i'm ayman mohyeldin along i'd yasmin vossoughian and louis burgdorf.arvey will make landfall once again as some towns on the edge have measured 50 inches of rain. with the president's and first lady's visit yesterday, the situation became more dire for many in the city and across south texas. in all, there have been nearly 19,000 water rescues across south texas as of last night. the death toll has climbed once more, now to nine. but images are circulating across social media. along those killed, houston police officer sergeant steve perez. the chief of police spoke about how he died and how he lived yesterday. >> unfortunately, in the darkness, sergeant perez drove understand an underpar about 16 1/2 feet. drove into the water. and he died in a flood. so, we couldn't find him. and once our team got there, it was too treacherous to go under and look for him. so, we made a decision to leave officers there waiting until the morning. because as much as we wanted to recover him last night, we could not put more officers at risk. in our hearts it was a reco

i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin. it is the bottom of the hour.rning's top stories, white house special adviser jared kushner set to arrive in israel later today to kick off a series of meetings on mideast peace talks. kushner scheduled to meet by prime minister benjamin netanyahu tomorrow and mahmoud abbas separately. kushner met privately with. >>> and general joseph said that the surge could happen in days. >>> and in phoenix, four people have been arrested during otherwise peaceful rallies that erupted in chaos. police used a combination of smoke bombs and pepper bombs. the police chief said some protesters threw rocks and bottles at officers while when demonstrators even tossed their own gas canisters. >>> new details in a fallout from the president and a top republican in the senate. nbc news has not verified "the new york times" details of a profanity laced phone call between mitch mcconnell. during the call which trump initiated august 9th at this new jersey golf club, the president accused mcconnell of bungling the health care issue. and

alongside ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf. it's the bottom. hour.rt with the morning's top story. president trump once again facing criticism on his latest comments on the violence in virginia. the president replacing words ever unity, reverting back to his claim that both sides were responsible for the violence. >> and some appear to defend the president. hallie jackson was there and found herself in a heat the exchange with the president. take a listen. >> reporter: a defining moment in donald trump's presidency. >> you look at both sides. i think there's blame on both sides. i have no doubt about it. and you don't have any doubt about it either. >> reporter: the president unfiltered and defiance. responding to criticism of his comments condemning the charlottesville attack. >> what about the alt-left? do they have any semblance of guilty i think they do. >> reporter: both protesters and counterprotesters came ready for a ists who came in force. it's one of those who plowed into heather heyer. >> you had some very violent people in that group but

there's no one more excited about this story than ayman mohyeldin. >> sad morning.is burgdorf and ayman mohyeldin. >> believe me, we have plenty of anarchists. they don't want to talk about the anarchists. >> a wound inflicted upon a single member of our community. they've got clubs and everything. antifa. >> is a wound inflicted upon us all. >> it

i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin and louis burgdorf, "morning joe" starts right now.ning. it's friday august 18th. welcome to "morning joe." with us we have kasie hunt, rick stengel joining willie, joe and me. viewers may find the following footage disturbing. it is. at least 13 people are dead. more than 100 injured, many seriously after a person drove a rental van through a crowded pedestrian plaza in the heart of barcelona, spain's second largest city. three people have been detained relating to the attack, though police say none of them are the driver, who remains at large. isis has claimed responsibility but as if often the case has offered no proof. one person was killed, several more injured on wednesday night following an explosion in the town about 125 miles

i'm yasmin vossoughian along with ayman mohyeldin. now. ♪ >>> good morning. welcome to "morning joe." there's so much to get to this morning. in storm battered texas, a chemical plant that officials feared with catch fire has endured several explosions. >> and president trump said that the time for talk is over. but does secretary mattis disagree. >> and the russian investigation now has a new york twist. and a focus group of supporters told the president to chill out, quit tweeting, as his poll numbers take another dive. >> the political stories are significant. >> what we're finding out

i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside louis burgdorf and ayman mohyeldin.right now. >> i think the reason that what happened to heather has struck a cord is because we know that what she did is achievable. we don't all have to die. we don't all have to sacrifice our lives. they tried to kill my child to shut her up. well, guess what, you just magnified her. [ applause ] >> i don't want this to die. this is just the beginning of heather's legacy. that's how you're going to make my child's death worthwhile. i'd rather have my child but, by golly, if i got to give her up, we're going to make it count. >> and with that the mother of heather heyer, the 3 32-year-ol woman killed in charlottesville. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." with us, mike barnicle, associate editor of "the washington post," eugene robinson and katty kay in washington. >> that was amazing, wasn't it? >> i stopped everything i was doing to listen to what that mother had to say, and i was so grateful for her. >> you know, in a time where character is so lacking and seems to be nowher

there's no one more excited about this story than ayman mohyeldin. >> sad morning. i'm yasmin vossoughian along with louis burgdorf and ayman mohyeldin. >> believe me, we have plenty of anarchists. they don't want to talk about the anarchists. >> a wound inflicted upon a single member of our community. they've got clubs and everything. antifa. >> is a wound inflicted upon us all. >> it is time to heal the wounds. >> it's a very dishonest media, right there. i really believe they don't like our country. >> when one part of mamerica hurt, we all. >> when one citizens suffers an injustice, we all suffer. >> i went to better schools than they did. i was a better student than they were. >> we are one home with one flag. >> i hit everything, the white supremacists and neo-nazi, i got them all. >> kkk, i got them all. >> there is no challenge too great for us to conquer. >> the on people giving a platform to these hate groups is the media itself. >> wow. welcome to "morning joe." you know, for over a year now there have been people that have been saying you should not try

i'm yasmin vossoughian along louis burgdorf and ayman mohyeldin. "morning joe" starts right now. >> this has been a total cooperative effort. we will see you soon. had is historic, it's epic, but it happened in texas and texas can handle anything. thank you all, folks. thank you. thank you. >> good morning. >> that is some product placement right there, the president pushing his own line. >> apparently there is a white house press release that has a link to buy that hat. so good news if you're in hurricane zone, you can get the hat. >> and he's also wearing that while they put the link on the web site. it's called product placement. >> harvey made landfall once again. some towns have measured 51 inches rain. since the storm began and the situation has become more dire for many in the city and across south texas. as of last night there have been nearly 19,000 water rescues across texas. the death toll has now climbed to nine confirmed but the images of the missing are circulating across social media. among those killed was a houston police officer,

i'm yasmin vossoughian alongside ayman mohyeldin, who is going to be a rich man pretty soon. >> "the washington post," cnn, which is so pathetic, their ratings are going down. abc this morning, they have little george stephanopoulos. these are really, really dishonest people and they don't like our country. and i don't believe they're going to change. that's why i do this. if they would change, i would never say it. the only people giving a platform to these hate groups is the media itself and the fake news. >> welcome to "morning joe," what we were talking about yesterday morning, the president follows up a scripted speech one day with an absolute disaster the next, a rhetorical disaster, not only for this country and also just because he'll never understand it, his long-term political health. frank luntz, who spent a lot of time during the campaign, he teed trump doesn't just criticize the media more than he criticizes neonazis, he criticizes them more than actual islamist terrorists. it's not just that. if you look at who he praised last night, brian fallon's, hillary clinton's sp