Good morning, everybody. It is wednesday, august 2nd. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside louis burgdorf. All right. We start with the white house that has confirmed something the president s team has repeatedly denied ry ed denied, that he helped draft the initial response between the meeting between a russian attorney and his top campaign aide. In response, claiming the june 2016 meeting was about adoption policy and made no mention of the Broader Campaign being discussed. Emails reveal that donald trump jr. Was explicitly offered documents. Even after the president s legal team dismissed the report of having worked on, quote, fake news and of no consequence, the white house acknowledged that the president did take part, claiming that his knowledge of the full story was, quote, limited. Look, the statement that don junior issued is true. There is no inaccuracy in the statement. The president weighed in as any father would, based on the limited information that he had. This is all discussion, frankly, of no consequence. There was no followup. It was disclosed to the property parties which is now the New York Times found about it to begin with. You can verify the degree to which the president weighed in . He certainly didnt dictate. But he weighed in any offer of suggestion like any father would do. And the admission of president s direct involvement likely to draw the attention of special council, bob mueller who served as special council. Take a listen to this. If a prosecutor finds out that subjects of an investigation are speaking to one another, it immediately makes their antenna go up. And they immediately come become very suspicious, that there is coaching going on, and that is basically on struxz of justice. If theyre fashioning a story, if theyre getting their stories straight. When principals have these conversations and the lawyers are involved, those conversations arent privileged. And everybody on that air force one that day, coming back from the g20 is going to be interviewed by the special council. Hes going to get the manifest from air force one. Find out who was on the plane and find out who was involved in these discussions. Then theyre going to get all of the calls to air force one monitored. And theres a record of every call that went in. So, theyll know what numbers were called. Theyll get the emails. Everybody involved in that whole episode is going to have to get interviewed. And a spokesman for special Council Mueller tells reuters that they have hired a 16th lawyer in the probe. Greg andre served in the Criminal Division from 2010 to 2012, overseeing the fraud unit in the probe unit that targeted illegal form bribery. Meanwhile casting doubt to some republicans, this is how the president s attorney and legal spokesman originally characterized the president s role in the statement. The president didnt sign off on anything. He was coming back from the g20. The Statement Released on saturday was released by donald trump jr. Im sure in consultation with his lawyers. The president wasnt involved in that. The New York Times says he was involved in it. And several people on the plane was involved. Thats ivncorrect. Youre disputing that . Yes. The president did not draft the response. The response came from donald trump jr. Im sure in consultation with his lawyer. Yesterday, republican Lindsay Graham said the whiplash of explanations is damaging their future credibility. If the president was directly involved in creating that statement, its not illegal to lie to the press, does it bother you . Yeah, it bothers me a lot, because, one, he put his son in jeopardy. Now, we have to wonder what don juniors team will tell you bhab he actual about what he did. If he didnt know about the email, the statement may have fooled you. The fallout continues overet president s friday speech, the acting member of the Drug Administration is explaining a memo explaining that President Trump, quote, condoned the mishandling of suspects. When you see the thugs thrown in the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, i say, please dont be too nice. Like you guys put somebody in the car and youre protecting their head, you know you put your hand over somebody. Like dont hit their head and they just killed somebody. I said you can take the hand away, okay. On saturday acting dea chief Chuck Rosenburg wrote a memo to the agencys 10,000 employees, quote, i write because we have an obligation to speak out when something is wrong. Thats what Law Enforcement officers do. Thats what you do. We fix stuff, at least we try. He listened to the agencys core values, including rule of law, and respect and compassion thanking employees for following them. He said the president s comments were meant to be comedic, rather than serious. I think you guys are jumping trying to make something out of nothing. He was simply making a comment. He was making a joke. It was nothing more than that. It wasnt a directive. It was a joke. Theres a very big difference. And the boy scouts responding to President Trumps comments to his highly political speech which prompted an official statement apologizing for the nature of the speech. But in comments in the wall street journal reported by politico, trump denied there was any criticism. And said he was being praised. Saying, quote, i got a call from the head of the boy scouts saying it was the greatest speech that was ever made to them and they were very thankful. But the boy scouts of america said theyre unaware of any call from the white house. Lets get into this now. White house correspondent for the hill, jordan fabian. Jordan what impact do all of these various versions of the truth have on the administration, specifically inside the white house, the morale of people working inside of the white house . Well, another day, another misleading statement, yasmin. But its having real world consequences. Inside the white house theres been consternation among aides that some of the official explanations they put out on things later undercut by either the president or his top advisers. Its having impact outside of the white house, anything to the dea, we not the commandant of the coast guard saying he would stand for his members. And you have a top official at the epa resigning over the administrations climate policy. So what were seeing now is different branches of the administration pushing back against this president s directives and this president s ideas and thoughts and policies. And its really a challenge do his credibility. Yeah, certainly some fallout there. I wanted to switch gears talking about ag Jeff Sessions. Weve been covering this, obviously, the relationship busy integrating, it seems before our very eyes between attorney general Jeff Sessions. It seems as if sessions is trying to get back now into the president s favor. Talk to us about what hes doing. Later this week, the attorney general is planning to having a press conference where hes going to announce a leak investigation into some of the National Security leaks that weve seen the rebels in syria, for example, other areas where Sensitive Information has leaked out to the press. And obviously, this is something that President Trump has talked about for a long time. Cracking down on leaks. And his public criticism of Jeff Sessions, he said he hasnt been tough enough on that. So thats one step that the attorney general is trying to take. It might be working we saw White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee saying hes coming to the podium and has confidence in all members of his cabinet including Jeff Sessions. Jordan fabian, ill talk to you in a bit. Thank you. And the United States is conducting a Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from Vandenberg Air force base in california overnight. Its the fourth icbm launch from that statement this year. In a statement, the Global Strike command said the test is meant to, quote, validate, the effectiveness and readiness of the weapons system. It comes after the u. S. Conducted their second test launch of the icbm last friday. The accuracy is in doubt. And does not believe that pyongyang has the technology to survive reentry. Yesterday in its first briefing in q and a since taking office, secretary of state Rex Tillerson laid out the options to deal with the escalating threat and says he wants to talk. We felt the appropriate thing to do first was to seek peaceful pressure on the regime in north korea, to have them develop a willingness to sit and talk with us. And others, but with an understanding that a condition of those talks is there is no future for north korea holds nuclear weapons, with do not seek the collapse of the regime. We do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula. We do not seek an excuse to second our military north of the 38th parallel. Were trying to convey to the north koreans were not your enemy, were not your threat but youre presenting a threat to us and we have to respond. State department is set to officially file paperwork today outlining a ban on american citizens traveling to north korea effective september 1st. Journalists and aide workers are exempt from the ban as long as they receive authorization. And congress imposing new sanctions on iran, and russia even though it arrived on friday. Yesterday, speaking with the Prime Minister of georgia, Vice President mike pence discussed the administrations plan for the bill while explaining their initial concerns. President trump will sign the russia sanctions bill soon. The concern was that it did not include the traditional flexibility that is afforded to the state department. Or any administration. In the conduct of American Foreign policy. Im pleased to report that the bill improves significantly as it moves through the house of representatives and through the legislative process. In signing the sanctions, our president and our congress are speaking with a unieununified v. However, secretary of state Rex Tillerson appeared to send a contradictory message just yesterday. I will be meeting facetoface before whether lavrov this weekend. I think hes as committed as i am to trying to find ways that we can bring this relationship back closer towards one another. Now, the action by the congress to put these sanctions in place and the way they did, neither the president nor i are very happy about that. We were clear that we didnt think it was going to be helpful to our efforts, but thats the decision they made. They made it in a very overwhelming way. I think the president accepts that. And all indications are, he will sign that bill. And then well just work with it. Well, the president has until august 9th to act on the bill or it automatically becomes law. President trump is the subject of a new feature in golf magazine but it was something that he allegedly said about the white house that getting the most attention. The article explains that President Trump has already made four visits to his bedminster golf club. He explained his frequent appearances that, devote, that white house is a real dump. A spokesperson for the president denies that he trashtalked the white house. And a source is also saying the president is, quote, often as unguarded with the people who pay for their proximity to him. And up next, a willingness to work with democrats on health care. Plus, clevelands infielder Justin Jackson incredible catch earns him a standing over vasion at fenway park, everybody. Those stories and a check on weather, when we come back. Youre going to be hanging out in here. So if you need anything, text me. Do you play . Use the chase mobile app to send money in just a tap, to friends at more banks then ever before. You got next . Chase. Helping you master whats now and whats next. Trust 1 doctor recommended dulcolax. Use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. Suppositories for relief in minutes. And dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax. Designed for dependable relief. [woman] so youre saying you didnt eat this ice cream . [man] baby, i swear on my lucky shirt. I ate it. [burke] frightning bolt. Seen it. Covered it. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum 40 million americans are waking up to a gillette shave. And at our factory in boston, 1,200 workers are starting their day building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. The dinosaurs extinction. You outnumbered. Dont listen to them. Not appropriate. Now im mashing these potatoes with my stick of butter. Why dont you sit over here. Find your awesome with the Xfinity Stream app. Included with xfinity tv. More to stream to every screen. Welcome back. In the wake of isnt republicans bill for health care last week, lawmakers are looking to find a bipartisan solution together. Senators alex saernsander and m are looking to have legislation pass legislation for costsharing reductions. Recently, President Trump has decided to stop making these payments. Mean while, Top Republicans say its time to move on from health care. Well, its pretty obvious that our problem with health care was thought the democrats. We didnt have 50 republicans. There are not the votes in the senate as ive said repeatedly to the president and to all of you. To change the rules of the senate. There are not enough. It would require 50 or 51 republicans to adwrgree to do t. The votes are simply not there. I think were moving on. There are a couple senators who have an idea thats interesting to a lot of people. And its a massive block grant program. And thats Lindsey Graham and cassidy. Bill cassidy. I think its up to them to show that they can get 50 votes. And if they can, then we take it up again. If they cannot we just keep moving on. All right. Lets get a check of your weather with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Bill, it could be a recordsetting day in the pacific northwest. I dont see how we avoid it. We should break numerous records. I think thursday is going to be the hottest day but today is going to be close to it. California, prolonged heat over 100. Heat warnings through sacramento through the redding area. Excessive warnings from medford, eugene, portland and seattle. Alltime records. Lets show you how warm its going to be with the dangerous heat. For today, the one city were going to watch all time hottest temperature, salem, oregon. Never been 110 in recorded human history. 108, i think well break that one. Thursday, portland, forecast having 106. The all time hottest is 107. Thursday, seattle hits 98 degrees. Its going to be close, they have a chance of getting up to 100. Some relief for the upcoming weekend. This is very hot still, saturday, 95. Redding you go from 114 down to 102. So its a little more bearablbe. With all of the heat in the midwest, a shot of heat is coming down, northern plains, it starts arriving today, showers and 67 degrees. Where did summer go . By the time we get to friday, thats chicago, and saturday and sunday, in the northeast. While the northwest is extremely hot, the rest of the country still dealing with average conditions. Police nice day. I love a good shot of fall weather. You do . Oh, yeah. Newer not a diehard that holds on to summer . No, fall is the best time in new york. Hands down. Thats just my opinion. All right. Thanks, bill. Still ahead, everybody a wild night at fenway park. The Cleveland Indians make an incredible catch. But it wasnt enough to hold off the boston red sox. Sports, next. Fitting into my skinny jeans again . Thats cool. Feeling good in slim fit . Thats cool. Looking fabulous in my little black dress . Thats cool. 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Thats why booking. Com makes finding the right hotel for the right price easy. Visit booking. Com now to find out why were booking. Yeah welcome back. Time now for sports. And we start up in beantown with the red sox taking on the indians. Lets go straight to the bottom of the fifth. Bostons Hanley Ramirez at the plate. Check this one out. Great hitter, too. Switch hitter. Theres a long fly ball, deep center field. Jacksons back he made it unbelievable catch. He put it in the back of the bullpen. Did he hang on . He sure did. What a play by Austin Jackson that just might be the play of the year. What a play. Its hard to argue with that. Austin jackson with the sensational grab. Im just going to say it. Its the catch of the year. Lets take another look at this. A replay confirmed that jackson held on to the ball for that catch. Unreal. All tied up at 99. Bases loaded for cleveland and red sox closer Craig Kendall just a bit outside. The indians take the lead. Bottom of the ninth, two on, two out. Bostons Christian Vazquez at bat. High fly ball, center field. Going back, shes gone its gone thats walking off. Theres the walkoff. The red sox win a wild one. Let me say it again, a wild one. 1210 with that boston reclaims first place just as the playoff race starts to heat off. Heading south to miami for the marlins hosting the nationals. Max scherzer showing bunt. Its scherzers first career home run, he would soon leave the game with neck spasms. And his nationals fall to the marlins 76. Over in houston, Evan Longoria did something only one other rays player has ever done. Hit for the cycle. He got the two toughest parts out early, cranking a home run in the first and a triple in the third. Two outs, longoria had hit a line drive for the double. He was initially ruled out but overturned by replay. And the rays top the astros 64 in that one, just a great day for baseball, yasmin. I know we should be talking about that man that is a catch. Are we going to bring it up . There it is. I mean wow. Unbelievable. And he gets up with no injury. No injury. Yeah, no injury. Pure athleticism there. There it goes. He knew he was a winner in that one. Still ahead, everybody, Anthony Scaramucci tries to set the record straight on his ouster as White House Communications director. Eric trump said he wants republicans to start fighting for his father. But he has a history of attacking his own party. Thats coming up next. Stay with us, everybody. I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. Harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. Its been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. And is proven to cure up to 99 of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. Certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. Before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if youve ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. Tell your doctor if youve ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. Taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. Common side effects of harvoni include tiredness, headache and weakness. Ready to let go of hep c . Ask your hep c specialist about harvoni. Its looking up, not down. Ng fits being in motion. Boost® high protein its intelligent nutrition with 15 grams of protein and 26 vitamins and minerals. Boost® the number one high protein complete nutritional drink. Done. Rs. Supercool notebooks. Done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, filler paper just one cent with five dollar minimum purchase. Taking care of business. Your bbut as you get older,ing. It naturally begins to change, causing a lack of sharpness, or even trouble with recall. Thankfully, the breakthrough in prevagen helps your brain and actually improves memory. The secret is an ingredient originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. Welcome back, everybody. Im Yasmin Vossoughian. Alongside louis burgdorf. Its the bottom of the hour. Lets start with the mornings top stories. The u. S. Is conducting an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in california overnight following north koreas second test launch of an icbm on friday. Experts think that has the ability to reach the continental u. S. Meanwhile, secretary of state Rex Tillerson is laying out what he called limits talks in pyongyang. Well have live reports in beijing coming up. Acting chief of the dea is coming out with a statement. After the president encouraging officers to react. He said the to condoned police misconduct, and the white house says the president was joking. And the senate has overwhelmingly voted to confirm Christopher Wray as the new director of the fbi. In a vote taking over the bureau after President Trumps controversial firing of director comey in may. And as the president s new chief of staff john kelly spoke in the west how long, according to the ap, he wont go star, especially when mattis is out of time. The ap said that kelly and mattis agreed that one of them should remain in the u. S. At all times, to keep tabs and orders rapidly emerging from the white house. Meanwhile Sarah Huckabee sanders is disputing reports saying theres something of an open door policy for the oval office. But politico said the white house staff may have more access to the president than any in history. Lets talk more about this with correspondent from the hill jordan fabian. Jordan, good to talk to you once again. After a chaotic week last week, and opening week so far, it only being wednesday, the president has a new chief of staff saying some things are not going to change. He tweeted, quote, only the Fake News Media and trump enemies want me to stop using social media. Only way to get the word out. The question is what do you think is his big first test here . Well, kelly passed that first big test on monday, yasmin, when he announced that he was in charge by getting rid of Anthony Scaramucci as communications director. But the question now is can he maintain some order in this white house that really has been out of control. Can he maintain control over who gets into the oval office. Whos giving advice to the president. Can he manage these rival Power Centers that have popped up. Jared kushner, ivanka trump, steve bannon, can he get everyone on the same page. Thats going to be the test for kelly in the weeks ahead. Lets turn now to Jeff Sessions sort of the next guy on the hot spot. Theres concern on capitol hill no matter what he does, his rule is not safe as long as the president is upset. I want you to take a listen to dianne feinstein, speaking to andrea mitchell, about the fallout if the president were to fire Jeff Sessions. Take a listen. If the purpose is what many of us think it is, and thats to stop the investigation of bob mueller and his team, that will not work. Because i believe that will be something that none of us can condone. And it could well be the beginning of the end of the short presidency. Jordan, what is the attitude inside of the white house toward the special councils investigation . And do you think, is there any chance that kelly is going to have a different approach to all of this . Well, the president is very upset about this investigation. And i dont think john kelly can do anything to change that. I think the best thing he can hope for is to try to manage the situation better. Stop the president from lashing out publicly against investigators. Stop him from involving himself personally in some of the responses, like he did when he drafted, or helped draft donald trump jr. s statement about the russian lawyer. And maybe help to curb some of the topics on social media about this topic. I think thats the best that experts can hope for. A lot weighing in saying if kelly can deflect and say, hey, look, go to the president s counsel to throw out questions to them. That can be a success in his area. I want to turn to health care quickly, jordan. Were seeing some Movement Towards bipartisan agreement here and whats happening and how is the white house reacting to this . So key chairman Lamar Alexander is going to hold a hearing about stabilizing the individual insurance markets. Answer thats going to allow democrats or the committees Ranking Member patty murray to give some info here for the first time in the process. The Obamacare Repeal and replace effort was a republican vehicle only. Now, this is going to be a problem for the white house because President Trump said he wants to led obamacare implode. And what senator alexander is talking about is preventing the president from doing that. Doing things like withholding insurance subsidies. Maybe messing around with subsidies for members of congress and their staff. Theres conflict between the two sides. Jordan fabian, thank you. Just a day after being pushed from the white house, Anthony Scaramucci affectionately known as the mooch is trying to have the last word. In an interview with the Huffington Post he defended his initial News Conference in the press room saying the president thought i killed. But sources tell the Huffington Post that the president was amused by it but changed his attention when he saw the negative attention it garnered. Scaramucci said he offered to resign, but the president said there was no need to should watch it. He felt earned by the interview, the lizzas and scaramuccis have been friends for over 50 years. My dad knew his dad from construction. And we were building a personal relationship. Most of what i said was humerus and joking. Legally it may have been on the record but in the spirit of it was off. And he knew that. We have never been old Family Friends though i think our fathers knew each other maybe thats what he talked about. The long island italian world in that generation is relatively small. But again that would not be a reason to suppress an explosive ontherecord interview. Still, scaramucci said he would like to take lizza out for a beer. President trumps son is taking aim at lawmakers criticizing them, including this week, claiming theyre not fighting hard enough to advance his fathers agenda. My father said it, he said it a couple weeks ago in a tweet. Am i going to have to carry my own weight . When are people going to start protecting me . Im an outsider looking in. Im running our company, but i want somebody to start fighting for him. Hes the best fighter in the world. He will do a better job fighting for himself than all of them will do fighting for him. But how much weight does he have to carry by himself . But the president has openly and repeatedly attacked members of his own party on twitter. Sadly, even republicans carried over the line on my back do little to protect the president. The president also targeting Lisa Murkowski last week writing in part that she really let the republicans and our country down, voting against efforts of obamacare. And also reporting that targeting it dean haller of nevada with ads during the health care debate. You didnt go out there. This was the one we were worried about. You werent there. But youre going to be. Youre going to be. Look, he wants to remain a senator, doesnt he . This morning, the New York Times is reporting that the Justice Department is planning to take on affirmative action in college admissions. The times obtained an internal memo advertising for a new initiative. According to the paper, the Trump Administration is preparing to redirect resources of the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division toward investigating and suing universities over affirmative action admissions deemed to syst discriminate. And vanita gupta, the former head of the Civil Rights Division under president obama said the department under Jeff Sessions is changing course on a key issue. I think its a trend that civil rights will see turned on their head being used to advance an agenda that they certainly were not created for. Still ahead, the Trump Administration reportedly looking to crack down on details. For President Trump away from his call for greater cooperation with beijing. Plus, a florida man luckily to be alive, wow. After surviving a lightning struck caught on camera. Bill karins and the forecast when we come back. Were drowning in information. Where, in all of this, is the stuff that matters . The stakes are so high, your finances, your future. How do you solve this . You dont. You partner with a firm that advises governments and the fortune 500, and, can deliver insight person to person, on what matters to you. Morgan stanley. Done. Rs. Supercool notebooks. Done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, filler paper just one cent with five dollar minimum purchase. Taking care of business. At the lexus golden opportunity sales event before it ends. Choose from the is turbo, es 350 or nx turbo for 299 a month for 36 months if you lease now. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. woman theres a moment of truth. Etes, and now with victoza®, a better moment of proof. Victoza® lowers my a1c and blood sugar better than the leading branded pill, which didnt get me to my goal. Lowers my a1c better than the leading branded injectable. The one i used to take. Victoza® lowers blood sugar in three ways. And while it isnt for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. Noninsulin victoza® comes in a pen and is taken once a day. announcer victoza® is not recommended as the first medication to treat diabetes and is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take victoza® if you have a personal or Family History of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to victoza® or any of its ingredients. Stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck or if you develop any allergic symptoms including itching, rash, or difficulty breathing. Serious side effects may happen, including pancreatitis, so stop taking victoza® and call your doctor right away if you have severe pain in your stomach area. Tell your doctor your medical history. Taking victoza® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. The most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. Side effects can lead to dehydration, which may cause kidney problems. Nows the time for a better moment of proof. Ask your doctor about victoza®. Welcome back, everybody. A ground worker at a florida airport is out of the hospital after being struck by lightning. This is video at the Florida International airport, just about two weeks ago. At the moment the bolt strikes the tail of the airplane. You see it right there, the 21yearold was walking underneath the nose of the plane when the lightning hit wow. Thats pretty credible to see. Traveling through the vehicle and into his body. Sending him flying back and leaving him with third degree burns a worker said lightning Warning Systems activated the moment the man was his. Good to see hes okay. Lets check in with weather with bill karins. I remember in florida, i story i did people that survived lightning strikes. They have a ton of medical issues but people that get hit and survive, think s arent always the same, good luck to him. Heat in portland, looks like thursday the closest, the northwest with the epic heat wave. But were also tracking at the same time. Usually one side of the country you have some extreme and the other side you start to get the opposite effect. Some cooler fall air coming down from the north. Today is not too bad. 70s okay for montana and bismarck. Look what happens in minneapolis tomorrow. As we go into thursday. 65 degrees with showers. This green coloring, highs only in the 60s. We take that friday. Very unusual, beginning of august and chicago. Only high temperature, 67. Notice on friday, still very warm ahead of the storm system. This is off to the west for severe storms. I think in areas of cleveland, buffalo, pittsburgh, youll get pretty good thunderstorms friday as that cooler air moves in. For today there will be a hit or miss late day storm in boston and new york. Not everybody it getting that weather. Minimal delays. Baltimore, d. C. , humidity is on the rise. Still some scattered showers and storms. Heres the headlines on thursday. 98 in seattle. Not a number you see often. One of the hottest temperatures on the map. Youre right there in phoenix which doesnt happen all that often. Louis. Lets turn to the Trump Administration where theyre planning on opening traa look i the trade practices with china. This comes at a time of tension between washington and beijing over confronting north korea. Yeah, politically, is this very, very sensitive. You may remember on the campaign trail, trump often riled against the unfair trade practices by china but since hes been in office, he has a lot softer. He really hasnt taken any action, in part, because he wants chinas help to rein in the aggressions of north korea. So if he chance that stance now, politically, that would be very significant. The key question is how aggressively would china respond. Lets get to some of the details of those reports. President trump, according to those reports is very, very close to taking trade action against china. And those steps could be quite aggressive. Again, those reports that trump could encourage the u. S. Trade representative Robert Lighthouser to open that trade investigation into what they call unfair trade practices, especially when it comes to breaching intel elelectual prop rights. 2 could mean a couple things, before the world trade organization, the wto, but it could mean that donald trump now has the power to unilaterally impose trade tariffs against china or other retaliatory measures. Its unclear at this point what exactly these measures would look like. And again, how exactly china will respond to those. Back over to you. Kellen roth, live from london. Now and then starbucks comes up with a new coffee blend, but the latest creation might top the list. The coffee giant is searching a drink called pepper nitro. With a jerky twist. Topped with peppercorn and beef jerky secure in the y secure sk. Its being tested in seattle. Make sure i dont go to that starbucks in seattle where its being tested. That just doesnt sound appetizing. Maybe a more late night thing. Still ahead, tensions with north korea escalating further in the wake of the latest test launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, up next, well get a live report whether leaders will step in to try to bring an end to the growing standoff. Well be right back. Building on over a hundred years of heritage, craftsmanship and innovation. Today were bringing you americas number one shave at lower prices every day. Putting money back in the pockets of millions of americans. As one of those workers, im proud to bring you gillette quality for less, because nobody can beat the men and women of gillette. Gillette the best a man can get. And its also a story mail aabout people and while we make more ecommerce deliveries to homes than anyone else in the country, we never forget. That your business is our business the United States postal service. Priority you done. Rs. Supercool notebooks. Done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, filler paper just one cent with five dollar minimum purchase. Taking care of business. Thats why at comcast were continuing to make4 7. Our services more reliable than ever. Like technology that can update itself. An advanced fibernetwork infrustructure. New, more Reliable Equipment for your home. And a new culture built around customer service. It all adds up to our most Reliable Network ever. One that keeps you connected to what matters most. Korea. The Trump Administration is holding firm that china is a major player in resolving the crisis. China has ways they can put pressure on and influence north korea because of this significant economic relationship that no one has. Weve been very clear with the chinese, we certainly dont blame the chinese for the situation in north korea but we believe that china has a special and unique relationship because of the significant Economic Activity to influence the north korean regime in ways this no one else can. Joining suus is ali arouzi. President trump is is actually placing quite a bit of blame on china. How is this mixed messaging being received in beijing . Well, china has hit back at President Trump over these north korea claims. A top official shifting blame to pyongyang for raising tensions while warning the u. S. Not to stab china in the back. The president over the weekend said he was very disappointed in china and said hed no longer allow beijing to do nothing over north korea. The president believes that china holds the key to forcing north korea to give up its nuclear weapons. But the China Ambassador feels differently. He said it depends on two principal parties, the United States and are in the hold the responsibility to start moving in the right direction and not china. China shifting the responsibility back on to washington, back on to the president saying, listen, theres only so much we can do and you and north korea have to try and sort out this situation, which shows this swak situation is proving more and more difficult to resolve. Jared kushners comments to a group of congressional interns on monday have been leaked to wired magazine after explicit warnings for not leaking. Kushner talks about the process he goes through to determine why historically it hasnt been more successful noting, ket, at. Take a listen. We dont want a history lesson, weve read enough books. In the remarks, kushner downplays claims the Trump Campaign colluded with russia. He said they were so harried, couldnt reach out to representative. Coming up next, republican congressman charlie dent a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus currently working on a bipartisan plan to revive the heck key bait. And michael blooflering exanother packed edition of morning joe o just moments away. Hey, ive got the trend analysis. Hey. Hi. Hi. You guys going to the Company Picnic this weekend . Picnics are delightful. Oh, wish we could. But were stuck here catching up on claims. But we just compared historical claims to coverages. But we have those new audits. My natural language api can help us score those by noon. Great. See you guys there. We would not miss it. Watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. I love to learn. Watson, you gotta learn how to take a hint. Trust 1 doctor recommended dulcolax. Use dulcolax tablets for gentle dependable relief. Suppositories for relief in minutes. And dulcoease for comfortable relief of hard stools. Dulcolax. Designed for dependable relief. Done. Rs. Supercool notebooks. Done. Thats mom taking care of business. But who takes care of mom . Office depot office max. This week, filler paper just one cent with five dollar minimum purchase. Taking care of business. For her compassion and care. He spent decades fighting to give families a second chance. But to help others, they first had to protect themselves. I have afib. Even for a nurse, its complicated. And it puts me at higher risk of stroke. That would be devastating. I had to learn all i could to help protect myself. Once i got the facts, my doctor and i chose xarelto®. Xarelto®. To help keep me protected. Oncedaily xarelto®, a latestgeneration blood thinner. Significantly lowers the risk of stroke in people with afib not caused by a heart valve problem. It has similar effectiveness to warfarin. Xarelto® works differently. Warfarin interferes with at least 6 bloodclotting factors. Xarelto® is selective, targeting just one critical factor interacting with less of your bodys natural bloodclotting function. For afib patients wellmanaged on warfarin, there is limited information on how xarelto® compares in reducing the risk of stroke. Dont stop taking xarelto® without talking to your doctor, as this may increase risk of stroke. While taking, you may bruise more easily, or take longer for bleeding to stop. It may increase your risk of bleeding if you take certain medicines. Xarelto® can cause serious, and in rare cases, fatal bleeding. Get help right away for unexpected bleeding, unusual bruising, or tingling. If youve had spinal anesthesia, watch for back pain or any nerve or musclerelated signs or symptoms. Do not take xarelto® if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. Tell your doctor before all planned medical or dental procedures. And before starting xarelto®about any conditions, such as kidney, liver, or bleeding problems. Its important to learn all you can. To help protect yourself from a stroke. Talk to your doctor about xarelto®. Theres more to know™. Are you looking for work . Yes. Unsure about your future . Yes. Or maybe you have a job but youre worried you can be let go at any moment . Absolutely. Then forget about linkedin and join kicked out. Its an organization for people fired by the Trump Administration. We take your resume and delete anything that says you worked for donald trump. Kicked out. Sorry, we cant help you get on dancing with the stars. A few late night laughs there courtesy of the tonight show and jimmy fallon. We talked about there will be a lot of book deals coming out of the Trump Administration. Probably. We start at the white house and find Hallie Jackson with a look on whats on tap for the president. Good morning. Reporter hey there, louis. Good morning to you. This morning the white house still dealing with that fallout from the Washington Post report indicating President Trump actually had more involvement in crafting a statement about a 2016 meeting between donald trump jr. And a russian lawyer than originally revealed. That was the focus yesterday in this building. Today the president is hoping to get back on his agenda. Youve seen them say the next thing they want to address is tax reform, and thats after health care went nowhere. All of that is happening at home as overseas the white house has its eye on north korea. A lot of questions about how the president will respond, what he might do to try to get pyongyang somewhat under control. Were going to watch all these stories coming up today in washington. For now back to you. Meanwhile, Prince Phillip is set to carry out his final engagement this morning before retiring from his duty. He announced his retirement back in may. And broadway will mark the loss of actor sam shepard tonight. He died last week. Im Yasmin Vossoughian along with louis burgdorf. Morning joe starts right now. Its not illegal to lie to the press. Does it bother you . It bothers me a lot. Number one, he put his son in jeopardy. Now we have to wonder about what don jr. s team may have done. So the president said he wasnt involved in drafting a letter defending his son. That is not true. Also known as, well, thats a lie. They lied. The president said he got a congratulatory call from the boy scouts. Yeah, that didnt happen either