the attacks that murdered 2977 people. over the years i have made clear no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide we will never tolerate security being threatened. if you are a threat we will be relentless in defense. the united states will find you and take you out, we give thanks to the super patriots who serve in the intelligence community. finally let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 we have never forgotten your loss. may god protect our troops and make god bless the united states of america. >> more than 20 years after 9/11 and a decade after the killing of osama bin laden the u.s. takes out the terrorist leader who helped plan that attack and others against

americans with president biden declaring the mission a total success. we will explain how it was carried out, also, china is now threatening a military response over how nancy pelosi's expected visit to taiwan, the u.s. is warning beijing not to turn the trip into a crisis. we will go live to the white house to speak with john kirby. it is primary day across five states with major implications for abortion rights and election integrity. meanwhile donald trump stirring up confusion in missouri after an endorsement that has leading candidates in the senate primary both claiming the former pete president is supporting them. good morning and welcome to "morning joe" on tuesday, august 2. good to have everyone with us. good to have you with us.

>> every september 11th for 20 years we have reflected either personally or on air about what was lost on that day, who was lost and you talk about people on the street, you talk about loved ones that you knew, it was deeply personal for me as well at ground zero for a couple of weeks. i did not quite understand how personal the first couple years for both of you when this show started we would recall what happened on 9/11 tears would fill your eyes, i could tell you were fighting back deep emotions on a personal level we all were impacted. it is incredible that all these years later the terrorists, i saw the headline that said he was described as the successor to osama bin laden.

but we have learned through the years, ayman al-zawahiri was the one that went to osama bin laden, he was the mentor, he said you could use your family's wealth and power and fame to kill americans, to launch terrorist attacks, to do things against u.s. warships and things like 9/11. he really was the center of al queda and their terror campaign against america and finally last night and i never thought it would happen because it seemed we killed every other leader in al queda through the years, finally brought to justice last night in a very disturbing location. in the capitol of afghanistan where taliban , make no mistake the enemies once again sheltering a al queda later.

>> in the heart of a wealthy neighborhood, like he was sitting on his balcony on the upper east side on fifth avenue or something and a drone strike took them out. the united states has been after this guy for a long time, he was behind the 1998 embassy bombings in tanzania and kenya, as you said he really did push osama bin laden to attack the united states, the head of the snake is the way they put it. we cannot just be happy with middle eastern countries that support the united states, we have to go to the top and this was this guy who was killed saturday night. been on the run for decades. ayman al-zawahiri killed over the weekend by a caa drone standing on a balcony downtown in trenton, second in command

to osama bin laden, he then became the top leader in 2011. a senior official says the strike was so precise none of the family inside the home were killed in a rare evening address president biden said that justice has been delivered. >> people around the world no longer need to fear the vicious killer, the united states demonstrating resolve and capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. we make it clear again tonight that no matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the united states will find you and take you out. this operation is a clear demonstration that we will, we can and we will always make good on the solvent pledge. my administration will continue to monitor and address threats from al qaeda no matter where

they imminent from, as commander-in-chief it is my responsibility to make america safe in a dangerous world. the united states does not seek this war against terror, it came to us and we answered with the same principles and resolve that have shaped us for generation upon generation. to protect the innocent, defend liberty and keep the light of freedom burning a beacon for the rest of the world. >> you know it really is incredible, what we have been able to do, what the cia has been able to do through the years in bringing so many terrorists to justice. it is fascinating, that is the same man that withdrew troops from afghanistan, something i was against. i was against bombing the air force base but we will save that for another day. and what did we hear?

we left afghanistan and other terrorists will run wild, now al qaeda will form afghanistan and reform and ironically enough, not suggesting joe biden saw this ahead of time but ironically enough it was the united states leaving afghanistan that had the head of al qaeda comfortable sitting in an apartment in afghanistan or we could find him and take him out. >> obviously that has been quick criticism already from republicans, they say it is good news but this shows the taliban is harboring people like ayman al-zawahiri and other terrorists, contrary to what president biden told us but it gets at over the horizon there is a capability, not needing boots on the ground, not needing to have a couple

thousand troops to be able to exert power and take out somebody like ayman al-zawahiri but it does raise the question of the taliban and the deals that donald trump made with them that president biden has signed on to which is the united states will get the troops out of afghanistan and rely on the taliban and keep track of and not harbor these terrorist but clearly if he was living downtown out in the open the taliban was not watching him closely. >> i would say it's time to renegotiate that deal. when you have something as basic as this, this is why we went into afghanistan in 2001. i'm not saying we invade afghanistan again, most americans, of course joe biden withdrawing from afghanistan blew up in his face politically causing chaos, 12 or 13 marines

were killed by isis but at the same time we have got to make sure terrorist groups cannot reconstitute there and the taliban has proven to us just like pakistan with osama bin laden that not only are they not our friends but they are our sworn enemies. as we were talking about getting out of afghanistan, the new taliban is the old taliban, it is the same thing. we need to repatriate the air force space, you know like i said we will talk about that on another day but i see no reason why we should respect anything the taliban have to say and i think strong american leadership demands we sit down at the table with them and renegotiate and let them know we can renegotiate anytime we want to. especially if they were holding

the number one terrorist in the world, who has made it his life's mission to kill americans. >> richard haass will be joining us later and he has a sense of a more conditional relationship and what that might look like. now ayman al-zawahiri escaped u.s. forces in 2001, whereabouts had been unknown since then and earlier this year intelligence determined he had moved from pakistan to a taliban supported safe house in downtown kabul and that is when officials began planning the strike, in a july 1st meeting officials used a model of the safe house to bring president biden on the risk, to brief him on the risk to civilians if they were to take him out. in a meeting july 25th president biden authorizing the strike telling officials to

carry it out at the optimal time. the time came friday night in the u.s., saturday morning in kabul when he was hit by two missiles, the u.s. did not warn the taliban ahead of the strike. let's bring in retired four- star navy admiral james stavridis, chief diplomacy analyst for nbc news and msnbc, former senior operations officer with the cia joining us, chief white house correspondent for the new york times peter baker and the host of trying to come along with former aide to the george bush white house and state department. a great group for this momentous moment. >> the pensacola boy in me demands that i defer to the admiral but this morning i will go to the guy who lost friends

looking for ayman al-zawahiri, looking for this monster. we spoke yesterday and you were very emotional when the news came out because of the men and women who lost their lives hunting this animal down who plotted out 9/11 who again it was not osama bin laden's successor, he was a mentor who pushed him toward al qaeda so tell me what this means to you and to the professionals in the cia who have been hunting this person down for 20 years. >> you are absolutely right, a deeply personal moment for me. in the hunt for ayman al- zawahiri i lost friends, i helped carry them so yesterday when hearing this news you kind of sit back and reflect on the

last 20 years. the former cia director on social media yesterday said remember and what does that mean? december 30th, 2009 a suicide bomber, a double agent killed seven of my colleagues in afghanistan. that operation was designed to try to find and locate ayman al- zawahiri so yesterday when we heard the news, i had extraordinary pride for my colleagues in the intelligence community who have perfected the art of man hunting bullets tip our hats to the cia. we do not forget, we always remember, but the families, some of the victims of 9/11 and families of those officers who lost their lives yesterday perhaps can get some closure. >> admiral, we have been looking for this terrorist

leader for 20 years now, it seemed he would always elude us and he would always escape to the next safe house so what were your thoughts yesterday when you heard the news and how important is this? >> it is huge and this sort of reflects the art of this forever war and it goes back before 9/11. don't forget in 98 osama bin laden with ayman al-zawahiri launched attacks on the american embassy killing american diplomats, also workers in tanzania and kenya and then we have 9/11, finally 2011 we kill bin laden. the navy seals and now in 22 we take out ayman al-zawahiri, the cia does it, this is the ultimate expression of the

inner agency continuing to take this road to find a killer, it is a remarkable moment. we ought to take a lot of pride across the interagency but especially today, the director of the cia, his men and women, everything you have done really putting this as a fine moment for america. we cannot let our guard down, there will be many challenges ahead and we can talk about what this means over the horizon for afghanistan and the taliban but we need to stop and celebrate for a minute, a very important moment. >> needless to say it is not often these things are executed perfectly and this was executed with precision. as we mentioned ayman al- zawahiri was second-in-command to osama bin laden when al qaeda attacked the united

states september 11th, 2001 but he was wanted by officials well before then. he helped plan the 1998 bombings of the embassies in kenya and tanzania that killed 224 people including 12 americans. he was involved in the planning and the attack on the uss cole in 2000. in the attack suicide bombers in small boats pulled upside the destroyer as it refueled and detonated. 17 american sailors were killed and nearly 40 were injured. peter baker, what more are you hearing from the white house at this moment in terms of what they plan to communicate to the public about this attack? obviously the president had some comments but there will be a lot more questions about what's next and about the taliban itself.

>> that is right, they will send out officials, jake sullivan will be on nbc and others. a big day for president biden, an important victory at a time when he is in during some domestic political troubles , a clear victory for the united states assuming the facts are as they have been presented, to take out the number two plotter for 9/11 without civilian casualties is remarkable but it does raise questions. i was in afghanistan days after 9/11 and you see afghanistan returning to that state that it was back then were somebody like ayman al-zawahiri feels he can live there relatively openly without impunity. he was in the middle of kabul. it was not a cave in the mountains it was in the heart

of where the officials live, a diplomatic enclave in the capitol. he felt he had impunity to do the that which is remarkable. on the other hand what president biden has said he can argue is true, americans can still wage war against terrorists without putting large ground forces into the country. you don't have to have tens of thousands of americans on the ground to take out a figure like al-zawahiri as they did through these drone strikes. you heard americans saying al- zawahiri, his presence demonstrated the failure of the withdrawal from president biden and democrats say the ability to take him out demonstrated success of the policy. >> back to the policy in a minute but i want to talk to you about the pursuit of al- zawahiri and reading the

accounts of this, the patience of intelligence, the extraordinary patience of people like you in the cia. going back to 1998 he had a $25 million bounty on his head, in some ways there were echoes of the pursuit of bin laden which has been rebuilding an apartment somewhere so officials could figure out and plan how to go after him. dismissal with has voids on it, it can cut through concrete and its target, this was years in the making, a generation effectively in the making. >> that is right, i think back to a good friend of mine who spent 10 years searching for bin laden, that's all he did every day for 10 years. it was in south asia so that kind of dedication is what you find in the counterterrorism community. at the end of the day the

united states has perfected the art of man hunting. we have human intelligence on the ground, signal intelligence and you have eyes in the sky. and our ability to overtime patiently and methodically and with a notion of doing this with what we call zero collateral without civilian casualties it is absolutely extraordinary. we have perfected the art of man hunting. let me say something quickly which is important in terms of strategy. we do two things in a proper counterterrorism campaign, you take out the leader like what happened several nights ago so that is cutting off the head of the snake but at the same time you need to keep pressure on the ground troops, so there is a element of truth and a notion that yes we killed ayman al- zawahiri but we need to keep a

campaign on al qaeda and afghanistan and over the horizon operations will be more difficult in doing that. >> let me ask you about your thoughts about where we go from here with the taliban and afghanistan. we were successful yesterday in this strike in kabul in the heart of afghanistan but what do we do now? we wake up to this news, the president has known for some time the taliban was hiding this guy in the country, lying to us as we knew they would but what is america's next step for the taliban? >> let me just say our next step with al qaeda is to keep the pressure on and of course it's not just the cia, it will be dod, the department of states, it will be all entities

and government that protect us and here at home homeland security. so, keep the pressure on, point two with al qaeda is the new leader will probably be anointed within the next five days, guess where he is. he is in iran. so we will have to continue to focus on this organization. al qaeda alongside the islamic state, everyone is very tired after 20 years plus these forever wars but we will have to keep the focus on and look for potential reaction from al qaeda somewhere to attack back. in terms of the taliban, i would say we need to take a fresh look at our relationship here. this is taking us back to 9/11. here is this guy that is really

like in the upper east side of kabul but at the end of the day we need a transactional relationship with the taliban. letting them know this is unacceptable, here are the consequences, here is how you can begin to get back into a serious relationship and the tools will be economic and third and finally and perhaps most obviously we need to maintain the ability to replicate this kind of action over the horizon and sometimes it will work, sometimes it will be less effective but it beats having 150,000 troops on the ground in these countries. i will tell you who are the masters of this, the israelis. we can learn from others and keep our skills up, be prepared for what's coming but the bottom line is today we ought to celebrate and we deserve

that today. >> peter baker let's talk about what this means for president biden. almost exactly one year ago the withdrawal of military forces from afghanistan resulted in violence including a suicide bombing at the airport. now we have them at the white house in covid isolation announcing this drone strike, he gave the order to go ahead and take out al qaeda's new leader yesterday and it comes at a moment where maybe it justifies the over the horizon method he has pushed for the approach to afghanistan but also a moment where he has domestic political wins as well so talk about what it means right now for the commander-in- chief. >> that is exactly right, for president biden this will be a big win. taking al-zawahiri off the board for any commander-in- chief would be a big win.

you so i'm using the venue of the white house to announce it like president obama in 2011, you played the events back to back and i was intentional a co- , i think that was done intentionally. both of them saying justice had been delivered last night president biden said justice was delivered and president obama said justice has been done. they wanted to evoke the same sense of national pride and spirit that we saw 11 years ago. but it is a different era than it was back then. politically a whole generation has passed, a lot of americans don't remember who al-zawahiri was, obviously they will be reminded of him today and we will remind them of the critical role in planning those attacks but he did not have the same visceral presence, global

notoriety like osama bin laden but you are right to look at what it can do in terms of the afghan anniversary coming up president biden will have a better argument to make that his policy has borne fruit today in the sense of his ability to take out terrorists even without troops on the ground but there will be second- guessing about turning afghanistan over to the taliban and whether his presence there indicates it is becoming what it was which was a haven for terrorists. >> in your time you worked on afghanistan policy in the bush administration so how big of a target was this man and also your view currently of our policy, this is what people predicted. of course the taliban is the taliban it always has been and will be, a year ago they said

we will accept the transition and we will not harbor terrorists but here's the number one terrorist downtown in kabul. >> i think it is unsurprising we had al-zawahiri in a balcony in kabul where he was in a nice home, a big mansion from the looks of it. he was not in a cave as peter said without running water but reports have said he was harbored by senior officials who were associated with the minister of interior who also has a $10 million bounty on his head for terrorism. pretty unsurprising he was there , this is the same taliban. i think the cia and intelligence community should get big props for what they chose to receive here, we don't need boots on the ground to have this targeted strike. i want to see if you can talk a

bit about what it means that the minister of interior played a role in how things, this terrorist who was so wanted by the united states downtown in an area where you had to go through checkpoints, taliban checkpoints, no one was living there that they didn't know. >> ironically it is an area close to the embassy, think about that for a moment but you are 100% right. reportedly al-zawahiri was staying at a house connected to a relative of not only the minister of interior but the taliban leader and this is something, when the forces were signed by preisdent trump and ratified by president biden that was the concern, there is no new taliban and it was told taliban. i started working in

afghanistan in 1994, i remember the rise of the taliban, the same individuals back then who came to power turning afghanistan into a terrorist haven are still there today. that is enormously problematic moving forward because once again there are issues in afghanistan that we care about, of course afghanistan is a terrorist safe haven but don't forget we have tens or 100,000 afghan allies, individuals who work for us in afghanistan so we do have to deal with the taliban to get allies out. it is an enormous challenge for counterterrorism and on the humanitarian side with many incredible, i would call them patriots will help save american lives stuck in the country today. >> it seems to me there are opportunities for negotiation. they can help, we can give them money, we can get the air force

base back, if you don't want to give us the air force base back we can take the air force base back, still give the money. we gave up one of the most strategically located races on the planet, there is no reason why we cannot have a relationship with the taliban like we had with castro where we had a base in a hostile country but it is hard is it not to find a base in 2022 more strategically located than bagram between iran and china. reopening negotiations i would sure want that to be on the table. i know it is not likely, but certainly again when you are harboring an american enemy,

when you are lying, you have broken negotiations, i think everything is back on the table. >> indeed it is. and other example of this, it would've been incomprehensible in 1975 when helicopters were lifting off the roof of the embassy to think we would go back into the area, for example one of the most important ports on the south china sea in the country of vietnam. so things change, negotiations occur, we have a long way to go the taliban but the word in my mind is transactional. we have things we can offer, they have things to offer, that is an excellent point about our patriots who stayed and worked with us and are still at risk but also that strategic location with the ability to operate in and out of there.

we have a shared opponent with the taliban in the islamic state which is another global organization perhaps more lethal today than the taliban and al qaeda. so i think there's room to negotiate, bagram is critical and the chinese love that site, the russians love that site, there will be competition to work there. life is a negotiation. today we scored, let's see where it goes in the future. >> retired admiral james stavridis, former senior cia officer marc polymeropoulos, chief white house correspondent from the new york times peter baker, thank you very much for being on this morning, coming up we have much more on the drone strike that killed the leader of al qaeda. white house national security

council official john kirby will join us with more on what it means on counterterrorism efforts and we will be joined by a member of the house services committee ruben gallego. plus, a man who took part in the capitol riot gets the longest sentence for a defendant from january 6th so far, what his family has to say about that and who else they think should be in prison. also the chairman of the senate affairs committee will be here to weigh in on where the healthcare bill stands in congress right now and kentucky's national guard has been airlifting dozens of people stranded by deadly floodwaters, we will be joined by the governor for the latest on the rescue and recovery efforts. you are watching "morning joe". we will be right back. back.

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bundle home and auto and save. call a local agent or 1-888-allstate for a quote today. i am meeting people that are dying. my only son, what do i say to him? how do write, what good news am i going to tell him when i get home? i'm sorry, they put it off again. you know what he will say, that does not surprise me. >> it has been days since republicans blocked a key healthcare bill for veterans and it is still at a crossroads, senate majority leader chuck schumer says a vote on the acts will happen in the coming days after republicans blocked the bill to provide life-saving

health benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. the woman you just saw is one of dozens of people camping out on the capitol steps to protest the holdup including many who are sick and dying themselves, republican senator pat toomey facing the most pressure after said he wants an amendment to make technical changes for the accounting of va funds but those veterans and their most famous advocate say that it cannot come soon enough. >> i consider this the lowest hanging fruit of a functioning society and government. what is upsetting to me is if you have to push this hard for something this obvious, what chance do the rest of us have on healthcare or anything? >> joining is now the chairman of the veteran affairs

committee democratic senator john tester, republicans supported the bill first but they claim democrats forced them to oppose the bill by making changes and now it looks different. were there any changes made to the bill that would put republicans in this position? >> there was one sentence taken out saying that the va could buy out provider contracts, that's the only change, the only reason that was done is because it raised revenue so we had to strip it out. the bottom line, this is exactly the same bill we voted on june 16th passing with 84 votes and i cannot figure out why we passed this bill, give the benefits to folks and now we are taking it away two or three weeks later. these folks fought for our freedom and fought to keep us

safe now we deny them benefits they have earned. >> that's what i was going to ask. why would they all of a sudden oppose? the one change that you talked about, does it change the way money is allocated or timing or the amount? there are no changes? >> there are no changes, 84 people voted for it, senator pat toomey voted against the bill, one of the few who voted against it and to be honest with you i don't think the republicans that voted against it new fully this was the same bill we voted on june 16th and there were no changes and we are still at that point and it is a big complicated bill but not that complicated that folks cannot sit down and ask questions. what i am hoping for is senator schumer and senator mcconnell get together and develop a path forward on the amendment and

get this thing passed. these folks are dying by the day. delayed healthcare is denied healthcare and we would know how the people here on the steps with every veteran service organization out here fighting for this if it was not important so we need to get it done. >> i want to underline what you said it is the heart of the opposition for republicans, senator pat sue pat toomey says you sneaked something into the bill is that true? >> that is untrue, it is the same bill we voted on, on june 16th. there is no sneaking in, everything is transparent, this was done by partisan, we have worked on the bill the last year and a half out in the public, veterans are too important to sneak things in. >> that undermines the argument

of senator pat toomey voted against the bill originally but how do you explain the republicans who voted for it? one sentence put in by the house why do you suspect their voting against it? >> the house took out a sentence by the way but i think presentations were done and phone calls were made and people switched their point of view improperly. >> so, i just want, so much has gotten lost in this becoming about the machinery of congress. we were on earlier a couple days ago paul had been upfront on this, a veteran himself who started talking about burn pits so, the problems veterans are seeing and the urgency of this legislation. >> we have had hearings for the last year and a half on this,

veterans testifying and they have died because of their exposure to burn pits, the cancer, the lung conditions are serious and they need to be dealt with. we sent folks off to war in places that are a lot different than the united states. to come back they have injuries it is no matter if you can see them or not we need to take care of them and that has been the goal of the senate affairs committee. it has been delayed now and i hope we get the bill done, we will continue to fight to make sure it does get done because it's too important. i said on the floor last week we have a all volunteer military, folks sign-up, we make promises to those folks and they make promises to us, we need to uphold our part of the bargain which is healthcare and benefits. >> senator, i have heard reports that republicans are actually holding up the bill

that veterans desperately need, for the health to save their lives because they're being petulant about a reconciliation bill that may pass. is it really this problem for the republicans? does it come down to something as small as that? because of this little political battle they are willing to do this to veterans who have fought for the country and leave them hanging? >> for the veterans it is life and death and i will tell you that some of them, because they are "in the paper saying we will not do this and you know this you have been here. you want to figure out a way to vote against a bill you can do it. the problem is veterans are too important. they are part of our fabric and if we do not take care of them

why should we expect them to take care of us? so i'm sure there are folks that are using this as an excuse but remember it is just an excuse, look what's going on with veterans and the impacts of toxic exposure through generations and it is real and we need to get it done. i will tell you paul talk to me about the issue when i walked through the doors of the senate 15 years ago. so it is not an element that is recent, it has been around, we talked about it we worked on the committee, the secretary is in full support, they can handle the workload but ultimately in the end it is the right thing to do. >> republicans claim they are the champions of veterans for the republicans this would've already passed? >> absolutely correct and i don't understand the thought

process, it does not make sense to hold up the bill. >> chairman of the veterans affair committee, senator john tester , thank you so much for being with us. >> i worked up there and i know things can get testy but i cannot remember any party holding aid for veterans in such a serious come in such a serious situation. and switching their position on a bill because they are angry about a reconciliation package that is passing or they're angry about another bill, again

it seems extraordinarily shortsighted and cruel and it also seems like a strategy that is doomed to fail politically. >> a rare moment where senate minority leader mitch mcconnell was out maneuvered by majority leader chuck schumer and republicans are throwing a fit, one bill that passed the senate at this point they tried to whip against it making republicans take unpopular stances to go against a bill that would've hurt china economically that's number one and the number two, veterans to deprive them of necessary health benefits, extraordinarily unpopular and they announced with no change to the bill it will pass anyway. we saw yesterday this will get done so what was the point of the delay other than to throw a

fit? >> i have no idea, other than trying to create beautiful attack advertisements for democrats in these districts where you can just have veterans talking about someone denied them care for those horrific conditions post burn pit. really it's that we have politicians who are so eager to send men and women to the war but they don't want to pay for the care they require in the aftermath. the long-term bill and the long- term effects of the wars. >> we heard from senator john tester that it is not true that the bill was changed between the first vote and now these republicans have changed their votes, clear to you and again to me there was one line taken out having nothing to do with the complaint from pat toomey and others.

>> is crazy, looking at the position republicans have put themselves in. . petulant, they have opposed veteran's health care to try to make some procedural point? so they are against veteran healthcare? and they also, as john pointed out, there are also against the united states being more competitive against china. that's the position that have taken over the last couple weeks because of petulance. the kid getting out maneuvered, they were outmaneuvered on the january 6th commission. they see they have made a colossal historic mistake, the keep getting out maneuvered. they might not be as good at the game as we give them credit

for. >> we will get back to this but no jumping back to the top story of the day which is of course the u.s. taking out the leader of al qaeda who was being harbored by the taliban. joining us now coordinator for strategic communications at the white house retired admiral john kirby. great to have you on this morning, we understand this was a drone strike that killed al- zawahiri, can you give us more details, anything that has not been released surrounding the nature of this pretty important moment for justice in american history? >> obviously we will be somewhat careful given the way we want to describe this strike but this was, about one year ago we were talking after the withdrawal from afghanistan talking about over the horizon

counterterrorism capability so this proves the case that it can be done. we did not have boots on the ground but over constant meticulous gathering of intelligence and information over many months we were able to execute this strike. the strike itself, making sure we had eyes on the target and of course really importantly and the president made this very strongly there would not be civilian casualties so there was the timing which was critical but it really prove the case over the horizon counterterrorism capability of significant effect can be done. >> i'm not sure if you're a fan of the band the who but if you are you will get the reference. meet the new taliban, same as the old. what to do about that? we are dealing with the taliban

our worst enemies who are harboring people who devote their lives to killing americans at home and abroad, americans in civilian clothes or uniforms. don't we have to go back and look at the agreement we made, renegotiate and rewrite? >> i don't know we will be rewriting the agreement but clearly the presence of al- zawahiri in kabul violates the agreement, there is no question about that. i think the taliban understand what we are about and how seriously we will take commitments to protect this country. they got the message and the strike itself was a measure of accountability not just for al qaeda but for anybody else who would take next time about harboring terrorists so we will keep an eye on this, we will watch this very closely.

when we left afghanistan we know there was a small presence of al qaeda in the country and we said at the time we will continue to monitor the threat. >> this is perhaps not isolated as you know better than i do this entire neighborhood has been cleared out by the taliban to house vips and there was a large group of people in the network and in the taliban who knew al-zawahiri was there. so what do you do about that? do you think the taliban will change their practices and their views because of this one strike? >> we hope so, we hope the message is sent. that we meant it, we would make sure we would not allow afghanistan to become a safe haven, so we hope that it does have an effect on them and their behavior but if it does not, we will still stay

vigilant and capable. as we proved we have the capability to conduct over the horizon counterterrorism strikes with great effect. i think the message has been clearly sent to al qaeda and anybody who might harbor them. >> without giving away too much of your operational plans can you explain to the viewers? i think it does get to the argument that over the horizon strikes do work and you can do it without boots on the ground. how did you identify and carry out a strike that according to reports only killed one man on one balcony in the middle of kabul ? >> an incredible amount of painstaking work that went into this. i want to be careful here but basically we were able to track the movement of the family of al-zawahiri to kabul and by

tracking that and understanding where they were, we were then able to track his movements to join up with his family and then once we knew where he was it was a matter of watching. developing a pattern of life, trying to understand the habits of this individual and confirming this individual was in fact ayman al-zawahiri, that took some weeks to do. once we had that in place it was a matter of presenting the case to the national security team into the president for the president to make a decision. he made the decision and as i said it really came down to the timing. making sure all the conditions were right, that we could get him and do so without hurting civilians and the weather played a little bit of a factor. >> national security council coordinator for strategic communications at the white

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on saturday at my direction the united states successfully conducted a drone strike in afghanistan that killed the leader of al qaeda, ayman al- zawahiri after considering clear and convincing evidence of the location i authorized a precision strike removing him from the battlefield once and for all, the mission was carefully planned, rigorously minimized the risk and harm to other civilians. we make it clear again tonight, no matter how long it takes, no

matter where you hide, if you're a threat to our people the united states will find you and take you out. >> and they did, president biden announcing the killing of a terrorist long wanted by the fbi, the leader of al qaeda killed in a cia drone strike after decades of looking for him. we will discuss what this says about the fight against terrorism overall in the decision to withdraw troops from afghanistan one year ago. welcome back to "morning joe" , we are also following nancy pelosi's expected visit to taiwan as part of her trip to asia that began this week. a bit controversial according to several biden administration officials and aides familiar with this planning, nancy pelosi has now confirmed a stop in taiwan, the visit which

would be the first for a house speaker in 25 years would come despite warnings that occurred provoke military response from china. a chinese foreign military spokesman says the visit would result in very serious developments and consequences. the white house yesterday urging china not to overreact to the anticipated visit. >> the secretary of state yesterday said any reaction to this is on china not on speaker pelosi, how is the white house feeling about this expected visit? >> less than thrilled, we heard from the president saying the pentagon advised against the trip but we heard from john kirby yesterday say she can do what she wants we will not tell her what to do. this is her decision. it points out other house speakers who have come before have made similar trips. but they also issued a similar warning to china singh do not use this as an excuse to step

up something to show off something with your military. we have seen drills in the area from china, the visit comes in a few hours, certainly may cause attention in the white house watching closely. >> the rhetoric stepping up from china. back at home a texas man sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the attack on the capitol january 6. eight d.c. district court judge handed down the longest sentence yet for anyone who took part in the capitol attack. armed with a gun and zip ties leading the charge january 6th although he was pepper sprayed before entering the capitol. prosecutors asked the judge to label the man a domestic terrorist which would have resulted in a longer sentence, the judge denied the motion saying that it would not align

with other sentences. afterward the daughters of guy reffitt called for another man to be punished, donald trump. >> to mark my dad is a horrible person and prosecuting him like this when somebody who may be elected again does not seem right to me. trump deserves life in prison if my father is in prison this long. >> those are the daughters talking about donald trump saying my dad gets a seven years in prison what about the guy who orchestrated the whole thing? >> it is what we have been saying from the beginning. here is a guy who lost his job, he got sucked into social media and all the lies donald trump was churning day after day and went down into the hole and you know, we have seen it in our own families, among friends, i

talk about jim and tammy baker, i saw my grandma one of the smartest toughest women i have known in my life. who raised four kids in the heart of the great depression and was the absolute bedrock of not only my life but everybody who knew her. she got swindled by the baker and the ptl club because she saw on tv they were talking about jesus, they were talking about something that meant everything to her. you have a guy who loses his job, he goes home, he is sitting home trying to figure out what's happening and suddenly the guy he voted for donald trump, he starts preaching the gospel of a rigged election and he keeps preaching. this guy will see it and millions see it day in and day out, not just guys who lost their jobs on oil rigs, lawyers

and doctors and finance people, people that we deal with. they get suckered into it as well. so the daughters ask a very good question. i have been asking since the beginning, if working-class americans who bought into donald trump slide that american democracy was being destroyed and they needed to go to the capitol to save the country, if they got suckered in on tim and tammy baker's lie, why is there no justice? >> it is what is so maddening about donald trump, he always gets away with crimes that anyone else, if they did it, be it the way you file taxes to january 6th and inciting insurrection he never really

seems to face consequences. that's why those hearings were so riveting because the committee put on such a case of the ways that donald trump was involved in the incitement so we have to hope at the end of the day there will be some justice and there will be consequences for donald trump who sits at the very top of the food chain. but it is sad that probably rank and file supporters who he propagandized, they will pay the consequences. >> senate majority leader chuck schumer says another vote on a bill to provide critical aid to american veterans will happen in the coming days, this after republicans blocked a bill to provide life-saving health benefits for servicemembers exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan. at least 60 veteran groups have been camping out on the capitol

steps to protest the holdup putting republicans on the defense as they struggle to explain their hesitation to get it passed, senator pat toomey faces the most pressure after he said he wants an amendment to make technical changes for accounting va funding. the chairman of the senate veterans affairs committee john tester told us the funding was not changed at all in the bill after a minor fix. let's bring in professor of history at tulane university walter isaacson. there has been, there has been a narrative in american politics. republicans are brilliant, they are the evil geniuses to borrow words from kurt anderson of american politics and democrats are just idiots who invite and

in fight all the time who don't know how to win elections. you start looking at things over the last couple months where you have the republican party openly opposing veteran healthcare, a plan that veterans who fought for us in iraq and afghanistan desperately need. you have republicans who said they would not take part in a january 6th committee hearing to get to the bottom of an attempted fascist takeover of american politics another complaining about the fact that they are not at the table. you have them opposing a bill to keep us competitive with china and suddenly everybody knows we need, we need to build these plants in the united states. it is absolutely critical. they vote against that out of petulance. they vote against that and then you look at these bills on the

state level, i'm sorry, i need to keep going because it is so crazy, the miscalculations they are making. they are against universal background checks when 90% of americans support them. their passing legislation at the state level that are making 10-year-old victims flee their states in fear that they might get arrested or something terrible might happen to them if they don't have a forced pregnancy and i could go on and on. this is a party that seems to be in self-destruct mode and they don't seem to be terribly bright. just look at dr. oz, look at the san francisco venture capitalist in ohio. look at the crackpots and the kooks they are about to nominate in arizona.

this is a party that is in self- destruct mode every day. >> i think you are right, there's turmoil in the primaries. we are seeing mitch mcconnell getting out maneuvered and being put into a box but what is at the root of this is all across america, whether it is arizona to pennsylvania, you're seeing primaries happening and the base of the republican party is doing weird things. dangling the leadership of the party and they don't know how to stay on balance. >> it is crazy. the miscalculations, they seem to keep coming. don't they? again, the last two weeks, republicans have been against veterans and have been for china all to make a point. if you have to be for china

over the united states and against veterans, you're probably going about making your point the wrong way. but all of these mistakes keep adding up, one after another. >> there have not been many successful campaigns run on a anti-veteran and pro-beijing platform. earlier in the last hour we were talking about president biden on a winning streak, the reconciliation bill on the precipice of passing assuming senator cinema gets on board giving democrats a huge win for the midterm and bolstering his presidency. the chips bill and the drone strike but it feels like republicans are losing and fumbling which should be a favorable environment. political strategists say that the gop favored to win the house but the senate because of these

unforced errors with the quality or lack thereof for the candidates fielded by the gop for the senate to mostly do donald trump's bidding, a lot of these races are up for grabs and democrats that i speak to every day are feeling very bullish about their chances in hanging on to the senate at least in the 50-50 tie which will allow them to keep control. >> a lot of people watching arizona, the candidates we are talking about. they are all in on 2020 election conspiracy theories saying if they are elected with the new attorney general they may go back and decertify election results, they cannot do that but that's what they are running on. these are the candidates being put forward. >> that's why so many governor races are flashpoints for what the republican nominees say that they would do once in

office. if it is overturning the election or repealing roe versus wade and arizona i am watching with some fascination because you would think maybe the state will cling to the maverick republican side that it always had or will it go full crazy or is there a strong middle that is there and could potentially cling to power so i'm watching the battle between those camps as today plays out. >> back to the top headline of the day the top leader of al qaeda taken off the battlefield. ayman al-zawahiri was killed standing on the balcony of a taliban supported safe house in a upscale neighborhood of kabul. nbc news chief foreign correspondent with more. >> ayman al-zawahiri was the leader of al qaeda succeeding osama bin laden it's public face

in dozens of videos attacking the u.s. and its allies. he directed thinking, led the operations, was a key planner of the 9/11 attacks and the 1988 embassy bombings in east africa. we know it was at the urging of al-zawahiri that osama bin laden took interest in attacking the united states. meticulously planning mass murder, arming al qaeda with weapons of mass destruction and wrote its declaration of war against the u.s. with his transformation into the world's most wanted terrorist and unlikely start. born in 1951 into a wealthy egyptian family of doctors and scholars, he became radicalized as a teenager after joining the fundamentalist muslim brotherhood. at 31 he was one of hundreds arrested after the assassination of the egyptian president. he was tortured during three

years in a egyptian jail and he left seeking revenge. by his mid-30s he was a leader in the egyptian islamic jihad, he met osama bin laden, they bonded, al-zawahiri became bin laden's personal doctor. by 1998 the islamic jihad and al qaeda merged. bin laden was a newcomer, al- zawahiri had established credentials, these two uniting provided a team that cannot be broken, america was the next target, the world trade center. after 9/11 al-zawahiri was seen in afghanistan and then went into hiding, a $25 million reward on his head, he kept al qaeda a life as isis became the main target of the west. ruthless, the brains behind the

world's worst terrorist attack even in his final video calling on muslims to attack america. >> retired army four star general barry mccaffrey , pentagon correspondent for the new york times helene cooper and national security analyst for nbc news and msnbc good to have you all. >> general, your thoughts about the united states finally catching up with the terrorists. >> a remarkable achievement, 7500 miles from the united states the intelligence community putting together in a forensic science manner overhead photography, signal intelligence, agents on the ground to isolate a target and then take him out with two hellfire missiles without harming anyone in the vicinity. it is a demonstration that to

some extent, we can conduct over the horizon operations but i think there is a caution in all of this. we had 4000 people in the u.s. embassy on the ground in afghanistan prior to the withdrawal so clearly there is attenuation in our ability to understand what's going on in the country nevermind conduct operations. >> i will ask you what i asked the admiral before, if the clearly violated the most basic terms of the agreement is it not reopen for negotiation? the united states, do they not go back and say you violated the agreement so we are looking at bagram , we want it back and we want some of our people out and we can negotiate or we can

do it by other means. not saying that we would do that without this president would do that but the taliban has made clear we cannot trust them. today we are where we were in 2001 except we have much greater capability of killing terrorists wherever they stand, drive or sleep. >> look, most of the documents including the doha agreement are based on self-interest and the ability for us to leverage military and intelligence power, economic engagement and other than that they have no meaning. it seems clear to me we will not go back into afghanistan. we don't want to be in bagram, 300 miles from the sea and the navy, that is not a good place for a presence on the ground but at some point we have to engage these people. afghanistan is a mess.

women and girls are back into near slavery. there is potential famine sweeping the country. the taliban are incapable of governing according to international rules of behavior , so we have got to get back into diplomatic recognition that might not be the right word but we have things we can do in a transactional way to engage the taliban and try to have more leverage over what could be a significant threat to the united states. >> not just republican critics that were saying this is great news for america and for the world, it makes us safer but it does underline the fact that the taliban is back to old business even if we pretended it was something different to get through the withdrawal so they are harboring terrorists just as it was before september 11th of 2001.

>> yes, that fig leaf has been ripped away but a lot of people that i talk to argue that has been in evidence for quite some time, the only thing that has happened now is that it has been made completely clear to us with this killing of ayman al-zawahiri in the middle of kabul. that is the part that surprised many people. he was believed to be in pakistan, the assumption had been he was in different areas moving into different areas of pakistan when intelligence sources started picking up and picked up the location of his wife and daughter and grandchildren to that house, the home in kabul. they then focused on that house, the biden administration, it

allows them at the same time the taliban is complaining the killing of al-zawahiri violates the doha agreement the biden administration can say you guys are crazy because the fact that he was staying in this house violates the agreement but at the end of the day there is not much president biden can do beyond what he just proved he can do in taking out al- zawahiri through a drone strike. the taliban is aware of the fact that joe biden has no wish to return to afghanistan. so there is not, we cannot threaten something that they know we will not do but what we can do and what president biden has just done is saying this is what i'll do when you violate the agreement and this is why i have no compunction striking in your country and it does make

the taliban look a little bit, you know, no government, remember how angry pakistan was when the united states launched the raid that killed osama bin laden even though at the same time they had said for years that they didn't know where he was and he was right in pakistan. the taliban is in the same situation now but no government wants to be on the receiving end of an american error strike. i think president biden has sent a message to the taliban and to al qaeda, whoever the successor for al-zawahiri is that the united states will have no qualms about going in and killing anybody who takes refuge in afghanistan or in other places but it's going to be interesting over the next few weeks. i am curious to see what the

back and forth between these two sides will look like because there is going to be a lot of squawking on both sides. >> walter isaacson, let me ask a question. we have been talking quite a bit about how the taliban has been harboring, it seems to me likely or perhaps probable that the network and the taliban somebody within it had to give up al-zawahiri. in other words there was some human intelligence and it was not simply done by the drones so is it possible that the haqqani network and the people in it cooperated allowing this to happen? if so, can that cause a fisher? >> a very important question. several things to consider, one

is there were rumors of al- zawahiri being dead in 2020 which prompted a lot of public statements, every time a leader of al qaeda makes a public statement that means videos which means uploads, uploads means communication so he was exposing himself to keep his name in the brand of al qaeda. a great point about the taliban, we think about them as a monolith but the haqqani network always supporting al qaeda but there is division in the ranks and generational issues. this is 20 years of al qaeda in afghanistan and pakistan. there is a younger generation there that is rising up which brings in the upstart. isis k was during the withdrawal of afghanistan, it is in their interest to malign the taliban and undermine al qaeda. that could be another point to look for. most remarkable across all of this is with all the true presence there in 20 years we

did not get bin laden in afghanistan or we did not get al-zawahiri in afghanistan but you did see remarkable cia operations in afghanistan and pakistan where he took down terrorist leaders that were not hidden in caves but amongst people. ultimately human intelligence is what it was, the original point, we have gotten good tips and leads which speaks to what we can do over the horizon. i will note the al-zawahiri death could lead to terrorism competition. i am worried about young upstarts with the valve opening much like we saw isis rise in the wake of bin laden's death so we will have to keep an eye on this. >> national security analyst for nbc news and msnbc, retired general barry mccaffrey and pentagon correspondent for the new york times helene cooper.

thank you very much for being on today. joining us now democratic member of the foreign relations committee. senator tim kaine, we have a lot of issues to talk to you about today but let's start with your reaction to the takedown of al-zawahiri. >> great to be with you guys. very good news and it sends a lesson, this is a guy who has been living a shuttle life in safe houses for 20 years avoiding the u.s. but he couldn't. we are very patient and if you plot an attack against us there is no place in the world you can wait us out. great intelligence. obviously some important tips led us to al-zawahiri but then even after we had the information, the care that was used in planning the operation to minimize casualties in the middle of a crowded kabul was

most impressive . is a member of the armed services and foreign relations committee with a lot of virginia scar tissue because of the attack of 9/11 on the pentagon and others who died over 20 years serving in iraq and afghanistan, it was very good news to hear this. >> a lot of virginians are also veterans in urgent need of healthcare. we were just curious what the republicans in the senate have been doing over the past couple weeks, bizarrely enough taking a pro-beijing anti-veteran position on two bills that i would take 90% of americans would support. looking at that radicalism, the radicalism of opposing universal background checks, the radicalism of passing legislation on stage levels forcing 10-year-old victims to cross state lines because they

are afraid they will be compelled to have a forced birth , what is going on with the republican party? it seems even those who claim to be anti-trump are quietly anti-trump are now taking extreme pro-beijing anti- veteran positions. >> i was listening to the segment you had and to take two of the items mentioned, this republican switcheroo where they voted for veteran healthcare to provide care to iraq and afghanistan war veterans, they voted for it and then because they were mad the democrats were doing reconciliation not only did they switch votes and kill the bill but there's video of republican senators on the floor giving each other fist bumps.

did and we do such a great thing by knifing veterans in the back and voting against this bill. it was astounding and the second point you mentioned this is now an america where a 10-year-old has to get smuggled across state lines to get an abortion to terminate a pregnancy because of a rape and what does indiana do in the aftermath of that? they tried to say we should be compassionate to 10-year-olds? no, the republican attorney general is slandering and attacking the doctor who provided care in the legislature is trying to close loopholes so a 10-year-old cannot get this care. what have we come to? so those of us here who since before january 6th have been worried about the state of democracy it just means we have to work harder to build bridges and inject common sense into politics that seems to go

haywire. >> you have gone to my next question. because of this reproductive freedom for all acts, the bill you are working on, what are the chances this will go through , because at this point we are looking at a republican party that is pushing back on a lot of things that women consider part of their daily lives and part of their daily rights. >> absolutely, american women had relied on the basic roe versus wade and the supreme court took it all the way with this decision. massively misinterpreting what the 14th amendment was designed to do and ignoring a century of precedent including 50 years of precedent on reproductive rights. we had two votes earlier this

year on the women's health protection act which i voted for, in the first instance we only got 49 votes in february and when we were going for a second vote in may i started to think i don't think it sends a good signal if it seems like only a minority of the senate wants to protect women's reproductive freedom and i think we're leaving votes on the table, so i went to colleagues who i knew wanted to codify roe versus wade into federal statute and said if this is not what you like can we do it a different way which led to the reproductive freedom for all act which is based on a michigan ballot referendum to add protection to the michigan constitution will be on the ballot in november. will be passed? i will be honest i don't have 60 votes to pass this but two months ago we do not have 60 votes to pass gun legislation. we sat for a decade with the tragedies in buffalo and texas changed the reality in the

tragedy of an america would 10- year-olds being smuggled across state lines will change the reality here in congress and get us to a point where we will protect women's reproductive freedom. >> democratic senator tim kaine of virginia, thank you very much. still ahead on "morning joe", gas prices have fallen for seven straight weeks and are now down $0.60 from one month ago, the energy secretary will join us to weigh in on whether they will keep falling. plus, kentucky governor andy beshear will be our guest as the death toll climbs from tragic flooding in his state. also, former preisdent trump endorsing eric in the majority missouri gop primary the

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what's your pick? a live picture from the top of the building at rockefeller center. joining us in new york secretary of energy jennifer granholm, i was sort of joking a little bit when i said i filled up my guest take and it was under $100 for the first time, not grade and $92 but it is an improvement. >> yes, we were over five dollars on average now we are $4.18. a drop like that in seven weeks is pretty significant. credit to the administration

because they started by releasing 1 million barrels a day from the strategic reserve to even out supply and demand issues and of course because oil is traded globally and russia holds so many barrels or they had pulled off barrels because of countries not taking russian oil, we had to fill the gap in the present has called for increase in supply at home and overseas so we can replace those barrels and bring the prices down. there is progress. >> one of the things the white house hopes to come down not just the price of gas and oil but other products, this is the inflation reduction act, it has a lot, raising taxes on corporations, prescription drug costs, a lot is going on. the critics say spending a

bunch of money and raising taxes is not the way to bring inflation down. >> filling in loopholes, reducing the budget deficit by $300 billion, reducing prices for people, reducing energy cost, reducing healthcare cost is the way to move in that direction and that is why joe manchin came around and saw what the administration was willing to do and frankly for places like west virginia that is such a energy-rich state in so many ways but on the clean side as well and senator joe manchin sought an opportunity. >> is the balancing act, the need for fuel but also climate change provisions. speak to those but also to the critics in the democratic party say president biden has not done enough on climate change because he has had to focus on fossil fuel and energy prices.

>> we have to do both, increase supply because people are hurting and that is the focus and at the same time we have to accelerate. the volatility is why we have to accelerate movement to clean energy so we are not reliant upon countries who don't have our interest with the volatility of fossil fuels. this inflation reduction act is a really big deal. it really is. the biggest investment in addressing climate change in the history of the country. will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 40% by 2030. that is huge, the tax credits incentivize deployment of clean energy technology. they are awesome, wind and solar, geothermal, hydroelectric , nuclear. we can have all the zero carbon

technologies that will be advanced including next- generation technology like clean hydrogen. it is so, let's please have this happen for people, for their pocketbooks, if you get a 30% reduction on the installation of solar panels you will look at that. if you get $7500 off the price at the dealer of an electric vehicle you are going to look at it. the president is focused on reducing cost for people in this and that will also bring down inflation. >> that's going to be great, especially if you have incentives for electric vehicles. people can get electric vehicles but let me go to the other side of it. he has released oil from strategic reserve and we have to produce more, we cannot be dependent on russia to give us all the oil. why are we not doing more to allow more leasing, drilling

and more pipelines? >> part of the agreement with senator joe manchin will be to reduce the time frame for permitting not just in fossil but clean energy. honestly, unfortunately the well intended processes that have been put in place to allow any kind of access to federal land or water's takes a huge amount of time. so we are in a climate crisis. we want to accelerate the deployment of offshore wind, with solar on public land, so reducing those time frames, reducing the time it takes to get energy is a good thing for america. >> are the votes there to pass the inflation reduction act? do you know where senator cinema stance? >> she has been such a champion for somebody provisions in this, she has been a big

advocate for reducing healthcare costs for people. i hope, she's waiting to see the final results from the parliament are and a totally responsible move but i am hopeful that she will step up because it's going to be huge for arizona. >> she has been reading the text for a week now, reading it closely and clearly. we love to talk about bob seger another time. we would get to great musicians but we ran out of time. jennifer granholm, thank you for being with us. coming up, the attorney general in arizona has completed the investigation into allegations made by the now defunct group of conspiracy theorists called the cyber ninjas. we will talk about those findings and how they are playing into today's primary. ry

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the arizona attorney general's office has completed its investigation into allegations of votes cast by dead people in the 20/20 election finding only one case where that occurred. the florida firm cyber ninjas a now defunct group that conducted an alleged audit of the maricopa county election results in 2020 made the original claims of illegitimate voting before the case was taken up by the attorney general. now, he says that only one of the 282 individuals on the list have alleged that voters was deceased at the time of the

election. all the others are living active voters, and the report he writes that agents investigated all individuals that cyber ninjas reported as dead and many were surprised to learn they were deceased. this year republican gubernatorial candidate kari lake has claimed repeatedly that people are voting in the republican primaries suggesting her opponents are using debt people to rig the election against her. and that is where this concern about trump continues, that right now candidates running for office are still counting on lies from trump to sort of garner up the hatred and extremism that we are seeing. >> there is no question, this is the legacy of the big lie and i do mention this in my book and it is in everyday life

now it has become a litmus test for republicans. if you want an endorsement you better adhere to it and it works in two ways. first of all candidates like these suggest the 2020 election was not conducted fairly so they are parity on that lie, they plant seeds to suggest if they were to lose that would mean that their election was rigged, she says if i lose that means the process was rigged against me and we have seen her and at lower lows including state secretaries of state the big lie friendly candidates running for office who would then have an outside say over voting rights legislation and the process to certify voting results in those states so that is dangerous on every level and that is what the republican party orally segments are still pushing. >> that's what the primaries we are watching to see if the

election deniers prevail or not, i do wonder if in the general, republicans have such an advantage going into midterms. looking at what is happening with the senate and then i wonder with the house even, voters are so sick of hearing about the election. they want to look forward and as much as they might like donald trump it is old news, it is stale and i wonder what kind of weight and albatross this is for candidates after the primary. >> a fascinating distillation in the governor's race in arizona where you have donald trump who is behind kari lake who is talking about the election, laying the groundwork in case she loses and on the other side karen taylor back by vice president mike pence says it's time to work toward the future which has been the message by the former vice president himself.

>> it is brutal to watch kari lake delivering lies with wild abandon, still ahead, two candidates want one endorsement, how former preisdent trump is trolling his way into the gop senate primary plus, much more on the killing of al qaeda's top leader. we will talk with lawrence right who interviewed ayman al- zawahiri and wrote a definitive account of the growth of al qaeda and later, as rescuers continue around the clock in kentucky governor andy beshear will be here with that when "morning joe" returns. ns.

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tonight i can report to the american people and to the world the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden the leader of al qaeda. >> my fellow americans, on saturday at my direction the united states successfully concluded a drone strike in afghanistan that killed the leader of al qaeda, ayman al- zawahiri. >> from medical doctor to terrorist leader, a man who urged osama bin laden to turn his attention to america was killed in a u.s. drone strike in taliban controlled afghanistan. moments ago the white house released this picture of president biden being briefed on the mission weeks before ordering the deadly strike against ayman al-zawahiri.

>> boy, a big big day of news today and we will be talking with richard haass in a minute. big news yesterday and something we have been working toward for the past 20 years. it is hard to overstate how important this is to people in the cia and the military that have been trying to bring this terrorist to justice because he was ultimately responsible. donald trump when he was at his golf tournament this weekend by our account had 14 people, a couple chickens, a hound dog running across a couple greens really distracting, you're sitting there and mickelson trying to play and that hound dog chasing chickens and he has to stop but so, he was asked

about that while this animal battle was going on, on the 16th with mickelson and trump said we don't really know what caused 9/11 we need to look into that. well, we have actually always known what caused 9/11 and his name was al-zawahiri and he was killed by the united states. >> first of all you'd have to step off when the tumbleweed rolls across the green, that can be distracting but yes this is a man that has been pursued by the united states before 9/11, predating the tax of september 11th although he encouraged osama bin laden to focus on the united states. the bombing in kenya and tanzania, the bombing of the uss cole, this man has been on

the raider for a very very long time and we will talk more about this in a moment, but the circumstances of his death lead to questions about american policy in afghanistan, he was being harbored and living comfortably in the heart of kabul downtown stepping out to a balcony where he was essentially vaporized. >> talking about that with our experts also richard haass a golfing expert, we will ask when in these tournaments if a tumbleweed or if a chicken lays an egg if you have to play where it lies or if you can do one or two club lengths. we will ask him in a little bit. >> some politics to cover turning to today's primary elections were former preisdent trump seems to be trolling the

missouri republican senate primary with his latest endorsement, he sent an email saying he was endorsing eric. the problem, two of the three serious candidates in the race are named eric. former missouri governor eric greitens and missouri attorney general eric schmitt are in a tight race with the congresswoman, now both of them say the former president is supporting them. each posting statements online thanking trump for the endorsement, a source says leaving off the last name of the eric he was endorsing was intentional. >> the thing is, for the former president this is a former president whose interference in the republican primaries put chuck schumer in charge and made mitch mcconnell the

minority leader, made all the difference in judges, in u.s. attorneys that were sent through and republicans in georgia will tell you it was donald trump's fault and mitch mcconnell would likely tell you it was all his fault. now you look at dr. oz who has some of the highest disapproval numbers i have ever seen in a general election for a major candidate. you look at what's happening with him, with herschel walker who is trailing in the state of georgia. you look at what's happening in arizona and also up into michigan, she was supposed to be in a lot of trouble a few months ago and now she is looking strong. >> it is extraordinary and the advisor to donald trump told us about the eric tweet was a epic

troll but who is he trolling, his own party? eric greitens has horrific allegations against him is he going to push him up and make him the nominee and put even that in jeopardy? it is not clear who the troll was directed at except it allows donald trump to take credit for whichever eric wins. so a game to him always, you mention michigan former commentator and actress hoping for a win today in the republican primary for governor after gaining in the polls winning the last minute endorsement from donald trump. >> when i first met with them he said you need to get your numbers up and you need to have the resources to run away. the former president said that. you have to run a strong race. i want to see you are able to do this and it was great for me. i got to go meet people and

people got to know who i am. that was important to me. so people knew me and i was not just this person endorsed by someone else so i had a chance to go around the state and get to know people. >> over the weekend she would not say if she still believes trump won the 2020 election, she previously called it stolen and that is why donald trump is backing her. >> that is appealing, the claims that the election was stolen and he has thrown his weight back there sort of endorsing in missouri and i will say when the press release came out there was activity where people thought there was a typo made, they left out the last name of which eric he wanted to support and a short time later the spokesman said that's what we want to do then we realized that's what he wanted to do and it does seem like he was on the phone with both yesterday from his golf course the day after

the tournament and he said you will both, he told each of them you will be happy with what i have to say and both of them later said hey he endorsed me when that was not clear and this just allows him to declare victory and it makes a mockery of the proceedings in missouri and republican voters. >> in wisconsin the three top republicans running in the primary for governor took part in a town hall hosted by milwaukee's abc affiliate, at one point a voter described as a republican concerned about donald trump asked the candidates if they would support the former president if he ran again in 2024 despite what happened january 6th. all three candidates appeared to skirt around the issue. take a look. >> 2024? i am focused on this election, i have made no commitments to any candidate in 2024, i believe

we need to have new executive leadership in the governor's office. >> as far as 2024 goes i will support the republican nominee and it looks like we have an assortment to choose from of incredibly successful people across this country some of whom have already begun to campaign in the state of wisconsin. >> i think policies were good considering the condition of the nation when he was president but i don't like a lot of the tweet stuff and all the other things but then again he had media that was against him and he cannot get the message out. i will wait until the day comes when we know the candidates and then the process will begin. whoever lands just like for this one will be the person we want to get behind so we can get the country back in order. >> that is a focus group. you have three people that are

running for governor in a republican primary in the state of wisconsin, all three afraid to say they would support donald trump and again that fear goes not to trump but to the voters because they are out knocking on the doors, they are the ones talking to gop voters and their picking up things on the campaign trail that others may not be picking up on in washington. >> that is how the wind is blowing in wisconsin. we have seen this slight attrition of some supporters in polling as the january 6th hearings progress. it is not seismic but it is enough where it could cause problems for donald trump if you want to get the nomination and it could cause candidates problems if he keeps harping on the past on the election with no forward-looking agenda. >> back to the breaking news,

president biden announcing the u.s. has killed the leader of al qaeda. ayman al-zawahiri. chief white house correspondent peter alexander has more. >> justice has been delivered. >> president biden still in isolation from covid announcing the u.s. has killed al qaeda's leader in a drone strike in afghanistan. >> if your threat to our people the united states will find you and take you out. >> carried out 9:48 eastern time saturday, early morning in afghanistan when the government used a unmanned drone and missiles to target the third floor balcony of a residential apartment building downtown in trenton, the operation was conducted by the cia punctuating months of planning. intelligence officials have been tracking al-zawahiri since

early this year since he and his family moved to the safe house, the president giving the go-ahead one week ago. >> none of his family members were hurt. >> after succeeding osama bin laden as a leader in 2011 he appeared in videos taunting the u.s. calling on muslims to attack america. a ruthless force behind al qaeda operations hoping to plan 9/11 and the 2000 attack on the uss cole in yemen. before that the 1998 embassy bombings in kenya and tanzania. this death comes as the u.s. will mark one year since its chaotic and deadly exit from afghanistan, by then the taliban agreed it would not provide safe harbor to terrorist groups like al qaeda, the secretary of state saying that the taliban has violated that agreement. senior taliban leaders say that

al-zawahiri moved to trenton within five or six months of the foreign fighters leaving in a senior official says haqqani network leaders were aware of his presence. >> let's bring in the president of the council on foreign relations richard haass, chief foreign affairs correspondent and executive editor for news at new yorker, a longtime investigative journalist and correspondent. good to have you all. richard let's start where this happened. al-zawahiri was taken down , being held in a safe place by the taliban. what does that tell you about our state of relationship with the taliban moving forward? >> the taliban have not changed their spots, the old and the new are still the taliban and

in this case what happened, the operation was extraordinarily effective. great to get this guy off the so-called battlefield. this reminds us the taliban is the opposite of a partner in the effort against terrorism. they are doing exactly what they did 21 years ago. they are harboring al qaeda so in that sense we are back to where we were and this time it was a really good outcome but we have to think about the fact that in future moments, a sanctuary provided to al qaeda or other groups that have all sorts of terrible implications for us or our interests around the world. >> you were kidnapped and held for more than seven months by the haqqani network, the taliban faction that it appears was sheltering and giving safe harbor to al-

zawahiri in the heart of kabul, what do you make at the ability to get to al-zawahiri in this way but also the dynamic where we walked away putting some trust in the taliban and now they are right back at it sheltering people like the most wanted man on earth. >> it is an eastern achievement to locate and to watch them for this long and to carry out the attack without killing any civilians. that is good news and a huge step forward and great for victims of 9/11 but what is not great is he was in the house of an aide to the commander who kidnapped me. and he has a $10 million wanted , the fbi has a most wanted poster for him and he is the new interior minister of afghanistan, the top law enforcement officer in the country. his uncle is the minister of refugees and he is the designated liaison to al qaeda,

haqqani has worked with al qaeda since the 1980s so i don't want to be grim but i agree with richard, al qaeda with long-term goals carrying out attacks abroad and in the united states and the taliban the haqqani network is giving them sanctuary. >> do you agree with that and i would love to hear your insights and reflections given this pretty successful move by the biden administration to take down this terrorist. >> first of all, an extra ordinary operation by the cia to do it, to do it cleanly with no civilian death. his family surviving, the questions that the president asked the white house released a picture where a wooden box was in front of bill burns sitting at the table in the picture could indicate insight was the structure, the model of

the house, the president asking questions about where the windows, how is it built, how do we know the family will survive? so you could see it in the picture sitting in front of the president. kept from our view but they had eyes on him, that indicates they had ground intelligence from someone inside one of the networks and it indicates according to former cia officials with whom i spoke last night, veterans one of whom i was with in 1998 when the taliban was refusing to turn over al qaeda's leader bin laden that was the mission to turn him over to the u.s. i was the only reporter on that trip and in fact according to that cia veteran and another that i spoke with last night, this indicates pakistan had to know. the pakistan intelligence, they

could not and i think this would be confirmed, the haqqani leaders here in downtown trenton living so openly in near the presidential palace had to be known to release some segments of the regime and the white house saying they would hold the taliban accountable for violating their agreement, also intelligence officials had to know and that is very concerning, something the united states will not comment on but it is an open question. >> richard haass , i said before to one of our previous guests over the past 18 hours, you know there is a old-line meet the new boss, same as the old and here it is meet the new taliban same as the old taliban and when we talk about the isi

knowing about these things, something strange some things stay the same. osama bin laden harboring what is the equivalent of the isi west point in pakistan and here you have got al-zawahiri one of the most exclusive parts of kabul being protected by the taliban. so the question is what do we do about it? >> with the taliban principle leverages to continue to do the sort of attacks we do, we can also go after taliban officials if they are directly harboring. they need to know they are not off-limits, more broadly we can establish a conditional relationship and say if you want support from us economically here is the behaviors that you are going to have to evidence, it is in terms of anti-terrorism or

human rights, what have you. will not go back in at scale in any sort of way. so what you suggest, talking about pakistan, to me it is at least a warning because pakistan is a country with 100 or 200 nuclear weapons, a large intelligence and military network that is not under civilian control. very close to the taliban but also some of the radicals in afghanistan are radicalizing pakistan which is undergoing all sorts of economic stress. so we see these countries are harboring providing sanctuary to terrorists so the nightmares that we faced several decades ago have not gone away. this is a world where we have china and russia and the rest but also this older problem so we have a full plate.

>> it was nearly one year ago when the u.s. pulled out the military from afghanistan and although parts of it were successful, the early days were very tumultuous, punctuated by violence between the suicide bombing at the airport. as we have been discussing in the year since the taliban have rest to fill the vacuum giving safe harbor to terrorists. with that in mind what the biden administration wants to do, the announcement over the weekend clearly a triumph of their approach but is it enough going forward for a neighborhood that is still very dangerous? >> it is in the short term it is sort of a whack a mole where they carry out drone strikes but they are replaced by new leaders. i agree there needs to be a new engagement with the taliban to set up a deal, you behave this way we will support you economically and there has to

be engagement with pakistan. we lost in afghanistan for multiple reasons. the afghan government was corrupt and we lost because of pakistan. when i was kidnapped i was taken from afghanistan into pakistan. they sheltered osama bin laden and held me captive as al qaeda regrouped so until pakistan changes behavior the threat will exist. we don't send in troops but we cannot ignore afghanistan. i would urge to engage the taliban and pakistan diplomatically and economically. >> every time that i hear this, i am reminded of a conversation i was having as i was flying out of pensacola, florida. there was a guy sitting next to me, special ops and he was going into afghanistan. the debate had begun on whether we made a terrible mistake going into iraq and if we would lose afghanistan.

so i said well do you think we should have moved 200,000 troops into afghanistan? instead of iraq? how much of a difference would that make in the war in afghanistan? the guy looked at me and he goes already very war weary doing with pakistan he said well it might make a difference if you can move those 200,000 troops straight into pakistan but if you cannot move into pakistan you are just wasting your time and that was 2004. i remember the moment we were taking off i said that's fascinating. here we are 18 years later. the reality is the same on the ground. >> that is the sad tragedy why did this go on for 20 years? we should've realized earlier as long as pakistan played this double game where they claim they were confronting taliban

and al qaeda but were sheltering them it was a waste of time and the war was lost. it is a tragedy but the threat remains. i know americans do not want to hear that but the long-term goal is to attack the u.s. again and again haqqani are closely aligned with pakistan intelligence service so i agree pakistani intelligence knew that al-zawahiri was in a nice villa in kabul so we have to reengage. >> let's move from pakistan to taiwan where speaker nancy pelosi is reportedly going. what can you tell us? >> frankly we don't know where she is at this moment. the expectation is she is headed to taiwan, that's what officials we have spoken to on the hill and other buildings and foreign officials are saying. she will likely be on her way this morning, expected to have

a meeting with the president of taiwan in taipei tomorrow, tonight our time so within a number of hours she will be leaving asia arriving late at night in taiwan with a wednesday meeting. tuesday night our time in taiwan. another warning from the chinese foreign minister saying that there will be serious consequences for anyone who plays with fire, politicians who play with fire will not have a good ending i am paraphrasing but that is continuing, with continuing threats it violates the chinese sovereignty over taiwan. that is their claim from over 40 years ago. the house speaker touring asia with a big hole in her schedule which would be taiwan, that's the big question mark. is she going to arrive there today?

threats continue, warnings from the u.s. do not escalate. this has happened before which was newt gingrich 27 years ago. she has always been a haunt on taiwan in this issue, in 1991 on the 30th anniversary of tiananmen square she tweeted what she had tweeted years earlier, in 1991 when she had two fellow congress members, they were in tiananmen two years after the crushing of the opposition and unfurled a banner in honor of those who died in tiananmen and immediately the chinese police accosted them, took those camera crews into custody. stopping them from shooting but there she was in 1991 in

tiananmen square taking her position and that has been her position today. she is separate from the government and independent, the white house says the strongest thing so far is july 20th, the military does not want her to go and that inflamed the chinese. the warning is no matter what the chinese do and there are reports of live fire in the streets, i was there in the 90s when that happened, taiwan has canceled military leaves, people are going into shelters, testing shelters and it's only 100 miles across, only a couple miles from a key city in south china. >> so, the chinese government this morning saying the united states will pay the price, suffer severe consequences if she does visit taiwan which it

looks like she is going to do. what is your view of the trip? we have heard some support, maybe tepid from the secretary of state, saying if anything happens it will be china's fault and china does not dictate how and when leadership visits its allies so how are you looking at this visit? >> there was no immediate reason why the speaker had to go to taiwan. that said, congressman go there, cabinet members go there. there is support to taiwan and when the trip came out publicly and china demanded she not go it put us in a impossible position. each side is a little bit trapped by its own rhetoric with chinese actions against taiwan, economic sanctions, military action, so that is where we are but i don't think at the end of the day it is

right to put this on the speaker. china is in some ways creating a problem. united states has not changed policy, we acknowledge there is only one china, that was the position 50 years ago and now but the other part of the policy is the final status between the mainland of taiwan it must be worked out peacefully and mutually acceptable in the mainland seems to drop that part of the equation. if they want a crisis in the run-up to the president getting an unprecedented third term they will have some sort of crisis but i think it is on them because there is no change in the fundamentals of u.s. policy and we are still adhering to the idea there is only one china. we are not supporting or advocating for taiwan independence. so i think we ought to be looking at what the mainland

says and does because this tells us more about them, to some extent i think there is a desire to distract attention away from their economic difficulties and they are increasingly turning to nationalism to create populous support for this embattled government in beijing. >> richard haass and andrea mitcheel, thank you, andrea mitcheel reporting noon on msnbc thank you for being on. coming up, the death toll in kentucky now tops three dozen as rescuers continue their work around the clock, governor andy beshear will join us with an update on rescue and recovery efforts, plus protesting on capitol hill as republicans refuse to vote for a bill providing benefits to veterans injured by toxins in war zones.

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i am meeting people that are dying. my only son, what do i say to him? how do i tell them? what good news can i tell them when he gets home i'm sorry, they put it off again. you know what you will say, that does not surprise me. >> it has been days since republicans blocked a key health care bill for veterans and today it is at a crossroads, chuck schumer says another vote on the pact act will happen in the coming days after republicans blocked the bill to provide life-saving health benefits for veterans

exposed to toxic burn pits in iraq and afghanistan, the woman you saw is one of dozens camping out to protest the holdup including many who are sick and dying themselves, republican senator pat toomey facing pressure after he said he wants an amendment to make technical changes for the accounting of va funds but those veterans and their most famous advocates say that it cannot come soon enough. >> i consider this the lowest hanging fruit, what is most upsetting to me is if you have to push this hard for something this obvious what chance do the rest of us have on healthcare or anything? >> joining us now chairman of the veteran affairs committee democratic senator from montana, republicans supported the bill before they were against it but they claim democrats forced

them to oppose the bill by making changes, that it looks different. were there any changes made that would put republicans in this position? >> there was one sentence taken out of the bill that said the va could buy out provider contracts, that is it. the only reason that was done is because it raised revenue so we had to strip it out, the bottom line, this is exactly the same bill be voted on june 16th and i have to tell you, i cannot figure out why we passed the bill, gave the benefits, folks thought they had them now we have taken it away two or three weeks later. these folks fought for our freedom and to keep us safe now we deny them benefits that they have earned. >> that's what i was going to

ask. why would they all of a sudden oppose? the one change, does it change the way money is allocated or timing? does it change the amount? >> there are no changes and 84 people voted for it, senator pat toomey voted against it on june 16th and to be honest i don't think the republicans that voted against it knew fully that it was the same bill we voted on june 16th and there were no changes and there are no changes and we are at that point. it is a big complicated bill but not that comp located that folks cannot sit down and ask questions. i am hoping that senator schumer and senator mcconnell get together to develop a path forward on what amendment we will deal with and get this thing passed. folks are dying by the day, healthcare delayed his healthcare denied and

honestly we would not have people here on the steps and every organization out here fighting for the bill if it was not important so we need to get it done. >> senator i want to underline what you said, it is the heart of the opposition which is what we are hearing he says you did sneak something into the bill unrelated to getting money to veterans. is that untrue? >> that is absolutely untrue, it is the same bill we voted on, there is no sneaking in. everything is transparent, this was done by partisan. we worked on the bill the last year and a half, it has been out in the public, there is no sneaking around, veterans are too important. >> that really undermines the argument. senator pat toomey voted against originally but how do you explain all the republicans who voted for it?

the one sentence put in by the house why do you suspect their voting against it now? >> the house took out a sentence by the way but i think presentations were done and phone calls were made and people switched their point of view improperly. >> chairman of the veterans affairs committee senator john tester, thank you so much. thank you so much for your important work. coming up, the headline from the associated press reads more rain, more bodies in flooded kentucky. we will speak with the governor of the state, andy beshear. a monster was attacking but the team remained calm. because with miro, they could problem solve together, and find the answer that was right under their nose. or... his nose.

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that it was the porch. part of it fell on them they were stuck underwater, my husband was able to get above the water and he picked up my daughter-in-law and i could hear her screaming i can't breathe. >> a kentucky resident recounting a horrible story from last week where several members of her family almost joined the 37 confirmed victims of major flooding in the state, joining us the governor of kentucky, andy beshear, thank you for joining us. before we get to what has already happened i am looking at the forecast and it appears there may be more problems that are ahead what are you hearing and you expect more flooding than your state has already seen? >> certainly the most devastating deadly flood we have ever seen, areas that are used to the flooding but no one has ever seen anything like this and even parts of eastern kentucky that do not flood have

flooded in this event. we did catch a break last night, we thought we were getting significant additional rain and it barely missed most of the area. the latest forecast is we might have isolated showers in the area but it looks like it's getting better. the big challenge we have got is wednesday and thursday are going to be extremely hot so folks that do not have a home, do not have air conditioning, older kentucky residents at risk , we are working around the clock to make sure cooling centers are opened in each and every one of the areas. we cannot lose anybody else that is still with us so we are fighting hard. >> what is your guidance for residents in the coming days? >> first is to make sure you have a safe place to stay where we have power where we can take care of you.

we have opened state parks and we have taken in hundreds of people. to make sure they have a meal and a place to stay, a shower. we need to get them stabilized and registered for fema. we need to replace important documents and then we will rebuild together. every day, every week and every month, but this will take years. i want those families to know we will be with you for years to come. >> talking about a dipole of 37 including four children from the same family. do you expect any more news like that and was there any warning about this flooding? >> we are still officially at 37 lost, each one irreplaceable, loved by their community. we know we have located more

bodies so it is going to grow, we will be finding bodies for weeks to come, found miles away from where they were swept away. i was at the site, the home which is completely gone, the family just two days ago and the oldest kid was in second grade. a little plastic swing in the back. we had one for our kids. would have been a tiny kid in that. just awful. thus far we don't have any other kids we have lost and we hope that that continues. >> what about power outages? how severe are those for people who will be dealing with the heat and the weather to come? >> people have been working really hard and i want to say that come from the search and rescue, the national guard incredible, thank you to west

virginia and tennessee for helping, kentucky state police, first responders coming from all the way in the west, we have a city underwater crisis in the west sending vehicles to help out, good people the open hearts and homes to one another and they are doing that now. we are now down under 7500 service locations, homes without power in eastern kentucky that means folks have worked incredibly hard but we already have cooling stations identified in each of those counties with meter with major outages, reporting those getting out to each and every county so there will be a cool place that we have to make sure we are not too proud and if we need a place to go to stay we have got one. >> the death toll from 37 will be going up. i know at least 16 occurred in

knott county 130 miles southeast of lexington. i would assume many homes are a total loss so is the government stepping in to help? what will the rebuilding look like? do we know how many people lost their homes? >> we have over 1000 people that are homeless right now easily and i think it is more. flooding, normally it's a basement or part of a building but these homes are gone. just gone, nothing left and some of them we cannot even find a portion of them. i saw a car that was ripped in half and half of it was embedded in the creek bank, the other day so it is just violence and destruction. is going to be a challenge rebuilding because most of these people do not have much to begin with and other have

nothing, flood insurance is way too expensive so even people of some means will be devastated financially. the president did sign individual assistance for fema faster than i have ever seen, a couple days for the five counties and we expect a couple more to be added and while the process is complicated it does provide hope for 30 plus thousand dollars to families but this one the loss will be greater than what is available which is why we will step in as a government to help and that's why we have set up a fund to help families, zero administered fees, 100% transparent that his team eastern kentucky relief fund. >> kentucky governor andy beshear, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning, prayers are with your state. >> thank you for telling our

story. coming up, reports from missouri and arizona where high profile primaries are taking place today and we will be at the big board putting it all into perspective. plus a man who took part in the capitol riot defendant.ot we'll take a look at what happened in the courtroom yesterday and play for you what the man's daughter had to say about the role donald trump had in all of it. we're back in a moment with much more "morning joe." g joe. republicans in congress call them "entitlements." a "ponzi scheme." the women and men i served with in combat, we earned our benefits. just like people earned their social security and medicare benefits. but republicans in congress have a plan to end so-called "entitlements" in just five years. social security, medicare, even veterans benefits. go online and read the republican plan for yourself. joe biden is fighting to protect social security, medicare and veterans benefits. call joe biden and tell him to keep fighting for our benefits.

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before he could enter the capitol. despite this the prosecutors ask him to be labelled a domestic terrorist which would have resulted in a longer prison sentence. the judge denied that motion saying it would not align with other sentences. afterward refit called for another man to be punished for their role in the capitol attack. donald trump. >> to mark my dad as this horrible person and then having him prosecuted like this when somebody is maybe even able to get elected again, it doesn't seem right to me. >> trump deserves life in prison if my father is in prison for this long. >> that is the daughters talking about donald trump saying if my dad is getting 7 years in prison for what he did, what about the guy who orchestrated the whole thing. >> yeah. i mean, and it is what we've been saying from the very beginning. here is a guy who lost his job. he got sucked in to social media

and the lies that donald trump was churning day after day. and went down into that hole and, you know, elise, we've seen it in our own families. we've seen it among our own friends. i talk about jim and tammy faye baker. and i saw my grandmother, one of the toughest women ever known in my life who raised four kids in the heart of the great depression, and was just the absolute bedrock of not only my life but everybody who knew her. she got swindled by jim and tammy faye baker and the ptl club, because she sat there and talked it on tv and they were talking about jesus and something that meant everything to her. and you got a guy who loses his job on an oil rig and he's sitting home and suddenly the

guy that he voted for, the jim and tammy faye baker of american politics preaches the gospel of rigged elections and he keeps preaching and he sees it and millions of americans see it day in and day out. and not just guys who lost their jobs on oil rigs, lawyers and doctors and finance people that we deal with, they get suckered into it as well. and so the daughters ask a question, a very good question that i've been asking from the very beginning. >> a simple question. >> if working class americans who bought into donald trump's lie that american democrat was being destroyed and they needed to go to the capitol to save their country, if they got suckered in on jim and tammy faye baker's lie, why is there no justice for the for jim and tammy faye baker of american politics. >> it is what is so maddening

about donald trump. he always gets away with crimes that anyone else, if they did it, be it the way you file your taxes, to january 6 and inciting an insurrection, and he really never seems to face consequences. and that is why the january 6 hearings were so riveting. because the committee permitted just such a case of the ways that donald trump was involved in the incitement. so we have to hope at the end of the day, there will be some justice and there will be consequences for donald trump who sits at the very top of the food chain. but it is sad that probably his rank and file supporters who he propaganda-ized, that they are going to pay the consequences. >> coming up, the fbi has updated the list of the world's most wanted terrorists. the word deceased now printed on

the picture of ayman al zawahiri. >> we'll talk to rubin gallego about the mission to take down a killer. "morning joe" is back in a moment. s to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination.

beautiful shot of the white house. it is 9:00 a.m. in the east coast. 6:00 a.m. oust west the and we have to get to. including the u.s. eliminated one of the world's most wanted terrorists, killing the leader of al qaeda who helped plan the 9/11 attacks. we'll have the latest on exactly how the mission he was carried out. also, ahead it is primary day in five states with several races. seen as the latest test of former donald