good morning. i'm peter alexander. in today for jose diaz-balart. it is the story that's reverberating across the nation's capital. nbc news confirming the justice department is investigating former president trump's actions as part of the criminal probe of efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. plus inflation nation. the fed is meeting in hours expected to raise interest rates yet again. what it means for the wallet as fears of a recession mount. on capitol hill as we speak senate democrats are running out of time. a marriage equality bill. will enough republicans get on board to pass it? democratic senator hirono will join us to discuss that effort. wildfires, drought, punishing record heat. is this our new reality? this morning i speak with washington governor jay inslee what we need to do right now to combat the climate crisis.

we start with the bombshell new details in the justice department's investigation into the capitol attack. nbc news confirming with an administration official that the doj has been asking questions about former president trump's actions leading up to january 6. the official adds there is not a criminal investigation of mr. trump himself. nbc news reached out to a trump spokesperson for comment. the doj is not officially commenting on the story but in an exclusive interview with lester holt attorney general garland states that no one is above the law. >> we will hold accountable anyone criminally responsible attempting to block the peaceful

transfer of power. >> that conversation between merrick garland and lester holt. we want to bring in pete williams, charlie savage, chuck rosenberg. we have a great group to get us started. pete, confirming the questions asked related to donald trump's actions on that day and leading up to that day. what specifically do we know? what is the focus? >> specifically we don't know. this was first reported by "the washington post." i think that the lesson is that everyone has sort of had this impression that the january 6th committee is way out in front of the justice department. i think this is just one little slice of knowing that that's not necessarily true in everybody

case. as the attorney general said to lester yesterday there are some things the committee found out that justice didn't know and said things justice knows that the committee doesn't know. he said that's to be expected with two parallel investigations. it simply means that as the justice department continues this massive investigation they are getting closer to the oval office. asking people around the president about his actions but asking about his actions. and i think it's important to point out as you did this doesn't mean that the justice department quote unquote opened an investigation of president trump but it is worth noting. they're asking about what did his lawyers tell him? what was he saying about pence? what about the efforts the try to get states to send in other slates of electors? >> a justice department investigation is opaque and in

circumstances like this but the details of "the washington post" said the receipt of phone records in and around trump's orbit they received in april. chuck, about "the washington post" reporting they said they spoke to four people familiar with the matter saying the prosecutors asked hours of details questions about meetings trump led. his pressure campaign on pence the former vice president to overturn the election and what instructions trump gave the lawyers and advisers about sending electors back to the states, the people said. what does this tell you? what does it mean for president trump? >> sure, peter. good question. this is a wide ranging federal criminal investigation. they're looking at the events of january 6 and fake electors to

try to throw the election from biden to trump. that's no surprise. they're asking questions about trump. of course they are. to pete's point earlier, we think the january 6 committee is moving faster but that's because it's publicly and the justice department doesn't work that way. >> right. >> we worry and wonder if they move at all. of course they are. trump and the people around him within the scope of the investigation. the justice department didn't use this word. that makes them subject. someone within the scope. so you ask questions about the people. nothing about this should be surprising. some of this should be comforting to people thinking the justice department was doing nothing. i was never one of those people. i'm not surprised they have a

wide ranging criminal investigation. >> there is a pressure campaign on the attorney general and justice department. at least publicly. this perhaps lets the air out of that. charlie, i want to get you to you and "the new york times" reporting. previously undisclosed emails. a lawyer involved in the discussions repeatedly used the word fake to refer to the so-called electors to provide mike pence and mr. trump's allies a rationale to derail the process of certifying the outcome. in a follow up email an alternative votes is a better term. drawing a lot of attention and it is what the doj appears to be

zeroing in. >> it is an angle to send electors not chosen by the states to provide an excuse for vice president pence to refuse to count biden's victory. which of course he refused to do. i think the significance of these emails and specifically the use of the word fake is it goes to one of the most difficult things prosecutors might have to prove if they bring charges in this area and that's proving intent, the mindset of the people they were looking at. they know that it was fraudulent and was wrong and had no basis and could be arguably brought under a statute like defrauding the united states. at least that person knew. >> i want to get to the ramifications in a moment but that's a fundamental challenge

to get into the head of the former president and those around him. >> that's right. one thing the january 6 committee has told us is what people were telling the president. we don't know what he thought. i think the former attorney general william barr said he didn't know if it was soaking into the president or delusional about this. that's a challenge. >> no doubt. i think it's important this week besaw some of the president's own proposed remarks and things redacted to demonstrate the will and the intent. it doesn't play specific to the fake electors but the other issues. is the political challenge is the backdrop. obviously this has never happened before to prosecute a former president in such a form and a real challenge for this administration and department of justice to try to make it appear that there is no appearance of

interference. >> yes. it was important to hear president biden to say that he cannot be pro police and pro rioter. president biden as you know is very particular about the ways and when he chooses to engage with or chooses to criticize donald trump. apart from president biden waving executive privilege for trump's inner circle they left the work of the january 6 committee speak for itself. but yesterday you saw president biden takedown of donald trump using words and phrases that clearly designed to get under trump's skin calling him a defeated president that didn't have the courage to act. president biden invoking the work product to say that donald

trump sat in the white house dining room for three hours and did nothing as his supporters unleashed medieval hell upon law enforcement and striking to see the president weigh in in that respect but also the white house haunted by the defund the policeman tra. it was in some ways president biden's way to show that donald trump's claim to the law and order branding he is using for five or six years to show it was fraudulent. >> where is the real risk for the former president? as "the washington post" reports there's two tracks of investigation. seditious conspiracy. the government proceeding to certify the election results. potential fraud with the fake elector scheme that we have been discussing. where's the real challenge and problem for the former president? >> the real problem is that he

is under federal criminal investigation. whether a seditious conspiracy or a wide ranging fraud scheme or both, they are looking at his actions. i want to reiterate something that charlie said. it is so important. as a federal prosecutor if bringing a white collar case i had to prove intent. it is with respect to each and every defendant to charge in a fraud case. charging a conspiracy show that all the conspirators had a meeting of the mind and agreed on the object. you're charging a conspiracy to commit a wire fraud for instance with respect to the fake elector scheme, they had intent with respect to everybody you charge. where's the president's criminal

liability? there's hurdles first. >> walk us through the final thought. where are we watching now and where should we be watching and is there a time frame for this justice department? there's more political pressure if the midterms come and a reflection of this administration and the one that proceeded it as it will be the punctuation mark to the hearings over the summer. >> if the midterm goes most people think it will the commit tee will end at the end of december and the justice department will be the only game in town going forward. some point trump will probably declare a candidate for election in the 2024 election. in terms of what to look for a problem, maybe this is a good exit thought, is that we are on the outside peering through dark glass and mirrors and gets glimpses. it takes a defense, someone

called before a grand jury to talk about it, directly to reporters or lawyers and talk to the reporters. we have no idea and then it just happens that someone is called, probably the top aides to mike pence and a glimpse of the questions. not coming almost ever in these stories from the justice department deciding to put something out and talking about it. >> that's why we call it the tip of the iceberg. >> exactly. we happen to see it this week. we could have seen it two months ago. who knows what else some witness might decide to say or keep their mouth shut and we'll never know. >> for pete williams with us, since i can't do in this person celebrating you and the retirement the end of this week i like so many others across the journalism and american community thank you. you have been a friend to me, a mentor. i'm deeply grateful and glad to

say that in person. >> thank you. it is a great place to work. people care about the news and each other and honored to sit with people like charlie whose work i admire and thank you. >> thank you so much. we are hours away from the federal reserve making another major move to curb inflation. plus wnba star brittney griner just testified in a russian court as she awaits a verdict on drug charges. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports." we'll be back. "jose "jose diaz-balar have technology that's easier to control... that can scale across all your clouds... we got that right? we'll be back. [whistling]

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we have just gotten an update on president biden's condition as he recovers from the covid infection why the doctor saying that the president has testified negative for covid after the five-day isolation in the white house residence. nbc news chief white house correspondent kristen welker joins us now. this is the experience increase

ingly that americans are having. ba.5 is a big problem but good news for the president. >> reporter: it certainly is, peter. of course he took paxlovid and likely contributed to the fact he is testing negative after this handful of days. let me read from the physician's note why the physician writing president biden completed the five-day course of paxlovid. he completed five full days in isolation and fever free and discontinued the use of tylenol. the symptoms have been steadily improving. yesterday evening and this morning he tested negative for covid. according to his physician he is going to continue to wear a mask out of abundance of caution for

ten days. so that is how the president is approaching this. we'll hear from president biden in just about a how from now. i'm told from a source familiar with his remark that is the president is going to talk about the fact that he has now tested negative and also going to talk about the fact that the country now has so many more tools to fight covid, to make sure that this virus doesn'tesque late where someone ends up with serious infection, hospitalized or worse. i think the president will echo what we heard from dr. jha and the press secretary here trying to make this a teachable moment because the president is vaccinated and twice boosted and because he used the anti-viral paxlovid. the white house using this as a teachable moment for americans for how they can and should approach covid climbing out of

this virus that's impacted the economy and the way we do business in this country. significant news here. president biden now out of isolation after testing negative for covid. >> we'll see how soon he is on the road as we press the white house for details and the good news is of 17 close contacts for this president to the best of our knowledge none tested positive so far. thank you. there is other news. wnba superstar brittney griner testified in a russian courtroom where she is tried for drug charges. griner held up pictures of the loved ones in the defendant's cage and pleaded guilty and the defense team says that the cannabis oil in the bag at the moscow airport there by accident. she does face up to ten years in jail if convicted and joining us

now to discuss it is julia yafi, washington correspondent. i want to play for the audience some of what griner had to say today and get your view. >> we have used my phone for -- google translate to be able to tell me a little bit. >> there was a lady that was there that they said was an interpreter but it was more her telling me name, sign. really short words. she didn't explain the content of the paper. like i didn't know exactly what i was signing. no, my rights were never read to me. no one explained any of it to me. >> some of the words of brittney griner herself. the russian system is not like

ours. 99% of cases admit in conviction. how critical is it for the court to hear her in her own words? >> i think at this point, it is interesting. i'm following the trial and some ways it seems like the russian lawyers are presenting almost an american trial and in this case i think all that they can really hope to get, the best-case scenario is not the ten-year max but something less so leniency rather than exoneration. >> i want to walk through. you reported on the russian legal system. you have an understanding of the ins and outs. what's the chances that russia is leaning instead of the full sentence but the desire is not spending near ten years there

but an agreement between the russians and u.s. government for an earlier release. is this a sham but she can hope to try to keep it as soon as possible? >> i don't think it's a sham. i think likely she was going through the airport. she was caught with the capsules and in russia when a foreigner is in police custody they have to call the fsa, probably realized they had a big fish in the custody and when the machinery turns on and they have a big chip to play. right? excuse me. but i think it's not a sham. she still would have gone through the process and she might have gotten nine years, ten years. i think she'll likely get much

less. probably won't serve all of that. the question is when will the deal be struck? how much time of the sentence getting a sentence and will be found guilty, especially now that she has pled guilty. the question is how much of the sentence will she serve and when will the deal be struck? the russians are in no mood to cult a deal with the u.s. and will hold her as long as possible and the more attention paid to her in the u.s. the more her price unfortunately speaking increases and the more the russians can get for her. >> obviously she becomes a political pawn in this situation. this is a very delicate one for those here in washington. trevor reed just freed from a russian prison as part of an agreement made between the two countries told my colleague hallie jackson the white house is not doing enough.

>> frustrates me they are not doing more. the white house has that position to go out and say, yeah, we are going to make this exchange. we are going to get the guys back for this guy. they have the ability to do that. so why they haven't already done that is a little bit beyond me. >> frustration not unique to trevor reed. paul whelan's family. demanding that more happen as soon as possible. we can't pull back the curtain but against the backdrop of the russian war in ukraine. the new tensions between the u.s. and russia. why hasn't there been a prisoner swap and why wouldn't russia be motivated to get back the biggest fish here in the u.s.? >> i think there's a number of things at play. nothing can happen until the trial concludes.

i think the russians are sticklers for process even when they know the process itself is a sham. so that has to happen first. second of all, i think with all due respect to trevor reed he is completely wrong and the more fuss is made publicly the more difficult it becomes to swap somebody like brittney griner. the more her price increases the more moscow can ask for the return, asking for an impossible ask. the more they ask, for example, let's say you want griner back? how about lifting sanctions? lift the sanctions. which then puts the biden administration in a completely impossible bind. so if anything doing this out in the open trying to negotiate this in the open actually hamstrings the american position and the biden administration. i think trevor reed

unfortunately has this exactly backwards. >> we appreciate your expertise. thank you coming up next, the feds expecting to take aggressive action to take down inflation. how it will affect the ability to borrow money, especially in the hot car market. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports." e watching but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick? diaz-balart reports.

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31 past the hour. it's been a long quintessential american dream. the ability to buy a home. we got new home sales data from the national association of realtors. pending home sales in the country fell larger than expected 8.6% in june from may. they fell 20% in june versus a year earlier. also less than four hours from now the federal reserve will meet and could be three quarters of a percentage rate. the second rate increase of that size in a matter of months and most grefs series since 1994. credit cards, student loans all influenced by the decision the fed makes today.

joining me is lindsay riser in new jersey, tom costello watching the fed and ron insana. tom, everyone is confused by this economy because on the one hand you have employment so low but you have got the record high inflation. as a result consumer confidence is down. so if you can give us the 35,000-foot view of what the fed is looking at right now and what its considerations are. >> ron insana is my mentor. whatever i say i learned him from years ago. wait until you hear what i say, right? >> right. >> the bottom line is that we are in an environment of 40-year high inflation. right? 9.1% in june. everything is more expensive. food up 10.5%. new cars up 11.4%.

used cars up about 7%. it is across the board. go to the grocery store, the gas station, everything is more expensive. to get the record inflation under control the fed has one tool and that is to hike interest rates. we are on track likely for another three quarters of a point rate hike today and then see if that starts to slow the economy more. as you suggested already pending home sales suggest that maybe things slow. gas prices are also coming down from where they were a month ago. this is not an overnight flip the light switch and things get better. this is a process and takes a while to get through jit the problem is a lot of the factors driving up inflation are external. there is not a lot the fed can do about the supply chain problems that are kinking all the way back to china. can't stop the war in ukraine. driving up gas and food prices.

all of that is what's behind this and not alone in the world. canada, the uk, all dealing with inflation. >> all right. so that's the view from men tee. let's get to the mentor. ron, you have the federal reserve -- >> how to shout an answer, as well. >> trying to do this race of raising rates without damaging the economy. without inflation the fed would likely be cutting rates. this is a tough moment for. >> if it were not more inflation the fed wouldn't have been raising rates in the first place. if you go back to march of 2020 we were at a 3.3% unemployment rate as we are now. the fed was contemplating raising rates but we didn't have the supply chain constraints. automobile parts are in short supply. we keep hear that from

automakers. we would be in a vastly different place were it not for the pandemic and the war. the fed has a blunt tool and few other instruments to use short of building supply up and increasing the supply of labor in the united states to bring down costs and wage inflation. the fed will raise rates. the real risk is doing too much they tip us into a recession. >> lindsay, you are at a car dealership in jersey. you spoke to the manager. seeing customers. what did they talk about the pressures the customers are facing? >> reporter: it is a lot right now. if tom is the mentee i don't know what that makes me but going back to the price we all pay we have not only a semi conductor shortage. also we have the interest rate hikes affecting what you pay

over the life of a loan. listen to the general manager here. >> between the car shortage and the interest rates going up it's causing the average monthly payments to spike up more than people expect. the typical customer two years ago in the market for a vehicle, they're now expecting to pay $100 to $200 more on the monthly payment. >> reporter: so let's take a deeper dive into numbers. so let's take a $25,000 loan over 60 months, that is 5 years. in december 2021 the interest rate is 3.85% and set you back monthly $459 paying $2500 interest over the life of the loan. now this month the interest rate is 4.86% paying more per month.

still paying $670 more over the 5 years for the same car. also look at how much people are committing to. according to the edmonds nearly 13% of people in the market for a car commit to $1,000 a month or more. the average apt financed for new cars, $40,000. and that's compared to $36,000 last year. so a lot of people right now, the car is something you simply need if you need one. maybe you can try to repair an old car but either way it is a tough market. >> ron, your message to consumers? >> watch what the fed says with fed chair jay powell. if rates continue to go higher you start to gear up for

concerns about inflation and joblessness down the road. >> we appreciate you. great to see you three. appreciate that conversation. next, democrats in congress are sprinting to get the agenda passed before the august recess. one crucial piece is trying to protect same-sex marriage. senator hirono joins us with whether the democrats will get the legislation before resez. you are watching "jose diaz-balart reports." e watching fear no food. new poligrip power hold and seal. diaz-balart reports.

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now 42 past the hour. right now this is a live picture from capitol hill. the house oversight and reform committee holding a hearing as it released new findings that the country's major gun manufacturers collected more than a billion dollars in revenue over the last decade. a billion dollars in the last ten years. the committee found the gun manufacturers aggressively marketing to young people. we're going to break down that coming up in the next hour. right now senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is not saying whether he'll support a bill to enshrine the right for same-sex marriage into the law. there's fears that the supreme court may overturn same-sex marriage after ending the right to an abortion. joining us is democratic senator hirono of hawaii, a member of

the judiciary committee. it is nice to see you. we appreciate your time. you have been a strong supporter of passing the marriage equality bill. five republican senators made public they would support it. the rest silent or evade it. what can you tell us about the conversations on capitol hill and whether there will be enough republican support to protect a marriage equality? >> for one thing it is important that we enact this law because millions of gay couples are already married and they are wondering what will happen to them once this far right supreme court gets done with the marriage equality issue just as clarence thomas signalled that he would like to revisit that decision so as you indicate there are five republicans saying that they will support the respect for marriage bill

and maybe find five more republicans to enable the same-sex marriage to support it. let us hope so. one would think that the world did not come to an end when the supreme court decided the same-sex marriage issue and the world didn't come to an end. there are a lot of really happy people in the country. you would think we would be able to five more republicans to support marriage equality. >> if so can they get done? how soon? >> soon if we can five more and probably -- maybe before, i hope, the august recess and get it done. >> a matter of days. i do want to ask you as you know new developments from overnight. nbc news confirming that the justice department is asking questions of former president

donald trump leading to january 6. this doesn't mean there's a legal investigation into donald trump himself. for a process away from the headlines this demonstrates action for the department for those critical to see or hear more. what is your reaction? >> merrick garland the attorney general said no one is above the law including the president. i think the january 6 committee brought forth a lot of evidence. i would call it evidence. that shows that the president committed a crime. it is up to the justice department to pursue that line of inquiry but i very much believe merrick garland saying nobody is above the law including former presidents. >> senator from hawaii, thank you. >> aloha. coming up next, extreme weather across the country and

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this morning americans in the pacific northwest are searching for relief as a dangerous heat wave is set to linger across that region for the rest of this week. on tuesday three cities across western washington including seattle hit record highs in a region that's not accustomed to seeing anything like these scorching conditions. meanwhile, the threat of another devastating wildfire looms over that region as well. as of tuesday fires have consumed 5.6 million acres across the united states, about twice the amount burned last year at this point according to the national interagency fire center. joining us now with more is the democratic governor in washington state, jay inslee. governor inslee, i spent a lot of time in washington state and whenever temperatures hovered anywhere near triple digits folks certainly on the western part of your state were not prepared for it, air conditioning is not something

most folks have in their homes there, they are more accustomed to light rain than scorching temperatures. how are folks in your state coping with this heat and what services are available to help them try to stay cool? >> well, we are resilient, we're being smart, people are going to our cooling centers who have difficulty, but what you said is really true, pacific northwest, you know, beautiful place, but, you know, probably half or more of the homes do not have air conditioning. so when it gets this hot over 100 degrees people have some real health hazards, maybe even more so than the northeast. so we know how dangerous this is and we're not going to put up with it, we're fighting it, and we're fighting it tooth and nail and we are a adopting the measures that we know give us the power to defeat climate change and take control of our own destiny, meaning we're building a clean energy economy, we are not putting up with t we're fighting it. >> i want to ask you some of your unique policies in a

moment. you talk about spokane, i think this week they're going to hit 104 degrees, they are a bit more dry, a bit more used to that, but still those temperatures are stifling. officials are warning residents to stay alert in light of the threat of wildfires there, where the prospect of the these devastating fires is becoming all the more frequent. what is the real risk of these massive fires nationwide, including in that region? >> well, it's not just about the trees and we love our forests and our trees, but it's about our children because when these forests burn, not only is there danger for burning down homes, we've lost dozens and hundreds of them, it's the fact that our kids can't go outside and breathe. last summer during our five season we literally could not allow our children to go out and breathe because of the particulate matter. we had the most dangerous, the most polluted air in the entire planet because of forest fires last year, so in vast swaths,

not just where the fires were, but in huge swaths of washington our kids' health was impacted with asthma and the like. so the one thing about climate change, you need to understand, it's not just temperature, it's breathing the smoke, it's water that's so hot that our salmon can't live, it's loss of irrigation because our snow pack is impacted. basically you can run but you can't hide from climate change. >> right. >> that is why we have to be so committed to fighting it at its source. there is not enough air conditioners in the world to solve this problem. we have to tackle this at its source, which is carbon pollution, which is causing this devastating to our communities. >> yeah, i've covered wildfires in your state from tri-cities up to moses lake, they are a real problem in that part of this country. i want to ask you policy-wise, the white house, washington has faced all sorts of obstacles on multiple fronts to try to address climate change and carbon pollution. right now joe manchin has been a thorn in the side of democrats

in terms of what they call reconciliation, the democratic agenda to try to pass some real agenda items on this issue. so given it looks like they've run into a brick wall on that, what other tools do you think washington, the white house, needs to use right now to try to help those at the state level do something about this? >> well, when you run into a brick wall you go around it and that's why we are looking forward to president biden's leadership on this, he's already taken -- announced executive action to build off-shore wind, which is a very, very clean source of energy, and now we're looking forward to him taking five more actions. number one, a regulatory approach to regulate some of the pollutants that are coming off our coal-fired plants. number two, certainly there are places where we should not be drilling, including offshore. he's going to help us, i believe, to electrify our transportation fleet, electric cars are really the thing right now. we just need to increase the

supply chain. four, he's going to bring some incentive packages so that people can afford to move forward. and fifth he's going to help us in our mitigation efforts to respond to forest fires. we're counting on him doing all five of those things. he has the executive authority to do that. so he has a lot of tools in his toolbox. we want him to bring every tool he can get ahold of to help us out. listen, we have to understand, too, we are not helpless in our states. my state is now probably got the best action for clean energy, we have 23 other states that are moving, 60% of the u.s. economy is committed to fighting climate change so we have a lot of work we can do in the states as well. >> governor jay inslee from the great state of washington, we appreciate your time and your being with us here. that's going to wrap us up for this hour. i will be back with more news after a short break. president biden expected to speak in the next hour as we just learned that breaking news from the last hour, he just ended his covid isolation, finally testing negative for the

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