Toughest, most efficient, most effective Border Security bill this country has ever seen. So instead of Playing Politicwise the issue why dont we get together it and get it done . That was President Biden calling on trump in texas. Their message to voters was very different. Plus well go through some of Hunter Bidens testimony on capitol hill as new transcripts are giving us a better idea of what was said Behind Closed Doors. Also ahead the latest from gaza following a horrific scene yesterday, dozens of people reportedly shot and killed by Israeli Forces while trying to get access to food and other aid. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this friday, march 1st. We made it to march. Im sam stein in for jonathan lemire. We start this in texas where President Biden and former President Trump both visited texas yesterday. They torpedoed a Border Security bill last month at the direction of donald trump. Meanwhile at eagle pass the former president spoke little of policy and talked about democrats and complained about the 2020 election results. I understand my predecessor is in eagle pass today, so heres what i would say to mr. Trump. Join me or ill join you in telling the congress to pass this bipartisan Border Security bill. We can do it together. The United States is being overrun by the biden migrant crime. Its a new form of vicious violation to our country. Theres no red state or blue state where i come from. Just communities and families looking for help. This Governor Newsom from california, what hes done is unbelievable. Instead of playing politics, why dont we get together and get it done. Horrible crooked joe is the blood of countless innocent victims. Thats how democracy works, how its supposed to work. We did much better in 2020 than we ever thought about doing in 2016 and lots of bad things happened. We work for the american people. Basically identical messaging there. Meanwhile President Biden reached utto senator Mitch Mcconnell yesterday after it was announced the Senate Minority leader would step down from his position. He express his appreciation for mcconnells years of service. Mcconnell will end his sten yr as the longest Serving Leader in u. S. History later this year. Mcconnells retirement is seen as a consolidation of power. During the border Trip Yesterday the president flexed that power even offer the position of Minority Leader to Texas Governor greg abbott. Its going to be not going to be leader and hes taken that step and a lot of people are calling me to politic for that particular job. Would you like to be the leader . I think id have to choose this guy. Id rather be the governor of texas. Its all going to work out and youre going to end up with a great leader. Now, the race to replace Mitch Mcconnell has already begun. Topping the list to fill his position are senators john cornyn, john thune, and john you guessed it barasso. Theyre all current or former deputies of mcconnell. Theyre all named john. All three have already endorsed former President Trump. His influence on who will take the job has risen sharply since mcconnells announcement. Republicans will vote for the next leader Behind Closed Doors in november and the winner will take over in january of next year. Meanwhile, a group of ten republican senators is calling for the conference to set rules ahead of the leadership election. Theyre asking to, quote, develop a Mission Statement and goals and to set a process to elect mcconnells successor. They want that meeting to happen this month. Joining us now to unwrap all of this is congressional reporter for politico, ursula perono. It is a pleasure to have you on the show. Thank you for waking up early. Some republicans are calling mcconnells decision a changing of guard. I believe thats fair. How much of this decision, honestly, was due to donald trump Who Mcconnell has had i would say a contentious relationship . You know, it is hard to ignore those optics. Theres been a lot of attention on mcconnell not yet endorsing trump. This came in the same week where we see trump again ascending closer and closer towards formally landing that president ial nomination. He hasnt formally landed it yet, but he is the presumptive nominee and also comes after we saw john thune, the last of the three johns to endorse President Trump endorse trump last week. Thune is number 2 in the senate right now, sort of mcconnells righthand guy. Theres a running out of Breathing Room for mcconnell happening right now on the trump issue. Every week hes getting asked about his relationship with trump. But i will say even enow as mcconnell is saying hes stepping down, weve still heard some Senate Republicans this week saying that mcconnell and trump need to find a way to patch up their relationship between now and the election, that there could be problems in how it looks and optics going into november if the leader of Senate Republicans who will be mcconnell through the end of the year as far as things are planned and trump himself are still at odds, not talking. But it could have implications how republicans present to voters but also on fundraising fronts and other crucial things like that, that typically president ial campaigns and Senate Campaign arms would sort of be walking step by step on. Yeah, weve been noticing mcconnell has not been speaking up recently about trump. Like i said a conteng s relationship. Trump notably wept after his wife in very personal racist terms. Lets talk about the three johns for a second. They obviously their the same first name, but what distinctions are there between the three men . What case do they make specifically and individually to be the partys next Senate Leader . Yeah, in a lot of ways they share similar characteristics in that theyve all been involved in some way in guiding this republican conference in the past few years. Thune is seen as perhaps the most trump critical of the bunch. He had been openly critical of trump as i mentioned earlier. He though has recently intorsed him, the last of the year. Barrasso is considered perhaps the most vocally protrump. He was the first to endorse him. Hes a bit bare knuckles. And then you see cornyn whos a really more offthecuff type senator than i think The Other Two here who speaks pretty, you know, freely. Hes got again that bare knuckles style but at the end of the day there are still Senate Republicans eyeing other options. There center been names floated like steve danes, other floated rick scott whos challenged leadership before. And were hearing there could be other names coming up in the woodwork and more people interested so we could be seeing plenty more than these three johns popping up in the next few months. Maybe there are johns that will put their name in it for the bid. Current congressional reporter for politico, thank you so much for joining us. Really do appreciate it. Were now getting a look at what happened behind the scenes during Hunter Bidens Closed Door Deposition before two republican Led Committees this week. Yesterday the House Oversight and judiciary committees publicly released the full 229page transcript of hunters testimony as part of their impeachment inquiry into his father, President Biden. The document, which came with some redactions, addressed numerous topics including hunters laptop, his battle with addiction, joe biden, and Donald Trumps soninlaw, jared kushner. Hunter is trying to draw a contrast with what hes received from the committees and questioned why hes not Questioning Kushner for his own business dealings. When lawmakers asked hunter whether hed worked for foreign governments he responded, quote, i never worked for a country, im not jared kushner, end quote. Meanwhile harb at least one republicanen the Committee Said even though hunter made, quote, absolutely contradictory statement during his testimony, his performance under question would be, quote, read well. I think when the transcript comes out its going to read well for him, because they did a great job prepping for a read. But thats what the reality is. When you get down to it and start parsing the words your, oh, yeah, thats very interesting. All right, still ahead we expect to see former President Trump back in court today as part of his push to delay his classified documents trial in florida. Well have a preview of that. Plus Defense Secretary lloyd austin was in the hot seat on capitol hill. What he had to say about the lack of transparency about the repeat hospital visit. Those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. Check on sports and weather when we come right back whos the chameleon . The most powerful, shape shifting, sorceress. Nothing like anyone youve ever faced. [ Evil Laughter ] i eat powerful sorceresses for breakfast. What is it youre holding . A cookie. Ah one last dragon warrior smackdown. Oh ah were not so different, you and i. Skadoosh. Stand back. Im gonna kick my butt. Violence, violence. We all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10 of us get enough each day. Good thing Metamucil Gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plantbased fiber. With the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. Metamucil gummies the easy way to get your daily fiber. No, my dentures uncomfortable dracula, lets fight back against discomfort. With new poligrip power max hold comfort. It has Superior Hold Plus keeps us comfy all day with its pressure absording layer. Time for a bite if your mouth could talk it would ask for. Poligrip. Is it possible to count on my internet like my customers it count on me . R. It is with comcast business. Keeping you up and running with our 99. 9 network reliability. And security that helps outsmart threats to your data. Moaire dida twoo . Your data, too. Theres even roundtheclock customer support. So you can be there for your customers. With comcast business, reliability isnt just possible. Its happening. Get started for 49 a month. Plus, ask how to get up to a 800 prepaid card with a qualifying internet package. Dont wait, call and switch today former President Trump is expected to be in court later today in florida for a hearing that could determine whether his classified documents case would be delayed. Judge Aileen Cannon asked both sides to suggest new trial dates ahead of the hearing. Federal prosecutors proposed a july 8th start date. Trumps attorney suggested August 12thch The Trial is currently set to begin on may 20th but will likely be delayed because of numerous outstanding legal issues. While submitting their proposed trial date, Trump Lawyers also suggested it should be pushed back even further until after the election. Trump was accused of illegally hoarding classified documents in the maralago estate and obstructing the governments efforts to get them back. Hes pleaded not guilty to the charges. Alabama senator kati britt will deliver the republican response to the president s state of the Union Address next thursday. The Statement Reads in part, quote, its time for the next generation to step up. The 42yearold exceo has endorsed trump interest president. Shes the youngest woman ever elected to the senate and the first female senator to be elected in alabama. It was a combative hearing in congress yesterday when Defense Secretary lloyd austin was questioned about his recent hospitalization and his failure to disclose it to the president and others for days. Nbc news correspondent Courtney Kube has more. Reporter Defense Secretary lloyd austin in the hot seat. It was a failure of leadership. Reporter Hus Republicans Grilling Austin for not telling the white house he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Concerned the secretary could be hospitalized for three days without anyone else in the Administration Even noticing. Either the president is that aloof or you are irrelevant. Which one is it, mr. Secretary . Its neither. Democrats were more forgiving. You want to know what accountability is. Accountability is to sit in front of people in their outrage and their drama. The secretary emphasizing someone was always in control. There was never a lapse in it and authorities are in command and control. Reporter but acknowledging a break down in the process. Although austin took responsibility he also said he assumed his staff would manage it. On monday the pentagon releasing a summary of a classified review that blamed the lack of notification in part on a lack of Written Guidance but also the review recommending more procedures. If any american did what you did, they would be fired. Reporter and the question still remains. Why did it take the pentagon three days to tell President Biden his Defense Secretary was in Intensive Care . That was nbcs Courtney Kube with that report. And still ahead we turn to sports with a big monumental announcement from College Basketball star Kaitlan Clark. Plus the nba Rookie Of The Year title was on full display last night. Well tell you who came out on top. We are back in just a moment. E n top. We are back in just a moment no, my dentures uncomfortable dracula, lets fight back against discomfort. With new poligrip power max hold comfort. It has Superior Hold Plus keeps us comfy all day with its pressure absording layer. Time for a bite if your mouth could talk it would ask for. Poligrip. Heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. You always got your mind on the green. Not you. You your Business Bank account with Quickbooks Money now earns 5 apy. thats how you business differently. Intuit quickbooks. Ugh nope try my old spice you can use it on your pits, chest, and even, your. Toes . [both] oh thats fresh old spice whistle score 20point game or better. He fires, he scores back to victor. Another three. Get out of here oh, my goodness. I just laugh because theyre so ridiculous. Two of the nbas top young scores squared off in san antonio last night. Victor wembanyama led the spurs to win over. 21 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, and five blocks. The dude is ridiculous, totally ridiculous and hes just getting started. This is such a fun, fun person to watch. Elsewhere in the nba the injury playing New York Knicks dropped another game last night. Steph curry and the warriors were in town, needed a big game. And curry finished with 31 points including 8 three pointers and also had 11 rebounds. Warriors won this one easily 11099. It is knicks fans seventh loss in nine games who finish the month of february with just four wins. Rough. So much promise, too. Now to denver in a Finals Rematch between the nuggets and the miami heat. Nikola nuggets never trailed in this game but the heat were able to make it close in the final seconds until he sealed the game. They needed overtime to beat the willful washington wizards. Combined for 71 points in the win. Lebron is now nine points away from becoming the first nba player ever to score 40,000 in their career. He can hit that mark tomorrow against the nuggets. Meanwhile, the loss extends the woeful wizards winning streak to 13 games. Yikes. Tough times in d. C. College basketball phenom Kaitlan Clark is going pro. She made the announcement yesterday in a post on social media. The Iowa Hawkeye Star thanked her teammates, coaches, and thousands of fans who have watched her play. Clark had one more year of eligibility, but lets be frank about it little left to accomplish. Shes expected to be the number one overall pick in next months wnba draft which is held by the indiana fever. On sunday clark is likely to set the alltime scoring record for both mens and womens College Basketball. All she needs, 18 points to break the record which was setback in 1970. Wow. What a career. All right, time now for the weather and for that lets go to meteorologist Michelle Grossman for the forecast. Michelle, what are we looking at out there . Were still looking at a wet west. Were looking at heavy rain along the coast and probably the big Story Mountain snow up to 10 feet of snow in the highest elevations of the sierra. Blizzard conditions, white out conditions. Really impossible travel. Going to see Winds Gusting up to 60, 70 miles per hour. And its really cold in the west. Middle of the country record highs Northern Plains in the midwest. The fire risk does increase and then especially critical levels and as we head to the southeast the wet southeast as well. Dry for now in the north east, that will change tomorrow. Damp to start out were weekend tomorrow especially the midatlantic, north east into parts of new england. Were going to keep it wet, too, in portions of of the north east, scattered showers. The west remains snowy. Were going to see snowfall rates 1 to 2 inches per hour, once again in the midwest were watching that fire danger in theival and southern plains. As we go throughout sunday, the snow continues moving into the rockies where were going to see heavy snow there and record highs throughout portions of the ohio valley into the central plains. 10 feet of snow seems a lot. Michelle grossman, thank you very much. Really appreciate it. Still ahead, funeral for russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny will be getting under way in just a little bit. Well be joined by a democratic congressman who says republicans are surrendering ukraine to russia. Were back in just a moment. O russia were back in just a moment. So this is pickleball . Pickle ah, these guys are intense. With e trade from morgan stanley, were ready for whatever gets served up. Dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. Id rather work on saving for retirement. Or college, since you like to get schooled. Thats a pretty good burn, right . Wanna know a secret . More than just my armpits stink. Thats why i use secret whole body deodorant. Everywhere. 4 out of 5 gynecologists would recommend whole body deodorant, which gives you 72 hour odor protection from your pits to your sfx deoderant being sprayed secret whole body deodorant. Emergenc crystals pop and fizz when you throw them back. And who doesnt love a good throwback . emergenc crystals. Heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. man excuse me, would you mind taking a picture of us . So, heres to now. tony oh, no problem. man thanks. tony yes, problem. You need verizon. Tradein that old thing and get a new iphone 15 pro with tons of storage. So you can take all the pics so many selfies. A preposterous amount of pano that means panoramic. And as many portraits of me as your heart desires. woman how about none . boy none. man yea none feels right. vo tradein any iphone in any condition and get a new iphone 15 pro and an ipad and apple watch se all on us. Only on verizon. Do you have a Life Insurance policy you no longer need . Now you can sell your policy even a term policy for an immediate cash payment. We thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. But we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. If you have 100,000 or more of Life Insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. Dont cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what its worth. Visit coventrydirect. Com to find out if your policy qualifies. Or call the number on your screen. Coventry direct, redefining insurance. Whoa, how did you defeat them . With a little kung fu strength and by connecting my devices to the most powerful force of all. Skadoosh. Hah, huh . Cool right . Amazing. Harness the power of xfinity internet and stay connected to the things you love. Ah, theyll be like this for hours. Hello dad, hello dad, hello da. Uhoh. Good bunnies. Ahh welcome back to Way Too Early. Its 5 30 on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im sam stein in for jonathan lemire. Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny will be laid to rest in moscow today. His funeral is expected to begin in less than an hour. Navalny died in a russian penal colony on february 16th. His mother then spent eight days trying to get authorities to release his body. And was finally granted after she made a video appeal to president Vladimir Putin. Now, the family says the kremlin is trying to block a public funeral, and some are worried that the services will be disrupted. Heavily Police Presence has been seen earlier outside the church and cemetery where navalny will be buried. A spokesperson for navalny tells bbc news theyve been unable to find a hurst to drive the body to the funeral because people have been calling, quote, Calling Mortuaries and threatening them if they accept navalnys body. Still not known what caused navalnys death but certainly western leaders including President Biden are blaming putin. The kremlin denies the allegation. Joining us now is wily nikhil of north carolina. You sent flags yesterday to your House Republican colleagues printed with the message about the war in ukraine. Tell us what the message was and what the goal of sending this flag was. Yeah, the message was really clear. If we fail to act, its going to go down as one of the greatest Foreign Policy failures in our nations history. And history will be very clear in the judgment House Republicans surrender ukraine to russia. That is what is playing out in realtime as maga mike johnson continues to do nothing to stand with our ally, ukraine. Congressman, stay with me for a second because i want to ask you about another story taking place on capitol hill. Congress has passed a Stop Gap Bill that will push the Funding Fight into next week. Under the new Legislation Deadlines will go to next friday and march 22nd. And should congress not pass Funding Legislation by the end of next week, a partial shutdown will be triggered followed by a fullfledged shutdown on the 22nd. The measure passed the house with only 113 republicans supporting it in the senate. The margin was 7713 with 13 republicans voting no. So congressman, its another kick of the can down the road. Where does the Funding Fight go from here . What does another week or two actually buy congress . And frankly, will we see a shutdown ultimately in a couple weeks time . You know, i have no idea whats happening with the republican conference, but the headline there i think is this is the fourth continuing resolution that we passed kicking the can down the road on passing a budget, but its House Democrats who saved the day over and over. The vast majority of votes to keep the government open came from House Democrats, and republicans continue to be at war with each other. What i see playing out in congress is matt gaetz and Marjorie Taylor greene running the show in the republican conference. Im hopeful that were going to get a budget that is a bipartisan budget agreed to by both chambers next week. Thats what we hear things are on track for. But we continue to kick the can down the road on just about anything. I dont know if mike johnson can stay as speaker if he does anything. Well, lets talk about that for a second, try tying these two issues together, ukraine and the budget. Because the issue here is the National Security supplemental, the money biden has requested to fund ukraine, israel, taiwan, and humanitarian aid in gaza. If mike johnson were to allow a vote for that supplemental alongside this budget, the conventional wisdom is that he would lose his speakership. My question to you, congressman, is that if his speakership was in danger for doing this, do you believe democrats would come to his rescue . By that i mean would they vote to keep him speaker as a condition for him bringing the ukraine funding bill to the floor . I think theres so Many Democrats like myself in the senate who want bipartisan governments in washington. You know, republicans have an incredibly narrow and even narrower now weve picked up the George Santos seat margin in the house. Democrats have a very narrow margin in the senate. Weve got to walk together, you know, with Kevin Mccarthy and with mike johnson so far there have been no real overtures to work with democrats on these issues. If there was a deal folks like me would love to hear it and certainly would consider it. But republicans have to be willing to to be part of a bipartisan governance structure in the house. And if were talking about doing things that can get 60 votes in the senate like Border Security and immigration reform, theres folks like me who are very interested, and theres a ton of folks in the center for both parties who want to do that, but so far i havent heard any specific offers. All right, ill put you down as open to it but not committed. Democratic congressman of north carolina, thank you very hutch. Really do appreciate it. Still ahead well take a look whats driving the markets this morning including oprah parting ways with Weight Watchers. Way too early will be right back. Watchers Way Too Early will be right back. For kung fu panda 4. Jack black is back. Ah, youre adorable. Yah, whah this isnt charmin no wonder i dont feel as clean. Heres Charmin Ultra Strong. Ahhh my bottoms been saved with its diamond weave texture, Charmin Ultra Strong cleans better with fewer sheets and less effort. Enjoy the go with charmin. Ah mornings cough . Congestion . Im feeling better. All in one and done with new Mucinex Kickstart. Headache . Better now. New Mucinex Kickstart gives allinone and done relief with a morning jolt of instant cooling sensation. Its comeback season. All right, joining us now business and policy reporter for the New York Times, lauren hersh. Thank you so much. Lets start with oprah. Oprah winfrey leaving the board of Weight Watchers after years in the role. How big is this to the company . The stock was down nearly 20 yesterday. Its trading back 3 a share. Weight watchers in general has really been facing a kind of crisis of confidence, a crisis who they are over the past several years. Focused more on guiding, more on wellness. You had the i. E. Who joined two years ago somewhat embrace the ozempic trend. They brought a Telehealth Provider that effectively allows you to subscribe to these Weight Loss Drugs online. Who is Weight Watchers in the era of ozempic and clearly investors are embattled. They dont know the future of the country. Its revenue was down significantly last year and the year prior. Weight watchers or ww i should say is going to have to tell investors or consumers this is who we are in this age, and its not clear who thats going to be. Yeah, a real blow to the company there but also tectonic shifts in the Weight Loss Industry i suppose. Meanwhile federal data released yesterday shows inflation still on the downward path, but a little bumpy. What does this mean for the long anticipated Interest Rate cuts that we were supposed to get from the fed . I mean indications still seem to point to the summer you had yesterday says he still and stock closed up yesterday, futures dropped this morning, so i think people are generally positive. The month on month data is a little bit hot, but this is not going to be a smooth ride, and i think in general were seeing the trajectory towards summer cut. And finally Saudi Arabias Public Investment Fund in mens professional tennis tour have agreed to a fiveyear partnership. Is this going to be called liv tennis, and secondly tell us about the deal. Are we going to see outdoor Tennis Tournaments in saudi arabia in the summer . That seems less than ideal. It does seem less than ideal. As someone who played tennis i can tell you that sounds very hot. Theres frankly not a lot of details out yet. It wont be liv tennis. You will see effectively the saudi arabia pension fund, you will see their branding there. And thats why theyre doing this. They want the branding, they want the presence. You already have the womens Tennis Organization talking about holding their finals inside saudi arabia. Thats gotten a lot of push back from stars like chris evert. Butioreally see this momentum like liliv golf as you mentioned propelled and its not stopping. The Saudi Arabian wealth fund is keen on u. S. Sports and theyre going to continue approaching. Remarkable to remember the reaction to golf and then see relatively muted reaction i would suppose to this tennis merger. Business and policy reporter for the New York Times and a big fan of Saudi Arabian Tennis Tournaments, lauren hirsch, thank you very much. Still ahead officials in israel and gaza trade blame after dozens of people are killed in a chaotic scene involving a humanitarian aid convoy in gaza city. Well have the details just ahead on Way Too Early. Detai ahead on Way Too Early. Heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. [ ] looking for a moisturizer that does more than just moisturize . Try Olay Regenerist for 10 benefits in every jar. Olay visibly firms, lifts, and smooths wrinkles, by penetrating the skin, to boost regeneration at the surface cellular level. Try olay. When i was your age, we never had anything like this. At the surface what . Wifi . Evel. Wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. The basement. So i can finally throw that party. And invite shannon barnes. Dream do come true. Xfinity gives you reliable wifi with walltowall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. Maybe well even get married one day. I wonder what i will be doing . Probably still living here with mom and dad. Fast reliable speeds right where you need them. Thats walltowall wifi on the xfinity 10g network. The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 100 people were killed while waiting for aid. Happened yesterday morning in the northern part of the enclave where trucks rarely enter. Gaza Health Officials say dozens of people with Gunshot Wounds were brought to the hospital, but Israeli Defense forces say the civilians died in a stampede after thousands of people crowded the aid trucks and tried to loot them. Officials released this video that youre seeing yesterday showing that large crowd. The military did admit it opened fire at the other end of the convoy when it says a group approached Israeli Forces in a threatening mannerch but Officials Say there were no casualties from that. Nbc news has not been able to independently verify the death toll or circumstances surrounding the incident. Meanwhile, President Biden told reporters yesterday the u. S. Is looking into the violence. This all comes as ceasefire negotiations are still going on between israel and hamas. Lets take a listen. Do you still expect a ceasefire is possible by monday, sir . Hope springs eternal. I was on the telephone with people in the region. Probably not by monday, but im hopeful. What is your reaction to gaza city where sillians were killed . Were checking that outright now. I dont have an answer to that. All right, joining us now is former Supreme Allied Commander of nato, retired fourstar navy admiral. What do you make of the violence yesterday in gaza . What does israel need to do if anything about this, and obviously how is this going to impact the ceasefire talks and the Hostage Negotiations . You know, lets take this one at a time. First and foremost, it breaks your heart to see scenes like that. You know these are starving civilians, 2. 2 million people. The aid is getting through at times, but at other times it comes to a complete halt. For anybody picture yourself in that situation as a father or a mother, a grandparent trying to care for children. Half of these people are children. So absolutely heart breaking to watch. Point two, israel is responsible for getting aid to civilians in gaza. Thats war 101. When you conquer an area you become responsible for the civilian population there. So there are im sure a variety of different views of exactly what happened, but in the macro sense because they have successfully, if you will, conquered gaza, they own the civilian population there in terms of their humanitarian needs. Thats a bedrock fact in terms of how warfare is conducted. And then third and finally, this really will hold back the opportunity for a ceasefire. Lets face it, even the president who as we just heard has Hope Springing Eternal is wise enough to know that this is going to bring a pause at a minimum to that process. Final thought, the competing demands here on the Israeli Military are very difficult. Theyve got to number one get their own hostages, number two, take care of 2. 2 million civilians and minimize collateral damage, and number three, fight a war against a ruthless terrorist organization. Those demands often conflict. Lets be clear, the ceasefire talks were already falling apart with hamas and israel having problems before what happened yesterday. So this sets it back even further. Lets switch theaters a little bit. We mentioned earlier in the show that russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny will be laid to rest today. Ap reports its beginning right now. Do you think Vladimir Putin might do something to disrupt the service, and if so what can you imagine him doing . I think its unlikely. He has become the dominant figure and is completely running the table in russia right now. It really began about a year ago or so when Yevgeny Prigozhin mounted a shortlived rebellion against putin. Putin was able to overcome that. I think that was the moment where he really consolidated control over the russian federation. In my view he is absolutely responsible for the death of Alexei Navalny if not with a direct order certainly by circumstances under which he was being held. So point being hes proven he is the dominant actor in russia. He is the alpha leader, and he will simply sit back and enjoy the spectacle of to him of Alexei Navalny, a great brave heart being laid brave heart being laid to rest. Fourstar Navy Admiral James stavridis, thank you so much. We will see you in just a bit on morning joe. Yup. Up next, donald trump claims there is a migrant crime wave, but review of National Public data paints a much different outlook. Well discuss what the numbers actually show. Coming up on morning joe, a tale of who border visits. President biden and trump striking two very different tones along the southern border in texas. What their conflicting messages now reveal as immigration dominates the president ial race. Plus, well go live to moscow where Funeral Services for russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny will be held in a few moments. Nbcs Keir Simmons Is Standing by with the latest. Also ahead, member of the House Oversight committee Congressman Dan Goldman will be a guest following his committees release of Hunter Bidens closed door testimony. A packed morning joe is moments away. [dramaticlly beat] introducing, neds plaque psoriasis. He thinks his flaky red patches are all people see. Otezla is the 1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. Ned . Otezla can help you get clearer skin, and reduce itching and flaking. With no routine blood tests required. Doctors have been prescribing otezla for nearly a decade. Otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. Dont use otezla if youre allergic to it. Serious allergic reactions can happen. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts, or weight loss. Upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. With clearer skin, movie night, is a groovy night. Live in the moment. Ask your doctor about otezla. Heres to Getting Better with age. Heres to beating these two every thursday. Help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need. Without the stuff you dont. So, heres to now. Boost. Can neuriva support your brain health . Mary, janet, hey thinking eddie, no frasier, frank. Frank . fred how are you . fred. Fuel up to 7 brain health indicators, including your memory. Join the Neuriva Brain Health challenge. Turning back to the border. Despite Donald Trumps claims there is no evidence that migrants commit more crimes than nativeborn citizens. A study found in texas, migrants commit fewer crimes per capita. In 2020, other researchers studying texas Crime Statistics also found, quote, considerably lower Felony Arrest Rates among undocumented people. But a recent pew poll found 70 of americans thought a large number of migrants seeking to enter the country leads to more crime. Joining us is White House Reporter for politico, maya ward. Thank you for getting up. I know this is very early for you. I wanted to talk about the border visits. Tell us about the key contrast between the two visits between donald trump and joe biden, and what were each mans objective, and how do they handle it respectively . Yeah, it really felt like this kickoff to the general election rematch. You know, the tones felt very intentional and strategic. You had biden coming out and striking this serious tone. Hes flanked by his, you know, recently impeached dhs secretary, elected officials, mayors, judges, and theyre Walking Around with mics so you can hear his interactions with them. Hes asking, you know, what do you need from me in terms of resources . Im going to deliver what you need, more resources. I know you need more from us. Perhaps most striking, he gives this speech. We hear this new line from him where he says, you know, my predecessor, hes over there in eagle pass. Lets Work Together on this deal. Lets get something done. We need to get something done on this now. Then you have trump in eagle pass, and hes, you know, meeting with the Texas National guard. He is with governor greg abbott, who has become this key figure. At this moment, you know, bugs bussing migrants across the country and amplifying the issue so democrats cannot ignore it. His was very political in nature. You hear him bashing bidn and a lot of the same rhetoric you hear on the campaign trail. Theres trump. Then there is biden where you can see the white house strategy on full display. Theyre trying to present him as a president who wants to work across the aisle. Hes not playing politics. He wants to get something done on the issue. At the same time, he wants to work across the aisle and is extending a hand and welcoming trump to work with him. He is also contemplating a number of executive actions, potentially, though not likely, in advance of the state of the Union Address coming up. Walk us through what is being considered inside the administration, why and what might it do for the Migrant Crisis . Yeah. There are a few things. One is changing the credible fear standard. You know, raising that bar for migrants to apply for asylum in the first place. Another component is speeding up that process so he can deport people faster. The big one that theyre considering and that is going to face, you know it could face legal challenges if they dont figure out how to do this, is an asylum ban in between ports of entry. Theyre talking about this trigger metric, as well, which is similar to the bipartisan border deal which, you know, the president said would give him the authority to shut down the border. I mean, this is going to be a huge deal. The challenges arent going to go away if he does move forward unilaterally. Well see the criticism from the right. Its already started just based on the reports that he might do something, that, you know, why did we need this border deal if you could have acted on your own . Right. On the left, youll see the blowback. If he moves forward with an asylum ban of that nature, especially if it relies on the same statute that trump used repeatedly to shape the immigration system. Theres going to be tension on both sides. At the end of the day, without congressional action, you know, the president is not going to have the funding and the resources to implement these moves that he would have with that bipartisan border deal. That gets me to the politics of this. What is going on in the white house in terms of their Strategic Thinking . Immigration has been a huge liability for the president. Hes under water and has been for a while. Hes now trying, obviously, to neutralize the issue. The flip side of that is hes playing on trumps turf, right . What are they thinking in the white house about the politics of this . Yeah, absolutely. I mean, i think the reason were seeing this in the first place is because of what youre saying. They know how politically challenging this is for the president. You know, some people might say that this is a little bit too late, but, you know, the white house, inside the campaign, they do feel like there is an opportunity here because of the collapse of the border deal, Donald Trumps involvement, you know, the secretary maorkas impeachment, and all the factors coming to a head. Then the reality that something has to be done at the border. You see the tom suozzi victory in new york, and they believe the tides are turning a little bit for them, and that leaning into this issue, you heard souzzi give the advice to biden yesterday, you cannot shy away from it. You have to lean in. Thats how you have to handling this issue in 2024. White house reporter for politico, One Of The Best in the business when it comes to immigration policy, myah ward. Thank you. Really do appreciate you waking up this early. And thank you for getting up Way Too Early with us on this friday morning. Morning joe starts right now. We continue to monitor this. Just one thing i wanted to add because when you hear it, and you heard it from donald trump, about the 2020 election and got millions more votes, though he still lost the election, that is not in doubt anymore. Thats not being debated anymore. Fox news host neil cavuto with another fact check on donald trump. This time about his election loss in 2020. Both trump and President Biden i