Transcripts For MSNBCW First Look 20170808

Mike pences office is trying to tafrp down rumors of a 2020 Shadow Campaign as President Trumps poll numbers continue to slip. Plus, north korea is vowing 1,000 fold retaliation against american response to new sanctions passed by the u. N. Security council, and President Trump spending a vacation day targeting senator Richard Bloomenthal on twitter where, what the senator says he is unphased. Good morning. It is tuesday, august 8th. We begin with the latest out of north korea and pyongyang is once again responding to a new wave of u. N. Sanctions calling them villainous illegal actions that will be reciprocated by thousands fold. It comes as north koreas foreign minister appeared to reject peace talks proposed by his south korean counterpart. Reportedly calling it insincere. Rex tillerson has recently said he is open to dialogue with pyongyang. A position also held by the russian and Chinese Foreign ministers. The country with the most to lose from the new sanctions besides north korea, of course, is china. North koreas most powerful ally. Yesterday u. N. U. S. Security Ambassador Nikki Haley spoke more about chinas role and what appears to be that countrys einvolvie appears to be that countrys einvolvi evolvining attitude. 90 of the trade is with china so thats why they were so important with this resolution, but what was more important is china stepped up and said we will follow through on these sanctions. We will make sure that we follow and they encouraged the International Community to follow it. I think china fuels this. I mean, when i talk to the chinese ambassador, when that missile test took off, they felt it in china. It was so close to their border that the ground shook. Wow. So the people of china now feel it, and theyre disturbed enough to say that they now have to do their part, and now we have to just stay on them to make sure they do that. Meanwhile, japan has upgraded its official warning on north korea and that it believes pyongyang may already have the technology to miniaturize Nuclear Weapons and has possibly acquired nuclear warheads. It comes as japan has begun conducting its first air raid drills since world war ii amid fears of a possible strike. President trump fell even further in the polls during his second 100 days in office. A new poll from cnn shows 38 they approve of President Trump at the 200 day mark. That is down six points from where he was around 100 days into his presidency. Asked if they trust most of what they hear from the white house, 24 of americans say yes, while 73 , they say, no. Vice president mike pences office, though, continued its fullout denial of the New York Times report detailing the unusually extensive Political Activities for a Vice President at the beginning of a first term presidency. The president railed against the New York Times all day on twitter making it the subject of three of the 13 tweets that he sent out yesterday. He asserted that the times had apologized for its coverage of the election last year, which they pointed out they did not, and the president claimed the newspaper has big losses when the revenue was up 9 in the last quarter, and in a media blitz just yesterday, the press secretary for Vice President mike pence did not dispute the facts of the article. Instead, objected to the context. Take a listen to this. There are some who might see that and say, huh, me thinks the vp dot h protest too much. He does find it very offensive. The Vice President is entirely focused onness have aing the president s agenda and doing Everything Possible to make sure that in 2020 the Vice President is reelected as Vice President along side president donald trump. What is so offensive about it . Any suggestion that he might be planning a run in 2020. His entire focus is on advancing the president s agenda and taking the steps that are necessary to make sure that were delivering on the promises to the american people. Okay. Hypothetically, if the president were, for whatever reason, to not run in 2020, are you saying mike pence would not step up and take that role . I do not talk about hypotheticals. You do talk about hypotheticals. We talk about hypotheticals all the time. Are you ruling out that possibility . What im talking about is that we are all operating under the assumption every day that the president is seeking reelection in 2020. Thats our that is our goal. Thats our focus. He is not engaging in some sort of shadow operation. Why didnt he just walk into the president s office and tell him that. Why release a statement to the media about it . Clearly, this is aimed at President Trump. When you have something that appears on the front page of the sunday New York Times thats based on conjecture, speculation, that is suggesting something that is not true, its important that the Vice President speak his mind and clear the record on that. Another top official in the white house is ducking for cover. A source tells the daily caller that President Trump is upset with a new book about chief strategist Steve Bannons role in the campaign. The devils bargain by joshua green is number one on the New York Times best sellers list detailing how bannon led trump to the presidency. According to the report, the president said i hate it when people take credit for an election that i won. Lets talk all about this. Joining us from washington politicos daniel lipman, coauthor of the political playbook. Good to see you this morning. Good morning. I want to start with the poll numbers, Digging Deeper into them. It finds that only 24 strongly approve of the president s Job Performance, while nearly half, 47 , they strongly disapprove of his Job Performance. The president tweeted that his base is stronger than ever yesterday. Kind of a disconnect that i see here. Get into that for us. Yeah. Those voters who are surveyed by cnn, they kind of see the writing on the wall, which is President Trump doesnt have a lot of legislative accomplishments. Health care is dead for now. Tax reform is not going anywhere. You know, thats why President Trump is going to focus more on hot button issues like immigration and building the wall, and kind of media bashing like you saw yesterday. I would expect that he would continue to do more of that Going Forward to shore up his base. He is clearly worried that he may lose part of his base. You saw Kellyanne Conway a few days ago saying, you know, the president s Approval Rating needs to, you know, go up. Its interesting, though, that when the poll numbers are such that they benefit the president , he touts them, and when theyre not theyre fake. Exactly. The New York Times also reporting Vice President mike pence, which we just talked about, is running a Shadow Campaign for 2020. Why has this stirred up the president so much . Pence, of course, calling the claim disgraceful and offensive in a statement that he released afternoon that article was published on sunday. Is the president here seeing disloyalty in his Vice President . I think its never comfortable when you are the top dog and you see your number twos, you know, top aides sending signals that, you know, they may want your job. This kind of reminds me of a shakespeare plot from macbeth. Its already kind of a court atmosphere in the white house, and so this clearly does not make trump happy. Gq is releasing a big story today saying what if pence becomes a reality in a few years . They talk to a lot of republicans that say this is something on their minds. I think whats interesting is the fierce pushback from pence folks. That means when things are true or has a lot of elements of truth to it, then you protest a lot because youre worried that, you know, that New York Times story really touched close to the bone. Right. If, in fact, they had sort of responded by saying, look, this is nothing, move on, maybe, in fact, there was nothing there, but by the way that they sort of responded to things, it seems like maybe there is something there. Want to turn now to the democrats. Vice President Biden, he has recorded a robocall for the primary of the detroit mayors race, which is today. Heres a take lets take a listen to that, and then well talk. Weve all seen what happens in this country when people dont vote. So vote. Please get out to the polls tomorrow. Reminder, thats michigan there, a state that the democrats lost in 2020. Yeah. Is biden getting ready for a comeback here, daniel, and what are the sort of challenges that you see the democrats facing moving forward . I wouldnt expect Vice President biden to, you know, be preparing for his own 2020 run. He kind of lost his opportunity in 2016. A lot of democrats wished he had run back then, and he may be President Biden if he had done that because he would not have that baggage of the email server like emaHillary Clinton. Some of the challenges the democrats have Going Forward is they have toy find a new message to appeal to voters who are tired of just hearing antitrump, you know, 247. You know, though, i have heard some experts say that biden could be the one person that could go against President Trump and really give him a run for his money in 2020, but well have to wait and see what happens there. You never know. Right . Yes. Daniel lipman, ill talk to you in a bit. He so you soon. Senator Richard Bloomenthal say he is unphased by the tweets from the president yesterday. He is cosponsoring legislation that would make it harder for the president to fire special counsel robert mueller, and yesterday appeared on cnn to talk about the ongoing russia investigation. The president didnt like that, and so at 7 52 a. M. He tweeted, never in u. S. History has anyone lied or defrauded voters like senator Richard Bloomenthal. He told stories about his vietnam battles and conquests, how brave he was, and it was all a lie. He cried like a baby and begged for forgiveness like a child. Now he judges collusion . Two hours later senator bloomenthal responded, mr. President , your bullying hasnt worked before. It wont work now. This issue is above the law. Its not about me. Its the special counsels integrity and independents. Then the president came back for more. Posting, i think senator bloomenthal should take a nice long vacation in vietnam where he lied about his service so he could at least say he was there. Now, back in 2010 attorney general and then Senate Candidate bloomenthal apologized for saying he served in vietnam when, in fact, he served in the marine reserves during the war and was not deployed abroad. He had noted that President Trumps criticism of bloomenthal military record only brings attention to his own five draft deferments during vietnam. I wont be distracted by these bullying tweets. If anything, they strengthen my resolve and determination to work for protecting the special counsel against exactly these tactics of bullying and intimating. There are growing ominous threats, tweets, and warnings that weve seen, the world has seen, that were heading toward a collision between bob mueller and the president of the United States. Well talk more about the russia investigation and the administrations efforts to undermine the special counsel. Senator bloomen thal will join morning joe later this morning. One of the Top Republicans is throwing water on President Trumps hopes of the immigration bill being approved. Speaking to a local station in miami on sunday par senator marco rubio predicted that the legislation will not pass the senate, adding that the white house knows it does not have the votes. The raise act was unveiled last week by the president along with republican senators tom cotton and david purdue. It gives a pointsbased system on skills like education and fluns si. He refused to back an arbitrary limit to the number of green cards given out. Meanwhile, senator rubios hometown has learned that it is no longer being treated as a sanctuary city by the Trump Administration, according to the miami herald. Miami dade county officials learned this weekend that they have been deemed compliant with federal immigration provisions after reversing its sanctuary policies back in february. So far no other major city has taken similar action. Other cities, they are digging in. Chicago, suing attorney general Jeff Sessions in hopes of lock blocking the Justice Department from withholding federal grants for policing. Chicago mayor rahm emanuel says its unconstitutional for the Justice Department to make its cooperation in cracking down on undocumented immigrants a condition to receive the funding, but the attorney general, he fired back in a statement yesterday saying that complying with federal immigration laws would actually help chicago combat its crime crisis. He writes, the mayor complains that the federal governments focus on enforcing the law would require a reordering of Law Enforcement practice in chicago, but thats just what chicago needs, a recommitment to the rule of law and to policies that roll back the culture of lawlessness. The city hopes to have a decision on the lawsuit before its september 5th deadline on receiving the grant. Still ahead, extreme weather across parts of the country, including a possible tornado in maryland. Were going to get a check on the weather when we come back. Later, town halls it they turn testy as lawmakers meet constituents during their august recess. Those stories and more. Keep it here. A pilot like you shouldnt be flying buses. Welcome to miami. You should be serving your country. [ whispering ] im working for the c. I. A. That sounds made up barry. This is going to be good for us. Nice wheels. [ laughter ] thats for the damage. And your bike. You never saw me. [ bell rings ] american made. Rated r. 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. Welcome back. Parts of the country are dealing with the aftermath of severe weather, including rain, flooding, and even high winds. Salsburiy, maryland, crews are cleaning up after a possible tornado overturned cars there, damaged buildings as well. The National Weather Service Planning to conduct a storm survey in that area today, and in san antonio, texas, a man driving to work got caught in a flash flood. Pretty unbelievable to see here. To reach them, firefighters, they extended a ladder truck and then carried over another ladder to cover the last step. The man, as you can see there, was able to climb over to safety. Unreal footage of that rescue. In a new federal report on Climate Change, theyve found that the average temperature in the United States has risen dramatically since 1980. The New York Times claims to have obtained a copy of a government document which is awaiting approval by the Trump Administration. It is not yet been made public, but the times has published a draft report. In it scientist from 13 federal agencies conclude that americans are feeling the effects of Climate Change right now. The author of the documents say it is extremely likely that more than half of the global average temperature rise since 1951 was caused by human influence. The times argues that it directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to Climate Change is uncertain and that the ability to predict its effects are limited. Lets get a check on your weather now with nbc meteorologist bill karins. Bill, scary day in houston, texas, today where were expecting some flash flooding. Yeah. Its actually occurring now, lewis. Overnight we started dealing with some torrential rain and thunderstorms, and they have now sat over the hoouts area. Houston is floodprone. Very flat areas. A lot of the highways and going down dip underneath the underpasses, and those flood too. The entire houston city from the northern portions to the west is where the worst of it has been. Starting to let up a little bit now. There will be a problem on the roadways early today. As far as the radar goes, this stalled front through mississippi, alabama, back through the carolinas, still rain left over this morning in between richmond and norfolk. Any of these locations this afternoon have a chance of getting additional flash flooding. A lot of moisture in the atmosphere, and that front is stalled out. Our rainfall forecast, this goes out through the next two days after thursday. It does show you the two to three inches in east texas. This pink coloring here is two to three inches in central mississippi, alabama, and ending into areas of northern georgia. Well watch for saturated soil. That doesnt help either when we get the downpours. Also last night, Tropical Storm franklin made landfall just north of belize just south of cancun over the yucatan. Heading towards campeche during the day today. Its a lowend Tropical Storm, but the warm waters of the gulf of mexico await. Thankfully its not going to take a turn to the north. This is heading into mexico. It could even become a low end hurricane maybe or a strong Tropical Storm before lafl just south of tampeko. No direct effects in the u. S. Middle of the country through the great lakes, nice day today. Showers left over early today, but after yesterdays misery and rainfall, today will be a lot better this afternoon. Well even see that big yellow blowing thing in the sky later this afternoon. Yeah. Looks like a nice overall pleasant map, i got to say. Still ahead, says there were not one, but two milestones on the diamond last night. Plus, who says you got to be in decent shape to be an nfl quarterback . Sports is next. Experience uncompromising performance 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. So we know how to cover almost almoanything. Hing even a swing set standoff. And we covered it, july first, twentyfifteen. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum how to win at business. Step one. Point decisively with your glasses. Abracadabra the stage is yours. Step two. Choose laquinta. Where youll feel like the king of the road. Check out our summer rates now at lq. Com. Another antiwrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. With the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. Neutrogena®. Isaac hou has mastered gravity defying moves to amaze his audience. Great show. Here you go. Now hes added a new routine. Making depositing a check seem so effortless. Easy to use chase technology, for whatever youre trying to master. Isaac, are you ready . Yeah. Chase. So you can. Welcome back. Time now for sports. A major League Milestone in anaheim where angels slugger mike trout celebrate his 26th birthday by knocking his 1,000th career hit. A double down the left field line in the fourth inning of yesterdays game against the orioles. Despite a home run in the sixth for hit number 1,001, baltimore beat los angeles 62, but the os spoil a party there. His teammates honor him with what he calls a Birthday Gift from the boys. Dousing the star with everything from raw eggs and baby powder to coffee creamer, and even blue icy slush. Looks like a True Birthday Party there. Following in his foot steps is the nationals bryce harper who yesterday became just the 14th player in the league to slug 150 home runs before turning 25. Doing it at the exact same age that trout did 24 years and 295 days old. The nats beat the marlins at home 32 there. In the Minor Leagues yet another new meaning for headsup baseball after the clinton lumber kings. Nick zaramelli fouls a pitch that bounces off the roof and goes on to land on the head. Ouch. That one hurts. Finally, in miami the dolphins held a News Conference yesterday to officially introduce newly signed quarterback jay cutler. While critics are questioning cutlers ability to effectively return to the field after a brief retirement, according to the veteran qb, his position doesnt require the physical conditioning that might be expected of most nfl players. Take a listen. Im not worried about my arm and the throwing part. The good thing is i play quarterback, so i dont have to be in that great of cardiovascular shape, but ill be fine. Looks like he is ready there, yasmin. Wow. I feel like theres a lot of quarterbacks that might have an issue that might take issue with what he had to say. Tom brady. I think he is going to be all right. He will be on the field, and he will do well. I think youre right. Still ahead, new polling taking a look at where President Trump stands during his second 100 days in office. Well dig into those numbers. Plus, lawmakers are getting an earful from her constituents during august recess. We have highlights from some of the town halls coming up next. Its part of the reason why im here tonight. You can have a different opinion from me, but i will defend every day your right to have that opinion. Okay . And i want you to know that. Theres nothing more important to me than my vacation. So when i need to book a hotel, i want someone who makes it easy to find what i want. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Cmon, gary your vacation is very important. 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 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. 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Has risen dramatically since 1980 and that americans are feeling the effects of Climate Change right now. In a statement sessions said that the Trump Administration will not give away grant dollars to city governments that proudly violate the rule of law and protect criminal aliens. Turning to the conflict in the korean peninsula. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson says he is open to dialogue with pyongyang as long as they halt their Ballistic Missile testing. However, the North Korean Foreign Ministry says that they will never put their nuclear nor Ballistic Missile programs on the negotiation table, adding that they are selfdefense in the face of a clear and Real Nuclear Threat posed by the United States. Lets talk all about this. Joining us live from london, nbc news correspondent kelly kobiaya. Where do we go from here . Well, look, its clear that north korea here isnt budging, and the question is will those sanctions bite . Pyongyang has lashed out at the passable of that ikz is as package, calling it a rampant violation of our sovereignty. At leasts believe the country does have missiles that could reach the United States, and theres another sign that north korea is not backing down. Us is military Officials Say theyve detected what they call highly unusual and unprecedented levels of submarine activity from the north koreans, including signs of a test launch from a submarine as north korea tries to develop sea launch capabilities in addition to their icbm program. Now, Ambassador Nikki Haley called the sanctions package the single largest ever levelled against north korea, but the question is china here. China is north koreas biggest trading partner. It has the most to lose. The foreign minister of china said they will take the hit and implement those sanctions, and if that doesnt happen, the next step could be imposing sanctions directly on chinese banks and other institutions, but the other question here, yasmin, of course, is will economic pain make a difference in north korea . It hasnt happened in the past. That is the big question there, kelly, and will china stick to their guns. Well have to wait and see if they do there. Kelly cobiella for us. Thank you. Trust in the white house is declining while President Trump fell even further in the polls during his second 100 days in office. The new policy from cnn shows 38 approve of trumps Job Performance mark at the 200 day mark. That is down six points from where he was around 100 days into his presidency. The poll finds that only 24 strongly approve of the job the president is doing, while nearly half, 47 , strongly disapprove. Narrowing that down to only republicans, 59 say they approve strongly. That is down 14 points since february. When asked if trump is someone they are proud to have as president , 34 said they are, while 63 say no. On whether they trust most of what they hear in official communications from the white house, just 24 of americans say yes while 73 say no. However, a majority of the country remains optimistic. 53 saying things are going well in America Today versus 45 who say badly. The democrats are facing a daunting map in next yoers congressional elections. Democrats are shown to have a 14 point advantage. Those numbers could be zoo dereceiving. The latest analysis from 538 shows the way the house dedicates are carved out, democrats had absolutely no margin for error to gain control. Finding that even if democrats were to win every single 2018 house and senate race for seats in places that clinton or trump won by less than 3 percentage points, they could still fall short of the House Majority and lose five senate seats. With congress out of town, that means lawmakers there are back at home and often facing caustic town halls. The comments were at times nasty, including for republican doug lamalsa in chico, california, who drew boos when he told the crowd of several hundred that he doesnt buy that man made activity is responsible for Climate Change. At an elks Lodge Session one man reportedly told him may you die in pain over his vote to overhaul obama care. Take a listen to this. I think our constituents have been misled by a lot of the things going on in the media, on the internet, and the talking points that sometimes theyre handed to say this and that because this is not our intention. Its not even in the legislation what were talking about. It is very complex. And Freedom Caucus chairman mark meadows is at the center of the Health Care Debate and took question after question from a lively crowd about an exhaustive number of angles on policy. When you look at some of the proposals, and theyre out there, in terms of medicare for all, the price tag is just unbelievably high. Some of you were Bernie Sanders supporters. Even with bernies numbers, i can tell you that the cost associated with that is about half of what it really will be. Its you know, were looking at trillions of dollars. Not billions of dollars. It has to be a tax on the rich. Well, let me [ cheering ] if you can figure a way to tax the rich at 100 and pay for it, im willing to consider it. Okay . Im just telling you the numbers you can take the top 1 , and you can tax them fully, and it still wont pay for it. Throwing it back there, thats for sure. Other republicans openly contrasted the president. William, whose texas district went for Hillary Clinton and is bigger than 29 states, is one of the democrats top midterm targets to flip. An Intel Committee member, he said, its clear russian intelligence tried to tilt the election, and he called for a nuanced and technological approach to Border Security instead of a law. In 2017 we should ab able to secure our border now. The reason we havent is because we are taking a one size fits all solution. Building a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to do Border Security. Based on this administrations numbers, 24. 5 Million Dollars for a concrete wall. Technology, i talked to a number of technologists about this. You can do this for under half a million. Thats a 24 million difference, and if you apply that over the entire length of that doesnt already have a physical barrier, thats 33 billion versus 675 million. I can think of a lot of better ways to spend that money. I know my friend up here would rather put that in amtrak, right . Joining us from washington once again is politicos ed daniel lipman, coauthor of the political playbook. Good to talk to you again. Want to you can that about the president s poll numbers here. Something that stood out to me. 63 say they are not proud of trump as president. Yesterday he spent a lot of time tweeting about his base saying that is growing. A disconnect there we talked about earlier in the show. Then john mccain telling the New York Times that republicans see weakness in this president. How will these numbers affect what he has to do on the hill . It makes it harder for him to pass anything on the hill. Even if you put capitol hill republicans on truth serum and you ask them are you proud of this president , a lot of them would probably flee for the hills. They dont think that this is helping their brand as a republican party. Its become the party of trump and not the party of reagan, which it used to be. Everyone used to talk about how great reagan was, and its hard for me to see how, you know, in the next 15, 20 years that lots of republicans Going Forward will say, you know, i want to be just like President Trump. The president on day one of vacation was tweeting a lot yesterday. Granted, it was raining up here, and he was on the golf course, and so theres not much to do on a golf course when its raining. Why not tweet . He tweeted a lot about the New York Times and the articles that had been written about the New York Times and what he said to be their failing sales. We talked about, in fact, theyre actually on the upswing. Senator Richard Bloomenthal tweeted about that. Some people are skeptical whether the new chief of staff john kelly is changing how President Trump operates. What do yesterdays tweets tell you . They tell you that trump has not given his phone up to john kelly. That was not one of the conditions that kelly took the job. I think kelly got out of his negotiations to be chief of staff the ability to hire and fire senior aides, the ability to kind of block access to the oval office when he needs to because he didnt want it to just be this freewheeling circus where you would have senior aides just drop in and, you know, give fake news articles sometimes to President Trump. I think kelly is doing his best as chief of staff, but if ooiiva and jared cant stop trump from tweegt, its hard to see how a nonfamily member can do the job. I keep going back to something that cory said recently. I think it was last week or maybe two weeks ago where he said you got to let President Trump be President Trump or youre not going to succeed. Maybe john kelly is doing a little bit of that, and then also bringing a little bit of the general into the situation as well. Daniel lipman for us. Thank you. The Republican National committee is touting what is calling the unprecedented Economic Growth in the early day of the President Trump administration. The rnc sent out this tweet on sunday following fridays strong monthly jobs report. The tweet celebrates one million new jobs created in the president s first six months, suggesting Something Like this has never happened before. As the Washington Post points out, creating one million jobs in a sixmonth period, its not unprecedented. The post says that beginning in mid 2013 there was not a single sixmonth period in which former president obama did not see at least one million jobs created. President trump himself spent parts of last year celebrating the Second Quarter gdp numbers showing the economy grew by 2. 6 . I think to me maybe the biggest is that gdp for the quarter just released at 2. 6 , so thats so much higher than anticipated. Remember i said were going to try to hit 3 sometime over the next period of two years . 2. 6 is getting closer, gary. Closer than we thought and a lot faster than we thought, but dont worry about the three. Were going to be higher than three in the not too distant future too where. We have a growth rate, a gdp, which has been much higher than, as you know, anybody anticipated, except maybe us. Its going to go higher too. As former treasury official and morning joe economic analyst steve ratner pointed out last week, 2. 6 growth isnt actually that special. Ratner says that the economy grew by more than that less than a year ago and has exceeded 2. 6 many times since the economic recovery began in the middle of 2009. Meanwhile, the rnc has also announced that former tv political commentator kaly mcananey will be its next spokesperson. The announcement comes one day after she appeared in a facebook video posted on the president s official page highlighting the trump agenda. Still ahead, everybody. Google under the microscope after reports that they fired an engineer after he sent a controversial memo companywide. Plus, an emotional tribute for the firefighter who made the ultimate sacrifice battling wildfires out west, and parts of the country there cleaning up after a possible tornado. Bill karins will have the details on if more strong storms will be on the way. Keep it here. Walter . Hmm . Is that the rest of our food . What . No. How come you have cheese in your beard . Because switching to geico could save you 15 or more on Car Insurance. Oh ok. Geico. Because saving 15 or more on Car Insurance is always a great answer. Whoa gross explore your Treatment Options with specialists who treat only cancer. Every stage. Every day. At Cancer Treatment centers of america. Learn more at cancercenter. Com experts 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. The body of a 29yearold firefighter who died in montana battling wildfires last week is back home in california after getting an emotional sendoff. Hundreds of firefighters from across the country, they gathered in this mizzoula to pay tribute to brent as his casket was escorted by police and honor guard. He died after being struck by a fallen tree fighting a blaze in it the national forest. Memorial services are set to be held on thursday. True american hero. Lets get a check on your weather with nshs meteorologist bill karins. What do you have for us . Were still watching the flash flooding in houston. Of course, we continue with fires in the west with a very dry, hot summer, and the smoke is a big issue today in the northwest. Lets start with the houston area. Thats where we have five inches of rain in at least one location last night. Flash Flood Warning continues. Mostly from the city west. Anyone traveling this region, theres going to be a lot of water on the roadways. A slow morning commute. The northeast, we had the heavy rain yesterday. Still leftover rain in between norfolk and virginia beach. That will be exiting. A lot of clouds early today, and then well clear the clouds out this afternoon for a nice finish to your tuesday. I want you to notice seattle today. 88 degrees. Now, so far this month seattle has been warmer than new orleans, and today theyre going to be about even. Were going to seattle for a very impressive record today. Theres about zero chance of rainfall, and you think of seattle, you think of cloudy, kind of rainy, cool days. Well, this is going to be their 52nd day in a row with no rain recorded in the city. That breaks their old record of 51 days in a row, so very impressive stuff. Not only is it hot, but its also been very dry in seattle for at least the last month and a half. Where is summer in the middle of the country . The northwest is the warm spot all summer long, and now as we go throughout our Summer Season when we transition into august, into september, we start to get this cool air mass thats come down out of canada. Now, typically they dont make it all the way down to mississippi like today where only 82 in jackson, only 77 in atlanta. Pittsburgh at 76. A lot of people are wondering are we done with the big heat . Theres no signs of any big warmup any time soon. Even into wednesday and thursday we remain rather cool and chilly throughout the middle of the country. You know, you wonder, lewis, this time of year, especially in the northern half of the country, how many more 90 degrees days you have left. Not many. All right, bill. Keep a watch on that. Lets turn to business where were following big news from google and netflix. Cnbcs lets start with google who reportedly fired an employee behind a controversial memo. Break it all down for us. All right. So this guy wrote this companywide memo in which he essentially said that the reason one of the reasons women were not well represented in the tech world was due to biological differences. As you can imagine, people inside google not so happy with some of his arguments. The employee has now confirmed he has been fired for perpetuating gender stereotypes. He has also told reporters that he will be exploring all possible legal remedies. The companys ceo said this was perpetuating harmful stereotypes. He said he is cutting short his own family holiday to come back and take charge of the situation at the companywide meeting on thursday. Netflix, you mentioned there, they have made that first ever acquisition. Theyve been moving over conat the particular time, and now were seeing this first acquisition of a comic book. This in theory will allow the company to not only create their own content, but also make money out of the book. Another more interesting story for me is butter prices in europe set to rise. Theres a bunch of gutter shortages here. And this was due to a shortage of milk. I did not know you were a keen baker. What do you like to cook . I love croissants. Hopefully they their wont be 10 mouth of complicated. The agency says the old passwords did little or nothing for security and made things harder. We can give you guys some more time to talk about some bakes. I was going to have some cooking show. Still ahead, the Trump Administration adds more po poem. Stories well take a break. Of h, 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. Yogigspeed internet. Me . You know whats not awesome . When only certain people can get it. Lets fix that. Lets give this guy gig really . And these kids. And these guys. Him. Ah. Oh hello that lady. These houses yes, yes and yes. And dont forget about them. Uh huh. Sure. Still yes you can get it too. Welcome to the party. Introducing gigspeed internet from xfinity. Finally, gig for your neighborhood too. Welcome back. The u. S. Sending more marines to afghanistan according to defense officials. It comes following a request bay task force. He Officials Say fewer than 100 troops will be added. It is unclear when they will arrive. Despite promising congress it would deliver one by midjuly. And the warm two defense officials told nbc news is pentagon con clubting a list on the fly system. The u. S. Is promoting approximately joint special Operations Task force try dent. Yesterday duarte has drawn heavy criticism for his alleged crackdown on people. Nowi nowing. A new poll suggests the opposite is true. Well break down those numbers. Plus senator blumenthal will discuss himself latest efforts to ves the ritest talk up good morning, joe, everything, just moments away. How to win at business. Step one point decisively with the arm of your glasses. Abracadabra. The stage is yours. Step two choose la quinta. The only hotel where you can redeem loyalty points for a free nightinstantly and win at business. Youre more than just a bathroom disease. Youre a life of unpredictable symptoms. Crohns, youve tried to own us. 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Remission can start with stelara®. Talk to your doctor today. Janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®. 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. Lets get a check of the stories youll be hearing about in the day ahead. Secretary of state Rex Tillerson arrived in thailand earlier this morning. Hes slated to attend a lunch with that country kaes prime minister. Later today he is expected to depart for malaysia. And testimony is set begin in taylor swifts own try. He says the gags and. That does it for us on this tuesday morning, everybody. Im Yasmin Vossoughian alongside louis burgdorf. Morning joe starts right now. Mike pence is a dedicated Public Servant with the vision and passage it takes to lead this country, not that he wants to. From our cities to our raerthand to keep america safe, if he wasnt to do that, which he doesnt. President mike pence would always fight for you but hes not president and has no plans to be one. Plum, plum, t , welcome to