expose from a claimed writer robert draper into what is going on in one of the nation's key swing states and robert will be our guest ahead. willie. >> let's start this hour with justice department attorneys now asking the judge who approved the search warrant for former president trump's mar-a-lago home to keep the accompanying affidavit under seal. the affidavit contains the government's reasons for conducting the search of trump's home. federal prosecutors say it contains information about witnesses including witnesses interviewed by government. also about specific investigative techniques and information required by law be kept under seal. they say revealing the affidavit would compromise the investigation and could chill future cooperation, and other high-profile investigations. at the same time trump along with his alliesond capitol hill

and elsewhere have been clamoring for the justice department to unseal the affidavit. >> and president trump could reveal the documents that he has as well. that would be transparency. meanwhile, an attorney for rudy giuliani said the former new york city mayor is now a target of the criminal investigation into possible 2020 election interference in georgia by former president trump and others. giuliani is a former personal attorney for trump and last week was ordered to testify in person before a grand jury handling the case. that is expected to take place tomorrow. giuliani was subpoenaed last month but his legal team delayed his appearance, citing health concerns. and the former cfo of the trump organization is expected to plead guilty as early as this thursday in a criminal taxes case. the charges against allen

weisselberg are tied to his indictment by the manhattan district attorney's office investigating former trump's businesses. but terms of the expected deal were not immediately disclosed. weisselberg and the trump organization were charged as part of what prosecutors described as an off the books scheme to help top officials in the trump organization avoid paying taxes. specifically 74-year-old weisselberg was accused of avoiding paying taxes on $1.7 million of his income. his trial had been set for october. we'll see what happens this week, willie. >> a lot of different threads to follow in the trump orbit right now. let's bring in msnbc chief legal correspondent and host of "the beat," our buddy ari melber. let's me go back to the justice department asking to keep the affidavit sealed because what it might reveal if it were made

public. what does that tell you as far as a legal analyst that might be there. >> that is standard procedure. you don't get this kind of information this fast when there is a search of a subject. but this is not a typical subject. so, all of what we lived through last week was this debate over well what is in it. and you have the warrant and the inventory list. that would only come out later if there were a proceeding or charges. totally normal to keep the affidavit. you wouldn't want names of agents and other details, witness materials out at this stage in a case when, again, they want to follow the facts and the evidence. and the other thing here is, we're now eight days out from this thing. and donald trump isn't doing things that are the most telling. mika mentioned he never provide the the information he had on hand for transparency. if he thought it supported his side, he didn't share it when he could have.

and he's not appealing this in dort. if there was really legal problems with the search or the warrant, you could go to court. it is your day in court. he hasn't done that either. >> so ari, when we hear these justice department lawyers talking about this, it could also chill cooperation with future high-profile investigations. is there anything to be read into that around donald trump, what else they're looking into here? >> that is a great question, willie. my view would be no, i wouldn't read a ton into that. for example, you could hypothetically saying we're doing a secret probe and when you add national intelligence it is more sensitive. but the fact that you want to operate or move that way doesn't mean you're already holding back one secret indictment. i don't think on this alone we could go that far. >> so, ari, i'm curious how this feels covering when you're following the law and the facts here.

i don't know, alex, if you could pull up trump's latest response. i think he has a website that somehow posts to twitter. but he tried to get a message out there and always complaining and have been complaining about a fbi search, he calls it a raid and demands transparency and said he works at home. he had, i think five different explanations for this and made demands of the fbi and i think even released the agent's names during this. and yet, when he was president and he would tweet, there would be this kind of chilling response perhaps to people who worked in the white house or people who he appointed within the department of justice or wherever else. maybe they felt threatened. maybe they were weak and didn't understand what their job was and even felt guided by his tweets. now it just seems like trump is flailing because he's competely

on the outside and has these long tortured responses that keep changing. does it feel different covering this? he doesn't seem to have as much impact on the very people who are investigating him. >> mika, i think that is a great point and it speak to what a different legal and political position you're in. and i mean are you in or out of power and he knows that. and as you mention one of his tricks that he sort of maybe casually or slop illy blundered into and learned could work was admit everything in government and see what agencies have more loyalists or people willing to go far. we saw that in the coup planning. that doesn't work now because he's the subject of one search, a person of interest or a person of some interest in other probes. so he's not speaking to someone

who nominally oversees the legitimate part of law enforcement, he's just wrapped up in these probes. it is a very different stop. >> let's look at the state of georgia and the role that rudy giuliani played around the 2020 election. he's been ordered to testify tomorrow in that investigation before a grand jury. what do we expect from that and what piece does he offer of this puzzle that they're looking at in fulton county? >> well this is a big problem for rudy giuliani. he has been put on the target list to be indicted. this is a actual legal technical matter as we were reporting yesterday. it is different than what the "new york times" said oh, someone is in a bad spot. and then nbc news headline you see quoting the actual prosecutor saying he's targeted for indictment and giuliani's lawyers confirmed they were told that. and so barring some great change, cooperation, new

evidence, the prosecutors are saying he will be indicted. and in fairness, he's been told this before he goes in tomorrow. which could effect the testimony of whether he invokes the fifth. this is a big deal. i know we had a big week last week. i won't say this is as big of a former president's home being searched but it is the most high level coup involved trump aide or lawyer to face indictment in -- anywhere in america. so everything we lived through the debate last week and yet i would say this is the largest problem for trump in coup land because giuliani was in georgia, they have jurisdiction and they've sent target letters to those trying to do elector fraud and now they are going up the line. it looks significant. >> and the d.a. said, in the subpoena that giuliani is a material witness as part of the investigation into coordinated

attempts to alter the outcome of 2020 elections. fascinating indeed. i have to ask you about today's mavericks interview. how did you get it and how did you get snoop? talking about politics, culture and what did he have to say about the potential plea for allen weisselberg which i know is the focus of the conversation. >> i appreciate the shoutout. we're about to air this tonight for the first time. first time i've sat down in snoop's inglewood, california studios. and people love his music and his whole personality, i think he's someone we've lived with for decades i did ask him on the political front about something that i know you, joe and mika all care about which is music can unite us. and it can open our eyes and we talked about tupac, his music and politics. here is a short clip. >> the same crime element that white people fear, we fear. so we defend ourselves from the same. >> he was angry at the ip

justice. >> he was angry at the system. not the justice. he's a black panther. he was able to unite color lines because tupac loved all people. he didn't make music for black people, we're trying to help black people because we seen what was done to us when we tried to help each other. >> from a civil rights activism and how do we unite people and you talk about his making it to the super bowl stage and the iconic life. i was excited to sit down with him. it airs tonight on "the beat." >> we'll be watching "the beat" tonight and every week night at 6:00 eastern time. thank you so much. good to see you. >> thank you. president biden is expected to sign the democrats climate health care and tax bill into law today. the white house said in the weeks ahead, the president will host a cabinet meeting focuses on implementing the inflation

reduction act. le also travel across the country to highlight how the bill will help americans. for more on this, let's bring in white house reporter for politico and "morning joe" senior contributor eugene daniels. i think one of the biggest issues for this white house and for democrats is messaging and getting communicating the success of this bill. so far joe biden's approval ratings, some might argue show a lack of communication or effective communication. >> that is right. you have this white house and democrats who have struggles to sell things they've done for last 18 months. after they signed the american recovery act and you have the president talking about it but it is not breaking through. and so what we see is a white house that know this. they have accepted this and more importantly they're trying to react to it. and so, you know, playbook

yesterday revealed that there was this internal memo that laid out not a reaction plan, but a proactive plan to get out into the american -- into america, president biden and the administration, working with other democrats to say to them, this is what we've done. because it is not only a policy win for this administration, and democrats, they also feel like it is a political win. they're going to take this time to be able to contrast themselves with the republican party they see as not interested in governing, a republican party that has -- the leader of the party who is under investigation for his handling and possible mishandling of classified information. so they feel like they're in a much better place than they have been. and so, when you talk to folks here, you talk to the democrats, they're in a much better mood than they've been. you can't overemphasize the turn around they have as president

biden will sign this bill today or expected to sign it around 3:30 this afternoon. and you talk to john, president biden's pollster for the campaign, we talked to him months ago and what he said was that it was the -- for the midterms kind of the worst political environment in his 30 years of working in politics. he doesn't feel that way any more. after all of the wins that the biden administration and democrats have had, they feel like they have a better story to tell to the american people, then a plan to tell that story and whether or not that breaks through and more importantly as we continue to deal with inflation and the economy and it is sort of influx and isn't consistent with the different reports that come out, how do the american people receive that. we haven't seen president biden's poll numbers go up yet. but they're hope is that after they do the next few weeks, this messaging push that they'll see that and more importantly it will build up other democrats even if it is on the margins.

>> we'll see what happens. as they work to sell the inflation reduction act. politico's eugene daniels live from the white house. thank you very much. and coming up, more dad news for anyone looking to fly today as the faa sends out an unprecedented warning to travelers in the new york city region. we'll have that update for you. and we'll get live reports from wyoming and alaska as voters head to the polls there in just a few hours. and as we go to break, an update for you on the stabbing attack of salman rushdie. an iranian official said the famed author and his supporters are to blame for the attack that left him hospitalized with serious injuries. tehran denied any involvement in the incident. with a spokesperson saying in part, quote, no one has the right to accuse iran. state department spokesperson ned price condemned the iranian government for blaming rushdie

for the attack saying it is despicable, it is disgusting, we condemn it. the 75-year-old author is on the road to recovery according to his agent. he was removed from a ventilator after having been hospitalized with injuries to his neck, eye, liver and chest. he was stabbed about a dozen times during a speaking event in western new york last friday. we will continue to update on this story. "morning joe" will be right back. because with miro, they could problem solve together, and find the answer that was right under their nose. or... his nose.

19 after the hour. it is primary day in the state of wyoming. where the main focus of course is on liz cheney's house race. donald trump has made ousting her from her seat priority number one. joining us now, with the very latest from jackson, wyoming, correspondent vaughn hillyard. vaughn, what does it look like there? >> reporter: you know, this is a situation here where donald trump despite facing the several

investigations, he is still finding allies and loyalty. not only from candidates like harriet hageman who is his endorsed candidate for this seat and more importantly from voters, potentially wyoming and potentially overwhelming republican majority here, we'll find out what this end result looks like here tonight. but if in fact liz cheney were to lose this race, it would be quite the underlining of the gop's dramatic evolution. it is been the race of the top of the mind for donald trump all year. >> i think this is the most important election that we have right here. >> reporter: the effort to oust congresswoman liz cheney, once the number three republican in the house will come to a head today in wyoming. cheney after voting to impeach trump last year now helping lead the january 6 select committee investigation into donald trump's role around the capitol hill attack. >> president trump summon the the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack.

>> reporter: she's now fighting to hold on to the seat she's held since 2017 but trump endorsing harriet hageman who echoes his 2020 election falsehoods. the two campaigned together in the state earlier this summer. >> we're fed up with liz cheney. >> reporter: trump has gone on the attack against those in the gop who he perceived to be hund undermining his power. liz cheney is at the top of that list. >> liz, you're fired. get out of here. get out of here. >> reporter: ten republicans in the house voted to impeach trump. three were already beat this summer in their own re-election efforts and four others chose to step aside and retire. cheney's battle representative of the gop transformation. in may of last year, she was ousted from her leadership role in congress by her fellow republicans speaking then about trump's control of the gop. >> what is the hold that president trump has on the party? >> well it is very dangerous.

>> how do you complain it? >> i think it is a cult of personality and i think people were betrayed and misled by him. it is a real betrayal now that he's trying to unravel the democracy to get back into power. >> and now with that hold, if anything intensified, cheney bringing in her father, the former vice president, in wyoming representative dick cheney. >> there has never been an individual that is greater threat to our republican than donald trump. >> the political fate of the cheneys will come at the hands of voters. >> why not liz cheney? >> she went against trump. >> she voted for the impeachment. >> she's a sellout. >> betrayal. >> reporter: now, the issue here for liz cheney is just the overwhelming number of republican voters here in the state of wyoming. you heard us there lay it out. 4-1 republican to democrat here and so for all of the talk of liz cheney trying to get democrats to switch their party registration even today and vote as republicans, it is a up hill battle. i was talking to a couple of

harriet hageman aides said if every single democrat were to switch party and vote for liz cheney they still think they could pull it off. and this race, when we talk about the ten gop house members would voted to impeach donald trump after the january 6 insurrection, you could look at names on this list and we've been tracking each of the races. ultimately you have had four of them that side stepped potential primaries and decided to retire and then tom rice and jaime herrera butler and peter meijer and losing his race in michigan and now this one, liz cheney. the chief antagonist among them all who is committed even if she were to lose to take this fight to donald trump, a larger and long-term battle. allies of hers tell us that she would consider a 2024 run herself if that meant to try to keep donald trump out of the white house. willie. >> perhaps to play the role of spoiler in that election.

if she loses tonight she has a lot of road ahead of her. it is interesting to see what she does. vaughn hillyard live from jackson, wyoming. and we should remind people that liz cheney is among the most conservative members of congress but that is not the point any more. >> not right now. but it might be in the future. depending on what she does next. turning now to alaska. where voters today will use the ranked choice voter system for the very first time. that means all candidates will compete on the same ballot and the top four vote getters regardless of party affiliation will move on to the final election in november. joining us now from anchorage, alaska, alley vitale. so how are folks doing there with this ranked choice system? >> reporter: yeah, mika, there is some concern, a little bit of anticipation and a lot of excitement about the kind of candidate that they could ultimately elect here. because alaska voters when they

go to the polls today have several elections that they're going to be voting in and an entirely new way of doing it. so the ranked choice system is going to come in play when you talk about the house race to succeed don young. three republicans there, among them several household names here in alaska including nick bellich and sarah palin. we've been on the campaign trail and we've seen the democrat mary peltolla and we've not seen sarah palin who is keeping a low profile on the ground here. but she's relying on the role former president. someone who endorsed her and as i've been on the ground asking voters and candidates alike, here what does it mean to have hissen dorment. here is what they told me. watch. >> but she also has the endorsement of president trump, how important is that. >> up here what people care most about what alaskans think.

sarah palin has none of that support. >> i think alaskans focus on alaskan issues and we're not very interested or consumed by the direction we're being told to go from people in the lower 48 who don't know anything about alaska issues. >> reporter: so, look, it is a state with an independent streak despite the fact that it went for trump in 2020 by 10 points. that is something that the independent streak of voters that senator lisa murkowski is leaning on. she's not in the ranked choice system in her primary, you have a field of double-digit candidates all vying to be in the top four positions. it is pretty clear at this point that murkowski is going to be in the top four. and then the ranked choice system come news play in november. and that is when we could see how it really shakes out in this primary for murkowski. but she has an uphill climb because of the way that the former president has come to this state and spoken about her. he's endorsed her opponent and in trump's words murkowski is

someone who has been labelled the worst. she's someone who similar to liz cheney, not just bucking the trump party line, but often standing at odds with it and standing against trump voting to convict him of those impeachment charges just one of a handful of republicans to do so. so clearly if you're looking at trump targets on this tuesday, she's top of that list mika. >> ali vitali, thank you very much for your reporting this morning. the nba is making a move around election this is fall. one the league said will help people to vote in november. nbc news correspondent shaquille brewster joins us from the home of the brooklyn nets. good morning, what is the announcement. >> the nba is trying to build on what we saw in 2020 when they turned nearly two dozen team facilities and arenas like the one behind me into voting locations. and this morning they're telling nbc news exclusively that when they release their schedule tomorrow, it will include no

games, zero games on election day. additionally, all 30 nba teams will play the day before the election day for what they're calling a civic engagement night. this is a pretty big departure from what we've seen in the past. we went back and looked at 2018 and then you had four teams playing on election night. you go back to 2014, and you had eight games on election night. which means 16 teams were playing on election night. i want to you listen to a little bit of our conversation, our exclusive conversation with executive director of the national basketball social justice coalition. listen to what he said when i asked how unusual of a move this is. >> it is unusual. we don't usually change the schedule for an external event. but voting and election day is obviously unique and incredibly important to our democracy and that is part of the value proposition that we want to make sure people understand, that voting is unlike anything else. >> what is your response to

people who say no games on election day, that is a symbolic gesture. >> i would say symbols really matter f. we do something that someone would call that, i would say that is a good symbol. if we're talking about getting out and registering and voting and those are symbols that i think most people can and would support. >> reporter: now, i did talk to some observers on the nba who pointed out that this is not something that is coming out of nowhere for this league. they have leaned no political issues and leaned into the political discussion and when you look at theory of the nba, what you see is they talk about voting and politics through the lens of voting. the social justice coalition, that is the group that was formed after the murder of george floyd, after the police shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, you have people saying this is the nba saying if you want to participate, if you want to see policy changes in this country, you need to go out and

participate to vote. and they're doing what they can to make it easier for fans and players and staff to participate in this midterm election. guys. >> no games on election day. let's hope people will go out and vote. more people voting is good. shaquille brewster in brooklyn for us. thank you so much. coming up next, arizona has turned more purple in recent elections but instead of getting more moderate, the state's republican party has become more and more extreme. we'll take an in-depth look at what our next guest calls the gop anti-democracy experiment in this state. also ahead, the faa warns of major flight delays at busiest airports. the reason, too many people have called out sick. we'll explain when "morning joe" comes right back.

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hearing through her spokesperson that she has tested positive for covid. the first lady's communications director elizabeth alexander said after testing negative on monday during her regular testing, the first lady began to develop cold-like symptoms late in the evening. she tested negative again on a rapid antigen test but a pcr test came back positive. the first lady is double vaccinated, twice boosted and only experiencing mild symptoms. she has been prescribed a course of paxlovid and following cdc guidance will isolate from others for at least five days. close contacts of the first lady have been notified. she's currently staying at a private residence in south carolina and will return home after she received two consecutive negative covid tests. so we wish her the best. we'll follow this. again she is isolating. last week on our show,

transportation secretary pete buttigieg talked about the steps the administration is taking to make sure airlines were held accountable for summer travel that has been just marred by massive delays and cancellations. >> a lot of passengers, including me, i'm on an airliner if not every day, then several times a week, have seen the kind of breakdowns across the system that are frustrating when we have supporting the airlines in order to keep them in business. they took and accepted a huge amount of taxpayer support and a lot of us are saying, okay, the american people did our part to keep these planes in the sky, why is this system, why are these airlines not prepared to service the tickets that they're selling, that they're collecting revenue on right now. this is not just us wringing our hands saying could you do this or do that about thor. we're going to back every step with the enforcement power that

this department has. >> but now a new issue for the faa to warn of the possibility of major flight cancellations today before eventually walking that warning back. stephanie gosk has more. >> reporter: with summertime travel winding down, major flight delays hit the nation's busiest airport system. >> i really feel sorry for everybody that is traveling right now. >> reporter: the federal aviation administration warned departures and arrivaled at new york hubs could be pushed back up to two hours on monday night. the reason, not enough staffing. government sources telling nbc news, too many people in key positions called out with unexpected sick leave. adding this was not an organized work slowdown or necessarily all covid related. the faa later tweeted they found additional staffing to cancel the ground delays at newark and jfk airports. more than 400 flights heading into new york area airports were delayedond monday.

that is about 22%. >> while unprecedented, i think it is also masking over some underlying issues that have been present for a long time. >> reporter: the increasingly high demand for travel and staffing shortages of key personnel like pilots and flight crew and air traffic controllers, flying this summer has required more patience. >> definitely challenging. >> reporter: memorial day weekend alone, airlines canceled over 2600 domestic flights and for the fourth of july more than 1400. the department of transportation is having discussions with airlines to help improve the situation. including a-a dressing scheduling, customer service, and staffing issues. >> when you get a weather event hitting the system somewhere, the entire system grinds to a -- i won't say a halt but it stops working and that is a consequence of them not being ready and not being prepared. >> that was stephanie gosk

reporting. still ahead, a look at the dramatic right ward shift in the arizona republican party with some of their rhetoric sounding like it comes right ought of the playbook of joseph mccarthy. it turns out there is a reason for that. we'll have that when "morning joe" returns. ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ "shake your thang" by salt n pepa about two years ago i realized that jade was overweight. i wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. after farmer's dog she's a much healthier weight. she's a lot more active. and she's able to join us on our adventures. get started at longlivedogs.com ♪♪ here goes nothing.

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that little leaf brought this old photo to life, i can finally put some names to those faces... it's like i'm back there at 39 elmhurst with all these folks. ancestry can guide you to family discoveries in the 1950 census. the party has thrown me out basically. and the state party, the county party and now my district party. >> if you do not win on tuesday, why will you not have won? >> probably because i stood up. and when they asked me to tell the truth, i told the truth. i wasn't -- i didn't go looking for a fight. but the fact that i would break ranks and somehow find what the president, the former president did was unacceptable, that is

like i broke some type of taboo and i did break a taboo and it is a cultic thing, that you have to be in with the cult. >> that was arizona house speaker rusty bowers who testified before the january 6 committee just before losing his race to a candidate backed bay donald trump. the former president's candidates went on to sweep the primary races for arizona state wide offices. that is governor, secretary of state and attorney general and the united states senate. they all have questioned legitimacy of the 2020 election including the nominee who could oversee the next presidential election. our next guest reports on that grassroots movement that has pushed the state's republican party to the conspiracy far right. he's a contributing writer at new york magazine, it is robert draper. >> want to read from your piece. in it robert writes there is more at stake than the health of the republican party when it is

core activists as well as a growing number of officials and those campaigning for governmental positions openly espouse hostility to the word democracy itself. what is different now is the use of democracy as a kind of shorthand and even a slur for democrats themselves, for the left and all of the positions espoused by the left that anti-democracy and anti-democracy sentiment. repeatedly voiced over the course of my travels through arizona is distinct from anything i've encountered in over two decades of covering conservative politics. it is the failure to reinstall a legitimately defeated president under the misguided belief that victory was stolen from him. that seems to have ushered in the view among arizona republicans and many more across the nation that democracy itself was at fault and had been weaponized by the political left or the enemies from within as mccarthy once put it. so robert, as you write in the piece, you've been covering the

republican party and conservatives for a very long time. how did john mccain's state turn into the state of the cyber ninjas so quickly? >> that is a good question, willie. and the short answer to it is that it was never quite mccain's party to begin with. he always had a tenuous grasp on the state gop. the grass root activist on the far right disliked him and find him to be socially tolerant, didn't like his stance on immigration and they certainly didn't like his anti-pathy for donald trump. over a period of a decade, those grassroots activists who have been fed a continuing churn of misinformation and at times outright disinformation over the years have taken ahold of the party. and they've come as that passage in my piece mentioned, to see democrat as a kind of enemy, which is something i didn't expect to see as i mentioned in the story, i had never seen

before in republican politics, to go to conservative meetings and to hear people proactively say by the way, we're not a democracy. we're a republic. and to speak of democracy as if it were, to use it as a slur. and to suggest that those people who believe in it are somehow the enemy within as mccarthy would have it. >> so, robert, i mean you've got some of the candidates, some of them perhaps genuinely believe this stuff about the 2020 election and believe it was stolen and promised if their were put into office to go back and somehow litigate the 2020 election even though they don't have the power to do that and others have put their fingers in the wind and see the trend that you're talking about, and say this is where the party is going. i need to hop on that full speed and just deliver them what they want to hear. what are the implications in arizona if these republican candidates do go ahead and win in the general? >> well, i think, willie, the problem, the dilemma that the national party at large faces

but we see it in arizona is where does this end. so let's assume that it is a more cynical politics and say let's ride this wave, if we don't we'll be crashed again the shores by it and then once we're in power hope that all of this goes away and that people suddenly forget according to them the 2020 election was stolen. there doesn't seem to be any kind of strategy other than hoping that it dies off. >> so, god, okay. you just answered my next question. just hoping it dies off. when you talk to someone who is very much in trump's corner for example from arizona. >> yeah. >> and you talk to them about the search warrant or you talk to them about any of the legal challenges that he's facing today, they will tell you that trump has a reason for it, he's being maligned, it is a lie, it's a witch hunt. they will not listen to reason,

to the law, to precedent, and i guess my question is, how do you turn back when you have the impact of disinformation really pervading a good portion of the public for example in a state that perhaps is completely tainted by trump's disinformation. >> well, right, mika. and it is also, arizona is a purple or magenta state has one pollster described it to me. it has two democratic senators and it has a razor thin majority, the republicans do and in the state legislature. so in the face of that you owe think that the state would have moderated. and the real root of it i think, mika, is that they have become convinced that the left is incurithable, and they're evil and there is nothing you could do as the usa today said to persuade them.

you have to zee feet them. so it is a kind of a war, a civil war and you don't wait around for the other team to change its mind. >> robert draper, thank you very much. we'll be reading the new piece in "the new york times" magazine. we appreciate it. upit. up next, a look at some of the other stories making front page headlines across the country. we talked earlier about the teacher shortage across the country. i turns out that might not be the only shortage that is impacting kids as they return to school. we'll explain that when "morning joe" returns.

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gun buyers. that's a 54% increase over the number of checks performed in may. to central illinois. the pent graph highlights a new poll that many americans doubt their own impact on climate change. about 35% of adults say they're extremely or very concerned about its impact, which is a 44% drop from 2019, and only about half of americans say their actions have an effect on climate change compared with two-thirds in 2019. moving west to "the las vegas sun" reporting the number of conventional mortgage applications in june in nevada was down 34% from the same month in 2021. the number of refinance mortgage applications was down more than double, about 84% from july 2021. experts say the reason, of course, increase in interest rates and the high cost of homes.

nationally that trend is similar as mortgage applications in july were down 18% from a year earlier. the new haven register reports on the school bus driver shortage in connecticut. officials say there are more than 1,000 open positions statewide. the need for more school bus drivers in the state existed before covid-19 but staffing issues were exacerbated by the pandemic and its aftereffects. in michigan, the "detroit free press" leading with the ongoing pandemic and the toll it's taking on teeth. some dentists believe pandemic-related stress is causing more people to involuntarily clench their jaws and grind their teeth. dentists across the country reporting an increased number of patients with cracked, broken and damaged teeth. on that note, we'll wrap things up.

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good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this hour with breaking news. first lady jill biden has couple. the first couple was expected to return briefly from the white house from their vacation in south carolina for a signing event fortin flakes reduction act. the announcement comes after president biden had covid last month and finally tested negative about a week ago. the white house says the president tested negative this morning. let's get right to nbc news reporter maura barrett from south carolina and dr. kavita