he and lindsey graham sent a letter friday asking jeh johnson to combat the influx of migrants comingnot a critic of bind to tap jeh johnson, they're asking the president to toughen his posture. they say they're concerned about the spread of covid. they there was no comment from the white house, but jeh johnson will be with us later on "morning joe." >>> joining us now nbc capitol news correspondent leigh ann caldwell, and she's here on set. >> yay. >> let's start with that request from the white house in terms of immigration. we have democratic congressman, republican senator. where does that stand? is there any sort of sense the administration is receptive to this, and right now how much danger does covid pose at theboarder? >> republicans have made a big deal about covid at the border especially on capitol hill when they were talking about nancy pelosi demanding they wear a mask again and then they're putting it back on them and saying, what about what's happening at the border? these people are spreading covid into the united states, but it is a serious problem. secretary quay rar

plus, we'll speak with former homeland security secretary jeh johnson.s and singer jennifer hudson joins us in the studio to tell us about playing aretha franklin in the new movie "respect." thank you so much for watching. i'm tom hanson. have a great day. ♪ ♪ ♪

the problems associated with it that would have credibility in the eyes of congress and that's jeh johnsonere is zero chance he will take that position on. listen. >> mayorkas unstands the problem and addressing the issue. we can enhance enforcement on the southern border to deter illegal crossings but it will have only a short-term effect on the numbers so long as the underlying conditions in central america persist. >> sandra: of course the person president biden tapped to work on those underlying conditions is vice president kamala harris. we don't see her much. where is she? >> she is not at the border and she is not interested. frankly, the people that are pestering her the most are the yeoman's work of the reporting you saw from bill and griff jenkins. the questions you see from peter doocy and the white house press briefing room. these are the inconvenient reporting the white house wants ignored. you see, they count on a problem like this not being covered and without the fox news channel, without those drone shots and without those live shots in mission and mcallen, texas, this is

and i think bringing somebody like jeh johnson, i think you heard me, i said jeh johnson we said we agreeaw. >> all right, democratic congressman of texas says something has to change and the administration's approach to handling the surge in illegal crossings at the southern border. he and south carolina republican senator lindsey graham sent a letter to the white house on friday asking the president to name former homeland security secretary jeh johnson, or someone with similar credentials, to coordinate the efforts to combat the influx of migrants coming through mexico. "the washington post" says that although they say the request is not critical, they are asking the president to toughen his posture. they say homeland security facilities are overwhelmed and expressed concern about the spread of covid. and former secretary of homeland security, under president obama, jeh johnson joins us now. i guess first of all would you do it? have you been reached out to by the biden administration? and what are the issues at the border that would suggest that one with your credentials would be need

secretary, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> jeh johnson, the former homeland security. >>> coming up, the taliban seizes a war chest of american weapons left behind by withdrawing u.s. forces. because we were created for officers. but as we've evolved with the military, we've grown to serve all who've honorably served. no matter their rank, or when they were in. a marine just out of basic, or a petty officer from '73. and even his kids. and their kids. usaa is made for all who've honorably served and their families. are we still exclusive? absolutely. and that's exactly why you should join. yo! nice dinger yesterday what's your secret bro? meditation. every night before i go to bed, in my mind, i go back to a little league game and i feel like i can absolutely crush those pitchers. on a spotty network, this is what stanton, heard... every night i go to a little league game, and i crush those pitchers! little league! oh yeah!! don't trust big swings to just any network. go with t-mobile. the biggest hitter in 5g. this isn't where you are supposed to be buddy. introducin

neil: secretary jeh johnson, former homeland security secretary. go to chad pergram on capitol hill following on all of this. there is very little i guess the administration is sharing with them as we wait to hear from the president himself on this but what can you tell us? reporter: neil, information out of afghanistan right now is pretty fragmentary. lawmakers on capitol hill say it is hard to get concrete information because things are so fluid and fox is told is likely a coordinated event and also an ongoing event. fox is told there may be more attacks yet to come. also it is such a challenge to get information because congress is not in session. so lawmakers may be briefed locally in secure locations. fox is told there were multiple persons with suicide bomber vests on the ground there. the state department this morning reached out to congressional staff with an urgent message, they begged congressional staff to cease directing people to the airport in kabul to evacuate. a fox is told the hill staff we're still sending messages to people tryin

even obama's homeland security secretary jeh johnson warning that the situation and kabul will get a lot worse before it gets better. now joe biden needs to grow a spine, answer some basic, pivotal, important questions. he needs to be honest for a change and cut the crap with the spin with jen psaki. commit that every american is out before you leave afghanistan. why would you leave one american behind, joe? will you pledge not to leave a single american behind? do we have special forces on the ground? are you willing to send them to rescue american citizens who are telling the news media they can't get to the airport? will you commit to extracting our afghan partners, who we promised to get out if this day ever came and you said last week you would get out. and for all the refugees who were rescued, what is being done to vet them? we want to specifics. in other words, we don't have a member of isis or al qaeda sneaking into our country and bringing harm to americans here. and the most important question is this, joe, why didn't you evacuate americans and may, in june, and july watch

but appointing jeh johnson is not going to solve this. deputy under him knows what he's going to do. it's not a matter of the administration not knowing what to do. they just refuse to do it. >> kayleigh: these reports and their whistle-blowers who have come with these claims. we'll see what happens with this ig investigation, but i think that lawrence makes a valiant pointer which is that spirit these are leaks that we are hearing from whistle-blowers. it sounds like there's going to be some cover up here. we will see as a fax comes out, but this is some reporting that we have gotten dribbling out coming out. >> tomi: at least seem like you care about the kids. there's no accountability right over people who work at working for the federal government and sexually bees and children. i would take her lot more. i went to her that you care a lot more to protect these kids. that is not enough. this is a mark to the flame situation. you would a memo to go out asking federal employees to take a sabbatical from the job to go work at these facili

elizabeth: the former homeland security secretary under president obama, jeh johnson, he said that theary filmmaker called facebook an enemy of the state. you also have numerous studies, "new york times," "washington post," saying people are getting mismanufacturing about vaccines, mostly from the internet and social media. that is where the majority of the misinformation is coming from. what is your take when you said earlier you don't want the white house acting as censors here? >> certainly, do they think that it is going away if they suppress all this information on the internet? if the information is on the internet and it is visible for everyone to see, then we can counter that information. misinformation, we know what is being said. i will have people, i think all doctors have been in the position where people will bring in, patients will bring in reams of information or studies off of the internet for them to discuss with their doctor. if we don't even know what is being said we don't know how to counter that information. so i think it is important that it is there, it is out i

. >> this is the former department of homeland security secretary for president obama jeh johnson answering a question about the situation at the airport and what that looks like and what it may look like. take a listen. >> i believe that the situation at the airport is going to get a lot worse before it gets better this is a country of 38 million people. we have got to deal with the american citizens, those who qualify for special immigrant visas but then those who will also qualify for refugee status under our laws. and that population could snowball. bret: worse before it gets better. knowing what you know specifically of the threats that u.s. military are face on the ground, how can you kind of add to that? >> well, i pray that that's not true. but, my fear is that it likely is true. and here's a couple of reasons why. i mean, for one thing, we have an example now where the taliban is dictating to the united states president that he will adhere to the august 31st deadline. and are if he doesn't, they're making threats against him and threats against americans they say we will pay a pric

he proposed that jeh johnson come back. i don't think that's going to solve the problem.nows what to do. steve: mayor can you say says the strategy is working. here is their strategy. there are a million laws on the looks to keep people from coming into the country. of the problem is mayorkas and this administration, they are essentially being very selective about which of the laws they are enforcing. and a guy by the name of tom feely who just retired from ice, he said. ainsley: is he fed up. steve: he had it up to here because trump was trying to stop things and biden not so much. here he is last night here on the channel. >> there is a fine line, tucker, between telling people we are not breaking the law and not enforcing it and being okay with that. some ice officials will tell you while the biden administration isn't telling us to break the law, but they are definitely telling you not to enforce it so, you know, if that's what you are going to split hairs on we are pretty much screwed as a country going down this road. i had a case who the guy was a convicted arsonis

jeh johnson former homeland secretary said things are going to get worse before they get better.the airport it is made december on earth. made december on earth. three o -- three babies born on planes. when americans dom afghanistan, they are supposed to register with the embassy. some didn't. that's their right so we don't even know where they're. they are setting you up to say they are stuck, not our fault. not acceptable. i love what jennifer griffin said yesterday to john kirby said listen, why did you leave bagram air base don't be a monday morning quarterback. no, no. why don't you take it back? you have all this room. it's totally secure. you have all these runways. we know how to use it the russians built it in the 1980s. we built it up until three weeks ago it was ours. take it back. get our people out and understand that right now it is not over. we look like we have lost. we look like we are leaving with our tail between our legs. we look like we are leaving americans behind. we can still show strength right now. back those rebels in the north. get back bagram air base