and it's being called the most significant u.n. security council meeting of our time, but russia's foreign minister showed up late and left early as the west confronted him over the atrocities in ukraine. meanwhile, russia's military draft now is taking effect as the kremlin sets the stage for another annexation of ukrainian territory. plus, new polling gives president biden his highest approval rating of the year. we'll tell you what's driving the rebound as we look ahead to the midterms now just six weeks away. and aaron judge nearly makes history, coming this close with a would be record tying home run falling just a couple of feet short. stuck on 60 for one more day. welcome to "morning joe," it is friday, september 23rd, i'm willie geist, joe and mika are off today. we begin with emotional scenes in russia as vladimir putin's new military draft went into effect yesterday. video shows men boarding buses

and tearful families saying good-bye to loved ones departing for training. putin wants 300,000 new fighters to help turn the tide as the russian military suffers setbacks in ukraine. russia is saying the call up would be limited to those with military experience but reports say civilians also now are being conscripted. "the new york times" tells the story of a husband and father of five who received a summons at a 4:00 a.m. meeting where a train had been organized to take him to a military center. many men are fleeing russia to avoid the forced enlistment. this is traffic as people escape to nearby georgia. russian airporting have been packed with people trying to get out of the country. one human rights group said more than 1,300 people have been arrested in anti-car protests in moscow and st. petersburg over the past few days. also today, voting begins in four regions of russian-occupied ukraine, in a sham referendum

that could lead to the annexation of 15% of ukrainian territory. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov showed up 90 minutes later to yesterday's u.n. security council meeting, arriving two minutes before his speech in which he accused the united states and its allies of covering up ukraine's crimes. once he finished speaking, lavrov walked out of the room immediately and did not stay for other members' speeches as they condemned russia's war in ukraine. let's bring in former nato supreme allied commander, james stavridis, msnbc's chief international analyst, and host of "andrea mitchell reports" andrea mitchell. good morning to you both. andrea, i want to begin with you at the u.n. yesterday. extraordinary scene, sergey lavrov breezed in 90 minutes late to his speech and quickly left. clearly not wanting to hear or be confronted from the other

member nations about war in ukraine. >> it was remarkable. willie and admiral stavridis, to you. russia, one of the five permanent members of the united nations has a veto, and has been a strikingly forceful presence there, stopping the u.n. from taking any strong action against russia because of ukraine. they have an ally in china. in this case, certainly president xi signalled to vladimir putin just last week that china does not stand with him, you know, completely endorsing this ukraine invasion, and that was sort of the mixed message, certainly a mixed message from china. almost every other member of the security council, members of the u.n. just critical of russia and lavrov didn't want to hear it. so lavrov comes in after blinken had spoken and leaves a minute or two afterwards, did not hear any of the criticism, but it was

just completely disparaging, senior officials telling us afterwards that both on camera and off, there was nothing but really strong criticism against russia for the war crimes, russia for trying to annex the territory, and now vladimir putin clearly on his back foot. this is not to say that russia doesn't have weapons of mass destruction, the nuclear threat that blinken said was just outrageous, and, you know, all of the other chemical weapons that could be used if he's cornered, no one knows what he's going to do, and that is a serious concern to the u.s., but at least now the fact that he's calling up 300,000 troops, that there are protests in russia, extraordinary in itself, 1,300 people arrested. people getting draft notices once in custody. this is coming home. he can not completely hide it anymore from the russian people with the disinformation and misinformation and as blinken warned yesterday, there is going to be, you know, there are going

to be prosecutions and they're trying their best to preserve the evidence. there's a massive european union and u.s. and international criminal court operation underway to try to do what they can to hold them accountable at some point for the horrors of what's happening in ukraine. willie. >> admiral sergey lavrov yesterday in the speech just described a completely alternate reality. divorce from what's actually happening in war. he accused ukraine of war crimes, and called volodymyr zelenskyy, a bastard. it was a complete mirror image of what's happening here, and the images of people trying to flee through airports, roads and trains as 300,000 citizens are being asked to fight in this war, many of them saying out loud, what am i going to fight and die for. >> yeah, i think andrea and i

are old enough or shall i say senior enough to look at this and think has putin met his vietnam. this is really starting to rattle the echoes of that war. it is most directly in the home front aspect of it, the protests, the people running away from this. really quite remarkable. you know, our secretary of state who is handling this beautifully yesterday at the united nations said putin has really doubled down. i'm going to add on, i think he's tripled down in that he is rattling the nuclear saber. he is talking about this faux set of referendums in eastern ukraine effectively annexing those conquered territories and calling up 300,000 reservists. that's a triple. it may be he's all in. so this is, in fact, a dangerous

moment. let me put those three things in perspective very quickly. the nuclear one i don't lose a lot of sleep over. i don't see putin deciding to use a nuclear weapon. it would create a huge movement away from him dramatically in world opinion. maybe he doesn't care about it, but he cares about what india, brazil, nigeria, south africa, what that kind of swing vote cares about. so i don't see him using a nuclear weapon. he can achieve those affects with other aspects of his military. the faux referendum. no one is going to believe it. it's total nonsense. i am focused on this 300,000 troops coming up, and there i am skeptical that putin will be able to get them into fighting shape, if you will, and into ukraine in anything less than months and months and months, particularly given the pushback he's receiving at home.

so bottom line, putin is upping the ante to stay with a poker analogy, maybe going all in, but i think the storm clouds are rising for vladimir putin. >> andrea, you and i talked yesterday about the pressure he's feeling even from his allies, implicitly from president xi. i guess the question is vladimir putin capable of feeling pressure. is there anything anyone can tell him to pull back from this war? >> that's not likely. u.s. officials do not see him changing course, and, you know, that's one of the big concerns, frankly, if he's trapped, if his back is against the wall, what would he do. would he use chemical weapons. i think the consensus agrees with the analysis of admiral stavridis, that he's not going to use nuclear weapons. that is, you know -- india,

brazil, as you mentioned, europe, western europe, but there is a concern about an accidental or deliberate attack on zaporizhzhia or one of the other nuclear facilities. the chemical weapons, the tactical nukes are a possibility. they do not see any sign that the video is mobilized. i'm a little bit right now saddened, and i have some news to share in just reading my phone that secretary blinken's father, donald blinken, has passed overnight, and the secretary left new york at the u.n. late yesterday and was home with his family in long island overnight. he had a very busy schedule starting this morning, but donald blinken was a world war ii veteran, a former ambassador, he inspired tony blinken to

public service. he was a father, a grandfather, a beloved member, you know, really well known public figure but most importantly he was tony blinken's father, and this is secretary blinken in the midst of this crisis, and dealing with it as admiral stavridis said in the security council yesterday, and we have to pass on our most sincere condolences, because this is a terrible personal loss. he was 97 years old. >> absolutely, thank you for sharing that with us, andrea. he was the ambassador to hungary in the 1990s among many posts he held. our condolences go out to the blinken family and the secretary of state who did make that persuasive speech yesterday before the security council. admiral, i'm going to ask you to do something you probably don't want to do. that's to put yourselves in the shoes of vladimir putin, and you're looking what's in front of you right now. he understands whether he says it publicly or not, that this

isn't going well. how do you see this playing out if you're him? we know the west has puts -- put pressure on them, the united states has provided aid. we know the ukrainian military are brave. where does this go if putin is backed into a corner? >> putin is a brilliant tactician but he's a terrible strategist, in other words, he can maneuver and kind of turn very quickly, and because he's a complete autocrat and has his hands on the levers of power, he doesn't have to work with the congress. he doesn't have to worry about public opinion. he can simply make decisions so i think unfortunately that will lead him to do things like a massive cyber attack, i think, becomes more of a possibility, directed against not only ukraine but perhaps western europe or institutions in the united states. increase the carpet bombing, if you will, using his long rain

air and missiles against the cities of ukraine. he possibly could put more emphasis on something like chemical weapons. i think, again, that's hard to attribute, and therefore he would try and false flag that, making it look as though it was an accidental release of ukrainian or even u.s. doors. he's got a bunch of dirty trick up his sleeves that he'll try and pull. i'll close with this, willie, i think that he is waiting through the winter and hoping that as he cuts off the energy to europe and things get colder in europe, he will get some relief. i think he is misjudging here. that's the bad strategist part of this. the europeans will stand firm against him in my view. they would rather have one cold hard winner than bend their knee to vladimir putin year after year as he decides whether or

not to turn on the gas tap. so look for more tactical attacks, more danger ahead, strategically putin is in a very bad place at the moment. i'm not sure how he gets out of this, other than maybe after the winter he'll move towards some kind of a potential negotiation but his positioning is weakening day by day, willie. >> and add to all of that, dissent, growing dissent inside his own country. admiral james stavridis, andrea mitchell, thank you so much for being here this morning. most americans believe donald trump kept highly sensitive information at mar-a-lago. in the latest survey, 68% of registered voters believe the president had top secret or classified material at his palm beach home. 32% say he did not, even though we have seen the documents. the new poll shows 2/3 of voters have a negative opinion of

donald trump. just over 1/3 say they view the former president favorably. 34% is donald trump's current favorability rating in the country. the approval for the current president, joe biden, hits higher, 46% of registered voters give the president positive marks. that is up 9% just from july. when asked about a potential rematch between trump and biden in the next presidential election, biden is ahead of trump by 6 points. biden also edges out florida governor ron desantis by 5 points in a hypothetical match up. and another poll out just now puts president biden's approval rating at its highest point of the year. in the latest emerson college survey, 46% of likely voters give the president a positive grade. that's up 5% since july and 7% since may. pulitzer prize winner at "the

washington post," eugene robinson, and sam stein. good to see you both. this follows a trend we have seen in the last couple of weeks which is that from his low point a couple of months ago, he is now seeing progress, perhaps rewards for some of the legislation that's been passed and some of the things he's been doing just lately. >> i think he is seeing some rewards and so his approval ratings now seem to have gotten back up into the noncatastrophic level at least, and are getting pretty good for some president at this point in his presidency. i mean, there's usually a dip. he had a very low dip, but it's come back up and i think it reflects the legislative discusses that he's had. and it also reflects what the ruling party has been doing, and hanging over all of this is the dobbs decision that i think has both energized democratic

voters, enraged and energized democratic voters and just sort of put a spotlight back on politics in a way that's a bit more favorable for the president and democratic party. >> and sam, 30% of the people in the marquette poll believe roe should have been overturned. 90% think there should be exceptions for abortion, even if they support in rape and incest. we have seen extreme positions among people running for high offices across the country. among the republican party some of the extremism explains joe biden's lift in the polls as well. >> i think a few things are happening here. obviously the dobbs decision has energized democrats. you see that in registration numbers across various states where democrats are signing up to vote, women in particular.

polls, you see democrats doing better as well. my contention is that biden's approval rating is as much about falling gas prices, which is this tangible thing that you see every day driving to and from work, literally in these neon signs as it is about dobbs and anything else. i think biden benefits from people not feeling pinched at the pump, and i think you can't separate what's happening with donald trump from this current climate. i think having donald trump in the news all the time with his legal troubles, his political issues i think does rebound in biden's favor. it reminds people why they elected biden in the first place, which is they just don't want to deal with the drama that seems to follow donald trump wherever he goes. i think those three issues, trump, gas and abortion rights are all working in biden's favor. the question is, i guess, does it stay that way for however many days, what is it, 50 or so

until we vote in november. >> yeah, gene, if you look at donald trump's approval rating in the first poll, the marquette poll. the support is coming mostly obviously from republicans where he's at 3/4 of them still support him. then with the mar-a-lago documents case and the investigation, 2/3 of americans believe that, yes, the former president did take those documents from the white house and bring them to mar-a-lago. this all has to sort of be weighing over donald trump's decision, does it not, about whether to run in 2024? >> well, i think what really weighs on donald trump's decision is what he thinks will keep him out of worse legal jeopardy. i've always thought that trump will announce and try to run or plan to run or pretend to run if only as a way to try to insulate

himself from all the legal trouble that is closing in on him. and he'll claim it's all political. he's a candidate. he's running for president again, and he's being persecuted by the democrats. that will of course energize his base. it's not clear that it will do anything for the voters he would actually need to become presidential again, but i've always thought that that's his sort of plan and i think that's what he's going to do. so, you know, remember donald trump doesn't necessarily react to rational signals like this. you look at polling like this, and you would think, gee, i've got no shot. this is, you know, 30% among independents, that's not going to get you elected. but he's got other considerations. you know, his fortune is being threatened in new york by tish

james. his liberty is potentially threatened in georgia by fani willis, the prosecutor now there. the committee is still meeting. the justice department is investigating. he's got all of these legal problems that are closing in on him, and, you know, one or two or three, he's got four or five. you know, that's a lot. so he's definitely on the defensive now, and as he always does, making stuff up, you know, i can classify documents just by thinking about it, and oh, yeah, and the fbi planted documents in my place, but the justice system is saying, okay, put up or shut up, and he's going to have to shut up. >> yeah, well, he said that again to sean hannity that the fbi planted documents and we're going to get into that next.

the special master ordering donald trump's legal team to back up the claims that the fbi planted evidence. we'll talk about what that means for trump's legal fight. plus, conspiracy theorist alex jones takes the stand in what is now the second trial over his lies about the sandy hook school shooting that inflicted great pain on those families already in unthinkable suffering. we'll show you what happened yesterday in the courtroom. also this morning, donald trump's son-in-law jared kushner weighs in on the move by governor ron desantis to fly migrants to martha's vineyard. his new comments are just ahead when "morning joe" comes right back. are just ahead when "morning joe" comes right back bipolar depression. it made me feel trapped in a fog.

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sun coming up on a friday morning at 6:25 in washington. special master appointed to review the documents the fbi seized from former president donald trump's mar-a-lago home and club has given the former president's lawyers until next friday to back up trump's allegation the fbi planted evidence during the august 8th search. trump and his attorneys have publicly insinuated many times that agents planted evidence during the search without providing any proof to substantiate the claim. telling trump's legal team it must state by september 30th whether the lawyers believe any of the seized items were incorrectly described in the judge's eleven page inventory list which states some of the documents were highly classified. trump claimed he declassified the documents found in the

search that were marked classified and highly sensitive, however, his lawyers have not made those assertions in court. in yesterday's filing, judge dearie also ordered trump's attorneys to say whether they are claiming that any items on the inventory list were not, in fact, taken from the premises. special master's order essentially tells trump's attorneys to back up his claims, writing in part, this submission shall be plaintiff's final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the detailed property inventory. joining us now is "washington post" reporter, perry stein. she covers the justice department and the fbi. good morning, it's good to see you. one has to think listening to this judge yesterday, this is the guy that the trump team wanted. this is their idea. he's not going light on them, and effectively saying, you have made all of these wild allegations, back them up. >> exactly. i mean, judge dearie is the guy that trump did, his team got to propose two people and they

proposed judge dearie, the doj agreed and said, yes, we think he's a suitable choice, and judge cannon, the judge that said yes to a special master, she appointed him. we have seen this in the hearing and the latest filing, he is having trump back up these claims that he has made on social media and in interviews that judge cannon did not. >> and so if presumably the legal team can't come up with proof that the fbi planted this evidence or the other claims they have made in public but not in court, so what happens when they don't show any evidence for those claims? >> i mean, i don't think that they're in trouble if they don't in terms of legally speaking. i mean, i think the idea from this hearing that i went to on tuesday. judge dearie was trying to clear up any disputes, he asked them, hey, this is the inventory list that the fbi provided. these are all the documents that

they said they seized. do you have any issues with it? is this the inventory list we should be working off of. so right now what he's doing is trying to clear up any disputes that they may have. so it sounds like, and i don't know, i mean, this is judge dearie makes the calls, and judge cannon approves them, is, you know, that dearie is trying to determine what issues he needs to clear up. and so if they don't present any, they'll use that inventory list. >> sam stein here, always been a big fan of your last name. i'm kind of curious, what is the actual -- maybe you don't know the answer to this because who knows -- but what is the actual end game here legally for the trump team? obviously they wanted a special master appointed. they asked for dearie to be considered, but as i read it, it was simply to delay this thing. was there more to it to punt

this thing further and further down the road? was there an outcome they would be thrilled at and also, secondarily how have they reacted to the dearie rulings, are they surprised or frustrated that the person they put forward as a special master prospect has turned out to be quite stern of them and demanding of them? >> you're right. i do not know trump's legal end game here, you know, i have been following these dearie rulings and these court proceedings. i mean, you know, dearie is, to your point, is this a delay, again, i don't know. but dearie, i think cannon, the original judge who appointed him said they have until thanksgiving to finish this special master review. dearie already in the time line that he gave yesterday in the latest filings suggest that he is moving faster. if it is to delay, and again, i don't know, then they are moving pretty fast with the special master review. and again, we have the appeals court that said that trump can't

claim that these classified documents he has no interest in claiming that these are his properties. i don't know the legal tactics here, but it seems that so far the last two days the government, the last few days, i should say, the court system right now seems to be working in their favor in this small case, in this small part of a larger investigation, i should say, just to keep that in mind. >> perry, once judge dearie completes his review of what's classified and what's not, what happens then? does it go back to judge cannon? does she get involved again or what's the process? >> judge cannon is still the judge in this special master review, so what's going to happen and how dearie laid it out is that the trump team is going to review through all of the thousands of unclassified documents, and they're going to mark whichever they think should be protected by certain privileges or anything they want

to bring up. then the doj is going to look at those and say, do we agree with them, should this be protected by this privilege, should this not, and then judge dearie is going to go and settle any disputes. judge dearie is supposed to give his recommendations to judge cannon who ultimately has final say. i think he said in the hearing, right or wrong, i'm going to give my recommendations to cannon. >> "the washington post" perry stein far and away the superior stein on the show this morning. thank you so much for bringing us your reporting. >> it's a low bar. but thanks for being here. appreciate it. >> thank you so much. coming up next, aaron judge in his pursuit of the all time american league home run record, sitting on 60. this close to tying it at 61 with yankee stadium on its feet. we'll have sports highlights and much more when "morning joe" comes back on a friday morning. " comes back on a friday morning

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the red sox yankees rivalry took on new meaning last night that began a four-game set in the bronx as aaron judge sitting on 60 home runs, remember, the american league record set in 1961 by yankee roger maris is 61, so if this one goes out, he ties the single season record. and comes that close. i don't know, a foot, 2 feet maybe. so he's still sitting on 60. three more games this weekend against the red sox, but the game itself decided in extra innings. josh donaldson's rbi single gives the yankees a 5-4 win, and more important than anything, clinches a 6th straight trip to the playoffs for the yankees. new york's magic number to clinch the division down to six games. they officially are in the

playoffs. you're a red sox fan, but can even you, i'm trying to convince barnacle and lemire, can you get behind this run for aaron judge. >> of course. it's incredible, and i don't buy for a second that barry bonds is the all time home run king. i think there's a giant asterisk around that. do we not fully expect them to bow out in the first round as usual? >> as usual, what are you talking about as usual. >> recent history. >> the astros are the problem. we know that. the astros are great this year. we know they've got the trash can and the other advantages that hurt you in a playoff series, but, you know, they're having a year. >> you don't think their technology has improved from a trash can? >> i hope they've advanced to where that clicker was they were using or whatever it is. gene robinson, there is this debate, and aaron judge himself has said the record is 73.

we can talk about whether or not it should be, but the record is 73. so it may be the american league home run record but if he can get up to 61, maybe hit 62 this weekend, it's going to be very fitting, as painful as it might be for sam to do it at home against the red sox. >> it would be painful. last night he watched that game, oh, that guy judge, he's got warning track power, right. he is incredible, and this is an incredible run he's on, and all you can do is applaud him. i hope he gets the american league record which has stood for so long, and there he is, you know, he's being polite. there is a giant asterisk next to barry bonds' name. it's hard to say. 73, you can't say that all 73 were due to the juice but some of them were, and so there will

always be an asterisk, and judge, yeah, it would be fitting if they did it at home against the red sox. sorry, sam. but we'll see. we'll see. >> we're watching video here a couple of nights ago against the pirates when he hit number 60. and we should point out, judge also is chasing the triple crown. he leads the american league in home runs, rbis and a smidge in batting average. he's putting together an extraordinary season. speaking of which, in los angeles, the dodgers are doing the same. the nls west championship dodgers marked a 45th comeback of the season, and it was, yes, mookie betts, the former red sox delivering a walk-off single to help l.a. take three of five against the diamondbacks with a 3-2 win with jonathan lemire in attendance, did the show in new york yesterday, flew out to l.a. he's on with bill maher tonight,

caught the game and caught mookie win for the dodgers. playoff hopes have all but vanished as the cleveland guardians make that statement with a three-game seat of the white sox, lowering the magic number to five as the sox fall now seven games back in the american league central. do not sleep on the guardians this year, they look good. still ahead, we'll get back to the news and more of the world's response to russia and the war in ukraine after a clash of diplomats at yesterday's meeting of the u.n. security council. we'll be joined by australia's foreign minister who's calling on china to use its influence to help end the war in ukraine. plus, a look at the women in ukraine fighting for their country, their message this week for u.s. lawmakers. "morning joe" is coming right back. lawmakers "morning joe" is coming right back power e*trade's easy-to-use tools make complex trading less complicated custom scans help you find new trading opportunities while an earnings tool helps you plan your trades

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the sun is up over the white house. 6:45 on a beautiful friday morning in washington where an all women delegation of ukrainian soldiers has been meeting with members of congress this week to update lawmakers on the ongoing war. women make up about a quarter of the forces fighting to keep ukraine free from the russian invasion. joining us now is a member of the delegation, the leader of the ukrainian women veteran movement and a junior sergeant in the ukrainian armed forces, adriana aretka. thank you so much for being with us. the world just stands in awe of what your country and your military has been able to do and the courage you have shown in the face of this invasion. tell me what it has been like on the ground for you for the people of ukraine to fight back against russia as it moves into your country and tries to take it over. >> it's a great time to be here. i just want to say good morning in america from ukraine, from the battlefield of the war

between russia and ukraine, but it's not only our war. this is the war of a protecting democracy in the world, i think. so how to be a woman, you met a lot of challenges, and i let a lot of challenges on the battlefield, but the price is freedom, so we are the nation of heroes and we are going to the end. we are going to the victory. >> there's no question about it. what was the mobilization early on? let's go back to january and february when it was clear that vladimir putin was going to send his tanks in. he thought he would be into kyiv in a matter of a couple of days, take over the city, raise the russian flag and install a new government. what were those early days of the war like for you when it was clear that almost everyone was going to have to take up arms or contribute in some way to save the country? >> you know, i wasn't on the front line in 2014, that's why i

understand at the beginning of full-scale invasion what is going on. that's why together with my brothers in arms and sisters in arms go to the front line. so the mobilization was huge. our nation showed that we can be a nation of heroes during the battlefield in kyiv and other cities, and now after kharkiv counter offensive, after perfect kharkiv counter offensive, we are going to the south to liberate the south. that's why we're in the united states, to ask for weapons, to faster the victory. >> what is the most important objective for ukraine before the winter sets in, is it to retake kherson, the area in the south or is it to continue to press the gains that ukrainians have made in the north near kharkiv? >> you know, i think that it's

critical moment now before the winter is coming, and thank you for this question. now it's very -- this is like very important moment before november to make a counter offensive on the south, i think, and because we need to liberate our lands faster, because our peoples are hostages there, and in every liberated town, cities, we saw mass graves, so this is the time to liberate other lands. that's why we need weapons. >> this is sam stein, i just was hoping to get your reaction. you're speaking here now amidst russian president vladimir putin's decision to call up to service to conscript 300,000 new soldiers for the cause. what is the reaction by you and among your contemporaries to that news, and what do you think

it pretends -- what do you think it matters for the future of the war? >> you know, every news from russian federation, from putin, i just think that this is bullshit, during eight years we are fighting for our freedom, and by my eyes i saw forbidden weapons, cluster bomb, chemical weapons on the front lines and i saw the problems that these weapons made in my country. so this 300,000 people or 1 million of russia's stupid soldiers, it doesn't matter. this is a war for freedom, and that's why i think that the best for the rest of the civilized world will be continuing support in ukraine. >> sergeant, how do you see this war ending? it's a conversation we have

militarily. it's a conversation we have politically. it's a conversation we have diplomatically on this show almost every single day. from your point of view, how will this war end? >> of course, with our victory. but what will be the prize. modern tanks, fighter jets that we are asking here in the united states, ground air defense system and aircraft can help us to save people's life. we will go to the end and we will win. it doesn't matter what price. but we need help. >> and the united states has provided nearly $16 billion worth of help, and i know you're there to ask for even more, and to keep that coming for members of congress while you're in washington. leader of the ukrainian women veteran movement and ukrainian soldier, andriana aretka thank

you very much. polling that looks much better for president biden after months of low numbers. plus, a high profile united states senator makes another bold claim about vladimir putin, why he thinks the russian president's days are numbered. we'll explain. plus, a major development in the mississippi fraud case that involves nfl hall of famer brett favre. those new developments when "morning joe" comes right back. "morning joe" comes right back what do we want delivered every month? clumping litter? salmon pate? love that for me. just choose the frequency and ship it! i feel so accomplished. now you can pet me. great prices on everything pets want. chewy. the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. tony, the new outlaw's got double pepper jack

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conspiracy theorist alex jones was back in court yesterday testifying again about comments he made in the wake of the sandy hook school massacre. the connecticut trial will determine how much the info wars host will have to pay in damages for promoting the lie that the shooting was a hoax. nbc news correspondent rehema ellis has details. >> i've already apologized to the parents over and over again. i won't apologize to you.

>> reporter: alex jones in a heated exchange for the families suing him in a defamation trial, after he challenged jones to admit the pain he caused. >> you have families in this courtroom here that lost children, sisters, wives. >> i legitimately thought it might have been staged and i stand by that. i don't apologize for it. >> jones conceded in a texas courtroom last month the sandy hook shooting was 100% real. the jury awarded the parents of one victim almost $50 million in damages. 26 people died in the connecticut elementary school shooting including 20 first graders. earlier in the day, jones was challenged during direct examination about whether he was using the trial as a marketing tool. >> ever since this trial started and you've been calling it a kangaroo court yourself, right. >> yes. >> right. and you've called this judge a tyrant, correct. >> yes. >> the families have accused

jones of causing them emotional harm and subjecting them to harassment and threats from his followers. jones has already been found libel for defamation. now the jury will have to decide how much money he'll have to pay. >> that's ehema ellis. eugene robinson, it's important to point out the suffering he's addinged to the unthinkable pain of sandy hook families. you can go on read and read their personal stories, as they were grieving, the horrifying slaughter of their first graders, they then became the subject of harassment. many of them have had to move two, three, four times, getting death threats because they were accused of being actors, crisis actors, having staged all of this and participating in some movement to promote gun control in this country. i know there are lower forms of life, but it's hard at the moment to think of any who would add additional sufferings to families mourning the deaths of their first graders.

>> right. it is unspeakable the way he's still behaving in court, and you wonder, i mean, i don't think you can use an insanity defense in a civil case about damages but that almost seems to be what he's going for. why in the world is he alienating everybody in the courtroom, including the judge, including the jury, including, you know, everybody. he is the answer to the question how much of his money is ultimately going to have to pay. clearly seems to be, you know, all of it, and then some, is the right answer, and he's helping that courtroom get to that determination. there's no contrition. there's no sense of understanding of the pain he has caused. as you said, there probably are lower forms of life. i actually can't think of any right now.

but it's just a disgrace the way this guy is acting, and i certainly hope he is made to pay for this. >> and the suffering of those sandy hook families continues as they have to sit through that trial and watch him perform the way he did. we have just about crossed the top of the hour, 7:00 a.m. on the east coast on a friday morning. let's get back to politics, and new polling that shows most americans believe donald trump kept highly sensitive information at mar-a-lago. in the latest survey from marquette university law school, 68% of voters believe the former president had top secret or classified material at his palm beach estate. 32% say he did not. in the same poll, 34% of americans have a favorable opinion of trump. 64% unfavorable. that's compared to 46% of registered voters giving president biden a positive mark. he's up 9% from just july in this poll. when asked about a potential rematch between trump and biden

in the next potential election, biden ahead of trump by 6 points among registered voters. biden edges out florida governor ron desantis in a hypothetical match up by a 5-point margin. another new poll crossing just this morning puts president biden's approval rating at its highest point of the year. in the latest emerson college survey, 46% of likely voters give the president a positive grade. that number up 5 points from july and 7 points from may. a big reason for the uptick, a boost in confidence from women. 49% now say they approve of president biden's performance compared to 39% in july. up 10 points. when asked about the issues driving them to the poll this november, 39% say the economy is front and center, and a distant second, threats to democracy, abortion access, health care and immigration. let's bring to the conversation staff writer at the atlantic,

mark leibovich, the host of the podcast on brand with donny deutsch, and former communications director under president obama jennifer palmeri. and cohost of "the circus" which returns this sunday at 8:00 p.m. sam stein also with us as well. jen, let me start with you. a lot of numbers i just threw out there. if we can look at the swing of women toward democrats, toward president biden, up 10 points, obviously a lot of this is since the decision to overturn roe v. wade. >> yeah, and for this week of the episode of "the circus" we're doing a deep dive on the question of abortion. we have a sense that it's given democrats new opportunity but we're looking at how is it impacting actual races and how are the candidates managing it. i went to, you know, a good

example because, you know, i saw in your poll it shows that abortion was ranked number three as issues that people are concerned about. but what you have to look at is how is it changing the political landscape, and what's interesting about michigan is just the way that gretchen whitmer, the governor there who is up for reelection and, you know, in the spring we thought she was going to have a really tough race. polls had her tight until recently. she's double digited ahead in the polling is how she managed this issue. in april, before dobbs was leaked, well before the decision, she filed a lawsuit to repeal, to challenge a law that they have on the books from 1931 that outlaws abortion. the concern that being roe being overturned, she has been doing round tables with women, doctors, moms, young women worried about abortion rights, and i think that has helped kind of create when i was there in michigan, it felt like a sense

of community, obligation, empowerment among women, and then her republican opponent tutor dixon, she's staunchly pro-life. not just staunchly pro life, she said that a 14-year-old girl who had been raped, impregnated by her rape is a perfect example of a pregnancy that should be brought to term. whitmer ran against her the first day after the republican primary, and she's gone from a dead heat to a double digit lead. but it is, you know, it's not just a women are registering to vote. the question is how are candidates able to use the issue to make a larger, you know, larger argument about women's standings, women's rights. we're months out but for now in michigan, whitmer is a good example of someone who has done that effectively and changed the

structural dynamics of the race. >> let's take the listen, jen, to part of your conversation for "the circus" this weekend, the fall premiere, this the jen palmieri with michigan governor gretchen whitmer. >> so you are a woman, a mom, governor, candidate, is there one of those roles that just comes to the fore when you're talking about abortion. >> like every american woman, i wear a lot of hats, and i'm an amalgamation of my experiences and all of those roles, but i'll tell you that i am not going to personally be impacted by not having the right to choose. i'm in this fight for my daughters, for all the women and girls and families in michigan. i'm in this fight as the leader of the michigan economy, knowing what this will mean for our ability to draw talent, and bring them to the state of michigan. i wear all of those hats but when i say i'm fighting like hell, i'm thinking about my daughters and not tolerating the fact that they could live in a

michigan where they've got fewer rights than i've had my whole life. it's unacceptable. >> we had elissa slotkin on a couple of weeks ago, and she said openly, this is helping her race. there was a new poll that shows her opening up, one poll shows her opening up a double digit lead all of a sudden. she believes abortion has a lot to do with that. >> i thought when the decision came down and talking to whitmer's team, just even months ago, will it make a two point difference. gretchen whitmer won't win, if she doesn't win, she won't win by 10%. 51% is a landslide. what we have seen is not just it gives you an edge but just if you -- the way that you engage on it, i think that it becomes a leadership moment for whitmer.

i mean, you see that powerful clip from her then she talked also in the interview about how, you know, she's a mom. she's a rape victim. she happens to be governor, but her story is not actually extraordinary. it's not extraordinary to be a rape survivor. it's not extraordinary to be a mom rape survivor who's concerned about your daughters too. there's something very relatable for women, and you know, she took this on in the spring when she filed that lawsuit in april. people thought it was kind of a risky thing to do, but i think it's just establish your credibility and people see you're fighting for them. that translates to other issues being able to show that quality. >> so donny, as you look at some o. polls we just showed a few minutes ago that confirm what we have seen in other polls that joe biden is up seven, eight, nine points, by the way, donald

trump's approval rating is down to 34% nationally, and 30% in independent voters. what do you see in these numbers? what's driving all of this? >> what's interesting is you look at biden's approval rating is higher than what obama's was two years into office, which is surprising given a lot of the not necessarily positive things that have been happening for biden early on in his term. he has turned it around. a few legislative victories, lower prices at the gas pumps and the extremism of the republican party and abortion. you put all of those things together, and it's no surprise. i think a turning point for biden was a speech he gave a few weeks ago, really made it a referendum on the republicans and extremism and semifascism, and that's starting to pay off. when you look at the senatorial candidates the republicans are putting forward, j.d. vances, mehmet oz's herschel walker, those are the front and center faces, along with donald trump

and the republican party. you contrast with biden, he looks like a not terrible choice, and the 45, 46% approval rating is bearing that out. >> mark leibovich, your latest piece for the atlantic, "the tipping point for stupid," you argue you can't pass yourself off as an election denier truther and be taken seriously by a majority of voters. donald trump has a knack for making committed apologists look like complete imba -- his trickle down has become a drag on the vulnerable senate candidates. officials have had to contort themselves in ridiculous ways to navigate trump's reality distortion field. absent trump, republican candidates in 2022 would be able to focus on subjects that would be more favorable to them and their party, such as inflation,

crime, and biden's unpopularity. as you write, mark, one thing to talk about the 2020 election being stolen in a republican primary. if you have to win a statewide election as a governor or senator, that's a completely different animal, and now that you have committed to the argument in the primary and an extreme position on abortion in the primary, it's tough to run away from it in the general. >> correct. i mean, there's obviously a time honored tradition. i don't know if it's honored but there's a tradition until politics of candidates kind of running to the base when they are running for a primary, for a nomination, and then pivoting back to the center when they're trying to win a general election, especially in a purple state like, you know, pennsylvania or wisconsin or florida or something like that. so what you're seeing here is someone like mehmet oz, someone like j.d. vance because ohio is safer, but someone like marco rubio who's up for reelection has to, instead of talking about these favorable issues for

republicans like the economy in this case, they have to spend all of this time, like in rubio's case, talking about the mar-a-lago search, and you know, this is just not a fun reelection issue for someone like him. and oz is someone who, you know, probably knows better. he wanted to get trump's endorsement. trump endorsed him, and so a couple of weeks ago, oz was asked, would you vote to certify joe biden's election in the senate at the time, and he gave the sky is blue answer, yeah, that's what i would have done. again, it's a perfectly reasonable answer and the kind of answer that people, you know n pennsylvania, i think, largely agree, however, because you have sort of thrown in with trumpism, you look like, you know, a turncoat, and a traitor to the trump folks because that obviously gets you on the wrong side of that issue in trump world and you need the trump supporters to get elected. they have put themselves in this

position, and trump by and large has also by making them issues. >> can i just add, and this is a question for don ultimately. one of the issues happening here is the more trump gets into these problems which dominate the news cycle, to some degree, the better he is positioned in a republican primary. you see this in the poll numbers. republican voters have rallied behind him in the wake of the mar-a-lago raid. saying that he's been treated unfairly, even backing the idea of defunding the fbi, and it's created this kind of perverse incentive for trump to stay in this. by the way, my question is, you know, you've studied the guy for years, decades, you have a familiarity with how he thinks, to the degree anyone knows how he thinks. the question is, do you think these troubles will compel him to take a more forceful role in republican politics, potentially by announcing a candidacy for president before the midterm

elections. >> i actually think that's what's going to happen. trump is the gift that keeps on giving for the democrats. as long as donald trump is front and center, the democrats win. i mean, we've said this before a lot on the show is that probably he's going to have one or two more losing cycles by the republicans before their trump romance, and trump affiliation just goes away. he is a losing proposition. you see 30% of independents, you're not going to win elections with that. it's very simple. basically, i think trump and sam, you mentioned in the previous hour that to maybe insulate himself from any legal problems, although debating whether that will insulate him or not, we'll have to see if that that happens. he will run, be an anchor on the republicans neck, and unfortunately this will be a race on referendum on abortion rights instead of a weak

economy, and that's exactly what democrats want. >> i bet as a former campaign hand, you're breaking out in hives a little bit for happy talk for democrats here because, you know, these candidates, yes many of them are terrible candidates. many of them have extreme positions and yet herschel walker is in a dead heat in georgia with rafael warnock. mehmet oz hanging around close to john fetterman. blake masters certainly in the race in arizona. the point is these candidates, terrible as they may be, many of them still may win. >> yeah, i mean, all of these races are going to tighten. you know, none of these democrats are going to win by double digits. so we see up now, because republicans are loyal voters and in the end, they usually come home. and democrats have talented candidates a lot of money. they're being disciplined. the white house has done everything you can imagine to get the democratic candidates in

the best possible position in a very difficult year, and then the question is just what happens with the economy between now and the election. i have a sense a couple of weeks ago, it would be great if we had the parliamentary system, we could decide when elections were called. if the elections were a couple of weeks ago, you felt like democrats were in a prime position, and it's just the x factors that are things that are outside of your control that, you know, we don't know how that will play out. i feel like you have confidence in the candidates but still it's a midterm. the economic situation while it's been improving is still difficult, and what is it going to be on people's minds when they walk in the booth on the 8th. >> the economy and inflation trump all of these other issues. in an interview on fox news, former trump white house senior adviser jared kushner. former president's son-in-law of course weighed in on governor ron desantis's decision to fly

dozens of migrants to virginia last week. >> we have to remember these are human beings, they're people, so seeing them being used as political pawns one way or the other is very troubling to me. >> kushner did not mention desantis by name. his comments come as the florida governor widely seen as trump's top rival for the 2024 nomination. do you read anything into that. jared kushner saying it's troubling to see migrants used as pawns. that's probably not the majority position on that show where he was talking. >> no, but i see, you know, the first and certainly not the last attack on desantis, trying to weaken him going into the next election cycle and i see extremely convenient amnesia. what would i expect from jared kushner, but what about separating, you know, families at the border as a policy to

deter people from coming to the border and trying to seek asylum. what about, you know, ripping children away, sending them, who knows where and leaving the question open of whether some of these families will ever be reunited which happened under jared kushner and donald trump's watch, so he's shocked that immigrants would be used as pawns while, look in the mirror, jared. >> obviously they have a long legacy in the trump administration as using migrants as pawns. mark leibovich, let's take a step back, and we're talking about here jared kushner who obviously talks to the president, former president quite a bit. perhaps taking a swipe there at governor desantis. you've studied donald trump. you've written a best selling book about this republican party.

what happens from here, is there any chance donald trump does not run for president and if he decided not to run, how relieved would many of the characters in your book be. >> they would be very relieved. but it's not going to happen. he's running. that's what he does, it's what he's planning to do. the clip with jared kushner there, the first thing i thought about was is he speaking for his father-in-law. you mentioned he does talk to him a lot. they're a close knit family. is he channelling him in some ways, and i have to think he is probably challenging a sentiment that his father-in-law has, which is he's got to be sick of seeing all the attention ron desantis is having. donald trump is not one to share the front and center spotlight, and you know, i think for him, pretty demure in talking or going after desantis. he's pretending he hasn't existed. at some point he's going to come ouch the shadows, and take some shots at him. i was wondering if that was

related to that. i think in the bigger picture, trump is going to run. there's no way he's going to step aside for ron desantis. and yeah, at some point, the party is going to maybe have to make a choice on trump, and you know, is desantis a better option for him. could be an interesting race. i don't think trump is going to step aside. >> to put it back in context, we saw a poll, if he did run in a primary, donald trump wipes ron desantis out by 40 points at this point anyway. before we let you go, what else do you have cooked up on the circus, coming back for the second half of the season in the fall, what can we expect to see? >> john has a great interview with vice president harris, and mckinnon is in michigan today talking with tutor dixon, the republican gubernatorial candidate, and we have also north carolina senate race, former governor pat mccrory.

>> we will be watching. jennifer palmeri, thank you so much. "the circus" returns this sunday at 8:00 p.m. on show time. mark leibovich, his latest book, "thank you for your servitude donald trump's washington and the price of submission" a big best seller. donny deutsch, great to see you my friend. have a good weekend, guys. still ahead on "morning joe," one voting demographic which used to be reliable democrat has taken a shift to the right. more russian theatrics at the u.n. sergey lavrov shows up late and leaves a security council meeting early a day after president putin threatened the use of nuclear weapons in ukraine. australia's foreign minister penny wong was at the u.n. and will join us just ahead. a report from iran after a week of protests over the death of a woman who's being detained by the morality police.

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knorr. taste for good. senator lindsey graham, against the conscription effort. graham has called for putin's assassination. when asked about the recent developments, graham said putin's days are coming to an end. >> i think this is the beginning o. end for putin. he's asking people to die in a war they don't want to fight. he is destroying the russian economy, he's destroying the russian military. there's going to be a pushback, and it's just a matter of time that they take him out because there's no way for russia to be a part of the family of nations under his leadership. so they're running out of soldiers. 300,000 people are going to be drafted against their will. the ukrainians are doing a hell of a job, putin's days are

numbered here. >> joining us australian foreign minister penny wong. thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> good to be with you. >> you have been speaking with the chinese foreign minister and trying to leverage your relationships there to get china to lean on vladimir putin to bring an end to a war that you have called illegal. what has the reaction been from china? do you believe they're willing to step in in that way. >> the point i was making is china is a p5 nation a permanent member of the security council, has a special responsibility to uphold the u.n. charter, and along with all of us, what we want is, you know, russia to seize its illegal and immoral invasion, and end the war and bloodshed we're seeing. >> are the chinese willing to take those steps. we saw the meeting between president xi and president putin last week. there was implicit criticism. china has not offered material

support for the war in ukraine. do you believe in your private conversations that the chinese government is, in fact, leaning on putin to end the war? >> as you said, there's been some public comments, implicit comments, but we would like to see more, and that is what i brought to state counselor wong ye. they are a great pair. they have a special responsibility to backing the u.n. charter, and use their leverage, their influence to end this war, which we all want to see over. >> and how would you describe that leverage, foreign minister, what are they able to do? how much influence does president xi have over putin? >> well, as you know, china and russia have engaged in what they described as a no limits partnership. and that's a pretty big thing to say, so we hope, australia hopes, along with every other country in the world that this war can be ended and we will be continuing to urge as i'm sure

others are, china and others, to exercise their leverage. >> minister wong, the u.s. intelligence analysts say china's aim, one of china's strategic aims as dominating the pacific region, including australia. is that what you see from your vantage point, and what can australia do to prevent this? >> look, that's a really good question, and there's no doubt there's a lot of competition in our region. there's no doubt that china is seeking to exercise much greater strategic influence in the region, and the regional order is being reshaped and the point i often make to my friends in america and elsewhere we are at a time where the global order is being reshaped. we've all got a role to play with that. the focus of the reshaping is in our region in the indo-pacific,

which is why the attention that the biden administration is a pain to the indo-pacific is very welcome. >> foreign minister, sam stein here, fundamentally what this is about with respect to the war in ukraine is leverage points of russia. the initial premise was international sanctions, regime would be put in place right away. it would cripple the russian economy. coupled with billions and billions in aid to ukraine, and you could essentially leverage putin to reconsider his war. that obviously hasn't happened, if anything, what we saw this week is that he's going to conscript 300 how people, warning of nuclear attacks, so china's leverage point that you're trying to play here, but are there others, let's say beijing just continues to buy cheap gas, and fund the russians. what other leverage points exist to get putin to back down. >> i think it's important that the international community to put pressure on russia, continue the sanctions, continue the

pressure on president putin, and while you reference the conscription and irresponsible remarks that president putin made, they also demonstrate a certain degree of desperation. the war has not gone as he wished because of the response of the world and the bravery of the ukrainian people. >> foreign minister on another topic, president biden said clearly and again in an interview on sunday that the united states would defend taiwan if china invaded that nation. what would that mean for your part of the world if there were a chinese invasion of taiwan and the united states intervened militarily? >> well, i think the first thing -- the first point we should make is that australia's position is very clearly that we do not want to see any unilateral change in the status quo. and we have consistently urged deescalation and restraint. like the united states, you know, we recognize the one china

policy, we have diplomatic relationships with beijing, we have maintained economic ties with taiwan, and i think it's important to remember that a conflict over taiwan could be catastrophic, and the focus of the world should be on averting that conflict. and ensuring there is no unilateral change to the status quo. >> and that's obviously everyone's first hope as president biden said in that interview as well. but he did say if that line were crossed by china, the united states would step in militarily with its own soldiers, not in some way, what would australia do in that case? >> willie, as a foreign minister i've been asked that question a few times, and i'll disappoint you by saying i'm not going to be drawn on hypotheticals, and i don't think anyone in my position should be. >> fair enough.

australian foreign minister, penny wong, thank you so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. coming up next, we'll go live to iran with protests gripping the nation, the government set to shut down the internet an hour from you. nbc's ali arouzi joins us from taiwan next on "morning joe." um taiwan next on "morning joe. the new monster has juicy steak and crispy bacon. but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick?

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like the skills to become the world's most powerful coder. way more space to collaborate. through project up, comcast is committing $1b to open doors for the next generation so they can build a future of unlimited possibilities. antigovernment protests in iran are growing after a 22-year-old woman died in police custody. iranian state media is reporting 26 people have been killed since violence erupted last weekend. ali arouzi joins us live. what does it look like there today. >> reporter: good morning, willie, the protests continue to rage. they're not showing any signs of abating and it's women leading the charge. the government has been cracking down hard, not just on the streets but online too

throttling the internet and blocking access to social media apps. but willie, this a monumental shift in the islamic republic, all sparked by the death of a young woman. for a 7th having day, violent protests erupting in dozens of cities across iran, sparked by the death of a 22-year-old woman after she was arrested by the feared morality police for allegedly violating the country's strictly enforced islamic dress code. mahsa amini was vacationing in teheran when she was picked up by authorities who felt the pants she were wearing under her robe were too tight. within hours of being taken into custody, she was dead. authorities deny culpability and say her death is being investigated. the state run broadcaster showing a video is that shows amini collapsing in custody, but it's unclear what happened beforehand. many women took to the streets

despite brutal crack downs and arrests. since 1979 it's been mandated for women to wear head scarves public or face jail time. over the last several days in cities across the country, women have been burning their head scarves in protest. in another act of courageous resistance, some women have cut their hair in public, with large crowds cheering them on. a taboo act of defiance that would have been unimaginable a week ago. >> people are frustrated. they are angry. this is significant that this is happening at this time. >> a woman's movement not seen in iran since the islamic revolution four decades ago that made the hijab compulsory. their slogan, woman, life, freedom, echoing through streets nationwide. in response, police have beaten protesters with clubs and fired live rounds and water cannons at unarmed demonstrators.

today, state media is saying 26 people have been killed since the unrest began last week. a large cross section of people have been participating in the protests but at the forefront, young women who feel the most suffocated here. it's unclear how or when this rule will end but the security apparatus and the judiciary have made it clear they want to end this uprising immediately. and willie, it's hard to overstate the importance of this women's movement but it's made the authorities here very nervous, and now they're threatening an all out internet blackout, maybe in the next couple of hours, and that's an ominous sign that they may want to employ tactics of whatever it takes to quell the protests, and they don't want any videos uploaded on social media. >> ali, extraordinary, inspiring pictures come out of teheran and across the country. i'm thinking back to 2009 and the green revolution when we saw similar and larger scenes in the streets, and it felt like a moment of real change in iran,

the government holding the power was able to squash that. so is this different this time? >> well, in terms of the force the government will use, probably not, but it does feel a bit different. this is a leaderless movement. these are young generation z kids that want, you know, social freedoms. they have grown up with apps and social media. they know what's going on in an outside world and they want the same thing. i think that's what's posing a danger to the authorities here. not only that it's just women that are leading these protests but that it's also leaderless. as you said, willie, they will probably do anything they need to do to retain power! and they've already been to do that. ali arouzi in teheran. thank you so much, we'll be talking more to you i'm sure. up next, we are 45 days away from the midterm elections. new polls show troubling trends for democrats when it comes to latino voters. we'll break down the shift to

the right in south texas. and how the campaign slogan of god, family, country is mobilizing latino voters across that region. we'll explain when "morning joe" comes right back. ion. we'll explain when "morning joe" comes right back i would say that to me an important aspect is too... meta portal with smart sound. helps reduce your background noise. bring that sense of calm, really... so you come through, loud and clear. meta portal. the smart video calling device that makes work from home work for you. bipolar depression. it made me feel trapped in a fog. this is art inspired by real stories of bipolar depression. i just couldn't find my way out of it. the lows of bipolar depression can take you to a dark place. latuda could make a real difference in your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce

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7:45 in the morning at the united states capitol. we are now just 45 days from the midterm elections. republicans are looking to build on recent gains with latino voters. the group has shifted significantly to the right since 2016, and while a majority still say they do prefer democrats, a flipped special election seat in south texas getting a lot of

attention ahead of november with congresswoman myra flores showing the republican messaging on faith and the economy are coming home to latino voters. joining us now is paolo ramos, the host of "field report" a series exploring the shift of latino voters to the right. great to see you again. thanks for being here. i want to get into your excellent reporting and you talked to congresswoman flores as well. paint the larger picture for us. what do these trend lines look like? >> the larger picture is latinas have been sending a message for the last four years. if you look at 2020, donald trump won seven of the 14 countries along the u.s. mexico border, and flipped two of them, and made end roads in the rio grande valley. fast forward to this summer, maya flores becomes the first republican to win that county in over a hundred years. fast forward to where we are

now, there's three latina republicans in south texas that are running for office that are completely transforming the dynamics of politics in texas. i think the message is that suddenly this hypothetical question of can the rio grande valley, you know, this stronghold for the democrats, this majority latino region, can a place like that suddenly become the region that gives republicans this final push they need through the finish line. that used to be a hypothetical question. it no longer is. so i think the point here isn't to sensationalize the story. we're not trying to say that republicans are winning the national latino vote. we're saying democrats are losing it. the latinos are sending a message, and we need to listen. >> what is behind this, paolo? what are the central issues to the voters in the 34th district of texas that was for many many years was a democratic seat, was held, joe biden won it there in 2020. but was flipped by myra flores

to become republican. why did it happen? what are the issues at the center of this move? >> let's take myra flores when you turn on the tv, the three words she said is god, family and country. she repeated that. she bet on this motion that at her core, latinos are more conservative than perhaps they want to see. that's something i saw on the ground time and time again. i met countless latinos on paper, democrats, family members have voted for democrats but in hair hearts and souls, they're more conservative. when asked are you pro choice, the answer was no. when asked have you ever voted for a republican in your life, many times the answer was no. and then suddenly here comes myra flores with this message and she makes the case that, look, i look like you, i sound like you, look like you, i'm from the border, i was born in

mexico. yo no longer have to vote for democrats. you don't have to do that. it worked. she won in a district that joe biden won by four points. she won by almost twice as much. the elephant in the room, the question is, where was the dnc. >> and her democratic opponent said she got no support from the national party. let's look at the conversation with congresswoman flores who pulled off the win in a . >> part of what resonated was your campaign slogan, god, family and country. what does that mean to you. >> i wouldn't be who i am today if it wasn't because i live in prayer every single day. >> in your special election campaign, do you think you were also able to garner the support of democrats? >> i wouldn't have won if i wouldn't have had support from

democrats. >> obviously paolo, the issue of immigration is front and center with nearly 2 million border arrests in the fiscal year. the story of ron desantis taking migrants from texas and flying them up to martha's make a point. how much does immigration play in those races in the swing district down along the border that you talked to people about? >> they live and breathe immigration every single day. it's more nuanced. even she wouldn't be able to say i'm against legalizing the over 11 million undocumented immigrants in this country because she knows she's representing thousands of families that are mixed status families. i had various conversations with various groups. you can't get a right or wrong answer. but i will say this, what we learned, the real strategy behind what republicans are doing is that they're also going

into churches. they're going into latino evangelical churches and they found out if you go inside and organize these evangelical spots, you can increase turnout for republicans. they're saying if democrats have been doing this for many years in black churches, if they've been able to increase that base, why can't we do it with latino evangelicals, i found that interesting. >> what is it that democrats are not getting? it seems to me, it's almost a matter of infinity and getting these voters, it's something that democrats are not doing. is that your perception or, again, is it concrete issues? >> really just behind the power

of those words that seem to resonate, it was a strategy. it was this sudden realization that they also could go into these churches the same way that a pastor mobilizes churches, pastors and other church-goers because they understand they can leverage that force there. latinas are the fastest growing demographic that are turning into evangelicals. there are more latinas now opening churches than ever before. i think republicans now understand there's a political strategy there. you can really leverage that. i think that's one thing. the other thing is this question, again, where were the democrats? where was the dnc during this moment? if you just look at the numbers, you understand that she completely out-raised her opponent 10-1. republicans put over $1 million in her campaign just in tv ads compared to the over $130,000 that democrats put into an

opponent. that's the question. they inadvertently created a republican incumbent. they took it for granted. they said look, come november, after redistricting, we have a way better shot. we have a good opportunity of winning. in doing that, the democrats gave her this opportunity and a seat at the white house. those are the two things going on. this big void and this new political strategy in the churches. >> sam stein here, obviously money investment matters, showing up at churches and community matter, talking to voters matter. i would suspect democrats erred in looking at the landscape and saying, donald trump had a policy of separating families at the border. ron desantis has in recent weeks taken migrants, put them on planes and relocated them as objectively a political stunt. why -- that is the sales job for

us, point to these things and we should win the hispanic/latina vote. if you were advising the democratic party, my guess is you would say that's not enough. you need to do more than that. what should the proportion of resources and focus on what republicans are doing versus issues like the economy, investment in community and cultural issues, frankly? >> i think the top line here is that immigration has truly never been a top issue for latinos. that's the myth. the myth is if you talk about migrants, if you show these stories, latinas will vote for you. that's not true. they care about economy, crime, jobs, education. they wanted to be talked to and spoken to the same way that democrats would go out for any other vote. i think it's a matter of at least if you're looking at this story, at least matching that, spending the resources, showing up and listening. i think that's the story here.

latinas are sending a message. they're drifting away, walking away from the democratic party. here's a case study, is it because of these structural democratic parties, because the dnc wasn't there or is it because someone unearthed an uncomfortable truth. meaning latinas may be more in line with republicans than we want to see. that's the question at heart here. >> fascinating report that tells us so much about politics right now. field report airs tonight at 10:00 p.m. on msnbc and also streaming on peacock. paola ramos, thank you very much for being here and bringing this to us. >> thank you. still ahead, more on russia's foreign minister and his notable late entrance and early exit from a key u.n. security council meeting. we'll get insight from james stavridis and andrea mitchell. and the special master in the mar-a-lago documents case wants donald trump's legal team to show him the evidence that

would back up the former president's claim the fbi planted evidence. plus apple is looking to cement its relationship with sports leagues. we'll tell you about a big move with the nfl. and the man once described by "newsweek" as the most powerful man in sports. our conversation with the legendary dick ebersol about everything from "saturday night live" to sunday night football. "morning joe" is coming right back. ♪♪ giorgio, look! the peanut butter box is here.

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the problem that you have is they go into rooms, they won't let -- they wouldn't let them in the same building.

did they drop anything into those piles or did they do it later. there's no chain of custody here with them. >> wouldn't that be on video tape potentially. >> no, i don't think so, they're in a room. >> donald trump on fox news suggesting, again, the fbi planted evidence at mar-a-lago. well, the special master, his legal team requested, is now telling his lawyers to prove it. and it's being called the most significant u.n. security council meeting of our time, but russia's foreign minister showed up late and left early as the west confronted him over the atrocities in ukraine. meanwhile, russia's military draft now is taking effect as the kremlin sets the stage for another annexation of ukrainian territory. plus, new polling gives president biden his highest approval rating of the year. we'll tell you what's driving the rebound as we look ahead to the midterms now just six weeks away. it's friday, september 23rd. i'm willie geist. joe and mika are off today. we begin with emotional scenes in russia as vladimir putin's new military draft went into

effect yesterday. video shows men boarding buses and tearful families saying good-bye to loved ones departing for training. putin wants 300,000 new fighters to help turn the tide as the russian military suffers setbacks in ukraine. russia is saying the call up would be limited to those with military experience but reports say civilians also now are being conscripted. "the new york times" tells the story of a husband and father of five who received a summons to be at an urgent 4:00 a.m. meeting where a train had been organized to take him to a military center. many men are fleeing russia to avoid the forced enlistment. this is traffic as people escape to nearby georgia. russian airports have been packed with people trying to get out of the country. one human rights group said more than 1,300 people have been arrested in anti-war protests in moscow and st. petersburg over the past few days. also today, voting begins in four regions of russian-occupied

ukraine, in what is being called a sham referendum that could lead to the annexation of 15% of ukrainian territory. russian foreign minister sergey lavrov showed up 90 minutes late to yesterday's u.n. security council meeting, arriving two minutes before his speech in which he accused the united states and its allies of covering up ukraine's crimes. once he finished speaking, lavrov walked out of the room immediately and did not stay for other members' speeches as they condemned russia's war in ukraine. let's bring in former nato supreme allied commander, james stavridis, msnbc's chief international analyst. and nbc news chief foreign affairs analyst and host of "andrea mitchell reports" andrea mitchell. good morning to you both. andrea, i want to begin with you at the u.n. yesterday. extraordinary scene, sergey lavrov breezed in 90 minutes late to his speech and quickly left. clearly not wanting to hear or be confronted by the speeches from the other member nations

about russia's war in ukraine. >> it was remarkable. willie and admiral stavridis, good morning to you. remarkable because russia, one of the five permanent members of the united nations has a veto, and has been a strikingly forceful presence there, stopping the u.n. from taking any strong action against russia because of ukraine. they have an ally in china. in this case, certainly president xi signalled to vladimir putin just last week that china does not stand with him, you know, completely endorsing this ukraine invasion, and that was sort of the mixed message, certainly a mixed message from china. almost every other member of the security council, members of the u.n. just critical of russia and lavrov didn't want to hear it. so lavrov comes in after blinken had spoken and leaves a minute

or two afterwards. he did not hear any of the criticism, but it was just completely disparaging, senior officials telling us afterwards that -- both on camera and off, there was nothing but really strong criticism against russia for the war crimes, russia for trying to annex the territory, and now vladimir putin clearly on his back foot. this is not to say that russia doesn't have weapons of mass destruction, the nuclear threat that blinken said was just outrageous, and, you know, all of the other chemical weapons that could be used if he's cornered, no one knows what he's going to do, and that is a serious concern to the u.s. but at least now, the fact that he's calling up 300,000 troops, that there are protests in russia, extraordinary in itself, 1,300 people arrested. people getting draft notices once in custody. this is coming home. he can not completely hide it anymore from the russian people with the disinformation and

misinformation. and as blinken warned yesterday, there's going to be, you know, prosecutions, and they're trying their best to preserve the evidence. there's a massive european union and u.s. and international criminal court operation underway to try to do what they can to hold them accountable at some point for the horrors of what's happening in ukraine. >> admiral, sergey lavrov yesterday in the speech just described a completely alternate reality. divorced from what's actually happening in war. he accused ukraine of war crimes, and called volodymyr zelenskyy, a bastard, who is prosecuting an injust war. it was a complete mirror image of what's happening here, and the images of people trying to flee through airports, roads and trains as 300,000 citizens are now being asked to step in to this war, many of them just saying out loud, what am i going to fight and die for? >> yeah, i think andrea and i

are old enough or shall i say senior enough to look at this and think has putin met his vietnam. this is really starting to rattle the echoes of that war. it is most directly in the home front aspect of it, the protests, the people running away from this. really quite remarkable. you know, our secretary of state who is handling this beautifully yesterday at the united nations said putin has really doubled down. i'm going to add on, i think he's tripled down in that he is rattling the nuclear saber. he is talking about this faux set of referendums in eastern ukraine effectively annexing those conquered territories and calling up 300,000 reservists. that's a triple. it may be he's all in.

so this is, in fact, a dangerous moment. let me put those three things in perspective very quickly. the nuclear one i don't lose a lot of sleep over. i don't see putin deciding to use a nuclear weapon. it would create a huge movement away from him dramatically in world opinion. maybe he doesn't care about it, but he cares about what india, brazil, nigeria, south africa, what that kind of swing vote cares about. so i don't see him using a nuclear weapon. he can achieve those affects with other aspects of his military. the faux referendum. no one is going to believe it. it's total nonsense. i am focused on this 300,000 troops coming up, and there i am skeptical that putin will be able to get them into fighting shape, if you will, and into ukraine in anything less than

months and months and months, particularly given the pushback he's receiving at home. so bottom line, putin is upping the ante to stay with a poker analogy, maybe going all in, but i think the storm clouds are rising for vladimir putin. >> andrea, you and i talked yesterday about the pressure he's feeling even from his allies, implicitly from president xi. explicitly out in public from prime minister modi in india. i guess the question is vladimir putin capable of feeling pressure? is there anything anyone can tell him to pull back from this war? >> that's not likely. u.s. officials do not see him changing course, and, you know, that's one of the big concerns, frankly. if he's trapped, if his back is against the wall, what would he do? would he use chemical weapons?

i think the consensus agrees with the analysis of admiral stavridis, that he's not going to use nuclear weapons. that is, you know -- india, brazil, as you mentioned, europe, western europe, but there is a concern about an accidental or deliberate attack on zaporizhzhia or one of the other nuclear facilities. the chemical weapons, the tactical nukes are a possibility. they do not see any sign that they have mobilized. i'm a little bit right now saddened, and i have some news to share in just reading my phone that secretary blinken's father, donald blinken, has passed overnight. the secretary left new york, the u.n. late yesterday, and was home with his family in long island overnight. he had a very busy schedule starting this morning, but donald blinken was a world war ii veteran, a former ambassador, he inspired tony blinken to

public service. he was a father, a grandfather, a beloved member, you know, really well-known public figure. but most importantly he was tony blinken's father, and this is secretary blinken in the midst of this crisis, and dealing with it as admiral stavridis said in the security council yesterday, and we have to pass on our most sincere condolences, because this is a terrible personal loss. he was 97 years old. >> absolutely, thank you for sharing that with us, andrea. he was the ambassador to hungary in the 1990s among many posts he held. our condolences go out to the blinken family and the secretary of state who did make that persuasive speech yesterday before the security council. admiral, i'm going to ask you to do something you probably don't want to do. that's to put yourself in the shoes of vladimir putin, and you're looking what's in front of you right now. he understands whether he says it publicly or not, that this

isn't going well. how do you see this playing out if you're him? we know the west has put pressure on them, the united states has provided aid. we know the ukrainian military are brave. where does this go from here now if putin is, in fact, backed into a corner? >> putin is a brilliant tactician but he's a terrible strategist. in other words, he can maneuver and kind of turn very quickly, and because he's a complete autocrat and has his hands on the levers of power, he doesn't have to work with the congress. he doesn't have to worry about public opinion. he can simply make decisions. so i think, unfortunately, that will lead him to do things like a massive cyberattack, i think,

becomes more of a possibility, directed against not only ukraine but perhaps western europe or institutions in the united states. increase the carpet bombing, if you will, using his long rain air and missiles against the cities of ukraine. he possibly could put more emphasis on something like chemical weapons. i think, again, that's hard to attribute, and therefore he would try and false flag that, making it look as though it was an accidental release of ukrainian or even u.s. forces. he's got a bunch of dirty trick up his sleeves that he'll try and pull. i'll close with this, willie, i think that he is waiting through the winter and hoping that as he cuts off the energy to europe and things get colder in europe, he will get some relief. i think he is misjudging here. that's the bad strategist part of this. the europeans will stand firm against him, in my view. they would rather have one cold hard winner than bend their knee

to vladimir putin year after year as he decides whether or not to turn on the gas tap. so, look for more tactical attacks, more danger ahead. strategically, putin is in a very bad place at the moment. i'm not sure how he gets out of this, other than maybe after the winter he'll move towards some kind of a potential negotiation, but his positioning is weakening day by day, willie. >> and add to all of that, dissent, growing dissent inside his own country. admiral james stavridis, andrea mitchell, thank you so much for being here this morning. we always appreciate it. new polling shows most americans believe donald trump kept highly sensitive information at mar-a-lago. in the latest survey, 68% of registered voters believe the former president had top-secret or classified material at his palm beach home. 32% say he did not, even though we have seen the documents.

the same poll shows two-thirds of voters have a negative opinion of donald trump. just over one-third say they view the former president favorably. 34% is donald trump's current favorability rating in the country. the approval for the current president, joe biden, hits higher, 46% of registered voters give the president positive marks. that is up 9% just from july. when asked about a potential rematch between trump and biden in the next presidential election, biden is ahead of trump by 6 points. biden also edges out florida governor ron desantis by 5 points in a hypothetical matchup. and another poll out just now puts president biden's approval rating at its highest point of the year. in the latest emerson college survey, 46% of likely voters give the president a positive grade. that's up 5 points from july and up 7% from may. let's bring in pulitzer prize

winning columnist from the "washington post," eugene robinson, and sam stein. good to see you both. this follows a trend we have seen in the last couple of weeks, which is that from his low point a couple of months ago, he is now seeing progress, perhaps rewards for some of the legislation that's been passed and some of the things he's been doing just lately. >> i think he is seeing some rewards, and so his approval ratings now seem to have gotten back up into the non-catastrophic level at least, and are getting pretty good for a -- for some president at this point in his presidency. i mean, there's usually a dip. he had a very low dip, but it's coming back up and i think it reflects the legislative successes that he's had, and it also reflects what the other party, the republican party has been doing. and hanging over this, of course, is the dobbs decision,

which i think has both energized democratic voters, enraged and energized democratic voters and just sort of put a spotlight back on politics in a way that's a bit more favorable for the president and democratic party. and, sam, if you look inside this poll, over 30% of the people surveyed in that marquette poll believe roe should have been overturned. 90% think there should be exceptions for abortion, even if they support in rape and incest. we have seen extreme positions among people running for high offices across the country. among the republican party some of the extremism explains joe biden's lift in the polls as well. >> i think a few things are happening here. obviously the dobbs decision has energized democrats. you see that in registration numbers across various states where democrats are signing up to vote, women in particular. polls, you see democrats doing

better as well. my contention is that biden's approval rating is as much about falling gas prices, which is this tangible thing that you see every day driving to and from work, literally in these neon signs as it is about dobbs and anything else. i think biden benefits from people not feeling pinched at the pump, and i think you can't separate what's happening with donald trump from this current climate. i think having donald trump in the news all the time with his legal troubles, his political issues, i think, does rebound in biden's favor. it reminds people why they elected biden in the first place, which is they just don't want to deal with the drama that seems to follow donald trump wherever he goes. i think those three issues, trump, gas and abortion rights are all working in biden's favor. the question is, i guess, does it stay that way for however

many days, what is it, 50 or so until we vote in november. >> yeah, gene, if you look at donald trump's approval rating in the first poll, the marquette poll, he's at 34%. if you look at independents, he's at 30%. the support is coming mostly obviously from republicans where he's at three quarters of them still supporting him. then with the mar-a-lago documents case and the investigation, two-thirds of americans believe, yes, the former president did take those documents from the white house and bring them to mar-a-lago. this all has to sort of be weighing over donald trump's decision, does it not, about whether to run in 2024? >> well, i think what really weighs on donald trump's decision is what he thinks will keep him out of worse legal jeopardy. i've always thought that trump will announce and try to run or plan to run or pretend to run if only as a way to try to insulate himself from all the legal trouble that is closing in on

him. and he'll claim it's all political. he's a candidate. he's running for president again, and he's being persecuted by the democrats. that will of course energize his base. it's not clear that it will do anything for the voters he would actually need to become presidential again, but i've always thought that that's his sort of plan and i think that's what he's going to do. so, you know, remember donald trump doesn't necessarily react to rational signals like this. you look at polling like this, and you would think, gee, i've got no shot. this is, you know, 30% among independents, that's not going to get you elected. but he's got other considerations. you know, his fortune is being

threatened in new york by tish james. his liberty is potentially threatened in georgia by fani willis, the prosecutor now there. the committee is still meeting. the justice department is investigating. he's got all of these legal problems that are closing in on him. and, you know, one or two or three, he's got four or five, that's a lot. so he's definitely on the defense now. and, as he always does, just making stuff up. you know, i can declassify documents just by thinking about it, and, yeah, the fbi planted documents in my place. but the justice system is now saying, okay, put up or shut up. and he's going to have to shut up. >> yeah, well, he said that again to sean hannity that the fbi planted documents and we're going to get into that next.

the special master in the mar-a-lago case ordering donald trump's legal team to back up the claims that the fbi planted evidence. we'll talk about what that means for trump's legal fight when "morning joe" comes right back. k okay season 6! aw... this'll take forev—or not. do i just focus on when things don't work, and not appreciate when they do? i love it when work actually works! i just booked this parking spot... this desk... and this conference room! i am filing status reports on an app that i made! i'm not even a coder! and it works!... i like your bag! when your digital solutions work, the world works. that's why the world works with servicenow.

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the special master appointed to review the documents the fbi seized from former president trump's mar-a-lago home and club has given the former president's lawyers until next friday to back up trump's allegation the fbi planted evidence during the august 8th search. trump and his attorneys have publicly insinuated many times that agents planted evidence during the search without providing any proof to substantiate the claim. the special master, judge

raymond dearie, also telling trump's legal team it must state by september 30th whether the lawyers believe any of the seized items were incorrectly described in the justice department's 11-page inventory list, which stated some of the documents were highly classified. trump claimed he declassified the documents found in the search that were marked classified and highly sensitive. however, his lawyers have not made those assertions in court. in yesterday's filing, judge dearie also ordered trump's attorneys to say whether they are claiming that any items on the inventory list were not, in fact, taken from the premises. special master's order essentially tells trump's attorneys to back up his claims. writing in part, this submission shall be plaintiff's final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the detailed property inventory. joining us now is "washington post" reporter, perry stein. she covers the justice department and the fbi. good morning, it's good to see you. one has to think listening to this judge yesterday, this is the guy that the trump team

wanted. this is their idea. he's not going light on them, effectively saying, you have made all of these wild allegations, back them up. >> exactly. i mean, judge dearie is the guy that trump did -- his team got to propose two people and they proposed judge dearie, the doj agreed and said, yes, we think he's a suitable choice, and judge cannon, the judge that said yes to a special master, she appointed him. this is trump's choice. judge dearie is having trump back up these claims that he has made on social media and in interviews that judge cannon did not. >> and so if presumably the legal team can't come up with proof that the fbi planted this evidence or the other claims they have made in public but not in court, so what happens when they don't show any evidence for those claims? >> i mean, i don't think that they're in trouble if they don't

in terms of legally speaking. i mean, i think the idea from this hearing that i went to on tuesday. judge dearie was trying to clear up any disputes, he asked them, hey, this is the inventory list that the fbi provided. these are all the documents that they said they seized. do you have any issues with it? is this the inventory list we should be working off of. so right now what he's doing is trying to clear up any disputes that they may have. so, it sounds like -- and i don't know, i mean, this judge, dearie, makes the calls, and judge cannon approves them, is, you know, that dearie is trying to determine what issues he needs to clear up. and so if they don't present any, they'll use that inventory list. >> sam stein here, always been a big fan of your last name. i'm kind of curious, what is the actual -- maybe you don't know the answer to this because who knows -- but what is the actual end game here legally for the trump team?

obviously, they wanted a special master appointed. they asked for dearie to be considered, but, as i read it, it was simply to try to delay this thing. is there more to it than just to essentially punt this thing further and further down the road? is there an outcome they would be thrilled at? also, secondarily, how have they reacted to the dearie rulings, are they surprised or frustrated that the person they put forward as a special master prospect has turned out to be quite stern of them and demanding of them? >> you're right. i do not know trump's legal end game here. you know, i've been following these dearie rulings and these court proceedings. i mean, you know, dearie -- to your point, is this a delay? again, i don't know. but dearie, i think cannon, the original judge who appointed him said they have until thanksgiving to finish this special master review.

dearie already, in the timeline that he gave yesterday in the latest filings, suggested that he is moving faster. if it is to delay, and again, i don't know, then they are moving pretty fast with the special master review. and, again, we have the appeals court that said that trump can't claim that these classified documents he has no interest in claiming that these are his properties. i don't know the legal tactics here, but it seems that so far the last two days the the last two days the government -- the last few days, i should say, the court system right now seems to be working in their favor in this small case, in this small part of a larger investigation, i should say, just to keep that in mind. >> perry, once judge dearie completes his review of what's classified and what's not, what happens then? does it go back to judge cannon? does she get involved again or what's the process? >> judge cannon is still the judge in this special master

review. so, what's going to happen and how dearie laid it out, is that the trump team is going to review through all of the thousands of unclassified documents, and they're going to mark which ever they think should be protected by certain privileges or anything they want to bring up. then the doj is going to look at those and say, do we agree with them, should this be protected by this privilege, should this not? and then judge dearie is going to go and settle any disputes. judge dearie is supposed to give his recommendations to judge cannon who ultimately has final say. i think he said in the hearing, right or wrong, i'm going to give my recommendations to cannon. >> "the washington post's" perry stein far and away the superior stein on the show this morning. thank you so much for bringing us your reporting. it's a low bar, let's be honest. thank you for being here. appreciate it.

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90%! hey mark, did you know california is sending us all their money? suckers. -those idiots! [ laughter ] imagine that, a whole state made up of suckers. vote no on 27. it's a terrible deal for california. we win. you lose. an all-women delegation of ukrainian soldiers has been meeting with members of congress this week to update lawmakers on the ongoing war. women make up about a quarter of the forces fighting to keep ukraine free from the russian invasion. joining us is a member of the delegation, the leader of the ukrainian women veteran movement and a junior sergeant in the ukrainian armed forces, andriana arekhta. sergeant, thank you very much for being with us. i have to say first, the world just stands in awe of what your country and your military has been able to do and the courage you have shown in the face of

this invasion. tell me what it has been like on the ground for you for the people of ukraine to fight back against russia as it moves into your country and tries to take it over. >> it's a great time to be here. i just want to say good morning in america from ukraine, from the battlefield of the war between russia and ukraine, but it's not only our war. this is the war of a protecting democracy in the world, i think. so how to be a woman, you met a lot of challenges, and i met a lot of challenges on the battlefield, but the price is freedom, so we are the nation of heroes and we are going to the end. we are going to the victory. >> there's no question about it. the mobilization early on, let's go back to january and february, when it was clear that vladimir putin was going to send his tanks in. he thought he would be into kyiv in a matter of a couple of days, take over the city, raise the russian flag and install a new

government. what were those early days of the war like for you when it was clear that almost everyone was going to have to take up arms or contribute in some way to save the country? >> you know, i wasn't on the frontline in 2014, that's why i understand at the beginning of full-scale invasion what is going on. that's why together with my brothers in arms and sisters in arms we go to the frontline. so the mobilization was huge. our nation showed that we can be a nation of heroes during the battlefield in kyiv and other cities, and now after kharkiv counteroffensive, after perfect kharkiv counteroffensive, we are going to the south to liberate the south. that's why we're in the united states, to ask for weapons, to faster the victory. >> the leader of the ukrainian

veteran movement, andriana arekhta, thank you very much. good luck to you and thank you for being here this morning. appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, former president trump now faces at least eight ongoing criminal and civil proceedings. will he become the first former united states president to face indictment after leaving office? the conversation continues here on "morning joe." like #4 supreme meats. smoky capicola, genoa salami and pepperoni! it's the dream team of meats. i've still got my uniform. it's subway's biggest refresh yet. ♪ it wasn't me by shaggy ♪ i've still got my uniform. you're never responsible for unauthorized purchases on your discover card. as someone with hearing loss i know what a confusing

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live from new york, it's saturday night! >> the white bronco you see on the freeway going right on your screen contains o.j. simpson, a fugitive at large, charged with two counts of murder. >> for 21 months, the nba was

without its supreme artist. >> look at muhammad ali. >> what a buzz in the stadium as the new york giants get ready to take on peyton manning and the colts. >> those are some of the most famous moments in tv history over the past four decades? what do they have in common? in one way or another, they involved a man named as one of the most powerful men in sports, dick ebersol. he is out with a new memoir called "from saturday night to sunday night." he's a legend not just in this building but in television. great to see you. >> thank you. >> so, those moments right there, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. we can go back to the olympics, '68, '72, you have been there through all of it. why did you decide to kind of do this, this is your life and sit

down and review and retell the stories? >> my oldest son charlie and my wife susan ganged up on me at a little italian restaurant in the upper eastside and said enough is enough, you have to write this book. i started it myself, and after a bunch of months, they sat me down again and said this is nonsense, you really have to put something into it. find somebody to work with you. i said to charlie, who do you think i should talk to? he said talk to aaron. aaron cohen wrote all of bob costas's openings for the olympics, wrote many tracks of the coverage for those olympics, together with me mostly living on maui and him back here sending stuff back and forth, it emerged and we were lucky enough to have it end up on the desk of the most prominent agent, book agent there is in the country.

>> i'm interested in how it began for you. you learned the business early on from another icon. how did that start to you? how did you hop into those olympics? >> as a kid in the mid '50s, late '50s, i fell in love with the beginnings of television sports. and that, for me, was wide world of sports, which was a show that rune created which took us to places all over the world. ultimately he got us all into the olympics. i was lucky enough to be there as a teenager, 18 years old, 19 years old, as all this was happening, culminated by munich. and i was lucky enough to have him as a mentor, he kept pushing me forward. ultimately i left, came over to nbc, pushed by the then head of the company to come up with a replacement for johnny carson's weekend repeats.

johnny was smart, all looking for another night off. in any case, i just -- my career ran from there. and i -- one day, while i was looking for somebody who really had a comedy background -- i didn't. in my estimation, i was a damn good producer, but i was not a comedy writer. i was sitting outside a famous agent's office in l.a. when this young man came out the door. we literally almost bumped into each other. that was lorne michaels. we went for a cup of coffee, which led to dinner that night, which led to one of the most bizarre coincidences of my life. lorne said let's go see this show, this comedy review. we saw it with this woman who the whole night -- very attractive. in any case, we went to the polo lounge, the famous polo lounge in the beverly hills hotel. i happened to live in the hotel at that point.

nbc paid for an apartment when i lived there in california. i worked into the doorway with lorne, he said isn't that your father figure over there? there was rune sitting there with his wife and howard cosell. rune stood up, threw his arms around me. that relationship was renewed and lasted until rune died. >> the clips that we showed coming into this segment interviewing you, you're liable to say that's my life passing in front of my eyes, but it's actually our lives as viewers. >> yes. >> as fans. so i'm wondering, you're at nbc, you become president of nbc sports in 1989. and that's within a few years after general electric buys the network. general electric run by a true sports nut, jack welch.

what impact did jack welch have on you and your career and tv in general moving forward? >> more than any other single person, jack welch was the centerpiece, in my mind at least, of why i was so fortunate to have such a great career, because he believed in me, and as a result of him believing in me, he backed me financially. what does that mean? well, sports rights, the rights to to g to events and cover them and produce them is not something you just go show up at. you usually have to pay a small fortune to get the rights to be there in the first place. and time after time, whether it was hundreds of millions of dollars for me to buy the rights to various olympics around the world, the same kind of money to buy the nba or nfl rights, and if anything, welsh, i believe, was the center of my career because he had that faith in me, and i didn't have to go through the usual kind of bureaucracy to

get that kind of money. he'd hear the idea and say go for it, kid. i loved him. i just loved jack welsh. >> it is extraordinary when you think about the things that define nbc, you think about "saturday night live" and the nba on nbc and "sunday night football" and all those things we so love being a part of by working here. they come from this guy sitting next to me, dick ebersol. a remarkable, extraordinary life. and, you know, dick, i didn't know whether you talk about teddy in this book -- >> i do. >> -- whether you talk about the tragedy. you know, every time i drive to the ballpark, i see teddy ebersol's park there, and i always think about you. and you said something that i think could help people so much. you said that the most important

thing you can do when you lose a child is not to push it aside, not to obsess about how he died, but to obsess about how he lived and to celebrate and talk about it. >> yeah. >> that's exactly what you do in this book. it's beautiful. tell us about that. >> well, first of all, almost all of that comes from susan, my wife. she gathered all of us after the crash and got us back home to litchfield, connecticut. we have a big old colonial house. we had all the kids there, a few other people, and we lived with each other for several months. and every day we talked about teddy, what he had meant in our lives. he was sort of the spark plug of the family. he was a character and a half. he thought nothing of being at a red sox game and talking to the general manager and suggesting trades the whole game. the last time he was at a game,

several months before he died, toward the end of the season, he said i know you're not going to be able to re-sign varitek unless you have a really good idea of what his value is, and teddy said, give him four years, $11 million a year. and several months or a month and a half later, the red sox signed him for that amount of money. and the leadership of the team called the house. they'd been phenomenal through everything. it was a golden red sox team. they called to say they signed varitek for exactly what teddy told them. >> teddy ebersol along the charles river, a wonderful tribute to you, teddy, your entire family. but the core of your family -- and i've seen teddy in the box with your wife, susan. talk about your wife's strength and your wife's role in keeping

your family together and moving your family forward. >> susan was the only person -- one of the only people in our family who wasn't on the plane when it crashed. she'd gotten off in this town of montrose because telluride was snowed in. she was halfway to telluride when they somehow got a call through those huge mountains. when she got back there, she immediately discovered that teddy was gone. and from that moment on, her strength just grew and grew and grew in holding us all together. none of the kids went back to college. all of them were college age at that time exempt for teddy. we all stayed at home, talked about it, talked often about just what he had give on the our family, not what we were missing, what he was missing. and it was a wonderful time.

and she drove willy all the way back cross-country to usc and she's a phenomenal human being. many think of her as a television star. "kate and allie," but she never ceased to be the perfect mother and a great wife, ever. >> she's wonderful. those two boy, one of them with you today, charlie not too bad either. >> not at all. >> 1996 olympics, muhammad ali lighting the torch, no matter how many times i see it, it gives me chills. you helped orchestrate that. how did it come together? >> it's the favorite moment of my entire career in television. i would usually ask the head of the organizing committee of any olympics, whether it's the united states or china or some country in europe, and i'd ask them several months out, we've

chosen someone in your country to light the cauldron on the opening night of the olympics. and the surprising answer was they hadn't given it any thought at that point. and a week later, whatever, i got a phone call and they said they thought they would go with a local fella named evander holyfield who had been an olympic champion as well as ali but was not the worldwide charismatic figure that ali was, did not have this reputation that existed in every major country on the face of the earth. i would say at that time ali was perhaps the most beloved citizen other than the pope. i set out to really educate them as to who ali was, because their feeling was that he was a draft-dodger. i said, no, he wasn't a draft-dodger. he risked everything, his name, everything, he risked losing his license to box going forward, he risked everything because he believed the war in vietnam was

terrible. and he stood for it. so in any case, finally said to me, well, maybe you're right. do you think that ali guy would be available? he lit up like a christmas tree. i wasn't in the room, but that's how they referred to it, like a christmas tree. he never rehearsed it with that flame moving by and everything else. the night of opening ceremony, if you look at it, you could see that he was so committed to doing it and doing it right that the flames were coming back and licking the backside of his hands and everything like that, and he held on until he was sure it was lit. and the rocket that was going to carry the fire up to the cauldron got going. >> i'm so glad you made that moment happen. it didn't take place during the games itself, but it's to me the most extraordinary moment in

olympic history at the opening ceremony. it's just one of the stories in a new memoir called "from saturday night to sunday night: my 40 years of laughs, touchdown, and tv." so many great stories in there. dick ebersol, thanks so much. congratulations on the book. >> thank you. >> good to see you. >> thank you. >> right back with more "morning joe". ♪♪ giorgio, look. the peanut butter box is here. ralph, that's the chewy pharmacy box with our flea and tick meds. it's not peanut butter. i know, i know.

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