and barack obama got wiped out in their first midterms, both easily reelected in second term. "morning joe" starts right now. such a beautiful shot of washington, d.c. this morning. it's 6:00 on the east coast. >> it's washington in august. >> it's beautiful. >> you talk to the chamber of commerce people. and they will tell you, get to washington, d.c. in the middle of a hot august afternoon. >> i don't think they'd say that. i think they'd say, get to washington, d.c. at 6:00 a.m. in the middle of august. and what you'll see is simply beautiful. it's monday, august 1st, everyone. investigators with the

department of homeland security wanted to try to recover those deleted secret service messages from around the time of the january 6th attack on the capitol. but then the trump-appointed agency, watchdog step in. >> mika, did someone gel on that. >> that doesn't make sense on any level for any department in government. i don't, something is definitely wrong and perhaps. steve kornacki is standing by to help break down leaks which feature a number of candidates who deny the 2020 election results. >> what is the anger meter, the rage meter this morning. >> well, the rage will join us. >> the rage will be on. he's going to be here? >> we're very lucky, joe. >> i thought he only did rodeos in august. >> we're very, very lucky, the rage is back. >> one of the reasons we're

going to be hearing from rusty. >> there he is. >> wow, just got a chill down my spine. we'll hear from rusty bowers. the arizona speaker who may pay the price for the 2020 election and testifying before it before the january 6th committee. you remember that? >> you know what he calls, you know what he calls this party that, this trump wing of the party, "a cult." imagine that? a cult. >> and he just told the truth, which, that's the most disturbing part about it. also, reports that ukraine may be turning the tide in its fight against russia. and for someone who is upset with crowds. >> he lines big crowds. >> he's obsessed with them. >> it seems donald trump had a tough time turning out fans while hosting that saudi-funded golf tournament at his club in new jersey. >> they founded their attendance. it was low. they had two hounddogs that

were just making their way across the golf course. chasing the squirrel. and they put that, actually, in the attendance figures. and it was still low. it was extraordinarily low there. >> he started his presidency by trying to make sure america knew that a large crowd for his inaugural ceremonies. >> i will say, mika, even all of these years later, you compare the size of the crowd. i can't even do it with a straight face. hold on, hold on. ready? take two. >> okay. >> you compare obama's, okay, i can't do it. >> you can't do it. >> but just so small. barack obama's crowds were like massive. and donald trump's crowds, even at his inauguration. he just won. and barack obama just so much bigger. it was really something to behold. >> now he's holding a golf tournament in partnership with the saudis. and folks are like, i guess we won't go. so he didn't have the crowds he

wanted. but let's begin with the key elections taking place now. the first big test of abortion rights since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade will take place in kansas. voters there will decide whether to get rid of the state's constitution in order to then be able to pass abortion bans. >> now, this is important. because -- this is obviously a very strong, republican-leaning state, you occasionally do have democrats that win statewide races there, and even occasionally a congressional seat. but it is -- looking at the kansas city suburbs, seeing how those suburbs break. it's going to really test this jobs decision. because a lot of people are already saying, looking at the polls, that pro-choice voters are not as motivated to vote based on the supreme court decision as pro-life voters. tomorrow is going to be a

massive test there. >> over in missouri, republicans are trying to stop eric greitens from winning the race. the former disgraced governor is accused of abusing his wife. and he threatened in a campaign ad, to hunt rhinos. >> carrying a gun, tactical gear, everyone was kicking in doors. yeah. not a helpful look for 2022. >> in arizona, three trump-back republicans who support the big lie are all leading their primary opponent. they support the lie about the election. in the latest polling for arizona governor, former tv news anchor, kari lake, leads her rival, karrin taylor robson. robson with former mike pence, the republican party. the winner of that state will likely face current secretary

of state katie hobbs. trump-backed for senator, blake masters is also surging toward victory. the winner of that race will challenge democratic incumbent mark kelly. and leading the primary for arizona secretary of state is mark finchem who proves he has evidence that trump was cheated out of the election but has yet to provide it. >> please show it. >> he is believed to be the republican nominee to oversee the state's elections. also seems that rusty bower, the republican house speaker, who refused to go along with trump's lie, and who testified before the january 6th committee is headed for defeat. bowers spoke to nbc's vaughn hillyard. >> the party has thrown me out basically: the county party, state party and now this. >> if you do not win, why would you say? >> probably because i stood up.

when they asked me to tell the true and correct, i told the truth. i wasn't, i didn't go looking for a fight. but the fact that i would break ranks and somehow find what the president, former president did was unacceptable. it's like i broke some sort of taboo. and i did break a taboo. and it's kind of a cultic thing, that you have to be in with the cult. >> it is a cultic thing, you have to be in with the cult. there you have it. nothing with ideology. this has been moving away from ideology for quite sometime. it's about finding a leader. but just start with donald trump. but it certainly intensified with donald trump. but rusty bowers, in any other world, any other time, rusty bowers, liz cheney, would be

seen as two conservative bull bulwarks in america but now being called rhinos, probably whatever, social firsts, whatever idiots mischaracterize them as, simply because they're opposed to donald trump lying and trying to steal an election. so you go. you look at states, where democrats have set themselves up to actually have very good chances to win some statewide races, to win some governor's races. that's happened, not so much because of what the republicans or democrats have done. it's happened because of who the republicans keep nominating. and there have been some crazy choices, if you look at dr. oz in pennsylvania. here's near the top of the list the republican governor for pennsylvania near the top. you look, of course, what has

happened in ohio, with jd vance. i won't even get into how confused that poor guy is. i feel sorry for him. jd vance getting trounced in poll numbers. these are states, in a year, where democrats should be crushed in has statewide races. you can look at hershel walker in georgia but republicans keep selecting crazier and crazier people, to run in the fall. in statewide races. you can't get away with that. in a house race. i mean, look at me. i'm a perfect example of that. but you go statewide. things get real, real fast. in all the states, i think, where republicans have let the crazy out of the barn and let it just take over and run wild, it's just a crazy stampede through the streets in political debates. arizona is at the top of that list.

let's bring in national political correspondent steve kornacki. none of the things i just said are the opinions of steve kornacki. it's the opinion of me. host way too early and chief -- >> did you hear. >> i don't know if you heard or not. but he's the author of a book "the big lie." >> it's a great book. >> steve kornacki, you don't actually write for any bullriding association. but i think you should. i love your work at the triple crown. but i've been absolutely stunned by just how self- destructive, in my opinion, not yours as the republican party, has been by the people who put up to run statewide races and swing states. and there is not a state that is more of a swing state now

than arizona. and my god, the people who look to be lining up to win are all in through the trump conspiracy theories. take us through all of those races. >> take us to crazytown. >> well, what you're outlining there is the democrats' hope here, in the face a climate that otherwise, if you just look at joe biden's approval rating, state of the economy, political, in the history of how midterm elections go for white house parties, democrats are hoping, what you just outlined will be a major mitigating factor, that would allow them to defy history, and to keep the senate. let's focus on the senate here now. because right now. it is 50-50 in the senate. you're looking at the what looks like the potential battleground for the senate. is shaded. republicans just need a net gain of one seat and they get control. and again, just given the environment, everything they talk about, you would think,

looking at this map, that that one seat wouldn't be too hard to come by. right away, you take a look here. what would the two most likely options be for the republicans? well, the two democratic-held seats that were the closest in the 2020 election, were georgia and arizona. they both went for biden in 2020. but remember, about 11,000 votes was biden's margin in georgia, inside of 10,000 votes in arizona, razor-thin margins for joe biden. meaning coming in the midterm like this. no margin for error. the polling for republicans has been concerning so far. when you look at hershel walker in that senate race. again, republicans will tell you, hey, this will end up being in their view, in wave years, all of the races tend up breaking toward the opposition party at the end of the cycle, herschel walker will get carried by the wave. i think that's what democrats

aredepending on. polling shows a clearly republican senate primary in the senate tomorrow. potentially blake masters in arizona could put both of those otherwise-on-paper, clear, pickup opportunities for republicans at risk. and then you compound it. you were mentioning the name of mehmet oz in pennsylvania. again, oz, the republican nominee in pennsylvania. polling has been concerning for republicans when it comes to oz. when it comes to his approval, favorable, unfavorable numbers, very high, unfavorable numbers. if you just looked at that map and you didn't know what was running in these states, you would say, hey, pennsylvania is now a republican-held senate seat. pat toomey is not running. maybe democrats have a chance of picking up pennsylvania but all democrats have to do is win

georgia or arizona and there's their net win of one. arizona may be as well. you have colorado on the map. colorado is the kind that could come into play. republicans have nominated a much more moderate candidate there. but colorado is much more democratic than arizona or georgia. so it starts to get more complicated. at least from this vantage point. we're just inside of 100 days from election day, when you look at the individual dynamics in the senate race, you can start to see a scenario, where democrats keep the senate. when you take the individual dynamics out of it, and you just think about the basic ingredients of the midterm climate, you still do see the makings there of republican wave. so two things are in contention with each other there. >> steve, i would be the last to suggest that polling in july makes any difference. it does give you a snapshot for that time. we'll see what happens in the fall. i'm thinking right now, especially, of ohio, where you

actually have tim ryan doing extremely well against jd vance. i suspect that's a race that is going to end up, you know, we're going to be staying up late in the night, most likely, to see who wins that race. but i just want to circle back. i know it's not a pennsylvania day. but you just outlined something that, some numbers that i just read and i found shocking. i said, okay, this is going to be hard for any candidate to get around. dr. oz's negatives in pennsylvania are off the charts. i mean, i don't know how any candidate gets around that. when you suggest that more so than herschel walker, more so than the former venture capitalist, who loves silicon valley in san francisco. would you suggest dr. oz probably has the biggest hill to climb between now and election day of all the republican candidates? >> i think probably true. and again, when you look at the

2020 results in these states. we said arizona, inside of 10,000 boats for biden georgia. about 11,000-vote victory for joe biden. when you got to pennsylvania, biden's margin was stronger, you're looking at 2, 2 1/2 points for biden in pennsylvania. so also it's a little bit more democratic, less republican than these other states. so i think that makes it a steeper hill to climb. and yeah, i think what democrats are hoping here. is oz's weakness. the other thing you hear from democrats is, has the road decision motivated some of their democratic-leaning female voters? if it has motivated them to get interested in the midterm elections. we'll see that in the philadelphia suburbs that were so decisive in 2020 in that state. is that a dynamic. but yeah, you think back to that republican primary, it took three weeks to resolve. mehmet oz finally won the thing. i think the official it was 900 votes. the candidate he beat out there was the one that the republican

establishment was very much hoping to win. they thought he had a much better chance in the general election than oz. but oz did carry the trump endorsement. we talk about trump endorsement having a mixed record. 900 vote in that. i don't think oz gets that 900- vote without trump. and that's who republicans have to rely on in pennsylvania. what they're relying on is less oz and more national climate. they're hoping in october, voters are saying, they don't care who the candidate is. they want to vote against biden. >> i'd be saying it, even if i didn't know him, because he would be polling very well. let's talk. you brought up abortion. let's talk about kansas. obviously, a huge vote there, that a lot of people there are

going to be looking at, to see how much impact roe being overturned after almost 50 years has. especially in the kansas city suburbs. how motivated will people be in the suburbs to go out and vote because the supreme court overturned the right to privacy in roe? >> yeah. so this is interesting. what's on the ballot in kansas tomorrow, it would add language to the state constitution that says, the state constitution does not protect the right to abortion. so if the referendum passes in kansas tomorrow, what it would open the door to happening is the state legislature, controlled by republicans, potentially moving to an act, strict restrictions, maybe outright ban. if governor were to get elected to sign those laws into effect. but that's what's on the ballot more in kansas. we have seen before this supreme court decision this year, basically the exact same

referendum on four states. it was on the ballot in west virginia, tennessee, alabama, and louisiana, all within the last eight years. it passed in all of those states. although i will say it was close when it was on the ballot in west virginia. it was just a couple of points. and there has been polling in kansas. we think of kansas as a deeply red state. and obviously it has been in most ways. but there's been polling in kansas that suggests this could be a close race. this referendum tomorrow. and i think that issue you're raising, especially about johnson county, the suburbs on the kansas side. the metro area. that's an area that has trended toward the democrats. that's an area that has a lot of those kinds of voters, who i think are more moderate to liberal on social issues, be interesting to see if they are motivated to turn out in large numbers by this tomorrow if they were, and if this referendum were to fail in kansas tomorrow on the strength of that kind of vote, i think that could be some kind of

potential for november as well. >> all right. i know you're going to be covering every aspect in the next couple of days, 24/7. you'll also have the special tonight. tell us about it. 10:00 p.m. tonight. countdown to the midterms on msnbc, what are you going to be looking at? >> a lot of it i mentioned. we are 100 days inside of election day. we're going to try to set the big picture between now and election day. realistically, you know, look at this senate. we're going to go into some of these senate races deeply. going to look at battle for the house. look at abortion politics. we're going to look at biden, we're going to look at the economy. hey, 100 days to go. 99 days to go at this point. let's set the stage. i think we'll have a lot of fun tonight. >> i look forward to t. steve kornacki. thank you so much. still ahead on "morning joe,"

some veterans spent the weekend protesting in washington, d.c. after republicans blocked a bill that would help vets exposed to toxic burn pits. >> so they were against the vets. no doubt about that. republicans were against the vets. but mitigating factor, they say at the same time, they're for china. so gop senate leadership, against u.s. vets, for china, actually whipping their members to vote that way. >> we're going to take a look at. >> it's really, kind of, i gotta say, even for this republican party, it's kind of screwed up. >> we'll take a look at where the legislation stands. and the new back-and-forth fight, between jon stewart and senator pat toomey. plus, democrats have the chance to push forward president biden's economic agenda. but will everyone get behind the newreconciliation bill? so far, kyrsten sinema is staying quiet. we'll also have the latest from

capitol hill, when we're joined by senator chris murphy. also, ahead, a look at the effort to bring wnba star brittney griner home from russia. former president trump is sharing his thoughts about that. >> oh, boy. you gotta remember, nba legend, one of the greatest basketball members of all time, bill russell, has passed away. we'll look at his long-lasting legacy, both on the court and off the court. just a civil rights champion. a guy who accomplished so much in his life. and he did it his way. a remarkable, remarkable american hero. >> love it. >> you're watching "morning joe." morning joe."

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security's top watchdog, reportedly abandoned plans this year to try to recover deleted secret service text messages. sources tell the washington post, that after learning of the missing messages in february, inspector general joseph cafary planned to detective data. but later, they decided it would not collect or review any secret service cell phones. >> who did he talk to? because congress. >> what was behind that decision. >> congress was demanding these texts. >> it would take until july, joe, for cafary to inform members of congress that the messages were eraced those tickets from january 5th and 6th of 2021 were deleted when that the secret service was a device -- >> that's a lie. >> -- which everybody at this point knows is completely

bogus. >> maybe it was lined up to be that way. their explanation, though, it's riddled with lies. and it's riddled with lies because the process he went through is something that no public agency in washington, d.c. ever goes through. >> this was reportedly done, despite notifications, the two averages, that they had a legal responsibility to preserve their communications. >> this stinks to high heavens. this one is bad. >> potent. >> i find it hard to believe that the justice department is not going to look into this or allowed government records to be destroyed that were being demanded by the united states congress. but it's just one story after another story after another story of the inspector general.

>> it's hard but cover-up of what happened. these are text messages from january 5th and 6th. these are not routine days on the calendar for secret service. but we know records are to be preserved, even on routine days upon that's highway it works. there's a federal records act that demands there be retention of said records. that didn't happen here. and these are obviously days, where getting that information will be extraordinarily helpful to investigators, both the january 6th subcommittee, as well as the department of justice, because it would provide insight to what the secret service was saying to the vice president at the capitol, as well as with president trump at the ellipse. and then his demands to try to go to the hill himself. and now we know, despite having the time line, that these requests were made from congress. preserve these records. not only were they not, but the internal investigation into them was scuttled. and that their watchdog said,

we don't need to pursue this further. and now it does appear those records are lost forever, mika. it's something the committee is 0ing in on. they are frustrated. it is possible there could be more criminal disciplinary charges. but as of now, for january 6th, those messages seem to be gone. >> wow. >> if they're gone, they're gone because there was a labored attempt by the attorney general for them to be gone. you read one article after another. we'll be hearing from one who is at the center of this investigation at "the post." everything they did seemed calculated to destroy the messages and make sure those messages could never be retrieved. >> never see the light of day.

>> jonathan lemire brings up donald trump. listen to this. secret service deliberately destroys records that could tell us what the secret service was doing. >> or seeing. >> what the president of the united states was doing, or what the vice president was doing on a day when the president of the united states was trying to overthrow election results. and the vice president of the united states and his family were hiding in fear for their lives. in fear for their lives. secret service agents, calling home to say goodbye on january 6th. >> people were holding a noose. in the audience. >> that is the day. >> the chant was "hang mike pence." >> that was the day, i would say, obviously one of the most extraordinary days, one of the most difficult days in the history of the secret service. that was the day that the secret service, which had been politicized by donald trump, decided to destroy records of what their agents were saying and doing.

>> well, and it also, joe, it makes you wonder, like if you ask somebody, who says "oh, it was nothing." a member of congress, a fervent trump supporter, what if this happened at your house? what if your house became the target of a violent attack. and there were people outside, screaming that you should be killed? and the police came, and the county police came, and then the state police came. and then you want to find out what happened, because your family is traumatized, months later, going through the process of bringing this to justice? and everything is deleted? >> yeah. >> how would you feel? >> not me -- >> i mean, you know this is wrong. >> we not only know it's wrong. we know what happened. >> you know what happened! >> we know what happened because we've already had the secret service lying off the record to try to undermine -- >> many layers of problems here. >> to undermine cassidy

hutchinson's testimony. we already this them lying off the record from a guy who was highly politicized as lying time and time again. they're completely covering this for donald trump. the justice department needs to get to the bottom of this. we need to know what happened. and people need to be held accountable. >> meanwhile -- >> they destroyed records critical to understanding what happened with the president of the united states while a coup was taking place at the united states capitol. >> and the ability to do this makes us different from other countries. as the january 6th committee prepares for an additional round of public hearings in september. it's possible those hearings will include a new area of focus. sources tell nbc news, the september hearings may detail new information behind the intelligence. and law enforcement failures that the fbi and department of

homeland security. that oversight, leaving police woefully underprepared for the mob that stormed the capitol. following the former president's insightment. a committee aide told nbc news, last week, an entire team of investigators, known as "the blue team," is focused on the response by law enforcement, intelligence agencies and the military. let's bring in congressional investigations reported for the washington post, jackie alemany. also with us, former senior operations officer with the cia. >> and i have to say, it is kind of cute. the red sox win one game. and mark puts on the red sox. >> got little soxies. >> thank you for not being a front runner, mark. mark, i want to ask you, how in the hell with secret service records. how could something like that happen? this would be like the cia,

destroying its text messages on 9/11. for the secret service, there is no bigger day in secret service history than this day, when you had americans trying to find mike pence, so they could hang him. and they destroyed the records. >> well, joe, you're right. and i think there's a lot to be, that people have to be held accountable for both within secret service, with dhs, and of course, dhs inspector general. and we'll get to that in a second. but the way i look at these scandals or controversies that i always have in my career. there's two things that happen. first, we look for governmentincompetence. when i was at cia, programs would go wrong. and maybe money was misspent. but it was often government officials. it's like the movie, "hunt for red october." when they are looking at the soviet ambassador. and he said, you lost another son? so we've lost more text messages here? so it's ultimately, something we have to get to the bottom

to. let me make a quick moment on the inspector general himself. there's the story of the secret service, now dhs senior officials texts missing. but now the seniors is not apparently inform congress that they were looking into the messages. that's really important. the inspector general is really the government's last line of defense against government malfeasance. i was subject to numerous inspector generals for decades. and when you get an inquiry, you keep records. you know, there's no option on this. and the inspector general, who performs audits and investigations, ultimately, is an institution that is really respected. i think again, as we go on this period of from now incompetence to now malfeasance. but you're right, perhaps the department of justice gets involved. >> jackie, i guess that's what is so surprising to me. we all live in washington, where very little surprises us

anymore. but you hear the words "inspector general and the "and you go, here's the cavalry to clean this up. but inspector general in january decided not to retrieve those texts. we don't know why he didn't retrieve the texts. but then waited february all the way to july, to notify congress who had asked for the records, so they didn't have the records, and that he had proactively decided not to save the records. what can you tell us about this inspector general? and what else can you tell us about this story that keeps growing by the day? >> yep. joseph cuffari, joe, has a questionable reputation, in the democratic administration. he was a trump appointee. and the fact that he opened up a criminal investigation into these missing text messages last month, is viewed very skeptically, especially in light of the new reporting from

my colleagues, maria sachety, which contains a former senior executive, instructing to call the top forensic expert. who was pursuing to stand down. so cuffari was actively trying to quash this investigation, as it was going on last year. by experts. people who were competent and could follow through on these directives. but this is also going to be a thread that the january 6th select committee is going to continue to pursue this month, leading up to the fall series of hearings, that whether or not there was a cover-up. and just how far that cover-up goes. and whether it extends beyond these text messages. and if the committee can

actually obtain and recover some of these text messages that have gone missing from key figures during a key moment in time on january 5th, 6th and 7th. so, jackie, you just started to go where i wanted to hit next. there's signals from the committee that when they have their next hearing, likely in september, a real focus is going to be about the law enforcement and intelligence agency's response in the days before january 6th. the day of january 6th and the days after. tell us a little more about what that would mean. it feels like it would go far beyond these missing text messages. >> i think the best way to look at these fall hearings, john, is, you know, the first eight hearings, the summer series, so to speak, focus on the period, leading up to january 6th and on january 6th. and this next set of hearings is going to if focus on the jan 6, to february 20th, biden's

time initiative. there are several sources that we heard that the investigators on the committee are focusing on now that includes secret service. and it goes way notwithstanding these text messages. it includes going back, potentially, to revisit witnesses like tony onado, and bobby engle names that we all game acquainted with, via cassidy hutchinson, during her blockbuster hearing. and they're also going to focus on various loose threads that they weren't able to sort of button up in the prior hearings, including law enforcement intelligence failures, rnc fundraising practices, really a host of things, and there's actually concern amongst our sources, that the committee simply doesn't have enough resources or time to get done what they need to get done, prior to january 3rd, in the case of house republicans ultimately

take back the house. >> hmm. the washington post, jackie alemany, thank you once again, for your reporting on this. and mark, stay with us. we do want to get your analysis in just a few minutes on the very latest happening out of ukraine. >> and the red sox bull pen. >> and that. first up, senator kyrsten sinema is a big focus for the democratic party this week. as the party decides whether she supports the new reconciliation deal. a new report says senator sinema wasn't upset that she wasn't included. >> and why should she be? because she doesn't talk. at least not in public. >> there is a tax consideration in the bill that she has consistently opposed in the past. despite that, senator joe manchin of west virginia, who brokered the legislation deal, with majority leader, chuck schumer, says he believes she will support it.

>> let me say that kyrsten sinema is a friend of mine. and we work very close together. she has a tremendous, tremendous input in this piece of legislation. this is things that everyone has worked on, over the last eight months or more. and she basically insisted that no tax increases, we've done that. she was very adamant about that. and i support and i agree with her. she was also very instrumental in making sure that we had drug prices that medicare could compete on certain drugs to bring it down. so there wouldn't be an impact on individuals with medicare. she's done this. she has a tremendous amount of input in this piece of legislation. and i would like to think she would be favorable towards it. i respect her decision. she'll make her own decision, based on the contents. >> joining us now, nbc news congressional reporter, scott wong. scott, what's going on here? >> well, you know, all the focus had been on joe manchin. and now, the spotlight is on kyrsten sinema.

and she has, as you guys know, has been at the center of other big, you know, bipartisan deals. she likes to be in the middle of things the she likes to negotiate behind the scenes. and the fact that she has been fairly quiet on the big reconciliation package, no surprise. but the fact that she's on the middle of this now, is no surprise either. and if you remember, she cut the deal, with republicans, cut the deal on the bipartisan infrastructure bill last year, earlier this summer, she was at the center of talks on the gun reform, after uvalde and buffalo shootings. and so, you know, she will be -- you guys pointed out correctly, that there is a provision in this manchin- schumer deal that she has long opposed, the carried-interest loophole, closing that loophole so equity managers can't take

advantage of lower tax rates. so that is one big area of focus that we are all going to be watching very closely. there's the contours for a potential deal, as everyone on capitol hill sees it. so, you know, right now, it's going to be heading over to the parliamentarians. republicans and democrats are going to be making their case to the parliamentarian this week. whether certain aspects of this package can pass muster with her, can go through, what we call the bird-bath process, and see what stays in, what comes out. maybe all of it can stay in. >> no. >> that's sort of where we are. that's the state of play, democrats, including chuck schumer really want to push forward. this could be a very consequential week for president biden and the

democrats. >> yes, it could. >> did schumer and manchin strike a deal, declare "peace for all time," without having all 50 votes? >> joe manchin made the rounds on the sunday show yesterday. the full ginsburg. hit them all. look. he did great. he's hit on every stop that he believed senator sinema would come on board. but i think as scott just mentioned, there is going to be negotiation here. sinema has said that has loophole. she does not want to see part of this. manchin has said he does. there will probably be some deal making, sausage making still to be done here. and then it will have to go to the house. president biden unable to play the role of inperson. though they have taken a largely hands-off position on this, letting schumer and manchin broker this deal, a deal that would frankly give

democrats a huge win. and change the way we look at the biden presidency. it would be a significant accomplishment. scott, before you go, i wanted to turn the page and talk about something else. last week, of course, we know that the republicans blocked what would have been aid to veterans who were suffering illnesses because of their exposure to burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. they had signaled support. the bill had to get redone for a technical reason. and suddenly, it came back, and republicans said no. which most observers believed was out of spike. because they felt like they had been outmaneuvered on the reconciliation deal. where does that stand? is that going to come up for a vote this week? and is it going to pass? >> you mentioned chuck schumer, holding that press conference yesterday. he also insisted that this bill would come up for a vote sometime early this week. we thought it was going to be today. but looks like it's going to be pushed on a little further. 25 republicans changed their

position. they had originally supported it earlier this year. they flipped to no votes and blocked it successfully, filibustering last week. and the timing of that is very suspicious. it came right after joe manchin and chuck schumer, announced that bipartisan. i'm sorry. that partisan deal on the climate and economy package. and so, republicans are, do appear to be taking some retribution on that. and are now, pat toomey, the senator from, republican from pennsylvania, who has been sort of the outspoken voice on this package, you know, helping veterans, has said, look. we are very concerned with the spending. we're concerned that this money is not going to be going towards veterans, it's going to be used for other purposes. and democrats, including jon tester have said no. that's been entirely incorrect. there's really no significant

changes that we've made to this legislation. you guys supported it last time. and you know, this is money that is going to help veterans who are exposed to toxic chemicals during war. and so it's put republicans in a really, really difficult spot. obviously, we saw over the course of the four days that veterans have been camping out on the steps of the capitol, protesting the republican opposition. this is not going over well for republicans. >> right. >> and at the end of the day, they're going to have to get behind this bill and let it move forward. >> yeah. nbc news senior congressional reporter, scott wong. thank you so much. greatly appreciate it. >> thank you, scott. >> and mark. let me bring you in here really quick. just how stupid can republican leaders be, to actually -- to get upset at a procedural gain

that republicans and democrats are playing, against each other, regarding reconciliation. and then to get angry. and take it out on some of the most vulnerable vets that are suffering because they serve this country in war? >> you know, a friend of mine, matt zeller is down there. and i'm proud of those who are there, as jon stewart has said, in much more comfortable language than i could use, you know, "this is an outrage." we have veterans who for 20 years, have fought, been injured for this country. there is serious health effects that jon stewart and others have really pushed for years now, that would be addressed. you know, care would be addressed in this bill. so it's unconscionable, that the republicans are blocking this. and look. i think it's going to be resolved shortly because the

american people see what is happening. but for a party that often professes to be pro-military. you know, this is not a proud moment. i think this is going to be reversed. i certainly understand this t. i have health issues for my government service. at the end of the day, when the government doesn't care for you, you know, it's certainly damaging. we're almost there. i applaud those who were at the capitol now. matt zeller is there. god bless them. but the republicans are going to have to cave on this. because the american people are seeing what is happening. >> all right. we're going to be following this. and coming back to it. coming up, we're following a major development in ukraine, where a ship loaded with grain, is leaving the country for the first time, since russia's invasion. meanwhile, there's new reporting on the russian army. it appears putin's troops are stalled out in eastern ukraine. >> and ukrainians may be starting up acounter-offensive

in the south. >> we'll get expert analysis from four-star admiral james stavridis. and is fox news turning its back on president trump? seems that way, based on a lack of coverage. and what it means from the "new york times." and also what it could mean for 2024. >> give speeches, they don't cover it. throws tantrums. they don't report on him. >> yeah. >> it's awfully sad. i think they're all in for desantis. >> yeah. anyone who bundles their home and auto insurance saves. isn't that right phil? sorry, i'm a little busy. what in the world are you doing? i'm in the metaverse, bundling my home and auto insurance. why don't you just do that in the real world? um, because now i can bundle in space. watch this. save up to 25% when you bundle home and auto. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate

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honored a fan during the friendly against kyiv. paul stratton, a 44-year-old everton fan, who has been helping ukrainian refugees, during russia's ongoing invague, was subbed in to the game tox take a penalty kick. and slided it home, past an unmoving goalkeeper. the goal did not count on the final score sheet. but everton still finished the friendly with a three-nil win. >> after the wor. a significant breakthrough. a ship carrying ukrainian grain, set off for the port of odesa for the first time since the war started in february. >> ukraine's minister of infrastructure, tweeted this video of the vessel, which is carrying 26,000 tons of corn and headed to lebanon. the ship is expected to reach istanbul wednesday, where it will be expected to allowed to proceed. the deal is part of a brokered

deal between kyiv and moscow to allow tons of grain and feed. ukrainian officials say 16 more ships are waiting to part odesa's port as part of the deal. meanwhile, russian advances have slowed, almost to a standstill. as newly-delivered western weapons are recording much of the damage they lost in recent months. russian troops have made no significant territorial gains since the east. analysts say russians are close to exhausting their capacity to make further territorial gains, as their depleted army confronts ukrainian troops with newly-acquired capabilities. a senior official says the weapons provided by the u.s. and its allies have given ukrainians the ability to strike almost 50 miles behind

russian lines, with a high degree of accuracy. and ukrainians have used them to destroy more than 100 high- value russian targets. according to the wall street journal, ukraine has destroyed russian ammunition dumps, command- and control centers. with the help of these western weapons, ukraine is mounting a counter offense to take back the southern cities of kirsan. one was described by senior u.s. military and defense officials during a background briefing at the pentagon. quote, there was a video of a russian tank, just driving around in a circle. and it's turned out because the driver was not trained. he didn't know how to drive the tank. it wasn't because they were having fun. joining us now, former nato

supreme allied commander, admiral james stavridis. he is analyst for nbc news and msnbc. also still with us, former senior operations officer with the cia, mark pollymoroplous. >> we never really knew what was going on in the sof wrote union would guess what was going on. d>> i was reading the book. the rise and fall of great powers. written in 1987. when the u.s. and ussr were sort of their own parody. but i'm remind of that now. because we're seeing through a glass darkly, as the scripture says, we don't know what is going on in russia. we keep hearing they're about to exhaust themselves. but we really don't have any

details. and then seems like we hear every three or four weeks, they're running out of missiles, running out of ammo, running out of troops. what is your best guess on where we are right now, as this war goes into august? and we have this rush for both sides to try to make gains before winter sets in? >> yeah, like in "game of thrones," winter is coming. and it will be an inflection point in this war, i think, joe. but here's my base source to look at. not so much ukrainian intelligence. understandably, they're going to hype the successes. u.s. intelligence, very conservative in making its judgments for a variety of good reasons. i think british intelligence is kind of in the middle. and their call is that russia is somewhere north of 20,000 killed in action. thousands of vehicles

destroyed. hundreds, if not thousands, of tanks destroyed. this is a moment where you really feel that the steam coming out of the russian engine. and you couple that with the two stories you highlighted a moment ago. the ukrainians are, in fact, preparing for a counter- offensive, probably at kkherson. and then thirdly, the start of these grain exports, which is the economic side of this thing. look. it's a small number going out this minute. but look at that map. three ports in and around odesa to the left. you're going to see that ramp up. because glad mir putinbecause vladimir putin has no hand in this.

i'd take the cards that volodymyr zelenskyy holds, not vladimir on the other side of the firing line holds. >> we hear about the possible offensives going down to kherson. how important would this be going to the south in winter? >> immensely important, joe. for two very focused reasons. one is a psychological value. kherson was an early conquest. it was really, the only major city that the russians were able to overwhelm in the early days of this conflict. so this would be psychologically a striking blow. and then secondly, geographically, look at where it's located. it sits on top, for example, of the water supply, going into crimea. that's where the black sea fleet is based at sebastia pol.

so it has both geographic and psychological power there. i would bet on the ukrainians to succeed here. >> so by the way, we're following new details on the scandal involving those deleted secret service messages from around the time of the attack on the capitol. in just a moment, we're going to speak to the "washington post" reporter who has been on top of this breaking all the latest details. later this morning, the national security council's john kirby will be our guest. after rejecting counteroffer in a prisoner swap, after freeing wnba star brittney griner. we'll go to tomorrow's key primary races as candidates backed by donald trump, appear poised for victory. is that good news for democrats? our panel is stepping by for that. in just a few minutes, i wanted to recap what is going on at the top of the hour here. but back to ukraine, admiral

stavridis. given that people in the do next region are being told to leave their home. evacuate. there are still massive killings ask atrocities happening in ukraine. the narrative seems to be that ukraine is winning. but is it? and how long can this go on? >> well, let's stipulate, mika, that war is the most unpredictable of human activity. and it can stand and turn. let's also recognize that vladimir putin has a lot of capacity for dirty tricks. he's still got the ability to move terrorists, chechens, syrians, to bring in the fight. mercenaries. he's got chemical weapons, god forbid, he should think about using one. he could attack one of these grain ships coming out. so he's got a lot of capacity

to throw sand in the gears here. this is far from a sweeping new moment in the war. but you just feel those tectonic plates starting to shift in favor of the ukrainians as we sit here this morning. >> hey, mark. let's tauchman power and morale. senior officials i spoke to last week say russia is really struggling to, to dovetail our conversation. having having a hard time getting people to the front. the time was on putin's side, because he doesn't answer to voters. he's not worried about a cold winter. he's not the one with gas supplies being shut off. but time is not on his side. he is exhausting his troops. give us an idea of the manpower you see and the strain it puts on the shoulders of those who are on the front who are being made to stay day after day,

with poor equipment and training. >> jonathan, you're 100% right. since at this time invasion, february 24th. one of the things i've been seeing over and over again. what really matters is russians coming home in body bags. that has not only an effect on the russians who see this. but also on the soldiers. who wants to fight. what is their morale? so obviously the increased u.s. assistance and western assistance, has been incredibly effective. but you know, you think back to the russian or the soviet invasion of afghanistan. the casualties that the rugs have taken to ukraine, far outstrip that now. and so, you know, there has to be continued western result. because ultimately, the morale, the fighting spirit of the russian military, has been severely degraded. and again, it's the simple idea of russians going home in body bags. and that is a reflection of not only incredible, kind of ukrainian fighting spirit, but

also western assistance. we have to keep our foot on the gas. the admiral is right. there is certainly time remaining for the ukrainians, to launch a counter offensive. but again, russians coming home in body bags. morale just a critical component of this conflict. >> admiral. i want to reference a few things that are in your shot. first of all, from your latest book, great important book, just to risk it all. could you, for somebody that is getting up, getting ready to go to work, maybe somebody who is getting ready to start college or maybe start a new career. what's a lesson they can draw from the book today? >> number 1, and we see it in ukraine. and marc discussed it perfectly a moment ago. it's determination. and you know, six months ago, there were young men and women in their late teens and 20s getting ready to get up and go to work. they had no idea that their

nation would be plunged into a war that would require them to volunteer and did to the front lines. men and women who are now risking it all. so the lesson i would say from the book is this idea that everything can change in a moment. you may be called upon and you have to be determined in that moment. >> and finally, behind you. most importantly for me. a risk. looks like an old, a retro game of risk. i'm going to guess that marc and lemire played risk a bit growing up in college. i don't think mika did. because she thinks i'm strange when i start talking about playing it. what was your strategy in risk? we need to know. did you start in australia? south america? did you sit back and wait and

see what your friends would make. >> here's the cliche answer from the admiral. i looked to the sea. ports and choke points. and whatever way i could close off my opponent and choke him in, i would do it. at the end of the day, sea power matter fist you wanted to control the world. also matters if you want to defend the world upon that's what the u.s. navy does. so joe, i started on the periphery and worked my way in. how about you? >> i try to figure out how to get australia and just let everybody fight each other, constantly being nice to everybody around the board, and just kind of sit and wait and let other people destroy themselves, so then just slowly, slowly take over. but my college roommates figured that out about three our four weeks and and they destroyed me first and got the rest of the board.

i think we need to get, we need to have a 15-year anniversary risk game, starring admiral james stavridis. >> i think that would be fun. >> mj15 risk. admiral four star james stavridis. i'm sure that's what he thinks he needs to do with his time. >> we'll do it for charity. >> and former chief of cia, marc pollymeopoulos. thank you. former watchdog abandoned plans to try to recover deleted secret service messages. joining us now. reporter for "the washington post." she and her colleague, broke the latest development in the growing development in the controversy. it is just hard to believe they

are gone where text messages are found. they're findable. how could they be completely gone? >> you know, mika. colleagues of mine at the washington post have been posing that exact issue. and they produced a story this weekend that was essentially saying a lot of techies, thousands of techies say as you do, that there has to be a way to recover these. but they also found if the secret service's method was to be trusted. there was no backup system. in other words, they all use iphones. the secret service. and there is not an icloud backup system. when they asked techies, being we recreate this if the phones

were reset? there was a big pause. because if those backups were blocked from the agent's phones, it would be difficult. now, we don't know everything. but we do know another thing about the inspector general, which you just highlighted. and that is, the agency that were investigating, where are these records that were by law, required to be maintained. they found a way that they could collect the phones in february of the secret service agents, and the staff were working to try to do this with other department of homeland security divisions. and at the last minute, at the 12th hour, the inspector general, james cuffari and his front office team, halted the plan and quashed it. and said, we're not taking their phones. we're not going to try to recover their texts. which we don't know the answer why. we don't know why an

investigation decided, essentially, not to take new evidence. >> carol, i've got to ask you, in all of your years of reporting, have you ever heard of an inspector general behaving this way? first of all, an inspector general who knows congress is looking for records. an inspector general who knows that congress is trying to get to the bottom of something? and the inspector general calls off the search, and then doesn't notify congress for five, six months it. it's so foreign to me. i know you and i have been around washington a pretty long time. it's hard to be shocked by anything am but when i hear the word inspector general, i still sort of straighten up and say, okay. these people are, you know, apolitical. they're going to get to the bottom of this i don't recall an inspector general, i would say bungling. but it seems purposefully hiding evidence from congress.

>> it is bizarre. and yes, been around a while. have never heard one just like this. now, the department of homeland security, joe, has been played by inspector generals, whose methods have come under scrutiny. the previous inspector general, i think one or two before mr. cuffari, was charged with a federal crime. and so this agency has been suffering from a lack of really toothy investigative power or poor, you know, rigorous investigation, let's put it that way. but you're absolutely right. the way that you phrased that is exactly how i would write it in the story. what in the world is going on, when an investigator is literally offered evidence -- in this case, the reason that the department of homeland security, let me finish that

sentence. i'm sorry. this investigator was offered evidence and turned it down. basically said no thanks. in this incidence, what we found was, the reason the department of homeland security began thinking, we should use our amazing cyber forensic team to collect the, and recover these texts, is because another division of the homeland security department said, look, we don't have the capacity to find our own texts. we don't know how to do that. but you're asking for this information, so we're going to give you our phones. you collect them and see if your cyber team can reconstruct this. but mr. cuffari's office basically kiboshed that whole thing with their staff and said, never mind, investigators who worked for us were trained. we don't want that evidence. >> wow. >> i spoke with a congressional source, who said when they learned this, their jaw dropped

to the table. they said, "look. how can it be that an investigator turns down information that is willingly, voluntarily handed over? what kind of investigator in any office does that?" and that is the question we will continue to raise and try to answer. >> all right "the washington post" carolleonnig, thank you. we appreciate it. we want to turn to the key taking place tomorrow. the first big test of abortion rights since the supreme court overturn roe v. wade. being able to pass abortion bans. in missouri, republicans are trying to stop eric greitens. he is the former who brandished

an assault rifle and threatened to hunt rhinos, or republicans in name only. and in arizona, three trump- backed republicans who are all supporting the big lie, are all leading their opponents. former tv news anchor kari lake, leads her closest rifle, karrin robson. blake masters also surging toward victory. and leading for arizona secretary of state, mark finchem, who claims he has proof trump was cheated out of the election. but yet has to provide that proof. >> almost two years later, still hasn't provided that. how interesting. a run by rusty bowers. remember him? the republican house speaker, who refused to go along with

trump's big lie. and who testified before the january 6th committee. he's headed for defeat. bowers is convinced he's headed for defeat. and this past weekend, he told nbc's vaughn hillyard why. >> the party has thrown me out, basically. the state party issue the county party. and now my district party. >> if you do not win on tuesday, why would you have not won? >> probably because i stood up. and when they ask me to tell the truth, i told the truth. i wasn't the, i didn't go looking for a fight. but the fact that i would break ranks and somehow find, find what the president, the former president did, was unacceptable. but that's like a broke some sort of taboo. and i did break a taboo. and it's kind of a cultic thing, you know, that you have to be in with the cult. let's bring in the host of the podcast, "on brand" with

donny deutsch. host of them is nbc's politics nation. president of the action network. reverend al sharpton. and former chief of staff adrian alrod. senior aide to hillary clinton and biden presidential campaigns. >> so, reverend al. you look at what democrats have done over the years. all the infighting, overreaching, all the internal squabbling. you look at joe biden's poll numbers. you look at history. democrats should be completely wiped out this fall. and yet, in one statewide race, after another, they're doing very well against republicans in these swing states. i mean, it's incredible how crazy a lot of these republican nominees are that are winning.

i'm wondering, do you think the democratic party will be able to come together? do you think specifically people of color will be motivated to vote democratic when you look at recent polls and see that people of color, hispanic voters, black voters, seem to be moving away from democrats? what's the next three or four months going to look like? and what do democrats need to do to get them back to win this election? >> well, what is interesting is that we've seen the democratic party from 2020 until now begin to pull into the middle and appeal to a broader base, including the suburbs, including a lot of those, and it felt they had gone too far in one direction. while the republicans have almost gone off the side of the mountain, following trump in terms of extremism. that has worked. the real dilemma now is what

you raised, joe. is now, what about the base? because if you don't have turnout, and i always say, if you can't turn people on, you won't turn them out, there is no turn-on in the base. because a lot of what was expected, a lot of what we thought we would get in 2020, like the john lewis voting bill, like the george floyd justice in policing act, has not materialized. now, there are reasons for that. the republicans were solidly against it. not one vote broke from the republicans to support either, or other things we were concerned about, and you had the problem with manchin and sinema in the senate. it but they have not been effective about explaining that. they have not talked about what they've done. what benefited blacks and latinos out of the infrastructure bill? what benefited things that joe

biden and kamala harris have done. but any best-kept secret doesn't work in politics. so i think the challenge is, how they get that message out, that we did not abandon you, we were blocked, we did these things. and if you give us more of a majority, we can deliver on the promises made. otherwise, they can lose, not because they were not more crafty, but because they could not really communicate with their base. >> donny, i'm trying to think back to a party that has been as self-destructive as the republican party in the primary process. you look at ohio. if they had selected dave mccormick, then i suspect they would have been extraordinarily competitive in pennsylvania. probably, probably would have ended up winning the state of pennsylvania. you look at ohio, they could

have gone with somebody other than a venture capitalist, who ran around while he was making money there, saying how much he loves silicon valley, and how much he loves san francisco, before, of course, changing. you look at georgia, herschel walker, can't even complete his sentence. have no idea. and neither do most republicans there, have any idea what he's saying, when he starts talking about global warming. and then in arizona, there's a special kind of crazy in arizona republican candidates. no, i'm serious. far crazier than we ever saw in, you know, christine mcdonald and other people back in 2010, 2012. i mean, just really, really crazy. it seems that this is a republican party. we're watching something extraordinary. i mean, we can't blame the politicians in washington, d.c. these are the actual voters. they are driving their party

over a cliff and enjoying every second of it. >> look. you're seeing it in the polls. in the winning the issues poll. the democrats are six or seven points ahead. and joe, i've said this on the show before. i'm going to say it again. this election, for democrats is not. if they do it successfully, will not be a referendum on the economy. it will be a referendum on crazy. that's, and joe, you pointed on the show before. we made history, where very unpopular. but the french voters said, that's better than crazy. and when you look at the jd vances and herschel walkers and mehmet ozes, there is a different kind of crazy. with insurrection, abortion. it's crazytown.

and that is something that is starting to show up in the polls. and that is what the democrats have got to paint the picture of. do not make it a referendum on run away inflation. do not make it a referendum o woeful times. make it a referendum on "we can't go to crazytown." >> adrian, we have a shifting electorate. let's talk about the democrats biggest problems. they talked about people of color, with reverend al, as far as moving away from democrats in some recent polls. but let's talk specifically about hispanics. how big of a crisis is it for the democratic party that in one poll after another poll after another poll, you're seeing more and more hispanics leaving the democratic party for republicans, at the same time, you're seeing former republicans in the suburbs moving to the democratic party? >> reporter: yeah, joe.

it's quite a democratic shift that we're seeing. and it is a problem. we have been losing hispanic support in the 2016 election. not just at the presidential level but across the board. i want to go to something the rev said. he is exactly right some something he said the democrats have to do. joe biden has accomplished more in than the last five presidents. he's still gotten three major economic bills passed. two of those bipartisan. if we pass the inflation reduction. democrats have to go back home, talk to their constituents in august. and tell them what we have done as democrats in these legislative packages that affect their everyday lives. one of the things that frankly drives me crazy, joe, about being a democrat, is we are the party who are supporting and working for middle class

voters. and working class. but we don't always have an effective means to communicate that message for whatever reason. we're the ones for rebuilding the middle class t. we're the ones for raising wage growth. we're the ones who are fighting for those families. republicans are not. they're obstructing it every way. so we have got to figure out how to better communicate that message to voters. and i think doing that will help get some of these working class voters, especially latinos, back in our wheelwhite house. >> that's the big question, adrien. it's the communications. the white house to ballots. the democrats have a ton to brag on. and a ton to fight. and yet in some ways, we're covering republican candidates who are running around with flame flowers and lies, who could win elections if dems don't watch out. >> reporter: yeah, mika. so not only do we need to brag about all that we've done for working class families.

but we also need to draw that contrast. elections are about a choice. donny is right. we have a lot to talk about when it comes to the economy, 3.6% unemployment. record job growth under president biden. record recovery from a pandemic. and when you look at republicans republicanning in the senate races, we're running against some crazy extremists. and we have to make it clear. maybe things are not perfect now. but imagine what life would be like, if more republicans had power in washington. that is the contrast message, the choice we have to talk about when we're going back home to these congressional districts, when senate candidates are running in these tough races across the country. you look at tim ryan, for example. i mean, he should not be beating jd vance right now, by five or six points. ohio has been moving more and more toward a red state. but he is. and one of the reasons why is because jd vance is seen as somebody who is a hard-core

trump-supported extremist policies. and a lot of voters in ohio look at tim ryan. and they say, he's for the working class guy. he's for me. we need to see more of that across the country. and i think when democrats go home, and we can pass this inflation reduction act, before august recess. democrats can go home and have even more to brag about. >> i know. they've had good successes. the saudi-backed liv golf tour, wrapped up its second tournament at trump golf club in bedminster, new jersey. for all the focus, hosted by a former president, obsessed with crowd sizes. there were -- oh, my god, look at that. oh, my god. there's no crowd. >> kind of looks like some of the shots. >> is that a rehearsal. >> during the inauguration. >> there was literally nobody in attendance, compared to the draw for pga. the attendance for yesterday's

final round was substantially improved from the meager gatherings that turned out for the first two rounds. often, there had been about only 30 people surrounding the green the but the total number of fans on the grounds sunday, were no more than several thousand. the wall street journal reports, the tickets for saturday session were available on stubhub for as little as a dollar. >> jonathan lemire, $1 for a golf tournament. to watch golf pros play. >> with trump there. he's a big draw, isn't he? >> with donald trump there. not good, jonathan. not good at all. >> no. the biggest headline that came from that weekend, beyond the sparse crowds, waswhen phil mickelson stepped up to tee off. and a heckler shalted "do it for the saudi family" which was replayed on social media. and that spectator was asked to keep it down.

but does lack enthusiasm for this project. but also for the former president. he has, of course, lent his star power for this. and doesn't seem to be much of a draw. it comes at a home, also, mika, because i know we're also talking about whether fox news may or may not be moving on from former president trump. >> right. >> but one noted spectator who was there with donald trump, watching the l iv golf tournament. tucker carlson. >> all right. there you go. >> according to jeremy's analysis, the network has not interviewed trump in more than three months and has very little live coverage of his rallies this year. instead, the network has showcased other republicans like florida governor ron desantis. and last month, fox gave live coverage to a speech by former vice president mike pence. fox only showed clips of

trump's speech from that same dayment sources tell the times, rupert murdoch who owns fox and his son are at odds with president trump over his refusal to accept his loss in the 2020 election. and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell has expressed concerns to the murdochs about the potential harm trump could do to the party's chances in the upcoming elections. but a source also said fox's coverage could increase if he announces he's running for president or if he's indicted. let me roll back to the part that the murdochs are at odds with him over the big lie. so they don't want that big lie over their network. that has to be it. if somebody is lying through their teeth be t, you wouldn't want your tv network soiled by

lies 24/7. >> obviously, there's litigation. fox right now is tied up in litigation, over some of the lies that were spread by trump's team, on their network. billions of dollars in potential liability. and it all started because of donald trump and his lies about the election being stolen, voting machines. see, that's the thing. they can never outrun the law. they can never outrun the if courts. these lies. these conspiracy theories, they wither and die, under the heat of a federal judge. >> uh-huh. >> or they can never spread their conspiracy theories inside of a courtroom, because they know they'll be sanctioned. they know they'll lose. and now, you have news networks that are being brought into court because these lies were spread, allowed to be spread on their network. so yeah.

and they're also, fox had, what was it? like a two- or three-minute video montage of former trump supporter saying they didn't want to support trump anymore, they wanted to support don desantis. so it was edited almost to look like a commercial for ron desantis. that makes the guy we're looking at very happy. donny deutsch, couple of things, comment first, if you will, on trump. ask the very, very small crowds at the golf tournament this past weekend. and secondly this break with fox news. i mean, murdoch never really liked. all reporting we ever saw, murdoch never liked trump. he always thought trump was a joke. went along with it when he was president. but looks like right now, they are doing their best to abandon

him. >> yeah. in media circles. it's kind of known that the murdochs have really soured on trump. and look, you get scathing editorials in the "post," scathing editorials in wall street journal. certainly some anchors, tucker carlson, still seem to be behind trump. but the network as a whole is moving away from him. and i think it's an indication of the republican party. the golf tournament is kind of a little bit of an offbeat example. if you think a couple of years ago, something trump was sponsoring at his golf tournament in bedminster, this would have been a semi campaign rally. those pictures were embarrassing. humiliating to trump. i mean, that is humiliating. so i think that golf tournament is an example that his grip on the party, he's still got it.

but it is loosing dramatically. but you see in many, many different forms. and fox, is probably the most crucial. i think you're going to see it. i think it's going to be amped up. and i think you're going to see them getting behind specifically ron desantis. >> yeah. maybe even move south. donny deutsch and adrienne elrod thank you for being on the show this morning. we're going to turn to the flood in eastern kentucky as the region is hit by more storms. the governor announced the death toll is now at 28. joining us now from lost creek kentucky. correspondent, maggie vespa. what can you tell us? as you pointed out, we're at lost creek. this creek behind me has been growing by the minute. we had about an hour and a half drive, from where we were in lexington. and there was torrential rain. almost to the point where we had to pull over.

you take a look at the damage that is still left behind from the floods that happened wednesday into thursday. people here. to say they're still cleaning up is a massive understatement. they're still wrapping their minds around what happened and how much was lost. and the lives lost. as you said, the death count of 28. that includes, for instance, a family of four young children from the same family. it's just mind-numbing to people. how much they've lost here. in fact, case in point. we met a family yesterday, a woman who watched her son's house, be carried away by the floodwaters with her husband and daughter-in-law on the front porch, screaming. they're okay now. they were able to break a window now, get up a hill until rescuers could get to them. but take a look, i should say, as to what she said about how this family is grappling with the trauma. >> my granddaughter keeps saying thashe wants to go home to her house.

we keep telling her that her house is broke. and she says, i want to go to my house, i want to go to my room. and she asks for some of her toys. and we just told her that her toys are gone. >> people that might just have some damage to their house. if this starts again, they will be afraid that they will lose everything else. but like i say, for us, we've lost everything that we can possibly lose. you know? we have, we almost lost two family members. we've got them. i mean, the material stuff we can replace. but if they would have drowned in that house. i mean, there's no way that, you know, the children's mommy could be replaced. their poppy could be replaced. >> reporter: people rattling off stories like that. like they're talking about going to the grocery store. i mean, they're just so

inundated with loss now. they're having conversations like "what did you lose? did you find everyone in your family? who in your family was killed?" and they're just numb at that point. this is an area, we're in the heart of appalachia. and it is rife with history. and they're getting promises from the government for aid, most of which have not come to fruition. fema has been here. and they have been saying, do you have faith that that aid is going to come through. the last man we just talked to, a retired marine, he just started laughing. he said "absolutely not. absolute not. we going to have to help each other." so many people dealing with loss. >> nbc's maggie vespa, thank you so much. and still ahead on "morning

joe." nbc news has learned russia made a counter offer to bring home detained americans,brittney griner and paul whelan. we're talking to john kirby, who said russia's counter offer is not in good faith. and supreme court, the plan to overturn the 2020 election? a realistic option in 2024? we'll explain later. and the growing debate over the shrinking size of airline seats. now the faa wants to know how big you think they should be? you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. people remember ads with young people having a good time. so to help you remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a pool party. ♪ good times. insurance! ♪ only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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city. it's always hard to look up when it is rainy and foggy. about we must. as donald trump worked feverishly in the 2020 leak to overturn the results of the presidential election, over 60 courts ruled against him. but what if the courts didn't have the final say in the matter? a case is being heard in the supreme court next term that could put the final say in election disputes with state legislatures. tom rogers is editor at large in "newsweek" and cnbc founder and contributor. and founder of "keep our republic,," an organization dedicated to preserving democracy. also, dave aronberg. it's good to have you both about this important topic. tom, i'll read from you're new

piece. the worst supreme court decision is yet to come. really? in it, you wrote "a potentially new path has been opened to allow the big lie crowd to steal the next if thial election. this potentially new path is created by our current extremist supreme court, having recently decided to hear the case of moore v. harper. while the moore v. harper case does not present the facts related to the choosing of a state's electors in a presidential election, it presents the issue of whether the state courts have any rights to review the decisions state legislatures make to holding federal elections. throughout all the illegitimate challenges president trump's legal minions made to the outcome of the 2020 election, it was often state courts, which were the necessary check, throwing those cases out, giving state legislatures supremacy as to their role in

federal elections as state elections go a long way toward allowing republican-controlled state legislatures in key swing states to implement big lie 2, the sequel, to steal the election and overturn popular vote." tom, two questions for you. wouldn't the supreme court see this and see a problem here? and secondly, i just want to add, that this is why republicans are being deft in really trying to get their extreme folks in there, all the way down the ballot. >> well, thanks for having me, mika. and first, importantly, deepest condolences on your mom. >> thank you. >> this issue is really something that frames the independent state legislature doctrine, which key piece is all about taking possibility of

reviewing what a state legislature does when it comes to handling federal election. this was just a right-wing fringe theory until recently. but we've had four supreme court justices already voice should support for this notion. and there's a real possibility giving a fifth, getting a supreme court vote is going to happen. and the reason that i say this is the worst decision that could come down is as terrible as the abortion and gun rights decisions were, and as out of step as they were with the american right public opinion. at least there was some room left for the state that wanted a different policy, to be able to maneuver somewhat. here you had the possibility of a few swing states, in control of twith republican control of their state legislatures, being able to destroy democracy for every state, for the entire country. and this really does set up the

possibility of a precedent that choosing electors for the electoral college, could end up with the games being played by state legislatures, which fundamentally overturn the popular vote. so this is a really, really important supreme court case coming down the pike. the good thing is, there is a potential partial answer here for dealing with this that give us some hope. >> hey, dave. this is jonathan here. with the ramification of "the big lie." and i'll note that they talk about these legal avenues. i was hoping you could give us a sense here. first of all we know the senate, hopefully they believe they can safeguard that end of the process. but what more can be done on the state level if, indeed, this goes through? >> yeah, jonathan. you know, the problem is, is that the state courts, we're the ones who really were the

safeguard against "the big lie" and when that i are limited into getting involved in federal elections. then it really would be up to, i think, congress, to take action. and the way for congress to take action is to pass a john lewis voting rights act. and the way to pass a john lewis voting rights act is to do away with the filibuster. problem is, you need two more votes in the senate to do so. so the democrats would have to, somehow get two more votes in the senate and hold on to the house in the midterms. so this getting into a political discussion. because right now, as tom said, there are four votes on the supreme court that have expressed support for this radicaldoctrine in the past. all it takes is one more. then it autobiography could be katie bar the door. and maybe you want to get legislation pass at the federal level to undo this. one good thing you guys have been reporting is that

republicans seem to want to the feet from the jaws of victory. historical trends say they would gain seats when the democrats control the white house. but we'll see what happens. i mean, the republicans are trying to lose elections. and they're putting up these radical candidates who probably would like such an extremist legal theory as this one. >> all right, tom rogers. thank you very much. we'll be reading the new piece for newsweek. and state attorney for palm beach county attorney, thank you. we appreciate it. and coming up, the life and legacy of basketball star, bill russell, the hall-of-famer who led the celtics to 11 championships, has passed away at the age of 88. how he is being remembered this morning.

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giant, basketball legend and civil rights activist, bill russell has died. his family calling russell the most prolific winner in american sports history. nbc's george soliz has a look back at the life and legacy of the sports icon. >> there's a difference between being proud and having pride. >> reporter: wasn't just because of his height that bill russell towered over everyone else. he was a force to be reckoned with, both on -- >> only really important thing was to try to win every game. >> reporter: -- and off the court. >> i was here when martin luther king made the speech. >> reporter: decades after retiring, he still dominates the record books with more championships than any other player in any sport. two ncaa championships, one gold medal, and an astonishing 11 nba titles in 13 years with the boston celtics. >> in the lane, russell, dunk.

>> reporter: winning the last two as team coach. first black coach in history in any major sort. he used the super star status as an athlete to fight for change. boycotting a game after he and his fellow athletes it were denied service at a restaurant. and martin luther king jr. delivered his "i have a dream speech. >> for us that were involved, the changes were very slow. >> the moment was highlighted by president barack obama awarding the presidential medal of freedom. >> i hope one day, children will look at a statue not only for bill russell the player, but the man. >> two years later, that would become reality. magic johnson saying he is heartbroken over the passing of the greatest winner the game of

basketball has ever seen. and friend and mentor. his family said he passed away peacefully. his wife at his side. bill russell was 88 years old. >> reverend al, it's hard to actually talk about and adequately describe the impact bill russell had not only on sports but on culture and the civil rights movement. tell us his lasting legacy. >> one would have to grow up as i did as a preteen in the 1960s to understand bill russell. because he became, the first we saw somebody win that much that looked like us. we're talking about a time that you did not see black role models on television as often as you do now. and there was no social media. and this guy kept winning. he was excellent. but then, at the same time, he

would take that celebrity statue to the causes he didn't write a note about martin luther king. he marched with martin luther king. when muhammad ali stepped up to refuse to be drafted, bill russell stood with jim brown and met with cleveland and ali. you have to remember, he's playing fromboston, one of the most segregated cities t. boston was not a place you wanted to do that. bill russell had courage. and he would stand. and i believe that the lending and the giving of his stature would help the civil rights movement in many ways we could never estimate. and i was older and a teenager and stayed in rooms where he stayed, i was awed. and one of the last, for president obama. and i still was awed, because he represented not only a winner on the court.

he represented one that stood up for social justice. you have a lot of guys now that do it by tweeting and they get some likes on social media. there was no tweeting. and he didn't do it to bring attention to himself. he went to the guys, like ali, and dr. king, and he pushed them out and supported them. he was one kind of a person. >> he was incredible. obviously one of the greatest, if not the greatest basketball player, if you just look at all the achievements. all the trophies. >> and the life. >> hard to put anybody next to him. let's underline jonathan lemire. you're a boston guy. let's underline how difficult it was for him to play basketball in the '60s, in an extraordinarily racist environment. here are some of his words i just found. number one paper was the "boston herald" and they didn't like the idea of a team having

black players. bob cousi. and the boston herald wrote that i was lucky to play for cousi. and he said, the fans called us the boston globetrotters. because the celtics had black players. i mean, the country was such a different place at that time, in the 1960s. and boston was such a different place. and the thing that i loved about just reading about and hearing about and listening to him afterwards. he just didn't put up with anybody's bs. he was his own man. he was tough.

he was a champion. and if white people in boston didn't like it, he really couldn't care less. he put his head down. he did his job. and he was defiant on and off the court. but he was also a civil rights hero,extraordinarily constructive. >> yeah. russell not shy about how difficult it was to play in boston during that time. the celtics, a very progressive organization. first team to have a black head coach. but the city itself lagged behind, in recent decades, russell's relationship with the city be repaired. he would start going back to boston, playing games, reembracing the community. but he made it clear, he still felt those wounds. and he was, i mean, the greatest winner in team sports. 11 out of 13 years he won a championship as a member of the celtics. he did it with defense and rebounding. didn't always need to score. he was an unselfish teammate

and then a good coach. but even more than a basketball legend, a civil rights icon, too, who stood with people. and in his latest years, was happy to talk to people. very generous with his time. there was a story about how he was reluctant to sign autographs. let's sit down and have a conversation. and those who did that were so enriched by it. a very good man. basketball legend and good man and let's say it, an american hero. >> all right. thank you for that. jonathan lemire. it is a few minutes past the hour on this first day of august. just ahead, from abortion rights to control of congress to the integrity of the next presidential election. a lot is on the ballot tomorrow, when voters head to the polls in several key states. we'll go to our reporters across the country, for the latest on where those races stand. but first, china is reiterating its warning to the u.s., saying there will be serious

consequences if house speaker nancy pelosi visits taiwan. a spokesperson for the chinese foreign ministry said this morning, that their army will, quote, never sit by idly. >> well, you know what? we have an army, too. it won't sit by idly either. don't tell our leaders where they can go and can't go. >> to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity. >> whatever. >> he also said that beijing is fully prepared and solemnly waiting. pelosi arrived in singapore today, kicking off her asia tour. she did not say if there will be a stopover in taiwan. but everyone is beginning to guess. >> richard hass said this this morning. speaker pelosi does stuff in taiwan, as she might. it is important that she articulate support for a one china policy and nonsupport for taiwan's independence. but in addition, she should oppose the use of force by

mainland china and support coming to taiwan's defense, if beijing does act. we've seen, as we look at these pictures of nancy pelosi. we have seen over the past sick months what happens when the united states tries to play nice with tyrants like vladimir putin. we have seen what happens when we try to go about things diplomatically and so extraordinarily cautious, to never show support for allies like ukraine. and so what happens? we send a message. we send a message to vladimir putin. so we have, i think the united states has done its best over the past 20, 25, 30 years, of talking about a one china policy. there have been many times when the united states could have stepped up and said things in support of taiwan, be more supportive of taiwan. but didn't do so because of its

sort of creative fiction that we're moving along with because china has asked us to support a one china policy. and all you have to do is look at china's actions over the past five years. their aggressiveness over the past five years. i mean, i salute nancy pelosi for going there, for sending a message, that taiwan is an ally. and just as we won't support taiwan's independence and breaking away from this one china policy, we will not stand idly by if mainland china decides to invade taiwan. >> well, joining us now, national security council coordinator for strategic communications at the white house, retired rear admiral john kirby. we've got a lot to talk to you this morning, including ukraine. and you will be competing with a lawn mower. but we will do it.

first, i want to ask if speaker pelosi has any plans to go to taiwan? and is the administration giving her any guidance on this? >> i won't speak for speaker pelosi's travel itinerary. i think she's better placed to do that. what i can tell you, though, mika, is as she prepared for this trip to the indo region, we absolutely met with her and her staff, gave her context facts and reality, geo political facts we wanted to make sure she was aware of. and of course, we'll do that throughout the trip as she need its. >> all right. so why isn't the administration concerned that she's going to taiwan? do you think it's an unnecessarily provocative move? >> for the speaker to go to taiwan? no. it wouldn't be. if anything, and i heard what you were saying before here, joe. if anything, you would think the chinese would welcome it. it shows consistency. shows nothing has changed

between china's one policy adherence. it shows our help with taiwan's self-defense. it shows consistency. we have had congressional leader goes in the past, including speaker of the house. there is nothing unusual about this. and quite frankly, it's disconcerting that china might use this. even before, there was talk aboutspeaker pelosi trip to increase tensions across the street. >> i actually made a trip myself back when the first democratically-elected president of taiwan was inaugurated. flew 19 hours. i think i flew back 19 hours. but there were a lot of us who decided it was an an important thing to do to show support. again, even if we did support a one china policy. let's talk about ukraine. we have been obviously seeing a lot of grim reports in the news

over the past month or two. at the same time, a lot of intelligence estimates from across the west, like britain, showing that the russians have lost more than 20,000 troops, have been killed in a war and that they're having manpower shortages and weapons shortages. what can you tell us about the state of the war right now? >> there's still a very active line of fighting, joe, in the east and in the donbas down south. what is important is the russians have not made any major gains in any one area over the last several weeks. ukraine is meeting them quite effectively. and i would add in part by the weapons systems that we're providing. you'll see another package of ammunition here we're seeing soon. we're helping provide the 80 ability to do that.

there's a lot of back-and- forth. so when they do make a gain, they're small gain. they haven't made much progress. they certainly have not achieved any of their strategic objectives. but clearly, mr. putin has shown no indication he's willing to stop this war. he's shown every indication that he wants to keep the fighting going. he wants to continue to kill ukrainians. >> mr. kirby. al sharpton. many of us, as you know, are very concerned about britain, griner as well as whelan and others who are being held in russia, in prison, for what we think are ridiculous charges. and tried to be very strategic and not pushing where we would, at their expense, be showboating, and they're the ones in jail. but the state department and others, can you give us an update as best you can, on where those negotiations are.

and i've raised that saying i've talked to the state department and the white house. and they have clearly been trying to brief people and keep people going. but not playing into putin's hands. what can you share with us, because millions of americans are concerned about britain? >> yes, sir, reverend. i can assure you that president biden is concerned about britney and whelan. i can tell you several weeks ago, reverend, we put together what we believe is a serious offer. i'm not going to go into details here on tv. and i think you can understand. we were waiting for the russians to accept and they were stalling. so we made public last week that there was this proposal on the table. they've come back with some sort of ridiculous counteroffer, which isn't a counteroffer at all, which is actually a bad-faith attempt to avoid the deal that is on the table now that we urge them to success. i can promise you, we are working on this every single day.

we want to get britney and paul home. and we want to keep their families informed. this is top of mind for the president. >> admiral, good morning. jonathan lemire. i want to run anthony tubase. one of the few top putin aides to register a protest with invasion. reports that he has been hospitalized with critical symptoms of a rare neurological disorder. the belief is, he has perhaps been poisoned. and this is not the first time the kremlin has done this to putin's foes. but secondly, when is the speech more broadly, even beyond this, about putin's mindset now? >> on the first thing, john. i don't have a lot of details. we have seen these reports

obviously as you were monitoring this as best we can. and we don't want to jump to conclusions. but certainly our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family for a speedy recovery for whatever the cause is. i think we better leave it there for now. as for putin's mindset, nobody knows what mr. putin is thinking on any given day. but we know he and his troops are under pressure. they have lost a lot of troops, they have lost equipment. they haven't made substantial groundwork. exports of controls and sanctions we have put in place, have definitely crimped his ability to wage this war. we know we can't replenish precision missile-guided systems. and he's completely isolated from the community. he's got inflation nearing 20%. imports down 40%. i could go on and on.

mr. puttin is under a lot of pressure. i don't know how he feels about this. but we know he and his economy, they are not performing anywhere why what they want him to be doing by this time. >> all right. national security council coordinator for strategic communications at the white house, retired rear admiral john kirby, thank you very much. we appreciate you coming on this morning. former president donald trump was asked about the potential prisoner swap in a radio interview. and had this to say about brittney griner. >> she went up there, loaded up with drugs into a hostile territory, where they're vigilant about drugs, they don't like drugs and she got caught out. and now we're suppose to get her out, she makes a lot of money, i guess. and we're supposed to get her out for an absolute killer, and one of the biggest armed dealers in the world, killed many people, and he's going to

get a free card. she knew, you don't go in there, loaded up with drugs. and she admitted it. i assume she admitted it without too much force because it is what it is. and it certainly doesn't seem like a very good trade, does it? he's an absolute, one of the worst in the world. and he's going to be given his freedom because a potentially- spoiled person goes into russia, loaded up with drugs. >> i mean, here we have, rev, we have donald trump talking about brittney griner having a lot of money? we have donald trump calling brittney griner "spoiled"? and we have donald trump talking about her, quote, "loaded up with drugs." there's been no testimony, no evidence, no suggestion that she was, quote, loaded up with drugs. it once again shows just what a

terrible guy this is, what a heinous human being. how cruel it is. and you cannot help but wonder if he's saying that because she's a black basketball player. >> there's no doubt in my mind that if she was not black and openly gay, he would not have taken such liberty with her reputation. first of all, britney's attorneys presented in court in russia, that the amount of vape that they he said was related to cannabis, was a very minor amount, and in the united states, it probably would be a misdemeanor. and it was prescribed to her because of the pains she has gone through in terms of her profession as a basketball player. as far as her being spoiled, she's been playing in russia on a russian team for seven years because they don't play women

basketball players the same amount they pay men basketball players. so she's not only not spoiled, she's not treated equitably. as mika brzezinski has pointed out across the board. but for him to, again, try to use her to play to his crowd, here is a black gay woman, and for him to act like again, russia is so fair, that they're just holding this great drug dealer. again, he's on the side of russia, against an american. that's vintage donald trump. >> yes, it is, reverend al. thank you so much for that. we will be following this for sure and staying on it. we want to get to the political races at play right now, at states across the country. there are a number of competitive races on the ballot tomorrow. joining us now in phoenix, arizona. nbc news correspondent, vaughn hillyard, in brighton be michigan.

nbc news correspondent, shaquille brewster. and nbc correspondent dasha burns and in washington, missouri, washington correspondent for nbc news, yamiche alcindor. and featuring someone we saw headline a january 6th committee hearing. rusty bowers. >> reporter: let's just start with rusty bowers. this weekend, i went ask joined him for one of his final campaign events at a luau sort of event. the gentleman from mesa wore a hawaiian shirt and played his guitar. a rendition of "i love you arizona." because he is facing a trump- backed challenger. the 16-year, public policy leader here in arizona, is settling on the cusp of potentially being ousted from office. and i put the question here. on tuesday night, if he were to

lose his primary. what would he tell me? take a listen. >> the party has thrown me out, basically. the state party, the county party. now my district party. >> if you do not win on tuesday, why would you not have won? >> probably because i stood up. and when they ask me to tell the truth, i told the truth. i wasn't the, i didn't go looking for a fight, but the fact that i would break ranks and somehow find what the president, the former president did, was unacceptable. that's like i broke some type of taboo. and i did break a taboo. and it's kind of a cultic thing, you know, that you have to be in with the cult. >> reporter: not only could rusty bowers be booted from office after testifying in front of the january 6th election committee. but you're looking at donald trump could have a clean sweep

of victories among his other candidates not only is blake masters the top polling candidate. jim lehman is second in that race. but the other races we'll be talking about in the days ahead are governor's race, with kari lake, secretary of state. abe ham eddy is running for attorney general. each of those threes have called for desertification of the 2020 election. despite joe biden legitimately winning the state of arizona. those candidates could win. just take kari lake's race for example. she's facing karen taylor robson. karrin taylor robson's campaign spent $18.3 million. compare that to kari lake, just $3.5 million. kari lake, despite that

advantage, could pull off a win. we have a potential win here, where these trump-backed candidates could set a path of how republicans want their party to go, looking ahead. all right, vaughn. to michigan now. where donald trump friday endorsed conservative media personality, tudor dixon in the challenge to state governor, gretchen whitmer. shaq, tell us about the play there. >> reporter: well, this is a race that has been extremely close. talked about for months now. we're talking about the leading candidates kicked off the ballots because of invalid signatures. millions spent to endorse the primary. and we saw that endorsement from president trump over the weekend, endorsing tudor dixon. i've been talking about what that endorsement could be. listen to what some republican voter his to tell me over the

course of the weekend. >> probably about 75%. but not 100%. >> you're more likely to go with a candidate who president trump supports? >> it's possible. but again, i need to see for that candidate myself, to see how i feel about that candidate. >> well, i think i can choose for myself. but i do take it under consideration. >> president trump says, i support this candidate, i'm endorsing this candidate over another. does that carry weight for you? >> not really. >> why not? >> i like to look at the person themselves. >> reporter: now, the former president also weighing into a congressional district as well, endorsing john gibbs, who is a challenger to peter myers. myers was one of the 10 house republicans who voted for impeachment. he has more money, more name i.d. but with the president's endorsement. especially the fact that more

than 600,000 have already filed their return ballot. >> shaq. all right to kansas now. a key post measure is on the ballot. dasha burns, tell us about it. >> reporter: well, mika, i'm standing in front of one of just five abortion clinics in the entire state of kansas. but it recently became one of the few clinics in the entire region, as after the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, many of the surrounding states enacted all-out ban or severe restrictions on the procedure. kansas has become the first in the nation to vote on the abortion issue tomorrow. on the ballot is the value of the vote amendment. which targets the 2019 kansas supreme court amendment that ruled abortion rights are protected in the kansas state constitution. if this amendment passes, it would remove constitutional

protection frgs abortion, and potentially pave the way for further restrictions. and as activists worry, potentially target the ban. and this could be a major bellwether, mika, for when other states will put this issue on the ballot. other candidates on this issue will be here. what happens here will likely be an indicator. is this an issue that will get voters out to the polls? and in this conservative state. if this race is close. and if the no vote wins with the pro abortion rights wins, that's going to say quite a lot here, mika. >> all right, dasha. thank you. finally in missouri, the race to replace retiring republican senator roy blunt, features a candidate, who many republicans are scrambling to defeat. yamiche, tell us about eric greitens. >> reporter: well, good

morning, mika. this is a wild, fragmented three-way race here in missouri to replace. you, of course, were talking about eric greitens. he is the embattled former governor, who has been accused of sexual abuse, resigned 18 months after inauguration. someone who the gop says alienated from his own party. but he has the support of donald trump jr. and we have to put an exclamation point on junior. he is not endorsed by his father. you also have the missouri secretary of state, eric schmidt. he is the second eric in the race. he is someone who people have described to me as someone who is a moderate republican, who has attacked the right, trying to get the endorsement of former president trump. in the past few days, he came out saying he would not support

mitch mcconnell. this, of course, is mirroring the fact that president trump has been criticizing mitch mcconnell. also, vicki hartsler. she is someone who was a u.s. congress woman. she voted against certifying the legal election. in some ways, she is mirroring the politics grievance. former president trump has thrown her under the bus, saying he will not endorse her. my understanding is that she was a bit critical of the january 6th capitol attack. not coming out against former president trump. just maybe saying he shouldn't be breaking into the capitol. but that was not enough to say he does not want to attack her. transgender rights, crime. all of these different things are mixing in. and it's sort of making the race of the microcosm of the reality. i have to tell you one other thing, which is 24 hours ago, within the last 24 hours, former president trump was tweeting, or i should say,

posting on to his social about this race. he tweeted, posted about a poll, a 2024 potential gop presidential nominee poll, that showed he would have about 42% of the support here in missouri, if he were to run for election. he's mad about that poll. it's a poll that is connected to a political operative for eric schmidt. hopefully we'll be able to talk to him. former president trump was mad that that poll didn't show him as having more support. some in the state are saying that's him knocking down eric schmidt, who is trying meeting with the former president to get his endorsement. a lot of interesting things happening here, mika. a race definitely to watch. >> reporter: all right, vaughn hillyard, shaquille brewster, and yamiche alcindor. thank you for your reporting. we'll be watching. we'll have more on these key races ahead with steve kornacki at the big board. also, senator murphy will

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you look at states where democrats have set themselves up, to actually have very good chances to win some statewide races, to win some governor's races. that's happened, not so much because of what the republicans or what the democrats have done. it's happened because of who the republicans keep nominating. and there have been some crazy choices, if you look at dr. oz in pennsylvania. here's near the top of the list. republican nominee for pennsylvania, near the top of the list. you look, of course, what's happened in ohio, with jd vance. i won't even get into how confuse that poor guy is. i feel sorry for him.

jd vance in ohio, getting trounced now in poll numbers. these are states, in a year, where democrats should be crushed in these statewide races. you can look at herschel walker in georgia. but republicans keep selecting crazier and crazier people to run in the fall. in statewide races. you can get away with that in a house race. look at me, i'm a perfect example of that. but you go statewide, things get real, real fast. and of all the states, i think, where republicans have let the crazy out of the barn and let it just take over, and run wild, it's just a crazy stampede through the streets, in political debates, arizona is at the top of that list. let's bring in right now, nbc news national correspondent,y steve kornacki at the political board. none of my comments are the opinion of steve kornacki.

it's only the opinion of me. he's going to take us through -- steve kornacki. you don't actually work for any bullriding association. though i think you should. i love your work. i love your work at triple crown. but i've been absolutely stunned by just how self- destructive, in my opinion, not yours, the republican party has been, by the people they put up, to run statewide races in swing states. and there is not a state that is more of a swing state now than arizona. and my god, the people who look like they're lining up to win are all in for the trump conspiracy theories. take us through those races and all the races we're going to see. take us to crazytown. >> yeah. well, what you're outlining there is the democrats' hope here in the face of a climate that otherwise, if you just

look at joe biden's proval rating, state climate history for how things go for white house parties. democrats are hoping what you just outlined will be a major mitigating factor that would allow them to defy history. and focus on the senate. right now, it is 50-50 in the senate. so basically, you're looking at what, i think the potential battleground looks like for the senate, as shaded by the party that now controls these seats. republicans just need a net gain of one seat and they get control. and again, just given the environment, everything we're talking about. you would think looking at that map that that one seat wouldn't be too hard to come by. right away, you take a look here. what would the two most lookly options be for republicans? well, the two democratic-held seats that were the closest in the 2020 election, were

georgia. remember, 11,000 votes was biden's margin in georgia. no margin for error for democrats. the poll has been concerning so far when you look at herschel walker in that september race. republicans will tell you, hey, this will be in their view, a wave year n. wave years, all end up breaking toward the opposition party at the end of the cycle. herschel walker will get carried by the wave. i think that's what republicans are counting on. democrats, blake masters, shows him with a republican september in arizona tomorrow. potentially blake masters in arizona, could put those otherwise, on paper, clear pickup opportunities for republicans at risk. then you compound it. you were mentioning the name of

mehmet oz in pennsylvania. the polling has also been very concerning for republicans when it comes to oz. when it comes to his approval. unfavorable number of voter. very high, unfavorable numbers. if you just looked at this map and didn't know who was running in thosestates, you would say pennsylvania is now a republican held senate seat, pat toom senot running. maybe democrats have a chance of picking up pennsylvania but all republicans have to do is win georgia or arizona, and there's their net gain of one. but when you start looking at the individual dynamics. georgia may be a tough pull, arizona as well. you have colorado on the map. colorado is the kind that could come into play. they have nominated a much more moderate candidate there. but colorado is much more democratic than arizona or

georgia. it starts to get more complicated from this vantage point. we're just 100 days inside of election day. when you look at the individual senate race, you can start to see a scenario, where democrats start to see the senate. where you take the dynamics out of it. and think about the midterms of the climate. you still see the making there potentially of republican wave. so two things are in tension with each other here i think. >> coming up, a politico exclusive. you might not know the name joshua findlay but the department of justice does. investigators want to see his messages about the 2020 election. messages about the 2020 election. you're an owner. that means that your goals are ours too. and vanguard retirement tools and advice can help you get there. that's the value of ownership. i'm a fancy exercise bike noobie.

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sources tell the washington post that after learning of the missing messages in february, inspector general joseph cuffari, planned to contact data specialists to help retrieve the messages. but later that month, cuffari's officereportedly decided it would not collect or review any secret service cell phones. >> who did he talk to? i mean, i wonder. who did he talk to? >> what was behind that decision? >> congress was demanding these texts. >> it would take until july, joe. for cuffari to inform members of congress that the messages were erased. those texts, from january 5th and 6th of 2021 were deleted in what the secret service was a device replacement program -- >> that's a lie. >> which everybody at this point knows is completely bogus. >> maybe it was lined up to be that way. their explanation, though. it's riddled with lies. it's riddled with lies.

because again the process they went through is a process that no government agency in washington, d.c. ever goes through. >> this was reportedly done, despite multiple notifications, the two agents that they had a legal responsibility to preserve their communications. >> jonathan lemire, this one stinks to high heavens. >> it is. >> this one is bad. >> potent. >> i find it hard to believe that the justice department is not going to look into this, to see who deliberately destroyed government records or allowed government records to be destroyed that were being demanded by the united states congress. but here you have -- and it's just one story after another story after another story of malfeasance, on the part of this inspector general and the secret service leaders. >> yeah. it's hard to come up with any other phrase. but cover-up for what has happened here. these are text messages from january 5th and 6th. these are not routine days on

the calendar for the secret service. but we know, records are to be preserved, even on routine days. that's how it works when you work for the federal government. there's a federal records act. that demands there be retention of said records. that didn't happen here. and these are obviously days where getting that information would be extraordinarily helpful to investigators, both the congressional subcommittee. as well as the department of justice because it would provide insight to what the secret service was saying about what was happening to the vice president at the capitol, as well as with president trump at the ellipse and then his demands to try to go to the hill himself. and now we have despite knowing the time line that this request was made from congress. a few days after january 6th, preserve these records. not only were they not. but the internal investigation into them was scuttled and that their watch dog said we don't need to pursue this further. and now it does appear those

records are lost forever, mika. it's something the committee is zeroing in on. they are frustrated. certainly possible that they could be disciplinary if not more criminal charges be looked at here. but at least for now, those seem to be moving on. >> coming up, the government calls it do mestic terrorism. we'll go live to the u.s. district court in wash washes, where it is sentencing day. for a man who tried to enter the capitol with a handgun on january 6th. nbc's ken dilanian is there. hein joins us straight ahead. hein joins us straight ahead. the most cautious driver we got am i there? looking good (phone chimes) safe driving and drivewise saves you 40% with allstate moderate to severe eczema still disrupts my skin. despite treatment it disrupts my skin with itch. it disrupts my skin with rash. but now, i can disrupt eczema with rinvoq. rinvoq is not a steroid, topical, or injection.

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coming up, senate republicans say they blocked critical funding for veterans over concerns about the methodology of government accounting. >> what? i don't actually think that is the reason. >> democrat chris murphy sees a different reason. >> the last charitable explanation is this.

republicans are mad that democrats are on the verge of passing climate change legislation, and have decided to take out their anger on vulnerable veterans. >> they are literally for political reasons, they're attacking vulnerable vets. who were suffering. just over a political procedural game. it is really, it is kind of sick. >> senator murphy joins us next on "morning joe." flowers are fighters. that's why the alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's is full of them. because flowers find a way to break through. just like we will. join the fight at alz.org/walk what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena® ♪♪

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calling on lawmakers to pass the pact act. a bill that would expand aid for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. it comes after senate republicans blocked the bill last week with republican senator pat toomey facing the most criticism. he delayed the legislation over a $400 billion spending amendment. but said he's working to change the bill in a way that wouldn't change a penny in funding for veterans programs. >> what i'm trying to do is change a government accounting methodology that is designed to allow our democratic colleagues to go on nun unrelated $400 billion spending spree that has nothing to do with veterans and that won't be in the veterans space. >> all right. joining us now, chris murphy of connecticut. are democrats using this bill to go on some sort of spending spree, what is going on here? >> no, that is ridiculous.

but let's make it clear, pat toomey was one of the 14 republicans who opposed it the first time around. he has been consistent. he does not support spending this money on veterans, that is his prerogative. what is harder to explain is why 25 of his colleagues supported the bill the first time it came through the senate and when it came back they all opposed it. the question in whether the money is the bill is mandatory or discretionary spending, that didn't change. it has always been mandatory spending. there is nothing substantive that has changed in the legislation. so, pat toomey, all along, has opposed this bill. that is his right as a senator. but why did 25 republicans switch their vote? the only thing that changed was the deal on lower,ing prescription drug costs costs the 25 republicans to take out thur frustration on veterans. >> so that is what i was going

to ask you. why did they change their vote. and so their mad about something else? what? their mad about dems looking too good? >> well, listen, i remember the first vote on the floor when 85 democrats and republicans voted for it. i remember pat toomey lobbying against the bill. it is not as if his republican colleagues didn't know his objections to this decision to make the funding mandatory. but they still all voted for it. the only thing that changed after that was not the strength of pat toomey's arguments. what changed is the fact that we got closer to passing climate change legislation and republicans all along have been pretty clear about their interest in stopping legislation that they think is good for america, simply to punish democrats. before they stop the pact act, they have threatened to block something called the chips act which is a bill to restart microchip manufacturing in america, a bill that republicans supported but they announced.

so this is something they've been unapologetic for the last month. it is a decision to hurt your country simply because you're angry that democrats are fofing forward on climate change regulation. >> good morning, it is jonathan lemire. as you know, schumer suggested this bill would come up for a vote in the next couple of days. and senator cornyn from texas suggested this time it will pass. suggesting that, yes, indeed it was being held a few days out of spite. but you mentioned the climb change legislation and i wanted to get you on the big picture reconciliation bill. this deal struck by schumer and your colleague senator manchin. we've been talking about it all morning. all eyes on senator an sinema. do you believe she will vote for this bill allowing it to pass? >> i certainly wouldn't ever speak for senator sinema.

she's a friend. i know her well. written the bipartisan safer communications act, the gun bill with her. she'll come to her own decision. but obviously there are many elements of this bill that senator sinema supports and frankly wrote the prescription drug provisions in the bill that allows for the federal government to negotiate directly with the drug companies. those provisions are really due to senator sinema's hard work. so it is her decision ultimately. obviously you're in a 50/50 senate. you need every vote and those of us who care about this bill will make the case to senator sinema that it is good for country and good for arizona. >> senator murphy, i'm curious what your thoughts are about speaker pelosi visiting taiwan. a lot of talk about whether she should go or not. it does a -- look like she's going and what does she need to say on the ground there.

>> listen, it is up to speaker pelosi to make that decision for herself. i'm not in the business of giving her advice. i think it would be important for her to rearticulate our current taiwan policy. and more broadly, if this country is going to create a different policy on taiwan, if we are going to choose to give some kind of implicit security guarantee, then let's make that decision purposefully. i do worry a little bit about accidentally creating a new policy that provides a security guarantee without that going through the united states congress, being vetted by the administration. i'm not saying that the speaker's trip by itself created that new policy. but we've got to be careful here because if we are going to step up and agree to defend taiwan, that requires an enormous amount of new expenditure and a

repositioning of our forces, let's do that in a thoughtful way. >> isn't that our stance right now. is that our understanding, many mainland china invades taiwan that the united states would defend taiwan? >> it actually -- i would argue it is not. our position is that we will assist taiwan in defending itself and that historically has meant being a security partner, providing them with defense material. but of course this whole policy of strategic ambiguity has meant that it has been unclear whether the united states would come to the defense of taiwan. it may be that it is in our security interest to do that. but we have purposely left that question unanswered over the years. you could argue whether that is a good policy or a bad policy. but thus far our position is to support taiwan ability to defend itself and leave open the question of whether the u.s. forces are going to come to

taiwan's defense. i don't think that is a bad policy to keep china guessing and if we're going to change the policy, let's do it thoughtfully and purposefully. >> what would be the impact to -- and this is not a leading question, i'm not suggesting what policy position i think you or other members of senate should take. i'm just genuinely curious what your thoughts are on what the impact on international security would be if vladimir putin were allowed to maintain a hold and gains that he made by illegally invading ukraine and then we allowed china to hold any gains they would make in a possible invasion of taiwan. >> well, so i think you're right to make the case that these two are interconnected. i think the most important thing we could do right now to prevent china from invading taiwans