citizen, hugh evans, thanks so much for being with us. and congratulations for the great work that you and the organization continue to do. we greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you, joe. thank you so much. it is the tom of the fourth hour of "morning joe," 6:00 a.m. on the west coast, 9:00 a.m. on the east coast. we've got a lot to get to this hour, including a new report showing president biden is getting judges confirmed at a quicker pace than former president trump did in his record-setting term. plus, one prominent house republican says there is a lot of pressure on the party to impeach president biden if they retake control of congress. it's unclear, though, if party leaders know what the charges would be. and protests continue for the tenth straight night in iran with no signs of slowing down after the death of a young woman in police custody. we'll have a live report from tehran from one of the few

western reporters actually inside the country. >> look at the unrest going on in iran right now, the unrest in russia right now. >> yeah. >> people say they've never seen protests at this scale. it's getting serious. >> a lot of mothers getting out there. they don't want their sons being dragged off to war. we begin with a new development on the war in ukraine. volodymyr zelenskiy is accusing russia of nuclear blackmail and says he does not think president vladimir putin is bluffing, this as the u.s. announced an additional $457 million in civilian assistance to ukraine. nbc news foreign correspondent erin mclaughlin has more. >> reporter: days after russian president vladimir putin issued a thinly veiled nuclear threat, u.s. officials sending a message of their own. >> if russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for russia. the united states will respond

decisively. >> reporter: that warning coming the same weekend that outrage, fear, and brutality swept across russia, protesters railing against putin's new call to send hundreds of thousands to of reservists to the front line, the response growing violent. a man shot the military commissar at point-blank range. a growing number of russian men trying to dodge the draft orders any way they can. this man fled to finland, which has open borders. >> i don't want to participate in this war. >> reporter: and in russian-occupied areas of ukraine, what the west is calling a sham referendum. russian soldiers monitoring ballot boxes and the local population terrified that showed russia illegally annexed their cities, they could be forced to the front line to fight against their homeland. nbc news has spoken to one person living in occupied kherson who described total fear

and panic. everyone is planning their way out, they told us, although men aged 18 to 35 are not being allowed to leave. the potential land grab and mobilization of reservists meant to bolster russian forces after ukraine's effective counteroffensive in the northeast. ♪♪ inside this bombed-out ukrainian church, a clear sign the ukrainians have russian troops on the run. the russians used this church as a staging area and field hospital. they left behind stretchers, boxes. it's very clear looking around here when they left, they left in a hurry. and with russians on the defensive, there are growing concerns about what they might do next and what the u.s. response might be. >> nbc's erin mclaughlin with that report. joining us now, former senior operations officer with the cia, now an nbc news national

security and intelligence analyst. good to have you on, mark. >> thanks for being with us. we talked earlier this morning about how most major op-eds that were in "the new york times" and "the washington post," "financial times," "wall street journal," focused on the growing nuclear threat coming out of russia. obviously, vladimir putin upping the stakes as his army continues the struggle, some would say collapse. you've obviously been a cia agent most of your adult life. how in the world do you assess -- how does the cia -- how does our intel community assess such threats when the stakes obviously are so extraordinarily high? >> sure, joe. so, i think there's a really important point to make here. i think we have to rely on u.s. intelligence now to really assess whether vladimir putin is bluffing or not. in my view, the u.s.

intelligence community will be laser focused on russia's kind of arc and land-based tactical nuclear delivery systems. there will be an incredible amount of collection on this. on a good note, to date, and u.s. officials have been clear on this, we haven't seen any movement, we haven't seen russian officials discussing this. so there really is going to be a focus on this. and because we haven't seen anything, i still think there's room to operate now. i still think we should continue our support of the ukrainian military and ukrainian people and also perhaps increase it, too, because we haven't seen any movement. the question is what happens if you do see something, russian military officials discussing the use of tactical nuclear weapons? i think we're going to see at that point what happened in the beginning of the war. this was what we called the authorized intelligence disclosures, the declassification in different terms than what we've talked about in the last few weeks, but it would show what russia is doing and put an enormous amount

of pressure on their erstwhile allies, china and india, and neither wants to see russia go down this road. the administration was correct on what they've done in the last couple days and weeks and announced in the press over the weekend, warn russia of the catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weapons. i see there's space for us to keep going. it's a dynamic situation and we should rely on u.s. intelligence to help us chart that path forward. >> what are your red flags? when do you start worrying? >> would be to see movement, would be to see, you know, collection, which indicates that, you know, weapons have been moved or russian, you know, commanders on the ground are discussing use of this. and those are really the red flags. i think our collection is good enough to provide that. i think the russians might not want to disguise this. we're talking about nuclear brinksmanship here, so putin has verbally stated his intentions. we haven't seen concrete actions on the ground, but a red flag

would be to see actual movement and discussion of the deployment of these systems. >> marc, let me ask you about his allies and also others who have quietly made alliances with them, even if they're in nato and i talked about erdogan and turkey, you look at what was said in kazakhstan, i believe it was erdogan first, then it was a statement coming from the chinese government after the meeting with xi, and then the statement afterwards, all three, if you look at china's statement, you could say throwing shade vladimir putin's way to modi's statement, actually erdogan had outright condemnation for this war he's engaging in. where in the world does vladimir putin go if people who were supposed to be his closest allies and people that are basically quietly putting up

with this, have now turned against him? >> well, joe, you're right. it was not only that summit meeting in uzbekistan where frankly the chinese and the indians embarrassed putin, and in their own way dressed him down, but also recently with the kazakh government and thor is b government, putin's allies saying they would not recognize this. so, he is certainly more isolated. at the end of the day, this war doesn't end by ukraine, you know, suing for peace and allowing russia to keep some territory. this war ends where ukraine bloodies the russians enough putin has to withdraw. you go into what you see inside russia right now with popular sentiment being against this mobilization order. joe, i don't think we've seen the last of this. this doesn't include what happens when these 300,000-plus continue scripts come home no body bags. only putin can decide when the

war is over. the biden administration has kept up pressure. and he's losing his allies across the region and the world. >> mika, the numbers are staggering, what intel agencies are starting to report across the west that putin and the russians have lost anywhere from 80,000 to 120,000 troops. >> yeah. >> either through deaths or being killed in action or being injured. so the situation is nearly catastrophic for russia. >> there are people demonstrating in the streetser, don't want to go, and people leaving by the thousands, leaving the country because they don't want to go to war. also in russia this morning, at least 13 people including 7 children, were killed and 21 others wounded in a deadly school shooting. officials say a gunman who was wearing a black t-shirt with nazi symbols and a helmet opened fire at a school in western

russia and later shot himself. a kremlin spokesperson called the shooting a terrorist act and said president vladimir putin has ordered an investigation. this is the second school shooting in the country in two years. italy is on course to elect the country's first government led by the far right since the end of world war ii. according to early projections, the coalition led by georgia miloni has won a decisive victory. they won just over 43% of the vote, enough to give it a comfortable parliamentary majority. joining us, ruth ben-ghia teshgs, author of "strong men: mussolini to the present." good to have you. >> ruth, it seems far right may be a bit too tame of a description for a party that has fascist roots.

and it looks like the leader who once praised benito and mussolini. >> absolutely. it's important to stress that because she's trying to market herself as a conservative, but there is nothing conservative about meloni or her party. the party formed in 2012 because the berlusconi government before had fused with the existing parliament party and with no autonomous right-wing extremist party, so that's the origins of that. meloni herself was a hardcore neofascist militant, her whole life since 15 years old, rising to become the head of the '90s youth organization. and very important, if you look at the logo of the party, there's a tricolored flame in there, and that was the original logo of the neofascist party that was founded after

mussolini, you know, died and his party was banned. and she hasn't insisted to keep that flame in there because her mission is to bring forth, to carry forth the values of fascism, so much so that a party elder just three days ago said we are all -- you'll hear a lot of whitewashing, talk about her being conservative, but it's important to know who she is. >> you write this about this development in a piece for "the atlantic," entitled "the return of fascism in italy." "meloni comes to power at the end of this month, it will be as head of a coalition whose other member -- were each once the main force on italy's populist right. meloni's enemies list is familiar, lgbt lobbies that are out to harm women and the family by destroying gender identity,

george soros, an international speculator, she has said, who financed global mass immigration that threatens the great replacement of white native-born italians. meloni shows affinity for authoritarian strong men like marine le pen, until recently the lead over the national rally party in france, mell loanny has expressed support for russian president vladimir putin although v though she has mupted that enthusiasm since his invasion of ukraine. the current popularity of mell meloni's party in part i indicates the weakness of the italian ernt left, which has struggled to package its ideas in ways that connect with voters. above all, it signifies an acceleration of italy's democratic back." >> one of the biggest problems in european politics that i was concerned about since 2015 was

the fact if you ever talked about meaningful immigration regulation, meaningful immigration reform across europe. you were called a nazi, you were called a fascist. you were never allowed to discuss, like, for instance, what merkel did in germany, what happened in sweden with 40,000 syrian refugees, and of course there's always a pushback saying, oh, things have been great since then for germany, things have been great in sweden since then. the voters don't think so. and, again, there's not been -- you're talking about the center-left, i think there's been a failure in the center of european politics where there's no reasonable, rational way to talk about immigration without being called a nazi. so, we end up with nazis or fascists getting elected. >> yes.

and one of the problems is that, you know, berlusconi, who was in and out over the 2000s, and by the way, one of her partners in the governing coalition, a convicted criminal, and he was one of the first to detain migrants and demonize migrants in all of its government, so the other governing partner, he actually called for, quote, mass cleansing of immigrants. and so when you have -- so this is the problem, when you have such extremes and people actively promoting racist and violence against immigrants, and berlusconi loved to make deals with other despots and made a deal with gadhafi and sent all the boats back, that skewed the whole debate. and when you've got these extremists, it's very difficult to have a kind of centrist option prevail.

>> professor of history at new york university, ruth ben-ghiat, thanks for coming on this morning. we want to turn to iran where, for the independent night in a row, protesters, many of them women, have been clashing with state forces in nearly 100 cities. ali arouzi joins was the latest. what can you tell us? >> reporter: good morning, mika. well, the anger and outrage in iran is still palpable across the country as protests continue to grow unfortunately so that the death toll officially means 41 people have been killed since unrest began. norway-based iran human rights group say at least 57 people have died but say internet blackouts are making it difficult to confirm fatalities. extraordinary scenes in iran where protesters have taken to the streets for ten consecutive nights in defiance of an

unforgiving crackdown. threats and internet blackouts and severe warnings from the country's leaders. iran's president telling authorities they must deal decisively with those who oppose the country's security and tranquility. the protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old mahsa amina. she'd been arrested by the morality police for alleged violation of a dress code. officials released this video showing amini collapsing, but it's unclear what happened beforehand. police took her to a hospital where she died three days later. they deny mistreating her. demonstrations continue nationwide, women leading the charge in a monumental movement. they are burning their head scarves, cutting their hair in public, facing off with riot police, and walking the streets boldly without a hijab despite the massive possibly life-threatening risk. >> this younger generation of iranians, they've lived their whole life in a securitized

state, a crumbling economy, you know, a country's lated from the world, and they of had enough. these protests are shaking the very foundations of the islamic republic. >> reporter: many arrests are being made even during the day when protests are not happening. security agents identifying people they believe were on the streets at night. at least 18 journalists have been arested, many of them women. around the world, demonstrators showing their support for the iranian people, protests in the u.s., france, germany, and canada. in london, there were violent clashes with police outside the iranian embassy. authorities here in iran taking all measures to crush it. the internet all but gone, apps blocked, leaving protesters struggling to upload images of the rolling crackdown. mika, the government has shut down universities as they are a traditional hot bed of dissent. that didn't stop students from

making their voices heard from dorms. women are walking around cities refusing to wear a hijab. this is a sea change. even if the protests are put down tomorrow, something fundamental has changed in the islamic republic, and unsurprisingly, the government here has akutzed the united states of trying to violate iran's sovereignty over the protests. the government here warning washington of a response. guys? >> so, ali, joe here. just to put it in perspective, how do these protests compare to what we saw during the green movements in 2009 which were wild spread, dramatic protests, the protests in 2019 and 2020? how does this compare to those earlier protests? >> reporter: there are a lot of differences. the fundamental reasons are the same -- social issues, a lack of transparency in the country -- but the difference is those protest, they had leader, they

were behind them. these are leaderless protests. these protests are very firmly being held by women. they are the forefront of all of these protests. it really is a women's movement. you can't call it anything other than that. other people have attached other social issues to this. and these guys are fearless, joe. i've never seen such resolve amongst the iranian people determined to reach their rights. like i said, even if they put this down, something has changed in the country, and putting the issues of the hijab back in the box is just not possible. so we've really gone into an unpredictable time for the islamic republic. >> the images coming out are nothing short of extraordinary. ali arouzi live from tehran, thank you so much. we greatly appreciate your reporting. jonathan, the white house's response to the iranian uprising, what are you hearing and what should we expect? >> well, we've heard from

president biden last week on this. he staid during his major speech the united nations general assembly that the united states supported the protesters and their right to do so. they will be behind them. we heard similar sentiments from jake sullivan over the weekend, and the treasury department, therefore, the biden administration, had sanctioned this morality police, who had the initial encounter that led to that woman's death. the u.s. so far very much supporting them. marc, i want to bring you in on this topic as well. this is obviously a potential tinder box there. we know the destructive role iran plays in the region. what's your assessment of what you're seeing here? it comes of course against the backdrop of attempts seemingly failing to restart the iran nuclear deal. where do you think this goes from here? what are your concerns? >> sure, jonathan. first of all, i'm as inspired as anyone else. this is extraordinary.

as noted before, it's a woman's movement. to see the bravery of individuals on the street is absolutely -- absolutely extraordinary. i found myself riveted following social media on this. i think that ultimately, you know, for the united states, as president biden likely is saying what are our policy options here, you know, first and foremost, there's a long history of the u.s. and iran. woe g back to the u.s. support of the sha and the iranian revolution. we have to be careful, but first and foremost, as biden will be asking his national security council what to do, there's talk about sanctions on the morality police, but it's the idea of keeping the internet open, whether that's u.s. government attempts or private sector attempts. we've talked about elon musk saying his starlink service is open for iran. that flow of information is critical. iran is super complicated right now. we're in the midst of negotiating a nuclear deal with all the kind of ups and downs on that. you have the iranian

intelligence service trying to kill former trump administration officials on the street, the continued kind of iranian interference as a bad actor in the region, and now you see crackdowns on women there. ultimately, i think that the biden administration is going to kind of press forward on trying to open up the internet, but, you know, kind of the big picture in iran, if you talk about it in foreign policy circles, has to do with the nuclear deal, and i think that, for all intents and purposes, is dead right now. >> i was going to say how do we negotiate a country trying to kill former secretaries of state and former national security advisers? how do we negotiate a country like that? >> so, you know, first of all, i think, you know, in terms of whether we do this or not, i think i agree with you, we shouldn't, but it's almost impossible. there's a lot of democratic opposition to a nuclear deal. anything in terms of moving forward on that, if there were

to be any movement, it would be after the midterms. iran is just -- they first and foremost can't be trusted. we don't have trust with them. >> former cia senior officer, thank you very much for being on this morning. coming up, the republicans outline their vision for the country if they retake the house. we'll show you president biden's response to kevin mccarthy's claims that republicans are the party of election integrity. >> and of course the electric cord of liberty. ♪ ♪

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28 past the hour, a live look at los angeles for you this morning. house minority leader kevin mccarthy eyeing the speaker's gavel for the republicans taking back the house in november announce on friday the party commitment to america. >> on that very first day we're sworn in, you'll see that it all changes because on our very first bill, we're going to repeal 87,000 irs agents. our job is to work for you, not go after you. our job is to make america stronger. we believe america's more than a country, america's an idea. we can secure our border.

we can become energy independent where your price of gas is lower. we can build an education system that has a parents bill of rights, that you have a say in your kids' education. and we could be a check and balance to rein in this government that's going after the individuals. >> i don't even know where to begin. president biden did. he responded to mccarthy at an event on friday. >> after opposing and obstructing everything we tried to do to stop progress from the last two years, the house minority leader, kevin mccarthy, went to pennsylvania and unveiled qua he calls a commitment to america. that's a thin series of policy goals with little or no detail that he says republicans will pursue if they regain control of the congress. in the course of nearly an hour, here's a few of the things we didn't hear. we didn't hear him mention the

right to choose. we didn't hear him mention medicare. we didn't hear him mention social security. with a straight face, kevin mccarthy says the maga republic can restore faith in our elections. as we say in my faith, bless me, father, for i have sinned. restore faith in our elections? maga republicans refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election, and 81 million people voted democrat for president biden. even though they lost, they lost court case after court case after court case after court case after court case, even in front of trump-appointed judges, and recount after recount proved the results were accurate. it's become a litmus test in their party to place loyalty to

donald trump by buying into the big lie. in this 46 days, democracy on the ballot, americans will have to choose between the maga republican platform who have embraced extremism and the big lie, democrats and independents and mainstream republicans who believe in the rule of law, rejecting the will of the people and accepting the results of a fair and free election is what we're about, not what they're about. >> let's bring in white house reporter for politico and "morning joe" senior contributor eugene daniels. eugene, has there been more response to kevin mccarthy's speech? the president certainly had a strong one. >> yeah. mika, you talk to people here and they feel like these kinds of things, these kind of details from house republicans on what they would want to do if they were to take over the control of the congress is actually helpful for democrats and this white house to be able to use those

things. it's not just the theoretical conversation of what democrats think republicans would do. this lines it out. and, you know, there weren't a lot of details in the plan that the house republicans put forth. that is often the case with these kinds of things. but what we did hear a lot of was a lot of the cultural war issues, doubling down on things we've heard republicans and. conservatives talk about for a really long time, things like abortion, things like more access to guns instead of less, and those out of step with where a lot o party is. we've seen piece of evidence after piece of evidence especially on abortion and dobbs this year that american people want more people to be able to have more access to abortion. this is the house republicans doubling down on a certain segment of the republican party and hoping that's enough to get them revitalized to come out to vote. democrats don't think that's going to work. they point to the 1994, that

midterm election where they sought release from the republican party and the commitments to america, promises type of things. what ended up happening was clinton being re-elected. they are hopeful they'll be able to use these things to do that for the midterms. >> so, yesterday on "meet the press," republican congresswoman nancy may from south carolina, had to say about whether the republicans would move to impeach president biden if they retake the house. >> do you expect an impeachment vote against president biden if republicans take over the house? >> i believe there's a lot of pressure on republicans to have that vote, to put that legislation forward, and to have that vote. i think that is something that some folks are considering. >> jonathan lemire, is the white house preparing for that to happen if democrats lose control of congress in november?

>> they are certainly preparing for a wave of investigations and potentially even that. they've had some hires in recent months, mika, lawyers, preparedness, aknee that dunn came back to the house in part to prepare for this eventuality, of course a longtime democratic star and strategist. and this is something they are bracing for. even if the republicans don't go all the way to impeaching president biden, they thought they might try to impeach cabinet members, we'll be hearing hunter biden's name over and over, of course subject to a criminal investigation right now, but also republicans, if they have the power of subpoena, are going the make him an ever-present headline. but eugene daniels, there are some, sort of a split reaction on how this could play out. obviously no one wants to be investigated. obviously an impeachment would be terrible and unwarranted. of course if the president's son

was ensnared in all of this, that would be very difficult on him and the family as well. that said, if republicans have the house, it could be a useful foil for a democratic president who is going to seek re-election, particularly if democrats keep the senate. we should note not just nancy's comments but when kevin mccarthy was talking just then, looming over his shoulder marjorie taylor greene, right in the crowd, right there. the democrats will focus just not on the republicans in charge but the crazy republicans. >> reporter: that's absolutely right. talking about maga republicans, they've been doing that far long time. so you can see how easily they could use that during the time where, you know, there's a speaker of the house named kevin mccarthy next year. when you talk to folks, like you said, of course they don't want to be investigated, it takes up a lot of time, resource, money, especially for some of the folk who is maybe don't have big book deals they signed years before and lots of millions of dollars. so it is difficult for a white house. but at the same time, they know

they're going to be able to use that to get democrats more worried about what republicans are going to do. again, not just theoretical but now they're already doing it. they're investigaing impeaching president biden for what? nothing. that is what they're going to say. and that is -- when you talk to republicans and ask them, okay, what do you want to impeach him on, the kind of things they talk about are things that aren't always based in fact. they talk about the election being stolen, they talk about his son, hunter, quite a bit, and talk about the cdc. this will be investigation after investigation if republicans take over the house. but you're also going to see a democratic party a lot more on the offensive even after the midterm. >> politico's eugene daniels, thank you. we're happy to mention eugene has been named the next president of the white house correspondents association. you're taking over in 2024. congratulations. we're grateful for you. all right.

up next, former president trump often points to his record number of judicial appointments as one of his key accomplishments. but now there appears to be a very good chance he will be second to joe biden. plus, action on voting machines after people working for a pro-trump attorney got access to software used statewide. i've always had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, you know, insomnia. but then, i found quviviq, an fda approved medication for adults with insomnia. and i'm glad i found it. you wouldn't believe some of the things people suggested to help me sleep. nature sounds? ahh, no thanks. my friend's white noise idea. nope. and i'm not counting sheep.

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i like her better than you the new subway series. what's your pick? 42 past the hour. voting machines in one georgia county are being replaced after forensic team linked to former president trump was seen on camera handling the equipment last year. georgia's secretary of state brad raffensperger announced friday they'll replace the voting equipment to allay affairs from conspiracy theorists and election deniers. the moves after footage released earlier this month shows people copying voter data from the machines. raffensperger wrote, "anyone who broke the law should be punished to its full extent.

but the current election officials in coffee county have to move forward with the 2022 elections, and they should be able to do so without this distraction." by the end of donald trump's four years, his administration confirmed 231 judges, marking the highest total of any first-term president since jimmy carter. so far in president biden's presidency, 83 of his nominees to the federal bench have been confirmed by the senate. that outpaces the number of judges trump was able to confirm at the same point in his administration. joining us now for more is senior national political reporter for nbc news, sahil kapur. what more can you tell us about this, and what do you make of president biden's fast pace on this one issue? >> reporter: this is the sleeper issue of the joe biden presidency so far happening mostly under the radar, but it's

a remarkable achievement, getting 83 of his judges through the senate, a senate, by the way, that is evenly split 50/50. he has needed unanimous democratic support for most of these judges. remember all that talk in the trump administration about how he's confirming a record number of judges and reshaping it with conservatives? it was true, but so far joe biden is outpacing him. you saw the numbers at this juncture in their presidencies. the types of judges are particularly notable here. biden is reshaping the courts with historically diverse slate of judges, not just in terms of personal background. yes, there are high shares of black, latino, and asian american judges, and about three-quarters this summer were women, highly unusual, but also in terms of experience. biden is nominating more public defenders, more civil rights lawyers, more labor lawyers on the union side breaking with what both parties tended to operate on, find former

prosecutors or corporate lawyers who were successful and put them on a fast track to the judiciary. the biden white house is operating very differently. the question is whether this pace will continue. it's far from clear that it will. so much of this will depend on which party wins control of the senate in the midterm elections. if democrats hang on, they are -- all 50 numbers are rock solid behind president biden's judges. that project with continue under the leadership of chuck schumer. if the senate flips, it would be mitch mcconnell in charge, the senate minority leader, who is very determined to keep liberal judges off the courts. he's used extraordinary tactics in the past to help steer the course to the right, most notably with the appointment of three conservative justices during the trump administration, and republican leaders tell me they will force bide on the consult with them and make him temper the kinds of judges he chooses, pick more centrist judges that are more broadly access to believe the republican party. that's one of the biggest kind

of untold stakes of the midterm election, the future of president biden's judicial project. >> senior national political reporter for nbc news sahil kapur, thank you very much. up next, the pandemic forced millions of americans to make impossible choices, things like pay the energy bill or put food on the table. our next guest leads the program feeding america, an effort that has grabbed president biden's attention. 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 n your symptoms. latuda was proven to significantly reduce bipolar depression symptoms. and in clinical studies, had no substantial impact on weight. this is where i want to be.

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>> and education for students and staff. in indiana, the indianapolis star reports state lawmakers are considering creating cards that would allow people without immigration documentation to drive. lawmakers on both sides support the bill for a variety of reasons, including quality of life, road safety and economic growth. the bill would reach a vote sometime next year.

and the oregonian conference the first nasa save the world experience. at 7:14 p.m. eastern tonight, the space agency will slam a spacecraft into an asteroid at 14,000 miles per hour. engineers hope the impact will be enough to nudge the asteroid off its orbit. the mission is intended to demonstrate that if an asteroid is ever headed toward the earth, we could divert it. and you can watch it all live on nasa tv. that's an interesting one. this week, the biden white house will hold a conference focusing on hunger, nutrition and health. here's president biden announcing it earlier this year. >> too many tpaeplts don't know where they're going to get their next meal. too many empty chairs around the kitchen table because a loved one was taken by heart disease, diabetes, some of the leading

causes of death in our country. and the toll is higher. it is higher in black, hispanics, and native americans, those with low incomes. the covid-19 pandemic was a stark reminder of the need for urgent, sustained action. as more americans experienced hunger, we saw diseases related to covid. this time we make a real change. >> the event comes as more than 53 million americans were in need of food assistance in 2021. joining us now, the ceo of feeding america, claire font know. the group is out with a new study analyzing the impact of hunger in the u.s. and offering solutions for how to resolve the crisis. so if that's where we were two years ago, claire, where do we

stand now? >> it roughly the same place. we're continuing to see heightened levels of need. demand has increased in fact. and in some places to levels higher than they were even at the peak of the pandemic. lots of reasons for that being true. but the good news is as regrettable as all of that is, these are fundamentally solvable. . >> so, what are the solutions that can happen sooner rather than later? >> we went directly to people experiencing food insecurity and hunger and asked what do you want? they told us. the good news, we can do the things that they recommend. they said what they want the most is dignity, access, health and opportunity.

interventions that we as a nation can decide to solve for later on this week that can really advance the ball in every single one of those areas. and our policies are based upon what they told us. >> and how does the war in ukraine impact this issue. is it making it worse? >> it is. any time there are any pressures on supply chain, as you might imagine, that puts pressures on the american public. that puts pressures on the charitable food system. if you see headlines saying it's hard to get products from anyplace or costs are higher, or food costs more, you can rest assured that that means there are segments of our society who are being hardest hit by each of those things. we've seen that in stark relief in the charitable food system. every single one of those things. a perfect storm, if you will,

has been impacting our ability to be helpful. one of the things that people have told us that they want is that they want more access to food. we are proposing there will be additional foods for the emergency food system. but there will be more provided food through the snap program. for every one year our extraordinary charitable food system can provide, snap can provide nine. we should make it easier to get access to snap. they've said there are all kinds of hoops they have to jump through and they are they are falling through the cracks. we can do something about that. except they want choice. and that there's dignity in choice. we can ensure people get access to the choice they need. again, on the one hand, there are terrible, regrettable scenarios out there. but on the other hand we are well positioned to do something

about every single one of them. >> thank you for being with us this morning. that does it for us both getting over covid, the covid couple will be back tomorrow. joe hey diaz-balart picks up coverage after a quick and final break. coverage after a quick and final break. ever leave your clothes in the dryer and find a wrinkled mess? try downy wrinkle guard fabric softener! wrinkle guard penetrates deep into fibers, leaving clothes so soft,

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good morning. 10:00 a.m. eastern, 7:00 a.m. pacific. happening right now, emergency preparations are under way in florida as residents brace for hurricane ian now barreling up the gulf of mexico and strengthening by the day. this as hundreds of thousands in puerto rico are still without power in the wake of hurricane fiona. meantime, in washington this week, we will hear from the house committee investigating the january 6th insurrection as the panel learns about a