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included, for only $15 a month. you know, when it comes to our careers, we all feel stuck at some point. so find a mentor. go grab a bite with someone you admire. their experience, perspective, and network can make all the difference. and you might leave with more than a muffin. welcome back to "way too early." it's just after 5:30 a.m. here

on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this friday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. back to pollacks now, and former president trump wants president biden to return to the race and become the democratic nominee. in a truth social post yesterday trump wrote in part this. kamala should be investigated and forced off the campaign, and joe biden allowed to take back his rightful place. parentheses, he got 14 million primary votes, she got none. this latest screed all stems from the vice president's most recent interview with "60 minutes" and trump's false claims the program was edited to harris' benefit. before that interview even aired, trump backed out of his own scheduled appearance with "60 minutes," providing a winding list of reasons why. he has posted about this repeatedly in recent days. to arizona now. multiple republican lawyers who were involved in the party's election litigation efforts in the past are keeping their distance this time around.

this comes amid growing concerns over republican senate candidate kari lake's history of questionable fraud claims. joining us now to break this all down, our resident arizona expert, nbc news correspondent, vaughn hillyard. vaughn, good to see you this morning. let's start there in arizona. the lawyers staying away from this election integrity effort. give us the back story and why they're choosing to keep their distance. >> right, i've been in arizona the last week, just got back here to new york. one of the things i was finding kari lake is very much the kari lake of 2022. she she's a also claiming there are efforts underway using ballots to cheat, keep her from winning the senate and keep donald trump from winning the state of arizona. part of what i founds is there's right now no arizona republican lawyers that are there ready to defend or bring any of these cases on her behalf here. i talked to three of them who

were involved previously in election cycles in 2020, 2022, and of course the rnc has built-up this election integrity operation so they could keep the fraud from happening on the front end instead of litigating it on the back end, so they say. right now those republican lawyers say they've stayed away because of kari's lake's penchant to bring lawsuits. one she claims tens of thousands of ballots were fraudulent in the 2022 gubernatorial election. right now they brought in a high powered attorney but they're currently looking for local council because it's local council that has the one bring lawsuits. really right now it's lawyers saying we don't have the fraud

kari lake is claiming. right now polling has shown her significantly down to ruben galego. he was a long time member of the progressive caucus up on capitol hill. he's really sort of expanded his political, you know, representation in saying he's there to appeal to republicans and independents. and the part for kari lake, these republicans want to take back the senate but they're behind where donald trump is. the question in the last two weeks at what point does donald trump throw his senate candidates off the cliff? and those republicans are not viewed in quite the fond light even he is in some of these

states. >> also raised questions about where polling appears to be and arizona appears to be trump's best battleground state at the moment. we're going to leave it there. vaughn, we'll talk to you a little later on "morning joe." thank you. we'll revisit vaughn a little later. next up here we'll take a look what's driving the day on wall street after the dow hit a new record high following strong economic data. we'll be right back with business news. data. we'll be right back with business news.

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time now for business, and for that let's bring in cnbc's arabile gumede who joins us live from london. arabile, stocks on track to finish the week with real gains, extending recent winning streaks. give us a preview of the day on wall street, please. >> yeah, so this closes out what could certainly be another uptick of the day across the united states. all about the data and commentary from fed speakers as well. the commentary really pointing

around whether you'd see an increased pace in interest rate cuts or whether that would slow down perhaps a little more as well. according to the data it does point to a little more of a slowing down as how quick the interest rate cuts come to the fore as well. those have the earnings cycle, which is what the markets have been looking towards. earlier this week we were looking at banking shares. the banking stocks actually performed much better than anticipated in the third quarter, even though the anticipation was for weaknesses that we would see. but i guess it tells you the story that the actual u.s. economy is faring a lot better than some way have anticipated, and that's showing itself a little bit in some of the numbers. >> so investor attention after hours yesterday centered on netflix, whose shares climbed more than 4% after its third quarter earnings beat expectations. arabile, please fill us in. >> well, it seems that you and i, john, might be interested all

of a sudden paying for ads when it comes to netflix because their ad tier has actually gone up 55%. that service alone set to launch in canada as well, so it tells you they're about to roll this out, and this it is really about to give them a lot more in term of financial backing as well. they've beat on top as well as the bottom line, significant movement there. 5 million new subscribers as well in this quarter. despite all the pressures and worries perhaps these ads and priegs changes may be difficult for consumers, well, for now it looks like not too many worries because netflix is certainly on the up. >> all right, cnbc's arabile gumede live from london, thank you. have a good weekend. next up here we'll turn back to the death of hamas leader yayha sinwar and dig into the impact this could have on the war in gaza. "way too early" will be right back. war in gaza. "way too early" will be right back

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welcome back. israelis today are celebrating the death of yahya sinwar. residents cheered the military operation, filling the streets and waving flags, just hours after the idf announced it had killed the head of hamas yesterday. the families of american hostages still being held in gaza also rejoiced at the news, but released a statement saying, quote, all parties must immediately seize this opportunity to bring home the 101 remaining hostages. joining us now retired cia officer, mark pall muropilous, an nbc news security and intelligence analyst. mark, good to talk to you again. let's first start with this option that got sinwar. reported they weren't looking for him there. it was a bit of a fluke, but it did seem some advisers told me sort of proof, if you will, that these smaller, tactical surgical strikes, little operations more effective than like the carpet bombing we have seen in gaza all along. give us your analysis of what

happened yesterday and whether it will prompt israel to change the military tactics? >> sure. well, first, jonathan, i think it's important for myself and others who used to work on counter terrorism to note that yahya sinwar was responsible for the death of 46 americans, so this was a really good day certainly for the israelis but also the u.s. counter terrorism community. i think you saw that in terms of the thanks to israel reflected in statements from president biden, vice president harris and even u.s. central command chief jen kurilla. this was a reservist unit from a training base that in essence stumbled upon sinwar and two other hamas operatives in rafah. remember this was a location in which there was a lot of opposition both in the united states and internationally for israel to operate there. they did scale back but i heard from israelis who said, see, we had to be operating in that

area. the final point, of course, what happens next. this was high value target one for the israelis, so will netanyahu take this opportunity, perhaps work with the international community on a solution and in essence a cease-fire for a hostage deal? and i think the key dynamic here is that there's huge, huge outcry now in israel. hostages now are number one on the radar screen. >> let's dig in a little deeper on that. i was speaking to u.s. officials yesterday. we heard from president biden and vice president harris as you noted, congratulating israel on the death of sinwar but saying, okay, now's the moment to talk cease-fire. there's a believe pressure on netanyahu from the far right, who wanted every piece of hamas eliminated no matter what happens in gaza, maybe they'd be appeased now. maybe this would give momentum to those who say, okay, it's

time to start winding things down. but that's not quite what netanyahu said last night. what's your analysis where this could go? >> of course. that's a big question. will netanyahu in a much better political position be able to in essence push off pressure from his extreme right and go forward with a deal? i think it's going to be interesting to see if the israeli military and security establishment really push for this, too. after all, they are very focused on israeli troop deployments in southern lebanon. in the coming days i think the biden administration is right, there's got to be a push. this is really unique opportunity. if you look at this strusteejically whereby hamas has been decimated. they're in essence doing open heart surgery on hezbollah. the iranian military is no match for the israelis. the big question here will the israelis take it, and of course we didn't mention there will be a succession in hamas. who's going to take up the reins

and perhaps be less than sinwar was. >> mark, real quick as a last one you started to go there. what do we think is the future of hamas? >> so there are essentially four senior members all based externally. all of them are seen as less hard liners, let's say, than sinwar. one of the questions will be do they -- externally do they have control of the cadre, the operatives inside gaza. to use the analogy if your opponent is down on the ropes what do you do? i think there'll be more israeli military pressure, but the question is who takes the reins from hamas? and will they be willing to cut a deal with israel?

>> i think the biden administration will be making a strong push in the weeks ahead to get them back to the table for cease-fire and hostage negotiations. marc, thank you for the insight. we appreciate it. next on "way too early" a new book revealed senator mitch mcconnell called donald trump a despicable human being after the 2020 election. we'll tell you how mcconnell is now responding and the other republicans that he threw under the bus. you won't want to miss that. and then coming up on "morning joe" we'll go live to tel aviv with more of the latest following the death of hamas leader yahya sinwar. plus state department spokesperson matthew miller will join our conversation to explain the significance of this moment. "morning joe" just a few moments away. ngs that work better together. like your workplace benefits and retirement savings. presentation looks great. thanks! thanks! voya provides tools that help you make the right investment and benefit choices

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i shouldn't bring up tonight? >> don't lie. thou shall not bear false witness to thy neighbor. >> especially their election results. there will be a fact-checker there tonight. >> oh, great, who? >> jesus. >> oh, don't say anything negative about catholics.

>> i would never do that, no matter where i was. it'd be like criticizing detroit in detroit. >> that was kamala harris with a video message to the al smith dinner in new york city last night. harris did not attend the catholic charities event in person. trump did. the vice president held multiple campaign events in battleground wisconsin. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell of kentucky called former president trump a, quote, despicable human being for holding up covid relief funds. that revelation and more is reported in an upcoming book by the deputy bureau chief of "the associated press". he also called trump ill-tempered and narcissistic. about the last presidential election, mcconnell reportedly said the american people showed good judgment in firing trump in 2020, given his, quote, erratic behavior. adding, i think i'm pretty safe in saying it's not just the

democrats who are counting the days until he leaves on january 20th, but republicans, as well. the book also describes mcdonnell's debate over whether or not to vote trump guilty over his second impeachment, the one over january 6th. mcconnell was certain the actions amounted to an impeachable offense, but he wrestled with the question of whether the former president could be impeached. ult ultimately, mcconnell voted to acquit trump. in response to the book, due out in ten days, mcconnell released a statement that reads in part this, "whatever i may have said about president trump pales in comparison to what jd vance, lindsey graham, and others have said about him, but we are all on the same team now." joining us now, special correspondent for bbc news, katty kay. good to see you this morning. let's start there with the book which is a mcconnell biography, his whole career, but certainly these attacks on trump gaining a lot of attention.

we should remember, as harsh as mcconnell was back then, he did vote to acquit, which in many ways, gave trump new political life. then he has said that he is backing him, endoring him, and will vote for him. >> mcconnell joined the lost list of republicans who disparaged trump, including jd vance himself, which he points out ironically in the statement there, and then voted and it changed history. we wouldn't be in this position if mcconnell voted otherwise. the leader knows that, i'm sure. it's astonishing, when you see harris campaigning with 100 republicans who used to support the republican party and now don't and are coming out and saying they are supporting her, yet you still have very senior figures, as mitch mcconnell is saying, who disparaged president trump and have jumped back on

the bandwagon. >> let's talk about al smith dinner last night. an annual event in new york city for catholic charities. every four years, gets a lot of attention. presidential candidates usually show up and trade light barbs. harris stayed back in wisconsin. members of her team said they didn't want this image of her on a podium trading laughs with someone they believe is a threat to the nation's democracy. trump did show up, not self-deprecating at all, and basically delivered what was a rally speech full of really insulting stuff. >> yeah, i don't think there was any benefit to kamala harris turning up at the al smith dinner. i mean, she's much better, as democrats have been saying for the last few weeks, she needs to be out in front of voters. she needs to be out campaigning, doing interviews, doing town halls as much as possible. turning up at the al smith dinner, a white tie event in new york city, again, with somebody who she clearly despises, and i

think she would have found it difficult to be in the same room as him, pretending to be in the same room with him and joking, it would have looked inauthentic. while we have the republican party as it is at the moment, i just don't see that these events of, you know, pretend unity are going to be a thing that's very feasible for either side. >> yeah, unless republicans were really to shift. katty, couple more quick ones. for a while, vice president harris taking criticism for not doing enough interviews. now it is donald trump who retreated into a shell, cancelling "60 minutes," cancelling an appearance on cnbc, cancelling a number of media availabilities, nra event, cancelling a second debate. what are advisors saying about this new strategy? >> i think whether it is because donald trump is tired by the end of the campaign -- i mean, he has been an angrier version of donald trump for the last couple of weeks. apart from the dancing, which

was just bizarre, the events have gone a little haywire for him. is there a thinking that if he is going to do more of the dancing on stage and not want to abc questions because, he tired? is he elderly? at 79, he'd be the oldest president ever elected in the united states. multiple news organizations questioning his mental acuity at the moment. is this the best time to have him out there? the rallies are tricky for him because of security concerns. what are the formats in which he is not going to do exactly what we're looking at right there, that becomes the butt of a joke instead of something that will convince voters? >> you are back from a sold out arena tour of the uk, your oasis. this is all for your politics, your podcast, "the rest is politics. "how is the u.s. election being viewed from overseas? >> 13,000 people turned out in london this week to listen to four nerds talking about

politics, particularly about the u.s. election. we were in cardiff, manchester, glasgow, sold out. the level of detail of people's questions and the level of -- i mean, you know, all the people we spoke to were just horrified and concerned and afraid of what might happen in the united states if donald trump is re-elected. not just if he is re-elected, but what it says about the country that is our closest ally. >> taylor swift eras tour. you two at the atmosphere. katty kay and the mooch, we appreciate it. we'll talk to you on "morning joe" in a second. special correspondent for bbc news, katty, of course, thank you. thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this friday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. we're not going to be gaslighted on this. we remember, donald trump hand-selected three members of the united states supreme court, with the intention that they would undue the protections of