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 trump

[ technical difficulties ] that helped mastermind the worst terrorist attack on u.s. soil. and many other attacks against americans. ayman al zawahiri has killed by a cia drone strike this last weekend while standing on a balcony in downtown kabul. he was osama bin laden's deputy during the september 11th attacks and rose to al qaeda's leader when the u.s. killed bin laden back in 2011. a senior administration official

told nbc news that the strike was so precise, none of his family inside of the home were killed. and in a prime time address, president biden called the killing justice for his victims. and the mission, quote, a total success. >> people around the world no longer need to fear the vicious and determined killer. the united states continues to demonstrate our resolve and our capacity to defend the american people against those who seek to do us harm. you know, 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. >> just this morning the white house sthared this photograph of the's july 1st meeting with u.s. officials when they used a model of al zawahiri's house to brief

any potential risk to civilians if they did attack. bride ensigned off on july 25th telling them to do when this it made the most sense. and in kabul when the united states took out the terrorists with two hellfire missiles. the u.s. did not warn the taliban ahead of that strike. analysts say photos of the strike's aftermath suggest the use of an r-9-x hell fire which is a type of missile armed with long blades aimed at killing targets with kinetic energy to minimize major collateral damage. a report on the missile from the "wall street journal" said this, the u.s. government has developed a secret missile for pinpoint air strikes that kill terrorist leaders with no explosion. drastically reducing damage and minimizing the chance of civilian casualties. multiple current and u.s. officials said. the journal went on, instead of exploding, it is designed to plunge 100 pounds of metal

through the tops of cars and buildings to kill its target without harming individuals and property close by. the r-9-x is equipped with a halo of six long blades that are stowed inside and deploying seconds before impact to ensure that it shreds anything in its tracks. so joe, this is a missile that has been out there that we heard about and effectively, according to the reports we have so far, was able to frankly vaporize this terrorist without causing collateral damage to other people inside of the building as he stepped out on the balcony. all of this as mika laid out the result of not just weeks and months but years of intelligence gathering. >> and you look at the picture of the apartment, of the window, the minimal damage. it stands in such stark contrast to what the russians are doing in ukraine every day. let's bring in right now a reporter better equipped and in just about anybody in america or

across the world to tell us about the significance of this death and the bitter legacy of al zawahiri. he is north korea lawrence write. back in 2022, when he was still osama bin laden's deputy in the piece entitled, the man behind bin laden and author of the prize winning book "the looming tower." thank you so much for being with us, lawrence, this morning. we greatly appreciate. let's talk about al zawahiri's legacy. just the brutal legacy that still remains with us even after his death. >> well, you know, it starts i guess with the embassy bombings in 1998 when al qaeda raised the curtain on its future attacking two american embassies in east africa killing 224 people. and blinding 100 people because

of the flying glass. and then there was the coal bombing in october of 2000 killing 19 american sailors in the harbor in yemen. and then 9/11. but that doesn't stop. there was a drum roll of continuing attacks. they never got back to broadway. >> but they were attempting to contact america and allies. and then in 2011 bin laden is killed and al zawahiri has been seen the man behind bin laden and often not being as charismatic and so on. but give him credit. this was an organization that on 9/11 had about 400 members. now counter terrorist experts around 40,000 members of al qaeda and its affiliates when stretch to morocco to india. so under his guidance this organization has expanded and

proliferated and its intentions have not changed. >> and bin laden would not have been the force that he was, would he, without al zawahiri there. he had an extraordinarily important place in that organization. and actually was the brains of the operation, was he not? >> well, what he brought, initially was that he had a propagandaist and he had a lot of experience. but he also had an organization al jihad, in egypt, and bin laden didn't have an organization when they met. so, it was that group that became the inner core of al qaeda and al zawahiri and bin laden were very different men but they were similar in the fact they were techno crates. and bin laden worked for his father's construction company and zawahiri was a doctor.

and they had vast standing in their towns. but they used each other, they weren't friends. they were allies. they saw that -- al zawahiri saw that bin laden had money and he didn't have any and bin laden saw that zawahiri had an organization. so its way marriage of convenience and al qaeda is the result of that marriage. >> lawrence, good morning. in your experience, in your reporting, what does a strike like this, a big strike in a big win for the united states do to the organization, whether it's bin laden in 2011, or al baghdadi in 2019 and with isis, when you take out a leader like this, obviously that group doesn't go away, but how disruptive is it to their plans plotting which we've been reminded, continues among these terrorist groups with plans to attack the united states. >> you know, when we killed bin

laden, a lot of people thought that is the end of al qaeda. and it wasn't. and it is not as if they had tremendously charismatic figure in the wings. zawahiri was not that. but the next leader of al qaeda will be safe a lotle, the most competent and has the largest following in al qaeda. now living in iran. he will take it in a different direction. he's got a lot of resources. so does the counter terrorist movement among the world. it will be a struggle but i don't think we'll see the death of it with the death of al zawahiri. here is what you wrote in hur new piece. zawahiri and bin laden were very different men. not friends by allies. using each other. for the skills and resources

that they could each provide. al qaeda would not have survived without the dynamic they created together. you go on to write, in al qaeda he provided the direction and bin laden supplied the money. zawahiri was always in the background and many people who studied al qaeda thought that bin laden's death would bring the curtain down on their creation and after bin laden's death, zawahiri held the organization today. and you also note that although al qaeda never had another attack comparable to 9/11, its intentions haven't changed. its membership has grown. and with the retreated by u.s. and its allies from afghanistan, al qaeda has regrained its training ground. it is once again a force to be wreckoned with. and this is due in large part to zawahiri. and so what do you think should be done to push back on al qaeda

regaining its space and also perhaps redefine the relationship with the taliban at a moment that the taliban has clearly shown it hasn't changed. >> yeah. the taliban should never have been trusted to keep their promised. and not just with allowing terrorists to re-settle in the territory. but the way they treat women and so on, after all of those promises. so we can't rely on the taliban. on the the other han, i think we have engage with them. we're not going to invade afghanistan again. and one thing to be able to use these airborne stillettos to take out terrorist leaders like we did with zawahiri. but it is another to try to calm the surface of this very troubled country in a way that is no longer military. we cannot just stand off shore and continue to fire hellfire missiles in and hope that things

will change. >> all right. the new yorker's lawrence write. thank you so much for your insight this morning. it is good to have you on. willie. >> let's bring into the conversation now democratic congressman ruben gallego of arizona. he serves on the house armed services committee and is a veteran of the war in iraq. thank you so much for being with us this morning. you're reaction when you heard the news yesterday from president biden that al zawahiri has been kill and as we were discussing this morning, the effort that led up to the day that was years in the making. >> i was happy to hear it. i spent about 7 months fighting in al bar against al qaeda and their alleys and to see one leader go down, i felt like justice had been served for people that were hurt on 9/11 and for people around the world. and so this is a good start. it was a very difficult mission. i'm glad the president decided to go forward with it.

it also is a great credit to our national security apparatus as well as the cia who have worked hard to create a mission that would minimize collateral damage which is extremely important nowadays. all around, i think this is a great victory for the united states. this is not ending al qaeda but disrupted al qaeda. >> we've heard a couple of views of this victory objectively for the united states and for the world, one is that this proves, according to the biden administration, that the united states can conduct its business over the horizon. it doesn't need troops on the ground. the other side of it, not just republicans but some of our guests this morning as well, is that while the fact that the taliban was hoshorring this guy in plain sight in a fancy neighborhood and he was stepping out in his balcony and living openly, showing this agreement with the taliban just doesn't work. what is your view of it? >> look, i think the agreement doesn't work. and we're still waiting for a lot of our former contractors and friends to be let out of the

country. they have a right to come to the united states, the taliban have not been abiding by that agreement. at the same time, we have to work with what we have. we're not going to go back into afghanistan. we could not occupy a country again that the american public will not stand for it, nor do we know it will be in our best interests considering what we're dealing with in russia and china right now. but we have to put in the resources that we're currently doing, which is focusing on horizon capabilities and increasing our intelligence on the ground with whatever sources we could get and we know there are some sources involved there. but trusting taliban is not going to be the answer. putting the taliban in check i think is the best thing we could do and continue to do that. >> congressman, you talked about serving in the anbar province. we're grateful for your service to the united states of america. and in uniform. you have a lot of friends i know, former colleagues that served in iraq. also served in afghanistan.

and because of it, they are suffering physical maladies that happens in every war and it is the united states responsibility, it is congress's responsibility to step up and take care of those vets who gave their all, who risked their lives and left their families and endured sacrifices that 99% of us can't begin to imagine. i'm wondering what do you say to the vets who are waiting for health care that they desperately need, and that are being held up right now in washington, d.c. because of the politics, quite -- and let's just be specific about it becauses in the united states senate. >> well it is unfortunately very personal for me. i live next to a burn pit for about a month. and so far i've been very lucky. but i'm always worried every time i go to a doctor, i'm a ticking time bomb. i have served with some brothers that have at young ages you know, had cancers that young men

should not have. and i think it is entirely because of that. so i tell you from my personal feeling, i feel betrayed. i should not be surprised. but i thought at a minimum, cynical moves would not stop services going to veterans especially when we're just at the 99 yard line, 1 yard line ready to go home. and it hurts. we always say they are so quick to send us to war but not as quick to give us the services we need. senator toomey and i'm sure a lot others weren't complaining about the tax cuts they gave while we were at all war. they weren't worried about the fiscal budget. but now that we need these sfrss and for a long time. now they care about the budget, right. so what you're telling me, and telling a veteran, is you care more about the mighty dollar than you do about our lives. >> what we're talking about here is the republicans blocking this

health care bill that provides potentially life-saving health benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits like the congressman in iraq and afghanistan. it had initially passed the senate by a wide margin, then passed the house which had to make a minor tweak to its language. 25 republicans then voted against the bill. they had previously voted for, blocking it from final passage. earlier this morning, we asked the chair of the veterans' affairs committee democratic senator jon tester of montana whether there were any changes made to the bill that would have prompted the senate republicans to now oppose it. take a listen. >> there was one sentence taken out of the bill that said that v.a. could buy out provider contracts. that is it. that is the only change. one sentence.

and the only reason that was done is because it raised risen so we had to strip it out. the bottom line, this is exactly, exactly the same bill that we voted on in june 16th and passed with 84 votes. and i could not figure out why we passed this bill, gave the benefits to folks that thought they had them and now we've taken it away, two or three weeks later. it doesn't make any sense to me. >> i mean, you have to then think, is it politics, is it that their mad about something else. but these are our veterans. >> well, look, the senator is a gentleman, i'm sure he doesn't want to -- like his colleagues. but it is a political play. it was a reaction. a childish reaction because republicans were mad that the chips act passed and that there was going to be a reconciliation bill that would pass by schumer and manchin. so they struck at the first thing they could that was available. and veterans were the consequence of that. so you have these republican senators who wrap themselves

around the flag wloz show up at own american legion and vfw halls and say they are friends of veterans and then used us as a cheap political ploy to strike back at democrats. we should not have been collateral damage to this. but it shows how the general at attitude is when it comes to how veterans are treated most of the time, especially when it comes to how we're treated by republicans when it comes to us versus money. >> all right, democratic congressman ruben gallego of arizona. thank you very much for being on the show this morning. we appreciate it. and coming up on "morning joe," it is primary day with voters in five states heading to the polls today. we'll have some reports from some of the key states. steve kornacki will take up his position at the big board and bring us up to date when "morning joe" returns. ♪♪ meta portal go. look professional. ♪♪ even if you don't feel it.

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a beautiful shot of san francisco at 6:23 a.m. on the west coast. welcome back to "morning joe." the arizona attorney general's office has completed its investigation into allegations of votes cast by dead people. in the 2020 election, finding only one case where that occurred. the florida based firm cyber ninjas now defunct group that conducted a audit of the maricopa county election results made the claims before the case was taken up by attorney general mark burnovich and now he said only one of 282 individuals on the list of alleged dead voters was deceased at the time of the election. all of the other voters are actually living, active voters. in his report, he writes, quote,

our agents investigated all individuals that cyber ninjas reported as dead and many were very surprised to learn they were allegedly deceased. this year republican gubernatorial candidate kari lake has claimed repeatedly that dead people are voting in the gop's 2022 primary. suggesting her opponents are using dead people to rig the election. >> i mean, such an idiot show. such an idiot show. freaks and idiots. weirdos. >> such a special case. >> insurrectionists. what do they all have in common? yeah, donald trump. you have this lake person, you have that guy who -- that venture capitalist who loves san francisco. they all switched positions. all of the time. like kari lake, big obama supporter. donald trump, i mean, my god, giving money to kamala harris in

2014. pro choice, pro -- every democratic position, willie. it is crazy. but these cyber punks, they spread these lies, idiots believe those lies. and these republican arizona officials, i swear to god, how many audits have these officials been forced to run. and you have county commissioners in maricopa county and senators, all of the these republicans saying, guys, guys, these are all lies. you're being lied to. and they have done that five, six, seven, eight, nine times since the election. it just won't stop. >> it is a disgrace that the conspiracy theorists who call themselves the cyber ninjas were allowed near any ballots in the state of arizona. they were sniffing them and looking at and looking at them to see if they could detect any bamboo in them because that

would prove they were shipped in from china. no bamboo in the ballots. but to your point, you may get after today and down the road a full slate of officials in arizona who believe in or at least pretend to believe in the big lie and some of who have said if you put me in office i'll go back an decertify the results of 2020 presidential election. let's bring in from arizona, vaughn hillyard, he's in the phoenix suburb of paradise valley. i understand you spoke with kari lake who is in the cuff governor's race there in the primary. what did she tell you? >> reporter: yeah, i mean, okay, so kari lake is already claiming fraud and irregularities. and on mark burnovich, this is the republican attorney general who was litly the one tasked with finding voter fraud in the state of arizona. he announced his u.s. senate bid earlier last year after

initially claiming there was no mass fraud that would have changed arizona election results. he decided to run for the u.s. senate and immediately was blasted by donald trump and republican figures like kari lake and gop chairman kelli ward here. and all of a sudden, what did he do? he used his attorney general investigators to open an investigation into the 2020 election. and he tried so hard to prove fraud. and this is the latest report in which yet again he acknowledges he wasn't able to do so. and because of that, he's continued to get hit hard by arizona republicans. and if you look at u.s. senate polling, he's going to come in third or fourth place as a result. fast forward to kari lake. i think the timing of the report is very particular. because kari lake over the last two weeks has claimed that dead people at hands of her opponents are voting here. setting up the case that if she were to lose tonight, then she would contest the outcome of this election. but she's provided no evidence

of these irregularities, no fraud, and no details or specific allegation and that is why last night after the final campaign rally i wanted to try my best to try to get some answers from her if she would make these claims. take a listen. >> you're contending there is irregularities and fraud in this election. at what point does kari lake stop and say am i undermining american's faith in our elections? >> kari lake is going to help bring back honest elections to america. >> but you haven't even laid out any fraud or irregular -- >> but what fraud is there. this is serious. >> do you want to make this about you. >> no this is about arizona voters and their election. >> the last person on the planet earth i would tell would be you and them as the dnc. >> so you know about a crime? and yet you're not reporting it to authorities. >> and i'm not telling you about

it. >> reporter: this is exactly what we saw donald trump do ahead of the 2020 election. claiming fraud before the votes even came in. now to be clear, we expect kari lake to of a strong chance of pulling off tonight's victory. but she's already setting up the stakes. if karen taylor robson is close to her in this race, i think we're looking at day as head in which kari lake, you know, the trump accolade is contesting this election for governor here in arizona. >> well vaughn, that was a heck of an interview. you were extraordinarily patient. despite the fact that you were credited as i guess being what is bad about america or something like that. here you have somebody trying to actually -- >> i think it is destroying america. >> destroying america. here we have somebody who has spent the last couple of months trying to gain power by lying about how great the united states of america is. by lying about american democracy. by deciding she would rather undermine american democracy and

undermine the rule of law than actually risk losing a race. and you see why she's a trump accolade. you see why donald trump loves her. because she loves donald trump and loves her own political power more than she loves america. and it is really sad. i actually, i pity her because i know people like her. they may win a couple of votes in the short run but they will lose in the end. it's just an absolute disgrace. and arizona is ground zero. i'm wondering, vaughn, that was all my commentary, none of yours, i'm wondering, do you talk? because i served with a lot of arizona republicans when we took over the house of representatives in 1994. good, solid people. one of them, matt salmon was running for governor himself. good, solid, rock rib, reagan republicans like we all were.

and i'm just talking about the battle between people like matt salmon, these public officials who these county commissioners in maricopa county who keep trying to tell the freaks and lunatics in their own party that they're lying to voters. talk about the tension between these main street conservative republicans and these ideology conspiracy-chasing freaks. >> joe, your absolutely right. because this, i will say over and over again, is a conservative state. it is historically been a conservative state. it is a conservative state. in 2018, doug ducey won his re-election by almost 17 percentage points. you mentioned matt salmon. who was running in this governor's race. he dropped out just a couple of weeks ago. last night, he was campaigning for karen taylor robson, the opponent here to kari lake who has the endorsement of not only

pence but also ducey. i sat down with jan brewer just over two weeks ago and for anybody that remembers jan brewer from a decade ago, she had her finger pointing into the face of barack obama. she was face of the tea party. and you know what she told me. she said that kari lake is an extreme candidate now. she doesn't know what happened to her. kari lake has cut out the people that were closest to her in her life and her friends but also the republican party of arizona. it is now been overtaken by the likes of kelli ward would proudly stood on the stage just one week ago alongside donald trump and said that she was a proud member of the orange mafia. these are the folks that are running the show. this is not about conservatism, this is allegiance to donald trump and undermining elections there in order to hold on to power in 2022 and beyond. >> and as joe said a minute ago, in kari lake's case, it is all an act. go back and look at what she stood for and who she supported even a year ago, two years ago, she's completely changed.

vaughn, thank you so much. let's move east a bit to missouri where former president trump seems to be trolling the state's republican senate primary with his late endorsement there. he said he's endorsing "eric." no last name provided. two of the three serious candidates in the race are named eric. eric greitens and attorney general eric schmitt are in a tight race with vicki hartzler. and now both are saying the former president is supporting them. each posted a statement online thanking trump for his endorsement. a source close to the former president told nbc news, leaving off the last name of the eric he was endorsing was intentional saying it was a quote, epic troll. trolling his own party, i guess. let's bring in washington

correspondentam even al sind yo. you spoke with eric greitens and what did he have to say today because of it. >> reporter: well this is really a baffling situation. you have just chaos all around this trump nonendorsement and dual endorse: you're seeing how it is making candidates say and do things that are unusual and unique. you have of course as you noted two erics who are claiming that they were both endorsed by former president trump. eric schmitt told me earlier before this endorsement came out that he was hoping to be the person that would be endorsed, that being the missouri attorney general to try to get the support. he's coming out against mitch mcconnell. but i caught up with eric greitens who is the former embattled governor of the state. he resigns in disgrace because he's facing allegations of domestic and abuse, take a listen to what he told me yesterday when i caught up with him. this is only an hour after the endorsement announcement came out.

take a listen. >> what makes you so clear that it is you and not other erics in this race. >> yes, ma'am. i think this is kraerlly clear because he was very clear. he wants a maga champion. everybody here knows i've been behind president trump. stood behind him on election integrity. i've stood up for our police officers and veterans and when president trump wants a fighter for our veterans it was clear he's talking about me. >> reporter: so, there you have it. of course, eric gietensing that he is the ones who thinks that he has this endorsement. but at this hour, former president trump has not made it clear. we shoud note that he released a lot of endorsements yesterday. they all had first and last names which is eric all caps. as you noted, this is an intentional part by the former president trump. and there was a woman,

pro-choice, who said the republican party needs to get back to the basic, talking about middle class voters and not chasing endorsements and she said in her words that trump has become a quote, god to some people. to talking about allegiance to trump. she's worried that trump has taken the biblical heights in this state. he's wildly popular here and i should note that eric greitens, he has the support of donald trump jr., emphasis on the jr. so that is why he thinks this endorsement is for him. but i've never seen anything like this. and to make things even more confusing there is a third eric. a third eric in this race. he's not a leading candidate. i'm sure it is probably not that eric. but there is a third eric here running for this gop senate race. i just never covered anything like it, mika. so we'll keep watching and see what happens. >> thank you for that report. thank you for trying to straighten that out. this is crazy. but i guess we knew that. up next, steve kornacki is at the big board to break down what we could expect tonight. we're back in just a moment.

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live picture of los angeles as you wake up on the west coast. at 9:41 here in new york. let's bring in correspondent steve kornacki right where he should be on a big primary day at big board. steve, good morning. let's start in arizona. because we were just talking about the races for governor and senator and secretary of state. how do they stack up this morning? >> let's take a look at the three biggies here on the republican side. in the senate race, you have black masters. he's got the trump endorsement. you were talking about this race. his chief opponent in the polling has been jim layman who has run, tried to run basically in the same lane, in the same path as masters. echoing all of trump's claims when it comes to the 2020 elections. but masters who has the trump endorsement and has the significant lead in the polling coming into today. so blake masters, the favorite in this primary for the senate in republican side in arizona. you look at the republican gubernatorial primary here, and the polling has shown kari lake,

there have been about half a dozen polls in the last few weeks that have shown kari lake with the lead in this thing over karen taylor robson. there was an emmerson poll that came out just yesterday, sort of the last one we have in this race that showed this moving close to a dead heat. so raising a little bit of a suspense there. you have trump as you've been talking about backing lake. mike pence, former vp to boost taylor robson. so this could be interesting tonight based on the last polling we saw. and then we've been talking, never before have i been at this board during primary season showing folks secretary of state primaries across the country. but not for the first time and not for last time. here we are showing you a republican primary for secretary of state. you have a trump endorsed candidate here. mark finchem, not a lot polling,

but certainly formidable here. and what woof been talking about, the potential that arizona is say swing state. arizona is one of the most crucial states on the senate battleground map in terms of determining which parties is going to end up in control of the senate after this election. joe biden won arizona in 2020. but his margin was less than 10,000 votes. on paper, a state that biden won that barely in a midterm climate like this should be very, very ripe for republicans to win in the midterm year. they are going to potentially, potentially, if they nominate these trump aligned candidates, field a slate of candidates more aligned with donald trump and his claims about the 2020 election than in any other swing state here in 2022. so it sets up a very potentially interesting general election test if this is the slate of candidates republicans choose to nominate in arizona between a climate, a political climate that is extremely unfavorable

for democrats, extremely favorable for republicans, a state where that should play to republicans' advantage on paper and then a test. could republicans nominate a slate of candidates that closely aligned with donald trump, his claims about the election in 2020 and could they still win in an environment like this or would that actually save a democrat like mark kelly, the senator seeking re-election. and by extension, would that give them a chance to hang on to the united states senate. >> it is really something, isn't it. you look at the environment, the political environment, you look at history. republicans should be lined up, set up for huge wins. the polls aren't sheing that right now. not in the senate or the gubernatorial races, but let's talk about arizona and that senate race because so many people are looking at that case. mark kelly, underperformed in 2020. most polls showed him winning by

7, 8, 9, 10 points and it was much closer race than expected. and he's underperformed a bit over the past year, year and a half in polls and fundraising. what is his strength, if he goes up against this trump-backed candidate? >> i mean, this is would be the strength that the democrats are counting -- what democrats believe to be a strength in arizona and believe to be a strength in a number of key races across the country. is when you've got these candidates who are closely tethered to trump, trump's rhetoric about 2020, about january 6 for that matter, democrats believe that is a strength to run against those candidates, so much that one of the interesting sub plots, we haven't seen it in arizona but one of the interesting subplots, of the primary season, there is a congressional race where it is a major factor, democrats have spent money and in some cases significant money to talk about millions of dollars trying to boost republican candidates and in republican primaries who echo

trump's rhetoric about 2020. the calculation being democrats hope they could help those republicans secure the nomination and then defeat those republicans in the general election. they believe those candidates make for weak general election candidates and they believe it puts them in the strongest position to win in the general election. but there are cases here, we've seen in the primary season, where democrats have said these candidates are a threat to democracy in public and gone and spent millions of dollars trying to get those candidates nominated on the republican side. >> i haven't understood that logic. if their a threat to democracy, don't write them checks. what are the other races. we have a big abortion question in kansas and we have the moerz race. what are some of the other big races that you're looking at? >> a couple of biggies. you mentioned kansas, voters are going to weigh in on abortion now. in kansas, this is a proposed constitutional amendment and it

would say that the constitutional amendment would say there is no guaranteed right to abortion in the kansas state constitution. so what that would do is if this passes, it would then open the door legislatively to new laws potentially restricting or outright banning abortion. this has been on the ballot this same state constitutional amendment in four other red states basically in the last decade. you could see it is passed in all of them. although it was close in west virginia in 2018. and there has been polling, there has been one poll here in kansas that showed this might actually be, it is a deeply red state, this might be close tonight. so i think we'll watch this one. 8:00 p.m. we'll get numbers out of kansas and take a few hours to get a sense of how things are turning out, going to be really interesting. in the kansas city suburbs in particular. democrats have said this is an issue that is going to activate voters, the over turning of roe v. wade. we might get a test to that to

see if the suburbs come in bigger than expected numbers against this ballot measure. that is one thing i'm looking for. and the other thing as you mentioned it, this is a big day for a certain time of republican peter meijer in michigan, jaime herrera butler and dan newhouse in washington, three of the ten republicans who voted to impeach donald trump following january 6. we've been keeping track of this and you could see here, dave val de in california won his primary. and now we have three on the ballot today. and this meyer race is one of the most interesting because it is exactly what we were just talking about. this is the grand rapids area. peter meijer came in as a freshman. one of his first votes was to impreach donald trump. he's being challenged in republican primary here by an opponent who said meyer betrayed republicans with that vote and democrats have poured in huge money to try to boost peter

meyer's opponent in this primary. so he's in deep trouble today. again all stemming from that vote to impeach trump. >> steve kornacki with the races to watch. thank you very much. good to see you, we'll see you again real soon. up good to see you. we'll see you again soon. a look at some of the stories making front page news. plus, an interesting story playing out right now in hollywood where sylvester stallone is quite angry at the producers of the latest installment of the rocky franchise. we'll explain that ahead on "morning joe." i'm a fancy exercise bike noobie. instructor: come on! a little more! and i'm taking a detour. and if you don't have the right home insurance coverage, you could be working this out yourself.

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challenging a subpoena to testify before a special grand jury that's investigating whether former president trump and others broke any laws when they tried to overturn president biden's election win in georgia. graham is seeking to have the challenge heard in federal court in atlanta rather than before the fulton county superior court judge who is overseeing these special grand jury. in alabama, back to school spending this year is expected to hit a record high as inflation continues to soar. a new survey estimates that families will spend 8% more on school supplies than they did last year. nationally, back to school spending is expected to reach 34.4 billion for kids in elementary through high school. to california where "the los angeles times" has a feature on the world's tallest tree.

that is now off limits. in a statement issued last week, visitors caught near the 380-foot tree will risk a $5,000 fine and six months in jail. >> don't even look at the trail. >> for 16 years. the park -- >> don't look at it! >> the park kept the location of the tree hidden in an effort to protect its delicate ecology. okay. don't get near the tree. >> we'll dig a little bit deeper on that. >> it might fall. >> fair enough. we end this hour with a story playing out right now in hollywood. >> i must break you. >> rocky himself, sylvester stallone, is slamming the new spin-off drago. stallone has been lashing out at the film's producers over their failure to include him in the upcoming project and over rights to the films. joining us now to explain the

feud, founding partner matthew belloni. his weekly column is stallone's war on rocky: this time it's personal. the obvious question, why now? stallone's really been passionate about this, calling the producers of the rocky movies blood suckers and saying he wants his cut on this. did he not own any of the rights to the original some 45, 46 years ago? >> no, he doesn't own any piece of this. he wrote the original "rocky," he starred in the original "rocky," but he did not direct or produce it and he assigned his rights to the producers and now here we are 45 years later, there have been six "rocky" movies, two and now upcoming a third "creed" spin-off and he's been paid very well over the years, but he does not own the franchise. he's now 76 years old.

he's looking at his estate planning and looking at what he's passing down to his family and he's upset. and there's a creed movie right now that's in post production that he's not currently in. this would be the first in the rocky franchise that he's not in because of this dispute and then they go and announce this drago project which he's also not in and he claims he didn't know about it. although there's some dispute about that and whether his production partner did know about it. but this is a big deal because if stallone goes rogue and starts attacking the rocky franchise and telling his fans not to see it, that's a big problem for those movies. >> matthew, why don't they -- why aren't they dealing with him? why aren't they dealing with sylvester stallone? as somebody that watched the first one in '76 and saw a lot of them, i mean, what's a "rocky" movie without rocky, even if it's a spin-off? >> they're dealing with him. they want him in the fold here.

but stallone is a very difficult guy. this is not just about money, about paying him. he's a creative and business genius, frankly. he's managed this franchise as the face of it over the years. he writes, he directs, he stars, he bulks up for these movies and he has creative input and he's not happy. it's not just a matter of writing him a check. he wants to be fully involved creatively and there's this dispute. the producer, he does not get along with the producer of the film and they've got to figure out some solution here. >> matthew belloni, thank you. keep us posted. we really appreciate it. and that does it for us this morning. "jose diaz-balart reports" is next. "jose diaz-balart reports" is next ou remember that liberty mutual customizes your home insurance, here's a pool party. look what i brought! liberty mutual!

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. good morning, 10:00 a.m. eastern. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin with breaking news this hour. president biden announcing one of the world's top terrorists has been killed. the leader of al qaeda. the latest on what we know about the secret strike. also this morning, house speaker nancy pelosi is expected to land in taiwan this hour despite strong warnings from beijing not to do that. in kentucky, the death toll has climbed to 37 and crews are searching for more victims after catastrophic flooding devastated the eastern region of the