. >> democrat seth moulton and peter meijer join me in a moment. >>> plus, brutally killed in a suicide attack, 13 service members along with 130 afghan citizens. a look at these brave soldiers who helped to save the lives of others. >>> hello. i'm jake tapper in washington where the state of our union is trying to pull off an infinity number of miracles. that's how one veteran described the race to save americans and afghan allies, still stuck in afghanistan. and in addition to the t terrifying situation on the ground in kabul we're covering on this special two-hour state of the union, two other crises, second on the gulf coast of the united states where on this anniversary of hurricane katrina, folks are waking up to horrible news. hurricane ida grew rapidly overnight to a dangerous category 4 storm. we'll talk to john bell edwards coming up. of course, the third crisis, which has been with us since last year, covid. we'll ask dr. anthony fauci about rising covid deaths, boosters and vaccines for children. >>> let's begin on afghanistan. as we learned the names of the 13 service membe

congressman seth moulton, thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you, kaitlan. >> think about both of those men, too. john kirby, retired rear admiral who served in the military for a long time, seth moulton with several tours interact. afghanistan's been a giant part of their lives for the last two decades. >> i do think it raises a good question about is there going to be a period of self-reflection. not just for the biden administration and the choices they made when it comes to execution of this, bull for past presidents and really what we learned here, given the u.s.'s leaving afghanistan with the taliban back in power, and more powerful than they were 20 years ago. >> that's what i was trying to get at with john kirby. he talked about the equipment nonoperable. the fact there is a picture of the taliban inspecting u.s. equipment 20 years after the u.s. went in to get rid of the taliban, in part, you know, it shows you what's happened over that time. >> also, that equipment isn't inoperable. they said they made sure of that. the aircraft, the hum-vs. there's a lot that is

. >>> ahead on "cbs this morning," we'll talk with representative seth moulton on his unauthorized trip to kabul. what he learned there and his response to all the criticism. >>> breaking overnight, the u.s. supreme court is allowing evictions to resume once again. the justices blocked a temporary ban put in place because of the pandemic. they said the cdc does not have the authority to reimpose the moratorium without congressional approval. according to the census bureau, roughly 3.5 million americans said they faced eviction in the next two months. >>> also breaking overnight, a hurricane watch is in effect in parts of louisiana, including the new orleans area, as tropical storm ida gains strength. the storm formed in the caribbean yesterday. forecasters say it's on track to slam into the u.s. gulf coast as a major hurricane. louisiana's governor has declared a state of emergency. ida could make landfall on sunday. the 16th anniversary of hurricane katrina's landfall. >>> covid's grip on america is tightening. all 50 states are seeing high levels of transmission. one of the hardest hi

this is from seth moulton, democrat from the state of massachusetts.ing that everybody needs to understand, even if you completely agree with the biden administration's decision to withdraw," by the way, most americans do, "the way they have handled this has been a total blanking disaster." it's difficult to think about a circumstance where democrats and republicans are coming after a president's exit so consistently. when you read something like that, what does that tell you? >> it tells you he has been losing the support of democrats across the country. rarely do i agree with democrats but i have to say i agree with seth's comments. it's been a complete and colossal disaster. we heard yesterday the president say he's ultimately responsible. he's ultimately responsible for the deaths of 13 service members and 170 afghan civilians. we have service members or american citizens trapped behind enemy lines. first they were told to shelter in place. then they were told to get to the airport. there they were told we can't assure passage to the airport, then

the discussion included messages of congressman and former marine seth moulton, michelle flournoy, and the director of strategic -- strategic operations at the defense department. this is about 45 minutes. i am in adjunct fellow from the hudson institute. i am joined today by a distinguished panel and let me start introducing them. she doesn't really need an introduction but nevertheless, i will offer one up. she is the co-founder of west exec founders.

congressman seth moulton, thank you very much. and to be clear to our audience, you have been calling for this, not for months, not for a year, but since 2014. thank you for staying on it. >> thank you, poppy. >> just amazing perspective from him. he was on the ground. he served there. >> yeah. >>> we're also staying on top of breaking news on the covid crisis. we are learning new details about how effective the vaccines are. meanwhile in alabama, there is not a single i.c.u. bed left in that state. >>> in florida, one of the nation's largest school districts, goes back to class with a mask mandate in place. that in defiance of the governor. >>> also the governor of texas has just announced that he has tested positive for covid one day after attending this packed event. we hope he is okay, and we'll have an update on this ahead. () and open. what happened to all your things? i know you needed a place to study, so... and other times, it pays off knowing what to expect. at university of phoenix, you can count on fixed, affordable tu

we're continuing with congressman seth moulton here in new york. some people asked, was it worth it? i heard from veteran friends who wondered the same thing from time to time, were the last two decades worth it as you watch the way we're leaving the country and watching more americans die, 13 of them, and 18 injured. as you pause to think about it, pause to think about what you've seen on the ground in the last few days, what are your thoughts about the last two decades? >> willie, i'm not going to sit here and try to argue that it was worth it. the hardest question that i ever got as a young, 20-something marine officer in iraq was, hey, sir, why are we here? it's a haunting question. and the only good answer i could come up with was, so no one has to be here in our place. that's not an adequate answer. it's true. and i -- i think that applies to those marines who are out there today. we can debate for a long time how they got into that place. but when i say i've never been prouder to be an american, it's because these young men and women are out

likewise, if you follow national security on the hill, you know congressman seth moulton. representative from massachusetts sixth district. he is a former marine. he now sits on the house armed services committee among other committees and is very active on defense matters. finally, we have the privilege of being joined, -- joined by the director of the strategic capabilities office. they report to the deputy secretary of defense. they have eight technical background. the previous he helped readership position at nasa and the aeronautics development. the topic is called transform and defense for a competitive era. that is what i hope to talk about. we will dive right in and talk about what our defense challenges are. each of our current competition. i cannot wait to dive right in with our panelist here. michelle, i would like to start with you. you wrote a piece in the june issue of foreign affairs as those -- if those in our audience who have not read it, i cannot recommend it highly enough your article talked about the challenges of the department of defense and offered

. >> jeremy, we had congressman seth moulton on, democratic, last hour who once again explained how he's been asking for answers from the white house, not just for days or weeks, but for months on this. and yet we still see the absolute mayhem on the ground at the airport that clarissa just described in such stark detail. how does the white house explain that? what was the plan when the warning couldn't have been more clear, that exactly this could happen? >> reporter: there are several things we heard from national security adviser jake sullivan yesterday that aren't lining up with what's happening on the ground. he said the taliban pro missed the united states that civilians would get safe passage to the airport. as of now, that doesn't seem to be happening, certainly not happening in an orderly fashion. what he also said was he insisted that united states had planned for all contingencies including the rapid fall of kabul. if this is contingency plans at its finest, i don't know what to say here. clearly the inability of people who had papers, including one person with a green card, w

congressman seth moulton, a huge voice overnight with a scathing statement. he said to say that today is anything short of a disaster would be dishonest, worse it was avoidable. and to what the president is going to say when he does address the nation, he has to answer to those critics in his own party. >> no doubt about it. and this is been a date circled on the calendar by the president himself for the last several months. there has been a quiet conversation of how to get the interpreters and others who have supported this effort for the last 20 years and america's longest war. so they have been starting several thousand that have been removed already. but no one was anticipated this to happen as quickly. i was talking to a white house official on friday who was essentially saying they have so much more time. that clearly did not prove to be the case here. so going forward, the president has to acknowledge what he did. but going forward what failures. and the reason is this, the credibility of this administration is on the line unlike any point in his presi

. >> seth moulton of massachusetts , a former officer in the marine corps, talked about the situation in afghanistan and u.s. evacuation efforts. he's joined by richard armitage. this is about an hour. >> good afternoon and welcome to this virtual event. the taliban has taken control of the country. president biden has said that the united states will evacuate americans, afghan helpers, special immigrant visa holders along with their immediate families. other afghans at special risk for the taliban. it's hard to know exactly how many individuals fit into each of these categories. clearly, it's in the tens of thousands. this is not the first time the united states has been faced with a challenge similar, at least in some ways. in 1975, the ford administration evacuated more than 100,000 vietnamese refugees to the united states via guam. the u.s. rescued people from kosovo and albania. but it is a massive undertaking now. today, we will spend the session reviewing the status of the evacuation and the lessons learned from past experiences and where things should go from here. to that end

adding to that list, your right to mention seth moulton. also adam schiff, he is saying it's unlikely, adam smith also democrat says it's very unlikely . kevin mccarthy, l possible way . brad jerman, a present saying you're not quite get everybody out and this is just handful of people acknowledging reality. on friday, he looked into the camera in made the commitment quote we will get you home to america. he went even further and said quote, we are making the same commitment too. that was friday he'll be out this week in that commitment ha gone by the wayside. there is no transparency here i the meantime as you watch the pentagon rethink, they have a detailed percentage list of the members of our military who are vaccinated point by point, branch by branch, but they can still not tell us the number of americans caught in afghanistan. it is as stunning communication catastrophe all the way across from the pentagon come into the state department right on down to the white house. >> i want to drill down on that a bit because when people leave

democrat seth moulton and republican peter meyer both military vets said they flew to kabul to conduct oversight of evacuation efforts but they did not give advanced notice to house leadership or the defense department triggering swift and fierce blowback. the pentagon calling their trip an unhelpful distraction. >> nick paton walsh is live in doha for us. and the president made an admission that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago, completing the mission is dependent on cooperation from the taliban and you have new reporting this morning about whether they really are cooperating, don't you. >> reporter: yeah, i mean, look, important to point out it is an exceptionally chaotic situation around the airport right now even when the best of planning comes off. and it is quite clear that this is the final phase with the 31st of august deadline being stuck to. we have in a very tight window for the remaining desperate afghans to get on to the base. i understand some of that is occurring through kind of negotiated access with taliban who are running the southern side of the airport. r

one of them is with us, congressman seth moulton of mon massachusetts.ink about state of play. does he thinks these attacks are going to be repeated? next. there's no other snack like a planters cashew. what else can go from your car's cup holder to a crystal bowl and seem equally at home? i guess the most well-rounded snack isn't round at all. it's more cashew-shaped. planters. a nut above. you need an ecolab scientific clean here. and here. which is why the scientific expertise that helps operating rooms stay clean now helps the places you go too. look for the ecolab science certified seal. baaam. internet that doesn't miss a beat. that's cute, but my internet streams to my ride. adorable, but does yours block malware? nope. -it crushes it. pshh, mine's so fast, no one can catch me. big whoop! mine gives me a 4k streaming box. -for free! that's because you all have the same internet. xfinity xfi. so powerful, it keeps one-upping itself. can your internet do that? >>> while u.s. forces are racing to get as many people out of afghanistan as possible, ear

you traveled there with congressman seth moulton from massachusetts. how did it come to pass? >> thank you, bret. both seth and myself have been actively engaged on what's called the special immigrant visa issue. those were visas in a program for individuals who had loyally served the united states in places like iraq and afghanistan. there have been tremendous backlog of these cases and in april, when president biden announced that he was continuing the initial plan for withdrawal, that started under president trump. we urged the administration to address this backlog. we had to know what was going on on the ground in kabul. and we have not had information we need from the administration and realized that we were being lied to up and down and we needed to see for ourselves. >> bret: so, congressman moulton tweeted out today with representative meyer, i visited kabul airport to discuss oversight on the evacuation witnessing young marines and soldiers at the gates navigating a confluence of humanity as raw and visceral as the world has ever seen is indescribable. can you put in

. >> oren, we've learned of these two congressmen, seth moulton and peter meyer who right field at that to afghanistan. the pentagon said they had no idea about this. do we know if their presence affected the evacuation mission? >> certainly any time you have two u.s. lawmakers on the ground in kabul, it would require its own security effort, it's own logistics effort once they're on the ground and once the pentagon knows they're incoming so that pulls away from the core mission, which is not only the evacuation of afghans but security around the airport to make sure the evacuation can continue. did it do so in a large way? i think you can look at the numbers and say although it pulled from the effort and was a distraction, it didn't pull too much away from the evacuation effort. the number was not quite 21,600 from yesterday but not very far off those at all. >> okay. oren liebermann, nick paton walsh, kaitlin collins, thanks for the reporting. now let's get analysis. kimberly dozier is a columnist for "time" magazine. colonel cedric leighton is an air force veteran. and counterterrori

host: congressman seth moulton, if you want to watch the entire event, you can do so at our webpage.-span.org. search molten. it will be the first event that comes up. i what. would you welcome -- iowa. would you welcome afghan refugees? caller: yes. iowa has always been welcoming. we did it during the vietnam war and we should do it in this one. i would also say i'm a lot more worried about terrorism from domestic terrorists than i am with islamists coming in from afghanistan. these people will value freedom because they have not headed, and it is unfortunate we have so many people in our own country who do not appreciate our form of government and are not respecting our institutions, and in terms of how bad biden has messed up the evacuation efforts, it was pompeo and trump that negotiated with the taliban, and trump even wanted to bring them to camp david. that is not something i don't think mr. biden would ever entertain. host: stevie is in anaheim, california. republican line. good morning. caller: you answered my question earlier at 4:23 a.m. my time about what other countries

democratic leaders and pentagon officials are upset that democratic congressman seth moulton and republicangressman peter meier took an unexpected trip to kabul. >> speaker nancy pelosi worries. the trip took resources away from the evacuation effort and endangered the lawmakers. this is. >h deadly serious. did not want members to go. we are obviously not encouraging. >> the ip visits. to a very tense. dangerous and dynamic situation in tweets. congressman moulton praised the military effort but said the trip made it clear to him. we won't get everyone out in time. lawmakers from both parties have criticize the decision to end u.s. military evacuateon efforts by august 31st, texas congressman michael mccall says even afghan allies who already have special immigrant visas are being turned away from the airport sometimes more grimly their return to their homes. >> were they behead their family. and then behead them. the pentagon says the u.s. military and allied countries are working as quickly as possible. so far evacuating more than 88,000 people as of the latest update. >> but the number i

seth moulton and peter meijer saying it's obvious because we started the evacuation so late no matter what we do we won't get everyone out on time, even by september 11th but the trip done without authorizatio from congressional leadership or military brass is sparking a fierce backlash. >> there's a call on our resources diplomatically, militarily, and this is deadly serious. we do not want members to go. >> reporter: a white house official telling nbc news every seat on planes leaving should be for someone trying to get out of afghanistan. meanwhile among those desperate to get out, 24 california students who had gone there to visit their families and tonight are still stuck. an american whose niece in florida told us the taliban is blocking her aunt from getting through their checkpoints. >> she is told you don't have a guardian with you you can't travel without a male she's told your paperwork is incorrect. she's given different excuses. >> peter, what can you tell us about the u.s. and these missions outside the airport to retrieve people? >> reporter: lester, the latest operatio

. >> representative seth moulton i -- representative seth moulton of u.s. massachusetts. live coverage begins today at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, online at c-span.org, or, is another free radio app. -- bliss on the free radio app -- listen on d3 -- the 3 -- the free radio app. >> we welcome back to the washington joiner richard besser, former acting director of the cdc, joining us this morning in the wake of several major covid announcements.

congressmen peter meijer and seth moulton traveled to kabul tuesday claiming they wanted a closer look at the situation. the trip prompting a letter from speaker nancy pelosi warning lawmakers that traveling to the region would distract from the evacuation process, but in a joint statement, they both fought in iraq, they say they took a military flight into the country and say the flight was not full and that their flight out included some empty seats. as for that august 31st deadline, president biden says contingency plans were being developed to adjust the time line if necessary but the military will soon have to start packing up and moving out if they are going to meet that deadline, mona. >> faith, thank you. >>> we're hearing from an afghan translator now hiding in kabul fearing for his life. he worked as an interpreter for the u.s. military. he is still waiting for his special immigration visa, also known as siv to be approved. he and his family are moving several times a day to avoid the taliban. >> they killed people. they killed women. they killed children -- who work with any

democratic leaders and pentagon officials are upset that democratic congressman seth moulton and republican congressman peter meier took an unexpected trip to kabul. >> speaker nancy pelosi worries. the trip took resources away from the evacuation effort and endangered the lawmakers. this is. >> deadly serious. do not want members to go. we are obviously not encouraging. >> the ip visits. to a very tense. dangerous and dynamic situation in tweets. congressman moulton praised the military effort but said the trip made it clear to him. we won't get everyone out in time. lawmakers from both parties have criticize the decision to end u.s. military evacuation efforts by august 31st, texas congressman michael mccall says even afghan allies who already have special immigrant visas are being turned away from the airport sometimes more grimly their return to their homes. >> were they behead their family. and then behead them. the pentagon says the u.s. military and allied countries are working as quickly as possible. so far evacuating more than 88,000 people as of the latest update. >> but the numbe

. >> reporter: but he had choice words today for two unannounced airport visitors, democrat seth moulton and republican peter meijer, who flew there yesterday. >> they certainly took time away from what we had been planning to do that day. >> reporter: the two congressmen called it "oversight." some of their colleagues called it a stunt. >> it was not, in my view, a good idea. >> reporter: the secretary of state insisted today that the u.s. will continue to help americans and qualified afghans get out of the country even after the u.s. military departs in six days. but he was intentionally vague, norah, about how the u.s. plans to pull that off once all the troops are gone. >> o'donnell: nancy cordes, thank you. we want to turn now to tour exclusive interview with the top u.s. diplomat in afghanistan. earlier today, we spoke with ambassador ross wilson. he's no longer at the embassy in kabul, but instead working out of that airport. we asked him about the americans still in the country. >> we've been working our way through the lists, and through the numbers. we have, through the state d

meantime, there's criticism against congressman seth moulton and peter meijer. both iraq war veterans. they made a secret trip to the airport in kabul to conduct oversight on the evacuation efforts. but a u.s. official told cbs ws irresponsible. bradley blackburn is in new york with the latest on all of this. bradley, good morning. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning. the clock is ticking on that deadline, and the taliban's grip is tightening. this morning they are refusing to let many afghan civilians head to the airport, accusing the u.s. of trying to take away the country's doctors, engineers, and other professionals. the united states continues to evacuate thousands from afghanistan every day. >> the first hope is god, and the second hope is the united states government to help them to take them out of there. >> reporter: nazar got out just before kabul fell to the taliban and now lives with family in california. >> me, i was working with the u.s. government for five years. i have the documentation i was able to get out of kabul. the people, there are too

had michigan republican members of peter right there, and massachusetts, democrat, reparative, seth moulton, both who sit on military oversight committees. able to come in. definitely made the present angry as well as white house state apartments, but they did it anyways. i want to bring in ned ryan, who is the american majority to get his opinion on why did to members of congress actually fly in. and is this actually an attachment to the lack of trust they have in the information that they're getting from the white house as well as from their own intelligence reports. ned, thanks for joining me. yeah, no, absolutely, scott, of course it is. they don't trust, they don't trust this white house, they don't trust gen pataki to give actual real truth of what's going on the deal, the pentagon, they want to go see for themselves. i think what was actually taking place on the ground. 7080 percent of americans wanted to see us out of afghanistan. there was no argument on that front at all, but to see how badly this withdrawal has gone. and how botched it's been. i mean, i'm seeing reports today tha

. >> massachusetts democrat seth moulton and peter meijer actually flew into kabul.ow, among the critics of their visit, house speaker nancy pelosi who issued this warning. member travel to afghanistan and the surrounding countries would unnecessarily divert needed resources from the priority mission of safely and expeditiously evacuating americans and afghans at risk from afghanistan. now, the two lawmakers said that they flew on empty seats to avoid displacing any evacuees. there is a lot of focus on getting americans out of average, rightly. so but it is increasingly clear that loyal afghans, folks who have helped us for years, some them will be left behind. back to you guys. brian: yeah. thanks, doug. it's so clear even his own aides don't think this time sideline feasible or plausible. he says i want my staff to come up with a contingency plan. real have any you are gradually pulling them out to get them out by 31st and if it doesn't work calling it a contingency plan? you think toy soldiers come in and out wind them up? they're human beings. you are going to pu

brian: i don't understand whether a seth moulton and peter meijer's theory on this.e don't -- the minute we leave, we lose total control of the thousands left behind. if you are one of the thousands, you don't want to depend on the taliban's diplomacy arm to get our people out. the minute we leave. we are done with -- unless we want to just come in and drop a jay dam on the palace which might be a good idea to be honest or threaten it. those people are gone forever unless you just want to write the taliban huge billion dollars checks for the next 10, 15 years because we know they love that. steve: that could actually be how we do it. because there is a big story. brian: drop a bomb or pay it off? steve: in the "new york times" there is a story that the taliban is actually reaching out to former afghan leaders people like harmid karzai people in the government the last 20 years. they are there. we would like you to be part of helping us get into the international community so we can be recognized as an actual country so that we can get the money going again. because t

. >> congressman seth moulton of massachusetts and congressman peter meijer of michigan who made an unannounced trip to afghanistan last week told cnn this outcome was preventable. >> we wouldn't have had to put brands in this position. if we had started the evacuation much earlier and we need to realign our strategic and operational priorities to ensure that it never happens again. and as of now, the white house is sticking with that august 31st withdrawal reporting in washington reshad hudson. >> back to you. >> and back now to the breaking news we're following with the called or fire all of south lake tahoe is under some form of evacuation right now because the fire is inching closer and closer to the area. >> fire officials once again in the last hour have ordered more evacuations around the tahoe basin as crews continue to try to contain the 2 week old fire which has continued to spread. officials say that the fire today was more aggressive than anticipated. we knew that winds were picking up in that area which we're starting to push those flames closer toward the toward the basin in towar

democrat seth moulton and republican pete meyer headed to afghanistan. >> both seth and myself have beengaged on what is called a special immigrant visa issue. both seth and i trying to draw attention to this issue and make sure we are doing everything we can, trying to look for ways in which we can better inform ourselves, our constituents, and our colleagues, in terms of how we can work productively to get individuals out. settled on the conclusion that we had to know what was going on on the ground in kabul. >> lawmakers usually only travel internationally unofficial business with clearance from congressional leaders. they fly on military aircraft and with the blessing of key committee chairs. >> this is at the time, in fact, if we want to do our jobs, it's selfishness. it's trying to get some attention for yourself, and it doesn't help the people that we want to be helping right now. >> moulton and meyer drew a sharp rebuke from house speaker nancy pelosi, and a stern letter written to all lawmakers, pelosi said that tral to the region would "unnecessarily divert needed resources fro

congressman seth moulton of massachusetts is the cochair of the honoring our promises working group and the house foreign services committee. he has a marine who served four tours in iraq and has been a leader in congress on these issues. ambassador richard armitage served as the deputy secretary of state during the george w. bush administration and a roles in u.s. government in different agencies including the pentagon. he served multiple tours in vietnam in the navy. as a civilian, he managed the evacuation of 31 thousand vietnamese before the fall of saigon in 1975. lisa curtis is the fellow and senior rector of the indus security program here. she served 4000 central asia and participated in the negotiations with the taliban. thank you for joining us at this important time. congressman moulton, maybe i can start with you. what is your understanding of where things stand now? second, how did we get here? >> richard, thank you very much for having me. it is good to be back. there cannot be a more timely moment to discuss what is happening now in afghanistan. i said for a long time now

. >> reporter: seth moulton and peter meijer who both served in the middle east have accused the biden administration of dragging its feet on evacuations. now top democrats are blasting their decision. >> so this is deadly serious. we do not want members to go. >> reporter: and, jake, we should note that those numbers that we heard from the secretary of state earlier today do not include legal permanent residents or green card holders. those are the numbers for u.s. citizens that they were talking about, about who was still left and who has gotten out so far. we don't have a specific number on what that includes with those figures. now, of course, jake, remember earlier this week we heard president biden say he had asked the pentagon and the state department for contingency plans if they did not stand by this 31st of august withdrawal. he has now been briefed on those plans. but we are told that you're still sticking with this current time line. >> kaitlan collins, thanks so much. >>> the pentagon reports about 19,000 people have been evacuated from afghanistan in just the past 24 hour

know that we are committed to continuing to assist them in every way possible. >> congressman seth moultonanded cowering in his words in basements, former bureau chief reporting on a woman trapped in her home with three daughters. what should women do right now today? >> you know, the situation is difficult, but we're all working as i noted around the clock to provide direct assistance to people, our military is at the airport. we've gotten about 3,000 people out in the last two days, and we will continue to work to provide assistance to every single person who needs assistants, who we can gain access to. i know there will be stories such as the one that you are describing, we will make every effort to assist everyone. >> what is the future for the women that can't get out under taliban rule? >> you know, we have here at the united nations gotten together with all of our allies and our colleagues to put forward a very strong press statement calling on the taliban to respect the rights of women, to include women in all of, in their government and we will be watching them very, very closely

two of your colleagues, seth moulton in the house, made a trip to afghanistan.earned this morning of that also, and it's troubling to me for the simple reason, the seats on airplanes there, need to be for american citizens trying to leave, and afghan partners trying to leave. we had a briefing around afghanistan and the grave things going on on the ground, and the seriousness with which we must take this evacuation. it's troubling to me that a congressman would come in without telling the administration and taking resources from people who desperately need it. >> thank you very much for coming in. congresswoman madeleine dean. >>> we asked why are you awake. this viewer is up too late. i walked into my las vegas hotel room after playing the slot machine for six hours and didn't lose money. another viewer said, i'm at this hour because my kids went back to school this we're. my days of sleeping in are on hiatus. please hold the rain, bill. message to you. up next, a look at the axios one big thing, and coming up on "morning joe," the first female governor of new

>> that was house speaker nancy pelosi clearly condemning the trip that democratic congressman seth moultoner meijer took to afghanistan. the two iraq war veterans caught both house leadership and the white house by surprise, raising questions about what resources may have been pulled from the evacuation efforts. here to discuss is brigadier general, former assistant secretary under president george w. bush. there's a lot of controversy and a lot of hand-ringing in the white house and the state department and congress about what these two congressmen did. they point out that this is frantic evacuation effort going on, this is a distraction. what did you think? >> i don't know what the history is all about. the commander on the ground, i'm sure he had a couple of minutes to talk to the congressmen. they were on the military side of hkia. so the security's already taken care of. and i think the troops probably appreciated a couple congressmen walking around patting them on the back and letting them know that america cares. >> and there is an argument it's not the one that's prevalent in the n

. >> congressman seth moulton of massachusetts, a former officer in the marine corps, talked about the situation in afghanistan and u.s. evacuation efforts. he's joined by richard armitage. this is about an hour. this is about an hour. >> good afternoon and welcome to this virtual event. the taliban has taken control of the country.

a democrat, congressman seth moulton and peter myer made an unauthorized trip to afghanistan.ow, both of these congressmen are combat veterans. a spokesman for them says the point of the trip was to gather information about the withdrawal efforts to increase their ability to provide oversight as members of congress, but the criticism of them is just damning. i have to put this quote to you. one senior white house official telling you their trip is as moronic as selfish. they're taking seats away from americans and afghans so they can have another moment in front of the cameras. another diplomat telling you, quote, it's one of the most irresponsible things i've heard a lawmaker do. it absolutely deserves admonishment. okay. both their decision to take this trip and this vitupertive reaction against them, i have to ask you to elaborate and explain. >> yeah, rachel. to put this in context, this is one of the most historic air lifts in american history. this is a logistic call fete they are trying to undertake. in that context with which you have thousands of u.s. military officia

meanwhile, the pentagon and congressional leaders have reprimanded congressmembers seth moulton, a democrat from massachusetts, and peter meijer, a republican from michigan, for secretly flying into the kabul airport, draing resources away from the evacuation effort. this is house speaker nancy pelosi. >> this is deadly serious. we do not want members to go. amy: we'll have more on afghanistan after headlines. the united states recorded more than 1100 covid-19 deaths wednesday, with over 170,000 new infections. for the first time since january, more than 100,000 u.s. residents are hospitalized with the disease. florida is having its worst week of the pandemic, with daily cases averaging 30% higher than january's peak. in florida's orange county, children aged five to 14 make up the largest group of new coronavirus cases, with a test positivity rate of around 20%. on tuesday, the orange county school board approved a 60 day mask mandate in defiance of republican governor ron desantis' ban on public health requirements in schools. more than half of florida public school students are now under

there were people as far back as april, congressmen like seth moulton, jason crow, peter merit. myself also writing, saying that a mass evacuation needed to occur. i mean people have drawn comparisons of saigon. this isn't saigon. look at a map. vietnam had hundreds of miles of coastline. afghanistan is a landlocked country. we shut down all of our air bases down. now there's one place to get people out of. this is -- this is -- i'm sorry. this is a collapse of american competence. for an administration that ran and packages itself as understanding empathy and service, what we've seen in the last few days, it understands neither. it does not have empathy for the afghan people to say nothing of the veterans across this country who are organizing to get their afghan colleagues out, and it doesn't understand service because it is squandering the service not only of all the people who fought in afghanistan -- i've never seen so much squandered so quickly since april -- but also is squandering the service of the marines in that airfield right now because it has put them in an impossi

. >> shannon: start with a democratic member of congress was also a veteran, congressman seth moultonthe situation on the ground and what we sent our military back into. >> so, when the president and the secretary of defense claim they are giving every resource necessary and available to this effort, that's just not true, because you have marine commanders on the ground saying they are stretched thin, they need more troops. >> shannon: so, derrick van, you know the situation on e ground, how the taliban operate and think, this is not a partisan issue, we have congressmen across the spectrum saying we need to do more on the ground. what do we do now? >> they may be equipping the troops with everything they need but one thing they will not be able to equip them with is leadership. the biden administration has abjectly failed the united states military, the american citizens in afghanistan, our coalition of allies, and the folks that worked with us in the conflict that i was therefore for two different tours. what we need to do now is buckle down, the entire national security council, as

joining me now to discuss, democratic congressman seth moulton of massachusetts. a u.s.arine corps veteran. he served two tours. this report that americans have been beaten by the taliban in kabul. what else did you learn? >> we learned that a tremendous amount of the success of this operation is in the hands of the taliban right now. that we're counting on the taliban to allow us to get people safely to the airport, and we're counting on the taliban to allow us to continue this operation and not massacre people long enough for it to be complete. that we're counting on the taliban not to attack our forces on the ground. it's extraordinary that we've put ourselves in this position. we also learned that the administration has made changes to make the process go more quickly, including relaxing some of the screening requirements happening at kabul. but, jake, in my opinion, this is all happening way too late. myself and others have called on the administration to start this evacuation months ago. >> right. >> and the fact that we're figuring it out on the fly right now is t

you have two representatives representative peter meijer who is a republican and seth moulton who is evacuate. used up resources that should have been used to get people out. they are full of outrage that we are not getting people out. they took two seats. john kirby said we can't use the resources for you politicians that want to take pictures over here. your thoughts. >> joy, there's a lot of hypocrisy to go around. i would say what those two gentlemen was irresponsible. the administration has asked for no congress people to visit afghanistan during this crisis. one of the things that happens in government they are called codels when congressional delegations come. you have to use resources for the congressmen and women that would go to other people. these two guys had american soldiers guarding them who instead of helping other americans get out or afghan citizen who is helped us get out, they are protecting these two congressmen and then they take the seats when they fly back of people who would come to the united states. there's grand standing and there's dangerous grand standin

but democratic congressman seth moulton took an unexpected trip to kabul and tweeted out it's clear to, not everyone will get out on time. more than 20 students and a dozen parents from southern california are among those americans stuck in afghanistan. >> they are from the home valley union school district just outside san diego. the group went to afghanistan to visit extended family members for a summer trip. the school district is now working to try and help those families get back home. >> they all had passports and everything and they were scheduled to come back on an airplane that flight and everything scheduled and then everything occurred in afghanistan. now we're working with congressman ice's office and directly with him and his team has been absolutely they've been supporting us and we've been giving them information and they've been working to try to do their best to get them of our family's home. >> the office of congressman darrell i said who's in temecula issued the following statement, congressman ice and staff are aware of the location of several american citizens in a

want to get your take on something else we learned overnight, which is two members of congress, seth moultonnd peter meyer made this unannounced trip to afghanistan to assess the situation on the ground. two veterans who say they want to go on a fact finding mission. it's sharply criticized by people in the administration, everything from unhelpful to basically outrageous. i wonder what your view of it is. >> reprehensible, sharply criticizes, too polite. look, the president of the united states who is responsible first and foremost for american national security said the situation is so dangerous that the u.s. military can't stay on. that we have to withdraw u.s. military. so two members of congress, without the support of their leadership decide they're going to bypass disneyland and stake an instagram trip to afghanistan because they want some eye candy for a bunch of constituents. if our nancy pelosi and kevin mccarthy, i would see this a chance for bipartisan ship. both those guys on their committees out. done. and by the way, ask them for the two seats they took out, for all their conc