud boys and the oath keepers. a source tells nbc news former

oath keepers spokesperson jason van tatenhove will testify. he left the group in 2017 but will speak about how it spreads propaganda and how it became radical over the years. he has met with the committee twice before. former white house counsel pat cipollone appeared before the house select committee on friday. he sat for a marathon interview behind closed doors. he and his lawyers took several breaks throughout the day, but all today, cipollone was in the deposition room for more than 7 hours. committee members say he was cooperative, and his sworn testimony did not contradict that of other witnesses. it is important to bring that out, joe, because cassidy hutchinson quoted him a lot in her testimony. really talked about what was going on around trump on january 6th and around pat cipollone. so he might not be able to share

everything. there was some executive privilege. maybe, you know, certain things he can't talk about. but he certainly can corroborate conversations he had with other people in the white house. >> right. and what he observed. >> what he observed, yeah. >> he's not going to be able to where he has one-on-one conversations with the president, attorney-client privilege. he certainly -- i don't think that privilege is ever going to be pierced by the supreme court. in this case. but you do have examples, jonathan lemire, time and time again when the lawyer sat around. you had mr. oil spill trying to take over the justice department. you had two members of trump's legal team going, "no, you can't do it." we heard, of course, pat cipollone also telling the president of the united states it was a no-go, it was a red line he could not cross. if he did, he'd be in charge of a ghost town, basically. the justice department.

and cassidy hutchinson's testimony on what happened in and around the white house on that day, getting the phone call from pat cipollone, saying, "keep him away from the capitol because they can charge us with every crime under the book." pat cipollone, hearing, again, all the other conversations. going into mark meadow saying, basically, "get off your damn phone. get up and do something, or else the blood will be on your hands. "all of that, obviously, fair game. i suspect we're going to be hearing one example after another of how donald trump and his little trumpers were all lying when they were trying to undermine the testimony that we've already heard from the january 6th committee. >> let this be a message sent to any environmental lawyer who wants to participate in a coup. you'll be known as oil spill going forward. tough for them. but cipollone was a key figure and someone the january 6th committee desperately wanted to

talk to. it raised eyebrows when liz cheney ended a hearing with a public plea for his cooperation. saying, "you can testify." that, "yes, we understand there will be some things executive privilege, one-on-one conversation with the president, it's attorney-client and we get you can't talk about that. it's fair." there is no sense he did. what she asked for is what the committee ended up getting. he was able to answer other questions, corroborate conversations he had with other members of the white house staff, including then chief of staff mark meadows. he did not, by all accounts, contradict anything said by cassidy hutchinson who spoke ten days ago or so with her explosive testimony that pinted trump unhinged on the days around january 6th. and cipollone warned so many people in the white house laws were being broken and they could be arrested, basically, by day's end. i suspect the committee will use

his testimony effectively in the two hearings we'll see later this week. >> we're also finding out from the "washington post" why exactly cassidy hutchinson's testimony was moved forward as quickly as it was. >> right. >> here's a quote. in june, a caller to ms. hutchinson, according to the "new york times," a person said, quote, let me know -- a person let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. he wants me to let you know he is thinking about you. he knows you're loyal, and you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition. mika, that's also something liz cheney was talking about at the end of the last hearing after cassidy hutchinson said several people got phone calls. you know what they call it in most courts? >> witness tampering. >> yeah, witness tampering. that sort of witness tampering going on. with that witness tampering going on, and with rising

concerns from the pressure she was receiing inside trump world, with the phone call being made, another example of why they rushed her testimony. >> she definitely did a great job. and i don't know who would be stupid enough to lie under oath for trump. but there is a cult-like feeling to all of this, so we'll see what happens this week. this is a huge week ahead. also, former white house strategist steve bannon says he is willing to testify before the january 6th committee. this is interesting. this is according to a letter his lawyer sent to the committee over the weekend. bannon's willingness to cooperate comes a week before jury selection is supposed to start in his contempt of congress trial. he was indicted back in november for not complying with a congressional subpoena sent by the select committee. also over the weekend, former president trump released a letter saying he would waive executive privilege over bannon's testimony. a federal judge has previously

called trump's claim of executive privilege, quote, at best, ambiguous. nbc news legal analyst barbara mcquaid posted on twitter the letter from bannon's team to the committee was, quote, a gimmick to provide last-ditch defense in bannon's case and poison the well in the january 6th investigation. let's bring in investigations reporter for the "washington post," jackie alemany. and state attorney for palm beach county, dave aronberg. good to have you both. jackie, what else can we expect this week, and what does steve bannon's willingness to testify, what does it tell us? is it going to be a day of pleading the fifth? my gosh, he wouldn't dare lie under oath, would he? >> mika, there are a lot of questions about steve bannon's potential testify. fresh in this morning is another interesting development, which is that in his contempt of congress case, which he's actually supposed to appear in federal court for today, justin

clark, a lawyer to former president trump who was in negotiations with bannon's lawyer, appeared before that court and said that the former president actually did not exert executive privilege over bannon's potential testimony, contrary to what his lawyer has been arguing. barbara mcquaid's tweet, i think, was pretty on the mark, that this was a gimmick. bannon is facing potential legal fines, up to a year in prison for this contempt of congress. >> wow. >> this charge he is facing right now. but if he does come forth to the committee, i think he could fill in some gaps about his conversations with the former president. we reported in our deep dive over the weekend that his numbers all over white house call logs on january 5th and january 6th. he was also someone who spoke to the president in december. he considers himself sort of the idealogical grandfather of this stop the steal movement and the efforts to overturn the results

of the election. we also know he was one of the few to receive a pardon from the former president after january 6th. paul gosar, the congressman from arizona, is the person who emailed the white house counsel asking for this pardon for bannon and four of his co-defendants in the we build the wall fraud case. bannon ultimately was the only one out of the group of four to receive the pardon on, i believe, january 19th. so there are lots of interesting questions here. also, the fact that bannon is viewed as sort of one of those figures in the quote, unquote, marshalling of the mob that we've heard lawmakers on the panel discuss in the lead-up to tuesday's hearing. >> yeah, it's going to be fascinating to see. mika, you were asking whether it was he was going to plead the fifth. fascinating to see what he has done. for someone who has been in trouble, that's gotten a pardon, pleading the fifth obviously would make a lot more sense than going in,committing perjury for

a guy who wouldn't lift a finger to try to defend him. dave aronberg, let me read you this quote again that i just lifted from the "times." a person let cassidy hutchinson know, called up and said, a person, quote, let me know you have a deposition tomorrow. he is thinking about you. he knows you are loyal, and you are going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition. sounds like it's out of "good fellas" or the "godfather." is that witness tampering? >> sounds like it to me, joe. can get you up to 20 years in federal prison. witness tampering is easy to prove, hard to defend, and they provide evidence of guilt of other crime. you have the underlying offense, then it shows consciousness of guilt of other crimes. yeah, it does sound like a mob boss. they kept their names out of it. they didn't say who it was. it was a person. so it's up to merrick garland

and doj whether they want to get serious enough to move forward on this, joe. it is a test of wills. does doj, does merrick garland have the stomach for this fight? we shall see. >> jackie, we were talking about pat cipollone and how anticipated his testimony is to be shown publicly. he was behind closed doors friday. has the committee given any sense as to how and how much we'll hear from him in the next couple days? and the aides you talked to over the weekend, were they satisfied from what they heard? he was certainly a big fish for them all along. >> yeah, you heard the lawmakers who basically made the circuit on sunday shows yesterday, talking about how much info and how crucial pat cipollone's testimony was. this came after a little bit of a spin game from his side of the story, which said that he did not corroborate cassidy -- he

was not asked questions about corroborating cassidy hutchison's testimony. then you heard that that was actually not true. he did corroborate parts of cassidy's testimony. it was just not the full reason why he was brought in. and he also provided the committee with tons of new information. at the end of the day, this was to be expected. i mean, this person is not -- was not just mentioned by cassidy hutchinson but also a handful of the former president's top officials in senior positions, like rich donahue, who was at the top of the department of justice, and jeffrey rosen, who also named pat cipollone as someone who was essentially the last firewall of rationality and reason in the white house, who prevented the president from trying to implement some of these schemes. i'm not sure how much we'll see of him exactly on tuesday, but i expect on thursday the hearing that is supposed to be focused on the 187 minutes of trump's

dereliction of duty, is what the lawmakers have been referring to it as, during that hearing. which is, you know, what we've already heard bits and pieces of. cassidy hutchinson saying that during that time between when the violence had broken out on the capitol and when the president issued a statement, the efforts made to intervene. you heard her recount a conversation between chief of staff mark meadows and pat cipollone, where pat said, "mark, we've got to go in there and do something." he'd previously said to cassidy hutchinson that the former president was going to be responsible for every crime imaginable. mark meadows said back to pat cipollone, "the president doesn't want to do anything, pat," and ultimately didn't go in there. we'll probably hear quite a bit about pat cipollone's efforts to try to intervene. one more note, contrary to, again, the spin that cipollone's team was putting out ahead of

this extensive deposition he did with lawmakers, there weren't any parameters, actually, on this deposition. investigators were free to ask as many questions about as many topics as possible. of course, it is unclear how many times pat cipollone exerted the executive privilege, but it does seem, based on sort of the teases we've heard so far, that he did provide new information. >> yeah, so, dave aronberg, we're going to hear more about donald trump's dereliction of duty. obviously, again, from reports, watching the most violent parts of the protests in the dining room off the oval office. rewinding to see the most violent parts over and over again because he enjoyed it so much. throwing food against the ball like a baby. saying mike pence deserved to be hung. sending out a tweet when mike pence was in danger. they all add up. it adds up to a political

indictment, no doubt about it. it adds up to a political indictment for people around him, like mark meadows, who actually let the riots and insurrection move forward. my question, though, is legally, if you're the prosecutor, you've got the riots going on down at the capitol. you've got the proud boys and you have the oath keepers and you have these other groups that have just out and out said they wanted to have an insurrection. they wanted to overturn the election results. they wanted to stop the counting of the electoral college. the question is, what do we need to hear from the committee that draws a line between those two points and puts donald trump at the center of it? what testimony do we need to hear? >> joe, i thought cassidy hutchinson's testimony went a long way.

because, for the first time, she tied donald trump to violence on that day. the key is tying him to the vie violence. when she said he knew the supporters were armed at the ellipse and he still wanted them to go to the capitol because he wanted to take down the metal detecters, that's pretty damning. when he said, apparently, they are not there to harm him, well, what are they there to harm? people counting the votes. so if you could also show that he was involved in the discussion with the oath keepers, proud boys, to do violence that day, that also is pretty damning. the potential charges are obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the united states, possible seditious conspiracy, and incitement of a riot. all those are on the table really because of cassidy hutchinson and what is to come. if i can go back to one quick thing, i love how steve bannon is now saying that, yes, i can testify because i have my privilege waived by the former president. that's garbage. that is a last-minute, bogus

defense, because he had no defense and he's worried about his trial in a week. saying, hey, i can testify because my executive periph ledge is waived, which he never had, is like me saying, joe, i am here with you today because my right has been waived to play shortstop for the boston red sox. never existed in the first place! it's a last-ditch effort by a desperate man, and it's not going to work. >> all right. state attorney for palm beach county, dave aronberg, and the "washington post"'s jackie alemany, thank you, both, very much for staying on this. in a moment, we're going to take a closer look at the role liz cheney continues to play in all of this. first, some of the other stories making headlines this morning. twitter has retained a prominent new york law firm as it gears up to fight elon musk over his decision to abandon his billion dollar takeover of the social media giant. friday, musk's attorney notified twitter's board that he wants to cancel his $44 billion takeover

of the company, citing issues with the number of bots and fake accounts on the social media platform. musk claimed the company isn't being truthful about how much activity on the service is authentic. the company insists it has fully complied with the deal's disclosure requirements. hmm. we could learn a lot about twitter in all of this. senate democrats are reportedly making progress on a $500 billion spending bill to pass key elements of president biden's agenda. senate majority leader chuck schumer and west virginia democrat joe manchin agreed on a series of provisions, including steps to lower prescription drug costs and raise taxes on some high earners. sources say the new bill could have the support of all 50 senate democrats. however, while certain elements of the bill have reportedly being agreed on, democrats have not yet reached a final deal on the package.

transportation secretary pete buttigieg says public figures like supreme court justices should expect more peaceful protests. this comes in response to a police by "politico" that justice kavanaugh left a d.c. restaurant through a back exit last week after demonstrators showed up outside. buttigieg's husband tweeted about the incident, writing, sounds like he just wanted some privacy to make his own dining decisions. a reference to the recent decision by the supreme court to overturn roe v. wade. here's part of what pete buttigieg had to say about it when he was asked about it on fox news, about his husband's tweet. >> look, when public officials go into public life, we should expect two things. one, you should always be free from violence, harassment, and intimidation. two, you're never going to be free from criticism or peaceful

protests, people exercising their first amendment rights. >> okay. >> that's what happened in this case. remember, the justice never even came into contact with these protesters. reportedly didn't see or hear them. these protesters are upset because a right, an important right, that the majority of americans support, was taken away. >> so, joe, the -- i have a number of feelings about protesting outside someone's home, for example. >> right. >> just don't like it. but if you're on public president and you are peaceful, you have that right. >> well, if you're on public property, yeah. you know, the thing is, though, again, it's a question of who do we want in office? do we want people in office that are effective, that are -- that are the best we can get? you know, when you start seeing

protests outside of people's homes in suburban neighborhoods, when you start seeing -- and this wasn't the case, apparently, from what pete said. he said he never even came in contact with the protesters, so i'm not talking about that here. but, you know, i saw a picture of people coming up on mitch mcconnell who was eating dinner with his wife. people coming up in a public restaurant. that's a problem. i remember talking to a democratic mayor who was thinking about running for a statewide office, but said that, you know, it was hard getting his wife to agree to do it because people were following her around with cameras. >> yeah. >> in a grocery store. they would go out in the morning to get coffee at a coffee shop, and these republican people were following them around with cameras. everything they did, just trying to make their life a living and breathing hell. i think, again, yes, people have the right to go in and videotape

people inside grocery stores, i guess, if that's what they want to do, or to campaign outside or protest outside of people's homes, if that's what they want to do. i would just hope, though, that there would be some sort of zone of privacy. it is ironic. >> is your point of the action a protest or to make the person's life miserable, to get in their personal space, to make them feel unsafe? that's not effective protest. protest is to have your voice heard. to make sure that if you feel your rights are being infrigid upon by the decisions of others, that you want to galvanize support for that. maybe get the vote out. i mean, it's all connected in a more peaceful and sort of public galvanizing kind of way. not, you know, getting in someone's face in a restaurant or a grocery store to scare them. >> well -- >> it's different.

>> -- it's not going to help your cause either. it'll make you feel good about yourself, but it won't help your cause. most americans will be turned off by that. get angry and tweet at me all you want to, i really don't care. i'm talking about what is best for this country. what is best for this country is having good leaders. >> please protest, yeah. >> who can go to public life without being fearful their family is going to be followed around at grocery stores, at restaurants, or outside their homes. ahead on "morning joe," brittney griner's trial in russia is expected to resume later this week. the growing pressure on the white house to bring the wnba star home. plus, how president biden is defending his upcoming trip to saudi arabia. we'll read from his new piece in the "washington post," where the word "oil" comes up only once. also ahead, what happened to former national security adviser

michael flynn? one of our next guests says he was, quote, renown for his skill connecting the dots, but somewhere along the way, his dot detecter began spinning out of control. >> this is one of the surprising things. you actually talk to people like general mccaffrey, who will tell you that, in his time, the general was a great intel officers and then just lost it. >> yeah. you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. yeah. my mental health was much better. my mind was in a good place. but my body was telling a different story. you'retardive dyskinesia, or td, and it's unlikely to improve without treatment. ingrezza is a prescription medicine to treat adults with td movements in the face and body.

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up in solidarity, bringing attention to brittney griner, who has been wrong any detained in russia. >> really surreal, special moment for the wnba all-star, as these players are literally saying, we have your back. >> that was a moment from yesterday's wnba all-star game, where the players put a spotlight on brittney griner, who is still being held in a russian jail. joining us now, nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. is there any progress in getting the basketball superstar home? >> well, her russian lawyers, mika and joe, they believe the trial will last until august no matter what she does. she has accelerated it by pleading guilty to, she says, mistakenly packing in a hurry and having vape cartridges with cannabis oil, which is illegal. she pleaded guilty to that.

this is after being detained four months. now, today is her 145th day. you can see the players. this is a 31-year-old woman who is no longer able to condition herself. she's in a small jail cell. going to and from trial, which she will resume tomorrow. it is a 2 1/2 hour trip in a small cage with her knees bent up, you know, under her chin. she's 6'9". it is extraordinary. the fact is now that the president is deeply involved. he spoke to her wife, you know, the reverend al is involved, trying to press for this. he is very involved in the wnba all-star game last night in chicago. or yesterday afternoon in chicago. they're all rallying around her and, frankly, most experts, including our ambassador to russia, don't believe there will be serious negotiations. this weekend, tony blinken

scolded the russians for stealing ukrainian grain and starving the rest of the world, sub-saharan africa, egypt, morocco, all relying on ukrainian grain exports which are, of course, blockaded now because of the russian blockade in the black sea. so the russian-u.s. relations are at the worst ever since the russian cold war. there will be nothing for a prisoner swap probably until august, when the trial finally will end. she'll be back in court tomorrow. >> keep us posted on that. we also wanted your reporting on this. president biden is defending his decision to visit saudi arabia. in a new "washington post" op-ed, saying his goal is to reorient but not rupture relations with a strategic

partner of 80 years. he writes, i know there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to saudi arabia. my views on human rights are clear and longstanding. fundamental freedoms are always on the agenda when i travel abroad. as they will be during this trip. just as they will be in israels and the west bank. as president, it is my job to keep our country strong and secure. we have to counter russia's aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to out compete china and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world. to do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact the outcomes. saudi arabia is one of them. when i meet with saudi leaders on friday, my aim will be to strengthen a strategic partnership going forward that's based on mutual interests and responsibilities, while also holding true to fundamental

american values. i will be the first president to visit the middle east with 9/11 without troops engaged in a combat mission there. it's my aim to keep it that way. of course, andrea, there are complications to this visit. >> sure. >> will they talk about those complications? >> well, he says he will. clearly, he is focused now on what he believes to be larger geopolitical issues. he makes the point, correctly, there is a cease-fire in yemen that is temporarily holding until he took office. that they have fewer attacks in iraq against u.s. troops and other interests. the gaza outbreak last year was resolved in 11 days. that said, there's a lot of bipartisan controversial on the hill over this because, not only, importantly, though, jamal

khashoggi and that release from the intelligence community, the cia, did come on biden's watch. it was held up and, you know, deep sixed under former president trump. acknowledging the direct responsibility, they believe, on bin salmon, the de facto leader, for the order to kill. that said, there's still many, many women whom i have interviewed the relatives of, been to the kingdom, many women in jail for minor offenses, other human rights abuses, families of people who have escaped from the travel ban on them for being protesters. their families are now under arrest. the human rights abuses are egregious. many are angry about this and are protesting. it'll be controversial. we have not confirmed this, but reuters is reporting today that the administration is exploring the possibility of lifting its

ban on selling offensive, not just defensive, but offensive weapons to saudi arabia. that is going to be difficult and will require congressional action, as well. this will be a tough trip. the president also points out he'll be the first american president to fly directly from israel. my understanding is the saudis are not yet prepared to recognize israel publicly. they've been dealing with israeli leaders for years on mutual security concerns, ie, iran, but they're not ready to go as far as president trump did, frankly, with the accords and other gulf states recognizing israel. >> andrea mitchell, thank you very much for your insight. we'll be watching "andrea mitchell reports" at noon eastern and all her coverage of this trip. now to the latest in the assassination of former japanese prime minister shinzo abe. a private wake was held in a

japanese temple overnight as investigators piece together details of what led to the shooting. joins us live from beijing, foreign correspondent janis mackey frayer. janis, what more can you tell us? what's the latest? >> reporter: a private funeral is being held in tokyo, where antony blinken showed condolences today. police say the gunman confessed that it wasn't politics that drove him to target abe to kill him. as japan mourns the loss of a long-time leader, shocking revelations around the death of abe. overnight, abe's body arriving at a tokyo temple, the site of a private wake for the former prime minister. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken making his way to japan,

sharing condolences from president biden. >> i shared with our japanese colleagues the sense of loss, the sense of shock that we all feel, the american people feel, at this horrific tragedy and killing. >> reporter: japanese authorities are now facing a complex murder investigation, as they piece together the shooter's plan of attack. over the weekend, the 41-year-old suspect, tetsuya yamagami, was transported from a local jail to a prosecutor's office. police say he confessed to killing abe and he believed the former prime minister was tied to a religious group that he said his mother obsessed over, which eventually caused her financial stress. japanese outlets report that yamagami said he planned to make explosives for the attack but switched to homemade guns instead. investigators seizing multiple weapons during a raid on his home. still, in the wake of tragedy, japanese voters heading to the

polls. in an election that abe was campaigning for when he was shot. leaders holding a moment of silence before announcing results. a major victory for abe's party, which earned a super majority in parliament. results analysts say are likely bolstered by the news of his death. a grieving country now seeking answers. police investigators they are saying they couldn't connect the religious group. but a group known as the unification church, rooted in south korea, told japanese media the suspect's mother is a member. the police are also looking into their own security failings to figure out why the gunman wasn't tackled after the first shot, allowing him that second shot that ultimately killed shinzo abe. a lot of questions still in japan, mika.

>> nbc's janis mackey frayer reporting from beijing. thank you so much for that. we want to turn back now to the january 6th select committee and the spotlight on its vice chair liz cheney. lexington columnist at the "economist," james benne writes about her for the new issue. the piece is "high noon for liz cheney." you write, in part, this, congresswoman's failing, her challenger hageman, says that she has goeb her own way rather than ride for the brand. you can guess what the brand really is. now trump is so pop you already in wyoming, even a democrat seeking cheney's seat supports him. haghman backs with zeal and questions the legitimacy of his defeat in 2020. cheney traveled the other way. she endorsed trump in 2016 and

voted with him more than 90% of the time. then on the night of january 6th, last year, cheney found herself in the capitol's statuary hall. wyoming's pimary is august 16th, and cheney appears to be trailing. alan simpson, former three-term senator has known her since she was a girl. asked if she could win, he says he doesn't know. that really isn't the issue for her, he adds. that's not the golden chalice for liz. >> it's great, a great article. great to have james with us. of course, for those of you who don't remember, james got in trouble for printing his senator's op-ed, that a majority of americans agreed with at the time, even though i strongly did not. i'm sure he strongly did not. but that's what free speech is about in most newsrooms. hopefully that has -- hopefully that free speech is celebrated.

james benett, that was one of the most pathetic spectacles by a news staff, but i apologize for saying that on a split screen. >> that's not why you're here. >> thank you, joe. thank you. >> i wish there weren't a split screen when i said that. i'll say more later. james, i love the imagery here. i love the high noon imagery. cooper on the day of his wedding. like george bailey, he wants to go off on his honeymoon. he just want to leave town. notice the bad guys are coming back into town. he is abandoned by everybody but his wife. happens to be grace kelly. good ally to have. but he won't leave. he stands up, though his life is on the line, and just like liz cheney, her political life is on the line, and here she is while these weak, weak men run and hide. liz cheney is standing up and

doing what she thinks is right. >> yeah. and liz cheney, like will cane in "high noon" has been, you know, looking to her allies, trying to find support, and nobody is coming out to defend her. quite the opposite in her party. >> crazy. >> in wyoming and nationally, turning on her because she is committing what is the great sin in this era, to go against her own tribe. she's doing it -- she's the counterpoint to the pathetic men, mika, you were talking about with mark leibovich earlier. she refuses to look away from what happened on january 6th. >> i mean, you point out, liz cheney is a conseconservative's conservative. >> yes. >> you also point out the democrats embracing her now is heroic. a lot of the same democrats who despised her when she wasn't going after donald trump. talk about that. talk about the very nature of

washington, d.c., how she can be a hero today when they despised her yesterday. as we all know, if she does something they don't like tomorrow, they'll despise her tomorrow. >> yeah, it wasn't long ago that the republicans were talking about her as a future speaker of the house. i mean, two years ago. democrats were reviling her for being, you know, a very sharp-tongued -- opponent, you know, who was accusing the democrats of being the party of anti-semitism and so forth. you know, it's just the way these things work. to the extent you're a critic of your own side, the other side is now willing to embrace you. look, the democrats aren't so kind to mavericks in their own ranks, too. the fact is that, in this era, we don't have a lot of respect for people like liz cheney unless they wind up serving our own politics, you know,

unfortunately. democrats are now seeing her as an example of courage and backbone, which she is, but they didn't appreciate those same qualities when she was deploying them, you know, in support of a very hawkish foreign policy, in support of other conservative objectives like cutting taxes and so forth. she voted with donald trump more than 90% of the time. but he crossed a line for her on january 6th. it was an important line. she said in debate in wyoming the week before last, she said, look, i'll never betray my oath of office. if you want someone who is gong to do that, you should vote for somebody else. it is exactly the kind of thing we say we want to see politicians say. >> yeah. >> i think she's an example for all of us. that's part of the message of "high noon." you know, we all like to idea with the brave sheriff who does the right thing, but that movie was made in the mccarthy era. the script writer was actually called -- joe, you know this history -- to testify before the

house on american activities committee. he refused to name other people who were communists. he paid a price for that. he was really trying to indict all of us and say, when push comes to shove, we tend to make compromises. we tend to tell ourselves we're doing the right thing, but

good to have you both with us. i'll start with you, there was a big case against a drug company pertaining to opioids, but this

is still going on and it seems to be getting far worse. >> it is getting far worse. you know, this is the story in our book about the opioid epidemic that you don't know. most people think of -- when they think of the opioid epidemic, they think of purdue pharma and oxycontin. actually, there was a constellation of companies, large corporations in america, some that most people have heard of, household names like walmart, walgreens, cvs, johnson & johnson, and some that you've never heard of, and we hadn't heard of. one from st. louis. these companies together basically made and distributed 100 billion pain pills that they flooded communities all over the country with and addicted and killed millions of americans.

>> so why haven't we -- scott, i'll go to you. why haven't we heard about these specific cases? and it is correct, the sackler case kind of gave people a sense that this is being dealt with and, yet, it continues. some major companies that she just mentioned are companies that we know very well. >> yeah. well, you know, the sacklers and purdue pharma is an easy target, and it is easy to kind of understand, if you just look at -- excuse me -- one company and one family. but when you look at the broader picture, which we have done, you know, we took this two years to investigate and write this book, you see that there are so many other companies that were far more egregious than purdue pharma. she mentioned one of them, a company we had never heard of. they've been in business 100 years, based in st. louis, and they manufactured a but 30

milligram oxycodone tablet that became so popular on the streets that dealers and users were referring to them and asking for them by name. saying, give me some blues. give me some 30s. give me the ms. you know, this company's conduct became so egregious, they were called a drug kingpin, that term. they produced 30 times the amount purdue pharma did. there were many under the radar. when sackler or purdue is mentioned, these companies breathe a sigh of relief they're not singled out. our book calls them to account. there are many, many chapters, characters, stories who try to hold these companies to account. some of them have been held to account. most of them have not. >> jonathan lemire. congrats on the book. eye-opening stuff in here.

walk us through, if you will, what is being done about this. you know, the opioid epidemic out of control in so much of our country. you paint the portrait here of how that happened and the web of complicity. but what is now the government doing to try to bring this to an end? >> good morning, jonathan. i want to pick up on your point about the web of complicity. this is something we really go into in the book, and i want to answer that part first. this book is an example of the revolving door of washington. it really captures how these drug companies lured dozens of employees from the dea and the justice department because they had higher salaries. so for higher salaries, they got these employees who were there to protect us from dangerous and addictive narcotics, and they used them to work against the dea and against the justice department. there is an incredible story in

our book about how they actually hired someone from the dea who helped write a law that undercut, at the height of the opioid epidemic, undercut the dea's abilities to hold these companies accountable. it is an amazing story of how washington works. >> wow. >> and now --these companies accountable. we tell the story through the agent. he had been there for 30 years. sort of a revered agent. he ran the division of the da who policed the company. who regulated the company. he saw what they were doing so he went after them. he shut down their warehouses. force them to pay millions of dollars. these companies, they fought

back. they take the justice department to court. they lost there. so then they went to congress. they got a law passed with the help of lobbyists and lawyers that undercut the efforts of the da. then they went after them. he was forced out of government. it is a really stunning story about how washington works.>> it feels like a movie and it is a really important story. the new book is american cartel. inside the battle to bring down the opioid industry. washington post investigative reporter. thank you both. very much. it is two minutes past the top of the hour. as we take a look at the top headlines this morning.>> on their website.

the numbers for joe biden. they are about as bad as they could possibly be. 33 percent approval rating. 64 percent of democrats say we want someone else to run in 2024. they do a head-to-head matchup with donald trump. joe biden wins. 44. donald trump 41. this reminds me every day. she is negative headline. not just from fox news. it is like catnip i guess for people. how could she be advised resident.

that is all they do. you think to yourself. could anybody be as unpopular as vice president of the united states. ever in the history of the republic. then you look. the head-to-head matchup. the guy that we hear every day. the florida man from the right. he is going to win. he really showed the press. he really showed the teachers. is really showing people. then we hear. the left is scared of him. she beats him in a head-to-head matchup. my point is not.

my point is that every day, i think we present these false positives. their numbers are horrible. that is the new normal. i said from the time of the election in france. the american people did not like. they thought they may even relate to them more. yet there like we're going to go with the guy we do not like over this person who is a lunatic. if there's anything to define what the republican party is right now, you are 13 and 14

years old, to flee the state. forced birds. for rave and incest victims. they are allowing the raised 18- year-olds to a military weapons of war. they do not want 18-year-olds to get. january 6. providing cover for donald trump. all of the stuff adds up. it adds up to a point. i'm not really thrilled with what is happening in the white house. i'm sure not going to trust republicans. these guys are wackos. i have never seen polls like this again. 33 percent approval rating.

64 percent of democrats said they do not want joe biden to run again. yet he beats him in a head-to- head match. sensing. when is the last positive profile you have seen about her. but judging by looking at the news everyday. do we believe she would beat him in a head-to-head matchup in one pole after another? of course republicans are going to rig a poll. let's fix on so he actually beats her. maybe put in more republicans very they just pull all white people. whatever floats your boat. it is really crazy. just again, the bad news we hear about this white house. yet he still beats trump. it is crazy.>> a few takeaways

here. a correspondent there. first of all i think there is a sense. there is a frustration among some democrats. a sense of eternal gratitude. thinking perhaps is not the right guy. maybe because of matters of effectiveness and age that he should not be the nominee in 2024. there is also a sense. one as we see the overall poll numbers across the board. maybe a sense among american voters they just want something different. they have already seen this race in 2020. your point is also important one. as for liz this white house are polling. there is not been a positive profile in ages.

the republicans seem to be out of step from the mainstream. certainly a general sense of frustration and discontent. because of matters like inflation. because the january 6 hearing. the list goes on and on. if you take the issues. more americans agree with the democrats are. right now, it is a question of personality perhaps. we just not sure would like how this white house is doing things. so many of the challenges are out of their control. things like global inflation. the supreme court. there still better on the issues for most americans the republicans. even though they know this midterm environment is challenging, when they see the list of choices on the republican side. when they see the potential candidates, they might say did not just between me.

>> there is another story about republicans being concerned about some of the senate candidates. this should be a extraordinary year. for the republican party. they still may be extraordinarily well. look at the senate candidates. in pennsylvania. new jersey zone. you look at who they put up in ohio. they got to run with ron johnson. just the crackpots in arizona that are lining up. going to be nominated to run there. they are conspiracy theorists. they are the most unelectable. yet they have risen to the top.

i know he has to be pulling his hair out. this should be easy. republicans are making it a lot harder than they should be.>> in pennsylvania, they use trump to try to help them win the primary. he was not trustworthy to some of the candidates. it is kind of depressing at this point. hopefully things will come through. the january 6 committee hearings will help. they resume tomorrow with new revelations expected. nbc news capitol hill correspondent has the latest. >> the january 6 committee in the home stretch. a week of double hearings planned against the backdrop saying he is now open to testifying. this after former president trump gave him the green light wavering previous claims.

it is unclear those protections apply. he had claimed his testimony will be protected because it contained cost confidential communications. but now perhaps frustrated. witnesses continued to come forward, he changed his mind. he is currently facing steep fines and jail times. the committee looking into his actions. he made these comments the day before the right.>> the committee is now also armed with fresh testimony. he sat for nearly 8 hours of questioning friday. it was important for us to understand what the top legal advisor thought about the activities that were happening post election. a new documentary shows him downplaying that day.>> there

were angry from the standpoint of what happened in the election. the committee will also continue to focus on trump's role the much of the republican party still rallying around the former president. a recent poll showing more republicans considering it a legitimate protest. the hearings have made them a controversial figure in her own party. the conservative congresswoman become popular with some democrats. top democratic donors are backing cheney who is in a tight election battle. even though they do not support her policy, the appreciate her defense of democracy. thank you so much for that report. we were just talking about why americans do not trust republicans.

the majority of the republicans saying that january 6 was legitimate political activity. this is a party that is getting smaller. at least the last numbers i sold. is getting more extreme. it is getting more insular. i sit here and i'm just like you. how can joe biden's numbers be so low? just think about it. those suburban voters in northern atlanta. that folder for trump in 2016. but voted for him in 2020. he has only driven them further away. he tried to overturn a election. on january 6. he has been lying

and spreading conspiracy theories. he told oath keepers and the proud boys and everybody else to stand by. again, the point is, i think this is a problem that a lot of people in the national media focused on too much. the whole world is not about winning the republican primary. they turned in on themselves. they have gotten more insular. not only on the issue but on american democracy. it is causing real problems if you look at these polls. yes it is early. the same group of people that gave him a 33 percent approval rating said they would still vote for him over donald trump. the spring in the filmmaker.

he is behind the new documentary. giving us the intimate look at former president trump and his family in those days right after. the 2020 election and leading up to january 6. first here's another clip from his three- part series. m his three- >> no one throws the match. he threw the match. he is responsible. all of the folks around him are responsible. because they through the match.>> in real time. he joins us now. you can see in real time trump inciting the mob and tell them he was going to meet them there. his new three-part series. explores the final month of the

trump presidency. it is called unprecedented. talk to us about perhaps what people have not seen. in all the coverage of january 6. and days leading up that you were able to really reveal in your work.>> this is a series about the dynamic around the family's interactions between the three children and their relation with their father. it is also about the trajectory of how the campaign and it led to the events of january 6. henry 60 not just happen by itself. it happened to so much of the cruelty that came out from the campaign. obviously the position that the trump campaign had with respect to the election being stolen.

when you tell 75 million people that their vote did not count. january 6 is the unfortunate and tragic result. in this clip, those close to the white house discussed the roller coaster ride of emotions in the west wing on election night.>> as the electoral return started to trickle in, the mood started to change.>> there calling arizona for joe biden. >> this is the first time estate has flipped to the other side. the white house is very upset about this. we were told you were not allowed to misrepresent until every vote has been counted. >> that shifts the whole feeling. >> there furious.

fox news. >> they know this is a big deal. that meant there was real danger of losing overall.>> calls remain to the murdoch family. the anchor is he was live on television.>> are you 100 percent sure of that call and why did you make? >> absolutely. he is not going to be take over and win enough votes to eliminate that seven point lead that the former vice president had. >> the bubble would be punctured. people started to get angry.>> they started to float conspiracy theories. >> it is all about how they're going to still the victory.

>> we believe we are on track to win this election. >> all the while he is hearing that he should just go out and claim victory. i do not think they were quite ready to accept what was happening.>> it is so fascinating. i saw more than one or two flags in 2020 said your feelings. trump is going to win. you just cannot handle it. how fascinating that was they figured out there were going to lose, they become the snowflakes. time and time again. he just needs time. come to terms with it. help us out looking into that white house. my sources and a lot of other sources after the election said he knows he lost. he just needs a couple weeks to

get his arms around them. at the same time he is hearing from all these other people saying you need to fight this to the bitter end.>> having met president trump and the people around him is there is essentially one thing that matters. that is trump the brand. the idea. democracy being the president of the united states. it is all about the name and the brand. the idea of associating failure. it is something that is just not compatible. of course, it is a complete lie. the idea the election was stolen. this is something he has been talking about back in 2016. when i saw him in the white house about a month after the election, he became somebody who started to believe in his own life. that is quite a bit dangerous. you cannot have a rational conversation with him anymore.

he is still the incumbent president of the united states of america with all the power. to me, i was totally shocked. the idea that he could actually believe in what he was saying at the time. something that is just terrifying. we saw the result of what happened later in january. obviously again, you see how the three children are all about ensuring that the trump brand survives. it is all about trump. >> the danger you talk about there is what became such interest to the january 6 committee. which is why of course they want to talk to you. in the time you spent with them. this idea of winning. what is your read on whether or not he would mount another campaign. as your siri has aired. talk about now for weeks.

have you heard from him and his family and what is their response?>> i think i leave it to the audience that watches it. my own personal opinion is that he does not normally do the same thing again. when he fails, he pivots and does something else. i think he probably will announce he is going to run. in terms of my interactions with the family. so far there has been quite a deafening silence. we will see what happens. unprecedented. the new three-part docket series on the final months of the trump administration is available to stream now. we talked about how the courts

stood firm in the face of the attempt to overturn the election. what if the court did not have the final say. in a new case the supreme court agreed to take up in the next session. here is what the washington post reports about it. in harper, the republican legislative leaders asked the supreme court to rule that it is unconstitutional for state courts and constitutions to protect federal voting rights. in their view, only state legislator should be able to determine election rules. intervention by congress. by this logic, state legislators under the independent state legislator theory could reject presidential election results they do not like. he is founder of democracy docket and a partner at the law group. is no stranger to the legal

battle surrounding the january 6 rights. they recently called him the first defense against the assault on democracy. when the former president tried to overturn the last election, he led a overwhelmingly successful legal response. it is good to have you on the show. if you could explain to us more what is at stake. in terms of different states and legislators. being able to have more power to overturn election results. how does that work? let's see. we cannot hear you. we had him. i will read from the democracy docket. which he writes. the attacks on our democracy

are growing more and more frequent. lives are turning into laws as republican state legislators are enacting new voter suppression law. to combat fraud. election deniers are being recruited to work and run our state and local elections. legal theories denied the right to vote. they have moved from the extreme french toward the mainstream. what makes them so potentially dangerous is the fact the republicans are advancing a radical legal theory. the independent state legislator theory that would limit the ability to interpret their own state laws and apply their states constitution to federal elections. a measure conservative recently wrote that trump and the republicans can only be stopped from filling the 2024 election at this point if the supreme

court rejects the independent state legislator doctrine. there is some stuff happening all the way down the line that is quite frightening.>> i think we got you back now. you look at what the supreme court did in the 2020 election challenges. they held a firm line against donald trump. the extreme theories that were out there. obviously there is a back-and- forth on how much power state legislators should be given. or whether state courts should have a say in overturning some of these decisions. where do you think it stands right now and why are you so concerned with the makeup of the court regarding this particular case?>> i do not know where we stand right now. we know there were 4 votes to consider the case.

in the past there have not been five votes to adopt this radical french theory. it really is a radical theory. legislative bodies have lost. state and federal courts decide whether or not those laws meet the constitution.>> this would stop. in pennsylvania. from interpreting what a legislator is doing if for some reason a republican legislator in pennsylvania decides we know people voted for the democratic candidate. we're going to send our own electors.>> potential in its strongest form. it would say the actions of the state legislator cannot be reviewed against the states constitution. which really just goes against how the american legal system

works.>> i'm just curious. is it that what they were writing state legislators about saying you do not have to listen to what the voters did.>> this is a choice between whether or not the supreme court is going to side with 38 fake judges fail democracy. or his band of misfit lawyers who are trying to undermine them. i hope the supreme court will stand up for the rights of judges. to do his job. it is a very concerning case because if not, we want up with essentially unchecked power by state legislator.>> thank you very much for coming on the show this morning. still ahead, a capitol police officer who demanded democracy

on january 6 says he was betrayed by president trump. we will read from his new stunning piece. plus we will dig into another important and toddler what happened to michael flynn. one of our next guest wants to know was the former national security advisor always acceptable? or did something happened along the way. we will be right back. ill be r.

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the new york times entitled i was betrayed by president trump. capital police sergeant who was injured during the date january 6 attack wrote this. my right shoulder and left shoulder were so damaged that i needed multiple surgeries. i spent a year and a half and

physical therapy for chronic pain that i have been told would never go away. my young son almost lost his father and my wife had to quit medical school. the demands of my ongoing recovery. five of my colleagues died in more than 150 writers were arrested. so many families have been ruined because of one man's lust for power. even more of the republicans who still refuse to provide testimony under oath and instead dangerously downplay how close we came to losing our democracy. the enabling needs to stop now. he should not only be band from running for many other government office, he should never be allowed near the white house again. i believe he betrayed his oath

to defend the constitution and to the detriment of me and my colleagues and all americans he was supposed to protect. that is of course one more question added on. are there some legal issues. could he be charged with something. >> you read this from yet another police officer. these people were running around for a year saying that blue lives matter. democrats want to defund the police. despite the fact that every democratic leader said defining the cost was a stupid thing. here you have republicans when push comes to shove really do not care about cops. blue lives matter. not if they are getting the hell beat out of them. not of their getting sprayed with their spray. these republicans, the trump

republican party getting beaten out of them.>> what did they say? donald trump says the crowd that was eating the hell out of these police officer. leading them to a pulp. beating them so badly. most blame these rights. they are very smart. he says he loves them. republican congressman. they're just terrorist. are you just going to call them terrorists? you really hate cops. if you're not doing your political bidding. i want to know why republicans hate police officers. why won't republican standout for police officers.

when they are getting the hell beat out of them in congress. they love yapping about how they support the blue. when police officers are getting eviscerated. when they're getting brutalized and beaten to death. suddenly, they love the riders. they love the people that are beating them up. they love these republicans. these republicans do not want to get to the truth. they do not want really want to understand why police officers were brutalized that day. they love cops. they are the ones that are stopping everybody. there stopping justice from happening. the hate cops. they are trying to stop their

party. they said support the blue. you cannot say you love the cops. it makes me sad.>> any human being was seek justice. if this happened at their home. they do not see issue here?

who exactly are we talking.>> donald trump says he love these people that brutalized police officers. we talk about republican members of congress who stood in the way of every investigation. democrats wanted a bipartisan look at this. they refused. house democrats. asked if he would be part of a bipartisan process. he refused. you have members of congress that were actually standing at the door. going to help police officer's stop the mob from coming in. killing everybody inside the house chamber. within a couple of days we are just saying they were just terrorist. >> these are the issues he is covering in his new book. plus, why some veteran diplomats said the u.s. approach to dealing with russia has been a mistake.

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welcome back. we have been talking about the stark divide between republicans who claim to support law and order yet turn a blind eye to what happened to those police officers brutalized on january 6. this comes back to you. what you're talking about. how could these people betray police officer. that they claimed they love so much. simply because they wanted to defend donald trump's attempt to overtake the government. they want to defend the men and women in blue.>> what is maddening about this.

talking to the republican party. is basically assumed this posture where they are protected every day. they have large security detail. they're probably very safe. when they get to a airport, they are accompanied by local police or capital police to protect them as they walked to the airport. to protect them from the angry mob they are denying existed on january 6. again, this is a distillation of the monumental cowardice that has overtaken the punitive leadership of the republican party. right on down. there is nothing about donald trump. i feel there is a lot of information about donald trump.

we have enough information on donald trump. what i think is under told story. these republicans have kept allowing it to happen. these police officers protect them every day. i cannot imagine what it must feel like to be able to deny that these police officers who were badly injured. hundreds of them killed in some cases to protect them. there colleagues. dear friends are protecting them as they walk from point a to point b. it happened on one hand. on the other hand saying thanks for walking me to my car. for driving me to the airport. i do not know how they can live with themselves. we talked to enough of them to know it is kind of a miserable conscious experience.>> here is what you wrote for the atlantic. adapted from the new book. it has been said before but can

never be emphasized enough. without the complicity of the republican party, donald trump would just be a glorified geriatric golfer. i interviewed scores trying to understand why they did what they did. how they can live with that. these were the kevin mccarthy. the lindsey graham. all of the other busy parasitic suck ups who made the trump time work for them. humored and indulged him all the way down to the last exhausted strain of american democracy. here is more of what you write about. i have known this man for years but they are washington type. starstruck and desperate to keep their jobs or get better once. to maximize the place in the all-important mix. on various occasions, i have asked them in so many words how

they could saddle up to trump like they have. the answer is they did it because it was the savviest course. it was best for them. nearly all elected republicans in washington needed his blessing. voters to remain there. people like mccarthy and graham benefited a great deal for making it work for him. managing the relationship as they say. i could get him on a faster than any staffer. mccarthy bragged to me. a restless quality to both men's voices when they talked about the thrill ride of being one of his guys. i'm wondering in these conversations, did they see the other side of this? the damage being done to democracy. another thing he does. he likes to sort of get stuff on people. think he can kind of hold over

them. i just wonder why some of these men were pushed so far.>> volumes can be written about that. i will say the question is, did they know? of course they did. they would know within and conceding that like, oh, my god, they all know the truth about this. lindsey graham, all of them have this expression, you have to get the joke about trump. the joke is that in private they have no respect for him. at worst, they think he is a dangerous lunatic. but to say that publicly is going to make them obsolete within the republican party. and again what you've seen again and again is a dereliction of any kind of character whatsoever. it is sort of a game to them. you ask, mika, do they care? no. there is a whole section in the book sort of listing, i don't care. i don't care about the legacy. i doan care about the verdict of history or what my grandchildren

will think, i will be dead. rudy would say. trump would say the oath thing that matters that i lose the election. and nothing else matters. it is anileism. and what is amazing is you see these incredible instances of character and courageousness where there is a cassidy hutchinson and others on the january 6 committee, the british conservatives finally standing up to boris johnson in a less political context in ukraine. there is great resistance that you're seeing around the world and yet the republican party remains completely blocked off from any effort to stand up and do what they all know to be right. >> mark. this is incredible timing with your book coming out and the hearings this week. so we'll be having you back throughout the week for the new book entitled "thank you for your servitude" and thank you mark, very much.

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still ahead on "morning joe,". >> have you seen what is going on in front of congress. fifth amendment, fifth amendment, fifth amendment. horrible. >> that was donald trump back in 2016. so what is he make of his former national security adviser doing this. >> i said i pled the fifth. take the fifth. >> fifth. the fifth.

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when you use dove dry spray? [laughing] it shows. try dove dry spray. our weightless formula with 1/4 moisturizers is effective and kind to skin. leaving you feeling instantly dry and confident. welcome back to "morning joe." it is just now turning to be the top of the hour. 9:00 a.m. in the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. time to wake up. we have a lot to get to this hour. including laft on the house investigation into the january 6. with tomorrow's hearing set to focus on donald trump's overtours to violence extremists. plus the former trump aide now claims he is willing to testify as does a former member of a far right militia organization. plus the looming legal fight between elon musk